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  • What to know about Penn State’s 2026 class on national signing day

    What to know about Penn State’s 2026 class on national signing day

    Matt Campbell completed his first recruiting class as the head football coach at Penn State, and the team welcomed 55 newcomers, including 15 recruits in the class of 2026, four of whom put pen to paper on national signing day.

    Penn State’s class is ranked No. 41 nationally and No. 10 in the Big Ten, according to 247Sports. Many of the players in Campbell’s class were signed before Wednesday’s national signing day. He landed 40 players from the transfer portal, 24 of whom came from Iowa State.

    “I feel like we went with a mentality of not wavering from who we want this football team to be,” Campbell said at a news conference. “Young men that love the sport of football, young men that love Penn State, and I would say, most importantly, young men also that know, they understand the value of an education from this institution. Those core values were really critical for us to kind of build this football team forward.”

    2026 class

    Penn State’s class took a hit during the early signing period while the program continued its search for a head coach. Eleven pledges flipped to Virginia Tech to join James Franklin. Malvern Prep edge rusher Jackson Ford and Nazareth’s Peyton Falzone, a three-star quarterback, were the only two to sign early with the Nittany Lions.

    Since then, Penn State had an additional nine recruits sign, and each of Wednesday’s signees, which included Elijah Reeder, Keian Kaiser, Pete Eglitis, and Lucas Tenbrock, were originally committed to play for Campbell at Iowa State.

    Reeder, a Bayville, N.J., native, is a four-star edge rusher and the fourth-best prospect in New Jersey, according to 247Sports. In his senior season at Central Regional High School, Reeder recorded 50 tackles and eight sacks. Reeder is listed at 6-foot-6 and 210 pounds.

    The defensive lineman’s other FBS offers came from Iowa State and Missouri.

    Eglitis, an offensive lineman, is from Columbus, Ohio. The three-star 6-7 prospect earned all-Ohio honors in 2024 and 2025, as he helped lead Bishop Watterson High School to back-to-back state championships. In addition to flipping from Iowa State, Eglitis also chose Penn State over Louisville, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, and Missouri, among others.

    Kaiser is a linebacker from Sidney, Neb. The three-star recruit was a multisport athlete at Sidney High School, participating in the high jump and the discus. In his junior year, the 6-4 Kaiser recorded 127 tackles and two interceptions.

    A native of St. Charles, Ill., Tenbrock is the sixth-best punter in this year’s recruiting class, according to the composite rankings of ESPN, Rivals.com, and 247Sports. Tenbrock’s only offer came from Campbell at Iowa State.

    While most of the four- and five-star recruits are already committed to schools by national signing day, Penn State was on the losing end of one recruiting battle on Wednesday. The Nittany Lions made a late push to persuade Samson Gash to come to Happy Valley instead of Michigan State, but the four-star wideout and Michigan native chose to stay closer to home.

    Ford is the only Philadelphia-area talent in the class of 2026.

    Transfers

    The majority of Penn State’s roster in 2026 will be transfers.

    Campbell signed 40 players from the portal. The Nittany Lions likely will need the veteran presence, as they lost 47 members of last year’s team to the portal after finishing 7-6 and firing Franklin in the middle of the season.

    Ethan Grunkemeyer perhaps was the most impactful of the outgoing transfers. Grunkemeyer took over after starting quarterback after Drew Allar suffered a season-ending ankle injury in October. Grunkemeyer, who passed for 1,339 yards and eight touchdowns in 2025, followed Franklin to Virginia Tech.

    Campbell turned to a familiar player to fill the hole at quarterback in Rocco Becht.

    Becht spent three seasons as the starter under Campbell at Iowa State. He logged two 3,000 passing-yard seasons and chose to follow his old coach for his final year of eligibility.

    “What I believe Penn State football is — integrity, character, class, excellence, grit — [Becht] embodies every one of those traits,” Campbell said. “And so to me, I just felt like that was such a critical opportunity for him to finish his career with us.”

    Becht is not the only former Cyclone expected to have a major impact.

    Benjamin Brahmer, a 6-7 tight end who led the Cyclones with 37 catches and six touchdowns last season, will spend his senior season at Penn State. The Nittany Lions also will get Brett Eskildsen and Chase Sowell, last year’s leading receivers at Iowa State. They finished with 526 and 500 yards, respectively. Campbell added the Cyclones’ leading rusher, Carson Hansen (952 yards on 188 carries), to the roster as well.

    The Nittany Lions hope the veteran Cyclones can replace the offensive production they lost after running backs Kaytron Allen and Nick Singleton declared for the NFL draft.

    Former Iowa State quarterback Rocco Becht hands off to running back Carson Hansen, who led the team in rushing yards last season. Both will play at Penn State in 2026.

    “[Hansen is] durable, he’s tough, he’s physical,” Campbell said. “He’s got great vision. He’s got the ability that if you need him to carry the ball 40 times in a game, he can do it. … And so I think what you’ll get from Carson is a guy that’s about as trusted as you’re going to find.”

    Former Cyclones will also impact the defensive side. Campbell landed Iowa State’s leading tacklers in Marcus Neal, a junior defensive back, and Kooper Ebel, a senior linebacker. Both finished last season with 77 tackles, with Neal adding a team-high 11 tackles for loss and two interceptions.

    Caleb Bacon, a redshirt senior linebacker who led Iowa State with three sacks last season, also will join Penn State.

    Penn State’s 2026 schedule: A trip to the Linc and a visit to Northwestern in debut of new stadium

    While the number of transfers who followed Campbell to Penn State from Iowa State should provide Campbell some proven talent, the first-year coach noted that players will still have to navigate change to be successful in Happy Valley.

    “I think there’s competition and there’s the ability to grow, but we’ve got to go grow,” Campbell said. “Every coach in America is going to tell you how great their team is. I’m saying the opposite. We’ve got really great talent, but we’ve got to grow forward. We’re all going through change. We have to figure out who can do it the most consistently.”

  • Trading Jared McCain is a big risk, unless something bigger is in play

    Trading Jared McCain is a big risk, unless something bigger is in play

    Curious.

    Suggestive.

    Dangerous.

    Most of all, unfortunate.

    Those are the only sorts of words you can use right now when evaluating the Sixers’ decision to trade Jared McCain to the Thunder on Wednesday afternoon in exchange for a 2026 first-round pick and some ancillary draft capital.

    To judge the move in more definitive terms would be irresponsible given the amount of time that still remains between now and Thursday’s NBA trade deadline. The final verdict depends on what happens next. If nothing happens next, then, yeah, the Sixers’ decision to jettison their promising 2024 first-round pick will rank somewhere on a spectrum between “underwhelming” and “foolish.” If their primary motivation was to duck below the luxury tax yet again, it will be a level beyond foolish. It will be criminal.

    Many Sixers fans came to love Jared McCain and his social media flair. And now their hearts are broken.

    That being said, there are a lot of other ifs in play, many of them more plausible than Daryl Morey viewing a legitimate asset as a cost-savings vehicle. The NBA’s in-season hot stove is sizzling right now. The Mavericks traded All-Star center Anthony Davis to the Wizards, thereby finalizing their aggregate return for Luka Doncic at a grand total of three first-round picks, each of which is more likely to be closer to No. 30 than to No. 1. Trade rumors continue to circulate around Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, with suitors like the Timberwolves and Heat jockeying to present Milwaukee with an offer that will convince it to strike a deal now rather than wait for the offseason. There are a lot of dominoes left to fall, and the Sixers could easily end up toppling one — or being one.

    The Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo remains the big prize at the NBA trade deadline.

    As of Wednesday night, there were no indications that the Sixers were gearing up to make a legitimate run at acquiring Giannis, who was previously reported to be intrigued by the possibility of teaming up with Tyrese Maxey and the Sixers. Such a move would almost certainly require the Sixers to part with rookie star V.J. Edgecombe. That’s a move they almost certainly will not do.

    But the Sixers could easily end up involved on the periphery of the Giannis talks. If Minnesota is determined/desperate to add Giannis, then it would presumably need to be desperate/determined to acquire the first-round picks that the Bucks would require (the Timberwolves don’t have much in the way of draft capital to trade). Minnesota’s determination/desperation creates some intriguing possibilities for a third team that does have first-round picks it can trade. The dream scenario would be someone like young sweet-shooting big man Naz Reid becoming available. A more realistic opportunity could come in the form of former Villanova-turned-Knicks-turned-Timberwolves grinder Donte DiVincenzo.

    Forget about trading VJ Edgecombe for Giannis. Or anybody.

    I’m throwing those names out there mostly as for-instances. The world remains Morey’s oyster until the clock strikes 3 p.m. EST on Thursday.

    What we can say right now is that trading McCain is a risk. We’re barely a year removed from the 21-year-old guard looking like one of the best players in his draft class. His star has dimmed quite a bit since a season-ending knee injury put the kibosh on his rookie season after 23 games. But remember what we saw in those 23 games: 15.3 points, a .383 three-point percentage, promising toughness and defense. It’s hard to believe that those things were mirages, especially when you consider the track record that the Thunder have in identifying undervalued young talent. If Sam Presti wants to trade for your player, it’s a good reason not to trade him.

    Adding a young guard like the Bulls’ Ayo Dosunmu would help the Jared McCain trade make sense.

    The Sixers surely know this. That’s a good enough reason to give them until the trade deadline before deciding how we feel. The reality on the ground has changed a lot since McCain burst onto the scene early last year. The fit with Edgecombe isn’t an ideal one. McCain is averaging just 16.8 minutes this season. But he was hardly in danger of becoming a sunk cost. The hope here is that the draft capital the Sixers acquired from the Thunder will help them add a player who brings more certainty to go with his youth. The Bulls’ Ayo Dosunmu is just one example of a player who would make all the sense in the world to swap in for McCain.

    Until then, we wait.

  • The new Norristown school board plans to oust its superintendent, citing poor test scores

    The new Norristown school board plans to oust its superintendent, citing poor test scores

    The Norristown Area School District’s board is moving to oust its superintendent, saying the district needs a new leader to reverse years of poor test scores.

    The move to replace Superintendent Christopher Dormer, who has led the Montgomery County district since 2018 and whose contract expires June 30, comes after five new members were elected to the nine-person school board in November. The board voted unanimously Jan. 20 to give Dormer notice they would not renew his contract.

    Some community members expressed shock at the decision to part ways with Dormer, who is also the president of the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators. Dormer has been a vocal advocate for increasing funding to Norristown, which is considered underfunded by the state, and where nearly three-quarters of students are economically disadvantaged.

    Jeremiah Lemke, who joined the Norristown school board in December and is now its president, acknowledged Dormer as “a leader statewide” in advocating for a new school funding system and a superintendent who has done “many good things for the district.” But, he said at the Jan. 20 meeting, test scores are a concern.

    “Student achievement in Norristown hasn’t been winning, under Mr. Dormer, for years, not months, but years — seven to be exact,“ Lemke said in an emailed statement Wednesday. ”If the Eagles didn’t win for seven years, regardless of what positive developments happened in the organization, there would be no questions asked when the head coach was replaced.“

    Norristown, a majority Hispanic district, enrolls about 8,000 students.

    About 28% of Norristown’s third-through-eighth graders scored proficient or above in English language arts on the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment standardized tests last year, compared to 48.5% statewide. In math, 27.4% of Norristown students were proficient, compared to 41.7% statewide.

    Over the last few years, changes in Norristown’s test scores have largely tracked Pennsylvania’s as a whole, with ELA scores sliding, and math scores improving. In 2023, 30.7% of Norristown students scored proficient in ELA, compared to 53.7% of students at the state level. In math, 21.6% of Norristown students scored proficient in 2023, compared to 39.4% statewide.

    In a message to staff and families after the Jan. 20 vote, Dormer said he was proud of what the district had accomplished during his tenure — “including consecutive years with minimal to no tax increases, the sizable and significant additions in staffing after years of reductions, the sustained investment in new instructional resources and educational opportunities after years of unaffordability, the development and implementation of our facilities master plan after decades of deferred maintenance, and the commitment to the principles of equity, inclusion, and belonging as we navigated a worldwide pandemic and an increasingly politically divided country.”

    Dormer, who began his career in education as an educational assistant in the Lower Merion School District, spent 13 years as a teacher, coach, and athletic director in the Upper Darby School District before moving into administration in 2005. He became Upper Darby High School’s principal in 2008, a role he held for five years, and came to Norristown in 2016.

    Performance reviews on the district’s website show Dormer was rated “proficient” by the board in 2021-22 and 2022-23. More recent reviews were not listed online.

    On Wednesday, Dormer declined to comment.

    Lemke — who works for a Philadelphia nonprofit, Jounce Partners, that has coached charter school leaders to improve teacher performance — said in a statement Wednesday that the decision was “thoughtful, reflective, data-informed, and unanimous, amongst new and continuing board members.”

    The board last week voted to approve a $79,500 contract with Alma Advisory Group, a Chicago-based firm, to conduct a national search for a new superintendent.

    Jordan Alexander, another new school board member, said during that board meeting that members “often have to make decisions that are very unpopular.”

    “I’m gonna be honest, I wasn’t so sold,” Alexander said. A former Norristown student, Alexander said that when Dormer “came to the scene, the pride did go up, and it was a breath of fresh air.”

    But “we cannot advocate ourselves to be the best if our performance does not reflect that,” Alexander said.

    Community reaction to the ouster

    Some community members accused the board of a predetermined decision.

    “Staff were not aware of these changes … the community was not aware, or anybody. You guys just threw it out there,” Ericka Wharton, a parent and leader of a Norristown community center, told the board at last week’s meeting. Wharton warned the decision could create instability, including a decline in student achievement.

    Carmina Taylor, a local advocate, told the board that community members deserved “a full explanation with dates and details that led to your decision.”

    “This decision is short-sighted, abrupt, without consideration as to how the students will be impacted by this major shift in leadership,” said Taylor, co-founder of the Movement for Black and Brown Lives in Montgomery County.

    The election of the new board came after infighting in the local Democratic Party. Chris Jaramillo, the former board president, lost the local Democratic Party’s endorsement for reelection last year. Jaramillo had opposed a tax break for a senior affordable housing development. Last week, the new board voted to rescind a November district policy that restricted tax abatements, saying it would replace it.

    Jaramillo is also a co-founder of the Movement for Black and Brown Lives in Montgomery County. In an interview Wednesday, he described the board’s new leaders as inexperienced and questioned how it could quickly replace Dormer without causing disruption.

    “I don’t think it’s a sound decision,” said Jaramillo. He said he worried the board would pick someone “without any sort of knowledge of how diverse Norristown and its surrounding area are.”

    Taylor said Wednesday she wasn’t speaking on behalf of Jaramillo. She accused the board of “plotting” to remove Dormer.

    “How in the world, if they didn’t have a sense of what they wanted to do, could they have even attempted to do that in the last 45 days?” said Taylor, who has filed a complaint with the school board, alleging insufficient transparency.

    Lemke said it is “categorially false” that the board acted too quickly and without transparency. “Once we were installed, we had a short time period in which to make a decision because we knew that if we didn’t renew his contract it would not be a quick task to do a national search for a superintendent,” he said.

    Taylor noted that while the district’s test scores “are bad,” Norristown has only been receiving additional state money under a new formula intended to remedy constitutional underfunding for the past two years. (The budget proposed by Gov. Josh Shapiro Tuesday would give underfunded districts their third installment of a nine-year plan.)

    “It’s not enough to address the systemic issue, period,” she said.

  • Washington Post cuts a third of its staff in a blow to a legendary brand

    Washington Post cuts a third of its staff in a blow to a legendary brand

    The Washington Post laid off one-third of its staff Wednesday, eliminating its sports section, several foreign bureaus, and its books coverage in a widespread purge that represented a brutal blow to journalism and one of its most legendary brands.

    The Post’s executive editor, Matt Murray, called the move painful but necessary to put the outlet on stronger footing and to weather changes in technology and user habits. “We can’t be everything to everyone,” Murray said in a note to staff members.

    He outlined the changes in a companywide online meeting, and staff members then began getting emails with one of two subject lines — telling them their role was or was not eliminated.

    Rumors of layoffs had circulated for weeks, ever since word leaked that sports reporters who had expected to travel to Italy for the Winter Olympics would not be going. But when official word came down, the size and scale of the cuts were shocking, affecting virtually every department in the newsroom.

    “It’s just devastating news for anyone who cares about journalism in America and, in fact, the world,” said Margaret Sullivan, a Columbia University journalism professor and former media columnist at the Post and the New York Times. “The Washington Post has been so important in so many ways, in news coverage, sports and cultural coverage.”

    Martin Baron, the Post’s first editor under its current owner, billionaire Jeff Bezos, condemned his former boss and called what has happened at the newspaper “a case study in near-instant, self-inflicted brand destruction.”

    Journalists pleaded with Bezos for help

    Bezos, who has been silent in recent weeks amid pleas from Post journalists to step in and prevent the cutbacks, had no immediate comment.

    The newspaper has been bleeding subscribers in part due to decisions made by Bezos, including pulling back from an endorsement of Kamala Harris, a Democrat, during the 2024 presidential election against Donald Trump, a Republican, and directing a more conservative turn on liberal opinion pages.

    A private company, the Post does not reveal how many subscribers it has, but it is believed to be roughly 2 million. The Post would also not say how many people it has on staff, although the New York Times estimated that more than 300 journalists were let go.

    The Post’s troubles stand in contrast to its longtime competitor the New York Times, which has been thriving in recent years, in large part due to investments in ancillary products such as games and its Wirecutter product recommendations. The Times has doubled its staff over the past decade.

    Eliminating the sports section puts an end to a department that has hosted many well-known bylines through the years, among them John Feinstein, Michael Wilbon, Shirley Povich, Sally Jenkins, and Tony Kornheiser. The Times has also largely ended its sports section, but it has replaced the coverage by buying The Athletic and incorporating its work into the Times website.

    The Post’s Book World, a destination for book reviews, literary news and author interviews, has been a dedicated section in its Sunday paper.

    A half-century ago, the Post’s coverage of Watergate, led by intrepid reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, entered the history books. The Style section under longtime Executive Editor Ben Bradlee hosted some of the country’s best feature writing.

    All Mideast correspondents and editors laid off

    Word of specific cuts drifted out during the day, as when Cairo Bureau Chief Claire Parker announced on X that she had been laid off, along with all of the newspaper’s Middle East correspondents and editors. “Hard to understand the logic,” she wrote.

    Lizzie Johnson, who wrote last week about covering a war zone in Ukraine without power, heat, or running water, said she had been laid off, too.

    Anger and sadness spread across the journalism world.

    “The Post has survived for nearly 150 years, evolving from a hometown family newspaper into an indispensable national institution, and a pillar of the democratic system,” Ashley Parker, a former Post journalist, wrote in an essay in The Atlantic. But if the paper’s leadership continues its current path, “it may not survive much longer.”

    Fearing for the future, Parker was among the staff members who left the newspaper for other jobs in recent months.

    Atlanta paper also makes cuts

    Also on Wednesday, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which stopped print editions and went all-digital at the end of last year, announced that it was cutting 50 positions, or roughly 15% of its staff. Half of the eliminated jobs were in the newsroom.

    Murray said the Post would concentrate on areas that demonstrate authority, distinctiveness and impact, and resonate with readers, including politics, national affairs, and security. Even during its recent troubles, the Post has been notably aggressive in coverage of Trump’s changes to the federal workforce.

    The company’s structure is rooted in a different era, when the Post was a dominant print product, Murray said in his note to the staff. In areas such as video, the outlet hasn’t kept up with consumer habits, he said.

    “Significantly, our daily story output has substantially fallen in the last five years,” he said. “And even as we produce much excellent work, we too often write from one perspective, for one slice of the audience.”

    While there are business areas that need to be addressed, Baron pointed a finger of blame at Bezos — for a “gutless” order to kill a presidential endorsement and for remaking an editorial page that stands out only for “moral infirmity” and “sickening” efforts to curry favor with Trump.

    “Loyal readers, livid as they saw owner Jeff Bezos betraying the values he was supposed to uphold, fled The Post,” Baron wrote. “In truth, they were driven away, by the hundreds of thousands.”

    Baron said he was grateful for Bezos’ support when he was editor, noting that the Amazon founder came under brutal pressure from Trump during the president’s first term.

    “He spoke forcefully and eloquently of a free press and The Post’s mission, demonstrating his commitment in concrete terms,” Baron wrote. “He often declared that The Post’s success would be among the proudest achievements of his life. I wish I detected the same spirit today. There is no sign of it.”

  • Unlocking Jamie Drysdale’s offensive potential could go a long way toward improving the Flyers’ power play

    Unlocking Jamie Drysdale’s offensive potential could go a long way toward improving the Flyers’ power play

    Jamie Drysdale snapped a 20-game goal drought with his game-winner late in the third period Tuesday against the Washington Capitals.

    The goal was critical to keeping the Flyers competitive in the Metropolitan Division standings, snapping the team’s four-game losing streak and helping build some momentum heading into the Olympic break.

    But it was also important personally for Drysdale, as it marked his first goal since returning from an upper-body injury on Jan. 14, and doubled as a sign of the progress he and the power play have been making in recent games.

    “I think I had my chances, to be honest with you, I just couldn’t put the puck in the net,” Drysdale said. “Guys did a great job of finding me, finding holes, and it was nice to see one go in.”

    Jamie Drysdale’s third period goal helps Flyers beat Capitals and snaps four-game losing streak

    Coach Rick Tocchet has praised Drysdale’s growth as one of the locker room leaders, including an important speech on the bench against Colorado. But the 23-year-old is also quietly having his best season on the ice, as he is on pace for a career high in points in addition to improving his game on the defensive side of the puck.

    According to Natural Stat Trick, the Flyers’ top three performing defensive pairs this season, with more than 30 minutes played, have included Drysdale. Cam York, Nick Seeler, and Travis Sanheim have all generated more expected goals with Drysdale than without.

    “Such a good skater, really high IQ,” York said of what makes Drysdale easy to play with. “He can be a one-man breakout when he wants to. Being close friends helps, too, because I feel like the communication is really good.”

    The last piece for Drysdale to unlock is the power play. The Flyers have converted on 16.3% of their power play opportunities, good for 26th in the league, but they’ve slowly improved in recent weeks, scoring six power play goals over their last seven games.

    Over that last stretch of games, Drysdale has anchored the top power-play unit of Trevor Zegras, Christian Dvorak, Bobby Brink, and Travis Konecny, which Tocchet first pivoted to in earnest against Vegas on Jan. 19. In 20 minutes, 45 seconds of ice time on the power play, that unit has scored four goals, including a goal in each of the last two games.

    Flyers defenseman Jamie Drysdale (9) scored the game-winner with just over five minutes left against the Washington Capitals.

    Drysdale’s shot from the point on Tuesday was an example of exactly what Tocchet wants to see the defenseman do on the power play: take point shots that are low enough for a deflection opportunity.

    “Teams will pre-scout you, and we’re trying to explain to the players that on the pre-scout, if you’re overpassing, they won’t respect the middle shot,” Tocchet said. “That’s the hardest thing to defend is a middle shot when you’re out of position. If we can get those types of goals and build on it and get some guys confident with that shot, you can get those types of goals.”

    Flyers GM Danny Brière addresses Rick Tocchet’s recent comments on Matvei Michkov: ‘They have a good relationship.’

    Just five of Drysdale’s 22 points this season have come on the power play, including three in the last seven games. Since his draft year in 2020, Drysdale, due to his skating and playmaking ability, has possessed the potential to be a strong offensive defenseman.

    If he can continue to improve the Flyers’ power play, he could surge far past his career high of 32 points, set in 2021-22.

    “It’s not easy to get pucks through,” Drysdale said. “Obviously, it’s guys’ jobs to get in front of them, but at the same time, it’s your job to get them through and try and create. It’s a little give-and-take, and you’re constantly working and building and trying to create more.”

    Breakaways

    Konecny did not skate Wednesday for maintenance reasons. … Emil Andrae has been a scratch the last five games and could sit again on Thursday against Ottawa (7 p.m., NBCSP), Tocchet said. … The Rangers traded All-Star winger Artemi Panarin to the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday for a third-round pick and prospect Liam Greentree.

  • Many Sixers fans came to love Jared McCain and his social media flair. And now their hearts are broken.

    Many Sixers fans came to love Jared McCain and his social media flair. And now their hearts are broken.

    After less than two seasons with the Sixers, Jared McCain is saying goodbye to the City of Brotherly Love.

    In what is one of the biggest surprises of the 2026 trade deadline so far,the Sixers traded McCain to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for the Houston Rockets’ 2026 first-round pick and three second-round picks.

    McCain got off to a quick start in his rookie campaign in Philly, averaging 15.3 points, 2.6 assists, and 2.4 boards on 46% shooting from the floor in 23 games before a meniscus tear sidelined him for the remainder of the season.

    While he had a standout rookie season, McCain struggled in his second year since returning from his injury, averaging 6.6 points in 16.8 minutes. But he did have a breakout game against the Milwaukee Bucks last week, scoring 17 points on 5 of 6 shooting from deep, and had scored in double digits in three of his last six games before the trade.

    But Sixers fans weren’t just falling in love with McCain’s presence on the court. The 21-year-old guard also made a name for himself on social media, boasting 4.9 million followers on TikTok and 1.9 million followers on Instagram.

    So it’s no surprise that Philly fans took to social media to express their condolences about the trade. That’s right, condolences. Sixers fans are mourning the trade and reluctantly saying goodbye to McCain in the process.

    Other fans were less emotional, but the common theme remained disappointment, even though star rookie VJ Edgecombe and All-Star starter Tyrese Maxey are blocking him from playing more minutes.

    While Sixers fans continue to cope with the loss in their own way, there are plenty in the media, who get paid to think with their heads and not their hearts, who weighed in on the deal …

  • Democrats demand ‘dramatic changes’ for ICE, including masks, cameras and judicial warrants

    Democrats demand ‘dramatic changes’ for ICE, including masks, cameras and judicial warrants

    WASHINGTON — Democrats are threatening to block funding for the Homeland Security Department when it expires in two weeks unless there are “dramatic changes” and “real accountability” for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other law enforcement agencies who are carrying out President Donald Trump’s campaign of federal immigration enforcement in Minnesota and across the country.

    Congress is discussing potential new rules for ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection after officers shot and killed two Minneapolis protesters in January. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries reiterated their party’s demands on Wednesday, with Schumer telling reporters that Congress must “rein in ICE in very serious ways, and end the violence.”

    Democrats are “drawing a line in the sand” as Republicans need their votes to continue the funding, Jeffries said.

    The negotiations come amid some bipartisan sentiment that Congress should step in to de-escalate tensions over the enforcement operations that have rocked Minnesota and other states. But finding real agreement in such a short time will be difficult, if not “an impossibility,” as Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.) said Tuesday.

    President Donald Trump last week agreed to a Democratic request that funding for the DHS be separated from a larger spending bill and extended at current levels for two weeks while the two parties discuss possible requirements for the federal agents. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) said this weekend that he was at the White House when Trump spoke with Schumer and that they were “on the path to get agreement.”

    But it’s unclear if the president or enough congressional Republicans will agree to any of the Democrats’ larger demands that the officers unmask and identify themselves, obtain judicial warrants in certain cases and work with local authorities, among other asks. Republicans have already pushed back.

    And House GOP lawmakers are demanding that some of their own priorities be added to the Homeland Security spending bill, including legislation that would require proof of citizenship before Americans register to vote. South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and other Republican senators are pushing for restrictions on sanctuary cities that they say don’t do enough to crack down on illegal immigration. There’s no clear definition of sanctuary jurisdictions, but the term is generally applied to state and local governments that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

    It’s also uncertain if Democrats who are furious over the Trump administration’s increasingly aggressive immigration enforcement operations would be willing to compromise.

    “Republicans need to get serious,” said Schumer, a New York Democrat, adding that they will propose “tough, strong legislation” in the next day.

    A look at Democrats’ demands and what Republicans are saying about them:

    Agreement on body cameras

    Republicans say they are open to officer-worn body cameras, a change that was already in the underlying homeland security spending bill. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem backed that up on Monday when she ordered body-worn cameras to be issued to every DHS officer on the ground in Minneapolis, including those from ICE. She said the policy would expand nationwide as funding becomes available.

    The bill already directed $20 million to outfit immigration enforcement agents with body-worn cameras.

    Gil Kerlikowske, who served as commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection from 2014 to 2017, said that most agents are “very supportive” of cameras because they could help exonerate officers. But he added that complex questions remain, including when footage should be released and when cameras must be activated.

    “When do you turn it on? And if you got into a problem and didn’t have it on, are you going to be disciplined? It’s really pretty complex,” he said.

    Schumer said Tuesday that the body cameras “need to stay on.”

    Disagreement on masking

    As videos and photos of aggressive immigration tactics and high-profile shootings circulate nationwide, agents covering their faces with masks has become a flashpoint. Democrats argue that removing the masks would increase accountability. Republicans warn it could expose agents to harassment and threats.

    “State law enforcement, local folks don’t do it,” said Rep. Bennie Thompson, the top Democrat on the Committee for Homeland Security. ”I mean, what’s so special about an ICE law enforcement agency that they have to wear a mask?”

    But Republicans appear unlikely to agree.

    “Unlike your local law enforcement in your hometown, ICE agents are being doxed and targeted. We have evidence of that,” Johnson said on Tuesday. He added that if you “unmask them and you put all their identifying information on their uniform, they will obviously be targeted.”

    Immigration officers are already required to identify themselves “as soon as it is practical and safe to do so,” according to federal regulations. ICE officials insist those rules are being followed.

    Critics, however, question how closely officers adhere to the regulations.

    “We just see routinely that that’s not happening,” said Nithya Nathan Pineau, a policy attorney with the Immigrant Legal Resource Center.

    Judicial vs. administrative warrants

    Democrats have also demanded stricter use of judicial warrants and an end to roving patrols of agents who are targeting people in the streets and in their homes. Schumer said Tuesday that they want “arrest warrants and an end to racial profiling.”

    Most immigration arrests are carried out under administrative warrants, internal documents issued by immigration authorities that authorize the arrest of a specific person but do not permit officers to forcibly enter private homes or other non-public spaces without consent. Traditionally, only warrants signed by judges carry that authority.

    But an internal ICE memo obtained by The Associated Press last month authorizes ICE officers to use force to enter a residence based solely on a more narrow administrative warrant to arrest someone with a final order of removal, a move that advocates say collides with Fourth Amendment protections.

    Democrats have not made clear how broadly they want judicial warrants used. Jeffries of New York said that Democrats want to see “an end to the targeting of sensitive locations like houses of worship, schools and hospitals.”

    Johnson said Tuesday that Democrats are trying to “add an entirely new layer” by seeking warrants signed by a judge rather than the administrative warrants that are signed by the department. “We can’t do that,” he said.

    The speaker has said that an end to roving patrols is a potential area of agreement, but he did not give details.

    Code of conduct, more accountability

    Democrats have also called for a uniform code of conduct for all ICE and federal agents similar to that for state and local law enforcement officers.

    Federal officials blocked state investigators from accessing evidence after protester Renee Good was shot and killed by an ICE agent on Jan. 7. Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, demanded that the state be allowed to take part, saying that it would be “very difficult for Minnesotans” to accept that an investigation excluding the state could be fair.

    Hoping for a miracle

    Any deal Democrats strike on the Department of Homeland Security is unlikely to satisfy everyone in the party. Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts said she would never support an agreement that didn’t require unmasking.

    “I ran for Congress in 2018 on abolish ICE,” Pressley said. “My position has not changed.”

    Thune, of South Dakota, has repeatedly said it’s an “impossibility” to negotiate and pass something so complicated in two weeks. He said any talks should be between Democrats and Trump.

    “I don’t think it’s very realistic,” Thune said Tuesday about finding quick agreement. “But there’s always miracles, right?”

  • Iran and the U.S. will hold nuclear talks Friday in Oman, Iranian foreign minister says

    Iran and the U.S. will hold nuclear talks Friday in Oman, Iranian foreign minister says

    DUBAI — Nuclear talks between Iran and the United States will take place Friday in Oman, the Iranian foreign minister said, as tensions between the countries remain high following Tehran’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests last month.

    The announcement by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Wednesday came after hours of indications that the anticipated talks were faltering over changes in the format and content of the talks.

    ”I’m grateful to our Omani brothers for making all necessary arrangements,” Araghchi wrote on X on Wednesday evening.

    Earlier Wednesday, a regional official said Iran was seeking a “different” type of meeting than that what had been proposed by Turkey, one focused exclusively on the issue of Iran’s nuclear program, with participation limited to Iran and the United States. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

    Secretary of State Marco Rubio had said U.S. officials were working on maintaining a meeting with Iran this week.

    Tensions between the countries have spiked after U.S. President Donald Trump suggested the U.S. might use force against Iran in response to its crackdown on protesters. Trump also has been pushing Tehran for a deal to constrain its nuclear program.

    Rubio hopes talks will go beyond nuclear ones

    Iran’s reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian on Tuesday said he had instructed the foreign minister to “pursue fair and equitable negotiations” with the U.S., in the first clear sign from Tehran it wants to try to negotiate. That signaled the move is supported by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all matters of state and previously dismissed any negotiations.

    Rubio said the U.S. hoped to discuss a number of concerns beyond the nuclear issue, including discussions on Iran’s ballistic missiles, support for proxy networks across the region and the “treatment of their own people.”

    “The leadership of Iran at the clerical level does not reflect the people of Iran. I know of no other country where there’s a bigger difference between the people who lead the country and the people who live there,” he told reporters.

    Vice President JD Vance told The Megyn Kelly Show that diplomatic talks with Iran are challenging because of Tehran’s political system, overseen by Khamenei.

    “It’s a very weird country to conduct diplomacy with when you can’t even talk to the person who’s in charge of the country. That makes all of this much more complicated, and it makes the whole situation much more absurd,” Vance said, noting that Trump could speak directly by phone with the leaders of Russia, China or North Korea.

    Vance said Trump’s bottom line is that Iran cannot be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon, asserting that other states in the region would quickly do the same.

    Iran long has insisted its nuclear program is peaceful. However, Iranian officials in recent years have increasingly threatened to pursue the bomb.

    Vance said he believed Trump would work to “accomplish what he can through non-military means. And if he feels like the military is the only option, then he’s ultimately going to choose that option.”

    Talks expected even after U.S. shot down Iranian drone

    On Tuesday, a U.S. Navy fighter jet shot down an Iranian drone that approached an American aircraft carrier. Iranian fast boats from its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard also tried to stop a U.S.-flagged ship in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, the Navy said.

    Iran did not immediately acknowledge either incident, which strained but apparently did not derail hopes for talks with the U.S.

    On Wednesday, Iranian military chiefs visited a missile base in an attempt to highlight its military readiness after a 12-day war with Israel in June devastated Iran’s air defenses. The base holds the Khorramshahr missile, which has a range of more than 1,250 miles and was launched towards Israel during the war last year.

    Turkey urges diplomacy

    Also Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated Turkey’s opposition to foreign intervention in neighboring Iran, calling for the resolution of issues through dialogue.

    Turkey has been urgently working for the past week to bring the U.S. and Iran to the negotiating table, and was previously expected to host the talks.

    “We believe that external interventions involving our neighbor Iran would pose significant risks for the entire region,” Erdogan said during a visit to Cairo. “Resolving issues with Iran, including the nuclear file, through diplomatic means is the most appropriate approach.”

  • The former Prince Andrew moves to King Charles III’s private estate after Epstein document uproar

    The former Prince Andrew moves to King Charles III’s private estate after Epstein document uproar

    LONDON — The former Prince Andrew has moved out of his longtime home on crown-owned land near Windsor Castle earlier than expected after the latest release of documents from the U.S. investigation of Jeffrey Epstein revived questions about his friendship with the convicted sex offender.

    The 65-year-old brother of King Charles III, now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, left the Royal Lodge in Windsor on Monday and is now living on the king’s Sandringham estate in eastern England, Britain’s Press Association reported. British media reported that Mountbatten-Windsor will live temporarily at Wood Farm Cottage while his permanent home on the estate undergoes repairs.

    Mountbatten-Windsor’s move to Sandringham was announced in October when Charles stripped him of his royal titles amid continuing revelations about his links to Epstein. But the former prince was expected to remain at Royal Lodge, where he has lived for more than 20 years, until the spring.

    The expedited departure came as Thames Valley Police announced they were investigating allegations that Epstein flew a second woman to Britain to have sex with Mountbatten-Windsor. A lawyer for the alleged victim told the BBC that the encounter took place in 2010 at Royal Lodge.

    The allegations are separate from those made by Virginia Giuffre, who claimed she had been trafficked to Britain to have sex with Andrew in 2001, when she was just 17. Giuffre died by suicide last year.

    Mountbatten-Windsor has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in his relationship with Epstein. He hasn’t responded publicly to the new trafficking allegation.

    Mountbatten-Windsor features a number of times in the 3 million pages of documents the U.S. Department of Justice released on Friday.

    In an email dated March 23, 2011, the lawyer for an exotic dancer said Epstein and Mountbatten-Windsor asked her to take part in a threesome at the sex offenders’ Florida home.

    The woman’s legal representatives accused the pair of having “prevailed upon her to engage in various sex acts” during the alleged encounter in early 2006 after initially hiring her to dance for them. The woman was only paid $2,000, not the $10,000 she was promised, her lawyer said.

    The lawyer offered to settle the matter confidentially for $250,000.

    “My client has not pursued her claims against your client until this time because she is not proud of the circumstances of that night,” the lawyer wrote. “She was working as an exotic dancer, but she was treated like a prostitute.”

    In other correspondence between Epstein and someone believed to be Mountbatten-Windsor shows Epstein offering to arrange a date between the man and a 26-year-old Russian woman. The man, who signs off simply as “A,” later suggests that he and Epstein have dinner in London, either at a restaurant or Buckingham Palace.

    The documents do not show wrongdoing by many of those named. The appearance of famous people in the files often reflect Epstein’s extremely wide reach.

    The former prince’s residence at Royal Lodge has long been a point of contention between the king and his brother.

    After Charles became king in 2022, he tried to force his brother to move into a smaller house on the Windsor Castle estate. Mountbatten-Windsor refused, citing a lease on the property that ran through 2078.

    But the pressure for him to leave became irresistible in October as lawmakers and the public raised questions about the favorable terms of Mountbatten-Windsor’s lease on the 30-room house and surrounding estate, which is managed by the Crown Estate.

    The Crown Estate controls properties throughout the country that are technically owned by the monarchy but are managed for the benefit of British taxpayers.

    By contrast, the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk is the personal property of the king.

    Art museum official bails

    Art museum curator and director David A. Ross has left his post at the School of Visual Arts in New York after the latest release of documents about Epstein revealed his friendship with him.

    Ross, who was chair of the MFA art practice program, resigned Tuesday, the school said in a statement, adding that it was “aware of correspondence” between him and Epstein. Ross’ online page at the school was offline Wednesday.

    The resignation was first reported by ARTnews.

    In emails dating from 2009, Ross banters with, reaches out to meet and consoles Epstein, calling him “incredible” and “I’m still proud to call you a friend.”

    In one exchange in 2009, Epstein suggests an exhibition called “Statutory” that would feature “girls and boys ages 14-25 ”where they look nothing like their true ages.” Replied Ross: “You are incredible” and noted that Brooke Shields posed nude at age 10.

    Also that year, Ross wrote to console Epstein after the financier had been deposed. “Damn, this was not what you needed or deserved,” Ross wrote. “I know how tough you are, and in fact, it probably bothers me as your friend more than it does you.”

  • Lee Hamilton, foreign policy leader in Congress, has died at 94

    Lee Hamilton, foreign policy leader in Congress, has died at 94

    Lee H. Hamilton, a deliberative, soft-spoken Indiana Democrat who won bipartisan respect for his integrity and foreign policy expertise during 34 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, and who later helped steer high-profile inquiries into the 9/11 terrorist attacks and Iraq War strategy, died Feb. 3. He was 94.

    His son, Douglas Hamilton, confirmed the death but did not cite a specific cause.

    Mr. Hamilton, who was first elected to the House in 1964, became a prominent voice in some of the most contentious foreign policy debates of his era.

    The son of a pacifist Methodist minister, he helped lead an unsuccessful effort in 1991 to block President George H.W. Bush’s use of the military to drive Iraq from Kuwait. During the Reagan administration, the congressman had forcefully opposed military aid for the anti-communist Contra rebels fighting to overthrow Nicaragua’s left-wing Sandinista government.

    An all-state Hoosier high school basketball star, he maintained the lanky build and crew cut of his youth into his senior years. He also maintained a middle-of-the-road voting record that reflected the largely rural, small-town slice of southern Indiana he represented.

    He was measured in tone and language, almost professorial in manner — the antithesis of the stereotypical backslapping, lectern-thumping politician.

    “Lee Hamilton is a thinker, which makes him a little different,” political commentator Chris Matthews, then an aide to Speaker Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill Jr. (D., Mass.), told the New York Times in 1984. “He makes his case logically, deductively. He’s not the kind of visceral politician you see around here.”

    At the time, Mr. Hamilton chaired the Europe and Middle East subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and was O’Neill’s point man in pushing the Reagan administration to withdraw U.S. peacekeepers from Lebanon after the terrorist bombing in Beirut that killed 241 American service members. He later chaired the full Foreign Affairs and Intelligence committees.

    Mr. Hamilton advocated an activist role for Congress in shaping foreign policy and cautioned lawmakers against ceding all responsibility for military intervention to the president.

    The proper boundary between the executive and legislative branches was at the heart of the Iran-Contra affair, which raised Mr. Hamilton’s profile somewhat beyond Capitol Hill.

    After disclosures that the Reagan administration had diverted profits from the secret sale of weapons to Iran to fund the Nicaraguan rebels, then-Speaker Jim Wright (D., Texas) appointed Mr. Hamilton to head a special House committee to investigate the clandestine arrangement, which was designed to circumvent Congress’ ban on funding of the Contras.

    In 1987, Mr. Hamilton’s committee and a Senate panel chaired by Democrat Daniel K. Inouye of Hawaii held 41 days of televised hearings. The two key players, Vice Admiral John Poindexter, Reagan’s national security adviser, and an aide, Lt. Col. Oliver North, were unrepentant when they appeared, insisting that the covert program was in the national interest.

    Blaming the scandal at least in part on Congress’ “fickle, vacillating, unpredictable, on-again-off-again policy” toward the Contras, North told the committees: “The Congress of the United States left soldiers in the field unsupported and vulnerable to their communist enemies. . . . I am proud of the efforts that we made, and I am proud of the fight that we fought.”

    Mr. Hamilton’s reply was polite and stern. “I cannot agree,” he said, “that the end has justified these means, that the threat in Central America was so great that we had to do something even if it meant disregarding constitutional processes [and] deceiving the Congress and the American people.”

    He concluded: “Democracy has its frustrations. You’ve experienced some of them, but we — you and I — know of no better system of government. And when that democratic process is subverted, we risk all that we cherish.”

    In the end, the two committees found no conclusive evidence that Reagan was aware of the diversion. But their majority report concluded that laws had been disregarded and that the president “created or at least tolerated an environment where those who did know of the diversion believed with certainty that they were carrying out the President’s policies.”

    North and Poindexter were later found guilty of criminal charges stemming from the Iran-Contra affair, but their convictions were overturned on appeal.

    In an interview for this obituary in 2016, Norman Ornstein, a political scientist at the American Enterprise Institute, called Mr. Hamilton “one of the premier legislators of his time.”

    At least two Democratic presidential candidates, Michael Dukakis in 1988 and Bill Clinton in 1992, considered Mr. Hamilton as a running mate. His less-than-lively style and his record on some social issues — most noticeably, his opposition to federal funding of abortions except in cases of rape, incest or a threat to the mother’s life — may have hurt his chances.

    Mr. Hamilton did not seek reelection in 1998, but his career in elective politics proved to be only a first act. The second was a run of leadership roles in public policy and academic undertakings that cemented his standing as one of Washington’s elder statesmen.

    In 2002, he was named vice chairman of the 9/11 Commission, an independent, bipartisan panel created by Congress and the White House to examine the terrorist attacks a year earlier on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

    Chaired by former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean, a Republican, the 10-member group issued a unanimous report in 2004 identifying a raft of government shortcomings that contributed to the 9/11 disaster and 41 recommendations to prevent a recurrence. The report led to a number of changes in national security policies and organization, including the creation of a new position — director of national intelligence — to unify the intelligence community.

    Though the commission was not without critics, Kean and Mr. Hamilton, who worked essentially as co-chairs, got high marks for steering the investigation through a political minefield and producing a document that had the backing of all commission members, Republicans and Democrats.

    Mr. Hamilton returned to the limelight in 2006 as co-chair, with former secretary of state James A. Baker III, of the Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan panel organized by the U.S. Institute of Peace to propose strategies to stabilize Iraq, where sectarian violence was taking an increasing toll in American and Iraqi lives three years after the U.S.-led invasion.

    Among its 79 recommendations, the 10-member group called for boosting diplomatic efforts in the region, including engaging Syria and Iran, and increasing the number of American troops embedded in Iraqi units for training purposes while gradually decreasing the strength of U.S. combat forces.

    In part because of Baker’s close connection to the Bush family, the panel’s work drew significant media attention. But in January 2007 — in what then-Vice President Dick Cheney later described as a “repudiation of the Baker-Hamilton report” — President George W. Bush announced the deployment of more than 20,000 additional U.S. troops to Iraq to provide security, mainly in Baghdad. The surge would buy time for the Iraqi government to strengthen its military capacity, the administration argued.

    In 2015, President Barack Obama awarded Mr. Hamilton the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. The White House announcement called him “one of the most influential voices on international relations and American national security over the course of his more than 40-year career.”

    Lee Herbert Hamilton was born in Daytona Beach, Fla., on April 20, 1931, and as a child, he moved with his family to Evansville, Ind., where his father had a church assignment.

    He graduated in 1952 from DePauw University and completed a law degree at Indiana University in 1956. He was a lawyer in Columbus, Indiana, when he got involved in politics, and in 1964, he rode President Lyndon Johnson’s coattails to victory over an incumbent GOP congressman. Except for a close call in the GOP landslide of 1994, he repeatedly won reelection by comfortable margins.

    His wife of 57 years, Nancy Nelson, died in a car accident in 2012. In addition to his son, Douglas, survivors include two daughters, Tracy Souza and Deborah Kremer; five grandchildren; and a great-granddaughter.

    After leaving Congress, Mr. Hamilton was president for more than a decade of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington. He also directed what is now the Center on Representative Government at Indiana University in Bloomington and wrote books on Congress and international affairs.

    When Mr. Hamilton left the Wilson Center in 2010 and was preparing to move back to Indiana, an NPR interviewer asked him what he had learned over his many years in public life.

    “I think that you come filled with ambition and drive and energy and wanting to accomplish great things, and you find the system is very hard to move, to make it work,” Mr. Hamilton replied. “I think what has impressed me over the years is the sheer complexity and difficulty of governing this country.”