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March Madness brackets are here — here’s how to pick your teams

The Associated Press March Madness this year comes at a time of great uncertainty in college sports. In addition to eyeing potential 5-12 upsets and trying to figure out which sleeper to put in the Elite Eight, fans also have to consider more existential questions about college basketball’s future. How will realignment affect the makeup of Division I? How much will football-related decisions affect basketball? How long will the NCAA Tournament stay at 68 teams, and if it changes, what will that mean for the Cinderellas of March? For now, this event looks pretty much the way it ...

With recent run, Scheffler reaching a dominance not seen since Tiger

The Associated Press PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Scottie Scheffler is next in line for comparisons with Tiger Woods because golf, like other sports, is always looking for the heir to the throne. Scheffler is playing great golf, measured as much by his elite ball-striking and alarming consistency as the results. He now has nine victories against the strongest fields — one of them a small field in the Bahamas — in the 25 months since he won his first PGA Tour title. Equally impressive is his 65 percent rate of finishing in the top 10. The next Woods? “I think that’s a ...

State Medicaid offices target dead people’s homes to recoup their health care costs

The Associated Press WASHINGTON — As Salvatore LoGrande fought cancer and all the pain that came with it, his daughters promised to keep him in the white, pitched roof house he worked so hard to buy all those decades ago. So, Sandy LoGrande thought it was a mistake when, a year after her father’s death, Massachusetts billed her $177,000 for her father’s Medicaid expenses and threatened to sue for his home if she didn’t pay up quickly. “The home was everything,” to her father said LoGrande, 57. But the bill and accompanying threat weren’t a mistake. Rather, it was ...

Putin basks in electoral victory that was never in doubt even as Russians quietly protest

The Associated Press Russian President Vladimir Putin basked in a victory early Monday that was never in doubt, as partial election results showed him easily securing a fifth term after facing only token challengers and harshly suppressing opposition voices. With little margin for protest, Russians crowded outside polling stations at noon Sunday, on the last day of the election, apparently heeding an opposition call to express their displeasure with Putin. Still, the impending landslide underlined that Russian leader would accept nothing less than full control of the country’s ...

UConn, Purdue, Houston, UNC earn No. 1 seeds with madness already well underway

The Associated Press Even before the brackets came out Sunday, March Madness was a muddled mess. About the closest thing to a sure thing: UConn. The defending champion Huskies earned the top seed in the NCAA Tournament, joined by Houston, Purdue and North Carolina as No. 1 seeds in a bracket that started going haywire even before the pairings were announced Sunday evening. Of those top teams, only UConn heads into the tournament coming off a win. The others lost in their conference tournaments, yet those were hardly the only surprises over the final weekend of hoops before the ...

South Carolina, Iowa, USC, Texas are top women’s seeds

The Associated Press Dawn Staley and South Carolina could see some familiar faces on their path to trying to finish off an undefeated season. The Gamecocks, who are the No. 1 overall seed in the women’s NCAA Tournament, are looking to become the 10th women’s basketball team to go unbeaten for an entire season. They had a chance last season before falling just short against Caitlin Clark and Iowa in the Final Four. The Hawkeyes received the other No. 1 seed in the Albany Regional. The two teams wouldn’t potentially face off until the national championship game this time. Iowa ...