Ingested Articles

If it seemed as if NFL teams have been shedding contracts nearly as fast as signing them in recent weeks that’s because it’s almost true. With a shrinking salary cap in a sport with few contracts that are fully guaranteed, teams have spent the weeks leading up to free agency and the first few days of the new league year getting out of deals signed in recent years when there was more money available to spend. Teams have released players with a combined total of approximately $600 million left on the deals they originally signed between the Super Bowl and the end of the first week of the league year.

The Boston Bruins are resuming practice for the first time since five players were placed in the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol and are still scheduled to host the New York Islanders on Thursday. The development comes after David Krejci, David Pastrnak and Craig Smith were cleared after spending five days in the protocol. Jake DeBrusk and Sean Kuraly remain on the list for a seventh consecutive day. Minnesota forward Zach Parise entered the protocol, becoming the Wild’s 16th player this season to be listed. Parise’s addition increases the total to 162 players who have spent at least one day in the protocol since the season began. 

New mom Michelle Wie West is looking forward to being nervous again on the golf course. It’s been nearly two years since she last played a competitive round on the LPGA Tour and nine months since she gave birth to daughter Makenna. She figured the beginning of the West Coast swing was the perfect place to return to action, particularly since she now lives in San Francisco with husband Jonnie West, the director of basketball operations for the Golden State Warriors, and their daughter. She'll tee off in the Kia Classic at Aviara in Carlsbad. 

Brazil has topped 300,000 confirmed COVID-19 deaths, becoming the second country to do so amid a spike in infections that has seen the South American country report record death tolls in recent days. The United States reached the grim milestone on Dec. 14, but has a larger population than Brazil. On Wednesday, Brazil’s health ministry reported 2,009 daily COVID-19 deaths, bringing its pandemic total to 300,685. On Tuesday, the country saw a daily record of 3,251 deaths. With daily death tolls at pandemic highs, state governors and mayors in Brazil have expressed fears that April could be as bad as March for the country’s overwhelmed hospitals.  

Many of the teams in the women's NCAA Tournament arrived in San Antonio with a pair of star players and several of those dynamic duos have separated themselves from the others. From Michigan’s Leigha Brown taking the scoring burden off of Big Ten player of the year Naz Hillmon to Iowa lighting up the scoreboard with the outside-inside threat of the Caitlin Clark and Monika Czinano, talented teammates have stepped to deliver potent 1-2 punches and knock off feisty opponents.

Star shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. was feeling better a day after coming out of a game due to discomfort in his left shoulder, leaving the San Diego Padres and their fans breathing easier. Manager Jayce Tingler says Tatis was even lobbying to get into the Padres' game against the Giants on Wednesday night. The electrifying shortstop could be back in the lineup in the next day or so. and $340 million. Tatis walked off the field a day earlier after fielding a ground ball and making a one-hop throw to first. 

Dustin Johnson had to go the distance to win. Rory McIlroy only made it 13 holes before he lost. The opening session of the Dell Technologies Match Play was as wild as ever. The top-seeded Johnson won his match on the 18th hole against Adam Long. Jon Rahm is the No. 3 seed and also won. Justin Thomas wasn't so fortunate. The No. 2 seed ran into Matt Kuchar, who built a 5-up lead and closed out Thomas on the 16th hole. The biggest surprise was Antoine Rozner making his PGA Tour debut by beating Bryson DeChambeau. 

The president of the Navajo Nation and New Mexico residents who live downwind from the site of the world’s first atomic blast are among those seeking compensation from the U.S. government following uranium mining and nuclear testing carried out during the Cold War. A congressional subcommittee took testimony Wednesday about who should be eligible for payouts. Some lawmakers and residents from western states have been urging Congress to expand a compensation program for years, and advocates say the latest push takes on added weight because it's set to expire next year. Some say their communities have been plagued by cancer, birth defects and stillbirths.

College basketball long ago reached the point when a team could make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament while relying on freshmen or sophomores. But under the pressure of a win-or-go-home scenario, experience can still be an asset. Michigan senior Eli Brooks looked calm and steady in helping the Wolverines to a win over LSU in the second round. Elsewhere in this tournament, seniors like Gonzaga’s Corey Kispert, Loyola Chicago’s Cameron Krutwig and Oregon State’s Ethan Thompson have been crucial in leading their teams to the Sweet 16.

Authorities say inmates used hammers to attack prison staff members during a failed attempt to escape an Iowa prison, killing a nurse and correctional officer and severely injuring an inmate who intervened. The victims of the attack at the Anamosa State Penitentiary were identified as staff nurse Lorena Schulte, 50, of Cedar Rapids, and officer Robert McFarland, 46, of Ely. Both had worked at the prison in the city of Anamosa in eastern Iowa for more than a decade. An investigator says each died of blunt force trauma to the back of the head when they were attacked with hammers during Tuesday’s attack. Inmates Michael Dutcher, 28, and Thomas Woodard, 39, face murder and kidnapping charges.

Virginia has become the 23rd state to abolish the death penalty. Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam signed the historic legislation on Wednesday. The state has had the second-highest number of executions in the United States. Virginia’s new Democratic majority won a yearslong battle last month when both the Senate and House of Delegates approved bills to end capital punishment. Virginia has put to death nearly 1,400 people since its days as a colony. In modern times, the state is second only to Texas in the number of executions it has carried out, with 113 since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.

Environmental groups have sued to preserve protections for 3.4 million acres of northern spotted owl habitat from the US-Canada border to California. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed the logging protections in the last days of the Trump administration amid praise from the timber industry, but President Joe Biden has delayed implementation of the new rules. The dark-eyed owl prefers to nest in old-growth forests and received federal protections in 1990. The move  dramatically redrew the landscape for Pacific Northwest loggers and launched a decades-long legal battle. Timber groups have sued over Biden's delay in implementing the new rule.

Kim Janey marked her historic elevation as the first woman and Black resident to serve as mayor of Boston with a ceremonial swearing-in event. Janey embraced the groundbreaking nature of the transition and said Wednesday she comes to the post "with life experience that is different from the men who came before me.” Janey replaces fellow Democrat Marty Walsh. He resigned Monday to become President Joe Biden’s labor secretary. Janey says helping the city emerge from the pandemic and creating a more equitable economy will be among the top goals of her administration.

Syracuse remains one of the few teams in college basketball that primarily plays a zone defense. The Orange’s run through the NCAA Tournament is proof it still works. Other Sweet 16 programs that once relied on the zone, such as Baylor and Southern California, have shifted away from it in recent years. The reason has a lot to do with personnel, game plans and the way the game is played itself. The 3-point shot has changed the effectiveness of zone defenses.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of American bald eagles has quadrupled since 2009, with more than 300,000 birds soaring over the lower 48 states, government scientists said in a report Wednesday. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said bald eagles,…

The jury that will decide the fate of a white former Minneapolis police officer in George Floyd's death is unusually diverse by local standards. And that’s boosting activists’ hopes for a rare conviction. According to the court, the panel of 15 includes nine people who are white and six who are Black or multiracial. If the court follows standard practice and the alternates are the last three chosen, the 12 who deliberate would be evenly split between whites and people of color. Trahern Crews, an organizer for Black Lives Matter, says it's a step in the right direction. Opening statements are Monday.