Kamui Kobayashi put Toyota on provisional pole for the Le Mans 24 Hours by topping Wednesday night's first qualifying session by just under half a second from the best of the SMP Racing machines. Kobayashi set a 3m17.161s a little over 10 minutes in the two-hour night session to grab the early advantage for the #7 TS050 Hybrid, beating SMP driver Egor Orudzhev's best time in the #11 SMP Racing BR Engineering BR1 by 0.472s. But there was drama later on for the #7 machine, which suffered a violent head-on smash with the #31 DragonSpeed LMP2 at the Ford Chicane while Mike Conway was at the wheel. Roberto Gonzalez had spun the #31 machine and was attempting to rejoin when he and Conway made contact that sent the #7 machine into the air, although both drivers were unhurt. Third-fastest was the best of the Rebellion R-13s, with Thomas Laurent posting the #3 car's best time of 3m19.603s after a trip to the gravel at the second Mulsanne chicane. The FIA World Endurance Championship points-leading #8 Toyota was only fourth-fastest with a time 2.676s slower than that of its sister car. Fernando Alonso set the car's fastest time with just five minutes left on the clock, a 3m19.837s, two tenths behind Laurent. Ben Hanley's early effort in the customer DragonSpeed BR1 was good enough for a provisional fifth on the grid, three seconds off the pace and a tenth up on the #1 Rebellion of Andre Lotterer. That came prior to a lengthy spell in the garage for the #10 car due to gearbox trouble. The second SMP BR1 of Stoffel Vandoorne was seventh, ahead of the ByKolles ENSO CLM P1/01 whose best time was set by Tom Dillmann. LMP2: Maldonado puts DragonSpeed ahead Despite the incident with the #7 Toyota, the #31 DragonSpeed Oreca was quickest in LMP2 thanks to a 3m26.804s effort from ex-Formula 1 driver Pastor Maldonado. Nicolas Lapierre was second, 0.131s behind at the wheel of the #36 Signatech Alpine Oreca, followed by the best of the Ligiers, the #22 United Autosports car of Filipe Albuquerque. Practice pacesetter IDEC Sport and Duqueine Engineering ensured it was an all-Michelin top five, with the #38 Jackie Chan DC Racing car the best of the Dunlop-shod runners in sixth. GTE: Ford leads Porsche GTE Pro was topped by Ford thanks to a last-ditch lap by Harry Tincknell in the #67 GT. Tincknell set a time of 3m49.530s to move to the summit a couple of minutes before the end of the session, eclipsing Nick Tandy in the #93 Porsche 911 RSR by a scant 0.028s. With around 20 minutes left on the clock, Antonio Garcia had posted a 3m49.467s in the #63 Corvette C7.R, only for it to be disallowed because he improved under yellow flags. Aston Martin was third-fastest, as Alex Lynn's early best time of 3m50.037s in the #97 Vantage GTE was edged in the closing stages, while the remaining three Porsches - led by Frederic Makowiecki in the #91 car - filled out the top six places in class. Aston's second car was next up in seventh followed by the best respective entries from Ferrari and BMW, while Corvette's top car ended up 11th after Garcia's time was scrubbed. A spin for Olivier Pla at the exit of the final Porsche Curve in the #66 Ford put that car 17th and last in class. The #77 Dempsey-Proton Porsche led the way in GTE Am courtesy of Matteo Cairoli's 3m52.454s, which was enough to top the class by 0.296s from Jorg Bergmeister in the #56 Project 1 Porsche. Julien Andlauer made it an all-Porsche top three in the #88 Dempsey-Proton machine with a late improvement ahead of the #98 Aston Martin. The #99 Proton Porsche, severely damaged in Tracy Krohn's practice crash earlier in the day, did not appear on track in first qualifying. Results to follow


One person was killed in a shooting on East 25th Street in Paterson overnight, authorities said. The unidentified man was found lying face down in the street at 1:32 a.m. Thursday morning with a gunshot wound, said Jason Statuto, assistant prosecutor with the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office. He was pronounced dead on the scene and was taken to the medical examiner's office for an autopsy. The prosecutor's office is investigating the incident and asked that anyone with any information to contact them on their tips line at 1-877-370-PCPO or tips@passaiccountynj.org or contact the Paterson Police Detective Bureau at 973-321-1120. The shooting happened in Paterson's 6th Ward, the section of the city with the lowest crime numbers. The killing was the first homicide in the 6th Ward in more than four years, law enforcement officials confirmed. Paterson has had 262 shootings since Jan. 1, 2016, but just eight of them   or about 3 percent   happened in the 6th Ward POLITICS: The story behind the little-known failed project in New Jersey that got Trump fired PATERSON: State schools monitor lacks special education background TRANSPORTATION: No surprise: Newark Airport ranked worst in US, better than only 16 airports worldwide This article originally appeared on North Jersey Record: One dead in first 6th Ward shooting in more than 4 years


Pete Prisco over at CBS Sports put together his top-100 players heading into the 2019 NFL season. The Vikings had three players on the list. Safety Harrison Smith ranked 44th, wide receiver Adam Thielen ranked 84th and Danielle Hunter ranked 95th. Notable players missing from the list include wide receiver Stefon Diggs, quarterback Kirk Cousins, linebacker Anthony Barr, defensive tackle Linval Joseph and cornerback Xavier Rhodes. Diggs and Rhodes were in the "just missed" section of the list. As for the rest of the NFC North, the Packers had five players, the Bears had four and the Lions had two. These lists are always somewhat interesting but don't really mean a lot. But when it's June 22, NFL content is tough to come by. MORE: Kyle Kuzma is already trash-talking his former Lakers teammate NBA Free Agency 2019: The top players News: Elliott holdout concern re-emerges from Bristol, Cowboys new DE impresses The story of the Steelers helmet logo Tiki Barber urges Giants fans to stop booing Daniel Jones


ANKARA (Reuters) - President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday there were no setbacks in a deal to procure Russian S-400 missile defence systems, adding that "eyes are on the delivery process", expected in the first half of July. The United States has warned that it would impose sanctions on Turkey if it went ahead with the S-400 deal. But Turkey has dismissed the warnings and said it would not back down. Relations between the NATO allies have become strained. Erdogan, speaking before talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of a G20 summit in Japan, also said it was important to finish the first reactor in the Akkuyu nuclear power plant by 2023. Erdogan is also due to meet U.S. President Donald Trump in Osaka. (Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu in Ankara and Maria Vasilyeva in Moscow; Editing by Robert Birsel)


BOSTON (AP) Chris Sale pleaded but did not push when manager Alex Cora told him his day was done. Cora was not about to risk the health his ace left-hander, even after he struck out a career-high 17 over seven innings. Sale may have righted whatever went wrong during an 0-5 start, but Cora still went to the bullpen for the eighth, costing Sale the chance to chase the major league record of 20 strikeouts in a nine-inning game. Even after the Rockies rallied to a 5-4 win in the 11th, Cora and Sale seemed comfortable saying the skipper made the right call. BOX SCORE: ROCKIES 5, RED SOX 4, 11 INNINGS "AC's got two handshakes, and you get one or the other. And you know which one is the `done' one," Sale said. "I'd love to have gone back out there, but as I said, I'll never question anything he does." Sale became the first pitcher in major league history to fan 17 in a start of no more than seven innings. Boston pitchers combined to strike out 24, but the Red Sox had their five-game winning streak come to an end. Sale, who isn't the most cheerful guy in the clubhouse even after a win, couldn't help but smile a little after this one. "I love this game and to be able to have a chance at doing something like that is special," Sale said. "But at the same time, it's still a close game. You've got a job to do and you just try to hold it down when you can." Mark Reynolds, whose fifth-inning double was the first runner allowed by Sale, drove in the go-ahead run with a two-out single in the 11th against Ryan Brasier (2-2). "You never know what's going to happen. So I think all of us who were here tonight witnessed two walks, 24 strikeouts, but a Rockie win," Rockies manager Bud Black said. "We just stayed at it. Man, it was a hell of a game." Sale struck out the first six batters and fanned eight through three innings. He dominated the Rockies with a firm fastball and sharp slider, topping his previous best of 15 strikeouts, which he had done three times. The All-Star lefty sported his signature short-sleeves despite the 44-degree temperature at the start of the game and had a shutout through six innings. Nolan Arenado's two-run homer in the seventh was one of only three hits the Rockies managed against Sale. "I had terrible timing with giving up the runs I did," Sale said. "That was the one that got them back in this game and gave them a breath of fresh air." Sale stopped the damage with three straight strikeouts, placing him within range of the major league record shared by Roger Clemens, Kerry Wood, Randy Johnson and Max Scherzer. "That was fun to watch. First time I've been in something like that, you know, watching the strikeouts and watching the pitch count," Cora said. "We wanted him to go deep. He was amazing." Boston fans chanted "We want Sale!" after the bottom of the seventh, but his night was done. When Cora told him he was coming out, Sale used his fingers to form the number 20. Cora didn't bite and went to Brandon Workman, who allowed a double by Chris Iannetta and Charlie Blackmon's two-run homer with two outs in the eighth to give Colorado its first lead at 4-3. Sale's 17 strikeouts were the most for a Red Sox pitcher since Pedro Martinez fanned 17 against Tampa Bay on May 6, 2000. Mike Dunn (1-0) got the win with one inning of scoreless relief and Wade Davis got his seventh save. Michael Chavis, J.D. Martinez and Rafael Devers homered for Boston. Boston made it 4-all in the eighth on a pinch-hit single by Mitch Moreland. Chavis led off the second with his seventh homer, a 451-foot shot to left that survived a video review ordered crew chief Larry Vanover. Martinez and Devers added solo homers in the third to put Boston up 3-0. Kyle Freeland got the start for Colorado on his 26th birthday and went six innings, allowing three runs on five hits, striking out seven and walking three. TRAINER'S ROOM Rockies: LHP Tyler Anderson (left knee inflammation) saw a specialist Monday and will consult with team doctors about potential surgery, Black said. "I think a decision on some surgery is in the works here probably within the next couple days," Black said. ... Colorado recalled 3B Pat Valaika from Triple-A Albuquerque and optioned 2B Garrett Hampson to the Isotopes. Red Sox: 2B Dustin Pedroia (left knee) remained in limbo after a rehab assignment was postponed over the weekend. Cora said Pedroia and the Red Sox are being careful not to rush the 35-year-old's return. "He'll go out there and then take grounders and move around and we'll decide what we do next," Cora said. ... LHP David Price (left elbow tendinitis) will likely throw another bullpen session Wednesday and could return to the rotation Saturday against Houston, Cora said. UP NEXT Rockies: RHP German Marquez (4-2, 3.43 ERA) has struck out 59 through 57 2/3 innings this season. Red Sox: LHP Eduardo Rodriguez (4-2, 4.53) has won two straight starts and three of his last four. --- More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP-Sports Related slideshow: The 2019 MLB season (Provided by imagn)


The Srixon Q-Star's two-piece construction isn't what you would think of for a tour-level ball, but a deeper look into the design reveals some of the same guiding technologies found in the company's tour-played Z-Star and Z-Star XV balls. While the ionomer-covered Q-Star won't ever be a choice of elite players who prefer the versatility of a multilayer design with a urethane cover, the latest Q-Star's improvements are in the areas two-piece ball players are looking for: Distance and approach shot spin. How it gets there is straight from the tour-level recipe book, however. Now in its fifth generation, the Q-Star features a redesigned core (called FastLayer) that's both softer in the center and progressively firmer as it moves to the perimeter. While the company's balls have featured that concept of graduated firmness in the core ("Energetic Gradient Growth") in the past, it's been upgraded in the same way as this year's Z-Star and Z-Star XV, said Srixon's vice president of research and development. "We talk about it as performing as though it has infinte layers in the core, but the key is it's really progressive in going from soft to firm," he said. "The variation from how soft to how firm it is is pretty dramatically different than where we were. We made a major change in that. We've been able to make it more extreme to unlock the really good ball speed of a high compression ball but maintain the efficient launch conditions of a lower compression ball." The distance equation is further helped by the same 338-dimple pattern found on the Z-Star ball for more lift and less drag. For two-piece ball users, the distance boost is only half the equation. The second element is building a cover that improves spin on approach shots. Srixon says the new Q-Star again borrows the technological advances seen in its tour balls, this time with microscopic molecular formulation to the ionomer cover material that allows the cover to be soft yet durable. Known as slide ring material or SeRM, the superpolymer strengthens the molecular bonds in the cover material. Combined with the company's proprietary SpinSkin coating, the blended cover is designed to get more grab from the grooves on short irons and wedges. The new Q-Star will be available at retail on June 28 ($27 a dozen). See the video.


"Vaccines are safe," says Narayan Nair. "That's the message we need to get out there." Nair is a physician. He is also the head of the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program the system through which the U.S. government has, over the past three decades, paid more than $4 billion to people who claim to have been harmed by vaccines. According to its public record , from 2013 to 2017 alone, the program paid out an average of $229 million a year to patients and their families. The average payment was about $430,000. As America enters the worst measles outbreak since the disease was declared eradicated two decades ago, it is worth examining this rarely talked about element of vaccination requirements. The Vaccine Injury Compensation Program has long percolated at the heart of misinformation and misunderstanding. It also raises questions about where large sums of tax money are flowing. For most drugs actually, every type of drug other than vaccines the manufacturer can be legally liable for harm that results from a product it sells. Vaccines are produced by privately held pharmaceutical companies, but they have a unique arrangement with the U.S. government: When a person reports harm that could feasibly be related to a vaccine, a government program not a pharmaceutical company pays compensation. The fact that the government pays hundreds of millions of dollars every year to people who claim they've been injured by vaccines could be an alarming thing to see in your Facebook News Feed, especially if you're a parent whose pediatrician assured you that vaccination is nothing to worry about. In one case, a viral article called "Flu Vaccine Is the Most Dangerous Vaccine in the U.S. Based on Settled Cases for Injuries" points to these payments as evidence of vaccines' danger. The post was published on a site called Health Impact News: News That Impacts Your Health That Other Media Sources May Try to Censor! and appears to have 210,000 likes on Facebook. [ Read: How misinfodemics spread disease ] Subsequent Googling may only make things worse. Search for Vaccine Injury Compensation Program , and one of the first results is a site that appears to be an impartial source of information: the National Vaccine Information Center. But it is a private organization unrelated to the program, and it is a favorite of the noted conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who described it as "the best-informed group trying to expose the dangers of vaccines." The head of the center, Barbara Loe Fisher, has appeared on Jones's show several times. One time she made the case that vaccination had become a political tool to gain access to Americans' DNA for nefarious purposes. "So they're using the vaccine-monitoring system as the skeletal system for a total takeover of health care," Jones surmised, blaming Barack Obama. "Then they're using bioethicists to bring back eugenics and take over health care." The road from a quick question about the flu vaccine to certainty about state-sponsored genocide has never been shorter. The "vaccine-hesitant" community is a unique ideological mix of anti-corporate liberalism and anti-government individualism. Over the years, the VICP has been criticized for paying too much and for paying too little. The Vaccine Injury Compensation Program's first payment was made in 1988 , but its current operations can only be understood through the lens of decades prior. In the spring of 1970, after she had received a dose of oral polio vaccine, eight-month-old Anita Reyes stopped moving her legs . Paralysis spread upward to her waist, resulting in permanent incontinence, in the classic pattern of polio. Related video: Winning hearts and minds over vaccines (provided by CBS News) Her father filed suit against the maker of the vaccine, Wyeth Laboratories. Its polio vaccine at the time involved a live virus that was capable, in extremely rare cases, of causing the disease itself. A jury awarded the Reyes family $200,000 on the grounds that even though the risk of developing polio from the vaccine was known, the family had not been properly warned. Because the disease had, until the previous decade, paralyzed thousands of American children every year it peaked in the United States in 1952 with some 21,000 paralytic cases the known risk of the vaccine was heavily outweighed by the risk of going unvaccinated. But as diseases like polio began to fade from memory, the American public began to worry instead about the specter of vaccine-related illness. Other lawsuits against vaccine manufacturers began to make news in the 1970s and 1980s. Vaccines for the disease pertussis were particularly targeted, having been tied to cases of encephalopathy. One lawsuit in 1978 increased to 73 by 1984. The average claim increased from $10 million to $47 million. In several instances, damages were awarded "despite the absence of scientific evidence," says Cody Meissner, the chair of pediatric infectious disease at Tufts University School of Medicine. As we spoke, his pager went off six times. "It's impossible to prove a negative," he emphasized to me, meaning that when an illness occurs shortly after a child receives a vaccine, it's very easy to suggest a causal link, and not technically possible to prove that the vaccine was not the cause. Because many cases against vaccines involve claims of permanent injury to children, they not only are difficult to argue, but can be expensive. With this in mind, the pharmaceutical companies that make vaccines began to shift their calculus . The drug-development process is costly and time-consuming, and not likely to be embarked upon without a high-likelihood payoff for a drug company's shareholders. Developing a novel vaccine that could prevent hundreds of thousands of cases of a deadly disease but cause a much smaller number of side effects that could lead to multimillion-dollar lawsuits made a useful product an unappealing business proposition. During the 1970s and '80s, some manufacturers began to withdraw from vaccine production. In the midst of this, public-health officials grew concerned about the stability of the country's continued supply of existing vaccines and the dwindling business incentive for companies to invest in developing new ones. It was on these grounds that Congress passed the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 (also known as the Vaccine Act), indemnifying drug companies from further lawsuits. From then on, instead of suing drug companies, people who alleged injury or illness related to a vaccine would file claims with a new entity known as the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. When a person brings a case of reported harm, members of a team that currently includes Nair and 10 other doctors from the Department of Health and Human Services (all of whom have vaccinated their kids, Nair emphasized to me) review the person's medical records. The team then recommends whether the case should be compensated or defended in " vaccine court ," the term for the federal claims court dedicated to hearing cases of vaccine injury. Which brings us to the $4.1 billion. "The creation of the VICP was a quid pro quo," the Stanford Law School professor Nora Freeman Engstrom told me over email. People who may have been injured by vaccines would give up some ability to seek redress through the court system. In return, they would be assured swift and certain compensation. The program was charged by Congress to address claims "quickly, easily, and with certainty and generosity." If the government restricts individual rights for the collective good, the reasoning went, then that government should assume responsibility for the consequences. As one law review put it, the purpose was "to compensate children who had been injured while serving the public good." In a 2015 analysis of the program, Engstrom found that this was not the case. Only about a quarter of claims were being compensated, and often not in a timely manner. She cited the fact that the average vaccine-injury claim took longer to adjudicate than the average case alleging medical malpractice. "The VICP," Engstrom wrote, "has simply failed to offer compensation as consistently, as quickly, as easily, or as simply as its proponents had predicted." Since Engstrom's analysis was published, though, there has been a dramatic change. For most of the program's history, the program denied a large majority of claims. But between 2015 and 2019, 77 percent of claims were compensated. In 2004, the VICP compensated just 57 cases. In 2017, it paid 706. Engstrom called the trend "a big shift." While this change brings the VICP closer to its initial mission, the sheer amount of money changing hands may also amplify public perception of the risk of vaccines. From a low of $54 million in 2006, total outlays steadily increased to $282 million in 2017, and are on pace to exceed that this year. This time period has also seen rising public skepticism of the pharmaceutical industry and online conspiracies propagating more readily than ever. In January of this year, Nair and Meissner, along with the inventor of the rubella vaccine, Stanley Plotkin , addressed the growing concern that all of this money was exaggerating parents' sense of risk. They wrote in the Journal of the American Medical Association : "Although the establishment of the VICP may support some arguments of those who question the safety of vaccines, its existence promotes wide acceptance of vaccination as a public good that is also humane to those who perceive they have been injured by this public good." Perception of harm is a concept that has proved trickier than the law may have predicted. The Reyes case could seem about as straightforward as possible: A child developed polio after being given an oral dose of a live polio virus. But even a case as apparently obvious as that is difficult to irrefutably prove unless the patient had been monitored in a sealed isolation chamber to guarantee there had been no other exposure to polio virus. In an attempt to standardize and expedite the compensation process, many of the decisions are based on a document known as the Vaccine Injury Table (the existence of which is stipulated in the 1986 law). It details myriad illnesses, disabilities, and injuries that are, as Nair put it, "presumed to be caused by a vaccine if no other cause is found." The key legal stipulation is that if the petitioner has experienced one of the injuries or illnesses in the table in a period after receiving a vaccination, she receives a presumption of causation . Unlike a criminal case, where a defendant is presumed innocent, the vaccine cases are to supposed to presume that vaccination was the cause unless that can be disproved. So, as the VICP's site states, "being awarded compensation for a petition does not necessarily mean the vaccine caused the alleged injury." As such, it estimates that approximately 70 percent of its payments are the result of a negotiated settlement "in which HHS has not concluded, based upon review of the evidence, that the alleged vaccine caused the alleged injury." With that in mind, the Vaccine Injury Table is long and regularly expanding which could partially explain the steady increase in payouts. New additions include, for example, shoulder injuries and syncope (losing consciousness), both of which can have many causes. Another recent, better-documented addition (also described on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's website ) is that an influenza vaccine can, in extremely rare cases, stimulate the immune system to attack the nervous system in a pattern known as Guillain-Barré syndrome , leading to weakness or even paralysis. Autism is notably not included in the table. In the early 2000s, the program started to receive a flood of claims about the disease. They were traced to a global conversation started the decade prior after a study of 12 people was retracted by The Lancet and widely condemned by the medical community. The reported relationship became the subject of numerous scientific investigations, none of which found any relationship. No question in the history of vaccine reactions has been so thoroughly litigated. Given the amount of available evidence, autism is one of the claims that Nair and colleagues can confidently deny, he told me. The legal precedent dates to 2010, after more than 5,000 cases had been filed claiming a link between vaccines and autism. The result was a legal review known as the Omnibus Autism Proceeding , which ultimately found no causal relationship between vaccines and autism spectrum disorder. [ Read: Vaccine myth-busting can backfire ] Officially, the table is updated by the secretary of health and human services. But these updates are based on new research, reports of adverse events , and an advisory committee that meets four times a year (Meissner is the incoming chair). In the interest of transparency and sidestepping allegations of conspiracy, the meetings are open to the public. Anyone can join, by phone or in person, and argue that something should or should not be included in the injury table. The minutes for every meeting are online. The next one will take place on June 6 and 7 . The advisory committee makes a point of including among its members parents who have received payments from the fund. Meissner is insistent that he wants to hear from everyone in the process. To that end, petitioners' legal fees are covered by the VICP, which paid $25 million in 2017 in fees alone. Accordingly, there are attorneys and law firms that specialize in vaccine-injury claims. Some of them advertise on daytime TV. Though the sheer numbers and odds of payment could suggest some degree of financial incentive to bring claims, Meissner prefers this to a system in which bringing a claim is difficult and expensive. It would be unfair to families with insufficient means to hire a lawyer, he said. In the same spirit of consumer advocacy, the law also requires health-care professionals to report adverse events that happen after immunization, through what's known as the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System. This level of attention to side effects is unprecedented among pharmaceutical products. Though this sort of federal tracking serves as fodder for conspiracy rants by the likes of Alex Jones, the same data could reassure parents that there's little to fear. According to the CDC, some 300 million doses of vaccines are distributed in the United States in an average year. The program reports an average of about 500 petitions, of which it compensates about two-thirds . That's about one compensation for every 1 million vaccine doses. Working from the estimate that 70 percent of the awards are not clearly attributable to vaccines, the payments estimate a rate of injury or illness caused by vaccination at about one in 4.5 million. "I don't think any doctor would say, 'Vaccines are safe,'" Meissner told me, in stark contrast to Nair's approach. But many doctors do, depending on what level of specificity and information a patient is looking for. Some physicians want to talk about the likelihood of every possible risk and make a deeply researched, analytic decision. Others tend to dwell on worst-case scenarios and just want to top-line advice, simply put: Vaccines save lives; vaccines are safe; get vaccinated. The problem for doctors and public-health officials is not knowing exactly who's on the receiving end of any such message. A person might say "drinking water is safe" without meaning to downplay the cases of waterborne gastroenteritis. Vaccines are, as all things in life, not without risk. In the mid-20th century, when vaccines were rapidly adopted as common practice, incurring a small personal risk for the greater collective good may have been a more obvious tenet of life in a modern society. This was at least part of the idea behind a government program aimed at taking care of the injured and ill. While we watch as measles returns, it may have less to do with ignorance than the basic fact that this communal social fabric has been displaced by distrust, isolation, and fear.


CHICAGO   While CPS schools feed breakfast and lunch to one in five kids who receive food assistance, those in need over the weekend may have nowhere to go. So for years, Blessings in a Backpack has been loading clear plastic bags with food that's slipped into a kid's backpack on Fridays, preparing them for the weekend. "People often think, 'there aren't hungry kids in my community,' but the reality is every single state, every single county, there are hungry children," said Susan Kane, Blessings in a Backpack. Once a week, students at schools like Francis Xavier Ward School start their day with a powerful lesson in paying it forward. Kids as young as four years old help others just like themselves, one carefully packed bag at a time. "In Chicago, there are more than 290,000 kids that go hungry on the weekends," Blessings in a Backpack's Kimberly Flanagan said. Through the schools and corporate packing parties, volunteers pack as many kid-friendly servings as they can. Every bag will be delivered to local schools, giving 5,700 kids something to bring home every Friday. Unlike school breakfast and lunch plans that are federally subsidized, Blessing in a Backpack relies exclusively on donations to fill those weekend food bags. If you want to help with their fundraising efforts this summer, head to blessingsinabackpack.org .     ©2019 WGN-TV, Chicago Visit WGN-TV, Chicago at www.wgntv.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.


A naval test fire off the Southern California coast created a light that coursed across the sky shortly after dusk on Saturday, authorities said. According to The San Diego Union-Tribune, Navy Strategic Systems Programs conducted the scheduled Trident II (D5) missile test flight at sea from the Kentucky, an Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine, in the Pacific Test Range off the coast of Southern California. The test was part of a scheduled, ongoing system evaluation test, Cmdr. Ryan Perry with the Navy's Third Fleet told the Union-Tribune. Perry said launches are conducted on a frequent, recurring basis to ensure the continued reliability of the system. "Each test activity provides valuable information about our systems, thus contributing to assurance in our capabilities," he said in a statement. Witnesses across Southern California and Arizona posted video and reported seeing the light, and many used hashtags such as #ufo and #comet as they speculated about its source.


At WWDC, Apple announced that its upcoming macOS will put an end to the iTunes you're familiar with and will divvy up its features between three new apps: Music, TV and podcasts. Now, the tech giant has explained how that will work exactly. The new Apple Music app will serve as home to all the music you've imported or purchased, to all the music and smart playlists you've created in iTunes, as well as to the iTunes Store itself. You'll still be able to purchase music from the store on Mac, iOS, PC and Apple TV. Plus, you can still use your iTunes gift cards or credits with the new apps. Meanwhile, the new TV app will contain all the movies and TV shows you've purchased or rented from iTunes -- in the future, you can purchase or rent from within the app itself. All your podcasts will live in the new Podcast app, of course, while your audiobooks will make their way to the updated Apple Books app. You'll also be able to purchase audiobooks from within the Books application. Finally, the abilities to back up, restore and sync iPhones, iPads and iPods, will move to Finder. Apple says that will make it easier to drag and drop files to your devices and that your previous back ups through iTunes won't be affected after you update to Catalina. Apple


The rivals meet up for a four-game series at Fenway Park. After a hard-fought series in Minneapolis, things don't get any easier for the Yankees . They now head to Boston, where the Red Sox await. A loss to the Rays on Wednesday took them back into third place. They briefly overtook Tampa Bay earlier in the week. Even though the Yankees will still be in first when it ends, this could still be a crucial series for both teams. The Bombers could make it awfully hard for the Red Sox to have any division title hopes, while Boston could make this a close three-team race. As these series always are, this will probably be a long, tense affair. Before things kick off, let's check out the matchups. Thursday: Masahiro Tanaka vs. Rick Porcello Hey look, it's a rematch of the first game of the London Series. I presume these two will last longer than one combined inning this time around. Last he pitched, Tanaka was cruising until he allowed a five-run sixth inning that he barely got through. That's been the story of his July so far. He's thrown 18.1 innings across three starts, but has also allowed 11 runs. These struggles started with that London game, so hopefully things will come full circle in this matchup. Things have gone similarly for Porcello since June 29th, only worse. He's allowed six, four, and six runs in his last three starts. That four-run outing was his lowest in that category in over a month. Friday: James Paxton vs. Andrew Cashner Paxton was seemingly getting back on track until he mightily struggled against Colorado on Sunday. No matter your opinion of him as a player or the cause of his struggles, the Yankees need Paxton to get better. Boston won't be the easiest team to rebound against, but there should be some hope that he can. Paxton also slumped a bit to start the season, and then seemed to turn it around in a start against the Red Sox on April 16. He was dominant that day, striking out 12 while allowing just two hits in eight innings. It might take a little while for Cashner to get the Orioles out of his system. In his Red Sox debut, he allowed six runs. In the second he allowed four to his former team, who nearly no-hit Boston with ESPN's NBA insider . Also, nobody tell Gleyber Torres that Cashner 's no longer on the Orioles. Saturday: CC Sabathia vs. Eduardo Rodriguez Sabathia is yet another Yankees pitcher going through some struggles. After his seven run, four inning outing on Monday, his ERA is at his 2019 season peak. In his only meeting against Boston this season, he allowed three runs on seven hits in six innings. Rodriguez has traditionally pitched better than his career averages against the Yankees, however they chased after 5.1 innings in the second London game. Since then, Rodriguez has been pretty solid allowing just four combined runs in four starts. Sunday: Domingo German vs. Chris Sale Tuesday's game against the Twins was German 's worst start of the season by many measures. The eight runs he allowed were a season high, while his nine hits and 3.2 innings are both tied for his 2019 worst. He put up a game score of 12, which is far and away his lowest of the year. It was his first bad start since returning from the injured list, so we'll see how he bounces back. Since his terrible April, Chris Sale has mostly gone back to looking like Chris Sale . He has a 3.27 ERA in 15 starts since the calendar turned to May. The Yankees haven't faced him in a couple months, but they have gotten to him in both meetings this year. The eight runs the Yankees have scored off him in 2019 is barely lower than what they managed in the two previous years combined.


A swim safety expert is offering lifesaving tips to parents after a 3-year-old girl almost drowned in her community pool before being rescued by her big sister. Jayla and Kayli Dallis were at the pool in their Atlanta apartment complex when 3-year-old Kayli jumped into the water with a floating tube around her waist. She toppled over and slipped out of the tube, and she was submerged in the water for two minutes. Jayla, 10, sprang into action and jumped in the pool to grab her sister. She hoisted Kayli to the deck, where CPR was performed by several people. Kayli was taken to the hospital and spent two weeks in recovery. The girls' mother is thankful to have Kayli home, and she is proud of Jayla for saving the little girl. The incident is a good reminder to know how to stay safe at the pool so everyone can have fun together. So Inside Edition spoke to swim safety expert Jim Spiers. He said that if your child doesn't know how to swim, they should always wear a Coast Guard-approved life jacket to avoid tipping over or going under the water. He added that it's not the time for multitasking, because floaties are "not necessarily safe unless there's a parent nearby." "Parents should always be within arm's length and paying attention. Not on their phone. Not on their iPad. Not grilling. They need to focus on their child," Spiers said. Gallery: It Takes Only 60 Seconds to Drown & Other Water Safety Facts (Active Times)


Need more sandwiches in your life? Hoodline crunched the numbers to find the best affordable sandwich outlets in Milwaukee, using both Yelp data and our own secret sauce to produce a ranked list of the best spots to meet your needs. 1. The Soup Otzie's Topping the list is The Soup Otzie's . Located at 3950 S. Howell Ave. in Tippecanoe, the spot to score sandwiches and soups is the highest-rated budget-friendly sandwich spot in Milwaukee, boasting 4.5 stars out of 88 reviews on Yelp. The restaurant serves a variety of sandwiches, such as a tuna melt, turkey club, smoked ham and cheese, grilled cheese and plenty of other options. There are also fresh, homemade soups like cream of chicken, Texas chili, cream of potato and more. 2. Zoup! Next up is Lower East Side's Zoup! , situated at 1433 N. Jefferson St. With four stars out of 53 reviews on Yelp, the spot to score sandwiches, salads and soups has proven to be a local favorite for those looking for a cheap option. The sandwich chain is located in 17 states and Canada. Expect to find sandwiches on the menu like chicken Toscana, maple bacon ham, pesto three cheese and more, all served on fresh-baked ciabatta. Soups include lobster bisque, chicken tortilla, broccoli cheddar and more that you can opt to have in a bread bowl. 3. Scardina Specialties Riverwest's Scardina Specialties , located at 822 E. Chambers St., is another top choice, with Yelpers giving the budget-friendly butcher, which offers sandwiches and more, 4.5 stars out of 42 reviews. The restaurant features panini sandwiches and wraps, such as a meatball panini, a Caprese panini with fresh mozzarella, fresh pesto and tomato and a veggie wrap with housemade vinaigrette. There is also a deli onsite to purchase specialty meats like bratwurst, Mediterranean chicken, Sicilian tenderloin and more. 4. Sven's European Café Sven's European Café , a sandwich spot that also serves breakfast items, coffee and tea is another budget-friendly go-to, with four stars out of 106 Yelp reviews. Head over to 2699 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. to see for yourself. On the menu, you'll find sandwiches like the breakfast panini, vegan garlic lentil, artichoke melt, chicken salad and more. This story was created automatically using local business data, then reviewed and augmented by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.


The Lions activated wide receiver Tommylee Lewis from the physically unable to perform list on Tuesday and he spoke to reporters after he got the green light to practice with the team. Lewis faced questions about making up for lost time in the competition for roster spots, but the 2019 season wasn't the only topic of conversation. Lewis was also asked about the NFL's adoption of replay review for pass interference calls and non-calls due to his central role in the play that sparked the push for the rule change. Lewis was the intended receiver for Saints quarterback Drew Brees when Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman 's interference wasn't flagged in the NFC Championship Game. The wideout said there was "no doubt" that it is a good thing that bad calls or missed calls can be corrected on replay, but was otherwise ready to move attention back to the present. "I done answered so many questions about that play," Lewis said, via the Detroit Free Press . "So I'm over it. I'm over that." Lewis has too much at stake in the here and now to keep his mind on what happened in January, but his career would have to take some interesting turns if that play won't be the first thing associated with his career in the long term.


A pair of teams secured a spot in the knockout stage of the 2019 Women's World Cup, including the first non-European team to advance past the group stage. The Netherlands were first up, downing Cameroon 3-1 behind a brace from Arsenal forward Vivianne Miedema, making her the all-time leading scorer for the Dutch national team at just 22 years old. Her first came just four minutes before halftime, stemming from great combination play down the right from Jackie Groenen and Shanice van de Sanden, with the latter delivering a cross to the doorstep that found Miedema who slipped in front of Christine Manie for a diving header. Cameroon equalized just two minutes later through Gabrielle Aboudi Onguene on a long ball straight down the middle, but it wouldn't stay level much longer after the break. Three minutes after the restart as the Netherlands worked a set-piece from the training ground, again using the right flank to work a similar cross and while Dominique Bloodworth completely whiffed on the first chance, Cameroon defender Michaela Abam also whiffed on the clear, sending the ball right back to Bloodworth for an easy follow-up. Cameroon had a golden opportunity to draw level once again with 10 minutes to go, but a critical block by Desiree van Lunteren kept the Dutch in front and Miedema got her second and the record with five minutes remaining. On a two-on-two break, Miedema kept it herself and fired a low shot into the bottom-left corner and sealed the victory. #WWCTelemundo : ¡Qué calidad la de @VivianneMiedema ! 🧐👌🏻 Con un potente disparo, la '9' marcó el tercero para #NED ⚽🔥 pic.twitter.com/391ppKFbMR   Telemundo Deportes (@TelemundoSports) June 15, 2019 They only netted twice but Canada thoroughly dominated New Zealand to become the first non-European side through to the knockout stage with a 2-0 win in Grenoble. Jessie Flemming secured the win, able to find the back of the net with two of Canada's 24 shots in the match. The game ground to a halt 15 minutes in as Catherine Bott took a close-range cross off the right hand and was down for significant treatment before coming off. On the restart, the game jolted to life again as Christine Sinclair had a glorious opportunity in front of net but somehow the New Zealand defense combined to keep the ball from crossing the line. Canada remained the more dangerous side through the first half-hour with the New Zealand defense barely staying alive on numerous occasions. The Ferns finally had their best chance in the 39th minute as a few bounces in midfield went their way and it created a two-on-two break, but they were unable to find a wide-open Rosie White in the middle. After halftime, Canada seemed rejuvenated and struck just three minutes in. A long ball down the left released Nichelle Prince on the break, and she had all too easy of a cutback to Fleming waiting in the middle. Sinclair missed one just a minute later over the bar that would have doubled the lead, and Canada began to truly pour on the pressure. A fabulous header from Prince was only kept out by a stunning Erin Nayler save in the 72nd minute. #WWCTelemundo_ : ¡Trabajo en equipo! 🤜🏼💥🤛🏼 Jessie Fleming consolida una gran jugada colectiva y tras un gran pase de Prince, marca el primero de #CAN ⚽ pic.twitter.com/ugSpP3tala   Telemundo Deportes (@TelemundoSports) June 15, 2019 The win put Canada on six points, even with the Netherlands and behind only on goal differential, with the two set to meet in the final round of group stage play to determine the group winner. New Zealand and Cameroon are both eliminated, with either side yet to secure a point in its first two matches. Follow @the_bonnfire


INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald has agreed to a two-year deal that will keep him with Arizona. General manager Steve Keim made the announcement Wednesday at the NFL's annual scouting combine without disclosing terms. The 31-year-old Fitzgerald has been the Cardinals' top receiver since 2004 and led them to their only Super Bowl appearance. He could now wrap up his career with the only NFL team he's ever played for. Last season, he finished with 63 receptions, 734 yards and two touchdowns as his role changed in coach Bruce Arians' system. Keim said the deal came together quickly once the Cardinals ''put their foot on the gas pedal.'' He says the deal also will give Arizona enough salary-cap room to make over moves.


The Bills spent the offseason insisting that LeSean McCoy was their guy , and that Frank Gore was brought in as a complement not a replacement. That makes their approach to the first preseason game a bit more interesting. According to the Buffalo News , Bills coach Sean McDermott said on the team's website radio show that Gore would get the first team carries tonight against the Colts, and that McCoy would likely get the night off and start in the second preseason game next week at Carolina. "What we're going to do is give Frank most of the work this week and give LeSean most of the work the following week," McDermott said. "We know LeSean a little bit. This is our first time around Frank. "The other piece of it is making sure with two experienced running backs that we keep both guys fresh." The 35-year-old Gore is still capable of playing at a solid level, and has said he's not worried about competing for time. How the Bills manage the workload between the two workhorses and promising rookie Devin Singletary will be a delicate balance. Unless it isn't.


Manchester United have made Harry Maguire the most expensive defender in history after paying Leicester £80m for his signature and the Old Trafford club clearly see enough in England's 2018 World Cup hero to hand him a six-year contract. That's all perfectly fine. Maguire is a hungry and ambitious individual about to enter the peak of his career who fits the profile of player the club has been looking for. What good is it having other supremely gifted players if they don't want to put the effort in to perform? Thanks to everyone who has supported me and played a part in my career. I'm proud and honoured to join @ManUtd . What an incredible football journey it's been so far ⚽ pic.twitter.com/yVaTnBBHv6   Harry Maguire (@HarryMaguire93) August 5, 2019 In reality, the money paid is almost irrelevant. United have the revenue to afford such fees, it was all that Leicester would settle for, and there weren't many other appropriate options available. But why, then, has it taken until three days before the Premier League transfer deadline, six days before United begin their season against Chelsea at Old Trafford, for this to happen? As a club, United have been looking at Maguire since before last summer's World Cup. He became a serious target once more in recent months and Old Trafford officials should have had this one sewn up the day after the 2018/19 Premier League campaign was over. Instead, there were weeks of wasted time. Leicester made it clear that there was a minimum asking price, and had the power to stick to it because of last September's contract renewal. But United, who have held firm on their own valuation of Romelu Lukaku in similar circumstances, consistently attempted to negotiate a lower figure when there was no negotiating to be done. Negotiations are where every transfer begins, and this is not to say that United officials shouldn't have tried to talk Leicester down from a higher price. But it was clear for a long time that the Foxes weren't prepared to drop it - Brendan Rodgers publicly said as much several times. The price tag was the price tag. Every transfer situation is unique, and, on this particular occasion, why not just pay up instead of needlessly prevaricating? The need for this player at this time outweighed any small victories at the negotiating table. The result in reality is that Maguire, instead of joining United a month ago or earlier, has missed the whole of pre-season with his new teammates. That is six weeks of vital fitness training, tactical instruction and general bonding. Now, Maguire is thrown in at the deep end.  'Ohhhhh, Harry Maguire...'  @HarryMaguire93 #MUFC pic.twitter.com/sQPuK4RfcR   Manchester United (@ManUtd) August 5, 2019 Set to partner Victor Lindelof, potentially for many years, Maguire is no doubt an upgrade on the existing centre back options at United. He will make Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's developing new look team better and will ultimately be seen as a good signing at an important time. But had United been far more efficient getting the deal done they could have helped their newest star reach that level much quicker. They just didn't.


Your tri-weekly minor league highlights roundup The Mariners farm is both more exciting and more functional than it's been in a long time, which means it's worth paying attention to how the prospects are performing down at the lower levels of the organization. In addition to our stalwart State of the Farm weekly roundup that takes a longer view on the farm, we'll have minor league roundups thrice a week or so to share some highlights, gifs, and notes in our Midshipmen's Log (it's a baby sailor, get it? **waits patiently for 'ba dum tiss' on the drums** yeah yeah). It was a disappointing day for the big club but a good day to be a Mariners minor leaguer, with some strong pitching performances sprinkled across the system, along with some big power flashing. West Virginia Power (28-28) send home the Asheville Tourists (24-32), 5-4 Link to full box scor e LHP Steven Moyers posted the longest start of his career, and the longest start by any Power pitcher this season, hurling 7.2 innings for his seventh quality start. After giving up a run each in the first two frames, Moyers buckled down and cruised through the Tourists lineup, at one time retiring twelve batters in a row. 3B Bobby Honeyman continued to heat up with a two-run single to tie the game in the fifth, and 1B Onil Pena had two big hits: a sac fly in the fifth to put the Power up 3-2, and then an insurance run-scoring single in the seventh. Moyers got into a bit of a scrape late in the game and was relieved by RHP David Ellingson , who pitched 1.1 innings of no-hit, two-strikeout ball to secure the save for the Power. Arkansas Travelers (35-19) bury the Tulsa Drillers (29-26), 10-3 Link to full box score Tulsa may be second in the Texas League by winning percentage, but the gap that separates the two team is evident (.527 to the Travs' .648) whenever the two face off; Arkansas is simply a better team. Evan White kicked off the scoring in the first with a solo HR off journeyman knuckleballer J.D. Martin : That puppy is 413 feet to the deepest part of center field in a pitcher's park. White thought it was going to be a double off the wall and ran hard around the bases; it took him halfway to third to slow down to a home run trot. The Drillers came back with a three-run second, taking advantage of some sloppy Arkansas defensive miscues, but Jake Fraley took advantage of a Drillers less-than-stellar defensive play of his own and scored two on a pop-up shallow fly to left field. The Travs put the rout on in the seventh, scoring five additional runs off a pair of hapless Drillers relievers to lock away the win. Justin Dunn got the start and went five innings, giving up three runs (none earned), walking two, and striking out seven. He threw 60 of his 90 pitches for strikes, and while you'd like to see some more efficiency, he was able to win some of the longer at-bats, like this 9-pitch at-bat with Jared Walker: Dunn has 61 strikeouts, and while that's only good for fourth in the Texas League, he's done it in significantly fewer innings that his fellow prospects (the leader, Williams Perez , has 69, but he's pitched 67 innings to Dunn's 48). Zac Grotz , who has been a little uneven lately, had a nice rebound outing in relief in which he struck out four over two innings, and Matt Tenuta and Dan Altavilla finished off Tulsa with two innings and three strikeouts among them. With this win, the Travs cut their magic number to single-digits with 9 wins needed to secure a first-half championship. Tacoma Rainiers (29-29) bitten by the El Paso Chihuahuas (36-21), 5-3 Link to full box score A rare non-blowout game in El Paso unfortunately had Tacoma coming up on the losing side. Tyler Cloyd ran into trouble in the fifth and David McKay was unable to bail him out, and the Rainiers couldn't close the gap down the stretch despite scoreless innings from Gerson Bautista and Ryan Garton . The Rainiers played their second straight game without offense-driver Braden Bishop , who was absent from the lineup for Saturday's drubbing (24-4, ouch) and in Seattle's lineup today, and the normally-hot Ian Miller went 0-for-4. The Rainiers were able to collect 9 hits, but weren't able to string enough together to make anything happen, although newest Rainier Jaycob Brugman had two hits, including a HR, as did Kristopher Negron . 18-year-old Robert Perez had another hit and is hitting .353 in his first exposure to stateside ball, which will be a fun story for him to tell when he eventually rejoins his teammates in the AZL or West Virginia or Everett. Modesto Nuts (25-32) smoke the Visalia Rawhide (37-15), 4-2 Link to full box score The Nuts held tough against the kings of the Cal League, keeping a pesky Rawhide offense off the board until the 8th inning. RHP Ian McKinney had one of his better starts for Modesto, going six innings and giving up seven hits and two walks, but avoiding damage. Collin Kober wobbled a little in relief, giving up two runs in two innings but striking out three, and fireballer Joey Gerber came in to shut the door. Offensively, the Nuts had better at-bats than they have recently, working a total of seven walks off two Visalia pitchers, including two bases-loaded walks, the first to Cal Raleigh and the second a four-pitch walk to Jarred Kelenic. The four-pitch walk to Kelenic makes sense if you look at what he did in the third: Crushed pic.twitter.com/Zi2g0V4vvh   Mariners Minors (@MiLBMariners) June 2, 2019 Per Keaton Gillogly, this was 103 mph off the bat, cranked to one of the deepest parts of the park. It's important to note that Modesto's John Thurman Field, unlike many of the other Cal League ballparks, isn't particularly hitter-friendly; in fact, Modesto has the highest rate of HR suppression in the league and not just the Cal League, but all of High-A . Today's games: Tacoma is off today, but will start a seven-game homestand against the Memphis RedBirds and Nashville Sounds on Tuesday. It's a great time to get down to Tacoma if you're able, as the days get more beautiful and the firepits at Cheney beckon for the cooler evenings. Modesto is also off, denying us the joy of watching Jarred Kelenic mash some more taters, but freeing us up to watch the draft. West Virginia at Hickory, 3:30 PT (RHP Deivy Florido) Tusla at Arkansas, 5:05 PT (LHP Ricardo Sánchez) Tacoma: OFF Modesto: OFF


Exclusive - Wolverhampton Wanderers are set to hand starlet Morgan Gibbs-White a bumper new deal, to keep him away from the clutches of a host of clubs   including German giants Bayern Munich. Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea have all been tracking the 19-year-old, who established himself as a vital part of Nuno Espirito Santo's squad last season. With Wolves looking to spend heavily this summer, a potential exit for Gibbs-White has been touted. 90min has learned that, alongside the Premier League giants, both Bayern Munich and Monaco have also been watching Gibbs-White, but Wolves have no desire to part ways with the midfielder. He managed 31 appearances in all competitions last season after penning a new deal in January 2018, and Wolves are set to reward his progress with a bumper new contract. The teenager has already opened talks and Wolves hope to conclude terms before the start of the season. Gibbs-White enjoyed a number of impressive outings last season, most notably in a 2-1 win over Chelsea in December 2018, but is yet to cement a permanent place in the club's starting lineup. Nuno often preferred the trio of Ruben Neves, Joao Moutinho and Leander Dendoncker, but Gibbs-White is certainly seen as one for the future. He recently told The Mirror of his desire to make an impact at Wolves in the upcoming season, saying: "Since Nuno came in, it has just been positive, positive, positive. Hopefully, we can keep that mentality and keep that confidence going. "We start with the Europa League and hopefully we can go far in the competition. We've only got a small squad so there will be opportunities to start games and come off the bench. I'm looking to start in those games and push even more than I pushed last season." He was handed his first call-up to the England Under-21 side this summer at the European Under-21 Championships, and fans are desperate to see him build on that next season.


Kyle Larson's bid to sweep the May races at Charlotte Motor Speedway ends in a multi-car incident during final stage of Coca-Cola 600. Larson was running in the top-ten when he made contact with Chase Elliott, getting loose and triggering a seven-car accident during the final stage of the race. He collected Clint Bowyer and as he slid across the track, made heavy contact with Austin Dillon and the inside wall. "I just got in there and lost grip and slid up into Clint," said Larson. "I got stuck in the middle and then just put myself in a bad spot and got sideways. "I got tight on that restart. Up and down day for us. I hate that I did that, it was all me." After winning the All-Star race last Saturday, Larson was attempting to become the eighth driver to sweep the May races at Charlotte Motor Speedway and first since Kurt Busch did it in 2010. Austin Dillon, Ty Dillon, Ryan Preece, Paul Menard, David Ragan, Bowyer and Larson were listed as the seven drivers involved. "We'll try and clean it up and go where we race next week and try to be better." Larson's best finish in a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series regular season race this season has been third at Dover (Del.) Speedway earlier this month. The DNF puts him closer to the cut-off in the championship standings as he continues an uphill climb in what has been a difficult season for the Chip Ganassi Racing driver. Wow! @KyleLarsonRacin makes contact with @ClintBowyer and takes out a number of cars. #CocaCola600 pic.twitter.com/KBZ40tRTsN   #NASCARSalutes (@NASCAR) May 27, 2019


A new survey has found that Native Americans are more likely to be proud than offended by the name of the Washington Redskins. The survey, as reported by the Washington Post , asked 500 people who identify as Native American to pick from a list of words which one best described their feelings about the Redskins name. The word most picked was "proud." Following "proud" came "indifferent," "annoyed," "content," "satisfied" and "disappointed." The Washington Post did not publish the full results of the survey, so we do not know what percentage of respondents offered each response, but regarding the word "proud," the Washington Post reports that "most of the survey's respondents felt that way." These results echo those of a 2016 poll that found that only 9 percent of Native Americans described themselves as offended by the Redskins name, while 90 percent said it did not bother them. Daniel Snyder celebrated that poll and will no doubt celebrate this one, as evidence continues to mount that the majority of Native Americans are not pressuring him to change his team's name.


Editor's note: The opinions in this article are the author's, as published by our content partner, and do not necessarily represent the views of MSN or Microsoft. George Orwell said, "Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind." There is a lot of wind blowing around the halls of power in Washington and in state governments lately when it comes to immigration. Anti-borders politicians have perfected a form of linguistic sleight of hand that shields them from criticism for their radical views. One of the most common tricks is to say, "I'm for border security, but ..." What follows is usually a policy idea that is decidedly antithetical to border security. The latest bad immigration policy idea being mainstreamed into the public consciousness is that deportation of illegal aliens is unwarranted under any circumstances. Among the witch's' brew of disastrous anti-borders proposals out there, this has to be among the most dangerous, not just for the physical safety of Americans, but of the nation at large. After President Donald Trump announced and then delayed an initiative to conduct mass deportations of illegal aliens who have final orders of deportation, opponents pounced on the very idea of removing such individuals. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi claimed she told the president in a phone call that "a violation of status is not a reason for deportation." This begs an obvious question. If breaking into the country and violating our immigration laws doesn't warrant deportation, is there any conduct that does? The implied answer from Speaker Pelosi and her fellow travelers is no. In that case, we are now entering into a post-order phase of the American experience. Laws exist on the books, but are not meant for actual enforcement. Those who violate our laws are essentially granted clemency if they belong to a class that is protected by our political grandees. This is not the conduct of a vibrant democratic republic, but of a rot-infested socialist dictatorship that will eventually collapse under the weight of its own corruption and duplicity. President Trump had targeted about 2,000 illegal aliens for deportation, but of course there are many, many more. Ken Cuccinelli, acting director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, recently declared that agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are ready to detain and deport about a million illegal aliens who have been issued removal orders. Despite the massive backlog that has caused some aliens to wait years for their cases to be heard, the aliens facing deportation have already received their due process. Their circumstances were reviewed by an immigration judge and determined to be short of the standard for a continued stay in the U.S. These aliens now live among us in defiance of a court order, and attempts to execute their lawful deportation are attacked by politicians and the media as the work of jack-booted government agents. If American citizens were resisting a court order, who would run interference for them? Probably no one, and no one should. Why is it different for foreign nationals in our country? Defying a deportation order is not a victimless crime. It can come with a body count. There are too many cases of American citizens who lost their lives at the hands of aliens who were ordered to be removed. In one recent case, Grant Ronnebeck was shot to death while working in a Mesa, Ariz., convenience store. Apolinar Altamirano, an illegal alien and reputed member of the Sinaloa Cartel, allegedly shot the 21-year-old Ronnebeck after demanding a pack of cigarettes. While living in the U.S. illegally for more than 20 years, Altamirano had previously been convicted of burglary in 2012. He was out of police custody on bond despite being under a deportation order. His first-degree murder trial begins in August. There are many controversial elements of our immigration policies, but enforcing deportation orders should not be one of them. It is a fundamental component of protecting our citizens and maintaining the integrity of our legal system. Dale Wilcox is executive director and general counsel at the Immigration Reform Law Institute , a public interest law firm working to defend the rights and interests of the American people from the negative effects of illegal migration.


For the whale hunters, the inaugural expedition was a big success. Hours after heading out to sea, their ships returned with the carcasses of two freshly harpooned minke whales, their huge, gaping maws draped off the sterns of the vessels. "The catch was much bigger than expected," said Yoshifumi Kai, chairman of Japan's Coastal Whaling Association. "I'm very happy." At a ceremony before the fleet went out on July 1, Kai had given an emotional speech to an assembly of whalers, law-makers and the mayor of the northern Japanese port city of Kushiro. "I'm so moved my heart is shaking," he said. This was an important day. Japan was lifting a 30-year ban on commercial whaling in its waters. In 1986, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) announced a worldwide moratorium on commercial whaling. In late 2018, however, Japan decided to withdraw from the IWC -- a move welcomed by its whale industry but condemned by environmental campaigners who believed it would threaten endangered species of whale. But with Japan's appetite for whale meat in decline, why is the country so committed to killing whales? Whale experts The septuagenarian Maeda brothers have decades of experience in pursuing whales. These days, they run whale spotting trips on the frigid waters of the Sea of Okhotsk. But long ago, they used to hunt them. Mitsuhiko Maeda, 73, and his younger brother Saburo, 71, worked in an eight-man team, harpooning and killing around 40 whales a year. "Finding whales is a part of my life," the elder Maeda said, as he steered his boat towards a minke whale to give the half a dozen Japanese tourists on board a closer look. When asked about the resumption of commercial whaling, none of the tourists objected. "Of course, it should restart," the elder Maeda said. "Japan has a culinary culture of whales." Maeda has no plans to revive his former career, however. He enjoys showing tourists fin whales, the second largest of the world's whale species. "I will continue to lead cruises, and the whale hunters can catch the whales," he said. "I want both to co-exist." While the 1986 moratorium brought the Maeda brothers' whaling careers to a sudden halt, other Japanese hunters continued killing hundreds of whales every year for decades, using a special permit granted by the IWC for "scientific research." Japan killed 596 whales in the 2017 and 2018 hunting season, according to the IWC. Most of those were harpooned in the Antarctic, although Japan also hunted in the North Pacific. Tokyo has defended its right to hunt whales, arguing it is a vital part of Japanese culture and maritime tradition. "Japan is an island nation surrounded by the ocean and we have been using the whale as food since ancient times," says Kiyoshi Ejima, a lawmaker from Japan's ruling Liberal Democrat Party and a staunch supporter of the whaling industry. Now that Japan has withdrawn from the IWC, whalers will no longer hunt in international waters but will pursue them in an economic exclusion zone, which extends 200 nautical miles from the Japanese coast. A hunting quota has been set at 227 between now and the end of the year, according to Japan's Fisheries Agency. That breaks down to 150 bryde's whales, 52 common minke whales and 25 sei whales. Of the three, only sei whales are listed as endangered . But the plan to kill 227 whales in six months is just the beginning, according to whaling industry supporters. "It's the start-off," said Ejima. "A kick-off point." That's got some experts worried. "There are fragile whale populations around Japan that cannot sustain commercial hunting," said Patrick Ramage, director for marine conservation at the International Fund for Animal Welfare. "These populations cannot feed a meaningful Japanese market -- even if there were one for whale meat." Dying industry? The Japanese whaling industry still faces one serious problem: appetite for whale meat is declining. After the ravages of World War II, whale meat became a vital source of protein in Japan. In 1964, Japanese consumed 154,000 tons of whale meat, according to government statistics. And as recently as the 1970s and 1980s, fried whale was a common dish served for lunch to schoolchildren. But by 2017, Japanese ate only 3,000 tons of whale meat. Per capita, that amounts to roughly two tablespoons of whale meat a year. "Our immediate issue is how to make financial sense of it (whaling) going forward," said Kai. Critics argue that it's a dying industry that is kept alive only by government subsidies. Japan's Fisheries Agency has allocated the equivalent of about $463 million to supporting whaling for the 2019 fiscal year. "If whaling is forced to sink or swim, this industry will drown very quickly," said Ramage, from the International Fund for Animal Welfare. Still, restaurants including Taruichi, in Tokyo, decorate their entrances with paintings of whales at sea and proudly celebrate the culinary tradition of serving this niche meat. Taruichi's owner, Shintaro Sato, has printed leaflets celebrating the resumption of commercial whale hunting. "It was a dearest wish for us," said Sato, who inherited the restaurant from his father. His family has been preparing whale meat for half a century. In the kitchen, cooks carefully laid out garnished dishes of whale heart sashimi. The fryer bubbled with chunks of breaded whale meat. Waiters on the restaurant floor delivered platters of whale steak marinated in miso. Sato said he hopes the relaunch of commercial whaling in Japan will help young Japanese rediscover whale meat. To his critics, he said: "Let's respect each other's cultures and eat what each one eats."


William Byron is growing accustomed to winning poles in big events in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Byron, who opened the year winning the pole for the Daytona 500, added another Thursday night, grabbing the top starting spot for Sunday night's Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Byron, 21, is the youngest driver to start from the pole in the history of the Memorial Day weekend event. "This is just a dream come true," Byron said. "I grew up in Charlotte and I came to this race every year and it's dream come true to qualify on the pole with Hendrick Motorsports just across the street. "This is pretty cool. I can't think of a better way to start the weekend." Byron's average lap speed of 183.424 mph topped Aric Almirola (183.069 mph) and Kyle Busch (182.933 mph), who won the pole for this race a year ago. Austin Dillon was fourth-fastest and Kevin Harvick fifth. Rounding out the top-10 were Daniel Suarez, Joey Logano, Clint Bowyer, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Daniel Hemric, who was fastest in Thursday's lone practice session. Byron's crew chief this season, veteran Chad Knaus, has plenty of winning experience at Charlotte with his former driver, Jimmie Johnson. Asked how he can take advantage of that experience, Byron said, "It's just the dialogue we have in the hauler. We go back and forth on communication and changes on the car. It's starting to improve for us and that's where the speed is coming from. "Also, the cars are getting faster. This is really exciting." Corey LaJoie's No. 32 Ford twice failed pre-qualifying inspection and he had an engineer ejected from his team for the remainder of the weekend. Cla#Driver ManufacturerTimeGapMph 1 24 William Byron Chevrolet 29.440 183.424 2 10 Aric Almirola Ford 29.497 0.057 183.069 3 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 29.519 0.079 182.933 4 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 29.546 0.106 182.766 5 4 Kevin Harvick Ford 29.550 0.110 182.741 6 41 Daniel Suarez Ford 29.555 0.115 182.710 7 22 Joey Logano Ford 29.560 0.120 182.679 8 14 Clint Bowyer Ford 29.562 0.122 182.667 9 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 29.563 0.123 182.661 10 8 Daniel Hemric Chevrolet 29.588 0.148 182.506 11 1 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 29.603 0.163 182.414 12 9 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 29.614 0.174 182.346 13 88 Alex Bowman Chevrolet 29.618 0.178 182.322 14 19 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 29.622 0.182 182.297 15 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 29.649 0.209 182.131 16 20 Erik Jones Toyota 29.657 0.217 182.082 17 21 Paul Menard Ford 29.698 0.258 181.830 18 6 Ryan Newman Ford 29.736 0.296 181.598 19 12 Ryan Blaney Ford 29.760 0.320 181.452 20 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 29.773 0.333 181.372 21 2 Brad Keselowski Ford 29.781 0.341 181.324 22 34 Michael McDowell Ford 29.783 0.343 181.311 23 37 Chris Buescher Chevrolet 29.783 0.343 181.311 24 47 Ryan Preece Chevrolet 29.839 0.399 180.971 25 42 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 29.842 0.402 180.953 26 36 Matt Tifft Ford 29.955 0.515 180.270 27 95 Matt DiBenedetto Toyota 29.978 0.538 180.132 28 13 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 29.983 0.543 180.102 29 43 Darrell Wallace Jr. Chevrolet 30.006 0.566 179.964 30 32 Corey Lajoie Ford 30.108 0.668 179.354 31 38 David Ragan Ford 30.254 0.814 178.489 32 00 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 30.379 0.939 177.754 33 52 Bayley Currey Chevrolet 30.437 0.997 177.416 34 96 Parker Kligerman Toyota 30.470 1.030 177.223 35 15 Ross Chastain Chevrolet 30.566 1.126 176.667 36 53 B.J. McLeod Chevrolet 30.901 1.461 174.752 37 27 Reed Sorenson Chevrolet 30.945 1.505 174.503 38 51 Cody Ware Ford 31.812 2.372 169.747 39 77 Quin Houff Chevrolet 31.947 2.507 169.030 40 66 Joey Gase Toyota 32.059 2.619 168.439


Robert Pierce has always been a planner. Florida summers can be quite hot and humid, and it's not somewhere he and wife Mary Ann wanted to live full-time. So, a few years before his retirement, the family started talking about looking for a place in the Carolina mountains where they could go to escape the Florida heat. Robert had traveled throughout the Carolinas during his career. He played golf at The Cliffs at Glassy years ago and talked about how beautiful it was. They both also loved Greenville, Asheville and the surrounding area. Being from Charleston, Robert had grown up with boats and the thought of lake living was very appealing. The Pierce's scheduled a visit to The Cliffs in April of 2016 and toured its lake communities. They settled on The Cliffs at Keowee Springs because of the availability of lots and its proximity to the neighboring towns. They fell in love with the area and placed an offer on a lot during their visit. They were close to an accepted offer but backed away thinking maybe they were moving too quickly. They returned home but couldn't get the lake off their minds. Robert and Mary Ann planned a second trip in July and when they arrived back, they felt as if they were home, back in South Carolina. They found the perfect lot and the perfect builder that weekend! When they had their first design consultation, it was all about how they wanted to live in their home. They envisioned a home that brought the outdoors in with large open spaces for grand entertaining, but also intimate and inviting enough for small gatherings. They wanted a comfortable "Lodge" feel, combined with elegance. The theme "Rustic Elegance" was born. They gathered inspiration from a home on Houzz that was actually in Montana. The Pierce couple would visit every 8-10 weeks to check the progress and select lighting fixtures, appliances, tile, countertops, cabinetry…all the little details that would make the home unique. The kitchen, bar area, and outdoor living area became the focal points. The kitchen and outdoor area came together in a short time, the bar… not so much. It was probably the biggest concern they had, and they kept tweaking it and tweaking it having faith that in the end it was going to turn out the way they envisioned. They can honestly say it came out better than they could have imagined. "The entire home did! The Dillard-Jones team exceeded our expectations, helping us build the home of our dreams in the setting of our dreams at The Cliffs," said Mary Ann. Robert's cousin, Greg, affectionately nicknamed it, "The Cabin." "That's how everyone refers to it now," says Mary Ann. This article originally appeared on The Greenville News: Home Away from Home: Robert and Mary Ann Pierce


Before the Broncos played the Falcons in the Hall of Fame Game on Thursday evening, first-year coach Vic Fangio spent time in the hospital getting treatment for kidney stones. "I went to sleep [Wednesday] night and at about 1 a.m. I had some pain," Fangio recalled. "It woke me up and I thought it was an upset stomach. I was able to fall back asleep for another hour or so. I woke up again and I knew it was not an upset stomach. "I hung around until the meetings were over and then we went and got it checked out. Got a CAT scan. The guys guessed that's what it was, and they were right." Fangio wasn't able to pass the stones in the hospital but he received medicine that helped him coach in Thursday's game, a 14-10 win. "It wasn't too bad," Fangio said of the pain. "By the time I left the hospital, things were under control. I don't believe I've passed them yet. It's done most of its traveling by the time I left there. If you know anything about kidney stones." Kidney stones are never fun but securing a victory in his first game as a head coach in the NFL helped Fangio overcome the discomfort. "As we all know, nobody is in there doing cheetah flips and cartwheels about that, like they would in a regular season game, but winning's cured more ills than penicillin. It's always nice to win." MORE: Five potential Jeremy Lin landing spots in free agency Jordan Crawford says Nike still owes him $500 for his legendary dunk on LeBron Biggest winners from the first week of Packers training camp Steven Jackson gets random drug test from NFL after signing 1-day contract Roundup: Julianne Hough Bares All; Ninja Ditches Twitch; Bud Foster's Last Year


TORONTO (AP) Jaimiro Monteiro broke a tie in the 68th minute and the Philadelphia Union beat Toronto FC 2-1 on Saturday. Monteiro took a pass from Kacper Przybylko and beat goalkeeper Quentin Westberg with a right-footed shot. Eastern Conference-leading Philadelphia (7-3-2) is 4-0-1 in its last five games, outscoring the opposition 14-3. The Union opened the scoring in the 25th minute on Chris Mavinga's own goal. Toronto (5-4-1) tied it on Alejandro Pozuelo's free kick in the 51st.


Manchester United are 'interested' in West Ham United centre back Issa Diop, but the Hammers have batted away an opening offer as the Red Devils search far and wide to fix their defensive problems. After a disappointing season in which United finished sixth, manager Ole Gunner Solskjaer is on the hunt for defenders, as he looks to build a squad capable of finishing in the top four. BREAKING: @ManUtd interested in signing West Ham defender Issa Diop and willing to pay £45m plus a player, Sky Sports News understands.   Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) June 15, 2019 United have been linked with enough players to fill the Stretford End already in the first month of the transfer window, with the defenders Harry Maguire , Kalidou Koulibaly and Toby Alderweireld all regular features in the gossip columns. Sky Sports have added Issa Diop to the ever-growing list and claim the Red Devils are happy to spend big in order to sign him. In his debut season in the Premier League , Diop was a fixture in the Hammers team, making 38 appearances in all competitions. However, despite an opening offer of £45m plus an unnamed player, West Ham are determined to keep hold of the former Toulouse man, and are believed to not be considering offers south of £60m. Having conceded 54 league goals last season - more than nine of the top ten teams in the Premier League in 2018/19 , and Solskjaer has identified the backline of his squad as an area in drastic need of improvement. Sky Sports call improving their centre back options a 'top priority' for Man Utd this summer and highlight Diop's (comparative) cheapness compared to Koulibaly and Maguire, who could cost close to £100m. In what is expected to be a summer of spending at United, the Red Devils have already signed Daniel James from Swansea City and are being heavily linked with a move for Crystal Palace right back Aaron Wan-Bissaka .


Let's flashback to a few weeks ago, ancient history as some might say. The summer was still young, the Knicks still had a chance of landing KD, and reporters could still set foot in the Mets locker room without fear of being clobbered over the back of the head with a bat and stuffed in the broom closet. It was a time of great joy and optimism in America, due in no small part to the USWNT's 13-nil triumph over Thailand in their opening game of the 2019 Women's World Cup. Some, particularly our neighbors to the north, however, weren't feeling quite so jubilant, criticizing Alex Morgan and co. for continuing to celebrate deep into the embers of the raging goal inferno. Since then the USWNT has been dogged by critics  including their own president  who have hounded them for being too American (or not American enough) as they continued to pile up the goals and wins with relative ease. On Tuesday in their semi-final matchup with England, with lightning rod Megan Rapinoe watching from the bench, the U.S. women racked up more of the same, bagging a berth in the final on the back of two decisive VAR decisions, a penalty save, and yet another goal from Ms. Morgan, on her 30th birthday no less. And just like last time, the critics of the U.S.'s controversial "have fun while playing a game" attitude came storming out of the woodwork, this time led by 50-cap England international Lisanne Sanderson, who took umbrage specifically with Morgan's tea-sipping celebration. https://twitter.com/JPW_NBCSports/status/1146142408922603520 https://twitter.com/beINSPORTS/status/1146145720799383552 RELATED: Irish soccer team fakes player's death to get out of game because forfeiting is boring Despite Morgan demonstrating proper technique, with the pinky out and everything, Sanderson still called the move "distasteful." Never let anyone tell you the English aren't sticklers for etiquette. In Sanderson's defense, though, she does say she's typically a fan of Alex Morgan's celebrations and if you don't expect to ruffle a few feathers by mocking another country's culture after you just scored on them, then what's even the point? So yes, Sanderson has firmer ground to stand on here than her Canadian counterparts did a few weeks back, but still, all Morgan did was stop for spot of mime tea. There are more than enough actual problems to get worked up about in both the U.S. and England at the moment, so if you can't handle the heat, stay out of the kitchen...especially if the kettle is already boiling.


Start your day off right by looking at some delightful doggies! There are dozens of dogs up for adoption right here in Charlotte. Hoodline partnered with Petfinder , an online adoption site that lists "more than 315,000 adoptable pets from nearly 14,000 animal shelters and rescue groups" to bring you this roundup of dogs near you. (Details like pet availability, training, vaccinations and other features are based on data provided by Petfinder and may be subject to change; contact the shelter for the latest information.) Milo, Australian shepherd and Shetland sheepdog mix Milo is a darling male Australian shepherd and Shetland sheepdog mix being cared for at the North Mecklenburg Animal Rescue . Milo has mastered his house-training etiquette. He is already vaccinated and neutered. More on Milo: Milo needs more socialization both with people and other dogs. He is afraid and though he warms up quickly, new things are scary for him. He is very affectionate and loving once he trust you. Apply to adopt Milo today at Petfinder . Myka, hound and shepherd mix Myka is an adorable female hound and shepherd mix being kept at Maggie Lu's Safe Haven Rescue, Inc. Myka is a social animal   she's happy to keep company with other dogs. She has all of her shots, and she is spayed. She is already house-trained. About Myka: Sweet Myka just loves everyone and would make a perfect addition to any family. Since she is still young, so an active person or family would be ideal. Read more about Myka on Petfinder . Mack, American bulldog mix Mack is a male American bulldog mix being kept at Maggie Lu's Safe Haven Rescue, Inc. Mack is the life of the party, and he loves cats, dogs and kids. He has mastered his house-training etiquette. His vaccinations are already up to date, and he's neutered. More on Mack: Meet 9-year-old Mack. This amazing boy had a very sad beginning. But since he was placed in foster care with a loving family, he has prospered and is loving life. There is never a day that goes by that Mack isn't looking to go for a walk or play ball. Apply to adopt Mack today at Petfinder . Lilli, feist mix Lilli is a charming female feist mix currently housed at Maggie Lu's Safe Haven Rescue, Inc. Lilli is a social butterfly   she's happy to keep company with other dogs. She is already house-trained. She's spayed and vaccinated. More on Lilli: Meet precious little 2-year-old Lilli. This sweet girl had a rough beginning. She is a happy girl that loves to play, go on long walks, and at the end of the day snuggle with her person on the couch. Read more about how to adopt Lilli on Petfinder . Mama Bessie, boxer mix Mama Bessie is a female boxer mix in the care of South Of The Bully Rescue . Mama Bessie loves other dogs. Her ideal forever home would be a cat-free environment. Her vaccinations are already up to date. She's already house-trained. More on Mama Bessie: Sweet Mama Bessie enjoys short walks and loves puttering around her yard, looking for the best sun spot to flop down in. This is the perfect dog for a family that needs a little company, but doesn't have a lot of time to raise a boisterous young pup. Read more about Mama Bessie on Petfinder . This story was created automatically using local animal shelter data, then reviewed by an editor. Click here for more about what we're doing. Got thoughts? Go here to share your feedback.


A solicitor is asking a judge to deny Will Lewis' motions to quash several of his criminal indictments alleging misconduct in office. Sixteenth Circuit Solicitor Kevin Brackett filed the response to the suspended Greenville County Sheriff's motions on Tuesday. In his response, Brackett used case law examples, state statute references and criminal conviction statistics to explain why Lewis' motions to quash the indictments should be denied, according to the new court filings. "In regard to common law misconduct in office, each count includes allegations that Defendant (Lewis) held the public office of sheriff, that Defendant owed particular enumerated duties recognized in the common law or inherent in the nature of the Defendant's public office, that Defendant breached those duties by engaging in enumerated conduct, and that Defendant's breaches were willful and dishonest," the response reads. Lewis was charged with misconduct in office and misconduct of a public officer, which related to an alleged adulterous affair Lewis was involved in while sheriff. A criminal indictment stated Lewis used public resources to facilitate the affair, but his attorney argued in the motion that the indictment did not specify how public resources were used or how Lewis performed an act of official misconduct. Rauch Wise, Lewis' attorney, had filed motions to quash the indictments stating that Lewis' indictments were "overly broad" and "vague" and argued that misconduct in office was not an indictable offense. Brackett, in his response filed Tuesday, used statistics from prior misconduct in office cases to show the charge's validity in the eyes of the court. South Carolina court administration recorded 203 guilty pleas to common law misconduct in office and 15 guilty verdicts from 2000 to 2017, according to Brackett's filed response. "Common law misconduct in office remains viable because no South Carolina law alters or is inconsistent with the offense," the response reads. Lewis' charges came months after his former assistant Savanah Nabors accused him of sexually harassing her and sexually assaulting her during a work trip in 2017 to Charlotte, North Carolina. Lewis later admitted to an extramarital "consensual encounter" but denied any criminal wrongdoing. A State Law Enforcement Division investigation launched when Lewis was charged. Lewis was suspended, and Gov. Henry McMaster appointed Johnny Mack Brown as interim sheriff. The criminal investigation is ongoing, and Lewis' charges are pending. In October 2018, a settlement was reached in Nabors' civil suit against Lewis and the Greenville County Sheriff's Office. Calls to Wise were not immediately returned Tuesday. Daniel J. Gross covers public safety and breaking news for The Greenville News. Reach him at dgross@greenvillenews.com or on Twitter @danieljgross. More: A timeline of events: From Savanah Nabors' lawsuit to the indictment of Sheriff Will Lewis This article originally appeared on The Greenville News: Will Lewis case: Solicitor calls misconduct 'willful and dishonest'