Author: chicagoinquirer

ORLANDO, Fla. — Josh Giddey had 21 points and eight rebounds, and the Chicago Bulls beat the Orlando Magic 110-98 on Saturday night for a 2-0 start. Jalen Smith added 16 points for the Bulls, one of their four players off the bench in double figures. Ayo Dosunmu and Nikola Vucevic each finished with 15 points. Paolo Banchero scored 24 points for the Magic, who were a woeful 3 for 24 (12.5%) from 3-point range. Orlando shot 39% overall and fell to 1-2. Banchero also grabbed 10 rebounds but shot just 7 for 21. Anthony Black added 19 points and…

by Dyepkazah Shibayan ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigeria’s president on Friday replaced top security officials as the West African country grapples with unabated violence in the conflict-hit north and myriad security challenges. No reason was given but the shake-up comes as the government has denied rumors of a coup plot in the wake of local media reports that at least 20 military officers were arrested in September, including a brigadier general and a colonel. Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, was also shaken by protests this week as police fired tear gasand arrested dozens of protesters who took to the streets to demand…

by Alanna Durkin Richer, Tim Reynolds and Philip Marcelo NEW YORK (AP) — Portland Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier were arrested Thursday along with more than 30 other people accused of participating in schemes involving illegal sports betting and rigged poker games backed by the Mafia, authorities said. Rozier is accused in participating in an illegal sports betting scheme using private insider NBA information, officials said. Billups is charged in a separate indictment alleging a wide-ranging scheme to rig underground poker games that were backed by Mafia families, authorities said. Both men face…

by Schuyler Dixon DALLAS  — Victor Wembanyama dunked on Cooper Flagg’s debut. And shot over it. And dribbled around it. And reminded everyone what was missing the last two months of the French star’s second season. Wembanyama wowed the Dallas crowd, and had a noisy San Antonio contingent chanting “M-V-P! M-V-P!” in a season opener, getting 40 points and 15 rebounds in the Spurs’ 125-92 rout of the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night. Flagg, the No. 1 overall pick, was the talk of the Dallas opener going in. Coming out, the talk was Wembanyama, who offered quite the reminder that…

by Dyepkazah Shibayan ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Demonstrations for the release of a separatist leader in Nigeria’s capital city turned violent on Monday as police fired tear gas and arrested dozens of protesters, as well as a journalist with French news agency Agence France-Presse, or AFP, who was released shortly afterwards. Witnesses and journalists also reported hearing gunshots amid pockets of clashes between the protesters and security forces in the capital, Abuja. Dozens of protesters spread across different parts of the city were calling on authorities to release Nnamdi Kanu, leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra separatist group that…

by Lindsay Whitehurst WASHINGTON  — The Supreme Court said on Monday that it will consider whether people who regularly smoke marijuana can legally own guns, the latest firearm case to come before the court since its 2022 decision expanding gun rights. President Donald Trump’s administration asked the justices to revive a case against a Texas man charged with a felony because he allegedly had a gun in his home and acknowledged being a regular pot user. The Justice Department appealed after a lower court largely struck down a law that bars people who use any illegal drugs from having guns.…

by Olivia Diaz and Bill Barrow PETERSBURG, Va.  — Rae Pickett stepped onto Richell Hines’ front stoop wearing a pink T-shirt that foretold the case she hoped to make to Virginia voters as she knocked on doors on a sunny Saturday in early October. “Abortion is on the ballot,” it read. Hines answered Pickett’s knock on her Petersburg, Virginia, door with a disarming smile and a T-shirt of her own: “She who kneels before God can stand before anyone.” The polite exchange that followed between Pickett and Hines revealed the complexity of one of the most vivid policy differences between…

by Andrew Seligma CHICAGO  — As much as Dennis Allen downplayed going against his former team, his players weren’t buying it. This one had to mean a little more. Allen’s defense dominated, and the Chicago Bears beat the New Orleans Saints 26-14 on Sunday for their fourth straight win. Allen, the Bears’ defensive coordinator, was facing the Saints for the first time since they fired him as head coach midway through last season after 2 1/2 years. “He didn’t make it about himself this entire week, he didn’t mention anything about it,” safety Kevin Byard said. “But just me being…

by Paul Wiseman and Gisela Solomon Maria worked cleaning schools in Florida for $13 an hour. Every two weeks, she’d get a $900 paycheck from her employer, a contractor. Not much — but enough to cover rent in the house that she and her 11-year-old son share with five families, plus electricity, a cellphone and groceries. In August, it all ended. When she showed up at the job one morning, her boss told her that she couldn’t work there anymore. The Trump administration had terminated President Joe Biden’s humanitarian parole program, which provided legal work permits for Cubans, Haitians, Venezuelans…

by John O’Connor SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — It figures that a billionaire would win big in Las Vegas. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker reported a gambling windfall of $1.4 million on his federal tax return this week. The two-term Democrat, often mentioned as a 2028 presidential candidate, told reporters in Chicago on Thursday that he drew charmed hands in blackjack during a vacation with first lady MK Pritzker and friends in Sin City. “I was incredibly lucky,” he said. “You have to be to end up ahead, frankly, going to a casino anywhere.” Pritzker, an heir to the Hyatt hotel chain,…