Comment on Alabama opens practice on Thursday with high expectations

FORT LAUDERDALE — Talent? They have it. Purpose? They honed it. Scars? They have those, too. One heady season after the Florida Panthers surprised everyone by climbing from the lowest seed to the Stanley Cup Final, they’re ready to do it a different way starting Sunday with Game 1 against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Sunrise. They’re a prime team to beat this time. “We know what we can do,’’ captain Aleksander Barkov said. Everything’s before them on the table now. “This is the time we’ve looked forward to,’’ top scorer Sam Reinhart said. The Panthers are either the favorite to win the Stanley Cup, according to Vegas oddsmakers, or listed second behind Eastern Conference rival Carolina.

8212; Jameson Taillon allowed one run over five innings in his first start this season after recovering from a strained back, and the Chicago Cubs beat the Miami Marlins 8-3 on Friday. Nico Hoerner doubled twice for the Cubs, who have won five of six. Miami fell to an NL-worst 4-16. Taillon (1-0), in the second season of a $68 million, four-year contract, did not pitch in any spring training games, then made a pair of minor league rehab outings on April 7 and 12. The 32-year-old right-hander gave up three hits, struck out four and walked none.

By Sally French | NerdWallet At the airport, long lines for check-in, security screenings and even getting food can feel like a giant waste of time — and potentially disrupt even the most meticulously planned itinerary. But with planning, you can skip some of the most annoying lines, and in some cases, get reimbursed if the line-skipping privilege requires an application fee.

Robert Lloyd | Los Angeles Times (TNS) “Based on a true story” — why do we care? Does it matter whether the events of a dramatic work “really happened,” or sort of happened, more or less in the way we’re being told? Is it a come-on to prurient interests, when the subject is dark or sensational?

Neal Justin | (TNS) Star Tribune “Dora the Explorer” has inspired many youngsters to get curious about the world beyond the borders of Sesame Street. But once your child reaches the age of 7, Dora’s adventures get a little dull. That’s when Jane Garcia should take over. The 9-year-old heroine of “Jane,” which returns Friday on Apple TV+, is one of those kids who knows more types of dinosaurs than names of Olivia Rodrigo songs.

When it premiered on HBO a decade ago, the true crime docuseries “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst” stood out mainly because of Durst’s willingness to appear on camera. The wealthy New York real estate heir was suspected of killing three people: His first wife Kathleen McCormack in 1982; his close friend Susan Berman in 2000; and an elderly Texas neighbor Morris Black in 2001.