15 Mar 2024

Gophers football: Small-town Oklahoman Kyler Baugh goes big at Pro Day

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Gophers defensive tackle Kyler Baugh has already overcome long odds, and he’s betting big on himself yet again.

The small-town Oklahoma kid made the jump from FCS-level Houston Baptist to all-Big Ten honorable mention in the last two seasons at Minnesota. Now he’s shooting for the NFL, participating in the Gophers’ annual Pro Day at the Larson Football Performance Center on Thursday.

Baugh, who measured 6-foot-1 and 302 pounds, posted a broad jump of 9 feet, 5 inches, with a vertical jump of 33 1/2 inches, with 34 bench press reps of 225 pounds.

“I felt really good about today,” Baugh said about his performance.

Baugh grew up in Talihina, Okla., which has a listed population of 915, and he dreamt of playing in the NFL since he was in the third grade.

“I’ve been doing everything I can to make it happen,” said Baugh, who has been training in Atlanta this offseason. “I never thought I would be in this position right now. I’m just really grateful that I am.”

Baugh posted 41 total tackles and three sacks, one fumble recovery and one forced fumble last season. He had 36 tackles and one sack in 2022.

“I’ve talked to quite a few teams; they got some interest in me,” shared Baugh, adding that NFL franchises have mentioned how they like his athleticism and that he’s impressive on an every-snap basis.

Nubin on mend

Safety Tyler Nubin opted to have a meniscectomy on his right knee after the 2023 regular season, and the recovery process has hampered his pre-draft activities.

“It kind of bit me in the butt a little bit,” Nubin said of not being 100 percent at the NFL scouting combine earlier this month. “I was dealing with some residual stuff from that.”

Listed at 6-1 and 205 pounds, Nubin said he’s currently 90-95 percent healthy but still ran the 40-yard dash at the U’s Pro Day.

Nubin’s recovery might be affecting his draft stock, but his body of work on the field is strong. He has been considered a potential first-round pick, but that might now become a second-round status.

Nubin said he was invited to the NFL draft in Detroit in late April, but he will watch from his family’s home in Illinois.

“I wanted to be around my family,” Nubin said with a smile. “I got too many family members that I want to invite. I think they would get mad at me if I pick and choose. I don’t want to have to go through that.”

Fleck’s pride

Coach P.J. Fleck did not speak with reporters Thursday but issued a statement.

“It was an elite morning watching our players compete at pro day in front of all 32 NFL teams today,” he said. “As a coach, there are few things better than seeing your players — who have worked extremely hard to get to this moment — continue their journey and reach for their dreams.”

Fleck plans to meet with media members before the start of spring practices next week.

Maxed out

Tight end Brevyn Spann-Ford, who scored a touchdown in the Senior Bowl, said he has met with the Jets, Broncos and Cowboys and will continue to visit with NFL franchises as the draft approaches.

Ex-U tight end Maxx Williams, an eight-year NFL veteran, came out to the U’s indoor facility to support Spann-Ford, but, in turn, had to deal with some flak.

Spann-Ford made it a point to say he ran a faster 40-yard dash than Williams did in 2015.

“I just want to get that out to the media, so everybody knows that,” Spann-Ford joked. “I’m sure he’s going to love seeing that.”

Briefly

Long snapper Brady Weeks, who had a near-perfect track record over a school-record 59 games, was satisfied with his performance Thursday. He had a vertical jump of 34 1/2 inches, a 9.6 board jump and a bench press of 18 reps. “I’m a sneaky athlete,” Weeks said. “… Snappers are athletes, too.” … Nubin said he has consulted with former U defensive backs now in the NFL, including Jordan Howden, Terell Smith and Benjamin St-Juste, but not so much Antoine Winfield Jr. “I know he’s a busy man; he’s a money man now,” said Nubin in reference to the Buccaneers placing a franchise tag on Winfield worth $17.1 million next season. … Two of the premier candidates for the Gophers’ Pro Day next year include left tackle Aireontae Ersery and edge rusher Jah Joyner. Spann-Ford also mentioned new transfer quarterback Max Brosmer, who helped throw on Thursday to pass catchers, including Chris Autman-Bell and Corey Crooms Jr. “Max is a great dude,” Spann-Ford said. “High character guy. Can’t wait to see what he does for the Gophers this year. He’s a tremendous leader. There is definitely big things coming and you will definitely see him at this Pro Day next year working out.”

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15 Mar 2024

St. Paul man charged with shooting at Ramsey County sheriff’s deputy

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A St. Paul man was charged Thursday with attempted murder for shooting an assault rifle at a Ramsey County sheriff’s deputy from a moving car on the city’s East Side this month.

Deputy Joe Kill wasn’t seriously injured by the rounds fired by Trevion Armand Figgs on March 1, according to the criminal complaint against the 20-year-old. Shrapnel from bullets that hit Kill’s squad struck the deputy near his right collar bone, causing bruising and pain when he turned his head.

Trevion Armand Figgs (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)

“The choice to intentionally shoot at a law enforcement officer is shocking to us all, and we are so grateful that Deputy Kill is recovering from his injuries,” Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said Thursday in a statement. Choi added, “We will seek justice to its fullest extent for the victim and our community.”

Figgs was arrested Wednesday at his East Side home and is scheduled to make a first appearance in court on the charge Friday. In addition to second-degree attempted murder, he also faces first-degree assault of a peace officer and dangerous weapons-drive by shooting in connection with the shooting.

Meanwhile, the county attorney’s office is reviewing a case against a 17-year-old who is suspected of driving the car from which Figgs allegedly fired the rounds. The teen turned himself in at police headquarters on Wednesday and he was arrested on suspicion of aiding and abetting second-degree attempted murder, first-degree assault and attempted second-degree assault, along with fleeing a peace officer in a motor vehicle.

Figgs also was charged this week with attempted murder stemming from a June shooting on the city’s East Side, the attorney’s office said Thursday. Figgs allegedly fired nearly 30 rounds at an SUV, one of which struck a 19-year-old man in the back, prosecutors say.

The charges, filed Monday and unsealed Thursday, say the June 26 shooting followed “negative comments” the victim’s friend posted online about Marleisha Davenport, a 15-year-old from South St. Paul who was fatally shot in north Minneapolis on May 18.

DNA, Snapchat evidence

Thursday’s criminal complaint says St. Paul police officers saw someone driving a Honda Accord recklessly at Payne Avenue and Jessamine Street around 10:45 p.m. March 1. The officers tried to pull over the driver, but the car sped away.

The officers turned off their squad lights, and they lost sight of the Accord when it turned south from Jessamine Avenue onto Greenbrier Street.

A short time later, Kill saw the Accord and noticed that two people were in it. When the car blew through a red light at Payne Avenue and Seventh Street, Kill turned on his emergency lights and siren and began to pursue it.

As the Honda headed east on Euclid Street, the front-seat passenger, who wore a face mask, leaned out of the car, sat on the door frame, and fired a tan-colored assault rifle at the deputy, who was 25 to 30 yards behind, the complaint says.

Kill swerved his squad to the left, stopped in the 900 block of Euclid Street and took cover under the driver compartment. Kill thought three shots were fired at him.

Surveillance video audio from the neighborhood recorded approximately three to five gunshot-like noises. Officers found two spent .223-caliber rifle casings in the middle of Euclid Street.

Officers searched the area and found the Accord unoccupied and parked in an alley in the 1000 block of Pacific Street. Later, surveillance video showed the car in the alley around 10:50 p.m., then two people running east.

A search of the car turned up two spent .223-caliber rifle casings. Paperwork showed the 17-year-old was in the process of buying the car.

Further investigation showed a close relationship between the teen and Figgs, whose house is the area where the car was found.

Tests of DNA swabs of a casing recovered from the shooting scene came back to Figgs, the complaint says.

Investigators then received information from Figgs’ Snapchat account. It showed that an account associated with the teen sent Figgs a photo of Figgs wearing a black face mask and holding a tan assault rifle consistent with the one described by the deputy.

On Wednesday, officers executed a search warrant at Figgs’ home and arrested him. In an upper bedroom, officers recovered a tan AR-style rifle stock, a Polymer 80 handgun, a debit card in the teen’s name and loose .223- and 9mm-caliber ammunition.

In an interview with investigators, Figgs said he was home the night of March 1. Figgs didn’t respond when told his DNA was on one of the casings. Figgs dismissed the photo of him holding the assault rifle, as well as the recovery of .223-caliber ammunition and the tan stock for an assault rifle from his room, asking, “So I’m going down for what? Gun possession?” the complaint says.

Figgs then said he didn’t try to kill anyone, and asked investigators what they wanted, the complaint says. “They told him they wanted to know why it happened — why it was worth it to fire an assault rifle at the deputy over a traffic stop. Figgs said, ‘Why? If you’re going to put me in jail for the rest of my life anyway…’”

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14 Mar 2024

Trump-backed Senate candidate faces GOP worries that he could be linked to adult website profile

by | posted in: Politics | 0

By BRIAN SLODYSKO and AARON KESSLER (Associated Press)

WASHINGTON (AP) — For Republicans eager to regain the Senate majority this year, Ohio offers a prime opportunity to pick up a critical seat.

But ahead of Tuesday’s primary election, there’s mounting anxiety inside the GOP that Bernie Moreno may emerge with the nomination. After vaulting into the top tier of contenders with a coveted endorsement from Donald Trump, Moreno — who has shifted from a public supporter of LGBTQ rights to a hardline opponent — is confronting questions about the existence of a 2008 profile seeking “Men for 1-on-1 sex” on a casual sexual encounters website called Adult Friend Finder.

“Hi, looking for young guys to have fun with while traveling,” reads a caption on a photo-less profile under the username “nardo19672,” according to an Associated Press review of records made public through a massive and well-publicized data breach of the website. Records also show the profile was last accessed about six hours after it was created.

The AP review confirmed that someone with access to Moreno’s email account created the profile, though the AP could not definitively confirm whether it was created by Moreno himself. Questions about the profile have circulated in GOP circles for the past month. On Thursday evening, two days after the AP first asked Moreno’s campaign about the account, the candidate’s lawyer said a former intern created the account as a prank. The lawyer provided a statement from the intern, Dan Ricci, who said he created the account as “part of a juvenile prank.”

“I am thoroughly embarrassed by an aborted prank I pulled on my friend, and former boss, Bernie Moreno, nearly two decades ago,” Ricci said. The AP couldn’t independently confirm Ricci’s statement and he didn’t immediately respond to messages left for him on multiple phone numbers listed to him. He donated $6,599 to Moreno’s campaign last year, according to campaign finance records.

Moreno’s lawyer, Charles Harder, insisted Moreno “had nothing to do with the AFF account.”

Once a premier swing state, Ohio has moved sharply to the right in recent years. Trump easily won the state in 2016 and 2020 and the GOP controls top statewide offices along with both chambers of the legislature. That has raised hopes among Republicans that Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown won’t be able to overcome the headwinds that have largely swept his party out of power in Ohio.

And with Republicans just one seat short of a Senate majority if they also win the presidency, the results in Ohio could have major implications for the balance of power in Washington.

The dynamics have raised the stakes for Trump, who sided with Moreno in a crowded field that includes Secretary of State Frank LaRose and state Sen. Matt Dolan. Trump is scheduled to appear alongside Moreno on Saturday at a rally in Dayton, Ohio.

GOP frustration

Moreno’s potential vulnerability has sparked frustration among senior Republican operatives and elected officials in Washington and Ohio, according to seven people who are directly familiar with conversations about how to address the matter. The people requested anonymity to avoid running afoul of Trump and his allies. They described concerns surrounding Moreno’s candidacy as so acute that some party officials sought a review of data to determine his potential involvement.

That review, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter, linked the profile to Moreno’s work email address.

The AP’s independent review reached the same conclusion. The AP obtained data from the Adult Friend Finder leak as well as information that remains publicly accessible on the company’s website. An analysis of those records show the profile was created and authenticated by someone who had access to Moreno’s work email account.

Beyond the work email, the profile lists Moreno’s correct date of birth, while geolocation data indicates that the account was set up for use in a part of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where property records show Moreno’s parents owned a home at the time. The account’s username — nardo19672 — appears to refer to Moreno’s full first name, Bernardo, as well as the year and month of his birth in February 1967.

“This is a telling example of how this data doesn’t just go away,” said Jake Williams, a prominent cybersecurity researcher and a former National Security Agency offensive hacker who independently confirmed that Moreno’s work email address was included in a copy of the leaked data from Adult Friend Finder.

Harder also provided a statement from Helder Rosa, a former vice president for Bernie Moreno Companies, that said Ricci was an intern in November 2008 and that people in such roles had duties that included checking emails. Rosa has donated $12,400 to Moreno’s two campaigns for Senate, according to campaign finance records. He didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Moreno, 57, was born in Colombia to a wealthy family before immigrating to Florida as a child and becoming a U.S. citizen at the age of 18, according to a biography on his website. He purchased his first car dealership in 2005 and used his wealth to build an empire that came to include high-end dealerships in multiple states.

Shifting views

And before Moreno began articulating anti-LGBTQ views during his runs for public office, he made comments that seemed to reflect acceptance of homosexuality.

When Cleveland and Akron won their bid to host the 2014 Gay Games, an Olympics-like international competition featuring LGBTQ athletes, Moreno was an enthusiastic supporter while his auto dealership company was a financial sponsor, according to an opinion article he wrote for the business publication Crain’s Cleveland Business.

“A successful Gay Games would go a long way toward boosting our images as cities that welcome all,” Moreno wrote while issuing a call for northeast Ohio’s philanthropic community to rally behind the event. “They need help to put them on. Hosting a complex multi-venue event requires a network of financial supporters and volunteers. It must be a community effort.”

During a 2016 question and answer session posted to his company’s YouTube page, Moreno noted that his eldest son is gay, while crediting the TV show “Modern Family” with changing perceptions about same-sex marriage.

“We watched these two guys and, we say: ’You know what? They’re good guys, they’re great people. … They are not this distorted thing that is out there.’ And I think those are the kinds of ways that you can break down stereotypes,” Moreno said during the event.

When fliers appeared on the campus of Cleveland State University in October 2017 urging gay and transgender students to commit suicide, Moreno, who was then chairman of the school’s board of trustees, was the leading signer of a letter condemning the “abhorrent message” as “an attack on our whole campus.”

As recently as 2020, his companies were included on a list of Ohio businesses that supported a law banning discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Leaders of Equality Ohio, a leading LGBTQ rights group in the state, said Moreno joined the campaign supporting the legislation after a conversation with the organization’s leadership in 2017 during event promoting the bill.

But that all appeared to change when Moreno first ran for Senate in 2021 before bowing out of the race early. He began to distance himself from his past activism, professing to be unfamiliar with the anti-discrimination legislation, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported at the time.

During his current Senate campaign, Moreno has accused advocates for LGBTQ rights of advancing a “radical” agenda of “indoctrination.” He is endorsed by Ohio Value Voters, a group that opposes LGBTQ rights, including same-sex marriage. And his campaign’s social media accounts have blasted his opponents, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose and State Sen. Matt Dolan, as supporters of a “radical trans agenda.”

A recent TV ad paid for by Buckeye Values, a pro-Moreno super PAC, superimposes a picture of LaRose over a rainbow flag while attacking him as “a champion for trans equality.” The ad cites LaRose’s past endorsement for a bill — which Moreno’s company previously supported — that would have banned discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation.

“Can you trust Frank LaRose?” a narrator asks, while also criticizing LaRose for making favorable statements in the past about Equality Ohio, a prominent gay rights group. Moreno supported the same legislation through his companies.

Donald Trump Jr. later posted the ad to X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, stating “I have no doubt” Ohio voters will elect “the real conservative @berniemoreno over leftwing, pro-trans Frank LaRose.”

Moreno’s shifting rhetoric on LGBTQ issues “is a real shame,” said Maria Bruno, the public policy director for Equality Ohio, which advocates for LGBTQ rights. ”Anyone who is going to be compromising their value system just to win an election, they lose a lot of credibility.”

___

Associated Press data journalist Larry Fenn contributed to this report from New York.

14 Mar 2024

Uber, Lyft say they will pull out of Minneapolis after council overrides veto of minimum wage rule

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Lyft and Uber said they will cease operations in Minneapolis after the City Council voted Thursday to override a mayoral veto and require that ride-hailing services increase driver wages to the equivalent of the local minimum wage of $15.57 an hour.

Lyft called the ordinance “deeply flawed,” saying in a statement that it supports a minimum earning standard for drivers but not the one passed by the council.

“It should be done in an honest way that keeps the service affordable for riders,” Lyft said. “This ordinance makes our operations unsustainable, and as a result, we are shutting down operations in Minneapolis when the law takes effect on May 1.”

Uber did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but news outlets reported that it issued a similar statement saying it would also stop service that day.

Both companies promised to push for statewide legislation that would counter the Minneapolis ordinance, and state House Republicans proposed a bill Thursday that would preempt local regulations of ride-hailing services.

The City Council first passed the measure last week in a 9-4 vote despite Mayor Jacob Frey’s promise to veto it. The measure requires ride-hailing companies to pay drivers at least $1.40 per mile and $0.51 per minute for the time spent transporting a rider — or $5 per ride, whichever is greater — excluding tips. In the event of a multi-city trip, that only applies to the portion that takes place within Minneapolis.

Critics of the bill say costs will likely spike for everyone, including people with low incomes and people with disabilities who rely on ride-hailing services. Supporters say the services have relied on drivers who are often people of color and immigrants for cheap labor.

Democratic Gov Tim Walz, who vetoed a bill last year that would have boosted pay for Uber and Lyft drivers, told the Associated Press on Wednesday that he was concerned because so many depend on those services, including disabled people.

He said he believed the companies would pull the plug, “and there’s nothing to fill that gap.”

Walz added that he hopes the Legislature will seek a compromise that both includes fair pay for drivers and dissuades the companies from leaving.

Seattle and New York City have passed similar policies in recent years that increase wages for ride-hailing drivers, but Uber and Lyft still operate in those cities.

The Minneapolis City Council tried to pass a similar measure last year, but Frey vetoed it. Council members did not have enough votes to override that veto.

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