Ravens QB Lamar Jackson named AFC Offensive Player of the Week after dominating Lions

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Ravens coach John Harbaugh reacted like a lot of fans probably did watching Lamar Jackson scramble around before finding wide receiver Nelson Agholor in the back of the end zone for a first-quarter touchdown Sunday against the Detroit Lions.

The quarterback covered 25.3 yards, according to Next Gen Stats, first stepping up in the pocket before spinning away from the enclosing pressure, rolling right, dancing back left and finally letting rip a 12-yard pass before defenders Aidan Hutchinson and Derrick Barnes could corral him. His 9.24 seconds to throw was the third-longest on a touchdown pass since Next Gen Stats began tracking such data in 2016.

“I’m like, ‘I can’t believe he got flushed out of the pocket,” Harbaugh said Monday. “Why wasn’t the first route open? Or maybe the route wasn’t run the right way somewhere,’ and I’m mad. And then I’m thinking, ‘Well Lamar is getting away,’ and I’m thinking, ‘Find somebody. Somebody get open.’ And then the ball goes up, it’s a touchdown, and I scream for joy — inside; I don’t want anybody to see that. But it’s the same.

“I will say this; in the red zone, especially — really everywhere — [from] a defensive perspective, the extended play is real. It’s something that you have to actually prepare to stop. And the teams that do it better are the teams that are tougher to defend. So, the ability to defend those is big.”

So was Jackson’s performance: 21 of 27 passing for 357 yards and three touchdowns. He also ran nine times for 36 yards and another score. It was enough for him to be named AFC Offensive Player of the Week on Tuesday.

It was the ninth time Jackson earned the honor but the first since Week 5 in 2021, when he completed 37 of 43 passes for a career-high 442 yards and four touchdowns while also rushing for a team-high 62 yards on 14 carries in an overtime win over the Indianapolis Colts on “Monday Night Football.”

His play Sunday against Detroit was just as mesmerizing, if not frustrating, for the Lions.

On the second play of the game, Jackson acted as if he were going to run after a fake handoff before pulling up and hitting receiver Odell Beckham Jr. for an 11-yard gain over the middle. In the third quarter and with the Ravens on their own 9-yard line, he again looked as if he might run, rolling right after faking a handoff before dumping off a short pass to running back Gus Edwards, who had slipped behind the defense and rumbled 80 yards for the longest catch of his career.

“Lamar gave us problems,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “We could never apply enough pressure.”

Even when they did, it didn’t matter.

Jackson’s 246 yards passing when under duress, according to ESPN Stats & Information, is the most by any quarterback since 2009 when they began keeping track of pressures. Also, his 298 passing yards from outside the pocket this season is the third-most in the NFL behind only Buffalo’s Josh Allen and Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes.

Outside the pocket, Jackson has also thrown four touchdowns and no interceptions.

“It all stood out,” Harbaugh said of Jackson’s latest performance. “One time, he came all the way back and he hit ‘Bate’ [Rashod Bateman] to the right on a deep in [and] stop route. It was the fifth read in the progression. He, A, had time to do it, [and] B, he had the wherewithal [and] the understanding. He’s good enough to get to his fifth read. That’s pretty great.”

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NY Quietly Finalizes Housing Regulations Cheered By ‘Frankensteining’ Critics 

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The amendments, some of which limit rents on combined or ‘Frankensteined’ apartments, mark the first update since 2014 to regulations in the Rent Stabilization Code governing about 1 million apartments. 

(Emma Whitford) Tenants rally in November 2022 ahead of a meeting on rent regulations in Lower Manhattan. 

Landlords will soon face limits on how much they can increase the rent on combined, or “Frankensteined,” apartments. 

A notice posted this week by the state’s Department of Housing and Community Renewal, or DHCR, says that a series of amendments to local rent regulations, initially proposed last fall, will be published in the New York State Register by Nov. 8.

They mark the first update since 2014 to the Rent Stabilization Code, which governs roughly 1 million rent-regulated city apartments. Historically, landlords who knock down walls to make larger apartments have been able to set a rent of their choosing. But now, the legal rent will be calculated based on the rent of the two prior apartments combined.

If an apartment is chopped up, the rent in the smaller units will drop proportionally to the percentage decrease in square footage. And if a landlord cuts into a regulated apartment to expand an unregulated one, the new, larger apartment will be regulated, subject to annual adjustments set by the Rent Guidelines Board.

The End Apartment Warehousing Coalition celebrated the news Wednesday. The group has documented examples, in neighborhoods including the Upper West Side, of landlords holding apartments vacant—a practice referred to by critics as “warehousing”—and then combining them.

Sue Susman, a tenant at 50 West 57th St., said her group is “really happy” about the new regulations. “We’re happy about how newly-created apartments will stay rent stabilized, will be more affordable, and landlords who harass tenants out won’t get any increase at all,” she added. 

The new regulations also clarify when a tenant has the right to stay in a stabilized apartment after their relative moves out. 

Under rent stabilization, family members who hope to stay on must overlap with the primary tenant for at least two years before their relative vacates. But there has been disagreement in the courts about when to start the two-year clock if the primary tenant has moved out but continues to pay rent or sign leases. 

The regulations now clarify that the two-year lookback begins when the primary tenant physically moves out. Previously, tenant lawyers say, a landlord might not realize a tenant had moved out for several years. And because the successor had already been living alone for some time, they could be evicted. 

Jason Blumberg, senior staff attorney at Mobilization For Justice, described a hypothetical situation in which a person grew up in an apartment with their father, who eventually moved out to retire to Florida. 

“Basically the theory was that the landlord, because they had been tricked into thinking dad still lived there, somehow the succession claim was forfeited as a penalty for this sneaky behavior,” he said. “Even though most of the time in situations like this people don’t know.”

The new regulations also codify changes already in place thanks to the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019, or HSPTA, which eliminated several avenues for landlords to increase rents or remove units from stabilization. 

Sherwin Belkin, founding partner of Belkin Burden Goldman LLP, which represents landlords, said the regulatory changes hurt his clients. “All it is is harmful for owners and capitulation to tenant advocates,” he told City Limits. 

On succession claims, Belkin said, DHCR “has essentially made a roadmap for a tenant who is absent from an apartment to hide [this] from a landlord.” 

“I don’t know if it will be my firm but I will certainly expect there will be challenges to these in court,” he added. “How well those challenges do remains to be seen.” 

Jay Martin, executive director of the Community Housing Improvement Program, a landlord trade group, pointed out that the language on apartment combinations is also included in legislation passed through the state legislature this spring, but which Gov. Kathy Hochul has yet to sign. 

“These rules being promulgated means that there’s no need for those bills,” he said. 

Martin has been a vocal critic of the pending legislation, which would also allow rent stabilized tenants to dig deeper into their rent histories to challenge suspicious increases in court. 

Ellen Davidson of the Legal Aid Society, who consulted on the bills, urged the governor to quickly sign them. She argued that having the regulatory language in law will help beat back any legal challenges. Until recently, she added, DHCR’s plans had been opaque. 

“The regulations went into a black hole,” she said. “And no one knew whether they were ever going to come out of that black hole.” 

Boston City Council approves Mass and Cass tent ban, Wu to outline next steps Thursday

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The Boston City Council approved an amended version of the mayor’s anti-encampment ordinance for the Mass and Cass zone, setting off a seven-day clock for enforcement that would begin once Michelle Wu signs the measure.

The 9-3 vote, with one councilor voting present, wasn’t close, but those who voted in favor Wednesday joined objectors in sharing a number of concerns that they felt were not properly addressed by the Wu administration throughout a process that began in late August with the mayor’s filing.

“I’m going to vote ‘yes,’ but I’m going to work closely with the police commissioner and with the Public Health Commission, and I am disappointed with them,” City Council President Ed Flynn said. “I feel like they haven’t given us the answers that we need, that we deserve.

“I don’t feel like they have engaged us and provided the right information as well.”

Flynn echoed several of his colleagues who mentioned that their support was largely due to a feeling that the tents, which authorities say are being used to shield drugs, weapons and violence, need to come down as soon as possible.

The level of violence that’s taking place on Atkinson Street and throughout Mass and Cass — “rapes, stabbings, shootings” — the city should never allow that type of situation to occur again, Flynn said.

“I don’t think this will be what saves us,” Councilor Ruthzee Louijeune said. “I don’t think this is ultimately going to be the solution, but can it be part of what’s getting us there? I believe so, as long as you’re protecting people’s First Amendment rights.”

The ordinance acknowledges that the homeless individuals living on Methadone Mile are in need of shelter, and that the tent situation is “untenable,” she added.

Carol Rose, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts said “the ACLU will be watching to ensure that people’s rights are not violated in the execution and enforcement of this ordinance.”

“The city must ensure that people’s property is safeguarded, and that available temporary housing includes realistic options for the people who will be displaced from their only living situation and cannot sleep in congregate settings due to disability or family circumstances,” Rose said in a statement.

The measure gives police the authority to remove tents and tarps, provided that individuals are offered shelter and transportation to services. It is tied into the mayor’s three-pronged plan for tackling crime and homelessness in the area.

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The Council vote gives the Wu administration the go-ahead to open a 30-bed shelter on Massachusetts Avenue, for homeless individuals displaced by the ordinance.

While this part of the plan has been controversial among community members and certain councilors who criticized the addition of a so-called “fourth shelter” in the South End, Wu has insisted that the facility would close as soon as the targeted individuals are set up with permanent housing.

The mayor’s plan also calls for an increased police presence, aimed at both enforcing the anti-encampment ordinance at Mass and Cass, and preventing tents from popping up in other locations throughout the city.

“We are grateful to the Council for their partnership in approving this ordinance to help address the public safety of patients, workers and residents in the area so our team can continue outreach to individuals in need,” a Wu spokesperson said in a Wednesday statement.

“City staff and provider partners have been working for weeks to prepare for our plans to reopen Atkinson Street to standard roadway operations and expand citywide outreach for shelter, services and treatment.”

Wu will join administration officials in providing updates on her plan for the troubled area Thursday morning, at a City Hall press conference.

Flynn, Louijeune, Liz Breadon, Gabriela Coletta, Sharon Durkan, Tania Fernandes Anderson, Michael Flaherty, Erin Murphy and Brian Worrell voted in favor of the ordinance, as amended by Councilor Ricardo Arroyo.

Arroyo, Frank Baker and Kendra Lara voted in opposition. Julia Mejia abstained from taking a side, by voting ‘present.’

Arroyo said that while he was against the measure, he felt that the amendments he added to the mayor’s initial proposal strengthened the legality of the ordinance.

His amendments eliminated a monetary, or $25 fine, for violators, and added language to require the direct involvement of the Boston Public Health Commission in cases where alternative shelter space is unavailable, but the city must place restrictions on outdoor encampment activity.

The administration is also required to attend an annual City Council hearing to provide an end-of-year report on the ordinance, per the changes, and must provide notice of tent removal in a variety of languages.

Arroyo spoke at length about his opposition, saying that there is no evidence that similar efforts to clear out homeless encampments have worked in other parts of the country.

While he acknowledged that the administration’s efforts to tie housing into the ordinance are well-intentioned, the only way for such a measure to work is through further investment on the local and state level, to provide additional beds for shelter and long-term care, he said.

What is TSA PreCheck? Everything you need to know

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Raychelle Heath | Bankrate (TNS)

Many travelers are looking forward to a much-awaited vacation this year. According to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), daily traveler numbers for 2023 are approaching pre-pandemic (2019) levels.

If you’ve been considering applying for TSA PreCheck to streamline the process of airport security, here’s your guide to how it works, the interview process and more, along with some tips for using your membership for the first time.

What is TSA PreCheck?

TSA PreCheck is a Trusted Traveler Program (TTP) designed to expedite the process of getting through airport security. The program is managed by the TSA and gives passengers access to special security lines at participating airports in the United States. TSA PreCheck membership costs $78 (previously $85) and is good for five years.

TSA PreCheck is available in more than 200 airports and with 85 airlines across the United States. When you get to the security line after check-in, an agent will direct you to the PreCheck line after confirming your membership via your boarding pass.

This membership allows you to keep your light jacket, shoes and belt on, and liquids and electronics (like laptops) can stay inside your luggage, too. Then, it’s as simple as walking through a security scanner and you’re good to go to your gate.

How to participate in TSA PreCheck

Becoming a member of the TSA PreCheck program will require a few steps, starting with your application. To apply for TSA PreCheck, you must be a U.S. citizen, U.S. national or lawful permanent resident. There is no age restriction for applicants, and children of age 12 and under can use their parents’ or guardians’ memberships and need not officially apply.

Once you’ve applied with an enrollment provider, you’ll need to schedule an appointment at an enrollment center to complete a background check and fingerprinting. At this appointment, you’ll pay your membership fee and find out if you’ve been approved. Once you’ve been approved, you’ll receive a known traveler number (KTN) that you can use whenever you book a flight. It can take up to 60 days to receive your KTN, but most applicants receive their KTN within three to five days.

Complete the online application

The application for TSA PreCheck can be found on the TSA website under “Apply Now.” When completing your application, it’s very important that your name appears exactly as it does on your government identification. Some of the information you’ll need includes:

—Full name

—Date of birth

—Gender

—Preferred language

—A preferred method of contact (email or phone)

When you complete your application, you’ll be directed to set your appointment for your background check and fingerprinting, and you’ll be given a list of enrollment centers to choose from in your area. You’ll also have the opportunity to set a time and date for your appointment.

Complete the in-person interview at an enrollment center

TSA PreCheck allows walk-ins for interviews, but applicants with appointments are prioritized. Appointments are scheduled to last about 10 minutes (if the enrollment center is busy, it may take a bit longer). It’s best to schedule a TSA PreCheck appointment while completing your application, and the earlier you can schedule it, the better. You’ll be given the option to choose from a variety of enrollment centers in your area, along with different days and times.

At your appointment, you’ll be required to present approved identification documents. This includes an unexpired U.S. passport or else a valid photo ID and a document that meets citizenship requirements (such as a U.S. birth certificate). You’ll also be fingerprinted and pay your membership fee. Membership fees are nonrefundable and can be paid with a credit card, debit card, money order, company check or certified/cashier’s check.

The interview itself is pretty low-key. You’ll be asked to verify the information on your application and may also be asked about your employment history and travel habits. If you have any criminal history, you should be prepared to give more information about that.

How to get TSA Precheck for free

Getting the most out of TSA PreCheck actually starts before you use the service. In fact, many travel credit cards provide a statement credit to cover the cost of TSA PreCheck or Global Entry membership. So, if you have an eligible credit card — like the Chase Sapphire Reserve®, for example — you’ll get reimbursed up to $100 for TSA PreCheck or Global Entry.

To receive the credit, you’ll simply pay the fee with your eligible credit card. Also check out Bankrate’s travel toolkit for tips and tricks on how to maximize travel with a credit card.

Using TSA PreCheck for the first time

Once you have your TSA PreCheck membership, here are some tips that can help you make the most of it:

—Make sure you use your KTN whenever you book a flight to ensure TSA PreCheck shows up on your boarding pass.

—If you’re a frequent flyer, add your KTN to your profile.

—Do online check-in for your flight 24 hours ahead of time to make sure your PreCheck status is there. If it isn’t, contact the airline.

—Arrive at the airport at least two hours ahead of your flight to make sure your PreCheck status is confirmed (if you aren’t able to do so online or by phone).

—Be sure you are traveling through an airport with TSA PreCheck services.

Does one TSA PreCheck membership work for families?

The short answer to this question is no. TSA PreCheck membership doesn’t automatically transfer to your family members. The one exception is children of age 12 and under. Children in this age category can go through the TSA PreCheck line with a parent or guardian who has membership in the program.

Children of ages 13 to 17 may also be able to use the TSA PreCheck lane if they’re traveling with a parent or guardian who has TSA PreCheck and if they have the TSA PreCheck indicator on their boarding pass. However, their use of the lane is not guaranteed, and they may be required to go through standard security screening.

How to update personal information for TSA PreCheck

Your TSA PreCheck membership is good for five years. If during that time your personal information changes, you’ll need to update it as soon as you can with the provider that enrolled with. The most direct way to do so is to call it at 855-347-8371 (for IDEMIA) or 833-777-1811 (for Telos), Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. ET. You can also send an inquiry online to get information about how to change your personal information. This may take a little longer, however, because you will have to wait for a response.

The bottom line

If you do any domestic travel, having TSA PreCheck can be a real perk. Participating in this Trusted Traveler Program will enable you to breeze through security lines. While there is a membership fee of $78 to participate in this program, several credit cards offer members credits that cover this application fee. There are other Trusted Traveler Programs from the government that offer different benefits. If you’re looking to have a quicker re-entry into the U.S. after international travel, Global Entry is the program to look at — and it includes TSA PreCheck membership, too.

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Key takeaways

—TSA PreCheck membership can help you get through airport security faster.

—With TSA PreCheck, you can keep a light jacket, shoes and belt on, and you won’t have to remove your laptop or liquids from your bag.

—To apply for TSA PreCheck, you’ll need to fill out a short online form and complete an in-person appointment at an enrollment center.

—Many travel credit cards offer a statement credit to cover the entire cost of TSA PreCheck membership (currently $78).

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