The Rock Chalkboard

Bye week should be a busy one for Lance Leipold and KU football team | KUsports.com
There’s no game on the schedule this week for the Kansas football team, but head coach Lance Leipold and his staff have a long list of plans and tasks to accomplish, with the Jayhawks on a four-game losing streak.

After Week 5, struggling KU defense ranks at or near bottom of FBS in several categories | KUsports.com
After a solid showing in the season opener against FCS opponent South Dakota — the Coyotes scored just 14 points and totaled 263 yards — KU’s defense found it much more difficult to get stops against FBS competition.

Kansas volleyball slotted 18th in season's first RPI rankings | KUsports.com
“It feels like momentum (is building),” Bechard said. “That trip (to Texas Tech to open Big 12 play) really did a lot.”

Bits o Chalk

2021 MLB playoffs - Our predictions from the wild-card games through the World Series
The San Francisco Giants enter October with Major League Baseball's best record, while their rivals in the National League West, the Los Angeles Dodgers, have hopes of becoming baseball's first repeat champions since the New York Yankees won three straight from 1998 to 2000. Meanwhile, the Tampa Bay Rays have some unfinished business in the American League after falling to L.A. in last year's Fall Classic -- and, of course, there's that Yankees-Red Sox AL Wild Card showdown to start everything (8 p.m. ET on ESPN).

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USWNT's Alex Morgan says sexual harassment a leaguewide problem in NWSL
The North Carolina Courage last week fired coach Paul Riley amid allegations spanning over a decade of sexual coercion and inappropriate comments about players' weight and sexual orientation.

Warriors' Andrew Wiggins explains decision to get COVID-19 vaccine - Options were 'to get vaccinated or not play in the NBA'
"The only options were to get vaccinated or not play in the NBA," Wiggins said after the Warriors' preseason opener at the Portland Trail Blazers, his first public comments since getting the shot. "It was a tough decision. Hopefully, it works out in the long run and in 10 years I'm still healthy."

Eraser Dust

Facebook whistleblower to testify in Senate hearing about company's impact on kids - CNN
Frances Haugen, a 37-year-old former Facebook product manager who worked on civic integrity issues at the company, will face questions from a Senate Commerce subcommittee about what Facebook-owned Instagram knew about its effects on young users, among other issues.

California oil spill could endanger birds, marine life for years, experts say : NPR
"They might not look visibly oiled, but the exposure that they get subtly through their diet or because of physical contact later on might affect their physiology, their health and translate into a lower reproductive success and therefore lower chances of the population to persist," Andrea Bonisoli Alquati, a professor of biological sciences at Cal Poly Pomona, told NPR.

Biden plots debt ceiling blitz to focus the blame on McConnell - POLITICO
After months of playing it cool on the debt ceiling, the White House has quickly begun to turn the screws on Republicans in an attempt to shift blame for the financial brinkmanship squarely onto Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Squid Game subtitles 'change meaning' of Netflix show - BBC News
Korean fans claim the drama's meaning has been "botched" for English-speaking viewers.

Foreign money flows to South Dakota and other U.S. tax havens - StarTribune.com
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Across from a Holiday Inn, in a red-brick building with a welcome sign that reads "The Heart of America," a little-known financial firm set up shop seven years ago and extended an invitation to the world's elite.

Kalispell council ready to vote on dispensary regs | Daily Inter Lake
An ordinance before the council would make it legal to operate a marijuana dispensary with a conditional-use permit in all of the city’s business zones, as long as there is a 300-foot buffer from dispensaries to churches, schools, parks and city residential areas.

Question of the Day

What is something you thought only rich people had when you were a kid that you now have in your home?