NEW YORK — A judge sentenced a Bangladeshi immigrant whose pipe bomb mostly misfired in a busy New York City subway station in 2017 to life in prison on Thursday, calling the crime “barbaric and heinous.”

Akayed Ullah was sentenced in Manhattan federal court by Judge Richard J. Sullivan.

“A life sentence is appropriate,” Sullivan said. “It was a truly barbaric and heinous crime.”

Ullah, 31, apologized before hearing the sentence.

“Your honor, what I did, it was wrong,” he said. “I can tell you from the bottom of my heart, I’m deeply sorry. … I do not support harming innocent people.”

Prosecutors had sought the life term for Ullah, saying the “premeditated and vicious” attack was committed on behalf of the Islamic State group.

But defense lawyer Amy Gallicchio said Ullah deserved no more than the mandatory 35 years in prison. She said he had “lived lawfully and peacefully” before the December 2017 attack that she blamed on a “personal crisis that left him isolated, depressed, vulnerable and suicidal.”

The attack in a pedestrian tunnel beneath Times Square and the Port Authority bus terminal left Ullah seriously burned after the bomb attached to his chest sputtered rather than burst, sparing some pedestrians nearby from serious injuries.

At trial, prosecutors showed jurors Ullah’s post-arrest statements and social media comments, including when he taunted then-President Donald Trump on Facebook before the attack.

Hours after Ullah’s bombing attempt, Trump derided the immigration system that had allowed Ullah — and multitudes of law-abiding Bangladeshis — to enter the U.S.

Ullah got an entry visa in 2011 because he had an uncle who was already a U.S. citizen. Trump said allowing foreigners to follow relatives to the U.S. was “incompatible with national security.”

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Makes:4 to 6 servings
Active time:30 minutes
Total time:1 hour 30 minutes

Combine water, vinegar, sugar, and ¼ cup salt in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Meanwhile, place radishes, lemon peel, coriander seeds, ¼ teaspoon chile flakes, thyme, and bay leaf in a 16-ounce canning jar.

Pour hot brine over radish mixture and let cool to room temperature.

Heat a large cast-iron skillet or griddle over high. Toss broccoli with olive oil and ¼ teaspoon salt.

Sauté broccoli, turning frequently, until tender-crisp and charred in spots, 6 to 8 minutes.

In a large bowl, toss broccoli and a 1/4 cup of the radishes with vinaigrette and remaining chile flakes. Taste and add more salt, if desired.

Transfer to a serving platter and generously garnish with pine nuts, mint, and parsley.

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Last week, for the second year in a row, the WNBA Draft took place virtually as teams looked to load up on some young talent before the season. Many WNBA mock drafts got it all wrong and analysts were left surprised with some of the selections made. Regardless, it sure made for an exciting night full of twists and turns.

In the 2021 WNBA Draft, the Chicago Sky had two picks to use at the 8 and 16 spots. Everyone had a strong feeling they would go with a guard with their first choice, and they did. But the only question was which one would they go with? We’ll dive into who they chose and what it means for the future of this team. Plus, after the release of the Sky’s schedule for the 2021 season, we’ve got you covered with your preview for the upcoming WNBA regular season next month!

Chicago Sky WNBA Draft Recap

With the 8th pick in the 2021 WNBA draft, the Chicago Sky select Shyla Hall. While those aren’t the exact words used on draft night, the Chicago Sky surprised many with their pick. Although, that’s not to say their selection was a poor one. Shyla Hall is a 19-year old guard who’s been building her basketball resume and skillset while playing in the WNBL in Australia since she was only 14. Yes, you read that right, 14!! The reason this pick surprised analysts is because of the other college talent that was still on the board when it came time for the Sky’s pick. Shyla Hall fills one of the team’s primary needs at point guard, specifically a backup. Hall fills the spot behind Courtney Vandersloot, the team’s starter last named an All Star in 2019. Vandersloot enters free agency next season, which is another reason the Sky went with Shyla Hall. Hall will gain valuable experience playing behind Vandersloot, and only time will tell if they remain on the same team next season.

For the team’s 16th pick in the 2021 WNBA Draft, the Sky chose Oklahoma State forward Natasha Mack. Mack is arguably one of the top defensive talents in this draft class, and will pair up alongside another strong defender in Candace Parker. This duo should make this team one of the best defenses to watch this season. The rest of the WNBA will need to keep their head on a swivel in the paint all year.

Looking Ahead To 2021 And Beyond

After the signing of Candace Parker in the offseason, a strong couple of draft picks, and some new uniforms, the Chicago Sky are all systems for the 2021 WNBA season. They’ll play 32 games before a possible trip to the playoffs, which we certainly can’t see them missing out on. All of the new additions to the team should help catapult them to the top of the standings. A deep playoff run is not out of the question, and we’d go as far to call them legitimate title contenders this year.

Winning a championship is the first hill to climb for the franchise. In 2022, four of the Sky’s current players will be unrestricted free agents. They may have secured a replacement for Vandersloot if she leaves, but even then there’s still a lot of questions for the long-term future. We like to think that their focus is on their huge opportunity to win it all this year. And if they can do that, maybe everything else will just work itself out.

The post Chicago Sky Are Locked And Loaded After 2021 WNBA Draft appeared first on UrbanMatter.

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The trail was closed west of Central Park Avenue in Logan Square while officers investigated.

A man was arrested at the western end of the 606 Trail after police responded to a report of gunfire Thursday morning in the Logan Square neighborhood.

No injuries were reported in the shooting, which happened in the vicinity of the trail, Chicago police spokeswoman Sally Bown said.

The trail was closed west of Central Park Avenue as police investigated, she said.

Video from WGN9’s helicopter showed officers arresting a man who jumped over a fence at the western end of the trail.

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The dietary supplement industry brings in billions of dollars each year, with an estimated 90,000 products on the market, including vitamins, minerals, herbs or other botanicals, amino acids, probiotics, or other substances in pill, capsule, tablet, or liquid form. About half of American adults take at least one dietary supplement for health or wellness, or to fill nutrition gaps. But are these supplements safe?

If you answered “Yes,” you’re not alone. A 2015 Consumer Reports survey found that most people think that dietary supplements are vetted for safety by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Unfortunately, this isn’t true. Unlike prescription or over-the-counter drugs, which must be approved by the FDA before they can be marketed, the FDA is not authorized to review dietary supplements for safety and effectiveness before they are sold. The FDA can take action through warnings or recalls — often voluntary — if they receive reports that a supplement already on the market is causing harm, but this can take several years, if it happens at all, and may not be effective.

One of the biggest concerns about supplement safety is adulteration with ingredients that aren’t listed on the label, including ingredients that may be toxic at high doses. In some cases, a less expensive ingredient is used instead of a more expensive ingredient listed on the label. In other cases, the supplement is illegally adulterated with pharmaceutical drugs — sometimes drugs that have been pulled from the market because of safety concerns, or have never been approved in the first place. This is most common with botanical or “natural” supplements.

Dreamstime/TNS

The FDA has raised concerns about three certain categories of supplements, including those targeting weight loss, sports performance, sexual function, or cognitive health. A 2015 study lead by the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that, among adults, 25 percent of emergency room visits for adverse effects from dietary supplements were due to weight loss supplements, with cardiac symptoms being the primary complaint.

Dr. Pieter Cohen, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, says it’s not clear why these supplement categories are rife with adulteration.

“One hypothesis is that permitting supplements to be legally sold as if they can help a consumer lose weight creates a perverse incentive for manufacturers to adulterate the product with pharmaceutical drugs,” he says. “Initially, it’s easy to sell a product for weight loss, but consumers will rapidly lose interest when it doesn’t work. The claims, however, create an incentive to maintain sales by adulterating the product with pharmaceutical weight loss drugs that pose risks to consumers.”

In a 2020 study, Cohen and his research team analyzed 10 over-the-counter dietary supplements marketed to improve memory and cognitive function. They detected five unapproved drugs in the supplements, in some cases in amounts four times higher than pharmaceutical doses. In 2015, Cohen’s team discovered an untested-in-humans stimulant similar to methamphetamine in a dozen supplements sold in the US for weight loss, improved brain health, and improved athletic performance.

A 2018 analysis of the FDA database of pharmaceutically adulterated supplements found that of 746 supplements identified by the FDA, only 360 were issued voluntary recalls, and there’s no guarantee that the manufacturers complied.

Several independent organizations — notably U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP), ConsumerLab and NSF International — offer quality testing. Their seals of approval mean that the supplement was properly manufactured, contains the ingredients listed on the label, and doesn’t contain harmful levels of contaminants. That can give you confidence that the product isn’t adulterated, but it doesn’t guarantee that a product is safe or effective.

“I always suggest purchasing products that invest in third-party certification,” says Seattle registered dietitian Ginger Hultin, MS, RD, a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. “So many supplements come back with levels of ingredients that are above or below what’s listed in the label that at least these companies help supplement brands offer that type of protection.”

Cohen says there are some straightforward first steps the FDA could take to enhance the quality and safety of supplements, including creating a mandatory registry of all supplement products that links every product to a specific product code. The FDA could allow registry access only to products listing legal supplement ingredients on the label — and immediately remove a product if it’s found to be hazardous or adulterated. Retailers could then be required to only sell registered supplements.

“Creating a mandatory registry with strong regulatory safeguards could move us toward an environment where a consumer purchasing a supplement online or in brick-and-mortar stores could be assured of its legality and safety,” he says.

Hultin points out that any dietary supplement — even if it’s not adulterated — has the potential to be harmful to certain people.

“Even vitamin C, which is water soluble and is eliminated from the body when we take high amounts, can be harmful,” she says. “At high levels, it can cause digestive issues including diarrhea and it’s also not safe for people at risk of or who have kidney stones. Before taking absolutely any supplement, people should make sure that it’s not interacting with any of their medications or other supplements and that it’s safe for them based on their unique needs and medical history.”

Environmental Nutrition is an independent newsletter written by experts on health and nutrition.

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For all its high-tech gloss and futuristic, deep-space sci-fi CGI, the Netflix original film “Stowaway” boils down to this:

You’ve got four people on a ship that has enough oxygen for three people. What is to be done?

Directed with great style and a keen sense of pacing by the Brazilian musician-filmmaker by Joe Penna, “Stowaway” dispenses with any Earth-bound prologue and launches (sorry) immediately with a two-year, round-trip mission to Mars featuring a three-person crew: Anna Kendrick’s Zoe, a medical doctor; Daniel Dae Kim’s David, a biologist, and Toni Collette’s Marina, the commander of the team. The camera fluidly follows them as they navigate the labyrinthine and narrow corridors of the space station, get settled in, try out the obligatory meals-in-a-bag, and go about conducting the experiments and tests and planning that will help set up a colony on Mars, because we’re always trying to set up a colony on Mars in movies like this, aren’t we?

From time to time, Marina connects with Mission Control on Earth, though we never actually hear anyone’s voices, just muffled conversational suggestions. This is an effective technique, further establishing how isolated the crew will be from everyone but one another over the many, many months to come.

We learn this is Marina’s final mission, and David has a family back home, and Zoe volunteered for the program on a whim and never expected to be accepted but is now thrilled to be a part of history. As the crew goes about the business of logging entries and tending to plant life and flipping switches while speaking in very convincing terms about lots of stuff we don’t necessarily understand, “Stowaway” has a nice, slow build, as we know SOMETHING dramatic is going to happen pretty soon because if not, we wouldn’t have a movie. (That “Stowaway” title is carrying a pretty solid hint.)

They’re all getting along and they’re all quite nice and we’re getting to know them and root for them, and everything is going smoothly — and that’s when an unconscious man literally falls through the ceiling and lands with a thud on top of Zoe.

Shamier Anderson’s Michael is a launch support engineer who was knocked unconscious during last-minute preparations for the flight and somehow went undetected, until the moment when he landed right in the middle of the movie. Miraculously, Michael has survived — and when he regains consciousness and staggers to the window, imagine the level of freakout when he realizes that’s Earth out there, which means he’s in outer space. (And it’s too late to turn back.)

Michael comes across as a good guy and after initial doubts among the crew about whether he intentionally stowed away, it appears it really was an accident. (It’s a tribute to Shamier Anderson’s subtle performance that there remains just the slightest possibility Michael is up to something nefarious, and whether that turns out to be true will not be revealed here.)

Complicating matters to the nth degree: The ship’s life support system has been damaged, most likely beyond repair. If all four onboard try to make it to Mars, they’ll all die; if one is sacrificed, the remaining three just might be able to complete this vital and potentially humanity-saving mission. Given Zoe, Marina and David are actually supposed to be on the ship and Michael is an untrained, uninvited guest, you do the math. Marina successfully lobbies with her bosses back home to buy 10 days of time for the crew to try some last-minute calculations and heroics to save Michael, much to the relief of Zoe and much to consternation of David, who says every day they spend chasing an impossible Hail Mary is another day wasting precious resources. Meanwhile, Michael is facing conscious death — an almost unimaginably devastating fate.

Netflix

Penna and his co-writer Ryan Morrison handle this existentially challenging material with grace, and Kendrick, Collette, Kim and Anderson deliver equally impactful, intense performances. (We’re in space, but this is essentially a four-character play.) The beautiful and haunting music of Volker Bertelmann is evocative of great space operas such as “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “Interstellar” and “Gravity,” augmenting the feelings of helplessness and despair among the crew as they face the inevitable.

Not surprisingly “Stowaway” eventually takes the action outside the claustrophobic interiors of the ship for a dangerous, borderline reckless, last-ditch attempt to save the day, with Zoe and David risking their lives in space while Marina attempts to guide them and Michael agonizes over the impossible situation he has inadvertently created. We’re not entirely surprised by how it all plays out, but that doesn’t minimize the emotional impact of an ending that rings true and hits our hearts.

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Chicago Blackhawks: Darren Dreger gives a Jonathan Toews update by Vincent Parise

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Chicago Bears (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)

After a 2020 year of turmoil, you’d have to think the Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy era of Chicago Bears football is close to a near end without a productive 2021 season. As if the 2020 season wasn’t hard enough on Bears fans, the 2021 offseason moves haven’t been spectacular either.

The Chicago Bears need the 2021 NFL Draft to go their way to have success this year.

With the chatter of potentially landing pro bowl names like Russell Wilson and Deshaun Watson at the quarterback position, we were only let down by signing NFL veteran Andy Dalton on a one-year 10 million dollar deal at the decline of his career. The Bears also dropped the ball on matching Atlanta on a 1 year, 3 million dollar deal that would allow 4x all-pro Cordarrelle Patterson to remain on the team as last season he posed as the Bears most versatile player.

Pro Bowl wide receiver Allen Robinson is also coming off a 1200+ yard season with 6 touchdowns and over 100 receptions. He has also not been offered an extension. Instead, he was franchise tagged by the organization that really struggles at the wide receiver position.

It’s safe to say Robinson is also fed up with the way things are being handled in-house. He’s taken to Twitter over a dozen times this winter to express his frustrations about the way the team has failed to properly communicate with him and his camp.

There’s really only one way the Chicago Bears can gain back the trust and attention of their fans and players and that would be winning. That can all start on NFL draft day (April 29th) where Ryan Pace has been criticized for his prior first-round draft picks of Kevin White, Leonard Floyd, Mitchell Trubisky, and Roquan Smith. In this year’s draft, I look for the Bears to be aggressive as their backs are against the wall. I listed what I believe to be the ideal draft picks in order, going from rounds 1 through 5.

Next: Rounds one and two help the Bears with skill positions

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Chicago Bears: Five round mock draft lands the Bears ideal coverage man by Anthony Damato

The Chicago Blackhawks came into last night’s game with only a little bit of hope left in their playoff dreams. They knew that they are were in big trouble already and losing to the Nashville Predators would make things even worse. If they lost, they would end up being six points out of a playoff spot. Well, they ended up winning in overtime to keep themselves within three of the spot. In order to get the win, Malcolm Subban had to stand on his head and he did.

Malcolm Subban was amazing for the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night.

You know the team might have not deserved to win when a goalie gets praised for a game that he gave up four. Subban made so many great saves in this one to keep his team in it. He gave up the four goals in the 5-4 victory but the Hawks easily could have given up seven or eight with the way he played. He was named the second star of the game thanks to his 36 saves on 40 shots.

Everyone knows that Kevin Lankinen is the number one goalie on the Chicago Blackhawks right now but Subban deserves credit for the way he has played. He relieved Lankinen in Monday’s game and made eight saves on eight shots. It is a nice little run that he is on right now. We don’t know who will be in net in Friday night’s game against the Predators but you would think that Subban is considered.

One thing that made this win interesting is the way Subban and the Hawks got it. They were down 4-1 in the third period when Luke Kunin made that just 00:58 into the frame. It looked like it was going to be the deflating blow to their chances at this game and likely the playoffs. Well, Subban continued to battle in the net and his teammates scored three goals in a five-minute span to get the game tied. It was a great comeback that just needed one hero in overtime.

Related Story: We have a report on Jonathan Toews

Brandon Hagel was the hero in overtime when he scored the game-winner off a sweet shot. That was a brilliant play and it capped off the best game of Hagel’s young career. It was his third point of the night as he had two assists earlier in the contest. If the team can click in the future the way they did in last night’s third period, they will win a few games in the stretch run.

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Gene Barge has done his most influential work as a sideman or producer, but he’s just as important as any of R&B’s marquee stars.

Since 2004 Plastic Crimewave (aka Steve Krakow) has used the Secret History of Chicago Music to shine a light on worthy artists with Chicago ties who’ve been forgotten, underrated, or never noticed in the first place.…Read More

Quebec trio Big|Brave have always been great at drawing things out. Most of their songs pass the ten-minute mark, and they’ve made a hallmark of deftly adding heady layers of emotion to minimal, glacial drone rock.…Read More