Pope Francis, historys first Latin American pontiff who charmed the world with his humble style and concern for the poor but alienated conservatives with critiques of capitalism and climate change, died Monday. He was 88.

Bells tolled in church towers across Rome after the announcement, which was read out by Cardinal Kevin Ferrell, the Vatican camerlengo, from the chapel of the Domus Santa Marta, where Francis lived.

At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the home of the Father. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and of his Church, Ferrell said.

Francis, who suffered from chronic lung disease and had part of one lung removed as a young man, was admitted to Gemelli hospital on Feb. 14, 2025, for a respiratory crisis that developed into double pneumonia. He spent 38 days there, the longest hospitalization of his 12-year papacy.

But he emerged on Easter Sunday a day before his death to bless thousands of people in St. Peters Square and treat them to a surprise popemobile romp through the piazza, drawing wild cheers and applause.

From his first greeting as pope a remarkably normal Buonasera (Good evening) to his embrace of refugees and the downtrodden, Francis signaled a very different tone for the papacy, stressing humility over hubris for a Catholic Church beset by scandal and accusations of indifference.

After that rainy night on March 13, 2013, the Argentine-born Jorge Mario Bergoglio brought a breath of fresh air into a 2,000-year-old institution that had seen its influence wane during the troubled tenure of Pope Benedict XVI, whose surprise resignation led to Francis election.

But Francis soon invited troubles of his own, and conservatives grew increasingly upset with his progressive bent, outreach to LGBTQ+ Catholics and crackdown on traditionalists. His greatest test came in 2018 when he botched a notorious case of clergy sexual abuse in Chile, and the scandal that festered under his predecessors erupted anew on his watch.

And then Francis, the crowd-loving, globe-trotting pope of the peripheries, navigated the unprecedented reality of leading a universal religion through the coronavirus pandemic from a locked-down Vatican City.

He implored the world to use COVID-19 as an opportunity to rethink the economic and political framework that he said had turned rich against poor.

We have realized that we are on the same boat, all of us fragile and disoriented, Francis told an empty St. Peters Square in March 2020. But he also stressed the pandemic showed the need for all of us to row together, each of us in need of comforting the other.

Reforming the Vatican

Francis was elected on a mandate to reform the Vatican bureaucracy and finances but went further in shaking up the church without changing its core doctrine. Who am I to judge? he replied when asked about a purportedly gay priest.

The comment sent a message of welcome to the LGBTQ+ community and those who felt shunned by a church that had stressed sexual propriety over unconditional love. Being homosexual is not a crime, he told The Associated Press in 2023, urging an end to civil laws that criminalize it.

Stressing mercy, Francis changed the churchs position on the death penalty, calling it inadmissible in all circumstances. He also declared the possession of nuclear weapons, not just their use, was immoral.

In other firsts, he approved an agreement with China over bishop nominations that had vexed the Vatican for decades, met the Russian patriarch and charted new relations with the Muslim world by visiting the Arabian Peninsula and Iraq.

He reaffirmed the all-male, celibate priesthood and upheld the churchs opposition to abortion, equating it to hiring a hitman to solve a problem.

Roles for women

But he added women to important decision-making roles and allowed them to serve as lectors and acolytes in parishes. He let women vote alongside bishops in periodic Vatican meetings, following longstanding complaints that women do much of the churchs work but are barred from power.

Sister Nathalie Becquart, whom Francis named to one of the highest Vatican jobs, said his legacy was a vision of a church where men and women existed in a relationship of reciprocity and respect.

It was about shifting a pattern of domination from human being to the creation, from men to women to a pattern of cooperation, said Becquart, the first woman to hold a voting position in a Vatican synod.

The church as refuge

While Francis did not allow women to be ordained, the voting reform was part of a revolutionary change in emphasizing what the church should be: a refuge for everyone todos, todos, todos (everyone, everyone, everyone) not for the privileged few. Migrants, the poor, prisoners and outcasts were invited to his table far more than presidents or powerful CEOs.

For Pope Francis, it was always to extend the arms of the church to embrace all people, not to exclude anyone, said Cardinal Kevin Farrell, whom Francis named as camerlengo, taking charge after a pontiffs death or retirement.

Francis demanded his bishops apply mercy and charity to their flocks, pressed the world to protect Gods creation from climate disaster, and challenged countries to welcome those fleeing war, poverty and oppression.

After visiting Mexico in 2016, Francis said of then-U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump that anyone building a wall to keep migrants out is not Christian.

While progressives were thrilled with Francis radical focus on Jesus message of mercy and inclusion, it troubled conservatives who feared he watered down Catholic teaching and threatened the very Christian identity of the West. Some even called him a heretic.

A few cardinals openly challenged him. Francis usually responded with his typical answer to conflict: silence.

He made it easier for married Catholics to get an annulment, allowed priests to absolve women who had had abortions and decreed that priests could bless same-sex couples. He opened debate on issues like homosexuality and divorce, giving pastors wiggle room to discern how to accompany their flocks, rather than handing them strict rules to apply.

St. Francis of Assisi as a model

Francis lived in the Vatican hotel instead of the Apostolic Palace, wore his old orthotic shoes and not the red loafers of the papacy, and rode in compact cars. It wasnt a gimmick.

I see clearly that the thing the church needs most today is the ability to heal wounds and to warm the hearts of the faithful, he told a Jesuit journal in 2013. I see the church as a field hospital after battle.

If becoming the first Latin American and first Jesuit pope wasnt enough, Francis was also the first to name himself after St. Francis of Assisi, the 13th century friar known for personal simplicity, a message of peace, and care for nature and societys outcasts.

Francis sought out the unemployed, the sick, the disabled and the homeless. He formally apologized to Indigenous peoples for the crimes of the church from colonial times onward.

And he himself suffered: He had part of his colon removed in 2021, then needed more surgery in 2023 to repair a painful hernia and remove intestinal scar tissue. Starting in 2022 he regularly used a wheelchair or cane because of bad knees, and endured bouts of bronchitis.

He went to societys fringes to minister with mercy: caressing the grossly deformed head of a man in St. Peters Square, kissing the tattoo of a Holocaust survivor, or inviting Argentinas garbage scavengers to join him onstage in Rio de Janeiro.

We have always been marginalized, but Pope Francis always helped us, said Coqui Vargas, a transgender woman whose Roman community forged a unique relationship with Francis during the pandemic.

His first trip as pope was to the island of Lampedusa, then the epicenter of Europes migration crisis. He consistently chose to visit poor countries where Christians were often persecuted minorities, rather than the centers of global Catholicism.

Friend and fellow Argentine, Bishop Marcelo Snchez Sorondo, said his concern for the poor and disenfranchised was based on the Beatitudes -- the eight blessings Jesus delivered in the Sermon on the Mount for the meek, the merciful, the poor in spirit and others.

Why are the Beatitudes the program of this pontificate? Because they were the basis of Jesus Christs own program, Snchez said.

Missteps on sexual abuse scandal

But more than a year passed before Francis met with survivors of priestly sexual abuse, and victims groups initially questioned whether he really understood the scope of the problem.

Francis did create a sex abuse commission to advise the church on best practices, but it lost its influence after a few years and its recommendation of a tribunal to judge bishops who covered up for predator priests went nowhere.

And then came the greatest crisis of his papacy, when he discredited Chilean abuse victims in 2018 and stood by a controversial bishop linked to their abuser. Realizing his error, Francis invited the victims to the Vatican for a personal mea culpa and summoned the leadership of the Chilean church to resign en masse.

As that crisis concluded, a new one erupted over ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the retired archbishop of Washington and a counselor to three popes.

Francis had actually moved swiftly to sideline McCarrick amid an accusation he had molested a teenage altar boy in the 1970s. But Francis nevertheless was accused by the Vaticans one-time U.S. ambassador of having rehabilitated McCarrick early in his papacy.

Francis eventually defrocked McCarrick after a Vatican investigation determined he sexually abused adults as well as minors. He changed church law to remove the pontifical secret surrounding abuse cases and enacted procedures to investigate bishops who abused or covered for their pedophile priests, seeking to end impunity for the hierarchy.

He sincerely wanted to do something and he transmitted that, said Juan Carlos Cruz, a Chilean abuse survivor Francis discredited who later developed a close friendship with the pontiff.

A change from Benedict

The road to Francis 2013 election was paved by Pope Benedict XVIs decision to resign and retire the first in 600 years and it created the unprecedented reality of two popes living in the Vatican.

Francis didnt shy from Benedicts potentially uncomfortable shadow. He embraced him as an elder statesman and adviser, coaxing him out of his cloistered retirement to participate in the public life of the church.

Its like having your grandfather in the house, a wise grandfather, Francis said.

Francis praised Benedict by saying he opened the door to others following suit, fueling speculation that Francis also might retire. But after Benedicts death on Dec. 31, 2022, he asserted that in principle the papacy is a job for life.

Francis looser liturgical style and pastoral priorities made clear he and the German-born theologian came from very different religious traditions, and Francis directly overturned several decisions of his predecessor.

He made sure Salvadoran Archbishop scar Romero, a hero to the liberation theology movement in Latin America, was canonized after his case languished under Benedict over concerns about the credos Marxist bent.

Francis reimposed restrictions on celebrating the old Latin Mass that Benedict had relaxed, arguing the spread of the Tridentine Rite was divisive. The move riled Francis traditionalist critics and opened sustained conflict between right-wing Catholics, particularly in the U.S., and the Argentine pope.

Conservatives oppose Francis

By then, conservatives had already turned away from Francis, betrayed after he opened debate on allowing remarried Catholics to receive the sacraments if they didnt get an annulment a church ruling that their first marriage was invalid.

We dont like this pope, headlined Italys conservative daily Il Foglio a few months into the papacy, reflecting the unease of the small but vocal traditionalist Catholic movement that was coddled under Benedict.

Those same critics amplified their complaints after Francis approved church blessings for same-sex couples, and a controversial accord with China over nominating bishops.

Its details were never released, but conservative critics bashed it as a sellout to communist China, while the Vatican defended it as the best deal it could get with Beijing.

U.S. Cardinal Raymond Burke, a figurehead in the anti-Francis opposition, said the church had become like a ship without a rudder.

Burke waged his opposition campaign for years, starting when Francis fired him as the Vaticans supreme court justice and culminating with his vocal opposition to Francis 2023 synod on the churchs future.

Twice, he joined other conservative cardinals in formally asking Francis to explain himself on doctrine issues reflecting a more progressive bent, including on the possibility of same-sex blessings and his outreach to divorced and civilly remarried Catholics.

Francis eventually sanctioned Burke financially, accusing him of sowing disunity. It was one of several personnel moves he made in both the Vatican and around the world to shift the balance of power from doctrinaire leaders to more pastoral ones.

Francis insisted his bishops and cardinals imbue themselves with the odor of their flock and minister to the faithful, voicing displeasure when they didnt.

His 2014 Christmas address to the Vatican Curia was one of the greatest public papal reprimands ever: Standing in the marbled Apostolic Palace, Francis ticked off 15 ailments that he said can afflict his closest collaborators, including spiritual Alzheimers, lusting for power and the terrorism of gossip.

Trying to eliminate corruption, Francis oversaw the reform of the scandal-marred Vatican bank and sought to wrestle Vatican bureaucrats into financial line, limiting their compensation and ability to receive gifts or award public contracts.

He authorized Vatican police to raid his own secretariat of state and the Vaticans financial watchdog agency amid suspicions about a 350 million euro investment in a London real estate venture. After a 2 1/2-year trial, the Vatican tribunal convicted a once-powerful cardinal, Angelo Becciu, of embezzlement and returned mixed verdicts to nine others, acquitting one.

The trial, though, proved to be a reputational boomerang for the Holy See, showing deficiencies in the Vaticans legal system, unseemly turf battles among monsignors, and how the pope had intervened on behalf of prosecutors.

While earning praise for trying to turn the Vaticans finances around, Francis angered U.S. conservatives for his frequent excoriation of the global financial market that favors the rich over the poor.

Economic justice was an important themes of his papacy, and he didnt hide it in his first meeting with journalists when he said he wanted a poor church that is for the poor.

In his first major teaching document, The Joy of the Gospel, Francis denounced trickle-down economic theories as unproven and naive, based on a mentality where the powerful feed upon the powerless with no regard for ethics, the environment or even God.

Money must serve, not rule! he said in urging political reforms.

He elaborated on that in his major eco-encyclical Praised Be, denouncing the structurally perverse global economic system that he said exploited the poor and risked turning Earth into an immense pile of filth.

Some U.S. conservatives branded Francis a Marxist. He jabbed back by saying he had many friends who were Marxists.

Soccer, opera and prayer

Born Dec. 17, 1936, in Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Bergoglio was the eldest of five children of Italian immigrants.

He credited his devout grandmother Rosa with teaching him how to pray. Weekends were spent listening to opera on the radio, going to Mass and attending matches of the familys beloved San Lorenzo soccer club. As pope, his love of soccer brought him a huge collection of jerseys from visitors.

He said he received his religious calling at 17 while going to confession, recounting in a 2010 biography that, I dont know what it was, but it changed my life. ... I realized that they were waiting for me.

He entered the diocesan seminary but switched to the Jesuit order in 1958, attracted to its missionary tradition and militancy.

Around this time, he suffered from pneumonia, which led to the removal of the upper part of his right lung. His frail health prevented him from becoming a missionary, and his less-than-robust lung capacity was perhaps responsible for his whisper of a voice and reluctance to sing at Mass.

On Dec. 13, 1969, he was ordained a priest, and immediately began teaching. In 1973, he was named head of the Jesuits in Argentina, an appointment he later acknowledged was crazy given he was only 36. My authoritarian and quick manner of making decisions led me to have serious problems and to be accused of being ultraconservative, he admitted in his Civilta Cattolica interview.

Life under Argentinas dictatorship

His six-year tenure as provincial coincided with Argentinas murderous 1976-83 dictatorship, when the military launched a campaign against left-wing guerrillas and other regime opponents.

Bergoglio didnt publicly confront the junta and was accused of effectively allowing two slum priests to be kidnapped and tortured by not publicly endorsing their work.

He refused for decades to counter that version of events. Only in a 2010 authorized biography did he finally recount the behind-the-scenes lengths he used to save them, persuading the family priest of feared dictator Jorge Videla to call in sick so he could say Mass instead. Once in the junta leaders home, Bergoglio privately appealed for mercy. Both priests were eventually released, among the few to have survived prison.

As pope, accounts began to emerge of the many people -- priests, seminarians and political dissidents -- whom Bergoglio actually saved during the dirty war, letting them stay incognito at the seminary or helping them escape the country.

Bergoglio went to Germany in 1986 to research a never-finished thesis. Returning to Argentina, he was stationed in Cordoba during a period he described as a time of great interior crisis. Out of favor with more progressive Jesuit leaders, he was eventually rescued from obscurity in 1992 by St. John Paul II, who named him an auxiliary bishop of Buenos Aires. He became archbishop six years later, and was made a cardinal in 2001.

He came close to becoming pope in 2005 when Benedict was elected, gaining the second-most votes in several rounds of balloting before bowing out.

Pope Francis, the 266th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, has died at the age of 88.

The Vatican announced Francis died at 7:35 a.m. on Monday, one day after Easter.

"Francis returned to the house of the Father. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and of His Church," said Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Camerlengo of the Apostolic Chamber. "He taught us to live the values of the Gospel with fidelity, courage, and universal love, especially in favor of the poorest and most marginalized. With immense gratitude for his example as a true disciple of the Lord Jesus, we commend the soul of Pope Francis to the infinite merciful love of the One and Triune God."

The pope was recently released from the hospital after complications from pneumonia in both lungs.

Francis was born in Argentina in 1936 as Jorge Mario Bergoglio. He's the son of Italian immigrants.

As a student, he worked as a nightclub bouncer and considered a career in chemistry before entering a Jesuit school in 1958.

There, he rose through the ranks, becoming a priest, archbishop of Buenos Aires and finally a cardinal in 2001.

In 2013, he became the first Latin American and the first Jesuit pope.

He chose his papal name in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of the poor a name he strove to embody throughout his papacy.

Much of his teachings focused on the impoverished. He denounced certain tenets of capitalism in early writings, remarking, "How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points?"

He also emphasized environmental stewardship, referring to the planet as our "common home" and urging the faithful to take responsibility for its care.

His tenure was also marked by efforts to address financial scandals within the Vatican and the global crisis of clergy sexual abuse and cover-ups.

In 2018 he took a small step in reconciliation, apologizing to abuse survivors after defending a Chilean bishop accused of turning a blind eye to abuse. Later, he apologized to scores of Indigenous people in Canada who suffered abuse at Catholic-run schools.

He also formally defrocked Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who was accused of abusing men and children for decades.

He helped establish a handbook that encouraged clergy members to report sexual abuse allegations to legal authorities.

Francis also addressed other areas of contention, including the role of women in the church, placing women in more senior roles at the Vatican.

His progressive leadership was also felt in the LGBTQ+ community. He made headlines in 2016 after saying the church "should apologize to the person who is gay whom it has offended" and encouraged parents to welcome their LGBTQ children.

In 2023, the Vatican stated that transgender people could be baptized under certain circumstances. Pope Francis also approved the blessings of same-sex couples.

His inclusive stances and focus on issues of social justice often put him at odds with more conservative members of the church.

Francis didn't shy away from international political conflicts. Placing himself in the center of Russia's war with Ukraine, allowing a Ukrainian and Russian woman to participate together in Easter services and repeatedly calling for an end to the violence.

He also met with Israeli and Palestinian families impacted by the war there; praying for both sides and calling the conflict 'terrorism,' a comment that stirred controversy in Israel.

Later in his papacy, he was frequently hospitalized and suffered from nerve pain, mobility issues and respiratory illnesses.

Francis hinted at stepping down in 2022, saying the door was open to a resignation, and "it's not strange. It's not a catastrophe. You can change the pope."

Today is Monday, April 21, the 111th day of 2025. There are 254 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On April 21, 2016, Prince, one of the most inventive and influential musicians of modern times, was found dead at his home in suburban Minneapolis from an accidental fentanyl overdose; he was 57.

Also on this date:

In 1836, an army of Texans, led by Sam Houston, defeated the Mexican Army, led by Antonio López de Santa Anna, in the Battle of San Jacinto, the final battle of the Texas Revolution.

In 1910, author Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, died in Redding, Connecticut, at age 74.

In 1918, German Air Force pilot Manfred von Richthofen, nicknamed “The Red Baron,” was killed at age 25 after being shot during a World War I air battle over Vaux-sur-Somme, France.

In 1930, fire broke out inside the overcrowded Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus, killing 322 inmates in the deadliest prison disaster in U.S. history.

In 1975, with Communist forces closing in, South Vietnamese President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu resigned after nearly 10 years in office, fleeing the country five days later.

In 1980, Rosie Ruiz was the first woman to cross the finish line at the Boston Marathon, but was later exposed as having cheated by entering the racecourse less than 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) before the finish line. (Canadian Jacqueline Gareau was named the actual winner of the women’s race.)

In 2015, an Egyptian criminal court sentenced ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi to 20 years in prison over the killing of protesters in 2012. (Morsi collapsed and died during trial on espionage charges in June 2019.)

Today’s Birthdays:

• Actor-comedian-filmmaker Elaine May is 93.
• Author-activist Sister Helen Prejean is 86.
• Singer Iggy Pop is 78.
• Actor Patti LuPone is 76.
• Actor Tony Danza is 74.
• Actor Andie MacDowell is 67.
• Musician Robert Smith (The Cure) is 66.
• Actor Rob Riggle is 55.
• Actor James McAvoy is 46.
• Former NFL quarterback Tony Romo is 45.
• Actor Gugu Mbatha-Raw is 42.

ANN ARBOR — Michigan’s Fred Richard and Paul Juda finished first and second in the all-around and Wolverines team total of 332.224 edged them past five-time defending champion Stanford (332.961) on Saturday to win their first NCAA men’s gymnastics title since 2014.

Juda, the individual champion on the parallel bars with a score of 14.200 and host Michigan’s last competitor of the day, scored a 13.966 on the vault to clinch the program’s seventh national title. The Wolverines finished second, 5.635 points behind Stanford, at the 2024 championships.

Oklahoma finished third with 327.891, ahead of Nebraska (326.222), Penn State (317.258) and Illinois was sixth with 316.293. Penn State and Oklahoma each hold a record 12 national titles.

Stanford’s Asher Hong took home the individual title in the floor exercise (14.600) and defended his crown with a score of 14.433 on the rings. Patrick Hoopes of Air Force scored a 14.833 to win the horse championship, Ohio State’s Kameron Nelson (14.633) won the vault title and Emre Dodanli claimed the high bar championship for Oklahoma with a score of (13.833).

Richard and Juda won bronze medals for Team USA at the Paris Olympics.

DETROIT – Tarik Skubal didn’t want anyone to misinterpret the somber nature of the clubhouse or lose perspective about what’s been going on with this Tigers baseball team.

“We won three out of four,” Skubal reminded everyone after a tough, 4-3, 10-inning loss to the Royals Sunday. “I think the vibe you have in here right now is that we just lost. But look at this series. Winning three our of four is a very positive thing. And we’ve won a lot of series this year. We have to continue doing that and it starts tomorrow against the Padres.”

Contributing to the subdued Easter Sunday vibe, too, was that slugger Kerry Carpenter was pulled from the game in the top of the ninth inning with an apparent right hamstring injury.

“Injuries always suck,” Skubal said. “Hopefully it’s nothing. He’s a big part of our lineup…hopefully it’s nothing serious. Let’s pray for the best.”

Manager AJ Hinch said Carpenter felt something in the hamstring after legging out an infield single in the seventh inning. He would’ve batted third in the bottom of the ninth had he been able to stay in the game.

Carpenter was sent for tests after the game and was not available to comment.

“All losses are tough to swallow,” Hinch said. “This was a winnable game. We put ourselves in position and probably could’ve tacked on and created a little more space. But they did a good job of battling back.”

What stings, too, is that the Tigers contributed to their own demise. The Royals tied the game in the top of the eighth with an unearned run, created by a Javier Baez throwing error. And the Royals won it in the 10th, scoring the free runner without the benefit of a hit.

“You mix up any other sequence of events in the 10th and they don’t score a run,” said reliever Tyler Holton who set down six straight hitters in two innings and still got charged with the loss. “They did a good job of getting (the free runner) over and hitting something deep enough to get him in.

“I struck out the last guy. Wish I’d struck out one of the first two.”

The free runner was Drew Waters, whom Holton struck out to end the ninth. Waters advanced to third on a ground out to second by Jonathan India and scored on sacrifice fly to left by Bobby Witt, Jr.

The loss prevented the Tigers not only from the sweep, but also from getting a little slice of history. A win would have made them the first Tigers team in 83 years to start a season 9-1 at home. Not even the champion 1984 team, with a 35-5 start, did that.

They used a Royals’ misplay to break a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the seventh and then returned the favor in the top of the eighth.

Gleyber Torres was on first with one out when first baseman Salvador Perez fielded Carpenter’s ground ball. Both the pitcher, lefty Daniel Lynch, and second baseman Makail Garcia went to cover the base and Perez threw the ball right between them.

t was scored a single and Carpenter, even though he tweaked his hamstring, stayed in the game at that point. Zach McKinstry, whose two-hit RBI single in the fifth tied the game 2-2, was up next. Hinch, with right-handed hitter Andy Ibanez available off his bench, stuck with the lefty-lefty matchup.

“They would’ve brought (righty John) Schreiber in for Ibanez,” Hinch explained. “So the two matchups were a sidearm, nasty righty at 94 mph on Andy or Z-Mac, who has defended himself against a lot of guys. Credit to Z-Mac for giving us the option to hang in there.”

McKinstry, now 7 for 17 against lefties this season, responded with the RBI knock, his third hit of the game.

They missed a chance to expand the lead when Schreiber, the former Tiger and downriver native, got Riley Greene to hit into a 3-2-3 double-play with the bases loaded ending the seventh.

The Tigers gave the lead back in the top of the eighth. With Tommy Kahnle pitching, Baez, playing third base, made an errant throw to first on a ground ball by Witt Jr., a two-base error. One out later, another former Tiger, Mark Canha cashed it in with an RBI single.

The pesky Royals offense made it a short outing for Skubal, too, something they have done to him before. They grind out at-bats, scratch out a few singles and just be a general nuisance. They worked a couple of long innings, pushed his pitch-count up and got him out of the game in five innings. That alone is a win for most teams.

“That’s a good team over there,” Skubal said. “They fouled off a ton of pitches, even good pitches and were able to push some stuff the other way. I gave up seven singles and it seemed like all of them were to the right side. Clearly that was their approach and one through nine they were able to execute it.

“That hard to do and they were able to do it.”

At one point, after Waters blooped a second opposite-field single, Skubal had to joke with him.

“I’ll give you one, but not two,” Skubal said, laughing. “And you saw Salvy (Perez) in the dugout. He was laughing, holding up two fingers.”

The Royals pushed across two runs in the second inning, stringing four singles, including a two-strike RBI single by lefty-swinging Vinnie Pasquantino.

It was just the fifth hit and first RBI Skubal has allowed to a left-handed hitter this season.

“They came out with an incredible team approach against him,” Hinch said. “They were conceding one side of the field (the pull side). They were conceding a lot to create some action on the bases. They did a good job of staying on his fastball and his changeup, fighting off pitches while still working everything toward right field.

“Tarik continued to try and disrupt their timing but not a ton was taking them off their plan.”

Skubal still did a lot of Skubal-like things. He pounded the strike zone (18 of 23 first-pitch strikes), got 12 swings and misses (eight with his changeup on 23 swings) and 21 called strikes.

“That team made me make a bunch of good pitches and they were able to put the bat on some mistakes,” Skubal said. “That’s what that team does. They’re really good.”

He was asked, in hindsight, knowing they were going to be committed to an opposite-field attack plan, what he might’ve done differently to counteract it.

“I probably wouldn’t tell you guys,” he said. “Those are conversations I’ve already had. I think you can see with their swings and stuff. I just need to be better at executing pitches when I know that’s what’s going on.”

Fair enough.

 

Bobby Witt Jr. hit a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the 10th inning, and the Kansas City Royals beat the Detroit Tigers 4-3 Sunday to stop a six-game losing streak.

With the score 3-3, Jonathan India's groundout off Tyler Holton (1-2) advanced automatic runner Drew Waters to third, and Witt hit a 280-foot fly to left. Waters scored headfirst ahead of Riley Greene's throw.

Carlos Estvez (1-0) intentionally walked Greene to put runners on the corners with two outs in the bottom half, then retired Dillon Dingler on a popup.

Kansas City went 2-8 on its trip and is 9-14. Detroit had won three straight.

Detroit left fielder Kerry Carpenter left the game after the eighth inning because of right hamstring soreness.

Tigers ace Tarik Skubal allowed two runs and seven hits in five innings, while Royals starter Michael Wacha gave up two runs and seven hits in 5 1/3 inning

Hunter Pasquantino and Drew Waters built a 2-0 lead with RBI singles in the second, but consecutive, two-out run-scoring singles by Carpenter and Zach McKinstry tied the score inthe fifth.

McKinstry's RBI single in the seventh ended Daniel Lynch IV's scoreless streak at 31 innings.

Mark Canha tied the score in the eighth with an RBI single after Witt reached second on a throwing error by third baseman Javier Bez.

Key moment

With the bases loaded in the seventh, Salvador Perez scooped Greene's grounded and start an inning-ending 3-2-3 double play.

Key stat

Skubal is 11-1 with a 1.96 ERA in 18 starts at home since the start of the 2024 season.

Up next

Royals: LHP Kris Bubic (2-1, 1.88) starts Tuesday homestand opener against Rockies RHP Ryan Feltner (0-1, 4.82).

Tigers: RHP Keider Montero (0-1, 9.00) starts Monday's series opener against Padres RHP Randy Vasquez (1-1. 1.74).

___

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

A slow-moving, active storm system brought heavy rain, large hail and tornadoes to parts of Texas and Oklahoma and left two people dead as severe weather warnings Sunday continue to threaten parts of the south-central and Midwest U.S.

On Easter Sunday, communities in Texas and Oklahoma were beginning to assess the damage wreaked by tornadoes. There were 17 reported events Saturday, according to Bob Oravec, lead forecaster with the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Center. Five were confirmed in south-central Oklahoma, including one that inflicted at least EF1 damage on a small town that was still recovering from a March tornado.

The storm also brought heavy rain to a broad swath of north-central Texas across central-eastern Oklahoma, which saw 2 to 4 inches (5 to 10 centimeters) accumulate Saturday into Sunday.

Police in Moore, about 10 miles south of Oklahoma City, received dozens of reports of high-water incidents over the weekend, including two cars stranded in flood waters Saturday evening. One car was swept away under a bridge, and police said they were able to rescue some people, but a woman and 12-year-old boy were found dead.

This was a historical weather event that impacted roads and resulted in dozens of high-water incidents across the city, Moore police said in a statement Sunday. Moore has a about 63,000 residents.

Oravec said the system wasn't moving much over Texas and Oklahoma Saturday, leaving the area stuck under a very active thunderstorm pattern that produced large hail, flash flooding and tornadoes.

Bill Macon, emergency management director in Oklahoma's Marshall County, said their early assessments show a tornado skipped and jumped around over a path of 6 to 7 miles in the rural area that left at least 20 homes damaged, with some destroyed completely.

Macon said people were mostly home when the late night tornado came through, downing huge trees and dozens of electric poles and power lines, but there had not been reports of injuries or fatalities.

We take those things pretty serious down here in Oklahoma, Macon said of the National Weather Service's warnings.

One Oklahoma town that was still rebuilding from an early March tornado was hit again late Saturday. The north side of Ada, a town home to about 16,000 people, sustained damage that the weather service said indicated at least an EF1 tornado based on a preliminary survey.

In a video posted to Facebook, Jason Keck, Ada director of emergency management, said the tornado seemed to track across the north side of town, leaving a lot of damage to buildings, power lines and trees.

Other social media posts showed roofs ripped off businesses in town, storefront windows blown in and billboards knocked sideways.

At least two tornadoes crossed west Parker County, Texas, on Saturday, the countys emergency services said on Facebook, causing significant damage and power outages.

The whole storm system is moving northeast into Arkansas, Missouri and southeastern Iowa, Oravec said. While it's moving faster, he said, the active system still carries the threat of large hail, high winds and tornadoes to the region.

While heavy rain was subsiding in Texas and Oklahoma by late Sunday afternoon, additional heavy rain is expected across parts of the Plains this week, Oravec said. With streams already swollen and the ground saturated, that leaves the area at risk of additional flooding.

DETROIT – Entering play Sunday, the Tigers were the only team in baseball to boast four starting pitchers with ERAs under 3.00. They were also one of the few to not have a pitcher make a single start on the traditional four days of rest.

Cause and effect?

Probably not. But the extra rest between starts has not been accidental.

“The goal is to routinely give guys extra rest this season,” manager AJ Hinch said before the game. “And that’s been on purpose. It’s been designed and it’s been somewhat of a gift from the schedule with the off days early in the year.”

It’s why Keider Montero was called up last week to enlarge the rotation to six. It’s why Montero will get a second start Monday against the Padres.

“One of the things I said when Keider got here was we wanted to give the rotation an extra day,” Hinch said. “When we decided to push to get him a second appearance, we had the opportunity to insert him whenever we wanted to.”

They chose to insert him Monday, a decision at least partially impacted by Casey Mize’s strong seven-inning win Saturday. If the bullpen, already taxed and an arm short, had to pick up multiple innings Saturday, Hinch could have kept Jack Flaherty in place on Monday – figuring with Tarik Skubal (Sunday) and Flaherty going back-to-back, the bullpen could get back on track.

“We are going to continue to do this,” Hinch said. “Just being aware of our whole rotation and being proactive on that as opposed to waiting and being reactive. This has evolved into being the best plan to gain the most in terms of rest and recovery.”

It’s not an exact science, of course, but there is some correlation between the extra rest and performance gains.

“Opinions on that vary,” Hinch said. “The information that comes with that can vary pitcher to pitcher. But generally speaking, recovery is the hardest thing to gauge. We’re a sport that thrives on routine. And the everyday component and the history of the game will tell us that these guys like to pitch routinely every five days.

“The rest and recovery information will tell you that stuff is just a little bit better when you get more rest.”

The data gets a little fuzzy, though, when the extra day of rest turns into two and three days of extra rest. Then it becomes a rust vs. rest argument.

“The best laid plans will get messed up by Mother Nature or odd games or uncontrollable circumstances,” Hinch said. “We targeted this part of the schedule because this is the longest stretch of games in the month of April (23 games in 24 days).

“You need to be adaptable and balance the proactive approach with the fatigue and soreness that come with the rigors of the season, and inevitably it comes at a different time for each pitcher. So it may not be the blanket, ‘everybody gets an extra day of rest’ when we chose to do it again.”

Welcome Bailey Horn

There’s been somewhat of a disconnect with Tigers’ newest reliever, lefty Bailey Horn, between the quality of his stuff and the results.

And neither Hinch nor Horn hesitated when asked for the cause of this disconnect.

“Strike zone,” Hinch said.

“Get in the zone,” Horn said. “Attack the hitters starting with strike one and stay on top of them. Compete in the zone and don’t nibble.”

The 27-year-old, who debuted with the Red Sox last season, has a power arm (95 mph with his fastball) and an 82-mph sweeper. And when he’s working ahead in the count he can be menacing.

Too often, though, he has not been in the zone. He had an 11.4% walk rated in 18 innings with the Red Sox last season and he walked eight in 8.1 innings at Triple-A Toledo this year. He also posted 11 strikeouts.

“If you look across his stuff, there is a lot to like,” Hinch said. “The power, the ability to manipulate the ball and get it to move — there’s a lot he can offer. The difference between Triple-A and the big leagues for him is the strike zone. He’s got to be a reliable strike-thrower and keep his outings condensed to impact the competition.

“The execution is going to be game-changer if we can get him in the zone.”

The Tigers liked his stuff enough to acquire him twice. They claimed him off waivers last November, released him in January, and re-acquired him for cash from St. Louis on March 13.

He was asked if the command issues were a function of trust or mechanics.

“Maybe a mixture of both at times,” he said. “It’s execution. Just executing pitches in the zone.”

Old friend alert

Look who was batting cleanup for the Royals Sunday.

Mark Canha, who was among the Tigers’ roster purge at the trade deadline last season, was activated off the injured list by the Royals, completing what has been an odd stretch for him.

A free agent this winter, he sat waiting until Feb. 24 when the Brewers signed him to a minor-league contract. Then on March 22, he was traded to Kansas City.

“Yeah, the wait was a lot longer than I expected,” he said. “But I knew it would work out in the end and it did. And here I am. Happy camper.”

Canha got off to a hot start with the Royals, going 5 for 14 with a pair of doubles. But he went on the injured list on April 9 with an abductor strain.

Like most, Canha was locked in to the Tigers’ run at the end of last season.

“That was an incredible run,” he said. “Hats off to them. I was pulling for them. I was texting the guys in the playoffs, like, ‘All right, let’s go.’ Sending them encouraging texts. It was fun to watch.”

Canha, in his return to the lineup, got the pleasure of facing reigning Cy Young winning Tarik Skubal. Back on Aug. 31, 2021, when Canha was playing for Oakland, he homered and doubled off Skubal at Comerica Park.

The legitimacy of the homer has been a topic of banter between the two, since the right-handed hitting Canha snuck his home run inside the right-field foul pole.

Around the horn

Spencer Torkelson entered play Sunday leading the American League with 14 extra-base hits. He also had four game-winning RBI on his early-season resume.

… Utility player Matt Vierling (rotator cuff) took an intense round of fielding drills at third base before the game with infield coach Joey Cora. The expectation is, barring setback, he could start his rehab assignment as soon as the end of next week.

… Skubal, over his last 17 starts at Comerica Park before Sunday, had an 11-1 record with a 1.88 ERA.

NEW YORK — Cade Cunningham used a screen from Isaiah Stewart and instantly crossed over Karl-Anthony Towns, who was a bit slow to step up in help defense. The move created an open lane for Cunningham, who finished the play with a two-handed dunk at the 4:05 mark of the third quarter.

His basket was a part of the 19 points the Detroit Pistons scored during the final six minutes of the period, which resulted in a 91-83 lead against the New York Knicks entering the fourth quarter of Saturday night’s playoff game.

“It was a lot of fun being out there — I enjoyed it a lot,” Cunningham said. “I think the whole group enjoyed it. It was loud in there. It was rocking, so those are the best games to play in.”

Cunningham’s dunk was arguably his best play during his playoff debut Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. However, his double-double performance of 21 points and 12 assists wasn’t enough, as the Pistons sustained a 123-112 Game 1 loss to the Knicks.

Cunningham walked off the court dejected after the Pistons gave up 40 points in the fourth quarter of the Knicks’ comeback win, but he remained grateful for the overall experience.

“Playing our game, battling on the boards, playing with pace, and getting stops, those are the many things that clicked for us,” Cunningham said. “At the end [we] just got to clean up the little things. … It was a solid game through three quarters, but the fourth quarter comes, and there are things we’ll clean up.”

As the player who led Detroit to a 3-1 regular-season record against New York, Cunningham understood that he would be the primary objective of the Knicks’ defensive strategy during their best-of-seven series.

He entered the game with an understanding of how they would defend him. He knew the Knicks would send multiple bodies to force the ball out of his hands. Every time he came off a screen, an extra defender would step up to seal an open lane to the basket.

New York assigned various players to guard Cunningham throughout the night, but Knicks small forward OG Anunoby took the lead as the primary defender. At times, Anunoby’s aggressive defense made it challenging for Cunningham to catch the ball while forcing him into several tough shot attempts.

“OG, he’s a hell of a player,” said Knicks guard Josh Hart. “Defensively, we have faith in him to guard anybody. We’re all locked in and dialed into him. He’s a good player, but OG loves those kinds of matchups, especially in the playoffs, where you can be physical; he’s a physical guy, being able to get through screens and those kinds of things. We need his offense obviously, but more importantly, his defense every game.”

With Anunoby at the helm, Cunningham finished the night shooting 8-of-21 from the field, including one made 3-pointer, and committed six turnovers. Three of his giveaways accounted for the six turnovers the Pistons committed as a whole during their fourth-quarter collapse.

After a subpar debut, the All-Star guard vows to learn and adjust from his mistakes ahead of their Game 2 matchup. His most significant lessons came from acknowledging his lack of ball security and making a commitment to improving his decision-making and overall play on both ends of the floor.

Cunningham’s crossover and dunk late in the third quarter were among a few plays when he gave a glimpse into the player who averaged 30.8 points per game against the Knicks during the regular season. He is determined to regain form in an attempt to help the Pistons end their nine-game playoff losing streak come Monday night.

“This was definitely a learning experience,” Cunningham said. “It was something I’ve never been a part of. But also, I did not treat it like it was a different game. I tried to approach it like a regular game, read what the defense gives me and exploit it. At the end of the day, it’s basketball…

“We’re excited. I’m excited for this series to keep going. I’m ready for Game 2.”

The Pistons and Knicks will meet for Game 2 on Monday night at 7:30 p.m. in New York. FanDuel Sports Network and TNT will carry the game.

DETROIT — Instead of preparing for Game 1 of the playoffs on Saturday, the Red Wings were packing for the summer and saying their goodbyes.

It’s become a familiar routine. This is the ninth consecutive year the Wings are outside of the playoff picture, the second-longest streak currently in the NHL (Buffalo is at a record 14) and the fourth longest all-time in the NHL.

You could sense the frustration Saturday and the disappointment is mounting.

“We can’t make excuses anymore,” forward Alex DeBrincat said. “It’s time to take that next step and be a competitor. We have to do it.”

The Wings never were able to sustain the sort of positive traction that would have produced a playoff season.

They started slowly, and a 13-17-4 record at the Christmas break forced general manager Steve Yzerman to fire Derek Lalonde and hire Todd McLellan.

The Wings immediately surged. They had two seven-game win streaks and were in playoff position at the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament break. But going 9-13-2 to end the season, including another miserable March (4-10-0), sent the Wings home again in mid-April.

“It’s not fun. You want to get ready to play Game 1 right now and that didn’t happen,” forward Lucas Raymond said. “Everyone is disappointed. We put ourselves before the 4 Nations break to be in a good spot coming back and making a good push for it. It didn’t click for us.”

Raymond completed his fourth NHL season and has yet to make the playoffs.

“You grow up playing hockey, and you play to win, whether that’s a Pee-Wee tournament or whatever it is,” Raymond said. “You’re always used to playing those games and not being able to do that is frustrating. Not fun at all.

“Everyone is determined to change that, and we want to take next step very soon.”

There were positives. The injection of youth and contribution by players such as Marco Kasper, Elmer Soderblom, Jonatan Berggren, Simon Edvinsson and Albert Johansson — along with more help next season — gives considerable hope for the future. Players like Moritz Seider, Dylan Larkin, Raymond and DeBrincat are still very much in the prime of their careers.

Plus, McLellan will have a full training camp to incorporate his systems, which the Wings believe will be a major plus.

“Todd is real good coach and I’ve been very impressed with him,” said Larkin, the Wings’ captain. “(Having) training camp with our group, our young guys and our core with him, it could be very valuable. Todd will really help turn this around here.”

Larkin, 28, made the playoffs his rookie season (2015-16) and has yet to return. The Waterford native admits it’s been “difficult.”

“(It’s) something I think about a lot, think about it every day for a long time during days. But that doesn’t do any good and you have to go out and play and win hockey games,” Larkin said. “We came up five or six wins short this year.”

The swoon in March, for basically the third consecutive year, will be on the Wings’ minds. Once the losing started and the momentum was going away, they couldn’t turn it around.

“It’s something we can’t figure out,” Seider said. “We’re always engaged. We’re dialed in. But we just couldn’t get it done. That hurt us. We were in it, and after March it was tough to look at the standings. I don’t really have an explanation.”

Playing hurt

Larkin played all 82 games this season but admitted Saturday he returned from the 4 Nations tournament — in which he was one of Team USA’s best players — with injuries.

“I picked up a couple injuries there and that’s just what it is. There were times I didn’t feel good and was playing hurt and I wasn’t able to do some things, a lot of things I wanted to,” Larkin said. “But I still went out there and tried my best. It is another disappointing year. I did play all 82 games, but I would have liked to be more effective in a lot of them.”

Larkin had 30 goals and 40 assists but was off the point-per-game pace he was near, or at, the last three seasons.

Larkin didn’t think any sort of surgeries would be needed for his injuries before adding he doesn’t “know yet.”

Ice chips

Patrick Kane, a prospective unrestricted free agent, would like to return to the Wings.

“I’ll take some time to think, but overall I’ve really enjoyed my time here,” Kane said. “It’s a great place to continue to my career and play and there are a lot of things about the organization that have helped me, not only with my (hip) injury but find a good role within the team and play. There’s definitely some mutual interest coming back and continuing on here.”

… Soderblom, who has been battling an undisclosed injury, expects to play for Grand Rapids in the AHL playoffs.

“If my injury gets back to 100%, I’ll be down there,” Soderblom said.

… Potential UFAs goaltender Alex Lyon and defenseman Jeff Petry both said they haven’t given much thought yet to what their futures hold. Petry, 37, is 19 games short of 1,000 for his career and is planning on playing next season.

Petry disclosed he had abdominal surgery the second half of this season, which limited him to 44 games.

… Andrew Copp (shoulder surgery) said he’ll be completely healthy for the start of September training camp.

Ahead of the 2025 NFL Draft (April 24-26 in Green Bay), we’ll be taking a position-by-position look at the Detroit Lions‘ roster and how the team’s needs can be met on draft weekend. Today: Secondary.

Current roster outlook

The Lions have steadily fixed their secondary over the last few seasons. After years of it being a deficiency, the safety tandem of All-Pro Kerby Joseph and Pro Bowler Brian Branch proved to be one of the best, if not the best, in the NFL last season.

Joseph became eligible for a contract extension this offseason and is entering the final year of his deal; next offseason, Branch will be in the same position. Should Detroit bring them both back, it’s possible that the duo will end up as some of the highest-paid safeties in the league (with each deal worth upward of $20 million annually).

Though that position looks strong, Detroit bid farewell to Ifeatu Melifonwu in free agency. When healthy, Melifonwu’s combination of size and speed made him a dangerous player in three-safety looks, with his blitzing ability among the best on the team, so there’s a role up for grabs there. Entering the draft, the Lions’ safety depth is comprised of Loren Strickland, Erick Hallett II and Morice Norris. It’d be prudent to start backfilling at this position at the draft to make some decisions down the road a bit easier.

At cornerback, the team is in good shape. Terrion Arnold, the No. 24 pick in last year’s draft, steadily improved over his rookie season and is a top candidate to take the biggest leap in 2025. Opposite of Arnold, the team ensured the departure of Carlton Davis III wouldn’t sting too badly by signing veteran DJ Reed, a player of similar caliber, from the New York Jets in free agency.

The Lions added another cornerback in last year’s draft, Ennis Rakestraw Jr., with the 60th pick. He was a standout in training camp but dealt with injuries all of last season and missed out on a starting opportunity in Week 2 that could have led to a prominent role in the defense for the rest of his rookie campaign. Rakestraw is expected to challenge Amik Robertson, who’s entering the final season of his two-year agreement, for the starting nickel cornerback job next season.

Khalil Dorsey, one of the team’s best gunners on punt coverage, is also back for another season and will serve as a reliable depth option alongside returning defensive back Stantley Thomas-Oliver and two free agency signings, Avonte Maddox and Rock Ya-Sin.

Level of need: Low-medium

Detroit has up-and-coming talent all over its secondary, but will face some extreme financial commitments because of it in the next few seasons. If the Lions hope to get cheaper in the defensive backfield, it’d be wise to start adding that talent in the near future. Given the track record of Lions general manager Brad Holmes, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Lions add a cornerback or safety (or both) early in this draft.

At the top

This year’s cornerback group features the draft’s most tantalizing prospect, two-way star and reigning Heisman winner Travis Hunter (Colorado). It’s expected that he’ll be gone within the first few picks, most likely to the Cleveland Browns at No. 2. Behind him, Jahdae Barron (Texas), who picked off five passes last year, and Will Johnson (Michigan) are projected to be the next two cornerbacks off the board, with both of those guys having the potential to be top-15 picks.

From there, the top of the board has a lot of variance. West Bloomfield’s Maxwell Hairston (Kentucky) has been climbing up draft boards since the NFL Combine and could sneak into the back half of the first round. Shavon Revel (East Carolina), who had his 2024 season ended by a torn ACL, is also a late climber with first-round potential. Other potential first-rounders include Trey Amos (Ole Miss), Azareye’h Thomas (Florida State) and Benjamin Morrison (Notre Dame).

At safety, there are really only two prospects with first-round buzz entering next week: Malaki Starks (Georgia), who fits the do-it-all mold of a player like Branch, and Nick Emmanwori (South Carolina). Most mock drafts have Starks as the first safety off the board, with some even believing he could be a top-10 pick. But as we’ve seen with top safeties over the years, it also wouldn’t be surprising to see him slip to the end of the first round, making him available for the Lions, or into Day 2 altogether. Emmanwori (6-foot-3, 220 pounds) is one of the draft’s best athletes; he recorded a 4.38 in the 40, a 43-inch vertical jump and an 11-foot-6 broad jump and makes good use of it in his versatile game.

Teams who could be after a DB in Round 1

Cleveland Browns (No. 2), New York Jets (7), Carolina Panthers (8), New Orleans Saints (9), San Francisco 49ers (11), Miami Dolphins (13), Arizona Cardinals (16), Cincinnati Bengals (17), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (19), Green Bay Packers (23), Minnesota Vikings (24), Los Angeles Rams (26), Baltimore Ravens (27), Washington Commanders (29), Buffalo Bills (30)

Crystal Ball: Star-studded 2019 opener provided clear 2025 draft preview

Down the board

If the Lions happen to address other positions on the field during the draft’s early stages, there will be several intriguing options to help aid the defensive backfield in Days 2 and 3.

The consensus is that Xavier Watts (Notre Dame), tied for second in interceptions (six) last year, is the third-best safety in the draft; he’s an option for the Lions on Day 2. Penn State has a pair of safeties that are expected to be gone by the middle rounds, Kevin Winston Jr. and Detroit native Jaylen Reed (Detroit King). Andrew Mukuba (Texas) was one of the best coverage safeties in the nation last season (tied-fourth with five interceptions) and has Day 2 potential. Lathan Ransom (Ohio State) and Malachi Moore (Alabama), two other middle-round guys, were solid run defenders and could help fill the void left by Melifonwu (not that Detroit will be trying to find a one-for-one replacement for that “need”). R.J. Mickens (Clemson) is an attractive late-round option with good coverage ability.

Among the cornerbacks expected to be available on Days 2 and 3, Cobee Bryant (Kansas) stands out as a player with the mental makeup Detroit is looking for; he’s a willing run defender and snagged four interceptions last season. Nohl Williams (Cal), who led the nation in interceptions (seven), and Jacob Parrish (Kansas State) could easily find their way to Detroit in the earlier rounds.

Denzel Burke (Ohio State) was at one time thought of as a possible first- or second-rounder in last year’s draft, but after returning for a title-winning season with the Buckeyes, his stock has slipped; he enters the draft as a late-Day 2, early-Day 3 guy. Western Michigan is putting a lengthy cornerback into the draft in Bilhal Kone (6-foot-2), who had six pass breakups and an interception last year.

Time to target

It wouldn’t be surprising to see the Lions grab a falling safety at the back end of the first round, but if Detroit does add to the secondary, our best guess is that it’ll come on Day 3 (or even late on Day 2), when there will be plenty of gems to mine. Cornerbacks (and to a lesser extent, safeties) tend to be similar to receivers in the sense that there’s always a “voluminous” (as Holmes would put it) supply of potential contributors down the board.

It's tennis season in Southeast Michigan. And Canton High School squad of 50 strong-willed young Cobras are getting ready.

"We have matches set up; we are doing practice every day," said Caitlyn Laidlaw.

17-year-old Caityln Laidlaw and 18-year-old Saee Pawar are captains of the women's team.

"You know we both are seniors, and we've had a lot of fun over the past few years, like a lot of team bonding, our team is very close-knit. So, it was pretty sad," said Saee Pawar.

That's because the Cobras were faced with heartbreaking news a month before the season that they may be unable to compete.

"So our two coaches, one of them retired from coaching and the other one moved to a different school district. And so we lost both our coaches. And we didn't know really who to ask if we are having a season, and so kind of just got told, we don't have any coaches, and no courts, so we don't know if it's going to happen," Caitlyn said.

While the school's courts were being refurbished, one of the player's father, Jeff Walters, couldn't see his daughter upset.

"I'm an engineer, so I have a problem-solving mindset, and I realized our neighbor across the street plays men's league tennis. And so, I reached out to him, and basically, after 3 hours, he said I have coaches lined up," Jeff said.

That's where 65-year-old Vijay George and 73-year-old Charlie Siracusa make an entry as the new coaches for the Cobras.

"We coached together JV tennis, junior varsity tennis at Catholic Central," said Charlie.

"Why was it important for both of you to step up?" I asked.

"It's the commitment to tennis and the camaraderie that these young women have put together in a very short period of time. Faraz I can feel them, gelling with each and every practice. And having them dream big and why not us," Charlie said.

"What are some of the challenges you guys have faced in terms of coaching this team right here?" I asked.

"The biggest challenge is we don't have home courts. These girls have to be bused in," Vijay saud.

John Glenn High School in Westland chipped in their courts.

"We also have parents riding the bus with us to our matches that are far away, picking up snacks for us," Saee said.

"It's a community effort to make sure that these young ladies are able to play tennis this season," I pointed out.

"No question about it," Charlie replied.

"You know a couple a months ago I had a daughter in tears, no I have who is beaming," Jeff said.

"What's that one thing that you arew always going to remember about this moment?" I asked.

"The things we had to overcome to get here," Caitlyn said.

"You should appreciate the things that you have going on for you," Saee said.

The Canton Cobra's tennis season wraps up in mid-May, and now they only ask that the community comes out and support their matches.

You can find the team's schedule at this link.

The dream of striking it rich is even more expensive now.

Last week, lottery officials raised the price of a Mega Millions ticket from $2 to $5, and while they say the prize amounts were five times greater for last weeks initial drawing, others are a little turned off by the more than 100% increase.

If you think about it, it's more than double. She just hasn't played it, Jim Prather said of his wife. She might, she hasn't played it since, but she may play it again, you never know, he continued before purchasing the scratch-off game he prefers to lottery tickets.

Tanya Golden was also a Mega Millions player in the past, and she is already reconsidering.

Probably lay off, cut back a little on it, not play as much. $5 kind of expensive, Golden said inside a Sunoco gas station, where lottery tickets and other games of chance are sold at a brisk pace.

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People used to play (Mega Millions) a lot more, said station manager Deepti Patel. They would come in before, buy like 10 tickets at a time, or 20 tickets, but now they're reduced to 2 or 5 because it costs them more."

Patel thinks sales of Mega Millions tickets wont be depressed for too long, attributing some of the decline to peoples lack of knowledge over the price change.

A manager at another station was told by his lottery representative that Mega Millions increased the price of a ticket to distinguish itself from its Powerball competitor, whose ticket remains $2.

Lottery officials say the odds of winning are slightly increased under this new matrix, and they estimate the jackpots will be much larger, too.

This story was originally published by Michael Berk with the

Scripps News Group.

Some local coffee companies told the Scripps News Group in San Diego they were already getting hit pretty hard before these tariffs even happened.

The coffee industry has been hit hard over the past nine months, said Jeff Taylor, President of Bird Rock Coffee. Beginning last September, the C-Market which is the commodities market which set the base level pricing for coffee it started around $2.30 and in the last month its been as high $4.65.

Taylor said the tariffs could be the icing on the cake for a good thats already seen rising prices with hopes of that C-Market price dropping. And hes not the only company in town seeing coffee prices jump.

"My inventory for these beans has double in the 12 months, said Tom Ryan, Dir. Of Operations & VP Ryan Bros. Coffee.

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Ryan mentioned previous supply chain issues and a lack of production in other coffee producing countries as contributors to the price increases prior to the tariffs implemented by President Donald Trump.

Then, of course the tariffs are only going to increase the price," he said. "So like for instance Brazilian coffee will increase about 10% which will be about 30 or 40 cents more per pound."

Ryan said their business will adjust as the tariffs play out.

When it comes to coffee, right now because of the tariffs and really the price in general, we will run thin inventory. And some of our customers might notice a little less inventory on the shelf in terms of origins, he said.

Other products that come from other countries with high tariffs being slapped on them could be another challenge.

Were trying to keep our prices right where they are for the time being. But, we reserve the right over the next month or two or three, as our paper goods start run out to see what tariffs are doing at that point, Taylor said. Because those 30% tariffs on China and Vietnam are going to be high.

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Theres still a lot of wait and see with the tariffs to see if any price hikes will happen.

Were hopeful we can kind of just maintain and see how this all flushes out in the long haul, Taylor said.

We kind of wait the storm out. You know, its a storm right now. Were going through change. So, were not going to overreact to that. Were just going to be frugal. Were going to be efficient, Ryan said.

This story was originally published by Ryan Hill with the

Scripps News Group.

By Hannah Mackay, The Detroit News

A search warrant affidavit for the West Bloomfield home where three siblings died in a fire in February revealed that the first 911 call came from the family’s 16-year-old daughter, who told authorities, “there’s no way for us to get out.”

The affidavit sheds new light on the Feb. 2 fire that killed Hannah, Jeremiah, and Jacob Oliora, ages 16, 14, and 12, and why the siblings, one of whom had nonverbal autism, weren’t able to escape.

The investigation into the fire, meanwhile, is ongoing, according to West Bloomfield police. The West Bloomfield police and fire departments have denied Freedom of Information acts requests related to the fire and its investigation.

Police executed a search warrant at the Oliora home on Feb. 4. No findings have been submitted to the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office, according to Police Chief Dale Young.

According to the affidavit, Hannah told 911 dispatchers that the fire started in the living room. Authorities haven’t revealed what caused the blaze.

After the fire, police interviewed the parents, Don and Liz Oliora, the next day and learned that Jeremiah had been diagnosed with nonverbal autism. He’d previously attempted to climb out of a second-story window of the home on Pembury Lane and left the home unsupervised through the front door. He was found in their neighborhood by a passerby, according to the documents.

To prevent similar incidents from happening again, the parents told police they installed window locks and an interior front door lock. The key to unlock the front door was kept in a lockbox inside, near the home’s garage. Only the parents and their oldest daughter had access to the lockbox, according to court documents.

Hannah’s initial 911 call came in around 8:05 p.m. on Feb. 2. Her father had left the home around 2:40 p.m. to work for DoorDash, and her mother left at the same time for work as a nurse, according to the documents.

At 7:10 p.m., Hannah called her father to ask about the family’s dinner plans. She told her father that she would start cooking hamburgers for her and her brothers, and her dad said he would come home after completing a few more DoorDash stops.

Liz was working when she was told about the fire by a neighbor and the police. She told police that her three children were inside and that she was on her way home, and called her husband to alert him at 8:27 p.m.

When police arrived on the scene of the fire and learned about the children trapped inside the home, they attempted to extinguish the flames in the back of the house but couldn’t.

Firefighters then arrived and were able to enter the home and extract the kids. One was found right behind the front door, while another was in an upstairs bathroom, according to the documents.

Hannah and Jeremiah were taken to Detroit Receiving Hospital, while Jacob was taken to Henry Ford Hospital in West Bloomfield, but all three succumbed to their injuries.

An autopsy by the Oakland County Medical Examiner’s Office revealed that Jacob’s preliminary cause of death was accidental and due to smoke and soot inhalation, according to the court documents. Autopsies for his brother and sister had not been conducted when the search warrant affidavit was filed.

When firefighters entered the home, they could hear the ignitor of the gas stove clicking, according to the documents.

hmackay@detroitnews.com

Two teens are recovering after being shot in Clinton Township on Easter Sunday, police tell us.

The shooting happened around 8:45 a.m. in the hallway of a home in the 24000 block of Trillium Court.

We're told by family members of the victims and police that a 14-year-old was shot in the ear and a 16-year-old was shot in the leg.

Kids out here fighting, minor kids out here with guns," said Simona Thacker of Mt. Clemens.

Simona Thacker says her two grandsons were the teens who were shot.

I feel like this community need to come together, do better," said Thacker. "People need to be involved in whats going on out here.

7 News Detroit also spoke to Amanda Standberry who's lived in the apartment complex for two years.

This is kind of like the second incident where something has happened back to back and we got three little kids," said Standberry. "I feel like thats not right, thats not safe, the police are right up the road, we need more security around here.

The events that led up to the shooting are still under investigation.

A jury is expected to return Monday for closing arguments in the trial of Lori Daybell after she told the judge she does not intend to present any evidence in the death of her fourth husband, Charles Vallow.

Daybell is already serving a life sentence in Idaho. In 2023, she was convicted of murdering her two youngest children, JJ Vallow and Tylee Ryan, and conspiring to kill her fifth husbands first wife, Tammy Daybell. Her husband, Chad Daybell, was convicted of the same charges and sentenced to death.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT | Day two of court in Lori Daybell's trial for conspiracy to commit murder

In Arizona, Daybell is acting as her own attorney where, in addition to the conspiracy charge in Charles death, shes accused of conspiring in an attempt to kill her nieces ex-husband, Brandon Boudreaux. The two cases will be tried separately, with the case regarding Charles death going to trial first.

Daybell married Vallow on Feb. 24, 2006, in Las Vegas. In 2013, the couple adopted JJ from Charles sister and her husband, Kay and Larry Woodcock, who were JJs grandparents.

In 2016, the couple moved to Arizona, where they settled down with Tylee and JJ. Three years later, Charles filed for divorce, indicating he was concerned about her mental health, according to East Idaho News.

Daybell's older brother, Alex Cox, fatally shot Charles on July 11, 2019, while he was arguing with Daybell after picking JJ up for school. Police said during the argument, Alex claimed Charles hit him over the head with a bat. Alex told police that after he was hit in the head, he retrieved a gun from his bedroom and shot Charles in self-defense.

FROM THE ARCHIVES | 'Doomsday Prophet' Chad Daybell found guilty of all charges in murders of his 1st wife, stepchildren

In a probable cause statement from the Chandler Police Department, investigators said no emergency aid was provided for Charles, and he was left bleeding on the floor for approximately 43 minutes before calling 911.

A grand jury indicted Daybell on the charge of conspiracy to commit murder for the death of Charles.

This story was originally published by

Court TV.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia on Sunday of creating a false appearance of honoring an Easter ceasefire, saying Moscow continued to launch attacks after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a unilateral temporary truce.

As of Easter morning, we can say that the Russian army is trying to create a general impression of a ceasefire, but in some places, it does not abandon individual attempts to advance and inflict losses on Ukraine, Zelenskyy said in a post on X.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT | Putin announces an Easter ceasefire as Russia and Ukraine swap hundreds of POWs

Despite Putins declaration of an Easter ceasefire on Saturday, Zelenskyy said Sunday morning that Ukrainian forces had recorded 59 instances of Russian shelling and five assaults by units along the front line, as well as dozens of drone strikes.

In a later update, Zelenskyy said that despite Ukraine declaring a symmetrical approach to Russian actions, there had been an increase in Russian shelling and drone attacks since 10 a.m. He said, however, that it was a good thing, at least, that there were no air raid sirens.

In practice, either Putin does not have full control over his army, or the situation proves that in Russia, they have no intention of making a genuine move toward ending the war, and are only interested in favorable PR coverage, he wrote.

Zelenskyy said that Russia must fully adhere to the ceasefire conditions and reiterated Ukraines offer to extend the truce for 30 days, starting midnight Sunday. He said the proposal remains on the table and added: "We will act in accordance with the actual situation on the ground.

Zelenskyy said Saturday night that some areas were quieter since the ceasefire was announced, which he claimed showed Putin to be the true cause of the war. As soon as Putin gave an order to scale back the attacks, the intensity of strikes and killings dropped. The only source of this war and its prolongation is in Russia, he wrote on X.

RELATED STORY | Amid doubts, Rubio signals US might abandon Ukraine-Russia peace talks

Russias Defense Ministry said Sunday that Ukrainian forces launched overnight attacks in the Donetsk region despite the ceasefire, and had sent 48 drones into Russian territory. According to the ministry, there were dead and wounded among the civilian population, without giving details. It claimed Russian troops had strictly observed the ceasefire.

Russia-installed officials in the partially occupied Ukrainian region of Kherson also said that Ukrainian forces continued their attacks.

Just hours after announcing the ceasefire, Putin attended an Easter service late Saturday at Moscows Cathedral of Christ the Saviour led by Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church and a vocal supporter of Putin and the war in Ukraine.

According to the Kremlin, the ceasefire will last from 6 p.m. Moscow time on Saturday to midnight following Easter Sunday.

Putin offered no details on how the ceasefire would be monitored or whether it would cover airstrikes or ongoing ground battles that rage around the clock.

His announcement came after U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that negotiations between Ukraine and Russia are coming to a head and insisted that neither side is playing him in his push to end the grinding three-year war.

By Henry Larweh, KFF Health News

Fentanyl, the deadly synthetic opioid driving the nation’s high drug overdose rates, is also caught up in another increasingly serious problem: misinformation.

False and misleading narratives on social media, in news reports, and even in popular television dramas suggesting people can overdose from touching fentanyl — rather than ingesting it — are now informing policy and spending decisions.

In an episode of the CBS cop drama “Blue Bloods,” for instance, Detective Maria Baez becomes comatose after accidentally touching powdered fentanyl. In another drama, “S.W.A.T.,” Sgt. Daniel “Hondo” Harrelson warns his co-workers: “You touch the pure stuff without wearing gloves, say good night.”

While fentanyl-related deaths have drastically risen over the past decade, no evidence suggests any resulted from incidentally touching or inhaling it, and little to no evidence that any resulted from consuming it in marijuana products. (Recent data indicates that fentanyl-related deaths have begun to drop.)

There is also almost no evidence that law enforcement personnel are at heightened risk of accidental overdoses due to such exposures. Still, there is a steady stream of reports — which generally turn out to be false — of officers allegedly becoming ill after handling fentanyl.

“It’s only in the TV dramas” where that happens, said Brandon del Pozo, a retired Burlington, Vermont, police chief who researches policing and public health policies and practices at Brown University.

In fact, fentanyl overdoses are commonly caused by ingesting the drug illicitly as a pill or powder. And most accidental exposures occur when people who use drugs, even those who do not use opioids, unknowingly consume fentanyl because it is so often used to “cut” street drugs such as heroin and cocaine.

Despite what scientific evidence suggests about fentanyl and its risks, misinformation can persist in public discourse and among first responders on the front lines of the crisis. Daniel Meloy, a senior community engagement specialist at the drug recovery organizations Operation 2 Save Lives and QRT National, said he thinks of misinformation as “more of an unknown than it is an anxiety or a fear.”

“We’re experiencing it often before the information” can be understood and shared by public health and addiction medicine practitioners, Meloy said.

Some state and local governments are investing money from their share of the billions in opioid settlement funds in efforts to protect first responders from purported risks perpetuated through fentanyl misinformation.

In 2022 and 2023, 19 cities, towns, and counties across eight states used settlement funds to purchase drug detection devices for law enforcement agencies, spending just over $1 million altogether. Two mass spectrometers were purchased for at least $136,000 for the Greeley, Colorado, police department, “to protect those who are tasked with handling those substances.”

Del Pozo, the retired police chief, said fentanyl is present in most illicit opioids found at the scene of an arrest. But that “doesn’t mean you need to spend a lot of money on fentanyl detection for officer safety,” he said. If that spending decision is motivated by officer safety concerns, then it’s “misspent money,” del Pozo said.

Fentanyl misinformation is affecting policy in other ways, too.

Florida, for instance, has on the books a law that makes it a second-degree felony to cause an overdose or bodily injury to a first responder through this kind of secondhand fentanyl exposure. Similar legislation has been considered by states such as Tennessee and West Virginia, the latter stipulating a penalty of 15 years to life imprisonment if the exposure results in death.

Public health advocates worry these laws will make people shy away from seeking help for people who are overdosing.

“A lot of people leave overdose scenes because they don’t want to interact with police,” said Erin Russell, a principal with Health Management Associates, a health care industry research and consulting firm. Florida does include a caveat in its statute that any person “acting in good faith” to seek medical assistance for someone they believe to be overdosing “may not” be arrested, charged, or prosecuted.

And even when public policy is crafted to protect first responders as well as regular people, misinformation can undermine a program’s messaging.

Take Mississippi’s One Pill Can Kill initiative. Led by the state attorney general, Lynn Fitch, the initiative aims to provide resources and education to Mississippi residents about fentanyl and its risks. While it promotes the availability and use of harm reduction tools, such as naloxone and fentanyl test strips, Fitch has also propped up misinformation.

At the 2024 Mississippi Coalition of Bail Sureties conference, Fitch said, “If you figure out that pill’s got fentanyl, you better be ready to dispose of it, because you can get it through your fingers,” based on the repeatedly debunked belief that a person can overdose by simply touching fentanyl.

Officers on the ground, meanwhile, sometimes are warned to proceed with caution in providing lifesaving interventions at overdose scenes because of these alleged accidental exposure risks. This caution is often evidenced in a push to provide first responders with masks and other personal protective equipment. Fitch told the crowd at the conference: “You can’t just go out and give CPR like you did before.” However, as with other secondhand exposures, the risk for a fentanyl overdose from applying mouth-to-mouth is negligible, with no clinical evidence to suggest it has occurred.

Her comments underscore growing concerns, often not supported by science, that officers and first responders increasingly face exposure risks during overdose responses. Her office did not respond to questions about these comments.

Health care experts say they are not against providing first responders with protective equipment, but that fentanyl misinformation is clouding policy and risks delaying critical interventions such as CPR and rescue breathing.

“People are afraid to do rescue breathing because they’re like, ‘Well, what if there’s fentanyl in the person’s mouth,’” Russell said. Hesitating for even a moment because of fentanyl misinformation could delay a technique that “is incredibly important in an overdose response.”

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©2025 KFF Health News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.