Top stories this week: Bills' Damar Hamlin collapses on field, Idaho slayings suspect arrested, and more

The family of Damar Hamlin expressed gratitude for the outpouring of support shown toward the Buffalo Bills safety while asking everyone to keep the hospitalized player in their prayers on Tuesday.

“We are deeply moved by the prayers, kind words and donations from fans around the country,” Hamlin’s family wrote in a message posted on the Twitter account of the player’s marketing representative, Jordon Rooney. “Your generosity and compassion has meant the world to us.”

The family also paid tribute to the first responders, medical staff at UC Medical Center, the Bills and Cincinnati Bengals for their support.

Hamlin was in critical condition early Tuesday after the Bills say his heart stopped following a tackle during the Monday Night Football game, which was indefinitely postponed.

Hamlin collapsed on the field during the first quarter of the nationally televised game against the Cincinnati Bengals and was given medical treatment for nearly 20 minutes before being taken to a hospital.

"Damar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest following a hit in our game versus the Bengals. His heartbeat was restored on the field and he was transferred to the UC Medical Center for further testing and treatment," the Bills said in a statement. "He is currently sedated and listed in critical condition."

Jordon Rooney, a family representative who described himself as a good friend of the player, told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Tuesday that Hamlin's relatives are in good spirits but going through a lot and need their privacy. He declined to give details on Hamlin's condition other than to say he is sedated.

"All I can say is he's fighting; he's a fighter," Rooney said.

In a chilling scene, Hamlin was administered CPR on the field, ESPN reported, while surrounded by teammates, some of them in tears, while they shielded him from public view. He was hurt while tackling Bengals receiver Tee Higgins on a seemingly routine play that didn't appear unusually violent.

The NFL announced Hamlin's condition shortly after he was taken to a hospital, but neither the league nor the hospital released any other details about the 24-year-old's medical condition. The team's statement was released before its flight arrived back in Buffalo early Tuesday. There was no immediate update about the future status of the game.

On the play the 6-foot, 200-pound Hamlin was injured, Higgins led with his right shoulder, which hit the defensive back in the chest. Hamlin then wrapped his arms around Higgins' shoulders and helmet to drag him down. Hamlin quickly got to his feet, appeared to adjust his face mask with his right hand and then fell backward about three seconds later and lay motionless.

Hamlin was treated on the field by team and independent medical personnel and local paramedics, and he was taken by ambulance to University of Cincinnati Medical Center. Teammate Stefon Diggs later joined Hamlin at the hospital.

About 100 Bills fans and a few Bengals fans gathered on a corner one block from the emergency room entrance, some of them holding candles.

Jeff Miller, an NFL executive vice president, told reporters on a conference call early Tuesday that the league had made no plans at this time to play the game, adding that Hamlin's health was the main focus.

An ambulance was on the field four minutes after Hamlin collapsed while many players embraced, including quarterbacks Buffalo's Josh Allen and Cincinnati's Joe Burrow.

"Please pray for our brother," Allen tweeted.

Hamlin collapsed at 8:55 p.m., and when he was taken off the field about 19 minutes later in what seemed like an eternity, the Bills gathered in prayer. A few minutes after the ambulance left the field, the game was suspended, and players walked off the field slowly and into their locker rooms where they awaited word on Hamlin and the game.

"I've never seen anything like it since I was playing," NFL executive Troy Vincent, a six-time Pro Bowl cornerback during his career, said in the conference call early Tuesday. "Immediately, my player hat went on, like, how do you resume playing after seeing a traumatic event in front of you?"

Hamlin's uniform was cut off as he was attended to by medical personnel. ESPN reported on its telecast that Hamlin was also given oxygen.

Vincent said the league took no steps toward restarting the game and did not ask players to begin a five-minute warmup period as ESPN's broadcasters had announced.

"It never crossed our mind to talk about warming up to resume play," Vincent said. "That's ridiculous. That's insensitive. That's not a place we should ever be in."

Vincent said the Bills were returning early Tuesday morning to the team facility in Orchard Park, New York, with the exception of a few players who stayed behind with Hamlin.

There was a heavy police presence at Buffalo Niagara International Airport when the team arrived at about 2:45 a.m. A small group of fans gathered across the street from the players' parking area near the airport. Police blocked off the road to allow the players to leave.

The Bengals led 7-3 in the first quarter of a game between teams vying for the top playoff seed in the AFC. Cincinnati entered at 11-4 and leading the AFC North by one game over Baltimore, while AFC East champion Buffalo was 12-3.

Health-med-fit

Damar Hamlin has distinguished self as mature, generous member of Bills' team

• By Mark Gaughan News Sports Reporter

"The NFLPA and everyone in our community is praying for Damar Hamlin," the players' union said in a statement. "We have been in touch with Bills and Bengals players, and with the NFL. The only thing that matters at this moment is Damar's health and well being."

The unfinished game has major playoff implications as the NFL enters the final week of the regular season, with the wild-card playoff round scheduled to begin on Jan. 14.

The aftermath of the injury was reminiscent of when Bills tight end Kevin Everett lay motionless on the field after making a tackle on the second-half opening kickoff in Buffalo's 2007 season-opening game against the Denver Broncos.

Everett sustained a spinal cord injury that initially left him partially paralyzed.

Hamlin spent five years of college at Pittsburgh — his hometown — and appeared in 48 games for the Panthers over that span. He was a second-team All-ACC performer as a senior, was voted a team captain and was picked to play in the Senior Bowl.

He was drafted in the sixth round by the Bills in 2021, played in 14 games as a rookie and then became a starter this year once Micah Hyde was lost for the season to injury.

By late Monday night, a community toy drive organized by Hamlin had surged to more than $1.2 million in donations. His stated goal was $2,500.

Kathryn Bersani and her mother, Gayle, were among the Bills fans who traveled from Buffalo for the game and went to the hospital from the stadium.

"This is our family Christmas," Kathryn Bersani said. "We thought it would be a great game. Joe (Burrow) and Josh (Allen) are such great men. Sad, sad time. Such a shock. I just hope he can live a normal life. It stunned us."

Chuck and Janet Kohl went to the hospital after watching the game at home.

"This is much more important than football," Chuck Kohl said. "Had to come and pray for Mr. Hamlin."

Entering the game, Hamlin had 91 tackles, including 63 solo tackles, and 1 1/2 sacks.

A tweet from the Pitt football account was simple and clear: "Damar Hamlin is the best of us. We love you, 3," the tweet said, referring to Hamlin by his college jersey number. "Praying for you."

Taxes will fall and minimum wages rise for residents in numerous states as a variety of new laws take effect Sunday that could impact people's finances and, in some cases, their personal liberties.

Some new laws could affect access to abortion. Others will ease restrictions on marijuana and concealed guns, or eliminate the need to pay to get out of jail.

Jaywalkers will get a reprieve in California, thanks to a new law prohibiting police from stopping pedestrians for traffic violations unless they are in immediate danger of being hit by a vehicle.

Here's a look at some of the laws taking effect in the new year.

Latest Headlines

Taxes fall, wages rise and jaywalking OK'd by new state laws

• DAVID A. LIEB and GEOFF MULVIHILL Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Barbara Walters, a pioneer as TV news' first woman superstar, has died, according to ABC News. She was 93.

Her cause of death was not immediately known. Other details, such as where she died, were not immediately released.

Walters made headlines in 1976 as the first female network news anchor, with an unprecedented $1 million annual salary.

During more than three decades at ABC, and before that at NBC, Walters' exclusive interviews with the famous and powerful brought her celebrity status that ranked with theirs.

Her drive was legendary as she competed for each big "get" in a world jammed with more and more rivals, including female journalists who had followed on the trail that she blazed.

As a highly successful side venture, she created and appeared on a daytime ABC talk show, "The View." In May 2014, she taped her final appearance on "The View" to mark the end of her career on television, but she hosted occasional specials after that.

A set of fraternal twins born in Denton, Texas, will likely share a lot of things in life, including their DNA, but their birth year won’t be one of them.

Kali Jo and Cliff Scott's babies, Annie Jo and Effie Rose, timed their arrivals minutes apart but in separate years, new mom Kali Jo Scott told KDFW-TV.

Scott had checked into Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Denton about a week and a half before the twins’ due date.

Annie Jo was born at 11:55 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, making her the last baby born at the hospital in 2022. Meanwhile, Effie Rose held out until 12:01 a.m. to be the hospital’s first baby of 2023.

“We had kind of joked, like, ‘wouldn’t it be funny if…’ with the holiday and New Year’s Eve over the weekend,” Scott told the TV station. “It turned out that was more of a possibility than we realized.”

Scott said it was “hilarious and super fun.”

“You always still want to make sure they have their own individual personality and know that they are special and unique,” she said. “One will always get the glitter and confetti of New Year’s Eve and one gets to kick it off with a brand-new year on New Year’s Day.”

Damar Hamlin has distinguished himself with the Buffalo Bills as a mature, outgoing, well-liked member of the organization.

It is a reputation he built at the University of Pittsburgh, as a leader on his college team and a socially conscious member of the community.

Bills safety Damar Hamlin in critical condition after cardiac arrest; game suspended

Hamlin created the Chasing M’s Foundation at Pittsburgh, a charity designed by him to use his platform “to positively impact the community that raised me,” he said at the time.

Chasing M’s first was a clothing brand Hamlin created, in reference to a slogan he embraced – chasing millions. It is an ongoing online business. Hamlin’s first charitable effort was a community toy drive in his hometown of McKees Rocks, Pa., a borough just outside of Pittsburgh, in 2020.

“Once I got to college and got more business-minded and business savvy, I wanted to develop it,” Hamlin said as a Bills rookie in 2021.

Hamlin said his brand is “for those who have a dream and pursue it. It is for those who want something more and can’t settle to be average.”

Hamlin has donated clothes from his brand to his high school in Pittsburgh, Sto-Rox in McKees Rocks.

Hamlin was selected in the sixth round of the 2021 NFL Draft.

His transition to Buffalo was made easier by the fact he rejoined his longtime friend and Pitt teammate, Bills cornerback Dane Jackson, who was drafted in the seventh round in 2020.

Jackson grew up in Pittsburgh’s West End neighborhood, just a few miles from McKees Rocks.

“We used to scrimmage each other in little league,” Jackson told The News this year. “Our relationship kind of built from that.”

They played against each other at 8 and 9 years old in youth football. They also scrimmaged against each other while at different high schools. Jackson played for Quaker Valley High School. They trained together with a goal of fulfilling college and, ultimately, NFL dreams.

“It's really like a situation I couldn't even imagine in my wildest dreams," Hamlin told reporters after the first practice of Bills minicamp in 2021. "Dane's really like a brother to me. We've pretty much been close our whole life."

Jackson and Hamlin lived in the same dorm, Bouquet Gardens, in back-to-back years.

Hamlin spent five years at Pitt and started for 3 1/2 seasons. He was a second-team all-Atlantic Coast Conference selection as a senior in the 2020 season. He started all 10 games and led Pitt in tackles.

For his career, he recorded 290 tackles, six interceptions and 21 passes defensed over 46 games. He earned a degree in communication.

“That's kind of how those two have grown up in this mentality of this city,” Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi told The News this fall. “I haven't spent a lot of time in Buffalo, but I would imagine another tough city up there. Pittsburgh is a tough city, tough people, and it takes tough people to come out of this place and be successful. Those two, they’ve won the toughness award.”

Hamlin appeared in 14 games as a rookie last season, but saw only limited duty as a reserve on defense because the Bills’ starting safeties stayed healthy the entire year.

Hamlin was thrust into action as a starter this season after Micah Hyde went down with a neck injury late in the Week 2 game against Tennessee.

Starting in the Bills’ Week 5 game against his hometown NFL team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, was a big moment for Hamlin.

“It does feel like … it's bigger than the childhood dream,” Hamlin said. “Coming from where I come from, you always had hope of making it and doing things like this, being able to be a starter and playing on a team (that’s) playing your hometown team.

“But you never – if you haven't seen it done, or if it's not reality around you, it's hard to dream it, envision it,” Hamlin said. “So, I can't even say it was necessarily like a dream. I always had big goals, big plans for myself. But this is kind of a big moment in life for me, honestly. I can’t lie.”

Hamlin started 14 straight games, including the game in Cincinnati. He had played 86% of the defensive snaps entering Monday night’s game. He stands third on the team in tackles with 60.

Teammate Rodger Saffold tweeted late Monday night, "Damar Hamlin is a kind caring extremely hard worker. He is loyal honest and can always put a smile on your face. He is more than an athlete, he is a son and brother. I pray God gives him mercy and brings him back to us."

Hamlin has a little brother, Damir, who is age 7. He plays football too, coached by their father, Mario, in little league.

Benedict XVI, the Pope Emeritus, has died in Vatican City at the age of 95 following a period of ill health.

Benedict, who was the first pontiff in almost 600 years to resign his position, rather than hold office for life, passed away on Saturday, according to a statement from the Vatican.

News of his death came days after Pope Francis asked the faithful to pray for Benedict, saying he was "very sick."

"I want to ask you all for a special prayer for Pope Emeritus Benedict who sustains the Church in his silence. He is very sick. We ask the Lord to console and sustain him in this witness of love for the Church to the very end," Francis said at his general audience on Wednesday.

At the end of the general audience, Pope Francis went to the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in Vatican City to visit Benedict, the Vatican said. There had "been a deterioration due to the advancement of his age" over the previous few hours, a Vatican spokesman said on Wednesday, adding that doctors were monitoring the situation.

His health had been in decline for some time.

Benedict stunned the Catholic faithful and religious experts around the world on February 11, 2013, when he announced plans to step down from his position as Pope, citing his "advanced age."

Full obituaries:

The death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is beihg marked in the holy city of Jerusalem and elsewhere in the world.

Church bells rang out continuously throughout the labyrinthine alleys of Jerusalem’s old city and across Israel and the Palestinian territories as news broke of the former pope’s death. Latin Patriarch Pierbattista Pizzaballa planned an official commemoration mass on Sunday and issued a statement of mourning.

More on the the latest on the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI:

Bookended by globally popular and charismatic popes -- St. John Paul II and Pope Francis -- Benedict cut a different figure. Friends and biographers described him as quiet and scholarly, more at home among theological tomes than adoring crowds.

In typical fashion, Benedict announced his unexpected resignation in Latin. He was 85 at the time and cited his advanced age as ill-suited for the demands of running the Catholic Church.

The German-born Benedict saw himself, and the church, as a bulwark against secular trends in Western society, particularly what he called the "dictatorship of relativism." He often insisted that Catholics maintain a fortress mentality, saying perhaps a smaller, "purer" church would best maintain Catholicism's traditions and teachings.

Benedict XVI had a long and illustrious career as one of the Roman Catholic Church’s pre-eminent theologians. But for all his accomplishments and accolades, however, Benedict will forever be known as the first pope in 600 years to resign.

If ever there was a moment that embodied the surreal novelty created by the first papal resignation in 600 years, it came on the morning of March 23, 2013: Newly elected Pope Francis had traveled to the papal summer retreat south of Rome and was greeted on the helipad by the previous pope, Benedict XVI, who had moved there three weeks earlier.

Two men in white — a reigning pope and a retired one — each showing the other the deference owed to a pontiff and discussing the future of the Catholic Church as it passed from one papacy to the next.

But for some, that moment on the helipad of Castel Gandolfo encapsulated everything that was wrong with Benedict’s surprise resignation and the risks it posed to the very unity of the Catholic Church and the institution of the papacy.