Young man and the sea: Teen fishing off New England coast catches huge halibut bigger than him

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By MICHAEL CASEY

HAMPTON, N.H. (AP) — A New Hampshire teenager on a deep-sea fishing trip this week hauled in a 177-pound Atlantic halibut, a fish so big that it weighed more than him and could be a world record.

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Jackson Denio, a 13-year-old from Hampton, New Hampshire, was fishing about 100 miles off the New England Coast on Cashes Ledge Monday morning when he caught the fish.

“I think I screamed, honestly,” said Denio, who weighs around 120 pounds and is 5-foot-9-inches. “I don’t know exactly what happened, but I was very excited.”

Denio had set out on Sunday with about 30 others on an overnight charter trip with Al Gauron’s Deep Sea Fishing and Whale Watching. After everyone had caught plenty of pollock and other fish, Denio told the crew he wanted to catch a shark. They told him to fish at the bottom.

Minutes after he dropped his hook with pollock on it, Denio got a hit and knew he had something big.

Denio fought the fish for about 30 minutes, bringing it near the boat only to have it dive back down. He was eventually able to get the fish to the surface, guided by the crew and cheered on by fellow passengers who uttered plenty of oohs and ahhs spiced with profanity as the size of the fish became clear. One person even yelled out “Jackson, you are an angel of a man.”

“I’m standing there watching him. Then all of a sudden the fish took off it, bit it and started pounding away,” said Jim Walsh, the captain of the vessel that Denio was on. “I looked at him and I said, were you on the bottom? And he goes, yes. And I said, you don’t have a shark.”

Walsh said he was most impressed with Denio’s composure.

“He did not let go once. He never let anybody else touch the rod. And he worked him, worked him. Then eventually, the fish starts to tire out,” Walsh said. “Even though he’s that big, they go to tire. Then he got it up to the surface. That’s when we looked and went Oh my God. We were all ecstatic.”

Before the fish was carved up, Denio officially got it weighed and took photos and video of the fish, and he has provided other information about his fishing gear that will go into an application for a world record with the International Game Fish Association. The family plans to file an application under the junior record for Atlantic halibut and one under line class that includes all fish.

The association didn’t respond to a request for more information. Its website lists as vacant the record for Atlantic halibut under the junior male class.

And while he is relishing all the attention, Denio is itching get back out on the water again — and catch something even bigger.

“It makes me want to keep fishing even more and try and beat the record if I can,” he said.

Vikings are NFL’s worst in regards to draft pick retention

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Building a team through the draft is a consistent mantra from almost every NFL team because getting cost-controlled young players in a salary-capped league is crucial to success.

Pulling that off isn’t as easy with the draft often looking like a crapshoot, with some widely heralded prospects taken in the first round flaming out each year and the league filled with later-round gems who were overlooked coming out of college.

That can be because of bad evaluation, poor development, injuries or bad fortune but the teams that do the best to avoid it are often the ones playing deep into January.

Evaluating drafts in the immediate aftermath each spring is often foolhardy as it often takes a year or even more to see if picks worked out.

Leaguewide, 55% of all players drafted from 2021-24 were still on the active roster or an injured list of the team that picked them, according to data compiled by Sportradar after rosters were reduced to 53 players last week. That ranged from 85% of players picked in the first round, 68.8% picked in the second and third rounds on day two of the draft, and 42.6% in the final four rounds on day three.

In all, eight teams have less than half of their 2021-24 draft picks still on the active roster or injured lists but that’s doesn’t necessarily translate to a lack of on-field success. Minnesota has the lowest retention rate at 32.4% and made the playoffs with 14 wins last season, while Washington is fourth lowest at 41.2% and made it to last season’s NFC title game.

Eight other teams have retained more than 63% of their 2021-24 draft picks, with five of those teams making the playoffs last season, two others finishing with winning records and only the New York Giants lacking success with just nine wins the past two seasons under general manager Joe Schoen and coach Brian Daboll.

Seven of those eight teams had the same coach and general manager since at least 2022 as the stability in leadership and scheme typically leads to fewer roster overhauls.

The only two teams near the bottom who had not changed their coach since the start of the 2022 season are the Vikings and San Francisco 49ers, who made up for several notable draft whiffs made by general manager John Lynch and coach Kyle Shanahan by finding a franchise quarterback in Brock Purdy with the final pick of the 2022 draft.

Here’s a look at the three best and worst teams when it comes to retaining picks:

Cincinnati Bengals, 73.5%

The Bengals faced a tough decision in the 2021 draft when they had to choose whether to pick Penei Sewell to protect Joe Burrow or Ja’Marr Chase to give him a playmaker. While both choices would have been good, picking Chase has worked out as good as they could have hoped with four Pro Bowl seasons and a receiving Triple Crown in 2024.

The next three first-rounders — Dax Hill, Myles Murphy and Amarius Mims — haven’t been nearly as impactful but are still in place. That’s been a bit of a theme for the Bengals as the stability in the front office and coaching has kept draft picks in place but few have been difference-makers in recent years.

Cincinnati has retained the highest percentage of day three picks during this period at 66.7%, with the biggest hit being 2025 fifth-round pick Chase Brown.

Kansas City Chiefs, 73.3%

Kansas City has kept 11 of its 12 picks in the first three rounds on the roster with several being key contributors to the team’s back-to-back Super Bowl titles in the 2022-23 seasons.

The Chiefs got two players who have earned All-Pro honors in center Creed Humphrey in the second round in 2021 and cornerback Trent McDuffie in the first round in 2022. Among the other early-round hits have been linebacker Nick Bolton, receiver Skyy Moore and edge rusher George Karlaftis, and additional starters in linebacker Leo Chenal and safety Bryan Cook.

There have also been some big day three wins like guard Trey Smith in the sixth round in 2021, tight end Noah Gray in the fifth round in 2021, and running back Isiah Pacheco and cornerback Jaylen Watson in the seventh round in 2022.

Detroit Lions, 72.4%

GM Brad Holmes and coach Dan Campbell have engineered one of the best turnarounds in recent memory in the NFL, turning one of the worst franchises into a perennial contender thanks to some sharp draft picks.

Helped by two extra first-rounders gained when Detroit traded Matthew Stafford to the Rams for Jared Goff, the Lions added several difference-makers in the first round led by Sewell, Aidan Hutchinson and Jahymr Gibbs.

The Lions also got their No. 1 receiver on day three of the 2021 draft in Amon-Ra St. Brown and several key contributors with day two picks, like All-Pro safety Kerby Joseph in the third round in 2022, and versatile defensive back Brian Branch and productive tight end Sam LaPorta in the second round in 2023.

Minnesota Vikings, 32.4%

Perhaps no team has overcome poor drafts as well as the Vikings in recent years under GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah and coach Kevin O’Connell.

Outside of star left tackle Christian Darrisaw and depth receiver Jalen Nailor, Minnesota has almost nothing left from the 2021 and ’22 draft classes after whiffing on high picks in 2022 on first-round safety Lewis Cine, second-round cornerback Andrew Booth and third-round guard Ed Ingram.

The verdict on the 2024 draft remains unknown after first-rounder J.J. McCarthy missed his rookie season with a knee injury and fellow first-rounder Dallas Turner made little impact as a rookie.

The team has hit on several undrafted free agents, led by linebacker Ivan Pace Jr.

New England Patriots, 36.8%

Poor picks at the end of the Bill Belichick regime followed by a one-year run with Jerod Mayo as coach have contributed to the Patriots moving on from most of their picks from 2021-24 as they enter their first year under coach Mike Vrabel.

The 2022 draft class might have been the worst as only third-round slot cornerback Marcus Jones remains after the team cut first-round guard Cole Strange last week. Second-round receiver Tyquan Thornton had 39 catches in three seasons before being cut last season.

New England had two hits from 2021 in second-round defensive tackle Christian Barmore and fourth-round running back Rhamondre Stevenson after first-round QB Mac Jones lasted only three seasons with the team.

Drake Maye is the only projected starter this season from last year’s draft class.

New England did well at the top of the 2023 draft with cornerback Christian Gonzalez and defensive Keion White.

The Pats have only 6 of 26 (23.1%) of day-three picks over those four years still on the roster.

Tennessee Titans, 40%

The Titans have gone through three GMs since the start of the 2022 season as a roster that was good enough to earn the top seed in the AFC in 2021 fell so much that the Titans ended up with the No. 1 pick in this year’s draft.

Cornerback Caleb Farley started just two games in two seasons after being picked in the first round in 2021 and receiver Treylon Burks — picked to replace A.J. Brown in 2022 — will finish his rookie contract with 53 catches and one TD after going on season-ending IR.

Tennessee has just four day two picks and five day three picks from 2021-24 left on the roster after missing on picks like Dillon Radunz, Elijah Molden, Nicholas Petit-Frere and Malik Willis.

The Titans used a second-round pick in 2023 on quarterback Will Levis, who went 5-16 in his first two seasons and is on IR this year.

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St. Paul man convicted of raping Wisconsin woman he met on dating app

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A jury has convicted a 38-year-old St. Paul man of raping a woman at his home in March shortly after they met on a dating app.

Jurors last week after a two-day trial found Green Isiah Kelly Jr. guilty of third-degree criminal sexual conduct, but acquitted him of the more severe first-degree criminal sexual conduct charge. He remains jailed ahead of his Oct. 31 sentencing. His attorney did not respond to messages Thursday by the Pioneer Press asking for comment on the verdict.

Green Isiah Kelly Jr. (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

Kelly was a convicted sex offender at the time of the March 23 rape in St. Paul’s Summit-University area. In 2013, he pleaded guilty to third-degree criminal sexual conduct for raping a woman who had passed out from alcohol at a party in St. Paul, court records show.

He was sentenced to 15 years in prison, followed by 10 years of conditional release. Most people sent to prison in Minnesota serve two-thirds of their sentence in custody and the remaining on supervised release in the community.

Kelly was given an additional 15 months in prison in 2020 for repeatedly punching a fellow inmate in the face at Minnesota Correctional Facility-Faribault, according to court records. He was put on intensive supervised release in September.

According to the March 25 criminal complaint:

A 37-year-old woman from Menomonie, Wis., reported to police about 4:15 p.m. March 23 that she had been sexually assaulted less than two hours earlier at a home in the 800 block of Aurora Avenue. She identified the suspect as “Isiah,” who was later identified as Kelly.

She told police she had met Kelly through a dating app about a month earlier, and that they then texted and made Facetime calls to each other.

She said the first time she saw Kelly she realized the photos he had posted on the dating app were not of him. She questioned him about that and he admitted as much. She said she told Kelly that she wasn’t interested in dating him, but was willing to be friends. They then talked casually.

Kelly asked if they could get together, and she said she was coming into town on March 23. Around 11:30 a.m., she agreed to cut his hair and beard, and went to his home on Aurora Avenue to meet him. He took her to a local restaurant. While there, he said he wanted to be in a relationship with her, but she told him she wasn’t interested.

When they returned to Kelly’s home, he asked her to come inside to cut his hair and offered to pay her to do so. “(The woman) was suspicious because (Kelly) was bald,” the complaint states, adding that he then said he’d pay her full price of a haircut if she would trim his beard.

When she and Kelly went into his bedroom, where she thought she was going to trim his beard, he said, “Let’s get down to business” and grabbed her arm and began to kiss her on the neck, the complaint states. She told police she pushed him away and told him, “Not that type of business” and repeated that she did not want to be in a relationship with him and did not want to engage in sex.

Kelly then grabbed her by the arm and threw her on the bed. He ripped off her shirt, pants and underwear and pinned his body against hers as she screamed and kicked at him. She told police she repeatedly yelled, “No! I don’t want to have sex with you!” the complaint says. He then raped her.

Kelly stopped when his phone rang and someone knocked on the door, she told police. When he answered the door in his boxer briefs, she grabbed her torn shirt and pants but could not find her underwear. She tried to leave the room with one pant leg on but Kelly met her at the bedroom door and told her not to go. She was able to get past him and leave the home.

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The woman drove directly to a hospital in Wisconsin. As she drove, Kelly called her multiple times. She recorded their conversations and provided them to police. Kelly apologized for not listening to her and said he let his “hormones speak for [him],” the complaint states. She told him that she had said “no” and yelled at him that what he did was “definitely not OK.”

After his arrest, Kelly underwent a suspect sexual assault examination. He declined to talk to investigators, saying that he wanted a lawyer.

Prosecutors filed an amended complaint in July, adding the first-degree sexual assault charge. The complaint includes details of her sexual assault exam, when she reportedly repeated how she pleaded for him to stop and said he also put his hand over her mouth to keep her from screaming.

US immigration officers raid Georgia site where Hyundai makes electric vehicles

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By RUSS BYNUM

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — U.S. immigration authorities on Thursday raided the sprawling site where Hyundai manufactures electric vehicles in southeast Georgia, conducting a search that shut down construction on an adjacent factory being built to produce EV batteries.

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The operation targeted one of Georgia’s largest and most high-profile manufacturing sites, touted by the governor and other officials as the largest economic development project in the state’s history. Hyundai Motor Group began manufacturing EVs a year ago at the $7.6 billion plant, which employs about 1,200 people.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Lindsay Williams confirmed that federal authorities were conducting an enforcement operation at the 3,000-acre site west of Savannah. He said agents were focused on the construction site for the battery plant.

The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that agents executed a search warrant “as part of an ongoing criminal investigation into allegations of unlawful employment practices and other serious federal crimes.” It did not say whether anyone was detained or arrested.

Georgia State Patrol troopers blocked roads to the Hyundai site. The Georgia Department of Public Safety confirmed they were dispatched to assist federal authorities.

Video posted to social media Thursday showed workers in yellow safety vests lined up as a man wearing a face mask and a tactical vest with the letters HSI, which stands for Homeland Security Investigations, tells them: “We’re Homeland Security. We have a search warrant for the whole site.”

“We need construction to cease immediately,” the man says. “We need all work to end on the site right now.”

President Donald Trump’s administration has undertaken sweeping ICE operations as part of a mass deportation agenda. Immigration officers have raided farms, construction sites, restaurants and auto repair shops.

The Pew Research Center, citing preliminary Census Bureau data, says the U.S. labor force lost more than 1.2 million immigrants from January through July. That includes people who are in the country illegally as well as legal residents.

In addition to making electric vehicles at the site facing Interstate 16 in Bryan County, Hyundai has also partnered with LG Energy Solution to build the battery plant. It’s slated to open sometime next year.

The joint venture, HL-GA Battery Company, “is cooperating fully with the appropriate authorities,” the company said in a statement. “To assist their work, we have paused construction.”

Operations at Hyundai’s EV manufacturing plant weren’t interrupted, said plant spokesperson Bianca Johnson.

“This did not impact people getting to work,” Johnson said in an email. “Production and normal office hours had already begun for the day” when authorities shut down access.