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Column: Darnell Mooney is a ‘forgotten piece’ for Chicago Bears offense while DJ Moore on pace to make team history

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:24 GMT

One way for the Chicago Bears to get more out of their passing game, which has been more productive this season with the arrival of DJ Moore, will be to get Darnell Mooney more involved over the final five games.Mooney has mostly been ignored in the passing game, a fact overshadowed to a large degree by the performance of Moore, who has 70 receptions for 1,003 yards and six touchdowns, putting him on pace to join Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery among one of the best seasons in franchise history.Moore has a chance to join Marshall (twice, record 118 in 2012), Allen Robinson, Marty Booker and Matt Forte as the only players in Bears history to catch 100 passes in a season. He also has a shot at eclipsing Marshall’s team-best 1,508 yards from 2012.In no way should the Bears should shift focus away from getting Moore as involved as possible. He has been every bit the difference maker the organization hoped — maybe more — since he was acquired in March in the trade w...

Suspects identified after off-duty officer seriously injured in Scarborough stabbing

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:24 GMT

Toronto police have identified two of four suspects following a stabbing in the city’s east end that left an off-duty police officer in her 30s with serious injuries.Officers responded to the area of Eglinton Avenue East and McCowan Road just after 7:00 a.m. on Monday.Police say an off-duty officer was stabbed during an altercation where three men and a woman entered into a store, took an item and attempted to leave the store without paying.The four suspects loaded the item into a blue Toyota Sienna minivan and fled northbound on Brimley Road and then westbound on the 401.Paramedics transported the woman to hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.A 38-year old man was arrested, investigated and released no charges.Suspect #1 has been identified as Preston Calladine, 48, of Toronto, who is wanted for 11 charges including robbery with a weapon, aggravated assault on a peace officer, assault with a weapon, tthree counts of possession of property obtained by crime and tw...

Israel presses ahead with bombarding Gaza, including areas it told Palestinians to evacuate to

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:24 GMT

RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli warplanes struck parts of the Gaza Strip in relentless bombardment Saturday, hitting some of the dwindling bits of land it had told Palestinians to evacuate to in the territory’s south.The strikes came a day after the United States vetoed a United Nations resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza, despite its wide support. The vote in the 15-member Security Council was 13-1, with the United Kingdom abstaining.“Attacks from air, land and sea are intense, continuous and widespread,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the council before the vote. Gaza residents “are being told to move like human pinballs – ricocheting between ever-smaller slivers of the south, without any of the basics for survival.”Gaza was at a "breaking point” with the humanitarian support system at risk of collapse, and Guterres said he feared “the consequences could be devastating for the security of the entire region.”Gaza’s borders with Israel an...

A classic scene from 'Elf' was almost scrapped at the request of Macy's, according to the director

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:24 GMT

(NEXSTAR) – Santa doesn’t smell like “beef and cheese” as far as Macy’s is concerned.The 2003 Christmas film “Elf” produced a number of now-classic scenes, including Buddy’s first taste of the “World’s Best” coffee and his attempt to hug a feral raccoon. But arguably the most memorable scene — when Buddy exposes a department-store Santa as an imposter — was almost scrapped before it was filmed.In a 2013 interview with Rolling Stone, “Elf” director Jon Favreau explained that the scene was nearly nixed in order to appease Macy’s, which had offered to let the production film at Santaland inside its flagship location on 34th Street in Manhattan.Macy’s, however, didn’t like the idea of being associated with an “imposter” Santa Claus, according to Favreau. So if “Elf” wanted to film at the Santaland in Macy's, or even mention Macy’s in the movie, the scene had to go.“We had to think long and hard about it,” Favreau told Rolling Stone in 2013. “We ended up filming it in the cafeteria of a ...

Unique items from various countries all under one roof at Latin American Marketplace

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:24 GMT

A one- of- kind marketplace is coming to Aurora next the weekend of December 16.From hand- crafted clothing, to pastries unique items from various countries will all be under one roof at the Latin American Marketplace at Fox Valley Mall.Shaiska Malca from the DuPage Hispanic Alliance joined the WGN Morning News to talk about the show.

Comedy and stunts at Leah Orleans 'Tiny Girl Big Show'

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:24 GMT

A unique one- woman comedy stand-up is happening Saturday at the Raven Room.Unlike your typical comedians, she'll be pulling off some jaw- dropping stunts.Creator and star of the "Tiny Girl Big Show" Leah Orleans joined the WGN Weekend Morning News to talk about her show.           

Federal court convicts Round Rock man of stealing $600k through wire fraud

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:24 GMT

ROUND ROCK, Texas (KXAN) – A federal court convicted Friday a Round Rock man of wire fraud, sentencing him to two years in prison.Daniel Akira Mills, 22, participated in a wire fraud conspiracy that involved “SIM card swaps” and defrauding people of hundreds of thousands of dollars. A SIM card swap attack involves a perpetrator gaining control of a victim’s mobile phone, which allows the actor to access accounts linked to their phone number, according to the United States Department of Justice.The actors in this case were accused of posting messages to victims’ social media accounts, disseminating private photographs taken from celebrities' accounts, and stealing over $600,00 in cryptocurrency from dozens around the country, according to the DOJ. “We now run much of our lives through smartphones. From social media to managing our finances, they have become essential tools. This can be very helpful, but also comes with many risks,” said U.S. Attorney Jaime Esparza for the Western Dis...

Texas' best chain restaurant locations, according to TripAdvisor

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:24 GMT

(NEXSTAR) — Picking a new restaurant can be intimidating, especially for people who want something they know they'll like. But if you look at most review websites, you might notice most people just don't bother rating chain restaurants.And while review sites, like TripAdvisor, are a wealth of information for discovering great eats from independent businesses, they can also offer insight into which chain restaurants get high marks. What’s Texas’ most popular Christmas song? So in case you've ever wondered, here are TripAdvisor's highest rated chain restaurants in Texas. But first a quick note on the methodology: in order to be considered, a business needed to have at least 10 relatively recent reviews. Because of this, there may potentially be locations that have higher bubble ratings than the top locations listed, however, the volume and date of their ratings may not have met these criteria for inclusion.When possible, we've taken care to highlight restaurants with technically low...

Letters: Among metro transit-rail systems, ours is an outlier — to ill effect

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:24 GMT

Control access, collect the fare, improve safetyDuring part of my career I had to travel a great deal. Mostly to our larger metropolitan cities. Many of which had light rail or subway systems incorporated into their mass transit system. New York, Boston, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Atlanta to name a few. All have things in common. A combination of above- and below-ground routes. Their routes were determined by geography and impact on the community. For the most part it seems it was thought out and laid out well before it was built.They all have one thing in common: You pay for your ride as you enter the station or facility. A controlled entry point to collect the fare. Which in larger stations acts as a security checkpoint as well.The question I have is this: When the developers of our light rail debacle did their research, what led them to believe that an honor system would work to collect passenger fares or have any impact on the safety of those using the trains?I have ridden the s...

Working Strategies: Change is possible at any age

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:54:24 GMT

Amy LindgrenSecond Sunday Series – Editor’s Note: This is the fourth of 12 columns on making a career change which appear the second Sunday of the month, from September through August. Last month’s column presented 10 ideas for choosing a new career, while the months before offered a sample timeline and questions to consider when changing careers. Have you ever wondered how career change in your 60s would compare to changing careers in your 40s or 50s? That’s easy: It’s the same, only different.The same? Process. No matter your age, you’ll still need to identify the next work and find a way to get started. Different? The steps might be speeded up and the stakes could feel higher. At this stage, you don’t have the same margin for error as when you were younger. For example, while long-term retraining wouldn’t be off the table, it needs to be weighed carefully to ensure the payoff.It would be hard to estimate how many people make this leap in their seventh decade (or later), partly be...