Author: TheSunTribune Staff

The Minnesota Vikings and Pro Bowl pass rusher Za’Darius Smith have had an interesting off-season to say the least. After missing much of 2021 with a back injury, Smith was released by the Green Bay Packers and quickly signed a four-year, $35 million deal with the Baltimore Ravens. However, Smith backed out of the deal to sign a more lucrative one with the Vikings. Smith had a successful season with the Vikings, posting 10 sacks, 44 total tackles and 15 tackles for loss. His performance earned him his third Pro Bowl honor, and he expressed his appreciation for the Vikings…

Mekhi Becton has been a standout on the New York Jets’ offensive line since being drafted 11th overall in the 2020 NFL Draft. Despite injuries sidelining him for much of the last two seasons, Becton has used his rehab time to get into midseason shape, sharing photos of his body transformation on Thursday. The 6-foot-7 tackle has always been a topic of conversation due to his size and weight, and he has shown to be injury-prone during his first three seasons in the NFL. After playing 14 games his rookie season, Becton re-injured his surgically repaired right knee during training…

The Golden State Warriors have been hit with yet another injury, this time to Jonathan Kuminga. The rookie forward rolled his right ankle during pregame warm-ups on Thursday night and was subsequently ruled out of the Warriors’ matchup with the Memphis Grizzlies. Kuminga had been listed as probable prior to the game after rolling his left ankle during Tuesday’s loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. He was able to return in that game, however, and put together one of his better performances of the season. In his first year in the NBA, Kuminga has been showing signs of becoming a…

Aranza Maria Ochoa Lopez, a 4-year-old girl from Washington, has been found in Mexico after going missing in 2018, the FBI announced this week. Lopez had been last seen with her biological mother at a mall in Vancouver, Washington, during a supervised visit. The FBI had worked in conjunction with the Vancouver Police Department in Washington and Mexican law enforcement to locate Lopez, offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to her recovery. After her mother was arrested in Puebla, Mexico in 2019, Mexican authorities located Lopez in Michoacán in February 2021. She was then escorted back to the U.S.…

The San Francisco 49ers have been awarded seven compensatory draft picks for the upcoming 2021 NFL Draft, the most of any team in the league. Four of the picks are a result of the NFL’s formula for awarding picks to teams that have a net loss in free agents, while the other three picks were awarded as a result of the league’s initiative that awards picks to the prior employer club of a minority employee who has been hired by another club as its head coach or primary football executive. The 49ers’ four picks from free agent losses are all…

The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass kicked off with a bang on Thursday, as Collin Morikawa and Chad Ramey set the pace at six under par, while Rory McIlroy struggled to a four-over-par opening round. McIlroy, who was looking to return to the world number one spot, had a dismal start, beginning with a double bogey and continuing with bogeys on the 15th, first, and third. The Northern Irishman had some chances to make up ground, with an eagle chance from under the trees wide of the 16th fairway, but he three-putted and squandered the opportunity. The day’s drama was…

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The theft of catalytic converters is an increasingly dangerous problem that has been on the rise since 2018 due to an expanding black market and high prices of precious metals it contains. The parts help cars reduce the amount of toxic and polluting gases emitted from each vehicle’s engine, and are a highly sought-after item that is being stolen from unsuspecting drivers or from car dealerships. As the thefts increase, so does the risk of people being killed in the process. The number of catalytic converter thefts has increased over 1,200 percent between 2018 and 2022, according to the National…

The inevitable divorce between the Green Bay Packers and Aaron Rodgers appears to be drawing ever closer. After two years of speculation and rumors, the Packers have granted the New York Jets permission to speak to the veteran quarterback, and Rodgers himself has yet to make any public decisions regarding his future. The Packers’ move to grant permission to the Jets to speak with Rodgers is the clearest indication yet that the team is ready to move on. Despite Rodgers’ stellar performance in 2020, the team’s front office appears to be ready to move in a different direction. For Rodgers,…

Berlin to Allow Women to Go Topless at Public Swimming Pools The city of Berlin has just announced a new policy that will allow women to go topless at public swimming pools in the city, just like men. This follows a discrimination complaint from a woman who was not allowed to go topless in a swimming pool in the capital. The woman, whose identity was not revealed, had turned to the senate’s ombudsperson’s office for equal treatment to demand that women, like men, can swim topless. In response to her complaint, the Berliner Baederbetriebe, which runs the city’s public pools,…