ROME (AP) — Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni visited a southern town in Sicily on Wednesday that has been left teetering on the edge of a cliff after days of heavy rains from a cyclone triggered a huge landslide that brought down properties and forced the evacuation of over 1,500 people.
The landslide in Niscemi, a town in the southwest of the island, spanned 4 kilometers (2.5 miles). Images showed cars and structures that had fallen 20 meters (yards) off the newly formed cliff, while many other homes remain perched perilously on the cliff edge.
Civil protection crews have created a 150-meter wide “no go zone” in the town, which is just inland from the coastal city of Gela.
“The entire hill is collapsing onto the plain of Gela,” civil protection chief Fabio Ciciliano said. “To be honest, there are houses located on the edge of the landslide that obviously can no longer be inhabited, so we need to work with the mayor to find a permanent relocation for these families.”
Authorities have warned that residents with homes in the area will have to find long-term alternatives to moving back since the water-soaked ground was still shifting and too unstable to live.
The federal government included Niscemi in a state of emergency declaration on Monday for three southern regions hard hit by Cyclone Harry and set aside an initial 100 million euros ($120 million) to be divided among them. Sicilian regional officials estimated on Wednesday the overall damage to Sicily stood at 2 billion euros.
Meloni took a helicopter tour of the landslide area and met with local, regional and civil protection officials at the town hall. She vowed that the initial emergency funding was just the first step in addressing the immediate financial needs of displaced residents and that more was coming.
In a statement, her office said the government was committed to helping residents find alternative housing and to restoring road access, utilities and school activities in town.
“The situation is complicated by the fact that, as long as the landslide remains active, it is impossible to identify the exact area to be treated and therefore to establish the methods of intervention,” it said.
Niscemi was built on a hill on layers of sand and clay that become particularly permeable in heavy rain and have shifted before, most recently in a major 1997 landslide that forced the evacuation of 400 people, geologists say.
“Today, the situation is repeating itself with even more significant characteristics: the landslide front extends for about 4 kilometers and directly affects the houses facing the slope,” warned Giovanna Pappalardo, professor of applied geology at the island's University of Catania.
The latest landslide, which began on Sunday with Cyclone Harry thrashing southern Italy, has revived political mud-slinging about why construction was allowed on land which, because of its geological makeup, had a known high risk of landslides.
Renato Schifani, the center-right regional president of Sicily, acknowledged such questions were legitimate. But he noted he had only been in office for a few years and said the main issue was an institutional response to help residents immediately affected.
Elly Schlein, the opposition center-left Democratic Party leader, called on the government to reallocate 1 billion euros approved for its controversial bridge from Sicily to the Italian mainland and direct it toward storm-hit regions, since the bridge project is currently tied up in court challenges.
Aerial view of the village of Niscemi near the Sicilian town of Caltanissetta, southern Italy, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, where severe storms provoked a landslide, and some 1,500 people had to be evacuated from their homes. (Alberto Lo Bianco/LaPresse via AP)
Aerial view of the village of Niscemi near the Sicilian town of Caltanissetta, southern Italy, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, where severe storms provoked a landslide, and some 1,500 people had to be evacuated from their homes. (Alberto Lo Bianco/LaPresse via AP)
Aerial view of the village of Niscemi near the Sicilian town of Caltanissetta, southern Italy, Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2026, where severe storms provoked a landslide, and some 1,500 people had to be evacuated from their homes. (Alberto Lo Bianco/LaPresse via AP)
Bill Belichick won six Lombardi Trophies as a head coach with the Patriots, two as an assistant with the Giants and has more Super Bowl rings than anyone in NFL history.
Yet somehow he’s not a first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Famer.
Belichick didn’t get the required votes in his first year of eligibility, according to a report from ESPN on Tuesday that cited four unidentified sources.
Belichick needed 40 votes from the 50-person panel of media members and other Hall of Famers.
News of the snub stunned players, coaches, fans and anyone who has watched football. Patrick Mahomes called it “insane.” LeBron James said it’s “impossible, egregious, and quite frankly disrespectful.”
If Belichick’s resume isn’t worthy of a gold jacket and bronze statue, what constitutes a Hall of Fame career?
The Hall of Fame declined to comment before its class of 2026 is announced at NFL Honors in San Francisco on Feb. 5. Several voters immediately revealed they voted for Belichick and some called for those who didn’t to publicly say it.
Armando Salguero, OutKick’s Senior NFL Writer and Hall of Fame voter, was the one who presented Belichick in the Hall’s subcommittee meeting that selected him to advance to the full 50-member selection body. Salguero then presented Belichick to the full selector’s committee in a meeting on Jan. 13.
He is among the voters who selected Belichick and are urging the others to reveal themselves.
“They should identify themselves as the people who kept Belichick out of the Pro Football Hall of Fame this year,” Salguero wrote in his column. “I am saying that here, and would say as much to their face. Their votes sunk Belichick’s chances and embarrassed the Hall of Fame in the process.
“They make all selectors look bad, and they shouldn’t hide behind their minority vote to protect themselves at the expense of the wider group. I know it’s a wider group because I’ve spoken with a lot of selectors since our meeting, and they agreed with my vote for Belichick.”
Salguero, who is a longtime voter for the AP All-Pro team and the AP NFL awards, said the “Spygate” scandal kept Belichick out of the Hall.
Belichick was implicated in a sign-stealing scheme during the 2007 season and was fined $500,000 after New England was caught filming defensive signals from the New York Jets during a game.
“Spygate was the reason several selectors could not bring themselves to vote for Belichick, because they felt it sullied his records,” Salguero wrote.
In his presentation, Salguero said he pointed out that Belichick had a higher winning percentage (.693 to .580) after “Spygate” and won three Super Bowls and six conference titles. He had 14 double-digit win seasons and won more regular-season games after “Spygate” than 22 of the 28 coaches in the Hall of Fame.
“Those facts may have changed some minds on Belichick. But it didn’t change enough of them,” Salguero wrote.
Belichick was one of five Hall finalists among coaches, contributors and senior players who last appeared in a game in 2000 or earlier. Patriots owner Robert Kraft was the contributor finalist, with Roger Craig, Ken Anderson and L.C. Greenwood the players.
Between one and three of those finalists will be inducted into the Hall along with between three and five modern-era players from a group of 15 finalists.
The process for selection changed in 2025. The 50 voters now each pick three of the five and between one to three make it if they get at least 40 votes. A new rule also made coaches eligible one year after retiring instead of five.
Belichick sat out one season after his 24-year tenure with the Patriots ended in 2023. He just finished his first year coaching in college at North Carolina, where he went 4-8.
Mike Sando, an NFL writer for The Athletic, said he voted for Belichick and explained the process that could’ve led to the snub.
“Whatever the case, I would see this as a repudiation of the new voting rules implemented for 2025, not of Belichick or any candidate not making it,” Sando wrote on X.
The 73-year-old Belichick was a top defensive assistant coach with Giants under Bill Parcells. He left New York to coach Cleveland from 1991-95, joined the Patriots as an assistant in 1996, spent three seasons with the Jets and was hired by New England in 2000.
He led the Patriots with Tom Brady to six Super Bowl wins in nine appearances and had one 16-0 regular season. Belichick’s 333 wins in the regular season and playoffs with New England and Cleveland are the second most to Don Shula’s 347. He won AP NFL Coach of the Year three times.
“Just for the record: I voted for Belichick and am stunned — and embarrassed for our selection committee,” USA Today NFL columnist Jarrett Bell wrote on X. “At least 11 people from the 50-member panel voted against BB. At the very least they should reveal themselves as this begs for transparency. Don’t lump us all together.”
AP Pro Football Writer Josh Dubow contributed to this report.
FILE - North Carolina head coach Bill Belichick walks on the field before an NCAA college football game against Syracuse, Oct. 31, 2025, in Syracuse, N.Y. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus, File)
FILE - New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick holds up the Vince Lombardi Trophy as he celebrates the Patriots' victory over the Seattle Seahawks in NFL Super Bowl XLIX football game Feb. 1, 2015, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)
