ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Things were literally falling from the sky even before the Dallas Cowboys lost yet another home game.
The roof at AT&T Stadium can be fixed. As for the problems plaguing the Cowboys this season, especially in their home building, maybe not after a 34-10 loss to the Houston Texans on Monday night.
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Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott stands with crutches on the sidelines as teammates work out prior to an NFL football game against the Houston Texans, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, in Arlington. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
The roof is seen open at AT&T Stadium prior to an NFL football game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Houston Texans, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, in Arlington. (AP Photo/Jerome Miron)
A employee labors on the catwalk of AT&T Stadium prior to an NFL football game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Houston Texans, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, in Arlington. (AP Photo/Jerome Miron)
A employee labors on the catwalk of AT&T Stadium prior to an NFL football game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Houston Texans, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, in Arlington. (AP Photo/Jerome Miron)
Dallas Cowboys quarterback Cooper Rush fumbles the snap against the Houston Texans during the second half of an NFL football game, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Dallas Cowboys quarterback Cooper Rush (10) and wide receiver CeeDee Lamb walk off the field after Rush threw an interception against the Houston Texans during the first half of an NFL football game, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Dallas is 0-5 at home for the first time since 1989, the first season Jerry Jones owned the Cowboys when they were 1-15 while not winning any of their eight games game at old Texas Stadium. They have lost six in a row at AT&T Stadium, including that playoff debacle against the Green Bay Packers in January.
A piece of the roof and some debris fell about 300 feet to the field when the retractable roof at the $1.2 billion stadium was being opened at least three hours before Monday night’s game. The 15-year-old stadium was mostly empty then, and team officials said nobody was injured before the roof was closed without incident.
Franchise quarterback Dak Prescott, on crutches and safely away from the action five days after season-ending surgery to repair a torn hamstring, could only put both hands on the back of his head after punter Bryan Anger completed a pass on a fake — 5 yards short of a first down — on the Cowboys' opening drive when already down 7-0.
CeeDee Lamb had eight catches for 93 yards, but on consecutive plays in the third quarter had a drop and then an offensive interference penalty near the end zone on a deep pass.
That came on the same drive when Brandon Aubrey, who just before halftime had his first miss in 35 field goal attempts at home over his first two seasons, was good on a 64-yard kick. But the Cowboys took those points off the board after a personal foul penalty for an automatic first down, only for Cooper Rush to throw an incompletion on fourth-and-2 from the Texans 8.
When Joe Mixon had his third rushing touchdown to put Houston up 34-10 with 3:16 left, soon after four Dallas defenders were called for unnecessary roughness on the same play, it marked the sixth home game in a row in which the Cowboys trailed by more than 21 points.
The other NFL teams to fall behind by three touchdowns five times in the same season were the 2020 Jacksonville Jaguars, 2008 Detroit Lions and 1981 Baltimore Colts.
A year after winning the NFC East, Dallas (3-7) is five games behind division-leading Philadelphia with seven games to play, and goes to Washington (7-4) on Sunday. The Cowboys are ahead in the division of only Washington (2-8), who they host Thanksgiving Day in their next home game.
Dallas has led for only 2 minutes, 15 seconds in its six consecutive home losses. And that lead came in a 47-9 loss to Detroit that was the worst at home under Jones, and on the owner's 82nd birthday on Oct. 13.
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Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott stands with crutches on the sidelines as teammates work out prior to an NFL football game against the Houston Texans, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, in Arlington. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
The roof is seen open at AT&T Stadium prior to an NFL football game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Houston Texans, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, in Arlington. (AP Photo/Jerome Miron)
A employee labors on the catwalk of AT&T Stadium prior to an NFL football game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Houston Texans, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, in Arlington. (AP Photo/Jerome Miron)
A employee labors on the catwalk of AT&T Stadium prior to an NFL football game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Houston Texans, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, in Arlington. (AP Photo/Jerome Miron)
Dallas Cowboys quarterback Cooper Rush fumbles the snap against the Houston Texans during the second half of an NFL football game, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
Dallas Cowboys quarterback Cooper Rush (10) and wide receiver CeeDee Lamb walk off the field after Rush threw an interception against the Houston Texans during the first half of an NFL football game, Monday, Nov. 18, 2024, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Gareth Patterson)
HONG KONG (AP) — Forty-five ex-lawmakers and activists were sentenced to four to 10 years in prison Tuesday in Hong Kong’s biggest national security case under a Beijing-imposed law that crushed a once-thriving pro-democracy movement.
They were tried under the 2020 national security law for their roles in an unofficial primary election. Prosecutors said their aim was to paralyze Hong Kong’s government and force the city’s leader to resign by aiming to win a legislative majority and using it to block government budgets indiscriminately.
Legal scholar Benny Tai, who was widely seen as the organizer of the unofficial primary, received the longest sentence of 10 years. The judges said the sentences had been reduced for defendants who said they were unaware the plan to secure a majority in the legislature and stall governance was unlawful.
However, the court said the penalties were not reduced for Tai and former lawmaker Alvin Yeung, as they are lawyers who were “absolutely adamant in pushing for the implementation of the Scheme.”
In the judgment posted online, the judges wrote that Tai essentially “advocated for a revolution” by publishing a series of articles over a period of months that traced his thinking, even though in his mitigation letter Tai said the steps were “never intended to be used as blueprint for any political action.”
Two of the 47 original defendants had been acquitted earlier this year. The rest either pleaded guilty to or were found guilty of conspiracy to commit subversion. The judges said in the verdict that the activists’ plans to effect change through the unofficial primary would have undermined the government’s authority and created a constitutional crisis.
The judges rejected the reasoning from some defendants that the scheme would never have materialized, stating that “all the participants had put in every endeavor to make it a success."
In the judgment, the judges highlighted that a great deal of time, resources and money had been put into the organization of the primary election.
“When the Primary Election took place on the 10 and 11 July, no one had remotely mentioned the fact that Primary Election was no more than an academic exercise and that the Scheme was absolutely unattainable,” the judgment read. “In order to succeed, the organisers and participants might have hurdles to overcome, that however was expected in every subversion case where efforts were made to overthrow or paralyse a government.”
Some of the defendants waved at their relatives in the courtroom after they were sentenced.
Chan Po-ying, wife of defendant Leung Kwok-hung, told reporters she wasn’t shocked when she learned her husband received a jail term of six years and nine months. She said they were trying to use some of the rights granted by the city’s mini-constitution to pressure those who are in power to address the will of the people.
“This is an unjust imprisonment. They shouldn’t be kept in jail for one day,” said Chan, also the chair of the League of Social Democrats, one of the city’s remaining pro-democracy parties.
Emilia Wong, the girlfriend of Ventus Lau, felt calm because Lau’s jail term was within her expectations. Wong said the sentencing was a “middle phase” of history and she could not see the end point at this moment, but she pledged to support Lau as best as she could.
Philip Bowring, the husband of Claudia Mo, was relieved that the sentences finally were handed down.
Observers said the trial illustrated how authorities suppressed dissent following huge anti-government protests in 2019, alongside media crackdowns and reduced public choice in elections. The drastic changes reflect how Beijing’s promise to retain the former British colony’s civil liberties for 50 years when it returned to China in 1997 is increasingly threadbare, they said.
Beijing and Hong Kong governments insisted the national security law was necessary for the city's stability.
The sentencing drew criticism from foreign governments and human rights organizations globally.
The U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong said the U.S. strongly condemned the sentences against the 45 pro-democracy advocates and former lawmakers.
“The defendants were aggressively prosecuted and jailed for peacefully participating in normal political activity protected under Hong Kong’s Basic Law,” the statement said. “We call on (Beijing) and Hong Kong authorities to cease politically motivated prosecutions of Hong Kong citizens and to immediately release all political prisoners and individuals jailed for their peaceful advocacy for rights and freedoms.”
Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong said its government was “gravely concerned” by the sentences for Australian citizen Gordon Ng and the other activists. Wong said Australia has expressed strong objections to the Chinese and Hong Kong authorities on the continuing broad application of national security legislation.
The subversion case involved pro-democracy activists across the spectrum. They include Tai, former student leader Joshua Wong and former lawmakers. Most of them have already been detained for more than three and a half years before the sentencing. The separations pained them and their families.
More than 200 people stood in line in moderate rain and winds Tuesday morning for a seat in the court, including one of the acquitted defendants Lee Yue-shun. Lee said he hoped members of the public would show they care about the development of the court case.
“The public's interpretation and understanding has a far-reaching impact on our society's future development,” he said.
A supporter locally known as “Grandpa Wong,” who did not know the English spelling of his name, said he wanted to see the convicted activists again. He is about 100 years old and feared he wouldn't be able to see them when they are released from prison.
Wei Siu-lik, a friend of convicted activist Clarisse Yeung, said she arrived at 4 a.m. even though her leg was injured. “I wanted to let them know there are still many here coming here for them,” she said.
Thirty-one of the activists entered a guilty plea and had better chances of getting reduced sentences. The law authorizes a range of sentences depending on the seriousness of the offense and the defendant’s role in it, going from under three years for the least serious to 10 years to life for people convicted of “grave” offenses.
The unofficial primary held in July 2020 drew 610,000 voters, and its winners would have advanced to the official election. Authorities canceled the official legislative election, however, citing public health risks during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Representatives from various consulates wait in line outside the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts in Hong Kong Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024, ahead of the sentencing in national security case. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei)
Representatives from various consulates wait in line outside the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts in Hong Kong Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024, ahead of the sentencing in national security case. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei)
People wait outside the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts in Hong Kong Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024, ahead of the sentencing in national security case. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei)
People wait outside the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts in Hong Kong Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024, ahead of the sentencing in national security case. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei)
People wait outside the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts in Hong Kong Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024, ahead of the sentencing in national security case. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei)
Police officers stand guard outside the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts in Hong Kong Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei)
People wait outside the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts in Hong Kong Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024, ahead of the sentencing in national security case. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei)
Armed police officers stand guard outside the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts in Hong Kong Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei)
Police officers stand guard outside the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts in Hong Kong, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei)
FILE - Former lawmaker Leung Kwok-hung, known as "Long Hair," second left, shows a victory sign as some of the 47 pro-democracy activists are escorted by Correctional Services officers to a prison van in Hong Kong, March 4, 2021. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)
FILE- Hong Kong activists and supporters march with a banner which reads " Unite now in solidarity with the Hong Kong 47 and other political prisoners" during a protest commemorating the 10th anniversary of the 2014 umbrella movement and the fifth anniversary of the anti-extradition law amendment bill movement in Taipei, Taiwan, June 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying, File)
FILE- A pro-democracy activist known as "Grandma Wong" protests outside the West Kowloon courts in a cordoned off area set up by police as closing arguments open in Hong Kong's largest national security trial of 47 pro-democracy figures in Hong Kong, Nov. 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte, File)
FILE - A supporter holds a placard with the photos of some of the 47 pro-democracy defendants outside a court in Hong Kong, on July 8, 2021. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)
A Correctional Services Department vehicle arrives at the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts in Hong Kong Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024, ahead of the sentencing in national security case. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei)
A Correctional Services Department vehicle arrives at the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts in Hong Kong Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024, ahead of the sentencing in national security case. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei)
People wait outside the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts in Hong Kong Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024, ahead of the sentencing in national security case. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei)
People wait outside the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts in Hong Kong Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024, ahead of the sentencing in national security case. (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei)
