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Mike Preston’s Ravens observations on Lamar Jackson and Odell Beckham Jr. getting up to speed, a rookie to watch and more | COMMENTARY

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:44 GMT

If the expectations were that Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson and wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. were going to light up the field on the first day of minicamp, then Tuesday’s practice was a disappointment.In the first of three mandatory workouts, the Ravens looked very much like a team trying to learn a system implemented by new offensive coordinator Todd Monken.Jackson was solid but could have been better, especially during the opening seven-on-seven period. As for Beckham, he practiced like a veteran who has been in the NFL since 2014 and was once considered one of the game’s top players.He did very little.Beckham participated in some individual drills but was held out of most of the team-oriented drills.It was all planned, some of it by Beckham. First of all, Beckham is trying to rebound from a torn ACL that forced him to miss all of last season. Then there is the superstar status. A lot of them don’t participate in offseason team activities, regardless if the...

Chinese contractor submitted unfinished Orange Line cars to MBTA

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:44 GMT

Problems have continued to plague the production of new Orange and Red Line trains, the latest of which involved the Chinese contractor submitting unfinished cars to the MBTA for final inspection and delivery.The condition of these cars was described as “unacceptable” by one MBTA manager in a June 7 email to CRRC MA representatives, obtained by the Herald.A separate email goes into more detail, stating that paint repairs had not been completed. Cars were submitted for inspection with “parts sanded down to bare metal.” Multiple connectors were also seen hanging on the underframes.“It’s been 4.5 years and over 90 cars since CRRC started producing MBTA vehicles out of Springfield,” said Rick Staples, MBTA technical project manager, in a letter to Michael Wilson, CRRC MA production manager.“It is clear that the condition of these cars is unacceptable for inspection request, yet CRRC requested the inspection. Why does this type of process failure continue to happen?”Jacob Finch, a mechan...

Red Sox notebook: Kiké Hernández, Triston Casas to see less time in field as Sox look to shore up leaky defense

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:44 GMT

It’s no secret the Red Sox defense has been struggling, and Kiké Hernández and Triston Casas have been at the center of the club’s fielding woes.Now the two everyday infielders are set to see their roles scaled back.Red Sox manager Alex Cora indicated that Hernández will no longer serve as starting shortstop and will instead shift to a utility role, while Justin Turner will see more time at first base in place of Casas, who instead started at designated hitter Tuesday against the Colorado Rockies.“We went with our best defensive alignment,” Cora said. “That’s something we recognized, obviously the roster is the roster and we have to play with it, but last night I told (bench coach Ramon Vazquez) this is where we’re going.”Instead of playing shortstop, Hernández will now primarily play second base and center field and will occasionally come in as shortstop in late-game pinch hitter situations. Pablo Reyes will see more time at shortstop...

Column: Chicago Bears safety Eddie Jackson is healthy and making plays with a fresh perspective: ‘These years, we can’t waste them’

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:44 GMT

With a good jump, Eddie Jackson closed the gap, arriving in plenty of time to break up a Justin Fields pass deep over the middle for Equanimeous St. Brown on Tuesday at the Walter Payton Center.With steady rain falling, Chicago Bears coach Matt Eberflus shifted practice indoors to get in good work in the passing game. It was one of a handful of really nice plays for the defense. When Jackson headed to the sideline with a large grin on his face, there were hand slaps from teammates to go around.In a vacuum, that play is why general manager Ryan Poles decided to keep the 29-year-old Jackson, coming off an injury to his Lisfranc ligament in his left foot in November, with his contract set to pay him $13.1 million this season.Jackson enjoyed a bounce-back season in 2022 with four interceptions, six pass deflections and two forced fumbles to go with 80 tackles. Without question, it was his best season since 2019, and as a more steady tackler for the new coaching staff, he was one of the ...

Crime Briefs: Taunton man, 22, charged with murder of Falmouth teen, Longmeadow kids injured by acid in park

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:44 GMT

A 22-year-old Taunton man is being held without bail after being charged with the murder of a 19-year-old Falmouth man.Adrian Black of Taunton, appeared in Falmouth District Court Tuesday on charges of murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. Prosecutors say that he stabbed Milteer Hendricks, 19, of Falmouth, on Saturday at the Gosnold Grove Apartments in Falmouth.Falmouth Police officers responded to the East Falmouth Highway apartment complex at around 4:45 p.m. and found Hendricks bleeding from stab wounds. He was transported to Falmouth Hospital and then flown to Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston where he was pronounced deceased the next morning.A probable cause hearing has been scheduled for Aug. 16.BPD looking for armed robbery suspectThe Boston Police Department is looking for the public’s help in locating a suspect for an armed robbery that occurred Friday in the 200-block of Columbia Road in Dorchester, which appears to be the address of a barber shop.Th...

Federal judge to reconsider takeover of New York City’s notorious Rikers Island jail

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:44 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge is once again weighing a takeover of New York City’s troubled Rikers Island jail complex, describing her faith in its leadership as “shaken” following recent reports of violence, gruesome injuries and a lack of cooperation that has thwarted court oversight.The emergency court hearing on Tuesday came after a federal monitor overseeing the jails system outlined a pattern of disturbing incidents — including detainee deaths and grave injuries — that jail officials failed to report as required last month.The monitor, Steve Martin, said the city’s jails commissioner also personally lobbied him not to publicly release a report on those findings, claiming it would “fuel the flames of those who believe we cannot govern ourselves.”In response, U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered attorneys for both detainees and the city to formally discuss a potential receivership structure, an extraordinary intervention that would end New York City’s control o...

Amazon says AWS is operating normally after outage that left publishers unable to operate web sites

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:44 GMT

Amazon’s cloud computing unit Amazon Web Services experienced an outage on Tuesday, affecting publishers that suddenly found themselves unable to operate their sites.The company said on its website that the root cause of the issue was tied to a service called AWS Lambda, which lets customers run code for different types of applications.Roughly two hours after customers began experiencing errors, the company posted on its AWS status page that many of the affected AWS services were “fully recovered” and it was continuing to recover the rest. Soon after 6:30 pm E.T., the company announced all AWS services were operating normally.Amazon said it had experienced multiple error rates for AWS services in the Northern Virginia region where it clusters data centers. The company said customers may be dealing with authentication or sign-in errors when using some AWS services, and experiencing challenges when attempting to connect with AWS Support. The issue with Lambda also indirectly affected ...

Mississippi police officer who shot 11-year-old boy suspended without pay

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:44 GMT

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A Mississippi police officer who shot and wounded an unarmed 11-year-old Black boy in the child’s home has been suspended without pay, a city official said Tuesday. The Indianola Board of Aldermen voted Monday night to immediately stop paying Sgt. Greg Capers, board member Marvin Elder said Tuesday. Capers, who is Black, had previously been suspended with pay, according to Carlos Moore, the attorney representing the family of the boy, Aderrien Murry.Moore said the family is still pushing to get Capers fired. “He needs to be terminated and he needs to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Moore said. Aderrien Murry was hospitalized for five days with a collapsed lung, lacerated liver and fractured ribs after Capers shot him in the chest May 20, Moore said. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is examining the case, as is customary with shootings involving law enforcement, but Capers has not been charged with any crime. Capers’ attorney,...

Iraqi immigrant pleads guilty in federal court in Oregon to supporting Islamic State

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:44 GMT

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — An immigrant from Iraq pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court in Portland, Oregon, to conspiring to provide material support to the Islamic State group by producing and distributing propaganda and recruiting materials online.Hawazen Sameer Mothafar, 33, faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he is scheduled to be sentenced on January 11 by U.S. District Court Judge Marco A. Hernández. Mothafar was arrested in November 2020 following an FBI investigation.The case underscores the Islamic State group’s focus on maintaining an online presence, or “digital caliphate,” after the group — also known as ISIS — lost most of its self-declared caliphate in territory it seized in Iraq and Syria by late 2017. “One of the primary mechanisms ISIS uses to threaten the West is its media outlets,” Christine Abizaid, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, said in January. “The most prolific ISIS threat to the United States or other W...

Senate just barely confirms Bernstein as Biden’s economic adviser

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:15:44 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Senate on Tuesday narrowly confirmed Jared Bernstein to be the chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers.A longtime aide to President Joe Biden and an economist focused on workers, Bernstein was confirmed by a vote of 50-49. Republican lawmakers were critical of his claims early in the administration that the high inflation coming out of the pandemic was temporary. Rising costs for families and businesses have been a challenge for Biden, though the Labor Department said Tuesday that the pace of inflation fell in May to 4%, the lowest 12-month figure for consumer prices in more than 12 years.The Biden administration provided $1.9 trillion worth of pandemic relief in 2021, which some economists and Republican leaders say triggered inflation. Bernstein, then a member of the Council of Economic Advisers, defended the president for the job gains that occurred because of the government spending and said the high prices would be “transitory.” But b...