Taxpayers in 24 States Will Be Able to File Their Returns Directly With the IRS in 2025
The pilot program in 2024 allowed people in certain states with very simple W-2s to calculate and submit their returns directly to the IRS. Those using the program claimed more than million in refunds, the IRS said.
Companies Back Away From Oregon Floating Offshore Wind Project as Opposition Grows
The federal government finalized two areas for floating offshore wind farms along the Oregon coast in February. But opposition from tribes, fishermen and coastal residents highlights some of the challenges the plan faces.
Preschool for All Growth Outpaces Enrollment Projections
Mid-year enrollment to allow greater flexibility for providers, families.
PSU’s Coty Raven Morris Named a Semifinalist for GRAMMY 2025 Music Educator Award
Morris, the Hinckley assistant professor of choir, music education and social justice, is one of just 25 music teachers selected as...
Washington State Fines 35 Plastic Producers $416,000 For Not Using Enough Recycled Plastic
The Washington Department of Ecology issued the first penalties under a 2021 state law aimed at reducing waste and pollution from...
Oregon’s 2024-25 Teacher of the Year is Bryan Butcher Jr. of Beaumont Middle School
“From helping each of his students learn math in the way that works for them, to creating the Black Student Union at his school,...
Burn Ban Lifted in the City of Portland
Although the burn ban is being lifted, Portland Fire & Rescue would like to remind folks to only burn dried cordwood in a...
Midland Library to Reopen in October
To celebrate the opening of the updated, expanded Midland, the library is hosting two days of activities for the community...
Oregon strikes an additional 302 people from voter rolls over lack of citizenship proof
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Oregon authorities said Monday they had removed another 302 people from the state's voter rolls after determining they didn't provide proof of citizenship when they were registered to vote, in the latest revelation of improper voter registrations stemming from clerical...
Salmon swim freely in the Klamath River for 1st time in a century after dams removed
HORNBROOK, Calif. (AP) — For the first time in more than a century, salmon are swimming freely along the Klamath River and its tributaries — a major watershed near the California-Oregon border — just days after the largest dam removal project in U.S. history was completed. ...
Moss scores 3 TDs as No. 25 Texas A&M gives No. 9 Missouri its first loss in 41-10 rout
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Le'Veon Moss was asked if he thought No. 25 Texas A&M shocked ninth-ranked Missouri after his big game propelled the Aggies to a rout Saturday. The running back laughed before answering. “Most definitely,” he said before chuckling...
No 9 Missouri faces stiff road test in visit to No. 25 Texas A&M
No. 9 Missouri hits the road for the first time this season, facing arguably its toughest challenge so far. The Tigers (4-0, 1-0 Southeastern Conference) know the trip to No. 25 Texas A&M (4-1, 2-0) on Saturday will be tough for several reasons if they want to extend their...
The Skanner News: 2024 City Government Endorsements
In the lead-up to a massive transformation of city government, the mayor’s office and 12 city council seats are open. These are our endorsements for candidates we find to be most aligned with the values of equity and progress in Portland, and who we feel...
This month, Albina Head Start filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to defend itself against a misapplied rule that could force the program – and all the children it serves – to lose federal funding. ...
DOJ and State Attorneys General File Joint Consumer Lawsuit
In August, the Department of Justice and eight state Attorneys Generals filed a lawsuit charging RealPage Inc., a commercial revenue management software firm with providing apartment managers with illegal price fixing software data that violates...
Wilmer Valderrama's 'American Story' is one of service to his family and his country
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Wilmer Valderrama vowed to “never let his family down” the night that he landed his breakthrough role as foreign exchange student Fez on “That '70s Show.” “I have been given the chance to lift us all, and I won’t blow this incredible opportunity. Every...
A series of deaths and the 'Big Fight': Uncovering police force in one Midwestern city
EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) — It was the day of the “Big Fight” at the police academy, and rookie sheriff’s deputy Asson Hacker groaned as the hulking instructor pressed down on his chest. Playing the role of a combative suspect, the trainer challenged Hacker to battle like his life...
What polling shows about Black voters' views of Harris and Trump
WASHINGTON (AP) — Black registered voters have an overwhelmingly positive view of Vice President Kamala Harris, but they’re less sure that she would change the country for the better, according to a recent poll from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The poll,...
Movie armorer's conviction upheld in fatal ‘Rust’ set shooting by Alec Baldwin
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico judge on Monday upheld an involuntary manslaughter conviction against a movie armorer in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer by Alec Baldwin on the set of the Western film “Rust.” Armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed asked a court to dismiss her...
Frank Fritz of the reality TV Show 'American Pickers' dies at 60
Frank Fritz, part of a two-man team who drove around the U.S. looking for antiques and collectibles to buy and resell on the reality show “American Pickers,” has died. He died Monday night at a hospice facility in Davenport, Iowa, said Annette Oberlander, a longtime friend. She...
Music Review: black midi's Geordie Greep aims for 'The New Sound' on his solo debut. And he hits it
Geordie Greep’s “The New Sound” is not going to be for everyone. Fans of his former act, the experimental British rock band black midi, which disbanded in August, have never been faint of heart. And Greep’s solo debut further pushes the envelope. Reminiscent of Frank Zappa’s...
Supreme Court will hear a challenge to a Biden administration rule on ghost guns
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will hear a challenge Tuesday to a Biden administration regulation on ghost...
Biden makes rare dip into battleground state fray with a visit to Pennsylvania and Wisconsin
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is making a rare jump into the 2024 political battleground fray since...
Middle East latest: Israel says it killed a senior Hezbollah commander as more rockets are fired
The Israeli military said Tuesday it killed a senior Hezbollah commander in a strike on Beirut while the militant...
Water gushes through palm trees and sand dunes after rare rain in the Sahara Desert
RABAT, Morocco (AP) — A rare deluge of rainfall left blue lagoons of water amid the palm trees and sand dunes of...
German court acquits McCann suspect of unrelated sexual offense charges
BRAUNSCHWEIG, Germany (AP) — A German court on Tuesday acquitted a man who is also under investigation in the...
German leader Scholz's party moves fast to replace an official in a key campaign post
BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's party moved quickly to replace a top official who stepped down...
Iowa State's DeAndre Kane, left, makes the winning shot over North Carolina's Jackson Simmons, right, in the final seconds of the second half of a third-round game in the NCAA college basketball tournament Sunday, March 23, 2014, in San Antonio. Iowa State won 85-83. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Welcome back to a Tar Heel-stained edition of BracketRacket, the one-stop shopping place for all your offbeat NCAA tournament needs. Today, we blow the whistle on the NCAA, examine the relative merits of aging, check the odometer on DeAngelo Williams' car, and close out the first weekend of games with a salute to the greatest closer ever. So without further ado:
___
AREN'T YOU GLAD WE ASKED?
"Snafu" is an acronym that originated in the military during World War II, and if you don't know it, BracketRacket suggests looking it up when no children are present. It also captures what happened during the final 1.6 seconds of IowaState's 85-83 upset win over North Carolina.
We don't have the time or space for a proper recap, so watch for yourself here.
All you need to know is that while the game-clock operator — and everybody on the floor for North Carolina, from coach Roy Williams to freshman guard Nate Britt, who grabbed the inbounds pass and dribbled twice before crossing half court — got it wrong, the referees ultimately got it right.
OK, they needed a review. But even being generous, North Carolina used up 2 seconds-plus trying to get a timeout, when their best chance to win was letting Britt chuck up a shot from 50 feet or so while he had the chance.
To Williams' credit, after the refs called both coaches to midcourt to explain, he immediately extended a hand to IowaState's Fred Hoiberg and took his lumps.
"You can't lay that on the officials," Williams acknowledged. "It's our mistake."
But that doesn't let the NCAA off the hook.
Right after the game, the sports information director from a Big Ten school told Associated Press sports writer Luke Meredith that during regular-season conference games, the referees have their whistles synched to the game clock, "so you blow it and the clock stops dead."
Think about how much time and confusion that device would have saved, then think about the roughly $700 million the NCAA pockets in rights fees from CBS and Turner Broadcasting each year to televise the tournament and finally, ask yourself why it wasn't being used.
We asked the NCAA instead.
"Several conferences do utilize this technology," Dan Gavitt, vice president of the men's basketball championship confirmed in an-email. He said the NCAA tournament does not because the "multitude of camera angles in high definition by CBS & Turner have provided sufficient coverage to correct timing errors with the replay equipment."
Gavitt also noted the championship committee "reviews all officiating matters annually, and available technology is a topic that will be considered again."
All righty, then.
___
THIS YEAR, THE KIDS AREN'T ALL RIGHT
Talent vs. experience is college basketball's version of the nature vs. nurture debate.
Ever since one-and-done became the law of the NCAA landscape, coaches and fans have anguished over whether it's better to recruit supremely skilled kids who will flee campus the second the NBA comes calling, or patiently build second-tier talent and late-bloomers into a cohesive unit.
Many of the game's traditional powers — Kentucky and North Carolina, quickly, and with relish; Duke and Kansas, gradually, and more grudgingly — went down the first road, in part because blue-chippers still beat the doors of their programs down. The next-level powers — MichiganState, Louisville, UConn, and Florida, to name a few — have learned to mostly make do with the latter option. The mid-majors whose occasional tournament runs catch us by surprise rarely have a choice; when it comes to recruiting, they're already picking through leftovers.
The talent vs. experience debate heated up again this weekend, when star freshmen Jabari Parker of Duke and Andrew Wiggins of Kansas — both projected NBA lottery picks — exited stage left with their teams, sent packing by experienced squads from Mercer and Iowa State.
This year, that wasn't just a coincidence, either. Research by STATS shows that Duke and Kansas relied heavily on those spectacular freshmen and underclassmen, in general; giving them 66 percent and 76 percent of the minutes doled out during the tournament. In North Carolina's case, the figure was 65 percent.
This year, that was practically a recipe for an early departure. STATS' research also showed that 10 of the 16 teams that advanced to next weekend handed over more — and usually much more — than 50 percent of their minutes to upperclassmen. Stanford was the leader at 96 percent, followed by Tennessee (82), UConn (78), Louisville and Baylor (71) and San DiegoState (68).
Most of the other Sweet 16 teams were within a few points of the 50 percent threshold. Surprising Dayton, for example was at 49 percent and there were only three real outliers — Virginia (30), Michigan (20) and Kentucky (1 percent, or just 5 of the 400 minutes the Wildcats played in the tournament).
So you could say youth must be served. Just tell us how you'd like your toast prepared.
___
CELEBRITY ALUM OF THE DAY
Did you know Memphis had a rifle team? No?
Neither did we.
But Carolina Panthers running back DeAngelo Williams did, and he's a big fan. He told AP freelancer Evan Markfield at Raleigh, N.C., that he'll watch just about any sport his alma mater plays — "whether it's the rifle, basketball, football, softball (team), it doesn't matter, brother, I'm out here."
He flew down to San Antonio to watch the Tigers lose the national championship in a heartbreaker in 2008, and upset he couldn't get to their second-round game Friday, Williams packed his brood into the car Sunday and hit the road.
"This is our first one (in person) this year because it's so close," he said. "It's a breath of fresh air, man. To get the opportunity to drive 2½, 3 hours away and see the best university in the country is grand. I encourage everyone to come out and experience the same thing I'm experiencing."
Of course, that was before Virginia crushed Memphis in their round of 32 game.
We just hope the trip home went half as swimmingly as the ride up.
___
STAT OF THE DAY
Louisville vs. Kentucky has been called the best rivalry in college basketball at the moment, and with both Duke and North Carolina out of the tournament, nobody is going to argue. Their meeting next week in Indianapolis, just up the road from both campuses, will also mark the first time since 2004 that the winners of the previous two national championships collided in the tournament the following year — and just the fourth time in NCAA history.
STATS notes that could be a good omen for Louisville, since the defending champion has won all three previous clashes: 2004, Syracuse beat Maryland (round of 32); 1995, Arkansas beat North Carolina (national semifinal); 1962, Cincinnati beat OhioState (championship game).
___
QUOTE OF THE DAY
"He's been our Mariano Rivera. He's been our closer all throughout this season." — IowaState coach Fred Hoiberg, talking about DeAndre Kane, whose twisting layup with 1.6 seconds beat North Carolina and put the Cyclones in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2000.
___
SUNDAY'S RESULTS
Third Round
East Regional
At Raleigh, N.C.
Virginia 78, Memphis 60
At San Antonio
IowaState 85, North Carolina 83
South Regional
At St. Louis
Stanford 60, Kansas 57
At San Diego
UCLA 77, Stephen F. Austin 60
Midwest Regional
At Raleigh, N.C.
Tennessee 83, Mercer 63
At St. Louis
Kentucky 78, Wichita State 76
West Regional
At San Antonio
Baylor 85, Creighton 55
At San Diego
Arizona 84, Gonzaga 61
THURSDAY'S GAMES
Regional Semifinals
South Regional
At Memphis, Tenn.
Dayton (25-10) vs. Stanford (23-12)
Florida (34-2) vs. UCLA (28-8)
West Regional
At Anaheim, Calif.
Wisconsin (28-7) vs. Baylor (26-11)
San DiegoState (31-4) vs. Arizona (32-4)
FRIDAY'S GAMES
Regional Semifinals
East Regional
At New York
UConn (28-8) vs. IowaState (28-7)
MichiganState (28-8) vs. Virginia (30-6)
Midwest Regional
At Indianapolis
Kentucky (26-10) vs. Louisville (31-5)
Michigan (27-8) vs. Tennessee (24-12)
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.