{"question_id": "20230127_0", "search_time": "2023/01/28/05:14", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/03/health/cdc-covid-wastewater-detection/index.html", "title": "CDC unveils its latest weapon in Covid-19 detection: wastewater ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nThree days before Thanksgiving, a planeload of passengers from South Africa touched down in San Francisco. One of them was a woman who was in the early stages of a Covid-19 infection, though she wouldn’t know it for almost another week.\n\nIt happened to be the same day that scientists 10,000 miles away in Botswana and South Africa began alerting the world to a new and highly mutated version of the virus that causes Covid-19.\n\nAlexandria Boehm, a professor of civil engineering at Stanford University, read about the usual pattern of mutations in the yet-to-be-named variant and sprang into action.\n\nFor more than a year, Boehm and her team of 45 people at the Sewer Coronavirus Alert Network, or SCAN, have been collecting and testing daily sludge samples from wastewater processing plants across Northern California, hunting for fragments of the new coronavirus.\n\nWastewater-based epidemiology has proven to be so reliable in dozens of pilot projects across the US that the government has invested millions to create the National Wastewater Surveillance System, or NWSS, a network of 400 testing sites spread across 19 states that is coordinated by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.\n\nBoehm’s SCAN is part of that network, which has been quietly operating behind the scenes, generating data for public health departments across the country, since September 2020.\n\nFor the first time, the CDC has published data that looks at how much coronavirus is turning up in the country’s wastewater. It added this testing data to its Covid-19 dashboard.\n\nTests show that there’s been a decrease in the amount of virus at two-thirds of the 255 sites reporting data from the latest 15-day period. The NWSS includes 400 sites overall, and more than 500 more will begin submitting data in the coming weeks, the CDC says.\n\nData from anywhere with a sewer connection\n\nSARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, is encased in an oily envelope. After it invades our bodies and begins to furiously clone itself, some of those copies are shed into our intestines, where the fatty parts of the virus stick to the fats in stool. When we poop, genetic material from the virus gets flushed down the toilet into the wastewater stream, where it can be detected by the same kinds of tests labs use to detect the virus from nasal swabs: real time polymerase chain reaction tests, or RT-PCR.\n\nThis kind of testing is highly sensitive. It can pick up the presence of the virus when just one person out of 100,000 in a given area, or sewershed, is infected.\n\nAnd because wastewater testing doesn’t depend on people to realize they’re sick and seek out a test, or even to have symptoms at all, it’s often the earliest warning a community has that wave of Covid-19 infections is on the way.\n\nThe CDC estimates that it takes five to seven days after a toilet flushes to get the wastewater data to its COVID Tracker, and and the samples typically turn positive in an area four to six days before clinical cases show up.\n\n“As long as people are using a toilet that’s connected to a sewer, we can get information on those cases in that community,” said Amy Kirby, a CDC microbiologist who leads the NWSS project.\n\nGovernment investment has taken what had been a little-known branch of public health and brought it into the mainstream.\n\n“It’s really exploded the field,” said Colleen Naughton, a civil engineer at the University of California at Merced who runs the @CovidPoops19 Twitter account. “We did wastewater monitoring for other pathogens before this, like poliovirus, but it’s really, the amount of people involved in everything has really increased exponentially.”\n\nJumping into action\n\nSpeed is essential to making wastewater testing useful. So when Boehm heard the gravity behind the alerts of a new variant emerging 10,000 miles away, she didn’t delay.\n\n“It all happened very, very quickly, right around Thanksgiving and the holidays, which is a really inconvenient time for things to happen,” she said.\n\nSCAN – a partnership between Stanford, Emory University and the University of Michigan – worked long hours to change the monitoring system over to a new test.\n\nThe Monday before Thanksgiving, Boehm alerted her team to the new variant. On Tuesday, they downloaded the handful of gene sequences for the new variant that had been sent to GISAID, a website used by researchers around the world to share information about the new coronavirus. They started to design a test that could pick up several of its telltale changes, including amino acids that were deleted from a chunk of sites in its spike protein and the addition of three amino acids at another place on its spike.\n\nBoehm ordered supplies: the chemical probes they would need to run their new test. She knew that delivery could take weeks, but she says they got lucky and got the new chemicals in just seven days.\n\nBut it wasn’t just luck. She had done this many times over the past year, first for the Alpha variant and then Beta, Gamma, Delta and Mu.\n\nWhile they waited for the supplies, Boehm dusted off an older test her team had been using to find signs of the Alpha variant. Like Omicron, Alpha is missing certain amino acids from a key location on its spike protein. These deletions cause a pattern on lab tests called an s-gene target failure.\n\n“We knew Alpha was basically gone. It’s extinct in our region,” she said. That meant any hits on the Alpha tests were probably the new variant.\n\nOn Thursday, Thanksgiving, they got their first hit. A sample in Merced tested positive on the old test.\n\nOn Friday, the World Health Organization gave the variant they were hunting a name, Omicron, and officially listed it as a variant of concern.\n\nThe following Tuesday, another sample – this time from Sacramento – was positive, and on Wednesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom and the CDC announced that the first American had tested positive for Omicron in San Francisco.\n\nThe woman had recently traveled from South Africa, landing in San Francisco on Nov. 22. She didn’t seek out testing until nearly a week later, on Monday, Nov. 28, four days after the first wastewater sample in Merced was positive.\n\nIn the days that followed, more positive samples turned up from Sacramento.\n\nAnd in Santa Clara County, they got their first hit in Palo Alto on Dec. 7, the same day a person living in same sewershed became that county’s first case.\n\nWhat started as a trickle of positive samples quickly became a steady stream. On Dec. 16, the Santa Clara County Health Department hosted a news conference warn the public based, in large part, on what they were seeing in the wastewater data.\n\n“When I look around the corner ahead, what I see is a deluge of Omicron. What I see is one of the most challenging moments that we’ve had yet in the pandemic,” said Dr. Sara Cody, director of public health for Santa Clara County.\n\nThe limitations of wastewater testing\n\nThe CDC’s Kirby says the system worked well for the arrival of Omicron in California. Colorado, Houston, and New York City. She published a snapshot of those efforts in the January 21 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.\n\n“What we hear most often is that our health department partners say this gives them confidence to know what’s going on in their communities. So truly, are cases going up or down? And that’s because it is completely independent of health care and clinical testing,” she says.\n\nKirby says it’s also a useful tool to let counties and cities know where to direct limited resources.\n\n“So if you have, for example, mobile testing capacity, and you want to decide which communities could most use that additional testing capacity, wastewater surveillance is really useful for that,” she says.\n\nThere are some blind spots in the system. Although 80% of homes in the US are connected to sewers, the other 20% or so rely on septic systems. These homes, which are mostly in rural areas, wouldn’t be covered by the testing.\n\nWastewater testing is also harder to interpret and less useful in areas where people come and go often, like tourist destinations.\n\nIt’s also difficult to compare data between sewersheds because different areas use different sampling methods. Some take samples directly from the water with thin cotton swabs encased in 3-D printed submarines, while others collect and sample biosolids. Sewersheds can be very different sizes, which also complicated comparisons. The CDC’s new dashboard shows data at the ZIP code level.\n\nFinally, this kind of testing can’t signal when a community is free from the virus because the threshold of detection – how many people have to be positive in an area to show up in a water sample – isn’t known.\n\nFor these reasons, the CDC says, wastewater surveillance is best used along with case-based surveillance.\n\nGet CNN Health's weekly newsletter Sign up here to get The Results Are In with Dr. Sanjay Gupta every Tuesday from the CNN Health team.\n\nTo avoid direct comparisons, Kirby says, the dashboard will compare each site to its own past results. The main metric will be the percent change concentration at the same site over the past 15 days. The other metric people will be able to see is how many detections there were over that same 15 days, how many samples tested positive at all.\n\n“As you can imagine, right now, that’s not a very useful metric, because everywhere is positive. But as cases go down and we see much lower rates, that will become the metric you’ll want to follow to see if SARS-CoV-2 is re-emerging in your community,” Kirby said.\n\nKirby says wastewater monitoring will be around long after Covid is gone, too. By the end of the year, the CDC plans to expand the number of pathogens tracked on the dashboard to include influenza, a fungal superbug called Candida auris, and foodborne threats like E. coli and salmonella.", "authors": ["Brenda Goodman"], "publish_date": "2022/02/03"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/04/health/wastewater-covid-19-growing-interest/index.html", "title": "Wastewater monitoring for Covid-19 is picking up steam across the ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nInterest in using wastewater surveillance to monitor Covid-19 continues to grow in the United States, as the values of the early detection tool come into clearer focus.\n\nIn September 2020, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched the National Wastewater Surveillance System, investing millions of dollars in an effort to coordinate and build upon programs that track coronavirus in samples collected in sewage systems.\n\nParticipation in the program has risen steadily since launch. But what’s driving interest now – and has led to the biggest bump yet – is the change in clinical testing strategies across the US, said Amy Kirby, a microbiologist who leads the CDC’s wastewater program.\n\nWith the growing prevalence of at-home Covid-19 tests and the public’s waning interest in testing in general, less case data is being officially reported. Local health departments are “recognizing that clinical surveillance isn’t going to have as much information about what’s going on in the community,” she said.\n\n“Wastewater is a non-intrusive way to still have that early and reliable information of what’s going on in your community,” Kirby said.\n\nThe CDC launched a national public dashboard tracking Covid-19 wastewater data in February, and the number of participating sites has risen from about 400 to nearly 700 sites in the two months since.\n\nIn that same time, the daily average of reported Covid-19 tests dropped by two-thirds, according to data from the US Department of Health and Human Services.\n\nThe CDC’s wastewater program has enough money to sufficiently cover programs for all 50 states and 14 additional jurisdictions, with funding guaranteed through 2025.\n\nThere are 33 states currently funded through the agency’s epidemiology and laboratory capacity cooperative agreement – and another 14 that have a commercial testing contract – but the CDC hopes that all 50 states will be represented in the network by next year. Grant applications are now in process for 2023 funding.\n\nWastewater surveillance is not a new public health tool, but it was far from mainstream before Covid-19.\n\nLocal health departments are still figuring out how to best make use of this tool. They have questions about how to partner with utility companies to collect samples in the first place, as well as the best way to analyze and interpret the resulting data and more, said Deise Galan, lead analyst for the National Association of County and City Health Officials’ public health preparedness program.\n\nEnough questions from members have poured in that NACCHO recently launched a mentorship program that has so far matched one local jurisdiction with lots of experience in wastewater surveillance to a couple of others that are just getting started.\n\nAbout a dozen local health departments applied to be part of this mentorship program, and it has sparked the interest of many more that have reached out to learn more.\n\n“It’s become something that has not only caught the desire of the local health officials, but also their elected officials as something that they can really implement and use not only for SARS-CoV-2, but for other pathogens as well,” Galan said.\n\nWastewater is a hyper-local surveillance tool, which only provides information about the specific community that is served by the participating wastewater treatment plant. But experts say there is clear value in bringing as many sites on board as possible.\n\n“It’s both a strength that we get really good information about that community, but also a weakness because we need to get as many wastewater systems as we can doing this testing so that we get a more complete picture,” Kirby said.\n\nIt took the CDC about a year and a half – from the launch of the program in September 2020 until February 2022 – to work through how to best standardize and present the data they’d been collecting into a national dashboard.\n\nRight now, data on the dashboard is limited. A map shows the relative change in coronavirus detection levels over a single 15-day period, with earlier trends in percent change only available through downloading a large data set.\n\nBut in the coming weeks, the CDC plans to update their national wastewater dashboard with more information about not just how levels change week-to-week, but how the absolute level of coronavirus detected in a sewershed compares to other points in the pandemic. They also plan to include an option to visualize trends over time for each site.\n\n“Our focus is on using this system as an early warning of increases in the community. And we want that early warning system to be as early and as sensitive as it can be,” Kirby said.\n\nThis high-sensitivity can create “noise” in the system, she said. But with variants such as BA.2 picking in the US and others potentially looming over the horizon, they’d rather play it extra safe.\n\n“We are working closely with our state and local public health officials to make sure that they are interpreting the data correctly to answer their questions. We’re monitoring those increases until we are either convinced they are just noise or see that they are real increases and we need to move on them.”\n\nMore participants bring more opportunities to share knowledge about a public health tool that many are just starting to become familiar with, too.\n\n“Why are we going to reinvent the wheel, if there are other places that have been able to successfully implement this program?” Galan said. “At the local level, we can have that peer-to peer-sharing and collection of best practice.”\n\nPutting it all on a national dashboard allows local health departments to explore what’s happening in similar places, said Chelsea Gridley-Smith, director of environmental health at NACCHO.\n\nGet CNN Health's weekly newsletter Sign up here to get The Results Are In with Dr. Sanjay Gupta every Tuesday from the CNN Health team.\n\n“Local health departments know who they see as peers. So, a rural county may look to Chicago for guidance, but not for similarities. But if they can compare themselves to another rural county, they might be able to find more and more programs like themselves,” she said.\n\n“Those are the places where having everything compiled in a CDC location allows us to explore the possibility for expanding partnership outside of just one state with the similarities around county size and jurisdiction size and population type and infrastructure set-up.”", "authors": ["Deidre Mcphillips"], "publish_date": "2022/04/04"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/18/health/covid-wastewater-data-not-understood/index.html", "title": "Covid-19 wastewater surveillance is promising tool, but critical ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nCovid-19 surveillance is at a crossroads in the United States. With at-home tests now outnumbering those done in laboratories, official case counts are more incomplete than ever as the nation – and world – faces down increasingly transmissible coronavirus variants.\n\nWastewater surveillance is poised to fill in the gaps and help avoid the threats that an invisible wave of the virus could bring. This surveillance can help identify trends in transmission a week or two earlier than clinical testing, giving public health leaders the chance to focus messaging and resources. It can be used as a tool to sequence the virus and find new variants sooner, too.\n\nBut eagerness to use this tool is stifled by uncertainty about exactly how to do so, along with a lack of resources and support to learn.\n\nTesting sewage for virus particles can provide early warning signs of increased transmission in a community, capturing even those who have asymptomatic infections or aren’t being tested.\n\nSince the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched the National Wastewater Surveillance System in September 2020, hundreds of sites have come online, with potential to expand even more. The CDC has funding for the program through 2025, and the National Association of County and City Health Officials says interest among its members has grown significantly over the past two years.\n\nBut few communities have been able to translate that interest into a sustainable practice or concrete actions to manage the pandemic.\n\nAlthough 38% of local public health agencies have monitored wastewater at some point during the pandemic, only 21% plan to continue after the pandemic wanes, according to a recent report.\n\nPublic health agencies ranked wastewater surveillance as the least influential factor in pandemic management, and only about half have used it to inform decision-making.\n\nThe report represents findings from a survey of more than 200 public health officials across the country that was conducted between November and January.\n\n“The thing about wastewater data is that it is inherently messy,” said Megan Diamond, who leads wastewater work for the Rockefeller Foundation’s Covid-19 Response & Recovery team. The Rockefeller Foundation conducted the survey, along with the Pandemic Prevention Institute and Mathematica.\n\nA government watchdog report from April said wastewater surveillance has “enormous potential” to be a key public health tool in the US but noted that some aspects of the science need “further development.”\n\nSewage samples can be diluted by rainwater or industrial discharge and can be contaminated by things like animal waste, for example.\n\n“As a result, you get a lot of uncertainty, and uncertainty is not the word that you want to present to an epidemiologist. It’s scary. It means you have to make a lot of assumptions, or you have to explore a new science during a pandemic,” Diamond said.\n\nWastewater surveillance is not a new public health tool, but it was far from mainstream before Covid-19.\n\nPublic health agencies were most likely to implement wastewater surveillance programs if they had the support of expert advocates, according to the survey of public health leaders. But about a quarter said there is no clear agency leading this work, and about half said they didn’t have the resources or capacity to do it themselves.\n\n“There’s this whole rally in visibility around wastewater surveillance, and then the guys on the ground, the people who are actually leading the work are like, ‘Yeah, this is not sustainable for us,’ ” Diamond said.\n\nThe CDC’s launch of the national wastewater program has helped some, the survey found.\n\nBut it has not come without its own challenges. It took the CDC about a year and a half to work through how to best standardize and present the data it had been collecting into a national dashboard, a testament to how complicated the data can be.\n\nThe agency first stood up the national dashboard in February, presenting only one data point on the relative change in virus levels at each site over the past 15 days. It recently updated the dashboard to include another data point on how the current level of virus detection compares with other points in the pandemic.\n\nBut last month’s report from the Government Accountability Office noted that more remains to be done.\n\nThe watchdog agency called out “a lack of national coordination and standardized methods” that challenge broader adoption and complicate efforts to interpret the data and use it to drive public health interventions.\n\nIt’s also unclear how cost-effective wastewater surveillance is, according to the report. The GAO says wastewater surveillance can be “particularly useful when clinical testing is resource constrained” but otherwise raises questions about when it makes sense to use it.\n\nClinical testing may not be constrained in the US right now, but it is underutilized in favor of at-home tests that remain unreported or no testing at all.\n\nCurrent trends in the data are clear: Virus levels have been rising in most surveillance sites in the US for weeks. And at the end of last week, more than a third of surveillance sites had detected levels that were higher than most historical levels, according to CDC data.\n\nGet CNN Health's weekly newsletter Sign up here to get The Results Are In with Dr. Sanjay Gupta every Tuesday from the CNN Health team.\n\nDespite the challenges that remain, the benefits of wastewater surveillance shouldn’t be ignored, Diamond says.\n\n“I don’t think we should not be held back by lack of consensus around standardization in the data, because it may never come,” she said.", "authors": ["Deidre Mcphillips"], "publish_date": "2022/05/18"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/17/health/ba-2-covid-severity/index.html", "title": "Coronavirus: As BA.2 subvariant of Omicron rises, lab studies point ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nThe BA.2 virus – a subvariant of the Omicron coronavirus variant – isn’t just spreading faster than its distant cousin, it may also cause more severe disease and appears capable of thwarting some of the key weapons we have against Covid-19, new research suggests.\n\nNew lab experiments from Japan show that BA.2 may have features that make it as capable of causing serious illness as older variants of Covid-19, including Delta.\n\nAnd like Omicron, it appears to largely escape the immunity created by vaccines. A booster shot restores protection, making illness after infection about 74% less likely.\n\nBA.2 is also resistant to some treatments, including sotrovimab, the monoclonal antibody that’s currently being used against Omicron.\n\nThe findings were posted Wednesday as a preprint study on the bioRxiv server, before peer review. Normally, before a study is published in medical journal, it is scrutinized by independent experts. Preprints allow research to be shared more quickly, but they are posted before that additional layer of review.\n\n“It might be, from a human’s perspective, a worse virus than BA.1 and might be able to transmit better and cause worse disease,” says Dr. Daniel Rhoads, section head of microbiology at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. Rhoads reviewed the study but was not involved in the research.\n\nThe US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is keeping close watch on BA.2, said its director, Dr. Rochelle Walensky.\n\n“There is no evidence that the BA.2 lineage is more severe than the BA.1 lineage. CDC continues to monitor variants that are circulating both domestically and internationally,” she said Friday. “We will continue to monitor emerging data on disease severity in humans and findings from papers like this conducted in laboratory settings.”\n\nBA.2 is highly mutated compared with the original Covid-causing virus that emerged in Wuhan, China. It also has dozens of gene changes that are different from the original Omicron strain, making it as distinct from the most recent pandemic virus as the Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta variants were from each other.\n\nKei Sato, a researcher at the University of Tokyo who conducted the study, argues that these findings prove that BA.2 should not be considered a type of Omicron and that it needs to be more closely monitored.\n\n“As you may know, BA.2 is called ‘stealth Omicron,’ ” Sato told CNN. That’s because it doesn’t show up on PCR tests as an S-gene target failure, the way Omicron does. Labs therefore have to take an extra step and sequence the virus to find this variant.\n\n“Establishing a method to detect BA.2 specifically would be the first thing” many countries need to do, he says.\n\n“It looks like we might be looking at a new Greek letter here,” agreed Deborah Fuller, a virologist at the University of Washington School of Medicine, who reviewed the study but was not part of the research.\n\nMixed real-world data on subvariant’s severity\n\nBA.2 has been estimated to be about 30% more contagious than Omicron, according to the World Health Organization. It has been detected in 74 countries and 47 US states.\n\nThe US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that about 4% of Americans with Covid-19 now have infections caused by BA.2, but many other parts of the world have more experience with this variant. It has become dominant in at least 10 other countries: Bangladesh, Brunei, China, Denmark, Guam, India, Montenegro, Nepal, Pakistan and the Philippines, according to World Health Organization’s weekly epidemiological report.\n\nHowever, there’s mixed evidence on the severity of BA.2 in the real world. Hospitalizations continue to decline in countries where BA.2 has gained a foothold, like South Africa and the UK. But in Denmark, where BA.2 has become the leading cause of infections, hospitalizations and deaths are rising, according to WHO.\n\nResistant to monoclonal antibody treatments\n\nThe new study found that BA.2 can copy itself in cells more quickly than BA.1, the original version of Omicron. It’s also more adept at causing cells to stick together. This allows the virus to create larger clumps of cells, called syncytia, than BA.1. That’s concerning because these clumps then become factories for churning out more copies of the virus. Delta was also good at creating syncytia, which is thought to be one reason it was so destructive to the lungs.\n\nWhen the researchers infected hamsters with BA.2 and BA.1, the animals infected with BA.2 got sicker and had worse lung function. In tissues samples, the lungs of BA.2-infected hamsters had more damage than those infected by BA.1.\n\nSimilar to the original Omicron, BA.2 was capable of breaking through antibodies in the blood of people who’d been vaccinated against Covid-19. It was also resistant to the antibodies of people who’d been infected with Covid-19 early in the pandemic, including Alpha and Delta. And BA.2 was almost completely resistant to some monoclonal antibody treatments.\n\nBut there was a bright spot: Antibodies in the blood of people who’d recently had Omicron also seemed to have some protection against BA.2, especially if they’d also been vaccinated.\n\nAnd that raises an important point, Fuller says. Even though BA.2 seems more contagious and pathogenic than Omicron, it may not wind up causing a more devastating wave of Covid-19 infections.\n\n“One of the caveats that we have to think about as we get new variants that might seem more dangerous is the fact that there’s two sides to the story,” Fuller says.\n\nGet CNN Health's weekly newsletter Sign up here to get The Results Are In with Dr. Sanjay Gupta every Tuesday from the CNN Health team.\n\nThe virus matters, she says, but as its would-be hosts, so do we.\n\n“Our immune system is evolving as well. And so that’s pushing back on things,” she said.\n\nRight now, she says, we’re in a race against the virus, and the key question is, who’s in the lead?\n\n“What we will ultimately want is to have the host be ahead of the virus. In other words, our immunity, be a step ahead of the next variant that comes out, and I don’t know that we’re quite there yet,” she said.\n\nFor that reason, Fuller says, she feels like it’s not quite time for communities to lift mask mandates.\n\n“Before this thing came out, we were about 10 feet away from the finish line,” she said. “Taking off the masks now is not a good idea. It’s just going to extend it. Let’s get to the finish line.”", "authors": ["Brenda Goodman"], "publish_date": "2022/02/17"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/10/health/wastewater-data-masking-guidance/index.html", "title": "Coronavirus wastewater data, CDC guidelines can give mixed ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nThe federal government has taken clear steps toward a new phase of the Covid-19 pandemic in recent weeks: The Biden administration released the National Covid-19 Preparedness Plan, and new guidelines from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention dropped masking recommendations for most of the country.\n\nAs many Americans try to move on from the height of the pandemic and as testing wanes, detecting coronavirus levels in wastewater offers an alternative to monitoring community spread.\n\nThe CDC captures wastewater data for about 650 sewersheds, representing about a quarter of the US population. For most of those sites, the amount of virus detected has dropped over the past two weeks.\n\nBut for some, the amount of virus has spiked – up at least 1,000% compared with 15 days earlier.\n\nFor local leaders, an early warning sign such as this might prompt a renewed emphasis on prevention measures. But with the vast majority of the country now living in areas considered to have a low or medium “community level” of Covid-19, this surveillance data may conflict with what CDC guidelines suggest.\n\nIn June, wastewater surveillance in North Carolina detected elevated levels of the coronavirus in a local community. A news release went out, reminding residents to “stay vigilant” and encouraging continued mask use.\n\nThe surveillance most likely alerted officials about rising levels of infection days faster than more traditional measures like testing numbers.\n\n“Especially with a virus as quick and contagious as this one is, those few days really matter,” said Kody Kinsley, secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. “So our first reaction has been to use it as an early warning system, through public communication.”\n\nBut under the new CDC guidelines, most of the places that have had a recent spike in the amount of virus detected in the wastewater are in counties where indoor masking is no longer recommended.\n\nOf 28 sites that had a 1,000% increase over the past 15 days, only four are in counties considered to have a “high” community level, where indoor masking is still universally recommended as of Wednesday. More than half are in counties with a “low” community level, where there is no recommendation for masking at all.\n\nThough previously driven solely by local case rates, the CDC’s new masking guidelines now prominently factor in hospital admissions and hospital capacity. Some critics have argued that they stray too far from measures aimed at Covid-19 prevention, such as minimizing coronavirus transmission.\n\nThe CDC continues to monitor community spread, and at a briefing last week, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky touted strategies that “can better anticipate a rise in cases” and alert people in real time, including wastewater surveillance.\n\n“For SARS-CoV-2, wastewater can detect an increase in cases four to six days before we might see these cases show up through a rise in positive tests,” she said.\n\nThe CDC says wastewater data is meant to complement other surveillance tools. When wastewater levels are low, a small uptick can seem like a dramatic increase, said Brian Katzowitz, a health communication specialist with the CDC. But it best informs public health decision-making when used in harmony with other metrics.\n\nAlthough wastewater data is not formally part of the CDC’s new guidelines, the public health response to rising levels would be very similar to those taken if trends head in the wrong direction with other metrics, said Amy Kirby, program lead for the National Wastewater Surveillance System – including encouraged masking, social distancing and vaccination.\n\nIt offers “situational awareness” and gives communities “time to prepare and make sure they have all the resources that they need,” she said.\n\nThe CDC has been collecting wastewater data from some sites for more than a year but first made the data public a month ago.\n\nKirby said the agency first wanted to have “enough coverage at the national level that it was meaningful to share.” And it took some time to figure out how to best visualize the data, as sewage systems often serve neighborhoods that cross county lines.\n\nAbout 250 sites representing an additional 30 million people have been added since the national dashboard was launched, and new sites continue to be added.\n\nThe federal dashboard presents levels of coronavirus detected in sewersheds in terms of the percent change over the past 15 days.\n\nA watershed serving about 116,000 people in St. Louis County, Missouri, was one of the 28 on the CDC dashboard that recently saw more than a 1,000% increase in virus levels. But for Dr. Mati Hlatshwayo Davis, director of the St. Louis City Department of Health, data in this format isn’t always useful without an understanding of the baseline levels.\n\n“Our baseline is currently so low that some of the percentages that are being reporting are not as reflective of the current situation,” she said, especially when viewed in the context of other metrics.\n\n“The federal data is certainly not something we’re using to make day-to-day decisions,” she said, but it is still something they monitor. “If we see huge increases here, the first thing we’re going to do is go [to the CDC dashboard] and see if that’s consistent nationally. But we’ve never been in a position where something has happened here that wasn’t reflected in the national picture.”\n\nAs at-home Covid-19 tests become more common – or as demand for testing drops off – wastewater offers a much more reliable and consistent surveillance alternative.\n\nWastewater epidemiology is “inclusive and representative,” said Newsha Ghaeli, president and co-founder of Biobot Analytics, a company focused on tracking coronavirus in sewage.\n\n” ‘Everybody has a voice in our sewer systems’ is a line we like to say at the company,” she said. It encompasses people who might be missed in other clinical data, including those without health insurance who may avoid going to the doctor and those who don’t have the resources to get tested or don’t feel like doing it, in an anonymized sample.\n\nIt’s also scalable, Ghaeli said, which is critical for the nation’s chronically under-resourced public health system. It’s much more affordable to test a wastewater system that serves 100 million people than to clinically test each individual, she said.\n\nWastewater treatment facilities stepped up early to move the work forward, while public health departments were a little bit slower, she said – and funding played a big part. “What we found was that funding mechanisms within the public health world were more rigid than budgets are within wastewater treatment.”\n\nMany early adopters of wastewater surveillance were jump-started by partnerships with research institutions, such as North Carolina’s with the University of North Carolina.\n\nGet CNN Health's weekly newsletter Sign up here to get The Results Are In with Dr. Sanjay Gupta every Tuesday from the CNN Health team.\n\nWastewater data may not play a formal role in federal guidance right now, but making the data public removes a hurdle for it to continue to play a part in the conversation.\n\n“Having the CDC step in and highlight the need for this national database is, of course, tremendously valuable for understanding where we’re at with Covid-19 right now,” Ghaeli said.\n\n“But I also think it’s tremendously valuable because it is essentially demonstrating to the country that we need this as a fundamental piece of our pandemic surveillance infrastructure. We are going to have another public health crisis – it might not be as severe as Covid-19 – but we are going to have public health emergencies as a society, and so wastewater [epidemiology] being established today can really help us in the future.”", "authors": ["Deidre Mcphillips"], "publish_date": "2022/03/10"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/coronavirus/2021/12/28/missouri-health-department-finds-covid-omicron-coronavirus-variant-wastewater-columbia-cases-cdc/9034398002/", "title": "Health department finds COVID omicron variant in Missouri ...", "text": "The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services has found the omicron coronavirus variant in wastewater samples across Missouri, including Columbia.\n\nSequencing tests identified the first presence of the omicron variant in Missouri from two sets of sewershed samples collected Dec. 7-8 in Jackson County and Buchanan County.\n\nColumbia's results come from samples taken Dec. 20.\n\nAccording to DHSS, the omicron variant is \"likely present among the population\" of the areas in which it is found in wastewater samples.\n\n\"Our robust program for monitoring COVID-19 through sewershed sampling provides us with reliable information regarding the presence of the virus and its variants,” said DHSS Director Donald Kauerauf in a statement. “The existence of the omicron variant is becoming much more prevalent each week, making the actions of COVID-19 individual testing, vaccination and other mitigation measures more important as we already face the threat of the delta variant and an increase in flu cases.\"\n\nMore than half of the statewide samples taken Dec. 20 tested positive for the omicron variant. Other areas that tested positive include three Kansas City facilities (Blue River, Westside, and Birmingham), seven St. Louis facilities (Lemay, Grand Glaize, Coldwater Creek, Bissell Point, Fenton, Lower Meramec and Missouri River), five St. Charles County facilities (St. Peters Spencer Creek, Duckett Creek Sewer District WWTF #1, Duckett Creek Sewer District WWTF #2, O'Fallon and Wentzville), Branson (Cooper Creek and Compton Drive), Interim Saline Creek Regional, Troy Southeast, Farmington East, Perryville Southeast, Springfield, St. Joseph, Atherton, Cape Girardeau, Nixa, West Plains, Washington, Oak Grove, Crystal City and Joplin Turkey Creek.\n\nMore:Boone County COVID-19 vaccine tracker: 59% of people fully vaccinated\n\nOmicron present in Boone County\n\nSequencing testing results of wastewater samples are updated weekly in the state's COVID-19 Sewershed Surveillance Project tracker.\n\nThe first confirmed case in Missouri of the omicron variant was discovered in St. Louis earlier this month.\n\nColumbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services receives information about variants from both the Sewershed Surveillance Project and when the state conducts additional lab testing on positive cases, spokesperson Sara Humm wrote in an email.\n\n\"We have received information from both methods that omicron has been detected in Boone County,\" Humm wrote Tuesday.\n\nThe sewershed project indicates omicron has not yet become the area's dominant strain.\n\n\"Variants other than omicron remain dominant, and delta is likely most of that,\" Humm wrote.\n\nMore:Uncounted: Inaccurate death certificates across the country hide the true toll of COVID-19\n\nCDC shortens recommended isolation period\n\nThe news comes as the CDC shortens its recommended isolation and quarantine period for those who test positive for COVID-19 in any of its forms.\n\nAccording to the new guidelines, those infected with the virus are recommended only to isolate for five days if they are asymptomatic at that point. The previous recommendation was for 10 days of isolation.\n\n\"The change is motivated by science demonstrating that the majority of SARS-CoV-2 transmission occurs early in the course of illness, generally in the 1-2 days prior to onset of symptoms and the 2-3 days after. Therefore, people who test positive should isolate for 5 days and, if asymptomatic at that time, they may leave isolation if they can continue to mask for 5 days to minimize the risk of infecting others,\" read a Tuesday statement from the CDC.\n\nAdditionally, the CDC updated its recommended quarantine period for those exposed to COVID-19. For people who are unvaccinated or are more than six months out from their second mRNA dose (or more than two months after the J&J vaccine) and not yet boosted, CDC now recommends quarantine for five days followed by strict mask use for an additional five days. Individuals who have received their booster shot do not need to quarantine following an exposure but should wear a mask for 10 days after the exposure.\n\n“The omicron variant is spreading quickly and has the potential to impact all facets of our society. CDC’s updated recommendations for isolation and quarantine balance what we know about the spread of the virus and the protection provided by vaccination and booster doses,\" said CDC Director Rochelle Walensky. \"These updates ensure people can safely continue their daily lives. Prevention is our best option: get vaccinated, get boosted, wear a mask in public indoor settings in areas of substantial and high community transmission, and take a test before you gather.”\n\nHealth recommendations ahead of New Year's Eve\n\nHumm recommends celebrating the new year responsibly.\n\n\"Whenever folks from various households gather for an extended period of time in an indoor space, the risk of transmission is higher,\" she wrote. \"It is possible that we'll see an influx of positive COVID cases in the next couple of weeks, but it's hard to be able to predict the future of what might happen.\"\n\nThe department recommends following CDC guidelines when going out, including:\n\nGetting vaccinated,\n\nWearing a mask when inside public places,\n\nSocial distancing,\n\nWashing hands often and\n\nStaying home when sick.\n\n\"If folks are hosting events at their home or another facility, we recommend that they communicate with the attendees about chosen guidelines before the event so everyone is on the same page about what is expected,\" Humm added.\n\nThe local health department has a list of testing options at como.gov/coronavirus.\n\n\"We recommend that folks check hours and appointment availability (if required by the location) before going to a location that does testing,\" Humm wrote.\n\nFree test kits are also available through a state program. More information can be found online at health.mo.gov.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/12/28"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/15/health/covid-rising-uk-us/index.html", "title": "What rising Covid-19 infections in the UK and Europe could mean ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nTwo weeks after the United Kingdom dropped its last remaining Covid-19 mitigation measure – a requirement that people who test positive for the virus isolate for five days – the country is seeing cases and hospitalizations climb once again.\n\nCovid-19 cases were up 48% in the UK last week compared with the week before. Hospitalizations were up 17% over the same period.\n\nThe country’s daily case rate – about 55,000 a day – is still less than a third of the Omicron peak, but cases are rising as fast as they were falling just two weeks earlier, when the country removed pandemic-related restrictions.\n\nDaily cases are also rising in more than half of the countries in the European Union. They’ve jumped 48% in the Netherlands and 20% in Germany over the past week, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. But daily cases in Germany had yet to drop below pre-Omicron levels, and the Netherlands hadn’t seen cases fall as much as they did in the UK.\n\nThe situation in Europe has the attention of public health officials for two reasons: First, the UK offers a preview of what may play out in the United States, and second, something unusual seems to be happening. In previous waves, increases in Covid hospitalizations lagged behind jumps in cases by about 10 days to two weeks. Now, in the UK, cases and hospitalizations seem to be rising in tandem, something that has experts stumped.\n\n“So we’re obviously keenly interested in what’s going on with that,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN.\n\nFauci said he’s spoken with his UK counterparts, and they have pegged the rise to a combination three factors. In order of contribution, Fauci said, these are:\n\nThe BA.2 variant, which is more transmissible than the original Omicron\n\nThe opening of society, with people mingling more indoors without masks\n\nWaning immunity from vaccination or prior infection\n\nIn a technical briefing Friday, the UK Health Security Agency said BA.2 had an 80% higher relative growth rate than the original Omicron strain, though it does not seem more likely to lead to hospitalization.\n\nGiven that BA.2 doesn’t seem to be causing more severe disease – at least not in the highly vaccinated British population – it’s not clear why hospitalizations are ticking up.\n\n“The issue with hospitalization is a little bit more puzzling, because although the hospitalizations are going up, it is very clear their use of ICU beds has not increased,” Fauci said. “So are the numbers of hospitalizations a real reflection of Covid cases, or is there a difficulty deciphering between people coming into the hospital with Covid or because of Covid?”\n\nThe US, like the UK, has lifted most mitigation measures as Covid-19 infections have fallen. Two weeks ago, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed how it measures Covid-19 impact in communities. The new metric – which relies on hospitalizations and hospital capacity in addition to cases – did away with masking recommendations for most parts of the country. States and schools have followed suit, lifting indoor masking requirements.\n\nREAD: Your top Covid questions, answered\n\n“Without a doubt, opening up society and having people mingle indoors is clearly something that is a contributor, as well as overall waning immunity, which means we’ve really got to stay heads-up and keep our eye on the pattern here,” Fauci said. “So that’s the reason why we’re watching this very carefully.”\n\nMichael Osterholm, who directs the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, told CNN, “it’s like a weather alert. Right now, the skies are sunny and bright, and we hope they stay that way. But we could have some bad weather by evening, and we just don’t know.”\n\nWhat will BA.2 do in the US?\n\nBA.2 has been growing steadily in the US. Last week, the CDC estimated it was causing about 12% of new Covid-19 cases here.\n\nMeanwhile, BA.2 now accounts for more than 50% of cases in the UK and several other European countries.\n\n“The tipping point seems to be right around 50%,” said Keri Althoff, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “That’s when we really start to see that variant flex its power in the population” as far as showing its severity.\n\nAlthoff said although the UK may provide a glimpse of the future, there are key differences that will affect how BA.2 plays out in the United States.\n\nIn the UK, 86% of eligible people are fully vaccinated, and 67% are boosted, compared with 69% of those eligible vaccinated and 50% boosted in the US.\n\n“What we see happening in the UK is going to be perhaps a better story than what we should be expecting here,” Althoff said.\n\nIn the Netherlands, it took about a month for BA.2 to overpower BA.1, she noted. If the same timeline occurs in the US, that will mean the variant is taking off just as the immunity generated by winter’s Omicron infections will be waning.\n\n“I’m concerned about that,” Althoff said. “But we were in a similar situation last spring, where we really got hopeful that things were going to settle down, and we got a little bit of a summer, and then we got walloped by Delta.”\n\nIt will be important for people to understand they may be able to take their masks off for a few weeks, Althoff said, but they might also need to go back to wearing them regularly if cases spike.\n\n“We could see another wave of illness at our hospitals,” she said.\n\nAlthoff will also be closely watching wastewater data over the next few weeks.\n\n“Wastewater surveillance is an incredible advancement in how we can monitor SARS-CoV-2 and what it’s doing in the population without needing, really, any input from people,” she said. “Keeping our eye on wastewater surveillance is an important tool to understand where the virus is going and if it’s increasing in terms of infection.”\n\nPreparing for the next wave\n\nProtection against the next variant has to start with vaccination.\n\n“We absolutely have to continue to find people who are unvaccinated and get them vaccinated,” Althoff said.\n\nFauci agreed that vaccination rates could be better in all age groups but said current numbers are especially bad for kids. Data collected by the CDC show about 28% of children ages 5 to 11 are fully vaccinated, while 58% of kids ages 12 to 17 have had two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.\n\nEven though the youngest children, those under 5, can’t yet be vaccinated, recent studies have shown young kids are less likely to catch Covid-19 when they’re surrounded by vaccinated older children and adults.\n\nGet CNN Health's weekly newsletter Sign up here to get The Results Are In with Dr. Sanjay Gupta every Tuesday from the CNN Health team.\n\n“So the way you protect them is to surround the children, to the extent possible, with people who are vaccinated and boosted so that you have somewhat a veil of protection around them,” Fauci said.\n\nIt will also be important to continue to be flexible.\n\n“The important thing in this massive experiment where we’re dropping all masking and restrictions is we have to stay diligent in terms of monitoring of it and testing and be prepared to possibly reverse a lot of the relaxing of these restrictions,” said Deborah Fuller, a microbiologist at the University of Washington.\n\n“We can’t let our guard down, because the message that people get when they say ‘we’re lifting restrictions’ is the pandemic is over. And it’s not,” she said.", "authors": ["Brenda Goodman Deidre Mcphillips", "Brenda Goodman", "Deidre Mcphillips"], "publish_date": "2022/03/15"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/06/health/where-is-ba-2/index.html", "title": "BA.2, where are you? Dominant strain hasn't shown signs of starting ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nMaybe BA.2 really is the “stealth variant.”\n\nThe Omicron subvariant caused as many as 3 in 4 cases of Covid-19 in the United States last week, according to the latest genomic surveillance from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but so far, there are no signs of a looming surge in the US.\n\nEven as BA.2 has become dominant, overall numbers of cases are still decreasing, says Dr. Jessica Justman, an epidemiologist at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.\n\n“This is a clear example of how these two trends are not necessarily tied together,” she says.\n\nIf things stay quiet, as some models predict, it will mark the first time a viral strain has taken over in the US without causing an increase in Covid-19 cases.\n\nThat’s different from what’s happening in the UK, some European countries and parts of Canada, where the arrival of BA.2 coincided with a new wave of cases and hospitalizations.\n\nAndy Pekosz, who studies viruses at Johns Hopkins University, says the new wave of cases in Europe may have more to do with timing than any features of BA.2.\n\n“What you’re seeing in Europe may be resulting from the fact that they lifted their restrictions early, not so much that it’s BA.2 that’s there,” he says.\n\nPekosz says many European countries dropped some precautions when there was already lot of virus circulating. He says cases in the US were coming down faster and fell farther before BA.2 outgrew its Omicron cousin here.\n\n“When you start at a low place, it takes a lot longer to build up a high number of cases,” he says.\n\nIt also suggests that the US may not be entirely out of the woods with BA.2 since Spring Break and the Easter and Passover holidays will mean more travel and more mixing of people from different parts of the country.\n\nLittle sign of rising infections\n\nWhy the US isn’t seeing the same increases in new infections with BA.2 as countries in Europe did continues to be an open question.\n\nOne theory is that we’re no longer seeing positive cases show up in testing. The data collected by the CDC and state health departments about positive tests is generated by laboratories; it doesn’t count the tests people take at home.\n\nAnd there’s been a “dramatic shift” toward at-home testing in the US, says Mara Aspinall, a professor at Arizona State University who has been estimating home and lab testing volumes.\n\nIn January and February, she says, there were roughly 1 million to 1.5 million Covid-19 laboratory tests being recorded each day – but 6 million to 8 million at-home tests available. A case detected by an at-home test doesn’t typically get reported unless it is later confirmed by a lab test.\n\n“I think there’s no question there’s underreporting of positive cases,” Aspinall said. She believes this is, in part, why the CDC has shifted its pandemic measures to focus on hospitalizations and hospital capacity, and pivoted its surveillance to wastewater, which measures infection levels even when people aren’t getting tested.\n\nWatching wastewater\n\nEven in wastewater, though, there’s not a lot to see.\n\nZooming in on areas of the country that are seeing more BA.2 transmission, like New York, wastewater has been only modestly affected.\n\n“It’s still low when we look at absolute raw numbers of viral copies in wastewater,” said David Larson, an associate professor of public health at Syracuse University who helped create the state’s wastewater dashboard.\n\n“We’re not at the level of the Omicron [BA.1] surge, but it’s increasing, and community spread is present, and transmission is still high,” Larson said.\n\nWith more virus being transmitted, Larson says, officials could see cases go up, but he’s not sure. It will depend on how sick people get from their infections.\n\n“Cases measure access to treatment and access to testing,” he said. “So it’s hard to say what cases will do.”\n\nSan Francisco is also seeing signs that BA.2 may be making a move, but it hasn’t been a major one.\n\nDr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco, says the Bay Area has been one of the most cautious parts of the country throughout the pandemic. There are even some schools that are still closed because they’re unwilling to tolerate the risk.\n\nHe was surprised to see San Francisco County recently take the top spot for its seven-day average of new cases on the California Department of Public Health’s Covid Dashboard.\n\n“I had to rub my eyes,” Chin-Hong said. “I look at these trends pretty much every day, and SF used to be amongst the lowest, and now it’s amongst the highest” in terms of new cases. Test positivity is inching up, too.\n\nBut the increases he’s seeing are small ones. “They’re teetering on the point of going up and like trying to boost forward,” he said.\n\nChin-Hong says San Francisco is “super immune” right now, with one of the highest vaccination rates in the country and an antibody boost from recent wave of infections from Omicron’s BA.1 version.\n\nAt the hospital where he works, things are quiet in terms of Covid-19.\n\nIt reminds him of what happened in Denmark and South Africa with BA.2, “which was basically nothing. No explosions of cases, no lives lost.”\n\nThat won’t stop people from feeling anxious, he said. As cases rise, people will stay home and will keep their kids home from school.\n\nHe says the anxiety comes from two things: PTSD from previous surges and a measure of freedom that they don’t want to give up.\n\nAnd though he’s not ready to sound the all-clear, he thinks things may be better than people are expecting this time around.\n\nAre we failing upward?\n\nIf BA.2 does go quietly, it may be because the US did such a poor job of stopping transmission of Omicron and the variants that came before it, that we have failed upward, bungling our way to a high level of immune protection.\n\nBA.1 and BA 1.1 ran rampant in the US over the winter, as people abandoned mask wearing and largely resumed their holiday plans.\n\n“That spike was just massive. It was like nothing we’ve seen before,” says Mariana Matus, president and CEO of Biobot Analytics, a company that that’s been testing wastewater for local counties and other sewersheds across the US since 2020.\n\nMatus says Omicron and Delta swept through the population in a matter of weeks, while BA.2 has been creeping up for a few months.\n\nGet CNN Health's weekly newsletter Sign up here to get The Results Are In with Dr. Sanjay Gupta every Tuesday from the CNN Health team.\n\n“It’s been going very, very slowly, and so far, we haven’t seen an impact on the level of disease,” she said.\n\nMatus points to Ontario, which is seeing a larger viral load in its wastewater levels, indicating more infections. That province’s Omicron peak with BA.1 a few months ago was not as high as the one in the US and may not have left as much immunity in its wake.\n\n“That data, to me, would say that, you know, they had a smaller Omicron wave, and now [BA.2 is] picking up,” she said.\n\nThe latest CDC estimate is that 95% of Americans have some level of immunity, either through infection or from vaccination. About 43% of Americans are thought to have antibodies from infection.\n\nThis immunity came at a high price: The US remains a world leader in Covid-19 deaths with more than 980,000, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.\n\nRemembering this makes any respite from Covid-19 over the next few weeks somewhat bittersweet. It may also be brief, as the world waits to see what other surprises the virus has in store.", "authors": ["Brenda Goodman"], "publish_date": "2022/04/06"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/03/health/stealth-omicron-variant-wen-wellness/index.html", "title": "How worried should we be about the new 'stealth' Omicron? | CNN", "text": "CNN —\n\nA new subvariant of Omicron is spreading rapidly in some parts of the world. This spinoff from the original Omicron variant, called BA.2, has been found in at least 49 countries, including the United States. In some countries, like Denmark, BA.2 has already surpassed the original Omicron (BA.1) as the dominant variant.\n\nBecause it doesn’t cause a certain signature on lab tests called an s-gene target failure, it can look like other coronavirus variants on a first screen. That has some calling it “the stealth variant.”\n\nHow worried should we about this “stealth” Omicron? Are vaccinated people still protected? What about those who recently had Covid-19—could they be reinfected? And can tests pick up this subvariant?\n\nFor answers to these and other questions, I spoke with CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Leana Wen. Wen is an emergency physician and professor of health policy and management at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. She is also the author of “Lifelines: A Doctor’s Journey in the Fight for Public Health.”\n\nCNN: Should we be worried about this new Omicron subvariant?\n\nDr. Leana Wen: We should be cautious and monitor new information as it comes out, but we shouldn’t worry.\n\nHere’s what we know about BA.2. Given how quickly it has spread and even displaced the very contagious original Omicron variant, known as BA.1, in some places, this new subvariant appears to have an even higher rate of growth. There’s no evidence that it causes more severe disease than the original Omicron, which has been associated with milder illness than previous variants like Delta.\n\nPreliminary studies from the United Kingdom also show that people vaccinated and boosted are as well-protected against BA.2 as BA.1. That’s very important, because it means that those vaccinated and boosted are unlikely to become severely ill if infected with this new version of Omicron.\n\nCNN: If you’re diagnosed with Covid-19, how would you know if you have the original Omicron variant versus this one?\n\nWen: Most people do not find out what variant they are infected with, because that takes special technology called sequencing that takes place in certain labs. Right now, the original Omicron BA.1 still accounts for over 99% of new infections in the US, so if you are diagnosed with Covid-19, chances are, that’s what you have.\n\nA healthcare worker places solution droplets into a rapid antigen Covid-19 test at a Reliant Health Services testing site in Hawthorne, California, on January 18. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty Images\n\nCNN: If someone recently had Omicron, could they get reinfected with the new variant?\n\nWen: It’s unlikely. Recent infection, especially in combination with prior vaccination, protects against reinfection. We don’t know how long that immune protection will last. Given how similar BA.1 and BA.2 are to each other, it stands to reason that someone who just had Covid-19, and therefore most likely had BA.1, is not going to contract BA.2 in the near future.\n\nCNN: Will the new Omicron-specific booster work against BA.2?\n\nWen: Pfizer and Moderna have announced that they are both testing vaccines against Omicron. Since both BA.1 and BA.2 are subvariants under Omicron, it’s expected that the vaccine would probably be effective against both.\n\nHowever, we will not know until the clinical trials are complete just how effective the new Omicron-specific booster is, compared to the vaccine and booster that we have already been using. No one should wait for an Omicron-specific booster if they are already eligible to be boosted. If you are five months out from two doses of Pfizer or Moderna, or two months out from the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, you should get a booster now.\n\nCNN: What could happen if BA.2 becomes dominant in the US?\n\nWen: This is certainly a possibility, as it has occurred in other countries. A more transmissible variant means that it displaces previous variants.\n\nThe best-case scenario is that we have enough people protected here in the US due to vaccination and recent infection that BA.2 does not cause a substantial rise in cases. We could continue on the track to experiencing a lull in case numbers over the spring and summer. Another scenario is that BA.2 blunts the sharp drop in cases that we are seeing, and we end up having a more prolonged fourth wave than we would have with BA.1 alone.\n\nIn either situation, the key is to keep monitoring whether vaccination and boosters continue to protect against severe illness from BA.1 and BA.2. If so, that means vaccines are successful—that’s what vaccines were designed to do, to keep us out of the hospital and to prevent severe illness and death.\n\nCNN: Does “stealth” mean that the new subvariant isn’t picked up on tests?\n\nWen: No, there’s no evidence to suggest that BA.2 isn’t detectable with laboratory PCR or at-home antigen tests.\n\nCNN: What’s your advice for protecting myself and my family from this subvariant?\n\nWen: There are many people who want to continue taking precautions to keep from getting infected with Covid-19: those who are immunocompromised, for example, or others who are medically frail and therefore still vulnerable to severe outcomes despite being vaccinated. There are families with young children under 5 who are not yet eligible for the vaccine, although it looks like that could be coming.\n\nAnother contagious virus means that people who want to avoid getting Covid-19 have to continue taking precautions. The most important is indoor masking, and quality of mask really matters. The best mask is a well-fitting, comfortable one that you can consistently wear and is a certified N95, KN95 or KF94.\n\nWear these masks anytime you are indoors around people of unknown vaccination status. While coronavirus infection numbers are high in your community, you may want to take additional precautions—for example, asking everyone outside your household to get a rapid test prior to gathering with you indoors.\n\nCNN: Will this be the last variant we see?\n\nWen: Almost certainly not. New variants are popping up all the time, because that’s what viruses do: They mutate when they replicate. Whether a new variant causes global concern depends on if it’s more contagious, more virulent or if it can override prior immunity. This is why real-time surveillance is so important, and it’s also why vaccination is key. The more population immunity we have, the less viruses will spread and mutate, and the quicker we can all emerge from this pandemic.", "authors": ["Katia Hetter"], "publish_date": "2022/02/03"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2022/03/19/sewage-systems-near-miami-st-petersburg-pensacola-show-increases/7003621001/", "title": "Sewage systems near Miami, St. Petersburg, Pensacola show COVID", "text": "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention effectively lifted indoor masking recommendations this week for all of Florida's counties even as parts of the state are detecting spikes of coronavirus levels in their sewage.\n\nUntil Thursday, CDC officials classified 10 of Florida's 67 counties as places where COVID-19 poses a high threat to hospitals, and therefore recommended residents wear masks indoors. Now that those counties — clustered near Alachua County and bordering Georgia — have been downgraded to medium-risk areas, no Floridians live in a county where federal health experts recommend indoor masking.\n\nBut some sewage systems in Florida detected an increase of the coronavirus' genetic fragments in their wastewater systems between Feb. 28 and March 14, the CDC reports.\n\nCOVID data in Florida:Florida to update COVID-19 data less frequently than all other states\n\nSpring break 2022: Florida reports 10,000 COVID cases, 863 newly reported deaths in a week\n\nTest results from Escambia County, home to Pensacola, revealed increases in viral particles. Three samples from Miami-Dade County showed the same thing. So did one of two samples from Pinellas County, home to St. Petersburg.\n\nTwo of three samples from Orange County, home to Orlando, showed declines in viral fragments. A sampling from Brevard County, home to Cape Canaveral, also showed a decrease.\n\nThe CDC cannot distinguish between the coronavirus' omicron variant and one of its subvariants, BA.2, CDC spokeswoman Jasmine Reed said Friday by email. \"We are currently looking into these efforts and will update the surveillance system as appropriate,\" she said.\n\nBoston company that tests sewage nationally reports mixed results\n\nBoston-based laboratory Biobot, which collects and tests sewage from across the nation, reports mixed results.\n\nBA.2 particles constituted one-third of coronavirus fragments in Seminole County sewage Biobot examined Wednesday. But it found no trace of the subvariant in a sample from Hillsborough County, home to Tampa.\n\nBA.2 is known as \"stealth omicron\" because of how tough it is for regular COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests to detect and distinguish from the delta variant.\n\nSewage test results can detect the spread of the coronavirus in a community faster than swab testing in part because it takes a shorter time to process the results. None of the six Florida counties Biobot gets samples from show a recent spike in viral fragment levels.\n\nFlorida health officials have cut COVID-19 reporting to every week, from weekly. Their previous data release was March 11. The next will come March 25.\n\nTo figure out how widespread and dangerous COVID-19 currently is in Florida, statistics seekers must piece together data from federal websites and other sources. Those numbers, collected from the state Health Department, can be as old as several days or a week by the time they're published.\n\nEighth week in a row that Florida death count has hovered above 500 per week\n\nFlorida's death toll sits at 72,592 residents, data collected Thursday by the CDC shows. That's a 732-person increase from what state health officials reported March 11.\n\nIt is the eighth week in a row the weekly statewide fatality count has hovered above 500. During the delta variant-driven coronavirus surge last summer, weekly deaths stayed above that number for 14 weeks straight.\n\nThe respiratory disease is hitting a swath of the Panhandle around Tallahassee harder than the rest of Florida.\n\nMadison County, on the state's northern border with Georgia, recorded Florida's highest death rate in the 30 days ending Thursday — about one in 1,000 residents. A total of 21 fatalities were logged there, which is a high sum for the rural county of about 19,000 people.\n\nJust 46% of eligible Madison County residents ages 5 and older have received at least two shots of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines, or one shot of the single-dose Johnson & Johnson formula, federal data shows.\n\nFlorida saw smallest 1-week increase in cases since Thanksgiving week\n\nFlorida's total case count increased by 8,005 from March 11 through Thursday, the smallest one-week hike since Thanksgiving week, a comparison of CDC and state data shows. The state has logged 5,832,733 infections over the course of the pandemic, the CDC reported Thursday.\n\nAn average of just under 2.4% of tests statewide had come back positive in the week ended Monday, according to the latest results the CDC collected from Florida. That's the lowest level recorded by the federal agency.\n\nMeanwhile, Florida is still tending to more COVID-positive patients than before the omicron mutation engulfed the state. Hospitals statewide are taking care of 1,135 COVID-positive patients, the U.S. Health and Human Services Department reported Friday. That number was 994 on Dec. 1.\n\nHospitals nationwide have about one-third as many patients as they did Dec. 1. Other large states, such as California, New York and Texas, report fewer patients compared to pre-omicron. The same is true for states such as Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Maine, where around one in five residents are ages 65 or older.\n\nFlorida health officials have offered no explanation for why state hospitalizations have been worse than other states. Nor have they offered plans on how to tackle the issue.\n\nWhile COVID-positive hospitalizations nearly tripled nationwide during the omicron wave, Florida hospitalizations surged more than 11-fold.\n\nMeanwhile, vaccinations continue to crawl at a slow pace statewide.\n\nThe CDC estimates that about 5.5 million people across Florida have received booster shots, the strongest protection against the omicron variant.\n\nBut state health officials usually report lower counts. Just over 5 million had gotten boosters as of March 11.\n\nThe CDC also says just over 16.8 million people statewide have gotten at least one shot, much higher than the 15.4 million state health officials reported March 11.\n\nThe CDC counts some people state health officials might not, such as military personnel stationed in Florida.\n\nChris Persaud is The Palm Beach Post's data reporter. Email him at cpersaud@pbpost.com.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/03/19"}]}
{"question_id": "20230127_1", "search_time": "2023/01/28/05:14", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/movies/2021/04/08/sarasota-bradenton-top-movie-picks-april-8-14/7088319002/", "title": "Sarasota-Bradenton top movie picks, April 8-14", "text": "With \"Godzilla vs. Kong\" dominating as the pandemic's biggest box office hit so far, this week doesn't feature many new releases, though space drama \"Voyagers\" hits theaters and Melissa McCarthy superhero comedy \"Thunder Force\" heads to Netflix on Friday. There are still numerous Oscars contenders available to watch, including a few that scored Screen Actors Guild awards Sunday. And multiple film festivals around the country return this week, including Florida Film Festival. Here are this week's highlights (dates/venues subject to change.)\n\nTicket Newsletter:Sign up to receive the latest news on things to do, restaurants and more every Friday\n\nMore:‘Godzilla vs. Kong’ stomps to pandemic-best $48.5M opening, even with at-home streaming\n\n1. 'Nomadland'\n\nWriter-director Chloé Zhao's drama based on the 2017 nonfiction book follows a woman (Frances McDormand) who, after her town's U.S. Gypsum plant shuts down, travels the country living in her van as she takes various jobs. Like Zhao's previous film \"The Rider,\" \"Nomadland\" features a cast of largely nonprofessional actors besides McDormand and costar David Strathairn, who blend in with ease, and beautiful Western landscapes. The movie has been nominated for six Oscars, including Best Picture and Director, and is the current frontrunner in both categories.\n\nWhere to watch: Hulu\n\n2. 'Minari'\n\nInspired by writer-director Lee Isaac Chung's own upbringing, this film follows a Korean American family who moves to rural Arkansas, with Steven Yeun playing the determined patriarch. A smart, sensitive film about immigrants and the American dream, \"Minari\" won both the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at last year's Sundance Film Festival and scored six Oscar nominations. Those include Best Picture, Chung's direction and screenplay and the performances by Yeun and Youn Yuh-jung as the family's grandmother, who won the supporting actress SAG Award.\n\nWhere to watch: Limited release in theaters and video on demand\n\n3. 'Judas and the Black Messiah'\n\nShaka King's drama tells the story of Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya), chairman of the Black Panther Party Illinois chapter who was killed in a 1969 police raid, and William O'Neal (Lakeith Stanfield), an FBI informant who infiltrated the party. \"Judas and the Black Messiah\" feels genuinely daring and vital in a way that historical awards season movies rarely do and is up for the Best Picture Oscar, along with Supporting Actor nods for Stanfield and Kaluuya. The latter won the Golden Globe and SAG Award in the category and is the frontrunner for the Oscar.\n\nWhere to watch: Video on demand\n\n4. 'The Father'\n\nFlorian Zeller directs and co-writes this adaptation of his play, centering on an elderly man (Anthony Hopkins) dealing with the effects of dementia and his daughter (Olivia Colman) trying to find the best way to help him. An immersive portrayal of dementia building to a haunting conclusion, \"The Father\" features one of Hopkins' career-best performances that netted him a Best Actor Oscar nomination, with the film also up for Best Picture and Colman scoring a Best Supporting Actress nomination.\n\nWhere to watch: Limited release in theaters and video on demand\n\n5. 'Shiva Baby'\n\nWriter-director Emma Seligman's debut feature, based on her earlier short film of the same name, follows a young woman (Rachel Sennott) who attends a shiva with her parents (Fred Melamed and Polly Draper), only to discover both her ex-girlfriend and married sugar daddy are there as well. A bracing comedy that immerses viewers in its claustrophobic setting as well as a deep vein of Jewish culture, \"Shiva Baby\" was one of the major discoveries of last year's film festival season.\n\nWhere to watch: Limited release in theaters and video on demand\n\nNote: Florida Film Festival returns Friday-April 22, taking place this year as a hybrid virtual and in-person event. Most movies are available for Florida residents to watch online, including Sundance favorites like the Ed Helms-Patti Harrison comedy \"Together Together\" and adult animated movie \"Cryptozoo\" (featuring the voices of Lake Bell, Michael Cera and others), as well as François Ozon's coming-of-age tale \"Summer of 85,\" which was chosen for last year's Cannes Film Festival.\n\nThe Orlando area-based festival will also feature exclusive in-person events at Enzian Theater including the world premiere of \"Because of Charley,\" filmed in Florida and featuring \"Coming to America\" actor John Amos, a 35th anniversary screening of David Lynch's 1986 classic \"Blue Velvet\" followed by a live Zoom Q&A with star Isabella Rossellini, and the surreal Nicolas Cage-starring Sion Sono film \"Prisoners of the Ghostland.\" For more information, visit floridafilmfestival.com.\n\nEmail entertainment reporter Jimmy Geurts at jimmy.geurts@heraldtribune.com. Support local journalism by subscribing.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/04/08"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/movies/2023/01/24/oscars-2023-academy-awards-nominations-full-list/11105555002/", "title": "Oscar nominations 2023 full list: 'Everything Everywhere,' 'Banshees'", "text": "We don't know how it plays elsewhere in the multiverse, but in this reality, the Oscars really love \"Everything Everywhere All at Once.\"\n\nThe genre-smashing sci-fi hit ruled Tuesday morning when nominations for the 95th Academy Awards were announced. The film scored 11 honors including best picture and screenplay, star Michelle Yeoh was nominated for best actress, Jamie Lee Curtis and Stephanie Hsu earned their first Oscar nominations and Cinderella story Ke Huy Quan garnered a nod for supporting actor.\n\n\"Everything\" is up for the night's biggest prize with Steven Spielberg's semi-autobiographical \"The Fabelmans,\" dark comedy \"The Banshees of Inisherin,\" blockbuster sequel \"Top Gun: Maverick,\" musical biopic \"Elvis,\" a German remake of 1930 best picture winner \"All Quiet on the Western Front,\" the satire \"Triangle of Sadness,\" classical music drama \"Tár,\" #MeToo drama \"Women Talking\" and otherworldly extravaganza \"Avatar: The Way of Water.\"\n\nAcademy Awards acting categories feature a mix of old and new faces\n\nThe Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences selected a wide variety of movies and actors to be honored at its March 12 ceremony (airing live on ABC), hosted by Jimmy Kimmel for a third time:\n\nCate Blanchett and first-time nominee Michelle Yeoh scored slots in the best actress race.\n\nBrendan Fraser, Colin Farrell, Austin Butler, Paul Mescal and Bill Nighy are first-time best actor nominees.\n\nAwards-season favorites Angela Bassett and Ke Huy Quan both garner Oscar nods.\n\nBrendan Fraser and Colin Farrell in for best actor, Cate Blanchett vs. Michelle Yeoh for best actress\n\nBlanchett (\"Tár\") and Yeoh (\"Everything Everywhere\") – who both scored victories at the recent Golden Globes – lead the best actress category and will compete against Ana de Armas (\"Blonde\"), Michelle Williams (\"The Fabelmans\") and surprise entry Andrea Riseborough (\"To Leslie\").\n\nThe field for best actor – which features all first-time Oscar nominees – includes Fraser (\"The Whale\"), Butler (\"Elvis\"), Farrell (\"Banshees\"), Bill Nighy (\"Living\") and Paul Mescal (\"Aftersun\").\n\nAngela Bassett and Ke Huy Quan lead the Oscars' supporting actress and actor categories\n\nQuan, whose comeback story with \"Everything Everywhere\" has been a highlight of awards season, was nominated for best supporting actor, as were \"Banshees\" co-stars Brendan Gleeson and Barry Keoghan, Judd Hirsch (\"The Fabelmans\") and Brian Tyree Henry (\"Causeway\").\n\nBassett (\"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever\") earned her first Oscar nomination since 1994 with a slot in supporting actress alongside \"Everything Everywhere\" co-stars Curtis and Hsu, Kerry Condon (\"Banshees\") and Hong Chau (\"The Whale\").\n\nFull list of the 2023 Oscar nominees:\n\nBest picture\n\n“All Quiet on the Western Front”\n\n“Avatar: The Way of Water”\n\n“The Banshees of Inisherin”\n\n“Elvis”\n\n“Everything Everywhere All at Once”\n\n“The Fabelmans”\n\n“Tár”\n\n“Top Gun: Maverick”\n\n“Triangle of Sadness”\n\n“Women Talking”\n\nBest actress\n\nAna de Armas, “Blonde”\n\nCate Blanchett, “Tár”\n\nAndrea Riseborough, “To Leslie”\n\nMichelle Williams, “The Fabelmans”\n\nMichelle Yeoh, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”\n\nBest actor\n\nAustin Butler, “Elvis”\n\nColin Farrell, “The Banshees of Inisherin”\n\nBrendan Fraser, “The Whale”\n\nPaul Mescal, “Aftersun”\n\nBill Nighy, “Living”\n\nBest supporting actress\n\nAngela Bassett, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”\n\nHong Chau, “The Whale”\n\nKerry Condon, “The Banshees of Inisherin”\n\nJamie Lee Curtis, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”\n\nStephanie Hsu, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”\n\nBest supporting actor\n\nBrendan Gleeson, “Banshees on Inisherin”\n\nJudd Hirsch, “The Fabelmans”\n\nBrian Tyree Henry, “Causeway”\n\nBarry Keoghan, “Banshees of Inisherin”\n\nKe Huy Quan, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”\n\nBest director\n\nTodd Field, “Tár”\n\nDaniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”\n\nMartin McDonagh, “The Banshees of Inisherin”\n\nRuben Ostlund, “Triangle of Sadness”\n\nSteven Spielberg, “The Fabelmans”\n\nBest international film\n\n“All Quiet on the Western Front” (Germany)\n\n“Argentina, 1985” (Argentina)\n\n“Close” (Belgium)\n\n“EO” (Poland)\n\n“The Quiet Girl” (Ireland)\n\nBest original screenplay\n\n“The Banshees of Inisherin”\n\n“Everything Everywhere All at Once”\n\n“The Fabelmans”\n\n“Tár”\n\n“Triangle of Sadness”\n\nBest adapted screenplay\n\n“All Quiet on the Western Front”\n\n“Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”\n\n“Living”\n\n“Top Gun: Maverick”\n\n“Women Talking”\n\nBest animated film\n\n“Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio”\n\n“Marcel the Shell With Shoes On”\n\n“Puss in Boots: The Last Wish”\n\n“The Sea Beast”\n\n“Turning Red”\n\nBest visual effects\n\n“All Quiet on the Western Front”\n\n“Avatar: The Way of Water”\n\n“The Batman”\n\n“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”\n\n“Top Gun: Maverick”\n\nBest cinematography\n\n“All Quiet on the Western Front”\n\n“Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths”\n\n“Elvis”\n\n“Empire of Light”\n\n“Tár”\n\nBest costume design\n\n\"Babylon\"\n\n\"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever\"\n\n\"Elvis\"\n\n\"Everything Everywhere All at Once\"\n\n\"Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris\"\n\nBest production design\n\n\"All Quiet on the Western Front\"\n\n\"Avatar: The Way of Water\"\n\n\"Babylon\"\n\n\"Elvis\"\n\n\"The Fabelmans\"\n\nBest film editing\n\n\"The Banshees of Inisherin\"\n\n\"Elvis\"\n\n\"Everything Everywhere All at Once\"\n\n“Tár”\n\n\"Top Gun Maverick\"\n\nBest makeup and hairstyling\n\n\"All Quiet on the Western Front\"\n\n\"The Batman\"\n\n\"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever\"\n\n\"Elvis\"\n\n\"The Whale\"\n\nBest sound\n\n“All Quiet on the Western Front”\n\n“Avatar: The Way of Water”\n\n\"The Batman”\n\n“Elvis”\n\n“Top Gun: Maverick”\n\nBest original score\n\nVolker Bertelmann, “All Quiet on the Western Front”\n\nCarter Burwell, “The Banshees of Inisherin”\n\nJustin Hurwitz, “Babylon”\n\nSon Lux, “Everything Everywhere All at Once”\n\nJohn Williams, “The Fabelmans”\n\nBest original song\n\n“Applause” from “Tell It Like a Woman”\n\n“Hold My Hand” from “Top Gun: Maverick”\n\n“Lift Me Up” from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”\n\n“This Is a Life” from “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”\n\n“Naatu Naatu” from “RRR”\n\nBest documentary feature\n\n“All That Breathes\"\n\n“All the Beauty and the Bloodshed”\n\n“Fire of Love”\n\n“A House Made of Splinters”\n\n“Navalny”\n\nBest documentary short\n\n\"The Elephant Whisperers\"\n\n\"Haulout\"\n\n\"How Do You Measure a Year?\"\n\n\"The Martha Mitchell Effect\"\n\n\"Stranger at the Gate\"\n\nBest animated short\n\n“The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse”\n\n“The Flying Sailor”\n\n“Ice Merchants”\n\n“My Year of Dicks”\n\n\"An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake and I Think I Believe it”\n\nLive action short\n\n“An Irish Goodbye”\n\n“Ivalu”\n\n“Le Pupille”\n\n“Night Ride”\n\n“The Red Suitcase”\n\nMore on the 2023 Oscars\n\nSnubbed by the Oscars!Brad Pitt, Viola Davis, Adam Sandler shut out of Academy nominations\n\n'Wish Lisa Marie was here':Austin Butler's 'Elvis' Oscar nomination is 'joyous' but 'bittersweet'\n\nYou can stream these 15 Oscar-nominated movies tonight: From 'Everything Everywhere' to 'Elvis'\n\nFrom 'Glass Onion' to 'Top Gun: Maverick':Here are 30 movies you need to stream right now\n\n'The Whale':Brendan Fraser wants to change 'hearts and minds' about people living with obesity\n\nKe Huy Quan:'Indiana Jones' star waited 'more than 30 years' for 'Everything Everywhere' role\n\nThe 10 best movies of 2022:From Tom Cruise's 'Top Gun: Maverick' to 'The Whale,' 'RRR'\n\nAll 94 Oscar best picture winners:Ranked from worst to best", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/01/24"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/movies/2021/03/15/academy-awards-how-where-you-can-watch-almost-all-2021-oscar-nominees/6946690002/", "title": "Academy Awards: How, where you can watch all 2021 Oscar ...", "text": "Note: This guide will be updated each Wednesday up to the 93rd annual Academy Awards ceremony April 25.\n\nWell, the Oscars are almost here. And, for the first time, you can actually watch every movie that's nominated — most of them from the comfort of your couch.\n\nHere's where you can see this year's Oscar nominated movies. Theaters are as of April 23. Remember that many theaters are open only a few days a week; check theater websites for details.\n\nAmong the ones you can see in theaters this week: Landmark Downer Theatre is showing both the live-action short film nominees and the animated short film nominees April 22, and all three shorts programs (including the documentary shorts) are on the big screen at the Avalon Theater April 23-29 (see avalonmke.com for tickets and showtimes). Sofa Cinema, Milwaukee Film’s online portal, is streaming all three nominated short-film programs at mkefilm.org/sofacinema.\n\nRELATED:How to watch the 2021 Oscars: Everything you should know about Sunday's Academy Awards\n\nRELATED:Oscar nominations 2021: 'Mank' leads with 10 honors, Viola Davis makes history\n\nRELATED:Oscar nomination snubs: Jodie Foster, Jared Leto, Tom Hanks, Spike Lee, 'Da 5 Bloods'\n\nRELATED:At the movies in Milwaukee this week, including streaming picks\n\n'Another Round'\n\nNominations: 2 — director (Thomas Vinterberg), international feature film (Denmark)\n\nWhere you can watch it: Available on demand, including on Milwaukee Film's Sofa Cinema (mkefilm.org/sofacinema); also, streaming on Hulu\n\n'Better Days'\n\nNominations: 1 — international feature film (Hong Kong)\n\nWhere you can watch it: Available on demand; also streaming on Hulu and available on Hoopla, a borrowing service available through some area libraries\n\n'Borat Subsequent Moviefilm'\n\nNominations: 2 — supporting actress (Maria Bakalova), adapted screenplay\n\nWhere you can watch it: Streaming on Amazon Prime\n\n'Collective'\n\nNominations: 2 — documentary feature, international feature film (Romania)\n\nWhere you can see it: Available on demand, including on Milwaukee Film's Sofa Cinema (mkefilm.org/sofacinema) ; also, streaming on Hulu\n\n'Crip Camp'\n\nNominations: 1 — documentary feature\n\nWhere you can see it: Streaming on Netflix\n\n'Da 5 Bloods'\n\nNominations: 1 — original score\n\nWhere you can watch it: Streaming on Netflix\n\n'Emma'\n\nNominations: 2 — costume design, makeup and hairstyling\n\nWhere you can watch it: Available for purchase on demand; also, streaming on HBO Max\n\n'Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga'\n\nNominations: 1 — original song (\"Husavik\")\n\nWhere you can watch it: Streaming on Netflix\n\n'The Father'\n\nNominations: 6 — picture, actor (Anthony Hopkins), supporting actress (Olivia Colman), film editing, adapted screenplay, production design\n\nWhere you can watch it: In theaters (Landmark Downer Theatre); also, available on premium video on demand\n\n'Greyhound'\n\nNominations: 1 — sound\n\nWhere you can watch it: Streaming on Apple TV+\n\n'Hillbilly Elegy'\n\nNominations: 2 — supporting actress (Glenn Close), makeup and hairstyling\n\nWhere you can watch it: Netflix\n\n'Judas and the Black Messiah'\n\nNominations: 6 — picture, supporting actor (Daniel Kaluuya, Lakeith Stanfield), original song (\"Fight for You\"), original screenplay, cinematography\n\nWhere you can watch it: Available on premium video on demand\n\n'The Life Ahead'\n\nNominations: 1 — original song (\"Io Si\")\n\nWhere you can watch it: Streaming on Netflix\n\n'Love and Monsters'\n\nNominations: 1 — visual effects\n\nWhere you can watch it: Available on demand\n\n'Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom'\n\nNominations: 5 — actress (Viola Davis), actor (Chadwick Boseman), costume design, makeup and hairstyling, production design\n\nWhere you can watch it: Streaming on Netflix\n\n'Mank'\n\nNominations: 10 — picture, director (David Fincher), actor (Gary Oldman), supporting actress (Amanda Seyfried), cinematography, costume design, original score, makeup and hairstyling, production design, sound\n\nWhere you can watch it: Streaming on Netflix\n\n'The Man Who Sold His Skin'\n\nNominations: 1 — international feature film (Tunisia)\n\nWhere you can watch it: Available on demand through Milwaukee Film's Sofa Cinema digital portal (mkefilm.org/sofacinema); also, streaming on Hulu\n\n'The Midnight Sky'\n\nNominations: 1 — visual effects\n\nWhere you can watch it: Streaming on Netflix\n\n'Minari'\n\nNominations: 6 — picture, director (Lee Isaac Chung), actor (Steven Yeun), supporting actress (Yuh-Jung Youn), original score, original screenplay\n\nWhere you can watch it: In theaters (Rivoli Theater); also, available on demand\n\n'The Mole Agent'\n\nNominations: 1 — documentary feature\n\nWhere you can watch it: Available on demand; also, streaming on Hulu, and available on Hoopla, a borrowing service available through some area libraries\n\n'Mulan'\n\nNominations: 2 — costume design, visual effects\n\nWhere you can watch it: Available on demand; also, streaming on Disney+\n\n'My Octopus Teacher'\n\nNominations: 1 — documentary feature\n\nWhere you can watch it: Streaming on Netflix\n\n'News of the World'\n\nNominations: 4 — cinematography, original score, production design, sound\n\nWhere you can watch it: Available on demand\n\n'Nomadland'\n\nNominations: 6 — picture, director (Chloé Zhao), actress (Frances McDormand), adapted screenplay, cinematography, film editing\n\nWhere you can watch it: In theaters (Landmark Downer Theatre); also, streaming on Hulu, and available on demand\n\n'The One and Only Ivan'\n\nNominations: 1 — visual effects\n\nWhere you can watch it: Streaming on Disney+\n\n'One Night in Miami … '\n\nNominations: 3 — supporting actor (Leslie Odom Jr.), original song (\"Speak Now\"), adapted screenplay\n\nWhere you can watch it: Streaming on Amazon Prime\n\n'Onward'\n\nNominations: 1 — animated feature film\n\nWhere you can watch it: Available on demand; also, streaming on Disney+\n\n'Over the Moon'\n\nNominations: 1 — animated feature film\n\nWhere you can watch it: Streaming on Netflix\n\n'Pieces of a Woman'\n\nNominations: 1 — actress (Vanessa Kirby)\n\nWhere you can watch it: Streaming on Netflix\n\n'Pinocchio'\n\nNominations: 2 — costume design, makeup and hairstyling\n\nWhere you can watch it: Available on demand\n\n'Promising Young Woman'\n\nNominations: 5 — picture, director (Emerald Fennell), actress (Carey Mulligan), original screenplay, film editing\n\nWhere you can watch it: Available on demand\n\n'Quo Vadis, Aida?'\n\nNominations: 1 — international feature film (Bosnia and Herzegovina)\n\nWhere you can watch it: Available on demand; also, streaming on Hulu\n\n'A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon'\n\nNominations: 1 — animated feature film\n\nWhere you can watch it: Streaming on Netflix\n\n'Soul'\n\nNominations: 3 — animated feature film, original score, sound\n\nWhere you can watch it: Streaming on Disney+\n\n'Sound of Metal'\n\nNominations: 6 — picture, actor (Riz Ahmed), supporting actor (Paul Raci), original screenplay, film editing, sound\n\nWhere you can watch it: Streaming on Amazon Prime\n\n'Tenet'\n\nNominations: 2 — production design, visual effects\n\nWhere you can watch it: Available on demand\n\n'Time'\n\nNominations: 1 — documentary feature\n\nWhere you can watch it: Streaming on Amazon Prime\n\n'The Trial of the Chicago Seven'\n\nNominations: 6 — picture, supporting actor (Sacha Baron Cohen), original song (\"Hear My Voice\"), original screenplay, cinematography, film editing\n\nWhere you can watch it: Streaming on Netflix\n\n'The United States vs. Billie Holiday'\n\nNominations: 1 — actress (Andra Day)\n\nWhere you can watch it: Streaming on Hulu\n\n'The White Tiger'\n\nNominations: 1 — adapted screenplay\n\nWhere you can watch it: Streaming on Netflix\n\n'Wolfwalkers'\n\nNominations: 1 — animated feature film\n\nWhere you can watch it: Streaming on Apple TV+\n\nContact Chris Foran at chris.foran@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @cforan12.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/03/15"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2015/10/09/film-composer-john-williams-awarded-afi-life-achievement-honor/73663350/", "title": "John Williams first composer to get AFI's highest honor", "text": "Maria Puente\n\nUSA TODAY\n\nThe American Film Institute is set to award multiple Oscar-winner John Williams with its highest honor — the 44th annual Life Achievement Award — and it's the first time it's going to a film-score composer.\n\nBut what a composer: He holds the record for the most Oscar nominations of any living person — 49 for films between 1968 and 2014.\n\nWilliams, 83, who has won five Oscars, will get the award next June at the AFI gala, which will air later on TV on TNT and on Turner Classic Movies.\n\nWilliams' five Academy Awards were awarded for Fiddler on the Roof (1972); Jaws (1976); Star Wars (1978); E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1983); and Schindler's List (1984).\n\nAnd by the way, his other awards for his music, including Emmys, Golden Globes, Grammys and BAFTAs, are too numerous to list, but he tops 150 credits across seven decades in film and television, AFI says.\n\n“John Williams has written the soundtrack to our lives,” said Sir Howard Stringer, chairman of the AFI board of trustees, in a statement.\n\n“Note by note, through chord and chorus, his genius for marrying music with movies has elevated the art form to symphonic levels and inspired generations of audiences to be enriched by the magic of the movies. AFI is proud to present him with its 44th Life Achievement Award.”\n\nA classically epic Williams score is unmistakable on first hearing; AFI says his music has \"helped define over half a century of the motion picture medium.\"\n\nThree of his scores are on 100 Years of Film Scores, AFI's list of the 25 greatest American film scores of all time, including the Star Wars soundtrack at number one.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2015/10/09"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/movies/2020/01/27/oscars-best-picture-could-go-any-these-films-1917-parasite/4556024002/", "title": "The biggest drama at the Oscars: Which one of these 5 movies will ...", "text": "Would a real Oscar front-runner please stand up?\n\nWith less than two weeks until the Academy Awards on Feb. 9 (ABC, 8 p.m. ET/5 PT), it has become painfully obvious who’s taking all the acting gold but not so much what’s going home with the big prize: best picture. This awards season has spread the love around, giving every major film contender a time to shine and every person in an Oscar pool a chance to chew on his or her nails.\n\nThrowing other wrenches into the works: Best picture is voted on through a preferential ballot, where academy members rank their choices rather than just pick one winner, plus a voting body that is slowly getting younger and more diverse every year.\n\nBest picture:15 films that didn't deserve the Oscar – and the ones that should have won instead\n\nOscar tally: Here are the films and actors leading the race\n\nWhile one movie hasn’t risen to rule them all quite yet, some have been left in the dust. The racing drama \"Ford v Ferrari\" may win some technical awards but that's it, the best chances for coming-of-age adaptation \"Little Women\" and divorce drama \"Marriage Story\" are in the screenplay categories, and the World War II satire \"Jojo Rabbit\" looms as a dark horse with key guild nominations but has yet to make a splash this season.\n\nHere are the five, though, with the right resumes to conquer the best-picture race on Oscar night:\n\n‘1917’\n\nThe closest thing to a favorite is director Sam Mendes’ World War I thriller, about two British soldiers (George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman) racing to deliver orders in time to save 1,600 fellow military men. The film has had big wins at the Directors Guild Awards and Producers Guild Awards, the latter a strong predictor for the Oscars: The PGA honoree has gone on to win best picture 21 out of 30 times, including the past two years with “The Shape of Water” and “Green Book.” Also in its favor is a Golden Globe victory for best drama and an impressive box office, scoring $104 million with only a few weeks of nationwide release. One troublesome statistic remains: “1917” doesn’t have an acting nomination, and only 11 films in Oscar history – most recently “Slumdog Millionaire” in 2009 – have won best picture without one.\n\n‘Parasite’\n\nThe Oscars have gone 91 years without awarding the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' highest honor to a foreign-language film, so history is not exactly on the side of South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho’s acclaimed black comedy about class and social inequality. There is real love in the industry for “Parasite,” however, evidenced by the crowd eruption when it snagged a surprise win for outstanding ensemble at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. With actors being the largest voting bloc in the academy, the victory – plus an honor for best drama given by the American Cinema Editors – gives “Parasite” momentum going forward, though like “1917,” it also has the problem of no Oscar acting nominations.\n\n‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’\n\nQuentin Tarantino’s star-packed Tinseltown fable – one that intertwines the lives of a washed-up actor (Leonardo DiCaprio), his steely stuntman (Brad Pitt) and the Manson Family – has been a favorite among movie lovers ever since its summer release. “Once Upon a Time” won best comedy at the Golden Globes and best picture at the Critics' Choice Awards, it’s a strong contender in the 10 Oscar categories where it’s nominated (Pitt’s pretty much a lock for supporting actor and Tarantino has a good shot at original screenplay), and the Academy Awards since their inception have always adored movies about Hollywood. This one has it right in the title.\n\n‘The Irishman’\n\nMartin Scorsese’s Netflix gangster epic came into Oscars like a heavyweight, but like “A Star Is Born” last year, is starting to look like an also-ran. The film, which tracks World War II veteran and Mob hitman Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro) over multiple bloody decades, received widespread critical acclaim but has lost out on every major honor so far. Still, don’t count out “The Irishman” yet: Crime dramas tend to do well at the Oscars (Scorsese’s “The Departed” marked his first and only best picture in 2007), Netflix put a lot of horses behind its campaign, everyone involved is a Hollywood favorite – not only Scorsese and De Niro, but also supporting-actor nominees Al Pacino and Joe Pesci – and it could benefit from the preferential ballot if it's the second or third choice for a majority of voters.\n\n‘Joker’\n\nOf course the Oscars’ biggest wild card is the one with the iconic comic-book supervillain. Joaquin Phoenix seems destined to win best actor for his unnerving transformation from mentally unstable outcast to face-painted nihilist in Todd Phillips’ psychological thriller origin story. The film's chances for best picture aren’t as good as in other categories – such as original score and hair/makeup – but “Joker” leads with the most Oscar nominations (11 total). Like \"Irishman,\" it might also be helped by the preferential ballot, plus the controversial \"Joker\" has made enough money ($334.6 million domestically, $1.1 billion worldwide) that it can’t be ignored.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2020/01/27"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/movies/2022/01/27/west-side-story-licorice-pizza-dune-earn-top-guild-nominations/9246946002/", "title": "'Licorice Pizza,' West Side Story,' 'Dune' score top guild nominations ...", "text": "AP Entertainment\n\nHopes that a few of last year's biggest box-office hits, \"Spider-Man: No Way Home\" and \"No Time to Die,\" might join the best picture Oscar race were dealt a blow on Thursday when several of Hollywood's top guilds announced their film nominations.\n\nThe Producers Guild nominations are considered one of the strongest predictors for what films are most likely to make the Academy Awards best-picture field. Both the PGA Awards (which will be be handed out March 19) and the film academy use a preferential voting ballot and choose 10 nominees, and their picks often closely overlap.\n\nThe 10 films up for the producers' top prize, the Darryl F. Zanuck Award, are: \"Being the Ricardos,\" \"Belfast,\" \"CODA,\" \"Don't Look Up,\" \"Dune,\" \"King Richard,\" \"Licorice Pizza,\" \"The Power of the Dog,\" \"tick, tick ... BOOM!\" and \"West Side Story.\"\n\nSAG Awards 2022:'House of Gucci,' 'The Power of the Dog' lead nominations with three each\n\nNot every PGA nominee always makes it to a best picture nomination, but in the past three years only one film (\"The Father,\" last year) joined the Oscar field after missing out with the PGA.\n\nThe producers, who have nominated films like \"The Dark Knight,\" \"Deadpool\" and \"Skyfall,\" are also more likely to nominate big-budget successes than the academy. So that the PGA overlooked \"No Time To Die\" and \"Spider-Man: No Way Home\" – both of which harbor outside Oscar hopes – suggests their chances are slim at the Academy Awards.\n\nWhile the producers nominated a number of starry, bigger-budget films in \"Dune\" (which sold the most tickets of the bunch) and \"West Side Story,\" five of the nominees came from streaming services: Netflix's \"The Power of the Dog,\" \"tick, tick ... BOOM!\" and \"Don't Look Up,\" Apple's \"CODA\" and Amazon Prime's \"Being the Ricardos.\" Warner Bros.' \"Dune\" and \"King Richard\" were also released simultaneously on HBO Max.\n\nLater Thursday, the Directors Guild followed up with their nominations for its March 12 ceremony. The nominees for the DGA Awards' top honor are: Paul Thomas Anderson (\"Licorice Pizza\"), Kenneth Branagh (\"Belfast\"), Jane Campion (\"The Power of the Dog\"), Steven Spielberg (\"West Side Story\") and Denis Villeneuve (\"Dune\").\n\nThose nominees not only give a snapshot of the most likely Oscar nominees for directing, but also suggest those five films are favorites for a best picture nomination. In the last decade, every DGA nominated film has scored a best-picture nod at the Academy Awards.\n\nCampion, a DGA nominee for 1993's \"The Piano,\" is only the second woman to be nominated twice for the guild's top award. It's Spielberg's 12th nomination from the Directors Guild, not including the lifetime achievement award he was given in 2000. He's won three times before.\n\nFour women were among the guild's nominees for best first feature for directing, a field that includes Maggie Gyllenhaal (\"The Lost Daughter\"), Rebecca Hall (\"Passing\"), Tatiana Huezo (\"Prayers for the Stolen\"), Lin-Manuel Miranda (\"Tick, Tick … BOOM!\"), Michael Sarnoski (\"Pig\") and Emma Seligman (\"Shiva Baby\").\n\nVoting for Oscar nominations began Thursday as the guild nominations were rolling in. That timing could be the guild awards could have a greater influence on this year's thus-far largely virtual awards season amid the pandemic. It's also a lengthier one, with the Oscars set for March 27. Nominations for the 94th Academy Awards will be announced Feb. 8.\n\nThe Writers Guild turned to many of the same films in their nominations Thursday.\n\nUp for best original screenplay at the WGA Awards (set for March 20) are: \"Being the Ricardos,\" \"Don't Look Up,\" \"The French Dispatch,\" \"King Richard\" and \"Licorice Pizza.\" The nominees for best adapted screenplay are: \"CODA,\" \"Dune,\" \"Nightmare Alley,\" \"tick, tick ... BOOM!\" and \"West Side Story.\"\n\nA handful of notable contenders weren't eligible for WGA Awards, including \"Belfast,\" \"The Power of the Dog\" and \"The Lost Daughter.\"", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/01/27"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2013/02/27/oscars-boost-adele-sales-shirley-bassey-profile/1951861/", "title": "Oscars boost Adele's 'Skyfall,' Shirley Bassey's fame", "text": "Edna Gundersen, USA TODAY\n\nAdele%27s James Bond theme sells 56%2C000 copies thanks to Oscar performance and trophy\n\nSurprise %27Goldfinger%27 performance by Shirley Bassey sets Twitterverse spinning\n\n%27Life of Pi%27 score enjoys best sales week to date\n\nThe Academy Awards show, known for delivering big returns at the box office, is also goosing record sales after this year's music-centric production.\n\nAdele, whose Skyfall won the Oscar for best original song, sold 56,000 downloads, up 56% from a week earlier, according to Nielsen SoundScan.\n\n\"Adele had a moment despite audio difficulties that had the band drowning her out through most of the song,\" says Keith Caulfield, Billboard's associate director of charts/retail.\n\nSkyfall is the first James Bond theme to win the prize and the first Billboard top 10 hit to win since Eminem's Lose Yourself in 2003. Her victory \"has a lot to do with the fact that it's Adele and the rule change loosening the reins on how nominees are determined (implemented) after last year's debacle.\" In 2012, only two songs competed in the category.\n\nSpikes this week are modest since the tally count ended Sunday, the night of the Oscars and the last day of SoundScan's tracking week. Greater gains may be reflected after a full week of sales in next week's data, but huge boosts are unlikely.\n\n\"Even though this was a music-focused production in some ways, the Academy Awards are about promoting films,\" Caulfield says. \"This might be it.\"\n\nThe surprise return of Shirley Bassey, who reprised the title track from the 1964 James Bond film Goldfinger, boosted sales of the song to 1,000 copies, up 310%. While her sales pale against Adele's, the Welsh singer, 76, stirred a bigger buzz.\n\nIt's better to measure her impact in social statistics,\" says Caulfield, noting that Topsy analytics reported 36,000 Bassey mentions on Twitter Sunday night versus 150 the day before.\n\n\"Who knows how many of those comments were 'Who is this broad?' but she got a lot of positive comments,\" Caulfield says. \"She really kicked the pants off that song. She was the one performer that the vast majority of viewers hadn't seen in a long time or weren't familiar with to start with.\"\n\nBarbra Streisand's 1974 hit The Way We Were, sung in a tribute to the late Marvin Hamlisch, sold 2,000 downloads.\n\nThe toast to recent musicals \"didn't move the needle very much,\" Caulfield says. \"You have to wonder why they did it. It's the second-most watched TV event of the year and you can't sell more than a handful of copies?\"\n\nAnne Hathaway's I Dreamed a Dream sold 8,000 copies, up 70%, a jump that may owe more to her film clip than the ensemble performance. Sales of the Les Miserables soundtrack fell. Jennifer Hudson's And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going, from Dreamgirls, sold 1,000. Catherine Zeta-Jones' lip-synced All that Jazz from Chicago registered \"negligible\" sales, meaning fewer than 500.\n\nThe Oscar-winning Life of Pi score had its best week to date, selling 1,000 copies, up 230%. Film scores are notoriously poor sellers.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2013/02/27"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2018/01/28/maze-runner-tops-weekend-box-office-oscar-pics-get-boost/109889502/", "title": "'Maze Runner' tops weekend box office, Oscar pics get boost", "text": "Associated Press\n\nMaze Runner: The Death Cure is the highest grossing film of the weekend, but according to studio estimates Sunday, many moviegoers also chose the first weekend after Oscar nominations to catch up with some awards contenders like The Shape of Water, which had its highest grossing frame with $5.7 million.\n\nIn first place, The Death Cure took in a higher-than-expected $23.5 million. It's the third and final installment in the Maze Runner series based on James Dashner's dystopian young adult novels and the weakest opening of the three. (The first opened to $32.5 million and the second to $30.3 million.) Part of that may be attributable to stalled momentum and a 2 ½-year gap between the second and third films. The Death Cure's release was delayed a year by 20th Century Fox after star Dylan O'Brien's on-set injury in early 2016.\n\nIt was still enough to push Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle back down to second place for the first time in three weeks. Down only 16%, Jumanji added $16.4 million, bringing its total to a robust $338.1 million.\n\n\"It was going to take a big franchise film to knock Jumanji off the top of the chart,\" said comScore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian.\n\nIn third place, the Christian Bale Western Hostiles expanded wide to 2,816 theaters in its sixth weekend and earned $10.2 million. The Hugh Jackman musical The Greatest Showman kept going strong in fourth with $9.5 million, down only 11% and now boasting a total of $126.5 million.\n\nMany audiences also took advantage of the added theater counts of many Oscar hopefuls following nominations Tuesday. Steven Spielberg's Pentagon Papers drama The Post, from 20th Century Fox, placed fifth in its third weekend in wide release with $8.9 million.\n\nGuillermo del Toro's fantasy romance The Shape of Water, which had a leading 13 nominations for Fox Searchlight, added 1,001 theaters, which put it back in the top 10 in its ninth weekend of release. The film's nominations include best picture, director, actress (Sally Hawkins), supporting actress (Octavia Spencer) and supporting actor (Richard Jenkins). It has grossed $37.7 million to date.\n\nFox Searchlight also added theaters for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, which scored seven Oscar nominations and earned $3.6 million over the weekend (an 88% boost). And Focus Features upped the theater count for Darkest Hour and Phantom Thread, which both took in $2.9 million after getting six nominations each.\n\n\"The Oscars offer the greatest marketing hook in the history of movies. These are films that would usually be played out,\" said Dergarabedian. \"For audiences, it's a validation. If anyone is on the fence, a best-picture nomination is a pretty good way to push people in the direction of the movie theater.\"\n\nWith six weeks until the Oscars, there is plenty of time to catch up on the best-picture nominees, but they won't be without competition — the third installment of the Fifty Shades of Grey franchise opens Feb. 9 and on Feb. 16 the highly anticipated Black Panther roars into theaters.\n\nEstimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to comScore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.\n\n1. Maze Runner: The Death Cure, $23.5 million\n\n2. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, $16.4 million\n\n3. Hostiles, $10.2 million\n\n4. The Greatest Showman, $9.5 million\n\n5. The Post, $8.9 million\n\n6. 12 Strong, $8.6 million\n\n7. Den of Thieves, $8.4 million\n\n8. The Shape of Water, $5.7 million\n\n9. Paddington 2, $5.6 million\n\n10. Star Wars: The Last Jedi, $4.2 million", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2018/01/28"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/26/media/netflix-movies-oscars-best-picture/index.html", "title": "Netflix has been trying to win best picture. This might finally be the ...", "text": "New York CNN Business —\n\nNetflix has accomplished a lot in Hollywood: It’s partnered with notable filmmakers, produced buzzy hit films and launched the streaming craze that revolutionized the industry.\n\nYet there’s one coveted Tinseltown accolade Netflix (NFLX) hasn’t received: the Academy Award for best picture.\n\nThat could change this weekend. Netflix’s film “The Power of the Dog” is among the frontrunners to take home the Oscars’ biggest prize on Sunday night. It would be the first streaming service to win the category.\n\nCritics have hailed “Dog,” a western starring Benedict Cumberbatch and directed by Jane Campion, as one of the year’s best films. It’s earned a 94% score on review site Rotten Tomatoes, is most nominated film at this weekend’s Academy Awards and has swept much of the awards circuit in winning major accolades at the BAFTAs, the Director’s Guild of America and the Golden Globes.\n\nThat’s good news for Netflix, which has tried — and failed — to win best picture for years.\n\nThe power of winning best picture\n\nCan \"The Power of the Dog\" finally win Best Picture for Netflix? Kirsty Griffin/Netflix\n\nNetflix scored its first best picture nomination with “Roma” in 2019. The following year it received two best picture nominations with “The Irishman” and “Marriage Story” and another for “Mank” in 2021.\n\nGetting that type of respect from the Academy typically doesn’t come cheap. The Los Angeles Times reported that Netflix spent at least $70 million in 2020 to promote its films to Academy voters. That money likely helped the company pick up a few Oscars that year, but not the coveted top prize.\n\nAnd for Netflix, it does matter. The Oscars may be losing their luster with the general public given that its ratings recently hit record lows, but the show still carries a lot of prestige in Hollywood. A best picture win could serve both as a marketing tool and as an enticement for top talent.\n\n“As the tech outsider this gives them the ultimate form of acceptance inside Hollywood,” Zak Shaikh, vice president of programming at research-based media firm Magid, told CNN Business. “To win best picture says they are a legitimate movie studio.”\n\nApple could ruin the party\n\nCould Apple's \"CODA\" take the spotlight from Netflix this weekend? Apple TV+\n\nStill, “The Power of the Dog” isn’t a shoo-in. And unfortunately for Netflix, another streaming rival could steal the spotlight this weekend: Apple (AAPL).\n\nThe Apple TV+ film “CODA,” about a girl taking care of her deaf parents, won the big prizes at the Screen Actors Guild and the Producers Guild of America awards.\n\nAt the Oscars, “Dog” received 12 nominations overall, compared to just three for “CODA.” But Gold Derby, a website that sets Oscars odds, currently has the two films in a dead heat.\n\nA best picture win would be a nice marketing story for Netflix, but it’s not a must-have. The company has already changed the industry, and while some of the old Hollywood types may never fully embrace a streaming service, it’s certainly no longer an outsider.\n\n“Their films have won Oscars, which is big progress,” Tim Gray, a senior VP and awards editor at Variety, told CNN Business. “Netflix is so gigantic… It’s not like they need a best picture.”", "authors": ["Frank Pallotta"], "publish_date": "2022/03/26"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/08/entertainment/oscar-nominations-list-2022/index.html", "title": "Oscar nominations 2022: Full list of nominees | CNN", "text": "CNN —\n\nThe nominations for the 94th Academy Awards were announced Tuesday and included films in a wide range of genres.\n\n“The Power of the Dog” led among nominated films with 12 nods. The drama’s director, Jane Campion, made history by becoming the first woman to be nominated more than once for best director. (Her previous nod was for “The Piano.”)\n\nFellow directing nominee Steven Spielberg also set a new record. As producer of “West Side Story,” which earned a total of seven nominations, Spielberg has now produced 11 films nominated for best picture, a new record for the Oscars.\n\nDenzel Washington extended the record he already holds as the most nominated Black actor, earning his tenth Oscar nomination for his performance in “The Tragedy of Macbeth.” (One of his nominations was for producing.)\n\nThe Academy Awards are set to take place on Sunday, March 27. See below for a full list of nominees.\n\nBEST PICTURE\n\n“Belfast”\n\n“CODA”\n\n“Don’t Look Up”\n\n“Drive My Car”\n\n“Dune”\n\n“King Richard”\n\n“Licorice Pizza”\n\n“Nightmare Alley”\n\n“The Power of the Dog”\n\n“West Side Story”\n\nACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE\n\nJessie Buckley, “The Lost Daughter”\n\nAriana DeBose, “West Side Story”\n\nJudi Dench, “Belfast”\n\nKirsten Dunst, “The Power of the Dog”\n\nAunjanue Ellis, “King Richard”\n\nACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE\n\nCiaran Hinds, “Belfast”\n\nTroy Kotsur, “CODA”\n\nJesse Plemons, “The Power of the Dog”\n\nJ.K. Simmons, “Being the Ricardos”\n\nKodi Smit-McPhee, “The Power of the Dog”\n\nINTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM\n\n“Drive My Car”\n\n“Flee”\n\n“The Hand of God”\n\n“Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom”\n\n“The Worst Person in the World”\n\nDOCUMENTARY (SHORT)\n\n“Audible”\n\n“Lead Me Home”\n\n“The Queen of Basketball”\n\n“Three Songs for Benazir”\n\n“When We Were Bullies”\n\nDOCUMENTARY FEATURE\n\n“Ascension”\n\n“Attica”\n\n“Flee”\n\n“Summer of Soul”\n\nWriting with Fire”\n\nORIGINAL SONG\n\n“King Richard”\n\n“Encanto”\n\n“Belfast”\n\n“No Time to Die”\n\n“Four Good Days”\n\nANIMATED FEATURE FILM\n\n“Encanto”\n\n“Flee”\n\n“Luca”\n\n“The Mitchells vs. The Machine”\n\n“Raya and the Last Dragon”\n\nADAPTED SCREENPLAY\n\n“CODA”\n\n“Drive My Car”\n\n“Dune”\n\n“The Lost Daughter”\n\n“The Power of the Dog”\n\nORIGINAL SCREENPLAY\n\n“Belfast”\n\n“Don’t Look Up”\n\n“King Richard”\n\n“Licorice Pizza”\n\n“The Worst Person in the World”\n\nACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE\n\nJavier Bardem, “Being the Ricardos”\n\nBenedict Cumberbatch, “The Power of the Dog”\n\nAndrew Garfield, “Tick, Tick… Boom!”\n\nWill Smith, “King Richard”\n\nDenzel Washington, “The Tragedy of Macbeth”\n\nACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE\n\nJessica Chastain, “The Eyes of Tammy Faye”\n\nOlivia Colman, “The Lost Daughter”\n\nPenelope Cruz, “Parallel Mothers”\n\nNicole Kidman, “Being the Ricardos”\n\nKristen Stewart, “Spencer”\n\nDIRECTOR\n\nKenneth Branagh, “Belfast”\n\nRyusuke Hamaguchi, “Drive My Car”\n\nPaul Thomas Anderson, “Licorice Pizza”\n\nJane Campion, “The Power of the Dog”\n\nSteven Spielberg, “West Side Story”\n\nPRODUCTION DESIGN\n\n“Dune”\n\n“Nightmare Alley”\n\n“The Power of the Dog”\n\n“The Tragedy of Macbeth”\n\n“West Side Story”\n\nCINEMATOGRAPHY\n\n“Dune”\n\n“Nightmare Alley”\n\n“The Power of the Dog”\n\n“The Tragedy of Macbeth”\n\n“West Side Story”\n\nCOSTUME DESIGN\n\n“Cruella”\n\n“Cyrano”\n\n“Dune”\n\n“Nightmare Alley”\n\n“Westside Story”\n\nACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND\n\n“Belfast”\n\n“Dune”\n\n“No Time to Die”\n\n“The Power of the Dog”\n\n“Westside Story”\n\nANIMATED SHORT FILE\n\n“Affairs of the Art”\n\n“Bestia”\n\n“Boxballet”\n\n“Robin Robin”\n\n“The Windshield Wiper”\n\nLIVE ACTION SHORT FILM\n\n“Ala Kachuu — Take and Run”\n\n“The Dress”\n\n“The Long Goodbye”\n\n“On My Mind”\n\n“Please Hold”\n\nORIGINAL SCORE\n\n“Don’t Look Up”\n\n“Dune”\n\n“Encanto”\n\n“Parallel Mothers”\n\n“The Power of the Dog”\n\nVISUAL EFFECTS\n\n“Dune”\n\n“Free Guy”\n\n“No Time to Die”\n\n“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”\n\n“Spider-Man: No Way Home”\n\nFILM EDITING\n\n“Don’t Look Up”\n\n“Dune”\n\n“King Richard”\n\n“The Power of the Dog”\n\n“Tick, Tick… Boom!”\n\nMAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING\n\n“Coming 2 America”\n\n“Cruella”\n\n“Dune”\n\n“The Eyes of Tammy Faye”\n\n“House of Gucci”", "authors": ["Lisa Respers France"], "publish_date": "2022/02/08"}]}
{"question_id": "20230127_2", "search_time": "2023/01/28/05:14", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/taxes/2022/04/15/irs-tax-deadline-april-18/7300524001/", "title": "IRS tax return deadline is Monday. What to know about extensions ...", "text": "Have you filed your taxes yet?\n\nIf you haven’t already or filed for an extension, time is not on your side.\n\nBetween the Easter egg hunts and holiday festivities, you might need to itemize your deductions and calculate your refund – or what you owe.\n\nTax season ends the earliest it has since 2019 with the Internal Revenue Service‘s tax return deadline April 18 for most states. In 2020, the deadline was in July and last year’s extension was mid-May.\n\nThe IRS started accepting and processing2021 tax returns Jan. 24, 17 days earlier than last tax season’s start of Feb. 12.\n\nTAX DAY LIVE UPDATES: What you need to know as taxes for 2022 are due\n\n2022 TAX GUIDE:Key dates for filing and extensions, claiming credits and planning for refunds\n\nREVIEWED TIPS:Reviewed's guide to filing taxes in 2022\n\nThe IRS has received nearly 42 million e-filed returns that were self-prepared through April 1 – and 45.9 million returns filed by tax professionals.\n\nThe total number of returns the IRS received hit nearly 91.3 million through April 1 – down 2.1% from a year ago.\n\nThis tax season, there are key differences in how jobless benefits will be treated compared with the 2020 returns. You'll also need to account for advance Child Tax Credit payments, the return of the Recovery Rebate Credit, and a special break for charitable contributions among other things.\n\nBecause of the credits, tax refunds are averaging $3,226 so far this tax season. That's 11.5% higher than last year, according to data from the IRS.\n\nAs you finish up your return and await the refund, here are a few things to keep in mind:\n\nTax rules changed by COVID relief\n\nPandemic-related relief changed many rules for 2021 tax returns. On 2021 returns, there's no longer an age cap or ceiling set at 64 or younger for workers to qualify for the earned income tax credit. It's a one-time-only deal, but the AARP is pushing to extend the tax break for older workers beyond 2021 tax returns.\n\nThe earned income credit (also called EITC or EIC) has been expanded so that the credit can apply on 2021 federal returns to workers who are 65 or older, even if they do not have dependent children, thanks to the American Rescue Plan passed last year.\n\nIt now also applies to childless workers from age 19 to 24 who are not half-time or full-time students and are claimed as dependents on their parents' tax return.\n\nBIGGER REFUNDS:2022 taxes: Refunds are higher thanks to Child Tax Credit, third stimulus check\n\nLast day to file taxes in 2022? Has the tax deadline been extended?\n\nThe deadline to file 2021 income tax returns is Monday, April 18, for most people, three days later than the normal April 15 deadline for filing taxes.\n\nThe later date is a result of the Emancipation holiday in the District of Columbia. By law, Washington, D.C., holidays affect tax deadlines for everyone the same way federal holidays do. Taxpayers who live in Maine or Massachusetts have until April 19 to file because of the Patriots' Day holiday celebrated in those states.\n\nThe IRS has extended the deadline until May 16 for victims of the late 2021 Colorado wildfires as well as for victims of the December tornadoes in parts of Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee. The extension applies to various individual and business tax returns and tax payments deadlines.\n\nTAX SEASON 2022:When are tax returns due? These are the deadlines to file\n\nTAX DAY 2022:Why is Tax Day on April 18? You can thank this DC holiday\n\nWhere to mail federal tax return? IRS mailing addresses vary.\n\nThe address depends on what state you live in and whether you are mailing a payment. Find the list of IRS mailing addresses here.\n\nWhat does the cryptocurrency question on 1040 tax form mean?\n\nA question is now listed on the front of the 1040 form about cryptocurrency: \"At any time during 2021, did you receive, sell, exchange, or otherwise dispose of any financial interest in any virtual currency?”\n\nThose who engaged in a transaction involving virtual currency in 2021 must respond \"yes\" to a question, also found on Form 1040-SR.\n\n\"Do not leave this field blank,\" according to an IRS alert called \"What's New\" in the instruction booklet for the current tax season.\n\n\"The question must be answered by all taxpayers, not just taxpayers who engaged in a transaction involving virtual currency.\"\n\nCRYPTO TAXES:Not as easy to hide from as you'd imagine\n\nFastest way to get a refund?\n\nThe IRS advises filing taxes electronically and having the refund direct deposited into a financial account. The IRS says refunds can be deposited directly into bank accounts, prepaid debit cards or mobile apps as long as a routing and account number is provided, the IRS said.\n\n2022 TAX ADVICE: How to get child tax credit cash, charitable deductions and free help\n\nSAVE BETTER, SPEND BETTER: Money tips and advice delivered right to your inbox. Sign up here\n\nWhat is the 2022 tax extension deadline? You'll need IRS 4868 form.\n\nApril 18 also is the deadline for requesting a tax extension, which gives taxpayers until Oct. 17 to file their returns for 2021. However, there is no extension on payments so if you think you will owe money, it is recommended that you send a payment by April 18 to avoid interest and other penalties.\n\nThe IRS estimates that 15.2 million taxpayers will file for an extension, which is Form 4868, in 2022. Nearly 11.6 million taxpayers filed Form 4868 in 2020, based on the most recent data; and an estimated 13.56 million filed for an extension in 2021.\n\nTAX EXTENSION:Not ready for the April 18 tax deadline? Here's how to file an extension.\n\nWhat happens if you file taxes late?\n\nIf you are getting a refund, there is no penalty, according to H&R Block. Then again, not getting your money from the IRS might be punishment enough.\n\nIf you owe the IRS, the penalties kick in. TurboTax says penalties can reach 5% of the amount owed for each month you are late. The maximum amount taxpayers can be penalized is 25% of the amount due, according to TurboTax.\n\nTAX SEASON CHALLENGES:The IRS is 'buried' in paper after 'most challenging' year for taxpayers. Why it matters for 2022 tax season.\n\nSTOLE SOMETHING? IRS says stolen property and bribes must be reported as income\n\nCan you still get the child tax credit, stimulus money after the tax deadline?\n\nYes, even if you don't file taxes by the deadline or don't owe taxes, April 18 is not the last chance to claim child tax credits or the earned income tax credit. These credits can be claimed by filing a return by Oct. 17.\n\nFree tax filing: Who qualifies to use IRS Free File?\n\nIf your adjusted gross income was $73,000 or less in 2021, you can use free tax software to prepare and electronically file your tax return, according to IRS instructions online for the 2021 tax season.\n\nTaxpayers who earned more can use Free File Fillable Forms, the electronic version of the federal tax forms, to file their tax returns online. Go to IRS.gov to learn more.\n\nThe IRS said all taxpayers can use Free File to file an extension.\n\nTAX RULES:New rules for 2021 taxes may mean bigger refund for young workers, retirees with side jobs\n\nBONUSES AND REFUNDS:Did you get a sign-on bonus in 2021? You may be eligible for a big tax refund\n\nHow long does it take to get a tax refund?\n\nThe IRS anticipates most taxpayers will receive refunds, as in past years. Most should receive them within 21 days of when they file electronically if they choose direct deposit (and there are no problems with their returns). Last year's average federal refund was more than $2,800.\n\nThe IRS says many factors can affect the timing of a refund after the IRS receives a return electronically. A manual review may be necessary when a return has errors, is incomplete or is affected by identity theft or fraud.\n\nFLAT TAX RATES EXPLAINED:States' 'flat tax' mania: Better for taxpayers or another gift to billionaires?\n\nTAX APPS:Taxes: How much can you expect to pay to file online this year? What's a simple return? Get answers.\n\nTrack tax refund with IRS 'Where's My Refund' tool?\n\nYes, the IRS says using \"Where’s My Refund?\" on IRS.gov/refunds and the IRS2Go mobile app are the best ways to check the status of a refund. You can check the status within 24 hours after submitting an e-file return or four weeks after you’ve mailed a paper return.\n\nTAX SOFTWARE SAVINGS:Shop these TurboTax deals on Amazon and make doing your taxes a little easier\n\nStimulus checks? Maybe through Recovery Rebate Credit\n\nSome people might want to file returns – even though they're not required to do so – to claim a Recovery Rebate Credit or the 2021 stimulus payments.\n\nAccording to the IRS, individuals who didn't qualify for a third Economic Impact Payment or got less than the full amount may be eligible to claim the Recovery Rebate Credit. For those who got some money, the IRS says you’ll need to know the total received to calculate the correct rebate credit and avoid processing delays.\n\nThe IRS started mailing Letter 6475 in late January with the total amount of the third Economic Impact Payment received. Economic impact payment amounts also can be viewed on IRS online accounts.\n\nWhat to look for with Child Tax Credit payments?\n\nIn January, the IRS advised families to hold off filing taxes until they received IRS letter 6419, which can help them file an accurate return and avoid delays. However, some taxpayers received letters with inaccurate amounts. Before filing taxes, review your records and check the information at the IRS \"Child Tax Credit Update Portal Site\" at IRS.gov/ctcportal.\n\nDON'T THROW THIS IRS DOCUMENT AWAY:Why IRS Letter 6419 is critical to filing your 2021 taxes and the child tax credit.\n\nTAX SEASON GLITCH:First glitch of the tax season is here: That IRS child tax credit letter may be inaccurate\n\nUnemployment benefits with a tax break in 2022?\n\nTaxpayers got a surprise tax break on unemployment benefits received only in 2020, as part of a $1.9 trillion stimulus package signed into law in March 2021.\n\nAs part of the American Rescue Plan, many taxpayers were no longer required to pay taxes on up to $10,200 in unemployment benefits received in 2020. The exclusion was up to $10,200 of jobless benefits for each spouse for married couples filing jointly.\n\nBut jobless benefits received in 2021 will be taxable on the 2021 federal income tax return.\n\nUNEMPLOYMENT INCOME TAXABLE:Don't forget: Jobless benefits are taxable on 2021 tax returns\n\nContributing: Brett Molina and Elisabeth Buchwald, USA TODAY; Susan Tompor, Detroit Free Press; Russ Wiles, Arizona Republic; Associated Press\n\nFollow USA TODAY reporter Kelly Tyko on Twitter: @KellyTyko. For shopping news, tips and deals, join us on our Shopping Ninjas Facebook group.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/04/15"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/24/success/tax-season-filing-returns-issues-irs-feseries/index.html", "title": "The 2021 tax filing season has begun. Here's what you need to ...", "text": "Editor’s Note: This is an updated version of an earlier article.\n\nThe federal tax filing season has begun. And it’s going to be tough sledding for the IRS – and for some tax filers – given the millions of returns from last year that still have to be processed, staffing issues due to Covid-19 and a lack of needed funding for the agency.\n\nDespite that, there are still ways to help ensure your tax filing experience is hassle-free and you get your refund within the typical 21-day window after the IRS accepts your return.\n\nThis requires three critical steps on your part. “File electronically. File accurately. And request direct deposit for your refund,” IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig said Monday in a press call. “If there’s a problem with your return it can create an extensive delay.”\n\nAs you aim for accuracy, keep in mind the many tax-related variables from last year – such as receiving a third stimulus payment or advanced payments of the expanded child tax credit.\n\nHere’s what you need to know about filing your 2021 taxes this year:\n\nThe filing deadline\n\nThe tax filing deadline this year is Monday, April 18. That’s the day by which you must have filed your 2021 individual return and paid any remaining federal income taxes owed for last year.\n\nNormally, the tax-filing deadline is April 15, but this year that is when Emancipation Day will be observed in Washington, DC. In two states - Massachusetts and Maine – the federal filing deadline will be April 19 due to the observation of Patriots Day on the 18th.\n\nThe federal filing deadline will be extended for anyone who files for an automatic 6-month extension. (Note: you will only be granted an extension to file your return. But you will not be given an extension to pay what you owe.)\n\nIn addition, the tax filing and payment deadlines will be extended for anyone living in counties declared federal disaster areas due to recent natural calamities.\n\nThese include tornado and storm victims in Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee, as well as wildfire victims in Colorado. They will have until May 16, 2022, to file various individual and business tax returns and make their payments. (This IRS page offers a complete listing of who is granted disaster-related tax extensions.)\n\nThose affected taxpayers also will have until May 16 to make 2021 IRA contributions. Everyone else must make their 2021 IRA contributions no later than April 18.\n\nDon’t be surprised by delays\n\nWhile every tax season is busy for the IRS, pandemic-induced backlogs from the past two years coupled with limited funding will make the current tax season even more so.\n\nTreasury officials said in a briefing call Monday that at the start of a normal tax season, the IRS might have 1 million returns backlogged, but the number this year is “several times more.”\n\nLast week, IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig noted that return processing and tax assistance delays arose as the agency was administering several Covid-19 relief efforts passed by Congress. Those included issuing three rounds of Economic Impact Payments, creating a system to send out advance monthly payments of the Child Tax Credit and making changes to the Earned Income Tax Credit.\n\nOne example: Last year, the agency was unable to answer more than two-thirds of the calls it received. That’s why tax filers are encouraged to first use the online tools provided on IRS.gov to get answers to their questions before reaching out to the agency directly.\n\nThis year is likely to be just as frustrating. That’s why tax filers are encouraged to first use the online tools provided on IRS.gov to get answers to their questions before reaching out to the agency directly.\n\n“Expect phones lines to be jammed up for the forseeable future,” Rettig said.\n\nBe on the lookout for IRS letters\n\nIf you received advanced payments last year for the recently expanded child tax credit or you got a third stimulus payment (a.k.a. Economic Impact Payment) last spring from the IRS, be on the lookout for a letter pertaining to each from the agency.\n\nIt made advanced monthly payments on the child tax credit from July through December. So you may already have received about half of your credit and can claim the other half on your 2021 return.\n\nTo help with that calculation, the IRS will send you Letter 6419 for the child tax credit advanced payments, which you should use to reconcile how much more you are due on your return.\n\nSimilarly, you will receive Letter 6475 for the stimulus payment detailing the amount you’ve received and can use that to reconcile the amount you are due on your return.\n\nIf you have questions or concerns about the amount reported in your letter, create or check your existing online tax account at IRS.gov, which should have the latest number on record with the agency, Corbin said.\n\nHow to ensure you get your refund as quickly as possible\n\nThe majority of tax filers are typically owed a refund.\n\nTreasury officials noted that the IRS is likely to deliver your refund within 21 days of receipt – its typical turnaround time – but only if you fill out your return accurately and completely, file it electronically and opt to have your refund delivered through direct deposit.\n\nFor anyone expecting a refund due to the Earned Income Tax Credit or Additional Child Tax Credit, the IRS is prohibited by law from issuing it before mid-February in order to give the agency time to stop fraudulent refunds from going out. But affected filers may still file their returns beginning on January 24.\n\nCorbin noted that due to holidays, weekends and bank processing time, filers expecting refunds due to the EITC and ACTC should expect to see them starting in early March.", "authors": ["Jeanne Sahadi"], "publish_date": "2022/01/24"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/taxes/2022/03/25/irs-tax-refund-status/7155684001/", "title": "When are taxes due in 2022 and where is my tax refund? What you ...", "text": "Time is running out to file your taxes.\n\nTax season is in its final weeks with the Internal Revenue Service‘s deadline April 18 for most states. It’s the earliest deadline since 2019 after extensions over the last two years amid the pandemic.\n\nThe IRS started accepting and processing2021 tax returns Jan. 24, 17 days earlier than last tax season’s late start of Feb. 12.\n\n(If you have any tax questions, feel free to fill out this form, which also is below. USA TODAY will be answering top reader questions as we go through the 2022 tax season.)\n\nThis tax season, there are key differences in how jobless benefits will be treated compared with the 2020 returns. You'll also need to account for advance Child Tax Credit payments, the return of the Recovery Rebate Credit, and a special break for charitable contributions among other things.\n\nAs you get started putting together your returns, here are a few things to keep in mind:\n\nTAX GUIDE:Reviewed's guide to filing taxes in 2022\n\nSTIMULUS MONEY:New parents, college grads get extra refund cash when they claim recovery rebate credit\n\nHow did COVID relief change tax rules?\n\nPandemic-related relief changed many rules for 2021 tax returns. On 2021 returns, there's no longer an age cap or ceiling set at 64 or younger for workers to qualify for the earned income tax credit. It's a one-time-only deal, but the AARP is pushing to extend the tax break for older workers beyond 2021 tax returns.\n\nThe earned income credit (also called EITC or EIC) has been expanded so that the credit can apply on 2021 federal returns to workers who are 65 or older, even if they do not have dependent children, thanks to the American Rescue Plan passed last year.\n\nIt now also applies to childless workers from age 19 to 24 who are not half-time or full-time students and are claimed as dependents on their parents' tax return.\n\nTAX DEDUCTIONS:Self-employed tax deductions: You may qualify for tax write-offs for starting a business\n\n2022 TAX SEASON:How deductions, exemptions during the 2022 tax season could worsen inflation's bite\n\nWhat does the new cryptocurrency question on 1040 tax form mean?\n\nA question is now listed on the front of the 1040 form, right above the section for providing information on dependents about cryptocurrency. The IRS asks: \"At any time during 2021, did you receive, sell, exchange, or otherwise dispose of any financial interest in any virtual currency?”\n\nThose who engaged in a transaction involving virtual currency in 2021 must say \"yes\" to a question on Page 1 of Form 1040 or Form 1040-SR.\n\n\"Do not leave this field blank,\" according to an IRS alert called \"What's New\" in the instruction booklet for the current tax season.\n\n\"The question must be answered by all taxpayers, not just taxpayers who engaged in a transaction involving virtual currency.\"\n\nCRYPTO TAXES:Not as easy to hide from as you'd imagine\n\nWhat is the fastest way to get a refund?\n\nThe IRS advises filing taxes electronically and having the refund direct deposited into a financial account. The IRS says refunds can be deposited directly into bank accounts, prepaid debit cards or mobile apps as long as a routing and account number is provided, the IRS said.\n\n2022 TAX ADVICE: How to get child tax credit cash, charitable deductions and free help\n\nSAVE BETTER, SPEND BETTER: Money tips and advice delivered right to your inbox. Sign up here\n\nWhat is the last day to file taxes in 2022? Has the tax deadline been extended?\n\nThe deadline to file 2021 income tax returns is Monday, April 18, for most people, three days later than the normal April 15 deadline for filing taxes.\n\nThe later date is a result of the Emancipation holiday in the District of Columbia. By law, Washington, D.C., holidays affect tax deadlines for everyone the same way federal holidays do. Taxpayers who live in Maine or Massachusetts have until April 19 to file because of a holiday celebrated in those states, Patriots' Day.\n\nThe IRS has extended the deadline until May 16 for victims of the late 2021 Colorado wildfires as well as victims of the December tornadoes in parts of Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee. The extension applies to various individual and business tax returns and tax payments deadlines.\n\nTAX RULES:New rules for 2021 taxes may mean bigger refund for young workers, retirees with side jobs\n\nBONUSES AND REFUNDS:Did you get a sign-on bonus in 2021? You may be eligible for a big tax refund\n\nWhat is the tax extension deadline?\n\nApril 18 also is the deadline for requesting an extension, which gives taxpayers until Oct. 17 to file their returns for 2021.\n\nTAX SEASON CHALLENGES:The IRS is 'buried' in paper after 'most challenging' year for taxpayers. Why it matters for 2022 tax season.\n\nSTOLE SOMETHING? IRS says stolen property and bribes must be reported as income\n\nFree tax filing 2022: Who qualifies to use IRS Free File?\n\nIf your adjusted gross income was $73,000 or less in 2021, you can use free tax software to prepare and electronically file your tax return, according to IRS instructions online for the 2021 tax season.\n\nTaxpayers who earned more can use Free File Fillable Forms, the electronic version of the federal tax forms, to file their tax returns online. Go to IRS.gov to learn more.\n\nHow long does it take to get a tax refund in 2022?\n\nThe IRS anticipates most taxpayers will receive refunds, as in past years. Most should receive them within 21 days of when they file electronically if they choose direct deposit (and there are no problems with their returns). Last year's average federal refund was more than $2,800.\n\nThe IRS says many different factors can affect the timing of a refund after the IRS receives a return electronically. A manual review may be necessary when a return has errors, is incomplete or is affected by identity theft or fraud.\n\nIs the best way to track tax refund with IRS 'Where's My Refund' tool?\n\nYes, the IRS says using \"Where’s My Refund?\" on IRS.gov/refunds and the IRS2Go mobile app are the best ways to check the status of a refund. You can check the status within 24 hours after we’ve received your e-file return or four weeks after you’ve mailed a paper return.\n\nTAX SOFTWARE SAVINGS:Shop these TurboTax deals on Amazon and make doing your taxes a little easier\n\nStimulus checks for 2022? Maybe through Recovery Rebate Credit.\n\nSome people might want to file returns even though they're not required to do so to claim a Recovery Rebate Credit or the 2021 stimulus payments.\n\nAccording to the IRS, individuals who didn't qualify for a third Economic Impact Payment or got less than the full amount may be eligible to claim the Recovery Rebate Credit. For those who got some money, the IRS says you’ll need to know the total received to calculate the correct rebate credit to avoid processing delays.\n\nThe IRS started sending Letter 6475 in late January with the total amount of the third Economic Impact Payment received. Economic impact payment amounts also can be viewed on IRS online accounts.\n\nChild Tax Credit payments: Look for IRS letter 6419 before filing taxes\n\nIn January, the IRS advised families to hold off filing taxes until they received IRS letter 6419, which can help them file an accurate return and avoid delays. However, some taxpayers received letters with inaccurate amounts. Before filing taxes, review your records and check their specific information at the IRS \"Child Tax Credit Update Portal Site\" at IRS.gov/ctcportal.\n\nDON'T THROW THIS IRS DOCUMENT AWAY:Why IRS Letter 6419 is critical to filing your 2021 taxes and the child tax credit.\n\nTAX SEASON GLITCH:First glitch of the tax season is here: That IRS child tax credit letter may be inaccurate\n\nWill unemployment benefits come with a tax break in 2022?\n\nTaxpayers got a surprising tax break relating to unemployment benefits received in 2020 only, as part of a $1.9 trillion stimulus package, which was signed into law in March 2021.\n\nAs part of the American Rescue Plan, many taxpayers were no longer required to pay taxes on up to $10,200 in unemployment benefits received in 2020. The exclusion was up to $10,200 of jobless benefits for each spouse for married couples.\n\nBut this year, jobless benefits received in 2021 will be taxable on the 2021 federal income tax return.\n\nUNEMPLOYMENT INCOME TAXABLE:Don't forget: Jobless benefits are taxable on 2021 tax returns\n\nContributing: Elisabeth Buchwald, USA TODAY; Susan Tompor, Detroit Free Press; Russ Wiles, Arizona Republic; Associated Press\n\nFollow USA TODAY reporter Kelly Tyko on Twitter: @KellyTyko. For shopping news, tips and deals, join us on our Shopping Ninjas Facebook group.\n\nHave tax questions? Ask USA TODAY\n\nThe USA TODAY Money & Consumer team is looking to craft stories that reflect you, and your financial interests and concerns. Share your questions about taxes on the form below. If you don't see a form, click here.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/03/25"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2022/01/24/irs-tax-season-2022-start-date/6607276001/", "title": "Tax season 2022: IRS now accepting tax returns. What to know ...", "text": "Tax season 2022 has arrived.\n\nThe Internal Revenue Service starts accepting and processing 2021 tax returns Monday, Jan. 24, 17 days earlier than last tax season’s late start of Feb. 12.\n\nHowever, you might not have everything you need in order to file yet.\n\n(If you have any tax questions, feel free to fill out this form, which also is below. USA TODAY will be answering top reader questions as we go through the 2022 tax season.)\n\nThis tax season, you'll need to be aware of some key issues: There will be differences in how jobless benefits will be treated compared with the 2020 returns. You'll also need to account for advance Child Tax Credit payments, the return of the Recovery Rebate Credit, and a special break for charitable contributions among other things.\n\nFED FACES KEY DECISIONS:The central bank considers interest rate hikes, and any missteps could tip the economy into recession\n\n2022 TAX ADVICE: How to get child tax credit cash, charitable deductions and free help\n\nAs you get started putting together your returns, here are a few things to keep in mind:\n\nWill there be tax delays due to COVID?\n\nThe IRS is warning that a resurgence of COVID-19 infections on top of less funding authorization from Congress than the Biden administration had requested could make this filing season particularly challenging.\n\n“The pandemic continues to create challenges, but the IRS reminds people there are important steps they can take to help ensure their tax return and refund don't face processing delays,” IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig said.\n\nAvoiding a paper tax return will be more important than ever this year to avert processing delays, he said.\n\nTAX SEASON CHALLENGES:The IRS is 'buried' in paper after 'most challenging' year for taxpayers. Why it matters for 2022 tax season.\n\nSTOLE SOMETHING?:IRS says stolen property and bribes must be reported as income\n\nWhat is the fastest way to get a refund?\n\nRettig urged taxpayers to file their tax returns electronically and to get their refunds by direct deposit. The IRS says refunds can be directly deposited into bank accounts, prepaid debit cards or mobile apps as long as a routing and account number is provided, the IRS said.\n\nWhen should I receive my 2021 W-2 by?\n\nW-2's are due to be mailed no later than Jan. 31. According to the IRS, a 2015 law made it a permanent requirement that employers file copies of their Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statements, and Form W-3, Transmittal of Wage and Tax Statements, with the Social Security Administration by Jan. 31.\n\nFREE KRISPY KREME DONUTS:Krispy Kreme giving away donuts for those who donate blood to help Red Cross with blood shortage\n\nFREE COVID TEST KITS:How do you get free COVID tests from the government? You can order online or with new hotline.\n\nWhen is the tax filing deadline in 2022?\n\nThe deadline to file 2021 income tax returns is Monday, April 18, for most people, three days later than the normal April 15 deadline for filing taxes.\n\nThe later date is a result of the Emancipation holiday in the District of Columbia. By law, Washington, D.C., holidays affect tax deadlines for everyone the same way federal holidays do. Taxpayers who live in Maine or Massachusetts have until April 19 to file because of a holiday celebrated in those states, Patriots' Day.\n\nThe IRS has extended the deadline until May 16 for victims of the late 2021 Colorado wildfires as well as victims of the December tornadoes in parts of Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee. The extension applies to various individual and business tax returns and tax payments deadlines.\n\nWhat is the deadline for filing a tax extension?\n\nApril 18 also is the deadline for requesting an extension, which gives taxpayers until Oct. 17 to file their returns for 2021.\n\nSAVE BETTER, SPEND BETTER: Money tips and advice delivered right to your inbox. Sign up here\n\nDo I qualify for IRS Free File?\n\nIf your adjusted gross income was $73,000 or less in 2021, you can use free tax software to prepare and electronically file your tax return, according to IRS instructions online for the 2021 tax season.\n\nTaxpayers who earned more can use Free File Fillable Forms, the electronic version of the federal tax forms, to file their tax returns online. Go to IRS.gov to learn more.\n\nWhen should I expect my tax refund in 2022?\n\nThe IRS anticipates most taxpayers will receive refunds, as in past years. Most should receive them within 21 days of when they file electronically if they choose direct deposit (and there are no problems with their returns). Last year's average federal refund was more than $2,800.\n\nHowever, by law, the IRS can't issue refunds involving the Earned Income Tax Credit or the Additional Child Tax Credit before mid-February, though taxpayers still may file earlier than that.\n\nCan I track my refund with the 'Where's My Refund' tool like in the past?\n\nThe IRS says using \"Where’s My Refund?\" on IRS.gov/refunds and the IRS2Go mobile app are the best ways to check the status of a refund. You can check the status within 24 hours after we’ve received your e-file return or four weeks after you’ve mailed a paper return.\n\nHowever, the agency said the website and app \"will be updated with projected deposit dates for most early (Earned Income Tax Credit/Additional Child Tax Credit) refund filers by February 22.\"\n\nIRS tax stimulus checks for 2022? Perhaps with Recovery Rebate Credit.\n\nSome people might want to file returns even though they're not required to do so to claim a Recovery Rebate Credit or the 2021 stimulus payments.\n\nAccording to the IRS, individuals who didn't qualify for a third Economic Impact Payment or got less than the full amount may be eligible to claim the Recovery Rebate Credit. For those who got some money, the IRS says you’ll need to know the total received to calculate the correct rebate credit to avoid processing delays.\n\nThe IRS will send Letter 6475 starting in late January with the total amount of the third Economic Impact Payment received. Economic impact payment amounts also can be viewed on IRS online accounts.\n\nChild Tax Credit payments: Do I need IRS letter 6419 to file taxes?\n\nSome families may want to hold off a bit when it comes to filing a return until they spot the IRS letter 6419, which can help them file an accurate return and avoid delays. Others who don't want to wait may need to review their own records and check their specific information at the \"Child Tax Credit Update Portal Site\" at IRS.gov/ctcportal.\n\nDON'T THROW THIS IRS DOCUMENT AWAY:Why IRS Letter 6419 is critical to filing your 2021 taxes and the child tax credit.\n\nWill unemployment benefits come with a tax break in 2022?\n\nUnlike last year, a special tax break doesn't exist for up to $10,200 of unemployment benefits. The temporary tax break applied only for those with modified adjusted gross incomes of less than $150,000 in 2020 and those who also received unemployment benefits last year.\n\nThis year, jobless benefits received in 2021 will be taxable on the 2021 federal income tax return.\n\nContributing: Susan Tompor, Detroit Free Press; Russ Wiles, Arizona Republic; Associated Press\n\nFollow USA TODAY reporter Kelly Tyko on Twitter: @KellyTyko. For shopping news, tips and deals, join us on our Shopping Ninjas Facebook group.\n\nHave tax questions? Ask USA TODAY\n\nThe USA TODAY Money & Consumer team is looking to craft stories that reflect you, and your financial interests and concerns. Share your questions about taxes on the form below. If you don't see a form, click here.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/01/24"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/taxes/2023/01/24/filing-taxes-questions-tips-irs-2022/11090450002/", "title": "Tax filing tips: What to know to help get biggest refund on 2022 taxes", "text": "Tax season has officially begun. But it also feels like, \"oh no, tax season has officially begun.\"\n\nWe know the feeling, which is why USA Today's putting together a series of stories to make the season go smoothly for you. This coverage will help you stay updated with need-to-know information like deadlines and tax brackets, as well as tax tips and explainers of the most important forms to have on hand.\n\nBe sure to follow our coverage for the latest stories or sign up for our tax newsletter so you can get these updates emailed directly to you. Together, we hope to get you across that April 18 deadline on time and fully sane.\n\nFile taxes jointly or separate?:A guide for couples who said 'I do' in 2022\n\nEgg costs soar:Why prices climbed 60% in a year\n\nTax filing deadlines to know\n\nThe Internal Revenue Service started accepting and processing tax returns on Monday, Jan. 23. Employers are required to send you your W-2 by Jan. 31. Most 1099 forms are due by the end of January as well. Taxes are due by April 18 but aren't due until May 15 for residents in parts of California impacted by recent storms. If you're granted an extension, you'll have until Oct. 16 to file.\n\nRead more:IRS announces tax filing deadlines 2023\n\nWhat are the 2022 US federal tax brackets?\n\nA tax bracket is a range of incomes subject to a particular income tax rate. The IRS adjusts tax brackets every year to account for inflation, so the threshold for each of the seven tax brackets increased from 2021 to 2022. The IRS has already released tax brackets for this year that will be filed in 2024 based on average annual chained consumer price index from August 2021 to 2022, a period of historically high inflation.\n\n2022 tax brackets:See individual, joint, head of household return brackets\n\nFile taxes early for a chance to double your refund money\n\nTax preparer Jackson Hewitt is hosting a weekly \"Double Your Refund\" sweepstakes this tax season, awarding 40 winners a matched cash prize equivalent to the value of their federal tax refund. Jackson Hewitt is also selecting 40 runner-up entrants each week to win $400. You can gain a sweepstakes entry by filing your taxes with Jackson Hewitt or, if you don't file your taxes with them, by mailing in an entry by the Monday of the following week.\n\nDouble your tax refund:File early for a chance to win with Jackson Hewitt\n\nWhat are 1099, W-4, W-2, W-9 and 1040 forms?\n\nAs tax season begins, it's important to understand the tax forms sent to you or the ones you're required to complete.\n\nW-9: Form typically used by independent contractors, freelancers and gig workers to provide identifying information such as your Social Security or tax identification number\n\nForm typically used by independent contractors, freelancers and gig workers to provide identifying information such as your Social Security or tax identification number 1099: Used to report income that isn't directly earned through an employer\n\nUsed to report income that isn't directly earned through an employer W-4: Tells your direct employer how much federal income tax should be withheld from your paycheck\n\nTells your direct employer how much federal income tax should be withheld from your paycheck W-2: Form your employer sends you by the end of January documenting how much money you earned working for them and how much tax was withheld from your paychecks\n\nForm your employer sends you by the end of January documenting how much money you earned working for them and how much tax was withheld from your paychecks 1040: Umbrella form for individual tax return\n\nUmbrella form for individual tax return 5695: Declares any residential energy credits you may qualify for\n\nExplore the forms:1099, W-4, W-2, W-9, 1040 explained\n\nWhat is OASDI?\n\nOASDI tax, often referred to simply as \"Social Security,\" is the Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance program. This tax is one part of FICA, which funds Social Security and Medicare. OASDI taxes are a 6.2% flat rate taken out of employees' paychecks and matched by employers. Self-employed individuals pay a higher rate of 12.4% for OASDI tax.\n\nWhat is OASDI tax on my paycheck?:Why we pay this federal tax", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/01/24"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/taxes/2022/04/08/tax-deadline-2022-file-return/9499362002/", "title": "Tax deadline 2022: When is the last day to file taxes?", "text": "The deadline to file your tax return is inching closer.\n\nFor taxpayers expecting refunds, tax season couldn't come soon enough. This year, the Internal Revenue Service started processing returns on Jan. 24, 17 days ahead of last year.\n\nThe IRS expects that more than 160 million individual tax returns will be filed this year. And for those taxpayers receiving refunds, the agency says payments will arrive with 21 days from when the return was filed electronically. As of March 25, nearly 81 million returns had been processed.\n\nBut some taxpayers' returns may be complicated, and others who know they owe the IRS simply want to put off filing as long as possible.\n\nHere's what you need to know about tax season deadlines:\n\n2022 TAX GUIDE:Key dates for filing and extensions, claiming credits and planning for refunds\n\nWRITE-OFFS:Self-employed tax deductions: You may qualify for tax write-offs for starting a business\n\nWhen is the deadline to file taxes?\n\nFor most taxpayers, the last day to file your taxes is April 18. Typically the deadline falls on April 15, but it was pushed back because of the Emancipation Day holiday in Washington, D.C. Taxpayers in Maine and Massachusetts have until April 19 because of Patriots Day.\n\nTaxpayers who filed for an extension have until Oct. 15 to send their return, but if they owe taxes, they must be paid by the April deadline.\n\nWhat happens if I miss the tax deadline?\n\nIf you are getting a refund, there is no penalty, according to H&R Block. Then again, not getting your money from the IRS might be punishment enough.\n\nIf you owe the IRS, the penalties kick in. TurboTax says penalties can reach 5% of the amount owed for each month you are late. The maximum amount taxpayers can be penalized is 25% of the amount due, according to TurboTax.\n\n'FLAT TAX' MANIA:Are flat taxes better for taxpayers or another gift to billionaires?\n\nFollow Brett Molina on Twitter: @brettmolina23.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/04/08"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/10/success/tax-returns-irs-feseries/index.html", "title": "Here's when you can start filing your 2021 federal tax returns", "text": "The IRS said Monday it would start accepting 2021 federal tax returns on Monday, January 24.\n\nThe tax filing deadline this year is Monday, April 18. That’s the day by which you must have filed your 2021 individual return and paid any remaining federal income taxes owed for last year.\n\nNormally, the tax-filing deadline is April 15, but this year that is when Emancipation Day will be observed in Washington, DC. In two states - Massachusetts and Maine – the federal filing deadline will be April 19 due to the observation of Patriots Day on the 18th.\n\nThe federal filing deadline will be extended for anyone who files for an automatic 6-month extension. (Note: you will only be granted an extension to file your return. But you will not be given an extension to pay what you owe.)\n\nIn addition, the tax filing and payment deadlines will be extended for anyone living in counties declared federal disaster areas due to recent natural calamities.\n\nThese include tornado and storm victims in Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee, as well as wildfire victims in Colorado. They will have until May 16, 2022, to file various individual and business tax returns and make their payments. (This IRS page offers a complete listing of who is granted disaster-related tax extensions.)\n\nThose affected taxpayers also will have until May 16 to make 2021 IRA contributions. Everyone else must make their 2021 IRA contributions no later than April 18.\n\nDon’t be surprised by delays\n\nWhile every tax season is busy for the IRS, pandemic-induced backlogs from the past two years coupled with limited funding will make the current tax season even more so.\n\nTreasury officials said in a briefing call Monday that at the start of a normal tax season, the IRS might have 1 million returns backlogged, but the number this year is “several times more.”\n\nLast week, IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig noted that return processing and tax assistance delays arose as the agency was administering several Covid-19 relief efforts passed by Congress. Those included issuing three rounds of Economic Impact Payments, creating a system to send out advance monthly payments of the Child Tax Credit and making changes to the Earned Income Tax Credit.\n\n“Despite valiant efforts by our employees handling a large portfolio and new responsibilities, we still are working through tax returns filed in 2021 and we are unable to answer an unprecedented number of telephone calls. Simply put, in many areas we are unable to deliver the amount of service and enforcement that our taxpayers and tax system deserves and needs,” Rettig said.\n\nOne example: Last year, the agency was unable to answer more than two-thirds of the calls it received. That’s why tax filers are encouraged to first use the online tools provided on IRS.gov to get answers to their questions before reaching out to the agency directly.\n\nHow to ensure you get your refund as quickly as possible\n\nThe majority of tax filers are typically owed a refund.\n\nTreasury officials noted that the IRS is likely to deliver your refund within 21 days of receipt – its typical turnaround time – but only if you fill out your return accurately and completely, file it electronically and opt to have your refund delivered through direct deposit.\n\nFor anyone expecting a refund due to the Earned Income Tax Credit or Additional Child Tax Credit, the IRS is prohibited by law from issuing it before mid-February in order to give the agency time to stop fraudulent refunds from going out. But affected filers may still file their returns beginning on January 24.\n\nDespite the anticipated frustrations, Rettig noted that the agency is continuing to look for ways to improve. “We want to deliver as much as possible while also protecting the health and safety of our employees and taxpayers.”", "authors": ["Jeanne Sahadi"], "publish_date": "2022/01/10"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/taxes/2023/01/09/irs-taxes-file-efile-2023/11018054002/", "title": "Tax season 2023: When are taxes due? When will I get my refund?", "text": "Tax season has officially begun.\n\nMonday marks the first day the Internal Revenue Service will accept and process tax returns. If you've already completed your return either using tax software or working with a tax professional, the IRS will now be able to review your return.\n\nThe IRS said more than 168 million individual tax returns are expected to be filed this year \"with the vast majority of those coming before the April 18 tax deadline.\"\n\nIf your return contains no errors or red flags, your refund should be delivered within 21 days if you file electronically and opt to have the money directly deposited in your bank account, the IRS said. But it could take longer if the debt ceiling isn't raised soon.\n\nFiling taxes early is never a bad idea:It may even come with a chance to win money this year\n\nTax brackets 2023:Everything you need to know about them\n\nWhen is the filing deadline for 2023?\n\nTaxes are due by April 18 since April 15 falls on a Saturday and Emancipation Day, a holiday observed in Washington, D.C., is April 17.\n\nAlabama, California, Georgia tax deadline\n\nBut if you live in parts of California, Alabama and Georgia affected by recent storms, you'll have until May 15 to file your federal individual and business taxes.\n\nDeadline for filing income tax returns that have received extensions\n\nIf you request an extension, you'll have until October 16 to file your return. Importantly, that doesn't buy you more time to pay your taxes. You'll still have to pay any amount due to avoid penalties, but you'll have more time to complete your tax forms.\n\nFAQs on tax extensions:How to file one and more\n\n1099, W-4, W-2, W-9, 1040:What are these forms used for when filing your taxes?\n\n1099 deadline\n\nIf you're a freelancer, independent contractor or earn income from other sources outside of a traditional job, you should receive a 1099 tax form by Feb. 15. The same applies to people who won at least $600 in prize money last year.\n\nW-2 deadline\n\nYour employer is required to send you a W-2 by Jan. 31.\n\nTax refunds:Americans could see smaller tax refunds in 2023, IRS warns. Here's how to get every penny\n\nIRS delays $600 1099-K reporting:Applies for people who earn money through Venmo, PayPal, CashApp and more\n\nWhen does IRS Free File open?\n\nIRS Free File opened on Jan. 13.\n\nIRS Free File lets you file your federal taxes at no extra cost either through electronic fillable forms or through IRS partnerships with private tax-preparation services.\n\nIf you had an adjusted gross income of $73,000 or less in 2022, you are eligible for free guided tax preparation services. The IRS also offers free fillable forms anyone can use regardless of income level.\n\nBe sure to regularly check this page for the latest information on IRS Free File.\n\nShould we file taxes jointly or separately:A guide for couples who said 'I do' in 2022\n\nThis 2023 tax credit could help:Interested in purchasing an electric car?\n\nQuarterly tax due dates\n\nIf you earn income that isn't subject to withholding taxes, you're typically required to make estimated tax payments to the IRS. You can do this on a quarterly basis or through one annualized estimate. The annualized estimate is due on April 18.\n\nThe quarterly payments for 2023 are due by the following dates:\n\nFirst payment: April 18.\n\nSecond payment: June 15.\n\nThird payment: Sept. 15.\n\nFourth payment: Jan. 16, 2024.\n\nElisabeth Buchwald is a personal finance and markets correspondent for USA TODAY. You can follow her on Twitter @BuchElisabeth and sign up for our Daily Money newsletter here", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/01/09"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/21/politics/irs-tax-returns-backlog/index.html", "title": "IRS will finally finish processing last year's tax return backlog this week", "text": "Washington CNN —\n\nThe Internal Revenue Service will finally get through the massive pandemic-induced backlog of federal tax returns filed in 2021 this week, the agency said on Tuesday.\n\nBut more than twice as many returns filed in 2022 still await processing compared with a typical year at this point.\n\nThe IRS began the calendar year with about 8 million unprocessed individual returns left over from 2021. At the time, a report from the National Taxpayer Advocate called the situation a “crisis.”\n\nThe individual returns that were filed last year without errors are all expected to be processed by the end of this week. Business paper returns filed in 2021 will follow shortly after.\n\nTo work through the backlog, IRS employees have logged 500,000 hours of overtime so far this year. The IRS shifted 2,000 employees from other parts of the agency to help process returns and also hired more than 1,500 new workers.\n\n“Completing the individual returns filed last year with no errors is a major milestone, but there is still work to do,” said IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig in a statement.\n\nThere are millions of remaining tax returns to process that were filed this year. While the agency is behind compared with years prior to the pandemic, it is ahead of last year by about 1 million returns.\n\nThe IRS has been able to keep pace with electronically filed returns – processing them on average within eight to 21 days – but it takes longer to process the returns filed on paper. However, the agency has automated the correction of common mistakes made on paper tax returns, speeding up that process. Last filing season, an IRS tax examiner required roughly one hour to clear 70 returns. Now, that number has more than doubled to about 200.\n\nThe IRS is on pace to end 2022 without a backlog of original returns.\n\nPandemic challenges\n\nThe Covid-19 pandemic created new challenges for the agency and brought on additional work, resulting in backlogs of returns in both 2021 and 2022.\n\nMany of its employees were working from home at the start of the pandemic, meaning some paper returns sat in trailers for months waiting to be opened and the agency’s technology did not allow all customer service calls to be answered remotely.\n\nThe pandemic also made it harder for taxpayers to access in-person help at IRS Taxpayer Assistance Centers, many of which were shut down for months in 2020.\n\nMeanwhile, Congress tasked the IRS with sending out billions of dollars in economic relief benefits like the stimulus payments and monthly enhanced child tax credit payments.\n\nThe pandemic-related challenges exacerbated existing problems at the IRS created by longtime underfunding. The agency’s baseline budget has shrunk by about 20% on an inflation-adjusted basis since fiscal year 2010, and its workforce has shrunk by about 17%.", "authors": ["Katie Lobosco"], "publish_date": "2022/06/21"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/taxes/2022/06/23/irs-tax-refunds-2021-paper-return-delay/7699411001/", "title": "IRS again faces backlog, bringing refund delays for paper filers", "text": "Millions of taxpayers have already been waiting four or five months for their federal income tax refunds after completing 1040 paper returns and putting those returns in the mail in late January or February.\n\nNo money is in sight in late June – and, frankly, the wait will take longer.\n\nThe Internal Revenue Service has essentially been unable to process the paper 1040 returns that individuals filed in 2022 until it's finished processing the pile up of paperwork filed in 2021.\n\nIt's a first in, first out process for paper returns. And if the IRS isn't done with processing paper 1040 returns filed by individuals in 2021, it can't move on paper returns filed so this year.\n\nThis week, the IRS said, the agency will hit a milestone of sorts and be done processing all of the originally filed Form 1040 paper returns without errors that it received in 2021.\n\nAs of June 10, the IRS had processed more than 4.5 million out of a total of more than 4.7 million individual paper tax returns received in 2021.\n\nIt's an important step that will enable the IRS to move on to work on the 1040 individual paper returns filed in 2022.\n\nYou can't get a refund, after all, if the IRS doesn't process the return. Unfortunately, many taxpayers have absolutely no idea that the IRS is buried in this much paperwork. They're just stumped as to why they don't have their money.\n\nSubscribe to our newsletter:The Daily Money delivers our top personal finance stories to your inbox\n\nNew report critical of IRS progress\n\nThe accumulation of paper returns has been a troublesome development since the COVID-19 pandemic shutdowns shook up the system. While some progress has been made, it's not enough to get the job done.\n\nFortunately for most taxpayers, e-filed returns have generated refunds quickly. About 137 million million returns filed in 2022 were filed electronically.\n\nAbout 8 million federal returns filed by paper were mailed to the IRS so far this year. More will arrive as some taxpayers who requested extensions also will file by paper. The IRS maintains that it’s critical for those who still need to file a tax return this year to file electronically, if possible.\n\nBy year end, the IRS projects that it can start the next tax season in 2023 without a paperwork backlog.\n\n“The IRS has said it is aiming to crush the backlogged inventory this year, and I hope it succeeds,” wrote National Taxpayer Advocate Erin M. Collins in midyear report to Congress, which was released Wednesday.\n\n“Unfortunately, at this point the backlog is still crushing the IRS, its employees, and most importantly, taxpayers,” Collins said.\n\nIRS commissioner: Backlog of unprocessed returns to be eliminated by end of year\n\nThe IRS had a backlog of 21.3 million unprocessed paper tax returns by the end of May, an increase of 1.3 million over the same time last year, according to the report issued Wednesday by the National Taxpayer Advocate. That backlog includes amended paper returns.\n\nCollins noted that processing delays are creating \"unprecedented financial difficulties for millions of taxpayers and outright hardships for many.”\n\nDuring 2021, the report noted that the IRS received about 17 million paper individual income tax returns and about 21 million paper business tax returns.\n\nAmong business taxpayers, Collins noted, many have been waiting extended periods to receive the Employee Tax Retention Credits that they're eligible to get, in addition to their regular refunds.\n\nSocial Security: Why men get nearly $400 more per month than women\n\nThe report says the IRS has failed to make progress in eliminating its paper backlog because “its pace of processing paper tax returns has not kept up with new receipts.”\n\nThe IRS does not use scanning technology for processing all that paperwork. Instead, six to eight IRS employees can work on a return at various steps in the process, including transcribing the paper return into the system.\n\n\"In the year 2022,\" Collins wrote \"it is unacceptable that the agency is still paying thousands of employees to keystroke the data from millions of tax returns, digit by digit, into IRS systems – creating the current processing backlog and producing an error rate in transcribing individual returns last year of 22%.\"\n\nHow long should it take?\n\nThe only number most taxpayers, of course, care about is the one that shows up in their bank account for their tax refund. And tax refunds are not arriving quick enough for many who filed paper returns.\n\nIn general, the IRS issues refunds within a few weeks to a month. Paper returns take longer than electronically filed returns, even if there are no mistakes or issues.\n\nBefore the pandemic, someone who filed a return by paper might wait four weeks to six weeks for a refund.\n\nMany taxpayers who filed paper returns in 2021 got caught in the backlog and reported waiting six months and longer to receive their refunds.\n\nThe IRS acknowledged Tuesday: \"To date, more than twice as many returns await processing compared to a typical year at this point in the calendar year.\"\n\nWorries build among families and friends who filed paper returns\n\nThe anxiety has been huge the last few months for those who filed paper returns in 2022.\n\nThe IRS doesn't post information for paper returns at \"Where's My Refund?\" until those returns are processed. \"Where’s My Refund?\" does not explain any status delays, reasons for delays, where returns stand in the processing pipeline, or what action taxpayers need to take, according to the National Taxpayer Advocate's report.\n\nMore:Average tax refunds higher than last year but paper headaches remain\n\nMore:Taxpayers waiting for refunds find little help from IRS's 'Where's My Refund' tool\n\nThe IRS is paying interest on delayed refunds. From April 1 through June 30, the agency is using a 4% interest rate for individuals who face refund delays. But the rate is set to go up to 5% on July 1. Often, taxpayers can see a blended rate.\n\nTaxpayers faced different challenges\n\nMany people did not face delays. More than 85% of individual taxpayers e-filed their federal income tax returns, according to the new report, and they either received the refunds they claimed or paid what they owed without any problems.\n\nBy late May, the IRS reported it had received about 145 million individual income tax returns and issued 96 million refunds to those filers. About 66% filing received refunds.\n\nEven so, the tax season wasn't a walk in the park for many. On April 18, the Taxpayer Advocate noted, a significant spike in IRS web traffic caused a temporary disruption in taxpayers’ ability to access the \"Make a Payment\" feature in the Online Account.\n\n\"While the IRS resolved the issue the same day, it affected 891,000 individuals and added a level of anxiety for those taxpayers on an already stressful day,\" Collins wrote.\n\nIn addition, Collins wrote, millions of e-filed returns were suspended during processing due to discrepancies between amounts claimed on the returns for the recovery rebate credit, and amounts reflected in the IRS’s records.\n\nOn June 3, the report noted, the IRS updated its website to inform taxpayers that due to extenuating circumstances caused by the pandemic, its identity theft inventories have increased. On average, it is taking about 360 days to resolve identity theft cases.\n\nThe most serious hardships, one might argue, are being created by those extraordinarily long delays for receiving a tax refund.\n\nTypically, the IRS doesn't start a tax season with such sizable paperwork hangover.\n\n\"Over the last two years, IRS inventories snowballed into unprecedented delays and challenges, and the IRS is still struggling to catch up,\" Collins wrote.\n\nAnd the onslaught continues. While the official tax season deadline was April 18, an estimated 18 million taxpayers filed for extensions, which are due Oct. 15. It's a larger than usual level of extensions, according to tax experts, and more paper returns for 2022 will add to the workload ahead.\n\nThe IRS noted Tuesday that the agency continues to receive current and prior-year individual returns and related correspondence as people file extensions, amended returns and a variety of business tax returns.\n\nBehind every piece of paper is a real person who is anxious – and possibly even under financial stress – when their tax refund money faces one delay after another.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/06/23"}]}
{"question_id": "20230127_3", "search_time": "2023/01/28/05:14", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/24/weather/christmas-arctic-winter-storm-power-outages-saturday/index.html", "title": "A powerful winter storm claims at least 22 lives across the US as ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nMore than 315,000 homes and businesses nationwide were without power Christmas Eve, thanks to an Arctic blast and winter storm that tore down power lines with destructive winds and heavy snow and dipped temperatures dangerously low – conditions killing at least 22 people.\n\nAs bone-chilling air continues to grip the US this holiday weekend, the storm still is pummeling parts of the Upper Midwest and interior Northeast with heavy snow and blizzard conditions.\n\nRelated: Follow live updates\n\nIn New York’s Buffalo area particularly, heavy snow (more than 2 feet in places) and strong winds (sometimes higher than 60 mph) at times made visibility close to zero Friday into Saturday. More than a foot more could fall Saturday, with winds gusting up to 65 mph and making temperatures feel well below zero.\n\nIn Erie County, which includes Buffalo, blizzard conditions are expected to continue through at least Sunday morning, County Executive Mark Poloncarz told reporters Saturday. The winter storm could continue for at least the next 36 hours, with the blizzard warning in effect until 7 a.m. Christmas morning, Poloncarz said.\n\n“This is still a life-threatening situation,” he said. “This is nothing to be trifled with.”\n\nThe county’s Deputy Commissioner of Disaster Preparedness and Homeland Security, Gregory Butcher, said the storm will be significant “for days to come.”\n\nAbout 500 motorists found themselves stranded in their vehicles in Erie County Friday night into Saturday morning, and a “couple hundred” may still be trapped early Saturday afternoon, Poloncarz told CNN. That’s despite a county driving ban put in place during the storm.\n\nLia Belles’ 85-year-old grandmother and her father were among the stranded.\n\nThey have been stuck on New York State Route 198 in Buffalo – less than a mile from her home – since Friday afternoon. Contact with them is limited due to their phone battery, and they have been turning the heat on and off to save gas.\n\n“There is nothing more I want other than their safety right now,” Belles told CNN Saturday, adding that her dad could walk home but he would never leave his mother alone.\n\n“I’ve tried to walk out to them with a sled but conditions by myself were just impossible,” she said.\n\nBelles said by Saturday afternoon they got help getting the car unstuck but there was no path for them to leave.\n\n“It’s very nerve racking and difficult,” she said. “They’re definitely exhausted, but we’re seeing a little hope right now.”\n\nIn hardest-hit areas, many emergency crews that tried to reach the stranded became stuck themselves, Poloncarz said.\n\n“Don’t leave your home,” Poloncarz said on CNN Saturday to anyone thinking about traveling to or within the area. “It’s much safer to be inside, even if you lost your power with it only being 45 degrees inside, than going out and dealing with minus 20 wind chills and blinding conditions.”\n\nNational Guard troops were arriving Saturday to “rescue people that are stuck in vehicles,” and to give rides to medical workers so they could relieve colleagues who’d been working at hospitals for more than a day, Poloncarz said.\n\nBuffalo Diocese Bishop Michael W. Fisher on Saturday urged churches to livestream Christmas Mass because of the severe weather.\n\n“Although it is Christmas, in these dangerous conditions, no one should put themselves or others at risk,” he said via Twitter.\n\nEven where it wasn’t snowing and howling, temperatures and wind chills have been dangerously low across much of the country.\n\nFrom the Plains and the Midwest to the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic and even in parts of the Southeast, wind chills after the sun rose Saturday morning were below zero, according to the National Weather Service.\n\nThat included:\n\n• Atlanta: 9 degrees; with minus 8 wind chill\n\n• Memphis: 10 degrees; with minus 4 wind chill\n\n• New York City: 8 degrees; with minus 8 wind chill\n\n• St. Louis: 9 degrees; with minus 12 wind chill\n\n• Washington, DC: 12 degrees; with minus 3 wind chill\n\nAt least 22 people have died since Wednesday across seven states, a result of dangerous and life-threatening conditions this week over a large swath of the country:\n\n• Colorado: Police in Colorado Springs, Colorado, reported two deaths related to the cold since Thursday, with one man found near a power transformer of a building possibly looking for warmth, and another in a transient camp in an alleyway.\n\n• Kansas: Three people have died in weather-related traffic accidents, the Kansas Highway Patrol said Friday.\n\n• Kentucky: Three people have died in the state, officials have said, including one involving a vehicle accident in Montgomery County.\n\n• Missouri: One person died after a caravan slid off an icy road and into a frozen creek, Kansas City police said.\n\n• New York: Erie County has had three storm-related deaths, county officials said Saturday. Two died in separate incidents Friday night when emergency medical personnel could not get to their homes in time for medical emergencies, Poloncarz said Saturday morning. Details about the third death, confirmed by a county spokesperson Saturday afternoon, weren’t immediately available.\n\n• Ohio: Eight people have died as a result of weather-related auto accidents, including four in a Saturday morning crash on Interstate 75, when a semi tractor-trailer crossed the median and collided with an SUV and a pickup, authorities said.\n\n• Tennessee: The Tennessee Department of Health on Friday confirmed one storm-related fatality.\n\n• Wisconsin: Wisconsin State Patrol on Thursday reported one fatal crash due to winter weather.\n\nSnow blankets buildings in Buffalo, New York, on Wednesday, December 28. Joed Viera/AFP/Getty Images National Guard troops check on Buffalo residents on December 28. Jeffrey T. Barnes/AP A traveler searches for luggage December 28 at a Southwest Airlines baggage holding area in Denver International Airport. More than 90% of Wednesday's US flight cancellations were Southwest flights, according to flight tracking website FlightAware. Southwest canceled more than 2,500 flights. Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images People help push a car out of snow in Buffalo on Tuesday, December 27. John Normile/Getty Images Niagara Falls in New York is partially frozen on December 27. Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Travelers at Baltimore/Washington International Airport deal with the impact of canceled flights on December 27. Michael McCoy/Reuters A gas station canopy lays on its side after high winds and heavy snow in Lackawanna, New York, on December 27. The historic winter storm dumped up to 4 feet of snow on the area. John Normile/Getty Images Hundreds of unclaimed suitcases sit near the Southwest Airlines baggage claim area in Tennessee's Nashville International Airport after the airline canceled thousands of flights on December 27. Seth Herald/AFP/Getty Images A street is blanketed by snow in downtown Buffalo on Monday, December 26. Gov. Kathy Hochul/Twitter/AP A person clears a snow-covered driveway in Buffalo on December 26. Faith Aktas/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images A man and a boy walk across the frozen Reflecting Pool towards the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC, on December 26. Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images Firefighters carry rescue equipment as they respond to a fire on a snow-covered street in Buffalo on Sunday, December 25. Jalen Wright/The New York Times/Redux Snow blankets a neighborhood in Cheektowaga, New York, on Christmas Day. Western New York is drowning in thick \"lake effect\" snow -- which forms when cold air moves over the warm waters of the Great Lakes -- just one month after the region was slammed with a historic snowstorm. John Waller via AP A man tries to dig out his car after he got stuck in a snowdrift about a block from home in Buffalo on Saturday, December 24. Derek Gee/The Buffalo News via AP Icicles created by a sprinkler hang from an orange tree in Clermont, Florida, on December 24. Paul Hennessy/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images A young holiday traveler passes the time at Detroit Wayne County Metro Airport on December 24. Matthew Hatcher/Getty Images Pedestrians deal with the cold in Chicago on December 24. Pat Nabong/Chicago Sun-Times via AP Hoak's Restaurant in Hamburg, New York, is seen covered in ice from the spray of Lake Erie on December 24. Kevin Hoak via Reuters Nissan Stadium employees clear the field in Nashville before the an NFL football game on December 24. Mark Zaleski/AP Amanda Kelly cleans off snow and ice from her car in Columbus, Ohio, on Friday, December 23. Joseph Scheller/Columbus Dispatch/USA Today Network Cars drive in whiteout conditions in Orchard Park, New York, on December 23. Mark Mulville/The Buffalo News/AP Travelers sleep while lines of people pass through a security checkpoint at Denver International Airport. David Zalubowski/AP Snow-covered buildings are seen in Louisville, Kentucky. Leandro Lozada/AFP/Getty Images The waters of Lake Erie wash over the shoreline in Hamburg, New York, on December 23. John Normile/Getty Images Snow collects on a bison at the Longfield Farm in Goshen, Kentucky, on December 23. Michael Clevenger/Courier Journal/USA Today Network Volunteers welcome a homeless person to a shelter at Louisville's Broadbent Arena on December 23. Leandro Lozada/AFP/Getty Images Stones are removed from a road in Westport, Massachusetts, after a storm surge made landfall, flooding many coastal areas on December 23. Peter Pereira/The Standard-Times/AP The Louisville skyline is obscured by steam rising from the Ohio River on December 23. Matt Stone/The Louisville Courier/USA Today Network Antonio Smothers jump-starts his vehicle in Nashville on December 23. Seth Herald/AFP/Getty Images Rows of headstones at the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery are blanketed by drifting snow in Mandan on Thursday, December 22. Tom Stromme/The Bismarck Tribune/AP Migrants warm themselves by a fire next to the US-Mexico border fence on December 22 in El Paso, Texas. John Moore/Getty Images Robert Arnold puts chains onto the tires of his semitrailer while he waits for the eastbound lane of I-70 to reopen in Silverthorne, Colorado, on December 22. Jason Connolly/AFP/Getty Images A musician departs following a show on Broadway in Nashville on December 22. Seth Herald/AFP/Getty Images Brady Myers helps turn the Stewpot Community Services day shelter for the unhoused into an emergency overnight shelter in Jackson, Mississippi, on December 22. Barbara Gauntt/Clarion Ledger/USA Today Network Vehicles travel along Interstate 44 on December 22, in St. Louis. Jeff Roberson/AP A person walks through the snow on December 22 in downtown Minneapolis. Alex Kormann/Star Tribune/AP A clean car passes a snow-covered car in Des Moines, Iowa. Charlie Neibergall/AP Travelers walk in front of flight information screens at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago on December 22. Nam Y. Huh/AP Ice collects on a window in Oklahoma City on December 22. Bryan Terry/The Oklahoman/USA Today Network Bus riders wait at a sheltered stop in Chicago on December 22. Charles Rex Arbogast/AP An accident involving a semi-tractor-trailer blocks the eastbound lanes of Interstate 80 in West Des Moines on December 22. Bryon Houlgrave/The Des Moines Register/AP Kids shovel snow off a sidewalk and driveway in Minneapolis on December 22. Abbie Parr/AP Travelers arrive for their flights at O'Hare International Airport on December 22 in Chicago. Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP/Getty Images Mist rises above ice flows on the Yellowstone River on December 22 in Paradise Valley, Montana. William Campbell/Getty Images Students walk to school buses after early dismissal at a middle school in Wheeling, Illinois, on December 22. Nam Y. Huh/AP Miguel Salazar clears sidewalks in Denver on December 22. Hyoung Chang/Denver Post/Getty Images Travelers arrive at the Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport on December 21. Alex Kormann/Star Tribune/AP Salt is prepared to be loaded onto a truck at the Department of Public Works sanitation yard in Milwaukee on December 21. Mike De Sisti/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel/AP Propane heaters sit next to pens at the City of Mission Animal Shelter in Mission, Texas, on December 21. Joel Martinez/The Monitor/AP Crews de-ice a Southwest Airlines plane before takeoff in Omaha, Nebraska, on December 21. Chris Machian/Omaha World-Herald/AP An Iowa Department of Transportation plow clears a road in Iowa City on December 21. Joseph Cress/Iowa City Press Citizen/AP Snow covers homes in Seattle on December 20. Daniel Kim/The Seattle Times/AP In pictures: Winter storm impacts the US Prev Next\n\nNational Guard troops helping rescue stranded in Buffalo area\n\nAs of 9:45 p.m ET Saturday, 315,782 homes and businesses in the US had no electricity service, according to PowerOutage.us, leaving many people without proper heating or hot water as extremely low temperatures persist Saturday.\n\nA power grid operator for at least 13 states in the country’s eastern half asked customers to conserve power from early Saturday to 10 a.m. on Sunday because usage was straining capacity – and warned rolling blackouts could happen if the strain becomes too much.\n\nThe operator, PJM Interconnection, serves about 65 million people in all or parts of Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia.\n\nPJM advised people to set thermostats lower than usual and postpone using major electric appliances such as stoves and dishwashers.\n\nIn a video on Twitter, a company official said the risk of rotating customer outages is “very real.”\n\nIn Tennessee, utilities intermittently interrupted power to customers for a few hours Saturday morning at the behest of the Tennesee Valley Authority – the state’s federally owned electricity provider – because the frigid weather was straining capacity.\n\nThe Nashville Electric Service told customers Saturday morning to expect “rotating, intermittent power outages” in about 10-minute increments every 90 minutes to two hours.\n\nThe TVA announced shortly before 11 a.m. CT that the interruptions were no longer needed.\n\nIn a statement the TVA said it will conduct “a thorough review of our processes, procedures and preparations once we get beyond this unprecedented event.”\n\nDuring the rolling blackouts, Nashville’s mayor asked the NFL’s Tennessee Titans to postpone their scheduled noon CT Saturday home game against the Houston Texans. The NFL delayed the start for an hour, and said it explored “every possibility to minimize non-essential power around the stadium.”\n\nSnow-covered buildings are seen in Louisville, Kentucky, under freezing temperatures on December 23. Leandro Lozada/AFP/Getty Images\n\nMore than 5,000 flights were canceled Friday with thousands more delayed, and more than 3,300 flights have been canceled Saturday, and more than 800 are already canceled for Christmas Day.\n\nThe NFL’s Buffalo Bills defeated the Chicago Bears in Chicago Saturday, but lost out to the weather. Due to Buffalo’s airport being closed due to deep snow and strong winds, the team was forced to stay in Chicago an extra night. They are expected to fly to Rochester, New York, on Sunday, and travel back to Buffalo from there.\n\nWhat else to expect Christmas Eve\n\n• Cold for many: Wind chills will be dangerously cold across much of the central and eastern US this weekend. “The life-threatening cold temperatures and dangerous wind chills will create a potentially life-threatening hazard for travelers that become stranded,” the National Weather Service said early Saturday.\n\n• Record temps in the South: Atlanta and Tallahassee, Florida, were forecast to have their coldest high temperature ever recorded on December 24, according to the weather service.\n\n• Brutal cold elsewhere: Philadelphia and Pittsburgh were expected to see their coldest day Christmas Eve ever on Saturday. Washington, DC, could see its second-coldest on Christmas Eve, the first being in 1989. New York is set to experience its coldest Christmas Eve since 1906. Chicago is expecting temperatures to rebound above zero but will still experience its coldest Christmas Eve since 1983.", "authors": ["Aya Elamroussi Jason Hanna Ray Sanchez", "Aya Elamroussi", "Jason Hanna", "Ray Sanchez"], "publish_date": "2022/12/24"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/20/weather/record-heat-wave-southeast-second-week-monday/index.html", "title": "US heatwave: As enormous heat dome shifts eastward, stifling heat ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nThe persistent heat dome which imposed oppressively high temperatures on the northern Plains and Midwest over the weekend will begin to shift further eastward this week, ending a short reprieve many states in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic have had in recent days.\n\nIn the coming week, about 70% of the US population will see temperatures in the 90s, and almost 20% of people in the country will experience temperatures greater than 100 degrees. Many major metro areas, including Minneapolis, Chicago, Nashville, Memphis, Dallas, New Orleans and Atlanta, may experience temps near or above 100.\n\nMore than 100 high temperature records could be broken this week, mainly across the southern and eastern regions of the US.\n\nIn Minnesota, where cities like St. Paul and Minneapolis are under an extreme heat warning, roads are already starting to buckle under the heat, including two in the Minneapolis area, CNN affiliate KARE reported.\n\nThe thermometer hit 101 degrees in the Twin Cities Monday afternoon, after earlier setting a daily high of 99 degrees, the National Weather Service there tweeted. The heat index was 105.\n\nMany areas expected to set records were also hit with extreme heat last week when a massive heat dome brought triple-digit temperatures to states across the eastern US and Midwest, breaking record daily highs in several cities.\n\nThis past weekend saw several new daily record high temperatures, including in New Orleans, which clocked a high of 97 degrees, and in Mobile, Alabama, which surpassed its 1913 record of 100 degrees when it inched up to 101 degrees on Saturday.\n\ncnnweather\n\nAs of early Monday morning, more than nine million people were under heat alerts across eight states in the northern and central US, including Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nebraska and Kansas.\n\nBut this number is expected to increase throughout the week as the heat continues to build across the northern Plains, Midwest and Gulf Coast on Monday, potentially bringing triple-digit temperature records as it progresses into the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic on Tuesday.\n\nPower providers in the Southeast told CNN they are prepared for the second heat wave in a week.\n\nAustin CapMetro buses offer free rides allowing passengers a space to cool off as extreme heat hits Austin, Texas, on June 17, 2022. Jordan Vonderhaar/Reuters\n\n“This is our ‘Super Bowl’ that we prepare all year for. We are ready to go!” Tennessee Valley Authority Spokesman Scott Fiedler said in a statement.\n\nEntergy, which supplies power to parts of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Orleans, and Texas, said it is expecting to see the highest energy use by customers this week that the company has ever seen.\n\nMany communities battling the heat may not get much relief at night, either, as 100 overnight low temp records are forecast to be broken throughout the week.\n\nThe continuing heat follows a week in which extreme weather struck millions of people across the US. In addition to the massive heat dome, historic flooding inundated Yellowstone National Park and its surrounding communities, wildfires blazed in Arizona and New Mexico, and severe storms in the upper Midwest and Ohio River Valley caused widespread power outages.\n\nHundreds of thousands of people, including about 180,000 in Ohio, had to endure a heat wave without electricity due to the outages.\n\nHeat-related illness is a major concern\n\nThough most heat-related illnesses are preventable through outreach and intervention efforts, they are still the leading cause of weather-related deaths in the US, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency.\n\nExtremely high temperatures can lead to common heat-related conditions such as heatstroke and heat exhaustion, which occur when the body is unable to properly cool itself. It can also impose significant strain on the heart and make breathing more difficult.\n\nInfants, children, the elderly and people with chronic illnesses or mental health problems are especially vulnerable to heat-related illnesses, though young and healthy people may be affected, too, if they are doing strenuous activity in excessive temperatures, according to the CDC.\n\nWhile children do not die from heat-related illnesses as much as the elderly, a study published in January found “climate shocks” like sweltering heat waves can cumulatively affect a child’s long-term health. Over time, such events may contribute to significantly higher rates of substance abuse and health problems like cancer and heart disease, researchers said.\n\nAs climate change drives temperatures higher, scientists expect heat to make even more people ill, especially because heat waves are becoming more frequent.\n\nIn the 1960s, Americans saw an average of two heat waves a year, but by the 2010s, the average increased to six per year, according to the EPA.", "authors": ["Elizabeth Wolfe Robert Shackelford Theresa Waldrop", "Elizabeth Wolfe", "Robert Shackelford", "Theresa Waldrop"], "publish_date": "2022/06/20"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/04/asia/bangladesh-blackouts-power-grid-failure-intl/index.html", "title": "Bangladesh blackout: Most of country left without power after ...", "text": "Dhaka, Bangladesh Reuters —\n\nLarge swathes of Bangladesh were left without electricity on Tuesday after a partial grid failure, a government official said, adding that authorities were working to gradually restore power supply in the country of 168 million people.\n\nThe country’s power grid malfunctioned around 2 p.m. (4 a.m. ET) on Tuesday, leading to blackouts across 75-80% of Bangladesh, Bangladesh Power Development Board official Shameem Hasan told Reuters.\n\n“We are trying to restore the system,” Hasan said, adding that utilities were currently producing around 4,500 megawatts (MW) of power, compared with nationwide demand of 14,200 MW.\n\nAn investigation is underway to ascertain the reason for the grid’s collapse, Hasan said.\n\nBangladesh peak power demand on Tuesday was 3% higher than the 13,800 MW forecast earlier this week by the Bangladesh Power Development Board, according to government data.\n\n“Hopefully within three hours, power supply will be restored in Dhaka,” Junior Power Minister Nasrul Hamid said, referring to Bangladesh’s capital city, which is home to some 20 million people.\n\nMany parts of Bangladesh have experienced frequent power cuts this year despite efforts to ration gas supplies amid high global natural gas prices.\n\nNatural gas accounts for nearly three-quarters of the country’s power generation.\n\nOver a third of the 77 gas-powered units in Bangladesh were facing a gas shortage, government data showed on Tuesday.\n\nPower demand growth in Bangladesh in recent years has largely been driven by the residential segment, compared with industries.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/10/04"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/12/24/winter-storm-updates-deaths-crashes-power-outages/10950466002/", "title": "Winter storm updates: Deaths reported; widespread power outages", "text": "A powerful winter storm kept pummeling the United States on Christmas Eve with dangerously cold temperatures and heavy snow – leaving in its wake fatal car crashes, thousands of canceled flights and millions at risk for future power outages.\n\nThe massive footprint of the winter weather and its timing during a busy holiday travel week makes the arctic blast particularly dangerous. The National Weather Service on Friday said its warnings and advisories covered about 200 million people – \"one of the greatest extents of winter weather warnings and advisories ever,” forecasters said.\n\nNationwide, officials have attributed at least 18 deaths to the storm.\n\nIn Ohio, about 50 vehicles were involved in a pileup that killed at least 4. An 82-year-old woman was found dead outside of her assisted care facility in Michigan on Friday amid dangerously cold temperatures. And in the Buffalo, New York, area – which received stunning records of rain and snowfall on Friday – two people died in their homes after emergency responders couldn't reach them amid the city's historic blizzard conditions.\n\nCOLD WEATHER AND GLOBAL WARMING: Freezing temps don't disprove climate change\n\nTRAVEL:More than 5,000 US flights canceled amid winter storm. What to know about waivers.\n\nThe winter weather's dangers are often localized and not limited to snowfall. In New York, blizzard conditions created whiteouts and stranded motorists on the state's western side while flooding prompted water rescues on the eastern side.\n\nMeanwhile, bone-numbing wind chills extended throughout the country. Every state in the contiguous U.S. will experience minimum wind chills below freezing on Christmas or before, the weather service says.\n\nOnly a few regions in the U.S. are expected to escape bitter cold over Christmas — parts of California, Oregon, Arizona and Florida are among the few spots in the nation that won't experience wind chills below freezing, the weather service predicts.\n\nPHOTOS:Intense winter storm blows across the US with blizzards and bitter cold\n\nOther impacts from the storm kept accumulating Saturday. Power outage reports swelled up to some 1.7 million Saturday morning before falling significantly in the afternoon – and thousands of flights were canceled amid a busy holiday travel season.\n\n\"Severe weather across the country led to more than 20% of flights being canceled (Friday). Impacts continue today but FAA expects that the most extreme disruptions are behind us as airline and airport operations gradually recover,\" U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg wrote on Twitter Saturday.\n\nButtigieg also noted that \"many Amtrak services have been canceled or delayed as well.\" He cautioned those traveling by car this weekend to observe local warnings and weather hazards.\n\nWhen will the winter storm be over?\n\nNot before Christmas.\n\nFederal forecasters expect a huge mass of cold air to continue affecting the nation into next week. Those temperatures are a concern from the Dakotas to Florida even on Monday and Tuesday.\n\n\"Wind chills will still bottom out in the 20s and low 30s Monday and Tuesday morning for most locations in the South outside of south Florida,\" a Friday forecast says.\n\nBut low temperatures are forecasters' primary concern for most of the country by Monday. Flooding, rain and other hazards are only expected to affect more localized regions.\n\nNY governor says storm is 'one of the worst in history'; record Buffalo snow\n\nNew York Gov. Kathy Hochul described the snowstorm hitting western parts of the state, particularly the Buffalo area, as \"one of the worst in history\" at a press briefing Saturday morning.\n\nHochul, who issued a statewide State of Emergency that went into effect early Friday, also pointed to the storm's impact on transportation hazards and emergency response. Every fire truck in Buffalo, she said, was stranded and stuck in snow as of Saturday morning.\n\n\"No matter how many emergency vehicles we have, they cannot get through the conditions as we speak,\" Hochul said.\n\nAccording to the weather service, Buffalo reported a daily snowfall of 22.3 inches Friday – almost doubling the old record of 12.6 inches set in 1976. The city also reported 1.98 inches of rain on Friday, surpassing the 1876 record of 1.73 inches.\n\nWatch:'Zero-Mile' visibility as Buffalo Airfield closes on night before Christmas Eve\n\n\"In Buffalo, this storm will likely at least jump near the top of the list of worst blizzards in the city’s history, if not even becoming the worst,\" meteorologist Jake Sojda said in an AccuWeather article. \"Four to 6 feet of snow will fall by Sunday and coupled with wind gusts approaching hurricane force (74 mph or greater) to create enormous drifts and impossible travel.\"\n\nIn addition to Hochul's declaration, Buffalo Mayor Byron W. Brown issued a State of Emergency beginning Friday morning.\n\n\"I’ve never seen the likes of this kind of storm,” Colleen Darby, 59, a lifelong resident of the area, told The Associated Press. \"I can’t even get out of my house right now. The snow is up to my chest.\"\n\nHochul said on Saturday that she will also ask the federal government for an emergency declaration, which would allow New York to seek reimbursements for the \"extraordinary expenses\" undertaken with overtime, mutual aid brought in from around the state and the deployment of crews responding to the unprecedented storm.\n\nThousands of flight delays, cancellations on Christmas Eve\n\nTravelers heading to airports on Christmas Eve are facing thousands of flight delays and cancellations.\n\nFlightAware, an online tracker, reported Saturday as of 4:00 p.m. ET, more than 6,100 delays and over 2,600 cancellations for flights within, into or out of the U.S.\n\nFlightAware's \"Misery Map\" showed more than 900 delays and over 250 cancellations seen between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. ET Saturday – with Chicago O'Hare International Airport and Denver International Airport experiencing the highest number of flight delays and cancellations as of Saturday afternoon.\n\nFriday saw even more flights impacted – with FlightAware reporting a total more than 11,500 U.S. flight delays and over 5,900 U.S. flight cancellations.\n\nPower outages hit more than 1 million homes, business early Saturday\n\nOn Saturday, power outages impacted more than a million electric customers across the country, according to the website PowerOutage.us, which tracks utility reports.\n\nReports swelled to about 1.7 million before falling significantly Saturday afternoon. North Carolina and Maine reported the highest number of power outages Saturday afternoon.\n\nIn Tennessee and North Carolina, utility companies initiated controlled, temporary outages in efforts to save energy. Customers of Memphis, Light, Gas and Water and Duke Energy, for example, were impacted by these rolling blackouts Saturday morning.\n\nBoth companies confirmed that they were ending the temporary outages by mid-day Saturday. But similar action could still be taken in the future.\n\n\"The weather is still frigid and power demand may fluctuate. We are asking customers to be prepared in the event (the Tennessee Valley Authority) implements rolling blackouts. We could be required to do so at any time without notice. We are currently restoring power to all customers who are interrupted,\" Memphis, Light, Gas and Water CEO Doug McGowen said in a statement issued at 11 a.m. CT.\n\nPennsylvania-based PJM Interconnection said that, due to the severe weather, power plants were having difficulty operating – asking residents in 13 states to refrain from unnecessary use of electricity. The major electricity grid operator also warned the 65 million people it serves across the eastern U.S. that future rolling blackouts might be required.\n\nBe prepared::How to arm your home against power outages this winter\n\nAuthorities urge people to stay home in many areas\n\nLocal and state authorities in states including Minnesota, Michigan, New York, Illinois, Ohio and Kentucky have urged residents to limit travel.\n\nMichigan State Police on Friday warned travelers to stay off the roads.\n\n“Most roads are icy and impacted by blowing snow, which is causing low visibility,” police posted on Facebook. “If travel is not necessary, please stay home.”\n\nSome forecasters have said the storm's danger doesn't primarily come from the amount of snowfall — it's a combination of snow, wind, ice and frigid temperatures that were particularly concerning in some areas.\n\n\"Don't focus too much on the snow totals ... Significant blowing and drifting will be occurring. Avoid travel!\" the weather service in Buffalo said Friday afternoon.\n\nBomb cyclones are powerful winter storms. Here's a visual breakdown of how they're created.\n\nThe weather service office reported recieving numerous reports Friday night of people being stranded along roadways.\n\nWhat is the polar vortex?\n\nAccording to the weather service, the polar vortex is a giant, circular area of rotating cold air and low pressure that surrounds both of Earth's poles. In the U.S., focus remains on the North Pole's polar vortex – because it impacts weather in the Northern Hemisphere.\n\nPeople may only talk about the polar vortex when it sends frigid temperatures south of the Arctic – but it always exists, the weather service notes, its strength changing between seasons.\n\nWhat is the polar vortex? In-depth look at how it can affect winter weather in the US.\n\nWhen the polar vortex is stable and strong, it typically stays near the North Pole. But when it weakens or splits, frigid air can escape, funneling freezing temperatures farther south to the U.S., Europe and Asia.\n\nWhat is wind chill?\n\nMeteorologists define wind chill as how cold it feels while outdoors, and it’s based on the rate of heat loss from exposed skin caused by the wind-and-cold combination, according to the National Weather Service. Increased wind draws heat from the body, which then lowers the temperature of the skin and internal body.\n\n“Frostbite may develop on exposed skin in as few as 10-20 mins, and hypothermia can quickly develop if you're not dressed for the cold,” weather service experts in Chicago warned Thursday.\n\nContributing: The Associated Press. Doyle Rice, USA TODAY. Samuel Hardiman, Memphis Commercial Appeal. Bryce Airgood and Mark Johnson, Lansing State Journal.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/12/24"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/12/weather/winter-storm-system-snow-in-us-west-monday/index.html", "title": "Nationwide winter storm set to bring everything from blizzard ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nA large winter storm slammed into the western US over the weekend, blanketing mountain areas with heavy snow, and is now set to traverse the nation, threatening dangerous blizzard conditions, strong tornadoes, and flooding this week.\n\n“This winter storm is a true coast-to-coast, top-to-bottom impact that will be felt by every person in the country at some point this week,” CNN Meteorologist Brandon Miller said.\n\nThe storm already brought avalanche warnings to parts of the West, shutting down major highways as conditions became icy.\n\nAlmost 15 million people in over a dozen states are under some level of winter weather alert as the powerful storm moves across the county, bringing with it a multiday severe storm threat.\n\nSign up to receive weekly email updates from CNN Meteorologists.\n\nThe storm will strengthen as it travels eastward, bringing snow to the Rockies tonight, where a foot of snow is expected before the system strengthens even more.\n\nThe Upper Midwest, and northern and central Plains will get hit the hardest Monday night into Tuesday as widespread heavy snow falls.\n\n“Snow accumulations through Tuesday morning will generally range between 6 to 12 inches, centered on the Northern High Plains,” the US weather prediction center said. “The highest snow totals are currently forecast for western South Dakota and northwestern Nebraska, where upwards of 18 to 24 inches is possible.”\n\nMeanwhile, a widespread area from eastern Wyoming and Colorado to western South Dakota and Nebraska will also have winds gusts as high as 60 mph. Heavy snowfall and strong winds will set the stage for a blizzard, leading to whiteout conditions and impossible travel.\n\nBlizzard conditions are when there are sustained winds of 35 mph or higher and visibility below a quarter mile for at least three consecutive hours.\n\nWinter storm alerts stretch from the Canadian border to the Mexican border and blizzard warnings extend from just west of Denver into the Dakotas.\n\n“All preparations for this storm should be well underway and completed sooner rather than later,” the National Weather Service office in Rapid City said.\n\nSome locales inside the blizzard warning areas could pick up as much as 20 inches of snow. The winds could be strong enough to knock down tree limbs and cause power outages, and the harsh conditions could be deadly for anyone outdoors.\n\n“The cold wind chills, as low as 20 below zero, could cause frostbite on exposed skin in as little as 30 minutes,” the weather service office in Cheyenne, Wyoming, said.\n\nFarther east, ice warnings blanket eastern North Dakota, where nearly half an inch of ice could accumulate. If it materializes, power outages are certain and travel will be impossible.\n\nIcing is also possible across southwestern Minnesota and western Iowa, where as much as a tenth of an inch of ice could develop.\n\nEven Anchorage schools are closed\n\nWhile the Anchorage school district builds two snow days into the calendar, the system has been closed for four.\n\n“It’s very unusual. Unsafe road conditions have prevented us from returning to school,” Anchorage School District spokesperson MJ Thim said.\n\nThe current snow depth in Anchorage, Alaska, is 31 inches, making it the greatest since March 27, 2012, according to a tweet from Alaska climate scientist Brian Brettschneider.\n\nBetween 12 and 24 inches of snow fell in the region Sunday into Monday morning, according to the National Weather Service. It was second significant snow storm in less than a week.\n\nThim said officials are looking at their options, including remote learning, depending on future snowfall totals.\n\nMultiday severe storm threat\n\nWhile the storm brings whiteout conditions to the North, the southern section of the storm will have the potential to bring late-season tornadoes along with strong thunderstorms.\n\nOn Monday evening, storms will fire up across western Kansas, as well as across portions of Texas and Oklahoma. The Storm Prediction Center is expecting storms to rapidly develop tonight, after dark.\n\nA Level 2 of 5 risk of severe weather has been issued for the area, including Oklahoma City and Norman in Oklahoma as well as Colby and Garden City in Kansas, and Wichita Falls in Texas.\n\n“Occasional damaging winds, isolated large hail, and a couple of tornadoes will be possible tonight,” the Storm Prediction Center said.\n\nTrack the storms as they develop here.\n\nAs the storm system strengthens and pushes eastward on Tuesday, the possibility of damaging winds, hail, flash flooding and even strong tornadoes will be a concern for portions of the Deep South, especially central Louisiana and eastern Texas.\n\n“All modes of severe will be possible with damaging winds, hail and some more late fall tornadoes,” the weather service office in Shreveport said.\n\nShreveport, Monroe and Alexandria in Louisiana are in a Level 3 of 5 risk for severe weather. Dallas, Fort Worth, and New Orleans are under a Level 2 risk.", "authors": ["Jennifer Gray Haley Brink", "Jennifer Gray", "Haley Brink"], "publish_date": "2022/12/12"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/12/06/north-carolina-power-outages-restorations-authorities-investigation/10847888002/", "title": "North Carolina 'targeted' outage attack latest in power grid threats", "text": "A shooting that damaged two power substations in a North Carolina county, leaving thousands of homes without power, has been deemed a \"targeted\" attack, as officials warn of threats to the nationwide infrastructure.\n\nDays before the attack, the Department of Homeland Security issued a bulletin through its National Terrorism Advisory System warning that the “United States remains in a heightened threat environment” and “lone offenders and small groups” may commit acts of violence on various targets, including critical infrastructure in the country.\n\nThe bulletin follows a report made in January, in which the DHS warned that domestic extremists have been developing “credible, specific plans” to attack electricity infrastructure since at least 2020.\n\nExtremists “adhering to a range of ideologies will likely continue to plot and encourage physical attacks against electrical infrastructure,” the report warned.\n\nMore than 6,400 power plants and 450,000 miles of transmission lines run across the country.\n\nAfter the two electrical substations in Moore County, North Carolina, were shot up, thousands of utility customers had no power for several days. At the height of the outage, more than 45,000 customers were left in the dark amid freezing temperatures.\n\n“It was targeted; it wasn’t random,\" said Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields at a news conference Sunday.\n\nIt was the latest of a number of threats to the power grid over the last decade. In 2013, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ordered grid operators to increase security following a sniper attack on a California power substation. The case remains unsolved but caused power outages and millions of people were advised to conserve energy.\n\nA Utah man was arrested in 2016 and was later sentenced to federal prison after he used a rifle to shoot the cooling fins on a substation, which caused the substation to overheat and fail. The man had planned to attack other substations to take down power in portions of the western United States, court documents said.\n\n'IT WASN'T RANDOM': Outages in North Carolina county could last days after 'targeted' attack on substations\n\nWhat happened in Moore County?\n\nThe outages began at about 7 p.m. Saturday in Carthage, North Carolina, after one or more people \"opened fire\" at two substations, according to Fields. Outages then spread through portions of central and southern Moore County, Fields said.\n\nAll households in Moore County had regained power by Wednesday night, according to Duke Energy's outage map.\n\nDuke Energy, a North Carolina-based power company, previously estimated that power would be restored by Thursday morning. But the company said it was able to fix or replace all of the equipment that had been damaged in the attack.\n\nAs the company finished testing and restoring the equipment, the company said customers were able to gradually get power back throughout the day on Wednesday.\n\nThe company hadalso implemented \"rolling power-ups\" to give power in two- to three-hour waves to some customers in the northern part of Moore County during the outage, according to Sam Stephenson, a power delivery specialist for Duke Energy.\n\nMoore County has a population of about 100,000 people and is about an hour's drive southwest of Raleigh, North Carolina.\n\nGRAPHICS:Locations of North Carolina power substations attacked by gunfire\n\n'A wake-up call to provide better security'\n\nWhile investigators have not released a motive or identified a suspect, officials have called for improvements in critical infrastructure.\n\nMike Causey, the North Carolina insurance commissioner and state fire marshal, called the attack “a wake-up call to provide better security at our power substations.”\n\nNorth Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper announced Wednesday that the state, county, and Duke Energy were offering combined rewards of up to $75,000 total for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the attack.\n\n“An attack on our critical infrastructure will not be tolerated,” Cooper said in a statement Wednesday.\n\nThe FBI also posted a notice on Wednesday seeking information related to the attack for the investigation.\n\nCooper had addressed short-term and long-term plans for the county early Tuesday and called for an assessment of the state's critical infrastructure during the monthly Council of State meeting, which includes how to prevent future attacks and bolstering security.\n\nThe state has sent generators to the county and is helping feed residents, Cooper said during the meeting. Substations nearby are also being closely monitored by law enforcement.\n\n“This seemed to be too easy,” Cooper said after the meeting. “People knew what they were doing to disable the substation, and for that much damage to be caused — causing so much problem, economic loss, safety challenges to so many people for so long.\"\n\n'IT COULD HAPPEN TOMORROW':Experts know disaster upon disaster looms for West Coast\n\nResidents were left in the dark\n\nMoore County residents without power faced below-freezing temperatures overnight but milder temperatures were expected for Tuesday night and Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.\n\nBusinesses and all county schools remained closed Tuesday. Moore County Schools said all schools will be closed Wednesday and Thursday. The county state of emergency curfew that was in place from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. will end early Thursday, according to an alert from the county.\n\nMeals and water were distributed to residents at various businesses and the local food bank during the outage.\n\nAn emergency shelter at the county sports complex in Carthage had about 54 people on Monday night, an increase from 19 people the night before. Many other residents stopped by the shelter for food, warmth, showers or to charge their devices.\n\nBryan Phillips, director of Moore County Public Safety, said officials were working to determine if a death in the county was related to a medical condition or to the power outage. The resident who died was without power, he said.\n\nContributing: The Fayetteville Observer; The Associated Press", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/12/06"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/26/china/china-sichuan-power-crunch-climate-change-mic-intl-hnk/index.html", "title": "China's worst heat wave on record is crippling power supplies. How ...", "text": "Editor’s Note: A version of this story appeared in CNN’s Meanwhile in China newsletter, a three-times-a-week update exploring what you need to know about the country’s rise and how it impacts the world. Sign up here.\n\nHong Kong CNN —\n\nFor weeks now, a power crunch caused by a record heat wave and accompanying drought has wreaked havoc across Sichuan, a province home to 80 million people in southwestern China.\n\nIt’s dimmed skyscrapers, shut factories, darkened subways, and plunged homes and offices into rolling blackouts, forcing air conditioning to be unplugged – and killed thousands of poultry and fish at farms hit by electricity cuts.\n\nThe impact has been felt far and wide, from the neighboring mega city of Chongqing and the eastern provinces along the Yangtze River to the financial hub of Shanghai – where the iconic skyline went dark this week to save energy.\n\nIn a country that prides itself on economic growth and stability, the acute power shortage has come as a shock to residents who in recent decades have grown used to improved living conditions and infrastructure.\n\nTo many, extended power cuts revive memories of the distant past – a bygone era before China’s economic rise ushered in its glitzy metropolises and lifted millions out of poverty.\n\nAnd now, climate change is threatening to disrupt that sense of security and economic growth.\n\nA villager walks in a cracked paddy field amid a severe drought in Neijiang, Sichuan province. Huang Zhenghua/VCG/Getty Images\n\nThe ongoing heat wave is the worst China has seen since records began more than 60 years ago. It has stretched over 70 days, sweeping through large swathes of the country and smashing temperature records at hundreds of weather stations.\n\nThe sheer size of China’s economy and population means any major disruption to its power supply can cause massive loss and suffering.\n\n“These so-called extreme weather events will have more impact on our lives and electricity supply,” said Li Shuo, climate adviser with Greenpeace in Beijing. “And perhaps we all need to reconsider whether these extreme events will become the new normal.”\n\nExperts say the Sichuan power crunch is an example that China’s energy system is far less robust than it needs to be to face the growing challenges from climate change.\n\nSome believe the industry is heading in the right direction toward reform, while others worry it will turn to building more coal-fired power plants to secure energy supply – and risk undermining China’s pledges to reach peak carbon by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060.\n\nHow did the power crunch happen?\n\nLocated along the upper reaches of the Yangtze, China’s longest and largest river, Sichuan is famous for its rich water resources and relies mostly on hydropower.\n\nAmid scorching temperatures and a prolonged drought, reservoirs across Sichuan are drying up – crippling the hydropower stations that account for nearly 80% of the province’s power generation capacity.\n\nThis month, Sichuan has seen its hydroelectricity capacity plunge by 50%, according to the state grid. Meanwhile, the unrelenting heat wave has pushed power demand to unprecedented highs, as residents and businesses blast their air conditioning to stay cool.\n\nAn ariel view of the Baihetan hydropower station that straddles the provinces of Yunnan and Sichuan in southwest China. Cao Mengyao/Xinhua/Getty Images/FILE\n\n“China’s electricity demand has been incredibly flat in the past, because so much of it has come from the industry, not from households or services. Now with air conditioning becoming more common, the demand is becoming higher,” said Lauri Myllyvirta, lead analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air in Helsinki, Finland (CREA).\n\n“At the same time, rains are becoming more errant. Heavy rains and periods of drought make hydropower much less reliable as a source of available capacity during those peaks.”\n\nTo make matters worse, Sichuan is traditionally a huge exporter of power during the rainy season, sending about a third of its hydropower generation to provinces in eastern China, according to David Fishman, an analyst on Chinese energy at consultancy The Lantau Group.\n\nDespite its crippled power generation capacity, Sichuan must still honor its export contracts with other provinces, which Fishman said could “be really hard to get out of.”\n\n“But even if they could, the generating facilities in Sichuan were built to export power to the east coast,” he said. “They don’t really have great connectivity to the rest of the Sichuan grid. They were never intended to serve Sichuan power consumption needs.”\n\n‘Quenching a thirst with poison’\n\nTo ease the energy crunch, Sichuan is firing up its coal power plants, raising concerns among environmentalists about the potential increase in greenhouse gas emissions.\n\nSichuan Guang’an Power Generation, the region’s biggest coal-fired power plant, has been operating at full capacity for 21 consecutive days. Its electricity generation for August is expected to jump 313% from a year earlier, the company said.\n\nThe province is also mining more coal. Sichuan Coal Industry Group, its largest coal miner, has more than doubled its thermal coal production since mid-August. And last week, Sichuan opened its first national coal reserve.\n\nNationwide, the daily consumption of coal at power plants was up 15% in the first two weeks of August compared with the same period last year, according to the National Development and Reform Commission.\n\nLast week, Chinese vice-premier Han Zheng said the government would step up support for coal plants to ensure stable power supply.\n\nWhile the jump in coal consumption is likely a temporary fix, Li, the Greenpeace adviser, feared the hydropower crisis could be used by coal interest groups to lobby for more coal plants.\n\n“There is a possibility that power shortages caused by future extreme weather events might become a new motivation for China to approve more (coal-fired power) projects,” he said.\n\nLast year, after a coal shortage caused a series of power outages across China, the government began to signal a renewed focus on “energy security.” By the last quarter of the year, new-approved coal capacity surged back, especially in state-owned enterprises, Greenpeace said in a report published last month.\n\nIn the first quarter of this year, provincial governments approved plans to add a total of 8.63 gigawatts of new coal power plants, nearly half the amount seen in all of 2021, according to the report.\n\n“Energy security has become a sort of code word for coal, rather than for reliable supply of energy,” the report said.\n\nYu Aiqun, China researcher at Global Energy Monitor, likened turning to coal – the largest cause of global warming – for energy security to “quenching a thirst with poison.”\n\n“China has an obsession with coal power – there is a very strong sense of dependence. Whenever an energy problem occurs, it always tries to seek answer from coal power …This is running in the opposite direction from its climate goals,” she said.\n\n‘Big challenge’\n\nChina’s response to its energy crisis will have an impact on the rest of the world. The country of 1.4 billion people is the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide, accounting for 27% of global emissions.\n\nBut some analysts say boosting coal capacity is only part of China’s answer to the much-needed energy reform.\n\nFollowing the power shortages last year, the Chinese government has taken important measures to increase the flexibility of pricing and the profitability of clean energy, said Myllyvirta with CREA.\n\n“The big challenge in China’s system is the grid is being operated in a very rigid way,” he said. “Different provinces aren’t sharing their capacity and using their capacity in an optimal way to to balance the loads within the region.”\n\nTherefore, the need to build more thermal power plants can be significantly reduced if China’s electricity grid can be managed more efficiently and flexibly, Myllyvirta said.\n\nApart form new coal power, China is also stepping up construction of renewable energy – its installed solar and wind energy capacity now accounts for 35-40% of the global total.\n\nFishman, the energy consultant, said the new coal power plants are not necessarily going to be used; instead, they were built as backup for the fast expanding renewable energy sector – in case it runs into problems, like the ongoing drought in Sichuan.\n\n“Capacity doesn’t equal generation. The capacity being there creates a lot of optionality and flexibility for all these other (renewable energy sources) they’re building.” he said. “For now, I see the coal capacity additions, as for the most part, targeted at being able to support wind and solar.”\n\nFishman said China’s power system planners are aware of the challenges they face, and that the industry overall is moving “in the right direction.”\n\nThe record heat wave and the power crunch in Sichuan highlight the need to reform the grid system, he said. “Because without them, this would be an event that could happen every five or 10 years, and it would be crippling every five or 10 years – or maybe even more frequently,” he said.", "authors": ["Nectar Gan"], "publish_date": "2022/08/26"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/19/us/blackouts-summer-heat-extreme-weather/index.html", "title": "Blackouts possible this summer due to heat and extreme weather ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nExtreme temperatures and ongoing drought could cause the power grid to buckle across vast areas of the country this summer, potentially leading to electricity shortages and blackouts, a US power grid regulator said Wednesday.\n\nNERC, a regulating authority that oversees the health of the nation’s electrical infrastructure, says in its 2022 Summer Reliability Assessment that extreme temperatures and ongoing drought could cause the power grid to buckle. High temperatures, the agency warns, will cause the demand for electricity to rise. Meanwhile, drought conditions will lower the amount of power available to meet that demand.\n\nVideo Ad Feedback Reality Check: We need infrastructure to survive the climate crisis 03:20 - Source: CNN\n\n“Industry prepares its equipment and operators for challenging summer conditions. Persistent, extreme drought and its accompanying weather patterns, however, are out of the ordinary and tend to create extra stresses on electricity supply and demand,” said Mark Olson, NERC’s manager of Reliability Assessments.\n\nOn Thursday, NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center called for nearly the entire contiguous United States to experience above average temperatures this summer.\n\nThe power grid is extremely delicate and electricity supply must always meet electricity demand, experts warn. If not, capacity shortfalls can occur. A shortfall is when there is not enough power being generated to meet demand.\n\nForced power outages, also known as rolling blackouts, are initiated during these situations – which is what millions of Americans run the risk of seeing this summer – to prevent long term damage to the grid.\n\nBut power grids are also susceptible in winter. In February 2021 Texas witnessed its highest electricity demand ever as residents tried to keep warm.\n\nVideo Ad Feedback Why snow and blackouts in Texas are a preview for all of us 01:54 - Source: CNN\n\nTo prevent the power grid from buckling under the stress, grid operators were forced to implement rolling outages when Texans needed power the most.\n\nMore than 200 people died during the power crisis, with the most common cause of death being hypothermia. A post-storm analysis released in November indicated power plants were unable to produce electricity primarily due to natural gas issues and generators freezing.\n\nNERC says much of North America will have adequate resources and electricity on hand this summer, but several markets are at risk of energy emergencies.\n\nThe Upper Midwest and mid-South along the Mississippi River will experience the highest risk this summer, NERC warns, where the retirement of old power plants and increased demand are troublesome. Furthermore, the region is without a key transmission line that was damaged by a tornado in December 2021. Texas, the West Coast and the Southwest are at an elevated risk.\n\nIn addition to extreme weather, supply chain issues and an active wildfire season will further comprise reliability this summer, the assessment warns.", "authors": ["Tyler Mauldin"], "publish_date": "2022/05/19"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/27/americas/hurricane-ian-cuba-blackout-intl-hnk/index.html", "title": "Cuba: Hurricane Ian killed at least 2 people and wiped out power to ...", "text": "Editor’s Note: Affected by the storm? Use CNN’s lite site for low bandwidth.\n\n\n\nAre you affected by Hurricane Ian? Text or WhatsApp your stories to CNN +1 332-261-0775.\n\n\n\n¿Te ha afectado el huracán Ian? Comparte tu historia por mensaje de texto o por WhatsApp a +1 332-261-0775.\n\nHavana, Cuba CNN —\n\nHurricane Ian’s thrashing of Cuba has left at least two people dead and the entire island without power.\n\nBoth deaths occurred in the hard-hit western province of Pinar del Rio, where a woman died after a wall collapsed on her and a man died after his roof fell on him, state media said.\n\nOn Wednesday, crews rushed to restore power to some of the millions of Cubans who lost electricity as Ian battered the western region with fierce winds and treacherous storm surge.\n\nIan made landfall as a Category 3 storm just southwest of La Coloma in the Pinar del Rio province early Tuesday.\n\nThe hurricane was forecast to dump up to 16 inches of rain and trigger mudslides and flash flooding in the western region, prompting evacuation orders for thousands of residents.\n\nThe Pinar del Rio town of San Juan y Martinez was left with fields inundated by floodwater and uprooted trees, images from state media outlet Cubadebate show.\n\nPinar del Rio, known for growing Cuba’s rich tobacco, also suffered downed fences and destruction at the Robaina tobacco farm, according to photos posted by state media.\n\nThe country’s state-run National Electric System turned off power in the capital Havana to avoid electrocutions, deaths and property damage until the weather improved. But the nationwide blackouts were caused by the storm and were not planned.\n\nAn economic crisis has been gripping Cuba, leading to shortages of food, fuel and medicine. Blackouts across the island have been regular all summer, which has led to rare protests against the government.\n\nPeople play dominoes by flashlight during a blackout in Havana on Wednesday. Ramon Espinosa/AP\n\nThousands of Cubans evacuated\n\nThe life-threatening conditions Hurricane Ian inflicted on Cuba prompted officials to evacuate more than 38,000 residents from their homes in the Pinar del Rio province, according to state news channel TelePinar.\n\nAdriana Rivera, who lives in Spain, told CNN she hadn’t been able to contact her family living in Pinar del Rio since Tuesday morning.\n\nCuba power outage in Havana is seen on Tuesday. CNN\n\n“They didn’t expect the hurricane to be this strong.” Rivera said. “I hope they’re okay. The uncertainty is killing me.”\n\nThe last time Rivera spoke to her family – including her mother, sister, cousin and nephews – they told her they would seek shelter on the second floor of their home because the first floor was flooding. One of her nephews also recorded videos of the family’s flooded home.\n\nMayelin Suarez, a resident of Pinar del Rio, told Reuters the storm made for the darkest night of her life.\n\n“We almost lost the roof off our house,” Suarez said. “My daughter, my husband and I tied it down with a rope to keep it from flying away.”", "authors": ["Patrick Oppmann Aya Elamroussi Heather Chen", "Patrick Oppmann", "Aya Elamroussi", "Heather Chen"], "publish_date": "2022/09/27"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/15/weather/nationwide-massive-storm-tornadoes-thursday/index.html", "title": "Ice and snow start hammering East Coast states after same deadly ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nThe massive storm system that pulverized homes, killed three people in Louisiana and brought blizzard conditions to northern states is bringing a new wave of brutal weather starting Thursday.\n\nMore than a foot of snow has covered parts of the upper Midwest since Monday, including Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, the Dakotas, Minnesota and Wisconsin.\n\nNext, significant ice and heavy snow will smother parts of the Mid-Atlantic and New England, forecasters said.\n\nParts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York have already seen several inches’ worth of snowflakes, with some areas seeing up to six inches. More than a foot of additional snow could be on the way – while some places with higher elevations could get walloped with up to 2 feet of snow.\n\n“We urge everyone in the impacted regions to avoid unnecessary travel tonight and tomorrow,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement Thursday. “Work from home if possible, stay off the roads, and make sure you and your loved ones remain vigilant.”\n\nAt its peak snowfall rate, the storm is expected to dump about one to 2 inches of snow per hour in parts of New York, the governor said, adding power outages were possible over the coming days.\n\nThe intense snowfall will spread into interior New England on Friday, with up to a foot expected there.\n\nIn Pittsburgh, some areas were under a winter weather advisory as temperatures dropped below freezing after a round of rain, warning that an “additional glazing of ice could occur through midnight,” forecasters said Thursday night.\n\nMiles of Interstate 90 in South Dakota were closed Thursday due to hazardous weather. South Dakota DOT\n\nFreezing rain and snow also covered parts of the Mid-Atlantic Thursday. A quarter inch of ice was reported Thursday morning in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia and Maryland, and about a tenth of an inch had built up in parts of Virginia.\n\nThe mammoth storm system that plowed across much of the country this week will morph into a nor’easter that will continue spread ice, snow and rain to the Northeast.\n\nNow, as the East Coast hunkers down, tornado survivors in the South are grappling with colossal damage.\n\nA tornado passes a highway Wednesday in New Iberia, Louisiana. Mike Ibert via Reuters\n\n‘All of a sudden, everything just blew up’\n\nThe same storm system now slamming eastern states left a trail of devastation in Gulf Coast states.\n\nAt least 50 tornado reports have been made since Tuesday in Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida, Texas Alabama, Georgia and Oklahoma.\n\nIn northern Louisiana, a tornado that moved through the town of Farmerville was rated an EF-3, with 140 mph winds, according to the National Weather Service. The tornado, which moved through Union Parish Tuesday evening, was 500 yards wide at its largest point and was on the ground for over nine miles.\n\nAt least 20 people were injured and the tornado demolished parts of an apartment complex and a mobile home park, Farmerville Police Detective Cade Nolan said.\n\nPatsy Andrews was home with her children in Farmerville when she heard “rushing wind like a train” outside, she told CNN affiliate KNOE-TV.\n\n“All of a sudden that wind was so heavy, it broke my back door,” Andrews said. “The lights went off and all we could hear was glass popping everywhere.”\n\nA tornado caused widespread damage in Union Parish, Louisiana. CNN\n\nAndrews said she and her daughter crawled into a hallway as glass shattered around them and water leaked through the roof. They ended up hunkering down in their bathroom and praying. Her family survived the storm but was left with a damaged home.\n\nFurther south, the weather service also confirmed two EF-2 tornadoes – in preliminary ratings while damage surveys are ongoing – in the New Orleans area. The first tornado impacted areas of St. Charles Parish, Louisiana, including Montz and Killona, where one person was killed. The second affected areas from Marrero to Arabi on the south and east sides of New Orleans.\n\nMore than 50 structures were damaged, St. Charles Parish President Matthew Jewell said Thursday, including 45 in Killona and nine in Montz. About 21 of those are no longer livable.\n\n“This happens as the weather’s getting colder and 10 days before Christmas and to a lot of people who are just now recovering from Hurricane Ida,” Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said in a Thursday news conference. “That was especially heartbreaking in St. Charles Parish.”\n\nIn Jefferson Parish, Trent Theriot ducked inside a small closer as soon as he heard a tornado was headed his way.\n\n“A strong gust of wind came through the front door … the tornado came through the front,” Theriot told CNN’s Nick Valencia. “All of a sudden, everything just blew up.”\n\nJefferson Parish Councilman Scott Walker posted images of storm damage on Facebook. \"Powerlines down, home severely damaged, rooftops ripped off, \" he wrote. Courtesy Scott Walker\n\nWhen he emerged from the closet, Theriot’s house no longer had a roof and had shifted several feet off its foundation.\n\nBut he said he’s fortunate to be alive. “Thank Jesus,” Theriot said, “I’m here for another day.”\n\n‘More devastating than initially expected’\n\nThe tornado that shredded much of Gretna, Louisiana, on Wednesday may have damaged up to 5,000 structures, the mayor said.\n\n“Unfortunately, now that the sun is up, it is more devastating than initially expected,” Mayor Belinda Constant said Thursday.\n\nA tornado blew out a vehicle's windows and damaged or destroyed homes in Gretna, Louisiana. Matthew Hinton/AP\n\n“There are more houses that will probably have to be condemned or just demolished based on such damage,” she said. “It’s about a mile-and-a-half stretch that is completely just inundated with destruction.”\n\nDespite the devastation in Gretna, only three injuries were reported, the mayor said.\n\n“This is not the place where we normally have tornadoes. So our reality of a safe house is not what it is in other parts of the country. But people survived in bathtubs,” she said.\n\n“We’re a resilient people, and this is the type of thing that don’t choose locations.”\n\nWidespread power outages in the cold\n\nPower lines are mangled after a tornado struck Wednesday in Gretna, Louisiana. Matthew Hinton/AP\n\nFrom tornadoes in the South to blizzard conditions in the Upper Midwest, more than 100,000 homes, businesses and other electricity customers in the US had no power Thursday night, according to PowerOutage.us.\n\nMost of those outages – more than 80,000 – were in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Ferocious winds from blizzard conditions knocked down power lines in the Upper Midwest, and temperatures in some areas without power plunged to near or below freezing.\n\nVisibility was significantly reduced Thursday on Interstate 94 near Bismarck, North Dakota. Tom Stromme/The Bismarck Tribune/AP\n\nA mother and child were killed and found far from their home\n\nAt least three deaths in Louisiana have been linked to the storm.\n\nYoshiko A. Smith, 30, and her 8-year-old son, Nikolus Little, were killed Tuesday when a tornado struck Caddo Parish and destroyed their home, local officials said.\n\nTheir bodies were found far from where their house once stood, officials said. Autopsies have been ordered for both, the county coronor said.\n\nIn St. Charles Parish, a 56-year-old woman died after a tornado hit her home, the Louisiana Department of Health said Wednesday.\n\nAnd “a number of people” remain in hospitals, the governor said. Some have significant injuries and others are stable, he added.\n\nIn Texas, a tornado struck Wise County near Paradise and Decatur on Tuesday, officials said. Video showed homes splintered, with roofs ripped off in Decatur.\n\nAnd in Wayne, Oklahoma, a tornado damaged homes and barns Tuesday, officials said. No injuries were reported, but homes were flattened or had roofs torn off, according to footage from CNN affiliate KOCO.\n\nGiven the extensive destruction across the state, “I am amazed that we didn’t have more loss of life in Louisiana, and I’m very thankful for it,” Edwards said Thursday.\n\nEdwards said alert notifications on cell phones were extremely important in giving people proper warning before storms impacted their areas.\n\nBut while road crews clear debris and try to restore downed power lines, Edwards urged residents to avoid sightseeing hard-hit areas – such as Iberia Medical Center in New Iberia, a city reportedly hit by a tornado.\n\nIberia Medical Center was damaged by severe weather Wednesday in New Iberia, Louisiana. Leslie Westbrook/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate/AP\n\nIn Arabi, Cindy DeLucca Hernandez thought she could beat the storm while driving home with her 16-year-old son after school. Then she found herself facing a tornado.\n\nHernandez shared video with CNN that showed a tornado blowing through Arabi, kicking up debris and taking out power lines.\n\nA confirmed tornado struck Arabi, Louisiana, on Wednesday. Matthew Hinton/AP\n\n“We started seeing debris and we got hit a couple of times by it,” Hernandez said. “That’s when I put the car in reverse.”\n\nHernandez and her son made it home safely.\n\nBut “it was extremely scary,” Hernandez said. “I’ve never ever been through anything like that.”", "authors": ["Nouran Salahieh Holly Yan Monica Garrett Amanda Watts", "Nouran Salahieh", "Holly Yan", "Monica Garrett", "Amanda Watts"], "publish_date": "2022/12/15"}]}
{"question_id": "20230127_4", "search_time": "2023/01/28/05:14", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/23/tech/twitter-whistleblower-peiter-zatko-security/index.html", "title": "Ex-Twitter exec blows the whistle, alleging reckless and negligent ...", "text": "Twitter has major security problems that pose a threat to its own users’ personal information, to company shareholders, to national security, and to democracy, according to an explosive whistleblower disclosure obtained exclusively by CNN and The Washington Post.\n\nThe disclosure, sent last month to Congress and federal agencies, paints a picture of a chaotic and reckless environment at a mismanaged company that allows too many of its staff access to the platform’s central controls and most sensitive information without adequate oversight. It also alleges that some of the company’s senior-most executives have been trying to cover up Twitter’s serious vulnerabilities, and that one or more current employees may be working for a foreign intelligence service.\n\nThe whistleblower, who has agreed to be publicly identified, is Peiter “Mudge” Zatko, who was previously the company’s head of security, reporting directly to the CEO. Zatko further alleges that Twitter’s leadership has misled its own board and government regulators about its security vulnerabilities, including some that could allegedly open the door to foreign spying or manipulation, hacking and disinformation campaigns. The whistleblower also alleges Twitter does not reliably delete users’ data after they cancel their accounts, in some cases because the company has lost track of the information, and that it has misled regulators about whether it deletes the data as it is required to do. The whistleblower also says Twitter executives don’t have the resources to fully understand the true number of bots on the platform, and were not motivated to. Bots have recently become central to Elon Musk’s attempts to back out of a $44 billion deal to buy the company (although Twitter denies Musk’s claims).\n\nZatko was fired by Twitter (TWTR) in January for what the company claims was poor performance. According to Zatko, his public whistleblowing comes after he attempted to flag the security lapses to Twitter (TWTR)’s board and to help Twitter (TWTR) fix years of technical shortcomings and alleged non-compliance with an earlier privacy agreement with the Federal Trade Commission. Zatko is being represented by Whistleblower Aid, the same group that represented Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen.\n\nJohn Tye, founder of Whistleblower Aid and Zatko’s lawyer, told CNN that Zatko has not been in contact with Musk, and said Zatko began the whistleblower process before there was any indication of Musk’s involvement with Twitter.\n\nAfter this article was initially published, Alex Spiro, an attorney for Musk, told CNN, “We have already issued a subpoena for Mr. Zatko, and we found his exit and that of other key employees curious in light of what we have been finding.”\n\nCNN sought comment from Twitter on more than 50 specific questions regarding the disclosure.\n\nIn a statement, a Twitter spokesperson told CNN that security and privacy are both longtime priorities for the company. Twitter also said the company provides clear tools for users to control privacy, ad targeting and data sharing, and added that it has created internal workflows to ensure users know that when they cancel their accounts, Twitter will deactivate the accounts and start a deletion process. Twitter declined to say whether it typically completes the process.\n\n“Mr. Zatko was fired from his senior executive role at Twitter in January 2022 for ineffective leadership and poor performance,” the Twitter spokesperson said. “What we’ve seen so far is a false narrative about Twitter and our privacy and data security practices that is riddled with inconsistencies and inaccuracies and lacks important context. Mr. Zatko’s allegations and opportunistic timing appear designed to capture attention and inflict harm on Twitter, its customers and its shareholders. Security and privacy have long been company-wide priorities at Twitter and will continue to be.”\n\nSome of Zatko’s most damning claims spring from his apparently tense relationship with Parag Agrawal, the company’s former chief technology officer who was made CEO after Jack Dorsey stepped down last November. According to the disclosure, Agrawal and his lieutenants repeatedly discouraged Zatko from providing a full accounting of Twitter’s security problems to the company’s board of directors. The company’s executive team allegedly instructed Zatko to provide an oral report of his initial findings on the company’s security condition to the board rather than a detailed written account, ordered Zatko to knowingly present cherry-picked and misrepresented data to create the false perception of progress on urgent cybersecurity issues, and went behind Zatko’s back to have a third-party consulting firm’s report scrubbed to hide the true extent of the company’s problems.\n\nThe disclosure is generally much kinder to Dorsey, who hired Zatko and whom Zatko believes wanted to see the problems within the company fixed. But it does depict him as extremely disengaged in his final months leading Twitter – so much so that some senior staff even considered the possibility he was sick.\n\nCNN has reached out to Dorsey for comment. A person familiar with Zatko’s tenure at Twitter told CNN the company investigated several claims he brought forward around the time he was fired, and ultimately found them unpersuasive; the person added that Zatko at times lacked understanding of Twitter’s FTC obligations.\n\nZatko believes his firing was in retaliation for his sounding the alarm about the company’s security problems.\n\nThe scathing disclosure, which totals around 200 pages, including supporting exhibits – was sent last month to a number of US government agencies and congressional committees, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice. The existence and details of the disclosure have not previously been reported. CNN obtained a copy of the disclosure from a senior Democratic aide on Capitol Hill. The SEC, DOJ and FTC declined to comment; the Senate Intelligence Committee, which received a copy of the report, is taking the disclosure seriously and is setting a meeting to discuss the allegations, according to Rachel Cohen, a committee spokesperson.\n\nSen. Dick Durbin, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee and also received the report, vowed to investigate “and take further steps as needed to get to the bottom of these alarming allegations.”\n\nThe claims I’ve received from a Twitter whistleblower raise serious national security concerns. Sen. Chuck Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee\n\nSen. Chuck Grassley, the same panel’s top Republican and an avid Twitter user, also expressed deep concerns about the allegations in a statement to CNN.\n\n“Take a tech platform that collects massive amounts of user data, combine it with what appears to be an incredibly weak security infrastructure and infuse it with foreign state actors with an agenda, and you’ve got a recipe for disaster,” Grassley said. “The claims I’ve received from a Twitter whistleblower raise serious national security concerns as well as privacy issues, and they must be investigated further.”\n\nThe FTC should investigate the claims, and impose fines and individual liability on specific Twitter executives if a probe finds they were responsible for security lapses, Sen. Richard Blumenthal wrote to the agency in a letter on Tuesday obtained by CNN.\n\nThe letter by Blumenthal — who chairs the Senate subcommittee on consumer protection — highlights the pressure Twitter now faces from Washington as a result of the disclosure.\n\n“If the Commission does not vigorously oversee and enforce its orders, they will not be taken seriously and these dangerous breaches will continue,” Blumenthal wrote.\n\nZatko may be eligible for a monetary award from the US government as a result of his whistleblower activities. “Original, timely and credible information that leads to a successful enforcement action” by the SEC can earn whistleblowers up to a 30% cut of agency fines related to the action if the penalties amount to more than $1 million, the SEC has said. The SEC has awarded more than $1 billion to nearly 300 whistleblowers since 2012.\n\nTye told CNN that Zatko filed his disclosure to the SEC “to help the agency enforce the laws,” and to gain federal whistleblower protections. “The prospect of a reward was not a factor in Mudge’s decision, and in fact he didn’t even know about the reward program when he decided to become a lawful whistleblower.”\n\nThe Whistleblower\n\nZatko first came to national attention in 1998 when he took part in the first congressional hearings on cybersecurity.\n\n“All my life, I’ve been about finding places where I can go and make a difference. I’ve done that through the security field. That’s my main lever,” he told CNN in an interview earlier this month.\n\nVideo Ad Feedback Twitter whistleblower was on CNN 22 years ago. Here's what he had to say 03:22 - Source: CNN\n\nThe events leading to his decision to become a whistleblower began before he worked at Twitter, with a devastating hack in 2020 in which the Twitter accounts of some of the world’s most famous people, including then-presidential candidate Joe Biden, former President Barack Obama, Kim Kardashian and Musk, were compromised. Twitter told CNN that in response to the incident, the company began compartmentalizing access to customer support tools.\n\nAfter the attack, Dorsey recruited Zatko, a well-known “ethical hacker” turned cybersecurity insider and executive who previously held senior roles at Google, Stripe and the US Department of Defense, and who told CNN that he’d been offered a senior, day-one cyber position in the Biden administration.\n\nZatko, center, was among a group of hackers who testified before Congress on cybersecurity in 1998. Douglas Graham/CQ-Roll Call, Inc./Congressional Quarterly/Getty Images\n\nWhat Zatko says he found was a company with extraordinarily poor security practices, including giving thousands of the company’s employees — amounting to roughly half the company’s workforce — access to some of the platform’s critical controls. His disclosure describes his overall findings as “egregious deficiencies, negligence, willful ignorance, and threats to national security and democracy.”\n\nAfter the January 6 insurrection, Zatko was concerned about the possibility someone within Twitter who sympathized with the insurrectionists could try to manipulate the company’s platform, according to his disclosure. He sought to clamp down on internal access that allows Twitter engineers to make changes to the platform, known as the “production environment.”\n\nBut, the disclosure says, Zatko soon learned “it was impossible to protect the production environment. All engineers had access. There was no logging of who went into the environment or what they did…. Nobody knew where data lived or whether it was critical, and all engineers had some form of critical access to the production environment.” Twitter also lacked the ability to hold workers accountable for information security lapses because it has little control or visibility into employees’ individual work computers, Zatko claims, citing internal cybersecurity reports estimating that 4 in 10 devices do not meet basic security standards.\n\nTwitter’s flimsy server infrastructure is a separate yet equally serious vulnerability, the disclosure claims. About half of the company’s 500,000 servers run on outdated software that does not support basic security features such as encryption for stored data or regular security updates by vendors, according to the letter to regulators and a February email Zatko wrote to Patrick Pichette, a Twitter board member, that is included in the disclosure.\n\n[I]t was impossible to protect the production environment. All engineers had access. There was no logging of who went into the environment or what they did. From Zatko's disclosure\n\nThe company also lacks sufficient redundancies and procedures to restart or recover from data center crashes, Zatko’s disclosure says, meaning that even minor outages of several data centers at the same time could knock the entire Twitter service offline, perhaps for good.\n\nTwitter did not respond to questions about the risk of data center outages, but told CNN that people on Twitter’s engineering and product teams are authorized to access the production environment if they have a specific business justification for doing so. Twitter’s employees use devices overseen by other IT and security teams with the power to prevent a device from connecting to sensitive internal systems if it is running outdated software, Twitter added.\n\nThe company also said it uses automated checks to ensure laptops running outdated software cannot access the production environment, and that employees may only make changes to Twitter’s live product after the code meets certain record-keeping and review requirements.\n\nTwitter has internal security tools that are tested by the company regularly, and every two years by external auditors, according to the person familiar with Zatko’s tenure at the company. The person added that some of Zatko’s statistics surrounding device security lacked credibility and were derived by a small team that did not properly account for Twitter’s existing security procedures.\n\nBut Twitter’s security concerns had come to light prior to 2020. In 2010, the FTC filed a complaint against Twitter for its mishandling of users’ private information and the issue of too many employees having access to Twitter’s central controls. The complaint resulted in an FTC consent order finalized the following year in which Twitter vowed to clean up its act, including by creating and maintaining “a comprehensive information security program.”\n\nZatko alleges that despite the company’s claims to the contrary, it had “never been in compliance” with what the FTC demanded more than 10 years ago. As a result of its alleged failures to address vulnerabilities raised by the FTC as well as other deficiencies, he says, Twitter suffers an “anomalously high rate of security incidents,” approximately one per week serious enough to require disclosure to government agencies. “Based on my professional experience, peer companies do not have this magnitude or volume of incidents,” Zatko wrote in a February letter to Twitter’s board after he was fired by Twitter in January.\n\nThe stakes of Zatko’s disclosure are enormous. It could lead to billions of dollars in new fines for Twitter if it’s found to have violated its legal obligations, according to Jon Leibowitz, who was chair of the FTC at the time of Twitter’s original 2011 consent order.\n\nThe agency now has another opportunity to show the tech industry it is serious about holding platforms accountable, Leibowitz added, after officials opted not to name top Facebook execs including Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg in the FTC’s $5 billion privacy settlement with that company in 2019.\n\n[I]f there’s a violation here — and that’s a big if — then I think the FTC should very seriously consider not just fining the corporation but also putting the executives responsible under order. Jon Leibowitz, former chair of the FTC\n\n“One of the big disappointments in the Facebook order violation case was that the FTC let executives off the hook; they should’ve been named,” Leibowitz told CNN in an interview. “And if there’s a violation here — and that’s a big if — then I think the FTC should very seriously consider not just fining the corporation but also putting the executives responsible under order.”\n\nTwitter told CNN its FTC compliance record speaks for itself, citing third-party audits filed to the agency under the 2011 consent order in which it said Zatko did not participate. Twitter also said it is in compliance with relevant privacy rules and that it has been transparent with regulators about its efforts to fix any shortcomings in its systems.\n\nZatko’s allegations are based in part on a failure to grasp how Twitter’s existing programs and processes work to fulfill Twitter’s FTC obligations, the person familiar with his tenure told CNN, saying that misunderstanding has prompted him to make inaccurate claims about the company’s level of compliance.\n\nForeign threats\n\nTwitter is exceptionally vulnerable to foreign government exploitation in ways that undermine US national security, and the company may even have foreign spies currently on its payroll, the disclosure alleges.\n\nThe whistleblower report says the US government provided specific evidence to Twitter shortly before Zatko’s firing that at least one of its employees, perhaps more, were working for another government’s intelligence service. The report does not say whether Twitter was already aware or if it subsequently acted on the tip.\n\nParag Agrawal, Twitter's former chief technology officer, was made CEO after Jack Dorsey stepped down last November. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images\n\nLast year, prior to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Agrawal — then Twitter’s chief technology officer — proposed to Zatko that Twitter comply with Russian demands that could result in broad-based censorship or surveillance of the platform, Zatko alleges.\n\nThe disclosure does not provide details of Agrawal’s suggestion. Last summer, however, Russia passed a law pressuring tech platforms to open local offices in the country or face potential advertising bans, a move western security experts said was intended to give Russia greater leverage over US tech companies.\n\nWhile Agrawal’s suggestion was ultimately discarded, it was still an alarming sign of how far Twitter was willing to go in pursuit of growth, according to Zatko.\n\n“The fact that Twitter’s current CEO even suggested Twitter become complicit with the Putin regime is cause for concern about Twitter’s effects on U.S. national security,” Zatko’s disclosure says.\n\nThe fact that Twitter’s current CEO even suggested Twitter become complicit with the Putin regime is cause for concern about Twitter’s effects on US national security, From Zatko's disclosure\n\nZatko’s report is becoming public just two weeks after a former Twitter manager was convicted of spying for Saudi Arabia.\n\nThe Saudi case underscores the gravity of the allegations Zatko now levels at Twitter. His report could further inflame bipartisan concerns in Washington about foreign adversaries and the cybersecurity threats they pose to Americans, ranging from the theft of US citizens’ data to manipulating US voters or stealing technology and trade secrets.\n\nTwitter did not respond to specific questions about its alleged foreign intelligence vulnerabilities.\n\nThe Musk element\n\nZatko’s disclosure comes at a particularly fortuitous moment for Musk, who is engaged in a legal battle with Twitter over his attempt to back out of buying the company. Musk has accused Twitter of lying about the number of spam bots on its platform, an issue that he claims should let him terminate the deal.\n\nWhile the binding acquisition agreement that Musk signed with Twitter in April did not include any bot-related exemptions, the billionaire claims that the number of bots on the platform affect the user experience and that having more bots than previously known could therefore impact the company’s long-term value. After Musk moved to terminate the purchase, Twitter responded with a lawsuit alleging that he is using bots as a pretext to get out of a deal over which he now has buyers’ remorse following the recent market downturn, and asking a court to force him to close the deal. The case is set to go to trial in Delaware Chancery Court in October.\n\nTwitter employees walk by the company's headquarters in San Francisco. Glenn Chapman/AFP/Getty Images\n\nUser numbers are vital information for any social media business, as advertising revenue depends on how many people could potentially see an ad. But figures about how many users a service has, or how many people actually view a given ad on a site, are notoriously unreliable throughout the tech and media industries due to manipulation and error.\n\nAlone among social media companies, Twitter reports its user numbers to investors and advertisers using a measurement it calls monetizable daily active users, or mDAUs. Its rivals simply count and report all active users; until 2019, Twitter had worked that way as well. But that meant Twitter’s figures were subject to significant swings in certain situations, including takedowns of major bot networks. So Twitter switched to mDAUs, which it says counts all users that could be shown an advertisement on Twitter – leaving all accounts that for some reason can’t, for instance because they’re known to be bots, in a separate bucket, according to Zatko’s disclosure.\n\nThe company has repeatedly reported that less than 5% of its mDAUs are fake or spam accounts, and a person familiar with the matter both affirmed that assessment to CNN this week and pointed to other investor disclosures saying the figure relies on significant judgement that may not accurately reflect reality. But Zatko’s disclosure argues that by reporting bots only as a percentage of mDAU, rather than as a percentage of the total number of accounts on the platform, Twitter obscures the true scale of fake and spam accounts on the service, a move Zatko alleges is deliberately misleading.\n\nZatko says he began asking about the prevalence of bot accounts on Twitter in early 2021, and was told by Twitter’s head of site integrity that the company didn’t know how many total bots are on its platform. He alleges that he came away from conversations with the integrity team with the understanding that the company “had no appetite to properly measure the prevalence of bots,” in part because if the true number became public, it could harm the company’s value and image.\n\nJack Dorsey reached out and asked me to come and perform a critical task at Twitter. I signed on to do it and believe I’m still performing that mission. Peiter \"Mudge\" Zatko, former Twitter head of security\n\nExperts on inauthentic behavior online say it can be difficult to quantify “bots” because there isn’t a widely agreed upon definition of the term, and because bad actors constantly change their tactics. There are also many harmless bots on Twitter (and across the internet), such as automated news accounts, and Twitter offers an opt-in feature to allow such accounts to transparently label themselves as automated. Twitter told CNN that the claim it doesn’t know how many bots are on its platform lacks context, reiterating that not all bots are bad and adding that to focus on the total number of bots on Twitter would include those the company may have already identified and taken action against. The company also does not believe it can catch every spam account on the platform, Twitter said, which is why it reports its less-than-5% figure, which reflects a manual estimate, in its financial filings.\n\nBut Zatko told CNN he thinks there would still be value in attempting to measure the total number of spam, false or otherwise potentially harmful automated accounts on the platform. “The executive team, the board, the shareholders and the users all deserve an honest answer as to what it is that they are consuming as far as data and information and content [on the platform … At least from my point of view, I want to invest in a company where I know what’s actually going on because I want to invest strategically in the long-term value of an organization,” he said.\n\nTwitter says that it allows bots on its platform, but its rules prohibit those that engage in spam or platform manipulation. But, as with all social media platforms’ rules, the challenge often lies in enforcing its policies.\n\nElon Musk is engaged in a legal battle with Twitter over his attempt to back out of buying the company. Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images\n\nThe company says it regularly challenges, suspends and removes accounts engaged in spam and platform manipulation, including typically removing more than one million spam accounts each day. Twitter said the total number of bots on the platform is not a useful number. The company declined to answer questions about the total number of accounts on the platform or the average number of new accounts added on the platform daily as context around its daily bot deletion figure.\n\nBut in casting doubt on Twitter’s ability to estimate the true number of fake and spam accounts, Zatko’s allegations could provide ammunition to Musk’s central claim that the figure is much higher than Twitter has publicly reported.\n\nBy going public, Zatko says, he believes he is doing the job he was hired to do for a platform he says is critical to democracy. “Jack Dorsey reached out and asked me to come and perform a critical task at Twitter. I signed on to do it and believe I’m still performing that mission,” he said.", "authors": ["Donie O'Sullivan Clare Duffy Brian Fung Zach Wasser Logan Whiteside", "Donie O'Sullivan", "Clare Duffy", "Brian Fung", "Zach Wasser", "Logan Whiteside"], "publish_date": "2022/08/23"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/05/business/hertz-lawsuit-settlement/index.html", "title": "Hertz settles lawsuits over hundreds of alleged false arrests | CNN ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nHertz will pay $168 million to settle 364 claims related to the company falsely reporting rental cars as stolen. These cases sometimes resulted in people being arrested and even imprisoned.\n\nOne lawsuit involving dozens of such cases alleged systemic flaws in Hertz’s reporting of thefts, including not recording rental extensions, falsely claiming customers hadn’t paid, failing to track its own vehicle inventory and failing to correct false reports to police.\n\nSome of those involved in lawsuits against Hertz reported being held at gunpoint by police and spending days in jail before the false reports were worked out. In one case, a person claimed it took two years for the case against them to be resolved.\n\nHertz said in its announcement that a “meaningful portion” of the settlement payout will be reimbursed from its insurers, and that Hertz “does not expect the resolution of these claims to have a material impact on its capital allocation.”\n\nWhile the company has policies in place to ensure “proper treatment” of its customers as well as protect the company, “it has taken significant steps to modernize and update those policies,” Hertz spokesperson Jonathan Stern said in an email. The company would not detail any specific policy changes, however.\n\nThe settlement will resolve 95% of pending claims against Hertz regarding these sorts of false arrest claims, the company said.\n\n“While we will not always be perfect, the professionals at Hertz will continue to work every day to provide best-in-class service to the tens of millions of people we serve each year,” Hertz CEO Stephen Scherr said in Monday’s statement.\n\nScherr had said in an April interview with CNBC that the cases involved “1/100 of one percent” of Hertz customer transactions.", "authors": ["Peter Valdes-Dapena"], "publish_date": "2022/12/05"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/06/09/donald-trump-unpaid-bills-republican-president-laswuits/85297274/", "title": "USA TODAY exclusive: Hundreds allege Donald Trump doesn't pay ...", "text": "Steve Reilly\n\nUSA TODAY\n\nDuring the Atlantic City casino boom in the 1980s, Philadelphia cabinet-builder Edward Friel Jr. landed a $400,000 contract to build the bases for slot machines, registration desks, bars and other cabinets at Harrah's at Trump Plaza.\n\n\n\nThe family cabinetry business, founded in the 1940s by Edward’s father, finished its work in 1984 and submitted its final bill to the general contractor for the Trump Organization, the resort’s builder.\n\n\n\nEdward’s son, Paul, who was the firm’s accountant, still remembers the amount of that bill more than 30 years later: $83,600. The reason: the money never came. “That began the demise of the Edward J. Friel Company… which has been around since my grandfather,” he said.\n\nDonald Trump often portrays himself as a savior of the working class who will \"protect your job.\" But a USA TODAY NETWORK analysis found he has been involved in more than 3,500 lawsuits over the past three decades — and a large number of those involve ordinary Americans, like the Friels, who say Trump or his companies have refused to pay them.\n\nAt least 60 lawsuits, along with hundreds of liens, judgments, and other government filings reviewed by the USA TODAY NETWORK, document people who have accused Trump and his businesses of failing to pay them for their work. Among them: a dishwasher in Florida. A glass company in New Jersey. A carpet company. A plumber. Painters. Forty-eight waiters. Dozens of bartenders and other hourly workers at his resorts and clubs, coast to coast. Real estate brokers who sold his properties. And, ironically, several law firms that once represented him in these suits and others.\n\nTrump’s companies have also been cited for 24 violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act since 2005 for failing to pay overtime or minimum wage, according to U.S. Department of Labor data. That includes 21 citations against the defunct Trump Plaza in Atlantic City and three against the also out-of-business Trump Mortgage LLC in New York. Both cases were resolved by the companies agreeing to pay back wages.\n\nLitigator in chief\n\nIn addition to the lawsuits, the review found more than 200 mechanic’s liens — filed by contractors and employees against Trump, his companies or his properties claiming they were owed money for their work — since the 1980s. The liens range from a $75,000 claim by a Plainview, N.Y., air conditioning and heating company to a $1 million claim from the president of a New York City real estate banking firm. On just one project, Trump’s Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City, records released by the New Jersey Casino Control Commission in 1990 show that at least 253 subcontractors weren’t paid in full or on time, including workers who installed walls, chandeliers and plumbing.\n\nThe actions in total paint a portrait of Trump’s sprawling organization frequently failing to pay small businesses and individuals, then sometimes tying them up in court and other negotiations for years. In some cases, the Trump teams financially overpower and outlast much smaller opponents, draining their resources. Some just give up the fight, or settle for less; some have ended up in bankruptcy or out of business altogether.\n\nTrump and his daughter Ivanka, in an interview with USA TODAY, shrugged off the lawsuits and other claims of non-payment. If a company or worker he hires isn’t paid fully, the Trumps said, it’s because The Trump Organization was unhappy with the work.\n\n“Let’s say that they do a job that’s not good, or a job that they didn’t finish, or a job that was way late. I’ll deduct from their contract, absolutely,” Trump said. “That’s what the country should be doing.”\n\nTo be sure, Trump and his companies have prevailed in many legal disputes over missing payments, or reached settlements that cloud the terms reached by the parties.\n\nHowever, the consistent circumstances laid out in those lawsuits and other non-payment claims raise questions about Trump’s judgment as a businessman, and as a potential commander- in- chief. The number of companies and others alleging he hasn’t paid suggests that either his companies have a poor track record hiring workers and assessing contractors, or that Trump businesses renege on contracts, refuse to pay, or consistently attempt to change payment terms after work is complete as is alleged in dozens of court cases.\n\nIn the interview, Trump repeatedly said the cases were “a long time ago.” However, even as he campaigns for the presidency, new cases are continuing. Just last month, Trump Miami Resort Management LLC settled with 48 servers at his Miami golf resort over failing to pay overtime for a special event. The settlements averaged about $800 for each worker and as high as $3,000 for one, according to court records. Some workers put in 20-hour days over the 10-day Passover event at Trump National Doral Miami, the lawsuit contends. Trump’s team initially argued a contractor hired the workers, and he wasn’t responsible, and counter-sued the contractor demanding payment.\n\n“Trump could have settled it right off the bat, but they wanted to fight it out, that’s their M.O.” said Rod Hannah, of Plantation, Fla., the lawyer who represented the workers, who he said are forbidden from talking about the case in public. “They’re known for their aggressiveness, and if you have the money, why not?”\n\nSimilar cases have cropped up with Trump’s facilities in California and New York, where hourly workers, bartenders and wait staff have sued with a range of allegations from not letting workers take breaks to not passing along tips to servers. Trump's company settled the California case, and the New York case is pending.\n\nTrump's Doral golf resort also has been embroiled in recent non-payment claims by two different paint firms, with one case settled and the other pending. Last month, his company’s refusal to pay one Florida painter more than $30,000 for work at Doral led the judge in the case to order foreclosure of the resort if the contractor isn’t paid.\n\nJuan Carlos Enriquez, owner of The Paint Spot, in South Florida, has been waiting more than two years to get paid for his work at the Doral. The Paint Spot first filed a lien against Trump’s course, then filed a lawsuit asking a Florida judge to intervene.\n\nIn courtroom testimony, the manager of the general contractor for the Doral renovation admitted that a decision was made not to pay The Paint Spot because Trump “already paid enough.” As the construction manager spoke, “Trump’s trial attorneys visibly winced, began breathing heavily, and attempted to make eye contact” with the witness, the judge noted in his ruling.\n\nThat, and other evidence, convinced the judge The Paint Spot’s claim was credible. He ordered last month that the Doral resort be foreclosed on, sold, and the proceeds used to pay Enriquez the money he was owed. Trump’s attorneys have since filed a motion to delay the sale, and the contest continues.\n\nEnriquez still hasn’t been paid.\n\nTrump frequently boasts that he will bring jobs back to America, including Tuesday in a primary-election night victory speech at his golf club in suburban New York City. “No matter who you are, we're going to protect your job,” Trump said Tuesday. “Because let me tell you, our jobs are being stripped from our country like we're babies.”\n\nBut the lawsuits show Trump’s organization wages Goliath vs David legal battles over small amounts of money that are negligible to the billionaire and his executives — but devastating to his much-smaller foes.\n\nIn 2007, for instance, dishwasher Guy Dorcinvil filed a federal lawsuit against Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club resort in Palm Beach, Fla., alleging the club failed to pay time-and-a-half for overtime he worked over three years and the company failed to keep proper time records for employees.\n\nMar-a-Lago LLC agreed to pay Dorcinvil $7,500 to settle the case in 2008. The terms of the settlement agreement includes a standard statement that Mar-a-Lago does not admit fault and forbids Dorcinvil or his lawyers from talking about the case, according to court records.\n\nDevelopers with histories of not paying contractors are a very small minority of the industry, said Colette Nelson, chief advocacy officer of the American Subcontractors Association. But late or missing payments can be devastating for small businesses and their employees.\n\n“Real estate is a tough and aggressive business, but most business people don’t set out to make their money by breaking the companies that they do business with,” she said, stressing she couldn’t speak directly to the specifics of cases in Trump’s record. “But there are a few.”\n\nIn the interview, Trump said that complaints represent a tiny fraction of his business empire and dealings with contractors and employees, insisting all are paid fairly. “We pay everybody what they’re supposed to be paid, and we pay everybody on time,” he said. “And we employ thousands and thousands of people. OK?”\n\nDespite the Trumps’ assertion that his their companies only refuse payment to contractors “when somebody does a bad job,” he has sometimes offered to hire those same contractors again. It’s a puzzling turn of events, since most people who have a poor experience with a contractor, and who refuse to pay and even fight the contractor in court, aren’t likely to offer to rehire them.\n\nNevertheless, such was the case for the Friels. After submitting the final bill for the Plaza casino cabinet-building in 1984, Paul Friel said he got a call asking that his father, Edward, come to the Trump family’s offices at the casino for a meeting. There Edward, and some other contractors, were called in one by one to meet with Donald Trump and his brother, Robert Trump.\n\n“He sat in a room with nine guys,” Paul Friel said. “We found out some of them were carpet guys. Some of them were glass guys. Plumbers. You name it.”\n\nIn the meeting, Donald Trump told his father that the company’s work was inferior, Friel said, even though the general contractor on the casino had approved it. The bottom line, Trump told Edward Friel, was the company wouldn't get the final payment. Then, Friel said Trump added something that struck the family as bizarre. Trump told his dad that he could work on other Trump projects in the future.\n\n“Wait a minute,” Paul Friel said, recalling his family's reaction to his dad’s account of the meeting. “Why would the Trump family want a company who they say their work is inferior to work for them in the future?”\n\nAsked about the meeting this week, Trump said, “Was the work bad? Was it bad work?” And, then, after being told that the general contractor had approved it, Trump added, “Well, see here’s the thing. You’re talking about, what, 30 years ago?”\n\nIvanka Trump added that any number of disputes over late or deficient payments that were found over the past few decades pale in comparison to the thousands of checks Trump companies cut each month.\n\n“We have hundreds of millions of dollars of construction projects underway. And we have, for the most part, exceptional contractors on them who get paid, and get paid quickly,” she said, adding that she doubted any contractor complaining in court or in the press would admit they delivered substandard work. “But it would be irresponsible if my father paid contractors who did lousy work. And he doesn’t do that.”\n\nBut, the Friels’ story is similar to experiences of hundreds of other contractors over the casino-boom decade in Atlantic City. Legal records, New Jersey Casino Control Commission records and contemporaneous local newspaper stories recounted time and again tales about the Trumps paying late or renegotiating deals for dimes on the dollar.\n\nA half-decade after the Friels’ encounter, in 1990, as Trump neared the opening of his third Atlantic City casino, he was once again attempting to pay contractors less than he owed. In casino commission records of an audit, it was revealed that Trump’s companies owed a total of $69.5 million to 253 subcontractors on the Taj Mahal project. Some already had sued Trump, the state audit said; others were negotiating with Trump to try to recover what they could. The companies and their hundreds of workers had installed walls, chandeliers, plumbing, lighting and even the casino’s trademark minarets.\n\nOne of the builders was Marty Rosenberg, vice president of Atlantic Plate Glass Co., who said he was owed about $1.5 million for work at the Taj Mahal. When it became clear Trump was not going to pay in full, Rosenberg took on an informal leadership role, representing about 100 to 150 contractors in negotiations with Trump.\n\nRosenberg’s mission: with Trump offering as little as 30 cents on the dollar to some of the contractors, Rosenberg wanted to get as much as he could for the small businesses, most staffed by younger tradesmen with modest incomes and often families to support.\n\n“Yes, there were a lot of other companies,\" he said of those Trump left waiting to get paid. \"Yes, some did not survive.\"\n\nRosenberg said his company was among the lucky ones. He had to delay paying his own suppliers to the project. The negotiations led to him eventually getting about 70 cents on the dollar for his work, and he was able to pay all of his suppliers in full.\n\nThe analysis of Trump lawsuits also found that professionals, such as real estate agents and lawyers, say he's refused to pay them sizable sums of money. Those cases show that even some loyal employees, those selling his properties and fighting for him in court, are only with him until they’re not.\n\nReal estate broker Rana Williams, who said she had sold hundreds of millions of dollars in Manhattan property for Trump International Realty over more than two decades with the company, sued in 2013 alleging Trump shorted her $735,212 in commissions on deals she brokered from 2009 to 2012. Williams, who managed as many as 16 other sales agents for Trump, said the tycoon and his senior deputies decided to pay her less than her contracted commission rate “based on nothing more than whimsy.”\n\nTrump and Williams settled their case in 2015, and the terms of the deal are confidential, as is the case in dozens of other settlements between plaintiffs and Trump companies.\n\nHowever, Williams' 2014 deposition in the case is not sealed. In her sworn testimony, Williams said the 2013 commission shortage wasn't the only one, and neither was she the only person who didn't get fully paid. “There were instances where a sizable commission would come in and we would be waiting for payment and it wouldn’t come,” she testified. “That was both for myself and for some of the agents.”\n\nAnother broker, Jennifer McGovern, filed a similar lawsuit against the now-defunct Trump Mortgage LLC in 2007, citing a six-figure commission on real-estate sales that she said went unpaid. A judge issued a judgment ordering Trump Mortgage to pay McGovern $298,274.\n\nEven Trump’s own attorneys, on several occasions, sued him over claims of unpaid bills.\n\nOne law firm that fought contractors over payments and other issues for Trump — New York City’s Morrison Cohen LLP — ended up on the other side of a similar battle with the mogul in 2008. Trump didn’t like that its lawyers were using his name in press releases touting its representation of Trump in a lawsuit against a construction contractor that Trump claimed overcharged him for work on a luxury golf club.\n\nAs Trump now turned his ire on his former lawyers, however, Morrison Cohen counter-sued. In court records, the law firm alleged Trump didn’t pay nearly a half million dollars in legal fees. Trump and his ex-lawyers settled their disputes out of court, confidentially, in 2009.\n\nIn 2012, Virginia-based law firm Cook, Heyward, Lee, Hopper & Feehan filed a lawsuit against the Trump Organization for $94,511 for legal fees and costs. The case was eventually settled out of court. But as the case unfolded, court records detail how Trump's senior deputies attacked the attorneys' quality of work in the local and trade press, leading the firm to make claims of defamation that a judge ultimately rejected on free speech grounds.\n\nTrump claims in his presidential personal financial disclosure to be worth $10 billion as a result of his business acumen. Many of the small contractors and individuals who weren’t paid by him haven’t been as fortunate.\n\nEdward Friel, of the Philadelphia cabinetry company allegedly shortchanged for the casino work, hired a lawyer to sue for the money, said his son, Paul Friel. But the attorney advised him that the Trumps would drag the case out in court and legal fees would exceed what they’d recover.\n\nThe unpaid bill took a huge chunk out of the bottom line of the company that Edward ran to take care of his wife and five kids. “The worst part wasn’t dealing with the Trumps,” Paul Friel said. After standing up to Trump, Friel said the family struggled to get other casino work in Atlantic City. “There’s tons of these stories out there,” he said.\n\nThe Edward J. Friel Co. filed for bankruptcy on Oct. 5, 1989.\n\nSays the founder's grandson: “Trump hits everybody.”\n\nContributing: John Kelly, Nick Penzenstadler, Karen Yi, David McKay Wilson\n\nExclusive: Trump's 3,500 lawsuits unprecedented for a presidential nominee\n\nUSA TODAY exclusive: Hundreds allege Donald Trump doesn't pay his bills\n\nTrump, companies accused of mistreating women in at least 20 lawsuits\n\nExclusive: More than 100 lawsuits, disputes over taxes tied to Trump and his companies\n\nDive into Donald Trump's thousands of lawsuits\n\nTrump casino empire dogged by bad bets in Atlantic City\n\nAs campaign rolls on, so do Trump's lawsuits in Florida\n\nHow USA TODAY NETWORK is tracking Trump court files\n\nTrump and the Law", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2016/06/09"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/15/business/hertz-rental-arrests/index.html", "title": "Hertz faces lawsuit from 47 customers claiming false arrests | CNN ...", "text": "Washington, DC CNN —\n\n47 Hertz customers have filed a lawsuit against the rental company that describes horror stories after they were allegedly falsely reported as having stolen its rental cars, and in some cases even jailed.\n\nThe plaintiffs allege being blind-sided by arrests — sometimes at gunpoint — and in some cases spending time in jail. Some plaintiffs describe losing their jobs in the fallout from the arrests.\n\nThe lawsuit alleges systematic flaws in Hertz’s reporting of thefts, including not recording rental extensions, falsely claiming customers haven’t paid, failing to track its own vehicle inventory and failing to correct false reports to police. The lawsuit was filed in Delaware Superior Court and comes on the heels of a court ruling that these cases could be pursued outside bankruptcy court. (Hertz had filed for bankruptcy in May 2020 before emerging in July 2021.)\n\nHertz said in a statement that it disagreed with the ruling allowing the cases to be pursued outside bankruptcy court, and that it’s committed “to do right by our customers.”\n\n“We are reviewing and considering each claim brought against Hertz on its individual merits,” Hertz spokesman Jonathan Stern said. “We have begun extending settlement offers to dozens of claimants and will continue to do so on a case by case basis.”\n\nHertz CEO Stephen Scherr admitted in April that “several hundred people” were impacted by the company’s errors.\n\nSome of the plaintiffs say they were using Hertz rentals to make a living driving for Uber or Lyft, or to transport their families. One plaintiff, Bianca DeLoach, described being swarmed by police with their guns drawn at a gas station in March 2021 while her children watched from inside the rental she’d paid for. The complaint says DeLoach spent nine nights in jail. Charges were dismissed months later.\n\nAnother plaintiff, Mary Lindsay Flannery, says she was in a car she’d rented from Hertz in 2020 when police pulled her over and told her that the vehicle was stolen. The car was impounded, the complaint alleges. Flannery was unable to get an explanation from Hertz despite repeated attempts. She was arrested weeks later, leaving her daughter alone without a parent because her father was deployed overseas, according to the complaint.\n\nFlannery had three panic attacks while in jail, was physically attacked by cellmates and bitten by bed bugs, the complaint says.\n\nThe criminal case against Flannery was dismissed and she was released after 14 days.\n\nJames Tolen was driving a Hertz rental in Houston in December 2020 when he was pulled over and told to open his door, the complaint alleges.\n\n“When he opened the door at least 4 officers had guns pointed at him. They made him raise his shirt, then they patted him down and cuffed him in the back of a squad car,” the complaint says. “It was humiliating and terrifying.”\n\nPolice later called Hertz and learned the car wasn’t stolen – Hertz had reported the car stolen months before renting it to Tolen’s then-partner, the complaint says.\n\nReginald Brown, driving a car he’d rented from Hertz for Lyft, was jailed overnight and lost his full-time job while he was being prosecuted, the complaint says. The case against him was dismissed almost two years later, the complaint says.\n\nLyft and Uber did not immediately respond to requests for comment.\n\nDarnay Taper spent two nights in jail last year after being pulled over in March 2021 by eight police cars while during a Hertz rental and held at gunpoint, according to the complaint. Taper, who has heart disease, was denied access to his medication while in jail, the complaint says. The case against Taper was dismissed months later after Hertz didn’t show at a preliminary hearing, the complaint alleges.", "authors": ["Matt Mcfarland"], "publish_date": "2022/07/15"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2014/12/03/zillow-sexual-harassment-lawsuit/19826867/", "title": "Zillow facing sexual harassment suit", "text": "Brett Molina and Jessica Guynn\n\nUSA TODAY\n\nA former employee of Zillow is suing the real estate giant for sexual harassment, comparing the company's internal culture to an \"adult frat house.\"\n\nAccording to the filing in federal court, Rachel Kremer accused Zillow management of \"despicable and inappropriate sexual conduct\" while she was employed there.\n\nThe lawsuit alleges Kremer received several explicit text messages and an e-mail with an advertisement for a sex toy.\n\nIn a statement, Zillow says it investigated the claims and fired an employee in its Irvine, Calif., office.\n\n\"The allegations in the complaint do not reflect Zillow's culture or workplace and are completely inconsistent with our values,\" said Zillow spokeswoman Jill Simmons. \"We don't tolerate harassment of any kind.\"\n\nKremer's attorney, Mark Geragos, said he has \"no doubt\" the lawsuit will expand.\n\nCurrent and former Zillow employees from Irvine and other offices have contacted his firm since he filed the lawsuit, he said, corroborating his client's claims of pervasive sexism inside Zillow.\n\n\"Given the number of people who have made inquiries and have already signed up at our office, it is clearly a major problem at this company,\" said Geragos. \"They need a global resolution.\"\n\nThis is not the first lawsuit tied to Zillow's Irvine office. According to the Orange County Register, another Irvine employee filed a lawsuit against the real estate company for failing to pay overtime.\n\nThe charges are just the latest in a rash of lawsuits over alleged sexism and discrimination in the mostly male technology industry.\n\nEarlier this year, Tinder, which is a popular dating app, settled a lawsuit from Whitney Wolfe, its former vice president of marketing, who alleged she was subjected to a pattern of sexist behavior.\n\nNext month, a gender discrimination and retaliation lawsuit goes to trial against prominent Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.\n\nThe suit, filed in 2012 by former partner Ellen Pao, shined a bright light on an uncomfortable reality: Women say they routinely deal with sexism on the job in the freewheeling industry. Kleiner Perkins denies the allegations.\n\nCharges of sexism have embarrassed an industry that prides itself on being a meritocracy where anyone regardless of gender or race can succeed.\n\nMany people blame the industry's gender gap for a \"brogrammer\" culture, a hybrid of \"bro\" and \"programmer\" that describes the frat-house attitudes and behavior inside some companies.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2014/12/03"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/01/10/ex-itt-students-want-join-suit-get-debt-canceled/96346434/", "title": "Ex-ITT students want to join suit to get debt canceled", "text": "Fatima Hussein\n\nIndyStar\n\nThey said they were defrauded, and now they want a seat at the table.\n\nLast week, a group of former ITT Tech students moved to establish themselves as creditors in the school's bankruptcy proceedings in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Indiana.\n\nOn Jan. 3, five former students filed a 109-page complaint, seeking to act as representatives for hundreds of thousands who say they have been defrauded by the Carmel-based school. Their goal is to have the debt they owe the school canceled.\n\nITT filed for bankruptcy last year after the Education Department cut off the company’s access to federal student aid.\n\nBy the time it declared bankruptcy in September, ITT Tech had been subject to lawsuits from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Massachusetts and New Mexico attorneys general.\n\nGovernment agencies scrutinized the company over alleged failure to disclose bad loans to investors, inflated job placement numbers and aggressive recruiting tactics.\n\nThe students' complaint seeks to establish that ITT defrauded students who attended the school during the past 10 years.\n\nThe Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School is representing the students. Eileen Connor, director of litigation for the center's Project on Predatory Student Lending, is the lead attorney representing the students. She was unavailable for comment.\n\nAlong with legal documents, the students filed more than a thousand pages of first-hand accounts from 541 fellow students — including dozens of students in Indiana — who attended ITT, affidavits from several whistleblowers and evidence developed from state and federal law enforcement investigations.\n\nHundreds of unidentified Indiana students gave testimony about how the loans they racked up while attending the school ruined their credit scores, left them destitute and caused them mental health issues.\n\nOne student who was enrolled in the criminal justice program at the Carmel campus from September 2010 to January 2012 said, “I’ve been in financial hardship since then. I do not earn much in my current job. I work as a grocery stocker, and most of my check goes to paying off my loan. I had my hours cut about a year ago, and this led me to default on my loan, which has affected me greatly because I am not eligible for credit anywhere. My credit score is horrible because of this school. I cannot afford anything. I can barely make ends meet.”\n\nAnother student who majored in computer forensics and attended ITT Tech in Carmel from January 2009 to January 2014, said, “I can barely make ends meet. It has destroyed my nearly perfect credit score because I have had to make the choice to skip my loan payment in order to be able to buy food or make my rent for the month.”\n\nTestimonials have come from throughout the U.S. One student who was enrolled in ITT's Network System Administration program at a Washington campus stated, \"I joined the Army to pay for school, and ITT Tech mislead my dreams of higher education. Now I'm $10,000 in debt and have nothing to show for it. I‟m constantly being harassed by collection agencies and it's making me depressed.\"\n\nStudents who have their pay garnished to satisfy loans are often struggling to support themselves with low-wage or minimum-wage jobs that are a far cry from the high-salary positions promised by ITT recruiters, according to the complaint.\n\nFor example, one student says: \"For crying out loud, I work at McDonald's as a drive-thru attendant 32-60 hours a week earning only $8p/h... and my husband has gotten laid off his $28,000p/y factory job… Because my daughter has a psychotic & behavior disorder . . . the state could file charges of child neglect and endangerment if I can't afford to buy food, pay rent/water/electric bills.\"\n\nITT Tech was one of the country’s largest for-profit college chains. Over the past decade, it took in more than $11 billion in revenue, 98 percent of which came in the form of tuition, according to the Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School. The center said 76 percent of the tuition was paid through federal student aid.\n\nOriginally part of the conglomerate ITT, the school spun off as its own publicly traded entity in 1999.\n\nAt the time of bankruptcy, the company operated 137 campuses in 39 states, providing career-oriented programs to 43,000 students under the names ITT Technical Institute and Daniel Webster College.\n\nITT's closure displaced more than 35,000 students and more than 8,000 employees, including at least 662 workers in Indiana. The company employed 275 people at its Carmel headquarters.\n\nITT reported assets of $389 million and liabilities of $1.1 billion to the bankruptcy court. The company’s assets include almost $80 million owed by ITT students who were enrolled at the time of the bankruptcy filing.\n\nThe students request a court order certifying the case as a class action, an injunction ordering ITT from collecting on all private students loans administered by ITT, actual and compensatory damages against ITT in an amount to be determined and an order awarding disbursements, costs and attorney's fees.\n\nDeborah J. Caruso, the Chapter 7 trustee appointed by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court to oversee the liquidation, responded to the students' lawsuit in an email.\n\n“Since the filing of these Chapter 7 cases in September, we have been working with state regulators, the SEC, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and the Department of Education to better understand and address the causes of ITT’s collapse and develop a path forward,” Caruso said.\n\nCall IndyStar reporter Fatima Hussein at (317) 444-6209. Follow her on Twitter: @fatimathefatima.\n\nITT Tech's collapse could help former students wipe out their loans", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2017/01/10"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/04/tech/elizabeth-holmes-rise-and-fall/index.html", "title": "The rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes: A timeline | CNN Business", "text": "CNN —\n\nMore than three years after Elizabeth Holmes was first indicted and nearly four months after her trial kicked off, the founder and former CEO of failed blood testing startup Theranos was found guilty on four out of 11 federal fraud and conspiracy charges.\n\nThe verdict comes after a stunning downfall that saw Holmes, once hailed as the next Steve Jobs, go from being a tech industry icon to being a rare Silicon Valley entrepreneur on trial for fraud.\n\nA Stanford University dropout, Holmes – inspired by her own fear of needles – started the company at the age of 19, with a mission of creating a cheaper, more efficient alternative to a traditional blood test. Theranos promised patients the ability to test for conditions like cancer and diabetes with just a few drops of blood. She attracted hundreds of millions of dollars in funding, a board of well-known political figures, and key retail partners.\n\nBut a Wall Street Journal investigation poked holes into Theranos’ testing and technology, and the dominoes fell from there. Holmes and her former business partner, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, were charged in 2018 by the US government with multiple counts of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. (Both pleaded not guilty.)\n\nHere are the highlights of the rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos.\n\nMarch 2004: Holmes drops out of Stanford to pursue Theranos\n\nHolmes, a Stanford University sophomore studying chemical engineering, drops out of school to pursue her startup, Theranos, which she founded in 2003 at age 19. The name is a combination of the words “therapy” and “diagnosis.”\n\nSeptember 2009: Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani joins Theranos as Holmes’ right-hand man\n\nBalwani joins as chief operating officer and president of the startup. Balwani, nearly 20 years her senior, met Holmes in 2002 on a trip to Beijing through Stanford University. The two are later revealed to be romantically involved.\n\nSeptember 2013: Holmes opens up about Theranos; announces Walgreens partnership\n\nA decade after first starting the company, Holmes takes the lid off Theranos and courts media attention the same month that Theranos and Walgreens announce they’ve struck up a long-term partnership. The first Theranos Wellness Center location opens in a Walgreens in Palo Alto where consumers can access Theranos’ blood test.\n\nThe original plan had been to make Theranos’ testing available at Walgreens locations nationwide.\n\nSeptember 2014: Holmes named one of the richest women in America by Forbes\n\nHolmes is named to the magazine’s American billionaire list with the outlet reporting she owns a 50% stake in the startup, pinning her personal wealth at $4.5 billion.\n\nElizabeth Holmes speaking onstage at TechCrunch Disrupt on September 8, 2014 in San Francisco, California. Steve Jennings/Getty Images\n\nDecember 2014: Theranos has raised $400 million\n\nTheranos has raised more than $400 million, according to a profile of the company and Holmes by The New Yorker. It counts Oracle’s Larry Ellison among its investors.\n\nJuly 2015: Theranos gets FDA approval for Herpes test\n\nThe FDA clears Theranos to use of its proprietary tiny blood-collection vials to finger stick blood test for herpes simplex 1 virus – its first and only approval for a diagnostic test.\n\nOctober 2015: Theranos is the subject of a Wall Street Journal investigation; Holmes hits back\n\nThe Wall Street Journal reports Theranos is using its proprietary technique on only a small number of the 240 tests it performs, and that the vast majority of its tests are done with traditional vials of blood drawn from the arm, not the “few drops” taken by a finger prick. In response, Theranos defends its testing practices, calling the Journal’s reporting “factually and scientifically erroneous.”\n\nA day later, Theranos halts the use of its blood-collection vials for all but the herpes test due to pressures from the FDA. (Later that month, the FDA released two heavily redacted reports citing 14 concerns, including calling the company’s proprietary vial an “uncleared medical device.”)\n\nOne week after the Journal report, Holmes is interviewed on-stage at the outlet’s conference in Laguna Beach. “We know what we’re doing and we’re very proud of it,” she says.\n\nHolmes speaking at a Wall Street Journal technology conference in Laguna Beach, California on October 21, 2015. Glenn Chapman/AFP/Getty Images\n\nAmid the criticism, Theranos reportedly shakes up its board of directors, eliminating Henry Kissinger and George Shultz as directors while moving them to a new board of counselors; the company also forms a separate medical board.\n\nNovember 2015: Theranos and Safeway partnership falls short\n\nSafeway, which invested $350 million into building out clinics in hundreds of its supermarkets to eventually offer Theranos blood tests, reportedly looks to dissolve its relationship with the company before it ever offered its services.\n\nJanuary 2016: Federal regulators take issue with Theranos’ California lab; Walgreens pulls back\n\nCenters for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) sends Theranos a letter saying its California lab has failed to comply with federal standards and that patients are in “immediate jeopardy.” It gives the company 10 days to address the issues.\n\nIn response, Walgreens says it will not send any lab tests to Theranos’ California lab for analysis and suspends Theranos services at its Palo Alto Walgreens location.\n\nMarch 2016: CMS threatens to ban Holmes, Balwani from lab business\n\nCMS threatens to ban Holmes and Balwani from the laboratory business for two years after the company allegedly failed to fix problems at its California lab. Theranos says that’s a “worst case scenario.”\n\nMay 2016: Balwani steps down; Theranos voids two years of blood tests\n\nBalwani departs. The company also adds three new board members as part of the restructuring: Fabrizio Bonanni, a former executive vice president of biotech firm Amgen, former CDC director William Foege, and former Wells Fargo CEO Richard Kovacevich.\n\nTheranos voids two years of blood test results from its proprietary testing devices, correcting tens of thousands of blood-test reports, the Journal reports.\n\nJune 2016: Holmes net worth revised to $0; Theranos loses its largest retail partner\n\nForbes revises its estimate of Holmes’ net worth from $4.5 billion to $0. The magazine also lowers its valuation for the company from $9 billion to $800 million.\n\nWalgreens, once Theranos’ largest retail partner, ends its partnership with the company and says it will close all 40 Theranos Wellness Centers.\n\nJuly 2016: Holmes is banned from running labs for two years\n\nCMS revokes Theranos’ license to operate its California lab and bans Holmes from running a blood-testing lab for two years.\n\nAugust 2016: The company unveils ‘miniLab’ device\n\nHolmes tries to move past recent setbacks by unveiling a mini testing laboratory, called miniLab, at a conference for the American Association for Clinical Chemistry. In selling the device, versus operating its own clinics, Theranos seeks to effectively side-step CMS sanctions, which don’t prohibit research and development.\n\nOctober 2016: Theranos investor sues the company; Theranos downsizes\n\nTheranos investor Partner Fund Management sues the company for $96.1 million, the amount it sunk into the company in February 2014, plus damages. It accuses the company of securities fraud. Theranos and Partner Fund Management settled in May, 2017, for an undisclosed amount.\n\nThe company also lays off 340 employees as it closes clinical labs and wellness centers as it attempts to pivot and focus on the miniLab.\n\nNovember 2016: Walgreens sues Theranos\n\nWalgreens sues the blood testing startup for breach of contract. Walgreens sought to recover the $140 million it poured into the company. The lawsuit was settled August, 2017.\n\nJanuary 2017: More layoffs, followed by a failed lab inspection\n\nTheranos downsizes its workforce yet again following the increased scrutiny into its operations, laying off approximately 155 employees or about 41% of staffers.\n\nThe Wall Street Journal reports that Theranos failed a second regulatory lab inspection in September, and that the company was closing its last blood testing location as a result.\n\nApril 2017: Theranos settles with CMS, and Arizona AG\n\nTheranos settles with the CMS, agreeing to pay $30,000 and to not to own or operate any clinical labs for two years.\n\nTheranos also settles with the Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich over allegations that its advertisements misrepresented the method, accuracy, and reliability of its blood testing and that the company was out of compliance with federal regulations governing clinical lab testing. Theranos agrees to pay $4.65 million back to its Arizona customers as part of a settlement deal.\n\nMarch 2018: Holmes charged with massive fraud\n\nThe SEC charges Holmes and Balwani with a “massive fraud” involving more than $700 million from investors through an “elaborate, years-long fraud in which they exaggerated or made false statements about the company’s technology, business, and financial performance.”\n\nThe SEC alleges Holmes and Balwani knew that Theranos’ proprietary analyzer could perform only 12 of the 200 tests it published on its patient testing menu.\n\nTheranos and Holmes agree to resolve the claims against them, and Holmes gives up control of the company and much of her stake in it. Balwani, however, is fighting the charges, with his attorney saying he “accurately represented Theranos to investors to the best of his ability.”\n\nMay 2018: “Bad Blood”\n\nReporter John Carreyrou, who first broke open the story of Theranos for the Wall Street Journal, publishes “Bad Blood,” a definitive look at what happened inside the disgraced company. Director Adam McKay (who directed “The Big Short”) secures the rights to make the film, starring Jennifer Lawrence as Holmes, by the same name.\n\nJune 2018: Holmes and Balwani indicted on criminal fraud charges\n\nHolmes and Balwani are indicted on federal wire fraud charges over allegedly engaging in a multi-million dollar scheme to defraud investors, as well as a scheme to defraud doctors and patients. Both have pleaded not guilty.\n\nMinutes before the charges were made public, Theranos announced that Holmes has stepped down as CEO. The company’s general counsel, David Taylor, takes over as CEO. Holmes remains chair of the company’s board.\n\nFormer Theranos COO Ramesh \"Sunny' Balwani leaves the Robert F. Peckham U.S. Federal Court on June 28, 2019 in San Jose, California. Former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes and former COO Ramesh Balwani were apperaing in federal court for a status hearing, both facing charges of conspiracy and wire fraud for allegedly engaging in a multimillion-dollar scheme to defraud investors with the Theranos blood testing lab services. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images\n\nSeptember 2018: Theranos to dissolve\n\nTaylor emails shareholders that Theranos will dissolve, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. Taylor said more than 80 potential buyers were not interested in a sale. “We are now out of time,” Taylor wrote.\n\nMarch 2019: Theranos gets the documentary treatment\n\nAlex Gibney, the prolific documentary filmmaker behind “Dirty Money,” “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room,” and “The Armstrong Lie,” debuts “The Inventor” on HBO, following the rise and fall of Theranos.\n\nSeptember 2020: Holmes’ possible defense strategy comes to light\n\nA new court document reveals Holmes may seek a “mental disease” defense in her criminal fraud trial. Later, in August 2021, unsealed court documents reveal Holmes is likely to claim she was the victim of a decade-long abusive relationship with Balwani. The allegations led to the severing of their trials. His trial is slated to begin in 2022.\n\nDecember 2020: Holmes’ criminal trial delayed til 2021\n\nInitially set to begin in July 2020, Holmes’ criminal trial is further delayed til July 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.\n\nMarch 2021: Holmes’ pregnancy further delays trial\n\nNews surfaces that Holmes’ is expecting her first child, once more further delaying her criminal trial. Holmes’ counsel advised the US government that Holmes is due in July 2021, a court document revealed. She gave birth in July.\n\nHolmes collects her belongings after going through security at the Robert F. Peckham Federal Building with her defense team on August 31, 2021 in San Jose, California. Ethan Swope/Getty Images\n\nAugust 2021: Holmes’ criminal trial begins with jury selection\n\nMore than 80 potential jurors are brought into a San Jose courtroom for questioning over the course of two days to determine if they are fit to serve as impartial, fair jurors for the criminal trial of Holmes. A jury of seven men and five women is selected, with five alternatives.\n\nDecember 2021: Jury begins deliberating her fate\n\nAfter three months of testimony from 32 witnesses, the criminal fraud case of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes makes its way to the jury of eight men and four women who will decide her fate. The jury would go on to deliberate for more than 50 hours before returning a verdict.\n\nJanuary 2022: Holmes found guilty on four of 11 federal charges\n\nHolmes is found guilty of one count of conspiracy to defraud investors as well as three wire fraud counts tied to specific investors. She is found not guilty on three additional charges concerning defrauding patients and one charge of conspiracy to defraud patients. The jury returns no verdict on three of the charges concerning defrauding investors. Holmes faces up to 20 years in prison as well as a fine of $250,000 plus restitution for each count.\n\nMarch 2022: After Hulu miniseries debuts, Balwani’s criminal trial kicks off\n\n“The Dropout,” a scripted miniseries about Theranos produced by ABC, debuts on Hulu. Amanda Seyfried stars as Holmes and Naveen Andrews plays Balwani. Their romantic and professional relationship features prominently in the show.\n\nFollowing delays due to Holmes’ prolonged trial then a surge of Covid-19, jury selection for Balwani’s trial gets underway. On March 22, opening arguments are held and the government’s first witness, a former Theranos employee turned whistleblower, is called to the stand.\n\nJuly 2022: Balwani guilty of federal fraud\n\nAfter four full days of deliberations, a jury finds Balwani guilty of ten counts of federal wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Like Holmes, Balwani faces up to 20 years in prison as well as a fine of $250,000 plus restitution for each count of wire fraud and each conspiracy count.\n\nSeptember 2022: Holmes asks for new trial, says a key witness expressed regrets\n\nHolmes asks for a new trial after claiming that a key witness visited her house unannounced and allegedly said he “feels guilty” about his testimony.\n\nIn a court filing with the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, Holmes’ attorneys said Adam Rosendorff, a former Theranos lab director who was one of the government’s main witnesses, arrived at her home on August 8 asking to speak with her. According to the filing, Rosendorff did not interact with Holmes but did speak to her partner Billy Evans, who recounted the exchange in an email to Holmes’ lawyers shortly after.\n\n“His shirt was untucked, his hair was messy, his voice slightly trembled,” Evans wrote about Rosendorff. According to Evans’ email, Rosendorff “said when he was called as a witness he tried to answer the questions honestly but that the prosecutors tried to make everybody look bad.”\n\nThe former Theranos lab director also “said he felt like he had done something wrong,” Evans wrote.\n\nOctober 2022: Rosendorff takes the stand again\n\nRosendorff takes the stand again to address concerns from Holmes’ defense team and their claims he had shown up at her home after the trial concluded asking to speak with her and expressed regrets about his testimony.\n\nAt the hearing, Rosendorff reaffirmed the truthfulness of his testimony at Holmes’ trial and said that the government did not influence what he said.\n\nNovember 2022: Request for new trial is denied\n\nA federal judge denies Elizabeth Holmes’ request for a new trial, according to court filings, paving the way for the founder of failed blood testing startup Theranos to be sentenced later in the month.", "authors": ["Sara Ashley O'Brien"], "publish_date": "2022/01/04"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/23/tech/dc-zuckerberg-suit-cambridge-analytica/index.html", "title": "DC attorney general sues Mark Zuckerberg over his handling of the ...", "text": "Washington CNN Business —\n\nWashington, DC, Attorney General Karl Racine sued Mark Zuckerberg on Monday, accusing the Facebook co-founder of misleading the public on the company’s handling of privacy and personal data in connection with the Cambridge Analytica scandal.\n\nThe suit, filed in DC superior court, represents Racine’s latest attempt to hold Zuckerberg personally liable after a judge rejected an attempt last year to name Zuckerberg as a defendant in an ongoing suit against Facebook over the same issue.\n\nRacine’s office has been locked in a legal battle with Facebook for years over allegations the company failed to monitor third-party apps’ use of user data and failed to disclose the leak of data to Cambridge Analytica, the analysis firm used by Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, on a timely basis. In 2018, Facebook said Cambridge Analytica may have had data from as many as 87 million of its users.\n\nWhat made Monday’s suit against Zuckerberg possible now, according to Racine’s office, was a trove of evidence unearthed during the litigation process in the ongoing case involving Facebook.\n\n“The evidence shows Mr. Zuckerberg was personally involved in Facebook’s failure to protect the privacy and data of its users leading directly to the Cambridge Analytica incident,” Racine said in a statement Monday. “This unprecedented security breach exposed tens of millions of Americans’ personal information, and Mr. Zuckerberg’s policies enabled a multi-year effort to mislead users about the extent of Facebook’s wrongful conduct. This lawsuit is not only warranted, but necessary, and sends a message that corporate leaders, including CEOs, will be held accountable for their actions.”\n\nMeta (FB), Facebook (FB)’s parent company, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.\n\nIn a tweet, Meta spokesman Andy Stone said it is “an important time” to revisit Racine’s earlier failure to add Zuckerberg to the existing Facebook suit. Monday’s complaint was first reported by The Washington Post.\n\nThe complaint seeks to highlight Zuckerberg’s personal involvement in decisions surrounding Facebook’s data practices. It alleges, among other things, that Zuckerberg “provided direct input on Facebook’s internal policies relating to data sharing on the Platform, and was so involved that he personally reviewed certain applications’ use of data.”\n\nThe complaint continued: “As CEO, Zuckerberg had the authority to control and direct — and had knowledge of — Facebook’s deceptive trade practices and misrepresentations to District consumers.”\n\nAs a result, the complaint said, Zuckerberg should be held responsible under DC’s consumer protection law and ought to pay damages and restitution, along with being barred from violating the district’s consumer protection law again.\n\nRacine had indicated in early April that his office was considering bringing a separate complaint against Zuckerberg, following repeated clashes with Facebook over document production.", "authors": ["Brian Fung"], "publish_date": "2022/05/23"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/14/politics/durham-sussmann-filing/index.html", "title": "Special counsel Durham alleges Clinton campaign lawyer used ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nSpecial counsel John Durham accused a lawyer for the Democrats of sharing with the CIA in 2017 internet data purported to show Russian-made phones being used in the vicinity of the White House complex, as part of a broader effort to raise the intelligence community’s suspicions of Donald Trump’s ties to Russia shortly after he took office.\n\nThe accusation – which Durham couched in vague, technical language in a court filing late Friday – has been seized upon by Trump and his supporters, who claim the former President was subjected to a smear campaign.\n\nDurham says in the filing that Michael Sussmann, the Democratic lawyer, spoke about internet data related to Trump in a meeting with a federal agency, which sources say was the CIA, more than five years ago. Sussmann claimed the information “demonstrated that Trump and/or his associates were using supposedly rare, Russian-made wireless phones in the vicinity of the White House and other locations,” according to the filing.\n\nDurham’s office said it found nothing to support the allegation. The special counsel also noted that the data showed a Russian phone provider connection involving the Executive Office of the President “during the Obama administration and years before Trump took office.”\n\nThe data was compiled by a tech firm that had special access to the purportedly suspicious internet data through an “arrangement” with the US government, and that firm was in touch with Sussmann, according to the filing.\n\nAn executive at the tech company, Rodney Joffe, and his associates exploited this arrangement by mining domain name system traffic associated with the Executive Office of the President and other data “for the purpose of gathering derogatory information about Donald Trump,” Durham’s prosecutors wrote.\n\nJoffe is not charged with any crime.\n\nA spokesperson for Joffe said he “is an apolitical internet security expert with decades of service to the U.S. Government who has never worked for a political party, and who legally provided access to DNS data obtained from a private client that separately was providing DNS services to the Executive Office of the President (EOP).”\n\n“Upon identifying DNS queries from Russian-made Yota phones in proximity to the Trump campaign and the EOP, respected cyber-security researchers were deeply concerned about the anomalies they found in the data and prepared a report of their findings, which was subsequently shared with the CIA,” the spokesperson added later in the statement.\n\nSussmann last fall pleaded not guilty to a charge of lying to the FBI about a separate meeting. Defense attorneys for Sussmann called Durham’s recent statements in court about the internet data “misleading.”\n\n“The Special Counsel has again made a filing in this case that unnecessarily includes prejudicial – and false – allegations that are irrelevant … and are plainly intended to politicize this case, inflame media coverage, and taint the jury pool,” they wrote in a court filing Monday night.\n\nThey said Durham had a fact wrong: that Sussmann told the CIA about internet data related to Russian phones being used around the White House before Trump was President, and not from after he took office.\n\nDurham’s most recent assertions in court about Sussmann implied that the CIA heard from him about Russian phones being used around the White House after Trump became President as a way to raise the intelligence communities’ suspicions about Trump.\n\nBut Sussmann says that isn’t so.\n\n“Although the Special Counsel implies that in Mr. Sussmann’s February 9, 2017 meeting, he provided Agency-2 with (Executive Office of the President) data from after Mr. Trump took office, the Special Counsel is well aware that the data provided to Agency-2 pertained only to the period of time before Mr. Trump took office, when Barack Obama was President,” Sussmann’s lawyers wrote.\n\nSussmann’s team added that the reasons for concern that Sussmann took to the CIA about Trump and Russia weren’t intentionally manipulative.\n\nDurham’s office says in the filing that he plans to use the information in it at Sussmann’s trial. Durham’s office declined to comment further.\n\nRight-wing media outlets and Republican politicians, including Trump, are citing Durham’s court filing to accuse Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign of spying on Trump because of the use of the data.\n\nBut Durham’s court filing doesn’t allege that the pro-Clinton researchers’ use of internet data meant that there was any eavesdropping on content of communications.\n\nDurham has used the Sussmann case to more broadly draw attention to the role of unsavory political opposition research in the 2016 election.\n\nSussmann is charged with making a false statement to the FBI about his representation of the Democrats, when he shared data that pro-Clinton researchers believed linked Trump Organization servers to a Russian bank in 2016.\n\nThe five-year statute of limitations appears to have passed for Durham to accuse Sussmann of any wrongdoing related to his meeting with the CIA. Passing along information from researchers to intelligence officials for further investigation is not uncommon and isn’t necessarily a crime.\n\nThe new details were included in a more mundane request to have Sussmann agree to waive any conflict-of-interest issues that could arise because his lawyers have represented others connected to the investigation in the past.\n\nSussmann is set to go to trial in a few months, and the case is largely expected to be based on the testimony of former FBI General Counsel James Baker, who has made shaky statements in testimony over the past few years about his memory of his interactions with Sussmann.\n\nThis story has been updated with additional details and reaction.", "authors": ["Katelyn Polantz Evan Perez", "Katelyn Polantz", "Evan Perez"], "publish_date": "2022/02/14"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/24/tech/twitter-whistleblower-takeaways/index.html", "title": "The 5 key takeaways from the Twitter whistleblower | CNN Business", "text": "Washington CNN Business —\n\nTwitter’s former head of security is blowing the whistle on company practices that he says have jeopardized US national security and misled investors and regulators. With a nearly 200-page disclosure to the US government, Peiter “Mudge” Zatko has become the latest whistleblower to come forward from the tech industry.\n\nZatko levels a barrage of devastating allegations that US lawmakers who have received the disclosure say are extremely concerning. A highly respected cybersecurity expert with experience in senior roles at Google, Stripe and the Defense Department, Zatko claims Twitter (TWTR) (TWTR) is full of critical security flaws; may not be deleting the data of users who leave the platform as it is required to do; has misled the public about its spam account problem; may currently have foreign intelligence agents on the payroll; and that it hasn’t lived up to years of legal obligations stemming from an earlier privacy settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, which could lead to further liability.\n\nHere’s more on some of the top takeaways from Zatko’s disclosure.\n\nTwitter is riddled with security vulnerabilities.\n\nOne of Zatko’s biggest allegations is that Twitter data is not secure. The company routinely lets thousands of employees — accounting for roughly half its workforce, and all its engineers — work directly on Twitter’s live product and interact with actual user data, the report alleges. That’s a big departure, Zatko claims, from the standard at companies like Google and Meta, where developers are required to use dummy data to perform coding and testing in specialized sandboxes that don’t touch the main products consumers use.\n\nThis single fact, according to Zatko, creates a host of security problems: The potential for rogue employees to snoop on Twitter users’ information, or that a poorly coded update could make parts or all of the platform unusable, or that insider threats may give outsiders significant access to Twitter’s systems in ways that would not be possible at other companies. In multiple situations, Twitter learned that employees had intentionally installed spyware on their computers at the behest of third-party organizations, according to the disclosure. It is not clear how many employees may have been involved in the spyware incidents.\n\nTwitter headquarters in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Monday, July 19, 2021. David Paul Morris/Bloomberg/Getty Images\n\nThis kind of expansive access is what contributed to a 2020 incident in which hackers gained control of high-profile accounts belonging to Joe Biden, Barack Obama, Elon Musk and a range of other powerful people. And it is responsible, Zatko alleges, for a dizzying rate of security incidents — approximately one per week — that the public may not hear about but that are so serious the company is obligated to report them to authorities like the Federal Trade Commission and Ireland’s Data Protection Commission.\n\nZatko also alleges Twitter does not reliably delete users’ data after they cancel their accounts, in some cases because the company has lost track of the information, and that it has misled regulators about whether it deletes the data as it is required to do.\n\nIn response to more than 50 specific questions from CNN regarding the disclosure, Twitter said members of its engineering and product teams are authorized to access Twitter’s platform if they have a specific business justification for doing so, but that members of other departments — such as finance, legal, marking, sales, human resources and support — cannot. The company also said it uses automated checks to ensure laptops running outdated software cannot access the production environment, and that employees may only make changes to Twitter’s live product after the code meets certain record-keeping and review requirements.\n\nTwitter’s employees use devices overseen by other IT and security teams with the power to prevent a device from connecting to sensitive internal systems if it is running outdated software, Twitter added.\n\nAnd it has created internal workflows to ensure users know that when they cancel their accounts, Twitter will deactivate the accounts and start a deletion process, Twitter said. Twitter declined to say whether it typically completes the process.\n\nTwitter could easily calculate a better metric to estimate spam accounts, but it chooses not to.\n\nZatko’s disclosure could give Elon Musk more ammunition to claim Twitter is being evasive about bots — an argument Musk has put forward to justify wanting to back out of buying Twitter for $44 billion.\n\nVideo Ad Feedback What the Twitter whistleblower disclosure says about Elon Musk and bots 04:11 - Source: CNN Business\n\nFor years, Twitter has said in investor filings that fake or spam accounts represent less than 5% of the daily active users Twitter believes it can monetize with advertising. But Zatko’s disclosure claims the statistic might not present a full picture of the number of spam accounts on the platform, because it does not represent spam accounts as a percentage of all accounts on Twitter — merely as a subset of some selected Twitter users the company finds commercially meaningful.\n\nIn 2021, Zatko says Twitter’s site integrity chief told him the company doesn’t really know how many bots there may be on Twitter. Executives had no incentive to find out, Zatko alleges in the disclosure, because “they were concerned that if accurate measurements ever became public, it would harm the image and valuation of the company.”\n\nIn light of that allegation, a tweet in May by Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal claiming the company is “strongly incentivized to detect and remove as much spam as we possibly can, every single day,” is a flat-out “lie,” Zatko’s disclosure says.\n\nTwitter has told CNN that the claim it doesn’t know how many bots are on its platform lacks context, reiterating that not all bots are bad and adding that to focus on the total number of bots on Twitter would include those the company may have already identified and taken action against. The company also does not believe it can catch every spam account on the platform, Twitter said, which is why it reports its less-than-5% figure, which reflects a manual estimate, in its financial filings.\n\nTwitter did not respond to Zatko’s allegation about Agrawal’s tweet being a lie.\n\nSome or all of Twitter’s services could be forced offline, perhaps forever.\n\nPartly due to its cybersecurity issues, Zatko’s disclosure says, Twitter’s data centers are constantly at risk of going down. And the company has misrepresented its ability to recover from simultaneous data center outages, Zatko alleges. More than half of Twitter’s 500,000 servers run on outdated software, the report claims; many allegedly lack basic security standards such as the ability to encrypt stored data, while other servers no longer receive vendor support because the software they run on is too old.\n\nPeiter Zatko, known as Mudge in the computer hacking community, poses for a portrait on August 22. Sarah Silbiger for CNN\n\nIf multiple data centers fail at the same time, Twitter’s lack of a comprehensive recovery process could make it a potentially catastrophic incident forcing Twitter to shut down for months or even permanently in an “existential company ending event,” according to the disclosure.\n\nTwitter also hasn’t paid for the intellectual property rights to all the datasets that train its artificial intelligence, the disclosure alleges. As a result, Zatko claims, some of Twitter’s core features, such as the recommendation algorithm that decides what tweets to show to users, may be operating illegally.\n\nIf the companies that supply the data ever sued to enforce their rights, it could lead to steep financial losses for Twitter and potentially even force it to stop offering the features the alleged infringement helped create, according to the disclosure.\n\nTwitter did not respond to Zatko’s allegations about data center outage risks or intellectual property violations.\n\nTwitter is vulnerable to foreign exploitation and may even now have foreign spies on its payroll.\n\nDue to Twitter’s weak overall cybersecurity stance, foreign governments that gain access to the company — or that can find leverage against it — could do enormous damage to US interests and national security, the disclosure alleges.\n\nThe threat is not theoretical, according to the report. It claims that shortly before Zatko was fired from Twitter in January, the US government gave Twitter a specific tip that one or more of its employees was working for a foreign intelligence agency.\n\nIt’s not clear whether Twitter knew, or if it has acted on the information. But it would not be the first time: The disclosure is being made public just days after a jury convicted a former Twitter employee of spying for Saudi Arabia. That incident, which was uncovered in 2019, predates the tip described in the disclosure.\n\nThe disclosure also alleges that Agrawal, while he was Twitter’s chief technology officer and in the months before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, proposed making concessions to Russia that could have helped the company grow in the country at the cost of allowing broad-based censorship or surveillance of the platform.\n\nThe Twitter Inc. logo is seen on coffee mugs inside the company's headquarters in San Francisco, California, U.S., on Friday, Sept. 19, 2014. David Paul Morris/Bloomberg/Getty Images\n\n“The fact that Twitter’s current CEO even suggested Twitter become complicit with the Putin regime is cause for concern about Twitter’s effects on U.S. national security,” the disclosure reads.\n\nThe disclosure also claims that Twitter has taken money from Chinese sources and shared information in return that could potentially lead to the identification of Chinese Twitter users who have illegally circumvented government censorship in order to access the platform. Executives are aware of the risk but believe the company is too reliant on the money to stop taking it, the disclosure says.\n\nAdditionally, Zatko claims that India has “forced” Twitter to hire government agents who would have wide-ranging access to internal Twitter systems, and that the company has not disclosed the fact in its transparency reports. Twitter’s tensions with India have run high as civil rights experts have said the country has increased digital authoritarianism amid the pandemic.\n\nTwitter did not respond to Zatko’s allegations concerning China, Russia, India or the US government tip. A person familiar with the matter, and with Zatko’s tenure at Twitter, told CNN the Indian agents Zatko describes are government-mandated roles the country requires of tech platforms under its local laws.\n\nTwitter is violating its many commitments to the FTC.\n\nZatko’s disclosure alleges “extensive, repeated [and] uninterrupted” violations of federal law barring unfair or deceptive business practices.\n\nIn his disclosure to the US government, Zatko claims Twitter deliberately misled regulators about its handling of user data and that the company is not living up to its obligations under a 2011 privacy settlement with the Federal Trade Commission — a legally binding order that requires, among other things, the creation of “reasonable safeguards” to protect users’ personal information.\n\nTwitter has knowingly misled regulators, including the FTC, that ask whether Twitter deletes the data of users who cancel their accounts, according to the disclosure. The company has told regulators it “deactivates” the accounts, but can’t truthfully say it deletes the data because in some cases the company has lost track of it, Zatko alleges. Twitter also knowingly misled the FTC and French regulators on its intellectual property rights violations, the disclosure claims.\n\nThe report says user security data — such as email addresses and phone numbers — were actively being misused for advertising purposes even as Twitter and the FTC were already negotiating a settlement in 2020 to resolve a prior instance of that very same type of misuse.\n\nThe disclosure raises concerns about how Twitter handles user data. Adobe Stock\n\nClaims that Twitter mishandled user data and deliberately misled regulators; that it failed to develop robust cybersecurity practices; and even that it failed to fill a key information security job in a timely manner all reflect violations of either the Federal Trade Commission Act or a 2011 FTC settlement that required Twitter to better protect user privacy, according to the disclosure.\n\nOne of the key requirements of the 2011 consent order was that Twitter implement a “uniform process to develop and test software,” according to the report. Ten years on, and Twitter has only a template for that process, rather than an actual process, and it covers just 8% to 12% of company projects, the disclosure says.\n\nWhen he arrived at Twitter, Zatko’s subordinates told him “unequivocally that Twitter had never been in compliance with the 2011 FTC Consent Order, and was not on track to ever achieve full compliance,” the disclosure says.\n\nThe FTC settlement was supposed to force Twitter to shape up after hackers in 2009 gained access to internal Twitter systems. Instead, “things actually got meaningfully worse,” the disclosure claims. A finding that Twitter has violated its FTC order could lead to billions in new fines and draconian new obligations, legal experts say.\n\nTwitter told CNN its FTC compliance record speaks for itself, citing third-party audits filed to the agency under the 2011 consent order in which it said Zatko did not participate. Twitter also said it is in compliance with relevant privacy rules and that it has been transparent with regulators about its efforts to fix any shortcomings in its systems.\n\nZatko’s allegations are based in part on a failure to grasp how Twitter’s existing programs and processes work to fulfill Twitter’s FTC obligations, the person familiar with Zatko’s tenure told CNN, saying that that misunderstanding has prompted him to make inaccurate claims about the company’s level of compliance.", "authors": ["Brian Fung"], "publish_date": "2022/08/24"}]}
{"question_id": "20230127_5", "search_time": "2023/01/28/05:14", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/04/us/highland-park-illinois-shooting-july-4-parade/index.html", "title": "Suspect in connection with a mass shooting at July 4th parade has ...", "text": "Editor’s Note: Find the latest coverage of the Highland Park, Illinois, parade shooting here.\n\nHighland Park, Illinois CNN —\n\nRobert E. Crimo III, the suspect in a mass shooting at a parade that left six dead and sent more than two dozen people to hospitals, has been taken into custody near Lake Forest, Illinois, authorities said during a brief news conference Monday night.\n\nAuthorities said Crimo was spotted by a North Chicago officer who attempted a traffic stop. Crimo led officers on a brief chase before being stopped. He was taken into custody without incident and will be transferred to the police department in Highland Park, where the deadly shooting occurred earlier Monday.\n\nEarlier, as law enforcement searched for Crimo, police had labeled him “a person of interest” and the FBI said, “He being sought for his alleged involvement in the shooting of multiple individuals at an Independence Day parade in Highland Park, Illinois.”\n\nThe capture ended an intense manhunt across the Chicagoland area after the shooting upended Independence Day festivities in cities throughout the region.\n\nThe shooting in Highland Park, about 25 miles north of Chicago, began shortly after 10 a.m. CT as parade-goers enjoyed a sunny Fourth of July parade along Central Avenue.\n\nRobert \"Bobby\" E. Crimo III Highland Park Police Department\n\nFirearm evidence was found on the rooftop of a business near the shooting, police commander Chris O’Neill said earlier. The gunman used a ladder attached to the building on a wall in an alley to access the roof, said Christopher Covelli, spokesperson for the Lake County Major Crime Task Force.\n\nThe gun was a “high-powered rifle” and the attack appeared to be “random” and “intentional,” Covelli said.\n\nThe FBI provided a photo of the 2010 silver Honda Fit with Illinois license plate DM80653 that Crimo is thought to be driving. Highland Park Police Department\n\nAuthorities are working to trace the firearm to find out who purchased it and its origins, according to Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives spokesperson Kim Nerheim.\n\nCovelli told reporters that SWAT members and other officers have been evacuating people from buildings within a certain radius of the shooting.\n\nLake County Coroner Jennifer Banek said the five people who died at the scene were adults. One person died at a hospital, she said, but she didn’t have more information about that victim.\n\nThe scene following a shooting in Highland Park on July 4th. Network Video Productions\n\nHighland Park Fire Chief Joe Schrage said his department transported 23 people to hospitals and other victims were taken in police cars or bystanders’ personal vehicles.\n\nA Lake County police officer walks down Central Ave in Highland Park on Monday. Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune/AP\n\nA total of 26 patients were received at Highland Park Hospital, according to Dr. Brigham Temple, the medical director of the NorthShore University Health System. The patients ranged in age from 8 years old to 85 years old – four or five were children, according to Temple.\n\nHe said 19 of the 25 gunshot victims were treated and have been discharged. There were gunshot wounds to extremities as well as more central parts of bodies, he added.\n\nThe shooting caused hundreds of parade attendees to flee and triggered a large police response of local, state and federal officers, including the FBI. Heavily armed officers patrolled the streets of Highland Park on Monday afternoon, and others were positioned on rooftops with sniper rifles.\n\nZoe Pawelczak, who attended the Independence Day parade with her father, said parade-goers initially thought the array of pops were fireworks given the occasion.\n\n“And I was like, something’s wrong. I grabbed my dad and started running. All of a sudden everyone behind us started running,” she said. “I looked back probably 20 feet away from me. I saw a girl shot and killed.”\n\nThey hid behind a dumpster for about an hour until police moved them into a sporting goods store and then eventually escorted them back to their car, she said. She saw one person who had been shot in the ear and had blood all over his face and another girl who was shot in the leg, she said.\n\n“It looked like a battle zone, and it’s disgusting. It’s really disgusting,” she said.\n\nThe incident marks at least the 308th mass shooting in the US this year, according to data compiled by the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit tracking such incidents. The organization defines a mass shooting as involving four or more people shot, not including the shooter.\n\nThere have been 11 mass shootings in the first four days of July, including three on July 4 alone, in Richmond, Virginia; Chicago and Highland Park, according to the Gun Violence Archive.\n\nThe carnage punctuates an already bloody American spring and summer, including an 18-year-old’s racist attack at a New York supermarket that killed 10 and another 18-year-old’s shooting at a Texas school that left 19 students and two teachers dead.\n\nIn the wake of those massacres, President Joe Biden just nine days ago signed into law the first major federal gun safety legislation in decades, marking a significant bipartisan breakthrough on one of the most contentious policy issues in Washington.\n\nWitnesses say gunshots caused stampede\n\nA large police presence responded to a shooting at a July 4th parade in Highland Park, Illinois. WBBM\n\nWitnesses at the scene who spoke to CNN described a peaceful parade pierced by the sudden ring of gunfire and ensuing chaos.\n\nMiles Zaremski said he heard what he believed to be about 20 to 30 gunshots, in two consecutive spurts of gunfire, at about 10:20 a.m. CT, shortly after the start of the parade. He told CNN he saw a number of people bloodied and on the ground and described the scene as chaotic.\n\nVideo taken by a witness, Hugo Aguilera, shows an ambulance turning around on the parade route and a police car with sirens on, as people gathered on the grassy sidewalk. Aerial video from CNN affiliate WLS shows abandoned lawn chairs up and down the parade route amid a heavy police presence.\n\nWarren Fried, who attended the parade with his wife and 7-year-old twins, said he watched the police and ambulance pass by him at the parade and afterward heard an array of gunshots. People began yelling “shooter” and “run” and he and his family fled toward their car for safety.\n\n“People were hiding, kids were on the streets looking for their parents, just in a state of shock,” he said.\n\nUS Rep. Brad Schneider, a Democrat who represents the area, told CNN he was just arriving in Highland Park when the shots were fired and he was told to detour.\n\n“Everyone scattered and ran. As I was going around, I came across a group of young kids who were trying to call their parents to say they were OK,” he said. “So I stopped and offered them to use my phone. There were a lot of cars moving, so I helped to direct traffic for a bit.”\n\nJeff Leon, 57, told CNN the shots sounded like “firecrackers in a garbage can,” and it wasn’t until he saw police officers reacting, that he knew anything had happened.\n\n“The police started reacting, and I saw some people falling,” Leon said. “We just took off. And, you know, we, we were hiding behind cars, folding into the next car and making our way.”\n\nJose Alamar, an employee at a nearby gas station, said about 20 people ran into the gas station and took shelter after the shooting started.\n\nThe suburb of Highland Park has a population of about 30,000 people and has a per capita income of about $90,000, nearly triple the US average, according to US Census data.\n\nThe July 4th parade was expected to feature floats, marching bands, novelty groups, community entries and other special entertainment, the city said on its website. It was scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. CT at the intersection of Laurel and St. Johns Avenues, and was set to head north on St. Johns Avenue and then west on Central Avenue and continue to Sunset Park, the city said.\n\nNearby suburbs, including Deerfield and Evanston, canceled their July 4th parades in the wake of the shooting. Events in other nearby communities were canceled.\n\nThe Chicago White Sox will hold a moment of silence before their home game but have called off their postgame fireworks.", "authors": ["Eric Levenson Adrienne Broaddus Shawn Nottingham Brynn Gingras Steve Almasy Joe Sutton", "Eric Levenson", "Adrienne Broaddus", "Shawn Nottingham", "Brynn Gingras", "Steve Almasy", "Joe Sutton"], "publish_date": "2022/07/04"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/31/politics/100-days-midterms-house/index.html", "title": "With 100 days to the midterms, Democrats try to defy the odds as ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nAs the countdown to November’s midterm congressional elections enters its final 100 days, Democrats face broad and persistent headwinds driven by widespread gloom over the economy and President Joe Biden’s consistently low approval ratings.\n\nThough recent polling has provided the party glimmers of hope, those fundamental weaknesses have been compounded by what many accept as a political fact of life: that the president’s party is doomed to a poor showing in his first midterm after taking office in all but the most exceptionally advantageous circumstances.\n\nThe first nationwide election since Biden defeated former President Donald Trump in 2020 will not provide Democrats that unique boost. Instead, the vote will take place amid economic uncertainty, an ongoing pandemic that has killed more than a million Americans the rupture created by the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn federally protected abortion rights.\n\nFor Democratic voters, the additional specter of a Trump revival – he is widely expected to run for president a third time in 2024 – and the further ascent of the anti-democratic movement around him has deepened the sense of foreboding.\n\n“My sense is that voters are looking for a level of independence that they aren’t seeing on either side of the aisle,” said Greg Landsman, the Democratic Cincinnati councilman who is challenging Republican Rep. Steve Chabot in November.\n\nLandsman’s calculation is that any backlash over his relationship with Biden will be outweighed by the Trump’s unpopularity.\n\n“(Trump) is way more involved in these races than just about anyone else,” Landsman said. “Trump endorsed Chabot. Chabot obviously tried to overturn an election for the guy. I think that is way more inescapable than me and the President.”\n\nRepublican strategists, meanwhile, view the contest for the House majority as close to a done-deal as possible. A dismal economy mixed with complete Democratic control in Washington, they believe, makes this a straightforward “change” election.\n\n“The Republicans are going to win the House. Period. End of discussion,” said Corry Bliss, a Republican strategist. “If there’s an election in November, Republicans will win control of the House.”\n\nNone of the non-economic developments over the past few months – the overturning of Roe v. Wade, a wave of high-profile mass shootings or the progression of the investigation by the House select committee into the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot have shifted the GOP assessment that voters’ top priorities remain inflation and a higher cost of living.\n\nAnd while Republicans admit that while the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe has energized Democratic donors, it’s done little to blunt the sense that a GOP wave in the House is approaching.\n\nIn fact, outside GOP groups are pressing their apparent advantage into more Democratic districts. The Congressional Leadership Fund, the leading super PAC associated with House Republican leadership, has begun to spend money in multiple Democratic-held districts that were not initially on the group’s list of possible targets, including in Indiana (against Rep. Frank Mrvan), Connecticut (against Rep. Jahana Hayes), and California (an open seat in the San Joaquin Valley after Rep. Josh Harder switched races following redistricting).\n\nCLF president Dan Conston told CNN that the group will also start spending in Rhode Island’s 2nd District, whose longtime Democratic Rep. Jim Langevin is retiring.\n\n“Biden’s deep unpopularity and Democrats’ mishandling of the economy has created opportunities in some districts once thought unwinnable,” Conston said. “We haven’t found a single district in America where the President has a favorable image.”\n\nDemocrats search for a unified message\n\nFour years ago, as anger at Trump raged, Democrats enjoyed a fired-up base and a clearly crafted national message that centered on health care and Republican attempts to gut the Affordable Care Act. From California to Texas to Michigan, candidates hammered Republicans over their efforts to repeal a law that helps provide and protect health insurance for millions. Republicans – unable or unwilling to divorce themselves from Trump – didn’t have a straight answer. In the end, Democrats picked up 41 House seats and the majority.\n\nThis year, however, the message is far less consistent, with Democratic House candidates attempting to personalize their campaigns – betting that their personal brands or emphasis on specific hot-button issues can help them duck below and evade what appears to be a coming wave. There are overarching themes across their campaigns – including Republican extremism, support for Trump’s 2020 election lies and a host of other policy positions – but four years after singing from a shared hymn sheet, Democrats in 2022 are often seen crafting their own tunes.\n\n“When the national environment is good for you, you can do that,” a Democratic strategist working on House races said of the strategy that worked for Democrats in 2018. “When it is a bit of a challenge, you got to personalize these races.”\n\nThe strategist added: “With Republicans, who they are nominating really matters,” specifically noting a race like Ohio’s 9th Congressional District, where longtime but vulnerable Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur is facing Trump-backed Republican J.R. Majewski, a veteran who was outside the US Capitol during the January 6 insurrection.\n\nDemocrats argue that if Republicans had nominated a more traditional candidate in this race, Kaptur – who has served in Congress since 1983 – would be almost a lost cause. But because Republican primary voters backed Majewski, who might struggle with independents and moderate GOP voters, Democrats have a chance to hold a seat they would have had no business otherwise keeping.\n\nIf enough races unfold in that way, multiple Democrats said, the majority could be saved.\n\n“There is a clear contrast in this race,” said North Carolina state Sen. Donald Davis, who is running against Sandy Smith, a Republican who tweeted on January 6 that she had just “marched from the Monument to the Capitol.” To Davis and other Democrats running against Republicans with ties to the insurrection, it would be foolish not to talk about their opponents’ links to the deadly day.\n\nIn some ways, however, Democrats in 2022 find themselves confronted with a similar problem to Republicans in 2018: How do you deal with an unpopular president? The depth of the challenge is even clearer looking further back to 2010, when then-President Barack Obama’s popularity was dipping and the economy reeling in the aftermath of the financial collapse and Great Recession. Republicans picked up 63 seats that fall.\n\nEven the most upbeat Democrats acknowledge Biden’s popularity is an issue they must address, but few in the party have yet to significantly distance themselves from the President.\n\nOne reason: It’s nearly impossible for a single House candidate to do.\n\n“The person in the White House has a notable impact on down ballot races in the midterms – good and bad,” said Meredith Kelly, the top spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2018 and now a partner at Declaration Media. “And there is also very little that a single House Democrat can do about that in their races. So, ultimately embracing the good things that have gotten done is the best move.”\n\nKelly said she is more upbeat now about the prospect of keeping the House than she was a few months ago, arguing that there is an opportunity to charge Republicans with attempting to take away a long held right – the right to an abortion.\n\n“Republicans are on the wrong side of history but also on the wrong side of the country, particularly persuadable voters in these midterms,” she said.\n\nStill, many Democrats acknowledge that Biden looms over the midterms – causing some to seek distance.\n\nRep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota told a radio interviewer on Thursday that he doesn’t want Biden to run for reelection in 2024.\n\n“I think the country would be well served by a new generation of compelling, well-prepared, dynamic Democrats to step up,” said Phillips, who represents a relatively safe seat in Minneapolis.\n\nAccording to recent CNN polling, not only is Biden’s overall approval rating hovering below 40%, but a remarkable 75% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning voters want the party to nominate someone else for the presidency in 2024.\n\nSome Democrats, however, are happy to stand with Biden, especially when he visits to talk about a bill or promise he plans to deliver on – a number that could grow if Democrats in Congress pass a climate funding and tax bill that was recently revived in the Senate. Landsman has been one of the candidates who’s stood by the President.\n\n“An event about jobs and bringing jobs to the region, it’s a no-brainer,” said Landsman, who attended an event in May with Biden to rally support for semiconductor legislation. “It is a huge win for Ohio. … It is also a big contrast to Chabot, who voted against it.”\n\nAs for whether he would attend a strictly political event with Biden, Landsman was less committal, saying it’s “just not something we talk about,” instead choosing to focus on “extreme Republicans” and Chabot’s work to overturn Roe v. Wade.\n\nFormer Virginia Rep. Tom Perriello, a Democrat elected to a traditionally Republican district in 2008, then swept out by the tea party wave of 2010, agreed that the increasing nationalization of politics – spurred on by a decline in local media – has made it not only difficult, but politically unwise for candidates to divorce themselves from party leadership.\n\nBut Perriello sees 2022 as unusually distinct from past midterms, in large part because Republicans, even without one of their own in the White House, have, in Trump, their own widely unpopular party leader.\n\n“If Trump had stayed quiet, if the moderates in the (Republican) party had regained control, this would’ve been a natural year for Republicans to run the tables,” Perriello said. “But instead, it’s the moderates that are largely in charge of the Democratic Party and being run out of the Republican Party.”\n\nDemocrats are also attempting to upend conventional wisdom by arguing that, rather than a rebuke in 2022, what it – and the country – needs to claw out of the current malaise is a more robust Democratic majority to help jumpstart the stalled parts Biden’s popular-on-paper agenda. Larger margins in the Senate, where Democrats need every member onboard to move most legislation, and House would give leadership more leeway to advance big ticket items.\n\n“Obviously you need to run through the tape and minimize variables, but you can’t look at how things are shaping up from issues, to candidates, to fundraising and say Republicans aren’t well-positioned,” Republican strategist Matt Gorman said.\n\nThe ‘Roe’ factor\n\nThe landscape is, indeed, more friendly to Republicans. But over the past few months, the number of “variables” have increased, and despite GOP insistence that their fundamental advantage remains in place, Democrats are keen to test whether the stakes have truly changed.\n\nThat speculation is based on the energetic backlash to the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe and Republicans’ refusal to consider more ambitious gun control legislation in the aftermath of recent mass shootings – issues strategists and candidates believe could stir previously frustrated base voters, especially college-educated Whites, one of the few demographics among which Democrats were already building support.\n\nA CNN poll last week found overwhelming opposition to the high court’s abortion ruling, cutting across party lines. More than 9 in 10 liberal Democrats disapproved of the ruling, but so did 71% of independents and 55% of moderate or liberal Republicans. Whether Democrats can translate that anger into success at the polls, though, remains an open question – especially with 77% of respondents who disapproved of the ruling saying politicians who support legal abortion are not doing enough to ensure access to it.\n\nNew York Democrat Pat Ryan, the Ulster County executive running in a special election next month to replace Antonio Delgado, who left Congress to become New York’s lieutenant governor, has made the abortion fight a central theme of his campaign against Republican Marc Molinaro, the Dutchess County executive.\n\n“The intensity is hard to articulate in a poll, but on the ground, certainly women, but across the board, across gender, race, religion, I’ve felt it. We’ve seen it in our campaign. Our fundraising numbers reflect from grassroots support, our numbers of volunteers. I wouldn’t normally use this as an indicator, but we can’t keep yard signs,” Ryan said. (He will be on two ballots on August 23: the special election in New York’s 19th Congressional District and in a primary race for the new 18th.)\n\nRyan’s race, in a swing district, is widely viewed as a bellwether for November. He is embracing and encouraging the attention – and hopeful that, especially if he is successful, other Democrats will try to emulate his forceful rhetoric.\n\n“When you pull your punches and sort of triangulate and moderate, that’s what gets us to where we are right now,” Ryan said, “where rights are being ripped away because we haven’t made clear what the stakes are.”", "authors": ["Gregory Krieg Dan Merica Michael Warren", "Gregory Krieg", "Dan Merica", "Michael Warren"], "publish_date": "2022/07/31"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/10/22/governor-greg-abbott-uvalde-school-shooting-texas-election-202/10560683002/", "title": "Six mass shootings and 90 dead. What has Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ...", "text": "Facing the largest audience of the 2022 campaign, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott sought to show he shared the horror and sorrow of the families in Uvalde, whose lives were forever scarred by the May 24 mass shooting that killed 19 elementary school children and their two teachers.\n\n\"I can feel their pain,” Abbott said during the Sept. 30 debate at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, which was aired or streamed to every corner of the state.\n\nBut in nearly the same breath, the two-term Republican told those families that he would not grant their pleas to make 21 the minimum age to purchase combat-style rifles like the one used by the 18-year-old gunman in Uvalde.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/10/22"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/07/us/power-outage-moore-county-investigation-wednesday/index.html", "title": "Moore County power: Investigators are zeroing in on 2 possible ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nInvestigators – who have found nearly two dozen shell casings from a high-powered rifle – are zeroing in on two threads of possible motives centered around extremist behavior for the weekend assault on two North Carolina electric substations, according to law-enforcement sources briefed on the investigation.\n\nThe news comes as the primary utility company in Moore County restored electricity to the final customers of the 45,000 homes and businesses that initially lost power.\n\nOfficials on Wednesday also announced a total of $75,000 in reward money for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible for Saturday’s attacks.\n\nOne thread involves the writings by extremists on online forums encouraging attacks on critical infrastructure. The second thread looks at a series of recent disruptions of LGBTQ+ events across the nation by domestic extremists.\n\nThe FBI and the NC State Bureau are assisting in the investigation.\n\ninvestigators have no evidence connecting the North Carolina attacks to a drag event at the theater in the same county, but the timing of two events are being considered in context with the growing tensions and armed confrontations around similar LBGTQ+ events across the country, the sources told CNN.\n\nIn the past two years, anti-government groups began using online forums to urge followers to attack critical infrastructure, including the power grid. They have posted documents and even instructions outlining vulnerabilities and suggesting the use of high-powered rifles.\n\nOne 14-page guide obtained by CNN cited as an example the 2013 sniper attack on a high voltage substation at the edge of Silicon Valley that destroyed 17 transformers and cost Pacific Gas and Electric $15 million in repairs.\n\nIn that case, the shooter fired more than 100 bullets in about 20 minutes, disappearing a minute before police arrived. The case remains unsolved.\n\nWhile investigators haven’t found a rifle in the North Carolina shootings, the casings still could offer critical evidence. A law enforcement source told CNN that the caliber of the bullets in the California incident is different from those used in North Carolina.\n\nInvestigators are taking into consideration that the timing of Moore County shootings – 7 p.m. on a Saturday night – coincided with the time a drag performance sponsored by the local LBGTQ+ community began, according to the sources. Audience members used their phone flashlights to light the stage for one last song, but after that the performance couldn’t continue due to the power outage, according to Sandhills PRIDE.\n\nOfficials have said the gunfire, which left much of the county without electricity for days, were a “malicious” and “intentional” attack. The two substations are about 10 miles apart.\n\nNo suspects in the outages have been announced.\n\nSheriff Ronnie Fields has said whoever fired at the substations “knew exactly what they were doing.” No group “has stepped up to acknowledge or accept they’re the ones who (did) it,” the sheriff said Sunday.\n\nAs of Wednesday morning there were 35,000 customers without power, but that number had decreased to 1,200 by the time a 4 p.m. news conference began, according to Duke Energy spokesperson Jeff Brooks. A few hours later the company’s website showed zero outages in the area.\n\nGiven the information, county officials said a nightly curfew will end for good at 5 a.m. Thursday.\n\nShell casings and bullets offer clues\n\nBullets recovered from the sites, and the brass shell casings found a short distance away, are the few pieces of physical evidence that investigators have.\n\nBecause of the heat generated in a high-powered rifle’s chamber during rapid fire, fingerprints are burned away – and nearly impossible to recover from spent casings. Still, the brass may offer valuable clues.\n\nInvestigators can enter the casings into the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network, a database from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The database records three-dimensional images of shell casings and can match them to any other shell casings that may have been fired by the same gun at another crime scene or to the gun if the weapon is recovered.\n\nThe spot where the casings were found can give investigators a way to pinpoint the firing positions. Knowing where the shooter fired from could lead to discoveries such as shoe prints and tire tracks.\n\nResidents head to shelter for hot food and showers\n\nFor now, schools are closed through Thursday, many stores and restaurants are shut, homes are without heating or running refrigerators, drivers are traversing intersections with no traffic lights.\n\nNakasha Jackson, who came to the shelter to pick up some hot food, said the outage has been difficult with her 1-year-old child. CNN\n\nA Red Cross-run emergency shelter was set up at the Moore County Sports Complex to help provide shelter, food, showers and other services to people impacted. It will remain as a shelter through noon on Thursday, officials said.\n\nNakasha Jackson, who came to the shelter to pick up some hot food, said the outage has been difficult for her 1-year-old child.\n\n“No lights, no power, can’t really do nothing. The kid is scared of the dark,” she told CNN.\n\nJackson said sometimes she has to travel up to an hour one way to buy food. “It’s ridiculous. It should never have been done,” Jackson said.\n\nResidents who rely on electricity-powered medical equipment have also seen their lives upended. One woman told CNN she came to the shelter because she had no power for her CPAP machine at night.\n\nAfter two days of sleeping without it, she said she began to feel ill and came into the shelter for help.\n\nOthers have sought shelter fearing for their safety as they struggled to keep their homes warm.\n\n“It’s different. It’s kind of hard to sleep, you know. But at the end of the day, I’d rather be somewhere where it’s warm, where we have food, where we’re taken care of than to be somewhere it’s freezing cold,” said Amber Sampson.\n\nOn top of having to stay at the shelter, Sampson hasn’t been able to work since Sunday after her employer also lost power – an issue that could end up costing her hundreds of dollars.\n\nAuthorities have expressed anger over the attack, with Carol Haney, mayor of Southern Pines – a town of about 15,900 residents that completely lost power – calling it a cruel and selfish act.\n\nNorth Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper voiced concern over businesses and residents in nursing homes.\n\n“When we look at all the money that’s being lost by businesses here at Christmastime, when we look at threats to people in nursing homes having lost power, hospitals having to run off generators and not being able to do certain kinds of operations at this point – all of those are deep concerns here, and we can’t let this happen,” the Democrat told CNN on Tuesday.\n\n“This was a malicious, criminal attack on the entire community.”", "authors": ["John Miller Steve Almasy Whitney Wild", "John Miller", "Steve Almasy", "Whitney Wild"], "publish_date": "2022/12/07"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/30/us/firearm-recoveries-gun-violence/index.html", "title": "High number of firearm recoveries underscores America's ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nEarlier this month, two NYPD officers were killed while responding to a domestic disturbance call. According to authorities, the suspect used a Glock 45 that was stolen in Baltimore in 2017, prompting city and state officials to call for stronger measures against gun violence and gun trafficking across state lines. The tragedy highlighted a growing concern about the seeming flood of firearms across America.\n\nLaw enforcement agencies in some of the country’s biggest cities seized or recovered near decade-high numbers of firearms in 2021, according to data provided to CNN. Many police departments also reported recovering high numbers of “ghost guns” — untracked and untraceable firearms that are often bought online and assembled at home.\n\n“We have to stop the flow of guns,” said New York City Mayor Eric Adams in a press conference on January 24. “We are removing thousands of guns off our streets, and it appears as though for every gun we remove from the street, five are coming in. That is unacceptable.”\n\nIn New York, police made 4,497 gun arrests in 2021, up 3% from 2020 but a 26% rise from 2019. Adams said in the press conference that police had recovered more than 6,000 guns in the city last year.\n\nThe high volume of guns recovered comes as the country has seen a surge of gun violence since the onset of the pandemic. A CNN analysis showed that more than two-thirds of the country’s most populous cities recorded more homicides in 2021 than the previous year, with at least 10 setting all-time homicide records – with the majority committed with a firearm.\n\nCNN requested data on gun seizures and recoveries from police departments in over a dozen of America’s largest cities. Of the eight cities that responded with data through the end of 2021, all recorded more gun recoveries last year than in 2020, with several reaching highs not seen in at least a decade. Not all cities distinguished between guns recovered from crime scenes and those recovered from voluntary efforts, such as a gun buyback program, but the increases are indicative of growing numbers of firearms in America.\n\nIn Philadelphia, for example, police last year recovered 5,920 crime guns — a gun used or suspected of being used in a crime — the highest in at least a decade.\n\nThe Chicago Police Department (CPD) recovered more than 12,000 guns in 2021, up from 11,397 in 2020, including guns recovered through buyback programs and other voluntary means. Notably, last year’s total includes at least 706 assault weapons, which the CPD said was 62% higher than the number recovered in 2020.\n\nExperts say that increasing numbers of firearms and the difficulty tracking the true scope of both legally and illegally owned guns make it challenging to address gun violence effectively. Here’s what we know, and don’t know, about guns in the United States — and how better data could provide a key to understanding and reducing violent crime.\n\nGhost guns are on the rise\n\nLaw enforcement officials and gun violence prevention groups have sounded the alarm on the fast-growing threat of unregulated ghost guns. There is no background check required to purchase the parts needed to assemble a firearm at home, which can be done in less than an hour, and often at a low cost.\n\nData shows that these guns have been involved in shootings and found at crime scenes with increasing frequency. Several cities have reported sharp increases in the number of ghost guns recovered over time – and while they make up a relatively small percentage of the total number of guns recovered by law enforcement, that share is growing. Police in San Francisco seized 1,089 guns in 2021, about 20% of which were ghost guns. Just five years prior in 2016, ghost guns made up less than 1% of total gun seizures. Similar steep increases are apparent in other cities. Baltimore reported 352 ghost guns seized last year, with Washington, DC reporting more than 400 in 2021, up from 25 in 2018.\n\nRaj Vaswani, acting deputy chief of investigations for the San Francisco police, said the ghost guns officers have encountered are often more dangerous than typical firearms recovered by the department. The SFPD also reported that nearly half of the firearms recovered in homicide cases in 2020 were ghost guns.\n\n“The ghost guns that we do see are generally really high capacity,” he told CNN. “I’m talking about 100-round drums, really large capacity magazines.”\n\nThe Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) currently cannot trace most ghost guns because certain frames and receivers — two key components that make the firearm work — purchased online are not classified as firearms by the bureau.\n\nFollowing a 2021 directive from the Biden administration, however, the bureau proposed a rule in May that would allow the ATF to classify the building blocks that often make up ghost guns as firearms. This would require many dealers selling component parts to mark them with serial numbers, and the dealers would need to be federally licensed. When buying from these sellers, purchasers would need to pass a background check before buying a ghost gun.\n\nIt’s the first significant step federal lawmakers have put forth to combat the increase in ghost gun production – but the rule has yet to take effect. John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, called the rule “muscular” in its scope but stressed the need for speedy implementation.\n\n“Every day that goes by that it’s not [implemented], more people are killed. It’s a pretty simple equation. Delay equals death,” he said. Everytown for Gun Safety is a nonprofit that advocates for gun control.\n\nHigh demand for firearms\n\nIt’s impossible to get the full picture of how many guns have been purchased legally – let alone illegally – because of decades of successful lobbying for the privacy of gun owners. The FBI tracks pre-sale background checks, but there is no federal database of gun sales or ownership. Under the 2003 Tiahrt Amendment, the agency is required by law to destroy approved gun purchaser records within 24 hours after approval.\n\nWhile background checks do not directly translate to gun sales, the data can serve as a window into the country’s interest in gun purchases. The number of background checks jumped during the first few months of the pandemic and has been high ever since.\n\nBut it’s harder to draw a clear line between increased legal gun sales and guns recovered from crime scenes, said Adam Winkler, a professor at UCLA School of Law who specializes in constitutional law and gun policy.\n\n“We shouldn’t necessarily expect a tight connection between the number of background checks and the number of guns that are found at crime scenes,” Winkler told CNN. “Many criminals do not buy their guns at gun stores.”\n\nGun advocacy groups and criminology experts have pointed to the uncertainty of the pandemic as a key driver for firearm sales. The National Shooting Sports Foundation, a firearms industry trade group, estimated that 40% of gun buyers in 2020 were first-time buyers.\n\n“It does seem like the pandemic has led to increasing desire for people to have firearms,” Winkler said. “The pandemic caused a major disruption in people’s lives. And when people’s lives are disrupted, they look for those things that can provide them security.”\n\nThomas Chittum, acting deputy director of the ATF, said the “vast majority” of legally purchased guns will never be used to commit a crime. But more guns in stores and in the home brings its own set of inherent risks.\n\nChittum says that part of the agency’s job includes outreach to gun stores to emphasize the importance of proper gun safety and storage in a climate of increased demand, especially among first-time buyers.\n\n“The more guns that are there and not really stored properly, the more that might be stolen. And we know that stolen firearms are a source of crime guns – a significant source,” he said.\n\nWinkler also cautioned against correlating firearms in the home with increased safety.\n\n“The gun lobby has for years been trying to persuade you that an important part of your security is having a firearm in your home, but the data doesn’t really support that idea,” he said. “The data shows that having a gun in your home actually makes you more at risk of being a victim of gun violence than it protects you.”\n\nAccelerating ‘time to crime’\n\nThe most comprehensive source that tracks crime guns is the ATF’s yearly Trace Data, which attempts to trace a gun to its original retail sale point. Because of restrictions in the Tiahrt Amendment, the ATF cannot publish detailed tracing data, and many gun purchase records are kept in paper format.\n\nThe aggregated data the ATF publishes, however, still provides insight into crime guns in the United States. One of the metrics it tracks is the “time to crime” – the time between when a gun is legally purchased to when it’s used to commit a crime. Its 2020 firearms trace report, published this January, found that the average time to crime dropped from eight years in 2019 to seven in 2020.\n\nAlarmingly, the percent of traces where the time to crime was under one year increased sharply over the past few years, from 16% in 2015 to 29% in 2020.\n\nThe ATF said in a statement to CNN that “firearms with a short Time-to-Crime have the most immediate investigative potential for law enforcement officials because they are likely to have changed hands less frequently from the time of the original purchase until recovery by law enforcement.”\n\nThe states with the highest time to crime on average were those with stricter gun laws, like California, Hawaii and New Jersey.\n\n“The most noteworthy thing is a lot more guns were recovered generally – and a lot more guns recovered that were recently sold,” said Daniel Webster, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Prevention and Policy. The number of guns the ATF traced rose from about 217,000 in 2015 to just over 393,000 in 2020.\n\n“To me, I think it sort of reflects a very basic thing, which is more guns, more gun crime,” he said.\n\nLack of data\n\nThe data comes with large caveats. The ATF calculates time to crime based on the gun’s original point of purchase, which means transactions can be missed. For example: If someone sells a gun they legally purchased 10 years ago to a pawn shop, the pawn shop could resell the gun to someone who then uses it to commit a crime six months later. That gun’s time to crime would be recorded as 10 years rather than six months, as the pawn store would not be required to report the sale to the ATF.\n\nThe ATF noted to CNN that the time to crime metric has declined steadily over the past several years, and that while there was “no single factor” they could point to for the decrease, they mentioned the “the continual expansion” of their tracing system, as well as improved data collection to close gaps in missed transactions, as potential factors.\n\nLaw enforcement agencies in many states are not required to submit recovered firearms to the ATF for tracing, though Chittum says the agency has “put a lot of effort into educating state and local agencies about the value of comprehensive tracing.”\n\nEven if recovered firearms are reported, not every gun can be traced. A report from the New York Attorney General’s office, which analyzed traced guns in the state from 2010 to 2015, described the process as “time consuming and prone to failure.” Of the 52,915 records the report analyzed, the ATF was “unable to obtain any state of origin for 12% of traces and a date of retail purchase for approximately 42% of traces.”\n\nData about gun trafficking – the term for when a gun is moved from a legal to illegal commerce stream – is also severely limited. The four most common forms of trafficking are gun thefts, straw sales, purchases on the unregulated secondary market and ghost guns.\n\nThe US government has not conducted a comprehensive study on sources of gun trafficking since 2000. Last April, the Biden administration directed the Justice Department to publish a new report that would be updated annually, but it has not yet been released.\n\nRising gun violence highlights need for action\n\nAs law enforcement officials grapple with a lack of comprehensive data and an increase in hard to trace firearms, gun homicides and assaults have risen steadily since 2020.\n\nIn its latest UCR report, the FBI stated that the number of homicides in 2020 increased almost 30% from 2019, the largest single-year increase the agency recorded since it began tracking these crimes in the 1960s. About 77% of reported murders in 2020 were committed with a gun, up from 74% in 2019.\n\nAmid escalating gun violence, a Supreme Court decision this term could significantly upend decades of gun restrictions in major cities. In November, the court appeared ready to expand Second Amendment rights as justices expressed skepticism over an existing New York law that prohibits people from carrying concealed handguns in public. If the law is overturned in New York, gun advocacy groups and researchers argue that the ruling could have a ripple effect across the US.\n\nAccording to a recent study by Everytown for Gun Safety, one of those effects could be more firearm deaths. The study found a strong correlation between states that have looser gun laws and higher rates of gun deaths.\n\nWithout robust data collection on traced crime guns or gun ownership, and any lack of enacted rules about ghost guns, Everytown’s Feinblatt said law enforcement officers are limited in what they can do to effectively reduce gun violence.\n\n“When you can’t publish data about who are the bad apple sellers? That’s fighting with one hand behind your back. When you can’t publicize trace data and when the government isn’t finalizing the rule on ghost guns? That’s fighting with one hand behind your back,” he told CNN.\n\nVaswani with the San Francisco police stressed the impact that rising gun violence has on the families and communities, pointing to the shooting deaths of a toddler in Oakland last year and a 6-year-old in San Francisco in 2020, both killed by stray gunfire.\n\n“The byproduct of this is our neighborhoods, our kids, innocent people that get caught in gun violence that have nothing to do with it,” he said. “They’re just at the wrong place at the wrong time.”", "authors": ["Priya Krishnakumar"], "publish_date": "2022/01/30"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/27/us/uvalde-school-shooting-failures-impact/index.html", "title": "Uvalde: How lessons from Columbine went unheeded in Texas ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nAfter the 1999 mass shooting at Columbine High School, a state commission investigating the attack in Colorado offered a recommendation that would go on to be widely adopted by police agencies across the United States:\n\n“Law enforcement policy and training should emphasize that the highest priority of law enforcement officers, after arriving at the scene of a crisis, is to stop any ongoing assault.”\n\nTwenty-three years and hundreds of active shooter incidents later, society and policing leaders have set expectations that police end shooting attacks quickly and decisively – by killing or arresting the gunman – and prioritize the lives of victims over those of responding officers.\n\nThat did not happen three months ago when a gunman in Uvalde, Texas, killed 19 fourth-graders and two teachers and left 17 other people injured. After law enforcement approached the classrooms where the shooter had holed up with wounded students, the gunman fired at police, who retreated, then waited more than 70 minutes to confront and kill him.\n\nThe attack on Robb Elementary, the tactical failures of the police response, the inaccurate framing later by police of their own efforts as heroic and the subsequent refusal over months by government officials to answer key questions that could clarify the public’s understanding of that day, together, will have ramifications for years to come, even if only as a reminder of how not to respond to an active shooter and how not to communicate with the public afterward.\n\nBeyond the immediate and deep devastation of dead students and educators, the deficiencies already have begun to undermine the credibility of law enforcement in Texas, testing residents’ faith in their own police and raising questions about the officers’ ability to confront future crimes. The mistrust has rippled, too: A sheriff in Illinois soon after the attack declared publicly that his deputies never would respond to a similar assault as police did in Uvalde, and school officials in Atlanta just this week briefed parents also concerned over the Uvalde police response about their own safety plans.\n\nAP/Getty Images\n\n“This is very, very early in a long-, long-term affair,” said Thor Eells, executive director of the National Tactical Officers Association. “We’re in the first minute of an overtime game. There will be a lot of unintended, unforeseen, unanticipated consequences. That’s a shame.”\n\nDuring the police response to the Columbine attack – a shocking siege that felt like a first-of-its kind event and marked a seminal moment in American policing – officers surrounded the school, trained to expect a SWAT team with specialized weapons and tactics to enter and resolve the situation. Professional practice in law enforcement back then also held that time itself benefited police responders.\n\nBut Columbine upended that widely held belief, with the state commission finding the trained response was “demonstrably inadequate for incidents like that at Columbine High School.” “Time is not on the side of police if one or more active perpetrators are in control of a large public building where there are many potential victims,” its report reads.\n\nTwelve students and one teacher died at Columbine at the hands of two students who killed themselves at the school before officers found them. The police response was hampered not just by the ill-suited tactics but also by problems with communication among responding police agencies. Though an officer traded gunfire with one of the shooters a few minutes into the attack outside the school, the first law enforcement entry into the school came about 50 minutes after the shooting began, the report states.\n\nColumbine High School students run from the campus under police cover on April 20, 1999. Mark Leffingwell/AFP/Getty Images\n\nAmid debate after Columbine over whether police waiting for backup was the right approach, there was broad agreement the surround-and-negotiate approach taken during that massacre wasn’t appropriate to the type of violent school attack that’s only become more common over the past two decades, recalled Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, which aims to improve professionalism in policing.\n\n“Back then, there was still some (debate as to) whether a single officer should go in or wait for additional officers. There was variation in policies … I think that’s the case even at Parkland,” he said, referring to the 2018 school shooting in Florida. “But Uvalde was a line in the sand in the sense that … lessons will be felt for decades to come. It’s not a debate anymore.”\n\nThe Columbine commission’s recommendation to prioritize a speedy confrontation was just that – a recommendation. Not even every police agency involved in the Columbine response cooperated with the commission’s work, and the wide adoption of its approach to active shooting events as a professional policing standard didn’t happen immediately.\n\nStill, the expectation of a fast and aggressive police response has only sharpened over the years, as groups like the National Tactical Officers Association in Colorado and the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training center in Texas have developed training programs that prioritize the rapid and violent, if necessary, confrontation of spree shooters.\n\nIndeed, few things in law enforcement can now be so simply explained as the officer’s obligation during an attack, especially at a school:\n\nMove toward gunfire.\n\nEnd the threat.\n\n“In Uvalde, we’re 20 years past Columbine and (four) years past Parkland … but that’s the challenge of American policing: the expectation that everybody is going to perform and knows best practices. But what happens when that message doesn’t get through and you have the response like you have in Uvalde? A question of who’s in charge, question of command, question of equipment, question of willingness to put yourself, your life on the line to protect someone else,” Wexler said. “All those came about.”\n\nTyler Vielie walks on April 20, 2021, past crosses with the names of the victims of the Columbine High School shooting in Littleton, Colorado. Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images\n\n‘A massive failure of leadership on every level’\n\nA complete accounting of the police response to Uvalde has not yet been made public by officials, who’ve largely avoided answering questions about internal reviews complicated by the overlapping response by 23 agencies and the fact that key agencies are investigating themselves.\n\nStill, police experts, public officials, grieving parents and others all have said the choice by Uvalde responders to wait so long to confront the shooter was wrong.\n\nWhat’s known of the Uvalde response so far largely comes from video from inside school hallways, a report released by a Texas legislative committee investigating the shooting, police body-worn camera videos from the city of Uvalde and a report from the ALERRT training center at Texas State University. Together, the materials show a failure of command early in the response that experts have said compounded failures further on in the incident and in the days that followed, as police gave the public wrong information about what happened.\n\nFor instance, a CNN review of body-worn camera footage revealed officers with the state agency investigating the shooting – the Texas Department of Public Safety – were at Robb Elementary earlier than publicly acknowledged by its leaders, who instead have focused on its members’ actions later in the attack. Meantime, the city of Uvalde waited nearly two months – until after the release of the legislative report – to release the bodycam videos and has shared little about a third-party probe of its police force. And while the school board fired its police chief – a move his lawyer called “an illegal and unconstitutional public lynching” – school officials haven’t commented on the status of any other officers there that day.\n\nOfficers stage May 24 in a hallway at Robb Elementary. Texas House Investigative Committee/Reuters\n\nAll the while, parents of slain children and their neighbors have been showing up to city and school government meetings, demanding far more answers and accountability from public officials, who’ve shown little interest in the three months since the carnage in releasing more information.\n\n“It’s a massive failure of leadership on every level,” said Peter Moskos, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and former Baltimore city police officer. “No one there has said they f**ked up. There’s still a need for police, there’s just no accountability. Someone needs to resign and say, ‘We messed up.’ It would give some accountability to it. This idea you make a big mistake, kids die, then you just go on … that’s what’s happening. If it happened again, there’s no reason to think they’d do it any differently.”\n\nAmong the unanswered questions about Uvalde are how officials are reviewing the actions of lower-ranking officers and whether they’re considering how officers can go back into the small community and expect respect and compliance from residents who know they waited outside a classroom while kids bled from gunshot wounds.\n\n“We are still being placated with tidbits or being outright stonewalled or being given excuses” about the city police department’s response, said resident Michele Prouty, who passed out complaint forms against Uvalde police at an August 9 Uvalde City Council meeting. “What we have instead – what we are traumatized again and again by – is an inept, unstructured national embarrassment of a circus tent full of smug clowns. These clowns continue to cruise our streets sporting their tarnished badges.”\n\n“I cannot, for the life of me, imagine how you’d continue a career knowing you left children in there,” said Eells, of the National Tactical Officers Association. “Cannot imagine it.”\n\nTexas’ DPS Director Steven McCraw has called the law enforcement response “an abject failure” and said each of his officers will be scrutinized internally and by the county district attorney spearheading a criminal investigation in the case. McCraw will not publicly release any information, per a district attorney’s request, he said, acknowledging the case could take years.\n\n“It is important to do a thorough investigation, especially when law enforcement officers are involved,” McCraw said earlier this month. His agency would not comment for this story.\n\nThe head of the union that represents law enforcement officers across the state, including some in Uvalde, has called for an independent probe of Texas DPS. “I don’t know that we can trust them to do an internal investigation,” said Charley Wilkison, executive director of the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas.\n\nTexas DPS “was fast to wash its hands, to point fingers and to make sure that the general public, particularly the elected officials, knew that they were spotless, blameless and that this was a local problem. … No one created this environment, (in) which everyone’s to blame except DPS. No one did that except them,” he said.\n\n“If we’re to never, ever let this happen in Texas, we have to know what happened, exactly what happened.”\n\nPeople cry May 24 outside a civic center where students were taken from Robb Elementary. Marco Bello/Reuters\n\nCandid Illinois sheriff soon faces a spree shooting\n\nIt’s common for police, formally and informally, to look at how another agency handled a case that garnered significant news attention. Cases less consequential than Uvalde can result in a reminder from a supervisor during roll call of officers’ responsibilities during an active shooting event, or something more formal, like an agency prioritizing refresher training.\n\nNationally, there was concern within law enforcement within a few days of the Robb Elementary attack over the quality of the police response and how it was being communicated, based on the shifting narrative from law enforcement officials in Texas. The public shared those same concerns as they saw the police yarn unravel through news reports and official reviews.\n\nIn Lake County, Illinois, the sheriff released a statement three days after the Uvalde shooting vowing his force would do all the things law enforcement in the Texas city did not: “immediately respond” and “move immediately into the scene and utilize their training to do what is necessary” and “take whatever actions are necessary to protect life.”\n\nThe agency thought it important to reassure county residents that deputies knew their responsibilities in an active shooter situation, said Chris Covelli, a deputy chief and the sheriff’s office public information officer. People in Lake County – where a mass shooting would unfold only weeks later at a July 4 parade, killing seven and injuring dozens more in Highland Park – were looking at what was happening in Uvalde and wondering, Covelli said.\n\n“Had the community not been concerned, it wouldn’t have needed to be addressed. But they were, and the onus is on us to know where we stand and what we’re prepared to do,” he said. “Our sheriff reassured the community that in an active shooter situation, we are going to respond to move and stop that threat – not going to wait, not going to wait to get orders through the grapevine how to proceed.\n\n“Our deputies are trained to make immediate decisions. Whether it’s an active shooter at a school bus, church, whatever the case is, (they’re) trained to enter and stop the threat immediately, don’t need to wait for approval to do that,” he said.\n\nMourners visit a memorial days after a mass shooting at a Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois. Jim Vondruska/Getty Images\n\nIn Atlanta in late August, school and police officials addressed parents who’d raised concerns related to the Uvalde attack by detailing their own plans to respond to active shooters, CNN affiliate WGCL reported. The very next day, the high school was the subject of a threat quickly investigated by city police and the FBI, according to a principal’s statement.\n\nFear of a cover-up in the Uvalde police responses is real. The city’s mayor has openly wondered about it, and the legislative committee investigating the shooting noted in the report it issued July 17, “The fear of a coverup is palpable here … Most fundamentally, there has been a loss of trust in government.”\n\n“Problems with the flow of information have plagued government, media, and public discussion about what happened at Robb Elementary from the outset – damaging public trust, inflicting a very real toll on the people of Uvalde, and creating an imperative to provide a reliable set of facts,” the report stated.\n\nAfter the 2014 deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner at the hands of police, then-President Barack Obama formed a task force that issued a report declaring “legitimacy” as essential to any police agency’s ability to do its job. “Building Trust & Legitimacy” ended up as the first pillar of the panel’s report – “really the fundamental, underlying all the pillars,” said Laurie Robinson, one of the report’s authors.\n\nWhile the circumstances of Brown’s killing – which like Garner’s prompted widespread protests and calls for reform in how officers use legal force against suspects – differ markedly from what happened in Uvalde, the hesitance of officials in that Ferguson, Missouri, case to release key details of what happened mirrors the pattern that has emerged after the Robb Elementary massacre, said Wexler, of the Police Executive Research Forum.\n\nAnd as the Obama task force concluded, “transparency and accountability” cut directly to the ability of police agencies to retain the public’s trust. Its report suggested police communicate “swiftly, openly, and neutrally,” especially when there are allegations of police misconduct.\n\nIt’s counsel officials so many years later in Uvalde did not appear to heed.\n\n“That really compounded things in Uvalde, the fact you couldn’t get answers to basic questions. Whenever (a) department decides (it was) not going to communicate basic information, they undercut their legitimacy immediately,” Wexler said. “And that’s one of (the) lessons police chiefs know: that the days of saying ‘no comment’ ended decades ago.”", "authors": ["Peter Nickeas"], "publish_date": "2022/08/27"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/16/opinions/white-supremacy-buffalo-shooting-joseph/index.html", "title": "Opinion: Buffalo is part of an unfolding American tragedy | CNN", "text": "Editor’s Note: Peniel E. Joseph is the Barbara Jordan Chair in ethics and political values and the founding director of the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, where he is also a professor of history. He is the author of the forthcoming book “The Third Reconstruction: America’s Struggle for Racial Justice in the Twenty-First Century,” in addition to “Stokely: A Life” and “The Sword and the Shield: The Revolutionary Lives of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.” The views expressed here are his own. View more opinion articles on CNN.\n\nCNN —\n\nThe racist mass shooting at the Tops grocery store in Buffalo, New York, that left 10 Black people dead and three others injured at the hands of a teenager who labeled himself a White supremacist reflects the latest chapter of a deepening moral and political crisis within the United States.\n\nPeniel Joseph Kelvin Ma/Tufts University/Kelvin Ma/Tufts University\n\nRacist ideas that seemed to be relegated to history’s dustbin after watershed civil rights, legal and legislative victories have returned with a vengeance. Headlines characterizing the Buffalo massacre as “racially motivated” do the entire nation a disservice. The benign description does not begin to cover the depth and breadth of the crisis we are facing. White supremacy almost destroyed the nation during antebellum slavery, triggered secession, treason and a catastrophic Civil War where over 600,000 Americans perished.\n\nThe alleged Buffalo shooter, 18-year-old Payton S. Gendron, has been charged with first degree murder and pleaded not guilty. He livestreamed his attack on Twitch and posted a document, since removed, expressing his belief in “replacement theory,” a racist belief that Jews, Blacks, immigrants and persons of color are plotting to eliminate native born Whites from the US. It’s a set of ideas and a worldview that has, in the past, and still does, fuel White supremacy.\n\nAuthorities have said Gendron’s motivation was hate; Erie County Sheriff John C. Garcia described the attack “a straight up racially motivated hate crime” and the Justice Department is investigating it as such.\n\nBuffalo is heartbreaking precisely because this did not have to happen. An America true to its ideals would not be engaged in a Cold Civil War marked by a Supreme Court hostile to the rights of women and an influential right-wing hostile to people of color and underdogs of all stripes. Voter suppression would be impossible if we cared as much about the rights of citizenship as we did guns. Gun control, in a healthy democracy, should be a bipartisan issue, not one used to partisan political advantage. Right-wing extremism in our politics, media, and religious and democratic institutions provides oxygen for online hate communities that have now turned one time rhetorical fantasies into blood-soaked nightmares that harm us all.\n\nBlack people, according to the FBI’s data, are the most likely targets of racist hate crimes in America. 2020, the year of the largest social justice movements in American history, saw the largest increase in hate crimes since 2008, with over 15,000 reported incidents.\n\nWhile Black people are the most likely targets of such violence, assaults on Jewish, LGBTQ, Latinx, and Asian American and Pacific Islander communities have proliferated over the past several years. The attack in Buffalo serves as a gruesome bookend to an unfortunate seven-year period, beginning with the shooting at Emanuel AME church that left nine Black parishioners dead in Charleston, South Carolina, on June 17, 2015. In between we have witnessed scores of hate crimes against other groups including the June 12, 2016, anti-LGBTQ massacre in Orlando, Florida that left 49 dead and 53 injured; the October 27, 2018, anti-Semitic massacre at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that left 11 dead and six injured; the August 3, 2019, mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, that killed 23 and expressly targeted the city’s Latinx community; the March 16, 2021, spa shootings in Atlanta that killed eight, including six people of Asian descent.\n\nBuffalo marks the continuation of an unfolding American tragedy. Anti-Black racism, gun violence, hate groups amplified by social media and domestic White terrorism have all combined to produce waves of violence, death, and suffering. The political flames of White nationalism, fanned by former President Donald Trump and his Make America Great Again adherents and cable TV personalities at Fox News such as Tucker Carlson threaten our very democracy.\n\nThe New York Times’ recent investigative report on Carlson and Fox News revealed, in over 15,000 words and after watching more than one thousand hours of his program, how Tucker Carlson’s support for “replacement theory” and other White supremacist fantasies raised his popularity, helped spread misinformation, and made him the king of cable news and Donald Trump’s cultural heir.\n\nDonald Trump’s assertion that Barack Obama was not born in America and was thus an illegitimate President offered a proof of concept that helped galvanize the most extremist parts of the Republican Party and its base. The “Birther Movement” lie gained enough traction to allow Trump to successfully win the Republican nomination and the presidency. In Trump White nationalists and White supremacists found a politician they considered an ally in their quest to restore America back to its pre-1965 immigration reform ethnic and racial makeup.\n\nThe misinformation, lies and racism being spread across a right-wing media echo chamber is working. One in three Americans believe in the “Great Replacement” – the fear-driven and utterly false theory that Black Lives Matter activists, queer folk, immigrants, Muslims and supposedly racially suspect others are conspiring to displace hardworking (read: White) Americans with an undeserving group of interlopers. Part of this theory dovetails into partisan politics, through persistent, yet unfounded, rumors that Democrats are plotting to steal future elections with ineligible voters.\n\nAppeals to racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and queer phobia have reached new partisan heights in our current age of White nationalism. Legislation banning the teaching of Black history, which has passed in multiple states, is designed to perpetuate racist myths about America that threaten to unravel our almost 250-year-old experiment in democracy. So too voter suppression efforts masked as election security to protect the nation from almost non-existent voter fraud.\n\nFlorida, as one example, is a state that makes it difficult for Black people to vote or receive fair treatment in the criminal justice system – and punishes those who teach parts of America’s racial history that could make any White person uncomfortable. The state has broken new ground in ratcheting up partisan divides and weaponizing against difference and has gone so far as to try and pass legislation against the Disney Corporation for daring to speak out against the state’s “don’t say gay” law.\n\nGet our free weekly newsletter Sign up for CNN Opinion’s newsletter. Join us on Twitter and Facebook\n\nThe agonizing scenes of suffering emanating from Buffalo, where bewildered residents wondered what could inspire a teenager to travel three hours to methodically kill Black people based on racial hatred are not isolated from the rest of America. ,For Black Americans, this is the latest chapter in a long history that has forced too many families into mourning for dead loved ones, friends and neighbors.\n\nEvents in Buffalo require a response that goes far beyond allyship, the term that became popular in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and the demonstrations and soul-searching that followed. All people of goodwill, whatever their political and religious affiliation, or circumstances, must stand in solidarity with Buffalo’s African American community. Almost two years after George Floyd’s death seemed to signal that the nation would turn a corner on racial divisions, the politics of White backlash, violence and terror have, as witnessed in Buffalo and elsewhere, seemed to have upended these hopes.\n\nAnd yet, belief in a future where all things are possible is the bedrock of humanity’s faith in itself and in a higher power. The discipline that animates such faith, both religious and secular, is a core feature of the Black freedom struggle. The hopes that remain in the wake of death. The faith that endures after tragedy. The belief that, despite this mean season of suffering, brighter days lie ahead.", "authors": ["Peniel E. Joseph"], "publish_date": "2022/05/16"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/07/politics/california-primary-election-da-race/index.html", "title": "California is about to experience a political earthquake. Here's why ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nAn earthquake is building in Tuesday’s California elections that could rattle the political landscape from coast to coast.\n\nIn Los Angeles and San Francisco, two of the nation’s most liberal large cities, voters are poised to send stinging messages of discontent over mounting public disorder, as measured in both upticks in certain kinds of crime and pervasive homelessness.\n\nThat dissatisfaction could translate into the recall of San Francisco’s left-leaning district attorney, Chesa Boudin, likely by a resounding margin, and a strong showing in the Los Angeles mayoral primary by Rick Caruso, a billionaire real estate developer and former Republican who has emerged as the leading alternative in the race to Democratic US Rep. Karen Bass, once considered the front-runner.\n\nLinking both these contests – as well as several Los Angeles City Council races and an ongoing effort to recall George Gascon, Los Angeles County’s left-leaning district attorney – is a widespread sense among voters in both cities that local government is failing at its most basic responsibility: to ensure public safety and order. It’s a sentiment similar to the anxiety over urban disarray that inspired the “broken windows” policing theory during the 1980s, and contributed to the election of Republican Mayors Rudy Giuliani and Richard Riordan in New York and Los Angeles, respectively, amid the cascading violence of the crack epidemic in the early 1990s.\n\nTuesday’s California results will likely send a stark message to the Democrats controlling Congress and the White House. The outcome will again underscore how much danger a party in power can face when voters feel that certainty has been stripped from their lives – a dynamic that extends beyond crime and homelessness to inflation, soaring gasoline prices and continued disruption from the unending Covid pandemic.\n\n“In the broadest perspective, the voters and residents are feeling that the governing regime, the liberal Democratic regime that has dominated LA for the last 30 years, and California and San Francisco, is not meeting the moment,” says Fernando Guerra, a political scientist who directs the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University.\n\nZev Yaroslavsky, who served on the LA City Council and then the LA County Board of Supervisors for almost 40 years starting in 1975, says the only time he can remember Los Angeles voters as discontented as they are today was in the late 1970s, an era of high inflation and soaring property tax bills that produced California’s Proposition 13 and the tax revolt that helped elect Ronald Reagan president in 1980.\n\n“What people used to take for granted they can no longer take for granted – on your ability to pay your rent, your ability to walk the streets safely, on your ability not to be accosted by a homeless person,” says Yaroslavsky, now director of the Los Angeles Initiative at the Luskin School of Public Affairs at the University of California Los Angeles. “It’s a lack of confidence in government’s ability to respond.”\n\nLos Angeles City Council President Nury Martinez, who took office in 2013, feels those gusts too. “I’ve never seen a more angrier electorate than this particular election,” she told me. “I think all of this is just at a boiling point.”\n\nA flipped agenda\n\nThe dominant role of crime and homelessness in the Los Angeles and San Francisco elections represents an inversion of the political agenda since the summer of 2020. Like dozens of other cities, both places saw protesters for police reform fill the streets following George Floyd’s murder. In Los Angeles, that energy helped propel Gascon to a narrow victory over the law enforcement-backed District Attorney Jackie Lacey in November 2020 and also powered voter approval of a ballot initiative to combat racial inequities by shifting county funds toward social services and alternatives to incarceration.\n\nBoudin, the San Francisco district attorney, who was narrowly elected in 2019, and Gascon have pursued largely parallel agendas centered on reducing incarceration through measures such as a virtual prohibition on trying juveniles as adults, the rejection of “enhancements” (for such factors as gang involvement or use of a gun) that extend sentence lengths and a policy of not prosecuting “quality of life” misdemeanors associated with homelessness, such as trespassing and public urination.\n\nThat agenda quickly faced fierce resistance from other elements in the criminal justice system committed to traditional approaches, including the unions representing police in both cities. Law enforcement interests are backing the recalls against Gascon and Boudin, and in LA the police union is spending heavily against Bass, a leader in the House of Representatives’ passage last year of sweeping federal police reform legislation. The recall efforts against Boudin and Gascon, as well as Caruso’s mayoral bid in Los Angeles, have also drawn support from big Republican donors, who constitute a distinct minority in both cities.\n\nThe role of both law enforcement insiders and conservative donors and activists has frustrated advocates for police reform, who see the backlash across these many fronts as an attempt to restore hardline approaches before new alternatives are given a chance to demonstrate whether they can succeed.\n\nTake a look at our streets: No matter where you live now, you can walk down the street, you can look out your front window, and you will see … that what the city and the county have been doing simply is not working. Nury Martinez, Los Angeles City Council president\n\n“I think to a very large degree that more conservative forces have been very, very adept at framing the issues of homelessness and of crime so that the discussion about … how to respond to those two issues is very, very narrow,” says Los Angeles City Council Member Mike Bonin, an outspoken liberal who is not seeking reelection this year after narrowly avoiding a recall drive centered on his resistance to tougher measures against the endemic homelessness across his Westside district.\n\nVideo Ad Feedback Rep. Bass: 'We really have a humanitarian crisis in Los Angeles' 17:04 - Source: CNN\n\nYet the evidence is overwhelming that the unease dominating Tuesday’s elections extends far beyond conservative circles. Yaroslavsky points out that in the UCLA Luskin School’s annual polling across Los Angeles County, concern about crime has increased substantially not only among Whites, but among Hispanics, Blacks and Asian Americans as well.\n\nBen LaBolt, a San Francisco-based Democratic strategist and former campaign spokesperson for Barack Obama, likewise notes that prominent local Democrats have played leading roles in the effort to recall Boudin. “The notion that this [recall] is some right-wing misinformation campaign is dangerous for Democrats to say or think, because it’s definitely not,” he says.\n\nIn both cities, anxiety about public safety is rising faster than the actual trends in reported crime. The online dashboard maintained by the San Francisco Police Department shows that through May 29 (the latest week for which figures are available) burglaries and break-ins or thefts of motor vehicles are clearly up from the comparable period in 2019, before Boudin took office. But assaults and homicides are virtually unchanged over that period, and robberies are down, as are the total number of serious offenses.\n\nIn Los Angeles the trends are more consistently troublesome: The Los Angeles Police Department’s tracking system shows that through late May both property crimes and violent crimes had increased substantially over the comparable period in 2020 (before Gascon’s election). But even in LA, both violent and property crimes remain a small fraction of their elevated levels in the 1990s and well below their rates for most of this century’s first decade.\n\n“We are not seeing numbers that look anything like some of the worst eras that people have been through,” says Michelle Parris, California program director at the Vera Institute of Justice, speaking on behalf of Vera Action, a criminal justice advocacy group. Moreover, she points out, California communities with tough-on-crime policies like Sacramento and rural Kern County are experiencing crime upticks that in some cases exceed the increases in Los Angeles and San Francisco. “We’ve seen that even tough-on-crime prosecutors in California have not delivered safety,” she says. “They are subject to the same exact trends we are seeing around the country.”\n\nA problem with high visibility\n\nLike many other observers in both cities, Parris points to a different cause than crime per se as the primary driver of rising anxiety over public safety. “Homelessness and untreated mental illness … impacts people’s perception of safety,” she says. “And so I think that’s part of why in places like Los Angeles or San Francisco in particular, where [that] is quite visible, that has a great impact of what people are talking about.”\n\nIn both cities, pervasive homelessness has rekindled the concern about losing control of city streets that inspired advocates of the “broken windows” theory to argue 40 years ago for greater enforcement against crimes of “disorder” like loitering, panhandling and public intoxication. In San Francisco, concern has centered on the Tenderloin neighborhood, which has been overwhelmed with open drug use among the homeless. In Los Angeles, the mayoral and City Council races have been dominated by concerns about the spread of large homeless encampments across the city. These encampments have proliferated despite the approval of two ballot initiatives in Los Angeles in 2016 authorizing substantial expenditures to build housing and provide services for the homeless – and the City Council’s passage of an ordinance last fall authorizing the removal of encampments around sensitive areas such as schools, libraries and day care centers.\n\n“Take a look at our streets: No matter where you live now, you can walk down the street, you can look out your front window, and you will see … that what the city and the county have been doing simply is not working,” says Martinez, the LA City Council president.\n\nYaroslavsky, the former city and county official, says the persistence of the homeless encampments has become a viscerally visible symbol of fundamental governmental failure. “I think homelessness is both a real issue but it’s also a metaphor for everything else that’s gone wrong in society and government’s ability to address something that is so visible and so ubiquitous in the county,” he says. “So it’s like a billboard that says failure.”\n\nMy last email to the mayor’s office was that, amongst other things, we just had a massacre in Texas, an unstable man who was ignored, but it’s not like people didn’t know he was unstable. We have a park of mentally unstable people currently slashing and shooting each other. What would make us think this wouldn’t turn into something much more tragic? Elizabeth Clay, activist and land use planner\n\nThe neighborhood uproar over a large encampment around the public library in the traditionally liberal oceanfront LA community of Venice encapsulates the discontent that has upended politics in both cities. After the city of Los Angeles finally cleared out a massive homeless encampment along the Venice boardwalk that attracted national attention, a new one developed last fall around the community’s public library. It has now engulfed the library on all sides, angering and frightening nearby residents, who have posted viral videos of rampant drug use and violence in the area. Longtime library patrons have publicly lamented that they no longer feel safe using the facility, which was also threatened by a recent fire that started in the camp.\n\n“There’s slashings. There’s shootings,” says Elizabeth Clay, a local activist and land use planner who has been involved in community protests against the encampment. “My last email to the mayor’s office was that, amongst other things, we just had a massacre in Texas, an unstable man who was ignored, but it’s not like people didn’t know he was unstable. We have a park of mentally unstable people currently slashing and shooting each other. What would make us think this wouldn’t turn into something much more tragic?”\n\nTo frustrated residents, the effective surrender of the library – the quintessential public service – to a homeless encampment amounts to a perverse elevation of the interests of those who don’t pay taxes over those residents who do. Many, like Clay, express deep disappointment with outgoing Mayor Eric Garcetti, who they view as disengaged from his job and the mounting crisis on the streets as he tries to win approval for his nomination as ambassador to India.\n\nBut the principal focus of residents’ ire is Bonin, the liberal council member who was one of two to oppose the ordinance barring camping around sensitive facilities. The city’s anti-camping ordinance requires that the council vote to approve each individual enforcement action, and Clay and others say that Bonin has repeatedly blocked plans for such efforts around the library.\n\nIn the interview, Bonin denied blocking cleanup plans (except for once, he said, when he asked the city to hold off while he tried to assemble a broader interagency response that never materialized). But he was adamant in insisting that simply dismantling the tent city in the park would only compound the problem unless it was accompanied by permanent housing and services for the homeless now living there. “If there is a massive enforcement without offering services … what that’s going to do is just move people across the street in front of people’s homes and deeper into residential neighborhoods,” he argues.\n\nVoters feel conflicted\n\nThere is still substantial support in Los Angeles for providing services to homeless people. Even Caruso, who has promised to build much more housing and provide more services to the homeless, sounds very different from Giuliani and other early hardline advocates of the broken windows theory, whose policies were often derided as unfairly increasing police enforcement against young minority men. No mainstream voice in either city is suggesting that policymakers can simply arrest their way out of the homeless crisis or even the uptick in crime.\n\nBut all sides in the debate agree the public appears out of patience, both in San Francisco and Los Angeles, with a set of policies that has surrendered control of public spaces and made it difficult for residents to get through the day without encountering people who appear to be a danger to themselves or others. The same ebbing of patience is visible in the often-expressed belief that Boudin and Gascon, by placing so much priority on reducing incarceration, have encouraged a sense of invulnerability among repeat criminal offenders. “The voters are conflicted: Karen Bass, Mike Bonin, all these guys, they reflect our values,” says Guerra, the political scientist. “But that’s not where we are right now. The moment is about homelessness, public safety, and they are not even speaking to that.”\n\nRick Caruso shakes hands with workers during a tour of Industrial Metal Supply in Sun Valley, California, Monday, June 6, 2022. Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG/Getty Images\n\nCaruso has declared that if elected he will declare emergency powers as mayor that authorize him to clear homeless encampments without approval from the City Council. Bass hasn’t gone that far, but she’s also pledged to end encampments. “There are some things you just don’t do outside, and sleeping is one of them,” Bass has repeatedly said.\n\nWhoever wins the LA mayoral race, “the tide is turning, and now I feel that in each district you have an avalanche of people who are just outright pissed off at the state of affairs in our city,” says Martinez, the City Council president. “I believe that is what is moving the council to take a harder stance on allowing encampments to remain.”\n\nThe same trajectory is evident on policing. While activists had hoped to significantly redirect funding away from the LAPD – an institution with a long history of racial bias – in the aftermath of the Floyd murder, Caruso is now promising to add 1,500 officers. Even Bass, while not abandoning her calls for reform and accountability, wants to maintain the department’s current staffing level and move more officers out from desk jobs to augment its presence on the streets.\n\nIt’s still an open question how far this public demand for order will extend. Boudin’s recall seems almost inevitable, and it will likely reinforce the message of the recent recalls of three very liberal members of the city’s Board of Education: that local residents want their government to focus less on absolutist ideological statements than on delivering basic services. LaBolt predicts that after Boudin, San Francisco won’t see a lurch to the right on law enforcement but rather a recalibration toward the center: “I think what we’ll see is a return to the assertion that you don’t have to choose between public safety and criminal justice reform.”\n\nVideo Ad Feedback Smerconish: A political earthquake in San Francisco 03:37 - Source: CNN\n\nThe landscape in LA is complex too. Polls show widespread discontent with Gascon’s performance, and the campaign against him claims it is well on its way toward obtaining the signatures it needs by early July to qualify a recall against him on the November ballot. But it is not unusual in California for such efforts to fail after large number of signatures are disqualified. Meanwhile, the county’s hardline and scandal-tarred sheriff, Alex Villanueva, who has denounced liberal policies on crime and homelessness, will likely face a runoff after Tuesday with a challenger to his left. Tuesday’s City Council primaries could see strong showings for hardline law-and-order candidates – in particular in Bonin’s district, where discontent is peaking – but in several other districts, left-leaning candidates deeply critical of the LAPD and the anti-encampment laws are mounting serious challenges to more centrist incumbents.\n\nEven the mayoral race shows conflicting currents. The fact that Caruso, a former Republican, is demonstrating so much strength is revealing in itself (even if he’s been buoyed by his massive personal spending). But Caruso has endorsed conventionally liberal positions on almost all issues beyond crime and homelessness, and most analysts expect that he and Bass will meet in a November runoff because neither will attract the 50% of the vote needed to win outright on Tuesday.\n\nRep. Karen Bass greets supporters on Sunday, June 5, 2022, in Los Angeles. Gina Ferazzi/The Los Angeles Times/Getty Images\n\nCaruso’s promises to restore order “can have great appeal … in a time that is unsettled and you have $30 million to spend,” says Manuel Pastor, director of the Dornsife Equity Research Institute at the University of Southern California. “The question is whether or not there’s a cap to that [support] similar to the top that there was to the recall campaign” against California Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2021, which qualified for the ballot but then failed last fall.\n\nYet even if Bass ultimately squeezes past Caruso, Gascon narrowly avoids a recall or San Francisco doesn’t swing hard to the right on law enforcement if Boudin is recalled, the evidence suggests Democrats would be wrong to minimize the magnitude of the tremors building in California. In both Los Angeles and San Francisco, it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that the most progressive forces have opened the door to a right-tilting backlash by failing to adequately respond to, or even acknowledge, the depth of public discontent over the mounting disorder – even among many voters who lean left in their values. More than even the specific issues of crime and homelessness, “what’s feeding the beast” of backlash “is just the general sense of disarray and dysfunction that is permeating everything,” says veteran Democratic pollster Paul Maslin, who is advising an independent expenditure campaign supporting Bass.\n\nThe parallel to national politics is the potential for a seismic backlash in November among voters unsettled by all the disruptions to daily life – from inflation to Covid-19 to crime – that have persisted through Joe Biden’s presidency. That continued turbulence has undermined the implicit promise of his candidacy: to return the nation to something approaching normalcy after all the turmoil of the Donald Trump presidency. In all likelihood, the results in Los Angeles and San Francisco on Tuesday will underscore how far voters feel from normalcy even in two of the nation’s most staunchly Democratic communities.", "authors": ["Ronald Brownstein"], "publish_date": "2022/06/07"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/12/18/2018-news-united-states-year-review/2070336002/", "title": "2018 news year in review: Stories across United States that moved us", "text": "Editors\n\nUSA TODAY\n\nIn 2018, the eyes of the nation were again fixed on President Donald Trump, whose second year in office was no less remarkable than his first. It was a year that saw the president open up trade wars, meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, spar with the press and defend hush money payments to women he allegedly had affairs with, all while new revelations and indictments poured out of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election meddling.\n\nPolicies and politics divided us. We found ourselves embroiled in a fierce immigration debate. Trump's Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh ascended to the high court despite sexual assault allegations from Christine Blasey Ford.\n\nNature humbled us. California burned as the Camp Fire became the most destructive in state history. Hurricane winds and floods battered the Carolinas. But other stories made us proud. Team USA brought home 23 Olympic medals from Pyeongchang, South Korea. Teachers fought for better pay.\n\nWe exercised our rights, voting in the most tumultuous midterms in years. Democrats gained control of the House, Republicans expanded their Senate majority, and voters made history, ushering into Congress many firsts for women and minorities.\n\nThen, we ended the year with a solemn goodbye. Funeral services for George H.W. Bush were a farewell not only to a former president, but also to a generation.\n\nAfter another eventful year, USA TODAY revisits one story from each state that moved us – the big news, the best investigations and the moments we can't stop talking about.\n\nMore:Our most-read stories of 2018\n\nPassages:Aretha Franklin, Stephen Hawking, George H.W. Bush and other luminaries: A look at legends we’ve lost in 2018\n\nMore:Striking images: A photo a day from 2018\n\nAlabama\n\nJeff Sessions, the Russia investigation and high-profile White House departures\n\nThe former Alabama senator's beleaguered tenure as U.S. Attorney General finally ended in November, one day after the midterm elections. While Sessions was one of President Donald Trump’s earliest supporters, he was berated by the commander-in-chief for recusing himself from the investigation into Russian meddling of the 2016 presidential election. Sessions' departure was just one of the many notable firings and resignations from the Trump administration in 2018, including chief of staff John Kelly and secretary of state Rex Tillerson. As for the Russia investigation: Trump has denied wrongdoing, and repeatedly called special counsel Robert Mueller's looming investigation a \"witch hunt.\" Earlier this month, Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen was sentenced to three years in federal prison – the first sentencing for a member of the president's inner circle, and one that could hold legal perils for Trump.\n\nAlaska\n\nMassive quake turns disaster into a learning experience\n\nA magnitude 7.0 earthquake that struck near Anchorage on Nov. 30 sliced opened roads, knocked out power and damaged buildings. Over 3,000 aftershocks have rattled the region, though no deaths or serious injuries were reported. Meanwhile, recovery efforts, made more difficult by the cold, have become the envy of the nation after work crews repaired major road damage within four days after the quake. Delivery of food supplies, fuel and other cargo has not been interrupted, according to officials, who said that crews will redo the majority of their work in the summer to ensure long-term sustainability.\n\nArizona\n\n'You're telling me that my assault doesn't matter': Contentious Kavanaugh hearings\n\nChristine Blasey Ford testified with quiet, measured emotion that Brett Kavanaugh forced her onto a bed and tried to remove her clothes at a party when both were teens. Kavanaugh yelled, cried and interrupted when it was his turn in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee. A day later, a protester who said she was sexually assaulted approached outgoing Republican Arizona Senator Jeff Flake in an elevator. \"You're telling me that my assault doesn't matter,\" the audibly emotional woman told Flake. The moment seemed to matter, as it was Flake, alongside Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), who called for a week-long FBI investigation. Ultimately, Kavanaugh was confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court.\n\nArkansas\n\nViral photo shows a brother saying goodbye too soon\n\nAn Arkansas family's tragic photo captured hearts around the nation in June as it showed the moment a brother said goodbye to his dying little sister. Adalynn Sooter, 4, lost her battle with a rare brain tumor, but her siblings got one last chance to spend time together. Jackson, 6, rubbed his sister's head as she grasped his hand. Then Jackson said goodnight. Addy was Jackson's \"playmate, his best friend, his little sister,\" father Matt Sooter wrote on Facebook. \"This isn't how it's supposed to be.\" Though her condition worsened and the rare tumor took her life hours later, the family found hope: \"She wasn't in any pain at the end,\" her father wrote.\n\nCalifornia\n\nWildfires devastate the Golden State\n\n6,228 wildfires. Over 876,000 acres charred. At least 100 deaths. California was devastated by historic blazes this year which will likely impact the state for decades. In Northern California, the Camp Fire, the deadliest and most destructive in state history, killed nearly three times as many people as the Griffith Park Fire – a record that stood for 85 years. And the worst may be yet to come: According to a new study, wildfires in California may be more commonplace with the brutal combination of hot and dry weather linked to climate change. Meanwhile, homeowners affected by the deadly blazes face dilemmas on whether to rebuild in high-risk areas repeatedly ravaged by fires.\n\nColorado\n\n'Most inhumane and vicious crime': No parole for dad who killed pregnant wife and 2 kids\n\nChristopher Watts gave an emotional TV interview the day after his pregnant wife and two daughters were reported missing in August, pleading for their safe return. Shortly after, he was arrested and charged in their gruesome deaths. Watts drove the bodies to an oil field and buried his wife in a shallow grave. He shoved Bella and Celeste in two separate oil tanks, pushing their bodies through openings that were only 8 inches in diameter. In November, the suburban Denver dad was sentenced to three consecutive life terms in prison and 84 additional years with no possibility of parole.\n\nConnecticut\n\nTeacher fired for running student 'fight club'\n\nA former substitute teacher at a Connecticut high school was fired and faced charges after police discovered he was running a \"fight club\" inside of his math class. Ryan Fish, 23, encouraged high school students in Montville to physically battle as students recorded the fights and cheered. Police became involved when a social worker reported a 15-year-old student was traumatized after being robbed and beaten by his classmates. Fish was fired from his position at the school and faced felony and misdemeanor charges associated with child endangerment. Those charges will be dropped if Fish completes the state's accelerated rehabilitation program, a judge ruled in October.\n\nDelaware\n\nVirtual reality lets chemo patients ditch sterile hospitals for tranquil woods\n\nAs poison dripped into her veins, Kathleen Krakowski heard birds chirping and watched leaves sway in the wind. Krakowski, a breast cancer patient, sat in chemotherapy at the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute in Newark, but she gazed into a serene forest within a virtual reality headset. \"It doesn't look fake at all,\" she said. Patients could also sit on the beach or admire a mountainside, forgetting – if only for minutes – the sterile hospital room and deadly illnesses, nurses said. More health-focused VR programs are coming to ease challenges for women in labor and those in chronic pain, too, VR companies VRHealth and Oculus announced in September.\n\nFlorida\n\nThey witnessed a mass shooting at school. Then they marched for their lives\n\nParkland became the site of a mass school shooting when a former student killed 17 people, including students, a football coach and an athletic director, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine’s Day. Police arrested Nikolas Cruz, who now faces the death penalty among other charges. Cruz was known to police, who had received 18 calls between 2008 and 2017 warning about him – some directly concerned about him opening fire at school. Amid criticism, an armed school resource officer who never went into the school during the shooting retired. But Parkland students emerged from the tragedy fueling a movement and marches against gun violence across the nation that also targeted NRA-backed candidates in midterm elections. The students were recently awarded a global peace award and praised as \"true change-makers.\"\n\nGeorgia\n\nBrian Kemp wins, Stacey Abrams sues\n\nWhen many Americans were asking who to vote for on election day, claims of voter suppression left some Georgians asking whether their votes would be counted fairly. In a close race, Democrat Stacey Abrams vied to become the nation's first black woman governor, while Republican Brian Kemp sought to maintain his party's control of the office. Kemp won, but both sides claimed foul play by the other. Abrams accused Kemp of trying to suppress Democratic votes as secretary of state by removing voters from the rolls. Kemp's office said it was investigating Democrats for what it called a \"failed attempt to hack\" the registration system. And the fight isn't over: An Abrams-backed group recently filed a federal lawsuit asking a judge to order fixes to what it says are deep-seated problems in the state's election system.\n\nHawaii\n\nFalse alarm: Ballistic missile alert rattles Hawaii\n\nHawaiians were sent scrambling one January morning after an emergency alert notification warned of an incoming ballistic missile threat. Residents and vacationers ran for cover and called loved ones thinking death was imminent. The only problem? The alert was an error. Officials knew within three minutes that the error had happened, but it took 38 minutes to send out the false alarm message. The unsettling notification came after months of aggressive rhetoric from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who had threatened to strike the United States. President Donald Trump later met Kim to discuss denuclearization at a much-hyped summit in Singapore. A historic handshake between the two represented the first time a sitting U.S. president met with a North Korean leader and a major breakthrough in decades of tensions.\n\nIdaho\n\nInspiring photo shows an Idaho boy's simple, patriotic gesture\n\nAn Idaho boy who protected the American flag with his body stirred the patriotism of a nation in September. Fifth-grader Jack LeBreck lay on the ground under the flag as two other boys struggled to fold it on a windy day. The moment of respect was captured by a passerby who shared the image to Facebook, where it soon made national headlines. The image was so iconic that some questioned its authenticity. \"Was it staged?\" some asked photographer and Facebook user Amanda Reallan. Most certainly was not: \"These boys had no idea I was taking the photo,\" she said. \"They took it upon themselves to protect the flag.\"\n\nIllinois\n\nHe was stopping a gunman at a bar. He was shot by police anyway\n\nJemel Roberson was doing his job when a suburban Chicago police officer fatally shot him. The 26-year-old armed guard, who was black, had detained a suspected gunman at the bar where he worked and was waiting for police help when an officer, who is white, opened fire on him. Police say the officer ordered Roberson to drop his gun. Witnesses say they shouted that Roberson was a security guard. Roberson's death prompted cries for justice from civil rights advocates and a federal lawsuit filed by his mother against the still unnamed police officer and Midlothian, where the officer is from. And his death was just one at the hands of police 2018.\n\nIndiana\n\nAftershocks from Larry Nassar upend USA Gymnastics\n\nThe fallout from the sexual abuse committed by Larry Nassar further engulfed Indianapolis-based USA Gymnastics in 2018, threatening to swallow up top executives and the sport governing body itself. Criminal cases ended in February against Nassar, the former USA Gymnastics doctor convicted of sexually assaulting young gymnasts. USA Gymnastics' CEO resigned in September, forced out under heavy criticism. The organization filed for bankruptcy protection in December, sagging under the weight of lawsuits from survivors of Nassar's abuse. The next week, a chief for the U.S. Olympic Committee was fired after a report found both the committee and USA Gymnastics failed \"to adopt appropriate child-protective policies\" to prevent abuse.\n\nIowa\n\nMollie Tibbetts went missing. Her story gripped a nation\n\nMollie Tibbetts was last seen running along Boundary and Middle Streets in her hometown Brooklyn on July 18, surveillance footage shows. The 20-year-old University of Iowa student was reported missing the next day, sparking a monthlong search that gripped Americans from Iowa to the White House. \"I just want Mollie's family to know: You're on the hearts of every American,\" Vice President Mike Pence said Aug. 15. Authorities found her body in a cornfield southeast of Brooklyn six days later, and charged Cristhian Rivera, a 24-year-old Mexican national, with first-degree murder. Rivera, who led police to the body, said he \"blocked\" his memory after pursuing Tibbetts during her run. He pleaded not guilty to the charge.\n\nKansas\n\nArmy officer’s adopted Korean daughter forced to leave US\n\nA South Korean-born teenager who was adopted by her aunt and uncle in Kansas will soon be forced out of the country. Now-retired Army Lt. Col. Patrick Schreiber and his wife Soo Jin delayed a formal adoption of daughter Hyebin, in large part because Schreiber, a 27-year Army veteran, was deployed in Afghanistan where he served as an intelligence officer. Following poor legal advice, the parents formally adopted their daughter a year too late, when she was 17 – one year after the cutoff for a foreign-born child to derive citizenship from an American, according to immigration law. In September, a federal judge said the girl must leave the country immediately after she graduates Kansas University. The family said if their daughter is deported, they will move to South Korea.\n\nKentucky\n\n'It is such a shock': Two die in shooting in Kroger grocery store\n\nMinutes after trying to break into a predominately black church, a shooter gunned down two black shoppers at a Kroger grocery store in Jeffersontown in October. The suspect, Gregory Bush, was charged with federal hate crimes, and reportedly told another man who shot at him in the store's parking lot, \"Don’t shoot me. I won’t shoot you. Whites don’t shoot whites.\" The community mourned the deaths of Vickie Lee Jones, 67, and Maurice E. Stallard, 69, who was shopping with his grandson at the time of the shooting.\n\nLouisiana\n\nMothers keep dying in childbirth. The simple solution is ignored\n\nMore than 50,000 American women are severely injured during childbirth each year. About 700 die. Why? Medical workers skip safety practices known to head off disaster. And the deadliest state for pregnant women and new mothers is Louisiana, according to a USA TODAY investigation, \"Deadly Deliveries.\" There were 58.1 deaths for every 100,000 births in the Pelican State from 2012 to 2016. Half of these deaths could be prevented, best estimates say, and half the injuries reduced or prevented with better care. Through our investigation, USA TODAY contacted 75 hospitals in 13 states to ask if they followed certain nationally recognized safety practices. Half wouldn’t answer.\n\nMaine\n\nSmoked lobsters? Restaurant tries marijuana to ease crustacean pain\n\nAt Charlotte's Legendary Lobster Pound, your lobster might get smoked before it gets steamed. The restaurant in Southwest Harbor experimented with using marijuana to ease lobsters' pain before the steaming process. Owner Charlotte Gill said she tried it with a lobster named Roscoe, placing him in a covered box with two inches of water as marijuana smoke was pumped inside. Gill said Roscoe was more calm following his smokeout. PETA is not convinced, though. \"There is a well-established, foolproof way to prevent crustaceans from suffering, though, and that's by not eating them.\"\n\nMaryland\n\nIt was 'like a war zone,' but they still put out 'a damn paper'\n\nThe shooting was \"like a war zone.\" Five newspaper employees were killed when a gunman with a grudge opened fire on the Capital Gazette in the Annapolis. The victims: assistant editor and columnist Rob Hiaasen, special publications editor Wendi Winters, writer John McNamara, editorial page editor Gerald Fischman and sales assistant Rebecca Smith. Jarrod Ramos, now charged with five murder counts, had sued the paper over a 2011 article about his guilty plea for harassment, and he had unleashed vitriol on social media against the paper and its staff for years. But the tragedy didn't stop Capital Gazette journalists from doing their jobs after their colleagues had been killed and \"putting out a damn paper\" the next day. In December, they, along with murdered Saudi Arabian writer Jamal Khashoggi and other journalists, were named as TIME magazine's 2018 Person of the Year.\n\nMassachusetts\n\nHidden dangers lurk underneath from aging gas pipes\n\nThe natural gas industry and government regulators have known the dangers of leaking gas pipelines for decades. Repairing those pipes is not only difficult and expensive, but also sometimes perilous. In September, utility crews upgrading cast iron pipes inadvertently caused fires and explosions in three northern Massachusetts towns, killing one person, injuring 21 others and leaving hundreds homeless. Investigators say Columbia Gas issued faulty work orders that contributed to the blasts. The Merrimack Valley, the area north of Boston shaken by explosions, is served by some of the nation's oldest and most leak-prone pipes, according to a USA TODAY analysis.The explosions could become the most expensive natural gas disaster ever for a utility that was already spending $80 million this year to upgrade an aging infrastructure.\n\nMichigan\n\nAretha Franklin: America says goodbye to a queen\n\nAretha Franklin, the \"Queen of Soul\" whose music shaped the American songbook for over 50 years, died of pancreatic cancer in August. Franklin was a transcendent cultural figure of the 20th century. She sang for presidents and royalty, and befriended high-profile leaders such as the Revs. Martin Luther King Jr. and Jesse Jackson. Amid the global glitter and acclaim, she remained loyal to her adopted home, living in the Detroit area for decades. Her marathon, 8-hour funeral featured speakers like Former President Bill Clinton and legendary record producer Clive Davis and included musical tributes from Stevie Wonder, Ariana Grande and Jennifer Hudson. Rev. Al Sharpton called Franklin’s career the soundtrack to the Civil Rights Movement, saying \"We don’t all agree on everything, but we agree on Aretha.\"\n\nMinnesota\n\nWashington welcomes a younger, more diverse Congress\n\nIn a historic midterm season, Minnesota elected Ilhan Omar to the House of Representatives in November, where she will serve as one of the first ever Muslim women in Congress. Omar, a Somali-American former refugee, was elected alongside Rashida Tlaib in Michigan, Congress's only other Muslim woman. And they weren't alone as the 2018 elections were marked by groundbreaking firsts around the country. Deb Haaland and Sharice Davids will serve as the first Native American women in Congress. New York elected Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who will be the youngest woman in Congress. In Colorado, Jared Polis was the first openly gay man to win a governor’s race in American history. Here are all the firsts from the 2018 midterms.\n\nMississippi\n\nSearching for answers: The FBI reopens the Emmett Till case after six decades\n\nSixty-three years have passed since Emmett Till’s gruesome murder, but the FBI announced in July it was reopening investigations into the black teen’s historic death \"after receiving new information.\" Till was visiting relatives in Money in 1955 when a white woman, Carolyn Bryant Donham, accused him of sexual harassment. Till’s body, beaten and shot, was found three days later, igniting a national debate about race and violence. Today, his family is still searching for the truth. \"We want the process to work, and we want justice to prevail for Emmett,\" Deborah Watts, Till's cousin, told USA TODAY. \"This cannot just be forgotten.\"\n\nMissouri\n\nDuck boat tragedy: 17 people die, including nine from same family\n\nIn July, an amphibious duck boat capsized during a severe storm on Table Rock Lake in Branson, leaving 17 dead, including nine members of the same family. \"My heart is very heavy,\" said Tia Coleman, who lost her husband and three kids and was one of the surviving members of the Coleman family aboard the boat. Duck boats have a long history of serious accidents, leaving more than 40 people dead since 1999. As part of an investigation into the incident, the duck boat’s captain was indicted on criminal charges last month. In September, Tia Coleman filed a lawsuit against the boat operators and manufacturer.\n\nMontana\n\nBorder Patrol agent questions women for speaking Spanish\n\nTwo U.S. citizens at a northern Montana gas station were questioned by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer for speaking Spanish earlier this year. Ana Suda captured video of the now viral encounter, where she and her friend were asked for identification because of the language they were speaking inside a convenience store gas station about 35 miles south of the U.S.-Canada border. Suda accused the agent of racial profiling. Responding to questions about the incident and whether or not to speak Spanish publicly, acting CBP commissioner Ronald Vitiello later said \"It’s not something people should be concerned about if they’re here legally.\"\n\nNebraska\n\n'Please forgive me': First-ever fentanyl execution in Nebraska\n\nThe first person ever executed in the U.S. using fentanyl had three last words for his witnesses: \"I love you.\" Carey Dean Moore died Aug. 14 from a fatal mixture including the drug, the first such execution in the United States and Nebraska's first lethal injection of any kind. Moore, 60, had faced death after killing two cab drivers in the summer of 1979. Death penalty opponents feared that the mixture with fentanyl – an opioid more potent than heroin – could have inflicted extreme pain had the substances not worked as planned. In a last statement, Moore apologized to his brother, a witness to the first murder: \"Please forgive me, Don, somehow.\"\n\nNevada\n\nDennis Hof – dead, bombastic, legal brothel owner – elected to Nevada’s state assembly\n\nNevada voters elected a legal pimp who had died several weeks prior in a November state assembly race. Dennis Hof was known as a flamboyant and notorious brothel owner, reality TV star and later Republican politician. A rally for Hof’s campaign took place just hours before his Oct. 16 death at the age of 72 – that rally attracted high-profile conservative speakers including Former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Fox News personality Tucker Carlson. Following his death, Hof remained on the ballot and cruised to an easy victory in his Assembly District race. His win kicked off a lengthy and competitive process to appoint a living Republican to the seat.\n\nNew Hampshire\n\nMystery lotto winner can stay anonymous\n\nA mystery New Hampshire lottery winner who won a $560 million Powerball prize can remain anonymous, a judge ruled in March. The woman won the Powerball drawing Jan. 6, and the state Attorney General's Office had argued that her identity must be revealed because she signed her name on the back of the ticket. The woman, who filed a suit under the pseudonym Jane Doe, said she made a \"huge mistake\" when she signed her real name before contacting a lawyer. The woman could remain anonymous had she established a trust, then had a trustee sign the ticket, her lawyers argued. In October, the ticket for an even bigger prize – a whopping $1.537 billion Mega Millions jackpot – was sold in South Carolina, but the prize was still unclaimed in November.\n\nNew Jersey\n\nJersey Shore is back in a year of reboots\n\nSnooki, The Situation and the rest of Jersey Shore's cast returned for a two-season reboot filled with plenty of \"duck face\" and nostalgia for the reality show that premiered in 2009. The cast partied in Miami Beach, Florida and Las Vegas before heading to – where else – Atlantic City. This time around, the cast dealt with more than just the cabs being here, as the show touched on issues like sobriety and parenthood. And Jersey Shore wasn’t the only reboot this year. The Ocean’s franchise, A Star is Born and a spooky new take on Sabrina the Teenage Witch all made their way back to our screens in 2018.\n\nNew Mexico\n\nSearch for missing child leads to grisly New Mexico compound\n\n\"We are starving and need food and water.\" The message from inside a \"third-world\"-like compound in New Mexico led authorities to a gruesome discovery in August. Eleven children were rescued amid a search for three-year-old Georgia boy Abdul-Ghani Wahhaj, whose father allegedly abducted him. Police found the children with a group of heavily armed Muslims living on property they didn't own in a compound built from wooden pallets, clear plastic tarps and dirt-filled tires. The toddler's body was later found buried on the site. One of the rescued children told authorities the group's leader believed the dead child would be reincarnated to launch an attack on banks, schools and other \"corrupt\" institutions. Now, five adults from the compound face firearms-related charges and accusations that a group member had been training children and others in military tactics.\n\nNew York\n\nTrump Foundation to fold under pressure from state\n\nDid President Donald Trump turn his Trump Foundation into a political tool? Allegations \"sufficiently support a claim that Mr. Trump intentionally used Foundation assets for his private interests knowing that it may not be in the Foundation's best interest,\" New York Supreme Court Judge Saliann Scarpulla said in a ruling last month that cleared the way for a civil lawsuit against the Trump Foundation. An investigation led New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood to allege Trump used the foundation as \"little more than a checkbook\" to promote his businesses and presidential campaign. The lawsuit spurred an investigation of the organization's tax practices by the state Tax Department, and the Trump Foundation agreed to dissolve in December. Add to that the alleged tax evasion and \"outright fraud\" by the Trump family as reported by the New York Times in October. The Times' investigation sparked a separate state inquiry into Trump.\n\nNorth Carolina\n\nFlooding from Hurricane Florence ravages North Carolina\n\nHurricane Florence brought catastrophic flooding to North Carolina and surrounding states in September, causing billions of dollars in property damage and shattering all-time rainfall and flood records in the Carolinas. More than 50 people died in the storm, despite warnings from local authorities to evacuate. One North Carolina mayor warned residents to notify their next of kin if they planned to weather the storm. In the storm's wake, flooding cut off access to towns both large and small. After the rain stopped, residents began to grapple with the devastation, including heavy losses to agriculture and animals. More than a million chickens died, fish carcasses needed to be hosed off of roads and overflowing pig waste created a disgusting, hazardous mess.\n\nNorth Dakota\n\nMiss America pageant embroiled in controversy\n\nMiss North Dakota Cara Mund won the title of Miss America 2018 – the first from her state to take the crown – but less than three weeks before the 2019 pageant this September, Mund publicly accused Miss America CEO Regina Hopper and chairwoman Gretchen Carlson of bullying and silencing her. Carlson, a former Miss America winner and Fox News host, said the organization lost $75,000 in potential scholarship funds as a result of the accusations. The Miss America Organization had been taking public steps in the name of female-empowerment, but infighting and controversy surrounding the pageant has been making headlines ever since Carlson announced the ceremony would no longer feature a swimsuit competition for the first time in its 98-year history. After the overhaul, the pageant lost one million television viewers, and many were unhappy with the changes.\n\nOhio\n\n'They did this quickly, coldly, calmly and very carefully': One family allegedly massacred another in Ohio custody dispute\n\nIn November, Ohio authorities charged six family members in connection with one of the state’s most heinous crimes: A massacre that left eight members of another family dead in four different locations. Authorities allege that a child custody dispute motivated members of the Wagner family to murder Rhoden family members in April 2016, leaving some experts stunned that a custody dispute could lead to such a crime. \"They did this quickly, coldly, calmly and very carefully, but not carefully enough,\" Pike County Sheriff Charles S. Reader said of the charges. Four Wagner family members have pled not guilty to murder charges, while two other family members face related charges.\n\nOklahoma\n\nSooners QB wins the Heisman, then apologizes for old homophobic tweets\n\nKyler Murray became the second Oklahoma quarterback in a row to win the Heisman Trophy. But then, homophobic tweets from when he was 15 years old resurfaced. Murray, 21 now, apologized, and joined several other famous athletes thrust into a negative light in 2018 for previous social media activity. Milwaukee Brewers' Josh Hader had racist, homophobic and misogynistic tweets resurface. Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen saw racist tweets resurface from his teenage years ahead of the NFL draft. Villanova Final Four Most Outstanding Player Donte DiVincenzo had a profane tweet surface right after he helped the Wildcats win a national title. In the world of entertainment, comedian Kevin Hart refused to apologize in December for past offensive tweets, and the resulting crisis led him to recuse himself from hosting the Oscars.\n\nOregon\n\nProtesters who tried to occupy ICE were arrested as immigration backlash continued\n\nDays before the Trump administration's \"zero tolerance\" immigration policy sparked nationwide marches in June, protesters in Oregon were arrested after setting up a makeshift camp on the grounds of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Portland. A few dozen protesters confronted police with profanities and chants such as \"No justice, no peace, no racist police.\" Federal police arrested several demonstrators on June 28, but protests and arrests at the location continued into July. The backlash was tied to calls by some progressives on the left to abolish ICE – a message that helped propel some Democrats, such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, to victory in the midterms. The movement also helped boost some Republicans, who argued against lax law enforcement.\n\nPennsylvania\n\n'The Nazis are here again': 11 worshipers gunned down at Tree of Life synagogue\n\nBarry Werber hid in a storeroom. Judah Samet was four minutes late. Both survived what would become the deadliest attack in U.S. history targeting American Jews when a gunman hurling anti-Semitic epithets fatally shot 11 people on the Sabbath at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. Even before the attack, violence and harassment of Jewish people and institutions was rising sharply. There were at least 1,986 incidents motivated by anti-Jewish bias – including physical assaults, vandalism and attacks on Jewish institutions – in 2017 in the United States, a 57 percent spike in incidents over the year before, according to the Anti-Defamation League.\n\nRhode Island\n\nMexican restaurant takes heat for anti-Trump '86 45' t-shirts\n\nA Mexican restaurant in Westerly got some backlash for selling T-shirts it says advocated impeaching President Donald Trump. The shirts, which read \"86 45,\" were worn by restaurant staffers on Election Day. That was just one showing of how the man not on the ballot (Trump) was actually a big factor in this year's midterms. Trump didn't shy from making the Nov. 6 election a referendum on him, holding huge rallies in a string of red and swing states and telling crowds that a vote for the local Senate or House candidate was \"a vote for me.\" Midterms are often a judgment about the sitting president, but never in modern times did one campaign so hard to make sure it was.\n\nSouth Carolina\n\nDeadly prison riot serves as rallying cry for reform\n\nA bloody, seven-hour riot at Lee Correctional Institution, a 1,785-bed maximum security prison in rural South Carolina, put the state's criminal justice system back in the national spotlight. The April melee left seven inmates dead and over a dozen others injured in what is considered the nation's deadliest prison riot in a quarter-century. While state officials attributed the deaths to gangs, some blamed the outbreak of violence on living conditions. A 2010 criminal justice reform package allowed the state to close three maximum-security prisons and slash millions of dollars in annual prison spending from its budget – making the state's prison system among the country’s cheapest for taxpayers but also one of the deadliest for inmates. In August, a nationwide prison strike, created in response to the brutal brawl, aimed to raise awareness on the lack of mental health and rehabilitation programs in the state.\n\nSouth Dakota\n\nHow a South Dakota man was tied to an alleged Russian spy\n\nVermillion native Paul Erickson made national headlines when accused Russian spy Maria Butina, his business partner and roommate, was arrested and charged in Washington in July for allegedly seeking to exploit political groups to try to advance Russian interests. Once a political provocateur, Erickson had virtually disappeared from South Dakota's political scene in recent years, but in March 2015, Butina reached out to an American matching his description, prosecutors said. Erickson, 56, reportedly helped shepherd the alleged Russian operative to the National Rifle Association and conservative political group meetings. And Butina’s goal to build a backchannel communication line between Russia and the United States appeared to show some success. Erickson allegedly provided contacts while a Russian official directed her. In December, Butina pleaded guilty to conspiring to act as an agent for the Kremlin without registering in the United States.\n\nTennessee\n\n50 years since King's death: Gone, but never forgotten\n\nIn April, thousands of admirers of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gathered at his memorial to mark 50 years since the assassination of the civil rights leader whose message of non-violence continues to resonate across racial and religious divides in our nation. King was shot on April 4, 1968, as he stood on a balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. The night before his death, witnesses like Clara Ester heard King all but give his own eulogy, saying he had seen the Promised Land but he \"may not get there with you.\" Yet some civil rights leaders have questioned if the U.S. is moving backward on race relations, saying if King was alive today \"he’d be confounded by how little has changed.\"\n\nTexas\n\nUS troops at the Mexico border, migrant caravans: The year in immigration\n\nA large caravan of thousands of Central American migrants brought immigration front and center. The Trump administration vigorously pursued options to restrict or block outright migrants' ability to enter the country, including denying asylum. President Donald Trump also ordered thousands of active-duty troops to the U.S.-Mexico border. Over the summer, Trump enacted (and then back-tracked on) an ill-fated \"zero tolerance\" policy that led to more than 2,500 family separations along the border. At the time, the eyes of the world focused on the small city of McAllen – a town with Border Patrol's busiest station for apprehending and detaining immigrants suspected of entering the country illegally. In 2018, the USA TODAY Network also won a Pulitzer Prize for its project The Wall, a landmark multi-platform project that examined Trump's campaign promise to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.\n\nUtah\n\nUS Olympians train in Utah before medaling in Pyeongchang\n\nBefore Team USA brought home 23 medals from the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, its skiers and snowboarders trained hard in Utah. Park City plays home to U.S. Ski and Snowboard's Center for Excellence facility, where star athletes like Lindsey Vonn readied for the 23rd Games. While Vonn, widely considered the best female Alpine skier ever, returned with just one bronze medal, snowboard halfpipe prodigy Chloe Kim and Shaun White, perhaps the best to ever ride a board, both brought home gold – a cementing of snowboarding's status from outcast to darling of the Winter Olympics.\n\nVermont\n\nVermont legalizes marijuana. There are now 10 states with legal pot\n\nIn 2018, Vermont became the ninth state to legalize recreational marijuana and the first to do so through its state legislature. (Later in the year, Michigan became the 10th.) Marijuana has become big business in other states that have legalized it, generating an estimated $1.6 billion in tax revenue. But Vermont has taken a different approach. The state will continue to ban marijuana sales to the general public, and the law leaves open a murky question about marijuana \"gifting.\" In Massachusetts, which legalized marijuana in 2016, the state opened its first commercial pot shops in November.\n\nVirginia\n\nAmazon chooses Virginia and New York for two new headquarters\n\nAlexa, what’s National Landing? Pretty soon, the answer will be the site of one half of Amazon’s HQ2. The tech giant chose the Northern Virginia region straddling Arlington County and the City of Alexandria, and Long Island City, New York, as the locations for its two new headquarters. The November announcement came after 14 months of intense jockeying by more than 230 cities vying for the honor of playing host to the Amazon’s second headquarters. Amazon is expected to bring 25,000 high-paying jobs and invest $2.5 billion in each location. The decision left many cities wondering what could have been and current residents worried their new neighbors might bring public transport nightmares and skyrocketing housing prices. Under CEO Jeff Bezos, who is now the richest person in the world with a net worth of an estimated $166 billion, Amazon also became the second publicly traded company in the U.S. with a stock market value above $1 trillion this year.\n\nWashington\n\nThe year people decided plastic straws suck\n\nThe days of the plastic straw are numbered. In July, Seattle became one of the largest cities to ban plastic straws. Coffee giant Starbucks, headquartered in Washington state, said they would phase plastic straws out by 2020, too. And some chains like Red Lobster chose only to give out plastic straws upon request. The changes are part of a growing national trend to rid ourselves of what some perceive as an environmental waste. The nonprofit group Sailors for the Sea said plastic straws are among the top 10 marine debris collected during the International Coastal Cleanup. But we really seem to love them: Americans use an estimated 500 million single-use straws daily, according to Eco-Cycle. Fortunately, we have plenty of eco-friendly alternatives.\n\nWest Virginia\n\n'There is no incentive to stay, except this is home': West Virginia teachers strike\n\nEducators in West Virginia went on strike for nine days in February and March, capturing the national spotlight and forcing school closures across the state with more than 30,000 teachers and support staff demanding pay raises. Gov. Jim Jordan signed a contract agreeing to a five percent raise for state educators, but West Virginia teacher salaries are still some of the lowest in the nation, according the American Federation of Teachers. Meanwhile, teachers discontent across the country bubbled up this year as educators struggled to keep up with early days and to pay for classroom supplies out of their own pockets. From Arizona to Kentucky, similar protests broke out, demanding better pay and benefits.\n\nWisconsin\n\nWisconsin left shell-shocked by Trump's trade wars\n\nFew states fell into the crossfires of President Donald Trump's trade wars more than Wisconsin. \"It's been catastrophic,\" Rob Parmentier, CEO of a Wisconsin-based boat manufacturer, said in October. Retaliatory tariffs from China, Europe, Canada and Mexico came in response to Trump's tariffs on foreign steel and aluminum. Those trade barriers affected everything from manufacturing to farming, including the state's iconic dairy industry: Wholesale cheese and butter prices slumped in the summer as farmers faced an oversupply of milk and tensions with Wisconsin's top two trading partners, Canada and Mexico. House Speaker Paul Ryan urged fellow Wisconsinites to \"be patient\" with the tariffs. Meanwhile, hundreds of dairy farms closed across the state – about 430 by September.\n\nWyoming\n\nMatthew Shepard's ashes find a home\n\nTwenty years after Matthew Shepard's death, his ashes found a home at the Washington National Cathedral. Shepard has become an international symbol of the violence LGBTQ people in America face after his death in 1998, when two men savagely beat him then tied him to a fence near Laramie. In their confessions, the assailants said they targeted Shepard because he was gay. Since Shepard's death, same-sex marriage was legalized as well as the ability of transgender Americans to serve in the military. But LGBTQ advocates say more work needs to be done. \"Violence against us continues to this day,\" said Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, the openly gay former bishop who presided over a service remembering Shepard in October.\n\nDistrict of Columbia\n\nCaps claim the Cup for the District\n\nThe Washington Capitals ended D.C.'s more than 20 year drought without a major pro sports title when the team took down the Vegas Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup Finals in June. It was pandemonium in the streets of the nation's capital after the team's 4-3 victory in Game 5, followed by a boozy championship parade and rally on the National Mall days later. The win also marked the first Stanley Cup title in the franchise's 44-year history, and Caps great Alex Ovechkin won the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP, leading his team with 15 postseason goals.\n\nThis is a compilation of stories from across USA TODAY and the USA TODAY Network.\n\nCredits: Alia Dastagir, Josh Hafner, Ashley May, Ryan Miller, Brett Molina, Marina Pitofsky, Cara Richardson, Joel Shannon, Charles Ventura and N'dea Yancey-Bragg\n\nContributing: The Associated Press", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2018/12/18"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/50-states/2022/10/10/fluoride-wince-tsunami-maps-volcanic-unrest-news-around-states/50819717/", "title": "Fluoride wince, tsunami maps: News from around our 50 states", "text": "From USA TODAY Network and wire reports\n\nAlabama\n\nTuscaloosa: A long-running festival that aims to entertain people while educating them about the heritage and culture of Native Americans returns this week to west Alabama. The annual Moundville Native American Festival will be held from Wednesday to Saturday at the University of Alabama Moundville Archaeological Park. This will mark the first in-person festival since 2019, as the event was held online only the past two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thousands of visitors are expected at the festival, which began 34 years ago. “The festival is one the largest events that brings people to the park every year,” said Clay Nelson, director of the UA Moundville Archaeological Park. Holding the festival online was the best option for the past couple of years, but Nelson said there’s no substitute for seeing up close the park’s attractions, which include 29 massive flat-topped earthen mounds. “We can describe the earthen mounds as much as we want, but seeing them in person really helps illustrate what great engineering feats the indigenous peoples of Alabama were doing in the 13th century,” he said. The festival will feature artists, craftsmen and educators from around the nation, who’ll share their knowledge of Native American culture. People will be able to buy Native crafts and food, as well as traditional festival fare.\n\nAlaska\n\nJuneau: A fall storm packing strong winds damaged roofs and windows in parts of western and northwest Alaska and resulted in flooding of roads in the far northern city of Utqiagvik, according to damage reports, with a new storm expected to hit the Arctic coast this week. Water levels dropped by midday Saturday across the region, said Jonathan Chriest, a National Weather Service meteorologist. The system forecasters are tracking is expected to bring elevated surf and strong winds to the Arctic coast Tuesday through Thursday, though water levels and winds weren’t expected to be as high as with the last storm, he said Sunday. There commonly are strong storms in northern and western Alaska between September and December, he said. But the storm that just hit parts of western and northwest Alaska and the remnants of Typhoon Merbok, which caused widespread damage in parts of western Alaska last month, were “exceptionally strong” for the areas that each impacted, he said.\n\nArizona\n\nPhoenix: Abortions can take place again in the state, at least for now, after an appeals court on Friday blocked enforcement of a pre-statehood law that almost entirely criminalized the procedure. The three-judge panel of the Arizona Court of Appeals agreed with Planned Parenthood that a judge should not have lifted the decades-old order that prevented the older law from being imposed. The brief order written by Presiding Judge Peter J. Eckerstrom said Planned Parenthood and its Arizona affiliate had shown they are likely to prevail on an appeal of a decision by the judge in Tucson to allow enforcement of the old law. Planned Parenthood had argued that the lower court judge should have considered a host of laws restricting abortions passed since the original injunction was put in place following the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade that said women have a constitutional right to an abortion. Those laws include a new one blocking abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy that took effect last month. The previous limit was 24 weeks, the viability standard established by now-overruled U.S. Supreme Court cases. “Arizona courts have a responsibility to attempt to harmonize all of this state’s relevant statutes,” Eckerstrom wrote, mirroring arguments made by attorneys for Planned Parenthood.\n\nArkansas\n\nLittle Rock: Two deputies who were caught on video violently arresting a suspect outside a convenience store in August have been fired, Crawford County Sheriff Jimmy Damante said Thursday. Damante told Fort Smith television station KHBS that Levi White and Zachary King had been fired but did not elaborate on the decision. A bystander recorded White, King and Mulberry Police Officer Thell Riddle arresting 27-year-old Randal Worcester outside a convenience store in the small town of Mulberry, about 140 miles northwest of Little Rock, near the border with Oklahoma. Mulberry Police Chief Shannon Gregory said Riddle remains on administrative leave. The bystander’s video of the Aug. 21 arrest shows one of the deputies repeatedly punching and kneeing Worcester in the head before grabbing his hair and slamming him against the pavement. As that was happening, another officer was holding Worcester down, while a third kneed him over and over. Damante has said Worcester was being questioned for threatening a clerk at a convenience store in the nearby small town of Alma. Damante said Worcester tackled one of the deputies and punched him in the head before the arrest. The deputy suffered a concussion, Damante said.\n\nCalifornia\n\nSacramento: The California Geological Survey has released updated tsunami hazard maps for seven counties to help users determine whether they are in areas at risk for inundation and for planning. The revised interactive maps released Friday cover San Diego, Santa Cruz, Ventura, Marin, Sonoma, Solano and Napa counties. The new maps reflect new data and improved computer modeling since an earlier series of maps was published in 2009, as well as threats from tsunamis originating far away and locally, the Geological Survey said in a press release. In one example of the updates, new modeling for Santa Cruz County shows that a subduction zone earthquake off the Aleutian Islands could unleash a tsunami 18-25 feet above the Santa Cruz Boardwalk, more than double the height suggested in 2009, the agency said. The Geological Survey said California’s shores have been struck by more than 150 tsunamis since 1800, and while most were minor, some have been significantly destructive and deadly. On March 28, 1964, a tsunami triggered by a powerful earthquake in Alaska smashed into Crescent City, California, hours later. Much of the business district was leveled, and a dozen people were killed.\n\nColorado\n\nDenver: A police officer who arrested a woman who was seriously injured when the parked patrol car in which she was placed was struck by a freight train said he did not realize he had stopped the vehicle on the railroad tracks, according to police body camera video. In video obtained by KUSA-TV on Thursday, Platteville Sgt. Pablo Vazquez told another officer he thought he had cleared the tracks when he stopped Yareni Rios-Gonzalez on Sept. 16 in a suspected road rage case involving a gun. He said he pulled up right behind her truck and was focused on her because he was concerned about weapons. Vazquez also said he did not know another officer had put Rios-Gonzalez in Vasquez’s patrol vehicle until after it was hit by the train. He said the “saving grace” was that the other officer put Rios-Gonzalez on the side of the vehicle not usually used for arrested people. Rios-Gonzalez’s injuries included nine broken ribs, a broken arm and a fractured sternum. Her lawyer has said he plans to file a lawsuit against police. Previously released video from Vazquez’s body camera shows he asks the other officer several times over the sound of the train’s rumbling whether Rios-Gonzalez was in the patrol vehicle, and she responds, one hand to her face, “Oh my God, yes, she was!”\n\nConnecticut\n\nWaterbury: Jurors concluded their first full day of deliberations without reaching a verdict Friday in a trial to determine how much conspiracy theorist Alex Jones should pay for spreading the lie that the 2012 Sandy Hook School shooting was a hoax. Jurors are scheduled to return Tuesday. After deliberating just briefly Thursday afternoon, the panel got back to business Friday with a request for a dry-erase easel, markers, an eraser and a copy of the jury instructions. Last year, Jones was found liable for damages. The jury’s task is to decide how much Jones and his company Free Speech Systems should pay to relatives of eight Sandy Hook victims and to an FBI agent who responded to the massacre. The plaintiffs testified they have been tormented and threatened by people who believed that one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history was a con staged to build support for gun restrictions. Jones repeatedly publicized that false notion on his “Infowars” show. Twenty children and six adults were killed when a gunman stormed Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on Dec. 14, 2012. Jones testified in the trial, saying he was “done saying I’m sorry.” His lawyers have argued that he’s not responsible for the deeds of anyone who tormented the victims’ families, and that they are overstating how much harm it caused them.\n\nDelaware\n\nDover: New state laws allowing universal voting by mail and Election Day registration are unconstitutional, Delaware’s Supreme Court ruled Friday. In a three-page order, the justices said the vote-by-mail statute impermissibly expands the categories of absentee voters identified in Delaware’s constitution. The same-day registration law conflicts with the registration periods spelled out in the state constitution, they said. The order, which will be followed later by a formal opinion, came after justices heard arguments in the case Thursday. Vice Chancellor Nathan Cook last month upheld the same-day registration law but said the vote-by-mail law, the result of legislation Democrats rammed through the General Assembly in less than three weeks, violates constitutional restrictions on absentee voting. Both bills were passed in June, each receiving exactly one Republican vote, and were signed by Democratic Gov. John Carney in July. Democratic Attorney General Kathleen Jennings appealed Cook’s ruling striking down the vote-by-mail law. GOP attorneys representing voters, a state House candidate and a Department of Elections employee appealed Cook’s decision upholding same-day registration. The Supreme Court upheld Cook’s ruling on the vote-by-mail law but said his decision allowing same-day registration should be reversed.\n\nDistrict of Columbia\n\nWashington: The National Air and Space Museum will reopen half of its flagship building to the public on the National Mall on Friday, WUSA-TV reports. When the museum partially reopens, visitors can check out eight new and renovated exhibitions, along with the planetarium on the museum’s west end. Highlights include “Destination Moon,” which will display the Apollo 11 space suit; “Kenneth C. Griffin Exploring the Planets Gallery,” which will feature an immersive experience called Walking on Other Worlds; and the “Thomas W. Haas We All Fly” exhibition, which will include the Challenger III and the Lear Jet 23. The museum has been undergoing a seven-year renovation that began in 2018 and includes redesigning all 23 exhibitions and presentation spaces, replacing outdated mechanical systems and other repairs and improvements. “You should be excited to engage with these pieces of history, these real artifacts, these real things,” said Beth Wilson, an educator with the museum. “Come and see them.” Free timed-entry passes are required to visit the National Air and Space Museum.\n\nFlorida\n\nSt. Petersburg: Florida officials began planning to transport migrants to other states in July and told potential contractors their task would be to relocate them on a voluntary basis, according to state documents. The documents released Friday night provide new details about the program that culminated in the Sept. 14 flight of 48 mostly Venezuelan migrants from San Antonio, Texas, to Martha’s Vineyard, an island off Massachusetts. The flight has spawned an investigation by a Texas sheriff and two lawsuits amid criticism that the program was a political stunt by Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to appeal to his conservative base. DeSantis is running for reelection this year and is frequently mentioned as a potential 2024 presidential candidate. According to the documents, the program as outlined in July was intended to “assist in the voluntary relocation of Unauthorized Aliens who are found in Florida and have agreed to be relocated” elsewhere in the country. It made no mention of finding migrants in Texas. Ultimately, state officials chose Vertol Systems Co., based in Destin, Florida, and has so far paid the firm $1.56 million for the Martha’s Vineyard flight and possibly for a second flight to Delaware, the home state of President Joe Biden, that didn’t happen. No other flights have been announced.\n\nGeorgia\n\nAtlanta: The Georgia prosecutor investigating whether then-President Donald Trump and others illegally tried to interfere in the 2020 election filed paperwork Friday seeking to compel testimony from a new batch of Trump allies, including former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former national security adviser Michael Flynn. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis filed petitions in court seeking to have Gingrich and Flynn, as well as former White House lawyer Eric Herschmann and others, testify next month before a special grand jury that’s been seated to aid her investigation. They join a string of other high-profile Trump allies and advisers who have been called to testify in the probe. Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor and Trump attorney who’s been told he could face criminal charges in the probe, testified in August. Attorneys John Eastman and Kenneth Chesebro have also appeared before the panel. U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham’s attempt to fight his subpoena is pending in a federal appeals court. And paperwork has been filed seeking testimony from others, including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. Willis has said she plans to take a monthlong break from public activity in the case leading up to the November midterm election.\n\nHawaii\n\nHonolulu: Mauna Loa, the largest active volcano on the planet, is in a “state of heightened unrest” but is not erupting, and there are no signs of an imminent eruption, the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said Friday. Earlier in the week week, Hawaii Volcanoes National Park closed the Mauna Loa summit backcountry until further notice, calling it a “precautionary measure” amid “elevated seismic activity.” The observatory said the heightened unrest began in mid-September, “as recorded by an increase in earthquakes below Mauna Loa summit.” The volcano, which stands about 13,680 feet above sea level on the island of Hawaii, last erupted in 1984, the observatory said. Since 1843, it has erupted 33 times, with the time between eruptions ranging from months to decades, according to the observatory. The park’s online portal says this is the volcano’s “longest quiet period since written records have been kept.” “Mauna Loa will erupt again,” Ken Hon, scientist-in-charge at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “As long as there is heightened unrest, it is more likely to erupt. But it could be weeks or months – or it could eventually die off.” The latter happened the last time there was elevated seismic activity and summit expansion on Mauna Loa, in early 2021.\n\nIdaho\n\nBoise: The state Supreme Court heard arguments in lawsuits over three of Idaho’s abortion laws Thursday, sharply questioning attorneys about the value placed on a pregnant person’s health, the state’s interest in ensuring that pregnancies are carried to term and Idaho’s long history of anti-abortion laws. The high court earlier this year allowed the laws to go into effect, and as a result Idaho is one of several states where abortion is almost entirely outlawed. A final ruling on the laws – including one that criminalizes all abortions but allows physicians to defend themselves by showing the abortion was needed to save the pregnant persopn’s life, one that criminalizes most abortions after about six weeks’ gestation, and one that allows even extended potential relatives of a fetus or embryo to sue an abortion provider – could be handed down sometime in the coming months. “For 50 years, generations of Idaho women have had control over their bodies and lives with respect to the most intimate personal and private decision imaginable whether to carry a pregnancy to term or whether to terminate it,” Alan Schoenfeld, the attorney representing a regional Planned Parenthood affiliate, told the court. “The Idaho Legislature seeks to upend women’s lives and strip them of this fundamental right – one that’s necessary to the exercise of numerous other rights that all Idahoans cherish.”\n\nIllinois\n\nChicago: A man accused of walking into a Chicago police station and pointing a gun at officers, leading police to shoot and wound him, appeared in court Friday on assault charges, where a judge ordered his bond set at $200,000. The police department said in a news release that 43-year-old Terrick Bland, of nearby Maywood, is charged with five counts of aggravated assault of a peace officer and one felony count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. According to police, Bland walked into the lobby of the Ogden District station in the Lawndale neighborhood on the city’s West Side and began shouting anti-police statements Wednesday. When officers ordered him to drop a gun that he had wrapped in a plastic bag, he pointed it at officers, and at least three of them opened fire. Bland was shot once in the shoulder and was treated at a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. According to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office, Bland was represented at Friday’s hearing by an attorney with the county public defender’s office. An official from the office said she could not immediately determine who represented Bland. It was the second time in a little more than a week in which Chicago officers shot an armed suspect inside of a police station.\n\nIndiana\n\nIndianapolis: Health officials are warning northern Indiana residents to take precautions to avoid being bitten by mosquitoes after detecting a rare and potentially deadly mosquito-borne virus in the region. State public health and animal health officials issued the warning Thursday after determining that the eastern equine encephalitis virus was active in multiple northern Indiana counties, with four horses testing positive for the virus. State veterinarian Dr. Bret Marsh said the virus “is a serious threat to both horses and people in northern Indiana” until the first hard freeze of the fall season occurs. As of Tuesday, the Indiana State Board of Animal Health said two horses in LaGrange County and one horse in Kosciusko County had tested positive for the virus. No human cases of the virus disease or mosquitoes infected with the virus have been reported in Indiana this year. But officials said that because northern Indiana contains suitable habitat for mosquitoes that can transmit the virus, “humans and horses in all northern Indiana counties are potentially at risk.” Residents were urged to avoid being outdoors when mosquitoes are present and take other steps, including eliminating breeding grounds for the insects. While rare, the virus can cause serious illness with long-term complications and has a fatality rate of around 33% or higher.\n\nIowa\n\nCedar Falls: Paddlers on the Cedar River now will be floating on designated waters. The river, from Janesville to around La Porte City – about 46 miles – has been formally recognized as a designated water trail as part of the Cedar Valley Nature Trail. A 14-mile stretch of Black Hawk Creek from Hudson to the Cedar River was also designated as an official water trail. The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports members of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Black Hawk County Conservation, Iowa Northland Regional Council of Governments and Partnership for a Healthy Iowa paddled from Washington Park in Cedar Falls to the Waterloo Boat House in celebration of the new identification. Kayla Lyon, director of the Iowa DNR, said there are more than 1,000 miles of designated water trails in the state. The state’s first designated water trail was the Cedar Valley Paddler’s Trail in Black Hawk County, which begins at the Fisher Lake Boat Ramp. The 10-mile trail was recognized in 2005. Peter Komendowski, executive director of the Partnership for a Healthy Iowa, said the waterway was first paddled by 26 eighth graders and adults, and it took them more than six hours. It travels through a chain of lakes, down the Cedar River and through George Wyth State Park before looping back to the start.\n\nKansas\n\nWichita: A Wichita police officer was arrested early Saturday on suspicion of drunken driving, becoming the city’s third officer to be apprehended within about two weeks. Police said in a release that the officer, who was off-duty, is also facing a charge of possession of a gun while intoxicated. The officer, who has been with the department for two years, has been placed on administrative leave while a criminal and internal investigation is conducted, the Wichita Eagle reports. The incident follows two other arrests of Wichita officers within five days at the end of last month. A detective and 15-year veteran of the force was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence Sept. 23 after she collided with a city bus in downtown. A police recruit was arrested on suspicion of criminal threat Sept. 28 when police responded to a domestic violence call.\n\nKentucky\n\nLouisville: Three Jewish women from Louisville filed a lawsuit Thursday to block Kentucky’s laws banning most abortions from remaining in effect, arguing they are a violation of their religious rights under the state constitution. Under current Kentucky laws, the protected human life of “an unborn child” begins when an egg is fertilized by a sperm, with abortion strictly prohibited once fetal cardiac activity is detected at roughly six weeks. Exceptions are only allowed to prevent a pregnant woman’s death or a “substantial and irreversible impairment of a major bodily function.” The plaintiffs in the case say Jewish law, known as Halakha, for millennia has not defined human life as beginning at conception but rather at birth, while the abortion ban passed into law in Kentucky “has imposed sectarian theology on Jews.” Their complaint, filed in Jefferson County Circuit Court, says Kentucky law particularly contradicts their constitutional religious rights when it comes to their past and intended future use of in vitro fertilization, in which a human egg is fertilized with sperm in a laboratory and then implanted in the uterus. “As a mom, as a woman, this directly affects me; it affects my health care,” lead plaintiff Lisa Sobel said. “And then it’s a personal affront to my personal religious views, on top of it.”\n\nLouisiana\n\nBaton Rouge: The Democratic challenger to U.S. House Majority Whip Steve Scalise released a campaign ad on social media that includes video of her giving birth. Katie Darling said she was seven months pregnant when she decided to join the congressional race in reaction to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June that ended constitutional protections for abortion. The 75-second video documents Darling traveling from her family farm in St. Tammany parish in September to a hospital, where she grips the side of a bed while in labor. “I wanted to share that this is real for me,” Darling, 36, said in an interview with the Associated Press. “I am literally the one hooked up to the machines and the IVs in the hospital bed, going through childbirth, and nobody else should be deciding how I handle that.” In a voiceover, Darling highlights her concerns about climate change, Louisiana underperforming in education and the state’s near-total abortion ban – the only exceptions are if there is substantial risk of death or impairment to the patient if they continue with the pregnancy and in the case of “medically futile” pregnancies. There are no exceptions for rape or incest. “Louisiana deserves better than the path it’s on,” Darling says in the video. “I want that better path,” she adds, “for you” – as the ad pans to her husband in the delivery room. “For her,” as a the video shows her 6-year-old daughter. “And for him,” she says directly into the camera from her hospital bed as she cradles her newborn.\n\nMaine\n\nPortland: Wildlife agencies are finding elevated levels of a class of toxic chemicals in game animals such as deer, prompting health advisories in some places where hunting and fishing are ways of life and key pieces of the economy. Authorities have detected the high levels of PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, in deer in several states, including Maine, where legions of hunters seek to bag a buck every fall. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency launched an effort last year to limit pollution from the chemicals, linked to health problems including cancer and low birth weight. In Maine, where the chemicals were detected in well water at hundreds of times the federal health advisory level, legislators passed a law in 2021 requiring manufacturers to report their use of the chemicals and to phase them out by 2030. The state issued a “do not eat” advisory last year for deer harvested in the Fairfield area, about 80 miles north of Portland, after several of the animals tested positive for elevated levels. The state is now expanding the testing to more animals across a wider area, said Nate Webb, wildlife division director at the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. “Lab capacity has been challenging,” he said, “but I suspect there will be more facilities coming online to help ease that burden.”\n\nMaryland\n\nBaltimore: The office of the state’s attorney general is supporting an appeal by a slain woman’s family after a Baltimore judge overturned a man’s murder conviction in a case chronicled by a groundbreaking podcast. Hae Min Lee’s brother, Young Lee, has asked the Maryland Court of Special Appeals to halt court proceedings for Adnan Syed, whose conviction in Lee’s 1999 killing was reversed by Baltimore Circuit Judge Melissa Phinn in September. Young Lee is asking the appellate court to suspend an Oct. 18 deadline for prosecutors to decide whether to drop the charges against Syed or retry him. Lee argues that his family didn’t get adequate notice of the Sept. 19 hearing at which Phinn overturned Syed’s conviction. Attorney General Brian Frosch’s office, which represented the state in opposing Syed’s appeals, said in a court filing Friday that Young Lee has a right to appeal given his status as the victim’s representative, the Baltimore Sun reports. The filing argues that Lee’s appeal should be addressed before any circuit court rulings render it moot. Syed, who has always maintained his innocence, has served more than 20 years of a life sentence. He was convicted of strangling Lee, whose body was found buried in a Baltimore park. Syed and Lee were students at a Baltimore County high school.\n\nMassachusetts\n\nBoston: Health officials said Friday that they’re concerned about elevated levels of the coronavirus in the city’s wastewater. The concentration of the virus in local wastewater had increased by 3.1% over the prior week and by nearly 100% over the past two weeks, according to new data from last week from the Boston Public Health Commission. New COVID-19 cases in Boston had decreased slightly over the prior week, though the data did not include positive results from at-home tests, the commission said. Boston hospitals had 170 new hospital admissions related to COVID-19 last week. Dr. Bisola Ojikutu, the public health commissioner, said the elevated concentration in the wastewater is “very concerning” because increases in COVID-19-related hospitalizations, combined with flu season, will cause “major strain” on Boston’s health care system. Ojikutu said it’s important to try to get ahead of the issue and recommended that people get booster shots and flu shots, wear a mask indoors, get tested for COVID-19 and isolate if they test positive to help reduce transmission. Nearly 79% of Boston residents are fully inoculated against the disease. The commission began noticing elevated coronavirus levels in the wastewater in late September.\n\nMichigan\n\nDetroit: Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has signed another extension of a law that makes people convicted of crimes, typically with low incomes, responsible for a portion of local court expenses. The law, which raises millions of dollars for local governments, doesn’t apply to others who use Michigan’s court system. It has been criticized, even by judges, as unfair at minimum and unconstitutional at worst. The state Supreme Court last spring heard a challenge by a man who was ordered to pay $1,200 in Alpena County. But instead of settling the matter, the court said it would hear more arguments during its 2022-23 term. The Legislature in September voted to keep the law going for an additional 18 months. Only 17 lawmakers opposed it. Whitmer, a Democrat, said she signed the extension last week. Rep. Sarah Lightner, R-Springport, acknowledged it puts another “Band-Aid on this issue” while a long-term court funding solution can be explored. A group called the Fines and Fees Justice Center tracks how states impose fines and fees in courts. Co-director Lisa Foster said Michigan stands out because judges who preside over a criminal case are also given power to order financial penalties that benefit local government. People convicted of crimes can be ordered to pay a portion of staff salaries and building maintenance.\n\nMinnesota\n\nSt. Paul: State Attorney General Keith Ellison sued Fleet Farm on Wednesday, alleging the retailer negligently sold firearms to two straw buyers, including one gun that was used in a shootout in a St. Paul bar that left one person dead and 14 bystanders injured. The lawsuit, filed in Hennepin County District Court, alleges that Fleet Farm ignored multiple red flags that should have tipped off chain officials, including sales of multiple guns in single purchases. It alleges that Fleet Farm stores sold the two at least 37 firearms over a 16-month period. Most of the guns have not been recovered, Ellison said. Ellison, a Democrat, is facing a stiff reelection challenge from Republican candidate Jim Schultz, who has made violent crime his top issue. “We comply with all applicable gun laws and devote substantial resources to training and compliance,” countered Fleet Farm spokesman Jon Austin. He said that after the St. Paul shooting Ellison highlighted, “we were told by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms that our team members had ‘done nothing wrong’ and had complied with all applicable gun laws.” The Midwestern company has 17 stores in Minnesota that sell firearms. Straw buyers purchase firearms from licensed retailers and resell them to people who can’t legally buy them or on the black market.\n\nMississippi\n\nJackson: The city is heading off the threat of a garbage pileup by agreeing to pay its overdue bill for collections the past six months. Even as Jackson struggles with a troubled water system, Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba and the City Council have been feuding over the garbage contract for the city of 150,000 residents. Richard’s Disposal has picked up Jackson garbage since April without compensation. The company said it would stop collections after Saturday unless it receives payment. City Council President Ashby Foote told the Associated Press on Friday that the city will pay $4.8 million, and garbage collection will continue. Lumumba awarded an emergency contract early this year to Richard’s after the council voted multiple times against hiring the New Orleans-based company. Jackson has had water problems for years, and most of the city lost running water for several days in late August and early September because torrential rainfall exacerbated problems with the main water treatment plant. Crews are still making emergency repairs to the water plant, and questions remain about the quality of water in the city where 80% of residents are Black, and a quarter live in poverty.\n\nMissouri\n\nSt. Louis: A mother whose son died less than an hour after he was transported from a jail to a state prison has won a $1.2 million settlement in a case that helped lead to suspensions, firings and reforms. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports Angela Malcich claimed in the suit that nurses and guards at the St. Louis County Justice Center repeatedly ignored the serious medical distress of her son, Daniel Stout. He was arrested June 3, 2019, on a parole revocation and spent the next eight days in the county jail. The night before his death, Stout complained of stomach pains but was told he would have to wait until the morning to see a nurse, the suit claims. That morning, though, jail staff told a worsening Stout that he would need to wait for care again until he could be transported more than an hour to the state prison in Bonne Terre. Upon arriving, he was vomiting blood and died before emergency crews could get there. An autopsy blamed complications of an ulcer that perforated his intestine. Four other inmates also died in the county jail in 2019, with an internal report finding that all of them had acted “strangely” beforehand and that most were denied medical care.\n\nMontana\n\nHelena: A draft report from Gov. Greg Gianforte’s housing task force details a slew of ideas to boost housing supply in an effort to tackle Montana’s affordability crunch, previewing legislation that could be advanced during next year’s legislative session, the Montana Free Press reports. Several of the task force’s recommendations involve scaling back local zoning restrictions such as minimum lot sizes, building height limits and parking requirements to make it easier to develop more dense housing developments in urban areas with existing access to services like water lines, streets and fire departments. The report released last week calls for legislation that places “sideboards” on the development restrictions towns and cities have the power to enact and also suggests providing financial incentives to local governments that implement “key regulatory reforms.” The group also suggests putting some state money toward supporting affordable housing efforts. It generally avoids suggestions that seek to address housing challenges with new government regulations, such as restricting AirBnB-style short-term rentals. The task force, which is set to formally present its recommendations to the governor in the coming weeks, is looking for public comment to consider as it finalizes its initial report by a Saturday deadline.\n\nNebraska\n\nOmaha: The city will have a new tallest building once Mutual of Omaha completes its planned $600 million headquarters tower downtown in 2026. Mutual CEO James Blackledge told the Omaha World-Herald it recently became clear that the insurance company’s new skyscraper would eclipse the 45-story First National Bank tower. The new Mutual building is projected to be 677 feet tall. That would make it 43 feet taller than the First National building that opened in 2002. Mutual didn’t set out to build the city’s tallest building, but Blackledge said he’s proud of the impact the project will have on Omaha’s downtown and its image. “I think people see skylines, and it does create an impression of all the things we want Omaha to be perceived as – a vibrant, growing, thriving place where people can live and work and prosper,” he said. The new building will be designed to hold roughly 2,400 of the company’s 4,000 headquarters workers at any one time, reflecting the rise of working from home. It will also be a little less than half the size of Mutual current 1.7 million-square-foot headquarters complex in midtown Omaha. In conjunction with the Mutual project, Omaha leaders have pledged to build a $306 million, 3-mile-long streetcar line to connect midtown with downtown by sometime in 2026.\n\nNevada\n\nLas Vegas: Victims of a quick series of stabbings on the Las Vegas Strip described the shock and horror of the unexpected attack Thursday on a group of showgirls and others outside a casino that left two people dead and six injured. Police arrested Yoni Barrios, 32, after a short chase blocks from where they say he attacked four showgirls and ended up stabbing eight people. An arrest report released Friday said Barrios told police some of the victims had laughed at him, and he “let the anger out.” Prosecutors said he’ll be charged with two counts of murder and six counts of attempted murder. “I couldn’t believe that this was happening to me,” said Victoria Caytano, one of the showgirl impersonators who was released from the hospital Friday after she was treated for a stab wound. “I got up, and I started running,” Caytano told KLAS-TV. “I started yelling, ‘He has a knife!’ ” The coroner’s office identified those killed as Las Vegas residents Brent Allan Hallett, 47, and Maris Mareen DiGiovanni, 30. Hallett was stabbed in the back, and DiGiovanni died from a chest wound, authorities said. DiGiovanni was part of the Best Showgirls in Vegas modeling and talent agency, according to Cheryl Lowthorp, who runs the business. She said two others with the agency were among the wounded, and a third escaped without injury.\n\nNew Hampshire\n\nConcord: A former juvenile parole officer has been sentenced to 11 years in federal prison for possession of child pornography and trying to send an explicit image to a child. Jason Ellis pleaded guilty in June. Prosecutors agreed in a plea agreement to drop a third charge of distributing child pornography. Ellis was fired from his job as a juvenile parole officer earlier in the year after he was arrested. An affidavit said Ellis sent online messages in 2020 and 2021 to undercover investigators posing as a 13-year-old girl and her father. Detectives uncovered more than 100 images of child sex abuse material on his phone, WMUR-TV reports.\n\nNew Jersey\n\nTrenton: The state would sell off all of its pension fund investments in oil, gas and other fossil fuel companies under a bill approved by a New Jersey Senate committee Thursday. The bill targets any pension money invested in 200 of the largest publicly traded fossil fuel companies based on each of their carbon content in oil, gas and coal reserves. It was passed 3-2 along party lines with Democrats in support and Republicans against. “The clock is ticking, and there is not that much time left,” said state Sen. Bob Smith, D-Middlesex, the bill’s sponsor. “We’ve got to get our industry to change and our economy to change.” The pension fund was valued at $92.9 billion as of May 31, but it is not known exactly how much is invested in fossil fuel company stocks. A state Treasury Department spokeswoman did not return a request for that information Thursday. Divest NJ, a group advocating for the measure, estimates it’s between $3 million and $4 million, based on documents it has obtained. The measure had languished in Trenton for almost five years and still has a long road ahead of it. It was moved to the Senate Budget Committee on Thursday and would still need to be approved by the full Senate, the Assembly and Gov. Phil Murphy. It would take effect 12 months after being signed into law.\n\nNew Mexico\n\nSanta Fe: Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has asked the federal Department of Justice to assign more FBI agents to the state in response to violent crime. Lujan Grisham said Wednesday in a statement that she wants to replicate the success of a recent surge in FBI resources and agents in Buffalo, New York. The Sept. 15 letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland describes a recent spate of homicides in Albuquerque and says that “additional federal agents are needed to alleviate the current strain on New Mexico’s law enforcement offices.” Lujan Grisham sent a similar request in June to FBI Director Christopher Wray. Lujan Grisham spokeswoman Nora Meyers Sackett said the governor’s office did not receive a response from the Department of Justice as of Wednesday evening. Concerns about crime are a prominent theme in the race for governor ahead of the Nov. 8 general election as Lujan Grisham seeks a second term in office. Republican nominee and former television meteorologist Ronchetti has painted a dire portrait of public safety conditions, railing against the state’s bail system and vowing a different approach to judicial appointments.\n\nNew York\n\nAlbany: The state police superintendent resigned Friday, days after Gov. Kathy Hochul said he was being investigated for his handling of internal personnel matters. In a statement, Hochul thanked Kevin Bruen for “his years of public service” and said that First Deputy Superintendent Steven Nigrelli will take over as acting superintendent on an interim basis. Bruen had been in charge of the state police since June 2021. A 20-year veteran of the department, he was appointed superintendent by Hochul’s predecessor, Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Bruen’s resignation is effective Oct. 19, the state police said. Hochul told the Albany Times Union’s editorial board on Tuesday that she had ordered her counsel’s office to investigate allegations against Bruen. Among them, according to the newspaper, is whether he had shielded a senior human resources official from complaints about her own handling of personnel issues.\n\nNorth Carolina\n\nRaleigh: The state’s two top Democratic officials are urging the Republican-led Legislature to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana in light of President Joe Biden’s pardon Thursday of thousands of Americans convicted of “simple possession” under federal law. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and Attorney General Josh Stein, the state’s top lawyer who is considering a run for governor in 2024, shared their support for the president’s decision at a Friday task force meeting on racial equity and criminal justice. Established by Cooper in June 2020 after George Floyd’s murder, the 24-member panel of law enforcement officers, attorneys, civil rights advocates and state officials had recommended in a 2020 report that state lawmakers replace the misdemeanor charge for possessing up to 1.5 ounces of marijuana with a civil offense on par with a traffic infraction. The General Assembly did not act on this recommendation. “Conviction of simple possession can mar people’s records for life and maybe even prevent them from getting a job,” Cooper told the task force Friday. “The General Assembly didn’t pass your recommendations on this last session, but I believe they should. North Carolina should take steps to end this stigma.”\n\nNorth Dakota\n\nBismarck: The state’s five American Indian tribes are seeking exclusive rights to host internet gambling and sports betting in North Dakota – a monopoly worth millions – just a year after legislators turned aside a push by one big national player to allow gambling in the state. The tribes are turning to Republican Gov. Doug Burgum to approve the idea under tribal-state agreements known as compacts, the first of which was signed in 1992. The current compacts expire at the end of this year, and only Burgum can approve them, said Deb McDaniel, North Dakota’s top gambling regulator. The tribes argue their casinos have been hurt by the explosion of electronic pull tab machines statewide after they were legalized in 2017, with North Dakotans pouring almost $1.75 billion into the machines in fiscal 2022. Their proposal, obtained by the Associated Press, is still in draft form. A public hearing on a final proposal is set for Oct. 21, McDaniel said. DraftKings, a big player in the U.S. mobile gambling market, supported legislation and a failed resolution last year to allow sports betting in North Dakota to join about two dozen other states. The company said at the time that sports wagering already is taking place in North Dakota through illegal offshore markets.\n\nOhio\n\nCincinnati: A law banning virtually all abortions will remain blocked while a state constitutional challenge proceeds, a judge said Friday in a ruling that will allow pregnancy terminations through 20 weeks’ gestation to continue for now. Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Christian Jenkins issued the preliminary injunction from the bench after a daylong hearing where courthouse guards screened spectators, and one abortion provider testified to wearing a Kevlar vest over fears for her safety. In impassioned remarks announcing his decision, Jenkins knocked the state’s arguments that the Ohio Constitution doesn’t ever mention abortion and thus doesn’t protect the right to one. He said a right doesn’t have to be named to be protected. “This court has no difficulty holding that the Ohio Constitution confers a fundamental right on all of Ohioans to privacy, procreation, bodily integrity and freedom of choice in health care decision-making that encompasses the right to abortion,” he said. He said the state failed to prove that the ban on most abortions after detection of fetal cardiac activity is narrowly tailored enough not to infringe on those rights. Rather, Jenkins said, the law is written “to almost completely eliminate the rights of Ohio women. It is not narrowly tailored, not even close.” The state is expected to appeal.\n\nOklahoma\n\nBlanchard: Jody Miller, whose “Queen of the House” won the 1966 Grammy Award for best country performance by a woman, died Thursday at age 80. Miller died in her hometown, Blanchard, of complications from Parkinson’s disease, according to Universal Music Group, owner of Capitol Records, which released most of her hits. “Queen of the House” was released in 1965 as an answer to Roger Miller’s hit “King of the Road.” The hit opened up a crossover career for Jody Miller, who wasn’t related to the “King of the Road” composer and singer. Her 1965 teen protest song “Home of the Brave” was her biggest-selling single, despite being banned from some radio stations’ playlists. Another hit was “Long Black Limousine,” a song about a man’s funeral procession. In the 1970s, Miller moved to Epic Records, where she had hits with “Baby I’m Yours,” “There’s a Party Goin’ On,” “Darling, You Can Always Come Back Home,” and the Grammy-nominated crossover hit cover of “He’s So Fine.” She retired in the 1980s to spend more time with her husband and children. After her husband’s death, she recorded a 2018 single, “Where My Picture Hangs on the Wall,” with daughter Robin Brooks Sullivan and Miller’s two grandchildren.\n\nOregon\n\nPortland: A serial rapist is set to be released from prison in mid-December after serving nearly 36 years behind bars, almost all of his maximum sentence. Richard Gillmore, arrested in 1986 and called the “jogger rapist” because he staked out victims as he ran by their homes, admitted to raping nine girls in the Portland area in the 1970s and ’80s but was only convicted in one case because of the statute of limitations. In 1987, a jury found him guilty of raping 13-year-old Tiffany Edens, his last known victim, in December 1986. The Associated Press generally does not name people who have been sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly. Edens has spoken out about the assault and recently wrote on social media that she received a voicemail in August from the state’s Victim Information and Notification Service telling her of his impending release. “I have been slowly processing the reality of it all,” she wrote. The Oregonian, citing prison officials, reported that Gillmore was transferred in August from Two Rivers Correctional Institution in Umatilla to the minimum-security Columbia River Correctional Institution in Portland to help him prepare for his reentry into the community. He will be 63 at the time of his release in December. KOIN reports Gillmore will remain under supervision until 2034.\n\nPennsylvania\n\nPittsburgh: An Italian heritage group has vowed to appeal a judge’s ruling that officials can remove a 13-foot statue of Christopher Columbus from a city park. Attorneys for the Italian Sons and Daughters of America have argued that the mayor doesn’t have the power to override an ordinance passed by the City Council in 1955 that cleared the installation of the 800-pound statue of the explorer. Common Pleas Judge John McVay Jr. ruled about a week ago that because the statue erected in 1958 is in a city-owned park, it represents government speech – citing a 2009 U.S. Supreme Court ruling on a Utah city rejecting a monument proposed for a city park by a religious group. The Italian Sons and Daughters of America filed the lawsuit in October 2020 after the Pittsburgh Art Commission voted to remove the statue. Then-Mayor Bill Peduto then also recommended its removal. McVay had for two years urged the two sides to work toward a solution, including its relocation to a different location. The statue has been vandalized numerous times and is wrapped in plastic. “Based on the court’s ruling, the mayor can put up or take down any statue he wants on any city-owned property without regard for other branches of the city government,” the Italian Sons and Daughters of America argued. “Obviously, this cannot be correct.”\n\nRhode Island\n\nProvidence: The Rhode Island Festival of Children’s Books and Authors returns to an in-person format this year for the first time since 2019, kicking off Friday with a virtual appearance by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor at Lincoln School. Sotomayor, who has written several children’s books in addition to a 2013 memoir, will speak to and answer questions from Rhode Island children. Free signed copies of her books “Just Ask” and “Just Help” will be given to children who attend the 4:30 p.m. event. The festival will continue Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Lincoln School, where participants can listen to 30-minute talks by authors, purchase books and have them signed; make book crafts; and buy lunch from a variety of vendors. Authors and illustrators at the event will be Mary Jane Begin, Gaia Cornwall, Anika Aldamuy Denise, Christopher Denise, Rita Hubbard, Kekla Magoon, Juana Martinez-Neal, Oge Mora, Hayley Rocco, John Rocco, Bob Shea, Melissa Stewart, Chris Van Allsburg and Rhode Island’s poet laureate, Tina Cane, as well as members of Rhode Island Black Storytellers. Admission to the two-hour kickoff event with Sotomayor is free, but space is limited, and advance registration is recommended online. Admission to Saturday’s festival is $5.\n\nSouth Carolina\n\nGreenville: Write-in U.S. House candidate Lee Turner rallied in downtown Greenville on Saturday to spread the word about her campaign. Turner had no intention of running for Congress, she said, but after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, details of incumbent U.S. Rep. William Timmons’ personal life went viral online, and Democratic candidate Ken Hill dropped out of the race, Turner said: “I’ve got to do something.” Turner said she’s running a campaign based on finding solutions, common ground and bringing elected officials from across the aisle together. “I became more sure that this district needed someone like me, who was a problem solver, versus somebody like Mr. Timmons, who’s just going to tow the party line,” Turner said. While she has run for office as a Democrat in the past, Turner said she is truly an independent who believes people are more alike than they are different and hopes to create legislation with mutual benefits across political ideologies to help the masses. “Mutual benefit is the strongest glue ever,” she said. “It needs no legislation to even sustain itself, but if you do legislate it, it’s not likely to be overturned by the next party in power because it’s mutually beneficial.”\n\nSouth Dakota\n\nSioux Falls: A new free online tutoring program is available for K-12 students in the state, administered by the Board of Regents and funded by the Department of Education. The Dakota Dreams Online Tutoring Program is staffed by college students at Black Hills State University and Northern State University who are preparing to become teachers. The program uses a secure online platform for students and tutors to connect for virtual sessions in English, language arts, math, science and social studies. Secretary of Education Tiffany Sanderson said the program will allow K-12 students to receive individualized support after the school day has ended. “Once a parent has registered their child, students can access a tutor from home, the local library or after-school program, or even their favorite coffee shop,” Sanderson said. “I think parents are going to like this one-on-one support as much as their students.” To access the free service, parents first need to register their students to use the platform. Once registered, sessions can either be scheduled in advance or on-demand, depending on tutor availability. Tutors will be available Monday through Sunday afternoons and evenings. The service will not be available on holidays and during Christmas and spring breaks.\n\nTennessee\n\nNashville: Country music icon Loretta Lynn was buried in her family’s cemetery on her Hurricane Mills estate Friday morning. The private ceremony of about 100 guests took place in the unincorporated Humphreys County town she bought in the 1960s after achieving worldwide fame with “Coal Miner’s Daughter.” Lynn died Oct. 4 at the age of 90. She left instructions for her funeral ceremonies, including plans for a large memorial where fans will be invited. “A public memorial is being planned,” family spokesperson Ebie McFarland said. “The family did have a private ceremony Friday with no other details available to share at this time.” McFarland said details about the public ceremony will be released soon. Loretta Lynn’s Ranch is one of the largest campgrounds in the state and draws streams of tourists throughout the year to the rural expanse, where she built an event center and other attractions. Lynn, who owned roughly 3,500 acres in Humphreys County, lived in the estate’s mansion until 1988 before turning it into a tourist center and moving into a smaller house on the property. She also built a museum and replica of the Butcher Hollow, Kentucky, cabin where she grew up for tourists to visit.\n\nTexas\n\nUvalde: The city’s school district suspended its entire police force Friday amid fresh outrage over the hesitant law enforcement response to the gunman who massacred 21 people at Robb Elementary School. The extraordinary move follows the revelation that the district hired a former state trooper who was among hundreds of officers who rushed to the scene of the May 24 shooting. School leaders also put two members of the district police department on administrative leave, one of whom chose to retire instead, according to a statement released by the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District. Remaining officers will be reassigned to other jobs in the district. Uvalde school leaders’ suspension of campus police operations one month into a new school year in the South Texas community underscores the sustained pressure that families of some of the 19 children and two teachers killed have kept on the district. Brett Cross, the uncle of 10-year-old victim Uziyah Garcia, had been protesting outside the school administration building for two weeks, demanding accountability over officers allowing a gunman with an AR-15-style rifle to remain in a fourth grade classroom for more than 70 minutes. Families have said students in the district are not safe so long as officers who waited so long to confront and kill the gunman remain on the job.\n\nUtah\n\nSalt Lake City: A jury found two animal rights activists not guilty on charges of burglary and theft after they allegedly took two sick piglets from an industrial pig farm. Activists Wayne Hsiung and Paul Picklesimer, with the California-based group Direct Action Everywhere, had argued during their trial that nothing of value was stolen because the 3-week old piglets were in poor condition and likely to die. The not guilty verdict was delivered Saturday following a weeklong trial. The group took a 360-degree virtual reality video of the March 2017 incident at Smithfield Food’s Circle Four Farms near Milford and promoted it online, as part of a tactic known as “open rescue” that’s meant to shed light on abusive farming practices. Investigators used the video to identify the defendants and three other activists who were charged and took plea deals rather than go to trial. Hsiung and Picklesimer faced up to 51/ 2 years in jail if they had been convicted, The Salt Lake Tribune reports. In 2017 a federal court struck down a Utah law banning secret filming at farm and livestock sites, claiming the restrictions were an unconstitutional violation of free speech.\n\nVermont\n\nRichmond: Residents of a small community were blindsided last month by news that one official in their water department quietly lowered fluoride levels nearly four years ago, giving rise to worries about their children’s dental health and transparent government – and highlighting the enduring misinformation around water fluoridation. Katie Mather, who lives in Richmond, a town of about 4,100 in northwestern Vermont, said at a water commission meeting last week that her dentist recently found her two kids’ first cavities. She acknowledged they eat a lot of sugar but said her dentist recommended against supplemental fluoride because the town’s water should be doing the trick. Her dentist “was operating and making professional recommendations based on state standards we all assumed were being met, which they were not,” Mather said. Kendall Chamberlin, Richmond’s water and wastewater superintendent, told the Water and Sewer Commission in September that he reduced the fluoride level because of his concerns about changes to its sourcing and the recommended levels. He said he worries about quality control in the fluoride used in U.S. drinking systems because it comes from China – an assertion that echoes unfounded reports about Chinese fluoride that have circulated online in recent years.\n\nVirginia\n\nCharlottesville: A Civil War reenactor pleaded not guilty Friday to charges that he planted a pipe bomb at a battlefield in 2017 and threatened to disrupt additional events. A federal indictment against Gerald Leonard Drake, 63, of Winchester, Virginia, was unsealed Thursday. The indictment accuses Drake of planting a pipe bomb at Cedar Creek Battlefield during an annual reenactment in October 2017. The bomb did not detonate but resulted in cancellation of the reenactment after its discovery. The indictment also charges him with writing letters threatening violence at subsequent Cedar Creek reenactments, as well as an annual Remembrance Day Parade in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. At a press conference Thursday announcing the charges, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia Christopher Kavanaugh said Drake falsely claimed connections to Antifa in his threatening letters not only to hide his actual identity but also to create additional political angst. In reality, according to the indictment, Drake was a Civil War reenactor who regularly participated in events at Cedar Creek until he was expelled from his unit in 2014. The indictment, though, does not explicitly state that bitterness over his expulsion motived his alleged misconduct.\n\nWashington\n\nOlympia National Park: Park officials have closed recreational fishing indefinitely because waters have reached historic lows. The National Park Service announced it would halt all recreational fishing starting Thursday on the Ozette, Bogachiel, South Fork Calawah, Sol Duc, North Fork Sol Duc, Dickey, Quillayute, Hoh, South Fork Hoh, Queets, Salmon and Quinault rivers. The Cedar, Goodman, Kalaloch and Mosquito Creeks within Olympic National Park are also closed, The Seattle Times reports. The region for months has seen above-average temperatures and low rainfall. Seattle has had 0.48 inches of rain from July to September, while the average for that period is 3.16 inches, making it the driest such stretch on record. Park officials said they hope the closure will help protect fish, especially those trying to make upstream spawning migrations in the low water levels.\n\nWest Virginia\n\nMorgantown: A West Virginia University fraternity has been cleared of hazing allegations but will be sanctioned separately on other violations, the school said. Pi Kappa Phi and the school agreed to end the fraternity’s interim suspension related to alleged hazing. The chapter will be on deferred suspension through February and lose some privileges through June, the school said Thursday. “In this case, our inquiry found no evidence of hazing, but exposed recruitment and alcohol behaviors which violate our Student Conduct Code,” said Jill Gibson, director of the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities. The fraternity agreed to participate in education, training and harm reduction programs, WVU said.\n\nWisconsin\n\nMadison: A Dane County judge refused Friday to issue a temporary order that would allow local election clerks to accept partial witness addresses on absentee ballots. A group called Rise Inc. filed a lawsuit in September seeking a judicial order requiring the Wisconsin Elections Commission to tell local clerks that they must accept ballots as long as the witness address includes enough information that clerks can reasonably discern where the witness can be contacted. The day after the group filed the lawsuit, its attorneys asked Judge Juan Colas to issue a temporary injunction mandating that the commission issue that guidance to clerks. Colas refused to issue the order during a hearing Friday morning, online court records indicate. The case will continue with a scheduling conference set for Oct. 17. Rise Inc., which encourages students to vote, sued after a Waukesha County judge last month sided with Republicans and said clerks are barred from filling in missing witness information on ballot envelopes. The judge struck down guidance the elections commission put in place six years ago, saying nothing in state law allows clerks to do that. The practice was unchallenged until Donald Trump lost Wisconsin to Joe Biden in 2020. About 1.4 million voters cast absentee ballots in that election.\n\nWyoming\n\nMammoth Springs: Yellowstone National Park is postponing the opening of a renovated road at its north entrance as it continues to repair the damage from this summer’s catastrophic flooding, the Wyoming Tribune Eagle reports. The park has pushed back the road’s opening date from Oct. 15 to Nov. 1, according to the newspaper, as park officials said they need more time to ensure that over 5,000 feet of guardrail are properly installed for traffic safety. “We have set incredibly aggressive time frames for these repairs, and our contractors have worked at lightning speed to get this road safely reopened,” Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Cam Sholly said in a news release. “It’s essential that we do not cut corners and we ensure the road meets required safety standards prior to opening.” Unprecedented flooding in June severely damaged roads, swept away homes and forced the park to close as it evacuated about 10,000 visitors. The National Park Service said the most significant damage occurred at the Yellowstone’s north and northeast entrances, where access was cut off. The flooding washed out segments of the roadway between the north entrance and Mammoth Hot Springs. To reconnect the two areas, authorities have paved and expanded an old stagecoach route from the 1880s called Old Gardiner Road.\n\nFrom USA TODAY Network and wire reports", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/10/10"}]}
{"question_id": "20230127_6", "search_time": "2023/01/28/05:14", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2022/06/13/weather-severe-thunderstorm-watch-issued-much-region/7612676001/", "title": "Cincinnati Weather: Storms leave 90,000 with no power", "text": "Click or tap here for the latest updates: See where power outages stand after major storm hits\n\nUpdate, 5:40 a.m.: Duke Energy continues to report more than 94,000 customers without power.\n\nThe company tallies 1,723 active outages in Greater Cincinnati after severe storms passed through late Monday afternoon.\n\nMore than 90,000 of those customers without electricity were in Ohio, with the remaining powerless customers in Northern Kentucky.\n\nUpdate, 9:40 p.m.: Duke Energy continues to report power outages with 155,854 customers still without power.\n\nThe company says there are 1,653 active outages in Southwest Ohio and Northern Kentucky. At one point following severe storms that swept through the area, there were more than 165,000 people without power.\n\nOhio has 151,977 customers without power. In Butler County, there are 434 outages and 46,610 customers without power. Clermont County has 200 outages and 16,222 customers without power. Hamilton County has 717 outages affecting 56,799 customers. Warren County has 186 outages and 30,535 customers without power.\n\nIn Kentucky, there were 3,874 customers without power. Kenton County has 37 outages leaving 2,917 customers without power. Campbell County has 30 outages and 949 customers without power.\n\nThe outage map says repairs and damage assessments are underway, and offered no estimated time for service restoration.\n\nA statement from Duke on its online outage map said \"The storms that ripped through the greater Cincinnati area earlier this evening took down numerous trees, powerlines and poles.\n\n\"Due to the widespread and severe nature of damage caused by the squall, we will need to adjust many of our initial estimated times of restoration in the areas hardest hit. Crews will be working through the night to make repairs and further assess damage.\n\n\"We will provide restoration updates as the work progresses. Thank you for your patience.\"\n\nUpdate, 9:10 p.m.: Duke Energy continues to report power outages with more than 162,000 customers without power.\n\nThe power company reports on its outage map there are 1,590 active power outages with 162,997customers without power in Southwest Ohio and Northern Kentucky.\n\nOhio has 153,317 customers without power. In Butler County, there were 193 outages and 48,050 customers were without power. Clermont County has 193 outages and 16,065 customers without power. Hamilton County has 679 outages affecting 55,517 customers. Warren County has 165 outages and 31,790 customers without power.\n\nIn Kentucky, there were 9,680 customers without power. Kenton County has 36 outages leaving 2,999 customers without power. Campbell County has 36 outages and 6,673 customers without power.\n\nThe outage map says repairs and damage assessments are underway, and offered no estimated time for service restoration.\n\nA statement from Duke on its online outage map said \"The storms that ripped through the greater Cincinnati area earlier this evening took down numerous trees, powerlines and poles.\n\n\"Due to the widespread and severe nature of damage caused by the squall, we will need to adjust many of our initial estimated times of restoration in the areas hardest hit. Crews will be working through the night to make repairs and further assess damage.\n\n\"We will provide restoration updates as the work progresses. Thank you for your patience.\"\n\nUpdate, 7:20 p.m.: Duke Energy continues to report power outages with more than 165,000 customers without power.\n\nThe power company reports on its outage map there are 1,208 active power outages with 165,908 customers without power in Southwest Ohio and Northern Kentucky.\n\nIn Ohio, Butler County has 49,535 customers without power. Clermont County has 150 outages and 16,230 customers without power. Hamilton County has 415 outages affecting 54,037 customers. Warren County has 133 outages and 29,813 customers without power. There was no estimated time of restoration. Duke says repairs and damage assessment are underway.\n\nIn Kentucky, there were 16,230 customers without power. Kenton County has 2,979 customers without power. Campbell County has 11,939 customers without power. No estimates are available as to when power will be restored.\n\nDuke spokeswoman Sally Thelen said it's currently not safe for crews to get out to work on restoring power and urged residents to be patient.\n\nAs the storm moves through and away from the Cincinnati area, damage assessors will be out on the road, she said, adding Duke crews from outside Ohio and Kentucky may be called to assist.\n\nUpdate, 6:45 p.m.: Duke Energy continues to report power outages with more than 162,000 customers without power.\n\nThe power company reports on its outage map there are 902 active power outages with 162,569 customers without power in Southwest Ohio and Northern Kentucky.\n\nIn Ohio, Butler County has 48,039 customers without power and there was no estimated time of restoration. Clermont County has 13,235 customers without power, and there is now no estimated time of restoration. Hamilton County has 415 outages affecting 53,943 customers and there was no estimated time of restoration. Warren County has 112 outages and 29,266 customers without power and there was no estimated time of restoration. Duke says repairs and damage assessments are underway.\n\nDuke spokeswoman Sally Thelen said there haven't been this many outages since 2012.\n\nShe said this is the \"perfect storm,\" adding that Duke's meteorologists were monitoring the storm system.\n\nThelen said it's currently not safe for crews to get out to work on restoring power and urged residents to be patient.\n\nAs the storm moves through and away from the Cincinnati area, damage assessors will be out on the road, she said, adding Duke crews from outside Ohio and Kentucky may be called to assist.\n\nUpdate, 6:30 p.m.: Duke Energy continues to report power outages with more than 141,000 customers without power.\n\nThe power company reports on its outage map there are 755 active power outages with 141,652 customers without power in Southwest Ohio and Northern Kentucky.\n\nIn Ohio, Butler County has 45,923 customers without power and there was no estimated time of restoration. Clermont County has 9,274 customers without power, and the estimated time of restoration is by 11 p.m. Hamilton County has 270 outages affecting 33,587 customers and there was no estimated time of restoration. Warren County has 72 outages and 25,138 customers without power and there was no estimated time of restoration.\n\nIn Kentucky, Kenton County has 2,567 customers without power. Duke estimated restoration of power there by 10:45 p.m.\n\nUpdate, 6:15 p.m.: Duke Energy continues to report power outages with more than 100,000 customers without power.\n\nThe power company reports 545 active power outages with 105,895 customers without power in Southwest Ohio and Northern Kentucky\n\nButler County has 45,923 customers without power and there was no estimated time of restoration. Hamilton County has 270 outages affecting 33,587 customers. Warren County has 72 outages and 25,138 customers without power.\n\nUpdate, 6 p.m.: A flash flood warning is currently in effect for northwestern Butler and southwestern Preble counties until 8:15 p.m., the National Weather Service said.\n\nThe warning is also in place in parts of East Central Indiana and Southeast Indiana.\n\nForecasters said flash flooding of small creeks and streams, urban areas, highways, streets and underpasses as well as other poor drainage and low-lying areas is possible.\n\nAreas that may experience flash flooding include Hamilton, Oxford, Connersville, Brookville, Liberty, West College Corner, Glenwood, Darrtown, Salem, Reily, Waterloo, Blooming Grove, Columbia, Metamora, Bunker Hill, Brownsville, Millville, Laurel, Milton and College Corner.\n\nDuke Energy's online outage map is currently showing 39,500 customers without power in Greater Cincinnati. Most of those outages are concentrated in Butler, Hamilton and Warren counties.\n\nThe company is anticipating restoration times of as late as 10:15 p.m.\n\nUpdate, 5:40 p.m.: A severe thunderstorm warning has been issued for counties throughout Southwest Ohio, Northern Kentucky and Southeast Indiana, according to the National Weather Service.\n\nForecasters said wind gusts of 70 mph and penny-size hail are possible in some areas, adding that residents should expect damage to trees and power lines.\n\nCounties impacted include Butler, Preble, Clermont and Hamilton in Ohio; Boone, Campbell and Kenton in Kentucky; and Dearborn, Ohio and Ripley in Indiana. The warnings are in place as late as 6:30 p.m.\n\nAreas impacted include Lawrenceburg, Greendale, Aurora, Rising Sun, Bright, Milan, Moores Hill, Hidden Valley and Oakbrook in Indiana, Erlanger, Florence, Burlington, Fort Thomas, Independence, Newport, Edgewood, Alexandria, Elsmere and Covington in Kentucky, and Cincinnati, Harrison, Cheviot, Cleves, Forest Park, North College Hill, Montgomery, Madeira, Wyoming. Shawnee, Taylor Creek, Bridgetown, Miami Heights, Norwood and Blue Ash in Ohio.\n\n\"Large hail and damaging winds and continuous cloud to ground lightning is occurring with this storm,\" forecasters said. \"Lightning is one of nature's leading killers. Remember, if you can hear thunder, you are close enough to be struck by lightning.\"\n\nUpdate, 4:35 p.m.: The National Weather Service says \"strong to severe\" thunderstorms are hitting parts of Greater Cincinnati Monday afternoon.\n\nForecasters said the storms are over parts of eastern Indiana and southwest Ohio and slowly moving east. Warren County, along with parts of Clermont, Butler, Hamilton and Brown counties are currently at an enhanced risk of severe weather, according to NWS.\n\nPrevious reporting: The National Weather Service has issued a severe thunderstorm watch for counties across the region until 10 p.m. Monday.\n\nThe watch is in place for counties throughout Southeast Indiana, Northern Kentucky and Southwest Ohio, forecasters say.\n\nSevere weather:Here are the differences between a Tornado Watch and a Tornado Warning\n\nAccording to a hazardous weather outlook from the National Weather Service, there is a possibility of strong to severe storms this afternoon into tonight in Greater Cincinnati. Strong straight line winds are the main threat, though large hail can`t be ruled out. Locally heavy rainfall is possible and may lead to localized flash flooding.\n\nWhat Greater Cincinnati counties are affected?\n\nGreater Cincinnati counties impacted by the watch include Brown, Clermont, Hamilton, Warren and Butler in Ohio; Boone, Bracken, Campbell, Grant, Gallatin, Kenton and Pendleton in Kentucky; and Franklin, Dearborn, Ohio, Union and Switzerland in Indiana.\n\nHeat wave:Cincinnati, it's going to be a hot summer. Here are some resources to beat the heat\n\nHeat advisory also in effect for parts of Indiana, Kentucky, southwest Ohio\n\nA heat advisory is in place until 7 p.m. and an excessive heat watch will be in effect Tuesday afternoon through evening, forecasters say, with dangerously hot conditions and heat index values up to 109 possible.\n\nGreater Cincinnati weather:This week will be hot, but how will it compare to previous years?\n\n\"Extreme heat and humidity will significantly increase the potential for heat-related illnesses, particularly for those working or participating in outdoor activities,\" reads a statement from NWS.\n\nThe heat watch covers portions of East Central and Southeast Indiana; Northeast and Northern Kentucky and Central, South Central, Southwest and West Central Ohio.\n\nGreater Cincinnati heat wave:Severe storms, heat index up to 109 possible this week. Here's when things will cool down.\n\nForecasters are urging residents to stay hydrated, stay out of the sun and remain in air-conditioned spaces.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/06/13"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/15/weather/nationwide-massive-storm-tornadoes-thursday/index.html", "title": "Ice and snow start hammering East Coast states after same deadly ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nThe massive storm system that pulverized homes, killed three people in Louisiana and brought blizzard conditions to northern states is bringing a new wave of brutal weather starting Thursday.\n\nMore than a foot of snow has covered parts of the upper Midwest since Monday, including Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska, the Dakotas, Minnesota and Wisconsin.\n\nNext, significant ice and heavy snow will smother parts of the Mid-Atlantic and New England, forecasters said.\n\nParts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York have already seen several inches’ worth of snowflakes, with some areas seeing up to six inches. More than a foot of additional snow could be on the way – while some places with higher elevations could get walloped with up to 2 feet of snow.\n\n“We urge everyone in the impacted regions to avoid unnecessary travel tonight and tomorrow,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement Thursday. “Work from home if possible, stay off the roads, and make sure you and your loved ones remain vigilant.”\n\nAt its peak snowfall rate, the storm is expected to dump about one to 2 inches of snow per hour in parts of New York, the governor said, adding power outages were possible over the coming days.\n\nThe intense snowfall will spread into interior New England on Friday, with up to a foot expected there.\n\nIn Pittsburgh, some areas were under a winter weather advisory as temperatures dropped below freezing after a round of rain, warning that an “additional glazing of ice could occur through midnight,” forecasters said Thursday night.\n\nMiles of Interstate 90 in South Dakota were closed Thursday due to hazardous weather. South Dakota DOT\n\nFreezing rain and snow also covered parts of the Mid-Atlantic Thursday. A quarter inch of ice was reported Thursday morning in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia and Maryland, and about a tenth of an inch had built up in parts of Virginia.\n\nThe mammoth storm system that plowed across much of the country this week will morph into a nor’easter that will continue spread ice, snow and rain to the Northeast.\n\nNow, as the East Coast hunkers down, tornado survivors in the South are grappling with colossal damage.\n\nA tornado passes a highway Wednesday in New Iberia, Louisiana. Mike Ibert via Reuters\n\n‘All of a sudden, everything just blew up’\n\nThe same storm system now slamming eastern states left a trail of devastation in Gulf Coast states.\n\nAt least 50 tornado reports have been made since Tuesday in Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida, Texas Alabama, Georgia and Oklahoma.\n\nIn northern Louisiana, a tornado that moved through the town of Farmerville was rated an EF-3, with 140 mph winds, according to the National Weather Service. The tornado, which moved through Union Parish Tuesday evening, was 500 yards wide at its largest point and was on the ground for over nine miles.\n\nAt least 20 people were injured and the tornado demolished parts of an apartment complex and a mobile home park, Farmerville Police Detective Cade Nolan said.\n\nPatsy Andrews was home with her children in Farmerville when she heard “rushing wind like a train” outside, she told CNN affiliate KNOE-TV.\n\n“All of a sudden that wind was so heavy, it broke my back door,” Andrews said. “The lights went off and all we could hear was glass popping everywhere.”\n\nA tornado caused widespread damage in Union Parish, Louisiana. CNN\n\nAndrews said she and her daughter crawled into a hallway as glass shattered around them and water leaked through the roof. They ended up hunkering down in their bathroom and praying. Her family survived the storm but was left with a damaged home.\n\nFurther south, the weather service also confirmed two EF-2 tornadoes – in preliminary ratings while damage surveys are ongoing – in the New Orleans area. The first tornado impacted areas of St. Charles Parish, Louisiana, including Montz and Killona, where one person was killed. The second affected areas from Marrero to Arabi on the south and east sides of New Orleans.\n\nMore than 50 structures were damaged, St. Charles Parish President Matthew Jewell said Thursday, including 45 in Killona and nine in Montz. About 21 of those are no longer livable.\n\n“This happens as the weather’s getting colder and 10 days before Christmas and to a lot of people who are just now recovering from Hurricane Ida,” Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said in a Thursday news conference. “That was especially heartbreaking in St. Charles Parish.”\n\nIn Jefferson Parish, Trent Theriot ducked inside a small closer as soon as he heard a tornado was headed his way.\n\n“A strong gust of wind came through the front door … the tornado came through the front,” Theriot told CNN’s Nick Valencia. “All of a sudden, everything just blew up.”\n\nJefferson Parish Councilman Scott Walker posted images of storm damage on Facebook. \"Powerlines down, home severely damaged, rooftops ripped off, \" he wrote. Courtesy Scott Walker\n\nWhen he emerged from the closet, Theriot’s house no longer had a roof and had shifted several feet off its foundation.\n\nBut he said he’s fortunate to be alive. “Thank Jesus,” Theriot said, “I’m here for another day.”\n\n‘More devastating than initially expected’\n\nThe tornado that shredded much of Gretna, Louisiana, on Wednesday may have damaged up to 5,000 structures, the mayor said.\n\n“Unfortunately, now that the sun is up, it is more devastating than initially expected,” Mayor Belinda Constant said Thursday.\n\nA tornado blew out a vehicle's windows and damaged or destroyed homes in Gretna, Louisiana. Matthew Hinton/AP\n\n“There are more houses that will probably have to be condemned or just demolished based on such damage,” she said. “It’s about a mile-and-a-half stretch that is completely just inundated with destruction.”\n\nDespite the devastation in Gretna, only three injuries were reported, the mayor said.\n\n“This is not the place where we normally have tornadoes. So our reality of a safe house is not what it is in other parts of the country. But people survived in bathtubs,” she said.\n\n“We’re a resilient people, and this is the type of thing that don’t choose locations.”\n\nWidespread power outages in the cold\n\nPower lines are mangled after a tornado struck Wednesday in Gretna, Louisiana. Matthew Hinton/AP\n\nFrom tornadoes in the South to blizzard conditions in the Upper Midwest, more than 100,000 homes, businesses and other electricity customers in the US had no power Thursday night, according to PowerOutage.us.\n\nMost of those outages – more than 80,000 – were in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Ferocious winds from blizzard conditions knocked down power lines in the Upper Midwest, and temperatures in some areas without power plunged to near or below freezing.\n\nVisibility was significantly reduced Thursday on Interstate 94 near Bismarck, North Dakota. Tom Stromme/The Bismarck Tribune/AP\n\nA mother and child were killed and found far from their home\n\nAt least three deaths in Louisiana have been linked to the storm.\n\nYoshiko A. Smith, 30, and her 8-year-old son, Nikolus Little, were killed Tuesday when a tornado struck Caddo Parish and destroyed their home, local officials said.\n\nTheir bodies were found far from where their house once stood, officials said. Autopsies have been ordered for both, the county coronor said.\n\nIn St. Charles Parish, a 56-year-old woman died after a tornado hit her home, the Louisiana Department of Health said Wednesday.\n\nAnd “a number of people” remain in hospitals, the governor said. Some have significant injuries and others are stable, he added.\n\nIn Texas, a tornado struck Wise County near Paradise and Decatur on Tuesday, officials said. Video showed homes splintered, with roofs ripped off in Decatur.\n\nAnd in Wayne, Oklahoma, a tornado damaged homes and barns Tuesday, officials said. No injuries were reported, but homes were flattened or had roofs torn off, according to footage from CNN affiliate KOCO.\n\nGiven the extensive destruction across the state, “I am amazed that we didn’t have more loss of life in Louisiana, and I’m very thankful for it,” Edwards said Thursday.\n\nEdwards said alert notifications on cell phones were extremely important in giving people proper warning before storms impacted their areas.\n\nBut while road crews clear debris and try to restore downed power lines, Edwards urged residents to avoid sightseeing hard-hit areas – such as Iberia Medical Center in New Iberia, a city reportedly hit by a tornado.\n\nIberia Medical Center was damaged by severe weather Wednesday in New Iberia, Louisiana. Leslie Westbrook/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate/AP\n\nIn Arabi, Cindy DeLucca Hernandez thought she could beat the storm while driving home with her 16-year-old son after school. Then she found herself facing a tornado.\n\nHernandez shared video with CNN that showed a tornado blowing through Arabi, kicking up debris and taking out power lines.\n\nA confirmed tornado struck Arabi, Louisiana, on Wednesday. Matthew Hinton/AP\n\n“We started seeing debris and we got hit a couple of times by it,” Hernandez said. “That’s when I put the car in reverse.”\n\nHernandez and her son made it home safely.\n\nBut “it was extremely scary,” Hernandez said. “I’ve never ever been through anything like that.”", "authors": ["Nouran Salahieh Holly Yan Monica Garrett Amanda Watts", "Nouran Salahieh", "Holly Yan", "Monica Garrett", "Amanda Watts"], "publish_date": "2022/12/15"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/03/weather/winter-snowstorm-midwest-south-northeast-thursday/index.html", "title": "Winter storm: More than a foot of snow in the Midwest and 2 feet in ...", "text": "Editor’s Note: Caught in the path of the storm? Use CNN’s lite site for low bandwidth.\n\nCNN —\n\nA deadly storm system plowed across the United States on Thursday bringing tornado threats and dumping wintry precipitation and rain on Americans from the Gulf to Canada.\n\nMore than 91 million people were under a winter weather warning or advisory as ice, snow and sleet were falling while the storm pushed through the Midwest into the Northeast. In the South, steady rain fell and residents in some states worried about strong winds and the potential for twisters.\n\nAt least three people died in weather-related incidents.\n\nThe bad weather prompted airlines in the United States to cancel thousands of flights and made travel on many roadways nerve-wracking. And forecasters said the storm will keep impacting some areas, including the Northeast, through Friday.\n\nFOLLOW LIVE UPDATES\n\nThe storm has already produced more than 3 feet of snow in one part of New Mexico and more than a foot across several Midwestern states. Some areas of the Chicago metro received as much as 11 inches of snow, according to the National Weather Service snowmap.\n\nCNN affiliate WLS spoke to a Chicago resident whose car got stuck in the snow.\n\n“Yeah, it’s frustrating,” David Dailey said. “I wish that they would plow and I know we got some rain before the snow and sometimes it’s a little harder to salt, but the past couple times we had snow it seems like they haven’t been really on top of it.”\n\nMeanwhile, an ice storm is delivering dangerous conditions from Arkansas through Ohio.\n\nMany are already suffering that consequence. As of around 8 p.m. ET, there were more than 300,000 customers without power across a massive swath of the United States, according to Poweroutage.us.\n\nThe “significant winter storm is expected to impact much of the central and Northeastern U.S. through Friday night,” said the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center.\n\nIn Texas, the storm will test the state’s power grid, which suffered catastrophic outages last February. The state said 246 people died – most of them from hypothermia – after a snow and ice storm left thousands of Texans without power for weeks.\n\nLeaders of the state’s power grid – Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT – said Wednesday they believe they’re prepared to handle the high demands during the storm but also warned there may be local outages due to ice on wires or fallen tree limbs.\n\nGov. Greg Abbott said in a briefing Thursday that the state’s power grid has “plenty of power available at this time,” calling the weather “one of the most significant icing events that we’ve had in the state of Texas in at least several decades.”\n\n“The power grid is performing very well at this time,” he said. “At the expected peak demand, there should be about 10,000 megawatts of extra power capacity. To put that in context, that is about enough extra power to supply about 2 million homes.”\n\nAbout 33,000 Texans were without power Thursday night, according to Poweroutage.us.\n\nCrews from the New Hampshire Department of Transportation remove debris from a fallen tree near Chesterfield on Friday, February 4. Kristopher Radder/The Brattleboro Reformer/AP A pedestrian walks through steam on a rainy day in New York City on February 4. Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images Three men work to push a car up a driveway in Columbus, Ohio. Barbara J. Perenic/Columbus Dispatch/USA Today Network Plows clear snow and ice from Interstate 93 in Hooksett, New Hampshire, on February 4. Joseph Prezioso/AFP/Getty Images Edward Caldwell works to clear a downed tree at his mother's house in Memphis, Tennessee, on Thursday, February 3. Brad Vest/Getty Images A snow plow travels down Interstate 64 in Louisville, Kentucky, on February 3. Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images St. Louis police officers Eric Moran, left, and Scott Christian help a motorist who was stuck in snow at a highway exit on February 3. David Carson/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP The Texas Capitol is enshrouded by steam on February 3. Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman/USA Today Network Parents and their children walk together after school in Erie, Pennsylvania, on February 3. Greg Wohlford/Erie Times-News via AP Jacquayla Fields and her mother, Tiffany Thomas, stand beneath the damaged front porch of a house belonging to Thomas' uncle after a tornado struck Hale County, Alabama, on February 3. No one in the house was hurt. Gary Cosby Jr./The Tuscaloosa News via AP Ice accumulates on a cactus in Austin, Texas, on February 3. Sara Diggins/Austin American-Statesman/USA Today Network Snow covers a limestone statue of Jesus Christ at the summit of Mount Cristo Rey in Sunland Park, New Mexico. Omar Ornelas/USA Today Network/Reuters A police officer assists a truck driver on Interstate 20 in Abilene, Texas. Ronald W. Erdrich/The Abilene Reporter-News via AP A person walks by a statue of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Rev. Theodore Hesburgh in South Bend, Indiana, on Wednesday, February 2. Robert Franklin/South Bend Tribune via AP Salvation Army Maj. Luis Melendez inspects beds at the Mabee Red Shield Lodge in Odessa, Texas, as the shelter prepared to open as an emergency shelter on February 2. Eli Hartman/Odessa American via AP A pickup truck needs to be pulled out after sliding into the median of Interstate 70 near Columbia, Missouri. Don Shrubshell/Columbia Daily Tribune via AP Cory Pacheco uses a snow blower to clear out his driveway in Flint, Michigan. Jake May/MLive.com/The Flint Journal via AP A snow plow clears a road in Columbus, Ohio. Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch/USA Today Network Ice begins to form on a Texas flag in San Antonio. Eric Gay/AP Motorists navigate Interstate 90 in Chicago on February 2. Charles Rex Arbogast/AP A pedestrian crosses a nearly empty road in Detroit. Matthew Hatcher/Bloomberg/Getty Images Salt is spread on the sidewalks in downtown Indianapolis. Grace Hollars/IndyStar/USA Today Network A man clears snow at his home in Overland Park, Kansas. Charlie Riedel/AP People try to help a motorist who was stuck in the snow in Oklahoma City. Bryan Terry/The Oklahoman/USA Today Network In pictures: Winter storm threatens millions across US Prev Next\n\nTornado concerns in the South\n\nRain was falling across the South, and there were flash flood warnings or flood watches in parts of Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee.\n\nThere were also tornado watches in 14 counties in Alabama.\n\nThe National Weather Service said a tornado was observed in Elmore County in east central Alabama.\n\nOne person died and three people were injured during what the National Weather Service called a “likely tornado” in Hale County, Alabama, county Emergency Management Director Russell Weeden told CNN affiliate WVTM.\n\nGov. Kay Ivey asked the public to be vigilant Thursday night as severe weather continues to cross the state.\n\n“Folks, please remain weather aware tonight as severe weather continues to track across our state. We are monitoring the storm system on the state level in conjunction with @AlabamaEMA,” Ivey wrote in a tweet.\n\nAir travel misery\n\nAirlines canceled more than 6,400 US flights Thursday, according to aviation tracking site FlightAware.\n\nThe storm is having significant impacts on American Airlines operations at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, the company said.\n\n“Due to conditions at the airport, the remainder of flights bound for DFW this evening have been canceled and we anticipate additional impact through tomorrow morning. We apologize to our customers whose travel plans may be affected,” American Airlines spokesperson Gianna Urgo said.\n\nAlmost 3,000 US flights have already been canceled for Friday – many of them in the Northeast, where the storm is headed.\n\nWhat ‘several rounds of winter weather’ will look like\n\nAs the storm system pushes farther east, forecasters say, it will deliver a frigid mix of hazards.\n\n“The system will be prolonged with several rounds of winter weather lasting through Friday for portions of the central U.S. before shifting to the interior Northeast,” the weather service said Wednesday.\n\nAn update to the ongoing winter storm producing snow, sleet, and freezing rain over south-central through northeastern portions of the country. pic.twitter.com/KdRrV78J3I — NWS Weather Prediction Center (@NWSWPC) February 3, 2022\n\nCNN meteorologists said these cities will be feeling the worst weather effects:\n\nDallas: Snow and sleet will end Friday afternoon, but temperatures will stay below freezing until Saturday morning. The Dallas Independent School District will be closed Thursday and Friday, officials said.\n\nHouston: Meanwhile, a winter mix and freezing rain is possible for Houston on Thursday night as temperatures drop into the upper 20s.\n\nLouisville, Kentucky: Up to half an inch of ice is expected to form. Plus, about 1 inch of sleet and snow – each – is projected to fall. Peak hours for a mixture of freezing rain, snow and sleet are 7 a.m. Thursday through 1 a.m. Friday.\n\nTravel is already miserable\n\nChicago has been hammered with snow and is expected to get more Thursday. Scott Olson/Getty Images\n\nPerilous travel conditions have caused crashes and road closures. Two people died in weather-related accidents in New Mexico.\n\nOne person died at the scene when a vehicle slid off a snow-covered road and flipped over 100 feet down a mountain in Bernalillo County. In Guadalupe County, one man was killed in a chain-reaction crash on Interstate 40.\n\nIn Illinois, officials closed parts of several highways after numerous wrecks.\n\n“The combination of the volumes of snow, high winds, and frigid temperatures make travel near impossible in some areas of the state with several highways shutdown from vehicle crashes and jack-knifed semi-trucks,” said Kevin Sur, spokesperson for the Illinois Emergency Management Agency.\n\nCorrection: A previous version of this story overstated the new February 2 snowfall record for Oklahoma City. The new record is 3 inches.", "authors": ["Steve Almasy Aya Elamroussi Holly Yan", "Steve Almasy", "Aya Elamroussi", "Holly Yan"], "publish_date": "2022/02/03"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2023/01/04/san-francisco-bay-area-brace-severe-weather-flooding-rain/10983813002/", "title": "Massive California storms pummels state with heavy rain and winds", "text": "Looking for updates on California storms? Follow our latest coverage here.\n\nSAN FRANCISCO – California declared a state of emergency Wednesday as a powerful storm generated 45-foot waves out at sea, dropped soaking rain on already saturated ground, and prompted warnings of floods and mudslides, knocking out power to more than 100,000 people.\n\nThe storm was expected to dump up to 6 inches of rain in parts of the San Francisco Bay Area where most of the region would remain under flood warnings into late Thursday night. In Southern California, the storm was expected to peak in intensity overnight into early Thursday morning with Santa Barbara and Ventura counties likely to see the most rain, forecasters said.\n\nOn Wednesday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom authorized state National Guard units to support disaster response as a massive storm pummeled much of the state's coastline.\n\nFire and rescue equipment and personnel have been prepositioned in areas deemed most likely to experience severe flooding and mudflows.\n\nGRAPHICS:'Rivers in the sky': Graphics show atmospheric river soaking California's Bay Area\n\n\"If you've still got power, it's a good idea to charge your cellphone, computers and tablets now while you can,\" said National Weather Service meteorologist Cynthia Palmer in the agency's San Francisco area office. If the power goes out, having access to timely information about the storm – and something to watch – will be useful, she said.\n\nThe storm is termed a \"bomb cyclone\" because it is expected to be marked by a quick drop in atmospheric pressure resulting in a high-intensity storm.\n\n\"All told it's about a 30-hour event from start to finish,\" said Rick Canepa, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's San Francisco office. \"The rain won't be done until Thursday afternoon or early evening.\"\n\nSevere weather could drop 10 or more inches of rain in some parts of Northern California over the next week, forecasters say. Wednesday's storm was expected to knock down trees, cause widespread flooding, wash out roads, cause hillsides to collapse, slow airports and potentially lead to the \"loss of human life,\" the National Weather Service said.\n\nBut officials warn even then the danger isn't over. Forecasters are watching other systems out at sea that could also hit the region with more precipitation.\n\nMeanwhile, California wasn't the only place facing severe weather on Wednesday. A possible tornado touched down near Montgomery, Alabama, early Wednesday. There were no deaths but the twister damaged more than 50 homes.\n\nFlood-related deaths confirmed in Sacramento; motorists rescued\n\nTwo more bodies were found Wednesday after flooding in a rural part of south Sacramento County, authorities said, bringing the death toll from the atmospheric river storm on New Year's Eve to three.\n\nThe third body was found in a vehicle that was submerged in water , said Sgt. Amar Gandhi, a Sacramento County Sheriff's Office spokesman.\n\nThe victim had not been identified and there was no additional information about the incident, Gandhi said Wednesday night.\n\nDuring the morning, California Highway Patrol officers found the body of a woman while recovering vehicles that got stuck due to flooding.\n\nOn Sunday, authorities discovered the body of a man inside a submerged vehicle. Gandhi said rescue efforts in Sacramento County are ongoing.\n\nElsewhere across Northern California communities, several motorists were rescued from flooded roads and fallen trees.\n\nThe San Francisco Fire Department rescued a family Wednesday night after fallen trees on a city road trapped the family.\n\nCalifornia residents face outages\n\nWith heavy rain saturating the ground and strong winds, trees are more likely to fall and can cause widespread power outages, according to Karla Nemeth, director of the California Department of Water Resources.\n\nOfficials and power companies warned residents to prepare for possible outages due to the storm by creating emergency kits and keeping essential devices charged.\n\nNearly 178,000 homes and businesses were in the dark Wednesday night, according to PowerOutage.us, which tracks outages. Most outages were reported on the north coast of the state.\n\nHelping homeless people from storm\n\nAt the foot of San Francisco’s Bernal Heights neighborhood, Magaly Rowell waited for her bus under an umbrella at what passes for a bus shelter next to Precita Park. She was defying the elements not because of her job at a security company, but to feed homeless people at a nearby church, something Rowell said she does daily.\n\n“It’s not so bad if there’s no wind,” Rowell said as her umbrella got pelted by the rain and torrents of water flowed down Folsom Street. “It gets harder when the wind picks up like today. I worry about the homeless people. They’re the ones who suffer the most when the weather gets like this.”\n\nEvacuations ordered in coastal cities\n\nOfficials in Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara issued evacuation orders Wednesday as the huge storm puts the coastal areas at high risk due to potential mudslides and flooding.\n\nMandatory evacuation orders were issued for those living in burn scar areas in Santa Barbara County due to potential flooding and debris flows, Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown announced during a Wednesday news conference.\n\nThe Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office issued numerous evacuation orders for southern parts of the county throughout Wednesday due to concerns over potential flooding and debris flow from storm conditions.\n\nFlight disruptions amid powerful storm\n\nWith its high winds and heavy rains, the storm is already causing flight disruptions in the Bay Area with more anticipated to come as the peak approaches.\n\nAs of Wednesday afternoon, San Francisco International Airport has experienced 74 flight cancellations, accounting for 8% of all flights.\n\nAbout 191 flights have been delayed by an average of 35 minutes, according to Doug Yakel, a public information officer for the airport. \"Delays and cancellations are a result of both the reduced ceilings and winds,\" he told USA TODAY.\n\n\"In regards to general airport operations here at OAK, our operations team is prepared,\" a spokesperson for Oakland International Airport told USA TODAY. Passengers with flights to and from Oakland are strongly encouraged to check with their airline through their mobile app or website for updates on their flights.\n\nTravel waivers for flights disrupted by California's \"bomb cyclone\":\n\nSouthwest Airlines is offering free rebooking for flights scheduled for Wednesday, for flights to and from Oakland, Sacramento, San Francisco, and San Jose. The rebooking must have the same city pairs and travel dates within 14 days of the original travel date.\n\nOn Wednesday night, Delta Air Lines issued a travel waiver for flights scheduled on Thursday and Friday to or from San Francisco, Oakland, Sacramento, San Jose, and Fresno. The fare difference will be waived when the rebooked travel takes place on or before Jan. 8.\n\nResidents brace for floods\n\nIn San Francisco, customers at Papenhausen Hardware were most worried about flooding, said store co-owner Karl Aguilar.\n\n“Last week a fair amount of people were focused on the roofs – small leaks, windows, things like that,’’ Aguilar said. “There was a point where it transitioned and people became much more concerned with flooding mitigation. This particular storm, it’s all flood mitigation.’’\n\nA few doors to the east, Grace Daryanani at Bulls Head restaurant has sandbags and wet/dry vacuum cleaners at the ready. Her space has flooded in big storms before but she's hoping a new outdoor dining area might divert some of the water.\n\n“Maybe that will help,\" she said.\n\nLEARN MORE:What is a bomb cyclone?\n\nWEATHER TERMS:What is an 'atmospheric river'?\n\nWind gusts as high as 80 mph\n\nForecasters warned of flood threats and issued high wind warnings in the lead-up to the storm. The National Weather Service in the Bay Area delivered a rare admonition saying the coming \"brutal\" storm system \"needs to be taken seriously.\"\n\n\"Honestly, the biggest story right now is the winds,\" said Palmer. Coastal areas could be hit with winds in the 40 to 50 mph range, while some mountain areas could get gusts as high as 80 mph.\n\nFlooding and landslides likely\n\nBecause the ground was already saturated with the more than 5 inches of rain that fell on New Year's Eve, Wednesday's storm could cause severe problems and damage in some areas.\n\n\"The main concern is the smaller watersheds and steep slopes. So mudslides, shallow landslides and urban and small creek flooding could get quite significant for a period of time on Wednesday night in some locations,\" said Daniel Swain, a climatologist at the University of California, Los Angeles.\n\nSevere weather, possible tornadoes in South\n\nThe South, too, was being hit with intense weather Wednesday. Heavy rains, flash floods and severe weather were seen in a swath across Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina.\n\nA possible tornado touched down in east Montgomery, Alabama at 3:14 a.m. on Wednesday.\n\nRodney Penn, who was home when the storm hit, said a fallen tree limb broke out the windows in his wife's car but there was no structural damage to his apartment.\n\n“It literally sounded like there were a thousand baseball bats hitting the side of the house at the same time,” Penn said.\n\nIn South Carolina, five counties were under a tornado watch Wednesday.\n\nHeavy rain in California not an end to drought in West\n\nThe extreme drought conditions California has struggled under are helping avert some possible flooding because many of the state's larger reservoirs are still quite low, said Swain.\n\n\"They have a lot of headroom right now to absorb a lot of water,\" he said.\n\nThe state finds itself in the middle of a flood emergency even as it's in the middle of a drought emergency, Karla Nemeth, director of the California Department of Water Resources said during a news conference Wednesday.\n\n\"A lot of our trees are stressed after three years of intensive drought, the ground is saturated and there is a significant chance of downed trees that will create significant problems, potentially flooding problems, potentially power problems,\" she said.\n\nWhile the rains are likely to alleviate the short-term drought in Northern California along the coast, they will do little in terms of bringing drought relief to the West as a whole.\n\n\"It won't really help move the needle in the Colorado basin but it certainly will in central and northern California,\" Swain said.\n\nMore water is on the way\n\nThere are two more possible storms also out in the Pacific, one that could arrive late Friday and run into Sunday and then another possible storm that could arrive Tuesday, Canepa said.\n\nBoth could bring higher-than-normal rain levels through the middle of January.\n\nThere's a wide range of uncertainty for next week, ranging from a couple of additional moderate storms which wouldn't cause too many problems to one or possibly more atmospheric river events.\n\nWhat's an atmospheric river?\n\nThe storm, the second of three or possibly four headed toward the California coast, is coming from across the Pacific ocean. It's what's known as an atmospheric river or, to use the term more common a few years ago, a Pineapple Express because it originates over Hawaii.\n\nThese storms bring heavy rainfall and occur when a line of warm, moist air flows from near the islands across the Pacific Ocean to the West Coast.\n\nWhen it reaches the cooler air over the western landmass, the water vapor falls as heavy rain. Atmospheric rivers are long, flowing regions of the atmosphere that carry water vapor across a swath of sky 250 to 375 miles wide. They can be more than 1,000 miles long – and can carry more water than the Mississippi River.\n\nContributing: Dinah Voyles Pulver and Kathleen Wong, USA TODAY; Evan Mealins and Alex Gladden, Montgomery Advertiser; Hannah Workman, The Record", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/01/04"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/local/winter/2021/02/16/louisville-weather-tuesday-more-snow-and-power-outages-impact-kentucky/6761390002/", "title": "Louisville snow: What are road conditions, where are power outages", "text": "The Louisville area is again digging out from a winter storm — this time one that caused more than 100,000 power outages across Kentucky and at least three deaths.\n\nAbout 5.5 inches of fresh snow fell at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport on Monday into early Tuesday, the National Weather Service said. Some parts of the metro area received just 3 inches of snow, while other outlying areas saw as much as 6 inches, per the weather service.\n\nAnd more severe weather is likely on the way, with much of Kentucky under a Winter Storm Watch through Friday morning.\n\n\"Dangerous\" temperatures were in the forecast for Wednesday morning, according to the weather service, with Kentucky and Southern Indiana seeing lows in the single digits and some spots possibly dropping below zero, depending on whether skies were clear.\n\nAnywhere from 2 to 6 inches of new snow could fall in Louisville from late Wednesday to Thursday, according to the weather service.\n\nRead more:All 'A' Classic basketball tournaments canceled because of winter storm\n\nBut meteorologist Mark Jarvis said Tuesday that the looming winter system could feature \"quite a bit of differences\" in the amount and type of precipitation that hits the region.\n\n\"I would say there could be another significant amount of snow, but probably not as much as this latest batch that came through,\" he said.\n\nKentucky and Southern Indiana were not alone in their weather struggles, with 25 states and more than 150 million people under winter storm warnings and advisories in recent days that stretched from southern Texas to northern Maine, as record-smashing cold accompanied a storm across the central U.S.\n\nMeanwhile, crews continued to clear snow from the roads and prepare for more precipitation.\n\nMajor Louisville roadways were in “fair driving condition” as of Tuesday afternoon, the city’s Department of Public Works said.\n\nMetroSafe reported several crashes during the storm in Jefferson County, including 14 between noon and 5 p.m. Tuesday, but no traffic fatalities were reported in the area. Across the commonwealth, at least three people died Monday in crashes, according to Kentucky State Police. Those were in Rockcastle, Carter and Marshall counties.\n\nLouisville Mayor Greg Fischer also reminded homeowners, landlords and businesses that they’re responsible for clearing their own sidewalks, which can lead to frustration for some.\n\nDebra Harlan often walks her Bonnycastle neighborhood but said some businesses on Bardstown Road clear the parking lots of snow, but not the sidewalks.\n\nShe said she has fallen down in the past and a couple of days ago had to help a woman struggling with her groceries at Kroger while attempting to use the crosswalk.\n\n“Every winter, this is the biggest hurdle we face,” she said. “Constant attention to cars, zero attention to walking.”\n\nThe snow also resulted in the closures of some schools, COVID-19 vaccine sites, state buildings and other businesses.\n\nRelated:COVID-19 vaccination canceled because of weather? Here's what to know\n\nLouisville’s vaccine center at Broadbent Arena was closed again Tuesday but was to reopen at 9 a.m. Wednesday. Whether or not the site is open Thursday depends on how much precipitation the city gets Wednesday, Metro Department of Public Health officials said, but they expect the center to be open Friday.\n\nThey’ll also open Saturday from noon to 6 p.m. to fit in more make-up appointments. Anyone who had an appointment canceled should receive an email from LouHealthCovidVaccines@louisvilleky.gov to reschedule their appointment.\n\nGov. Andy Beshear said the regional vaccine sites operated in conjunction with Kroger would reopen Wednesday or Thursday, depending on the location.\n\n“Operation White Flag” is still in full swing to help care for Louisville’s homeless population.\n\nShelters remain open at Grace Church, St. Vincent de Paul, Wayside Christian Mission, the Salvation Army and The Healing Place.\n\nLike last week's stretch of cold, wet, icy and snowy conditions, the latest weather system caused numerous power outages across the commonwealth.\n\nAbout 150,000 homes in 47 Kentucky counties were without power at the height of the storm, Emergency Management Director Michael Dossett said. That number was down to about 127,000 by 5 p.m. Tuesday.\n\nIn Jefferson County, fewer than 10 homes were still without power by Tuesday evening, according to LG&E's tracker.\n\nLG&E spokeswoman Natasha Collins said about 4,200 customers were impacted by outages in the overnight and early morning hours, with three wires also going down at various times. But the issues were \"resolved quickly,\" Collins said.\n\nMultiple Kentucky Transportation Cabinet maintenance facilities in Eastern Kentucky were also without power during the storm, and the Kentucky National Guard was called in to help with clean up to make way for power restoration in some areas.\n\nState officials said Kentuckians experiencing a downed power line or power outage should contact their local utility company.\n\nYou may like:From ice to holiday snow, relive the 10 worst winter weather events in Kentuckiana history\n\nWinter weather tips:How often should I start my car and let it idle in cold weather? Answer: Don't.\n\nSouthern Indiana reported more limited power issues, with no outages reported in the area by 5 p.m. Tuesday, according to Duke Energy’s map.\n\nThe weather still had an impact across the river, though.\n\nIn Hanover, Indiana, Brandi Yocum said while her three boys enjoy taking a break from virtual school to play in the snow, it’s hard for her because she often provides heated beds and food for stray cats.\n\n“I think they spread the word to the others, because I’ve started seeing some new ones,” she said.\n\nStill, some in the region who don’t mind the cold were making the best of the snowfall.\n\nJaime Miller, 34, of Louisville, said she and her two daughters, ages 4 and 6, took some time away from virtual school and treated the weather like a “snow-cation,” with puzzles, games, arts and crafts and, of course, family photos.\n\nIt’s a tradition her own parents had with her when she was about 7 years old.\n\n“I've already lost one snowball fight — first graders are savage — but it was worth it,” she said.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/02/16"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/10/25/weather-update-noreaster-flooding-california-bomb-cyclone/6171297001/", "title": "California 'bomb cyclone' brings record rain, surges toward East Coast", "text": "The 'bomb cyclone' storms that drenched California are heading toward the East Coast.\n\nNew Jersey and New York declared states of emergency on Monday night.\n\nTwo people were killed near Seattle when a tree fell on a vehicle during the weekend storms.\n\nA broad swath of California was under siege Monday from high winds and historic rains fueled by an iconic \"bomb cyclone\" that unleashed mudslides and flooding and triggered widespread power outages.\n\nThe drought-plagued West needs the rain, but not like this. Meteorologists say the bomb cyclone – a rapid drop in atmospheric pressure – helped drive a long, wide plume of precipitation dubbed an \"atmospheric river\" from the Pacific Ocean onto the West Coast. In California, power lines tumbled and more than 100,000 homes and businesses remained in the dark Monday.\n\nAnother 50,000 power customers were affected across Washington state, where two people were killed when a tree fell on a vehicle near Seattle.\n\n\"The same massive storm that is currently bringing heavy rain, snow and strong winds to the Western states is expected to slowly move eastward across the country,\" AccuWeather senior meteorologist Brett Anderson warned.\n\nWhat is going on with the weather?Tackle deep climate issues and current events with the Climate Point newsletter\n\nThe front line of the storms that began late last week in California already have marched through much of the nation's midsection. A suspected tornado damaged buildings and knocked out power in communities along the border between Illinois and Missouri. The severe weather also was blamed for damage across multiple states.\n\nThe East Coast was bracing for the storms. AccuWeather meteorologist Joseph Bauer warned that heavy rains and winds could choke New York City's morning commute Tuesday; 3 to 5 inches of rain is possible over the next couple of days. And the latest storms slamming California could bring more foul weather to the East by week's end.\n\nThe National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning for parts of northeast New Jersey and southeast New York due to thunderstorms on Monday night. 1 to two inches of rain could fall within an hour, according to the service.\n\n\"Take this seriously,\" New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said. \"Use mass transit for your commute tonight and tomorrow. Don't walk or drive into flooded areas.\"\n\nThe threat of stormy weather prompted New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy to declare states of emergency beginning Monday night.\n\n\"In preparation for the Nor’easter, I’m declaring a State of Emergency beginning at 8:00 PM tonight. Severe weather conditions will impact the state starting tonight through the next several days,\" Murphy said on Twitter.\n\nEarlier Monday, Hochul told state agencies that work in emergency response to prepare assets for deployment across impacted regions.\n\nCalifornia was seeing incomprehensible rainfall totals. The wettest wonder could be in Mount Tamalpais in Marin County, 20 miles north of San Francisco, where the National Weather Service measured more than 16 inches of rain over a 48-hour period. St. Helena, a city of 6,100 in wine country, saw more than 10 inches.\n\n\"Looks like 4.02 inches of rain for the calendar day in downtown SF,\" the Bay Area weather service tweeted. \"By far the wettest Oct day ever ... 4th Wettest day EVER in SF with records back to Gold Rush.\"\n\nParts of San Francisco were swamped, and Mayor London Breed urged residents to call 311 to get help for people in need of shelter and 911 for medical emergencies.\n\n\"Help your community by checking in virtually with friends and family who may need assistance during extreme weather,\" Breed tweeted.\n\nDowntown Sacramento also set a 24-hour record with more than 5 inches of rain, and a shelter was set up at City Hall.\n\n\"City Hall also belongs to the people who are having the hardest of hard times,\" Mayor Darrell Steinberg said. \"I'm really proud of the fact that we are opening up the people's building to bring people indoors.\"\n\nHeavy snow pounded high elevations of the Sierra Nevada. Several areas, including the Santa Cruz Mountains and parts of western Santa Barbara County, issued evacuation orders because of their proximity to wildfire burn scars.\n\nHeavy rain swept into much of Southern California later in the day.\n\nWest Coast's 'bomb cyclone' could become nor'easter\n\nThe storms originated over the Pacific Ocean last week and were moving west to east across the nation, AccuWeather said. Severe thunderstorms were forecast for the Ohio and Tennessee River valleys, and rain and showers will spread farther north. By Tuesday, the storm will strengthen as it moves across southern New England, bombarding residents with heavy rain and increasingly high winds, AccuWeather said.\n\n“An early season tempest could bring a wind-driven, chilly rain to portions of the Northeast from Monday through Wednesday,\" AccuWeather meteorologist Randy Adkins said.\n\nBomb cyclone, atmospheric river blast West Coast: 2 dead in Seattle area, hundreds of thousands without power\n\nFlooding downpours will reach from southern Maine to eastern New York and cities such as Philadelphia, Boston and Worcester, Massachusetts, which are expected to see up to 3 to 4 inches of rain. Totals reaching 8 inches were expected in some areas as the storm intensifies off the coast, AccuWeather forecast.\n\nWinds are expected to gust from 40 to 60 mph Tuesday and Wednesday from the Jersey Shore to the southern shore of Nova Scotia. Cities such as Provincetown, Plymouth and Boston in Massachusetts could experience wind gusts as high as 80 mph Tuesday night, AccuWeather said.\n\nBy Thursday, the nor'easter will move out ot sea – but another storm built on remnants from the \"bomb cyclone\" that walloped California on Sunday was expected to approach from the west, dousing East Coast trick-or-treaters over the weekend.\n\nContributing: Christal Hayes, USA TODAY; The Associated Press", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/10/25"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/09/15/tropical-storm-nicholas-rain-flooding-louisiana-texas-power-outages/8345362002/", "title": "Nicholas damage: Rain, flooding in Louisiana; Texas power outages", "text": "Tornado warnings were issued in parts of southern Louisiana early Wednesday.\n\nNicholas was downgraded to a tropical depression.\n\nSome areas could get 10 more inches of rain.\n\nMore than 100,000 Texas homes and businesses remained without power for a second day Wednesday as the remnants of Hurricane Nicholas slid across the Gulf Coast from the Lone Star State into Louisiana, drenching a region still staggering from Hurricane Ida's wrath less than three weeks ago.\n\nNicholas, downgraded to a tropical depression with sustained winds of 30 mph, was centered about 30 miles northeast of Lake Charles, Louisiana, early Wednesday. The storm was inching east-northeast at 5 mph.\n\n\"Much of South & Central Louisiana are under flood watch today as #Nicholas moves through the state,\" Gov. John Bel Edwards tweeted Wednesday. \"Stay aware of conditions in your local area.\"\n\nEarlier, Edwards warned the state's residents to \"take this storm seriously and put yourself in a position to weather it safely.\"\n\nAlmost 80,000 utility customers remained without power in the state, where the lights went out for more than 1 million homes and businesses during Ida's peak fury.\n\nLake Charles Mayor Nic Hunter said city crews had scoured the drainage system to keep it free from debris that might cause clogs and flooding. Hurricane Laura struck the city a little more than a year ago. Then came Hurricane Delta, then a January freeze that shattered pipes across the city of nearly 80,000 residents just 60 miles east of Beaumont, Texas. A rainstorm in May swamped houses and businesses yet again.\n\n“With what people have gone through over the last 16 months here in Lake Charles, they are very, understandably despondent, emotional,\" Hunter said. \"Any time we have even a hint of a weather event approaching, people get scared.\"\n\nIn Pointe-aux-Chenes, 70 miles southwest of New Orleans, Ida tore the tin roof off Terry and Patti Dardar’s home, leaving them without power and water. Rains from Nicholas have now soaked the top floor of their home – but it also provided badly needed water their family collected in jugs. They poured the water into a large plastic container through a strainer, and a pump powered by a generator brought the water inside.\n\n“We ain’t got no other place,” Patti Dardar said. “This is our home.”\n\nThe National Weather Center warned that Nicholas, which already dumped more than a foot of rain on parts of Texas and several inches on areas of Louisiana, was expected to generate an additional 3 to 6 inches across the central Gulf Coast in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle through Friday, with isolated totals of 10 more inches possible in some areas.\n\n\"Life-threatening flash flooding impacts, especially in urban areas, are possible across these regions,\" said Alex Lamers, a National Weather Service warning coordination meteorologist.\n\nNicholas hits Texas coast, but weakens in strength: 'Life-threatening' flash flooding likely across the South\n\nTornado warnings were issued in parts of southern Louisiana early Wednesday. The storm was forecast to gradually dissipate over central Louisiana on Thursday.\n\nHurricane Nicholas made landfall early Tuesday along the Matagorda Peninsula with torrential rains and storm surge. The cleanup was in full swing in Texas, where more than 14 inches of rain fell on parts of the Galveston area. Houston was hit with 6 inches, and the city set up cooling and phone charging centers in areas where power outages dragged on.\n\nEarlier, first responders joined with members of the National Guard in rescuing people from flooded homes.\n\n\"Texas has deployed swift-water boats, helicopters and high profile vehicles to help local authorities with rescue efforts arising from flooding and high winds,\" Gov. Greg Abbot said Tuesday. \"Emergency shelters have been set up for residents who might be displaced.\"\n\nContributing: The Associated Press\n\nMore:Ida is among strongest hurricanes to ever hit the US. But it could have been worse.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/09/15"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/04/weather/winter-snowstorm-midwest-south-northeast-friday/index.html", "title": "Winter storm: Snow and ice cover New England as Midwest digs out ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nNearly 40 million people remain under weather watches and warnings in the Northeast, down from 85 million Friday morning, as a winter storm makes its way eastward.\n\nSnow fell across much of New York state, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine, with freezing rain and ice causing treacherous travel to the south in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The precipitation is expected to end Friday evening.\n\nIn the wake of the storm, more than 3,800 flights were canceled Friday, with several hundred canceled for Saturday, according to the tracking website FlightAware. About 260,000 customers are without power, stretching from Tennessee to Maine, according to PowerOutage.us.\n\nAt least seven people are dead across the country, including two in New Mexico, with others reported in Oklahoma, Missouri, Tennessee, Massachusetts, and in Alabama during what forecasters determined was a likely tornado.\n\nMore than 3 feet of snow piled up in one part of New Mexico. In the Midwest, more than a foot of snow fell across several states, with some areas in the Chicago metro area experiencing as many as 11 inches, forecasters said.\n\nThe expansive weather system – which spanned about 2,000 miles from the Rockies to New England – also created an ice storm that brought dangerous conditions from Arkansas through Ohio.\n\nCrews from the New Hampshire Department of Transportation remove debris from a fallen tree near Chesterfield on Friday, February 4. Kristopher Radder/The Brattleboro Reformer/AP A pedestrian walks through steam on a rainy day in New York City on February 4. Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images Three men work to push a car up a driveway in Columbus, Ohio. Barbara J. Perenic/Columbus Dispatch/USA Today Network Plows clear snow and ice from Interstate 93 in Hooksett, New Hampshire, on February 4. Joseph Prezioso/AFP/Getty Images Edward Caldwell works to clear a downed tree at his mother's house in Memphis, Tennessee, on Thursday, February 3. Brad Vest/Getty Images A snow plow travels down Interstate 64 in Louisville, Kentucky, on February 3. Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images St. Louis police officers Eric Moran, left, and Scott Christian help a motorist who was stuck in snow at a highway exit on February 3. David Carson/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP The Texas Capitol is enshrouded by steam on February 3. Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman/USA Today Network Parents and their children walk together after school in Erie, Pennsylvania, on February 3. Greg Wohlford/Erie Times-News via AP Jacquayla Fields and her mother, Tiffany Thomas, stand beneath the damaged front porch of a house belonging to Thomas' uncle after a tornado struck Hale County, Alabama, on February 3. No one in the house was hurt. Gary Cosby Jr./The Tuscaloosa News via AP Ice accumulates on a cactus in Austin, Texas, on February 3. Sara Diggins/Austin American-Statesman/USA Today Network Snow covers a limestone statue of Jesus Christ at the summit of Mount Cristo Rey in Sunland Park, New Mexico. Omar Ornelas/USA Today Network/Reuters A police officer assists a truck driver on Interstate 20 in Abilene, Texas. Ronald W. Erdrich/The Abilene Reporter-News via AP A person walks by a statue of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Rev. Theodore Hesburgh in South Bend, Indiana, on Wednesday, February 2. Robert Franklin/South Bend Tribune via AP Salvation Army Maj. Luis Melendez inspects beds at the Mabee Red Shield Lodge in Odessa, Texas, as the shelter prepared to open as an emergency shelter on February 2. Eli Hartman/Odessa American via AP A pickup truck needs to be pulled out after sliding into the median of Interstate 70 near Columbia, Missouri. Don Shrubshell/Columbia Daily Tribune via AP Cory Pacheco uses a snow blower to clear out his driveway in Flint, Michigan. Jake May/MLive.com/The Flint Journal via AP A snow plow clears a road in Columbus, Ohio. Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch/USA Today Network Ice begins to form on a Texas flag in San Antonio. Eric Gay/AP Motorists navigate Interstate 90 in Chicago on February 2. Charles Rex Arbogast/AP A pedestrian crosses a nearly empty road in Detroit. Matthew Hatcher/Bloomberg/Getty Images Salt is spread on the sidewalks in downtown Indianapolis. Grace Hollars/IndyStar/USA Today Network A man clears snow at his home in Overland Park, Kansas. Charlie Riedel/AP People try to help a motorist who was stuck in the snow in Oklahoma City. Bryan Terry/The Oklahoman/USA Today Network In pictures: Winter storm threatens millions across US Prev Next\n\nTennessee is still dealing with more than 100,000 power outages after ice storms and threats of flooding.\n\nIn Texas, more than 10,000 homes and businesses were in the dark as of Friday afternoon.\n\nThe state’s power grid is under scrutiny following last year’s disastrous ice and snow storms that left thousands freezing due to power outages. This time, state leaders asserted the grid was prepared to handle the storm.\n\nGov. Greg Abbott said in a Thursday briefing the grid has “plenty of power available at this time,” calling the weather “one of the most significant icing events that we’ve had in the state of Texas in at least several decades.”\n\nThe storm’s path as it heads Northeast\n\nNew York Gov. Kathy Hochul urged residents to stay home because of ice on the roads.\n\n“This storm is throwing everything at us – we have snow, we have freezing rain, we have sleet, we have icy roads,” Hochul said. “Our best advice is just to stay off the roads. They’re absolutely hazardous.”\n\nThe governor said most of the severe weather activity is expected to abate by Friday evening. “But, until then, it’s going to be literally a day full of freezing rain coming down,” she said.\n\nNew York City and Boston are under a winter weather advisory through Friday evening for freezing rain and sleet, respectively. Both cities, hit hard by heavy snow during last week’s powerful nor’easter, could experience ice piling up to a tenth of an inch. Parts of northeastern New Jersey are expected to see similar conditions.\n\nThe dangerous road conditions are expected to make travel difficult Friday, the NWS said, as it warned that power outages are also possible.\n\nIce projections are higher in Providence, Rhode Island, and sleet may pile up to a tenth of an inch.\n\n“The interior parts of New England will mainly see snowfall, with northeast New York, northern Vermont, northern New Hampshire, and much of Maine will see over a foot of additional snowfall,” CNN meteorologist Robert Shackelford said.\n\nRochester, New York, had already experienced 10 inches of snowfall, with the possibility of another 4 to 8 inches.\n\nA man works to clear a downed tree on February 3 in Memphis, Tennessee. Brad Vest/Getty Images\n\nRain and snowfall records broken\n\n“Widespread wind chills in Texas should be as low as -5, but some reports are coming in of wind chills as low as -15,” Shackelford said.\n\nGov. Abbott ensured Texans once again on Friday that the power supply will not run out.\n\nThe grid hit its peak demand at 69,000 megawatts Friday morning; however, the system now has an excess of 17,000 megawatts – enough power to supply 3 million homes across the state, he said during a briefing. This is expected to last at least through Friday and Saturday.\n\n“The Texas electric grid is more reliable and more resilient than it has ever been,” Abbott said.\n\nState officials at the news conference asked motorists to stay off the road because the ice is “stubborn” in many areas and black ice still remains an issue.\n\nSince the icing began, state troopers have responded to more than 416 crashes that resulted in 49 serious injuries and three deaths, officials said.\n\nThe treacherous ice conditions in Texas have turned a stretch of I-10 near the city of Kerrville, which is northwest of San Antonio, into a parking lot, with a miles-long line of vehicles waiting for hours for two crashes to be cleared up.\n\nOvernight, two separate 18-wheelers jackknifed on I-10, one near mile marker 501 eastbound and another near mile marker 513 westbound, due to ice on the road, William B. Thomas, Emergency Coordinator for Kerr County told CNN.\n\nThere were notable records set on Thursday:\n\nDallas broke its daily record of snowfall, with a total of 1.5 inches – surpassing the previous record of .2 set in 1956 and 2011\n\nNorth Little Rock, Arkansas, got 3.2 inches of snow – a daily record, blowing past the previous one of .1 inch set in 1980\n\nIndianapolis saw a record snowfall of 7.3 inches, breaking the 6.5 inches that fell in 1982\n\nLouisville, Kentucky, got rainfall of 1.51 inches, beating 1.29 inches set in 1887\n\nPittsburgh, Pennsylvania, tied its rainfall record of 1.02 inches that was set in 1939\n\nFlags fly over car dealerships as light traffic moves through snow and ice on Route 183 in Irving, Texas, on February 3. John Moore/Getty Images\n\nStorm brings heavy rain, ice, tornado concerns and travel havoc\n\nThe steady rainfall led to flash flood warnings or flood watches in parts of Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee.\n\nIn Alabama, there were tornado watches in 14 counties, and the National Weather Service said it observed a tornado in Elmore County in east-central Alabama.\n\nOne person died in what the weather service called a “likely tornado” in Hale County, Alabama, county Emergency Management Director Russell Weeden told CNN affiliate WVTM. Several other people were also injured in that incident, he said.\n\nThe other two reported storm-related deaths were in New Mexico. One person died when a vehicle slid off a snow-covered road and flipped over 100 feet down a mountain in Bernalillo County, while a man was killed in a chain-reaction crash on Interstate 40 in Guadalupe County, officials said.", "authors": ["Aya Elamroussi"], "publish_date": "2022/02/04"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/04/09/weather-storms-tornado-indiana-arkansas-texas-snow-maine/5120525002/", "title": "More severe weather: Thunderstorms in Texas; snow in Wisconsin", "text": "Severe weather is expected on Easter weekend in Southern states like Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee.\n\nTexas was taking the brunt of harsh storms on Thursday. Lightning struck a major gas line and exploded it near Adkins, just east of San Antonio, according to Fox San Antonio, forcing the evacuation of some residents from their homes. More than 31,800 customers were without power late Thursday night in Texas, according to poweroutage.us.\n\n\"There is still going to be some showers and thunderstorms across southern Western Texas (on Friday) that will ramp up as the storm system moves out into the plains Sunday,\" AccuWeather meteorologist Michael Leseney told USA TODAY.\n\nThe storm system is also poised to dump up to a foot of snow on parts of northern New England on Friday. The strongest storms will likely be on Monday, with potentially heavy snow across Wisconsin, in Michigan's upper peninsula and into Iowa, Leseney said.\n\nThe science of the storm:How a 2% tornado risk turned into seven twisters that killed 25 people and leveled thousands of buildings\n\nMore than 285,600 customers were without power Thursday evening, primarily in Maine, Texas and Louisiana, according to poweroutage.us.\n\nParts of Indiana and Arkansas felt the force of the storm system early Thursday as it moved eastward, bringing strong winds, rain and hail across the Midwest.\n\nIn parts of downtown Mooresville, in central Indiana, streets were strewn with bricks and debris after high wind — possibly a tornado — knocked down the second story of a vacant building, The Mooresville Decatur-Times reports.\n\nIndiana’s stay-at-home order amid the coronavirus pandemic likely kept people out of danger as the storms moved through, said Division Chief John Robinson of the Mooresville Fire Department.\n\n“We have some small restaurants downtown here and folks would be in those under normal circumstances. Luckily, because of the virus, everyone was gone. Honestly, that’s sort of a blessing,” Robinson told WXIN-TV.\n\nWhat's in store for hurricane season 2020:Forecasters expect 'above average' storm activity.\n\nThe storms, at one point, had knocked out power to more than 100,000 utility customers in central and southern Indiana.\n\nIn Harrisburg, Arkansas, about 105 miles northeast of Little Rock, more than 30 homes were damaged and two people were injured, Jonesboro TV station KAIT reported. Officials were working to confirm whether a tornado caused the damage.\n\nSnow in New England\n\nThe heavy snowstorm bearing down on Maine, and parts of northern New England, began with a mix of rain and snow Thursday afternoon, changing to snow as a push of colder air arrives, according to AccuWeather.\n\n“Similar to the pattern from this past winter, Maine and portions of eastern Canada will bear the brunt of snowfall from this storm,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Renee Duff said.\n\nContributing: Lance Gideon, The Mooresville Decatur-Times; The Associated Press", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2020/04/09"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2021/12/15/kansas-weather-high-wind-storms-hail-tornado-possible-dangerous-fire-conditions-wednesday/8906410002/", "title": "Kansas begins to assess damage after windstorm, severe weather", "text": "Ongoing live coverage of Wednesday's windstorm can be found in this article. Thank you.\n\nOver 108,000 Evergy customers remain without power, officials said Wednesday night, and it is expected to be a multi-day effort to restore service to areas without service.\n\nChuck Caisley, senior vice president and chief customer officer for Evergy, said in a press conference that, at the storms' peak, over 200,000 residents in the company's service area were without power.\n\nThe storms, he said, produced gusts of up to 85 miles-per-hour, golf ball-sized hail and severe thunderstorms across central and eastern Kansas.\n\n\"All of this created some of the most widespread damage across our service territory that Evergy has ever seen,\" Caisley said.\n\nThis story is being offered for free as a public service. Please support important community journalism by subscribing to The Capital-Journal.\n\nKansas map: Rolling storm damage reports in Kansas\n\nEvergy says it's facing a multi-day restoration of power\n\nOver 1,100 workers, including contractors, are assessing damage and beginning to make repairs, though Caisley said that the company was still in the process of determining how to respond to the situation. Requests for assistance from utility crews in Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas and Colorado had been made as well.\n\nResidents should not expect service to be restored by Thursday morning, or even by the end of the day Thursday, he said.\n\n\"This is absolutely going to be a multi-day restoration,\" Caisley said.\n\nHigh wind warning to end by 9 p.m. for Topeka\n\nA high wind warning for Topeka and surrounding areas is set to end by 9 p.m., according to the National Weather Service. Winds have calmed considerably in central and eastern Kansas, as the storms move out of the state to the northeast.\n\nDust and smoke from Kansas wildfires and windstorm affecting Iowa\n\nWednesday's storm moved north and has carried dust and smoke from wildfires in central Kansas into Iowa. The National Weather Service is urging people to stay inside.\n\nOfficials begin to assess storm damage; Topeka's Frito-Lay sustains damages\n\nLocal counties say they are beginning to evaluate the extent of the storm damage from high winds.\n\nShawnee County Emergency Management Director Dusty Nichols said staff were beginning to evaluate potential damage in Topeka and surrounding areas.\n\nThat includes potential damage to the Frito Lay plant in south Topeka. Images show part of the siding damaged.\n\n\"Just hearing reports of damage consistent with the winds. Trees, limbs, power outages, etc.,\" Nichols said in a text message.\n\nSimilar work was underway in other surrounding counties. The Wabaunsee County Sheriff's office said most of the reports in the area were related to downed power lines.\n\nIn Pottawatomie County, Sheriff Shane Jager said a car had been blown over and there was light structural damage being reported.\n\n\"We've had a lot of reported stuff -- right now we're trying to assess,\" Jager said.\n\nSmoke smell from central Kansas fires\n\nResidents in eastern and central Kansas reported smelling strong odors of smoke, which officials say is due to fires in Ellis and Russell counties being blown by the remaining strong gusts.\n\nIt should not be cause for concern, they say.\n\nInterstate 70 reopens in both directions\n\nAs of roughly 5:40 p.m. Interstate 70 has been reopened in both directions, the Kansas Department of Transportation said.\n\nThe interstate had been closed for much of the day in central and western Kansas due to high winds and low visibility.\n\nMotorists should continue to exercise caution, officials say, and other local roads may still be closed.\n\nMore:Roads closed due to high winds, dust storms blowing through Kansas on Wednesday\n\nSevere thunderstorm warnings in effect for Topeka area\n\nThe National Weather Service has severe thunderstorm warnings that remain in effect for the following counties: Shawnee, Jefferson, Brown, Lyon, Douglas, Osage, eastern Jackson, western Coffey, northern Franklin, southeast Wabaunsee, northeast Lyon.\n\nEarlier, the weather service issued severe thunderstorm warnings in effect for the following Kansas areas: Jefferson County, Brown County, Lyon County, eastern Jackson County, northeast Shawnee County, western Coffey County and southern Osage County.\n\n100-mph wind gust recorded\n\nA 100-mph wind gust was recorded at 3:48 p.m. Wednesday at the airport at Russell, according to the weather service. Trees were uprooted and roofs reported blown off in that area.\n\n94-mph wind gust recorded\n\nA 94-mph wind gust was recorded at 3:56 p.m. Wednesday at Grandview Junction, near Junction City in Geary County, according to the National Weather Service. The storm had passed through Junction City minutes earlier. damaging hangars at the airport, tearing siding off buildings and bending metal signs.\n\nTornado warnings issued for 2 northeast counties\n\nThe National Weather Service at 4:10 p.m. Wednesday issued a tornado warning lasting until 4:30 p.m. for northeast Wabaunsee County and south-central Nemaha County, both in northeast Kansas.\n\nIt indicated a severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado was located near Onaga in Pottawatomie County and moving northeast at 65 mph.\n\nThe warning was allowed to expire at 4:30 p.m.\n\nGovernor issues inclement weather declaration\n\nGov. Laura Kelly issued an inclement weather declaration shortly after 3 p.m. for Shawnee County, as windstorms move eastward across the state.\n\nThe order effectively closes state offices, sending non-essential personnel home. Many were already working remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It only applies to executive branch agencies, not the judicial and legislative branch or Kansas Board of Regents universities.\n\nDust storms reduce visibility\n\nThe National Weather Service in Wichita warned just after 1 p.m. that dust storms were beginning to impact Barton and Russell counties with reduced visibilities.\n\nThe dust, stirred up by sustained winds for 35 to 45 mph and gusts reported of up to 75 mph, were expected to reduce visibility to less than a quarter mile.\n\nHutchinson feels the brunt of the storm about 4 p.m.\n\nThe brunt of Wednesday’s storm appeared to strike Hutchinson and central Kansas between 4 and 5 p.m. in which power outages around shot up from 48, impacting about 500 customers, to more than 455 outages affecting more than 5,700 customers.\n\nBy 5:15, the number had climbed to 672 outages, with some 7,835 customers in the dark, including several businesses.\n\nThat included several businesses around town.\n\nEmergency personnel were responding to snapped power poles and downed lines all across the region.\n\nApple Lane was closed from 17th to 21st avenue due to downed power lines.\n\nThe down lines sparked at least grass fires, the largest near the Hutchinson Airport, but others along K-96, in front of Kutter’s Furniture, another on K-14 at Arlington, and one at West Fourth Avenue and Sego Road.\n\nEmergency responders were dispatched to trees on houses at 2 N. Moore in Nickerson, 1702 Kansas Avenue, 1205 Arthur Street, 3701 N. Walnut, and 2511 E. Fourth. No injuries were reported, though officials indicated.\n\nA structural collapse was also reported just after 5 p.m. at Collins Bus, in South Hutchinson, but no additional details were immediately available.\n\nEarlier in the day, a semi was blown over on U.S. 50 mear Scott Boulevard.\n\nBlowing dust, meanwhile, shut down numerous highways in the area west of Hutchinson, according to the Kansas Department of Transportation.\n\nThat included K-4 between Olmitz and K-46, U.S. 50 from Alexander to Windom, K-156 from Great Bend to Holyrood, and U.S. 56 from Kinsley to Great Bend.\n\nMost of the roads had reopened by 5:30 p.m.\n\nSemi trucks blown over\n\nSemis had been blown over at least four locations in north-central Kansas, according to Trooper Ben Gardner of the Kansas Highway Patrol.\n\nAnother semitrailer had been blown over and a large, healthy evergreen tree had been snapped on half, all along Interstate Highway 70 in northwest Kansas, according to the National Weather Service's Goodland office.\n\nThe 84 mph gust was recorded at 11:33 a.m. near Garden City. It came after 107 mph winds were recorded at 9:42 a.m. at Lamar in southeast Colorado, which is about 36 miles from Coolidge, Kansas.\n\nThe weather service issued dust storm warnings for parts of northwest Kansas.\n\nMore:Three earthquakes shake Kansas on Wednesday, one temblor recorded Tuesday night\n\nGov. Kelly: 'We are prepared' for severe weather in Kansas\n\nGov. Laura Kelly said the winds were a concern and she was glad \"our folks are on it.\n\nKelly added: \"Our emergency management people are out, interacting with our communities and making sure, if some needs arise, they will be able to respond. I, like everybody else, recognize this is Kansas and we deal with interesting weather on a regular basis and we are prepared in the event something does happen.\"\n\nMost commercial airlines unaffected by storms\n\nWinds would have to get pretty high before commercial airlines would stop flying in and out of Kansas. Each commercial airline decides on their own as to what weather to fly in, said Valerie Wise, the marketing manager at Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport – Wichita.\n\nIn addition to high winds, the type of airplane or the direction of the runway is crucial to the airline’s decision as to whether to fly. Most airports, like Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport in Wichita, have runways that can facilitate winds heading in different directions.\n\nBut smaller airports, like city-owned Col. James Jabara Airport, has runways that run north and south, said Andy Arnold, the general manager of Midwest Corporate Aviation, which works out of the airport.\n\n“If the wind was straight north or straight down south, we would still operate all day long,” Arnold said. “Around four or five o'clock this afternoon, it'd be 50 miles an hour straight from the west.”\n\nAlthough the airport will not officially close, he said, because of the direction of the runway, most pilots will opt out of flying in.\n\n“We're kind of just battening down the hatches and waiting it out,” Arnold said.\n\nAlso, most of the flight schools, he said, have already cancelled their flights, as have pilots with smaller planes. The airport is still open for whoever needs them, he said, and several commercial flights are still expected this afternoon, including one from Miami.\n\nPeople urged to stay inside, avoid travel\n\nForecasters recommend people avoid being outside in forested areas and around trees and branches.\n\n\"If possible, remain in the lower levels of your home during the windstorm, and avoid windows,\" the wind warning said. \"Use caution if you must drive. Secure loose objects or shelter objects in a safe location prior to the onset of winds.\"\n\nBlowing dust will be possible and would reduce visibilities, making travel hazardous, the weather service said. Visibilities may drop to under one mile at times.\n\nAt 10:55 a.m., blowing dust associated with high winds had reduced visibility to less than one mile in some locations west of a line between Garden City and Liberal, the weather service's Dodge City office said in a Twitter tweet.\n\nWind already blowing Wednesday morning\n\n\"STRONG wind = No Trooper hat,\" Kansas Highway Patrol Trooper Ben Gardner posted Wednesday morning on Twitter. \"Drive safe everyone!\"\n\nMore:High wind warning issued for Wednesday across Kansas. Gusts may hit 70 mph with record high temperatures.\n\nTopeka breaks high temperature record for date\n\nTopeka temperatures had officially reached 73 degrees as of noon Wednesday, breaking the capital city's previous record high for Dec. 15 of 70, set in 2002.\n\nThe city's record high for December is 77, set on Dec. 6, 1939, said Matt Flanagan, a meteorologist for that office.\n\nWind threat forces cancellation of school in southwest Kansas\n\nSchool was canceled for the day because of the high wind threat at Liberal USD 480 in southwest Kansas.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/12/15"}]}
{"question_id": "20230127_7", "search_time": "2023/01/28/05:14", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/02/10/chinese-lunar-new-year-2021-ox-covid-19-celebrations/6712236002/", "title": "Lunar New Year 2021: COVID-19 celebrations in Year of the Ox", "text": "Say goodbye to the Year of the Rat and hello to the Year of the Ox.\n\nLunar New Year – also known as the Chinese New Year or Spring Festival – began Friday, ushering in the second animal on the Zodiac with the second new moon after the winter solstice.\n\nThough the occasion is meant to be spent with family and friends, the coronavirus pandemic means that celebrations around the world – from the United States to Britain to China – will look different this year for the 1.5 billion people who observe the occasion.\n\nHere's what to know about the holiday and what may change with COVID-19:\n\nWhat does Lunar New Year signify?\n\nThe new year is a chance to start fresh, see loved ones and share in the hope of good things to come.\n\nVickie Lee, author of the children’s book “Ruby’s Chinese New Year,” told USA TODAY last year that Lunar New Year as \"the most important and the most popular holiday for Chinese people and in the Chinese culture.\"\n\n\"It’s a very joyful holiday (when) you’re supposed to go home, see your family,\" she said. \"In China, they celebrate it for two full weeks, and people actually travel home and from far, far away.\"\n\nZhaojin Zeng, a professor of East Asian history at the University of Pittsburgh, compared the occasion to Thanksgiving in America, emphasizing the importance of time spent with family.\n\nWhen does Chinese New Year start?\n\nBecause the holiday is tied to the year's first new moon, the timing will vary. It can fall in January or early February, Lee told USA TODAY.\n\nIn China, the festival lasts 15 days, starting with a feast the night of New Year's Eve and ending this year with the Spring Lantern Festival on Feb. 26. Vietnam's Tết Nguyên Đán goes for up to a week, and Lunar New Year in South Korea, known as Seollal, runs for three days.\n\nWhy does the Lunar New Year fall on different days?\n\nThere are differences between the solar-lunar and Gregorain calendar, which the United States follows. The Gregorian calendar is based on the Earth's cycle orbiting the sun, while the solar-lunar combines that with the moon's cycle orbiting the earth.\n\nIn major U.S. cities such as Los Angeles, New York City and San Francisco, events celebrating the new year take place in the weeks before and after the first day of the lunar year.\n\nThe Lunar New Year typically falls between Jan. 21 and Feb. 20. Next year, the celebration will begin Tuesday, Feb. 1.\n\nHow is the Lunar New Year celebrated?\n\nIn addition to cleaning one's home and adorning it with red banners, artwork and flowers, a priority in preparing for the holiday is making meals, Lee said.\n\n\"This holiday, like so many holidays in other cultures, is centered around food. So there’s several days of preparation where you’re making ... very sort of symbolic dishes like a whole fish,\" she said. \"A whole fish symbolizes prosperity.\"\n\nShe also said dumplings (symbolizing wealth) will be present, along with noodles (representing longevity).\n\n2021 is the Year of the Ox. What does it represent?\n\nFeb. 12 marks the first day of the xin chou year, or Year of the Metal Ox under the Lunar New Year sexagenary cycle.\n\nHong Kong-based feng shui master Thierry Chow told CNN that the ox is a hardworking zodiac sign that signifies movement.\n\n\"So, hopefully, the world will be less static than last year and get moving again in the second half of the year,\" she said.\n\nShe added that the metal element of the year represents an emphasis on metal industries in 2021, from jewelry to \"the needle of a syringe.\"\n\nHow are people celebrating Chinese New Year in a pandemic?\n\nWhile celebrations typically vary around the world, they will be especially different this year as the pandemic forces people to stay at home.\n\nIn New Jersey, where Asian Americans account for 10% of the state's 8.9 million people, those who mark the day are arranging everything from drive-thru celebratory meals to Zoom performances to ensure that this year will be one to remember.\n\n\"We're helping to bring normal to not a normal year,\" said Yoon Kim, director of the Korean American Association of New Jersey. The organization will distribute food at a drive-by event and will host a food drive this weekend.\n\nEntering the Year of the Ox:Finding inspiration for small business in the Chinese New Year\n\nAnd in Arizona, organizers of Phoenix's Chinese Week said last year that they would not go forward with any in-person celebrations for the Lunar New Year. Instead, elements of the festival will be accessible online.\n\nAt bus and train stations in China, there is no sign of the annual Lunar New Year rush. The government has called on the public to avoid travel because of new coronavirus outbreaks. The South China Morning Post reported that Hong Kong’s annual Lunar New Year night parade will be replaced by an online shopping event.\n\nDespite that, the government says people will make 1.7 billion trips during the holiday, but that is down 40% from 2019.\n\nContributing: Mary Chao, The Record; KiMi Robinson, Arizona Republic; The Associated Press", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/02/10"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/01/world/gallery/lunar-new-year-2022-photos/index.html", "title": "Photos: Lunar New Year 2022 | CNN", "text": "People visit a lantern fair to celebrate the Lunar New Year in Luoyang, China, on Tuesday, February 1.\n\nThe coronavirus pandemic has once again impacted the way people will be celebrating Lunar New Year, the most important holiday in the Chinese zodiac calendar.\n\nIn many cities, public festivities have been pared down or canceled. But millions of families around the world will still be celebrating.\n\nThe 15-day festival began on Tuesday, February 1. This is the Year of the Tiger.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/02/01"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2021/02/10/lunar-new-year-east-asians-nj-adapt-holiday-covid-pandemic/4418716001/", "title": "Lunar New Year: East Asians in NJ adapt holiday to COVID pandemic", "text": "PALISADES PARK — It's been a most unusual year, with the coronavirus pandemic shutting down large-scale events. With the Lunar New Year holidays just around the corner, Asian Americans in North Jersey are getting creative when it comes to celebrating safely.\n\nFrom drive-thru celebratory meals to Zoom performances, New Jerseyans are ensuring that the Year of the Ox that arrives on Friday, Feb. 12, will be one to remember.\n\n\"We want to carry on our traditions,\" said Margaret Lam of Montville, founder of the Northern New Jersey Chinese Association.\n\nStory continues below the gallery.\n\nLunar New Year, known in China as Chinese New Year or the Spring Festival, marks the first new moon of the lunar calendar followed by many East Asian cultures, including the Chinese, Taiwanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai and Cambodians. It falls annually between mid-January and mid-February.\n\nFor those who celebrate, it's the biggest holiday of the year, marked by 15 days of festivities.\n\nIn New Jersey, Asian Americans account for 10% of the state's 8.9 million people. In towns such as Fort Lee and Leonia in Bergen County, their share is even higher, accounting for more than 40% of the residents.\n\nThe Korean American Association of New Jersey, based in Palisades Park, is planning a Lunar New Year celebration in a socially distant manner. Members will distribute traditional Korean rice cakes called Duk Gook, a celebratory food for the new year, in a drive-by event at St. Michael's Church at 19 E. Central Blvd. in Palisades Park. There will be 500 rice cakes with broth kits available from 3 to 5 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 11, that will serve up to 2,500 people. The kits are free to anyone on a first come, first served basis.\n\n\"We're helping to bring normal to not a normal year,\" said Yoon Kim, director of KAANJ.\n\nLunar New Year:Celebrate the Year of the Ox with these eight lucky Chinese New Year dishes\n\nSanmao:A generation of Asian women grew up reading Sanmao. Now she's having her moment in America\n\nBecause there is so much need during the pandemic, the Korean American organization is also hosting a food drive on Saturday, March. 13, at its office at 21 Grand Ave. in Palisades Park and at American Legion Post 170 at 33 W. Passaic St. in Rochelle Park. The goal is to feed 300 families in New Jersey with staples such as chicken, eggs, milk, bananas and pasta, said Michelle Song, the KAANJ organizer of the drive.\n\nOthers will celebrate at home to be safe. Lam, 80, will ring in the new year at her Montville home with her husband, David Wen. With the coronavirus still present, Lam feels it's the right thing to do instead of inviting family and friends over.\n\nFor her organization of more than 150 Chinese families, traditional performances were staged via Zoom, with children singing, playing a musical instrument or dancing. The Zoom extravaganza was held just before the Super Bowl on Sunday.\n\nWhile the celebrations will be subdued this year, there are traditions that will still be followed. Just like New Year's Day in the U.S., the celebratory period is a time to wear new clothes. Old debts are paid off to start the year fresh. Superstition also has it that you shouldn't cut your hair or sweep the floors during the beginning of the New Year season or you'll cut or sweep away your luck.\n\nGetting \"hong bao,\" a red envelope, is a tradition that children look forward to every year. Instead of presents, children, including young adults who are unmarried, receive money stuffed into these envelopes. The cash always comes in crisp new bills and in amounts that correspond to lucky numbers in Chinese culture, such as eight.\n\nThe money never comes in multiples of four; that's an unlucky number because the Chinese word for \"four\" sounds similar to that for death.\n\nThe Chinese zodiac, adopted by other Asian countries, is a 12-year cycle with different animals. In Chinese astrology, the animal signs represent what your personality may be. According to Asian folklore, people born in the Year of the Ox are strong, reliable, fair and conscientious, inspiring confidence in others. They are also said to be calm, patient, methodical and trustworthy.\n\nAlthough the pandemic is limiting celebrations this year, there are still ways to safely ring in the new year with virtual events throughout North Jersey:\n\n• Fort Lee Library online Lunar New Year. Feb. 12, noon to 2 p.m.\n\nThe library is hosting a day filled with virtual activities and performances from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. There will be cooking classes, story time and cultural performances on the library's YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTHKR2i8Uog. More information is available at fortleelibrary.org.\n\n• Newark Library Zoom dumpling class. Feb. 13, 3 p.m.\n\nCelebrate Lunar New Year by learning how to make homemade dumplings with the Newark Public Library-Springfield Branch and Greater Newark Conservancy.\n\nParticipants can pick up a dumpling kit from the Greater Newark Conservancy, 32 Prince St., with wrappers and Newark-grown vegetables. Registration is required at https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYpcuurrz0pHNQo2N-ALPqL_W88S2GD9WRh.\n\n• Montclair Library author talk. Feb. 13, 5 to 5:45 p.m.\n\nTina Cho, author of the book \"Korean Celebrations,\" will share how Lunar New Year is celebrated in Korea in this special cultural program for families.\n\nCho will discuss traditional clothes, bowing for blessings and the special foods, gifts and games associated with the holiday. Children will also make their own Yut-nori game. Registration is required at https://montclairlibrary.libnet.info/event/4798425.\n\nMary Chao 趙 慶 華 covers the Asian community, real estate and small business for NorthJersey.com. To get unlimited access to the latest news out of North Jersey, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.\n\nEmail: mchao@northjersey.com", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/02/10"}]}
{"question_id": "20230127_8", "search_time": "2023/01/28/05:14", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/01/25/live-updates-pence-classified-documents-supreme-court-support/11114394002/", "title": "Obama, Bush don't have classified files; Manchin, McCarthy talk debt", "text": "Washington is reeling after another batch of classified documents was discovered in the home of another high-profile politician – this time, former Vice President Mike Pence.\n\nPence’s lawyer characterized the documents as “a small number of documents bearing classified markings that were inadvertently transported to the personal home of the former vice president at the end of the last administration.” He said they were found Jan. 16 and placed in a secure safe until they could be returned to proper authorities.\n\nMeanwhile, President Joe Biden got a rare show of support from an unlikely source: Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who told reporters on Capitol Hill that he'd be \"shocked if there's anything sinister\" in Biden's mishandling of classified documents.\n\nHere's what else is happening in politics:\n\nRepublicans set a hearing for next week on the Biden administration's border policies.\n\nfor next week on the Biden administration's border policies. Harris in California: Vice President Kamala Harris is visiting California Wednesday after two mass shootings in her home state that killed 18 people.\n\nVice President Kamala Harris is visiting California Wednesday after two mass shootings in her home state that killed 18 people. McCarthy blocks Democrats from Intelligence panel: GOP Speaker Kevin McCarthy said he won't seat fellow California Reps. Eric Swalwell and Adam Schiff on the House Intelligence Committee. The White House has pushed back, accusing the GOP speaker of politicizing the committee.\n\nGOP Speaker Kevin McCarthy said he won't seat fellow California Reps. Eric Swalwell and Adam Schiff on the House Intelligence Committee. The White House has pushed back, accusing the GOP speaker of politicizing the committee. Germany has approved plans to send coveted Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, as the White House is expected to announce its own plans to send tanks. Biden is scheduled to speak at the White House at noon about Ukraine.\n\nStay up-to-date on everything politics:Sign up for the On Politics newsletter\n\nObama, Bush, Clinton: We don't have classified documents\n\nAides for former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton say they are not searching their offices for classified documents because those items were turned over when they left office.\n\n“That search was conducted before he left the White House, when all of his Presidential records – classified and unclassified – were turned over to the National Archives,\" said a statement from Bush's office.\n\nA similar statement from Obama's office says: \"Consistent with the Presidential Records Act, all of President Obama’s classified records were submitted to the National Archives upon leaving office. NARA continues to assume physical and legal custody of President Obama’s materials to date.\"\n\nAnd Clinton's office said that all his classified materials “were properly turned over to NARA in accordance with the Presidential Records Act.”\n\nThe statements came in the wake of the classified information troubles facing former President Donald Trump, former Vice President Mike Pence, and current President Joe Biden.\n\n– David Jackson\n\nWhite House: House Intelligence Committee ‘should not be politicized’\n\nThe White House criticized House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s move to block two Democrats from serving on the House Intelligence Committee, saying the panel “should not be politicized.”\n\nDelivering on a promise to conservatives, McCarthy has said he won't seat Reps. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., on the committee. He has threatened to remove Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., from the Foreign Affair Committee.\n\nWhite House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, when asked about McCarthy's decision, said the three lawmakers “bring a lot to the table” on foreign affairs. “When it comes to that committee, it should not be politicized. It should be independent,” she said.\n\n– Joey Garrison\n\nClassified docs found at Pence's Indiana home:Classified documents found at former VP Mike Pence's Indiana home\n\nJoe Manchin, Kevin McCarthy meet on debt limit\n\nSen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., met with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., Wednesday to discuss the debt limit amid growing fears over whether the divided Congress will raise the limit, according to Punchbowl News.\n\nManchin said that McCarthy told him in their meeting that he will not cut Social Security and Medicare, Punchbowl reported. McCarthy has previously said that he wouldn’t cut the two spending programs, including during his first press conference as House speaker.\n\n– Sarah Elbeshbishi\n\nWhat happens if the US hits the debt ceiling?:Here's what to expect if we reach debt limit.\n\nRep. Adam Schiff says House Speaker Kevin McCarthy ousting him shows his ‘weakness’\n\nThe morning after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy kicked him off the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Adam Schiff said the move reveals how weak the House leader is and how far he will bend to placate the far right.\n\n“This decision by Kevin McCarthy to bow to the demand from the most extreme elements of his conference and use the Intelligence committee for this kind of political play doesn’t show the strength of his speakership,” Schiff said. “Indeed, it shows the weakness of his speakership.”\n\nMcCarthy said he removed Schiff, who led the first impeachment of former President Donald Trump, for lying to the American public, though he did not describe the lies. He said his move is not about politics and is instead about restoring integrity to the committee.\n\n– Candy Woodall\n\nIntelligence interception:McCarthy plans to block Democrats Swalwell, Schiff from House Intelligence Committee\n\nMarjorie Taylor Greene promoting herself to be Donald Trump's running mate, report says\n\nNot only has the Republican presidential race begun, the jockeying for the vice presidential slot has also started – and it includes uber-conservative congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.\n\nNBC News reports that the Georgia lawmaker \"is angling to be Donald Trump's running mate in 2024, according to two people who have spoken to the firebrand second-term congresswoman about her ambitions.\"\n\nOne of those people, former Trump political adviser Steve Bannon, told NBC that Greene is \"ambitious\" and \"not shy\" about it. \"She sees herself on the short list for Trump's VP,\" Bannon said. Of course, a lot of conservatives are interested in being on a Trump ticket – if he wins the nomination.\n\nNo comment from Trump, who has campaign events this weekend in New Hampshire and South Carolina. Also: The Republican nominating convention is still a year-and-a-half away.\n\n– David Jackson\n\nTrump to hit campaign trail:Donald Trump plans campaign stops targeting Republican opponents – and prosecutors\n\nHearing set to investigate Biden’s border policies\n\nThe House GOP has set its first hearing to probe the Biden administration’s border policies for 10 a.m. Feb. 1, kicking off a big month in Washington as the president delivers the State of the Union address and a new budget against a backdrop of multiple Republican investigations.\n\nHouse Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan said he was “ready to work,” as he announced the hearing called “The Biden Border Crisis: Part I.”\n\nRepublicans are also planning other investigations that will kick off early next month, including a look at how federal agencies have been “weaponized” against political opponents, the origins of COVID and Biden family finances.\n\n– Candy Woodall\n\nMigrant crisis:Biden meets with mayors amid calls for federal help on migrant crisis, urges comprehensive reform\n\nGOP eager to investigate Biden:Biden’s most vocal Republican antagonists emerge from the sidelines – with subpoena power\n\nFormer FBI official Charles McGonigal, accused of taking secret payments, to appear in federal court\n\nA former FBI official, who once ranked as the bureau's top counterintelligence agent in New York, will make a first appearance Wednesday in a D.C. federal court where he is charged with taking $225,000 in secret payments from a former Albanian intelligence operative who also served as an FBI informant.\n\nCharles McGonigal, indicted separately this week in New York where he is accused of concealing a business relationship with Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, first began accepting the cash payments from the Albanian operative a year before his 2018 retirement and hid the transactions from the FBI, prosecutors allege.\n\nProsecutors say McGonigal requested and received the cash from the operative who traveled extensively with McGonigal, including to Albania where the then-FBI official met with the prime minister to discuss oil drilling policies that could financially benefit his Albanian associate.\n\nFederal authorities allege that the first of three payments was delivered to McGonigal Oct. 5, 2017, in parked car outside a New York City restaurant where the operative handed over about $80,000.\n\n– Kevin Johnson\n\nEx-FBI official arrested:Charles McGonigal, ex-FBI official linked to Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, arrested\n\nHouse Speaker Kevin McCarthy picks former rivals and new allies for investigative committees\n\nSpeaker Kevin McCarthy picked a mix of Republican allies and rivals to serve on two, new investigative subcommittees, including members who previously blocked his path to lead the House and his new supporter, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.\n\nGreene, who was previously ousted from Twitter for spreading COVID misinformation, will serve on the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic – which will investigate the origins of the deadly outbreak. That panel also includes Rep. Michael Cloud of Texas, who previously blocked McCarthy’s bid for speaker in more than a dozen rounds of voting.\n\nFor the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, McCarthy picked two members who previously voted against him for speaker: Reps. Chip Roy of Texas and Dan Bishop of North Carolina. The only freshman on that committee is Rep. Harriet Hageman of Wyoming, who defeated former Rep. Liz Cheney – a leading member of the retired Jan. 6 committee.\n\n– Candy Woodall\n\nGOP committee picks:Far-right Reps. Boebert, Gosar and Greene are on committees probing Biden. What does that mean?\n\nNothing 'sinister': Sen. Lindsey Graham vouches for Biden amid classified docs discovery\n\nPresident Joe Biden, under siege from GOP lawmakers over his mishandling of classified documents, got a rare shoutout from a Capitol Hill Republican.\n\nSen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., vouched for Biden's character Tuesday as the president faces intense scrutiny for his handling of classified information.\n\n\"I've known President Biden a long time,\" Graham told reporters on Capitol Hill. \"I'd be shocked if there's anything sinister here.\"\n\nNothing 'sinister':Sen. Lindsey Graham vouches for Biden amid classified docs discovery\n\nHouse Speaker Kevin McCarthy says what it would take to remove George Santos\n\nHouse Speaker Kevin McCarthy has spelled out what it would take to remove embattled freshman Rep. George Santos, who has admitted to lying to New York voters about his personal and professional background.\n\n“If for some way when we go through Ethics and he has broken the law, then we will remove him,” he told reporters Tuesday. “The American public in his district voted for him. He has a responsibility to uphold what they voted for, to work and have their voice here, but at any time, if it rises to a legal level, we will deal with it then.”\n\nDemocratic members from New York, Reps. Daniel Goldman and Ritchie Torres, filed a complaint with the Ethics Committee earlier this month, urging the panel to investigate Santos and his campaign finance reports. He is also facing scrutiny at the local and state levels, with members of his own party calling on him to resign.\n\n– Candy Woodall\n\nGeorge Santos controversy:Here's a look at investigations of the new House Republican\n\nHouse Speaker Kevin McCarthy to block Adam Schiff, Eric Swalwell from House Intelligence panel\n\nGOP Speaker Kevin McCarthy said Tuesday he would not seat fellow California Reps. Eric Swalwell and Adam Schiff to the House Intelligence Committee.\n\n\"I will put national security ahead of partisan politics,\" he said during a news conference.\n\nMcCarthy has said Swalwell would be denied a security clearance in the private sector and that Schiff has lied to the public, claiming they are not fit to serve on the committee that handles classified information.\n\nDemocrats say it's political revenge. Both California Democrats served on the panel in the last Congress and Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., has asked that they be reappointed, Unlike most standing committees, the speaker has great latitute in deciding who serves on the Select Intelligence Committee.\n\n- Candy Woodall\n\nCost of Leopard 2 tanks\n\nGerman Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced Wednesday that his country would provide 14 Leopard 2 A6 tanks for Ukraine's military, in a move that follows months of diplomatic pressure from Kyiv. It comes ahead of an expected announcement from the White House about sending M1 Abrams tanks to battlefields in Ukraine.\n\nPresident Joe Biden is scheduled to discuss Ukraine at a noon White House event today.\n\nModern, capable tanks are seen as critical to Ukraine’s ability to resist an expected springtime offensive by Russian forces and to help the Ukrainians claw back parts of their country seized during the invasion ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Ukrainians operate Russian and Soviet-era tanks. Western tanks would provide them with vehicles that have more firepower, mobility and armor.\n\n-- Holly Rosenkrantz\n\nHere's what to know on the Pence documents\n\nWhen were the documents discovered? The classified files were found Jan. 16 and placed in a secure safe until they could be returned to proper authorities, according to Pence’s lawyer, Greg Jacob.\n\nThe classified files were found Jan. 16 and placed in a secure safe until they could be returned to proper authorities, according to Pence’s lawyer, Greg Jacob. How many files were found? Pence’s lawyer characterized the documents as “a small number of documents bearing classified markings that were inadvertently transported to the personal home of the former vice president at the end of the last administration.”\n\nPence’s lawyer characterized the documents as “a small number of documents bearing classified markings that were inadvertently transported to the personal home of the former vice president at the end of the last administration.” What Pence has said: Pence repeatedly denied knowledge of classified documents at his home last year. When asked explicitly by the Associated Press in August if he had such documents in his possession, he responded, \"No, not to my knowledge.\"\n\nPence repeatedly denied knowledge of classified documents at his home last year. When asked explicitly by the Associated Press in August if he had such documents in his possession, he responded, \"No, not to my knowledge.\" What security analysts say: The country's classified document woes are far from over yet. Security analysts told USA TODAY that the U.S. system of safeguarding classified presidential documents — especially during transfers of power — is in urgent need of improvement.\n\nVP Kamala Harris to visit California in wake of mass shootings\n\nVice President Kamala Harris will visit California in the aftermath of two mass shootings in her home state that killed 18 people and renewed the president’s push for gun control.\n\n\"Our hearts are with the people of California,\" President Joe Biden said Tuesday. \"The vice president's going to be going out.”\n\nSeven people died Tuesday in two shootings near the Northern California community of Half Moon Bay, just days after a rampage in Southern California killed 11. Harris is scheduled to visit Monterey Park, site of one of the shootings.\n\n– Joey Garrison\n\nBiden schedule today\n\nPresident Joe Biden will make a noon announcement at the White House about Ukraine.\n\nWhite House Press Secretary Karine Jean -Pierre will hold a press briefing at 1:30 p.m.\n\nVice President Kamala Harris will address the Democratic caucus at the Capitol this morning. She departs Washington at 1:45 p.m. for California.\n\nHarris will visit Monterey Park at 8:20 p.m. She will meet with families of the mass shooting victims there.\n\n-- Holly Rosenkrantz\n\nCalifornia shootings:'Only in America': Gov. Newsom decries gun violence in visit to Half Moon Bay after 7 killed: Live updates\n\nTaylor Swift ticket debacle took center stage in the Senate\n\nThe Senate Judiciary Committee knew “All Too Well” how poorly Ticketmaster handled selling tickets to Taylor Swift’s highly anticipated tour as senators examined the lack of competition within the ticketing industry and grilled a Ticketmaster executive on the handling of the tickets.\n\nThe committee pulled no punches as they held the company accountable and questioned its practices, power over the ticketing market and whether the company, which merged with Live National Entertainment in 2010, was a monopoly.\n\nThere was no shortage of Swift references as senators – and a witness – engaged in true fan behavior, dropping lyrics throughout the three-hour hearing, including Connecticut Democrat Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who suggested to Joe Berchtold, the president and CFO of Live Nation, that the company “look in the mirror and say, ‘I’m the problem. It’s me.’”\n\n– Sarah Elbeshbishi\n\nSour note:'Industrial-scale ticket scalping.' Senators grill Ticketmaster over Taylor Swift concert fiasco", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/01/25"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/15/politics/justice-department-mar-a-lago-search-affidavit/index.html", "title": "DOJ opposes making details public in Mar-a-Lago search warrant's ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nThe Justice Department is opposing the release of details in an affidavit that lays out the argument that investigators made to a federal magistrate judge explaining the probable cause it had to search former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate last week, saying it could have a chilling effect on the inquiry.\n\nIn their new filing arguing for some continued secrecy, the Justice Department made clear the seriousness of the ongoing criminal investigation, saying it “implicates highly classified materials.”\n\n“Disclosure of the government’s affidavit at this stage would also likely chill future cooperation by witnesses whose assistance may be sought as this investigation progresses, as well as in other high-profile investigations,” the Justice Department wrote. “The fact that this investigation implicates highly classified materials further underscores the need to protect the integrity of the investigation and exacerbates the potential harm if information is disclosed to the public prematurely or improperly.”\n\nMedia organizations, including CNN, had asked for the affidavit to be unsealed after the search last week at Trump’s Palm Beach, Florida, club and residence.\n\nThe Justice Department said in its filing that disclosing the affidavit details “at this juncture” would “cause significant and irreparable damage to this ongoing criminal investigation.”\n\n“The redactions necessary to mitigate harms to the integrity of the investigation would be so extensive as to render the remaining unsealed text devoid of meaningful content, and the release of such a redacted version would not serve any public interest,” the Justice Department stated.\n\nCNN, joined by The Washington Post, NBC News and Scripps, asked the judge last week to unseal all documents – including any probable cause affidavits – connected to the FBI search.\n\n“Not since the Nixon Administration has a President been the subject of such a dramatic and public criminal process,” the outlets said in the filing, adding that the outlets are “attempting to shed light on the federal government’s unprecedented actions and motivations.”\n\n“Here, there could not be a more ‘historically significant event’ than an FBI raid of a former President’s home for the alleged removal of national security records after leaving office,” the outlets said.\n\nThe New York Times, CBS, the Palm Beach Post, the Miami Herald, the Tampa Bay Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Associated Press and ABC also requested the judge unseal affidavits.\n\nA magistrate judge unsealed the Mar-a-Lago search warrant and property receipt on Friday, after Justice Department lawyers and lawyers for the former President agreed they should be released. Other parts of the search warrant, including the probable cause affidavit, were not addressed at the time. Trump’s team does not have access to the DOJ’s affidavit, though it was reviewed confidentially by the judge before the search.\n\nThe search warrant made public Friday identifies violations of the Espionage Act, obstruction of justice and criminal handling of government records as reasons for the search.\n\nThe receipt list, which shows what items agents recovered from Mar-a-Lago, shows that agents removed 11 sets of classified documents – including some marked with the highest levels of classification – from Trump’s home.\n\nRepublican politicians have continued to demand that the Justice Department explain its reasoning for taking the dramatic step to search Mar-a-Lago – with some, along with Trump’s circle of advisers, trying to downplay the seriousness of the documents. But the DOJ’s filing on Tuesday disputes that demand by saying the investigation deals with highly classified information.\n\nAfter the judge unsealed the search warrant and receipt for Trump’s property last week, Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said in a series of tweets that “We still need to see the affidavit,” and that “Attorney General (Merrick) Garland must release the information as to why a warrant was necessary, not what was taken.”\n\nRepublican Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “releasing the affidavit would help, at least that would confirm that there was justification for this raid.”\n\nProsecutors need to “show that this was not just a fishing expedition, that they had due cause to go in and to do this, that they did exhaust all other means,” Rounds said, emphasizing that waiting would hurt the integrity of the department. “And if they can’t do that, then we’ve got a serious problem on our hands.”\n\nDemocratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, and the panel’s top Republican, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, sent letter on Sunday to Garland and top intelligence officials requesting a classified briefing on the documents seized at Mar-a-Lago.\n\nOhio Rep. Mike Turner, who is the ranking Republican member of the House Intelligence Committee, echoed that request on Sunday, telling CNN’s Brianna Keilar that “Congress is saying show us the goods.”", "authors": ["Katelyn Polantz Hannah Rabinowitz", "Katelyn Polantz", "Hannah Rabinowitz"], "publish_date": "2022/08/15"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/18/politics/jack-smith-special-counsel/index.html", "title": "Who is Jack Smith, the special counsel named in the Trump ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nJack Smith, the special counsel announced by Attorney General Merrick Garland on Friday to oversee the criminal investigations into the retention of classified documents at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort and parts of the January 6, 2021, insurrection, is a long-time prosecutor who has overseen a variety of high-profile cases during a career that spans decades.\n\nSmith’s experience ranges from prosecuting a sitting US senator to bringing cases against gang members who were ultimately convicted of murdering New York City police officers. In recent years, Smith has prosecuted war crimes at The Hague. His career in multiple parts of the Justice Department, as well as in international courts, has allowed him to keep a relatively low-profile in the oftentimes brassy legal industry.\n\nHis experience and resume will allow him, at least at first, to fly underneath the type of political blowback that quickly met former special counsel Robert Mueller’s team. It also shows he is adept at managing complex criminal cases related to both public corruption and national security – and that he has practice making challenging decisions with political implications.\n\nSmith is widely expected to be tasked with making policy decisions around whether to charge a former president of the United States. Garland’s statements on Friday and the recent steps taken in the Mar-a-Lago and January 6 investigations have signaled that, at the very least, Donald Trump is under investigation and could potentially be charged with a crime.\n\n“He knows how to do high-profile cases. He’s independent. He will not be influenced by anybody,” said Greg Andres, a former member of Mueller’s team.\n\nAndres, who has known Smith since the late 1990s when they started at a US attorney’s office together and ultimately became co-chiefs of the office’s criminal division, said it’s the breadth of Smith’s experience that will enable him to withstand the public scrutiny and make tough judgment calls.\n\n“He will evaluate the evidence and understand what type of case should be charged or not. He has the type of experience to make those judgments,” said Andres.\n\n“He understands the courtroom. He understands how to try a case. He knows how to prove a case,” he added. “Particularly in these circumstances it will be critical to understand what types of evidence is required to prove the case in court.”\n\nIn a statement following his announcement, Smith pledged to conduct the investigations “independently and in the best traditions of the Department of Justice.”\n\n“The pace of the investigations will not pause or flag under my watch. I will exercise independent judgment and will move the investigations forward expeditiously and thoroughly to whatever outcome the facts and the law dictate,” Smith said.\n\nOne former colleague highlighted that Smith has prosecuted members of both parties.\n\n“He’s going to be really aggressive,” the person said, adding that “things are going to speed up.” Smith, they said, “operates very quickly” and has a unique ability to quickly determine the things that are important to a case and doesn’t waste time “hand-wringing over things that are real sideshows.”\n\nIn court, Smith comes off as very down-to-earth and relatable, this person said, characterizing that as a good attribute to have as a prosecutor.\n\nSmith also will not care about the politics surrounding the case, they said, adding he has very thick skin and will “do what he’s going to do.”\n\nA career prosecutor\n\nSmith began his career as an assistant district attorney with the New York County District Attorney’s Office in 1994. He worked in the Eastern District of New York in 1999 as an assistant US attorney, where he prosecuted cases including civil rights violations and police officers murdered by gangs, according to the Justice Department.\n\nAs a prosecutor in Brooklyn, New York, one of Smith’s biggest and most high-profile cases was prosecuting gang member Ronell Wilson for the murder of two New York City police department detectives during an undercover gun operation in Staten Island.\n\nWilson was convicted and sentenced to death, the first death penalty case in New York at the time in 50 years, though a judge later found he was ineligible for the death penalty.\n\nMoe Fodeman, who worked with Smith at EDNY, called him “one of the best trial lawyers I have ever seen.”\n\n“He is a phenomenal investigator; he leaves no stone unturned. He drills down to get to the true facts,” Fodeman said.\n\nFodeman, who is still friends with Smith, said he is a “literally insane” cyclist and triathlete.\n\nBeginning in 2008, Smith worked for the International Criminal Court and oversaw war crimes investigations under the Office of the Prosecutor for two years.\n\nIn 2010, he became chief of the Public Integrity Section of the Justice Department, where he oversaw litigation of public corruption cases. Lanny Breuer, the former assistant attorney general for the DOJ’s Criminal Division who recruited Smith, said his onetime employee was “a terrific prosecutor” with a “real sense of fairness.”\n\n“If you are going to have a special counsel, in my view, and you want someone who is going to be fearless, but fair, and not going to be intimidated and not overly bureaucratic, that’s Jack – he is all of these things,” Breuer told CNN.\n\n“Smith brings cases quickly. … He doesn’t sit on cases. He is a person of action,” Breuer added.\n\nAfter his stint at the Public Integrity Section, Smith was appointed first assistant US attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee in 2015.\n\nThough he is not widely known in Washington, DC, legal circles, Smith is described as a consummate public servant.\n\nAbout a decade ago, he hired waves of line prosecutors into the Public Integrity Section of the Justice Department, supervising dozens over his years in charge there.\n\nBrian Kidd, whom Smith hired at the unit, recalled how his boss walked him through every step of a complicated racketeering case against corrupt police officers.\n\n“He was not going to tolerate a politically motivated prosecution,” Kidd said. “And he has an incredible ability to motivate the people working with him and under him. He’s incredibly supportive of his team.”\n\nSmith handled some of the most high-profile political corruption cases in recent memory – to mixed outcomes.\n\nHe was the head of the public integrity unit when then-Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell was indicted in 2014, and was in meetings with the defense team and involved in decision-making leading up to the charges, according to a person familiar with the case.\n\nMcDonnell was initially convicted of receiving gifts for political favors, but then his conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court.\n\nSmith was also at the helm of the unit when the DOJ failed to convict at trial former Senator and vice presidential candidate John Edwards.\n\nA Republican source familiar with Smith’s oversight of the investigation into former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay commended Smith’s non-biased approach, saying that he ultimately made a “just” decision to conclude the investigation without alleging DeLay committed any crime.\n\nIn recent years while working at The Hague, he has not lived in the United States. He’s no longer on the US Triathlon team but is still a competitive biker.\n\nSmith took over as acting US Attorney when David Rivera departed in early 2017 before leaving the Justice Department later that year and becoming vice president of litigation for the Hospital Corporation of America. In 2018, he became chief prosecutor for the special court in The Hague, where he investigated war crimes in Kosovo.\n\n“Throughout his career, Jack Smith has built a reputation as an impartial and determined prosecutor, who leads teams with energy and focus to follow the facts wherever they lead,” Garland said during the announcement on Friday. “Mr. Smith is the right choice to complete these matters in an even-handed and urgent manner.”\n\nSmith interviewed as part of Republican-led IRS probe\n\nIn May 2014, the House Oversight Committee interviewed Smith behind closed doors as part of the Republican-led investigation into the alleged IRS targeting of conservative groups. Then-Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa launched the probe following a 2013 inspector general report that found delays in the processing of applications by certain conservative groups and requesting information from them that was later deemed unnecessary.\n\nRepublicans sought testimony from Smith, who at the time was Public Integrity section chief, due to his involvement with arranging a 2010 meeting between Justice Department officials and then-IRS official Lois Lerner, the official at the center of the IRS scandal. The meeting had been convened to discuss the “evolving legal landscape” of campaign finance law following the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, according to a May 2014 letter written by Issa and Rep. Jim Jordan, the Ohio Republican who is expected to be House Judiciary chairman next year.\n\n“It is apparent that the Department’s leadership, including Public Integrity Section Chief Jack Smith, was closely involved in engaging with the IRS in wake of Citizens United and political pressure from prominent Democrats to address perceived problems with the decision,” Issa and Jordan wrote in the letter seeking Smith’s testimony.\n\nSmith testified that his office “had a dialogue” with the FBI about opening investigations related to politically active non-profits following the meeting with Lerner, but did not ultimately do so, according to a copy of his interview obtained by CNN.\n\nSmith explained that he had asked for the meeting with the IRS because he wanted to learn more about the legal landscape of political non-profits following the Citizens United decision because he was relatively new to the public integrity section. He said that Lerner explained it would be difficult if not impossible to bring a case on the abuse of tax-exempt status.\n\nSmith repeated at several points in the interview that the Justice Department did not pursue any investigations due to politics.\n\n“I want to be clear – it would be more about looking at the issue, looking at whether it made sense to open investigations,” he said. “If we did, you know, how would you go about doing this? Is there predication, a basis to open an investigation? Things like that. I can’t say as I sit here now specifically, you know, the back-and-forth of that discussion. I can just tell you that – because I know one of your concerns is that organizations were targeted. And I can tell you that we, Public Integrity, did not open any investigations as a result of those discussions and that we certainly, as you know, have not brought any cases as a result of that.”\n\nSmith also testified that he was not aware of anyone at the Justice Department placing pressure on the IRS – and that he was never pressured to investigate any political groups.\n\n“No. And maybe I can stop you guys. I know there’s a series of these questions. I’ve never been asked these things, and anybody who knows me would never even consider asking me to do such a thing,” Smith said.\n\nThis story has been updated with additional details.", "authors": ["Zachary Cohen Kara Scannell Jeremy Herb Katelyn Polantz Chandelis Duster", "Zachary Cohen", "Kara Scannell", "Jeremy Herb", "Katelyn Polantz", "Chandelis Duster"], "publish_date": "2022/11/18"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/12/politics/trump-mar-a-lago-investigation/index.html", "title": "FBI took 11 sets of classified material from Trump's Mar-a-Lago ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nThe Justice Department removed 11 sets of classified documents from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence while executing a search warrant this week for possible violations of the Espionage Act and other crimes, according to court documents unsealed and released on Friday.\n\nThe property receipt, which was also released on Friday, for Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home shows that some of the materials recovered were marked as “top secret/SCI” – one of the highest levels of classification.\n\nThe search warrant identifies three federal crimes that the Justice Department is looking at as part of its investigation: violations of the Espionage Act, obstruction of justice and criminal handling of government records. The inclusion of the crimes indicates the Justice Department has probable cause to investigate those offenses as it was gathering evidence in the search. No one has been charged with a crime at this time.\n\nThe warrant receipt didn’t detail the subject of these classified documents but did note that federal agents seized just one set marked “top secret/SCI.”\n\nAgents also took four sets of “top secret” documents, three sets of “secret” documents, and three sets of “confidential” documents, court documents show. In total, the unsealed warrant shows the FBI collected more than 20 boxes, as well as binders of photos, sets of classified government materials and at least one handwritten note.\n\nThe warrant, which was unsealed and released publicly following a federal judge’s order, was obtained by CNN ahead of its release. The moment marks an unprecedented week that began with the search – an evidence-gathering step in a national security investigation.\n\nSearch warrant reveals new details about scope of FBI probe\n\nWhile details about the documents themselves remain scarce, the laws cited in the warrant offer new insight into what the FBI was looking for when it searched Trump’s home, an unprecedented step that has prompted a firestorm of criticism from the former President’s closest allies.\n\nThe laws cover “destroying or concealing documents to obstruct government investigations” and the unlawful removal of government records, according to the search warrant released Friday.\n\nAlso among the laws listed is one known as the Espionage Act, which relates to the “retrieval, storage, or transmission of national defense information or classified material.”\n\nAll three criminal laws cited in the warrant are from Title 18 of the United States Code. None of them solely hinge on whether information was deemed to be unclassified.\n\nOne of the less-sensitive items taken from Trump’s resort, according to a the property receipt, was a document about pardoning Roger Stone, a staunch Trump ally who was convicted in 2019 of lying to Congress during its probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election. (Trump pardoned Stone before leaving office, shielding Stone from a three-year prison term.)\n\nIt’s unclear how the Stone-related document seized during the search is tied to the broader criminal probe into Trump’s potential mishandling of classified materials.\n\nDuring the search, FBI agents also recovered material about the “President of France,” according to the warrant receipt. The French embassy in Washington declined to respond Friday to the development.\n\nFBI agents searched ’45 Office’ at Mar-a-Lago\n\nThe court documents released Friday also offer new details about the search itself and revealed that FBI agents were only allowed access to specific locations within Mar-a-Lago as they combed Trump’s resort residence for potential evidence of crimes.\n\nThe judge authorized the FBI to search what the bureau called the “45 Office,” an apparent reference to Trump’s place in history as the 45th President. Agents were also permitted to search “all other rooms or areas” at Mar-a-Lago that were available to Trump and his staff for storing boxes and documents.\n\n“The locations to be searched include the ’45 Office,’ all storage rooms, and all other rooms or areas within the premises used or available to be used by FPOTUS and his staff and in which boxes or documents could be stored, including all structures or buildings on the estate,” the warrant says, using the acronym “FPOTUS” to refer to the Former President of the United States.\n\nThe FBI’s warrant application to the judge specifically said that federal agents would avoid areas being rented or used by third parties, “such as Mar-a-Lago members” and “private guest suites.” Trump owns the sprawling estate, and it is his primary residence as well as a members-only club and resort.\n\n“It is described as a mansion with approximately 58 bedrooms, 33 bathrooms, on a 17-acre estate,” FBI agents told the judge in their application, describing the Mar-a-Lago property.\n\nTrump did not oppose release of search warrant\n\nThe FBI search at the resort in Palm Beach, Florida, on Monday was followed by days of silence from the Justice Department, as is the department’s normal practice for ongoing investigations.\n\nThen on Thursday, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that the department had moved to unseal the search warrant and two attachments, including an inventory list, but also stressed that some of the department’s work must happen outside of public view.\n\n“We do that to protect the constitutional rights of all Americans and to protect the integrity of our investigations,” Garland said, while explaining that he would not provide more detail about the basis of the search.\n\nTrump said in a late-night post on his Truth Social platform Thursday that he would “not oppose the release of documents” and that he was “going a step further by ENCOURAGING the immediate release of those documents.”\n\nThe court had instructed the Justice Department to confer with Trump about its request to unseal the warrant documents and set a Friday deadline to report back on whether he opposed their release.\n\nTrump’s team had contacted outside attorneys about how to proceed, and the former President’s orbit was caught off guard by Garland’s announcement.\n\nIn a pair of posts to Truth Social following Garland’s statement, Trump continued to claim that his attorneys were “cooperating fully” and had developed “very good relationships” with federal investigators prior to Monday’s search at Mar-a-Lago.\n\n“The government could have had whatever they wanted, if we had it,” Trump said. “Everything was fine, better than most previous Presidents, and then, out of nowhere and with no warning, Mar-a-Lago was raided, at 6:30 in the morning, by VERY large numbers of agents, and even ‘safecrackers.’”\n\nThis story and headline have been updated with additional developments.", "authors": ["Katelyn Polantz Zachary Cohen Sara Murray Marshall Cohen", "Katelyn Polantz", "Zachary Cohen", "Sara Murray", "Marshall Cohen"], "publish_date": "2022/08/12"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/30/politics/mar-a-lago-justice-department-response/index.html", "title": "Justice Department says classified documents at Mar-a-Lago were ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nUS government documents were “likely concealed and removed” from a storage room at Mar-a-Lago as part of an effort to “obstruct” the FBI’s investigation into former President Donald Trump’s potential mishandling of classified materials, the Justice Department said in a blockbuster court filing Tuesday night.\n\nMore than 320 classified documents have now been recovered from Mar-a-Lago, the Justice Department said, including more than 100 in the FBI search earlier this month.\n\nTuesday’s filing represents the Justice Department’s strongest case to date that Trump concealed classified material he was keeping at Mar-a-Lago in an attempt to obstruct the FBI’s investigation into the potential mishandling of classified material.\n\nThe Justice Department revealed the startling new details as part of its move to oppose Trump’s effort to intervene in the federal investigation that led to the search of his Florida resort and his desire for a “special master” to be appointed to the case.\n\nTrump has pushed an “incomplete and inaccurate narrative” in his recent court filings about the Mar-a-Lago search, the Justice Department said.\n\n“The government provides below a detailed recitation of the relevant facts, many of which are provided to correct the incomplete and inaccurate narrative set forth in Plaintiff’s filings,” prosecutors wrote.\n\nIt presents a strong rebuttal of the criticisms of the FBI’s unprecedented search of a former President’s residence, laying out clearly how Trump had failed to return dozens of classified documents even after his lawyer attested that he had provided all classified material in his possession.\n\nVideo Ad Feedback Honig says DOJ filing shows FBI had no choice but to search Mar-a-Lago 02:29 - Source: CNN\n\nA picture on the final page of the filing showing classified documents arrayed on the floor of Trump’s office – full of highly classified markings like “HCS,” meaning human intelligence sources – hammered home how sensitive the material Trump had taken was.\n\nAt issue is Trump’s compliance with a grand jury subpoena, issued in May, demanding that he turn over classified documents from Mar-a-Lago. Prosecutors said Tuesday that some documents were likely removed from a storage room before Trump’s lawyers examined the area, while they were trying to comply with the subpoena. The timeline is essential, because Trump’s lawyers later told investigators that they searched the storage area and that all classified documents were accounted for.\n\n“The government also developed evidence that government records were likely concealed and removed from the Storage Room and that efforts were likely taken to obstruct the government’s investigation,” prosecutors wrote. “This included evidence indicating that boxes formerly in the Storage Room were not returned prior to counsel’s review.”\n\nThe allegations came after the DOJ’s filing went into specific detail about actions from Trump’s team that the department implies were obstructive to its probe.\n\nIn the filing opposing Trump’s request, DOJ argues that the former president lacks standing over presidential records “because those records do not belong to him,” as presidential records are considered property of the government.\n\nThe Presidential Records Act makes clear that “[t]he United States” has “complete ownership, possession, and control of them,” the DOJ filing states.\n\nTrump has argued that his constitutional rights have been violated and that some of the documents seized earlier this month contain material covered by privilege – particularly executive privilege.\n\nThe Justice Department was ordered to submit the filing by Judge Aileen Cannon, who has already indicated she is inclined to grant Trump’s request for third party oversight of documents the FBI seized Mar-a-Lago.\n\nThe role of a special master is to filter out any materials seized in a search that don’t belong in the hands of investigators because of a privilege. Special masters have been used in high-profile cases before, but usually in cases where the FBI has searched an attorney’s office or home and there is a need to filter out materials concerning attorney-client privilege. Trump’s request has centered on the need to protect documents concerning executive privilege from his conduct as president.\n\nSignals from Cannon, a Trump appointee, that she is leaning toward appointing a special master in the Mar-a-Lago search have raised eyebrows among legal observers. For one, Trump filed his request for the appointment two weeks after the search of his Florida home, risking the potential that the Justice Department is already done with the bulk of its review. Secondly, Trump and the judge alike have pointed to civil rules concerning special master appointments, when the search warrant is arising in a criminal context.\n\nSince the August 8 search, a number of previously secret court filings the DOJ submitted to obtain the warrant have been made partially public in part because of a bid for transparency filed in court by several media organizations, including CNN.\n\nThose redacted documents have revealed that the search was connected to a DOJ investigation into alleged violations of the Espionage Act, criminal mishandling of government documents and obstruction of justice. According to an FBI affidavit that was released last week, an FBI review of 15 boxes retrieved by the National Archives from Mar-a-Lago in January found 184 documents bearing classification markings – some of them identified as particularly sensitive government documents.\n\nTrump, in seeking the special master, has stressed in court filings the lack of criminal enforcement in the Presidential Records Act, a Watergate-era law laying out the process for preserving presidential records. He did not mention the three criminal statutes the DOJ cited in its warrant documents. Trump’s lawyers have also emphasized his supposedly unfettered ability when he was president to declassify documents, though the statutes in question don’t require that the materials be classified.\n\nWednesday morning, Trump posted on his social media platform on Truth Social for the first time since the Justice Department filing and once again claimed to have declassified documents that were found at his Mar-a-Lago residence.\n\nIn one of his most recent posts, Trump appeared to comment on the photo of top-secret documents laid out on the floor, saying, “Terrible the way the FBI… threw documents haphazardly all over the floor,” and, “Lucky I Declassified!”\n\nIn other posts, he attacked the FBI and DOJ generally and said, “This is the time, after many years of lawbreaking & unfairness, to clean things up. All things for a reason. DRAIN THE SWAMP!!!” He repeated his false claims of a stolen election and said, “Our Country is going to hell!” He also claimed crowds are “already forming” for his rally on Saturday.\n\nTrump’s attorney limited what DOJ could look at during June visit\n\nA top Justice Department official contends that federal investigators were limited in what they could look through when visiting the resort in June – contrary to the Trump team’s narrative of total cooperation.\n\nTrump’s lawyer requested that the FBI come to the resort to pick up the documents after the Trump team had received a grand jury subpoena in May seeking any materials marked classified, according to the Justice Department.\n\nDOJ’s account also undermined claims by Trump and his allies that the former President had declassified the materials in question.\n\n“When producing the documents, neither counsel nor the custodian asserted that the former President had declassified the documents or asserted any claim of executive privilege,” the filing said. “Instead, counsel handled them in a manner that suggested counsel believed that the documents were classified: the production included a single Redweld envelope, double-wrapped in tape, containing the document.”\n\nIn the DOJ’s account, Trump’s lawyer said that all the remaining documents from Trump’s White House were being kept in the storage at Mar-a-Lago. “Counsel further represented that there were no other records stored in any private office space or other location at the Premises and that all available boxes were searched,” the filing said.\n\nProsecutors confirmed Trump’s assertion that the visiting DOJ and FBI officials were then allowed to visit the storage area.\n\n“Critically, however, the former President’s counsel explicitly prohibited government personnel from opening or looking inside any of the boxes that remained in the storage room, giving no opportunity for the government to confirm that no documents with classification markings remained,” the DOJ said.\n\nDOJ reveals grand jury proceedings related to Mar-a-Lago search happening in DC\n\nThe Justice Department confirmed that grand jury subpoenas had been issued in its probe, and that the grand jury that issued them had been empaneled in DC. The department included a copy of a May 11 subpoena for government records at Mar-a-Lago marked as classified that indicated the existence of the DC federal grand jury. Before making the subpoena public, the department on Monday got permission to do so from Chief Judge Beryl Howell in the DC District Court, according to a footnote in its brief.\n\nThe reference to Howell suggests that in addition to Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart and Cannon in Florida, a third judge is now involved in the DOJ’s probe.\n\nThis story has been updated with additional details.", "authors": ["Jeremy Herb Tierney Sneed Marshall Cohen Evan Perez Sara Murray", "Jeremy Herb", "Tierney Sneed", "Marshall Cohen", "Evan Perez", "Sara Murray"], "publish_date": "2022/08/30"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/07/politics/herschel-walker-donald-trump-georgia/index.html", "title": "Herschel Walker's defeat delivers another blow to Trump and his ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nDonald Trump was hoping for a win on Tuesday amid the slow start to his latest presidential campaign, believing a victory for his longtime friend and hand-picked candidate Herschel Walker in the Georgia Senate runoff would mitigate calls for new Republican leadership following a spate of losses for his endorsed candidates in high-profile 2022 races.\n\nInstead, Trump’s first cycle as a so-called GOP kingmaker ended with one final blow to his scorecard.\n\nWalker lost by nearly 3 percentage points to Sen. Raphael Warnock, handing Democrats a wider Senate majority than they’ve had the past two years and plunging the former president into deeper scrutiny as the GOP’s only declared 2024 contender.\n\n“OUR COUNTRY IS IN BIG TROUBLE. WHAT A MESS!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social site shortly after several networks called the race for Warnock late Tuesday night.\n\nOne source close to Trump said the Georgia results were likely to further damage the 2024 Republican hopeful’s third presidential campaign, which has been marred by a series of self-inflicted wounds and legal troubles in the three weeks since Trump announced he was running.\n\n“This is really, really bad,” this person said.\n\nMany in the former president’s orbit are concerned that this will boost demand for other Republicans to challenge him for the party’s presidential nomination.\n\n“Trump backed the wrong candidates and lost virtually all of them in the Senate in 2022. He then goes and attacks two of the most popular Republican governors, the governor of Virginia and Florida, and now he talks about terminating the Constitution. He’s destroying himself,” longtime GOP pollster Frank Luntz told CNN.\n\nIn the six states where Trump’s MAGA Inc. political action committee spent tens of millions boosting candidates with his backing, he notched only one victory: Sen.-elect J.D. Vance in Ohio, a state that has trended Republican in recent years. Trump aides insist he remains pleased with his roughly 80% success rate for the 250-plus endorsements he doled out this cycle – many of which went to heavily favored incumbents, Republican hopefuls running for reliably red seats, or candidates who ran unopposed – even as the former president has privately complained to allies about the blame he’s facing for elevating low-caliber candidates and suggesting that many of them could have run better campaigns, sources said.\n\n“Conservatives across the country are tired of losing. 2024 is key to winning the future again. Choose well,” Bob Vander Plaats, a prominent Iowa Republican who endorsed Trump’s 2020 reelection bid, wrote on Twitter late Tuesday as Walker appeared headed for defeat.\n\nErick Erickson, a Georgia-based conservative radio host who also endorsed Trump in 2020, said Tuesday’s outcome in his home state further demonstrated that voters “in the swing states that matter have kept rejecting candidates tied to Trump.”\n\n“You want to win? Move on from an angry old man with nothing left but a knockoff Twitter feed. And move on from candidates who are objectively not good fits,” Erickson wrote in a Wednesday morning column, suggesting that Walker, a candidate besieged by domestic abuse allegations and claims that he paid for multiple abortions, didn’t lose solely because of Trump and but likely wouldn’t have entered the Senate race last summer had the former president not encouraged him to. Walker has denied the allegations from two separate women who claim he encouraged them to terminate their pregnancies.\n\n‘I want to back a winner’\n\nMembers of Trump’s orbit had hoped for a Walker win to breathe new energy into the former president’s own stagnant campaign, but are now grappling with the reality that this has likely set them back farther.\n\nOne Mar-a-Lago member who is close to Trump said the former president’s 2022 scorecard has cemented his decision to financially support an alternative in the Republican presidential primary, most likely Ron DeSantis if the Florida governor runs.\n\n“Donald’s got his problems right now and they are so numerous that I don’t think he can win and I want to back a winner,” this person said. “There are a lot of friends of mine who don’t want to have Trump at the top of the ticket because they feel it’s a killer.”\n\nThomas Peterffy, a billionaire GOP donor who lives just down the street from Trump in Palm Beach, said the former president “is to blame for many of the Republican losses in the gubernatorial and senatorial races” this cycle.\n\n“Right now, I think his negatives are so much stronger than his positives,” said Peterffy, who has met with some of Trump’s potential 2024 rivals.\n\nAs of Wednesday, Trump’s team was bracing for a deluge of blame to be placed on the former president for the Georgia outcome, in addition to other party leaders like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, National Republican Senatorial Committee chief Rick Scott, and Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, all of whom have faced calls from fellow Republicans to either step down from their leadership roles or stop enabling Trump’s influence.\n\nBut while some Republican operatives have called for the party to reevaluate its election tactics and chart a new course, others said Trump’s grip on the GOP should never be underestimated.\n\nThe former president has faced a seemingly endless string of legal troubles since mounting his 2016 campaign for the White House and constantly attracts bipartisan scrutiny for his behavior – and still, throngs of grassroots Republicans remain besotted with the former businessman. Rarely has he seen a significant chunk of his supporters wander away from him.\n\n“There is still a large portion of the Republican base who only care about Donald Trump,” one former Trump Republican told CNN.\n\nTrump allies and advisers hope he can keep his grip on that portion of the party as the 2022 cycle reaches its conclusion and voters and rumored Republican presidential hopefuls shift their attention to the 2024 primary season. But some aren’t sure he still wields the same power that he did even just months ago, before the November midterms, when GOP lawmakers and candidates were flocking to his Mar-a-Lago club for meetings and fundraisers and polls showed him drawing steady support among Republican voters.\n\n“(Trump is) still very popular in the party. People appreciate his presidency. They appreciate his fighting spirit. But there’s beginning to be a sense, can he win?” Sen. Lindsey Graham, a close Trump ally, told CNN.\n\nIn the weeks since his campaign announcement, signs of Trump’s dwindling power over the party have been on full display as some Republicans seem emboldened to publicly distance themselves from the former president and former allies – including Nikki Haley and Mike Pompeo – have indicated that they are prepared to potentially take him on in 2024.\n\n“You just can’t deny what the results are. You can’t go around sincerely saying, ‘(Trump) is not a drag on the party,’ and won’t be a profoundly negative force if he winds up on the top of the ticket in 2024,” said a former Trump campaign official.\n\nTrump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement that the former president’s 2024 strategy “is being implemented even though the presidential calendar hasn’t been set yet and the 2022 midterm cycle just ended.”\n\n“President Trump is the single most dominant force in politics and people – especially those who purport to be close to him – should never doubt his ability to win in a decisive and dominant fashion,” Cheung said.\n\nOther hurdles\n\nEven before Walker lost Tuesday’s runoff, Trump’s 2024 campaign had been confronted with setbacks.\n\nWithin days of Trump announcing his run, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel to take over two criminal investigations into the former president and his associates surrounding the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol and his retention of classified documents after leaving office. Then, shortly before Thanksgiving, Trump drew widespread backlash for dining with Kanye West, who has spent the past month publicly spouting antisemitic remarks, and White nationalist Nick Fuentes at his Palm Beach residence. He then drew a fresh round of criticism this week after calling for the “termination” of the US Constitution in a Truth Social post over the weekend to allow him to be reinstated as president. And on Tuesday, just hours before Walker’s defeat, Trump’s Manhattan-based real estate company was convicted by a New York City jury on multiple charges of tax fraud and other financial crimes.\n\n“The special counsel wasn’t a huge surprise but the Kanye dinner was a completely avoidable mistake,” said one Trump adviser. “It made his campaign look completely incompetent and that’s catnip for potential rivals.”\n\nTrump’s physical avoidance of Georgia also raised questions about his ability to appeal to crucial swing state voters, who will likely hold the key to another term in Washington if he emerges on the other side of the 2024 GOP primary as the party’s nominee. After not visiting Georgia ahead of the November midterm elections, Trump continued to keep his distance before the runoffs. The former president did host a tele-rally on Monday, hoping to galvanize Republican voters to support Walker the following day.\n\nBut that decision was welcomed by Georgia Republicans, given Trump’s relationship with the Peach State.\n\nAfter winning Georgia in 2016, Trump’s record across the state has spiraled downward. In 2020, he became the first GOP presidential candidate to lose Georgia in nearly three decades, only to lash out at statewide Republican officeholders, baselessly accusing them of concealing widespread voter fraud for which he provided no evidence. Shortly after his defeat, the state’s two incumbent Republican senators – Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue – lost their respective runoff contests against Jon Ossoff and Warnock, handing Democrats a slim Senate majority at the beginning of Joe Biden’s presidency. Many in the party blamed Trump’s election denialism and criticism of mail-in ballots for lower party turnout in those runoff contests.\n\n“There were many in 2020 saying, ‘Don’t vote by mail. Don’t vote early,’ and we have to stop that and understand that if Democrats are getting ballots in for a month, we can’t expect to get it all done in one day,” McDaniel, the current RNC chairwoman, said in an apparent reference to Trump during a Fox News appearance just hours before polls closed on Tuesday.\n\nAnd after Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger refused to help Trump overturn Biden’s victory in the state, Trump waged an effort to exact political retribution, endorsing unsuccessful primary challenges against the two men. Kemp and Raffensberger went on to handily win their general election contests last month.\n\nIn part because of his losing record in the state, aides to both Walker and Trump believed the political risk was too great for Trump to appear alongside Walker. Still, the two men continued to speak by phone regularly in the lead up to the November midterms – and his ultimate defeat on Tuesday.", "authors": ["Kristen Holmes Gaborr", "Kristen Holmes"], "publish_date": "2022/12/07"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/03/politics/senate-race-rankings-october-elections/index.html", "title": "The 10 Senate seats most likely to flip in 2022 | CNN Politics", "text": "CNN —\n\nThe race for the Senate is in the eye of the beholder less than six weeks from Election Day, with ads about abortion, crime and inflation dominating the airwaves in key states as campaigns test the theory of the 2022 election.\n\nThe cycle started out as a referendum on President Joe Biden – an easy target for Republicans, who need a net gain of just one seat to flip the evenly divided chamber. Then the US Supreme Court’s late June decision overturning Roe v. Wade gave Democrats the opportunity to paint a contrast as Republicans struggled to explain their support for an abortion ruling that the majority of the country opposes. Former President Donald Trump’s omnipresence in the headlines gave Democrats another foil.\n\nBut the optimism some Democrats felt toward the end of the summer, on the heels of Biden’s legislative wins and the galvanizing high court decision, has been tempered slightly by the much anticipated tightening of some key races as political advertising ramps up on TV and voters tune in after Labor Day.\n\nMore on key Senate races Herschel Walker’s campaign fires its political director in key Georgia Senate race Trump’s Arizona slate risks turning off independent-minded voters in key Senate and governor’s races Wisconsin Senate race could hinge on voters’ views of economy, inflation See Senate race ratings by Inside Elections\n\nRepublicans, who have midterm history on their side as the party out of the White House, have hammered Biden and Democrats for supporting policies they argue exacerbate inflation. Biden’s approval rating stands at 41% with 54% disapproving in the latest CNN Poll of Polls, which tracks the average of recent surveys. And with some prices inching back up after a brief hiatus, the economy and inflation – which Americans across the country identify as their top concern in multiple polls – are likely to play a crucial role in deciding voters’ preferences.\n\nBut there’s been a steady increase in ads about crime too as the GOP returns to a familiar criticism, depicting Democrats as weak on public safety. Cops have been ubiquitous in TV ads this cycle – candidates from both sides of the aisle have found law enforcement officers to testify on camera to their pro-police credentials. Democratic ads also feature women talking about the threat of a national abortion ban should the Senate fall into GOP hands, while Republicans have spent comparatively less trying to portray Democrats as the extremists on the topic.\n\nWhile the issue sets have fluctuated, the Senate map hasn’t changed. Republicans’ top pickup opportunities have always been Nevada, Georgia, Arizona and New Hampshire – all states that Biden carried in 2020. In two of those states, however, the GOP has significant problems, although the states themselves keep the races competitive. Arizona nominee Blake Masters is now without the support of the party’s major super PAC, which thinks its money can be better spent elsewhere, including in New Hampshire, where retired Army Brig. Gen. Don Bolduc is far from the nominee the national GOP had wanted. But this is the time of year when poor fundraising can really become evident since TV ad rates favor candidates and a super PAC gets much less bang for its buck.\n\nThe race for Senate control may come down to three states: Georgia, Nevada and Pennsylvania, all of which are rated as “Toss-up” races by Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales. As Republicans look to flip the Senate, which Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has called a “50-50 proposition,” they’re trying to pick up the first two and hold on to the latter.\n\nSenate Democrats’ path to holding their majority lies with defending their incumbents. Picking off a GOP-held seat like Pennsylvania – still the most likely to flip in CNN’s ranking – would help mitigate any losses. Wisconsin, where GOP Sen. Ron Johnson is vying for a third term, looks like Democrats’ next best pickup opportunity, but that race drops in the rankings this month as Republican attacks take a toll on the Democratic nominee in the polls.\n\nThese rankings are based on CNN’s reporting, fundraising and advertising data, and polling, as well as historical data about how states and candidates have performed. It will be updated one more time before Election Day.\n\n1. Pennsylvania\n\nIncumbent: Republican Pat Toomey (retiring)\n\nSarah Silbiger/Pool/Getty Images\n\nThe most consistent thing about CNN’s rankings, dating back to 2021, has been Pennsylvania’s spot in first place. But the race to replace retiring GOP Sen. Pat Toomey has tightened since the primaries in May, when Republican Mehmet Oz emerged badly bruised from a nasty intraparty contest. In a CNN Poll of Polls average of recent surveys in the state, Democrat John Fetterman, the state lieutenant governor, had the support of 50% of likely voters to Oz’s 45%. (The Poll of Polls is an average of the four most recent nonpartisan surveys of likely voters that meet CNN’s standards.) Fetterman is still overperforming Biden, who narrowly carried Pennsylvania in 2020. Fetterman’s favorability ratings are also consistently higher than Oz’s.\n\nOne potential trouble spot for the Democrat: More voters in a late September Franklin and Marshall College Poll viewed Oz has having policies that would improve voters’ economic circumstances, with the economy and inflation remaining the top concern for voters across a range of surveys. But nearly five months after the primary, the celebrity surgeon still seems to have residual issues with his base. A higher percentage of Democrats were backing Fetterman than Republicans were backing Oz in a recent Fox News survey, for example, with much of that attributable to lower support from GOP women than men. Fetterman supporters were also much more enthusiastic about their candidate than Oz supporters.\n\nRepublicans have been hammering Fetterman on crime, specifically his tenure on the state Board of Pardons: An ad from the Senate Leadership Fund features a Bucks County sheriff saying, “Protect your family. Don’t vote Fetterman.” But the lieutenant governor is also using sheriffs on camera to defend his record. And with suburban voters being a crucial demographic, Democratic advertising is also leaning into abortion, like this Senate Majority PAC ad that features a female doctor as narrator and plays Oz’s comments from during the primary about abortion being “murder.” Oz’s campaign has said that he supports exceptions for “the life of the mother, rape and incest” and that “he’d want to make sure that the federal government is not involved in interfering with the state’s decisions on the topic.”\n\n2. Nevada\n\nIncumbent: Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto\n\nCNN\n\nRepublicans have four main pickup opportunities – and right now, Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto’s seat looks like one of their best shots. Biden carried Nevada by a slightly larger margin than two of those other GOP-targeted states, but the Silver State’s large transient population adds a degree of uncertainty to this contest.\n\nRepublicans have tried to tie the first-term senator to Washington spending and inflation, which may be particularly resonant in a place where average gas prices are now back up to over $5 a gallon. Democrats are zeroing in on abortion rights and raising the threat that a GOP-controlled Senate could pass a national abortion ban. Former state Attorney General Adam Laxalt – the rare GOP nominee to have united McConnell and Trump early on – called the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling a “joke” before the Supreme Court overturned the decision in June. Democrats have been all too happy to use that comment against him, but Laxalt has tried to get around those attacks by saying he does not support a national ban and pointing out that the right to an abortion is settled law in Nevada.\n\n3. Georgia\n\nIncumbent: Democrat Raphael Warnock\n\nMegan Varner/Getty Images\n\nThe closer we get to Election Day, the more we need to talk about the Georgia Senate race going over the wire. If neither candidate receives a majority of the vote in November, the contest will go to a December runoff. There was no clear leader in a recent Marist poll that had Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, who’s running for a full six-year term, and Republican challenger Herschel Walker both under 50% among those who say they definitely plan to vote.\n\nWarnock’s edge from earlier this cycle has narrowed, which bumps this seat up one spot on the rankings. The good news for Warnock is that he’s still overperforming Biden’s approval numbers in a state that the President flipped in 2020 by less than 12,000 votes. And so far, he seems to be keeping the Senate race closer than the gubernatorial contest, for which several polls have shown GOP Gov. Brian Kemp ahead. Warnock’s trying to project a bipartisan image that he thinks will help him hold on in what had until recently been a reliably red state. Standing waist-deep in peanuts in one recent ad, he touts his work with Alabama GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville to “eliminate the regulations,” never mentioning his own party. But Republicans have continued to try to tie the senator to his party – specifically for voting for measures in Washington that they claim have exacerbated inflation.\n\nDemocrats are hoping that enough Georgians won’t see voting for Walker as an option – even if they do back Kemp. Democrats have amped up their attacks on domestic violence allegations against the former football star and unflattering headlines about his business record. And all eyes will be on the mid-October debate to see how Walker, who has a history of making controversial and illogical comments, handles himself onstage against the more polished incumbent.\n\n4. Wisconsin\n\nIncumbent: Republican Ron Johnson\n\nLeigh VogelPool/Getty Images\n\nSen. Ron Johnson is the only Republican running for reelection in a state Biden won in 2020 – in fact, he broke his own term limits pledge to run a third time, saying he believed America was “in peril.” And although Johnson has had low approval numbers for much of the cycle, Democrats have underestimated him before. This contest moves down one spot on the ranking as Johnson’s race against Democratic Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes has tightened, putting the senator in a better position.\n\nBarnes skated through the August primary after his biggest opponents dropped out of the race, but as the nominee, he’s faced an onslaught of attacks, especially on crime, using against him his past words about ending cash bail and redirecting some funding from police budgets to social services. Barnes has attempted to answer those attacks in his ads, like this one featuring a retired police sergeant who says he knows “Mandela doesn’t want to defund the police.”\n\nA Marquette University Law School poll from early September showed no clear leader, with Johnson at 49% and Barnes at 48% among likely voters, which is a tightening from the 7-point edge Barnes enjoyed in the same poll’s August survey. Notably, independents were breaking slightly for Johnson after significantly favoring Barnes in the August survey. The effect of the GOP’s anti-Barnes advertising can likely be seen in the increasing percentage of registered voters in a late September Fox News survey who view the Democrat as “too extreme,” putting him on parity with Johnson on that question. Johnson supporters are also much more enthusiastic about their candidate.\n\n5. Arizona\n\nIncumbent: Democrat Mark Kelly\n\nCourtney Pedroza/Getty Images\n\nDemocratic Sen. Mark Kelly, who’s running for a full six-year term after winning a 2020 special election, is still one of the most vulnerable Senate incumbents in a state that has only recently grown competitive on the federal level. But Republican nominee Blake Masters is nowhere close to rivaling Kelly in fundraising, and major GOP outside firepower is now gone. After canceling its September TV reservations in Arizona to redirect money to Ohio, the Senate Leadership Fund has cut its October spending too.\n\nOther conservative groups are spending for Masters but still have work to do to hurt Kelly, a well-funded incumbent with a strong personal brand. Kelly led Masters 51% to 41% among registered voters in a September Marist poll, although that gap narrowed among those who said they definitely plan to vote. A Fox survey from a little later in the month similarly showed Kelly with a 5-point edge among those certain to vote, just within the margin of error.\n\nMasters has attempted to moderate his abortion position since winning his August primary, buoyed by a Trump endorsement, but Kelly has continued to attack him on the issue. And a recent court decision allowing the enforcement of a 1901 state ban on nearly all abortions has given Democrats extra fodder to paint Republicans as a threat to women’s reproductive rights.\n\n6. North Carolina\n\nIncumbent: Republican Richard Burr (retiring)\n\nDemetrius Freeman/Pool/Getty Images\n\nNorth Carolina slides up one spot on the rankings, trading places with New Hampshire. The open-seat race to replace retiring GOP Sen. Richard Burr hasn’t generated as much national buzz as other states given that Democrats haven’t won a Senate seat in the state since 2008.\n\nBut it has remained a tight contest with Democrat Cheri Beasley, who is bidding to become the state’s first Black senator, facing off against GOP Rep. Ted Budd, for whom Trump recently campaigned. Beasley lost reelection as state Supreme Court chief justice by only about 400 votes in 2020 when Trump narrowly carried the Tar Heel state. But Democrats hope that she’ll be able to boost turnout among rural Black voters who might not otherwise vote during a midterm election and that more moderate Republicans and independents will see Budd as too extreme. One of Beasley’s recent spots features a series of mostly White, gray-haired retired judges in suits endorsing her as “someone different” while attacking Budd as being a typical politician out for himself.\n\nBudd is leaning into current inflation woes, specifically going after Biden in some ads that feature half-empty shopping carts, without even mentioning Beasley. Senate Leadership Fund is doing the work of trying to tie the Democrat to Washington – one recent spot almost makes her look like the incumbent in the race, superimposing her photo over an image of the US Capitol and displaying her face next to Biden’s. Both SLF and Budd are also targeting Beasley over her support for Democrats’ recently enacted health care, tax and climate bill. “Liberal politician Cheri Beasley is coming for you – and your wallet,” the narrator from one SLF ad intones, before later adding, “Beasley’s gonna knock on your door with an army of new IRS agents.” (The new law increases funding for the IRS, including for audits. But Democrats and the Trump-appointed IRS commissioner have said the intention is to go after wealthy tax cheats, not the middle class.)\n\n7. New Hampshire\n\nIncumbent: Democrat Maggie Hassan\n\nErin Scott/Getty Images\n\nA lot has been made of GOP candidate quality this cycle. But there are few states where the difference between the nominee Republicans have and the one they’d hoped to have has altered these rankings quite as much as New Hampshire.\n\nRetired Army Brig. Gen. Don Bolduc, who lost a 2020 GOP bid for the state’s other Senate seat, won last month’s Republican primary to take on first-term Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan. The problem for him, though, is that he doesn’t have much money to wage that fight. Bolduc had raised a total of $579,000 through August 24 compared with Hassan’s $31.4 million. Senate Leadership Fund is on air in New Hampshire to boost the GOP nominee – attacking Hassan for voting with Biden and her support of her party’s health care, tax and climate package. But because super PACs get much less favorable TV advertising rates than candidates, those millions won’t go anywhere near as far as Hassan’s dollars will.\n\nA year ago, Republicans were still optimistic that Gov. Chris Sununu would run for Senate, giving them a popular abortion rights-supporting nominee in a state that’s trended blue in recent federal elections. Bolduc told WMUR after his primary win that he’d vote against a national abortion ban. But ads from Hassan and Senate Majority PAC have seized on his suggestion in the same interview that the senator should “get over” the abortion issue. Republicans recognize that abortion is a salient factor in a state Biden carried by 7 points, but they also argue that the election – as Bolduc said to WMUR – will be about the economy and that Hassan is an unpopular and out-of-touch incumbent.\n\nHassan led Bolduc 49% to 41% among likely voters in a Granite State Poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center. The incumbent has consolidated Democratic support, but only 83% of Republicans said they were with Bolduc, the survey found. Still, some of those Republicans, like those who said they were undecided, could come home to the GOP nominee as the general election gets closer, which means Bolduc has room to grow. He’ll need more than just Republicans to break his way, however, which is one reason he quickly pivoted on the key issue of whether the 2020 election was stolen days after he won the primary.\n\n8. Ohio\n\nIncumbent: Republican Rob Portman (retiring)\n\nTING SHEN/AFP/POOL/Getty Images\n\nOhio – a state that twice voted for Trump by 8 points – isn’t supposed to be on this list at No. 8, above Florida, which backed the former President by much narrower margins. But it’s at No. 8 for the second month in a row. Republican nominee J.D. Vance’s poor fundraising has forced Senate Leadership Fund to redirect millions from other races to Ohio to shore him up and attack Rep. Tim Ryan, the Democratic nominee who had the airwaves to himself all summer. The 10-term congressman has been working to distance himself from his party in most of his ads, frequently mentioning that he “voted with Trump on trade” and criticizing the “defund the police” movement. Vance is finally on the air, trying to poke some holes in Ryan’s image.\n\nBut polling still shows a tight race with no clear leader. Ryan had an edge with independents in a recent Siena College/Spectrum News poll, which also showed that Vance – Trump’s pick for the nomination – has more work to do to consolidate GOP support after an ugly May primary. Assuming he makes up that support and late undecided voters break his way, Vance will likely hold the advantage in the end given the Buckeye State’s solidifying red lean.\n\n9. Florida\n\nIncumbent: Republican Marco Rubio\n\nDREW ANGERER/AFP/POOL/Getty Images\n\nDemocrats face an uphill battle against GOP Sen. Marco Rubio in an increasingly red-trending state, which Trump carried by about 3 points in 2020 – nearly tripling his margin from four years earlier.\n\nDemocratic Rep. Val Demings, who easily won the party’s nomination in August, is a strong candidate who has even outraised the GOP incumbent, but not by enough to seriously jeopardize his advantage. She’s leaning into her background as the former Orlando police chief – it features prominently in her advertising, in which she repeatedly rejects the idea of defunding the police. Still, Rubio has tried to tie her to the “radical left” in Washington to undercut her own law enforcement background.\n\n10. Colorado\n\nIncumbent: Democrat Michael Bennet\n\nDEMETRIUS FREEMAN/AFP/POOL/Getty Images\n\nDemocratic Sen. Michael Bennet is no stranger to tough races. In 2016, he only won reelection by 6 points against an underfunded GOP challenger whom the national party had abandoned. Given GOP fundraising challenges in some of their top races, the party hasn’t had the resources to seriously invest in the Centennial State this year.\n\nBut in his bid for a third full term, Bennet is up against a stronger challenger in businessman Joe O’Dea, who told CNN he disagreed with the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. His wife and daughter star in his ads as he tries to cut a more moderate profile and vows not to vote the party line in Washington.\n\nBennet, however, is attacking O’Dea for voting for a failed 2020 state ballot measure to ban abortion after 22 weeks of pregnancy and arguing that whatever O’Dea says about supporting abortion rights, he’d give McConnell “the majority he needs” to pass a national abortion ban.", "authors": ["Simone Pathe"], "publish_date": "2022/10/03"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/31/politics/donald-trump-capitol-riot-pardons-2024-republicans/index.html", "title": "Analysis: Donald Trump offers chilling glimpse into possible second ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nFormer President Donald Trump conjured a vision of a second term that would function as a tool of personal vengeance, and become even more authoritarian than his first, when he vowed to pardon US Capitol insurrectionists if he runs for the White House again and wins.\n\nHis pledge at a Texas rally Saturday was accompanied by a call for demonstrations if prosecutors in New York, who are probing Trump’s business practices, and those in Georgia, looking into his attempts to reverse his election loss in the state, do anything that he defined as wrong or illegal. The comments underscore Trump’s obsession with delusional lies that he won the 2020 election, and his determination to put that falsehood at the core of the Republican worldview. As was often the case during his four years in office, Trump’s pardons threat shows that he still makes no distinction between his personal goals and the national interest or rule of law.\n\nBut the former President’s new rhetorical outburst also at times hinted at concern with his own legal position, and comes at a moment when various criminal and congressional lines of investigation seem to be tightening around him. The House select committee probing the January 6, 2021, riot has now penetrated deep inside Trump’s West Wing inner circle, and he lost a Supreme Court bid to keep key documents secret. The likelihood of a damning accounting from the committee, bristling with new details about Trump’s attempt to destroy American democracy, is growing, though the GOP has sought to thwart it at every turn.\n\nAs well as further threatening US democracy on Saturday night, Trump was preoccupied with his personal legal exposure. He fired off a wild attack, which looked to be racially-motivated, on two Black New York prosecutors investigating whether his business empire deliberately falsified accounts to get preferential treatment on loans and income taxes. He also alluded to potential legal peril he’s facing in Fulton County, Georgia, where a Black district attorney has been granted a special grand jury to examine his attempt to steal President Joe Biden’s win in the state.\n\nIn a sign of the potential impact of Trump’s incitement, District Attorney Fani Willis wrote to the FBI on Sunday asking for an immediate risk assessment for the Fulton County Courthouse and government buildings. She said that “security concerns were escalated this weekend” by the former President’s speech and added that her office had already received “communications” from people unhappy with the investigation before Trump’s rally.\n\nTrump’s pressure on investigators prompted Rep. Zoe Lofgren, who sits on the House committee probing the insurrection, to warn that the ex-President had issued a “call to arms.”\n\n“Calling out for demonstrations if, you know, anything adverse, legally, happens to him, is pretty extraordinary. And I think it’s important to think through what message is being sent,” the California Democrat told CNN’s Pamela Brown on Sunday.\n\nIn yet another sign of Trump’s incessantly consuming inability to accept his election loss, he issued a statement that same evening slamming former Vice President Mike Pence for refusing his demands to overturn the result of the democratic election in 2020, and falsely claimed that the then-vice president had the power to do so.\n\nWith Trump and his fans already referring to him as the 45th and the 47th President, his fixation with the 2020 election may also represent a growing problem for the Republican Party. In the midterm elections in November and beyond, the GOP wants to build a case that Biden is weak, flailing at home and abroad and has lost his grip on inflation. But Trump, who wants to use the elections to demonstrate his hold on the GOP grassroots, threatens to detract from that simple Republican message. While the ex-President remains wildly popular with the “Make America Great Again” crowd, his loss in 2020 poses the question of whether Republicans – and independents and suburban swing voters – want to get stuck forever in Trump’s unhinged 2020 feedback loop. Some other potential 2024 presidential candidates, like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, are meanwhile demonstrating that Trump’s populist nationalism and assault on what supporters view as liberal elites will be waged long after the 45th President has left the scene.\n\nDemocrats failed in their attempt to make Trump the bogeyman in last year’s Virginia gubernatorial election, when Republican Glenn Youngkin kept his distance from the ex-President and tapped into voter concerns about education, Covid exhaustion and rising prices. But it will be an easier case for Democrats to make when Trump is holding wild rallies in swing states and again makes himself the face of the party in 2022, spreading his lies, spewing increasingly racist rhetoric and behaving like an autocrat in waiting.\n\nTrump signals possible new abuse of power\n\nTrump’s latest comment on pardons was in line with his attempt to whitewash the truth of a day when his mob, incited at his Washington rally, invaded the Capitol to try and disrupt the certification of Biden’s win, beat up police officers and sent lawmakers running for their lives. Throughout his presidency, he used the chief executive’s pardon power to shield his political cronies.\n\n“If I run and if I win, we will treat those people from January 6 fairly. We will treat them fairly,” Trump said on Saturday. “And if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons. Because they are being treated so unfairly.”\n\nPeople dragged into the criminal justice system because they tried to stage a coup based on lies about a stolen election are not being treated unfairly. But it is characteristic of Trump’s democracy-threatening brand of politics to play up a sense of grievance and victimhood. He spent four years of his twice-impeached presidency sowing a narrative that opponents and subordinates who tried to check him were in fact the ones guilty of abusing power. And he repeatedly sought to force the Justice Department to embrace his anti-constitutional schemes.\n\nSeveral high-profile Republicans quickly dismissed Trump’s offer to help January 6 insurrectionists. New Hampshire Republican Gov. Chris Sununu, who disappointed the national party by passing on a Senate bid, said on Sunday that those responsible for the insurrection must be held accountable. Asked by CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union” about the possibility of a pardon for such Trump supporters, Sununu, who is emerging as a standard bearer for a possible post-Trump GOP, said: “Of course not. Oh my goodness, no.”\n\nOne of Trump’s closest enablers, Sen. Lindsey Graham, also dismissed Trump’s promise in an appearance on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday. “I think it’s inappropriate. I don’t want to reinforce that defiling the Capitol was okay. I don’t want to do anything that would make this more likely in the future,” the South Carolina Republican said. His comments were notable since he has previously warned that the GOP needs to find a way to work with Trump if it wants to wield power. Another Republican senator, Susan Collins of Maine, also condemned Trump’s remarks. “I do not think … President Trump should have made that pledge to do pardons. We should let the judicial process proceed. January 6 was a dark day in our history,” said Collins, who just won reelection in 2020, speaking on ABC’s “This Week.” She also said it was “very unlikely” that she would support Trump if he does officially decide on a third presidential run.\n\nWyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, one of the party’s most vocal critics of Trump and his hold on the Republican Party, tweeted Monday that “Trump uses language he knows caused the Jan 6 violence; suggests he’d pardon the Jan 6 defendants, some of whom have been charged with seditious conspiracy; threatens prosecutors; and admits he was attempting to overturn the election. He’d do it all again if given the chance.”\n\nThis must have been a case of déjà vu for Republicans who often had their talking points overshadowed by the ex-President’s extremism when he was in power. But it is one thing for key Republicans to criticize the ex-President now. On every previous occasion when the GOP faced a choice between appeasing Trump to keep or win power and standing up for American democracy and the rule of law, it has chosen the first option. In a sense, Trump’s demagoguery this weekend was a fresh sign that he is convinced that his personality cult still holds his party in thrall.\n\nThe House Republican conference has already demonstrated that it would act as a vessel of Trump’s power and vengeance if it wins the majority in November. Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has put the ex-President at the center of his efforts to become speaker of the House and has been put on notice by pro-Trump members like Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene that departures from the ex-President’s dogma could doom his hopes. And former Speaker Newt Gingrich encapsulated the extremism of the House GOP when he suggested last week that a new majority should throw members of the January 6 committee in jail.\n\nTrump fires off racist attack on New York prosecutors\n\nThe ex-President’s speech was also notable for an extraordinary assault on prosecutors in New York who are investigating allegations of fraud at his business empire. The ex-President called for “the biggest protests we have ever had” if the prosecutors “do anything wrong or illegal.” New York Attorney General Letitia James and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr. are both leading investigations into Trump’s business empire. And both are Black, a point that Trump hinted at in his complaints about his treatment.\n\n“These prosecutors are vicious, horrible people. They’re racists and they’re very sick – they’re mentally sick,” he said. “They’re going after me without any protection of my rights from the Supreme Court or most other courts. In reality, they’re not after me, they’re after you,” he told his crowd.\n\nIt was the second recent occasion when Trump has sought to stir up racial hatred as part of his increasingly dangerous rhetoric. He claimed at a rally in Arizona two weeks ago that White people could not get Covid-19 treatment or vaccines in New York, grossly distorting a policy that says that race should be one factor in the use of limited therapies for a disease that disproportionately affects Black and Hispanic populations.\n\nTrump’s speech once again presented a conundrum about how much attention should be paid to an ex-President who is using his high profile to stir division and outrage in order to stay politically relevant. Yet given his power in the Republican Party and the intensity of those who follow a once and possible future President who has already incited a coup to overthrow an election, it would be unwise to ignore the implications of his rage.\n\nEven out of office, Trump has convinced millions of Americans that the election was stolen and Biden is an illegitimate president. Multiple Republican-run states have passed laws that make it harder to vote and easier for political officials to interfere in election results rooted in his false claims of voter fraud. And Trump is touring the country inciting polarization and racial animus as the hot favorite for the GOP 2024 nomination.\n\nJohn Dean, a former White House counsel to President Richard Nixon in the Watergate scandal, condemned Trump’s remarks on pardons in a chilling tweet.\n\n“This is beyond being a demagogue to the stuff of dictators. He is defying the rule of law. Failure to confront a tyrant only encourages bad behavior,” Dean wrote. “If thinking Americans don’t understand what Trump is doing and what the criminal justice system must do we are all in big trouble!”", "authors": ["Stephen Collinson"], "publish_date": "2022/01/31"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/08/15/trump-fbi-search-updates/10327490002/", "title": "FBI boosts security; GOP wants Mar-a-Lago search details: Updates", "text": "FBI issues security bulletin after armed assailant attempted to breach Cincinnati office.\n\nDespite revealing that 11 sets of documents were seized, the content of documents remains sealed.\n\nCongressional committees seek info about search and its justification.\n\nWASHINGTON – The Justice Department on Monday opposed releasing an affidavit in support of the warrant to search former President Donald Trump's home, saying its release could hurt the investigation and future probes.\n\nNews organizations had filed a motion to make public the affidavit, which would shed new light on the department's investigation into Trump's alleged removal of classified documents from the White House at the end of his term.\n\nThe department said in a court filing the affidavit contains \"highly sensitive information about witnesses, including witnesses interviewed by the government; specific investigative techniques; and information required by law to be kept under seal.\"\n\nReleasing it is \"highly likely to compromise future investigative steps\" and could \"chill future cooperation by witnesses\" in this investigation and others in the future, the department argued.\n\nThe filing came after a federal judge on Friday unsealed the search warrant at the department's request. The warrant was used in a search of Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate on Aug. 8, when the FBI seized 11 sets of documents.\n\nSince then, the FBI has bolstered security at its offices across the country in wake of increasing threats to federal law enforcement officers, according to two sources familiar with the activity.\n\nIn new territory:The latest unprecedented Trump chapter brings mystery and political thorniness\n\nThree Trump passports being returned\n\nFederal authorities notified Donald Trump's attorneys Monday that three passports belonging to the former president that had been recovered in last week's search at Trump's Florida estate were being returned, a law enforcement official said Monday.\n\nThe notification was made in a Monday morning email, later made public by Trump's representatives.\n\nThe email, sent by Jay Bratt, a top official in Justice's National Security Division, said that \"filter\" agents identified the travel documents–two of them expired along with an active diplomatic passport.\n\n\"We are returning them, and they will be ready for pickup at (the Washington Field Office) at 2 pm today,\" Bratt wrote.\n\nEarlier Monday, Trump claimed that the passports had been stolen, referring to it as as \"assault on a political opponent...\"\n\n-- Kevin Johnson\n\nICYMI:Recap: DOJ search warrant shows Trump being probed in connection with espionage statutes\n\nPennsylvania man arrested after allegedly making death threats against FBI\n\nA Pennsylvania man accused of making threats against the FBI, including a social media post threatening to kill agents, was arrested Friday.\n\nAdam Bies, 46, of Mercer faces up to 10 years in prison over federal charges of influencing, impeding or retaliating against federal law enforcement officers. Bies allegedly posted death threats on Gab under the username “BlankFocus.”\n\n“My only goal is to kill more of them before I drop,” Bies said in one post, according to the Justice Department. In another, he allegedly said “If you work for the FBI then you deserve to die.”\n\nBies allegedly wrote “We the people cannot wait to water the trees of liberty with your blood. I’ll be waiting for you to kick down my door.”\n\nJustice Department officials have warned of a crush of new threats against federal law enforcement officials after the FBI conducted a search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate last week.\n\n-- Rick Rouan\n\nEarlier:FBI's Christopher Wray denounces threats following search of Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago home\n\n'Kill FBI on sight':Truth Social reveals the final days of the Cincinnati attacker\n\nShort of affidavit, some additional Trump search documents could be made public\n\nWhile the Justice Department urged that the affidavit supporting the search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate remain under seal, government lawyers do not oppose releasing some other documents related to last week’s unprecedented law enforcement action.\n\nJustice does not oppose the release of the government’s request to seal the search-related documents and the judge’s order to keep the material under wraps.\n\n-- Kevin Johnson\n\nTrump's other probes:Mar-a-Lago document inquiry is only part of a storm gathering around the former president\n\nText with USA TODAY politics reporters:Elections news right on your phone, from our top reporters\n\nNational Security Archive president raised red flags in 2020\n\nTom Blanton, president of the National Security Archive at George Washington University, raised red flags about the pack-up of presidential material immediately after the election on Nov. 13, 2020 in a letter to White House Attorney Pat Cipollone.\n\nHe pointed to Trump’s norm-breaking administration, which eschewed records of meetings with foreign leaders, reprimanded its own attorneys for taking notes during meetings and told the Secret Service to not keep logs of visitors to Mar-a-Lago or other Trump properties.\n\n“This ongoing pattern of behavior raises a red flag that the records of the Trump presidency will not be properly preserved for the public, their rightful owner. With the Trump administration drawing to the close, it is critical that the American public receive adequate assurances that all the presidential records of this administration will be preserved and transferred to the National Archives and Records Administration by Jan. 20, 2021 as the law requires.”\n\n-- Nick Penzenstadler\n\nThe news comes to you:Sign up for the OnPolitics newsletter here\n\nJustice Dept opposes release of search warrant affidavit; would ‘irreparably harm’ criminal investigation\n\nThe Justice Department is opposing release of the affidavit supporting the search warrant issued for former President Donald Trump's Florida estate where FBI agents seized a trove of classified documents last week.\n\nIn court documents filed Monday, Justice lawyers countered a consortium of media companies seeking the document's release, saying that the unsealing of the document would \"irreparably harm the government's ongoing criminal investigation.\"\n\n\"There remain compelling reasons, including to protect the integrity of an ongoing law enforcement investigation that implicates national security, that support keeping the affidavit sealed,\" Justice attorneys argued.\n\n– Kevin Johnson\n\nWhat's in the search warrant? The search warrant for Trump's Mar-a-Lago home has been released. Here's what it says.\n\nJustice filing: Affidavit contains 'critically important and detailed investigative facts'\n\nThe affidavit, according to a Justice filing contains \"critically important and detailed investigative facts: highly sensitive information about witnesses, including witnesses interviewed by the government; specific investigative techniques; and information required by law to be kept under seal.\"\n\n\"If disclosed, the affidavit would serve as a roadmap to the government’s ongoing investigation, providing specific details about its direction and likely course, in a manner that is highly likely to compromise future investigative steps,\" Justice attorneys asserted.\n\nDetailed information about witnesses, the government argued, \"would impact their willingness to cooperate with the investigation\"\n\n\"Disclosure of the government’s affidavit at this stage would also likely chill future cooperation by witnesses whose assistance may be sought as this investigation progresses, as well as in other high-profile investigations,\" the filing states. \"The fact that this investigation implicates highly classified materials further underscores the need to protect the integrity of the investigation and exacerbates the potential for harm if information is disclosed to the public prematurely or improperly.\"\n\n– Kevin Johnson\n\nThe documents:Read the FBI's search warrant for Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago property\n\nTrump calls DOJ probe a 'hoax':Experts, citing the Espionage Act, have a grimmer assessment\n\nHouse GOP tells DOJ to preserve documents about search\n\nRepublicans on the House Judiciary Committee wrote Monday to Attorney General Merrick Garland, FBI Director Christopher Wray and White House chief of staff Ron Klain, telling them to preserve documents related to the search of Donald Trump's estate.\n\nThe letters asked to preserve all documents relating to the execution of the search, all documents about communications related to the decision to conduct the search and all documents and communications referring to confidential human sources relating to the search. Garland has said he personally authorized the search.\n\nRepublicans are limited in how much they can investigate under Democratic House leadership. But Republicans are preparing multiple investigations of the Biden administration and Democrats, in anticipation of regaining control of the House in the 2022 midterm elections.\n\n\"The FBI’s unprecedented raid of President Trump’s residence is a shocking escalation of the Biden Administration’s weaponization of law-enforcement resources against its political opponents,\" wrote the lawmakers led by Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio. \"The American people deserve answers for the Biden Administration’s continued misuse of law-enforcement resources against its political opponents.\"\n\nWhat was seized in search?\n\nDespite the Justice Department releasing the search warrant of Donald Trump’s Florida resort, details remained unclear Monday about what federal authorities seized in the unprecedented criminal investigation of a former president.\n\nThe search warrant unsealed Friday said “secret” and “top secret” documents were among the 11 sets of documents removed from the Mar-a-Lago. The warrant said Trump was under investigation for potential improper removal of classified documents, obstruction of justice and violations of the Espionage Act.\n\nBut the department hasn’t said what sorts of documents were found. While Trump denounced the raid and supported the release of the search warrant, he hasn’t said what was taken, either.\n\nThe search came at a time when Trump and his associates are under scrutiny from the FBI, the Justice Department, the Internal Revenue Service and other agencies.\n\nTwo days after the Mar-a-Lago search, Trump asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during a deposition related to a separate civil fraud investigation into the Trump Organization's finances led by New York Attorney General Letitia James.\n\nTrump investigations:Trump in midst of gathering storm of investigations. Mar-a-Lago document inquiry is one of many.\n\nCongress has questions about search\n\nCongressional committees want to know more about the search and what was found.\n\nThe chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said the search warrant disclosed “a serious risk” to disclosure of national secrets.\n\n“That is among the highest of designation in terms of the extremely grave damage to national security that could be done if it were disclosed,” Schiff told “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on CBS on Sunday. “So, the fact that they were in an unsecure place that is guarded with nothing more than a padlock or whatever security they had at a hotel is deeply alarming.”\n\nSchiff and the head of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., have asked for a damage assessment from the director of national intelligence.\n\nMore:Trump calls DOJ probe a 'hoax'; experts, citing the Espionage Act, have a grimmer assessment\n\nGOP seeks justification for search\n\nRep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., a former FBI agent and federal prosecutor, wants to learn more about what justified the search from the affidavit submitted to justify probable cause for the search, which remains sealed.\n\n“It was an unprecedented action that needs to be supported by unprecedented justification,” Fitzpatrick told “Face the Nation.” “This has never happened before in our country's history.”\n\nSen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., on NBC's \"Meet the Press,\" said the Justice Department needs to lay out its case to \"show that this was not just a fishing expedition.\"\n\nWhy did Trump keep the documents?\n\nAnother open question is why Trump kept the documents in the first place.\n\nThe Presidential Records Act says all presidential documents must be retained, both for current reference and the historical record. The documents are supposed to be retained even if they weren’t classified.\n\nBut the National Archives and Records Administration, which traditionally stores presidential documents, earlier discovered boxes of materials missing.\n\nThe agency in January obtained 15 boxes of presidential records that the former president had stored at his Mar-a-Lago club, including correspondence with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that Trump described as \"love letters,\" as well as a letter former President Barack Obama left before Trump's inauguration.\n\nTrump advisers denied \"any nefarious intent\" and told The Washington Post the boxes contained \"mementos, gifts, letters from world leaders and other correspondence.\"", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/08/15"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/01/25/onpolitics-who-else-searching-their-former-offices/11122162002/", "title": "OnPolitics: Who else is searching their former offices?", "text": "Hey OnPolitics readers, in case you missed it, we have a daily live blog with the top news of the day!\n\nHere's what you'll find in today's live blog:\n\nAfter classified documents were found at the home of another high-profile politician, former VP Mike Pence, who else is searching their former offices?\n\nNot Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, David Jackson reports for the blog: Aides for the former presidents say they are not searching their offices for classified documents because those items were turned over when they left office.\n\nBush's office said: “That search was conducted before he left the White House, when all of his Presidential records – classified and unclassified – were turned over to the National Archives.\"\n\n“That search was conducted before he left the White House, when all of his Presidential records – classified and unclassified – were turned over to the National Archives.\" Obama's office responded: \"Consistent with the Presidential Records Act, all of President Obama’s classified records were submitted to the National Archives upon leaving office. NARA continues to assume physical and legal custody of President Obama’s materials to date.\"\n\n\"Consistent with the Presidential Records Act, all of President Obama’s classified records were submitted to the National Archives upon leaving office. NARA continues to assume physical and legal custody of President Obama’s materials to date.\" According to Clinton's office: “All of President Clinton’s classified materials were properly turned over to NARA in accordance with the Presidential Records Act.”\n\n👀 Keep reading the latest political news, including buzz around who's jockeying to be 2024 presidential candidate Donald Trump's running mate.\n\nReal quick: Stories you'll want to read\n\nU.S. will send M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine: President Joe Biden announced that the U.S. will send 31 of its frontline battle tanks to Ukraine, reversing his previous reluctance to provide armored vehicles as Ukrainian forces prepare for a new Russian offensive.\n\nPresident Joe Biden announced that the U.S. will send 31 of its frontline battle tanks to Ukraine, reversing his previous reluctance to provide armored vehicles as Ukrainian forces prepare for a new Russian offensive. 'Blueprint for a Renters Bill of Rights': The Biden administration announced efforts to protect renters and identify unfair practices that prevent people from finding house. The blueprint, explained.\n\nThe Biden administration announced efforts to protect renters and identify unfair practices that prevent people from finding house. The blueprint, explained. GOP Speaker Kevin McCarthy's committee moves: McCarthy won't put Democratic Reps. Eric Swalwell and Adam Schiff to the House Intelligence Committee, keeping a promise he made to conservatives on the campaign trail. McCarthy says it's not political, but Dems disagree.\n\nMcCarthy won't put Democratic Reps. Eric Swalwell and Adam Schiff to the House Intelligence Committee, keeping a promise he made to conservatives on the campaign trail. McCarthy says it's not political, but Dems disagree. VP Harris visits California: Vice President Kamala Harris is visiting California in the aftermath of two mass killings in three days that left 18 people dead and renewed the president’s push for gun control. Find live updates here.\n\n🔮 What's next for the RNC? The Republican National Committee is hoping for a low-key meeting this week in California, but divisions among Donald Trump followers over party leadership could fuel a potential divide within the GOP. Here's who might be picked as the RNC's leader and other issues facing the party.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/01/25"}]}
{"question_id": "20230127_9", "search_time": "2023/01/28/05:15", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/15/politics/russia-ukraine-politics-us-putin-diplomacy/index.html", "title": "Vladimir Putin: A world on edge awaits Russian President's critical ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nThe world is suspended in an extraordinary moment of geopolitical limbo, on edge for a possible Russian invasion of Ukraine amid conflicting signals in Moscow, confusion in Kyiv and dire warnings from Washington.\n\nAlready extreme tensions rose even further as one of the most dangerous moments in Europe since World War II stretches nerves and leaves everyone – apart perhaps from President Vladimir Putin – wondering what is next.\n\nOn Monday, there were signs of a possible last-minute openness to a diplomatic off-ramp in the Kremlin, but the spectacle of an estimated 130,000 troops on high alert outside Ukraine’s borders suggested a feint as much as a blink by Putin. And Russia announced Tuesday that some of its troops would return to their bases after completing recent drills, but stressed that major military exercises would continue. It was not immediately clear how many troops were involved, following weeks of military buildups. Still, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said signs from Moscow showed that “diplomacy should continue.” He added: “This gives grounds for cautious optimism. But so far, we have not seen any sign of de-escalation on the ground.”\n\nTuesday’s developments saw confusion reigning – not for the first time – in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, as President Volodymyr Zelensky, a young leader facing the highest stakes, sarcastically dismissed Western projections of a possible Russian invasion on February 16. And in contrast with the foreboding signs elsewhere, couples flocked to Kyiv’s bars and restaurants to celebrate Valentine’s Day despite the looming threat of war.\n\nIn Washington, the mood music grew even darker. While believing that Putin hasn’t finally made up his mind, multiple officials suggested Russia could move against Ukraine at any moment. And one source familiar with the matter predicted an invasion was more likely this week than not – and said Moscow could maintain its current force posture for quite some time even if it doesn’t cross the border.\n\nThere is a palpable sense that Russia and the West have reached a historic fork in the road. Down one route lies a return to the confrontation and tensions that prevailed for decades during the Cold War. Down the other might lie a diplomatic fudge that no key player seems able to frame given stark Russian demands.\n\nA crisis America doesn’t need\n\nAt a moment when many Americans are facing rising prices for basic goods and gasoline and are exhausted by the Covid-19 pandemic, the Ukraine crisis seems distant and esoteric. But a Russian invasion could force up energy prices even more and rock stock markets, on which many rely for their retirements.\n\nThe crisis is largely a creation of Putin and his personal and disputed version of history that holds that Ukraine, which was part of the Soviet Union until its breakup in 1991, should be part of greater Russia. It also stems from his deep resentment about how the Cold War ended and the admission of former Warsaw Pact nations, which had been aligned with Soviets, into NATO. In effect, Putin is holding Ukraine hostage with a demand for the withdrawal of those NATO forces from Eastern Europe – a concession that would contradict 70 years of the West’s doctrine that independent nations choose their own destinies.\n\nIf America’s long support for democracy and free-market capitalism is to mean anything in a new era when its power and example are being challenged by autocracies like China, it has no alternative but to stand up for Ukraine.\n\nWaiting on Putin\n\nIn essence, the world was left wondering and worrying Monday what one man – Putin – will do next. There are plenty of reasons why the Russian leader may step back at the brink. An invasion might swiftly overcome Ukraine’s forces. But the country is bigger than Germany or France and an insurgency – perhaps supported by US weapons and funds – could be a disaster for Russia. The sight of Russian troops being killed could further hurt Putin’s declining popularity. But a burst of nationalism triggered by war abroad could boost his standing in a nation he rules with an iron fist.\n\nAnd Putin is not shy about wielding military might for political advantage, for instance against separatists in the Russian republic of Chechnya and in his annexation of Crimea – in Ukraine – in 2014.\n\nBut some analysts believe that he has already achieved many of his objectives – effectively setting back any aspirations Ukraine may have of joining NATO in the future. He has inserted Russia, disdained by many leaders as a declining power, back into the spotlight and is welcoming a parade of foreign leaders and ministers to Moscow. On Tuesday, Germany’s new chancellor, Olaf Scholz, will visit the vastly more experienced Putin in a test of his resolve stiffened by a White House visit last week.\n\nThe continuing diplomatic dance is a reason for hope that war could be avoided. But the fact that Putin has built such a massive force around Ukraine, in Russia, Belarus and in the Black Sea means that a decision not to invade may be seen as a loss of face. The former KGB officer, who was in East Germany when the Berlin Wall fell, also feels the humiliation of the Soviet collapse deeply. He seems to believe that NATO, a defensive alliance, is an offensive threat to Russia, one that may require him to build a buffer around Russian territory by invading Ukraine – which has borders with Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Romania – all NATO members once behind the Iron Curtain.\n\nThe US will not send troops to Ukraine, because it’s not a NATO member. But if Putin invades, troops from the US and Russia, the world’s two top nuclear powers, could soon be in close proximity in Europe, with the alarming possibility of miscalculations.\n\nHope for diplomacy?\n\nA day that saw glimmers of hope and ended with even more chilling warnings from the United States started in Moscow, where Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had what appeared to be a scripted on-camera event.\n\n“I must say that there is always a chance,” Lavrov said, referring to the prospects for diplomacy. Putin had earlier asked Lavrov whether efforts to talk Russia down were “just an attempt to drag us into an endless negotiation process that has no logical resolution.” His comment was ironic since many in the West believe this is exactly Putin’s game and that talks are just a bluff until the moment is right to move on Ukraine. Still, the appearance could indicate Putin is finally seeking a diplomatic off-ramp, though NATO would never accept his demands to leave Eastern Europe.\n\n“Signals today suggest that they may be looking at some last-minute diplomatic maneuvers,” Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut told CNN’s Becky Anderson in an interview. “I do think as Putin gets closer to pulling the trigger here, he is better understanding the costs.” Washington and its allies have threatened the most crippling sanctions ever on Russia’s economy if Putin invades.\n\nMichael Bociurkiw, the former spokesman for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, also expressed tempered hope.\n\n“It’s hard to know what to believe coming out of Mr. Lavrov’s mouth,” Bociurkiw said on “CNN Newsroom” but added that the airing of his encounter with Putin on Russian state TV was significant.\n\n“To me, it indicated that they’re willing to hold off on a possible military solution to their Ukraine issue. There are more foreign ministers coming later in the week. … So that was their way of saying, ‘We’re open to more dialogue.’ “\n\nDark warnings from Washington\n\nStill, if US sources are to be believed, the photo op in Moscow was all for show.\n\nPentagon spokesman John Kirby said Putin “continues to add to” his “menu of options” with new land, sea and air forces. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that the US had closed its Kyiv embassy “due to the dramatic acceleration in the buildup of Russian forces.” A source familiar with the matter told CNN’s Natasha Bertrand that a Russian attack on Ukraine is more likely this week than not, and if it doesn’t happen on that timetable it doesn’t mean that the threat has passed.\n\nSenators emerging from a briefing with national security adviser Jake Sullivan were equally pessimistic. “This is a very dangerous situation,” Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, told reporters. The committee’s chair, Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, added: “The forces the Russians have massed, they could launch at any point. Nothing I heard today dissuaded me from that.”\n\nGrim US rhetoric continued a trend of remarkably frank US and Western commentary on the situation based on declassified information, apparently designed both to increase pressure on Putin and to smoke out any attempt by Moscow to fake an incident as a ruse to justify an invasion.\n\nBut all along, there has been a gap between Washington and Kyiv on the possibility of an invasion. Zelensky sent shock waves all the way to the US on Monday when he named February 16 a day of national unity, while referencing foreign fears of an invasion. But when CNN asked Mykhailo Podoliak, a presidential adviser, how to take his comments, he replied: “Of course, with irony.” It seems an odd time for sarcasm. But Zelensky is a former comic actor and might feel justified in dark humor given the circumstances.\n\nThis story has been updated with additional developments and reaction.", "authors": ["Stephen Collinson"], "publish_date": "2022/02/15"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/17/politics/us-ukraine-grain/index.html", "title": "US and allies struggle to come up with plans to get vital grain ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nThe Biden administration is working closely with European allies to try to develop routes to get Ukrainian wheat and corn out of the country after Russia blocked Ukrainian ships from departing with grain that is vital for food supplies around the world, particularly in Africa and the Middle East.\n\nThere is no silver bullet to solve the complicated challenge, and officials are considering a wide array of options to get the food exports safely out by rail, sea and air, two US diplomats and four European diplomats told CNN. Possible scenarios are being studied and devised whether Russia consents or not.\n\nThe challenge will be a major focus for US Secretary of State Antony Blinken when he convenes a ministerial meeting on food security and chairs a discussion on the matter at the United Nations in New York on Wednesday and Thursday, the diplomats said.\n\n“This is far from a done deal. There are so many moving pieces, so many things could go wrong with these discussions,” another official familiar with the discussions said.\n\nAmid concerns about a global food shortage, urgency around the effort is growing as prices for wheat, grain, corn, soybeans and vegetable oil have soared in recent weeks due to Russia’s invasion. However, there is no simple solution available with major obstacles to all modes of transport as the war shows no sign of letting up.\n\nTime is of the essence: Ukraine is set to run out of storage facilities for agricultural products in the next two months, explained an official from the World Food Program. If there is no movement in the coming months, Ukrainian farmers will have no place to store next seasons’ crop and they will be not paid enough to sustain their businesses.\n\nBefore the war, wheat supplies from Russia and Ukraine accounted for almost 30% of global trade, and Ukraine is the world’s fourth-largest exporter of corn and the fifth-largest exporter of wheat, according to the US State Department. The United Nations World Food Program – which helps combat global food insecurity – buys about half of its wheat from Ukraine each year and has warned of dire consequences if the Ukrainian ports are not opened up.\n\nGrain being used as ‘an instrument in a hybrid war’\n\nThe issue was a key focus at both the G7 Foreign Ministers meeting in Germany and the US-EU Trade and Technology Council in France over the weekend.\n\n“We must not be naive. Russia has now expanded the war against Ukraine to many states as a war of grain,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Saturday after the G7 meeting. “It is not collateral damage, it is an instrument in a hybrid war that is intended to weaken cohesion against Russia’s war.”\n\nIn a joint statement released following the meeting, the G7 foreign ministers said they are “determined to contribute additional resources to and support all relevant efforts that aim to ensure availability and accessibility of food, energy and financial resources as well as basic commodities for all.” The foreign ministers also called for Russia to “cease immediately its attacks on key transport infrastructure in Ukraine” to enable the export of agricultural products.\n\n“There are discussions ongoing at this moment to see how these corridors can be unblocked. We know that mines have been placed in the Black Sea. The Russians have blocked Ukrainian ships from moving in – or out. And this is something that the secretary general has addressed with the Russians. It’s something we have been discussing as well with the Ukrainians: how we can work to get some of the product that is available to Ukraine out into the marketplace,” said US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield on Monday, explaining that Ukraine used to be a “breadbasket for the developing world.”\n\nAlthough UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres discussed the problem when he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin last month, there have been no breakthroughs. Some US and European diplomats want the UN to play a more active role, but the organization is hesitant due to the ongoing combat, US and European diplomats said.\n\nThe most efficient way to transport the grain would be to ship it, but Russia’s blockade represents a huge challenge. Sea routes are still under consideration, possibly using neutral UN-marked boats, the sources said. But there are concerns about how practical it would be to test such an idea with an aggressive Russia, diplomats said.\n\n“The Black Sea is not entirely ruled out but it’s pretty complicated,” one said, adding that Guterres has been actively involved in those preliminary discussions on getting goods out by ship.\n\nUsing cargo planes is the least likely of the three options, the official added, due to the dangers in the air and their relatively small capacity compared to trains and ships.\n\nRussia has managed to seal off Ukraine’s access to the Sea of Azov but Ukraine retains control over its Black Sea coastline and the port of Odesa, its primary maritime export hub. Still, due to Russian aggressions, ships are not leaving Odesa right now. Russia has also struck the port with missiles and the presence of Russian and Ukrainian mines makes in the sea makes voyages dangerous.\n\nTurkey – which is a major player in the Black Sea and controls access to it – is involved in the discussions with the Russians on this effort, said a US official and another source familiar with the ongoing conversations.\n\n“There is a swathe of diplomacy on applying pressure to Russia to encourage safe corridor and that’s where the UN has more focus,” a European diplomat said.\n\nThe diplomats tell CNN that one solution would be to ship the grain via rail given that, for now, it’s the safest way to transport large volumes. Talks also are taking place between Ukraine and the European Union about using rail to transport supplies into Romania, Slovakia and Poland. However, the efforts are being complicated by differences in the rail systems used by Ukraine and neighboring countries.\n\nRussia sabotaging agricultural production, Ukraine says\n\nWhile Ukraine’s routes out of the country are limited, Russia is actively sabotaging agricultural production and its forces are stealing farm equipment and thousands of tons of grain from Ukrainian farmers in areas they have occupied, as well as targeting food storage sites with artillery, Ukrainian officials have said.\n\nThe $40 billion in supplemental assistance to Ukraine, passed by the US House of Representatives but awaiting passage by the US Senate, includes more than $5 billion to address global food insecurity caused by the war. The bulk of that funding will go to the US Agency for International Development “to provide emergency food assistance to people around the world suffering from hunger as a result of the conflict in Ukraine and other urgent humanitarian needs of populations and communities inside Ukraine,” according to a summary from the House Appropriations Committee.\n\nIn an interview with CNN last week, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis floated the idea of providing a security corridor so that the Ukrainians can export their wheat and corn, saying, “that could be done by the countries who are affected by the food crisis.”\n\nDaria Kaleniuk, a leading Ukrainian civil society activist, said that “the quickest and the most sustainable way to global food security is to unblock Ukrainian ports,” and called on the international community to provide Ukraine with the weapons needed to militarily help do so.\n\n“We need anti-ship missiles in Ukraine to deter Russian warships, and we need intervention of the UN and other countries and nations which have to regain control over international waters,” she said at a roundtable with reporters at the German Marshall Fund in Washington last week.\n\nMeanwhile, concerns about the looming food crisis have been exacerbated by the announcement by India that it will ban wheat exports due to concerns over drought in the country. Thomas-Greenfield said on Monday that the US hoped that India would “reconsider that position” as they hear concerns from around the world.", "authors": ["Kylie Atwood Alex Marquardt Jennifer Hansler", "Kylie Atwood", "Alex Marquardt", "Jennifer Hansler"], "publish_date": "2022/05/17"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/18/politics/us-nato-ukraine-military-aid-dilemma/index.html", "title": "US and NATO face new dilemma on Ukraine aid | CNN Politics", "text": "CNN —\n\nUkraine’s military took a defiant stand this weekend – refusing to give in to Russia’s demand for Kyiv’s troops in the port city of Mariupol to surrender — at the same time that President Joe Biden and his allies face a new precipice in deciding how far the US can go in arming the embattled country, as Russia signals that it may take more aggressive action to stop the flow of weapons from the US and NATO.\n\nThere are new worries about how quickly Ukraine could run out of ammunition as heavier fighting intensifies in the Donbas where Russia is trying to encircle and cut off Ukrainian forces in their quest to control that region. And officials in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv have reported that seven people were killed and 11 were injured in Russian missile strikes Monday, citing preliminary figures that may still rise.\n\nAs he tries to keep the pressure on allies to lend greater support in this next phase, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is arguing that the West must view that fight as a critical pivot point in curbing the unbridled ambitions of Russian President Vladimir Putin and demonstrating the West’s commitment to defending democracy against a voracious autocratic power.\n\nZelensky warned that the battle ahead in the Donbas “can influence the course of the whole war” and said his country has no intention of giving up territory in the eastern part of Ukraine to end the war during an exclusive interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper that aired Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”\n\nIf Russia is able to capture the Donbas region, he warned, it is entirely possible that Putin could renew his attempt to take control of Kyiv. When pressed by Tapper on whether he was satisfied with the US announcement last week of another $800 million in military aid to bolster Ukraine’s forces in the Donbas, Zelensky replied, “of course we need more.”\n\n“There will never be enough. Enough isn’t possible,” Zelensky said, as he explained the challenges that lie ahead in the eastern region of his country. “There is a full-scale war ongoing today, so we still need a lot more than what we have today. … We do not have technical advantages over our enemy. We’re just not on the same level there.”\n\n“For Biden’s confirmed $800 million in support, what’s most important is speed,” he added.\n\nBut even as that latest aid has begun arriving in the region, CNN’s Barbara Starr reported this weekend that there is rising concern about how quickly Ukraine could deplete its stores of ammunition in this next battle.\n\nThough the US announced that it was sending 18 155mm Howitzer cannons and 40,000 artillery rounds as part of its latest package, Starr reported that a US official warned that the aid could be used up within a matter of days as heavy fighting intensifies in the Donbas.\n\nGiven those pressures, US officials must be clearer in defining their objectives and whether America is committed to doing what it takes to help Ukraine win, retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, the former commanding general of the US Army in Europe, said Sunday in an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.” While the latest round of US aid was “substantial,” he said it was not enough.\n\n“What the Ukrainians need desperately are long-range fires, rockets, artillery, drones that can disrupt or destroy the systems that are causing so much damage in Ukrainian cities, and which will also play a critical role in this next phase, if and when it begins,” Hodges said. “I would really like to hear the administration talk about winning and having a sense of urgency on getting these things there. Otherwise, this window of opportunity we have, the next couple of weeks, to really disrupt Russia’s attempt to build up is going to pass.”\n\nA ‘red line’ in Mariupol\n\nA critical piece of Russia’s current campaign is capturing the port city of Mariupol in an effort to create Putin’s desired land bridge from eastern Ukraine all the way to the Crimean peninsula. Russia’s Ministry of Defense had demanded that Ukrainian soldiers in Mariupol surrender by 1 p.m. local time on Sunday, but then said in a statement that the ultimatum was ignored.\n\nIn its statement, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said it had surrounded the remaining Ukrainian soldiers and others who have been holding out at the Azovstal steel plant. “In case of further resistance, all of them will be eliminated,” the statement said.\n\nAn adviser to Mariupol’s mayor said Sunday that Russian forces have announced that the city will be closed for entry and exit on Monday and that they had begun issuing passes that would be required to move within the city itself.\n\nBoth Zelensky and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba framed the fate of Mariupol as another critical turning point in the war – in part because the human toll of Russia’s relentless shelling of that city is still unknown.\n\nZelensky has previously warned that the elimination of military forces in Mariupol could bring any further peace negotiations with Russia to a halt. On Sunday, Kuleba noted that it was hard for his country to continue talks with Russia after the atrocities in Bucha. Russia’s determination to raze Mariupol “to the ground at any cost” could become “a red line,” he said during an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.”\n\nIn a chilling admission, Zelensky told Tapper that no one yet knows how many people have died in Mariupol. “If anyone gives you a figure, it would be a total lie,” Zelensky said. He added that “several thousand, tens of thousands” were forced to evacuate the city in the direction of Russia, leaving no document trail, and that the Ukrainian government does not know where they are.\n\n“About 5,000 children deported from this region to Russia’s side because they didn’t allow them to go to the Ukraine side,” Zelensky said in the interview. “(Those) children. Where are they? Nobody knows.”\n\nWhile he said he was still prepared to engage in diplomatic discussions with Russia if that opportunity arises, it has become harder to do so as he has watched the staggering toll of Putin’s aggression on his country. “What’s the price of all this? It’s people. The many people who have been killed,” Zelensky said. “And who ends up paying for all of this? It’s Ukraine. Just us.”\n\nPutin’s hardened mindset\n\nOne of the greatest challenges for the Biden administration and its allies thus far has been determining where Putin’s “red line” lies and how much they can continue to assist Ukraine without provoking the Russian president to widen the war, potentially placing NATO troops in harm’s way.\n\nAs the US prepared to send the $800 million aid package last week, Russia warned in a diplomatic note to the State Department that there would be “unpredictable consequences” if the US and allies continue to send in the heavier duty weaponry that Ukraine has sought.\n\nMilitary experts interpreted the demarche as sign that Russia could contemplate targeting not only the weapons themselves as they arrive on Ukrainian soil, but also NATO supply convoys that ferry the weapons to Ukraine’s borders.\n\nAs world leaders try to glean what Putin is thinking – and how far he might go in trying to punish the nations that help Ukraine – Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, who met face-to-face with Putin last week, said it was clear that Putin believes he’s winning the war and is operating “in his own war logic.”\n\n“He thinks the war is necessary for security guarantees for the Russian Federation. He doesn’t trust the international community. He blames the Ukrainians for genocide in the Donbas region,” Nehammer said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday, referring to the fictional propaganda that Putin has spouted to justify his acts of aggression against Ukraine. “He is now in his world, but I think he knows what is going on now in Ukraine.”\n\nGiven the immense challenges of facing off against a leader with that warped and rigid mindset, Zelensky is trying to persuade world leaders to become more involved in the next phase by warning that they should be worried about the possible consequences of Putin’s next steps – including that he could use a tactical nuclear weapon because he has shown so little regard for human lives during his invasion of Ukraine.\n\nZelensky also issued a challenge to Ukraine’s allies when Tapper asked him whether the promise that world leaders make each year on Holocaust Remembrance Day – in the refrain “Never Again” – now rings hollow given that their efforts so far have failed to stop the atrocities that Russia has inflicted throughout the course of its unprovoked invasion.\n\n“I don’t believe the world,” Zelensky said plainly when asked about that refrain. “Never again. Really, everybody is talking about this and yet, as you can see, not everyone has got the guts.”", "authors": ["Maeve Reston"], "publish_date": "2022/04/18"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/20/europe/ukraine-russia-tensions-explainer-cmd-intl/index.html", "title": "Tensions are high on Ukraine's border with Russia. Here's what you ...", "text": "Kyiv, Ukraine CNN —\n\nTensions between Ukraine and Russia are at their highest in years, with a Russian troop build-up near the two nations’ borders spurring fears that Moscow could launch an invasion.\n\nUkraine has warned that Russia is trying to destabilize the country ahead of any planned military invasion. Western powers have repeatedly warned Russia against further aggressive moves against Ukraine.\n\nThe Kremlin denies it is planning to attack and argues that NATO support for Ukraine – including increased weapons supplies and military training – constitutes a growing threat on Russia’s western flank.\n\nThe picture is complicated – but here’s a breakdown of what we know.\n\nWhat’s the situation on the border?\n\nThe United States and NATO have described the movements and concentrations of troops in and around Ukraine as “unusual.”\n\nAs many as 100,000 Russian troops have remained amassed at the Ukrainian border, despite warnings from US President Joe Biden and European leaders of serious consequences should Putin move ahead with an invasion. And US intelligence findings in December estimated that Russia could begin a military offensive in Ukraine “as soon as early 2022.”\n\nSpeaking alongside his Ukrainian counterpart in Kyiv on January 19, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Russia had “ratcheted up its threats and amassed nearly 100,000 forces on Ukraine’s border, which it could double on relatively short order.”\n\nIn late 2021, satellite photos revealed Russian hardware – including self-propelled guns, battle tanks and infantry fighting vehicles – on the move at a training ground roughly 186 miles (300 km) from the border.\n\nThe Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s latest intelligence assessment says Russia has now deployed more than 127,000 troops near Ukraine, including some 21,000 air and sea personnel, transferred more Iskander operational-tactical missiles to the border, and increased its intelligence activity against the country.\n\nThe assessment came after three rounds of diplomatic talks between Russia and the West aimed at de-escalating the crisis failed to produce a resolution.\n\nUS officials have said a Russian invasion of Ukraine could happen at any point in the next month or two.\n\nMany of Russia’s military bases are to the west of the vast country – the direction from which history suggests any threats are most likely to come. Russia’s Defense Ministry has said it is conducting “regular” winter military drills in its southern region, parts of which border Ukraine.\n\nMeanwhile, Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions bordering Russia, an area known as Donbas, have been under the control of Russian-backed separatists since 2014. Russian forces are also present in the area, referred to by Ukraine as “temporarily occupied territories,” although Russia denies it.\n\nThe front lines of the conflict have barely moved in five years, but there are frequent small-scale clashes and sniper attacks. Russia was angered when Ukrainian forces deployed a Turkish-made combat drone for the first time in October to strike a position held by the pro-Russian separatists.\n\nRussia also has forces numbering in the tens of thousands at its massive naval base in Crimea, the Ukrainian territory it annexed in 2014. The Crimean peninsula, which lies to the south of the rest of Ukraine, is now connected by a road bridge to mainland Russia.\n\nRussian tanks take part in a military drills at Molkino training ground in the Krasnodar region, Russia, on December 14, 2021. AP\n\nWhat’s the history of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia?\n\nTensions between Ukraine and Russia, both former Soviet states, escalated in late 2013 over a landmark political and trade deal with the European Union. After the pro-Russian then-President, Viktor Yanukovych, suspended the talks – reportedly under pressure from Moscow – weeks of protests in Kyiv erupted into violence.\n\nThen, in March 2014, Russia annexed Crimea, an autonomous peninsula in southern Ukraine with strong Russian loyalties, on the pretext that it was defending its interests and those of Russian-speaking citizens. First, thousands of Russian-speaking troops, dubbed “little green men” and later acknowledged by Moscow to be Russian soldiers, poured into the Crimean peninsula. Within days, Russia completed its annexation in a referendum that was slammed by Ukraine and most of the world as illegitimate.\n\nRussian soldiers patrol the area surrounding the Ukrainian military unit in Perevalnoye, outside Simferopol, Crimea, on March 20, 2014. Filippo MonteforteAFP/Getty Images\n\nShortly afterwards, pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions declared their independence from Kyiv, prompting months of heavy fighting. Despite Kyiv and Moscow signing a peace deal in Minsk in 2015, brokered by France and Germany, there have been repeated ceasefire violations.\n\nAccording to UN figures, there have been more than 3,000 conflict-related civilian deaths in eastern Ukraine since March 2014.\n\nThe European Union and US have imposed a series of measures in response to Russia’s actions in Crimea and eastern Ukraine, including economic sanctions targeting individuals, entities and specific sectors of the Russian economy.\n\nThe Kremlin accuses Ukraine of stirring up tensions in the country’s east and of violating the Minsk ceasefire agreement.\n\nUkrainian soldiers prepare to support the withdrawal of troops on February 19, 2015 in Artemivsk, Ukraine. Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images\n\nWhat’s Russia’s view?\n\nThe Kremlin has repeatedly denied that Russia plans on invading Ukraine, insisting Russia does not pose a threat to anyone and that the country moving troops across its own territory should not be cause for alarm.\n\nMoscow sees the growing support for Ukraine from NATO – in terms of weaponry, training and personnel – as a threat to its own security. It has also accused Ukraine of boosting its own troop numbers in preparation for an attempt to retake the Donbas region, an allegation Ukraine has denied.\n\nRussian President Vladimir Putin has called for specific legal agreements that would rule out any further NATO expansion eastwards towards Russia’s borders, saying the West has not lived up to its previous verbal assurances.\n\nPutin has also said that NATO deploying sophisticated weapons in Ukraine, such as missile systems, would be crossing a “red line” for Russia, amid concern in Moscow that Ukraine is being increasingly armed by NATO powers.\n\nKremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in November that weapons and military advisers were already being supplied to Ukraine by the US and other NATO member states. “And all this, of course, leads to a further aggravation of the situation on the border line,” he said.\n\nIf the US and its NATO allies do not change course in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned that Moscow has the “right to choose ways to ensure its legitimate security interests.”\n\nWhat is Ukraine’s view?\n\nUkraine’s government insists that Moscow cannot prevent Kyiv from building closer ties with NATO if it chooses.\n\n“Russia cannot stop Ukraine from getting closer with NATO and has no right to have any say in relevant discussions,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement to CNN, in response to Russian calls for NATO to halt its eastward expansion.\n\n“Any Russian proposals to discuss with NATO or the US any so-called guarantees that the Alliance would not expand to the East are illegitimate,” it added.\n\nUkraine insists Russia is seeking to destabilize the country with the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, recently saying a coup plot, involving Ukrainians and Russians, had been uncovered.\n\nUkrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba warned that a planned coup could be part of Russia’s plan ahead of a military invasion. “External military pressure goes hand in hand with domestic destabilization of the country,” he said.\n\nTensions between the two countries have been exacerbated by a deepening Ukrainian energy crisis that Kyiv believes Moscow has purposefully provoked.\n\nAt the same time, Zelensky’s government faces challenges on many fronts. The government’s popularity has stagnated amid multiple domestic political challenges, including a recent third wave of Covid-19 infections and a struggling economy.\n\nMany people are also unhappy that the government hasn’t yet delivered on benefits it promised and ended the conflict in the country’s east. Anti-government protests have taken place in Kyiv.\n\nIn a January 19 video address, Zelensky urged the Ukrainian people to “calm down” amid mounting unease over a possible Russian invasion. “We are aware of everything, we are ready for everything,” he said, before adding that he “sincerely believes” this year “will pass without a war” with Russia.\n\nKuleba also sought to reassure Ukrainians who fear the US, its NATO allies and Russia could leave Kyiv out of discussions. “No decisions about Ukraine without Ukraine is a principle that we adhere to,” he said.\n\nPro-Russian fighters arrive on February 20, 2015 in Debaltseve, eastern Ukraine. Pierre Crom/Getty Images\n\nWhat does NATO say?\n\nNATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said “there will be a high price to pay for Russia” if it once again invades Ukraine, a NATO partner.\n\n“We have a wide range of options: economic sanctions, financial sanctions, political restrictions,” said Stoltenberg, in a December 1 interview with CNN.\n\nAfter Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014, NATO increased its defenses “with combat-ready battlegroups in the eastern part of the alliance, in the Baltic countries, in Latvia … but also in the Black Sea region,” Stoltenberg said.\n\nUkraine is not a NATO member, and therefore doesn’t have the same security guarantees as NATO members.\n\nBut Stoltenberg left the possibility of Ukraine becoming a NATO member on the table, saying that Russia does not have the right to tell Ukraine that it cannot pursue NATO membership.\n\nHigh-stakes talks between Russia and NATO in Brussels in mid-January were “not an easy discussion,” according to Stoltenberg, who added that “differences will not be easy to bridge.” However, NATO allies and Russia “expressed the need to resume dialogue,” he said.\n\nWhat does the United States say?\n\nPresident Joe Biden told Zelensky earlier this month in a phone call that the US and its allies “will respond decisively if Russia further invades Ukraine.”\n\nBut Biden appeared to undermine that message when he subsequently suggested during a White House news conference that a “minor incursion” by Russia would elicit a lesser response than a full-scale invasion of the country.\n\nWhile Biden vowed harsh economic consequences on Russia should Putin send his troops over the border, including restricting its financial transitions in US dollars, he suggested Western nations were not in sync on what to do should a lesser violation occur. “There are differences in NATO as to what countries are willing to do, depending on what happens,” he said.\n\nHis remarks prompted a swift White House clarification. “President Biden has been clear with the Russian President: If any Russian military forces move across the Ukrainian border, that’s a renewed invasion, and it will be met with a swift, severe, and united response from the United States and our Allies,” press secretary Jen Psaki wrote in a statement.\n\nOne Ukrainian official told CNN he was “shocked that the US President Biden would distinguish between incursion and invasion” and suggest that a minor incursion would not trigger sanctions. “This gives the green light to Putin to enter Ukraine at his pleasure,” the official added.\n\nThe diplomatic kerfuffle came as Blinken prepared for further talks with European allies on the Ukraine-Russia crisis and to meet with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. Blinken has previously warned Russia that “any renewed aggression can trigger serious consequences.”\n\nTwo defense officials told CNN on January 3 that the Defense Department has developed military options for Biden if he decides to increase capabilities in eastern Europe to further deter potential Russian aggression against Ukraine. Both officials emphasized that this part of routine planning the military does and that for now, the focus remains on diplomacy and potential economic sanctions.\n\nUS Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov held meetings in Geneva on January 10, as the US sought to de-escalate the threat of a Russian advance.\n\nThe US delivered roughly $450 million in security assistance to Ukraine in 2021, the Pentagon said, including a package of small arms and ammunition in December. The Biden administration is now weighing new options, including providing more arms to Ukraine to resist a Russian occupation, a senior US official told CNN.\n\nThe Obama administration was taken by surprise when Russia invaded Crimea in 2014 and backed an insurgency in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region. US officials say they are determined not to be caught out by another Russian military operation.\n\n“Our concern is that Russia may make a serious mistake of attempting to rehash what it undertook back in 2014, when it amassed forces along the border, crossed into sovereign Ukrainian territory and did so claiming falsely that it was provoked,” Blinken said late last year.\n\nWhat other factors are at play?\n\nUnrest in the former Soviet state of Kazakhstan was unwelcome news for Putin at the beginning of 2022.\n\nDeadly protests in early January saw the Kazakh government resign, a state of emergency be declared and troops from a Russia-led military alliance deployed to help contain the unrest.\n\nBut experts have warned that Russia’s intervention is unlikely to be the end of the story. Blinken said that “once Russians are in your house, sometimes it is very difficult to get them to leave.”\n\nAnother issue revolves around energy supply. Ukraine views the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline – connecting Russian gas supplies directly to Germany – as a threat to its own security.\n\nNord Stream 2 is one of two pipelines that Russia has laid underwater in the Baltic Sea in addition to its traditional land-based pipeline network that runs through eastern Europe, including Ukraine.\n\nKyiv views the pipelines across Ukraine as an element of protection against an invasion by Russia, since any military action could potentially disrupt the vital flow of gas to Europe.\n\nAnalysts and US lawmakers have raised concerns that Nord Stream 2 will increase European dependence on Russian gas and could allow Moscow to selectively target countries such as Ukraine with energy cut-offs, without broader disruption to European supplies. Bypassing eastern European countries also means those nations would be deprived of lucrative transit fees Russia would otherwise pay.\n\nIn May 2021, the Biden administration waived sanctions on the company behind Nord Stream 2, effectively giving it the green light. US officials say the move was in the interest of US national security as it sought to rebuild frayed relations with Germany.\n\nIn November, the US imposed new sanctions on a Russian-linked entity and a vessel linked to Nord Stream 2. Some US senators have called for further sanctions to be imposed to prevent Russia using the pipeline as a weapon; Ukraine too has called for tougher measures.", "authors": ["Matthew Chance Laura Smith-Spark", "Matthew Chance", "Laura Smith-Spark"], "publish_date": "2022/01/20"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/10/politics/congress-reaction-ukraine-aid/index.html", "title": "Bipartisan pressure mounts for US to do more in Ukraine amid ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nAfter two weeks of unity surrounding the Biden administration’s swift and sweeping response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, patience is quickly thinning on Capitol Hill, with Republicans – and even some Democrats – challenging the administration to go further to help Ukrainian allies under attack.\n\nThe tension comes as the administration has exhausted some of its most obvious tools to rein in Russian aggression. Debilitating sanctions, humanitarian aid, military support and diplomatic efforts have all been used in conjunction with Europe in the lead-up to and opening days of Russia’s war, which slowed but has not stopped Moscow’s assault on Ukrainian cities and civilians. Now there are mostly hard choices ahead as the US weighs whether to take even further steps amid risks of escalating tensions between Russia and NATO.\n\nOn Thursday, lawmakers in multiple committee meetings criticized the Biden administration’s decision to reject a Polish offer to send fighter jets to Ukraine through the United States and a German air base. Several senators on the Foreign Relations Committee blasted the administration for not acting immediately to help facilitate the transfer, questioning how the administration had made that decision after initially appearing to back it earlier in the week.\n\n“It’s not clear why we are standing in the way,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat from New Hampshire, told CNN about the US position that it would not be appropriate to send Poland planes so that it could transfer its own aircraft to Ukraine.\n\nInside the hearing, Shaheen pushed further, telling administration officials it was “disappointing” to see them so reluctant to lend air support.\n\n“It’s coming across as indecision and bickering among members of the administration, which is not helpful to the cause and not helpful to the administration,” she said.\n\nThe public airing of frustrations underscores the tension over how to respond to a war that the US has flatly said it will not enter because Ukraine is not a member of NATO and doing so would risk a broader war between Russia and NATO. The US and other NATO countries have provided weapons like anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine, but the Biden administration has drawn the line at steps that some lawmakers have advocated for, such as a no-fly zone, which US officials warn could put the US military in the position of shooting down Russian planes.\n\nOne Democratic lawmaker told CNN that the response to date in Congress overall has been quite unified, especially given how the two parties in the House have been at each other’s throats for the past year. Now that the easy moves to punish Russia have been taken, the lawmaker noted, there’s going to be a natural tension between the White House and members of Congress, who don’t “really need to worry so much around the particulars of jets flying from Ramstein into Russian-controlled airspace.”\n\n“It is the White House’s job to think seriously about that,” the lawmaker said.\n\nEven some of the President’s closest allies have signaled they’d like to do more to help Ukraine.\n\nHouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi said during her weekly news conference Wednesday that while she wasn’t a military expert, she hoped the administration would find a way to help boost Ukraine’s air power after she spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.\n\n“Myself, when I see those tanks, that 40 miles of tanks, I’d like to take out those tanks. I mean, I think that having more planes might be useful, but I’m not a military strategist,” she said. “I hope that we can get to a place where the MiGS, which are the kinds of planes they have been depending on, can go to Ukraine, the F-16s especially if you have an excess of them can go to Poland.”\n\nAnother Democratic lawmaker said the push from Capitol Hill can be useful even if the steps aren’t supported by the Biden administration, noting that both the US and European countries have taken steps in response to Russia’s attacks that had seemed impossible just days before they happened: Germany froze the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project from Russia, Switzerland joined in with sanctions and several European countries have provided lethal aid to Ukraine.\n\n“It’s always a little late, but it comes,” the lawmaker said. “Unless there’s an off-ramp here, this thing continues, and you start to see them move toward the things they weren’t going to consider.”\n\nThe Pentagon ramps up its position\n\nThe Pentagon said Wednesday that it opposed the transfer of the Polish fighter jets through the German air base because such a move would be “high risk,” warning that the intelligence community assessed it “may be mistaken as escalatory and could result in significant Russian reaction that might increase the prospects of a military escalation with NATO.”\n\nIn a sign of the concern about the reaction on Capitol Hill, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley was making calls to a number of members of Congress on Thursday, according to Sen. Kevin Cramer, a Republican from North Dakota, who said he hadn’t received a call from Milley but knew of others who were planning to speak to him.\n\n“A number of members are talking to him today,” Cramer told CNN.\n\nLawmakers have questioned why the administration was drawing the line at providing Ukraine with fighter jets when the US is already giving Ukraine anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles that are being used against Russian forces.\n\nIn the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday, Sen. Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican, said the situation amounted to a “fiasco,” pressing Director of National intelligence Avril Haines about why the administration was pointing to the intelligence community as the reason it did not support the transfer of fighter jets.\n\n“Here’s my opinion. You don’t have new intelligence. This is opinion, and in many cases, this is policy makers who are looking to intelligence community to provide them cover for their hesitancy,” Cotton said.\n\nOver the last several days, members have come to see a split between Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken on whether the administration should approve a potential transfer of aircraft to Poland that would allow that country to send planes directly to Ukraine. Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho, the top Republican on Foreign Relations, told CNN it was an “embarrassing” division.\n\n“The first branch of government is almost unanimous on this. I don’t know who is against this up here, but it’s embarrassing for the second branch of government to be divided. This is a job for the President of the United States. He needs to step up. Knock heads together and get everybody in the same place,” Risch said. “We really need to do that. This is a matter of life and death.”\n\nRisch said the Pentagon’s explanation that a jet transfer could be perceived as escalatory by the Russians is “nonsense.”\n\n“We’re taking their yachts, we’re taking their vacation properties, we are giving the Ukrainians all the arms we can give them. It is foolish to say this is somehow going to aggravate them more. That’s nonsense,” he said.\n\nSen. Richard Burr, a North Carolina Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, referred to comments Blinken had made on Sunday saying the US had given the “green light” to Poland to send the jets – questioning why things changed when Poland proposed giving them to the US through Germany.\n\n“When the US publicly gives Poland a green light to transfer aircraft, and then changes their mind when the aircrafts have transferred off of our space, our geography, as a member of NATO as well, and we say that that would make it escalatory, but if Poland transferred, we didn’t consider it to be escalatory, then I draw this conclusion: This is a policy decision. It’s a policy decision made by the administration,” Burr said. “And I remind all of you at the table: Intelligence is never supposed to influence policy.”\n\nThe Pentagon has pushed swiftly back against efforts to send Poland replenishment planes, arguing that other weapons would be more strategic in deterring the Russians, but even those arguments have been met with stiff resistance.\n\n“The administration just told us they think Ukraine needs other things more and would be more effective in the battlefield. In theory, that means that you have the United States government deciding what the military strategy should be for Ukraine,” said Sen. Rob Portman, an Ohio Republican. “Ukraine wants planes. They have made a decision.”\n\nA week of building tension\n\nProviding air support for Ukraine is just one of the latest sticking points to emerge. When the Biden administration released its first round of sanctions last month the day after Russia’s attack on Ukraine, many Republican and Democratic lawmakers said they did not go far enough, calling for removing Russia from the SWIFT international financial messaging system and a US ban on importing Russian oil.\n\nSeveral days later – with emotional prodding from Zelensky in messages from Kyiv – the Biden administration acted in conjunction with European countries initially opposed to remove Russia from SWIFT. Earlier this week, the US acted on its own to ban Russian oil imports, which make up a smaller amount of US energy purchases than in Europe.\n\nBut that step came as members of Congress had also moved to pass legislation that would ban Russian oil, natural gas and coal imports to the US, in a legislative debate where the administration had intervened. Republicans argued the bill had been watered down before passing the House of Representatives. In the Senate, the bill faces a potentially arduous road where Republicans and Democrats alike have said they’d like to strengthen provisions in the House-passed legislation before approving it in their own chamber, potentially challenging the White House’s position once again.\n\nIt’s a delicate balance for many Democrats, who have watched the horrors in Ukraine unfold but are also trying to give the White House room to maneuver on an evolving and ever-complicated geopolitical threat.\n\n“I generally trust the administration’s decision-making,” Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, told CNN. “I think this is a time when we should get behind the administration rather than constantly second-guessing.”\n\nLawmakers have noted the role that Zelensky has played in pushing the US and its allies in Europe to do more. Zelensky held a call with all members of Congress last Saturday, where he urged the US to ban Russian oil imports and to provide Ukraine with fighter jets. The Democratic lawmaker said the timing of Zelensky’s plea was masterful – made at the same time that many lawmakers were in their districts and attending pro-Ukraine rallies with constituents urging the US government to do something about the horrors of Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian civilians.\n\nSenate Foreign Relations Chairman Robert Menendez on Thursday questioned the US assessment that the Ukrainians mainly need air defense capabilities right now.\n\n“I don’t understand why we are not working expeditiously to facilitate planes to Ukraine,” the New Jersey Democrat said, asking the Pentagon official at the hearing, “So you are saying they don’t need airplanes?”", "authors": ["Lauren Fox Jeremy Herb", "Lauren Fox", "Jeremy Herb"], "publish_date": "2022/03/10"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/14/politics/us-china-russia-ukraine/index.html", "title": "China has expressed some openness to providing military and ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nThe US has information suggesting China has expressed some openness to providing Russia with requested military and financial assistance as part of its war on Ukraine, a Western official and a US diplomat told CNN, and is conveying what it knows to its NATO allies.\n\nIt is not yet clear whether China intends to provide Russia with that assistance, US officials familiar with the intelligence tell CNN. But during an intense, seven-hour meeting in Rome, a top aide to President Joe Biden warned his Chinese counterpart of “potential implications and consequences” for China should support for Russia be forthcoming, a senior administration official said.\n\nThe series of events underscored the growing concern among American officials at the budding partnership between Moscow and Beijing as Biden works to isolate and punish Russia for its aggression in Ukraine. While officials have said the Chinese President was alarmed at what has taken place since Russia invaded, there is little to indicate China is prepared to cut off its support entirely.\n\nThat leaves open a troubling possibility for American officials – that China may help prolong a bloody conflict that is increasingly killing civilians, while also cementing an authoritarian alliance in direct competition with the United States.\n\nIn a diplomatic cable, the US relayed to its allies in Europe and Asia that China had conveyed a willingness to assist Russia, which has asked for military support. The cable did not state definitively that assistance had been provided. One official also said the US warned in the cable that China would likely deny it was willing to provide assistance.\n\nAmong the assistance Russia requested was pre-packaged, non-perishable military food kits, known in the US as “meal, ready-to-eat,” or MREs, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The request underscores the basic logistical challenges that military analysts and officials say have stymied Russian progress in Ukraine – and raises questions about the fundamental readiness of the Russian military.\n\nForward-deployed units have routinely outstripped their supply convoys and open source reports have shown Russian troops breaking into grocery stores in search of food as the invasion has progressed. One of the sources suggested that food might be a request that China would be willing to meet, because it stops short of lethal assistance that would be seen as deeply provocative by the west.\n\nThe Chinese Communist Party leadership is not all in agreement regarding how to respond to Russia’s request for assistance, said one of the sources. Two officials said that China’s desire to avoid economic consequences may limit its appetite to help Russia. Officials separately told CNN that Chinese President Xi Jinping has been unnerved by how the war in Ukraine has reinvigorated the NATO alliance.\n\n“There is real concern by some that their involvement could hurt economic relationships with the West, on which China relies,” said one of the sources.\n\nOfficials are also monitoring whether China provides some economic and diplomatic relief for Russia in other forms, like abstention votes at the United Nations.\n\nIn Rome, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan and a US delegation who met with top Chinese diplomat Yang Jiechi “raised directly and very clearly” concerns about Chinese “support to Russia in the wake of the invasion, and the implications that any such support would have for” China’s relationship with the US and partners around the world, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said.\n\n“That includes allies and partners in Europe and the Indo-Pacific,” Price said at a State Department briefing Monday.\n\nConcerns over China’s potential involvement in the war came as bombardments intensified in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, and Russia’s military campaign moved westward. Still, there remained signs that Russia’s armed forces are being hampered by Ukrainian fighters, underscoring Russia’s need for outside assistance.\n\nUkrainian forces have “effectively struck Russian logistics and sustainment capabilities” in the war, a senior US defense official told reporters on Monday. And the US does not believe Russia’s missile strikes on a Ukrainian military training center in western Ukraine will affect American efforts to provide weapons shipments to that country’s military.\n\nBiden, who is working to rally international support for Ukraine, could travel to Europe soon to further consult with allies there, people familiar with the plans said, though as of Monday no trip had been finalized. His administration is also considering expediting the resettlement of Ukrainian refugees with US ties. The US President may face increased pressure to assist displaced Ukrainians soon – the nation’s President, Volodomyr Zelensky, plans to virtually address a joint session of Congress on Wednesday.\n\nUS watching how China responds to Russian invasion of Ukraine\n\nHeading into the meeting, US officials said they expected Yang to portray China as a neutral partner willing to help facilitate talks between the two sides aimed at bringing an end to hostilities. China has ramped up its diplomatic efforts in the past days, including in a call last week between Xi and the leaders of France and Germany meant to signal a willingness to adopt a more proactive role in the crisis.\n\nThe US has viewed those efforts somewhat skeptically, given China’s recent closeness with Russia. And over the weekend, US officials said they had information that Russia had asked China for military support, including drones, as its invasion advances more slowly than the Kremlin had expected. Both the Chinese and Russian governments publicly denied that the request had been made.\n\nSullivan told CNN on Sunday that China providing Russia with support is a “concern.”\n\n“We also are watching closely to see the extent to which China actually does provide any form of support, material support or economic support, to Russia. It is a concern of ours. And we have communicated to Beijing that we will not stand by and allow any country to compensate Russia for its losses from the economic sanctions,” Sullivan said.\n\nAmerican officials say they believe Xi has been unsettled by Russia’s invasion and the performance of Russia’s military, which has experienced logistical and strategic setbacks since the invasion began more than two weeks ago. Watching from Beijing, Xi was caught off-guard that his own intelligence had not been able to predict what happened, even though the United States had been warning of an invasion for weeks, the officials said.\n\n“They may not have understood the full extent of it,” Sullivan said on CNN on Sunday, “because it’s very possible that Putin lied to them, the same way that he lied to Europeans and others.”\n\nThe mostly global repudiation of Russia’s actions has caused China to weigh what damage it may suffer to its reputation by sticking with Russian President Vladimir Putin. And an economic rupture with Europe or the United States could damage a Chinese economy already growing more slowly than it has in 30 years.\n\nFor all those reasons, American officials believe now is a moment when engaging with China is an imperative as it determines how to proceed amid Russia’s aggression. US and Chinese officials have been in regular touch over the past several weeks, including in the lead-up to Russia’s invasion.\n\nPrice said the US is “watching very closely the extent to which the PRC” – another name for China – “or any other country, for that matter, provides any form of support, whether that’s material support, whether that’s economic support, whether that’s financial support to Russia.”\n\n“Any such support from anywhere in the world would be of great concern to us,” he said.\n\nHe declined to comment specifically on reports about the diplomatic cable.\n\n“We have communicated very clearly to Beijing that we won’t stand by. … We will not allow each country to compensate Russia for its losses,” he added.\n\nPrice characterized the Chinese response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine as somewhat “ambivalent.”\n\n“I read a statement the other day from a PRC official calling the situation complicated. There’s nothing complicated about this. This is naked aggression,” he said.\n\nRussian invasion of Ukraine tosses its relationship with China into tumult\n\nSullivan’s meeting Monday in Rome was originally meant as a follow-up to US President Joe Biden and Xi’s nearly three-hour virtual summit in November, which occurred at the same time American officials began warning of a massive buildup of Russian troops along Ukraine’s borders. On that call, Xi warned Biden that dividing the world into competing blocs would “inevitably bring disaster,” according to a Chinese readout.\n\nYet Russia’s invasion has done more to align the world in competing alliances than anything Biden had done with the aim of bolstering American relationships – an outcome American intelligence has found Xi was also unprepared for, believing instead that European economic interests would prevent countries there from imposing severe sanctions.\n\nThat dynamic has complicated a relationship that Xi and Putin declared had “no limits” in a lengthy document in February, when Putin visited Beijing for talks and to attend the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics. The US decision to stage a diplomatic boycott of the Games infuriated Xi, officials have said, making Putin’s presence in the stadium even more important.\n\nThe evolving response in China to the Russian invasion – from denying one would happen to avoiding public condemnation to presenting itself as a possible mediator – has been closely monitored by the White House, where the potential of a Moscow-Beijing alliance is viewed with heightened concern. CIA Director Bill Burns said last week the partnership was rooted in “a lot of very cold-blooded reasons.”\n\nA new “axis” forming in opposition to American-led efforts at bolstering regional security has been in the works since before the war in Ukraine, including in the economic, political and military sectors. But the US does not view the partnership as fully developed, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told lawmakers last week.\n\n“We do see it as not yet at the point where we are, for example, with allies,” Haines said. “They have not achieved that kind of level of cooperation, and we anticipate it is unlikely in the next five years that they will … become the way we are an ally with our other NATO members in that context.”\n\nThis story has been updated with additional reporting.", "authors": ["Kevin Liptak Natasha Bertrand Katie Bo Lillis Kylie Atwood Jennifer Hansler", "Kevin Liptak", "Natasha Bertrand", "Katie Bo Lillis", "Kylie Atwood", "Jennifer Hansler"], "publish_date": "2022/03/14"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/28/europe/ukraine-russia-explainer-war-threat-cmd-intl/index.html", "title": "Ukraine-Russia crisis: How soon might a war be and what would it ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nThe Ukraine crisis is the classic case of a known unknown: We know that we don’t know what Russian President Vladimir Putin intends to do as he amasses troops on the Ukrainian border.\n\nSo how imminent is the threat of a full-scale war? Some fears appear to have receded slightly following key talks that included Russian and Ukrainian officials. But the Pentagon also says the Russian troop buildup continues, and President Joe Biden told his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky on a call Thursday that there was a distinct possibility Russia could launch an invasion in February, according to National Security Council Spokesperson Emily Horne.\n\nZelensky, however, restated his position that the threat from Russia remains “dangerous but ambiguous,” and it is not certain that an attack will take place, a senior Ukrainian official told CNN. Diplomatic efforts to defuse the crisis continue.\n\nTaking that into account, here’s a look at how soon an invasion could happen and what it might look like.\n\nHow imminent is the threat of war really?\n\nAnalysts say Russia has a menu of options to attack at any moment it chooses, from shock-and-awe style air strikes to a ground invasion along a broad front. But while it has moved large amounts of military equipment into place in areas bordering Ukraine, not all the personnel needed for a ground operation are ready.\n\n“At the moment, Russia has a lot of equipment pre-positioned along with its own border with Ukraine,” said Janes, a global agency for open-source defense intelligence. “(This) reduces the amount of time it requires for them to fill that area with more forces if they decide to fight because all of their heavy equipment’s there.”\n\nTroops can be deployed in less than 72 hours, the agency said, since they need only be sent from their bases by plane or train across the country.\n\nRussia is also in the process of deploying “quite a sizable formation” in Belarus from its Eastern Military District (EMD), which extends from Russia’s Pacific Coast to Siberia, Janes said. This formation, which Janes first detected moving west early this month, appears to include troops, logistics and communications resources as well as military equipment.\n\nRussia has said the force is there for a Russian-Belarusian training exercise. But according to Janes, the troops “are essentially deploying as close to ready to go as you can be.”\n\nJudging by what has been pre-positioned on Russian soil near Ukraine’s border, it considers Russia would require “maybe a maximum of two weeks of intense movement to bring all of the pieces into position” if it were to launch an invasion.\n\nWhether Russia would want to put large numbers of boots on the ground remains unclear, particularly given the risk of casualties.\n\n“The important thing to realize is that (Russia) is quite wary of what it calls contact warfare,” that is, forces fighting each on the ground, said Sam Cranny-Evans, a research analyst with the UK-based Royal United Services Institute (RUSI). “We’ve seen (this) in Chechnya, in Afghanistan, in Georgia and its covert deployments to Ukraine, that military losses actually do generate political pressure.”\n\nRussia could instead opt to use its very long-range intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets to target critical national infrastructure within Ukraine, such as military bases or even power plants and bridges, Cranny-Evans said. “The goal is to either stop a contact conflict from emerging or shape the battlefield so that when one does emerge, it’s much more favorable to the Russian forces,” he said.\n\nUS intelligence findings in December estimated that Russia could begin a military offensive in Ukraine “as soon as early 2022.” Since then, US officials have stuck to that line.\n\nHowever, Ukrainian officials say the latest military intelligence suggests Russian forces are not yet prepared to stage a full-blown invasion into the country.\n\nSpeaking to CNN on Tuesday, a source close to the Ukrainian leadership said defense and intelligence chiefs were analyzing satellite images of Russian forces “from US and other western agencies” on an hourly basis, but were not yet seeing Russia “getting into combat mode, or positioning themselves to attack.”\n\nUkrainian intelligence assesses that the threat from Russia is “dangerous, but not imminent,” the source told CNN, and that if any Russian order to attack were given it would still take one to two weeks for Russian forces near the border to be ready.\n\nUkraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba struck a similar note Wednesday, saying Russian troops could attack Ukraine at any time, as had been the case since 2014, but that its forces were not yet fully assembled. “We can say 100 times a day invasion is imminent, but this doesn’t change the situation on the ground,” he said.\n\nUkrainian soldiers are seen at a defensive trench position on the front line, 500 yards from separatists' positions, on January 21, 2022, in Ukraine's eastern Luhansk region. Timothy Fadek/Redux for CNN\n\n“In terms of timelines, what we’ve seen up until now has been very overt signaling of the intention for the ability to invade Ukraine,” said Cranny-Evans. But the Russians are “taking their time” to get the final pieces into place in order to leave space for conversations which might allow them to achieve their political goals, such as installing a pro-Kremlin or even neutral leader in Kiev, without having to fight, he suggested.\n\nIf it does come to an invasion, he considers that Russia could move the necessary troops into place in the space of 72 hours. “It’s the forces that Russia already has in the Southern Military District on the borders with Ukraine that would probably take on the first bit of fighting,” Cranny-Evans said.\n\nThe Kremlin denies it is planning to attack and argues that it is NATO’s support for Ukraine – including increased weapons supplies and military training – that constitutes a growing threat on Russia’s western flank.\n\nWhat else could influence the timeline for a potential invasion?\n\nThere may also be non-geopolitical factors to take into account, such as the weather and the upcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing.\n\nIf Putin orders his forces to invade, some analysts have speculated it would come before the spring thaw. “The best time to do it is winter because it’s going to be a mechanized advance and the mechanized divisions need hard frozen ground,” journalist and author Tim Marshall told CNN.\n\nHowever, Cranny-Evans does not believe the weather would play a major role in any decision to invade.\n\n“Russia has quite a long history of just fighting when it suits Russia. There’s no real indication that it’s bothered by mud,” he said, adding that Russian forces are experienced in operating on this terrain. “Armored fighting vehicles, particularly tracked ones, have generally very good mobility even on very soft soil, and it would have to be extremely degraded before they couldn’t move on it at all.” Ukraine has a pretty good road system, he added.\n\nRussian T-72B3 tanks take part in drills at the Kadamovskiy firing range in the Rostov region in southern Russia, on January 12, 2022. AP\n\nUS Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman suggested this week that the Winter Olympics beginning next week in China could influence Russia’s thinking. Putin plans to be there when the Games kick off and Chinese President Xi Jinping “would not be ecstatic if Putin chose that moment to invade Ukraine,” Sherman said.\n\nSherman added that she suspects that “even the people around” Putin don’t know what he will do with regards to Ukraine, but that the US sees “every indication that he is going to use military force, sometime perhaps now and (up to the) middle of February.”\n\nA Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman noted on January 14 that United Nations members had adopted an Olympic Truce resolution which urges countries to “cease hostilities from seven days before the start of the Olympic Games until seven days after the end of the Paralympic Games.” That period would extend from January 28 to March 20.\n\nWhat would an invasion look like?\n\nIt’s hard to predict – but recent history may give some clues. Russia has, after all, already invaded Ukrainian soil twice in the past decade.\n\nWhen Moscow annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula in 2014 it did so on the pretext that it was defending its interests and those of Russian speakers. First, thousands of special-operations troops, dubbed “little green men” and later acknowledged by Moscow to be Russian soldiers, poured into the southern peninsula. Then, within days, Russia completed its annexation in a referendum that was slammed by Ukraine and most of the world as illegitimate.\n\nShortly afterwards, pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions, known as the Donbas, declared their independence from Kiev, prompting months of heavy fighting. Russia’s de facto invasion of the Donbas region ended in 2015, when a ceasefire was signed, but Russia still props up the separatist movement there.\n\nCNN global affairs analyst Michael Bociurkiw, a former spokesman for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, said this week he believed Putin might choose to invade through the Donbas because he “knows he will get away with it.” The area – heavily damaged in places by shelling – is wrongly regarded by some in the West as “a territory that is dispensable,” Bociurkiw said.\n\n“Putin has been giving out hundreds of thousands of Russian passports to pro-Russian residents of the Donbas – now he has an even further pretext to go in and say they need to be protected,” he said.\n\nAt its most minor, Russian action could involve “normalizing” the country’s grip on the Donbas region by sending in Russian troops to lock down their control of the area, or even to slightly widen its buffer zone against the rest of Ukraine, said CNN’s International Security Editor Nick Paton Walsh.\n\nOther analysts suggest that a narrow land corridor along the Azov Sea, through the southern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, could be easily achieved through an amphibious landing on the Azov Sea coast, said Paton Walsh – although such a corridor would be hard to defend.\n\nAnother option that’s been mooted is a wider invasion of the country, Paton Walsh added, but this would be costly for Russia in terms of Russian lives and Western sanctions.\n\nKuleba said Wednesday that his country was focused on “every scenario,” not just the threat of military invasion.\n\n“We see a scenario of destabilization of Ukraine and that scenario is imminent, it’s already taking place – by spreading panic, by putting pressure on Ukraine’s financial system, by conducting cyber attacks against Ukraine,” the minister said.\n\nUkrainian soldiers operate in a destroyed industrial zone in Avdiivka, in Ukraine's Donetsk region, that is in some areas only about 50 yards from the front line, on January 23, 2022. Timothy Fadek/Redux for CNN\n\nWhat forces does Russia have in place?\n\nAccording to a Ukrainian Defense Ministry intelligence assessment shared with CNN last week, Russia had more than 106,000 ground personnel near Ukraine’s borders, with another 21,000 or so air and naval personnel on hand.\n\nThe assessment also said Russia supports more than 35,000 rebels in eastern Ukraine and has about 3,000 of its own military personnel based in rebel territory. Moscow denies having any forces in eastern Ukraine.\n\n“Russia’s armed forces appear to have entered their highest level of activity and movement since the autumn-winter build-up began in late October,” said an analysis from Janes released Tuesday.\n\n“Evidence indicates activity from all of Russia’s major regional commands, and Moscow has also signaled that it will move a large number of surface vessels, including six landing ship tanks (LSTs), a cruiser, and a destroyer, into the Mediterranean Sea, where they could easily continue into the Black Sea.”\n\nA pair of Tu-95 strategic bombers are parked at an air base in Engels, near the Volga River in Russia, on January 24, 2022, in an image taken from video provided by the Russian Defense Ministry. AP\n\nAccording to Janes, the force deployed into Belarus from Russia’s Eastern Military District is equipped with at least two Iskander-M battalions – the Iskander being a road-wheeled cruise missile launcher system – as well as long-range BM-27 multiple rocket launchers, and a large number of main battle tanks.\n\nRussia’s Ministry of Defense has also announced the deployment of 12 Su-35S fighter jets, two battalions of S-400 air-defense systems, and a Pantsir-S air-defense battalion to Belarus as part of military exercises there, the analysis said.\n\nHaving forces in Belarus helps Russia greatly “because it forces the Ukrainians to defend another several hundred kilometers of border,” whether the Russians decide to invade or not, according to Janes. It could also allow the Russians to expand the geographic reach of their radars and electronic warfare systems and bolster their air defenses.\n\n“Units from the Central, Southern, and Western Military Districts appear to be deploying additional equipment, including tanks, artillery, and communications systems, to established sites near the Ukrainian border,” the Janes analysis added.\n\nWhat is Ukraine’s military capability?\n\nUkraine insists that its forces are well prepared. Western allies, including the United States and United Kingdom, have stepped up their provision of military training, equipment and supplies to Ukraine as tensions with Russia have risen.\n\nAn adviser to Ukraine’s President Zelensky told CNN on Wednesday that the US was now providing “an unprecedented level of support” to Ukraine, both military and diplomatic.\n\nUkrainian soldiers patrol on the frontline in Zolote, Ukraine, on January 20, 2022. Wolfgang Schwan/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images\n\n“Our army is very well prepared. And you have a population which is very well motivated,” Ukraine’s Ambassador to Japan Sergiy Korsunsky said this week.\n\nMeanwhile, Zelensky has repeatedly urged Ukrainians to remain calm and not panic.\n\nAccording to Cranny-Evans, Ukraine’s armed forces are in a much better place than they were in 2014 and 2015, when their state of readiness was very low.\n\n“Ukrainian armed forces have really pushed hard for their modernization, they’ve done what they’ve can with the domestic industry to improve their capabilities and harden their defenses,” he said. “But ultimately, a lot of what they have achieved is tactical in nature. The way in which the Russians fight is very much a level above that.”\n\nWhile nobody really thinks the Ukrainians could stop the Russians, “they’ve definitely raised the potential costs for the Russian forces,” Cranny-Evans added.\n\n“They have the means to really potentially drag Russia into quite a bloody conflict. It’s just whether or not Russia can achieve its goals without having to do that.”\n\nThe ball, at the moment, remains in Putin’s court, as the Kremlin leader mulls over written responses by both the United States and NATO to Russia’s security demands. As Fiona Hill, who served as the National Security Council’s point person on Russia in the Trump administration recently observed in a New York Times op-ed, Putin has a knack for manufacturing crises, and can stir up trouble elsewhere around the globe if he wants to further confound Western policymakers.", "authors": ["Laura Smith-Spark"], "publish_date": "2022/01/28"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/12/politics/biden-putin-call-ukraine/index.html", "title": "Biden warns Putin US will react 'decisively and impose swift and ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nPresident Joe Biden warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that the US and its allies will respond “decisively and impose swift and severe costs” on Russia should Putin decide to invade Ukraine.\n\nIn a roughly hour-long phone call, the White House said Biden made clear to Putin what he would be risking with an invasion. A senior administration official told reporters following the call that the discussion was substantive but the US fears Russia may still launch a military attack anyway.\n\n“President Biden was clear that, if Russia undertakes a further invasion of Ukraine, the United States together with our Allies and partners will respond decisively and impose swift and severe costs on Russia. President Biden reiterated that a further Russian invasion of Ukraine would produce widespread human suffering and diminish Russia’s standing,” the White House said in a statement, adding Biden “was clear with President Putin that while the United States remains prepared to engage in diplomacy, in full coordination with our Allies and partners, we are equally prepared for other scenarios.”\n\nThe call between the two leaders comes hours after the US moved some of its forces out of Ukraine and ordered the evacuation of most of its embassy staff on Saturday as fears mount that a Russian invasion of the country could take place in the next few days. The moves were yet another sign that the US fears Putin could order an invasion at any time, just one day after Biden’s national security adviser warned Americans in Ukraine to leave and that military action could begin with an aerial bombardment that could kill civilians.\n\nA senior administration official told reporters Saturday afternoon that the call between the two presidents was “professional and substantive,” but “there was no fundamental change in the dynamic that has been unfolding now for several weeks.”\n\n“The two Presidents agreed that our teams will stay engaged in the days ahead,” the official told reporters after the call. “Russia may decide to proceed with military action anyway. Indeed, that is a distinct possibility.”\n\nThe official said that Biden reiterated the US’ ideas on how to enhance European security while also addressing some of Russia’s security concerns, but noted that it “remains unclear whether Russia is interested in pursuing its goals diplomatically.”\n\nAsked whether Russia has made a decision to invade, the official said, “I think the honest answer to that question is we don’t have full visibility into President Putin’s decision making.”\n\n“But you know, we are not basing our assessment of this on what the Russians say publicly,” the official continued. “We are basing his assessment on what we are seeing on the ground … which is a continued Russian buildup on the border with Ukraine, and no meaningful evidence of de-escalation, or really of any interest in de-escalation.”\n\nRussian presidential aide Yury Ushakov described the call Saturday as “balanced and businesslike,” but said the US and NATO had failed to address Russia’s main security concerns.\n\nUshakov said the conversation “took place in an atmosphere of hysteria about the supposedly imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine by American officials, everyone knows this.”\n\nUshakov added: “The pressure around the topic of the invasion was carried out in a coordinated manner and the hysteria has reached its climax.”\n\nAccording to Ushakov, Biden told Putin he was “committed to the diplomatic path and had laid out a range of considerations that he sees as addressing many of Russia’s concerns.” Putin said the US and its allies had been “pumping up” Ukraine with new weaponry and encouraging provocations by Ukrainian forces in the Donbas region and in Crimea, Ushakov said.\n\nThe Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs had on Friday accused Western countries and the press of spreading a “large-scale disinformation campaign” about an allegedly impending Russian invasion of Ukraine “in order to divert attention from their own aggressive actions.”\n\n“At the end of 2021 and the beginning of 2022, the global information space faced a media campaign unprecedented in its scale and sophistication, the purpose of which is to convince the world community that the Russian Federation is preparing an invasion of the territory of Ukraine,” the Ministry said in a statement published on its website.\n\nAll eyes on Ukraine\n\nThe US has estimated that Russia has more than 100,000 troops near the Ukraine border, with thousands added just this week, according to an administration official. National security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Friday that a Russian assault on Ukraine could begin soon, beginning with aerial bombings and missile attacks. He advised all Americans in Ukraine to depart the country for their own safety as quickly as possible.\n\n“We obviously cannot predict the future, we don’t know exactly what is going to happen. But the risk is now high enough and the threat is now immediate enough that this is what prudence demands,” he said.\n\nIn Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko outlined preparations the city is taking to safeguard “critical and social infrastructure facilities” in “the event of a possible emergency.”\n\nIn the statement issued on Telegram ahead of the weekend, Klitschko said, “Our efforts are aimed at preventing or overcoming both possible provocations and withstanding a military attack.”\n\nThe senior administration official on Saturday said that US will continue, and even increase, its support for Ukraine to help it defend itself should Russia continue to escalate its aggression.\n\n“As to our plans going forward, I think President Biden and other officials have been clear, that should Russia continue down the path to escalation, the United States will continue to increase our support to Ukraine, to enable it to defend itself, and you know, that approach has not changed,” the official said.\n\nThe call on Saturday was the latest attempt at diplomacy between the two leaders aimed at de-escalating the situation. Putin and Biden had last spoke on the phone late last year. Prior to that, on December 7, they had negotiations via video-conference. The first face-to-face meeting between Putin and Biden as heads of state took place in Geneva in June 2021.\n\nThe Russian President has also engaged a series of Western leaders in talks that have so far appeared fruitless in defusing the situation.\n\nThe attempts at diplomacy with the Russians would continue, the senior administration official said.\n\n“We remain committed to keeping the prospect of de-escalation through diplomacy alive,” the official said. “But we’re also clear eyed about the prospects of that, given the readily apparent steps Russia is taking on the ground in plain sight, right before our eyes. The stakes of this are too high not to give Russia every chance to avoid an action that we believe would be catastrophic. So as always, we continue along two paths.”\n\nBiden, who is spending the weekend at Camp David, took part in a virtual meeting from the White House on Friday with leaders from Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania, NATO, the European Commission and the European Council to discuss escalating tensions.\n\nAlong with the US, several other countries are calling for their citizens to leave Ukraine immediately as well. On Friday, a British diplomat told CNN that the British Embassy in Kyiv is “temporarily removing all nonessential staff and dependents” and “a core team will remain to continue with essential duties.”\n\nCORRECTION: A previous version of this version misquoted the White House statement on Biden’s call with Putin.", "authors": ["Natasha Bertrand Maegan Vazquez Jasmine Wright Donald Judd", "Natasha Bertrand", "Maegan Vazquez", "Jasmine Wright", "Donald Judd"], "publish_date": "2022/02/12"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/13/politics/jake-sullivan-meeting-chinese-counterpart-ukraine/index.html", "title": "Russia has requested military and economic assistance from China ...", "text": "Washington, DC CNN —\n\nRussia has asked China for military support, including drones, as well as economic assistance for its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, according to conversations CNN had with two US officials.\n\nThe requests came after the invasion, one of the officials said. That official declined to detail the Chinese reaction but indicated that the Chinese had responded. Both the Chinese and Russian governments publicly denied that the request happened.\n\nPotential assistance from the Chinese would be a significant development in Russia’s invasion. It could upend the hold Ukrainian forces still have in the country as well as provide a counterweight to the harsh sanctions imposed on Russia’s economy.\n\nNews of Russia’s request came before White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with his Chinese counterpart, Yang Jiechi, in Rome on Monday as part of a follow-up conversation to President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s virtual meeting last November, according to National Security Council spokesperson Emily Horne.\n\nSullivan told Dana Bash on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that China providing Russia with support is a “concern.”\n\n“We also are watching closely to see the extent to which China actually does provide any form of support, material support or economic support, to Russia. It is a concern of ours. And we have communicated to Beijing that we will not stand by and allow any country to compensate Russia for its losses from the economic sanctions,” Sullivan said.\n\n\n\nRussia expanded its offensive to western Ukraine on Sunday, firing missiles near the city of Lviv and hitting a large military base close to the Polish border, reportedly killing dozens of people and drawing the war closer to the borders of a NATO country.\n\nThe attack came the day after the Kremlin threatened to attack Western weapons shipments to Ukraine.\n\nGovernments issue denials\n\nChina says it was not asked by Russia for military equipment or other assistance. When asked by CNN about the reporting, Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in the US, said in a statement, “I’ve never heard of that.”\n\nLiu expressed concern for “the Ukraine situation” – calling it “indeed disconcerting” – and said China has and will continue to provide humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.\n\nLiu said: “The high priority now is to prevent the tense situation from escalating or even getting out of control. … China calls for exercising utmost restraint and preventing a massive humanitarian crisis.”\n\nAnd Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Zhao Lijian accused the US on Monday of “peddling disinformation.”\n\nKremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Monday dismissed the allegations as well, saying, “Russia has an independent potential to continue the operation.”\n\nWhen further pressed by journalists to confirm there wasn’t such a request from the Russian side, Peskov said: “No, there wasn’t.”\n\nWashington critical of Beijing response\n\nUS officials, including White House press secretary Jen Psaki, have been increasingly critical of Beijing’s response to Russia’s war in Ukraine. While Beijing has seemingly tried to strike a neutral tone on the international stage, Chinese domestic media coverage has promoted Russian disinformation campaigns and described the war as a “special military operation.” Psaki also tweeted Wednesday that Beijing “has seemingly endorsed” false Russian claims that the US is developing chemical weapons in Ukraine.\n\n“Our assessment right now is that (China is) abiding by the requirements that have been put in place, but we would continue to encourage any country to think a lot about what place they want to – what role they want to play – in history as we all look back,” Psaki said during a news conference Wednesday.\n\nSullivan told Bash on Sunday that the US has made it clear to Beijing that there will “absolutely be consequences” for “large-scale” efforts to give the Kremlin a workaround to US sanctions.\n\n“We will not allow that to go forward and allow there to be a lifeline to Russia from these economic sanctions from any country anywhere in the world,” he said.\n\nStill, Sullivan said that while the US believes “China, in fact, was aware before the invasion took place that Vladimir Putin was planning something, they may not have understood the full extent of it.”\n\n“Because it’s very possible that Putin lied to them the same way that he lied to Europeans and others,” Sullivan told Bash.\n\nWhile US officials have made note that China has been abiding by the sanctions the US and its allies have imposed against Russia, Biden said recently he was not prepared to discuss his efforts to pressure China to help isolate Russia over the Kremlin’s bloody war.\n\n“I’m not prepared to comment on that at the moment,” Biden told reporters at the White House in February.\n\nBiden has often talked about his conversations with Xi, frequently recalling the dozens of hours the two leaders spent with each other when they were serving as their country’s vice presidents. In his speeches, Biden often likes to recall dining with Xi on the Tibetan Plateau and describing the United States in one word: “possibilities.”\n\nDuring the face-to-face meeting in Rome, Sullivan and Yang will also discuss issues that Biden and Xi went over during their virtual call last year, sources familiar with the matter say. The sources added that this meeting has been in the works for some time, and they don’t expect any concrete outcomes from it.\n\nSince taking office, Biden has stressed he believes the US is at an inflection point in its history and must show the world democracies can compete with autocratic regimes like China’s.\n\n“To compete for the best jobs of the future, we also need to level the playing field with China and other competitors,” Biden said at his first State of the Union address earlier this month.\n\nDuring the three-hour summit with his Chinese counterpart roughly four months ago, Biden raised concerns about human rights, Chinese aggression toward Taiwan and trade issues. The Biden administration has been clear managing competition with China is a long-term national security and economic priority of the United States.\n\n“How the United States, Europe, and Asia work together to secure the peace and defend our shared values and advance our prosperity across the Pacific will be among the most consequential efforts we undertake,” Biden said at the Munich security conference last year.\n\nWhile in Rome, Sullivan is also expected to meet with Luigi Mattiolo, diplomatic adviser to the Italian Prime Minister; the two men will discuss ongoing efforts to respond to the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine, according to Horne’s statement.\n\nNuclear escalation threat\n\nMeanwhile, Sullivan told CNN on Sunday that while the Biden administration is “concerned about the possibility of escalation,” with respect to Putin’s nuclear posture, “we have not seen anything that would require us to change our nuclear posture at this time.”\n\n“We are watching this extremely closely, and obviously, the escalation risk with a nuclear power is severe, and it is a different kind of conflict than other conflicts the American people have seen over the years,” he said on “State of the Union.”\n\nStill, Sullivan stood by the administration’s decision to reject a Polish offer to transfer fighter jets to Ukraine through the United States and a German air base.\n\n“The President listened to the assessment of his intelligence community, he listened to the advice of his military commanders, he consulted his NATO allies, and he ultimately determined that the risk-benefit analysis of flying planes from NATO bases into contested airspace over Ukraine did not make sense, was not something that he would authorize,” he said, adding the US is focused on providing “other anti-air systems that could help the Ukrainians make progress in terms of dealing with the threat that is coming from the air from the Russian side.”\n\nThe national security adviser also reiterated comments from Biden earlier this week that Russia “would pay a severe price” if they chose to use chemical or biological weapons in Ukraine, adding that Russia’s accusations against Ukraine preparing to deploy chemical weapons “is a tell, a tell that they themselves may be preparing to do so and then trying to pin the blame on someone else– that’s a classic page out of the Russian playbook.”\n\nThis story has been updated with additional reaction and background information.", "authors": ["Jim Sciutto Sam Fossum Kaitlan Collins Kylie Atwood", "Jim Sciutto", "Sam Fossum", "Kaitlan Collins", "Kylie Atwood"], "publish_date": "2022/03/13"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/14/europe/sweden-finland-nato-next-steps-intl/index.html", "title": "Finland and Sweden want to join NATO. Here's how it works and ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nFinland and Sweden are poised to end decades of neutrality by joining NATO, a dramatic evolution in European security and geopolitics sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.\n\nThe two Nordic nations had long kept the military alliance at an arm’s length, even while eying Russia to their east with caution.\n\nBut Moscow’s assault on Ukraine has sparked renewed security concern across the region, and the leaders of each country have signaled their desire to join the bloc after more than 75 years of military non-alignment.\n\nHere’s what you need to know about how the war in Ukraine caused the shift, and what comes next.\n\nWhat’s happened so far?\n\nFinnish leaders announced their intentions to join NATO on Thursday, and formally presented that desire at a press conference on Sunday.\n\nSweden’s Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson followed suit on Monday, confirming her government had decided to begin the process of seeking NATO membership.\n\nFinland’s move to seek to join the alliance requires a vote in parliament, but given the support of the ruling government, that hurdle is expected to be passed comfortably. In Sweden, the move was debated in parliament on Monday and there is broad support for joining NATO, but the government does not need parliamentary consent to move ahead.\n\n“When we look at Russia, we see a very different kind of Russia today than we saw just a few months ago,” Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said Sunday. “Everything has changed when Russia attacked Ukraine. And I personally think that we cannot trust anymore there will be a peaceful future next to Russia.”\n\nJoining NATO is “an act of peace [so] that there will never again be war in Finland in the future,” Marin said.\n\nHer Swedish counterpart, Andersson, said Monday: “To ensure the safety of Swedish people, the best way forward is to join NATO together with Finland.”\n\nWhen asked when exactly the country will hand in the application, she said it could it happen either Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday this week, adding that it needs to be done in coordination with Finland.\n\nThe announcements were met with support from leaders in almost all NATO nations. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters “the United States would strongly support the NATO application by either Sweden or Finland should they choose to formally apply to the alliance. We will respect whatever decision they make.”\n\nFinland's Prime Minister Sanna Marin and its President Sauli Niinistö announced their decision to join NATO on Sunday. Heikki Saukkomaa/Lehtikuva/AFP/Getty Images\n\nWhat comes next?\n\nNATO has what it calls an “open door policy” on new members – any European country can request to join, so long as they meet certain criteria and all existing members agree.\n\nA country does not technically “apply” to join; Article 10 of its founding treaty states that, once a nation has expressed interest, the existing member states “may, by unanimous agreement, invite any other European State in a position to further the principles of this Treaty … to accede.”\n\nNATO diplomats told Reuters that ratification of new members could take a year, as the legislatures of all 30 current members must approve new applicants.\n\nBoth Finland and Sweden already meet many of the requirements for membership, which include having a functioning democratic political system based on a market economy; treating minority populations fairly; committing to resolve conflicts peacefully; the ability and willingness to make a military contribution to NATO operations; and committing to democratic civil-military relations and institutions.\n\nThe process may not be without hurdles; Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday he was not looking at both countries joining NATO “positively,” accusing them of housing Kurdish “terrorist organizations.”\n\nFinnish President Sauli Niinistö told CNN he was “confused” by those comments on Sunday, claiming Erdogan had been far more receptive to the idea in a telephone conversation between the two leaders a month ago.\n\n“I think that what we need now is a very clear answer. I’m prepared to have a new discussion with President Erdogan about the problems he has raised,” Niinistö said.\n\nBut NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg attempted to allay concerns about Turkey’s stance, saying Sunday the country “has made it clear that their intention is not to block membership.” Blinken also said Sunday he was “very confident that we will reach consensus.”\n\nIn the meantime, both countries will have to rely on its current allies and partners for security guarantees, rather than Article 5 – the clause which states an attack against one NATO nation is an attack against all, and which triggers a collective response in that event.\n\nSweden and Finland have received assurances of support from the United States and Germany should they come under attack, while British Prime Minister Boris Johnson signed mutual security agreements with his Finnish and Swedish counterparts last week.\n\nWhat does NATO membership entail?\n\nThe reason most countries join NATO is because of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which stipulates that all signatories consider an attack on one an attack against all.\n\nArticle 5 has been a cornerstone of the alliance since NATO was founded in 1949 as a counterweight to the Soviet Union.\n\nThe point of the treaty, and Article 5 specifically, was to deter the Soviets from attacking liberal democracies that lacked military strength. Article 5 guarantees that the resources of the whole alliance – including the massive US military – can be used to protect any single member nation, such as smaller countries who would be defenseless without their allies. Iceland, for example, has no standing army.\n\nFormer Swedish leader Carl Bildt told CNN he doesn’t see new big military bases being built in either country should they join NATO. He said that joining the alliance would likely mean more joint military training and planning between Finland, Sweden and NATO’s 30 current members. Swedish and Finnish forces could also participate in other NATO operations around the globe, such as those in the Baltic states, where several bases have multinational troops.\n\n“There’s going to be preparations for contingencies as part of deterring any adventures that the Russians might be thinking of,” Bildt said. “The actual change is going to be fairly limited.”\n\nWhy haven’t Finland and Sweden already joined NATO?\n\nWhile other Nordic countries like Norway, Denmark and Iceland were original members of the alliance, Sweden and Finland did not join the pact for historic and geopolitical reasons.\n\nBoth Finland, which declared independence from Russia in 1917 after the Bolshevik revolution, and Sweden adopted neutral foreign policy stances during the Cold War, refusing to align with the Soviet Union or the United States.\n\nSweden’s policy of neutrality goes back to the early 1800s, when the country steadfastly stayed out of European conflicts. Its King Gustav XIV formally adopted that neutral status in 1834, according to NATO, and Sweden declared a policy of “non-belligerency” during World War II – allowing Nazi troops to pass through its land into Finland, while also accepting Jewish refugees.\n\nSweden opted to maintain its neutral status after the war ended.\n\nFinland’s neutrality has historically proved more difficult, as it shared a massive border with an authoritarian superpower.\n\nA Finno-Soviet treaty known as the Agreement of Friendship, signed in 1948 and extended on occasion through the decades, prohibited Finland from joining any military alliance considered hostile to the USSR, or from allowing a Western attack through Finnish territory.\n\nTo keep the peace, Finns adopted a process some call “Finlandization,” in which leaders acceded to Soviet demands from time to time. The term was coined during the Cold War and has been applied to other countries in which a superpower exerts control over smaller neighboring states.\n\nVideo Ad Feedback Fmr. Finnish PM: 'Finlandization' not an answer for Ukraine 10:01 - Source: CNN\n\nBoth countries’ balancing acts effectively ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Sweden and Finland joined the European Union together in 1995 and gradually aligned their defense policies with the West, while still avoiding joining NATO outright.\n\nEach country had different reasons for avoiding signing up for NATO pact in tandem with the EU.\n\nFor Finland, it was more geopolitical. The threat for Russia is more tangible thanks to the two countries’ shared 830-mile border.\n\n“Finland has been the exposed country, and we’ve been the protected country,” Bildt told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in a joint interview alongside former Finnish prime minister Alexander Stubb.\n\nWhile an independent nation, Sweden’s geography puts it in the same “strategic environment” as its liberal democratic neighbors, Bildt said. Finland and Sweden have enjoyed a close partnership for decades, with Stockholm viewing its decision to refrain from joining NATO as a way to help keep the heat off Helsinki. Now, however, Sweden is likely to follow Finland’s lead.\n\n“We share the idea that close cooperation will benefit both of us,” current Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said at a news conference last month alongside her Finnish counterpart Marin.\n\nHow Russia’s invasion changed everything\n\nSweden and Finland have been inching towards the West on security issues since joining the EU in 1995, shortly after the end of the Cold War. But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine dramatically accelerated that process, pushing Sweden and Finland to pull the trigger on NATO membership.\n\nIf the Kremlin was willing to invade Ukraine – a country with 44 million people, a GDP of about $516 million, and an armed forces of 200,000 active troops – what would stop Putin from invading smaller countries like Finland in Sweden?\n\n“Everything changed when Russia invaded Ukraine,” Finnish premier Marin said in April. “People’s mindset in Finland, also in Sweden changed and shifted very dramatically.”\n\nSince the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, public support for joining NATO in Finland has leaped from around 30% to nearly 80% in some polls. The majority of Swedes also approve of their country joining the alliance, according to opinion polls there.\n\n“Our NATO membership was decided on the 24th of February, at 5 o’clock in the morning, when Putin and Russia attacked Ukraine” former Finnish leader Stubb told CNN. “Finland and Sweden would not have joined without this attack.”\n\nOfficials in both Sweden and Finland have also expressed frustration that, in the lead-up to the war in Ukraine, Russia attempted to demand security guarantees from NATO that the alliance stop expanding eastward. Such a concession, however, would have effectively given Russia the power to dictate the foreign policies of its neighbors by taking away their ability to choose their own allies and partners.\n\nRussia, Swedish Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist told CNN, wants “real influence in the security choices in Europe.”\n\n“They want an influence over the countries in the neighborhood. And that is totally unacceptable for Sweden.”\n\nAll NATO members must agree to adopt a new nation. Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images\n\nHow has Russia reacted?\n\nRussia lambasted the decision by Finland and Sweden. Its deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Monday that the move would be a “mistake” with “far-reaching consequences,” according to state news agency TASS.\n\nThat followed similar threats from high-ranking Moscow officials. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that “NATO expansion does not make the world more stable and secure” after the announcement. He added that Russia’s reaction would depend on “how far and how close to our borders the military infrastructure will move.”\n\nRussia currently shares about 755 miles of land border with five NATO members, according to the alliance. Finland’s accession would mean that a nation with which Russia shares an 830-mile border would become formally militarily aligned with the United States.\n\nThe addition of Finland and Sweden would also benefit the alliance, which would frustrate Russia. Both are serious military powers, despite their small populations.\n\nRussian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that “Russia has no problems with these states,” adding that the expansion of NATO “does not pose a direct threat to Russia.”\n\n“But the expansion of military infrastructure into this territory will certainly cause our response,” he added at the Collective Security Treaty Organization in Moscow. “We will see what it will be based on the threats that will be created for us.”\n\nHowever, Bildt and Stubb, the former Swedish and Finnish premiers, believe that so far, Russia’s response has been relatively muted.\n\n“The Kremlin sees Finnish and Swedish NATO membership as a Nordic solution, and in that sense, not a radical threat,” said Stubb. “We’re not too worried.”\n\nStubb and Bildt said they believe Moscow ultimately sees the two countries as reliable neighbors, despite their decision to join a Washington-backed alliance.\n\n“The fact that Finland and Sweden are part of the West doesn’t come as a surprise,” said Bildt.\n\nWhy does Russia loathe NATO?\n\nPutin sees the alliance as a bulwark aimed at Russia, despite the fact that it had spent much of the post-Soviet years focusing on issues like terrorism and peacekeeping.\n\nBefore Putin invaded Ukraine, he made clear his belief that NATO had edged too close to Russia and should be stripped back to its borders of the 1990s, before some countries that either neighbor Russia or were ex-Soviet states joined the military alliance.\n\nUkraine’s desire to join NATO, and its status as a NATO partner – seen as a step on the way to eventual full membership – was one of the numerous grievances Putin cited in an attempt to justify his country’s invasion of its neighbor.\n\nThe irony is that the war in Ukraine has, effectively, given NATO a new purpose.\n\n“Article 5 is back in the game, and people understand that we need NATO because of a potential Russian threat,” Stubb said in an interview with CNN before the invasion.\n\nThis story has been corrected to reflect that Sweden’s government does not need parliament’s consent to pursue membership in NATO.", "authors": ["Joshua Berlinger"], "publish_date": "2022/05/14"}]}
{"question_id": "20230127_10", "search_time": "2023/01/28/05:15", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2023/01/23/m-and-m-mascot-candies-maya-rudolph/11106532002/", "title": "M&M's says it will replace \"spokescandies\" with Maya Rudolph", "text": "M&M's announced Monday it is putting its iconic characters on an \"indefinite pause\" and replacing them with actress Maya Rudolph after controversy following its mascot makeover last year.\n\nThe brand said it didn't expect the changes to their \"spokescandies,\" the colorful cartoon M&M's mascots, would \"break the internet,\" noting that “even a candy’s shoes can be polarizing.”\n\n“In the last year, we’ve made some changes to our beloved spokescandies,\" M&M's said in a statement on Twitter. \"We weren’t sure if anyone would even notice. And we definitely didn’t think it would break the internet.”\n\nEarly last year, M&M's gave the mascots more unique personalities and a new look. The brand also introduced a new purple M&M in September meant to represent acceptance and inclusivity.\n\n\"We are confident Ms. Rudolph will champion the power of fun to create a world where everyone feels they belong,\" the brand said. Rudolph confirmed the news in an interview with Today.\n\nM&M's said Rudolph will be starring in the brand's upcoming Super Bowl campaign and will assume the role of \"Chief of Fun, using her humor and captivating personality to help the brand build on its mission to create a world where everyone feels they belong.\"\n\n\"While we can’t say much more now, fans should keep an eye on M&M’S social media channels and MMS.com to see more of Maya’s journey, and we will share more on the spokescandies new pursuits over the next few weeks,\" M&M's said in an email.\n\nTax season:What are the 2022 US federal tax brackets? Answers here\n\nRecall alert:Ross recalls scented candles because they may combust, one injury reported\n\nM&M's controversy\n\nThe rebrand sparked backlash from conservatives, including Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who have criticized the \"woke M&M's.\"\n\nAs part of the makeover, the green M&M's notably changed her knee-high heeled boots for sneakers. The brown M&M's, meanwhile, switched her stilettos for shorter heels.\n\nCarlson lambasted the change in character design last year, saying “M&M’s will not be satisfied until every last cartoon character is deeply unappealing and totally androgynous.”\n\nBeing polarizing is \"the last thing M&M’s wanted since we’re all about bringing people together,\" the company said. \"Therefore, we have decided to take an indefinite pause on the spokescandies.”\n\nIt's not clear how long the pause will last. The brand posted a video on social media Sunday featuring the mascots in celebration of the Lunar New Year.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/01/23"}]}
{"question_id": "20230127_11", "search_time": "2023/01/28/05:15", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/movies/2022/03/16/diane-warren-susan-lucci-of-oscars-13-nominations/7049547001/", "title": "Diane Warren, 'Susan Lucci of the Oscars,' hopes No. 13 is charm", "text": "With 13 Academy Award nominations and no wins, legendary songwriter Diane Warren says in a way she’s “happy to be the Susan Lucci of the Oscars.”\n\nFor Warren, a master of the cinematic power ballad, it’s about longevity – writing for films since the 1980s, doing \"my best work\" now at 65 and having “Somehow You Do” up for best original song at Sunday's Oscar ceremony. Honestly, Warren prefers this path to, say, winning 20 years ago and never getting nominated again.\n\nThat said, she hopes her losing streak doesn’t mirror soap-opera icon Lucci’s long wait for an Emmy. “It took her 19 times to win. That gives me six more times before it happens,” Warren quips.\n\nWho's up for Oscars? 'The Power of the Dog' leads, Kristen Stewart nabs first nod\n\nFor the most-nominated woman in Oscar history without a win, this year’s nod is particularly sweet because it was unexpected. “Somehow You Do,” from the Glenn Close and Mila Kunis addiction drama “Four Good Days,” faces competition from Billie Eilish, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Van Morrison and Beyoncé on Oscar night and was shortlisted with Jay-Z, Jennifer Hudson and U2. “I was like the little engine that could,” Warren says. “When they announced the nominations, I like had five heart attacks because my song was the very last song.”\n\nStarting with \"Rhythm of the Night\" in 1985 for \"The Last Dragon,\" Warren has been writing songs commissioned by producers for a multitude of films as well as \"casting\" singers for those tunes. \"They have to be authentic to the movie. That's almost like another character,\" says Warren, whose first two Oscar-nominated songs – \"Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now\" for \"Mannequin\" (1987) and \"Because You Loved Me\" for \"Up Close & Personal\" (1996) – were No. 1 hits. The latter garnered Warren her first, and so far only, Grammy Award.\n\nWarren takes USA TODAY through highlights from her Academy Award songbook, from the stories behind the music to which songs had the best chance of victory:\n\nOscar movies:Watch these films tonight to get caught up\n\n‘How Do I Live’ (‘Con Air,’ 1998)\n\nLeAnn Rimes and Trisha Yearwood both did versions, though nothing was going to stop an unsinkable mega-hit from “Titanic.” “There was no chance,” Warren says of going up against “My Heart Will Go On.” “Everybody that was nominated that year was like, ‘OK, let's just go have fun.’ ”\n\n‘I Don't Want to Miss a Thing’ (‘Armageddon,’ 1999)\n\nWhile “The Prince of Egypt” track “When You Believe” won the Oscar, Warren’s tune was a pop-culture heavyweight and remains the only No. 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100 in Aerosmith’s storied career. “That song has become a classic,” she says. Aerosmith \"never did other people's songs. They did a Beatles song once and that doesn't count because it's a Beatles song. I was really the first songwriter song they ever did.”\n\n‘Music of My Heart’ (‘Music of the Heart,’ 2000)\n\nIt was Warren’s idea to team ’N Sync with Gloria Estefan, who starred in the drama about teachers with Meryl Streep. Phil Collins’ “You’ll Be in My Heart” (from “Tarzan”) won but “Music” meant a lot to Warren, who was inspired to write the song by “a camp counselor when I was young who had an impact on my life,” she says. “I remember the night I played it for her, and that was a really cool moment.”\n\n‘There You’ll Be’ (‘Pearl Harbor,’ 2002)\n\nIt was a rough road to Oscar night, even before losing to “If I Didn’t Have You” (from “Monsters, Inc.”). “Pearl Harbor” producer Jerry Bruckheimer “just kept making me rewrite it like 20 times,” she recalls. “A lot of jumping through hoops on that one but that worked out. He said, ‘Do not send that to an artist till I approve it.’ And meanwhile, I'd sent it to Faith Hill. She was ready to record it. I usually don't listen when people tell me what to do. And everybody usually benefits when I do that.”\n\n‘Til It Happens to You’ (‘The Hunting Ground,’ 2016)\n\nUntil Sam Smith’s James Bond song “Writing’s on the Wall” (from “Spectre”) won, Warren was confident Oscar glory would finally be hers – especially after Lady Gaga’s “spectacular” performance with sexual assault survivors. “It went to a commercial break and everybody did kind of think that was going to win. ‘And the winner is … not that song.’ I've got to say, I was bummed at that one.”\n\n‘Stand Up for Something’ (‘Marshall,’ 2018)\n\nAndra Day and Common’s Oscar night performance of the number – which lost to “Remember Me” (from “Coco”) – was another “pretty phenomenal” memory for Warren, she says. Day and Common were joined by a stage full of “amazing people” including Black Lives Matter and #MeToo activists. “That was a really awesome performance and that's one of my favorite songs as well.”\n\n‘I’ll Fight’ (‘RBG,’ 2019)\n\nWarren figured correctly that Gaga’s ‘A Star Is Born” hit “Shallow” was going to win the night. But \"I'll Fight\" was an example of Warren “casting” the perfect artist for a movie song – in this case, Jennifer Hudson. “With Ruth Bader Ginsburg, I wanted her avatar to be this big-voice diva because she's so small in stature and very soft-spoken. But her words are loud. Her words have changed people's lives, they've changed laws,” Warren says. “If Ruth Bader Ginsburg could sing, she'd be Jennifer Hudson.”\n\n‘I’m Standing With You’ (‘Breakthrough,’ 2020)\n\nElton John’s “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” (from “Rocketman”) was victorious against Warren’s tune. She says she originally wanted to go for another artist (“Kelly Clarkson or somebody like that”) because she didn’t know if “Breakthrough” star Chrissy Metz could sing. “I had her come in with my producer and I left because I didn't want any negative vibes in the studio: ‘I don't really want you, but let me hang out with you while you sing.’ So I came back and heard what she did and she sounded amazing.”\n\n‘Somehow You Do’ (‘Four Good Days,’ 2022)\n\nThe singer performing a movie song is “almost like another character,” says Warren, and RebaMcEntire “just embodies resilience and strength” in a tune about surviving. And going up against heavy hitters at this year’s Oscars, “it's one of my best songs I think. I love what it says. I love the message of it. I love the melodies in it. It seems to resonate with people and that makes a song special.”\n\nThe Oscars luncheon returns: Will Smith, Kristen Stewart, more star gather to celebrate their nominations a year after the event was 'COVID-canceled'", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/03/16"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2019/01/08/oscar-watch-these-5-hits-absolutely-could-win-best-picture/2501851002/", "title": "Oscar watch! These 5 hits absolutely could win best picture this year", "text": "It’s perhaps a shade ironic that Academy Awards flirted with having a most-popular-film Oscar this year to get more eyes tuned into the Feb. 24 ceremony, and the best-picture slate might be inundated with hits anyway.\n\nOscar best pictures aren’t always the biggest box-office powerhouses: Last year’s winner, \"The Shape of Water,” grossed only $63.9 million – not a lot, yet a mother lode compared with the $17 million haul of 2010 best picture “The Hurt Locker.” But the 2019 list of Producers Guild Award nominees – a bellwether for Oscars – offers up five films that have made more than $174 million (“Black Panther,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Crazy Rich Asians,” “A Quiet Place” and \"A Star Is Born”). And the upset victory for best drama by Queen biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody” at Sunday’s Golden Globes could be a sign that winds are blowing in favor of a populist crowd-pleaser.\n\nMore:Here's what happened when the Golden Globe winners went backstage\n\nRelated:'Black Panther,' 'A Star Is Born' receive Writers Guild nods\n\nEven though the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences temporarily shelved a popular-film Oscar, the category where awards-worthy blockbusters like \"Mary Poppins Returns\" and \"Black Panther\" might have landed instead, next month's ceremony looks to star some audience-approved entries. With no apparent front-runner yet heading into the Oscar nominations on Jan. 22, here are five cinematic smashes (in alphabetical order) that could take Hollywood’s biggest prize:\n\n‘Black Panther’\n\nKey nominations from the Globes, PGA, Writers Guild Awards and Screen Actors Guild Awards make an Oscar best-picture nomination all but certain for 2018’s cinematic superhero powerhouse, which will also place in some technical categories (and has an outside shot at supporting actor for Michael B. Jordan). The fact that it’s critically acclaimed and made $700 million help at a show that has honored blockbusters before (see: “Titanic” and “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King”). Add in the movie’s universal goodwill and a younger, more diverse academy voting contingent, and Marvel’s first Oscar might be a memorable one.\n\n‘Bohemian Rhapsody’\n\nLove it or hate it, the cinematic ode to Freddie Mercury isn’t going anywhere. The Golden Globes win plus Screen Actors Guild best-cast nomination solidifies its place as a contender. “Rhapsody” also has a strong leading man in Rami Malek, who won a best-actor Globe, is up for the same honor at SAGs and has a good shot at landing in that Oscar category, too. People just love him in this movie, and enough academy voters might be wooed by the excellent Queen tunes. A “Rhapsody” best-picture win might have been laughable to some Oscar watchers a week ago – now it doesn’t seem so stone-cold crazy.\n\n‘Crazy Rich Asians’\n\nOf the likely best-picture nominees, the all-Asian romantic comedy is probably the biggest throwback to old-school Hollywood, and its ostentatious vibe and feel-good nature could play well for Oscar voters still into the classics. “Asians” has the right resume – with Globe and Producers Guild nominations, plus a best-ensemble nod from SAG, which makes up the largest voting bloc in the academy. And like with “Black Panther,” its emphasis on representation will appeal to a crop of changing Oscar voters.\n\n‘A Quiet Place’\n\nJohn Krasinski’s popular horror film is a true dark horse compared with the other four here, since \"A Quiet Place\" is sitting on the fence waiting to see if it'll get invited to the party. But it has quietly ratcheted up an impressive awards campaign, earning nods from the Producers Guild and the Writers Guild. (Between this and \"Mary Poppins,\" Emily Blunt could boast of being in two best-picture nominees, though Globe-nominated \"Poppins\" doesn't have the PGA and SAG cast nominations usually associated with the eventual winner.) “A Quiet Place” also could score nominations in technical Oscar categories with its innovative use of sound (and lack thereof); plus, the presence of “Get Out” in last year’s field suggests chillers are being taken pretty seriously these days. If no one or two films break from the pack, “A Quiet Place” could make some noise.\n\n‘A Star Is Born’\n\nBradley Cooper and Lady Gaga’s built-for-Oscar musical love story won just one Globe out of a possible five – and lost to “Bohemian Rhapsody” for best drama and actor, which sent some heads spinning. Don’t panic: The Globes aren’t historically the greatest indicator for Oscar success, and “Star” remains the closest thing to a favorite there is this year. There’s a good chance it’ll earn a swath of high-profile nominations (as many as three acting nods, plus an obvious song nomination and likely director and screenplay honors, too), and it’s a well-regarded redo of one of the quintessential Hollywood tales. So no reason to throw away those acceptance speeches yet, Bradley and Gaga.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2019/01/08"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/07/entertainment/gallery/oscar-best-picture-winners/index.html", "title": "Here's every film that won the Oscar for best picture | CNN", "text": "\"It Happened One Night\" (1935): \"It Happened One Night\" was one of the great underdog winners. Its studio, Columbia, wasn't considered one of the majors at the time, and neither Clark Gable nor Claudette Colbert, its stars, were excited about the project. But it became the first film to sweep the five major categories of picture, actor, actress, director and screenplay. To this day, only two other films -- \"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest\" (1975) and \"The Silence of the Lambs\" (1991) -- have pulled off the same trick. Columbia Pictures Corporation", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/02/07"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/movies/2022/03/27/oscars-2022-full-winners-list/7183082001/", "title": "Oscar winners 2022 full list: Who won at the Academy Awards?", "text": "Favorite \"CODA,\" about a deaf fishing family and their hearing daughter, won best picture at Sunday's 94th Academy Awards. Will Smith and Jessica Chastain took home the top acting prizes and Jane Campion won for best director for her Western \"The Power of the Dog.\"\n\nThe Academy Awards returned to the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood and had a host (three of them, actually) for the first time in four years.\n\nAmy Schumer, Regina Hall and Wanda Sykes co-hosted the festivities, which had strict COVID-19 protocols in place: Guests were required to show proof of vaccination, as well as undergo several rounds of testing.\n\nWho took home honors at the 94th annual Academy Awards? Check out the list of Oscar winners (in bold):\n\n'Was that real?' Social media is stunned about Will Smith smacking Chris Rock\n\n'Love will make you do crazy things':Will Smith apologizes to Oscars after hitting Chris Rock onstage\n\nBest picture\n\n\"Belfast\"\n\nWinner: \"CODA\"\n\n\"Don't Look Up\"\n\n\"Drive My Car\"\n\n\"Dune\"\n\n\"King Richard\"\n\n\"Licorice Pizza\"\n\n\"Nightmare Alley\"\n\n\"The Power of the Dog\"\n\n\"West Side Story\"\n\nBest actress\n\nWinner: Jessica Chastain, \"The Eyes of Tammy Faye\"\n\nOlivia Colman, \"The Lost Daughter\"\n\nPenélope Cruz, \"Parallel Mothers\"\n\nNicole Kidman, \"Being the Ricardos\"\n\nKristen Stewart, \"Spencer\"\n\nOscars 2022:'CODA' wins best picture, Will Smith and Jessica Chastain take acting honors\n\nThe Fresh Prince is crowned:Will Smith wins best actor on an infamous Oscar night\n\nBest actor\n\nJavier Bardem, \"Being the Ricardos\"\n\nBenedict Cumberbatch, \"The Power of the Dog\"\n\nAndrew Garfield, \"tick, tick ... BOOM!\"\n\nWinner: Will Smith, \"King Richard\"\n\nDenzel Washington, \"The Tragedy of Macbeth\"\n\nBest supporting actress\n\nJessie Buckley, \"The Lost Daughter\"\n\nWinner: Ariana DeBose, \"West Side Story\"\n\nJudi Dench, \"Belfast\"\n\nKirsten Dunst, \"The Power of the Dog\"\n\nAunjanue Ellis, \"King Richard\"\n\n'A place for us':Why Ariana DeBose's Oscar win is a major victory for LGBTQ community\n\n'Dreams really can come true':'West Side Story' star Rachel Zegler makes it to the Oscars\n\nBest supporting actor\n\nCiarán Hinds, \"Belfast\"\n\nWinner: Troy Kotsur, \"CODA\"\n\nJesse Plemons, \"The Power of the Dog\"\n\nJ.K. Simmons, \"Being the Ricardos\"\n\nKodi Smit-McPhee, \"The Power of the Dog\"\n\nBest director\n\nKenneth Branagh, \"Belfast\"\n\nRyusuke Hamaguchi, \"Drive My Car\"\n\nPaul Thomas Anderson, \"Licorice Pizza\"\n\nWinner: Jane Campion, \"The Power of the Dog\"\n\nSteven Spielberg, \"West Side Story\"\n\nAdapted screenplay\n\nWinner: \"CODA,\" Siân Heder\n\n\"Drive My Car,\" Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe\n\n\"Dune,\" Jon Spaihts, Denis Villeneuve and Eric Roth\n\n\"The Lost Daughter,\" Maggie Gyllenhaal\n\n\"The Power of the Dog,\" Jane Campion\n\nOriginal screenplay\n\nWinner: \"Belfast,\" Kenneth Branagh\n\n\"Don't Look Up,\" Adam McKay and David Sirota\n\n\"King Richard,\" Zach Baylin\n\n\"Licorice Pizza,\" Paul Thomas Anderson\n\n\"The Worst Person in the World,\" Eskil Vogt and Joachim Trier\n\nInternational film\n\nWinner: \"Drive My Car\" (Japan)\n\n\"Flee\" (Denmark)\n\n\"The Hand of God\" (Italy)\n\n\"Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom\" (Bhutan)\n\n\"The Worst Person in the World\" (Norway)\n\nVisual effects\n\nWinner: \"Dune\"\n\n\"Free Guy\"\n\n\"No Time to Die\"\n\n\"Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings\"\n\n\"Spider-Man: No Way Home\"\n\nCinematography\n\nWinner: \"Dune\"\n\n\"Nightmare Alley\"\n\n\"The Power of the Dog\"\n\n\"The Tragedy of Macbeth\"\n\n\"West Side Story\"\n\nOriginal score\n\n\"Don't Look Up,\" Nicholas Britell\n\nWinner: \"Dune,\" Hans Zimmer\n\n\"Encanto,\" Germaine Franco\n\n\"Parallel Mothers,\" Alberto Iglesias\n\n\"The Power of the Dog,\" Jonny Greenwood\n\nMore:Brutally honest rankings of Oscars 2022 best song performances, from Billie Eilish to Beyonce\n\nMore:'We Don't Talk About Bruno' gets a Megan Thee Stallion remix at the Oscars. Why wasn't it nominated?\n\nOriginal song\n\n\"Be Alive\" (from \"King Richard\")\n\n\"Dos Oruguitas\" (from \"Encanto\")\n\n\"Down To Joy\" (from \"Belfast\")\n\nWinner: \"No Time To Die\" (from \"No Time to Die\")\n\n\"Somehow You Do\" (from \"Four Good Days\")\n\nFilm editing\n\n\"Don't Look Up\"\n\nWinner: \"Dune\"\n\n\"King Richard\"\n\n\"The Power of the Dog\"\n\n\"tick, tick ... BOOM!\"\n\nCostume design\n\nWinner: \"Cruella\"\n\n\"Cyrano\"\n\n\"Dune\"\n\n\"Nightmare Alley\"\n\n\"West Side Story\"\n\nMakeup and hairstyling\n\n\"Coming 2 America\"\n\n\"Cruella\"\n\n\"Dune\"\n\nWinner: \"The Eyes of Tammy Faye\"\n\n\"House of Gucci\"\n\nProduction design\n\nWinner: \"Dune\"\n\n\"Nightmare Alley\"\n\n\"The Power of the Dog\"\n\n\"The Tragedy of Macbeth\"\n\n\"West Side Story\"\n\nMore:Oscars best dressed: Shirtless Timothée Chalamet and shiny Zendaya stun on the red carpet\n\nMore:Mila Kunis honors Ukrainians 'who find strength to keep fighting' during Oscars ceremony\n\nSound\n\n\"Belfast\"\n\nWinner: \"Dune\"\n\n\"No Time to Die\"\n\n\"The Power of the Dog\"\n\n\"West Side Story\"\n\nDocumentary feature film\n\n\"Ascension\"\n\n\"Attica\"\n\n\"Flee\"\n\nWinner: \"Summer of Soul (... Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)\"\n\n\"Writing With Fire\"\n\nDocumentary short subject\n\n\"Audible\"\n\n\"Lead Me Home\"\n\nWinner: \"The Queen of Basketball\"\n\n\"Three Songs for Benazir\"\n\n\"When We Were Bullies\"\n\nAnimated feature film\n\nWinner: \"Encanto\"\n\n\"Flee\"\n\n\"Luca\"\n\n\"The Mitchells vs. the Machines\"\n\n\"Raya and the Last Dragon\"\n\nAnimated short film\n\n\"Affairs of the Art\"\n\n\"Bestia\"\n\n\"Boxballet\"\n\n\"Robin Robin\"\n\nWinner: \"The Windshield Wiper\"\n\nLive action short film\n\n\"Ala Kachuu – Take and Run\"\n\n\"The Dress\"\n\nWinner: \"The Long Goodbye\"\n\n\"On My Mind\"\n\n\"Please Hold\"\n\nMore:All 93 Oscar best picture winners (yes, all of them), ranked from worst to best\n\nRemember Bjork's swan dress? See the all-time most outrageous Oscars red carpet looks", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/03/27"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2013/10/05/directors-may-get-oscar-nominations/2915865/", "title": "Little-known directors may contend for Oscar", "text": "Dana Harris\n\nEditor in Chief, Indiewire\n\nMeet six directors who may walk off with a Best Director Oscar\n\nDirectors of %27Gravity%2C%27 %2712 Years a Slave%2C%27 %27Prisoners%27 and more have their breakthroughs\n\nDirector Ryan Coogler is receiving critical praise and awards for his debut effort %27Fruitvale Station%27\n\nOctober's hardly begun, but the Oscar race is well underway. And this year's a little different not only because there seems to be an unusual number of serious contenders for best picture, but also because many of these films are directed by people you've probably never heard of.\n\nYes, there's all the usual suspects — Martin Scorsese's got The Wolf of Wall Street, while David O. Russell, who charmed last year with The Silver Linings Playbook, is back with American Hustle. And the Coen Bros. appear to have a critical and audience favorite with Inside Llewyn Davis.\n\nBut what do you know about Steve McQueen? Or J.C. Chandor? How about Jean-Marc Vallee? Not to worry; here's Indiewire's handy cheat sheet for six of the Oscar-contender directors you may never have heard of.\n\nDirector: Alfonso Cuarón\n\nGravity\n\n\n\nHe's been writing and directing movies for more than 20 years with a versatility few can match. Cuaron's first English-language feature was the 1995 children's adaptation A Little Princess, but he really made his mark six years later when he abandoned the big-budget Bruce Willis drama Hart's War in order to make the microbudget and sexually explicit Spanish-language romance Y Tu Mama Tambien. And with Gravity, he's earning acclaim for nothing less than redefining filmmaking.\n\nDirector: Steve McQueen\n\n12 Years a Slave\n\n\n\nIf nothing else, this will be the year when people no longer automatically think of the blonde, blue-eyed and long-dead actor when they hear this director's name. The London-born McQueen was an excellent soccer player (he went out for Bermuda's team, St. George's Colts) but instead attended art college in London, where he trained as a fine artist. By the time he made his first film in 2008, Hunger, he was already an acclaimed visual artist. He initially found his audience in galleries, where he exhibited his short films as well as sculpture and mixed-media works. He won Britain's best-known award for visual artists, the Turner Prize, in 1999; in 2006 he went to Iraq as an commissioned U.K. \"war artist.\"\n\nDirector: Ryan Coogler\n\n\n\nFruitvale Station\n\nThis is the debut feature for writer-director Coogler, who also won the grand jury prize at Sundance this year for his drama based on the true story of Oscar Grant, who was shot and killed by police at a BART station. However, he originally went to college on a football scholarship, only to transfer twice before he wound up at USC's acclaimed film school. He was still a student when he brought the idea for Fruitvale Station to producer Forest Whitaker — and he hadn't yet written the screenplay. The film is also generating a lot of love for stars Octavia Spencer and Michael B. Jordan.\n\nDirector: Denis Villeneuve\n\nPrisoners\n\nThis Quebecois filmmaker made his English-language debut with Prisoners starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Hugh Jackman (who's getting the best notices of his career). However, this wouldn't be the first time he received awards notice: He was 23 when his first short film won a prize in a youth film competition. Since then he's directed six films and his French-language drama Incendies received an Oscar nomination for best foreign-language film in 2010 — and his last three films received best picture Genies (the Canadian equivalent of the Oscars).\n\nDirector: J.C. Chandor\n\nAll Is Lost\n\nChandor picked up a screenplay Oscar nomination last year for Margin Call, which he also directed. However, the All Is Lost script has almost no dialogue — just Robert Redford, lost at sea. Before Margin Call, he was a director for hire on documentaries, on commercials and anything else that would pay the bills.\n\nDirector: Jean-Marc Vallée\n\nDallas Buyers Club\n\nThe Montreal-born Vallée made his first film, the French-language Liste noire, nearly 20 years ago, but he gained notice in America with his first English-language drama, The Young Victoria, starring Emily Blunt as the Victorian queen. (It also received three Oscar nominations, including a win for costume design.) His next film, Cafe de Flore, received the most nominations of any film at Canada's 2012 Genie Awards. However, he achieved the near-impossible by being the director to bring Dallas Buyers Club to the screen: the antihero AIDS drama has been long known in Hollywood as one of the best unmade screenplays.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2013/10/05"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/movies/2020/01/27/oscars-best-picture-could-go-any-these-films-1917-parasite/4556024002/", "title": "The biggest drama at the Oscars: Which one of these 5 movies will ...", "text": "Would a real Oscar front-runner please stand up?\n\nWith less than two weeks until the Academy Awards on Feb. 9 (ABC, 8 p.m. ET/5 PT), it has become painfully obvious who’s taking all the acting gold but not so much what’s going home with the big prize: best picture. This awards season has spread the love around, giving every major film contender a time to shine and every person in an Oscar pool a chance to chew on his or her nails.\n\nThrowing other wrenches into the works: Best picture is voted on through a preferential ballot, where academy members rank their choices rather than just pick one winner, plus a voting body that is slowly getting younger and more diverse every year.\n\nBest picture:15 films that didn't deserve the Oscar – and the ones that should have won instead\n\nOscar tally: Here are the films and actors leading the race\n\nWhile one movie hasn’t risen to rule them all quite yet, some have been left in the dust. The racing drama \"Ford v Ferrari\" may win some technical awards but that's it, the best chances for coming-of-age adaptation \"Little Women\" and divorce drama \"Marriage Story\" are in the screenplay categories, and the World War II satire \"Jojo Rabbit\" looms as a dark horse with key guild nominations but has yet to make a splash this season.\n\nHere are the five, though, with the right resumes to conquer the best-picture race on Oscar night:\n\n‘1917’\n\nThe closest thing to a favorite is director Sam Mendes’ World War I thriller, about two British soldiers (George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman) racing to deliver orders in time to save 1,600 fellow military men. The film has had big wins at the Directors Guild Awards and Producers Guild Awards, the latter a strong predictor for the Oscars: The PGA honoree has gone on to win best picture 21 out of 30 times, including the past two years with “The Shape of Water” and “Green Book.” Also in its favor is a Golden Globe victory for best drama and an impressive box office, scoring $104 million with only a few weeks of nationwide release. One troublesome statistic remains: “1917” doesn’t have an acting nomination, and only 11 films in Oscar history – most recently “Slumdog Millionaire” in 2009 – have won best picture without one.\n\n‘Parasite’\n\nThe Oscars have gone 91 years without awarding the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' highest honor to a foreign-language film, so history is not exactly on the side of South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho’s acclaimed black comedy about class and social inequality. There is real love in the industry for “Parasite,” however, evidenced by the crowd eruption when it snagged a surprise win for outstanding ensemble at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. With actors being the largest voting bloc in the academy, the victory – plus an honor for best drama given by the American Cinema Editors – gives “Parasite” momentum going forward, though like “1917,” it also has the problem of no Oscar acting nominations.\n\n‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’\n\nQuentin Tarantino’s star-packed Tinseltown fable – one that intertwines the lives of a washed-up actor (Leonardo DiCaprio), his steely stuntman (Brad Pitt) and the Manson Family – has been a favorite among movie lovers ever since its summer release. “Once Upon a Time” won best comedy at the Golden Globes and best picture at the Critics' Choice Awards, it’s a strong contender in the 10 Oscar categories where it’s nominated (Pitt’s pretty much a lock for supporting actor and Tarantino has a good shot at original screenplay), and the Academy Awards since their inception have always adored movies about Hollywood. This one has it right in the title.\n\n‘The Irishman’\n\nMartin Scorsese’s Netflix gangster epic came into Oscars like a heavyweight, but like “A Star Is Born” last year, is starting to look like an also-ran. The film, which tracks World War II veteran and Mob hitman Frank Sheeran (Robert De Niro) over multiple bloody decades, received widespread critical acclaim but has lost out on every major honor so far. Still, don’t count out “The Irishman” yet: Crime dramas tend to do well at the Oscars (Scorsese’s “The Departed” marked his first and only best picture in 2007), Netflix put a lot of horses behind its campaign, everyone involved is a Hollywood favorite – not only Scorsese and De Niro, but also supporting-actor nominees Al Pacino and Joe Pesci – and it could benefit from the preferential ballot if it's the second or third choice for a majority of voters.\n\n‘Joker’\n\nOf course the Oscars’ biggest wild card is the one with the iconic comic-book supervillain. Joaquin Phoenix seems destined to win best actor for his unnerving transformation from mentally unstable outcast to face-painted nihilist in Todd Phillips’ psychological thriller origin story. The film's chances for best picture aren’t as good as in other categories – such as original score and hair/makeup – but “Joker” leads with the most Oscar nominations (11 total). Like \"Irishman,\" it might also be helped by the preferential ballot, plus the controversial \"Joker\" has made enough money ($334.6 million domestically, $1.1 billion worldwide) that it can’t be ignored.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2020/01/27"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/movies/2020/01/22/oscars-these-films-didnt-deserve-best-picture-wins/4478094002/", "title": "Oscars: Best picture winners that weren't – and what should have won", "text": "After 93 years of Oscar best pictures, the Academy's bound to get one wrong now and then.\n\nIn 2020, amazingly, they got it right: South Korean director Bong Joon-ho's \"Parasite\" became the first foreign-language film to win the prized category in Oscars history, galvanizing all corners of the movie industry. In fact, that \"Parasite\" victory might be the best thing that happened in a pandemic-stricken Hollywood last year.\n\nSometimes, it's a little more chaotic. Remember Envelopegate? At the 2017 Academy Awards, the musical \"La La Land\" was named best picture – and then it wasn't, when the correct envelope revealed indie drama \"Moonlight\" as the winner. As if the gods of cinema inserted themselves to make sure the right movie was honored rather than the one with the guy trying to save jazz.\n\nOscar predictions:Who will win Sunday's Academy Awards – and who should\n\nOr you have a situation like the 2019 ceremony, where we all thought \"Bohemian Rhapsody\" would be the worst-case scenario. Instead, \"Green Book\" took the Oscar and left a bad taste in some mouths.\n\n\"The ref made a bad call,\" Spike Lee said that night. Well, it wasn't the first time.\n\nBefore another movie joins the hallowed ranks at Sunday's 94th annual Oscars (ABC, 8 ET/5 PT), we're rethinking past best picture winners and the films that should have conquered them.\n\n1942\n\nDid win: \"How Green Was My Valley\"\n\nShould have won: \"Citizen Kane\"\n\nPerhaps the most egregious mistake came relatively early in Oscars history, with John Ford's coal-country drama – which took five Academy Awards to a lone \"Kane\" screenplay win – getting the nod over Orson Welles' epic about an eccentric media mogul that is widely regarded as the best movie ever made.\n\n1953\n\nDid win: \"The Greatest Show on Earth\"\n\nShould have won: \"High Noon\"\n\nEven with a stellar cast – including Charlton Heston, Dorothy Lamour and Jimmy Stewart – \"Greatest Show\" is essentially a 152-minute commercial for the circus. They must have been clowning around because this category also included \"High Noon,\" one of the greatest Westerns of the genre's golden age with Gary Cooper as a cool lawman.\n\n1967\n\nDid win: \"A Man for All Seasons\"\n\nShould have won: \"Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?\"\n\nThat year's best picture win went to a rousingly successful Sir Thomas More biopic, along with a bunch of awards-season gold. But come on, \"Man,\" they should have gone for Mike Nichols' debut black comedy about marital strife. It's absolutely nuts, risky for its time, and features astounding turns from Richard Burton and especially Elizabeth Taylor.\n\n1974\n\nDid win: \"The Sting\"\n\nShould have won: \"The Exorcist\"\n\nBoth were huge hits that came in with 10 nominations, and Robert Redford and Paul Newman's ragtime-tinged con-man caper was the safe choice. \"The Exorcist\" was the true standout, a fright-fest masterpiece about faith and innocence that's scared the socks off folks for four decades.\n\n1980\n\nDid win: \"Kramer vs. Kramer\"\n\nShould have won: \"Apocalypse Now\"\n\nNot to take anything away from the wrenching look at divorce with Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep, but \"Apocalypse Now\" was unlike any war film that came before it, an operatic and grandiose episode that delved into the horrors, physical and otherwise, inherent on the battlefield.\n\n1982\n\nDid win: \"Chariots of Fire\"\n\nShould have won: \"Raiders of the Lost Ark\"\n\nOne was a true-life story of Olympic athletes that we remember now mostly because of its catchy theme song. The other was a rip-roaring, two-fisted and hugely influential ode to the serial adventures of yesteryear – with an adventurous archaeologist on the hunt for the Ark of the Covenant – that took pop culture by storm. And a \"Raiders\" win would have been a game-changer for blockbusters.\n\n1986\n\nDid win: \"Out of Africa\"\n\nShould have won: \"The Color Purple\"\n\nThe epic romance with Robert Redford and Meryl Streep in colonial Kenya won over Oscar voters but not critics, who gave \"Africa\" mixed reviews. The Academy whiffed by not honoring a film with Whoopi Goldberg's Golden Globe-winning performance, Oprah Winfrey's high-profile Hollywood debut and Steven Spielberg's honest exploration of racism, sexism and domestic violence in the early 20th century.\n\n1990\n\nDid win: \"Driving Miss Daisy\"\n\nShould have won: \"Field of Dreams\"\n\nThe pairing of Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman in a heartwarming dramedy about an elderly white woman and her African-American driver took down \"Born on the Fourth of July,\" \"My Left Foot\" and \"Dead Poets Society.\" Good movies all around, but none as excellent as the corn-fed Kevin Costner fantasy that captured the wonders of baseball and, yes, dreams.\n\n1995\n\nDid win: \"Forrest Gump\"\n\nShould have won: \"Pulp Fiction\"\n\nTom Hanks literally running through history in the overly earnest \"Gump\" is what the Oscars, at least back in the day, lived for. Not so much Quentin Tarantino's genre mash-up \"Pulp Fiction,\" an ultraviolent, narratively complex cultural phenomenon that wasn't just the best picture that year but arguably of the entire decade.\n\n1997\n\nDid win: \"The English Patient\"\n\nShould have won: \"Fargo\"\n\nAnthony Minghella's romantic World War II drama is a fine film, though it tests viewers' patience over the course of three hours. On the other hand, \"Fargo\" spawned a TV series and a fandom for the Coen brothers' winningly quirky black comedy about murderous deeds and dimwits in snow-covered Minnesota.\n\n1999\n\nDid win: \"Shakespeare in Love\"\n\nShould have won: \"Saving Private Ryan\"\n\n\"Dunkirk\" and \"1917\" have also gone the route of putting the audience right in the middle of the horrors of war, but \"Private Ryan\" did it best – and with \"America's Dad\" Tom Hanks, no less. \"Shakespeare\" had an intriguing concept as a referential, experimental biopic but it has no business upending another Spielberg classic.\n\n2005\n\nDid win: \"Million Dollar Baby\"\n\nShould have won: \"The Aviator\"\n\nMartin Scorsese would end up getting his big Oscar win two years later for \"The Departed\" but it should have happened with \"Aviator.\" The Howard Hughes biopic, piloted by Leonardo DiCaprio's fantastic descent into eccentric madness, is a no-brainer over Clint Eastwood's above-average boxing drama with the super-downer ending.\n\n2006\n\nDid win: \"Crash\"\n\nShould have won: \"Brokeback Mountain\"\n\nPaul Haggis' interwoven all-star drama about racial tensions in L.A., plagued by mixed reviews and complaints of stereotyping, has caught flak for more than 10 years as an Oscar fail. And it is, especially considering Ang Lee's timeless and resonant \"Brokeback\" was sitting right there, with Jake Gyllenhaal and the late Heath Ledger as cowboys in a forbidden love affair.\n\n2011\n\nDid win: \"The King's Speech\"\n\nShould have won: \"Black Swan\"\n\nThe consensus at the time was that period drama \"King's Speech,\" with Colin Firth's George VI working through a troublesome stutter, pulled an upset on David Fincher's vaunted Facebook bio \"The Social Network.\" Yet flying above both was the polarizing \"Swan,\" Darren Aronofsky and Natalie Portman's weird and wonderful character study of an embattled ballerina.\n\n2019\n\nDid win: \"Green Book\"\n\nShould have won: \"BlacKkKlansman\"\n\n\"Green Book\" is a fine, well-acted movie but on a night where many Black voices were honored, the top prize went to a film about race relations from a white point of view. Spike Lee's \"BlacKkKlansman,\" however, would have been the ideal choice: an entertaining, thought-provoking cop drama that digs into America's racist past to mirror our own tumultuous times.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2020/01/22"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/movies/2022/03/24/every-oscar-best-picture-winner-ranked/7083229001/", "title": "Oscar best picture winners, ranked worst to best (All 94 films!)", "text": "Everybody has their own idea of what makes a best picture winner at the Oscars. Perhaps a biopic or a war movie, something huge in scale such as a \"Dances With Wolves\" or \"Titanic,\" or a smaller film like the newest to win the Academy Awards' top trophy, \"CODA.\"\n\nWhat's pretty clear if you undertake watching all 94 (so far) films to take that vaunted prize – and it's not for the fainthearted, trust us – is that you come out of it changed. You love movies a little bit more.\n\nAll of these films bear Hollywood's highest honor – but how do they compare with one another? To celebrate the latest entry in this storied canon, we're ranking every best picture winner, from iffy stuff where a recount seems in order to the very best of the best.\n\n'CODA' made history amid Oscar chaos:Here's what its win means for the Deaf community\n\n94. 'The Broadway Melody' (1928/29)\n\nThe second best picture winner, it's a musical dud with vaudevillian sisters and romantic malarkey that could have won worst picture, too.\n\n93. 'Crash' (2005)\n\nA mess of interwoven stories centered on social and xenophobic tensions in LA, it has a good cast (Sandra Bullock, Don Cheadle) and little else.\n\n92. 'The Greatest Show on Earth' (1952)\n\nJimmy Stewart's a clown and Charlton Heston also signs up for this ostentatious and loathsome three-ring ode to P.T. Barnum’s circus.\n\n91. 'Cimarron' (1930/31)\n\nThe rocky drama about an 1800s Oklahoma family was the first Western to win the category, yet it has aged badly with unfortunate racist stereotypes.\n\n'I was out of line':Will Smith apologizes to Chris Rock after slapping him at Oscars over joke\n\n90. 'Cavalcade' (1932/33)\n\nThis sentimental tale of family, friends and servants experiencing ups and downs of life from 1899 to 1933 is like \"Downton Abbey\" but not good.\n\n89. 'Driving Miss Daisy' (1989)\n\nMorgan Freeman plays a Black driver and Jessica Tandy is his elderly white charge in an emotionally manipulative dramedy made for random cable TV showings.\n\n88. 'Around the World in 80 Days' (1956)\n\nAn English dude (David Niven) travels the globe and meets colorful characters in a flighty three-hour affair. It's no \"Cannonball Run,\" though.\n\n87. 'The English Patient' (1996)\n\nThe pretentious World War II melodrama has Ralph Fiennes as a burned man, Juliette Binoche as his nurse and Kristin Scott Thomas as his already-married love.\n\nAre the Oscars worth saving?An Oscars hater and an Oscars lover fight it out\n\n86. 'Out of Africa' (1985)\n\nMeryl Streep's married Danish writer falls for Robert Redford's big-game hunter over 160 snoozy minutes of Oscar-bait romance.\n\n85. 'Shakespeare in Love' (1998)\n\nThe biopic rom-com gone wrong finds Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) wooing the woman (Gwyneth Paltrow) who helps him write “Romeo and Juliet.\"\n\n84. 'The Great Ziegfeld' (1936)\n\nWilliam Powell plays the infamous title Broadway producer in an arduous and showy musical that is, suffice it to say, less than great.\n\n83. 'Million Dollar Baby' (2004)\n\nHilary Swank packed on muscle to play an up-and-coming boxer trained by an aging coach (director Clint Eastwood) in a film as depressing as \"Rocky\" is uplifting.\n\n82. 'How Green Was My Valley' (1941)\n\nOne of the Oscars' greatest unsolved mysteries is how this maudlin Welsh family coal drama upset \"Citizen Kane.\"\n\n'A place for us': Why Ariana DeBose's Oscar win is a major victory for LGBTQ community\n\n81. 'Chariots of Fire' (1981)\n\nVangelis' catchy theme is the most memorable aspect of this emotionally deep but sluggish British sports drama that follows runners racing toward the 1924 Paris Olympics.\n\n80. 'Green Book' (2018)\n\nMahershala Ali plays a Black pianist touring the Jim Crow South and Viggo Mortensen is his uncouth driver in a feel-good film about race relations with a whitewashed perspective.\n\n79. 'Gentleman’s Agreement' (1947)\n\nGregory Peck stars as a journalist who pretends to be Jewish for a story on antisemitism, which probably sounded like a better idea in 1947.\n\n78. 'Tom Jones' (1963)\n\nThe courtly British comedy finds Albert Finney embracing saucy adventures and getting into swordfights as a squire cast out of his kingdom.\n\n77. 'Grand Hotel' (1931/32)\n\nThe episodic drama peeks at the various goings-on at a swanky Berlin hotel, like the budding relationship of a Russian ballerina (Greta Garbo) and jewelry-heisting gambler (John Barrymore).\n\n76. 'Slumdog Millionaire' (2008)\n\nDev Patel's orphan rises from the slums to win the Indian “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?\" but a Bollywood song-and-dance number botches the satisfying ending.\n\n75. 'The Lost Weekend' (1945)\n\nBilly Wilder's bracing, noir-ish exploration of alcoholism features Ray Milland as a writer whose life devolves into a desperate hunt for his next drink over several harrowing days.\n\n74. 'Forrest Gump' (1994)\n\nThe title character’s fanciful jaunt through American history veers schmaltzy, so thank goodness for Tom Hanks imbuing Gump with an enduring charm.\n\n73. 'Marty' (1955)\n\nOne of Hollywood’s great character actors, Ernest Borgnine is outstanding as a 30-something butcher who finally finds love and doesn’t know who to do with it.\n\n72. 'The Hurt Locker' (2009)\n\nDirector Kathryn Bigelow's Iraq War thriller makes you feel the constant stress and danger faced by a military bomb-disposal unit (including Jeremy Renner and Anthony Mackie).\n\n71. 'American Beauty' (1999)\n\nWho could have imagined 20-plus years later that the divisive \"dancing\" plastic bag from the suburban satire would be more respected than best actor winner Kevin Spacey?\n\n70. 'Terms of Endearment' (1983)\n\nShirley MacLaine and Debra Winger are a mother and daughter with a polarized relationship, yet Jack Nicholson stands out as a roguish astronaut.\n\n69. 'Gigi' (1958)\n\nYoung courtesan wannabe Gigi (Leslie Caron) and Parisian playboy Gaston (Louis Jourdan) see each other as just friends, until romance intercedes in the musical confection.\n\n68. 'You Can’t Take It With You' (1938)\n\nFrank Capra's folksy rom-com casts Jimmy Stewart as Tony, a grounded guy from a snobby family who falls for Alice (Jean Arthur), the most normal in a clan of oddballs.\n\n67. 'Nomadland' (2020)\n\nChloe Zhao’s look at older workers in modern America combines splendid scenery with a wondrous Frances McDormand as a woman who adores life on the road.\n\n66. 'Going My Way' (1944)\n\nBing Crosby is the singingest priest you've ever seen in the musical dramedy, a tune-filled battle of wills between Crosby's young holy man and Barry Fitzgerald's elder pastor.\n\n65. 'Argo' (2012)\n\nDirector Ben Affleck also stars in the historical thriller (and a sort of salute to the movies) about the CIA using a fake sci-fi movie as a ruse to rescue diplomats during the Iran hostage crisis.\n\n64. 'The Deer Hunter' (1978)\n\nPennsylvania friends (including Robert De Niro and Christopher Walken) go off to Vietnam and face the psychological aftermath. Well made but super-duper bleak, so maybe chase it with ...\n\n63. 'Oliver!' (1968)\n\nCharles Dickens' spunky characters from \"Oliver Twist\" get a crowd-pleasing all-ages revamp courtesy of a Victorian musical that doesn't skimp on the earworming showtunes.\n\n62. 'The Best Years of Our Lives' (1946)\n\nFredric March, Dana Andrews and Harold Russell star in the drama that deals honestly with a theme of the time: World War II veterans returning home to face personal and professional struggles.\n\n61. 'Braveheart' (1995)\n\nMel Gibson's controversial stances aside, he is pretty good at making you want to put war paint on and fight for Scottish independence.\n\n60. 'Ordinary People' (1980)\n\nMary Tyler Moore veers unlikable for a change as the hard-to-please matriarch of a family shaken to its core by the death of one son and a suicide attempt by the other (Timothy Hutton).\n\n59. 'An American in Paris' (1951)\n\nGene Kelly stars as a World War II vet crushing on the French perfume girl (Leslie Caron) who's dating his singer pal (Georges Guétary). Awkward! But this one's all about the wowing 17-minute dance finale set to Gershwin's title tune.\n\n58. 'Mrs. Miniver' (1942)\n\nGreer Garson and Walter Pidgeon star as an English couple dealing with the early days of World War II in a drama that, unlike many other films on this list, was made during said war.\n\n57. 'The King’s Speech' (2010)\n\nThe sweet and inspirational story features Colin Firth as England's King George VI working through a childhood stutter to be the steady voice his country needs.\n\n56. 'The Bridge on the River Kwai' (1957)\n\n“Star Wars” fans will appreciate Alec Guinness owning the screen as a World War II British colonel leading whistling, bridge-building POWs at a Japanese prison camp in Thailand.\n\n55. 'Wings' (1927/28)\n\nThe first best picture winner holds up well almost a century later. The silent film stars Charles Rogers and Richard Arlen as rival pilots in World War I who dig the same girl (Clara Bow) back home.\n\n54. 'Dances With Wolves' (1990)\n\nKevin Costner takes a break from sports movies to direct and star in the solid Western epic as a Union soldier who befriends – and fights for – a Native American tribe.\n\n53. 'The Life of Emile Zola' (1937)\n\nMaybe not the most famous biopic but a quite effective one, with Paul Muni as the 19th-century French writer who speaks up for a Jewish captain tagged as a traitor.\n\n52. 'All the King’s Men' (1949)\n\nThe film noir tackles the corruptive tendencies of power, with Broderick Crawford as a populist politician who rises up as a Southern governor and wields dangerous influence.\n\n51. 'A Man for All Seasons' (1966)\n\nPaul Scofield brings steady nerve to his portrayal of Sir Thomas More, the British statesman who butted heads with King Henry VIII (Robert Shaw).\n\n50. 'A Beautiful Mind' (2001)\n\nA year after winning best actor for \"Gladiator,\" Russell Crowe returned to the Oscar race with his role as John Nash, a genius on an absorbing journey of math and madness.\n\n49. 'The Last Emperor' (1987)\n\nBernardo Bertolucci was the first Italian filmmaker to win best director for the immersive historical chronicle of Chinese emperor Puyi's life, from ruling as a toddler to being imprisoned as an adult.\n\n48. 'The Shape of Water' (2017)\n\nGuillermo del Toro's beautifully unconventional romance makes you believe in the love between a voiceless janitor (Sally Hawkins) and a captured fish man (Doug Jones).\n\n47. 'Rain Man' (1988)\n\nDustin Hoffman shows up on this list a few times as part of some dynamic duos. Here, he plays a savant with autism who reconnects with his brash younger brother (Tom Cruise) on the road.\n\n46. 'Gandhi' (1982)\n\nRichard Attenborough's biopic takes on the tale of the renowned Indian leader and succeeds, primarily because of the spirit Ben Kingsley gives his title character.\n\n45. 'The Sound of Music' (1965)\n\nJulie Andrews is a nun who teaches a family of kids to sing and gallivants tunefully across Austrian mountains, while Christopher Plummer rips up a Nazi flag. They understood the assignment, as the kids say.\n\n44. 'The Artist' (2011)\n\nThe (mostly) silent film is a joyous look at Hollywood’s yesteryear, finding something special with an aging star (Jean Dujardin), an infectious ingenue (Bérénice Bejo) and a ridiculously cute pooch.\n\n43. 'Mutiny on the Bounty' (1935)\n\nClark Gable looks strange without his signature mustache, yet he's a clean-shaven force of good in this watery clash as a seaman taking on Charles Laughton's cruel Captain Bligh.\n\n42. 'The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King' (2003)\n\nHobbits and Co. finally reach Mount Doom, and Peter Jackson’s massive fantasy trilogy gets its atta-boy.\n\n41. 'Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)' (2014)\n\nAlejandro González Iñárritu's innovative satire sets its sights on celebrity, family and movie superheroes, with a gonzo Michael Keaton in one of his greatest roles.\n\n40. 'Rebecca' (1940)\n\nAlfred Hitchcock's lone entry on this list is a fitting psychological head trip, with Joan Fontaine playing the new wife of an aristocrat (Laurence Olivier) who can't escape the seemingly constant presence of his dead wife.\n\n39. 'Patton' (1970)\n\nGeorge C. Scott embodies Gen. George S. Patton as a tough leader on the battlefield and a larger-than-life speaker, especially the opening monologue in front of a flag that's a classic Hollywood moment.\n\n38. 'No Country for Old Men' (2007)\n\nThe Coen brothers' Western-tinged thriller rounds up a posse with Josh Brolin as a Vietnam vet who finds a load of drug money and Javier Bardem as a chilling hitman.\n\n37. 'Midnight Cowboy' (1969)\n\nDustin Hoffman found another dude duo with Jon Voight as two hustlers – one a Texan sex worker, the other an ailing con man – navigating New York City’s seedier corners.\n\n36. 'Hamlet' (1948)\n\nLaurence Olivier is the peanut butter, Shakespeare’s Danish prince is the jelly, and they’re made for each other in a delicious treat doing expressionism way before “The Tragedy of Macbeth.”\n\n35. 'Platoon' (1986)\n\nOliver Stone's Vietnam drama superbly depicts the horrors of war and the morals of the men involved, including Charlie Sheen as a soldier caught between ideologically different sergeants (Willem Dafoe and Tom Berenger).\n\n34. 'CODA'\n\nIt's a big, warm inclusive hug of a movie, with a hearing girl (Emilia Jones) torn between the struggling fishing business run by her parents (Marlee Matlin and Oscar winner Troy Kotsur) and her own musical dreams. Have a box of tissues by your side at all times.\n\n33. 'Kramer vs. Kramer' (1979)\n\nDustin Hoffman's best pairing was with Meryl Streep, with their searing look at parenting, divorce and the effects on a child decades before “Marriage Story.\"\n\n32. 'Titanic' (1997)\n\nIn James Cameron’s blockbuster, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet gave us a doomed love story folks could (mostly) buy amid a historical disaster. (Jack totally could have fit on Rose's door, though.)\n\n31. 'Annie Hall' (1977)\n\nWoody Allen is polarizing, his best movie is not. The filmmaker's beloved comedy hilariously follows the relationship build and breakup of a comedian (Allen) and a singer (Diane Keaton).\n\n30. 'The Sting' (1973)\n\nSet to a rollicking ragtime score, the enjoyable crime caper lets Robert Redford and Paul Newman shine as con men who eye a powerful boss as their ultimate mark after the murder of a shared friend.\n\n29. 'Ben-Hur' (1959)\n\nThe chariot race rules and the action is on a biblical scale (literally!) in the epic featuring Charlton Heston as a Jewish prince enslaved on a galley ship who plots revenge on the Romans who betrayed him.\n\n28. 'Unforgiven' (1992)\n\nClint Eastwood rides tall in the director's chair, stakes his claim for best Western ever and stars as an aging farmer who returns to his outlaw ways for righteous retribution.\n\n27. 'Gladiator' (2000)\n\nJoaquin Phoenix's first Oscar win for \"Joker\" should have been No. 2: He was devilishly top-notch as evil Commodus opposite Russell Crowe's vengeful battler Maximus.\n\n26. 'In the Heat of the Night' (1967)\n\nThe late Sidney Poitier wondrously exudes intelligence and gumption as a visiting detective traveling through Mississippi who helps racist cops catch a killer.\n\n25. 'The Departed' (2006)\n\nMartin Scorsese's sole best director win is for this twisty crime thriller with gangster Jack Nicholson, undercover cop Leonardo DiCaprio and Mob mole Matt Damon.\n\n24. 'My Fair Lady' (1964)\n\nAudrey Hepburn's a hoot as cockney Brit Eliza Doolittle, given a makeover by Rex Harrison's Henry Higgins in the musical take on \"Pygmalion.\"\n\n23. '12 Years a Slave' (2013)\n\nChiwetel Ejiofor plays a free Black man tricked into servitude for Steve McQueen's uneasy-to-watch yet essential pre-Civil War drama.\n\n22. 'Chicago' (2002)\n\nThe rare A-list musical – with Renée Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones as jazz-era convicts – that ingeniously treats its numbers as flights of fantasy.\n\n21. 'From Here to Eternity' (1953)\n\nCome for Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr's infamous kiss on the beach, stay for the drama involving soldiers in Hawaii just before the Pearl Harbor attack.\n\n20. 'The Apartment' (1960)\n\nNothing says \"Christmas movie\" like office drone Jack Lemmon lending his place to the boss for hookups and falling for elevator girl Shirley MacLaine.\n\n19. 'Rocky' (1976)\n\nWith Sylvester Stallone's headstrong boxer, it's the classic every underdog sports drama will be compared to forevermore.\n\n18. 'It Happened One Night' (1934)\n\nFrank Capra's enjoyable and sexy (for the '30s) romantic comedy had Clark Gable's journalist falling for Claudette Colbert's runaway heiress.\n\n17. 'All Quiet on the Western Front' (1929/30)\n\nThe extremely powerful anti-war film explored the carnage of World War I and the disillusioned soldiers who came home.\n\n16. 'Spotlight' (2015)\n\nSigh. \"All the President's Men\" didn't win best picture. Thankfully this story of crusading Boston journalists and a shady Catholic Church cover-up did.\n\n15. 'West Side Story' (1961)\n\nThe cultural portrayals earn some side-eye, but the musical love story still soars with powerhouse tunes and a phenomenal Rita Moreno.\n\n14. 'Gone With the Wind' (1939)\n\nYep, it's also problematic for modern eyes, but the Southern-fried Civil War epic still works as a spectacle of unrequited romance.\n\n13. 'Moonlight' (2016)\n\nBarry Jenkins' elegant character study of a Black man dealing with his identity and sexuality is an unforgettable, multilayered work.\n\n12. 'Parasite' (2019)\n\nIn the first non-English language film to win best picture, a poor but clever Korean family infiltrates a wealthy clan – as well as the viewer's heart and mind.\n\n11. 'Lawrence of Arabia' (1962)\n\nPeter O'Toole's title British officer has his allegiances torn in this sweeping, sandy epic that influenced a generation of filmmakers.\n\n10. 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest' (1975)\n\nA criminal (Jack Nicholson) figures being in an asylum is an easy way to do time, then runs into the nurse from hell (Louise Fletcher).\n\n9. 'The Godfather Part II' (1974)\n\nFrancis Ford Coppola's great gangland prequel/sequel unleashes Al Pacino and Robert De Niro as two generations of Mob bosses.\n\n8. 'The Silence of the Lambs' (1991)\n\nAnthony Hopkins made us root for the bad guy (and a cannibal at that) in the only horror movie to crack this vaunted Oscar list.\n\n7. 'The French Connection' (1971)\n\nWith an all-timer of a car chase and Gene Hackman's fantastic antihero Popeye Doyle, good luck finding a better cop thriller.\n\n6. 'Amadeus' (1984)\n\nWho said period pieces have to be boring? In the hands of Tom Hulce, musical genius Mozart is a 19th-century wild child we'd all want to party with.\n\n5. 'All About Eve' (1950)\n\nBette Davis' Broadway star freaks out about her age (at 40!) – and Anne Baxter's zealous understudy does not help – in a stellar lesson on celebrity and coldblooded ambition.\n\n4. 'On the Waterfront' (1954)\n\nMarlon Brando's New Jersey boxer-turned-longshoreman “coulda been a contender” but is definitely the champ of this stunning crime drama.\n\n3. 'Schindler’s List' (1993)\n\nA moving, devastating Holocaust tale about hope and kindness, it's the best Steven Spielberg movie without a certain globetrotting archaeologist.\n\n2. 'Casablanca' (1943)\n\nAs Humphrey Bogart learns, you can stay neutral in war only until love and righteousness walk back through your nightclub doors.\n\n1. 'The Godfather' (1972)\n\nWith violence, betrayal, drama, Marlon Brando and Al Pacino, the sprawling gangster epic is the cannoli on top of the Oscars' best picture cake.\n\n'The Godfather' turns 50: Why Frank Sinatra loathed the novel, told author Mario Puzo to 'choke'", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/03/24"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/24/entertainment/oscar-nominated-foreign-films-2022/index.html", "title": "Oscar nominated foreign films 2022: Where to watch the Oscar ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nThe best international feature film category at the Academy Awards could, in some ways, be compared to flying economy. Often, the five films that get a seat aboard the Oscars seem squashed in the back, lest they take up space that Hollywood might want to luxuriate in. You’d like to upgrade to best picture? With twice the room and more prestige, who wouldn’t. But many of those seats still appear to be reserved for English-language pictures.\n\nHowever, things are changing for the better, with Academy voters finding increasing space for international films in other categories. As the awards continues to ask existential questions of itself, this is cause for celebration.\n\nIn the Oscars’ 94th year, there are a few firsts among the nominees for best international feature. “Drive My Car” by Ryusuke Hamaguchi became the first Japanese film to be nominated for best picture, and “Flee” by Danish writer-director Jonas Poher Rasmussen became the first film nominated across best international feature film, best animated feature and best documentary feature. Meanwhile Bhutanese cinema received its first nomination in any category with Pawo Choyning Dorji’s “Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom.”\n\nNorwegian nominee “The Worst Person in the World” and “Drive My Car” both made the cut in writing categories – director Joachim Trier and Eskil Vogt sharing a nomination for best original screenplay, and Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe for best adapted – while Hamaguchi finds himself only the third Japanese filmmaker nominated for best director.\n\n“Drive My Car” ties Akira Kurosawa’s “Ran” (1986) for most nominations ever for a Japanese film, but a “Parasite”-level sweep is unlikely, even if few would quibble with the movie’s brilliance. However, the repeated inroads of non-English language cinema suggests, to borrow a phrase from Bong Joon-ho, that voters are overcoming the one inch tall barrier of subtitles and finding a whole world of movies to celebrate. No doubt the Academy’s increasingly international membership is helping too.\n\nLast year’s resurgent festival scene and a backlog of releases due to the pandemic meant there was even greater choice than usual. As always, each country may only nominate one movie for best international feature, with 93 countries submitting this year. Many big-hitters missed out. France had Julia Ducournau’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner “Titane” and Audrey Diwan’s Venice Golden Lion winner “Happening” at its disposal; “Titane” was submitted over “Happening,” only to fail to make the shortlist. Spain submitted Fernando Leon de Aranoa’s “The Good Boss” over Pedro Almodovar’s “Parallel Mothers,” only for it to strike out and see Almodovar’s film nominated for original score (Alberto Iglesias) and star Penelope Cruz for best actress. Romania’s Berlin-winner “Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn” by Radu Jude, two-time Iranian Oscar winner Asghar Farhadi’s “A Hero” and Austrian submission “Great Freedom” by Sebastian Meise are all fantastic films that were either not shortlisted or nominated.\n\nThere was such an abundance of great international cinema, the question of whether this category should be expanded to 10 nominees, like best picture, must be asked once more. Until then, we have these five. If you need to catch up on this year’s crop, here’s all the details, along with where to watch them.\n\n“The Hand of God”\n\nFilippo Scotti in \"The Hand of God.\" Gianni Fiorito/Netflix\n\nItalian director Paolo Sorrentino is up to his usual tricks in “The Hand of God,” setting them loose on a work of poignant, sometimes bizarre, autofiction.\n\nSet in sweltering 1980s Naples, Sorrentino’s stand-in Fabietto (Filippo Scotti) is an awkward teenager struggling to find his voice among his large, bickering carnival of a family. The talk of the town is the possible move of football megastar Diego Maradona to local club Napoli, but Fabietto is equally preoccupied with his aunt Patrizia (a disquieting Luisa Ranieri). An abused woman with mental health concerns, the director chooses to present this primarily through the medium of her exposed breasts, at which her nephew can’t help but stare. It is not the most conventional sexual awakening committed to screen, and where the film goes from there is eyebrow-raising to say the least (kudos to Sorrentino for his honesty if it’s all true).\n\nThat aside, there’s beauty aplenty in how director and regular cinematographer Daria D’Antonio shoot their hometown. Visual flourishes and a Fellini-esque menagerie of larger-than-life characters combine in an elegy to the city and the director’s youth – one defined by a tragedy that set Sorrentino on his path.\n\n“You’ve got to have a story to tell,” a director urges aspiring filmmaker Fabietto toward the end of the movie. Sorrentino, already an Oscar winner for “The Great Beauty” in 2013, hasn’t exactly made a bad fist of telling fictional stories. By returning to Naples and telling his own, he’s come full circle and made one of his richest films to date.\n\n“The Hand of God” is available to watch on Netflix.\n\n“Drive My Car”\n\nHidetoshi Nishijima and Toko Miura as Yusuke Kafuku and Misaki Watari in \"Drive My Car.\" Courtesy of Sideshow and Janus Films\n\nJapanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi had a huge 2021, debuting not one but two critically acclaimed films. “Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy” enchanted the Berlin Film Festival, but it was his three-hour adaptation of Haruki Murakami short story “Drive My Car” that gained traction after its debut at Cannes.\n\nThe adaptation is an expansion of the story of actor Yusuke Kafuku (Hidetoshi Nishijima) grieving the sudden death of his wife. Two years on, he’s hired to direct a production of Anton Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya,” where Kufuku meets chauffeur Misaki Watari (Toko Miura), with whom he has unlikely kinship. Through chance and his own making, the past surrounds Kufuku, forcing him to confront his loss.\n\nHamaguchi’s intricately woven story contemplates the disconnect between inner turmoil and outward stoicism. He brilliantly uses Chekhov’s play, with its thematic overlap, as a safe space for characters to wrestle with their real lives. By casting the play as a multilingual production (actors perform in Korean, Tagalog, Mandarin and Korean Sign Language, among others), Hamaguchi steers the audience’s attention towards language and the body. Like Kafuku, we become attuned to when the two fail to tell the same story. His frustrations become our own, his direction of his actors a proxy for what he desires for himself: self-knowledge, and perhaps through that, catharsis.\n\nThis is intellectual filmmaking that offers no concessions to the audience. It demands your attention and offers rich rewards in return. Hamaguchi may be surprised by the Academy’s love for the film, but that comes off the back of topping multiple critics’ best of year lists. The film has already won a BAFTA and must be considered red-hot favorite to take the Oscar on Sunday.\n\n“Drive My Car” is available to watch on HBO Max (like CNN, a WarnerMedia company) and Amazon Prime Video in the US.\n\nRead more: Ryusuke Hamaguchi is as surprised as anyone by the Oscar love for ‘Drive My Car’\n\n“The Worst Person in the World”\n\nHerbert Nordrum and Renate Reinsve as Eivind and Julie in Joachim Trier's \"The Worst Person in the World.\" courtesy Mubi\n\nThe capstone of Joachim Trier’s Oslo Trilogy, “The Worst Person in the World” refuses to stick to the rom-com blueprint in its portrait of the Norwegian city and its inhabitants.\n\nJulie (Renate Reinsve) is approaching 30 and is coasting. Her older boyfriend Aksel (Anders Danielsen Lie) is looking to get serious, but Julie has reservations; thoughts that crystallize when free-spirited Eivind (Herbert Nordrum) walks into her life, setting off a charisma bomb that will go down as one of cinema’s great meet-cutes.\n\nTrier has no interest in fairy tale endings, however. His and Eskil Vogt’s rich and textured script drills into the ideation and idealization of modern living, and the life that happens while you’re making – and breaking – plans.\n\nJulie something of a paradox, riven by impulsiveness and indecisiveness (and she’s privileged enough that she can be). The writing is strong, but this is a film propelled by a star turn. Reinsve’s iridescent performance won her the best actress award at Cannes (remarkably, she’d been about to give up the industry before being cast) and as Julie she’s nothing short of a marvel; a muddle of inconsistencies and equally beguiling and infuriating. In other words: deeply human.\n\n“The Worst Person in the World” paints a portrait that’s so arrestingly real, it recasts much of what came before in the genre as synthetic. For romcoms, this is a corner turned.\n\n“The Worst Person in the World” is available to watch on Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV in the US.\n\nRead more: Joachim Trier ripped up the romcom script with ‘The Worst Person in the World’\n\n“Flee”\n\nAmin (right), the subject of Jonas Poher Rasmussen's \"Flee.\" Final Cut for Real\n\nJonas Poher Rasmussen’s international animated documentary represents an impressively original triple threat at the Oscars this weekend.\n\nThe Danish film debuted at Sundance in 2021 where it won the world cinema documentary award and it’s been attracting high-profile admirers ever since. It centers on Amin, a gay Afghan who as a boy fled Kabul in the 1990s. Now an academic in his thirties living in Denmark, he narrates the story of his perilous flight, dredging up myriad horrors that are written and rewritten before our eyes as what was once suppressed breaches consciousness and finds form.\n\nThe choice of animation allows Amin (a pseudonym) anonymity, but what it affords Rasmussen is dazzling scope for creative expression, utilizing a variety of styles from smooth rotoscope to scratchy sketching in stylistic collusion with the tone of the moment. It’s truly beautiful, impactful filmmaking that’s not quickly forgotten.\n\n“Flee” is available to watch on Hulu and Apple TV in the US.\n\n“Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom”\n\nSherab Dorji as Ugyen in \"Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom.\" Kinley Wangchuk/Jigme Thinley\n\nThis year’s surprise contender, “Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom” is only Bhutan’s second entry to the Academy Awards and its first nominee.\n\nWriter-director Pawo Choyning Dorji’s mild-mannered addition to the “city-slicker-goes-to-the-countryside-and-learns-what’s-important-in-life” canon follows Ugyen (Sherab Dorji), a government employee and wannabe singer whose dreams of Australia are put on hold when he’s sent to teach in the remote mountain community of Lunana. Initially dismissive, his petulance gives way to an appreciation of rural life and the culture he was so ready to leave behind, helped by cute kid Pem Zam (Pem Zam) and singer and local beauty Saldon (Kelden Lhamo Gurung).\n\nIt’s familiar story, but perhaps one shouldn’t hold that against the film. “Lunana’s” trump card is its stunning setting and window into an underexposed part of the world. Handsomely shot by Jigme Tenzing, we see both bustling capital Thimphu and the majestic foothills of the Himalayas, an idyll if ever there was one. The guileless turns of the film’s real-life highlander cast also grounds the film nicely and act as an effective foil to Ugyen.\n\nAcademy voters have plucked from relative obscurity a film that debuted at the London Film Festival way back in 2019. Dorji beat out giants of world cinema to bag a nomination – and with a debut feature, no less. All this considered, “Lunana” represents a landmark in Bhutanese cinema.\n\n“Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom” is available to watch on Kanopy and Amazon Prime Video.\n\nThe 94th Academy Awards takes place on Sunday March 27.", "authors": ["Thomas Page"], "publish_date": "2022/03/24"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/08/entertainment/oscar-nominations-list-2022/index.html", "title": "Oscar nominations 2022: Full list of nominees | CNN", "text": "CNN —\n\nThe nominations for the 94th Academy Awards were announced Tuesday and included films in a wide range of genres.\n\n“The Power of the Dog” led among nominated films with 12 nods. The drama’s director, Jane Campion, made history by becoming the first woman to be nominated more than once for best director. (Her previous nod was for “The Piano.”)\n\nFellow directing nominee Steven Spielberg also set a new record. As producer of “West Side Story,” which earned a total of seven nominations, Spielberg has now produced 11 films nominated for best picture, a new record for the Oscars.\n\nDenzel Washington extended the record he already holds as the most nominated Black actor, earning his tenth Oscar nomination for his performance in “The Tragedy of Macbeth.” (One of his nominations was for producing.)\n\nThe Academy Awards are set to take place on Sunday, March 27. See below for a full list of nominees.\n\nBEST PICTURE\n\n“Belfast”\n\n“CODA”\n\n“Don’t Look Up”\n\n“Drive My Car”\n\n“Dune”\n\n“King Richard”\n\n“Licorice Pizza”\n\n“Nightmare Alley”\n\n“The Power of the Dog”\n\n“West Side Story”\n\nACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE\n\nJessie Buckley, “The Lost Daughter”\n\nAriana DeBose, “West Side Story”\n\nJudi Dench, “Belfast”\n\nKirsten Dunst, “The Power of the Dog”\n\nAunjanue Ellis, “King Richard”\n\nACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE\n\nCiaran Hinds, “Belfast”\n\nTroy Kotsur, “CODA”\n\nJesse Plemons, “The Power of the Dog”\n\nJ.K. Simmons, “Being the Ricardos”\n\nKodi Smit-McPhee, “The Power of the Dog”\n\nINTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM\n\n“Drive My Car”\n\n“Flee”\n\n“The Hand of God”\n\n“Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom”\n\n“The Worst Person in the World”\n\nDOCUMENTARY (SHORT)\n\n“Audible”\n\n“Lead Me Home”\n\n“The Queen of Basketball”\n\n“Three Songs for Benazir”\n\n“When We Were Bullies”\n\nDOCUMENTARY FEATURE\n\n“Ascension”\n\n“Attica”\n\n“Flee”\n\n“Summer of Soul”\n\nWriting with Fire”\n\nORIGINAL SONG\n\n“King Richard”\n\n“Encanto”\n\n“Belfast”\n\n“No Time to Die”\n\n“Four Good Days”\n\nANIMATED FEATURE FILM\n\n“Encanto”\n\n“Flee”\n\n“Luca”\n\n“The Mitchells vs. The Machine”\n\n“Raya and the Last Dragon”\n\nADAPTED SCREENPLAY\n\n“CODA”\n\n“Drive My Car”\n\n“Dune”\n\n“The Lost Daughter”\n\n“The Power of the Dog”\n\nORIGINAL SCREENPLAY\n\n“Belfast”\n\n“Don’t Look Up”\n\n“King Richard”\n\n“Licorice Pizza”\n\n“The Worst Person in the World”\n\nACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE\n\nJavier Bardem, “Being the Ricardos”\n\nBenedict Cumberbatch, “The Power of the Dog”\n\nAndrew Garfield, “Tick, Tick… Boom!”\n\nWill Smith, “King Richard”\n\nDenzel Washington, “The Tragedy of Macbeth”\n\nACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE\n\nJessica Chastain, “The Eyes of Tammy Faye”\n\nOlivia Colman, “The Lost Daughter”\n\nPenelope Cruz, “Parallel Mothers”\n\nNicole Kidman, “Being the Ricardos”\n\nKristen Stewart, “Spencer”\n\nDIRECTOR\n\nKenneth Branagh, “Belfast”\n\nRyusuke Hamaguchi, “Drive My Car”\n\nPaul Thomas Anderson, “Licorice Pizza”\n\nJane Campion, “The Power of the Dog”\n\nSteven Spielberg, “West Side Story”\n\nPRODUCTION DESIGN\n\n“Dune”\n\n“Nightmare Alley”\n\n“The Power of the Dog”\n\n“The Tragedy of Macbeth”\n\n“West Side Story”\n\nCINEMATOGRAPHY\n\n“Dune”\n\n“Nightmare Alley”\n\n“The Power of the Dog”\n\n“The Tragedy of Macbeth”\n\n“West Side Story”\n\nCOSTUME DESIGN\n\n“Cruella”\n\n“Cyrano”\n\n“Dune”\n\n“Nightmare Alley”\n\n“Westside Story”\n\nACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND\n\n“Belfast”\n\n“Dune”\n\n“No Time to Die”\n\n“The Power of the Dog”\n\n“Westside Story”\n\nANIMATED SHORT FILE\n\n“Affairs of the Art”\n\n“Bestia”\n\n“Boxballet”\n\n“Robin Robin”\n\n“The Windshield Wiper”\n\nLIVE ACTION SHORT FILM\n\n“Ala Kachuu — Take and Run”\n\n“The Dress”\n\n“The Long Goodbye”\n\n“On My Mind”\n\n“Please Hold”\n\nORIGINAL SCORE\n\n“Don’t Look Up”\n\n“Dune”\n\n“Encanto”\n\n“Parallel Mothers”\n\n“The Power of the Dog”\n\nVISUAL EFFECTS\n\n“Dune”\n\n“Free Guy”\n\n“No Time to Die”\n\n“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”\n\n“Spider-Man: No Way Home”\n\nFILM EDITING\n\n“Don’t Look Up”\n\n“Dune”\n\n“King Richard”\n\n“The Power of the Dog”\n\n“Tick, Tick… Boom!”\n\nMAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING\n\n“Coming 2 America”\n\n“Cruella”\n\n“Dune”\n\n“The Eyes of Tammy Faye”\n\n“House of Gucci”", "authors": ["Lisa Respers France"], "publish_date": "2022/02/08"}]}
{"question_id": "20230127_12", "search_time": "2023/01/28/05:15", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/20/world/doomsday-clock-2022-climate-scn/index.html", "title": "The Doomsday Clock reveals how close we are to...doom | CNN", "text": "CNN —\n\nThe Doomsday Clock has been ticking for exactly 75 years. But it’s no ordinary clock.\n\nIt attempts to gauge how close humanity is to destroying the world.\n\nOn Thursday, the clock was set at 100 seconds until midnight – the same time it has been since 2020.\n\nThe clock isn’t designed to definitively measure existential threats, but rather to spark conversations about difficult scientific topics such as climate change, according to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, which created the clock in 1947.\n\n“One hundred seconds to midnight reflects the Board’s judgment that we are stuck in a perilous moment – one that brings neither stability nor security. Positive developments in 2021 failed to counteract negative, long-term trends,” said Sharon Squassoni, co-chair of the Bulletin’s Science and Security Board, which sets the clock. Squasson is also a research professor at the Institute for International Science and Technology Policy at The George Washington University.\n\nWhat is the Doomsday Clock?\n\nThe Bulletin of Atomic Scientists was a group of atomic scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project, the code name for the development of the atomic bomb during World War II.\n\nOriginally, it was conceived to measure nuclear threats, but in 2007 the Bulletin made the decision to include climate change in its calculations.\n\nOver the last three-quarters of a century, the clock’s time has changed, according to how close the scientists believe the human race is to total destruction. Some years the time changes, and some years it doesn’t.\n\nThe Doomsday Clock is set every year by the experts on the Bulletin’s Science and Security Board in consultation with its Board of Sponsors, which includes 11 Nobel laureates.\n\nAlthough the clock has been an effective wake-up call when it comes to reminding people about the cascading crises the planet is facing, some have questioned the 75-year-old clock’s usefulness.\n\n“It’s an imperfect metaphor,” Michael E. Mann, climate scientist at Pennsylvania State University, told CNN, highlighting that the clock’s framing combines different types of risk that have different characteristics and occur in different timescales. Still, he adds it “remains an important rhetorical device that reminds us, year after year, of the tenuousness of our current existence on this planet.”\n\nTheoretical physicist and former member of the Bulletin’s Board of Sponsors Lawrence Krauss said it can be difficult to take the clock’s results seriously since it’s been ticking dangerously close to the end of civilization in the last few decades. Each year, he said, as the clock nears midnight, scientists would have to gauge how much available “real estate” is left before deciding on how much farther to move the clock.\n\n“Now, it ticks in seconds; it used to be minutes,” Krauss told CNN. “It is clearly not a quantifiable scientific assessment, more of a qualitative one. What has always been important is the movement of the clock, not its absolute value.”\n\nEvery model has constraints, said Eryn MacDonald, analyst with the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Global Security Program, adding that the Bulletin has made thoughtful decisions each year on how to get the people’s attention about existential threats and the required action.\n\n“While I wish we could go back to talking about minutes to midnight instead of seconds, unfortunately that no longer reflects reality,” she told CNN.\n\nWhat happens if the clock reaches midnight?\n\nThe clock has never reached midnight, and Rachel Bronson, Bulletin president and CEO, hopes it never will.\n\n“When the clock is at midnight, that means there’s been some sort of nuclear exchange or catastrophic climate change that’s wiped out humanity,” she said. “So we never really want to get there and we won’t know it when we do.”\n\nHow accurate is the clock?\n\nThe clock’s time isn’t meant to measure threats, but rather to spark conversation and encourage public engagement in scientific topics like climate change and nuclear disarmament.\n\nIf the clock is able to do that, then Bronson views it as a success.\n\nWhen a new time is set on the clock, people listen, she said. At the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson cited the Doomsday Clock when talking about the climate crisis the world is facing, Bronson noted.\n\nBronson said she hopes people will discuss whether they agree with their decision and have fruitful talks about what the driving forces of the change are.\n\nIt’s still possible to move the clock back with bold, concrete actions. In fact, the hand has moved farthest away from midnight with a whopping 17 minutes before midnight in 1991, when President George H.W. Bush’s administration signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with the Soviet Union. In 2016, the clock was at three minutes before midnight as a result of the Iran nuclear agreement and the Paris climate accord.\n\nWhat can an individual do to turn back time on the clock?\n\nDon’t underestimate the power of talking about these important issues with your peers, Bronson said.\n\n“You might not feel it because you’re not doing anything, but we know that public engagement moves (a) leader to do things,” she said.\n\nFor climate change, look at your daily habits and see if there are small changes you can make in your life such as how often you walk versus drive and how your home is heated, Bronson explained.", "authors": ["Megan Marples Rachel Ramirez", "Megan Marples", "Rachel Ramirez"], "publish_date": "2022/01/20"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/01/23/doomsday-clock-well-find-out-thursday-how-close-we-midnight/4541997002/", "title": "Doomsday clock reset to 100 seconds to midnight, world's destruction", "text": "The closer to midnight we are, the more danger we're in.\n\nThe clock has been maintained by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists since 1947.\n\n\"We are now expressing how close the world is to catastrophe in seconds – not hours, or even minutes.\"\n\nThe world is 100 seconds to \"midnight,\" according to the Doomsday Clock, closer to destruction than at any point since the clock was created in 1947.\n\nEach year, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a nonprofit group that sets the clock, decides whether the events of the previous year pushed humanity closer to or further from destruction. The clock “conveys how close we are to destroying our civilization with dangerous technologies of our own making,\" according to the group.\n\nThis year, the group moved the clock from two minutes to 100 seconds to midnight. The closer to midnight we are, the more danger we're in, according to the Bulletin.\n\n“We are now expressing how close the world is to catastrophe in seconds – not hours or even minutes,\" said Rachel Bronson, president and CEO of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. \"It is the closest to Doomsday we have ever been in the history of the Doomsday Clock.\n\n\"We now face a true emergency – an absolutely unacceptable state of world affairs that has eliminated any margin for error or further delay.\"\n\nIn a statement, the Bulletin said, “Humanity continues to face two simultaneous existential dangers – nuclear war and climate change – that are compounded by a threat multiplier, cyber-enabled information warfare, that undercuts society’s ability to respond.\n\n\"Civilization-ending nuclear war – whether started by design, blunder or simple miscommunication – is a genuine possibility,\" the group said. \"Climate change that could devastate the planet is undeniably happening. And for a variety of reasons that include a corrupted and manipulated media environment, democratic governments and other institutions that should be working to address these threats have failed to rise to the challenge.\"\n\nThe furthest the clock has been from midnight was 17 minutes in 1991, near the end of the Cold War.\n\nNuclear threat:Nuclear war between India and Pakistan could kill up to 125 million and launch a global climate catastrophe\n\nThe Doomsday Clock has moved closer to midnight in three of the past four years. The Doomsday Clock did not move in 2019 after its minute hand was set forward in 2018 by 30 seconds, to two minutes before midnight.\n\nThe clock has been maintained by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists since 1947. The group was founded in 1945 by University of Chicago scientists who helped develop the first nuclear weapons in the Manhattan Project.\n\nThe scientists created the clock in 1947, using the imagery of apocalypse (midnight) and a nuclear explosion (countdown to zero) to convey threats to humanity and the Earth.\n\nThe decision was made by the board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, along with input from a board of sponsors that includes 13 Nobel Laureates.\n\nThe announcement was made Thursday morning at the National Press Club in Washington.\n\nClimate change:Were the predictions we made about climate change 20 years ago accurate? Here's a look", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2020/01/23"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/01/20/doomsday-clock-2022-100-seconds-midnight/6584137001/", "title": "Doomsday clock 2022: Scientists say it's still 100 seconds to midnight", "text": "It's still only 100 seconds to midnight.\n\nOngoing nuclear risks, the threat of climate change, disruptive technologies and the seemingly endless coronavirus pandemic have brought us as close to doomsday as we've ever been, according to the annual Doomsday Clock announcement Thursday in Washington, D.C.\n\nThe countdown point is the same as last year's. The clock remains closer to destruction than at any point since it was created in 1947.\n\nThe 2022 Doomsday Clock statement explains that the “decision does not, by any means, suggest that the international security situation has stabilized. On the contrary, the clock remains the closest it has ever been to civilization-ending apocalypse because the world remains stuck in an extremely dangerous moment.”\n\nRachel Bronson, president and CEO of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists said the clock \"continues to hover dangerously, reminding us about how much work is needed to be done to ensure a safer and healthier planet. We must continue to push the hands of the clock away from midnight.\"\n\nEach year, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a nonprofit group that sets the clock, decides whether the events of the previous year pushed humanity closer to or further from destruction. The clock “conveys how close we are to destroying our civilization with dangerous technologies of our own making,\" according to the group.\n\nThe closer to midnight we are, the more danger we're in, according to the bulletin. The clock uses the imagery of apocalypse (midnight) and a nuclear explosion (countdown to zero) to convey threats to humanity and the Earth.\n\n'HISTORIC WAKE-UP CALL' IN 2021: After a brutal 2020, Doomsday Clock is still 100 seconds to midnight\n\nThe furthest the clock has been from midnight was 17 minutes in 1991, at the end of the Cold War.\n\nThe clock has been maintained by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists since 1947. The group was founded in 1945 by Albert Einstein, J. Robert Oppenheimer and University of Chicago scientists who helped develop the first nuclear weapons in the Manhattan Project.\n\n100 SECONDS TO MIDNIGHT IN 2020:We're closer to destruction than ever before\n\nAnd even though the Cold War ended three decades ago, nuclear risks remain a grave threat to humanity. \"Signs of new arms races are clear,\" the Bulletin's Scott Sagan said Thursday.\n\n“The clock is not set by signs of good intentions, but by evidence of action or in this case inaction.\"\n\nClimate change, caused by the burning of fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal, is also among the major threats cited by the Doomsday clock authors.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/01/20"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/science/2018/01/25/doomsday-clock-ticks-closer-midnight/1064911001/", "title": "Doomsday clock ticks closer to midnight, now two minutes away", "text": "Scientists moved the hands of the symbolic \"Doomsday Clock\" closer to midnight on Thursday amid increasing worries over nuclear weapons and climate change.\n\nThe clock is now two minutes to midnight. “Because of the extraordinary danger of the current moment, the Science and Security Board today moves the minute hand of the Doomsday Clock 30 seconds closer to catastrophe,\" said Rachel Bronson, president of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. \"This is the closest the Clock has ever been to Doomsday, and as close as it was in 1953, at the height of the Cold War.”\n\nEach year, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a non-profit group that sets the clock, decides whether the events of the previous year pushed humanity closer or farther from destruction.\n\nThe symbolic clock is now the closest it's been to midnight since 1953. It was also two minutes to midnight in 1953 when the hydrogen bomb was first tested.\n\n\"We've made the clear statement that we feel the world is getting more dangerous,\" said Lawrence Krauss, chair of the Bulletin's Board of Sponsors and director of Arizona State University's Origins Project. \"The danger of nuclear conflagration is not the only reason the clock has been moved forward.\"\n\nThe announcement was made in Washington, D.C., at the National Press Club.\n\nScientists blamed a cocktail of threats ranging from dangerous political rhetoric to the potential of a nuclear threat as the catalysts for moving the clock closer toward doomsday.\n\nThe statement explaining the resetting of the time of the Doomsday Clock notes: “In 2017, world leaders failed to respond effectively to the looming threats of nuclear war and climate change, making the world security situation more dangerous than it was a year ago — and as dangerous as it has been since World War II.\n\n\"The greatest risks last year arose in the nuclear realm. North Korea’s nuclear weapons program appeared to make remarkable progress in 2017, increasing risks for itself, other countries in the region, and the United States,\" the statement continued.\n\n\"Hyperbolic rhetoric and provocative actions on both sides have increased the possibility of nuclear war by accident or miscalculation.\"\n\n\"On the climate change front, the danger may seem less immediate, but avoiding catastrophic temperature increases in the long run require urgent attention now. The nations of the world will have to significantly decrease their greenhouse gas emissions to keep climate risks manageable, and so far, the global response has fallen far short of meeting this challenge,” the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists said.\n\n\"Today’s Doomsday Clock announcement must serve as an urgent wake-up call — and could be the last one we get,\" said Derek Johnson, the executive director of Global Zero, a group that wants to eliminate nuclear weapons.\n\n“Last year, the Clock ticked forward largely in response to candidate Trump’s alarming campaign rhetoric. But the reality of a nuclear-armed President Trump running loose in the world is worse than we feared, and that is clearly a central factor in this decision,\" Johnson said.\n\nThe closer to a setting of midnight it gets, the closer it's estimated that a global disaster will occur. The farthest it's been from midnight was in 1991 as the Cold War ended when the clock was 17 minutes to midnight.\n\nThe clock has been maintained by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists since 1947. The group was founded in 1945 by University of Chicago scientists who had helped develop the first nuclear weapons in the Manhattan Project.\n\nThe scientists created the clock in 1947 using the imagery of apocalypse (midnight) and the contemporary idiom of nuclear explosion (countdown to zero) to convey threats to humanity and the Earth.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2018/01/25"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/01/27/doomsday-clock-its-still-100-seconds-midnight/4266710001/", "title": "Doomsday clock: It's still 100 seconds to midnight", "text": "The world is still 100 seconds to midnight after a punishing 2020 marred by mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic and continued fears over nuclear risks and climate change, according to the annual Doomsday Clock announcement Wednesday.\n\nThis is the same time as last year. The clock remains closer to destruction than at any point since it was created in 1947.\n\n\"The lethal and fear-inspiring COVID-19 pandemic serves as a historic wake-up call, a vivid illustration that national governments and international organizations are unprepared to manage the truly civilization-ending threats of nuclear weapons and climate change,” said Rachel Bronson, president and CEO of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.\n\nEach year, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a nonprofit group that sets the clock, decides whether the events of the previous year pushed humanity closer to or further from destruction. The clock “conveys how close we are to destroying our civilization with dangerous technologies of our own making,\" according to the group.\n\nThe closer to midnight we are, the more danger we're in, according to the Bulletin.\n\nThe furthest the clock has been from midnight was 17 minutes in 1991, at the end of the Cold War.\n\nEven though the Cold War ended three decades ago, nuclear risks remain a grave threat to humanity. “Despite nuclear abolition being the long-awaited wish of all A-Bomb survivors, there are still more than 13,000 nuclear weapons in the world, with nuclear states continuing to modernize their nuclear forces,\" said Hiroshima Gov. Hidehiko Yuzaki in a statement. \"Moreover, nuclear disarmament continues to stagnate, further exacerbating global tensions.”\n\nThe Doomsday Clock authors wrote that \"by our estimation, the potential for the world to stumble into nuclear war – an ever-present danger over the last 75 years – increased in 2020.\"\n\nClimate change, caused by the burning of fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal, is also among the major threats cited by the Doomsday Clock authors. \"A pandemic-related economic slowdown temporarily reduced the carbon dioxide emissions that cause global warming,\" the authors said. \"But over the coming decade fossil fuel use needs to decline precipitously if the worst effects of climate change are to be avoided.\n\n\"Instead, fossil fuel development and production are projected to increase. Atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations hit a record high in 2020, one of the two warmest years on record. The massive wildfires and catastrophic cyclones of 2020 are illustrations of the major devastation that will only increase if governments do not significantly and quickly amplify their efforts to bring greenhouse gas emissions essentially to zero.\"\n\nThe clock has been maintained by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists since 1947. The group was founded in 1945 by University of Chicago scientists who helped develop the first nuclear weapons in the Manhattan Project.\n\nIn December, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists marked its 75th anniversary.\n\nThe clock uses the imagery of apocalypse (midnight) and a nuclear explosion (countdown to zero) to convey threats to humanity and the Earth.\n\nThe decision was made by the board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, along with input from a board of sponsors that includes 13 Nobel Laureates.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/01/27"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/01/26/doomsday-clock-end-world-nuclear-weapons-climate-change-donald-trump/97077736/", "title": "Doomsday Clock ticks closer to apocalypse and 1 person is to blame", "text": "Mary Bowerman\n\nUSA TODAY Network\n\nScientists moved the hands of the Doomsday Clock closer to midnight on Thursday amid increasing worries over nuclear weapons and climate change.\n\nEach year, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a nonprofit that sets the clock, decides whether the events of the previous year pushed humanity closer or further from destruction. The symbolic clock is now two-and-a-half minutes from midnight, the closest it's been to midnight since 1953, when the hydrogen bomb was first tested. Scientists blamed a cocktail of threats ranging from dangerous political rhetoric to the potential of nuclear threat as the catalyst for moving the clock closer towards doomsday.\n\n“This year’s Clock deliberations felt more urgent than usual…as trusted sources of information came under attack, fake news was on the rise, and words were used by a President-elect of the United States in cavalier and often reckless ways to address the twin threats of nuclear weapons and climate change,” Rachel Bronson, the executive director and publisher of Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, said in a statement.\n\nWhile many threats played into the decision to move the clock 30 seconds forward from where it was in 2016, one person in particular prompted the scientists to act.\n\n\"Never before has the Bulletin decided to advance the clock largely because of the statements of a single person. But when that person is the new president of the United States, his words matter,\" David Titley and Lawrence M. Krauss of the Bulletin wrote in an New York Times op-ed.\n\nThe Bulletin pointed to President Trump's careless rhetoric on nuclear weapons and other issues as well as his troubling stance on climate change.\n\n“Current political situation in the U.S. is of particular concern,” Titley of the Bulletin Science and Security Board said. “The Trump administration needs to state clearly, unequivocally it accepts climate change caused by human activity…There are no alternative facts here.”\n\nLast year, the clock remained at three minutes from midnight. It was moved to three minutes in 2015 where it was previously at five minutes to midnight.\n\nManhattan Project scientists, concerned about the first atomic weapons, founded the nonprofit Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists in 1945. They created the clock two years later, and update its minute hand each year.\n\nThis CEO got laser eye surgery to prep for an apocalypse\n\nAccording to the group, the clock “conveys how close we are to destroying our civilization with dangerous technologies of our own making.”\n\nThe threat of nuclear warfare plays heavily into the time on the clock, as do the dangers of climate change the threat from cyber technology, according to the group’s website.\n\nThe decision is made by the board of the nonprofit Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists' along with input from a board of sponsors which includes 15 Nobel Laureates, according to the group.\n\nFollow Mary Bowerman on Twitter: @MaryBowerman", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2017/01/26"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2023/01/16/2023-doomsday-clock-update/11047008002/", "title": "2023 Doomsday Clock announcement Tuesday to warn of nuclear war", "text": "Follow USA TODAY's live coverage of Doomsday Clock announcement on Tuesday.\n\nEach year for the past 75 years, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has published a new Doomsday Clock, suggesting just how close – or far – humanity is from the brink.\n\nThe next edition will be revealed Tuesday, Jan. 24 at 10 a.m. EST. It's the first update to the clock since Russia's invasion of Ukraine renewed fears of global nuclear war.\n\nHistorically, the clock has measured the danger of nuclear disaster, but that's not the only apocalyptic scenario being considered. Climate change, bioterrorism, artificial intelligence and the damage done by mis- and disinformation also have been included in the mix of possible cataclysms.\n\nSTUDY:Nuclear war between US, Russia would leave 5 billion dead from hunger\n\nQUESTIONS:What country has the most nuclear weapons? Can the US stop a nuclear attack?\n\nEach year, the 22 members of the Science and Security Board are asked two questions:\n\nIs humanity safer or at greater risk this year than last year?\n\nIs humanity safer or at greater risk compared to the 76 years the clock has been set?\n\nHere's what to know about the 2023 Doomsday Clock:\n\nHow did the Doomsday Clock start?\n\nIn 1945, on the anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, scientists who had worked on the Manhattan Project that built the world's first atomic bombs began publishing a mimeographed newsletter called The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.\n\nTwo years later, as those same scientists contemplated a world in which two atomic weapons had been used in Japan, they gathered to discuss the threat to humanity posed by nuclear war.\n\n\"They were worried the public wasn't really aware of how close we were to the end of life as we knew it,\" said Rachel Bronson, president and CEO of the Bulletin.\n\nMartyl Langsdorf, an artist and wife of Manhattan project physicist Alexander Langsdorf Jr., came up with the idea of a clock showing just how close things were.\n\nIt came to be called the Doomsday Clock.\n\n\"It gave the sense that if we did nothing, it would tick on toward midnight and we could experience the apocalypse,\" Bronson said.\n\nWhere does the Doomsday Clock stand now?\n\nFor the past two years the Doomsday Clock has stood at 100 seconds to midnight, closer to destruction than at any point since it was created in 1947.\n\nWhat does midnight represent on the Doomsday Clock?\n\nMidnight on the Doomsday Clock represents how close humans are to bringing about civilization-ending catastrophe because of the unleashing of human-caused perils either by nuclear disaster, climate change or other cataclysms.\n\nWho decides where the Doomsday Clock is set?\n\nThe Doomsday Clock is set each year by the 22 members of the Bulletin's Science and Security Board in consultation with its Board of Sponsors, which includes 11 Nobel laureates.\n\nWhy does the Doomsday Clock exist?\n\nAt its heart, the bulletin's founders were asking how well humanity was managing the \"dangerous Pandora's box made possible by modern science,\" Bronson said.\n\nThough technology makes possible amazing and wonderful things, it can also pose risks. In 1947 the biggest of those was nuclear war. Since then the bulletin has added others, including climate change, bioterrorism, artificial intelligence and the damage done by mis- and disinformation.\n\nWhy is the Doomsday Clock so prominent?\n\nOver the years the clock has been referenced by the White House, the Kremlin and the leadership of many other nations. Robert Oppenheimer and Albert Einstein were on the bulletin's Board of Sponsors, and John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon wrote pieces for the magazine.\n\nThough not everyone agrees with the clock's settings, it is generally respected for the questions it asks and for its science-based stance.\n\nDoes the Doomsday Clock always go forward?\n\nThe setting of the clock has jumped forward and back over the past 75 years, depending on world events.\n\nThe furthest from midnight it has ever been was in 1991, when it was set at 17 minutes to midnight after the U.S. and the Soviet Union signed the first Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, followed by the dissolution of the USSR.\n\n\"People would go to sleep every night worried about were they going to wake up,\" said Daniel Holz, a professor of physics at the University of Chicago and co-chair of the Bulletin's Science and Security Board. \"That threat was definitely reduced at the end of the Cold War.\"\n\nThe most pessimistic years have been 2021 and 2022, when it was set at 100 seconds to midnight, in part because of global nuclear and political tensions, COVID-19, climate change and the threat of biological weapons.\n\nThe first clock, announced in 1947, was set at 7 minutes to midnight.\n\nWhat will the Doomsday Clock be set to on Jan. 24, 2023?\n\nThe Doomsday Clock will be reset Jan. 24 at 10 a.m. EST in an announcement that will be livestreamed on the bulletin's website.\n\nExactly what time the scientists who make up the board have chosen is a closely held secret. But one hint is this: For the first time, the statement is being translated into Russian and Ukrainian.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/01/16"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2020/01/23/annabella-sciorra-harvey-weinstein-doomsday-clock-thursdays-news/4548425002/", "title": "Annabella Sciorra, Harvey Weinstein, Doomsday clock: Thursday's ...", "text": "Hate to break it to you, but humanity is doomed. That's at least according to a clock keeping track of how close the world is to catastrophe. Cool cool cool.\n\nIt's Ashley and everything's fine. Let’s dive into some news, shall we?\n\nBut first, tweet or it didn't happen: Trump set a record for sending the most tweets in a single day since he took office. Guess how many? (Answer at the bottom of \"Real Quick\")\n\nThe Short List newsletter is a snappy USA TODAY news roundup. Subscribe here!\n\nStop the world, we want to get off\n\nHide your kids, hide your wives: The world is 100 seconds to \"midnight,\" according to the Doomsday Clock. That’s closer to destruction than at any point since the clock was created in 1947. The clock “conveys how close we are to destroying our civilization with dangerous technologies of our own making,\" according to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a group that sets the clock. The closer to midnight we are, the more danger we're in, the Bulletin said. \"It is the closest to Doomsday we have ever been in the history of the Doomsday Clock,” said Rachel Bronson, president and CEO of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. 😯\n\n'Sopranos' actress Annabella Sciorra: Harvey Weinstein 'raped me'\n\nDuring Harvey Weinstein's sex crimes trial, “Sopranos” actress Annabella Sciorra testified that the ex-movie mogul raped her in her New York apartment in 1993-94. The actress choked up as she described how Weinstein allegedly assaulted her and later told her in a \"threatening\" way not to tell anyone. \"I was punching him, I was kicking him, I was trying to get him away from me,\" she said. Weinstein, 67, is charged with five sex crimes, including rape and sexual assault, stemming from encounters with two women. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges and has denied all nonconsensual sex.\n\nWhat everyone’s talking about\n\nAt least we (maybe) won't die of the coronavirus\n\nAmericans face little risk from the coronavirus spreading across China, according to health officials. The World Health Organization on Thursday declined to categorize the coronavirus as a global health emergency, saying there is no evidence of human-to-human infection outside China. Some airports in America aren't taking any chances: Officials in some cities stepped up health checks for passengers arriving from China. The coronavirus, which originated in the central city of Wuhan, China, has infected more than 540 and killed at least 17, according to Chinese authorities.\n\nLAX passenger from Mexico City receives medical treatment amid coronavirus fears.\n\nNew visa rules could keep pregnant women out\n\nIt could become more difficult for some pregnant women to get visas to visit the USA. The Trump administration issued visa guidelines Thursday in a move to curb \"birth tourism\" – trips to obtain citizenship for newborn children. Anyone born in the USA is considered a citizen (read: the good old U.S. Constitution). Under the new guidelines, which take effect Friday, visa applicants deemed to be traveling to the USA primarily to give birth will be treated like foreigners coming for medical treatment – they must prove they have the money to pay for the child. The guidelines could be problematic: Officers don’t have the right to ask if a woman is pregnant or intends to become so, so they would have to judge just by looking at her.\n\nReal quick\n\nToxic 'forever chemicals' found in drinking water\n\nHeightened levels of potentially toxic chemicals were found in tap water supplies serving dozens of major American cities, a study by an environmental watchdog group says. The report, released Wednesday, says 20 cities and regions – including Washington, Philadelphia, Miami and Louisville, Kentucky – contained PFAS levels of at least 10 parts per trillion. PFAS, aka “forever chemicals,” have been linked to reproductive and developmental, liver and kidney and immunological effects, as well as high cholesterol and obesity.\n\nA break from the news\n\nThis is a compilation of stories from across the USA TODAY Network.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2020/01/23"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/01/26/doomsday-clock-countdown-humanitys-end-moves-today/79347584/", "title": "Doomsday Clock: 'Three minutes' left until the apocalypse", "text": "Josh Hafner\n\nUSA TODAY\n\nThe Doomsday Clock, a symbolic countdown to the world’s end, stands still at three minutes until midnight, scientists announced Tuesday.\n\nIt remains at the position it moved to one year ago.\n\nThat the clock moves no closer to midnight, the indicated end of humanity, remains \"grave\" news, its makers stressed.\n\n\"Unless we change the way we think, humanity remains in serious danger,\" said Lawrence Krauss of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the nonprofit that sets the clock.\n\n\n\n\"Action now can reduce these threats,\" he said at an announcement in Washington, \"but only if we recognize them honestly and face them head-on.\"\n\nManhattan Project scientists, concerned about the first atomic weapons, founded the nonprofit Bulletin in 1945. They created the clock two years later, and update its minute hand each year.\n\nJust how the minute hand moves is determined by the Bulletin’s boards of directors and sponsors, which include environmental scientists, physicists and 18 Nobel Laureates, its site notes.\n\nKrauss, a physicist who chairs the group's Board of Sponsors, said Tuesday that progress over the past year including America's nuclear deal with Iran and the Paris accord to slow climate change balanced out negative developments including tension between the U.S. and Russia and North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weaponry.\n\nThe clock remains at the closest it has pointed to mankind’s doom since 1984 amid the Cold War. The reasoning for its move there last year: rampant climate change and an ongoing threat of nuclear weapons.\n\n“The probability of global catastrophe is very high,” Kennette Benedict, the Bulletin’s publisher at the time, said. “This is about the end of civilization as we know it.\"\n\nThe closest point it had been as of Tuesday morning was two minutes, in 1953, when the U.S. and Soviets had tested hydrogen bombs.\n\nBut the Doomsday Clock isn’t bound by time, and as such, can move backwards.\n\nIn 2010, an optimistic Bulletin did move the minute hand backwards, from five minutes to midnight to six, citing improved relations and nuclear talks between the U.S. and Russia and small advancements to address climate change.\n\nIn 1991, with the Cold War over, the clock moved back a full 17 minutes from midnight.\n\nFollow Josh Hafner on Twitter: @joshhafner", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2016/01/26"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2023/01/24/half-moon-bay-shooting-oscars-and-monterey-park-tuesday-news-short-list/11112312002/", "title": "Half Moon Bay shooting, Oscars and Monterey Park: The Short List", "text": "Authorities said evidence suggests the second mass shooting in California since Saturday was an \"instance of workplace violence.\" Classified documents were found in former Vice President Mike Pence's home in Indiana. And this year's Oscar nominations have been announced.\n\n👋 Hello, it's Julius with Tuesday's news.\n\nBut first: A space cloud with the coldest ice to date. 🌌 The James Webb Space Telescope explored the Chamaeleon I dark molecular cloud that could provide key insights into the “building blocks of life.”\n\nThe Short List is a snappy USA TODAY news roundup. Subscribe to the newsletter here.\n\nAnother mass shooting in California leaves at least 7 people dead\n\nSeven people were dead and a suspect was in custody Tuesday after two shootings at plant nurseries near the Northern California community of Half Moon Bay, just days after a rampage in Southern California killed 11. The San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office said four victims were found dead at the first shooting scene and a fifth person was transported to the Stanford Medical Center with life-threatening injuries. Three victims were found at the second scene a short time later. The suspect was employed at Mountain Mushroom Farm, the location of the first shooting, and all evidence points to the attack being an \"instance of workplace violence,\" Sheriff Christina Corpus said Tuesday. Follow the latest updates on Half Moon Bay.\n\nMore classified docs found – this time at Pence's house\n\nClassified documents were found at Mike Pence's home, representatives for the former vice president wrote to the National Archives in letters this month. This is the latest in a series of discoveries involving classified documents at the homes of current and former elected officials. Pence’s lawyer characterized the documents as “a small number of documents bearing classified markings that were inadvertently transported to the personal home of the former vice president at the end of the last administration.\" The Department of Justice “requested direct possession” of the documents on Jan. 19, and FBI agents went to Pence’s home that night to collect the documents from a safe, according to letters from Pence’s lawyer. Read more about the latest document discovery.\n\nWhat everyone's talking about\n\nThe Short List is free, but several stories we link to are subscriber-only. Consider supporting our journalism and become a USA TODAY digital subscriber today.\n\nDoomsday Clock signals world is closest it's been to human-caused catastrophe\n\nThe world is closer to annihilation than it has ever been since the first nuclear bombs were released at the close of World War II, The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists said Tuesday. The time on the Doomsday Clock moved forward from 100 seconds to midnight to 90 seconds to midnight. Between Russia's nuclear brinkmanship in its war on Ukraine, the real threats of climate change becoming increasingly dire and ongoing concerns about more possible pandemics caused by humans encroaching on formerly wild areas, the Bulletin chose to set the clock to the closest midnight yet. Learn more about the Doomsday Clock.\n\n'Nuclear nightmare' ticks closer:Why any use of nuclear weapons would be a disaster\n\n\n\nAll 11 Monterey Park shooting victims identified\n\nAfter notifying relatives, authorities on Tuesday released the complete list of the 11 people killed in the Monterey Park, California, mass shooting. The victims ranged in age from 57 to 76. The six women who perished were: My Nhan, 65; Lilian Li, 63; Xiujuan Yu, 57; Muoi Ung, 67; Hong Jian, 62; and Diana Tom, 70. The five men who died were: Yu-Lun Kao, 72; Chia Yau, 76; Valentino Alvero, 68; Wen-Tau Yu, 64; and Ming Ma, 72. Authorities said the gunman fired 42 shots at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio. In addition to those killed, nine were wounded. Read more.\n\nIn Monterey Park shooting, ballrooms became the scene of sudden horror, stunning heroism.\n\nof sudden horror, stunning heroism. Monterey Park's safe haven for Asian communities is shattered by mass shooting.\n\nReal quick\n\nOscar nominations are here 📽\n\n\"Everything Everywhere All at Once\" ruled Tuesday when nominations for the 95th Academy Awards were announced, scoring 11 honors including best picture and screenplay. Star Michelle Yeoh was nominated for best actress, Jamie Lee Curtis and Stephanie Hsu earned their first Oscar nominations and Ke Huy Quan garnered a nod for supporting actor. Not far behind \"Everything Everywhere\" were Martin McDonagh's \"The Banshees of Inisherin\" and Edward Berger's \"All Quiet on the Western Front\" with nine nominations each. Cate Blanchett (\"Tár\") also made the cut for another standout performance, along with comeback kings Quan and Brendan Fraser (\"The Whale\"). See all of this year's nominees.\n\nA break from the news", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/01/24"}]}
{"question_id": "20230127_13", "search_time": "2023/01/28/05:15", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2018/11/20/texas-rangers-adrian-beltre-retiring/2065333002/", "title": "Texas Rangers' Adrian Beltre retiring from Major League Baseball", "text": "Adrian Beltre's baseball career began as a teenager, a skinny third baseman for the Los Angeles Dodgers who made his debut in the summer of Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire.\n\nTwo decades later, Beltre's major league career has ended - with a final stop coming, in Cooperstown.\n\nBeltre, 39, announced his retirement Tuesday morning, concluding a 21-year career in which he amassed 477 home runs and 3,166 hits, establishing himself as the greatest third baseman of his era.\n\nHe's the lone third baseman in major league history with at least 3,000 hits and 400 home runs.\n\nIn an announcement through the Texas Rangers, his team for the final eight years of his career, Beltre said his decision came after \"careful consideration and many sleepless nights.\"\n\nHis retirement leaves Rangers teammate Bartolo Colon, 45, as the last remaining player who began his career in the 1990s.\n\nBeltre left an impact on all four franchises for which he played, producing the second-greatest home run season in Dodgers history with 48 in 2004, capping a seven-season run there in which he hit 147 home runs. He struggled offensively during five seasons in Seattle, but emerged as a two-time Gold Glove winner.\n\nHe spent just one season - 2010 - in Boston, but it was a year that charted a new course in his career: Beltre hit an American League-best 49 doubles, boosted his OPS to .919, made his first All-Star team and hit the free agent market a third time, entering his age 32 season.\n\nBeltre's decision - Los Angeles Angels or Texas Rangers? - would alter the fate of the AL West for years to come.\n\nHe opted for Texas, signing a five-year, $80 million deal, and neither club nor player were ever the same.\n\nFor the next six seasons, he'd finish in the top 15 in MVP voting, and the Rangers flourished - coming one out away from their first World Series championship in his first season, 2011. They made the playoffs in four of his first six seasons in Arlington - and the world got to know what a sublime and entertaining player he was.\n\nWhether he was engaging in an ongoing \"feud\" with shortstop Elvis Andrus, imposing his leadership on the clubhouse or making highlight-reel plays at third base, Beltre was as quietly charismatic as he was subtly dominant on the diamond.\n\nHis numbers are Cooperstown-worthy by a long shot - oh, he also ranks 14th all-time in total bases and 11th with 636 doubles - but modern metrics are also very kind. According to Sports Info Solutions, Beltre has nearly double the number of Defensive Runs Saved than any other third baseman since the statistic was developed in 2003. He also ranks 10th all-time in defensive Wins Above Replacement - for any position.\n\nAs baseball continues to grapple with honoring its past while ushering the game into an occasionally jarring modern era, consensus is elusive. Be it whether games are too long or too short, whether a player is Hall of Fame worthy or even what constitutes a most valuable player, it's inevitable factions will take sides.\n\nThere will be little debating Beltre's legacy, however. And that will make for a glorious day five years from now, when his sustained brilliance is honored in the game's ultimate shrine.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2018/11/20"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2023/01/24/scott-rolen-baseball-hall-fame-2023-voting-results/11114537002/", "title": "Scott Rolen elected to Hall of Fame, joins Fred McGriff in 2023 class", "text": "It took six tries and one harrowing result, but Scott Rolen is forever a Hall of Famer.\n\nRolen was named to baseball's Hall of Fame Tuesday night earning a vote on 76.3% of ballots - just five more than needed to vault the 75% required for induction.\n\nRolen's election averts a Hall of Fame shutout for the second time in three years and just the 10th time in nearly a century in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Assn. of America.\n\nRolen was named on 297 ballots, five more than the 292 required for election among the 389 submitted. Colorado Rockies first baseman Todd Helton wasn't quite as fortunate: He was named on 281 of 389 ballots - just 11 shy of induction. Helton's 72.3% vote total in just his fifth year on the ballot all but cinches his eventual election, with five more shots at it to come.\n\nRelief pitcher Billy Wagner also knocked on the door – garnering 265 votes, or 68.1%.\n\nRolen's nod means slugger Fred McGriff will have company during annual induction ceremonies in Cooperstown, New York on July 23. McGriff, whose highest vote total on the writers' ballot was 39.8%, was voted in by the Hall's Contemporary Era Committee in December.\n\nWhat's next for ballot holdovers?\n\nLike McGriff, Helton and Wagner will have 10 chances to earn induction from the writers and although they came up short Tuesday, should earn induction in one of their final shots on the ballot. Rolen received just 10.2% of the vote in his first year on the ballot, but it doubled to 35.3% in his third year and reached 62% in 2022, all trends pointing toward his eventual induction.\n\nHelton (five more attempts) and Wagner (two more shots) should be similarly heartened. Center fielder Andruw Jones - who hit 434 home runs and claimed 10 Gold Gloves - also saw a nice bump, leaping from 41.4% to 58.1% in this, his sixth year.\n\nRolen had just one top 10 MVP finish - fourth in 2004 - but was a seven-time All-Star and eight-time Gold Glover for the Phillies, Cardinals, Blue Jays and Reds. He was a World Series champion with the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals.\n\nRolen's 70.1 career Wins Above Replacement ranks tied for 69th and puts him ahead of several Hall of Famers, the high number a testament to modern metrics' ability to better quantify Rolen's all-around value to his teams.\n\nOddly enough, Rolen is tied in career WAR with Carlos Beltran, who made his ballot debut and received 46.5% of the votes, a somewhat discouraging but not crushing first effort. Beltran, a switch-hitting center fielder who hit 435 career home runs, is one of just five players with at least 400 career homers and 300 steals. But his role as the ringleader in the 2017 Houston Astros' sign-stealing scandal - Beltran's final season - was expected to be at least a slight drag on his candidacy.\n\nHelton, who hit 369 home runs with 2,519 hits over 17 years while playing home games at Denver's Coors Field, should see his number called in 2024. The same can't be said for infielder Jeff Kent, who was the 2000 NL MVP and finished with 377 home runs, a .356 career on-base percentage and .855 OPS.\n\nKent matched Beltran's 181 votes and received 46.5% of the votes in his 10th and final year on the ballot. Slugger Gary Sheffield earned 55% of the vote on his ninth ballot.\n\nHall of Fame shutout averted\n\nThis could have been the third time in 11 years that no players were elected on the writers' ballot. In 2013, a gaggle of stars who played through the heart of baseball's so-called steroids era - such as Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mike Piazza, Sammy Sosa and Craig Biggio - debuted on the ballot and collided with five holdovers in at least their 11th year.\n\nThe resulting gridlock in part inspired the Hall of Fame to reduce the number of eligible years from 15 to 10, hastening exits for Bonds, Clemens and McGriff but also, ostensibly, enhancing the chances for others.\n\nThat lane should be plenty clear for Helton next year, along with a Cooperstown rarity - the surefire candidacy of third baseman Adrian Beltre.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/01/24"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/columnist/bob-nightengale/2023/01/22/carlos-beltran-hall-of-fame-chances-mike-trout-wbc/11097228002/", "title": "Carlos Beltran deserves to be in baseball's Hall of Fame", "text": "This is really how it’s going to be?\n\nWe are actually going to keep Carlos Beltran out of the Hall of Fame simply because he played on the 2017 Houston Astros World Series champion team that was embroiled in a sign-stealing cheating scandal?\n\nWe are going to continue to praise A.J. Hinch’s vision in Detroit, worship Alex Cora’s managerial skills in Boston, but still punish Beltran six years later by keeping him out of the Hall of Fame?\n\nCome on, hasn’t he already endured enough?\n\nThe statistics will show that Beltran is one of the finest center fielders who ever played the game, but behind the scenes, the man was even greater. His reputation was nothing short of impeccable. He was the 2013 Roberto Clemente Award winner for his humanitarian work off the field. He was revered and idolized by his teammates as one of the great clubhouse leaders. When the St. Louis Cardinals won the National League pennant in 2013, the entire team gathered around Beltran to toast him, thanking him for what he meant to the organization.\n\nHALL OF FAME: Beltran's power, speed a rare combo, but sign-stealing scandal complicates case\n\nCOOPERSTOWN: Scott Rolen is inevitable. Will 2023 be the third baseman's Hall of Fame year?\n\nNEVER MISS A MOMENT: Follow our sports newsletter for daily updates\n\nWhen Beltran retired after the 2017 season, the only question was who’d be fortunate enough to hire him as a manager or front office executive. The New York Yankees hired him as a special adviser to GM Brian Cashman, and he was hired after the 2019 season to manage the New York Mets.\n\nAnd was fired two months later.\n\nBeltran was the only player who was cited in MLB’s investigation, and days after the report was released, the Mets fired him before he even stepped onto the practice field.\n\n“Over my 20 years in the game, I've always taken pride in being a leader and doing things the right way, and in this situation, I failed,\" Beltran said in a statement the day of his dismissal. “As a veteran player on the team, I should've recognized the severity of the issue and truly regret the actions that were taken.\n\n“I hope that at some point in time, I'll have the opportunity to return to this game that I love so much.’’\n\nWell, to this day he remains the only Astros player who was punished in the scandal, and still remains on the outside looking in after Mets manager Buck Showalter’s attempt to hire him as a coach last winter was rejected by his bosses.\n\nNow, the Baseball Writers' Association of America is taking its turn punishing Beltran, too. He will not be elected in this year’s Hall of Fame class. Beltran is gathering only 56.1% of the votes, according to Ryan Thibodaux's Hall of Fame tracker, with five other players actually attracting more votes.\n\nBeltran is the only center fielder in baseball who accumulated at least 70 WAR, and is not in the Hall of Fame. He’s the only switch-hitter in baseball history to reach 2,500 hits (2,725), hit 300 homers (435), and steal 300 bases (312). He has the best stolen-base percentage (86.45%) among any player who stole at least 200 bases. He is a nine-time All-Star, three-time Gold Glove winner and Silver Slugger winner. He led five different teams to the playoffs. He was one of the greatest postseason players in history with a .307/.412/.609 slash line, eclipsed only by Babe Ruth.\n\nBut we’re really going to ignore all of that and admonish him for participating in the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal.\n\nReally?\n\nAre we going to do the same with everyone who played for the Red Sox and Yankees during those years, too, when they were fined and disciplined for the illegal use of Apple Watches and dugout phones to relay signs?\n\nShould we hold that against future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander, who obviously didn’t benefit from the sign stealing as a pitcher, but didn’t tell his teammates to stop it?\n\nEnough already.\n\nWe’re not talking about performance-enhancing drugs here. Sign stealing has been going on for the past 100 years. There are teams who have used hidden cameras for years. Team employees flashed signs from outfield seats and scoreboards.\n\nWe have steroid users in the Hall of Fame now, dozens of pitchers who illegally doctored baseballs, and plenty of managers and executives who looked the other way when players cheated.\n\nBeltran’s wrongdoing was helping develop a system in which a center-field camera intercepted the opposing catcher’s signals, viewed on a monitor behind the dugout, and relayed to a hitter by banging on a trash can. Everyone had the option of accepting the signs, or disregarding them.\n\nReally, it was just Beltran trying to help his teammates. It’s not as if it was designed simply for his personal use. In fact, he might have prospered the least by the technology. He had the worst year of his career with a slash line of .231/.283/.383 in 2017, and promptly retired after the season.\n\nBesides, he was not the Astros manager who could have stopped it. Not the bench coach. Not the GM. Not even a groundskeeper.\n\nHe was just a player, and if anyone in the entire Astros organization wanted to shut down the elaborate sign-stealing operation, it would have been over.\n\n“If the organization would’ve said something to us,’’ Beltran told the YES Network last year where he was employed as an analyst, “we would’ve stopped it for sure.’’\n\nSo, here we are, six years later, and the only man still being penalized by the scandal is Beltran.\n\nIt is not only brutally unfair, but egregiously cruel.\n\nEnough already.\n\nBeltran received my Hall of Fame vote, and will continue to do so as long as he remains on the ballot.\n\nOutfielder Gary Sheffield, the most feared and intimidating hitter of his generation outside Barry Bonds – one of only 12 players in history to win a batting title and hit at least 500 homers – once again got my vote, too.\n\nSo did Jeff Kent, who simply was the greatest power-hitting second baseman in baseball history – record 377 homers among second basemen, record .500 slugging percentage, eight 100-RBI seasons, an MVP award, four top-10 MVP finishes, four Silver Sluggers.\n\nAnd also Billy Wagner, who put up insane numbers as a closer – .187 career opposing batting average (lowest since 1900), 11.92 strikeouts per nine innings (best in history) – striking out hitters in record fashion back when hitters were actually embarrassed to strike out.\n\nThat was it.\n\nFour players.\n\nNone will make it in this year.\n\nFred McGriff, who was voted in by the Contemporary Era Committee, should have the stage all to himself at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony this summer.\n\nThird baseman Scott Rolen is the only one who has a shot to join him, and if not, this will be the third time since 2013 that the Baseball Writers Association did not elect a candidate.\n\nIf Rolen doesn’t make it in this year, he’ll certainly be in the 2024 class along with first-time eligible third baseman Adrian Beltre.\n\nBeltran deserves to be proudly standing right alongside them.\n\nHe has suffered long enough.\n\nCaptain Trout\n\nLos Angeles Angels center fielder Mike Trout thought long and hard about it, and nearly played in the World Baseball Classic in 2017, and then spent the next five years kicking himself for not playing on Team USA’s gold medal team.\n\n“Last WBC, I was on the fence of doing it or not doing and when I decided not to do it,’’ he said. “Watching the games, it looked like they were having so much fun, making the plays and winning. That’s what I regretted.\n\n“I should have been out there.’’\n\nThis time, he’s all in, captain of Team USA, and boldly declares it’s WBC gold medal or bust.\n\n“That’s the whole reason I signed up, trying to win this thing,’’ said Trout, who’s playing in the WBC for the first time in his 13-year career. “There is nothing else. Anything else is a failure.’’\n\nTeam USA is the defending champions of the tournament, and Trout made sure that he wants an encore, busily recruiting players, with his first call to Bryce Harper. Harper can’t play as he recovers from Tommy John surgery, but the U.S. squad is a Who’s Who of baseball’s greatest American players with former MVPs Mookie Betts, Paul Goldschmidt and Clayton Kershaw on the team.\n\nTheir greatest competition for a repeat could be coming from Japan, which could have its greatest collection of pitching talent in the tournament’s history, led by Trout’s teammate, Shohei Ohtani.\n\n“I get a front-row seat every time he pitches,” Trout said. “It’s pretty nasty. Every person I talk to that faces him says they don’t want to be in the box. It’s going to be interesting. He’s one of my good friends, so it’s going to be fun.”\n\nOh, and the trash talk has already started with Ohtani telling Trout that he’s not even the best player on the Japanese team.\n\n“There’s no way,” Trout said, laughing, “that there’s somebody better.”\n\nAround the basepaths\n\n► Dana Brown, Atlanta’s vice president of scouting, has emerged as the clear front-runner to become the Astros' next general manager.\n\nBrown, 55, who has been with Atlanta the past four years, is one of the game’s shrewdest talent evaluators. He has been responsible for Atlanta’s fabulous draft success, recently selecting outfielder Michael Harris and starter Spencer Strider, who finished 1-2 in last year’s NL Rookie of the Year voting.\n\nBrown would become baseball’s lone Black GM, and join vice president Ken Williams of the Chicago White Sox as the only Black executives in charge of baseball operations.\n\n► There was no one happier than the White Sox with the news that the Minnesota Twins traded batting champion Luis Arraez to the Miami Marlins for starter Pablo Lopez and two prospects.\n\nArraez was a White Sox killer last year, hitting .373 with a 1.273 OPS against them, and has a career .327 batting average against the White Sox.\n\n“That should be good for a couple of wins,’’ one White Sox official said. “He was such a pain for us.’’\n\nWhile the Twins were ecstatic with their return, including No. 5 prospect Jose Salas, several scouts and executives believe the trade could hurt the Twins’ chances to win the AL Central this year.\n\n“Let’s see how that lineup fares without Arraez batting leadoff,’’ one AL executive said. “He helped those guys so much. This game values starting pitchers so much, but is a No. 4 starter more valuable than a great leadoff hitter?’’\n\nThe Twins badly need Byron Buxton to stay healthy to take over the leadoff spot.\n\n► Free agent first baseman Yuli Gurriel is expected to sign with the Marlins on a one-year contract even after the trade for Arraez, but no deal has been consummated. The Astros offered a contract to bring him back in a reserve role, but Gurriel, 38, still wants to be a full-time player.\n\n► While it’s wonderful that the Chicago Cubs honored Mark Grace and Shawon Dunston by electing them to their Hall of Fame, it’s a travesty that Sammy Sosa isn’t in the Cubs Hall of Fame.\n\nThe Cubs say they still want him to apologize for allegedly using PEDs, even though an admission could bring charges of perjury considering he testified under oath to Congress that he never used PEDs.\n\n“What the hell does he have to apologize for?’’ said one former Cubs official, “for saving the franchise?’’\n\nBarry Bonds still is idolized in San Francisco.\n\nMark McGwire is adored in St. Louis.\n\nAnd yet, Sosa is shunned by the Cubs.\n\n► Sandberg, who was part of the Contemporary Era Committee, on electing Fred McGriff and passing on the likes of Bonds, Rafael Palmeiro and Roger Clemens:\n\n“He (McGriff) followed the rules and integrity and played the game the right way. Integrity is on the seal of the Baseball Hall of Fame.’’\n\n► Now that the Toronto Blue Jays are spending $300 million for a facelift of Rogers Centre, it’s time to reward them with the 2025 All-Star Game, or at least in 2027. The Blue Jays have hosted only one All-Star Game, and that was 32 years ago in 1991.\n\n► MLB's new umpire crews include Adrian Johnson and Alan Porter becoming only the second and third Black crew chiefs in baseball history.\n\n“I was very happy,’’ said Kerwin Danley, MLB’s first Black crew chief, “hopefully I paved the road for others.’’\n\n► The White Sox, who picked second baseman Nick Madrigal in the first round of the 2018 draft and traded him to the Cubs in 2021 for veteran closer Craig Kimbrel, now have a chance to get him back.\n\nThe Cubs no longer have room for Madrigal in the starting lineup after signing shortstop Dansby Swanson and shifting Nico Hoerner to second base, and guess who desperately needs a second baseman?\n\nYep, the White Sox.\n\n► The Marlins now will be starting a second baseman at third base in Jean Segura; a second baseman at shortstop in Joey Wendle; a first baseman at second base in Luis Arraez; and a second baseman in center field in Jazz Chisholm.\n\n► In the past two off-seasons, eight shortstops have signed free-agent contracts worth a grand total of $1.737 billion.\n\nCorey Seager (10 years, $325 million)\n\nTrea Turner (11 years, $300 million)\n\nXander Bogaerts (11 years, $280 million).\n\nCarlos Correa (six years, $200 million)\n\nDansby Swanson (seven years, $177 million)\n\nMarcus Semien (seven years, $175 million)\n\nJavier Baez (six years, $140 million)\n\nTrevor Story (six years, $140 million)\n\n► You want a feel-good story in the WBC?\n\nRed Sox minor-league reliever Rio Gomez will be pitching for Team Colombia in the WBC.\n\nRio is the son of the late Pedro Gomez, the beloved ESPN reporter, who passed away two years ago.\n\n► The Yankees’ trade for starter Frankie Montas at last year’s deadline is looking worse by the day. They sent four prospects to Oakland for Montas and reliever Lou Trivino, but Montas has been a bust. He went 1-3 with a 6.35 ERA in eight starts with the Yankees before shut down with shoulder inflammation, and now is expected to miss at least the first month of the season with shoulder woes.\n\nTheir top trade target was Cincinnati Reds ace Luis Castillo, and they put Jasson Dominguez in their trade proposal, but refused to include prized shortstop prospect Anthony Volpe. The Yankees’ loss was the Seattle Mariners’ gain, with Castillo now their ace.\n\n► The Yankees once again stayed out of the marquee shortstop market, and are now a year closer to seeing if their evaluations that Volpe or Oswald Peraza will be everyday shortstops in 2023, or will again turn to veteran Isiah Kiner-Falefa.\n\nMeanwhile, the Yankees continue to let teams know that third baseman Josh Donaldson (who is owed $29 million) and outfielder Aaron Hicks (owed $30.5 million) are still very much available as they’re willing to eat part of the contracts.\n\n► Hard to believe that the Dodgers let nine players walk in free agency, earning $462.5 million, while signing six free agents for just $45.4 million, as ESPN pointed out. Their $296.6 million payroll has been cut to about $235 million this season.\n\n► Cardinals bench coach Joe McEwing, who was drafted in the 28th round by the Cardinals in 1998, and was a mentee of legendary infield coach George Kissell, is honored to now be their bench coach.\n\n“There’s not a day that I go through where I don’t think about that man,’’ McEwing said of Kissell at the Cardinals’ Winter Warmup event. “As a teacher, as a mentor, as a friend. I feel like he’s on my shoulder when I’m teaching, and it’s like, ‘Oh, OK,’ you know. It’s every word that he expressed to me or expressed to others that I learned from, and it’s just the passing down of generation to generation.”\n\n► MLB says that 46% of the current 40-man roster players have firsthand experience with the pitch clock.\n\n► Hard to believe that Atlanta spent less money in free agency this winter than any team in the major leagues, just $1.4 million on outfielder Jordan Luplow.\n\nOf course, they did trade for All-Star catcher Sean Murphy and promptly signed him to a six-year, $73 million contract.\n\n► Aroldis Chapman went from earning $16 million a year to $3.75 million in his new deal with the Kansas City Royals.\n\nThe Royals are banking on him having a good first half so they can trade him.\n\n► The Baltimore Orioles are the first team in 20 years to have consecutive No. 1 prospects from the same draft since Baseball America began its rankings in 1990. Catcher Adley Rutschman was the first round pick in the 2019 draft and infielder Gunnar Henderson was the second pick in the draft. The Orioles have a major-league high eight players listed among Baseball America’s top 100 prospects.\n\n► There were six teams who wound up paying a luxury tax with their payrolls last season, led once again by the Dodgers with a $32.4 million bill. The others: Mets ($30.8 million), Yankees ($9.7 million), Phillies ($2.9 million), Padres ($1.5 million) and the Red Sox ($1.2 million).\n\n► Just in case the Red Sox front office had any questions about how their fanbase feels about their moves this winter, boos echoed from the rafters as their Winter Weekend, directed at owner John Henry and GM Chaim Bloom.\n\nThey remain furious over letting Xander Bogaerts walk away, and may never get over trading away Mookie Betts.\n\nThe Red Sox, who continues to seek patience from their fanbase while waiting for their prospects to arrive, will have one of the oldest teams in baseball once again, with a projected pitching staff averaging 31.8, according to the Boston Herald. They also are expected to have an everyday lineup averaging at least 29 years of age.\n\n► Well, Detroit Tigers catcher Eric Haase isn’t shy about his views of the pitch clock this season, telling Detroit reporters: “I really don’t understand the need for it, honestly. A couple of years ago, they wanted us to take more time between innings to make sure we got the commercials going and everything. Now, they’re trying to speed it up. I just don’t think the game needs it. We’re growing revenues every single year. There’s no shortage of fans. There’s no shortage of young fans at the games. I just don’t see the need for it.”\n\n► Fabulous story from Al Leiter, who was inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame, on being traded to the Mets in 1998 as part of the Marlins’ firesale.\n\n“Dave Dombrowski [the Marlins GM at the time] called me the day before the trade,’’ Leiter said, “and said, ‘I’m not promising you anything, but I have comparable prospect offers and I’m wondering if you had a preference.’ He said, ‘I’ve got an offer from the St. Louis Cardinals, and I’ve got an offer from the New York Mets.\n\n“I said, ‘Dave, are you kidding?’ Then I go through the whole thing, ‘I was a Mets fan, I grew up in New Jersey, and that’d be amazing.’”\n\nA day later, Leiter was traded to the Mets.\n\n“I couldn’t have been more grateful for Dave Dombrowski to do such a thing,’’ Leiter said, “to call reach out to a player.’’\n\n► Quote of the Week: Marlins second baseman Luis Arraez, when asked what he will miss most about leaving Minnesota: “The cold. I started liking the cold when playing my first time in Minnesota. The cold is really good for watching movies with my family.’’\n\nFollow Nightengale on Twitter: @Bnightengale", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/01/22"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/columnist/bob-nightengale/2017/04/18/starling-marte-suspended-steroids-peds-pirates/100620022/", "title": "As Starling Marte exits after PED bust, Pirates, McCutchen aim to ...", "text": "Bob Nightengale\n\nUSA TODAY Sports\n\nST. LOUIS - The Pittsburgh Pirate clubhouse was quiet Tuesday afternoon, with no music, no laughter, little chatter, just players inwardly pondering their thoughts and feelings toward a teammate.\n\nStarling Marte, their All-Star outfielder, and centerpiece of their organization, was suspended 80 games for performance-enhancing drug use, and his teammates still were trying to wrap their minds around it.\n\nIt’s only the third week of a promising season, coming off the heels of a three-game sweep over the World Series champion Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, and this felt like a sledgehammer to their ribs.\n\n“When you make a mistake you have to pay for it; it’s that simple,’’ says Andrew McCutchen, who was moved out of his starting center field job at the start of spring training for Marte, and now shuffles back into it. “Guys make mistakes, and the last thing I need to be doing is distancing myself away from him. There are some things he’s going to have to battle, some things he’s going to have to overcome.\n\n“We’ll have to move on.’’\n\nMORE:\n\nPirates' Starling Marte suspended 80 games for violating MLB's performance-enhancing drug policy\n\nRangers reliever offers scorching hot PED take following Starling Marte's suspension\n\nPirates, fantasy owners scrambling in wake of Starling Marte suspension\n\nThe Pirates, a small-market team that can ill afford major blows like this, particularly to a man so valuable to their future, have no choice.\n\nThey know this stinks. Even when they get him back after 80 games until at least July 18, who knows if he’ll be the same player after sitting out for so long. He’s restricted to working out only at their Dominican Republic academy and Pirate City spring training facility in Florida without playing in games.\n\nEven if the Pirates are able to hang on without him for the next three months, and reach the playoffs for the fourth time in five years, Marte won’t be eligible for the postseason.\n\n“This is where organizational depth comes in,’’ Pirates GM Neal Huntington says, “and we’ll be tested. If we’re able to do what we think can do, and get through these 80 games, and be able to finish on a good run and make the playoffs, we’ll be OK.\n\n“We are going to miss him for 80 games, no question about that, but this is a tremendous opportunity for various guys to step up, keep pushing forward, and battle through this, as we expect and believe this club will do.’’\n\nStill, no one is going to fool anyone here. You’re talking about an All-Star center fielder and two-time Gold Glove winner who hit .311 last season, stole 47 bases, and was the first Pirates player to produce 40 steals and 30 doubles in a season since Barry Bonds in 1990.\n\nThey already were left with a gaping hole in their lineup with third baseman Jung Ho Kang still in South Korea battling visa problems while facing DWI charges, and now their two most productive hitters from last year are gone.\n\nThe Pirates called up Jose Osuna as a stop-gap until prized prospect Austin Meadows is ready, but he’s hitting just .162 at Class AAA Indianapolis. They will keep Gregory Polanco in left field, and use Adam Frazier for the majority of the time in right field.\n\nIf they choose, they could reach into the free agent market and grab Angel Pagan, but they likely will pass. Trades are off the table, Huntington said. So they will wait.\n\nMORE MLB:\n\nFrom bust to 'God' and back: Eric Thames' amazing MLB comeback story\n\nGiants manager Bruce Bochy undergoes minor heart procedure\n\n“It’s an unfortunate circumstance,’’ Pirates ace Gerrit Cole said. “But we have a lot of games left. We have a lot of season left. It’s next man up.’’\n\nWhile Pirates management quietly seethed with the news, no player publicly showed his contempt toward Marte. He’s a popular teammate, who has been with the organization for 10 years, and is tied up to a long-term contract potentially through 2021.\n\nMarte tested positive in spring training, was awaiting results of an appeal, and his early performance reflected that of a man in limbo. He batted just .241 with a .288 on-base percentage, striking out a team-leading 17 times in 54 at-bats.\n\nHe could have left the team hotel early in the morning, sneaking out without saying a word, but after apologizing to manager Clint Hurdle and Huntington, he made a request. He asked to speak to the team. Hurdle cleared reporters from the clubhouse early in the afternoon, and for nearly 15 minutes, Marte talked to his teammates, tearfully apologized, and vowed to be back.\n\n“When something like this happens, it’s a shock,’’ says Pirates infielder Josh Harrison. “It’s emotional. But it’s harder on him than us. It takes a lot of courage to step up. The easiest thing to do would be to hide behind closed doors and not want to be seen.’’\n\nIt’s unknown what Marte specifically told his teammates, but he informed the Pirates front office that it was simply a careless mistake, and issued a statement reflecting those sentiments to the media.\n\n“Neglect and lack of knowledge have led me to this mistake,’’ Marte said in his statement, “with the high price to pay of being away from the field that I enjoy and love so much. With much embarrassment and helplessness, I ask for forgiveness for unintentionally disrespecting so many people who have trusted in my work and have supported me so much. I promise to learn the lesson that this ordeal has left me.’’\n\nIt’s hard to believe that Marte wasn’t aware what he was taking, considering that Nandrolone is classified as an anabolic steroid.\n\n“We want to be respectful of Starling’s statement that he unknowingly …that he’s not sure how this substance got into his body,’’ Huntington says, “so we want to be respectful of that.’’\n\nThe Pirates are left with no choice.\n\nAll they know is that one man’s actions may have left a season in ruins before it really got started.\n\nGallery: Notable MLB suspensions", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2017/04/18"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2018/04/13/mlb-rule-changes-have-cut-mound-visits-half-time-game-dips-slightly/513939002/", "title": "MLB rule changes cut mound visits in half; time of game dips slightly", "text": "BOSTON — The Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees averaged 3 hours, 23 minutes a game during their first three-game series in 2018, complete with two brawls, a near no-hitter and two routs, and although the games lasted longer than Major League Baseball desires, the good news is that no one came close to violating its new rule.\n\nYep, mound visits.\n\nMLB Commissioner Rob Manfred decided not to implement a pitch clock this year, but in exchange, got the player union’s approval to limit teams to six mound visits a game in the latest attempt to speed up the pace of play.\n\nTwo weeks into the season, the behavioral changes are drastic, even if it hasn't resulted in a huge change in pace of play.\n\nMajor league games are averaging 3.78 mound visits per game this season, down nearly half from 7.41 visits a year ago, according to MLB data.\n\nMeanwhile, the average time of a nine-inning game has decreased to 3 hours, 1 minute, a tad quicker than last year's record 3:05 mark but still about 10 minutes too long for Manfred's desires.\n\nThe mound visit totals do not include pitching changes, but rather visits by coaches, managers and teammates that do not involve a new pitcher or pinch-hitter. Extra visits are allowed for extra innings, and any team that exceeds the limit will be forced to remove its pitcher.\n\nMORE MLB\n\n“I like it,’’ says Yankees manager Aaron Boone, who took over a team notorious for its constant kibitzes on the mound. “It forces people to be more button-up, and have the ability to communicate without necessarily having to go to the mound. We still encourage (catchers) Gary (Sanchez) and (Austin) Romine, even early in the game, not to be afraid of a visit. If there’s something significant early, go.\n\n“In our first game here, we used four visits in the first five innings. Sometimes, you feel like you’re holding back, but we tell our guys that if it feels important enough, go. I think you’re seeing a real difference.’’\n\nYet, that feel-good sentiment certainly is not shared by every pitcher and catcher, saying there already have been repercussions.\n\nSeveral home-plate umpires have been hit with errant pitches this season simply because of cross-ups in communication between the pitchers and catchers, including Wednesday night, when home-plate umpire Hunter Wendlestedt was hit around the face.\n\n“That was a cross-up that probably doesn’t happen if you take a mound visit,’’ Red Sox starter David Price said. “I’ve seen that happen a number of times this year where a runner gets to second base, a pitcher or catcher forgets what sign you’re using, and the umpire gets hit. It puts more pressure on catchers just trying to remember all of the signs people are using.\n\n“So, I think it’s going to be like the [ballpark] netting. It’s not going to change until one of those umpires get hurt. Once that happens, they’ll say, OK, let’s go to nine visits.’’\n\nRed Sox manager Alex Cora also is wary about the increase in times pitchers and catchers may get crossed up going over signs with runners on base, saying it’s nearly impossible for catchers to retain all of the changes in revised sign systems.\n\n“Oh yeah, you’re going to see it happen,’’ Cora said. “Everyone is so worried about stealing signs and whatever, and the systems are getting more complicated. Guys want to be so creative, and it backfires. You see the cross-ups at least once a week.’’\n\nThe biggest fear in game management, Boone and Cora say, is making sure their catchers aren’t afraid from going to the mound because of the limitations. If there’s a critical situation, or confusion, they’re encouraging their catchers not to worry about how many visits are left in the game.\n\n“Sometimes, the catchers don’t want to go out there because we have only six,’’ Cora said. “I tell them, “Guys, if you have to go, just go.’ If it’s a game-changing thing, mechanics, or signs, you don’t want them to be cautious. I’ve told them if you don’t go out there and do what you’re supposed to do, and all of a sudden they hit the ball off the wall and score, it’s on you.’’\n\nFollow Nightengale on Twitter and Facebook", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2018/04/13"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2013/10/01/louisville-slugger-marucci-bats/2905151/", "title": "Louisville Slugger losing grip as bat of choice", "text": "Ray Glier\n\nSpecial for USA TODAY Sports\n\nIconic bat maker struggles amid crowded field and changing times\n\nMarucci Bat Company%2C founded in 2002%2C challenges Slugger as top choice in majors\n\nPlayers say bat choice all about feel and not brand name\n\nATLANTA -- The Louisville Slugger was the house bat of baseball for more than 100 years, as iconic a piece of hardware as there is in the history of the game. It has been whipped through the strike zone by Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson and Hank Aaron, among other immortals, but suddenly, surprisingly, the Slugger has lost some of its grip on the game.\n\nHillerich & Bradsby, the maker of the Louisville Slugger wood bat, has been losing major leaguers to other bat companies for several years and no longer is the undisputed king of swing. The Marucci Bat Company, created out of a backyard shed by LSU athletic trainer Jack Marucci in 2002, has emerged as Slugger's biggest rival in an increasingly crowded field of manufacturers.\n\nMarucci says it's the No.1 bat when it comes to usage by major leaguers, a claim difficult to verify given the day-to-day fickleness of hitters and their bat selection. But Louisville Slugger does acknowledge it has lost significant ground to Marucci and others.\n\n\"It fluctuates every game,\" spokesman Rick Redman says when asked if Louisville Slugger is No.2 in use among major leaguers. \"I think there are days when they're No.1 and there are days when we are No.1. It's neck and neck.\"\n\nGALLERY: INSIDE LOUISVILLE SLUGGER\n\nIT'S ALL ABOUT FEEL\n\nPlayers are as protective of their bats as they are impulsive. If a certain model bat feels good, go with it until it runs out of line drives. And never say never when it comes to returning to an old favorite.\n\n\"The first bat I used in my career was a Louisville Slugger,\" San Francisco Giants outfielder Angel Pagan says. \"They were the wood pioneers. They're widely respected in the major leagues. They have good wood and they treat us really well, but sometimes you may say, 'I want that bat in a Louisville Slugger model,' and they bring it to you and it's not the same, so you put it aside.\n\n\"There's a bunch of companies now, so you try them all and go with the bat that feels comfortable in your hands. If you have a weapon in your hands and you don't have the right feeling, you're not going to swing well.\"\n\nWhen discussing their bat choices, players almost always talk about \"feel,\" a rather nebulous description, and one that can be maddening for a bat maker.\n\nAtlanta Braves rookie switch-hitter Joey Terdoslavich, for example, swings Marucci from the left side and Louisville Slugger from the right.\n\n\"There's nothing wrong with Louisville Slugger, it's all about feel,\" says Milwaukee Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy, who uses B45, a Canadian-manufactured bat. \"Louisville makes birch bats, just like B45, but I just like the feel of the B45.\n\n\"I don't know why people are not using Louisville Slugger as much. Maybe it has to do with so many choices out there.\"\n\nThere are 32 companies licensed to make bats for major league and minor league players. That's up from 10 in 1993, according to Major League Baseball.\n\nIn a competitive environment, many players say a bat maker's responsiveness means something.\n\n\"I think the guys want to have the personalized product and the consistency and the quality,\" says Toronto Blue Jays slugger Jose Bautista, a board member and investor in Marucci.\n\nBill Deane, a baseball historian who has done research for the Hall of Fame and the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) and was the editor of the encyclopedia Total Baseball, is as surprised as some players that Louisville Slugger is no longer dominant.\n\n\"I would think, for the last 100 years, Louisville has been No.1 and has been challenged by Spalding, Adirondack, among others, but those competitors came and went,\" Deane says. \"Just from a superficial look, perhaps they could not keep up with the 21st century marketplace demands.\"\n\nThat is part of it. Hillerich & Bradsby is a 129-year old, family-owned company that also makes youth, amateur and softball bats, and as it lost market share in recent years, it has tried to adjust to increased competition and changes within the industry.\n\nAlthough bats used by major leaguers are still manufactured at the company's revered home in downtown Louisville, it started to outsource work to China in 2006, and thousands of softball bats made there were recalled in 2013 because of issues with barrels separating from the handle, Redman says.\n\nThere was bad publicity and financial repercussions. Hillerich & Bradsby's banker, PNC Bank, raised interest rates on a line of credit, but H&B found more agreeable terms from Wells Fargo in August.\n\n\"We were forced to push and innovate,\" Redman says. \"We needed to get better. We have been in the process the last 3-5 years of improving our major league wood and offering the same wood to retail customers.\"\n\nTUG OF BAT WAR\n\nBlue Jays first baseman Edwin Encarnacion was the beneficiary of the simmering bat war between Louisville Slugger and Marucci.\n\nThe nine-year veteran has used both bats, although he has relied mostly on Marucci in recent years. When he showed up to the All-Star Game at Citi Field in New York in July, he was greeted by a representative of Louisville Slugger offering to donate money or equipment to a charity of Encarnacion's choosing if he swung a Louisville Slugger bat in the game that would draw baseball's largest TV audience of the regular season.\n\nReed Dickens, a Marucci board member who raised the growth capital for Marucci and is in charge of brand building, is ready to take his hacks at Louisville Slugger over this practice.\n\n\"We have a huge amount of respect for Louisville Slugger, but they are manipulating the facts to pretend they are No.1, and they're not No.1,\" Dickens says. \"Baseball would not be what it is without Louisville Slugger, that's a fact. They have made huge contributions, but the game has shifted, and the players expect a perfect bat and we deliver that.\"\n\nRedman says a donation of equipment was made to Encarnacion's charity.\n\n\"As we have done for many years, we did reach out to Edwin to gauge his interest in swinging Louisville Slugger in the All-Star Game,\" Redman says.\n\n\"Edwin has swung our bats in the past. He agreed to swing our bat in exchange for Louisville Slugger making a charitable donation on his behalf. This is not anything new. This is a program we've done for decades, long before their company existed.\"\n\nEncarnacion, on the disabled list, returned to his home in the Dominican Republic before the Blue Jays' season ended and could not be reached for comment. His agent did not return calls or e-mail requesting an interview.\n\nMarucci held a party in New York during the All-Star break to trumpet its milestone of passing Louisville Slugger. Hillerich & Bradsby, meanwhile, sent out a press release, which said, \"The Official Bat of Major League Baseball is still being manufactured in Louisville, Ky., and despite what competition has recently said, Louisville Slugger is still the #1 choice among the best players in the game.\"\n\nSays Dickens: \"We can get into arguments all day about how to count numbers, but the crux of this story is that we have never paid a player and they do pay players. You are talking two different philosophies. From five years ago to today, we have taken half their market share without paying a player.\"\n\nFor years, Louisville Slugger was accused of shuffling its lesser quality wood to players who are not stars, but Erik Kratz, a catcher for the Philadelphia Phillies, says he can pop open a box of six Sluggers and get six good bats.\n\nSo how much does he get paid to swing the Slugger? Kratz's eyes open wide.\n\n\"If you find out they pay everybody else, come back and see me,\" he says. \"I'm not getting paid.\"\n\nAs for the players, you won't get some of them in the middle of the war.\n\n\"I swing both bats, and I will swing Tucci,\" Cleveland Indians first baseman Nick Swisher says. \"It all depends on the feel that day, that game. The guys in here don't care who is No.1. Our goal is to get the hardest wood out there to take up to the plate.\"\n\nContributing: Jorge L. Ortiz in San Francisco", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2013/10/01"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/columnist/bob-nightengale/2021/09/12/hall-fame-2022-class-could-shutout-rod-david-ortiz-ballot/8303736002/", "title": "Nightengale's Notebook: Will Hall of Fame stage be empty next year ...", "text": "NEW YORK — If it wasn’t for the pandemic that wiped out last year’s Hall of Fame ceremony, we would have had an empty stage this past week with no one being inducted into Cooperstown.\n\nRemember, there wasn’t a soul elected this past January, with Derek Jeter, Larry Walker, Ted Simmons and the late Marvin Miller actually elected a year ago.\n\nSo the question everyone in Cooperstown wants to know is whether the Baseball Writers' Association of America will be pitching consecutive shutouts for the first time in Hall of Fame history.\n\nYou don’t think it can happen?\n\nGo ahead, and take a hard look at the incoming ballot of newcomers:", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/09/12"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/diamondbacks/2021/01/26/curt-schilling-narrowly-misses-election-baseball-hall-fame-arizona-diamondbacks-boston-red-sox/4261052001/", "title": "Curt Schilling narrowly misses election to Baseball Hall of Fame", "text": "Associated Press\n\nNEW YORK – The baseball Hall of Fame won’t have any new players in the class of 2021 after voters decided no one had the merits – on-the-field or off – for enshrinement in Cooperstown on this year’s ballot.\n\nCurt Schilling, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens were the closest in voting by members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America released Tuesday, and the trio will have one more chance at election next year. It’s the first time the BBWAA didn’t choose anyone since 2013.\n\nSchilling, a right-handed ace who won three World Series titles, finished 16 votes short of the 75% threshold necessary for enshrinement. He got 71.1% percent this time after coming up 20 votes shy at 70% last year.\n\nSchilling’s on-field accomplishments face little dispute, but he has ostracized himself in retirement by directing hateful remarks toward Muslims, transgender people, journalists and others.\n\n“It’s all right, the game doesn’t owe me anything,” Schilling said during a live video stream on his Twitter account.\n\nHe later wrote on Facebook that he has asked the Hall of Fame to remove his name from next year’s ballot. Hall of Fame Board Chairman Janes Forbe Clark said in a statement that the board “will consider the request at our next meeting.”\n\nMORE:Curt Schilling says he would represent Diamondbacks, not Red Sox, in Baseball Hall of Fame\n\nMORE:Curt Schilling slams writers after missing out on Hall of Fame: 'Morally bankrupt frauds'\n\nMORE:Your take: Curt Schilling's Capitol rioters comments should keep him out of Hall of Fame\n\nBonds (61.8%) and Clemens (61.6%) made minimal gains and joined Schilling in falling short on their ninth tries. Both face suspicions of performance-enhancing drug use – Clemens has denied using PEDs and Bonds has denied knowingly using PEDs.\n\nBonds also has been accused of domestic violence and Clemens of maintaining a decade-long relationship with a singer who was 15 when they met.\n\nSchilling, Clemens and Bonds will be joined on next year’s ballot by sluggers Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz. Rodriguez was suspended for all of the 2014 season for violating MLB’s PED policy and collective bargaining agreement, and Ortiz’s name allegedly appeared on a list of players who tested positive in 2003.\n\nOmar Vizquel, an 11-time Gold Glove winner, dropped from 52.6% last year to 49.1% after his wife accused him of repeated domestic abuses in December. Braves star Andruw Jones, arrested in 2012 on a domestic violence charge, got 33.9% in his fourth year. Rockies slugger Todd Helton, who pleaded guilty to driving under the influence and was sentenced to two days in jail last year, got 44.9% in his third time on the ballot.\n\nSome players missed out over old-fashioned baseball disagreements, too. Slick-fielding third baseman Scott Rolen moved from 35.3% to 52.9% and hard-throwing closer Billy Wagner from 31.7% to 46.4%.\n\nIt’s the 19th time the BBWAA has failed to elect a Hall member and just the third time since 1971. With the Hall of Fame’s Era Committees postponing their scheduled elections until next offseason because of the pandemic, there won’t be a new Hall class for the first time since 1960.\n\nMORE:Curt Schilling tweets support for U.S. Capitol rioters: 'A confrontation that matters'\n\nCooperstown won’t be without celebration next summer, though. After the 2020 ceremony in the upstate New York village was canceled due to the pandemic, Yankees great Derek Jeter and five-tool star Larry Walker will take center stage on July 25, a year later than planned. They’ll be honored alongside catcher Ted Simmons and late players’ association chief Marvin Miller.\n\nBBWAA members are instructed to elect Hall members “based upon the player’s record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played.”\n\nAt a time when social justice movements are pushing for a broader reckoning on sexual misconduct and racial inequality, character evaluation took on an outsized role in this election cycle. While the Hall’s inductees already include racists, cheaters, philanderers and criminals, the current voting bloc has – narrowly, in many cases – taken a stand against candidates they think have insufficient integrity.\n\nA record 14 voters sent blank ballots, topping the 12 sent in 2006.\n\nSchilling – a six-time All-Star over 20 seasons with Baltimore, Houston, Philadelphia, Arizona and Boston – has been embroiled in controversy throughout his retirement.\n\nHe launched a video game company, 38 Studios, that went bankrupt shortly after receiving a $75 million loan guarantee from Rhode Island, then was fired as an ESPN analyst after he sent a tweet comparing Muslim extremists to Nazi-era Germans and posted a derogatory Facebook comment about transgender people.\n\nMonths later, Schilling was again criticized after using social media to applaud a T-shirt calling for journalists to be lynched.\n\nOn Jan. 6, the day of the attack on the U.S. Capitol, he said the following in a message on his Twitter account:\n\n“You cowards sat on your hands, did nothing while liberal trash looted rioted and burned for air Jordan’s and big screens, sit back …. and watch folks start a confrontation for (expletive) that matters like rights, democracy and the end of govt corruption.”\n\nThat tweet was sent a few days after Hall of Fame ballots were due.\n\nMORE:Curt Schilling seems headed for Hall of Fame election, but does he deserve it?\n\nSchilling wrote on Facebook that he would like the veterans committee to review his Hall case. That panel – comprised of former players, managers and others in the game, along with some writers – is tasked with evaluating players who don’t get election via the BBWAA vote.\n\n“I’ll defer to the veterans committee and men whose opinions actually matter and who are in a position to actually judge a player,” Schilling wrote. “I don’t think I’m a hall of famer as I’ve often stated but if former players think I am then I’ll accept that with honor.\n\n“In my heart I am at peace,” he also wrote. “Nothing, zero, none of the claims being made by any of the writers hold merit.”\n\nBonds’ ex-wife testified in 1995 during divorce proceedings that he beat and kicked her. Bonds said he never physically abused her but once kicked her after she kicked him.\n\nIn 2008, the New York Daily News reported that Clemens had a decade-long relationship with country singer Mindy McCready that began when she was 15 and he was a star for the Boston Red Sox. Clemens apologized for unspecified mistakes in his personal life and denied having an affair with a 15-year-old. McCready later told “Inside Edition” she met Clemens when she was 16 and that the relationship didn’t turn sexual until several years later.\n\nThe BBWAA recently voted overwhelmingly to remove the name and imprint of former Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis from MVP plaques. Landis became commissioner in 1920, and there were no Black players in the majors during his more than two decades in charge.\n\nFurther down the ballot, outfielder Gary Sheffield jumped from 30.5% to 40.6% on his seventh time on the ballot and Jeff Kent improved from 27.5% to 32.4% in his eighth year.\n\nThe 2022 ballot also will include Phillies stars Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard, switch-hitting slugger Mark Teixeira and two-time Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum.\n\nMORE:Arizona Diamondbacks face dilemma if Curt Schilling makes Baseball Hall of Fame", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/01/26"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2018/01/11/baseball-hall-fame-gary-sheffield-case/1018859001/", "title": "Hall of Fame countdown: Gary Sheffield has credentials, but strikes ...", "text": "USA TODAY Sports is counting down the top 24 candidates on the 2018 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot in advance of the Jan. 24 election results. The countdown is based on voting by our power rankings panel, which includes five Hall voters.\n\nNo. 12: Gary Sheffield\n\nHe debuted before Wrigley Field even had lights, slugged his way through - and then became a part of - the so-called steroid era and finished with a home-run total that once guaranteed Hall of Fame induction.\n\nNow, Sheffield's candidacy resides in a purgatory of sorts as it hits its fourth year, with demerits from both schools of voters.\n\nThe new-age voter will ding him for allegedly being a \"compiler,\" that he was a well-below average defender and that he may skew closer to Jim Edmonds than Edgar Martinez among borderline candidates.\n\nAnd a significant amount of old-school voters will avoid checking his box due to his relatively iron-clad connection to performance-enhancing drugs: Grand jury testimony that, through his connection with Barry Bonds, he unknowingly used BALCO's \"cream\" and \"clear.\"\n\nThe case for: All that said, Sheffield checks an awful lot of boxes. He slugged 509 home runs, had a career .292 batting average and .907 OPS (equaling Ken Griffey Jr.) and received MVP support in seven seasons, finishing third twice and runner-up in 2004.\n\nHe made his major league debut at 19, barely two years after the Milwaukee Brewers drafted him out of the same Tampa high school that produced his uncle, Dwight Gooden. By 23, he was a batting champion and an All-Star, and at 27 had a career year for the Florida Marlins befitting a Cooperstown inductee, slamming 42 home runs and leading the National League in on-base percentage (.465), OPS (1.090) and OPS-plus (189).\n\nThe countdown\n\nIn a testament to his skill set, Sheffield debuted as a shortstop, spent six years as a third baseman and 16 more as an outfielder.\n\nThat he played for eight teams might be considered a negative, but his value was always strong: Sheffield was the centerpiece of deals that sent future/likely Hall of Famers Mike Piazza and Trevor Hoffman back to his old team.\n\nThe case against: Sheffield occasionally exited on contentious notes, most notably when he clashed with Milwaukee Brewers management, leading to a 1992 trade to the San Diego Padres. While his versatility was a plus, he was never known as a great fielder and in 1993 led NL third basemen with 34 errors. Seven years later, his 10 errors led all NL left fielders; every advanced metric rates him a below-average fielder over the course of his career.\n\nSheffield spent a portion of the winter before the 2002 season working out with Barry Bonds, who Sheffield said provided him with a cream for a bad knee. Only later, Sheffield claims, did he realize they were banned substances from BALCO and not, as he testified, \"like you could go to a store and find something like that.\"\n\nSheffield's production actually dipped that season - to 25 home runs from 36 - and he severed ties with Bonds after things got weird between them. However, from 2003-2005, in his age 34-36 seasons, Sheffield enjoyed three of his most productive years, averaging 36 homers, 125 RBI and a .947 OPS.\n\nWhile it's more challenging to contextualize Sheffield's late-career exploits compared to Bonds and other PED users, his BALCO testimony is more than enough to scare off anti-PED absolutists within the voting bloc.\n\nX-factors: There's no metric for \"most feared hitter of his era,\" but Sheffield would finish near the top of any such list over two decades. Sheffield won a World Series championship with the Florida Marlins, and while 1997 wasn't one of his greatest seasons in Miami Gardens, he did perform capably in all three of the Marlins' postseason series.\n\nAnd the man could hit anytime, anywhere, any league. He finished third in NL MVP voting for the 2003 Atlanta Braves, hitting 39 homers and driving in 132 runs.\n\nA year later, he switched leagues and joined Alex Rodriguez on perhaps the most star-studded team in baseball history - the 2004 New York Yankees - and nearly won the AL MVP, slamming 36 homers and posting a .927 OPS. He was runner-up to Vladimir Guerrero.\n\nConsensus: Sheffield enjoyed a small bump in voting last season, to a three-year high of 13.3%. But it's clear a climb to 75% is likely futile. He's polling 40 points behind Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, who are similarly linked to PEDs, and even further behind slugging contemporaries like Edgar Martinez. Sheffield should make it to the end of his 10-year ballot run, but will likely never top 50% - let alone the 75% he'd need for induction.\n\nGALLERY: 2018 Hall of Fame candidates", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2018/01/11"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/tigers/2021/01/24/hall-fame-induction-2021-detroit-tigers-al-kaline/6676399002/", "title": "Why Al Kaline's HOF induction highlights Detroit Tigers struggles", "text": "Gene Myers\n\nSpecial to the Detroit Free Press\n\nAs a longtime member of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, Gene Myers has one of the roughly 400 ballots that will determine the Hall of Fame’s Class of 2021. Myers retired in late 2015 after nearly a quarter-century as sports editor of the Detroit Free Press. His BBWAA ballot was due Dec. 31; the election results will be announced Tuesday. Players must appear on 75% of the ballots to be elected. The Free Press, as it does each year, asked Myers to comment on his ballot.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/01/24"}]}
{"question_id": "20230127_14", "search_time": "2023/01/28/05:15", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2022/08/01/phoenix-concerts-august-2022/10175503002/", "title": "Best concerts in Phoenix in August 2022: The Weeknd, Motley Crue", "text": "August brings two very different concert tours to State Farm Stadium.\n\nOne is the twice-delayed Stadium Tour, a field day for fans of the hair-metal '80s with Motley Crue, Def Leppard, Poison and an act that's sure to get a great reaction without necessarily having anything to do with that aesthetic: Joan Jett & the Blackhearts.\n\nThe other is the Weeknd's first appearance in the Valley since 2017.\n\nYou'll also find a lot of smaller shows to choose from in our monthly concert guide for metro Phoenix, from Teyana Taylor, Peter Hook and Shakey Graves at the Van Buren to George Clinton coming out of retirement, as expected, with Parliament-Funkadelic at the Marquee.\n\nWhat was Alice Cooper like in high school? Friends share their stories\n\nDavid Gray\n\nThis tour was originally planned for 2020 — the 20th anniversary of \"White Ladder\" being picked up by Dave Matthews' label, ATO, and rereleased. It was originally released on Gray's own label two years earlier, so the album itself is 24 years old, but COVID-19 kept the English folk singer from celebrating the album that made him a global sensation until now. And \"White Ladder\" definitely earned itself a victory lap.\n\nDetails: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 2. Orpheum Theatre, 203 W. Adams St., Phoenix. $55.50-$75.50. 800-282-4842, etix.com.\n\nThomas Rhett\n\nDubbed “the most reliable maker of No. 1 singles in country music” by Variety, Rhett has topped the Billboard country airplay charts no fewer than 17 times. His hits include multiplatinum \"It Goes Like That,\" \"Get Me Some of That,\" \"Make Me Wanna,\" and \"Look What God Gave Her.\" The Bring the Bar to You Tour features special guests Parker McCollum and Conner Smith.\n\nDetails: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 4. Ak-Chin Pavilion, 2121 N. 83rd Ave., Phoenix. $35.50 and up. 602-254-7200, livenation.com.\n\nMr. Lucky's has sold. This is what made the concert venue iconic and what's next\n\nThird Eye Blind\n\nThis is Third Eye Blind's first show in metro Phoenix since October 2020, when they headlined the opening night of a socially distanced drive-in concert series in the parking lot of the Arizona State Fairgrounds, the stage surrounded on all sides by rows of cars. That was a really fun night. They're joined at this more conventional venue by Taking Back Sunday and Hockey Dad on the latest installment of their Summer Gods Tour.\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 4. Arizona Financial Theatre, 400 W. Washington St., Phoenix. $39.50 and up. 800-745-300, ticketmaster.com.\n\nHalestorm\n\nThese Grammy-winning hard-rock veterans will be joined by special guests the Pretty Reckless, the Warning and Lilith Czar. Founded by siblings Lzzy and Arejay Hale in their teens, Halestorm have surpassed a billion streams and sold out shows around the globe with the San Jose Mercury News declaring them “the best hard rock band in the world” after a show last November.\n\nDetails: 6 p.m. Friday, Aug. 5. Arizona Financial Theatre, 400 W. Washington St., Phoenix. $29.50 and up. 800-745-300, ticketmaster.com.\n\nFather John Misty\n\nJosh Tillman is touring the States in support of \"Chloë and the Next 20th Century,\" his fifth studio effort as Father John Misty. The album earned a perfect score at NME, whose critic weighed in: \"Besides its flirtations with big band-style instrumentals, ‘Chloë and the Next 20th Century’ serves as a gorgeously crafted highlight reel of the singer’s many previous styles and guises, rather than a complete reinvention.\"\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 6. The Van Buren, 401 W. Van Buren St., Phoenix. $48; $45 in advance. 866-468-3399, thevanburenphx.com.\n\nTeyana Taylor\n\nThis multi-faceted entertainer — singer, actor, dancer, choreographer — has sent two albums to the top of Billboard's R&B charts while pulling in raves from the critics. She's touring in support of \"The Album,\" a soulful masterstroke Clash Music praised for its \"profusion of standout tracks that invite you into Teyana’s world of emotions, sex and vulnerability,\" concluding \"We have no choice but to stan.\"\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Monday, Aug. 8. The Van Buren, 401 W. Van Buren St., Phoenix. $34.50-$39.50. 866-468-3399, thevanburenphx.com.\n\nFoxing\n\nOn \"Draw Down the Moon,\" produced by Manchester Orchestra's Andy Hull, they continue the growth they displayed on the masterful \"Nearer My God.\" Under the Radar called it Foxing's \"most focused and accomplished album yet\" while Paste noted that Foxing have long been on the shortlist of our most ambitious bands and that this album \"confirms they’ll keep going for broke for the foreseeable future.\"\n\nDetails: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 9. Rebel Lounge, 2303 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix. $18. 602-296-7013, therebellounge.com.\n\nOliver Tree\n\nThe mullet-rocking singer arrives in support of \"Cowboy Tears,\" a collection of songs he says are \"cowboy emo,\" with support from singer-songwriter-producer Jawny and alternative viral sensation Huddy. In an interview with the Columbus Dispatch, Tree talked about what concertgoers can expect. \"There's something for everybody,\" he said. \"There's a lot of theatrics. You'll find anything from scooter tricks to belly dancing to WWF wrestling.\" He's kind of a goof that way.\n\nDetails: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 10. Arizona Financial Theatre, 400 W. Washington St., Phoenix. $39.50 and up. 800-745-300, ticketmaster.com.\n\nGeorge Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic\n\nAfter announcing his retirement in 2018, George Clinton assembled the latest edition of Parliament Funkadelic and hit the very funky road on the One Nation Under a Groove Tour in 2019, playing sold-out gigs across the country. As our headline noted when that tour played Phoenix, \"George Clinton doesn't seem ready to give up the funk on Parliament-Funkadelic farewell tour.\" And here we are. The last time was a blast. This should be every bit as entertaining.\n\nDetails: 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 11. Marquee Theatre, 730 N. Mill Ave., Tempe. $52-$70. 480-829-0607, luckymanonline.com.\n\nBilly Idol\n\nThe most important question here is obviously, \"Is Steve Stevens in the band?\" He is, so that's a \"buy your ticket now\" for anyone who grew up on those Billy Idol records in the '80s. He's touring in support of last year’s Butch Walker-produced \"The Roadside\" EP, Idol’s first release in seven years, which USA Today described as “instilled with renewed vigor.” And for those of you who may be thinking you'd just rather hear \"White Wedding,\" \"Rebel Yell\" and \"Dancing with Myself?\" Those were among his most-played songs on last year's set lists.\n\nDetails: 7:30 p.m. Aug. 12. Celebrity Theatre, 440 N. 32nd St., Phoenix. Sold out. 602-267-1600, celebritytheatre.com.\n\n'America was ready for metal.' How Judas Priest delivered with 'Screaming for Vengeance'\n\nBig Time Rush\n\nBig Time Rush became an overnight sensation in 2009 with the launch of the Nickelodeon TV series \"Big Time Rush.\" The show was a huge success that made the members of the made-for-TV band actual pop stars, much like the Monkees before them, as they went on to release three albums and perform across the globe. They've reunited for their first headlining tour in more than a decade.\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 13. Arizona Financial Theatre, 400 W. Washington St., Phoenix. $35 and up. 800-745-300, ticketmaster.com.\n\nLarry Hernandez\n\nThis Mexican-American singer-songwriter and TV personality is known for his work in the regional Mexican music genre, especially banda, norteño and norteño-nanda. Hernandez released his first solo album, \"Contella Norteña,\" in 1998, breaking through in 2009 with the release of \"16 Narco Corridos,\" which took the singer one day to record and peaked at No. 4 on Billboard's Latin albums chart.\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 13. Celebrity Theatre, 440 N. 32nd St., Phoenix. $35-$100. 602-267-1600, celebritytheatre.com.\n\nCuco\n\nThis unassuming bedroom pop sensation just released his anticipated follow-up to 2019's \"Pari Mi.\" Recorded in Mexico City, \"Fantasy Gateway\" was inspired by the singer's psychedelic experiences and a desire to go deeper and explore the good, the bad and the ugly of the person he's becoming. In a press release, he said, \"This album is a culmination of my growth process over the last few years, I'm excited for everyone to experience it.\"\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 14. The Van Buren, 401 W. Van Buren St., Phoenix. $35; $32.50 in advance. 866-468-3399, thevanburenphx.com.\n\nMemorial honors Katastro's Andy Chaves, killed in car crash: 'He was just the sweetest'\n\nLittle Feat\n\nThis is a tour celebrating the 45th anniversary of \"Waiting for Columbus\" on which they plan to replicate the track list of their first live album, including such Little Feat staples as “Dixie Chicken,” “Sailin’ Shoes” and “Feats Don’t Fail Me Now.” They're joined by Hot Tuna Acoustic.\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Monday, Aug. 15. Celebrity Theatre, 440 N. 32nd St., Phoenix. $30-$97. 602-267-1600, celebritytheatre.com.\n\nBanks\n\nThe alternative R&B singer arrives in support of \"Serpentina,\" an album hailed as nothing less than a \"creative masterpiece\" by Clash Music, whose critic said it \"bursts with character, her true persona visible as she sheds off her skin like a true serpent.\" She's joined by Lauren Jauregui and Samoht.\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Monday, Aug. 15. The Van Buren, 401 W. Van Buren St., Phoenix. $35. 866-468-3399, thevanburenphx.com.\n\nOdesza\n\nThe Last Goodbye Tour is named for an album called \"The Last Goodbye.\" These guys are way too young to stage a farewell tour. In scaling up to rooms with capacities surpassing 20,000, they're among the first electronica acts to play an amphitheater run of this stature. They'll be joined by Sylvan Esso, San Holo and Gilligan Moss on a tour designed to be carbon negative through a partnership with environmental nonprofit REVERB.\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 17. Ak-Chin Pavilion, 2121 N. 83rd Ave., Phoenix. $39.50 and up. 602-254-7200, livenation.com.\n\nChase Atlantic\n\nChristian Anthony and Mitchel Cave first got together in 2012 as members of What About Tonight, which they assembled to compete on Season 4 of the Australian version of \"The X Factor.\" They're joined in Chase Atlantic by Cave's older brother, Clinton. They made the cover of last year's edition of Alternative Press' 100 Bands You Need to Know. The magazine praised them for having \"found their corner of the alternative genre and ... marked it with their names.\"\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 17. Arizona Financial Theatre, 400 W. Washington St., Phoenix. $35 and up. 800-745-300, ticketmaster.com.\n\nShakey Graves\n\nAlejandro Rose-Garcia had one decidedly unusual goal going into the making of the latest Shakey Graves release, the weirdly wonderful \"Can't Wake Up.\" \"I wanted it to be vaguely 'Wizard of Oz'-themed, and I wanted it to be hectic and a little uncomfortable, like what I refer to as the Big Five Disney cartoons: 'Pinocchio,' 'Fantasia,' 'Snow White,' 'Dumbo' and 'Bambi,'\" the singer explained in a press release. \"All those movies are terrifying — some of the most stressful movies I've ever seen.\" The end result is, not surprisingly, one very trippy ride through Rose-Garcia's rich imagination.\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 17. The Van Buren, 401 W. Van Buren St., Phoenix. $32-$37. 866-468-3399, thevanburenphx.com.\n\nElder\n\nThese Massachusetts metalheads approach their brand of stoner rock with a heavy side of psychedelic prog. And they've done so to brilliant effect on \"Omens,\" an album Sputnikmusic praised as an excellent next step in Elder’s \"sonic evolution,\" adding \"All the noodling and meticulous structure developments paid off, since all songs flow impressively smooth.\"\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 17. Rebel Lounge, 2303 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix. $16. 602-296-7013, therebellounge.com.\n\nNathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats\n\nThe Night Sweats are touring in support of \"The Future.\" Uncut hailed their latest effort as \"an instant classic,\" Mojo declared it \"a giant leap forward\" and Rolling Stone said the title track \"kicks off sounding like the Bob Dylan of 'Desire' if he’d recorded that album at Muscle Shoals.\"\n\nDetails: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 18. Arizona Financial Theatre, 400 W. Washington St., Phoenix. $49.50 and up. 800-745-300, ticketmaster.com.\n\nChris Brown and Lil Baby\n\nChris Brown is among the most successful R&B stars of his generation, with three chart-topping albums and a steady stream of multi-platinum singles. His biggest hits include \"Run It,\" \"Kiss Kiss\" and \"Go Crazy.\" Lil Baby broke through in 2017 with the platinum \"My Dawg,\" going on to multi-platinum success with \"Freestyle,\" \"Yes Indeed,\" \"Drip Too Hard\" and \"On Me.\"\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 20. Ak-Chin Pavilion, 2121 N. 83rd Ave., Phoenix. $29.50 and up. 602-254-7200, livenation.com.\n\nOneRepublic\n\nThe Never Ending Summer Tour finds OneRepublic joined by NEEDTOBREATHE. Led by Ryan Tedder, OneRepublic hit the mainstream in 2007 with \"Apologize,\" a quadruple-platinum smash that briefly held the record for most airplay in a single week. Their other hits include the multi-platinum \"Good Life,\" and their biggest hit to date, 2013's 10-times-platinum \"Counting Stars.\"\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 21. Ak-Chin Pavilion, 2121 N. 83rd Ave., Phoenix. $30.50 and up. 602-254-7200, livenation.com.\n\nIncubus\n\nIn the 27 years since their first album, \"Fungus Amongus,\" Incubus have sent four singles to the top of the Billboard alternative-songs chart: \"Drive\" (2000), \"Megalomaniac\" (2003), \"Anna Molly\" (2006) and \"Love Hurts\" (2008). Other hits include \"Pardon Me,\" \"Stellar,\" \"Wish You Were Here\" and \"Adolescents.\" They're joined by special guests Sublime with Rome and the Aquadolls.\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Monday, Aug. 22. Ak-Chin Pavilion, 2121 N. 83rd Ave., Phoenix. $25 and up. 602-254-7200, livenation.com.\n\nEcho & the Bunnymen\n\nThey emerged from Liverpool in 1980 with a debut titled \"Crocodiles\" that placed them squarely at the forefront of the neo-psychedelic movement. Rolling Stone responded with a four-star rave that noted, \"Singer-guitarist Ian McCulloch specializes in a sort of apocalyptic brooding, combining Jim Morrison-style psychosexual yells, a flair for David Bowie-like vocal inflections and the nihilistic bark of his punk peers into a disturbing portrait of the singer as a young neurotic.\"\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 23. The Van Buren, 401 W. Van Buren St., Phoenix. $44.50-50. 866-468-3399, thevanburenphx.com.\n\nJimmie Vaughan\n\nThis Texas blues guitarist arrives in continued support of a great new album, \"Baby, Please Come Home,\" on which he leaves a very soulful mark on classic songs from a variety of genres, including Memphis soul, country, blues and R&B. He's a crowd-pleasing bandleader, playing guitar behind his head while fronting a stage full of stellar musicians, including organ, upright bass, trombone and sax.\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 24. MIM Music Theater, Musical Instrument Museum, 4725 E. Mayo Blvd., Phoenix. $54.50-$80.50. 480-478-6000, mim.org.\n\nHow Duane Eddy invented his signature sound in Phoenix: 'We were all experimenting'\n\nHealth\n\nThe noise-rock veterans arrive in support of \"Disco 4: Part II,\" an album of collaborations ranging from old tourmates Nine Inch Nails to tracks with Lamb of God, the Neighbourhood and Poppy. It made Revolver’s list of 2022's best albums (so far) and DIY Magazine raved \"While these tracks are testament to how well the LA trio can build an astronomical sense of atmosphere, they can create icy harshness with equal brilliance.\"\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 24. Crescent Ballroom, 308 N. Second Ave., Phoenix. $25; $23 in advance. 602-716-2222, crescentphx.com.\n\nWavves\n\nThese San Diego rockers earned raves in 2010 for an album called \"King of the Beach,\" the title of which did a brilliant of capturing the essence of their charm. Twelve years later, they're still going strong, as evidenced by the infectious songcraft at the heart of last year's \"Hideaway,\" produced by TV On The Radio’s Dave Sitek, which DIY Magazine praised as \"their most varied collection so far.\"\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 24. Rebel Lounge, 2303 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix. $20. 602-296-7013, therebellounge.com.\n\nThe Stadium Tour\n\nMotley Crue will make their first appearance in the Valley since 2015, when the Final Tour, for which they famously signed a \"cessation of touring agreement,\" made its second stop in Phoenix. It's good to have them back, especially after a year and a half of \"cessation of touring\" for the world at large. They're joined by two Rock and Roll Hall of Famers — Def Leppard and a group whose love of rock 'n' roll is a matter of record, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts — as well as Poison, who somehow haven't done a Valley concert since the Glam-a-Geddon Tour (with Motley Crue and New York Dolls) in 2011.\n\nDetails: 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 25. State Farm Stadium, 1 Cardinals Way, Glendale. $99.50 and up. 800-745-3000, ticketmaster.com.\n\nKid Cudi\n\nThe rapper who managed to launch a career after sharing his music on MySpace back when that was still a thing arrives on the eve of releasing an animated music series called “Entergalactic\" on Netflix. A studio album also titled “Entergalactic” will accompany the series. The first single “Do What I Want” was released on all platforms in June. That song he shared on MySpace, by the way, was \"Day 'n' Nite,\" a five-times-platinum smash that peaked at No. 3 on Billboard's Hot 100 and caught the ear of soon-to-be collaborator, label chief and mentor Kanye West.\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 25. Footprint Center, 201 E. Jefferson St., Phoenix. $64.50 and up. 602-379-7800, ticketmaster.com.\n\nFive Finger Death Punch\n\nHaving taken one of modern metal’s greatest band names from a fatal blow in Quentin Tarantino’s “Kill Bill: Vol. 2,” Five Finger Death Punch have sent 12 singles to the top of Billboard's Mainstream Rock charts, from \"Coming Down\" to the title track of this year's \"AfterLife,\" their ninth studio album. They're joined by Megadeth, the HU and Fire From The Gods.\n\nDetails: 6:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 26. Ak-Chin Pavilion, 2121 N. 83rd Ave., Phoenix. $25 and up. 602-254-7200, livenation.com.\n\nKevin Gates\n\nThis Baton Rouge rapper followed through on a string of career-building mixtapes by hitting the charts at No. 2 with his first proper studio album, 2016's double-platinum \"Islah.\" That album spawned his first Top 40 entry on the Billboard Hot 100, the quadruple-platinum \"2 Phones.\" Other hits include \"I Don't Get Tired,\" \"Really Really,\" \"Time For That\" and \"Me Too.\" He arrives on the Big Lyfe Tour, in support of \"Khaza,\" his third studio release.\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 26. Arizona Financial Theatre, 400 W. Washington St., Phoenix. $39.50 and up. 800-745-300, ticketmaster.com.\n\nThe Get Up Kids\n\nThe Kansas City rockers who gave the emo kids \"Something to Write Home About\" are celebrating the 25th anniversary of their first release, \"Four Minute Mile,\" which they'll perform in its entirety as well as dusting off the \"Woodson\" EP. They're joined by kindred spirits Sparta.\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 26. The Nile, 105 W. Main St., Mesa. $25. 480-559-5859, eventbrite.com.\n\nJoyce Manor\n\nThese California punks brought home raves in 2012 for a spirited nine-song blast of old-school pop-punk songcraft called “Of All Things I Will Soon Grow Tired,” seven songs of which they managed to bring in under the two-minute mark. A decade later, it's pretty clear that what that album title really needed was a parenthetical \"(Except This Kind of Music)\" — if \"40 oz. to Fresno,\" the 17-minute whirlwind of catchy caffeinated punk songs they released in June, is any indication.\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 27. The Van Buren, 401 W. Van Buren St., Phoenix. $30- $35 in advance. 866-468-3399, thevanburenphx.com.\n\nSteve Earle\n\nAs a young man, Steve Earle was famously mentored by three songwriting giants — Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark and Jerry Jeff Walker. In 2009, he returned the favor to Van Zandt, releasing a heartfelt tribute album titled \"Townes.\" A decade later, he turned his attentions to Clark on the equally touching tribute album \"Guy.\" Now, he's touring the States in support of an album titled \"Jerry Jeff\" honoring Walker, who died in 2021.\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 27. Talking Stick Resort, Loop 101 and Pima Road, Salt River Reservation. $30 and up. 480-850-7734, talkingstickresort.com.\n\nThe Killers\n\nThis is the Killers' first Valley appearance since 2017, when they headlined Lost Lake Music Festival — where, as we noted at the time, they were received like proper rock gods. They're joined by Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, who was supposed to have opened the tour the Killers had to cancel due to COVID-19 (so, you know, don't be late). They're touring on \"Pressure Machine,\" their seventh straight release to top the U.K. charts. It peaked at No. 9 here; still a long way off from shabby for a seventh album.\n\nDetails: 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 28. Gila River Arena, 9400 W. Maryland Ave., Glendale. $59.50 and up. 623-772-3800, ticketmaster.com.\n\nRick Springfield\n\nThe former Dr. Noah Drake will celebrate the 40th anniversary of \"Working Class Dog,\" the breakthrough album that gave the world \"Jessie's Girl,\" on a tour billed as the '80s Tour of the Year with Men At Work and John Waite. \"Jessie's Girl\" picked up a Grammy for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance and spent two weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100. I could tell you that I love it, but the point is probably moot.\n\nDetails: 7:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 29. Celebrity Theatre, 440 N. 32nd St., Phoenix. $57-$125. 602-267-1600, celebritytheatre.com.\n\nStevie Nicks homecoming concert: The Fleetwood Mac singer is coming to Phoenix\n\nPeter Hook\n\nPeter Hook launched the Light in 2010 to celebrate the life of former bandmate Ian Curtis with a live performance of \"Unknown Pleasures\" in full on the 30th anniversary of the Joy Division singer's death. Since then, he's expanded the scope of his tribute to include his other former band, New Order. This time out, he's playing Joy Division's \"Unknown Pleasures\" and \"Closer\" albums with an opening set of New Order material.\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Monday, Aug. 29. The Van Buren, 401 W. Van Buren St., Phoenix. $35; $32.50 in advance. 866-468-3399, thevanburenphx.com.\n\nThe Weeknd\n\nThis is the Weeknd's first stadium tour. It's also his first Valley concert since 2017. He's released two albums since his last tour — 2020's double-platinum \"After Hours,\" which topped the U.S. charts and sent three singles to the top of Billboard's Hot 100, and this year's \"Dawn FM.\" Between those two releases, he headlined the Super Bowl LV halftime show in Tampa. The After Hours Til Dawn Tour, named for both those recent albums, includes Doja Cat, who topped the Billboard Hot 100 with the five-times-platinum \"Say So.\"\n\nDetails: 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 30. State Farm Stadium, 1 Cardinals Way, Glendale. Resale ticket prices vary and tend to fluctuate. 800-745-3000, ticketmaster.com.\n\nShawn Mendes cancels all tour dates: Here's how to get a ticket refund\n\nIdles\n\nThe sound of classic British post-punk is alive and well on Idles' latest livewire of an album, \"Crawler.\" After easing you into the chaos with the sleepy atmosphere and pouted vocals of a leadoff track that simmers for a full four minutes without boiling over the way you thought it would, it moves from strength to strength. Every track is a highlight, from the menacing swagger of \"The Wheel\" to the throbbing bass and skronking sax of \"Meds.\" The Observer says the best tracks \"offer thrills that can’t be denied, a preposterously exciting scrapyard soul.\"\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 30. The Van Buren, 401 W. Van Buren St., Phoenix. $30-$35. 866-468-3399, thevanburenphx.com.\n\nJungle\n\nA modern soul collective formed by childhood friends Tom McFarland and Josh Lloyd-Watson in London, they were shortlisted for the prestigious Mercury Prize in 2014 on the strength of a very funky self-titled debut. Mojo praised them for skillfully replicating \"the sexy patinas of their varied influences\" while DIY magazine proclaimed them \"a spectacular live band.\" Last year's \"Loving in Stereo\" made year-end critics' lists at Mojo, Far Out Magazine and AV Club (and deservedly so).\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 31. The Van Buren, 401 W. Van Buren St., Phoenix. $38; $35 in advance. 866-468-3399, thevanburenphx.com.\n\nReach the reporter at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4495. Follow him on Twitter @EdMasley.\n\nSupport local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/08/01"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2022/02/08/super-bowl-2022-halftime-show-dr-dre-eminem-snoop-dogg/6671061001/", "title": "Super Bowl 2022: Everything to know about the halftime show and ...", "text": "The Super Bowl is more than just the biggest football game of the year.\n\nWhile the annually televised event may be the crown jewel in the pantheon of American sports, it’s also a showcase for iconic musical performances. From the halftime show to “The Star-Spangled Banner,” Super Bowl performances serve as major benchmarks for the artists tapped to perform.\n\nWhether you root for the Los Angeles Rams or the Cincinnati Bengals (or neither), this year's Super Bowl is aiming to win in the music department, with Dr. Dre, Mary J. Blige and more icons set to take the stage.\n\nHere's everything you need to know about the performances happening at Super Bowl 56.\n\nJennifer Lopez, Shakira's Super Bowl halftime show sparks debate: Empowering or objectifying?\n\nWho is performing at the halftime show?\n\nA lineup of hip-hop heavyweights, led by N.W.A rapper and producer Dr. Dre, is filling the slot at this year’s halftime show.\n\nRappers Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar and Eminem, along with the “Queen of Hip-Hop Soul” Mary J. Blige, are joining Dre for the performance, as teased in a nearly 4-minute trailer that dropped last month.\n\n“The opportunity to perform at the Super Bowl Halftime show, and to do it in my own backyard, will be one of the biggest thrills of my career,” Dr. Dre, who grew up in Compton, said in a statement when the headliners were first announced. It will be an “unforgettable cultural moment,” he added.\n\nDre emerged from the West Coast gangster rap scene alongside Eazy-E and Ice Cube to form the group N.W.A., which made a major mark in hip-hop culture and the music industry with controversial lyrics in the late 1980s. Dre is responsible for bringing forth rap stars such as Snoop Dogg, Eminem, 50 Cent and Lamar. Dre also produced Blige's No. 1 hit song “Family Affair.”\n\nSnoop Dogg said in an interview with The Associated Press that the opportunity to perform at the Super Bowl is important for the legacy of hip-hop culture.\n\n\"I’m still thinking I’m in a dream because I can’t believe that they will let a real hip-hop artist grace the stage in an NFL Super Bowl,” he said. “We’re just going to wait for that moment and put something together that’s spectacular, and do what we’re known for doing and add on to the legacy.\"\n\nMore:Deaf rappers to perform with Eminem, Dre, Snoop at Super Bowl halftime: 'I want to open the door'\n\nThe \"Gin and Juice\" emcee said stage fright won't be an issue for him come game-time.\n\n\"I’m not going to understand it until it happens,” Snoop Dogg said. “While it’s happening, I’m in the zone. I’m stuck to the script, laser focused, being on point, sounding good, looking good and feeling good.\n\n\"I want to give off a great presentation. After the fact, it’s when I’ll be nervous about watching it to see what the reaction is. But while I’m going through it, it’s nothing.\"\n\nMore:Now we're hyped: See Dr. Dre assemble rap titans in epic Super Bowl halftime trailer\n\nWho are the other performers?\n\nThe halftime show is not the only musical action happening at the Super Bowl.\n\nGrammy-nominated country superstar Mickey Guyton is also taking her talent to the football field, where she will be performing the national anthem.\n\n“Look at God. I am shook, I am grateful, I am praise dancing,” Guyton tweeted upon revealing the news of her upcoming performance.\n\nR&B singer Jhené Aiko will be performing the patriotic number “America The Beautiful.” Performing at Super Bowl 56 holds extra significance for Aiko, as her parents’ hometowns are both represented by the teams playing this year: the Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals.\n\n“my Daddy’s from Cincinnati… Mom is from L.A,” Aiko wrote. “SEE YOU THERE!”\n\nGospel duo Mary Mary will perform “Lift Every Voice and Sing,\" accompanied by the LA Phil’s YOLA — which stands for Youth Orchestra Los Angeles. The song will be conducted by Thomas Wilkins, the principal conductor of the LA Phil’s Hollywood Bowl Orchestra.\n\n“We’re so excited to represent INGLEWOOD at #SBLVI with our performance of Lift Every Voice and Sing,” the duo wrote in an Instagram post. “Tune in. You won’t want to miss it!”\n\nGrammy-winning producer Zedd will serve as the pregame DJ during player warmups.\n\n“Super proud to announce that I’ll be performing a pregame show at the Super Bowl this year!!” Zedd wrote in an Instagram post.\n\nMore:Mickey Guyton to sing national anthem at 2022 Super Bowl, joining iconic list of musical guests\n\nWhen does the game start?\n\nKickoff is Sunday, Feb. 13, at 6:30 p.m. ET from SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.\n\nHow can I watch?\n\nThe game will be shown nationally on NBC, with Al Michaels (play-by-play), Cris Collinsworth (analysis) and Michele Tafoya (sideline) on the call. Telemundo will be the first-ever Spanish-language broadcast network to air the game.\n\nBut if you’ve cut the cord on cable, no worries: You can also view the game with a subscription to Paramount+ or stream it on NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app. The game can also be streamed live via FuboTV.\n\nContributing: Elise Brisco, Lorenzo Reyes, USA TODAY; Marcus K. Dowling, Nashville Tennessean; Christine Persaud, Reviewed; Jonathan Landrum Jr., The Associated Press", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/02/08"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2023/01/22/drake-concert-apollo-new-york-21-savage-dipset/11101013002/", "title": "Drake at Apollo recap: Teases tour at concert with 21 Savage, Dipset", "text": "NEW YORK – Drake is entering the new year with gratitude. His way of showing it is just slightly different from the average person.\n\nThe Canadian rapper returned to the stage Saturday night for the first time in years, making his debut at the Apollo Theater – and thanking everyone who got him there.\n\nThe concert was a victory lap for Drake, who looked entirely in his element as he banged out hits and teased a summer tour and the possibility of new music.\n\nHe crafted the show to create vignettes that reflect his beginnings acting in \"Degrassi\" and writing rhymes in his bedroom; his rise in the face of record label rejection; and his influences and collaborators, many of whom he brought to the historic venue in Harlem.\n\n\"I wanted to make this a show about gratitude. This was a little story that we put together, my deep love for my family, for my dear friends and for each and every one of you that have been supporting me for a long time,\" he said. \"We don't need to say how long, it's gonna make it sound like we're all getting old.\"\n\nCelebrities in attendance included Justin and Hailey Bieber, A$AP Ferg, Kevin Durant, Ice Spice, Odell Beckham Jr., Richie Akiva, Michael Rubin, Will Makris, as well as his mom Sandi and producer Noah \"40\" Shebib. Appearances from Dipset and 21 Savage capped off the show, the first of a two-night concert for Sirius XM's Sound 42, full of the rapper’s biggest and newest songs.\n\n\"I wanted to express how deeply grateful we are to be in this position,\" Drake said. \"I've done a lot of reflecting the last few years, really realizing the type of lightning strike that this run has been. And it's really got kind of something to do with me, but it's got everything to do with us because I just feel like we've been relating to each other for so long.\"\n\nThe three-level venue, where Black legends ranging from James Brown and Billie Holiday to Stevie Wonder and Patti LaBelle have left their marks, served as a striking contrast to Drake's arena shows, channeling an intimate moment for the 36-year-old's first concert since becoming a father.\n\nDrake highlighted the various eras of his career, performing \"Marvin's Room,\" \"Best I Ever Had,\" \"Hold On, We're Going Home,\" \"One Dance,\" \"God's Plan\" and more.\n\nHe also teased the possibility of new projects in 2023.\n\n\"I've thought about a bunch of things in life, but at this moment in time, none of those things are stopping making music for you, so I'll be here for you for a little bit at least,\" Drake said. \"I hope I can strike up some more emotions for you – maybe this year, I might get bored and make another one, who knows?\"\n\nHe also playfully switched up the lyrics for “Started From the Bottom,” rapping, “This summer, man, I’m back on the road, $100 million for some shows.”\n\n'Honestly Nevermind':Drake releases album, 'Falling Back' video featuring Tristan Thompson\n\nBreaking records:Drake breaks The Beatles' chart record for most top five hits on Billboard Hot 100\n\nDrake performs with Dipset, wears Cam’ron’s original pink fur jacket\n\nThe Dipset crew – Jim Jones, Juelz Santana, Cam'ron and Freekey Zekey – sauntered out of a replica of Harlem bodega with their enviable New York swagger.\n\nAmid \"I Really Mean It,\" \"Dipset Anthem\" and Jones' \"We Fly High,\" Drake revealed his outfit change from a Jimmy Brooks \"Degrassi\" jersey to a pink fur jacket and matching headband was not just paying homage to Cam'ron's iconic look – it was the same pink mink Cam'ron famously wore.\n\nBefore exiting the stage, the Dipset crew presented Drake with a custom diamond-encrusted bracelet to mark the evening.\n\n21 Savage joins Drake on stage for 'Jimmy Cooks,' 'Rich Flex,' more live\n\nTurns out, 21 can do something for Drake, popping up to perform alongside him during the concert's final segment.\n\nThe cameo didn't even scratch the surface of the duo's biggest hits, which have spanned years and recently culminated in their 2022 joint album, \"Her Loss.\" The crowd raged to \"Rich Flex,\" \"Jimmy Cooks,\" \"Privileged Rappers,\" \"Spin Bout U\" and \"Knife Talk.\"\n\nDrake admitted being a little behind on learning his new material, joking, \"I don’t know how to perform this yet, but I know the hook, though\" (which is really all that matters).\n\n21 Savage praised his collaborator for being there.\n\n\"Since the first day I met this (man in) 2015, every week at least I heard from him,\" 21 Savage said of Drake. Not about rap or music, just \"'I'm checking on you, seeing how you doing, bro.' And he helped me every step of my career behind the scenes.\"\n\nDrake, 21 Savage release 'Her Loss':What to know, including that Megan Thee Stallion lyric\n\n'Her Loss' or their loss? Judge orders Drake and 21 Savage to stop using fake Vogue magazine to promote album\n\nDrake ends Apollo Theater concert with 'a little old-fashioned New York sing-along,' gratitude\n\n\"Thank you for an incredible evening, I couldn't have asked for a better first show back. I'll be out and about on the road this year, so I hope to see a lot of the same faces,\" Drake said before closing the show with an oldie but goodie, \"Legend,\" off his 2015 mixtape \"If You're Reading This It's Too Late.\"\n\n\"I love you so much, and I appreciate you,\" Drake said. \"I know it's cliché to say, but I would actually be absolutely nothing, face down in the mud, if it wasn't for each and every one of you, so thank you. It's been a lot of years, it's been a long time. Thank you so much, I love you. My name is Drake, I'm from Toronto, I don't know how the (expletive) I made it here, but we did, so thank you.\"\n\nThe show marked four years since his last tour, 2019's Assassination Vacation.\n\nDrake's Apollo setlist\n\n\"Over My Dead Body\"\n\n\"Wu-Tang Forever\"\n\n\"Trust Issues\"\n\n\"Marvin's Room\"\n\n\"Say Something\"\n\n\"Feel No Ways\"\n\n\"Practice\"\n\n\"Jaded\"\n\n\"Jungle\"\n\n\"Karaoke\"\n\n\"Best I Ever Had\"\n\n\"Over\"\n\n\"Headlines\"\n\n\"HYFR\"\n\n\"Started From the Bottom\"\n\n\"I'm on One\"\n\n\"No New Friends\"\n\n\"Energy\"\n\n\"Know Yourself\"\n\n\"Nonstop\"\n\n\"God's Plan\"\n\n\"Laugh Now Cry Later\"\n\n\"Hold On, We're Going Home\"\n\n\"Controlla\"\n\n\"One Dance\"\n\n\"In My Feelings\"\n\n\"Passionfruit\"\n\n\"Way 2 Sexy\"\n\n\"Wait For U\"\n\n\"Massive\"\n\n\"Calling My Name\"\n\n\"Sticky\"\n\n\"I Really Mean It\"\n\n\"Dipset Anthem\"\n\n\"We Fly High\"\n\n\"Rich Flex\"\n\n\"Privileged Rappers\"\n\n\"Spin Bout U\"\n\n\"Jimmy Cooks\"\n\n\"Knife Talk\"\n\n\"Legend\"\n\n'Gotta throw a party for my day ones':Instagram-worthy summertime lyrics from Lizzo, Beyoncé and Harry Styles", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/01/22"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2022/04/30/memphis-in-may-bsmf-three-6-mafia-van-morrison-dababy-sarah-mclachlan/7434137001/", "title": "DaBaby to Sarah McLachlan: Beale Street Music Fest's Friday ...", "text": "From staff reports\n\nBeale Street Music Festival made its big comeback Friday.\n\nThe three-day festival kicked off at the Fairgrounds in Liberty Park, with performances from Three 6 Mafia, Van Morrison, DaBaby and many more.\n\nHere's a look at Friday's highlights.\n\nBEALE STREET MUSIC FEST 2022:Beale Street Music Festival back in business — even if it isn't quite business as usual\n\nThree 6 Mafia\n\nMemphis’ most iconic rap act and the city’s most iconic music event made a triumphant return on Friday night as Three 6 Mafia headlined Beale Street Music Festival.\n\nThe opening night of music fest — back for the first time since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic — was capped by a performance by Three 6.\n\nLed by Juicy J and DJ Paul, the concert captured the comeback spirit of the evening, with a set that electrified an enthusiastic crowd and delivered 30-plus years worth of crunk classics — all of it backdropped by a playoff series victory by the Memphis Grizzlies that ended just as the group's set began.\n\nRead Bob Mehr's full review from Three 6 Mafia's performance here.\n\n— Bob Mehr\n\nMEMPHIS IN MAY:How Beale Street Music Festival survived COVID-19 and a venue change to make its big comeback\n\nVan Morrison\n\nFriday night, Van Morrison was the bandleader of a show that was a crowd-pleaser — and that pulled material from throughout his career and the careers of his influences. Wearing a blue suit and his signature dark glasses and fedora, and sometimes performing on saxophone and harmonica, Morrison led the band through 20 songs — more, if you subdivide the medleys.\n\nHe and his veteran nine-member band delivered 90 minutes of largely classic and expertly if un-urgently performed Van Morrison material.\n\nMorrison sang \"Precious Time,\" from 1999. He sang \"And It Stoned Me,\" his masterpiece William Blake-meets-Ma Rainey masterpiece from 1970. He did \"Wild Night,\" from 1971. He dug deep into that alternative Great American Songbook that consists of blues and soul classics rather than pop standards: He covered \"Help Me\" by Sonny Boy Williamson (the one who died in Helena), and Don Gibson's \"I Can't Stop Loving You,\" immortalized by Ray Charles; and he did a blues medley that blended \"Baby Please Don't Go\" with \"Parchman Farm\" and \"Got My Mojo Working.\"\n\nRead John Beifuss' full review from Van Morrison's performance here.\n\n— John Beifuss\n\nSarah McLachlan\n\n\"I've been living under a rock for two years,\" Sarah McLachlan said at the start of her set. \"This is way more people than I've hung out with in a long time. You look good!\"\n\nIt was McLachlan's first festival performance post-COVID-19. Singing a mix of popular songs, such as “I Will Remember You\" and some deeper cuts such as \"Elsewhere,” McLachlan kept the crowd mesmerized for the entirety of her 20-song set, proving she hadn't missed a beat during the break.\n\nMcLachlan debuted two new songs, during the performance, \"Reminds Me\" and an unnamed tune that tackled what she saw as a need in the world to come together. The second song followed a well-worn pattern of McLachlan's to toe the line of politics without getting explicitly political. Both songs had more hopeful tones than her normally sorrowful songs.\n\n\"I'm up here singing my sad little songs, but honestly the sadder the song the more joy I get out of singing,\" McLachlan said.\n\nHer encore? \"Angel.\"\n\n— Gina Butkovich\n\nSammy Hagar & The Circle\n\nAs the stereo music died out, cueing live music from Sammy Hagar & The Circle, the crowd broke out into cheers for the group that filled in for the Foo Fighters.\n\nWith two former Van Halen members, Sammy Hagar as a lead vocalist and Michael Anthony as a bassist, the show was packed with Van Halen music along with Sammy Hagar originals. The group also featured New Orleans trombonist Trombone Shorty for two songs.\n\nLeading off with “There’s Only One Way to Rock,” the crowd grew louder as news of the Memphis Grizzlies win spread from person to person — followed shortly with Hagar donning a Grizzlies shirt and saying, “Damn the Grizzlies, these f****** better be good. If my friends in San Francisco saw me wearing this, they’d go crazy.”\n\nAs the booze began to flow on stage and into the crowd — where Hagar sporadically tossed cans, the lead singer gave Anthony center stage to perform Van Halen’s “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘bout Love.”\n\nIMPACT ON MEMPHIS:'It's kind of like Christmas': What will Beale Street Music Festival's economic impact be?\n\nAs the show began to wind down, Hagar launched into a short explanation about how the group came to fill in for the Foo Fighters, who canceled all upcoming tour dates in the wake of drummer Taylor Hawkins' death.\n\n“We were asked on a personal level, from promoters and the Foo Fighters themselves,” he said. “Please bear with me while I try to perform this. I’ve never played this song before.”\n\nThe group then launched into a rendition of the Foo Fighters’ “My Hero” as a montage of the Foo Fighters with Hawkins played on the big screen.\n\n— Lucas Finton\n\nDaBaby\n\nAfter a series of festival cancellations following his homophobic comments at Rolling Loud Miami, DaBaby returned to the festival circuit at Beale Street Music Festival. Despite the controversy preceding the Charlotte rapper’s performance, DaBaby was undeterred as he flashed his grin Friday night.\n\nDonning a furry pink Prada hat and fitted green top, he performed his own hits including “Suge,” “BOP” and ”Masterpiece,\" along with guest verses on songs by Saturday headliner Megan Thee Stallion.\n\nThe “VIBEZ” rapper said it was his first time in Memphis and got a feel for the audience. “I need y’all to show me how y’all get down,\" he said.\n\n“We need a Memphis moment,” he said and got the crowd to yell “Free Shiesty” before launching into Pooh Shiesty’s song \"Back in Blood.\" (Memphis rapper Pooh Shiesty was recently sentenced in a federal firearms case in Florida.)\n\nBy his fifth song, DaBaby’s sweat was glistening as much as his diamond-encrusted chain and watch.\n\nAlso during his set, he invited a fan up on stage to give him a lap dance on a prop bed and had fans take turns dancing on a stripper pole to his song “Ball If I Want To.\"\n\nTo close, he brought a young fan up to perform “Rockstar” with him.\n\n— Astrid Kayembe\n\nAl Kapone\n\nMemphis rapper Al Kapone helped inaugurate the return of Beale Street Music Festival with a high-energy, early-evening performance on the Bud Light Stage at the Fairgrounds in Liberty Park.\n\nOne of the more adventurous local purveyors of rap over the course of his career, Kapone has done everything from teaming up with the Memphis Symphony to celebrating the city’s R&B legacy with his most recent LP, “Hip Hop Blues.”\n\nKapone's music fest set — which saw him performing with a live band and backdropped by the Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium — mixed some of his newer material with a selection of Bluff City classics like “M's Up,\" \"Get it On The Flo\" and \"Get Crunk, Get Buck.\"\n\nKapone, best known for writing and producing the classic “Hustle & Flow” track “Whoop That Trick,” has seen the song evolve into anthem for the city and the Memphis Grizzlies in particular.\n\nNBA PLAYOFFS:Memphis Grizzlies outlast Minnesota again. Bring on Golden State | Giannotto\n\nDressed up in Grizzlies gear — including a white Ja Morant jersey — Kapone delivered the song ahead of the team's Game 6 playoff contest against the Minnesota Timberwolves.\n\n“Once the Grizz fans got hold to it's been a problem,\" said Kapone of \"Whoop That Trick,\" shouting out the team. \"Y'all make some noise for our Grizz.\"\n\n— Bob Mehr", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/04/30"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/cma-music-festival/2022/06/09/cma-fest-2022-nashville-live-updates/7567540001/", "title": "CMA recap: Dierks Bentley, with a nod to the past, closes out the ...", "text": "After a two-year hiatus, the CMA Music Festival drew thousands of country music fans and they wasted no time getting right back to business.\n\nThe Tennessean was on the ground all weekend. Read on for highlights from inside Nissan Stadium, at the Riverfront Stage and more.\n\nHighlights:CMA Fest's third day delivered these unforgettable moments\n\nDierks Bentley celebrates four decades of chart-topping country excellence\n\nThe 2003-released \"What Was I Thinking's\" bluegrass banjos and rock guitar licks welcomed Dierks Bentley to the stage for the 49th CMA Fest's final headlining set of the weekend.\n\nThe stadium event's co-host featured Billy Ray Cyrus on a cover of the latter's three-decade-old, platinum-selling single. Fans met 90s country's pop-cultural moment being feted with joyous revelry -- and a fair bit of pre-TikTok-era line dance-style party steps from the throng in attendance.\n\nThe August 3 CMA Fest ABC special host then noted that he drove the 28-year-old truck he owned when he arrived in Nashville in 1994 to Nissan Stadium to play at the festival. This banter logically led to a spirited and crowd assistance-aided \"I Hold On.\"\n\nThe tail end of his set included a duet cover of The Charlie Daniels Band's \"Devil Went Down To Georgia\" with TV event co-host Elle King, followed by their newly released duet \"Worth A Shot.\" Then, following a successful marriage proposal n the front row, he launched into his 2012-released rocker, \"5-1-5-0,\" to close the night.\n\nDierks Bentley has nearly 20 country radio No. 1 singles that feature drums and every manner of guitar and guitar-style instrument. Notably, in an era where country music has graciously embraced every sonic and social inspiration, it is notable to hear the genre celebrate its hard rock core on its most celebrated commercial stage.\n\nYet, for as much as country music welcomes difference, it will honor the best of what it was and what it is before it embraces and evolves into what it is to become.\n\nOld Dominion deliver jam-band country entertainment\n\nOld Dominion recently played Nissan Stadium as an opener for Kenny Chesney. It's playing with the perennial country chart-topper that informs their ability to craft hook-driven hits like their 2019-released CMA Fest set opener \"Make It Sweet.\"\n\n\"Nights like this are what country music is made for\" screamed the band's lead vocalist Matthew Ramsey prior to launching into the five-year-old countrified soul groove \"No Such Thing as a Broken Heart.\"\n\nOld Dominion's subtle evolution from country rockers to a heavyweight jam band has become stronger in recent years. Their 2021 album title track \"Time, Tequila and Therapy\" offers \"no hard feelings and no bad vibes,\" and locks into very particular energy directly between Chesney and Bobby McFerrin 1989 hit \"Don't Worry Be Happy\"-style vibes -- in the most crowd-moving and enjoyable way possible.\n\n\"Song For Another Time\" is well regarded in Old Dominion fan circles as a tune comprised of lyrics that are actually 20 other song titles. The skill in taking the irony out of a song written with such a peculiar level of high-grade music adoration is hard. However, as previously noted, the group's hard embrace of being down with earnest fun allows for performances like these to honestly connect.\n\nPrior to closing their set, Ramsey noted that Old Dominion was a late addition, replacing Alan Jackson -- who was a last-second lineup scratch. Then, in a kind gesture, the band performed a cover of his 30-year-old classic, \"Chattahoochee.\" As one would expect, it was met with hollering, whooping, and a boogie-woogie party in the Nissan Stadium floor seats.\n\nGary Glitter's four-decade-old \"Rock and Roll (Part II)\" as a lead into \"I Was On A Boat That Day\" is unlikely but comes from the two songs sharing similar bass drum kicks. However, as a lead-in to their finale -- one of CMA Fest 2022's expected, epic sing-alongs, it made sense. Nearly 70,000 country music fans have been \"drunk as a skunk eating lunch with a cross-eyed bear\" and were proud to proclaim this fact at extraordinary decibels.\n\nElle King's arrival as a country star gets an assist from Ashley McBryde\n\nElle King's adaptation of her brash demeanor and 70s rock-star attitude to modern country music is the most delightful, yet unlikely peanut butter and banana-style combination in country music since the last sandwich Elvis Presley ever ate.\n\n\"Drunk (And I Wanna Go Home)\" features Miranda Lambert, but as a solo King performance, it hits like a harder-edged 80s country-rock anthem. Its excellence in that realm was apparent at Nissan Stadium. This performance was followed by Ashley McBryde joining a banjo-picking King for her 2015 breakout hit \"Ex's And Oh's\" it was much more the final part of King being officially claimed as a country-first artist than it was anything else.\n\n\"Country's where it's at,\" King noted to The Tennessean on Saturday evening. The country music industry agrees with the Ohio native's statement.\n\nFollowing King, Parker McCollum took the stage. The \"Gold Chain Cowboy's\" rise from Conroe, Texas, to being the Academy of Country Music's Best New Artist of the Year in 2022 was unexpected. However, in the singles \"Pretty Heart\" and \"To Be Loved By You\" being directly impacted by him being a recently married man, the 29-year-old vocalist has found a way for his lovestruck anthems to resonate more directly.\n\nRussell Dickerson told The Tennessean he was excited to host \"the largest RD Party yet\" at Nissan Stadium. Fellow Nashville crooner Jake Scott joined Dickerson for \"She Likes It,\" his hit 2021 single. For as much as his single \"Love You Like I Used To\" is a well-written and performed ballad when Dickerson sings, \"When I go get groceries, and I bring back flowers / And I rub her back for like half an hour\" in the former song, he's clearly in his artistic wheelhouse. His glee in being there gives fans vibes similar to Luke Bryan, and the \"country girls\" in attendance love it, as expected.\n\nLady A deliver new song, crowd-rousing excellence\n\nHillary Scott's renowned lead vocal kicked off Lady A's 2014 single \"Bartender\" at the start of their Nissan Stadium set. Sunday n, the crowd -- as opposed to the other three nights -- arrived ready for a singing and dancing party. Scott's sultry, soulful performance got the venue's highly packed lower bowl and field levels to their feet.\n\n\"We Own The Night\" followed the opener. At Charles Kelley's urging, the crowd waved their hands in time with the chorus. \"Can't Take My Eyes Off You\" was met with Kelley noting, after a stirring performance, \"we had to have one tender moment, tonight.\" Ironically, the band followed with the emotive ballad \"What A Song Can Do,\" their latest album's title track (which advises that songs can inspire \"starting a band\" or \"kissing a girl\"). Many in the crowd held their flashlight-lit cell phones up in the air in appreciation.\n\nLady A wrote their new single \"Summer State of Mind\" mere months ago. They told The Tennessean they wanted to get a jump on viral popularity by releasing it without an album. \"You're the ice; I'm the Yeti,\" they sang.\n\nTwo months ago, Charles Kelley appeared at BRELAND's \"Breland and Friends\" event at the Ryman Auditorium. During their mini-set, their duet on Lady A's signature power-pop ballad \"Need You Now\" was an unlikely, almost show-stealer. During Nissan Stadium's fourth night, the tandem reprised the duet, but BRELAND joined Kelley, Hillary Scott, and Dave Haywood onstage.\n\nIn exclusive news, Lady A noted they have a collaboration with BRELAND planned for an album BRELAND says is coming \"in the fall,\" they told The Tennessean in a press room interview.\n\nHillary Scott's been at it as a top-tier vocalist in Nashville for two decades. Hearing her work -- alongside the stellar work horn section -- on tracks like reggae-tinged \"Champagne,\" raucous party elevator \"You Look Good,\" and the previously-mentioned \"Need You Now\" really highlighted the breadth of her talent.\n\nIt was one of the weekend's most comprehensively excellent outings as a start-to-finish performance.\n\nSara Evans kicks off a dance party at Nissan Stadium\n\n8:30 p.m.: Sara Evans took the stage to a trilling organ and tambourines playing chords from Joe Cocker's \"With A Little Help From My Friends.\" For any other artist, this would be audacious. However, Sara Evans is inarguable country music royalty.\n\nHer live band kicked into her 2005 hit \"A Real Fine Place to Start.\" It was readily apparent that her legendary voice was still more than capable of delivering a dynamic, entertaining performance.\n\n\"My vocal cords are like leather because my parents raised me and trained me like one of those tennis prodigies,\" Evans told The Tennessean before hitting the stage. But, similar to what Randy Houser noted on Saturday night, whether she's in front of 30 or 30,000 people, her voice is still a soulful siren in either situation.\n\nAs she broke into her decade-old heartbreak survival anthem, \"A Little Bit Stronger,\" she held her hands out to the crowd as if offering them a hug. From a less experienced artist, the temerity to believe that you could heal 70,000 hearts with two hands is a lot. But as Evans offered in her interview, she developed her skill by listening to artists, including Mariah Carey.\n\nThe level of soul diva self-assurance that comes from knowing that you can harness and weaponize vocal power to overwhelm an audience emotionally is rare in both country and R & B's modern age. However, in 90s and 2000s pop and country, this skill was far more commonplace. The moment served as a reminder of the timeless importance of watching great artists perform their craft in a superstar manner.\n\nEvans settled the evening into a party-ready groove upon launching into her final performance -- the two-decade-old No. 1 hit \"Suds In The Bucket.\" The song's fiddle and guitar-driven honky-tonk vibes inspired an early-evening dance party in the seats. Though the humidity in Nissan Stadium is currently peanut butter levels of sticky and thick, the growing crowd peeled themselves out of their chairs and held their evening's first beers aloft.\n\n8:00 p.m.: El Salvador-born Angie K, a former The Voice contestant co-signed by the likes of Blake Shelton, Thomas Rhett, and Jake Owen, took to the stage at a late filling and smotheringly humid Nissan Stadium. CMA Fest 2022 has settled into its final evening.\n\n\"Real Talk\" is her recently-released breakout single. It's a co-write that features Rhett, his frequent collaborator Jesse Frasure and venerable songwriter Ashley Gorley. It was met with a pleasant response.\n\n\"I'm on cloud nine,\" exclaimed the rising performer when she chatted with The Tennessean before hitting the stage. Her previous largest stadium gig was playing in a building that held roughly half of Nissan's capacity. Regarding what she looked forward to the most, with a focused, but nervous tone, she replied, \"when I get off the stage, I'm going to do a tequila shot.\"\n\nHer grooving track \"Country Is As Country Does\" bore the same jangling melody and rhythmic groove as a legendary country favorite: John Denver's half-century-old, iconic favorite, \"Take me Home, Country Roads.\" The TikTok favorite knows her way around how to inform a song with uniquely personal energy and make it her own. Achieving that goal here, she received a warm ovation. And then, as promised, she had her tequila shot.\n\n3:15 p.m.: Vanderbilt Event Medicine had taken 25 people to the hospital as of Saturday afternoon.\n\n\"Most of those were issues that were made worse by the heat,\" spokesperson Jerry Jones said.\n\nHe said most people have come to them for blisters and to find a place to cool down. He urged people to take advantage of the free water stations that are scattered throughout the festival grounds.\n\n1:45 p.m. Parmalee kicked off a Riverfront Stage set with their 2013 single \"Already Callin' You Mine.\" They had all of the appearances of a 90s rock act playing power pop with effervescent energy.\n\nBlanco Brown returned to the stage to perform his No. 1 hit Parmalee duet \"Just The Way.\" If you are ever looking for a romantic, modern-era Christian rock ballad, this easily fulfills that expectation.\n\nOne of the fascinating things about Parmalee is that their sound smacks of all the pieces of three decades of commercially successful pop, rock, country and Christian music. As other genres have evolved and styles have drastically changed over the years, this set of sounds -- four that the quartet is solidly gifted in crafting -- have remained mainly the same.\n\nThe band's current single \"Take My Name\" followed, their second chart-topper in a row on country radio. It's a wedding song, \"take my name and make it yours,\" the sing-along adored part of the track at the Riverfront Stage -- which gratefully receives a blast of breeze from the Cumberland River every ten minutes or so on a loop.\n\nThis is notable because it makes Parmalee's sound, on this day, extraordinarily more relaxing than usual.\n\n1:15 p.m.: Brittney Spencer took to the Amp Stage as a few passing clouds and a slight breeze gave the crowd small breaks from the heat.\n\nHips were swaying as she covered Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5” near the top of her set. Spencer said she was happy to be part of CMA Fest’s return.\n\n“It’s such an incredible honor,” Spencer said, before kicking off “Sober & Skinny.”\n\nBlanco Brown's dance party brings it all together\n\n1 p.m.: Blanco Brown doesn't perform \"country music.\" He empathetically performs essential American classics with the unique ability to make Sam Cooke and George Jones feel related by how their catalogs are universally beloved.\n\nTo wit, he opened his CMA Fest set with \"A Change Is Gonna Come\" blending into \"Tennessee Whiskey.\" Following it up with trap-country ballad \"Georgia Power\" drives home the point even further.\n\nClad in a combination of classic mid-80s throwback Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros jerseys, he gives off the vibe of \"cool pre-teen prayer camp counselor DJing the the all-camp dance party\" more than \"soulful hip-hop performer.\"\n\nThis is the first set in CMA Fest history to take 60 seconds to seamlessly blend in sounds by hip-hop legends Fatman Scoop (via a sample of his club-familiar track \"Be Faithful\"), Chubb Rock (via his 1990 rap classic \"Treat Em Right\" and Kid-N-Play (via their kick-step dance with his DJ).\n\nThen, as the DJ dropped Johnny Cash's \"Walk The Line\" and followed it with \"9 to 5,\" the crowd felt comfortable. Then, Outkast's \"Ms. Jackson\" was played, and alchemy occurred. The crowd paused, curiously seemed to scratch their heads in unison, shrugged, then exalted. A full crowd singalong of Outkast's 2003 single \"Hey Ya\" followed.\n\n\"You're a glass of champagne, but I'm Tennessee Whiskey,\" Brown crooned. Shouting out Lee Brice, the DJ dropped his collaboration with EDM producer R3HAB for a remix of Brice's \"Soul.\" At this point, the heat was as onerous as the pace was frenetic.\n\nHe then broke into his anthemic 2021 single \"Nobody's More Country.\"\n\nHe found no disagreement as the crowd double-time clapped while sweating ever more profusely than ever.\n\nA full wedding type party then ensued. as he then got them to dance the \"Cupid Shuffle\" and \"Wobble\" and mimic Will Smith and Alfonso Ribiero's dance routine to \"Apache\" by the Sugar Hill Gang.\" This preceded his TikTok dance sensation breakout, \"The Git Up.\"\n\nBlend Brown's artistic intentions erring towards \"purpose over prosperity\" with a peak-hour hip-hop DJ's desire to play the hottest 90 seconds of a track. The 45 minute, 18-song set he helmed at the CMA Fest's Riverside Stage was astonishing, unprecedented and fun.\n\nMeghan Patrick and Shy Carter rally on Sunday morning\n\nAn originally modest crowd swelled as people gravitated towards the Amp Stage during Shy Carter’s 12:30 p.m. set.\n\nFans sang along and tapped their feet to “Beer With My Friends.” Many were eating blue popsicles and waved cold bandanas.\n\n“What y’all sipping on?” Carter asked the crowd. A chorus of replies included shouts of “tequila,” “beer” and “water.”\n\n“You’re smart, man,” Carter replied before launching into “Stuck Like Glue,” cowritten with musical duo Sugarland.\n\nCarter jumped off the stage to sing and dance with fans during “Good As You” and “Good Love.” The crowd created a circle around him and held up their phones to take selfies as he sang.\n\n“What’s your name?” he asked a fan wearing heart-shaped sunglasses.\n\n“Ashton,” she said into the microphone.\n\n“I’m Shy,” he said to the crowd with a grin.\n\nCarter finished his set with “One Call Away.” Fans reached out their hands and shouted the lyrics along with him.\n\nA crowd of about 100 were on their feet for Meghan Patrick at 11 a.m. Sunday.\n\n“Who had a little hair of the dog this morning?” Patrick asked the crowd at the top of her set. “Man, I could use one I think.”\n\n“I know you guys have been sweating and walking all weekend,” Patrick said. “It means a lot that you guys are here bright and early this morning.”\n\nPeople raised their drinks and swayed to “Goes Good With Beer.” Patrick followed with a new song. She wrote “She’s No Good For Me” for “everyone who’s had a breakup with an old version of themselves.\n\nCarrie Underwood closes Saturday night, with a Louisville Slugger\n\n12:30 a.m.: As a live performer, Carrie Underwood has nothing to prove.\n\nHowever, as she noted to the Tennessean before her night three headlining set at CMA Fest, she feels dutifully tied to upholding the \"hustling\" legacies of prior top-tier iconic country stars like Barbara Mandrell and Dolly Parton. Thus, she slung an electric guitar over her left shoulder, wore enough bejeweled red and black stagewear to be seen in Nissan Stadium's nosebleed seats, and rocked out to a defiant, solid version of her 2016 single \"Church Bells.\"\n\nOf late, Underwood has become a touring juggernaut -- Vegas to Stagecoach Festival to the stage of Nashville's Bell Tower for Amazon Music's debut concert for her ninth studio album, \"Denim and Rhinestones.\" However, she showed neither exhaustion nor disengagement from her material. On the contrary, the excitement of the job -- being radio-ready country music's most instantaneously recognizable female name, felt like her call to arms to slay a live crowd already blown away by Luke Combs' phenomenal set just 90 minutes prior.\n\nFrom her new album, she first performed the banjo-aided power-pop lead single \"Ghost Story.\" As she noted to The Tennessean, the song has just enough country blended with pop to highlight her desire to make music that is more broadly genre non-specific. However, she keeps country music's traditions at the core.\n\n2005-era Underwood track, \"Wasted,\" featured Underwood's work as an inspirational Christian rocker blasting to the forefront. Yes, the more traditional \"My Savior\" reflects where her current interests lie in that realm, but her fiddle-backed torch-song exhortations left Nissan Stadium enraptured. Following that performance with \"Jesus, Take The Wheel,\" another religious pop number from the same era of her career, followed by a stentorian take on the gospel hymn \"How Great Thou Art,\" cemented her excellence in this country-adjacent lane.\n\nThe jazzy, 80s, R & B radio synth-pop that underpins her latest album's title track opens a new lane for her career that should prove creatively fruitful. It received the least overwhelming response of the evening, but it's a lane that aligns well with sonic and cultural shifts in the genre.\n\nUnderwood's soul-pop skills were highlighted via her 2007 single \"Last Night,\" a track where she sings, \"Last night, I did things I'm not proud of and I got a little crazy / Last night, I met a guy on the dance floor and I let him call me 'baby.'\"\n\nMasterfully, it set up the set's expected closer -- her smash hit debut single, 2005's \"Before He Cheats.\" if there's a 21st century American Songbook, Underwood promising to commit felonies against a cheating lover is likely on the first page.\n\nHearing an entire venue sing the song cemented the song's -- and her -- undeniable excellence.\n\nLuke Bryan celebrates country's fans 'shaking it'\n\nThe entirety of Nissan Stadium rose to its feet as booming stadium rock drums and heavy, riffing guitars filled the atmosphere. Even though Luke Bryan was starting his 45-minute set, he already \"didn't want this night to end.\" His decade-old No. 1 single was still beloved by nearly 70,000 people from 33 nations worldwide.\n\nHis performance of another 2012 favorite, \"Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye,\" saw Bryan smile slyly when singing the lyric \"All we do right is make love / And we both know now that ain't enough.\" There are live moments in country music when you realize that the best songs come from fondly remembered moments.\n\nThis felt like one of those times.\n\nBryan appeared resolute and impassioned as cell phone flashlights brightly shone throughout Nissan Stadium while he sang the 2013-released Jim Beavers and Chris Stapleton-written ballad \"Drink A Beer.\" It was one of the very few times in under an hour the set approached anything less than a countrified party for the grill, Yeti cooler, and mud-truck trip to backwoods clearing set.\n\nThis was a night where the fact that Luke Bryan unironically elevates the concept of unhinged partying to the highest art was remembered. There were corn field parties (\"Kick The Dust Up\"), margarita-fueled parties (\"One Margarita), deer-hunting and fishing parties (\"Huntin' Fshin' and Lovin' Everyday\"), crashed parties (\"Crash My Party\") and more.\n\nBy the time he sang the 11-year-old single \"Country Girl (Shake It For Me),\" the same women who were canoodling during Thomas Rhett's set on Friday night were following the instructions offered by the hook of the near 30-time country radio No. 1 hitmaker's anthemic song.\n\nLuke Combs makes his case for being music's sincerest and greatest current star\n\n10:00 p.m.: In 2016, before his star-making single, \"Hurricane\" was released, Luke Combs sold 83 tickets for a show in Athens, Georgia. On Saturday night, he played a stellar main stage set at CMA Fest in front of roughly 81,000 percent (or a crowd he placed at 67,000) more people.\n\nIn under a decade, Luke Combs' rise to superstardom is so profound that it needs such an astounding number to encapsulate its greatness.\n\nNight three co-host and Apple Music Radio country host Nada Taha introduced Luke Combs in glowing terms. Then, with nary an ounce of fanfare in response, he ripped into an energetic take of his 2017 No. 1 single, \"When It Rains It Pours.\" He then turned the singing duties for half a verse over to an excited crowd. When the spotlight hit their faces, it illuminated a building prepared for 45 minutes of rocking to anthemic country radio hits.\n\nAs he noted to The Tennessean before appearing on stage, this was, indeed, the last live show he'd be playing before his wife, Nicole, is due to give birth to their first child (he adds he's well aware he's going to be responsible for changing diapers most of the time). He then, apropos of the conversation, sang his romantic fan favorite, \"The Kind of Love We Make.\"\n\nCombs rasping with his trademark rough, assured voice through his single \"Doin' This\" kicked off an epic run of song performances highlighting why he's the CMA's reigning Entertainer of the Year.\n\n\"Beautiful Crazy\" involved Combs elevating the art of honest, earnest stage banter to near soliloquy levels in describing how he wrote the track for his wife and how much it would mean for her to hear the live crowd sing along. \"Best Of Me,\" \"Lovin' On You\" and \"Forever After All\" were also particularly spirited performances.\n\nIt takes an exceptionally high level of believability in a star's connectivity for \"Forever After All's\" opening lines \"A cold beer's got 12 ounces / A good truck's got maybe three hundred thousand / You only get so much until it's gone\" to feel sincere and not ironically wryly hilarious.\n\nCombs is that believably sincere.\n\nMoreover, when 67,000 people euphorically agree via screaming that an \"ice-cold long-neck beer never broke their hearts,\" that level of sincerity is doubled down upon.\n\nLuke Combs isn't just a country star. In one awe-inspiring, 45-minute set, he made an excellent case for being a top-tier pop star, regardless of genre.\n\nBrothers Osborne's rip-roaring set takes the party to another level\n\n8:40 p.m. With the last of Saturday's daylight gone, Brothers Osborne dove into a typically raucous set. If the party was not already underway at Nissan Stadium, it certainly was after John Osborne launched into the first of several guitar solos showing his skills are up there with just about anyone in country music.\n\nMeanwhile, TJ Osborne, the other half of the sibling duo, led the crowd in tour through several of Brothers' biggest hits, as a pair of puppeteer-controlled 20-foot-tall skeletons danced behind them.\n\nThe set ended with an extended version of the duo's \"It ain't my fault,\" which left few of the tens of thousands of fans now backed into the stadium in their seats,\n\nRandy Houser's bombastic performance makes Nissan Stadium feel 'Like A Cowboy'\n\n8:00 p.m.: Before hitting the CMA Fest's main stage, Randy Houser told The Tennessean that, regardless of singing in front of 500 or 50,000 people, he sang with equal levels of bravado.\n\nFifteen minutes into his CMA Fest set, his big voice was on display.\n\nAs a late-arriving night crowd reached their field seats at Nissan Stadium, the performer welcomed the \"cowboys and cowgirls\" to the venue. Then, he sang with a blustery baritone about how every time he falls down he gets back up again \"like a cowboy,\" via his decade-old hit.\n\nFor those who are fans of restoring some manner of four-decade-old neotraditional and more rough-hewn pop-country vibes, Houser's set awoke echoes of everyone from George Strait to Jamey Johnson and Cody Johnson, too. As a live band kicked into honky-tonk rhythms, Houser exited the stage to warm, deserved cheer\n\nWarehouse fire sends plumes of smoke over CMA Fest\n\nSmoke from a warehouse fire was seen rising over the CMA Fest crowd in downtown Nashville on Saturday afternoon, but was not on the festival grounds.\n\nThe fire was reported around 3:30 p.m. in the 100 block of North 1st Street, near Nissan Stadium. The building was \"fully involved\" as crews arrived, the Nashville Fire Department said.\n\nNorth 1st Street is blocked as multiple crews worked to contain the blaze. No injuries had been reported as of 4:45 p.m., according to NFD.\n\nNFD tweeted that crews had contained the fire and were focusing on \"hot spots\" around 5:15 p.m. Read more.\n\nRyan Hurd, Hailey Whitters get the crowd involved\n\nHailey Whitters got the crowd stomping, clapping and swaying at the Amp Stage at 2:45 p.m. with songs like “Fillin’ My Cup.”\n\nShe showed off her trademark bloomers under her yellow-and-white checkered dress before she played “Plain Jane.”\n\nA fan lifted two beers high in the air and let out a hardy “Yee haw!” during “The Neon.”\n\n1:45 p.m. An afternoon breeze offered a small measure of relief from the heat as Ryan Hurd took the Riverfront Stage. The crowd spilled into the walkways behind the terraces as Hurd sang “June, July, August.” The singer-songwriter also sang “Waves,” which he co-wrote with Luke Bryan.\n\n“Ladies, I’m going to need your help on this next one,” Hurd said before launching into “Chasing After You,” a song he co-wrote with his wife, Maren Morris.\n\nBoats, kayaks and jet skis dotted the Cumberland River behind the stage as the heat index stayed in the 90s.\n\nHealth and safety tips: Seek out shade, drink water and leave your boots behind\n\nVanderbilt University Medical Center's Event Medical teams are on site at CMA this weekend. VUMC's Jerry Jones says they've treated \"the regular medical issues you’d see at a large event,\" including sunburn, heat exhaustion and blisters.\n\nAs of Saturday morning, they've made 13 transports to the hospital, \"with mostly medical conditions that were made worse by the heat.\"\n\nAs the fest reaches its halfway point, the Event Medical Teams are stressing heat safety. Attendees should avoid prolonged exposure to sunlight, drink plenty of non-alcoholic fluids (there are free water stations through the festival site) and dress to keep cool and in the shade.\n\nAlso, since blisters are a minor but widespread issue: \"We would stress to avoid blisters and wear comfortable shoes. Wait until you get home to wear those newly purchased cowboy boots.\"\n\nSaturday heats up with Lauren Alaina, BRELAND\n\n12:45 p.m.: 2022 at the Riverfront Stage found Lauren Alaina as well known as a CBS reality TV star and Maurices' clothier pitchwoman as she is a pop-country star on the rise.\n\nHowever, those laurels were achieved because the Rossville, Georgia native is human, relatable, and generally — as is ideally the case for a festival attended by thousands of people — a rising country queen of fun vibes.\n\nHer just-released cover of King Harvest's 1973 AM radio hit \"Dancing in the Moonlight\" fit in nicely alongside her ex-lover revenge bar-hopping anthem \"Getting Over Him\" in a fun, arena-style rocker of a set. As well, her solo take on her No. 1 hit Kane Brown duet \"What Ifs\" was met with an ovation.\n\nNotably, her ovation bled from \"What Ifs\" into her solo take on her HARDY and Devin Dawson collaboration \"One Beer.\"\n\nAlaina's voice sounds like small-town Baptist gospel. Blend that with inherently honest songs (\"One Beer\" is already arguably in the canon of great songs about accidental teenage pregnancy), and her growth from least-anticipated to most-wanted Music City fave makes sense.\n\nAlaina closed with her 2017 hit \"Road Less Traveled.\" Indeed, she took the road less traveled, but this set showed her likely on her way across the Seigenthaler Bridge (Nissan Stadium's main stage is there) to potentially more significant acclaim.\n\n12 p.m.: 26-year-old BRELAND's mid-day Riverfront Stage set at CMA Fest showcased his preternatural level of polish as a country music neophyte that has led him to explode out of quarantine with a No. 1 single, peak-hour festival gigs, and the respect of literally all of your favorite country artists of the past three decades.\n\nWhen he performed his viral TikTok breakout \"My Truck\" at the Ryman for April's BRELAND and Friends concert, it was at a seated venue, so it was met with polite excitement. Here at Riverfront, the heat index read 93 degrees at noon. Instead of turning up with the chart-topper, cell phones swayed aloft.\n\nIf you were looking for a moment at CMA Fest wherein the entire crowd was well aware that they were in the presence of a soon (quite literally, Sunday night) Nissan Stadium main stage artist — but were too overheated to go over the top in their actually present excitement — this was it.\n\n10 a.m.: The line snaked all the way down the block along 6th Avenue outside Music City Center as people waited to enter Fan Fair X. The line began moving steadily around 10 am.\n\nDrake White kicked off his set at 10:45 a.m. with “Heartbeat,” as the crowd got to its feet and sang along.\n\n“Welcome to church, everybody,” White said.\n\nSome ducked under trees behind the terraces along the crowded Riverfront Stage as temperatures climbed into the mid-80s. Others wiped sweat from their brows and cooled themselves by waving paper fans.\n\nWhite talked about suffering a hemorrhagic stroke he suffered on stage in 2019 and credited his recovery to his wife, family, God and his doctors.\n\nHe sang “Hurts the Healing” and “Livin’ the Dream,” among others.\n\nKane Brown's CMA Fest set: A superstar victory lap at a comfortable pace\n\nKane Brown closed the second night of CMA Fest in front of a crowd responding to material that has yet to powerfully impact country's radio and marketing circles.\n\nThe Chattanooga native is in the midst of time off prior to restarting his 2022 Drunk or Dreaming tour on September 17 with dates in Australia. He's also celebrated yet another No. 1 single (\"One Mississippi\"), as well as a homecoming performance. This, after a grueling 35-date tour including 29 NBA arenas. Brown was more subdued than expected, onstage.\n\nHe also showed himself accepting his place as a genre-fluid \"different\" artist, as comfortable with rousting the echoes of Alan Jackson's 90s heyday on \"Like I Love Country Music,\" sonorously performing power-ballad \"Homesick\" (an homage to the military, he noted \"I love the USA\"), or pushing into EDM via his marshmello duet \"One Thing Right.\"\n\n\"Like I Love Country Music\" should likely be somewhere near peaking at the top of country's sales and/or radio charts by August 3. Thus, it necessitates a performance that may not strike wild adulation at this moment, but by the time this set hits television, one should expect it -- for the millions watching not present in Music City -- to be seen as \"uniquely intimate\" and warmly received.\n\nBrown's die-hard fans head-banging to an elongated guitar solo for his first No. 1 single \"What Ifs\" as fireworks exploded over the Cumberland River closed an emotional night at the 49th CMA Fest.\n\nCarly Pearce pays tribute to The Judds with Wynonna\n\n10:50 p.m.: Since the last CMA Fest in 2019, arguably no artist in country music experienced a momentum shift (or expanded trophy case) quite like Carly Pearce.\n\nShe graduated to performing Friday at Nissan Stadium after becoming a Grand Ole Opry member and earning CMA Female Vocalist of the Year honors – both achievements backed by her cathartic and critically-praised divorce album “29: Written In Stone.”\n\nCMA Fest:Wynonna Judd joins Carly Pearce onstage for CMA Fest surprise performance\n\nBut instead of a riding a victory lap of the best “29” offers, Pearce spent her time on stage honoring a pair of fellow Kentuckians who came before her: The Judds. Weeks after Naomi Judd’s death, Pearce invited Wynonna Judd to celebrate the late Country Music Hall of Famer with a rendition of Judds song “Why Not Me.”\n\n“As a girl growing up in Kentucky, yes, I idolized The Judds and wanted to be like them,” Pearce said after performing her radio single “What He Didn’t Do” during the two-song appearance. My first concert was to see Wynonna. And I’ve always loved all of the music that The Judds made and just feel like it is such a representation of the best of country music.”\n\nCole Swindell continues his improbable 2022 surge\n\n10:45 p.m.: The 2022 CMA Fest is also a special being recorded for airing on ABC on August 3. Thus, in the decades-long tradition of country music as a variety-show medley format, Carly Pearce introduced Cole Swindell, who performed his recent Lainey Wilson duet and chart-topping hit \"Never Say Never.\" Moreover, he performed his critically-beloved new single on country radio -- and Jo Dee Messina-sampling single \"She Had Me At (Heads Carolina).\"\n\nIn two months, one could expect that the latter -- possibly the best of the lot of 90s country heir apparent expected to dominate country fans' summer and fall months -- should be well along the path to being Swindell's somewhat improbable second number-one single in 2022.\n\nJust as can be noted with ERNEST's George Jones-style \"Flower Shops\" -- another throwback-sounding single that wowed fans earlier in the day -- the classics never die.\n\nGabby Barrett goes from seats to stage\n\n10:30 p.m.: The last time CMA Fest took over Nashville, Gabby Barrett's monster debut single \"I Hope\" hadn't reached the country charts.\n\nFast forward three years and she smiled as the stadium screamed along to the inescapable chorus, \"... and then I hope he cheeeeats.\"\n\nBarrett made a two-song main stage debut at CMA Fest, opening with 2020 song \"Pick Me Up\" before dipping into the five-time Platinum-selling single that launched her from sitting in the stands for CMA Fest 2019 to singing on stage.\n\nThomas Rhett slows down summer while evolving into a CMA Fest staple\n\n9:30 p.m.: Thomas Rhett was once a Nissan Stadium nosebleed seat dweller at CMA Fest. Now, he's something of a main stage regular.\n\nHis 2022 appearance included playing recent favorites like \"Country Again\" and \"Slow Down Summer,\" entertaining a blissed-out crowd during night two of 2022's CMA Fest headlining entertainment.\n\n\"I used to bug my dad for free tickets [to this event] when it was called Fan Fair at the Nashville Fairgrounds,\" Rhett told the Tennessean before hitting the stage. Rhett's father, Rhett Akins — much like the current 18-time country radio chart-topper — was a fixture at Fan Fair as the architect behind many hits during his son's suburban Nashville childhood.\n\nAs Rhett's 45-minute set weaved its way through his collection of soulful ballads like 2015's \"Die A Happy Man,\" the number of girlfriends comfortably canoodling and singing aloud in Nissan Stadium appeared to double. As he grows into being both a parent and a husband (\"my favorite show is Moana,\" the father of four noted in the press room), his live performance slides into the realm of comfortable, approachable middle-age joy.\n\n\"My ultimate goal is to just write great songs that reveal 150,000% of who I am. I've re-lit the creative fire in myself to be the best overall artist I can be,\" Rhett told The Tennessean in April 2022. Two months later, he's started along his path to achieving his career goals in the next chapter of his career.\n\nHighlights: See what happened Thursday\n\nKelsea Ballerini calls ‘Dibs’ with sparking pop-country\n\n8:35 p.m.: Days after she shared the Nissan Stadium stage with Kenny Chesney during his Nashville tour stop, Kelsea Ballerini returned to the towering venue for a pop-country revue that was undoubtedly all hers.\n\nBallerini – covered in glitter and wearing a sparking head-to-toe outfit (plus a matching sparkled pink guitar) – wasted little time in covering her catalog of contagious songs: A revamped rendition of 2017’s “Miss Me More,” pop-tinged piano ballad “I Quit Drinking” new single “Heartfirst” and a solo take on award-winning Chesney duet “Half of My Hometown” all made the cut.\n\nShe gave a one-two-three punch with a lightning-paced medley of “Love Me Like You Mean It,” “Dibs” and “Yeah Boy.” Still, no moment hit quite like an unvarnished solo rendition of “Homecoming Queen?,” prefaced by Ballerini asking fans to pull down life’s emotional filter and be “together in this room right now.”\n\n“Since I’ve seen you, there’s been a lot that’s happened in the world,” Ballerini said on stage. “Going into it’s been hard, but coming out of it’s been equally hard or harder and I’ve been struggling with major anxiety.\n\nShe continued, “I go back to this song that I wrote before the shutdown about giving myself permission to feel my feelings because we're all human and no one’s perfect.”\n\nAnd, of course, she brought a little white wine with her, sipping from a red Solo cup between songs before ending “with a bang” – drinking anthem “Hole In The Bottle.”\n\n“I just kinda feel like the luckiest girl in the world,” Ballerini said.\n\nNissan opens with 'Strawberry Wine'\n\n7:55 p.m.: Like “Two Dozen Roses” band Shenandoah a night ago, Nissan Stadium kicked off Friday with a shot of ‘90s country – this time from hometown singer Deana Carter.\n\nCarter didn’t waste time giving audiences what they hoped to hear: A run of throwback country favorites. She opened the set with “How Did I Get There” before singing “Did I Shave My Legs For This?” and “Count Me In,” each singles off Carter’s celebrated 1996 debut album also named “Did I Shave My Legs For This?”\n\n“How many ‘90s country fans did we got out here?” Carter said on stage. “We are celebrating the 25th anniversary of ‘Did I Shave My Legs For This?,’ my very first record. Some of you weren’t born, I know, but you heard it, right?”\n\nAs the sun set on Nissan Stadium, Carter closed her 30-minute set (after teasing a a surprise appearance from Wynonna Judd later in the night) with signature hit “Strawberry Wine” and a “thank you” to fans for coming out early.\n\n“God bless you,” she said after the set. “Thank y’all.”\n\nERNEST blends pop and country, a 'Flower Shops' performance blooms\n\n5 p.m.: Big Loud Records artist ERNEST has already achieved five No. 1 hits as a songwriter on the road to headlining on the Cumberland River on Friday afternoon at the Riverfront Stage. As the sweaty, blissful crowd eagerly awaited receiving the weekend's first performance of 2022 pop-country's favorite throwback anthem, \"Flower Shops,\" the star who frequently attended CMA Fest in his Nashville-based youth called his day-ending positioning a \"bucket list moment.\"\n\nHowever, as could be expected when he was announced as an artist inspired by \"everyone from Eminem to George Jones,\" he delivered a performance that expressed a breadth and depth of mainstream pop-friendly styles and influences. If -- as many were as the clock struck 4:30 on a delightfully balmy afternoon -- you were waiting to hear the previously-mentioned zooming to top-10 status country radio single, the broad scope of the Nashville native's impressive influences made waiting an unexpectedly enjoyable time.\n\nHe's a twanging, rock-adjacent crooner with an evident love of R & B. Thus, for as much as his 90s tastes err towards artists like Alan Jackson, listen closely and crossover soul crooners with flair like Babyface feel crucial to his sound, too. Dig deeper into his album cuts as live performances and vibes reminiscent of The Eagles' mid-70s work seep into \"Feet Wanna Run.\"\n\nIf thinking that ERNEST's artistry limited him to being a trucker-hat wearing everyman turned sepia-tinged jukebox, you discovered at the Riverfront Stage today that you're half right. In taking a longer listen to his \"Flower Shops\" The Album\" work like \"Comfortable When I'm Crazy,\" or songs like \"Wasted On You\" that he's penned for Morgan Wallen's record-setting streaming champion \"Dangerous: The Album,\" he's a pop-adoring songsmith still growing into his soon expected stardom\n\nFor the sun-kissed throng waiting for him to plug in his electronic acoustic guitar and sing about sad lovers' tear-filled blue and bloodshot-sad eyes, ERNEST emerged as a country performer worthy of keener attention.\n\nPowerful moments with country's next female stars\n\n2:30 p.m.:Here's a Friday afternoon report from Tennessean country music reporter Marcus K. Dowling.\n\nFor the past five hours at the 2022 CMA Fest, we've shared stories and incredible, transformative moments with a sextet of country music's next wave of female stars: Ingrid Andress, Priscilla Block, Ashland Craft, Miko Marks, Lily Rose and Hailey Whitters.\n\nWith three-time Grammy-nominated artist Andress, we conducted an in-depth interview for a forthcoming feature related to her new album.\n\nHaving taken a preview listen to the album, the track \"Yearbook\" (featuring the takeaway lyric that \"the pages only turn one way,\" a favorite for both the artist and reporter) took the early lead for the likely radio single-to-watch.\n\nCurrently, Andress has the Sam Hunt duet \"Wishful Drinking\" on country radio, and it's clear that she has more hyper-personal, open and aware songs to come.\n\nShe confronted a \"broken\" brain while writing her COVID-era breakout hit \"More Hearts Than Mine.\" Her desire to deny boredom in her songwriting led to a song that reflects people's ability to be more capable thinkers than they believe themselves to be.\n\nCMA Fest updates:The party rolls on Friday with Ingrid Andress, Miko Marks, boots and beers\n\nAs for Marks, her journey back to Nashville after dealing with racist slights by country's mainstream is a remarkable story (one we'll be telling soon). She joined the non-Andress quintet of previously mentioned artists at CMT's Next Women of Country songwriting round at the Country Music Hall of Fame's CMA Theater.\n\nThe last time many were present in the theater was when another influential female country artist — Naomi Judd — as posthumously inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.\n\nMarks was wistful when asked about being in a place where Wynonna feted Naomi.\n\nHowever, the power of being in the Hall of Fame in a moment wherein, like herself, more African-American female vocalists are being featured than ever (namely, Brittney Spencer, Mickey Guyton, Allison Russell and Rissi Palmer in the museum's American Currents exhibition in the past two years) was palpable.\n\nUpon being in space she's now shared with her sister artists, Marks was nearly overcome.\n\nFast-forward 90 minutes and while \"taking the CMA Theater to church\" (as event host and CMT Senior Vice President Leslie Fram noted) in front of a fan who saw her first at Fan Fair in 2005, Marks finally stood from her chair. Onstage, while singing an unreleased track, she loosed her throaty, gospel-tinged contralto to the world. And then, she cried tears of joy that left a room awestruck and similarly tear-jerked.\n\nThere may be no more heart-wrenching story, at least today, at CMA Fest.\n\nRegarding Whitters, Craft, Block and Rose, there may be no more rock-solid quartet of singer-songwriters (female or otherwise) currently set to impact country radio.\n\nGrammy-nominee Whitters performed \"Everything She Ain't from her 2022 star-making album \"Raised.\" Rose played her TikTok sensation \"Villain\" and followed it up with her single \"Stronger Than I Am,\" as two die-hard fans sang every word of both while sitting front-row center.\n\nBlock sang a stirring rendition of her 2020 hit \"Just About Over You.\" Her overwhelming, still-present humility and joy in the face of her rising stardom was noteworthy.\n\nCraft's \"Make It Past Georgia\" combines the one-time dive bar vocalist's vocal similarity to Janis Joplin with a song that compares heartbreak to exceptional weariness from life on the road. It'll be a slow-burning hit akin to Lainey Wilson's \"Things A Man Oughta Know,\" but it's a hit.\n\nA 'damn good time' with Willie Jones and more\n\n2 p.m.: Gabe Lee’s set had an intimate feel at the CMA Spotlight Stage starting at 2 p.m. in Fan Fair X. A crowd of around 50 sat, captivated by soulful “Susannah” in the middle of Lee’s acoustic set.\n\nLee’s honey-rich voice thanked the crowd and said CMA Fest has been an all-around pleasure this year. He finished his set with “Ol’ Smokey” from his 2019 album “farmland.”\n\nJoy and Allison Berringer were front-row for Lee’s set. They said they hadn’t heard him sing before but said they are big fans after seeing him sing live.\n\nThe couple is on their honeymoon from Nova Scotia, Canada. They are spending two weeks in Nashville, and Fan Fair X at CMA Fest has been their favorite event so far.\n\n“It’s great to see the newcomers perform,” Joy Berringer said. “We have our favorite stars, but then you come to this stage and say ‘okay they are getting big next.’”\n\nAllison Berringer scrolled through photos on his phone while he waited for the next artist to come onstage. He was particularly proud of the shots he took of Carrie Underwood on Thursday at her Amazon Prime concert.\n\nJoy looked on. “He’s the better photographer of the two of us,” she said.\n\nAbi and Candace Stoltzfus walked briskly into the Amp Stage around 12:15, weaving around the crowds of people heading out towards First Avenue. They had driven to Nashville from Pennsylvania on Wednesday.\n\nThe sisters hurried all the way to the barricade to be as close as possible before Willie Jones took the stage. Abi sported brown and white cow-print pants and Candance had suede cowboy boots to match her woven hat.\n\nCrowds cheered and fans stood up from their picnic blankets as Jones ran onstage and opened his set with “Slow Cookin.’”\n\n“We’re just gonna rock out and have a damn good time out here” Jones said before singing “Down For It.”\n\nJones followed “Back Porch” with an unreleased song he said would be out later this summer. He dedicated it to “all the pretty girls” in the crowd. Fans swayed and waved their arms to the music.\n\nCMA Fest for free:No tickets required for these concerts\n\nFive unforgettable moments:CMA Fest makes triumphant return\n\nShocker: Boots are flying off the shelves\n\n1 p.m.: A fleet of emergency vehicles lined 1st Avenue South, in between the Riverfront Stage and Amp Stage. The fleet included everything from a Vanderbilt Life Flight ambulance to an “ambubus” — a retrofitted school bus —that belongs to the Nashville Fire Department.\n\n12:30 p.m. Plenty of freebies were available at the Busch stand at the Amp Stage. Staffers were handing out custom coozies, cooling bandanas, CMA Fest posters and popsicles.\n\nFans were relaxing at the Busch bar, where a line-up of guest bartenders included Ashley Cooke and Breland Friday.\n\n12: p.m. Customers were nearly shoulder-to-shoulder inside Boot Country on Lower Broadway. The store is known for its “buy one, get two” deals on boots.\n\nMarketing coordinator Jessica Spencer said business has picked up overall in Nashville recently.\n\n“CMA has definitely picked us up,” she said. “It’s like having 3-4 Saturdays in a row.”\n\nDeb Wing was mulling over a choice between white and gray ankle boots. She was in from La Crosse, Wisconsin, with friends.\n\n“I’m gonna wear them around right now shopping to break them in for tomorrow,” Wing said.\n\nHer friend Lainee Nummerdor sprang for a pair of tall brown boots studded with rhinestones and sparkly stitching.\n\nTheir group was off for more shopping, with plans to grab drinks and catch some music inside Ole Red a few doors down later.\n\nA cloudy morning\n\n11 a.m.: A large crowd bobbed their heads and held phones high as Larry Fleet played the Riverfront Stage. Families, groups of friends and people of all ages gathered to listen to Fleet.\n\n“This is the first song I ever recorded. Sing along if you know it,” Fleet said as he kicked off “Where I Find God.”\n\nThe crowd didn’t disappoint, with many joining in as the chorus rang out.\n\nDay 2 was off to slower start under cloudy skies, but the crowd was steadily growing downtown by 10:45 a.m. Music was blaring from a few honky tonks and exhibits. A lone party bus with a few dancing patrons meandered down 4th Avenue as festival-goers waited to cross.\n\nThe temperatures hovered in the the mid-70s for the morning, but forecast calls for a high in the mid-80s and chance of scattered showers and thunderstorms later in the day.\n\nDay one highlights\n\nRead on for a look back at moments from Thursday, opening day of CMA Fest in Nashville.\n\nKeith Urban: 'You guys might’ve missed this whole thing as much as we did'\n\n11:45 p.m.: Keith Urban described in two words what those who trekked cross-country — or further — likely felt when gates finally opened and music began pouring out of CMA Fest.\n\n\"We're back,\" Urban said during his night-closing set at Nissan Stadium.\n\nHe added, \"I had the feeling you guys might’ve missed this whole thing as much as we did.\"\n\nAnd much like those who traveled a far distance to fill the stadium seats, Urban spent his time on stage covering as much ground as possible from a career rooted in six-string exploration. He opened with extended guitar ripper \"Days Go By\" before soulful fan-favorite \"Blue Ain't Your Color,\" dream-chasing anthem \"Wild Hearts\" and an unrestrained solo take on \"You'll Think of Me.\"\n\nOn returning to CMA Fest, Urban told The Tennessean backstage before his performance: \"The energy of this crowd is unlike anywhere. It's such a unique moment. This week in Nashville, period, is unlike any other time in the city. This year especially, [after] having a two-year, pent-up absence. I can already feel it – everybody's ready to make up for lost time.\"\n\n\"You guys are making up for lost time tonight,\" Urban said. \"This is insane.\"\n\nJason Aldean returns to 'his kinda party'\n\n2022's Academy of Country Music, iHeartRadio, and CMT Song of the Year award winner (with Carrie Underwood for the duet \"If I Didn't Love You\") Jason Aldean's solo CMA Fest performance showed he is engrossed by the third and wildly successful era of his two-decade-long country career.\n\nEarlier, he remarked that \"Trouble With A Heartbreak's\" current three-week run atop Billboard's Country Airplay chart was doubly important. Foremost, it's the first time he's had the No. 1 song in the genre during CMA Fest. It also continues a run of success that compares to the success achieved by his 2009 hit \"Big Green Tractor.\"\n\n\"If you expected me to bring out guests, you're gonna be sad tonight,\" he offered as he swaggered into the Tennessee Titans' press room earlier Thursday evening. To that end, his live set was highlighted by solid takes on his 2010 hits \"My Kinda Party\" and \"Dirt Road Anthem.\"\n\nPhysically, it appears he's decided to double down in the gym to elevate his delivery as a live performer. Since telling the Tennessean in April 2022 that he didn't expect to be here \"in a trillion years,\" he's clearly making an effort to be ready to fulfill the expectations of continued unprecedented acclaim.\n\nAldean's looking at spending much of the rest of 2022 on the road. Thus, his 45-minute set at Nissan Stadium was a rocking dress rehearsal of what will likely transpire over two hours on stage in venues across America.\n\nNotable also was the quality of his vocal performance. New single \"That's What Tequila Does\" (from the \"Macon\" half of now fully-released double-album \"Macon, Georgia\"), plus a solo, live piano-driven take of the previously-mentioned \"If I Didn't Love You,\" sans Carrie Underwood (a 2021 Aldean live tour staple) were strong, comfortable, and in line with expecting album-quality work from the superstar.\n\nZac Brown Band awes Nissan Stadium by 'Taking It To The Limit' (one more time)\n\n9:30 p.m.: In an interview before hitting the stage at Nissan Stadium, Zac Brown told The Tennessean that he has played 5500 shows in the past 22 years. The reason?\n\n\"I still feel like I'm winning over live crowds, man,\" he said. \"We don't get to open for acts too much anymore, so festivals like these let us connect with people who may only stream us, or aren't too familiar with our live show.\"\n\nCountry music's beloved traveling troubadours maintained that status with tracks like 2006's \"Toes,\" causing -- as expected -- the 50,000-plus in attendance to break out in impromptu stadium seat dance parties.\n\nHowever, most impressive was his cover of \"Take It To The Limit,\" The Eagles' 1975 smash. His vocal performance both pleased and stunned a crowd not entirely sure of what to make of a current superstar making a play for a larger stake as a genre-shaping icon. When the set airs as part of ABC's August 3 \"CMA Fest\" special, it's worth watching.\n\nBrown's desire to mimic the likes of Luke Bryan and Dierks Bentley as a mentor for younger country acts showcased itself on the big stage at Nissan as Nashville favorites King Calaway played their latest single, \"See You When I Get Home,\" alongside Brown. In addition, he's helmed the writing and production of their forthcoming album project.\n\nThe juxtaposition of the fresh-faced quartet of Chris Deaton, Simon Dumas, Chad Michael Jervis and Caleb Miller alongside Brown's much rougher presentation highlighted his ear and eye for talent supersedes stereotypical expectations.\n\nAlso, in a continuing trend after Billy Strings' appearance at Marty Stuart's Wednesday evening Late Night Jam at the Ryman Auditorium, breakout guitarist Marcus King joined Brown to perform their 2021-released track \"Stubborn Pride.\" King's blistering solo floored an audience seemingly largely unaware of his road-developed instrumental prowess.\n\nAnd yes, the set was bookended by his ever-reliable hits separated by just over a decade, 2008's \"Chicken Fried\" and 2021's \"Same Boat.\"\n\nDarius Rucker: 'I love this Weekend'\n\n8:30 p.m.: The sun set on Nissan Stadium, and everything's 'Alright' with Darius Rucker.\n\nThe Grammy Award-winning star took the stage in a throwback Rolling Stones tour t-shirt, singing his 2009 chart-topper \"Alright\" before reminding onlookers of his one-of-a-kind croon with the mandolin-backed \"Come Back Song.\"\n\n\"Ain't it great to be back in Nashville — in-person — seeing a show?\" Rucker said on stage. \"Man, I love this weekend.\"\n\nThe performance capped a day-long victory lap for Rucker, who kicked off performances at the Spotify House inside Ole Red on Lower Broadway Thursday morning and stopped by the Gibson Garage hours before his stadium set for an acoustic performance.\n\n\"I've been playing the CMA Fest since 2009 and it's awesome to see you guys come together to have this party in this beautiful building,\" Rucker said, adding: \"That's awesome to me.\"\n\nAnd it wouldn't be a Rucker show without a little Hootie & The Blowfish (or a lot of \"Wagon Wheel\"). He delivered on both, performing 1990s rock staple \"I Only Wanna Be With You\" before later closing with his award-winning Old Crow Medicine Show cover.\n\nReturning to Nissan Stadium\n\n7:55 p.m.: CMA Fest returned to Nissan Stadium with a taste of throwback country courtesy of 1980s and '90s hitmaking group Shenandoah.\n\nThe band revved up early showgoers with renditions of nostalgic '90s foot-stompers \"Next To You, Next To Me\" and \"If Bubba Can Dance (I Can Too)\" before cutting into tender ballad \"I Want To Be Loved Like That\" — the night's first stadium singalong — and signature song \"Two Dozen Roses.\"\n\n\"Let's throw a little gas on the fire,\" frontman Marty Raybon said to muchb approval as the band kicked into \"If Bubba Can Dance.\"\n\nPrior to Shenandoah, rising country singer Brittney Spencer took the stage for a stirring take on the \"Star-Spangled Banner.\"\n\nFans seek out shade (and go for a swim?)\n\n4:30 p.m. The crowds had thinned considerably downtown by 4 p.m. Sun-wearied festival-goers took advantage of the shade as the sun dropped lower into the sky and ducked into honky tonks and enclosed exhibits around downtown.\n\nA modest crowd gathered for Tenille Arts, signing along with arms waving.\n\n\"This is a bucket-list stage for me,\" she said at the top of the set.\n\nBehind her, boats floated on the river in the afternoon heat and a few jumped in for a swim.\n\nA religious experience on opening day\n\n3 p.m.: One word describes the first five hours on Lower Broadway: religious.\n\nJimmie Allen's opening stage banter at the Chevy Riverfront Stage at 10:45 AM included the 2021 CMA New Artist of the Year, noting that he believes in God and \"God's not a loser.\"\n\nTwo hours later, country hitmaker Hardy was leading the stage's capacity-packed, booze-filled and heartily-entertained crowd on a tour through \"God's Country.\"\n\nAt CMA Fest, it's readily apparent that country music's Mother Church is up the street. However, country music's time-worn Christian values are among the vibes governing day one of the 49th CMA Fest.\n\nRegarding all things timelessly country, the genre's close affiliation with easy-listening rock and roll was spotlighted as Darius Rucker opened Spotify House at Blake Shelton's Ole Red bar.\n\nHearing Rucker lament his emotional reaction to watching his beloved Miami Dolphins lose football games in 1994 Hootie and the Blowfish hit \"Only Wanna Be With You\" (\"Sometimes you're crazy then you wonder why / I'm such a baby 'cause the Dolphins make me cry\") is a heartwarming hallmark of his songwriting.\n\nThat same lyric sung by a bar crowd at a mega-massive festival sounds like a Catholic choir uttering a responsorial psalm.\n\nEven deeper, the day's sermon was delivered by 2022 Academy of Country Music Song of the Year award-winner Lainey Wilson.\n\nIn front of a crowd whipped into a Godfearing, devil-may-care, redneck country frenzy by Hardy, the Baskin, Louisiana native sang sweetly about maintaining self-respect while expecting a mate to show kindness via her singles \"Heart Like A Truck\" and \"Things A Man Oughta Know.\"\n\nAs brother-tandem LOCASH's new single \"Beach Boys\" sounded like timelessly-adored songs by the band sharing the track's title, a sweltering yet fun afternoon on the banks of the Cumberland River sweatily sauntered on.\n\nIn short, CMA Fest 2022, so far, has been highlighted by country music being in the throes of unearthing its core values and celebrating its most warmly beloved sounds.\n\nHardy rocks the Riverfront\n\n12:30 p.m.: The banks of the Cumberland were packed as Hardy got underway at noon, drawing loud cheers as he sang \"Boots\" before he launched into \"Give Heaven Some Hell.\"\n\nLainey Wilson joined him and handed him a beer as he kicked off \"One Beer.\" He encouraged the crowd to raise their respective drinks as they sang along.\n\n\"No more love songs, no more sad songs, we're just gonna play some country sh— and rock your face off for the rest of the set,\" he said before belting out \"Rednecker\" while the crowd roared.\n\nOther highlights from the artist and songwriter included the Blake Shelton hit \"God's Country,\" which Hardy said was one of the songs he's most proud of co-writing.\n\nHe closed the tight 30-minute set with \"Unapologetically Country as Hell.\"\n\n11 a.m. : The morning continued to warm up with Rita Wilson opening the Chevy Vibes stage at 11 a.m. A crowd of a little more than 150 reclined on picnic blankets and swayed to the music against the backdrop of Bridgestone Arena.\n\nMusic from honky tonks spilled onto the street nearby as crowds ambled in and out of line for concession stands and merchandise booths.\n\nA line of people stretched to more than 100 a few blocks down Broadway at the entrance of the Spotify House. People waved paper fans and squinted against the summer sun.\n\nTicket troubles, patriotic overalls and country's 'family'\n\nBack on Lower Broadway, Jolynn Grashorn and her sister-in-law Jenny McCloy ducked into a food tent along Broadway to get a slice of pizza around 11:30 a.m.\n\nGrashorn said she flew in from Omaha and met McCloy Tuesday, who had driven in from Marion, Iowa.\n\nThe two are spending time with family in town and had plans to catch the next acts on the Chevy Vibes stage at noon.\n\nThey said they're happy to be back at the festival after the two-year hiatus but were frustrated that everything is digitized — from tickets to festival maps and guides.\n\n\"I wasn't impressed with all that,\" Grashorn said.\n\nThey said they saw an older woman crying at the Fan Fair X area because she didn't have internet on her phone and no way to access her ticket. They also said they had trouble transferring tickets via Ticketmaster but eventually found a way.\n\nFans missed the fest the past two years and were thrilled to see it return. Abbey Tozzi was an intern for CMA in 2019 and was helping to plan the 2020 festival before it was cancelled.\n\n\"It was heartbreaking,\" she said of the cancellation.\n\nTozzi has been planning this weekend for a year, and waited in the Spotify House line for two hours with her friend Mary Putko, a 3rd grade teacher from Florida.\n\n\"It's the best lineup\" Putko said. \"I'm like, hello, we need to get in there.\"\n\nTozzi said her favorite part about seeing CMA fest return is the community of fans.\n\n\"Community is really important, and the country music community is like a family,\" Tozzi said. \"It's unlike any other genre.\"\n\nRodney Walls was clad head-to-toe in American flag overalls as he headed to see Hardy at the Riverfront Stage just before noon.\n\nHe said he hails from Capshaw, Alabama and has added his own flares to the overalls, including a few stars stitched onto the pockets.\n\nHe's been coming to CMA Fest since 2012 and said he's especially looking forward to seeing Mark Wills.\n\n\"I'm kinda old school — like Joe Nichols and all that,\" he said.\n\nHe was visiting with his friend, David Ellis, who's a Nashville resident. Walls said he drew looks and sparked conversation when he donned some \"Yee Haw\" overalls a few years back.\n\nA busy, beautiful morning\n\n10 a.m.: Crowds were already filling in along Lower Broadway under sunny skies and 75 degree weather. Music from a few honky tonks punctuated lines of food trucks downtown, featuring everything from beignets to gyros.\n\nCrowds were concentrated around the Fan Fair X at Music City Center and the Riverfront Stage, where Jimmie Allen was playing.\n\nMNPD officers were on hand directing traffic while security workers guided people to stages and checked bags.\n\nCMA has turned Fort Nashborough — which sits next to the Riverfront Stage — into the \"Riverside Retreat.\" Mist blowers, premium drinks, the whole nine yards. AND a lovely view of the Riverside barge.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/06/09"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2019/04/15/jay-z-perform-newly-renovated-webster-hall-re-opening-nyc/3472573002/", "title": "Jay-Z to perform at newly renovated Webster Hall re-opening in NYC", "text": "Associated Press\n\nNEW YORK — Jay-Z will help re-open the newly renovated Webster Hall concert venue in New York City with a performance next week.\n\nTickets for the April 26 show go on sale Friday. It will be Jay-Z’s first time performing at the venue located in Manhattan’s East Village.\n\nWebster Hall has operated as a venue since 1886. Others set to perform there include Patti Smith and Her Band, Rosalia, MGMT, Empire of the Sun, Old Dominion and Chromeo.\n\nThe concert hall says in a press release that the recent renovation “aims to preserve the iconic features of the venue, while modernizing it to meet today’s entertainment and guest experience standards.”", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2019/04/15"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2022/02/15/super-bowl-halftime-show-picks-2023-phoenix/6790190001/", "title": "Taylor Swift? Drake? Super Bowl halftime show picks for 2023 in ...", "text": "Now that the Super Bowl is over, we can safely shift our focus to important issues of the day — like next year's Super Bowl, which as it happens, brings the NFL to State Farm Stadium in Glendale.\n\nAs you may recall, the last time we hosted a Super Bowl, football fans famously witnessed the birth of an NFL legend — Left Shark! — during Katy Perry's performance (the most-viewed halftime show in broadcast history).\n\nHow can the NFL hope to compete with a memory so vividly etched in the public imagination as that?\n\nAs it turns out, we've given the matter some thought (so you don't have to). And we've come up with a shortlist of potential halftime entertainers.\n\nThe suspense is over:Rihanna to headline 2023 Super Bowl halftime show in Phoenix\n\nAs to whether they can rise to the occasion with a Left Shark of their own? That remains to be seen.\n\nIn the meantime, if you know someone who chooses halftime entertainers for the Super Bowl, it would awesome if you shared a link to our suggestions.\n\nWill she or won't she? Did Taylor Swift turn down the 2023 Super Bowl halftime show in Arizona?\n\nTaylor Swift\n\nIt could be argued that she doesn't need the Super Bowl. In fact, it would be kind of weird to argue that she does.\n\nBut if she did agree to play the world's most coveted exposure gig? We'd get one of the biggest pop stars on the planet while still in her prime.\n\nShe's 32 and shows no sign of slowing down.\n\nHer latest studio release of new material, 2020's \"Evermore,\" became the singer's eighth consecutive release to top the Billboard album charts. She's sent two re-recorded albums to the top since then.\n\nAnd she's still adding major pop hits to the list of songs that could be turned into a massive halftime hit parade, including two chart-topping songs released in 2020 (\"Cardigan\" and \"Willow\").\n\nPlus, she has a history at State Farm Stadium, having launched her first stadium tour there in support of \"Reputation\" in 2018.\n\nAnd that's not her only connection to the Valley of the Sun. She topped iTunes in 2012 with a heartbreaking tribute to a Phoenix boy named Ronan Thompson, who died of cancer three days shy of turning 4.\n\nShe could also invite Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat World to the world's biggest stage to sing his biggest hit, \"The Middle,\" like she did that time at an arena show in Glendale. That would bring some local flavor to the mix.\n\nIs it too soon to do a full retreat from hip-hop after this year's halftime show? No problem. Kendrick Lamar could revisit his guest rap on \"Bad Blood,\" a chart-topping smash from 2015.\n\nDon't miss out! Your guide to all the biggest concerts playing Phoenix this July\n\nStevie Nicks or Alice Cooper?\n\nIt's been 12 years since a veteran rock act played the Super Bowl. I blame The Who, one of the greatest live acts in the history of the sport, for what we'll charitably call \"an off night.\"\n\nIs it still too soon to try again?\n\nIf not, here's hoping they'll consider two Rock and Roll Hall of Famers with deep local roots.\n\nStevie Nicks was born in Phoenix and built a home near her parents in Paradise Valley in 1981, the same year \"Bella Donna,\" topped the Billboard album charts while spinning off a handful of her greatest hits, including \"Edge of Seventeen\" and \"Stop Draggin' My Heart Around,\" a duet with Tom Petty.\n\nIn addition to her solo hits, a halftime show with Nicks could feature songs made popular by Fleetwood Mac, including her iconic contribution to the \"Rumours\" album, \"Dreams.\"\n\nThat song gave Fleetwood Mac their first and only No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 and went viral much more recently on TikTok, thanks to Nathan Apodaca skateboarding to fame while chugging a bottle of Ocean Spray cranberry juice and listening to \"Dreams.\"\n\nShe's the classic rocker most likely to have Harry Styles come out and join her on a song.\n\nAnd \"Rumours\" is somehow still selling like hot cakes.\n\nA history-making show:Eminem took a knee as hip-hop finally took center stage at Super Bowl halftime show\n\nThat gives Nicks a timeless and cross-generational appeal that few artists who launched their career in the '70s could hope to challenge.\n\nCooper made his first onstage appearance in the Cortez High School cafetorium, going on to become one of the biggest rock stars of the '70s with a band made up entirely of friends he'd made in Phoenix (two of whom were also on the stage that day at Cortez).\n\nHe also lives here now and operates two Alice Cooper Solid Rock Teen Centers, offering free music, dance and art programs to kids aged 12-20.\n\nHis habit of staging his own execution as part of his live show could be a bit of a flag on the play.\n\nBut by the time he brought his halftime show to a raucous conclusion with \"School's Out,\" who among us would begrudge the man a quick beheading on the 50-yard line?\n\nMore Arizona classics:100 essential Arizona records, from Stevie Nicks to Alice Cooper\n\nRihanna\n\nIt's doubtful they'll give hip-hop center stage in 2023 so soon after finally allowing that to happen for the first time in NFL history just this year.\n\nBut having Rihanna do the honors would open the door to some intriguing hip-hop cameos, assuming Drake, Jay-Z, Eminem or Kanye West would agree to revisit their collaborations.\n\nNamed the wealthiest woman in music by Forbes magazine in 2021, Rihanna has sent 14 songs to No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100, from 2006's \"SOS\" to 2016's \"Work\" (that Drake collaboration).\n\nThere is a fairly decent chance she wouldn't want to do it. She declined to perform in 2020 in support of Colin Kaepernick following the controversy surrounding his role in the national anthem protests.\n\nBut it's been a minute since she's hit us with new music and a halftime show would be the perfect way to let the spotlight see what it's been missing for the past few years.\n\nDrake\n\nSpeaking of Drake, it's kind of crazy that the man has yet to play the Super Bowl.\n\nAt 35, he has the most Top 10 appearances of all time on the Billboard Hot 100 and the most chart-topping singles on the Rap Songs and R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts.\n\nIt would mean hip-hop dominating halftime two years running but Drake is a much more pop-oriented performer than the stars of this year's show. He's also younger, so he hits a different demographic and cuts down on the memes about how old his fans must be.\n\nPink\n\nShe's one of the most successful touring artists of her generation for a reason.\n\nAnd no one would turn in a more athletic halftime show than Pink, the singer most likely to bungee-jump into the stadium and spend the next 12 minutes soaring from one corner of the venue to another in an acrobatic rig.\n\nShe also has a ton of well-known pop hits and serious cross-generational appeal.\n\nAnd has a history with the NFL, singing the National Anthem at Super Bowl LII in 2018.\n\nReach the reporter at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4495. Follow him on Twitter @EdMasley.\n\nSupport local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/02/15"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/people/2021/09/27/hotels-where-celebrities-stay-in-phoenix/5790607001/", "title": "Here are the celebrity-favorite hotels in Phoenix, Scottsdale", "text": "Since Hollywood’s Golden Age, Phoenix has been a sanctuary for celebrities looking to temporarily get away from Southern California.\n\nThe Valley’s hotels and resorts catered to the likes of Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable well before stars such as Britney Spears, Beyoncé and Drake came decades later. Presidents also need a place to stay while they’re in town, and one historic hotel has proven to be a favorite, serving 13 of them.\n\nFrom the Arizona Biltmore to the Sanctuary Camelback Mountain Resort and Spa, here are four resorts and hotels that have been favored by celebrities in and around Phoenix.\n\nArizona Biltmore:Iconic Arizona hotel spent $70M on renovations. Take a look\n\nArizona Biltmore\n\nSince 1929, the Arizona Biltmore has been a point of pride for Valley residents. Really: The landmark, inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright’s architectural style, was voted one of 31 official Points of Pride in Phoenix.\n\nAmong the Arizona Biltmore’s guests over nearly the last century are 13 U.S. presidents, spanning from Herbert Hoover to George W. Bush. Several of them also took advantage of the golf course there.\n\nRonald and Nancy Reagan as well as Clark Gable and Carole Lombard are among some big names that have honeymooned at the resort. Actor Jimmy Stewart and his wife, Gloria Hatrick McLean, had a Thanksgiving tradition of visiting the Biltmore.\n\nOther celebrities said to have stayed are Gracie Allen, Frank Sinatra, Fred Astaire, Bob Hope and Ava Gardner. Marilyn Monroe was fond of the Art Deco-style Catalina pool. Irving Berlin was also a fan: Inspired by the Arizona sunshine, he penned several tunes, including “White Christmas,” by the pool.\n\n\"I practically opened the Arizona Biltmore Hotel — I was here before they were officially open, even,\" he told The Arizona Republic in November 1937.\n\nHotel Valley Ho\n\nHotel Valley Ho in Scottsdale “was a true Hollywood hideaway in its heyday” in the mid-century, according to the hotel’s website, and helped put Scottsdale on the map as a tourist destination. That is probably in no small part due to being the first hospitality venue to have central air conditioning in Scottsdale, allowing the hotel to remain open year-round.\n\nActors Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner held their wedding reception — their first of the couple’s two marriages — at the hotel in December 1957. The Valley Ho also hosted Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, Bing Crosby and Zsa Zsa Gabor.\n\nSixty-five years since its opening, Hotel Valley Ho continues to serve big-name guests, from rapper Bow Wow to actor Billy Bob Thornton. Britney Spears, Burt Reynolds, Colin Kaepernick, Drake, Gabrielle Union, Hugh Jackman, Jessica Chastain, Kim Kardashian, Katy Perry, Lenny Kravitz, Ryan Reynolds and Yo-Yo Ma are just a selection of the famous people the hotel claims to have hosted.\n\nHotel Valley Ho at 65:How sticking with its midcentury roots powered it into the future\n\nSanctuary Camelback Mountain Resort and Spa\n\nIn 2008, pop culture icons Beyoncé and Jay-Z reportedly jetted to Arizona for their honeymoon after an unpublicized wedding ceremony in New York. Their destination? The Sanctuary Camelback Mountain Resort and Spa in Paradise Valley. (They also appeared to have honeymooned in the Maldives.)\n\nSinger Britney Spears has stayed at the Sanctuary multiple times, and actors Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn spent Thanksgiving weekend there in 2005 while they were dating.\n\nBack when it was the prestigious Paradise Valley Racquet Club, Dean Martin was among the stars seen on the north slope of Camelback Mountain in the '50s. Elton John and Billie Jean King were among the big names that played at the resort in the ‘70s after it was renamed John Gardiner’s Tennis Ranch.\n\nElton John is said to have ordered an upright piano to be brought to center court during one visit and performed “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting.”\n\nSan Carlos Hotel\n\nAnother destination that boasts a pool reportedly favored by Marilyn Monroe can be found in downtown Phoenix. The high-rise San Carlos Hotel opened in March 1928 and was marketed as a fire- and earthquake-proof building.\n\nIf you want to find out about some of its famous guests, their names — Jean Harlow, Marilyn Monroe, Mae West — and autographs can be found etched into gold stars on the sidewalk outside the hotel, at Central Avenue and Monroe Street. Suite 326, which is near the pool, is named for Monroe.\n\nThe nearly century-old hotel is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.\n\nPhoenix's most notable ghost:The true story of Hotel San Carlos' 'woman in white'\n\nReach the reporter at kimi.robinson@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @kimirobin and Instagram @ReporterKiMi.\n\nSupport local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/09/27"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/09/entertainment/gallery/people-we-lost-2022/index.html", "title": "Photos: People we've lost in 2022 | CNN", "text": "1. How relevant is this ad to you?\n\nVideo player was slow to load content Video content never loaded Ad froze or did not finish loading Video content did not start after ad Audio on ad was too loud Other issues", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/01/09"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2018/07/25/kidz-bop-shouldve-never-covered-these-inappropriate-pop-songs/826402002/", "title": "Kidz Bop should've never covered these inappropriate pop songs", "text": "\"Kidz Bop\" is one of pop music’s most inexplicably enduring franchises of the 21st century, beloved by kids and parents for the compilations’ family-friendly renditions of popular hits, and by everyone else for their unintentional hilarity.\n\nAnd ever since the Kidz Bop Kids covered Britney Spears' \"Oops!... I Did It Again” on the very first \"Kidz Bop\" release in 2001, the albums have periodically featured songs that, no matter how sanitized their rewritten lyrics may be, still were probably too questionable for a kids’ CD.\n\nTo celebrate the release of Kidz Bop 38 on July 13 – featuring cleaned-up versions of Drake’s “God’s Plan” and Bruno Mars and Cardi B’s “Finesse” – take a look back at the most amusingly inappropriate pop hits to get the \"Kidz Bop\" treatment, and the raunchiest lines they edited out.\n\n\"Love on the Brain,\" Rihanna\n\n\"Kidz Bop\" covering Rihanna should be a crime in and of itself, but this song was a particularly questionable choice, with a line like \"it beats me black and blue, but it (expletive) me so good\" about the singer's troubled love. Yet, \"Love on the Brain\" was apparently still fair game for the Kidz Bop Kids, whose edited-in lyric \"it makes me feel it's true, but it tricks me so good\" is almost as egregious as their attempts to replicate Rih's vocals.\n\n\"Closer,\" The Chainsmokers\n\nInstead of just choosing literally any other song, \"Kidz Bop\" rewrote the entire chorus of this Chainsmokers hit to make it family-friendly, giving the song one of the funniest facelifts in the Kidz Bop Kids' history: \"So, baby, pull me closer as we stand against the Rover / That I know they can't afford / Brush that stress right off your shoulder / Pull the sheets right off the corner of that notebook that you stole / From your friend's room back in Boulder / We ain't ever getting older.\"\n\n\"Toxic,\" Britney Spears\n\nAgain, of all the pop songs \"Kidz Bop\" could've chosen for this collection, they just shrugged, chose \"Toxic,\" and assigned a bunch of kids to sing the lyric \"With a taste of your lips, I'm on a ride\"?\n\n\"New Rules,\" Dua Lipa\n\nLipa's \"new rules\" for warding off her ex, most of which have to do with avoiding drunken hookups, get a squeaky-clean makeover courtesy of the Kidz Bop Kids, who transform her warning that \"you know you're gonna wake up in his bed in the morning\" to the cheerier \"you know you're gonna meet up with your friends in the morning.\"\n\n\"Lose My Breath,\" Destiny’s Child\n\nAs much as the Kidz Bop Kids playfully huff and puff in the background of their \"Lose My Breath\" vocals, that doesn't change the explicit nature of the bedroom behavior that Beyonce, Kelly and Michelle were originally describing, with their version keeping original lyrics like \"Need a lifeguard and I need protection / To put it on me deep in the right direction.\"\n\n\"That’s What I Like,\" Bruno Mars\n\nUnder the purview of the Kidz Bop Kids, Mars' condo in Manhattan is less a carnal kingdom and more like summer camp, with his plans for \"sex by the fire at night\" transforming into a \"hang by the fire at night,\" and his \"drop it for me\" commands turning into \"sing it with a friend.\"\n\n\"I'm the One,\" DJ Khaled\n\n\"Kidz Bop\" nixed Quavo and Chance the Rapper's contributions to the song, deciding that Lil Wayne's verse would be the easiest to censor and keeping his \"don't make me catch a body\" line but wisely cutting his reference to a companion who \"When she on the molly she a zombie,\" replacing it with \"when she hear this song she dances crazy.\"\n\n\"California Gurls,\" Katy Perry\n\nKaty Perry is a \"Kidz Bop\" staple, but her \"California Gurls\" wardrobe of \"Daisy Dukes, bikinis on top,\" was too risque for the Kidz Bop Kids, and was edited into \"fine, fresh, fierce, we got it on lock.\" Why \"Kidz Bop\" didn't change the next lyric, about being \"so hot, we'll melt your Popsicle,\" is beyond us.\n\nhttps://open.spotify.com/track/5xi3te9eB0LYfLRTmfl7Fa\n\n\"TiK ToK,\" Ke$ha\n\nObviously, Ke$ha brushing her teeth \"with a bottle of Jack\" didn't make it into the Kidz Bop Kids' \"Tik Tok\" — instead, when they leave, they \"have to pack.\" And rather than editing down all the original song's other problematic references, the \"Kidz Bop\" version simply loops the chorus until the end of the song, which is one way to fix things.\n\nhttps://open.spotify.com/track/3Dia3gymld9Jk3e0aXZu2P\n\n\"Lips of an Angel,\" Hinder\n\nThe title really says it all, and yet, \"Kidz Bop\" still included Hinder's growling power ballad, which is less notable for its openly explicit content than its double entendre.\n\n\"Paparazzi,\" Lady Gaga\n\nThe entire song is literally about stalking, but the lyrics are all SFW, as long as you don't actually listen to what Gaga is saying.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2018/07/25"}]}
{"question_id": "20230127_15", "search_time": "2023/01/28/05:15", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2015/11/28/mikaela-shiffrin-world-cup-slalom-aspen/76511098/", "title": "Mikaela Shiffrin wins World Cup slalom by whopping margin", "text": "AP\n\nASPEN, Colo. (AP) — This is what happens when Mikaela Shiffrin gets really, really mad: She crushes the field and breaks records.\n\nNo one could catch Shiffrin as she used an uncharacteristic fall the day before as fuel to power her down the hill.\n\nShrugging off the disappointment, Shiffrin turned in two blistering runs to win a World Cup slalom by 3.07 seconds Saturday, the largest margin of victory in the history of the women's discipline.\n\nKnow what? She wants to win by that margin again. Watch out field.\n\n\"From here on out, I'm going to be searching for another 3-second margin of victory,\" Shiffrin said. \"I know very well it might never happen again, because sometimes the stars have to align.\"\n\nThe reigning Olympic and world champion flew through the technical course and finished in a two-run combined time of 1 minute, 39.81 seconds. Veronika Velez Zuzulova of Slovakia was second, and Sweden's Frida Hansdotter finished third.\n\nShiffrin surpassed the previous slalom record for margin of victory held by Florence Steurer. The French standout won by three seconds during a slalom race in 1968.\n\n\"It's one of the more cool records that I'll ever have broken,\" Shiffrin said.\n\nBut there were no post-race celebrations. Shiffrin doesn't do celebrations. Doesn't even know how.\n\nMikaela Shiffrin returns home, dreams of winning overall World Cup title\n\n\"Someone is going to have to get out there and put some sticks in my arms like a puppet,\" she joked.\n\nOn the podium after the race, the 20-year-old from nearby Eagle-Vail called it a \"special day.\"\n\nAnd it certainly made up for Friday's frustration. Shiffrin was in command of a giant slalom race when she crashed near the finish. She buried her face in the snow as the crowd went silent.\n\nThat night, she went back to her hotel and watched the footage of her fall.\n\n\"When I saw myself fall, I was thinking, 'What were you doing?' I don't fall very often,\" Shiffrin said. \"To do it in a race, it's like a one-in-a-million chance. It was one of those painful things.\n\n\"Sometimes that disappointment can hurt you or drive you. I made the decision I was going to let it fuel me.\"\n\nShe was nervous before the first run, so nervous she said she forgot how to breathe as she tried to relax.\n\n\"I thought that was a natural instinct?\" Shiffrin said.\n\nThose nerves didn't carry over to the course as she built up a big first-run advantage of 1.38 seconds. On her second run, she was all business to become the first American woman to win a slalom race at Aspen.\n\nAnd it's not like her competitors skied all that bad.\n\n\"For sure, I'm really happy with my result,\" Zuzulova said. \"I'm really happy about my day today.\"\n\nBYU's Jared Ward quickly rising in U.S. marathon ranks\n\nIn a post-race news conference, Shiffrin was asked point-blank why she's such a good skier. She offered some insight.\n\n\"A lot of technical free-skiing while a lot of my friends were out jumping off cliffs and powder skiing,\" Shiffrin said. \"It's taken me a little while to bring more athleticism into my skiing because I was so robotic for a while. I definitely had the technical side down early.\"\n\nThe winning side, too.\n\nShiffrin has won four straight World Cup slalom events dating to last season. It's the longest streak in slalom by a female skier since Marlies Schild of Austria captured five straight in 2011-12.\n\nThe retired Schild also happens to be one of Shiffrin's childhood idols.\n\nNo surprise Shiffrin races a lot like Schild. The resemblance is easy to see for Bernadette Schild, the younger sister of Marlies.\n\n\"She skis similar to the way my sister used to ski when she was really good,\" said Bernadette Schild, who went out early in her first run, ending her day. \"She's just sending it.\"\n\nIt was a tough day for the typically strong Austrian contingent as the nation's top three racers veered off course. Schild was at a loss to explain why.\n\n\"The course wasn't that hard, actually,\" she said. \"Things like that happen.\"\n\nThis race was scheduled to be held in Levi, Finland, but was relocated because of warm weather there. Aspen will host another slalom race Sunday and Shiffrin will be the overwhelming favorite.\n\n\"I don't think they'll let me get away with three seconds ever again,\" Shiffrin said. \"They're going to fight even harder. I have to turn it up a notch, too.\"", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2015/11/28"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/beijing/2022/02/04/winter-olympic-champion-mikaela-shiffrin-motivated-little-things/9267480002/", "title": "Mikaela Shiffrin, Olympic champion skier, motivated by more than wins", "text": "Shiffrin has 2 Olympic gold medals and a silver at just 26 years old\n\nShe hopes to race in all five events in Beijing and is ranked No. 1 in both slalom and giant slalom\n\nFour years ago her attempt to ski all five races was thwarted by heavy winds in Korea\n\nPart of USA TODAY's 10 to watch series profiling some of America's top athletes competing at the Beijing Olympics\n\nOf course Mikaela Shiffrin wants to win.\n\nThat’s the point of being an elite athlete, isn’t it? To go faster than everyone else. To beat the person next to you. To pile up the statistics and results that are the easiest and most obvious measures of success.\n\nFor Shiffrin, though, winning is the byproduct. Like the student who relishes the grind more than the grade, she is more interested in the things that go into making her one of the best ski racers of all time. The mechanics. The angles and edges. The tactics. The repetition. The searching for the tiniest of flaws and figuring out how to fix them. The fascination with the hows and the whys and the what ifs I did this instead.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/02/04"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2023/01/24/mikaela-shiffrin-holds-slim-lead-gs-chasing-lindsey-vonns-record/11110684002/", "title": "Mikaela Shiffrin holds slim lead in GS, chasing Lindsey Vonn's record", "text": "Associated Press\n\nSAN VIGILIO DI MAREBBE, Italy – Mikaela Shiffrin holds a slim lead after the first run of Tuesday’s giant slalom and is in position for a record-breaking 83rd World Cup victory.\n\nShiffrin currently shares the women’s record of 82 wins with former American teammate Lindsey Vonn.\n\nShiffrin is 0.13 seconds ahead of world champion Lara Gut-Behrami and 0.27 ahead of home favorite and former overall champion Federica Brignone at the Kronplatz resort in San Vigilio.\n\nPetra Vlhova, Shiffrin’s usual rival, was 1.01 back, with Olympic champion Sara Hector nearly two seconds behind.\n\nThe second run starts at 1:30 p.m. local (7:30 a.m. ET).\n\nIf she does win, Shiffrin will then need only three more victories to match Ingemark Stenmark’s overall mark – between men and women – of 86 victories. Stenmark competed in the 1970s and 80s.\n\nVonn retired four years ago when injuries cut her career short.\n\nMike Day, the head coach of Shiffrin’s personal team, set the course for the first run. Mauro Pini, Vlhova’s coach, will set the second run.\n\nShiffrin appeared to make a tactical decision to hold back slightly on the hardest part of a slope that is named Erta, which translates as “steep,” featuring a 61% gradient. Then she accelerated on the flatter lower section and appeared satisfied upon seeing her result, pumping her first slightly.\n\n“There’s some spots where I was skiing very strong but not always taking on the speed,” Shiffrin said. “But I felt very, very good on the start. So just taking that skiing and being a bit more aggressive on the rest of the course.\n\n“It was also smart after downhill, super-G to just get the timing back a bit,” Shiffrin added. “I just tried to move really quick and (make) good, clean turns.”\n\nThis is Shiffrin’s fifth opportunity to break the record after matching Vonn’s mark in Kranjksa Gora, Slovenia, earlier this month. She finished second to Vlhova in a slalom, her best event, in Flachau, Austria, then missed the podium in three straight speed races in nearby Cortina d’Ampezzo last weekend.\n\nGut-Behrami came down immediately after Shiffrin and took a similar cautious approach on the steeps. The Swiss skier’s last GS win came in November in Killington, Vermont. She claimed the gold medal in the event at the 2021 world championships in Cortina.\n\nThe first run was held in flat light with snow falling.\n\nValerie Grenier, the Canadian who claimed her first World Cup win this month, stood fourth, 0.76 behind, and American skier Paula Moltzan was fifth, 0.84 behind.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/01/24"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/beijing/2022/02/08/winter-olympics-2022-updates-wednesday-medal-events/6710639001/", "title": "Winter Olympics recap: Lindsey Jacobellis wins first US gold ...", "text": "USA TODAY Sports\n\nLive coverage of today's events can be found here.\n\nTeam USA finally earned its first gold medal of the 2022 Beijing Olympics.\n\nLindsey Jacobellis, competing in her fifth Winter Games, won gold in the snowboardcross competition Wednesday. Her previous best finish was winning silver at the 2006 Olympics.\n\n(Looking for a recap of Tuesday's events? We've got you covered.)\n\nAnother stunning mistake has taken American skiing star Mikaela Shiffrin out of contention for a medal in her second consecutive event at the Olympics.\n\nShiffrin, who wiped out in the women's giant slalom on Monday, was one of the favorites in the slalom -- an event where she claimed the gold eight years ago in Sochi.\n\nShaun White and Chloe Kim advanced to the finals of the men's and women's halfpipe competitions. White, a three-time gold medalist in the event, is competing in his final Olympics.\n\nMeanwhile, freeskier Colby Stevenson soared onto the podium in the men's big air competition.\n\nTV SCHEDULE: How and what to watch each day of the Beijing Olympics\n\nOLYMPICS MEDAL COUNT: Track the hardware in Beijing by country\n\nCHASING GOLD: Get the best Olympic stories straight to your inbox with our newsletter\n\nEXCLUSIVE OLYMPIC UPDATES: Sign up for texts to get the latest news and behind-the-scenes coverage from Beijing\n\nDenmark's men's hockey team made history Wednesday when they beat Czech Republic 2-1.\n\nDenmark's men and women made their Olympic debuts in hockey this year and the Danish men earned their first win with a two-goal first period. Former NHL player Frans Nielsen and Markus Lauridsen had goals for Denmark.\n\n\"This is a huge moment for Danish hockey. We're not usually at the Olympics,\" coach Heinz Ehlers said. \"We're so happy and proud right now.\n\n\"It's not like we win here today and we think we're Olympic champions,\" Ehlers continued. \"We're realistic and know that we have to work really hard and get a little bit of luck to win hockey games.\"\n\nThe Danish women claimed their first Olympic win earlier this week 3-2, also against the Czech Republic.\n\n-- Analis Bailey\n\nBiney advances in thrilling short-track finish\n\nBEIJING – U.S. short-track speedskater Maame Biney was in last place entering the final curve of her 1000-meter heat Wednesday night.\n\nShe ended up winning – by three thousandths of a second.\n\nBiney, 22, and teammate Kristen Santos both advanced to Friday's quarterfinal round, the latter in far more comfortable fashion than the former. While Biney eked out a win, Santos led for much of her heat before crossing the finish line first.\n\nThe American women had much better luck Wednesday than the men, both of whom failed to advance in the 1500. Andrew Heo and Ryan Pivirotto each made the quarterfinals but did not go any further, with Heo placing fifth of six skaters in his race and Pivirotto disqualified for an infraction.\n\n-- Tom Schad\n\nTeam USA finally won its first gold medal. Here's what you missed overnight Wednesday:\n\nLindsey Jacobellis wins snowboardcross, Team USA's first gold medal\n\nLindsey Jacobellis is golden, and so is Team USA.\n\nJacobellis, 36, won gold in women's snowboardcross at the Beijing Olympics. France's Chloe Trespeuch finished in second.\n\nJacobellis is one of the most successful snowboarders in her sport but most Americans remember her for the 2006 Olympic race in which she held the lead late before falling performing a method on the last jump. She settled for silver.\n\nAt the 2018 Games in Pyeongchang, Jacobellis finished fourth.\n\nShe's the most decorated bordercross athlete of all time. She achieved 31 wins and 57 podiums in 104 World Cup starts.\n\n-- Chris Bumbaca\n\nLindsey Jacobellis among four Americans to advance to snowboard cross quarters\n\nZHANGJIAKOU, China — All four Americans have advanced to the women’s snowboard cross quarterfinals by placing in the top two of their respective heats (of four riders) on Tuesday.\n\nThat includes 2006 silver-medalist Lindsey Jacobellis, who is competing in her fifth Games. She won her heat by more than one second. Meghan Tierney entered the round in 16th and held onto the final spot in the quarterfinals by outlasting Lara Casanova of Switzerland despite the two bumping while coming around the second-to-last bend.\n\nStacy Gaskill also won her heat handily, and Faye Gulini’s victory made it a clean sweep for the U.S.\n\nSixteen riders remain in the competition.\n\n-- Chris Bumbaca\n\nShaun White leads trio of Americans who qualify for halfpipe final\n\nZHANGJIAKOU, China – Shaun White will have one more competition in the halfpipe, only a few runs remaining between him and the end of a competitive snowboarding career.\n\nThe three-time Olympic gold medalist advanced to Friday’s final at the Beijing Olympics, qualifying fourth at Genting Snow Park.\n\nFellow Americans Taylor Gold and Chase Josey also qualified for the final, ranking seventh and 12th, respectively. Lucas Foster had a hard fall on his second run and finished in 17th. Only the top 12 advance to the final.\n\nWhite, 35, is competing in his final Olympics and last snowboarding competition. It’s a fitting place to end for a rider whose three Olympic golds made him famous and elevated his sport.\n\n-- Rachel Axon\n\nOlympic medals in team figure skating delayed by legal issue\n\nBEIJING – An ongoing legal issue that could affect the medalists in the team figure skating competition at the Beijing Olympics has caused the award ceremony to be delayed, the IOC said Wednesday.\n\nThe ceremony to award the Russian team the gold medals, the United States silver and Japan bronze was pulled from its scheduled slot late Tuesday.\n\nInternational Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams said the reason was a “legal consultation” required with the governing body of skating. Details of the case were not specified.\n\n“We have athletes that have won medals involved,” Adams said at the daily news briefing.\n\nIn a one-line statement, the International Skating Union also cited ongoing legal talks.\n\nIf any athlete and team were disqualified, an appeal would likely follow to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Canada placed fourth and would be in line to be upgraded.\n\nSome skaters in the men’s competition are due to finish their events Thursday and leave China soon after.\n\n“Everyone is doing absolutely everything that the situation can be resolved as soon as possible,” Adams said.\n\nHowever, he cautioned “as you know, legal issues can sometimes drag on.”\n\n-- The Associated Press\n\nMikaela Shiffrin on Beijing disappointment: 'It feels like everything, but it's not'\n\nBEIJING – Two races, 10 gates.\n\nThat’s the sum total of Mikaela Shiffrin’s performance so far at the Beijing Olympics, a Games where she was expected to contend for multiple medals. Two days after skiing out in the first run of the giant slalom, Shiffrin did the same in the first run of the slalom Wednesday.\n\nAfterward, she sat in the snow for several minutes, crying and looking despondent. These were her two best events, races in which she has won gold medals, and she didn’t even get through the first run. It’s the first time she has failed to finish back-to-back technical races since December 2011, when she was 16 years old.\n\n“We came all this way. We’re not done yet but GS and slalom, those were my biggest focuses, so it really feels like a lot of work for nothing,” Shiffrin said afterward, still appearing shell-shocked. “(People) will try to say, `This happens’ and `It’s OK’ and `Don’t be too hard on yourself’ and all of that, but it is a lot of work for a grand total of five gates in the GS and five gates in the slalom. So that is not lost on me.\n\n“It feels like everything,” she added, “but it’s not.”\n\nThere are still three races left: the super-G, the Alpine combined and the downhill. While Shiffrin didn’t rule out competing in all three, she didn’t rule it in, either, saying the U.S. team has others who are just as capable.\n\n-- Nancy Armour\n\nFreeskier Colby Stevenson adds another silver to USA's collection\n\nBEIJING – American Colby Stevenson took home the silver medal in the big air men’s freeskiing final, putting down two monster runs after crashing on his first attempt.\n\nStevenson’s impressive switch left 1800 on his last run – five full rotations in the air – launched him onto the podium but he had to survive seven skiers with an opportunity to pass him. In the end, none of them did, including teammate Alexander Hall.\n\nStevenson, 24, nearly died in a car crash six years ago that left him with a fractured skull and multiple other injuries.\n\n-- Dan Wolken\n\nStunned Mikaela Shiffrin still 'processing' after slalom exit\n\nMikaela Shiffrin said she's \"second guessing the last 15 years\" of her skiing career after falling in women's slalom, the second consecutive race she did not finish at the Beijing Olympics.\n\nDuring an emotional interview with NBC following the race on Wednesday, the two-time Olympic champion said she's questioning \"everything I thought I knew about my own skiing and slalom and racing mentality.\"\n\nShiffrin said she's still \"processing\" what happened on the mountain after she skied out after the fifth gate in the first run of the slalom Wednesday. The DNF comes two days after she skied out after the fifth gate in the first run of the giant slalom.\n\n-- Cydney Henderson\n\nChloe Kim eyes another gold in halfpipe\n\nZHANGJIAKOU, China – Chloe Kim is in position to claim gold again.\n\nThe Olympic champion in Pyeongchang four years ago, Kim easily advanced in qualifying on Wednesday at Genting Snow Park. That gives her the opportunity to become the first woman to win two gold medals when she competes in the final on Thursday.\n\nKim moved on to the final with a mellow, for her, first run that included two 720s and a 900. She’ll be expected to do tricks with 1080 degrees of rotation, and possibly higher, in the final.\n\n“I was really nervous my first run because we’re at the Olympics, but I’m so happy I put one down,” Kim told NBC after qualifying. She did not take questions from print media after the competition.\n\n-- Rachel Axon\n\nTriple corks could make – or break – halfpipe hopefuls\n\nZHANGJIAKOU, China – Perhaps it was Shaun White toying with the triple cork in the halfpipe that made this day inevitable.\n\nMaybe it was the march of progression as snowboarders attempted and mastered difficult double corks. Perhaps it was having the right riders to push it there.\n\nWhatever the causes, the triple cork in the halfpipe is here – and it’s very likely to play a role in the Olympic final. (Qualifying begins Wednesday in Beijing, late Tuesday in the U.S.)\n\nThe trick requires three off-axis flips with varying degrees of rotation.\n\n“If you’re a strategist, you’re going save that in your arsenal and use it if you need to,\" said NBC snowboarding analyst Todd Richards. \"That trick could take you out for the day.”\n\n-- Rachel Axon\n\nShocking disappointment for Mikaela Shiffrin in women's slalom\n\nBEIJING – Mikaela Shiffrin’s second race ended even sooner than her first.\n\nThe two-time Olympic champion skied out after the fifth gate in the first run of the slalom Wednesday. She had appeared to slip around the second gate, but kept her balance, only to ski off the course shortly afterward.\n\nAfterward, she sat in the snow and took a long look at the course.\n\nThe DNF comes two days after she skied out after the fifth gate in the first run of the giant slalom. Shiffrin called that a “huge disappointment” and said she would never get over it, but would have to put it to the side because she still had races left at the Beijing Olympics. Clearly, though, she wasn’t unable to get past it, and now the pressure on Shiffrin, who was predicted to win multiple medals here, will only grow.\n\n-- Nancy Armour\n\nMikaela Shiffrin seeks redemption in women's slalom\n\nDespite wiping out in her first event in Beijing, Mikaela Shiffrin still needs just one more Olympic gold to put her all alone among American alpine skiers. She currently has two gold medals, tying Americans Ted Ligety and Andrea Mead Lawrence.\n\nHer journey, however, has been anything but smooth. From a back injury late last year to a COVID-19 diagnosis, to Monday's disappointment, Shiffrin has experienced a wealth of emotions.\n\nAs USA TODAY's Nancy Armour writes, Shiffrin can't let her earlier mistake carry over into the other races on her Olympic schedule.\n\nChloe Kim defending 2018 Olympic title in women's halfpipe\n\nChloe Kim the first athlete to hold snowboarding titles from all four major events: the Olympics, World Championships, X Games, and Youth Olympics. She is also the only athlete in X Games history to win three gold medals before the age of 16.\n\nShe'll compete in the women's snowboarding halfpipe in Beijing, with qualifying alread underway.\n\nSince halfpipe snowboarding debuted in the Olympics in 1998, no woman has won two gold medals. But Kim isn't just aiming for a medal. She's trying for three new tricks.\n\nThough she hasn't said what they are, it's safe to guess they would progress the sport since she is already doing some of the hardest tricks in halfpipe snowboarding.\n\n--Analis Bailey, Rachel Axon\n\nShaun White's last Olympics and chance for gold\n\nThe 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing will be Shaun White's final ride.\n\nOne of the most recognizable figures in Team USA history, thanks to his flowing red hair and podium success, the legendary snowboarder said on Dec. 15 these Olympics – his fifth – will be his last.\n\nBy now, the sport has caught up to White, and he would be the first to say so. That won't stop him from seeking a fourth gold medal in the men's halfpipe in Beijing to add to his legacy.\n\nOutside of the Olympics, White has 15 Winter X Games golds, in addition to five Summer X Games medals in skateboarding.\n\nAnother Russian women's hockey player out due to positive COVID test\n\nBEIJING – Confusion and controversy surrounding the Russian women’s hockey team’s COVID-19 situation took another turn Tuesday in Beijing.\n\nA day after Russia’s game against Canada was delayed an hour as the teams awaited that morning’s test results, another Russian player – forward Polina Bolgareva -- tested positive for the virus, coach Yevgeni Bobariko told state news agency RIA Novosti, according to The Associated Press and Reuters.\n\nThat brings the total number of Russian players out due to COVID isolation – meaning they’ve tested positive and have not received two negative tests more than 24 hours apart – to eight, per the AP.\n\nCanada and Russia played their game, a 6-1 Canadian victory, with KN95 masks on their faces. Russia removed the masks prior to the third period because the test results came back, they said afterward. Canada left the masks on.\n\n\"Everybody saw how we played against Canada with masks and took them off after the second period, when we received the results of our tests. They were all negative,” Bobariko told the state news agency, per Reuters.\n\nBut Bolgareva’s results “turned positive” upon returning to the Olympic Village after the game, the coach said.\n\n“I don’t understand how this is happening,” he added.\n\nBolgareva played 17:39 against the U.S. on Saturday, a 5-0 U.S. win.\n\nThe International Ice Hockey Federation attributed Monday’s delay, officially, to “health and safety issues.”\n\nRegarding Bolgareva’s reported positive, the IIHF referred USA TODAY Sports to the International Olympic Committee, which still has not commented on Monday’s events.\n\nCanada forward Emily Clark, who was infected with the virus in December and whose results came back inconclusive on Monday, did not play against Russia. She played 19:39 against the U.S. in the Canadians’ 4-2 win Tuesday.\n\n-- Chris Bumbaca\n\nWhat's with all those stuffed pandas at the medal ceremonies?\n\nIf you’ve been keeping up with the Winter Olympics in Beijing, you might have noticed Olympians from countries around the world posing with a plush toy panda after they compete.\n\nBut why are some of the winning athletes posing with the toy after their events instead of immediately receiving their medals?\n\nAfter some of the competitions, the champions receive the panda mascot of the games, Bing Dwen Dwen, and are given their medals later at a special ceremony.\n\nThe Bing Dwen Dwen toys come stuffed inside a plastic shell that represents ice and is decorated with a gold wreath. Bing means “ice” in Mandarin Chinese, though it also symbolizes purity and strength. Dwen Dwen means robust and lively and it also represents children.\n\n-- Marina Pitofsky\n\nWomen ski jumpers disqualified for baggy uniforms\n\nFive female competitors were disqualified from the mixed team ski jump final in the Beijing Winter Olympics over uniform violations.\n\nTheir jumpsuits were allegedly deemed too large, which could give a skier a leg up during the event, according to multiple reports.\n\nKatharina Althaus of Germany told reporters after she was disqualified, “We were looking forward to the second competition at the Olympics. [The International Ski Federation] destroyed that with this action – they destroyed women's ski jumping.\n\n\"Our names are now (out) there and we just pulled the crap card. That is how you destroy nations, development and the entire sport,” she added, Reuters reported.\n\nThis year marked the first time the mixed team ski jumping event was included at a Winter Olympics. All of the competitors who were disqualified are women.\n\n-- Marina Pitofsky\n\nNathan Chen in in great position to win skating gold\n\nBEIJING – Nathan Chen’s four-year quest now has less than 48 hours to go.\n\nWith a massive fist pump following some of the most beautiful jumps ever landed under the unforgiving spotlight of the Olympic Games, Chen exorcized the demons from Olympic short programs past to skate a world-record-breaking men’s short and put himself in position to win the gold medal in Thursday’s long program.\n\nChen, 22, received more points from the judges than any man ever has – 113.97 – for his soaring quadruple jumps and exquisite artistry to “La Boheme” to take an almost six-point lead over his closest challenger, Japanese 18-year-old Yuma Kagiyama.\n\nNOTE: USA Network replays Chen and the other top skaters' short programs starting at 6:30 p.m. ET.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/02/08"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2022/02/16/winter-olympics-2022-thursday-live-updates-beijing/6815901001/", "title": "Winter Olympics recap: Kamila Valieva misses figure skating podium", "text": "USA TODAY Sports\n\n(Looking for Friday's action? Live coverage of today's events can be found here.)\n\nOver the course of a few brief moments at the Beijing Olympics, the U.S. women's hockey team was defeated by Canada in the gold-medal game and Mikaela Shiffrin's frustration at the Winter Games continued after skiing out of a third event.\n\nMarie-Philip Poulin scored two goals to help Canada build a 3-0 lead en route to a 3-2 victory over the U.S. Canada snatched gold back from the U.S. as the Americans failed to defend their Olympic crown from four years ago.\n\nShiffrin skied out in the slalom Thursday after losing her balance at gate 10. Shiffrin still has one last chance at a medal. She has said she plans to do the team event Saturday.\n\nIn women's figure skating, Russian gold medal favorite (and center of controversy) Kamila Valieva stumbled throughout her final performance and finished fourth.\n\nTV SCHEDULE: What and how to watch Olympics Wednesday night and Thursday morning\n\nTEXT ALERTS: Sign up for behind-the-scenes access from our reporters on the ground\n\nOLYMPICS NEWSLETTER: All of our coverage straight to your inbox\n\nMEDAL COUNT: How each country is performing at the Winter Games\n\nKamila Valieva stumbles, misses out on medal\n\nBEIJING — In a story full of shocking twists, this might be the one that nobody saw coming.\n\nWith a disastrous performance in her long program Thursday, Russian teenager and heavy gold-medal favorite Kamila Valieva dropped out of first place and all the way outside of medal contention, finishing fourth.\n\nIt was a shocking finale to a weeklong international saga. Valieva, 15, had been at the center of a media hurricane after news that she tested positive for a banned substance – and subsequent news that the Court of Arbitration for Sport would allow her to compete anyways.\n\nValieva sat stunned in the kiss-and-cry as her score was announced, and for several minutes thereafter.\n\nCompatriots Anna Shcherbakova and Alexandra Trusova ended up taking gold and silver, respectively, followed by Kaori Sakamoto of Japan, who won bronze.\n\n– Tom Schad\n\nUSA men's curling team loses, relegated to bronze-medal game\n\nBEIJING – There will be no “Miracurl on Ice,” Part 2.\n\nThe U.S. men’s curling team is out of contention for a second consecutive gold medal after losing its semifinal to Great Britain, 8-4, on Thursday night. Instead, it will play Canada in the bronze medal game on Friday.\n\n“It’s hugely disappointing, but at the same time I was super proud of how we played and how we battled in the game,\" U.S. skipper John Shuster said. \"I’m sure the disappointment will set in and it will feel worse, but I think honestly they’re a great curling team and they don’t make too many mistakes.”\n\nTrailing 5-4 at the halfway mark, the Americans’ strategy was to string together blank ends in order to have the hammer late – and just as importantly keep it away from Great Britain’s Bruce Mouat, the top-ranked curler in the world.\n\nA potential opportunity came in the ninth end when the board opened up for the Americans to pounce and potentially grab the lead. Instead, vice-skipper Chris Plys hit the guards with both of his throws – an utterly disastrous outcome – which essentially eliminated the possibility of the U.S. taking the lead.\n\nAt that point, Shuster could have drawn in for the tie, handing the hammer back to Great Britain for the 10th end. Instead, he chose to concede a point in order to keep the last stone advantage to potentially tie or win.\n\n\"The chance of winning against those guys tied without the hammer (is small),\" Shuster said.\n\nDespite those untimely mistakes in the ninth, Shuster did get a chance to knock Great Britain’s last stone out of the house and tie the game. Shuster has built a reputation in the Olympics as a big-shot maker, giving the Americans a little hope that he could make something happen again. This time, though, he missed on his attempt to run the guard back, sending the U.S. into the bronze medal game.\n\nShuster led the U.S. to bronze in 2006.\n\n– Dan Wolken\n\nAlysa Liu will be top finisher for US women\n\nBEIJING – Alysa Liu ensured that she will be the top-finishing American woman at the Beijing Olympics after another relatively smooth program.\n\nWith an overall score of 208.95, Liu was sitting in first place at the conclusion of her program, ahead of compatriots Mariah Bell (202.30) and Karen Chen (179.93). There were still seven skaters remaining after Liu.\n\nLiu, 16, is the youngest member of Team USA in Beijing. She attempted and cleanly landed a planned triple axel in her long program Thursday, but it appeared to be underrotated.\n\n– Tom Schad\n\nUS figure skater Mariah Bell ends program on high note\n\nBEIJING – Mariah Bell’s first Olympics ended on a high note.\n\nThe 25-year-old, and oldest U.S. women’s figure skater since 1928, put together a clean free skate the judges ruled a 136.2 to temporarily move into first place. But with 11 competitors behind her, finishing on the podium remains a longshot.\n\nBell’s first half went smoothly and her more difficult back end of the program was well-executed. Both triple lutz’s went according to plan for the 2021 U.S. national champion.\n\nCoach Adam Rippon had his hands in the air for those big jumps and greeted her with a warm embrace as she stepped off the rink.\n\n– Chris Bumbaca\n\nUS figure skater Karen Chen falls during short program, will not medal\n\nBEIJING – A mistake-filled Olympics for Karen Chen has mercifully come to end.\n\nChen almost made it through her free skate without falling but took a hard spill toward the end on a triple loop, the same move she fell on in the short program two nights ago. Earlier in the skate, her hand touched the ground on the first triple loop, a jump she expressed confidence in Tuesday night – and described as a cornerstone of her performance.\n\nChen’s score of 197.93 temporarily placed her in fifth. She will not medal.\n\nThe 2018 Olympian also fell during the short program of the team competition, in which the United States still took silver, but stayed upright in the long program.\n\nChen, who finished fourth at the world championships ahead of the last two Olympics, skated to “Butterfly Lovers” by Takako Nishizaki. The 22-year-old is expected to return to Cornell University.\n\n– Chris Bumbaca\n\nWhile you were sleeping\n\nThe U.S. women's hockey team couldn't defend its 2018 gold medal triumph, and Mikaela Shiffrin skied out again. Here's what you missed overnight while you were sleeping:\n\nTeam USA goaltender Alex Cavallini played on torn MCL throughout Winter Olympics\n\nBEIJING — After the United States' third game of group play during the 2022 Winter Olympics, goaltender Alex Cavallini hinted at obstacles that almost prevented her from participating in the Beijing Games.\n\nAsked to elaborate, Cavallini replied on Feb. 6: \"We'll talk after the Olympics.\"\n\nNow that the tournament is over, with the U.S. taking silver after a 3-2 loss to Canada on Thursday, Cavallini revealed she tore her MCL on Jan. 14 and wasn't sure if she'd make the trip to China with her teammates.\n\n\"(I) didn't even know if I was going to make it on the flight here,\" said Cavallini, still \"numb\" from the defeat. \"So for me to be able to battle – all thanks to our (medical) staff, and for our coaching staff to believe in me and support me along the way.\"\n\n— Chris Bumbaca\n\nTeam USA speedskater Brittany Bowe captures bronze medal in women's 1,000 meters\n\nAmerican Brittany Bowe, who has been dominant at the distance over the last three years, won the bronze medal in the women's 1,000 meters Thursday.\n\nBowe finished third in 1:14.61 behind gold medalist Miho Takagi of Japan and Jutta Leerdam of the Netherlands. Bowe, who holds the world record in the 1,000, was 1.42 seconds behind Takagi.\n\nEven though it wasn't the gold medal she was chasing, Bowe has had a special Games, carrying the flag for the U.S. team in the opening ceremony. The three-time Olympian also saw her friend and teammate Erin Jackson win gold in the 500 earlier in the week. Bowe finished first in the 500 at the Olympic trials last month. But she gave up her Olympic spot to Jackson, who slipped and didn’t automatically qualify for the Olympic team. The United States ended up getting another spot in the race, but Bowe’s act of sportsmanship resonated.\n\nBefore Bowe’s race, Jackson tweeted a photo of the two together: “You are a mentor. A friend. A teammate. A sister. Thank you for playing a huge part in my journey to gold.”\n\nIt's the second Olympic bronze for Bowe, who finished third in the women's team pursuit four years ago with Heather Bergsma and Mia Manganello.\n\nUS men have shot at sweep of medals with 4 skiers in halfpipe final\n\nZHANGJIAKOU, China — The U.S. men’s success in the halfpipe hardly came as a surprise, even if it did come with suspense.\n\nAll four American freeskiers advanced to the Beijing Olympics final in qualifying Thursday, giving the country its best chance at a podium sweep.\n\nThe veteran team, which is largely the same from Pyeongchang four years ago, entered these Games with every skier in the top eight of the International Ski Federation’s points list.\n\nThe final will be held Saturday.\n\n– Rachel Axon\n\nIOC optimistic NHL players will participate in 2026 Winter Olympics\n\nBEIJING — International Ice Hockey Federation president Luc Tardif said Thursday he is optimistic NHL players will participate in the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina, though he wants an agreement reached further in advance than this time around.\n\nThe league, NHL Players’ Association, IIHF and IOC worked out a deal for the 2022 Games that was not announced until September. The NHL withdrew in late December after the omicron variant-fueled wave of the coronavirus pandemic caused mass postponements of games, making this the second consecutive Olympics without the world’s best hockey players.\n\nTardif said he would like an agreement more than a year in advance of the 2026 tournament. NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told The Associated Press by email that league officials do not anticipate an issue reaching an agreement “on a relatively expedited basis.”\n\nThe NHL has not participated in the Olympics since 2014, ending a run of five appearances in a row dating to 1998. Players did not take part in 2018 because of disagreements over the costs of insurance and travel.\n\n– Associated Press\n\nUS women’s hockey team falls to Canada in gold medal game, settles for silver\n\nBEIJING — For more than a decade, the two constants of the United States-Canada women’s hockey rivalry have been the evenness between the two teams and Marie-Philip Poulin scoring goals in Olympic gold medal games.\n\nOnly one of those things was on display for most of Thursday’s gold medal contest at the Beijing Olympics, and it wasn’t parity.\n\nPoulin scored twice and Canada snatched gold back from the U.S. in a 3-2 win, as the Americans failed to defend their Olympic crown from four years ago.\n\nThe pings from two shots that hit the post – one from Hannah Brandt in the first period, another off Alex Carpenter’s stick in the third – will haunt Team USA for the next four years. The two misses provided the difference in a game Canada mostly controlled, save for an inspired – and desperate – third-period effort from the U.S.\n\n– Chris Bumbaca\n\nMikaela Shiffrin skis out in slalom run of combined, will not medal\n\nBEIJING — Mikaela Shiffrin will need help from her team if she’s to win any medals at the Beijing Olympics.\n\nIn position to win her first medal in Beijing after finishing fifth in the downhill portion of the Alpine combined, Shiffrin skied out in the slalom Thursday after losing her balance at gate 10 and falling to her hip two gates later, less than 10 seconds into her race. The combined is a run each of downhill and slalom, with results based on overall time.\n\nShiffrin had Did Not Finishes (DNF) in the giant slalom and slalom, as well, skiing off the course after the fifth gate in the first run of each race.\n\nThe combined was Shiffrin’s last individual event in Beijing. She’d been expected to contend for multiple medals here, after winning three in her previous two Games, but her best finish was ninth in the super-G.\n\nShiffrin still has one last chance at a medal. She has said she plans to do the team event Saturday, which features head-to-head races in a single-elimination bracket.\n\n– Nancy Armour\n\nCarly Margulies reaches freeski halfpipe Olympic finals after missing two years with knee injuries\n\nZHANGJIAKOU, China – For a first competition in more than two years, dropping into an Olympic halfpipe isn’t a bad way to go.\n\nUnderstandably U.S. freeskier Carly Margulies to felt some nervous, but after putting up a score that made her somewhat safe, the Olympic newcomer relaxed.\n\n“It’s been a while since I felt that,” she said. “It’s definitely nerve racking, but as soon as I put that first run down it was all fun from there.”\n\nMargulies’s career as been littered with knee injuries, seven in all over the last decade or so. The tally is four anterior cruciate ligament tears and five to her meniscus, two on her left knee and five one her right.\n\nWithin the past two years, Margulies, 24, has had four knee injuries, including as recently as December. After that one, she thought she might be done.\n\n“I thought my career was over, but after surgery there was hope,” she said.\n\nMargulies qualified based on International Ski Federation points she’d accumulated before she missed so much time with injury. After her December surgery, that left her just weeks to get ready.\n\nShe qualified in 10th on Thursday at Genting Snow Park, putting her in an Olympic final just months after she thought her career might be over.\n\n“It’s surreal,” Margulies said, “but I honestly feels like it goes to show how much work I put in to get here and my ability to continue to show my skills on snow even though I haven’t been able to practice that much. It just makes me really happy that I haven’t lost anything.”\n\n– Rachel Axon\n\nHilary Knight gives US women's hockey team hope\n\nBEIJING — It’s looking like silver for the USA in women’s hockey.\n\nCanada leads 3-1 after two periods. Marie-Philip Poulin netted her second goal of the game, knocking a rebound off Alex Cavallini’s right pad. But Hilary Knight at least gave the U.S. life with three minutes to go in the period with a shorthanded goal to bring the deficit back to two.\n\nAccording to NBC Sports, the three-goal deficit during the second period was the largest in a Games since the teams first met at an Olympics in 1998.\n\nIn no surprise, the U.S. leads in shots, 24-17.\n\n– Chris Bumbaca\n\nIOC news conference gets political\n\nBEIJING — A Beijing 2022 spokesperson made several overtly political statements Thursday at a joint news conference with the International Olympic Committee – which has for years stressed the importance of keeping politics out of the Games.\n\nIn a particularly notable exchange, a reporter asked IOC spokesperson Mark Adams about the organization's relationship with Anta, a sporting goods manufacturer that sources cotton from China's Xinjiang region. The U.S. government has determined that forced-labor camps in the region are used as part of the cotton supply chain.\n\nWhen Adams finished answering the question, Beijing 2022 spokesperson Yan Jiarong jumped in.\n\n\"I feel obliged to make a very quick comment,\" she said in English, before continuing in Chinese. \"I think the so-called forced labor in Xinjiang is lies made up by deliberate groups, and the relevant organizations have provided a large amount of facts to dispute that. And we are against the politicizing of sports. Thank you.\"\n\nThen, a few moments later, Adams was asked to provide the IOC's position on forced labor camps in Xinjiang.\n\n\"I don't think it's particularly relevant to this press conference. It's certainly not relevant to the IOC,\" he said in part. \"We are very, very concerned about protecting human rights within our sphere, which is within the Olympic Games, within the staging of the Olympic Games.\"\n\nYan then reiterated her stance.\n\n\"I think these questions are very much based on lies,\" she said through an interpreter.\n\nYan had also interjected earlier in the news conference, after Adams fielded a question involving the Olympic delegation from Taiwan – which, for political reasons, competes as \"Chinese Taipei.\"\n\n\"What I want to say is that there is only one China in the world,\" she said. \"Taiwan is an undividable part of China. This is a well-recognized international principle, and we are recognized in the international community.\"\n\nThese were hardly the first questions about hot-button issues that have been asked of the IOC and Beijing 2022 organizers since the start of the Games – though spokespeople had, until Thursday, largely gone to great lengths to avoid answering them directly.\n\nWhen asked about Yan's political statements, in the wake of the IOC's long-standing stance that the Games must be apolitical, Adams demurred.\n\n\"There are many views on all sorts of things, around the world,\" he said. \"But our job is to make sure that the Games take place, and the magic of the Games can happen, and that we can improve the world through sport.\"\n\n– Tom Schad\n\nSofia Goggia leaves her skis for Mikaela Shiffrin\n\nBEIJING — It’s gotta be the skis.\n\nMikaela Shiffrin put herself in position for a medal in the Alpine combined Thursday, skiing the fifth-best time in the downhill portion on Sofia Goggia’s skis. The Italian, the world’s best downhill skier, had left the skis for Shiffrin along with a note that said, “Fly Mika, you can.”\n\n“I almost started crying,” Shiffrin said after the run, which left her 0.56 seconds off the lead. “I’m thankful I was able to get a feeling on those and, yeah, just tried to fly as best as I could.”\n\nThe combined is a run each of downhill and slalom, with final results based on overall time.\n\nThough Shiffrin races downhill sparingly – she’s only done four races in the past two years – she only needs to be competitive in order to give herself a chance going into slalom, her specialty. Of the medal contenders, she had the best downhill time.\n\nThe two-time Olympic champion has had a rough go in Beijing, skiing off the course after the fifth gate in the first run of both the giant slalom and slalom, her two best events. Goggia had her own challenges just getting to Beijing – the Olympic downhill champion in 2018 shredded her knee in a Jan. 23 crash – and had expressed sympathy for Shiffrin.\n\nAfter winning a silver medal in Tuesday’s downhill race, Goggia went a step further, leaving her skis for Shiffrin.\n\n“They’re a pair of the skis she is currently training and competing on,” Shiffrin said. “She didn’t need them because she wasn’t competing (in the combined) here, so I was able to try them yesterday.”\n\nShiffrin had the fastest time in the downhill training Wednesday.\n\n– Nancy Armour\n\nCanada takes 2-0 lead on US in women's hockey gold-medal game\n\nBEIJING — The U.S. is going to have to climb out of a two-goal hole to give themselves a chance at gold.\n\nThis was always going to be about the U.S. making the most of its chances on Canada goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens. Hannah Brandt missed a big one early, hitting the left post on an open net. Abby Roque couldn’t make anything on another chance later in the period.\n\nA smart offsides challenge kept the game scoreless about seven minutes into the game, but Canada scored less than a minute later anyway to make it 1-0 anyway. Canada’s Sarah Nurse has now tied Hayley Wickenheiser for most points in an Olympic tournament with 17 (five goals, 12 assists).\n\nWith five minutes left in the period, familiar foe Marie-Philip Poulin struck again in the big moment. The Canadian captain has scored in four consecutive gold-medal games against the U.S., and her goal made it 2-0 after she swiped the puck from Kelly Pannek and put it past Alex Cavallini, who needs to step up and give her team a chance against a high-powered Canadian attack.\n\n— Chris Bumbaca\n\nBirthday girl Devin Logan fails to advance, but three US women make freeski halfpipe final\n\nZHANGJIAKOU, China — Devin Logan was hoping for more from her last Olympics, wanting her birthday to have more reason to celebrate.\n\nBut the three-time Olympian failed to advance through women’s freeski halfpipe qualifying at the Beijing Games on Thursday, finishing in 13th and one spot outside the final field.\n\nLogan, who turns 29 today, has decided these are her last Game. While she has focused on halfpipe here, she long competed in that event and slopestyle and won a silver medal in slopestyle’s debut in Sochi in 2014.\n\n“Definitely wanted more for myself. Being one out is always very difficult,” Logan said. “But this is my third Olympics, and I can say I even got here, which is a great achievement in my eyes. Of course I wanted more, wanted to showcase my skiing in the finals but you’ll be hearing me tomorrow cheering on the rest of the ladies.”\n\nLogan’s American teammates all made the final behind China’s Eileen Gu, who was the top qualifier. Brita Sigourney, a bronze medalist four years ago, qualified eighth. Olympic newcomers Hanna Faulhaber and Carly Margulies qualified ninth and 10th, respectively.\n\nLogan didn’t rule out a return to competition next season, but she does not plan to compete for another Games.\n\n“Injuries, age, my body hurts. I’m all on Aleve right now and shoulder’s taped up,” she said. “You see the next generation pushing and it’s like, ‘OK, I think I left my mark and I think it’s going to be OK.’”\n\n— Rachel Axon\n\nUS reaches men's curling semifinals, seeking second straight gold\n\nBEIJING – The U.S. men’s curling team will have a chance to defend its gold medal after all.\n\nWith a 7-5 win over Denmark on Thursday morning, the Americans clinched the fourth and final spot in the medal round and will face top seed Great Britain in the semifinals. The game will start at 8 p.m. Thursday in Beijing or 7 a.m. ET in the U.S.\n\nThe Americans, led by skipper John Shuster, finished 5-4 in the round robin tournament but needed the final win to get into the semifinals. After a slow start, things turned in the third end when Shuster drew for two to tie the game. Then in the fourth, Shuster was able to set up the board for a potential steal and Denmark skipper Mikkel Krause missed everything with the hammer, giving the U.S. three points.\n\nThe Americans played smartly with the lead and never allowed Denmark a chance to put together a big end. The U.S. gave up two in the ninth end but still had the lead with the hammer going into the final frame and successfully knocked away every Denmark stone to close out the win.\n\nTeam Shuster shockingly won the gold medal in Pyeongchang four years ago, making the medal round with the same 5-4 record before upsetting Canada and Sweden to make history for the U.S.\n\n— Dan Wolken\n\nRivalry resumes as US plays Canada for women's hockey gold\n\nBEJING — It all comes down to this for the U.S. women’s hockey team in their quest to repeat as Olympic champions.\n\nStanding in the way is rival Canada, for the fourth consecutive time in a gold-medal game. The 2018 gold marked the first for the U.S. since 1998, and if victorious on Thursday, it will be the first time the Americans repeat.\n\nThe United States outshot Canada 53-27 in a 4-2 preliminary-round loss nine days ago. Canada goaltender Ann-Renée Desbiens stopped 51 shots and has been stellar all tournament. Meanwhile, Canada's offense has been historic; the Canadians' 54 goals scored in six games are an Olympic record. The U.S. is second in team scoring in Beijing with 28 goals here.\n\nAlex Cavallini starts in goal again for the U.S. – she’s been between the pipes for all three playoff round games.\n\n— Chris Bumbaca\n\nMikaela Shiffrin has combined medal in sight after solid downhill\n\nBEIJING — Mikaela Shiffrin is in position for her first medal.\n\nA clean run in the downhill portion of the Alpine combined left Shiffrin 0.56 seconds back and in fifth place behind Austria’s Christine Scheyer. But neither Scheyer nor the other skiers in front of Shiffrin are slalom specialists, giving the American a chance to make up ground Thursday afternoon.\n\nWendy Holdener, the bronze medalist in 2018, is 0.43 seconds behind Shiffrin while reigning Olympic champion Michelle Gisin is 0.44 seconds behind.\n\nThe combined is one run each of the downhill and slalom.\n\nShiffrin was in sixth place after the downhill four years ago, but had the third-fastest run in slalom as she claimed the silver medal at the Pyeongchang Olympics. Gisin was third in the downhill and fourth in slalom 2018, while Holdener was 10th in the downhill and first in slalom.\n\nOne of the best technical skiers ever, Shiffrin can afford to give up some ground in the downhill. But she has to at least be competitive and her experience in downhill has been sparse recently. She has done only four downhill races, the last coming the first week of December, and hadn’t even been on downhill skis in two months before the first training run Saturday.\n\n“Every day that I get on this track and I’m able to take a run and just do a solid run, top to bottom, it gives me the chance to be a little more calm in my mind,” Shiffrin said after finishing 18th in the downhill Tuesday. “I tend to think way too much and that makes it hard to ski freely. But I can’t (ski freely). I have to think because I haven’t really practiced downhill in two years.”\n\nShiffrin was expected to contend for multiple medals in Beijing, but her best finish so far is ninth place in the super-G. She did not finish either the giant slalom or slalom, her best events, skiing off the course after the fifth gate in the first run of both races.\n\nA medal in the combined would be Shiffrin’s fourth at the Olympics, tying her with Julia Mancuso for most by a U.S. woman. In addition to her silver from the combined, Shiffrin has golds in slalom (2014) and giant slalom (2018).\n\n— Nancy Armour\n\nGold medalist David Wise overcame adversity to make it back to third Olympics\n\nDavid Wise couldn’t know it as he lay atop an Austrian mountain feeling his hip move and his foot fall limply, but the broken femur wouldn’t just shape his skiing career.\n\nThe injury, the worst he’d endured, would alter how the two-time Olympic gold medalist saw himself, would change his relationships and would prepare him for the life-altering changes the coronavirus pandemic would bring months later.\n\nNow, nearly three years later, the 31-year-old Wise takes the perspective that the adversity has given him and uses it to prepare for his third Olympics, where he will try to win his third consecutive gold in the freeski halfpipe. Qualifying is scheduled to begin at 11:30 p.m. ET.\n\n“In some ways I felt like maybe breaking my leg kind of prepared me for the world to go crazy because I was going through so much on a personal side that I kind of developed this thankfulness to be alive, just a thankfulness for still being able to do what I wanted to do,” Wise said.\n\nAnd his skiing, well, the lead-up to these Games hasn’t looked as dominant as it did in the past two quadrennia. But few would count Wise out, and his experiences in recent years have given him a new perspective.\n\n“I’m less and less tied, in terms of identity, to a pair of skis,” Wise said. (Read the full story here.)\n\n— Rachel Axon\n\nLipinski, Weir kept quiet while calling Kamila Valieva's short program\n\nTypically NBC’s Olympic skating analysts Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir never stop talking. Their enthusiasm for the sport they both excelled in is their calling card — each triple axle described as a miracle of science, grace and beauty.\n\nHowever, when Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva competed in the short program after failing a pre-Olympics drug test, they were uncharacteristically quiet.\n\nLipinski and Weir simply noted Valieva’s jumps from time to time, and their silence made the event unusually tense, even for such a high-pressure forum.\n\nWhen Valieva was done, she broke down in tears. Weir said, simply, “All I can feel like I can say is that was the short program of Kamila Valieva at the Olympics.”\n\nIf you’ve watched any skating in the last few years, you know what a shock that is.\n\nBeforehand Lipinski said, “I don’t know how many times over the past year I’ve said that she is the best figure skater I’ve ever seen, and just saying that now not only makes me confused, but it makes me angry, and again, I’m disoriented by everything that I thought I knew.”\n\nAfter the end of the women’s short program, her score of 82.16 landed Valieva firmly in first place, though a well-known retired Olympic and world figure skating judge, who co-wrote the criteria for the program components on which the sport’s artistry is based and judged, told USA TODAY Sports' Christine Brennan that she should have finished third.\n\nAfterwards Weir posted a short video on Twitter, calling it “the hardest event I’ve ever had to cover.”\n\nThe women's free skate is set for Thursday evening in Beijing (Thursday morning in the U.S.).\n\n— Bill Goodykoontz\n\nMikaela Shiffrin seeks to conquer combined again\n\nMikaela Shiffrin has one final chance to take a medal home from Beijing, and she geared up for the Olympic combined by setting the fastest time in a downhill training session on Wednesday.\n\nThe combined, which adds the times from one downhill run and one slalom run, is scheduled to begin Thursday at 10:30 a.m. (9:30 p.m. ET) with the downhill portion. American Isabella Wright will be the first to ski first with Shiffrin scheduled to run ninth.\n\nThe two-time Olympic champion so far has failed to win a medal at the Beijing Games, skiing out in the giant slalom and the slalom – the two events she has gold medals in – and finishing ninth in the super-G and 18th in Tuesday’s downhill.\n\nShiffrin is the world champion in combined and also won silver in the event at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.\n\nThe 26-year-old Shiffrin is far less experienced in the downhill but finished Wednesday’s training session 0.93 seconds ahead of Switzerland's Wendy Holdener, who won bronze in the combined in Pyeongchang, behind Shiffrin and Swiss teammate Michelle Gisin.\n\n— Associated Press\n\nCan Americans keep up with Eileen Gu in freeski halfpipe?\n\nZHANGJIAKOU, China – Eileen Gu’s last step toward a third Olympic medal during the Beijing Games starts with qualifying.\n\nGu, the American-born teen who competes for her mother’s native China, competes in the freeski halfpipe on Thursday. The top-ranked skier in the world in that event, Gu is looking to advance to Friday’s final and claim her third medal of these Olympics after capturing gold in big air and silver in slopestyle.\n\nNo freeskier has medaled in all three events, which recently joined the Olympic program with halfpipe and slopestyle being added in 2014 and big air first contested here.\n\nVeteran U.S. skier Brita Sigourney enters the Olympics coming off a silver medal at X Games last month. The three-time Olympian took bronze in Pyeongchang four years ago\n\nOlympic newcomer Hanna Faulhaber comes into the competition ranked fifth in the world and with two world cup podiums this season, along with X Games bronze last month.\n\nThree-time Olympian Devin Logan, a silver medalist in slopestyle eight years ago, is competing in her final Games. And Carly Marguilies skies in her first Olympics.\n\n— Rachel Axon\n\nWomen's figure skating comes down to free skate\n\nWith the short program in the rearview mirror, attention turns to the women's free skate and the medals that won't be awarded in figure skating following their completion if Kamila Valieva, who failed a pre-Olympic drug test, finishes in the top three.\n\nBut on the ice, the competition should still be fierce. The women's free skate event is expected to start at 6 p.m. Thursday in Beijing and 5 a.m. ET in the U.S.\n\nKaren Chen, who is in the second of four groups, will be the first American to skate at approximately 6:47 a.m. ET. The third group features Americans Mariah Bell at approximately 7:23 a.m ET and Alysa Liu at approximately 7:46 a.m. ET.\n\nThe medals, though, are likely to be decided amongst the skaters in the fourth and final group, which begins around 8 a.m. ET. Valieva skates last of the six skaters in this group at approximately 8:49 a.m. ET.\n\nValieva was first in the short program, but a well-known retired Olympic and world figure skating judge, who co-wrote the criteria for the program components on which the sport’s artistry is based and judged, told USA TODAY Sports' Christine Brennan that she should have finished third.\n\nEileen Gu begins quest for Olympic medal trifecta\n\nZHANGJIAKOU, China – Eileen Gu knows she skis better under pressure.\n\nGu, who was born and raised in the United States but competes for her mother’s native China, won gold in the Olympic debut of freeski big air last week and took silver in slopestyle on Tuesday. Thursday, she'll begin her quest for a third Olympic medal when qualifying begins in freeski halfpipe.\n\n“The trifecta has always been my biggest goal. It’s definitely lofty, but I know it’s something I can do.”\n\nBut the halfpipe is sure to carry a unique pressure for Gu.\n\nThough she was born and raised in San Francisco, she decided in 2019 to compete for China. She has become the biggest star of these Games, beloved by the few fans selected to attend, and cheered by the Chinese press. She is ubiquitous in media, appearing in seemingly most commercials airing during Olympic competition.\n\nShe’s likely to face pressure again in finishing her trifecta, though it’ll be familiar. Gu won medals in all three events at the 2020 Youth Olympic Games as well as X Games and world championships in 2021 – winning two events in each of those competitions.\n\nSo Gu knows how to navigate this.\n\n“My grandma's coming out today, so she's gonna watch me compete in halfpipe, which means the world to me,” Gu said. “She's never watching me compete before, so hopefully I can put on a good show for her.”\n\n— Rachel Axon\n\nLatest developments in Valieva doping case\n\nAn investigative website called The Dossier Center, published a document showing that Kamila Valieva took three legal substances: Hypoxen, L-carnitine and supradyn in additional to the banned heart medication trimetazidine.\n\nValieva's grandfather is part of her defense and saying that she might have been exposed to trimetazidine through him.\n\n\"The grandfather did not testify at the hearing,\" according to a brief synopsis in the document. \"In his pre-recorded video (shot in a car), he claimed to use trimetazidine periodically when he suffered from 'attacks' and showed a packet of trimetazidine medication to the camera.\"\n\n– Tom Schad\n\nTeam USA medal count rising\n\nHeading into Thursday's action in Beijing, the United States sit fourth in the overall medal haul with 19, one ahead of Canada.\n\nNorway leads the total medal count with 28, with 13 golds. The Russian Olympic Committee soared into second with 24 total medals, with Germany winning 20 medals so far, including 10 gold.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/02/16"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2022/02/04/winter-olympics-live-updates-medal-events/6665198001/", "title": "Elana Meyers Taylor out of isolation; US doesn't reach podium on ...", "text": "USA TODAY Sports\n\nUPDATES FROM BEIJING: More live coverage from the Winter Olympics\n\nThe first medals of the 2022 Winter Olympics were handed out Saturday, but the Americans were unable to reach the podium in the first full day of events.\n\nThere were some positives on Saturday for Team USA though. Bobsled star Elana Meyers Taylor was cleared to leave COVID isolation after two negative tests and the women's hockey team routed Russia 5-0 in a game that featured two scuffles.\n\nThree U.S. women qualified for the snowboard slopestyle final (8:30 p.m. ET Saturday). Jamie Anderson, two-time reigning and defending gold medalist scored a 74.35 on her first run, good for a second-place ranking.\n\nNorway's Therese Johaug was the first to win a medal in Beijing, dominating the women’s 15-kilometer skiathlon. Jessie Diggins, the top American in the race, finished sixth.\n\nTEAM USA: Americans have nothing to show for first full day in Beijing\n\nBobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor out of COVID isolation\n\nBEIJING — Elana Meyers Taylor is good to go.\n\nThe three-time Olympic medalist in bobsled told USA TODAY Sports on Saturday night that she was being released from isolation after returning consecutive negative COVID tests in a 24-hour span. Meyers Taylor will still be under close contact protocols, which include undergoing PCR testing every 12 hours for seven days and taking a PCR test six hours before competition.\n\nNBC’s TODAY show was the first to report that Meyers Taylor had been cleared. Monobob, the first women’s bobsled event, begins Feb. 13.\n\nMeyers Taylor is ranked No. 1 in the world in both monobob and two-man, making her a gold-medal contender in both events. But she tested positive for COVID-19 on Jan. 29, two days after she and her family arrived in Beijing.\n\nHer husband Nic Taylor, an alternate on the U.S. men’s team, and their toddler son Nico also tested positive.\n\nMeyers Taylor won silver medals as a driver in 2018 and 2014, and has a bronze medal as a brakeman from 2010.\n\n– Nancy Armour\n\nUSA women's hockey team routs Russia\n\nBEIJING — For two periods, the Russia Olympic Committee kept the United States women's hockey team mostly in check and entered the third period down 2-0.\n\nThen the floodgates opened.\n\nThe U.S. put three pucks in the net within the first eight minutes, 44 seconds of the third period to defeat the ROC 5-0 on Saturday at Wukesong Sports Centre.\n\nTwo minor scuffles broke out between the teams during the game.\n\n– Chris Bumbaca\n\nAmerican curlers lose to Canada\n\nItaly remained undefeated in mixed doubles curling at the Beijing Olympics with a 7-5 victory against Britain while defending gold medalist John Morris of Canada and his new partner, Rachel Homan, beat Chris Plys and Vicky Persinger 7-2 to snap the Americans’ win streak at two games.\n\nItaly’s Amos Mosaner and Stefania Constantini beat the British pair of Bruce Mouat and Jennifer Dodds to improve to 6-0 in the round robin competition in the 10-team field. Britain dropped to 4-2.\n\nMorris and Homan scored a 3-end in the seventh to clinch their game against Plys and Persinger. The Canadians improved to 4-2 while the Americans dropped to 3-3.\n\nThe top four teams move into the semifinals on Monday and the medals will be decided on Tuesday.\n\n– Associated Press\n\nUSA women's hockey switches goalies for second game\n\nBEIJING — The U.S. women’s hockey team is expected to start Nicole Hensley in net against the Russia Olympic Committee on Saturday.\n\nMaddie Rooney, a hero from the 2018 gold-medal squad, started the first game of this Olympics tournament against Finland two nights ago. But she allowed two goals on 12 shots, took a delay of game penalty and lacked sharpness.\n\nRooney dealt suffered a partially torn MCL prior to this year’s world championships. In that tournament (seven games), Hensley and Alex Cavallini split time between the pipes.\n\n– Chris Bumbaca\n\nHost China wins its first 2022 gold\n\nChina has won its first gold of the Beijing Games, emerging victorious in the mixed team relay at short track speedskating in the event’s Olympic debut.\n\nWu Dajing edged Italy’s Pietro Sighel by .016 seconds. That’s half a skate blade. Hungary earned bronze Saturday night.\n\nQu Chunyu, Fan Kexin and Ren Ziwei joined Wu for the historic victory. The small number of Chinese fans at Capital Indoor Arena cheered and waved tiny flags.\n\nThe results were delayed while the referee reviewed the race. Canada was penalized for pushing from behind and causing contact with Hungary.\n\nChina was the favorite coming in, having led the World Cup standings this season.\n\n– Associated Press\n\nTeam USA's Maame Biney advances in speedskating\n\nBEIJING — American short-track speedskater Maame Biney is through to the quarterfinals in the women's 500.\n\nBiney, 22, finished third in her four-woman preliminary heat Saturday but skated fast enough to advance on time. (The top two in each heat qualify automatically.) She will be joined in the next round by compatriot Kristen Santos, who won her heat by seven hundredths of a second.\n\nElsewhere, in the men's 1000m, 20-year-old Andrew Heo used patience and a late surge to claim his own quarterfinal spot in what was his Olympic debut.\n\nThe quarterfinals in both events will take place Monday.\n\n– Tom Schad\n\nOlympic record in speedskating\n\nThe Netherlands is a speedskating powerhouse and it took gold in the women’s 3,000-meter on Saturday in one of the first medal events of these Games.\n\nIrene Schouten set an Olympic record of 3:56.93, with Francesca Lollobrigida (3:58.06) of Italy taking silver and Canadian Isabelle Weidemann finishing third (3:58.64).\n\nTwo-time event champion, Germany’s Claudia Pechstein, came in last in her eighth Winter Olympics appearance.\n\nThe lone American in the event, Mia Kilburg, finished 19th out of 20 competitors.\n\n-- Chris Bumbaca\n\nNorway's Therese Johaug gets first gold of Beijing Games; Jessie Diggins finishes sixth\n\nNorway's Therese Johaug won the first gold medal of the 2022 Beijing Olympics, dominating the women’s 15-kilometer skiathlon Saturday.\n\nJohaug finished in 44 minutes, 13.7 seconds Saturday, which was 30 seconds ahead of silver medalist Russia's Natalia Nepryaeva. Teresa Stadlober of Austria took the bronze.\n\nJessie Diggins finished sixth, the top American in the race.\n\nJohaug, who missed the 2018 Olympics due to a doping suspension, won the first individual Olympic gold of her career. She won silver and bronze in individual events in Sochi and a relay gold in Vancouver in 2010.\n\nFour years ago in Pyeongchang, Diggins claimed the first ever U.S. women’s Olympic gold medal in cross country skiing with teammate Kikkan Randall in the team sprint.\n\nDiggins is the most decorated American cross country skier in world championship history and last year she became the first U.S. skier to win the Tour de Ski.\n\nHer next opportunity for a medal could be Tuesday when she competes in the freestyle sprint.\n\nUS defeats China for another big mixed doubles curling win\n\nBEIJING — The U.S. mixed doubles curling team picked up another key win Saturday, defeating host China, 7-5, roughly 24 hours after squeaking out a win over Sweden.\n\nWith those two victories, the team of Vicky Persinger and Chris Plys moved to 3-2 at the midway point of round-robin play. They are now sitting in a tie for fourth place out of 10 teams, with four matches to go.\n\nThe top four teams advance to the semifinal round.\n\nPersinger and Plys' next match against Canada at 7:05 a.m. ET will be particularly pivotal, with the neighboring countries now tied for that fourth and final spot. The U.S. will then face the Czech Republic and Switzerland on Sunday, and Great Britain on Monday.\n\n-- Tom Schad\n\nMen’s downhill skiing training run canceled due to wind\n\nBEIJING — It’s tough to learn a new downhill course when you can’t ski it.\n\nThe third and final training run for the men’s downhill was canceled after just three skiers Saturday because of wind gusts. The forecast for Sunday’s race is more promising, referee Markus Waldner said.\n\n“Two hours before we started at 11 it was good enough to go -- similar to yesterday. Also, during the forerun -- we had five forerunners -- it was good enough to go. Safe,” Waldner said. \"But then, suddenly, wind gusts were coming. … (We decided) this is dangerous. It's unpredictable. We cannot handle this.”\n\nThe decision was criticized by some skiers, who already felt they were at a disadvantage because no one had been on the course until the first training run Thursday. There also were complaints that the three skiers who did get a run in, one of whom was gold-medal favorite Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, will have an advantage in Sunday’s race.\n\n“Of course I can accept all this criticism coming from the racers, some coaches, that this is an advantage for the three racers,” Waldner said. “But this is force majeure. We're an outdoor sport, force majeure, and we make always decisions in terms of safety.\n\n“Due to safety we made this decision, very simple.\"\n\nNormally, skiers are able to familiarize themselves with the Olympic course at test events ahead of the Games, but those were canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. With Thursday the first time they could ski the course, many used their initial training run to simply take mental stock, noting the terrain, turns and jumps on the run. The remaining two runs would then be used to build speed and find areas where they could be aggressive.\n\nBut they’ll have to make do with what they got Thursday and Friday.\n\nBryce Bennett, the top-ranked American in the downhill this season, said he didn’t have a problem with the decision to cancel. In some ways, he said, it worked out better.\n\n“For me, personally, three training runs is difficult. I think it’s too much,” Bennett said. “You kind of get lackadaisical.\n\n“We got some good inspections,” he added. “I got two inspections today, and I think it’ll work out for the better, hopefully, tomorrow. Pray to God I don’t get a headwind. Praying for a tailwind.”\n\n— Nancy Armour\n\nCross-country skier Jessie Diggins has a fan in Mikaela Shiffrin\n\nBEIJING — Jessie Diggins has a fan in Mikaela Shiffrin.\n\nAsked Friday if there was another U.S. athlete she’d like to watch, the two-time Olympic champion named Diggins. Shiffrin said she and her parents were captivated four years ago as they sat in their hotel and watched Diggins and Kikkan Randall win gold in the team sprint at the Pyeongchang Olympics.\n\nIt was the first gold medal for the United States in cross-country skiing, and the first medal of any color in the sport since 1976.\n\n\"We watched the, 'Here comes Diggins! Here comes Diggins!’\" Shiffrin recalled, referring to NBC commentator Chad Salmela’s exuberant reaction when Diggins caught and passed Sweden’s Stina Nilsson down the stretch.\"\n\nDiggins begins competition at the Beijing Olympics on Saturday with the skiathlon, which combines classic and freestyle skiing.\n\n— Nancy Armour\n\nJamie Anderson, two other Americans make women's snowboard slopestyle final\n\nBEIJING — Snowboarder Jamie Anderson is in fifth place after the snowboard slopestyle qualification, leading the way for the U.S. women. The two-time reigning and defending gold medalist scored a 74.35 on her first run, good for a second-place ranking. Her next run was clean until the final moments when she fell.\n\n“I definitely was hoping to get that second run, but I’ll take what I can get,” Anderson told NBC. “I’m excited for tomorrow.”\n\nFellow American Julia Marino redeemed herself on her second run with a score of 71.78 and sixth place. Rounding out the Americans competing in the final is Hailey Langland in ninth after a clean second run that scored a 68.71. The top 12 advance.\n\nTeam USA’s Courtney Rummel finished 18th with a best score of 48.30 and will miss the final.\n\nThe final is scheduled to begin Saturday at 8:30 p.m. ET.\n\n— Alex Ptachick\n\nIOC, Beijing 2022 shrug at Uyghur athlete's inclusion in opening ceremony\n\nBEIJING — Representatives from the International Olympic Committee and 2022 Beijing organizing committee on Saturday downplayed the inclusion of a Uyghur athlete in the opening ceremony for the Games.\n\nChang Yu, the director of Beijing 2022's ceremonies department, said cross-country skier Dinigeer Yilamujiang was selected to help light the torch as part of a generational concept involving athletes born in different decades.\n\nYilamujiang, 20, hails from the Xinjiang region, where China has been accused of detaining up to one million people in what the U.S. government has deemed \"genocide.\"\n\nIOC president Thomas Bach has previously declined to answer questions about China's treatment of Uyghurs, characterizing it as a political issue outside of the IOC's scope. When asked Saturday about Yilamujiang's role in lighting the torch, and whether the IOC consulted on the decision, spokesperson Mark Adams demurred.\n\n\"Obviously the opening ceremony is something that the organizing committee put together,\" Adams said. \"We are involved to a certain extent. But I just would go back to what I said earlier, that this is an athlete who is competing here. She has every right – wherever she comes from, whatever her background – to compete. And she has every right – whatever her background, wherever she comes from – to take part in the opening ceremony.\"\n\n— Tom Schad\n\nCan Jessie Diggins take home another cross country skiing medal for Team USA?\n\nAmerican cross country skiing star Jessie Diggins is back for her third Olympics, and her first event is just hours away.\n\nThis time she’s 30 years old, expecting to marry her sweetheart Wade Poplawski, maybe in May. Diggins is a veteran of 240 World Cup races and an Olympic gold medalist. She’s a leader of Team USA and hype girl for her youngest teammates.\n\nShe’s poised, always with an eye on the big picture, and impressive in everything she does, from skiing to speaking to bridging groups and causes with friends and newcomers.\n\nShe’s also something else: Team USA's vulnerable, honest, unfiltered badass. Diggins has written a memoir — \"Brave Enough\" — in which she details her life and career, including her admission and treatment for disordered eating.\n\nDiggins won Olympic gold in the women's team sprint with her teammate Kikkan Randall in the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics and competed in six events there: team sprint, pursuit, individual sprint individual start, mass start and relay.\n\nHer first event in Beijing is Saturday's skiathlon, which will air live on USA.\n\n— Lori Nickel\n\nIOC calls security guard grabbing TV journalist an 'unfortunate incident'\n\nA Dutch television journalist was confronted by a Chinese security guard while on live TV on Friday, in what the IOC described as an \"unfortunate incident.\"\n\nA clip of the incident shows the journalist, Sjoerd den Daas of NOS Media, being pulled away while trying to deliver a report. IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said the organization had been in communication with NOS Media about the incident.\n\n\"I think someone was being overzealous,\" Adams said. \"(The reporter) was able very quickly afterwards, with the help of officials there, to do his piece to camera, his standup.\n\n\"These things do happen. I think it's a one-off. I hope it's a one-off. We assure you that within the closed loop, you'll be able to carry on your work.\"\n\n— Tom Schad\n\nHow does scoring work in freeskiing and snowboarding?\n\nIn freeskiing and snowboarding, scores mean nothing – well, almost. Rather, the numbers are more of a proxy for athletes’ ranking and less tied to specific tricks in their run, for example, than their overall performance.\n\nJudging for both sports is mostly done by a panel of six international judges, with the highest and lowest scores being dropped.\n\nUnlike other sports, such as gymnastics, there are not component scores. A certain trick does not have a set value. Judges are scoring out of 100 based on overall impression and basically ranking from there.\n\nExecution is critical and can include several things, such as how cleanly athletes are landing tricks, how long they hold their grabs or how long they ride a rail. Difficulty can help an athlete stand out, especially by doing tricks that are harder than their competitors or that have never been done before.\n\nOften runs including tricks with more flips or a higher degree of rotation will be scored higher. Judges will also consider progression, and variety matters too.\n\nFreeskiing and snowboarding have been among the United States’ most successful sports in recent Olympics.\n\n— Rachel Axon\n\nAnderson seeking third consecutive gold in slopestyle snowboarding\n\nZHANGJIAKOU – Snowboarder Jamie Anderson went back and forth on whether or not to come to these Winter Olympics in Beijing.\n\nThe pandemic, the restrictions, the COVID testing – it just piled on the pressure of someone who already feels it as the USA’s two-time Olympic gold medalist in women's slopestyle snowboarding.\n\n“It’s definitely a more complicated Olympics. Going to the Olympics is very stressful and you have so much on your plate,” Anderson said at a news conference in the Olympic Village. “And this year it has been an absolute nightmare. Just everything from getting here, I think all of us in the last few months – I was really struggling with everything it took to get here.\n\nBut all it took was the very first day on the snow Wednesday for practice runs to reassure her that she made the right decision.\n\nThe slopestyle course is massive, and Anderson, 31, said it reminds her of her first Olympics in Sochi where everything was gigantic and intimidating.\n\n“It’s pretty gnarly,\" Anderson said. \"What’s cool about the Olympics compared to any other event is it’s always on a completely new mountain and completely new setup.”\n\nAnderson will make her first runs on the slopestyle course when women's qualifying begins at 9:45 p.m. ET (USA Network).\n\n— Lori Nickel\n\nBrennan: China continues its political charade at opening ceremony\n\nBEIJING – Neither a raging global pandemic nor worldwide concern over China’s awful human rights abuses could stop Beijing from throwing itself a party Friday night at its “Bird’s Nest” National Stadium.\n\nCompared to the last time Beijing gave us an opening ceremony, 14 years ago for the Summer Olympics, it was a muted effort with far fewer spectators, athletes and diplomats. It also was about 70 degrees colder than that sweltering night in August 2008, when the air was so heavy with Beijing’s gritty smog that black residue could be scraped off the skin. This time, it was just bitter cold.\n\nSo, for the second Olympics in a row, Beijing organizers created a grand illusion. They sure know how to put on a light show on a stadium floor. If only they were as good at things like freedom of speech and avoiding genocide.\n\n— Christine Brennan\n\nWatch the Beijing opening ceremony again ... or for the first time\n\nThe 2022 Winter Olympics opening ceremony aired lived in the United States early Friday morning, but NBC knows not everyone is an early bird. The network will re-broadcast the Beijing opening ceremony beginning at 8 p.m. ET.\n\nThe ceremony opened with fireworks, a lights show and ended with ice hockey players breaking a block of ice to reveal the Olympic rings. Snowflakes with the names of participating countries were held high in front of the large Olympic Rings.\n\nChinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and IOC President Thomas Bach were in the stands alongside a smaller-than-usual crowd restricted due to COVID-19 regulations.\n\nAs is tradition, home country dignitaries and Games organizers will give speeches prior to The Delegations Parade. The first nation to enter the stadium will be Greece, followed by all other delegations in the IOC Protocol order, alphabetically by the language of the host country. Italy (as the next Winter Olympic Games host nation) and the host country China will enter last. The U.S. delegation is No. 56, after Bulgaria.\n\nSkiing star Mikaela Shiffrin relishes the racing as much as the results\n\nMake no mistake: Mikaela Shiffrin wants to win.\n\nFor Shiffrin, though, winning is the byproduct. Like the student who relishes the grind more than the grade, she is more interested in the things that go into making her one of the best ski racers of all time.\n\nThat that painstaking attention to the details – what others might consider drudgery -- has resulted in Winter Olympic gold medals, world titles and international commercial appeal is just a bonus.\n\n“The overarching thing that allows me to ski fast and be one of the best racers in the world and get all the titles and all of these things that feel really great and make you feel like you’re a hero and you're on top of the world and all that, the thing that lets me do it is skiing well. And that's the thing that I actually enjoy doing,” Shiffrin told USA TODAY.\n\nShiffrin will be making her Beijing Olympics debut on Monday, Feb. 7, in the women's giant slalom, where she will seek to defend her 2018 gold medal.\n\n— Nancy Armour\n\nU.S. snowboarders, freeskiers get new threads\n\nZHANGJIAKOU, China – The U.S. freeski and snowboard teams will have a different look for the Beijing Olympics thanks to new uniform providers.\n\nSince the 2018 Games, the teams have switched to Spyder and Volcom, respectively, from their longtime partners The North Face and Burton.\n\nThis year’s uniforms come with distinct looks for each, offering edgier patterns and multiple layering options that lean less into Americana themes than recent uniforms.\n\nThe freeskiing uniforms feature large white and blue color blocks with red accents. The uniforms include jackets, hoodies and reversible vests that allow the athletes to tailor their looks. Uniforms for both teams are created with tech fabrics designed to help athletes keep warm and perform in competition.\n\nThe snowboarding uniforms feature five different kits that allow for a layering and a variety of looks. They include a collage print that Volcom intends as a tribute “to the storied history of the legends who have made the Volcom brand what it is today,” and each includes a lucky faux rabbit foot for good luck.\n\n— Rachel Axon\n\nNBC is walking a tightrope at the Beijing Games. The network is covering sports on ice and snow — and news on human rights and genocide.\n\nOne of the athletes to light the flame at the opening ceremony is Uyghur, China’s Muslim ethnic minority who are victims of genocide, according to the United States; that is one of the reasons that the U.S. is boycotting these Games diplomatically.\n\nMike Tirico, NBC’s Olympics host, quickly noted the significance of the flame lighting during the live broadcast of the opening ceremony, which aired on Friday morning in the U.S., and which will repeat Friday evening. “Of course, those are the people from the region of Northwest China that have attracted so much attention in the conversation of human rights,” Tirico said, reporting from the scene.\n\n– Erik Brady\n\nWhat to know about the 2022 Olympics\n\nLess than six months after the Summer Games in Tokyo ended, the Winter Games in Beijing open. Getting underway in full on Saturday, there's a lot of questions surrounding these Olympics.\n\nUSA TODAY Sports' Nancy Armour broke down everything you need to know, from \"why Beijing?\" to all the must-watch Team USA stars:\n\nQ: Are there new sports or events?\n\nA: Yes! Seven of them. Monobob has been added for women’s bobsled, and there is men’s and women’s Big Air in freestyle skiing. There are four new mixed-team events, in snowboard cross, aerials, short-track speedskating and ski jumping.\n\nU.S. figure skaters off to good start\n\nThe United States won the men's short program and rhythm dance and are in first place after the day's team competition. Nathan Chen hit a new personal record of 111.71 in the short program to pace the Americans. The Russian Olympic Committee sits in second place, and China is in third. The women's short program is Sunday with the top five team advancing to the free skate competition after which medals will be awarded.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/02/04"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/beijing/2022/02/06/olympics-2022-live-updates-monday-medal-evants/6683642001/", "title": "Olympics 2022 updates, recap: Skier Nina O'Brien hurt in scary crash", "text": "USA TODAY Sports\n\nNOTE: Here's a look back at Monday's results in Beijing. For updates from everything going on Tuesday, check out our live blog.\n\nTeam USA earned its first figure skating medal of the 2022 Beijing Olympics thanks to a clutch performance from its ice dancers.\n\nThe U.S. took home the silver in the team figure skating competition after Madison Chock and Evan Bates turned in a season-best score in the ice dancing free program.\n\nThe news was not so good for skiing star Mikaela Shiffrin. The defending Olympic champion will not repeat in the women's giant slalom.\n\nShiffrin's first of five potential events in Beijing ended in disappointment Monday when she wiped out on her opening run.\n\n(Looking for coverage from Sunday's events? Here's everything you need to know.)\n\nTV SCHEDULE: How and what to watch each day of the Beijing Olympics\n\nEXCLUSIVE OLYMPIC UPDATES: Sign up for texts to get the latest news and behind-the-scenes coverage from Beijing.\n\nOLYMPICS NEWSLETTER:The best Olympic stories straight to your inbox\n\nWINTER OLYMPICS 2022: Answering 10 major questions for the Beijing Games\n\nStar US figure skater out individual event after testing positive for COVID-19\n\nVincent Zhou, 21, the nation's No. 2 male figure skater behind Nathan Chen, tested positive for COVID-19 Sunday and will be unable to compete in Tuesday's individual event. Zhou skated for the U.S. in the team event, winning silver, and was scheduled to compete individually on Tuesday, in the short program.\n\n\"It seems pretty unreal that of all the people, it would happen to myself,\" Zhou said in an emotional, 5-minute long video shared on social media Monday announcing that he will not be competing Tuesday. \"That's not just because I am still processing this turn of events, but also because I have been doing everything in my power to stay free of COVID since the start of the pandemic. I have taken all the precautions I can and I have isolated myself so much that the loneliness can be crushing at times.\"\n\n-- Analis Bailey\n\nDisappointing night at short track for US\n\nAndrew Heo emerged as the best chance for an American medal in short track speed skating in the two events at Capital Indoor Stadium on Monday.\n\nBut the 20-year-old didn’t have enough juice to make the “A” final, despite putting together a pair of consistent times to make the “B” final in the men’s 1,000 meter. Heo went 1:24.03 to go into semifinal after a slower 1:24.6 quarterfinal time. He then bursted too early and came in last of the final (1:36.14).\n\nOn the women’s side (500 meters), neither of the United States’ two skaters made it out of the quarterfinals. Maame Biney came in third in the second heat with a time of 46.009. Meanwhile, teammate Kristen Santos was penalized in the fourth quarterfinal as she fell and took an opposing skater with her into the wall.\n\nThe men’s “A” final was not without drama, as the race was called halfway through due to metal parts on the track. After a brief cleanup and ice manicure, the race restarted, with China’s Rei Ziewei and Hungary’s Shaolin Sandor Liu battling it out for gold. Liu appeared to eke out the photo finish, but after a replay, Liu was assessed a yellow card for committing two penalties. That disqualified him and gave Rei gold in front of a delighted home crowd.\n\nItaly’s Arianna Fontana won the women’s 500 prior to that.\n\n-- Chris Bumbaca\n\nWhile you were sleeping\n\nFrom a historic moment to a devastating crash, the Beijing Games have not lacked excitement since it began.\n\nHere are the top stories you missed while you were asleep:\n\n17-year-old Chinese snowboarder claims slopestyle silver, shares podium with his idol\n\nZHANGJIAKOU, China – Mark McMorris remembered the little kid he would see on his visits to China, the one who idolized him and who clearly loved snowboarding.\n\nAfter the Olympic slopestyle final, McMorris just had to look across the podium to find him.\n\nChina’s Su Yiming fulfilled a dream and drew the attention of throngs of media, fans, workers and volunteers at Genting Snow Park. The 17-year-old phenom claimed silver, beating his idol in an Olympic final.\n\nMcMorris won bronze for a third consecutive Games, while his Canadian teammate Max Parrot won gold.\n\n“I’m seeing this little kid, he’s always around, and he loves snowboarding more than anything and idolized me and then boom, this fall he’s just like so damn good,” said McMorris, who has been making trips to China to compete for Burton, one of his sponsors, since 2010.\n\n“He became a man, and he definitely has some height now and he’s strong and he’s riding at an incredible level. I’m super proud of him because he is a true snowboarder. He loves the sport. I’m honored to share the podium with him, and his future’s really bright.”\n\nSu finished first in qualifying and drew the most attention here. His massive second run included two triple corks, including one on the final jump with three off-axis flips and five spins that he had never done before.\n\nBy the time he lined up on the podium with his idol, dozens of workers stood atop the jump where he made his mark to watch.\n\n“This moment is indeed amazing for me because when I was very young I had this dream to compete in my hometown, in my country, to attend the Olympic Games,” Su said. “I'm extremely happy to achieve this medal in my hometown and also compete and stand on the podium with my idol from my childhood. I really felt overwhelmed.”\n\n— Rachel Axon\n\nUS speedskater and flag-bearer Brittany Bowe comes up empty in women's 1500 meters\n\nBEIJING — It was a disappointing day for the Americans at the National Speed Skating Oval, but a historic one for an Olympic speedskating legend.\n\nIreen Wüst of the Netherlands won gold at 1500 meters Monday, claiming an individual medal at the Winter Games for a whopping fifth consecutive time. Her first medal of the streak came at the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Italy.\n\nWüst also broke the Olympic record, to boot. She crossed the line in 1:53.28.\n\nAmerican Brittany Bowe, who carried the U.S. flag at the opening ceremony alongside curler John Shuster, had been expected to contend for a medal at this distance but finished well off the pace. She finished nearly a full second off the podium, in 10th place, with a time of 1:55.81.\n\nBowe will next race in the 500 on Sunday and the 1000, her signature event, on Feb. 17.\n\n— Tom Schad\n\nUS skier Nina O'Brien hurt in scary crash in giant slalom\n\nBEIJING — Nina O’Brien, the top U.S. woman in the giant slalom after Mikaela Shiffrin went out, crashed just ahead of the finish line Monday and appeared to seriously injure her left leg.\n\nO’Brien was taken off the course on a stretcher, but U.S. Ski & Snowboard said on Twitter that she was “alert and responsive.”\n\n“She was worried about delaying the race,” the organization said. “And also she wanted to know how fast she was skiing.”\n\nO’Brien had one gate left in the second run and was going at top speed when she lost her balance. Her legs flew wide and she tumbled past the last gate and into the finish area. O’Brien immediately clutched at her left leg, and still photographs showed her ankle going the opposite direction of how it should.\n\n— Nancy Armour\n\nAmerican men fail to medal in snowboard slopestyle\n\nZHANGJIAKOU, China — There would be no repeat gold for Team USA's men’s snowboard slopestyle team. There would be no medal, even.\n\nFour years after Red Gerard pulled off a surprising Olympic win, the 21-year-old finished just off the podium here at the Beijing Olympics.\n\nGerard, 21, was a surprise gold medalist in Pyeongchang four years ago – even to himself. He has since embraced the competition scene and came to Beijing gunning for a medal.\n\nHe sat in third until Canadian Mark McMorris landed a big run to bump Gerard and take bronze himself. Canadian Max Parrot, who won silver in slopestyle four years ago, claimed gold, while 17-year-old Chinese phenom Su Yiming took silver.\n\nAmericans had won the gold in both previous contests since slopestyle was added in 2014, with Sage Kotsenburg claiming it in the debut and Gerard winning in 2018.\n\n“Fourth never feels good. One off from being cool,” Gerard said. “I haven’t really fully put it together yet. I’m just happy that I landed a run, and I was really happy with the run, probably the best run I’ve ever done.”\n\nGerard used a unique line to put himself in contention.\n\nOn his first run, he landed 1620s on the first and third jumps. But in the rail section, he did a trick off the roof of the guard tower feature and on the second jump he used the quarter pipe to launch himself into double cork 1080.\n\nHe flubbed a trick in the rail section on his third run, leaving him to wait to see if his score would hold. But McMorris put down a run with three triple corks on the jumps to give himself a bronze medal for a third consecutive Games.\n\nAmericans Chris Corning and Sean Fitzsimons finished sixth and 12th, respectively.\n\n— Rachel Axon\n\nOlympic downhill skiing drought continues for US men\n\nBEIJING — The U.S. men’s drought in the Olympic downhill continues.\n\nRyan Cochran-Siegle was the top American finisher Monday, finishing in 14th place, 82 seconds behind Olympic gold medalist Beat Feuz of Switzerland. Bryce Bennett, the top U.S. man in the downhill this season, was 19th while Travis Ganong was 20th.\n\nIt’s the second consecutive Olympics that the U.S. men have failed to have anyone finish in the top 10.\n\nJohan Clarey of France won the silver and Matthias Mayer, the 2014 Olympic champion, took the bronze in the race, which was rescheduled from Sunday because of high winds.\n\n“I can’t think of anything more beautiful than flying home with a gold medal around my neck,” said Feuz, who four years ago was the bronze medalist in the downhill and silver medalist in the super-G.\n\nOnly two American men have won the Olympic downhill, and Tommy Moe was the last to do it, at the 1994 Games in Lillehammer. Bode Miller was the last U.S. man to win a medal in downhill, a bronze in 2006.\n\n-- Nancy Armour\n\nPlayers wear masks for Canada vs. ROC women's hockey game\n\nEven during an Olympics with extreme COVID-19 protocols, it was a bizarre look for Canadian and Russian women’s hockey players. Both teams took the ice Monday wearing KN95 masks underneath their hockey masks.\n\nThe start of the preliminary group game was delayed by more than an hour because the Canadian team did not receive a report on Russia’s COVID testing status and didn’t want to take the ice until that happened, according to Toronto Sun reporter Rob Longley.\n\nThe Associated Press reported that the IOC told the IIHF, the international hockey federation, that players were required to wear masks due to “safety and security reasons.”\n\nThe Russians returned for the third period without their masks, however. The Canadians kept theirs on.\n\n-- Roxanna Scott\n\nUS figure skating silver medalist tests positive for COVID-19\n\nBEIJING — A prominent U.S. figure skater has tested positive for COVID-19, and at the worst possible time.\n\nU.S. Figure Skating announced Monday that Vincent Zhou, who is scheduled to skate the men's short program Tuesday, tested positive on Sunday. It is now unclear whether he will be able to compete.\n\n\"Under the guidance of the USOPC medical staff, Zhou is undergoing additional testing to confirm his status,\" the national governing body said in a statement. \"If the results are negative, Zhou will be able to compete in the men’s short program, which begins Tuesday. At this time, we ask you respect his privacy as we await the results.\"\n\nThe news of the positive test comes at a devastating time for Zhou, who skated the long program for Team USA in the team competition on Sunday morning.\n\nWith the draw already having been completed, it is unlikely that the U.S. would be able to have an alternate skate in Zhou's place. Nathan Chen and Jason Brown are the other American men in the field.\n\n— Tom Schad\n\nRussian woman makes figure skating history\n\nBEIJING — In the final event of the team figure skating competition, Russian skater Kamila Valieva landed a trick that no woman had ever achieved on Olympic ice.\n\nThen she did it again in the same program.\n\nValieva, 15, became the first woman to land a quadruple jump at the Winter Games, making four rotations in mid-air. She also became the first woman to land two of them in the same program, kicking off her program with a quad salchow before later landing a quad toe.\n\nThat she fell on a third quad attempt later in the program proved to be a mere footnote.\n\nValieva's performance capped a dominant gold-medal-winning performance by the Russian Olympic Committee in the team event. Valieva is also one of three Russian wunderkinds who will be vying for podium spots in the women's individual competition, and there is a chance they could sweep the podium.\n\n— Tom Schad\n\nUSA wins silver in team figure skating event behind stellar ice dance\n\nBEIJING — After the first day of the team figure skating competition at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Team USA was dreaming of gold.\n\nInstead, it squeaked out a silver.\n\nBuoyed by a strong final performance from the ice dance team of Madison Chock and Evan Bates on Monday, the Americans edged Japan to win their first silver medal in the team figure skating event. They won bronze in both 2018 and 2014.\n\nThe Russian Olympic Committee, which entered as the favorite, won gold in dominant fashion.\n\n\"We're celebrating silver,\" Bates said. \"Winning a silver medal at the Olympic Games is an incredible achievement, and the fact that we all get a silver medal, the whole team -- I'm so happy. I'm so happy.\"\n\nThe U.S. and Japan were tied in the standings with 48 team points entering the final two events of the competition -- the free dance and women's long program. But Chock and Bates, the captains of the U.S. team, turned in a stellar performance to finish first in their event, and Karen Chen did enough in a redemptive long program to hang on.\n\n— Tom Schad\n\nChinese American sensation makes Olympic debut\n\nBEIJING – There is no bigger star in China at these Olympics than Eileen Gu, the 18-year old freestyle skier from San Francisco who is headed to Stanford after these Olympics.\n\nDespite her American roots, Gu chose in 2019 to compete for China, the country where her mother grew up and where she has become a fashion model and a breakthrough star.\n\nGiven the hype surrounding her debut at the Beijing Games, Gu admitted there was some pressure to perform well Monday in the first Big Air competition for skiing ever at the Olympics. After two of her three runs, though, Gu’s place in the final was uncertain. After her ski fell off on the second jump, her only choice was to produce a clean run or be eliminated from the competition.\n\n“I would not feel satisfied if I didn’t make finals,” she said. “I was just focusing on the trick itself. I wasn’t thinking about there are people who want to watch me or that there was this pressure on me. It’s a right 9 (or jump with 2 ½ rotations). I’ve been doing right 9s since I was 14, and I know I can do that trick so I was just kind of talking to myself in that way.”\n\nGu pulled it off, securing her place in what will be a widely-watched final here on Tuesday at the Big Air Shougang.\n\nAmong the four-woman American contingent, only Darian Stevens qualified for the final after landing a left 900-degree trick on her third try after finding trouble on her second jump.\n\n“I was obviously feeling the heat,” said Stevens, a native of Missoula, Mont. “I had a really good first jump I was very happy with and had a little bit of a speed issue on the second one so there was a lot of pressure riding on that third jump but I was really happy to land it.\n\n— Dan Wolken\n\nNBC's Mike Tirico to depart Beijing early\n\nNBC prime-time Olympic host Mike Tirico will have a shorter stay in Beijing than originally planned.\n\nTirico's final show from Beijing will be Monday night. He will fly from China to NBC Sports headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, to host Wednesday's and Thursday's shows before heading to Los Angeles on Friday to anchor Olympic and Super Bowl coverage through Sunday.\n\nTirico will then head back to Stamford for the final week of Olympic coverage. The Games conclude on Feb. 20.\n\nMaria Taylor, who signed with NBC on the eve of last summer's Tokyo Olympics, will host Tuesday night's show while Tirico is flying back.\n\nTirico was originally scheduled to stay in Beijing through Thursday before going to Los Angeles. NBC officials, though, have reiterated that his schedule was subject to change based on COVID-19 and other factors.\n\nThis is the first year that the Olympics and Super Bowl are taking place at the same time. Four years ago, Tirico missed the Super Bowl as he was preparing for his first Olympics as prime-time host in Pyeongchang.\n\nNBC has its announcers and hosts working out of its Connecticut headquarters. It has a limited group of reporters on the ground in China. NBC News' Craig Melvin is still in Beijing and will host “prime plus coverage” (which is late night in New York but prime time in Los Angeles) over the weekend.\n\n— Associated Press\n\nIce dancers score season best to put U.S. in silver medal position\n\nBEIJING —The U.S. is all but assured of winning silver in the team figure skating competition after a clutch performance from Madison Chock and Evan Bates in the free dance.\n\nChock and Bates won their event with a season-best score of 129.07, widening the gap between the Americans (58) and Japan (54), which is in third place. There is one event remaining, with Karen Chen set to skate in the women's free skate.\n\nTeams are awarded points based on their finish in each event, with 10 points to the winner, nine to the runner-up and so on.\n\nThe U.S. had been squarely in silver-medal position entering Monday, but a last-place finish from Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier in the pairs' long program allowed Japan to knot the score.\n\nThe Russian Olympic Committee has all but locked up the gold, while the other two finalists, Canada and China, only had remote chances of medaling entering Monday.\n\nThe Americans have won bronze medals in the team event at each of the past two Olympics.\n\n— Tom Schad\n\nShiffrin wipes out in first run of giant slalom\n\nYANQING, China — Mikaela Shiffrin's first chance for a gold medal was over almost as soon as it began.\n\nExpected to contend for multiple medals at the Beijing Olympics, several of them gold, Shiffrin lost an edge on the fifth gate of the first run of the women’s giant slalom and skied out. It’s the first time she’s failed to finish a GS race since January 2018.\n\n\"It's a huge disappointment. Not even counting the medals,\" Shiffrin said afterward. \"The easiest thing to say is I skied a couple of good turns and skied one turn a bit wrong and really paid the hardest of consequences for that.\"\n\nShiffrin has said she hopes to do all five individual events at the Beijing Olympics. Her next race will come Wednesday, in the slalom. She won gold there in 2018, making her the youngest champion in that event.\n\n-- Nancy Armour\n\nReport: Peng Shuai meets with IOC president, says she 'never disappeared'\n\nBEIJING – Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai told a French newspaper that her long-planned dinner with International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach has already occurred.\n\nIn a story published Monday by L'Equipe, Peng said the two met for dinner Saturday. She also once again denied having accused anyone of sexual assault, after alleging in a social-media post in November that she had been assaulted by Zhang Gaoli, a former high-ranking Chinese government official.\n\nPeng's post was later scrubbed from Chinese social media, and she disappeared from public view for several weeks. She also disagreed with that characterization.\n\n\"I never disappeared, everyone could see me,\" Peng told L'Equipe.\n\nActivists have expressed concern that Peng's movements and statements have been monitored or influenced by the Chinese government in the wake of her allegation.\n\nIOC spokesperson Mark Adams confirmed that Bach and Peng had dinner Saturday night. When asked Sunday about the dinner, he said he had no update.\n\n-- Tom Schad\n\nMoguls skier Kai Owens couldn't see out of one eye after crash in practice\n\nZHANGJIAKOU, China – Cupping, dry needling, ice, pressure and some kind of brush for her face -- all day, every day, every hour, for the last several days. This was Kai Owens’ entire existence.\n\nWith a lot of persistence and medical treatment, the Chinese-born, American raised freeskier was able to compete in the Beijing Winter Olympics Sunday night, finishing in 10th place in the women's moguls. Australia’s Jakara Anthony led the field with a gold medal performance of 83.09. American Jaelin Kauf won the silver with a score of 80.28, and Anastasiia Smirnova of Russia took bronze.\n\nHer ability to get to this night came down to the wire. Owens, 17, missed the opening qualifying round several days earlier, last Tuesday night, when her eye was swollen shut from a crash during a practice run on the same day. Owens, who also had a concussion earlier in the season, was held out by coaches.\n\n“The first day I couldn’t even move my arm,” said Owens. “I was in a sling because of my rotator cuff. And then I couldn’t see out of my eye.”\n\nBy Sunday night, her eye was still visibly injured, but remarkably healed given how bad it was a few days earlier.\n\n“I’m just so thankful to be here,” said Owens. “I owe a huge ‘thanks’ to our Team USA staff, U.S. ski and snowboard staff. They helped get me out here tonight.”\n\n-- Lori Nickel\n\nMikaela Shiffrin to make her debut at 2022 Beijing Games in giant slalom\n\nBEIJING — In what could be the first of five races at the Beijing Olympics, and perhaps as many medals, Mikaela Shiffrin competes Monday in the giant slalom. She is the reigning Olympic champion in GS and is currently third in the World Cup standings, with two wins and a second-place finish in five races this season.\n\nThe GS will be followed Wednesday by the slalom, where she became the youngest Olympic champion in the event in 2014. Shiffrin also has a silver, from the Alpine combined in Pyeongchang.\n\nShiffrin won the season-opening GS race in October in Soelden, Austria. But she didn’t race GS again until December – she won one race and finished second in the other – and her training time throughout the season has been limited.\n\nIn fact, she said Friday that she has spent more time training GS since coming to Beijing than she has the rest of the season.\n\n\"That’s not ideal,\" she said.\n\nDespite that, Shiffrin said she feels she’s in a \"pretty good place,\" both in GS and overall.\n\n\"There’s a lot of potential there,\" she said. \"What are the odds on a day where all the variables are controlled? My odds aren’t bad. I’m just going to have to see where the chips fall.\"\n\n— Nancy Armour\n\nOpinion: Are Olympic uniforms tainted by forced labor?\n\nBEIJING – Everywhere you turn at these Olympic Games, friendly staff members and volunteers are impeccably dressed in uniforms depicting white snow peaks and blue Chinese skies. As the competitions get underway in full force, we will see hundreds of technical officials wearing similarly attractive grey and white gear with red accents on their sleeves.\n\nBut it’s the logo over the right breast that your eyes should be drawn to.\n\nThe nondescript symbol, which looks vaguely like the silhouette of an impala’s head or perhaps a pickaxe, represents Anta Sports, a Chinese sporting goods giant that endorses several NBA players, including Klay Thompson and Gordon Hayward. It is also the parent company of a subsidiary that owns legacy American brands like Wilson and Louisville Slugger. The founder of Lululemon, Canadian billionaire Chip Wilson, is heavily invested in the company.\n\nIn China, the world’s second-largest economy, Anta is a very big deal. It’s also at the center of arguably the biggest political controversy surrounding these Olympics involving alleged genocide and human rights abuses in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of northwest China.\n\n— Dan Wolken\n\nThe unlikely pipeline at the heart of the U.S. speedskating team\n\nOcala, Florida, is a town of about 60,000 people located between Gainesville and Orlando. Palm trees dot downtown. Temperatures last week touched 80 degrees.\n\nIt's not the kind of place you'd expect to produce Winter Olympians.\n\nBut in a strange twist – and with the almost inadvertent help of a Florida grandmother – that is exactly what's happened.\n\nThree of the top U.S. speedskaters at the 2022 Winter Olympics – Brittany Bowe, Erin Jackson and Joey Mantia – all hail from Ocala, which does not even have a year-round ice rink. All three are legitimate medal contenders. And all three started out as inline skaters on a team that is now called Ocala Speed, coached by the same woman, Renee Hildebrand.\n\n— Tom Schad\n\nOpinion: US figure skaters falter on jumps, but still guaranteed a medal at Winter Olympics\n\nBEIJING – After Day 1 of the Olympic figure skating team competition, U.S. athletes talked about skating with intensity and building momentum for an improbable gold-medal run against the Russians.\n\nOn Day 2, the conversation turned, sharply. Thoughts of momentum were replaced by concerns about “picking each other up.” High-fives and fist bumps were gone. Hugs and kind words showed up in their place.\n\nThat’s because, given the chance to rise to the occasion, both Karen Chen and Vincent Zhou turned in flat, lackluster performances, leaving the United States likely settling for the team silver medal and wondering what might have been had Chen and Zhou been able to skate cleanly – or how things would have been different had U.S. Figure Skating officials chosen other skaters in their place.\n\n— Christine Brennan", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/02/06"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/beijing/2022/01/28/team-usa-athletes-2022-winter-olympics-beijing/9075955002/", "title": "2022 Winter Olympics stars to know: From Hilary Knight to Nathan ...", "text": "There will be no shortage of American star power at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.\n\nAfter finishing fourth in the medal table at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games with 23 medals, including nine golds, Team USA will look to improve on that mark with a diverse and accomplished group of athletes. The U.S. delegation in Beijing will feature several reigning Olympic medalists, recent world champions and up-and-coming starlets.\n\nHere are 23 key names to know ahead of the 2022 Games, including some who have already become winter sports stars and others who are poised to join them in the coming weeks. The opening ceremony will be held Feb. 4.\n\nNICE THREADS:2022 Winter Olympics opening ceremony uniform unveiled\n\nDOUBLE DUTY:NBC preparing for Super Bowl LVI, Winter Olympics\n\nJamie Anderson, women's snowboarding\n\nAnderson isn't short on accolades. She's the most decorated slopestyle snowboarder in X Games history, the first woman to land a 1080 off a jump and the only person to win an Olympic gold medal in the brief history of women's slopestyle. She's earned each of the past two.\n\nNow, the 31-year-old will be returning to the Winter Games for a third time, with her eyes on a three-peat and a fourth overall medal. (Anderson also won silver in big air at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.)\n\nKevin Bickner, men's ski jumping\n\nIt's been almost a century since the U.S. won its only Olympic medal in ski jumping, and that drought is likely to continue in Beijing.\n\nThat said, if there's one American to watch in the event, it's probably Kevin Bickner. The 25-year-old holds the national distance record of 802 feet, set in 2017. And he is coming off an 18th-place finish at the 2018 Games – which, while still a ways off the podium, marked the best finish for a U.S. man in the event since the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City.\n\nTEXT WITH US:We'll share news and a behind-the-scenes look at the Beijing Olympics\n\nNEWSLETTER: Subscribe for free to get daily Olympics news in your email inbox\n\nSummer Britcher, women's luge\n\nAt 27, Britcher is already gearing up for what will be her third Olympic appearance. Though she didn't place higher than 15th individually in her first two trips, the Pennsylvania native has shown steady improvement over her career and seen better results of late, including a third-place finish in the 2018-19 World Cup standings.\n\nBritcher has also been an important member of the relay team in recent years, helping the U.S. to a fourth-place finish in Pyeongchang and a bronze medal at the 2020 world championships.\n\nBrittany Bowe, women's speedskating\n\nA former inline skater and college basketball player, Bowe is now one of several U.S. speedskaters who figure to be medal threats in Beijing.\n\nThe 33-year-old won a bronze in Pyeongchang in team pursuit – Team USA's only long track speedskating medal at those Games – and she has been arguably the nation's most dominant skater in the years since. Bowe broke the world record at 1000 meters in 2019 and has won gold at that distance at two of the past three world championships. She also finished second at another distance, 1500 meters, at the most recent world championships last year.\n\nNathan Chen, men's figure skating\n\nAfter a disappointing fifth-place finish at the 2018 Olympics, Chen has been nothing short of brilliant on the international level. He has won three consecutive world championships – all by whopping margins – and became the first U.S. man to three-peat since Scott Hamilton in the early 1980s. (Hamilton won four in a row.)\n\nIn addition to skating, Chen is also a student at Yale, where he is majoring in statistics and data science. He put his studies on pause to train for the Beijing Games but is likely to return to campus later this year with at least one individual Olympic medal – perhaps gold.\n\nJessie Diggins, women's cross-country skiing\n\nDiggins won a shocking gold medal at the 2018 Games in the team sprint event, alongside partner Kikkan Randall. It was the second Olympic medal ever won by U.S. cross-country skiers, following Bill Koch's silver in the 30K at the 1976 Innsbruck Games.\n\nIn the years since, Diggins, 30, became the first American to win the Tour de Ski – a multi-stage event that is modeled off of cycling's Tour de France. In the niche world of cross-country skiing, she quickly has become America's brightest star.\n\nSusan Dunklee, women's biathlon\n\nDunklee is in the midst of her final year as a biathlete, the end of a career that has spanned more than a decade and seen her achieve new milestones for Americans in the sport. Her silver medal at the 2017 world championships, for example, was the first-ever won by an American in biathlon – the only longstanding sport at the Winter Olympics in which the United States has never won a medal.\n\nOutside of biathlon, Dunklee has also been an advocate for sustainability and gender equity.\n\nAlex Ferreira, men's freestyle skiing\n\nIn the brief Olympic history of ski halfpipe, only one man has ever won a gold medal: American David Wise, who's done it twice. But this time around, it could be Ferreira's turn to shine.\n\nThe 27-year-old Aspen, Colorado, native finished second to Wise in the halfpipe at the Pyeongchang Games and has been on a tear in the lead-up to the Beijing Games, including wins at both Dew Tour and the U.S. Grand Prix Finals earlier this winter. There figures to be plenty of competition in this event in Beijing, especially among the Americans, but Ferreira will certainly be in the mix.\n\nTaylor Fletcher, men's Nordic combined\n\nFletcher is one of the few four-time Olympians on Team USA, which is an achievement in and of itself. He won a bronze medal at the 2013 world championships and has long been one of the nation's stalwarts in Nordic combined, which consists of ski jumping and cross-country skiing. The event has long been dominated by Europeans – including, unsurprisingly, Norway – so Fletcher faces long odds of reaching the podium.\n\nAlex Hall, men's freestyle skiing\n\nHall, 23, was born in Alaska, grew up in Switzerland, and won a silver medal in Norway at the 2016 Youth Olympic Games.\n\nThe reigning world bronze medalist in freeski slopestyle, he clinched his spot on Team USA in thrilling fashion at a Grand Prix event in January, landing a crazy run in his last attempt to win by less than a point. This will be his second consecutive Olympic appearance. He placed 16th in slopestyle in Pyeongchang.\n\nDusty Henricksen, men's snowboarding\n\nFrom Shaun White to Red Gerard, it seems like there's always an up-and-coming American snowboarder who blossoms into a star at the Olympics. And at the Beijing Games, it could very well be Henricksen.\n\nJust 18, Henricksen will be making his Olympic debut after claiming a pair of big victories in recent years. He won gold in slopestyle at the Youth Olympic Games in 2020, then followed up with a first-place finish at the Winter X Games in 2021, becoming the first American to win the event at the X Games since White in 2009.\n\nMadison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue, ice dance\n\nThe U.S. is the only country to win an Olympic medal in ice dance at each of the past four Games. Hubbell and Donohue will be among those aiming to make it five.\n\nBoth are now north of 30 and have said this will be their final Olympic run, after more than a decade together. Hubbell and Donohue placed fourth at the 2018 Olympics, just a few points off the podium. But they've been in sharp form since, finishing third and second at the most recent world championships.\n\nKaillie Humphries, women's bobsled\n\nOne of the most accomplished pilots in her sport, Humphries has won three medals in three Olympic appearances for Canada dating back to 2010. The Beijing Games will be her first with Team USA.\n\nHumphries, 36, switched nationalities after filing a complaint against Canadian team officials in 2018, alleging verbal and emotional abuse. She became a U.S. citizen in December. With the Olympic debut of women's monobob, Humphries is favored to win at least one medal in Beijing, though there is a chance she could return home with two.\n\nChloe Kim, women's snowboarding\n\nKim was one of the breakout stars of the 2018 Olympics, where she won a gold medal at the age of 17. And she's heavily favored to become the first repeat winner in the women's halfpipe since its debut in 1998.\n\nAfter taking a year off from competition in 2019-20 to focus on her schoolwork at Princeton – and to \"be a normal kid for once\" – Kim has been as dominant as ever in her return to the halfpipe. The 21-year-old has racked up recent wins at the 2021 world championships and Dew Tour, among other marquee events.\n\nHilary Knight, women's hockey\n\nMore than 15 years after making her Team USA debut, Knight is back for a fourth Olympic appearance and will be one of the veteran anchors for a team that will look to repeat atop the Olympic podium this winter.\n\nAt 32, she is one of the most recognizable athletes in her sport – and still one of the most accomplished and dangerous attacking players on the ice. In 190 career games for Team USA, Knight has amassed 219 points, including 126 goals. She's also been part of eight world championship teams, on top of her Olympic successes.\n\nAlysa Liu, women's figure skating\n\nLiu, 16, had to withdraw from nationals this year after testing positive for COVID-19, but she successfully petitioned her way onto the Olympic team after a strong first season on the senior international circuit.\n\nA two-time U.S. champion and one of the few American women who can land a triple axel in competition, Liu probably has the best chance of any U.S. women of sneaking onto the podium, which the Russians are expected to sweep.\n\nJake Sanderson, men's hockey\n\nThe NHL's decision to pull out of the Beijing Olympics due to COVID-19 opened the door for younger players like Sanderson to step up.\n\nThe son of ex-NHL forward Geoff Sanderson, the 19-year-old currently plays collegiately at the University of North Dakota and was drafted fifth overall in 2020 by the Ottawa Senators. He has been a standout defenseman in the U.S. talent pipeline and captained the U.S. junior national team at its most recent world championships.\n\nKristen Santos, women's short track speedskating\n\nOriginally a figure skater, Santos switched to speedskating at 9 and won a pair of junior national championships. She barely missed out on the 2018 Olympic team, finishing fourth at those trials, where only the top three would be competing at the Games.\n\nThis time around, Santos left little doubt, sweeping the 1500-meter races at this season's trials to officially punch her ticket to Beijing, where she might represent Team USA's best shot at a medal in short track.\n\nMikaela Shiffrin, women's Alpine skiing\n\nShiffrin, 26, has quickly established herself as one of the most dominant American skiers ever – and she is without question one of the brightest stars on Team USA.\n\nWith more than 70 World Cup wins and 11 world championship medals to her name, Shiffrin will enter her third Olympics with strong odds of winning medals in multiple events – just as she did in Pyeongchang, where she took gold in giant slalom and silver in Alpine combined. Shiffrin, who tested positive for COVID-19 just six weeks before the Games, has a stated goal of competing in all five individual events in Beijing.\n\nJohn Shuster, men's curling\n\nFour years after leading Team USA to an improbable gold in Pyeongchang, Shuster is back for his fifth Olympic appearance, once again as captain of the U.S. men's team.\n\nFew U.S. winter athletes can match Shuster's longevity. The 39-year-old Minnesota native won his first national title in 2003, and competed at his first Olympics in 2006. He'll be joined in Beijing by two of the three teammates who competed alongside him in 2018, Matt Hamilton and John Landsteiner. Chris Plys replaces Tyler George to round out the team.\n\nJordan Stolz, men's speedskating\n\nThe 17-year-old Stolz has been touted as the future of U.S. men's speedskating, and he showed why at the Olympic trials in January. He won both the 500-meter and 1000-meter races at trials, breaking the 1000-meter track record set by two-time Olympic gold medalist Shani Davis in the process.\n\nA Wisconsin native, Stolz will be the third-youngest American male speedskater to compete at the Games. But U.S. teammate Joey Mantia described him as the guy who's \"going to carry that torch into the next several quads.\"\n\nKatie Uhlaender, women's skeleton\n\nNearly two decades after her first competition, Uhlaender is still going. The Beijing Olympics will be her fifth, a rare achievement for U.S. winter sports athletes. The 37-year-old has come close to the Olympic podium, finishing fourth in Sochi in 2014 by four hundredths of a second, but she has yet to win a medal.\n\nContact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday.com or on Twitter @Tom_Schad.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/01/28"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2015/12/12/lindsey-vonn-wins-giant-slalom-mikaela-shiffrin-warmup-crash-world-cup-sweden/77201640/", "title": "Lindsey Vonn wins giant slalom as Mikaela Shiffrin misses race after ...", "text": "AP\n\nLindsey Vonn won a World Cup giant slalom in Are, Sweden, on Saturday for her fourth consecutive victory while American teammate Mikaela Shiffrin missed the race following a warmup crash.\n\nWhile she specializes in the speed events of downhill and super-G, Vonn has now won four giant slaloms in her career — with two of them coming in Are.\n\nCharging down a shortened course due to strong winds in the opening run, Vonn held on to her lead in the second run amid snowfall and clocked a two-run combined time of 2 minutes, 4.70 seconds.\n\n“I love racing here in Are under the lights,” Vonn said, having explained earlier that it reminds her of training after school while growing up in Minnesota.\n\nEva-Maria Brem of Austria finished second, 0.07 seconds behind, and discipline leader Federica Brignone of Italy was third, 0.35 back.\n\nSimone Biles named U.S. Female Olympic Athlete of the Year\n\nVonn swept three speed races in Lake Louise, Alberta, last weekend.\n\n“I feel really good on my skis and balanced. I have a lot of confidence, especially after Lake Louise,” she said. “I said last week if I finish Lake Louise strong that always means good things for the rest of the season.”\n\nShiffrin, the 20-year-old Olympic slalom champion, was taken to a local hospital for exams on her right knee.\n\n“She basically flipped over into the net,” Shiffrin’s manager Kilian Albrecht told The Associated Press. “She’s in the hospital waiting for the MRI which will probably take a while.”\n\nVonn increased her lead over Shiffrin in the overall standings to 104 points. Lara Gut of Switzerland, who finished 13th, is third overall, 122 points back.\n\nRoger Federer plans to team with Martina Hingis in Rio Olympics doubles\n\nVonn took gold in downhill at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and has four overall World Cup titles — with the last coming in 2011-12.\n\nIn the second run, Vonn’s lead over Brem was down to just three hundredths at the final interval but her gliding skills paid off over the final gates.\n\n“I tried to be smart on the bottom where it was turny and some of the girls had some trouble,” she said. “I think I may have given away too much time there, but still I was attacking the whole time trying to arc and I was fast.”\n\nVonn let out a big celebration, pumping her poles and screaming before kissing her skis.\n\n“The old woman still has some tricks up her sleeve,” the 31-year-old Vonn added. “I’m not maybe as agile as I used to be. I’m not maybe as explosive. But at the same time I know my ability and I know what I can do and I know in different situations what is required of me.\n\nMichael Phelps wins 200-meter butterfly for his third national title in three days\n\n“And so I knew today it was going to take two really good, aggressive runs and my experience paid off and I was able to win.”\n\nIt was the 71st World Cup win of Vonn’s career. She broke the previous women’s record of 62 wins set by Austrian great Annemarie Moser-Proell last season and now is taking aim at Ingemark Stenmark’s overall mark of 86 victories.\n\n“It’s just been a great season so far,” said Vonn, who missed the season-opening giant slalom in Soelden, Austria, in October while recovering from a broken left ankle.\n\nBrignone, who won in Soelden, holds a 28-point lead ahead of Brem in the GS standings.\n\nExpert: Mental health of man accused in PV murders diminishing\n\nThe surprise of the day belonged to Simone Wild, an 18-year-old from Switzerland, who finished eighth with the No. 45 bib.\n\nVonn’s previous GS win came in Maribor, Slovenia, three seasons ago. She also won in Are at the end of the 2011-12 season.\n\n“I was watching some video from that win last night,” Vonn said between runs. “I was hoping to be in the top three but at the same time I knew that if I could arc and ski aggressively that I could win. Because I’ve done it here before.”\n\nSara Hector of Sweden, the first starter, pulled up midway through her run with an apparent knee injury and was taken down the course on a sled.\n\nWhile Shiffrin’s status was uncertain, Vonn is not planning to enter Sunday’s slalom race.\n\n“I’m young enough to ski well in GS but not young enough to still be good in slalom,” Vonn said with a laugh.\n\nPHOTOS: Lindsey Vonn in photos", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2015/12/12"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2019/01/20/lindsey-vonn-its-time-say-goodbye-racing-through-pain/2631642002/", "title": "Lindsey Vonn says 'it's time to say goodbye' after racing through pain", "text": "Associated Press\n\nCORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — What was evident all weekend for Lindsey Vonn became clear to everyone else on Sunday.\n\nThe American skier’s surgically repaired knees simply don’t let her apply the power she requires to win races anymore.\n\nThe pain is too severe; the psychological impact too much to bear; her pride too great.\n\nNo wonder that Vonn is considering moving up her retirement.\n\nAfter failing to finish a World Cup super-G, Vonn said leaving the sport immediately “is a possibility.”\n\n“But I’m emotional right now,” Vonn quickly added. “I have to really think clearly about that. It’s not a decision I make lightly or quickly.”\n\nVonn added to reporters, “I’ll let you guys know.”\n\nShe was more decisive when interviewed by Swiss TV, saying “now it’s time to listen to my body and it’s time to say goodbye.”\n\nVonn was charging and in contention for a podium spot until a slight bobble bounced her slightly off track. Then she clipped a gate and couldn’t apply pressure on her right leg to force her way back onto the racing line, prompting her to miss the next gate.\n\nAnd with that, Vonn stood up out of her tuck, hung her head and skied diagonally off the course.\n\n“I’ve had four surgeries on my right knee. I’ve got no LCL (lateral collateral ligament) on my left knee. I’ve got two braces on. There’s only so much I can handle and I might have reached my maximum,” Vonn said. “I’m not sure. I’ve got to take a couple days’ time and really think about things.”\n\nVonn was planning on retiring in December. She returned this weekend from her latest injury – to her left knee – but her best result in three races was ninth in Saturday’s downhill.\n\nVonn needs five more wins to break the all-time World Cup record of 86 victories held by Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark but that seems like the last thing on her mind now.\n\n“I really don’t know what to think at this point,” she said. “Definitely isn’t the way I had hoped that things would go. I’ve been able to fight through a lot of injuries in my career but I think my injuries might get the best of me at this point.”\n\nWhile Vonn’s most recent injury was to her left knee – she hyperextended it and sprained a ligament while training in November – her right knee is permanently damaged from previous crashes. She’s racing with braces on both knees and goes through an extensive rehab process each evening to keep competing.\n\nMikaela Shiffrin, Vonn’s American teammate, won Sunday’s race.\n\nWhile Shiffrin is gaining on her – 54 wins to Vonn’s 82 – for now Vonn remains the winningest female skier of all-time.\n\n“Her mentality was something we had never seen before,” said Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein, who finished second Sunday. “She raised the whole sport to the next level.”\n\nVonn was met by Olympic downhill champion Sofia Goggia in the finish area. When Goggia presented her with a bouquet of flowers, Vonn broke down into tears.\n\n“I was just overwhelmed with emotions – and it was really special that she came,” said Vonn, who has developed a friendship with her Italian rival in recent seasons. “It really means a lot to me.”\n\nVonn, who holds the record of 12 wins in Cortina, also broke down into tears at Saturday night’s public bib draw when organizers showed a video of her triumphs on the Olympia delle Tofane course.\n\nCortina was where Vonn achieved the first podium result of her career back in 2004 and where she broke the all-time women’s World Cup record with victory No. 63 in 2015.\n\n“It’s more emotional than I expected. You know that the end is coming but it doesn’t make it any easier,” Vonn said. “I’ve been racing here in Cortina for 18 years. It’s always been a great place for me. Some amazing memories. I was hoping to make some more amazing memories this weekend – and they were amazing – just not the way I expected.\n\n“I cried. It was so thoughtful of them to do that for me,” Vonn added of the video tribute. “I don’t expect things like that and so to have that for my last race really means a lot to me. It’s more than skiing. I hope to leave an impression that is not just about racing.”\n\nVonn was in contention for a top-three place until she went out.\n\n“It’s positive but I’m not able to ski the way I want to – the way I know I can,” she said. “I’m just really inhibited with my body. My body is inhibiting me from doing what I want to do.”\n\nVonn wasn’t the only top skier who failed to finish. More than a third of the 61 starters also DNF’d on a course set by Vonn’s longtime coach Alex Hoedlmoser.\n\n“I told him to set an easy course but I think it was just a little bit different in some places than people expected,” Vonn said. “I knew that that section where I went out would be difficult but I was trying to let my skis go and try to carry speed and I just underestimated it a little bit and went through the panel.”\n\nShiffrin, who has replaced Vonn as the top U.S. skier and who is on course for a third straight overall World Cup title, earned her first win in Cortina.\n\n“When I was younger she was someone I looked up to like crazy,” Shiffrin said of Vonn. “I was doing book reports on her. I was one of those fans.”", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2019/01/20"}]}
{"question_id": "20230127_16", "search_time": "2023/01/28/05:15", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/food/2023/01/24/oreo-cookies-new-flavor/11112437002/", "title": "New Oreo flavor: 'The Most Oreo Oreo' cookie debuts this month", "text": "We've enjoyed rainbow-filled Oreos, latte-flavored Oreos, white-chocolate-fudge-covered Oreos, mint-flavored Oreos and confetti-infused Oreos – even pumpkin spice Oreos.\n\nUp next: Oreo-stuffed Oreos. The newest Oreo variant is called The Most Oreo Oreo cookies, and they have a larger dollop of creme filling – and the filling has ground Oreo cookies mixed in. The limited edition cookies are available for pre-sale on Oreo.com and begin arriving in stores starting Jan. 30.\n\nTimed to the arrival of The Most Oreo Oreos is a new online Oreo-themed virtual reality world called the Oreoverse. You can use your Meta Quest 2 or Meta Quest Pro VR headsets to explore the Oreoverse, or use your smartphone or computers and visit oreoverse.oreo.com. Once there, you can play Oreo-themed games and enter to win a $50,000 grand prize.\n\nOreology:Here's how to split your Oreo cookie correctly, according to scientists\n\nM&M's:Iconic 'spokescandies' mascots with be replaced by Maya Rudolph after backlash\n\nVenturing into the Oreoverse for a live event Jan. 30 at 10 a.m. EST is Martha Stewart, who will be joined by her gardener and friend Ryan McCallister. Visit @OREO on Facebook or @OREO on Instagram to watch.\n\nYou can scan The Most Oreo Oreo pack to be taken to the virtual world, too.\n\n“The Most Oreo Oreo cookie gives fans a whole new way to playfully engage with us,\" Julia Rosenbloom, Oreo's senior brand manager, said in a statement. \"By scanning the pack, they will ‘dunk into’ the new Oreoverse world.”\n\nWait, Blackpink Oreos?\n\nAnother special Oreo promotion catching the attention of snack lovers, limited edition pink and black Oreos, the result of a team-up with K-pop group Blackpink. The pink cookies with black filling, sold in packages with collectible cards, are becoming available only in Southeast Asia.\n\nThey are hot commodities on eBay with packs of cookies going $50 or more and a complete set of the Blackpink photocards with cookies currently priced at $285.\n\nWhen asked about potential availability in the U.S., Oreo said in a statement to USA TODAY: “Never say never. OREO is always exploring new flavors and product innovations. Stay tuned for more exciting news on how we continue to create delicious and innovative snacking experiences for our fans in the U.S.”\n\nA timely tie-in? In late October, the group arrives in the U.S. for two dates on its Born Pink world tour (Oct. 25 & 26 in Dallas) and will remain here through mid-November.\n\nDig deeper: A menu of past Oreo mashups\n\nFollow Mike Snider on Twitter: @mikesnider.\n\nWhat's everyone talking about? Sign up for our trending newsletter to get the latest news of the day", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/01/24"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2014/05/23/oreo-new-cookie-reeses-peanut-butter-cup/9499281/", "title": "A whole new flavor! Reese's Peanut Butter Cup flavor Oreo cookies", "text": "Derry London\n\nWLTX-TV, Columbia, S.C.\n\nThe Nabisco company has been experimenting recently with combination flavors inside its widely popular Oreo cookies.\n\nFans of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups now get a special treat thanks to Nabisco's latest test: Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Oreo cookie sandwiches.\n\nRecent new or limited-edition Oreo cookie flavors have included lemon, mint, berry, cookie dough, and chocolate cream filling. Nabisco already has a peanut butter-filled Oreo cookie on the market, but the newest addition has the distinctly flavored Reese's peanut butter and chocolate combination.\n\nThe new cookies are already available in Walmart. There is no word yet from Nabisco on when they may be rolled out to other retailers.\n\nFollow Derry London on Twitter @Derry_London", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2014/05/23"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/dining/2019/01/29/new-most-stuf-oreos/2701649002/", "title": "The new Most Stuf Oreos are here, and they' are HUGE", "text": "Last fall, Mondelez, the parent company of Oreo, made an announcement that had snack lovers giddy with excitement.\n\nSomething big was coming. Bigger than Double Stuf. Bigger than Mega Stuf.\n\nCould there be such a cookie? We could only hope.\n\nEarlier this month, social media began to buzz that the new treat – The Most Stuf Oreo – had been spotted at Walmart, Target and RiteAid. This monster of a cookie, Oreo's thickest ever, was said to have three times as much filling as a regular Oreo.\n\nIt was a cookie lover's dream. We had to try them.\n\nA quick Amazon search revealed a package for $10. We love cookies, but not that much. One trip to ShopRite later and we were in luck: There they were, tucked among the now-boring Golden Oreos and Oreo Thins.\n\n\"Limited edition,\" the package announced. \"Most.Creme.Ever.\"\n\nWe slowly peeled back the foil top and wow, these cookies are not for the faint of heart. Each one is nearly an inch thick. The package contains just 18 cookies; they are too stuffed with filling to fit any more. (For comparison, a regular pack of Oreos contains around 40 cookies.)\n\nMore:Have you tried the new Dark Chocolate Oreo?\n\nAnd if you are counting calories, good luck! One Most Stuf Oreo has 110 calories, compared to 45 in a regular Oreo, 70 in a Double Stuf and 90 in a Mega Stuf. But with all that filling, you will probably need just one.\n\nHow does it taste? Like an Oreo on steroids, which is not a bad thing. The sheer amount of filling makes them hard to bite, but everyone knows Oreos are meant to be eaten with the top twisted off, anyway.\n\nIf you are the kind of person who eats Oreos for the filling, this cookie is for you.\n\nOreo has a history of putting whacky flavors inside its cookies: fruit punch, banana split, pumpkin spice and candy corn are recent varieties. Last year, hot chicken wing and wasabi-flavored cookies were released in China.\n\nMore:Super Bowl 2019: 12 Shore spots for great takeout\n\nAlong with the new cookies, Oreo is launching a promotion called The Stuf Inside. As reported by delish.com, beginning Feb. 4, cookie lovers can scan their cookie at www.stufinside.com for the chance to win \"an OREO-tricked-out Jeep Wrangler, an OREO iRobot Roomba Robot Vacuum, an OREO K2 Snowboard, OREO X Grado headphones, an OREO print by Gray Malin and an OREO cookie Jar by Jonathan Adler.\"\n\nFor more information, visit www.oreo.com.\n\nDo you love learning about new restaurants at the Jersey Shore? Join the Jersey Shore Eats group on Facebook and follow on Instagram, and share tips and your favorite places with food writer Sarah Griesemer at sgriesemer@gannettnj.com.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2019/01/29"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/food/2022/05/25/oreo-ritz-cookie-cracker-snack/9927117002/", "title": "Oreo and Ritz giving away free cookie-cracker snack", "text": "Move over Burger King chicken fries. Step aside, Combos Baked Snacks Vanilla Frosting Pretzel (Yes, that used to be a real thing). Meet \"Oreo x Ritz.\"\n\nThis week, Oreo and Ritz announced the latest eye-catching snack combination – pairing up the classic chocolate and cream cookie with the salty cracker for a limited time treat. Inside the newcomer cookie and cracker sandwich? Oreo cream filling smooshed along with peanut butter.\n\nIntrigued? Mondelēz International, the Chicago-based company that owns the two brands, is giving out the treats for free online starting Thursday at noon ET. FYI: Snackers will pay a $3.95 shipping fee.\n\nAccording to Oreo's website, all 1,000 packs were claimed and the snack was sold out as of May 30.\n\n\"RITZ and OREO are always looking for ways to surprise fans with unique, can’t-stop-talking-about product innovations,\" Mondelēz International spokeswoman Anna Whitelaw told USA TODAY Wednesday. \"We saw some chatter on social and thought, why not? Sounds delicious! After a few tries – 12 to be exact – we found the perfect combination.\"\n\nSome people are on board with the crookie launch, \"because the combination of the saltiness of the Ritz with the sweetness of the Oreo sounds like a great combo,\" Twitter user @JWillsNH tweeted.\n\nOthers, not so much. \"Oreos and Ritz crackers had a baby... I don't know if I like this, Twitter user @heatherhunterdc posted.\n\nNatalie Neysa Alund covers trending news for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on Twitter @nataliealund.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/05/25"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/19/us/oreo-filling-study-scn/index.html", "title": "Do you split your Oreo? Researchers at MIT explain how to make ...", "text": "Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more.\n\nCNN —\n\nOreology: The study of the creme-filled cookie sandwich.\n\nHaven’t heard of it? Well, you’ve probably studied it – experimenting with dunking, twisting and separating to find the best Oreo eating experience.\n\nWhether you prefer the filling intact on one half of the cookie or spread evenly when you open it up, researchers have asked the long-plaguing question: How do you make sure you get the Oreo just the way you want it every time?\n\n“When I was little, I tried twisting wafers to split the cream evenly between wafers so there’s some on both halves – which in my opinion tastes much better than having one wafer with a lot of creme and one with almost none. This was hard to do when I was trying it by hand,” said Crystal Owens, lead author of a study published Tuesday in the journal American Institute of Physics and a researcher in mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.\n\nSo, she bumped it up a notch. Researchers devised an Oreometer, a device designed to split the cookie with a scientifically precise amount of torque (a measure of force used to rotate an object).\n\nThe hope was that with the perfect twist, researchers could manipulate the cookie’s filling to distribute evenly between the two wafer cookies. Alas, they could not.\n\n“We learned, sadly, that even if you twist an Oreo perfectly, the cream will almost always end up mostly on one of the two wafers, with a delamination of the cream, and there’s no easy way to get it to split between wafers,” Owens said. For those of us who are not Oreo scientists, delamination is when something splits apart into layers.\n\nIf you do manage to separate the cookie evenly, it likely wasn’t the result of your delicate, precise work, according to the study. That has more to do with the level of adhesion between the creme and cookie, which is altered by some factor before it gets to your hands.\n\nWhat that could be is a question for a later study.\n\n“We didn’t even begin to answer all of the questions someone could ask about Oreos or cookies, which is why we made our Oreometer, so anyone with access to a 3D printer can make other measurements,” Owens said.\n\nSerious science for a silly question\n\nRandy Ewoldt, professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, was reviewing the study one night when his 11-year-old son peeked over his shoulder.\n\nHe knows his dad works in rheology, a branch of physics that studies the flow of matter between liquids and solids, but like most kids, his dad’s work doesn’t hold his interest for too long. Until he saw the word Oreo on the paper, that is.\n\n“When we talk about the physics of complicated materials, and there are many, the Oreo cookie creme is one that is accessible to many people immediately,” Ewoldt said. “To bring people into a much more complicated world, this may serve as an entry way for that.”\n\nThe study is in Owen’s mind every time she has an Oreo, and now she hopes it will get people outside of the field curious as well.\n\n“I hope people can use this information to improve their cookie eating when they twist open an Oreo, or when they dunk it in milk,” Owens said. “I hope people can also take inspiration to investigate other puzzles in the kitchen in scientific ways.\n\n“The best scientific research, even at MIT, is driven by curiosity to understand the world around us, when someone sees something weird or unknown and takes the time to think ‘I wonder why that happens like that?’”", "authors": ["Madeline Holcombe"], "publish_date": "2022/04/19"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/04/21/oreo-cookie-opening-study-science-mit/7379804001/", "title": "The Oreo twist: MIT study reveals how to perfectly open cookie", "text": "Oreology: It's the science behind the \"twist, lick, dunk.\"\n\nA group of scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology dug deep into the science by devising an Oreometer, a device designed to split the iconic Oreo cookie with a specific amount of force. The goal was to create a perfect split every single time: one side a clean cookie, the other side with all the filling.\n\nTheir peer-reviewed study was published Tuesday in the journal American Institute of Physics.\n\nStudy author Crystal Owens, a doctoral student in mechanical engineering, told USA TODAY she got the inspiration for the study from using a rheometer, which measures liquid and substances' responses to force. The laboratory instrument measures the affects on a fluid by moving one of two discs it is sandwiched between.\n\n\"One day, just doing experiments, and, all of a sudden we realized that this machine would be perfect for opening Oreos because it already has … the fluid in the center, and then these two discs are like the same geometry as an Oreo,\" she said.\n\nThe scientists, unfortunately, were not able to decipher how to manipulate the perfect split Oreo split with equal cream on each side of the cookie.\n\nBut there is good news for people who want all the cream to wind up on one side. There's just one stipulation, the researchers found: The Oreo needs to be from a freshly opened pack and separated with a twisting motion, Owens said.\n\nNew Oreo flavor:Chocolate Confetti Cake Cookie to be released for brand's 110th birthday\n\nOreo wine? Barefoot teams up with cookie brand for red wine with hints of chocolate\n\nThe scientists concluded the main factor was not the twisting of the cookie but rather the \"adhesiveness\" of the creme filling. The filling can be affected by a number of factors, including the way it's stored, packaged, manufactured and shipped, according to the study.\n\nMarketing for Oreos has often challenged cookie lovers to try twisting the cookies open so that the creme filling is evenly distributed on both wafers. \"Many have tried to figure out that very question – rest assured, there isn’t a secret that we’ve been hiding – but none have gone to such playful lengths as Crystal Owens and her team of researchers,\" Justin Parnell, Oreo's vice president of marketing and strategy, said in a statement to USA TODAY. \"We want to extend a huge congratulations to these brilliant minds and applaud their dedication to our cookie twisting ritual.”", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/04/21"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2019/01/11/krispy-kreme-announces-new-chocolate-glaze-collection-and-bogo-deal/2540770002/", "title": "Krispy Kreme announces new Chocolate Glaze Collection and ...", "text": "Come Monday, it'll be harder to keep some New Year's resolutions.\n\nKrispy Kreme Doughnuts announced Friday that it is releasing a new Chocolate Glaze Collection on Jan. 14, featuring four new doughnuts along with a sweet deal for new members of its loyalty program.\n\nBut the North Carolina-based company also has a suggestion for dieters: \"Don’t Quit, Cheat Sweet.\"\n\n“If you’re taking a brief break from your diet or exercise routine, you may as well make it worth it,” said Dave Skena, Krispy Kreme Doughnuts chief marketing officer in a statement. “This is worth it.”\n\nThe doughnuts in the Chocolate Glaze Collection are classic flavors including cake batter and raspberry filled.\n\nKrispy Kreme has an extra treat for anyone who joins Krispy Kreme Rewards by downloading the mobile app or online starting Monday through Jan. 27.\n\nFor joining, get a free dozen Original Glazed Doughnuts with the purchase of any dozen at regular price at participating locations nationwide.\n\nMore:January specials: Your monthly guide to freebies and meal deals\n\nMore:Starbucks releases new drink, the Cinnamon Shortbread Latte, for winter\n\nMore:Be on the lookout! New Dark Chocolate Oreo cookies hitting store shelves\n\nThe new doughnuts\n\nKrispy Kreme's new doughnut collection available Jan. 14 and for a limited time include:\n\nChocolate Glazed Cake Batter Doughnut: A spin on its Cake Batter Doughnut, this doughnut features a chocolate doughnut filled with cake batter, glazed in chocolate, dipped in chocolate icing and topped with sprinkles.\n\nChocolate Glazed Raspberry Filled Doughnut: This chocolate doughnut covered with chocolate glaze, filled with raspberry and topped with a decorative red icing swirl.\n\nDouble Chocolate Glazed Kreme Filled Doughnut: This doughnut features a chocolate doughnut covered in chocolate glaze, filled with Krispy Kreme’s classic white Kreme and decorated with white icing.\n\nChocolate Glazed Oreo Cookies & Kreme Doughnut: A chocolate doughnut glazed in chocolate, filled with cookies and creme filling, dipped in chocolate icing and topped with Oreo cookie pieces and chocolate icing.\n\nKelly Tyko is a consumer columnist and retail reporter for Treasure Coast Newspapers and TCPalm.com, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK. Read her Bargainista tips at TCPalm.com/Bargainista, follow her on Twitter @KellyTyko and email her at kelly.tyko@tcpalm.com.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2019/01/11"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/nation-now/2016/11/15/mic-drop-oreo-just-released-candy-bar/93889756/", "title": "Mic drop: Oreo just released a candy bar", "text": "Mary Bowerman\n\nUSA TODAY Network\n\nCookie lovers rejoice!\n\nThe maker of Oreo cookies is making waves in the candy aisle with the release of a new Milka Oreo Big Crunch candy bar.\n\nThat's right, an Oreo candy bar. The new candy is a combination of Oreo cookie pieces and vanilla cream filling encased in Milka European chocolate candy.\n\nThe bars were released in time for holiday shoppers, and will be a permanent offering, according to a statement from Mondelez International, the maker of Oreo and Milka.\n\nThe company decided to pair Oreo and Milka chocolate to “diversify the Oreo product portfolio,” Samantha Greenwood, Senior Category Director, Chocolate-North America, said in a statement.\n\n“The combination of these two global powerhouse brands has led to a product line that is unique and truly differentiated in the U.S. chocolate candy category,” she said.\n\nThe bars, which have been available overseas, will hit shelves at Wal-Mart, Kroger, ShopRite and Albertsons, this week, and will roll-out nationally in January 2017.\n\nIt's up to you whether you want to dip them in milk.\n\nFollow @MaryBowerman on Twitter.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2016/11/15"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/11/business/oreo-birthday-cookie-flavor/index.html", "title": "Oreo is celebrating its 110th birthday with a first-ever flavor | CNN ...", "text": "1. How relevant is this ad to you?\n\nVideo player was slow to load content Video content never loaded Ad froze or did not finish loading Video content did not start after ad Audio on ad was too loud Other issues", "authors": ["Jordan Valinsky"], "publish_date": "2022/01/11"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2023/01/24/half-moon-bay-shooting-oscars-and-monterey-park-tuesday-news-short-list/11112312002/", "title": "Half Moon Bay shooting, Oscars and Monterey Park: The Short List", "text": "Authorities said evidence suggests the second mass shooting in California since Saturday was an \"instance of workplace violence.\" Classified documents were found in former Vice President Mike Pence's home in Indiana. And this year's Oscar nominations have been announced.\n\n👋 Hello, it's Julius with Tuesday's news.\n\nBut first: A space cloud with the coldest ice to date. 🌌 The James Webb Space Telescope explored the Chamaeleon I dark molecular cloud that could provide key insights into the “building blocks of life.”\n\nThe Short List is a snappy USA TODAY news roundup. Subscribe to the newsletter here.\n\nAnother mass shooting in California leaves at least 7 people dead\n\nSeven people were dead and a suspect was in custody Tuesday after two shootings at plant nurseries near the Northern California community of Half Moon Bay, just days after a rampage in Southern California killed 11. The San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office said four victims were found dead at the first shooting scene and a fifth person was transported to the Stanford Medical Center with life-threatening injuries. Three victims were found at the second scene a short time later. The suspect was employed at Mountain Mushroom Farm, the location of the first shooting, and all evidence points to the attack being an \"instance of workplace violence,\" Sheriff Christina Corpus said Tuesday. Follow the latest updates on Half Moon Bay.\n\nMore classified docs found – this time at Pence's house\n\nClassified documents were found at Mike Pence's home, representatives for the former vice president wrote to the National Archives in letters this month. This is the latest in a series of discoveries involving classified documents at the homes of current and former elected officials. Pence’s lawyer characterized the documents as “a small number of documents bearing classified markings that were inadvertently transported to the personal home of the former vice president at the end of the last administration.\" The Department of Justice “requested direct possession” of the documents on Jan. 19, and FBI agents went to Pence’s home that night to collect the documents from a safe, according to letters from Pence’s lawyer. Read more about the latest document discovery.\n\nWhat everyone's talking about\n\nThe Short List is free, but several stories we link to are subscriber-only. Consider supporting our journalism and become a USA TODAY digital subscriber today.\n\nDoomsday Clock signals world is closest it's been to human-caused catastrophe\n\nThe world is closer to annihilation than it has ever been since the first nuclear bombs were released at the close of World War II, The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists said Tuesday. The time on the Doomsday Clock moved forward from 100 seconds to midnight to 90 seconds to midnight. Between Russia's nuclear brinkmanship in its war on Ukraine, the real threats of climate change becoming increasingly dire and ongoing concerns about more possible pandemics caused by humans encroaching on formerly wild areas, the Bulletin chose to set the clock to the closest midnight yet. Learn more about the Doomsday Clock.\n\n'Nuclear nightmare' ticks closer:Why any use of nuclear weapons would be a disaster\n\n\n\nAll 11 Monterey Park shooting victims identified\n\nAfter notifying relatives, authorities on Tuesday released the complete list of the 11 people killed in the Monterey Park, California, mass shooting. The victims ranged in age from 57 to 76. The six women who perished were: My Nhan, 65; Lilian Li, 63; Xiujuan Yu, 57; Muoi Ung, 67; Hong Jian, 62; and Diana Tom, 70. The five men who died were: Yu-Lun Kao, 72; Chia Yau, 76; Valentino Alvero, 68; Wen-Tau Yu, 64; and Ming Ma, 72. Authorities said the gunman fired 42 shots at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio. In addition to those killed, nine were wounded. Read more.\n\nIn Monterey Park shooting, ballrooms became the scene of sudden horror, stunning heroism.\n\nof sudden horror, stunning heroism. Monterey Park's safe haven for Asian communities is shattered by mass shooting.\n\nReal quick\n\nOscar nominations are here 📽\n\n\"Everything Everywhere All at Once\" ruled Tuesday when nominations for the 95th Academy Awards were announced, scoring 11 honors including best picture and screenplay. Star Michelle Yeoh was nominated for best actress, Jamie Lee Curtis and Stephanie Hsu earned their first Oscar nominations and Ke Huy Quan garnered a nod for supporting actor. Not far behind \"Everything Everywhere\" were Martin McDonagh's \"The Banshees of Inisherin\" and Edward Berger's \"All Quiet on the Western Front\" with nine nominations each. Cate Blanchett (\"Tár\") also made the cut for another standout performance, along with comeback kings Quan and Brendan Fraser (\"The Whale\"). See all of this year's nominees.\n\nA break from the news", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/01/24"}]}
{"question_id": "20230127_17", "search_time": "2023/01/28/05:15", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/10/tech/elon-musk-twitter-trump-ban/index.html", "title": "Elon Musk says he would reverse Twitter's Trump ban | CNN Business", "text": "New York CNN Business —\n\nElon Musk said Tuesday that he would restore former President Donald Trump’s banned account on Twitter if his deal to acquire the company is completed.\n\nMusk’s remarks at Financial Times’ Future of the Car conference mark his first public acknowledgment of what had been widely expected since the billionaire announced plans to buy the social media giant for $44 billion.\n\nMusk has previously said he thinks Twitter should be more “reluctant to delete things” and “very cautious with permanent bans.” On Tuesday, he called Twitter’s decision to ban Trump in January 2021 a “mistake.”\n\n“I do think it was not correct to ban Donald Trump, I think that was a mistake,” Musk said. “I would reverse the perma-ban. … But my opinion, and Jack Dorsey, I want to be clear, shares this opinion, is that we should not have perma-bans.”\n\nDorsey, Twitter’s cofounder and former CEO, tweeted Tuesday following Musk’s remarks that he does “agree” there shouldn’t be permanent bans on Twitter users. “There are exceptions … but generally permanent bans are a failure of ours and don’t work,” he said.\n\nTwitter declined to comment on Musk’s remarks.\n\nTrump was permanently suspended from Twitter following the January 6 Capitol Riot for violating the platform’s rules against violence incitement, a decision the company has said was headed by Dorsey. Other social platforms followed in banning or suspending Trump’s account.\n\nTrump, for his part, has said he would not return to Twitter even if his account were restored, instead promoting his own social media venture, Truth Social, which has so far appeared to struggle to get off the ground.\n\n“Banning Trump from Twitter didn’t end Trump’s voice, it will amplify it among the right and this is why it’s morally wrong and flat out stupid,” Musk said at the event on Tuesday.\n\nThe Tesla and SpaceX CEO acknowledged that his acquisition of Twitter, and Trump’s return, are not yet a done deal. “I will say that I don’t own Twitter yet, so this is not a thing that will definitely happen, because what if I don’t own Twitter?” he said.\n\nThere remain some questions about whether Musk will indeed go through with the deal, or whether the decline in Tesla (TSLA) shares over the past month could negatively impact his ability to finance the deal. Twitter (TWTR) stock was trading around $47.70 on Tuesday afternoon, well below Musk’s offer price of $54.20 per share, suggesting some investor skepticism about the likelihood that the deal gets completed.\n\nThat hasn’t stopped Musk from continuing to expound on his plans for the platform in recent weeks. Musk has said his goal is to bolster free speech on the platform and to make it clearer to users when the platform takes actions that impact what people see on Twitter.\n\nOn Tuesday, he reiterated his desire to rid Twitter of bots promoting spam or scams, and his plan to make Twitter’s algorithm publicly available for anyone to view and comment on.\n\n“I would literally put the Twitter algorithm on GitHub and say like, ‘Hey, anyone want to suggest changes to this? Please go ahead,’” Musk said, adding that he sees such a move as a way to “build transparency and trust.”\n\nHe also criticized what he views as Twitter’s political bias, echoing claims from some prominent figures on the right.\n\n“I think Twitter needs to be much more evenhanded. It currently has a strong left bias because it’s based in San Francisco,” he said. “I don’t think the people there necessarily intend, or at least some of them don’t intend, to have a left bias. They just, from their perspective, it seems moderate, but they’re just coming after it from an environment that is very far left.”\n\n(Twitter has previously said its algorithms and employees do not discriminate against any particular political point of view.)\n\nIn addition to reversing the Trump ban, Musk said he would make permanent bans “extremely rare,” reserving them for “bots or spam, scam accounts where there’s just no legitimacy to the account at all.”\n\nVideo Ad Feedback Does kicking bad actors off social media platforms work? 04:29 - Source: CNN Business\n\nMusk also expanded on his vision for Twitter’s content moderation. Previously, Musk has said he intends for Twitter to limit its content moderation to that which governments have deemed explicitly illegal — and not to go much further.\n\nBut on Tuesday, Musk conceded that there could be a wide range of objectionable content that he would want Twitter to enforce against. In addition to illegal content, Musk identified two other categories of content that could be subject to penalties: speech that is “destructive to the world” and “wrong and bad.”\n\n“If they say something that is illegal or otherwise just destructive to the world, then there should be perhaps a timeout, a temporary suspension, or that particular tweet should be made invisible or have very limited traction,” Musk said. He added: “I think if there are tweets that are wrong and bad, those should be either deleted or made invisible, and a suspension, a temporary suspension is appropriate but not a permanent ban.”\n\nMusk didn’t say what metrics Twitter might use to determine if a tweet may be “wrong and bad” or “destructive to the world,” and when it might opt for one type of penalty over another.", "authors": ["Brian Fung Clare Duffy", "Brian Fung", "Clare Duffy"], "publish_date": "2022/05/10"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/19/business/twitter-musk-trump-reinstate/index.html", "title": "Elon Musk restores Donald Trump's Twitter account | CNN Business", "text": "CNN —\n\nFormer US President Donald Trump’s Twitter account has been reinstated on the platform.\n\nThe account, which Twitter banned following the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, was restored after Twitter CEO and new owner Elon Musk posted a poll on Twitter on Friday night asking the platform’s users if Trump should be reinstated.\n\n“The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated,” Musk tweeted Saturday night. “Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” Latin for “the voice of the people is the voice of God.”\n\nThe final poll results on Saturday night showed 51.8% in favor and 48.2% opposed. The poll included 15 million votes.\n\nThe much-anticipated decision from the new owner sets the stage for the former president’s return to the social media platform, where he was previously its most influential, if controversial, user. With almost 90 million followers, his tweets often moved the markets, set the news cycle and drove the agenda in Washington.\n\nTrump has previously said he would remain on his platform, Truth Social, instead of rejoining Twitter, but a change in his approach could hold major political implications. The former president announced this month that he will seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, aiming to become only the second commander in chief ever elected to two nonconsecutive terms.\n\nAsked on Saturday what he thought of Musk purchasing Twitter and his own future on the platform, Trump praised Musk but questioned whether the site would survive its current crises.\n\nVideo Ad Feedback Hear what Trump said about possibly returning to Twitter 02:10 - Source: CNN\n\n“They have a lot of problems,” Trump said in Las Vegas at the Republican Jewish Coalition meeting. “You see what’s going on. It may make it, it may not make it.”\n\nStill, Trump said he liked Musk and “liked that he bought (Twitter.)”\n\n“He’s a character and I tend to like characters,” the former president said of Musk. “But he’s smart.”\n\nThroughout Trump’s White House tenure, Twitter was central to his presidency, a fact that also benefited the company in the form of countless hours of user engagement. Twitter often took a light-touch approach to moderating his account, arguing at times that as a public official, the then-president must be given wide latitude to speak.\n\nBut as Trump neared the end of his term – and increasingly tweeted misinformation alleging election fraud – the balance shifted. The company began applying warning labels to his tweets in an attempt to correct his misleading claims ahead of the 2020 presidential election. And following the US Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, the platform banned him indefinitely.\n\n“After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence,” Twitter said at the time. “In the context of horrific events this week, we made it clear on Wednesday that additional violations of the Twitter Rules would potentially result in this very course of action.”\n\nThe decision followed two tweets by Trump that, according to Twitter, violated the company’s policy against glorification of violence. The tweets, Twitter said at the time, “must be read in the context of broader events in the country and the ways in which the President’s statements can be mobilized by different audiences, including to incite violence, as well as in the context of the pattern of behavior from this account in recent weeks.”\n\nThe first tweet – a statement about Trump’s supporters, who he called “75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me” – suggested that “he plans to continue to support, empower, and shield those who believe he won the election,” Twitter had said.\n\nVideo Ad Feedback Trump's dilemma: Truth Social or Twitter? 05:11 - Source: CNN\n\nThe second, which indicated he did not plan to attend Joe Biden’s inauguration, could be viewed as a further statement that the election was not legitimate and could be interpreted as Trump saying that the inauguration would be a “safe” target for violence because he would not be attending, according to Twitter.\n\nFollowing Musk’s decision, Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming suggested on Twitter that “it’s a good time to watch” a public hearing held earlier this year by the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack.\n\n“It covers each of Trump’s tweets that day, including those that have been deleted, and features multiple Trump (White House) staff describing his inexcusable conduct during the violence,” Cheney, a notable Trump critic who serves on the select committee, tweeted Saturday.\n\nSoon after Trump’s Twitter ban, he was also restricted from Meta’s Facebook and Instagram, which could also restore his accounts as soon as January 2023.\n\nOn November 18, Musk tweeted that he had reinstated several controversial accounts on the platform, but that a “Trump decision has not yet been made.”\n\n“New Twitter policy is freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach,” he said at the time. “Negative/hate tweets will be max deboosted & demonetized, so no ads or other revenue to Twitter. You won’t find the tweet unless you specifically seek it out, which is no different from rest of Internet.”\n\nMusk had previously said he disagreed with Twitter’s permanent ban policy and could also return other accounts that had been removed from the platform for repeated rules violations.\n\n“I do think it was not correct to ban Donald Trump; I think that was a mistake,” Musk said at a conference in May, pledging to reverse the ban were he to become the company’s owner.\n\nJack Dorsey, who was the CEO of Twitter when the company banned Trump but has since left, responded to Musk’s comments saying he agreed that there should not be permanent bans. Banning the former president, he said, was a “business decision” and it “shouldn’t have been.”\n\nThe Trump decision is the latest in a series of major changes Musk has made at Twitter, including pushing out its top leadership and a significant portion of its staff.\n\nMusk also launched an updated subscription service allowing users to pay to receive verification checkmarks, an indicator previously reserved for authenticated public figures, which was quickly abused and used to impersonate prominent people, businesses and government agencies. Twitter paused the service and plans to reinstate it later this month.\n\nAnd on Friday, he said he would restore the accounts of three controversial, previously banned or suspended users: Canadian podcaster Jordan Peterson, right-leaning satire website Babylon Bee and comedian Kathy Griffin.\n\nThe chaos has scared off many of Twitter’s major advertisers, who are wary of having their ads run alongside potentially objectionable content, threatening the company’s core business model. Macy’s, Volkswagen Group, General Mills and other large brands have all paused advertising, causing what Musk called earlier this month “a massive drop in revenue.” And restoring Trump to the platform is unlikely to help.\n\nNAACP President Derrick Johnson called on advertisers still funding Twitter to immediately stop all ad buys.\n\nVideo Ad Feedback Will Twitter advertiser dollars affect Musk's promise to Trump? 02:05 - Source: CNN\n\n“In Elon Musk’s Twittersphere, you can incite an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, which led to the deaths of multiple people, and still be allowed to spew hate speech and violent conspiracies on his platform,” Johnson said in a statement. “If Elon Musk continues to run Twitter like this, using garbage polls that do not represent the American people and the needs of our democracy, God help us all.”\n\nIn an apparent effort to reassure advertisers and users, Musk previously said he would implement a “content moderation council” to help set policies, and that no major content moderation decisions would be made before it was in place. There is no indication that such a group was involved in the move to restore Trump nor the other users who were returned to the platform on Friday.\n\nIn an op-ed published in the New York Times Friday, Twitter’s former head of trust and safety Yoel Roth, who left the company last week, said that despite the billionaire’s promises to involve others in key decisions, “Mr. Musk has made clear that at the end of the day, he’ll be the one calling the shots.”\n\nAny surge in traffic on Twitter due to Trump’s reinstatement could also put a technical strain on the platform that would coincide with the World Cup, which is typically one of the biggest audience events on the site.\n\n“Twitter servers being out [put] through quite the stress test by @elonmusk right now,” Sriram Krishnan, an investor who is assisting as part of Musk’s Twitter leadership team, tweeted Saturday night.\n\nMass worker exits at the company had prompted users, as well as some employees, to question whether the platform could face outages or other issues. Already, Twitter has experienced some glitches in recent days, including with its feature that allows users to download their data from the site.", "authors": ["Clare Duffy Paul Leblanc", "Clare Duffy", "Paul Leblanc"], "publish_date": "2022/11/19"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2022/11/19/twitter-donald-trump-elon-musk/10618004002/", "title": "Donald Trump's Twitter account reinstated after Elon Musk removes ...", "text": "After a nearly two-year absence, former President Donald Trump is able to reclaim his Twitter account – though it's unclear whether he'll be back.\n\nElon Musk, the social media company's new owner, announced Saturday evening that Trump's Twitter account would be reinstated. Minutes later, the former president's profile was unbanned and his blue check mark was restored.\n\nThe news comes days after Trump announced his presidential bid for 2024. He was banned from Twitter for inciting violence during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.\n\nThe decision marks both the highest profile and most controversial figure Musk has welcomed back to the social media platform since his turbulent $44 billion takeover of the company last month, which has been marked by severe cuts to both its workforce and revenue as many companies stopped advertising.\n\n\"The people have spoken,\" Musk said on Twitter Saturday evening. \"Trump will be reinstated.\"\n\nBEFORE THE DECISION:Will he or won't he? Elon Musk says he hasn't decided if Twitter will reinstate Trump\n\nMASS RESIGNATIONS:Employees resign from Twitter after Elon Musk's deadline to recommit and walks back remote-work policy\n\nTrump, who announced Tuesday that he was running for president again, has said he would not return to Twitter even if invited. But the former president has not gotten the same resonance from his Truth Social app, which has a much more limited reach.\n\nOn Truth Social, Trump has 4.57 million followers, a fraction of the more than 88 million he had on Twitter.\n\nBefore lifting the ban, Musk on Friday created an informal poll on his personal Twitter account asking users if he should \"reinstate former President Trump.\" More than 15 million users weighed in, though it was unclear how many of the poll participants were verified users or bots.\n\nAfter the poll, Musk announced Trump's Twitter account would be restored.\n\n\"Vox Populi, Vox Dei,\" Musk said, a Latin phrase meaning, the voice of the people is the voice of God.\n\nTrump's follower count fluctuated wildly Saturday night. Musk said Twitter engineers were working to restore all of Trump's followers.\n\nTrump on Saturday issued a statement about the poll and the possibility of being reinstated.\n\n\"Vote now with positivity, but don’t worry, we aren’t going anywhere,\" Trump said. \"Truth Social is special!\"\n\nHe elaborated in a virtual appearance at the Republican Jewish Coalition's leadership meeting, saying that, while he's \"always liked\" Musk and was happy that he purchased Twitter, he doesn't \"see any reason\" to go back to the platform.\n\n\"They have a lot of problems at Twitter,\" Trump said. \"You see what's going on. It may make it, it may not make it, but the problems are incredible.\"\n\nThe de-platforming of Trump and other figures on the political right sparked outrage among conservatives who accuse Facebook and other major social media platforms of censorship and liberal biases.\n\nSince Musk took over the company last month, he has reinstated other prominent figures and companies, including right-wing Canadian podcaster Jordan Peterson, the far-right satire website The Babylon Bee and comedian Kathy Griffin, who was suspended after impersonating Musk on Twitter.\n\nTrump and the Capitol riot:When Trump started his speech before the Capitol riot, talk on Parler turned to civil war\n\nAre conservatives censored on Twitter?:Trump, Republicans bet claims they do will rally GOP base in 2022\n\nBut while his purchase of the widely used social media app was celebrated by Republicans and the far-right, Musk resisted calls to immediately reinstate Trump.\n\n\"He should never have been banned,\" Jake Denton, a research associate in the Tech Policy Center at The Heritage Foundation, told USA TODAY. “Trump returning objectively shifts Twitter toward a new path. He’s the ideal guy to rein in the new Elon Musk Twitter. He is the vehicle by which Elon can signal that he is serious about restructuring Twitter.”\n\nTrump's return carries risks for Twitter and for democracy, Brian Ott, a communications professor at Missouri State University, told USA TODAY.\n\nTrump has continued to falsely claim the 2020 election was stolen.\n\n\"It provided him a public forum to widely disseminate his lies, disinformation and hatred,\" Ott said. \"His return to these platforms would surely raise the temperature of our politics and significantly increase the likelihood of political violence.\"\n\nTrump lost his direct link to supporters when he was booted from the nation's top social media platforms – Facebook, Twitter and Google’s YouTube – after the Capitol siege.\n\nTrump, who frequently spread misinformation online, being allowed to rejoin Twitter comes at a vulnerable moment for the company and potentially American politics.\n\nTRUMP'S MISINFORMATION SPREAD:From COVID-19 to voting: Trump is nation's single largest spreader of disinformation, studies say\n\nAFTER THE ELECTION:Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, but misinformation will continue to win\n\nMusk has already laid off thousands of employees and recently cut content moderation contractors who help halt the spread of hate speech and misinformation.\n\nMore employees appeared to resign this week after Musk told staff they “will need to be extremely hard core” to build “a breakthrough Twitter 2.0,” and working long hours in a high-intensity environment would be part of that push.\n\nOn Friday, Musk tweeted that Twitter’s new policy is “freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach.”\n\n“Negative/hate tweets will be max deboosted & demonetized, so no ads or other revenue to Twitter,” he tweeted. “You won’t find the tweet unless you specifically seek it out, which is no different from rest of Internet.”\n\nOf the platforms, Twitter was Trump’s favorite and it could provide a pivotal bullhorn during his 2024 run to regain the White House.\n\nEspecially at a time when Twitter is struggling to keep its most active users engaged, Musk has a strong financial motive to bring back Trump, who is just the kind of mega-personality who drives engagement on the platform.\n\nFacebook, meanwhile, will decide in January whether to lift Trump’s suspension.\n\nAs for YouTube, CEO Susan Wojcicki said last year that the platform would lift the Trump ban “when we determine the risk of violence has decreased.” YouTube declined to comment.\n\nEven before Trump's reinstatement, Musk and Twitter had gotten the attention of several Democratic senators including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., who on Thursday asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate potential violation of consumer protection laws.\n\nUnder a 2011 consent order with the FTC, Twitter is barred from misleading consumers about the privacy and security of confidential user data.\n\n\"We are concerned that the actions taken by Mr. Musk and others in Twitter management could already represent a violation of the FTC’s consent decree, which prohibits misrepresentation and requires that Twitter maintain a comprehensive information security program,\" the senators said in a letter to FTC chairperson Lina Khan.\n\nContributing: Christal Hayes and Marina Pitofsky", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/11/19"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2022/11/18/trump-twitter-elon-musk-no-decision/10728620002/", "title": "Trump on Twitter? Elon Musk says 'Trump decision has not been ...", "text": "Will Elon Musk welcome Donald Trump back to Twitter?\n\n“Trump decision has not yet been made,” Musk tweeted.\n\nLate Friday he created a Twitter poll asking if he should reinstate Trump.\n\nMusk also reinstated the accounts of far-right satire publication The Babylon Bee and Canadian men’s rights activist Jordan Peterson, both suspended for transphobic tweets, and comedian Kathy Griffin's account which was suspended for impersonating Musk.\n\nAsked to bring back Infowars host Alex Jones, Musk replied: \"No.\"\n\nTwitter’s new policy is “freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach,” Musk said.\n\n“Negative/hate tweets will be max deboosted & demonetized, so no ads or other revenue to Twitter,” he tweeted. “You won’t find the tweet unless you specifically seek it out, which is no different from rest of Internet.”\n\n#TwitterMigration?:How to download your data from Twitter if you're making the switch\n\nMass resignations at Twitter:Employees resign from Twitter after Elon Musk's hardcore deadline\n\nYoel Roth, the formerhead of trust and safety at Twitter, says the platform still bans “a wide range of ‘lawful but awful’ speech” even though Musk declared himself a free-speech absolutist.\n\nHas he had a change of heart? “The truth is that even Elon Musk’s brand of radical transformation has unavoidable limits,” Roth wrote in a New York Times op-ed.\n\nWhat is Mastodon?:What to know about the decentralized site some see as a Twitter alternative\n\nTrump announced this week that he will seek the presidency again in 2024, even as a growing number of Republicans urge the GOP to nominate someone else after the 2022 midterm debacle.\n\nThe former president was permanently banned from Twitter for inciting violence during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.\n\nTrump had said he would not return to Twitter even if invited. But Trump has not gotten the same resonance from his Truth Social app, which has a much more limited reach.\n\nAn ultimatum, sudden terminations:Twitter changes raise questions about Elon Musk's management skills\n\nOn Truth Social, Trump has 4.56 million followers, a fraction of the more than 88 million he had on Twitter.\n\nThe de-platforming of Trump and other figures on the political right sparked outrage among conservatives who accuse Facebook and other major social media platforms of censorship and liberal biases.\n\nTrump was also booted from the nation's top social media platforms – Facebook, Twitter and Google’s YouTube – after the Capitol siege.\n\nOf the platforms, Twitter was Trump’s favorite. Regaining that bullhorn could boost Trump’s presidential ambitions.\n\nFacebook, meanwhile, will decide in January whether to lift Trump’s suspension.\n\nAs for YouTube, CEO Susan Wojcicki said last year that the platform would lift the Trump ban “when we determine the risk of violence has decreased.”\n\nYouTube declined to comment.\n\nSpaceX employees take on Elon Musk:SpaceX employees file unfair labor charges alleging they were fired for criticizing Musk\n\nWhat is Elon Musk doing with Twitter?\n\nMusk has his own problems. As many as 1,200 employees appear to have resigned after Musk gave workers a Thursday night deadline to decide if they wanted to remain at the company.\n\nMusk told employees this week they “will need to be extremely hardcore” to build “a breakthrough Twitter 2.0.” Working long hours in a high-intensity environment would be part of that push, he said.\n\nAhead of the deadline, Musk seemed to soften that stance and tried to persuade some employees to stay, in part by walking back a rigid remote work policy, according to multiple reports.\n\n“Regarding remote work, all that is required for approval is that your manager takes responsibility for ensuring that you are making an excellent contribution,” Musk wrote in an email.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/11/18"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/11/19/trump-twitter-reinstated-dems-condemn-elon-musk-gop-celebrates/10739925002/", "title": "Trump Twitter reinstated: Dems condemn Elon Musk, GOP celebrates", "text": "Elon Musk reinstated former President Donald Trump's Twitter account Saturday night after a nearly two-year ban, spurring mixed reactions from lawmakers and other public figures.\n\nWhile Trump's account is live, it was not immediately clear if the former president would return to the platform. Trump, who on Tuesday announced he was running for president in 2024, has previously said he would not return to Twitter and would stick with his own social media platform, Truth Social.\n\nYet many still took to Twitter Saturday to voice views on Musk's move. While liberal leaders expressed fear over the future of the influential social media company, many Republicans cheered the decision. At least one is wondering if she will also be allowed back on the platform.\n\n\"Welcome back, @realDonaldTrump!\" an account for Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee wrote on Twitter. The congressional panel, which is controlled by Democrats, was responsible for launching impeachment proceedings against the former president.\n\nU.S. Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, shared the news on Twitter and wrote: \"2023 is going to be great. 2024 will be better.\"\n\nU.S. Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Arizona, welcomed Trump back to the platform and wrote: \"He's back.\"\n\nSome Democrats decried the move.\n\n\"I’m disgusted,\" Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, wrote.\n\nMinutes after the announcement, U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr., D-N.J., called on Twitter users to remember the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection — the violent attack at the U.S. Capitol that led to Trump's removal from the platform.\n\n\"682 days ago insurrectionists ransacked the US Capitol and hours later 68% of House republicans voted to finish the rioters’ job and make trump a dictator,\" Pascrell wrote. \"Never forget it.\"\n\nU.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, the Wyoming Republican who has taken a a strong public stance against Trump, shared a link to a link to a House hearing from the committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack.\n\n\"With Trump back on Twitter, it’s a good time to watch this Jan 6 hearing. It covers each of Trump’s tweets that day, including those that have been deleted, and features multiple Trump WH staff describing his inexcusable conduct during the violence,\" Cheney wrote on Twitter.\n\nWill Donald Trump tweet again? Musk says Trump to be reinstated on Twitter\n\nTwitter:Employees resign after Elon Musk's deadline to recommit and walks back remote\n\nDerrick Johnson, president of the NAACP, urged advertisers to halt work with Twitter.\n\n\"In Elon Musk's Twittersphere, you can incite an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, which led to the deaths of multiple people, and still be allowed to spew hate speech and violent conspiracies on his platform,\" Johnson said in a statement. \"Any advertiser still funding Twitter should immediately pause all advertising.\"\n\nJohnson added: \"If Elon Musk continues to run Twitter like this, using garbage polls that do not represent the American people and the needs of our democracy, God help us all.\"\n\nMusk told leading civil rights groups earlier this month that he would not allow banned accounts back on the platform until he established a clear process to vet them.\n\nFor Musk to reinstate Trump after a short poll \"shows he is not remotely serious about safeguarding the platform from hate, harassment and misinformation,\" said Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the the Anti-Defamation League, calling Musk's decision a threat to American democracy.\n\n\"As we've said before, Trump used Twitter to foment intolerance, issue threats and incite a violent attack against the US government,\" he tweeted. \"Moreover, he has shown no indication that he would do anything different if given the opportunity.\"\n\nTrump's reinstatement on the platform was spurred by a Friday poll posted by Musk, who purchased Twitter for $44 billion late last month. Musk launched the poll on his personal Twitter account Friday evening, allowing users to respond \"yes\" or \"no\" on whether to \"Reinstate former President Trump.\"\n\nOver a 24-hour period, a majority of 15 million people voted in favor of reinstating Trump's account. It was unclear how many of the poll participants were verified users or bots.\n\n\"The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated. Vox Populi, Vox Dei,\" Musk wrote on Twitter Saturday evening, including a Latin phrase meaning \"the voice of the people is the voice of God.\"\n\nIn a statement before the poll closed Saturday evening, Trump said: \"Vote now with positivity, but don’t worry, we aren’t going anywhere. Truth Social is special!\"\n\nDuring a virtual appearance Saturday at an annual meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition, Trump elaborated on his future on the platform, saying that, while he has \"always liked\" Musk, he did not see himself returning to Twitter.\n\n\"I don’t see it because I don’t see any reason for it. They have a lot of problems at Twitter. You see what’s going on,\" Trump said.\n\n#TwitterMigration? How to download your data from Twitter if you're making the switch\n\n'An uptick in people deactivating':Twitter lost more than 1.3 million users in the week after Elon Musk bought it\n\nMusk, the world's richest man who is also the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, has already made a series of sweeping changes at Twitter since taking the helm. Last month, he announced Twitter would be establishing a \"content moderation council.\"\n\nIn recent weeks, the company has reinstated the accounts of far-right satire publication The Babylon Bee, Canadian men's rights activist Jordan Peterson and comedian Kathy Griffin.\n\nU.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia Republican with ties to the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory, on Saturday called on Twitter to reinstate her personal account, which Twitter permanently blocked in January for repeated violations of its COVID-19 misinformation policy.\n\n\"Interesting it took a poll to decide to reinstate (Trump) him,\" Taylor Greene wrote. \"… What does it take to reinstate my account?\"\n\nUSA TODAY was unable to contact Twitter for comment Saturday. Amid mass resignations and firings, the company no longer has a communications department.\n\nIt's unclear if other social media platforms may also lift bans on Trump's accounts. Facebook is expected to decide in January whether to lift Trump’s suspension. And YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki said last year that the platform would lift the Trump ban \"when we determine the risk of violence has decreased.\"\n\nIn response to Trump’s campaign announcement this week, the nonprofit civil rights group Color of Change said Trump’s candidacy \"officially puts Twitter, Meta, Youtube, and other social media platforms on notice to monitor for harmful disinformation.\"\n\n\"The choice is simple: take a stand against a megaphone for white supremacy or once again place Black communities and our democracy in the crosshairs of a far-right extremist leader and his followers,\" Jade Magnus Ogunnaike, interim co-vice president of Color Of Change, said in a statement. \"There is no acceptable pathway for Trump to return to the platforms that banned him.\"\n\nNew study:Twitter's hate speech spiked following Elon Musk's takeover", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/11/19"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2023/01/25/trump-facebook-ban-lifted/10706477002/", "title": "Donald Trump can return to Facebook after two-year suspension", "text": "Facebook parent company Meta Platforms says it will reinstate Donald Trump's accounts on Facebook and Instagram in coming weeks.\n\nDespite opposition from Democrats and advocacy groups, the company said it would lift the ex-president’s suspension as he makes another run for the White House.\n\nTrump has not been allowed to post on Facebook and Instagram since his accounts were indefinitely shut down following the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.\n\nAt the time, Facebook said the ban was indefinite. After its outside board weighed in, the company banned Trump for two years and said it would decide this month whether to lift the suspension.\n\nTrump reacts to Facebook return on Truth Social\n\nTrump responded to Facebook's decision on his Truth Social account.\n\n\"FACEBOOK, which has lost Billions of Dollars in value since 'deplatforming' your favorite President, me, has just announced that they are reinstating my account,\" he wrote. \"Such a thing should never again happen to a sitting President, or anybody else who is not deserving of retribution!\"\n\nHe has events scheduled for Saturday in New Hampshire and South Carolina. Trump and his allies made extensive use of Facebook in his previous presidential runs.\n\nFacebook says Trump will have to play by the rules. The company can restrict the accounts of public figures who violate its community standards during periods of civil unrest and Trump will face stiffer penalties in the future, said Nick Clegg, president of global affairs for Facebook parent company Meta.\n\n\"In the event that Mr. Trump posts further violating content, the content will be removed and he will be suspended for between one month and two years, depending on the severity of the violation,\" Clegg said in a blog post.\n\nTrump could also face restrictions for content that does not violate Facebook's rules but \"contributes to the sort of risk that materialized on January 6th, such as content that delegitimizes an upcoming election or is related to QAnon,\" Clegg said.\n\nIn those cases, Facebook could limit how widely Trump's posts are viewed or temporarily restrict access to Facebook's advertising tools.\n\nTrump's return dismays Democrats, civil rights groups\n\n\"We know that any decision we make on this issue will be fiercely criticized. Reasonable people will disagree over whether it is the right decision,\" Clegg said.\n\nTwo Democratic lawmakers sent a letter to Meta last month urging the company not to reinstate Trump on its platforms, arguing that his continued lies about the 2020 election are an attack on American democracy.\n\nOpponents of Trump criticized the decision, saying it gives Trump more avenues to spread lies and disinformation. Trump, who frequently spreads misinformation online, has continued to falsely claim the 2020 election was stolen.\n\n\"Trump incited an insurrection,\" tweeted U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. \"And tried to stop the peaceful transfer of power. He’s shown no remorse. No contrition. Giving him back access to a social media platform to spread his lies and demagoguery is dangerous.\"\n\nA Jan. 6 Committee report found that Trump’s supporters used Facebook to track his claims of a stolen election and that Facebook’s “delayed response\" to far-right extremism and Trump's incitement \"helped to facilitate the attack on January 6th.”\n\n“Mark Zuckerberg’s decision to reinstate Trump’s accounts is a prime example of putting profits above people's safety,\" NAACP President Derrick Johnson, said in a statement. \"It’s quite astonishing that one can spew hatred, fuel conspiracies, and incite a violent insurrection at our nation's Capitol building, and Mark Zuckerberg still believes that is not enough to remove someone from his platforms.\"\n\nMost conservatives cheer Trump's reinstatement on Facebook\n\nConservatives say the ban is free-speech censorship by left-leaning technology executives that could unfairly hobble Trump in his presidential bid.\n\nTrump's campaign petitioned Meta to unblock his Facebook and Instagram accounts that were locked after the Capitol attack.\n\nA continued ban would constitute \"a deliberate effort by a private company to silence Mr. Trump’s political voice,\" Trump’s campaign wrote to Meta on Tuesday, according to a copy reviewed by USA TODAY.\n\nTom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, a conservative-leaning group, objected to Facebook's new rules for Trump. Trump will face \"abusive restrictions on his speech obviously designed to help Left, Democrats and Joe Biden in the run-up to the presidential election,\" Fitton tweeted.\n\nNot all conservatives applauded Facebook's decision.\n\nMichael Steele, former Republican Party chairman, said social media companies can do what they want, but warned there would be fallout from reinstating Trump.\n\n\"Private company. Private platform. Their decision,\" Steele tweeted. \"But we know the behavior hasn’t changed and the lies continue reinforced by feckless political figures who just want Trump to like them. Whether it’s Twitter or Facebook, there are consequences.\"\n\nWill Trump post again on Facebook?\n\nIt's unclear if Trump will make use of Facebook as he seeks the Republican nomination. Trump has not tweeted since Twitter owner Elon Musk lifted his ban in November.\n\n\"Sadly, Facebook has been doing very poorly since they took me off,\" Trump said in a statement earlier this month, suggesting parent company Meta Platforms revert to calling itself Facebook. \"Whoever made that decision, and the decision to take me off, will go down in the Business Hall of Fame for two of the worst decisions in Business History!\"\n\nFacebook could help Trump raise campaign money\n\nReturning to Facebook could turbocharge Trump's political outreach and fundraising in the 2024 presidential race. In 2016 and in 2020, Trump tapped Facebook to energize his base and raise campaign cash.\n\nTrump has 34 million followers on Facebook and 23 million on Instagram.\n\nDespite the ban, “Team Trump,” a Facebook page managed by his political organization, remained active and has 2.3 million followers.\n\nTrump ban on Facebook outraged conservatives\n\nMeta Platforms cut off Trump’s access to its platforms indefinitely following the Capitol attacks. Trump critics praised the move, which had the support of most Americans but free speech advocates warned it set a dangerous precedent.\n\nThe de-platforming enraged conservatives who've complained for years that social media platforms target them based on their political beliefs and have too much latitude to restrict or remove content.\n\nThose grievances boiled over when Facebook, Twitter and YouTube suspended Trump’s accounts, citing the risk that he would use his social media megaphones to incite more violence before the end of his term.\n\nIn response, Florida and Texas passed laws banning social media giants like Facebook from moderating content. Those laws are being challenged in the courts.\n\nThe Trump bans also renewed criticism of Section 230, a provision of federal law that shields internet companies from liability for user-generated content. Trump and other conservatives have argued for years that the provision should be repealed.\n\nWhy Trump was banned from Facebook\n\nMeta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg accused Trump of trying \"to undermine the peaceful and lawful transition of power to his elected successor, Joe Biden\" and said the indefinite suspension the day after Trump supporters stormed the Capitol was necessary to reduce the risk of violence at least up until Biden's inauguration.\n\nThe company referred the final decision on Trump's indefinite suspension to its Oversight Board. Saying Trump's suspension had drawn \"intense global interest,\" the board accepted the case and pledged to conduct \"a thorough and independent assessment of the company’s decision.”\n\nFacebook Oversight Board upheld Trump suspension\n\nThe Facebook Oversight Board upheld Trump's suspension in May 2021.\n\nThe Oversight Board found that the two Trump posts on Jan. 6 \"severely violated Facebook’s Community Standards and Instagram’s Community Guidelines\" prohibiting praise or support of people engaged in violence.\n\nSpecifically, Trump crossed the line when he wrote “We love you. You’re very special” and when he called the rioters “great patriots” and told them to “remember this day forever.”\n\n\"At the time of Mr. Trump’s posts, there was a clear, immediate risk of harm and his words of support for those involved in the riots legitimized their violent actions,\" the board found. \"As president, Mr. Trump had a high level of influence. The reach of his posts was large, with 35 million followers on Facebook and 24 million on Instagram.\"\n\nFacebook originally banned Trump for two years\n\nBut the company-funded tribunal of outside experts also ruled that it was inappropriate for Facebook to impose an indefinite suspension and instructed the company to review it.\n\nIn June 2021, Facebook decided to ban Trump for two years. After that period, Facebook said it would consult experts to determine whether \"the risk to public safety has receded.\"\n\nAt the time, Facebook said Trump's Facebook and Instagram accounts would face a \"strict set of rapidly escalating sanctions” if he violates the company's rules again.\n\n\"Today’s decision by Meta is a pivotal moment in the debate over the best way to handle harmful content posted by politicians on social media,\" the Oversight Board said in a statement Wednesday.\n\nIs Trump still banned on Twitter and YouTube?\n\nTrump called Facebook, Twitter and Google's YouTube, all of which suspended him after his supporters attacked the Capitol, \"a total disgrace and an embarrassment to our country.\"\n\nTwitter permanently barred Trump after the Capitol attacks. Musk reinstated Trump’s account and his nearly 88 million followers late last year.\n\nCEO Susan Wojcicki said in 2021 that YouTube would lift the Trump ban “when we determine the risk of violence has decreased.” YouTube declined to comment.\n\nWhat about Trump and Truth Social?\n\nWithout his mainstream social media megaphones, Trump has relied on his Truth Social app which has a more limited reach.\n\nThe ex-president has contractual obligations to his TruthSocial app and must post first there, with some exceptions including posts from a personal account for some political activities.\n\nHe also has incentive to prop up the value of his social media company.\n\nIn November, shareholders in the blank-check acquisition company Digital World Acquisition that plans to merge with Trump Media & Technology Group approved a one-year extension to close the deal. Regulators are investigating whether the leadership of Digital World and Trump Media engaged in negotiations before Digital World went public in 2021.\n\nContributing: David Jackson", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/01/25"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/18/tech/twitter-ban-social-media-links/index.html", "title": "Elon Musk says Twitter will ban some links to other social media ...", "text": "New York CNN —\n\nTwitter said Sunday it would ban links to other social media services and suspend accounts that try to direct users to alternative platforms, in an apparent attempt to stem user defections to competitors.\n\nBut Twitter CEO Elon Musk later relented, loosening the policy and causing widespread confusion about what kind of linking was allowed and disallowed on the platform.\n\nUnder the new policy stated Sunday afternoon, links to content on Facebook and Instagram would be prohibited, as well as links to content on emerging Twitter alternatives, including Mastodon and Post. The rule also covers Truth Social, the Twitter clone backed by former President Donald Trump.\n\nTwitter’s move signals a shift toward a more closed environment, one that still accepts incoming traffic from other sites but makes it more difficult for users to leave Twitter’s website for other destinations.\n\n“Specifically, we will remove accounts created solely for the purpose of promoting other social platforms and content that contains links or usernames for the following platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, Truth Social, Tribel, Nostr and Post,” Twitter’s support account tweeted.\n\nDespite the bans, Twitter said the new policy will still “allow paid advertisement/promotion for any of the prohibited social media platforms.”\n\nHours after the policy’s rollout, Musk appeared to relent under criticism by other users and agreed to loosen the rules. In an exchange involving Box CEO Aaron Levie — who called the new policy “sad” — Musk agreed it was “reasonable” that some might want to link to their Instagram profiles to promote their own businesses.\n\n“Policy will be adjusted to suspending accounts only when that account’s *primary* purpose is promotion of competitors, which essentially falls under the no spam rule,” Musk tweeted.\n\nThen, amid the continuing backlash, Musk opened a Twitter poll asking whether he should “step down as head of Twitter.”\n\n“I will abide by the results of this poll,” Musk wrote.\n\nAs of early Sunday evening, “Yes” was winning by a margin of 58% to 42%.\n\nInconsistent policy\n\nNotably absent from the list of Twitter’s banned social media platforms was TikTok, one of the internet’s fastest-growing social media platforms whose links to China have sparked national security concerns among US policymakers. Musk’s own significant stake in China through his other company, Tesla, have raised doubts among critics as to whether the CEO would stand up to China if the country’s leaders sought to apply pressure on Twitter.\n\nTwitter’s abrupt policy change Sunday afternoon prompted confusion from the platform’s former CEO, Jack Dorsey, who replied: “Why?” Dorsey followed up with: “doesn’t make sense.”\n\nThe policy change came after some Twitter users announced their intention to move to other platforms last week, in the wake of Twitter’s suspension of a number of journalists who cover Musk. Amid the backlash to the journalists suspensions, Twitter quietly began blocking links to Mastodon.\n\nSunday’s initial announcement appeared to formalize that ban to become official Twitter policy, a move that could further raise eyebrows among Twitter’s regulators.\n\nAs part of Twitter’s new policy, the company said users may not “link out” to social media platforms subject to the restrictions. Users were also prohibited from updating their Twitter profiles to include their account names on other platforms, a way to inform followers where they might be found elsewhere on social media.\n\nFor example, posting encouragement to “follow me @username on Instagram” or “username@mastodon.social” is restricted, Twitter said in a blog post.\n\nAttempts to circumvent that policy will also be enforced against, the company said. For example, use of link-shortening services to obscure the true destination of a URL or attempts to spell out a URL in plain text will also run afoul of Twitter’s rules, the company said.\n\n“If violations of this policy are included in your bio and/or account name, we will temporarily suspend your account and require changes to your profile to no longer be in violation,” the blog post said. “Subsequent violations may result in permanent suspension.”\n\nFirst offenses or isolated incidents may result in temporary suspensions or requirements that users delete the violating content, Twitter said.\n\nIt’s unclear how or if the policy will be implemented after Musk’s apparent decision to loosen the restrictions Sunday evening.\n\nUsers may continue to use third-party software to simultaneously publish their social media content to multiple sites, including Twitter, the company said.\n\nMeta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, as well as Truth Social’s parent Trump Media & Technology Group, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.", "authors": ["Brian Fung"], "publish_date": "2022/12/18"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2021/02/11/facebook-trump-ban-oversight-board-comments/6729949002/", "title": "Facebook Trump Capitol riot ban draws comments as board weighs ...", "text": "Pressure is intensifying on the Facebook Oversight Board as it nears a decision on a hotly contested question: whether to reverse former President Donald Trump’s indefinite suspension or ban him forever from Facebook and Instagram.\n\nWith Friday’s deadline for public input looming, the Oversight Board has received 9,000 comments, nearly 100 times the comments for its first five cases combined, Dex Hunter-Torricke, head of communications for the board, said Thursday during a discussion hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.\n\n“There are all sorts of actors and ordinary folks who said this is something that I care about,” he said.\n\nTwitter Trump ban is forever:Twitter CFO says Donald Trump is suspended forever (even if he's elected president again)\n\nFacebook ban for Marjorie Taylor Greene?:Marjorie Taylor Greene should be removed from Facebook for spreading \"dangerous lies,\" advocacy groups say\n\nAcademics led by Rick Hasen of the UC Irvine School of Law and including Facebook’s former chief security chief Alex Stamos this week urged the Oversight Board not to lift Trump’s indefinite ban.\n\n“Removal of a political leader from the platforms should be strongly disfavored, and it should be a last resort given the great benefits of robust political debate and protection for political and election-related speech,” they wrote in a letter shared with Politico. “But Trump’s actions justified the step of indefinitely deplatforming him.”\n\nBut in a letter to the Oversight Board shared with Axios, Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee raised allegations of anti-conservative bias, saying Facebook’s rules “are not applied in a fair and neutral manner.\"\n\n\"Instances where conservatives viewpoints have been censored, blocked, diminished harm the free exchange of ideas and irreparably damage conservative Americans' faith in the fairness of purportedly neutral actors like Facebook,\" Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., the top Republican on Judiciary's antitrust panel, wrote in the letter, also signed by Reps. Darrell Issa, Jim Jordan and Matt Gaetz.\n\nA recent poll shows that majorities in both parties think political censorship is likely occurring on social media, but that belief is most prevalent on the political right. Though a popular rallying cry for the political right, researchers say they've found no evidence to support the claim that the platforms treat conservatives more harshly.\n\nThe Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, on the other hand, recommended the Oversight Board delay its decision until Facebook conducts an independent study on whether the design of the Facebook platform contributed to the Capitol riot.\n\nTrump Facebook ban is highest-profile decision for Oversight Board\n\nThe Trump ban is the most consequential case yet for the board, with far-reaching political implications for the nation. The board’s decision could also influence how other social media platforms treat the speech of other world leaders.\n\nFacebook announced in January that the Oversight Board would review its decision to suspend Trump on Jan. 7, the day after a group of the president’s supporters stormed the Capitol.\n\nIt also asked the Oversight Board to wrestle with the thorny question of suspensions involving political leaders.\n\nFacebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and others have grown increasingly uneasy with the platform wielding the power to silence world leaders and reshape the nation’s online conversation.\n\n“Our decision to suspend then-President Trump’s access was taken in extraordinary circumstances: a U.S. president actively fomenting a violent insurrection designed to thwart the peaceful transition of power; five people killed; legislators fleeing the seat of democracy,” Nick Clegg, Facebook's vice president of global affairs, wrote last month.\n\n“This has never happened before – and we hope it will never happen again. It was an unprecedented set of events which called for unprecedented action.”\n\nYouTube and other social media companies also indefinitely suspended Trump’s account. Snapchat and Twitter permanently banned Trump.\n\n“We faced an extraordinary and untenable circumstance, forcing us to focus all of our actions on public safety,” Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said of the decision. “Offline harm as a result of online speech is demonstrably real, and what drives our policy and enforcement above all.”\n\nFacebook, Twitter and YouTube struggled to moderate Trump\n\nTrump’s accounts on Facebook and Instagram remained suspended pending the Oversight Board’s decision.\n\nThroughout his presidency, social media companies wrestled with how to moderate one of their most popular and volatile users.\n\nTime and again, Trump tested the boundaries of what he could say, violating prohibitions against election misinformation, glorifying violence and falsehoods about COVID-19.\n\nThe decision to block Trump’s access to the major social media platforms following the Capitol riots was praised by Trump critics and had the support of most Americans, but was condemned by Trump supporters and free speech advocates who warned it set a dangerous precedent.\n\nSaying the suspension has driven \"intense global interest,\" the Oversight Board accepted the case and pledged to conduct \"a thorough and independent assessment of the company’s decision.”\n\nTrump ruled Facebook, Twitter before ban:Will @realdonaldtrump log into Gab or somewhere else?\n\nWill Facebook Oversight Board lift ban?:Facebook refers Donald Trump indefinite suspension after Capitol attack to oversight board which could overturn it\n\nFacebook’s Oversight Board launched last year to review the toughest calls the company makes. It is supposed to function as an independent entity but gets financial backing and technical support from Facebook.\n\nIn September, some of the company's harshest critics launched a rival panel of independent experts to monitor Facebook.\n\n\"Facebook failed for months to take action over Donald Trump’s repeated use of its platform to incite violence, spread disinformation and systematic attempts to subvert the election. Its abject failure to act undoubtedly played a role in the violent events that unfolded at the Capitol on Jan. 6,\" these critics said in a statement. \"American democracy survived in spite of Facebook.\"\n\nThe company dismissed the effort as “mostly longtime critics creating a new channel for existing criticisms.”\n\nThe Oversight Board, which has the authority to review and overturn the company’s content moderation decisions, showed its willingness to challenge Facebook’s content moderation decisions in four of the first five cases it took on.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/02/11"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/05/politics/donald-trump-constitution-analysis/index.html", "title": "Trump's call to terminate the Constitution is a fantasy, but it's still ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nDonald Trump’s call for the termination of the Constitution is his most extreme anti-democratic statement yet and seems oblivious to the sentiments of voters who rejected election deniers in the midterm elections.\n\nIt may also reflect desperation on the part of the former president to whip up controversy and fury among his core supporters in order to inject some energy into a so-far lackluster 2024 White House bid.\n\nTrump’s comments on his Truth Social network – which should be easy for anyone to condemn – are exposing the familiar moral timidity of top Republicans who won’t disown the former president. But his latest tirade also plays into the arguments of some Republicans now saying that it’s time to move on from Trump’s fixation with the 2020 election.\n\nAnd while it is far too early to write off his chances in the 2024 GOP nominating contest, Trump’s behavior since announcing his third presidential bid also suggests his never-ending quest to shock and to fire up his base now means going so far right he ends up on the extremist fringe and almost in self-parody. In the short time he’s been a candidate, he’s expressed support for rioters who stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, and dined with a White nationalist Holocaust denier.\n\nGabriel Sterling, the chief operating officer for Georgia’s Secretary of State Office, chuckled at the incredulity of Trump’s claim about the Constitution when it was described by CNN’s Pam Brown on Saturday.\n\n“It’s ridiculous, it’s insane, to suspend the Constitution. Come on man, seriously?” said Sterling, a Republican who helped oversee Georgia’s election in 2020, when President Joe Biden carried the state. “I think more and more Republicans, Americans are saying, ‘Ok I am good, I am done with this now, I’m going to move on to the next thing.’”\n\nTrump’s rant may be a sign of a stuttering 2024 campaign\n\nThe most immediate question raised by Trump’s latest controversy is what it says about a presidential campaign that has been swallowed up by one far-right authoritarian sideshow after another.\n\nFar from barnstorming the nation, making a case on the economy, health care and immigration or outlining a program for the future, Trump has given comfort to zealots and insurrectionists.\n\nHe hosted Kanye West at Mar-a-Lago last month, at a time when the rapper now known as Ye is in the middle of a vile streak of antisemitism and praising Adolf Hitler. The far-right Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes was at also at that dinner. Trump claimed he didn’t know who Fuentes was but the former president still hasn’t criticized his ideology. Last week, Trump, in a fundraising video, praised the mob that invaded the Capitol in the worst attack on US democracy in modern times, again promoting violence as an acceptable response to political grievances.\n\nHis social media assault on the Constitution appears to be proving the point of the House select committee probing January 6, which has portrayed him as a clear and present danger to American democracy and met on Friday to consider criminal referrals to the Justice Department.\n\nWyoming GOP Rep. Liz Cheney, vice chair of the committee, tweeted on Sunday: “No honest person can now deny that Trump is an enemy of the Constitution.” Trump’s latest wild social media post could even deepen his legal exposure as the Justice Department seeks evidence of his mindset as it investigates his conduct before the attack on the Capitol.\n\nTrump’s doubling down on authoritarianism also follows a moment when much of the country, at least in crucial swing states, rejected his 2020 election denialism and anti-democratic chaos candidates he picked for the midterms – with a final test on Tuesday in Georgia’s Senate runoff. It appears to make it even more unlikely that the ex-president, even if he wins the Republican nomination, will be the kind of candidate who could win among the broader national electorate. After all, his message failed in two consecutive elections in 2020 and 2022. And even in the wilder reaches of the GOP, which Trump has dominated since 2015, a call to simply trash the Constitution might seem a stretch – and reflect the former president’s increasing distance from reality.\n\nWhy Trump’s words are dangerous\n\nOne could argue that the most prudent response to Trump’s latest radical rhetoric might be to ignore it and his bid for publicity.\n\nBut even if his idea of crushing the Constitution looks far-fetched, his behavior needs to be taken seriously because of its possible future consequences.\n\nThat’s because Trump remains an extraordinarily influential force in the Republican Party. His acolytes hold outsized power in the new House majority set to take over in January, which they plan to use as a political weapon to promote his restoration in the White House. GOP leader Kevin McCarthy is appeasing this group in an increasingly troubled campaign for speaker. The California Republican also last week shielded Trump over criticism of the Fuentes dinner, saying that while such a person had no place in the party, Trump had condemned him four times – a false claim.\n\nFurthermore, in an electoral sense, the theory that Republican voters may be willing to move on from Trump – and to find a candidate who may reflect “America First” populism but not dine with antisemites – has not yet been tested. Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was stolen are still broadly accepted among GOP voters – only 24% of whom believe that Biden legitimately won in 2020, according to midterm election exit polls.\n\nAnd a GOP primary that includes multiple candidates competing with Trump for the presidential nomination could yet again splinter the vote against the former president and allow him to emerge at the top of a mostly winner-take-all delegate race, a vote that would put a prospective authoritarian who has already tried to dismantle the US system of democracy one step from a return to power.\n\nIgnoring or downplaying public evidence of extremism and incitement only allows it to become normalized. There is already proof that the ex-president’s rhetoric can cause violence – after he told his supporters to “fight like hell” to save their country on January 6. And the rhetoric of people like West and Fuentes, with whom Trump has associated, risks normalizing odious forces in society that will grow if they are not challenged. Fuentes, after all, has appeared with Republican lawmakers like Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene – an increasingly influential voice in the House GOP conference.\n\nYears of norm crushing and acceptance of extremists by the twice-impeached former president never convinced the party to purge him or his views. Were it not for principled, conservative Republicans like Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and former Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, Trump’s election-stealing effort might have worked in 2020.\n\nAs they work through an intense lame-duck session of Congress, Republican lawmakers are, for the umpteenth time, going to be asked this week about the tyrannical attitudes of the front-runner for their party’s presidential nod.\n\nOne newly elected Republican, Michael Lawler – who picked up a Democratic-held House seat critical to the slim GOP majority – stood up for the Constitution on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.\n\n“The Constitution is set for a reason, to protect the rights of every American. And so I certainly don’t endorse that language or that sentiment,” Lawler told Jake Tapper. “I think the former president would be well-advised to focus on the future, if he is going to run for president again.”\n\nRepublican Rep. Mike Turner of Ohio, who serves on the House Intelligence Committee, said he “vehemently” disagreed with Trump’s statement and said his dinner with West and Fuentes was “atrocious” and that voters would take both incidents into consideration.\n\nBut a fellow Ohio Republican, Rep. David Joyce, demonstrated the characteristic reluctance of members of his party to confront an ex-president who remains hugely popular among its grassroots. Regarding the threat to the Constitution, Joyce said on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday, “You know he says a lot of things but that doesn’t mean that it’s ever going to happen,” adding that it was important to separate “fact from fantasy.”\n\nJoyce didn’t directly condemn Trump’s rhetoric and said he would support whomever the Republican Party nominates in 2024. The fact that Republicans are open to a potential president – who would be called upon to swear to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution but who has already called for its termination – speaks volumes about how much the GOP is still in Trump’s shadow.", "authors": ["Stephen Collinson"], "publish_date": "2022/12/05"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/05/politics/trump-constitution-hill-republican-reaction/index.html", "title": "GOP slowly begins to condemn Trump's call to terminate ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nRepublicans returned to Washington on Monday facing a familiar drama that has played out continually in the Trump years: GOP members forced to confront a controversy that they would rather ignore.\n\nAfter days of silence over former President Donald Trump’s call to terminate the Constitution, several top Republicans have now condemned the comment. But even among those speaking out, few have said it should disqualify Trump from running again for the White House, while many more Hill Republicans have so far remained silent on the issue.\n\nAnd in a sign of how reluctant most Republicans are to wade into the latest Trump-driven controversy, most were quiet until pressed by reporters for comment after returning to the Capitol on Monday.\n\nSen. John Thune of South Dakota, the No. 2 Senate Republican, told CNN that he disagrees with Trump’s post on his social network Truth Social calling for the “termination of all rules, regulations and articles, even those in the Constitution” to nullify the 2020 election results.\n\n“I swear an oath to uphold the Constitution and it is a bedrock principle – it is the principle, the bedrock of our of our country,” Thune said. “I couldn’t disagree more.”\n\nSen. John Cornyn of Texas – a member of GOP leadership – also objected to Trump’s post calling for the termination of the US Constitution.\n\n“I don’t know why anybody would say something like that – certainly not an ex-president,” Cornyn told CNN. “I think it’s irresponsible.”\n\nMany congressional Republicans, however, have not yet weighed in on Trump’s comments, even as a growing number are now starting to react critically.\n\nHouse GOP leader Kevin McCarthy has been silent on the remarks, while Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell said that he will address Trump’s Constitution comments on Tuesday at his weekly news conference following the regularly scheduled Senate policy lunches.\n\nGOP Sen. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia called Trump’s comments “ridiculous,” while retiring GOP Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri dismissed them, saying, “I was standing 10 feet from him when he took the oath of office and there was no emergency clause not to follow the Constitution.”\n\nGOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska tweeted on Sunday, “Suggesting the termination of the Constitution is not only a betrayal of our Oath of Office, it’s an affront to our Republic.” Murkowski was one of seven Republican senators who joined with Democrats in voting to convict Trump at the conclusion of his second impeachment trial.\n\nAnd Republican Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota said in a statement posted to Twitter responding to the former president’s comments, “Anyone who desires to lead our country must commit to protecting the Constitution. They should not threaten to terminate it.”\n\nBut even among GOP critics, few are going so far as to say the remarks should prevent Trump from running again for the White House.\n\nThune stopped short when asked if it disqualifies him from being president again, saying instead it will become fodder for any candidate who decides to challenge him.\n\n“It’s going to be the grist of the campaign,” Thune said. “If you’re one of these other people who’s interested in running this year, this is certainly an opportunity that would create some contrast. He’s the only announced candidate so far.”\n\nThune added: “He’s going to say what he’s going to say. I don’t think anybody’s going to control that, but I do think if you’re one of the other candidates, this is a golden opportunity.”\n\nCornyn similarly would not say if the comments were disqualifying, saying they were “certainly irresponsible.”\n\nGOP Sen. Rick Scott of Florida said, “I believe in the Constitution,” but, when asked by CNN if he believes they’re disqualifying comments, said, “I think the voters get to decide those things.”\n\nThe White House, meanwhile, has wasted little time condemning Trump’s call for the “termination” of the Constitution. And now President Joe Biden’s aides are ramping up pressure on congressional Republicans to do the same.\n\n“Every President and every member of Congress swears to ‘defend’ the Constitution of the United States,” said White House spokesperson Andrew Bates. “Asking members of Congress to reaffirm their oath of office and uphold the Constitution should not be a heavy lift. Congressional Republicans need to do that immediately, instead of repeatedly refusing to answer the most basic question.”", "authors": ["Clare Foran Manu Raju Ted Barrett", "Clare Foran", "Manu Raju", "Ted Barrett"], "publish_date": "2022/12/05"}]}
{"question_id": "20230127_18", "search_time": "2023/01/28/05:15", "search_result": []}
{"question_id": "20230127_19", "search_time": "2023/01/28/05:15", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/01/26/inner-core-earth-stop-spinning-research/11125841002/", "title": "Did earth's inner core stop spinning? New study finds it may soon ...", "text": "Planet Earth's inner core may have stopped turning and could go into reverse, according to a study published this week.\n\nEarth is formed of three layers: the crust, the mantle, and the core.\n\nMade almost entirely of metal – specifically, iron and nickel, its inner core rests 3,200 miles below the crust, separated from the mantle by the liquid outer core which allows the inner core to rotate at a different speed from the planet's rotation.\n\nResearchers studied seismic waves from repeating earthquakes that have passed through the Earth’s inner core over the last six decades to infer how fast the inner core is spinning, Xiaodong Song and Yi Yang of China's Peking University published Monday in the journal Nature Geoscience.\n\nThe study's authors said they found that the inner core's rotation \"came to near halt around 2009 and then turned in an opposite direction.\"\n\nSince then, the authors said, seismic records – which previously changed over time, showed little difference.\n\n\"This globally consistent pattern suggests that inner-core rotation has recently paused,\" they wrote. “We show surprising observations that indicate the inner core has nearly ceased its rotation in the recent decade and may be experiencing a turning-back.\"\n\nWhen you look at the decade between 1980 and 1990, Song said, you see clear change but when you look at 2010 through 2020 you don’t see much change.\n\nSpying TVs:Your TV is spying on you, but you can stop it\n\nWhat effect does the inner core have on people?\n\nThere is little to indicate the inner core's rotation has much effect on humans.\n\nBut both researchers said that they believed there are physical links between all Earth's layers, from the inner core to the surface.\n\n\"We hope our study can motivate some researchers to build and test models which treat the whole Earth as an integrated dynamic system,\" they wrote.\n\nNatalie Neysa Alund covers trending news for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on Twitter @nataliealund.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/01/26"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2023/01/26/memphis-police-rep-george-santos-winter-storm-thursday-news-short-list/11123869002/", "title": "Who else has classified documents?", "text": "The National Archives asked former presidents to look for any sensitive documents they still have. Five former Memphis police officers were charged with murder. And Earth's inner core may have stopped spinning, a new study suggests.\n\n👋 Hi, it's Julius with Thursday's news.\n\nBut first: A look at the \"fastest superyacht of its kind.\" 🚢 An $86.7 million superyacht that can “fly” across water was recently unveiled by Italian company Lazzarini Design Studio.\n\nThe Short List is a snappy USA TODAY news roundup. Subscribe to the newsletter here.\n\nNational Archives asks ex-presidents, VPs to look for docs\n\nThe National Archives on Thursday asked former presidents and vice presidents and their offices – dating back to the Ronald Reagan administration – to look for any sensitive and potentially top-secret material they might have, according to a source familiar with the matter. Many of those former top White House officials already have indicated that they do not believe they possessed any classified documents, after reports that President Joe Biden had such documents in his personal possession from his time as vice president in the Barack Obama administration. Former President Donald Trump and, more recently, his vice president, Mike Pence, also have been found to have such documents, despite federal statutes requiring that they be given to the National Archives and Records Administration. Read more about the request.\n\nDo more former presidents have classified documents?USA TODAY asked them.\n\nFive ex-police officers charged with murder in Tyre Nichols' death\n\nFive former Memphis police officers involved in a traffic stop that preceded the death of 29-year-old Tyre Nichols have been arrested, records show. The former officers have each been charged with one count of second-degree murder and aggravated assault-acting in concert, among other charges, records show. They were fired on Jan. 20 and accused of violating department policy during the stop of Nichols. Nichols was pulled over on Jan. 7 and after two \"confrontations\" with officers, he \"complained of a shortness of breath,\" according to an initial statement from police. He was hospitalized in critical condition and died on Jan.10. Memphis police have not explained what happened during the \"confrontations\" and have not yet publicly released video of the stop. Read more.\n\nFederal officials:Civil rights investigation opened in death of Tyre Nichols.\n\nWhat everyone's talking about\n\nThe Short List is free, but several stories we link to are subscriber-only. Consider supporting our journalism and become a USA TODAY digital subscriber today.\n\nAnother winter storm looms\n\nAs a winter storm that trekked across the country and brought snowflakes from New Mexico to Maine continues heading east, the U.S. on Thursday can expect weather conditions ranging from harsh winds to air stagnation – and yes, more snow. On the West Coast, a wind advisory will stretch across swaths of Southern California, while parts of the Northwest are under an air stagnation advisory that could impact people with respiratory conditions. Meanwhile, meteorologists are tracking the next winter storm that could hit the U.S. after brewing in Canada. See the latest weather updates.\n\nCompanies linked to Rep. Santos draw scrutiny\n\nCompanies affiliated with Congressman George Santos have drawn scrutiny from lawmakers, regulators, and experts as the newly elected Republican faces increasing political pressure to step down for lying about his background. Santos has been under fire for inventing key parts of his education and work history, and building significant wealth virtually overnight that he may have used to finance his campaign. Santos' most recent professional history also leads back to a fund that federal regulators called a Ponzi scheme in a 2021 lawsuit for using new investor money to pay back previous investors. Here's what we know.\n\nSpeaker McCarthy:Santos will be removed from Congress if ethics probe finds he broke law.\n\nReal quick\n\nHas Earth's inner core stopped spinning?\n\nEarth's inner core may have stopped turning and could go into reverse, according to a study published this week. The planet's inner core rests 3,200 miles below the crust, separated from the mantle by the liquid outer core which allows the inner core to rotate at a different speed from the planet's rotation. Researchers studied seismic waves from repeating earthquakes that have passed through the Earth’s inner core over the last six decades to infer how fast the inner core is spinning, Xiaodong Song and Yi Yang of China's Peking University published Monday in the journal Nature Geoscience. The study's authors said they found that the inner core's rotation \"came to near halt around 2009 and then turned in an opposite direction.\" Since then, the authors said, seismic records – which previously changed over time, showed little difference. Learn more about the study.\n\nA break from the news", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/01/26"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/05/world/thwaites-doomsday-glacier-sea-level-climate/index.html", "title": "'Doomsday glacier,' which could raise sea level by several feet, is ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nAntarctica’s so-called “doomsday glacier” – nicknamed because of its high risk of collapse and threat to global sea level – has the potential to rapidly retreat in the coming years, scientists say, amplifying concerns over the extreme sea level rise that would accompany its potential demise.\n\nThe Thwaites Glacier, capable of raising sea level by several feet, is eroding along its underwater base as the planet warms. In a study published Monday in the journal Nature Geoscience, scientists mapped the glacier’s historical retreat, hoping to learn from its past what the glacier will likely do in the future.\n\nThey found that at some point in the past two centuries, the base of the glacier dislodged from the seabed and retreated at a rate of 1.3 miles (2.1 kilometers) per year. That’s twice the rate that scientists have observed in the past decade or so.\n\nThat swift disintegration possibly occurred “as recently as the mid-20th century,” Alastair Graham, the study’s lead author and a marine geophysicist at the University of South Florida, said in a news release.\n\nThe floating ice edge at Thwaites Glacier margin in 2019. Robert Larter\n\nIt suggests the Thwaites has the capability to undergo a rapid retreat in the near future, once it recedes past a seabed ridge that is helping to keep it in check.\n\n“Thwaites is really holding on today by its fingernails, and we should expect to see big changes over small timescales in the future – even from one year to the next – once the glacier retreats beyond a shallow ridge in its bed,” Robert Larter, a marine geophysicist and one of the study’s co-authors from the British Antarctic Survey, said in the release.\n\nRán, a Kongsberg HUGIN autonomous underwater vehicle, near the Thwaites Glacier after a 20-hour mission mapping the seafloor. Anna Wåhlin/University of Gothenburg\n\nThe US Antarctic Program research vessel Nathaniel B. Palmer working near the Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf in in 2019. Alexandra Mazur/University of Gothenburg\n\nThe Thwaites Glacier, located in West Antarctica, is one of the widest on Earth and is larger than the state of Florida. But it’s just a faction of the West Antarctic ice sheet, which holds enough ice to raise sea level by up to 16 feet, according to NASA.\n\nAs the climate crisis has accelerated, this region has been closely monitored because of its rapid melting and its capacity for widespread coastal destruction.\n\nThe Thwaites Glacier itself has concerned scientists for decades. As early as 1973, researchers questioned whether it was at high risk of collapse. Nearly a decade later, they found that – because the glacier is grounded to a seabed, rather than to dry land – warm ocean currents could melt the glacier from underneath, causing it to destabilize from below.\n\nIt was because of that research that scientists began calling the region around the Thwaites the “weak underbelly of the West Antarctic ice sheet.”\n\nA workboat recovering the Rán autonomous vehicle in one of the fjords of the Antarctic Peninsula during the expedition to Thwaites Glacier in 2019. Alexandra Mazur/University of Gothenburg\n\nIn the 21st century, researchers began documenting the Thwaites’ rapid retreat in an alarming series of studies.\n\nIn 2001, satellite data showed the grounding line was receding by around 0.6 miles (1 kilometer) per year. In 2020, scientists found evidence that warm water was indeed flowing across the base of the glacier, melting it from underneath.\n\nAnd then in 2021, a study showed the Thwaites Ice Shelf, which helps to stabilize the glacier and hold the ice back from flowing freely into the ocean, could shatter within five years.\n\n“From the satellite data, we’re seeing these big fractures spreading across the ice shelf surface, essentially weakening the fabric of the ice; kind of a bit like a windscreen crack,” Peter Davis, an oceanographer with the British Antarctic Survey, told CNN in 2021. “It’s slowly spreading across the ice shelf and eventually it’s going to fracture into lots of different pieces.”\n\nMonday’s findings, which suggest the Thwaites is capable of receding at a much faster pace than recently thought, were documented on a 20-hour mission in extreme conditions that mapped an underwater area the size of Houston, according to a news release.\n\nVideo Ad Feedback See Bill Nye's warning about 'doomsday' glacier 02:30 - Source: CNN\n\nGraham said that this research “was truly a once in a lifetime mission,” but that the team hopes to return soon to gather samples from the seabed so they can determine when the previous rapid retreats occurred. That could help scientists predict future changes to the “doomsday glacier,” which scientists had previously assumed would be slow to undergo change – something Graham said this study disproves.\n\n“Just a small kick to the Thwaites could lead to a big response,” Graham said.", "authors": ["Angela Fritz"], "publish_date": "2022/09/05"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/06/24/nasa-new-evidence-claims-pluto-once-hot-and-had-oceans/3249324001/", "title": "NASA: New evidence finds Pluto was once hot and had oceans", "text": "Pictures from NASA's New Horizons space probe confirm that Pluto harbors an ocean beneath its thick, icy shell, researchers report in a new study.\n\nContrary to the original \"cold start\" belief that Pluto was once a block of ice that has warmed through radioactive decay, experts now believe the planet was once hot and contained early oceans that are still present today.\n\nPluto, an icy dwarf planet half the size of the United States, is in the Kuiper Belt about 3.6 billion miles away from the sun. It has a methane, nitrogen and carbon monoxide atmosphere. Pluto's surface temperature of minus-378 to minus-396 degrees is too cold to sustain life, according to NASA.\n\nNew Horizons, launched in 2006, was the only spacecraft to visit Pluto. It sailed by the distant planet in 2015.\n\n“For a long time people have thought about the thermal evolution of Pluto and the ability of an ocean to survive to the present day,” Francis Nimmo, professor of Earth and planetary sciences at the University of California-Santa Cruz, said in a statement. \"Now that we have images of Pluto’s surface from NASA’s New Horizons mission, we can compare what we see with the predictions of different thermal evolution models.\"\n\nAlong with Pluto, other large Kuiper Belt objects, such as dwarf planets Eris and Makemake, are thought to have had \"hot starts.\"\n\n“Even in this cold environment so far from the sun, all these worlds might have formed fast and hot, with liquid oceans,” Carver Bierson, the study's lead author and UCSC graduate student, said in a statement.\n\nShifting tectonics created varying surface textures overtime that allowed experts to recognize whether the ice was melting or freezing and when, which provided a timeline of Pluto's surface changes, Bierson said.\n\n“If it started cold and the ice melted internally, Pluto would have contracted and we should see compression features on its surface, whereas if it started hot it should have expanded as the ocean froze and we should see extension features on the surface,” Bierson said.\n\n“We see lots of evidence of expansion, but we don’t see any evidence of compression, so the observations are more consistent with Pluto starting with a liquid ocean.”\n\nResearch such as NH3 (ammonia) sample collections and monitoring of ice thickness has shown that clues to Pluto's extension outweighs evidence of a compression.\n\n“How Pluto was put together in the first place matters a lot for its thermal evolution,” Nimmo said. “If it builds up too slowly, the hot material at the surface radiates energy into space, but if it builds up fast enough the heat gets trapped inside.”\n\nPluto would have needed energy for its presumed rapid heating. The main potential energy sources that could have produced Pluto's \"hot start\" are speculated to be gravitational energy released at the time of rapid accretion and heat released through radioactive decay of elements, according to experts.\n\nThe new research was published this week in the peer-reviewed British journal Nature Geoscience.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2020/06/24"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/science/2018/03/22/yellowstones-heat-may-coming-deeper-underground-than-thought/450437002/", "title": "Yellowstone's heat may be coming from deeper underground than ...", "text": "There's lots of heat underneath Yellowstone National Park, and where it comes from has fueled debates among geologists for decades.\n\nNow, a new study says the volcanic activity at the park could be driven by what's called a \"mantle plume,\" — a 200-mile-wide column of potentially warm, upwelling material — that rises from deeper underneath the Earth's surface than had been thought.\n\nThe study was published this week in Nature Geoscience.\n\nMantle plumes are themselves contentious because seismic images of the Earth’s interior have failed to clearly identify these plume-like features that trace all the way down to the deep mantle.\n\nGeologists Peter Nelson and Stephen Grand of the University of Texas used seismic data to take a look the mantle beneath North America. The authors found a long, thin, sloping zone within the mantle through which seismic waves travel more slowly — and which may indicate the presence of unusually warm material.\n\nThe zone extends almost continuously through the mantle, rooted in the core–mantle boundary beneath Mexico and running northeastward up to Yellowstone National Park.\n\n\"Our results strongly support a deep origin for the Yellowstone hotspot, and also provide evidence for the existence of thin thermal mantle plumes that are currently beyond the resolution of global tomography models,\" the authors wrote in the study.\n\nThis finding implies the volcanic activity at Yellowstone, which includes hydrothermal springs and explosive geysers like the famous \"Old Faithful,\" as well as super-eruptions in the geologic past, could all ultimately be driven by this deep-mantle plume rising up from above the Earth’s core.\n\nNone of this means that an eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano is predicted let alone imminent, as at least one British tabloid, the Daily Express, claimed.\n\nIt's true that underneath Yellowstone National Park lies a \"supervolcano,\" one that blows its top with a massive supereruption every few hundred thousand years.\n\nThere is no indication, however, that such an eruption is imminent, or that the volcano is \"due\" for an eruption. \"The probability of such a large eruption occurring in any given year is 1 in 730,000,\" Christy Till, an Arizona State University geologist, said last year.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2018/03/22"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/19/world/mars-insight-meteroid-impact-sounds-scn/index.html", "title": "InSight lander detects space rocks slamming into Mars | CNN", "text": "Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more.\n\nCNN —\n\nThe NASA InSight Lander has “heard” and detected the vibrations of four space rocks as they slammed into Mars over the past two years.\n\nIt’s the first time a mission has picked up both seismic and acoustic waves from an impact on Mars, and InSight’s first detection of impacts since landing on the red planet in 2018.\n\nFortunately, InSight wasn’t in the path of these meteoroids, the name for space rocks before they hit the ground. The impacts ranged from 53 to 180 miles (85 to 290 kilometers) away from the stationary lander’s position in Mars’ Elysium Planitia, a smooth plain that’s just north of its equator.\n\nA meteoroid impact formed these craters on Mars in September 2021. This image, taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, enhances the displaced dust and soil in blue to make details more visible. NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona\n\nA meteoroid hit the Martian atmosphere on September 5, 2021, and then exploded into at least three shards, each one leaving behind a crater on the red planet’s surface.\n\nThe Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter then flew over the site to confirm where the meteoroid landed, spotting three darkened areas. The orbiter’s color imager, the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera, took detailed close-ups of the craters.\n\nResearchers shared their findings about the new craters in a study that published Monday in the journal Nature Geoscience.\n\n“After three years of InSight waiting to detect an impact, those craters looked beautiful,” said study coauthor Ingrid Daubar, assistant professor of Earth, environmental, and planetary sciences at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, in a statement.\n\nData from InSight also revealed three other similar impacts, one on May 27, 2020, and two additional ones in 2021 on February 18 and August 31.\n\nThe agency released a recording of a Martian meteoroid impact Monday. During the clip, listen for a very science fiction-sounding “bloop” three times as the space rock enters the atmosphere, explodes into pieces and hits the surface.\n\nScientists have actually questioned why more impacts haven’t been detected on Mars because the planet is located next to our solar system’s main asteroid belt, where many space rocks emerge to hit the Martian surface. The Martian atmosphere only has 1% of the thickness of Earth’s atmosphere, meaning that more meteoroids zip through it without disintegrating.\n\nDuring its time on Mars, InSight has used its seismometer to detect more than 1,300 marsquakes, which take place when the Martian subsurface cracks due to pressure and heat. The sensitive instrument can detect seismic waves that occur thousands of miles away from InSight’s location – but the September 2021 event is the first time scientists used the waves to confirm an impact.\n\nIt’s possible the noise of the Martian wind or seasonal changes that occur in the atmosphere hid the additional impacts . Now that researchers understand what an impact’s seismic signature looks like, they expect to find more when they comb through InSight’s data from the last four years.\n\nSeismic waves are helping researchers unlock additional information about the interior of Mars because they change as they move through different material.\n\nThe meteoroid impacts create quakes with a magnitude of 2.0 or less. So far, InSight’s largest detected quake was a magnitude 5 event in May.\n\nImpact craters help scientists understand the age of a planet’s surface. Researchers can also determine how many of the craters formed early on in the tumultuous history of the solar system.\n\n“Impacts are the clocks of the solar system,” said lead author Raphael Garcia, academic researcher at the Institut Supérieur de l’Aéronautique et de l’Espace in Toulouse, France, in a statement. “We need to know the impact rate today to estimate the age of different surfaces.”\n\nStudying InSight’s data can provide researchers with a way to analyze the trajectory and size of the shock wave produced when the meteoroid enters the atmosphere as well as once it hits the ground.\n\n“We’re learning more about the impact process itself,” Garcia said. “We can match different sizes of craters to specific seismic and acoustic waves now.”\n\nInSight’s mission is coming to an end as dust builds up on its solar panels and reduces its power. Eventually, the spacecraft will shut down, but the team is unsure of when that will happen.\n\nThe most recent readings have suggested it could shut down between this coming October and January 2023.\n\nUntil then, the spacecraft still has a chance to add to its research portfolio and stunning collection of discoveries on Mars.", "authors": ["Ashley Strickland"], "publish_date": "2022/09/19"}]}
{"question_id": "20230127_20", "search_time": "2023/01/28/05:15", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/959432/quiz-of-the-week-21-27-january", "title": "Quiz of The Week: 21 – 27 January | The Week UK", "text": "As the conflict between Russia and Ukraine entered its 12th month, a long-awaited decision by Western nations has offered fresh hope to Kyiv.\n\nFollowing months of hesitancy, Germany this week agreed to send 14 of its sought-after Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and gave allies permission to send theirs too. The US is also sending 31 of its highly advanced Abrams tanks.\n\nPresident Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the announcements, but stressed that the timing of the tanks delivery would be “critical”. After a slight lull in the conflict at the start of the year, battles are raging not only between the traditional militaries but also private military companies (PMCs) enlisted by both sides, with the Wagner Group leading the way in Russian attacks.\n\nWith both Zelenskyy and the Kremlin warning that a peaceful resolution is unlikely to be reached any time soon, the world is watching to see how Western tanks may change the course of the war.\n\nTo find out how closely you’ve been paying attention to the latest developments in the news and other global events, put your knowledge to the test with our Quiz of The Week\n\nNeed a reminder of some of the other headlines over the past seven days?", "authors": ["Julia O Driscoll"], "publish_date": "2023/01/27"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/24/entertainment/oscar-nominated-foreign-films-2022/index.html", "title": "Oscar nominated foreign films 2022: Where to watch the Oscar ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nThe best international feature film category at the Academy Awards could, in some ways, be compared to flying economy. Often, the five films that get a seat aboard the Oscars seem squashed in the back, lest they take up space that Hollywood might want to luxuriate in. You’d like to upgrade to best picture? With twice the room and more prestige, who wouldn’t. But many of those seats still appear to be reserved for English-language pictures.\n\nHowever, things are changing for the better, with Academy voters finding increasing space for international films in other categories. As the awards continues to ask existential questions of itself, this is cause for celebration.\n\nIn the Oscars’ 94th year, there are a few firsts among the nominees for best international feature. “Drive My Car” by Ryusuke Hamaguchi became the first Japanese film to be nominated for best picture, and “Flee” by Danish writer-director Jonas Poher Rasmussen became the first film nominated across best international feature film, best animated feature and best documentary feature. Meanwhile Bhutanese cinema received its first nomination in any category with Pawo Choyning Dorji’s “Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom.”\n\nNorwegian nominee “The Worst Person in the World” and “Drive My Car” both made the cut in writing categories – director Joachim Trier and Eskil Vogt sharing a nomination for best original screenplay, and Hamaguchi and Takamasa Oe for best adapted – while Hamaguchi finds himself only the third Japanese filmmaker nominated for best director.\n\n“Drive My Car” ties Akira Kurosawa’s “Ran” (1986) for most nominations ever for a Japanese film, but a “Parasite”-level sweep is unlikely, even if few would quibble with the movie’s brilliance. However, the repeated inroads of non-English language cinema suggests, to borrow a phrase from Bong Joon-ho, that voters are overcoming the one inch tall barrier of subtitles and finding a whole world of movies to celebrate. No doubt the Academy’s increasingly international membership is helping too.\n\nLast year’s resurgent festival scene and a backlog of releases due to the pandemic meant there was even greater choice than usual. As always, each country may only nominate one movie for best international feature, with 93 countries submitting this year. Many big-hitters missed out. France had Julia Ducournau’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner “Titane” and Audrey Diwan’s Venice Golden Lion winner “Happening” at its disposal; “Titane” was submitted over “Happening,” only to fail to make the shortlist. Spain submitted Fernando Leon de Aranoa’s “The Good Boss” over Pedro Almodovar’s “Parallel Mothers,” only for it to strike out and see Almodovar’s film nominated for original score (Alberto Iglesias) and star Penelope Cruz for best actress. Romania’s Berlin-winner “Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn” by Radu Jude, two-time Iranian Oscar winner Asghar Farhadi’s “A Hero” and Austrian submission “Great Freedom” by Sebastian Meise are all fantastic films that were either not shortlisted or nominated.\n\nThere was such an abundance of great international cinema, the question of whether this category should be expanded to 10 nominees, like best picture, must be asked once more. Until then, we have these five. If you need to catch up on this year’s crop, here’s all the details, along with where to watch them.\n\n“The Hand of God”\n\nFilippo Scotti in \"The Hand of God.\" Gianni Fiorito/Netflix\n\nItalian director Paolo Sorrentino is up to his usual tricks in “The Hand of God,” setting them loose on a work of poignant, sometimes bizarre, autofiction.\n\nSet in sweltering 1980s Naples, Sorrentino’s stand-in Fabietto (Filippo Scotti) is an awkward teenager struggling to find his voice among his large, bickering carnival of a family. The talk of the town is the possible move of football megastar Diego Maradona to local club Napoli, but Fabietto is equally preoccupied with his aunt Patrizia (a disquieting Luisa Ranieri). An abused woman with mental health concerns, the director chooses to present this primarily through the medium of her exposed breasts, at which her nephew can’t help but stare. It is not the most conventional sexual awakening committed to screen, and where the film goes from there is eyebrow-raising to say the least (kudos to Sorrentino for his honesty if it’s all true).\n\nThat aside, there’s beauty aplenty in how director and regular cinematographer Daria D’Antonio shoot their hometown. Visual flourishes and a Fellini-esque menagerie of larger-than-life characters combine in an elegy to the city and the director’s youth – one defined by a tragedy that set Sorrentino on his path.\n\n“You’ve got to have a story to tell,” a director urges aspiring filmmaker Fabietto toward the end of the movie. Sorrentino, already an Oscar winner for “The Great Beauty” in 2013, hasn’t exactly made a bad fist of telling fictional stories. By returning to Naples and telling his own, he’s come full circle and made one of his richest films to date.\n\n“The Hand of God” is available to watch on Netflix.\n\n“Drive My Car”\n\nHidetoshi Nishijima and Toko Miura as Yusuke Kafuku and Misaki Watari in \"Drive My Car.\" Courtesy of Sideshow and Janus Films\n\nJapanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi had a huge 2021, debuting not one but two critically acclaimed films. “Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy” enchanted the Berlin Film Festival, but it was his three-hour adaptation of Haruki Murakami short story “Drive My Car” that gained traction after its debut at Cannes.\n\nThe adaptation is an expansion of the story of actor Yusuke Kafuku (Hidetoshi Nishijima) grieving the sudden death of his wife. Two years on, he’s hired to direct a production of Anton Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya,” where Kufuku meets chauffeur Misaki Watari (Toko Miura), with whom he has unlikely kinship. Through chance and his own making, the past surrounds Kufuku, forcing him to confront his loss.\n\nHamaguchi’s intricately woven story contemplates the disconnect between inner turmoil and outward stoicism. He brilliantly uses Chekhov’s play, with its thematic overlap, as a safe space for characters to wrestle with their real lives. By casting the play as a multilingual production (actors perform in Korean, Tagalog, Mandarin and Korean Sign Language, among others), Hamaguchi steers the audience’s attention towards language and the body. Like Kafuku, we become attuned to when the two fail to tell the same story. His frustrations become our own, his direction of his actors a proxy for what he desires for himself: self-knowledge, and perhaps through that, catharsis.\n\nThis is intellectual filmmaking that offers no concessions to the audience. It demands your attention and offers rich rewards in return. Hamaguchi may be surprised by the Academy’s love for the film, but that comes off the back of topping multiple critics’ best of year lists. The film has already won a BAFTA and must be considered red-hot favorite to take the Oscar on Sunday.\n\n“Drive My Car” is available to watch on HBO Max (like CNN, a WarnerMedia company) and Amazon Prime Video in the US.\n\nRead more: Ryusuke Hamaguchi is as surprised as anyone by the Oscar love for ‘Drive My Car’\n\n“The Worst Person in the World”\n\nHerbert Nordrum and Renate Reinsve as Eivind and Julie in Joachim Trier's \"The Worst Person in the World.\" courtesy Mubi\n\nThe capstone of Joachim Trier’s Oslo Trilogy, “The Worst Person in the World” refuses to stick to the rom-com blueprint in its portrait of the Norwegian city and its inhabitants.\n\nJulie (Renate Reinsve) is approaching 30 and is coasting. Her older boyfriend Aksel (Anders Danielsen Lie) is looking to get serious, but Julie has reservations; thoughts that crystallize when free-spirited Eivind (Herbert Nordrum) walks into her life, setting off a charisma bomb that will go down as one of cinema’s great meet-cutes.\n\nTrier has no interest in fairy tale endings, however. His and Eskil Vogt’s rich and textured script drills into the ideation and idealization of modern living, and the life that happens while you’re making – and breaking – plans.\n\nJulie something of a paradox, riven by impulsiveness and indecisiveness (and she’s privileged enough that she can be). The writing is strong, but this is a film propelled by a star turn. Reinsve’s iridescent performance won her the best actress award at Cannes (remarkably, she’d been about to give up the industry before being cast) and as Julie she’s nothing short of a marvel; a muddle of inconsistencies and equally beguiling and infuriating. In other words: deeply human.\n\n“The Worst Person in the World” paints a portrait that’s so arrestingly real, it recasts much of what came before in the genre as synthetic. For romcoms, this is a corner turned.\n\n“The Worst Person in the World” is available to watch on Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV in the US.\n\nRead more: Joachim Trier ripped up the romcom script with ‘The Worst Person in the World’\n\n“Flee”\n\nAmin (right), the subject of Jonas Poher Rasmussen's \"Flee.\" Final Cut for Real\n\nJonas Poher Rasmussen’s international animated documentary represents an impressively original triple threat at the Oscars this weekend.\n\nThe Danish film debuted at Sundance in 2021 where it won the world cinema documentary award and it’s been attracting high-profile admirers ever since. It centers on Amin, a gay Afghan who as a boy fled Kabul in the 1990s. Now an academic in his thirties living in Denmark, he narrates the story of his perilous flight, dredging up myriad horrors that are written and rewritten before our eyes as what was once suppressed breaches consciousness and finds form.\n\nThe choice of animation allows Amin (a pseudonym) anonymity, but what it affords Rasmussen is dazzling scope for creative expression, utilizing a variety of styles from smooth rotoscope to scratchy sketching in stylistic collusion with the tone of the moment. It’s truly beautiful, impactful filmmaking that’s not quickly forgotten.\n\n“Flee” is available to watch on Hulu and Apple TV in the US.\n\n“Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom”\n\nSherab Dorji as Ugyen in \"Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom.\" Kinley Wangchuk/Jigme Thinley\n\nThis year’s surprise contender, “Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom” is only Bhutan’s second entry to the Academy Awards and its first nominee.\n\nWriter-director Pawo Choyning Dorji’s mild-mannered addition to the “city-slicker-goes-to-the-countryside-and-learns-what’s-important-in-life” canon follows Ugyen (Sherab Dorji), a government employee and wannabe singer whose dreams of Australia are put on hold when he’s sent to teach in the remote mountain community of Lunana. Initially dismissive, his petulance gives way to an appreciation of rural life and the culture he was so ready to leave behind, helped by cute kid Pem Zam (Pem Zam) and singer and local beauty Saldon (Kelden Lhamo Gurung).\n\nIt’s familiar story, but perhaps one shouldn’t hold that against the film. “Lunana’s” trump card is its stunning setting and window into an underexposed part of the world. Handsomely shot by Jigme Tenzing, we see both bustling capital Thimphu and the majestic foothills of the Himalayas, an idyll if ever there was one. The guileless turns of the film’s real-life highlander cast also grounds the film nicely and act as an effective foil to Ugyen.\n\nAcademy voters have plucked from relative obscurity a film that debuted at the London Film Festival way back in 2019. Dorji beat out giants of world cinema to bag a nomination – and with a debut feature, no less. All this considered, “Lunana” represents a landmark in Bhutanese cinema.\n\n“Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom” is available to watch on Kanopy and Amazon Prime Video.\n\nThe 94th Academy Awards takes place on Sunday March 27.", "authors": ["Thomas Page"], "publish_date": "2022/03/24"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/07/entertainment/gallery/oscar-best-picture-winners/index.html", "title": "Here's every film that won the Oscar for best picture | CNN", "text": "\"It Happened One Night\" (1935): \"It Happened One Night\" was one of the great underdog winners. Its studio, Columbia, wasn't considered one of the majors at the time, and neither Clark Gable nor Claudette Colbert, its stars, were excited about the project. But it became the first film to sweep the five major categories of picture, actor, actress, director and screenplay. To this day, only two other films -- \"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest\" (1975) and \"The Silence of the Lambs\" (1991) -- have pulled off the same trick. Columbia Pictures Corporation", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/02/07"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/27/entertainment/academy-awards-2022/index.html", "title": "Academy Awards 2022: 'CODA' wins Best Picture, but Will Smith ...", "text": "CNN —\n\n“CODA” won best picture, but that historic breakthrough for streaming service Apple TV+ at the Oscars was overshadowed by one spontaneous act, as Will Smith delivered a viral moment that will be remembered and talked about for years.\n\nThe most memorable exchange on the film industry’s biggest night wasn’t the kind anyone would have anticipated or wanted. Before winning his Oscar for “King Richard,” Smith seemed upset about a joke that Chris Rock told about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, marching to the stage and appearing strike him across the face. Rock looked genuinely stunned, while Smith returned to his seat, shouting words that were bleeped out at Rock.\n\nWiping away tears, Smith during his acceptance speech referenced that the character he played, Richard Williams, protected his family, then said, without specifically mentioning Rock or what happened, “I want to apologize to the Academy. I want to apologize to all my fellow nominees.” He added, “Love will make you do crazy things.”\n\nThe best-picture suspense between two streaming nominees perceived as frontrunners lasted throughout the night. “CODA’s” Sian Heder won for best adapted screenplay, but “The Power of the Dog’s” Jane Campion, the first woman to be nominated twice as best director, later became the third woman ever to claim that prize. (Heder was overlooked in that balloting.)\n\nBased on results from other awards leading up to the Oscars, this was already viewed as a landmark year for streaming services, which, led by Netflix, have steadily chipped away at industry resistance to seeing them as full competitors with major studio releases.\n\nFor all its hard work, though, Netflix didn’t catch the bouquet, as voters went with Apple’s more uplifting story, about the hearing child of deaf parents. Including this year’s contenders “The Power of the Dog” and “Don’t Look Up,” seven Netflix movies have now been nominated for best picture, but thus far none have won.\n\nBest picture: \"CODA\" Apple TV+ Best actress: Jessica Chastain, \"The Eyes of Tammy Faye\" Searchlight Pictures Best actor: Will Smith, \"King Richard\" Chiabella James/Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures Best director: Jane Campion, right, \"The Power of the Dog\" Kirsty Griffin/Netflix Best supporting actress: Ariana DeBose, \"West Side Story\" Niko Tavernise/20th Century Studios Best supporting actor: Troy Kotsur, \"CODA\" Apple TV+ Best original screenplay: \"Belfast\" Rob Youngson/Focus Features Best adapted screenplay: \"CODA\" Apple TV+ Best animated feature film: \"Encanto\" Disney Best animated short film: \"The Windshield Wiper\" ShortsTV Best live action short film: \"The Long Goodbye\" ShortsTV Best international feature film: \"Drive My Car\" (Japan) Bitters End Best production design: \"Dune\" Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures/Legendary Pictures Best costume design: \"Cruella\" Disney Best makeup and hairstyling: \"The Eyes of Tammy Faye\" Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures Best cinematography: \"Dune\" Chia Bella James Best original song: \"No Time to Die\" performed by Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell for the film \"No Time to Die\" Nicola Dove/EON Productions/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Best original score: \"Dune\" Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures/Legendary Pictures Best documentary feature: \"Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)\" Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures Best documentary, short subject: \"The Queen of Basketball\" The New York Times Best sound: \"Dune\" Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures/Legendary Pictures Best film editing: \"Dune\" Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures/Legendary Pictures Best visual effects: \"Dune\" Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures/Legendary Pictures Photos: Oscars winners 2022 Prev Next\n\nThe global pandemic, which forced the entire entertainment industry into streaming mode for a time, has helped hasten streaming’s acceptance, with last year’s winner, “Nomadland,” having been directed to a rival streamer, Hulu.\n\nJessica Chastain as Tammy Faye Bakker in \"The Eyes of Tammy Faye.\" Searchlight Pictures\n\nIn addition to Smith, Jessica Chastain nabbed her first Oscar for “The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” playing Tammy Faye Bakker, which was also recognized for makeup and hairstyling.\n\nIn her acceptance Chastain spoke of “discriminatory and bigoted legislation that is sweeping our country” against the LGBTQ+ community, citing Bakker’s compassion toward those groups, which was depicted in the film.\n\nWith a third of the Oscars being handed out before the live telecast officially began, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences bet that people would watch the 94th annual Academy Awards as much to be entertained as to find out who won what.\n\nThe Academy, which presents the awards, implemented a controversial plan to hand out awards in eight categories prior to the main telecast, then edit those selections into the show. Despite that decision, the telecast still ran more than 3 ½ hours.\n\n\"Dune\" won multiple Oscars on Sunday, including best cinematography Chia Bella James\n\nThe other big winner of the night was the science-fiction epic “Dune.” Dominating the technical categories, the Warner Bros. film claimed six Oscars for sound, film editing, production design, cinematography, visual effects and Hans Zimmer’s musical score. It was the prolific composer’s second win out of a dozen nominations, the first coming for “The Lion King” in 1995. (CNN and Warner Bros. are both part of WarnerMedia.)\n\nThe televised show underscored the emphasis on bringing more entertainment into the telecast, opening with Beyoncé performing the nominated song from “King Richard” outside the venue, before turning it over to hosts Regina Hall, Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes, who gently roasted some of the nominees (“House of Gucci” was referred to as “House of Random Accents”) and taking aim at Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill, promising, “We’re gonna have a gay night.” Sykes later directed a joke at Texas over its voter-registration laws.\n\n\"Encanto\" won best animanted feature film. Disney\n\nDisney’s “Encanto” was honored as best animated movie. Although the film performed reasonably well in theaters, it (and its music) appeared to particularly catch on after making its debut on the studio’s streaming service, Disney+, symbolic of a year viewed as streaming’s awards coming-out party.\n\nSupporting actress and actor represented perhaps the night’s least-suspenseful selections, but were among the most emotional, with Ariana DeBose and Troy Kotsur winning for Steven Spielberg’s remake of “West Side Story” and “CODA,” respectively. Kotsur becomes only the second deaf actor to be honored, following his co-star Marlee Matlin, who was recognized for “Children of a Lesser God” in 1987.\n\nSteven Spielberg, from left, Rita Moreno and Ariana DeBose arriving at the Oscars. Jae C. Hong/AP\n\nAfter thanking Spielberg and co-star Rita Moreno (who originally played the role), DeBose spoke of being a queer Afro-Latina woman, quoting the movie in saying to those who might be questioning how they fit in, “There is indeed a place for us.”\n\nQuestlove tearfully accepted an Oscar for his documentary “Summer of Soul,” and Japan’s “Drive My Car” earned best international film, with the three-hour drama having garnered a best picture nomination as well.\n\nKenneth Branagh, an eight-time nominee in various categories, received his first Oscar for writing “Belfast,” the deeply personal look at his homeland that he also directed and produced.\n\nAlthough the Grammys and Tonys employ a similar format in time-shifting awards, many Academy members have complained about the perceived slight to those nominees. Nevertheless, there was a heightened sense of urgency to streamline the presentation after the Oscars slumped to record-low ratings last year, as did many major award shows.\n\nThe switch only saved a bit of time, which was used on lavish musical numbers – including a colorful rendition of “Encanto’s” song “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” – comedy bits like dropping Schumer from the rafters dressed as Spider-Man, and showcasing “fan favorites” as unscientifically voted on via Twitter.\n\nThe broadcast also incorporated its share of nostalgia, including a 60th-anniversary James Bond movie tribute, cast reunions from “White Men Can’t Jump,” “Juno” and “Pulp Fiction,” and a 50th-anniversary celebration of “The Godfather,” bringing director Francis Ford Coppola, Al Pacino and Robert De Niro out for a standing ovation.\n\nThe latest Bond film, “No Time to Die,” garnered best song for Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell, one of the few awards handed out to a box-office blockbuster, as the industry increasingly splits between popular and prestige fare.", "authors": ["Brian Lowry"], "publish_date": "2022/03/27"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/13/entertainment/gallery/2022-bafta-awards/index.html", "title": "Photos: The 2022 BAFTAs | CNN", "text": "Actors Troy Kotsur and Ariana DeBose hold the BAFTAs they won for supporting roles on Sunday, March 13. Kotsur won for his role in the film \"CODA.\" DeBose won for \"West Side Story.\"\n\nThe British Academy Film Awards, aka the BAFTAs, were handed out in London on Sunday.\n\nThe BAFTAs are traditionally considered to be the film industry's last big stop before the Academy Awards. This year, the show was held on the same day as the delayed Critics' Choice Awards.\n\nActress and comedian Rebel Wilson hosted the BAFTA ceremony from the Royal Albert Hall. The sci-fi film \"Dune\" won the most awards (five) and received the most nominations (11).\n\nThe Western drama \"The Power of the Dog\" won the BAFTA for best film, and its director, Jane Campion, won best director.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/03/13"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/movies/oscars/2021/09/08/oscars-2022-awards-tracker-kristen-stewart-princess-diana-oscar-isaac/5748897001/", "title": "Oscars 2022: 'Spencer' star Kristen Stewart leads as Princess Diana", "text": "It’s the most wonderful time of the year.\n\nAwards season is officially underway with the one-two punch of the Venice and Telluride film festivals, which kicked off last week with sold-out screenings and starry red carpets. Sean Baker's \"The Florida Project\" follow-up \"Red Rocket,\" starring Simon Rex, continued to win over critics after its Cannes Film Festival debut in July, while the black-and-white Joaquin Phoenix dramedy \"C’mon C'mon\" and animated \"Marcel the Shell with Shoes On\" proved to be heartwarming escapes for movie lovers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.\n\nAs the largely in-person Toronto International Film Festival launches Thursday with the premiere of movie musical \"Dear Evan Hansen,\" here's where the state of the race stands on the long road to the Academy Awards next March.\n\nReview:Denis Villeneuve's sci-fi epic 'Dune' is a mixed bag\n\nKristen Stewart vies for the crown with 'Spencer'\n\nLike her \"Twilight\" co-star Robert Pattinson, Stewart has proven to be one of the most fascinating actors working today: deftly juggling haunting independent dramas (\"Personal Shopper,\" \"Clouds of Sils Maria\") with lighter fare (\"Happiest Season,\" \"Charlie's Angels\"). But \"Spencer\" (in theaters Nov. 5) could finally be her ticket to the Oscars: Stewart has been hailed by critics as \"impeccable\" and \"inspired\" for her transformative performance as a luminous Lady Di, tracing three agonizing days in the reluctant royal's life.\n\nStewart gamely rubbed shoulders with journalists and festival-goers at both the Venice and Telluride premieres of \"Spencer\" this past week, with Toronto next on her campaign trail. The academy loves a British royal – just ask past best-actress winners Olivia Colman (\"The Favourite\") and Helen Mirren (\"The Queen\") – and Stewart is long overdue for an Oscar coronation.\n\nFirst 'Spencer' footage:Kristen Stewart stuns as Princess Diana, clashes with Prince Charles\n\n'The Card Counter' could be a tough bet\n\nIf video views counted for Oscar votes, then Oscar Isaac would already be a winner. The \"Star Wars\" actor had Twitter weak in the knees this past weekend with a now-viral red carpet clip that has been watched more than 11 million times, in which he makes eyes at his \"Scenes From a Marriage\" co-star Jessica Chastain and kisses her arm. Onscreen, Isaac's Oscar chances are a little dicier. In the Martin Scorsese-produced “The Card Counter\" (in theaters Friday), he plays a soldier turned compulsive gambler seeking redemption after torturing prisoners in Iraq.\n\nThe unnerving film has received universally strong reviews (97% positive on Rotten Tomatoes), although director/writer Paul Schrader (\"Taxi Driver,\" \"Raging Bull\") hits many of the same beats as his superior \"First Reformed\" in 2017, which starred Ethan Hawke in a career-best performance that was ignored by the academy. Factor in an already competitive best-actor race – led by Will Smith (\"King Richard\"), Peter Dinklage (\"Cyrano\") and Jamie Dornan (\"Belfast\") – and Isaac could very well get lost in the shuffle.\n\nVenice Film Festival:Jessica Chastain replies to that viral moment when Oscar Isaac kissed her arm\n\n'Dune' faces an uphill battle\n\n\"Dune,\" the $165 million sci-fi epic from Denis Villeneuve (\"Arrival\"), was always going to be a gamble. The film is adapted from Frank Herbert's influential 1965 novel, which last hit the big screen in 1984 with David Lynch's critical and commercial misfire. Early reviews have been disappointing, to say the least, with critics such as USA TODAY's Brian Truitt taking issue with the movie's half-baked storytelling and anticlimactic finish, despite eye-popping visuals and committed performances.\n\n\"Dune\" is a guaranteed player in technical Oscar categories such as best production design, costumes and score. But with a still-uncertain box-office performance – \"Dune\" is being released simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max Oct. 22 – the movie may not have the spice to land one of the 10 best-picture slots (let alone a planned-for sequel).\n\nFear and loathing in Las Vegas:Hollywood faces theater owners after streaming new movies during pandemic\n\nNetflix looks to clinch an elusive best-picture win\n\nYou've got to hand it to Netflix: The streaming service has consistently had superb movies nominated for best picture in the past few years, including \"Roma,\" \"Mank\" and \"The Irishman.\" But the Oscars' top prize has always eluded the media giant, whose biggest awards to date have been for best director (Alfonso Cuarón, \"Roma\") and supporting actress (Laura Dern, \"Marriage Story\").\n\nThat could change this year with a slew of new offerings that were rapturously received by most critics at Venice and Telluride: Maggie Gyllenhaal's arresting \"The Lost Daughter,” Paolo Sorrentino's Italian coming-of-age film \"The Hand of God,” and Jane Campion's sexually charged Western \"The Power of the Dog.\" The latter should also be a heavyweight acting contender, with a trio of jaw-dropping performances from Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst and Kodi Smit-McPhee.\n\nWhat's on Netflix in September:The chilling 'Midnight Mass,' 'Lucifer' and 'Money Heist'", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/09/08"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/27/entertainment/oscar-winners-2022/index.html", "title": "Oscar winners 2022: See the list | CNN", "text": "1. How relevant is this ad to you?\n\nVideo player was slow to load content Video content never loaded Ad froze or did not finish loading Video content did not start after ad Audio on ad was too loud Other issues", "authors": ["Lisa Respers France"], "publish_date": "2022/03/27"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2019/02/22/oscar-2019-500-essential-academy-awards-photos-get-you-ready/2887640002/", "title": "Oscar 2019: 500 essential Academy Awards photos to get you ready", "text": "The 91st annual Academy Awards are happening Sunday. Are you ready?\n\nTo help you prep, we've compiled this cheat sheet of Oscar trivia, fashion photos, nominations info and other essential tidbits that will help make you an informed viewer of the host-less soiree that is going to show all 24 Oscar categories live, after all. That's in the wake of scrapped plans to award a \"most popular\" Oscar and a short-lived decision to present four categories during commercial breaks.\n\nBelow, browse more than 500 photos illustrating every aspect of Oscars night, from actors who have been nominated and never won to the red carpet's all-time best and worst dresses to the iconic movies that were snubbed by the awards.\n\nCould you name them all? All 90 best pictures\n\nBrush up on your best picture trivia with all the category's winners, from \"Wings\" to \"The Shape of Water.\"\n\nThe faces to watch in the night's key categories\n\nGet acquainted with the Hollywood stars nominated for the night's biggest awards.\n\nLooking back: History's best Oscar dresses\n\nThe Oscars red carpet is as much a spectacle as the actual awards. Here, take a trip down memory lane with iconic Oscar looks from years past with these two galleries.\n\nThe worst Oscar dresses of all time\n\nNot every Oscars look is a success. From Bjork's infamous swan dress to Cher's nude getup, revisit the shocking Oscars looks that made history for the wrong reasons.\n\nAnd here's what they wear under it all\n\nSilicone, strapless and smoothers are a star's best friend on the red carpet.\n\nWhat’s in that gift bag for Oscar nominees?\n\nFrom international trips to cannabis edibles, big-name nominees get more than $100K worth of giveaways.\n\nA winner at any age\n\nFrom Tatum O'Neal to Christopher Plummer, see which Hollywood stars made history with their early and late-in-life Oscar wins.\n\nThe most memorable political speeches\n\nWill politics be a topic at the podium this year? It has been in the past.\n\nHow is it even possible these movies didn't win?\n\nFrom \"Psycho\" to \"Gangs of New York,\" many of history's acclaimed films got completely shut out at the Academy Awards.\n\nAnd these actors haven't won either\n\nNo Bradley Cooper? No Johnny Depp. They're both empty-handed.\n\nBut these actors? They've won their share\n\nThough nearly no one has more than two.\n\nSee photos from the Oscar nominees’ luncheon\n\nEvery year, Oscar contenders gather before the ceremony to celebrate their nominations and practice their red carpet smiles.\n\nAnd all the other pre-parties\n\nHollywood has been warming up for the big night all week.\n\nWhat won't be captured by the Oscar cameras\n\nFrom the expensive bar to the seat fillers, take a peek behind the scenes of the Oscars telecast.\n\nAll the best photos from the 2018 Academy Awards\n\nRelive all the drama of last year's awards from backstage.\n\nBy the way: Who is 'Oscar'?\n\nHere's a look at why the Academy Awards go by that name, and a few other fun facts.\n\nContributing: Maeve McDermott", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2019/02/22"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/entertainthis/2018/02/23/oscar-gift-bag-unofficial/364595002/", "title": "Oscar swag bag: Nominees get these (unofficial) gifts", "text": "Congratulations, Margot Robbie and Timothée Chalamet. Not only are you nominated for Academy Awards, but you are being gifted a bunch of random trips and products.\n\nThus is the Oscar tradition. Actually, it's not an Academy-sanctioned activity at all— the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences filed and resolved a lawsuit against company Distinctive Assets over the extravagant gift bags they annually give to nominees. The company now calls their unofficial swag bags the \"Everyone Wins\" gift, instead of using Oscars in the branding.\n\nFor 16 years, the L.A. marketing company Distinctive Assets has delivered the directing and acting Oscar nominees a collection of freebies, which goes to each person's home or hotel the week leading up to the show.\n\nWhat's in the bag that goes out to 26 stars and directors this year? A bounty of gifts that are worth at least $100,000. (Distinctive Assets won't get more specific about the value of their giveaways, but they say that a number of brands pay to be a part of the bag. And, yes, stars are taxed for the physical gifts.) Here are the \"Everyone Wins\" goodies and trips that range from mildly bizarre to truly extravagant:\n\nEdible jewelry from Chocolatines\n\nUnderarm sweat patches from Dandi Patch\n\nLemonade-flavored moonshine from Southern Wicked Lemonade\n\nA 12-night Tanzania trip for two from International Expeditions\n\nA 7-day Hawaii trip at Koloa Landing Resort in Poipu\n\nA stay at Avaton Luxury Villas Resort in Halkidiki, Greece\n\nA week-long spa retreat at Golden Door\n\nPepperface, a lightweight pepper spray\n\nChao Pinhole Gum Rejuvenation dental procedure\n\n23andMe genetic service\n\nA Luxura Diamonds \"conflict-free\" necklace\n\nNeverMissed dating app, available pre-launch\n\nA 10,000 bowl donation to an animal shelter of their choice and bags of pet food from Halo, Purely For Pets\n\nMZ Skin firming eye cream and golden treatment mask\n\nA lifetime supply of Oxygenetix foundation\n\nLocally-grown oranges, courtesy of delivery app EpiFruit\n\nA memoir by Esther Fairfax about her mother, Lotte Berk, innovator of Barre\n\nHealing Saint's skin serum and follicle stimulant\n\nJarritos, the Mexican soda\n\n10 sessions with personal trainer Alexis Seletzky\n\nA one-year supply of ALLÉL's skincare program\n\nBangarang's Positive Cube, a wooden box filled with 199 cards of positive action and quotes\n\nColor-changing lipstick from Blush & Whimsy\n\nCharleston & Harlow soy candles\n\nDanish cookbook, Cook Yourself Happy\n\nCurlee Girlee children's book\n\nOrganic, vegan and small-batch Delicacies lollipops\n\nFace It and Eye Love It facewash and makeup removers\n\nHappiest Tee's American-made T-shirts\n\nWeight loss supplement Hydroxycut Organic\n\n10-piece Inception of Beauty makeup set\n\nJustice for Vets symbolic coin\n\nAn 18-minute phobia-relief session with Kalliope\n\nLE CÈLINE eyelashes products\n\nLiwu jewelry from Ireland\n\nLook Fabulous Forever makeup specially formulated for older women\n\nMy Magic Mud toothpaste, which combines activated coconut shell charcoal and bentonite clay\n\nM.Y.O cosmetic clutch\n\n99 Creative WOWs creativity kit\n\nNurse Gigi skin rejuvenation procedures\n\nOumere anti-aging skincare\n\nPaiva Aloe cleanser and mask,\n\nPETA's cruelty-free bath bombs\n\n2 gourmet pretzel gift boxes from Posh Pretzels\n\nA.I. beauty startup PROVEN's personalized skincare products\n\nQuincy Herbals detox tea\n\nQuip's oral care kit\n\nCommissioned work from Reian Williams Fine Art\n\nRouge Maple syrup\n\nSafi Kilima bracelet with oval tanzanite stones\n\nShop Modern Innovations' levitating bluetooth speaker\n\nThe Green Garmento's multi-use Gigantote\n\nVaya's Tyffyn lunchboxes\n\nTotalee hair care products\n\nWetsleeve on-the-go hydration sleeve\n\nYouthblast anti-aging supplement and 24k Gold Facial\n\nThink Meryl Streep and Denzel Washington will appreciate the presents?", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2018/02/23"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/13/entertainment/baftas-2022-winners-list/index.html", "title": "BAFTA Awards 2022: See the full list of winners", "text": "1. How relevant is this ad to you?\n\nVideo player was slow to load content Video content never loaded Ad froze or did not finish loading Video content did not start after ad Audio on ad was too loud Other issues", "authors": ["Cnn Staff"], "publish_date": "2022/03/13"}]}
{"question_id": "20230127_21", "search_time": "2023/01/28/05:16", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/959432/quiz-of-the-week-21-27-january", "title": "Quiz of The Week: 21 – 27 January | The Week UK", "text": "As the conflict between Russia and Ukraine entered its 12th month, a long-awaited decision by Western nations has offered fresh hope to Kyiv.\n\nFollowing months of hesitancy, Germany this week agreed to send 14 of its sought-after Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and gave allies permission to send theirs too. The US is also sending 31 of its highly advanced Abrams tanks.\n\nPresident Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the announcements, but stressed that the timing of the tanks delivery would be “critical”. After a slight lull in the conflict at the start of the year, battles are raging not only between the traditional militaries but also private military companies (PMCs) enlisted by both sides, with the Wagner Group leading the way in Russian attacks.\n\nWith both Zelenskyy and the Kremlin warning that a peaceful resolution is unlikely to be reached any time soon, the world is watching to see how Western tanks may change the course of the war.\n\nTo find out how closely you’ve been paying attention to the latest developments in the news and other global events, put your knowledge to the test with our Quiz of The Week\n\nNeed a reminder of some of the other headlines over the past seven days?", "authors": ["Julia O Driscoll"], "publish_date": "2023/01/27"}, {"url": "https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/politics/957269/nadhim-zahawi-the-former-chancellor-with-a-careless-tax-problem", "title": "Nadhim Zahawi: the former chancellor with a 'careless' tax problem ...", "text": "A Conservative peer has joined a growing list of voices urging Nadhim Zahawi to consider “standing aside” while Parliament’s watchdog investigates his tax affairs.\n\nLord Hayward told Sky News that “we don’t know what the timescales are for the inquiry” into the Tory party chair’s finances, “and I think that’s key”.\n\nHayward is the latest in a string of senior Tory figures to call for Zahawi to quit after the former chancellor admitted paying a penalty over “errors” in his tax affairs that were deemed “careless but not deliberate” by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).\n\nZahawi and his allies insist that there was no deliberate wrongdoing, but speculation is rife about whether he can survive this latest “political pickle” to hit the Conservatives, said the BBC’s Chris Mason.\n\nBaghdad to Downing Street\n\nBorn in Baghdad to Kurdish parents, Zahawi came to the UK at the age of nine, after his family fled Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi regime in the 1970s. Unable to speak English when he arrived, Zahawi has spoken of the prejudice and bullying that he faced at school.\n\nAfter training as a chemical engineer at University College London, he worked for a time in the oil industry, and co-founded pollsters YouGov. A self-made millionaire, Zahawi is “one of the UK’s richest MPs”, said The Guardian’s Peter Walker. He entered Parliament in 2010 as the MP for Stratford-on-Avon, which remains his constituency, and backed Brexit during the 2016 referendum.\n\nPolitical rise\n\nZahawi began climbing the political ladder after being appointed to a junior ministerial role in the Department for Education in 2018. He bagged his first cabinet role, as education secretary, in September 2021 – more than a decade after becoming an MP.\n\nLess than ten months after joining the cabinet, however, he replaced Rishi Sunak as chancellor of the Exchequer, one of the great offices of state. “Zahawi’s rise is at the same time epically slow and amazingly fast,” tweeted The Times’s associate political editor Henry Zeffman following the appointment.\n\nAccording to The Guardian’s Walker, the “key” to Zahawi’s rise was his “stint” from 2020 to 2021 as undersecretary of state in the health department – otherwise referred to as the minister for vaccines – during which he gained “huge credit” for the UK’s rapid rollout of Covid-19 jabs.", "authors": ["Sorcha Bradley"], "publish_date": "2022/07/06"}]}
{"question_id": "20230127_22", "search_time": "2023/01/28/05:16", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/959432/quiz-of-the-week-21-27-january", "title": "Quiz of The Week: 21 – 27 January | The Week UK", "text": "As the conflict between Russia and Ukraine entered its 12th month, a long-awaited decision by Western nations has offered fresh hope to Kyiv.\n\nFollowing months of hesitancy, Germany this week agreed to send 14 of its sought-after Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and gave allies permission to send theirs too. The US is also sending 31 of its highly advanced Abrams tanks.\n\nPresident Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the announcements, but stressed that the timing of the tanks delivery would be “critical”. After a slight lull in the conflict at the start of the year, battles are raging not only between the traditional militaries but also private military companies (PMCs) enlisted by both sides, with the Wagner Group leading the way in Russian attacks.\n\nWith both Zelenskyy and the Kremlin warning that a peaceful resolution is unlikely to be reached any time soon, the world is watching to see how Western tanks may change the course of the war.\n\nTo find out how closely you’ve been paying attention to the latest developments in the news and other global events, put your knowledge to the test with our Quiz of The Week\n\nNeed a reminder of some of the other headlines over the past seven days?", "authors": ["Julia O Driscoll"], "publish_date": "2023/01/27"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/movies/2013/12/08/benedict-cumberbatch-sunday-conversation/3882503/", "title": "Sunday Geekersation: The year of the Cumberbatch", "text": "Brian Truitt\n\nUSA TODAY\n\nBenedict Cumberbatch stars in %22Sherlock%2C%22 %22Star Trek Into Darkness%22 and %22The Hobbit%3A The Desolation of Smaug%22\n\nAlso%2C %2212 Years A Slave%2C%22 %22The Fifth Estate%22 and %22August%3A Osage County%22\n\nHe%27ll tackle %22Hamlet%22 on the London stage\n\nAccording to the Chinese zodiac, 2013 was the Year of the Snake. But in Hollywood, it was the Year of the Cumberbatch.\n\nBritish actor Benedict Cumberbatch raised his status from cult star of TV's Sherlock to a favorite for a massive amount of new Cumberbabes and Cumberbros in a string of big-screen fare, especially as bad guys.\n\nHe proved a worthy foe for Chris Pine's Captain Kirk as the new Khan in the J.J. Abrams-directed Star Trek Into Darkness and makes things doubly difficult for the heroes of J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (in theaters Friday) as the evil Necromancer and the antagonistic talking dragon Smaug.\n\nCumberbatch's presence also graced The Fifth Estate (in which he starred as real-life WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange), the Oscar-buzzworthy 12 Years a Slave and the upcoming August: Osage County (opening Christmas day), but in those he worked with his fellow actors. For The Hobbit, he mainly spent time with director Peter Jackson doing motion-capture and voiceover work for his baddies and didn't hang out with many of his cast members until this past week at the Los Angeles premiere.\n\n\"I've never even met Cate Blanchett and apparently I've got a scene with her coming up, so there you go,\" Cumberbatch says with a laugh. (He and Blanchett will be in the final film The Hobbit: There and Back Again in 2014, which also brings a new three-episode season of Sherlock and Cumberbatch as World War II code-cracker Alan Turing in The Imitation Game.)\n\nCumberbatch talks with USA TODAY about his Hobbit roles, his 2013 highlights and who's he taking to the movies on his Christmas break.\n\nQ. How much motion-capture did you do for 'Smaug'?\n\nA. The most bits I recognize are when it's square on, where it's face to face with Bilbo (played by Martin Freeman) or Thorin (Richard Armitage) in the Hall of Kings at the end. That's where I can definitely see my gestures.\n\nThere's a temperature and pace to some of the movement of the dragon before he obviously flies and does the fantastical things he can do that no human can. Those guys at (digital-effects company) WETA are extraordinary, but they were really receptive to the idea of me characterizing him first in the flesh and moving around the mo-cap studio — \"the Volume\" as they call it — and give an anthropomorphic quality to this reptile who can breathe fire and fly.\n\nIt was also important for me to physicalize where the voice was coming from and not just be a bodiless voice. It fed into the stuff we then did on the soundstage.\n\nThere were certain characteristics, eye movements and facial expressions layered underneath this extraordinary creation that came from me.\n\nQ. That must have been a challenge.\n\nA. It's a completely different way of acting. I completely loved it. It gave me total and complete freedom. There wasn't a mark to hit, there wasn't a costume or makeup issues to keep in continuity, there wasn't all the amazing amount of hours that the dwarves and everybody else in that production puts in.\n\nThere's no way I can be a serpent of that size who breathes fire and flies. Even if it was profitable for me to interpret that somehow, I'm a biped. It was up to me to completely imagine being a dragon. It's child's play. It's the most enjoyable fantastic and freeing kind of moment of reinventing what it is to be an actor on camera.\n\nI was really enthralled for that process. And it's a lot easier than having to spend hours acting opposite a ping-pong ball in front of a green screen. You are the effect — everything you do is being manipulated into the effect.\n\nQ. What was the biggest difference between playing the Necromancer and Smaug?\n\nA. The Necromancer was much more ethereal and disembodied — he's this sort of formless spirit that's not found a real physical realization yet. He's getting there, he's becoming the all-seeing eye as we know from Lord of the Rings and that's really exciting. He's Sauron. It's a slow evolution for him, so that quality was brought about by movement I did as myself just as a human form and not trying to ape any reptilian behavior. I was walking toward the cameras in the Volume but with a bungee — I had this sensation of being pulled back.\n\nPeter's great note about the Necromancer was that he should be like a black hole, with energy sucked in and toward him while Smaug is much more confrontational and a huge animal. That was much more forward and investigative and there are articulations at the neck and the head and the shoulders. I would clamp my elbows into my body and push myself around like a worm with my feet bound together on the mo-cap stage, as to not use them as feet but just as a thing I was lugging behind.\n\nThey are very, very different energies and they both fed into the voice. Smaug had to really be rich and deep and come from the same bowels that create all that fire.\n\nAlso, I wanted it to be worn — not necessarily old but I wanted there to be an element of it that sounded like hot air being blown over flaming coals rather than a crisp, clean, delicate or fresh voice.\n\nI shredded my vocal cords to bits trying to do very weird things. Some guys came and they said, \"You've already added effects to this, right?\" And they went, \"No, no, that's just him on his own in front of a microphone.\" They went, \"Wow.\" That was great. I was pleased to impress that crowd.\n\nIt was such a thrill to please both J.J. and Peter Jackson in the same half of a year. I worked hard to give them what they needed and tried to surprise them as well.\n\nQ. Smaug's definitely got a personality, too. He doesn't just haul off and fry Bilbo to a crisp — they have a proper conversation.\n\nA. He's smart. He doesn't want to just kill the mouse — he wants to know who set the mouse into the lair. He's got an intelligence and a charm about him that soon degenerates into a venal, terrible vanity and dead-end rage. He's a psychopath, he can empathize as long as it gets him what it needs. He's an utterly self-serving and greedy destructive force, but his failings all have a human character. It wouldn't work as a creation at all if it was just, oh, there's a beast in a lair.\n\nWhat's beautiful about the book is he has a personality and if anything his personality is a metaphor for capitalism gone wrong and that stretches across the age, no more so in the last couple of decades in our lifetime.\n\nThe thing I learned from him is know your limitations. He's someone who thinks he's invincible because of how locked into his own majesty he is, and he's not at all. He's very vulnerable.\n\nAll of that is in the original Tolkien text completely, and my dad read this book to me when I was a kid so that was the first seed of it. He did a great Smaug but I really remember his Smeagol, his Gollum, to be honest. That was a character he used to bring out every now and again to amuse me. He was really good at it — he'd give Andy a run for his money.\n\nI told Dad the first time I knew I got this job for sure. I rang him and said, \"You'll never guess what I'm doing.\" He went, \"Oh, that's fantastic. Why aren't they seeing me?\"\n\nQ. Has your dad seen The Hobbit yet?\n\nA. No, he's waiting in line like everyone else. We'll probably go and see it together as a family when I get back to London.\n\nQ. Has dealing with, say, paparazzi while filming Sherlock or having your Star Trek character overanalyzed on the Internet changed the way you look at your career?\n\nA. To be honest, I'm so happy to be given an opportunity to play these parts. The reflections that happen in retrospect on me playing them, I try not to get involved because it's kind of scary.\n\nI always just primarily worry about pleasing the director and the person in front of me and the rest of my cast. Whether it's a radio studio or a rehearsal amongst the team with biscuits and scripts in hand, it doesn't matter what scale it's at — it's about being true to your intent to being truthful in the moments.\n\nI've worked with some of the greats. I'm just very, very grateful. (Pauses) I'm sure it makes boring copy — hey, here's another actor telling you how grateful he is! But look at the work I've been doing the last year. How can I not be grateful?\n\nQ. You mentioned child's play before. Does a lot of acting for you come down to having a youthful enthusiasm to pretend, even with a serious character such as Julian Assange in The Fifth Estate?\n\nA. There is no simple formula for it. Every job requires a completely different approach. (The Fifth Estate was) getting under the skin and understanding Julian and also the moral responsibility of being a storyteller about an issue and a man and many men and women whose freedom and personality are going to be perception-shaped by what we do. That there are real lives we might affect for this story was a huge burden. It was something that was very important for me to get right. That was another consideration that's well beyond a sense of play.\n\nThe only thing that may unite all forms of acting in a sense is no matter what preparation you do, no matter what transformative process you go through, you are always yourself. You are always inside your own skin — you are who you are no matter what the actions of the movement or the effect.\n\nYou have to have an essential element of you and that is also what is in the present. Once you're in the present and you're not worried about the wig or the special-effects suit or the dialogue or the accent or the moral responsibility, when you are lost in the moment and you're in the present is when the stuff that's really good comes on screen. Until that point, you've put in a lot of hard work to then let go, and all of us experience moments — and they're rare in every job I find — where you feel free of any kind of self-consciousness.\n\nQ. Your fans probably enjoyed your recent gigs. What's it been like on your end?\n\nA. It's been incredible, and such a variety of work. Overexposure is always the thing I'm frightened of but it's just the way it happened. My workload exploded over the last couple of years, but they've all come home to roost this autumn. That's just chance — that's just how the movie industry harvests, I guess. I remember Jessica Chastain having this kind of a moment two years ago where all that brilliant work she did came out in one sudden moment.\n\nIt's an embarrassment of riches, but it's kept me very, very busy. I'm heading off into Christmas now and getting ready for a nice long break just to regroup and see where to go next. I cannot wait to be on my time and be impulsive and move at my own pace.\n\nAnd the third season of Sherlock is coming.\n\nQ. Last thing we saw of that show was everybody thinking your ace detective was dead. Anything you can tease about what's happening when it returns to PBS Jan. 19?\n\nA. There's a reunion and there's an explanation and there's a marriage and there's a new villain on the scene. There's an awful lot to enjoy in the three films we've made of it. And trust me, they're films — they are really richly detailed and you don't go away feeling unsatisfied. There's so much in all of them.\n\nI've seen the first two and they're terrific. I haven't seen the third yet, but I knew when we were doing that one it was going to be really special. They're all very different and they all hold their own.\n\nQ. Do you have a next project yet?\n\nA. I know for certain I'm doing Hamlet sometime in autumn on the London stage, and before that there are all sorts of film projects flying around, but the one that looks most real at the moment is Lost City of Z with James Gray.\n\nQ. What was your best day in 2013?\n\nA. Oh, that's a good question. It's been a long year to flip back through since there's been so many moments. I've met some extraordinary people and had some amazing experiences. I've had some wonderful moments of calm and isolation as well amongst all the circus and hype. I've met some wonderful fans, I've had some fantastic relationships, I've been with some extraordinary comrades and fellow workers.\n\nDays on set of The Imitation Game playing Alan Turing was an amazing experience and wrapping the third season of Sherlock was a rather emotional and proud moment.\n\nQ. I'm sure you live for the quiet times, too, though.\n\nA. Being home in London's great when people respect my privacy. You can just take a beat or a moment or two and find there's still islands of calm in your day anywhere you are. Everyone does that in their own way in work and any kind of life that involves other people.\n\nIt could be anything. It could be drinking at a sunset for a second or two, it could be going on a holiday to some far-flung place and getting away from it all, and it could be dissolving into a book at bedtime.\n\nOr it could just be bedtime. Bedtime's always nice. (Laughs)\n\nQ. Who's the coolest person you met this year?\n\nA. I would say Harrison Ford's up there. I didn't actually meet him this year, we'd met before but he was so lovely to me on The Graham Norton Show. That was very, very cool.\n\nOh, who else? God, this is embarrassing. Who am I forgetting?\n\nMy mind always goes blank at things like this. Somebody said, \"What's your favorite place on Earth? Tell us about a place you've been to the last couple of years.\" My mind went blank, and then I stepped out of the room and went, \"(Expletive).\"\n\nBeing 15,000 feet up in a plane in New Zealand was pretty (expletive) fantastic as was landing after the parachute jump. Going to Big Sur. Stepping on the Star Trek bridge for the first time. Seeing people's homes that are fantastic. Walking into my own flat for the first time after it was finished. Seeing someone that I know and love very well get better from a terrible illness was one of the great moments of this year, to be honest.\n\nIt's life, isn't it? It's what everyone experiences. I guess sometimes ours is more extreme.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2013/12/08"}]}
{"question_id": "20230127_23", "search_time": "2023/01/28/05:16", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/959432/quiz-of-the-week-21-27-january", "title": "Quiz of The Week: 21 – 27 January | The Week UK", "text": "As the conflict between Russia and Ukraine entered its 12th month, a long-awaited decision by Western nations has offered fresh hope to Kyiv.\n\nFollowing months of hesitancy, Germany this week agreed to send 14 of its sought-after Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and gave allies permission to send theirs too. The US is also sending 31 of its highly advanced Abrams tanks.\n\nPresident Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the announcements, but stressed that the timing of the tanks delivery would be “critical”. After a slight lull in the conflict at the start of the year, battles are raging not only between the traditional militaries but also private military companies (PMCs) enlisted by both sides, with the Wagner Group leading the way in Russian attacks.\n\nWith both Zelenskyy and the Kremlin warning that a peaceful resolution is unlikely to be reached any time soon, the world is watching to see how Western tanks may change the course of the war.\n\nTo find out how closely you’ve been paying attention to the latest developments in the news and other global events, put your knowledge to the test with our Quiz of The Week\n\nNeed a reminder of some of the other headlines over the past seven days?", "authors": ["Julia O Driscoll"], "publish_date": "2023/01/27"}, {"url": "https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/people/954730/what-has-meghan-markle-done-since-moving-to-california", "title": "What has Meghan Markle done since moving to California? | The ...", "text": "Meghan Markle has certainly had her hands full since moving to the US in March 2020. After stints in Canada and Beverly Hills, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex settled in Santa Barbara and found a “permanent home” for themselves and their two young children, said Vogue. The couple reportedly paid $14.9m (£11m) for their home, which is “surrounded by megastar neighbours” including Oprah Winfrey and Gwyneth Paltrow, said Hello! magazine. Now “beholden to no one but each other”, said Vogue, the couple have undertaken new financial ventures while Markle has continued to advocate for charitable causes. Most recently she’s dipped her toe into the political arena, with Politico reporting last week that senators had received “unexpected” calls from the duchess ahead of a vote that saw the reintroduction of paid medical and parental leave for US workers. From public speaking to writing, here’s what Markle has been up to since laying down her new roots. ‘Non-profit empire’ “The era of Archewell is upon us,” announced Harper’s Bazaar in March. Plans for the “non-profit empire” were first shared in April 2020, and were “far more extensive” than those originally drawn up for Prince Harry and his wife under their philanthropic brand Sussex Royal, said The Telegraph. Ambitiously, Archewell aims to “unleash the power of compassion to drive systemic cultural change”, according to its website. The charitable prong of the endeavour is the Archewell Foundation, while “creative activations” are taken care of under Archewell Audio and Productions. For months there’s been “silence” from the audio department, said Marie Claire, but there are signs it is “revving up for its grand debut” in the coming months, with a spokesperson telling the magazine that content will launch “later in 2021”. While his father and brother “could not have done more” to help “set the tone” at Cop26, said Sky News’ royal correspondent Rhiannon Mills, Harry and his wife have also made their own environmental commitments in the past week. The couple have announced that Archewell will reach net zero carbon emissions by the end of the decade. Streaming stars The Sussexes “unveiled new Hollywood careers” in September 2020 with a “megawatt Netflix deal”, said The New York Times. The “multiyear” agreement gives the couple a “global platform” through the mediums of “documentaries, docu-series, feature films, scripted shows and children’s programming”. Harry took on the role of executive producer on Heart of Invictus, a behind-the-scenes docu-series of the 2020 Invictus Games, while Markle has been working on an animated series titled Pearl. Skip advert\n\nThe deal was reportedly worth between $100m (£75m) and $150m (£133m), and could see the couple “appear on camera”, though Markle herself has “no plans to return to acting”, the newspaper continued. But some are now calling on Harry to “tear up” the deal and “make a stand” against the portrayal of his mother in the streaming platform’s hit series The Crown, said the Daily Mail. Jemima Khan, a friend of the late Princess Diana, stepped back from her role on the programme which, she said, hadn’t handled the story “as respectfully or compassionately as she had hoped”. Literary undertakings In June, Markle published her first children's book, The Bench. “Inspired by Meghan’s own family experience,” said Harper’s Bazaar, Markle explained that the story began as a poem written for her husband for Father’s Day. The book, which has earned a middling 3.5 stars on Good Reads, consists of “a series of vignettes” featuring a father and son whose relationship “is sketched out in a series of banalities and badly constructed rhymes”, said The Critic. The story “clearly comes from the heart” and is “likely to pull at the heart strings of parents, grandparents and carers”, said The Independent. But it is “unlikely to win any literary awards”. Christian Robinson’s “pleasant and accomplished” illustrations show a “strong and obvious resemblance to Prince Harry” in the father character, said The Critic, and The Independent described the book as “full of personal references to the Sussexes”. Even so, Markle said she hoped to depict the father-son bond “through an inclusive lens” that would resonate “with every family, no matter the makeup”. “It’s mind-boggling how bad this book is,” said The New Statesman. But “no doubt The Bench will be a bestseller,” The Critic continued. “It is bad, of course” but “it is too inconsequential and ephemeral to merit the vitriol of a proper disembowelling”, and should instead be “regarded as a curiosity”. Birthday plans As part of her 40th birthday celebrations in August, Markle “offered a gift to the world”, said Glamour magazine. Via a video starring Markle and Melissa McCarthy, the duchess announced she would be asking 40 friends to donate 40 minutes of their time to mentoring women re-entering the workforce. Concerned that “tens of millions” of women had left work during the pandemic, Markle wrote on the Archewell website that she believes “mentorship is one way to help women regain confidence and rebuild their economic strength”. Skip advert", "authors": ["Julia O"], "publish_date": "2021/11/09"}, {"url": "https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/958570/ten-things-you-need-to-know-today-19-november-2022", "title": "Ten Things You Need to Know Today: 19 November 2022 | The ...", "text": "Johnson speech prompts apology\n\nThe financier Mike Bloomberg was forced to apologise at an Asian business event in Singapore after complaints about a speech by Boris Johnson that criticised China. During an after-dinner talk, the former PM was said to have described China as a “coercive autocracy” in front of about 500 Asian businesspeople, investors and diplomats. Bloomberg, a former mayor of New York, clarified that Johnson’s words were “his thoughts and his thoughts alone” and added: “To those of you who were upset… you have my apologies.”", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/11/19"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2018/06/15/summer-concerts-phoenix-tempe-guide-upcoming-tours/692561002/", "title": "Summer concerts in Phoenix: Jay-Z, Beyonce", "text": "This summer concert season brings a mix of multi-platinum hip-hop, classic rock, country and more to a venue near you.\n\nHere's a look at the biggest tours headed our way, from the Eagles to Jay-Z and Beyonce.\n\n9/9: Bishop Briggs\n\nBorn in London to Scottish parents, this L.A. singer-songwriter hit the rock and alternative radio formats hard in 2016 with a handclap-driven triumph of post-Adele soul titled \"River,\" which kicked off her promising self-titled debut EP.\n\n\"River\" also appeared on her breathtaking full-length debut, \"Church of Scars,\" which hit the charts at No. 29 not long after the singer emerged as a crowd-pleasing highlight of the Innings Festival at Tempe Beach Park.\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 9. The Van Buren, 401 W. Van Buren St., Phoenix. 866-468-3399, thevanburenphx.com.\n\n9/11: Social Distortion\n\nMike Ness formed and fronted the earliest version of Social Distortion in 1978, keeping the name at least somewhat alive through lineup changes, breakups and the death in February 2000 of Dennis Danell.\n\nBut as they proved conclusively on 2011's \"Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes,\" their first album since 2004, they still sound like Social Distortion, filtering California punk through old-school rock and roll, the New York Dolls and Johnny Cash.\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 11. Marquee Theatre, 730 N. Mill Ave., Tempe. $40. 480-829-0607, luckymanonline.com.\n\n9/12: O.A.R.\n\nThey topped the U.S. independent album charts in 2014 with \"The Rockville LP,\" an album named for the city in Maryland where they fell in love with music in the first place.\n\nIn an interview with CBS News, singer Marc Roberge explained their decision to bring it on home. \"I think when you're home and you're present and you're looking at life the way you do when you're a child, it's something really special,\" he said.\n\n\"And if you can get that onto a record, then you're really doing what you set out to do when you were a kid — just play music for the fun of it and play songs from the heart.\"\n\nDetails: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 12. Marquee Theatre, 730 N. Mill Ave., Tempe. $45.50-$75.50. 480-829-0607, luckymanonline.com.\n\n9/12: Gov't Mule\n\nWarren Haynes and his bandmates are headed to Phoenix in support of “Revolution Come… Revolution Go,” a 10 album that finds the guitarist wondering “Has the whole world gone insane?” in the course of addressing these turbulent times.\n\n“There are no glib solutions on offer,” writes Classic Rock magazine, “no political polemic, just the realisation that America is now a deeply divided nation and that this issue needs to be addressed.”\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 12. The Van Buren, 401 W. Van Buren St., Phoenix. $35-$55. 866-468-3399, thevanburenphx.com.\n\n9/13: Rascal Flatts\n\nThey’ve sent 17 songs to No. 1 on Billboard’s country chart, but the industry trade publication says, “The road has been where the band has done some of their most inspiring work over the years.”\n\nThe biggest of those hits are \"Bless the Broken Road,\" \"What Hurts the Most\" and \"My Wish,\" all of which went platinum.\n\nDetails: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 13. Ak-Chin Pavilion, 2121 N. 83rd Ave., Phoenix. $35.75 and up. 602-254-7200, livenation.com.\n\n9/13: JJ Grey & Mofro\n\n\"Ol' Glory\" is the sound of the Southern soul revival getting all the details right, Grey effortlessly channeling the raspy essence of those classic Otis Redding records he appears to have been studying his whole damn life just to get to this moment.\n\nEven when they turn it down on the country blues of \"The Island,\" it feels like a spiritual cousin of \"(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay.\" As PopMatters says, they \"provide a connection to the past and a time when talent and tenacity moved the music forward.\"\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 13. Marquee Theatre, 730 N. Mill Ave., Tempe. $30-$60. 480-829-0607, luckymanonline.com.\n\n9/13-14: Nine Inch Nails\n\nTrent Reznor and this year's assortment of Nails will launch their Cold and Black and Infinite North America Tour with two dates in Phoenix, at which they'll be joined by the Jesus and Mary Chain and Tobacco.\n\nThe tour is in support of \"Bad Witch,\" completing the trilogy that began with 2016’s \"Not The Actual Events\" and 2017’s \"ADD VIOLENCE.\"\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday, Sept. 13-14. Comerica Theatre, 400 W. Washington St., Phoenix. $55 and up. 800-745-3000, livenation.com.\n\n9/15: Alice in Chains\n\nSinger-guitarist Jerry Cantrell, drummer Sean Kinney, bassist Mike Inez and singer-guitarist William DuVall are reportedly putting the finishing touches on the much-anticipated follow-up to 2013’s critically-acclaimed \"The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here.\"\n\nThat album entered Billboard’s Top 200 chart at No. 2 and topped the rock charts. Spin declared it “an assured, diverse, heated record with galvanized hooks\" while Pitchfork said it’s “as insistent as [1992’s landmark album] 'Dirt.'”\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 15. Comerica Theatre, 400 W. Washington St., Phoenix. $45 and up. 800-745-3000, livenation.com.\n\n9/15: Slash feat. Myles Kennedy & the Conspirators\n\nThe Guns N' Roses guitarist returns to Phoenix a week before hitting the streets with an album called \"Living the Dream,\" his third recording with Kennedy & the Conspirators.\n\nClassic Rock responded to their second album, \"World on Fire,\" whose title track topped Billboard's mainstream-rock charts, with \"Listening to all 17 tracks in one go feels like going 12 rounds with a heavyweight boxer, a championship belt on the line.\"\n\nDetails: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 15. The Van Buren, 401 W. Van Buren St., Phoenix. $55.50. 866-468-3399, thevanburenphx.com.\n\n9/15: Keyshia Cole\n\nThis soulful R&B star’s first three albums all went platinum while sending three songs — “Let It Go,” “I Remember” and “Heaven Sent” — to No. 1 on Billboard’s R&B chart. Lasst years \"11:11 Reset\" put her back at No. 1 on the R&B charts.\n\nThis is one of those Grown & Sexy shows with J. Holiday, who topped the R&B charts with his best-known single, \"Bed.\"\n\nDetails: 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 15. Celebrity Theatre, 440 N. 32nd St., Phoenix. $10-$40. 602-267-1600, celebritytheatre.com.\n\n9/16: 3 Doors Down and Collective Soul\n\nThree Doors Down have worldwide album sales of 20 million, driven by such hits as “Kryptonite,” “When I’m Gone,” “Here Without You” and “It’s Not My Time.”\n\nSince breaking through in 1993 with the rock anthem “Shine,\" Collective Soul have sold more than 20 million records worldwide and continue to average more than one million Spotify streams per month\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 16. Comerica Theatre, 400 W. Washington St., Phoenix. $38 and up. 800-745-3000, livenation.com.\n\n9/16: Miguel\n\nThe Ascension tour brings the Grammy-winning neo-soul sensation to the Valley in support of last year’s \"War & Leisure,\" which topped the R&B charts and spawned his biggest-selling single since \"Adorn,\" the Travis Scott-assisted \"Sky Walker.\"\n\nReleased in 2012 as the opening track of “Kaleidoscope Dream,” “Adorn” earned the singer best R&B song at the Grammys, where his show-stopping performance of that song had Kelly Clarkson testifying, “That was the sexiest goddamn thing I’ve ever seen.”\n\nDetails: 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 16. Mesa Amphitheatre, 263 N. Center St., Mesa. $35. 480-644-2560, luckymanonline.com and mesaamp.com.\n\n9/18: Chris Robinson Brotherhood\n\nFrom the time the Black Crowes hit the streets with \"Shake Your Money Maker,\" it was clear that we were dealing with a singer who could more than hold his own against the best his generation had to offer, boldly taking on an Otis Redding cover in the bargain.\n\nAs for the Brotherhood, Robinson explained in a press release, \"The music that we make, the concerts that we play, it's this world we've created for ourselves and our people. We don’t have the weight of responsibility or nostalgia, which means we're in the very psychedelic situation of getting to be totally honest and create everything in the moment. That's freedom.\"\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 18. Marquee Theatre, 730 N. Mill Ave., Tempe. $79-$249. 480-829-0607, luckymanonline.com.\n\n9/19: Jay-Z and Beyonce\n\nAmerica's favorite power couple haven't toured together since the summer of 2014, when the first On the Run tour played for six weeks in sold-out stadiums supporting the 2013 self-titled Beyonce release as well as Jay-Z’s “Magna Carta Holy Grail.”\n\nThe On the Run II Tour pulled in raves for its opening night in Wales.\n\nThe Guardian called it \"a mature, battle-worn, convincing love affair between two huge entertainers... played out on a vast stage with a set the size of a small city block, with double-jointed dancers, live horn and string sections and mobile hydraulic platforms.\"\n\nDetails: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 19. University of Phoenix Stadium, Loop 101 and Glendale Avenue, Glendale. $49.50 and up. livenation.com, ticketmaster.com.\n\n9/19: Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue\n\nTo celebrate the tricentennial of New Orleans, the trombonist has handpicked an all-star assortment of Crescent City musicians to join him in bringing the spirit and the sound of his hometown to 27 cities on the aptly titled Voodoo Threauxdown.\n\nThe touring street party also features Galactic, Preservation Hall Jazz Band and New Breed Brass Band, with special guest appearances by Cyril Neville, Ivan Neville, Kermit Ruffins, Walter “Wolfman” Washington and more.\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 19. Comerica Theatre, 400 W. Washington St., Phoenix. SOLD OUT. 800-745-3000, livenation.com.\n\n9/21: Los Temerarios\n\nIt's been 40 years since two brothers – Adolfo and Gustavo Angel – formed the group that would become Los Temerarios with their cousin Fernando Angel, who's no longer involved in the project.\n\nAll Music Guide describes their sounds as \"bubblegum ranchera\"and goes on to say it \"was the romantic soundtrack of millions of Mexican and Mexican-American youths' lives during the '90s.\"\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 21. Comerica Theatre, 400 W. Washington St., Phoenix. $52.50 and up. 800-745-3000, livenation.com.\n\n9/21: Wolfmother\n\nThese stoner-rock revivalists emerged from Australia in 2006 with a self-titled triumph that wore its debt to Ozzy-era Sabbath like a badge of honor (more than likely sewn onto a faded denim jacket).\n\nAnd their love of that specific era in rock history was every bit as evident on 2016’s “Victorious,” despite the fact that singer Andrew Stockdale was the lone remaining member of the early lineup still on board.\n\nBut they'd also expanded the scope of their sound just enough to allow for departures as intriguing as an acoustic-guitar-driven ballad that ambled along like an outtake from Tom Petty's \"Wildflowers.\"\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 21. Marquee Theatre, 730 N. Mill Ave., Tempe. $79-$249. 480-829-0607, luckymanonline.com.\n\nRELATED:10 Songs You Need to Hear Right Now\n\n9/22: Ms. Lauryn Hill\n\nThis is a tour celebrating the 20th anniversary of \"The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill,\" an eight-times platinum debut on which the former Fugee's reputation may forever rest — in part because it’s so good and in part because she's yet to make another proper album.\n\nShe did the “MTV Unplugged” thing in 2001 and has released a small handful of singles, including 2010's “Repercussions\" and 2013's \"Neurotic Society.\" She's also been sampled to brilliant effect on \"Nice For What\" by Drake, which spent six weeks at No. 1.\n\nDetails: 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 22. Comerica Theatre, 400 W. Washington St., Phoenix. $52.50 and up. 800-745-3000, livenation.com.\n\n9/22: Thrice\n\nThese are Thrice’s final shows before returning to the studio to start recording their 10th album. And it’s more than a little surprising that they'd be returning to the studio this soon. “To Be Everywhere is to Be Nowhere” was their first release in five years.\n\nSputnikmusic said of \"To Be Everywhere,\" \"There is familiarity here, but nothing feels routine. This is an album as cohesive and thunderous as it would have been if it had come out in 2014.\"\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 22. Marquee Theatre, 730 N. Mill Ave., Tempe. $22.50-$37.50. 480-829-0607, luckymanonline.com.\n\n9/22: Kali Uchis\n\nThis Colombian-American R&B sensation is touring in support of \"Isolation,\" an acclaimed debut that makes the most of guest appearances by Bootsy Collins, Tyler, the Creator, Damon Albarn, Tame Impala's Kevin Parker, Thundercat and TV on the Radio's Dave Sitek.\n\nAnd the sound is even hipper than the guest list, effortlessly navigating every jazz-inflected detour with a soulful self-assurance that suggests we may be looking at her generation's Erykah Badu.\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 22. The Van Buren, 401 W. Van Buren St., Phoenix. $32-$99. 866-468-3399, thevanburenphx.com.\n\n9/22: First Aid Kit\n\nSwedish sisters Johanna and Klara Söderberg are touring in support of a heartbreaking gem of a breakup album, aptly titled \"Ruins,\" that often appears to be channeling the early works of Leonard Cohen.\n\nThe close country harmonies are gorgeous as they flesh out their fresh take on Cosmic American Music with chamber-pop flourishes, including mariachi horns, after setting the tone with an opening track that comes right out and sums it up with \"All is futile.\"\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 22. The Pressroom, 441 W. Madison St., Phoenix. $25-$30. 602-396-7136, thepressroomaz.com.\n\nPHOTOS OF SUMMER CONCERTS 2018:\n\nPAST CONCERTS\n\n6/15: Frank Turner\n\nThe tour is in support of \"Be More Kind,\" an album that finds him exploring new sounds.\n\n“I wanted to try and get out of my comfort zone and do something different,” Turner, whose previous efforts positioned the folk-rocking punker as his generation's Billy Bragg, explained in a pres release.\n\nThe lead single, \"Blackout,\" for instance, is as Turner said, \"new territory for me, musically — a song you could even play in a club, it's about how we might collectively respond to social dislocation and collapse.”\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Friday, June 15. The Van Buren, 401 W. Van Buren St., Phoenix. $35. 866-468-3399, thevanburenphx.com.\n\n6/17: Chicago / REO Speedwagon\n\nChicago will perform “Chicago II,” which included the singles “Make Me Smile/Colour My World\" and \"25 or 6 to 4,\" in its entirety followed by the “world’s longest encore,” as they jokingly refer to it, filled with greatest hits.\n\nREO Speedwagon's set will be more of what fans would expect, including such staples as “In Your Letter,” “Can’t Fight This Feeling,” “Time For Me To Fly,” “Roll With The Changes,” “Keep On Loving You” and “Take It On the Run.”\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Sunday, June 17. Ak-Chin Pavilion, 2121 N. 83rd Ave., Phoenix. $29.50-$329. 602-254-7200, livenation.com.\n\n6/17: Gary Clark Jr.\n\nNamed \"Best young gun\" six years ago in Rolling Stone, this Austin guitarist has sent two consecutive albums, \"Black and Blu\" and \"The Story of Sonny Boy Slim,\" to the Top 10 on the Billboard album charts, a rarity for blues.\n\nEntertainment Weekly said of his latest effort, \"Texas blues-guitar whiz Clark's second album is less flashy than his debut, but in pulling back on the guitar heroics, he galvanizes his genre-jumping, too.\"\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Sunday, June 17. The Van Buren, 401 W. Van Buren St., Phoenix. $40-$150. 866-468-3399, thevanburenphx.com.\n\n6/18: Ninja Sex Party\n\n“This is clearly going to be the best rock tour of all time,” Ninja Sex Party frontman Danny Sexbang explained in a press release. “And if all these shows don’t sell out within the first 30 seconds, Ninja Brian will eat his own face on live TV.”\n\nThey're a comedy duo whose latest albums, \"Under the Covers\" and \"Under the Covers, Vol. II,\" have featured them doing remarkably straight-faced, non-comedic, largely inessential covers of songs by Toto, Boston, Def Leppard, Asia and more.\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Monday, June 18. Marquee Theatre, 730 N. Mill Ave., Tempe. $30-$69.69. 480-829-0607, luckymanonline.com.\n\n6/18: The Get Up Kids\n\nThe Kansas City rockers who gave the emo kids \"Something to Write Home About\" are back on the road in support of a new four-song EP titled \"Kicker, their first new release since 2011’s \"There Are Rules.\"\n\nIn a press release, singer-guitarist Matt Pryor explained, “A lot of the songs early in our career were written in the perspective of being young and being in relationships and what we were going through then.\"\n\nThe new EP, he said, is \"still a slice of life\" inspired by their own experiences. They're just in a different place now – older, wiser and just as contagious.\n\nDetails: 8:30 p.m. Monday, June 18. Crescent Ballroom, 308 N. Second Ave., Phoenix. $27; $23 in advance. 602-716-2222, crescentphx.com.\n\n6/19: Post Malone\n\nThis white rapper's first single, \"White Iverson,\" peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 on its way to going five-times-platinum. Subsequent hits include \"Go Flex,\" \"Congratulations,\" \"Rockstar\" and \"I Fall Apart.\"\n\n\"Rockstar\" was Malone's first No. 1 appearance on the Hot 100, logging eight weeks in the top spot. It was also the first song released from a second album called \"Beerbongs & Bentleys.\" He's touring with 21 Savage, who guests on \"Rockstar.\"\n\nDetails: 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 19. Rawhide, 5700 W. North Loop Road, Gila River Reservation. $48.50. 480-502-5600; rawhide.com.\n\n6/19: New Found Glory\n\nThey've been called \"the greatest pop-punk band in history\" by Bad Religion's own Brett Gurewitz, who scooped them up for Epitaph after they walked out on Geffen.\n\nAfter two albums on Epitaph, they switched to Hopeless for 2014's \"Resurrection\" and last year's \"Makes Me Sick,\" which Alternative Press said \"creates enough slight sonic diversions to give longtime fans something new to enjoy.\"\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Tuesday, June 19. Marquee Theatre, 730 N. Mill Ave., Tempe. $25-$45. 480-829-0607, luckymanonline.com.\n\n6/20: Nipsey Hussle\n\nPrior to launching his tour in support of the hit album \"Victory Lap,\" the L.A. rapper held a sold-out release show at the Hollywood Palladium, which Billboard saluted as “less like a typical … rap performance and almost like a rock concert.\"\n\nHussle calls \"Victory Lap\" \"a collection of my life stories, emotions and affirmations of ambition,” adding, “This is my most electric body of work and I'm more than excited to bring these songs to life in concert,\" the only place where the songs \"can be fully experienced.\"\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Wednesday, June 20. Marquee Theatre, 730 N. Mill Ave., Tempe. $30-$50. 480-829-0607, luckymanonline.com.\n\n6/20: R.A. the Rugged Man\n\nThis Long Island rapper earned raves in 2013 for his latest effort, \"Legends Never Die,\" which featured guest appearances from Tech N9ne, Brother Ali and Talib Kweli, to name a few.\n\nHipHopDX said, \"Overall, it’s an album embedded with enough humor, knowledge, and obscure Hip Hop references that will force listeners to keep this one in rotation.\"\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Wednesday, June 20. Rebel Lounge, 2303 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix. $20; $15 in advance. 602-296-7013, therebellounge.com.\n\n6/21: Slightly Stoopid\n\nSigned by Bradley Nowell of Sublime while still in high school, these San Diego rockers have summed up what they do as a fusion of folk, rock, reggae and blues with hip-hop, funk, metal and punk.\n\n\"Meanwhile... Back at the Lab,\" became their second effort to go Top 40 on the Billboard album charts in 2015. They bring three modern-rock hits to the table - \"2 A.M.,\" \"Top of the World\" and last year's \"The Prophet.\" They're joined by Stick Figure and Pepper.\n\nDetails: 5:30 p.m. Thursday, June 21. Mesa Amphitheatre, 263 N. Center St., Mesa. $35. 480-644-2560, luckymanonline.com and mesaamp.com.\n\n6/21: Shakey Graves\n\nAlejandro Rose-Garcia had one decidedly unusual goal going into the making of the latest Shakey Graves release, the weirdly wonderful \"Can't Wake Up.\"\n\n\"I wanted it to be vaguely 'Wizard of Oz'-themed, and I wanted it to be hectic and a little uncomfortable, like what I refer to as the Big Five Disney cartoons: 'Pinocchio,' 'Fantasia,' 'Snow White,' 'Dumbo' and 'Bambi,'\" the singer explained in a press release.\n\n\"All those movies are terrifying-some of the most stressful movies I've ever seen.\"\n\nThe end result is, not surprisingly, one very trippy ride through Rose-Garcia's rich imagination.\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Thursday, June 21. The Van Buren, 401 W. Van Buren St., Phoenix. $25. 866-468-3399, thevanburenphx.com.\n\n6/21: Stars\n\nThese Canadian indie-pop veterans are headed to town in continued support of last year's \"There is No Love in \"Fluorescent Light,\" which made the year-end readers' poll at Pitchfork.\n\nEven Pitchfork's critic liked it, saying, \"Stars stretch hushed electro-pop into scrambling arena rock, blending the Smiths’ guitar romance with bedroom soul like the product of some Mancunian Motown,\" adding that it finds them \"just where they belong.\"\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Thursday, June 21. Crescent Ballroom, 308 N. Second Ave., Phoenix. $21-$38.50. 602-716-2222, crescentphx.com.\n\n6/22: Gillian Welch\n\nThe Americana legend and longtime collaborator David Rawlings, will perform two full sets of music with no opener. The New Yorker once described the duo's rootsy sound as \"at once innovative and obliquely reminiscent of past rural forms.\"\n\nThey've released five acclaimed albums under Welch's name – most recently \"The Harrow & the Harvest\" – and two as the Dave Rawlings Machine.\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Friday, June 22. Orpheum Theatre, 203 W. Adams St., Phoenix. $30.50-$37.50. 800-282-4842, phoenix.ticketforce.com.\n\n6/23: Kenny Chesney\n\nThe Trip Around the Sun Tour is the country star's first trip around the sun since the release of last year's \"Live from No Shoes Nation,\" a 30-song document of the Chesney live experience.\n\n\"We have so much fun, so much life, so many memories – all tied up in these shows and these songs,\" Chesney explained in a press release. \"I am ready to get out there and kick into another summer where we can all celebrate how lucky we are to love life and be able to come together.”\n\nDetails: 5 p.m. Saturday, June 23. Chase Field, 401 E. Jefferson, Phoenix. $18.50-$500. 800-745-3000, ticketmaster.com.\n\nPHOTOS FROM KENNY CHESNEY IN 2018:\n\n6/23: Tiesto\n\nThe iconic Dutch DJ/producer earned a Grammy nomination in 2008 for best electronic/dance album, winning his first Grammy in 2015 for a remix of John Legend's \"All of Me.\"\n\nHe's also won multiple MTV Awards and finished first in DJ Mag's Top 100 DJ ranking for three consecutive years. Mixmag voted him the greatest DJ of all time in 2011, and he topped a list in Rolling Stone in 2012 of the 25 DJs That Rule the Earth.\n\nMORE:Tiesto, Diplo and other top DJs to perform at pool parties\n\nDetails: 12 p.m. Saturday, June 23. The Pool at Talking Stick Resort, 9800 E. Talking Stick Way, Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Reservation. $40-$45. 480-850-7777, ticketmaster.com.\n\nPHOTOS FROM TIESTO 2018:\n\n6/22-24: Elevate 2018\n\nThis three-night Christian music festival starts Friday with sets by Tenth Avenue North, Hawk Nelson, Plumb, Hannah Kerr and Mallory Hope.\n\nSaturday brings Phil Wickham, Building 429, Jordan Feliz, Justin Unger, Ryan Stevenson, Micah Tyler, Branan Murphy and Mia Koehne.\n\nAnd For King & Country headline Sunday's bill with We Are Messengers, Jonny Diaz, For All Seasons, Stars Go Dim and David Dunn.\n\nDetails: 6:30 p.m. Friday, June 22; 5:30 p.m. Saturday, June 23; 4 p.m. Sunday, June 24. Grand Canyon University Arena, 3300 W. Camelback Rd., Phoenix. Three-day passes, $55-$129; single-day tickets, $22.50-$55. 877-552-7362, gcuarena.com.\n\n6/24: Chris Brown\n\nThe multiplatinum, Grammy-winning R&B star brings his Heartbreak On A Full Moon Tour to Phoenix with opening sets by H.E.R. and Rich the Kid.\n\nThe tour shares a name with the singer's eighth studio album, which debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop chart last year.\n\nBrown's hits include the multiplatinum smashes \"Run It,\" \"Kiss Kiss,\" \"With You,\" No Air,\" \"Forever,\" \"I Can Transform Ya,\" \"Deuces,\" \"Yeah 3x,\" \"Look at Me Now,\" \"Don't Wake Me Up,\" 'Loyal,\" \"No Flame\" and \"Ayo.\"\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Sunday, June 24. Ak-Chin Pavilion, 2121 N. 83rd Ave., Phoenix. $18-$169. 602-254-7200, livenation.com.\n\n6/25: The Regrettes\n\nThere’s always something to be said for filtering the timeless charm of ‘60s girl-group music through the snarl and sneer of classic punk. That something is, “I love when people do that, especially women or, in this case, teenage girls.”\n\nAlternative Press responded to their raucous debut, “Feel Your Feelings Fool!” with “Sixteen-year-old vocalist Lydia Night isn't afraid to speak her mind, and the members of the Regrettes match her gritty vocal delivery and feminist sentiments with raucous rock 'n' roll guitars coated with buzzy noise and distortion.”\n\nDetails: 7:30 p.m. Monday, June 25. Rebel Lounge, 2303 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix. $12; $10 in advance. 602-296-7013, therebellounge.com.\n\n6/27: Cold Cave\n\nWesley Eisold has the perfect voice to put across the brand of synth-pop exorcism he explored on the highlights of \"Cherish the Light Years,\" Cold Cave's latest studio release, earning more than occasional references to Robert Smith along the way.\n\nHe started working on the followup five years ago, telling Pitchfork to expect a \"mix between some of the bigger sounds on 'Cherish' and more minimal stuff I'm interested in now, like Suicide or 39 Clocks.\" So hopefully you'll hear a sample of that new stuff if you go.\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Wednesday, June 27. Crescent Ballroom, 308 N. Second Ave., Phoenix. $18; $15 in advance. 602-716-2222, crescentphx.com.\n\n6/27: Corb Lund\n\nThe alt-country Canadian brings the Hurtin' Albertans to town for an evening of such finely crafted old-school country songs as \"Washed-Up Rock Star Factory Blues,\" \"Run This Town\" and the Dylanesque swagger of the raucous \"Alt Berliner Blues.\"\n\nThose songs are all included on 2015's \"Things That Can't Be Undone,\" to which a PopMatters reviewer responded by saying it \"furthers the case for Corb Lund as one of the best contemporary country songwriters.\" He's certainly among the most distinct.\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 27. Musical Instrument Museum, 4725 E. Mayo Blvd., Phoenix. $28.50-$33.50. 480-478-6000, mim.org.\n\n6/28: Vans Warped Tour\n\nThis is the 24th and final cross-country run for the Warped Tour. And several veterans of the tour will be on hand to say goodbye, including Reel Big Fish, Simple Plan, All Time Low, Four Year Strong, 3OH!3, Less Than Jake, Underoath, We The Kings and the Used.\n\nAmong the other artists playing are the Valley's own the Maine and Doll Skin, Chelsea Grin, MyChildren MyBride, Every Time I Die, Knocked Loose, The Amity Affliction, Ice Nine Kills and more.\n\nThe Vans Warped Tour is both the largest and the longest-running traveling music festival in North America.\n\nOriginally conceived by Kevin Lyman as an eclectic alternative rock festival, with a focus on punk, Warped has grown to include a multitude of genres, including metal, hip hop, reggae, pop and more.\n\nDetails: 11 a.m. Thursday, June 28. Ak-Chin Pavilion, 2121 N. 83rd Ave., Phoenix. $46. 800-745-3000, livenation.com.\n\nREVIEW:Vans Warped Tour says goodbye to Phoenix in its final summer on the road\n\nPHOTOS FROM VANS WARPED TOUR 2018:\n\n6/29: Black Milk\n\nThe Detroit-based rapper/producer is headed to Phoenix in support of \"Fever,\" a seventh release that finds him reflecting on current events over beats that filter sumptuous old-school funk and soul through atmospheric textures.\n\nPraising Black Milk for \"one of the finest discographies of any producer/rapper in hip hop,\" the 405 said this is \"the most confident he's ever sounded, taking on the ills of the world in 2018, all while managing to create a consistently groovy, laid back sound.\"\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Friday, June 29. Crescent Ballroom, 308 N. Second Ave., Phoenix. $18; $15 in advance. 602-716-2222, crescentphx.com.\n\n6/30: Brit Floyd\n\nThe Eclipse World Tour 2018 includes a special 45th Anniversary retrospective of \"The Dark Side of the Moon,\" judged by many as one of the greatest rock albums of all time.\n\nWidely regarded as the world's greatest Pink Floyd tribute, Brit Floyd will perform classic tracks from the album alongside gems from \"Wish You Were Here,\" \"The Wall\" and more, complete with a stunning million dollar light show, lasers, inflatables and theatrics.\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Saturday, June 30. Comerica Theatre, 400 W. Washington St., Phoenix. $35-$155. 800-745-3000, livenation.com.\n\n7/7: Primus and Mastadon\n\nLes Claypool of Primus explained in a press release. \"We are lucky and happy to be flanked by our new comrades, the glorious Vikings known as Mastodon. This will be the last Primus run for a bit as we will need to cool-out for awhile, recharge and work on our nunchaku skills.\"\n\nThis tour is in support of \"The Desaturating Seven,\" of which Claypool said, \"This record hearkens back to our prog roots-Rush, Yes, Crimson, all those things. It's a little heavier than the last record, more intricate than anything we've done in a while.\"\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Saturday, July 7. Comerica Theatre, 400 W. Washington St., Phoenix. $35-$155. 800-745-3000, livenation.com.\n\n7/7: Code Orange\n\nIn the course of exploring the more experimental fringes of their chosen field, “Forever” earned these Pittsburgh punks a Grammy nomination and ended 2017 on several year-end critics’ lists, from Revolver to metal lists at Rolling Stone and the Independent.\n\nRock Sound summed it up with “Whether opting for the sledgehammer (check out the riffs on ‘The New Reality’) or an icy scalpel (the warped post-punk of ‘Ugly’), the Pittsburgh four-piece rain down a hail of killer blows. Welcome to Hell.”\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Saturday, July 7. Nile Theater, 105 W. Main St., Mesa. 480-559-5859, niletheater.com.\n\n7/9: Petal\n\nKiley Lotz of Petal has the perfect upper register for drawing the listener into the heart of the songs on \"Magic Gone,\" mining the mixture of vulnerability and determination in lyrics that range from unabashedly poetic to refreshingly direct.\n\nAs Rolling Stone says, she's blessed with \"a voice like a bell, one that holds on to its strength and resonance even when she's singing of knotty emotions.\" The Line of Best Fit called the album an \"indie-emo masterpiece.\"\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Monday, July 9. Rebel Lounge, 2303 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix. $15; $13 in advance. 602-296-7013, therebellounge.com.\n\n7/11: Deafheaven\n\nThey emerged in 2013 as the black-metal heroes mostly likely to be raved about by hipsters, thanks to the ear-splitting splendor of “Sunbather,” a masterpiece of shredded vocal cords and stunning post-rock ambiance that brought home raves from nearly every publication that ran a review.\n\nThey hit Phoenix two days prior to releasing a fourth album “Ordinary Human Corrupt Love,” on which Epitaph, their label, has said they’ve “expanded their heavy, kinetic sound to bring in layered psychedelic vocals, jazz-inspired percussion, and intricate piano melodies.”\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Wednesday, July 11. Crescent Ballroom, 308 N. Second Ave., Phoenix. $18-$20. 602-716-2222, crescentphx.com.\n\n7/11: Citizen\n\nLast year’s “As You Please” is, as Kerrang! suggested, Citizen’s “most atmospheric music to date.” Which isn’t to say they've abandoned the urgency or their earlier work. They're just taking a different approach to conveying that same passion.\n\nAs DIY Magazine says, “The emotion on ‘As You Please’ is as grand and raw as ever, but they have refined their delivery, and their latest album manages not to shortchange that underlying sentiment while expanding their sonic palette.”\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Wednesday, July 11. Rebel Lounge, 2303 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix. $22; $19 in advance. 602-296-7013, therebellounge.com.\n\n7/12: Smashing Pumpkins\n\nThe alternative rockers are launching their first tour with founding guitarist James Iha in 18 years in Glendale.\n\nBilly Corgan explained in a press release, “Some 30 years ago, as the Smashing Pumpkins, James Iha and I began a musical journey in the cramped rear bedroom of my father's house.\n\n\"And so it's magic to me that we're able to coalesce once more around the incredible Jimmy Chamberlin, to celebrate those songs we've made together.\"\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Thursday, July 12. Gila River Arena, 9400 W. Maryland Ave., Glendale. $24.25 and up. 623-772-3800, ticketmaster.com.\n\nPHOTOS OF SMASHING PUMPKINS 2018:\n\n7/13: Smoke Me Out 2018\n\nNorteño stars Legado 7 top a Latin music bill that also features Arsenal Efectivo, El De La Guitarra, Los Hijos de Garcia and Fuerza Regida.\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Friday, July 13. Comerica Theatre, 400 W. Washington St., Phoenix. $59. 800-745-3000, livenation.com.\n\n7/14: Daniel Caesar\n\nThis Grammy-nominated Canadian soul singer topped the Adult R&B charts with his breakthrough single, \"Get You,\" which featured Kali Uchis. That song and a subsequent R&B hit, \"Best Part,\" are both featured on his debut album, \"Freudian.\"\n\nComplex praised the album, saying it \"offers melodies and vocals that will touch your soul along with narratives of love (and lack thereof) you can relate to on some level.\"\n\nDetails: 8:30 p.m. Saturday, July 14. Celebrity Theatre, 440 N. 32nd St., Phoenix. $25-$45. 602-267-1600, celebritytheatre.com.\n\n7/14: Jackson Browne\n\nThis Rock and Roll Hall of Famer launched his career with a Top 10 hit, \"Doctor My Eyes,\" in the '70s, following through with such singles as \"Running on Empty,\" a cover of Maurice William's \"Stay,\" \"Boulevard,\" \"Somebody's Baby\" and \"Lawyers in Love.\"\n\nHe's joined by longtime bandmates Val McCallum (guitar), Mauricio Lewak (Drums), Jeff Young (keyboards), Bob Glaub (bass), Alethea Mills (Vocals) and the acclaimed multi-instrumentalist Greg Leisz (guitar, lap steel, pedal steel).\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Saturday, July 14. Symphony Hall, 75 N. 2nd St. Phoenix. $39-$250. 602-495-1999, phoenixconventioncenter.com.\n\n7/16: Foster the People\n\nThese L.A. indie-pop sensations scored a massive breakthrough in 2010 with the six-times-platinum single “Pumped Up Kicks,” a song about the homicidal daydreams of a troubled teen that managed to top the Alternative Songs chart.\n\nThis tour is in support of last year’s “Sacred Hearts Club,” which gave these guys their highest-charting alternative-radio hit since “Pumped Up Kicks,” “Sit Next to Me.”\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Monday, July 16. Marquee Theatre, 730 N. Mill Ave., Tempe. $29.50-$59.50. 480-829-0607, luckymanonline.com.\n\n7/16: Neurosis\n\nThe Oakland-based avant-garde post-metal icons are touring with metalcore pioneers Converge and Amenra in continued support of 2016's \"Fires Within Fires.\"\n\nIn reviewing the album, the A.V. Club noted that Neurosis had been doing this for 30 years before concluding, \"Neurosis has one of the most profound legacies in music,\" adding that this album is \"another evolutionary step forward.\"\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Monday, July 16. The Van Buren, 401 W. Van Buren St., Phoenix. $35. 866-468-3399, thevanburenphx.com.\n\n7/17: Jay Som\n\nMelina Duterte made our year-end album list with “Everybody Works,” an album she recorded in her bedroom.\n\nBut despite the introspective nature of the lyrics and the way the first song sounds like it was captured in the middle of a dream, it doesn’t feel like the work of a bedroom-pop auteur.\n\nToo many of the album’s highlights rock too much to warrant that description, from the richly orchestrated pop charms of “The Bus Song” to the post-punk grinding of “1 Billion Dogs.”\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Tuesday, July 17. Valley Bar, 130 N. Central Ave., Phoenix. $10. 602-368-3121, Valleybarphx.com.\n\n7/18: KNIX Acoustic Summer\n\nThe country station’s annual Acoustic Summer concert features Kane Brown, Granger Smith and internet sensation Mason Ramsey, AKA the “Yodel Kid.”\n\nBrown topped the country airplay charts with consecutive platinum singles – the Lauren Alaina-assisted “What Ifs” and “Heaven” – in 2017.\n\nSmith topped the country airplay charts with 2015’s “Backroad Songs” and followed through with “If the Boot Fits,” which peaked at No. 6 on that same chart.\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 18. Marquee Theatre, 730 N. Mill Ave., Tempe. SOLD OUT. 480-829-0607, luckymanonline.com.\n\n7/19: The Breeders\n\nThey're back on the road in support of “All Nerve,” their first album in 10 years with the classic “Last Splash” lineup – Kim Deal of the Pixies on lead vocals, sister Kelley Deal on harmonies and guitar, Josephine Wiggs on bass, and Jim Macpherson on drums.\n\nAnd if you liked the way they sounded in the ‘90s, you will like the way they sound on this year’s model. It’s no retread. It just taps into the spirit of the “Last Splash” days and takes it somewhere new, with all the feedback and off-kilter hooks you could want.\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Thursday, July 19. Marquee Theatre, 730 N. Mill Ave., Tempe. $30-$60. 480-829-0607, luckymanonline.com.\n\n7/19: Unknown Mortal Orchestra\n\nRuban Nielson and the neo-psychedelic rockers he calls friends are touring in support of “Sex & Food,” a new album that finds them expanding the scope of their sound without abandoning their strengths.\n\nFrom the acid-damaged Hendrixian funk-rock of “Major League Chemicals” to the bleary-eyed soul of the album-closing “If You’re Going to Break Yourself,” it’s a constantly evolving soundscape.\n\nUncut magazine responded with “The reassuringly lo-fi results might not be drastically different to UMO's previous three records, but the execution is certainly impressive.”\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Thursday, July 19. Crescent Ballroom, 308 N. Second Ave., Phoenix. SOLD OUT. 602-716-2222, crescentphx.com.\n\n7/20: Tim McGraw and Faith Hill\n\nThis is the couple's third Soul2Soul Tour and the first they've toured together since the second Soul2Soul Tour, which wrapped in 2007 and remains the highest-grossing country music tour of all time.\n\nRolling Stone responded to one of the earlier stops on the tour, which is making a second Valley stop, with \"Over a carefully curated two hours, the couple rightfully assumed their place as country music royalty.\"\n\nDetails: 7:30 p.m. Friday, July 20. Talking Stick Resort Arena, Second and Jefferson streets, Phoenix. $24.75 and up. 800-745-3000, ticketmaster.com.\n\nPHOTOS OF TIM MCGRAW AND FAITH HILL IN PHOENIX 2018:\n\n7/20: Gorgon City\n\nThe UK electronic music duo of Kye \"Foamo\" Gibbon and Matt \"RackNRuin\" Robson-Scott may be best known for 2014's \"Ready for Your Love\", which peaked at No. 4 on the U.K. Singles Chart.\n\nTheir long-awaited second album, \"Kingdom,\" is said to be on track to hit the streets this year, preceded by several singles, including the U.K. dance hits \"All Four Walls\" and \"Real Life.\"\n\nDetails: 9 p.m. Friday, July 20. The Pressroom, 441 W. Madison St., Phoenix. $20-$30. 602-396-7136, thepressroomaz.com.\n\n7/20: Chris Isaak\n\nHe's worn his share of hats since \"Wicked Game\" turned up in David Lynch's \"Wild at Heart.\" A talk-show host, a sitcom star, a SWAT commander in \"The Silence of the Lambs,\" No. 68 on of VH1's list of sexiest artists and, of course, a singer.\n\n\"First Comes the Night,\" his latest effort, finds Isaak channeling the sound and spirit of the Sun recording artists he saluted on \"Beyond the Sun,\" especially Roy Orbison and Elvis Presley, while sounding more timeless than retro.\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Friday, July 20. Celebrity Theatre, 440 N. 32nd St., Phoenix. $65-$100. 602-267-1600, celebritytheatre.com.\n\n7/20 Donny and Marie Osmond\n\nThe siblings survived teen-idol stardom in the ‘70s and then a period in which they were deemed wildly unfashionable. But they persevered, finding success with TV gigs and theater work. A stint in Las Vegas cemented their comeback, with an energetic act that spotlights their diversity and old-school showmanship. Sometimes, talent does win out.\n\nREVIEW:What you missed at the Donny and Marie Osmond show in Scottsdale\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Friday, July 20. Talking Stick Resort, 9800 E. Talking Stick Way, Salt River Reservation. $85-$235.480-850-7777, talkingstickresort.com.\n\nPHOTOS OF DONNY AND MARIE OSMOND IN PHOENIX:\n\n7/20: S. Carey\n\nThe Bon Iver drummer earned raves in 2010 for his solo debut, \"All We Grow,\" which the BBC Music reviewer declared \"the ultimate headphone album.\"\n\nA classically trained jazz musician with a flair for ambience, he arrives in support of this year's \"Hundred Acres,\" a breathtaking chamber-folk daydream of an album that filters the delicacy and grace of post-rock through choir-like vocal arrangements.\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Friday, July 20. Crescent Ballroom, 308 N. Second Ave., Phoenix. $18: $15 in advance. 602-716-2222, crescentphx.com.\n\n7/20: Holy Wave\n\nThese neo-psychedelic rockers from El Paso are touring the States in support of “Adult Fear,” an album of hazy headphone music that sounds like it would translate surprisingly well to a headphone-free environment like Rebel Lounge.\n\nThe Austin Chronicle says the new album is \"tactile enough to run your fingers through while evading a tight grip.\" And it does have a certain ephemeral quality thanks to a mix that's the aural equivalent of Vaseline on a fish-eye lens.\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Friday, July 20. Rebel Lounge, 2303 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix. $12. 602-296-7013, therebellounge.com.\n\n7/21: Pentatonix\n\nThis Texas-based a cappella ensemble won NBC's \"The Sing-Off\" in 2011 by covering songs by Beyoncé, Lady Gaga and Survivor.\n\nThey're touring in support of their sixth studio release, \"PTX Presents: Top Pop, Vol. I,\" which features songs made popular by Bruno Mars, Charlie Puth, Ed Sheeran, Kesha, Portugal. the Man and more. They're joined by Echosmith and Calum Scott.\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Saturday, July 21. Ak-Chin Pavilion, 2121 N. 83rd Ave., Phoenix. $25 and up. livenation.com.\n\n7/21: Jeff Beck\n\nThis is the first Valley concert in 12 years for Beck, a guitar virtuoso whose many accolades include his having been inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as both a member of the Yardbirds and a solo artist.\n\nHe also has eight Grammys, and Rolling Stone magazine ranked him as one of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time (which is a bit like ranking pepperoni as one of the 100 Greatest Pizza Toppings of All Time).\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Saturday, July 21. Celebrity Theatre, 440 N. 32nd St., Phoenix. $43.01-$199.91. 602-267-1600, celebritytheatre.com.\n\n7/21: Wye Oak\n\nThe Baltimore indie-pop duo of keyboard-playing drummer Andy Stack and guitar-playing singer Jenn Wasner are touring in support of “The Louder I Call, the Faster It Runs,” an album Pitchfork calls their \"brightest, most straightforward effort.\"\n\nStraightforward being a relative term, one assumes. Their approach is still plenty adventurous – experimental, even. As the reviewer for the Skinny says, the album “revels in keeping you off balance; it impresses, inspires and occasionally overwhelms, but it never outstays its welcome.”\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Saturday, July 21. Crescent Ballroom, 308 N. Second Ave., Phoenix. $14-$17. 602-716-2222, crescentphx.com.\n\n7/22: Thirty Seconds to Mars\n\nOscar-winning actor Jared Leto and his bandmates are bringing the Monolith Tour to Phoenix in support of their fifth studio release, \"America,\" joined by Walk the Moon, K.Flay and Welshly Arms.\n\nTwo singles from the album – \"Walk on Water\" and \"Dangerous Night\" – extended their streak of alternative-radio hits, which include 2006's double-platinum \"The Kill\" and the chart-toppers \"This is War,\" \"Kings and Queens\" and \"From Yesterday.\"\n\nDetails: 6 p.m. Sunday, July 22. Ak-Chin Pavilion, 2121 N. 83rd Ave., Phoenix. $15 and up. livenation.com.\n\nPHOTOS OF THIRTY SECONDS TO MARS IN PHOENIX 2018:\n\n7/22: Quicksand\n\nTheir full-length debut, 1993’s \"Slip\" was recently praised by the A.V. Club as “a nearly flawless record that combines the irony and heaviness of Helmet with Fugazi’s penchant to dismantle sound in the most energetic ways.\"\n\nTheir sophomore album, \"Manic Compression,\" topped a list in LA Weekly of the Top Five Best Post-Hardcore Records. But they're here in support of \"Interiors,\" their first album in 22 years, on which they prove they haven't lost a step.\n\nDetails: 7:30 p.m. Sunday, July 22. The Van Buren, 401 W. Van Buren St., Phoenix. $25. 866-468-3399, thevanburenphx.com.\n\n7/22: Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks\n\nIt’s been 26 years since \"Slanted and Enchanted” helped define the outer fringes of the indie-rock frontier.\n\nAnd Pavement’s leader is still making perfectly damaged, willfully elusive pop with the Jicks, whose seventh album, “Sparkle Hard,” suggests that he could keep this going for another 20 years.\n\n“With nary a weak track,” Variety writes, “'Sparkle Hard' finds Malkmus hitting a new peak nearly 30 years into his career.”\n\nMalkmus himself has said he hoped to take a more direct approach to this release, and it’s a tribute to his fractured genius that this would be his “more direct” approach.\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Sunday, July 22. Crescent Ballroom, 308 N. Second Ave., Phoenix. $24-$33. 602-716-2222, crescentphx.com.\n\n7/23: Streetlight Manifesto\n\nIt’s the 15th anniversary of Streetlight Manifesto’s debut album, “Everything Goes Numb” – or as they put it on their website, the album “that started this whole mess.”\n\nAnd to mark the occasion, the Jersey ska-punk veterans will be playing the entire album, front to back, and rounding out the set with bonus tracks.\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Monday, July 23. Marquee Theatre, 730 N. Mill Ave., Tempe. $18-$38. 480-829-0607, luckymanonline.com.\n\n7/23: Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore\n\nThe roots-music legend topped the Billboard blues charts with “Downey To Lubbock,” and album inspired in part by the duo’s shared affection for Lightnin' Hopkins and the time they both spent hanging at The Ash Grove, an LA blues club, in the '60s.\n\nIn addition to Hopkins, they take on selections by Lloyd Price (whose “Lawdy Miss Clawdy” sounds better than ever), Brownie McGhee, Johnny \"Guitar\" Watson, Woody Guthrie and Chet Powers’ oft-recorded “Get Together.”\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Monday, July 23. MIM Music Theater, Musical Instrument Museum, 4725 E. Mayo Blvd., Phoenix. $35.50-$45.50. 480-478-6000, mim.org.\n\n7/24: Car Seat Headrest\n\nWill Toledo and his bandmates ended 2016 in the upper reaches of year-end critics' lists from Paste and Rolling Stone to azcentral with \"Teens of Denial.\"\n\nAs azcentral said, \"If you grew up on Pavement and lived through the turn-of-the-century rock revival before deciding you wanted to write an album that felt like you’d just woken up hungover in the CBGB men’s room after passing out to Television? You’d do well to hope it sounded half as good as this.\"\n\nSo what did they do for an encore? Re-recorded a Bandcamp-only release from 2011 that somehow turned out sounding just as good.\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Tuesday, July 24. The Van Buren, 401 W. Van Buren St., Phoenix. $22. 866-468-3399, thevanburenphx.com.\n\n7/24: 'American Idol Live!'\n\nThe season’s Top 7 finalists – Cade Foehner, Caleb Lee Hutchinson, Catie Turner, Gabby Barrett, Jurnee, Maddie Poppe and Michael J. Woodard – are joined by special guest Kris Allen, season 8 winner.\n\nRELATED:'American Idol' auditions coming to metro Phoenix\n\nDetails: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 24. Mesa Arts Center, 1 E. Main St. $30-$55. 480-644-6560, mesaartscenter.com.\n\n7/25: Logic\n\nAmong the most streamed artists in the world, Logic brings the Bobby Tarantino vs. Everybody Tour to Phoenix with NF and Kyle.\n\nThe rapper earned two Grammy nominations for the four-times-platinum “1-800-273-8255,” a song whose title is the number for the American National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. His other hits include the double-platinum \"Sucker for Pain\" and \"Everybody.\"\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 25. Ak-Chin Pavilion, 2121 N. 83rd Ave., Phoenix. $25 and up. 602-254-7200, livenation.com.\n\n7/25: Belinda Carlisle\n\nShe fronted the Go-Go's, whose spunky girl-group charms were offset by the slightest hint of punk on \"Beauty and the Beat,\" one of the New Wave era's most contagious classics, including the hits \"We Got the Beat\" and \"Our Lips Are Sealed.\"\n\nCarlisle went solo in 1985 and had a string of memorable pop hits, including \"Mad About You\" (which holds up better than the TV show), \"I Get Weak,\" \"Circle in the Sand,\" \"Leave a Light On\" and \"Heaven Is a Place on Earth.\"\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Wednesday, July 25. The Van Buren, 401 W. Van Buren St., Phoenix. $40-$119. 866-468-3399, thevanburenphx.com.\n\n7/26 Maze featuring Frankie Beverly\n\nFrankie Beverly's visual trademark is his ever-present baseball cap. Musically, of course, his signature is the sweet-and-funky sound he creates as the leader of Maze.\n\nDuring a chart run that lasted almost 20 years, the group scored an impressive eight gold albums, not to mention such soul-music staples as \"Back in Stride\" and \"Can't Get Over You,\" which topped the R&B chart back in (gasp!) 1989.\n\nBeverly's best songs have a cool timelessness about them, one reason it's hard to believe the group is hitting the nostalgia circuit these days. But nostalgia's not such a bad thing, especially considering the strong live show the group puts on.\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Thursday, July 26. Celebrity Theatre, 440 N. 32nd St., Phoenix. $35-$85. 602-267-1600, celebritytheatre.com.\n\n7/28: The Body\n\nLee Buford and Chip King arrive in support of “I Have Fought Against It, But I Can’t Any Longer,” an album named for a line in Virginia Woolf’s suicide letter.\n\nIt's a harrowing soundscape of tortured howls and haunted samples that had the A.V. Club reaching for phrases as evocative as “an oddly catchy apocalypse, “hate-choked bellow” and “slaughterhouse squeal.”\n\nDetails: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, July 28. Rebel Lounge, 2303 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix. $18; 16 in advance. 602-296-7013, therebellounge.com.\n\n7:30: Shania Twain\n\nThis is the country superstar's first tour since Rock This Country in 2015, which was billed as a farewell tour. “I really loved being on tour and had the best time and it kind of ended too soon,” Twain told the Orange County Register.\n\n“I felt like at that time maybe that was all I had left in me. I really felt that way, but I was so energized by the tour and by the fans. For the first time in my career, I really felt like it was easier and the fans really gave me more than ever before for some reason. “\n\nDetails: 7:30 p.m. Monday, July 30. Talking Stick Resort Arena, Second and Jefferson streets, Phoenix. $25.20 and up. 800-745-3000, ticketmaster.com.\n\nPHOTOS OF SHANIA TWAIN IN PHOENIX 2018:\n\n7/31: 311 and the Offspring\n\nIt was 1996 when 311 topped the Modern Rock charts with \"Down.\" And the hits kept coming with \"All Mixed Up,\" \"Come Original,\" \"You Wouldn't Believe,\" \"Creatures (For a While),\" \"Love Song,\" \"Don't Tread on Me,\" \"Hey You,\" \"Sunset in July\" and more.\n\nThe Offspring played a starring role in punk-rock's infiltration of the mainstream in the '90s, topping the modern-rock radio charts with a breakthrough called \"Come Out and Play.\" Other radio staples include \"Self Esteem\" and \"Pretty Fly (For a White Guy).\"\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 31. Ak-Chin Pavilion, 2121 N. 83rd Ave., Phoenix. $27.50 and up. 602-254-7200, livenation.com.\n\n7/31: Supersuckers\n\nCould they be the greatest rock and roll band in the world, as they've been known to advertise themselves? On the right night in the right bar, they could definitely win a reasonable person over to that argument.\n\nThis is the Big Show Tour, in which the Tucson-spawned rockers will honor their 30th anniversary with a set of their best country songs in addition to playing 1992's \"The Smoke of Hell\" and 1994's \"La Mano Cornuda\" in their entirety. That's a lot of music.\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Tuesday, July 31. Rebel Lounge, 2303 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix. $18; 16 in advance. 602-296-7013, therebellounge.com.\n\n8/1: Rick Ross\n\nHailed as the Hottest MC in the Game by MTV in 2012, this bearded rapper has topped the Billboard album charts with five releases — \"Port of Miami,\" \"Trilla,\" \"Deeper Than Rap,\" \"God Forgives, I Don't\" and \"Mastermind.\" He’s touring in support of last year’s “Rather You Than Me,” his ninth album.\n\nRoss’ best-known hits include the platinum singles \"Hustlin',\" \"The Boss\" and “Purple Lamborghini.” His highest-charting hit is \"Aston Martin Music,\" featuring Drake and Chrisette Michelle, which topped the rap charts on its way to going platinum.\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 1. Marquee Theatre, 730 N. Mill Ave., Tempe. $37.50-$175. 480-829-0607, luckymanonline.com.\n\n8/3: G-Eazy\n\nG-Eazy topped the rap and R&B charts with his breakthrough album, “These Things Happen,” in 2014, and returned to No. 1 with \"When It's Dark Out\" and last year's \"The Beautiful & Damned.\"\n\nThe Oakland rapper's hits include the multi-platinum \"Me, Myself & I,\" which topped the rap charts, and two songs from \"The Beautiful & Damned\" (\"Him & I\" and the triple-platinum \"No Limit\").\n\nDetails: 6:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 3. Ak-Chin Pavilion, 2121 N. 83rd Ave., Phoenix. $29.50 and up. 602-254-7200, livenation.com.\n\nPHOTOS OF G-EAZY IN PHOENIX 2018:\n\n8/3: Banda MS\n\nThe name Banda MS is short for Banda Sinaloense MS de Sergio Lizarraga.\n\nThe regional Mexican outfit was formed in 2003 in Mazatlan and features more than a dozen musicians. Their biggest hit in the States, \"Sin Evidencias,\" reached the Hot Latin Tracks chart in 2009.\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 3. Comerica Theatre, 400 W. Washington St., Phoenix. $62.50 and up. 800-745-3000, livenation.com.\n\n8/4: LSD Tour\n\nLukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, who tore it up at Country Thunder earlier this year, have stepped in for Lucinda Williams, who cited an unforeseen scheduling conflict, as the \"L\" in LSD, joining Steve Earle and Dwight Yoakam.\n\nThis is not an acid flashback. The tour takes it name from combining the first letter in each of their first names.\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 4. Comerica Theatre, 400 W. Washington St., Phoenix. $33 and up. 800-745-3000, livenation.com.\n\n8/4: Hop Along\n\nIt all comes down to Frances Quinlan's vocals. As great as the songs on \"Bark Your Head Off, Dog\" are in their own right, it's her voice that ultimately reaches out and pulls you in, demanding that you pay attention to the lyrics, which reward that closer listen.\n\nIt's just quirky enough to be distinctive without distracting from the lyrical intent on highlights as evocative as \"How You Got Your Limp\" and \"Somewhere a Judge,\" whose lyrics are as much a matter of life and death as her singing would have you believe.\n\nDetails: 8 pm. Saturday, Aug. 4. Crescent Ballroom, 308 N. Second Ave., Phoenix. $18; $15 in advance. 602-716-2222, crescentphx.com.\n\n8/5: Ted Nugent\n\nIn the '70s, when songs like \"Cat Scratch Fever,\" \"Free-For-All\" and \"Stranglehold\" were tearing it up on the album-rock side of the dial, the Motor City Madman, as he's known, would swing from the speakers while wearing a loincloth and headdress.\n\nHe's been known to ride a buffalo on stage, shoot flaming arrows at Saddam Hussein in effigy and tell a crowd that former President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton could suck on one of the machine guns he'd been brandishing on stage.\n\nSo yeah, he's that guy. Among the nation’s more outspoken far-right activists, his views are unapologetically pro-Trump, pro-gun, pro-hunting, anti-drug and wildly anti-liberal.\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 5. Celebrity Theatre, 440 N. 32nd St., Phoenix. $65-$80. 602-267-1600, celebritytheatre.com.\n\n8/7: Tony Bennett\n\nThe iconic jazz vocalist will play the Celebrity Theatre with his daughter, Antonia Bennett, who opens the show with a collection of jazz and pop standards.\n\nBennett has won 19 Grammy Awards in the course of a career spanning more than six decades. His most beloved hits include “I Left My Heart In San Francisco,\" \"Because of You,\" \"Cold, Cold Heart,\" \"Rags to Riches\" and \"Stranger in Paradise.\"\n\nDetails: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 7. Celebrity Theatre, 440 N. 32nd St., Phoenix. $91.65-$200.20. 602-267-1600, celebritytheatre.com.\n\n8/7: Bodega\n\nThese Brooklyn-based post-punk revivalists have the attitude and lyrical perspective it takes to make this kind of music sound as fresh as it did on impact.\n\nThe opening track, for example, takes on the notion of wondering “How did this happen?” in response to the state of the world before bringing the song to a climax with a Woody Guthrie nod.\n\n“This machine, you know, it don't kill fascists,” the singer sneers. “This machine just softens what's hard / This machine, it killed the dream of the ‘60s / This machine, you know, it's just a guitar.”\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 7. Valley Bar, 130 N. Central Ave., Phoenix. $12. 602-368-3121, Valleybarphx.com.\n\n8/9: GoGo Penguin\n\nKnown for their seamless blend of minimalist jazz piano and beats that are closer to EDM than jazz, this U.K. trio were chosen by the New York Times as one of 12 Notable Acts at SXSW in 2017.\n\nThey’re touring on “A Humdrum Star,” which eases in with an evocative piano meditation before introducing the skittering beats of EDM on the second track, “Raven.” The Line of Best Fit called the album “a stunning piece of music making.”\n\nDetails: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 9. Musical Instrument Museum, 4725 E. Mayo Blvd., Phoenix. $33.50-$38.50. 480-478-6000, mim.org.\n\n8/11: The Ataris\n\nIt's the 15th anniversary of the album that remains their calling card, \"So Long, Astoria,\" which made it all the way to No. 24 in 2003 while spawning three hits — \"In This Diary,\" \"The Saddest Song\" and a pop-punk reinvention of \"The Boys of Summer.\"\n\nAnd to celebrate, they're playing the entire album, which PopMatters called \"a fine trip down memory lane that celebrates the complexities of growing up.\" And if you know the album, you know \"being grown up isn't half as fun as growing up.\"\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 11. Pub Rock, 8005 E. Roosevelt St., Phoenix. $17; $15 in advance. 480-945-4985, pubrocklive.com.\n\n8/12: Weezer and the Pixies\n\nTwo legendary acts whose music helped define the sound of the ‘90s alternative-rock explosion are set to wrap their summer co-headlining tour – the first full tour they’ve ever done together – in Phoenix.\n\nWeezer's self-titled debut became the unlikeliest modern-rock radio staple of the early '90s, fueled by Rivers Cuomo's cult of nerdy personality, sing-along hooks and a blanket of fuzz. And the Pixies? It's hard to imagine alternative radio without their blueprint.\n\nDetails: 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 12. Ak-Chin Pavilion, 2121 N. 83rd Ave., Phoenix. $25 and up. 602-254-7200, livenation.com.\n\n8/13: Asleep at the Wheel\n\nThese Western Swing revivalists have taken home nine Grammys since releasing their first album in the early ’70s.\n\nTheir latest album, “Still the King: Celebrating the Music of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys,” is their celebration, this one boasting guest appearances by Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, the Avett Brothers, Amos Lee, Lyle Lovett and Old Crow Medicine Show.\n\nDetails: 7:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 13. Musical Instrument Museum, 4725 E. Mayo Blvd., Phoenix. Sold out. 480-478-6000, mim.org.\n\n8/16: Eliane Elias\n\nThis Brazilian jazz pianist has several Grammys to her credit. She’s worked with Randy Brecker, Steve Gadd, Stanley Clarke and Herbie Hancock. In 1997, she topped the Downbeat poll for Best Jazz Album with “The Three Americas.”\n\nShe arrives in support of an all-instrumental collection called “Man of La Mancha” that features her interpretation of nine song from the beloved Broadway musical.\n\nDetail: 7 and 9 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 16. Musical Instrument Museum, 4725 E. Mayo Blvd., Phoenix. $33.50-$48.50. 480-478-6000, mim.org.\n\n8/17: Panic! at the Disco\n\nThe Vegas rockers are touring on \"Pray for the Wicked,\" the much-anticipated followup to their fifth album, “Death Of A Bachelor,” which topped the album charts and was the highest-selling rock release of 2016.\n\nIt's not out yet, but \"Pray for the Wicked\" has already added \"Say Amen (Saturday Night)\" and \"High Hopes\" to their list of rock-radio hits. The best-known songs include \"I Write Sins Not Tragedies,\" \"Nine in the Afternoon\" and \"Emperor's New Clothes.\"\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 17. Gila River Arena, 9400 W. Maryland Ave., Glendale. $26 and up. 623-772-3800, ticketmaster.com.\n\n8/17: Buddy Guy and Johnny Lang\n\nThe Rock and Roll Hall of Famer is touring with Lang in support of \"The Blues is Still Alive,\" his long-awaited followup to the Grammy-winning \"Born to Play Guitar.\"\n\nA house guitarist at Chess Records in the ’60s, a decade in which he also toured in Muddy Waters’ band, Guy was recently voted the 30th best guitarist of all time in Rolling Stone. But Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton would have placed him higher.\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 17. Celebrity Theatre, 440 N. 32nd St., Phoenix. $53.45-$108.55. 602-267-1600, celebritytheatre.com.\n\n8/18: Christian Nodal\n\nThis Mexican mariachi star is best known for his debut single, last year's \"Adiós Amor,\" which topped the charts in Mexico and peaked at No. 2 on the U.S. Latin charts.\n\nHe went Top 5 on the Mexican chart with three subsequent singles –\"Te Fallé,\" \"Probablemente\" and \"Me Dejé Llevar,\" the title track of his debut.\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 18. Comerica Theatre, 400 W. Washington St., Phoenix. $45 and up. 800-745-3000, livenation.com.\n\n8/18: Ry Cooder\n\nThe multi-faceted slide-guitar legend has won six Grammys, including Best Tropical Latin Performance for producing the classic album \"Buena Vista Social Club.\"\n\nRolling Stone rated him eighth on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time, between Stevie Ray Vaughn and Jimmy Page. Let that sink in.\n\nHe's on tour in support of \"The Prodigal Son,\" an understated classic Blurt magazine hailed as a welcome \"return to his earliest archival sounds.\"\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 18. Mesa Arts Center, 1 E. Main St. $45.50-$69.50. 480-644-6500, mesaartscenter.com.\n\n8/18: American Aquarium\n\nNaming your band for a phrase in the opening line of Wilco's \"Yankee Hotel Foxtrot\" album is an odd choice when your music is actually closer in spirit to the sort of thing the other guy from Uncle Tupelo would do.\n\nBut that does nothing to diminish the quality of BJ Barham's writing on \"Things Change,\" an album American Songwriter hailed as \"an engaging latest chapter in the ever-evolving, consistently compelling storytelling saga of one of this generation’s most overlooked roots country singer-songwriters.\"\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 18. Rebel Lounge, 2303 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix. $17; $15 in advance. 602-296-7013, therebellounge.com.\n\n8/19: CKY\n\nThere’s clearly something to be said for kicking off your first release since the departure of the dude who sang lead vocals on your first four albums with “Replaceable,” a song that rocks with the sort of conviction Van Hagar would kill to have to mustered.\n\nIt helps that the vocals are being provided by one Chad I Ginsberg, the guitarist who founded CKY in 1998. I keep wanting to quote the song’s most damning line but it’s right there in the title, “You’re replaceable.” It also helps that Ginsberg is a true guitar god.\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 19. Marquee Theatre, 730 N. Mill Ave., Tempe. $20-$95. 480-829-0607, luckymanonline.com.\n\n8/20-21: JD Souther\n\nHis most enduring claim to fame may be the songs he's written or co-written for the likes of Linda Ronstadt and the Eagles. But he had two proper pop hits of own as well, \"You're Only Lonely\" and \"Her Town Too\" (in collaboration with James Taylor).\n\nIn recent years, he's leaned more heavily on the jazz side of his sensibilities, which suits his style of singing like a charm.\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, Aug. 20-21. MIM Music Theater, Musical Instrument Museum, 4725 E. Mayo Blvd., Phoenix. $48.50-$53.50. 480-478-6000, mim.org.\n\n8/21: Charlie Puth\n\nThe New Jersey neo-soul hitmaker broke through in early 2015 with a double-platinum hit called “Marvin Gaye” that also featured Meghan Trainor. That song topped the charts in several countries, from Australia to the U.K.\n\nBut he may be better known here in the United States as the featured singer on the Wiz Khalifa smash “See You Again,” a tribute to the late Paul Walker. It enjoyed a 12-week stay at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 on its way to going six-times-platinum.\n\nDetails: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 21. Ak-Chin Pavilion, 2121 N. 83rd Ave., Phoenix. $25 and up. 602-254-7200, livenation.com.\n\n8/21: J. Cole\n\nCole is on tour in support of “KOD,” his fifth consecutive release to top the Billboard album chart. When the tour in support of his previous album launched in that same venue, azcentral called him one of hip-hop's greatest storytellers.\n\n\"And it goes beyond the brilliance of his rapping,\" the review continued, \"to the way he engages the audience, sharing the stories behind the songs in a series of monologues that didn't slow things down so much as add to the momentum.\"\n\nDetails: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 21. Talking Stick Resort Arena, Second and Jefferson streets, Phoenix. $44.75 and up. 800-745-3000, ticketmaster.com.\n\n8/22: Jack White\n\nHe first made a name for himself at the helm of the White Stripes, playing guitar with the reckless abandon of a plastered Jimmy Page. After expanding his horizons with the Raconteurs and the Dead Weather, he went solo in 2012 with \"Blunderbuss.\"\n\nThis tour is in support of his third album, \"Boarding House Reach,\" which earned a perfect score from NME, whose critic raved, \"That he’s produced such a full, lush sounding thing packed with personality and life is impressive--but not surprising.\"\n\nDetails: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 22. Comerica Theatre, 400 W. Washington St., Phoenix. $67 and up. 800-745-3000, livenation.com.\n\n8/22: Timber Timbre\n\nThe Canadian trio recorded “Sincerely, Future Pollution” in a chateau outside Paris, making use of vintage synths where once they would have reached for banjos on an album whose mood their label sums up perfectly as “mid-apocalyptic.”\n\nIt’s the sort of music critics have been calling futuristic since the ‘80s. And amazingly enough, it still sounds futuristic, from the Bowiesque funk of “Grifting” to the brooding, synth-washed chorus of \"Moment\" (a mood that's abruptly dispelled by an outburst of guitar skronk).\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 22. Valley Bar, 130 N. Central Ave., Phoenix. $20; $17 in advance. 602-368-3121, Valleybarphx.com.\n\nPHOTOS OF WEEZER AND PIXIES IN PHOENIX 2018:\n\n8/12: Coheed and Cambria, Taking Back Sunday\n\nIt’s been more than two years since \"The Color Before the Sun\" was released as Coheed and Cambria's first “non-concept” album, leaving the sci-fi universe of “The Amory Wars” to focus on first-time father Claudio Sanchez’s personal life.\n\nThere is new music in the works that should be out later this year, but in the meantime, they're hitting the road with Taking Back Sunday.\n\nDetails: 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 12. Comerica Theatre, 400 W. Washington St., Phoenix. $49.50 and up. 800-745-3000, livenation.com.\n\n8/23: Lady Antebellum and Darius Rucker\n\nLady Antebellum topped the country charts in 2009 with the breakthrough hit, “I Run to You.” But the followup remains their calling card. “Need You Now” went six-times-platinum and picked up Song and Record of the Year at the Grammy Awards.\n\nRucker was the face of mainstream rock in his mid-'90s heyday, fronting Hootie & the Blowfish, whose debut remains among the all-time biggest-selling U.S. albums. But it's Rucker's unexpected rebirth as a country star that brings him to this tour.\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 23. Ak-Chin Pavilion, 2121 N. 83rd Ave., Phoenix. $34.25 and up. 602-254-7200, livenation.com.\n\n8/23: Tinariwen\n\nThese Tuareg musicians earned a best-world-music-album Grammy in 2011 for \"Tassili.\" Their latest album, \"Elwan,\" whose title means \"Elephant,\" is a mesmerizing journey whose hypnotic, guitar-criven highlights have an almost psychedelic quality.\n\nThe Independent responded with a five-star rave to an album its critic found to be \"driven by the infectiously hypnotic cyclical guitar grooves that wind like creepers around their poetic imagery.\"\n\nDetails: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 23. Musical Instrument Museum, 4725 E. Mayo Blvd., Phoenix. $43.50-$48.50. 480-478-6000, mim.org.\n\n8/23: Faster Pussycat\n\nTaking their name from the Russ Meyer cult classic “Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!,” these glam-metal veterans hit the mainstream with the 1989 release of “Wake Me When It’s Over,” which contained their breakthrough single, “House of Pain.”\n\nThe only holdout from that era you'll find on the Glitter Box tour is singer Taime Downe, but he sounded as sleazy as ever while adding a darker industrial edge to their sound on “The Power and the Glory Hole,” their only studio release so far this century.\n\nDetails: 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 23. BLK Live, 7301 E. Butherus Dr., Scottsdale. $15-$200. 480-494-5069, blkliveaz.com.\n\n8/24: Rod Stewart with Cyndi Lauper\n\nThese two earned when they road together in 2017. The Houston Press wrote, \"More than just their pop success and great hair, what really united Rod Stewart and Cyndi Lauper on Saturday night was the sheer joy they both brought out of the audience.”\n\nStewart is among the most expressive singers in the history of rock and roll. As the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in which he's been inducted as a solo artist and a member of the Faces, sums it up, \"A singer’s singer, Stewart seemed made to inhabit the spotlight.\"\n\nDetails: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 24. Talking Stick Resort Arena, Second and Jefferson streets, Phoenix. $44.75 and up. 800-745-3000, ticketmaster.com.\n\nPHOTOS OF ROD STEWART AND CYNDI LAUPER IN PHOENIX 2018:\n\n8/24 Yuridia\n\nRaised in Mesa, Yuridia took the exposure from her 2005 run on the reality show \"La Academia\" and became one of the top female vocalists in Latin pop.\n\nHer dusky, emotive vocals are tailor-made for songs about heartbreak, such as \"Ya Es Muy Tarde\" and \"Ya Te Olvidé.\" She is touring to promote \"Primera Fila,\" a live disc that includes a duet with Pepe Aguilar.\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 24. The Van Buren, 401 W. Van Buren St., Phoenix. $45-$69. 800-653-8000, livenation.com.\n\n8/25: Bassrush Massive\n\nBassrush, the internationally renowned bass music brand, returns to Arizona for a second year with bass-thumping performances by Zeds Dead, NGHTMRE, G Jones, Space Jesus, Midnight Tyrannosaurus, Hekler and more to be announced.\n\nLaunched in the '90s, the Bassrush brand has evolved from strictly drum & bass to welcome dubstep and other bass-oriented genres. Bassrush hosts stages at all major Insomniac festivals such as EDC Las Vegas, EDC Orlando and Beyond Wonderland.\n\nDetails: 6 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 25. Rawhide, 5700 W. North Loop Road, Gila River Reservation. $50-$85. 480-502-5600; rawhide.com.\n\n8/25: Cracker/ Camper Van Beethoven\n\nDavid Lowery's first act was Camper Van Beethoven, whose eccentric brand of artful weirdo pop was a perfect fit for college radio in the '80s.\n\nReleased in 1992, his first album with Cracker wasn't nearly as adventurous but its best songs made the most of Lowery's cult of personality, topping the modern-rock radio charts with \"Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now).\"\n\nThese co-headlining tours look great on paper and they're even better live.\n\nDetail: 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 25. Crescent Ballroom, 308 N. Second Ave., Phoenix. $25-$38. 602-716-2222, crescentphx.com.\n\n8/26: Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson\n\nThe aptly titled Twins of Evil Tour is in support of Zombie’s “The Electric Warlock Acid Witch Satanic Orgy Celebration Dispenser” and Manson’s “Heaven Upside Down.”\n\nZombie broke through in the ’90s while fronting the horror-rock toast of the Lollapalooza set, White Zombie. \"Hellbilly Deluxe\" remains his most successful solo album.\n\nAs for Manson, he'll most likely stack his set with highlights plucked from the mom-baiting masterpiece “Antichrist Superstar.”\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 26. Ak-Chin Pavilion, 2121 N. 83rd Ave., Phoenix. $25 and up. 602-254-7200, livenation.com.\n\nPHOTOS OF MARILYN MANSON AND ROB ZOMBIE IN PHOENIX 2018:\n\n8/26: Shakira\n\nThis concert was rescheduled from an early February date as the Latin-music superstar recovered from a hemorrhage on her vocal cord.\n\nThe tour is in support of \"El Dorado,” which not only topped the Billboard Latin charts but also topped the iTunes charts in 37 countries.\n\nShakira’s biggest U.S. hits include the double-platinum “Hips Don’t Lie,” “Beautiful Liar,” “She Wolf” and “Empire.”\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 26. Talking Stick Resort Arena, Second and Jefferson streets, Phoenix. $45.75 and up. 800-745-3000, ticketmaster.com.\n\n8/26: Rodrigo y Gabriela\n\nSince leaving Mexico for Ireland in 1999, Rodrigo y Gabriela have established themselves as one of the most popular acoustic instrumental bands in the world, with worldwide sales of more than 1.5 million albums.\n\nThe Line of Best Fit said the duo's latest album \"has strength, beauty and often a spirit of engagement with the tenebrous. At times, dialogues are unresolved, yet despite (because of?) this, there is vital music-making from two uncompromising artists.\"\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 26. Mesa Arts Center, 1 E. Main St. $39.50-$69.50. 480-644-6500, mesaartscenter.com.\n\n8/28: Jack Johnson\n\nA former professional surfer, Johnson has taken a string of acoustic-flavored singles to the top of the Billboard Adult Alternative Songs chart,\n\nHis best-known songs include \"Flake,\" \"The Horizon Has Been Defeated,\" \"Sitting, Waiting, Wishing,\" \"Good People,\" \"Upside Down,\" \"If I Had Eyes,\" \"You and Your Heart,\" \"At or With Me\" and \"I Got You.\"\n\nDetails: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 28. Ak-Chin Pavilion, 2121 N. 83rd Ave., Phoenix. $35 and up. 602-254-7200, livenation.com.\n\nPHOTOS OF JACK JOHNSON IN PHOENIX 2018:\n\n8/28: Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit\n\nIsbell and his bandmates added two more Grammys to their mantel earlier this year. \"The Nashville Sound\" won Best Americana Album while \"If We Were Vampires\" won Best American Roots Song.\n\nA former member of the Drive-By Truckers, Isbell earned raves for \"The Nashville Sound,\" with American Songwriter declaring it \"another triumph in his incredible hot streak\" and Paste hailing the songs as \"unreasonably powerful.\"\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 28. Symphony Hall, 75 N. 2nd St. Phoenix. $38.50-$59. 602-495-1999, phoenixconventioncenter.com.\n\n8/28: Rooney\n\nActor Robert Schwartzman and his bandmates had built up a pretty good buzz going into the long-delayed release of their first album, having toured with Weezer and the Strokes while perfecting their sugar-coated brand of sun-kissed power-pop.\n\nAnd when the album finally arrived in mid-2013, it effortlessly lived up to the promise of that buzz with the pop sensibilities that only come from studying the music of the '60s in ways that go beyond the Beach Boys vibe they channel on the first track, \"Blueside.\"\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 28. Rebel Lounge, 2303 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix. $18-$85. 602-296-7013, therebellounge.com.\n\n8/29: Lindsey Stirling and Evanescence\n\nElectronic violinist/Gilbert native Lindsey Stirling and two-time Grammy winners Evanescence bring their co-headlining summer tour to Phoenix on a tour that finds them both accompanied by a full orchestra.\n\nThe two artists recently collaborated on the song, “Hi-Lo” from the Evanescence album, \"Synthesis,\" which features a solo by Stirling.\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 29. Ak-Chin Pavilion, 2121 N. 83rd Ave., Phoenix. $25 and up. 602-254-7200, livenation.com.\n\nPHOTOS OF LINDSEY STIRLING, EVANESCENCE IN PHOENIX 2018:\n\n8/30: Wiz Khalifa and Rae Sremmurd\n\nKhalifa's breakthrough single, \"Black and Yellow,\" topped the Hot 100 in 2010 along the way to going six-times-platinum. His biggest hit came five years later with the nine-platinum chart-topper “See You Again,” which also featured Charlie Puth.\n\nSouthern rappers Rae Sremmurd (Khalif \"Swae Lee\" Brown and Aaquil \"Slim Jimmy\" Brown) topped Billboard’s Hot 100 with their mainstream calling card, “Black Beatles,” a quadruple-platinum smash from 2016.\n\nDetails: 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 30. Ak-Chin Pavilion, 2121 N. 83rd Ave., Phoenix. $35 and up. 602-254-7200, livenation.com.\n\n8/30: Lost 80's Live\n\nFor the record, that misplaced apostrophe was not our call. This '80s package tour includes A Flock of Seagulls (\"I Ran (So Far Away)\"), Wang Chung (\"Everybody Have Fun Tonight\"), Missing Persons (\"Destination Unknown\") and Animotion (\"Obsession\").\n\nDetails: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 30. Comerica Theatre, 400 W. Washington St., Phoenix. $38.80 and up. 800-745-3000, livenation.com.\n\n8/30: Jeremih\n\nThis R&B singer hit the mainstream in 2009 with \"Birthday Sex,\" a steamy first single on which he pretty much laid out the template for his most successful work since then, including two more double-platinum singles, \"Down on Me\" and \"Don't Tell 'Em.\"\n\nPitchfork praised the erotically charged \"Late Nights,\" saying it feels “all the more special in an era that increasingly rewards artists who shout the loudest,” adding, “Jeremih makes you shut everything else out so that you can hear him whisper in your ear.\"\n\nDetails: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 30. Marquee Theatre, 730 N. Mill Ave., Tempe. $30-$69.69. 480-829-0607, luckymanonline.com.\n\n8/30: AWOLNATION\n\nTheir debut album, 2011's \"Megalithic Symphony,\" spawned the six-times-platinum breakthrough single, \"Sail,\" which peaked at No. 17 on Billboard's Hot 100.\n\nAnd that was just the first of eight Top 20 entries on Billboard's Alternative Songs chart, including this year's \"Handyman,\" from their new album, \"Here Come the Runts.\"\n\nClassic Rock magazine responded by noting how easy it would be to write them off as one-hit wonders after \"Sail,\" and how this album \"shows what a mistake that would be.\"\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 30. The Van Buren, 401 W. Van Buren St., Phoenix. $27. 866-468-3399, thevanburenphx.com.\n\n8/30: Pusha T\n\nA review in Pretty Much Amazing called \"Daytona\" \"another rare instance of an artist coming up with a classic a decade after what seemed like the peak of his career (Clipse’s 'Hell Hath No Fury').\"\n\nAnd that seems about right, although that writer could've added that \"Daytona\" may go on to be remembered as the better album, setting the tone with one of this year's most compelling singles, \"If You Know You Know.\"\n\nThe rapper himself declared it \"album of the (expletive) year” at the end of “The Story of Adidon,” a diss track for the ages (with apologies to Drake).\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 30. The Pressroom, 441 W. Madison St., Phoenix. $35. 602-396-7136, thepressroomaz.com.\n\n8/31: Sam Smith\n\nSmith set a Grammy record in 2015 when he won the most awards ever received by a U.K. artist following the release of \"In The Lonely Hour,” which became the biggest-selling U.K. male debut in the SoundScan erad.\n\nSmith won Best New Artist, Best Pop Vocal Album, and Record and Song of the Year. He's also earned an Oscar and a Golden Globe award.\n\nThis tour is in support of the singer's second album, \"The Thrill of It All.\"\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 31. Gila River Arena, 9400 W. Maryland Ave., Glendale. $30.75 and up. 623-772-3800, ticketmaster.com.\n\n8/31: Yes\n\nYes featuring Anderson, Rabin, Wakeman will play the Celebrity Theatre on a tour celebrating the 50th anniversary of Yes a year after their overdue induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.\n\nThis lineup is led by Jon Anderson, who co-founded group with Chris Squire. Rick Wakeman is primarily associated with '70s Yes while and Trevor Rabin is primarily associated with the '80s mainstream era, with Anderson as the link between both eras.\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 31. Celebrity Theatre, 440 N. 32nd St., Phoenix. $48.45-$140.75. 602-267-1600, celebritytheatre.com.\n\n8/31: Ben Harper and Charlie Musslewhite\n\nTheir first collaboration, “Get Up!,” topped the blues charts and took home a Grammy. They’re back in support of the recently released “No Mercy in the This Land,” a second album that effortlessly picks up on the conversation these two started in 2013.\n\n“Charlie Musselwhite is that very rare and hallowed place where blues past, present and future collide,” Harper explained in a press release. “He transforms notes into emotions that feel both hauntingly familiar and brand new, as if hearing them for the first time every time.\"\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 31. Marquee Theatre, 730 N. Mill Ave., Tempe. $49.50-$79.50. 480-829-0607, luckymanonline.com.\n\n8/31: Chromeo\n\nThese Canadian electro-funk sensations first made a name for themselves in 2004 with a debut called “She’s in Control” that had critics invoking the names of Daryl Hall and John Oates as handy frames of reference.\n\nTheir long-awaited followup to “White Women,” \"Head Over Heels,\" arrived in June, inspiring Drowned in Sound to rave, \"Funk-by-numbers has not yet had an update worth of Sly Stone; but in 'Head Over Heels,' Chromeo have cracked it.\"\n\nDetails: 9 p.m. Friday, Aug. 31. The Pressroom, 441 W. Madison St., Phoenix. $25-$48.80. 602-396-7136, thepressroomaz.com.\n\n9/2: Bush, Stone Temple Pilots and the Cult\n\nBush, the Cult and Stone Temple Pilots are joining forces on the Revolution 3 tour. They'll rotate the order at each tour stop, but fans can expect a full set by each group.\n\nBush's hits include \"Comedown\" and \"Glycerine,\" both of which were featured on their six-times-platinum breakthrough, \"Sixteen Stone.\"\n\nStone Temple Pilots, who had a string of hits with the late Scott Weiland on vocals before recruiting the late Chester Bennington, are touring with a new lead singer.\n\nDetails: 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 2. Ak-Chin Pavilion, 2121 N. 83rd Ave., Phoenix. $29.50 and up. 602-254-7200, livenation.com.\n\n9/4: Leon Bridges\n\nWhen Bridge arrived on the scene in 2015 with \"Coming Home,\" he told us, \"I'm not saying I can hold a candle to any soul musician from the '50s and '60s, but I want to carry the torch.\" And he carried it well.\n\nThe Grammy-nominated R&B recording artist arrives in support of a sophomore album titled \"Good Thing.\"\n\nDetails: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 4. Comerica Theatre, 400 W. Washington St., Phoenix. $36.50 and up. 800-745-3000, livenation.com.\n\n9/4: Andrew W.K.\n\nThe man who gave you “Party Hard” gets the party restarted on “You’re Not Alone,” his first album in more than a decade (unless you count his New Age instrumentals or the ones that only came out in Japan).\n\nAfter setting the tone with “The Power of Partying,” he really hits his stride on “Music Is Worth Living For,” the first of several quasi-operatic self-help anthems that bring on the bombast like someone who couldn’t decide between ripping off Meat Loaf and channeling Queen (with a slight hint of Abba).\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 4. Crescent Ballroom, 308 N. Second Ave., Phoenix. $23; $19.50 in advance. 602-716-2222, crescentphx.com.\n\n9/5: Scorpions and Queensryche\n\nYou may wonder why they're calling this the Crazy World Tour.\n\nKlaus Meine explained in a press release, “When our album 'Crazy World' was released back in ’91, right at the end of the cold war, we toured around a world that was pretty crazy back then, but there was so much hope in the air for a more peaceful future.\n\n\"Now 27 years later, things are getting more crazy every other day. After all these years ‘Crazy World’ is still a good motto for our world tour.\"\n\nDetails: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 5. Comerica Theatre, 400 W. Washington St., Phoenix. $48.50 and up. 800-745-3000, livenation.com.\n\n9/7: Journey and Def Leppard\n\nThis is not the first time these two acts have toured together. As Def Leppard’s Rick Savage recalls, \"Twelve years ago, we embarked on a US tour with Journey and it was an absolute blast. Believe me, this will be even more spectacular.\"\n\nThis tour follows Journey's induction this year to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which summed noted, \"Call it what you will – arena rock, stadium rock, concert rock – the music of Journey defined the big rock and roll sound of the late 1970s and early 1980s.\"\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 7. Talking Stick Resort Arena, Second and Jefferson streets, Phoenix. $174.75 and up. 800-745-3000, ticketmaster.com.\n\nPHOTOS OF JOURNEY AND DEF LEPPARD IN PHOENIX 2018:\n\n9/7: Rebelution\n\nThese Santa Barbara reggae-rockers have topped the Billboard reggae album chart with five consecutive releases, \"Bright Side of Life,\" \"Peace of Mind,\" “Count Me In” (the biggest-selling reggae album of 2014), \"Falling Into Place\" and \"Live at Red Rocks.\"\n\nThey play between 100 and 120 shows a year, and you can definitely feel that when you see them live. They're joined by Stephen Marley, Common Kings, Zion I and DJ Mackle.\n\nDetails: 5:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 7. Mesa Amphitheatre, 263 N. Center St., Mesa. $35. 480-644-2560, luckymanonline.com and mesaamp.com.\n\n9/8: Eagles\n\nThis is the Eagles' first tour since the death of Glenn Frey. It features three surviving members – Don Henley, Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmit – with a little help from the great Vince Gill and Frey's son, Deacon.\n\nPivotal players on the country-rock scene of the early '70s, the Eagles expanded the scope of their sound to great effect on \"Hotel California,\" which, after more than 40 years, remains among the 20 biggest-selling albums in U.S. history.\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 8. Talking Stick Resort Arena, Second and Jefferson streets, Phoenix. $156 and up. 800-745-3000, ticketmaster.com.\n\nPHOTOS OF EAGLES IN PHOENIX 2018:\n\nREAD MORE:\n\nThings To Do app: Get the best in events, dining and travel right on your device", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2018/06/15"}, {"url": "https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/956609/ten-things-you-need-to-know-today-3-may-2022", "title": "Ten Things You Need to Know Today: 3 May 2022 | The Week UK", "text": "US ‘to overturn’ abortion rights\n\nThe US Supreme Court could be about to overturn the nationwide legal right to abortion, according to a leaked document. Justice Samuel Alito states in the document that the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade decision is “egregiously wrong”, reported Politico. “We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” he is quoted as saying in the document, labelled as the “Opinion of the Court”. The New York Times said the leak is “unprecedented”, while CNN said that if confirmed, the Supreme Court could be about to make “the most consequential abortion decision in decades” which would “transform the landscape of women’s reproductive health in America”.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/05/03"}]}
{"question_id": "20230127_24", "search_time": "2023/01/28/05:16", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/959432/quiz-of-the-week-21-27-january", "title": "Quiz of The Week: 21 – 27 January | The Week UK", "text": "As the conflict between Russia and Ukraine entered its 12th month, a long-awaited decision by Western nations has offered fresh hope to Kyiv.\n\nFollowing months of hesitancy, Germany this week agreed to send 14 of its sought-after Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and gave allies permission to send theirs too. The US is also sending 31 of its highly advanced Abrams tanks.\n\nPresident Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the announcements, but stressed that the timing of the tanks delivery would be “critical”. After a slight lull in the conflict at the start of the year, battles are raging not only between the traditional militaries but also private military companies (PMCs) enlisted by both sides, with the Wagner Group leading the way in Russian attacks.\n\nWith both Zelenskyy and the Kremlin warning that a peaceful resolution is unlikely to be reached any time soon, the world is watching to see how Western tanks may change the course of the war.\n\nTo find out how closely you’ve been paying attention to the latest developments in the news and other global events, put your knowledge to the test with our Quiz of The Week\n\nNeed a reminder of some of the other headlines over the past seven days?", "authors": ["Julia O Driscoll"], "publish_date": "2023/01/27"}, {"url": "https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/sport/football/958503/reactions-cristiano-ronaldo-explosive-interview-piers-morgan", "title": "Reactions to Cristiano Ronaldo's 'explosive' interview with Piers ...", "text": "Weeks after being dropped by Manchester United for refusing to come on as a substitute against Tottenham, Cristiano Ronaldo has dramatically broken his silence by giving his side of the story about life at Old Trafford.\n\nSpeaking in a 90-minute interview to be broadcast this week on TalkTV’s Piers Morgan Uncensored show, the 37-year-old revealed that he feels “betrayed” by the way he’s been treated by the Premier League club and also spoke out against current United manager Erik ten Hag and former team-mate Wayne Rooney.\n\nThe Portugal star, who will captain his country at the Fifa World Cup in Qatar, has given “by far” his “most explosive” interview, Morgan wrote in The Sun. Ronaldo “has had enough” – he’s had enough of “the sniping, the sneering, and the endless blame-game bulls*** that’s been flung at him over the past few months”.\n\nThe fans “should know the truth”, Ronaldo told the presenter. “I want the best for the club”, but “nothing has changed” and there has been “no evolution” since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013. “I love Manchester United. I love the fans, they’re always on my side. But if they want to do it different… they have to change many, many things.”\n\nTen Hag ‘doesn’t show respect for me’\n\nNow in his second spell at United, Ronaldo returned in August 2021 after nine seasons at Spanish giants Real Madrid and three in Italy with Juventus. First departing in 2009, the forward’s future once again looked likely to be away from Old Trafford after United missed out on the Champions League, but he failed to secure a move in the summer transfer window.\n\nThis season has been a turbulent one for the five-time Ballon d’Or winner and he was dropped by Ten Hag after his refusal to come on against Spurs. Ronaldo admits that he does not respect the Dutch coach because “he doesn’t show respect for me”.\n\nOther United officials, past and present, to be on the receiving end of Ronaldo’s ire include ex-boss Ralf Rangnick, who he had “never heard” of, and former team-mate Wayne Rooney, who Ronaldo said had criticised him “probably because he finished his career and I’m still playing”.\n\nBreaking Fergie’s ‘golden rule’\n\nRonaldo’s explosive interview has “shocked the football world”, said Max Mathews in the Daily Mail. In speaking out “so publicly against his current employers”, Ronaldo has also broken legendary former boss Ferguson’s “golden rule” – that “no player can be bigger than the manager”.\n\nSky Sports pundit Gary Neville, who played with Ronaldo at United, had previously called for the relationship between the player and club to end. United are a “better team without him”, Neville said, they score “more goals without him” and they win “more points without him”. Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher, Neville’s Sky Sports colleague, tweeted that “99% of United fans” will be on the side of Ten Hag, which shows “how badly Ronaldo has handled this”.\n\nAndy Mitten, who is the editor of the United We Stand magazine, told BBC Radio 5 Live that Ronaldo has not been forced out, he “wanted to leave in the summer and thought he was leaving, but there was a shortage of suitors”. Ronaldo has done an interview that’s “his version of the truth” and there’s “often more than one version of the truth in life”. Mitten doesn’t think United fans would be “hugely concerned” if he didn’t play for the club again.\n\nPiers Morgan Uncensored: 90 Minutes with Ronaldo will be shown over two nights on TalkTV at 8pm on Wednesday and Thursday.", "authors": ["Mike Starling"], "publish_date": "2022/11/14"}, {"url": "https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/world-news/955333/ghislaine-maxwell-trial-will-juror-sex-abuse-lead-to-retrial", "title": "Ghislaine Maxwell trial: will jurors' sex abuse revelations lead to a ...", "text": "Ghislaine Maxwell’s lawyers have called for a retrial after a second juror revealed that they were sexually abused as a child and spoke of the experience during deliberations.\n\nDays after a first juror said that his story of childhood sexual abuse helped to quell jury room doubts over why accusers waited years before coming forward, a second juror told The New York Times (NYT) that they also disclosed the abuse they suffered as a child.\n\nA former federal prosecutor told The Times that the situation is “an absolute train wreck”, adding: “I believe that it’s likely going to result in a mistrial.” Here is what we know.\n\nWhat have the jurors said?\n\nThe second unnamed juror told the NYT that they had been sexually abused as a child and that they “discussed the experience during deliberations” which “appeared to help shape the jury’s discussions”.\n\nThe news came days after another juror, identified only by his first and middle names as Scotty David, gave a series of media interviews in which he said he had helped sway the deliberations by recounting his own trauma as a result of childhood sexual abuse.\n\n“I know what happened when I was sexually abused. I remember the colour of the carpet, the walls. Some of it can be replayed like a video,” he told the jury, according to The Independent.\n\n“I can’t remember all the details, there are some things that run together. When I shared that, they were able to sort of come around on, they were able to come around on the memory aspect of the sexual abuse,” he added, said the BBC.\n\nWhat will happen now?\n\nMaxwell’s lawyers have indicated that they plan to appeal for a mistrial, stating in two letters to the court that their client would seek a new trial and that the judge “can and should order” one without holding a hearing.\n\nThey said that Maxwell planned to make her request under a federal rule that grants a judge the power to order a new trial when the “interest of justice so requires”.\n\nJudge Alison Nathan has agreed to hear Maxwell’s motion for a new trial, setting a deadline of 19 January for the defence to file a motion to “vacate the sex-trafficking conviction”, The Telegraph said.\n\nMuch will now hang on whether the jurors “honestly” identified themselves as survivors of sexual abuse on a jury questionnaire, The Times said.\n\nAccording to The Telegraph, Scotty David incorrectly told the court he had not been a victim of sexual assault. A source with knowledge of the case told the paper that the juror had answered “no” to the question of whether they had ever been a victim of such a crime.\n\nScotty David has retained attorney Todd Spodek after he was advised by the US government to seek legal representation.\n\nArlo Devlin-Brown, a former federal prosecutor, told the NYT that “generally there is nothing wrong with jurors bringing their personal experiences into deliberations”.\n\nHowever, he added that “dishonesty during the selection process goes to the very integrity of the proceedings and credible allegations of such are taken very seriously”.\n\nMaxwell was convicted on five charges relating to the trafficking and transportation of teenagers who were sexually abused by the late financier Jeffrey Epstein.\n\nThe jury deliberated for more than 40 hours. A date for her sentencing has not yet been set but she faces up to 65 years in prison.", "authors": ["The Week Staff"], "publish_date": "2022/01/07"}, {"url": "https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/959368/ten-things-you-need-to-know-today-24-january-2023", "title": "Ten Things You Need to Know Today: 24 January 2023 | The Week ...", "text": "Two probes over BBC chair appointment\n\nThe selection of Richard Sharp as BBC chair is now the subject of two separate investigations. Following claims that he helped Boris Johnson secure a loan of up to £800,000 weeks before he was recommended for the job by the then PM, Sharp’s appointment is being probed by the commissioner for public appointments, and by the corporation itself. Sharp’s detailed denial that he had acted in any way improperly, “has failed to assuage anger among BBC workers”, said the i news site, with a number telling the website that Sharp’s presence “now undermines his own insistence that the broadcaster must be unimpeachable on impartiality”.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/01/24"}, {"url": "https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/uk-news/952914/prince-william-prince-harry-blast-culture-of-exploitation-bbc-bashir-report", "title": "Princes William and Harry blast 'culture of exploitation' after BBC ...", "text": "BBC “lies” fuelled Princess Diana’s “fears and paranoia” in the final years of her life, Prince William has claimed following the release of a damning report on the methods used to obtain the infamous Panorama interview with his late mother.\n\nMartin Bashir’s 1995 interview was a “major” contributing factor in making his parent’s relationship “worse”, the Duke of Cambridge said in a broadcast statement to the BBC’s rival ITV News. “It effectively established a false narrative which, for over a quarter of a century, has been commercialised by the BBC and others,” William added.\n\nThe royal rebuke is “unprecedented”, says The Times, and piles further pressure on the national broadcaster after Lord John Dyson’s inquiry found that Bashir “deceived” Diana’s brother, Earl Charles Spencer, to secure an introduction to her.\n\nThe independent investigation by retired judge Dyson concluded that the journalist breached BBC rules by using fake bank statements that suggested a member of Spencer’s staff was leaking stories to the press, in order to gain his trust.\n\nYet an internal BBC inquiry in 1996 cleared Bashir of any wrongdoing.\n\nAround 23 million people worldwide tuned in to watch his world-exclusive interview with Diana, during which she revealed intimate details of her life including her struggles with bulimia and self-harm.\n\nPrince William argues that the “deceitful” methods of “BBC employees” who “lied and used fake documents” to secure the interview “substantially influenced what my mother said”.\n\nThe Royal described his “indescribable sadness” over how “the BBC’s failures contributed significantly to her fear, paranoia and isolation, that I remember from her final years with her”, adding: “What saddens me most is that if the BBC had properly investigated the complaints and concerns first raised in 1995, my mother would have known that she’d been deceived.”\n\nPrince Harry has also spoken out about his mother following the publication of Dyson’s report. In a separate statement, the Duke of Sussex said that the “ripple effect of a culture of exploitation and unethical practices ultimately took her life”.\n\nUnethical practices in the media “are still widespread today”, he continued, warning that the problem was “bigger than one outlet, one network or one publication”.", "authors": ["Sorcha Bradley"], "publish_date": "2021/05/21"}, {"url": "https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/politics/953555/was-dominic-cummings-bbc-interview-a-mistake", "title": "Was Dominic Cummings' BBC interview a mistake? | The Week UK", "text": "Dominic Cummings has escalated his war of words with Boris Johnson by using a televised interview to reveal that he plotted to oust the prime minister just weeks after their 2019 election victory.\n\nIn a BBC News Special broadcast last night, the former Downing Street adviser told Laura Kuenssberg that he and his Vote Leave allies hatched the plan after clashing with Johnson’s now-wife Carrie, who was “trying to get rid of us and appoint complete clowns to certain key jobs”.\n\nIn the end, of course, it was Cummings who was forced to leave, in November 2020. Since then he has been lobbing what the media have dubbed “Domshells” back at his former boss.\n\nBut if he thought his first TV interview would provide the chance “to settle scores with his many enemies, the very opposite proved to be the case as viewers got the chance to stare into his soul”, writes Gordon Rayner in The Telegraph.\n\n“The more he spoke, the more he resembled a crazed cult leader as he revealed his grandiose plans to overthrow the system” - and while he repeatedly painted the PM as a fool, “it was Mr Cummings himself who was utterly diminished by the interview”, Rayner concludes.\n\nThe Financial Times’ Robert Shrimsley agrees, tweeting yesterday that “this may be the most self destructive interview since Prince Andrew”.\n\n“On and on it went,” says Sean O’Grady in The Independent. “Boris Johnson possesses the leadership skills of a broken shopping trolley? He’s so bad we wanted to oust him within days of the 2019 general election?”\n\nCummings also claimed - again - that Johnson had “no plan” for the Covid-19 pandemic, and that the PM had to be warned off meeting the Queen in the early stages of the outbreak. And as far as Johnson’s general game plan as leader goes, the “only agenda is to buy more trains, buy more buses, have more bikes and build the world’s most stupid tunnel to Ireland”, the ex-aide added.\n\nYet the fact is that “Cummings would still be perfectly content to be in No, 10 and trying to steer the wobbly shopping trolley if only - as he portrays it - Carrie, now Mrs Shopping Trolley, hadn’t got involved”, writes O'Grady.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/07/21"}, {"url": "https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/world-news/957800/shamima-begum-canadian-spy-smuggled-into-syria", "title": "Shamima Begum and the 'Canadian spy' who smuggled her into ...", "text": "Shamima Begum, the British schoolgirl who left the UK to join the Islamic State group, was smuggled into Syria by a spy working for Canadian intelligence, and Britain later conspired to cover up Canada’s role in the operation, a book has claimed.\n\nScotland Yard was allegedly told that Begum, then 15, and her two school friends, 16-year-old Kadiza Sultana and 15-year-old Amira Abase, were trafficked into Syria by a smuggler who was working as a double agent for Islamic State and Canadian intelligence.\n\nAs the Metropolitan Police launched a huge international search for the schoolgirls, Canada failed to inform the UK of its role in the affair. Canadian intelligence admitted its involvement only after it feared being exposed, and then asked the British to cover up its role.\n\nThe alleged cover-up is detailed in a new book, The Secret History of the Five Eyes (a reference to the intelligence alliance comprised of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the US), by Richard Kerbaj, a former security correspondent at The Sunday Times.\n\nWhat are the allegations?\n\nThe book claims that Canada, worried about its own young people being urged to join IS, recruited IS human trafficker Mohammed al-Rashed as an intelligence agent when he applied for asylum at the Canadian embassy in Jordan.\n\nAl-Rashed is said to have helped organise the travel of dozens of jihadists and their brides into Syria from the UK. The double agent then “photographed their passports on the pretext that he needed proof of identity to buy domestic transport tickets and then forwarded the images to his handler with the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) at the Jordan embassy”, said The Times.\n\nKerbaj’s book claims that the Canadians were silent as the Metropolitan Police launched an urgent hunt for the girls. But when al-Rashed was arrested in Turkey in 2015 and found to have travel documents as well as bus tickets belonging to the British schoolgirls, the CSIS realised its cover could be blown.\n\nAccording to the book, one Five Eyes source said: “The CSIS officers knew that Scotland Yard had a live investigation into the three schoolgirls and also knew that sooner or later the finger would point at them.”", "authors": ["The Week Staff"], "publish_date": "2022/08/31"}, {"url": "https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/uk-news/953547/prince-harry-pens-intimate-memoir-what-might-he-reveal", "title": "Prince Harry's 'bombshell' memoir: what might he reveal? | The ...", "text": "Since stepping down from royal duties along with Meghan Markle in January 2020, the prince hasn’t held back when discussing his experiences of being part of the UK’s most famous family.\n\nThe Sun reported that the book’s publication risks stoking “new rifts with the Royal Family” and that insiders “worry” that references to the life of his mother, Princess Diana, will cause tension with his “step-mum Camilla, who has been named future Queen Consort”.\n\nWhile he is expected to avoid any overt criticism of his grandmother, the Queen, The Telegraph said Harry is “expected to follow his numerous excoriating television and podcast interview accounts of his upbringing with an equally frank version in writing”.\n\n“I’m writing this not as the prince I was born but as the man I have become,” said Harry, now 37, in a statement included in the same release. He added that he was “excited” for the public to read an account of his life “that’s accurate and wholly truthful” – a nod to his long-term battles with the media which he spoke about during his bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey in March 2021.\n\nPrince Harry plans to donate proceeds from his as yet unnamed book to charity, a figure which Page Six , the New York Post’s celebrity news site, said would be at least $20m (£14.7m).\n\nAn official press release issued last year said the Duke of Sussex’s book promises to share “for the very first time” his experience of living life in the public eye “from childhood to the present day”. It is set to cover everything from his time in Afghanistan as part of his military duty to “the joy he has found in being a husband and father”.\n\nThe “bombshell memoir” was completed by ghostwriter JR Moehringer – a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer – earlier this summer and a finished manuscript has now been signed off by lawyers, according to The Sun .\n\nPrince Harry’s highly-anticipated memoir is set to be released before the end of the year, with publishers Penguin Random House hoping to get the book on US shelves in time for Thanksgiving and Christmas.\n\nWhen speaking to Winfrey, Harry revealed that he felt “trapped” in the construct of the institution and that his father had stopped taking his calls. Two months later, speaking on the Armchair Expert podcast, the Prince openly discussed his family’s “genetic pain and suffering” and said he wanted to “break the cycle” for his children.\n\nRacism in the Royal Family\n\nOne of the biggest talking points to come out of Harry and Meghan’s TV interview with Winfrey was the couple’s claim that an unnamed member of the Royal Family questioned “how dark” baby Archie was going to be “and what that would mean or look like”. At the time, the Duchess of Sussex would not name names as she said it “would be very damaging to them”.\n\nBut Charlie Lankston in the Daily Mail said “Harry may well choose to name the person involved in his memoir – which would no doubt spark a furious backlash, and could well prompt an investigation into that royal’s behaviour”.\n\nBullying allegations\n\nThe prince might also want to put forward his wife’s side of the story on allegations that she “faced a bullying complaint made by one of her closest advisers” while working as a royal, as reported by The Times.\n\nSources told the paper at the time that she had been accused of driving “two personal assistants out of the household” and “undermining the confidence of a third staff member”.\n\nHis relationship with William\n\nMeanwhile, Harry’s fractured relationship with his brother, thought to be triggered by his decision to step down from royal duties, has been widely reported on – but little is known about the precise details of the pair’s painful fallout.\n\nThis upcoming memoir “could well offer much more detail about his relationship with his brother – and finally bring to light the Prince's views on what exactly sparked the fall-out in the first place”, said Lankston in the Mail.\n\n“If the project gives the Duke of Sussex an unfettered opportunity to give his side of the story of ‘Megxit’ – the couple’s 2019 decision to step back from royal duties – or settle the score on how the death of his mother, Princess Diana, was handled by the royals, it will doubtless make history,” added Page Six.\n\nWill the Royal Family see the book before it’s published?\n\nIt has been reported that the Queen was the only member of the Royal Family who was told about Harry’s memoir before it was publicly announced, with sources close to the Prince of Wales telling The Times last year that Prince Charles and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, were “surprised” at the news.\n\nThe Telegraph said that the neither the Royal Family nor their lawyers “have yet had sight of the completed manuscript”.\n\nBy convention, “those potentially defamed in writing – including the Royal Family – are usually given a right to reply to accusations ahead of publication, with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex regularly asserting their own legal rights when it comes to articles about them”, added the paper.\n\nWhile the Daily Mail said it is understood Harry “is keen for the book to show his grandmother in a positive light”, The Sun reported last year that the Royal Family is “getting lawyered up”. Senior palace aides are thought to be in talks with libel experts about the possibility of sending legal warnings to Penguin Random House.\n\nRoyal author Christopher Andersen told The Daily Beast that “Prince Charles’ operatives” had been “scrambling for months to find out what other bombshells await, but to no avail”.\n\n“No one expected Harry’s book to be a valentine to his relatives,” Andersen continues. “But you get the sense in the wake of the jubilee that now the gloves are truly off.”", "authors": ["The Week Staff"], "publish_date": "2021/07/20"}, {"url": "https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/955023/can-donald-trump-and-nigel-farage-save-gb-news", "title": "Can Donald Trump and Nigel Farage save GB News? | The Week UK", "text": "Donald Trump hinted he might run again for the US presidency, criticised Meghan Markle and professed his love for the Queen in a “freewheeling” interview with Nigel Farage for GB News.\n\nThe former president was at his Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, South Florida, where he was joined by one-time Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage, now a broadcaster for the beleaguered news station, in what was billed as a “world exclusive”.\n\nIt was an interview that “broke little new ground”, said The Guardian, “beginning with the twice-impeached, one-term Republican president repeating the lie that the 2020 presidential election” was stolen from him. This was followed by further “gripes and complaints about his successor” Joe Biden, while he also “took aim” at UK targets including Boris Johnson and Meghan Markle, “whom he believes exploited her position in the royal family”.\n\n“I’m not a fan of hers. I wasn’t from day one. I think Harry has been used horribly and I think some day he will regret it, he probably does already,” Trump told Farage. “I think it’s ruined his relationship with his family, and it hurts the Queen.”\n\nThe former president also criticised Johnson’s plans for the UK to become a leader in harnessing offshore wind energy, which he branded “a big mistake”.\n\n“But I like him, I always got on with him [although] he’s gone a little on the liberal side,” he added.\n\nFarage touched on the Capitol Hill attack, in which thousands of Trump supporters stormed the government building, but it was largely dismissed by the man himself, who claimed that “the insurrection took place on November 3 [election day]”.\n\nA ‘box office’ night for GB News\n\nThe UK’s newest TV channel has got off to something of a “volatile start punctuated by technical gaffes and the noisy exit of its chairman and lead presenter Andrew Neil”, said The Telegraph.\n\nBut despite some “positive signals” – some flagship shows have begun to beat Sky News in certain time slots – GB News has yet to attract a significant audience, infamously “nursing zero viewers for some programmes shortly after launch”, said the paper. This begs the question: “can Trump’s blockbuster billing help GB News capitalise on its green shoots of growth?”\n\n“Nigel’s certainly earning his fee”, said political blog Guido Fawkes, which thought the interview had been “box office” for the news channel. It reported seeing figures that show the interview pulled in “the largest GB News viewership since its original opening night”.\n\n“For two whole hours between 7pm to 9pm, GB News beat the BBC’s average by 155,600 viewers to their 118,200, with Sky News some distance behind on 60,500. The interview reached 208,500 just after 7pm and held steady for the next hour,” reported the Westminister gossip site.\n\nLloyd Evans in The Spectator added that Farage had “delivered the shortest hour-long interview in TV history”.\n\nGB News may have cleared 60 minutes of its schedule for Trump’s “bombshell” appearance, but “viewers soon realised that Farage had spent relatively little facetime with the former president” in an interview that was “bulked out… with snatches of personal analysis and Zoom calls with American pundits”.\n\nFor Whitehall correspondent Mikey Smith in The Mirror, the interview amounted to “two elderly guys whining at each other for an hour” as Farage occasionally “tossed his softball questions in return for a few scraps of news”.\n\n“Perhaps Farage’s greatest triumph,” Smith concluded, “was to stretch what appeared to be a 15-minute sit-down interview into a full hour on the broadcast schedule.”", "authors": ["The Week Staff"], "publish_date": "2021/12/02"}, {"url": "https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/uk-news/954425/dominic-cummings-was-right-where-government-went-wrong-on-covid-handling", "title": "'Dominic Cummings was right': where government went wrong on ...", "text": "The government made “big mistakes” in its handling of the coronavirus pandemic according to a highly critical report from MPs.\n\n“Groupthink” among ministers, scientific advisers and civil servants meant that the government was “not as open” as it should have been to introducing measures that had been successful in other nations, such as “earlier lockdowns, border controls and effective test and trace”, said the report from the cross-party health and science select committees.\n\nThe delays in introducing measures like lockdowns and social distancing in the early weeks of the pandemic rank as “one of the most important public health failures the United Kingdom has ever experienced” and earlier interventions could have saved thousands of lives, said the report.\n\nThe 150-page document is a result of a joint inquiry by the health and science select committees into the government’s pandemic response. MPs interviewed more than 50 witnesses, including former health secretary Matt Hancock, the government’s chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, England’s chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, and former No. 10 adviser Dominic Cummings.\n\nCummings right in ‘groupthink’ criticism\n\nThe findings reveal Boris Johnson’s former aide Cummings to be “at least partly correct” in his criticism of the government that it was too slow to respond to the initial threat of the virus, said The Guardian. Cummings had previously accused ministers and officials of being hampered by a tendency towards what he called “false groupthink”.\n\nTory MP Greg Clark, chair of the science and technology committee, said it was “right” to view Cummings’ criticisms as having been endorsed by the report, telling the paper: “One of the regrets that he disclosed to the committee was that he had felt intimidated and stayed his hand in terms of challenging the early assumptions.”\n\nClark continued that Cummings’ difficulty in breaking away from consensus meant there was a need to “institutionalise challenge more” in the government response to a crisis, which allows for differing perspectives to be heard, including from different countries.\n\nPandemic response failures\n\nFurther failures highlighted in the report included the government’s approach to pandemic planning, which it said was “too narrowly and inflexibly” based on a model for a flu-type illness, resulting in “detailed preparations was for what turned out to be the wrong type of disease”, said the report.", "authors": ["The Week"], "publish_date": "2021/10/12"}]}
{"question_id": "20230127_25", "search_time": "2023/01/28/05:16", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/959432/quiz-of-the-week-21-27-january", "title": "Quiz of The Week: 21 – 27 January | The Week UK", "text": "As the conflict between Russia and Ukraine entered its 12th month, a long-awaited decision by Western nations has offered fresh hope to Kyiv.\n\nFollowing months of hesitancy, Germany this week agreed to send 14 of its sought-after Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and gave allies permission to send theirs too. The US is also sending 31 of its highly advanced Abrams tanks.\n\nPresident Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the announcements, but stressed that the timing of the tanks delivery would be “critical”. After a slight lull in the conflict at the start of the year, battles are raging not only between the traditional militaries but also private military companies (PMCs) enlisted by both sides, with the Wagner Group leading the way in Russian attacks.\n\nWith both Zelenskyy and the Kremlin warning that a peaceful resolution is unlikely to be reached any time soon, the world is watching to see how Western tanks may change the course of the war.\n\nTo find out how closely you’ve been paying attention to the latest developments in the news and other global events, put your knowledge to the test with our Quiz of The Week\n\nNeed a reminder of some of the other headlines over the past seven days?", "authors": ["Julia O Driscoll"], "publish_date": "2023/01/27"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/2019/01/16/enter-the-haggis-south-jersey-venues-pay-tribute-to-poet-robert-burns/2594632002/", "title": "Enter the haggis: South Jersey venues pay tribute to poet Robert ...", "text": "John Howard Fusco\n\nSpecial to the Cherry Hill Courier-Post\n\nIn 1801, a tradition started when a few close friends of the beloved Scottish poet Robert Burns gathered together to celebrate his life (he had passed a few years prior), read his works, eat haggis and drink a little.\n\nMore than two centuries later, this supper continues to be held in locations throughout the world on or around Jan. 25, the birth date of Burns.\n\nThe suppers have a ritual that include the reading of Burns’ “Address to a Haggis” as the infamous Scottish delicacy is presented to the table, toasts to the lads and lassies, and the singing of “Auld Lang Syne.”\n\nMore:Try the Swedish pea soup and punsch tradition at Philly museum\n\nMore:Hash House A Go Go opens first NJ location Thursday in Moorestown Mall\n\nMore:Panda Express expanding into South Jersey market\n\nEven here in South Jersey, you can find multiple Robert Burns celebrations taking place:\n\nThe South Jersey Celtic Society will hold its 14th annual Robert Burns Supper on Saturday, Jan. 19. This was the supper that used to be held at High Street Grill in Mount Holly, but now has moved to O’Connor’s American Bar & Grille in Eastampton. There will be singing, dancing, poetry reading, bagpipes and of course, dinner with haggis as one of the options. Beer is being provided locally by Spellbound Brewing in Mount Holly and Third State Brewing in Burlington. Seating is at 6:30 p.m., and tickets for the event are $80 per person and $150 per couple. 1383 Monmouth Road, Eastampton. sjceltic.org/events.html.\n\nThe new owners at The British Chip Shop in Haddonfield carry on the tradition of holding a Robert Burns Night on Jan. 25. Along with the Scottish fare (haggis, cock-a-leekie soup, neeps ‘n tatties), the evening is BYOW, as in bring your own whiskey. Now you could bring a Scottish single malt, or, you could try a locally-made whiskey. There’s Train Wreck Distillery’s Super Chief Straight Bourbon Whiskey or Fenwick’s New Salem Single Barrel Rye Whiskey from Pine Tavern Distillery. Both can be found in area liquor stores. Robert Burns Night will be from 6 to 9 p.m. 146 E. Kings Hwy., Haddonfield. (856) 354-0204. thebritishchipshop.com.\n\nEarlier:Keep calm: British Chip Shop will carry on\n\nJust opened last year, Josie Kelly’s Public House in Somers Point is hosting its own Burns Night Supper on Jan. 25th from 7 to 10 p.m. Food for the evening is a three-course meal the includes haggis as a main course, but you can choose to go with Scottish salmon or a garden pie (if you are going the vegetarian route). For an additional cost, you can include a Scotch single malt whisky tasting with selections from Jura Distillery located on the Isle of Jura. 908 Shore Road, Somers Point. (609) 904-6485. www.josiekellys.com.\n\nAnd then there’s the biggest celebration of “Rabbie” in South Jersey - the Exit Zero Burns Dinner taking place down in Cape May on Jan. 26. Once held at The Ugly Mug, the event has gotten so big that the festivities have been moved to the Cape May Convention Hall. The evening’s meal includes a vegetarian version of haggis, as well as a shepherd’s pie if the haggis thing is not speaking to you. Doors open at 5 p.m., and the festivities start at 6:30 p.m. 714 Beach Ave., Cape May. (609) 770-8479. https://ezstore.us/burns-supper.\n\nALSO IN SOUTH JERSEY:", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2019/01/16"}]}
{"question_id": "20230127_26", "search_time": "2023/01/28/05:16", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/959432/quiz-of-the-week-21-27-january", "title": "Quiz of The Week: 21 – 27 January | The Week UK", "text": "As the conflict between Russia and Ukraine entered its 12th month, a long-awaited decision by Western nations has offered fresh hope to Kyiv.\n\nFollowing months of hesitancy, Germany this week agreed to send 14 of its sought-after Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and gave allies permission to send theirs too. The US is also sending 31 of its highly advanced Abrams tanks.\n\nPresident Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the announcements, but stressed that the timing of the tanks delivery would be “critical”. After a slight lull in the conflict at the start of the year, battles are raging not only between the traditional militaries but also private military companies (PMCs) enlisted by both sides, with the Wagner Group leading the way in Russian attacks.\n\nWith both Zelenskyy and the Kremlin warning that a peaceful resolution is unlikely to be reached any time soon, the world is watching to see how Western tanks may change the course of the war.\n\nTo find out how closely you’ve been paying attention to the latest developments in the news and other global events, put your knowledge to the test with our Quiz of The Week\n\nNeed a reminder of some of the other headlines over the past seven days?", "authors": ["Julia O Driscoll"], "publish_date": "2023/01/27"}, {"url": "https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/world-news/958512/world-population-hits-eight-billion-why-the-milestone-matters", "title": "World population hits eight billion: why the milestone matters | The ...", "text": "On 31 October 2011, the human population hit 7 billion. Today, the world passed another significant milestone as we add another billion people to that tally.\n\nThe chosen date is an approximation based on modelling by the United Nations, but the symbolism is important. The figure of 8 billion people is precisely double what the world’s population was just 48 years ago.\n\nAnd there are more of us on the way too. According to the UN’s projections the world will be home to about 9.7 billion humans in 2050 and around 10.4 billion by the 2080s.\n\nThese statistics raise questions that are “profoundly worrying”, said population and environmental health scientist Maureen Lichtveld in The Conversation, central among which is “will we have enough food for a growing global population?”\n\nThis question is not easy to answer, said Michael Le Page in New Scientist. Estimates on how many people can live sustainably on the planet “vary widely”. One 2020 study found that current food systems can properly sustain only 3 billion. But others have suggested that simply by reducing meat consumption and food waste we could feed up to 10 billion.\n\nMany experts believe that our concerns about the demands on resources based on simple population figures slightly miss the point, said The Japan Times. Instead of a fear of overpopulation, we should be worried about overconsumption by the wealthiest among us.\n\n“Our impact on the planet is driven far more by our behaviour than by our numbers,” Jennifer Sciubba, a researcher at the Wilson Center think tank in Washington told the newspaper. “It’s lazy and damaging to keep going back to overpopulation,” she added, because it allows people in wealthier nations to blame the world’s problems on developing countries where population growth is highest.\n\nA burgeoning global population is not all doom and gloom, according to Dr Elin Charles-Edwards, ​​a population geographer and demographer at the University of Queensland.\n\n“As a demographer, we’re really optimistic people because we’ve seen massive change over the past 100 years,” Charles-Edwards told Australia’s national broadcaster ABC. “Everyone’s living longer, fewer babies are dying, fewer women are dying. Across a whole range of metrics, we’re doing better than we did. We’ve seen lots of small actions creating massive change for people.”\n\nIndeed it is important to keep our fears about overpopulation in check, agreed Frank Jacobs in Big Think. There may be 8 billion of us, but “let’s correct the navel-gazing so typical of our species and appreciate the wider perspective”.\n\nMost of Earth’s biomass is made up of plants (82.5%). The second largest is bacteria (12.8%), and then fungi (2.2%). Humans, meanwhile, account for no more than 0.01% of total biomass.\n\n“That’s less than half compared to all the world’s mollusks,” Jacobs said. “But then again, those mollusks don’t all want a car, a fridge, and a million other things all wrapped in plastic.”\n\nThis article first appeared in The Week’s Global Digest newsletter. Sign up for a preview of the international news agenda, sent to your inbox every Monday.", "authors": ["Arion Mcnicoll"], "publish_date": "2022/11/15"}, {"url": "https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/environment/953560/is-climate-change-reversible", "title": "Is climate change reversible? | The Week UK", "text": "The words “extreme”, “intolerable” and “record-breaking” are cropping up more and more in news headlines about our planet’s climate. The Pakistani city of Jacobabad recently officially surpassed the temperature threshold that humans can withstand - “albeit briefly”, The Telegraph notes. Days later, experts in the US reported that a “heat dome” was to blame for blistering temperatures in the Pacific Northwest that saw the mercury hitting 46.6°C in the Oregon city of Portland. On the other side of the Atlantic, more than 150 people have died as a result of extreme flooding in Germany, with hundreds more missing, and further flood-related fatalities reported in neighbouring Belgium. And in Asia, authorities in Henan province issued the highest level of weather warning this week as torrential rain swept across wide swathes of north and central China. Each of these extreme weather events has triggered fresh warnings from scientists and politicians about the ever-increasing threat posed by climate change. As Germany and Belgium, along with parts of the Netherlands and Luxembourg, reeled from the effects of days of intense rainfall there, Potsdam-based climatologist Dieter Gerten told National Geographic that the situation was “not so surprising” to scientists. “The increase of extreme events is something we’ve seen in climate model projections,\" he added. So what can science tell us about the current course of climate change, and whether it can be slowed - or even reversed? Heating up Human activities have been heating the planet since the Industrial Revolution, a period commonly used as a baseline against which global temperatures are monitored. Global average temperatures increased rapidly in the second half of the 20th century, and “this warming has been particularly rapid since the 1970s“, says the Met Office. This acceleration has triggered calls for united action by world leaders. The “historic, durable and ambitious” goals set out in the 2015 Paris Agreement were lauded as “the world’s greatest diplomatic success” by The Guardian at the time of the signing. But on the treaty's fifth anniversary, in December 2020, the president of this year’s COP26 summit, Alok Sharma, told national leaders to be “honest” with themselves and admit that “as encouraging as all this ambition is, it is not enough”. Skip advert\n\nIn May, World Meteorological Organization (WMO) secretary-general Professor Petteri Taalas warned that new research findings had delivered “yet another wake-up call” about the need to fast-track commitments to slash greenhouse gas emissions and achieve carbon neutrality. According to a WMO climate update, there is a 90% chance that one of the years between 2021 and 2025 will become the hottest on record, and a 40% likelihood that the annual average global temperature will temporarily reach 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels in the same period. A separate WMO report published in April warned that monitoring showed that global greenhouse gas emissions increased in 2020, “despite setbacks from Covid-19” to industrial processes. And the decade from 2011 was the warmest on record, the report said. Future outlook Signatories of the Paris Agreement committed to limiting global warming to well below 2C and pursuing efforts to limit it to 1.5C. As the World Resources Institute (WRI) noted back in 2018, this difference of “half a degree of warming matters - a lot”. The London-based think tank pointed to research from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a group of the world’s leading climate scientists, which found that with a 2C increase, 37% of the world’s population would be exposed to severe heat waves at least once in five years, compared with 14% at 1.5C of warming. And “at 2C warming, 18% of insects globally, 16% of plants and 8% of vertebrates are projected to lose more than half of their ranges”, said the WRI. “With 1.5C of warming, this is reduced by two-thirds for insects, and by half for plants and vertebrates.” The difference of half a degree could also prove crucial in the Arctic, where global warming is triggering rising sea levels, sea ice loss and changes to permafrost. “Over the past 49 years, the Arctic has warmed three times faster than the world as a whole,” according to the latest annual update from the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme, which predicts that “the first ice-free September in the Arctic could occur as early as 2040”. Global warming is also expected to lead to an increase in the frequency and severity of extreme weather events. Freak weather “such as abnormally heavy rainfall, prolonged droughts, desertification, environmental degradation, or sea-level rise and cyclones, are already causing an average of more than 20 million people to leave their homes and move to other areas in their countries each year”, says the UN Refugee Agency. Climate change has major implications for the production of goods and services needed to sustain communities too, especially in industies such as agriculture. A report published in The Lancet recently warns that “both labour supply and productivity are projected to decrease under future climate change in most parts of the world, and particularly in tropical regions”. Skip advert", "authors": ["Julia O"], "publish_date": "2021/07/21"}]}
{"question_id": "20230127_27", "search_time": "2023/01/28/05:17", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/20/world/doomsday-clock-2022-climate-scn/index.html", "title": "The Doomsday Clock reveals how close we are to...doom | CNN", "text": "CNN —\n\nThe Doomsday Clock has been ticking for exactly 75 years. But it’s no ordinary clock.\n\nIt attempts to gauge how close humanity is to destroying the world.\n\nOn Thursday, the clock was set at 100 seconds until midnight – the same time it has been since 2020.\n\nThe clock isn’t designed to definitively measure existential threats, but rather to spark conversations about difficult scientific topics such as climate change, according to the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, which created the clock in 1947.\n\n“One hundred seconds to midnight reflects the Board’s judgment that we are stuck in a perilous moment – one that brings neither stability nor security. Positive developments in 2021 failed to counteract negative, long-term trends,” said Sharon Squassoni, co-chair of the Bulletin’s Science and Security Board, which sets the clock. Squasson is also a research professor at the Institute for International Science and Technology Policy at The George Washington University.\n\nWhat is the Doomsday Clock?\n\nThe Bulletin of Atomic Scientists was a group of atomic scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project, the code name for the development of the atomic bomb during World War II.\n\nOriginally, it was conceived to measure nuclear threats, but in 2007 the Bulletin made the decision to include climate change in its calculations.\n\nOver the last three-quarters of a century, the clock’s time has changed, according to how close the scientists believe the human race is to total destruction. Some years the time changes, and some years it doesn’t.\n\nThe Doomsday Clock is set every year by the experts on the Bulletin’s Science and Security Board in consultation with its Board of Sponsors, which includes 11 Nobel laureates.\n\nAlthough the clock has been an effective wake-up call when it comes to reminding people about the cascading crises the planet is facing, some have questioned the 75-year-old clock’s usefulness.\n\n“It’s an imperfect metaphor,” Michael E. Mann, climate scientist at Pennsylvania State University, told CNN, highlighting that the clock’s framing combines different types of risk that have different characteristics and occur in different timescales. Still, he adds it “remains an important rhetorical device that reminds us, year after year, of the tenuousness of our current existence on this planet.”\n\nTheoretical physicist and former member of the Bulletin’s Board of Sponsors Lawrence Krauss said it can be difficult to take the clock’s results seriously since it’s been ticking dangerously close to the end of civilization in the last few decades. Each year, he said, as the clock nears midnight, scientists would have to gauge how much available “real estate” is left before deciding on how much farther to move the clock.\n\n“Now, it ticks in seconds; it used to be minutes,” Krauss told CNN. “It is clearly not a quantifiable scientific assessment, more of a qualitative one. What has always been important is the movement of the clock, not its absolute value.”\n\nEvery model has constraints, said Eryn MacDonald, analyst with the Union of Concerned Scientists’ Global Security Program, adding that the Bulletin has made thoughtful decisions each year on how to get the people’s attention about existential threats and the required action.\n\n“While I wish we could go back to talking about minutes to midnight instead of seconds, unfortunately that no longer reflects reality,” she told CNN.\n\nWhat happens if the clock reaches midnight?\n\nThe clock has never reached midnight, and Rachel Bronson, Bulletin president and CEO, hopes it never will.\n\n“When the clock is at midnight, that means there’s been some sort of nuclear exchange or catastrophic climate change that’s wiped out humanity,” she said. “So we never really want to get there and we won’t know it when we do.”\n\nHow accurate is the clock?\n\nThe clock’s time isn’t meant to measure threats, but rather to spark conversation and encourage public engagement in scientific topics like climate change and nuclear disarmament.\n\nIf the clock is able to do that, then Bronson views it as a success.\n\nWhen a new time is set on the clock, people listen, she said. At the COP26 climate talks in Glasgow, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson cited the Doomsday Clock when talking about the climate crisis the world is facing, Bronson noted.\n\nBronson said she hopes people will discuss whether they agree with their decision and have fruitful talks about what the driving forces of the change are.\n\nIt’s still possible to move the clock back with bold, concrete actions. In fact, the hand has moved farthest away from midnight with a whopping 17 minutes before midnight in 1991, when President George H.W. Bush’s administration signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with the Soviet Union. In 2016, the clock was at three minutes before midnight as a result of the Iran nuclear agreement and the Paris climate accord.\n\nWhat can an individual do to turn back time on the clock?\n\nDon’t underestimate the power of talking about these important issues with your peers, Bronson said.\n\n“You might not feel it because you’re not doing anything, but we know that public engagement moves (a) leader to do things,” she said.\n\nFor climate change, look at your daily habits and see if there are small changes you can make in your life such as how often you walk versus drive and how your home is heated, Bronson explained.", "authors": ["Megan Marples Rachel Ramirez", "Megan Marples", "Rachel Ramirez"], "publish_date": "2022/01/20"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/01/20/doomsday-clock-2022-100-seconds-midnight/6584137001/", "title": "Doomsday clock 2022: Scientists say it's still 100 seconds to midnight", "text": "It's still only 100 seconds to midnight.\n\nOngoing nuclear risks, the threat of climate change, disruptive technologies and the seemingly endless coronavirus pandemic have brought us as close to doomsday as we've ever been, according to the annual Doomsday Clock announcement Thursday in Washington, D.C.\n\nThe countdown point is the same as last year's. The clock remains closer to destruction than at any point since it was created in 1947.\n\nThe 2022 Doomsday Clock statement explains that the “decision does not, by any means, suggest that the international security situation has stabilized. On the contrary, the clock remains the closest it has ever been to civilization-ending apocalypse because the world remains stuck in an extremely dangerous moment.”\n\nRachel Bronson, president and CEO of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists said the clock \"continues to hover dangerously, reminding us about how much work is needed to be done to ensure a safer and healthier planet. We must continue to push the hands of the clock away from midnight.\"\n\nEach year, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a nonprofit group that sets the clock, decides whether the events of the previous year pushed humanity closer to or further from destruction. The clock “conveys how close we are to destroying our civilization with dangerous technologies of our own making,\" according to the group.\n\nThe closer to midnight we are, the more danger we're in, according to the bulletin. The clock uses the imagery of apocalypse (midnight) and a nuclear explosion (countdown to zero) to convey threats to humanity and the Earth.\n\n'HISTORIC WAKE-UP CALL' IN 2021: After a brutal 2020, Doomsday Clock is still 100 seconds to midnight\n\nThe furthest the clock has been from midnight was 17 minutes in 1991, at the end of the Cold War.\n\nThe clock has been maintained by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists since 1947. The group was founded in 1945 by Albert Einstein, J. Robert Oppenheimer and University of Chicago scientists who helped develop the first nuclear weapons in the Manhattan Project.\n\n100 SECONDS TO MIDNIGHT IN 2020:We're closer to destruction than ever before\n\nAnd even though the Cold War ended three decades ago, nuclear risks remain a grave threat to humanity. \"Signs of new arms races are clear,\" the Bulletin's Scott Sagan said Thursday.\n\n“The clock is not set by signs of good intentions, but by evidence of action or in this case inaction.\"\n\nClimate change, caused by the burning of fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal, is also among the major threats cited by the Doomsday clock authors.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/01/20"}, {"url": "https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/959432/quiz-of-the-week-21-27-january", "title": "Quiz of The Week: 21 – 27 January | The Week UK", "text": "As the conflict between Russia and Ukraine entered its 12th month, a long-awaited decision by Western nations has offered fresh hope to Kyiv.\n\nFollowing months of hesitancy, Germany this week agreed to send 14 of its sought-after Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and gave allies permission to send theirs too. The US is also sending 31 of its highly advanced Abrams tanks.\n\nPresident Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the announcements, but stressed that the timing of the tanks delivery would be “critical”. After a slight lull in the conflict at the start of the year, battles are raging not only between the traditional militaries but also private military companies (PMCs) enlisted by both sides, with the Wagner Group leading the way in Russian attacks.\n\nWith both Zelenskyy and the Kremlin warning that a peaceful resolution is unlikely to be reached any time soon, the world is watching to see how Western tanks may change the course of the war.\n\nTo find out how closely you’ve been paying attention to the latest developments in the news and other global events, put your knowledge to the test with our Quiz of The Week\n\nNeed a reminder of some of the other headlines over the past seven days?", "authors": ["Julia O Driscoll"], "publish_date": "2023/01/27"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/01/23/doomsday-clock-well-find-out-thursday-how-close-we-midnight/4541997002/", "title": "Doomsday clock reset to 100 seconds to midnight, world's destruction", "text": "The closer to midnight we are, the more danger we're in.\n\nThe clock has been maintained by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists since 1947.\n\n\"We are now expressing how close the world is to catastrophe in seconds – not hours, or even minutes.\"\n\nThe world is 100 seconds to \"midnight,\" according to the Doomsday Clock, closer to destruction than at any point since the clock was created in 1947.\n\nEach year, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a nonprofit group that sets the clock, decides whether the events of the previous year pushed humanity closer to or further from destruction. The clock “conveys how close we are to destroying our civilization with dangerous technologies of our own making,\" according to the group.\n\nThis year, the group moved the clock from two minutes to 100 seconds to midnight. The closer to midnight we are, the more danger we're in, according to the Bulletin.\n\n“We are now expressing how close the world is to catastrophe in seconds – not hours or even minutes,\" said Rachel Bronson, president and CEO of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. \"It is the closest to Doomsday we have ever been in the history of the Doomsday Clock.\n\n\"We now face a true emergency – an absolutely unacceptable state of world affairs that has eliminated any margin for error or further delay.\"\n\nIn a statement, the Bulletin said, “Humanity continues to face two simultaneous existential dangers – nuclear war and climate change – that are compounded by a threat multiplier, cyber-enabled information warfare, that undercuts society’s ability to respond.\n\n\"Civilization-ending nuclear war – whether started by design, blunder or simple miscommunication – is a genuine possibility,\" the group said. \"Climate change that could devastate the planet is undeniably happening. And for a variety of reasons that include a corrupted and manipulated media environment, democratic governments and other institutions that should be working to address these threats have failed to rise to the challenge.\"\n\nThe furthest the clock has been from midnight was 17 minutes in 1991, near the end of the Cold War.\n\nNuclear threat:Nuclear war between India and Pakistan could kill up to 125 million and launch a global climate catastrophe\n\nThe Doomsday Clock has moved closer to midnight in three of the past four years. The Doomsday Clock did not move in 2019 after its minute hand was set forward in 2018 by 30 seconds, to two minutes before midnight.\n\nThe clock has been maintained by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists since 1947. The group was founded in 1945 by University of Chicago scientists who helped develop the first nuclear weapons in the Manhattan Project.\n\nThe scientists created the clock in 1947, using the imagery of apocalypse (midnight) and a nuclear explosion (countdown to zero) to convey threats to humanity and the Earth.\n\nThe decision was made by the board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, along with input from a board of sponsors that includes 13 Nobel Laureates.\n\nThe announcement was made Thursday morning at the National Press Club in Washington.\n\nClimate change:Were the predictions we made about climate change 20 years ago accurate? Here's a look", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2020/01/23"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/science/2018/01/25/doomsday-clock-ticks-closer-midnight/1064911001/", "title": "Doomsday clock ticks closer to midnight, now two minutes away", "text": "Scientists moved the hands of the symbolic \"Doomsday Clock\" closer to midnight on Thursday amid increasing worries over nuclear weapons and climate change.\n\nThe clock is now two minutes to midnight. “Because of the extraordinary danger of the current moment, the Science and Security Board today moves the minute hand of the Doomsday Clock 30 seconds closer to catastrophe,\" said Rachel Bronson, president of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. \"This is the closest the Clock has ever been to Doomsday, and as close as it was in 1953, at the height of the Cold War.”\n\nEach year, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a non-profit group that sets the clock, decides whether the events of the previous year pushed humanity closer or farther from destruction.\n\nThe symbolic clock is now the closest it's been to midnight since 1953. It was also two minutes to midnight in 1953 when the hydrogen bomb was first tested.\n\n\"We've made the clear statement that we feel the world is getting more dangerous,\" said Lawrence Krauss, chair of the Bulletin's Board of Sponsors and director of Arizona State University's Origins Project. \"The danger of nuclear conflagration is not the only reason the clock has been moved forward.\"\n\nThe announcement was made in Washington, D.C., at the National Press Club.\n\nScientists blamed a cocktail of threats ranging from dangerous political rhetoric to the potential of a nuclear threat as the catalysts for moving the clock closer toward doomsday.\n\nThe statement explaining the resetting of the time of the Doomsday Clock notes: “In 2017, world leaders failed to respond effectively to the looming threats of nuclear war and climate change, making the world security situation more dangerous than it was a year ago — and as dangerous as it has been since World War II.\n\n\"The greatest risks last year arose in the nuclear realm. North Korea’s nuclear weapons program appeared to make remarkable progress in 2017, increasing risks for itself, other countries in the region, and the United States,\" the statement continued.\n\n\"Hyperbolic rhetoric and provocative actions on both sides have increased the possibility of nuclear war by accident or miscalculation.\"\n\n\"On the climate change front, the danger may seem less immediate, but avoiding catastrophic temperature increases in the long run require urgent attention now. The nations of the world will have to significantly decrease their greenhouse gas emissions to keep climate risks manageable, and so far, the global response has fallen far short of meeting this challenge,” the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists said.\n\n\"Today’s Doomsday Clock announcement must serve as an urgent wake-up call — and could be the last one we get,\" said Derek Johnson, the executive director of Global Zero, a group that wants to eliminate nuclear weapons.\n\n“Last year, the Clock ticked forward largely in response to candidate Trump’s alarming campaign rhetoric. But the reality of a nuclear-armed President Trump running loose in the world is worse than we feared, and that is clearly a central factor in this decision,\" Johnson said.\n\nThe closer to a setting of midnight it gets, the closer it's estimated that a global disaster will occur. The farthest it's been from midnight was in 1991 as the Cold War ended when the clock was 17 minutes to midnight.\n\nThe clock has been maintained by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists since 1947. The group was founded in 1945 by University of Chicago scientists who had helped develop the first nuclear weapons in the Manhattan Project.\n\nThe scientists created the clock in 1947 using the imagery of apocalypse (midnight) and the contemporary idiom of nuclear explosion (countdown to zero) to convey threats to humanity and the Earth.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2018/01/25"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/01/26/doomsday-clock-end-world-nuclear-weapons-climate-change-donald-trump/97077736/", "title": "Doomsday Clock ticks closer to apocalypse and 1 person is to blame", "text": "Mary Bowerman\n\nUSA TODAY Network\n\nScientists moved the hands of the Doomsday Clock closer to midnight on Thursday amid increasing worries over nuclear weapons and climate change.\n\nEach year, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a nonprofit that sets the clock, decides whether the events of the previous year pushed humanity closer or further from destruction. The symbolic clock is now two-and-a-half minutes from midnight, the closest it's been to midnight since 1953, when the hydrogen bomb was first tested. Scientists blamed a cocktail of threats ranging from dangerous political rhetoric to the potential of nuclear threat as the catalyst for moving the clock closer towards doomsday.\n\n“This year’s Clock deliberations felt more urgent than usual…as trusted sources of information came under attack, fake news was on the rise, and words were used by a President-elect of the United States in cavalier and often reckless ways to address the twin threats of nuclear weapons and climate change,” Rachel Bronson, the executive director and publisher of Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, said in a statement.\n\nWhile many threats played into the decision to move the clock 30 seconds forward from where it was in 2016, one person in particular prompted the scientists to act.\n\n\"Never before has the Bulletin decided to advance the clock largely because of the statements of a single person. But when that person is the new president of the United States, his words matter,\" David Titley and Lawrence M. Krauss of the Bulletin wrote in an New York Times op-ed.\n\nThe Bulletin pointed to President Trump's careless rhetoric on nuclear weapons and other issues as well as his troubling stance on climate change.\n\n“Current political situation in the U.S. is of particular concern,” Titley of the Bulletin Science and Security Board said. “The Trump administration needs to state clearly, unequivocally it accepts climate change caused by human activity…There are no alternative facts here.”\n\nLast year, the clock remained at three minutes from midnight. It was moved to three minutes in 2015 where it was previously at five minutes to midnight.\n\nManhattan Project scientists, concerned about the first atomic weapons, founded the nonprofit Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists in 1945. They created the clock two years later, and update its minute hand each year.\n\nThis CEO got laser eye surgery to prep for an apocalypse\n\nAccording to the group, the clock “conveys how close we are to destroying our civilization with dangerous technologies of our own making.”\n\nThe threat of nuclear warfare plays heavily into the time on the clock, as do the dangers of climate change the threat from cyber technology, according to the group’s website.\n\nThe decision is made by the board of the nonprofit Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists' along with input from a board of sponsors which includes 15 Nobel Laureates, according to the group.\n\nFollow Mary Bowerman on Twitter: @MaryBowerman", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2017/01/26"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/01/26/doomsday-clock-countdown-humanitys-end-moves-today/79347584/", "title": "Doomsday Clock: 'Three minutes' left until the apocalypse", "text": "Josh Hafner\n\nUSA TODAY\n\nThe Doomsday Clock, a symbolic countdown to the world’s end, stands still at three minutes until midnight, scientists announced Tuesday.\n\nIt remains at the position it moved to one year ago.\n\nThat the clock moves no closer to midnight, the indicated end of humanity, remains \"grave\" news, its makers stressed.\n\n\"Unless we change the way we think, humanity remains in serious danger,\" said Lawrence Krauss of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, the nonprofit that sets the clock.\n\n\n\n\"Action now can reduce these threats,\" he said at an announcement in Washington, \"but only if we recognize them honestly and face them head-on.\"\n\nManhattan Project scientists, concerned about the first atomic weapons, founded the nonprofit Bulletin in 1945. They created the clock two years later, and update its minute hand each year.\n\nJust how the minute hand moves is determined by the Bulletin’s boards of directors and sponsors, which include environmental scientists, physicists and 18 Nobel Laureates, its site notes.\n\nKrauss, a physicist who chairs the group's Board of Sponsors, said Tuesday that progress over the past year including America's nuclear deal with Iran and the Paris accord to slow climate change balanced out negative developments including tension between the U.S. and Russia and North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weaponry.\n\nThe clock remains at the closest it has pointed to mankind’s doom since 1984 amid the Cold War. The reasoning for its move there last year: rampant climate change and an ongoing threat of nuclear weapons.\n\n“The probability of global catastrophe is very high,” Kennette Benedict, the Bulletin’s publisher at the time, said. “This is about the end of civilization as we know it.\"\n\nThe closest point it had been as of Tuesday morning was two minutes, in 1953, when the U.S. and Soviets had tested hydrogen bombs.\n\nBut the Doomsday Clock isn’t bound by time, and as such, can move backwards.\n\nIn 2010, an optimistic Bulletin did move the minute hand backwards, from five minutes to midnight to six, citing improved relations and nuclear talks between the U.S. and Russia and small advancements to address climate change.\n\nIn 1991, with the Cold War over, the clock moved back a full 17 minutes from midnight.\n\nFollow Josh Hafner on Twitter: @joshhafner", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2016/01/26"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/01/26/5-things-you-need-know-tuesday/79303922/", "title": "5 things you need to know Tuesday", "text": "Editors\n\nUSA TODAY\n\nThe dig-out and the flight cancellations continue\n\nThe fallout from this past weekend’s storm continues Tuesday. At least 546 of the day’s flights have been canceled, bringing the tally of canceled flights due to the massive storm that hit the East to 13,400. Meanwhile, millions of Americans will continue to dig out from the 6.6 trillion cubic feet of snow that fell. Adding to Tuesday's complications: more showers are expected to hit the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast.\n\nHas iPhone's success reached its peak?\n\nWhen Apple CEO Tim Cook reports Tuesday on Apple's sales for the end of 2015, investors will be watching closely for any hints about how Apple's iPhone is faring in the current quarter. Sales usually fall somewhat after the holiday shopping season. But analysts say it appears Apple has cut production orders from key suppliers in recent weeks, suggesting it's lowered its own forecasts. If iPhone sales show an abrupt decline from the same period a year earlier, it will be the first time ever for the company that makes most of its money from the signature smartphone.\n\nThe final USA TODAY's GOP rankings are coming\n\nWatch Tuesday morning for the final installment of the USA TODAY GOP Power Rankings — final because since actual voting begins next week, we no longer need to ask our panel of experts who is leading the Republican field. Instead we asked them to reflect on the lessons of a campaign season that has surprised everyone — or nearly everyone. Spoiler alert: Trump is still on top. See our penultimate installment here.\n\nPresidential campaigns hit up Iowa\n\nWhich of the presidential candidates will be found in Iowa on Tuesday? Almost everyone. Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, Marco Rubio, Carly Fiorina, Donald Trump and Ben Carson will all crisscross the the state on the Republican side. For the Democrats, Bernie Sanders will speak to a union while Hillary Clinton holds three \"get out the caucus\" events. The candidates are trying to woo voters with the Iowa caucuses only six days away.\n\nDoomsday clock continues its tick down\n\nScientists will announce Tuesday their latest decision about how close the world is to global catastrophe … by announcing where they will place the hands on the so-called Doomsday Clock. The closer the clock is set to midnight, the closer it is estimated that a global disaster will occur. The symbolic clock has been maintained by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists since 1947. Last year, the clock was set to three minutes to midnight because of climate change and the ongoing threat of nuclear weapons.\n\nAnd the essentials:\n\nWeather: The East gets hit with showers on Tuesday and another round of rain soaks the Pacific Northwest.\n\nStocks: China’s benchmark index plunged more than 6% Tuesday, and U.S. stock futures pointed lower.\n\nTV Tonight: Wondering what to watch tonight? TV critic Robert Bianco looks at Brooklyn Nine-Nine's special guest and Mine Wars.\n\nIf you missed Monday's news, we've got you covered.\n\nNeed a break? Try playing some of our games.\n\nYou can subscribe to get the day's top news each weekday in your inbox.\n\nContributing: The Associated Press", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2016/01/26"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/01/22/evening-news-roundup-thursday/22173311/", "title": "The Short List: Doomsday clock ticks again; Brady on Deflategate ...", "text": "Cara Richardson and Alia E. Dastagir\n\nUSA TODAY\n\nTick, tick, tick: When the clock strikes 12, we're toast\n\nMaybe those people on Doomsday Preppersaren't that off base. We are dangerously close to the end of the world, scientists said today as they moved the hand of the symbolic Doomsday Clock two minutes closer to midnight. They cited unchecked climate change and the threat of nuclear weapons. Some stark words you really don't want to hear from a lady who speaks for a group of atomic scientists: \"The probability of global catastrophe is very high. This is about the end of civilization as we know it,\" said Kennette Benedict, the executive director and publisher of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. The Doomsday Clock was created in 1947 by scientists who had helped develop the first nuclear weapons in the Manhattan Project. Three minutes is the closest to midnight the clock has been since 1984, during the Cold War. The closest it has ever been to midnight — two minutes— was in 1953, when the hydrogen bomb was first tested. The closer to a setting of midnight it gets, the closer it's estimated that a global disaster will occur. So, are we doomed? Maybe. Meanwhile, we're stockpiling bottled water, Cheetos and blankets. Actually, we guess that's kind of our normal stash at #shortlistHQ. Let's hope we're all still here in the next millennium — and hey, maybe we'll give you #theshortlistin hologram form.\n\nToday at Davos: Merkel's impeccable timing, sex and the prince, topless protester\n\nThe coordinated timing of news today at Davoscould be the making of a great conspiracy theory, writes USA TODAY editor-in-chief David Callaway. Here's what happened: In its most aggressive move yet to rouse the listless eurozone economy, the European Central Bank agreed today to buy 60 billion euros ($68.4 billion) a month in bonds to hold down interest rates and pump cash into the banking system. Merkel was speaking to the world's financial elite at the World Economic Forum when that announcement was supposed to happen. But the big reveal was delayed, and it was only as the German chancellor was smiling, waving and walking off stage that the headlines began pouring in from Frankfurt (Germany has opposed the ECB's stimulus package). Also at Davos, Britain's Prince Andrew denied the shocking allegations that he had sex with an underage American girl, as claimed in a Florida civil lawsuit. It was the first public appearance by the Duke of York, the second son of Queen Elizabeth II, since the allegations surfaced two weeks ago. And of course, it wouldn't be a meeting of global powers without a topless protester or two. Catch up on #Davos2015 here.\n\nTom Brady: Deflategate isn't ISIS\n\n\n\nQuarterback Tom Brady had a press conference on Deflategate today, and he didn't really say much. What, did you expect him to confess to — him and Gisele lurking in the bowels of Gillette Stadium, sticking needles in the game footballs with a pressure gauge to make sure they were the perfect 9.8 PSI? Brady said he \"didn't alter any football in any way,\" and stressed that he was way more focused on the game than on the pressure of the balls. He said the integrity of the game \"is a very important issue,\" but also dropped \"this isn't ISIS ... no one's dying.\" The presser came hours after his coach, Bill Belichick, held his own fascinatingly defiant press conference in which he denied all involvement and seemed to hang Brady out to dry (when Brady was asked about Belichick's comments during his own presser, he didn't bite). USA TODAY's Nancy Armour finds it hard to believe that \"control-freak\" Belichick has no idea how all of those footballs suddenly lost air pressure Sunday night. So, to recap, we didn't really learn much today at either press conference. But Gillette didn't mind.\n\nUber releases its first report on its drivers\n\nToday Uber released a study that looks at who its drivers are and how much they make. The report showed the company's 160,000 drivers make an average of $16,000 a year. That might not seem like a lot, but the survey also found that roughly 52% of Uber drivers are part-time workers and that nearly a third of drivers have full-time jobs, and drive for extra cash. Uber has complete control over fares, which it's been reducing in many cities to attract new customers. That's irked some drivers, who protested the fare cuts. They said they were being paid less than minimum wage after expenses and compared Uber to retailer Walmart. You can read the full 28-page study here.\n\nSenators want to know more about this spooky radar gun that can see through walls\n\nEarlier this week, we told you about radar devices that can see into your home. Kiiiiinda gave us the heebie-jeebies. Apparently, they bothered some lawmakers, too, because the devices were the topic of a letter the Senate Judiciary Committee sent to Attorney General Eric Holder today. At least 50 U.S. law enforcement agencies have secretly equipped their officers with the technology, with little notice to the public or the courts. The devices work like very fine motion detectors, capable of determining whether someone is inside a building by detecting movement as slight as human breathing. The technology raises legal and privacy issues because the U.S. Supreme Court has said officers generally cannot use high-tech sensors to tell them about the inside of a person's house without first obtaining a search warrant. Sens. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the chairman and ranking Democrat of the Senate Judiciary Committee, raised questions about the radar and the sophisticated use of cellphone monitoring. They asked for a briefing by Feb. 13.\n\nThis just in: Saudi King Abdullah dead at 90.\n\nExtra Bites\n\nDay in Pictures: Our favorite photo from today's gallery.\n\nWe didn't think penguins could get any cuter. Then penguin Ralph wore a wetsuit.\n\nThis sizzling Super Bowl ad may not be coming to a TV near you.\n\nPut on your Potter glasses because you may have to read this one twice: Draco Malfoy (the actor) was sorted into Gryffindor.\n\nWant to know what Mike Huckabee thinks about gay marriage? He talked to Susan Page on USA TODAY's Capital Download.\n\nFrom the archives: Where to go to get weird.\n\nStories you're clicking on today:\n\nSmoking burns up as much as $2 million in a lifetime\n\nU.S. Soccer suspends Hope Solo after husband's DUI arrest\n\nGwyneth Paltrow reveals her true relationship 'deal breaker'\n\nFor a daily bit of fluff on your phone, add DISTRACTME on the YO app. We promise you'll have fun.\n\nWant The Short List in your inbox each day? Sign up here.\n\nThis is a compilation of stories from across USA TODAY.\n\nContributing: Doyle Rice, David Callaway, Brad Heath, Paul Davidson, Kim Hjelmgaard, Donna Leinwand Leger, Kaja Whitehouse, USA TODAY; Nancy Armour, Chris Chase, Nina Mandell, USA TODAY Sports", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2015/01/22"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/01/25/nassar-behind-bars-what-others/1064689001/", "title": "MSU's president resigns and No Oprah 2020: Thursday's Short List", "text": "Editors\n\nUSA TODAY\n\nThe Nassar domino: MSU president steps down\n\nNow that Larry Nassar’s “death warrant” is signed with a prison sentence of 40 to 175 years, who else will be held accountable for the sexual abuses by the ex-Team USA Gymnastics doctor? Hours after his sentencing, we got an answer. Michigan State University President Lou Anna Simon announced her resignation. Many criticized Simon and MSU, where Nassar had worked. “It is only natural that I am the focus of this anger,” said Simon, who will get a generous benefits package that includes lifetime free tickets to MSU football games. While she denied a coverup, the U.S. Olympic Committee will investigate how Nassar’s abuses went on for so long. Ex-gymnast Lindsey Lemke said coach John Geddert, a longtime friend of Nassar's, should also go to prison for his alleged abuses.\n\nOprah 2020? Nope.\n\nOprah Winfrey has spoken: She’s not running for president. But she does think the Oprah 2020 mugs are “cute,” Winfrey told InStyle. Being president “is not something that interests me,” she said in the interview published Thursday. “I don’t have the DNA for it.” Fans became enamored with the idea of a Winfrey run after her inspiring speech at the Golden Globes this month focused on women, equality and sexual harassment. Fun fact: Even President Trump has said Winfrey could be a great force in Washington — as his vice president. The TV mogul continues to be a powerful voice for minorities, appearing on Vanity Fair’s 2018 Hollywood issue with others pushing for gender equality.\n\nCar sick? It might be your Ford Explorer’s fault\n\nA growing number of drivers have reported dizziness, nausea and vomiting that may be linked to carbon monoxide leaks in their Ford Explorer SUVs. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is evaluating safety complaints from more than 1,300 Explorer owners. The investigation is in the last stages before the agency can formally demand a recall, which could affect as many as 1.33 million Explorers from model years 2011-2017. Ford says its cars are safe, but customers can bring their vehicle to a local Ford dealer for a free service if they’re worried.\n\nThe Doomsday clock inchescloser to apocalypse\n\nThings aren't looking good, friends. Scientists moved the hands of the symbolic \"Doomsday Clock\" closer to midnight on Thursday amid increasing worries over nuclear weapons and climate change. The clock is now two minutes until midnight, which is the closest it's been since 1953, when the hydrogen bomb was first tested. Each year, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a non-profit that sets the clock, decides whether events of the previous year pushed humanity closer to destruction. This year the clock was moved forward for various reasons, including North Korea's nuclear and missile threats. Cough, cough, President Trump. Is there anything we can do? The clock serves as a \"wake-up call,\" which means there's time to change.\n\nNearly 20 years later, the XFL gears up for Season 2\n\nCongratulations XFL fans, if you’re still out there, your patience is finally being rewarded. World Wrestling Entertainment founder Vince McMahon announced Thursday that he is relaunching the XFL — a professional football league independent of the NFL. McMahon’s plan to make the XFL great again has its skeptics. Which seems fair since the 2001 XFL was a dismal failure that survived only one season.\n\nThis is a compilation of stories from across USA TODAY.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2018/01/25"}]}
{"question_id": "20230127_28", "search_time": "2023/01/28/05:17", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/959432/quiz-of-the-week-21-27-january", "title": "Quiz of The Week: 21 – 27 January | The Week UK", "text": "As the conflict between Russia and Ukraine entered its 12th month, a long-awaited decision by Western nations has offered fresh hope to Kyiv.\n\nFollowing months of hesitancy, Germany this week agreed to send 14 of its sought-after Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and gave allies permission to send theirs too. The US is also sending 31 of its highly advanced Abrams tanks.\n\nPresident Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the announcements, but stressed that the timing of the tanks delivery would be “critical”. After a slight lull in the conflict at the start of the year, battles are raging not only between the traditional militaries but also private military companies (PMCs) enlisted by both sides, with the Wagner Group leading the way in Russian attacks.\n\nWith both Zelenskyy and the Kremlin warning that a peaceful resolution is unlikely to be reached any time soon, the world is watching to see how Western tanks may change the course of the war.\n\nTo find out how closely you’ve been paying attention to the latest developments in the news and other global events, put your knowledge to the test with our Quiz of The Week\n\nNeed a reminder of some of the other headlines over the past seven days?", "authors": ["Julia O Driscoll"], "publish_date": "2023/01/27"}]}
{"question_id": "20230127_29", "search_time": "2023/01/28/05:17", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/959432/quiz-of-the-week-21-27-january", "title": "Quiz of The Week: 21 – 27 January | The Week UK", "text": "As the conflict between Russia and Ukraine entered its 12th month, a long-awaited decision by Western nations has offered fresh hope to Kyiv.\n\nFollowing months of hesitancy, Germany this week agreed to send 14 of its sought-after Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine and gave allies permission to send theirs too. The US is also sending 31 of its highly advanced Abrams tanks.\n\nPresident Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the announcements, but stressed that the timing of the tanks delivery would be “critical”. After a slight lull in the conflict at the start of the year, battles are raging not only between the traditional militaries but also private military companies (PMCs) enlisted by both sides, with the Wagner Group leading the way in Russian attacks.\n\nWith both Zelenskyy and the Kremlin warning that a peaceful resolution is unlikely to be reached any time soon, the world is watching to see how Western tanks may change the course of the war.\n\nTo find out how closely you’ve been paying attention to the latest developments in the news and other global events, put your knowledge to the test with our Quiz of The Week\n\nNeed a reminder of some of the other headlines over the past seven days?", "authors": ["Julia O Driscoll"], "publish_date": "2023/01/27"}]}