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The Vikings have prepared for the game against the Atlanta Falcons without veteran quarterback Stephon Gilmore this week, and on Friday he was officially ruled out ahead of the matchup on Sunday afternoon at U.S. Bank Stadium. The news isn’t surprising given the fact that Gilmore hasn’t practiced at all this week at TCO Performance Center. He’s been nursing a hamstring injury since last week when he left a victory over the Arizona Cardinals. Though the Vikings believe that Gilmore has avoided anything serious, they are clearly being cautious with him so not to make anything worse. The loss of Gilmore in the short term will thrust veteran cornerback Fabian Moreau into a bigger role on defense.Michigan's Davis Warren Sends Cold-Blooded Message to Ohio State Players on Flag Planting Brawl

WASHINGTON , Dec. 6, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- In a new major enhancement to the Apollo ® Customer Experience Platform (CXP), dealers partnering with Team Velocity can now unlock the power of automated customer scoring and real-time alerts with Deal Alerts. As customers engage throughout their journey, Apollo's predictive technology dynamically ranks and scores them, sending instant notifications when they hit custom thresholds. Powered by Apollo and intelligent predictive technology, Deal Alerts deliver closing ratios 3-4x higher than traditional sales leads, often within just five days – and best of all, there's no cost to the dealer. "Deal Alerts take our platform's predictive capabilities to the next level," said David Boice , Co-Founder and CEO at Team Velocity. "With this latest innovation, we're making it easier for dealers to connect with customers who are truly ready to buy. By focusing on what really matters, dealers can now spend less time on guesswork and more time building genuine, productive relationships with qualified leads. It's about turning data-driven insights into impactful customer experiences that are proven to convert." This innovative enhancement empowers dealers to further leverage the Command Center, enabling them to proactively prioritize leads, close more deals, and bridge CRM gaps. Apollo's Deal Alert technology intelligently filters website activity, distinguishing between shoppers (inventory searches, trade value estimates) and buyers (based on purchase history, service activity, and intent). Once identified, buyers are segmented into one of three high-value categories – Previous Buyer, Service Customer, and Conquest Customer – and assigned a dynamic score that reflects their likelihood to purchase. Updated every 30 minutes, these scores ensure dealers have real-time insights to act on hot opportunities before they're missed. During beta testing, Murgado Automotive Group and Yark Automotive Group saw the immediate effects of Team Velocity's new Deal Alert rollout. Averaging 4 days from alert to sale, the dealer groups are a shining example of the importance of intelligent lead scoring technology. "Deal Alerts have revolutionized the way we handle leads, turning what used to be guesswork into a precise, efficient process," said Mario Murgado Jr. , Director of Marketing and Operations at Murgado Automotive Group. "Instantly identifying the customers most ready to buy lets our teams focus on high-value opportunities, driving results faster than we ever imagined." "We're now closing deals at lightning speed—often within just a few days. It's a true game-changer that's brought our stores to the next level," said Billy Yark , Vice President and CMO at Yark Automotive Group. To learn more about Deal Alerts or to schedule a demo, please visit https://teamvelocitymarketing.com/websites/ . About Team Velocity Team Velocity is revolutionizing the automotive industry with technology that digitizes the car buying and vehicle ownership processes. Made by dealers for dealers, our Apollo Customer Experience Platform provides a suite of integrated applications that make, manage, and measure frictionless consumer experiences from the initial engagement to a final transaction. Apollo empowers dealers to own the entire customer journey by delivering hyper-personalized campaigns across every touchpoint, maximizing ROI and lifetime revenue. For more information, please visit www.teamvelocitymarketing.com . View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/team-velocity-announces-latest-breakthrough-technology-with-automated-deal-alerts-and-customer-scoring-302325163.html SOURCE Team VelocityMorrisons Christmas shoppers angry as 10 per cent discount 'not working'Amanda Hernández | (TNS) Stateline.org CHICAGO — Shoplifting rates in the three largest U.S. cities — New York, Los Angeles and Chicago — remain higher than they were before the pandemic, according to a report last month from the nonpartisan research group Council on Criminal Justice. The sharp rise in retail theft in recent years has made shoplifting a hot-button issue, especially for politicians looking to address public safety concerns in their communities. Since 2020, when viral videos of smash-and-grab robberies flooded social media during the COVID-19 pandemic, many Americans have expressed fears that crime is out of control. Polls show that perceptions have improved recently, but a majority of Americans still say crime is worse than in previous years. “There is this sense of brazenness that people have — they can just walk in and steal stuff. ... That hurts the consumer, and it hurts the company,” said Alex Piquero, a criminology professor at the University of Miami and former director of the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics, in an interview. “That’s just the world we live in,” he said. “We need to get people to realize that you have to obey the law.” At least eight states — Arizona, California, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, New York and Vermont — passed a total of 14 bills in 2024 aimed at tackling retail theft, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The measures range from redefining retail crimes and adjusting penalties to allowing cross-county aggregation of theft charges and protecting retail workers. Major retailers have responded to rising theft since 2020 by locking up merchandise, upgrading security cameras, hiring private security firms and even closing stores. Still, the report indicates that shoplifting remains a stubborn problem. In Chicago, the rate of reported shoplifting incidents remained below pre-pandemic levels throughout 2023 — but surged by 46% from January to October 2024 compared with the same period a year ago. Shoplifting in Los Angeles was 87% higher in 2023 than in 2019. Police reports of shoplifting from January to October 2024 were lower than in 2023. Los Angeles adopted a new crime reporting system in March 2024, which has likely led to an undercount, according to the report. In New York, shoplifting rose 48% from 2021 to 2022, then dipped slightly last year. Still, the shoplifting rate was 55% higher in 2023 than in 2019. This year, the shoplifting rate increased by 3% from January to September compared with the same period last year. While shoplifting rates tend to rise in November and December, which coincides with in-person holiday shopping, data from the Council on Criminal Justice’s sample of 23 U.S. cities shows higher rates in the first half of 2024 compared with 2023. Researchers found it surprising that rates went up despite retailers doing more to fight shoplifting. Experts say the spike might reflect improved reporting efforts rather than a spike in theft. “As retailers have been paying more attention to shoplifting, we would not expect the numbers to increase,” said Ernesto Lopez, the report’s author and a senior research specialist with the council. “It makes it a challenge to understand the trends of shoplifting.” In downtown Chicago on a recent early afternoon, potential shoppers shuffled through the streets and nearby malls, browsing for gifts ahead of the holidays. Edward Johnson, a guard at The Shops at North Bridge, said that malls have become quieter in the dozen or so years he has worked in mall security, with the rise of online retailers. As for shoplifters, Johnson said there isn’t a single type of person to look out for — they can come from any background. “I think good-hearted people see something they can’t afford and figure nothing is lost if they take something from the store,” Johnson said as he patrolled the mall, keeping an eye out for lost or suspicious items. Between 2018 and 2023, most shoplifting in Chicago was reported in the downtown area, as well as in the Old Town, River North and Lincoln Park neighborhoods, according to a separate analysis by the Council on Criminal Justice. Newly sworn-in Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke this month lowered the threshold for charging retail theft as a felony in the county, which includes Chicago, from $1,000 to $300, aligning it with state law. “It sends a signal that she’s taking it seriously,” Rob Karr, the president and CEO of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, told Stateline. Nationally, retailers are worried about organized theft. The National Retail Federation’s latest report attributed 36% of the $112.1 billion in lost merchandise in 2022 to “external theft,” which includes organized retail crime. Organized retail crime typically involves coordinated efforts by groups to steal items with the intent to resell them for a profit. Commonly targeted goods include high-demand items such as baby formula, laundry detergent and electronics. The same report found that retailers’ fear of violence associated with theft also is on the rise, with more retailers taking a “hands-off approach.” More than 41% of respondents to the organization’s 2023 survey, up from 38% in 2022, reported that no employee is authorized to try and stop a shoplifter. (The federation’s reporting has come under criticism. It retracted a claim last year that attributed nearly half of lost merchandise in 2021 to organized retail crime; such theft accounted for only about 5%. The group announced this fall it will no longer publish its reports on lost merchandise.) Policy experts say shoplifting and organized retail theft can significantly harm critical industries, drive up costs for consumers and reduce sales tax revenue for states. Those worries have driven recent state-level action to boost penalties for shoplifting. California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a package of 10 bills into law in August aimed at addressing retail theft. These measures make repeated theft convictions a felony, allow aggregation of crimes across multiple counties to be charged as a single felony, and permit police to arrest suspects for retail theft even if the crime wasn’t witnessed directly by an officer. In September, Newsom signed an additional bill that imposes steeper felony penalties for large-scale theft offenses. California voters also overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure in November that increases penalties for specific drug-related and theft crimes. Under the new law, people who are convicted of theft at least twice may face felony charges on their third offense, regardless of the stolen item’s value. “With these changes in the law, really it comes down to making sure that law enforcement is showing up to our stores in a timely manner, and that the prosecutors and the [district attorneys] are prosecuting,” Rachel Michelin, the president and CEO of the California Retailers Association, told Stateline. “That’s the only way we’re going to deter retail theft in our communities.” In New Jersey, a bipartisan bill making its way through the legislature would increase penalties for leading a shoplifting ring and allow extended sentences for repeat offenders. “This bill is going after a formally organized band of criminals that deliver such destruction to a critical business in our community. We have to act. We have to create a deterrence,” Democratic Assemblymember Joseph Danielsen, one of the bill’s prime sponsors, said in an interview with Stateline. The legislation would allow extended sentences for people convicted of shoplifting three times within 10 years or within 10 years of their release from prison, and would increase penalties to 10 to 20 years in prison for leading a retail crime ring. The bill also would allow law enforcement to aggregate the value of stolen goods over the course of a year to charge serial shoplifters with more serious offenses. Additionally, the bill would increase penalties for assaults committed against retail workers, and would require retailers to train employees on detecting gift card scams. Maryland legislators considered a similar bill during this year’s legislative session that would have defined organized retail theft and made it a felony. The bill didn’t make it out of committee, but Cailey Locklair, president of the Maryland Retailers Alliance, said the group plans to propose a bill during next year’s legislative session that would target gift card fraud. Better, more thorough reporting from retailers is essential to truly understanding shoplifting trends and its full impact, in part because some retail-related crimes, such as gift card fraud, are frequently underreported, according to Lopez, of the Council on Criminal Justice. Measuring crime across jurisdictions is notoriously difficult , and the council does not track organized retail theft specifically because law enforcement typically doesn’t identify it as such at the time of arrest — if an arrest even occurs — requiring further investigation, Lopez said. The council’s latest report found conflicting trends in the FBI’s national crime reporting systems. The FBI’s older system, the Summary Reporting System, known as SRS, suggests that reported shoplifting hadn’t gone up through 2023, remaining on par with 2019 levels. In contrast, the FBI’s National Incident-Based Reporting System, or NIBRS, shows a 93% increase in shoplifting over the same period. The discrepancy may stem from the type of law enforcement agencies that have adopted the latter system, Lopez said. Some of those communities may have higher levels of shoplifting or other types of property crime, which could be what is driving the spike, Lopez said. Despite the discrepancies and varying levels of shoplifting across the country, Lopez said, it’s important for retailers to report these incidents, as doing so could help allocate law enforcement resources more effectively. “All law enforcement agencies have limited resources, and having the most accurate information allows for not just better policy, but also better implementation — better use of strategic resources,” Lopez said. Stateline staff writer Robbie Sequeira contributed to this report. ©2024 States Newsroom. Visit at stateline.org. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A white ex-Kansas police detective died Monday in an apparent suicide just before the start of his criminal trial over allegations that he sexually assaulted Black women and terrorized those who tried fight back. Local police found Roger Golubski dead of a gunshot wound on the back porch of his split-level home outside Kansas City, Kansas. The Kansas Bureau of Investigation said “there are no indications of foul play" in the 71-year-old's death, discovered Monday morning after a neighbor heard a gunshot. Fifty miles (80 kilometers) to the west, prosecutors and Golubski's attorneys were inside the federal courthouse in Topeka, where Golubski faced six felony counts of violating women's civil rights. Prosecutors say that, for years, Golubski preyed on female residents in poor neighborhoods, demanding sexual favors and sometimes threatening to harm or jail their relatives if they refused. He had pleaded not guilty. His death led U.S. District Judge Toby Crouse to dismiss the charges at prosecutors' request, though a second criminal case involving three other co-defendants remains. U.S. Department of Justice officials said it's “difficult” when a case cannot “be fully and fairly heard in a public trial,” but advocates for the women who accused Golubski of abusing them were angry, feeling that they and the community were denied a reckoning. “There is no justice for the victims,” said Anita Randle-Stanley, who went to court to watch jury selection. Randle-Stanley, who is not a victim in this case, said Golubski began harassing her when she was a teenager decades ago, but she always refused him. The heart of this trial focused on two women: one who said Golubski began sexually abusing her when she was a young teen in middle school, and another who said he began abusing her after her twin sons were arrested. Prosecutors said seven other women were planning to testify that Golubski abused or harassed them as well. And advocates for the women believe there are other victims who have either died or have been afraid to come forward. The allegations that Golubski preyed on women over decades with seeming impunity outraged the community and deepened its historical distrust of law enforcement. The prosecution followed earlier reports of similar abuse allegations across the country where hundreds of officers have lost their badges after allegations of sexual assaults. Some of the women and their advocates were upset that Golubski was under house arrest while he underwent kidney dialysis treatments three times a week. Cheryl Pilate, an attorney representing some of the women, said she has questions about how well the government was monitoring Golubski. “The community had an enormous interest in seeing this trial go forward,” she added. “Now, the victims, the community and justice itself have been cheated.” After Golubski failed to appear in court Monday, his lead attorney, Christopher Joseph, said his client “was despondent about the media coverage.” Joseph said he had talked to Golubski regularly, including Monday morning, and he was shocked to hear that his client had apparently killed himself. As for Golubski’s death, he said, “I don’t know the details.” This case against Golubski was part of a string of lawsuits and criminal allegations that led the county prosecutor’s office to begin a $1.7 million effort to reexamine cases Golubski worked on during his 35 years on the force. One double murder case Golubski investigated already has resulted in an exoneration , and an organization run by rapper Jay-Z is suing to obtain police records. Joseph had said lawsuits over the allegations were an “inspiration for fabrication” by his accusers. “We have to keep fighting,” said Starr Cooper, who was in the courthouse Monday to watch jury selection and said Golubski victimized her mother before her death in 1983. About 50 people had a short rally Monday morning in sub-freezing temperatures outside the federal courthouse in Topeka to show their support for the women accusing Golubski. They held signs with slogans such as, “Justice Now!” Lora McDonald, executive director of MORE2, a Kansas City-area social justice group, said participants learned that Golubski didn’t show up in court just as the rally began. They dispersed before prosecutors announced his death. They later joined Pilate in calling for an independent, outside investigation into Golubski's death. “Golubski terrorized an entire community and co-conspired with dangerous people,” McDonald said. “Our rally today was not just about Roger Golubski. Rather, it was about the department in which his criminal activity flourished." Pilate lamented that without a trial for Golubski, "In the eyes of the law he died an innocent man.” Max Seifert, a former Kansas City police officer who graduated from the police academy with Golubski in 1975, said Golubski's supporters will treat him as a martyred victim of unfair pretrial publicity. He contends the department condoned misconduct. “I feel that there is always going to be a cloud of mystery about this,” he added. Stories about Golubski remained just whispers in the neighborhoods near Kansas City’s former cattle stockyards partly because of the extreme poverty of a place where crime was abundant and some homes are boarded up. One neighborhood where Golubski worked is part of Kansas’ second-poorest zip code. Fellow officers once revered Golubski for his ability to clear cases, and he rose to the rank of captain in Kansas City before retiring there in 2010 and then working on a suburban police force for six more years. His former partner served a stint as police chief. The inquiry into Golubski stems from the case of Lamonte McIntyre, who started writing to McCloskey’s nonprofit nearly two decades ago. McIntyre was just 17 in 1994 when he was arrested and charged in connection with a double homicide, within hours of the crimes. He had an alibi; no physical evidence linked him to the killings; and an eyewitness believed the killer was an underling of a local drug dealer. In the other federal criminal case involving Golubski, that drug dealer also was charged with him, accused of running a violent sex trafficking operation. McIntyre's mother said in a 2014 affidavit that she wonders whether her refusal to grant regular sexual favors to Golubski prompted him to retaliate against her son. In 2022, the local government agreed to pay $12.5 million to McIntyre and his mother to settle a lawsuit after a deposition in which Golubski invoked his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent 555 times. The state also paid McIntyre $1.5 million. The last name of a woman who says the ex-detective harassed her for years has been corrected. She is Anita Randle-Stanley, not Randel-Stanley. Hollingsworth and Ingram reported from Edwardsville, Kansas.

Georgia Republicans recommend further law to restrict transgender women's participation in sportsNational Gallery director shuts gallery amid staff dissent, bans press conferencesAs outrage grows over Northeast drone sightings, here's what to know about the laws regulating their use

Federal appeals court upholds law requiring sale or ban of TikTok in the US AP Updated: December 6th, 2024, 23:49 IST in Business , Home News , International 0 Pic courtesy: gbnews.com Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on WhatsApp Share on Linkedin New York: A federal appeals court panel Friday unanimously upheld a law that could lead to a ban on TikTok in a few short months, handing a resounding defeat to the popular social media platform as it fights for its survival in the US. The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied TikTok’s petition to overturn the law — which requires TikTok to break ties with its China-based parent company ByteDance or be banned by mid-January — and rebuffed the company’s challenge of the statute, which it argued had ran afoul of the First Amendment. Also Read Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra to hike vehicle prices from January 4 hours ago Foreign Secretary Misri to visit Bangladesh Dec 9: MEA 5 hours ago “The First Amendment exists to protect free speech in the United States,” said the court’s opinion, which was written by Judge Douglas Ginsburg. “Here the Government acted solely to protect that freedom from a foreign adversary nation and to limit that adversary’s ability to gather data on people in the United States.” TikTok and ByteDance — another plaintiff in the lawsuit — are expected to appeal to the Supreme Court, though its unclear whether the court will take up the case. “The Supreme Court has an established historical record of protecting Americans’ right to free speech, and we expect they will do just that on this important constitutional issue,” TikTok spokesperson Michael Hughes said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the TikTok ban was conceived and pushed through based upon inaccurate, flawed and hypothetical information, resulting in outright censorship of the American people,” Hughes said. Unless stopped, he argued the statute “will silence the voices of over 170 million Americans here in the US and around the world on January 19th, 2025.” Though the case is squarely in the court system, its also possible the two companies might be thrown some sort of a lifeline by President-elect Donald Trump, who tried to ban TikTok during his first term but said during the presidential campaign that he is now against such action. The law, signed by President Joe Biden in April, was the culmination of a years-long saga in Washington over the short-form video-sharing app, which the government sees as a national security threat due to its connections to China. The US has said it’s concerned about TikTok collecting vast swaths of user data, including sensitive information on viewing habits, that could fall into the hands of the Chinese government through coercion. Officials have also warned the proprietary algorithm that fuels what users see on the app is vulnerable to manipulation by Chinese authorities, who can use it to shape content on the platform in a way that’s difficult to detect — a concern mirrored by the European Union on Friday as it scrutinises the video-sharing app’s role in the Romanian elections. TikTok, which sued the government over the law in May, has long denied it could be used by Beijing to spy on or manipulate Americans. Its attorneys have accurately pointed out that the US hasn’t provided evidence to show that the company handed over user data to the Chinese government, or manipulated content for Beijing’s benefit in the US. They have also argued the law is predicated on future risks, which the Department of Justice has emphasised pointing in part to unspecified action it claims the two companies have taken in the past due to demands from the Chinese government. Friday’s ruling came after the appeals court panel, composed of two Republican and one Democrat appointed judges, heard oral arguments in September. In the hearing, which lasted more than two hours, the panel appeared to grapple with how TikTok’s foreign ownership affects its rights under the Constitution and how far the government could go to curtail potential influence from abroad on a foreign-owned platform. On Friday, all three of them denied TikTok’s petition. In the court’s ruling, Ginsburg, a Republican appointee, rejected TikTok’s main legal arguments against the law, including that the statute was an unlawful bill of attainder or a taking of property in violation of the Fifth Amendment. He also said the law did not violate the First Amendment because the government is not looking to “suppress content or require a certain mix of content” on TikTok. “Content on the platform could in principle remain unchanged after divestiture, and people in the United States would remain free to read and share as much PRC propaganda (or any other content) as they desire on TikTok or any other platform of their choosing,” Ginsburg wrote, using the abbreviation for the People’s Republic of China. Judge Sri Srinivasan, the chief judge on the court, issued a concurring opinion. TikTok’s lawsuit was consolidated with a second legal challenge brought by several content creators – for which the company is covering legal costs – as well as a third one filed on behalf of conservative creators who work with a nonprofit called BASED Politics Inc. Other organisations, including the Knight First Amendment Institute, had also filed amicus briefs supporting TikTok. “This is a deeply misguided ruling that reads important First Amendment precedents too narrowly and gives the government sweeping power to restrict Americans’ access to information, ideas, and media from abroad,” said Jameel Jaffer, the executive director of the organisation. “We hope that the appeals court’s ruling won’t be the last word.” To assuage concerns about the company’s owners, TikTok says it has invested more than USD 2 billion to bolster protections around US user data. The company has also argued the government’s broader concerns could have been resolved in a draft agreement it provided the Biden administration more than two years ago during talks between the two sides. It has blamed the government for walking away from further negotiations on the agreement, which the Justice Department argues is insufficient. Attorneys for the two companies have claimed it’s impossible to divest the platform commercially and technologically. They also say any sale of TikTok without the coveted algorithm – the platform’s secret sauce that Chinese authorities would likely block under any divesture plan – would turn the US version of TikTok into an island disconnected from other global content. Still, some investors, including Trump’s former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and billionaire Frank McCourt, have expressed interest in purchasing the platform. Both men said earlier this year that they were launching a consortium to purchase TikTok’s US business. This week, a spokesperson for McCourt’s Project Liberty initiative, which aims to protect online privacy, said unnamed participants in their bid have made informal commitments of more than USD 20 billion in capital. AP Tags: TikTok US Share Tweet Send Share Suggest A Correction Enter your email to get our daily news in your inbox. 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Broncos OLB Nik Bonitto contrasts edge rushing dominance with off-the-field kindnessDec. 24—Ray Fittipaldo: Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you! Let's get the chat started. Henry: Ray if they can't win two home games to win the division they don't deserve it. I still think they are lucky to win 1 playoff game. Thoughts? Ray Fittipaldo: I agree with you about the division. They've had everything in front of them for a few weeks now. They still do even though Baltimore has erased that two-game deficit. They don't deserve the AFC North if they can't beat KC and CIN. But I have a little bit of a different take on the playoffs. The Steelers have earned that with quality wins against the Broncos, Chargers, Ravens and Commanders. If they end up winning a playoff game it won't be lucky. It's going to be all about the matchup. I'd favor the Steelers at home versus the Broncos or the Chargers and I think they'd be favored on the road at a Texans team that is very thin on playmakers right now. I wouldn't feel so good about a wild-card game versus the Ravens or Bills. Mike from Iz: Hi Ray, Is it wrong to think we weren't really outplayed in the past two matches? One or two key plays going out way instead of fumbles or intercept and it's a different story. Ray Fittipaldo: I think it's a much different game if Russell Wilson scores instead of fumbles, and the Steelers go up 14-7 in the second quarter. I don't know if they win — they gave up more than 400 yards and couldn't stop Derrick Henry — but I think that changes the complexion of the game. Maybe they don't feed Henry as much if they're trailing. Maybe Lamar presses a bit. The momentum shift was huge there. I don't feel the same way about the Eagles game. They also had 400 yards and did pretty much whatever they wanted on the Steelers defense. The difference was the offense was downright bad in that game, from the players to the coaches and their plan. HalTuna: Hi Ray — best Steelers chat out there! Despite the stats, the defence has been a problem at critical times in recent games and must improve. Injuries aside, in your opinion what can be done to turn this around — defensive game planning seems the same every week, relying on #90 and 56 to generate pressure without anything creative to disrupt the opposing offence. Ray Fittipaldo: If you listen to the players and the coaches, if the communication issues are cleaned up, they'll be in a better spot. I buy that to an extent. The blown coverages have led to easy touchdowns for the opposition. They need to be harder to play against and their red-zone defense has to drastically improve. One other thing I've noticed: when they do bring five or six-man pressures they're not getting home. That's a bit concerning to me. They need to figure that out. If you're going to compromise the back end of your defense, your blitzers have to pressure or get sacks, and they're not doing that. Tom from Mex: Hi, Ray, happy Holidays! I love your chats and insights thanks for that. What is going on with Cam Sutton? You don't hear his name a lot despite all the injuries in the secondary. Ray Fittipaldo: I was talking about just that with some of the other guys on the beat yesterday. The conversation started because the coaches haven't gone to Sutton much with Jackson and Porter injured. It appears they are comfortable using James Pierre and Cory Trice on the outside instead of Sutton. I don't have a huge problem with that because for the most part Pierre and Trice have been fine when they've had to play and Sutton's greatest asset is his versatility. However, we haven't heard his name called very much whether he's in the slot or dropped back at safety. And he was in on the blown coverage on the Mark Andrews TD. He and Damontae Kazee were the two closest defenders. I thought he would have made a bigger impact by now. RAM: Merry Christmas Ray! Do you think our D-line and edge guys will bring it enough to disrupt Mahomes, stuff the run and possibly deliver us a Christmas miracle? Ray Fittipaldo: I wouldn't call it a Christmas miracle if the Steelers win. I know the Chiefs are 14-1, but they've been in a lot of close games. The game is at home on a short week. The Chiefs have made some changes on their line. Thuney is now playing tackle because their previous starter stunk. He's shored up that spot a bit. It's a shame Watt isn't 100% healthy. If he was, I think he'd get great pressure in this matchup. I still think the Steelers can generate pressure, but the biggest task is keeping Mahomes in the pocket and not allowing him to step up and create time or run. In spite of his "ankle injury" he looked pretty darn effective as a runner versus the Texans on Saturday. SC Steeler: Merry Christmas Ray. Thanks for doing these chats. My question: as an ex-offensive lineman what is your take on the epidemic of offensive holding being ignored by game officials in both the NFL and CFB? Have the defenders (especially edge rushers) become so strong and quick that the officials are trying to give the OL a chance? Or do things just happen so quickly that the officials can't see everything that we see on TV? Either way, should the holding rule be re-written to try to provide more consistent enforcement? Ray Fittipaldo: I've heard the refrain since I was kid, and it hasn't changed: you can call holding on every play in the NFL. Playing offensive line is hard. Tackles have to deal with guys who run 4.5 40s. These guys are big too and are capable of beating you with bull rushes. You see how officials are giving tackles the benefit of the doubt on those early sets that look like illegal procedure penalties. Offensive line are allowed to hold as long as it is within the framework of the body. The fact that these guys are getting beat clean and have to commit penalties to keep the QB clean shows you how difficult the position is. Rusty Bleier: Hi Ray! We know that Pickens is the most important player we're hoping returns from injury tomorrow, but who is the second most important, Donte or Larry? Our secondary looked a little lost with our back ups, but we also got gouged by the run game. Thanks! Ray Fittipaldo: Good question. They are extremely thin on the defensive line right now so I might lean Ogunjobi. But they're pretty banged up in the secondary too. Jackson is solid and has shown a knack for creating turnovers. They could use both! J D: Ray, are the Steelers afraid to bring the blitz anymore? Why are they playing soft, rushing only 4 and still giving up wide open receptions? Ray Fittipaldo: As I mentioned above, when they do blitz it hasn't been very effective. Perhaps because they don't do it much. Those ILBs aren't showing a good feel for it. Maybe they're waiting to bring it out for an important game, but whatever happened to the slot corner blitz. It was so effective when Mike Hilton was here. They can go back to that to generate some pressure. Rusty Bleier: Hi Ray! I thought our offense looked good (particularly our run game) on Saturday, minus a couple big mistakes. Do you think we can run on KC and keep MaHomie on the sidelines? Thanks! Ray Fittipaldo: KC has a really good defense so it's not going to be easy. Maybe Chris Jones is banged up and isn't his normal self. That would help. We'll see what his status is later in the day. I suspect he'll play though. I think they're going to have to possess the ball and play defense much better than they have recently to win this game. John from Toronto: Hi Ray. Do you see a changing of the guard in the RB room this week? Will Warren be RB1 for the remainder of the season and into the playoffs? He seems to run harder, hit holes faster and offer more in the passing game. Or will Tomlin stick with Harris as the primary back? Ray Fittipaldo: The coaches kind of brushed off Harris' lack of snaps and touches against the Ravens due to game circumstances. The Steelers were behind and throwing a bunch late in the game so Warren was in there more. I get that, but Warren appears to have fresher legs at this stage of the season. He hits the hole quicker, has more home-run hitting ability and always has been the better pass blocker and receiver out of the backfield. I'm not surprised he's playing more and I think that should continue into the postseason. Martian: GM Ray. Appreciate the holiday chat! I don't understand the hate toward Omar Khan. In one off season he's made us competitive again. Yes we need a WR, but it takes time to build a Super Bowl contender. Feel we as fans should focus our disgust on the fact that we cant call WR open for now. Thoughts? Ray Fittipaldo: It's never enough. And I agree with you it is still very early in Khan's tenure as GM. But this is the NFL. He had a mandate from ownership to win a playoff game this season. He's tried to put together a roster that can do that. Can he be criticized for the WR position? Absolutely. Maybe he should have been more aggressive in the summer to fill Diontae Johnson's shoes. But I don't argue with how he's trying to build a contender. He's doing it from the inside-out. Most great teams solidify the trenches first and that's what Khan is trying to do. Alan in Alabama: Good morning! I've been ranting for several years that the individual talent on this defense is much better than the actual production. Yes. They rank highly most of the time. That doesn't always account for situational football. I know it will NEVER happen but this organization is wasting some incredible careers because of terrible schemes and coaching on the defensive side and they NEED to address this. The next time I have to hear about people not knowing their jobs or a lack of communication, I'm going to freak out! Haha. How about they maybe just decide to cover all the Pro Bowlers on the other team? Perhaps that'll be a great place to start? Ray Fittipaldo: Good post, Alan. Not sure there is a question in there for me to answer, but I'm sure other Steelers fans share your point of view. I wrote about much of what you said earlier in the week. Even Mike Tomlin said it's unacceptable that guys are being left wide open. Things have to change and they have to change quickly. Greg: My best to everyone at P-G for a great holiday and thanks for all of your hard work. Can I get your thoughts on the new college football playoff system? Not really watchable games so far. Did the blowouts last weekend make you rethink the layout? Ray Fittipaldo: The best teams didn't get rewarded. Boise State and Arizona State got byes but they're not one of the top four teams in the country. I think we can all agree on that. How about Oregon being the No. 1 seed and having to play Ohio State in a quarterfinal game? The Ducks beat the Buckeyes at home early in the season, but it was a struggle. Then you see how Penn State gets SMU at home and then Boise in the quarters. Hey, maybe Boise will step up and prove me wrong, but the seeding seems out of whack to me. brian: Happy Christmas Eve Ray, Are you surprised at teams that continue to pick up malcontent players thinking it won't be the same when they play with them? Johnson is on his third team in a year. Doesn't anyone remember Antonio Brown and his trail of carnage? Yet teams bring these players into their locker rooms. Are they desperate and just roll the dice? Ray Fittipaldo: Well, the Texans are. They just lost Tank Dell and they lost Stephon Diggs earlier in the season. They need bodies. Jim Bow Dean: I know they were hit hard by injuries, and are starting two rookies, but the OL seems to be regressing. Is it time to move on from Meyer? Ray Fittipaldo: I wouldn't go that far, but the line has t play much better than it has been if they want to win a playoff game. Jim Bow Dean: Lots of talk about communication issues on defense. Isn't that a poor reflection on the coaching staff? Ray Fittipaldo: Anytime that happens yes it is. Teryl Austin shouldered some of the blame yesterday. He said he has to make sure his players not only are giving information but those are receiving have to let people know they got the call too. Bill: Steeler get tough Chiefs matchup on short rest but Ravens get one with Texans too. Should we be more worried about next week? Bengals could have outside chance for WC while Browns are toast. Ray Fittipaldo: The Texans are not as good as they were last year and now they have almost no WRs left after Dell got hurt. Pitt58steel: Hello Ray thanks for the chat and Merry Christmas! Why are we not involving our TE's more in the passing game. It seems like they are open most of the time. They all have good hands so what seems to be the problem? Ray Fittipaldo: Wilson is 5-10. You saw how the Eagles batted down some passes. It's hard to throw over the middle when you can't see the full picture from the pocket. Rugrat: Ray, you commented that on the long ball to Austin he could have cone back to break it, but isn't it also Wilson threw that ball late, due to pressure or whatever. Still it's not the first ball I've seen him throw late. Isn't some of it on him? Ray Fittipaldo: I agree. Wilson could have given him a better ball. But when the ball is floating out there, the WR has to adjust. I just think if he comes back for the ball and Hamilton hits him before the ball gets there he might have drawn a flag. But when you don't come back for the ball it becomes Hamilton's ball just as much as Austin's. Guest: Am I missing something on the taunting rule ? Ray Fittipaldo: No. NFL officials are inept. RJT: are we in the midst of another Tomlin late season collapse? Ray Fittipaldo: Check back tomorrow at 4:30 John in SC: Sorry hit the wrong button. Let's try again. Happy Holidays Ray! Why do the Steelers have to make playing defense so complicated? As Tunch used to say put a hat on a hat. With a 4 man rush, that leaves 7 players to cover potentially 6: 3 WR, 2 TE, and a RB. At the current play, we are consistently allowing open receivers. They use communication as blame all the time. Can't we just simplify things and play football? Ray Fittipaldo: They don't want to simplify things because they don't want to be too vanilla. Good QBs will pick apart vanilla defenses. So they expect their players to comprehend the defense and to communicate calls in order to be in the right position. venosf: Good Merry Christmas to you Ray! At full stength, it feels like the only AFC team the Steelers really have to worry about are The Bills...and of course, The Steelers beating themselves. What say you, sir? Ray Fittipaldo: I think the Bills are the best team in the AFC, but i wouldn't feel great about going to Baltimore or KC for a playoff game. That's why winning these next two games are so important. If they win their final two they will win the AFC North and play host to at least one home playoff game. Colonel: If the Steelers end up with only a wild card spot and no playoff wins, would there be any significant changes made for next season? Is doing the same thing every season and having the same results acceptable to ownership? Ray Fittipaldo: I think there would be some changes. There almost always is. I would think the new strength and conditioning staff will be something to watch if they do indeed fail to win a playoff game. Mike in Mechanicsburg: I was kind of surprised to see that Quez Watkins was still on the practice squad. I'm wondering if he has been active for any games? If not, why is he still around, given the lack of alternatives at wide receiver? Ray Fittipaldo: He didn't show much in camp to be honest with you. Ray Fittipaldo: OK folks. That's it for today. Enjoy the day and the game tomorrow. We'll be back on New Year's Even next week! (c)2024 the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Visit the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette at www.post-gazette.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Antitrust enforcers with the Federal Trade Commission have opened a wide-ranging investigation into Microsoft’s business practices, starting a big legal project that an incoming Trump administration must take up or abandon. The FTC is investigating Microsoft’s cloud computing business and related product lines such as artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, according to a person who was not authorized to discuss details of the investigation publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. It’s the latest action of more than three years of aggressive antitrust enforcement shepherded by FTC Chair Lina Khan, who was elevated to lead the agency by President Joe Biden after he came into office pledging tougher scrutiny of monopolistic behavior by Big Tech companies. Khan’s FTC already lost one antitrust fight with Microsoft last year when a federal judge declined to block its $69 billion takeover of video game company Activision Blizzard. This case would go deeper into the core of Microsoft’s business in a way the company hasn’t experienced in the U.S. since its antitrust showdown with the Justice Department in the 1990s. Bloomberg News first reported about the investigation last week. The case will only move forward if President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to lead the FTC decides to continue the investigation and take it to court. Some analysts are expecting a lighter approach to the tech industry under Trump, though incoming Vice President JD Vance has praised Khan’s work.Game-Changer Alert! Taiwan Semiconductor Stocks on the RiseSocial workers, police officers partnering to help those in need in Camden Co.