The usual players have dominated the Power Five preseason media polls, with Alabama , Clemson and Oklahoma all being named as the top picks to win their respective conferences. However, voters out in Pac-12 country have put a different spin on their preseason media poll. Utah was chosen as the conference's projected champion for the upcoming 2019 season. The Utes nabbed 33 of 35 first-place votes to win the South division ( USC received the other two), and then received 12 first-place votes for the Pac-12 Championship Game. Oregon and Washington received 11 and nine votes, respectively, to win the Pac-12 while USC (2) and Washington State (1) also received votes. The Utes have been a trendy offseason underdog with their schedule and returning roster, but could this actually be the their year? Kyle Whittingham's team did make it to the Pac-12 title game a season ago. Here's how the voting broke down for each division. While Oregon and Washington received 17 first-place votes each for the North, the Ducks barely topped the Huskies in total points (190 to 189) to officially be the preseason favorite out of that division. First-place votes are in parenthesis. Pac-12 North Oregon (17) Washington (17) Stanford Washington State (1) Cal Oregon State Pac-12 South 1. Utah (33) 2. USC (2) T3. Arizona State T3. UCLA 5. Arizona 6. Colorado Pac-12 Title Game champion: Utah (12), Oregon (11), Washington (9), USC (2), Washington State (1).


A bill passed on Wednesday by the Illinois House would require gun owners to be fingerprinted and pay more for identification cards. The state Senate still must approve the bill before it could be signed into law. Democratic Rep. Kathleen Willis of Addison, citing deficiencies in the state's current Firearm Owner's Identification system, said the bill comes in response to a shooting at a factory in Aurora where six people, including the gunman, were killed, according to The Associated Press. (MORE: Aurora shooting suspect opened fire during termination meeting: Police) Video provided by Chicago Tribune Gary Martin, 45, killed five coworkers before dying in a firefight with police in February. A convicted felon, Martin never should have obtained the FOID card he used to purchase a .40-caliber Smith & Wesson handgun used in the attack, police said. FOID cards currently cost $10 and last for 10 years. The new bill would require cards cost $20 and instead last five years, and that card owners be fingerprinted. (MORE: The US averaged at least 1 deadly mass shooting a month in 2018) Tim Butler, a Republican representing Springfield, said supporters of the bill "are creating a police state" by creating a database of fingerprints that could be used for other purposes, the AP reported. In the U.S., according to data compiled by FiveThirtyEight, more than 33,000 people die every year from gunfire .


Uncertainty reigned in Puerto Rico on Thursday as the island's Legislature delayed confirmation of a new secretary of state who could succeed embattled Gov. Ricardo Rosselló. Rosselló, whose resignation becomes effective Friday at 5 p.m., had chosen Pedro Pierluisi Urrutia as secretary of state to fill the vacancy left by Luis G. Rivera Marín   who submitted his resignation on July 13 after he came under fire for his involvement in the chat scandal that led to Rosselló's ouster . By law, the island's secretary of state should be the one to succeed Rosselló. But if Pierluisi is not confirmed before Rosselló officially steps down, Puerto Rico's constitution establishes that Justice Secretary Wanda Vázquez would take over as governor. But Vázquez has emphasized her disinterest in the position. In an extraordinary legislative session on Thursday, Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz said Pierluisi should not be governor, because he's an attorney at a firm that is "representing Puerto Rico's No. 1 enemy," referring to the federal oversight board that monitors all of the island's finances. Rivera Schatz and other legislators say it presents a conflict of interest . Slideshow by photo services However, Rivera Schatz then proceeded to say that Pierluisi could possibly become the island's new governor anyway, since he was sworn in as secretary of state on Wednesday night. In the end, Rivera Schatz delayed Pierluisi's confirmation hearing to next week. His remarks sparked skepticism among legislators who insist that Pierluisi has to be confirmed by the Legislature. This gave a glimpse of a possible conundrum that could take place in the days to come if no clear successor is in place by Friday afternoon. Meanwhile, House of Representatives President Carlos Méndez Núñez called Pierluisi in for a public hearing on Friday at 9 a.m. for a possible vote on Pierluisi's nomination. After the extraordinary session, many Puerto Rican lawmakers anticipated that Pierluisi might not have the votes to be confirmed. If Pierluisi does not receive enough House votes before Friday at 5 p.m., the Senate's hearing won't be necessary, said Méndez Núñez during a press conference. He clarified that Pierluisi would have to win enough votes in both the House and the Senate in order to be confirmed as the island's new secretary of state and eventually step up as the governor. Skepticism over who will be the next governor continues to grow and small protests persist as the island's decimated administration still struggles to make an orderly transition hours before Roselló's resignation becomes official on Friday. Follow NBC Latino on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram .


SAN BERNARDINO (CBSLA)   Authorities Sunday were investigating an officer-involved shooting of an ex-felon in Fontana. San Bernardino Sheriff's deputies say shooting unfolded at Jurupa and Cypress avenues shortly after 11 p.m. Saturday after officers pulled over a car with four men inside. Investigators say one of the men identified as Devon King, an ex-felon, got out of the car with a gun and tried to run. Police chased after King and shot him in the leg. Jurupa Avenue between Cypress and Juniper remain shut down while authorities investigate.


Curious just how far your dollar goes in Aurora? We've rounded up the latest rental listings via rental sites Zumper and Apartment Guide to get a sense of what to expect when it comes to scoring a place in Aurora if you've got a budget of $1,200/month. Read on for the listings. (Note: prices and availability are subject to change.) Hoodline offers data-driven analysis of local happenings and trends across cities. Links included in this article may earn Hoodline a commission on clicks and transactions. 151 S. Joliet Circle (Highline Villages) Here's a one-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment at 151 S. Joliet Circle. It's listed for $1,138/month for its 782 square feet. When it comes to building amenities, anticipate on-site laundry and secured entry. Expect to find hardwood flooring and a fireplace in the unit. Pet lovers are in luck: Cats and dogs are welcome. Walk Score indicates that this location is somewhat walkable, is convenient for biking and has a few nearby public transportation options. (Take a gander at the complete listing here .) 1075 S. Elkhart Way (City Center) Next, here's an 816-square-foot two-bedroom, one-bathroom spot at 1075 S. Elkhart Way that's going for $1,125/month. In the residence, you'll see a fireplace, carpeting and air conditioning. The building features outdoor space, additional storage space and a swimming pool. Animals are not welcome. Future tenants needn't worry about a leasing fee. Walk Score indicates that the surrounding area is somewhat walkable, is bikeable and has a few nearby public transportation options. (See the full listing here .) 11300 E. 16th Ave. (North Aurora) Check out this two-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment that's located at 11300 E. 16th Ave. It's also listed for $1,125/month. Building amenities include on-site laundry and assigned parking. In the apartment, you can expect carpeted floors and a dishwasher. Pets are not permitted. Walk Score indicates that this location is quite walkable, is bikeable and offers many nearby public transportation options. (See the complete listing here .) 15601 E. Caspian Circle (Kingsborough) Listed at $1,125/month, this 610-square-foot one-bedroom, one-bathroom abode is located at 15601 E. Caspian Circle. In the apartment, you can expect a fireplace, a balcony, in-unit laundry and a walk-in closet. If you've got a pet, you'll be happy to learn that cats and dogs are welcome. The rental doesn't require a leasing fee. According to Walk Score's assessment, the area around this address is moderately walkable, is very bikeable and has some transit options. (Take a look at the complete listing here .) Working with a tight budget? Here are the cheapest rentals recently listed in Aurora . This story was created automatically using local real estate data from Zumper and Apartment Guide , then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.


INDIANAPOLIS -- The Brooklyn Nets are still on the outside looking in but the view is getting better. For the Indiana Pacers, on the other hand things are getting fuzzier. Center Brook Lopez had his second big game in as many nights, scoring 26 points on 11 of 14 shooting, as the surging Nets beat the reeling Pacers, 123-111, Saturday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. "We all just came out and tried to be aggressive," said Lopez, who scored 32 in the Nets' 129-127 triple-overtime victory over Milwaukee Friday. "We put last night out of our minds and just tried to keep playing the way we have been." Brooklyn (29-39) won for the fourth time in five games to pull one game behind eighth-place Boston in the Eastern Conference playoff chase. BOX SCORE: NETS 123, PACERS 111 Forward Bojan Bogdanovic scored 21, making all eight of his shots, and guard Deron Williams 17 with six assists for the Nets, who shot 61 percent from the field -- a franchise record for an Indiana opponent in Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The Nets also topped 120 points in consecutive games for the first time since April 1992. "Everyone contributed in some way and they created this win," Brooklyn coach Lionel Hollins said. "The reason I say that is because we played a lot of minutes last night and tonight I was able to keep a lot of the starters' minutes down which allowed them to be fresher as we came down the stretch. Everybody had to contribute in order for us to do that." Indiana (30-39) lost its fifth straight and fell one-half game behind the Celtics. Guard George Hill scored 18, forwards Luis Scola and Solomon Hill 17 apiece and center Roy Hibbert 16 for the Pacers. "You've just got to give them credit, they played a great basketball game for four quarters," said Indiana coach Frank Vogel. "Sixty-one percent against our defense is a pretty special performance." In the skid, Indiana has yielded an average of 106.2 points per game. The Nets' point total was a season-high. This is the Pacers' fourth losing streak of at least five games this season, the first time that has happened since 1988-89. "The effort is there," said forward David West, who scored 13 points "We've had some tough matchups but we just haven't been as tied together as we have been. We just have to figure it out." The Pacers put together a 10-1 run early in the fourth quarter to close to 97-96, but Joe Johnson scored seven of his 14 points and Bogdanovic hit a pair of jumpers as the Nets pushed the lead to 109-100 with 3:59 remaining and Indiana would offer no further challenge. After a high-scoring, hot-shooting first half, Indiana found its defense in the third period, holding the Nets to just 11 points in the first seven minutes and putting together a 14-4 run to take a 78-74 lead. Guard C.J. Miles got the run started with a pair of 3-pointers and Hibbert took it from there with six straight points. Lopez wouldn't allow the Nets to wilt, scoring 14 points in period as the visitors recovered to take an 88-87 lead into the fourth quarter. Both teams shot well in the first half, but the Nets were nearly flawless in the second quarter, hitting their first nine shots, including all six in a 12-1 run -- with all of the points provided by the second unit -- that gave the visitors the first cushion of the game, 47-38. In a period when Brooklyn shot 15 of 21 overall (.714), the Nets would lead by as many as 12 before settling for a 63-56 lead at the break. Indiana lost its leading bench scorer in the second quarter as guard Rodney Stuckey (13.1 points per game, second on the team) left with a strained left calf and did not return. NOTES: Despite an ESPN report that Indiana F Paul George could make his comeback as early as Saturday, Vogel indicated no change in the recovering star's status. "There's no timetable for his return," Vogel said in his pregame media briefing. "We'll let you know when he's ready to play. That's all I've got to say about it, really." ... Both teams were playing the second night of back-to-backs. Five Nets played at least 40 minutes in a triple-overtime victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday night, though no Pacers played more than 35 minutes in a two-point loss in Cleveland. ... West, who played just 12 minutes in Cleveland because of a stomach ailment, was back in the starting lineup. ... Indiana faces a tough road in its pursuit of a playoff berth, with nine of its final 13 games against teams currently in playoff position and two others against teams in competition for playoff position in the Eastern Conference (March 31 at Brooklyn, April 3 vs. Charlotte). ... The Nets close with eight of 14 games against playoff teams.


Beto O'Rourke announced Friday that if he won the presidency in 2020, he would work to decriminalize truancy, illegitimate absences from school , and address fines on parents. "We will also decriminalize truancy," O'Rourke tweeted as part of a thread describing how he would address racial injustice. He argued that truancy and other aspects of the education system disproportionately affected people of color. "States like Texas have taken the first step by repealing laws that prosecute children for truancy, but the fines their parents face still loom large in a system that disproportionately targets black and brown students. I will take this on." BETO LIVESTREAMS OWN HAIRCUT, MASSAGE DAY AFTER LAMENTING IMAGE OF 'PRIVILEGE' Truancy didn't seem to receive a lot of attention in the 2020 cycle, although Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif, also a 2020 hopeful, came under fire for supporting an anti-truancy law in her home state. In an interview published in April, she said she regretted the "unintended consequences" of that policy. "My regret is that I have now heard stories where in some jurisdictions, [District Attorneys] have criminalized the parents. And I regret that that has happened," she said . O'Rourke's pledge came as he faced comparatively low poll numbers and fended off perceptions of "privilege." In a series of tweets on Friday, O'Rourke proposed many ideas after lamenting racial disparities in education. PRESIDENT TRUMP IS WRONG TO COUNT OUT BETO O'ROURKE: FORMER OBAMA ECONOMIC ADVISER He also seemed to take aim at Judge Wendy Vitter, one of Trump's judicial nominees who was confirmed on Thursday, by suggesting that she wouldn't uphold the landmark ruling established in Brown v. Board of Education. "And as president, I will only nominate judges who respect, affirm, and defend Brown v. Board. Andrew Oldham doesn't get nominated," he said, referring to another Trump nominee. "Neither does Wendy Vitter. If you don't believe in civil rights, in equity, in opportunity, you don't belong in a position of public trust." O'Rourke only received 4 percent of Democratic primary voters' support in a Fox News poll from May 11-14. He attempted to reboot his campaign on Tuesday when he appeared on "The View" and lamented his "Vanity Fair" cover from earlier in 2019. During that appearance, he decried injustices visited upon minorities and described how he became more aware of his privilege after traveling the country. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP "You're right, there are things that I have been privileged to do in my life that others cannot. And I think the more that I travel and listen to people and listen from them, the clearer that becomes to me," he said . "When women in this country are paid 80 cents on the dollar that a man makes, African-American women 61 cents, Latinas 53 cents, when you have ten times the wealth in white America than you do in black America, when you have the largest population in prison population on the face of the planet and it is disproportionate to people of color, the systematic foundational discrimination we have in this country in every aspect of life, it's something that I have not experienced in my lifetime."


It's been a 13-year wait for Arsenal to reach a European final, but after countless disappointments on the continent, Unai Emery's side are now just 90 minutes away from being crowned Europa League champions. The Gunners remain one of the biggest clubs on the planet to have never won Europe's elite competition, but victory against Chelsea in Baku will once again give them a shot in the Champions League after two years out of the tournament. While Arsenal don't have the same European pedigree as some of their domestic rivals, they've consistently been a force to be reckoned with on the continent, having reached their first final almost 40 years ago. Here's a rundown of Arsenal's history in the finals of UEFA club competitions ahead of their appearance in this season's Europa League showpiece on 29 May. Milan 2-0 Arsenal - 1995 Back when the UEFA Super Cup was a two-legged affair, Arsenal found themselves up against Italian giants Milan - who had won the previous three Serie A titles - midway through the 1994/95 season. The Gunners held Fabio Capello's Rossoneri to a goalless draw at Highbury, with the only real talking point proving to be a yellow card from Milan's Marco Simone, but the tables turned during the return leg at San Siro. It had looked like Arsenal would go another 45 minutes without conceding against Milan, but Croatian midfielder Zvonimir Boban opened the scoring right on the stroke of half-time. Daniele Massaro doubled their lead from a corner after the break, and Milan held out for the win against Arsenal in what proved to be manager George Graham's penultimate game in charge in north London. Goalscorers: Zvonimir Boban (41), Daniele Massaro (67). Real Zaragoza 2-1 Arsenal (AET) - 1995 Later that year, the reigning champions of the Cup Winners' Cup - a game which features further down this list - found themselves in the final once again, this time facing Spanish side Real Zaragoza at Parc des Princes. They'd only just edged past Sampdoria during the semi finals, but Stewart Houston - Graham's former assistant - had set his team up to keep Real Zaragoza at a distance and it was a plan that was working wonders. After struggling to break through Arsenal's lines and surviving with some last-ditch defending at the other end of the pitch, striker Juan Esnáider was able to find a way past David Seaman with a stunning long-range effort. But Arsenal hit back straight away, forcing the game to extra time thanks to a smart finish from John Hartson inside the penalty area, although things could have been different as Lee Dixon was fortunate not to give away a late penalty. In extra-time goalkeeper Seaman proved once again why he was one of Arsenal's best players to keep out Xavi Aguado's header, but the former England international was left with egg on his face when former Tottenham midfielder Nayim's 45-yard effort found its way into the back of the net in the 120th minute. Goalscorers: Juan Esnáider (68), Nayim (120); John Hartson (77). Galatasaray 0-0 Arsenal (4-1 Pens) - 2000 It came as no surprise that Galatasaray poster boy Gheorghe Hagi was the danger man throughout their match against Arsenal during the UEFA Cup final in 2000, but it was actually striker Hakan Sükür who came closest to putting the Turkish side in front during normal time. Martin Keown found himself in the right place at the right time when he was presented with a tap in from six yards out, but Arsenal's legendary centre back blazed his effort over the crossbar, with it looking set in stone that only a penalty shootout would decide the match at the Parken Stadium in Denmark. There was time for one final twist, however, as a classic case of handbags at the start of extra time saw Arsenal defender Tony Adams pick up a yellow card and Galatasaray's Hagi shown a straight red for appearing to throw a punch. A winner couldn't be decided during open play, but the pendulum instantly swung in Galatasaray's favour when substitute Davor Suker missed Arsenal's first kick in the penalty shootout, while Ergün Penbe had scored for the Turks. Galatasaray had a perfect record from their four spot kicks, while it was Patrick Vieira's powerful effort which crashed against the crossbar and eventually decided the final. Goalscorers: N/A Valencia 0-0 Arsenal (5-4 Pens) - 1980 Arsenal's first European final, against Valencia some 12 years before the Premier League's inception in England, was also decided by a penalty shootout. But while the defeat at the hands of Galatasaray was as a result of a dismal showing from 12 yards, Arsenal's loss in the Cup Winners' Cup final in 1980 saw the highs and lows of a match being decided from the penalty spot. It was Valencia who stepped up first, but Argentine striker Mario Kempes' tame effort was easily kept out by Pat Jennings in between the sticks for Arsenal. Liam Brady, however, couldn't give Arsenal the advantage in Brussels as his shot was tipped round the post by Carlos Pereira. The next nine penalties all found their way into the back of the net with Valencia in the driving seat in sudden death, but a nonchalant Graham Rix saw his shot kept out of the same corner as Brady's earlier in the shootout, ensuring Arsenal's first European cup final would end in defeat. Goalscorers: N/A Barcelona 2-1 Arsenal - 2006 If there's one game which still gives Arsenal fans nightmares, it's their most recent European final in the Champions League against Barcelona . Things didn't start badly in the French capital as Thierry Henry came close to opening the scoring in the opening quarter of an hour, but it looked like the tables would turn when goalkeeper Jens Lehmann was sent off for a foul on Samuel Eto'o - forcing Robert Pires off in place for substitute Manuel Almunia. Despite the red card, Arsenal actually got the opening goal thanks to Sol Campbell's powerful header right on the stroke of half-time, sending the Gunners into an unlikely lead at the break. They held their nerve for much of the second half but couldn't find another breakaway goal, and Arsenal were made to pay for their missed chances when Eto'o squeezed the ball into the near post following some neat link-up play between Andrés Iniesta and Henrik Larsson. Just five minutes later, Larsson once again teed up one of his teammates from an acute angle, and just like Eto'o, defender Juliano Belletti found a way past Almunia to put Barcelona into the lead for the first time in the match. The Catalan giants held out for the remainder of the match to secure club football's biggest prize, a result which has condemned the Gunners to 13 years of falling down European football's pecking order. Goalscorers: Sol Campbell (37); Samuel Eto'o (76), Juliano Belletti (81). Arsenal 1-0 Parma - 1994 European finals haven't always been a curse for Arsenal, and in 1994 they lifted their one and only major continental trophy against a star-studded Parma side in the Cup Winners' Cup. Some six years before their defeat to Galatasaray in Copenhagen, George Graham's Arsenal were under the cosh within seconds and needed a last-ditch tackle from Steve Bould to deny Parma's Faustino Asprilla a chance inside the opening minute. Tomas Brolin was able to get a right-footed shot past David Seaman moments later, but the Swedish striker was denied by the inside of the post. Brolin's miss proved to be costly for Parma, as Alan Smith found himself in yards of space on the edge of the penalty area to fire a venomous half-volley into Luca Bucci's near post to break the deadlock. Gianfranco Zola threatened to get Parma back on level terms and the Italian side did eventually have the ball in the back of the net with effectively the last kick of the game, but the goal was ruled out for offside and the Gunners held out for the remaining few seconds to win the Cup Winners' Cup. Goalscorers: Alan Smith (20).


Statistically speaking, the Green Bay Packers were terrific defending the pass on third down last season. The addition of versatile rusher Za'Darius Smith figures to make Mike Pettine's defense even better against quarterbacks on the game's most important down in 2019. The Packers allowed only 55.4 percent of third-down passes to be completed and gave up 4.8 yards per attempt last season. Opposing quarterbacks took 21 sacks, threw four interceptions and had a passer rating of 70.6. Despite a shaky edge-rushing group and a young secondary, Pettine was able to cook up an effective combination of pressures and coverages on third down. Smith provides the Packers with a game-changing weapon for the third-down pass rush. According to Mike Renner of Pro Football Focus , Smith led the NFL in sacks and quarterback hits on third down in 2018. He was a devastatingly effective interior rusher on passing downs, using a combination of power and quickness to overwhelm guards and disrupt the quarterback. Here's one example against Drew Brees: #Packers were actually really good against the pass on third down last year (4.8 ypa, 70.6 passer rating). @TheRealZSmith will make them even better. pic.twitter.com/xJfm8VrAtQ - Zach Kruse (@zachkruse2) July 5, 2019 Smith won the one-on-one rep against the guard, stormed into the pocket and blew up Brees as he was attempting to make a short throw. It was 3rd-and-5. The pressure came too quick for Brees to get the ball out on time, and the Saints punted it away. Having Smith and his ability to win as an interior rusher should give Pettine a ridiculous amount of pressure options, especially considering how effective the Packers were in manufacturing pressure without a star edge rusher in 2018. Then again, Pettine won't be forced to be as creative in 2019. He can line up Smith next to Kenny Clark on the interior of the line and let the two wrecking balls run circles around guards and centers on third down. Throw in the perimeter ability of newcomer Preston Smith, the versatility of rookie Rashan Gary and the return of Kyler Fackrell, who produced 10.5 sacks in a reserve role last season, and the Packers should have the instruments necessary to make life even more difficult on quarterbacks on third down this season. MORE: What Kawhi Leonard is doing with his decision should be applauded News: Cowboys who could be traded, triple-threat WRs, Eric Berry talk WATCH: Lonzo Ball returns to court for first time since ankle injury Roundup: Donald Trump's Plane Thoughts; Colin Cowherd is Unflappable; Classic Mets Stuff The Steelers got their new Brett Keisel with Isaiah Buggs


A 13-year-old Massachusetts boy was left motherless following a deadly road rage incident late last week involving two strangers, PEOPLE confirms. A statement from the Plymouth County District Attorney's Office details the allegations against Jacqueline Mendes, the 32-year-old Fall River woman accused of stabbing 41-year-old Jennifer Landry of Brockton in the neck Friday afternoon. According to the statement, the fatal incident happened at 3:45 p.m. in Brockton. Fifteen minutes later, Mendes turned herself over to police. Mendes remains in custody without bail on murder and assault charges. She entered not guilty pleas to those counts Monday. It was unclear Tuesday if she had retained the services of an attorney who could comment on the allegations. Police arrived at the scene after receiving numerous 911 calls, finding Landry "bleeding profusely and suffering from a stab wound to the right side of her neck," reads the statement. She was treated at the scene and rushed by helicopter to Boston Medical Center, where she would die Saturday. According to the statement, Mendes walked into the Brockton Police Department's headquarters Friday "and reported to police that she was in an altercation with a motorist" and that, while "there was no accident," she allegedly confided "there may have been a stabbing involved." A more specific motive for the violence is not mentioned in the statement. "A traffic confrontation ensued between Mendes and Landry prior to the stabbing," the statement reads. "Mendes allegedly stabbed Landry with a knife and re-entered her vehicle and fled the scene." Mendes is scheduled to appear in court next on August 8. The murder has devastated Landry's loved ones. • Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Click here to get breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases in the True Crime Newsletter. "This wasn't supposed to happen to her," her sister, Denise Landry, posted to Facebook. "Not my baby sis. … I'm defeated but I love my sister with all my heart." Heather Niles, a friend of Landry's sister, told the Herald News the doting mother was kind to all . "She was a sweet girl," Niles said. "She was funny. She had a kind heart. She cared about everybody. She didn't have an unkind bone in her body. For something like this to happen, over something so ridiculous, just doesn't make any sense."


The Sri Lankan government is cutting airline fees in a bid to revive its tourism sector. Tourist arrivals to the island plummeted by around 80% after a series of terrorist bombings killed more than 250 people on Easter Sunday this year. The price of aviation fuel, ground handling, and embarkation fees will be reduced for six months at Colombo's Bandaranaike International Airport, The Guardian reported on Tuesday. Sri Lanka had been named Lonely Planet's best place to visit in 2019 before the attacks, and tourist visits were up 12% in 2018 compared to 2017. It's been almost three months since the beautiful island of Sri Lanka was rocked by a series of terrorist bombings which were carried out on churches and luxury hotels on Easter Sunday, killing more than 250 people. At the time, Sri Lanka was in the midst of a tourism boom. The island had been named Lonely Planet's best place to visit in 2019, and tourist visits were up by 12% in 2018 compared to 2017. Tourism had become a key component in the country's economy as people came to ride the iconic trains through the tea hills, safari in Yala National Park, and surf in Arugum Bay. The tourism sector accounts for 4.9% of Sri Lanka's GDP and generated $4.4 billion in revenue in 2018, according to Associated Press. Read more: I took a $3, 7-hour train ride through Sri Lanka's hill country - and it was unlike any travel experience I've ever had However, after the Easter bombings this year, the government cited an 80% drop in foreign visitors, as reported by AP. Some tourism officials told the news agency that the damage to the industry after the bombings was worse than during the 26-year civil war between the Tamil Tigers and the government, which ended in 2009. Now, in a bid to revive the recently up-and-coming industry, the government has announced plans to cut fees for airlines visiting Sri Lanka. The Guardian reports that the price of aviation fuel, ground handling, and embarkation fees will be reduced for six months at Colombo's Bandaranaike International Airport to increase the number of flights and lower ticket prices for travelers. Tourist arrivals unsurprisingly plummeted following the Easter Sunday bombings, however, recent government data has shown that figures are picking up again: rising from around 38,000 arrivals in May to 63,000 arrivals in June. Sri Lanka is currently rated level two out of four on the US Department of State's Travel Advisory Levels : Exercise Increased Caution. "Terrorists may attack with little or no warning," the Department of State warns. "The U.S. government has limited ability to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens in remote areas," it also states. RELATED VIDEO: Catholic church bombed in Sri Lanka attacks reopens (Provided by: Agence France-Presse)


Sometimes, life is stranger than fiction. For the Raiders, this is one of those times. Wide receiver Antonio Brown has missed most of training camp with an absurd foot issue , but there was more going on behind the scenes. He's reportedly vowed to quit playing football if he can't use the same model helmet he's worn his entire career. The model was recently labeled as outdated by the NFL. It's hard to imagine Brown turning his back on his massive contract, which includes $30 million guaranteed. But he's clearly serious, judging by the two-hour discussion he had with league officials on the matter, as reported by ESPN . The Raiders are thinking positive, however. According to The Las Vegas Review-Journal's Michael Gehlken, the club expects Brown to be back at practice with a new helmet "in the near future." Raiders official optimistic that WR Antonio Brown soon will be in a helmet. Helmet safety expert explains why Schutt Air Advantage model is "not something we recommend people wear." https://t.co/ItaycYKHAh - Michael Gehlken (@GehlkenNFL) August 10, 2019 Brown's feet have been ready to go, per Gehlken. It's the helmet issue that has caused Brown to miss practice lately. According to ESPN's report, Brown's familiarity with the sightlines out of his old helmet is the main issue for the All-Pro. That lines up with the description of Brown's outdated helmet of choice, believed by Dr. Stefan Duma to be a Schutt Air Advantage. "It's an older helmet. Simply put, it has less padding," Duma said, according to Gehlken. "It's smaller, thinner. So if you get hit in the head, you're going to have higher … concussion risk compared to a bigger, newer helmet that has more padding." Brown has 15 helmets to choose from, according to Duma. The Raiders believe he'll make his choice soon. The club expected drama from Brown - coach Jon Gruden said as much just before training camp. But they couldn't have expected this much before the start of the regular season. Once Brown returns, assuming that happens, the drama likely won't be over. Reports about Brown's behavior when he does appear at the team's Napa facility could potentially spark more team issues. 19) Brown, according to witnesses, typically glances at the screens of several tablets and his smart phone during meetings, distracting himself by engaging in activities which include perusing his bank accounts and "liking" photos on Instagram… - Michael Silver (@MikeSilver) August 9, 2019 But the Raiders must have realized the risk in trading for Brown, who had a rough end to his tenure with the Steelers. Brown's immense talent is the reason Gruden and general manager Mike Mayock brought him to Oakland, however, and there's still ample opportunity for the gamble to pay off. He just has to pick a helmet first. MORE: Browns mob touchdown scorer who slept outside a gym during tryouts Earl Watson explains the 'perfect marriage' of Westbrook, Harden Lions preseason Week 1 snap counts: 12 key observations D'Angelo Russell Q&A: Warriors' new backcourt is 'like a video game' 3 things to know about newly acquired Eagles DE Eli Harold


(Provided by The Independent) An Iranian military official said Monday that Tehran is capable of shooting down more American spy drones as tensions between the two countries continue to simmer, according to a report out of the country. Rear. Adm. Hossein Khanzadi, Iran's naval chief, said Iran can deliver another "crushing response … and the enemy knows it," according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency. Trump called off military strikes against Tehran after Iranians shot down a US surveillance drone, which was valued at over $100 million. Iran claimed that the drone was flying over its airspace at the time of the shooting. Washington insisted that the drone was over international waters. In an interview on NBC's "Meet The Press," Trump said that he did not think the potential loss of life in Iran was "proportionate to shooting down an unmanned drone." Also watch: President Trump to unleash 'major' new sanctions against Iran Instead of a military strike, the president noted that his administration plans to ratchet up the already hefty sanctions on Iran. Trump is prepared to announce new sanctions on the country on Monday. Trump expressed his willingness to open talks with Iranian officials without any preconditions   saying that he doesn't want a war with the Islamic Republic, but if it comes down to an armed conflict it will be "obliteration like you've never seen before." The Associated Press and Fox News' Andrew O'Reilly contributed to this report.


CHICAGO   Authorities said a parolee with a long history of identity theft and credit card scams masqueraded as a ride-share driver downtown and cleaned out the bank accounts of at least four people after gaining access to their bank cards. Police accuse Lance Baymon, 39, of prowling bars and restaurants in Chicago's Loop and River North areas between March and July and withdrawing more than $24,000 cash from four victims' accounts, including $19,000 taken from one in mid-July. A Cook County judge ordered Baymon, of south suburban Lansing, held on $150,000 bail on multiple identity theft and continuing a criminal enterprise charges during a hearing Sunday at the Leighton Criminal Court Building. In court, prosecutors described Baymon's ruse: In each instance, Baymon   who is on parole for separate theft and identity theft convictions   is accused of identifying himself as the victim's driver and asking for a debit card. In three of those incidents, Baymon allegedly swiped the card using a device attached to his phone and gave the riders an identical card without them noticing, said Assistant State's Attorney Ryan Gallagher. In one instance, he didn't return the victim's card. In each case, the victims received notices of unauthorized withdrawals from their bank account, Gallagher said. Surveillance video at at least two businesses captured Baymon using an ATM to withdraw the victim's cash, authorities said. After months of investigation, police arrested Baymon on Saturday at Chase Tower in the Loop. It was unclear whether authorities suspect other victims will come forward. Popular ride-share apps like Uber ask that riders verify their driver's identity using the app before getting into a vehicle, adding that customers aren't asked for payment during the ride. Following Sunday's hearing, Chicago police warned people using ride-share programs to remain vigilant, saying riders are increasingly being targeted by criminals falsely posing as drivers. Last year, a string of robberies were tied to fake ride-share drivers who robbed their passengers at gunpoint. "Opportunists capitalize on this and troll around bar and entertainment areas looking for easy victims," police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said. "We are finding that individuals are leaving bars and entertainment venues and not paying attention to their surroundings. Also, people are on their phones and are distracted and they get into the wrong cars." He added that ride-share companies also employ retired law enforcement officers who help monitor and track suspicious activity. In addition to the 2016 theft and 2014 identity theft convictions, Baymon has separate convictions for misuse of credit cards and escape. If he makes bail, Judge John F. Lyke Jr. ordered Baymon held on electronic home monitoring.     ©2019 Chicago Tribune Visit the Chicago Tribune at www.chicagotribune.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.


INDIANAPOLIS   In the waning laps of a rage-filled Indianapolis 500, Alexander Rossi was pacing the field back to the green flag when he made a brazen declaration to his Andretti Autosport crew. "A bunch of hungry, angry cars behind me," he radioed. "Little do they know I'm angrier." The finish didn't bring him any joy. Simon Pagenaud breezed past him high on the restart, triggering a dramatic duel that included five passes in the closing 13 laps. Rossi twice regained the lead, but it was Pagenaud who made the decisive pass, taking the lead heading to the white flag and then holding on through the final lap. It gave Team Penske another win at the Brickyard. And it left Rossi ruing a chance that got away. "I'm happy to get a result," he said, "but unfortunately nothing else matters here but winning. This one will be hard to get over, but at the end of the day, it's a great showing." Rossi said the difference was simple: "Horsepower." All month long, the Chevrolet-powered cars appeared to have an advantage over Honda, particularly when it came to straight-line speed. Honda appeared to have an advantage in fuel mileage, but a late wreck that red-flagged the race wound up making that a moot point. Speed was all that mattered. Pagenaud in his Chevrolet had just a bit more. "There's not much I can do about that inside the car," said Rossi, who won the 2016 race in his first try, and has finished seventh or better in all four starts. "That last yellow hurt us. We were doing a lot better on fuel mileage than he was. It was the first kind of nail in the proverbial coffin. And the second was I just didn't have the speed out front." Rossi acknowledged it was "a good day for the team," but a number of incidents hurt the chances of a car he said was "by far the best in the field." The first came on a pit stop midway through the race, when an issue with a component inside the fueling mechanism caused a problem. While a crew member frantically kept trying to get the gas to flow, Rossi began pounding his steering wheel in frustration for a stop that took more than 20 seconds. It only cost Rossi a handful of spots, thanks to a timely yellow flag. "It wasn't ideal, for sure," said Rossi's race strategist, Rob Edwards. The second incident involved Oriol Servia, who was a lap down but found himself jockeying with the leaders with about 50 laps to go. Rossi kept trying to get around him, and at one point got pinched and nearly hit the wall while trying to make a pass, leaving him to ask: "What is he doing!?" Rossi finally got around Servia while gesturing wildly from his cockpit at about 230 mph. "There was a lot of lapped cars and no respect for what we were doing," Rossi said. "It was really unfortunate. Ultimately it didn't make a difference with the result." Not with the way Pagenaud was driving down the stretch. He took the lead on Rossi during the restart with 13 laps to go, then gave it up on the next lap, only to regain it once more. Pagenaud patiently waited for the penultimate lap, then swept through Turn 3 to retake the lead as the two of them barreled toward the white flag. Rossi sucked up to his Team Penske rival on the back stretch, but Pagenaud slithered like a snake to keep him behind. Pagenaud then dived low as they exited the final corner, and the break in the draft created enough separation that Rossi was never able to make a finish-line pass. Rossi said that Pagenaud was "moving in reaction, for sure," but he never thought about lodging a protest over the blocking. "The last lap of the Indy 500," he said, "they're not going to do anything." Instead, Rossi tried to turn his anger into a sense of accomplishment. "This one will be hard to get over, but at the end of the day, it's a great showing," he said. "We have to take the positives from this and the positives are the 27 boys did a phenomenal job." ___ More AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/apf-AutoRacing and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports


(Bloomberg) -- Pfizer Inc. plans to combine its off-patent business, which includes Lipitor cholesterol pills and male-impotence drug Viagra, with Mylan NV and form a generic drug giant, according to people familiar with the matter. The deal, if completed, could be announced as early as Monday, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are private. Under the potential stock deal, Mylan investors would get a little more than 40% of the new entity and Pfizer investors the rest. Mylan executives held a meeting in New York last week to discuss the accord, and no one else is in the frame for the business, one of the people said. Mylan, whose shares have fallen almost 50% in the past year, has a market value of $9.5 billion. Pfizer, up 12% in the same period, is worth $240 billion. Michael Goettler, who runs Pfizer's off-patent drug unit, would become chief executive of the combined company, and Mylan Chairman Robert Coury would be executive chairman, one of the people said. Current Mylan CEO Heather Bresch would depart. Mylan President Rajiv Malik, who faces civil suits accusing him of taking part in an alleged price-fixing scheme , would ultimately leave the combined company, one of the people said. The business would be based in the U.S., removing the Dutch governance structure that has frustrated some Mylan investors and is essentially a takeover defense. Also part of the potential deal: the new company will refinance debt held by Mylan and the subsidiary of Pfizer. Mylan has more than $13 billion in long-term debt. Officials for Pfizer and Mylan declined to comment. The story was originally reported by the Wall Street Journal. Generics Under Pressure The generic-drug industry has been under increasing pressure in recent years as competition drives prices lower and lower. In some cases, companies have been able to charge no more than the cost of production for certain medications. That has also resulted in problems for consumers as some drugmakers elect to abandon medications that are no longer profitable, leading to shortages and other imbalances in the marketplace. At the same time, giant pharmaceutical companies including Pfizer have been focusing more on developing innovative treatments for cancer and rare diseases. Pfizer has said that it's trying to increase the pace of its own drug development and has been looking for ways to replenish its pipeline of potential blockbusters. In recent years, it has spun off the animal-health business and agreed to merge the consumer health arm into a new venture with GlaxoSmithKline Plc. What Bloomberg Intelligence Says "Large pharma needs to focus its resources on developing and selling innovative medicines and these other businesses such as consumer health and legacy products are a distraction. This is the current trend and Pfizer's decision makes sense. The combination with Mylan creates one of the biggest companies in the specialty-generic space, giving them the best clout in a very competitive market." Sam Fazeli, senior pharmaceutical analyst. Mylan faces a different sort of crossroads as it wrestles the growing challenges in the generics industry. The company said last year it was launching a strategic review as it confronts slowing sales in North America, but has shed little light so far on what changes might result. Over the past year, Mylan shares have shed nearly half their value. EpiPen Questions The company has also faced questions about its popular EpiPen allergy auto-injector, which many consumers have said they have had a hard time finding in pharmacies. The company and the Food and Drug Administration earlier this year extended the expiration dates of some devices in order to manage the shortfall. A Pfizer unit called Meridian Medical Technologies manufactures the EpiPen for Mylan. The Meridian business has formed part of the negotiations on the deal, a person familiar said. Mylan is scheduled to hold an investor day with its earnings release this week. In a note to investors on July 25, Wells Fargo analyst David Maris said the company must explain to investors "why the next five years will look substantially different" than the company's last five years. Pfizer, up about 9% since its first-quarter earnings report, is scheduled to post its most recent quarterly results on Tuesday. (Adds more detail of proposed deal in third paragraph) --With assistance from Cynthia Koons, Nour Al Ali and Sally Bakewell. To contact the reporters on this story: Timothy Annett in New York at tannett@bloomberg.net;Riley Ray Griffin in New York at rgriffin42@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Ludden at jludden@bloomberg.net For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com ©2019 Bloomberg L.P.


The Tampa Bay Buccaneers kicked off training camp practice Friday, and already it feels like this team is ready for the first game of the season - all right, maybe preseason. While it's still early, there's a lot to be excited about watching this squad practice. With that, here are three reasons why training camp is already off to a good start. New sheriff in town Head coach Bruce Arians has already brought his swagger to the organization, and now fans can watch him work during practice (if they bring earplugs , that is). The two-time NFL Coach of the Year likes what he sees so far, and why shouldn't he? He's got the best receiving offense in the game, which is perfect for the pass-happy coach, and he's got his old friend Todd Bowles with him running the defense. Plus, he's eating right and losing weight now , so his mind can focus on football. Fresh start. Good Jameis Winston Speaking of football, the focus of camp the first few days on Winston was how he looked in this new offense, unlike last year when the questions surrounding him at the start of training camp were about his three-game suspension . With the organization having moved past the suspension, Winston is looking to redeem himself in their eyes and show they were right to put their faith in him. He's looked good early, but time will tell how the fifth-year quarterback performs this season. Just for kicks The kicking competition is turning out to be one of the more exciting position battles at camp so far. Cairo Santos was solid the first day of camp, going 8-for-9, while rookie Matt Gay went 10-for-10 when he got his opportunity, including a 57 yard bomb. For a team that's still fighting the Aguayo curse, having two solid kickers on the roster right now is a great thing. MORE: LeBron was so pumped about Bronny's championship-sealing dunk 4 takeaways from Day 2 of Rams training camp: Gurley sits as planned Chiefs training camp, 7/28/19: Recap, reactions Tom Brady disobeys Bill Belichick at practice, and suffers the consequences Packers impressed with Rashan Gary's effort early at training camp


Arnold's Lobster and Clam Bar, a restaurant in Eastham, Massachusetts, about two hours from downtown Boston, had a rare find in a recent order of live lobsters   a blue lobster. It probably wouldn't be a newsworthy development under normal circumstances, but the nearby hockey team   the Boston Bruins   was just defeated in the Stanley Cup Final by the St. Louis … Blues . That is going to play a role in the fate of the colorful crustacean. Instead of serving it, Nathan Nickerson III plans on keeping it on display at his restaurant for another week or so before donating it an aquarium, as he told to CNN . His aquarium of choice is one that will be opening later this year in St. Louis as a show of respect to the Stanley Cup champion Blues. "I'd like to give the blue lobster to the St. Louis aquarium out of respect to the St. Louis Blues, who won the championship, to show that Bruins fans have class," Nickerson said, via CNN . While it was an intense an physical series on the ice between the two teams ( resulting in two different suspensions for Blues players and a number of significant injuries on both sides) there were some good stories off of it, including Blues forward and Conn Smythe winner Ryan O'Reilly buying a random Bruins fan a guitar the night before Game 7 of the series. It is estimated that only one in every two million lobsters is blue. They get their color through a genetic mutation that causes the lobster to produce an excessive amount of a particular protein that changes the color. On the rare occasion they are caught they are typically put back in the sea or donated to an aquarium. The Blues defeated the Bruins in seven games   with the Cup-clinching Game 7 taking place in Boston   earlier this week to win the franchise's first ever Stanley Cup. More on the St. Louis Blues Lessons we should (and should not) learn from the 2019 St. Louis Blues Blues fan turns $400 bet into $100,000 prize Blues finally deliver Stanley Cup to St. Louis Jordan Binnington's next contract is challenge for Blues Parade to honor Stanley Cup champion Blues on Saturday   Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports . Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz . Related slideshow: 2019 Stanley Cup Final (provided by imagn)


Curious just how far your dollar goes in Detroit? We've rounded up the latest rental listings via rental sites Zumper and Apartment Guide to get a sense of what to expect when it comes to hunting down a place in Detroit if you've got a budget of $700/month. Read on for the listings. (Note: Prices and availability are subject to change.) Hoodline offers data-driven analysis of local happenings and trends across cities. Links included in this article may earn Hoodline a commission on clicks and transactions. 13640 Northlawn St. Listed at $615/month, this 869-square-foot two-bedroom, one-bathroom spot is located at 13640 Northlawn St. In the unit, you can expect a balcony. When it comes to building amenities, you'll get additional storage space. Pet owners, inquire elsewhere: This spot doesn't allow cats or dogs. The listing specifies a $30 application fee. According to Walk Score, the area around this address isn't very walkable, is bikeable and has some transit options. (Check out the complete listing here .) 709 Hazelwood St. Located at 709 Hazelwood St., here's a 500-square-foot studio apartment that's listed for $650/month. In the unit, expect to find carpeted floors and granite countertops. The building features on-site laundry and bike parking. Good news for animal lovers: Both dogs and cats are welcome here. Look out for a $55 application fee. According to Walk Score's assessment, the area around this address is friendly for those on foot, is fairly bikeable and has a few nearby public transportation options. (Take a gander at the complete listing here .) 14303 Hubbell Ave. Finally, there's this one-bedroom, one-bathroom residence situated at 14303 Hubbell Ave. It's also listed for $650/month. The unit features a fireplace and a mix of hardwood floors and carpeting. Pets are not permitted. There's no leasing fee required for this rental. According to Walk Score, the area around this address is moderately walkable, has some bike infrastructure and has some transit options. (Take a gander at the complete listing here .) Working with a tight budget? Here are the cheapest rentals recently listed in Detroit . This story was created automatically using local real estate data from Zumper and Apartment Guide , then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.


Texas A&M-Commerce is playing an 11th game in 2019 and that opponent doesn't even reside in the same country. The school announced Tuesday that it would play Mexican college team Selección Nuevo León on Sep. 7. It's the first time Commerce, a Division II power, has played a team not located in the United States. "We are pleased to welcome our visitors from Nuevo León for this unique opportunity," A&M-Commerce athletic director Tim McMurray said in a statement. "As we tirelessly pursued our 11th game for the upcoming 2019 season, the chance to host a relatively new football program while engaging with an international partner of higher education provided us with a sensible solution. "Although not an NCAA member institution, we believe the contest will have numerous benefits for our football program, our campus, the Northeast Texas region, and other constituent groups who may not otherwise be exposed to our institution or intercollegiate athletics program." The move also has some bottom-line benefits for A&M-Commerce. Division II teams typically play 10 regular-season games and Commerce was only set to have four of its 10 games at home before the international game was added. Selección Nuevo León is a team made up of some of the top college football players in Mexico. Many American college teams have played international programs before, but those games typically occur outside of the United States like when Penn played a group of Chinese all-stars in March (and won 85-0), or when Princeton played a Japanese school in Japan in 2015. - - - - - - - Nick Bromberg is a writer for Yahoo Sports. More from Yahoo Sports: Five potential landing spots for OKC's Westbrook USWNT's legacy may be joyously rattling social norms Sorry Alonso, but Vlad Jr. was people's HR Derby champ Runner disqualified from L.A. Marathon died by suicide


The Suns need a point guard, and the No. 6 pick could potentially get them Darius Garland or Coby White . Or maybe someone already in the league. Jonathan Givony of ESPN : Phoenix's front office has told rival NBA teams it's open to trading this pick if the right veteran guard is available. Every pick could get traded if the right veteran is available. But if the Suns are talking about it, that suggests they're more likely actually to make a deal. Phoenix general manager James Jones has openly prioritized acquiring veterans. It looks like he's headed toward a mistake , but there are players in the league who'd be more valuable to the Suns than whomever they'd select No. 6. This wouldn't necessarily be the wrong move. The challenge is finding a team willing to offer a valuable vet for the No. 6 pick. This looks a weak draft after Zion Williamson and Ja Morant . Who wants to trade a good player for a middling lottery pick? Which prospect in that range is going to excite another team? By the way, it sounds as if Lakers guard Lonzo Ball won't be that veteran. John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7: There is NO truth to this   Suns not offering #6 for Lonzo https://t.co/vCjaOobkFL   John Gambadoro (@Gambo987) June 2, 2019


Supporters and leaders of Europe's far-right parties gathered for Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini's international alliance of European Nationalist parties last Sunday, hoping to unite Europe's top nationalist parties and their voters in advance of the upcoming European Parliament elections. Marine le Pen of the National Rally (formerly known as National Front) was in attendance, as was Germany's Jörg Meuthen, leader of the German far-right party Alternative for Deutschland (AfD). Yet Europe's populist party -- Austria's Freedom Party -- was notably missing. One day earlier, a video obtained by Germany's Der Spiegel revealed the far-right party's leader Hans Christian-Strache offering government contracts to a woman posing as a Russian investor during a booze-filled evening on the Spanish party island of Ibiza. The response was swift, with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz ousting the anti-immigration party from the country's ruling coalition and calling for snap elections just days before the FPO hoped to have a strong showing in EU elections. Meanwhile, in Italy, tensions have been mounting between Italy's governing coalition made up of Salvini's far-right League and the left-wing Five Star Movement, fueling speculation that a government reshuffle will soon be in the cards. If far-right parties can't get along with their coalition partners, the likelihood that they will unify in the European parliament hardly seems promising. Yet such internal upheavals may not have much of an effect on nationalist party voters who in recent years have been lured away from establishment parties and toward Euroscepticism and limits on immigration, particularly since the bloc saw an influx of migrants from the Middle East in 2015. According to the latest poll by the European Council on Foreign Relations, anti-European parties could become the second-largest group in the parliament, holding up to 35% of seats. England's Brexit party, headed by Nigel Farage, is expected to win 34% of U.K. votes, according to the latest Europe Elects' poll, despite lacking a substantial political program outside of pushing for Brexit by any means necessary. Poised to take a substantial lead over traditional parties such as the Liberal Democrats and Teresa May's conservatives, the Brexit party's strong position can be explained by "the crumbling of traditional party loyalties, especially for the long-established Conservative party that has dominated the political scene for 150 years," Tony Travers, professor of public policy at the London School of Economics, told ABC News. (MORE: Austria's headscarf ban sensationalizes a marginal issue, Muslim groups say) The European Union Parliament is responsible for passing EU laws, establishing EU budgets and examining EU institutions. Members of parliament are elected to five-year terms. MPs join blocks based on their political affiliation, not the country that they hail from. Currently center-left and center-right blocks have formed a majority coalition. Although only the European Union Commission can propose laws, the parliament is responsible for changing or amending them, which means a strong showing of Eurosceptic politicians could theoretically slow down lawmaking. If elected, some MPs aim to take powers away from the European Commission and put them back into the hands of the parliament. "It is Macron's Europe. We want the power to be given back to the people, to the European legislators, i.e. the European Parliament," Marie Dauchy, one of National Rally Party's 79 candidates, told ABC News. To appeal to voters, the nationalist party is now pushing for a reform of EU institutions instead of leaving the union altogether. Yet, as Austria's political scandal shows, far-right parties currently in power around Europe stand on shaky ground. Populism is "volatile and prone to instability," said Marcus How, head of research and analysis at Vienna-based political consultancy ViennEast. "The 2014 EU election was also touted as a populist wave but it didn't really add up to very much, not least because many of the far-right parties were simply unable to form alliances with one another," he said. Despite the wins, their legislative power in parliament would be limited, meaning their influence is likely to be more "symbolic" than practical, How noted. The real danger comes when center-right parties band together with their far-right counterparts to form coalitions. How cited the Austrian national elections in 2017 which brought a far-right party to the helm of the country. "If the center right needs to court the populists and move away from the liberal consensus that's always been a worrying indicator," he said.


'I've never seen people so excited in my life', Captain Mike Parker said.


When proponents of tougher enforcement talk about people coming to the U.S. "the right way," they often describe immigrants like Mambasse Patara. The 53-year-old Fontana resident entered the U.S. legally from Togo in 1999, then earned his citizenship by fighting in the Iraq war as a Marine. He has spent the last 12 years as a patrolman and traffic investigator for the Los Angeles Police Department. But after nearly two decades of lawful contacts with immigration authorities, Patara found himself at odds with the U.S. Border Patrol last year when he was stopped at a checkpoint in Pine Valley, some 50 miles east of San Diego. Patara says he had no idea the two men in his car   one a neighborhood handyman he'd known for years   were in the country without legal authorization. As he was being arrested, Patara said, he hoped his background would lead authorities to realize he'd been an unwitting accomplice. Instead, federal prosecutors spent the next year trying to put Patara in prison, a move some legal experts said reflects the Trump administration's aggressive approach to immigration-related crimes. An analysis of federal court records by ProPublica and The Times found the number of human smuggling cases prosecuted along the border increased 25% during President Trump's first two years in office, up from 4,319 in 2015 and 2016 to 5,420 in 2017 and 2018. The number of cases filed in California nearly doubled in that time. A jury acquitted Patara of two counts of human smuggling in February. However, he remains on administrative leave from the LAPD. The agency declined to comment, pending an internal investigation. The experience, Patara said, has shaken his faith in the legal system   leaving him unsure if he can return to work as a police officer. "I worked my way up in this country from scraps. … I did not get in line or ask for anything," Patara said. "My own people ... law enforcement, the ones that are supposed to watch my back … the ones that I could die for every day, are the ones that put me in a hole?" There was little reason to question the validity of Patara's arrest at a Border Patrol checkpoint along Interstate 8 in Imperial County in April 2018. The two men in his car   German Ramirez-Gonzalez and Fermin Lopez   were Mexican citizens who each had contact with immigration authorities more than a dozen times, court records show. The question of whether Patara knew the men were in the country illegally, or if he'd plotted to try to get them past the checkpoint, soon became central to the case. Prosecutors contended Patara intentionally drove to El Centro to help shepherd the men through an interior checkpoint, and argued that he flashed his LAPD credentials hoping to dissuade agents from asking too many questions. Patara said he showed his police credentials only in case the agents were concerned that he was carrying a firearm. He and his attorney said Ramirez-Gonzalez and Lopez had tricked him. On the day he was arrested, Patara said, he and his wife, Minerva Hernandez, had traveled from Fontana to El Centro to meet Ramirez-Gonzalez and his wife, Mary Aragon. The two groups connected, but the women decided to head back to Fontana in Aragon's car after Patara and his wife got into an argument. The men continued on to the Golden Acorn casino, which prosecutors described in court documents as a popular hub for human smuggling. Prosecutors said Ramirez-Gonzalez and Lopez had entered the country illegally on foot from Tecate days earlier. Patara swore he knew nothing about their immigration status and simply had agreed to drive them back to Fontana. During the same trial at which Patara was acquitted, Aragon was convicted of trying to smuggle her husband and Lopez into the country. Ramirez-Gonzalez also was convicted of trying to smuggle Lopez, who has since been returned to Mexico. Court records about their sentencing were not available, and a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office in San Diego declined to provide additional details. It was unclear if Ramirez-Gonzalez faced deportation. Aragon is a U.S. citizen, according to court records. A spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said she could not comment. Patara said he received no payment from either man and had no motive to help them get past the checkpoint. While he had known Ramirez-Gonzalez for roughly five years, he had never thought to ask about his immigration status. Patara met Lopez for the first time that day, when Ramirez-Gonzalez introduced the man as his uncle. The two are not related, records show. After the arrest, Lopez said he did not know who Patara was, but claimed Ramirez-Gonzalez had told him the man could drive them past a checkpoint, according to court records. Evidence presented at Patara's trial did little to suggest he had conspired to violate immigration law. Phone records show he had barely spoken to Ramirez-Gonzalez and Aragon in the months before the incident. In a recorded jailhouse phone call, Ramirez-Gonzalez and Aragon said Patara had known nothing about his passengers' immigration status before being stopped by Border Patrol, according to court transcripts. A judge did not allow evidence from that call to be presented at trial, citing it as hearsay. Patara's attorney, Marc Carlos, said prosecutors should have known his client had too much to lose to engage in smuggling. Patara had entered the U.S. on a visa and, after gaining citizenship, spent two years and thousands of dollars helping his wife legally emigrate from Mexico. "I think it was an enormous waste of government resources to prosecute a man with no motive to engage in any sort of criminal activity," Carlos said. Border Patrol officials scoffed at any suggestion that Patara's background should have made them question whether the case should have been presented to prosecutors. "Mr. [Patara's] position as a police officer does not change the fact that he was transporting two illegal aliens," said Ralph DeSio, a spokesman for the Border Patrol in San Diego. Whitney Z. Bernstein, a former federal public defender in San Diego who has litigated smuggling cases, said she was relieved to see prosecutors did not give Patara a pass because he is a police officer. But the fact that prosecutors charged him in spite of questions about his knowledge of the men's immigration status illustrates the government's overly aggressive stance on border prosecutions. "This administration wants to prosecute border crimes, and that is what they are blindly prosecuting, seemingly without regard to the strength of their case," she said. Several other immigration attorneys and federal public defenders echoed Bernstein's sentiments in interviews, but declined to be identified for fear it might negatively impact future cases they litigate against federal prosecutors in San Diego. Carlos described Patara as "the immigrant dream" in his opening statement at trial, a label his client seems to take to heart. Patara said he lived in several countries in Europe and found work as an electrician before moving to California. After working as a bus driver in Los Angeles, Patara enlisted in the Marines when a recruiter explained military service could help him earn citizenship. He served from 2003 to 2007, deploying to Iraq in 2006, according to Yvonne Carlock, a spokeswoman for the Marine Corps. Patara attained the rank of sergeant and received medals for good conduct and humanitarian service before he was discharged, Carlock said. In 2007, Patara joined the LAPD, where he has served as a patrol officer for 12 years, according to a department spokeswoman. During the trial, prosecutors repeatedly questioned the circumstances that brought Patara to the checkpoint. On the day of the arrest, Patara said in a recent interview, he had been holed up at home after being injured in an on-duty car crash. So when Ramirez-Gonzalez and Aragon invited the officer and his wife to meet at a San Diego casino, he jumped at the chance. But as soon as Patara and his wife got in their car, things got complicated. Where Patara saw confusion, however, prosecutors saw conspiracy. The address where Ramirez-Gonzalez asked Patara to meet was not in San Diego, but 50 miles east in El Centro. Patara testified he and his wife did not realize how far they would be driving until they had been on the road for an hour. Too far to turn back, Patara says. Once they connected with Ramirez-Gonzalez and Aragon, they were introduced to Lopez. Patara said he agreed to go to the Golden Acorn casino in Campo. His wife, however, was angry and decided to drive home with Aragon. The three men spent less than 30 minutes at the casino before heading back to Fontana. They would be detained at the checkpoint within the hour. Prosecutors cited what they said were the oddities of Patara's travel. Asst. U.S. Atty. Shauna Prewitt asked why the men did not meet at a casino closer to Fontana, and why they spent so little time at the Golden Acorn after such an arduous journey. While a review of phone records presented at trial showed minimal contact between Patara and the other defendants in the months before the arrest, prosecutors zeroed in on texts and phone calls shortly before he arrived at the checkpoint. "Be careful, the Border Patrol just passed," read a text from Patara's wife. Patara testified that he never saw the message, but prosecutors insisted it signified a warning. Phone records also showed Patara had read the message. While inside the casino, Ramirez-Gonzalez received two phone calls from Aragon, prosecutors said   one as she approached the I-8 checkpoint, and a second after she and Hernandez were waved through. At one point, security camera footage from inside the casino showed Ramirez-Gonzalez hand the phone to Patara. Prosecutors could not say with certainty what the conversation entailed, but Prewitt told jurors to use "common sense" to fill in the blanks. "They're talking about the checkpoint," Prewitt said. "'It's open, just like it has been the whole time we've been in El Centro, but the good news is they're waving people through.'" Carlos, however, argued that all prosecutors had done was prove the other defendants conspired to use Patara to get past the checkpoint. At no time, Carlos said, did prosecutors offer a motive for Patara to engage in human smuggling or prove he knew the other men were not in the country legally. If Patara was guilty of anything, Carlos said, it was naivete. "I went to war. I put my life in danger to earn my citizenship. I worked hard to earn what I have," Patara testified at trial. "Why would I sacrifice my life to go do something like this?" Despite the acquittal, Patara remains in debt after spending tens of thousands of dollars on his defense; the case has caused him to question if he can return to work in law enforcement, feeling betrayed by the profession he loved, unsure how other officers might view him. "I did everything right," he said. "Why would I do something like that? It makes no sense." james.queally@latimes.com Follow @JamesQueallyLAT for crime and police news in California.


Looking to sample the best barbecue around town? Hoodline crunched the numbers to find the top barbecue hot spots in Minneapolis, using both Yelp data and our own secret sauce to produce a ranked list of where to achieve your dreams. 1. Colita Topping the list is Colita . Located at 5400 Penn Ave. South in Southwest, the New Mexican spot, which offers barbecue and more, is the highest-rated barbecue spot in Minneapolis, boasting 4.5 stars out of 166 reviews on Yelp. 2. Smoke In The Pit Next up is Powderhorn Park's Smoke In The Pit , situated at 3733 Chicago Ave. South. With 4.5 stars out of 182 reviews on Yelp, the spot to score barbecue and soul food has proven to be a local favorite. 3. FireBox Deli North's FireBox Deli , located at 4707 Lyndale Ave. North, is another top choice, with Yelpers giving the spot to score barbecue and more 4.5 stars out of 152 reviews. 4. Old Southern BBQ Smokehouse Old Southern BBQ Smokehouse , a spot to score barbecue, salads and sandwiches in Linden Hills, is another go-to, with four stars out of 129 Yelp reviews. Head over to 4501 France Ave. South to see for yourself. 5. Animales Barbeque Over in Northeast, check out Animales Barbeque , which has earned 4.5 stars out of 30 reviews on Yelp. You can find the food truck and Tex-Mex spot, which offers barbecue and more, at 1121 Quincy St. NE. This story was created automatically using local business data, then reviewed and augmented by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.


ATLANTA, Ga. (CBS46) -- Atlanta police are looking for a group of apparent grocery thieves. They've gone into local Kroger stores near East Atlanta, shopped for thousands of dollars worth of groceries and walked out without paying. Police tell CBS46 that the men first hit the Kroger on Glenwood Avenue and stole nearly $7,000 worth of groceries around 10:15 p.m. on June 7th. The next night, they went to the Edgewood Retail District and stole nearly $5,000 worth of merchandise the Kroger there. "That's crazy," said Kroger shopper Stacie Davis. "I mean, that's a lot of food. How would you sell food? That's another weird thing. Usually people steal things to make a profit," she added. Police believe there are three men involved. They'd pull it off by entering the store at different times, two at a time. The younger man would get a regular cart. The older guy would get a motorized cart and serve as a lookout while the other racked up groceries. "It looks like that person may operate as the lookout and then leaves the business and then goes to get the getaway vehicle," said Atlanta Police investigator James White. Police say the men loaded their carts with meat, beer, deodorant, soap, and household items totally nearly $12,000 between the two Kroger stores. They left through the side door of one store and a back emergency doors of another. They piled into a black Dodge Charger without an identifiable license plate. One store manager told police she believes the men have also stolen from a Kroger on Wesley Chapel in DeKalb County. "I hope they find them," said a shopper named Zaveira. "I really do, because it makes it bad for the rest of the consumers. This used to be a 24-hour Kroger. Now they shut it at 11 p.m. That puts me in a bind," she went on. Police say the men could face felony charges. Anyone who recognizes the suspects are asked to call police. Information can be submitted anonymously to the Crime Stoppers Atlanta tip line at 404-577-TIPS (8477) or online at www.StopCrimeATL.com .


Patriots director of player personnel Nick Caserio has apparently crossed the Rubicon in Foxboro. So when will he make his formal exit from an organization with which he has spent a generation? His contract runs through the 2020 draft. After that, he's free to leave. It makes sense to wonder whether he possibly would leave before then. Although a trade technically isn't permissible under the NFL's tampering policy, nothing stops the league from fashioning an exception that would allow Houston to compensate New England for Caserio, especially in light of the contractual term that ostensibly keeps Caserio in place, no matter what the promotion may be. And it's possible that, after coach Bill Belichick has a couple of weeks to digest the departure and to plan for Caserio's replacement, maybe Belichick and the Patriots would feel better about not having a short-timer in the building. Even if a deal isn't done now, there's a chance something could be done after the 2019 season ends. Really, why would the Patriots want to squat on Caserio for one last free agency and draft process that necessarily will see Caserio have reduced relevance and influence? (It's hard to envision, for example, Caserio chiming in on the effort to find a potential replacement for Tom Brady in the draft.) Here's a reason to hold him in place: It keeps him from helping the Texans until after the major 2020 offseason tentpoles come and go, and it also keeps him from carrying to a new team the information he develops about the next class of free agents and rookies. That said, Belichick likely will be very careful about sharing any strategic intelligence with Caserio. Which makes the team's insistence on keeping around a guy who seems to be destined to leave even more curious. But there's still one potential outcome that could make all others moot: The Patriots and Caserio could decide to extend their relationship, with Caserio getting a new contract with extra money and perhaps enhanced authority in exchange for abandoning his apparent plan to leave.


A mom who took matters into her own hands after her daughter was allegedly bullied is defending herself. Christian Tinsley walked into a second-period class at Niguel Hills Middle School in Laguna Niguel, California , and demanded students stop harassing her 13-year-old daughter, Jade, even threatening to "f***" them up if the verbal abuse continued, video showed. "I was just there to protect my child," Tinsley told Inside Edition, saying that the teacher gave her permission to speak to the students. "At the time I thought the school was allowing me to do so." She added: "I asked the teacher if I could speak to her class and she said yes, which is why she sat there for the majority of my speech." Tinsley even handed out homemade tickets reading "Free A** Kicking." Asked whether she regretted using obscenities, Tinsley said she did but added that she was merely trying to add emphasis to what she was saying. "Looking back, I do regret using the one curse word that I used, but in my mind this was not toward the children, this was me trying to get my message across to the parents," she said. Jade told Inside Edition that she was subject to vicious verbal abuse from some boys at her school. "They've called me a monkey, they've called me the N-word," she said. "And they'll just talk about me all the time. ... It kind of made me feel really bad about myself." Jade, who was in the room when Tinsley walked in, said she was "shocked" by her mother's tirade. So were the boys who allegedly bullied her. "When my mother came in, the boys who were bullying me, they were silent," Jade said. The Capistrano Unified School district has banned Tinsley from returning to campus and is investigating the incident, as well as the bullying claims, officials said. Tinsley said she doesn't believe her behavior was "appropriate" but did say she felt it was necessary.


Those brave Orioles fans who braved near-100 degree heat were treated to Asher Wojciechowski no-hitting Boston through six innings. Imagine if someone had come up to you before the start of Sunday's game between the Orioles and the Red Sox to tell you that one team would be no-hitting the other into the seventh inning. You know what you would have thought. Anyone would have thought the same. Instead, the O's played an unexpectedly awesome game and shut out the Red Sox, 5-0, to win the weekend's series. There hasn't been much to excite O's fans over the course of this dismal season. As I sit here thinking about what to say about this baseball game, what I keep thinking about is how much the panic-stricken people who call in radio shows, and others who use their sports columnist sinecures, to yell about Boston sports teams, will be flipping their lids, and it gives me far more joy than any fan of a 31-67 team can expect to regularly experience. The unlikely star of the show for the Orioles on this scorching Sunday afternoon where the temperature felt like over 100 degrees for the whole game was starting pitcher Asher Wojciechowski . That's only a joke in the sense that it's been played on the Red Sox that they were no-hit for six innings by Wojciechowski, the 30-year-old journeyman who came into this start with a career MLB ERA of 6.49. Wojciechowski was ready to rock from the get-go. He struck out five of the first six Red Sox batters he faced and had nine strikeouts by the time he was through four innings. Even more impressive than doing this while allowing no hits is that he kept his pitch count at a reasonable level, throwing just 58 pitches to get through four. The only baserunners he allowed through six innings were a third inning hit by pitch and a sixth inning walk, both involving Brock Holt . There was an almost dream-like quality to this dominance. It inspired a constant, "Is this really happening?" feeling, and almost before you could blink he was through six no-hit innings. How could Asher Wojciechowski be no-hitting the Red Sox? And after the earlier in the season experience with David Hess , one had to start wondering what manager Brandon Hyde would do as the pitch count escalated. Hyde was spared a tough decision this time. Wojciechowski finally gave up a hit against Rafael Devers , the first batter he faced in the seventh inning. Devers drove a pitch into right-center field that bounced off the padding above the chain link fence in front of the grounds crew's shed. This was mere inches away from being a home run, but alas for Devers , he didn't quite get it on top of the roof of the shed. The padding is still in play. It was a double. Wojciechowski got a couple of easy groundouts and a liner to short to strand Devers and preserve his shutout. He came out for the eighth, picked up his tenth strikeout of the day, then was relieved after walking Jackie Bradley Jr. For the day, Wojciechowski threw 105 pitches, of which 68 were strikes. He allowed just the one hit in 7.1 innings, with two walks and ten strikeouts. His previous career high for strikeouts in a game was seven, set in his last O's start before this. This is the kind of thing that happens to the Orioles where they're on the wrong end. Some guy comes out of nowhere, no-hits them for a long time, sets a new career high in strikeouts. Not this time. I come back, again with a smile, to my imagined talk radio circuits in New England, "And then we almost got no-hit by some losah nobody, uh, Ashahhh..." Those callers will probably not be much happier about "Cashnah," who now has two losses in two Red Sox starts. Cashner wasn't even bad against his former team, allowing six hits and two walks in six innings. Unfortunately for the former Oriole, two of those six hits were Trey Mancini home runs that scored a total of three runs. Just as unfortunately for him, he pitched on the day his offense scored zero runs instead of the day his offense scored 17. Mancini 's first home run of the day was a solo shot to center field in the first inning. This was his 20th of the season and it would have been enough for the Orioles to win the game on its own. Isn't that fun? It's just their fourth time shutting out an opponent this season. The O's added a second run off of Cashner in the second inning when Chris Davis snuck a sliced line drive just fair down the left field line, scoring Dwight Smith Jr. Smith, who snapped a lengthy 0-for in last night's game, was 1-3 and also drew a walk today. Mancini 's second homer of the day put the O's up 4-0, and in the eighth, Jonathan Villar added his 11th homer of the season to set a 5-0 final score. Villar and Mancini both had multi-hit games. The O's themselves only had seven hits, which on most days probably adds up to a loss. Today, it was enough. We all know the Orioles bullpen has been bad a lot this year. It's easier to have a good bullpen day when the starter pitches 7.1 innings. Paul Fry relieved Wojciechowski in the eighth and struck out the two Red Sox he faced. Mychal Givens pitched the ninth, perhaps in hopes that he might show off for any scouts that might be in attendance. After walking the leadoff man, Givens retired three batters to end the game. It was not a dream. It really happened. The Tigers pulled off a 10-inning win over the Blue Jays on Sunday afternoon, so they keep pace with the O's in the race for the worst record in MLB, with the O's still "ahead" by half a game. Next up for the O's is another swing out into the Pacific time zone. They start out with a three-game set against the Diamondbacks , scheduled to get under way at 9:40 Eastern on Monday night. Aaron Brooks and Robbie Ray are the listed starters for the series opener.


Marriage   it's one of the oldest traditions shared by millions of couples around the world. The average American wedding costs nearly $39,000 . A growing number of newlyweds-to-be are relying less on their families to pay for their dream ceremonies and are instead choosing to go into debt. These young couples, dreaming of 'Instagramable' wedding venues, cigar bars, candy buffets, photo booths and the like, are now spawning a new breed of personal debt championed by Silicon Valley tech start-ups   millennial-targeted wedding loans. Lenders say they are issuing four times as many wedding-branded loans in 2019 than the same period the year prior, promising fast cash directly to your bank account. More from Invest in You: Because buyer's remorse is real. These are the top five things people come to regret buying Which credit card reward is the best: Miles, points or cash back Money diaries aren't just hate-reads. You can learn a lot about your own finances Upstart, a so-called fintech lender, was founded by ex-Google employees and promotes its use of artificial intelligence and machine learning to measure nearly 1,500 data points to determine an applicant's ability to pay back a loan. Rather than looking at a credit score alone, the company evaluates education, area of study and job history when considering applicants. The average wedding loan Upstart approves is $11,000 for either a three, five or seven-year term. The annual percentage rate, which is the rate charged for borrowing and represents the yearly cost of the loan, can fluctuate between 5 percent all the way up to nearly 36 percent, depending on the applicant. Online lender Earnest, which also issues loans for vacations and home improvement projects, uses the tagline "Inspired by Pinterest? Make it happen with low interest," to market its wedding loans. Additionally, loan provider Prosper offers couples engagement ring financing and extra cash for their honeymoon. However, wedding loans are more of a PR play rather than an entirely new product, experts say. They're simply unsecured personal loans rebranded to attract new borrowers, especially those in their 20's and 30's. And some critics are also concerned that the efficiency and ease these companies promise in getting cash could become more of a burden than a benefit as Americans become swamped with debt. In the first quarter of 2019, total household debt breached $13.6 trillion, according to the U.S. household debt and credit report released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Before you secure a $30,000 loan to fund your special day, check out this video to learn more about the wedding loan industry and discover what steps experts recommend you take before applying. Check out Don't worry about getting a perfect credit score This score is all you need via Grow with Acorns+CNBC . Disclosure: NBCUniversal and Comcast Ventures are investors in Acorns .


Former White House counsel Don McGahn refused repeated requests from the White House to deny that President Trump asked him to fire special counsel Robert Mueller, according to Mueller's investigation. In January 2018, reports surfaced in the media that Trump had ordered McGahn to have Mueller fired, citing alleged conflicts of interests. Those reports said McGahn threatened to quit rather than comply with the order. Trump called such reports "fake news" at the time. Then Trump's personal counsel and two aides told McGahn to deny the accounts, according to Mueller. "Each time he was approached, McGahn responded that he would not refute the press accounts because they were accurate in reporting on the President's efforts to have the Special Counsel removed," Mueller's report states. Trump later personally met with McGahn in the Oval Office with only then-chief of staff John Kelly present to try to get him to deny the accounts, according to Mueller. "McGahn refused and insisted his memory of the President's direction to remove the Special Counsel was accurate," according to Mueller's report. In the meeting, Trump denied to McGahn that he had used the word "fire" in reference to Mueller, the report says. Trump in the same meeting reportedly asked McGahn why he had told Mueller's office that he had been asked to have Mueller removed, according to the report. McGahn said that he had no choice and that their conversations were not protected by attorney-client privilege. Trump went on to confront McGahn on his practice of taking notes during their discussions, saying, "What about these notes? Why do you take notes? Lawyers don't take notes. I never had a lawyer who took notes," according to Mueller's office. "I've had a lot of great lawyers, like Roy Cohn. He did not take notes," Trump reportedly added, in reference to his mentor and onetime personal lawyer, who also served as chief counsel during Sen. Joseph McCarthy's (R-Wis.) hearings in the 1950s, according to the report. "The President's statements reflect his understanding-and his displeasure-that those events would be part of an obstruction-of-justice inquiry," Mueller noted.


One of the most highly anticipated markers of the offseason is NFL Network's "Top 100 Players." Every summer, the network releases the list of the top stars in the league that is voted on by the players themselves. The list kicked off on Monday with players No. 100-91 and continued on Tuesday with players No. 90-81. For a second straight night, the Seattle Seahawks enjoyed a little representation as a member of their team from last year appeared in the Top 100. Making his debut on this coveted list is former Seahawks defensive end Frank Clark as the 85th best player of 2019. Making his #NFLTop100 debut at 85! New @Chiefs DE @TheRealFrankC_ checks in on the countdown! pic.twitter.com/Rth7QqMaTa - NFL Network (@nflnetwork) July 24, 2019 For years now, Clark has gone unrecognized as one of the premier young defensive ends in the league. This quickly changed in 2018 when Clark enjoyed himself a career year in the final year of his rookie contract. Clark brought down opposing quarterbacks with 13 sacks, logged 41 tackles, deflected two passes, and even snagged his first-ever interception in a Week 5 showdown with the Los Angeles Rams. Throughout the first four years of his career, Clark had 35 sacks, which edges out Cowboys star defensive end Demarcus Lawrence in the same span. Unfortunately, the Seahawks were borderline victims of Clark's success, in a sense. His stellar play very likely priced himself out of Seattle's budget, especially with quarterback Russell Wilson's new contract and a looming extension for Bobby Wagner. Seattle traded Clark to the Kansas City Chiefs this offseason where he cashed in on a mega-deal paying him over $21 million a year. Clark joins wide receiver Tyler Lockett, who debuted at No. 98 on Monday , as the first two Seahawks on the Top 100 list. MORE: Mike Trout's perfect 98.6 MPH throw to home plate had everyone in awe What might Kostas Antetokounmpo bring to the Lakers on offense? Packers releasing veteran DL Mike Daniels Roundup: Boris Johnson Named UK PM; Tay-K Sentenced to 55 Years; Tornado in Cape Cod Why are the Jets picking this fight with Quinnen Williams?


KOSICE, Slovakia (AP) -- The United States rebounded from an upset loss to Slovakia in the opening game at the ice hockey world championship by routing France 7-1 on Sunday. After losing 4-1 to the host, the U.S. was not ready for another upset. Alex DeBrincat scored twice and Frank Vatrano added one in less than two minutes to set the pace early in the opening period for the U.S. to take command in the Group A game in Kosice. Colin White also had two while Patrick Kane, who captained the Americans to the bronze medal at last year's worlds in Denmark, scored his first goal in Slovakia and added an assist. Chris Kreider added one for the U.S. while Anthony Rech had a consolation goal for France. The U.S. next faces Finland on Monday. In the Group B game in Bratislava, star-studded Russia recorded its second straight win after blanking Austria 5-0. Evgenii Dadonov led Russia with two goals for the second consecutive game and Nikita Kucherov had a goal and an assist. Alexander Georgiev made 15 saves for the shutout. Later on Sunday, Canada faces Britain while Denmark plays Germany in Group A. Two-time defending champion Sweden takes on Italy and Switzerland meets Latvia in Group B. ___ More AP sports: https://apnews.com/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports Related slideshow: Best of 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs (provided by imagn)


It's a stunning find discovered by accident: Construction workers demolishing homes in Turkey's Nevsehir province in 2013 ended up discovering the entrance to what could be the largest ancient underground city ever found in the region. Construction work was halted and scientists took over; they say that while it's not yet clear exactly how big the subterranean network of rooms and tunnels is, they estimate it to be about 5 million square feet and extending as far as 371 feet below ground. That would make it roughly 30% larger than the largest excavated underground city found in the historical Cappadocia region so far, Derinkuyu, whose capacity is thought to be 20,000 people. The retreat, carved from soft ash rock as many as 5,000 years ago, would have been used in case of invaders, National Geographic reports; artifacts found at the site suggest its occupation stretched through the Ottoman conquest. The multi-level complex was a developed one, complete with staircases, kitchens, wineries, chapels, grindstones, air shafts, water channels, corridors, and even lamp-oil presses. (Derinkuyu was 18 stories, notes the Washington Post , and also included stores and escape routes.) The city's current mayor wants to build walking trails and a museum showcasing the underground spectacle and even "re-open the underground churches," he says though, for now, even further exploration is risky. As such, Turkey's Hurriyet Daily News reports a geo-radar machine is being used to gather information that's then handed to the excavators. (Also recently found underground: a secret Nazi factory .) This article originally appeared on Newser: Found in Turkey: Huge Underground City


OLYMPIA   Ahead of the July 4 holiday, the Washington State Fire Marshal shared a list of fireworks safety tips for all residents to help prevent unnecessary catastrophe on what should otherwise be a fun celebration. From the Washington State Fire Marshal's Office (SFMO): Purchase Washington legal consumer fireworks from a licensed and locally permitted retail stand. Only use fireworks outdoors away from buildings on a flat, level, fireproof surface free from debris. Read and follow all safety labels and instructions. Have a water supply and water bucket available at all times. Light only one firework at a time. Never place any part of your body directly over a firework. Never throw fireworks or light fireworks in your hands. Never pick-up or try to re-ignite a firework that fails to light. Never carry fireworks in your pockets or shoot them from a container. Always have adults light fireworks. Keep all fireworks including matches and lighters away from children. Allow finished fireworks to sit for at least 20 minutes before submerging them fully in water for at least 10 minutes. Dispose of drained products in a plastic bag. Keep all pets indoors and protected from the sights and sounds of the holiday. Be respectful and clean up all fireworks debris the next morning to be a good neighbor! Be Prepared   Be Safe   Be Responsible Additional information on fireworks safety and licensing, how to file an official complaint, and where to see licensed shows in your area, visit www.wsp.wa.gov/fireworks , or call 360-596-3929.