Kareem Jackson in 2020. Credit: Isiah J. Downing, USA TODAY Sports.
The landscape of the NFL is forever changed with the alteration of the regular season length now increasing to 17 games.
Altogether, this shouldn’t be a surprise for players for fans alike as it was voted in as an agreed part of the new collective bargaining agreement last March.
It was a controversial measure at the time, and remains so today. Out of a total voting group of 1,978 players, the proposal passed, but only by 60 votes.
A small margin of victory got the proposal through, but with that, comes opinion and discourse as is the way of social media today.
Most have been quiet on the Broncos’ front, but Kareem Jackson tweeted in Monday afternoon voicing his frustration with the announcement. Not only that but former Bronco Phillip Lindsay chimed in with a “Say it again bruh!!” comment to emphasize that they feel this is not in their best interest.
Jackson also took the time to comment on the Broncos’ Instagram to emphasize the point.
He is not the only NFL-er who is angry with the change. Alvin Kamara, Adrian Amos and Darius Slay also came out in opposition of the move and they most assuredly will not be the last to voice their opinions on the subject.
Change can be a difficult thing to stomach in life and doubly so when it affects your job. We have all balked at the notion of putting in additional hours for an employer, especially when we feel as though we put our heart and soul into what we do, and seemingly without direct benefit to ourselves.
NFL players are people, and they feel this just as directly as anyone else would, but when your body is your career, an additional game a year for the sake of the fans and owners likely feels akin to an unneeded trip to the training room…or worse.
“The 17th game will feature teams from opposing conferences that finished in the same place within their division the previous season, the AFC was determined to be the home conference for the 17th game in 2021,” The NFL announced in regard to how the opponent for the 17th game would be determined.
After all of the mental gymnastics required to decipher that statement, that would make the Detroit Lions the addition to the Denver Bronco’s 2021 regular season schedule.
Whether you love or hate the addition of 1 more game to the schedule it is here to stay through 2030 barring some sort of renegotiation.
The players have a legitimate gripe, and it is understandable why they would be frustrated with this change, especially when approximately 500 players did not vote on the matter. Again, change is rarely fun but it is the new normal in today’s NFL.
Security videos made public for the first time Wednesday in the trial of the former Minneapolis police officer accused of killing George Floyd showed what happened before Floyd's deadly encounter with police.
Video from inside Cup Foods, the convenience store where a cashier said Floyd used a fake $20 bill to buy cigarettes May 25, showed him in the moments before he was pinned under the knee of the former officer, Derek Chauvin, who is charged with second- and third-degree murder and manslaughter.
The audio was withheld from the store video, which showed Floyd chatting and laughing with shoppers and employees as he moved around the store. At one point, he purchased a banana.
Christopher Martin, 19, who was a cashier at the store and lived above it, testified Wednesday that he flagged the $20 bill and that he suspected that Floyd was "high" but that he was friendly and talkative. An autopsy determined that Floyd was intoxicated with fentanyl and had recently used methamphetamines.
Martin said he accepted the bill, despite a store policy that said the amount would be taken out of his paycheck, because he didn't believe Floyd knew it was counterfeit. He also said he hadn't been trained by Cup Foods to identify a counterfeit bill. The color of the bill made him suspicious that it was fake, he testified.
"I thought I'd be doing him a favor," Martin said.
But Martin said that after he decided to alert his manager to the possibly fake currency, he twice went outside to the SUV Floyd was in at the manager's direction to summon him inside to speak with the manager or pay for the purchase.
He said that after Floyd and another passenger in the SUV refused to come back into the store, he offered to pay for the purchase himself but that the manager had a clerk call 911.
Martin said that after he saw Floyd outside being pinned under Chauvin's knee, he regretted having flagged the bill. Martin could be seen in video from outside the store with his hands over his head. He said he watched Floyd's arrest with "disbelief and guilt."
"If I would've just not taken the bill, this could've been avoided," Martin said, joining a growing list of onlookers who testified that they felt a sense of helplessness and had experienced lingering guilt over Floyd's death.
Martin said he recorded video of Floyd's detainment but deleted it later that night because he believed Floyd had died and he didn't want to be questioned about it.
He said he deleted the video because the ambulance that picked Floyd up "went straight on 38th instead of going straight on Chicago. And if you live in South Minneapolis, the easiest way to get to the hospital would have been straight on Chicago." Martin said that made it "clear that he was no longer with us."
Martin's testimony and the video from inside the store are the first accounts during the trial of Floyd's actions before police became involved. Along with previously released video from the body-worn cameras of Chauvin and the three other responding officers, the Cup Foods video gave jurors a more complete picture of Floyd's last hour.
The first two days of witness testimony featured several bystander videos taken outside the store after police had arrived.
Martin's testimony was followed Wednesday by that of two other bystanders and a police lieutenant, whose testimony served as a way to admit the body-worn camera video into evidence.
Charles McMillian, 61, who was driving near Cup Foods when he came upon Floyd's arrest, sobbed on the witness stand after video was played of Floyd handcuffed on the pavement saying he couldn't breathe and calling out for his mother. McMillian had yelled, "You can't win!" at Floyd, according to bystander video.
Minnesota Assistant Attorney General Erin Eldridge played officer-worn body camera video and exterior store video that showed McMillian watching two officers having difficulty getting Floyd into their squad car. McMillian said he tried to persuade Floyd to get into the back of the squad car. Watching the video, McMillian shook his head.
Once the video stopped, McMillian was visibly upset and broke down in sobs, saying, "Oh my God." He grabbed a handful of tissues and wiped his eyes and his face. McMillian said he felt "helpless" as he watched Floyd and the officers.
"I don't have a mama, either," McMillian said. "I understand him." He said his mother died June 25. The judge called for a 10-minute break to allow McMillian to regain his composure.
Video recorded after Floyd was taken away in an ambulance showed McMillian approaching Chauvin, whom he said he had recognized from the neighborhood. McMillian testified that he had seen Chauvin as recently as five days earlier and that "I pulled up on the squad car somewhere in south Minneapolis, and I see Mr. Chauvin, and I told him like I tell all officers, at the end of the day, you go home to your family safe and that the next person go home to their family safe."
In video from Chauvin's body-worn camera shown Wednesday, McMillian confronts Chauvin as he gets into his squad car after Floyd was taken away in an ambulance. McMillian said he reminded Chauvin of what he had told him five days earlier.
Chauvin defends his actions, saying, "We've got to control this guy, because he's a sizable guy. Looks like he's probably on something."
McMillian said he confronted Chauvin because "what I watched was wrong" and because he felt it was important to tell Chauvin that.
A white Michigan man who pleaded guilty to beating a Black teenager with a metal bike lock said he attacked the teen because of his race.
Lee James Mouat, 43, was charged with a federal hate crime in the June 6, 2020, attack in the parking lot of Sterling State Park in Monroe, Michigan. The victim, identified by local media as Devin Freelon Jr., suffered facial injuries and several of his teeth were knocked out when Mouat struck him with the lock.
Mouat, who pleaded guilty Tuesday, confronted the victim and two of his friends at the park after complaining about loud music. The plea agreement states that Mouat made a comment about the group's "ghetto" music, yelled "Black lives don't matter," called the teens the N-word and said Black people did not belong at the Sterling State Park beach.
Devin Freelon Jr. with his father, Devin Freelon Sr.Courtesy Devin Freelon Sr. / via ClickOnDetroit
He then walked to his vehicle and retrieved a "metal chain-style bike lock" and walked back toward the group.
"Mouat then swung and struck D.F. in the face with the bike lock, knocking out three of D.F.’s teeth, lacerating D.F.’s face and mouth, and fracturing his jaw," the plea agreement states. "Mouat also swung the bike lock at a second Black teenager, T.G., but missed. Mouat continued to wield the bike lock and walk toward T.G. while saying, 'Come here, n-----.'"
The court document says Mouat attacked the teens "because of D.F.’s and T.G.’s race."
"That is, Mouat willfully caused bodily injury to D.F., and attempted to cause bodily injury to T.G., because they are Black," it reads.
Freelon told an FBI agent that he was at the park with his friends and heard Mouat shouting racial slurs at them, according to a criminal complaint.
Shortly after Devin Freelon Jr. graduated Orchard Center High School, he was attacked in the parking of lot of Sterling State Park in Monroe, Mich.Courtesy Devin Freelon Sr. / via ClickOnDetroit
The teen said he went to his car to get a portable speaker and when he returned to where his friends were standing, Mouat walked toward him and "swung an object," hitting him in the face.
Monroe County Sheriffs Office deputies arrived several minutes after the attack. Freelon was taken to the hospital to be treated for lacerations and a fracture to his face and the loss of several teeth.
Devin Freelon Sr. told NBC affiliate WDIV-TV that his son, 19, required dental procedures.
"It’s definitely been hard seeing your son every day with missing teeth and only 19 years. Nobody should go through that,” he said.
Multiple witnesses at the park told authorities that prior to the attack they heard Mouat using racial slurs and threatening to harm the teens. According to one witness, Mouat said that he wished "someone would say something to me so I can beat them," the criminal complaint says.
Another witness said Mouat threatened to bash the teens' heads in if they didn't turn the music down.
Mouat was arrested and indicted in February with willfully causing bodily injury to the victim because of the victim's race, and attempting to cause bodily injury to the second teen. Under the agreement, Mouat pleaded guilty to the first charge.
Devin Freelon Jr. has one last dental surgery to endure.Courtesy Devin Freelon Sr. / via ClickOnDetroit
He faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. Mouat's attorney did not immediately return a request for comment on Wednesday.
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Pamela Karlan condemned Mouat's actions.
“Hate-fueled incidents like this one have no place in a civilized society,” Karlan said in a statement. “The Justice Department is committed to using all the tools in our law enforcement arsenal to prosecute violent acts motivated by hate.”
“The young victim in this case suffered tremendously from this vicious, racially motivated assault. Every individual citizen has the right to not live in fear of violence or attack based on the color of their skin," Acting U.S. Attorney Saima Mohsin added.
Mouat's sentencing is scheduled for June 24.
Minyvonne Burke
Minyvonne Burke is a breaking news reporter for NBC News.
Despite the dark cloud created by the news that the Cubs had effectively low-balled Anthony Rizzo with extension offers, Jed Hoyer still believes he can make it rain. The president of baseball operations met with members of the media at Wrigley Field to discuss the upcoming season, which naturally meant fielding plenty of questions about Rizzo.
“I respect his decision to put a deadline on it,” Hoyer said. “That’s his decision. And one I respect completely. But our door is open.
“I am optimistic we’ll end up reaching an agreement.”
He went on advice caution against taking just one data point into account when discussing the situation, saying there have been “dozens” of conversations. So while Rizzo told reporters on Monday that he’d instructed his agents to cease talks, you have to imagine the two sides could easily pick the ball back up in short order. And hey, maybe those talks aren’t as dead as Rizzo made it seem.
“I know more about the negotiation than what’s out there,” Hoyer explained.
Pardon my French, but no shit. I mean, if the man responsible for the negotiations doesn’t know more about them than the rest of us idiots on Twitter, there’s a big problem. Now let’s just hope they can get something done soon.
Ed. note: If you think this is all just exec-speak, consider the way Hoyer addressed conversations with reps for Javy Báez and Kris Bryant. The description of those talks was very minimal and not imbued with anything approaching the optimism expressed above.
“I’ve been in contact with both agents and had dialogue during the course of the spring,” Hoyer said. “Beyond that, I won’t comment.”
Hoyer says he talked with Bryant's camp this spring on possible extension:
"Been in contact with both [Baez, Bryant] agents and had dialogue during the course of the spring. Beyond that, I won't comment."
Williams had 110 tackles and five interceptions in 2018 and then 114 tackles and a pick in 2019. Last year, at age 29, he was relegated to backup status.
"It was very difficult," Williams said. "With all that I'd put into an organization, for things to go the way they went, you just understand it. You don't forget that it's a business, and things happen, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. You just worry about controlling what you can control. I think that I stayed very professional with it and I did what I could do."
Williams has a refreshed outlook with the Cardinals. He's excited to be in the same position group as Baker and believes the team is on an upward trajectory.
Williams has reunited with wide receiver A.J. Green, who he joined at the University of Georgia and then for eight years in Cincinnati. Former Bengals coach Marvin Lewis jokingly reminded Williams of that fact in a recent phone call.
"It seems like you're just following A.J. around,'" Williams said Lewis told him. "I'm like, 'I guess that's the case.' I'm excited to be here, and excited to continue to play with A.J."
While Williams will face off with Green occasionally on the practice field, he will have much more interaction with Joseph. They are both a bit older from their first go-round together with the Bengals in 2014-15, but the conversations and mentality remain the same.
"All V.J. used to say to me was, 'Put your head down and go to work,'" Williams said. "That's all I've done my whole career, just work. He always said that if you do that, everything will work itself out. That's what I'm here to do. Put my head down and work. Earn the respect of my teammates, earn the respect of my coaches, earn the respect of the city and see how far that takes us."
With less than three days left until superstar shortstop Francisco Lindor’s self-imposed Opening Day deadline, there have been numerous reports about the latest extension talks between Lindor’s camp and the Mets on Monday night.
As first pointed out by SNY’s Andy Martino earlier in the night, the Mets had an offer of approximately 10 years, $325 million out to Lindor.
MLB Network’s Jon Heyman has confirmed this report as well, and said that offer was higher than the Mets’ originally planned number. This is also believed to be the Mets’ best and final offer.
However, not much later Newsday’s Tim Healey reported that Lindor had already declined that offer, and his team countered with a $385 million deal over 12 years, which would be the second largest contract in MLB history.
A source told Deesha Thosar of the Daily News the Mets were told that an extension would be less than Mookie Betts’ 12 year, $365 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Thosar says the source added the Mets are unwilling to meet Lindor’s team in the middle.
The 27-year old has said throughout camp he’s open to a contract extension, though if no deal is reached he will test free agency. The “final offer” from the Mets would more than double David Wright’s eight year, $138 million deal, which is currently the largest contract in team history.
Lindor enjoyed himself a very nice spring, hitting .365 with four homers and a 1.063 OPS which was the twelfth best in baseball. Just in camp, he has already shown how much he means to this team both on and off the field.
Lindor and team owner Steve Cohen met for dinner together on Saturday night, and reports over the past couple of days have indicated there appeared to be momentum towards a deal. However, with the recent developments, the two sides still appear to be mile’s apart.
Although, sources MMO’s own Michael Mayer has talked to still feel optimistic a deal will get done before Opening Day.
Keep it peeled to MMO for the latest on these negotiations.
From left: Angel, Israel, Momo, Abraham and Victory Boyd. The pandemic afforded the Boyd family a chance to harmonize interpersonally, before doing the same as Infinity Song. Courtesy of Shore Fire Mediahide caption
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Courtesy of Shore Fire Media
From left: Angel, Israel, Momo, Abraham and Victory Boyd. The pandemic afforded the Boyd family a chance to harmonize interpersonally, before doing the same as Infinity Song.
Courtesy of Shore Fire Media
TheMorning Edition Song Projectis a series where songwriters are asked to write an original song about the COVID era – our newest addition is from music collective and sibling band Infinity Song.
Angel and Victory Boyd are two of nine children from a musical family – five of those kids, including the two sisters, form the band Infinity Song. Growing up, music was all around them: their dad founded the Boys and Girls Choirs of Detroit. "We grew up being a part of his choir, helping to arrange songs and lead vocal sections of the choir," Angel says. Victory adds that, "Like any family, when they do something, and it's their livelihood — you just kind of create a culture around it," she says.
The older sister, Victory says lockdown gave their band of siblings fewer distractions and a chance to work on their relationships with each other. It also forced them to figure out how to survive without touring. They began by singing, making videos and posting covers of different songs online. "But in order to do that, we first had to harmonize in our relationships," Victory says. "Like, you can't get those kinds of harmonies without first harmonizing internally."
Songwriting is about collaboration, but with a big musical family, it can be hard to find your own voice. Victory was 16 when she wrote her first song, around the time that her parents separated. "Life was chaos. I prayed, 'Jesus, please hear me when I cry. Don't leave me here to die,' " she recalls. "I just sang that over and over again, I said, 'This is my song.' Like, I never looked back after that."
But for Angel, the song that made her realize she had her own voice and her own musical story to tell, is the same one the group is sharing for the Morning Edition Song Project. It's called "Outside Myself."
Angel and Victory Boyd of Infinity Song spoke with NPR's Rachel Martin about "Outside Myself," singing to overcome anxiety and finding the confidence to write in your own voice. Hear the radio version at the audio link, and read on for an edited transcript.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Rachel Martin: So, let's talk specifically about this song. How did it come to be?
Angel Boyd: On one beautiful quarantine day, after being inside all day, it was, like, nighttime. And I just went for a walk to this playground area and sat on a bench. I didn't have any other words than the melody and the sentence that came to me: "It's more than what I'm feeling inside." And I sang that over and over and over. And it actually helped me to feel better.
How did you build it out? How did it grow into a song?
Angel Boyd: Well, it took me about ... two weeks of just writing journal essays of what this song could possibly be about. And I was telling everyone, "Yeah, I have this song. I'll be done with it by Friday." That was week one. So, then, I was like, "Alright. I'm gonna call Victory. She's gonna know exactly what to do." And there was one day where — at this point, we only had the hook — we just had been going back and forth, trying to get the verse. Just get a verse, just get a verse.
Was it stressful, or... ?
Angel Boyd: It was super, super stressful. Because it should be the easiest thing in the world, but nothing was feeling right. And you always know when it's right. And then my dad called me, and I had a feeling he was gonna be like, "Angel, what's going on? What's taking so long?" But he actually gave me an extra vote of faith and confidence. He [said], "You know how to write a song. You know what you're doing. Don't doubt yourself." And then, after that phone call, I ended up collapsing on my bed and finally breaking down because the stress and the pressure was just too much. And I was like, "I don't know how to do this." And in that moment, it came. In that moment, directly after that phone call, the song was written. It was done.
That's actually where the song began. It didn't begin with me sitting on that bench, in the park. It actually began in my room and, probably, having a breakdown — exactly like that. And that's why I realized I couldn't write the verse because I really didn't know where the song began until I was back in that moment.
I mean, Victory, she clearly had something. How much was it just needing the confidence to do it?
Victory Boyd: Yeah. All of it was that.
And actually, I called Daddy and told him that ... [Laughs] I told him that she — Angel — needed support in her songwriting process.
Are you just hearing this, Angel?
Angel Boyd: You're catching me live, for the first time.
So, Angel, what what was specific about it? What was going on in in your head that you were living in that so much?
Angel Boyd: It's a recurring theme, that I'm realizing, in a lot of my work is having a mental world of your own. I can tend to be very self-critical. And that's not always conducive to the best mental state. But I want people to feel like they can breathe, when they hear this song.
Cupertino, California Apple today announced over 110 of its manufacturing partners around the world are moving to 100 percent renewable energy for their Apple production, with nearly 8 gigawatts of planned clean energy set to come online. Once completed, these commitments will avoid over 15 million metric tons of CO2e annually — the equivalent of taking more than 3.4 million cars off the road each year. Additionally, Apple is investing directly in renewable energy projects to cover a portion of upstream emissions, as well as a major energy storage project in California to pilot new solutions for renewable infrastructure.
“We are firmly committed to helping our suppliers become carbon neutral by 2030 and are thrilled that companies who’ve joined us span industries and countries around the world, including Germany, China, the US, India, and France,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president for Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives. “In a year like no other, Apple continued to work with a global network of colleagues, companies, and advocates to help make our environmental efforts and everything we do a force for good in people’s lives — and to work alongside the communities most impacted by climate change.”
Last July, the company unveiled its plan to become carbon neutral across its entire business, manufacturing supply chain, and product life cycle by 2030. Since that announcement, Apple has significantly increased the number of its suppliers that are transitioning to renewable energy. Apple is already carbon neutral today for its global corporate operations, and this new commitment means that by 2030, every Apple device sold will have net zero climate impact. The company recently shared new details about its $4.7 billion spend in Green Bonds to support environmental projects around the world.
(Reuters) - President Joe Biden on Wednesday will call for a dramatic and more permanent shift in the direction of the U.S. economy with a roughly $2 trillion package to invest in traditional projects like roads and bridges alongside tackling climate change and boosting human services like elder care.
FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Joe Biden holds a meeting on infrastructure with members of Congress in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S., March 4, 2021. REUTERS/Tom Brenner/File Photo
He also aims to put corporate America on the hook for the tab, which is expected to grow to a combined $4 trillion once he rolls out the second part of his economic plan in April.
Coupled with his recently enacted $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, Biden’s infrastructure initiative would give the federal government a bigger role in the U.S. economy than it has had in generations, accounting for 20% or more of annual output.
The effort, to be announced on Wednesday at an event in Pittsburgh, sets the stage for the next partisan clash in Congress where members largely agree that capital investments are needed but are divided on the total size and inclusion of programs traditionally seen as social services. Just how to pay for them will be a fractious issue in its own right.
Biden for now is ignoring a campaign promise and sparing wealthy Americans from any tax increase. The plan would increase the corporate tax rate to 28% from 21% and change the tax code to close loopholes that allow companies to move profits overseas, according to a senior administration official.
It does not include expected increases in the top marginal tax rate or to the capital gains tax. The plan would spread the cost for projects over an eight-year period and aims to pay for it all over 15 years, the senior administration official said.
The plan also includes $621 billion to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure, such as roads, bridges, highways and ports, including a historic $174 billion investment in the electric vehicle market that sets a goal of a nationwide charging network by 2030.
Congress will also be asked to put $400 billion toward expanding access to affordable home or community-based care for aging Americans and people with disabilities.
There is $213 billion provided to build and retrofit affordable and sustainable homes along with hundreds of billions to support U.S. manufacturing, bolster the nation’s electric grid, enact nationwide high-speed broadband and revamp the nation’s water systems to ensure clean drinking water.
Related Coverage
SECOND LEGISLATIVE PACKAGE COMING
Biden is moving forward with the massive job and infrastructure effort as he navigates an ambitious time line to provide enough COVID vaccines for all adults by the end of May and the deployment of pandemic relief.
The White House is also dealing with a rise in the number of migrants at the southern border, the fallout from back-to-back mass shootings and a looming showdown over the Senate filibuster
The plan forms one part of the “Build Back Better” agenda that the administration aims to introduce. The White House has said the administration will introduce a second legislative package within weeks.
The second package is expected to include an expansion in health insurance coverage, an extension of the expanded child tax benefit, and paid family and medical leave, among other efforts aimed at families, the officials said.
White House officials have not explained whether they will seek to have both efforts pass at the same time or try to get Congress to approve one first.
The jockeying around Biden’s push has already begun, as allies push for inclusion of their priorities in the upcoming legislative effort and Republicans signal early concerns about the size and scope of the package.
Moderate Democrats have said the package should be more targeted to traditional infrastructure projects to attract Republican votes, seeking a return to bipartisan policymaking.
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Liberal lawmakers want to use the party’s slim majorities in Congress to tackle some of the nation’s biggest problems, such as climate change and economic inequality, with resources that reflect the size of those challenges.
Representative Pramila Jayapal, a leading progressive Democrat, said on Tuesday that outside groups like Americans for Tax Fairness pegged the infrastructure and jobs plan that Biden rolled out on the campaign trail at between $6.5 trillion and $11 trillion over 10 years.
“We’d like to see a plan that goes big,” Jayapal said. “We really think that there’s ample room to get the overall number up to somewhere in that range in order to really tackle the scale of investments that we need to make.”
Republican Garret Graves, his party’s senior member on the House Select Committee on the climate crisis, said he was keeping an open mind but was concerned that Democrats were leveraging the popularity of infrastructure to usher in a broad expansion of social welfare.
“If they’re just going to encapsulate a cow pie in a candy shell, then I’m not there,” Graves said in an interview on Tuesday.
Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw; Additional reporting by Richard Cowan and Makini Brice; Editing by Dan Burns and Peter Cooney
The Tennessee Titans have agreed to terms with former Jets and Colts safety Matthias Farley, per the team:
It’s a one-year deal.
A five-year NFL veteran who played the past two seasons with the Jets, Farley played in all 16 games in 2020, and he made a pair of starts. He was credited with 21 tackles on the season, along with three passes defensed, in addition to his work on special teams.
This appears to be another special teams signing, seeing that Farley was a captain in that phase of the game for the Jets in 2020.
The Titans signed another special teams ace, former Steelers linebacker Ola Adeniyi last week.
We’ve mentioned here on this site that several key special teamers from last season are currently free agents — Daren Bates, Will Compton, Senorise Perry and Nick Dzubnar. The team also released Chris Milton earlier this offseason.
Several of these guys won’t be back in 2021.
Farley will likely be a special teams captain for the Titans this coming season.
Representative Matt Gaetz, Republican of Florida and a close ally of former President Donald J. Trump, is being investigated by the Justice Department over whether he had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old and paid for her to travel with him, according to three people briefed on the matter.
Investigators are examining whether Mr. Gaetz violated federal sex trafficking laws, the people said. A variety of federal statutes make it illegal to induce someone under 18 to travel over state lines to engage in sex in exchange for money or something of value. The Justice Department regularly prosecutes such cases, and offenders often receive severe sentences.
It was not clear how Mr. Gaetz met the girl, believed to be 17 at the time of encounters about two years ago that investigators are scrutinizing, according to two of the people.
The investigation was opened in the final months of the Trump administration under Attorney General William P. Barr, the two people said. Given Mr. Gaetz’s national profile, senior Justice Department officials in Washington — including some appointed by Mr. Trump — were notified of the investigation, the people said.
The three people said that the examination of Mr. Gaetz, 38, is part of a broader investigation into a political ally of his, a local official in Florida named Joel Greenberg, who was indicted last summer on an array of charges, including sex trafficking of a child and financially supporting people in exchange for sex, at least one of whom was an underage girl.
No charges have been brought against Mr. Gaetz, and the extent of his criminal exposure is unclear.
Mr. Gaetz said in an interview that his lawyers had been in touch with the Justice Department and that they were told he was the subject, not the target, of an investigation. “I only know that it has to do with women,” Mr. Gaetz said. “I have a suspicion that someone is trying to recategorize my generosity to ex-girlfriends as something more untoward.”
Mr. Gaetz called the investigation part of an elaborate scheme involving “false sex allegations” to extort him and his family for $25 million that began this month. He said he and his father, Don Gaetz, had been cooperating with the F.B.I. and “wearing a wire” after they were approached by people saying they could make the investigation “go away.” Mr. Gaetz claimed the disclosure of the sex trafficking inquiry was intended to thwart an investigation into the extortion plot.
In a second interview later Tuesday, the congressman said he had no plans to resign his House seat and denied that he had romantic relationships with minors. “It is verifiably false that I have traveled with a 17-year-old woman,” he said.
Representatives for the Justice Department and the F.B.I. declined to comment, as did a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Central Florida.
Mr. Greenberg pleaded not guilty last year and was sent to jail this month for violating the terms of his bail. He is scheduled to go on trial in June in Orlando.
A frequent presence on Fox News and other conservative media, Mr. Gaetz has recently mused with confidants about quitting elected politics and taking a full-time job with the conservative television channel Newsmax or another network, according to a person familiar with the conversations. Axios first reported on Tuesday that Mr. Gaetz was considering leaving Congress.
Mr. Greenberg maintained ties to controversial figures who have supported Mr. Trump, an examination of court records, social media posts and far-right websites showed. A website run by a member of the far-right group the Proud Boys and a network of fake social media accounts linked to Mr. Trump’s longtime political adviser Roger J. Stone Jr. have promoted false accusations about Mr. Greenberg’s rivals similar to rumors that prosecutors accused Mr. Greenberg of secretly trying to spread.
It was not clear how Mr. Greenberg knew either Mr. Gaetz or Mr. Stone. He posted a selfie with both in 2017, tweeting, “Great catching up.” The following year, Mr. Gaetz expressed support for Mr. Greenberg’s successful bid for local office, predicting he would someday make a great member of Congress.
On Capitol Hill, Mr. Gaetz has embraced the role of villain to the left as much as he has served as one of Mr. Trump’s staunchest defenders and enablers, often with theatrical flair. He wore a gas mask on the House floor last year in the early days of the pandemic, insisting he was demonstrating concern for public safety amid accusations he was mocking the seriousness of the spread of the coronavirus.
Mr. Gaetz was first elected to Congress in 2016. As a member of the Florida State Legislature and the scion of a Republican political family, he had initially backed former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida in the Republican presidential primary that year before hitching his political fortunes to Mr. Trump.
It paid off. He won a seat in Congress representing part of the Florida Panhandle, and as one of Mr. Trump’s most flamboyant supporters on Capitol Hill and on cable television, his profile skyrocketed.
In 2017, Mr. Gaetz was the only member of Congress to vote against a law that gave the federal government more power and money to fight human trafficking.
“Voters in Northwest Florida did not send me to Washington to go and create more federal government,” Mr. Gaetz said in a local television interview at the time. “If anything, we should be abolishing a lot of the agencies at the federal level.”
Mr. Gaetz’s personal life has gained attention before. Last summer, he announced that he had a son, Nestor Galban, 19, though Mr. Gaetz said he was not Mr. Galban’s biological father, nor had he adopted him. Mr. Galban had been 12 when they met and had come to the United States from Cuba; Mr. Gaetz was at the time dating Mr. Galban’s sister.
“He is a part of my family story,” Mr. Gaetz told People magazine in June. “My work with Nestor, our family, no element of my public service could compare to the joy that our family has brought me.”
Mr. Gaetz is now engaged to an analyst named Ginger Luckey, 26, whom he proposed to at Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club on Dec. 30.
It was unclear how investigators in the Greenberg case began examining Mr. Gaetz’s conduct. Last June, federal prosecutors secured an indictment against Mr. Greenberg, accusing him of stalking a political rival.
Around that time, federal authorities seized Mr. Greenberg’s phone and laptop, according to court records. They discovered evidence that Mr. Greenberg, whose job responsibilities included issuing licenses, was creating fake identification cards for himself and a teenage girl, and was experimenting with holograms used on permits for concealed firearms, according to court documents.
Two months later, he was indicted on the sex trafficking charge. From May to November 2017, prosecutors said, Mr. Greenberg targeted the girl, who was between 14 and 17, saying he “recruited” and “solicited” her for sex acts in exchange for unspecified perks or favors.
Mr. Greenberg worked in advertising before running successfully at the age of 31 in 2016 for tax collector in Seminole County.
Within days of taking office, he fired three employees who had supported his predecessor and began spending more than $1.5 million in taxpayer money on personal expenses, including guns, ammunition, body armor and a drone, as well as on computers for his own cryptocurrency venture, a county audit later revealed.
The following year, according to The Orlando Sentinel, Mr. Greenberg posted a photograph of himself on social media with Milo Yiannopoulos, a right-wing personality who has a history of making racist remarks. The newspaper also detailed Mr. Greenberg’s own misogynist and anti-Muslim comments on Facebook.
In his bid for re-election, Mr. Greenberg turned in late 2019 to clandestine tactics to undermine a possible rival, according to court papers. Prosecutors said he sent an anonymous letter to the school where one potential candidate worked that made unfounded accusations of sexual misconduct with a student and making similar claims on a fake Facebook account.
As the primary race intensified last summer, similar messaging began appearing on fake social media accounts that have been tied to Mr. Stone.
“Watch out Seminole county,” said someone named April Goad on Facebook, warning Floridians “don’t open your door” to the rival candidate, according to Graphika, a company that specializes in analyzing social media.
The post linked to an article about the rival published on Central Florida Post, a website controlled by Mr. Stone’s associates that had written favorable articles about Mr. Greenberg. The website was founded by a member of the Proud Boys who has been linked to security providers for Mr. Stone on Jan. 6 in Washington in the lead-up to the insurrection at the Capitol.
Mr. Greenberg’s re-election efforts quickly evaporated when he was first indicted last June, and he resigned a day later.
Kitty Bennett and Susan C. Beachy contributed research.
Montreal was playing for the first time since a 5-4 home shootout victory over the Vancouver Canucks on March 20. Two days later, Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Joel Armia went on the NHL's COVID-19 list. As a result, the Canadiens had four games postponed -- three with Edmonton and another against Ottawa.
With their revised schedule, the Canadiens -- in the No. 4 playoff position in the North Division with games in hand on their competition below them -- face playing their remaining 24 games in 42 days. Kotkaniemi was removed from the COVID-19 list Monday and scored Tuesday. Armia remains sidelined.
Tomas Tatar also scored for Montreal (15-8-9). Carey Price stopped 16 shots for the shutout, his first of the season and the 49th of his career.
Connor McDavid had a goal disallowed for Edmonton (22-14-1), which was coming off a 3-2 overtime road win over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday night. McDavid had his 11-game point streak (seven goals, 16 assists) snapped, yet he still leads the NHL in scoring with 63 points (21 goals, 42 assists).
Mikko Koskinen finished with 28 saves in the loss for the Oilers, who are in the No. 3 playoff spot in the North.
Montreal is still without Tyler Toffoli (lower-body injury), who has a team-high 18 goals. Eric Staal, acquired from Buffalo on Friday for 2021 third- and fifth-round picks, didn't play, as he must serve a mandatory quarantine first for moving from an American to a Canadian team.
Kotkaniemi needed just 18 seconds to open the scoring with his fifth of the season. After Kotkaniemi converted Paul Byron's centering pass, Montreal went on the power play following Edmonton's challenge of the goal being unsuccessful.
After failing to convert on the power play, Montreal went ahead 2-0 on Lehkonen's third of the year at 3 minutes, 23 seconds. It took Edmonton more than five minutes to register its first shot on goal after the Canadiens had eight.
Gallagher gave Montreal its three-goal advantage at 15:59, diving to tap in a rebound for his 13th goal as the Canadiens outshot Edmonton 15-7.
McDavid scored what would've been his 22nd goal at 13:55 of the second, but it was called off by a successful Montreal offside challenge.
The Canadiens countered with Tatar's seventh of the season off a long setup pass from Danault at 17:54.
Veteran forward Michael Frolik made his season debut for Montreal. The 33-year-old winger signed a one-year contract as a free agent during the offseason and had been on the team's taxi squad.
There's a reoccurring theme surrounding the San Francisco 49ers recent free agency re-signings. While there have been a number of factors that played into each player's decision to return to the 49ers, a common thread among all of them is what Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch have established since taking over the franchise in 2017: culture.
Seventh-year nickel corner K'Waun Williams can attest to that notion. According to various reports, Williams received interest from several teams after hitting the open market in mid-March, including being courted by the Kansas City Chiefs. The corner also toyed with the opportunity to return to his hometown of Paterson, New Jersey. The stars appeared to align for Williams with the potential to reunite with former 49ers defensive coordinator and now New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh, who has repeatedly spoken very highly of the cornerback.
Instead, Williams opted to re-sign with the 49ers on a one-year deal on Friday. Familiarity played a role in his decision. But it was ultimately what the 49ers have built in-house that made returning to San Francisco his desired outcome.
"All the deals were pretty similar at the time, so I chose the 49ers," Williams said Tuesday. "I couldn't deny playing with some of my teammates on our secondary, you've got Jimmie Ward, Jaquiski Tartt, Jason Verrett. All those guys. Just being able to play one more year with those guys was too intriguing."
Heading into the offseason, the 49ers had more than 35 players set to his free agency, with nearly every significant contributor in the secondary on an expiring contract. San Francisco managed to retain a number of key starters, including Tartt, Verrett, Emmanuel Moseley and Dontae Johnson among other names. Even on the opposite side of the ball, Williams has taken an appreciation to Shanahan and Lynch's ability to fortify their roster and keep "the core" of the 49ers as intact as financially possible.
General Motors CEO Mary Barra will meet with Black-owned media leaders on Thursday, a GM spokesman said.
The meeting follows an incendiary full-page ad that seven owners of Black-owned media companies placed in Sunday's Detroit Free Press calling Barra racist for refusing to meet with them and allocate more of GM's advertising dollars to the Black-owned media.
GM has denied the racist accusation and took issue with some other statements in the ad.
But on Monday GM's Chief Marketing Officer Deborah Wahl had a preliminary meeting with Byron Allen, the head of Allen Media Group which owns the Weather Channel, and several of the men who signed the full-page ad.
That meeting was "constructive," prompting the parties to set up a follow-up meeting with Barra for Thursday, said GM spokesman Pat Morrissey.
“We never said we would not have a meeting with Mr. Allen," Morrissey said. "We indicated we wanted to have a preliminary meeting between our chief marketing officer and his team to lay out our broader strategy on diversity and Black-owned media, including all marketing, advertising and sponsorship activities prior to a meeting with Mary."
Allen said GM reached out to him Sunday afternoon. He and the others spoke with Wahl on Monday morning.
“The meeting with Mary Barra is long overdue,” Allen told the Free Press Tuesday. “We’re looking forward to it and we hope that we can finally get something done where we have meaningful economic inclusion for Black-owned media.”
He said Barra has the opportunity to do something “transformative in corporate America” by being a leader in including Black-owned media in GM’s media spending. But he said the full-page ad influenced the meeting with Barra, even though GM said it did not.
“I can’t believe anyone would state that when we’ve requested that meeting for many years,” Allen said. “This meeting came to fruition because of the enormous press around the ad.”
Civil Rights crusader
The meeting between Barra and the Black-owned media companies will be virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Morrissey said he did not know the time or other details.
Barra has said she wants GM to be the most inclusive company in the world and she started an Inclusion advisory board last year, around the Black Lives Matter protests, to prove it.
"We have increased our planned spending with both diverse-owned and diverse-dedicated media across our family of brands," Morrissey said on Sunday. He did not provides specifics.
The ad was signed by the heads of seven Black-owned media companies including Allen, rapper and actor Ice Cube, who co-founded pro-basketball league BIG3, TV and film production company Cubevision, and Contract with Black America (CWBA), which he started with the goal of initiating dialogues about racism.
Also signing the ad is former NBA player Ulysses “Junior” Bridgeman, who bought Ebony Media last year after bidding $14 million for it in U.S. Bankruptcy Court and Don Jackson, founder, chairman and CEO of Central City Productions, a Chicago-based television production company.
This isn't Allen's first time at the rodeo. The one-time comedian and host of the 1980s NBC hit “Real People” founded Entertainment Studios in 1993. He has grown his empire to include a film division and about two dozen television stations, including the Weather Channel.
As of this year, Allen has a net worth of $400 million dollars, according to wealthygenius.com website.
Along the way, Allen has grown to be a crusader of civil rights taking on what he says is systemic racism in corporate America, often with inflammatory rhetoric and lawsuits.
Joining Allen, Ice Cube, Junior Bridgeman and Don Jackson on the full-page ad is also:
Roland Martin: CEO of Nu Vision Media, Inc., a Chicago-based company that produces and distributes Roland S. Martin's daily digital show, #RolandMartinUnfiltered.
Todd F. Brown, PMP: Founder, Urban Edge Networks and HBCU League Pass, which covers historically Black colleges and universities.
Earl “Butch” Graves Jr.: President and CEO, Black Enterprise, a magazine covering African-American businesses.
'Ad not necessary'
Allen said the men who signed Sunday's full-page ad have known each other for years. For the past five years, they have been reaching out to Barra asking for a meeting, Barra does not respond, he said in Sunday's interview.
About two weeks ago, the group sent an email again to Barra. This time Wahl responded indicating she would meet with them instead, Allen said.
That was the last straw for the group, Allen said, prompting them to compose the ad. The ad said the group has no interest in meeting with Wahl, who was McDonald’s CMO from 2015 to 2018 and, "severely neglected, minimized and discriminated against" Black-owned media companies during her time in that job.
Barra's refusal to acknowledge Black-owned media companies, the ad said, is the "very definition of systemic racism" because "you don’t have true economic inclusion."
The Black-owned media group wants GM to allocate at least 5% of its ad budget to Black-owned media companies, said Allen Sunday.
But the ad says "less than 0.5% goes to media companies owned" by African Americans, calling that "horrendous, considering that we as African Americans make up approximately 14% of the population in America and we spend billions buying your vehicles."
Morrissey disputed the figure saying GM spends more than .5% of its media budget now with Black-owned media.
“It is actually 2% and we’re committed to growing it," Morrissey said. "We are moving forward with that.”
Morrissey declined to provide Barra's reaction to the full-page ad calling her racist and he did not want to characterize the aftermath of it.
“We were already in discussions with them and willing to have the meeting, we just wanted to have the preliminary discussions first, so the ad was not necessary to prompt the meeting," Morrissey said. “We want to move forward and be constructive.”
No matter the time of year, a morning that involves brunch is usually a morning for celebration (or maybe you’ve just slept in a little bit longer than you intended—we won’t judge).
Either way, Easter Sunday makes for a great excuse on both counts. As the for the menu, it doesn’t need to be complicated. Before you start planning to heat up your oven at the crack of dawn, check in with some of your favorite Baton Rouge restaurants for some local Easter brunch-inspired dishes ready for takeout first.
Mo Bamba spent years playing backup center as Nikola Vucevic unexpectedly emerged into an All-Star.
When Vooch was somewhat unexpectedly traded, the Magic acquired another young center who Bamba will now have to compete with for playing time.
It was the newly-acquired Wendell Carter Jr. who was on the court during crunch time during the Magic’s 96-93 loss to the Lakers on Sunday, despite what had been a decent-enough performance from Bamba, at least in the eyes of some and also in the box score. Steve Clifford evaluates and prioritizes it differently, as he should, and that clearly will continue during what Bamba himself described as “more of a learning environment” within the organization following the trades.
“I’m not gonna come up here and make stuff up,” Clifford told reporters about the Magic’s performance after Sunday’s game. “We played hard, we didn’t play smart. We made a ton of mistakes and it’s hard to win on the road doing that. One thing we’re gonna do all the way through this now, we’re not going to make stuff up, that’s what bad franchises do, especially at the end of the year. We’re not doing that. Guys played good, I’ll say they played good. Guys are learning, it wasn’t that great.”
Tough love can be a good thing for a young, developing team like the Magic. Clifford is going to have a challenging juggling act over the final 26 games of the season, and of all the balls in the air, the most intriguing one will be how he balances the playing time of Carter, Bamba, and to a lesser degree, Khem Birch (a free-agent-to-be currently holding down a starting job that will probably soon belong to Carter).
Photo by Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images
The 21-year-old Carter is the more polished player than the 22-year-old Bamba at this stage, perhaps in all areas other than three-point shooting and shot blocking. Bamba has struggled with team defense, and Clifford doesn’t tolerate players being out of position or committing unnecessary fouls. That’s probably the reason that Clifford elected to play Carter down the stretch (and more minutes overall) than Bamba in what was Carter’s first game with the team (unless Bamba is still on a minutes restriction of some kind).
“Cliff doesn’t play mistake guys,” Bamba told reporters after practice on Monday. “He’s going to hold you accountable for being in the right spots, being in the right spot at the right time. We’re not really using this trade or this new look that we’re going with as an excuse to not win. We want to go out there and be competitive to the very end while also getting better.”
Bamba was asked what kind of opportunity the trades have created for him.
“There’s the elephant in the room,” Bamba said. “Playing behind an All-Star in Vooch, your minutes are limited. Now I think I get an opportunity to go out there, and not necessarily improve, but just go out there and just grow and get well acclimated with just how the game goes.”
Photo by Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images
That was my issues with Bamba not closing the game on Sunday, a night when he played well enough to earn the opportunity, and when Carter had little to no time to even glance at the playbook. The best way for Bamba to “grow and get well acclimated” is to be on the court, even if that means learning the hard way while making mistakes and being pushed around a little and playing through the challenges of development in the NBA.
Bamba sitting on the bench watching the new guy play over him on Day 1 seems more counterproductive to Bamba’s development than him potentially making a poor rotation or costly foul late in the fourth would have been. The watch-and-learn strategy with Bamba on the bench hasn’t worked out so well to this point. It’s time for some hands-on experience, particularly during meaningful stretches of the game.
There was no better time to do that than on Sunday night. It’s now on Clifford to find those minutes for both Carter and Bamba as the Magic find out which will be the center to invest in down the line. Doing so could include some big lineups with Carter at the four and Bamba at the five as experimentation begins with this young Magic team.
“We have a lot of guys who are younger than me,” Bamba said. “I’m not the youngest dude in the locker room anymore, I’m probably in like the middle of the pack now at 22, which is crazy. But gaining a guy like Otto and gaining a guy like Wendell, we still have that size at the 4, 3 and 5. And it should be really interesting to see. I’m eager to get out there and play alongside of Wendell.”
Bamba said he first met Carter when the two were teammates at a Jim Couch basketball event as kids.
“Wendell was the same exact size he is now,” Bamba said with a laugh. “At age 14. But that was the first time I played with him, I think we were on the same team. And then we’ve just been with each other throughout the whole entire high school process. We both had Duke in our final two or three schools. Decided to go to Texas but we’ve known each other for a very long time. We’ve played against and with each other. And I think this is going to be a very good thing for our organization.”
It certainly will be if one of them emerges as the Orlando Magic’s starting center of the future. Because even after trading their franchise center, the Magic somehow still have a logjam at the position, one that will be easier to sort out next season when Birch has presumably moved on. So we’ll see how Clifford manages their playing time on Tuesday against the Clippers and balances development while remaining committed to giving the team their best chance to win.
“We want to win and we want to get better,” Bamba said. “Its a different kind of environment because it’s more of a learning environment. But Cliff is big on, he’s still big on what he’s always been preaching, and I think that’s going to help us elevate to get to where we all want to go.”
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