Avshalom Weinstein holds a violin adorned with a Star of David in mother-of-pearl at the Putnam Museum and Science Center on Monday, Feb. 16. The violin is one of 67 violins Iowa organizations will play or display during Violins of Hope's two-month residency.
HISTORICAL INSTRUMENTS
For the first time, the collection of Holocaust-era string instruments in the project Violins of Hope has come to Iowa.
Violins of Hope is a collection of violins, violas and cellos owned and played primarily by Jewish musicians before and during the Holocaust. Many instruments survived ghettos and concentration camps. Violin makers Avshalom Weinstein and his father, Amnon Weinstein, restored the instruments to return them to concert stages and educational settings.
For two months, Quad-Cities organizations, including Ballet Quad Cities, the German American Heritage Center & Museum, Jewish Federation of the Quad Cities, Putnam Museum and Science Center, Quad City Symphony Orchestra and Figge Art Museum, will display and perform with the instruments in a series of concerts and exhibitions.
The violins will also travel to the Muscatine Symphony Orchestra, Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines and Sioux City Symphony Orchestra.
On Monday, Avshalom Weinstein visited the Putnam Museum to mark the beginning of the residency. He said the residency educates people on the Holocaust during a time when people increasingly feel divorced from that history.
"Today, we have less and less survivors who can talk," Weinstein said. "When I grew up, I heard stories from my grandmother. I heard stories from other survivors."
The vast majority of Holocaust survivors who are still living today were young children during the war. Fewer and fewer people alive today can recount time spent in ghettos, trains or concentration camps.
Holocaust education doesn't happen during a 50-minute class or performance, Weinstein said. But not everyone can go to a large Holocaust museum or meet survivors. Weinstein said it's vital to bring artifacts from the war to people around the United States and the world to teach children at least some stories from the period.
Nazi officers regularly used music as a tool of abuse and subjugation. They forced prisoners to perform under inhumane conditions and ordered musicians to perform for private entertainment. Nearly all large concentration camps maintained camp orchestras.
Some of the violins in the collection were played in the Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz or were thrown from trains traveling to Auschwitz and other camps. Others include those played by Jewish amateur and professional musicians in ghettos or in hiding. Several violins feature the Star of David engraved on the instruments' backs.
Most violins in the collection were crafted between 100 and 140 years ago, with the oldest being from 1774.
Weinstein and his father have restored the majority of the violins to playable condition. They've replaced bridges, tuning pegs and strings, but largely left the instrument body untouched. At Quad City Symphony Orchestra performances and other Violins of Hope concerts, musicians will perform on these Holocaust-era violins.
Weinstein does not think these instruments should sit in a museum. Well-made violins, violas and cellos can last 500 years, and Weinstein does not see any reason why they should be unused.
"These instruments can bring us the notes, the tunes, the music these people have in some of the most difficult times in life," Weinstein said.
Weinstein knows the stories behind each instrument by heart. Standing amid the collection, he knows exactly where to look when asked about specific performers.
"I don't forget faces," Weinstein said. "I don't forget instruments."
The first Violins of Hope concert was performed in Jerusalem in 2008, but the collection began far earlier. Shortly after Weinstein's grandfather immigrated to British-controlled Mandatory Palestine in 1938, he began a collection of violins from members of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, then known as the Palestine Symphony Orchestra. In the 1990s, Weinstein's father began speaking about the collection. People began to donate their instruments, and the collection now stands at about 100 pieces, Weinstein said.
The violins have since traveled to Spain, France, Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom, Romania, Poland, Argentina, Ecuador and at venues around the United States.
Allan Ross, executive director of the Jewish Federation of the Quad Cities, spearheaded bringing the project to Iowa. He first learned about Violins of Hope six years ago after the exhibition came to Fort Wayne, Indiana. Ross said he knew then he wanted to bring Violins of Hope to the Quad-Cities. Ross met with Weinstein two and a half years ago to begin preparations.
Ross, whose father survived the Holocaust, called the decline in Holocaust knowledge among young adults "shocking." He commended Violins of Hope's mission as an educational venture in addition to the project's musical and historical value. The Quad City Symphony Orchestra will visit seven schools in Iowa and Illinois during the residency.
Someone played each violin, and each violin has a voice. The instrument tells the story of the person who played it, Ross said.
"It's really important to bring these types of programs where you learn not just the history of what happened, but the lessons learned," he said.
The 67 violins, one viola and one cello will be distributed across the Putnam, German American Heritage Center, the Figge and other Iowa museums. At times, the violins may move between venues or be taken away from the exhibit to be performed.
At 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 17, the residency will host an opening event at the Putnam Museum with three student violinists from the Quad City Symphony Youth Ensemble, who will perform on the Violins of Hope. The event will also feature a video presentation from Weinstein and a performance from Ballet Quad Cities. The event is free and open to the public.
Performances and exhibitions are planned around the state through late April.
A full list of exhibitions and performances can be found at violinsofhopeiowa.com.
Emmanuel Coronado cuts Donavon Chandy's hair Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, at T-Blendz Barbershop in Sioux City. Coronado is a prolific and popular social media content creator who's taken off on Instagram and TikTok for videos he makes where he "interviews" people he's giving a haircut to.
SIOUX CITY — Emmanuel Coronado got his start barbering by happenstance.
While he was taking classes and playing soccer at Iowa Lakes Community College, Coronado, 24, had a roommate who got a total botch job of a haircut. Friends said he looked like Lord Farquaad from the animated film franchise "Shrek."
"Next thing you know my roommate was like 'Hey, if I'm gonna pay somebody to cut my hair I'd rather have one of you guys cut my hair and mess it up for free,'" Coronado recalled.
That same day, Coronado, the roommate and other friends made a trek to Walmart to pitch in for a cheap pair of clippers. Another one of Coronado's roommates started the haircut but left a noticeable bald line. Then Coronado stepped up. His only "experience" was watching barber videos on YouTube. Coronado admits the first haircut wasn't the best but the roommate was pleased enough to tell other people "Manny, he knows how to cut hair."
"Next thing you know I had everybody on the team coming up to me saying: 'Why didn't you tell us?'" Coronado said.
Nowadays, people all over social media know Coronado cuts hair and some have traveled hours to T-Blendz Barbershop to get a "textured fringe low taper" and other stylings from the Sioux City native who's gone viral on TikTok and other platforms thanks to short, punchy videos where he asks customers questions such as where they're from, what kind of cut they want and if they trust him with a haircut. Coronado has the videos down to a science (often using the same song in every video) and the formula's earned him millions of views and more than 21,000 followers on TikTok and about 3,600 on Instagram where he posts under his own name.
Like with cutting hair, Coronado didn't have the craft of making social media content down pat at first. He had apps such as TikTok but wouldn't really go on it much and certainly didn't post.
"I was really afraid like: Dang, I'm going to post on TikTok and get made fun of," he shared.
Growing up, Coronado said he was more introverted.
"If you asked my buddies in school they'd be like: 'Oh dude, he jokes a lot, he laughs a lot, he says a lot of things.' But I was a lot more shy. I was good with speaking with people if I had to but if I didn't I wouldn't say a single word," Coronado said.
An elevated mentorship program pushed Coronado to get more involved in promoting his work online.
"Everything is based off systems and you've got to have the correct marketing plan," he said.
The first videos of Coronado giving people a haircut were with family and friends when he was working in his basement. Coronado's the youngest of four, with three older sisters.
"They were fine, just like 'We're going to support him.' But once I was in the shop people were like 'Oh, why are you doing that?'" Coronado said. "I was timid. I was shy. When I barely did my first ever consultation video I was like: Hey, would you want to do a video? And most of the time I get turned down just because you're basically telling them to say no the way you're asking."
But Coronado bettered his approach and this past May he started to see his videos take off.
"I actually had around 700k views (on) one of my videos so it was pretty crazy to see because I was like: People are never going to watch my stuff," he said.
One thing that helped spur the early success was cutting the hair of a YouTuber named MOMO FIFA who has more than 1.3 million followers. That video had notifications pouring into his phone. Coronado joked that whole day was "nothing but TikTok, TikTok, TikTok."
As things grew, people would come into the T-Blendz Barbershop, where Coronado works, and ask to do videos. A common request, at least in Coronado's videos, which he posts every day, is the textured fringe low taper (described as a "bold, messy style").
Anthony Maeda, owner of T-Blendz Barbershop, said he's been blown away by how well-received Coronado's videos have been. Maeda, 22, actually cut Coronado's hair for years prior to the two ever working together.
"I know where he came from and just having someone that close to me receiving so much support is really amazing to see," Maeda said.
The two push each other to do better every day, according to Maeda, and enjoy the work.
My passion from cutting hair was always to have conversations with people from all parts of life," Maeda said. "I mainly enjoy the day we can change someone's appearance in just moments of being with them."
Coronado enjoyed those barber videos he first learned from for a similar reason.
"It was kind of satisfying to see how somebody looks before and then at the end. And also like the confidence booster barbers given an individual," he noted.
With the videos still doing well and his follower count ticking up, Coronado doesn't have any plans to stop.
"I've been enjoying it from the start. Social media, it's pretty crazy what it can do for you."
Jared McNett is an online editor and reporter for the Sioux City Journal. you can reach him at 712-293-4234 and follow him on Twitter @TwoHeadedboy98.
COMMMUNITY
Davenport's beloved road race will continue to be known as the QuadCity Times Bix 7 after the two entities agreed to a 10-year contract.
The newspaper has been the title sponsor since 1981 and played a pivotal role in shaping and growing the race into what it is today, Race Director Michelle Jeuhring said.
"The Quad-City Times has been alongside us every step of the way, helping tell the story of a race that began with just 84 participants in 1975 and has grown into one of the most celebrated events in our region and beyond," she said. "As we prepare for the 52nd running, we are thrilled to officially continue this partnership and look forward to inviting our community to once again 'Run with the Best.'"
The Quad-City Times Bix 7 represents the best of what the Quad-Cities community has to offer, said Rob Cravaritis, president of the Iowa division for Lee Enterprises and president of The Quad-City Times. Continuing the sponsorship, he said, reflects the Times' long-term commitment to the community.
"I believe strongly in supporting traditions that bring people together, promote health and wellness, and showcase the spirit of the Quad-Cities. Continuing this relationship reflects our long-term commitment to local impact, community storytelling, and celebrating one of the region's most iconic events," he said.
This year marks 46 years that the Quad-City Times has sponsored the race. It began with Quad-City Times General Manager Bill Johnston and Editor Dan Hayes hatching a deal with Bix 7 Race Director Ed Froehlich to sponsor the race.
Over the years, The Times dedicated staff to the event and even lent its parking lot to the post-race party. The Quad-City Times has since moved from the building at 500 E. River Drive and the building has been listed for sale.
Cravaritis said the sale of the downtown building is strictly a real estate matter and has no impact on The Times' commitment to the race or the community.
"Our decision to extend and strengthen this partnership reflects the significance of the event and stands entirely separate from our downtown facility transition," he said. The Bix 7 has expanded over the years, adding extra events in addition to the 7-mile road race, such as the Arconic Jr. Bix, Prairie Farms Quick Bix and the MercyOne Genesis Brady Street Sprints. New as of 2024, the Bechtel Trust Sr. Bix offers those 50 or older a chance to run or walk a shorter route on flat ground.
SPRINGFIELD — Illinois lawmakers are poised to make a second attempt at passing a bill that would give state regulators more authority to control the rising cost of homeowners insurance.
Gov. JB Pritzker called for the legislation last summer after Bloomington-based State Farm Insurance announced it was raising premiums in Illinois an average 27.2%, citing years of losses in its property casualty line of coverage due to weather-related disasters in the state.
A bill to give the Illinois Department of Insurance authority to approve or reject insurance rate increases passed the Senate during last fall’s veto session. But when it returned to the House for a vote to concur with changes the Senate had made, the amended bill fell four votes short of the 60 needed for passage. That left many to believe the bill had died.
The following day, however, the bill’s chief House sponsor, Rep. Robyn Gabel, D-Evanston, refiled a motion to concur, which is allowed under House rules. And Pritzker has said since the end of the veto session that he still wants the legislation to pass.
Crews clear a fallen tree that hit a house and uprooted a sidewalk on July 16, 2024, in Oak Park after a storm.
“They get a second bite at the apple,” Kevin Martin, executive director of the Illinois Insurance Association, said in an interview.
Gabel told Capitol News Illinois through a spokesperson this week that no decision had been made about calling the bill for a second vote. But Martin said people in the industry have heard the bill could be called as early as Tuesday, when the House and Senate return to the Statehouse to begin the 2026 legislative session in earnest.
The controversy over State Farm’s rate hike last year raised attention to the fact that Illinois stands out among states for having exceptionally weak regulations over the insurance industry.
Advocates for the legislation argue that every state in the nation except Illinois has a law that prohibits insurance companies from charging “inadequate, excessive or unfairly discriminatory” premiums. And other states’ insurance regulators have authority to review and modify proposed rate increases.
Illinois, however, is known in the insurance industry as a “use-and-file” state, meaning companies can raise their rates at any time and immediately put them into effect before filing the new rate schedule with state regulators.
The Illinois Department of Insurance has authority to license companies and agents to do business in the state. It also has authority to make sure insurance products sold in Illinois comply with state laws and that companies honor the terms of their policies. But it has no other authority to review or approve the rates they charge.
Douglas Heller, director of insurance for the Washington-based Consumer Federation of America, described Illinois’ law last year as “among the most toothless in the nation.”
In the wake of State Farm’s rate increase last year, Pritzker suggested the company was trying to shift the cost of disaster-related losses in other states like California and Florida onto the backs of Illinois consumers, and he said legislation was needed to prevent that practice from happening.
“As states across the country face even more extreme weather than we do, we need to make sure Illinois homeowners are not paying for losses that companies experience in other states,” Pritzker said in an op-ed column published in the Chicago Tribune that was cosigned by House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch and Senate President Don Harmon.
State Farm officials firmly denied that allegation, and Martin insisted no insurance companies in Illinois engage in that practice.
“We have never seen anything like that, and we would argue very strongly that that does not happen and cannot happen based on the actuarial data that the companies have to provide in Illinois on Illinois losses,” he said.
Pritzker’s call for new legislation to regulate homeowners insurance rates led to intense negotiations between the governor’s office, legislative leaders and the insurance industry. But the final language wasn’t unveiled until the final hours of the fall veto session.
The language was put into a Senate amendment to House Bill 3799. It included language prohibiting “excessive, inadequate, or unfairly discriminatory” rates. It also called for banning the practice of “cost-shifting” by requiring companies to use state-specific loss data to develop their rates whenever possible.
The bill also would leave in place the state’s “use-and-file” method of setting rates, meaning companies would not have to seek advance clearance from state regulators before implementing rate changes. But it would require them to give consumers at least 60 days’ advance notice before raising rates by 10% or more.
The major sticking point for the insurance industry, however, was the provision giving the Department of Insurance authority to review and approve or modify rates after they are put into place.
Under the proposed language, if the agency found a company’s rates to be excessive, inadequate or unfairly discriminatory, it would send the company a notice specifying the agency’s objections. Companies then would be allowed to defend their rates at an administrative hearing. But after that hearing, if the agency still believed the rates violated standards of the law, it would be authorized to order the company to rebate excess charges back to customers.
According to Martin, the industry’s main objection to that language was that there was no limit on how far back in time the agency could look in its rate review process.
“They can go back forever,” he said.
“We just believe that, in all of the negotiations that we had, for them to come in at the last minute with this type of language, of the changes that they made, was just something that we thought was really unfair,” Martin said.
The House and Senate have each been in session a few days this year, mainly to introduce new bills and to pass a few resolutions. But the work of the session will begin in earnest this coming week, starting Tuesday when both chambers will meet and begin holding committee hearings.
Pritzker is scheduled to deliver his annual budget and State of the State address to a joint session of the General Assembly on Wednesday, Feb. 18.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
Homeowner expenses don’t just consist of a monthly mortgage and despite budgeting thoroughly for what you think you need, you may have missed …
The State farm Insurance building in downtown Bloomington became a symbol of enterprise as it towered over the prairie in 1929.
February 17: Actor Brenda Fricker is 81. Actor Rene Russo is 72. Actor Richard Karn is 70. Olympic swimming gold medalist and television commentator Rowdy Gaines is 67. Actor Lou Diamond Phillips is 64. Basketball Hall of Famer Michael Jordan is 63. Film director Michael Bay is 61. Hockey Hall of Famer Luc Robitaille is 60. Olympic skiing gold medalist Tommy Moe is 56. Actor Denise Richards is 55. Musician Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day) is 54. Actor Jerry O'Connell is 52. Actor Jason Ritter is 46. Media personality Paris Hilton is 45. Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt is 45. Singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran is 35. Actor Jeremy Allen White is 35. Tennis player Madison Keys is 31. Actor Sasha Pieterse is 30.
- Associated Press
The Dispatch-argus strives for accuracy and regrets all errors. If you notice inaccurate information, please call 563-383-2375. All corrections will appear here.
Iowa U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks announced on Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, the city of Burlington is receiving $6 million to restore the Cascade Bridge.
Craft
Clinton and Burlington have received federal funding for infrastructure improvement projects.
Iowa Republican U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks announced Friday, Feb. 13, that Clinton will receive $1 million for the North River Drive Connector Project. The project will construct a one-and-a-half-mile north-south roadway that links downtown Clinton to the Lyons Business District along the land side of the existing Mississippi River levee between Riverview Drive to the south and 25th Avenue North to the north.
The new connector aims to restore access between neighborhoods and commercial areas that were impacted decades ago when the Main Avenue bridge was relocated, according to Miller-Meeks' announcement.
Miller-Meeks said she worked to ensure the federal backing the project deserves and is proud to have delivered the investment.
"Clinton's North River Drive Connector is about reconnecting a community and unlocking new opportunity," Miller-Meeks said in the announcement. "From my earliest conversations with local leaders, it was clear this was a priority project with strong community support."
Jason Craft, city engineer for Clinton, said the city appreciates Miller Meeks for securing the funds and that the funding will allow the city to further evaluate the feasibility, costs and potential impacts of the project concept. Local business owners, Craft said, traveled to the nation's capital to advocate for the project.
Brenda Thornton, a longtime Clinton resident and small business owner, said they are extremely happy to receive funds and that it will help boost the local economy.
"This will definitely boost the economic development on the east end of Main Avenue that was devastated when the bridge was moved," Thornton said in a news release. "It not only restores the Lyons Business district but also opens up the Mississippi River to our entire community."
The funding is part of the Fiscal Year 2026 Consolidated Appropriations package and is part of the more than $24 million in Community Project Funding that Miller-Meeks helped secure for southeast Iowa.
Burlington is receiving $6 million to restore the historic Cascade Bridge, which crosses Cascade Ravine on Main Street and has been closed to traffic since 2008.
The funds will go to replace the deteriorated bridge with a modern, safe and fully functional structure while preserving the historic character and legacy, according to the announcement.
"When I first sat down with local leaders and heard about the importance of this bridge, I knew this was a project worth fighting for," Miller-Meeks said in the announcement. "From our earliest conversations to submitting the formal request and advocating for it in Washington, my office worked to make sure Burlington's voice was heard."
The bridge was built in 1896 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Hungry Hobo is a 53-year-old staple in the Quad-Cities food world, with its first store opening in Moline in 1973. Since then, the chain has expanded to include six stores in Illinois and six in Iowa.
GRETCHEN TESKE
GRETCHEN AT WORK
To most Quad-Cities residents, it may feel like The Hungry Hobo has been around forever.
But the story of the Hungry Hobo began before the official franchise was born. And when the franchise had a different name.
Back in 1968, Jim Gende and Ray Pearson purchased the rights to a sandwich chain, Little King, and opened the first one in Moline the following year. By 1970, Joe Gende bought in as president of the company, and in 1973, Tom Spero bought in as vice president.
But, things quickly turned sour when the franchiser fell on tough times and basically declared bankruptcy, said current Hungry Hobo CEO Pryce Boeye.
"These guys had to figure out if they were going to go by the wayside as well, or do something with their establishment," said Boeye. "What they decided to do was to change them into the Hungry Hobo, with the idea that it would be about as far from an image standpoint as Little King."
The first three stores opened in 1973 in Moline, Davenport and Rock Island, with expansion happening over the next 53 years. Boeye said the Moline store was located across the street from Hafner's Tavern, and there's a bit of legend behind that decision, too.
"One of the reasons that the guys picked that location is that they spent a lot of time at Hafner's and could go back and forth," he said with a laugh.
Boeye himself got involved in the business in 2000 after spending years moving around the country working for PepsiCo.
"My father was good friends with one of the owners, Tom Spiro, and by the time they were having their conversation, Joe Gende had already passed, and the others were looking to get out," he said. "I wanted to get back to the Quad-Cities someday and was trying to figure out how that could happen. So obviously, when something like this became available, my dad asked me if I'd be interested, and I came back here and took a look at it and thought we had a lot of upside."
During his tenure, Boeye has overseen multiple expansions, with the company now boasting 12 locations in the Quad-Cities area, with six on each side of the river. Of those, there are four drive-thrus: two in Bettendorf, one in Eldridge and one in Moline.
Although the Hungry Hobo can be found all around the Quad-Cities, their true headquarters are in downtown Rock Island at 2322 Third Avenue.
Inside the building is not just office space, but also the bakery for the business and commissary space. The commissary space isn't used as much as it used to be, he said, because Hungry Hobo's supplier, Performance Food Group in Rock Island, takes things directly to the stores for them.
Hungry Hobo takes care of bringing in its own fresh-baked bread and cookies. They're made fresh every night so they can be delivered to the stores first thing in the morning — to the tune of 1,800 loaves a day.
"I always like to tell people that the Hobo, believe it or not, is kind of a 24-hour operation," Boeye said. "For instance, we've got stores that are open as early as 10 o'clock in the morning. They may close at 9 o'clock at night, but that's right about the time that we're firing our bakery up. So there's always something going on."
Having the commodities close is one of the reasons the Hobo chooses to operate primarily in the Quad-Cities region, he said. Initially, there were chains from Rockford to Peoria to Chicago and Des Moines, but they eventually decided to go their separate ways with the franchise owners.
Boeye said the Hobo has a set of consistent standards for every operation, and by being closer, they're able to stay on top of it. That's important, considering the chain employs about 200 people altogether.
"That's a thing that I'm a big believer on. All of my direct reports basically go out to the stores on a daily basis to help ... because I think it kind of helps you build credibility with your people and visibility into the operation," he said.
One of the most visible parts of the business is the menu. Hungry Hobo offers a streamlined menu of sandwiches, salads, soups, baked potatoes and sides.
Boeye said one of the first things he did when he came on board was chop the menu down a bit to only focus on the things the company was selling the most of. He got the idea from In-N-Out Burger, he said, a popular food chain on the West Coast.
"They basically just have burgers, fries and shakes and they do a tremendous amount of business just on those items," he said.
The Hobo has added a few items over the years, he said. They now do bread bowls for soup, since they make their own bread. And they have added grilled chicken to the salads now that there's a grill in every location.
"Those sorts of things we definitely have incorporated over the years where it's made operational sense for us," he said.
To place orders, customers have several options. Going into the store, on the website, ordering via a food delivery service like GrubHub or DoorDash, or the Hungry Hobo app. Boeye said there's a new version in the app store, with more upgrades, that's easier for customers to use.
It's the best way to order without having to worry about miscommunication, he said, and it usually takes about 10 minutes from the time the order is placed to the time the sandwich is made.
"Then when people come, it'll be ready, and all they have to do is pick it up and go. It's already paid for. So that's another great thing by using the the app," he said.
There's also a loyalty program that allows customers to earn perks for every sandwich they eat. Just type in your phone number and earn — both in the store and on the app.
When people place an order in store, the first thing the cashier asks is if the order is for there, or to go. Orders staying in the building go in baskets and takehome orders go in paper sacks for convenience.
Everything is done by the cashiers — no self-checkout at The Hobo. The most popular order is the No. 11 Hobo Combination, a cold sandwich featuring ham, salami, capicola, pepperoni and provolone.
A regular-size sandwich is only $6.39, or customers can get a king-size for $11.39 — a call back to the Little King roots.
The cheddar fries, Boeye said, are by far the most popular side. Waffles fries dipped in cheese sauce are hard to beat.
The back of the restaurant is set up in various stations, according to the food. The grill and fryer sit next to one another and are where the waffle fries, cheese curds, grilled chicken and steak sandwiches get made.
The cheese and veggies for the sandwiches are kept in a cooler next to the station to ensure the sandwiches are as fresh as possible once they reach customers. Over at the potato station, baked potatoes wait in a warmer with the various toppings next to them.
Chili, cheese and all the ingredients for the famous taco potatoes and taco salad are waiting nearby. Further down the counter is the sandwich area. All the cold ingredients are separated into bins with a refrigerator full of meats and cheeses at the end of the counter.
A massive slicer sits at the end, where everything in the refrigerator gets sliced to order, Boeye said.
"When an employee comes in, they'll usually be assigned to one of these areas," he explained. "We do like to kind of rotate them around just to make sure that they're able to do anything at any given time. But when push comes to shove, people tend to kind of go to the areas they know they're best at to try to keep the line moving as much as we can," he said.
In the back of the restaurant are the sinks, freezers and storage. Prep work is a big part of the business, too, he said. When employees aren't making fresh orders, they can be found washing potatoes, portioning out fries or wrapping up steaks.
Out front, tables and chairs wrap around the dining area to create an inviting place for sitdown customers. On the walls of the Bettendorf location, near the TBK Bank Sports Complex, is wallpaper printed with the Hungry Hobo logo — also a local pull.
Boeye said the logo was created by a former professor at Black Hawk College, back when the Hungry Hobo brand was forming. With the Little King logo being a king in a robe, the hobo with his suit and walking stick was about as far from the original logo as he could get.
Just what the original owners wanted.
And, paying tribute to them, original artwork by Mary Gende, daughter of one of the original founders, hangs in each of the chain's 12 stores. All proving it's not just about sandwiches and baked potatoes in the drive-thru.
At the Hungry Hobo, it's about supporting community.
The King and Queen of the 87th annual Junior Board of Rock Island's Mardi Gras Charity Ball are Dr. Thomas VonGillern and Syliva Mihm.
The Junior Board of Rock Island held its 87th annual Mardi Gras Charity Ball on Saturday at the Waterfront Convention Center in Bettendorf.
For more than 90 years, the Junior Board has served the children of the community by raising money and volunteering for local organizations.
Last year, Junior Board members volunteered for more than 4,000 hours and the organization donated more than $50,000 to local charities championing children's causes.
Over the years, the Junior Board has contributed more than $1.7 million to child-related programs in the community.
Mardi Gras King
This year's Mardi Gras King is Dr. Thomas VonGillern. VonGillern was born in Fort Dodge, Iowa, and raised in Des Moines. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Iowa and received his Doctor of Medicine from the University of Iowa, College of Medicine.
VonGillern completed his orthopedic residency at the University of North Carolina and then pursued advanced fellowship training and served as a staff physician at Columbia University's New York Orthopedic Hospital at Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center. Following his tenure at Columbia University, he joined Moline Orthopedic Associates, now ORA. He continues to work at ORA as a senior orthopedic surgeon.
He has served as the vice chairman and chairman of the surgical department at the former Genesis Medical Center, Franciscan, United, Trinity and later UnityPoint Medical Center. He also is a cofounder of both the Quad City Ambulatory Surgery Center and the Mississippi Valley Surgery Center.
VonGillern served for more than 20 years as the Rock Island High School team physician, assisting in providing more than 400 free athletic sports physicals annually. Through ORA, he has performed unreimbursed corrective and reconstructive surgeries for hundreds of local and international patients, including those with complex birth defects.
VonGillern is a certified ski instructor with the Professional Ski Instructors of America and a mountain guide for over 24 years. He is a member of the United States Ski and Snowboard Association and is a physician for the United States Ski Team.
He has been married to his wife, Cindy, for more than 49 years, and they have three children.
Mardi Gras Queen
This year's Mardi Gras Queen is Sylvia Mihm. Mihm was born in Chicago and has lived most of her adult life in the Quad-Cities. She is a graduate of Morton High School and earned her bachelor's degree in business from Northern Illinois University.
After graduating, she worked in Chicago as a legal secretary. She married her husband, Bill, and became a full-time stay-at-home mom and community volunteer.
Mihm was a Junior Board member with the St. Anthony's Hospital Auxiliary and also served on the board of directors for the Franciscan Hospital Auxiliary. She was a floral design volunteer for 10 years at Trinity Hospital and was a Girl Scout troop leader and hot lunch chairwoman at Jordan Catholic School.
She has been a member at St. Pius X Catholic Church for 55 years, where she was a eucharistic minister and served on the WATCH Retreat Team. She is a member of the Altar and Rosary Society and serves on the flea market committee. She volunteers at the St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry and serves on various other ministries at St. Pius, including serving meals at the Rock Island Township meal site.
Mihm is a 35-year member of Shades of the Mississippi River Decorative Artists, where she was president for two years. She also donates her time preparing layettes for new mothers and children as a member of the Christ Child Society of the Quad Cities.
Mihm was a member of the Junior Board of Rock Island for 11 years from 1982-1993. She was married to her husband, Bill, for 56 years prior to his death in 2017. They have three children and five grandchildren.
May 6, 1954 — February 10, 2026
Ricky James Miller passed away on Tuesday, February 10, 2026. Vandemore Funeral Home & Crematory-Geneseo Chapel is assisting the family with arrangements. No services will be held at this time. A Celebration of Life to be held at a later date.
He was born May 6, 1954, in Geneseo to Lyle and Joyce. He was the youngest of their three children. Growing up in a farm family shaped him in ways that stayed for life: a strong back, a steady work ethic, and a deep appreciation for simple, honest living. He graduated from J.D. Darnall High School in 1972 and wasted no time building a future with his own hands.
In 1981, he founded Precision Laser Alignment, a specialized machine tool business that would carry him across the country and allow him to provide for his family with pride. He was never one to shy away from hard work, and he believed that doing a job right mattered more than doing it fast. After nearly four decades of dedication, he retired in 2019.
Earlier in his life, he also gave 15 years of service as a volunteer firefighter with the Geneseo Fire Department, quietly showing up for his community the same way he showed up for the people he loved.
Rick was unapologetically himself in the best possible way. You never had to wonder where he stood on a topic. He'd tell you, usually with a perfectly timed one-liner. He was humble, genuine, and generous. His humor, his honesty, and his loyalty were constants. He lived without pretense.
If you were looking for him on a warm summer weekend, you knew exactly where to go: the Mississippi River. The river wasn't just a hobby; it was heaven. Over the years he worked his way from a modest 16-foot boat to the 40-foot cruiser he'd dreamed of, and he never took a single day on the water for granted. His favorite uniform was simple: no shirt, cut-off shorts, Ray-Bans on, beer in hand, surrounded by family and friends. He loved water skiing, fishing trips to Minnesota and Canada, and the quiet solitude of mushroom hunting. Crossing the Panama Canal, a lifelong dream, stood as one of his proudest adventures.
He was a man who loved speed and sound: classic cars he could identify at a glance, the lung-filling thrill of drag racing, and rock music played loud enough to feel. He passed that love of music to his daughters and granddaughter, whether blasting it on the boat or in the car. He treasured traveling to see family and never passed up a chance to gather with friends at his favorite local spots. To know him was to know laughter, stories, and a sense that life was meant to be enjoyed fully and honestly.
Most of all, he will be remembered as a man who celebrated living. He worked hard, loved deeply, spoke plainly, and showed up for the people who mattered. Rick will echo forever in the memories of those lucky enough to share time with him.
Rick is survived by his loving wife Debbie; his daughter Valerie; his granddaughter Kylie; his greatgrandson Bodie, who brought him immense pride and joy; his brother Gary (Shirley); his sister Debby Ward; and a large extended family. Among them, his niece and nephew Nick and Katherine held a place in his heart like children of his own. He was preceded in death by his parents Lyle and Joyce, his previous wife Barb Thingwold, and daughter Donna, whose memory he always carried close.
His family and friends will carry him forward in the stories they tell, the music they play too loud, the trips they steer toward open water, and the oneliners delivered at just the right moment. Rick's life is proof that joy can be simple and loyalty can be loud, and that the best legacy a man can leave is a table full of people grateful he once pulled up a chair. He will be missed fiercely, remembered constantly, and celebrated every time life is lived the way he showed us it should be.
November 16, 1959 — February 13, 2026
Steven "Steve" G. Timm, 66, of Moline, passed away Friday, February 13, 2026, at his residence.
A memorial service will be held at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, February 20, 2026, at Van Hoe Funeral Home, East Moline. Visitation will be held from 2:30 p.m. until service time at the funeral home.
Steve was born on November 16, 1959, in Rock Island, Ill., to Emil and Nancy Timm. He attended Rock Island public schools and earned his GED. As a young man, he worked at The Oaks Restaurant in Milan, Walman Optical in Rock Island, Rodman Industries (RIMCO), and later McGinnis Industries in Milan, where he served as a lead production saw operator – a job he took pride in.
After getting the bug to work outdoors, he began his roofing career at age 18 with Klapp Roofing Company. He later worked with J.P. Sheehan & Associates as a crew chief before joining Roofers Local #32 in 1990. Steve worked for 18 years as a union journeyman roofer until retiring due to disability, remaining a dedicated union member.
In 1983, Steve met the love of his life, Helen Jean Pearson. They shared 39 wonderful years together until her passing in 2022. Steve loved Helen deeply and found comfort in knowing he would see her again.
With his loving relationship with Helen came his 3 stepsons. He loved them dearly and they loved him unconditionally as a second father. They were his boys.
Steve loved camping and fishing, as well as enjoying his favorite sports teams, the Chicago Cubs and the Chicago Bears.
He was preceded in death by his parents; sister, Gloria Black; and brothers, Edward and Matthew Timm.
Steve is survived by his brother, Dale (Sue) Timm of Milan, Ill.; sisters, LuAnn Blank, Hastings, Mich., and Cynthia Kress (Dave Sweeney) of Durant, Iowa; and his beloved stepsons, Brian Munos (Sandy Stewart), Jeffrey Munos, and Daniel (Ashlee) Munos, whom he loved as his own.
Online condolences may be left to Steven's family at www.vanhoe.com.
Van Hoe Funeral Home 1500 6th Street East Moline, Illinois 61244 309-755-1414
June 15, 1945 — February 14, 2026
Paul Sierra, 80, of Moline, passed away Saturday, February 14, 2026, in Moline.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11 a.m. on Friday, February 20, 2026, at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Moline. Burial will follow at Rock Island National Cemetery, Rock Island Arsenal. Memorials may be made to the Mexican American Veterans Association (MAVA) Chapter 4. Visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, February 19, 2026, at Sacred Heart Church – Damien Center, Moline, with the recitation of the Rosary at 3:30 p.m.
Paul was born on June 15, 1945, in Moline, the son of Amador T. and Jesus "Jessie" (Vasquez) Sierra Sr. He retired from John Deere Harvester Works after 30 years of service. Paul was a proud Army and Navy Veteran who continued his military service to the country, community, and church, by representing and serving Military Veterans through resolute volunteerism. His dedication to service included the American Red Cross and as a member of the MAVA, VVA, and VFW. Paul was a man of many words and many stories, and loved to narrate his extensive life and travel experiences. He was an avid Chicago Cubs and Chicago Bears fan, and a Cigar Connoisseur.
Paul is survived by his daughter, Sonya (Darrell) Erdman; son, Steven Sierra; grandchildren, Justin Contreras, Felicia (Bailey) Cortez, and Isabel Sierra; great grandchildren, Luka and Liam Cortez; and siblings, James Sierra, Peter Sierra, Veronica Houtikier, Francisco Sierra, Rita Trulson, Rev. Angel Sierra, Raymond Sierra, and Lydia Martina Castel; and sister-in-law, Carol Sierra. He was preceded in death by his Parents; brothers, Amador T. Sierra Jr. and Simon Sierra; and sister, Esperanza "Hope" Hay.
Online condolences may be left to Paul's family at www.vanhoe.com
Van Hoe Funeral Home 1500 Sixth St., East Moline, IL 309-755-1414
Barack Obama talks to Julius Erving during the NBA AllStar basketball game, Feb. 15, in Inglewood, Calif.
Former U.S. President Barack Obama said he did not see evidence that aliens "have made contact with us," after sending social media abuzz by saying aliens were real on a podcast over the weekend.
During a lightning round of questions with podcast host Brian Tyler Cohen, Obama was asked, "Are aliens real?"
"They're real," he answered, continuing: "But I haven't seen them. And, they're not being kept in Area 51."
On Sunday, the former president released a statement on Instagram, appearing to clarify what he meant by his comments that have since gone viral.
"I was trying to stick with the spirit of the speed round, but since it's gotten attention let me clarify. Statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there's life out there. But the distances between solar systems are so great that the chances we've been visited by aliens is low, and I saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us. Really!"
Secrecy around Area 51, a top-secret Cold War test site in the Nevada desert, has long fueled conspiracy theories among UFO enthusiasts.
In 2013, the CIA acknowledged the existence of the site, but not UFO crashes, black-eyed extraterrestrials or staged moon landings.
Declassified documents referred to the 8,000 square mile installation by name after decades of U.S. government officials refusing to acknowledge it.
The base has been a testing ground for a host of top-secret aircraft, including the U-2 in the 1950s and later the B-2 stealth bomber.
LUNAR NEW YEAR
About Lunar New Year
When: begins on Tuesday, Feb. 17, and lasts 15 days.
What: It is the first day of Chinese lunar calendar. It also falls within a half month of the traditional start of spring, which is why it also is known as the spring Festival in China.
Why: The time was originally chosen because it was farmer's downtime when they are planning.
Varying date: China's lunar calendar corresponds with the cycle of the moon and always begins on the second new moon before March equinox.
In 2020, the Postal service introduced its third — and current — Lunar New year stamp series. The year of the Horse is the seventh stamp in that series, which will continue through 2031 with stamps for the year of the ram, Monkey, rooster, dog and boar. Antonio Alcalá, an art director for USPS, designed the stamp with original art by Camille Chew. Two previous Lunar New year series ran from 1992 to 2004 and from 2008 to 2019 and showcased the art of Clarence Lee and Kam Mak, respectively. Many Asian Americans and non-asians alike view the year of the Horse as a time to embrace energy and drive, set new goals, and tackle challenges head-on.
— U.S. Postal Service
Why red?
Symbolizing happiness, good fortune and a way to ward offevil spirits, red is the primary color during Chinese New Year. White, however, should be avoided during Chinese New Year, because it represents mourning.
Common traditions
Chinese New year traditions include reuniting with family, lighting firecrackers, buying new clothes and decorating. all over the world, the occasion is marked in various ways, including parades featuring enormous and vibrantly painted papier-mache dragons, parties and other special events. Vendors sell their wares at outdoor markets. Musicians play drums to celebrate a time of renewed hope for the future. Many families present red envelopes (hongbao) containing money to children and loved ones.
Lucky food
Here are some of the foods considered lucky if eaten during the New year and what luck they are said to bring:
■ FISH: Increase in prosperity
■ DUMPLINGS: Wealth
■ SPRING ROLLS: Wealth
■ TANGYUAN (SWEET RICE BALLS): Family togetherness
■ FRUIT: Fullness and wealth
■ NIANGAO (GLUTINOUS RICE CAKE): Higher income or higher position
■ NOODLES: Happiness and longevity
Find your sign on the zodiac calendar
Each lunar year is governed by one of 12 animals, whose characteristics are tempered by one of the five Chinese elements — metal, water, wood, fire and earth — which overlay a 5-year cycle of characteristics on the original 12-year cycle. The calendar dates to 2600 b.C., when emperor Huang Ti introduced the first cycle of the zodiac. Match the date you were born with the chart below to find your animal sign. signs run from the start date to the following year.
Heroes, talented
People born in the year of the Horse will share similarities with the powerful and elegant animals including bravery, strength and independence. The horse symbolizes enthusiasm and energy. The horse was considered one of the most important animals in China.
July 31, 1930 — February 15, 2026
Barbara Jean Keleher, 95, passed away peacefully on Sunday, February 15, 2026, at her home, surrounded by her loving family.
Funeral services will be held at 12 p.m. on Wednesday, February 18, 2026, at Esterdahl Mortuary, Ltd., 1301 4th Street, Orion, Illinois. Visitation will take place from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Wednesday at the funeral home. Burial at Western Township Cemetery will immediately follow the service. Memorials may be made to First Baptist Church, Orion or to Orion American Legion Auxiliary.
Barbara Jean Russell was born at home on July 31, 1930, in Creal Springs, Illinois. She later moved to Moline, Illinois, to attend the Moline Institute of Commerce, where she met the love of her life, Daniel Robert Keleher. They were married on March 5, 1949, at the First Baptist Church in Orion, Illinois, and shared 76 beautiful years of marriage before his passing.
Jean's greatest passions were her family, her church, and sewing. She was an active and devoted member of her community, enjoying involvement in the Eastern Star, American Legion Auxiliary, Red Hatters, Card Club, and Book Club. Jean generously volunteered at Illini Hospital and faithfully served as treasurer of the First Baptist Church in Orion. In Henry County, she dedicated her time as a 4-H leader and election judge.
She also cherished time spent golfing and bowling with friends, creating memories filled with laughter and companionship.
Jean is lovingly remembered by her children: her youngest daughter, Dr. Angela (Don Barbarino) Keleher; her son, Daniel Bradley (Theresa) Keleher, along with their six children, twelve grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren; and her oldest daughter, Christine (David) Mitchell, and their children, Jillian Mitchell, and Daniel D. (Katherine) Mitchell, and their children, Grace and Nora.
She was preceded in death by her parents; two brothers; three sisters; her beloved husband, Daniel R. Keleher; and her grandson, Nicholas Mitchell.
Jean will be remembered for her kindness, devotion to family, unwavering faith, and the warmth she brought to all who knew her.
Memories may be shared online by visiting esterdahl.com.
Bob Reed, 88, of Silvis, formerly of Cordova, Ill., died Saturday, February 14, 2026, at Unity Point Health Trinity, Rock Island, Ill.
Services will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday, February 19, 2026, at Gibson-Bode Funeral Home, Port Byron. Visitation will be from 4:30 p.m. until the start of the service.
Memorials may be made to the American Cancer Society. Bob was born August 20, 1937, in Lawrenceville, Ill., the son of John and Helen (Pope) Reed. He graduated from Bridgeport High School in 1955. He married Doris Joan Foss on December 7, 1957, in Sumner, Ill. She preceded him in death on January 31, 2016. Bob worked for Caterpillar for 32 years, starting by operating equipment, and then became an inspector and later a supervisor. He retired in 1988. To fill his time, he worked for Byron Hills Golf Course for the next 17 years.
He enjoyed fishing and loved watching Illini basketball and movies. Bob was a jack of all trades; he could fix anything.
He is survived by his children, Sandy (Dave) Ivy, Rantoul, Ill., Larry (Stephanie) Reed, Henry, Ill., Julie Flesch, Moline, Brad (Wendi) Reed, Milan, Ill.; brother, Morris Reed, St. Louis, Mo.; half-sister, Dot Carswell, Santa Fe, N.M.; six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents; wife, Doris Joan; three brothers; and two sisters. Share a memory or condolence at www.gibsonbodefh.com
Duvall
Robert Duvall, the Academy Award-winning actor known for his roles in Hollywood classics such as "The Godfather" and "Apocalypse Now," has died. He was 95.
Duvall died "peacefully' at home on Feb. 15 in Middleburg, Virginia, a representative for the actor confirmed. He was with his wife, Luciana Duvall.
During a seven-decade stage, TV and screen acting career, Duvall disappeared into a stunning range of strong-willed characters, leading to seven Oscar nominations and a best actor win for his role as a down-and-out country singer in 1983's "Tender Mercies."
He played a wide array of unforgettable men, from Mafia lawyer Tom Hagen in Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather" to the surf and napalm-loving Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore in Coppola's Vietnam War saga "Apocalypse Now," in which Duvall utter the immortal line, "I love the smell of napalm in the morning. It smells like victory."
His domineering Air Force patriarch Bull Meechum in "The Great Santini" burst onto movie screens in 1979, earning another Oscar nomination. Just for good measure, he appeared that same year as Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower in the TV miniseries "Ike: The War Years."
On TV, he became Joseph Stalin in 1992's "Stalin," Nazi Adolf Eichmann in 1996's "The Man Who Captured Eichman" and, his favorite role, Texas Ranger Capt. Augustus "Gus" McCrae in the 1989 miniseries "Lonesome Dove."
Still, Duvall, who obsessed over tango dancing when he wasn't acting, felt all of these characters came from within.
"Has to be, it's you underneath," Duvall told CBS "60 Minutes" in 2004. "You interpret somebody, you try to let it come from yourself."
Born Robert Selden Duvall on Jan. 5, 1931, to career Navy officer (and later admiral) William Howard Duvall and actress Mildred Virginia, Duvall told USA TODAY in 2014 that it was his mother who "ran the show" growing up.
"It was supposed to be when the military guy comes back, she imperceptively gives him the power to run the family until he goes away again," Duvall said. "He never had it."
After a brief military stint, Duvall began his acting career with off-Broadway plays in New York City, becoming close friends and often roommates with up-and-coming actors Dustin Hoffman, Gene Hackman and James Caan. The impressive stage roles landed Duvall a major movie debut, the wordless but memorable Boo Radley in 1962's "To Kill a Mockingbird."
But Duvall struggled to stand out, even with significant minor roles such as 1969's dastardly "Lucky" Ned Pepper, who battled to the death on horses with John Wayne's one-eyed Federal Marshall Rooster Cogburn in the classic 1969 Western "True Grit," a role which won Wayne his only Oscar.
He would break out in 1972's "The Godfather," as indecipherable Irish Hagen, the loyal, adopted family consigliore to the Corleone clan. Duvall reprised his role in 1974's lauded sequel "Godfather II."
Described by People magazine as "Hollywood's No. 1 No. 2 lead," Duvall didn't appear in Coppola's 1990 trilogy-ending "The Godfather Part III" after a dispute over his paycheck compared to Al Pacino, who played family head Michael Corleone.
"If they paid Pacino twice what they paid me, that's fine, but not three or four times, which is what they did," Duvall told "60 Minutes" of his decision to sit out the finale.
It was his movie-stealing supporting role in Coppola's 1979 Vietnam War epic "Apocalypse Now" that Duvall earned his most widespread public acclaim. As the shirtless Kilgore, he demanded his men surf even amid a fierce battle. Throughout his career, Duvall relished telling variations of fan moments centered around Kilgore's famed line.
Middle school teacher Kate Stoye holds an Oura ring, a wearable sleep tracking device, in Hiram, Ga.
Wearable devices, including Apple Watches, can be used to track sleep.
Stoye checks her sleep score on her phone.
Dr. Chantale Branson
Your watch says you had three hours of deep sleep. Should you believe it? Millions of people rely on phone apps and wearable devices like rings, smartwatches and sensors to monitor how well they're sleeping, but these trackers don't necessarily measure sleep directly. Instead, they infer states of slumber from signals like heart rate and movement, raising questions about how reliable the information is and how seriously it should be taken.
The U.S. sleep-tracking devices market generated about $5 billion in 2023 and is expected to double in revenue by 2030, according to market research firm Grand View Research. As the devices continue to gain popularity, experts say it is important to understand what they can and cannot tell you, and how their data should be used.
Here's a look at the technology — and why one expert thinks its full potential has yet to be realized.
What your sleep tracker actually measures
Whether it's an Apple Watch, a Fitbit, an Oura Ring or one of innumerable other competitors, health and fitness trackers largely take the same basic approach by recording the wearer's movements and heart rate while at rest, according to Daniel Forger, a University of Michigan math professor who researches the science behind sleep wearables.
The algorithms used by major brands have become highly accurate for determining when someone is asleep, Forger said. The devices also are somewhat helpful for estimating sleep stages, though an in-lab study would be more precise, he said.
"If you really want to know definitively how much nonREM sleep you're having versus REM sleep, that's where the in-lab studies really excel," Forger said.
The sleep numbers that matter most
Dr. Chantale Branson, a neurologist and professor at the Morehouse School of Medicine, said she frequently has patients showing up with sleep scores from fitness trackers in hand, sometimes fixated on granular details such as how much REM sleep they got on a certain night.
Branson says those patients are taking the wrong approach: the devices help highlight trends over time but should not be viewed as a definitive measure of one's sleep health. Nor should any single night's data be seen as significant.
"We would have believed them with or without the device and worked on trying to figure out why they can't sleep — and that is what the wearables do not do," she said.
Branson said she thinks people who check their sleep statistics every morning would be better served by spending their efforts on "sleep hygiene," such as creating a relaxing bedtime routine, avoiding screens before bed and making sure their sleep environment is comfortable.
She advises those concerned about their sleep to consult a clinician before spending money on a wearable.
Forger takes a more favorable view toward the devices, which he says help keep the overlooked importance of sleep front of mind. He recommends them even for people without significant sleep issues, saying they can offer insights that help users fine-tune their routines and feel more alert during the day.
"Seeing if your biological clock is in sync is a huge benefit because even if you're giving yourself the right amount of time, if you're sleeping at the wrong times, the sleep won't be as efficient," Forger said.
How sleep data can drive better habits
Kate Stoye, an Atlanta-area middle school teacher, bought an Oura Ring last summer, having heard positive things from friends who used it as a fertility tracker: "It's so accurate," she said. Stoye found the ring to be just as helpful with tracking her sleep. After noticing that the few nights she drank alcohol coincided with poorer sleep quality, she decided to give up alcohol.
"I don't see much reason to drink if I know that it's going to affect how I feel," said Stoye, who always wears her device except when she is playing tennis or needs to charge it.
Another trend she says she detected in the ring's data: the importance of not eating too late if she wants to get good rest. "I always struggle with going to bed, and it's often because I eat late at night," Stoye said. "I know that about myself, and it knows it, too."
When sleep tracking becomes a problem
Mai Barreneche, who works in advertising in New York City, used to wear her Oura Ring constantly. She said it helped her develop good sleep habits and encouraged her to maintain a daily morning exercise regimen. But as a metric-driven person, she became "obsessed" enough with her nightly sleep scores that it began to cause her anxiety — a modern condition that researchers have dubbed "orthosomnia."
"I remember I would go to bed thinking about the score I was going to get in the morning," Barreneche said.
Barreneche decided not to wear her ring on a beach vacation a few years ago, and when she returned home, she never put it back on. She said she has maintained the good habits the device pointed her toward, but no longer wants the stress of monitoring her nightly scores.
Branson, of the Morehouse School of Medicine, said she's observed similar score-induced anxiety as a recurring issue for some patients, particularly those who set goals to achieve a certain amount of REM sleep or who shared their nightly scores with friends using the same device.Comparing sleep types and stages is ill-advised since individual needs vary by age, genetics and other factors, she said.
"These devices are supposed to help you," Branson said. "And if you feel anxious or worried or frustrated about it, then it's not helpful, and you should really talk to a professional."
The future of wearables
Forger thinks the promise of wearables has been underestimated, with emerging research suggesting the devices could one day be designed to help detect infections before symptoms appear and to flag sleep pattern changes that may signal the onset of depression or an increased risk of relapse.
"The body is making these really interesting and really important decisions that we're not aware of to keep us healthy and active and alert at the right times of day," he said. "If you have an infection, that rhythm very quickly starts to disappear because the body goes into overdrive to start fighting the infection. Those are the kind of things we can pick up."
The technology could be particularly useful in low-resource communities, where wearables could help health issues to be identified more quickly and monitored remotely without requiring access to doctors or specialized clinics, according to Forger.
"There's this really important story that's about to come out: About just how understanding sleep rhythms and sleep architecture is going to generally improve our lives," he said.
VIENNA — Austrian public prosecutors filed terrorism-related charges Monday against a 21-year-old defendant who they say planned to carry out an attack on one of superstar singer Taylor Swift's concerts in Vienna in August 2024.
Vienna public prosecutors said in a statement that the unnamed defendant declared allegiance to the Islamic State group by sharing propaganda material and videos via various messaging services.
Vienna prosecutors also accused the defendant of having "obtained instructions on the internet for the construction of a shrapnel bomb based on the explosive triacetone triperoxide" typically used by IS.
Prosecutors also said the defendant made "several attempts" to buy weapons illegally outside the country and to bring them to Austria.
GENEVA — Iran's top diplomat met with the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency Monday, ahead of a second round of negotiations with the United States over Tehran's nuclear program.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met with Rafael Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and said he would also meet with Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi of Oman, which is hosting the U.S.-Iran talks Tuesday in Geneva.
"I am in Geneva with real ideas to achieve a fair and equitable deal," Araghchi wrote on X. "What is not on the table: submission before threats."
As U.S. President Donald Trump ordered an additional aircraft carrier to the region, Iran on Monday launched a second naval drill in weeks, state TV reported.
AUSTRALIA: A man accused of killing 15 people in a mass shooting Dec. 14 at a Jewish festival on Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, appeared in court Monday for the first time since his release from the hospital. Naveed Akram, 24, appeared in Sydney's Downing Center Local Court via a video link from a maximum-security prison.
UKRAINE WAR: A Ukrainian delegation traveled to Geneva on Monday for another round of U.S.-brokered talks with Russian officials, ahead of next week's fourth anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of its neighbor. There was no anticipation of significant progress on ending the war.
NIGERIA: About 100 U.S. troops and equipment arrived in Nigeria to help train soldiers in the West African country as the government fights Islamic militants and other armed groups, the Nigerian military announced Monday.
PAKISTAN: Explosives rigged to a parked motorcycle ignited near the gate of a police station Monday in northwestern Pakistan, killing at least two people, including a child, and wounding several others, police said.
WINTER STORM: California was walloped Monday by a powerful winter storm carrying treacherous thunderstorms, high winds and heavy snow in mountain areas. Millions of Los Angeles County residents faced flash flood warnings as rain pounded the region. Forecasters said some areas could see up to 8 feet of snow.
SUDAN: Strikes on a market in central Sudan's Kordofan region killed at least 28 people and wounded dozens, a rights group said Monday, as the war between the army and a paramilitary group nears its three-year mark.
— Associated Press
ELECTION 2020
ATLANTA — The NAACP and other organizations asked a judge this week to protect personal voter information that was seized by the FBI from an elections warehouse just outside Atlanta.
Georgia residents entrusted the state with their "sensitive personal information" when they registered to vote, and the Jan. 28 seizure of ballots and other election documents from the Fulton County elections hub "breached that guarantee, infringed constitutional protections of privacy, and interfered with the right to vote," the organizations said in a motion filed late Sunday.
The motion asks the judge to "order reasonable limits on the government's use of the seized data" and to prohibit the government from using the data for purposes other than the criminal investigation cited in the search warrant affidavit. That includes prohibiting efforts to use it for voter roll maintenance, election administration or immigration enforcement.
They also want the judge to order that the government disclose an inventory of all documents and records seized, the identity of anyone who accessed the records outside of those involved in the criminal investigation, any copying of the records and all efforts to secure the information.
The Department of Justice did not immediately respond Monday to a request for comment.
FBI agents arrived at the elections hub just south of Atlanta with a search warrant seeking documents related to the 2020 election in Fulton County, including: all ballots, tabulator tapes from the scanners that tally the votes, electronic ballot images created when the ballots were counted and then recounted, and all voter rolls.
President Donald Trump fixated on Fulton, a Democratic stronghold and the most populous county in the state, asserting without evidence that widespread voter fraud there cost him a win in Georgia in 2020. An FBI agent's affidavit presented to a magistrate judge to obtain the search warrant says the criminal investigation began with a referral from Kurt Olsen, who advised Trump as he tried to overturn his 2020 election loss and now serves as Trump's "director of election security and integrity" with a mission to investigate Trump's loss.
The motion was filed by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law on behalf of the NAACP, Georgia and Atlanta NAACP organizations, and the Georgia Coalition for the Peoples Agenda. It notes that the seizure happened as the Justice Department seeks unredacted state voter registration rolls.
Late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny's mother Lyudmila Navalnaya touches his portrait Monday at his grave, two years after his
RUSSIA
MOSCOW — Mourners gathered Monday in Moscow to mark two years since the death in custody of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, under the shadow of a Kremlin crackdown and just two days since a new analysis reinforced suspicions that he was killed by poisoning.
Navalny died in an Arctic penal colony on Feb. 16, 2024, while serving a 19-year sentence that many believed to be politically motivated.
His death at the age of 47 left the Russian opposition leaderless and divided, struggling to build an effective or united front without one of its most visible and charismatic figures.
Navalny's mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, and his mother-in-law, Alla Abrosimova, were among the mourners laying flowers on his grave Monday. A mound of bouquets rose above the heavy drifts of snow that blanketed Moscow's Borisovsky Cemetery.
Representatives from several European embassies also paid their respects, watched by a conspicuously high security presence. Later, a small choir gathered to sing by Navalny's graveside.
Addressing the crowd, Lyudmila Navalnaya restated her belief that Russian authorities killed her son.
"We knew that our son did not simply die in prison," she said. "He was murdered."
The Kremlin denies the allegations, claiming Navalny died of natural causes.
Flowers were also laid at the memorial to the victims of political repression in St Petersburg. Access to the site was later blocked with temporary fences, local news outlets reported.
The anniversary coincides with the release of a joint statement by five European countries, which said the Kremlin poisoned Navalny with a rare and lethal toxin found in the skin of poison dart frogs.
The foreign ministries of the U.K., France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands said Saturday that analysis in European labs of samples taken from Navalny's body "conclusively confirmed the presence of epibatidine."
The neurotoxin secreted by dart frogs in South America is not found naturally in Russia, they said.
A joint statement said: "Russia had the means, motive and opportunity to administer this poison."
When asked about the allegations by journalists Monday, presidential spokesperson said the Kremlin does "not accept such accusations."
A man whose teenage son is accused of killing two students and two teachers at a Georgia high school in 2024 should be held responsible for providing the weapon despite warnings about alleged threats his son made, a prosecutor said Monday.
The trial of Colin Gray began Monday in one of several cases around the country where prosecutors are trying to hold parents responsible after their children are accused in fatal shootings.
Gray faces 29 counts, including two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of involuntary manslaughter and numerous counts of second-degree cruelty to children related to the September 2024 shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder.
"This is not a case about holding parents accountable for what their children do," Barrow County District Attorney Brad Smith said in his opening statement. "This case is about this defendant and his actions in allowing a child that he has custody over access to a firearm and ammunition after being warned that that child was going to harm others."
Investigators say Colt Gray, who was 14 at the time, carefully planned the Sept. 4, 2024, shooting at the school.
The Trump administration formally denied Minnesota law enforcement access to information and evidence from the FBI investigation into the killing of Alex Pretti by federal agents Jan. 24 in Minneapolis.
The announcement comes in the wake of White House border czar Tom Homan announcing the end of Operation Metro Surge and a drawdown of federal agents in Minnesota.
Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans said in a news release Monday that the FBI notified him last week that it will not share evidence from its investigation with the state.
Evans said the BCA continued to request access to federal investigative materials not only from the killing of Pretti but also from the killing of Renee Good by ICE agent Jonathan Ross on Jan. 7 in south Minneapolis and the shooting of Julio Sosa-Celis by a federal agent in north Minneapolis on Jan. 14.
The BCA, Hennepin County Attorney's Office and Minnesota Attorney General's Office are working together to conduct an independent state investigation into the killings of Good and Pretti.
ANOTHER VIEW| MINNESOTA STAR TRIBUNE
Whatever their views on immigration enforcement, Minnesotans should welcome the announcement by border czar Tom Homan on Feb. 12 that Operation Metro Surge soon will end, and that a significant drawdown of the more than 3,000 agents who had been sent to the state under federal orders is underway.
They should also welcome the vow by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to focus state policies and legislation on recovery from the impacts of the disruption to normal life.
But as the Department of Homeland Security declares its mission accomplished and begins its retreat, many are left wrestling with an infuriating if not incendiary question. What was the point of the bloody spectacle? Stripped of politics and posturing, a state and a nation deserve clear answers.
When Operation Metro Surge descended on Minnesota, it was described by its champions as a mission to combat fraud tied to Somali American communities and to make the Twin Cities safer. That's not remotely close to what we witnessed over the course of the past 70 days.
Indeed, it is the stunning gap between the stated purpose of the federal invasion of Minnesota, the campaign's actual execution and the outcomes that occurred that completely undercuts the notion of a focused federal law enforcement operation. What we witnessed was a campaign steeped in blame and punishment. The fraud-based premise of the surge was arguably never more than a Trojan horse.
Homan, who said that DHS agents will now be redeployed to other cities, lauded the Minnesota mission as a law enforcement win and said that a deeply shaken and fatigued Minneapolis is now a much safer place.
By what immediate or lasting measure, we ask? There has been little to no transparency to the spectacle we have just endured.
How many violent offenders were actually removed? If the goal was rooting out fraud or targeting dangerous individuals, why were broad sweeps conducted that netted people with little or no criminal history? If the goal was safety, why were these heavily armed and masked agents deployed in a manner that visibly destabilized neighborhoods, shuttered business and splintered families who had committed no crimes?
And then there are the deaths.
Renee Good. Alex Pretti. Both of their deaths, officially ruled homicides, deserve a full investigation by the U.S. federal government. To date, the federal government has shown little to no interest in determining whether the deaths were legally justified. Good and Pretti will not be forgotten, and an accounting for their killings is not optional. ...
As federal agents depart, Minnesota still awaits answers — ones that will require far more than withdrawal. Minnesotans should not cease demanding truth, accountability and reckoning equal to the damage done and lives lost by an ICE surge that never needed to happen.
Chuck Keene stood in his garage quietly watching me attempt to install a new mailbox in front of my home. My toolbox consisted of frustration, ineptitude and stupidity.
He immediately noticed.
Jerry Davich
“Need a hand, sonny boy?” Keene asked me, holding up his toolbox.
I smiled. He chuckled. We chatted for a few minutes as he helped me install the mailbox.
“If you ever need anything, I’m just right over there,” Keene said, pointing to his home.
He and his wife, Connie, have lived in that house since the 1970s. The couple were a fixture in our neighborhood long before I moved into my wife’s house across the street in 2010. Keene’s home was truly his castle. He took great pride in keeping it up — mowing, raking, shoveling, pruning, whatever it took.
He was always the first neighbor to mow his lawn in the spring, and the first to begin raking leaves in the fall. The outdoor activities became his cardio workouts as he aged. Even in his 70s, he was out there pushing a mower or dragging a rake. I watched him almost every day from the upstairs office of my home.
Occasionally, a boy who lived next door would shadow Keene as he did his chores.
“I’m teachin’ him young, sonny boy,” Keene joked to me after.
It’s the same nickname my dad used to call me as a kid. Keene was like the neighborhood grandfather for generations of children. He would strike up a conversation with anyone who strolled past. He could probably hold a 10-minute conversation with a new rake.
“My Charlie loves to talk,” his wife once told me.
Keene
Keene was born Sept. 1, 1945, in Michigan City, Indiana, where the couple met and fell in love. They married on the day before Valentine’s Day, 1965, raising one son and later a great-granddaughter, Anneliese, who called him “Papa.”
Keene earned a living for decades as a central storekeeper, retiring in 2020 with a drive-by party outside his beloved home during the pandemic. Connie surprised him by organizing it after his last day of work. A sign in their yard, adorned with balloons, stated, “The Man, The Myth, The Legend Has Retired.”
The next afternoon, just as he finished up yard work, a couple dozen vehicles began parading down their street.
“Congratulations Chuck!” one motorist yelled while driving past.
“You deserve this!” a passenger screamed.
Keene, 75 at the time, deserved the tribute from family, friends and neighbors. He had been working for 60 years, beginning as a newspaper delivery boy. For most of his career, he woke up every weekday at 4 a.m.
“I started my job at 5 a.m. so that’s what you do,” Keene told me with a shrug in his front yard.
He learned this work ethic as a kid, though he probably never used the phrase “work ethic” to describe himself. He never hesitated to help anyone in need, whether it was a neighbor or coworker or stranger. He was kind, funny and lovingly ornery at times.
When actress Catherine O’Hara died recently, multiple media outlets reported she was “just 71 years old.”
Keene loved a tasty hamburger and a cold beer. He loved bowling, playing golf and watching sports on TV, “anything with a ball bouncing around,” he once joked. He was a diehard fanatic for the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Bears, proudly sporting their colors and emblems in public.
Keene probably sounds like someone you know, possibly a neighbor of yours. He was an everyman in many ways. Dependable as a sunrise. A joke for any situation. A tool for any repair.
Keene kept his word to others, just as Connie kept her word to him for his final wish — to pass away at home, surrounded by love and family, not monitors and strangers. It was a promise that Connie, lovingly fulfilled in the early hours of Feb. 4, when she sat at his bedside as he took his last breath in their home.
“Chuck just passed away,” she texted me at 3:29 a.m.
Charles Joseph Keene was 80.
He had been in poor health for the past few years. One thing led to another. His condition worsened. I watched too many ambulances arrive at his home and transport him to an ER. He spent too much time at assisted living facilities for rehab. He hated staying at those places. He got banned from a couple of them for repeatedly trying to escape.
His plea to Connie was the same every time: “I want to go home.”
She and her great-granddaughter took great care of him there, later with help from the VNA Hospice during his final days. His other wish was to be cremated, with his ashes buried near his mother and brothers. His final outfit after death was in his favorite Bears sweatshirt, sweatpants and socks.
“He loved that outfit,” Connie told me in tears.
After spending more than 60 years with her husband, she looked lost while recalling their life together for his obituary. She sobbed. She laughed. She apologized for both.
“I can’t believe he’s gone,” Connie told me.
Our neighborhood can’t believe it either. Her husband was a fixture, like a streetlamp. Or an old tree. Or a crooked mailbox that will always remind me of that day when old Chuck strolled across the street to welcome me to the neighborhood with a toolbox in his hand and a smile on his face.
Davich writes for The Times of Northwest Indiana: [email protected].
KAITLYN BUSS
N. Guthrie
S. Guthrie
If there's any chance Nancy Guthrie's assailant will not be found, it won't be for lack of awareness. Her disappearance has mobilized extraordinary attention nationwide.
It's heartbreaking to think the 84-year-old Arizona woman — the mother of Savannah Guthrie, co-host of NBC's "Today Show" — might still be held against her will in the Tucson area after being kidnapped nearly two weeks ago.
The story and its developments have been broadcast widely ever since. Savannah Guthrie has been spreading the word about her mother's disappearance — including in a public video plea to her kidnappers — and attracting first-rate help.
And she should. Anyone in her position would likely be doing the same thing for a loved one who vanished under troubling circumstances.
But what if the same level of wall-to-wall media coverage, law enforcement efforts and coordination with the FBI that has been given to Guthrie's disappearance were given to other missing people?
The exhaustive coverage has laid bare the uncomfortable reality that not all missing people receive this level of attention, despite the seeming availability of on-demand law enforcement and broadcast services.
The attention around Guthrie's case led to more than 4,000 calls coming into the tip line over 24 hours to the Arizona sheriff's department investigating the disappearance. Since Feb. 1, when Guthrie was reported missing, it has received nearly 18,000 calls altogether. The FBI is offering $50,000 for information leading to her recovery.
That is a remarkable response — and hopefully it will work.
But thousands of people are missing throughout the United States whose family members will never get that level of help or awareness.
In 2024, there were 93,447 active missing person records in the U.S. — 37% under the age of 21.
Behind those numbers are families living in suspended time. Parents, brothers and sisters scan headlines hoping their case will resurface. Their disappearances rarely draw helicopters or national broadcasts. Savannah Guthrie is a nationally known figure, and kidnapping is a fear Americans haven't fixated on much in the last decade, making it an intriguing high-profile case.
But the contrast with lesser known cases is impossible to ignore — though it's understandable.
Consider the law enforcement response, which has heavily included FBI Director Kash Patel.
It is common for state and local investigations to request federal help. But the scale of urgency and response seems far greater than a standard kidnapping case.
"All resources have been dedicated to this investigation," Patel said recently on Fox News.
More than 100 law enforcement personnel from multiple agencies have been involved in the investigation and search efforts around the clock, according to Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos.
The prayer is that Guthrie is found alive.
If this is what justice looks like when resources are relatively unlimited, the real question is why we accept less for everyone else.
Buss writes for The Detroit News and Tribune Content Agency: detroitnews.com.
Jennifer Garner stars in "The Last Thing He Told Me."
"Urchin"
"56 Days"
"Dead of Winter"
"The Night Agent"
ENTERTAINMENT
MOVIES
Harris Dickinson might be best known for his acting in films like "Babygirl," but last year he proved himself to be a filmmaker to watch as well. His brilliant directorial debut, "Urchin," streaming Feb. 17 on Hulu, follows in the social realist tradition of Ken Loach in chronicling the ups and downs of an unhoused addict (Frank Dillane) in London.
HBO Max has the Emma Thompsonled thriller "Dead of Winter" arriving on Feb. 20. Thompson plays a grieving loner who gets lost near a Minnesota lake during a blizzard and stumbles on a cabin where a young woman is being held by an armed couple.
And if Emerald Fennell's "Wuthering Heights" leaves you wanting more (or moor) Cathy and Heathcliff, there are plenty of other versions now streaming on various platforms. There is, of course, William Wyler's lush but much condensed 1939 film starring Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon (on HBO Max and Criterion Channel). The 1992 version (free on Kanopy), starring Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche, is one of the most faithful to Brontë's text for actually including the second generation of Lintons and Earnshaws. Andrea Arnold's underseen film, released in 2011, (free on Tubi) notably features a multiracial actor, James Howson, as Heathcliff, opposite Kaya Scodelario's Catherine. There's also the British television miniseries from 2009 with Charlotte Riley and Tom Hardy that's available on BritBox.
— Lindsey Bahr
MUSIC
The millennial queen hath returned. Hilary Duff will release her first fulllength since 2015's "Breathe In. Breathe Out." on Feb. 20. Titled "luck… or something," the album is an 11-track collection of nostalgic pop, the ideal listening experience for those still devastated by the tabled, adult "Lizzie McGuire" reboot. Of course, this time around, Duff has won out, and the themes are, as one song title puts it, "Mature."
It is not too late to hop aboard the Megan Moroney train, but the rest of us are pulling out of the station — and following her to greener pastures. The country singer-songwriter emerged as a fully realized talent with the release of her platinum-selling single, "Tennessee Orange," a few years back; her 2024 sophomore album "Am I Okay?" only strengthened her charms. Now she's preparing to release "Cloud 9," out Feb. 20, to win over even more hearts. There's a reason "6 Months Later" has been inescapable on country radio. Isn't it time you found out why?
— Maria Sherman
SERIES
Dove Cameron and Avan Jogia star in a new series "56 Days" for Prime Video as Ciara and Oliver, who meet by chance at a grocery store and embark on a whirlwind, passionate romance. Fifty-six days later, homicide detectives find a decomposed body in a bathtub — which could be Ciara or Oliver — leaving the question, who killed whom? It's based on a bestseller by Catherine Ryan Howard. Cameron and Jogia, who started out on Disney and Nickelodeon respectively, show they're not kids anymore in this sexy thriller. It premieres Feb. 18. A new season of Netflix's "The Night Agent" arrives Feb. 19. It stars Gabriel Basso as Peter Sutherland, a secret operative working in counterintelligence for the FBI.
In Season 3, he's on a mission to find a treasury secretary who has fled to Istanbul after committing murder, which leads to the discovery of a dark money network. Information may be power, but it also can be deadly, and Peter's in trouble.
Jennifer Garner's "The Last Thing He Told Me" returns Feb. 20 on Apple TV. It's based on novels by Laura Dave. Garner plays Hannah Hall, a new wife and stepmom whose world is rocked in Season 1 when her new husband, Owen (played by Nikolaj CosterWaldau), disappears, leaving a note to protect his teen daughter, Bailee (played by Angourie Rice). Season 2 picks up five years later.
— Alicia Rancilio
Iowa's Hannah Stuelke (45) and Taylor Stremlow (1) celebrate during the second half of a college women's basketball game at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, on Monday, Feb. 16, 2026.
Iowa's Taylor Stremlow (1) dribbles to the net after evading Nebraska's Jessica Petrie (12) during the first half of a college women's basketball game at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, on Monday, Feb. 16, 2026.
Iowa's Journey Houston (8) is guarded by Nebraska's Emily Fisher (34) and Hailey Weaver (1) during the first half of a college women's basketball game at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, on Monday, Feb. 16, 2026.
Iowa's Chazadi 'Chit-Chat' Wright (11) dribbles the ball past Nebraska's Kennadi Williams (15) during the second half of a college women's basketball game at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, on Monday, Feb. 16, 2026.
LINCOLN, Neb. — The freshly minted No. 13 Iowa women's basketball team rode big performances from a trio of sophomores to an 80-67 win over Nebraska on Monday.
The Hawkeyes (20-5, 11-3 Big Ten) needed less than six minutes to build a double-digit lead as a quartet of players hit double figures against the Huskers (1610, 5-10 Big Ten). Ava Heiden led the way with a game-high 27 points and 11 rebounds, Taylor Stremlow dropped a career-high 17 points, Chazadi "Chit-Chat" Wright added 14 points and dished seven assists and Journey Houston scored 10.
Iowa head coach Jan Jensen said early defensive execution opened the door for the blowout win during a postgame interview on Hawkeye Radio Network.
"We knew that we needed to set the tone defensively," Jensen said. "Britt Prince is as good as it gets coming off ball screen action and in the rails, especially. I thought Kylie (Feuerbach) did an extremely great job keeping her subdued in the beginning. And, our other interior defense, Ava was flooding really, really well, but everybody was on point for the most part of knowing when to be somewhere, when to help, when not to help."
The Hawkeyes' defense created 18 Nebraska turnovers, which they turned into 27 points on the other end.
"I thought the plays of the game were all on the defensive end," Jensen said.
Iowa's sophomore trio took turns powering the offense against the Big Red. Stremlow took charge early with nine points in the first quarter with three triples amid a near shooting performance. The Verona, Wisconsin product went 6-of-7 from the field and 3-of-4 from three-point range and only missed her final attempt from the field.
Stremlow's first triple capped off a 10-0 run for the Hawkeyes. Her second gave Iowa its first double-digit lead as it followed a Kylie Feuerbach triple to push the lead to 20-8 with 4:14 left in the opening frame. And, her third three concluded the scoring in the first quarter and maintained the Hawkeyes' 12-point lead.
Heiden erupted for 14 points in the second quarter, including 12 straight points from 7:46 to 2:07 in the frame, to push the lead to a 17-point, 39-22 lead. She added a jumper at the end of the first half to give Iowa a 45-27 lead at the break.
Nebraska rallied in the third quarter and cut the lead to 12 with an 8-0 run going into the media timeout midway through the period. But, Wright took charge in the final five minutes of the quarter with nine points, including a three-pointer, to swell Iowa's lead to 20, 69-49, heading into the final quarter.
Heiden led the Hawkeyes with five points in the fourth as Nebraska outscored Iowa 18-11 to cut the final margin to 13.
Britt Prince led the Huskers with 13 points while Eliza Maupin (11) and Amiah Hargrove (10), who did not play in the two teams' prior meeting, also reached double figures.
Iowa's Sensational Sophomores
Stremlow, Heiden and Wright combined for 58 points on 23-of30 shooting (5-of-7 from three), 16 rebounds and 12 assists in Monday's win.
Add in Houston's 10 points, on 5-of-7 shooting, four rebounds and one assist and 85% of Iowa's points, 64.5% of rebounds and 52% of assists came from underclassmen.
Jensen only slightly understated the Hawkeyes' bright future in her postgame comments.
"I like the youth that's coming in," Jensen said.
Welcome to Strem-uary
It's been a steady (but slow-attimes) climb for Stremlow, who went 3-of-10 from three over the final 13 games of the 202425 season. But, since the start of February, and in the wake of Taylor McCabe's injury, Stremlow's taken her game to another level since being inserted into the starting lineup for McCabe.
In the last two games, Stremlow is shooting 10-of-13 from the field and added three assists, one block and one rebound.
"Taylor Stremlow's game, I thought, was really important," Jensen said. "She just has a good sense, sets the tone out there, handled a little bit of the one. … She shot it extremely well today."
For the player who likes to call her game the "Stremshow," she appears to be primed for a February breakout. So, we will call it "Stremuary."
Red-Hot
Heiden Heiden matched her career-high with 27 points against the Huskers and did so on a higher efficiency than the last time she reached 27 — 13-of-19 against Penn State.
According to Jensen, Heiden did it with a shot that the Sherwood, Oregon native is not the most confident in.
"I'm so proud of her," Jensen said. "That efficiency, that's what we love to see, right? That's what we're always chasing two, three misses. That outside shot, sometimes, she's questioned it, but she really is pretty good in that short corner, in the elbow. She got a couple of those to go early."
And, when Heiden hits that shot, Jensen described her as unguardable.
"The only person that really defends her there is her mind," Jensen said. "… She's not only one of the best in the Big Ten, I truly believe she's one of the best in the country.
And, she's just getting started." When asked about her big game, Heiden praised her teammates during a postgame interview on the Hawkeye Radio Network.
"I just try to be poised for the most part," Heiden said. "The guards do a good job of hitting me. A lot of it is them getting in their flow, too. Chat or Tay-Strem — all those guys."
Wright as Rain
Following a win over Washington last week, Jensen said she told Wright to become more of a scorer. According to Jensen, Iowa needed the Georgia Tech transfer to be more aggressive with her offense and "sacrifice" her passfirst mentality.
Wright looks just fine as a scorer with 35 points over the last two games while shooting 11-of-21 (52.4%) from the field and 7-of11 (62.6%) from three.
Jensen said when she asked Wright to become more of a scorer Wright responded by saying, "I got you coach." And, Wright has been a woman of her word.
Up Next: Iowa remains on the road with a matchup against Purdue (12-13, 4-10 Big Ten) on Thursday at 6 p.m. with broadcast coverage provided by Big Ten+ (subscription required) and the Hawkeye Radio Network.
Ethan Petrik is a University of Iowa beat writer for the Lee Enterprises network. Follow him on X or send him an email at [email protected].
Iowa State's Rocky Elam reacts after defeating Iowa's Massoma Endene in a 197-pound match during a dual meet in Ames, Iowa, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025.
Iowa's Drake Ayala wrestles Iowa State's Evan Frost in a 133-pound match during a dual meet in Ames, Iowa, Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025.
COLLEGE WRESTLING | IOWA STATE
AMES — For the first time since 2004, Iowa State wrestling has beaten Iowa and Northern in the same season. The Cyclones completed the in-state sweep with a 28-6 win over UNI Sunday in Hilton Coliseum.
Most of that had to do with, in November, beating the Hawkeyes for the first time since 2004. The in-state pride was something ISU coach Kevin Dresser tapped into this week. He called it "Panther hunting season."
"They took it to us last year," Dresser said. "I reminded our guys all week long that it's time to get it back a little bit and it's OK to take it personal when it's an in-state rivalry, right? So, I felt like our guys answered the bell today."
Sunday's dominant victory meant a little extra to the Cyclones (11-2 overall, 7-1 Big 12), after losing to UNI (10-8, 4-4) last season.
"I just remember that feeling of last year, being in their home crowd and felt like we were the villains or whatever, and they squashed us," ISU junior Mj Gaitan said. "Kind of remembering that in the back of our head so it felt good."
Before the dual, ISU held a moment of silence to honor former UNI football player Parker Sutherland, who died this week.
Iowa State wrestling vs Northern Iowa results:
125 pounds: No. 11 Stevo Poulin (ISU) defeats No. 31 Trevor Anderson (UNI) 4-1
133: Garrett Grice (ISU) defeats No. 22 Julian Farber (UNI) 5-4
141: No. 3 Anthony Echemendia (ISU) defeats Max Brady (UNI) 19-10
149: No. 11 Jacob Frost (ISU) defeats No. 32 Caleb Rathjen (UNI) 8-2
157: No. 8 Vinny Zerban (ISU) defeats No. 32 Cael Rahnavardi (UNI) 15-5
165: No. 6 Ryder Downy (UNI) defeats No. 15 Connor Euton (ISU) 8-5 (sudden victory)
174: No. 13 MJ Gaitan (ISU) defeats No. 12 Jared Simma (UNI) 8-5 (sudden victory)
184: Izzy Moreno (UNI) defeats Manny Rojas (ISU) 12-5
197: No. 2 Rocky Elam (ISU) defeats Carson Babcock (UNI) 8-1
285: No. 1 Yonger Bastida (ISU) defeats Grant Stromberg (UNI) 21-6
Ben Hutchens is an Iowa State University beat writer for the Lee Enterprises network. Follow him on X or send him an email at Ben. [email protected].
Bettendorf crowned four district wrestling champs on Saturday — Jake Knight (132), Brayden Koester (190), Lincoln Jipp (215) and Cody Trevino (138).
Pleasant Valley senior Lucas Reeder tries to get control of Bettendorf junior Hudson Felming during their Class 3A District 2 106-pound title match at Bettendorf High School. Reeder worked his way to a 19-4 technical fall victory as both advanced to this week's state tournament in Des Moines.
Bettendorf junior Brayden Koester, left, and Muscatine High School senior Andy Franke, right, battle for position during Saturday's 190-pound title match at the IHSAA Class 3A District 2 wrestling tournament at Bettendorf High School. Koester won a 4-0 decision to win the weight class title.
Bettendorf senior Lincoln Jipp controlled the Class 3A District 2 215-pound weight class championship match against Pleasant Valley junior Blake Vonderhaar on Saturday. Getting a takedown here, Jipp went on to a 19-4 technical fall victory.
Jake Knight, Cody Trevino and Lincoln Jipp were looking to cement their legacies within the Bettendorf High School wrestling program on Saturday at the IHSAA Class 3A District 2 tournament.
All three added to their tremendous careers in their final home meet, all winning district titles to set up next week’s run at the state tournament inside the Casey’s Center in Des Moines.
Knight and Jipp, who recorded his 175th career victory on Saturday, are now four-time district champs as well as top-ranked in the state. Trevino, ranked No. 2 in Class 3A, a three-time district winner.
However, for all three, Saturday’s finals proved anticlimactic.
Both Knight (132) and Trevino (138) won their brackets with forfeits in their championship matches. That left both wrestling just once on Saturday in what should have been a good tuneup for state.
“I think it’s pretty funny,” said Knight, the 38-0 University of Illinois-bound standout who received a medical forfeit from Clinton senior Brody Harrington in the title match. “I thought he would at least wrestle me.”
Trevino had a similar sentiment after getting his medical forfeit from Iowa City West’s Charles Barnhouse.
“I would have liked to have wrestled a little more today,” said Trevino, who takes a 45-2 record to Des Moines next week. “It is what it is; you can’t control that kind of stuff.”
Both seniors wrestled just one match – Knight recording a 21-6 technical fall in just 1:50 of the semifinals and Trevino needing just 1:42 for his semifinal pin. Both received opening-round byes.
Jipp, also still undefeated, only had to wrestle once on Saturday in his home finale, but at least got on the mat for his championship bout against Pleasant Valley junior Blake Vonderhaar.
However, Jipp ended his match at the first-period buzzer with a final takedown for a 19-4 technical fall.
“It was really just another match for me,” said Jipp, who earned a bye and a forfeit to reach the title match, the same path he took to winning his Mississippi Athletic Conference crown two weeks ago. “I’m really focusing on state. … I really wanted to make a point against the PV kid and show that I could score from anywhere.”
Bettendorf had one other weight-class champ. Junior Brayden Koester, ranked No. 2 at 190, topped Muscatine standout Andy Franke, 4-0, handing the top-ranked Muskie just his second setback of the season.
Koester had a bye and 41-second pin to reach the title match, while Franke got there with a bye and a 14-6 major decision.
The Bulldogs advanced nine to next week’s state meet. Shannon Hughes (165) and Connor Hill (175) both lost in their title matches to place second as Hudson Fleming (106), Miguel Mendoza (157), and Armon Williams (285) all placed third to punch their tickets.
Mendoza survived a thrilling 7-6 ultimate tiebreaker over Clinton’s Isaiah Lines in the third-place match to earn his first state berth.
“I thought we could get seven or eight through and we got nine, so that’s good,” said Bettendorf coach Dan Knight. “
In wrestling to a runner-up team finish on Saturday, Pleasant Valley advanced 11 wrestlers to the state individual tournament.
“You have to feel good about getting 11 kids through,” said PV coach Wes Hand. “I think we’re in the toughest district in the state with three Top 10 teams. Getting 11 in with a chance to get some hardware down at state is pretty awesome.”
PV champs were Lucas Reeder (106), Marek Kelsall (175), and Dane Cox (285).
Falling in their championship matches and settling for second-place finishes were Liam Dunlay (113), Liam Fitzgibbon (120), Teddy Swanson (144), Soren Kelsall (15), Greyson Willett (157), and Vonderhaar (215).
Karson Pulver (126) and Jaxon Themas (132) placed third.
This week’s performance proved to be a nice bounce-back for the Spartans. They dropped all three matches at last week’s State Team Duals in Coralville, which included a 46-24 setback to Iowa City West, which topped Saturday’s team standings with 209.5 points – four ahead of runner-up PV and well ahead of third-place Bettendorf’s 184.5 total.
“For whatever reason, I think we were just off last week; that happens in wrestling,” said Hand. “We tried to get back to what’s worked all year and we looked closer what we’ve been all year today.
“We were sharper and crisper and wrestled aggressive and free. I think we had a good performance.”
Reeder topped those efforts as he moved his record to 49-3. The PV senior wasted no time in gaining the upper hand, controlling his match to a 19-4 tech fall. He finished off the victory with an early third-period escape from the starting down position and his sixth takedown just 39 seconds into the third period.
At 175, junior Marek Kelsall (40-13) held off Bettendorf’s Hill for a 2-0 decision, and at 285, Dane Cox, also a junior, topped Iowa City West’s Kaden Stitt, 4-2.
While PV and Bettendorf led the Quad-City brigade to Des Moines, they weren’t the only local school to have qualifiers.
Clinton had three wrestlers advance; Davenport North and Muscatine had two each; and Davenport West had one.
Danny Peters (29-3) headlined the Clinton efforts on Saturday by winning the title at 150. The senior recorded an 8-7 decision over PV’s Soren Kelsall, a junior with a 51-3 mark.
Trailing 4-0 after two periods, Peters took an 8-4 lead with a takedown and near-fall and then withstood a late Kelsall rally for the victory.
Harrington takes his 31-12 mark into state after forfeiting to Knight in the 132-pound championship match.
Senior Damarius Robinson (28-18) won an 11-7 decision to place third at 175.
Davenport North had two third-place finishers -- freshman Matthias Thornburg (36-5) at 144, and senior Hunter Morrow (22-14) at 165.
Muscatine’s top finishers were Franke (39-2, second at 190) and freshman Braxton Wade (29-10), who beat PV’s Gage Saldivar 10-2 in the 138-pound third-place match.
At 113, MAC champ Tait Zirkel, a West sophomore with a 28-6 mark, placed third. He won his final match with a 3:15 pin.
Green
IOWA BOYS' WRESTLING CLASS 3A, DISTRICT 6
After winning its second straight Mississippi Athletic Conference team title last month, the North Scott Lancers boys' wrestlers added a district title to their season resume this past weekend.
Coach Drew Kelly's Lancers scored 211.5 points to outdistance Ankeny Centennial (194), Cedar Rapids Kennedy (151.5) and five other schools to win the Class 3A District 6 gathering at Iowa City High.
North Scott crowned four champions and had 11 wrestlers advance to this week's state individual tournament in Des Moines.
Freshman Zach Green (30-9 at 150), senior Benjamin Lightle (32-7, at 157), senior Cole Green (31-1 at 165), and junior Trey Feist (22-3 at 215) all won their brackets to secure higher seeds this week.
The Lancers had five more reach title matches, but come up short. Those advancing as runners-up are: senior Cole Bruck (20-17 at 113), senior Matthew Williams (22-15 at 126), senior Collin Kruse (22-7 at 144), sophomore MAC champ Kepler Carmichael (22-6 at 175), and junior Bryce Stewart (26-13 at 285).
Placing third for the Lancers were senior Will McDermott (27-7 at 138) and junior Kade Kelly (26-15 at 190), who won his third-place match with a pin in 3:21.
McDermott had a tough finish as he reached the 138-pound title match where he was pinned and then dropped a 13-11 decision in the true-second match.
In their title matches, North Scott covered the gamut with their victories.
Green started a run of three straight Lancer champs with his 16-4 major decision at 150.
Lightle followed at 157 with an 8-4 decision over Davenport Central junior Brogan Ganshert (30-3), who was the Blue Devils' lone state qualifier.
At 165, Green, ranked No. 3 in the state by The Pin Doctors, won a 15-0 technical fall that followed a 34-second pin in his semifinal victory.
Top-seeded Feist used three pins to win at 215, his final fall coming in 1:30. He spent just 5:36 on the mat in his three sticks, the fastest in 1:24 in his opening quarterfinal bout.
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Maryland proved on Sunday that it is back on track after a four-game losing streak in January.
The 20th-ranked Terrapins rallied from a 19-point deficit for a 76-75 victory at No. 8 Ohio State. This is Maryland's largest comeback since also being down 19 at James Madison in 2019.
"You go through ups and downs throughout a season, and I think we did a really good job of just staying connected and staying together," said freshman guard Addi Mack, who scored 11 of her 14 points in the second half. "I think that is showing through in these last couple of games. Even at halftime today, we were down, but I think you just saw throughout the second half how much trust we have in each other and how good we can be when we play together."
Down to the wire: The 202526 college basketball regular season enters the final week of action this week with the Augustana College and St. Ambrose University teams still battling for spots/positioning in their respective league tournaments.
Both Augie teams are 5-9 in CCIW action and enter the week in seventh place in their league races. However, both are still mathematically alive to reach their tournaments, which include the top six teams.
Over in the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference, the St. Ambrose men are still battling for a top-eight finish and a tournament berth, while the Fighting Bees women have secured a CCAC Tournament spot thanks to a forfeit victory over Trinity Christian on Wednesday. The SAU men are tied for sixth, just one game ahead of two teams tied for eighth. Coach Ray Shovlain's crew faces two road tests this week – at league-leading Governors State and at 10th-place Holy Cross.
This week's men's games – Tuesday: Black Hawk at *Carl Sandburg, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday: Augustana at *North Central, 7 p.m.; St. Ambrose at Governors State, 7:30 p.m. Saturday: *Illinois Wesleyan at Augustana, 6 p.m.; St. Ambrose at *Holy Cross, 2 p.m.; Black Hawk at South Suburban, 3 p.m.
This week's women's games – Tuesday: Black Hawk at *Carl Sandburg, 5:30 p.m. Wednesday: *Elmhurst at Augustana, 7 p.m. Saturday: Augustana at *No. 19 Illinois Wesleyan, 7 p.m.; St. Ambrose at *Judson, 1 p.m.; Black Hawk at South Suburban, 1 p.m.
Late slides: Both Augie basketball teams are going to need some help to make it into their CCIW Tournaments, not controlling their own destiny this week. In addition to other teams losing, both teams must snap losing skids. The men have dropped six straight after a three-game win streak. Augie's women have lost four straight and eight of their last 10.
Summer is ending a week early for high school football players. With the approval of a special by-law proposal, the IHSA is moving the football start date up one week to Aug. 5 to accommodate the new playoffs, the organization announced in a release Friday afternoon.
After IHSA member schools voted to pass a new playoff format in December, which will lengthen the postseason by one week, the number of required practices prior to opening week had previously dropped to nine.
Friday’s proposal increases that number to 12 required days of on-field practice for all players – one-and-a-half hours per player per practice, excluding Sundays.
The new proposal passed by a vote of 290 in favor, 245 opposed and 67 with no opinion. Seventy-five percent of IHSA member schools, 602 schools, cast a ballot.
“Despite the cumbersome nature of the process, I am confident this outcome is in the best interest of student-athlete safety,” IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson said. “We recognize that our member schools may bring forward ideas to alter the 2027 football season schedule as a result, and we welcome that.
“However, given that we are less than six months from the season, we believe this is a positive result that provides scheduling clarity for teams, coaches, and student-athletes ahead of the 2026 season, while prioritizing safety.”
Will Foley is the sports reporter for the Herald & Review. Make sure to follow along for content on X at @thewillfoley.
Maroa-Forsyth coach Josh Jostes evaluates 2A State Championship loss
Illinois' Kylan Boswell, right, reaches over Lamar Wilkerson, left, to attempt to block a shot during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026, in Champaign, Ill.
Indiana Hoosiers forward Sam Alexis (4) drives the ball against Illinois Fighting Illini center Tomislav Ivisic (13) during the first half at State Farm Center.
Illinois guard Keaton Wagler (23) drives to the basket against Conor Enright (5) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Indiana Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026, in Champaign, Ill.
Illinois guard Kylan Boswell looks to shoot during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Indiana, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026, in Champaign, Ill.
Illinois' David Mirkovic catches a pass during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Indiana, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026, in Champaign, Ill.
Indiana head coach Darian DeVries reacts during an NCAA college basketball game against Illinois, Sunday, Feb. 15, 2026, in Champaign, Ill.
CHAMPAIGN — Welcome back Kylan Boswell.
After missing seven games with a broken bone in his right hand, the Champaign native returned to the Illinois lineup Sunday at State Farm Center against Indiana.
His teammates made sure it was a happy celebration, knocking off the Hoosiers 71-51. "I felt good today," he said on postgame radio.
No. 8-ranked Illinois broke a two-game losing streak and improved to 12-3 in Big Ten play.
During pregame introductions, Boswell's name drew a roar like no other. He had been missed.
"I went to bed dreaming about it," he said.
Boswell helped immediately, with an assist in his first minute. He finished with nine points, seven rebounds and two assists.
"You think we missed him?" Brad Underwood said to Brian Barnhart and Deon Thomas. "He gives everybody confidence."
"We had two really good days of practice," Underwood said, adding it helped in "getting some grit and nasty back in us."
1. With Andrej Stojakovic again sidelined with a bad wheel, freshman David Mirkovic stepped up. He led Illinois with 15 points in the first half, hitting 3 of 4 three-pointers. He kept it going in the second half and finished with 25 points and six rebounds.
Underwood said he received a text message shortly after the loss to Wisconsin from Mirkovic, who assumed blame for the defeat. "He said he would never let that happen again," Underwood said.
2. Fresh off a 34-point game against Wisconsin, Illinois freshman phenom Keaton Wagler did most of his early work from inside the three-point line. He finished with 18 points.
3. Just before the midway point of the first half, NBA rookies and former Illini Will Riley and Kasparas Jakucionis were introduced to the crowd and received a long, sustained ovation. Riley is with the Washington Wizards, and Jakucionis plays for the Miami Heat. The NBA All-Star break is this weekend, which allowed the former stars a chance to return to the State Farm Center.
4. Next up for Illinois: a trip to not-so-balmy Los Angeles for games Wednesday at Southern California and Saturday at UCLA. Don't be too envious of the team, at least not weather-wise. While it was 53 degrees at opening tip Sunday in C-U, it was only in the high 50s in LaLa Land. And during Illinois' time in California, the forecast calls for highs in the low 60s. Not exactly beach weather.
5. If the NCAA tournament field were decided today, Indiana would safely make it. In his latest forecast, ESPN's Joe Lunardi gave the Hoosiers a No. 9 seed. Every win helps Darian DeVries' team avoid the dreaded second-round NCAA game against a No. 1 seed. Actually, it would be better to be a No. 10 seed than a 9. The tournament is weird like that.
6. Thirty minutes before the opening tip, the State Farm Center started to fill up. Twenty minutes before jump ball, it was two-thirds of capacity. And jammed for the start. Impressive for an early Sunday afternoon game.
7. Remember, Sunday was set as a stripe the arena game, with every other section asked to wear orange or blue. The Orange Krush student section was all in orange.
So, did it work? I'd give it an B+. Minor quibble, too much orange in some of the blue sections.
8. I keep going back and forth on this one, but I'd rank Indiana very high on the "team Illinois fans want to beat the most." Obviously, the rivalry was stronger during the Lou Henson-Bob Knight days. Or when Eric Gordon played for the Hoosiers. But it still seems like a strong disdain.
Others high on that list include Iowa, Michigan and Michigan State. Wisconsin, after an upset win in C-U earlier this week, is also climbing the chart.
9. I know it is tradition, but the barber pole sweats the Hoosiers wear during warmups rub me the wrong way. I need to get over it, but honestly probably won't. Thanks to an 18-team conference, Indiana doesn't visit the State Farm Center quite as often.
10. Before the game, Illinois legend Dave Downey was honored with a tribute on the State Farm Center scoreboard and an appearance by family members. Downey, who once scored 53 points in a game against Indiana, died in late December at age 84.
Quad-City wingmen Devin Sanders (52) and Jesper Tarkiainen (89) battle Peoria defenseman Josh Martin (2) for control of the puck during Saturday's game at Vibrant Arena at The Mark. The Rivermen defeated the Storm 3-1.
A night after a miraculous comeback to beat Peoria, the Quad City Storm couldn't replicate that magic on Saturday evening.
Down early and fighting a number of issues, the Storm kept the pressure on the league leaders, but dropped a 3-1 SPHL decision in front of a nice crowd of 3,623 at Vibrant Arena.
There may have been some symbolism happening with the heated "Cold War on 74" combatants squaring off on Valentine's Day.
But there was no love loss between QC coach Shayne Toporowski and the four-man officiating crew that worked the game.
"The refs won that game for Peoria," growled Toporowski after the third game in three days between the regional rivals. "Flatout. Game. End of story."
Toporowski's biggest gripe was with Peoria's second goal that came after QC netminder Zane Steeves – playing his third straight game in three days – was wiped off his feet by a Peoria player just before Cory Dennis scored a power-play to give the Rivermen a 2-0 lead with :32 left in the first period.
No goalie interference was called and the power-play goal stood.
"The calls on us and the no calls on them were absolute bull****," said Toporowski, whose club had to kill a 5-on-3 Peoria advantage in the first five minutes of the game and gave up two power-play goals. "That can't happen in pro hockey. There's four of them out there; it's 100% unacceptable.
"They ruined a good hockey game." Playing short-handed for nine minutes through four first-period penalties, QC only got off three shots in the opening 20 minutes to Peoria's 10.
"They got that second goal and it was hard to recover," said Toporowski.
Still, QC kept battling and finished with a 34-20 shots advantage. They just couldn't get anything past Peoria netminder Jack Bostedt, who won his second over the Storm this weekend.
The Storm trailed 3-0 when Donte DiPonio scored his fourth of the season from a ridiculous angle. He secured control of the puck on the goal line after a Nick Pennucci faceoff victory and beat Bostedt over his shoulder, top shelf from his right side.
That goal gave fans hope of a repeat from Friday when the Storm scored twice in the final three minutes. Jake MacDonald (4) scored on a short-hander and Brodie Girod (11) got the game-winner with 1:22 left in regulation after controlling a rebound off the back wall to pull off the victory. Newcomer Fabrice Bourgeois assisted on both goals.
"It was a fantastic hockey game," said Toporowski of Friday's contest. "Probably the best hockey game the Storm has played – I can't say ever, but. … The way we were playing physical, matching the puck and out-shooting Peoria again.
"We 100% deserved to win that game and I thought we had an opportunity to win tonight's game. Like I said, the refs won that game for them."
Still Positive
Despite dropping two of three to Peoria this weekend and mired in seventh place with an 18-20-4-1 record with 41 points, QC is closer to last place than first in the 10-team league, Toporowski sees the positives from his squad.
"We were getting good looks; they have a good goalie," he said. "I think we're a better team than them. We didn't get the results this season against them, but I believe we're a better team than them."
This week's set was the final time QC and Peoria (32-10-10, 65 points) meet in the regular-season. Peoria won 11 of the 14 meetings, but nine of the final 10 contests were decided by two goals or fewer and four went to either overtime or shootouts.
"We're a good team," said QC's coach. "Let's put it in everybody's heads that we're a good team."
Sanders honored
Before Saturday's game, Quad City's Devin Sanders as the team' Player of the Month for January.
The 24-year-old winger scored 10 goals and dished off four assists in 13 January games.
In 43 games this season, Sanders has a team-high 19 goals and 15 assists for 34 points. Both his assists and points totals are second on the squad.
Sutherland
Northern Iowa's head coach Doug Schwab pleads for a scoring call against Oklahoma State during a dual meet at the McLeod Center on Friday in Cedar Falls.
AMES — Before UNI's 28-6 loss to Iowa State, there was a moment of silence in Hilton Coliseum.
The wrestling crowd, full of Cyclone fans, stood and fell silent in honor of former UNI football player Parker Sutherland, who died this week.
"I'll say everyone is probably hugging their loved ones a little tighter," Schwab said. "I know when I gave my kids a hug and kiss, you hold on to them a little extra and you're just grateful for having them and being able to hold them one more time."
Schwab said his team is hurting with Sutherland's family and he sends his love. It puts Sunday night's result in perspective.
"We get to wrestle," Schwab said. "In the end, we're losing a wrestling match we're not losing anything on that kind of scale, so if we can't just be grateful for the opportunity, even if it's just a loss and we can't take that and use it as something that can inspire us then something is wrong."
The loss has affected the wrestlers on his team, some of Sutherland's peers.
"I know their family is hurting and we're hurting with them," Schwab said. "We send love and prayers to them. I know our guys feel it too, because it's someone that's around their age and we all kind of think about that. You're not invincible."
UPDATE WITH NEW INFO: Northern Iowa football player has died following a medical emergency
Iowa football sends condolences to Northern Iowa following death of freshman tight end
Cubs equipment sits near a field after practice during spring training at Sloan Park Sunday Feb. 15, 2026 in Mesa, Ariz.
Although most of the Chicago Cubs' 58-player big-league camp roster had already reported to Arizona, they held their first official full-squad workout on Monday.
They will have about a week together before Cubs players participating in the World Baseball Classic start departing camp, beginning with outfielder Seiya Suzuki (Japan) and infielder Jonathon Long (Chinese Taipei), who leave Feb. 23 to make the long trip to Tokyo for pool play.
The White Sox held their first full squad workout on Sunday, with base running among the fundamentals addressed.
"It was awesome to have the position players all here and ready to go," manager Will Venable said. "We had a great first morning meeting, where we talked about some expectations for camp. We told these guys there is no limit to what we believe they can do. It's about them and our support of helping them realize the belief that we have in this club.
"A lot of positive feedback from the guys on that. We have a group that believes, so to be able to support these guys to go out and do it was great."
Cubs' Javier Assad hoping for a healthy season, eager to pitch again in the WBC
The 2025 season didn't play out how Cubs right-hander Javier Assad envisioned.
An oblique injury shortly before spring training last year, followed by a reaggravation, ultimately limited Assad to just eight bigleague appearances (seven starts). He wasn't part of the postseason roster after returning in mid-August. Assad said not being pitching in the postseason was out of his control, and he's focused on helping the Cubs in whatever way they need him this season.
"I worked a lot in the offseason with my body, making sure I straighten that, make sure that this year I am healthy," Assad said through an interpreter, adding he lost about 12 pounds. "We're glad with strength, the abdomen and everything, so want to be make sure I'm healthy this year."
Assad has shown he can handle pitching in a multi-inning role out of the bullpen or starting, giving manager Craig Counsell a valuable, versatile arm on his pitching staff.
"The health is just so important," Counsell said Saturday. "I mean, we probably got him healthy by the end of the year last year, and maybe just a little bit too late — just kind of coming into form, probably a little late with some other people that just had moved ahead of him at that point. So it's important, right? It's important to have some volume. He did not have a lot of volume last year. I think he can handle the volume."
Pitching for Team Mexico in the World Baseball Classic will give Assad, 28, valuable innings. The experience pitching for his country in the 2023 WBC was a pivotal moment in his career, at that point having made just eight big-league starts. He showed a notable uptick in velocity and didn't allow a run in 5 2/3 innings during the tournament, which carried into a stellar 2023 regular season.
Assad couldn't contain a smile when talking about getting to pitch for Mexico again next month in a bigger role as one of their top arms.
"I always told them that if they were considering me and the opportunity was there, I'd be willing to be there and represent my country," Assad said. "Last time was a really great experience, really happy with it. I'll go on into this one looking for new goals in the tournament, but I'm looking forward to it."
'He's got the juice': Munetaka Murakami makes a strong impression at Sox camp
Sox shortstop Colson Montgomery has been in some batting practice groups with Munetaka Murakami early during camp at Camelback Ranch.
"It's freakish," Montgomery said Saturday. "He's got the juice and he's got all that stuff and he is really smart."
Murakami has made a strong first impression after signing a two-year deal with the Sox in the offseason.
"I'm excited for him to get his feet wet in spring training and ball out in the WBC (World Baseball Classic)," starter Shane Smith said on Friday.
After hitting a ball off the wall during live batting practice on Saturday, there were screams of "double" from players and coaches standing nearby.
Murakami said everyone has made the move from the Nippon Professional Baseball to Major League Baseball a smooth transition.
"It's all because my teammates have very good communication," Murakami said Saturday through an interpreter. "Still working on English right now, but lots of gestures, lot of short words, short terms, but the communication is there and we're happy to be teammates."
Teammates, such as infielder Chase Meidroth, have tested their Japanese. And Murakami has mixed in some Spanish and English.
Smith and Montgomery have enjoyed getting to know the infielder, who will see time at first base and some at third.
"I've talked to him as much as I can, with his translator here," Montgomery said. "They are both awesome, everyone here that's with them. He's great.
"I think it was a great addition to this team. A guy who can bring some power and also just another dude that cares. He cares a lot. You see in the WBC how he plays. He wants to win. You bring another guy in like that who really wants to win, it's contagious."
Week ahead: Cubs
■Friday: vs. White Sox,
■2:05 p.m. (Marquee) Saturday: vs. Rangers,
■2:05 p.m. (Marquee) Sunday: at Giants, 2:05 p.m.
The Cubs got a kick out of NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley showing up at Cubs camp Friday.
Barkley, donning the Cubs' baby blue spring training hat, is a friend of franchise legend Rick Sutcliffe, who invited him for a behind-the-scenes look at camp. Barkley spent the morning watching pitchers fielding work, bullpens and live batting practice on the backfields. At one point, Barkley chatted with Pete Crow-Armstrong and Alex Bregman between drills.
"We sat down in the office for half an hour, it was great," Counsell said. "He's just wonderful, a wonderful heart. I think that's the thing that sticks out the most.
"Sutcliffe claims to be a big deal, but (Barkley) is a big deal," Counsell quipped.
Week ahead: White Sox
■ Friday: at Cubs, 2:05 p.m. (Marquee)
■ Saturday: vs. Athletics, 2:05 p.m. (CHSN)
■Sunday: vs. Brewers, 2:05 p.m. (CHSN)
Assistant general manager Josh Barfield pointed to the bullpen as an area he is excited about after a busy offseason.
"We lost so many one-run games over the last two years, and it's been a point of frustration," Barfield said last week. "There's a number of different things you can attribute that to. One way we thought we could really help address that and hopefully flip that is by having a stronger bullpen.
"Just giving (manager) Will (Venable) more weapons to close out games. Really excited about that and seeing how that all comes together."
The Sox will get a good look at their options as Cactus League games begin on Friday.
Seranthony Domínguez is a key addition. The right-hander signed a two-year deal after recording a 3.16 ERA with two saves and 20 holds in a combined 67 outings for the Baltimore Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays last season.
Domínguez told the Tribune on Saturday that he feels "real comfortable" in his new surroundings.
"I just want to get ready to be there for the team and help the team win," Domínguez said.
Domínguez, 31, has plenty of big-game experience over his seven seasons in the major leagues, including posting a 1.93 ERA while appearing in five games during the 2025 World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. He'll be ready to pass along advice to his new teammates.
"Just got to be ready every single day, be on time, do your thing, be responsible and try your best every single time you go out," Domínguez said. "You're not going to get the best results every single time, but you've got to work to get it.
"You've just got to think about doing your thing, and do your best to help the team win."
Quotable
"What everybody loves about him is what makes him fun to work with, and to be the level of player that he is and still be able to talk about how he's doing things and be able to carry that over to helping other players, those are rare traits, and it's just fun to work with." — Counsell on his initial impression of third baseman Alex Bregman
CLEARWATER, Fla. — Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper said Sunday "it's kind of wild to me still" that president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski suggested in October the two-time NL MVP may no longer be an elite player.
Harper said he wasn't motivated by Dombrowski's comments. He added he didn't understand why Dombrowski made public his review of Harper's season and postseason.
"I don't get motivated by that kind of stuff, for me it was kind of wild the whole situation of that happening," Harper told reporters. "I think the big thing for me was when we first met with this organization it was, 'Hey we're always going to keep things in-house and we expect you to do the same thing,' so when that didn't happen it kind of took me for a run a little bit, so I don't know. It's part of it, I guess. It was kind of a wild situation."
Harper's .844 OPS was his lowest since 2016, and his .261 average was his worst since 2019. Harper, 33, has six seasons left on his $330 million, 13-year deal. He hit 27 homers and drove in 75 runs in the 2025 regular season and was 3 for 15 with no RBIs in the Phillies' four-game loss to the Dodgers in the NL Division Series.
Harper's numbers led Dombrowski to conclude it was a good season but below his MVP levels of 2015 with Washington and 2021 with the Phillies.
"Can he rise to the next level again? I don't really know that answer," Dombrowski said after last season. "He's the one that will dictate that more than anything else. I don't think he's content with the year that he had. Again, it wasn't a bad year. But when I think of Bryce Harper, you think elite, you think of one of the top-10 players in baseball and I don't think it fit into that category."
A wrist injury forced Harper to miss a month. Even so, he agreed his production didn't meet his standards.
"Obviously, I didn't have the year that I wanted," Harper said. "Obviously, I don't have a postseason I wanted. My numbers weren't where they needed to be. I know that and I don't need to be motivated to be great in my career or anything else. So that's just not a motivating factor for me. For Dave to come out and say those things, it's kind of wild to me still."
Harper has a .280 batting average with 363 homers in 14 seasons in the majors, including seven with the Phillies. Considering the time missed with the wrist injury, his production last season was not a dramatic decline from his 2024 season, when he finished sixth in the NL MVP voting after hitting .280 with 30 homers and 87 RBIs while landing his fourth Silver Slugger award and making his eighth AllStar team.
BRIEFLY
DIAMONDBACKS: Arizona cleared a spot for newly signed right-hander Zac Gallen by placing right-hander Corbin Burnes on the 60-day injured list. Gallen won't receive his full payment on his $22.025 million, one-year deal until 2034 because more than half of the contract is deferred. Gallen will be paid in three installments of $4.675 million each July 1 from 2032-34. Burnes is recovering from Tommy John surgery and hopes to be back by the All-Star break.
BRAVES: Atlanta's rotation took another hit when manager Walt Weiss said right-hander Hurston Waldrep may need surgery to remove "loose bodies" found in his arm. Waldrep complained of discomfort after throwing batting practice. Weiss says an MRI showed no ligament damage but the team is waiting to hear more after Waldrep has additional tests.
GIANTS: San Francisco added outfield depth by reaching an agreement with Will Brennan on a one-year contract. The 28-year-old Brennan is coming back from Tommy John surgery on his left elbow last June and then a sports hernia operation in September, but he is expected to contribute for new manager Tony Vitello.
Las Vegas Raiders defensive line coach Rob Leonard reviews a play during the first half of a game against the Houston Texans on Dec. 21 in Houston.
HENDERSON, Nev. — New Las Vegas Raiders coach Klint Kubiak wasted little time in choosing his offensive and defensive coordinators since being hired less than a week ago.
Raiders defensive line coach and run game coordinator Rob Leonard was officially elevated to defensive coordinator on Sunday.
Seahawks quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko will follow Kubiak from Seattle to be the offensive coordinator, a person with knowledge of the hiring process said Sunday.
The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity regarding Janocko because that transaction has not been announced.
Kubiak did what the two previous Las Vegas coaches did in selecting a defensive coordinator — look within the staff. Leonard was the defensive line coach the past three seasons and added the title of run game coordinator in 2025 under then-coach Pete Carroll.
Carroll and his predecessor, Antonio Pierce, kept Patrick Graham in charge of the defense upon becoming the Raiders' coach. Graham now is the defensive coordinator with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
In retaining Leonard, Kubiak also could be looking for a way to mend ties with star pass rusher Maxx Crosby. Relations between Crosby and the Raiders became frayed when the organization placed him on injured reserve with a knee injury with two games left last season. Crosby left the team facility upon receiving the news.
Crosby, who underwent surgery last month, said during a recent appearance on "The Herd with Colin Cowherd" that reports he wanted to be traded came from other people and not him. But Crosby, wearing Raiders gear and speaking from the team facility, also did not deny such talk.
As for the 38-year-old Leonard, the Raiders allowed 3.9 yards per rush last season, tied for second in the NFL. They also were third in tackles for loss with 105.
The Raiders were in the middle of the pack in run defense in allowing 116.8 yards per game. But the defense often got worn down because Las Vegas was last in the field in average time of possession at 28:02.
The 37-year-old Janocko will receive a promotion in the move to the Raiders. He and Kubiak were on the Seahawks' staff, with Kubiak serving as the play caller for the Seahawks' Super Bowl-winning team.
Kubiak plans to still call plays, but made a point at his introductory news conference on Tuesday that it's not a one-man operation.
"I've never called the game by myself," Kubiak said. "That's something we do as a coaching staff together. We plan together. We communicate on game day together — quarterback coach, pass game coordinator, run game coordinator."
Janocko worked directly with Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold this past season.
Darnold completed 67.7% of his passes for 4,048 yards with 25 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. Drafted third overall by the New York Jets in 2018, Darnold was considered a bust until leading Minnesota to a 14-win season in 2024. Then came another 14-win season with the Seahawks that culminated with Darnold hoisting the Lombardi Trophy.
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Collin Morikawa went 45 starts over more than two years to finally win again on the PGA Tour, and he faced a wait that felt just as long on the final hole Sunday in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. He kept his poise, hit a 4-iron to the collar of the green and made birdie for a one-shot victory.
In a wild final round of wind and lead changes, Morikawa had the right response for Scottie Scheffler's bold charge by making two straight birdies down the stretch, and then making the one that mattered the most — after a 20-minute wait — for a 5-under 67.
He won by one shot over Sepp Straka and Min Woo Lee for his first PGA Tour title since the Zozo Championship in Japan in October 2023.
The timing couldn't have been better. Morikawa began telling friends this week he and his wife are expecting their first child, and winning was "the best way to announce it to the world."
Scheffler began the final day eight shots behind and was 7 under through seven holes before the wind began whipping. He had three eagles in his round of 63, the last one a 6-iron to 30 inches on the final hole that allowed him to tie Morikawa for the lead.
He didn't think it would be enough, and it wasn't.
Moments later, Morikawa holed a 30-foot birdie putt on the 15th to take the lead. He followed with a 6-iron into 8 feet for another birdie. But a bogey on the par-3 17th — his tee shot was dangerously close to the ocean left of the green — and Lee finishing birdie-birdie for a 65, created another tie.
For all the drama, it was particularly tense on the par-5 18th.
In the group ahead, Jacob Bridgeman needed eagle to have any chance of a playoff and he sent his second shot over the bunker and down to the beach. He finally decided to play off the pebbles and that bounced off the rocks and into the ocean. Then, he moved back to where his ball last crossed the hazard. All the while, Morikawa waited.
It was 20 minutes from hitting his tee shot to hitting his 4-iron, a wait made longer considering what was at stake and the biting cold of the Pacific wind roaring off the ocean.
"I paced all the way to the ocean 10 times. I just had to keep moving," Morikawa said. "These long breaks, they're not good for anyone to stand still. I was able to pull off a great 4-iron, and man, I need a drink."
His 4-iron started over a portion of the water and the wind sent it to the right collar. Morikawa putted that down to a foot. Straka made a 10-foot eagle putt for a 68 before Morikawa tapped in.
Akshay Bhatia, the 54-hole leader by two shots, made only two birdies over his last 29 holes. He fell out of the lead after four holes and never caught up, closing with a 72 to finish three back.
Scheffler was 10 shots behind after the first day when he shot 72. He was 13 shots back at one point on Friday. He still managed to be a major threat. He wound up in a tie for fourth with Tommy Fleetwood (66), extending his streak to 18 straight PGA Tour starts in the top 10.
"I had to do something special to give myself a chance," Scheffler said. "The back nine, I felt like I had to get to 21 or 22 (under). I played a bit more aggressive than I normally am. It was a fun day overall. These are the weeks I'm proud of. I felt like I was battling to give myself a chance."
Generated from qconline.com e‑edition — Tuesday, February 17, 2026