The Rock Chalkboard

Chancellor Douglas Girod says Kansas will 'land in a good place' as college athletics goes through another round of realignment | KUsports.com Mobile
"Our focus right now is supporting our new (Big 12) commissioner and strengthening our brand and our position with obviously our media partners and figuring out what sort of competition alliances can be created to make sure our teams continue to play on the big stages," Girod said in response to the question. "It is all hands on deck right now in that regard."

Kansas football team again projected to finish last as Big 12 preseason poll released | KUsports.com Mobile
The Jayhawks were again picked to finish last in the Big 12 preseason poll, which was released Thursday afternoon. Forty-one people voted in the poll and Kansas received 48 points, meaning not everyone projected a last-place finish.

Four players on Kansas women's basketball team selected to national teams | KUsports.com Mobile
Junior Ioanna Chatzileonti and sophomore Danai Papadopoulou will play for Greece, sophomore Sanna Strom will represent Sweden and freshman Zsofia Telegdy will play for Hungary.

57 Days Until Kansas Football: What did Chancellor Girod Mean? - Blue Wings Rising
Minor waves made their way through Kansas Jayhawk Twitter on Thursday when the Lawrence Journal-World published comments Chancellor Douglas Girod he made in a brief interview with the paper.

Former Jayhawk Arrested - Rock Chalk Talk
Per the TMZ Report, Graham was driving 63mph in a 40mph zone, and when pulled over for speeding, showed signs of inebriation. They've reported he had a BAC of .11, just over the legal limit of .08. He's due for his first court hearing July 22nd.

Eraser Dust

Shinzo Abe, Japan's former prime minister, assassinated at a campaign stop | Reuters
NARA, Japan, July 8 (Reuters) - Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Japan's longest-serving leader, died on Friday hours after he was shot while campaigning for a parliamentary election, shocking a country in which political violence is rare and guns are tightly controlled.

Biden to sign executive order to support abortion rights - The Washington Post
The president plans to sign an order that attempts to safeguard access to abortion medication and emergency contraception amid Democratic calls for action.

Conservative leadership race: Who might replace Boris Johnson as UK Prime Minister? | CNN
In the wake of the so-called partygate scandal over illegal gatherings held at Downing Street in defiance of coronavirus lockdowns, several senior members of Johnson’s cabinet began quietly preparing for a future leadership contest, courting influential members of parliament and dining with donors who could fund their campaigns.

Highland Park police records indicate volatile home life for alleged shooter
Most of the incidents involved allegations of verbal or physical altercations between the shooting suspect’s parents, Robert Crimo Jr. and Denise Pesina. The reports, released by the Highland Park Police Department, paint a picture of the sometimes tumultuous home where Robert “Bobby” Crimo III grew up before he allegedly shot dozens of people enjoying a Fourth of July parade. Seven of those shot died, and Bobby Crimo is charged with seven counts of first-degree murder.

The Simpsons' long-running grocery store gag with Maggie being scanned has a unique meaning | Daily Mail Online
The Twitter account UberFacts tweeted on Tuesday, 'In the original opening credits for "The Simpsons," when Maggie is scanned at the grocery store, the price that appears on the cash register is $847.63. This was the estimated cost of raising a baby for one month in 1989.'

Derek Chauvin sentenced to 21 years in federal prison for murder of George Floyd | The Independent
The sentence means Chauvin, 46, will leave a state prison where he has been kept in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day for the past 15 months and be allowed to move to a federal prison.

Photos: One million Muslims start Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca | Religion News | Al Jazeera
Pilgrims gathered for dawn prayers and performed the initial rites of the Hajj on Thursday in Saudi Arabia’s holy city of Mecca, in the largest Islamic pilgrimage since the coronavirus pandemic upended the event – one of the five pillars of Islam.

Longtime Kalispell artist shares her ‘Places & Memories’ | Daily Inter Lake
Phillips Studio & Gallery is hosting a special exhibition of paintings by Kalispell artist Marsha Davis. “Places & Memories” is a collection of some of Davis’ favorite places to paint. She has made it a lifelong challenge to capture some of the spectacular beauty of these places by repainting, revisiting and reworking the pieces in this collection.

Lego is releasing a 2,807-piece Bowser set for adults | Engadget
Come October, Lego will release the largest set in its Super Mario line so far — a 2,807-piece model of the King of the Koopas himself. The Mighty Bowser set will be a part of Lego’s fun but not infantilizing line for adults known as Adults Welcome. Upon a closer look at the Super Koopa figure, it’s evident that it’ll take far more advanced spatial reasoning skills to build than the rest of Lego’s Super Mario-themed lineup geared towards youth. In addition to Super Bowser coming with his own Lego-version of a fireball launcher, there’s also a button to control the figure’s movements and an entire battle platform for Bowser, complete with two towers that are meant to be toppled over by the villain.

James Caan: Hollywood pays tribute to late Godfather actor - BBC News
Speaking of his "fictional brother and lifelong friend", Pacino said: "It's hard to believe that he won't be in the world any more because he was so alive and daring.

Meraxes Gigas: Giant New Carnivorous Dinosaur Discovered With Tiny Arms Like T. rex
Tyrannosaurs (like the infamous T. rex) is not the only group of gigantic carnivorous dinosaur with tiny arms. In fact, paleontologists have just discovered a new species of dinosaur with disproportionally short arms just like T. rex called the Meraxes gigas. The findings, published in the journal Current Biology today (July 7), argued that T. rex and M. gigas evolved to have tiny arms completely independently, and identified several potential functions for the short arms such as mating or movement support.

NASA releases James Webb telescope 'teaser' picture
NASA has a provided a tantalizing teaser photo ahead of the highly-anticipated release next week of the first deep-space images from the James Webb Telescope—an instrument so powerful it can peer back into the origins of the universe.

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