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Fred Warner says the 49ers showed what they’re about this offseason with the way they prioritized new contracts for himself, quarterback Brock Purdy and tight end George Kittle.

Warner, the veteran linebacker who has played his entire career in San Francisco, signed a three-year, $63 million deal this offseason. Purdy signed a five-year, $265 million contract. And Kittle signed a four-year, $76 million contract. Warner says the 49ers showed they mean business.

“I’m so grateful to everyone involved including the whole York family, John Lynch, Kyle Shanahan,” Warner said, via 49ers.com. “It was pretty seamless, and I’m happy for George Kittle and Brock Purdy to get their stuff done too.”

Warner indicated that he’d like to play for just one team in his NFL career.

“It honestly does mean the world,” Warner said. “When I got drafted here in 2018, it was truly a dream come true. It was the exact spot I wanted to be at because I knew they had a vision for me as a younger player who had never even played stack, off-the-ball linebacker. I was so raw at the time. Being able to fulfill my dream of being an NFL player, of being a 49er, I truly feel that same exact way. Signing this deal, it still is a dream to me.”

After a very disappointing 2024 season followed their 2023 NFC championship, the 49ers hope they’ve locked up the nucleus of a team that can get back to contention, and stay in contention.

A semi-truck carrying 250 million bees and their hives overturned on a Washington state roadway on Friday, unleashing an ominous cloud of unhappily buzzing insects.

But more than two dozen volunteer beekeepers from the region of Whatcom County, snuggled along the U.S.-Canada border, may have saved the day, the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office said.

They helped restore hives that had become dislodged in the crash, it said.

“Hive boxes from the overturned truck were recovered, restored and returned to use,” the sheriff’s office said in an update Friday afternoon. “By morning, most bees should have returned to their hives and those responsible for their delivery will be in charge.”

The workday started with more uncertainty than optimism, as the crash shut down a roadway and inspired the sheriff’s office to warn residents it could take a few days to corral the escapees.

“The plan is to allow the bees to re-hive and find their queen bee,” the office said in an earlier statement. “That should occur within the next 24-48 hours. The goal is to save as many of the bees as possible.”

Katie Buckley, the pollinator health coordinator for the Washington State Department of Agriculture, indicated many of the bees will not only survive but reconnect with their hives and travel on to their destination.

“Bees are actually surprisingly sturdy,” she told NBC affiliate KING of Seattle.

People should still avoid the bees, and the area of the overturned semi-truck, because they’re probably unhappy about being ejected, even if separation from their hives is temporary.

“They’re also probably having a bad day,” she said.

The sheriff’s office, meanwhile, said the roadway could reopen Saturday morning, when the insects’ owners will most likely take over, according to a statement.

KING said it was working to determine where the bees were headed. The sheriff’s office didn’t say. The cause of the crash was not available.

The sheriff’s office thanked “the wonderful community of beekeepers,” saying that its members “showed up to help ensure the rescue of millions of pollinating honey bees would be as successful as possible.”

Major automakers are set to resurrect a type of hybrid vehicle that seemed dead in the U.S. just a few years ago to meet a changing consumer demand landscape. Extended-range electric vehicles (EREVs) are a form of plug-in hybrid that falls midway between traditional hybrids and full EVs. EREV cars and trucks rely on battery powered motors for propulsion (like an EV) but also have a relatively small gas engine to use as a generator to keep the batteries charged up (like a typical hybrid). A key difference between EREVs and other hybrids is the relative size of their batteries and gas engines.

Mainstream hybrids and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) like the Toyota Prius still rely on combustion engines as their main means of propulsion. Thus, they have proportionately smaller batteries, but substantial gas engines that are directly connected to their drivetrains to help move the car. EREVs are much more focused on the electric side of the equation, so they tend to have bigger batteries than other hybrids, but comparatively small gas engines that solely function as generators to top off the batteries when needed.Earlier examples of this type of vehicle — the Chevy Volt and Fisker Karma — were introduced to the U.S market in 2011. These were followed by the BMW i3 and Cadillac ELR in 2014. But EREVs (also known as Range Extended Electric Vehicles, or REEVs), never attracted much interest from American consumers. The Volt was the most popular EREV by far, with GM selling 157,000 over nine years, until it ended production in 2019. That may seem impressive, but it’s a blip in the overall U.S. new vehicle market, which saw about 16 million sales each year in that timeframe.

The last EREV sold domestically was the i3, which BMW discontinued in 2022. While there are no new EREVs for sale in the U.S., several are in the pipeline.

This includes an upcoming version of the Ram 1500 pickup truck, set to come to market in early 2026. A Ram spokesman noted that it will have the longest driving range the company has ever offered in a light-duty truck, up to 690 total miles between its gas engine and battery power. An EREV version of the Jeep Grand Wagoneer is also under development, according to the company. Volkswagen is planning to begin production of an EREV pickup truck and SUV under the Scout brand name starting in 2027.

Hyundai Motors plans to introduce EREV versions of its mid-sized SUVs by the end of 2026, according to a spokesman. The vehicles are expected to have more than 560 miles of range, and be sold under the Hyundai and Genesis brands. In addition, a Nissan spokesman confirmed that the company is considering offering EREV options in its mid-size and larger SUVs. “They do offer advantages versus 100% EVs when it comes to hauling and towing,” he said, “allowing greater driving range without the need for a large capacity battery, as well as faster refueling.”

James Martin, the director of consulting services at S&P Global Mobility, says one reason manufacturers are turning to EREVs is lower production costs. EREV use of smaller and less expensive batteries than full EVs allows manufacturers to keep their expenses down. EREVs are also less complex than plug-in hybrids, Martin said. PHEVs have two functioning propulsion systems and sophisticated controls to allow them to communicate with each other. Most EREVs, by contrast, are solely propelled by their electric motors.

Range anxiety, and cost, still big factors in EV adoption

But one of the biggest advantages of EREVs is range. In China, where EREVs are gaining in popularity, the manufacturer BYD offers mid-sized sedans with more than 1,300 miles of claimed range. EREVs also alleviate range anxiety due to the ubiquity of gas stations. Consumers can just fill up with gasoline to charge the battery if a charging port is unavailable. The new EREVs can travel more than 100 miles on batteries alone, then hundreds more using gasoline.

“Range anxiety is still a factor when it comes to choosing an electric vehicle over an internal combustion vehicle,” said K. Venkatesh Prasad, senior vice president of research and chief innovation officer at the Center for Automotive Research. “EREVs, allay the range anxiety concern,” he said.

These hybrids may especially appeal to consumers who frequently travel long distances, and getting more consumers used to plugging in their vehicles might also appeal to manufacturers. “The actual charging experience of EREVs is very similar to that of BEVs,” Prasad said. “So, the market adoption of EREVs is likely to be seen as a good ramp to future BEV purchase considerations,” he added.

Charging infrastructure is still lagging in many areas of the U.S., according to iSeeCars.com executive analyst Karl Brauer, which can make a full EV impractical for consumers. EREVs avoid that issue and may also be attractive to consumers who live in apartments or houses that lack charging stations.

A recent report from McKinsey noted that EREVs could also combat cost concerns among consumers, noting that the smaller batteries can shave off as much as $6,000 in powertrain production costs, compared to BEVs. Another factor, according to McKinsey, is that both domestic and European manufacturers have seen how EREVs have gained sales momentum in China, a sign the technology may help to increase electrification adoption in their own marketplaces.

“We expect all levels of hybridization to increase production in North America throughout the decade,” said Eric Anderson, the associate director of Americas light vehicle powertrain forecasting for S&P Global Mobility. Hybrids, including EREVs, are a “relatively affordable way for consumers to move up the electrification ladder without a significant monthly payment increase, he said.

While the EV vehicle market continued to grow last year, the pace of growth has slowed considerably. “The BEV market is in the process of shifting from early adopters to a more price-conscious buyer,” Anderson said.

Domestic sales of hybrids grew from 1,175,456 in 2023 to 1,609,035 in 2024, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation, a 37% increase. Plug-in hybrids grew 10% in the same period — from 293,578 to 321,774. By comparison, fully electric EVs saw 7% growth, from 1,164,638 to 1,247,656. While overall sales of traditional internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles continues to dominate, its market share has fallen every year since 2015, according to Edmunds. Last year, ICE vehicle sales fell to 80.8% of total U.S. sales, down from 84% in 2023.

Another attribute that might make EREVs popular with consumers is resale value. Hybrids — which includes EREVs and more common plug-in hybrids — depreciate less than EVs or traditional gas vehicles. Since depreciation is the most expensive part of car ownership, finding a vehicle that better retains its value can provide consumers with significant savings. By contrast, electric cars and trucks lose value faster than any other vehicle type — dropping by 58.8% after five years, compared to the overall vehicle depreciation average of 45.6% and only 40.7% for hybrids, according to research from iSeeCars.

“Electric vehicle sales have been slowing on both the new and used market, with EVs sitting on dealer lots longer despite falling prices,” Brauer said. “Consumers are showing increasing appreciation for hybrid vehicles, creating a friendly environment for automakers to introduce more plug-in hybrids as an intermediate step toward full electric vehicles.”

Ram 1500 extended range hybrid pickup, set to come to market in early 2026, will have the longest driving range the company has ever offered in a light-duty truck, up to 690 total miles between its gas engine and battery power.Ram | Stellantis

LOS ANGELES — A sexual assault allegation was made against Motown legend Smokey Robinson in 2015, but no charges were filed because of inasufficient evidence, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said.

The decade-old allegation, which was presented to the prosecutor’s office by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, is not connected to a recent civil suit that accuses Robinson of sexual assault, attorneys for the plaintiffs in that matter said.

Robinson, 85, has not been charged with any crime and has denied any misconduct. The celebrity news website TMZ was first to report the 2015 investigation Friday.

“We discovered that our office was presented with a sexual assault allegation against Mr. Robinson in 2015 by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department,” the district attorney’s office said in a statement Friday.

“In that matter, a declination of charges was made based on insufficient evidence,” the district attorney’s office said. “We are not able to provide further information at this time because of an ongoing law enforcement investigation.”

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department confirmed that it conducted an investigation and that no charges were ever filed.

“Due to the confidential nature of the investigation, we cannot provide more information,” th sheriff’s department said in a statement Friday.

Earlier this month, Robinson was sued by four former housekeepers who have accused the “You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me” singer of sexual assault. The suit, which seeks at least $50 million, also names Robinson’s wife and accused her of knowing about the allegations.

Robinson has denied the claims, and this week countersued the four women and their attorneys, alleging defamation and seeking at least $500 million.

Attorney Christopher Frost, who is representing Robinson and his wife, said his client maintains his innocence.

“One unfortunate aspect of celebrity is that it is not uncommon to be the target of spurious and unsubstantiated allegations,” Frost said. “Mr. Robinson looks forward to the conclusion of the current investigation, and has no doubt that a similar determination will be reached here.”

Attorneys for the women suing Robinson said Friday that the declination of the criminal case in 2015 only means there was a lack of evidence.

The person who made the allegation in 2015 is not any of the four women who are suing Robinson, according to the attorneys, John Harris and Herbert Hayden.

“The statement released by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office confirms that charges were not filed against Mr. Robinson due to insufficient evidence — not because the claims lacked merit,” Harris and Hayden said.

“This underscores the significant challenges victims face when reporting incidents of sexual assault, particularly when the alleged perpetrator is a powerful and well-known figure,” they said.

On May 15, NBC News reported that Robinson is under criminal investigation, citing a law enforcement source that it did not name.

Robinson is an iconic American soul singer who has had a star-studded career spanning more than 70 years.

The recording, producing and songwriting legend was a pioneer for Motown Records, founding the vocal group the Miracles in the 1950s and later releasing albums as a solo artist and working as a record executive for the label. He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.

A salmonella outbreak traced to a Florida-based cucumber producer has expanded to include 45 people reporting illness in 18 states, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Friday.

Target stores joined a growing list of retailers that sold recalled cucumbers or ready-to-eat products featuring the fruit, and it’s warning that purchasers should throw them away.

The retailer issued a list of recalled products, including a Greek-style chicken salad from Boar’s Head and several types of sushi restaurant staples, such as maki rolls with tempura and California rolls, all sold under the Mai brand.

Last week, grocery store chain Walmart was added to the list of retailers urging customers to put the possibly tainted products in the trash, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; its Marketside cucumber slices are a part of the recall.

Patients connected to the outbreak have turned up in Alabama, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia, the FDA said on Friday.

Of 45 people who have reported illness connected to the outbreak, 16 have been hospitalized, the agency said. No deaths have been reported.

While investigators’ focus has been on the strain salmonella montevideo, multiple other strains were detected in samples taken from a Pennsylvania distribution center belonging to Florida-based Bedner Growers, believed to be a source, the FDA said in its Friday statement.

The FDA said that those different strains so far appear to be unrelated to the spring outbreak, but that it is investigating further alongside scientists from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“CDC is working to determine if additional human illnesses match these additional strains,” the FDA said. “Further analysis of the sample is pending.”

All the illnesses so far have been connected to cucumbers produced by Bedner and distributed by Fresh Start Produce Sales, the agency said. The cucumbers and products that contained them were sold from April 29 to May 19, the FDA said.

The first retailers noted for selling the potentially tainted cucumbers were three Bedner’s Farm Fresh Market locations in Florida, but the list of public-facing sellers has continued to increase.

Other distributors as well as eateries were told they may have also purchased the possibly tainted cucumbers, labeled for wholesale as “supers,” “selects,” or “plains,” the FDA said.

FDA inspectors unearthed tainted cucumbers during an inspection last month of Bedner Growers’ facilities, it said. The review was a follow-up to a Salmonella Africana outbreak linked to the producer last year, according to the agency.

Bedner’s did not immediately respond to a request for comment late Friday. A spokesperson for Fresh Start Produce Sales said last week that the company “is committed to protecting public health and helping Bedner Growers with its recall.”

Salmonella is a bacterium that can thrive amid animals and their fecal matter and contaminate nearby produce, which can reach the dinner table if unwashed, according to the FDA and CDC.

Older people, children under 5, and those with compromised immune systems are particularly susceptible to the salmonella’s worst symptoms and even death. Patients sickened by it can develop stomach cramps, diarrhea, nausea and the urge to vomit anywhere from six hours to six days after infection, the CDC says.

Salmonella is “a leading cause of foodborne illness, hospitalizations, and deaths in the United States and worldwide,” the CDC states.

A 6-year-old child was found dead in his Florida home Friday, and his mother, who has been criminally charged in the death, believed she was being told to “exorcise demons out of the child’s body,” the St. Lucie County sheriff said.

The body of the child, Ra’myl Pierre, was found in his bed in the family’s Fort Pierce home shortly after 10 a.m., after school resource deputies requested a welfare check, Sheriff Richard R. Del Toro Jr. said.

His mother, Rhonda Paulynice, 31, was charged Friday with second-degree murder, failure to report a death, and with altering a body, Toro said.

“What we did learn in speaking with the mother is she believes she was being told by God to basically exorcise demons out of the child’s body,” he said at a news conference. “And when the child had stopped moving and basically passed away, at that point she felt that the child had been released from those demons.”

When the sheriff’s deputy arrived at the home Paulynice met the deputy in the driveway and escorted the officer into the home, where the dead boy was found in a bed in his bedroom, Toro said.

The cause and manner of death could not be immediately determined and an autopsy will be performed, Toro said.

The sheriff’s office has responded to the home before, but nothing involving the mother and child, Toro said. They last responded on a call about a medical issue for the mother on May 17, the day before investigators believe the killing took place, he said.

There had been some domestic issues at the home in the past involving the mother and her sister, who no longer lives there, but nothing involving the child, Toro said.

The mother was interviewed by sheriff’s detectives Friday, Toro said.

“During the course of the interviews, our detectives learned that the mother last spoke to the child on May 18th,” he said. “That’s when we believe the homicide occurred, and that she was responsible for child’s death.”

The second-degree murder case did not appear in online court records Friday evening, and it was not immediately clear if Paulynice had an attorney who could speak on her behalf.

Toro told reporters at a Friday news conference that he has not spoken to the Paulynice, but he was told that she showed a range of emotions at the scene when speaking with investigators.

“What we do know is that she had a lot of highs and lows during the investigation — from laughing at different times at the scene to crying,” he said.

Investigators believe that the child has been dead in his room since May 18, Toro said, but he said the autopsy should help provide more insight.

No one else lived at the home besides Paulynice and the boy, he said.

LOS ANGELES — Alf Clausen, the Emmy-winning composer whose music provided essential accompaniment for the animated antics of “The Simpsons” for 27 years, has died.

His daughter Kaarin Clausen told The Associated Press that Alf Clausen died Thursday at his home in Los Angeles after struggling with Parkinson’s disease for about a decade. He was 84.

Clausen, who also scored TV series including “Moonlighting” and “Alf” (“no relation,” he used to joke) was nominated for 30 Emmy Awards, 21 of them for “The Simpsons.” He won twice.

Al Jean, an early “Simpsons” writer who was one of the key creative figures on the show in the 1990s, said in a post on X Friday that “Clausen was an incredibly talented man who did so much for The Simpsons.”

Danny Elfman wrote the show’s theme song, but Clausen joined the Fox animated series created by Matt Groening in 1990 and provided essentially all of its music until 2017, composing nearly 600 scores and conducting the 35-piece orchestra that played it in the studio

His colleagues said his music was a key component of the show’s comedy, but Clausen believed the best way to back up the gags of Homer, Marge Bart and Lisa was by making the music as straight as possible.

“This is a dream job for a composer,” Clausen told Variety, which first reported his death, in 1998. “Matt Groening said to me very early on, ‘We’re not a cartoon. We’re a drama where the characters are drawn. I want you to score it like a drama.’ I score the emotions of the characters as opposed to specific action hits on the screen.”

Groening, in a 1996 interview, called him “one of the unacknowledged treasures of the show.”

Clausen was born in Minneapolis and raised in Jamestown, North Dakota. He graduated from the Berklee College of Music in 1966, and moved to Los Angeles seeking a career in music.

In the 1970s he was a musical director on several TV variety shows including “Donny & Marie.”

Clausen worked as an orchestrator for composer Lee Holdridge in his scores for 1980s films including “Splash” and “The Beastmaster.”

It was Holdridge who first got the composing job on “Moonlighting,” the late-80s ABC rom-com detective series starring Bruce Willis and Cybil Shepherd, but he handed the gig off to Clausen, who would get six Emmy nominations for his music on it.

Clausen won his Emmys for “The Simpsons” in 1997 and 1998. He also won five Annie Awards, which honor work in animation in film and television.

He was fired from “The Simpsons” in a cost-cutting move in 2017, to the outrage of his collaborators and fans. He sued over his dismissal.

Clausen is survived by his wife Sally, children Kaarin, Scott and Kyle, stepchildren Josh and Emily, and 11 grandchildren.

The Falcons (and specifically owner Arthur Blank) aren’t fans of reminders of their failure to turn a massive third-quarter lead into a Super Bowl LI win. Usually, it’s someone else who reminds the team and/or its fans of the 28-3 futility.

This time around, the Falcons did it to themselves.

Via John Breech of CBSSports.com, the team posted a photo on Twitter of safety Jessie Bates (No. 3) and cornerback Mike Ford (No. 28). The image was quickly deleted.

Arguably, the Falcons should have left it alone. First, the players were configured 3 and 28, not 28 and 3. Second, deleting it makes it a bigger deal.

As evidenced by the fact that it became a PFT item. If they hadn’t deleted it, we probably wouldn’t have decided it was worth a post.

Meanwhile, the fact they so quickly deleted the image shows that, more than eight years later, they’re still as sensitive about 28-3 as ever.

The clock is ticking on a potential Chiefs move from one Kansas City to the other.

Matthew Kelly of the Kansas City Star reports that Kansas may pull its new-stadium offer off the table on June 30.

House speaker Dan Hawkins told Kelly he doesn’t want to extend the expiration date for the Chiefs or MLB’s Royals.

“I think if they want to get it done, they’ve still got time to get it done,” Hawkins said.

Hawkins doesn’t want to extend the deadline, because doing so gives the Chiefs (and Royals) leverage in their ongoing efforts to get stadium solutions in Minnesota.

“If one of them wants to — or both — wants to come to Kansas, we’d love to have them,” Hawkins told Kelly. “We have the tools.”

The Chiefs may prefer at this point a new stadium, given that (as noted by Nate Taylor of TheAthletic.com) owner Clark Hunt and team president Mark Donovan envision a dome for the Chiefs. As with other open-air teams looking for new stadiums, a dome opens the door to events throughout the year.

And Hunt has said he’d like the Chiefs to host a Super Bowl.

It’s part of the loose, unofficial quid pro quo for cold-weather cities that build domed stadiums with significant taxpayer money.

However it plays out, Donovan realizes that Kansas isn’t bluffing. “Hypothetically, as you’re trying to figure out how to put a deal together, if you’re on either side of the table, you look at deadlines,” Donovan said, per Taylor. “That June 30 [deadline] is real.”

While that may indeed be a statement of fact, it’s also a clear warning to Missouri that time is running out on keeping Arrowhead Stadium the home of the Chiefs.

The Chiefs’ current lease runs through the 2030 season. Which means that can make the short trek from Kansas City, Missouri to Kansas City, Kansas as soon as 2031.