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By Associated Press The College Football Playoff unveiled a 12-team format in the spring of 2021 that looked like an exciting step in the evolution of the postseason, with potential to lift the sport’s national profile even further while boosting all five power conferences and keeping the other five relevant. Three years later, the expanded

By Associated Press RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Israeli troops fired on a crowd of Palestinians racing to pull food off an aid convoy in Gaza City on Thursday, witnesses said. More than 100 people were killed in the chaos, bringing the death toll since the start of the Israel-Hamas war to more than 30,000, according

By Associated Press WASHINGTON — Texas Sen. John Cornyn has informed his colleagues that he intends to run for Senate Republican leader, becoming the first senator to announce a campaign after Sen. Mitch McConnell said he will step down from the post in November. Cornyn, who served as McConnell’s No. 2 in leadership before he

By Associated Press Need a Pro Bowl quarterback, an All-Pro defensive lineman or a future Hall of Fame wide receiver? NFL teams could find one of these guys and plenty more star-quality players when the free agency period begins on March 13. Kirk Cousins, Chris Jones and Mike Evans are among the best players who

By Metro Creative According to a 2019 Bureau of Labor Statistics survey of baby boomers, the average number of jobs held in a lifetime is 12. Women spend slightly less time in companies than men. In its 2018 Employee Tenure Summary, the BLS reported that the median tenure for women is 4 years and 4.3

By Metro Creative Pecan trees grow in various areas of the central and southern United States. Pecan trees are prized for their delicious nuts. There’s debate whether pecan is pronounced as pe-CAN (as in can of soda) or pe-CAHN, (as in con artist), and it varies depending on where you live. However, there is no

By Associated Press JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri’s Republican lawmakers are once again trying to block federal health care dollars from going to the state’s Planned Parenthood clinics, this time weeks after the Missouri Supreme Court thwarted a previous attempt to end that funding. The Republican-led House on Wednesday gave initial approval to a bill

By Associated Press SEREBRYANSKY FOREST, Ukraine | As the radio crackles with enemy communications that are hard to decipher, one Russian command rings out clear: “Brew five Chinese tea bags on 38 orange.” A Ukrainian soldier known on the battlefield as Mikhass, who has spent months listening to and analyzing such chatter, is able to

By Associated Press CANADIAN, Texas | A cluster of wildfires scorched the Texas Panhandle on Wednesday, including a blaze that grew into one of the largest in state history, as flames moved with alarming speed and blackened the landscape across a vast stretch of small towns and cattle ranches. An 83-year-old grandmother from the tiny

By Associated Press NEW YORK | A New York appellate judge on Wednesday refused to halt collection of Donald Trump’s $454 million civil fraud penalty while he appeals, leaving the former president less than a month to pay the staggering sum or secure a bond covering the full amount he owes. Judge Anil Singh of

By Associated Press LAWRENCE, Kan. — Kansas football coach Lance Leipold signed an amended contract Wednesday that increased his overall compensation to more than $40 million through the 2029 season while giving him a sizeable pool of money for hiring assistants and support staff. The contract does not extend his previous deal, but it does

By Associated Press CHICAGO — A Cook County judge ruled the Illinois State Board of Elections must take former President Donald Trump’s name off the state’s March 19 primary ballot Wednesday. But she placed her order on hold until Friday to allow an appeal. Judge Tracie Porter issued her decision after a group of voters

By Associated Press SURPRISE, Ariz. — Max Scherzer logged at least 179 innings in 10 of his first 16 years in the majors. And the three-time Cy Young Award winner learned some tough lessons on the road to pitching deep into games. That’s one reason why the Texas Rangers right-hander thinks Major League Baseball needs

By Associated Press Chiefs owner Clark Hunt admitted Wednesday the Super Bowl champions are overdue for renovations to their practice facilities after the NFL Players Association’s annual report card graded Kansas City the second-worst team in the league overall. Hunt had just unveiled plans for an $800 million renovation to Arrowhead Stadium that would include

By Associated Press KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs are planning an $800 million renovation to Arrowhead Stadium, the third-oldest stadium in the NFL, that would begin after the team plays host to games for the 2026 World Cup and take about four years to complete. The project is contingent on the extension

By Associated Press NEW YORK — Richard Lewis, an acclaimed comedian known for exploring his neuroses in frantic, stream-of-consciousness diatribes while dressed in all-black, leading to his nickname “The Prince of Pain,” has died. He was 76. Lewis, who revealed he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2023, died at his home in Los

By Missouri Independent via My Courier-Tribune Political candidates who make national headlines — and those who may only be known in their hometown — descended on Jefferson City on Tuesday morning for the first day of a month-long window to file to run for office in Missouri. To run for office, candidates have no choice

By Associated Press RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Aid convoys carrying food reached northern Gaza this week, Israeli officials said Wednesday, the first major delivery in a month to the devastated, isolated area, where the U.N. has warned of worsening starvation among hundreds of thousands of Palestinians amid Israel’s offensive. The increasing alarm over hunger across

By Associated Press WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court appeared torn Wednesday about a challenge to a Trump-era ban on bump stocks, a gun accessory that allows semi-automatic weapons to fire rapidly like machine guns and was used in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. The high court is weighing whether the Trump administration

By Associated Press NEW YORK — White powder was found Wednesday in an envelope addressed to the New York judge who ordered Donald Trump to pay a $454 million civil fraud judgment. It’s the latest security scare involving people in key roles in the former president’s legal cases. A court officer screening mail at Judge

By Associated Press Severe storms that appear to have spawned a rare February tornado outbreak sent sleeping Midwesterners scrambling for safety and left a trail of damage and power outages across four Great Lakes states, including the Chicago suburbs, ending a spell of summerlike, sometimes record temperatures. At least nine confirmed or suspected tornadoes in

By Associated Press BETHESDA, Md. — President Joe Biden “continues to be fit for duty,” his doctor wrote Wednesday after conducting an annual physical that is being closely watched as the 81-year-old seeks reelection in November. Dr. Kevin O’Connor, Biden’s physician, wrote that the president is adjusting well to a new device that helps control

By Associated Press WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans have blocked legislation that would protect access to in vitro fertilization, objecting to a vote on the issue Wednesday even after widespread backlash to a recent ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court that threatens the practice. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, a Mississippi Republican, objected to a request for a

By Associated Press WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to decide whether former President Donald Trump can be prosecuted on charges he interfered with the 2020 election and set a course for a quick resolution. The justices’ order maintains a hold on preparations for a trial focused on Trump’s efforts to overturn his

By Associated Press WASHINGTON — Mitch McConnell, the longest-serving Senate leader in history who maintained his power in the face of dramatic convulsions in the Republican Party for almost two decades, will step down from that position in November. McConnell, who turned 82 last week, announced his decision Wednesday in the well of the Senate,

By Associated Press LONDON — Kate Winslet is running things — on and off the set of her new TV show, “The Regime.” In the HBO show premiering Sunday, she plays Elena Vernham — also known as The Chancellor, the ruler of a fictional country in Europe, possibly near Poland. Winslet, who is also an

By Associated Press If you watched Lifetime’s Wendy Williams docuseries that premiered over the weekend and felt uncomfortable, you weren’t alone. “Where is Wendy Williams?” premiered over the weekend and featured numerous scenes of the former talk show host unsteady, belligerent, confused and also drunk. Her manager would regularly find liquor bottles hidden throughout her

By Associated Press NEW YORK — U.S. stocks drifted lower Wednesday to edge a bit further from their all-time highs. The S&P 500 slipped 8.42 points, or 0.2%, to 5,069.76, continuing its quiet and listless run since setting a record last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 23.39, or 0.1%, to 38,949.02. The Nasdaq