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Skinner keeps Canes rolling at home with win over Sabres ::

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NewsHubPosted 10:23 p.m. today
Updated 37 minutes ago
McGinn: Confidence is building throughout the lineup.
Medlin: Canes grant boy’s wish to play with team
RALEIGH, N. C. — Jeff Skinner had two goals and an assist, Brock McGinn also scored twice and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Buffalo Sabres 5-2 on Friday night.
Carolina swept its three-game series against Buffalo and won its third straight game overall. The Hurricanes are 14-4-1 at home, including 13-1-1 in the last 15 games in Raleigh.
Skinner scored two goals early in the second period, the first one giving him his 300th NHL point.
Carolina’s Cam Ward stopped 36 shots while playing in his 600th NHL game, all with the Hurricanes.
Buffalo’s Anders Nilsson had 33 saves.
Victor Rask scored Carolina’s other goal. William Carrier and Brian Gionta scored for Buffalo.
Buffalo took advantage of a mistake to claim the lead 4:24 into the game. Carolina defenseman Jaccob Slavin, attempting to clear from the right corner, instead sent the puck straight to the Sabres‘ Ryan O’Reilly. He set up Carrier for a tip-in from the left side of the net.
Skinner put the Hurricanes ahead with two goals in 55 seconds. At 1:48 of the second, he beat Nilsson glove side on a rush, and then at 2:43, he beat Nilsson stick side from the right circle.
McGinn then made it 3-1 at 6:51, taking a pass from Elias Lindholm in the low slot and lifting it over Nilsson to the upper left corner of the net.
Gionta halved the lead on a short-handed rush at 11:49, picking up the loose puck on a ricochet from behind the goal and taking advantage when Ward lost his stick.
Rask gave the Hurricanes some breathing room at 4:15 of the third, following Noah Hanifin’s shot that caromed off the end boards to beat Nilsson in traffic. Skinner had the secondary assist.
McGinn sealed it at 7:58, scoring from the low slot on Jordan Staal’s pass from behind the net.
NOTES:
The game was played on Carolina coach Bill Peters‘ 52nd birthday. … Buffalo D Zach Bogosian played in his 500th game. … Ward is fifth among active goalies in games played. … Buffalo D Josh Gorges (hip) missed his second straight game while G Robin Lehner (illness) was out for his third. … RW Ty Rattie, D Klas Dahlbeck and D Ryan Murphy were healthy scratches for Carolina. … Staal extended his points streak to three games with his assist on Skinner’s first goal.
UP NEXT
Sabres: Host Dallas on Monday.
Hurricanes: Host the New York Islanders on Saturday in the finale of their four-game homestand.

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Blackhawks faceplant in showdown with red-hot Capitals

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NewsHubWASHINGTON — There are no huge games in January. At least, not for the Blackhawks, who haven’t been in any true danger of missing the playoffs in six years, and who have won the Stanley Cup as a No. 1 seed and as a No. 6 seed.
But there certainly are games that carry a little more weight than others, that offer a sterner test. And after sweeping through four middling teams on their recent homestand, the Hawks were looking forward to measuring themselves against two of their fellow contenders this weekend — the Washington Capitals, who came in to Friday’s game having won seven straight, and the Minnesota Wild, who are just two points back with a whopping five games in hand.
Well, the Hawks didn’t measure up at all on Friday night, getting blown out 6-0 by the Capitals in what can only be described as a total team failure. They were awful with the puck, awful without the puck, and it led to the most awful lost of the season, eclipsing a 5-0 loss in Edmonton on Nov. 21. And despite the tougher opponent, this one was somehow far worse.
“We just pretty much did everything we said we wouldn’t do, or weren’t supposed to do,” defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson said. “That was one of those two or three games that you have a year [when] you’re just being outplayed really bad. That was probably as outplayed as I’ve been in a long time.”
Corey Crawford stops the puck against Washington right wing T. J. Oshie during the first period Friday night. (AP Photo)
The only debate after the game was whether the Hawks should stew on the loss, or flush it.
“You can’t forget these games,” said a clearly fuming Jonathan Toews after the loss. “You’ve got to let them sink in, you’ve got to learn from them You’ve got to use it, get pissed off, and use it the right way, to address the glaring issues that were present.”
Trevor van Riemsdyk, who was a minus-3 on the night, agreed, saying, “It’d be a waste not to try and use that in some sort of positive manner.”
But Joel Quenneville didn’t want anything to do with it.
“Let’s forget about this one, because there’s nothing good about it,” he said.
Yes, the Capitals are very good, as their eight straight victories show. But the Hawks didn’t even put up a fight. The game was over after one period, with the Hawks down 3-0, with plenty of blame to go around. The bottom-two defensive pairings of Brian Campbell-Brent Seabrook and van Riemsdyk-Michal Rozsival struggled. Corey Crawford was off his game. And the Hawks had little to no puck possession, getting outshot 14-5 and out-attempted 30-11 in the first period.
The Hawks have had similarly poor starts throughout the season, but the Capitals actually made them pay for it.
“Ugly start, that’s for sure,” Quenneville said.
The Hawks showed some life in the second period, taking nine of the first 11 shots. But a Vinnie Hinostroza goal was overturned after a coach’s challenge (the referee ruled Marian Hossa, tied up with Brooks Orpik, interfered with Capitals goalie Braden Holtby). The game then effectively ended when Washington had all three shots on a Hawks power play, then made it 4-0 on Tom Wilson’s goal.
Oshie chased Crawford when he made it 5-0 at 8:11 of the third, and Jay Beagle continued his unlikely mastery over the Hawks with his second goal of the game (and sixth in eight career games against the Hawks) with 1:32 to go.
The Capitals had six players with at least two points, and Holtby has now gone five straight games without allowing an even-strength goal. As for the Hawks? Nothing. No player stood out. No unit played well. No silver lining was available.
“I don’t think anyone is happy with the way they played out there,” Hjalmarsson said. “That was just an overall bad performance.”
And Minnesota’s coming.
Email: mlazerus@suntimes.com
Twitter: @marklazerus

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High school basketball notebook: Greely learns as well as wins

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NewsHubGreely High is one of the three unbeaten boys’ basketball teams remaining in southern Maine.
The Rangers have had to work overtime to keep it that way.
On Tuesday, Greely fell behind 20-3 out of the gate, recovered, coughed up a fourth-quarter lead, then needed three thrilling overtimes to get the 82-74 victory at Yarmouth. The week before, the Rangers never led in the second half at Falmouth, rallied from an eight-point deficit and won in overtime.
“This is a great learning experience for us,” Coach Travis Seaver said after the Yarmouth win. “It’s important to take pieces from this game that can make us better. It’s great to be on the winning side of a game like this but we can point to 10 things that we still need to do better.”
Greely and the rest of the contenders out of the Western Maine Conference will have no shortage of quality tests before the playoffs.
Seven of Greely’s nine remaining games are against teams that had winning records entering Friday night. That includes rematches against always tough rivals Cape Elizabeth (7-2, six straight wins) and Falmouth (7-2).
Also left on Greely’s schedule are several teams – Biddeford (5-4), Fryeburg Academy (7-3), York (6-4) and Westbrook (7-3) – that are improved compared to last season. Greely is at Biddeford on Saturday.
“That’s the great thing about our league. There are so many competitive teams,” Seaver said.
Matt McDevitt of Greely and Alek Medenica of Yarmouth, two 6-foot-7 seniors, combined to make 13 3-pointers in the game, seven for McDevitt. The two friends relished playing in front of an increasingly frenzied crowd in cramped John C. Stroud Gymnasium.
“Those are some great moments. I’m going to remember those forever, honestly,” McDevitt said.
Medenica, in his second season with Yarmouth, grew up in Belgrade, Serbia, where his father (and current Yarmouth assistant coach) Jagos Medenica was a professional player.
“I don’t think we’re ever going to find something like this in the playoffs. This was above and beyond just because of the atmosphere and how crazy it was, and the shots that were being made and the level of play,” Medenica said. “My ears were still ringing when I came out. I came from Serbia where you go to a basketball game, when you come out you can’t hear. It was just like a little flashback to being in Serbia.”
Thornton won its first eight games by an average of 19.9 points. The Golden Trojans met their first serious challenge Thursday with a 56-53 win against Deering, handing the Rams their second loss. Thornton hosts South Portland (8-1, eight straight wins) next Friday in AA South’s premier game of the season, then is at Portland (8-1) the following Tuesday.
“Those are the games that everyone needs to play in,” said Thornton Coach Bob Davies. “Those games help us work on things. (Against Deering) we get up by 10 and then we give it back. It’s about being able to make a shot or get a rebound we should have got.”
Thornton has been led offensively by seniors Austin Boudreau (30 points on 10 3-pointers in a 61-40 win against Gorham) and Evan Christensen, and junior David Keohan. But it’s the team’s depth and chemistry that pleases Davies.
“The kids like playing basketball together and that’s a big part of it,” Davies said.
Medomak Valley has won eight games by more than 10 points. Six of its remaining eight games are against teams it has beaten.
Coach Mike Murphy said Brett had been complaining of numbness in her leg and went for an MRI, which revealed a weakness in the bone. Brett was told to stay off the leg for 6 to 12 weeks and is using crutches.
“It’s a huge loss,” said Murphy. “In her mind there’s a chance she’ll come back. She’s doing everything they tell her. Basically she’s coaching kids off the bench right now.”
Sophomore Victoria Garand has stepped into the starting position, but Murphy said all his players have stepped up.
“The effort level has gone way up,” he said. “The kids are just playing harder, all the individuals, to make up for the lack of rebounding and leadership Amanda provided.”
Deering is 7-3 and ranked third in Class AA North.
Murphy said doctors will take another look at the leg on Feb. 1. Brett is hopeful she can play in the tournament, so she’s trying to stay in shape by swimming.
“We hope to keep it going,” said first-year head coach Steve Freeman. “Every game we play is a big game. The league is so equal. Except for the top (Greely), anything can happen on any night.”
Freeman said the Wildcats’ success has been based on defense and maturity. On any given night, the Wildcats will have a different leading scorer. But their defense has really improved.
“The girls have come together, they believe in each other and they believe in what we’re trying to do,” he said.
Seniors Maddie Cogger, Reilly Smedley and Lily Posternak have been instrumental in the streak, said Freeman, as has freshman guard Nina Howe. “She’s really showing what she can do now,” Freeman said of Howe. “She’s so quick and determined. She’s not very tall but she goes to the glass as hard as any 6-footer.”
Howe, Cogger, Posternak and senior Morgan Chapman give York a nice four-player rotation at guard that allows the Wildcats to keep up the defensive pressure.
Besides the valuable Heal points the Trojans picked up, Coach Eric Marston said, “More than anything, psychologically it was a big one. We had lost those three in a row, all to quality teams, but I think we were at the point of ‘Can we do it?’ We’ve been focusing all year on getting better every game. But at some point you’ve got to win.”
The win lifted the Trojans to 6-4 and into fourth place in Class AA South.
Thornton’s home game Saturday at 5 p.m. against Bangor – its third game of the week against a team nicknamed Rams – will be its Hoops for Hope game, a fund-raising event for cancer treatment. Last year’s Hoops for Hope raised around $20,000.
The team will hold an auction in the Linnell Gymnasium lobby during the game as well as a raffle. Students in grades 5-12 involved in basketball also have been raising money through collections. The Trojans will wear pink uniforms. “We do this to provide hope for cancer patients and their families,” said Marston.
No official records are kept but the website Maine High School Sports shows Schildroth’s 61 points tied for sixth all-time among Maine boys. The unofficial record of 82 points was set in 1921.
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Keidel: NFL Playoff Contenders Square Off In Divisional Round

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NewsHubBy Jason Keidel
WFAN host Mike Francesa has long said the second round of the NFL playoffs is the best pure weekend of football every year.
It’s hard to argue with that. While Wild Card Weekend has its share of talent and temerity, the Divisional Round features the final eight teams, the best eight teams. The prior week just peels away the pretenders from the contenders.
And true to form, we’ve got four fine games over two days. Well, three great games and the Patriots vs Texans. Let’s take a look…
Seattle Seahawks (11-5-1) @ Atlanta Falcons (11-5)
Saturday, January 14, 4:35 p.m. ET
Atlanta has the home-field advantage and the point spread in their favor. Seattle has the playoff pedigree. Atlanta has the leading candidate for NFL MVP in Matt Ryan, who is 1-4 in the playoffs. Seattle has Russell Wilson, who is 8-3 in the playoffs.
How often will Richard Sherman face arguably the toughest cover in the sport — Julio Jones? That matchup alone is worth the price of admission. Pete Carroll would be wise to keep Sherman draped over Jones. During their October matchup, Jones caught four passes for 99 yards and a TD against cornerbacks not named Sherman.
And while Seattle is not the same ornery and dominant defense they were a year or two ago — especially without stellar safety Earl Thomas — they still boast the league’s third-best scoring defense (18.3 PPG). They will need every bit of it against the Atlanta’s top-ranked offense, which averaged 33.8 points per game.
The Falcons are the picture of balance, ranking third in passing and fifth in rushing, while Seattle’s defense ranks eighth and seventh, respectively.
Though the Jones-Sherman matchup beams from the marquee, perhaps Atlanta’s secret weapon may make the difference. Taylor Gabriel, Atlanta’s iteration of Tyreek Hill, has seven touchdowns on just 54 touches (according to SI.com). To counter Gabriel and the Falcons’ volcanic running game, the Seahawks will rely less on Sherman and more on the understated but very potent linebackers K. J. Wright and Bobby Wagner, who combined to register an astounding 26.5 percent of the team’s tackles.
These teams played earlier in the season, a 26-24 decision in favor of Seattle. The game ended on a very dubious call — or non-call — when Sherman clearly yanked Jones’s arm on a pass deep downfield. No flag. No win. Atlanta is looking for payback.
There’s just something about Seattle. Maybe it’s their defense. Maybe it’s Russell Wilson. Maybe it’s the overdue emergence of Thomas Rawls. Maybe it’s all three.
Seahawks, 24-20
Tom Brady (Photo Credit: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
Houston Texans (10-7) @ New England Patriots (14-2)
Saturday, January 14, 8:15 p.m. ET
This is the only game in which the result is in little doubt. Depending on the sports book, the home-team Patriots are favored by 15 or 16 points. And under Bill Belichick the Patriots have won five playoff games by at least 17 points.
Texans head coach Bill O’Brien learned his NFL wares at the altar of Belichick. O’Brien left New England to coach in college, which he used as a funnel to the NFL. But it’s a stretch to say he has the inside scoop on the Patriots. If that were true, all of Belichick’s coaching minions would see similar success. So far, no one has.
Houston may have the leagues’ top-rated defense, but New England’s defense has allowed the fewest points. You can decide which stat is more salient. It doesn’t hurt that the Pats have Tom Brady, who will stand alone with five Super Bowl rings if his Pats can win three more games.
The Patriots have owned home-field advantage five times under Brady and Beclichick. They reached the Super Bowl four times. If someone is going to buck that trend, it likely won’t be Brock Osweiler. The good news is the Texans won’t have to travel to see the Super Bowl, since it’s being played in their stadium. They just won’t be a participant.
Patriots, 34-13
Check out Tony Gonzalez’s breakdown of the Texans-Patriots matchup.
Aaron Rodgers (Photo Credit: Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
Green Bay Packers (11-6) @ Dallas Cowboys (13-3)
Sunday, January, 15, 4:40 p.m. ET
The Packers have the other offense that puts some fright in opposing defenses. Especially when you consider the sizzling streak Aaron Rodgers is on. Not only did the Packers drop 38 on the best defense in the NFL (Giants), Rodgers also hasn’t thrown an interception in two months.
During the latest broadcast of Inside the NFL , Phil Simms said that Rodgers was the best pure thrower the sport has ever seen. Some of us have been saying that for years. If you’d like some proof, just turn on your television. If you’d like some stats, consider Rodgers has completed nearly 70 percent of his passes, for 2,029 yards, 19 TD, 0 INT and a pyrotechnic passer rating of 121.7 during the Packers’ seven-game winning streak. (Over their last eight games, Rodgers has 22 TD and still 0 INT.) Rodgers has also gone eight straight games with zero picks and 200 yards, while completing 60 percent of his passes, the second longest streak in history. The longest streak belongs to… Aaron Rodgers.
Folks love to laud Tom Brady over making mediocre players look sublime. But is Rodgers really flanked by Hall of Famers? Randall Cobb, Davante Adams and Ty Montgomery are hardly Jerry Rice, John Taylor and Roger Craig. Jordy Nelson, who is legit, was just ruled out for Sunday’s game.
Dallas has flipped the football orthodoxy on its head. With a rookie QB-RB tandem leading the way, the Cowboys were 13-2 before sleepwalking through a loss to the Eagles in the final game of the regular season. Dallas leads the league in rushing yards and time of possession. In this age of epic passing games, the Cowboys are decidedly old-school, true to their smash-mouth, NFC East roots, as the only NFL team to run the ball more than they throw it.
Not only is Green Bay on fire, but the Cowboys were already ranked 26th in pass defense. And now they are without suspended DE Randy Gregory. Rodgers doesn’t need any help to shred the best defenses in the sport. Dallas has one of the worst. No team in NFL history has ever won a playoff game with rookies as their leading rusher and passer.
Packers, 27-21
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Le’Veon Bell (Photo Credit: Joe Sargent/Getty Images)
Pittsburgh Steelers (12-5) @ Kansas City Chiefs (12-4)
Sunday, January, 15, 8:20 p.m. ET
Two teams emerged from Wild Card Weekend with a heavy offensive arsenal, strong enough to get pundits aboard the bandwagon. The Steelers are one of them.
With Pittsburgh’s big three — Ben Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell — fresh off their first playoff game together, the Steelers’ offense has to have defensive coordinators reaching for the Rolaids. All three looked fabulous in last week’s 30-12 win over the Miami Dolphins.
The Chiefs had a fabulous regular season, somewhat masked by the Patriots and the injury to Raiders QB Derek Carr. If Chiefs fans want some comfort, take it in Andy Reid, whose record as NFL head coach is 19-3 after a bye week. Add to it the Arrowhead home field and the fact that Big Ben has thrown nine touchdowns and eight interceptions, with a passer rating of 78.4, on the road this year. (He has 26 TD, 9 INT, and 102.8 passer rating at home.)
Forget the 43-14 beating Pittsburgh put on Kansas City in Week 4. The teams are different now, and that game was at Heinz Field. When the Chiefs play at home, their defense ranks first in turnovers per drive, seventh in points per drive and eighth in opponents’ total QBR. Also, all-world LB Justin Houston didn’t play in the first game. He’s here for the rematch.
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin is catching some criticism for leaving Roethlisberger in the Miami game too long, as Big Ben tweaked his ankle on his final pass, when the Steelers had already sealed the game. Roethlisberger has shown he can play through almost any injury.
To a man, Kansas City has the most complete roster in the NFL, and former players say there isn’t a more ornery road game than one played at Arrowhead, where the Steelers visit this Sunday. If this game were to be played in Pittsburgh, or even on a neutral field, it would be hard to pick against their potent offensive trinity. But it won’t be. And Kansas City has this emerging gridiron nuke named Tyreek Hill.
Chiefs, 26-23
Jason writes a weekly column for CBS Local Sports. He is a native New Yorker, sans the elitist sensibilities, and believes there’s a world west of the Hudson River. A Yankees devotee and Steelers groupie, he has been scouring the forest of fertile NYC sports sections since the 1970s. He has written over 500 columns for WFAN/CBS NY , and also worked as a freelance writer for Sports Illustrated and Newsday subsidiary amNew York. He made his bones as a boxing writer, occasionally covering fights in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, but mostly inside Madison Square Garden. Follow him on Twitter @JasonKeidel.

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House approves measure to kick-start Obamacare repeal process

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NewsHubLast Updated Jan 13, 2017 3:37 PM EST
The House on Friday afternoon adopted a House-Senate measure to make it easier for a subsequent “Obamacare” repeal bill to advance through the Senate without the threat of a Democratic filibuster. The House approved the resolution in a 227-198 vote.
The legislation doesn’t need to be signed by the president and wouldn’t actually change a word of the hotly contested health care law. But its passage is crucial if Republicans controlling Congress are to keep their longstanding promise to scuttle the law, which has delivered health coverage to about 20 million people but is saddled with problems such as rapidly rising premiums and large co-payments.
The timetable for the upcoming repeal measure is uncertain, but Republicans want to pass it as quickly as possible. The pending legislation would allow a follow-up bill to pass without having to clear the 60-vote filibuster hurdle in the Senate, where Republicans control 52 seats and Democrats are gearing up for an epic battle.
After pressure from both President-elect Donald Trump and rank-and-file lawmakers, House GOP leaders are now promising to advance legislation to repeal the health law and replace it with something else in tandem.
“We have a responsibility to step in and provide relief from this failing law,” House Speaker Paul Ryan told reporters on Thursday. “And we have to do it all at the same time so that everybody sees what we’re trying to do.”
Trump is promising the public that he will sign legislation to repeal and replace the law soon. Republican leaders are trying to deliver, but it seems as if Trump may be overpromising, given the enormity of the task and the political stakes involved.
“He’s not a creature of this place so there’s always a bit of a learning curve,” said the No. 3 Senate GOP leader, John Thune of South Dakota.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., isn’t setting a timetable but said Thursday that the early repeal bill would “begin to make important progress” and that Republicans “plan to take on the replacement challenge in manageable pieces, with step-by-step reforms.”
“Repealing and replacing Obamacare is a big challenge. It isn’t going to be easy,” McConnell added.
McConnell spoke after the Senate approved the preliminary repeal measure by a near party-line 51-48 vote , drawing a Twitter thumbs-up from Trump: “Congrats to the Senate for taking the first step to #RepealObamacare – now it’s onto the House!”
The controversial law has provided health care subsidies and Medicaid coverage for millions who don’t get insurance at work. It has required insurers to cover certain services like family planning and people who are already ill, and has curbed rates that the sick and elderly can be charged.
GOP leaders hope to use their first bill to void and rewrite as much of Obama’s law as they can, but so far they’ve provided little detail.
Republicans want to end the fines that enforce the statute’s requirements that many individuals buy coverage and that larger companies provide it to workers – mandates that experts say were needed to stabilize insurers’ rates. They also want to erase the taxes the law imposed on higher-income people and the health care industry, eliminate its subsidies that help people buy policies and pare back its Medicaid expansion.
But they face internal disagreements over policy, such as how to pay for their new statute and how to protect consumers and insurers during what may be a two- or three-year phase-out of Obama’s overhaul.
They also must heed Senate rules forbidding provisions that don’t directly affect taxes and spending from being safeguarded from filibusters. That means repealing important parts of the law – like the requirement that insurers offer coverage to all customers including the most ill – would have to await later bills that would need Democratic support.

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Scathing DOJ report finds Chicago police use excessive force

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NewsHubLast Updated Jan 13, 2017 3:43 PM EST
Bill Whitaker reports on Chicago’s surge in murders and discovers an alarming situation that may be contributing to the rise in violence
The Justice Department launched its investigation of the 12,000-officer force – one of the nation’s largest – in December 2015 following the release of dashcam video showing a white police officer shoot a black teenager, Laquan McDonald, 16 times as he walked away holding a small, folded knife. The video of the 2014 shooting, which the city fought to keep from being released, inspired large protests and cost the city’s police commissioner his job.
Among other findings, the report found city police used excessive force and that “this pattern is largely attributable to systemic deficiencies within CPD and the City.” It also cited insufficient training and a failure to hold bad officers accountable.
Federal authorities and city officials have signed an agreement that offers a broad outline for reform, including commitments to improved transparency, training and accountability for bad officers. The Justice Department and the city will negotiate a final settlement to be enforced by the courts.
Attorney General Loretta Lynch said the report lays “the groundwork for the difficult but necessary work of building a stronger, safer, and more united Chicago for all who call it home.”
In assembling the 161-page report, investigators reviewed more than 170 shootings involving officers and more than 425 examples of less lethal force. They also spoke with more than 340 officers and accompanied some on patrol, according to the report.
The report found instances of police shooting at people who pose no immediate threat, said Vanita Gupta, head of the DOJ civil rights division. Police used stun guns on people for no other reason than they did not obey officers’ verbal commands, Gupta said. Officers endangered civilians, caused avoidable injuries and deaths, and eroded community trust that is “the cornerstone of public safety,” Gupta said.
The federal government’s recommendations follow an especially bloody year on Chicago streets. The city logged 762 homicides in 2016, the highest tally in 20 years and more than the combined total of the two largest U. S. cities – New York and Los Angeles.
Gupta acknowledged that Chicago is experiencing a drastic uptick in gun violence, but said “this context only heightens the importance and the urgency of our findings.”
The findings say officers often don’t fully report use of force incidents and supervisors don’t adequately review them. It found that officers are too rarely held accountable for misconduct, and when complaints against officers are investigated, those probes are often “glacially slow,” Gupta said.
Chicago has spent more than half a billion dollars to settle claims of police misconduct since 2004, but police did not conduct disciplinary investigations in half of those cases, according to the federal report. Of 409 police shootings that happened over a five-year period, police found only two were unjustified.
The Justice Department criticized the city for setting up barriers to getting to the bottom of police misconduct, including provisions in union agreements, a failure to investigate anonymous complaints or those submitted without a supporting affidavit, and a “pervasive cover-up culture.”
It said that witnesses and accused officers were frequently never interviewed at all, that evidence went uncollected and that witnesses were routinely coached by union lawyers – “a dynamic neither we nor our law enforcement experts had seen to nearly such an extent in other agencies.”
“The procedures surrounding investigations allow for ample opportunity for collusion among officers and are devoid of any rules prohibiting such coordination,” the report said.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel said the issues highlighted in the report can be solved by what most Chicago officers are “doing right every day.” He called reform the “path of progress” and called for the community to support the department as they adopt the changes.
“Our officers know they need to earn the trust of the residents they serve and the community they police – they don’t get a blank check,” Emanuel said. “But when they do, they need to hear from all of us that they are appreciated and their work is important.”
The mayor said Friday that the city has already made some of the recommended changes, citing de-escalation training and stricter use-of-force polices.
Emanuel also addressed the Justice Department’s concern that officers do not have nearly enough supervision. He pointed to his decision to increase the number of lieutenants and other supervisors.
The perception that Emanuel badly mishandled the Laquan McDonald shooting hurt the former Obama chief of staff politically and he may feel pressure to address all, or nearly all, of the Justice Department’s findings to restore his political fortunes.
Superintendent Eddie Johnson acknowledged the work needed to restore the trust between the police and the community and said his department needs to do a better job “mentoring, supporting and training” officers. He announced every officer would be equipped with a body camera by the end of the year and would be trained in a new use-of-force policy.
“Quite simply, as a department, we need to do better,” Johnson said. “You have my promise and commitment that we will do better.”
Chicago recorded its deadliest month in two decades in August 2016, part of a sharp rise in gun violence in the nation’s third-largest city this …
Under President Barack Obama, the Justice Department has conducted 25 civil rights investigations of police departments, including those of Cleveland, Baltimore and Seattle. The release of a report is one step in a long process that, in recent years, has typically led to bilateral talks between the Justice Department and a city, followed by an agreed upon police-reform plan that’s enforceable by a federal judge.
Chicago’s case is unique in that the report comes just days before a change from an administration that strongly backed the process to President-elect Donald Trump’s, whose commitment to such federal scrutiny is unclear.
Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, Trump’s pick for attorney general, expressed ambivalence at his confirmation hearing this week about the federal review process. He said he was concerned that broad investigations of police departments risk smearing an entire agency and harming officer morale.
The head of Chicago’s police union said the Justice Department hurried the investigation to release its findings before Trump takes office.
In a statement sent minutes before the report was posted online, Fraternal Order of Police President Dean Angelo questioned whether the investigation was compromised because of its timing.
Chicago’s police department has long had a reputation for brutality, particularly in minority communities. The most notorious example was Jon Burge, a commander of a detective unit on Chicago’s South Side. Burge and his men beat, suffocated and used electric shock for decades starting in the 1970s to get black men to confess to crimes they didn’t commit.
The McDonald video, which showed Officer Jason Van Dyke continuing to shoot the teen even as he slumped to the ground, unmoving, provoked widespread outrage. It wasn’t until the day the video was released, which was more than a year after the shooting, that Van Dyke was charged with murder. He has pleaded not guilty. Police reports of the shooting later suggested a possible cover-up by other officers who were at the scene.

Similarity rank: 16
Sentiment rank: -1.7

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Senate probe into election hacking to review possible links between Russia, campaigns

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NewsHubWashington (CNN) The Senate Intelligence Committee’s review of Russian meddling in the 2016 election will include a look at any intelligence „regarding links between Russia and individuals associated with political campaigns. „

Similarity rank: 8.7
Sentiment rank: 1.8

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Steve Harvey to Work With Trump Administration on Inner City Policy

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NewsHub“I stepped from behind my microphone and I came and talked to the guy who is going to be the 45th president,” Harvey told reporters about his meeting with Trump, whom he said he found “both congenial and sincere.”
Harvey said he plans to partner with Trump’s Department of Housing and Urban Development nominee Dr. Ben Carson on restoring America’s inner cities.
“Trump wants to help with the situations in the inner cities so he immediately got Dr. Ben Carson on the phone to put us together to begin dialog in looking at programs and housing to help our inner cities and he’s very open to my mentoring efforts across the country,” Harvey said.
“I walked away feeling like I had just talked with a man who genuinely wants to make a difference in this area,” he added. “I feel that something really great could come out of this… I would sit with him anytime.”
Harvey, who endorsed Hillary Clinton for president, came under fire after it was discovered that his staff provided prepared questions to Clinton’s campaign before a February interview on his radio show.
Nevertheless, Harvey says he’s ready to help the Trump administration “bring about some change” in cities like Chicago.
“Another one they want to start with as a target is Detroit,” Harvey told reporters. “Ben Carson expressed that because quite naturally he is from Detroit. I want to do something with all of the major inner cities to see if we can bring about some change and help some of these young people out. And so that’s why I’m here, and it was a successful meeting. And he seemed really sincere.”
“It’s an honor to be invited to talk, and I think that’s the only way that we’re going to unify our country,” Harvey said. “We’ve got to talk.”
Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson

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Sentiment rank: 3.1

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John Lewis: Trump is not a 'legitimate' president

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NewsHubWashington (CNN) Civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis says he doesn’t see President-elect Donald Trump as a „legitimate“ commander in chief following Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

Similarity rank: 11
Sentiment rank: 1.2

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Polizei korrigiert Angaben: Nur wenige Nordafrikaner waren an Silvester in Köln

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NewsHubDer Kölner Polizei droht eine Blamage: Neue Zahlen legen den Schluss nahe, dass die zum Jahreswechsel kontrollierten jungen Männer überwiegend gar keine Nordafrikaner waren. Die Polizei hatte das bisher anders dargestellt.
Am Freitag teilte das Kölner Polizeipräsidium mit, dass insgesamt etwa „2000 nordafrikanisch beziehungsweise arabisch aussehende junge Männer“ zum Hauptbahnhof und zum Deutzer Bahnhof gekommen seien. In 674 Fällen habe man gesicherte Personendaten, in 425 Fällen könne man etwas zur Nationalität sagen. Von diesen 425 Personen waren 99 Iraker, 94 Syrer, 48 Afghanen und 46 Deutsche. Lediglich 17 waren Marokkaner und nur 13 Algerier – die Quote der gesichert als Nordafrikaner Identifizierten liegt bislang also bei nur sieben Prozent.
Teilweise stellt die Polizei die Echtheit der Ausweise aber infrage: Viele vorgelegte Papiere gälten „nicht als sichere Dokumente im Sinne einer zweifelsfreien Bestimmung der Staatsangehörigkeit“, hieß es in einer Mitteilung. Weil sich Nordafrikaner immer wieder als syrische Flüchtlinge ausgegeben hätten, sei nicht auszuschließen, „dass sich unter den 425 Personen noch eine größere Anzahl nordafrikanischer junger Männer befindet“.
Debatte über schnellere Abschiebung
Nach den massenhaften sexuellen Übergriffen von Nordafrikanern auf Frauen in der Silvesternacht 2015/16 hatte die Kölner Polizei auch in der jüngsten Silvesternacht das Verhalten junger Männer aus Nordafrika beanstandet. Noch am Silvesterabend hatte die Kölner Polizei getwittert: „Am Hauptbahnhof werden derzeit mehrere Hundert Nafris überprüft. “ Später bedauerte Polizeipräsident Jürgen Mathies die Verwendung des Begriffs „Nafri“.
Am Neujahrstag hatte die Polizei erklärt, die überprüften Männer seien ganz überwiegend Nordafrikaner gewesen. Ähnlich hatte sich danach Mathies geäußert. Noch am Donnerstag sagte der Polizeipräsident nach einem Bericht der „Kölnischen Rundschau“, in der Silvesternacht hätten 2000 mutmaßlich aus Nordafrika stammende junge Männer den Dom angesteuert. Gestern hieß es, bisher sei keiner der Tatverdächtigen von 2015 in der Silvesternacht 2016 angetroffen worden.
Die Korrektur platzt in die politische Debatte über die schnellere Abschiebung abgelehnter Asylbewerber aus den Maghreb-Staaten Marokko, Algerien und Tunesien. Der Bundestag hatte diese Staaten 2016 zu sicheren Herkunftsländern erklärt. Der Bundesrat muss dem noch zustimmen. Nach der Silvesternacht 2016/17 mit der vermeintlichen Massenankunft junger Nordafrikaner in Köln war vor allem der Druck auf die Grünen gestiegen, die Einstufung nicht zu blockieren. Auch der nordrhein-westfälische Innenminister Ralf Jäger (SPD) bezeichnet Flüchtlinge aus Nordafrika als problematische Gruppe und hat sich zum Beispiel dafür eingesetzt, dass NRW weniger Asylbewerber aus Nordafrika aufnehmen muss.
„Die Personenkontrollen waren absolut geboten“
Jägers Ministerium erklärte auf Anfrage, bei den Angaben aus Köln zu den Nationalitäten handele es sich nur um vorläufige Ergebnisse, die daher noch nicht zu bewerten seien. Stephan Mayer, Innenexperte der Union im Bundestag, sagte: „Die Korrektur ändert nichts daran, dass der Einsatz der Polizei konsequent und erfolgreich war. “
Der NRW-Landeschef der Gewerkschaft der Polizei, Arnold Plickert, räumte ein: „Wir lernen daraus: Wir müssen vorsichtiger mit der frühen Nennung von Nationalitäten sein. “ Im Kern sei das Vorgehen der Polizei gegen die Ausländer aber richtig gewesen. „Fakt ist: Es gab Silvester Aufklärungsergebnisse der Bundespolizei, nach denen eine stark alkoholisierte Gruppe arabisch aussehender Männer gepöbelt hat, in die U-Bahn urinierte und aggressiv geworden ist. Die Personenkontrollen waren absolut geboten. „

Similarity rank: 2.1

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