The UConn Huskies men’s basketball team is headed back to the national championship game for the third time in the last four years after defeating the Illinois Fighting Illini, 71-62, in the Final Four.

The Huskies, who were leading by as much as 14 points, fended off a late 10-0 run from Illinois to keep their championship hopes alive. Tarris Reed Jr. ended the run with a lay-up in the paint, then a turnover led to a Solo Ball one-handed slam.

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UConn will be in a position to win three national championships in four years and give head coach Dan Hurley a place to call his program a dynasty.

The Big East champions, and the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament, needed heroics from freshman Braylon Mullins to get past the Duke Blue Devils in the Elite Eight. Mullins stepped up in a big way against the Fighting Illini.

Mullins’ only made shot against Duke was the game-winner. It didn’t take him 40 minutes to score for UConn as he hit the first 3-pointer he attempted against Illinois. He had 12 points in the first half as UConn held a nine-point lead. He finished with 15 points.

Reed led UConn with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Reed’s poised play was needed as it looked like the Fighting Illini were going to come back in the game. He was 6-of-12 from the field and made each of the five free throws he attempted, despite being a 59% free-throw shooter.

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It was Mullins and Reed’s performances that helped take some of the pressure off Alex Karaban.

Karaban had nine points, four rebounds and four assists. He was only 1-of-8 from the field.

Illinois cut the deficit to four points with 43 seconds left. The Fighting Illini shot themselves back into the game, but living and dying by the three ball ultimately cost Illinois in the end. As Illinois got cold, UConn was able to capitalize.

The Fighting Illini finished shooting 23% from long range.

Keaton Wagler led the team with 20 points. Tomislav Ivisic added 16 points. The teammates were the only ones in double figures.

UConn will await the winner of Michigan and Arizona in the other Final Four game to determine who they will face in the national championship.

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The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Saturday an immigration detainer has been lodged against an illegal immigrant accused of leading Ohio deputies on a high-speed chase that ended in a crash killing a pregnant 17-year-old girl and her unborn child, and injuring another woman.

Tarsem Singh, an Indian national, was recently indicted on vehicular homicide, involuntary manslaughter and reckless homicide charges, according to DHS.

He is being held on a $1 million bond, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) lodged an arrest detainer with Ohio authorities.

The fatal Feb. 16 chase was initiated after a Darke County Sheriff’s Office deputy noticed an SUV driving nearly 25 mph over the speed limit.

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Officials said the deputy attempted to catch up to the SUV, allegedly driven by Singh, and paced the vehicle at 100 mph.

As the deputy activated his emergency lights to initiate a traffic stop, the SUV sped away, driving roughly five miles at speeds reaching 124 mph before crashing into an eastbound vehicle on a curve, according to the sheriff’s office.

The deputy immediately notified dispatch of the crash and checked for injuries, finding pregnant 17-year-old Ashlee Holmes, Singh’s passenger, dead after being ejected from the vehicle, local outlet WDTN reported.

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Singh was taken by CareFlight to Miami Valley Hospital.

The female driver of the eastbound vehicle was conscious and alert with injuries, and taken to Union City to Reid Hospital in Richmond, Indiana, according to the sheriff’s office.

Officials said the pursuit lasted less than three minutes from the time it was initiated until the crash.

It is unclear why Holmes was in Singh’s vehicle.

“This is yet another tragic reminder of why illegal aliens should not be driving cars on America’s roads,” DHS acting assistant secretary Lauren Bis wrote in a statement. “A 17-year-old woman and her unborn child are now dead as a result of this illegal alien’s reckless actions.”

Singh allegedly entered the country illegally in February 2017 through the southern border in California and was arrested before being ordered released by a judge on bond.

Bis said the newly filed ICE detainer was lodged against Singh to ensure he is “never released and allowed back behind the wheel to put more innocent lives at risk.”

An unconventional private school model that replaces traditional classroom lectures with artificial intelligence is gearing up for a massive nationwide expansion this fall, even as critics and powerful teachers unions sound the alarm.

Alpha Schools, which says its students learn twice as fast as those in “standard” schools, is planning to open new campuses in Chicago, Atlanta, Charlotte, Raleigh, and several California hubs, including Santa Monica, Palo Alto, and the East Bay. The school already operates in Austin, New York, and Miami.

The Alpha model is built on a “two-hour core” subject requirement. Students spend their mornings using adaptive AI software to master academics like math and English before transitioning to an afternoon of “life skills” workshops and project-based learning.

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According to the school, the results are significant:

Despite the high-end branding, the school is facing a wall of skepticism from the education establishment. Researchers warn that the long-term effects of removing human teachers from the primary instructional role are unknown.

“The research on personalized learning and [AI learning] is mixed at best,” Charles Logan, an education researcher at Northwestern’s Center for Responsible Technology, Policy and Public Dialogue, told Block Club Chicago. “I think the Alpha Schools’ approach to adaptive tutoring is like an open experiment [and] is not supported by critical research.”

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The school has already hit regulatory roadblocks. Efforts to secure charter school status—which would allow it to receive public funding—have been rejected in several states. Pennsylvania officials denied the school’s application, stating the model “fails to demonstrate how the tools… would ensure alignment to Pennsylvania academic standards.”

The school’s arrival in Chicago has drawn sharp condemnation from labor leaders who view the model as a threat to traditional public education.

Pankaj Sharma, Secretary-Treasurer of the Illinois Federation of Teachers, slammed the school in a statement to Fox News Digital, linking the model to “the voucher lobby.”

“Exorbitant tuition for a school with a MAGA founder, no teachers, no state accreditation, but an AI platform that surveils children and has a track record of harmful outcomes? No thank you,” Sharma said. “Melania can keep her robots and public dollars should stay in public schools.”

Ebony DeBerry, an elected member of the Chicago Board of Education, expressed similar concerns, telling Block Club Chicago that human teachers are vital for “emotional support” and “problem-solving skills” that technology cannot replicate.

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Alpha founder Mackenzie Price is pushing back against what the school calls a “mainstream media” narrative. In a 2024-2025 year-end reflection, the school addressed the “robot” stigma.

“They paint a picture of robot terminator AI tutors, without substantive human guidance,” the document stated. “But the truth about Alpha is the opposite. Adult humans—we call them teachers, guides and coaches—are the most important part of our schools.”

The school maintains that its “guides” provide the motivational and emotional support students need, while the AI simply handles the data-driven heavy lifting of personalized instruction.

While the Chicago Teachers Union remained silent on the expansion, districts in other expansion zones, such as Conroe Independent School District in Texas, say they are monitoring the model but noted there is currently “limited data” on the success of AI-driven campuses.

The Chicago Teachers Union did not respond to a request for comment.