All first-round glitter isn't gold

The Bears find themselves with three first-round draft picksjust as first-round picks have fallen out of fashion.

It's not like being stuck with a closet full of bell-bottoms.First-round picks still have value. They're just no longerrequirements for championships.

The 49ers won the Super Bowl last season with threefirst-rounders on their roster: safety Ronnie Lott, wide receiverJerry Rice and tackle Harris Barton. The core draft at the heart oftheir team was one in which they started with the 18th pick buttraded three times before making their first selection, the 39thplayer, in 1986.

The last team with three No. 1 picks was Cincinnati in 1984.The …

Stafford lifts Lions to 37-25 win over Redskins

DETROIT (AP) — Matthew Stafford made the most of his return.

Stafford threw four touchdown passes, including a 10-yarder to Calvin Johnson with 3:12 left, and the Detroit Lions went on to score nine points in 14 seconds to turn a close game into a 37-25 win over the Washington Redskins on Sunday.

The Redskins (4-4) turned the ball over on downs after Johnson's career-high third score. Washington coach Mike Shanahan then put Rex Grossman in for an apparently healthy Donovan McNabb, and he fumbled on his first play with Ndamukong Suh returning it for a TD.

The Lions (2-5) were trailing late in the game with Alphonso Smith stepped in front of McNabb's pass at the Redskins …

Spain says trawler hijacking drama might drag on

Spain is working to secure the release of a Spanish tuna trawler hijacked in the Indian Ocean with a crew of 36 but the ordeal could drag on, the defense minister said Monday.

Pirates seized the ship Alakrana on Friday about 375 nautical miles off the east coast of Somalia. On Monday it was anchored near an undisclosed Somali port, said its owner, Echebastar Fleet. The Defense Ministry had said Sunday it was actually moored at a port.

Also Monday, Istanbul-based Horizon Shipping said Somali pirates had released the MV Horizon-1, a Turkish cargo ship held for about three months in the Gulf of Aden. The company said the pirates received a ransom but did not …

Edgar signs school-reform bill

SPRINGFIELD On the heels of a report showing a drop in statereading scores, Gov. Edgar signed legislation Tuesday designed toforce poor-performing students into summer school.

The measure, which was promoted by House Speaker Lee A.Daniels (R-Elmhurst), also would give school boards broader authorityto suspend students who bring weapons onto school grounds.

And the new law sets up a $52.5 million flat-grant program aspart of the state budget's $288 million in additional funds forschool districts this year.

"This comprehensive education reform package will help us inour continuing effort to make sure Illinois provides the best publiceducation …

Fernando Botero

Fernando Botero

MARLBOROUGH

The theme of helpless victim and arrogant victimizer recurs again and again in the art of Colombian-born painter Fernando Botero. From his earliest works, made in the 1980s, which deal with dictatorial power in Latin America, to his brutal 2006 paintings portraying torture at Abu Ghraib, Botero repeatedly addresses the theme of man's inhumanity to man, the humiliation and violence human beings have perpetuated upon each other since time immemorial. This exhibition took as its theme yet another event charged with cruelty and suffering: the Passion of Christ. Throughout the series of twentyseven paintings (and thirty-four accompanying drawings), …

World Cup qualifying: Sierra Leone beats South Africa 1-0

Sierra Leone got its first win in World Cup qualifying Saturday with a 1-0 defeat of South Africa.

Sierra Leone captain Mohammed Kallon converted a penalty …

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