Overall, the Big Ten was bad this year. So, pretty impressive to have two teams one game away from the FF.

Btw, how many teams did the “best” conference in basketball get to the Elite 8? I’m sure all our Cyclone friends who were here in droves after the Big 12 tournament will be by all weekend to answer. 🙄

Will you commit to it?

I'll only leave if he starts a major war...which seems possible.

Will you leave and where will you go?

See :20 mark:

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PLUS:

he Hochul administration is quietly using taxpayer dollars to gift cash payments to thousands of migrants who don’t qualify for typical welfare assistance, The Post has learned.

The cash windfall was made possible by the state Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance modifying its “Safety Net Assistance” program’s eligibility rules in May to include non-citizens with pending applications for legal asylum status.

The announcement was made through an under-the-radar message the agency sent out to social services agencies across the state.

The OTDA declined to reveal how many migrants have received SNA checks, but estimates that 90% of New York’s current migrant population won’t see additional benefits under the rule change.

With more than 173,000 migrants coming to the Big Apple since spring 2022, if only 10% of migrants here are eligible for SNA payments, the number of recipients could exceed 17,000 in NYC alone.

66,000 migrants currently remain in the city’s care.

ODTA spokesman Anthony Farmer insisted SNA payments to migrants are only a “small portion” of the $4.3 billion Hochul has already set aside to handle the migrant crisis “in the absence of new federal aid.”

“At the request of New York City, OTDA made a technical update to allow a small percentage of migrants to receive certain additional support in compliance with state and federal law,” he said.

Migrants like the ones living at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn can only qualify for Safety Net Assistance if they have completed their paperwork to obtain legal asylum status. Aristide Economopoulos
SNA is a state program similar to welfare, and it has historically provided cash payments to needy New Yorkers who don’t qualify for conventional public assistance, including single adults, childless couples, and families of persons abusing alcohol and drugs.

Recipients typically get monthly checks totaling hundreds of dollars and must only use the money to help pay rent and utility costs or purchase clothing or other necessities.

The rule change is the latest in a long list of moves by the city and state to roll out the welcome mat for migrants – including Mayor Adams’ new $53 million pilot program to supply migrant families with pre-paid credit cards to purchase food and baby supplies, critics said.

It’s “horrible that Gov. Hochul found another way to attract migrants” to the state – while at the same time “putting the squeeze” on longtime lower- and middle-class New Yorkers who can’t afford to have their tax dollars go towards helping non-citizens, said Rep. Nicole Malliotakis.

“You have people from all over the world coming to New York to take advantage of all these left-wing programs the governor, the mayor are implementing, while at the same time, they’re clobbering taxpayers over the head,” the Staten Island Republican added.

“[Safety Net Assistance] is a program that’s supposed to be for New Yorkers who temporarily need it to get through a difficult time in their lives.”

Councilman Robert Holden (D-Queens) agreed, saying “The endless handouts to the entire world are a slap in the face to every citizen who has contributed to and sacrificed for this country.”

Homeless migrants received food and clothing in Manhattan’s Tompkins Square Park last month. Getty Images
“It’s time to end this madness,” he added.

Critics also warn that as the migrant population continues to soar, so will the costs — including for SNA payments.

Adams has estimated it will cost NYC $10.6 billion to deal with the migrant surge through June 2026, and last week asked Governor Hochul to cough up another $1.6 billion in migrant aid because the Big Apple holds a vast majority of the state’s migrant population.

New York City is already facing a public assistance crisis helping needy United States citizens.

Most of the 173,000 migrants who have come to New York since since spring of 2022 initially entered the United States by crossing the Mexico-Texas
Last year, the city provided 720,765 residents cash assistance — as welfare rolls reached highs not seen since 2000, The Post reported last week.

To handle that surge, Adams budgeted a staggering $2.46 billion in federal, state, and city funds this year to provide cash assistance to residents unable to work or pay their bills and for their children.

The city’s Department of Social Services and Hochul’s office did not return messages.

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The mayor of Eagle Pass said 2,500 migrants arrived in one day, part of a recent surge in crossings along the border that has taxed local, state and federal resources.

Thousands of migrants crossed into the small city of Eagle Pass, Texas, from Mexico on Wednesday, crowding onto the banks of the Rio Grande and under an international bridge in what officials described as an unfolding crisis.
The mayor, Rolando Salinas Jr., declared a state of emergency, seeking additional support to respond to an influx of migrants that reached 2,500 on Wednesday, overwhelming the city of 28,000 that has been a focal point of efforts by the state of Texas to deter illegal crossings.
The arrivals, including a large number of people from Venezuela, were part of a substantial increase in recent crossings along the southern border. The number of arrivals has reached levels not seen in months, taxing local governments in California, Arizona and Texas as large numbers of people claiming asylum have been released by Border Patrol agents directly into border communities.
That was the case in Eagle Pass, officials said, where the city’s lone shelter provider strained to accommodate the sudden arrival of so many people. Many were released onto the streets of the city.



“They are walking around the streets,” Mr. Salinas said in an interview, describing a situation similar to what the city experienced in 2021. “The hospital is getting swamped also.”
In El Paso, which has seen around 1,200 arrivals each day, officials have been scrambling to place migrants in shelters and also in local hotels.

More on U.S. Immigration​

• Temporary Protections: The Biden administration will allow nearly 500,000 Venezuelan migrants already in the United States to live and work legally in the country for 18 months. The decision followed intense advocacy by top New York Democrats.
• At the Border: Thousands of migrants crossed into the small city of Eagle Pass, Texas, from Mexico in one day, crowding onto the banks of the Rio Grande and under an international bridge in what officials described as an unfolding crisis.
• Migrant Child Labor: For thousands of migrant children in the United States, working dangerous jobs that violate child-labor laws is the only American dream there is.

Gov. Greg Abbott blamed the federal government for the arrival of large groups in Eagle Pass on Wednesday, saying Border Patrol agents cut razor wire that had been installed along the river by National Guard members operating under his direction. He said in a social media post that he had deployed additional guard members “to repel illegal crossings and install more razor wire.”
Mr. Salinas said it appeared that it was not federal officials but rather some of the migrants who were able to cut three sections of the concertina wire. “Once they cut it, it kind of opened the floodgates,” he said.
The crossings came after what had been several weeks during which a relatively small number of people had crossed.

​

Most of the migrants were being held temporarily under a bridge near a central city park that had served until recently as a staging ground for state police and National Guard members under Mr. Abbott’s border mission, known as Operation Lone Star.

The city recently ended its agreement with the state police to allow arrests for trespassing in the park though Mr. Salinas said he was thinking of declaring it private property again in order to resume those arrests. Part of Mr. Abbott’s border strategy has been to arrest migrants for criminal trespassing, a misdemeanor, as a means of deterring illegal crossings, though the approach has not appeared to have reduced the number of recent arrivals.
Eagle Pass has also been the setting of a legal confrontation between Texas and the Biden administration over Mr. Abbott’s deployment of a 1,000-yard floating barrier of buoys in the middle of the Rio Grande. The barrier has remained in place pending the court fight over its legality. It did not appear to have been a factor in the recent crossings.
Images of people huddled under a bridge in Eagle Pass recalled scenes in September 2021 when thousands of Haitian migrants crowded for days under a bridge in the city of Del Rio, Texas, a short drive north along the border. In that case, it took the Biden administration days to process the migrants or deport them.
On Wednesday, federal officials said that an additional 800 active-duty military personnel had been deployed to the border to help process the arrivals. And Alejandro N. Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary, said the federal government had extended temporary protective status for Venezuelan asylum seekers, protecting those who arrived before the end of July from removal and allowing them to work.

Such an action had been called for by migrant advocates and officials in major cities like New York who sought work authorization for the tens of thousands of Venezuelans who have arrived in recent months.
Mr. Mayorkas, in a statement, said the change would not apply to more recent arrivals, who, he said, would be “removed when they are found to not have a legal basis to stay.”
Two department officials spoke with reporters on the condition of anonymity during a hastily organized call late Wednesday. They said the administration also increased its holding capacity on the border to accommodate an additional 3,250 people, as border processing centers have reached capacity.
One of the officials attributed the spike in illegal crossings to continued instability in countries like Venezuela with authoritarian governments.
The Biden administration introduced new border policies and legal pathways this year that were intended to drive down the number of people seeking to enter the United States. There was a sharp decline in crossings once all of those measures were in place after May 12, a lull that lasted about six weeks. Crossings began to increase again in July and have risen significantly in recent days.

Mr. Salinas in Eagle Pass said he felt he had no choice but to declare a state of emergency to start receiving again the state resources that had pulled away during the decline in arrivals over the summer.
“We need the extra help, the funding,” he said. “We are losing. Every day the bridge is closed we are losing money,” he said, referring to the federal government’s announcement that it was closing one of the international crossings from Mexico, a major source of income for the city, to free up more resources to process migrants.
“They are coming in with no consequence,” he said of the migrants

Watch: Sanctuary City Mayor Mike Johnston Cries Foul Over Too Many Illegals, Threatens 'Historic' City Service Cuts​

The Democratic mayor of Denver said the onslaught of illegal immigrants into his city could mean service cuts in every part of city government.

Amid media coverage of leaders in Chicago and New York City saying the influx of illegal immigrants has devastated their cities, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston. during an ABC interview last week, sought to portray Denver as having things even worse.

He called his city “ground zero” for the stampede of illegal immigrants into America’s major cities.

“We are the single largest recipient of migrants per capita of any city in America,” he said, claiming Denver has twice the burden of any other U.S. city.

In an interview with CBS that aired Monday, he said Denver has taken in about 35,000 illegal immigrants.

Johnston alleged that Texas is responsible for its troubles, claiming Denver is a prime destination because it is the closest major city to Texas. Beginning in 2021, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott began busing illegal immigrants north into Democratic-run "sanctuary cities" as a way to send a message that Texas had been bearing too great a burden of the illegal immigration that has exploded during the Biden era.

In December alone, Customs and Border Protection processed 300,000 border crossers, a new monthly record, according to CBS News. That's on top of the previous record set in September.

According to a Fox News report Saturday, "since the new fiscal year began on Oct. 1st, there have been more than 760,000 migrant encounters at the southern border, making the first quarter of FY 24 the highest quarter on record."

Johnston told CBS that the nation needs “a coordinated entry plan where it's not just the governor of Texas deciding what cities to send people to.”

Although Johnston said in his ABC interview that he believed Denver had been successful in dealing with the illegal immigrant influx, he also said the city needs to make budget cuts because of what it is spending.

“We’re having that hard conversation with our departments and our city right now. We’d like to avoid that problem,” he said.

“We think if the federal government can take action on the supplemental budget that President Biden has proposed, that would be $14 billion that could help meet this need. And so, we want to avoid having to make those hard trade-offs and we want the federal government to take action,” he said.

“If they don’t, we’ll be looking at a $160 million impact. That’s 10 percent of our entire budget. So, if you imagine cutting all of your city agencies by 10 percent and that would be historic cuts, larger than we’ve seen even in the recession times of the 2009 and 2010 cycle,” he said.’

Johnston, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson have issued a joint call for faster work authorizations for illegal immigrants in their communities, according to KMGH-TV in Denver.

Lack of federal money could impact his and other communities, Johnston said.

“If there is no federal support, there's no coordinate entry, there's no work authorization, then I think cities would have to look at dramatically reducing the amount of services we offered or dramatically cutting our city budgets, which has impacts on other parts of city services,” Johnston said.


According to a CBS report in November, one of the expenses facing Denver has been shipping illegal immigrants to other parts of the U.S.

As a Denver Post article reported in January of last year, Denver has spent years implementing the kind of policies that qualify for the unofficial title of "sanctuary city" for illegal immigration, such as limiting cooperation with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials:

"On Nov. 21, 2016, the Denver City Council adopted a proclamation declaring the city 'welcoming and inclusive of all people.' In August 2017, the mayor signed a City Council bill, the Public Safety Enforcement Priorities Act, that reiterated a 2014 decision that the city and county would not honor ICE holds except as required by law, continue the city of Denver’s policies of employees of not conducting the work of federal immigration enforcement and allow immigrants access to public health and human services programs. The mayor also issued an order to create a legal defense fund for indigent immigrants."

CBS reported that Denver has spent nearly $4.5 million over the past year to send more than 12,000 illegal immigrants out of Colorado

"We say, 'Where do you want to go?' and then we buy them a ticket, usually by bus, and get them on their way," said Jon Ewing, a representative of Denver Human Services, according to CBS.

Chicago, New York City and Salt Lake City are among the top destinations.

"We feel that it's the right thing to do to get them to where they actually want to be," Ewing said.

"If you looked at it in crude financial terms, meaning, if they stayed here for a few weeks and didn't even want to be here, then we'd be paying to support and shelter them here and they didn't even want to be here," he said.



Everyone wants to play like they be a sanctuary city until the illegals actually show up then it be woe is me and then we's get them a bus ticket out of town.

Kudos to Ch 8 for following up on this story…..Today Amanda REooker interviewed Rep Brent Siegrist (R), who used to run the state AEA.
Siegrist was a good solid interview, who UNDERSTANDS this issue. (It’s safe to assume he was not on board with how the Governor went about changing the AEA rules but he did vote for the final bill.)
Originally, the Governor wanted 100% of the AEA funding to run thru the local school districts. The Senate changed the bill to 90% through the local districts. The House changed the final number to 10% to local districts but ALL funding for Special Ed is run through the AEA….10% CAN be directed to the local districts for technical/media support, but ALL Special Ed funding will remain with the AEAs. There will be a legislative commission appointed to see how the “new” legislation is being implemented and how efficient is is.
Siegrist feels the AEAs have been a tremendous “success” in Iowa and how they work with their students. He believed that many Iowans would be disservice by having local districts responsible for their students. He also believes too many Iowans would be asking questions about who is responsible for their children’s education especially over the summer months when most of the transfer of the program would be taking place, and no one would have any answers. Rooker also mentioned that the “sample size” used by Reynolds to criticize the AEAs as being “inefficient” was too small….269 statewide student used as sample out of over 79000 students who are tested on their progress. Siegrist agreed. He also mentioned that Iowa tests “special ed” students and once their IEP/level of progress is attained, they are removed from further testing…therefore Iowa will always test these students “artificially low”….As to Iowa being placed on a “federal government watch list” of failure, Siegrist stated currently 26 other states are on this list, too.
As opposed to “teaching to test”, Iowa special Ed concentrates on elevating these students to becoming “independent and self-sufficient” members of society.
It was an interesting 30 minute program. There was a lot of explanation and definition in it. Siegrist has solid knowledge and understands what AEAs do. He feels the new law will justify the AEAs as a solid educator for special education and the competition in technical and media aspects of education should make all involved better. He did feel that the Governor could have gone about introducing her ideas in a better way. (He’ll probably get primaried, now!)

I saw the little bit that was on Hawk Central.

He sounded beaten down and humbled. We can all only hope this experience results in a lot of changes in how TnT run the program.

Did you get the same or different impression?

As much as I, for one, get frustrated with him and his coaching, I would love to see nothing more than TnT get the program turned around.

No one loves the Hawks more than TnT.

However, after 20+ years of coaching, coaches rarely if ever make significant changes.

Thoughts? Are TnT willing and capable of resurrection?

Iowa pitcher Jalen Adams threw a no-hitter in Iowa's 4-0 win over Michigan State tonight.

Very impressive performance.

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Easter Sunday in America traces its origins to both Christian tradition and pagan rituals celebrating the arrival of spring. It commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ after his crucifixion. For some, celebrating Easter is a religious observance, symbolizing redemption and new life. Others embrace it as a cultural tradition, enjoying activities like egg hunts and family gatherings. Some may simply appreciate the arrival of spring, while others choose not to celebrate it at all due to personal beliefs or indifference to religious holidays.

Is gross…. Alabama had 8 new players and 3 new coaches this year and “earned” their way to the final 4. I’m starting to hate the affiliation of “minor leagues” with colleges/universities. It’s professional sports imo and losing its luster very quickly. What say you?

7 of the 7 guys that play for NC State came in as transfers from another program.

Time to embrace transfer portal a bit more?

The average man in Israel must serve 3 years active duty, plus years in the reserves. Women must serve for 2 years. The ultra orthodox have been exempted, until now. For years there has been growing discontent in Israel over support given to the ultra orthodox, and preferential treatment extended to them. As the war drags on, this tension is being heightened as so many men and women have had their lives put on hold after being called up to active duty status, and economic hardships are endured. If the ultra orthodox feel threatened they may peel away from Bibi Netanyahu's ruling coalition.
https://apnews.com/article/israel-ultra-orthodox-war-netanyahu-gaza-1536d26e9a2720d19210f513697ff5ed

Just curious

Boxcar Willie. Christy Lane. Slim Whitman. K-Tel.

What you got?

A vote for Biden says you have confidence in the people who are really running things.

A vote for Trump says you have confidence in the people who will keep Trump from running things.

That's my take. What's yours?

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Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

2:30pm ABC

Deja Vu, the hawks beat the Buffs 87-77 in the sweet sixteen last season in Seattle.

We are still waiting to see Iowa clicking on all cylinders. I’m seeing a 89-82 victory.

Go Hawks!

OK, maybe not.

Is No Labels EVER going to come up with a ticket? The Rs and Ds are already locked in - barring disqualification by old age, conviction, or an outbreak of common sense across the nation.

So what are they waiting for? Surely they can find somebody to run.

I suggest they revamp the Jefferson Airplane song Somebody to Run to help with recruiting.

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