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NFL Picks: Top draft selections square off and a surprisingly big game in the Steel City

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:00:00 GMT

Around the AFC1 vs. 2. It’s 2023 No. 1 pick Bryce Young vs. No. 2 pick C.J. Stroud this weekend when Carolina and Houston meet in Charlotte. So far, Stroud’s been the best rookie in the NFL and Young has struggled. Of course, the two will be compared for much longer than half a season. Even still, it’s difficult to overstate how impressive Stroud’s been in getting the Texans to 3-3 and logging just one interception so far.Chargering. This was maybe, just maybe going to be the year somebody in the AFC West challenged Kansas City. Instead, Patrick Mahomes threw for 424 against the Chargers last week and KC’s defense is one of the best in football. Justin Herbert’s team? 2-4 now. At least they play Chicago this weekend. That won’t be a problem. Right?Birds aloft. The Ravens hammered Detroit last week to get to 5-2. The defense is stout. Lamar Jackson’s playing great and rookie receiver Zay Flowers is fun to watch. They take the show cross-country this weekend for a game at Arizona. The...

Broncos OLB Baron Browning is back and he’s just getting started: “Oh, that looks different.” 

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:00:00 GMT

On Baron Browning’s first snap of the 2023 season, he showed in two ways why his return meant so much to the Broncos.First, the schematics. He debuted on a third-and-7, Green Bay’s third play of the afternoon. The down and distance gave Vance Joseph his first chance to break out Denver’s newest rush package. It featured three outside linebackers — Browning, Nik Bonitto and Jonathon Cooper — inside linebackers Drew Sanders and Alex Singleton, and defensive end Zach Allen as the lone down lineman with five defensive backs behind.“It is fun, man. We’re getting a little more comfortable doing it. It was our first time in it,” Cooper told The Post this week. “We’re having fun with it and trying to get better at it in practice. I think it’s going to be really exciting.”Then, the skill. Browning exploded up the field on the snap and into Packers left tackle Rasheed Walker. He powered Walker backward until Walker simply grabbed Browning around the waist and didn’t let go. No penalty flag ca...

Collins: The speakership is yours, Mike Johnson. Good luck with that.

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:00:00 GMT

That House speaker mess was all Donald Trump’s fault. Yeah, yeah, I know you’re not going to argue with me if I blame him for something bad. (“Saturday night’s block party was canceled because of the threat of rain and … Donald Trump.”) Still, follow this thought.The House Republicans are a rancorous crew, and they’ve got only a nine-member majority, one of the tightest in recent history. We’ve been hearing all week that a mere five rebels can halt progress on anything, even a basic task like electing a speaker. Interesting how narrow that majority is. Normally, in nonpresidential-election years, the party that didn’t win the White House gets a lift — often a huge one. Some voters are looking for balance, others are just kind of bored. Given the deeply nonelectric nature of Joe Biden’s victory, you’d figure the Republicans would have made a scary sweep in 2022.But no — and one of the reasons was the completely loopy candidates running on Republican lines in districts tha...

Review: ‘Persian Version’ celebrates resilient Iranian women

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:00:00 GMT

By Jocelyn Noveck | Associated PressLet nobody say writer-director Maryam Keshavarz doesn’t know how to start a movie.The first time we see Leila, her alter ego in the autobiographical, warm-hearted, personal, funny but also somewhat chaotic “The Persian Version,” she’s walking across the Brooklyn Bridge. Headed to a Halloween party, she’s carrying a surfboard and wearing what she calls a “burkini” — a sexy bikini, but paired with a niqab, the face-covering garment worn by some Muslim women.It’s surely not an accident that Leila is crossing a bridge, because her film (and Halloween costume) is about bridging two identities — her Iranian heritage, and her American life. Leila (an engaging Layla Mohammadi) is a New York born-and-raised aspiring screenwriter (she wants to be an Iranian Martin Scorsese) who, we learn, has never been fully comfortable in either world. American kids would call her names at school; Iranians saw her as too Ame...

Hazing or ‘horseplay?’ California high school locker room video sparks mother’s outrage

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:00:00 GMT

A junior varsity football player at Los Osos High School was placed in a chokehold and hit with a belt by two students identified as varsity players in a locker room assault captured on video and circulated on social media.The video, which was pulled down from Instagram but obtained by the Southern California News Group, shows the 16-year-old boy crying out in anguish while struggling against the chokehold applied by one player. A second player, who is shirtless, then walks over to the bench where the boy is seated and slaps his legs with a belt.The mother of the victim, Cassondra Childers of Rancho Cucamonga, identified the second player as the son of Los Osos High School’s assistant principal of instruction, Jennifer McNatt. The two older players who allegedly attacked the 16-year-old are seniors while Childers’ son, a wide receiver on the JV squad, is a junior, she said.The Southern California News Group is withholding the name of the boy to prevent further bullying.Responding to...

Review: Found family will get you through the holidays

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:00:00 GMT

By Lindsey Bahr | Associated PressAlexander Payne brings audiences to a New England boarding school in 1970 in ” The Holdovers,” a textured, nostalgic and often funny piece about three lonely and mismatched souls stuck together over Christmas break. It’s a keeper and possibly even destined to become a classic.The holiday movie genre is suspect — even the most well-intentioned entries can be too saccharine, too wistful, too “Lifetime.” But Payne, working with a sharp script written by David Hemingston, keeps “The Holdovers” grounded and real. Even absent your own memories of smoking indoors or handsewn outerwear, this is the kind of thoughtful, precisely constructed movie where you can almost taste the cigarette smoke and feel your fingers numbing through drafty wool mittens.With its knowingly retro production titles starting the film, “The Holdovers” lets you settle in and submit to something that could very well have been made i...

Opinion: Why latest California gun restrictions won’t make state safer

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:00:00 GMT

Despite his claim that California is “the freedom state,” Gov. Gavin Newsom is passing unconstitutional laws that will make Californians less free and less safe.In late September, Newsom signed the “Gun Violence Prevention and School Safety Act,” or Assembly Bill 28. The controversial bill will affect how Californians purchase and carry legal firearms, creating a prohibitive excise tax on gun and ammunition purchases.While California has many Second Amendment restrictions, this year’s newest curtailments are more harmful than their predecessors.Perhaps the most notable law, Senate Bill 2, raises the carry permit age from 18 to 21 and prohibits legal firearm carriers — who’ve already run the crucible of California’s extensive background application — from carrying in “sensitive” areas. This includes practically all public spaces most prone to mass shootings such as schools, hospitals and parks.Several groups, including the Firearms Policy Coalition, recently filed a lawsu...

Wu Zunyou, China’s top infectious diseases expert who played a key role in the zero-COVID strategy, has died

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:00:00 GMT

BEIJING (AP) — Wu Zunyou, China’s top infectious diseases expert who played a key role in the zero-COVID strategy, has died.Source

Booz Allen: Fiscal Q2 Earnings Snapshot

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:00:00 GMT

MCLEAN, Va. (AP) — MCLEAN, Va. (AP) — Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corp. (BAH) on Friday reported fiscal second-quarter profit of $170.7 million.On a per-share basis, the McLean, Virginia-based company said it had profit of $1.29.The results missed Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of nine analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.31 per share.The defense contractor posted revenue of $2.67 billion in the period, which beat Street forecasts. Seven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $2.6 billion.Booz Allen expects full-year earnings in the range of $4.95 to $5.10 per share.Booz Allen shares have climbed 16% since the beginning of the year. The stock has climbed 18% in the last 12 months._____This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on BAH at https://www.zacks.com/ap/BAHSource

Chart Industries: Q3 Earnings Snapshot

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:00:00 GMT

BALL GROUND, Ga. (AP) — BALL GROUND, Ga. (AP) — Chart Industries Inc. (GTLS) on Friday reported a loss of $3.4 million in its third quarter.On a per-share basis, the Ball Ground, Georgia-based company said it had a loss of 7 cents. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs and to account for discontinued operations, were $1.28 per share.The results did not meet Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of $1.61 per share.The equipment maker for the energy sector posted revenue of $897.9 million in the period, which also missed Street forecasts. Seven analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $1.03 billion.Chart Industries expects full-year earnings in the range of $6.05 to $6.25 per share, with revenue in the range of $3.45 billion to $3.5 billion._____This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on GTL...