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Mailbag: Explaining Oregon vs. Liberty, Baker’s proposal, the ‘Pac-2’ and Power Five status, the 2004 controversy and more

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:11:49 GMT

The Hotline mailbag publishes each Friday. Send questions to [email protected] and include ‘mailbag’ in the subject line. Or hit me on Twitter: @WilnerHotline.Please note: Some questions have been edited for clarity and brevity.I’ve seen no explanation of the College Football Playoff committee’s decision that No. 8 Oregon should get the honor of playing No. 23 Liberty. The committee started the New Year’s Six bowl lineup with No. 5 vs. No. 6. Why wasn’t No. 7 matched against No. 8 and so on, leaving No. 11 Mississippi to play Liberty? — Mike SThe Pac-12 bowl selection process unfolded exactly as expected, with one exception: Oregon’s opponent in the Fiesta Bowl.Fans are outraged by the matchup with Liberty. Why aren’t the Ducks facing another Power Five opponent? Why did the Fiesta Bowl stick them with a Group of Five foe?First of all, the Fiesta Bowl had nothing to do with it. The New Year’s Six assignments are made by the C...

Pope Francis makes first appearance since getting bronchitis

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:11:49 GMT

Associated PressROME — Pope Francis on Friday made his first public appearance outdoors since being stricken by bronchitis two weeks ago, which forced him to cancel a planned trip to the COP-28 climate conference in Dubai.The pope has been steadily recovering, and for the Dec. 8 holiday devoted to Mary kept a traditional appointment to pray at the Spanish Steps. He arrived in a black car, and blessed a crowd of onlookers before taking a seat in a chair facing a statue of the Madonna.The pontiff prayed for Mary’s mercy for “all the people oppressed by injustice and poverty, tried by war,” adding a special prayer for “the tormented Ukrainian people,” as well as Palestinians and Israelis “who have fallen back into a spiral of violence.”Francis also addressed violence against women, a topic that has resonated in Italy in recent weeks following the killing last month of a 22-year-old female student in northern Italy. “Mary, we need you as a...

Bighorn sheep in Colorado was single, ready to mingle … and stuck on a roof

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:11:49 GMT

A bighorn sheep became stuck on the roof and deck of a Boulder County home for more than 24 hours this week, likely while he was looking for a mate, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife.A bighorn sheep became stuck on the roof and deck of a Boulder County home for more than 24 hours on Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2023. The ram eventually left after Colorado Parks and Wildlife cut a space in a deck railing. (Provided by Colorado Parks and Wildlife) Wildlife officers responded to a call about a ram stuck on the roof of a house in unincorporated Boulder County on Tuesday, said spokesperson Kara Van Hoos​e. The ram likely became stuck in the morning.“We were hoping he would come down on his own because he’s on the roof and realizes this is not a great spot for him to be,” Van Hoose said.The ram made it down to the deck of the house at some point and officers hoped he might be able to make it all the way down on his own, Van Hoose said. But after a day and a half, the ram wasn’t showing si...

6 projects in the remaking of San Jose’s downtown

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:11:49 GMT

The transformation of a hotel tower into housing for San Jose State students stands to have a big effect on the character of downtown — but smaller projects will also contribute to the remaking of the city’s core.Some recent reports on changes downtown, with links to full articles:1/ Spartan Village on the Paseo. San Jose State University has leased the south tower of the Signia Hilton and said it plans to buy the building. The university will use the tower to house 700 to 800 students starting next fall, with amenities including “an expansive dining area and a community kitchen, a fitness center, a games room, co-learning spaces and a study lounge in the sky bridge,” SJSU said. | More images from the planned makeover2/ Home Eat. A new restaurant will take over the space formerly occupied by the Flames, in the ground floor of the parking garage across from the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library.3/ Housing towers, Fourth & Santa Clara. Investors in a huge ...

State abortion bans bar exceptions for suicide, mental health

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:11:49 GMT

Sandhya Raman | (TNS) CQ-Roll CallIn the year since the Supreme Court outlawed the national right to an abortion, 18 states have implemented abortion bans that specify that mental health or suicidality do not qualify as a health-related exception for the woman — a deviation that’s occurring despite growing national momentum to treat physical and mental health equally.Suicide is one of the leading causes of death among women of reproductive age. Nearly 23 percent of pregnancy-related deaths are attributed to mental health conditions, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.“These are the conditions that are killing women and the absolute greatest risk factors for them are mental health conditions like depression and substance use disorders,” said Constance Guille, founder and director of the Women’s Reproductive Behavioral Health Division at the Medical University of South Carolina. “So these conditions are absolutely just as deadly as many other conditions in med...

Police deem Pleasant Hill shelter-in-place subject who allegedly shot wife 'no threat'

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:11:49 GMT

(KRON) -- The suspect at the center of a shelter-in-place in Pleasant Hill Thursday night shot his wife with a shotgun but was not taken into custody, according to the Pleasant Hill Police Department. Pleasant Hill PD responded to the residence on Cleopatra Drive shortly after 7 p.m. Thursday for a welfare check on a woman who reported to family that she'd been locked out of home by her husband, police said.At the scene, officers located the woman who had minor injuries to her lower body. Officers, police said, determined that the woman had tried to enter her home through a barricaded garage side door and that her husband had fired a single shot from a shotgun toward the door, striking his wife. Palo Alto mail carrier robbed by 2 men; $150,000 reward offered The woman was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and was later released. The husband remained inside the residence by himself, according to police.Officers secured the scene and called in crisis negotiat...

San Francisco man who pushed elderly woman off Muni bus arrested, police say

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:11:49 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- A San Francisco man who allegedly pushed an elderly woman off of a Muni bus and knocked her unconscious in September has been arrested, police said Friday. Police said the unprovoked bus push happened on Mission and 16th streets on September 7. A 76-year-old woman said she tried to board a city bus when a stranger pushed her, causing her to scream and fall backwards. The woman's head struck a concrete sidewalk and she lost consciousness, police said. The man got off the bus and walked away. Good Samaritans stopped and helped the unconscious woman until paramedics arrived. "SFPD would like to thank the bystanders who stopped and provided aid to the victim," the San Francisco Police Department wrote.Police viewed video footage of the bus assault. The video showed the man intentionally pushing the woman, "unprovoked, with his body as he exited the bus. The suspect did not stop as the victim screamed and fell backwards," SFPD wrote. The elderly woman later recove...

Chiefs missing 4 starters, including top RB Isiah Pacheco, with Buffalo visiting on Sunday

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:11:49 GMT

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs will be without four of their starters, including running back Isiah Pacheco and left tackle Donovan Smith on offense, when they play the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.The Chiefs also will be without linebacker Drue Tranquill and safety Bryan Cook, Chiefs coach Andy Reid said Friday.Pacheco, who had offseason shoulder surgery, bruised the same shoulder and missed the entire week of practice. The league’s fifth-leading rusher was coming off a big game, running 18 times for 110 yards and a score in a 27-19 loss to Green Bay.Former first-round pick Clyde Edwards-Helaire, who has largely fallen out of favor in the Kansas City offense over the past two years, will start at running back against Buffalo. Jerick McKinnon will be back from a groin injury and back him up while Deneric Prince is expected to be elevated from the practice squad to provide additional depth.“(Edwards-Helaire) has been a really good mentor and leader in the room; it st...

Johnny Depp among stars paying tribute at funeral of The Pogues singer Shane MacGowan

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:11:49 GMT

LONDON (AP) — Thousands of people lined the streets of Dublin on Friday to say goodbye to The Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan as his coffin wound through the Irish capital before a small-town funeral attended by family, neighbors and friends including Johnny Depp and Nick Cave.MacGowan died Nov. 30 at the age of 65 after a lifetime of drinking, carousing and writing songs that fused Irish traditional music with the spirit of punk.He became an Irish cultural icon, and Ireland’s President Michael D. Higgins was among hundreds of people who packed St. Mary of the Rosary Church in the town of Nenagh for the funeral Mass. Mourners at the service, in MacGowan’s ancestral home county of Tipperary some 100 miles (160 kilometers) southwest of Dublin, included former Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams and Irish actor Aidan Gillen, who both gave readings. There was also a recorded reading from Bono of U2. Depp, a friend of the musician, was among those who helped lead the prayers.Father P...

Six French teens convicted over their roles in an Islamic extremist’s killing of a teacher

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 14:11:49 GMT

PARIS (AP) — A French juvenile court on Friday convicted six teenagers for their roles in the beheading of a teacher by an Islamic extremist that shocked the country.Teacher Samuel Paty was killed outside his school in 2020 after showing his class cartoons of the prophet of Islam during a debate on free expression. The attacker, a young Chechen who had radicalized, was killed by police.The court found five of the defendants, 14 and 15 at the time of the attack, guilty of staking out the teacher and identifying him for the attacker.Another defendant, 13 at the time, was accused of lying about the classroom debate in a comment that aggravated online anger against the teacher.All were handed brief or suspended prison terms. The teenagers testified that they didn’t know the teacher would be killed.THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.PARIS (AP) — A French juvenile court is handing down a verdict Friday for six teenagers accused of involvement in the killing o...