The Rock Chalkboard

'Outstanding' Kalon Gervin ready to step into bigger role with Cobee Bryant likely out vs. Baylor
Kalon Gervin has quietly put together a very consistent first half of the 2022 season. The defensive back transferred to KU over the offseason and was one of a few incoming transfers who arrived in the winter, meaning he went through spring practice. Gervin didn’t win a starting job at cornerback heading into the season, but the redshirt junior has been on the field a lot in 2022.

College football predictions: ESPN FPI predicts every Week 8 game
Kansas at Baylor

Game info: Sat., Oct. 22 | Noon | ESPN2

Location: McLane Stadium | Waco, Texas

Projected winner: Baylor | 79.6 percent

Kansas basketball: Bill Self talks potential one-and-done rule change
"Well, it will certainly affect recruiting," said Kansas coach Bill Self at Big 12 Media Day. "I'm not sure it will affect the majority of us recruiting. We haven't recruited very many one-and-dones of late. I guess Josh [Jackson] was the last one. But we have done a really nice job recruiting, but over time, in the 20 years we've been here, we've recruited I think nine one-and-dones, which is still a high number, but it's not like we're recruiting to live off those guys to be our leading scorer and leading rebounders their freshman year. I don't think it will affect us a ton. I think obviously the best programs will still get the best guys. The hardest workers will get the best guys. But being able to evaluate and project will be more important now than ever because it's not just hard to evaluate and project the No. 1 pick is going to be a really good player for your program. But you get past those top 10 or 12, whatever guys there is, it's going to be a lot more about development at least with those type of guys than maybe what it has been here recently."

Lance Leipold named to prestigious coach of the year midseason watch list
Lance Leipold has KU football in the midst of its best season in well over a decade and the efforts of the head coach and his coaching staff are being noticed. In addition to Leipold being named CBS Sports' Midseason Coach of the Year, Leipold has also been nominated for the Paul "Bear" Bryant Coach of the Year award. On Wednesday, Leipold was named to the award's midseason watch list, along four other coaches from the Big 12 and numerous other coaches from across the country.

Eraser Dust

Rishi Sunak, Penny Mordaunt and Boris Johnson backed for U.K. prime minister - The Washington Post
With Liz Truss out, contenders face a Monday deadline to get the backing of at least 100 Conservative Party lawmakers.

What's in the so-called 'Don't Say Gay' bill that could impact the whole country : NPR
The bill, called the "Stop the Sexualization of Children Act," aims "To prohibit the use of Federal funds to develop, implement, facilitate, or fund any sexually-oriented program, event, or literature for children under the age of 10, and for other purposes."

Steve Bannon to be sentenced after ex-Trump aide defied Jan. 6 subpoena
Former top Trump White House advisor Steve Bannon is set to be sentenced Friday for defying a subpoena from the congressional probe of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

District judge rejects GOP states' challenge to Biden student debt relief program | CNN Politics
US District Judge Henry Edward Autrey said Thursday he was dismissing the case because the states had not overcome the procedural threshold known as standing, which requires that plaintiffs show that a policy is causing them direct and traceable harm.

Noel Gallagher talks about fame and Amy Winehouse
“Fame can hit people really hard,” Gallagher said. “I always use the story of Amy Winehouse, a lovely girl from North London. All of a sudden she makes that album, she becomes a world superstar, fame hit her like a truck and she didn’t make it.”

Alaska’s Independents Have Something to Say to the Rest of the Country - POLITICO
The result was a repudiation of Palin, a uniquely unpopular figure in Alaska following her vice presidential candidacy in 2008 and her abrupt and not-well-explained resignation from the Alaska governorship the following year. But the special election also laid bare exactly how much Republicans were willing to lose in the seemingly ceaseless feud between the party’s Trumpian and more establishment-minded bases of support.

Columbia Falls sued by couple over Kreck Riverside Park | Daily Inter Lake
A local couple has filed suit in Flathead County District Court claiming Columbia Falls' Kreck Riverside Park is a nuisance and the court should force the city to address it.

Taylor Swift Releases 7 New Songs Just Hours After New Album Midnights: Listen | Pitchfork
Only three hours after releasing her new album, Midnights, Taylor Swift has dropped seven more songs written during the album’s conception. Check out the “3am Edition” of Midnights below, with the added songs starting at track 14, “The Great War.” Among the additional batch are three songs prominently featuring the National’s Aaron Dessner, who did not contribute to Midnights after being a big part of Folklore and Evermore. Jack Antonoff, who Swift kept on board for Midnights, worked closely on the other four extra songs.

James Corden breaks his silence about that restaurant ban | CNN
“I haven’t done anything wrong, on any level,” Corden told the Times, adding that he wouldn’t have canceled the interview over the awkwardness of having to discuss it.