{"question_id": "20230203_0", "search_time": "2023/02/04/11:55", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/events/2022/10/07/super-bowl-2023-arizona-guide/8137041001/", "title": "Super Bowl 2023 ultimate guide: Prediction, date, performers and ...", "text": "The NFL is bringing its championship game back to metro Phoenix in 2023 and we now know who will be playing in Super Bowl 57.\n\nThe Kansas City Chiefs are coming off a 23-20 win over the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC Championship Game, giving them a spot in the NFL title game for the third time in four years.\n\nThe Philadelphia Eagles beat the San Francisco 49ers 31-7 in the NFC Championship Game, giving them their first berth in the Super Bowl since 2018.\n\nHere's everything we know about Super Bowl LVII, including the date and time, location, ticket prices, musical performers and NFL teams' odds.\n\nSuper Bowl Experience event guide:Tickets, discounts, autographs and more in downtown Phoenix\n\nSuper Bowl Central: Super Bowl 57 odds, Eagles-Chiefs matchups, stats and more\n\nWhat time is Super Bowl 2023?\n\nSuper Bowl 2023 will begin at 4:30 p.m. MST (3:30 p.m. Pacific, 6:30 p.m. Eastern) on Sunday, Feb. 12, 2023.\n\nWhere is Super Bowl 2023?\n\nThe Super Bowl is headed to Arizona in 2023, with the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles facing off at State Farm Stadium in Glendale.\n\nThe stadium is about 17 miles northwest of downtown Phoenix.\n\nSuper Bowl 2023 parties: Where to meet celebs and see A-list musical artists perform\n\nSuper Bowl 2023 ticket prices\n\nOn Location has official Super Bowl tickets that are guaranteed by the NFL, which are included as part of packages options like open bars, tailgate food and pregame parties.\n\nThe least expensive ticket packages start at $4,972.50. Other, price-upon-request luxury ticket packages are available through the site.\n\nTickets are also available via resale sites such as Vivid Seats and Seat Geek.\n\nThe least expensive tickets on Vivid Seats were recently going for $4,707 in the upper level, before fees. The most expensive on the site were recently listed for almost $35,000.\n\nSeat Geek recently had tickets for sale for as low as $5,011 without fees and as high as $38,284.\n\nThe best Super Bowl week concerts:Drake, Cardi B, Paramore, Zedd, The Chainsmokers\n\nWho is doing the Super Bowl 2023 halftime show?\n\nRihanna will headline the Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show. In its press release, the NFL called her an \"international icon, entrepreneur and philanthropist.\"\n\nThe singer previously turned down the NFL's offer in 2019 in support of former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick and his role in social justice protests.\n\nWild thoughts:Fans speculate what Rihanna will do during the halftime show\n\nWho else is performing at Super Bowl 2023?\n\nCountry superstar Chris Stapleton will sing the national anthem. Troy Kotsur, the Mesa actor who won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for \"Coda\" last year, will perform the national anthem in American Sign Language.\n\nTwelve-time Grammy winner Babyface will sing “America the Beautiful\" accompanied by Colin Denny — a member of the Navajo Nation — who will sign.\n\nEmmy-winning actress Sheryl Lee Ralph — who currently stars on \"Abbott Elementary\" — will perform “Lift Every Voice and Sing,\" the Black national anthem. She will be joined by Justina Miles, who will sign the song and later do the ASL rendition of the halftime show.\n\nSuper Bowl events:What to expect from the free downtown Phoenix festival\n\nWhy does the Super Bowl use Roman numerals?\n\nSuper Bowl LVII, colloquially, is Super Bowl 57.\n\nAccording to the Super Bowl XL notes, quotes and anecdotes guide from 2006, \"The Roman numerals were adopted to clarify any confusion that may occur because the NFL Championship Game — the Super Bowl — is played in the year following a chronologically recorded season.\"\n\nPrep work:How Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport is preparing for Super Bowl travelers\n\nSuper Bowl 2023 predictions, picks\n\nThe Philadelphia Eagles have yet to be tested in the postseason with dominating wins over the New York Giants (38-7) in the divisional round and the San Francisco 49ers (31-7) in the NFC Championship Game, but they went against Daniel Jones, Brock Purdy and Josh Johnson in those games.\n\nThe Kansas City Chiefs, and their quarterback Patrick Mahomes, are on a whole different level.\n\nThe Chiefs beat the Jacksonville Jaguars (27-20) in the divisional round and the Cincinnati Bengals (23-20) in the AFC Championship Game. Mahomes may not be 100%, coming off a high ankle sprain, but he's an experienced quarterback who knows what it takes to win.\n\nStill, the Eagles lost just one game with Jalen Hurts as their starting quarterback this season, a 32-21 setback against the Washington Commanders in Week 10.\n\nThe odds have the Eagles as a slight favorite over the Chiefs in what could be a very close Super Bowl 2023 in Arizona and we don't see a reason to disagree with them.\n\nPhiladelphia will win a thriller over Kansas City at State Farm Stadium in Glendale.\n\nPrediction: Eagles 27, Chiefs 24\n\nSuper Bowl 57 prediction:Philadelphia Eagles vs. Kansas City Chiefs game to be a thriller\n\nWho wins Super Bowl 57?:Kansas City Chiefs vs. Philadelphia Eagles picks, predictions\n\nSuper Bowl 2023 odds\n\nWho is favored to win the Super Bowl right now?\n\nTipico Sportsbook has the Philadelphia Eagles as a 1.5-point favorite over the Kansas City Chiefs right now.\n\nThe Eagles are -130 on the moneyline and the Chiefs are +110. The over/under is set at 49.5 points.\n\nMore:Kansas City Chiefs vs. Philadelphia Eagles odds: Super Bowl 57 point spread, moneyline\n\nWho won the Super Bowl last year?\n\nThe Los Angeles Rams beat the Cincinnati Bengals in the Super Bowl at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles last season, 23-20.\n\nThe Bengals beat the Las Vegas Raiders, Tennessee Titans and Kansas City Chiefs to make the game as the No. 4 seed in the AFC.\n\nThe Rams, the No. 4 seed in the NFC, beat the Arizona Cardinals, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and San Francisco 49ers to make the game, which was played at their home stadium.\n\nIt was the second straight year a team won the Super Bowl at their home stadium.\n\nThe Buccaneers beat the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl in 2021, 31-9, at their home stadium, Raymond James Stadium.\n\nNo other NFL teams have ever played in a Super Bowl at their home stadium.\n\nWhen was the last Super Bowl played in Arizona?\n\nArizona has hosted three previous Super Bowls.\n\nOn Jan. 28, 1996, the Dallas Cowboys beat the Pittsburgh Steelers at Sun Devil Stadium, 27-17.\n\nOn Feb. 3, 2008, the Cardinals' Stadium in Glendale (then called University of Phoenix Stadium) hosted the game for the first time, a 17-14 win for the New York Giants over the New England Patriots.\n\nThe game returned Arizona for its second game at the Cardinals stadium in 2015, a 28-24 Patriots win over the Seattle Seahawks.\n\nThe 2023 Super Bowl, scheduled for Feb. 12, 2023, will be the fourth in Arizona and the third at the Cardinals' stadium, which is now State Farm Stadium.\n\nAct fast:How much you'll pay for a Super Bowl hotel in Phoenix — if you can find one\n\nHow to watch Super Bowl 2023 on TV\n\nThe 2023 Super Bowl is scheduled to air on Fox (Channel 10 in Phoenix) in English and on Fox Deportes in Spanish.\n\nIt is scheduled to start at 4:30 p.m. MST.\n\nFox's No. 1 NFL announcing team of Kevin Burkhardt (play-by-play) and Greg Olsen (analyst) are scheduled to call the game.\n\nMore:NFC Championship disaster proves the best team going to Super Bowl 57 are these broadcasters\n\nIt will be the duo's first time calling a Super Bowl.\n\nBurkhardt was previously the No. 2 announcer for the network, but became No. 1 when Joe Buck went to ESPN for Monday Night Football.\n\nBuck had called six Super Bowls for Fox.\n\nMore:Kansas City Chiefs vs. Philadelphia Eagles game schedule, TV, announcers for Super Bowl 57\n\n'I cried as I got the call':Meet the Indigenous artist who created the Super Bowl ticket\n\nReach Entertainment Reporter KiMi Robinson at kimi.robinson@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @kimirobin and Instagram @ReporterKiMi.\n\nReach Jeremy Cluff at jeremy.cluff@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jeremy_Cluff.\n\nSupport local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/10/07"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2022/11/17/rihanna-super-bowl-halftime-show-2023-guide/10698715002/", "title": "Rihanna Super Bowl Halftime Show 2023: Everything we know so far", "text": "The NFL tried to book Rihanna for the Super Bowl in 2019.\n\nAt the time, she declined in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick, the former San Francisco quarterback who filed a grievance with the NFL, believing he'd been blacklisted for kneeling during the national anthem to protest inequality and police brutality.\n\nKaepernick has since withdrawn his grievance and the multi-platinum superstar has agreed to headline the Super Bowl LVII halftime show at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on Sunday, Feb. 12.\n\nIn an NFL press release announcing Rihanna's appearance on the world's biggest stage, former duet partner Jay-Z was quoted calling the singer \"a generational talent.\"\n\nHe also called her \"a woman of humble beginnings who has surpassed expectations at every turn\" and \"a person born on the small island of Barbados who became one of the most prominent artists ever.\"\n\nSuper Bowl Central: Super Bowl 57 odds, Eagles-Chiefs matchups, stats and more\n\nRihanna followed the announcement by dropping a single from the soundtrack to \"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,\" a gorgeous ballad titled \"Lift Me Up.\"\n\nSuper Bowl festival:Here's the star-studded lineup for Bud Light Super Bowl Music Fest 2023 in Phoenix\n\nIs this the start of a Rihanna comeback?\n\nThe single peaked at No. 2 on Billboard's Hot 100, her highest entry on that chart since 2016, when she and Drake hit No. 1 with \"Work\" (a song she's all but guaranteed to dust off at the Super Bowl, with or without him).\n\n\"Work\" was featured on her latest full-length studio release, 2016's \"Anti,\" which also included the Top 10 hits \"Needed Me\" and \"Love on the Brain.\"\n\nSince then, she's turned up on collaborations with Future, DJ Khaled, Kendrick Lamar, N.E.R.D. and PartyNextDoor.\n\nShe's been busy with her line of Fenty Beauty cosmetics and Savage X Fenty lingerie line. And she also gave birth to her first child in May 2022.\n\nDropping \"Lift Me Up\" after announcing a Super Bowl halftime performance feels like a sign thatshe's ready to reclaim the musical spotlight — perhaps in advance of a tour?\n\nShe hasn't toured since 2016 when the Anti World Tour hit what was then called Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix.\n\nConcert news:Sam Smith will play a Phoenix concert in 2023. Here's when, and how to get tickets\n\nCan we expect a new Rihanna album now?\n\nAs to whether this could mean the singer is about to hit us with the long-awaited follow-up to \"Anti,\" she was quick to shut that speculation down in a recent chat with the Associated Press.\n\n“That’s not true,\" she said. \"Super Bowl is one thing. New music is another thing. Do you hear that, fans?”\n\nThe singer then added, “The second that I announced this, I said, ‘Oh, my God, they’re going to think my album is coming. I need to get to work.'\"\n\nConcert review:Alice Cooper's Christmas Pudding 2022 is Phoenix's trippiest holiday party. Here's why\n\nHow long is Rihanna's halftime show?\n\nHalftime shows tend to last from 12 to 14 minutes at the Super Bowl.\n\nIs Rihanna bringing special guests?\n\nIn a recent interview with E, the star addressed the prospect of revisiting a few of the collabs she's dropped along the way.\n\n\"Twelve minutes?\" she said. \"You could actually do that by yourself, but it's one of those things where you can decorate it however you want. So whether I choose to do it for myself or whether I choose to bring some of my peers on, it's...\"\n\nThe singer paused then added, \"I don't know what I'm gonna do yet. It's gonna be great either way.\"\n\nHaving said that, Jay-Z’s Roc Nation label and entertainment firm partnered with the NFL in 2019 to select entertainers to work with the league, including for the Super Bowl's halftime.\n\nSeems like he would want to bethere, standing under her umbrella.\n\nPlaylist:Best Elton John songs of all time, ranked\n\nDo I have to see that Pepsi logo?\n\nFor the first time since 2013, the Super Bowl will not be sponsored by Pepsi.\n\nApple Music has stepped in, freeing up artists in relationships with Coke, like Taylor Swift, for instance, to perform.\n\nWhen is Super Bowl 2023?\n\nSuper Bowl LVII will begin at 4:30 p.m. MST (3:30 p.m. Pacific, 6:30 p.m. Eastern) on Sunday, Feb. 12, 2023.\n\nWhere is Super Bowl 2023?\n\nThe Super Bowl is headed to Arizona in 2023, with two NFL teams facing off at State Farm Stadium in Glendale.\n\nThe stadium is located about 17 miles northwest of downtown Phoenix.\n\nSuper Bowl 2023 ticket prices\n\nOn Location has official Super Bowl tickets that are guaranteed by the NFL, which are included as part of packages options like open bars, tailgate food and pre-game parties.\n\nThe most inexpensive ticket packages start at $4,972.50. Premium packages start at $7,225 per person. Other, price-upon-request luxury ticket packages are available through the site.\n\nTickets are also currently available via resale sites such as Vivid Seats and Seat Geek.\n\nTodd Rundgren on what made David Bowie such a genius.And why he lost interest\n\nWhen has the Super Bowl played Arizona?\n\nArizona has hosted three previous Super Bowls.\n\nOn Jan. 28, 1996, the Dallas Cowboys beat the Pittsburgh Steelers at Sun Devil Stadium, 27-17. But what concerns us here, of course, is the halftime show, which was headlined by Diana Ross.\n\nOn Feb. 3, 2008, the Cardinals' Stadium in Glendale (then called University of Phoenix Stadium) hosted the game for the first time, a 17-14 win for the New York Giants over the New England Patriots. The halftime show was headlined by the late Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.\n\nThe game returned to what was still called University of Phoenix Stadium in 2015, a 28-24 Patriots win over the Seattle Seahawks, with Katy Perry doing all she could to steal the spotlight back from Left Shark. It was the most-viewed halftime show in broadcast history.\n\nTaylor Swift adds 2nd date to Eras Tour launch in Phoenix. Here's how to get tickets\n\nHow to watch Super Bowl 2023 on TV\n\nThe 2023 Super Bowl is scheduled to air on Fox in English and on Fox Deportes in Spanish, beginning at 4:30 p.m. MST.\n\nDon't miss out! The best and biggest concerts coming to metro Phoenix in November\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": "2022/11/17"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/25/entertainment/rihanna-nfl-superbowl-halftime-show-spt/index.html", "title": "Super Bowl LVII: Rihanna to perform at 2023 Halftime Show | CNN", "text": "CNN —\n\nMust be NFL on the brain: Pop icon and entrepreneur Rihanna will perform at next year’s Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show, the NFL announced Sunday.\n\nThe news comes after both Rihanna and the NFL tweeted a picture of the musician’s hand holding a football Sunday afternoon, sparking speculation that she would be the halftime performer.\n\nIn the NFL’s statement, Jay-Z, whose entertainment agency Roc Nation is one of several executive producers on the halftime show, called Rihanna a “generational talent.”\n\n“Rihanna is a generational talent, a woman of humble beginnings who has surpassed expectations at every turn,” Jay-Z said in the statement. “A person born on the small island of Barbados who became one of the most prominent artists ever. Self-made in business and entertainment.”\n\nRihanna, born Robyn Rihanna Fenty, has built a business empire in addition to her successful music career. In 2021, Forbes announced that she had become a billionaire and the world’s wealthiest female musician, thanks to her Fenty Beauty makeup line and Savage x Fenty lingerie line.\n\nThe singer joins a cadre of musical icons – including Prince, Beyonce, Lady Gaga, Madonna and Jennifer Lopez – who have taken the stage for the halftime show. Last year’s performance, featuring Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige and Kendrick Lamar, earned five Emmy nominations and won three Emmys.\n\nThe 57th Super Bowl will take place on February 12, 2023, at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. It will be the first with Apple Music as a partner on the Halftime Show, according to the NFL’s announcement.\n\n“We are thrilled to welcome Rihanna to the Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show stage,” said Seth Dudowsky, the NFL’s head of music, in the statement. “Rihanna is a once in a generation artist who has been a cultural force throughout her career.”", "authors": ["Zoe Sottile Matt Foster", "Zoe Sottile", "Matt Foster"], "publish_date": "2022/09/25"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/media/2023/01/30/super-bowl-prediction-2023-chiefs-eagles-great-tv/69846191007/", "title": "NFC Championship disaster proves the best team going to Super ...", "text": "“Two weeks, we’ll see you in Phoenix,” Terry Bradshaw said on the \"NFL on Fox\" after handing the NFC Championship trophy to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday.\n\nGlendale, Terry. Super Bowl 57 will be played in Glendale. But close enough.\n\nThe NFC Championship itself, by the way, was terrible, a blowout 31-7 win for the Eagles over the San Francisco 49ers that was over as soon as Arizona-born Brock Purdy, the 49ers underdog hero of a quarterback, was knocked out of the contest.\n\nPurdy came back when his backup was injured, but couldn’t throw the ball, dooming his team and viewer interest.\n\nIt was just a terrible game. Which actually bodes well for the Super Bowl. Why? Because if Fox’s No. 1 broadcast team of Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen can make this absolute dog of a game watchable and listenable, imagine what they can do with a competitive game. I mean, no matter what happens, the Super Bowl can’t be worse than this.\n\nSuper Bowl Central: Super Bowl 57 odds, Eagles-Chiefs matchups, stats and more\n\nIt’s like when Garp decides to buy the house a plane hits in “The World According to Garp.” After this mess, the Super Bowl is disaster proof.\n\nWe hope.\n\nSuper saguaro:Goofy by day, glowing by night: Why you really should see the Super Bowl Experience cactus\n\nWhat time is Super Bowl 2023?\n\nThe Super Bowl will be played Sunday, Feb. 12 at 4:30 p.m. Arizona time at State Farm Stadium in Glendale. Sorry, Terry. The Eagles will play the Kansas City Chiefs.\n\nThat game, the AFC Championship, was better. Not just better, but absolutely fantastic.\n\nThe Chiefs beat the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 in a thriller. The game was played in a freezing Kansas City; the NFC Championship in a soggy Philadelphia.\n\nThat is not going to be the case in Arizona, with the Chamber of Commerce winter weather and — perhaps more importantly — State Farm Stadium’s retractable roof.\n\nIt’s an interesting matchup on the field.\n\nWho's where?:Where is Joe Buck? Al Michaels? Here's where to find NFL announcers this football season\n\nFox broadcast team Kevin Burkhardt and Greg Olsen have 'risen to the occasion all year'\n\nIt’s also interesting in terms of the broadcast. The AFC Championship was everything the NFC Championship was not — exciting, competitive, well-played. That makes Burkhardt and Olsen's call of the NFC game all the more impressive.\n\nBurkhardt and Olsen have never called a Super Bowl before. They took over as the No. 1 team on Fox Sports when Joe Buck and Troy Aikman followed the money to “Monday Night Football.” They started the year as a somewhat generic duo, but they have gotten better and better, Olsen in particular, who has to be considered one of best, if not the best, analysts in the NFL.\n\n“I think these guys have risen to the occasion all year,” Richie Zyontz, who will produce the Super Bowl, said.\n\nHe’s not just promoting his own team. Truly, the Eagles-49ers game was the worst conference championship game in a long time. But Burkhardt and Olsen made it worth sticking around for. They didn’t pretend San Francisco’s miserable quarterback situation was anything but that. It was refreshing. I’ll acknowledge that when they took over as the lead team, I thought the Super Bowl broadcast would suffer. Who are these guys again?\n\nThey’re maybe the best team going, that’s who.\n\nOf course if the Super Bowl were even worse than the NFC Championship huge audiences would tune in for it — which means huge audiences tuning in and seeing Arizona, whether during pregame shows or cuts to the watch party at the Super Bowl Experience or the bumpers before and after commercials. And if it’s a football game, people watch.\n\nI wrote so many times that 75 of the top 100 highest-rated shows on TV in 2021 were football games I could have had the statistic tattooed on the inside of my eyelids. But surely that couldn’t last. And it didn’t.\n\nIn 2022 the number jumped to 82.\n\nIt’s just nuts. And of course the Super Bowl is the highest rated of them all. In 2022 the game averaged 101.1 million viewers on NBC and Telemundo. Throw in Peacock, NBC Sports Digital, Yahoo Sports and NFL Digital platforms and the number jumps to 112 million.\n\nImagine that many people or more tuning in to see Arizona.\n\nCan’t wait.\n\nSuper show:John Madden showed him the ropes. This Arizona man makes the Super Bowl more than a 'show'\n\nSuper Bowl 57\n\n4:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 12 on Fox.\n\nReach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. Twitter: @goodyk.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/01/30"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/12/sport/unluckiest-sports-teams-super-bowl-spt-intl/index.html", "title": "The unluckiest sports teams and other Super Bowl musings | CNN", "text": "CNN —\n\nThe Cincinnati Bengals’ incredible ride to a potential Super Bowl title faces one last test against the Los Angeles Rams. The Bengals were not expected to be in the Super Bowl this year and are underdogs in the game, but it’s not just the Rams they are facing. They’re up against history.\n\nThe Bengals are part of a group of major professional franchises that have never won the big one. If they win on Sunday, they’ll be ending one of the longest streaks of not winning their league’s title. Amazingly though, there are a number of teams with even less probable streaks.\n\nTo put some numbers on it, consider that the Bengals have been a major league football team since 1968. That’s 53 years the Bengals have padded up and never won a Super Bowl.\n\nThe Vince Lombardi Trophy with helmets from the Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals. Ryan Kang via AP\n\nBased purely on random chance – a calculation we’ll be doing a lot of in this article – there was about only a 15% chance the Bengals would never have won a Super Bowl.\n\nTo be clear, there is a higher likelihood that at least one team wouldn’t have won a Super Bowl since 1968, but for it to be specifically the Bengals, it’s about 15%. You can read more about these calculations in this article from FiveThirtyEight’s Neil Paine.\n\nThere are other teams in the NFL with even worse luck.\n\nThe Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons, Buffalo Bills (much to my chagrin), Detroit Lions, Los Angeles Chargers, Minnesota Vikings and Tennessee Titans have operated consistently since the first Super Bowl in the 1966-1967 season – and none of them have ever won a Super Bowl. The chance of that happening for the given franchise is a little less than 15%.\n\nMy Bills managed to appear in four consecutive Super Bowls and lost all of them. They’re the only team to go to four Super Bowls in a row and certainly the only one to lose all of them. Such a fate happening to a team is less than 1%.\n\nIn terms of length of time for winning the Big One, the Cardinals and Lions manage to top all of these teams. The Cardinals have existed in the NFL since the beginning of the league in 1920. Before the Super Bowl, an NFL Champion was crowned. The Cardinals won just one of those titles: in 1947, thanks in part to a great punt return by Hall of Famer Charley Trippi.\n\nThe chance the Cardinals haven’t won a title since that point is only about 3%.\n\nBengals quarterback Joe Burrow celebrates. Andy Lyons/Getty Images\n\nThe Lions have suffered a similar fate. They won an NFL title in 1957 – a little more recently than the Cardinals. But unlike the Cardinals, they haven’t even won the NFC championship since that point.\n\nBy random chance alone, 99 times out of 100, the Lions should have won an NFL or NFC championship. Worse for arguably the league’s unluckiest fan base, the Lions haven’t really been competitive. They haven’t even appeared in an NFC title game in 30 years. This year, they won three games – tied for the worst in football. At least, the Cardinals made the playoffs this season.\n\nOf course, we’re limiting ourselves a little bit by examining only football.\n\nMajor League Baseball is the oldest sport of the big three – MLB, NBA and NFL – in the US. It had three streaks of teams going over 85 years without winning a World Series: the Chicago Cubs, the Chicago White Sox and the Boston Red Sox. All managed to break the slide this century, however.\n\nThe current streak for ineptitude in baseball belongs to the Cleveland Guardians. They haven’t won a World Series since 1948 – an over 70-year-old streak.\n\nThey have come close two times in recent years – in 1997 and 2016 – though they couldn’t get over the top. By random chance, there was a better than 95% chance the Guardians would have won at least one World Series during that timespan.\n\nAmed Rosario of the then named Cleveland Indians takes off his hat as he walks off the field in the fifth inning against the Texas Rangers. Nick Cammett/Diamond Images via Getty Images\n\nThe Seattle Mariners have a perhaps lesser known streak, though one that is equally nutty. They have been members of the American League since 1977. They haven’t won an American League pennant once during that time. For any team, that should happen less than 5% of the time.\n\nMore – or less, depending on your point of view – impressive is that the Mariners haven’t even made the playoffs in the last 20 years. This is the longest streak in all three major league sports we’re talking about here, not just baseball. There was less than a 1% chance that would happen to the Mariners by random chance alone!\n\nBut even the Mariners can’t top arguably the least talked about streak of horrible luck in the three major sports.\n\nThe Sacramento Kings haven’t won an NBA championship in 70 years. More than that, they haven’t even appeared in a championship game since they won it as the Rochester Royals in 1951. This is six years longer than the streak put together by the Lions of the NFL for not appearing in the championship game.\n\nA close up shot of the Sacramento Kings logo. Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images\n\nWhat’s incredible about what the Kings have managed to do is that they have done so in a league that hasn’t historically had a lot of teams. For a good chunk of the Kings’ streak, they had to beat out less than 10 teams to make it to the NBA Finals.\n\nMore than 99 times out of 100, the Kings should have made it to the NBA Finals at least once by random chance. Arguably the closest they came was in 2002, when they lost Game 6 and Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals to the Los Angeles Lakers in somewhat contentious fashion. The Kings lost Game 7 in overtime.\n\nAnd it’s not like there has been any sign in recent years that the Kings have gotten better. They haven’t been to the NBA Playoffs in 15 seasons, which is by far the longest current streak.\n\nSacramento looks well on its way to year 16 without making it. If that happens, it’ll be the longest streak any NBA team has ever gone without making the playoffs.\n\nGiven over half the NBA teams make the playoffs every season, this is truly on another level. Put another way, even if the Joe Burrow and the Bengals don’t win on Sunday, they can at least say they aren’t the Kings.\n\nA San Francisco 49ers fan watches his team play against the Kansas City Chiefs during Super Bowl LIV. Philip Pacheco/Getty Images\n\nOther Super Bowl musings\n\nOf course, some people will not be watching Sunday’s game because they’re interested in football. So for all of those out there whose main interest in the game is not the actual sport of football, here are five things you should know – or might be fascinated to hear:\n\nBring chicken wings to your party\n\nIf you’re wondering what the No. 1 treat is for people when watching the Super Bowl, it’s chicken wings at 33%. Next is pizza at 19%, according to a 2020 SSRS poll. Burgers (13%) and dips (16%) – that you might use in chips and salsa – are the only other foods to hit double digits. What’s interesting about this is that pizza typically scores as the top food choice outside of football, but I guess people just prefer something different with their pigskin.\n\nA lot of people will watch the game\n\nI don’t think most of us realize how many people are going to tune into this game. We’ve already had north of 50 million watch the AFC and NFC Championship games at their peak . Last year, more than 90 million watched the Super Bowl , so 100 million viewers is very reachable. If we hit 100 million viewers, it will be three times as large as the audience for any non-NFL program in 2021.\n\nA lot of people watch the Super Bowl for the commercials\n\nOne of my favorite questions about the Super Bowl was a 2020 SSRS poll asking why people watched it. Nearly three-fifths (58%) said it was for the game. Another 24% said it was mainly for the commercials, and 13% admitted it was for the halftime show. Given that at least 90 million people watch the Super Bowl, we’re talking about more than 30 million people who are watching the game for a reason mainly other than play on the field.\n\nThe postgame show is… more sports and will likely be well watched\n\nIf you don’t know who to root for, choose the Bengals to fit in", "authors": ["Harry Enten"], "publish_date": "2022/02/12"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/reviewed/2023/01/30/super-bowl-2023-where-buy-nfl-apparel-to-support-philadelphia-eagles-kansas-city-chiefs/11148491002/", "title": "Super Bowl 2023: Where to buy NFL apparel to support Eagles, Chiefs", "text": "— Recommendations are independently chosen by Reviewed’s editors. Purchases you make through the links below may earn us and our publishing partners a commission.\n\nAfter a fierce round of conference championship games last night, the teams for Super Bowl 57 have been confirmed. The Super Bowl isn’t for about two weeks, giving you plenty of time to get apparel for the whole family (including the dog) to support your favorite team. Here's everything you need to know about the 2023 Super Bowl and how you can show off your team spirit on game day.\n\nMake smart choices without hours of googling. Subscribe to The Checklist newsletter for expert product advice and recommendations.\n\nWho is playing in the Super Bowl 2023?\n\nThe competing teams for Super Bowl 57 are the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs. The Eagles beat the San Francisco 49ers and the Chiefs beat the Cincinnati Bengals in their respective matches last night. The Eagles and Chiefs have most recently won Super Bowl 52 (2017) and Super Bowl 54 (2020), respectively.\n\n►Related: Mahomes, Hurts set for historic Super Bowl matchup\n\nWhen is the Super Bowl 2023?\n\nThe Super Bowl will be held Sunday, February 12, with kickoff set for 6:30 PM EST. This means you'll have plenty of time to prep for your game day watch party.\n\nWhere is the Super Bowl 2023?\n\nThe Super Bowl will be held at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, with the Philadelphia Eagles serving as the home team.\n\nWho is performing at the Super Bowl 2023 Halftime Show?\n\nRihanna is set to perform at Super Bowl 57's halftime show. The \"Umbrella\" singer and Fenty Beauty owner has released a limited-edition Game Day Essentials collection ahead of her halftime appearance.\n\nWhere to buy NFL apparel\n\nWhether you're rooting for the Chiefs or the Eagles, there are many shops that sell official team apparel for the whole family. From shirts to hats to outfits for your pooch or baby, these stores have everything you need to show off your team spirit on game day.\n\nThe product experts at Reviewed have all your shopping needs covered. Follow Reviewed on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok or Flipboard for the latest deals, product reviews and more.\n\nPrices were accurate at the time this article was published but may change over time.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/01/30"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/super-bowl/2023/01/30/kansas-city-chiefs-philadelphia-eagles-picks-predictions-super-bowl-57/69853073007/", "title": "Kansas City Chiefs vs. Philadelphia Eagles picks for Super Bowl 57", "text": "The Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles play on Sunday, Feb. 12 in Super Bowl 57 in Glendale, Arizona.\n\nWhich team will win the game?\n\nCheck out these NFL playoffs picks and predictions for the game, which can be seen at 4:30 p.m. MST on Fox.\n\nThe Eagles are a 2.5-point favorite in the game.\n\nMore:Kansas City Chiefs vs. Philadelphia Eagles game schedule, TV, announcers for Super Bowl 57\n\nSuper Bowl Central: Super Bowl 57 odds, Eagles-Chiefs matchups, stats and more\n\nBookies.com: Take the Eagles to cover vs. Chiefs\n\nBill Speros writes: \"The Eagles dominated the 49ers in the NFC title game 31-7 and were never tested. Mahomes makes everyone around him better. But the Chiefs head to Glendale banged up, while the Eagles are fully healthy. Philly's offensive line should be able to give Jalen Hurts the time he needs. But don't expect a shootout here. The total is higher than either one of these teams has hit the entire postseason. Philly has the edge. We'd take them on betting sites if this is the matchup.\"\n\nDraft Kings: Go with the Eagles on the moneyline vs. Chiefs\n\nIt writes: \"Patrick Mahomes was still clearly banged up in this game, using up all his energy to get one last run that set the Chiefs up for the winning field goal. He will look different in two weeks, of course, but if his scrambling is limited, the Eagles’ defensive line is going to be all over him. Philadelphia’s defense looked completely dominant in their win over the 49ers, and they put up 31 points against one of the best defenses in the NFL. Our early straight-up pick is the Eagles’ ML.\"\n\nMore:Kansas City Chiefs vs. Philadelphia Eagles odds: Super Bowl 57 point spread, moneyline\n\nATS.IO: Bet the Chiefs vs. Eagles in Super Bowl 57\n\nJay Sanin writes: \"Are we sure Jalen Hurts is as good as he’s been anointed to be? He has thrown for 275 yards combined in the Eagles’ two playoff wins, and did very little when those games were not yet decided. Against an elite QB counterpart this week, he will need to do more, and will not.\"\n\nSports Betting Dime: Eagles 25.9, Chiefs 23.3\n\nThe site's formula predicts that the Eagles will win Super Bowl 57 against the Chiefs.\n\nMore:Super Bowl 57 prediction: Philadelphia Eagles vs. Kansas City Chiefs game to be a thriller\n\nFansided: Chiefs will beat Eagles in Super Bowl 57\n\nPeter Dewey writes: \"Mahomes’ ankle looked fine in the AFC title game, and the Chiefs defense was able to get to Joe Burrow repeatedly in that matchup. If the team can do the same to Hurts, I like Kansas City’s chances with the best player on the field on its side. Chiefs win this one outright, and Mahomes starts to enter the G.O.A.T. conversation in the process.\"\n\nESPN: Chiefs have a 50% chance to win Super Bowl 57\n\nThe site also gives the Eagles a 50% shot at winning the game.\n\nReach Jeremy Cluff at jeremy.cluff@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jeremy_Cluff.\n\nSupport local journalism: Subscribe to azcentral.com today.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/01/30"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2022/11/29/nfl-playoff-schedule-afc-nfc-wild-card-super-bowl/10796612002/", "title": "NFL playoff schedule for road to Super Bowl 57: What to know on ...", "text": "For the 18th consecutive season, the NFL will not crown a repeat Super Bowl champion. Sure, there's still a mathematical chance the injury-riddled defending champion Los Angeles Rams (3-8, last in NFC West) could make the playoffs, but it's an extremely small one.\n\nIn fact, since the New England Patriots won back-to-back titles following the 2003 and 2004 seasons, only three teams have won multiple times. The Pats alternated victories in Super Bowls 49, 51 and 53; the Pittsburgh Steelers prevailed in Super Bowl 40 and 43; and the New York Giants came out on top in Super Bowls 42 and 46.\n\nNFL NEWSLETTER:Sign up now for exclusive content sent to your inbox\n\nNFL CLINCHING SCENARIOS:Which teams can lock up postseason spot in Week 14?\n\nNFL PLAYOFF PICTURE AFTER WEEK 13:Despite being idle Sunday, Bills reclaim AFC's No. 1 seed\n\nSuper Bowl Central: Super Bowl 57 odds, Eagles-Chiefs matchups, stats and more\n\nWho's next? Let's chart the path 14 fortunate franchises will need to navigate to end up playing for the title in Super Bowl 57 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on Feb. 12, 2023.\n\nHow many teams make the NFL playoffs?\n\nA total of 14 teams qualify for the postseason – the four division winners, plus three wild card teams in each conference.\n\nNFL playoffs format\n\nThe wild card matchups are: No. 7 seed at No. 2 seed, No. 6 at No. 3, No. 5 at No. 4.\n\nThe teams with the best overall records in each conference (No. 1 seeds) receive a bye in the wild card round and will host the lowest remaining seed in the divisional round.\n\nThe winners within each respective conference will face each other in the conference championships with those winners battling in the Super Bowl.\n\nWhat is the NFL playoff schedule?\n\nThe playoffs for the 2022 NFL regular season kick off Jan. 14-16, 2023, with three days of wild-card games on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. The divisional round takes place the following weekend, followed by the conference championship games. The Super Bowl will be played two weeks after the conference title games.\n\nWILD CARD ROUND\n\nSaturday, Jan. 14\n\n4:30 p.m. ET\n\n8:15 p.m. ET\n\nSunday, Jan. 15\n\n1 p.m ET\n\n4:30 p.m. ET\n\n8:15 p.m. ET\n\nMonday, Jan. 16\n\n8 p.m ET (ESPN)\n\nDIVISIONAL PLAYOFFS\n\nSaturday, Jan. 21\n\nAFC Game 1\n\nNFC Game 1\n\nSunday, Jan. 22\n\nAFC Game 2\n\nNFC Game 2\n\nCONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHP\n\nSunday, Jan. 29\n\nAFC, 3:05 p.m. ET (CBS)\n\nNFC, 6:40 p.m. ET (Fox)\n\nSUPER BOWL 57\n\nSunday, Feb. 12\n\nAFC champion vs. NFC champion, 6:30 p.m. ET (Fox)\n\nWhen is Super Bowl 57?\n\nSuper Bowl LVII will be played at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona on Sunday, Feb. 12 at 6:30 p.m. ET.\n\nThe Phoenix area has hosted a Super Bowl three times before – Super Bowl 30 (Jan. 28, 1996, at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe) and twice at the venue in Glendale formerly known as University of Phoenix Stadium, Super Bowl 42 (Feb. 3, 2008) and 49 (Feb. 1, 2015).\n\nThe last time the game was played in Glendale, the Patriots defeated the Seattle Seahawks 28-24 in a game best remembered for Malcolm Butler's game-saving interception in the final seconds (... and Katy Perry's halftime performance with the infamous \"Left Shark.\")", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/11/29"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/super-bowl/2023/01/24/super-bowl-57-lvii-date-time-channel-details/11076003002/", "title": "Super Bowl 2023: Date, time, channel, details for Super Bowl 57", "text": "The biggest night in football is quickly approaching. Soon, the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs will go head-to-head for the Lombardi Trophy in Super Bowl 57.\n\nThe early odds have the Eagles (-2.5) as the favorites, but the Chiefs are riding high after a last-second victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.\n\nHere's everything you need to know about the 2023 Super Bowl:\n\nWhen is the Super Bowl 57?\n\nSuper Bowl 57 is on Sunday, February 12.\n\nSuper Bowl Central: Super Bowl 57 odds, Eagles-Chiefs matchups, stats and more\n\nWhat time is the Super Bowl 57?\n\nKickoff is set for 6:30 p.m. EST, 4:30 p.m. MST (local time).\n\nGreatest players in Super Bowl history:The 57 best players to play in the Super Bowl\n\nHistory made at Super Bowl 57:Patrick Mahomes, Jalen Hurts are first Black QBs to face off in Super Bowl\n\nWhere is Super Bowl 57?\n\nThis year's Super Bowl will take place at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.\n\nWho is playing in Super Bowl 57?\n\nSuper Bowl 57 is a matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles.\n\nThe Chiefs knocked out Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20 on Sunday while the Eagles sprinted past the San Francisco 49ers 31-7.\n\nThe odds for Super Bowl 57 have opened with the Eagles as the early 2.5-point favorites over the Chiefs.\n\nWhat channel is the Super Bowl 57 on?\n\nSuper Bowl LVII will be broadcast on FOX.\n\nWho has the most Super Bowl rings? NFL championships broken down by player, coach, team.\n\nNFL news, delivered:Sign up to receive the latest news and analysis delivered to your inbox\n\nLatest odds:NFL odds, spreads, totals, betting lines and futures\n\nWho is performing at the 2023 Super Bowl halftime show?\n\nRihanna will headline this year's Super Bowl halftime show sponsored by Apple Music.\n\nThis will be the first halftime show sponsored by Apple Music; previous shows since 2013 were sponsored by Pepsi (which also first sponsored the 2007 show).\n\n'It's on': Rihanna to headline 2023 Super Bowl halftime show\n\nDig deeper into Super Bowl 57", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/01/24"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2023/01/19/nfl-playoff-bracket-2023-postseason-schedule-game-times-tv/11083607002/", "title": "Road to the Super Bowl: How the NFL playoff bracket looks after ...", "text": "USA TODAY Sports\n\nThe NFL postseason has produced its Super Bowl matchup.\n\nThe Kansas City Chiefs will face off against the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl 57 in Glendale, Arizona, on Feb. 12. The game features Chiefs head coach Andy Reid going up against the team he coached for 14 seasons.\n\nThe Chiefs' last appearance in the big game came in Super Bowl LV when they lost to Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Meanwhile, it's been five years since the Eagles stunned Brady and the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII.\n\nHere's how the NFL playoff bracket looks following conference championship weekend.\n\nNFL NEWSLETTER:Sign up to get the latest news and stories delivered to your inbox\n\nSuper Bowl Central: Super Bowl 57 odds, Eagles-Chiefs matchups, stats and more\n\nSuper Bowl 57 will be played at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona on Sunday, Feb. 12 at 6:30 p.m. ET.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/01/19"}]}
{"question_id": "20230203_1", "search_time": "2023/02/04/11:55", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/01/30/president-biden-announces-end-covid-19-emergency-declarations/11151383002/", "title": "President Biden announces an end to COVID-19 emergency ...", "text": "WASHINGTON – The Biden administration is winding down the treatment of COVID-19 as an emergency, restructuring how the federal government will respond to the pandemic that is entering its fourth year.\n\nThe administration plans to end both the national emergency and the public health emergency on May 11. The announcement came in a message to Congress about measures House Republicans are considering this week to end those emergency declarations immediately.\n\nThe administration wants to wait until May to end the emergencies because Republicans' \"abrupt end\" would create \"wide-ranging chaos and uncertainty throughout the health care system,\" the White House said.\n\nTens of millions of Americans could be at risk of losing their health insurance, and others could lose access to telehealth services. States could lose billions of dollars in extra funding they've been receiving, Hospitals and nursing homes that have relied on flexibilities wouldn't have time to retrain staff and establish new billing procedures, according to the White House.\n\nHouse Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said there's no need to wait until May because \"the vast majority of Americans have returned to work and resumed their lives months ago.\"\n\nLive updates:House GOP to probe Biden's family; Tyre Nichols' parents to attend State of the Union\n\nComing up:House Speaker McCarthy to meet President Biden on Wednesday to discuss debt ceiling, spending cuts\n\nCOVID-19 was on track to be the third-leading cause of death in 2022 for the third year in a row, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health research organization.\n\nBut the public panic over the pandemic subsided after the introduction of vaccines and treatments.\n\nIn September, Biden said the pandemic was \"over,\" though he said COVID-19 was still a problem.\n\nA national emergency was first declared by President Donald Trump on March 13, 2020.\n\nThe Biden administration had said it would give states 60-day notice before ending the emergency. States have been receiving extra Medicaid funding during the emergency in exchange for keeping patients continuously enrolled in the jointly funded health care program for low-income residents. As a result, Medicaid enrollment increased 30% and fewer Americans have been uninsured.\n\nIn a massive spending bill passed in December, Democrats and Republicans agreed to allow states to kick people off Medicaid beginning in May. When the public health emergency ends, people without insurance will have to pay for vaccines, tests and treatment on their own. Those with private insurance could have some out-of-pocket costs.\n\nCOVID-19 vaccines are also expected to become more expensive as the government stops buying them.\n\nAbout 7 in 10 Americans have received an initial COVID vaccination, but fewer than 20% of adults have received the latest booster, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.\n\nContributing: The Associated Press\n\nIn case you missed it:Congress takes over National Prayer Breakfast over concerns it became too divisive\n\nPoll:Americans equally concerned with Biden, Trump classified documents despite differences", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/01/30"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/18/politics/biden-pandemic-60-minutes/index.html", "title": "Biden on '60 Minutes': 'The pandemic is over' | CNN Politics", "text": "CNN —\n\nPresident Joe Biden said he believes the Covid-19 pandemic is “over” in an appearance on CBS’ “60 Minutes,” but acknowledged the US still has a “problem” with the virus that has killed more than 1 million Americans.\n\n“The pandemic is over. We still have a problem with Covid. We’re still doing a lot of work on it. It’s – but the pandemic is over,” Biden said.\n\nThe US government still designates Covid-19 a Public Health Emergency and the World Health Organization says it remains a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. But the President’s comments follow other hopeful comments from global health leaders.\n\nTedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, said in a news briefing last week that the end of the Covid-19 pandemic was “in sight,” and that the world has never been in a better position to end the Covid-19 pandemic.\n\n“Last week, the number of weekly reported deaths from Covid-19 was the lowest since March 2020,” Ghebreyesus said. “We have never been in a better position to end the pandemic. We’re not there yet, but the end is in sight.”\n\nLast month, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention adjusted its Covid-19 guidance to urge the nation away from measures such as quarantines and social distancing and instead focus on reducing severe disease from Covid-19. But the agency says some people, including those who are older, immunocompromised, have certain disabilities or underlying health conditions, are at higher risk for serious illness, and may need to take more precautions.\n\nThere were about 65,000 new Covid-19 cases reported each day over the past two weeks, data from Johns Hopkins University shows, and reported cases are dropping in almost every state. Across the United States, about 400 people are dying every day from Covid-19. Although official case counts are far from representative of true levels of transmission, forecasts published by the CDC say that new hospitalizations and deaths will hold steady for the next month.\n\nFor people hospitalized for Covid-19, the risk of dying fell to the lowest it’s ever been during the Omicron wave, according to a study published last week by the CDC. The researchers suggest that there were several contributing factors to the improved mortality risk: high levels of immunity, both from vaccination and previous infection, advances in treatments and properties of the Omicron subvariants that made them less likely to cause disease.\n\nBiden on 2024\n\nThe President told “60 Minutes” in the interview aired Sunday he had not made a “firm decision” on whether he would run for reelection in 2024 but said he intended to run.\n\n“Look, my intention, as I said to begin with, is that I would run again. But it’s just an intention. But is it a firm decision that I run again? That remains to be seen,” Biden said.\n\nThe President said: “I’m a great respecter of fate. And so, what I’m doing is I’m doing my job. I’m gonna do that job. And within the time frame that makes sense after this next election cycle here, going into next year, make a judgment on what to do.”\n\nThe President and top administration officials have maintained the President intends to run again in 2024, but Biden told ABC in December that it would depend on whether he was in good health.\n\n‘I don’t want to get myself in the middle’\n\nBiden told CBS he had not been briefed on the contents of the documents that were removed from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence by the FBI in August, and said he did not want to interfere with any potential actions by the Department of Justice.\n\n“I have not asked for the specifics of those documents because I don’t want to get myself in the middle of whether or not the Justice Department should move or not move on certain actions they could take. I – I agreed I would not tell them what to do and not, in fact, engage in telling them how to prosecute or not,” Biden said.\n\nThe Justice Department removed 11 sets of classified documents from Mar-a-Lago while executing a search warrant for possible violations of the Espionage Act and other crimes, according to unsealed court documents.\n\nAsked what his reaction was when he saw the photograph taken by the FBI that showed an array of documents found on Trump’s property, Biden said: “How that could possibly happen? How one – anyone could be that irresponsible?”\n\n“And I thought what data was in there that may compromise sources and methods? By that I mean names of people who helped or, et cetera. And it just, totally irresponsible,” Biden said.\n\nBiden said no one has briefed him on whether important national security secrets were revealed by the storage of those documents at the former President’s residence.\n\n“I have not personally spoken to anyone on that – in that regard. I’m sure my administration is aware of all of that, and so is the National Security Council. But I have not,” Biden said.\n\nThe President also told CBS that US military personnel would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion. The President was asked whether “US forces, US men and women would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion,” a prospect US officials privately fear is becoming more likely.\n\n“Yes,” Biden responded.\n\nIt’s not the first time Biden has gone beyond the US approach of “strategic ambiguity” when it comes to Taiwan. During a visit to Tokyo in May, Biden said the US would intervene militarily if China attempts to take Taiwan by force.\n\nThe White House has consistently said after Biden’s comments that US policy hadn’t changed, and “60 Minutes” reported receiving a similar response to Biden’s answers in their interview.\n\nUnder the “One China” policy, the US acknowledges China’s position that Taiwan is part of China, but has never officially recognized Beijing’s claim to the self-governing island of 23 million. Biden repeated his commitment to those policies in the “60 Minutes” interview.\n\nThis story has been updated with additional information.", "authors": ["Kate Sullivan Jamie Gumbrecht Allie Malloy Kevin Liptak", "Kate Sullivan", "Jamie Gumbrecht", "Allie Malloy", "Kevin Liptak"], "publish_date": "2022/09/18"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/18/politics/anthony-fauci-retirement-plans/index.html", "title": "Fauci says he plans to retire by end of Biden's current term | CNN ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nDr. Anthony Fauci plans to retire by the end of President Joe Biden’s current term in office, the government’s top infectious disease expert told CNN on Monday.\n\nFauci, who serves as Biden’s chief medical adviser and has served as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for decades, said he does not currently have a specific retirement date in mind nor has he started the process of retiring.\n\n“I have said that for a long time,” Fauci said of his plans to leave government before the end of Biden’s current term, which ends in January 2025.\n\n“By the time we get to the end of Biden’s first term, I will very likely (retire),” Fauci said.\n\nPolitico published an interview with Fauci on Monday in which Fauci said he did not expect to remain in government until coronavirus is eradicated, because he said, “I think we’re going to be living with this” for years to come.\n\nFauci told CNN’s “At This Hour” later Monday that though his recent comments on retirement were interpreted as announcing a retirement plan, he just meant “that it is extremely unlikely – in fact, for sure – that I am not going to be here beyond January 2025.”\n\nFauci said that he feels like he’s established a good system at NIAID to facilitate a smooth transition at the agency and wants to pursue other career opportunities once he eventually leaves.\n\n“Everybody in a position of any influence in my institute, I handpick. So it’s something that I’ve been working on now for four decades. So we have a good system in place,” Fauci told CNN’s Kate Bolduan. “Obviously, you can’t go on forever. I do want to do other things in my career, even though I’m at a rather advanced age. I have the energy and the passion to continue to want to pursue other aspects of my professional career and I’m going to do that some time. I’m not exactly sure when, but I don’t see myself being in this job to the point where I can’t do anything else after that.”\n\nAt 81, Fauci has served more than five decades under seven presidents, advising every American president since Ronald Reagan.\n\nIn his time as director of the NIAID, Fauci has helped lead the federal public health response to the HIV/AIDS crisis, Ebola, the Zika virus and anthrax scares. But he was thrust into the national spotlight at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, emerging as a key voice in public health during the Trump administration.\n\nFauci and then-President Donald Trump publicly disagreed on how to approach the pandemic, what the correct message was for the American people and how to balance reopening with preventing further contagion. Through it all, Trump insisted he respected Fauci but disagreed with his approach. But at their relationship’s low point, Trump suggested he was considering firing the doctor. Attacks from Trump’s allies led to enhanced security for Fauci.\n\nIn 2020, Fauci told CNN’s Sanjay Gupta he had to get security protection after his family received death threats and harassment.\n\nFauci told “At This Hour” on Monday that political pressures did not play into his decision to eventually leave his role.\n\n“It has nothing to do with pressures, nothing to do with all of the other nonsense that you hear about, all the barbs, the slings and the arrows. That has no influence on me,” he said.\n\nFauci said last November that he only expected to leave his role when the Covid-19 outbreak was “in the rearview mirror.”\n\n“I’m the director of the institute that has now been very important in the basic research in leading to the drugs that will now have an important impact in the treatment of Covid-19. That’s what I do,” Fauci told CBS’ “Sunday Morning.” “So, I’m going to keep doing that until this Covid-19 outbreak is in the rearview mirror, regardless of what anybody says about me, or wants to lie and create crazy fabrications because of political motivations.”\n\nThis story has been updated with additional developments on Monday.", "authors": ["Jeremy Diamond Maegan Vazquez", "Jeremy Diamond", "Maegan Vazquez"], "publish_date": "2022/07/18"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/15/health/covid-public-health-emergency-extended/index.html", "title": "Covid-19 public health emergency extended in the US | CNN", "text": "CNN —\n\nThe Biden administration on Friday extended the Covid-19 public health emergency for another three months.\n\nUS Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra officially renewed the declaration, extending it through October 13, 2022.\n\nThe emergency declaration has been in place since January 2020, and the latest renewal comes as the Omicron offshoot BA.5, the most contagious variant yet, continues to stake its claim in the US. Daily case rates, though vastly undercounted, are the highest they’ve been in months, as are Covid-19 hospitalizations and deaths.\n\nData published this week by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that more than half of the country’s population lives in a county with a “high Covid-19 Community Level,” where the health care system is at risk of becoming overburdened and universal indoor masking is recommended.\n\n“The Public Health Emergency declaration continues to provide us with tools and authorities needed to respond to the highly transmissible COVID-19 subvariants that are currently circulating around the country,” a Biden administration official told CNN. “The PHE provides essential capabilities and flexibilities to hospitals to better care for patients, particularly if we were to see a significant increase in hospitalizations in the coming weeks.”\n\nIndeed, ensemble forecasts from the CDC published this week do predict that hospitalizations in the US will rise over the next month. It’s the first time in weeks that the forecasts have predicted an increase in hospitalizations, instead of a stable outlook.\n\n“Without the PHE in place, we would be limited in our ability to provide broad and equitable access to lifesaving treatments through our Test to Treat initiative, for example, which relies on flexibility for telehealth and operations,” the official said. “Not renewing the PHE would leave us with fewer tools to respond and mean more Americans would get severely ill and end up in the hospital.”\n\nThe public health emergency declaration allows many Americans to obtain free Covid-19 testing, therapeutic treatment and vaccines. Once it ends, people could face out-of-pocket costs depending on whether they are covered by Medicare, Medicaid or private insurance. But vaccinations would generally continue to be free for those covered by Medicare and private insurance, while state Medicaid programs would determine whether to continue covering vaccinations for their enrollees.\n\nAlso, Medicare has relaxed the rules governing telehealth so that many more beneficiaries can access such services during the declaration. Telehealth services are no longer limited just to those living in rural areas, and enrollees can conduct visits at home, rather than having to travel to a health care facility, and they receive a wider array of services via telehealth. These flexibilities will end for most beneficiaries after the emergency expires.\n\nAnd states are not involuntarily disenrolling residents from Medicaid during the declaration, in exchange for receiving more generous federal matching funds. As many as 14 million people could lose Medicaid coverage after the emergency ends, according to separate projections by Kaiser and the Urban Institute.\n\nPlus, many low-income families are receiving enhanced food stamp benefits thanks to the declaration, though some states have ended their own public health emergencies and stopped the beefed-up allotments.\n\nA separate emergency declaration allows for the emergency use authorization of testing, treatments and vaccines. Its end date will be determined by the secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services.\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\nIts end date will be determined by HHS, and the agency has committed to provide at least 60-day notice before any change", "authors": ["Deidre Mcphillips"], "publish_date": "2022/07/15"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/04/politics/monkeypox-public-health-emergency/index.html", "title": "Monkeypox: Biden administration declares the outbreak a public ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nThe Biden administration on Thursday declared monkeypox a public health emergency, with cases on the rise across the US.\n\nThe announcement came during a briefing with the Department of Health and Human Services.\n\nThe administration has been criticized at times for its handling of the outbreak, and some have called on the government to declare a national emergency without delay.\n\nSince the first US monkeypox case was identified in mid-May, more than 6,600 probable or confirmed cases have been detected in the United States. Cases have been identified in every state except Montana and Wyoming.\n\nThe declaration follows the World Health Organization announcement last month that monkeypox is a public health emergency of international concern. WHO defines a public health emergency of international concern, or PHEIC, as “an extraordinary event” that constitutes a “public health risk to other States through the international spread of disease” and “to potentially require a coordinated international response.”\n\nSome cities and states, including New York City, San Francisco, California, Illinois and New York, have already declared monkeypox an emergency, allowing them to free up funding and resources for their responses to the outbreak.\n\nOn Tuesday, President Joe Biden named Robert Fenton as the White House’s national monkeypox response coordinator. Fenton – a regional Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator who oversees Arizona, California, Hawaii and Nevada – will coordinate the federal government’s response to the outbreak. Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s director of the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, serves as the deputy coordinator.\n\nVideo Ad Feedback 'Grave dereliction of duty': Health exec on lab technicians refusing to draw blood 02:15 - Source: CNN\n\nThe Biden administration has been heavily criticized by some public health experts for not moving faster to address the crisis.\n\nOne of the criticisms of the administration’s response, as CNN reported earlier Thursday, was that HHS waited more than three weeks after the first confirmed case of monkeypox in the US to order bulk stocks of the monkeypox vaccine, which the government owns and stores in Denmark, be bottled and sent to the US for distribution. The delay was in part out of concern that once those vaccines were taken out of bulk storage, they would lose years of shelf life.\n\nMonkeypox can infect anyone, but the majority of cases in the US outbreak have been among men who have sex with men, including gay and bisexual men and people who identify as transgender. Close contact with an infected individual is required for the spread of the monkeypox virus, experts say.\n\nThe CDC initially announced vaccines for monkeypox were being released from the Strategic National Stockpile and offered to the “high-risk” contacts of monkeypox patients, as well as the health care workers treating them. Federal health officials have since expanded vaccination efforts to focus on the broader community of men who have sex with men, the demographic that makes up most US monkeypox cases.\n\nIn addition to providing vaccines, the CDC has said since June it has made a concerted effort to do extensive education and outreach to the LGBTQ community.\n\nPossible change to how vaccine is administered\n\nHealth officials are considering changing the way monkeypox vaccine doses are administered because the country is “at a critical inflection point” with the virus’ spread, US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf told reporters on Thursday.\n\n“In recent days, it’s become clear to all of us that given the continued spread of the virus, we’re at a critical inflection point, dictating the need for additional solutions to address the rise in infection rates,” Califf said. “The goal has always been to vaccinate as many people as possible.”\n\nThe commissioner said officials are considering allowing health care providers to be able to use a dose-sharing method where one vial of Jynneos vaccine – previously used as one dose – will be used to administer up to five separate doses.\n\nThis approach would change the way Jynneos is administered, Califf said. Instead of the vaccine being administered in the fat layer under the skin, it will be delivered underneath the skin layer.\n\n“There are some advantages to intradermal administration including an improved immune response to the vaccine,” Califf said. “It’s important to note that overall safety and efficacy profile will not be sacrificed for this approach. Please know, we’ve been exploring all scientifically feasible options and we believe this could be a promising approach.”\n\nThis story has been updated with additional information.", "authors": ["Mj Lee Carma Hassan", "Mj Lee", "Carma Hassan"], "publish_date": "2022/08/04"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/19/health/biden-pandemic-comments-public-health/index.html", "title": "Biden's comments about pandemic widen public health split over ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nEven as the US prepares for a potential winter surge of Covid-19, President Biden roamed the cavernous halls of the Detroit Auto Show for an interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes” and, gesturing to the mostly maskless attendees, told the nation, “the pandemic is over.”\n\n“We still have a problem with Covid. We’re still doing a lot of work on it,” he told correspondent Scott Pelley.\n\n“But the pandemic is over,” he repeated.\n\nThe timing of the President’s remarks was striking: just two weeks after his administration launched a campaign to urge Americans to get booster shots against the latest Covid-19 strains at the same time as they get their annual flu shot. Health officials have also recently renewed their efforts to convince Congress to spend another $22.4 billion on Covid mitigation efforts.\n\nBiden’s declaration has created another split-screen moment in efforts to bring Covid-19 to heel. Some public health experts worry that political motives are driving the President’s desire to declare the pandemic over, rather than protection of the public’s health. Others say the president is right and the acute phase of the pandemic is over, even as the country continues to deal with a high burden of disease.\n\nMore than 400 Americans are still dying each day from Covid-19 on average, a number that hasn’t changed much in about three months, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. As of the week of Sept. 9, Covid-19 was the second leading cause of death in the US, according to estimates from the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.\n\n“In a week, that’s Twin Towers, right? It’s a 9/11, week after week after week,” said Gregg Gonsalves, an epidemiologist at the Yale School of Public Health.\n\nExcess deaths and Covid mortality are still higher in the US, per capita, than in other wealthy nations. And we’ve had a significant dip in life expectancy, he says.\n\n“By any appreciable epidemiologic data points, the pandemic is not over,” Gonsalves said.\n\nOne problem that contributes to the confusion is that the definition of a pandemic is squishy. In the simplest terms, a pandemic is an epidemic that occurs around the world and affects a large number of people. It’s not up to a single person or organization to declare an official start or end to one.\n\n“I think it’s sort of a term of art,” said Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar with the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. “There’s no criteria or some checklist that you make.”\n\nThe World Health Organization recognizes a global health threat as something different: a public health emergency of international concern, or PHEIC. The US also recognizes a public health emergency.\n\nCovid-19 is still considered to be a public health emergency both domestically and around the world.\n\nAn administration official told CNN on Monday that Biden’s comments do not mark a change in policy toward the administration’s handling of the coronavirus and that there are no plans to lift the public health emergency, which has been in place since January 2020 and now runs at least through October 13.\n\nThe US Department of Health and Human Services has promised to give a 60-day notice to states before ending the emergency declaration, something it has not yet done.\n\nStill, Gonsalves says he was dismayed by the President’s assertion that the pandemic is over, especially going into the fall and winter.\n\n“We are we are terribly under-boosted and under-vaccinated in this country,” he said. “What kind of message does it send to say ‘the pandemic is over’ when you want anyone to get shots into arms, both primary series and boosters? And you want to probably get some money out of Congress to do it?”\n\nBiden’s comments align with a recent Axios/Ipsos poll showing that most American feel there is little risk in returning to their pre-Covid lives. The poll found that the share of people who say they have resumed their normal activities is at the highest point since the start of the pandemic, at 46%.\n\n“I know the President is taking a lot of criticism. I actually agree with him on this,” Adalja said.\n\n“To me, it’s about having the tools to shift infections to the mild side and not seeing any concern about hospital capacity, and we have not seen hospital capacity concerns in the United States for some time,” he said.\n\nAdalja says people who are slamming the President are misunderstanding what it means to be in a pandemic.\n\n“Just because the President says this is not a pandemic doesn’t mean that everything just halts,” he said. “And it doesn’t mean that everything has to be directly done by congressional funding.”\n\nThe administration has said it intends to stop buying vaccines, tests and treatments, shifting those things to the commercial market.\n\nWhat many public health experts fear, though, is that when the President says the pandemic is over, people hear that Covid-19 is over, and that’s just not the case, said Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert who directs the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota.\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\nOsterholm fears that that message just undermines efforts to get people vaccinated and boosted, promote access to testing and treatment and, yes, get them to wear masks in areas where Covid-19 transmission is high.\n\n“Why would people now want to go get their booster shot if the pandemic is over?” he asked.\n\nOsterholm says that in his estimation, cases, hospitalizations and deaths are still too high to say the pandemic is over. We also don’t know what variants of the virus could emerge or how our immunity will hold up against them.\n\n“I don’t think people really understand what the implications are for this virus,” Osterholm said. “All of us want the pandemic to be over, but you can’t make it go away by just making a policy decision.”", "authors": ["Brenda Goodman"], "publish_date": "2022/09/19"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/16/health/biden-administration-covid-19-vaccines-tests-treatments/index.html", "title": "Biden administration will stop buying Covid-19 vaccines, treatments ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nThe Biden administration has been planning for how to get past the crisis phase of the Covid-19 pandemic and will stop buying vaccines, treatments and tests as early as this fall, White House Covid-19 Response Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha said on Tuesday.\n\n“One of the things we’ve spent a lot of time thinking about in the last many months – and we’re going to continue this work, and you’ll hear more from the administration on this – is getting us out of that acute emergency phase where the US government is buying the vaccines, buying the treatments, buying the diagnostic tests,” Jha said at an event sponsored by the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation.\n\n“My hope is that in 2023, you’re going to see the commercialization of almost all of these products. Some of that is actually going to begin this fall, in the days and weeks ahead. You’re going to see commercialization of some of these things,” he said.\n\nAvailability of those products would transition to the regular health-care system, Jha said, so if you need a vaccine or an antiviral treatment, you’d get it from your doctor or from a hospital.\n\nUpdated boosters available next month\n\nIn the spring, the Biden administration asked Congress for $10 billion to fund continued pandemic response efforts, but a deal to pass the funding stalled.\n\nJha said the funding stalemate forced officials to repurpose money from other efforts, like building up supplies of tests and protective equipment for the strategic national stockpile.\n\nOfficials plan to use that money to buy updated vaccine booster shots that protect against the BA.4 and BA.5 coronavirus subvariants, which Jha said would be ready in early to mid-September.\n\n“I would like to get to a point where every adult in America who wants a vaccine can get one. I’m hopeful we will be there. We’re not quite there yet in terms of how many vaccine doses we’ve been able to buy,” he said.\n\nJha said the transition to commercialization is complicated. It involves regulatory issues, market dynamic issues and equity issues, but the administration is working carefully and thoughtfully to get it right.\n\n“Right now, everybody can walk into a CVS and get a vaccine. I want to make sure that when we make this transition, we don’t end up at a point where nobody can get a vaccine because we didn’t get the transition right,” he said.\n\nJha said some of the commercialization would start in the fall, but most would be visible in 2023.\n\nHe said it would be important for the government to continue to make investments in the development of the next generation of vaccines and in pandemic preparedness.\n\n“But this business of day-to-day running of a pandemic, that needs to transition, and we’re working very hard to make sure that transition is in a very orderly and transparent way so everybody sees it coming,” he said.\n\nA bad flu season expected\n\nJha urged all Americans to get the new boosters once they become available.\n\nHe stressed that the fall and winter could be tough in the United States if the flu makes a comeback, as is expected.\n\n“These are substantial upgrades in our vaccines in terms of their ability to prevent infection to prevent transmission,” he said. “Those vaccines are coming very, very soon. And so it’s going to be really important that people this fall and winter, get the new shot. It’s designed for the virus that’s out there. And again, based on everything we’ve seen so far, all the data suggests it should be highly effective against the new variants.”\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 US has seen little to no flu transmission for the past two years largely because of Covid-19 mitigation measures like masking.\n\n“I expect the fall and winter to look much more like the fall and winter of 2019, with a lot less mitigation,” Jha said.\n\n“Under normal non-pandemic times, flu really stretches our health-care system,” he said. “Throwing Covid on top of that, our health-care system is going to get into serious trouble unless we are very proactive about preventing it, if we do nothing and just sort of hope for the best.”", "authors": ["Brenda Goodman"], "publish_date": "2022/08/16"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/20/politics/spending-bill-congress-omnibus/index.html", "title": "Here's what's in the $1.7 trillion federal omnibus spending law | CNN ...", "text": "Editor’s Note: This story originally ran December 20. It has been updated to reflect the current status of the legislation.\n\nCNN —\n\nPresident Joe Biden signed into law a $1.7 trillion yearlong federal government spending package on Thursday, after the House and Senate passed it last week.\n\nThe legislation includes $772.5 billion for nondefense discretionary programs and $858 billion in defense funding. That represents an increase in spending in both areas for fiscal year 2023.\n\nThe sweeping package includes roughly $45 billion in emergency assistance to Ukraine and NATO allies, an overhaul of the electoral vote-counting law, protections for pregnant workers, an enhancement to retirement savings rules and a TikTok ban on federal devices.\n\nIt also provides a boost in spending for disaster aid, college access, child care, mental health and food assistance, more support for the military and veterans and additional funds for the US Capitol Police. And the legislation contains several major Medicaid provisions, particularly one that could disenroll up to 19 million people from the nation’s health insurance program for low-income Americans.\n\nHowever, the law, which runs more than 4,000 pages, left out several measures that some lawmakers had fought to include. An expansion of the child tax credit, as well as multiple other corporate and individual tax breaks, did not make it into the final bill. Neither did legislation to allow cannabis companies to bank their cash reserves – known as the Safe Banking Act – or a bill to help Afghan evacuees in the US gain lawful permanent residency. And the spending package did not include a White House request for roughly $10 billion in additional funding for Covid-19 response.\n\nThe spending law, which will keep the government operating through September, the end of the fiscal year, is the product of lengthy negotiations between top congressional Democrats and Republicans.\n\nCongress originally passed a continuing resolution on September 30 to temporarily fund the government in fiscal year 2023, which began October 1.\n\nHere’s what’s in the law:\n\nMore aid for Ukraine: The spending law provides roughly $45 billion to help support Ukraine’s efforts to defend itself against Russia’s attack.\n\nAbout $9 billion of the funding will go to Ukraine’s military to pay for a variety of things including training, weapons, logistics support and salaries. Nearly $12 billion will be used to replenish US stocks of equipment sent to Ukraine through presidential drawdown authority.\n\nAlso, the law provides $13 billion for economic support to the Ukrainian government. Other funds address humanitarian and infrastructure needs, as well as support European Command operations.\n\nEmergency disaster assistance: The law provides more than $38 billion in emergency funding to help Americans in the west and southeast affected by recent natural disasters, including tornadoes, hurricanes, flooding and wildfires. It will aid farmers, provide economic development assistance for communities, repair and reconstruct federal facilities and direct money to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Disaster Relief Fund, among other initiatives.\n\nOverhaul of the electoral vote-counting law: A provision in the legislation aims at making it harder to overturn a certified presidential election, the first legislative response to the US Capitol insurrection and then-President Donald Trump’s campaign to stay in power despite his loss in 2020.\n\nThe changes overhaul the 1887 Electoral Count Act, which Trump tried to use to overturn the 2020 election.\n\nThe legislation clarifies the vice president’s role while overseeing the certification of the electoral result to be completely ceremonial. It also creates a set of stipulations designed to make it harder for there to be any confusion over the accurate slate of electors from each state.\n\nFunding for January 6 attack prosecutions: The law provides $2.6 billion for US Attorneys, which includes funding efforts “to further support prosecutions related to the January 6 attack on the Capitol and domestic terrorism cases,” according to a fact sheet from the House Appropriations Committee.\n\nThe package also gives $11.3 billion to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, including for efforts to investigate extremist violence and domestic terrorism.\n\nThe funding measures are part of nearly $39 billion for the Justice Department.\n\nRetirement savings enhancements: The law contains new retirement rules that could make it easier for Americans to accumulate retirement savings – and less costly to withdraw them. Among other things, the provisions will allow penalty-free withdrawals for some emergency expenses, let employers offer matching retirement contributions for a worker’s student loan payments and increase how much older workers may save in employer retirement plans.\n\nTikTok ban from federal devices: The legislation bans TikTok, the Chinese-owned short-form video app, from federal government devices.\n\nSome lawmakers have raised bipartisan concerns that China’s national security laws could force TikTok – or its parent, ByteDance – to hand over the personal data of its US users. Recently, a wave of states led by Republican governors have introduced state-level restrictions on the use of TikTok on government-owned devices.\n\nProtections for pregnant workers: The law provides pregnant workers with workplace accommodations – such as additional bathroom breaks, stools or relief from heavy lifting duties – needed for healthy pregnancies. It will prevent them from being forced to take leave or losing their jobs, as well as bar employers from denying employment opportunities to women based on their need for reasonable accommodations due to childbirth or related medical conditions. Also, another provision in the package guarantees workplace accommodations – particularly time to pump – for more nursing workers.\n\nChanges to Medicaid and other health care programs: The law phases out the requirement that prevented states from disenrolling Medicaid recipients as long as the national public health emergency was in effect in exchange for an enhanced federal match. This continuous coverage measure was enacted as part of a Covid-19 relief package passed in March 2020 and has led to a record 90 million Medicaid enrollees, many of whom may no longer meet the income requirements to qualify.\n\nUnder the law, states will be able to start evaluating Medicaid enrollees’ eligibility and terminating their coverage as of April 1. The redetermination process will take place over at least 12 months. Also, the enhanced federal Medicaid funding will phase down through December 31, 2023, though the states will have to meet certain conditions during that period.\n\nUp to 19 million people could lose their Medicaid benefits, according to estimates, though many would be eligible for other coverage.\n\nAlso, under a provision in the law, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, known as CHIP, will offer 12 months of continuous coverage for children. This will allow the 40 million children on Medicaid and CHIP to have uninterrupted access to health care throughout the year.\n\nIn addition, the law makes permanent the option for states to offer 12 months of postpartum coverage for low-income mothers through Medicaid, rather than just 60 days. More than two dozen states, plus the District of Columbia, have implemented the measure, which was available on a temporary basis through the American Rescue Plan, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Another seven states are planning to implement the option.\n\nPlus, the package provides more money for the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response. The funds are intended to speed the development of new therapies, diagnostics and preventive measures, beef up public health activities and strengthen the nation’s biosecurity by accelerating development of medical countermeasures for pandemic threats and fortifying stockpiles and supply chains for drugs, masks and other supplies.\n\nIncreased support for the military and veterans: The package funds a 4.6% pay raise for troops and a 22.4% increase in support for Veteran Administration medical care, which provides health services for 7.3 million veterans.\n\nIt includes nearly $53 billion to address higher inflation and $2.7 billion – a 25% increase – to support critical services and housing assistance for veterans and their families.\n\nThe law also allocates $5 billion for the Cost of War Toxic Exposures Fund, which provides additional funding to implement the landmark PACT Act that expands eligibility for health care services and benefits to veterans with conditions related to toxic exposure during their service.\n\nBeefing up nutrition assistance: The legislation establishes a permanent nationwide Summer EBT program, starting in the summer of 2024, according to Share Our Strength, an anti-hunger advocacy group. It will provide families whose children are eligible for free or reduced-price school meals with a $40 grocery benefit per child per month, indexed to inflation.\n\nIt also changes the rules governing summer meals programs in rural areas. Children will be able to take home or receive delivery of up to 10 days’ worth of meals, rather than have to consume the food at a specific site and time.\n\nThe law also helps families who have had their food stamp benefits stolen since October 1 through what’s known as “SNAP skimming.” It provides them with retroactive federal reimbursement of the funds, which criminals steal by attaching devices to point-of-sale machines or PIN pads to get card numbers and other information from electronic benefits transfer cards.\n\nHigher maximum Pell grant awards: The law increases the maximum Pell grant award by $500 to $7,395 for the coming school year. This marks the largest boost since the 2009-2010 school year. About 7 million students, many from lower-income families, receive Pell grants every year to help them afford college.\n\nHelp to pay utility bills: The package provides $5 billion for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program. Combined with the $1 billion contained in the earlier continuing resolution, this is the largest regular appropriation for the program, according to the National Energy Assistance Directors Association. Home heating and cooling costs – and the applications for federal aid in paying the bills – have soared this year.\n\nAdditional funding for the US Capitol Police: The law provides an additional $132 million for the Capitol Police for a total of nearly $735 million. It will allow the department to hire up to 137 sworn officers and 123 support and civilian personnel, bringing the force to a projected level of 2,126 sworn officers and 567 civilians.\n\nIt also gives $2 million to provide off-campus security for lawmakers in response to evolving and growing threats.\n\nMore money for child care: The legislation provides $8 billion for the Child Care and Development Block Grant, a 30% increase in funding. The grant gives financial assistance to low-income families to afford child care.\n\nAlso, Head Start will receive nearly $12 billion, an 8.6% boost. The program helps young children from low-income families prepare for school.\n\nMore resources for children’s mental health and for substance abuse: The law provides more funds to increase access to mental health services for children and schools. It also will invest more money to address the opioid epidemic and substance use disorder.\n\nInvestments in homelessness prevention and affordable housing: The legislation provides $3.6 billion for homeless assistance grants, a 13% increase. It will serve more than 1 million people experiencing homelessness.\n\nThe package also funnels nearly $6.4 billion to the Community Development Block Grant formula program and related local economic and community development projects that benefit low- and moderate income areas and people, an increase of almost $1.6 billion.\n\nPlus, it provides $1.5 billion for the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, which will lead to the construction of nearly 10,000 new rental and homebuyer units and maintain the record investment from the last fiscal year.\n\nMore support for the environment: The package provides an additional $576 million for the Environmental Protection Agency, bringing its funding up to $10.1 billion. It increases support for enforcement and compliance, as well as clean air, water and toxic chemical programs, after years of flat funding.\n\nIt also boosts funding for the National Park Service by 6.4%, restoring 500 of the 3,000 staff positions lost over the past decade. This is intended to help the agency handle substantial increases in visitation.\n\nPlus, the legislation provides an additional 14% in funding for wildland firefighting.\n\nWhat’s not in the law\n\nEnhanced child tax credit: A coalition of Democratic lawmakers and consumer advocates pushed hard to extend at least one provision of the enhanced child tax credit, which was in effect last year thanks to the Democrats’ $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. Their priority was to make the credit more refundable so more of the lowest-income families can qualify. Nearly 19 million kids won’t receive the full $2,000 benefit this year because their parents earn too little, according to a Tax Policy Center estimate.\n\nNew cannabis banking rules: Lawmakers considered including a provision in the spending bill that would make it easier for licensed cannabis businesses to accept credit cards – but it was left out of the legislation. Known as the Safe Banking Act, which previously passed the House, the provision would prohibit federal regulators from taking punitive measures against banks for providing services to legitimate cannabis businesses.\n\nEven though 47 states have legalized some form of marijuana, cannabis remains illegal on the federal level. That means financial institutions providing banking services to cannabis businesses are subject to criminal prosecution – leaving many legal growers and sellers locked out of the banking system.\n\nCovid-19 response: Lawmakers did not include a White House request for an additional $10 billion in funding for Covid-19, which would have been aimed at continued access to and development of vaccines and therapeutics, among other things. Earlier in the year, the Biden administration unsuccessfully pushed for $22.5 billion in extra funds.\n\nFBI headquarters: There was also no final resolution on where the new FBI headquarters will be located, a major point of contention as lawmakers from Maryland – namely House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer – pushed to bring the law enforcement agency into their state. In a deal worked through by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the General Services Administration would be required to conduct “separate and detailed consultations” with Maryland and Virginia representatives about potential sites in each of the states, according to a Senate Democratic aide.\n\nAfghan Adjustment Act: Also not included in the spending bill was the Afghan Adjustment Act, which would have helped Afghan allies who run the risk of deportation from the US. It would have given those evacuees a pathway to lawful permanent residency before their temporary status, known as humanitarian parole, expires in 2023. Many congressional Republicans raised concerns about vetting and other issues, but the legislation’s supporters, including former US military leaders, argued those worries have been addressed.\n\nLegislation to extend and expand Special Immigrant Visas for Afghans who worked with the US during the war there and want to come to America is included in the spending bill.", "authors": ["Tami Luhby Katie Lobosco", "Tami Luhby", "Katie Lobosco"], "publish_date": "2022/12/20"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2022/09/27/lawsuit-may-block-bidens-power-play-cancelling-student-loan-debt/8122883001/", "title": "Lawsuit may block Biden's power play on cancelling student loan debt", "text": "Plenty of people aren’t thrilled with President Joe Biden’s student loan cancellation bonanza, a group that likely includes the majority of Americans who don't have a college degree or who have dutifully paid off their loans.\n\nYet, unlike other recent challenges to the Biden administration’s executive overreach during the pandemic, it was not clear who had legal standing to sue over the president’s unilateral action.\n\nUntil now.\n\nThe Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday with the intent of putting a stop to the loan cancellation plan. In addition, the group has filed for a temporary restraining order. It's the first legal challenge to the administration's executive action.\n\nLoan forgiveness hurts some taxpayers\n\nWhile most taxpayers don’t have standing to sue the government if they’re displeased with policies or spending, the Pacific Legal Foundation identified a group of taxpayers who will be unfairly hurt by loan forgiveness. Plus, the firm believes that Biden's executive order is a huge “unlawful” overreach that will cost taxpayers hundreds of billions.\n\n“The whole idea that an administrative agency can just say we are going to enact this kind of what they call transformational policy without any oversight whatsoever is ludicrous,” Caleb Kruckenberg, an attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation, told me.\n\nAfter much wavering and delays, Biden in late August announced his plan to cancel up to $20,000 in student loan debt per person, affecting more than 40 million Americans. He also decided to extend a repayment pause until the end of the year – conveniently ending after the midterm elections.\n\nThe administration’s justification for such unprecedented action is the HEROES Act, which allows for the modification of loans during war or a national emergency. Thanks to Biden, we’re still in national and public health emergencies over COVID-19.\n\nMore from Ingrid Jacques:Teachers unions may love Biden’s attack on charter schools, but parents won't be happy\n\nThe plaintiff in the case is Frank Garrison, a public interest attorney (who is now employed by PLF). Garrison lives in Indiana, one of at least six states that tax this kind of debt cancellation as income. He’s already part of the congressionally approved Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, and would have had his debt forgiven after 10 years of payments – without any additional tax burden. He’s already six years into payments, and those payments are capped based on his income.\n\nSince he’s a Pell Grant recipient, Garrison is eligible for $20,000 in loan forgiveness. Taking that amount off his principal, however, changes nothing for him except for giving him an immediate tax bill of more than $1,000, Kruckenberg said.\n\nSo the “forgiveness” will actually cost Garrison money and the action will be automatic – as soon as October – because of his participation in the public service program.\n\nMore:Biden's student loan forgiveness is costly for taxpayers and bad for higher education\n\n“Congress did not authorize the executive branch to unilaterally cancel student debt,” Kruckenberg said in a statement. “It’s flagrantly illegal for the executive branch to create a $500 billion program by press release, and without statutory authority or even the basic notice and comment procedure for new regulations.”\n\nHundreds of thousands of other borrowers will find themselves in similar situations. Other impacted states include Wisconsin, North Carolina, Mississippi, Minnesota, California and Arkansas.\n\nEstimated cost to taxpayers skyrockets\n\nThis week, the Congressional Budget Office estimated the cost of the “forgiveness” for up to $20,000 of debt per borrower at $420 billion over three decades – much higher than was initially predicted. And those costs balloon even more when factoring in the Biden administration’s income-driven repayment policy.\n\nMore:If pandemic is truly 'over,' Biden should follow through and end national 'emergency'\n\n“This is why the Framers designed the Constitution as they did,” the Pacific Legal Foundation states in a press release. “The separation of powers ensures that no department of government can make unilateral decisions, and that laws come from the body that represents the people: Congress. Even when Congress does the wrong thing, the lawmaking process ensures that the people’s voices are heard. Ramming expensive and divisive programs down the throats of Americans through executive fiat is never a good idea.”\n\nIngrid Jacques is a columnist at USA TODAY. Contact her at ijacques@usatoday.com or on Twitter: @Ingrid_Jacques", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/09/27"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/29/politics/aca-obamacare-coverage-record/index.html", "title": "A record 35 million-plus Americans have Obamacare coverage ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nMore Americans than ever before have health coverage thanks to the Affordable Care Act, which is helping send the nation’s uninsured rate to near record lows, the Biden administration announced Friday.\n\nFueled by Covid-19 relief measures and renewed federal investment, enrollment in Obamacare plans, Medicaid expansion and Basic Health Plan policies has soared to an estimated 35.8 million as of early 2022, up from 27.1 million in 2020, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.\n\nThis includes an estimated 13.6 million people enrolled in policies purchased on the Obamacare exchanges and more than 21 million people in Medicaid expansion coverage, including 16.8 million who were not eligible prior to the landmark health reform law.\n\nMeanwhile, the uninsured rate fell to 8.8% in the fourth quarter of last year, down from 10.3% in the same period of 2020, according to new federal National Health Interview Survey data. That represents about 4.9 million people obtaining coverage.\n\n“With a record-breaking total of over 35 million people who now have health coverage, thanks to the Affordable Care Act, America’s uninsured rate is nearing an all-time low,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement.\n\nHowever, these gains could start melting away as early as this summer if the nation’s public health emergency is not renewed again. That will allow states to resume disenrolling Medicaid beneficiaries who no longer qualify for coverage, a practice that was halted during the pandemic.\n\nAlso, the enhanced federal subsidies for Obamacare policies, which have drawn more Americans to the exchanges, are set to expire at the end of this year unless Congress acts.\n\nGrowing interest\n\nEven before President Joe Biden took office in 2021, more Americans were signing up for Affordable Care Act coverage as the Covid-19 pandemic put an increased emphasis on access to health care.\n\nBiden then launched a six-month special enrollment period early last year, which allowed people to take advantage of the more generous federal subsidies created by the Democrats’ $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package. Some 2.8 million people enrolled in Obamacare plans during the period.\n\nThe administration also extended the open enrollment period for 2022 coverage by a month and poured funding into marketing, outreach and assistance in picking policies. A record 14.5 million people selected plans, though not all ended up actually enrolling.\n\nLast month, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services launched a special enrollment period for lower-income Americans, most of whom can select plans with no premiums.\n\nIn addition, Medicaid enrollment has swelled over the past two years in large part because states have not been allowed to remove anyone involuntarily from coverage during the pandemic in exchange for a more generous federal Medicaid match, under a coronavirus relief package Congress passed in 2020.\n\nGains at risk\n\nThe historic increase in Affordable Care Act and Medicaid coverage may be short lived, however.\n\nUnless Congress acts, the enhanced subsidies will not be available for 2023 policies on the Affordable Care Act exchanges. The Democrats’ plan to extend the provision as part of their Build Back Better spending package was thwarted last year when Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia said he would not support it.\n\nAlso, up to 14.4 million people could lose Medicaid coverage if the public health emergency expires after the second quarter of this year, according to the Urban Institute.\n\nThe public health emergency currently runs through mid-July. The Biden administration has said it will give states 60 days’ notice of the emergency’s end so they can ramp up their preparations to review residents’ Medicaid eligibility.", "authors": ["Tami Luhby"], "publish_date": "2022/04/29"}]}
{"question_id": "20230203_2", "search_time": "2023/02/04/11:55", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/10/31/superstorm-sandy/1670691/", "title": "Sandy's death toll rises as Northeast begins recovery", "text": "By Gary Strauss and Carolyn Pesce, USA TODAY\n\nU.S. death toll rises to 74\n\nAir traffic is resuming, but transit systems remain snarled\n\nFlooding still prompts evacuations in New York, New Jersey\n\nMuch of the storm-battered Northeast is now in early recovery mode. But widespread devastation and ongoing fallout from Superstorm Sandy will likely prolong rescue and rebuilding efforts, hampering the lives of millions over a wide area for days.\n\n\n\nWith Sandy's U.S. death toll now at 74 and estimates of destruction and economic fallout running as high as $55 billion, several flood- and wind-ravaged states are restoring some semblance of normalcy as roads, schools and mass transit systems go back online.\n\n\n\nPresident Obama, who toured hard-hit New Jersey on Wednesday, warned that relief efforts would take time, but promised that federal officials would cut through \"red tape and bureaucracy\" to provide swift relief.\n\n\n\n\"At this point, our main focus is on the state of New Jersey and New York,\" said Obama, flanked by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie as they toured the state's battered shoreline. \"But we're very concerned about some situations in Connecticut, and we're still monitoring West Virginia. Those four states are really bearing the brunt of this incredible storm.\"\n\nChristie, an early supporter of Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney, has been a leading party critic of Obama during the campaign. But Christie's frequently blunt bombast was replaced by effusive praise for Obama's response to the crisis.\n\n\"I cannot thank the president enough for his personal concern and compassion for the people of our state,'' Christie said, as they met with storm victims.\n\nObama responded that Christie had put his \"heart and soul\" into response and recovery efforts.\n\nWhile losing its early intensity, the 900-mile-wide storm, now heading into Canada, is expected to cause lingering problems across 17 states.\n\nFlood-watch warnings remain for northern New England and the northern Mid-Atlantic; the National Weather Service has issued winter-storm warnings for the central Appalachians, along with gale-force-wind and flooding advisories across the lower Great Lakes.\n\nThe West Virginia mountains could get up to 10 inches of snow, bringing totals up to 3 feet in places. Surf conditions along the Atlantic, from Florida through New England, are expected to remain dangerous through Friday.\n\nSandy has been particularly destructive to New Jersey, where the storm ravaged coastal cities and towns Monday night after making landfall near Atlantic City. The latest storm-related deaths in the state came Wednesday night, when carbon monoxide leaking from a portable power generator apparently caused the deaths of two sisters, ages 18 and 19, at a Trenton apartment building. Residents say the generator was being used to provide electricity.\n\nMuch of Hoboken, N.J., remains underwater after being flooded by the Hudson River. An estimated 20,000 people were still stranded in their homes, encouraged by city officials to stay there and wait for supplies to reach them. Mayor Dawn Zimmer said floodwaters were receding late Wednesday night, but the city was still without power.\n\n\"We need more food, more water and more resources coming in,'' Zimmer said. \"We need more volunteer teams coming in and checking on buildings.\n\nSome New Jersey towns, such as Middletown, were experiencing gas shortages and shuttered service stations, forcing some motorists to wait hours to fill up cars and portable generators. But fears of widespread shortages and sharp price hikes have proved unfounded so far. The government is temporarily waiving some Clean Air Act requirements in 16 states and the District of Columbia to reduce storm-related fuel disruptions, which will allow conventional gasoline and blends to be sold instead of cleaner-burning reformulated fuel.\n\nNearly 6 million homes and businesses in at least 15 states and Washington, D.C., remain without power — down from Tuesday's 8.5 million — as an army of more than 50,000 utility workers from across the country and Canada arrived to make repairs. For power companies, the scale of the destruction was unmatched -- more widespread than any blizzard or ice storm and worse than the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.\n\n\"It's unprecedented: fallen trees, debris, the roads, water, snow. It's a little bit of everything,\" said Brian Wolff, senior vice president of the Edison Electric Institute, a group that lobbies for utilities.\n\n\n\nAir travel was rebounding after the storm caused more than 19,000 cancellations. Limited air service resumed Wednesday at New York's John F.Kennedy International Airport and Newark International. LaGuardia International was scheduled to open Thursday morning with limited service. Amtrak plans to restore some train service to New York City on Friday.\n\nTrying to ease snarled post-storm traffic, Bloomberg said that cars entering Manhattan between 6 a.m. and midnight Thursday and Friday must have at least three people. Bloomberg announced the restriction partly in response to major traffic jams that developed Wednesday as motorists tried to cross the Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queensboro bridges to reach Manhattan.\n\nNational Guard troops and local police were evacuating the last of 700 patients from New York's flood-ravaged Bellevue Hospital to other hospitals and local shelters.\n\nNew York City schools remain closed through Friday.\n\nMore than 1.9 million New York customers remained without power, nearly all in the New York City and Long Island.\n\nWhile Northeast power grids were being restored, backup batteries and generators for cellphone towers are running out of juice. One of every five towers was down Wednesday, according to the Federal Communications Commission.\n\nThat — plus more people relying on cellphones to stay connected — overwhelmed the system.\n\n\n\n\n\nINTERACTIVE:Superstorm Sandy blasts eastern USA\n\nIHS Global Insight predicted Sandy will end up causing about $20 billion in property damage and up to $30 billion in lost business. Another firm, AIR Worldwide, estimated losses up to $15 billion — big numbers probably offset by reconstruction and repairs that will contribute to longer-term growth.\n\nAcross the storm region:\n\n— In Connecticut, where more than 500,000 Connecticut Light & Power\n\ncustomers and 187,000 United Illuminating customers lost power at Sandy's peak, there were still 378,000 outages Wednesday evening. In New Haven, a 103-year-old oak tree that fell during the storm revealed a skeleton that may have been there since Colonial times. The tree was on the town green, in an area where thousands were buried in the Colonial era.\n\n\n\n\n\n-- Police in suburban Philadelphia say an early morning electrical fire that killed two women is considered storm-related, bringing to 11 the number of statewide deaths linked to Sandy. About 600,000 residents were still without power, down from 1.2 million at the peak of the outages.\n\nThe Department of Environmental Protection, which regulates drinking water and wastewater plants, said problems because of flooding or power loss were widespread, particularly in eastern and central Pennsylvania. Advisories to boil water were issued for several counties.\n\n— In West Virginia, utilities scrambled to restore power to hundreds of thousands of customers amid snow storms and freezing temperatures. Poor road conditions were hampering assessment efforts. The state's toll climbed to at least six, including state delegate candidate John Rose, killed by a falling tree limb as he was checking fences on his 100-acre farm near Philippi. Snow drifts as high as 5 feet were reported in Richwood. At least 36 state roads remain closed.\n\n--- In Maine, the Port of Portland reopened, but ocean conditions remained dangerous with high winds. Amtrak's Downeaster resumed service. About 3,000 Central Main Power customers were without electricity Wednesday night, down from a 90,000 peak.\n\n-- In northern Ohio, flood warnings remained for the Cleveland lakeshore area as power crews were attempting to restore power to thousands of homes and businesses.\n\n— In Wisconsin, dangerously high waves and flooding were expected along Lake Michigan.\n\n-- In Kentucky, as much as a foot of snow blanketed the Appalachians.\n\n\n\n\n\nContributing: Kevin McCoy, Elizabeth Weise, William Welch, The Associated Press, Asbury Park Press", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2012/10/31"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/01/29/winter-storm-blizzard-warnings-wind-snow-hits-boston-northeast/9267119002/", "title": "Winter storm: Blizzard warnings as wind, snow hits Boston, Northeast", "text": "A powerful winter storm continued dumping snow on the Northeast on Saturday as near-hurricane force wind gusts contributed to snarled travel, more than 100,000 power outages and blizzard conditions near major cities.\n\nOfficials banned non-emergency travel in some areas and urged drivers to stay off roads. Meanwhile, thousands of flights were canceled as the storm hit, according to FlightAware. Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey said more than 85% of scheduled flights Saturday have been canceled due to the storm.\n\nMore than 100,000 customers in Massachusetts were already without power Saturday afternoon, according to poweroutage.us, with about 85,000 Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard customers on Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard without power as of 4:15 p.m.\n\nAdditional power outages are likely in southern and eastern New England — and elsewhere along the mid-Atlantic coast, AccuWeather said, encouraging people to be prepared for long outages and to have flashlights and blankets on hand.\n\nWinter weather will spread from the mid-Atlantic coast to the Northeast coast throughout Saturday, according to the National Weather Service. The conditions are expected to taper off by Sunday as the storm moves into Canada, the NWS said.\n\nParts of 10 states were under blizzard warnings Saturday: Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. Major cities including Philadelphia, New York and Boston — as well as much of New England — are expected to bear the brunt of the storm, with wind gusts as high as 100 mph in some areas. Parts of New York and New Jersey confirmed blizzards Friday night and Saturday morning, according to local NWS reports.\n\nThe governors of Maryland, Virginia and Delaware declared states of emergency before the storm that began Friday night and had prepped National Guard members to join the cleanup. Only “essential personnel” were allowed to drive on Delaware roads in two of the state's three counties, under an order by Gov. John Carney.\n\nMaryland State Police tweeted troopers had received more than 670 calls for service and responded to 92 crashes as of mid-morning Saturday. There were no immediate reports of storm-related deaths and power outages were minimal.\n\nWind gusts in eastern Maryland made it difficult for snowplows to keep roads clear, as blowing snow could cover them again in minutes, the state's highway administration said.\n\nIn videos posted to social media, storm chasers struggled to stand while walking against high winds that swirled snow into their faces. One storm chaser on Cape Cod filmed winds whipping against trees and dunes as sand and snow sprayed against him.\n\nThe Weather Service said the powerful nor'easter further developed overnight, calling the system a bomb cyclone — another name for the process known as bombogenesis.\n\nThe storm is \"likely to be the strongest and most disruptive snowstorm and blizzard in several years for portions of New England and the immediate mid-Atlantic coast,\" AccuWeather said.\n\nWHAT IS A NOR'EASTER:Storms can batter East Coast with snow, impact millions of people\n\nPeople in the region woke up Saturday morning to snow accumulation already in the double digits, according to AccuWeather, and an additional 2 to 3 feet could fall in parts of New England.\n\nMuch of the Northeast coast will see snowfall accumulations of more than a foot, NWS said. Some regions will see as much as two to three inches of snowfall per hour, according to the weather service.\n\nCold temperatures and dangerous wind chills across the East following the storm may \"exacerbate an already dangerous situation for those without power/heat,\" the NWS said.\n\nOfficials across the coast warned people to stay off roads as high winds and snow create potential whiteout conditions.\n\n\"Expect whiteout conditions and nearly impossible travel at times,\" the NWS said.\n\nWHAT IS A BOMB CYCLONE?:A winter hurricane, explained.\n\nThe Massachusetts Department of Transportation warned on Twitter that already difficult travel will worsen throughout the day.\n\n\"Avoid travel if possible,\" the department said. \"If you must go out, take it slow & let crews treat/clear roads safely.\"\n\nSome coastal flooding and beach erosion is also possible as a result of the storm, according to the NWS. Waves battered parts of the southern Boston area, flooding streets with frigid water. In Newburyport, a seaside town near the New Hampshire border, officials urged residents near shores to move to higher ground.\n\nWHAT IS WIND CHILL?:Understanding the wind chill index and how it's calculated\n\nStorm may set record in Boston\n\nWhile Boston is no stranger to snowstorms, this weekend's storm is forecast to be the city's first blizzard since 2018 and may even become one of the largest on record, AccuWeather said.\n\nIf Boston sees 20 inches or more of snow, the storm could break into the city's top 10 snowfall slots, the weather service said. More than 24.6 inches could put it into the number one spot, over the previous record from January 2015.\n\nAccuWeather has forecast 18 to 24 inches of snow in Boston.\n\nPast major blizzards in the city include the President's Day Storm of 2003, which buried some areas under 30 inches of snow as Boston faced 27.6 inches, according to AccuWeather.\n\nContributing: Doyle Rice, USA TODAY; The Associated Press\n\nContact News Now Reporter Christine Fernando at cfernando@usatoday.com or follow her on Twitter at @christinetfern.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/01/29"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/local/arizona-environment/2021/01/19/dangerous-heat-unequal-consequences-arizona-florida/4175876001/", "title": "Dangerous heat, unequal consequences in Arizona, Florida", "text": "By Sofia Moutinho and Elisabeth Gawthrop\n\nThis story was produced in collaboration with the Center for Public Integrity and Columbia Journalism Investigations. It was co-published in partnership with Mother Jones, The Arizona Republic and Orlando Sentinel. Regional stories based on the heat illness data analysis produced by CJI can be found in Orlando Sentinel and The Arizona Republic.\n\nMario Wilcox won’t set out in the summer without an emergency kit in his car trunk: a cooler with an ice pack and a blanket. He learned this improvised life saver from his time in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars; ice and a wet cloth can cool down an overheated body. Now he finds it vital in the intensifying heat of Fort Pierce, Florida, and especially his heat-stressed neighborhood.\n\nMore than 2,000 miles away in Phoenix, Arizona, Grace Salinas monitors the street outside her window in a public housing complex when summer temperatures reach triple digits. A community leader in the area southwest of downtown, Salinas stocks cold water bottles for anyone she sees struggling with the heat, a situation growing more common each year.\n\nHeat-related illnesses are soaring in Arizona and Florida as the planet warms and temperatures rise. Among the hottest states in the country, none saw a sharper spike in summertime temperatures over the last century than these two. Already, Arizona is considered the hottest state in the U.S., and Phoenix the hottest city, with more than 140 days over 100 degrees Fahrenheit last year alone. In Florida, the combination of heat and humidity makes it one of the nation’s most dangerous places, according to a recent study.\n\nPoor communities are bearing the brunt of sickening heat in these states, an analysis by Columbia Journalism Investigations and the Center for Public Integrity found. Federal data capturing most emergency room visits and hospitalizations in Arizona and Florida reveal higher rates of heat-related illnesses in areas with less income. The data, never before made public at the ZIP code level, also show that the highest rates of heat-related illnesses are in neighborhoods with a history of racial segregation. Experts say racist policies of the past created conditions, never corrected, that make heat more dangerous for people there today.\n\nWinter has arrived in Arizona and Florida, attracting northerners eager to escape the cold. It seems easy to forget scorching temperatures now. But the warming planet will continue to make summers hotter and more deadly. And that means the problem requires attention year round.\n\n“You would never decide not to heat your home because it is only useful in the winter,” said Howard Frumkin of the University of Washington School of Public Health, who headed the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s climate program in the mid-2000s. Likewise, the best solutions for extreme heat — planting more trees, creating buddy systems — must be implemented consistently to be effective. If “efforts lag for months at a time,” he said, “then you lose ground.”\n\nThe response to the problem in these hotspots is as disparate as the landscape itself. In the desert city of Phoenix, grassroots groups are partnering with government officials to protect low-income Black and Latino residents from the scorching sun, but targeted and long-term solutions have yet to come. In the beachfront city of Fort Pierce, by contrast, local authorities barely recognize the threat of heat and are doing little to nothing about it.\n\nAdrienne Hollis, a researcher at the Union of Concerned Scientists, studies the effects of the changing climate on the health of historically disadvantaged populations. She notes that communities of color are often the hardest hit by extreme heat. According to her calculations, U.S. counties where African Americans or Latinos represent at least a quarter of the population — most in the South — have faced more days with temperatures above 100 degrees Fahrenheit over a three-decade period: an average of 18 and 13 days per year, respectively, as compared with roughly seven days a year for the rest of the country.\n\n“ZIP codes do determine your health,” Hollis said, “and most of that is because of structural racism.”\n\nArizona’s 85007 ZIP code, which includes both the predominantly low-income Black and Latino area southwest of downtown and the more affluent, white neighborhood of Encanto Park, had in 2017 the highest rate of heat-related illness in that state. CJI’s analysis of the federal data shows per-capita ER visits and hospitalizations linked to problems such as heat stroke, heat exhaustion and dehydration in this 4.5-square-mile area were nearly 10 times the state’s average. In Florida’s 34950 ZIP code, the majority Black and low-income neighborhood of Lincoln Park where Wilcox lives, residents came to hospitals for these ailments nearly six times more often than the statewide average.\n\nThe situation in both places has been getting worse, county health data shows. In and around southwest of downtown Phoenix, the yearly number of heat-related ER visits for every 100,000 people has more than doubled since 2010, to 129. In Saint Lucie County, where Lincoln Park is located, the rate of such visits in recent years is almost double its mid-2000s level, while hospitalization rates in the same period have more than tripled.\n\nEmergency calls to 911 in both places reveal the risks faced by residents during the summer and even well into the fall. Elderly people, overcome by heat, collapsed and injured themselves while walking outside. Heat exhaustion hit young adults as they biked or waited for a bus. Potentially deadly heat strokes snuck up on workers laboring in the sun.\n\nSalinas, 70, who grew up in Phoenix’s 85007 ZIP code, is used to seeing people succumb to the baking sun. She lost a cousin who lived in the neighborhood to heat stroke and witnessed her adult son, sprawled on the ground outside her home, go to the ER for the same reason. She knows how to identify the danger signs. \"We see people walking by looking like they need to breathe,\" she said. “If you’re not sweating anymore, you’re already in trouble.” During the summer, the tenant leader also checks on elderly people living in her public-housing complex, built in the 1940s to house Mexican Americans. She gives people tips on using the air conditioner in more economical ways.\n\nThat may sound like a constant battle. And it is.\n\n“It’s just the way of life here,” Salinas said.\n\nUnequal heat\n\nWhat’s driving this problem is inequality. Salinas lives in an area largely populated by squat houses with dusty yards that rivals the hottest spots in Phoenix. Daytime temperatures here can be between four and seven degrees Fahrenheit higher than in the wealthier Encanto, located partly in the 85007 ZIP code just three miles north, according to separate experiments conducted by Arizona State University and The Arizona Republic.\n\nWhile Encanto is an oasis full of parks, replete with trees that keep the air cooler, the area southwest of downtown, between West Harrison Street and the Maricopa Freeway, is marked by barren lots and heat-trapping cement. Mirage-like desert mountains on the horizon break up the urban landscape of highways, buildings and fences here. To make things worse, this area is one of the poorest in town, with residents who often can’t afford to run an air conditioner. Electricity bills can cost around $600 a month per family.\n\nIt’s a dangerous combination.\n\n“That’s where the inequities show,” said Juan Barreto-Declet, a geographer researching environmental vulnerability to heat in Phoenix. “That is where the vulnerability is higher.”\n\nAnd those inequities appear to be widening. State health data shows heat illnesses in this neighborhood and across central Phoenix have increased at a rate seven times the rest of the city since 2010. In Encanto, by contrast, the annual rate of heat illnesses has dipped.\n\nCJI’s analysis shows 79 people who live in the 85007 ZIP code went to the hospital in 2017 because of life-threatening symptoms brought on by heat. Around half suffered from heat exhaustion, while another 20% succumbed to the more severe condition of heat stroke.\n\nThe risks facing residents in this area didn’t happen by chance. Investments here — in trees, parks, transit — have been historically lower than in higher-income areas of the city.\n\nThat history dates back at least as far as government-imposed “redlining” of the 1930s. The federal Home Owners’ Loan Corp. mapped neighborhoods in cities across the country and graded them according to perceived risk of lending there — with race as the key factor. Areas with people of color and immigrants were marked in red and judged high-risk for mortgage lenders, starving neighborhoods of investment.\n\nThe government’s red pen came for the south and west sides of Phoenix, among the city’s oldest regions and historically inhabited by Blacks, Mexican immigrants and Native Americans. Local decisions reinforced residential segregation: Zoning regulations forbade industrial land use in white neighborhoods, funneling that development and its pollution to places where people of color lived; race-restrictive covenants prevented anyone who wasn’t white from buying houses in affluent suburbs.\n\nThese policies resulted in “relegating minorities and low-income populations to the hottest areas of the city,” Barreto-Declet said.\n\nA similar storyline has unfolded in many other places across the country — including Florida’s heat-illnesses hotspot, Lincoln Park in Fort Pierce.\n\nThe area’s first Black people were enslaved, brought by white settlers on the hunt for land along the Atlantic Coast in 1842. More African Americans moved to the region after the Civil War to work on pineapple farms and then railroads.\n\nThe Jim Crow era hardened this segregation. Lincoln Park residents couldn’t go to the same school or beach as white people. Celebrated writer Zora Neale Hurston, who spent her last years in the neighborhood, was buried in an all-Black cemetery, her grave unmarked for a dozen years. The now-shuttered African American-owned theater — one of just four in the country — stands on the main thoroughfare here, Avenue D. U.S. 1 was the literal dividing line: the “Colored Town” on one side, and on the other, the “White City.”\n\n“Segregation in the county determined where a Black citizen could live, work, go to school, fish, eat, give birth, go to church, pee, walk and be buried,” said Jean Ellen Wilson, an 80-year-old historian who grew up in the white part of town. “Black people were not allowed to come out to White City.”\n\nToday, most of the city’s Black residents still live in Lincoln Park, which remains “Fort Pierce’s most segregated community,” a 2016 city housing report states. The neighborhood is 91% African American, and a little more than half the residents live below the federal poverty line. In a county where the typical household makes about $43,000, the median income here is just $15,797. One aid agency fields 300 or so monthly requests from local residents seeking help to pay their electricity bills.\n\nWilcox sees the stark difference between his neighborhood and the rest of the city when driving in the area. Heading south on Indian River Drive, toward the Fort Pierce immortalized in paintings of exuberant sunrises and palm-lined beaches, he takes in solar panels, fountains, expensive houses. On the return trip north, he spots weathered homes and stores, their pastel colors faded, their windows boarded or covered in aluminum foil — a sign of no air conditioning or insulation. On a hot day, families keep doors open and sit outside to cool off. Friends play dominoes or catch ball on street corners. As he sees it, a systematic lack of resources explains why people here are sickened by heat.\n\n“The south and the beachfront are the haves,” he said. “And the north of the city is the haves not.”\n\nCJI’s data analysis shows that 33 people living in the ZIP code encompassing most of Lincoln Park went to the hospital for heat-related illnesses in 2017. Sixty percent were Black. That’s a lot of people for a small area of about 16,000 residents.\n\nThe legacy of racist policies on present-day heat vulnerability is widespread across the country. A study conducted by researchers at the Science Museum of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University and Portland State University looked at more than 108 cities to conclude that the hottest neighborhoods are those located in formerly redlined areas. Unpublished data from this research, calculated exclusively for CJI, shows that in Phoenix, for example, the current difference in temperature between redlined areas and other neighborhoods is more than eight degrees Fahrenheit during the summer.\n\nIn the city’s 85007 ZIP code, home to several shelters, people identified as homeless account for some of the patients sickened by heat. But even when this population is excluded from the data, the ZIP code remains the state’s hardest hit. And Black people are disproportionately represented among the heat-illness patients, CJI’s analysis shows: They’re three times more likely to go to the ER for that reason.\n\nCJI analyzed statewide data in Arizona and Florida to see whether the ZIP codes with the highest heat-illness rates were also the hottest, but the results were inconclusive. Heat maps show Fort Pierce’s Lincoln Park and neighborhoods southwest of downtown Phoenix have elevated temperatures, but other similarly hot areas have experienced fewer heat illnesses. That suggests temperature isn’t the only reason so many people are sickened by heat in these neighborhoods.\n\nUnderlying health conditions that exacerbate heat illness may play a role. In both ZIPs, CJI’s analysis of hospital data found high numbers of patients diagnosed with conditions known to heighten risk for heat stress — diabetes, hypertension, heart disease. In Lincoln Park, nearly half of the 2017 heat-illness patients were also diagnosed with diabetes or hypertension. This too can be a consequence of decades of decisions that sapped neighborhood resources.\n\nOne 2017 community assessment found the diabetes rate is three times higher in Lincoln Park than in the rest of the county, a spike that its health department has worked to reduce. Most health experts recognize the link between poverty, chronic conditions and heat, but it doesn’t seem to be on county health officials’ radar.\n\nClint Sperber, who heads the Saint Lucie County Department of Health, declined to be interviewed for this article. In an email, he acknowledged that the agency wasn’t aware of the heat issue until a CJI reporter reached out. The agency had no answer about why it had not already made use of the data on heat illnesses that the Florida Department of Health collects so its county counterparts can develop public health interventions.\n\n“The Department of Health in St. Lucie and our community partners have been informed, and as a community we will collaborate to address this issue,” Sperber wrote in a November 12 email.\n\nThe agency has taken the problem to the Fort Pierce city manager, he said. A spokesperson for that official, Nick Mimms, said in an email that the city is “looking forward … to collect as much data and information as possible in order to combat the heat illness and create a program that provides safety and protects the well-being of its citizens.” Mimms declined an interview request.\n\nGerald Newberry, 59, was born and raised in Lincoln Park and has always worked outdoors, starting as a teenager when he picked fruit with his father. He lost count of how many times he saw co-workers getting sick in the fields because of the baking sun. On the job, farmworkers with limited access to health care relied on a homemade treatment to beat the heat: a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar mixed with water. Now a landscaper, Newberry still carries a vinegar and water bottle with him. Often, he gets dizzy and feels ill under the sun.\n\n“It feels like you did bump your head, it feels sore, and you know that you didn’t bump it,” he said. “And then another thing is the headaches, heavy headaches.”\n\nHe has never fainted but fears the day he will, like the locals say, be “bear-caught,” a heat stroke that takes you to the ground like a bear sneaking in from behind. Until he recently got health insurance, sporadic visits to Walgreens to check his blood pressure were his only form of health care.\n\nToo slow or not at all\n\nCities can mitigate heat risk with steps such as planting trees, investing in new designs and cool materials, and opening cooling centers for residents without air conditioning. None of this has happened in Fort Pierce, the health department said. In one of the city’s few nods to the dangers, it prohibits residents from leaving dogs outside when the heat index is above 100°F. There’s no local law protecting people from heat.\n\nA 2016 report from the county emergency-management division at the Department of Public Safety warned that the “probability of heat indexes within the range of causing health problems is moderate to high during the summer months.” But according to the division, the county has never declared a heat emergency and, unlike hurricanes and floods, the issue is not among its priorities.\n\nCounty health officials also confirm that they don’t have any programs or policies for extreme heat. In a 2015 report, the Florida health department classified Fort Pierce’s county, Saint Lucie, at medium to high risk for heat hazards under different climate change scenarios. But the state’s actions to prevent heat illnesses are scant. Its “Beat the Heat” campaign is a 26-second video with tips for residents about how to stay safe.\n\nState health officials have long overlooked climate-related health hazards. In 2016, the department shunted its federally funded climate and health program to Florida State University, where it has no policy-making power. The program serves three of the state’s 67 counties. Saint Lucie isn’t one of them.\n\nFormer Fort Pierce City Commissioner Reginald Sessions, a native of Lincoln Park who represented the area until December, said he’d like to see more effort by health officials to help Black and poor communities.\n\n“We need to put a lot more emphasis on targeting them to improve their health,” he said. “I assure you that if we do that, we will have less African Americans suffering from heat strokes.”\n\nIn Phoenix, where local officials are keenly aware of heat’s dangers, efforts to protect residents are further along. But plans to address the long underinvestment in neighborhoods southwest of downtown have yet to bear fruit.\n\nEfforts to save lives with heat-risk awareness campaigns date back to the summer of 2009, after eight local residents died of heat stroke.\n\nEva Olivas with the grassroots Phoenix Revitalization Corp. reached out to the city parks and aquatics departments. They organized information sessions at public pools and posted on social media.\n\n“Sometimes people who live here get so used to the heat that they forget how dangerous it can be,” she said. “The idea was to remind them that the summers today are not like summers before.”\n\nMark Hartman, who heads the city’s Sustainability Office, said Phoenix is trying to be the first municipality to respond to extreme heat like other places prepare for storms. In 2018, he and other city officials launched a “Heat Ready” program that pulled together actions they had already adopted and plan to extend, including emergency relief such as cooling centers and long-term initiatives, like planting trees and using “cooling pavement” that doesn’t absorb as much heat. His office is testing this pavement in different districts across the city, including one location outside the 85007 ZIP code in the area southwest of downtown.\n\nPhoenix has set a goal to cover 25% of its land area with trees by 2030. That would double the tree canopy and require planting 10,000 trees per year on average. But the city is off track: When Phoenix planted a record number of trees in 2019, it still amounted to less than half the annual requirement.\n\nA CJI analysis of satellite data reveals a stark disparity in green space in ZIP code 85007: Forty-two percent of the wealthier Encanto neighborhood has leafy vegetation, including two golf courses. By contrast, just seven percent of the area southwest of downtown Phoenix is green. Residents have pushed city officials for years to plant more trees in vulnerable areas, and a city subcommittee recommended the appointment of a “tree administrator.”\n\nCity officials have yet to implement that recommendation. Hartman said the city is trying to map the areas most in danger from heat to target tree distribution and related actions.\n\n“We originally thought that we needed to create shades throughout our whole city and trees everywhere, but actually, we just need them in certain places, like in vulnerable communities,” he said.\n\nIn the last three years, his cabinet has worked with researchers like David Hondula, a sustainability scientist at ASU and a member of the state’s climate and health team, to develop a more complete vulnerability index. It aims to take into account not only where the most heat-vulnerable people live, but also where they are most exposed.\n\n“The traditional approaches to vulnerability don’t really reflect how people move around the city,” said Hondula, whose own research has identified ZIP code 85007 among the city’s top 10 neighborhoods most vulnerable to heat.\n\nAdvocates, scientists and county health officials have met multiple times with residents of Edison-Eastlake, a neighborhood just east of downtown Phoenix, to hear about problems contributing to heat risk. Among those they named: too few street trees and unshaded bus stops.\n\nThis shouldn’t come as news to city officials. A 2004 Phoenix urban design plan recommended the city “provide comfortable and convenient shaded bus stops.” But from her office window today, 16 years later, Olivas sees a bus stop that’s merely a sign in the sun. “Should this kind of ‘infrastructure’ be considered normal in a city where the temperatures get up to 117?” she asks.\n\nThat’s just one such example of a missed opportunity. In 2014, the city launched a streets plan that included guidelines for developers on shade and tree coverage. Four years later, seven of the project’s nine advisory board members quit, saying the city, lobbied by developers, was proposing a series of alterations to the street design guidelines that “watered them down” until they were meaningless. The project stalled.\n\n“The city is really good at writing press releases and approving plans,” said Stacey Champion, who participated in a 2018 petition to Phoenix officials about local trees, “but not so good in making sure those plans actually get followed.”\n\nHartman, acknowledging some problems, blamed a lack of funding and personnel. He said the city still “has a long way” to go to be heat ready.\n\nMayor Kate Gallego, asked about criticism that the city has prioritized plans over action, declined to comment. Her office pointed to yet another plan: a climate-action strategy it’s developing after joining a network of 96 municipalities worldwide whose leaders have committed to combat global warming. It will include heat mitigation.\n\n“Phoenix is uniquely experienced to share proven practices for building heat resilience,” Gallego said​ in a written statement. “We are still learning and have a lot of work to do, but our partnership with heat research powerhouse Arizona State University and our legacy of living with heat makes Phoenix a model for other cities who are grappling with this public health challenge.”\n\nA hotter future\n\nIf officials don’t counteract the longstanding disinvestment that endangers people in communities like Lincoln Park and those southwest of downtown Phoenix, heat risks there will worsen. A report from the Union of Concerned Scientists predicts Florida will experience some of the most frequent periods of extreme heat in the nation by 2050 as climate change intensifies: as many as 105 days a year with a heat index over 100°F. The group expects Fort Pierce and the surrounding county will endure five times more extreme heat days a year than from the 1970s to 2000. In the greater Phoenix area, such days are projected to double.\n\nThe UCS’s Hollis, who grew up in hot and segregated Mobile, Alabama, warns that people of color will bear the brunt of this change. By midcentury, if nothing is done to stop climate change, counties where Black residents make up more than a quarter of the population will experience an additional month of extreme heat days each year compared with their counterparts, according to an analysis she conducted.\n\n“If nothing is done,” she said, “we’re gonna have more health disparities, more people sick and more deaths.”\n\nBack in Phoenix, Grace Salinas has tried to keep up her usual heat outreach. Amid the coronavirus pandemic, her block watch association had to abandon its plans for awareness campaigns and other activities. She sent information leaflets to neighbors instead.\n\nThe number of 911 heat-related calls in the city last year topped 1,400. In the last six years, those calls have jumped 80 percent.\n\nMORE INFO: Heat is deadlier in rural Arizona, where help is scarce\n\nHow heat, wet or dry, affects the body\n\nExtreme heat overwhelms our body’s ability to regulate its temperature by sweating. This can lead to heat stress, which has wide-ranging symptoms like cramps, headaches and nausea. The more severe condition of heat stroke occurs when our body temperature rises to 104 degrees. That can affect the brain and potentially cause fainting or death.\n\nAll that can happen in dry heat, but the combination of heat and humidity is worse. That’s because humidity prevents our sweat from evaporating enough to cool down. Scientists assess this combination using what’s known as “wet-bulb temperature.” Even when air temperatures are hovering around 80 degrees, humidity can threaten to overheat our bodies.\n\nClimate scientists predict the heat-humidity combo will hit deadly thresholds as the planet warms. Such scenarios have more than doubled since 1979 across the southern United States, a recent study shows. Researchers found parts of Florida and Louisiana along the Gulf of Mexico have among the deadliest mixtures of hot air temperatures and humidity worldwide.\n\nChildren, seniors and people with chronic conditions are most at risk for heat-related illnesses. Those experiencing heat-stress symptoms should find a cool place to rest, hydrate and let someone know they’re not feeling well. If symptoms worsen, cover your body in cold, wet towels or ice packs. This can save lives. And, of course, call 911.\n\nSofia Moutinho and Elisabeth Gawthrop are reporting fellows for Columbia Journalism Investigations, an investigative reporting unit at the Columbia Journalism School. Funding for CJI comes from the school’s Investigative Reporting Resource and the Energy Foundation. The Center for Public Integrity provided editing, fact-checking and other support. The Arizona Republic provided photography.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/01/19"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/23/weather/us-extreme-heat-saturday/index.html", "title": "US heat wave: Oppressive heat will bake much of the US this ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nRelentless, oppressive heat will grip much of the US this weekend, with the Northeast region expected to bear the brunt amid forecasts for near-record temperatures across the region.\n\nMore than 85 million Americans from the central US to the Northeast are under heat warnings or advisories Saturday morning as officials across the country urge people to take precautions when outdoors.\n\n“Sweltering heat over the Northeast US this weekend may lead 30+ stations to approach or exceed their record high temps by Sunday, w/ high humidity driving triple-digit heat indices along the I-95 corridor,” the Weather Prediction Center warned Friday.\n\n“In terms of actual high temps, look for daytime max temps to eclipse the century mark in the Central Plains and record breaking high temps from the Central Plains to the Northeast today (Saturday).”\n\nHeat index values – what the air feels like – may reach at least 105 degrees Fahrenheit this weekend in parts of the Northeast and mid-Atlantic, aided by the suffocating humidity, the prediction center noted.\n\nThe dangerous temperatures – which experts note are becoming more common across the globe due to climate change– have led state and local leaders to take steps to help their residents cope with the oppressive conditions.\n\n“Temperatures at night will struggle to drop below 80 degrees, especially in the highly urbanized areas such as Center City Philadelphia,” the National Weather Service office in nearby Mount Holly said.\n\nIn New York, the governor is urging people to take advantage of cooling centers and check on particularly vulnerable communities.\n\n“We need everyone to be on alert this weekend, keeping an eye out for any signs of heat-related illness and looking after one another,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a news release.\n\nIn Philadelphia – where the air is forecast to feel as hot as 107 degrees Fahrenheit Sunday – officials extended a heat health emergency. Cooling centers, home visits by special teams and enhanced daytime outreach to people experiencing homelessness are available through Sunday.\n\nA heat emergency is in effect in Washington, DC, until at least Monday morning as temperatures are expected to be 95 degrees or higher, the mayor announced. Shelters and cooling centers have also opened to serve those who need them, the mayor said.\n\nSylvia Carrasquillo reacts as she sits in front of an open fire hydrant Friday in The Bronx neighborhood of New York City. Seth Wenig/AP\n\nThis week saw at least 2 heat-related deaths in US\n\nThe extreme heat claimed at least two lives so far this week.\n\nIn Dallas, a 66-year-old woman who had underlying health conditions died due to heat-related issues, a county official said Thursday.\n\nAnd on Wednesday, a 22-year-old hiker died due to possible dehydration and exposure in a South Dakota national park, the Pennington County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.\n\nThe hiker was flown to a hospital after running out of water while hiking on an unmarked trail in Badlands National Park.\n\nHighs in the area this week have been in the upper 90s, according to the National Weather Service. Typically, highs are 92 degrees in July.\n\nIn Arizona, officials in Maricopa County reported at least 29 people died from heat-related issues since March – the majority of whom were outdoors. Last year, 16 heat-related deaths during the same period in 2021, the county’s public health department said. In the meantime, dozens of other deaths are under investigation in the county for heat-related causes.\n\nExcessive heat is the leading cause of weather-related deaths in the US. The conditions climate change imposes have been making extreme weather events more deadly and more common.\n\nIn fact, heat deaths have outpaced hurricane deaths by more than 15-to-1 over the past decade, according to data tracked by the National Weather Service.\n\nMeanwhile in New Mexico, two women died Thursday after flash flooding in San Miguel County, the sheriff said in a statement.\n\nFirst-responders there found the bodies of the two women in a creek channel after seeing a car had capsized, Sheriff Chris Lopez said. A man was also reported missing in the flooding, he added.\n\n85% of US will see high temperatures next week\n\nAbout 85% of the US population – or 273 million people – could see high temperatures above 90 degrees over the next week. And about 55 million people could see high temperatures at or above 100 degrees over the next seven days.\n\nOn Saturday, “sizzling temperatures” will take hold of the Middle Mississippi Valley and Central Plains with temperatures forecast to surpass 100 degrees, the weather prediction center said.\n\nSaturday's heat index forecast CNN Weather\n\nDaytime temperatures could top 100 degrees across much of the Southwest, with some areas exceeding 110 degrees, according to the center.\n\nThe south-central region can expect to see high temperatures in the triple digits every day between Sunday and Thursday, the prediction center noted.\n\n“There is some good news in the medium range (after the weekend) as an approaching cold front brings a brief injection of cooler temps to the Midwest and Northeast, but the core of the intense heat shifts to the South Central US and Pacific Northwest early next week,” the prediction center wrote.", "authors": ["Aya Elamroussi"], "publish_date": "2022/07/23"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/12/08/winter-storm-southeast-texas-carolinas-ice-snow-rain/2249971002/", "title": "Winter storm brings rain, snow, havoc to Southeast", "text": "A winter storm that has brought havoc to airline and highway traffic across much of the nation crawled east Sunday, pummeling the Southeast with snow and sleet.\n\nAlmost 300,000 homes and businesses were without power in North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama early Sunday. Thousands of flights were cancelled or delayed from Texas to the Carolinas.\n\nIn North Carolina, more than 1,000 flights were cancelled in and out of Charlotte Douglas International Airport alone. Parts of North Carolina could see snow measured in feet rather than inches before the storm finally rolls out to sea, a forecast that compelled Gov. Roy Cooper to declare a state of emergency.\n\nIn the western part of the state, the city of Boone already had 10 inches of snow early Sunday.\n\n“This is a snow storm, not a snowfall – it’s serious,” Gov. Cooper said. “In the Piedmont to western parts of our state, we’re preparing for days of impact, not hours.”\n\nCooper warned that utility companies projected widespread power outages affecting over half a million homes and businesses. In some areas, power could be out for days, he said.\n\nVirginia Gov. Ralph Northam also declared a state of emergency, urging state residents to \"take all necessary precautions to ensure they are prepared\" for the storm.\n\nThe storm dumped heavy rains on Los Angeles more than a week ago before slamming across the southern Plains into the Southeast, leaving a swath of power outages, delayed and canceled flights and dangerous road conditions in its wake. The Southeast was next in line before the storm was expected to move northeastward over the Atlantic Ocean, the National Weather Service said.\n\nAsheville, N.C., is expected to bear a large brunt of the storm, with up to two feet falling around much of the region this weekend, followed by treacherous and icy conditions early next week.\n\nEmergency officials were bringing in extra staff and cautiously monitoring whether ice accumulates under all the snow, making travel increasingly dangerous.\n\n\"If we do, that’s going to make it treacherous to get around,\" said Jerry VeHaun, director of Buncombe County Emergency Services, which covers Asheville. \"But we're just watching the weather and making sure we’re ready to react whichever way we need to.”\n\nMore:Wintry storm brings rain, snow, havoc across USA\n\nMore:American Airlines cancels nearly 1,000 Sunday flights due to weather\n\nThe storm has already taken a heavy toll on Texas, where Lubbock was blasted with more than 9 inches of snow. Hundreds of miles to the southeast, the storm brought heavy rains and flooding to Houston. In scenes eerily reminiscent of the deadly floods following Hurricane Harvey last year, motorists across the city abandoned cars that had been submerged by high-rising floodwaters Saturday.\n\nSix Houston-area bayous had overflowed their banks and parts of Houston and Harris County got more than 6 inches of rain over the past two days. College Station, Texas, also reported 4 inches of rain, shattering a record set in 1931, according to the National Weather Service.\n\nMuch of the wet stuff moved out of Texas by Saturday night as the storm continued moving east. High school championship and playoff football games were postponed in Arkansas, and and Christmas parades in Oklahoma and South Carolina faced a similar fate.\n\nAppalachian Power, headquartered in Charleston, W. Va., began moving crews from Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan to areas expected to be affected by the storm. Additional crews will be ready on Monday to assist if needed.\n\n\"We continue to monitor the weather closely and will adjust plans as forecasts warrant,\" Appalachian Power said in a statement.\n\nDuke Energy, an electric power company headquartered in Charlotte, estimated that half a million customers will lose service across the Carolinas. Duke Energy is bringing crews in from Florida, Kentucky, Ohio and Virginia to respond to power outages.\n\nContributing: USA TODAY's Jessica Guynn and Doyle Rice and The Citizen Times.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2018/12/08"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2020/12/16/covid-19-relief-deal-winter-storm-vaccine-trump-wednesdays-news/3916790001/", "title": "COVID-19 relief deal, winter storm, vaccine, Trump: Wednesday's ...", "text": "It's raining money and snowing flakes in the nation's capital. (Well, coronavirus aid checks are *almost* sorted, and the East Coast got quite a few inches of snow.)\n\nIt's Ashley with the news you need to know.\n\nBut first, did COVID-19 create a new kind of Dad? A vaccine means more Americans could soon return to work. Dads who got more time with kids may want more job flexibility and a new routine. 👨‍👧‍👦\n\nThe Short List is a snappy USA TODAY news roundup. Subscribe here!\n\nChecks and balances\n\nLawmakers closed in on a roughly $900 billion COVID-19 relief deal Wednesday that may include another round of aid checks and other much-needed financial benefits, according to a source familiar with negotiations. Sen. John Thune, the second-ranking Senate Republican, said Wednesday he believed checks of $600 or $700 were part of discussions, and the unemployment benefit was about $300 per week. Senate leaders seemed optimistic about the prospects of a deal Wednesday morning. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said lawmakers made \"major headway\" on closing a deal that could pass the House and Senate, and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said they were on the \"precipice\" of an agreement.\n\nLet it snow\n\nAs my East Coast colleagues have been discussing jubilantly all day: The big storm is here at last. After several days of buildup, what promises to be the most significant winter storm in years hit much of the East Coast on Wednesday. Snow is likely to fall all the way from Georgia to Maine, threatening very dangerous travel conditions and isolated power outages, the National Weather Service warned. A wide swath of the region was forecast to see a foot of snowfall, and some spots could see up to 2 feet, the Weather Service said. More than 50 million people were under a winter storm warning, including the New York City metro area, where more than a foot of snow was possible.\n\nHow often should I start my car and let it idle in cold weather? Answer: Don't.\n\nWhat everyone’s talking about\n\nCalling all health care heroes: Have you received a vaccine?\n\nWhen Dr. Steven Roumpf received the long-awaited COVID-19 vaccine Wednesday, he didn't flinch, but the significance of the moment did not escape him. \"It's a ray of hope,\" Roumpf said. \"I've lost my perception of time. January feels like yesterday. Everything that's happened since March feels like years.\" Roumpf and emergency room nurse Joe Majchrowicz were the first two Indianapolis health care workers to receive the vaccine. But they aren't alone: The rollout of the first doses of the COVID-19 vaccine has gone smoothly, and 2 million more are set to be delivered next week, the leaders of the government’s Operation Warp Speed said in an update Wednesday.\n\nAs health care workers get the COVID-19 vaccine, we want to hear your stories – and see your selfies. Email me at TheShortList@usatoday.com to share yours.\n\nThousands of international adoptees lack US citizenship. They’re trying to change that\n\nPaperwork was lost. Parents were told children would automatically become citizens. Thousands of international adoptees came into the USA legally as children, grew up believing they were American citizens, worked, married and raised families only to find out they are not U.S. citizens. The National Council for Adoption and other organizations estimate that 15,000 to 18,000 adults who were adopted as children by U.S. citizens do not have citizenship. \"You love this country, and it's taken from you,\" Michael Libberton, an adoptee from Colombia, told USA TODAY. \"Every right you thought you had, you don't have.\"\n\nReal quick\n\nSuspected al-Shabaab operative charged in 9/11 style hijacking plot\n\nA Kenyan man has been charged with plotting a Sept. 11-style hijacking attack in the U.S., federal prosecutors said in court documents unsealed Wednesday. Cholo Abdi Abdullah, a suspected operative of the al-Qaeda affiliate al-Shabaab, faces six terror-related offenses and was set to make his first court appearance Wednesday in New York. Acting Manhattan U.S. attorney Audrey Strauss called the alleged scheme a \"chilling callback to the horrific attacks\" nearly two decades ago that killed almost 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.\n\nA break from the news", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2020/12/16"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/15/health/covid-19-christmas-2022/index.html", "title": "Flu and RSV hit hard and early; now, Covid-19 is starting to rise | CNN", "text": "CNN —\n\nJust when you thought it was safe for a holiday visit with your Auntie Mary and her fragile health, RSV and the flu reared their heads – and now Covid-19 numbers are creeping up again.\n\nHealth officials are emphasizing the availability of the protective measures, tests and treatments that they say will be key to preventing a repeat of the Covid-19 surges of the past two winters.\n\nCase numbers are now below those of earlier waves, but about 14% of the US population is in an area that meets the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s criteria for a “high” Covid-19 community level, up from less than 5% last week. New York City, Los Angeles County and Phoenix’s Maricopa County are among those areas.\n\nCovid-19 hospitalizations have been on the rise since early November, and older people are bearing the brunt of these serious illnesses. Hospitalization rates are four times higher for seniors than for any other age group.\n\nIn the first week of December, the US had the most Covid-19-related deaths in months. Even with vaccines and treatments widely available, the CDC reported nearly 3,000 deaths for that week.\n\nAs it stands, there have been at least 99.2 million Covid-19 cases and more than 1.08 million deaths in the US, according to the CDC.\n\nThe White House said Thursday that this Covid-19 season does not have to be like last winter’s, when there was a large spike in cases with the rise of the Omicron coronavirus variant.\n\n“We have the tools, we have the infrastructure, and we have the know-how to manage this moment,” White House Covid-19 response coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha said at a briefing.\n\nThe Biden administration has been in daily contact with state and local public health leaders, monitoring hospital levels, he said. And the federal government has medical personnel, supplies and other resources ready if states and communities need them.\n\nThe government is also reopening Covidtests.gov for a limited time so more Americans can get access to free tests. Each household in the US can order up to four at home tests that ship as early as next week.\n\nJha added that although “Covid isn’t the disruptive force it once was,” the country is prepared “no matter what the virus throws at us.”\n\nPush for more vaccinations\n\nHowever, more people still need to get boosted and vaccinated.\n\nOnly about 14% of eligible Americans have gotten an updated Covid-19 booster, and 1 in 5 people in the US remain completely unvaccinated, according to the CDC.\n\nSurvey data published Friday by the Kaiser Family Foundation found less than half of adults in the US are worried that Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations will increase this winter, and even fewer – only about a third – are worried that they will get seriously sick from the virus. These findings are based on KFF’s ongoing COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor project, and the latest survey was conducted from November 29 to December 8.\n\nOnly about 4 in 10 adults say they have gotten the updated booster or plan to do so as soon as possible, although federal data shows that the risk of Covid-19-related hospitalization is four times lower for adults who are up to date on their Covid-19 vaccines than for those who are unvaccinated.\n\nDemocrats are nearly four times more likely than Republicans to say they have gotten the updated booster shot or plan to. Among Republicans, skepticism is the driving factor. Even among those who have gotten their initial Covid-19 vaccine series, more than 60% said they “don’t think they need the new booster” or “don’t think the benefit is worth it.” Democrats were most likely to say they haven’t gotten the new booster because they are “too busy or have not had the time.” But even a quarter of Democrats surveyed say that they don’t think they need the new booster.\n\nAs at other times in the pandemic, groups who have been disproportionately affected by severe outcomes from Covid-19 – including seniors, as well as Black and Hispanic adults – were more likely than others to worry about rising cases and hospitalizations.\n\nPublic health officials have specifically stressed the importance of seniors being up to date on their vaccinations. Seniors were more likely than any other age group in the survey to say they have gotten the updated booster or plan to – the only age group with more than 50% expected uptake – but more than a third of seniors say they don’t think they need the new booster or don’t think the benefit is worth it.\n\nMost parents in the survey do not plan to have their children get the updated Covid-19 booster shot. Only 30% of parents of children 5 to 11 and 42% of parents of adolescents 12 to 17 say they have gotten the booster or plan to do so.\n\nAbout half of parents are worried that their child will get seriously ill from the flu, RSV or Covid-19 this season – but flu and RSV slightly outrank Covid-19.\n\nPrevention and treatment\n\nJha said on CNN on Thursday that people who test positive for Covid-19 should “be evaluated for treatment,” especially those 50 and older and anyone with chronic conditions.\n\nTreatments can reduce a person’s risk of being hospitalized or dying from Covid-19, but Paxlovid works best if started within days of when symptoms appear.\n\n“We want to encourage people to use those tools, and given how widespread and how available those tools are, I think if people did that, we could get through” the Covid-19 season, Jha said.\n\nPublic health officials are beginning to recommend a return to one of those tools: masking in public places.\n\nIn Philadelphia, when schoolchildren come back from the winter break, they will be required to wear masks for 10 days as a “proactive measure” to reduce the spread of Covid-19 and other respiratory illnesses, a district spokesperson said.\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 CDC recommends masking for anyone who’s on public transportation. It also suggests wearing one in other public settings in communities with high Covid-19 community levels. People who are at high risk of severe illness are urged to wear masks even in areas with only medium community levels.\n\nOther basic prevention measures still apply: Keep hands clean, and if you’re sick, stay home and do a video call with your elderly relatives.", "authors": ["Jen Christensen"], "publish_date": "2022/12/15"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/local/michigan/2019/05/09/3-m-lawsuit-pfas-water-contamination-michigan/3291156002/", "title": "3M documents show company knew of PFAS dangers for decades", "text": "A 3M environmental specialist, in a scathing resignation letter, accused company officials of being \"unethical\" and more \"concerned with markets, legal defensibility and image over environmental safety\" when it came to PFAS, the emerging contaminant causing a potential crisis throughout Michigan and the country.\n\nPFOS, one of 3M's chief PFAS products, \"is the most insidious pollutant since PCB,\" Richard Purdy stated in his March 28, 1999, resignation letter, referring to a compound used in 3M's ScotchGard stain-protection product line, among other uses.\n\n\"It is probably more damaging than PCB because it does not degrade, whereas PCB does; it is more toxic to wildlife,\" he stated, adding that PFOS's end point in the environment appeared to be plants and animals, not soil and sediment like PCB.\n\n\"I have worked within the system to learn more about this chemical and to make the company aware of the dangers associated with its continued use,\" Purdy stated in the letter, saying he was resigning effective April 6, 1999. \"But I have continually met roadblocks, delays, and indecision. For weeks on end, I have received assurances that my samples would be analyzed soon — never to see results. There are always excuses and little is accomplished.\"\n\nPurdy's explosive resignation letter is just one of a large cache of internal 3M memos and documents obtained by the Free Press through public records law from the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office. Then-Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson obtained the internal documents from the Minnesota-based company after suing 3M in 2010 over its environmental contamination in the state. The company settled the suit last year for $850 million.\n\nPer- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — PFAS — is the biggest emerging contaminant problem in Michigan. The nonstick compounds were used for decades, from the 1950s to the 2000s, in aqueous firefighting foam, industrial processes and a host of popular consumer products: Teflon nonstick pots and pans, ScotchGard stain protectants on carpets and upholstery; Gore-Tex water-resistant shoes and clothing, and more.\n\nBut the same qualities that made PFAS compounds so useful also makes them almost indestructible in the environment, giving them the ominous nickname \"the forever chemicals.\"\n\nTwo of the most common and most studied PFAS compounds, known as PFOS and PFOA, have been linked to cancer; conditions affecting the liver, thyroid and pancreas; ulcerative colitis; hormone and immune system interference; high cholesterol; pre-eclampsia in pregnant women, and negative effects on growth, learning and behavior in infants and children.\n\nPFAS can now be found in the blood of nearly 99% of Americans. It has even been found in polar bears in the Arctic Circle, as the chemicals have worked their way up the food chain from fish and seals.\n\nSome 46 sites in Michigan are known to have groundwater with PFAS levels above the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's lifetime health advisory guideline of 70 parts per trillion, a level above which a person consuming the water for a lifetime might expect health problems. And state officials have identified more than 11,000 sites in Michigan where PFAS was used and contamination may be an issue.\n\nAnd it's not just the Great Lakes State's problem. In a new study, citing updated federal government data, the Washington-based nonprofit Environmental Working Group identified 610 sites in 43 U.S. states or territories known contaminated with PFAS, including drinking water systems serving 19 million people.\n\nMore:\n\nPFAS contamination: Michigan's biggest environmental crisis in 40 years\n\nCastellanos, 24 Tigers minor leaguers exposed to harmful PFAS chemicals in past\n\nPFAS in Michigan: What to know about contaminant, exposure risk, drinking water concerns\n\nThe documents obtained from the Minnesota Attorney General's office outline 3M's own research showing its PFAS compounds were not breaking down in the environment, were having negative health effects in laboratory rats and other animals — and that the blood of employees, and the public, had become contaminated with the compounds.\n\nAs these revelations occurred within the company, 3M continued to sell PFAS compounds for use in products worldwide: in ScotchGard stain protection, Teflon coating on cookware and other products, Gore-Tex water resistant shoes and clothing, sandwich wrapping paper and microwave popcorn bags, aqueous firefighting foam and other industrial uses.\n\nFor generations, 3M kept much of what it knew to itself, not informing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — or the public — until the late 1990s, when the EPA began taking notice of the rising research outside of 3M showing PFAS's persistence in the environment. The company in 2000 announced an agreement with the EPA to voluntarily phase out its use of PFOS by 2003. It also halted its manufacture of another popular PFAS compound, PFOA, in 2000, but other manufacturers, including DuPont in its Teflon products, continued utilizing PFOA until a subsequent agreement with the EPA to phase out its use by 2015.\n\nNicholas Coulson, an environmental class-action attorney from Detroit, is using the 3M internal documents from Minnesota in his own lawsuit. Coulson represents current and former residents of the city of Parchment, in Kalamazoo County, in a lawsuit against 3M and Georgia-Pacific, final owner of a long-standing paper mill in the city that made food-wrap paper coated with 3M's PFAS. The mill left a toxic mess in its nearby landfill, and PFAS compounds leached from it into Parchment's municipal water supply. Thousands in the city have been exposed to high levels of the compounds in their drinking water for an unknown number of years.\n\n\"What we’re alleging that 3M did is really a crime against humanity,\" Coulson said.\n\n\"It’s an absolute outrage that, in the name of profit, for decades they suppressed this information, and they continued to pump these chemicals out in incredible quantities into the natural environment,\" Coulson said. \"And the terrible result of that is that some communities, like Parchment, have had to bear the brunt of it.\"\n\nSome 46 Michigan locations have PFAS compounds in groundwater that exceed the EPA's 70 parts-per-trillion health advisory level. The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy has estimated PFAS could be found at more than 11,300 sites in Michigan — fire stations, municipal airports, military sites, refineries and bulk petroleum stations, wastewater treatment plants, old landfills, and various industrial sites.\n\nSeventeen rivers, lakes, streams and ponds throughout Michigan have \"do not eat\" fish advisories, or limitations on consumption of fish, because of PFOS contamination, including Saginaw Bay, Lake St. Clair and portions of the Au Sable, Huron, Flint, Saginaw and St. Joseph rivers.\n\nLetter cites delays, unkept promises\n\nPurdy, in his resignation letter to 3M, listed repeated instances when his urgency on PFOS was met with delays and unkept promises that the company would conduct further, clarifying studies. He referenced an \"8e report\" 3M had made to the EPA in May 1998. Under the federal Toxic Substances Control Act, Section 8e, a chemical manufacturer who discovers its chemical poses \"a substantial risk of injury to health or the environment shall immediately inform the (EPA) Administrator of such information.\"\n\n\"There is tremendous concern within EPA, the country, and the world about persistent bioaccumulative chemicals such as PFOS,\" Purdy stated in the letter.\n\n\"Just before that submission we found PFOS in the blood of eaglets — eaglets still young enough that their only food consisted of fish caught in remote lakes by their parents. This finding indicates a widespread environmental contamination and food chain transfer and probable bioaccumulation and bio-magnification. This is a very significant finding that the 8e reporting rule was created to collect.\n\n\"3M chose to report simply that PFOS had been found in the blood of animals, which is true but omits the most significant information.\"\n\nPurdy later in his resignation letter added that \"3M waited too long to tell customers about the widespread dispersal of PFOS in people and the environment.\"\n\n\"3M continues to make and sell these chemicals, though the company knows of an ecological risk assessment I did that indicates there is a better than 100% probability that perfluorooctansulfonate (PFOS) is biomagnifying in the food chain and harming sea mammals. This chemical is more stable than many rocks. ...\n\n\"3M told those of us working on the fluorochemical project not to write down our thoughts or have email discussions on issues because of how our speculations could be viewed in a legal discovery process. This has stymied intellectual development on the issue, and stifled discussion on the serious ethical implications of decisions.\"\n\nPurdy concluded his resignation letter with this paragraph:\n\n\"I have worked to the best of my ability within the system to see that the right actions are taken on behalf of the environment. At almost every step, I have been assured that action will be taken — yet I see slow or no results. I am told the company is concerned, but their actions speak to different concerns than mine. I can no longer participate in the process that 3M has established for the management of PFOS and precursors. For me it is unethical to be concerned with markets, legal defensibility and image over environmental safety.\"\n\nFree Press attempts to reach Purdy for comment were unsuccessful.\n\nCompany's deception spanned decades\n\nDr. William Guy, at the University of Florida College of Medicine, was puzzled.\n\nIt was 1975, and he and colleagues at other universities had discovered unusual levels of fluorine in human blood — blood bank contributions from donors in both Texas and New York had it in sample after sample. It couldn’t be explained by naturally occurring fluorine, or by the fluoridation of water.\n\nGuy reached out to 3M, maker of fluorinated compounds that had become ubiquitous in waterproofing, stain-guarding and nonstick consumer products, to see what the company thought.\n\nIn a confidential, internal company message between 3M officials, one, G.H. Crawford, suggested to “plead ignorance,” and wondered whether they could spin it as a helpful health benefit.\n\n“On the positive side — if it is confirmed to our satisfaction that everybody is going around with fluorocarbon surfactants in their bloodstreams with no apparent ill effects, are there some medical possibilities that would bear looking into?,” such as whether the slippery substances improved arterial sclerosis or kidney blockage, he asked.\n\nCrawford further suggested conducting animal studies along those lines that could later prove useful “from a defensive point of view.”\n\nThe internal company documents show that as evidence mounted of PFAS compounds persisting in the environment and causing health problems in animal studies, company officials took no action to inform the EPA or the public:\n\nA document showed PFAS compounds were found to cause toxicity in lab rats all the way back in a company study in 1950.\n\nStudies of fish, rats and monkeys indicating health concerns dated to the mid-1970s. Later, company officials found PFAS compounds in their employees' blood, and a tie to increased testicular cancer.\n\nA 1978 study showed one of 3M’s commonly used PFAS compounds “was found to be completely resistant to biodegradation.”\n\nIt wasn’t until the late 1990s that 3M shared those concerns with the EPA. The EPA in 2006 cited 3M for 244 violations of the Toxic Substances Control Act, accusing 3M of failing to notify the agency about new chemicals and of late reporting of \"substantial risk information.\" 3M’s fine was $1.52 million — about 0.3% of its annual sales revenues from PFAS compounds.\n\n\"3M had really, really sufficient notice to know that, one, these things don’t go away, they build up and build up and build up, both in the environment and the body, and two, that they cause really harmful effects,\" Coulson said.\n\n\"3M continued to make and sell (PFAS) for all of these purposes, while ignoring — or even actively suppressing — the risks.\"\n\n3M responded to Free Press requests for an interview with an emailed statement: \"3M has dedicated substantial time and resources to researching PFAS and, to that end, we have invested more than $600 million on research, technology, and clean-up efforts related to PFAS. As a responsible steward of our community, we have a record of sharing information we learn with government regulators, the scientific community, as well as local and federal officials.\n\n\n\n\"The small set of documents from the Minnesota litigation portrays an incomplete and misleading story that distorts the full record regarding 3M’s actions with respect to PFOA and PFOS, as well as who we are as a company. 3M acted responsibly in connection with products containing PFAS and we will vigorously defend our environmental stewardship.\"\n\nThough 3M's 2000 agreement with the EPA to phase out PFOS meant the loss of its popular ScotchGard products — a $300 million a year revenue-maker — that still represented only 2% of the chemical giant's total sales. The company in the fourth quarter of 2018 reported $7.9 billion in sales, its products include Scotch tape and Post-It Notes.\n\nStudy after study signaled toxicity\n\nA confidential 3M interoffice memo dated May 10, 1978, described a meeting that occurred two days earlier, in which company officials discussed the results of studies in which laboratory rats were exposed to three different PFAS compounds over 90 days.\n\n\"Results indicate that FC-95, FM-3422 and FC-143 are toxic,\" the memo states.\n\nBut then company officials decided not to report the finding to the EPA.\n\n\"After a review of the data and a review of the March 16, 1978, EPA guidelines for reporting substantial risk under the Toxic Substances Control Act, it was decided that the toxicity of FC-95, FM-3422 and FC-143 does not constitute a substantial risk and should not be reported at this time,\" the memo states.\n\nOther 3M documents show FC-95 and FC-143 were PFOA-containing industrial surfactants sold by the company under the Fluorad brand. How the third compound was sold and used is unclear.\n\nA year later, in a 3M memo dated July 6, 1979, an employee named M.T. Case sounded an alarm to colleagues.\n\n\"I believe it is paramount to begin now an assessment of the potential (if any) of long term (carcinogenic) effects for these compounds, which are known to persist for a long time in the body and thereby give long-term chronic exposure,\" he stated.\n\nIn a 2005 study, Marvin T. Case was listed as being with 3M's medical department in Corporate Toxicology and Regulatory Services.\n\nIn 1981, citing internal research showing PFAS compounds were causing birth defects in rats, 3M moved 25 female employees \"of childbearing potential\" off production lines at its Decatur, Alabama, plant \"as a precautionary measure.\"\n\nAnother document describes a crisis between 3M and one of its principal clients, DuPont, which used 3M's PFOA in the manufacturing of DuPont's Teflon products, including nonstick cookware.\n\nDuPont was worried that because of internal research findings of increased incidences of tumors in rats fed the PFAS compound FC-143 — PFOA — over 24 months, \"they may be obliged under their policy to call FC-143 a carcinogen in animals.\"\n\nThough a 3M researcher identified as \"Dr. King\" acknowledged \"the increased incidence of mammary and testicular tumors under these particular experimental conditions,\" he maintained his conclusion that \"FC-143 is not considered to be carcinogenic.\"\n\nA large-scale health study of people exposed to PFOA from long-term releases from a DuPont Teflon factory in West Virginia, done as part of a $671 million lawsuit settlement between DuPont and spin-off company Chemours and thousands of class-action litigants, concluded in 2012 \"that there is a probable link between exposure to C8 (also known as PFOA) and testicular cancer and kidney cancer.\"\n\nAnother, undated, document, \"Draft Memorandum on Fluorochemicals in Human Blood,\" described how 3M employees were documented to have PFOS, a PFAS compound, in their blood serum — even employees who were not exposed to the compound on the job. Company researchers then examined blood from 21 different U.S. blood banks, including one in Grand Rapids, and again found PFOS.\n\nThe researchers then expanded the scope, looking at blood samples taken earlier in the 1990s, and in the '80s, '70s, '60s, from places such as Sweden and the rural provinces of China. The compounds showed up in the blood again and again. The only sample groups to come up with no detection of PFOS: 10 vials of blood taken from U.S. military recruits during the Korean War era, from 1948 to 1951.\n\n\"Organic fluorine has been noted in human serum since the late 1960s. We have now identified PFOS as a part of this organic fluorine fraction,\" the memo states.\n\n\"PFOS related materials were not produced commercially prior to 1948, and only in small quantities for several years thereafter. It is not surprising that samples from 1948 to 1951 show undetectable levels. There was clearly an increase 20 years later.\"\n\nDespite these revelations, 3M pressed on with its production and sale of PFAS compounds.\n\nIn a March 29, 2008, slideshow presentation, John Butenhoff of 3M's medical division outlined the value in the company continuing to study the toxicological effects of its legacy fluorochemicals One of the bullet items was \"Defensive Barriers to Litigation.\"\n\nJennifer Field, a professor of environmental and molecular toxicology at Oregon State University, served on the science advisory board for former Gov. Rick Snyder's Michigan PFAS Action Response Team. She has been a leading researcher on PFAS since the late 1990s, as 3M revealed much more of its findings on the compounds' environmental persistence and health effects to the EPA, and agreed to phase out PFOS and PFOA.\n\nField noted that much of her research is funded by taxpayers, through the federal or state governments.\n\n\"We have to spend a lot of taxpayer dollars to learn what a chemical company knows,\" she said.\n\nQuestions about toxic firefighting foam\n\nOne of 3M's popular uses of PFAS compounds was Light Water, an aqueous firefighting foam, or AFFF. It is use of that product that has led to PFAS groundwater contamination at hundreds of military installations across the U.S., and perhaps thousands of other locations — fire stations, municipal airports, even the locations of long-ago fires where the foam was used only once.\n\nIn the 3M internal documents is a June 3, 1988, letter to a 3M official from Boots & Coots Fire & Protective Equipment Inc., based in Oakland, California. Officials blasted the company after learning what they'd been told for years in 3M literature and manufacturer presentations — that firefighting foam breaks down in nature — wasn't true.\n\nA Sacramento fire protection unit had learned 3M's fire foam wasn't biodegradable in a phone call with a \"'PhD scientist chemist' by the name of Eric Reimer (his last name is actually Reiner) at the 3M company,\" Boots & Coots executives Jim Devonshire and Bill Walton stated in the letter.\n\nAfter this information was revealed, the Sacramento District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers then required Boots & Coots employees filling a foam tank to wear protective gear, as the firefighting foam was now considered \"a dangerous, harmful liquid,\" the men stated.\n\n\"This statement was based upon information given by Eric (Reiner) and data sheets supplied by the 3M Company to the Corps of Engineers.\"\n\nThe men asked 3M for \"a full and complete disclosure of the toxic, chemical and biodegradability effects of the 3M AFFF concentrates.\"\n\nIn an email to 3M colleagues that Dec. 30, Reiner, who worked in the company's Environmental Engineering and Pollution Control division, sounded further alarms on the company's firefighting foam.\n\n\"I don’t think it is in 3M’s long-term interest to perpetuate the myth that these fluorochemical surfactants are biodegradable,\" Reiner stated. \"It is probable that this misconception will eventually be discovered, and when that happens, 3M will likely be embarrassed, and we and our customers may be fined and forced to immediately withdraw products from the market.\"\n\nA response from Don Ricker in 3M's Specialty Chemical Division stated that any additional experiments on the biodegradability of the firefighting foam needed to have samples submitted through him.\n\n\"BY MEANS OF THIS MEMO I AM NOTIFYING E. REINER THAT MIKE KILLIAN, JON CHASMAN ARE THE RESPONSIBLE PARTIES FOR THE SURFACTANT LINE OF PRODUCTS,\" Ricker's email states.\n\nThe pressure to phase out PFAS\n\nBy the late 1990s, as scientific knowledge continued to expand on PFAS compounds' persistence, and under intensifying pressure from the EPA, 3M officials prepared to announce they would voluntarily phase out and find substitutes for PFOS and their lucrative ScotchGard stain protectant lines. The company would also largely stop manufacturing PFOA compounds, but sold the rights to DuPont to continue using it in the making of its Teflon products. DuPont would continue to use PFOA until 2015.\n\nIn a Feb. 26, 1998, document entitled \"FDA Communications Plan,\" 3M officials discussed their rollout of information to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition and the EPA. The document illustrates what federal officials hadn't yet been told about what 3M knew.\n\n\"Intent to have orderly exit from the market,\" is one of the bullet points in the plan.\n\n\"Disclose metabolism study and general finding of PFOS in sera,\" or human blood.\n\n\"Provide summary of existing tox testing and planned tox testing.\"\n\n\"Provide summary of 3M plant worker studies\"\n\n\"Address pending microwave popcorn petition.\"\n\nThis was an apparent reference to a late-1990s petition to the FDA by 3M to allow PFOS as a grease-resistant component of microwave popcorn bags. It was not until 2011 that the FDA worked out with chemical manufacturers a voluntary phaseout of PFOA in food contact paper.\n\nLater in the document, they discuss when to do their \"8e disclosure\" to the EPA, the requirement under the Toxic Substances Control Act to report serious environmental or health problems associated with one of their chemicals \"immediately.\"\n\n\"TSCA 8(e) submission completed. Describes only metabolism study and finding of FC (fluorocarbons) in sera (human blood),\" the plan states.\n\n\"Plan:\n\n- File 8(e) on or before 3/6/98\n\n- Call EPA in advance of submission\n\n- Arrange meeting for full disclosure — late March, early April.\"\n\nUnder a heading, \"Issues associated with 8e filing,\" 3M officials listed, \"Public disclosure (environmental activist, regulatory newsletters).\"\n\nSandy Wynn-Stelt learned in 2017 that the well water in her home in Belmont contained up to 76,000 parts per trillion of PFAS compounds, emanating in groundwater from an old Wolverine World Wide shoe and leather company landfill across the street. The EPA has a health advisory limit for PFOS and PFOA in water of 70 parts per trillion.\n\n3M provided Wolverine's ScotchGard waterproofing chemicals.\n\nWynn-Stelt lost her husband to liver cancer in 2016, and has PFAS compounds in her blood at 750 times the level of the average American.\n\nShe reflected on the proof that 3M knew about the persistence and harms of PFAS for years before it made that information available to regulators and the public.\n\n\"None of us would raise our kids to be that way,\" she said. \"If you make something, and it turns out that it’s dangerous, then I think you have a responsibility to own that, and to do what you can to protect people from that.\"\n\nIn the Kent County city of Rockford, Jill Osbeck also learned her home's well water has PFAS compounds at levels hundreds of times higher than the EPA guidelines, also from a Wolverine World Wide landfill groundwater plume. She reacted with outrage when she learned of 3M's foreknowledge of problems associated with PFAS.\n\n\"Why would you put people’s lives at stake like that?\" she said. \"It’s incomprehensible to me that you would, for a dollar.\"\n\nContact Keith Matheny: 313-222-5021 or kmatheny@freepress.com. Follow on Twitter @keithmatheny.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2019/05/09"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/2016/12/14/polar-vortex-cold-blast-snowstorm/95420726/", "title": "Polar Vortex arrives but its 2nd wave may be even more brutal", "text": "Doyle Rice\n\nUSA TODAY\n\nThanks to another unwelcome visit from the Polar Vortex, dangerous, life-threatening cold temperatures and fierce winds will spread across much of the Midwest and Northeast over the next several days.\n\nA snowstorm will also add to the wintry misery for parts of the northern U.S. with blizzard conditions possible in some areas.\n\nThe cold will come in two waves, the first Wednesday and Thursday and the second — which could be even more brutal — over the weekend.\n\nSome locations could experience their coldest December temperatures in several years, the Weather Channel said, and a few record lows may be threatened.\n\nThe beleaguered northern Plains and Upper Midwest will again bear the brunt of the icy onslaught: \"Dangerous to life-threatening\" wind chill temperatures to 45 below zero are forecast Friday night through Sunday morning in parts of the Dakotas, the National Weather Service said.\n\nWind chills this cold can cause frostbite in less than 10 minutes, the weather service said.\n\nThe fierce cold is thanks to the Polar Vortex, which is seeping down from its rightful place in the Arctic. Though the vortex has been around for a few billion years and understood by scientists for several decades, it only entered the popular lexicon as a synonym for miserably cold weather a few years ago.\n\nFirst blast\n\nThe first assault is spreading across the northern Plains and Midwest on Wednesday, where temperatures by Thursday morning will dip below zero in cities such as Minneapolis and Milwaukee.\n\nA wind chill temperature of 38 degrees below zero was recorded Wednesday morning in Langdon, N.D., according to the weather service.\n\nThe weather service issued a wind chill advisory Wednesday for all of North Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin, and parts of Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania.\n\nBelow-zero wind chills are likely for most of those areas for much of Wednesday and into Thursday.\n\nThe cold will finally make it to the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic by Thursday. Temperatures will not rise out of the 20s along the Interstate 95 corridor, from Boston to Washington D.C., on Thursday and Friday, the Weather Channel predicts.\n\nSecond blast\n\nA second round of hideous cold, perhaps even more intense than the first blast, will dive into the central U.S. on Saturday and Sunday.\n\nBelow-normal temperatures are likely this weekend and into Monday across the entire northern half of the country, from the Pacific Northwest to Maine and as far south as Texas, Arkansas and Virginia, the Climate Prediction Center said.\n\nAfternoon readings won't rise above zero in the northern Plains, upper Midwest and western Great Lakes both weekend days, including Minneapolis and Fargo, N.D.\n\nChilly temperatures will reach down all the way to Texas. After seeing temperatures near 70 degrees on Saturday, the high temperature in Dallas on Sunday will only be near freezing.\n\nThe Northeast and Mid-Atlantic will be dealt a glancing blow from this cold blast by early next week.\n\nThe good news is that moderating temperatures are forecast for much of the central and eastern U.S. just before Christmas, AccuWeather said.\n\nSnow too!\n\nAlong with the cold, a sprawling storm will deliver a messy mix of snow and ice Thursday to Saturday along a 1,200 swath from the Rockies to the Mid-Atlantic states.\n\nCities such as Denver, Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo and Syracuse will all have to deal with shovel-able snow, as much as a half-foot in spots.\n\nBlizzard conditions could develop in major hubs such as Denver and Chicago, AccuWeather said.\n\nLake-effect snow will also bury the typical snow-belt regions of the Great Lakes. As much as three feet is forecast for portions of New York State near Watertown.\n\nLight snow and freezing rain will also create travel headaches for the big cities of the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic by Saturday.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2016/12/14"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nhl/rangers/2021/12/09/why-jacob-troubas-hits-part-game-we-love-and-hate/6447926001/", "title": "Why Jacob Trouba's hits are a part of the game that we love and hate", "text": "So you love big hits but hate seeing players get hurt?\n\nYou’re not alone.\n\nFor many hockey fans, an open-ice collision is one of the most exciting parts of the game. And few players in the NHL are more adept at executing a momentum-building, bone-crunching check as New York Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba.\n\nWe’ve seen it in each of his past two games, with Chicago’s Jujhar Khaira and Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon bearing the brunt of the blows.\n\nMacKinnon briefly exited Wednesday’s contest, a 7-3 win for the Avalanche, but returned for the third period and is presumably healthy.\n\nFollow every game: Latest NHL Scores and Schedules\n\nA much more alarming scene came Tuesday in Chicago, with Khaira laying motionless on the ice before being taken away on a stretcher and rushed to the hospital.\n\n\"Very scary,\" Trouba said. \"I exchanged text messages with him after and checked in. He was telling me he's doing okay, so that's good to see. But obviously no one wants to see that. No one plays the game to see guys get injured or injure guys. And that was very unfortunate. It's a tough situation for everyone. I hope he recovers fast.\"\n\nThe league took no issue with either hit, which comes as no surprise. Neither hit clearly violated any rules.\n\nFor it to be considered charging, Trouba would have had to leave his feet in a jumping motion or traveled an excessive distance to deliver the blow, which he did not.\n\nHe also didn’t extend his elbow or check from behind. He led with his shoulder and hit both players straight on.\n\nThe primary concern is contact to the head. On the hit against Khaira, in particular, there did appear to be incidental contact with the chin as Trouba drove toward his chest. But the rulebook states that an illegal check occurs when \"the head was the main point of contact and such contact to the head was avoidable.\"\n\nIt's a stretch to portray what Trouba was doing as head-hunting. A look at the unsettling replay shows that Khaira lost control of the puck at his feet, which caused him to look down and lower his head in the process. At the same time, Trouba was bending his knees and lowering his shoulder to administer the hit.\n\nThose simultaneous movements created the perfect storm for a dangerous collision, but multiple league sources told lohud.com, part of the USA TODAY Network, that they believe Trouba's technique was textbook.\n\n\"I don't think it was malicious,\" Trouba said. \"I don't think I jumped. I stayed on my feet, tried to tuck my shoulder and put it in their chest. That's how I was taught how to hit. That’s the cleanest way I know how to hit, and that's what I try to do.\"\n\nThe old adage is to keep your head up, because looking down leaves you in a vulnerable position. Players are instructed to use their body when fighting for possession, which means removing your opponent from the puck with brute force.\n\nAs Trouba pointed out, \"It's a fast-paced game,\" which makes adjusting in the extremely short time it takes an opponent to drop their head nearly impossible.\n\n\"It's easy to slow down and let your brain think when it's going half speed,\" he added. \"But you're in the middle of the game.\"\n\nEven if the opponent has their head up, those type of hits have the potential for disaster. Whiplash can cause their head to smack into the ice, which can lead to a concussion — or worse.\n\nKnowing what we know now about head trauma and the life-altering effects it can cause, the question needs to be asked: Is the risk worth the reward?\n\nPlacing the burden on players to calculate the odds of an injury in a fraction of a second is unfair and unreasonable. The truth is, the only way to ensure fewer head injuries would be to eliminate open-ice hits altogether.\n\nOf course, that would completely change the way the sport is played. And as someone who loves the game — including the physicality of it — that's a difficult sell.\n\nIt would also feel hypocritical for a league that allows players to literally punch each other in the head. Fighting is part of hockey, too — except, unlike hitting, it does not occur within the flow of the game.\n\nHow can we ask players not to throw checks while continuing to allow them to throw punches? Again, a very tough sell.\n\nFollowing Trouba's hits on both Khaira and MacKinnon, he was challenged to drop the gloves and engaged. The ironic response to what the NHL Department of Player Safety considered a clean hit was to risk further injury by fighting.\n\nFor Trouba — and countless others — it's an accepted reality.\n\n\"I don't have an issue with it,\" he said. \"Do I think you have to defend yourself if the hit is deemed clean? No. Do I have a problem standing up for myself if someone wants to stand up for the teammate? No. I also don't have an issue with that. It is what it is.\"\n\nIf there's a good solution out there, I haven't heard it.\n\nThere's little doubt that Trouba's hits were executed within the rules, but even less doubt that they put his opponents in danger. Unfortunately, the players accept those risks when they step onto the ice and are mostly left to police it themselves.\n\n\"I don't think I have a reputation as a dirty hitter,\" Trouba said. \"I think I play the game hard. I play pretty close to the edge, but I try not to go over the edge. It's unfortunate to see and something that nobody ever wants to see.\"\n\nVincent Z. Mercogliano is the New York Rangers beat reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Read more of his work at lohud.com/sports/rangers/ and follow him on Twitter @vzmercogliano.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/12/09"}]}
{"question_id": "20230203_3", "search_time": "2023/02/04/11:55", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/14/tech/north-korean-hackers-cryptocurrency/index.html", "title": "North Korean hackers said to have stolen nearly $400 million in ...", "text": "New York CNN Business —\n\nNorth Korean hackers stole nearly $400 million worth of cryptocurrency in 2021, making it one of the most lucrative years to date for cybercriminals in the severely isolated country, according to a new report.\n\nHackers launched at least seven different attacks last year, primarily targeting investment firms and centralized exchanges with a variety of tactics, including phishing, malware and social engineering, according to the report from Chainalysis, a firm that tracks cryptocurrency. The cybercriminals worked to gain access to organizations’ “hot” wallets — digital wallets that are connected to the internet — and then move funds into DPRK-controlled accounts.\n\nThe thefts are the latest indication that the heavily sanctioned country continues to rely on a network of hackers to help fund its domestic programs. A confidential United Nations report previously accused the regime of North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, of conducting “operations against financial institutions and virtual currency exchange houses” to pay for weapons and keep North Korea’s economy afloat.\n\nLast February, the US Justice Department charged three North Koreans for conspiring to steal more than $1.3 billion from banks and companies around the world and orchestrating digital heists of cryptocurrency.\n\n“North Korea is, in most respects, cut off from the global financial system by a long sanctions campaign by the US and foreign partners.” said Nick Carlsen, analyst at blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs. “As a result they have taken to the digital battlefield to steal crypto in, essentially, [a] bank robbery at the speed of the internet, to fund weapons programs, nuclear proliferation and other destabilizing activities.”\n\nThe North Korean hacking efforts have benefited from the surging value of cryptocurrencies. The rise in cryptocurrency prices and usage has generally made digital assets increasingly attractive to malicious actors, leading to more blockbuster crypto heists in 2021.\n\nAccording to Chainalysis, most of last year’s thefts were carried out by the Lazarus Group, a hacking group with links to North Korea that has previously been linked to the hack on Sony Pictures, among other incidents. The group has been hit with US sanctions.\n\nThere is little the United States or other countries can practically do to combat the North Korean crypto hacking activities, other than sanctions and defensive cybersecurity measures, as criminals face no real chance of extradition.\n\nAs the cryptocurrency market grows more popular, “we are likely to see continued interest by North Korea to target crypto businesses that are young and building out cyber defenses and anti-money laundering controls,” said Carlsen.", "authors": ["Jennifer Korn"], "publish_date": "2022/01/14"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/08/investing/cryptocurrency-laundering/index.html", "title": "Feds arrest a New York couple and seize $3.6 billion in stolen ...", "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": ["Sean Lyngaas"], "publish_date": "2022/02/08"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/29/tech/axie-infinity-ronin-hack/index.html", "title": "Axie Infinity's Ronin network suffers hack and theft of over $600 million", "text": "New York CNN Business —\n\nThe latest crypto hack has targeted a gaming-focused blockchain network that supports the popular video game Axie Infinity. Hackers made off with about $625 million worth of Ethereum and USDC, two cryptocurrencies, in one of the largest crypto hacks of all time.\n\nThe hackers breached the Ronin Network, an independent and Ethereum-compatible blockchain developed by Axie Infinity publisher Sky Mavis. Axie Infinity co-founder Jeff Zirlin discussed the hack on stage during a keynote address at the NFT LA conference.\n\n“We realized the Ronin network has been exploited for 173,000 [Ethereum] and around 25 million dollars in USDC,” Zirlin said, under a screen with the words “State of the NFT Union: Where we are today and what’s next.” USDC is a so-called stablecoin whose value is pegged to the US dollar.\n\n“It is one of the bigger hacks in history,” he added, while vowing to continue building. “We believe in a future of the internet that is open and owned by the users.”\n\nLast year, an anonymous hacker stole roughly $600 million in cryptocurrency from Poly Network, a decentralized finance network, in what was called the largest crypto heist in history. The hacker later gave it back.\n\nJohn Reed Stark, a former chief of the Security and Exchange Commission’s Office of Internet Enforcement, told CNN the latest hack “is a sobering reminder of just how vulnerable Web3 marketplaces are to cyber attacks.” (Web3 refers to the idea of a decentralized internet powered by the blockchain, the technology that underpins various cryptocurrencies.)\n\n“The entire web3 marketplace is so fraught with chaos and lawlessness, we may never learn the truth about what happened,” said Stark. “And unlike U.S. financial firms who must report cyber-attacks fairly, accurately, promptly, etc., NFT and other Web3 marketplaces do not have to report anything at all.”\n\nAxie Infinity is a successful web3 game in which players use NFT digital pets, called Axies, to interact with the game’s community. Players can use their Axies to battle other players and to breed new Axies. In 2021, the game’s creator raised $152 million in Series B funding led by famed VC fund Andreessen Horowitz.\n\nAccording to a blog posted to the Ronin network’s official Substack on Tuesday, the system has halted activity on networks that allow players to convert assets in the Axie Infinity universe and to convert currency between the Ethereum and Ronin blockchains. Players who keep digital funds on the Ronin network are currently unable to make transactions.\n\nBeginning on March 23, attackers compromised private keys used to validate transactions on the network, according to the company blog post. These keys allowed the malicious actors to forge fake withdrawals. The activity went unnoticed until a user was unable to withdraw funds and filed a report.\n\nThe network pledged to “ensure no users’ funds are lost,” according to the blog post. Most of the stolen funds currently remain in the hacker’s crypto wallet, the company said.\n\n“We are working with law enforcement officials, forensic cryptographers, and our investors to make sure that all funds are recovered or reimbursed,” the network tweeted.\n\nAt the NFT LA conference, some attendees just learning about the hack were unperturbed by the news.\n\n“I don’t think the coin is going down too bad,” said Justin Seeley, who owns Axie Infinity NFTs and tokens, said, referring to Axie Infinity’s Ronin token that was had plummeted 20% on the news of the hack.\n\n“Twenty percent … that’s not too bad. Other projects would be down way worse,” added Ben Wright, who also says he is invested in Axie\n\n“We’re in crypto; 20% is nothing,” said Seeley.\n\nOther NFT play-to-earn (P2E) games at the conference were surprised to learn the news\n\n“Axie got hacked!” two workers told each other in disbelief at a booth for Polker, a P2E poker game.\n\n“It worries me, but I like it,” said Conor Thacker, Polker’s managing director. “The more exploits that happen now, the less will happen in the future.”", "authors": ["Jennifer Korn"], "publish_date": "2022/03/29"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/14/business/elizabeth-warren-bipartisan-crypto-crackdown/index.html", "title": "Elizabeth Warren unveils bipartisan bill to crack down on crypto ...", "text": "New York CNN —\n\nAs federal prosecutors seek to imprison former crypto darling Sam Bankman-Fried, Sen. Elizabeth Warren is attempting to push through Congress a bipartisan crackdown on money laundering in the crypto industry.\n\nThe Massachusetts Democrat is teaming up with Republican Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas to introduce new legislation on Wednesday that would seek to close loopholes in the financial system that pose national security risks by allowing digital assets to be used for money laundering, Warren’s office told CNN.\n\nDue to time constraints, the Warren-Marshall crypto legislation has little chance of getting through this Congress. The bill would need to be reintroduced when the new Congress is seated.\n\nThe effort aims to level the playing field by forcing crypto firms to play by the same rules that apply to banks and traditional firms.\n\n“I’ve been ringing the alarm bell in the Senate on the dangers of these digital asset loopholes, and I’m working in a bipartisan manner to pass common-sense crypto legislation to better safeguard U.S. national security,” Warren told CNN in an exclusive statement.\n\nAlluding to the FTX scandal, Warren said the bankruptcy of a major crypto platform and criminal prosecution of its former CEO means that digital assets are “under serious scrutiny across the political spectrum.”\n\nThe push from Warren and Marshall comes just a day after Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of crypto exchange FTX, was indicted for money laundering and multiple other federal offenses. Prosecutors allege Bankman-Fried engaged in a global scheme to deceive and defraud customers, investors, lenders and the campaign finance system.\n\nThe new bill, called the Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act, would attack money laundering by attempting to bring the digital asset ecosystem into compliance with the existing system of anti-money laundering in the worldwide financial system.\n\nThe legislation would direct the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) within the Treasury Department to designate digital asset wallet providers, miners, validators and others as money service businesses. That in turn would extend responsibilities in the Bank Secrecy Act to the crypto industry, including Know-Your-Customer (KYC) requirements.\n\nThe Treasury Department warned earlier this year that ransomware hackers, drug traffickers and fraudsters are using digital assets to launder illicit proceeds. US officials have also alleged that North Korea, Iran, Russia and other countries have turned to crypto to launder money and even get around sanctions.\n\n“Following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, our government enacted meaningful reforms that helped the banks cut off bad actors’ from America’s financial system,” Marshall said in a statement. “Applying these similar policies to cryptocurrency exchanges will prevent digital assets from being abused to finance illegal activities without limiting law-abiding American citizens’ access.”\n\nThe legislation comes as Warren and other lawmakers are scheduled to hold a hearing on Wednesday about the crypto crash and the harm to consumers.\n\nThe bill would also force regulators to push ahead with new restrictions aimed at closing a gap for digital wallets that lets people bypass anti-money laundering and sanctions checks.\n\nSpecifically, it would direct FinCEN to finalize and implement a rule proposed in 2020 that would require banks and money service businesses to verify customer and counterparty identifies, keep records and file reports linked to unhosted wallets or ones in jurisdictions that are not compliant with the Bank Secrecy Act.\n\nOther requirements in the legislation include:\n\n- Banning banks and other financial institutions from using or transacting with anonymity-enhancing technologies such as digital asset mixers and from handling or transacting with digital assets that have used those technologies.\n\n- Extending Bank Secrecy Rules on reporting of foreign bank accounts to include digital assets by requiring Americans engaged in digital asset transaction greater than $10,000 through offshore accounts to file a report with the Internal Revenue Service.\n\n- Directing regulators to strengthen enforcement of Bank Secrecy Act compliance by establishing compliance examination and review process for money service businesses.\n\n- Cracking down on digital asset ATMs by making sure operators and administrators submit and update the physical addresses of their kiosks.\n\nThe stunning revelations in the Bankman-Fried charges underscore how crypto remains the wild west of the financial world. But it’s not clear whether the FTX scandal will be enough to prompt Congress to take major action.\n\nIsaac Boltansky, director of policy research at BTIG, told CNN that despite all the “finger pointing” over FTX, it is “exceedingly difficult” to see Congress passing comprehensive crypto reform anytime soon.\n\n“Everyone on Capitol Hill can agree that Bankman-Fried is a crook,” Boltansky said, “but when we move from the high level to the ground level, it becomes clear that legislative hurdles and potholes remain.”\n\nBoltansky said those obstacles include jurisdictional battles and the “reality that Congress tends to have a relatively short attention span.”\n\nStill, a more targeted legislative package aimed at stablecoins or money laundering has potential to get through Congress next year, he said.", "authors": ["Matt Egan"], "publish_date": "2022/12/14"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/18/tech/paypal-ukraine/index.html", "title": "PayPal enables Ukrainian accounts to send and receive money ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nPayPal (PYPL) said Thursday it is expanding its services for Ukrainian accounts and allowing them to send and receive money from friends and family.\n\nThe payments company also said in a letter to the Ukrainian government that Ukrainian account holders will be able to transfer money from their PayPal accounts to credit and debit cards, as well as to external bank accounts by linking an eligible Visa or Mastercard debit or credit card.\n\n“We believe this service will be helpful for people in Ukraine to receive money from their friends and relatives around the world,” PayPal wrote in a letter dated March 17 to Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov. “It will also help Ukrainian refugees in other countries, so they can receive money to use or withdraw in their current location.”\n\nPreviously, PayPal users in Ukraine could only send money internationally from their accounts, not receive it, the company told CNN Business.\n\nPayPal is also waiving transaction fees for remittances to Ukrainian accounts, for both senders and recipients. The change also applies to Xoom, PayPal’s global remittance platform, the company said in a blog post.\n\nMoney transferred from a PayPal account to a linked debit or credit card will make the funds available in the card’s local currency. Ukrainian users will be able to send and receive euros, US dollars, Canadian dollars and British pounds.\n\nThe temporary service expansion will last through the end of June, the company said.", "authors": ["Brian Fung"], "publish_date": "2022/03/18"}]}
{"question_id": "20230203_4", "search_time": "2023/02/04/11:55", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2018/12/18/penny-marshalls-death-leaves-celebrities-grieving-you-were-light/2351618002/", "title": "Penny Marshall's death: Co-star Cindy Williams, Tom Hanks, stars ...", "text": "Penny Marshall's death from complications relating to diabetes moved the Hollywood community to grieve on social media.\n\nMarshall was best know to millions as Laverne DeFazio on \"Laverne & Shirley,\" the gravel-voiced, gangly Milwaukee brewery worker with the tough act, soft heart and the big “L” on her sweater.\n\nCindy Williams, who played the Shirley to Marshall's Laverne, mourned her old co-star.\n\n\"What an extraordinary loss,\" she said in a statement to USA TODAY. \"My good friend, Penny Marshall is gone one in a million. Utterly unique, a truly great talent. And, oh what fun we had! Can't describe how I'll miss her.\"\n\nDirector and actor Rob Reiner tweeted that he was \"so sad\" about Marshall's passing. The two were married from 1971-1981.\n\n\"I loved Penny,\" he continued. \"I grew up with her. She was born with a great gift. She was born with a funnybone and the instinct of how to use it. I was very lucky to have lived with her and her funnybone.\"\n\nFellow \"Laverne & Shirley\" co-star Michael McKean was left speechless following the news of Marshall's death. \"I don't know what to say,\" he tweeted.\n\nAside from acting, Marshall became one of the most successful female film directors of all time, with hits such as \"Big,\" \"Awakenings\" and \"A League of Their Own\" to her credit.\n\nTom Hanks, who starred in \"Big\" and \"A League of Their Own,\" said his final \"goodbye\" to Marshall: \"Man, did we laugh a lot! Wish we still could. Love you. Hanx.\"\n\nGeena Davis, who starred in the film about a women’s baseball team during World War II, wrote, “Penny brought so much joy to so many and will be sorely missed. I will be forever grateful to her for letting me be a part of ‘A League of Their Own.’”\n\nRosie O'Donnell, another star of \"A League of Their Own,\" said she was \"simply heartbroken. She shared an ad she did with Marshall.\n\nMadonna, who also starred in \"A League of Their Own,\" shared a photo from set of herself and Marshall.\n\n\"So Lucky to have known you and worked with you Penny Marshall!!\" she wrote in an Instagram post. \"Your Talent was as BIG as your Heart! and you were a Trailblazer For Women In Hollywood!\"\n\nThe All-American Girls Professional Baseball League said without Marshall and \"A League of Their Own,\" \"the AAGPBL would still be 'the best kept secret in baseball.'\"\n\n“RIP to a beautiful friend,” wrote NFL great-turned-\"Good Morning America\" host Michael Strahan. “You will be missed but you were definitely loved and appreciated when you were here. Prayers and love for you and the family!\"\n\nFellow director and basketball fan Spike Lee, who was often spotted sitting courtside next to Marshall at NBA games, simply posted the New York Daily News' cover tribute.\n\n\"Rest in peace to my great friend, Penny Marshall,\" wrote Lakers icon Magic Johnson. \"We shared a lot of laughs and good times together.\"\n\nDonyell Marshall, who transitioned to collegiate-level coaching after leaving the NBA, wrote, \"Still remember when you asked me for my game Jersey. You said you would go around telling people I was your nephew. We always talked before and after games when we played against the Lakers.\"\n\nRon Howard, whose career track mirrored Marshall's, noted, \"She made the transition from sitcom star to A List movie director with ease & had a major impact on both mediums. All that & always relaxed, funny & totally unpretentious. I was lucky to have known & worked with her.\"\n\n\"Thank you for what you contributed to us girls,\" wrote Viola Davis. \"Grateful to have worked with you. Rest well you great Broad!!!\"\n\nBarbra Streisand tweeted that she was \"so sorry to hear\" about Marshall's passing.\n\n\"I have great memories of attending many of her birthday parties with Carrie Fisher in the early days... and she came to so many of my concerts,\" she continued. \"May she rest in peace.\n\nBette Midler said it is the \"end of an era.\" \"The Marshall family grieves again as the great #PennyMarshall dies at age 75. What an extraordinary family they were and continue to be, and how much love and sympathy my family and I send their way,\" she tweeted.\n\nDanny DeVito remembered her as a \"sweet woman.\"\n\n\"I was very fortunate to spend time with her,\" he tweeted. \"So many laughs. She had a heart of gold. Tough as nails. She could play round ball with the best of them.\"\n\nActress Olivia Munn called Marshall \"one of the most important trailblazers. Her comedic talents brought success & fame, but she truly broke the mold with her directing.\"\n\nJosh Gad celebrated Marshall and her impact.\n\n\"At a time when men dominated, #pennymarshall broke barriers as a director, giving us hit after hit,\" he tweeted. \"A League of their Own, Awakenings, & Big aren’t simply great movies. They (are) classics made by a director who was simultaneously setting up shots while breaking down walls.\"\n\n\"Farewell to the lady I imitated as a kid before becoming her neighbor years later, legendary sitcom star and BIG director Penny Marshall,\" wrote Kevin Smith. \"I got to tell Penny that LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN is one of my favorite films when we recorded 4 epic podasts at my house.\"\n\nHollywood wasn’t the only institution to pay tribute. Major League Baseball paid tribute to the director, tweeting, \"We join the baseball community in mourning the passing of Penny Marshall, director of 'A League of Their Own.' \"\n\nLarry King also remembered Marshall on Twitter, sharing a memory of her sports memorabilia collections.\n\n\"So saddened by Penny Marshall's passing. Her work entertained us for years — what a remarkable woman! One thing I'll always remember about Penny — & maybe some people don't know this — she had one of the best sports memorabilia collections I've ever seen,\" he wrote.\n\nTrisha Yearwood thanked Marshall in a tribute tweet.\n\n\"RIP Penny Marshall. You were my childhood, and forever after. Thank you for sharing your gifts with the world. xoxo,\" she wrote.\n\nMark Wahlberg shared a photo with Marshall along with a sweet message.\n\n\"Rest in peace, Penny. Such a wonderful, funny and talented lady,\" he wrote, adding a broken heart emoji. \"Without her support and encouragement, I would not be where I am today. She will be missed.\"\n\n\"Seinfeld\" star Jason Alexander fondly recalled auditioning for Marshall.\n\n\"Penny Marshall had me audition 6 times for a role and then I didn’t get it. She didn’t know that I would audition for her forever,\" he wrote. \"It was a treat to be in the room.\n\n\"Brady Bunch\" actress Maureen McCormick wrote to Marshall: \"Your comedic talent and gift for directing have forever inspired me.\"\n\nRapper Bow Wow remembered taking in \"plenty of Laker games\" with Marshall, a noted basketball fan.\n\n\"Great woman with a great soul!\" he tweeted.\n\n\"Crazy Rich Asians\" actress Awkwafina simply tweeted: \"Rest in Power, Penny Marshall.\"\n\nBilly Crystal recognized Marshall as “a great comedienne, a terrific director and a dear friend.”\n\n“Oh Rest In Peace dear Penny Marshall,” actress Rosanna Arquette posted, “we have had many laughs through the years. This is very sad news.”\n\nGeorge Takei remembered her as a person who \"brought us great laughter and truly broke new ground as a director.\"\n\nHe added: \"Neither a schlemiel, or ever a schlimazel, she shall be missed by her many fans.\"\n\nJournalist Dan Rather dubbed Marshall a \"funny, poignant, and original American voice.\"\n\n\"Penny Marshall was a pioneer in television and the big screen who understood humor comes in many forms and some of life's deeper truths require a laugh,\" he tweeted. \"She will be missed.\"\n\n“Googled this and realized after all these years ... I Remembered every word,” tweeted “Today” co-anchor Hoda Kotb, sharing the opening to 'Laverne & Shirley.'\n\n“We will miss you,” Kotb continued.\n\nRussell Crowe tweeted that just yesterday, he held a Golden Globe award from the 1930s that Marshall gave to him.\n\n\"Hadn't seen it in years. Then today's news...\" the actor wrote. \"She was kind, she was crazy, so talented and she loved movies.\"\n\nComedian Kathy Griffin tweeted a photo of herself with Marshall.\n\n\"Penny Marshall was a loyal friend, a pioneer for women in film, and true supporter of women in the industry,\" she wrote. \"Rest In Peace my friend.\"\n\n\"I Dream of Jeannie\" actress Barbara Eden tweeted that she was \"such an admirer of (Marshall's).\"\n\n\"She and a her wonderful brother are reunited,\" she continued, referencing director Gary Marshall, who died in 2016.\n\nWilliam Shatner hailed her “a true treasure!”\n\nDirector Ava DuVernay expressed gratitude to Marshall \"For the trails you blazed. The laughs you gave. The hearts you warmed.\"\n\nBusy Philipps was brokenhearted over the news.\n\n\"Rest In Peace and thank you for everything,\" the talk show host tweeted.\n\nLin-Manuel Miranda joined those in mourning, tweeting \"#RIPPennyMarshall.\"\n\nActor Sean Astin said he was reflecting on \"so many of her brilliant moments.\"\n\nMayim Bialik referred to Marshall as \"Comedy gold\" in a tweet.\n\n\"I grew up wanting to be as funny as Penny Marshall,\" she wrote, \"and had the pleasure of meeting her a few times.\"\n\nActor James Woods, who was featured in Marshall's 2001 film \"Riding in Cars with Boys,\" remembered her as one of his \"dearest friends.\"\n\n\"I loved her,\" he continued. \"Funny, warm, a true individual and remarkable talent.\"\n\n\"Blockers\" actor Ike Barinholtz reminded his followers, \" 'A League of Their Own' is such a great movie and if you haven't seen it you should.\"\n\n\"Sabrina, the Teenage Witch\" actress Melissa Joan Hart thanked Marshall for being a \"special role model for female comedians.\"\n\n\"The Marshall family holds a special place in my heart for being so kind and creative and encouraging to other artists,\" she wrote in an Instagram post.\n\nJustine Siegal, the first woman to coach for a Major League Baseball organization, praised the filmmaker for “A League of Their Own.” Marshall directed the 1992 flick.\n\n“Your movie... inspired others to play baseball,\" Siegal wrote. “You made a difference. Thank you.”\n\nComedian Christopher Titus shared, \"This news hits with amazingly deep sadness. The world lost a lot of funny today.\"\n\n\"Men in Black\" actor Vincent D'Onofrio recalled Marshall inviting him over to discuss a movie she was working on. \"She was so kind to me,\" he tweeted. \"She was so smart and funny. I will never forget that afternoon. My heart goes out to her family and friends.\"\n\n\"The Simpsons\" producer David Silverman remembered Marshall as the long-time cartoon's first guest star in the Season 1 finale. \"Great comedic actor and director,\" he wrote.\n\nCNN anchor Jake Tapper simply tweeted \"RIP Penny Marshall\" with a GIF.\n\nActor Albert Brooks remembered Marshall as \"so talented and funny.\"\n\n\"A big loss,\" he added.\n\nWriter Matt Oswalt, brother of comic Patton Oswalt, lauded Marshall as one of the top directors.\n\n\"Her movies blended comedy and drama better than anyone,\" he posted.\n\nBlogger Perez Hilton shared with followers his heart was \"heavy\" since learning the loss of the \"TV legend\".\n\n\"I grew up watching 'Laverne & Shirley,' like so many,\" he reminisced.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2018/12/18"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/08/entertainment/olivia-newton-john-obit/index.html", "title": "Olivia Newton John, singer and actress, dead at 73 | CNN", "text": "CNN —\n\nOlivia Newton-John, the Australian singer whose breathy voice and wholesome beauty made her one of the biggest pop stars of the ’70s and charmed generations of viewers in the blockbuster movie “Grease,” died on Monday, according to a statement from her husband. She was 73.\n\n“Dame Olivia Newton-John passed away peacefully at her Ranch in Southern California this morning, surrounded by family and friends. We ask that everyone please respect the family’s privacy during this very difficult time,” her husband, John Easterling, wrote in a statement on the singer’s verified Instagram account. “Olivia has been a symbol of triumphs and hope for over 30 years sharing her journey with breast cancer.”\n\nThe singer revealed in September 2018 that she was treating cancer at the base of her spine. It was her third cancer diagnosis, following bouts with breast cancer in the early ’90s and in 2017.\n\nHer rise to fame\n\nThanks to a string of country and soft-rock hits, Newton-John was already a popular singer by the late 1970s. But her co-starring role opposite John Travolta in 1978’s “Grease,” arguably the most popular movie musical of all time, lifted her to a new level of stardom.\n\nOlivia Newton-John and John Travolta in 1978 in 'Grease.' Paramount Pictures/Fotos International/Getty Images\n\nAlthough she had little acting experience (and turned 29 during filming), Newton-John gave an indelible performance as Sandy, a sweet-natured Australian transfer student who romances Travolta’s alpha greaser Danny at a Southern California high school in the 1950s.\n\nTheir onscreen chemistry as mismatched lovebirds who undergo final-act makeovers to win each others’ hearts – she ditches her frilly dresses for heels, leather, spandex and a cigarette – anchored the movie and inspired repeat viewings by legions of fans.\n\n“I don’t think anyone could have imagined a movie would go on almost 40 years and would still be popular and people would still be talking to me about it all the time and loving it,” Newton-John told CNN in 2017. “It’s just one of those movies. I’m very lucky to have been a part of it. It’s given so many people pleasure.”\n\nNewton-John sang on three of the movie’s biggest hits: the duets “You’re The One That I Want” and “Summer Nights” with Travolta, and her swoony solo ballad, “Hopelessly Devoted To You.”\n\nBorn in Cambridge, England in 1948, Newton-John moved with her family to Melbourne, Australia, when she was five. After winning a talent contest on a TV show, “Sing, Sing, Sing,” as a teen she formed an all-girl group and began appearing on weekly pop music programs in Australia.\n\nNewton-John recorded her first single in England in 1966 and scored a few international hits, but she remained largely unknown to US audiences until 1973, when “Let Me Be There” became a top-10 hit on both the adult contemporary and the country charts.\n\nA series of No. 1 easy-listening hits followed, including “I Honestly Love You,” “Have You Never Been Mellow” and “Please Mr. Please.”\n\nThen came “Grease,” which was 1978’s top-grossing movie and became an enduring cultural phenomenon.\n\nThe movie gave Newton-John an opportunity to change her squeaky-clean image. The cover of her next album, “Totally Hot,” featured the singer in black leather, while its songs had an edgier, more contemporary pop sound.\n\nHer singing success\n\nIn 1981, she took her new, sexier persona a step further with “Physical,” a dance number with such suggestive lyrics as, “There’s nothing left to talk about unless it’s horizontally.” Banned by several radio stations, it became her biggest hit, spending 10 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100.\n\nOlivia Newton-John performing on the BBC TV music show 'Top Of The Pops' in 1974. Michael Putland/Getty Image\n\nShe also appeared in several more big-budget movies, including the musical fantasy “Xanadu” with Hollywood legend Gene Kelly in his final screen role. The film bombed, but its soundtrack sold well and spawned “Magic,” a No. 1 hit.\n\nIn 1983 she teamed with Travolta again for “Two of a Kind,” a romantic comedy-fantasy, but it failed to recapture their “Grease” spark.\n\nOver a lengthy career Newton-John won four Grammy Awards and sold more than 100 million albums.\n\nOlivia Newton-John waves goodbye in the 1978 movie \"Grease.\" CBS Photo Archive/Getty Images A young Newton-John is seen in front here with her father, Brin; her brother, Hugh; her mother, Irene; and her sister, Rona. Newton-John was born in Cambridge, England, in 1948. She moved with her family to Australia when she was 5. Family Photo Newton-John and singing partner Pat Carroll pose for a photo in London in 1966. Newton-John recorded her first single in England in 1966 and scored a few international hits, but she remained largely unknown to US audiences until 1973, when \"Let Be There\" became a top-10 hit on both the adult contemporary and the country charts. Wattie/Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images After \"Let Be There,\" a series of No. 1 easy-listening hits followed, including \"I Honestly Love You,\" \"Have You Never Been Mellow\" and \"Please Mr. Please.\" King Collection/Avalon/Getty Images Newton-John is held by police officers in Brighton, England, where she was rehearsing for the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest. PA Images/Getty Images Newton-John films her first music video for her 1975 single \"Follow Me.\" Anwar Hussein/Getty Images Newton-John performs in Detroit in 1975. Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images Newton-John stars in the 1978 musical \"Grease\" with John Travolta. \"Grease,\" 1978's top-grossing movie, became a cultural phenomenon. Paramount/Rso/Kobal/Shutterstock Although Newton-John had little acting experience when she starred in \"Grease,\" she gave an indelible performance as Sandy, a sweet-natured Australian transfer student who romances Travolta's alpha greaser Danny at a Southern California high school in the 1950s. Paramount Pictures/Fotos International/Getty Images Newton-John is interviewed on the red carpet at the Hollywood premiere of \"Grease.\" George Rose/Getty Images Newton-John appears in London to announce a series of concerts in 1978. Bandphoto/Starstock/Photoshot/Everett Collection Newton-John appears with Andy Gibb in the 1980 film \"Xanadu.\" The musical fantasy bombed at the box office, but its soundtrack sold well and spawned \"Magic,\" a No. 1 hit. Universal/Kobal/Shutterstock In 1981, Newton-John displayed a new sexier persona with her song \"Physical.\" The song, which was banned by several radio stations for its suggestive lyrics, became her biggest hit. Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images Newton-John stars with Travolta again in 1983's \"Two of a Kind.\" Evertt Collection Newton-John holds her daughter, Chloe, as she arrives at a Sydney airport with her first husband, Matt Lattanzi, in 1987. News Ltd/Newspix/Getty Image Newton-John is interviewed by Jay Leno on \"The Tonight Show\" in 1990. Gary Null/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal/Getty Images Newton-John promotes her album \"Indigo: Women Of Song\" at a store in Sydney in 2004. Patrick Riviere/Getty Images Newton-John appears as a judge on the TV competition \"American Idol\" in 2007. Everett Collection Newton-John performs at a Pride event in New York in 2011. Michael Stewart/WireImage/Getty Images Newton-John is held by Nick Adams, Tony Sheldon and Will Swenson while attending the Broadway musical \"Priscilla, Queen of The Desert\" in 2011. Bruce Glikas/FilmMagic/Getty Images Newton-John celebrates at a charity walk in Melbourne in 2013. The event raised money for the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre. Scott Barbour/Getty Images Newton-John receives a ceremonial key to the Las Vegas Strip in 2014. She was launching a residency show that month. Ethan Miller/Getty Images Newton-John poses with her second husband, John Easterling; her daughter, Chloe Lattanzi; and Chloe's fiance, James Driskill, in 2015. They were attending an event celebrating the 35th anniversary of \"Xanadu.\" Bryan Steffy/WireImage/Getty Images Newton-John appears on an episode of \"Dancing With the Stars\" in 2015. Adam Taylor/Disney General Entertainment Content/Getty Images Newton-John shaves the head of Greg Chase, director of guest experience at the New York-New York Hotel & Casino, during a fundraiser in Las Vegas in 2015. Gabe Ginsberg/FilmMagic/Getty Images Newton-John performs at a festival in Viña del Mar, Chile, in 2017. Esteban Felix/AP Newton-John and Travolta attend a 40th anniversary screening of \"Grease\" in 2018. Mario Anzuoni/Reuters Newton-John performs with John Farnham at a fundraiser in Sydney in 2020. Cole Bennetts/Getty Images People in Ptuj, Slovenia, watch \"Grease\" at a drive-in movie theater in 2020. Milos Vujinovic/SOPA Images/Sipa USA/AP Olivia Newton-John's life in pictures Prev Next\n\n“I’ve had many lives in music. I’ve had country when when I started, then I crossed over into pop,” she told CNN. “I had ‘Xanadu’ and ‘Grease,’ many songs in between. I feel very grateful. I have such a large repertoire to choose from.”\n\nOvercoming tragedy\n\nBut Newton-John also faced her share of troubles and tragedy. Her breast cancer diagnoses forced her to postpone and cancel several tours.\n\nAnd in 2005 Newton-John’s then-boyfriend, Patrick McDermott, disappeared at sea while on a fishing trip off the coast of California. He was never found – an unsolved mystery that haunted the singer for years.\n\n“It’s very hard to live with that,” she told CNN’s Larry King in 2006. “It’s probably the hardest thing I’ve ever experienced, and I’ve been through a lot of things.” Although her career profile dimmed in her later years, Newton-John never stopped recording and performing. Among her highlights were guest appearances on “Glee,” a long-running “Summer Nights” residency at the Flamingo Las Vegas and a dance-club hit, “You Have to Believe,” recorded with daughter Chloe.\n\n“I love to sing, it’s all I know how to do,” she told CNN in 2017. “That’s all I’ve ever done since I was 15, so it’s my life. I feel very grateful that I can still do it and people still come to see me.”", "authors": ["Brandon Griggs"], "publish_date": "2022/08/08"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/24/entertainment/leslie-jordan-dead/index.html", "title": "Leslie Jordan, beloved actor and social media star, dead at 67 | CNN", "text": "CNN —\n\nLeslie Jordan, beloved comedian and actor known for his work on “Will and Grace,” has died, his agent announced.\n\nHe was 67.\n\n“The world is definitely a much darker place today without the love and light of Leslie Jordan. Not only was he a mega talent and joy to work with, but he provided an emotional sanctuary to the nation at one of its most difficult times. What he lacked in height he made up for in generosity and greatness as a son, brother, artist, comedian, partner and human being. Knowing that he has left the world at the height of both his professional and personal life is the only solace one can have today,” Sarabeth Schedeen, Jordan’s talent agent, said in a statement to CNN.\n\n“Beyond his talents, Leslie’s gifts of bringing joy to those he touched, his ability to connect with people of all ages, his humility, kindness and his sweetness will be sorely missed by all,” his attorney Eric Feig said in a statement.\n\nJordan was involved in a car accident on Monday morning in Hollywood and was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the LA County coroner, who identified Jordan, and a spokesperson for the LA Fire Department.\n\nJordan’s move to Hollywood\n\nIn his 2009 book “My Trip Down the Pink Carpet,” Jordan documented his move from Tennessee to Hollywood in 1982. He “boarded a Greyhound bus bound for LA with $1,200 sewn into his underpants and never looked back,” a publisher’s description of the book read.\n\nThe actor found work on television in shows like “The Fall Guy,” “Designing Women” and “The People Next Door.”\n\nJordan originated the role of Earl “Brother Boy” Ingram in the award-winning play “Sordid Lives,” which he reprised in the 2000 independent film adaption.\n\nMegan Mullally and Leslie Jordan in \"Will and Grace.\" Tina Thorpe/NBC/Getty Images\n\nHe was a fan-favorite for his recurring role as Karen’s friend Beverley Leslie on “Will & Grace.” He also appeared in “American Horror Story” and “The Cool Kids.”\n\nHis star shone even brighter during the height of the pandemic when his social media presence took off on Instagram, garnering him millions of followers.\n\nVideo Ad Feedback Leslie Jordan talks internet fame with Anderson Cooper 21:32 - Source: CNN\n\nThe platform also became a place where Jordan shared about his struggles, memories and family stories (many about his beloved mama) through the prism of humor.\n\nJordan talked to CNN’s Anderson Cooper about his past substance abuse and being sober for more than 20 years.\n\n“People say ‘Well how do you get sober, what’s the best way,’” Jordan said. “Yeah, well 120 days in the jailhouse in Los Angeles. That will sober you up.”\n\nIn one post, Jordan recalled a guard who took pity on how much Jordan disliked incarceration and informed him that they had Robert Downey Jr. (who decades ago made headlines for a few brushes with the law) in custody and would be releasing Jordan and giving Downey Jr. his bed.\n\n“Pod A, cell 13, top bunk,” Jordan recalled. “I feel responsible for most of Robert Downey Jr.’s success. Honey, I gave him a bed.”\n\nHis last posting on Instagram was him singing a hymn with artist Danny Myrick on Sunday.", "authors": ["Lisa Respers France Chloe Melas", "Lisa Respers France", "Chloe Melas"], "publish_date": "2022/10/24"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/01/health/lewy-body-dementia-robin-williams-life-itself-wellness/index.html", "title": "Lewy body dementia: What Robin Williams' widow wants you to ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nAfter Robin Williams died by suicide in August 2014, his widow, Susan Schneider Williams, would soon learn about a disease she had never heard of, but one that had haunted both of their lives.\n\nThat disease is Lewy body dementia, with which the actor was diagnosed in October 2014 following an autopsy on his brain. “A few months before he passed, he was given a Parkinson’s (disease) diagnosis,” said Schneider Williams, an artist and advocate for LBD awareness and research, at the Life Itself conference, a health and wellness event presented in partnership with CNN. “But that was just the tip of the iceberg.”\n\nThe misdiagnosis occurred in May 2014 after Robin had been experiencing severe memory, movement, personality, reasoning, sleep and mood changes.\n\nThe comedian had undergone multiple tests to identify his problem, most of which were negative. “None of the doctors knew that there was this ghost disease underlying all of this,” Schneider Williams told CNN in an interview. “When that was revealed, that was like essentially finding out the name of my husband’s killer.”\n\nSchneider Williams and Robin dine at a restaurant to celebrate her 50th birthday in 2014. Susan Schneider Williams\n\nDementia is a disorder of mental processes marked by memory dysfunction, personality changes and impaired reasoning due to brain disease or injury. The exact cause of LBD, which affects about 1.4 million Americans, is unknown. But the disease is associated with the accumulation of the protein alpha-synuclein, which is typically present in the brain and in small amounts in the heart, muscle and other tissues. Alpha-synuclein might help regulate neurotransmitters. But when this protein accumulates and forms masses (called Lewy bodies) within the brain, the effects are devastating.\n\nLewy body dementia and Parkinson’s disease dementia are the two types of Lewy body dementias, which are the second most common form of dementia after Alzheimer’s disease, according to the Lewy Body Dementia Association.\n\nBecause LBD initially presents similarly to Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease, it’s often misdiagnosed. And since Lewy body proteins can’t be tested like Alzheimer’s proteins, LBD cases are often diagnosed after death when families request autopsies for closure or more details, or to donate a loved one’s brain for research.\n\nTypically for undiagnosed LBD patients who initially exhibit movement issues, doctors first diagnose them with Parkinson’s disease since it is a movement disease. If those patients later develop dementia as well, they are often diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease dementia. More specific changes in cognitive function, too, over time can lead to the diagnosis “dementia with Lewy bodies.” Although Lewy bodies are common with Parkinson’s disease, not all Parkinson’s patients will develop LBD.\n\nMisdiagnosis and overlapping symptoms can lead to a world of confusion for patients and their families, so for Schneider Williams, finally learning the truth behind her husband’s “pain and suffering” was a “pinprick of light,” she said.\n\n“That’s when my own healing started to begin,” she said. “We had this experience with something that was invisible and terrifying, truly. And then on the other side of it, I’m left to find out the science underneath it that helped explain this experience. Robin wasn’t crazy. That was one of his biggest fears.”\n\nSo that other patients and caregivers can experience the same truth, understanding and healing, Schneider Williams has been in a “rabbit hole of discovery” and advocacy for eight years now. She has served on the board of the American Brain Foundation for six years, helped establish the Lewy Body Dementia Fund and its $3 million research grant award aimed at finding an accurate biomarker, and contributed to the documentaries “Robin’s Wish” and “Spark: Robin Williams and His Battle with Lewy Body Dementia.”\n\nSchneider Williams speaks about LBD awareness and research at the 2021 BioHive Summit in Utah. Katelin Roberts\n\n“I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t tell this story,” Schneider Williams said. “I had no idea the journey I was about to begin on. But I had to go there.”\n\nDoctors and researchers wanting to mitigate the kinds of experiences her husband endured “have a tall order,” she said, “but progress is being made.”\n\n‘Chemical warfare in his brain’\n\nLewy body dementia has more than 40 symptoms that can randomly appear and disappear, Schneider Williams said. Categorically, the signs include impaired thinking, fluctuations in attention, problems with movement, visual hallucinations, sleep disorders, behavioral and mood issues, and changes in bodily functions such as the ability to control urinating.\n\nWhat “marked the beginning of a cascade of symptoms” was when her husband started experiencing never-ending fear and anxiety, Schneider Williams said. It began to happen in 2012 when Williams started to pull back from engaging with people at the Throckmorton Theatre in California, where he would try new material out and riff with other comedians just for fun, she added.\n\nThe anxieties persisted beyond what Williams had experienced in the past and what is normal for a beloved actor living with the pressures of being on a world stage.\n\nEventually, paranoia was another significant symptom, Schneider Williams said. “It was the amygdala region of his brain that had a ginormous amount of the Lewy bodies. So that area of the brain is really our ability to regulate our emotions, particularly fear and anxiety. And Robin’s was basically broken.”\n\nToward the end, Williams also experienced delusional looping. “Your brain is concocting a story of what you think reality is,” Schneider Williams said. “And the people around you are unable to rationalize with you and bring you back into what is actually real. So it’s incredibly scary for everyone around someone who’s deluded as well as the deluded person.\n\n“As a caregiver, you feel incredibly powerless when you realize, ‘Oh my gosh, nothing I say or do anymore can bring him back to what’s real.’ And that’s a very scary place,” she said. “Lewy body – it really takes over.”\n\nWilliams was stressed by work, his sudden forgetfulness and changing personality, and insufficient sleep – which progressed to severe insomnia that removed the separation between day and night in the couple’s home. “Our house was like ‘Night at the Museum’ at night,” Schneider Williams said. Pulling him back from nighttime delusions would take hours, sometimes days, she added. “Imagined fear on fire – that is what it is.”\n\nHallucinations are “a key hallmark of LBD that can really help in identifying the disease,” Schneider Williams said, but also a tough symptom many LBD patients don’t want to discuss. She didn’t know about her husband’s hallucinations until her conversation with a medical professional who had reviewed his medical records. A delusion involves a storyline with people who can deconstruct it for you – but a hallucination is something only you see and therefore is easier to hide.\n\n“Lewy body is neurological; it’s a circuitry problem. So the chemical and structural changes happening in Robin’s brain were responsible for the psychiatric symptoms that he was experiencing,” Schneider Williams said at Life Itself. Those included depression.\n\nThe doctors Schneider Williams met with after learning of his diagnosis “indicated his was one of the worst pathologies they had seen. He had about 40% loss of dopamine neurons,” she wrote in her 2016 article “The terrorist inside my husband’s brain” for the journal Neurology. “The massive proliferation of Lewy bodies throughout his brain had done so much damage to neurons and neurotransmitters that in effect, you could say he had chemical warfare in his brain.”\n\nAntipsychotic medications were dangerous for him and made some symptoms worse, as they do for some LBD patients, Schneider Williams said.\n\nIf people experiencing neurodegeneration can still do some routines such as work or walk their dog, those “usual, well-worn pathways can provide comfort,” Schneider Williams said. When people can no longer do those things, symptoms can worsen and lead to devastating feelings of isolation.\n\n‘Every yard gained matters’\n\nNearly eight years after the diagnosis that catalyzed Schneider Williams’ research journey, she is “just now starting to really pick up the pieces of my own life,” she said.\n\n“I kind of need to go underground for a while and relocate my inspiration and my true passion, which is art and painting,” Schneider Williams said. She plans for a portion of all her future print sales to go to LBD research, and she will stay in touch with efforts related to the documentaries and the Lewy Body Dementia Fund, where she remains lead chair.\n\nSchneider Williams paints at her home in Marin, California, in 2019. Richard Corman\n\nAs Schneider Williams widens her focus while leaving her door open for LBD advocacy, experts continue their research efforts.\n\n“We’re always learning more and more about the disease, from the basic science studies looking at cells and test tubes, to animal models, to human observational studies,” said Dr. James Galvin, a professor of neurology and director of the Comprehensive Center for Brain Health at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.\n\nRecent highlights include the introduction of at least two new diagnostics, Galvin said: a spinal fluid test from the company Amprion and a skin biopsy test from CND Life Sciences. The spinal fluid test tracks misfolded synuclein and helps doctors diagnose brain diseases, including LBD. The skin biopsy test aims to help doctors distinguish between serious neurologic disorders.\n\n“To have diagnostics – that can confirm in life that someone has Lewy body disease – goes a long way both toward confirming the diagnosis and advancing research,” Galvin said. “The earlier you can start people on treatments, the easier to enroll people in clinical trials to test new medications.”\n\nThe National Institutes of Health has awarded Galvin and the company Cognition Therapeutics a $29 million grant for studying whether a new drug, CT1812, is safe and effective for patients with LBD.\n\nTo treat LBD, doctors “borrow medicines from Alzheimer’s to treat cognitive symptoms, from Parkinson’s to treat motor symptoms, from narcolepsy to treat attention deficits and from psychiatry to treat behavioral symptoms,” Galvin said in a news release. CT1812 could help the brains of LBD patients clear toxic proteins and protect against functional loss.\n\n“When I wrote that editorial ‘The terrorist inside my husband’s brain,’ I was convinced that a diagnosis wouldn’t matter anyway, because there is no cure,” Schneider Williams said at Life Itself. “But my thinking since then has completely changed. Diagnosis is everything – not just for the patients and caregivers, but for the doctors, clinicians and researchers. If we had an accurate diagnosis, we could have sought specialized care.”\n\nThe Lewy Body Dementia Association has formed a Research Centers of Excellence Program, with 22 sites across the United States, to collaborate on clinical trials, assess needs for resources and infrastructure, and develop better measures of clinical symptoms, said Angela Taylor, the association’s interim executive director.\n\n“We can’t undo changes that have already occurred,” said Dr. Samantha Holden, an associate professor of neurology at the University of Colorado and director of the Memory Disorders Clinic at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital. “But if we catch people early enough, can we prevent it from progressing?”\n\nResearch progress is being made in baby steps. When asked whether there has ever been a point when she felt like giving up, Schneider Williams said, “Oh, my God. Pick a day.”\n\n“It’s very overwhelming when you look at all the millions and bazillions of dollars that are spent on research and you think, ‘Oh my God, have we really progressed at all?’ ” she added. But with how complex LBD is, “every yard gained matters.”\n\n“Whoever has hope has many days of feeling the darkness,” Schneider Williams said. “But the thing about hope is that no matter what, you dust yourself off, you pick yourself up and you go forward. And you don’t do that alone.”", "authors": ["Kristen Rogers"], "publish_date": "2022/07/01"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/30/entertainment/barbara-walters-death/index.html", "title": "Barbara Walters, legendary news anchor, has died at 93 | CNN", "text": "CNN —\n\nBarbara Walters, the pioneering TV journalist whose interviewing skills made her one of the most prominent figures in broadcasting, has died, her spokesperson confirmed to CNN. She was 93.\n\n“Barbara Walters passed away peacefully in her home surrounded by loved ones. She lived her life with no regrets. She was a trailblazer not only for female journalists but for all women,” Walters’ spokesperson Cindi Berger told CNN in a statement.\n\nWalters began her national broadcast career in 1961 as a reporter, writer and panel member for NBC’s “Today” show before being promoted to co-host in 1974. In 1976, Walters joined ABC News as the first female anchor on an evening news program.\n\nAt that network, Walters launched “The Barbara Walters Specials” and “10 Most Fascinating People” before becoming a co-host and correspondent for ABC News’ “20/20” in 1984. Along the way, she interviewed every US president and first lady since Richard and Pat Nixon.\n\nFor more than five decades, Walters was a name to reckon with, whether speaking with world leaders on news programs, in celebrities’ homes for her regular “Barbara Walters Specials” or on “The View,” a daytime talk show in which a diverse panel of women discuss the latest headlines.\n\nBarbara Walters sits on the set of NBC's \"Today\" show in New York on April 23, 1976. Bettmann Archive/Getty Images\n\nHer shows, some of which she produced, were some of the highest-rated of their type and spawned a number of imitators. Indeed, “The View” – which debuted in 1997 – paved the way for American talk shows “The Talk” and “The Chew,” as well as such entries as Britain’s “Loose Women” and Norway’s “Studio5.”\n\nWalters left “The View” in 2014, but remained a part-time contributor to ABC News for two years.\n\n“I knew it was time,” Walters told CNN’s Chris Cuomo at the time. “I like all the celebration, that’s great, but in my heart, I thought, ‘I want to walk away while I’m still doing good work.’ So I will.”\n\nLooking upon the numerous women who had looked up to her throughout her career, Walters said they were her legacy.\n\n“How do you say goodbye to something like 50 years in television?” she said in conclusion. “How proud when I see all the young women who are making and reporting the news. If I did anything to help make that happen, that is my legacy. From the bottom of my heart, to all of you with whom I have worked and who have watched and been by my side, I can say: ‘Thank you.’ “\n\nWalters was married four times, to business executive Robert Katz, producer Lee Guber and twice to entertainment mogul Merv Adelson. The second marriage to Adelson ended in 1992. She is survived by her daughter, Jackie, whom she and Guber adopted in 1968.\n\nWalters’ big ‘get’ interviews\n\nWalters was born September 25, 1929, in Boston. Her father, Lou, was a nightclub owner and theatrical impresario, and young Barbara grew up around celebrities – one reason she never appeared fazed by interviewing them.\n\nWalters earned her college degree from Sarah Lawrence College in 1953.\n\nBarbara Walters is seen at a news conference on September 30, 1976, in New York. Bettmann Archive/Getty Images\n\nNotoriously competitive, Walters was dogged in her pursuit of big “get” interviews, so much so that there were long-standing reports of rivalry between her and another of ABC’s news stars, such as Diane Sawyer, who joined the network in 1989. That included, most recently, jockeying to land the first interview with Caitlyn Jenner, which Sawyer conducted in 2015.\n\nWalters, though, was no slacker in terms of landing major interviews, including presidents, world leaders and almost every imaginable celebrity, with a well-earned reputation for bringing her subjects to tears. Highlights included her 1999 interview with Monica Lewinsky – which was watched by an average of 48.5 million viewers – and a historic 1977 joint sit-down with Egypt’s Anwar Sadat and Israel’s Menachem Begin.\n\nWalter’s first job on air was on NBC’s “Today” show in the 1960s, where she reported what were then perceived as “women’s stories.” In 1974, she was officially named co-anchor of the show. Two years later she became, for a time, the best-known person in television when she left “Today” to join ABC as the first woman to co-anchor a network evening newscast, signing for a then-startling $1 million a year.\n\nThough her term in that position was short-lived – co-anchor Harry Reasoner never warmed to her – she had the last laugh, staying at the network for almost four decades and co-hosting the magazine show “20/20” (with her old “Today” colleague, Hugh Downs), “The View” and countless specials.\n\nShe was both mercilessly parodied – on the early “Saturday Night Live,” Gilda Radner mocked her as the sometimes mush-mouthed “BabaWawa” – and richly honored, with multiple Emmys, a Peabody and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.\n\nSometimes seen as brash, usually by men questioning her forthright demeanor, she could only shrug at the criticism.\n\n“If it’s a woman, it’s caustic; if it’s a man, it’s authoritative. If it’s a woman it’s too pushy, if it’s a man it’s aggressive in the best sense of the word,” she once observed.", "authors": ["Todd Leopold Emma Tucker Jamiel Lynch", "Todd Leopold", "Emma Tucker", "Jamiel Lynch"], "publish_date": "2022/12/30"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/iowa-mourns/2020/10/12/coronavirus-covid-deaths-in-iowa-lives-remembered/3477467001/", "title": "COVID-19 in Iowa has killed more than 6,100; we remember those lost", "text": "Des Moines Register\n\nThe numbers associated with Iowa’s coronavirus pandemic come regularly. They appear in our inboxes and on our feeds like clockwork, sandwiched between big box store discounts and emails from friends.\n\n4,706 positive cases one day.\n\n40 deaths another.\n\nOver 400,000 recovered to date.\n\nMore than 6,100 lost.\n\nIn the routine of it all a callus grows, a protection against what these numbers actually stand for — people.\n\nBehind these figures are storytellers and hard workers, Cubs fans and pie bakers, mothers and daughters, fathers and sons. Behind these numbers are our fellow Iowans.\n\nThe Iowa Mourns project is a result of months of research to reveal the stories of neighbors and friends lost to the pandemic. In writing about them, we focused on the light of their lives instead of the darkness of their diagnoses, and sought to chronicle who they were, what they did and how they’ll be remembered.\n\nIowa Mourns was made possible by an unprecedented partnership of nine daily newspapers across Iowa’s two premier newspaper organizations — the Register, Ames Tribune, Burlington Hawk Eye and Iowa City Press-Citizen of the USA TODAY Network; and the Council Bluffs Daily Nonpareil, Mason City Globe Gazette, Quad-City Times, Sioux City Journal and Waterloo Courier of Lee Enterprises. Journalists from all over the state contributed, ensuring we painted a true picture of how Iowa has changed from river to river.\n\nWe remain committed to telling these stories. If you would like your loved one remembered in this way, email me at ccrowder@dmreg.com or submit their name here.\n\nTogether, we can make certain the Iowans lost will always be more than a number.\n\n— Courtney Crowder\n\nREMEMBERING:\n\nA\n\nConnie Abegglen, 74, Merrill. Loved the color red whether on clothes or cardinals.\n\nGeorge Abodeely, 83, Marion. Competed in Special Olympics.\n\nAlonzo Adams II, 95, Davenport. Creator of the Slim Jim.\n\nClifton Adams Jr., 76, Cedar Falls. Raised English springer spaniels and Brittany spaniels at Ada's Kennels.\n\nDoris Adams, 93, Riceville. Enjoyed gardening and hunting mushrooms.\n\nDuane Keith Ahrens, 83, West Des Moines. Served at least four Iowa school districts as an award-winning counselor.\n\nForrest Alcott, 65, Waterloo. Loved spending time with his great-grandchildren.\n\nGeoff Amble, 61, Cedar Falls. Often found tinkering in his garage, whether working on his Jeep or building furniture for his wife.\n\nTyler Amburgey, 29, Dubuque. A Texas native who played hockey with the Dubuque Fighting Saints.\n\nMarilyn June Andersen, 90, Center Point. Spunky with a penchant for everything leopard-print.\n\nPaul Andersen, 78, Sioux City. Active in Via de Cristo for more than 40 years, often serving as rector.\n\nAnnabelle Anderson, 79, Council Bluffs. Worked for Congressman Jim Ross Lightfoot for 12 years.\n\nEdith Elida Anderson, 95, Coralville. Proud of her Swedish heritage.\n\nJoan Anderson, 89, Quad Cities. Knit hats for newborn babies at the Bettendorf hospital.\n\nKeith Wayne Anderson, 73, Kalona. Served in Vietnam as a sergeant during the Tet Offensive.\n\nMartha Anderson, 89, Cedar Falls. Worked at the University of Northern Iowa's Rod Library for 31 years.\n\nLeora Andorf, 92, Cedar Falls. Contributed her finest homegrown plants to organizations for annual plant sales.\n\nGene Andrews, 83, Anita. Owner and editor of the Anita Tribune for half a century.\n\nMitchell Andrews, 90, Iowa City. A pianist who played solo, with orchestras and as a chamber musician across the U.S. and abroad.\n\nPatricia Androy, 58, Dunlap. Worked as a registered nurse at a nursing home.\n\nJose Andrade-Garcia, 62, Marshalltown. Was days away from retiring from JBS Swift & Co. meatpacking plant.\n\nSiddiq Mohamed Arab, 83, Waterloo. Worked as a ship's surgeon sailing the eastern coast of Africa before becoming a pediatrician.\n\nDarla Arends, 58, Charles City. A special education instructor at Charles City High School.\n\nPeter Anthony Armatis, 54, West Des Moines. Coached his son's soccer team.\n\nJose Ayala, 44, Waterloo. Would open his Atari and VHS player to see its internal mechanics.\n\nB\n\nDavid Backus, 74, Ventura. A master bonfire builder who always shared his ice cream.\n\nLonnie Bailey, 61, Fertile. Took a family trip to the Mississippi river and apple orchards every October, rain, snow or shine.\n\nMark Bailey, 63, Fort Madison. Department of Corrections inmate.\n\nRobert Lee Bailey Jr., Oakland, 56. Ran the Las Vegas half-marathon with his youngest daughter Katelyn in 2018.\n\nJeanette Marie Baldwin, 88, Mingo. Former postmaster at the Mingo Post Office.\n\nLarry Ball Sr., 78, Des Moines. Fielded cars from 1985 to 1995 in the 410 division at Knoxville Raceway and other tracks throughout the Midwest under Ball Racing Inc.\n\nShirley Rae Barbieri, 88, Des Moines. Advocated developing more group homes for special-needs adults.\n\nTom Barnabo, 57, Des Moines. Original member of the Grand View University football program's coaching staff. Also a physical education teacher at Dowling Catholic.\n\nFaye Ann Barr, 79, Cedar Falls. Managed produce at Red Owl Food Store and IGA Supermarket.\n\nPatricia Pat Bartels, 86, Oelwein. A switchboard operator and union steward for Northwestern Bell Telephone Co.\n\nShirley Louise Barton, 75, Ankeny. Enjoyed crocheting, cross-stitching and attending stock car races.\n\nJoan Bauer, 86, Manilla. Taught Catholic classes at Sacred Heart Church for over 30 years.\n\nKenneth \"Ken\" Baxa, 77, Cedar Rapids. A devotee of country and gospel music.\n\nTheodore \"Butch\" Bean Jr., 81, Cedar Rapids. Built flag display boxes for families of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.\n\nDorothy Beaton, 92, Iowa City. A world traveler who searched for faeries in the woods and walked along the Great Wall of China in her 80s.\n\nDavid Bedard, 78, La Porte City. Made his stockcar racing debut in the early 1960s driving his '57 Plymouth with \"Dirt-track Dave\" lettered on its tailfins.\n\nJack Beghtol, 92, Des Moines. Charter member of the Des Moines Ski Hawks waterskiing team known for his trick skiing.\n\nRonald \"Beans\" Behrends, 86, Monticello. Helped bring the DuTrac Credit Union to Monticello, and later worked on its board.\n\nRuthmarie Beisner, 87, Readlyn. Sang German songs for her family during the winter holidays.\n\nAylo Bell, 100, Marion. An expert seamstress known around the Coggon area for her fine alterations.\n\nDavid Belluchi, 57, Des Moines. Coached his sons and nephews at Plaza Lanes and AMF in Des Moines.\n\nDiane Bennington, 80, Cedar Rapids. Spent childhood Saturday nights roller-skating with her sister, Nancy.\n\nPatricia Berends, 84, Parkersburg. Worked at Lad's and Lassie's in Black's Dept. Store.\n\nElaine May Bergan, 91, Lake Mills. Known as the \"town historian\" for writing books on the histories of Lake Mills and Joice.\n\nGail Berggren, 85, Iowa City. An avid tennis player who won several club doubles championships.\n\nJanet Marie Besh, 80, Cedar Falls. Managed the Besh Trucking office with her family.\n\nJacqueline Lucille Biber, 89, Des Moines. Volunteered with the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society and at Temple B'nai Jeshurun.\n\nBrandon Biddle, 43, Tripoli. Traveled the state for bowling, even competing in the Iowa state tournament.\n\nDanny Ray Bierman, 61, Muscatine. A passionate St. Louis Cardinals and Minnesota Vikings fan.\n\nEugene Bird Sr., 85, Dubuque. Started his own business, Sign Service, with just a pick-up truck, ladder and toolbox.\n\nPhil Birk III, 83, Middle Amana. Enjoyed trains and collecting railroad memorabilia.\n\nStaci Birmes, 50, Hawarden. Loved crafting in all forms, regularly finding fun, new things to create.\n\nDiana Bixenman, 74, Le Mars. Instilled a great appreciation for cards and golf in her family.\n\nGerald Bixler, 83, West Des Moines. A Union Pacific \"railroader\" for 40 years.\n\nJohn Johnny Bjornsen, 68, Cedar Rapids. Avid cyclist and garage sale bargain hunter.\n\nJanice Blake, 79, Waterloo. Enjoyed studying the Bible, baking and crocheting.\n\nTodd Blanford, 63, Cedar Falls. Served his community as Cedar Falls Human Rights Commissioner.\n\nJuanita Blaser, 88, Cedar Falls. An avid seamstress who made countless outfits, costumes and beautiful quilts for each member of her family.\n\nDelores Block, 91, Cedar Rapids. Worked as church secretary at Bethany Lutheran Church for two decades.\n\nBernette Bloomquist, 97, Estherville. Made amazing Norwegian lefse, kringla, krumkake and rosettes.\n\nJeryle Gene Blubaugh, 88, Des Moines. Loved telling corny jokes and sharing fun history facts.\n\nMichael \"Mick\" Blubaugh, 65, Des Moines. Emceed karaoke nights at the Iowa State Fair.\n\nCarole Jeanne Blumberg, 86, Clinton. Owned and operated Clinton Tobacco and Candy.\n\nJames F. Boesen Sr., 87, Des Moines. Started family florist business after serving in the Marines.\n\nVernelle J. Bonar, 89, Treynor. A fervent cheerer at Treynor school events.\n\nDonna Boomershire, 86, Ames. Survived scarlet fever as a child.\n\nDaniel Lee Boon, 69, Rock Rapids. A car aficionado who carefully restored a 1957 Chevy police cruiser to pristine condition.\n\nRudolph Boonstra, 86, Orange City. Owned an expansive collection of classical music.\n\nBeverly Jean Bousseta, 85, Sioux Falls. Loved dancing and dining out.\n\nLee E. Bossom, 83, Blairstown. Mayor of Quasqueton for 10 years.\n\nGilbert Bovard, 93, Clear Lake. Served on the Iowa District Court bench for 22 years.\n\nDonald Bowlin, 74, Des Moines.\n\nWarren Coleman Bowlus, 90, Davenport. Served as Athletic Director for Davenport City Schools.\n\nShirley Bowman, 95, Marshalltown. Opened the Yarn Barn with her sisters to teach others to knit.\n\nMary Boyd-Doehrmann, 94, Coralville. Bowled a 189 in a single game in November 2020.\n\nRobert Boyle, 84, Dexter. Received a Quilt of Valor for his Army service in 2017.\n\nMary Ann Bradford, 91, Iowa City. Held lifelong passions for birds, dachshunds and women's rights.\n\nKenneth Eugene Bratney, 94, Urbandale. In his basement, started the Ken Bratney Co., which has branches around the country and in Argentina.\n\nRobert Brecht, 69, Keystone. A loyal fan of the Watkins Mudhens, attending games whenever possible.\n\nNorma Breitbach, 93, Charles City. Spent hours on a weekend traveling in search of the perfect crock or jar.\n\nBrenda Brewer, 60, Chariton. Remembered for her uniquely painted fingernails and delicious desserts.\n\nBill Bride, 77, Bloomfield. Involved with the area Johnny Poppers Two-Cylinder Club, riding around with his \"tractor buddies.\"\n\nDale Bright Sr., 83, Waterloo. A member of the Local International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers 288.\n\nMilo Brokaw, 65, Monticello. Cheered for Kevin Harvick while watching NASCAR.\n\nNancy Brokaw, 89, Monticello. Held Order of the Eastern Star membership for a half-century.\n\nCarol Bronson, 83, Council Bluffs. Enjoyed a long career at Union Pacific Railroad.\n\nDarla Eileen Brown, 54, Sioux City. Loved playing with her family members' dogs.\n\nDavid Brown, 76, Wilton. A fifth-generation farmer and true steward of the land.\n\nDonald Brown, 82, Independence. Proud 58-year member of IBEW.\n\nKyle Brown, 54, Marshalltown. Won awards for perfect attendance at TPI Composites.\n\nRichard W. Brown, 93, Des Moines. Made three cross-Atlantic trips aboard naval ships to bring troops home after World War II.\n\nJohn Pearson Brucher, 81, Cedar Rapids. Sang in the Janesville United Methodist Church choir.\n\nMarie Brumbaugh, 40, Davenport. Loved being a caregiver, both as a medical assistant and mother.\n\nBill Brunsmann, 85, Manchester. Famous for his growing his own tomatoes and making his own blood sausage.\n\nMarilyn Ann Brunsvold, 77, Mason City. Often found with a word search puzzle book nearby.\n\nTimothy Christopher Bryant, 59, Anamosa. Iowa Department of Corrections inmate.\n\nTom Warren Buchacker, 77, Des Moines. A passionate fly fisherman, who tied his own flies and passed along his knowledge through Boy Scouts lessons.\n\nJoy Buchan, 93, Waterloo. Longtime art teacher at West High School in Waterloo.\n\nDouglas Doug Lee Budd, 61, Sioux City. Received a U.S. Army expert marksmanship badge for use of hand grenades.\n\nWalter Budde Jr., PhD, 95, Iowa City. World-renowned in peroxygen chemistry, especially the formation of peroxyacids and their use for the synthesis of epoxides.\n\nForrest Buffington, 80, Mason City. Loved rocks and \"anything with wheels and a motor.\"\n\nSedika Buljic, 58, Waterloo. Came to the United States as a refugee from Bosnia.\n\nJane Bullard, 87, Decorah. Never wore a bigger smile than when making fresh tracks on a snowy hike.\n\nRaymond Gayle \"Coach\" Burgett, 86, Des Moines. Coached teams at schools in Leon, Urbandale and Des Moines.\n\nPatricia Burrage, 72, Des Moines. Favorite adventures were to the Carribean and Europe.\n\nFrank Burton, 92, Des Moines. Loved jazz and classical music.\n\nRonnie Butler, 67, Montrose. Drove and competed in classic car shows.\n\nJoe Butterfield, 84, Marion. Led Marion park improvement projects, including getting the city a swimming pool, senior center, farmers market, and softball complex.\n\nBruce Byerly, 70, Marion. Lived his dream career as a model designer working for Mattel, Tomy and more toy and model companies.\n\nC\n\nJames Quinten Cahill, 91, West Branch. Wrote the Cahill Cooperative Newsletter, which covered history and current events for those connected by the Cahill surname.\n\nPaul Wesley Calhoun, 85, Atlantic. Ran a concession stand at the Vais Auction House with his wife, making popcorn with his popcorn machine.\n\nCharles Callahan, 77, Bettendorf. Worked for UPS for 33 years in New Jersey, Illinois, Massachusetts, Kansas and Nebraska.\n\nElaine Callahan, 98, Sheffield Village. Spent her time on arts and crafts projects making gifts for family and friends.\n\nJean Calligan-Salmons, 71, Sioux City. Managed her family's restaurant, Tastee Inn and Out.\n\nJanice Campell, 83, Sioux City. Retired from Farmland Insurance Companies after 25 years.\n\nCynthia Carey, 63, Council Bluffs. Worked for Physicians Mutual Insurance for 22 years.\n\nCarol Carlson, 79, Quad Cities. Spent summers boating and waterskiing at her family's Mississippi River cabin.\n\nMichael Carr, 59, Fairfield. A two-time kidney transplant recipient.\n\nLoretta Caruthers, 64, Keokuk. Loved watching television with her husband — even when they argued about programs.\n\nRuth Casteel, 95, Maquoketa. A 4-H leader who loved quilting, baking and traveling.\n\nThomas \"Snappy\" Catron, 65, Adel. Founded Snappy's Stick Fire BBQ.\n\nLouis Cauterucci, 70, Des Moines. Started his decades-long music career at the tender age of 14.\n\nRichard Allan Chamney, 65, Charles City. Could recite the lines of his favorite movie, \"The Wizard of Oz.\"\n\nDoris \"Jo\" Chandler, 93, Cedar Rapids. A fierce competitor at cards, frequently besting family members.\n\nJoe Chastain, 81, Afton. A ham radio operator and member of the Amateur Radio Relay League.\n\nJudy Chastain, 74, Afton. An active member of her community, she led the establishment of the New Afton Community Building.\n\nMarvel Chapman, 74, Des Moines. Collected Elvis Presley memorabilia.\n\nLou Christiansen, 84, Manchester. Worked on the Apollo program at Collins Radio.\n\nRodger Christensen, 92, Union. Read to children as a volunteer at Union Library.\n\nGeorge Christoffersen, 68, Missouri Valley. Absolutely loved Dunkin Donuts' hazelnut iced coffee and its chocolate cake donuts with chocolate frosting.\n\nSteven Joe \"Chromey\" Chramosta, 61, Cedar Rapids. An outdoorsman who loved to fish and hunt.\n\nMarvin Maynard Clark, 84, Carson. A collector of marbles, John Deere toys and beer steins.\n\nRuth Clark, 102, Des Moines. Gave tours of the Flynn Mansion at Living History Farms.\n\nTerri Lynn Clark, 60, West Des Moines. Loved photography, fishing and road trips.\n\nDorothy Clausen, 93, Lake View. A member of the American Legion Women’s Auxiliary for more than 50 years in Soldier and Wall Lake.\n\nElmer Clausing, 96, Parkersburg. A lifelong farmer in Bremer County.\n\nArlene Clement, 103, Washington. Loved dancing, participating in the Neighborhood Social Club, and having weekly lunches with friends.\n\nDorinda Coates, 65, Cedar Rapids. Famous for penning birthday cards to her fellow residents at Heritage Specialty Care.\n\nRoger Coe, 86, New Sharon. Loved bowling.\n\nMary A. Cole, 93, Cedar Rapids. Known for her delicious baked goods and her Schnauzers.\n\nKeith Danny Conrad, 65, Cedar Rapids. Taught Sunday school and led Ashram Group retreats.\n\nDarrin L. Cook, 57, Atlantic. Loved playing slots and keno.\n\nWillie Eva Cook, 85, Waterloo. A nurse at Allen Memorial Hospital for more than three decades.\n\nLarry \"Cookie\" Cookman, 71, Coralville. Always had a need for speed, enjoying Harley Davidson, Corvettes and NASCAR.\n\nJerome Coolidge, 60, Mason City. Always remembered a person's face, even if he forgot their name.\n\nElizabeth Coovert, 82, Fort Madison. Grew up with six siblings on a family farm at String Prairie.\n\nRebecca Copple, 86, Iowa City. Lived with her husband in Japan for two years and visited Turkey, Mexico, China and many places in Europe.\n\nReents Cordes, 73, Cedar Falls. An avid gardener.\n\nRaymundo Corral, 64, Sioux City. Worked at Tyson Fresh Meats beef plant in Dakota City, Nebraska.\n\nRoger Cory, 72, Elkhart. Served a year as Grand Chaplin of the Order of Eastern Star.\n\nAndrew Cousineau, 57, Sioux City. Loved grilling out for family get-togethers.\n\nJames Craig, 88, Pocahontas. Built and repaired clocks of all kinds.\n\nHarriet \"Joan\" Crandell, 88, Marion. Taught second and third grade, as well as opening and directing Kiddie Korner Preschool.\n\nKen Crane, 77, Atlantic. A school bus driver for Atlantic Community Schools who referred to the students as \"his kids.\"\n\nMichael Croft, 52, Perry. Moved to Utah and became an avid biker, skier, hiker and camper.\n\nJennifer Crawford, 53, West Des Moines. A special education assistant at Indian Hills Junior High School.\n\nThomas Cross, 82, Ankeny. Loved flying and obtained a pilot's license.\n\nRaymond L. Curl, 83, Washington. Worked at the Washington County Developmental Center.\n\nCynthia Curran, 73, Marion. Enjoyed listening to the \"oldies.\"\n\nIvan Current, 64, Maquoketa. Loved riding his Harley Davidson with his wife and friends.\n\nD\n\nCherie Dandurand, 53, Moville. Loved teaching about the history of ancient Egypt and Europe in the Middle Ages to her middle school students.\n\nJay S. Daniels, 92, West Des Moines. An active member of the Za-Ga-Zig Masonic Temple and Scottish Rite.\n\nAlvin Darling, 88, Decorah. Worked as a maintenance man at Luther College and as a truck driver for Featherlite.\n\nRobert \"Scott\" Darrah, 57, Council Bluffs. Loved all things Disney and often took his family on trips to Disney World.\n\nRuth David, 91, Ames. Avoided a concentration camp through the Kindertransport and came to Iowa years later.\n\nEdison James Davis, 94, State Center. Awarded the Purple Heart after getting wounded in action in Okinawa.\n\nRonald Davis Sr., 73, Perry. A Juvenile Probation Officer who loved hearing about the new lives of his former clients.\n\nDixie Deitchler, 90, Glenwood. Published poems and prose in Cappers Weekly.\n\nJohn DeMarco, 73, Coralville. Longtime football coach at Iowa City's Regina High School.\n\nMargaret \"Peggy\" Demke, 87, South Sioux City. Always cheered on the Nebraska Cornhuskers and Notre Dame Fighting Irish.\n\nPatrick Deutmeyer, 63, Manchester. Lived his whole life on his family farm, loving to quiz his grandchildren on agriculture.\n\nHoward DeVore, 78, Council Bluffs. An avid woodworker and carver, who always had several projects going at once.\n\nLarry Dewell, 83, Clarence. A 50-year member of the Eastern Star and the Masonic Lodge.\n\nDelbert Dittman, 66, Hospers. Loved older International tractors as much as the Albert City Threshing Bee he attended every year.\n\nBeverly Dixon, 83, Lucas. Kept the books for her son's business for two decades.\n\nJames Dixon, 93, Waterloo. Put himself through college working as a metallurgist at John Deere.\n\nRichard Doerr, 67, South Sioux City. Opened Dicky G's restaurant.\n\nThelma Doescher, 91, Mason City. A \"from-scratch\" baker who handwrote dozens of Christmas cards every year.\n\nHarry Delmar Donald, 87, Bennett. Served his community as a volunteer fireman and treasurer for the Bennett Fire Department for more than four decades.\n\nKadene Donlon, 46, Cedar Falls. Always looked for koala trinkets too add to her collection.\n\nDavid N. Dontje, 84, Forest City. Inducted into the Forest City Bowling Hall of Fame.\n\nShirley Doornbos, 85, Coralville. Lucky, especially when playing bingo.\n\nBetty Dorenkamp, 89, Belmond. Skilled with a butcher knife, expertly cutting corn off the cob and carving chicken for frying.\n\nPatricia Dorn, 88, Runnells. A retired nurse who loved anything about ancient Egypt.\n\nDuane Dostal, 93, Dysart. Prided himself on his corn and soybean yields, once winning second place in the state for his corn yield.\n\nRobert Dotson, 97, Urbandale. Proudly served on the USS Oconto in the Pacific Theater during WWII.\n\nHenry Earl Drake, 47, Des Moines. A diehard Oakland Raiders fan who watched games every week.\n\nGene Edward Dryer, 72, Clarinda. Iowa Department of Corrections inmate.\n\nRichard Duclos, 89, Muscatine. Took a boat across the Mississippi River each day to attend grade school.\n\nAnna Dudgeon, 93, Durant. Former president of the Liedertafel Ladies.\n\nKenny Duke Jr., 87, Keosauqua. Helped students get their GED diplomas through decades of work at Indian Hills Community College.\n\nHarold Arthur Duncan, 89, Coralville. Iowa Department of Correction inmate.\n\nVerl Fredrick Duncan, 73, Hubbard. Known by family members as the \"Baby Whisperer” because he could soothe a wailing infant, having them snuggling contently within minutes.\n\nMary \"Lorraine\" Dunne, 91, Council Bluffs. Worked as director of the Lewis Central school food service program.\n\nGeorge L. Dyer Sr., 78, Ottumwa. Served two tours of duty in Vietnam as a U.S. Marine.\n\nMarian Dyer, 87, Davenport. Worked as a secretary at Augustana College.\n\nE\n\nBob Eatock, 86, Centerville. An educator who loved musical theater and horror fiction.\n\nBonnie Ebel, 79, Cherokee. Farmed with her husband for two decades in the Mt. Olive area.\n\nJulie Ebel, 44, Hartley. Fought cancer and beat it twice.\n\nCarlene Suzanne Edwards, 68, Cedar Rapids. Member of St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Marion.\n\nAbbie Irene Eichman, 36, Des Moines. Built Legos and tackled corn mazes with her husband.\n\nSandra Sue Eick, 85, Denver. Longtime employee at Denver Saving Bank.\n\nChristine Ellis, 65, Rockwell City. A crafter who always had a project, whether making flower arrangements or crocheting scarfs, blankets and dog sweaters.\n\nShirley Elsberry, 90, Waterloo. A snowbird who camped in Weslaco, Texas, every winter with her husband Chuck.\n\nFlorence \"Mary\" Emrick, 97, Iowa City. Awarded the Governor's Volunteer Award in 1999.\n\nNancy Emery, 72, Savanna.\n\nJason Englert, 38, Belmond. In his first year of teaching in the Belmond-Klemme Talented and Gifted program.\n\nKristi Jo Ernst, 66, Eldridge. Loved to spoil her children with homemade scotcheroos.\n\nGary Lee Eschen, 69, Cedar Rapids. Enjoyed making bracelets and necklaces.\n\nDorothy M. Etzen, 94, Forest City. A member of the women's American Legion Auxiliary.\n\nKathy Jo Everett, 60, Fairfax. Volunteer extraordinaire with the Fairfax Lions Club.\n\nStephen Evert, 77, Prairie du Chien. An out-patient counselor who worked in hospitals in Las Vegas, Nevada, Modesto and Sacramento, California, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin., and Des Moines.\n\nMichael Everhard, 65, Fonda. Served in the U.S. Navy in Vietnam and Guam and did tours in India and Cambodia.\n\nF\n\nMary Fain, 88, Cedar Falls. A classical piano prodigy who became director of classical music and senior fine arts producer for KUNI/KHKE.\n\nShirley Farley, 83, Sioux City. Proud of her membership with Catholic Daughters of America.\n\nJohn Fellenzer, 74, Waterloo. From musician to realtor, car salesman to locksmith, a man of many trades.\n\nIsidro Fernandez, Waterloo. Left behind a wife and children.\n\nJudith Ann Fetters, 82, West Des Moines. Met her husband at a Des Moines skating rink.\n\nBarbara Finch, 104, Battle Creek. Farmed with her husband for 41 years, and went on to work another 16 at Ida County Bank.\n\nDuane Fisher, 95, Pacific Junction. Stood honor guard for President Franklin Roosevelt at Pearl Harbor.\n\nWilliam Flaherty, 80, Des Moines. Finished every sentence with \"and everything.\"\n\nRobert Michael Flanders, 63, Muscatine. A radar designer and engineer.\n\nDelores Flesner, 80, Cedar Falls. Loved reading the Waterloo Courier and Parkersburg Eclipse.\n\nDorthe J. Flick, 97, Clinton. Learned to read in a one-room schoolhouse.\n\nDoris L. Flynn, 96, Cedar Rapids. Worked in the Roosevelt Junior High cafeteria for 21 years.\n\nEstle Foster, 94, Clarinda. Relished raising his family on his Century Farm.\n\nJoseph Robert Fouts, 57, Onawa. Nicknamed \"Joe Dirt\" for starting his business with just one dump truck.\n\nEugene Fraise, 88, Fort Madison. Passionate about his community, serving as Lee County Supervisor for seven years as a state senator for 27 years.\n\nGoldie Frank, 88, Sioux City. Crocheted a baby blanket to celebrate the birth of each grand- and great-grandchild.\n\nRonald Frantz, 84, Mount Vernon. Friends and family raved about his chili and beef and barley soup.\n\nGlenn William Frazier, 81, Des Moines. Downhill skied in the snow, golfed in the sun.\n\nM. Patricia Pat Freeland, Bondurant. Advocated for building Anderson Elementary School and Bondurant High School on her family's land.\n\nMark Friedow, 71, Jefferson. Raised Poland China hogs with his grandfather and uncles.\n\nJudi Frondle, 74, Hiawatha. Enjoyed doing puzzles, painting and playing computer games.\n\nDaryl Fuller, 59, Waterloo. Loved American muscle cars.\n\nJean Fuller, 96, Mount Pleasant. Raised show horses with her husband.\n\nJudy Fuller, 76, Blue Grass. Listened to pastor Joel Osteen and shopped from the QVC network.\n\nRichard Fust, 84, Des Moines. Coached youth ice hockey for many years.\n\nG\n\nJohn Galles, 83, Kingsley. The voice of Kingsley Panthers baseball and softball teams.\n\nMarguerite Ganoe, 102, Stuart. Loved playing with her grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.\n\nJudith Garbers, 79, Keystone. Taught as a teacher for 30 years, and spent the next 20 years as a substitute teaching her former students' children.\n\nRoberta Jean Gardner, 100, Des Moines. A green thumb, who loved caring for her flower and vegetable gardens.\n\nBlas Chavarria Garcia, 48, Marshalltown. A hobby mechanic with a garage full of tools.\n\nReberiano Garcia, 60, Waterloo. Father of 10 who lost his wife to cancer in 2019.\n\nBetty Garner, 76, Sioux City. Loved to wear sparkly blouses and hats.\n\nDonna Garvey, 75, Bettendorf. Enjoyed bingo, shopping and playing with her grandchildren.\n\nTerry Geistler, 56, Osage. Volunteered his time to take residents of the Faith Lutheran Home on motorcycle rides, to family events and fishing.\n\nDuane Charles Gettler, 74, Adair. Loved telling people his favorite stories, such as the abundance of twins in his family.\n\nDavid Gierlus, 67, Iowa City. Served as a doctor at the University of Iowa and taught Respiratory Therapy at Black Hawk College.\n\nSharon Gile, 75, Creston. An avid bowler who passed her love for the sport to her children.\n\nRaymond Gill, 95, Coralville. Opened the Coralville's first dental practice in 1956.\n\nShawna Elaine Gilleland, 44, Burlington. A graduate of Jefferson High School in Cedar Rapids.\n\nJames Nicholas Gillman, 93, Marshalltown. Honored for his work in veterans affairs.\n\nDarlene Catherine Goddard, 95, Iowa City. Worked in the Oral-B laboratories until 1987.\n\nLeroy Goeden, 70, Sergeant Bluff. Volunteered with the Sergeant Bluff Fire Department, EMT Service and as president of the Northeast Nebraska Handicap Group.\n\nJohn Z. Gomez, 70, Mason City. Worked as a diesel mechanic at National Byproducts.\n\nJessie Gonzales, 67, Fort Dodge. Iowa Department of Corrections inmate.\n\nMary Gorsh, 84, Iowa City. Sang as a member of the Sweet Adelines for years.\n\nJoyce Gould, 63, West Des Moines. Worked in West Des Moines' human services department.\n\nRon Graf, 72, Waterloo. A farmer who so loved learning new trades that he got certified as a master electrician and a pilot.\n\nGenevieve M. Gray, 91, Evansdale. Worked at West High School in Waterloo.\n\nJeannette L. Green, 92, Davenport. Studied home economics, but excelled at chemistry.\n\nChad Greening, 48, Ankeny. An \"arm-chair manager\" with immense statistical knowledge and enthusiasm for the St. Louis Cardinals.\n\nJerry Grings, 80, Moscow. Known for his iconic black flat top.\n\nJane Gronert, 89, Cedar Rapids. Worked as a teacher's aide in Alburnett Community Schools.\n\nNorris Gronert, 90, Cedar Rapids. Earned many awards for service with Otter Creek Lions Club and American Legion of Toddville.\n\nGeorge Grubb, 68, Des Moines. A \"sweet-spirited\" man.\n\nLois Gruis, 93, Sioux City. Taught more than 100 private lessons in piano, organ and vocal music each week.\n\nJohn Grzybowski, 76, Urbandale. Loved puttering with his bonsai trees and playing video games with his sons.\n\nGary Guehrn, 76, Marengo. Loved all things tractor, including buying, selling, collecting and, most importantly, driving his Dad's restored 1950 International M.\n\nVictoria Gutierrez, 57, Des Moines. Loved spending time with family and her little dog, Chico.\n\nJason Gwin, 42, Sioux City. A collector of Superman comics who loved the DC Universe.\n\nH\n\nWilma Haberkamp, 90, Fairbank. Ran Jo's Thread and Thimble in Fairbank with her sister after retiring from teaching.\n\nDuane Hagberg, 87, Orion. Maintained a Cubs vs. Cardinals rivalry with his Heartland Health Care Center roommate, Jim Dodd.\n\nEldon Haines, 90, Quad Cities. A proud member of Plumbers and Pipefitters Local Union 25.\n\nDavid \"Doug\" Hall Jr., 80, Cedar Rapids. A professor of art at Kirkwood Community College.\n\nJames Lynn Pete Hall, 72, Wapello. Delivered meals to the elderly.\n\nMarian Hankner, 89, Waterloo. A homemaker and mother of three.\n\nPaul N. Hanson, 82, Cedar Rapids. Born in a log cabin.\n\nMarina Harbit, 88, Iowa City. Met her husband as a telephone switchboard operator at the University of Iowa.\n\nRobert Harle, 77, Kanawha. A perfectionist in the fields who farmed in Norway Township for more than 50 years.\n\nDonna Harman, 94, Waterloo. Established veterinary scholarships at Iowa State University.\n\nGlenda Harms, 58, Fort Dodge. A fierce and passionate champion for her students in the Fort Dodge public school system.\n\nMildred M. Harmon, 108, Windsor Heights. A master floral artist who decorated the Epworth United Methodist Church's altar.\n\nTherese J. Harney, 73, Iowa City. Organized Iowa City's first recreational basketball league.\n\nMarilyn Harnish, 84, Hiawatha. Worked as a licensed practical nurse until her retirement in 2000.\n\nHelen Louise Harrison, 98, Muscatine. Worked at Kelly Field supporting B-17 bomber production in San Antonio during World War II.\n\nMichael Harrington, 61, Adel. Co-owned Cool Beans Coffee Bar, serving as \"Chief Turkey Roaster.\"\n\nAnn Harris, 63, Cedar Rapids. Deeply passionate about preserving Iowa's history.\n\nGary Harris, 87, Waterloo. Managed Younkers department stores around Iowa and Minnesota.\n\nCharmeda Harrison, 91, Cedar Rapids. Enjoyed attending church and going to the Milestones senior club.\n\nHarold Haskin, 80, Denver. Made delicious lefse and maple syrup for his church family.\n\nRoy Allen Hassman, 77, Parkersburg. Enjoyed drinking coffee at Willie’s Feed Store, Sinclair Elevator and in Darwin’s shed.\n\nPaul G. Haywood, 62, Waterloo. A union pipefitter and welder for 40 years.\n\nGeraldine Hearn, 93, Marion. Owned and operated Vickroy Jewelry in Montezuma for a decade.\n\nTom Heath, 61, Iowa City. Drove a cab and worked as an accountant.\n\nMarie Heiar, 51, Dubuque. Ran a home daycare with her mother for many years.\n\nRachel Heller, 87, Grundy Center. A hard-working woman who started her career at the Grundy Center Richelieu factory.\n\nMerlyn Helm, 84, Clear Lake. The mayor of Crystal Lake for several years.\n\nMaurice Helt, 84, Burlington. A lifelong race car enthusiast, starting with a young fandom of Bob Riddle's stock car crew and races at the 34 Raceway.\n\nMark Henry, 64, Davenport. Took mission trips to Zimbabwe, Moldova and the Philippines.\n\nTom Henry, 88, Waterloo. A machinist, gauge inspector and gauge repairman at John Deere.\n\nGeraldine Gerry Marie Hearn, 93, Marion. 50-year member of the Order of Eastern Star, a Masonic organization.\n\nRichard Heggen, 72, Des Moines. Had a deep interest in vehicles, photography and good music.\n\nRoger Henn, 73, Forest City. Retired in Arkansas to fulfill his dream of golfing year-round.\n\nOwen Henning, 90, Latimer. Founded a grain handling business while running his father's construction company.\n\nManfred Joseph Hepke, 84, Manchester. Loved sharing stories about his early life in Germany.\n\nJames Dale Herbert Sr., 77, Muscatine. Worked at HON Industries and enjoyed a good casino.\n\nDavid Herndon, 61, Des Moines. A collector of toy helicopters and cars who always sported a fancy hat and belt.\n\nLucille Herndon, 91, Des Moines. Made fried chicken every Saturday night.\n\nArlyn Hesse, 87, Johnston. Loved volunteering, gardening and birdwatching.\n\nGilbert Hewett, 85, Cedar Falls. A lifelong teacher at high schools, colleges and education organizations across Iowa.\n\nFred Hickman, 78, Evansdale. Achieved the rank of lance corporal in the U.S. Marine Corps.\n\nJerry Hicks, 86, Sioux City. Met Babe Ruth in Sioux City when he was 7 years old.\n\nThelma M. Hidlebaugh, 93, Muscatine. Loved crafting, cooking and baking.\n\nVelma Hildebrandt, 93, Sumner. Farmed on four different farms with her husband in the 1960s.\n\nMarlan Hill, 83, Sioux City. Loved motorcycles, corvettes and horses.\n\nDavid Hindal, 64, West Des Moines. Played trumpet and French horn in the ISU Alumni Band and in pit orchestra for Urbandale Community Theatre, among others.\n\nHarold D. Hinderaker, 80, Forest City. Earned his GED and became a born-again Christian in his middle age.\n\nAnn Hinkhouse, 74, Tipton. Worked as a parish nurse for Zion Lutheran Church.\n\nMichael Hinton, 49, Cedar Rapids. A perfectionist who enjoyed playing darts.\n\nDoris Hintz, 92, Urbandale. Had a special talent for making costumes for the Urbandale 4th of July parade.\n\nClarence \"Jack\" Hird, 100, Farley. Established the Senior Citizen Meal Sites of Farley and Epworth, setting up the weekly meal service and delivering meals to people who couldn't leave the house.\n\nCarl Hoffman, 84, Cedar Rapids. Sold his family insurance business after 13 years to pursue his boyhood dream of driving an \"18-wheeler\" across the country.\n\nBenedict Howard Hofmann, 91, Iowa City. Childhood neighbors with his wife.\n\nDonald Hohnbaum, 89, West Des Moines. Put himself through law school by playing drums.\n\nSharyl Hohnecker, 70, Marion. Her Maquoketa home was known as the \"Christmas House\" because of how many lights and decorations she and her husband put up each winter.\n\nRonald Eugene Holdsworth, 62, Fort Dodge. Iowa Department of Corrections inmate.\n\nLouis Holly, 86, Cedar Rapids. An active member and \"guest speaker\" at his local coffee club.\n\nScott Holtan, 62, Thor. Volunteered at Davenport's All Saints Lutheran Church food pantry every Saturday.\n\nSister Annelda Holtkamp, 102, St. Paul. Served as a nun for 77 years.\n\nDelbert Holtkamp, 82, West Burlington. Always requested lasagna at meals.\n\nWayne Holst, 81, LeClaire. Farmed all his life and drove a dump truck for 40 years.\n\nLarry Hon, 78, Des Moines. Drove the 24, 21 and 42 buses for Johnston Community Schools.\n\nIrwin \"Red\" Horsfield, 80, Epworth. Drove slowly on highways he helped build as a superintendent with Tschiggfrie Excavating.\n\nDavid Hosier, 61, West Branch. Knew he liked you if he made fun of you.\n\nAllen Lee Houang, 59, West Liberty. Immigrated to the United States in December 1981 as part of the Southeast Asian Refugee settlement program.\n\nMyron James Houghton, 78, Ankeny. Earned two bachelor's degrees, three master's and three doctorates.\n\nAdrienne Eugina Doolin Howard, 75, Cedar Rapids. Cooked soul food.\n\nThomas Howes, 74, Dubuque. A longtime fast-pitch softball catcher who had scars on his legs to prove it.\n\nMarcella Hubbard, 86, Anamosa. A member of the Anamosa Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses.\n\nDorothy Mae Hubert, 90, Salix. Wrote for the Sioux City Journal, drove school buses and sold Mary Kay cosmetics.\n\nDianne Huddleson, 63, Fort Madison. Always called the students her husband taught and coached \"our kids.\"\n\nGary Hudgens, 74, Altoona. Worked as a pressman for the Des Moines Register for more than 20 years, and retired, along with the presses, when the company automated.\n\nHarry Huebbe, 91, Baldwin. Sold hand-carved wooden toys at flea markets.\n\nRichard Hunt, 96, Cedar Falls. Traveled to the Black Hills in the summer to camp with his family.\n\nDonald Hunter III, 60, Council Bluffs. Worked as a United States Postal Carrier for more than three decades.\n\nKevin Huss, 54, Des Moines. A volunteer firefighter and EMT for the Northern Warren Fire Department.\n\nDonald Husted, 77, Davenport. Drank chocolate malts with his brother Frank as they drove around the Quad Cities in Frank's vintage Camaro.\n\nAnn Scannell Huxol, 93, Iowa City. A Scrabble enthusiast who played to win.\n\nI\n\nGayle Muggs Isaac, 71, Des Moines. Told his wife every day how much he loved her.\n\nDorothy Irene Iseminger, 93, Des Moines. Sold Avon for 30 years, earning many President's Club awards.\n\nJ\n\nPeggy Ann Jackson, 86, Des Moines. Co-owned Research Industries with her husband, Paul, hauling for Alter Metal Recycling for 30 years.\n\nKatie G. Jacobs, 96, Council Bluffs. Lived on her family farm her entire life.\n\nGloria Eileen Jacobsma, 68, Rock Rapids. Loved her family, her country, the Twins and Vikings, and eagles, two of which soared over her burial.\n\nAllan Jacobson, 89, Cedar Falls. Never missed one of his sons or grandsons' performances.\n\nJune Marie Jaehnel, 92, Des Moines. Taught piano and participated in women's circles at church.\n\nHusen Jagir, 56, Sioux City. A Sudanese refugee who worked at the Seaboard Triumph Foods plant.\n\nMargaret James, 81, Monticello. Always up to attend a Hawkeye tailgate and enjoyed following the Hawks to bowl games.\n\nJohn Steve Jansen, 74, Sioux City. Trained, bred, raced and bet on thoroughbred horses.\n\nDaryle Jass, 84, Ankeny. Tried to retire twice, but couldn't sit still.\n\nRaymond Jennings, 77, Muscatine. Taught his grandchildren the bounty of catfish ponds and how to keep their eye on the ball.\n\nChristine Jensen, 67, Des Moines. Loved to sing songs with her twin sister, Andrea.\n\nBarbara Johnsen-Earlanson, 75, Dubuque. Enthusiastically spent hours preparing meals for families and friends.\n\nAlene Johnson, 79, North Sioux City. Raised chickens and other animals on her acreage.\n\nBrian Johnson, 63, Waterloo. A pool player who made many friends through his time in the Waterloo and Cedar Falls leagues.\n\nCarroll Johnson, 81, Mason City. Always cheered on her favorite NASCAR drivers, Dale Earnhart and Dale Earnhart Jr.\n\nDuane Bud Johnson, 86, Merrill. Enjoyed his corn shelling and custom combining business.\n\nEverett Johnson, 82, Boone. Grew up surrounded by music, which eventually led to his role as executive secretary of the Iowa High School Music Association.\n\nLarry Johnson, 83, Charles City. Student council president at Harvard.\n\nLeonard Johnson, 89, Tama. Danced at the annual Meskwaki pow-wow.\n\nMark Johnson, 57, Cedar Falls. Worked for Blue Diamond in warm seasons and at Godfather's Pizza in cold.\n\nMark Johnson, 64, Maurice. Laid to rest near his family farm in rural Hinton where he can always watch over his herd.\n\nMelvin Johnson, 84, Packwood. A gifted cattleman who farmed his whole life.\n\nBarbara Jones, 56, Monticello. Sold her baked goods, including her famous monster cookies, at the Hiawatha Farmers Market.\n\nDorothy Jones, 77, Grinnell. Bought her younger sister her first tube of lipstick in seventh grade.\n\nGladys \"Jeannie\" Jones, 91, Eldridge. Hosted a WOC Radio talk show about her business on Saturday mornings.\n\nKenneth \"Kenny\" Jones, 60, Storm Lake. The ultimate fan of every Chicago sports team.\n\nRandall Jones, 63, Cedar Rapids. Brought people together with a good meal and a strong Grey Goose martini.\n\nMarie Jordan, 88, Urbandale. Survived polio, breast cancer and a few broken legs and hips.\n\nPamela Jane Juhl-Mennes, 76, Atlantic. Specialized in making soups and cakes as an amazing cook and baker.\n\nK\n\nAxel Kabeya, 35, Waterloo. Was a French interpreter at Tyson Fresh Meats after immigrating from the Congo.\n\nAlice Kauten, 73, Jesup. Taught and counseled students in New Hampton and Jesup.\n\nNicole Keller, 76, Waukee. Instrumental in taking Principal Financial Group public on the New York Stock Exchange.\n\nDavid Kelley, 64, Stratford. Spent his free time playing and listening to bluegrass.\n\nHarold \"Gary\" Keplinger, 77, Mount Ayr. Earned his doctorate in education, helping students learn math in high school, adult education and college.\n\nDonald Kerker, 90, Newhall. Toured over 30 countries with his wife while working in Germany.\n\nDarlene Kern, 94, Johnston. Died with her husband, Donald, by her side.\n\nDonald Kern, 99, Johnston. Died with his wife, Darlene, by his side.\n\nViengxay Khuninh, 69, Sioux City. Framed his certificates from 37 years at Tyson Fresh Meats.\n\nJim Killam, 70, Des Moines. Passionate about teaching, whether through church or through soccer.\n\nDoug King, 69, Mason City. Called Bompa by his grandkids.\n\nBeverly Kinnander, 87, Estherville. Worked as a cleaner for several local businesses and Fairmont Hospital.\n\nEverett Kintzel, 97, Blairstown. Farmed at his \"home place\" in Olin and Luzerne with his wife, Doris.\n\nJim Kirkendall, 75, Sloan. Took many friends and family on their first hunting and fishing trips.\n\nJerry Robert Kilpatrick, 84, Davenport. Took two mission trips to Honduras building a hospital.\n\nJames Kleppe, 79, Coralville. Iowa Department of Corrections inmate.\n\nLarry Klindt, 76, Sac City. Spent free time collecting model trains and guns.\n\nElizabeth Betty Kline, 81, Iowa City. Traveled the country in a motor home.\n\nMary Kline, 93, Chariton. Moved from Pennsylvania to Iowa as a child, where she remained in rural Chariton her whole life.\n\nJack Klingborg, 83, Cherokee. An activity therapist and teacher at Cherokee Mental Health Institute.\n\nRuth Klotz, 98, Des Moines. An inspiration and mentor to two generations of women in the law in Iowa as an attorney and judge.\n\nRaymond Klyn, 94, Pella. Served as an elder and deacon at Second Christian Reformed Church.\n\nNorma J. Knight, 93, Des Moines. Loved her two great-great-grandchildren.\n\nDonald Knudsen, 87, Dike. Helped move his community forward as mayor for 44 years\n\nEllen Koch, 74, Maquoketa. Coached speech, taught drama and directed school plays as an English teacher in many Iowa school districts.\n\nJohn \"János\" Kokity, 92, Quad Cities. Member of the Over 50 Ballroom Dance Club.\n\nIrene Konecny, 89, Cedar Rapids. A 50-plus year member of Soroptimist International of Cedar Rapids.\n\nBetty Sonner Kooker, 78, Altoona. Volunteered with prison ministries.\n\nLouie Kopsas, 89, Doon. Took the train from Doon to Sioux Center on weekends to see movies as a child.\n\nMarjorie Ann Kramer, 86, Shell Rock. An avid bird watcher and skilled seamstress.\n\nMarlyn Kramer Sr., 86, Maquoketa. Worked as a powder coater in Collis Inc. in Clinton for many years.\n\nRhonda Krantz, 63, Des Moines. Fond of the mountains from her time living in Colorado.\n\nChad Kuehl, 45, Garber. Chief of the Garber Fire Department and member of the Garber City Council and Iowa Firefighters Association.\n\nHerman Kurk III, 94, South Amana. Enjoyed wandering the Iowa countryside to visit his neighbors.\n\nMichael Kurylo, 85, Bettendorf. Born in Ukraine and grew up on a German Farm alongside Allied prisoners of war during World War II until an an American flyer landed to tell them they were liberated.\n\nL\n\nEvelyn Lacock, 102, Cedar Rapids. Loved supporting her family as a classroom volunteer, carpool driver and cheerleader-in-chief.\n\nJohn Laflen, 84, Buffalo Center. Won awards for his research on the development of a new generation of erosion prediction technologies.\n\nWade Lampe, 46, Readlyn. Spent his free time outdoors or in the garage working on his family's used car collection.\n\nJerry Lang, 74, Waterloo. Started Lang's Home Maintenance.\n\nLeRoy \"Puttball\" Lanxon, 88, Cherokee. Known as \"everyman's friend, everyman's confidant and everyman's best buddy\" in Cherokee.\n\nRichard Larsen, 77, Des Moines. Loved classic cars and going to the races.\n\nTricia Larson, 55, Fort Dodge. Devoted her life to teaching at Manson Northwest Webster Elementary.\n\nSarah Latimer, 98, Iowa City. Trained in a segregated Black unit at Fort Des Moines for the Women's Auxiliary Army Corp.\n\nGeanell Shavon Latimore, 38, Des Moines. Loved books so much she would read one while listening to another.\n\nKeith Lawrence, 95, Decorah. An ISU-certified master gardener who inspired his children's love for horticulture.\n\nCloris Leachman, 94, Des Moines. An actress who won eight Primetime Emmy Awards and an Oscar.\n\nLaVirta Lee, 91, Mapleton. Cherished the Eastside Homemakers Club and the Soldier Lutheran Ladies Aid.\n\nLorne Lee, 54, Independence. Helped organize ATV trails in Buchanan County and served as president of the Trailblazers Off Road Club.\n\nStuart Lefstein, 86, Quad Cities. Successfully argued a patent law case before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1987.\n\nAntonia C. Leon, 94, Valley Junction. Adored her 24 nieces and nephews and her Shih Tzu, Hamilton.\n\nKay Lenox, 79, Davenport. An avid collector of Lenox figurines and ornamental pigs.\n\nWillie Levi, 73, Waterloo. Freed from a decrepit Iowa bunkhouse by a Des Moines Register investigation.\n\nFrederick William Lewis, 68, Anamosa. Iowa Department of Corrections inmate.\n\nChester Franklin Lief Jr., 75, Wyoming. Enjoyed mushroom hunting.\n\nKenneth Lien, 101, Nora Springs. Awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star after being wounded in 1944 in Italy.\n\nNelda Lindhorst, 88, Council Bluffs. Worked as a Medical Transcriptionist for Mercy Hospital.\n\nBernard Bernie Lee Lindstrom, 80, Wheatland. A handyman who could fix almost anything.\n\nBill Lingle, 64, Davenport. Coached coached Friendly House basketball, travel basketball, Little League and Pony baseball, and helped form the Quad City Bronco League. the Quad City Heat baseball club and Davenport Youth Football League.\n\nPhyllis Link, 90, Estherville. Raised chickens and sold eggs from her farm in rural Swea City.\n\nPhyllis Liston, 86, Granger. Could read a 500-page book easily in two days.\n\nCindy Litwiller, 65, Fort Dodge. Helped many small businesses through her work with Professional Developers of Iowa and other economic development groups.\n\nEmma Lohmann, 97, Wheatland. Won the women's club championship at Wapsi Oaks Country Club.\n\nMary Jill Long, 79, Dubuque. Her husband stood outside her nursing home window in the rain as she died.\n\nLucy Lorence, 96, Oskaloosa. Found time for P.T.A., Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, and raising money for the debate team while working two jobs.\n\nPatricia Loter, 87, Keokuk. Enjoyed going on bus trips with friends.\n\nHelen Lowery, 97, Davenport. A part of the \"Groovy Girls,\" a women's lunch group.\n\nDwayne Lucht, 66, Council Bluffs. Worked many jobs, including remodeling homes and farming.\n\nJim Luensman, 43, Atkins. Worked as a paramedic in Monticello, North Benton and Atkins.\n\nLouis Luiken, 79, Radcliffe. Served his community as city council member and mayor.\n\nMary Lund, 59, Davenport. Loved going to concerts, especially to see Bon Jovi.\n\nE. Joe Ann Lutz, 84, Des Moines. Taught real estate ethics.\n\nEdward \"Jazzman Joe\" Lynch, 86, Ankeny. An accomplished tenor sax and harmonica player with an expertise in Traditional Dixieland Jazz.\n\nDonald Lyons, 74, Boone. Ran his family's farm while serving as a Boone County Farm Bureau agent for more than 20 years.\n\nM\n\nMaurice Maakestad, 95, Osage. A card shark who often won at 500 with wild bids.\n\nJimmie Lee Maclin, 66, Cedar Rapids. An entrepreneur who lived in Cedar Rapids for over 40 years.\n\nRandall Magee, 64, Cedar Falls. Devotedly followed Ricky \"the Rooster\" Rudd in NASCAR.\n\nJerry Parsons Mahacek, 76, Waverly. Volunteered with Iowa Missions of Mercy, a community dental clinic, after health problems forced him to retire from his practice.\n\nJeffrey Duane Mahrt, 64, Spencer. A proud, founding member and head coach of the Spencer Cardinals baseball team.\n\nBarbara Malone, 65, Dunlap. Enjoyed watching rodeos on television.\n\nArlene Duggan Maloney, 92, Cedar Rapids. Proud of her volunteer work at Whitwer Senior Center.\n\nMelvin Manternach, 87, Monticello. Proud member of \"Table of Knowledge\" at Darrell's family diner.\n\nMarilyn Louise Markman, 90, Des Moines. An artist who made beautiful painted rice paper collages.\n\nJohn Marks, 61, Urbandale. Worked as an independent contractor for the real estate division at the U.S. Postal Service.\n\nJohn Marino, 68, Clear Lake. An avid rider of both bicycles and motorcycles.\n\nGary Marple, 83, Mount Pleasant. Chief inventor and co-founder of Lessac Technologies Inc., which developed text-to-speech software for expressing a wider vocal range of emotions.\n\nBill Martin, 72, Boone. Stayed lifelong friends with people in his high school marching band, forming the Bill Martin Group to keep playing music.\n\nJose Gabriel Martinez, 58, West Liberty. Did impressions while telling stories to his family.\n\nWillene \"Willy\" Marvin, 90, Ames. Used his \"gift of gab\" to talk with anyone and everyone.\n\nBart Mason, 52, Coralville. Came back every year to his hometown of Slater to help his dad with the Fourth of July Fireworks.\n\nNancy Chilton Maxwell, 92, Des Moines. Loved playing the lottery and the Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes.\n\nHarry McBride, 89, Anamosa. An active member of the Iowa Funeral Directors Association, directing funerals for over 60 years.\n\nEd McCliment, 86, Iowa City. Traveled the world as a physics professor.\n\nCharline Lorraine McDermott, 86, Toddville. The best baby whisperer.\n\nWalter McDonald, 84, Nevada. Devoted his career to safety research and special projects with the Iowa Department of Transportation.\n\nKevin McDonnell, 63, Newton. Iowa Department of Corrections inmate.\n\nSang Hae McDowell, 92, Davenport. Grew up under Japanese occupation of Korea.\n\nRoy McElfish, 68, Leon. Enjoyed tractor pulling competitions.\n\nTimothy Louis McGhee Jr., 48, Fort Dodge. Iowa Department of Corrections inmate.\n\nChristine McGowan, 70, Washington. Treasured her four guide dogs.\n\nBarbara McGrane-Brennan, 61, Fairbank. A garage sale fanatic with a collection of blankets and stuffed animals.\n\nJames \"Bert\" McGrew, 92, Cedar Rapids. A \"numbers\" man who loved Sudoku.\n\nBeverly McGuire, 92, Cedar Rapids. Sent visitors off with a homemade jar of jam, pickles or fresh tomatoes.\n\nLucy McKenzie, 91, Des Moines. Her front yard was featured on the cover of Better Homes and Gardens magazine.\n\nEarnest McKeown, 89, Sioux City. An accomplished woodworker.\n\nClaudie Mclain, 83, Marshalltown. Could be seen walking every day, often on his way to his daily visit to the YMCA.\n\nWilliam Mclaughlin, 89, West Des Moines. Started his own engineering, urban planning and construction business in 1971.\n\nJohn McMahon, 78, Newton. Never without a story to tell about his years hunting, fishing and working in law enforcement.\n\nGarold McMeins Jr., 67, Urbandale. Volunteered at the Midwest Old Settlers and Threshers Association.\n\nJohn Allen McMurchy, 76. Charles City. A farmer and expert hay baler.\n\nJoyce McMurrin, 82, Cedar Falls. Loved playing bingo, cards, and going to the casino.\n\nTerie McNamara, 70, Waterloo. A supervisor at Osco Drug/CVS.\n\nJanice L. McNelly, 79, Cedar Falls. Served as the Iowa president of the League of Women Voters.\n\nDarlene McWhirter, 91, Traer. Learned to cook on a farm, helping her parents feed seemingly countless siblings, cousins and threshers.\n\nBetty Jean Meis, 89, Cedar Rapids. Worked at Collins Radio as a graphic artist.\n\nPhil Menke, 72, Algona. Enjoyed doing the finish carpentry in new homes.\n\nWilma Merritt, 84, Maquoketa. Enjoyed life on the farm, caring for her family, animals and plants.\n\nBarry Mertes, 65, Des Moines. A member of the VFW and Adventure Life Church in Altoona.\n\nJohn Mertz III, 60, West Bend. Loved the color green and anything John Deere.\n\nRoy Wendell Messerschmidt, 94, West Des Moines. Always looked forward to playing in the father and son golf tournament with his sons, Rick and Bill, at the Des Moines Golf and Country Club.\n\nCecelia Meyer, 90, Iowa City. Worked for 24 years at the University of Iowa College of Education.\n\nCorinne Meyer, 26, Sioux City. Loved her trips to Disney World with her family, where she met all her favorite characters.\n\nFred Meyer, 78, Wheatland. Enjoyed having coffee with friends at the Blue Grass McDonalds.\n\nRichard Meyer, 82, Davenport. Ran a wholesale grocery business.\n\nLee Mickey, 79, Cedar Falls. Retired from Cedar Falls Community School District to run a Bed and Breakfast with his wife in Vermont.\n\nMarilyn Millage, 82, Sioux City. Collected souvenir spoons and memorabilia of Mickey Mouse, her favorite character.\n\nJames \"Jim\" Lowell Miller Jr., 64, Cedar Rapids. An expert handyman and bonfire builder.\n\nEric Ridgway Miller, 83, Waterloo. Held himself and the law to high ethical standards as a lawyer and community leader.\n\nGary Miller, 64, Coralville. A reverend at Grace Fellowship Church in Iowa City.\n\nRay Miller, 43, Sioux City. Loved making people laugh.\n\nRick Miller, 62, Ankeny. Started his salesman career at age 7 by selling flowers.\n\nSherry Miller, 65, Britt. Worked side by side with her husband at Miller & Sons Golf Cars.\n\nStephen Miller, 77, Marquette. Had fun rituals with his children from Friday family nights at the YMCA to group outings to Badgers basketball and football games.\n\nLyle Minnick, 86, Kellerton. Met his wife at the Mount Ayr skating rink when he was 16 years old.\n\nJudy Minnick, 84, Kellerton. Drove go-carts and four-wheelers around the farm with her children and grandchildren.\n\nJudy Mohr, 69, Boone. Loved crocheting, crafting and playing Bingo.\n\nShirley Ann Mommsen, 83, Maquoketa. Worked as a nurse's aide at the Jackson County Public Hospital.\n\nJeffrey Mondry, 61, Mason City. Often found fixing and tending to problems for his friends and family, no matter how small.\n\nNorman Montgomery, 64, Waterloo. Led the Ferguson Field Youth Baseball Team to a city championship as a coach.\n\nOlive Morris, 100, Cedar Falls. Loved her 5 children, 16 grandchildren, 44 great-grandchildren and five great-great-grandchildren.\n\nCraig Morris, 55, Shenandoah. Defeated Hodgkin's Lymphoma twice in 2013 and 2015.\n\nRichard Morris, 81, Indianola. Took over the family business, Indianola Memorial Works.\n\nPhyllis Jean Morrison, 96, Clear Lake. Percussionist in high school and college.\n\nJerry Morrow, 63, Cedar Rapids. Died less than 12 hours apart from his wife, Rosie with family saying their love was a true meaning of “until death does us apart.”\n\nRosie Morrow, 81, Cedar Rapids. Died less than 12 hours apart from her husband, Jerry with family saying their love was a true meaning of “until death does us apart.”\n\nDonald Mott, 96, Paullina. Registered for the draft as a conscientious objector and did Civilian Public Service work from 1944 to 1946 in five states.\n\nMarietta Muchow, 86, Clear Lake. Lived in Oklahoma, Texas and Iowa as her husband's career as a commercial pilot took them across the country.\n\nWanda M. Mullan, 94, Des Moines. A homemaker devoted to her husband of 73 years.\n\nPatricia \"Pat\" Craven Mulvihill, 99, Des Moines. A dancer who loved volunteering at local recitals.\n\nMark Munday, 61, Le Mars. Born the day the Dodgers won the 1959 World Series and remained a lifelong fan.\n\nTerry Munyon, 65, Kellerton. Asked his wife three times to marry him while they were growing up and each time she said no. They spent 43 years together after she asked him to marry her and he said yes.\n\nRicky Murga, 53, Quad Cities. Enjoyed Mexican art, culture and vintage automobiles.\n\nElizabeth \"Bette\" Murphy, 93, Silvis. Enjoyed her great-grandchildren's baseball games and playing euchre with friends.\n\nMelinda Mutti, 55, Pella. Taught as a substitute teacher in Knoxville and Pella schools.\n\nL. Merle Deke Myers, 90, Iowa City. Recruited at the Packwood train stop to work for the FBI.\n\nN\n\nCarla Naeve, 82, Le Mars. Loved to golf and birdwatch.\n\nLynn Charles Naibert, 83, Cedar Rapids. Married his wife six months after their first coffee date.\n\nSanford Naiditch, 97, Ankeny. Knew the Ohio State University fight song by heart.\n\nLinda Nassif, 76, Cedar Rapids. A role model to her sixth-graders at St. Pius Grade School.\n\nKenneth G. Nations Sr., 73, Wapello. Took his grandchildren to see Old Threshers Reunion.\n\nMarjorie Nearmyer, 84, Marion. A resident of Winslow House Care Center.\n\nCharlie Nehl, 38, Cedar Rapids. Iowa's state champion for \"Magic: the Gathering\" who loved spray painting, the Cubs and hosting LAN parties with friends.\n\nSister Marianne Nehus, 67, Johnston. Honored by Gov. Tom Vilsack for her service on the Disabilities Policy Council in 2006.\n\nChris Nelson, 58, Indianola. Active in the United Auto Workers, he fought for union members to receive a livable wage and be treated with dignity and respect.\n\nJoe Nelson, 88, Cedar Falls. Served as the finance officer, commander, and state chaplin at Cedar Falls AMVETS Post #49.\n\nLola Nelson, 86, Ollie. Taught Sunday school at the Ollie United Methodist Church.\n\nDwight Nernes, 76, Leon. Once sang at the Grand Ole Opry.\n\nBeth Neubaurer, 77, Ankeny. Nicknamed Gramcracker, or Cracker for short, by her older grandkids.\n\nBrent \"Ben\" Newton, 50, Fort Dodge. Studied his Native American heritage.\n\nHong Cuc Thi Nguyen, 87. Sioux City. Helped refugees from Vietnam, Bosnia and Africa resettle in Iowa.\n\nDewey Nielsen, 74, Oxford. Enjoyed visiting with campers and community members as he ran Sleepy Hollow Campground.\n\nMark Nielsen, 69, Battle Creek. From Little League T-Ball to pro-basketball, loved watching and attending sporting events.\n\nRay Buster Nielsen, 93, Des Moines. Served in the Army's Occupational Forces in Japan after World War II.\n\nRussell A. Nielsen, 96, Cedar Falls. Maintained an optometric practice for 41 years.\n\nDiane Norelius, 85, Denison. A practical joker who always joined in on the fun with her children and grandchildren.\n\nEunice North, 80, Boone. Drove the Boone County Educational Library bus.\n\nDorothy Norton, 98, Iowa City. Worked for Great Western Railroad while her husband served in World War II.\n\nEugene Norton, 89, Clive. Collected cars and repaired lawn mowers.\n\nJohn Novy, 88, Greenfield. An Iowa State Patrol trooper known as \"Big John.\"\n\nO\n\nBetty Jean O'Connor, 86, Des Moines. Started a Red Hat group and monthly card club.\n\nBradley Ohl, 64, Oelwein. Loved his annual trips to deer camp at the Circle B Ranch with family and friends.\n\nJoyce Ann Ohl, 72, Lennox. Led the Sioux City Steppers Drill Team in dancing for decades.\n\nVincent Olson, 71, Nevada. Served his community as assistant fire chief.\n\nCheryl Jean Ord, 48, Glenwood. Planted banana trees in her yard each year, bringing them inside during the cold months.\n\nJames M. Orr, 53, Charles City. Resident of Comprehensive Systems.\n\nJim Orvis, 65, Waterloo. Worked at Cedar Falls' Ice House Museum.\n\nOscar P. “Swede” Ostrom Jr, 93, Des Moines. Delighted in giving tours of his Minnesota boyhood school, which subsequently became a historical museum.\n\nMary Anne Otte, 93, Davenport. Wooed her husband at local dances.\n\nKimberly Outlaw, 55, Waterloo. Worked as an export clerk at Tysons.\n\nZachary Scott Overy, 35, North English. Passionate problem solver at Vivint Home Security and Automation.\n\nNancy Owen, 89, Des Moines. Worked at General Casualty Insurance.\n\nP\n\nDuane Palmer Sr., 92, Cedar Rapids. Repaired lawnmowers and small engines as a hobby with his best friend, Norm.\n\nStephen Palmer, 69, Des Moines. Served people with intellectual disabilities by his 20-year involvement with Special Olympics.\n\nJohn N. Paricka, 41, Waterloo. Played football for the Cedar Valley Vikings.\n\nFrank Parks, 91, Ottumwa. Former president of the ISU Parents Association.\n\nPatrick C. Parks, 85, Sergeant Bluff. Flew as an Air Force fighter pilot in Vietnam.\n\nStanley Eugene \"Stan\" Patrick, 85, Bussey. Traveled to Chicago regularly to see his favorite team, the Cubs.\n\nLesley Paulsen, 74, Des Moines. Enjoyed a good mystery novel and a strong cup of coffee.\n\nJean Smith Payne, 88, Mason City. Gave a handmade quilt to every family member.\n\nMatt Peiffer, 64, Grinnell. Loved to smoke meats for family gatherings.\n\nTim Perez, 52, Cedar Rapids. Received a kidney transplant in 2020.\n\nVicki Perez, 66, Cedar Rapids. Enjoyed going to casinos and spending time with \"the girls.\"\n\nHarry Perkins III, 73, Des Moines. Practiced in civil litigation and trial law for 45 years.\n\nNorma Jean Perry, 88, Des Moines. Spent 41 years as a foster grandparent.\n\nHarvey Louis Peters, 92, Parkersburg. Board member and volunteer at Beaver Meadows Golf and Country Club.\n\nRandy Peters, 71, Waukee. A post master in Truo.\n\nRichard Leroy Peters, 77, Coralville. Iowa Department of Corrections inmate.\n\nEleanor Moody Pettit, 90, Cordova. Traveled the country with her friends but was never allowed to drive.\n\nJohn Pettit, Des Moines. Served as chief operating officer and vice president for the Iowa Barnstormers since 2008.\n\nSandra Sue Phillips, 84, Cedar Rapids. Spent her childhood traveling across the United States and Canada with her father, an entertainer and acrobat.\n\nRick Pianca, 62, Davenport. Made detailed personalized itineraries for friends and family member's vacations.\n\nLeonard Andy Anderson Pierce, 75, Ottumwa. A regular at Arabian horse shows.\n\nCleo 'Bud' Ping, 88, Sloan. Loved reading Westerns and historical novels.\n\nNorma J. Pint, 90, Davenport. Operated a local telephone company in Hanlontown.\n\nWarren Pohl, 68, Waterloo. Played electric guitar in a country-rock band.\n\nRussell Lolo Porter, 47, Cedar Rapids. Loved his friends and the staff at New Horizons and REM.\n\nScott Powell, 56, La Porte City. Piloted helicopters in the U.S. Army and National Guard for two decades.\n\nBarbara Prenosil, 101, Nevada. Worked for the Department of Environmental Quality in Iowa.\n\nGabriella Michelle Price-MacCormick, 24, Cedar Rapids. Competed in track and field, bowling and basketball skills in Iowa Special Olympics.\n\nVirginia Prince-Renner, 91, Whiting. Sang with the Women's Club Chorus and played the organ for Christy-Smith Funeral Home.\n\nRobert Probasco, 69, Des Moines. Served the U.S. Army in Germany from 1971 to 1974.\n\nSusan K. Prohaska, 65, Dysart. Ran a preschool in Evansdale.\n\nMarilyn Elizabeth Prouty, 92, Marion. The youngest supervisor ever at the Marion Telephone Co.\n\nEvon \"Gus\" Puetz, 97, Le Mars. Farmed his entire life with his family: first his father, then brother-in-law, son, and grandson.\n\nBonnie Pugsley, 95, Des Moines. Server as an elder and deacon in the Presbyterian Church.\n\nRoger Puls, 73, Grinnell. A competitive bowler in the Grinnell Bowling League.\n\nQ\n\nSeretha Quinn, 46, Eldridge. Had an infectious smile and was always willing to help those in need.\n\nR\n\nJose Dolores Guevara Ramirez, 89, Marshalltown. Made fresh lime ice cream for his Iowa grandchildren.\n\nEdwin Roy Raymond, 54, Sioux City. Enjoyed going to the Special Olympics.\n\nMarilyn Reams, 75, Des Moines. Never missed a softball game, swim meet, baseball game or soccer game for her grandchildren.\n\nMichele Recanati, 47, Oelwein. Worked with her twin sister, Cynthia, at MercyOne.\n\nRobert Ellsworth Reeder, 74, Mason City. Passed days trout fishing in the streams of northeastern Iowa with his brothers.\n\nGail Rees Jr., 78, Greeley. Spent almost every weekend at the Bandimere Speedway track with his family, winning many trophies along the way.\n\nDay Reh, 85, Waterloo. Earned his U.S. citizenship in Des Moines.\n\nGregg E. Reisinger, 75, Eldora. Owned one of the largest horse farms in Iowa, raising more than 1,700 registered horses.\n\nVirginia Renner, 91, Sioux City. Served as the first woman chair of the worship committee at Redeemer Lutheran.\n\nSusan C. “Susie” Rhum, 88, Danville. Spent 30 years working at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant.\n\nRev. Ralph Rice, 67, Sioux City. A member of the Order of the Arrow who once earned the God and Country Award.\n\nKelli Jo Richards, 57, Cedar Rapids. Loved to drive around in her Camaro.\n\nVirginia Richardson, 97, Cedar Rapids. Baptist pastor's wife and mother to eight children.\n\nJean Marie Rickelman, 89, Fort Madison. Proud to be both a farmer's daughter and a farmer's wife.\n\nLeslie Rish, 80, Mason City. Served in the Army in Virginia, Washington, South Korea and Germany.\n\nHarriett Risse, 92, Oelwein. Chosen as \"Readlyn's Old Grump\" in 2012.\n\nF. Alberta Ritter, 95, Des Moines. Spent retirement traveling by motorhome to Florida, Arizona and Texas.\n\nRonald Roberts, 81, Chariton. A sociology professor at the University of Northern Iowa for three decades.\n\nPedro Cano Rodriguez, 51, Columbus Junction. Never resisted the urge to pull pranks and crack jokes.\n\nJoan Roepke, 83, Le Mars. A huge country music fan who met Johnny Cash multiple times.\n\nBen Rogers, 67, Quad Cities. Boy Scouts of America leader in Iowa and Illinois.\n\nMary Louise \"Kitty\" Rolfes, 90, Johnston. Nicknamed for the precocious little girl in the Kitty Higgins comic strip.\n\nMinerva Rosales, 62, Le Mars.\n\nFred Roquet, 78, Mt. Auburn. Worked for John Deere and Exide Batteries.\n\nAaron Rubashkin, 92, Postville. Fled a Hasidic Jewish enclave in Russia to survive the Holocaust.\n\nHeidi Ruhrer, 63, Moville. Loved the family's summer trips to Minnesota.\n\nLoretta Faye Wenner Rundlett, 90, Vinton. Enjoyed crafting, sewing and knitting.\n\nBeverly Russell, 82, Newton. Always ordered chocolate Cokes at Bigelow’s restaurant.\n\nS\n\nDarrell Salmons, 82, Cedar Falls. A proud Cedar Falls Firefighter.\n\nBrenda Samaniego, 23, Sioux City. Special Olympics athlete for the past 11 years.\n\nJuan Jose Jauregui Samudio, 60, Storm Lake.\n\nFloyd Sanders, 86, Storm Lake. A master of Dad jokes.\n\nLyle Sannes Sr., 86, Marion. Known as the \"Road Dog\" for all of the miles he traveled for work, hunting and fishing.\n\nChris Sasina, 69, Monticello. Co-owner and production manager of Commander Buildings for 30 years.\n\nNancy Saunders, 64, Des Moines. Made great pies and enchiladas.\n\nPhillip Saunders, 80, Cedar Rapids. A firefighter for three decades.\n\nGerald Schlies, 77, Lawton. An artist who created stained glass windows.\n\nAnita Schindler, 58, Iowa City. Always wanted to help others, be they friend, family, stranger or animal.\n\nEsther Schipper, 91, Parkersburg. Taught Sunday school and catechism at Bethel Reformed Church.\n\nDonald \"Spook\" Schnackenberg, 80, Council Bluffs. A Navy veteran who retired as a boilermaker.\n\nWilliam Schroeder, 84, Johnston. Longtime chaplain for Mercy Hospital and Mercy West Lakes Hospital.\n\nMarilyn Schornack, 89, West Des Moines. Taught Sunday school, Bible school, sang in the choir at Windsor Heights Lutheran Church.\n\nPatsy Schotanus, 84, Grafton. Had a talent at connecting with young people, many of whom considered her family.\n\nRobert Schuldt, 67, Climbing Hill. Habitually surrounded by pets, big and small.\n\nEdward Schultz, 73, Muscatine. A detective and police officer for the Iowa City Police Department.\n\nShirley Ann Schultz, 86, Cedar Rapids. Loved her cat, Queenie.\n\nArthur Scott, 51, Waterloo. Rebuilt his life after serving time in prison.\n\nAlice Yvonne Sea, 84, Sioux City. Directed a traveling Children's Theatre.\n\nLois Marguerite Sedgwick, 93, Dundee. Enjoyed refinishing antiques and quilting.\n\nJackson Selk, 74, Cedar Rapids. Appointed to the Juvenile Justice Advisory Council for the state of Iowa.\n\nLarry Sellers, 85, Pleasant Hill. A volunteer coach, officer and mentor for Grandview Little League who served four generations of players for more than 60 years.\n\nGlenn A. Sels, 84, Mason City. Sketched intricate pictures of war machinery while growing up during the World War II era.\n\nJerry Selover, 86, Des Moines. Accomplished carpenter and member of Des Moines Woodworkers and Turners Club.\n\nFranklin Delano Seitzinger, 86, Sioux City. Known in the agriculture industry for wearing his \"big deal boots.\"\n\nJack Sexton, 87, Cedar Rapids. Sang and played guitar in the Dave Dighton Band for more than 30 years.\n\nMichael Sharer, 78, Marshalltown. Loved his Angus calves and cows and always enjoyed attending the Iowa Winter Beef Expo.\n\nJoyce Sharp, 95, Johnston. An avid gardener, knitter and winemaker.\n\nRetha Elizabeth Contri Sharp, 98, Johnston. Helped at poll sites during elections and loved to talk politics.\n\nGary Sharum, 68, Sioux City. Helped students beat their personal records as coach of the AZ Flames Track Club.\n\nAlexa Sheeder, 32, Davenport. Met her husband, an Army soldier, putting together a care package for troops overseas.\n\nBarbara Jean Sherman, 85, Cedar Rapids. Led three presidents through Cedar Rapids' National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library.\n\nGerald Shook, 76, Davenport. Challenged visitors to a game of chess, always played on the set handcrafted by his brother, Bill.\n\nColleen M. Shumaker, 61, Des Moines. Woke up early to celebrate St. Patrick's Day every year.\n\nCharlene Shurtz, 68, Cedar Rapids. Enjoyed spending time with her bird, Tammy.\n\nJessica Siegert, 40, Urbandale. Loved spoiling her family, friends and her adored cat, Diego.\n\nWilfred Willie Jay Sikkema, 81, Fulton. Had a \"good heart and a warm smile.\"\n\nRuthanne Silverstein, 91, Des Moines. A prolific creator of handmade clothes.\n\nRobert William Sirovy, 62, Anamosa. Iowa Department of Corrections inmate.\n\nJohn Skaggs, 76, Quad Cities. Attended the Secret Service training center in Maryland.\n\nEugene Skinner, 95, Dubuque. A former president of the Iowa Bowling Association and member of the association's Hall of Fame in multiple categories.\n\nGail Slack, 91, West Des Moines. Held Minnesota Vikings tickets for 40 years.\n\nKevin Slaybaugh, 50, Guthrie Center. A faithful member of Waukee United Methodist Church, who loved visiting with the congregation and goofing around with attending kids.\n\nRobert Lee Slezak, 83, Des Moines. Loved folding laundry at the Rowley Masonic Home in Perry.\n\nLarry Smalley, 87, Tripoli. Sang in the River City Barbershop Chorus in Mason City.\n\nBill Smith, 90, Moulton. Served in an English medical base during the Korean War.\n\nRochelle Smith, 80, Des Moines. Worked as a telephone operator for U.S. West/Qwest Communications.\n\nShirley Ann Smith, 83, Ames. Could never resist stopping at an antique shop.\n\nVolney Smith, 92, Ames. Loved genealogy, reading and watching Jeopardy.\n\nVictoria Vicki Ann Snarzyk, 61, Cedar Rapids. Enjoyed swimming, fishing and gardening.\n\nBetty Laverne Sniffin, 96, Oelwein. Translated for her deaf and mute parents as a child.\n\nJudith Solecki, 65, Cedar Rapids. Loved watching Hawkeyes basketball games.\n\nHarrison Harry Solliday, 85, West Des Moines. Spread the Christian gospel in Iowa correctional facilities.\n\nLuciano Soloman, 57, Des Moines. Graduated from Colegio Cotzumalguapa in Saint Lucia, where he earned a degree in accounting.\n\nLarry Sonner, 84, Urbandale. Provided seminars and counseling for pastors and their families across Iowa.\n\nJay Elmer Spoonhaltz, 90, Des Moines. Served four years in the U.S. Navy.\n\nMary Soukup, 89, Windham. Loved when her favorite birds, Cardinals, stopped to eat from her bird feeders.\n\nBarbara Springer, 75, Sioux City. Buried on her birthday, her six children loved the days she took them to the park for fishing and fun.\n\nHarold Spurgeon, 100, Ottumwa. A triplet, joined the Navy Seabees and served in the Philippines during WWII.\n\nJoan Stabenow, 81, Waterloo. Loved taking trips to Florida, Mexico and Branson, Missouri.\n\nMelvin \"Mel\" Stahmer, 68, Coralville. Beloved union postman.\n\nLarry Stalter, 73, Iowa City. Received his medical education at the University of Iowa before opening a medical museum in Cullom, Illinois, with his wife.\n\nGlen Roger Stancliff, 79, Iowa City. Served as Andover, Illinois fire chief for more than three decades.\n\nDonald Gene Starcevich, 83, West Des Moines. An avid boater who loved exploring the Mississippi River.\n\nDwight Stearns, 64, Earlham. The first full-time transport officer for Dallas County Sheriff’s Office.\n\nTom Stephenson, 77, Norwalk. Built race cars and personal vehicles for friends and family.\n\nHenry \"Hank\" Steinwandt, 84, Mason City. Loved John Wayne Westerns.\n\nAnne Stevens, 74, Stuart. Was told she would need a ventilator and feeding tube for the rest of her life in 2018. Was able to remove both in 2019.\n\nJudy Stevens, 77, Cedar Rapids. Won awards as a successful real estate agent.\n\nGary Stevens, 82, Cedar Rapids. Loved his old Plymouth car, a 1970½ Monte Carlo.\n\nElmer \"Skip\" Stoddard, 72, Sioux City. Gave the best hugs.\n\nCarole Stohlmann, 80, Sioux City. Honored as Professional Horsewoman of the Year by the Arabian Horsemen's Association.\n\nJerry Dean Stoffregen, 79, Waverly. Worked in the banking industry for over 25 years.\n\nVera Mae Stoltze, 89, Sioux City. Played cards with friends and a good game of Yahtzee with family.\n\nLeon \"Stoney\" Stone, 83, West Des Moines. Loved to going to see the Packers play with his friend Pat.\n\nDonna Storey, 72, Waterloo. Enjoyed baking with her sister, Judy.\n\nIla Mae Storm, 98, Pisgah. Well-known for her yodeling skills.\n\nJonathan William Strain, 59, Anamosa. Iowa Department of Corrections inmate.\n\nBarbara Strait, 84, Cedar Rapids. A member of Good Sam's Camping Club.\n\nDavid Streets, 70, Anamosa. Iowa Department of Corrections inmate.\n\nWilliam Strothkamp, 77, Quad Cities. Started his own business because he \"never could find a boss he liked.\"\n\nNina Stull, 89, Centerville. Loved showing off her great-grandchildren to other residents in her nursing center.\n\nNathan Stupka, 48, Elkhart. An All-State pitcher for the Bomber Baseball team.\n\nDelores Sturgeon, 79, Sioux City. Taught first aid to many Cub Scouts and operated several first aid stations.\n\nDolores Suchomel, 93, Mount Vernon. Once named University of Iowa’s Mother of the Year.\n\nZola Marie Summerson, 93, Perry. Farmed with her husband until his death in 2005.\n\nRichard Sundermeyer, 78, Marion. Sang with the Older Hymns at Lutheran Church of the Resurrection.\n\nArthur Svaldi, 82, Cedar Rapids. Served on the Good Neighbor Home Society board and the Manchester Bowling League.\n\nRobert Svoboda, 50, Sioux City. Enjoyed working with his hands in the tile and construction industry.\n\nT\n\nDonald \"Bones\" Taylor, 75, Cedar Falls. Raced in his Silver 1963 Corvette Stingray at the NEITA Raceway and in Byron, Illinois.\n\nJudith Taylor, 76, Waterloo. Worked all around Waterloo's dining establishments: El Mecca Shrine Club, Washington Street Café, Allen Hospital Café, Corner Tap, Vernie's, Pinkies Tap as well as operating the Flame Room.\n\nRobert Frank Taylor, 72, Coralville. Iowa Department of Corrections inmate.\n\nJanet L. Temple, 79, Newell. Ran a day care center and owned Temple Hardware.\n\nLyle Thayer, 82, Le Grand. Worked in upholstery, enjoyed hunting and fishing.\n\nJudy Thenhaus, 81, Cedar Rapids. Spent her early life as a stay-at-home mother with her children, then became a \"house mom\" at St. Luke's Hospital.\n\nRicky Thies, 60, Marion. Made shelving, a sewing table and a nativity scene as a talented woodworker.\n\nMargaret Thing, 84, Springville. Sang and played in the bell choir at Springville Methodist Church.\n\nRegina Marie Thiry, 62, Waterloo. Sewed masks for friends at the University of Iowa College of Public Health.\n\nGary Thomas, 56, Des Moines. A natural horseman with a love for blazing his own trails.\n\nRaymond “ Tom” Thomas, 78, Ankeny. A captain who worked in the Des Moines Fire Department for 36 years.\n\nSharon Thomas, 58, Davenport. Member of the Goldwing Road Riders in Davenport with her husband, Steve.\n\nDorothy \"Dot\" Thompson, 105, Seymour. Baked award-winning lemon meringue pies.\n\nRobert Bob D. Thompson, 77, Waterville. Won awards for the quality of his dairy and hog farming.\n\nRandy Tilley, 64, Granger. Always had a car or motorcycle project going in his driveway.\n\nLowell Titus, 93, Des Moines. Hitchhiked through national parks after returning from U.S. Navy service.\n\nLynda Tomkins, 62, Coralville. An animal lover who enjoyed cooking and gardening.\n\nDorothy Topping, 78, Cedar Rapids. Raised the four children of Dr. Dean and Bonnie Bemus, their grandchildren and great-grandchildren.\n\nMegan Trilk, 56, Sioux City. An award-winning photographer who chronicled her children's live in pictures.\n\nCasey Tweedy, 34, Algona. Loved riding his bike, lifting weights and playing basketball.\n\nRoald Tweet, 87, Quad Cities. Beloved Augustana College English professor, Quad-City cultural icon and longtime radio personality.\n\nU\n\nJames Urbatsch, 80, Osage. Designed and fabricated much of his own farm equipment.\n\nLisa Upah, 56, Keystone. Lived just a few houses away from her daughters and grandson.\n\nV\n\nJohn A. Valukskas Jr., 76, Sioux City. Appointed International Coordinator of Carnival Ministries by St. Pope John Paul II.\n\nPhyllis Vander Sluis, 86, Primghar. Kept “Build Your Vocabulary” books next to her easy chair.\n\nHarlan James VandeZandschulp, 68, Sioux City. Traveled to Israel, Mozambique and Nigeria\n\nBen Van Hove, 86, Steamboat Rock. Enjoyed flipping pancakes for his Boat Club for Sunday breakfast gatherings.\n\nRay Allen Vanlengen, 71, Fort Dodge. Iowa Department of Corrections inmate.\n\nRuth Ann Lass Van Meter, 90, DeWitt. Served as both choir director and organist for Grace Lutheran Church.\n\nRaymond Van Dyk, 91, Pella. Constructed handmade wooden toy cars for indigenous children in dozens of countries.\n\nAlice Van Hoozer, 102, Waterloo. Loved the challenge of a thousand-piece puzzle.\n\nSteven James Van Riper, 93, Coralville. Iowa Department of Corrections Inmate.\n\nJohn Van Weelden, 78, Albia. A master woodworker who crafted everything from cabinetry to custom birdhouses.\n\nRonald Versluis, 79, Cedar Falls. Worked at John Deere in Waterloo for 30 years.\n\nGale Vetter, 69, Hartley. Long-time driver on the Hartley Emergency Ambulance Rescue Team.\n\nRobert Vidimos II, 58, Ames. Shared his love for singing, slapstick movies and competitive board games with his children.\n\nDale Viers, 58, Fort Madison. Iowa Department of Corrections Inmate.\n\nDonna Vinson, 91, Oelwein. Could \"cut a rug\" with the best of them.\n\nTom Vint, 72, Marshalltown. Covered Omaha sports for the Associated Press.\n\nBernice Vogel, 94, Blairstown. Walked fields weighing corn and soybeans for customers as her husband's business partner at Pioneer Seed Corn.\n\nW\n\nDon Donny Wachal, 74, Davenport. Owned the Filling Station, an iconic Davenport bar.\n\nSusan Wagner, 54, Waverly. Avidly watched shows about current events and nature.\n\nMichael Wahl, 69, Norwalk. A gearhead who loved to drag race and street race.\n\nJohn Wait, 60, Council Bluffs. An inventor who helped create and perfect aviaton technology.\n\nCaroline Waits, 96, Centerville. Worked to provide a loving environment for her husband and six children.\n\nJeanette Wakeman, 74, Ireton. Talented at floral designs and decorating.\n\nCatherine Waldmann-Murphy, 66, Council Bluffs. Served in the Air Force for four years after high school.\n\nLaVonne \"Bonnie\" Wallace, 92, Cedar Falls. Enjoyed fishing and traveling with her husband.\n\nWilliam \"Bill\" Wallace, 90, Manchester. A Shriner who drove area families to Minneapolis’ Shiners Hospital.\n\nLeona Wallbaum, 104, Parkersburg. A faithful, active member of Bethel Lutheran Church for more than 80 years.\n\nMarilyn Jean Wallen, 86, Sioux City. Operated the Wallen Stables and Riding School for over 55 years.\n\nDaryl Walters, 71, Bettendorf. Went by the nickname Daryl Camaro.\n\nJoAnne Walther, 74, Cedar Falls. Owned and operated Grandma's Treasures antique shop.\n\nCornie Wassink, 70, Alton. A charter member of the Northwestern Athletic Hall of Fame, established endowment scholarships as Director of Planned Giving and a part of every major capital campaign at Northwestern College.\n\nAnne Weaver, 87, Des Moines. Literally went to Timbuktu just so she could say the name \"Timbuktu.\"\n\nBetty Webb, 77, Le Mars. Went all-out celebrating and decorating for the holidays.\n\nMichael Wisehart, 66, Cedar Rapids. Worked as a California Park Rangers for many years and always supported the Hawkeyes.\n\nJune Welsch, 83, Muscatine. Could be found most days at local cafes visiting with friends.\n\nRuth Welscott, 73, Mason City. Traveled across the country in an RV for 19 years finding her family roots.\n\nRita Weiden, 98, Raymond. Most remembered as a waitress at Bishop’s Cafeteria in Waterloo.\n\nRobert Wensel, 83, Sioux City. Served aboard the USS Jasper during the Bay of Pigs.\n\nElizabeth Westcott, 84, Cedar Rapids. Graduated from the John Roberts Powers Modeling School in Minneapolis.\n\nJanet Westhoff, 85, Manchester. Crocheted and quilted blankets for many charitable causes and for all her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.\n\nPaul Werger, 88, Urbandale. Former bishop of the Iowa Synod of the Lutheran Church in America.\n\nLarry Whaley, 64, Anamosa. Iowa Department of Corrections inmate.\n\nJames \"Choo-Choo\" Whetsler, 77, Rome. Beloved by many for telling stories of his long career in the railroad industry .\n\nCarroll White, 100, Ottumwa. Among first troops in Hiroshima after its bombing.\n\nDennis White, 81, Mount Pleasant. Coached little league baseball and junior bowling.\n\nJerry Wayne Wieter, 68, Muscatine. Devoted Hawkeye fan.\n\nJo Ann Wilch, 89, Cedar Rapids. Loved a good book, a glass of chardonnay, her transistor radio and Sonny Rollins.\n\nClellan Wildes, 87, Marion. A master apple pie baker and cribbage player.\n\nBonnie Wilberding, 87, Mitchell County. A fierce spirit with a penchant for witty conversations.\n\nJoseph Wilhelm, 82, Davenport. Enjoyed target shooting and deer and moose hunting.\n\nCarol Williams, 93, Ottumwa. Part of the group who pushed to equip Ottumwa with audible outdoor warning sirens.\n\nFlorence Williams, 86, Springville. Gave back to her community by volunteering with 4-H, the Springville Public Library and Meals-On-Wheels.\n\nBryce Wilson, 31, Des Moines. Played football internationally in Brazil and Hungary.\n\nSharon Rae Wilson, 73, Merrill. Always cared for her family cats as well as strays.\n\nClaude \"Sid\" Winchell Jr., 87, Atlantic. A consummate volunteer who served as mayor of Atlantic for four years.\n\nBetty Winterfeld, 87, Hawarden. The quilts she and her friends made now warm people around the world.\n\nDarleen Witzel, 46, Des Moines. A nurse who loved her St. Bernard, Tank, with all her heart.\n\nWiuca Iddi Wiuca, 36, Des Moines. Came to Iowa as a refugee in 2019, fleeing war in the Congo.\n\nMichael \"Mike\" Wolfe, 66, Allerton. Played Santa during the holidays.\n\nMax Wolfgram, 84, Manchester. Loved hunting elk in Colorado, backpacking the Boundary Waters in Minnesota and hiking the Backbone State Park in Iowa.\n\nTerry Lou Wood, 70, Waterloo. Worked at John Deere for 30 years.\n\nRobert Worth, 93, Des Moines. Attended a one-room school house, graduating as salutatorian of his class in 1945.\n\nDavid M. Worthington, 74, Des Moines. Enjoyed skiing on water and on snow.\n\nDeborah Wright, 50, Keokuk. A teacher who also wrote grants for Lee County to obtain K-9 officers.\n\nJohn Wright, 61, Des Moines. Drove buses for Southeast Polk Schools for 13 years.\n\nLarry Wright, 78, Northwood. Loved to fly the wild blue yonder in his Cessna 182.\n\nSherry Wright, 74, West Des Moines. A devout Christian known for her bright laugh.\n\nSteven Wright, 64, Solon. Elected mayor of Solon from 1980 to 1987 and retained the lifelong nickname \"Mayor Steve.\"\n\nPhyllis Wrobel, 98, Muscatine. Crafted quilts and gifts for her great-grandchildren.\n\nJames Wubbens, 56, Cedar Rapids. Married his love, Shelia, Little Brown Church in Nashua.\n\nChuck Wyatt, 83, George. A veterinarian caring for many farm animals across Iowa.\n\nY\n\nElvin \"Al\" Yoder, 77, Iowa City. Always juggled several woodworking projects.\n\nDelbert Van Young, 59, Ames. Was a ticket-taker at Hilton Coliseum.\n\nDonald Young, 83, Viola. Always ready to explore the roads on his motorcycle.\n\nWilliam Roy Young, 65, Ames. Owned and managed local JARCO Stores with his father.\n\nZ\n\nMichael Zawitowkski, 100, Des Moines. A paratrooper during World War II.\n\nFrank Zieser, 78, Walker. Helped his community by building furniture and donating it to the Sacred Heart Church every year for their church raffle and for use in the church.\n\nJune Zirkelbach, 96, Monticello. Played the organ at Scotch Grove Presbyterian Church.\n\nWinton George Znerold, 97, Windsor Heights. Was offered a semi-professional baseball contract in his youth, but couldn't accept it after being drafted in World War II.\n\nSharon Zumbrunnen, 67, Monticello. A staple at the local library, reading and working on the computer.\n\nAND THE MORE THAN 5,300 IOWANS who died before August 4, 2021.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2020/10/12"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/07/us/roger-mosley-magnum-p-i-death/index.html", "title": "Roger E. Mosley, 'Magnum, P.I.' star, dies at 83 after a car crash | 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": ["Chuck Johnston Nouran Salahieh", "Chuck Johnston", "Nouran Salahieh"], "publish_date": "2022/08/07"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/04/entertainment/loretta-lynn-obit/index.html", "title": "Loretta Lynn, coal miner's daughter turned country queen, dies at 90 ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nLoretta Lynn, the “Coal Miner’s Daughter” whose gutsy lyrics and twangy, down-home vocals made her a queen of country music for seven decades, has died. She was 90.\n\nLynn’s family said in a statement to CNN that she died Tuesday at her home in Tennessee.\n\n“Our precious mom, Loretta Lynn, passed away peacefully this morning, October 4th, in her sleep at home in her beloved ranch in Hurricane Mills,” the statement read.\n\nThey asked for privacy as they grieve and said a memorial will be announced later.\n\nLynn, who had no formal music training but spent hours every day singing her babies to sleep, was known to churn out fully textured songs in a matter of minutes. She just wrote what she knew.\n\nShe lived in poverty for much of her early life, began having kids by age 17 and spent years married to a man prone to drinking and philandering – all of which became material for her plainspoken songs. Lynn’s life was rich with experiences most country stars of the time hadn’t had for themselves – but her female fans knew them intimately.\n\n“So when I sing those country songs about women struggling to keep things going, you could say I’ve been there,” she wrote in her first memoir, “Coal Miner’s Daughter.” “Like I say, I know what it’s like to be pregnant and nervous and poor.”\n\nLynn scored hits with fiery songs like “Don’t Come Home A’ Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ On Your Mind)” and “You Ain’t Woman Enough (To Take My Man),” which topped the country charts in 1966 and made her the first female country singer to write a No. 1 hit.\n\nHer songs recounted family history, skewered lousy husbands and commiserated with women, wives and mothers everywhere. Her tell-it-like-it-is style saw tracks such as “Rated X” and “The Pill” banned from radio, even as they became beloved classics.\n\n“I wasn’t the first woman in country music,” Lynn told Esquire in 2007. “I was just the first one to stand up there and say what I thought, what life was about.”\n\nShe grew up dirt-poor in the Kentucky hills\n\nShe was born Loretta Webb in 1932, one of eight Webb children raised in Butcher Hollow in the Appalachian mining town of Van Lear, Kentucky. Growing up, Lynn sang in church and at home, even as her father protested that everyone in Butcher Hollow could hear.\n\nLoretta Lynn wears a cowboy hat and a fringe western style jacket while holding an acoustic guitar as she poses for a portrait in circa 1960 in Nashville, Tennessee. Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images\n\nHer family had little money. But those early years were some of her fondest memories, as she recounts in her 1971 hit, “Coal Miner’s Daughter”: “We were poor but we had love; That’s the one thing that daddy made sure of.”\n\nAs a young teenager, Loretta met the love of her life in Oliver “Doolittle” Lynn, whom she affectionately called “Doo.” The pair married when Lynn was 15 – a fact cleared up in 2012, after the Associated Press discovered Lynn was a few years older than she had said she was in her memoir – and Lynn gave birth to their first of six children the same year.\n\n“When I got married, I didn’t even know what pregnant meant,” said Lynn, who bore four children in the first four years of marriage and a set of twins years later.\n\n“I was five months pregnant when I went to the doctor, and he said, ‘You’re gonna have a baby.’ I said, ‘No way. I can’t have no baby.’ He said, ‘Ain’t you married?’ Yep. He said, ‘You sleep with your husband?’ Yep. ‘You’re gonna have a baby, Loretta. Believe me.’ And I did.”\n\nThe couple soon headed to Washington state in search of jobs. Music wasn’t a priority for the young mother at first. She’d spend her days working, mostly, picking strawberries in Washington state while her babies sat on a blanket nearby.\n\nBut when her husband heard her humming tunes and soothing their babies to sleep, he said she sounded better than the girl singers on the radio. He bought her a $17 Harmony guitar and got her a gig at a local tavern.\n\nIt wasn’t until 1960 that she’d record what would become her debut single, “Honky Tonk Girl.” She then took the song on the road, playing country music stations across the United States.\n\nAfter years of hard work and raising kids, telling stories with her guitar seemed like a break.\n\nLoretta Lynn performs in 2016 during South By Southwest in Austin, Texas. Rich Fury/Invision/AP Lynn poses for a picture with three young boys in her hometown of Butcher Holler, Kentucky. Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images Lynn wears a cowboy hat and a fringe western style jacket while holding an acoustic guitar in Nashville circa 1960. Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images Lynn hugs a man while holding a record outside the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee, circa 1960. Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images Lynn shows how she had to practice walking in high heel shoes at a home in 1962. She wanted to be able to run onto the Grand Ole Opry stage without stumbling. The singer prefers boots, but the Wilburn Brothers, her managers, insisted she wear high heels. Jack Corn/The Tennessean/USA Today Network Lynn performs on stage at the Grand Ole Opry in the '60s. Hulton Archive/Getty Images Lynn, left, joins fellow female country singers on stage as Dottie West, fourth from right, sings \"Born To Be A Country Girl\" at the Nashville Municipal Auditorium in 1970. Jimmy Ellis/The Tennessean/USA Today Network Comedian Flip Wilson joins Lynn and Mike Douglas on \"The Mike Douglas Show\" in Los Angeles in 1974. Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images Lynn accepts the award for Entertainer of the Year from Marty Robbins at the 1976 Academy of Country Music Awards. Disney General Entertainment Content/Getty Images Lynn holds up a commemorative plaque at the dedication of a star honoring her at the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles in 1978. AP US President Jimmy Carter kisses Lynn during an evening of country music at the White House in 1978. Dennis Cook/AP Lynn stands with Kermit the Frog on the Muppet Show in 1978. Henson Associates/Everett Collection Lynn and Conway Twitty pose for a portrait circa 1979. From 1972 to 1975 Twitty and Lynn won the Country Music Association's vocal duo of the year award. Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images Lynn, center, arrives at the Belle Meade Theater for the movie premiere of \"Coal Miner's Daughter\" with her mother, Clara Butcher, left, and her husband, Mooney Lynn, in 1980. Frank Empson/The Tennessean/USA Today Network Johnny Cash welcomes Lynn into membership of the Country Music Hall of Fame during the 1988 CMA Awards at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. Callie Shell/The Tennessean/USA Today Network From left, Lynn, Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette perform during the 1993 Country Music Awards. John Barrett/Globe Photos/Zuma Lynn exits her tour bus for a New York show in 1999. Globe Photos/Zuma Lynn poses for a portrait in Nashville in 2000. Christopher Berkey/AP George W. Bush, then a Republican presidential candidate, is joined on stage by Lynn during a rally in Little Rock in 2000. Eric Draper/AP Lynn, second from left, is inducted as a Kennedy Center Honoree along with, from left, James Brown, Carol Burnett, Mike Nichols and Itzhak Perlman in 2003. Scott Suchman/WireImage/Getty Images Jack White gives a kiss to Lynn after winning a Grammy together for best country collaboration in Los Angeles in February 2005. White produced her album \"Van Lear Rose.\" Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images Lynn and Garth Brooks perform in Nashville during the Grammy Salute to Country Music Honoring Loretta Lynn in 2010. Rick Diamond/WireImage/Getty Images US President Barack Obama awards Lynn the Presidential Medal of Freedom in the East Room at the White House in 2013. Win McNamee/Getty Images Lynn accepts the Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting at the Americana Music Association Honors and Awards Show at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville in 2014. Rick Diamond/Getty Images From left, Tanya Tucker, Lynn and Crystal Gayle perform at Lynn's 87th birthday tribute at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville in 2019. Al Wagner/Invision/AP Loretta Lynn's life in pictures Prev Next\n\n“Singing was easy,” Lynn told NPR’s Terry Gross in 2010. “I thought ‘Gee whiz, this is an easy job.’ ”\n\nThe success of her first single landed Lynn on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville and, soon, a contract with Decca Records. She quickly befriended country star Patsy Cline, who guided her through the fame and fashion of country stardom until her shocking death in a plane crash in 1963.\n\nCline “was my only girlfriend at the time. She took me under her wing, and when I lost her, it was something else. I still miss her to this day,” Lynn told The Denver Post in 2009. “I wrote ‘You Ain’t Woman Enough to Take My Man,’ and she said, ‘Loretta, that’s a damn hit.’ It shocked me, because you don’t expect somebody like Patsy Cline to tell you that you have a hit. Right after she passed, I put the record out, and it was a hit.”\n\nHer best-known songs drew from her life and marriage\n\nLynn’s struggle and success became the stuff of legend, an oft-repeated story of youth, naivete and poverty.\n\nFrom “Fist City” to “You’re Lookin’ at Country,” Lynn always sang from the heart, whether she was telling off a woman interested in Doo or honoring her Appalachian roots. But her music was far from conventional.\n\nShe rankled the conservative country establishment with songs like “Rated X,” about the stigma fun-loving women face after divorce, and “The Pill,” in which a woman toasts her newfound freedom thanks to birth control – “They didn’t have none of them pills when I was younger, or I’d have been swallowing them like popcorn,” Lynn wrote in her memoir.\n\nShe documented her upbringing in the bestselling 1976 memoir “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” co-written with George Vecsey. A 1980 biographical film by the same name won an Academy Award for actress Sissy Spacek and brought Lynn wider fame. Lynn’s success also helped launch the music careers of her sisters, Peggy Sue Wright and Crystal Gayle.\n\nLynn’s legend faced questions in 2012 when The Associated Press reported that in census records, a birth certificate and marriage license, Lynn was three years older than what most biographies stated. It didn’t mar Lynn’s success, but did make the oft-repeated tales of her teen marriage and motherhood less extreme.\n\n“I never, never thought about being a role model,” Lynn told the San Antonio Express-News in 2010. “I wrote from life, how things were in my life. I never could understand why others didn’t write down what they knew.”\n\nLynn always credited her husband with giving her the confidence to first step on stage as a young performer. She also spoke in interviews, and in her music, about the pain he caused over their nearly 50 years of marriage. Doolittle Lynn died in 1996 after years of complications from heart problems and diabetes.\n\nIn her 2002 memoir, “Still Woman Enough,” Lynn wrote that he was an alcoholic who cheated on her and beat her, even as she hit him back. But she stayed with him until his death and told NPR in 2010 that “he’s in there somewhere” in every song she wrote.\n\n“We fought one day and we’d love the next, so I mean … to me, that’s a good relationship,” she told NPR. “If you can’t fight, if you can’t tell each other what you think – why, your relationship ain’t much anyway.”\n\nLynn won numerous awards throughout her career, including three Grammys and many honors from the Academy of Country Music. She earned Grammys for her 1971 duet with Conway Twitty, “After the Fire is Gone,” and for the 2004 album “Van Lear Rose,” a collaboration with Jack White of the White Stripes that introduced her to a new generation of fans.\n\nThen President Barack Obama awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Loretta Lynn in 2013. Win McNamee/Getty Images\n\nShe was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1988, and her song “Coal Miner’s Daughter” was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998. She received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010, and in 2013, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.\n\nPresident Barack Obama said Lynn “gave voice to a generation, singing what no one wanted to talk about and saying what no one wanted to think about.”\n\nHer career and legend only continued to grow in her later years as she recorded new songs, toured steadily and drew loyal audiences well into her 80s. A museum and dude ranch are dedicated to Lynn at her home in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee.\n\n“Working keeps you young,” she told Esquire in 2007. “I ain’t ever gonna stop. And when I do, it’s gonna be right on stage. That’ll be it.”\n\nLynn was hospitalized in 2017 after suffering a stroke at her home. The following year she broke a hip. Her health forced her to quit touring.\n\nIn early 2021, at the age of 89, she recorded her 50th album, “Still Woman Enough.”\n\nThe title song, which she sang alongside successors Carrie Underwood and Reba McEntire, sounded like a mission statement that captures the ethos of her career:\n\n“I’m still woman enough, still got what it takes inside;\n\nI know how to love, lose, and survive;\n\nAin’t much I ain’t seen, I ain’t tried;\n\nI’ve been knocked down, but never out of the fight;\n\nI’m strong, but I’m tender;\n\nWise, but I’m tough;\n\nAnd let me tell you when it comes to love;\n\nI’m still woman enough.”", "authors": ["Jamie Gumbrecht Scottie Andrew", "Jamie Gumbrecht", "Scottie Andrew"], "publish_date": "2022/10/04"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/books/2020/11/17/michael-j-fox-spinal-surgery-no-time-like-future/6191909002/", "title": "Michael J. Fox (literally) fell into despair. Here's what he learned", "text": "Three images are visible on the wall behind Michael J. Fox as he sits in his New York City office during a Zoom call.\n\nOne is a photo of the star embracing his wife of 32 years, Tracy Pollan. Another is a painting by his 25-year-old daughter, Schuyler, of a stone arch in Utah. And the third is a portrait of the actor's rescue dog, Gus.\n\n\"That's the wonder dog,\" Fox quips before his wife asks off-camera whether Gus can come in and say hi. It's not long before the black-and-white mutt lumbers into the office with a smiling Pollan beside him.\n\n\"I didn't rescue Gus,\" Fox, 59, writes in \"No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality,\" his latest memoir, out Nov. 17. \"You can argue that he rescued me, but he'd be too modest to make that claim.\"\n\nThis is the beloved canine who, along with Fox's wife and four adult kids, supported the actor as he recovered from a risky spinal surgery in 2018 that forced him to relearn how to walk, as well as a devastating fall shortly after that left the \"Back to the Future\" star stranded on his kitchen floor with a broken arm.\n\n\"I was lying on the floor in my kitchen with a shattered arm waiting for the ambulance to show up,\" Fox tells USA TODAY. \"I kind of went, 'What an idiot. All this time you've been telling everybody to be optimistic, chin-up, and you're miserable now. There's nothing but pain and regret. There's no way to put a shine on this.'\"\n\nIt's this fall that kicks off Fox's book, in which the actor goes on to detail his harrowing recovery from spinal surgery, insights from his battle with Parkinson's disease and his return to positivity after, quite literally, falling into despair.\n\n\"That was a real breakthrough moment for me, because I realized that I've been selling that optimism to people for so long,\" he continues. \"I believe it's true to my core, but it struck me that at that point I questioned it, and I questioned it really severely. And so the rest of the book is this journey through finding my way back with gratitude. And I think gratitude is what makes optimism sustainable.\"\n\nFox didn't know what health challenges awaited him when he first started writing \"No Time Like the Future,\" which he originally intended to be about discovering his love of golf in middle age, decades after being diagnosed with Parkinson's at age 29.\n\nThat plan changed when the actor learned he had a tumor on his spine, which, left untreated, could cause him to lose feeling in his legs. A surgery to remove it also carried risk: The slightest of errors and Fox could have woken up paralyzed.\n\nOf all the trials detailed in his book, Fox says waiting for this surgery was the scariest.\n\n\"I had this fear of waking up and my life being severely different,\" he says. \"A lot of surgeons didn't want to touch it, because it just seemed like a no-win. It was very risky.\"\n\nDespite conflicting advice from medical professionals, Fox decided to have the surgery and even used his sense of humor to help him pick the person for the job.\n\nMichael J. Fox says tumor almost had him 'heading for paralysis,' reflects on his 'darkest moment'\n\n\"I said, 'You know, a lot of doctors don't want to do this.'\" Fox recalls of his meeting with Dr. Nicholas Theodore, director of the Neurosurgical Spine Center at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore. \"And he said, 'I understand why.' And then he leaned in and he said, 'Who wants to be the one who paralyzes Michael J. Fox?' And I said, 'If you have the balls to say that to me, you're gonna need to be my surgeon.' \"\n\nDespite the dark situations in his book, Fox never loses his sense humor, something the actor says he and his wife have used to cope with challenges throughout their marriage.\n\n\"We deal with what's funny in the situation at first,\" Fox says. \"We laugh about it and then we deal with it. But always humor. Humor is the filter for everything.\"\n\nThrough his recovery, falling and then needing to recover again, Fox says he realized the importance of being realistic while still optimistic. In fact, the actor says acknowledging bleak realities is the first step to improving your state of mind.\n\n\"I think the first thing you have to do is accept if you're faced with a difficult situation,\" he says. \"And once I do that, that doesn't mean I can't ever change it. I can change it, but I have to accept it for what it is first, before I can change it. And I have to be real about it. And once I do that, then it opens all doors.\"\n\nIt's a message he hopes resonates with Americans in the midst of an ongoing pandemic and a political climate that feels increasingly divided. After all, as Fox learned after his fall, \"life gets better the more you decide to take it easy on yourself.\"\n\n\"Just give yourself a break, and, by that token, give the people in your life a break,\" he adds. \"Give your neighbor a break. Give the person who bags your groceries a break. Just give everybody a break. Give them the benefit of the doubt and move on.\"\n\nSince the surgery, Fox gets his spine monitored twice a year. His arm has healed, and the tumor shows no signs of coming back.\n\nAnd, if the book does well, Fox jokes there may be a place for Gus' visage on more than just his office wall.\n\n\"We'll see how the book does,\" Fox says when asked if it's true he'll get a tattoo of Gus, something the actor alludes to in his book's acknowledgements section. Fox surprised fans in January 2019 when he showed off his first tattoo at age 57 after his tumultuous 2018.\n\n\"If there's reason to celebrate, then, yeah, I think I will,\" he says before holding up the sea turtle on his right forearm to the webcam. \"I just need to talk Tracy into it. She wasn't a big fan of this one.\"\n\nElsa Raven, 'Back to the Future' actress, dies at 91; Michael J. Fox reacts\n\nMichael J. Fox gets first tattoo at 57, a 'significant' sea turtle", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2020/11/17"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/06/cnn-info/vicky-white-what-we-know-alabama-inmate-disappear/index.html", "title": "Vicky White: A respected officer turned into a fugitive who allgedly ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nAt 56, Vicky White was on the brink of retiring from an illustrious career as a corrections officer.\n\n“She was a model employee,” said Rick Singleton, the sheriff in Lauderdale County, Alabama, where Vicky White worked for nearly two decades.\n\n“All of her co-workers, all the employees in the sheriff’s office, the judges, all (had) the … utmost respect for her,” he said.\n\nWhite, who was the county’s assistant director of corrections, was so well respected that “some of the older guys looked up to her as a mother figure,” Singleton added.\n\nBut despite Vicky White’s stellar reputation, the jail boss apparently helped “mastermind” a plan to flee with inmate Casey White, the sheriff told CNN on Tuesday.\n\nAfter 11 days on the run, authorities found the pair Monday in Evansville, Indiana. Casey White was arrested. Authorities say they believe that Vicky White fatally shot herself. “We believe that she may have taken her own life,” said Dave Wedding, the sheriff in Vanderburgh County, Indiana.\n\nHere’s what we know about what led up to Vicky White’s apparent transformation and death:\n\nOfficials believe the pair had a ‘special’ relationship\n\nVicky White, a widow with no children, and Casey White, a 38-year-old convicted felon and murder suspect, had a “special relationship,” Singleton said last week.\n\n“We have confirmed through independent sources and other means that there was in fact a relationship between Casey White and Vicky White outside of her normal work hours – not physical contact – but a relationship of a different nature,” the sheriff said.\n\nHe said interviews with other inmates helped confirm a personal relationship between Casey White and Vicky White, who were not related. “We were told Casey White got special privileges and was treated differently while in the facility than the other inmates,” Singleton said.\n\nInmates said Casey White “was getting extra food on his trays” and “was getting privileges no one else got. And this was all coming from her,” Singleton said.\n\nConfirmation of the relationship came from “other sources outside the detention center,” according to Singleton.\n\nInvestigators have traced the relationship back to early 2020. Casey White, who had been serving a 75-year sentence in a state prison for a series of crimes in 2015, was brought to the Lauderdale County jail in 2020 for his arraignment on murder charges in the death of Connie Ridgeway.\n\n“As far as we know, that was the earliest physical contact they had,” the Lauderdale County sheriff said.\n\nAfter the arraignment, Casey White returned to state prison. But Singleton said the officer and inmate kept communicating by phone.\n\nCasey White was brought back to the Lauderdale County jail in February to attend court hearings related to his murder charges.\n\nLauderdale County District Attorney Chris Connolly said he was stunned that Vicky White may have been romantically involved with an inmate. “I never would have thought that in a million years,” said Connolly, who spoke with Vicky White almost every day for 17 years.\n\nHe said Vicky White was “the most solid person at the jail.”\n\n“I would have trusted her with my life,” he said.\n\nVicky White funded the escape after selling her house\n\nShortly before her disappearance, Vicky White sold her home for $95,550 – less than half the current market value. County records list the total parcel value of the property at $235,600.\n\nShe also purchased a 2007 Ford Edge, one of several vehicles the pair used to flee. The Ford was found abandoned in Williamson County, Tennessee, hours after the prison escape.\n\nVicky White purchased a 2007 Ford Edge before disappearing. From US Marshals Service\n\n“Clearly lots of planning went into this,” Connolly said.\n\nDuring her time on the run, Vicky White became a fugitive with an arrest warrant in her name. She was accused of permitting or facilitating escape in the first degree, identity theft and forgery.\n\nSingleton said he believes Vicky White “was basically the mastermind behind the whole plan.”\n\n“He (Casey White) was behind bars. He really couldn’t plan too much behind bars. Personally, I think she was the one to put the plan together,” the sheriff said.\n\nBut former FBI Assistant Director Chris Swecker said he believes Casey White may have manipulated Vicky White. “This is not terribly unusual, that you have this guard falling in love with a prisoner who’s probably groomed her over a period of time,” Swecker said.\n\n“So he obviously needed her. You would think someone with law enforcement experience – an assistant director of corrections in that county – would have thought a little bit farther down the line,” he said.\n\n“She obviously lost all judgment over the last few months or so.”\n\nShe talked about retiring and going to the beach\n\nThe day Vicky White disappeared was supposed to be her last day at work, Singleton said.\n\nShe had worked at the department for almost two decades and submitted her retirement paperwork at the end of April, though the retirement papers had not yet been finalized.\n\nSingleton said Vicky White had talked about retiring for three or four months prior to her disappearance. He said she talked about moving to the beach.\n\nBut Vicky White didn’t mention her retirement to her mother, Pat Davis, the mother told CNN affiliate WAAY.\n\nVicky White used her position as a boss to violate jail policy, sheriff says\n\nAs the second in command at the detention center, Vicky White used her position to execute the escape plan on April 29, Singleton said.\n\nVicky White said she was taking Casey White to a courthouse for a mental health evaluation and would then go get medical care because she wasn’t feeling well.\n\nAuthorities later discovered no hearing or evaluation was scheduled for Casey White that day. And Vicky White never arrived at the medical facility.\n\nVideo Ad Feedback Video shows the moment an Alabama inmate escaped 03:24 - Source: CNN\n\nVicky White violated jail protocol when she removed Casey White from the detention center by herself, Singleton said. The policy required Casey White to be escorted by two sworn deputies.\n\nHer patrol car was later found abandoned in a shopping center parking lot, less than a mile from the detention center.\n\nOfficials obtained video showing the patrol car the pair left in. The video shows the car stopped at an intersection eight minutes after it left the jail. The intersection is about two blocks from the shopping center parking lot where the car was later found abandoned, Singleton said.\n\n“It’s obvious from the evidence we have gathered that this was not – that he didn’t kidnap her or force her or anything as far as in the car once they left the facility,” Singleton said.\n\n“She scheduled the van transport that morning, made sure all the other armed deputies were out of the building and tied up in court. Knew the booking officer wouldn’t question her, the assistant director when she told her she was going to take him to court and drop him off with other employees,” the sheriff said.\n\n“She arranged – purchased the getaway car, she sold her house, got her hands on cash, she went shopping, bought clothes for him,” Singleton said Tuesday.\n\nNot ‘the Vicky White we know’\n\nLoved ones and former colleagues have been grappling with a barrage of emotions since Vicky White’s unexpected disappearance.\n\nDavis, Vicky White’s mother, told CNN last week that they last spoke on April 29 – the day Vicky White disappeared.\n\n“The whole thing has been a nightmare. I just want my daughter to come home. And to come home alive,” Davis said.\n\nDavis said she had no idea about her daughter’s plans to flee with an inmate.\n\n“She would come home after work, eat supper at my house, and pick up her dog. She’d walk her dog and that was her routine every day,” Davis said.\n\nSingleton said the Vicky White who fled with an inmate is not “the Vicky White we know.”\n\n“Vicky White was a member of our family. That’s why it was so hard in the first few days to grasp that she could actually do something like this because it was so out of character for her,” the sheriff said.\n\n“In spite of what she’s done, Vicky was a friend to every one of us,” he said. “It has been an emotional roller coaster for our employees.”\n\nCorrection: An earlier version of this story had an outdated value for Vicky White's home; the most recent value was $235,600. It also included the wrong age for Connie Ridgeway; she was 59 when she died.", "authors": ["Alaa Elassar Holly Yan", "Alaa Elassar", "Holly Yan"], "publish_date": "2022/05/06"}]}
{"question_id": "20230203_5", "search_time": "2023/02/04/11:55", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/columnists/mitch-albom/2017/06/11/chika-story-daughter-cancer-mitch-albom/322589001/", "title": "Mitch Albom shares Chika's story: A fight to cure the incurable", "text": "Mitch Albom\n\nDetroit Free Press\n\n\"Chika,\" someone asks, \"what do you want to be when you grow up?\"\n\n“Big,” she says.\n\nAPRIL 7, 2017\n\nWe lay beside her in a single bed, my wife on her left, me on the right. We stare at her small chest, praying for it to rise. There’s one breath, we say — but then nothing for two seconds, five seconds, seven seconds — there, another breath. This is all wrong. She is young. We are old. Yet every minute her heartbeats slow, while ours are racing.\n\n“Is she in pain?” I whisper.\n\n“She is not in pain,” the nurses say.\n\nA small plastic meter dangles from her middle finger, flashing digits, her pulse, her oxygen. For months, we have been fixated on this device, checking it nervously throughout the day and night. I hate it. I want to smash it into a million pieces.\n\nSomeone has figured how to put photos on the bedroom TV and they slide across silently, happy photos, Chika in a bathing suit, Chika writing on a blackboard, Chika with her face painted at a county fair, where she told the ride workers, “Guess where I am from? Haiti!”\n\nThe phone rings. No one answers. An oxygen machine thrums and sputters, breathing more regularly than she does. A plastic tube trails from her nose to her ears and behind a pink ribbon in her hair.\n\nPink. She loved pink.\n\nLoves pink. She is still with us.\n\nBreathe, I say silently.\n\nShe makes a small noise, like the squeal of a deflating balloon.\n\n“Are you sure she’s not in pain?” we ask.\n\n“She is not in pain.”\n\n“Then why--’’\n\n“In the final minutes, these are the sounds children sometimes make.”\n\nThese are the sounds children sometimes make. It seems so clinical, like we are observing a copy machine, not a 7-year-old. I glance at my wife. Her eyes are dripping tears. I look at Chika, this little girl — not our girl, and yet, our girl. Our girl. In every way, our girl.\n\nThe phone rings. No one answers. Once, the sounds from her little mouth were joyous; squeals of delight at her first American hot dog, high-pitched laughter while descending her first sled hill, and singing — always singing — like an Ethel Merman in size 1 shoes, belting out Creole prayers in our suburban Detroit home the way she once did at a Port-au-Prince orphanage, seeking the Lord’s ear beneath starry Caribbean skies.\n\nThat was before the long journey here, the operations, the catheters in her head, our worldwide search to cure the incurable, and the endless decisions we were forced to make — Which doctor? Which drug? Which country? — all funneled into this, here, now, a warm Friday afternoon, and one last choice:\n\nHow to watch her die.\n\nWe have chosen to surround her in bed, the way she always loved. We rub her narrow shoulders. We run fingers over her soft cheeks. We look again at the gentle face that rests between us, her large eyes mostly closed now, like someone fighting sleep.\n\nIt is a face that touched the lives of so many.\n\nA face that changed the doctors’ thinking.\n\nA face that brought parenthood to a man and a woman too old to be parents.\n\n“It’s all right, Chika,” we whisper. “We’re right here, Chika …”\n\nThe phone rings. No one answers.\n\nMAY 2015\n\nThe phone rings.\n\n“Hello, Sir?”\n\nYes, Alain?\n\n“Something is wrong with Chika.”\n\nThis is how it begins. Alain Charles, the 32-year-old director at the Have Faith Haiti Orphanage/Mission in Port-au-Prince, has a habit of delivering news in declarative statements. “We have no water.” “The van is broken.” “There’s something wrong with Chika.” It is up to me, as the person operating the orphanage, to explore the particulars.\n\nWhat’s wrong with Chika, Alain?\n\n“Her face is funny.”\n\nHow is it funny?\n\n“It is lowered. Her mouth. And her eye.”\n\nLowered? You mean drooped?\n\n“Drooped. Yes.”\n\nDid you take her to the doctor?\n\n“Yes.”\n\nWhat did he do?\n\n“He gave her eye drops.\"\n\nAlain, it’s not her eyes. It might be something they call Bell’s palsy.\n\n“Yes, sir.”\n\nDo you know what that is?”\n\n“No, sir.”\n\nShe needs a neurologist.\n\n“Yes, sir.”\n\nCan you find one?\n\n“I think so.”\n\nWe need to find one.\n\n“Yes, sir.”\n\n[Click here to watch a documentary on Chika's battle with DIPG]\n\n* * * *\n\nWhat followed seems monumental compared to that simple conversation, but then, simple things often turn monumental in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Daily life is a hot, exhausting struggle. Money is scarce. Water is scarce. Food is scarce. And children die.\n\nOften.\n\nSeven out of every 100 Haitian children will pass away before their fifth birthday — 10 times the rate of the U.S. The fortunate families get some kind of explanation. The others, who lack money, live in far-off provinces or can’t reach a doctor, get nothing. “Ca se volonte Bondye,\" they lament, This is what God wants — although, in most cases, death may be less about God than malnutrition, injury, childbirth complications or pneumonia.\n\nBut even by Haitian standards, what struck 5-year-old Medjerda (Chika) Jeune was crushing.\n\nAnd rare.\n\nA proud, curious child with full cheeks, pouty lips and eyes as big as Haitian mountains, Chika had never exhibited health problems before. She was fond of pushing around the boys at the orphanage, or diving into a second helping of rice and beans, or dancing wildly during church services to the beat of conga-driven devotions.\n\nBut in late May 2015, she sat next to Alain, with her drooping mouth and drooping eye, inside a dimly lit Port-au-Prince medical facility, awaiting the sole MRI machine in their country.\n\nAlain had followed protocol: show up early and pay cash in advance (750 U.S. dollars). Haiti has no private medical insurance to speak of. More than 75% of health care costs come out of people’s pockets.\n\nFinally, after several hours, a nurse emerged and told Chika to drink some syrup. It made her sleepy. She was carried through a door and placed inside the machine. Halfway through the process, Chika woke up, asking where she was. More syrup was given. Again, she fell asleep. The MRI finished, and Alain and Chika went home.\n\nWhen the results were in, Alain was given the scan and a note. No explanation.\n\nHe took them to a neurologist.\n\n“It is something in her brain,” the doctor said. “It is very bad.”\n\n“What should I do?” Alain asked.\n\n“Is there any way you can get her to the United States?”\n\n“Why?’’\n\n“Because whatever this is, there is no one in Haiti who can help her.”\n\nJANUARY 2010\n\nShe is born on Jan. 9, three days before the worst earthquake to hit her country in nearly 200 years. She comes so quickly, her mother doesn’t have time to call the midwife, an older man named Albert. By the time he gets to the house, the baby is already in the world.\n\nThey formally name her “Medjerda,” a made-up name, but she will soon answer to “Chika,” a made-up nickname. Her mother, Rezulia Guerrier, is a tall, strong woman in her mid-30s who sells small items in the street for money. Her father, Fedner Jeune (the parents are not married), has experience with construction but, like many men in Haiti, looks for work and rarely finds it. He is around and not around.\n\nOn the third day of her life, Chika lies in bed with Rezulia in their one-room cinder-block house, taking shelter from the afternoon heat. At 4:53 p.m., the ground starts shaking as if thunder were just outside the door. In seconds, the house splits in two and crumbles around them, leaving mother and child exposed like a cracked-open walnut.\n\nIt is a 7.0 magnitude earthquake with an epicenter less than 16 miles from Port-au-Prince, the capital city. Nearly 3% of Haiti’s population will die from it. Ten percent — almost a million people — will be left homeless, including Rezulia, Chika and her two older sisters.\n\nThey spend that night in the sugarcane fields. Chika’s bed is a layer of leaves. The country is in ruins.\n\nThe baby sleeps.\n\nJUNE 2015\n\nIt was not easy to get Chika into the U.S. Even with help from Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow, who had once visited our orphanage, it took several weeks of phone calls and filings. Getting a passport. Medical affidavits. Securing an interview at the U.S. embassy. (No one moves fast in Haiti, even for terminal illness.)\n\nChika finally cleared her paperwork, and on June 3, holding Alain’s hand, she boarded her first airplane, at the same hour her friends at the orphanage were lining up for school. She arrived in Detroit late that night, wearing a pink dress and a white sweater and shivering from the air conditioning. In a bathroom, she turned a sink handle and yelled, \"Oooh!\"\n\nShe had never experienced hot water from a faucet.\n\nIn her time at the orphanage, Chika had always been curious. But this trip would test her sense of wonder. Every moment was a discovery. Every item was worth touching. We took her to Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor where they gave her a sticker (“Look!” she cooed) and she posed with a Superman statue. When the elevator lifted — her first ride — she beamed as if watching a magic trick.\n\nThat afternoon, she lay inside another MRI machine. The results left doctors skeptical. It was a brain tumor, a significant one, the kind often deemed not worth the risk of surgery. Days passed. They deliberated. Eventually, at a tumor board meeting, the members voted, by a narrow margin, to proceed with an operation, in hopes that, despite its size, what had invaded this little girl’s head was still a lower grade glioma.\n\nOn June 15, less than two weeks into her first trip out of Haiti — and not yet 4 feet tall — Chika was given a light blue gown, some yellow socks and an intravenous needle drip in the back of her hand. She was rolled away to surgery and my wife, Janine, and I were handed a pager.\n\n“Wait until it vibrates,” they told us.\n\nWe waited.\n\nDECEMBER 2010\n\nBaby Chika is baptized. Her cinder-block house is rebuilt. As Haiti struggles to recover from the earthquake, Chika learns to walk and talk. She sleeps beside her mother atop a single mattress on the dirt floor, along with her two older sisters.\n\nThey eat once a day. There is no electricity and no indoor plumbing. Chika is bathed in a bucket, with a can of water poured over her head. The water comes from a well on another property.\n\nSometimes, when Rezulia goes to a muddy river to wash clothes, she takes Chika with her. Years later, Chika will claim to remember those journeys. She will tell strangers in America, “My mommy used to take me to the swimming pool.”\n\n“Degaje pa peche” says a Haitian proverb. To get by is not a sin.\n\nJUNE 2015\n\nIn the operating room at Mott Hospital, the neurosurgeon, Dr. Hugh Garton, found himself dealing with a monster. The tumor tissue in Chika's brain was everywhere, wrapped throughout the healthy tissue. He could remove only 10% before disturbing vital elements of the brain itself.\n\nWhat he did remove was sent for pathology analysis.\n\n“Let’s hope for the best,” he said.\n\nHe forced a smile. There remained a slim belief that, despite the cancer’s spread, it was just Stage I, or at worst, Stage II.\n\nWere that the case, with treatment, Chika could eventually return to Haiti.\n\nAnd we would return to our previous life.\n\nWhich was what I always thought would happen.\n\nAnd.\n\nIt was never going to happen.\n\nAUGUST 2012\n\nChika’s mother dies.\n\nIt happens as she is giving birth to a son, inside the cinder-block house. The midwife — Albert, the same man who arrived late for Chika’s birth — does not realize how much blood Rezulia is losing. The boy is born with her last breath. He enters the world as a motherless child.\n\nNo one is called. No police. No investigation. Rezulia is buried the next day, in a nearby field.\n\nChika never gets to say good-bye.\n\nThe children are scattered among relatives, the stunned father unable or uninterested in caring for them. The newborn son goes to an uncle. The sisters are split up.\n\nChika is taken away by her godmother, a friend of Rezulia’s named Herzulia Desamour. \"From now on, you will live with me,\" she tells Chika. They share a one-room apartment by a church, with Herzulia’s husband and their three other children.\n\nChika eats mostly rice. Her mattress is in a corner. She tends to her own soiled sheets, carrying them up steps to dry on the roof, even though she is barely 3 years old.\n\nIn the spring of 2013, less than a year after taking her in, Herzulia puts Chika in a dress and loads her inside a Haitian “tap tap,” a rickety share taxi with a back door open to the traffic exhaust. Her destination is the Have Faith Haiti orphanage/mission, which I have been operating since 2010.\n\nShe wants us to take the child.\n\nI do the admission interview. I hear Herzulia say there is no money for this extra mouth to feed, that her own family can barely get by.\n\nI wave at the full-cheeked girl in front of me. She waves back. I make a face. She makes one back. A good sign, I think. Most Haitian children keep their heads down during these interviews.\n\nI tell Herzulia we will consider her request. She leaves holding Chika’s hand. Neither one looks back. But later I learn that every day that followed, Chika asked, ‘Kile blanc ap voye chache’m?”\n\n“When is the white man going to send for me?”\n\nHome video: See Chika during her first week at the mission\n\n* * * *\n\nI should say something here about my background. Although I have operated the orphanage/mission in Haiti since 2010, and make monthly visits to our 39 children there, my wife and I have no kids of our own. We were married in our late 30s, and despite our efforts, parenthood never happened. In time, we gave up trying, and a layer of acceptance settled in like sea fog, blocking the particular light of children from ever reaching us.\n\nOur brothers and sisters almost all had kids, and there were a lot of them: 15 nieces and nephews. We celebrated their milestones — birthdays, communions, graduations — we gave cards and kisses and presents that were too big, and in the car rides home we spoke about how cute they were, how big they were getting, but we never spoke about any emptiness we were feeling. We made our lives busy. We traveled. Our house was spacious and mature, lacking stray toys or crayon drawings on the refrigerator. We fell into that category that is both envied and pitied: The Couple Without Kids.\n\nSo it may seem strange that, in our late 50s, we found ourselves in a meeting room at Mott Hospital, looking every bit like a mother and father, side by side, braced for the news, parental in our posture, our furrowed brows — parental in everything except an actual relationship to the child.\n\nBut there we were. And with the biopsy results in, Dr. Garton, a thin, fit man who enjoys mountain climbing, had to scale a less pleasurable rock; telling the de facto parents about Chika’s disease, and adding a new four-letter word to our vocabulary:\n\nDIPG.\n\nIt stands for Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma, an insidious cancer of the brain stem that is nearly exclusive to children. It is the worst kind of tumor: the kind for which they don’t bother giving you hope.\n\nDIPG is aggressive and debilitating, invading the pons, which controls most of the body’s vital functions (heart rate, swallowing, breathing). It is rare — only 300 kids in the U.S. are diagnosed with it each year (there are no statistics for Haiti). And yet, because of its severity, it is the leading cause of death from pediatric brain tumors.\n\nThis is the bad news. Then comes the worst news: In more than 50 years of study, since astronaut Neil Armstrong’s 2-year-old daughter died from it in 1962, no real progress has been made.\n\nSurvival rate is, essentially, zero.\n\n“The average life expectancy without treatment,” Garton explained, “is maybe five months. If Chika gets radiation you could extend that another five or six months. But …”\n\nBut?\n\n“There’s a price to pay for radiation. It goes on for weeks. It’s not fun. Kids don’t like it. And there are potential complications. She’d be on steroids. She could get tired, vomit.”\n\nHe looked at us empathetically. He knew about Haiti. He knew about the 38 children Chika called her family. He knew how far Ann Arbor was from Port-au-Prince.\n\nHe knew how old we were.\n\n“Maybe,” he said, softly, “it would be better if you took her back, and let her live out her final months there.”\n\nI looked at Janine. She looked at me. The Couple Without Kids now faced a decision no couple with kids should have to face: to put a child through a hopeless medical marathon, or to stoically accept a doomed fate.\n\nWe went back to the room where Chika was recovering. Her head had been bandaged up high, like a white fez. Someone had brought her breakfast, and when we entered, Chika was in a chair, working her way through a blueberry muffin. All our kids in Haiti love to eat, having been hungry much of their lives. But here was this curious little girl, days after brain surgery, intent on digging a fork into a muffin and getting it to her mouth before it crumbled.\n\n\n\nAnd I knew what our answer would be.\n\nShe was a fighter.\n\nSo we would be fighters.\n\n“If she goes through the radiation, she has to be here for months,” the doctor had said. “Does she have someone to stay with?”\n\nWithout even looking at one another, Janine and I said, “Us.”\n\nAnd that is how a family was born.\n\nJULY 2015\n\nHere is Chika rolling on the carpet of my office, playing with flash cards. She has been here five weeks, and I am working on her English.\n\n“Five plus ONE!” she yells.\n\nHow much is that?\n\n“SIX!”\n\nCheck the back, I say.\n\nShe checks it.\n\n“I was … white!”\n\nYou were right.\n\n“I was … wwwwrrrright!”\n\nShe giggles wildly. I point to a chair.\n\nWhere is the chair? I ask.\n\n“There is it!”\n\nThere it is, I say. Not \"there is it.\"\n\n“There … it … is.”\n\nWhere is the paper?\n\n“There is it!”\n\nThere it is, I say.\n\nShe stops, squints and looks at me.\n\n“Where is the odder kids?” she asks.\n\nI realize she means the children at the mission. Is she missing them? Missing her home? I point to a photo of them on my desk.\n\n“There is it!” she yells.\n\nHome video: Chika studies math with Mitch\n\n* * * *\n\nWe got a second bed.\n\nThis would be where Chika slept — at the foot of our own bed and a few feet from the armoire. Janine and I had to quickly reset the house. We'd owned it for 24 years; it was organized, down to the throw pillows on the couch.\n\nBut your world turns elastic when a child arrives. And so our kitchen cabinet was stocked with Cheerios, and little shoes appeared in the closet, and a hanging rack of pint-sized clothes took root in our bathroom. Everyone who came by seemed to bring a toy, and we quickly collected a basket full of stuffed ponies, talking dinosaurs and silky-haired princesses.\n\nChika’s new bed was made up with a colorful blanket from Disney’s “Frozen.” The first night she slept there, we kissed her, got under our covers, and heard her little voice from somewhere below our feet:\n\n“Goodnight, Mr. Mitch. Goodnight, Miss Janine.”\n\nTo be honest, nothing was the same after that.\n\n* * * *\n\nCancer is speed. Broken down, that’s where it draws its power. The malignant cells spread illogically fast, splitting and multiplying and defying efforts to slow them.\n\nAs those cells were racing through her healthy brain tissue, Chika was racing through a brand new world. She’d rumble around the living room in a circle, touching each piece of furniture. She’d stand by a large window and scream, “Bird!” Everything was a revelation. The TV set. The dishwasher. When we drove her to the hospital, I watched her wide-eyed gazing out the car window, billboards, fast food outlets, a passing limousine. What must she be thinking, I wondered? Her sensory input was on overdrive.\n\nPerhaps that’s why she loved to hide. When I came in from the outside, she would pull a blanket over her head and yell, “Mr. Mitch? Where is Chika?”\n\n“Hmm, where is Chika?” I’d repeat. I’d fake a search. When I finally unearthed her, she’d howl with laughter.\n\n“There is she!” she’d yell.\n\n“There she is,” I’d correct.\n\nHer radiation began. Five days a week for six straight weeks, on a lower level at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak. She was fitted for a helmet and had to lie on a slab, as a giant machine shot a beam at her tumor in hopes of destroying DNA in the cancer cells while leaving healthy cells intact.\n\nChika understood none of this. Only that she had to stay still — and if she was good, we would go for ice cream or to the toy store. We had chosen not to explain cancer to her. We didn’t nickname her tumor. We told her only that she was a little sick right now, and these treatments would make her better. Our thinking was, she's a child, let her be a child. There’s no right way to do it. You pick a path. This was ours.\n\n“How old is she again?” the radiation oncologist, Dr. Peter Chen, asked one morning as we watched from a monitor outside the room.\n\n“She’s 5,” I said.\n\n“Really?”\n\n“Why?”\n\n“She’s lying so still. She’s better than the adults we treat.”\n\n“Well, she’s 5,” I said.\n\n“Remarkable,” he mumbled.\n\n* * * *\n\nI observe how quickly her English improves. She, meanwhile, is observing me.\n\nOne day, at the table, I am reading a complicated contract.\n\nOh, boy, I sigh.\n\n“Why do you say 'oh, boy'?” she asks. “There is no boy here.”\n\nIt’s just something people say when they are tired, I say.\n\nShe thinks.\n\n“Why don’t you say, ‘Oh, girl?’\n\nShe loves to sing, but the words are her own. Mary had a little lamb — “whose crease was crise of snow.” A spoon — “from the sugar” — makes the medicine go down. When I correct her, she insists, “It’s my mouth, I can say it the way I want.”\n\nOne morning, she makes an observation.\n\n“Mr. Mitch, when you sleep, you sound like a bear.”\n\nJanine laughs. I laugh. Chika laughs at us laughing. She makes a snorting sound and we laugh even harder. She is so happy, so pleased. There is rare delight, I recall, in making your parents crack up.\n\nEven if they are not your parents.\n\nAUGUST 2015\n\nRadiating a brain tumor can cause swelling, or edema. So steroids are prescribed to reduce that risk, which in turn quickly puff up a child. This is why, in photos of DIPG kids, they often seem ill-formed, their faces grotesquely swollen.\n\nIn Chika’s case, the doctors prescribed Dexamethasone (a substance, I noted, that will get you thrown out of the Olympics). I had written about steroids over the years, decrying their risk and long-term consequences. I silently cringed when she swallowed them every morning, hidden inside a spoonful of applesauce.\n\nBreakfast had become part of our routine, scrambled eggs, toast and, as the steroids increased her appetite, more eggs, more toast — plus avocado, tomato, jelly, cereal. Chika insisted that she could make the eggs (after watching me do it) so I stood behind her as she scrambled them in a bowl. She came up to my waist and sometimes I would wiggle my fingers in her hair.\n\n“Hey,” she would say, laughing, “stop doing that!’’\n\n“But I like it,” I’d say.\n\n“Ohhh-k,” she’d relent.\n\nOne day, as I did this, her hair came out in my fingers. She turned and looked. I quickly closed my fist.\n\nSoon, such changes were obvious. Chika’s soft, round face grew large and distorted (the steroids). Her middle swelled. Her thighs puffed. She ballooned from 48 pounds to 72 pounds. Lifting her became a challenge.\n\nMore patches of hair fell out. At night, her head got hot and she sweated, and at times she would scream during her sleep, much of it in Creole that we did not understand. In the morning, we asked if she had a bad dream, and she sometimes said, “I dreamed about a monster.”\n\nWe went through the summer this way, shuffling her to medical appointments, doctors, homeschooling her at the house. I fell behind on jobs. I was late filing stories. The parenting process hijacked every hour we used to have for ourselves.\n\nAnd yet, it never felt like a burden. More like a new purpose we had suddenly tumbled into, rendering our old life a phone call we just couldn’t make, or an appointment we just kept missing.\n\nJanine and I divvied up the daily tasks of keeping Chika occupied, Janine taking the dressing, the showering, the tea parties and game playing, while I handled the doctor appointments, the food gathering, the toy store runs — and the dental care.\n\nEach morning when Chika rose and each night before she went to bed, I would squeeze toothpaste on her newly purchased toothbrush. She’d developed some gum issues, so I added mouthwash in a little cup. As she went through her routine, I stood behind her, studying our reflections in the bathroom mirror, and the obvious contrasts in our ethnicity.\n\nI wondered how Chika saw us. Black? White? Haitian? American? She never asked about our differences, although in that mirror we could not have looked more opposite, short, tall, dark-skinned, light-skinned. It didn’t matter. We were there to brush teeth. Eventually, I would say, “OK, spit” and she would do so and laugh.\n\nOne night, Chika clomped ahead of me to the bathroom. She shut the door mischievously, before I could get in.\n\n“What are you doing, Chika?”\n\n“Just a minute!” she yelled.\n\nJust a minute?\n\nI knocked again.\n\n“Just a minute!”\n\nFinally, when she hollered, “OK!” I entered saying, “Chika, come on, you can’t shut—\"\n\nI stopped. She had laid two toothbrushes side by side, squeezed out the toothpaste, and lined up two cups of mouthwash.\n\n“Now, you can brush your teeth with me,” she said.\n\nAs the doctor said. Remarkable.\n\nHome video: Chika and Mitch bond over nightly ritual\n\n* * * *\n\nOn a monthly visit to Haiti, one of our young boys asks me, “When is Chika coming back?”\n\nHe asks in front of a dozen other kids standing in the dusty yard. I have been avoiding this question. I don’t want to lie. I tell them Chika is getting treatment from the doctors and we hope to bring her back for a visit soon.\n\n“Does she sleep with you and Miss Janine?”\n\nYes.\n\n“In your bed?”\n\nShe has her own.\n\n“Does she eat with you?”\n\nYes.\n\n“Beans and rice?”\n\nOther things.\n\n“Does she have dolls?\"\n\nSome dolls.\n\n“Which ones?”\n\nI don’t know their names.\n\n“Should we pray for Chika?”\n\nAlways.\n\n“Every night?”\n\nEvery night.\n\nThey look off, as if trying to comprehend all this. It is hot, as usual, and they squint in the sun. One girl raises her hand.\n\n“When Chika comes back, can she bring the dolls?”\n\nSEPTEMBER 2015\n\nAnyone dealing with a terminal illness today will, at some point, face a fundamental decision: explore the Internet, or not.\n\nWe avoided it for months, having once scrolled the “DIPG” entries and seen countless heartbreaking Facebook posts and wide-reaching but often contradictory suggestions. It seemed confusing, even depressing, photographs of swollen children, holding teddy bears at fund-raisers, making final trips to Disneyland, parents bravely pushing up smiles. And the medical conclusions were all over the map. Try this. Don't try this. This worked. This didn't work.\n\nI stopped looking. Wanting to believe our case was unique, however naive that was, held off a crashing wave of hopelessness.\n\nSo instead of the Internet, I spoke with doctors, I called them, hounded them — especially the pediatric oncologists at Mott, Dr. Pat Robertson and Dr. Carl Koschmann. I asked them constantly about alternative treatments. What were other researchers finding? What were the latest drugs? What about Europe? I’d been warned that radiation provides a “false honeymoon” for DIPG kids, and could improve Chika to a point where we thought she was OK.\n\n“Don’t be fooled,” they cautioned, “the tumor comes back — and stronger.” So I tried to be preemptive. Unfortunately, besides radiation, there is no real treatment for DIPG. What exists are clinical trials, experimental drugs, a potpourri of unproven choices, like some massive medical casino. Choose your odds. Place your bets.\n\nMeanwhile, during this time, DIPG was unusually present in our local news.\n\nChad Carr, the 4-year-old grandson of Lloyd Carr, the former Michigan football coach, had been diagnosed with the same disease, in the fall of 2014. His parents, Tammi and Jason Carr, had made his battle public, to raise awareness of DIPG. Stories were written. Photos were taken. A hashtag — #ChadTough — was created.\n\nRead more:\n\nChadTough gala raises $1.025 million to combat DIPG, pediatric cancer\n\nChad Carr's family sets up DIPG Day in Michigan in his honor\n\nOn the afternoon of Sept. 12, 2015, I was at Michigan Stadium, covering the Wolverines football game against Oregon State. Just before kickoff, the crowd rose and cheered.\n\nChad Carr was being carried onto the field by his family.\n\nThe stadium announcer bellowed, “Joining the game captains for the coin toss is Chad Carr. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Carr family…”\n\nAt that moment, more than 100,000 spectators knew this little boy was fighting for his life. Fighting DIPG. It might have been natural to tell a colleague, “I have a child with that same cancer.”\n\nI didn’t. I kept quiet. I went home and never mentioned it to Janine. I knew, deep down, this was folly, thinking silence could affect anything. But when it comes to facing a child’s certain death, folly is underrated.\n\nOCTOBER 2015\n\nWe are in New York City. We have committed Chika to an experimental procedure run out of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, something called CED, Convection Enhanced Delivery. In this process, a catheter is inserted directly into the tumor, and a radioactive iodine, attached to an antibody, is dripped through the tube and into the cancerous tissue. The theory is this will be more effective, because CED circumvents the blood-brain barrier that keeps other drugs — even chemotherapy — from ever reaching the trouble spot.\n\nIt is the second time in four months that doctors will break through Chika’s skull.\n\nWe try to make the trip an adventure. Chika has never been to a city like New York, and her head is a swivel. Her new word is “Hey!” and she puts it before everything.\n\n“Hey! That building is so tall!”\n\n“Hey! There is a horse in the street!”\n\nI think about what she is about to go through. I hug her close and put my head on top of hers.\n\n“Hey! Why do you lean on me? I am not a bed!”\n\nShe is giddy with the energy of Manhattan, and Janine and I each take a hand as we lead her across busy intersections. I realize, had things been different, this could be a snapshot of us 30 years earlier, a happy young family darting across the street.\n\nNow we look like grandparents.\n\nWe visit Serendipity on the East Side, a restaurant famous for gargantuan frozen hot chocolates. We get Chika one and take photos of her sipping it. Bloated by the steroids, her face and belly are huge, and I notice an older woman looking at her with an expression that says, “Does she really need to eat more?” I glare back.\n\nLater, we walk Chika through Times Square. There are people dressed as Superman, Spiderman, Olaf. We take photos. One of the characters, on a break, removes his large cartoon head.\n\n“Hey!” Chika screams. “There is a man inside Mickey Mouse!”\n\nThat night, in the hotel room, we sit with Chika between us on the bed. I rub her cheeks. She has been taking liothyronine and super-saturated potassium iodine to block the potential harm to her thyroid. We have been warned that this operation, which requires precise, hours-long, computer-aided placement of the catheter, might be dangerous. I’ve been given a form that lists the possible risks:\n\nComa.\n\nPotentially uncontrollable seizures.\n\nDeath.\n\nI ask myself who am I to sign this? What right do I have? Who gave me that power?\n\nAnd then I remember checking in at the hospital and being given a badge that read “PARENT.” And I sign the form, because as a parent, even a substitute one, letting Chika sink is not an option. I put on a happy face and hide behind it as I play with her, like a man inside a Mickey Mouse.\n\nNOVEMBER 2015\n\nChika made it through the procedure. In truth, she sailed through it, which gave us hope. The lead doctor, Mark Souweidane, a pediatric neurosurgeon, was pleased with the way the treatment spread around the tumor. He showed us a scan, the luminescent green being the radioactive agent; it was like watching Kryptonite invade Superman’s head.\n\nI realized how many times I had now seen Chika’s brain on film. When previous scans were put side by side, it was clear that something we had tried had shrunk the tumor significantly.\n\n“This is good, right?” I’d ask the doctors.\n\n“It’s good,” they’d say, but there was always something behind their response, a hesitation, a filter; I was stung that they would not share my enthusiasm. Had they become that hardened to good news?\n\nChika, for her part, remained nonplussed, asking mostly about toy stores or a trip back to Haiti. No matter where we dragged her, or how much weight she gained, we were astonished at her lack of a complaint gene. The closest she came was after her surgery at Sloan Kettering, when Janine took her into the bathroom, and she looked in the mirror, and realized the doctors, in clearing a path for the catheter, had shaved a 3-inch square patch of her hair just above the forehead. It looked as if someone let a lawnmower run over it.\n\n“Hey!” she declared. “What happened to my hair?”\n\nWe bought her headbands to cover the spot. They had large, colorful flowers.\n\nShe was happy once again.\n\nCHRISTMAS 2015\n\nKeeping a promise, I take her back to Haiti. She bounces up and down as the airplane lands. If not for the seat belt, she might fly away.\n\nIn the Port-au-Prince terminal, a five-piece band plays just beyond passport control, and Chika stops to dance freely in front of them, a smile pasted across her still-chubby face.\n\nHer arrival at the orphanage is triumphant. She hides behind the seat when the SUV pulls in, but she can hear chants of “Chi-ka! Chi-ka!” The children mob the door, calling her name.\n\nAmid an ocean of wild hugging and squeals from the happy nannies, she strips off her sweatshirt and runs to the swing set. The other kids surround her, pushing her higher. As she rises into the Haitian air, her face is a portrait of relief.\n\nShe is home.\n\nWatch: Chika returns to Haiti\n\nThat night, she returns to her lower bunk bed in a crowded room of 13 other girls. In Michigan, she has accumulated a bevy of dolls, shelves of books, games and toys.\n\nHere, she has none of that. Just a cubby for her clothes and a toothbrush in the common outdoor sink area. But if she misses anything, she does not show it. She falls in line for meals, for showers. I wait for her to hold court, regaling the other kids with stories of her U.S. adventures. It never happens. Perhaps talking about America reminds her she will have to go back.\n\nI give small toys to all the kids. After a day, Chika’s breaks. She brings it to me to fix.\n\nI get a screwdriver. I fix it. Chika says “thank you” and runs off happy.\n\nKids expect grown-ups to fix things. I know, deep down, she expects us to fix her.\n\nWe’re trying, Chika. We’re trying.\n\nFEBRUARY 2016\n\nIf terminal cancer allows a “honeymoon” period, we were surely in it during the early months of 2016. Chika’s walking had improved greatly. She could swim (something she loved). Her left eye had readjusted, her smile was nearly even, and her body was slowly returning to normal, the steroids, blessedly, no longer needed.\n\nOn a visit to Mott, Chika took off down the hallway, then ran back and jumped, unexpectedly, into Dr. Robertson’s arms.\n\n“Oooh,” the doctor said, nearly knocked backward. She hugged Chika, and I silently took pride in how well this little girl — our little girl — was performing.\n\n“She’s doing great, right?” I said.\n\n“Uh-huh,” came the reply, again, in my mind, less enthusiastic than I wanted.\n\nChika’s affection, reserved when she first arrived, was full-bore now. She regularly hoisted herself into our bed and snuggled between Janine and me. She knew, when visitors came, to give the “two arm hug.” And the more cartoon movies about princesses she watched, the more fascinated she became with kissing.\n\nSometimes, in the early mornings, I’d be down in my office and my cell phone would ring. The house line was calling.\n\n“Mr. Mitch?” came her voice, still froggy with sleep. “Do you want to play fluffy cozy bed camp?”\n\nAnd I would tramp upstairs, enter the bedroom, and see two lumps under the blankets. Forgetting about writing, I would crawl beneath them and tussle a giggling Chika, who promptly informed me that, “I am the boss, and Miss Janine is the second boss. You can be the third boss.”\n\nShe passed her sixth birthday with a celebration at the Rain Forest Café, and more than 30 people came out — friends and relatives who helped entertain and care for her. She drew cards for them. On Valentine's Day, she drew one for us, with a small figure (her) standing beside two bigger figures (us). It read: \"I love you Mr. Mitch, Miss Janine, CHIKA.”\n\nWhoever she encountered was instantly taken with her. Once, while in a Belleville Cracker Barrel with our friends, Jeff and Patty Alley, Chika’s enthusiasm caught the attention of Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh. He had no idea who she was – and she certainly didn’t know him – but he was so taken with her, he bought her a toy guitar.\n\nShe had that effect.\n\nHer voice was magnetic — people actually stopped and complimented us on how sweet she sounded — and she was unafraid to use that voice to blurt out her growing immersion into English, even when her signals got crossed.\n\nExamples? When she washed with cold water, she declared, “Cold water, warm heart!” When I said I was bad at coloring, she said, “You never know since you try.”\n\nShe couldn’t get the word “rewind” right, so if I zoomed too far with the remote control, she’d say, “No! You have to remind it!”\n\nShe insisted the “Itsy Bitsy Spider” was the “Isby Bisby Spider” and the \"Sound of Music\" song went “Do-a-deer, an e-mail deer.” When she ate something she liked — which was all the time — she yelled “Yummy-yummy-yummy in my tummy, tummy, tummy!” and when she got dressed or used the bathroom it was “Privacy, please!” If she got testy, I’d say, “Remember, nobody likes a grumpy girl.”\n\n“Nobody like a grumpy boy, either!” she’d shoot back.\n\nOnce, while I was writing, she interrupted me multiple times to ask for crayons. I turned to her, patiently as I could, and said, “Chika, I have to work.”\n\n“Mr. Mitch,” she replied, “I have to play.”\n\nJanine and I made all the joyous stops with her, like one of those happy montage scenes in a movie. We took her to a musical, to Disneyland, we took her to “meet” Daniel Tiger. I took her for her first sled ride, which terrified her until she completed it and quickly yelled, “Can I do it AGAIN?” We hit the aquarium, the mall. We bought her a frilly yellow dress, a replica of the one Belle wore in “Beauty and the Beast.” She tried it on in front of a mirror and stared at herself for a long time\n\n“You’re a princess, Chika,” Janine said.\n\nChika beamed.\n\nAnd when she did, it was possible to think, even with a tumor the size of rubber ball sitting in her brain stem, that this child was going to be an exception, that she would push through and live to wear an adult version of that dress one day. This is what children do. They make you believe their youth can overcome anything.\n\nThen one day, she was swimming with an instructor, and I was on my way to work, and my phone rang and it was Janine. She was frantic.\n\n“Chika just threw up in the pool,” she said.\n\nI sped back home.\n\nHoneymoon over.\n\n****\n\nWe never hear from her father. According to the godmother, Herzulia, he is alive, but hasn’t been interested in his daughter since the day his wife died. She says he drinks. All the time. I cannot verify this. I have never met him.\n\nOn a monthly trip to Haiti, I ask Alain whether he thinks he can locate him.\n\n“I can try,” he says.\n\nHe makes some phone calls. He drives off in the mission car. Hours later, he returns with a short, mustached man, wearing gray slacks and a long-sleeved white shirt in the oppressive heat. Chika’s father. When I ask how he pulled this off, Alain shrugs. He says he made some inquiries, found a village, found the man and asked him to come.\n\nOnly in Haiti, I tell myself.\n\nHis name is Fedner Jeune. He is maybe 5 feet 7, slightly built. His large eyes are bloodshot, but they are Chika’s eyes. He looks like an unhappy, grown-up, male version of her. When I greet him, I feel empathy and resentment.\n\nTell him I’d like to know more about his daughter, I say.\n\nAlain does. He responds in Creole.\n\n“He says whatever you want to know, he will tell you.”\n\nI ask questions. About her birth. About her mother. I ask if he can take us to where Chika grew up. He says yes. We get in the car. He is missing two of his lower teeth. He never looks me in the eye.\n\nWe drive for an hour, beyond the traffic-choked maze of Port-au-Prince, teeming with street vendors and women carrying baskets on their heads. We reach the outskirts, where vegetation replaces buildings and paved roads turn to mud.\n\nAlain stops the car.\n\n“We are here,” he says.\n\nA tin door is hinged to a tree trunk. Inside, a patch of earth surrounds a small, square, cinder-block house, which is doorless.\n\nThis is where Chika was born? I ask.\n\n“Yes,” he says.\n\nThere is an extension cord that comes through the breadfruit trees. A single light bulb is hooked to it.\n\nAnd Chika’s mother died here, I ask?\n\n“Yes.”\n\nWhere is she buried?\n\nHe points outside.\n\nCan we go? I ask.\n\nIn a few minutes, we are at the site. I was expecting a cemetery. Instead, it is just a clearing, dotted by bushes and an old shack made of wood and tin. Laundry hangs on tree branches, and a woman and her children sit on buckets, watching us silently. A goat and a pig wander loose.\n\nSeveral slabs of concrete, each a different size, are above the ground. Fedner points to the biggest one.\n\n“There,” he says.\n\nShe is buried beneath that? I say.\n\n“Yes.”\n\nWith others?\n\n“Yes.”\n\nHow many others?\n\n“I don’t know.”\n\nIt is a mass grave. There are no markers. No names.\n\nHe pays someone every year, he says, to rent the space.\n\nThe goat bleats. Fedner scratches his head. I can tell he wonders why we are bothering with all this. I ask Alain to explain how sick Chika is, and how we hope we can find a cure for her tumor, but it is possible we may not.\n\nFedner has no reaction.\n\n\"If Chika dies,\" Alain asks him, \"Do you have any wishes where she should be buried?\"\n\nHe looks down and mumbles something.\n\nWhat did he say, I ask?\n\n“He says whatever you decide is fine with him.”\n\nA bug whizzes by my head. I study the slab above the mother’s remains. I promise myself it won’t be anything like this.\n\nMAY 2016\n\nThe tumor, it turns out, was like a sleeping bear: After winter hibernation, it grew hungry and stirred.\n\nChika’s eye drooped again. Her walking grew unsteady. February, March and April saw numerous medical maneuvers. A drug called Afinitor (Everolimus) was introduced, followed by Avastin, designed to shrink back some of the tumor growth. A new chemotherapy drug called Panobinostat — hailed as promising against DIPG by a Stanford physician — was procured by Dr. Robertson. Chika was approved to receive it and we braced ourselves to enter the “chemo” world. We were following a regimen of multiple nutritional supplements, mixed into a daily shake that Chika dutifully drank from a large princess cup.\n\nPrior to that, desperate to stay ahead of the tumor’s progression, we'd enrolled in a second CED treatment at Memorial Sloan Kettering. The initial procedure again went well. But in the middle of the night, with the catheter locked in her skull and the radioactive iodine oozing into her tumor, Chika somehow got out of bed and walked over to where I slept in a chair.\n\nI heard a noise. My eyes sprung open. There was Chika, inches away, the line from the catheter stretched like a kitchen phone cord.\n\n“Can we go to the toy store?” she asked, dreamily.\n\nI lurched her back toward the bed, the cord retracting. \"Oh, my God, Chika,\" I said. I frantically called the nurses. It was nearly 4 a.m. When Dr. Souweidane rushed in, he was, like the rest of us, in virtual disbelief. But apparently, after careful review, no damage was done.\n\nAn hour later, Chika was sleeping, Dr. Souweidane was gone, the nurses were tending to other patients, and I was shaking my head.\n\nThe toy store?\n\n* * * *\n\nShe has trouble walking now, and I hold both hands and guide her up and down staircases.\n\n“Step, step, step,” I say.\n\n“Step, step, step,” she repeats.\n\nSometimes she wobbles and lands on her rear end. She does not cry. She’ll say “Woops!” or “Hey, I fell on my butt!”\n\nI find myself learning from her simple joys. She is just so content. She makes the bed for her dolls. She delights in brushing Janine’s hair. On airplanes, she takes things from the snack basket and meticulously tucks them away for later, happy as an industrious squirrel. She claps at the end of family movies. She shimmies when she hears music. When I can’t remember the words to a movie song, she exclaims, “You didn’t watch Mary Poppins before? Are you CRAZY?” I apologize and she says, “You just have to watch it again. No problem.”\n\nDuring the day, she is joyous when occupied. She colors. She reads. She watches Bible stories. But at night, when I tuck her in, I can see the illness bothers her.\n\n“When am I going to walk right?” she asks.\n\nI hope soon, I answer. That’s why we’re going to the doctors.\n\n“Mister Mitch?”\n\nMmm?\n\n“If I can’t walk, can I still live with the other kids?”\n\nOf course, I say.\n\nThis breaks my heart.\n\nChika, I say, do you know how much I love you?\n\nShe shakes her head no.\n\nThis much, I say.\n\nI hold my arms out and grunt as I stretch them behind me. I turn to show her. Suddenly, I feel her hands pushing mine even closer together, closer, until the fingers touch.\n\n“That much?” she says.\n\nThat much, I say.\n\nJULY 2016\n\nOver the months, we lost track of how many needles Chika absorbed. Her veins were extremely hard to find, hiding as if they knew what was coming. Nurses tried her arms, wrists, feet, toes. Warm compresses. Vein finders.\n\nNothing helped. Every blood test was a major struggle. Chika was like a pincushion, and she howled with every poke, more scared — like most kids — of the second needle than the first.\n\nFinally, in late June, an Avastin treatment had to be canceled because they could not get a clean vein for infusion. Janine and I were advised that, in order to continue, she would require an intravenous port.\n\n“No! I hate that idea,” Janine said. I agreed. A foreign chamber placed under the skin? With a catheter into a vein that travels to the heart? It was frighteningly futuristic, a permanent branding. But in the end, we had no choice. It was that, or no more medicine.\n\nThe procedure was done at Mott (“We do thousands of these” we were told) and once she got home, Chika studied this new addition to her upper chest. She called it her “bump.” We told her it meant “no more stickies,” which seemed to appease her.\n\nAs a reward, I promised her another trip to Haiti, after her first port infusion. She endured that.\n\nAnd the next day, we left.\n\nBut something seemed off. Just hours after our arrival at the mission, Chika’s forehead was hot. She looked tired. She wanted to sleep in her bunk bed with the girls, but I suggested she spend that night with me.\n\nAfter brushing her teeth, and putting her on a pillow, I lay down next to her and shut my eyes.\n\n“Mr. Mitch?”\n\n“Yes, Chika?”\n\nShe vomited all over me.\n\nShe started to cry. “It’s all right, Chika, it’s fine, this is nothing,” I said, wiping the mess with the sheets. “Here we go. Here we go.” I hurried her to the bathroom.\n\nThirty minutes later, having cleaned the floor, the bed, changed her clothes (and mine) and put her back onto the pillow, she called my name once more. Her chest was heaving. I turned.\n\nShe vomited again.\n\nIt happened two more times. I ran out of towels and put old T-shirts beneath us. She finally fell into a troubled sleep, while I stayed awake, monitoring her breathing, hoping this was a stomach bug and fearing far worse.\n\nThe rest of the trip was a blur. Chika was mostly groggy, rarely engaged, sleepwalking through events that would normally have her giddy. She didn’t play. She hardly sang during devotions. When we left for the airport, she didn’t even want to say good-bye to the other kids. She just got into the SUV and looked out the window.\n\nShe slept much of the ride home.\n\nWithin a day back in Detroit, she’d developed a raging fever. We raced to Beaumont Hospital and then, via ambulance, she was transferred to Mott. An infection of some kind, they said. Antibiotics were started. CT scans. PT scans. MRIs. Her temperature zoomed above 104. Her heart rate reached 160 beats a minutes. They thought it was her lungs. They checked for meningitis. They spoke of sepsis. We fell into a nervous vigil in the hospital room, sleeping in chairs, eating from the cafeteria, bringing in balloons to try to brighten the drabness.\n\nIn the end, the infection was traced back to the port. Somehow, bacteria had entered during the one time they’d used it. The device was removed (a month after its insertion) leaving a scar on Chika’s soft chest and endless head shaking from Janine and me.\n\n“I knew it was a bad idea,’’ Janine said, near tears. “I knew it. I knew it.”\n\nNow, we were informed, even as Chika lay groggy, sweating, pumped full of antibiotics, that she needed a new form of delivery. A PICC line was suggested (Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter) a long, thin tube that goes through an arm vein and, as with the port, tips into a larger vein that goes to the heart. But unlike the port, a PICC protrudes, hanging from your biceps like a marionette string; it needs to be constantly cleaned and protected.\n\nAgain, what choice did we have? The line was put inside Chika and we were given a crash course in how to use it, flush it, sanitize its tips, seal, tuck, then repeat the process.\n\nWe hid our frustration. Chika had been through enough. The night before she was to leave the hospital, we all watched a Cinderella movie on the room’s TV set. She loved to see Cinderella dance with Prince Charming.\n\n“You can dance that way at your wedding,\" Janine said.\n\n“If I marry a prince?”\n\n“Maybe.” Janine knew Chika's best friend in America was one of our nephews, a sweetly-tempered 8-year-old named Aidan. “Maybe if you marry Aidan,” she said, teasingly.\n\nChika frowned and shook her head.\n\n“Aidan will not marry a sick girl.”\n\n“What?”\n\n“Aidan will not marry a girl who cannot walk.”\n\nWe were stunned.\n\n“Chika. Of course he would.”\n\n“Aidan will not marry a girl who is missing her hair.”\n\n“Sweetheart. You marry people because you love them, no matter what their problems. Don’t say things like that.”\n\nShe looked at us blankly, as if these were the facts that we were too naïve to accept. With a tube sticking out of her arm, she turned back to the screen where Cinderella was dancing, a fairy tale more comforting than the truth.\n\n* * * *\n\nThe infection puts a hold on everything — including the chemotherapy she had started. It also shoots a hole in our confidence. The chemo is, at best, a long shot. Chika has already endured a second radiation therapy — something considered risky, but that we still tried. Any more radiation could damage her brain and possibly kill her.\n\nWe are running out of options, as if someone is crossing them off a list and saying, “Nope.”\n\nReluctantly, I return to the Internet. There are studies going on worldwide. Experimental drugs. Experimental trials. Each morning, I make calls and leave numbers. I send e-mails around the globe. Everyone wants to know what stage “the patient” is in, and when I detail what she has already been through — brain surgery, two radiations, two CEDs, chemo — a number of places say she is too deep into conflicting therapies, or, worse, just too far along. Every denial is like a chiming clock.\n\nI speak with Tammi Carr. She has offered to help. Her son, Chad, after a courageous battle, died of his DIPG, two months after that game at Michigan Stadium.\n\n“Chad gained his angel wings,” Tammi had written on her Facebook page.\n\nFifteen months from diagnosis to death.\n\nChika is at 15 months.\n\n“I know someone in Bristol,” Tammi says. “Bristol” is Bristol, England — just as “Houston” is the MD Anderson Cancer Center and “Mexico” is the intra-arterial treatments they are trying in that country. DIPG has a code of its own; all parents seem to know the shorthand.\n\nThe Bristol program is similar to Sloan Kettering, but instead of putting one catheter into the brain tumor, they use four. I correspond with the doctors there. I send scans through overnight delivery. Eventually, Chika is determined to be too far along (those words again). The doctor suggests an immunology program in Cologne, Germany.\n\nGermany?\n\nE-mails are sent. MRIs are sent. A Skype session is arranged. Chika qualifies. It is $45,000 for the treatment, no insurance taken, and at least three visits are required over three months time, eight days per visit, to judge the procedure's effectiveness.\n\nPlace your bets.\n\nSEPTEMBER 2016\n\nI pulled Chika’s wheelchair backward, up the small ramp and into the three-story apartment building in Cologne. A trolley rolled past. Passengers unloaded, students chatting loudly in German. We’d rented a flat here, and had been in it a week.\n\n“I have to go potty,” Chika moaned.\n\n“Hang on, hang on,” I huffed. I undid her belt, lifted beneath her arms, hoisted her onto my shoulders and clomped up a 20-step staircase. There was no elevator in the building.\n\n“Hang on, hang on,” I said, my breathing labored.\n\n“I have to go baaad.”\n\n“Hang onnnn.”\n\nI fumbled with the keys. I opened the door.\n\n“Hurry!”\n\nInto the bathroom, jacket off, leggings yanked down, hoist her onto the seat.\n\n“OK? OK?” I said, panting.\n\n“Privacy, please,” she replied.\n\nOut I went. In came Janine. This was our routine now. Chika had regressed from a walker to a wheelchair. For short distances she crawled across the floor. “My feet are sleepy,” she would say.\n\nShe had increasing issues with her bladder. Bathroom runs were a fire drill. Sometimes we found her quietly sobbing in the morning, and we’d say, “What’s wrong?” and we’d see the wet sheet beneath her and she’d say, “I need new underwear.”\n\nHer left eye no longer blinked, and at night we put soft tape over it to keep it from drying out. Her PICC line required constant care, robbing her of her beloved swimming or bubble baths. She could no longer pedal a toy car or run to hide behind a couch. We prayed that this immunology treatment would be her miracle. But the laundry list of things she had to surrender was growing longer than things she could do.\n\nAnd yet. Her adjustment skills were incredible. We’d sit and watch a film and she’d get so happy she’d throw her arms around me and say, “This is a really good movie!” I’d ask her what was her favorite part and she’d say, “Um, I don’t really understand what’s happening.”\n\nOr in Germany, in a small apartment, where we had to sleep in three twin beds pushed together. Chika loved it. She flopped between us as if we were pillows, asking Janine and me to kiss so she could watch. When we did, she clapped and said, “Now we can live happily ever after.”\n\nEvery day, after her treatments, we’d explore the streets of Cologne, me pushing her in her wheelchair, Chika flapping her arms and singing out loud, butchering lyrics from “Annie,”, “Frozen” or Christmas songs (“down through the chimney comes old, sick Nick!”). She remained totally unembarrassed. I envied her bravado.\n\nI wheeled her once to the towering Cologne Cathedral, first built in the 13th Century, and she surveyed it from her wheelchair and said she had never seen a building so big. I told her it was a church and that people prayed inside it.\n\n“What do they pray for?” she asked.\n\n“They pray for everything. They pray for their family. They pray they’ll get better if they are sick.”\n\n“They don’t pray for me. I’m not their child!”\n\n“They might be praying for you.”\n\n“They don’t even know me.”\n\n“People don’t have to know you to pray for you.”\n\n\n\nShe thought about that, then went back to chewing on a pretzel.\n\nChika was no stranger to faith. Sunday church and nightly devotions are routine at the Haiti mission, and she was always a loud and joyous force during those prayers. In Michigan, Janine once walked in on her intently singing a worship song to herself.\n\n“I’m no longer a slave to fear\n\nI am a child of God...”\n\nShe sang it, uninterrupted, for nine minutes, as if in private discourse with the Lord, her face calm, her eyes wide.\n\n\"I’m no longer a slave to fear\n\nI am a child of God.\"\n\nOne night, she asked if her mommy was in heaven.\n\n“Yes, she is,” we said.\n\n“When I go to heaven, will I see her?”\n\n“Yes.”\n\n“How will she know me?”\n\n“She’ll know you.”\n\n“Can you walk in heaven?”\n\n“Yes.”\n\n“Can you run?”\n\n“Yes.”\n\n“Can you have candy?”\n\n“Yes. Why?”\n\nShe shrugged. And then it hit me. She was listing all the things she could no longer do down here.\n\n* * * *\n\nOf all the maddening aspects of cancer, the worst may be the deal it seems to make with our immune systems. While our T-cells regularly attack other infections, cancer employs what some call a \"secret handshake\" that renders T-cells blind to their threat.\n\n\"Immunotherapy\" is a treatment that tries to alter that handshake — often by fooling the immune system into fighting the cancer. The Cologne clinic that treated Chika (called IOZK, and run by a Belgian oncologist) employed a technique that uses the patient’s own blood to create a cancer-fighting vaccine. This is done through the injection of a virus (NDV) that is deadly to poultry but harmless to humans. It attacks the DIPG tumor, the attack is studied, dendritic cells are beefed up in a specialized laboratory facility, and, ultimately, a vaccine from the patient’s own white cells and tumor antigens is injected back into the body, with the hope that the immune system does what the virus did: attack and kill the cancer cells in the brain.\n\nChika, again, didn’t understand any of this. But she listened to the doctors speak “a funny language” and she liked the water bed they let her lay in. The clinic was sparse, simple, on the fourth floor of an office building, one level above a gym. We sat near Chika as her head was heated by hyperthermia, and the poultry virus dripped through her PICC line, while she watched an iPad movie, lost in the magic of “101 Dalmatians.”\n\nA nurse brought me a cup of coffee. I heard conversations in German. I thought about how far we were from Haiti, and our kids kicking a soccer ball in the yard, wondering where Chika was and what she might be doing.\n\n* * * *\n\nI go to a doctor. I’m having pain in my lower abdomen. I may have a hernia.\n\n“Are you doing a lot of lifting?” the doctor asks.\n\nI almost laugh. Chika is constantly in my arms, and even at 62 pounds, is a challenge to pick up from funny angles.\n\nYes, I tell the doctor, a lot of lifting.\n\n“That could do it,” he says.\n\nHe says I should stop, but I know I will not. Holding this little girl, her arms hooked around my neck, head cradled beneath my chin, is the most satisfying posture I have ever known. I can feel Chika relax, feel the security that she gets from my grip. I try to find the word for it.\n\nTrust. That’s the word.\n\nTotal, unconditional trust.\n\nOne night I carry her to her bed, and I lay her down and she looks up sweetly. Janine is there, too.\n\n“How did you find me?” she whispers.\n\nHow did we find you? we say, surprised. You mean how did you come to us?\n\nShe nods.\n\nWe look at each other. It is the first time, really, she is asking who she is.\n\nSo we tell her. Her birth. The earthquake. Her long journey to this moment. When we finish, she seems satisfied. “One day,\" she says. \"I want to go back and live in Haiti.”\n\nBut if you weren’t here, we would miss you very much, we say.\n\n“Well,” she responds, “when I'm not here, you can close your eyes and think of me!”\n\nAnd while we cannot imagine life without her, the truth is, we would surely take this if it meant she could grow, if she could live out her years, seeing adolescence, graduating high school, finding a purpose, realizing her dream of being, as she once wished, “big.”\n\nWe would take it in a heartbeat.\n\nDECEMBER 2016\n\nThere was no joy at Christmas. Chika had suffered what the doctors euphemistically called “a setback.”\n\nUpon returning from her third trip to Germany, she was sluggish, her left side showed weakness and she threw up several times. She was drooling and her speech was slurring.\n\nWe returned to Mott. They took an MRI. The worst news was confirmed.\n\nThe tumor had sharply progressed.\n\nThis is the moment DIPG families dread. They are warned. They are briefed. Still, when it happens, it is like a sneak attack. I spoke with other parents. One told me his DIPG son was walking and talking and a week later, he was gone.\n\nFor the first time since Alain’s phone call, I began waking up in fear.\n\nChika’s eating grew labored. Her drinking, too. Her right arm and hand weren’t really functioning, and when I gave her cups, she bobbled them and they spilled.\n\n“Oops,” she'd say, quickly. “Sorry.”\n\n“It’s all right, no problem,” I’d reply, putting a cheer on every sentence.\n\nBut when your child’s outlook changes, your world changes with it. There was no personal time any more. Projects were tabled. Work meetings were canceled. I all but stopped writing for the newspaper. Janine and I wore floppy clothes around the house, showered less frequently, and almost never went out socially. The normal Christmas stuff was put on hold. No shopping. No gatherings. Instead, we spent nights monitoring Chika’s breathing, getting her to the bathroom on time, sitting with her as she tried to color, frustrated that her shaking hands could not stay within the lines.\n\nShe lost a tooth one night and, as was custom, she put it under her pillow for the Tooth Fairy. But we were so exhausted from giving her medicine, flushing her PICC line, and feeding her through syringes (which took hours, because she could no longer swallow whole food) that we fell asleep that night without tending to the matter.\n\nIn the morning, we found Chika sitting up, her head bowed, the tooth her hand.\n\n“Chika, what’s the matter?” we asked.\n\n“The Tooth Fairy forgot me,” she mumbled.\n\nOur fall was complete.\n\nOn Christmas Day, we woke her up, and dressed her in a red sweater. We tried to stir her interest, but she was groggy, her eyes blank. We sat her by the tree and slid in one present after another, gifts people had brought for her. She responded slowly, lacking any thrill of a year earlier, when she ripped open everything.\n\nIn the middle of this, Janine leaned over and gave her a kiss. Then she asked, “Do you want to kiss Mr. Mitch?” She nodded and kissed my cheek with a spitty smack. Then Chika whispered, “Kiss each other.”\n\nSo we did, in front of her face, and she had a look of wonder, and Janine started to cry and said, \"Thank you, angel.\" And with her good hand, Chika reached for the tissues and pulled one out and tried to dab Janine's tears, which only made her cry more.\n\nWatch: A lullaby for Chika\n\n* * * *\n\nThe disease progression is like death by a thousand cuts. But the hardest loss is Chika’s voice. That precious voice, like cotton candy melting in the air. When it begins to fade, I am desperate to hang on to its sound.\n\nGood morning, Chika, I say.\n\nNo response. Just a stare.\n\nGood morning, sweetheart.\n\nNothing.\n\nShe sleeps with many dolls now, so I take one, a small bear, and ask it questions, hoping to engage her.\n\nDo you belong to Chika? I ask the bear.\n\n“Yes,” Chika finally whispers.\n\nAh. You're a lucky bear. I think Chika is a really special girl. But don’t tell her! That’s just between you and me.\n\n“But ... I’m her bear,” she says. “I have to tell her everything.”\n\nOh, really? Well. I don’t want you to tell her how much I love her.\n\n“She knows.”\n\nShe does? How much? How much do I love her?\n\nChika slowly takes the arms of the teddy bear and pulls them behind its back.\n\n“This much,” she whispers.\n\nI choke up.\n\nThat’s right, I say. That much.\n\nWatch: Chika is celebrated on her birthday.\n\nFEBRUARY 2017\n\nNurses had arrived in our home. Hospice workers, too. Rehab was arranged, where therapists worked Chika’s otherwise motionless appendages. A support team of friends and family combined for 24-hour shifts. And Chika made a trade. Her PICC line was removed, because of swelling in her arm.\n\nAnd a feeding tube was inserted.\n\nAbove her belly button, just below her sternum, a tiny balloon was pushed through her skin topped by an exposed valve that was connected to a tube. Through that tube, you could drip almost anything — water, apple juice, smoothies, drugs.\n\nWe had to use it, because Chika’s swallowing was gone. Her speaking was gone. Her voluntary movement was limited to a finger wave — all because of the relentless DIPG tumor rooted in her pons and spreading like an ooze, slowly crippling her every ability. Germany was out. So were any return trips to Haiti. Chika could no longer endure the travel. I was almost grateful that she couldn’t ask to go home, because I hated having to disappoint her.\n\nShe’d thinned considerably, and with her hair braided, she looked younger, remarkably like the day she’d arrived, except for the 4 inches she’d sprouted, seemingly all in her legs. A hospital bed had replaced her previous one, and she slept just 2 feet away from us now, close enough to hear every breath. The pulse/oxygen monitor was placed on her finger, and small red digits were a constant reminder of her status. If they dropped, we needed to do something: tap her chest, pound on her back, put a suction tube down her throat and pull up whatever was clogging it.\n\nBecause so much of this felt barely human, we did all we could to humanize the rest. We read to Chika. We sang to her. We recited a special prayer. Each night, we Skyped with the kids in Haiti as they sang their devotions, and one by one, they stepped before the camera and said “Good night, Chika,” “Good night, sister.”\n\nWatch: The other childen wish Chika a good night.\n\nShe responded to their voices like Tinkerbell to pixie dust. I hated to cut off the connection. Sometimes she looked at me silently, and I remembered fixing her toy, and I could almost hear her say, “Can’t you fix this? You’re the grown-up.”\n\nIt haunted me.\n\nFor the first time in my career, I missed the Super Bowl, because Chika was throwing up the morning of my plane. I canceled all commitments. I stopped answering the phone. Our entire focus was on prolonging Chika's life.\n\nShe was a fighter.\n\nWe would be fighters.\n\nOur medical Hail Mary was a drug that few had heard of, Buparlisib, or BKM120, technically a “pan class phosphoinositide 3-kinase inhibitor.” We understood it only as something that might stall the tumor growth, because Chika’s specific tumor mutations, on paper, matched up to this agent. It was nearly impossible to get. Numerous pleas were made to Novartis, the Swiss-based global health care company, to grant us the drug (not available to the public) through its “compassionate care” program. Although we were turned down several times, with help, we ultimately were granted a supply. Each morning, Janine and I opened the little capsules and dissolved them into water, then pulled the water into syringes and pushed it through Chika's feeding tube.\n\nJanine and I did this silently. Carefully. Neither one of us wanted to say what we were thinking: that we were out of chips, the last bet had been placed.\n\nSometimes, when we sat with Chika, I thought about how, in a certain way, she was growing backward, toward infancy. She'd gone from running to walking to crawling to being lifted. From eating to being fed. From bathrooms to being wiped.\n\nFrom talking to silence.\n\nShe was, in a strange way, returning to where she started.\n\nSo far from where she started.\n\n* * * *\n\nI arrange a one-day trip to Haiti.\n\nI have to purchase a grave.\n\nThe laws, I am told, require proof of interment arrangements before a body will be allowed to come into Haiti. I long ago decided that if things went badly, she would be buried here, in her home country, where one day the other children could come and visit. But I cannot fathom making these arrangements if Chika dies, and so I do it now, while it still seems abstract.\n\nAlain drives me to a cemetery called Parc Du Souvenir on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince. I am told it is the nicest one. But in comparison to an American cemetery, it is only fair, the graves in uneven rows, plain white headstones, erratic plantings.\n\nI find two empty sites together. We go to the office and Alain informs the manager, a broad-faced, middle-age woman, that I want to purchase them.\n\n“For how many people?”\n\nOne, I say.\n\nShe almost laughs.\n\n“One person, you should use the crypt in the wall. A grave is for five people.\"\n\nAlain explains that in Haiti, bodies are stacked five high in grave sites.\n\n“Two would be for 10 people,” the woman adds.\n\nWell, I want two plots, I repeat. I want space for her loved ones to be able to sit and visit.\n\nShe shakes her head as if I am crazy.\n\n“Who is it for?” she asks.\n\nI don’t want to tell her the whole story.\n\nMy daughter, I say.\n\nShe looks at me.\n\n“I'm sorry,” she says.\n\nAPRIL 7, 2017\n\nThe phone rings. No one answers it. This is back where the story began, in our bedroom, on a Friday afternoon. Our friends and family have said their good-byes, exiting in tears. It is only Janine, the nurses, me.\n\nAnd Chika.\n\nWe surround her in the bed. We want to “cuddle” her, a word she loved, to hold her in our arms for her final hours. We are trembling. Her breaths are so infrequent. There’s one, we say. We were told that when the end came, it would be like this, the brain no longer sending the proper signals to breathe. It sounded chaotic. But it is not that at all. It is slow, gradual, like watching a sun disappear over the horizon.\n\nWe have surrendered, I hear myself say. I feel like such a failure. All the doctors tried so hard, the U-M doctors, the Beaumont doctors, the New York and Germany doctors — and the nurses, the therapists, the specialists, the radiologists, all great, all earnest, all answering phones in the middle of the night and procuring the latest drugs, treatments, procedures, data — and yet none of it could build the wall. None of it could stop the monster.\n\nOnly Chika was left, at the end, a sweet-voiced David versus Goliath, to make a final stand.\n\nThe day before, her breaths had slowed like this, she was down to one or two a minute, and we leaned on her tender body and the hospice nurses who had been called confirmed that this was likely the end.\n\nBut Janine heard a small sound, and another one, and said out loud, “It sounds like she’s trying to breathe.”\n\nWe heard it again.\n\n“If she’s trying, we’re trying,” I insisted.\n\nAnd so we propped her up, tapped her back with soft rubber pounders, suctioned her throat and nose. And rather quickly, Chika was breathing 33 times a minute. She’d literally risen from the almost-dead. The hospice people shook their heads in disbelief.\n\n“She’s unlike anyone we’ve ever seen,” they said.\n\nAnd she was. She always was. She was strong and stubborn and so filled with life that even a killer tumor struggled to suppress it. The doctors who predicted a quick demise were stunned by her longevity — 23 months is an eternity with DIPG — and her Michigan doctors said they learned things from her German doctors and her New York doctors and the drug interactions and the immunology we tried. It enlightened them to new ways of looking at this disease.\n\n“She’s taught us all a few things,” admitted Dr. Ken Pituch, the director of Mott’s palliative care team.\n\nAnd yet, she is only human.\n\nAnd the cancer is not.\n\nThe sun is strong outside. Soft prayer music is playing through an iPad. Suddenly, for no apparent reason, Janine asks for a stethoscope. She has never done this before. Something about the moment makes her want to listen.\n\nI kiss Chika’s cheeks. I rub her small shoulders. I realize, squeezed between the guard rails of the mattress, that we made the decision to get into this bed a long time ago, back when the whole thing started, that all parents of sick children do, you get into bed and you hug and you pray and you try desperately to protect your little one from an eternal sleep.\n\nThe music playing is the song Chika once sang by herself:\n\n\"I’m no longer a slave to fear\n\nI am a child of God …\"\n\nJanine puts the tips of the stethoscope into her ears. She leans over. She holds the diaphragm to Chika’s soft chest.\n\nShe listens.\n\nShe hears one final heartbeat.\n\nAnd our little girl is gone.\n\n* * * *\n\nI remember a day, after Chika was no longer walking, that we were sitting around the kitchen table, coloring. I looked at my watch.\n\n“Oh, wow, Chika,” I said. “I have to go.”\n\n“Where?”\n\n“To work.”\n\n“I don’t want you to go.”\n\n“I have to.”\n\n“Why?”\n\n“Because, Chika. It’s my job.”\n\nShe flashed her eyes.\n\n“No, it isn’t,” she said. “Your job is carrying me.”\n\nAnd she was right. Carrying her was my job. Carrying her to doctors, to hospitals, to the bathroom, to bed, carrying her through her amazing little life. It was the most honorable job I have ever had.\n\nAnd so, I carried her one last time.\n\nAfter Janine and her sisters and several friends had lovingly bathed her and done her hair and put on her favorite sherbet-colored dress and high-heeled princess shoes, I lifted this little girl, our little girl, and her head rolled into my chest. She looked beautiful, no more tubes, no more monitors, and I carried her down the hallway and out the front door, because nobody was coming in to touch her, and no stranger was ever going to take her from a home again.\n\nJanine was beside me. We walked down the driveway to a hearse that had been waiting. We placed Chika's body inside. And we watched the car pull away. The sky was clear and the trees were budding and the air was warm with a new, coming summer.\n\nI fell to my knees and buried my face in Janine’s hands.\n\n* * * *\n\nNearly 200 people came to Chika’s memorial service in a Troy funeral home, even though it was never announced or posted anywhere. Some of them had met Chika just once. But once, it seemed, was enough.\n\nThe next day we flew to Haiti. We greeted the other children at the mission and we hugged them tight and we answered their many questions. When one of them asked, “Does this mean God doesn’t listen to our prayers?” I nearly broke down. I had to say, “God listens to every prayer. But sometimes he doesn't give you the answer you want.\"\n\nI could not tell them why.\n\nI don’t know myself.\n\nAt Parc Du Souvenir, where Chika was laid to her final rest, the teachers who taught her and the nannies who looked after her sang prayers and cried, alongside Chika’s uncle, her baby brother, her two older sisters, her godmother, and even her father, who stood stoically near the back.\n\nAnd standing there, in the Haitian heat, the first time I had ever worn a suit and tie in this country, I realized families are like pieces of art: They can be made from many materials. Sometimes they are from birth, sometimes they are melded, sometimes they are forcibly constructed, and sometimes they are merely the confluence and time and circumstance, mixing together, like eggs being scrambled in a Michigan kitchen.\n\nBut they are all real. Chika was a daughter to a number of people. And for the last two years, she was ours, gloriously ours. And if we did not begin in the same place as other DIPG families, we ended there, railing against this tormenting disease and furious at the lack of weapons to fight it.\n\nYou can close your eyes and think of me, she once said. And that is all we are left with now. Medjerda (Chika) Jeune was born on the brink of an earthquake, and she shook our world in her own special way. With her, we became a combat unit, fighting against the unconquerable. But we also became something else:\n\nA family.\n\nAnd for all the harsh emptiness we feel today, for all our restless nights and morning tears, we can only be grateful the time we had. It was 23 months of an incomparable journey, endless memories, and limitless love. How can we be angry? We did not lose a child. We were given one.\n\nContact Mitch Albom: malbom@freepress.com. Check out the latest updates with his charities, books and events at mitchalbom.com. Catch \"The Mitch Albom Show\" 5-7 p.m. weekdays on WJR-AM (760). Follow him on Twitter @mitchalbom. To read his recent columns, go to freep.com/sports/mitch-albom.\n\nHOW TO HELP OTHER CHILDREN LIKE CHIKA\n\nThe Chika Fund has been established to cover medical costs and health care for other children at the Have Faith Haiti Orphanage/Mission. The fund covers inoculations, nutrition and feeding, regular doctor checkups, medical tests and if-needed hospitalizations for current and future Haitian kids like Chika, whose lives are often saved by the mission and the care it provides. For more information or to make a tax-deductable donation, go to www.thechikafund.org. To donate via mail: c/o The Have Faith Haiti Mission, 29836 Telegraph Road, Southfield, MI 48034.\n\nWATCH\n\nMitch Albom and Chika's doctors talk about her medical condition and her journey to find a cure.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2017/06/11"}]}
{"question_id": "20230203_6", "search_time": "2023/02/04/11:55", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/24/health/cdc-birth-rate-2021/index.html", "title": "US birth rates rose slightly in 2021 after a steep drop in the first year ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nEarly speculation that the Covid-19 pandemic may lead to a baby boom has been turned on its head, with early data showing more of a baby bust – and worsening rates of some adverse outcomes.\n\nAfter a steep drop in the first year of the pandemic, US birth rates rose only slightly in 2021, according to provisional data published Tuesday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics.\n\nIt was the first time in seven years that the US birth rate increased. Births had been dropping by an average of 2% a year since 2014, including a decline of twice that much between 2019 and 2020.\n\nNearly 3.7 million babies were born in the US in 2021; that’s about 46,000 more than were born in 2020, but the 1% increase still put the number short of 2019 levels.\n\nThe drop in birth rates in 2020 was one of the largest in decades, and the slight rise in 2021 “doesn’t necessarily mean that that declining trend is over,” said Beth Jarosz, a demographer and program director with the nonprofit Population Reference Bureau with a focus on child well-being.\n\nPostponed pregnancies or changes in access to contraceptives could have influenced 2021 birth rates, and “2020 was such a weird year,” she said.\n\n“I’m always a little bit skeptical of just one year [of data]. But in this case, I really would need to see what happens in 2022 to try to suggest that that’s any kind of a rebound or trend.”\n\nWhile birth rates rose for white and Hispanic women in 2021, they dropped for Black, Asian and American Indian women.\n\nOverall, rates of c-sections – including those for low-risk deliveries – continued upward trends. Nearly a third (32%) of all deliveries and more than a quarter (26%) of low-risk deliveries were c-sections.\n\nPreterm birth rates also increased in 2021. About 10.5% of infants were born at less than 37 weeks gestation, the highest that rate has been since at least 2007.\n\nRates of c-section and preterm birth were disproportionately high for Black women, the provisional data shows.\n\n“When a pregnant person is under stress, that can lead to an increase in preterm births. And clearly, there was a lot of stress in 2020 and 2021,” Jarosz said.\n\nSome research has also linked Covid-19 infection during pregnancy to a higher risk of preterm birth.\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\nTeen birth rates reached another record low nationwide, with about 14 births for every 1,000 females age 15 to 19.\n\nBut birth rates rose for all age groups 25 and up – especially among those ages 35 to 39. The average age of mothers at time of birth has been on the rise for at least a decade. And although the average age of mothers is not yet available for 2021, preliminary data show that more than half of births were among mothers who were 30 or older, up from 49% in 2020.", "authors": ["Deidre Mcphillips"], "publish_date": "2022/05/24"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/kids/2016/01/13/average-age-new-us-moms-now-over-26/78754604/", "title": "Average age of new US moms at all-time high, now over 26", "text": "Associated Press\n\nNEW YORK — The average age of first-time mothers is at an all-time high in the U.S — over 26.\n\nHe's the lead author of a report released Thursday that put the average age at 26 years, 4 months for women who had their first child in 2014.The change is largely due to a big drop in teen moms. But more first births to older women also are tugging the number up, said T.J. Mathews of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.\n\nThe government began tracking the age of new mothers around 1970 when the average was 21. It's been mostly climbing ever since, and spiked in about the last five years.\n\nThe number rocketed immediately after a 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling legalizing abortion, which is used mostly by young unmarried women. Also fueling the rise were improvements in birth control and greater opportunities for women, experts said.\n\n15 January events for Arizona kids\n\n\"Women are staying in school longer, they're going into the workforce, they're waiting to get married, and they're waiting to have kids,\" said John Santelli, a Columbia University professor of population and family health.\n\n\"It's been going on in the U.S. since the 1950s,\" and in many other countries as well, he added.\n\nOverall, the average age of first-time moms has been rising in every racial and ethnic group, and in every state. Since 2000, some of the most dramatic increases were for black mothers and for moms living along the West Coast.\n\nHowever, the Northeast still has the highest average ages. Topping the list are Massachusetts and the District of Columbia, each at about 29, and Connecticut and New York, at or near 28.\n\nA parent�s quandary: Which age is best?\n\nIn New York's Park Slope neighborhood in Brooklyn — an enclave for families with young children — older moms are common.\n\nPushing a stroller on a frigid Wednesday morning, Meisha Welch said she didn't have the first of her two children until just after her 38th birthday.\n\n\"Many of my friends I grew up with, we all have small children,\" said Welch, now 42. \"We had children at what in the past may have seemed like an older age. But now it feels more average.\"\n\n___\n\nOnline: CDC report: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2016/01/13"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/26/asia/south-korea-worlds-lowest-fertility-rate-intl-hnk/index.html", "title": "South Korea records world's lowest fertility rate -- again | CNN", "text": "Seoul, South Korea CNN —\n\nSouth Korea has broken its own record for the world’s lowest fertility rate, according to official figures released Wednesday, as the country struggles to reverse its years-long trend of declining births.\n\nThe country’s fertility rate, which indicates the average number of children a woman will have in her lifetime, sunk to 0.81 in 2021 – 0.03% lower than the previous year, according to government-run Statistics Korea.\n\nTo put that into perspective, the 2021 fertility rate was 1.6 in the United States and 1.3 in Japan, which also saw its lowest rate on record last year. In some African countries, where fertility rates are the highest in the world, the figure is 5 or 6.\n\nTo maintain a stable population, countries need a fertility rate of 2.1 – anything above that indicates population growth.\n\nSouth Korea’s birth rate has been dropping since 2015, and in 2020 the country recorded more deaths than births for the first time – meaning the number of inhabitants shrank, in what’s called a “population death cross.”\n\nAnd as fertility rates drop, South Korean women are also having babies later in life. The average age of women that gave birth in 2021 was 33.4 – 0.2 years older than the previous year, according to the statistics agency.\n\nMeanwhile, South Korea’s population is also getting older, indicating a demographic decline that experts fear will leave the country with too few people of working age to support its burgeoning elderly population – both by paying taxes and filling jobs in fields such as health care and home assistance.\n\nAs of last November, 16.8% of South Koreans were over 65 years old, while just 11.8% were age 14 or under.\n\nThat proportion of elderly Koreans is rising rapidly – it increased by more than 5% between 2020 and 2021, according to census data. Meanwhile, the working age population – people between ages 15 and 64 – declined by 0.9% between 2020 and 2021.\n\nIn South Korea and Japan, there are similar reasons behind the decline in births – including demanding work cultures, stagnating wages, rising costs of living and skyrocketing housing prices.\n\nMany South Korean women say they just don’t have the time, money, or emotional capacity to go on dates as they put their career first in a highly competitive job market in which they often face a patriarchal culture and gender inequality.\n\nThe South Korean government has introduced several measures in recent years to tackle the falling fertility rate, including allowing both parents to take parental leave at the same time and extending paid paternal leave.\n\nSocial campaigns have encouraged men to take on a more active role in childcare and housework, and in some parts of the country, authorities are handing out “new baby vouchers” to encourage parents to have more children.", "authors": ["Gawon Bae Jessie Yeung", "Gawon Bae", "Jessie Yeung"], "publish_date": "2022/08/26"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2021/12/23/fact-check-47-american-young-adults-live-their-parents/8672598002/", "title": "Fact check: 47% of American young adults live with their parents", "text": "The claim: 52% of young adults currently live with their parents, the highest rate ever\n\nA statistic shared widely on Facebook had many commenters dismayed about the financial independence of Gen Z and Millennial young adults.\n\n\"52% of young adults now live with their parents, the highest rate ever, surpassing even the Great Depression,\" reads a meme posted by left-leaning Facebook page The Other 98% on Nov. 16. \"The most educated (and most in debt) generation in history did everything they were supposed to and got this. The system. Does. Not. Work.\"\n\nThe page's post was shared over 15,000 times, and the same message also appeared in more than 20 other Facebook posts soon after. As the post notes, it was first shared as a tweet by liberal influencer Dan Price on Sept. 7, 2020.\n\n\"This woke, progressive generation is lazy and un-appreciative,\" one commenter wrote. \"They expect to be taken care of.\"\n\nHowever, the meme leaves out the main reason that a record share of young adults moved in with their parents: the coronavirus pandemic. The 52% figure comes from July 2020, soon after millions of young adults temporarily relocated due to lockdowns and other restrictions.\n\nAs lockdowns and other health restrictions eased, the rate has gone down to pre-pandemic levels. The post also leaves out that these figures include parents who have moved in with adult children.\n\nUSA TODAY reached out to Price and The Other 98% for comment.\n\nSpecial access for subscribers! Click here to sign up for our fact-check text chat\n\nStat comes from July 2020 and was affected by temporary, COVID-19-related disruptions\n\nThe viral tweet is based on a Pew Research Center analysis of the Current Population Survey, which the Census Bureau administers to a probability-selected sample of around 60,000 households each month.\n\nMonthly survey data showed the percentage of young adults aged 18-29 who were living with parents jumped from 47% to 52% between February and May 2020, as nearly one in ten young adults (9%) said they relocated due to the pandemic, Pew reported. The figure then stayed at 52% through July 2020.\n\nUniversity shutdowns also played a role in sending young adults back home, Daniel McCue, a researcher at the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, noted in an analysis of March 2021 data from the Current Population Survey.\n\nFact check:COVID-19 deaths didn't cause U.S. labor shortage\n\n\"The higher prevalence of living with parents among those 18-24 at the end of 2020 was almost entirely university students living in their parents’ homes, and not young adults in the labor force,\" McCue writes.\n\nBecause the Census Bureau counts college students in on-campus dormitories as living with their parents, the students living in off-campus housing caused this spike.\n\nThe number in the July 2020 Pew report was also likely inflated by the timing of the annual survey. It was delayed from March to July in 2020 because of COVID-19 concerns, according to the Census Bureau, and the proportion of young adults at home rises about 2% each summer, Pew said.\n\nMany commenters assumed the statistic only included young adults who lived in their parents' homes because they could not afford to finance a separate living space, or would not. But that's not always the situation, as the data includes parents living with children as well.\n\nThe Pew analysis from July 2020 showed about 46% of young adults lived in their parents' households, while 6% of young adults lived with parents in their own homes or another residence.\n\nNew data shows young adults living with parents no longer a record\n\nThe viral tweet, now circulating as a meme, says that \"52% of young adults now live with their parents, the highest rate ever.\" While this was true when it was first posted, that's no longer the case.\n\nThe prior record – 48% – was established during the Great Depression era, though the number has been in the mid-to-high-forties several times in the 2010s, a Pew chart shows. The 52% rate during the pandemic topped that number.\n\nBut the Facebook post from November 2021 was treating this as current data, which it isn't.\n\nThe most recent data, collected in October 2021, shows that 46.5% of young adults now live with their parents, based on USA TODAY's analysis of monthly data from the Current Population Survey.\n\nOur rating: Missing Context\n\nBased on our research, we rate MISSING CONTEXT the claim that 52% of young adults currently live with their parents, the highest rate ever. This statistic does not represent the current situation, as the post suggests; it’s based on data collected in July 2020, which saw an abnormal spike in young adults living with parents due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The post doesn't mention the pandemic and leaves out how that number includes parents who have moved in with their adult children.\n\nOur fact-check sources:\n\nAleszu Bajak contributed reporting.\n\nThank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here.\n\nOur fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/12/23"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2022/11/17/premature-birth-babies-increased-2021-march-of-dimes/10705616002/", "title": "Premature baby rate increased in 2021, March of Dimes report finds", "text": "A baby is preterm if born before 37 weeks of gestational age.\n\nPreterm births can be caused by health conditions in the birthing parent and can lead to developmental complications in babies.\n\nAsian and Pacific Islander mothers saw the largest preterm birth increase. Black and Native mothers' preterm birth rates remained highest.\n\nMeanwhile, southeastern states and Puerto Rico saw some of the highest rates of preterm births.\n\nPreterm births last year reached their highest peak since 2007 – with more than 383,000 born before 37 weeks of gestational age in the United States, according to a new report.\n\nIn 2021, roughly 10.5% of U.S. babies were born premature, according to the annual March of Dimes “Report Card,” which rated the United States at D+. The score dropped from its C- rating in 2020, when the preterm birth rate saw its first decline in six years, a slight decrease to 10.1%.\n\nThe report released this week found disparities widened between white mothers and Native and Black mothers, who are already 62% more likely to have a preterm birth and nearly three times as likely as white moms to die of childbirth-related causes. In 2021, Black mothers saw a 3% increase and Native mothers a 6% increase in preterm births, according to the analysis.\n\nOf all groups, Asian and Pacific Islander mothers saw the largest preterm birth increase – an 8% surge – even though births to Asian mothers decreased that year, and they have the lowest preterm birth rate overall.\n\nExperts say the COVID-19 pandemic may have contributed significantly to the rising preterm birth rates, and the findings signal a need for more efforts toward ensuring equitable prenatal care access.\n\nSTUDY:COVID contributed to a quarter of maternal deaths from 2020 to 2021\n\nWhat is premature birth? What causes preterm labor?\n\nPreterm births can be caused by various health conditions in the birthing parent, like high blood pressure and diabetes, as well as stress, problems with the uterus or placenta, infection or inflammation.\n\nBeing born premature can lead to significant developmental complications in babies, including undeveloped respiratory systems causing breathing problems, and hearing, vision and behavioral issues.\n\nPregnant people who contract COVID-19 are 40% more likely to go into preterm labor, said Dr. Zsakeba Henderson, an obstetrician and gynecologist who is the March of Dimes’ senior vice president and interim chief medical and health officer.\n\nAdditionally, lockdowns and changes or delays in care during the pandemic may have caused gaps in prenatal care, which Black and Native mothers already suffered disproportionately, noted Henderson, who leads the nonprofit’s Office of Maternal and Child Health Impact.\n\nWhere in the US are preterm births most common?\n\nOnly four states saw a decrease in preterm births, and 45 states and Washington, D.C., saw an increase, according to the analysis by the March of Dimes, a maternal and infant health research and advocacy nonprofit.\n\nSoutheastern states, as well as Puerto Rico, saw some of the highest rates of preterm births. The report also showed states with some of the lowest maternal and infant health scores were in the South, a region plagued by structural racism where more than half of the nation’s Black population lives.\n\n“I don't think that's a coincidence. Consistently, the worst rates have been seen in that region,” Henderson said. “These states have large populations of Black mothers who experienced the highest rates.”\n\n'A national emergency':Black women still 40% more likely to die of breast cancer than white women\n\n'Not doing enough'\n\nInfant mortality rates decreased slightly overall, but disparities remained, with Black babies dying at 10.8 per 1,000 births, Native babies at 8.4 per 1,000 births, and Hispanic babies at 5 per 1,000 births. White babies saw 4.6 deaths per 1,000 births.\n\nThe trends are “disturbing,\" said Dr. Cynthia Gyamfi-Bannerman, who is chair and professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at the University of California, San Diego.\n\n“It shows that we are not doing enough. It suggests we are moving in the wrong direction in terms of solutions,” said the physician, who is a specialist in maternal-fetal medicine and high-risk pregnancies. “Any increase in preterm birth is concerning because of the downstream effects on the infant after a preterm delivery.”\n\nDespite “decades of research” on preterm births, the increase “highlights that fact that we have very few reliable interventions to prevent preterm delivery,” she added.\n\nMore on this topic:\n\nRise in Asian American preterm births\n\nWhile the increase in Asian preterm births was stark, they remained a small percentage of the overall increase, Henderson said. Black and American Indian mothers still had the highest rates, the report found.\n\n“We don't know the cause for that increase (in Asian mothers),\" she said. \"That's something worth looking into for further investigation and paying attention to as we continue to follow these trends.\"\n\nStill, experts say multiple factors could have contributed. Asian American mothers are having their first babies at an older age, which can increase risk of preterm labor.\n\n“Asian American women have the oldest average age of first-time motherhood, and it is also associated with preterm birth,” said Deepa Dongarwar, a data scientist at the University of Texas Health Science Center who studies Asian American maternal and infant health. “That actually puts the infant at a very big risk.”\n\nAdditionally, Dongarwar noted Asian Americans have been found to use infertility treatments at higher rates compared to other groups. These treatments “are also associated with increased risk of multiple pregnancies, which in turn is associated with preterm birth,” she explained.\n\nDr. Yvonne Cheng, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist with Sutter Pacific Medical Foundation in San Francisco, called the rise “disappointing and concerning.” Asian communities suffered specific stressors during the pandemic, she noted.\n\n“At the beginning of the pandemic, the unknown surrounding the COVID-19 virus and its effect on pregnancy created a lot of fear, stress and also anger toward and within the Asian American communities,” she said.\n\nAsian communities are also diverse. Further analyses into different groups can help inform where needs are, experts said. One study by Dongarwar found U.S. Filipina and Vietnamese mothers had increased odds of preterm birth compared with East Asian mothers.\n\nCheng said COVID-19’s social isolation could have decreased access to prenatal care and contributed to preterm delivery.\n\n“Pre-existing medical or obstetric conditions such as diabetes, hypertension and multiple births are significant contributing factors,” she said. “But we cannot ignore other factors ... inadequate prenatal care, psychosocial stress, delayed child-bearing.”\n\nRead more on this topic:\n\nReach Nada Hassanein at nhassanein@usatoday.com or on Twitter @nhassanein_.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/11/17"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/03/health/rsv-hospitalizations-high-levels/index.html", "title": "RSV hospitalizations shoot up to levels typically seen in December ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nRSV hospitalizations were significantly higher than normal again last week amid a respiratory virus season that’s hitting the United States earlier and harder than usual, according to new data published Thursday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.\n\nCumulative RSV hospitalization rates have already reached levels that are typically not seen until December in the US. They’re rising among all age groups, but especially among children.\n\nRSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, is a common respiratory infection that typically causes mild, cold-like symptoms, but it can cause serious illness, particularly in older adults and infants.\n\nAbout four out of every 1,000 babies under 6 months old have been hospitalized with RSV so far this season – just about a month in. More than two in every 1,000 babies between 6 months and one year have been hospitalized with RSV so far this season, as have more than one in every 1,000 children between age one and two.\n\nOverall in the US, nearly one in five (19%) PCR tests for RSV were positive for the week ending October 29, nearly doubling over the course of the month.\n\nWeekly cases counts are less complete for the most current weeks, but there have been more RSV cases detected by PCR tests each week in October 2022 than any other week in at least the past two years. Weekly case counts for the week ending October 22 were more than double any other week in 2020 or 2021.\n\nAnd while there are signs that cases are slowing in the southern region of the US, test positivity rates and cases continue to rise steeply in other regions, especially in the Midwest.\n\nThe true national burden of RSV cases and hospitalizations is likely greater than reported because only a sample of laboratories and hospitals participate in the CDC’s surveillance programs.\n\nPediatric hospitals remain more full than average with patients with RSV and other conditions. According to data from the US Department of Health and Human Services, more than three-quarters of pediatric hospital beds (77%) and pediatric ICU beds (80%) are currently in use nationwide, compared with an average of about two-thirds full over the past two years.\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\nSeventeen states have less than one in five hospital beds available. Six of them are more than 90% full: Rhode Island, Arizona, Kentucky, Maine, Delaware and Minnesota, along with Washington, DC.", "authors": ["Deidre Mcphillips"], "publish_date": "2022/11/03"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/28/health/flu-season-worse-than-normal/index.html", "title": "Flu season in the US hasn't been this bad this early in more than a ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nFlu season has ramped up early in the United States, and flu hospitalizations are worse than usual for this time of year, according to data published Friday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.\n\nIt’s been more than a decade – since the H1N1 swine flu pandemic – since flu hospitalization rates have been this high at this point in the season.\n\nThe CDC estimates that there have been at least 880,000 illnesses, nearly 7,000 hospitalizations and 360 deaths from flu in the US this season. The first pediatric death in the country was reported this week.\n\nGetting the flu shot is still the best way to protect yourself, experts say. And the best time to do it is now.\n\n“Please get it this afternoon. Do not linger,” said Dr. William Schaffner, medical director of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases and a professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.\n\n“We’re in a bit of a race with the virus,” he said, with the flu season starting at least a month earlier than usual. And it takes between 10 days and two weeks for the shot to offer full protection.\n\nSimilar to previous years, the CDC recommended that people get their flu vaccine before the end of October. But flu vaccination rates are lower than typical for this time of year.\n\nAbout 128 million doses of flu vaccine have been distributed this season, compared with 140 million at this point last year and 156 million the year before that, according to CDC data.\n\nEven though the current season started early, there is more than enough reason for those who haven’t gotten their shot to do it now, Schaffner said.\n\n“I would assure anyone who hasn’t gotten it yet that they’re not too late,” he said. And “the recommendations couldn’t be simpler”: Anyone 6 months or older in the US is eligible for and recommended to get the flu vaccine, with rare exception.\n\n“The flu season will be with us for at least a few more months. We don’t know whether it will be shorter or longer than usual,” Schaffner said. “There is still very good reason to get your protection from the vaccine.”\n\nAnd people who are vaccinated can still get sick – but the goal of the vaccine is to protect against the most severe outcomes and complications.\n\n“We can acknowledge that the influenza vaccine is not perfect. It cannot protect absolutely everyone completely against influenza,” he said. “They help keep you out of the emergency room, the hospital, the intensive care unit, and they protect you from dying. As I used to like to tell my patients, ‘I’m so glad you’re still here to complain.’ “\n\nOverall, CDC data shows that the share of lab tests that are positive for influenza has more than doubled over the past two weeks and that flu activity is highest in the South. Additional data from Walgreens that tracks prescriptions for antiviral treatments – such as Tamiflu – suggest hot spots in the Gulf Coast area, including Houston and New Orleans.\n\nAnd the flu season is ramping up amid the surge of RSV that is filling pediatric hospitals and an ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.\n\nEleven states – along with Washington, DC, and New York City – are reporting high or very high levels of respiratory illness, according to the CDC.\n\nThe surge of respiratory viruses may get worse before it gets better, Dr. Nipunie Rajapakse, a pediatric infectious diseases specialist at Mayo Clinic Children’s Center, said Thursday.\n\nShe urged people to try to prevent any respiratory illness, including by getting Covid-19 vaccines and boosters, and the annual flu shot.\n\n“Making sure that your kids and anyone over 6 months of age in your family are getting their flu vaccines this year is even more important because we haven’t seen a lot of influenza the last couple of years, and so everyone’s going into this season with less immunity, less protection from prior infections,” Rajapakse said.\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\nThose at risk for complications from respiratory illness, including the elderly and those with underlying conditions, should contact their health care providers as soon as they start to notice any symptoms, Schaffner said. There are treatments for Covid-19 and influenza that offer extra protection from severe outcomes, he said.\n\n“From the point of view of respiratory viruses, the winter season has started early,” Schaffner said. “If you do develop symptoms, please don’t go to school or work. Shelter at home a little bit so you’re not out there spreading the virus – whatever it is.”", "authors": ["Deidre Mcphillips"], "publish_date": "2022/10/28"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/06/health/youth-parents-mental-health-kff-poll-wellness/index.html", "title": "Long waiting lists, long drives and costly care hinder many kids ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nThe pandemic has been tough, but the return to in-person schooling has also been emotionally difficult for Mary Norris’ 12-year-old daughter.\n\nNorris says her daughter was bullied relentlessly at the school she attended last year in Fresno, California, near where her father lives. So she transferred to a school in Madera, where her mother lives. This year is going better, but Norris says her daughter is still struggling emotionally.\n\nShe recently got a call from a school staff member who said her daughter had written something disturbing in her journal.\n\n“She wrote in her book that she wishes that she were dead, and she wanted to kill herself. And my daughter’s always a very happy, really smiley kid,” Norris said.\n\nNorris is one of more than 2,000 adults surveyed this summer by CNN and the Kaiser Family Foundation about mental health issues in America. The nationally representative sample included more than 500 parents.\n\nNearly half of those parents, 47%, say the pandemic has negatively affected their kids’ mental health, with 17% saying it had a major negative impact.\n\nMore than 8 out of 10 parents said they’re at least somewhat worried about depression, anxiety, alcohol and drug use negatively affecting the life of US teens, while roughly three-quarters said they were worried about self-harm or pandemic-related loneliness and isolation.\n\nMore than 4 in 10 said they were very worried about alcohol and drug use, anxiety and depression affecting teens. Lower-income parents – those making less than $40,000 a year – were more likely than those in higher-income households to say they’re very worried about self-harm, eating disorders, depression and alcohol and drug use.\n\nAccording to the survey, more than half of Americans (55%) think most children and teenagers in the US aren’t able to get the mental health services they need.\n\nMany areas lack mental health providers for kids and teens\n\nNorris was one of several parents who answered that they weren’t able to get mental health services for their children because they were unable to find a provider.\n\nShe estimates that she’s called more than 20 therapists in Madera and Fresno, looking for someone who can see her daughter outside of school. Her daughter is covered by insurance, but Norris can’t find anyone willing to take it.\n\nPaying out of pocket for care is not an option: “Unfortunately, my husband and I are both on Social Security because we’re both disabled. So our funds are completely limited. There’s no way I can afford to pay $120 an hour,” she said.\n\nNorris’ situation is disturbingly common. The American Psychological Association estimates that half of children in the United States who have a mental health disorder do not receive the treatment they need, a circumstance that experts say only gotten worse during the pandemic.\n\nAccording to the latest work force estimates from the association, which were published in 2020, there are roughly five child or adolescent psychologists for every 100,000 people under the age of 18 across the country.\n\nThat rough average obscures huge disparities in access. Mental health providers who specialize in care for kids are concentrated in urban areas but missing from rural communities. A large majority of counties in the US – 80% – have no child or adolescent psychologists at all, according to the association.\n\nOther types of mental health professionals also treat children, such as licensed clinical social workers and school counselors, but they are also in short supply.\n\nEric Sparks, assistant executive director of the American School Counselors Association, says his group doesn’t have hard numbers on the shortage, but “we are hearing it loud and clear from school districts and state departments of education.”\n\nA 2016 report from the federal Health Resources Services Administration – the most recent available – projected work force shortages of nearly 50,000 jobs across the spectrum of five mental health professions by 2025, and that was assuming no increase in demand.\n\nMany experts feel that this scarcity has been accelerated and deepened by the stresses of the pandemic.\n\nKaren Stamm has been leading the American Psychological Association’s efforts to survey psychologists who treat children, and she says the latest findings, from September 2021, showed that child psychologists were getting more patient referrals and had fewer cancellations or no-shows than before the pandemic.\n\n“One statistic I found particularly staggering is that 65% of respondents in September of 2021 had no capacity for new patients,” she said.\n\nChild psychologists are swamped\n\nMary Alvord, a psychologist, runs a large practice of 19 mental health providers outside Washington, DC, and says her practice is mostly focused on children and teens.\n\n“We’ve always had a waitlist, but not like now,” Alvord said. “We’re telling people five to six months, and it’s killing me.”\n\nHer practice has started more therapy groups to try to treat as many kids as possible, but even with these groups, they are swamped. None of the therapists in her practice takes insurance, and that’s a situation that she knows widens disparities: Families who can’t afford mental health services see their children struggle and fall behind in school, leading to less economic opportunity and a continued ability not to be able to get their mental health needs addressed as adults.\n\nAlvord has a full-time staffer who returns every call, and she says she freely refers to other area providers in an effort to help.\n\n“The problem is, everybody else is booked, too,” she said.\n\nIn 2016, Alvord started a nonprofit organization called Resilience Across Borders that makes teacher training videos to try to help increase the reach of these services. The videos explain how to teach kids things like self-regulation and conversational skills – topics chosen based on her surveys of teachers during the pandemic and what they thought would be most helpful for their students.\n\nOther organizations are also trying to get creative to reach underserved children.\n\nOne, TeamUp for Children, has placed full-time mental health providers in seven federally qualified health centers around the Boston area. These clinics provide outpatient primary care, regardless of a person’s ability to pay.\n\nWith this system, a primary care clinician may pick up on an emerging emotional concern at an annual well child visit – for example, a teenager reporting trouble sleeping because of anxiety. That clinician would then do a “warm handoff,” having a mental health professional come see the young person at the same visit to address the concern. A team of community health workers – volunteers – can follow up with the family after they return home to see how they’re doing.\n\n“I think we really have focused a lot on making sure that there’s prompt access and that the care that they are receiving is as comprehensive as we’re able to provide,” said Anita Morris, the project director for TeamUp.\n\nShe says this model – integrating mental health services into primary care – is being copied to varying degrees in pilot projects across the country.\n\nLong drives, long waits for help\n\nMary Norris’ daughter is getting some support at school. She sees a counselor for group therapy sessions twice a week, but the sessions will end after six weeks. Norris says she’s not sure what the family will do after that.\n\nA friend who is a licensed therapist has offered to see her daughter, but she’s an hour away. Norris says the cost of gas alone will force some hard choices.\n\n“I’m going to have to pay for it with either letting bills go or having less food. Something’s got to give in order to make that happen,” Norris said. “Her mental well-being is more valuable than any other bill or any type of food I could ever want to eat.”\n\nJenny Walker and her husband feel the same way. Walker is an instructional coach – a professional who works with teachers to improve the quality of the lessons – at a school in Traverse City, Michigan. She says she sees children’s mental health struggles firsthand. Her family has them, too.\n\nWalker also responded to the CNN and KFF survey, saying that she had also struggled to find a provider.\n\nHer youngest son has obsessive-compulsive disorder. Her oldest has mild autism and ADHD. When her kids needed to see a child psychiatrist, there were only two in town who could treat them. One had a waiting list that was more than six months long, and the other didn’t take insurance.\n\n“We ended up traveling 2½ hours to Grand Rapids to take our children to a place that did accept insurance,” she said.\n\nHer sons were diagnosed before Covid-19 hit, she said, but the pandemic made everything worse. One of them rode in a car just fine pre-pandemic, but now he gets carsick and vomits on nearly every trip.\n\n“That was not there at all before the pandemic,” Walker said.\n\nShe says he also hated online learning and developed new compulsive behaviors sitting in front of a computer all day.\n\nThe family eventually transferred to the psychiatrist in town who doesn’t take insurance. They use money from a health savings account to pay for it.\n\n“Our savings account is our HSA account, which is what pays for my kids to get therapy. We dump as much money as we can into that,” she said.\n\nBut the family makes sacrifices to do that. “My husband drives a beat-up old Jeep that he wrenches on to keep going because we can’t afford to buy another vehicle if we’re going to pay out-of-pocket for these services.” They can’t afford to fix up their house or take family vacations.\n\nBut they feel lucky too, Walker says, because so many of the families she works with don’t have these options. Like Norris’ daughter, some get some help at school, but they may not get the full suite of services they need.\n\nWalker says she sees the results of lack of access to these services at school.\n\n“Unfortunately, what happens to those kids, a lot of times what we see is, it impacts their ability to learn in the classroom,” she said. They’re anxious, preoccupied, depressed or worried, and they can’t focus on their schoolwork – ultimately affecting the level of education they get and possibly their job prospects, too.\n\n“And they kind of fall between the cracks,” Walker said. “So maybe they graduate, maybe they don’t, you know?”\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 KFF CNN Mental Health Survey was conducted by SSRS from July 28 through August 9 among a random national sample of 2,004 adults. The poll includes 1,603 adults who were surveyed online after being recruited using probability-based methods and 401 adults who were selected by random digit dialing and reached on landlines or cellphones by a live interviewer. Results for the full sample have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.\n\nThe survey also includes an oversample of people with children under 18 for a total subsample of 509 parents. That subset was weighted to its proper share of the overall adult population of the United States. Results among parents have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 6 percentage points.", "authors": ["Brenda Goodman"], "publish_date": "2022/10/06"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2022/07/07/how-long-cats-pregnant/7783152001/", "title": "How long are cats pregnant for? What to know about feline pregnancy", "text": "Learning that your cat is pregnant may surprise you, especially when you weren’t expecting a litter of new-born felines anytime soon. Knowing how long your cat is pregnant can be crucial to planning your and your pet’s lives to ensure the safety and health of your pet.\n\nIt’s also important to find good pet owners for the kitties if you’re planning to give them away. According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, approximately 3.2 million cats end up in U.S. animal shelters every year.\n\nBeing a responsible pet owner could start with knowing how long your cat can be pregnant.\n\nWhy do cats knead you?:And why do they purr? Explaining your pet's common behavior.\n\nSo your dog is pregnant:How long are dog pregnancies, anyway?\n\nHow long are cats pregnant?\n\nCat pregnancies are estimated to last around 63 to 65 days on average or about two months, according to PetMD.\n\nUnder a vet’s supervision, a blood test, ultrasound, X-ray or abdominal palpation are the most common ways to accurately tell if your cat is pregnant.\n\nHow long do cats live?:Here’s how long to expect your feline friend’s nine lives to last.\n\nHow long after a cat starts showing will she give birth?\n\nPregnant cats, also known as queens, start showing about halfway through their pregnancies. For some cats, the showing can be a marker to tell she’s in the middle of her pregnancy, about 30 days in. For cats that are overweight, it can be hard to determine when they’re showing conclusively.\n\nJust Curious:Answering your everyday questions\n\nCan you pick up a pregnant cat?\n\nPicking up your pregnant cat who's getting rounder by the minute might be tempting, but picking her the right way is important for her and her kittens' safety. If you do have to pick your cat, Purina, a pet product company, says to \"scoop\" her up from the bottom to avoid touching her sensitive belly which might cause her discomfort or possibly hurt the kittens.\n\nAvoid juggling your cat in any way, especially toward the end of the pregnancy. Too much activity can cause her stress.\n\nHow many kittens can a cat have in her first litter?\n\nAccording to Cats Protection Guide, a cat can have between one to nine kittens in one litter but an average litter size is four to six kittens for most breeds.\n\nFor a first time queen, it's possible her litter is smaller than the average, birthing about two to three kittens.\n\nHow many times can a cat get pregnant in a year?\n\nTechnically, cats can get pregnant up to five times a year since their gestation period lasts only for about two months. However, a veterinarian on PetCoach suggests that while average cats can produce a litter three times a year, only once or twice a year at most is recommended to give the cat necessary time to recover.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/07/07"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/05/health/us-women-health-care/index.html", "title": "Study of wealthy nations finds American women most likely to die of ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nA new study found that women in the US face the highest rates of preventable and maternal mortality when compared with women in 10 other wealthy nations.\n\nAccording to data collected by the Commonwealth Fund and published Tuesday, American women have an avoidable mortality rate of 198 per 100,000, the highest of any nation included in the study. The United Kingdom had the next highest rate, at 146 per 100,000.\n\nThe US also had the highest maternal mortality rate: 23.8 deaths per 100,000 live births, more than triple the rate of any other country studied. When looking only at Black maternal mortality, the rate jumped to 55.3 deaths per 100,000 live births.\n\nBy comparison, in Norway in 2019, the last year for which data was available, there were zero maternal deaths.\n\n“A high rate of cesarean sections, inadequate prenatal care, and elevated rates of chronic illnesses like obesity, diabetes, and heart disease may be factors contributing to the high U.S. maternal mortality rate. Many maternal deaths result from missed or delayed opportunities for treatment,” the researchers wrote.\n\nResearchers with the Commonwealth Fund pulled data from the fund’s 2020 International Health Policy Survey and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Statistics on health care were compared among Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the US.\n\nAmong US women ages 18 to 49, just over a quarter rated their country’s health care system as good or very good. In every other country, a majority of women in this age group gave their health care system a positive rating.\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\nUS women were “significantly” more likely to report skipping or delaying medical care or to have trouble paying for care. Nearly half of women ages 18 to 49 reported having some cost-related issue in accessing health care, and more than half reported at least one problem with a medical bill.\n\nIn France, the country with the next highest rate, only 38% of women had a problem with a bill, including difficulty paying, spending time on paperwork or disputing a bill or having difficulties with insurance.\n\nThe data also showed high rates of chronic conditions and mental health needs in American women compared with those in peer nations.\n\nThe researchers recommend expanding access to affordable health care and increasing and diversifying the number of physicians in the US as possible ways to address disparities in women’s health care.", "authors": ["Virginia Langmaid"], "publish_date": "2022/04/05"}]}
{"question_id": "20230203_7", "search_time": "2023/02/04/11:55", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/03/world/mars-flower-curiosity-rover-scn/index.html", "title": "Tiny 'flower' formation spotted on Mars by Curiosity rover | 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\nThis may be the closest we will ever come to finding a flower on Mars.\n\nDuring its ongoing investigation of Martian rocks in Gale Crater, the Curiosity rover stumbled on a tiny surprise. The rock artifact, which resembles a piece of coral or a flower, is smaller than a penny.\n\nThe Martian “flower” and the spherical pieces next to it were likely “made in the ancient past when minerals carried by water cemented the rock,” according to NASA.\n\nCuriosity took an image of the little rock arrangement on February 24 using the Mars Hand Lens Imager, a camera located on the end of its robotic arm.\n\nThe find is similar to other small features Curiosity has spotted in the past, all of which were formed “when mineralizing fluids traveled throudagh conduits in the rock,” according to the agency. Previously, the Opportunity rover also spotted Martian “blueberries,” little mineral spherules indicative of once watery soil on the red planet.\n\nEach image Curiosity collects and shares of these features is helping researchers piece together the chronology of water’s presence in the crater.\n\nA decade of exploration\n\nLater this year, Curiosity will celebrate a major milestone: a 10-year Martian anniversary. Curiosity landed on the red planet on August 5, 2012. It has been exploring the crater, and the Mount Sharp feature at the crater’s center, for the past decade.\n\nThe mission was designed to determine whether Mars was ever habitable for microbial life. Early on, the aptly named rover discovered the chemical and mineral evidence affirming the planet’s habitability sometime in its distant past. Ever since, Curiosity has been investigating the geologic record to understand when Mars might have been most suitable to host life.\n\nCuriosity continues to pick its way across sharp boulders and ridges and collect rock and soil samples for analysis.\n\nThe car-size rover paved the way for the Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter, which are currently exploring Jezero Crater, located 2,300 miles (3,700 kilometers) away and will eventually return the first Martian samples to Earth through future missions. The combined efforts of these rovers could help answer the ultimate question of whether life ever existed on Mars.", "authors": ["Ashley Strickland"], "publish_date": "2022/03/03"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/17/world/mars-curiosity-rover-carbon-scn/index.html", "title": "NASA Mars rover: Ancient life may be just one possible explanation ...", "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\nIn the search for life beyond Earth, NASA’s Curiosity rover has been on a nearly decade-long mission to determine if Mars was ever habitable for living organisms.\n\nA new analysis of sediment samples collected by the rover revealed the presence of carbon – and the possible existence of ancient life on the red planet is just one potential explanation for why it may be there.\n\nThis is a selfie taken by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover at the \"Rock Hall\" drill site. NASA/Caltech-JPL/MSSS\n\nCarbon is the foundation for all of life on Earth, and the carbon cycle is the natural process of recycling carbon atoms. On our home planet, carbon atoms go through a cycle as they travel from the atmosphere to the ground and back to the atmosphere. Most of our carbon is in rocks and sediment and the rest is in the global ocean, atmosphere and organisms, according to NOAA, or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.\n\nThat’s why carbon atoms – with their cycle of recycling – are tracers of biological activity on Earth. So they could be used to help researchers determine if life existed on ancient Mars.\n\nWhen these atoms are measured inside another substance, like Martian sediment, they can shed light on a planet’s carbon cycle, no matter when it occurred.\n\nLearning more about the origin of this newly detected Martian carbon could also reveal the process of carbon cycling on Mars.\n\nA study detailing these findings published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.\n\nSecrets in the sediment\n\nCuriosity landed in Gale Crater on Mars in August 2012. The 96-mile (154.5-kilometer) crater, named for Australian astronomer Walter F. Gale, was probably formed by a meteor impact between 3.5 billion and 3.8 billion years ago. The large cavity likely once held a lake, and now it includes a mountain called Mount Sharp. The crater also includes layers of exposed ancient rock.\n\nThe image shows a drill hole made by Curiosity on Mars' Vera Rubin Ridge. NASA/Caltech-JPL/MSSS\n\nFor a closer look, the rover drilled to collect samples of sediment across the crater between August 2012 and July 2021. Curiosity then heated these 24 powder samples to around 1,562 degrees Fahrenheit (850 degrees Celsius) in order to separate elements. This caused the samples to release methane, which was then analyzed by another instrument in the rover’s arsenal to show the presence of stable carbon isotopes, or carbon atoms.\n\nSome of the samples were depleted in carbon while others were enriched. Carbon has two stable isotopes, measured as either carbon 12 or carbon 13.\n\n“The samples extremely depleted in carbon 13 are a little like samples from Australia taken from sediment that was 2.7 billion years old,” said Christopher H. House, lead study author and professor of geosciences at Pennsylvania State University, in a statement.\n\n“Those samples were caused by biological activity when methane was consumed by ancient microbial mats, but we can’t necessarily say that on Mars because it’s a planet that may have formed out of different materials and processes than Earth.”\n\nIn lakes on Earth, microbes like to grow in big colonies that essentially form mats just under the surface of the water.\n\n3 possible carbon origins\n\nThe varied measurements of these carbon atoms could suggest three very different things about ancient Mars. The origin of the carbon is likely due to cosmic dust, ultraviolet degradation of carbon dioxide, or the ultraviolet degradation of biologically produced methane.\n\n“All three of these scenarios are unconventional, unlike processes common on Earth,” according to the researchers.\n\nThe first scenario involves our entire solar system passing through a galactic dust cloud, something that occurs every 100 million years, according to House. The particle-heavy cloud could trigger cooling events on rocky planets.\n\nThis image captured by Curiosity shows an area drilled and sampled by the rover. NASA/Caltech-JPL/MSSS\n\n“It doesn’t deposit a lot of dust,” House said. “It is hard to see any of these deposition events in the Earth record.”\n\nBut it’s possible that during an event like this, the cosmic dust cloud would have lowered temperatures on ancient Mars, which may have had liquid water. This could have caused glaciers to form on Mars, leaving a layer of dust on top of the ice. When the ice melted, the layer of sediment including carbon would have remained. While it’s entirely possible, there is little evidence for glaciers in Gale Crater and the study authors said it would require further research.\n\nThe second scenario involves the conversion of carbon dioxide on Mars into organic compounds, such as formaldehyde, due to ultraviolet radiation. That hypothesis also requires additional research.\n\nThe third way this carbon was produced has possible biological roots.\n\nIf this kind of depleted carbon measurement was made on Earth, it would show that microbes were consuming biologically produced methane. While Curiosity has previously detected methane on Mars, researchers can only guess if there were once large plumes of methane being released from beneath the surface of Mars. If this was the case and there were microbes on the Martian surface, they would have consumed this methane.\n\nIt’s also possible that the methane interacted with ultraviolet light, leaving a trace of carbon on the Martian surface.\n\nMore drilling on the horizon\n\nThe Curiosity rover will be returning to the site where it collected the majority of the samples in about a month, which will allow for another chance to analyze sediment from this intriguing location.\n\n“This research accomplished a long-standing goal for Mars exploration,” House said. “To measure different carbon isotopes – one of the most important geology tools – from sediment on another habitable world, and it does so by looking at nine years of exploration.”", "authors": ["Ashley Strickland"], "publish_date": "2022/01/17"}]}
{"question_id": "20230203_8", "search_time": "2023/02/04/11:55", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/02/investing/default-sanctions-russia/index.html", "title": "Sanctions have sharply raised chance of a Russian default ...", "text": "New York CNN Business —\n\nRussia’s stock market remains shut down. The ruble is worth less than a penny. And Western businesses are fleeing. JPMorgan warns a Russian default could be next.\n\n“Sanctions imposed on Russia have significantly increased the likelihood of a Russia government hard currency bond default,” JPMorgan emerging markets strategists wrote in a note to clients on Wednesday.\n\nRussia may have the cash to make its debt payments. The Central Bank of Russia lists a staggering $643 billion of international reserves.\n\nHowever, JPMorgan said sanctions leveled by the United States on Russian government entities, countermeasures within Russia to restrict foreign payments and the disruption of payment chains “present high hurdles for Russia to make a bond payment abroad.”\n\nFor instance, sanctions on Russia’s central bank and the exclusion of some banks from SWIFT, the high-security network banks used to communicate, will impact Russia’s ability to access foreign currency to pay down debt, according to Capital Economics. That includes Russia’s stockpile of reserves as well as cash from export revenue.\n\nCapital Economics estimates that about half of Russia’s international reserves will be impacted by sanctions – and much of the rest is in gold, which may not be as easily converted into cash.\n\n“It would be a logistical default rather than a lack of funds default,” said Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at Bleakley Advisory Group.\n\nRussia has more than $700 million in payments coming due in March, mostly with a 30-day grace period, according to JPMorgan.\n\nAlthough Western sanctions on Russia have not restricted the secondary trading of the country’s existing bonds, JPMorgan noted that there have been settlement issues with some bonds because the Russian National Settlement Depository has blocked the accounts of Euroclear, a Belgium-based settlement provider.\n\nSome believe the Kremlin could be setting the stage for an intentional default to punish the United States and Europe for crushing its economy.\n\n“Putin is 100% going to default,” hedge fund manager Kyle Bass told CNN in a phone interview on Wednesday. “The West is strangling him. Why would he agree to pay the West interest right now?”\n\nCapital Economics noted that Russian authorities have already prohibited the transfer of coupon payments on local currency sovereign debt to foreigners, underscoring the point that authorities are “acting with scant regard for foreigners’ holdings of Russian assets.”\n\n“Russia could use default as a way of retaliating against Western sanctions to inflict losses on foreign lenders. It’s not far-fetched to think that the Russian authorities could ban foreign debt repayments,” Capital Economics wrote.\n\nRussia, currently the 12th largest economy in the world, last defaulted on its debt in 1998, setting off a crisis that spread overseas.\n\nIt’s not clear how widespread the impact of a default today would be. The 2008 Global Financial Crisis and the onset of the Covid pandemic in 2020 showed how interconnected the world economy and financial system are.\n\nHowever, foreigners held just $20 billion of Russia’s dollar debt and ruble denominated sovereign bonds worth $41 billion at the end of lats year, the Financial Times reported, citing Russia’s central bank.\n\n“Our financial system and financial institutions have relatively little exposure to Russia,” said Jerome Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve, at a House hearing Wednesday. “Even the largest exposures that any of them have are not very big.”\n\nAsked what a Russian default would mean for the global financial system, Bass said, “Nothing. It just means people are going to lose some money.”\n\nBoockvar indicated he’s encouraged by the relatively low exposure foreigners have to Russia’s debt. However, he isn’t sure how this would play out because it’s so rare to see sanctions on a major central bank.\n\n“We’re all flying blind,” Boockvar said.", "authors": ["Matt Egan"], "publish_date": "2022/03/02"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/08/americas/canada-trucker-protests-covid-tuesday/index.html", "title": "Canada truckers: Protesters block access to major border crossing ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nCanadian protesters have impeded access to the busiest international crossing in North America again Tuesday, escalating tensions as frustration over demonstrations against Covid-19 rules continues to roil the nation.\n\nAfter idling trucks and vehicles snarled roadways in major Canadian cities over the weekend, “Freedom Convoy” drivers hindered travel Monday at the Ambassador Bridge that links Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit. Canadian-bound traffic was still shut down Tuesday morning, Michigan officials tweeted, while US-bound traffic was flowing with limited bridge access, Windsor Police and 511Ontario tweeted.\n\nFurther threatening supply chain disruptions, protests also blocked traffic overnight Monday at the Coutts access point between Alberta and Montana, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said. That crossing partially reopened Tuesday afternoon, with vehicles able to cross into Canada but large commercial vehicles heading to the US asked to use the Aden, Del Bonita and Carway crossings to avoid delays, the RCMP Alberta tweeted.\n\nThe bold move at the continent’s busiest international crossing signals a ratcheting up of demonstrations that have rocked Canada and galvanized thousands against its leadership.\n\nPrime Minister Justin Trudeau, emerging Monday from a weeklong isolation after testing positive for the coronavirus, echoed residents and officials aggravated by the demonstrations, which began January 29 as an objection to a vaccine mandate requiring truckers entering Canada to be fully vaccinated or face testing and quarantine requirements.\n\nMore protesters have since joined to rail against mask mandates, lockdowns, restrictions on gatherings and other efforts to stem the spread of Covid-19. Some have vowed not to leave until certain Covid-19 measures are rescinded, they’ve told CNN.\n\n“Individuals are trying to blockade our economy, our democracy and our fellow citizens’ daily lives. It has to stop,” Trudeau said Monday at an emergency parliamentary debate in Ottawa.\n\nCanada’s capital city has endured widespread turmoil, including blaring horns on downtown streets and businesses forced to close temporarily. More than 60 criminal investigations are underway there, as claims of hate crimes, rock-throwing and property damage were reported, police said Sunday. At least 450 citations were issued over the weekend, they said.\n\nOn Tuesday, the Ottawa Police Service said 23 arrests have been made since the protests began on charges that include mischief, flight from police and menacing. More than 1,300 tickets have been issued for violations ranging from excessive noise and use of fireworks to driving a motor vehicle on a sidewalk.\n\nOntario Superior Court Justice Hugh McLean on Monday issued a 10-day injunction to prevent demonstrating truckers on downtown Ottawa streets from using air or train horns.\n\nOttawa resident Zexi Li, 21, who lives within five blocks of Parliament Hill, filed a lawsuit calling for an end to the incessant honking. The suit said sound levels from the air and train horns are “dangerous and cause permanent damage to the human ear” and cause “significant mental distress, suffering and torment.” A hearing is set for a week from Wednesday.\n\n“We have been 100% full-out on this for the last 10 days straight, and we will not rest until it’s done, but we need more help,” Police Chief Peter Sloly said Monday, appealing to all levels of government and noting his department asked the mayor’s office for a “significant increase” in resources.\n\nPolice stand near protesters Monday after the mayor of Ottawa declared a state of emergency in the Canadian capital. A 10-day protest by truck drivers over Covid-19 restrictions has gridlocked its city center. Andre Pichette/EPA-EFE/Shutterst/Shutterstock\n\nMany in Ottawa are at their “breaking point,” Sloly said.\n\n“This is crushing for those residents and their businesses. It has to stop, and we are doing everything we can possibly do to stop it,” he said. “We need more help.”\n\nProtests notwithstanding, nearly 90% of Canada’s truckers are fully vaccinated and eligible to cross the border, the Canadian government said. Demonstrators represent a “small, fringe minority,” Trudeau said, and his government does not expect the vaccine mandate to significantly affect supply chains.\n\nJust over 80% of Canadians in all are vaccinated, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada.\n\nBridge traffic backed up for miles\n\nPolice worked Monday to restore the orderly flow of traffic due to interruptions at the exit from the Ambassador Bridge onto Huron Church Road, Windsor Police said.\n\n“Avoid the area or find alternate route, if possible,” police said, calling traffic flow “temporarily interrupted.”\n\n“Our officers continue to work hard to keep the flow of traffic moving along Huron Church Rd., as well as ensuring order and public safety. … We encourage everyone to be patient and respectful,” Windsor Police said on Twitter.\n\nWindsor Police posted a photo online earlier in the day showing a long line of trucks appearing to be at a standstill. They also warned of travel delays and a high potential for traffic congestion, and asked “those involved not to endanger members of the public.”\n\nHuron Church Rd. closed off bet. College & Tecumseh Rd W. for all traffic. Avoid the area. We urge those involved not to endanger members of the public, jeopardize public peace or participate in illegal events. Those found committing crimes will be investigated & charged. dg12833 pic.twitter.com/DZDwY69gDs — Windsor Police (@WindsorPolice) February 8, 2022\n\nAccess to the bridge from the US side of the border was closed, the Michigan Department of Transportation said Monday night.\n\n“The freeway traffic trying to get across the bridge is backed up on multiple roadways and for miles,” agency spokeswoman Diane Cross told CNN.\n\nMore than 40,000 commuters, tourists and truck drivers cross the Ambassador Bridge each day, according to its website.\n\nDemonstrations affected border wait times Monday at the Ambassador Bridge, Canada Border Services said. WXYZ\n\nSeeking a ‘permanent, sustainable, lawful’ outcome\n\nOttawa Mayor Jim Watson has declared a state of emergency in response to the protests, and most businesses downtown have closed or reduced their hours because of the unrest.\n\n“No officers are on days off, everyone has been working,” Sloly said Monday. “We are stretched to the limit, but we are 100% committed to using everything we have to end this demonstration. We cannot do it alone.\n\n“That’s why I have been advocating for all three levels of government to bring whatever they can bring to bear on the permanent, sustainable, lawful, safe resolution of this demonstration.”\n\nWith protesters parked in trucks right outside the building, Trudeau on Monday acknowledged they had a right to voice their concerns but said residents do not deserve to be harassed in their own neighborhoods.\n\n“This pandemic has sucked for all Canadians, but Canadians know the way to get through it is continuing to listen to science, continuing to lean on each other, continuing to be there for each other,” he said after underscoring that Canadians are tired of Covid-19 health restrictions.\n\nConservative opposition leader Candice Bergen accused the Prime Minister of dividing Canadians and asked whether Trudeau regretted calling the protesters “names,” regarding his earlier “small, fringe minority” comments.\n\n“Does he regret calling people names who didn’t take the vaccine? Does he regret calling people misogynistic and racists and just escalating and poking sticks at them?” Bergen asked in parliament.\n\nTrudeau responded by saying most Canadians trust each other to do the right things when it comes to following science.\n\n“This is the story of a country that got through this pandemic by being united, and a few people shouting and waving swastikas does not define who Canadians are,” he said.", "authors": ["Paula Newton Travis Caldwell", "Paula Newton", "Travis Caldwell"], "publish_date": "2022/02/08"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/news/2019/12/05/french-strike-brings-airports-train-stations-eiffel-tower-halt/2617247001/", "title": "French strike brings airports, train stations, Eiffel tower to a halt", "text": "Associated Press\n\nPARIS (AP) — The Eiffel Tower shut down, France’s vaunted high-speed trains stood still and teachers walked off the job as unions launched nationwide strikes and protests Thursday over the government’s plan to overhaul the retirement system.\n\nParis authorities barricaded the presidential palace and deployed 6,000 police as activists – many in yellow vests representing France’s year-old movement for economic justice – gathered for a major march through the capital.\n\nOrganizers hope for a mass outpouring of anger at President Emmanuel Macron for his centerpiece reform, seen as threatening the hard-fought French way of life. Macron himself remained “calm and determined” to push it through, according to a top presidential official.\n\nThe Louvre Museum warned of strike disruptions, and Paris hotels struggled to fill rooms. Many visitors – including the U.S. energy secretary – canceled plans to travel to one of the world’s most-visited countries amid the strike.\n\nUnprepared tourists discovered historic train stations standing empty Thursday, with about nine out of 10 of high-speed TGV trains canceled. Signs at Paris’ Orly Airport showed “canceled” notices, as the civil aviation authority announced 20% of flights were grounded.\n\nSome travelers showed support for the striking workers, but others complained about being embroiled in someone else’s fight.\n\n“I arrived at the airport this morning and I had no idea about the strike happening, and I was waiting for two hours in the airport for the train to arrive and it didn’t arrive,” said vacationer Ian Crossen, from New York. “I feel a little bit frustrated. And I’ve spent a lot of money. I’ve spent money I didn’t need to, apparently.”\n\nVladimir Madeira, a Chilean tourist who had traveled to Paris for vacation, said the strike has been “a nightmare.” He hadn’t heard about the protest until he arrived in Paris, and transport disruptions had foiled his plans to travel directly to Zurich on Thursday.\n\nBeneath the closed Eiffel Tower, tourists from Thailand, Canada and Spain echoed those sentiments.\n\nSubway stations across Paris were shuttered, complicating traffic – and prompting many commuters to use shared bikes or electric scooters despite near-freezing temperatures. Many workers in the Paris region worked from home or took a day off to stay with their children, since 78% of teachers in the capital were on strike.\n\nBracing for possible violence and damage along the route of the Paris march, police ordered all businesses, cafes and restaurants in the area to close. Authorities also issued a ban on protests on the Champs-Elysees avenue, around the presidential palace, parliament and Notre Dame Cathedral.\n\nPolice carried out security checks of more than 3,000 people arriving for the protest and detained 18 even before it started. Embassies warned tourists to avoid the protest area.\n\nElsewhere around France, thousands of red-vested union activists marched through cities from Marseille on the Mediterranean to Lille in the north.\n\nThe big question is how long the strike will last. Transport Minister Elisabeth Borne said she expects the travel troubles to be just as bad Friday.\n\nUnions say it’s an open-ended movement and hope to keep up momentum at least for a week, in hopes of forcing the government to make concessions.\n\nPublic sector workers fear Macron’s reform will force them to work longer and shrink their pensions. And they see this fight as crucial to saving France’s social safety net. Some private sector workers welcome the reform, but others support the strike.\n\nJoseph Kakou, who works an overnight security shift in western Paris, walked an hour across the city to get home to the eastern side of town Thursday morning.\n\n“It doesn’t please us to walk. It doesn’t please us to have to strike,” Kakou told The Associated Press said. “But we are obliged to, because we can’t work until 90 years old.”\n\nTo Macron, the retirement reform is central to his plan to transform France so it can compete globally in the 21st century. The government argues France’s 42 retirement systems need streamlining.\n\nWhile Macron respects the right to strike, he “is convinced that the reform is needed, he is committed, that’s the project he presented the French in 2017” during his election campaign, the presidential official said. The official was not authorized to be publicly named.\n\nAfter extensive meetings with workers, the high commissioner for pensions is expected to detail reform proposals next week, and the prime minister will release the government’s plan days after that.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2019/12/05"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/17/business/france-crisis-fuel-shortages/index.html", "title": "French government in crisis talks as fuel shortages worsen | CNN ...", "text": "Paris CNN Business —\n\nFrench President Emmanuel Macron called a crisis meeting with senior ministers on Monday to address crippling strikes at gas refineries that has caused fuel pumps to run dry.\n\nMacron declared Monday his desire for a solution “as quickly as possible” to the protests, promising to “do his utmost” to find one, according to CNN affiliate BFMTV.\n\nThe government ordered strikers at two fuel depots in Feyzin, near Lyon, to return to work for several hours on Monday or face criminal charges, according to France’s energy minister, Agnes Pannier-Runacher.\n\nLyon is one of the worst hit regions of the country, with almost 40% of gas stations out of at least one fuel on Sunday. Elsewhere, nearly one third of gas stations have run out of at least one fuel, with the situation expected to worsen this week, according to French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne.\n\nThis the second time in recent weeks that the French government has taken the unusual step of requisitioning essential staff in the face of weeks-long strikes at refineries owned by ExxonMobil and TotalEnergies, which have disrupted supply to thousands of gas stations.\n\nWhile ExxonMobil workers agreed to end their blockade of the Fos-sur-Mer refinery and depot in southern France late last week following salary negotiations, strikes continue at TotalEnergies refineries.\n\nOne of France’s largest unions, CGT, has refused to accept the terms of a wage deal agreed upon between TotalEnergies and two other unions, CFE-CGC and CFDT. The agreement includes a 7% salary increase for 2023 and a bonus for all employees equivalent to one month’s pay. CGT has demanded a 10% pay raise.\n\nBut French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said the strikes were “unacceptable and illegitimate,” because wage agreements had been met with the majority of workers. “The time for negotiations has passed,” he added.\n\nIn an interview with France Inter, a radio station, a representative of CGT, Philippe Martinez, claimed that “several thousand” workers were still striking, contradicting government ministers who have referred to striking workers as both “a handful of workers” and “several hundred people” in interviews.\n\nTransportation minister Clement Beaune told France Inter that the only way out of the crisis is an end to strikes.\n\nMeanwhile, commuters could be facing days of travel chaos if planned strikes in the Paris public transport network and parts of the national rail network go ahead. Beaune said that in the worst affected regions, only one in two trains will be running on Tuesday.\n\nThe industrial action takes place against a backdrop of rising living costs in France, where electricity bills are surging as a result of a cut in Russian natural gas supplies that has sparked an energy crisis in Europe. On Sunday, thousands marched through central Paris to protest the crisis and “climate inaction.”", "authors": ["Joseph Ataman Marguerite Lacroix Natacha Bracken", "Joseph Ataman", "Marguerite Lacroix", "Natacha Bracken"], "publish_date": "2022/10/17"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/11/business/canada-trucker-protest-businesses/index.html", "title": "US business leaders sound the alarm on US-Canada border blockade", "text": "New York CNN Business —\n\nThree of America’s largest business groups are warning the trucker-inspired protests along the US-Canada border are further straining stressed-out supply chains.\n\nIn a joint statement Thursday night, the US Chamber of Commerce, Business Roundtable and National Association of Manufacturers urged a swift resolution to the blockages.\n\n“The disruptions we are seeing at the US-Canada border – at the Detroit-Windsor Ambassador Bridge and at other crossings – are adding to the significant supply chain strains on manufacturers and other businesses in the United States,” the trade groups said.\n\nAccess to three border crossings in Michigan, North Dakota and Montana have been cut off by truckers and other demonstrators on the Canadian side of the border. The situation can’t help – and could worsen – the historic bout of inflation hitting the US economy.\n\n“The business community is rolling up its sleeves to find workarounds and keep facilities up and running, but we are already seeing some production cuts, shift reductions, and temporary plant closures,” the business groups said. “The North American economy relies on our ability to work closely together, including our manufacturing sectors. We need to apply the same spirit of cooperation to tackle this problem.”\n\nCar factories on both sides of the border – from the suburbs of Toronto to Georgetown, Kentucky 600 miles away – have slowed their assembly lines or shut down altogether because they can’t get the parts they need. The disruptions could exacerbate the shortage of cars that caused new car and truck prices to spike in January by the most on record. Although GM and Stellantis said plants were open as usual Friday, Toyota reported factory shutdowns as far away as Alabama and West Virginia.\n\n“We respectfully urge the Canadian government to act swiftly to address the disruption to the flow of trade and its impact on manufacturers and other businesses on both sides of the border,” the trio of business groups said. “We appreciate that the Biden Administration is engaged with the Canadian government, and we strongly encourage officials to continue efforts to resolve these blockages at the border.”\n\nThe statement comes after a coalition of three auto industry trade groups, including those representing auto makers and parts suppliers, similarly warned of turmoil caused by the protests.\n\n“The current border disruptions at the Detroit-Windsor Ambassador Bridge and other crossings are adding additional strain to the automotive supply chain that has already been stressed by semiconductor shortages and other pandemic-related issues,” the auto groups said.", "authors": ["Matt Egan"], "publish_date": "2022/02/11"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/08/investing/sec-retail-investors-payment-for-order-flow/index.html", "title": "Wall Street's top cop proposes massive changes to the stock market ...", "text": "New York CNN Business —\n\nThe agency that oversees Wall Street is weighing major changes to the way millions of everyday investors buy and sell stocks. That could be bad news for so-called free-trading apps like Robinhood as well as the lesser known firms that underpin their business models.\n\nTrading could be made fairer for everyday retail investors with some tweaks to the stock market’s plumbing, Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler said at the Piper Sandler Global Exchange Conference in Washington Wednesday. Gensler asked the SEC to consider giving retail traders access to some of the perks available only to the biggest players on Wall Street, including the ability to buy stocks for fractions of a penny, get better visibility into the market’s mechanics and invite more buyers and sellers to ensure everyday investors are getting the best price on a purchase or sale.\n\nAmong Gensler’s biggest proposed changes is a quirk in the stock market that was exposed during the meme stock mania a year ago.\n\nToday, when you buy or sell a stock on an app, the trade appears to be instantaneous. But beneath that simple buy/sell action is a complex web of Wall Street players exploiting tiny differences in price to rake in huge amounts of cash.\n\nHere’s how it works: When you tap buy or sell, Robinhood (or your broker of choice), takes your order to a firm known as a wholesaler or market maker — the middlemen who are supposed to get you the best price and who pay the brokers for the privilege of executing the trades. They typically make pennies off each transaction.\n\nThat process is known as “payment for order flow,” and it has come under intense scrutiny by regulators following the fallout from the January 2021 run-up in meme stocks like GameStop.\n\nThe GameStop frenzy “exposed how rigged the US equity markets are to enrich big Wall Street firms, high frequency trading firms and brokers at the expense of Main Street retail investors,” Better Markets CEO Dennis Kelleher wrote at the time.\n\nThe Securities and Exchange Commission has been reviewing the system, which accounts for the bulk of the brokerages’ revenues. In August last year, Robinhood’s stock tumbled after SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said that an outright ban of payment for order flow was “on the table.”\n\nGensler and other critics of the process say the brokers and market makers, such as Citadel Securities, have a clear conflict of interest, and that payment for order flow screws over everyday investors while amassing huge wealth for Wall Street firms.\n\nOne proposed new rule, the paper said, would add more competition at the middleman level to ensure retail investors are actually getting the best prices. In that scenario, orders would be routed into auctions where trading firms would have to compete to execute them.\n\n“It’s not clear, with such market segmentation and concentration, and with an uneven playing field, that our current national market system is as fair and competitive as possible for investors,” Gensler said Wednesday.\n\nFor example, Gensler noted that retail investors buy stocks at penny increments, but wholesalers can buy stocks for increments of fractions of a penny. With high volume, that gives wholesalers an advantage and generates huge profits.\n\n“It raises real questions about whether this structure is fair and best promotes competition,” Gensler said. “Why not allow all venues to have an equal opportunity to execute at sub-penny increments?”\n\nGensler also proposed giving investors in small numbers of shares similar visibility into the markets that big traders receive.\n\nA spokesperson for Robinhood didn’t comment specifically on the potential changes but pointed to research from MIT that shows retail investors saved more than $17 billion in trading fees thanks to free-trading apps 2020 and 2021.\n\nIn response to Gensler’s comments, Robinhood defended its business no-fee model, saying it has saved investors billions of dollars.\n\n“American retail investors enjoy one of the most efficient, low-cost investing environments in history,” said Dan Gallagher, Robinhood’s chief legal, compliance and corporate affairs officer, in a statement. “We look forward to reviewing the Commission’s eventual rule proposal and engaging with the SEC during a meaningful notice and comment rulemaking process.”\n\nRobinhood shares were down nearly 4% Wednesday afternoon.\n\n— CNN Business’ Matt Egan contributed to this article.", "authors": ["Allison Morrow"], "publish_date": "2022/06/08"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/22/investing/premarket-stocks-trading/index.html", "title": "Premarket stocks: Why markets care about Putin's aggression | CNN ...", "text": "A version of this story first appeared in CNN Business’ Before the Bell newsletter. Not a subscriber? You can sign up right here. You can listen to an audio version of the newsletter by clicking the same link.\n\nLondon CNN Business —\n\nIn 2021, investors might have averted their eyes from a military conflict in Ukraine. But as concerns about inflation and reduced support from central banks loom, geopolitical tensions that could hurt the global economy are taking center stage.\n\nWhat’s happening: Global stocks swung on Tuesday after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops into two separatist pro-Moscow regions in eastern Ukraine. Countries including the United States are preparing to impose sanctions. Oil prices shot up, with Brent crude futures, the global benchmark, at one point topping $99 per barrel.\n\nThe unfolding crisis could set up another volatile trading day in the United States. The S&P 500 finished Friday down more than 9% from its January peak. If it reaches the 10% threshold when trading closes on Tuesday, it would enter a correction, which signals an unusually high degree of selling pressure.\n\nWhile markets often look past geopolitical conflict, finding it difficult to price, this time is different. There are two key reasons.\n\n1. Sentiment has turned: The mood among investors turned dour over the past month as soaring inflation boosted expectations on Wall Street that the Federal Reserve and other central banks would need to intervene more aggressively. If they sharply hike interest rates and start to reduce the number of bonds on their balance sheets, that would take away the main source of market euphoria since the pandemic hit.\n\nAn uneven earnings season, which triggered dramatic pullbacks in the stocks of household names like Facebook (FB) and Netflix (NFLX), hasn’t helped.\n\n“Stock markets were already coming off the boil this year,” David Madden, a market analyst at Equiti Capital, told me. The prospect of a “tit-for-tat” sanctions fight only deepens the loss of confidence, he added.\n\n2. It could hurt the economy: Russia is a major exporter of oil and gas. If the flow of energy is disrupted because of the conflict with Ukraine, that could weigh on the global recovery.\n\nGermany, the biggest economy in Europe, is particularly exposed. On Tuesday, the country announced that it had halted the certification of the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline following Moscow’s actions in eastern Ukraine.\n\nFears about reduced supplies of oil and gas, which are already pushing up global prices, could also fan inflation.\n\n“The worst-case scenario would be oil surging to $110 or $120, as the jump in energy prices could trigger chatter of a global recession,” Madden said. “Economies are gearing down from the [post-pandemic] boom, and the last thing they need is an energy shock.”\n\nThe Street’s view: Strategists at JPMorgan said in a note to clients Tuesday that while Russia-Ukraine tensions are unlikely to hurt profits for US companies, a jump in energy prices “amidst an aggressive central bank pivot focused on inflation could further dampen investor sentiment and growth outlook.”\n\nRussia is already paying a hefty financial price\n\nRussian stocks plunged and the ruble slid closer to a record low on Tuesday as investors reacted to Putin’s decision to order troops into eastern Ukraine.\n\nMoscow’s MOEX stock index dropped 4% on Tuesday after shedding more than 10% on Monday, bringing losses so far this year to over 20%, my CNN Business colleague Charles Riley reports. In total, more than $40 billion has been wiped off the value of Russian stocks this week alone.\n\nThe ruble fell toward 81 versus the US dollar, its weakest level in more than a year and close to its all-time low.\n\nThe moves prompted Russia’s central bank to announce measures to support banks, including a provision that will allow them to use last Friday’s prices for stocks and bonds when reporting their financial positions.\n\nMore pain could be on the way.\n\n“We expect further declines near-term in the Russian stock market,” analysts at JPMorgan Chase wrote in a note to clients on Tuesday. The bank downgraded Russian equities to “neutral” from “overweight.”\n\nDamage to Russia’s markets and economy would be limited if its troops do not advance beyond the parts of eastern Ukraine that Putin recognized as independent on Monday, according to analysts. But Russia would pay a higher price if a further escalation causes the West to respond with punishing sanctions that could cut the country’s banks off from the global financial system and make it difficult to export oil and natural gas.\n\n“The impact on Russia’s economy will depend in large part on the response of Western governments,” analysts at Capital Economics wrote on Tuesday.\n\nThe most commonly discussed sanctions could knock 1% off Russia’s gross domestic product, they estimated, but more aggressive measures, such as blocking Russia from the SWIFT global payments system, could reduce economic output by 5%.\n\nCarl Icahn is worried about pigs\n\nLegendary investor Carl Icahn is known for his aggressive campaigns to shake up Corporate America. Now, he’s leveraging his reputation to tackle an issue close to his heart: the welfare of pigs.\n\nMcDonald’s (MCD) said over the weekend that Icahn had nominated two new directors to its board. The move “relates to a narrow issue regarding the company’s pork commitment,” the fast food chain said in a statement.\n\n“I really do feel emotional about these animals and the unnecessary suffering you put them through,” Icahn said in an interview with Bloomberg last week. “A pig has a good brain and it’s a feeling animal.”\n\nWhy it’s notable: Icahn, who served as one source of inspiration for the larger-than-life character Gordon Gekko in the film “Wall Street,” has previously targeted companies such as Yahoo, Dell and Netflix. The goal in those cases was to make more money.\n\nHis latest campaign involves pushing McDonald’s to require all of its US-based pork suppliers to abandon the practice of keeping pigs confined in crates so small they can’t turn around.\n\nIcahn has stated that he holds only 200 shares in the company, according to McDonald’s. The stake would be worth just over $50,000 based on Friday’s closing price.\n\nStep back: McDonald’s first promised in 2012 to phase out the use of the crates, also known as gestation stalls, for pregnant sows. On Sunday, it said that by the end of 2022, 85% to 90% of its US pork will come from sows that aren’t housed in gestation crates. It expects to meet a target of 100% by the end of 2024.\n\nBut Icahn told Bloomberg that he got involved again because McDonald’s “never delivered” on its commitment one decade ago.\n\n“We’re not going to fool around with them anymore,” he said.\n\nUp next\n\nHome Depot (HD), Krispy Kreme and Macy’s (M) report results before US markets open. Teladoc (TDOC), Toll Brothers (TOL) and Virgin Galactic (SPCE) follow after the close.\n\nAlso today:\n\nThe S&P Case-Shiller Home Price Index posts at 9 a.m. ET.\n\nUS consumer confidence data for February arrives at 10 a.m. ET.\n\nComing tomorrow: Earnings from Lowe’s (LOW), Molson Coors (TAP), TJX (TJX), Bath & Body Works and Hertz (HTZ).", "authors": ["Julia Horowitz"], "publish_date": "2022/02/22"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/04/investing/london-metal-exchange-regulators/index.html", "title": "London Metal Exchange probed over chaotic nickel market | CNN ...", "text": "British financial regulators said on Monday that they would review the way the London Metal Exchange (LME) handled a halt in chaotic nickel trading last month and said the episode underlined questions about the LME’s transparency.\n\nThe exchange, the world’s oldest and largest market for industrial metals, suspended nickel trading on March 8 after prices spiked by more than 50% in a matter of hours to hit $100,000 a tonne.\n\nThe Financial Conduct Authority said it and the Bank of England would determine if further action should be taken.\n\n“Events around the suspension and resumption of trading have underlined questions raised in a recent LME Discussion Paper on Market Structure, particularly the role of transparency in the LME and related markets,” the regulators said.\n\n“The FCA has been in discussion with the LME on its proposals for some time and expects the LME to consider carefully how recent events should shape its future approach on market structure.”\n\nThe LME said it welcomed the announcement from regulators and added it would commission its own review of the events to identify action to minimize the risk of a disorderly market in future.\n\nThe exchange introduced a 15% upper and lower daily price limit for all its physically delivered metals after the chaotic trading period.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/04/04"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/30/americas/canada-handgun-sales-cap/index.html", "title": "Canada's Trudeau announces bill to cap sales, transfers and ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nCanadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday announced the introduction of a bill that would place a national freeze on handgun ownership across Canada.\n\n“What this means is that it will no longer be possible to buy, sell, transfer or import handguns anywhere in Canada,” Trudeau said in a news conference.\n\n“In other words we’re capping the market,” he added.\n\nIf passed, the new anti-gun legislation will fine gun smuggling and trafficking “by increasing maximum criminal penalties and providing more tools for law enforcement to investigate firearm crimes,” Trudeau said.\n\nThe new legislation would also require that long gun magazines “can never” hold more than five rounds.\n\n“Gun violence is a complex problem, but at the end of the day the math is really quite simple: The fewer the guns in our communities, the safer everyone will be,” the Prime Minister said.\n\nTrudeau added that while most gun owners use their handguns safely and in accordance with the law, “we don’t need assault style weapons that were designed to kill the largest number of people in the shortest amount of time.”\n\nThe announcement comes in the wake of two recent mass shootings in the United States. On May 24, a gunman entered an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, and fired more than 100 bullets, killing 19 children and two teachers. On May 14, 10 people were killed in a racist mass shooting at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York.\n\nEnding gun violence was part of Trudeau’s campaign in the country’s 2019 election. In 2020, his government banned more than 1,500 types of military-style assault weapons just after Canada’s deadliest gun rampage in its modern history.\n\nHandguns were “the most serious weapon present in the majority of firearm-related violent crimes” between 2009 and 2020, making up 59% of those crimes, according to a Monday release from Trudeau’s office.\n\nThe number of registered handguns in the country increased 71% between 2010 and 2020 to about 1.1 million, according to the release.", "authors": ["Claudia Dominguez Theresa Waldrop", "Claudia Dominguez", "Theresa Waldrop"], "publish_date": "2022/05/30"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2012/11/14/europe-strike-austerity-unions/1704079/", "title": "Anti-austerity protests, strikes spread across Europe", "text": "Meritxell Mir and Louise Osborne, Special for USA TODAY\n\nBARCELONA — Flights and trains were canceled across Europe on Wednesday as thousands of workers took to the streets to protest austerity measures aimed at reducing massive government deficits and boosting shaky economies.\n\n\"We all know that reforms, layoffs and cuts will continue but maybe we manage to get them cut (more slowly),\" said Francisco Vallejo, 41, an administrative assistant in Madrid. \"The only strike that is useless is the one we don't follow.\"\n\nUnions had called for strikes across Europe to protest the trimming of government-funded salaries and pension benefits, which had risen dramatically over the years and led to significant debt problems in some countries.\n\nThe call to strike was heeded by many in Italy and Spain; but union workers in Britain, Germany and Denmark held rallies instead of walking off the job. Transport hubs were at standstill across southern Europe and in Brussels as airports and train stations shut down.\n\nIn Portugal, all trains and subways shut down and about 200 flights to and from the country were canceled. Hospitals operated on a skeleton staff while thousands of government workers including most in the justice system and trash collectors failed to go to work.\n\nIn Spain, some television channels went off the air and assembly lines at the big union-dominated factories shut down. Spanish unions claimed that 9 million Spaniards stayed at home, or 77% of the workforce.\n\nMuch of Spain's school system was closed and more than half of its hospital employees went on strike.\n\nIn Barcelona, high-end stores such as Gucci and Chanel on the Paseo de Gracia closed for the day. In the neighborhoods, only a few bakeries and grocery shores dared to open, intermittently closing when they saw trouble.\n\nIn Greece, the strike shut down the subway system for part of the day. About 5,000 Greeks protested in Athens. Port workers blocked the entrance to the Ministry of Defense demanding back wages, they said.\n\nIn Italy, about 60,000 turned out in Rome. The president of Rome province, Nicola Zingaretti, condemned \"groups of rioters\" among peaceful protesters. Zingaretti said a climate of \"aggressiveness and intolerance\" risked sullying Rome's image abroad following reports of protesters yelling anti-Semitic slogans outside a Rome synagogue.\n\nThe so-called austerity measures comprise spending cuts, tax hikes and changes to labor laws to allow businesses to better adjust to shaky economies. But several governments and many workers worry that the measures may worsen economies by driving down individual incomes.\n\nThe protests Wednesday brought out people who blame the economic system as a whole.\n\n\"They've only just started cuts but they are pretty draconian already,\" said Andrew Burgin, European officer for the Coalition of Resistance in London, which organized a rally outside the European Commission offices there. \"I think this is the beginning of a new movement. It will be a day remembers in history as the beginning of a pan-European movement, possibly an international movement, against capitalism.\"\n\nBut European leaders, such as Angela Merkel of Germany, says the problem is the massive debts piled up by individual nations, many of which like Greece and Portugal spent beyond revenues on public projects, expanding welfare and government jobs, and generous public benefits.\n\nGreece and Spain, which have been hit hardest by an economic slowdown and debt crisis that has swept up several nations across the continent, are experiencing unemployment rates of more than 25%. Both countries passed measures recently to change labor laws that protected employees from layoffs and that businesses say prevented them from hiring or innovating.\n\nThe austerity measures are supposed to improve the economy over time but in the short-term people in Greece and Spain especially are experiencing curtailment of government health care, reductions in their pensions and salaries and higher taxes.\n\nThe strikes were called by the European Trade Union Confederation, which represents almost 90 different groups across Europe.\n\n\"The people of Europe will not stand for fiscal fundamentalism and will fight for an alternative based on social and economic justice,\" said the confederation's General Secretary Designate Frances O'Grady. \"'Those in the corridors of power in Brussels and Frankfurt need to understand this – that if ordinary European workers feel that the EU is about little more than cuts, open markets and privatization, then the European project will collapse just as surely as night follows day.\"\n\nAnalysts were skeptical about the effectiveness of the strikes.\n\n\"I think we have already seen turn in the European crisis management toward a more social management, meaning, like in the case of Greece and Spain, that more time is given for the reforms to be implemented due to the social impact, not to somehow totally overburden the countries with the implementation of the measures,\" said Carsten Brzeski, senior economist at ING in Brussels.\n\n\"This is already some kind of acknowledgement and change, but I don't think we should suddenly expect the kind of change where governments all of a sudden start to spend or cancel the reforms -- in the end the reforms are required to restart growth in the countries,\" he said. \"You can argue about the pace in which they are implemented, but I don't think you can argue about the necessity to do them.\"\n\nSome people felt the strikes may do harm.\n\n\"In Madrid, we've been having plenty of them in the last few months and I think given the situation of the country, now it is time to work instead of stopping,\" said Estefania Martin, 38, who works for an technology company in Madrid.\n\nThere as a clear divide in Europe, where wealthier states like the Netherlands and the Nordic nations in the north saw few protests. Much of the demonstrating was in the south.\n\nBelgium saw some strikes. Both the Thalys and Eurostar high-speed rail services that connect Brussels with London and Paris were severely disrupted. Protesters said taking to the streets is the best way to confront political leaders.\n\n\"Protests and mass mobilization is the only way (forward) for those of us who have seen our rights shrink every day,\" said Evangelina Tsomaka, 28, a lawyer in Athens. \"Protests are your last hope to have your voice heard.\"\n\nThe chief of the European Union employers' federation took a different view.\n\n\"If you start striking at national level and in companies you only will harm the economy,\" said Eurobussiness leader Philippe de Buck in an interview. \"It costs billions\" of euros, he said, adding that Europe's reputation as a hotbed of trade union action would not attract global investors.\n\nOn an avenue in Lisbon, Portugal, unemployed teacher Ligia Carvalho said she was protesting for the future of herself and her two children\n\n\"I hope that everybody finally figures out that the future depends on us and if we won't ask for our rights, nobody will,\" said Carvalho, 33, who said she has been unemployed for five years. \"I have two little children and I have no expectations (for the future).\"\n\nContributing: Nikolia Apostolou in Athens, Michael Levitin in Berlin, Mariana Barbosa in Lisbon; The Associated Press", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2012/11/14"}]}
{"question_id": "20230203_9", "search_time": "2023/02/04/11:55", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2013/12/09/garth-brooks-confirms-2014-world-tour/3917051/", "title": "Garth Brooks announces world tour on 'GMA'", "text": "Elysa Gardner\n\nUSA TODAY\n\nAfter some gentle prodding from Robin Roberts, country superstar Garth Brooks confirmed what many fans have been anticipating: that he'll embark on a world tour next year.\n\nAppearing on Good Morning America to promote his new box set, Blame It All On My Roots: Five Decades of American Influences, and a DVD of his show at the Wynn Las Vegas, Brooks was initially coy about rumors that he would go back on the road, joking that at 52 his trek would be \"a wheelchair and walker kind of thing.\"\n\nBut after suggesting that an announcement of some sort would be coming soon, Brooks spilled the beans — noting that his wife, fellow singer Trisha Yearwood, and three daughters had all given their approval.\n\n\"All my babies are fine with it,\" Brooks said. \"Ms. Yearwood is fine with it. So now I get to do what I love to do, which is play music.\"\n\nBrooks' rep, Nancy Seltzer, told USA TODAY of the announcement: \"He honestly surprised everyone and himself.\"", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2013/12/09"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2019/09/17/taylor-swift-announces-2020-lover-fest-tour-only-four-u-s-shows/2356135001/", "title": "Taylor Swift announces 2020 Lover Fest tour with only four U.S. shows", "text": "Swifties are in for a treat!\n\nTaylor Swift announced on Twitter Tuesday that she will embark on a 2020 summer festival tour for her record-breaking \"Lover\" album, with only four concerts in the U.S.\n\n\"The Lover album is open fields, sunsets, + SUMMER. I want to perform it in a way that feels authentic,\" she tweeted. \"I want to go to some places I haven’t been and play festivals. Where we didn’t have festivals, we made some. Introducing, Lover Fest East + West!\"\n\nSwift's tour kicks off overseas in Belgium in June before hitting Germany, Norway, Denmark, Poland, France, Portugal and Brazil on her international dates.\n\n'Lover': Taylor Swift's album hits No. 1 with biggest sales week since 'Reputation'\n\nThe North American leg of her tour will start in July with only four U.S. concerts, so far, including Lover Fest West in California and Lover Fest East in Massachusetts.\n\nSwift is scheduled to open Los Angeles' brand new SoFi Stadium with back-to-back Lover Fest West shows in July, becoming the first woman to open an NFL stadium. The Hollywood Park stadium is the future home of the Los Angeles Chargers and Los Angeles Rams football teams.\n\nShe will then head to Foxborough, Massachusetts, the following weekend for two Lover Fest East shows at Gillette Stadium, home of the New England Patriots.\n\n'The Voice': Taylor Swift joins as 'Mega Mentor' for season 17\n\nHere's the full list of Swift's announced tour dates, so far:\n\n​June 20: Werchter Boutique (Werchter, Belgium) June 24: The Waldbühne (Berlin) June 26: Oslo Sommertid (Oslo, Norway) July 1: Roskilde Festival (Roskilde, Denmark) July 3: Open'er Festival (Gdynia, Poland) July 5: Festival de Nîmes (Nîmes, France) July 9: NOS Alive (Oeiras, Portugal) July 18: Allianz Parque (Sao Paulo, Brazil) July 25 and 26: SoFi Stadium (Los Angeles) July 31 and Aug. 1: Gillette Stadium (Foxborough, Massachusetts)\n\nMore tour dates are expected be announced soon.\n\nThe 29-year-old pop superstar's seventh studio album, \"Lover,\" debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart with the biggest sales week since her previous album, \"Reputation,\" was released in 2017.\n\n\"Lover,\" released Aug. 23, racked up 867,000 equivalent album units in its debut week, including 679,000 in album sales and 226 million in on-demand audio streams for the album's songs, according to Nielsen Music.\n\nGeneral public tickets go on sale Oct. 17.\n\nContributing: Maeve McDermott\n\nMore: Taylor Swift is a kid again on 'Lover,' a big, messy embrace of a new album", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2019/09/17"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/entertainthis/2018/03/05/beyonce-jay-z-joint-tour-dates-posted-prematurely-beyhive-briefly-loses-its-mind/395184002/", "title": "Beyoncé/Jay-Z tour dates posted prematurely; Beyhive loses its mind", "text": "Well, we haven't seen the Beyhive this worked up since Beyoncé posted her veiled pregnancy reveal photo on Instagram last year.\n\nOn Monday, the singer's official Facebook page and the Ticketmaster site briefly posted the news that she and husband Jay-Z will embark on a second \"On the Run\" tour together, beginning July 30 in Philadelphia. Then moments later, the tour dates were gone.\n\nFor now, fans are pondering the fate of the Lemonade-spiller, preparing their finances in case the couple actually does announce tour dates ... and poking a little fun at themselves for letting Beyoncé run their world.\n\nA sampling of the reaction:\n\nThank you for your sacrifice\n\nIn a NSFW post, Twitter user @clearlyiconic expressed gratitude to the \"intern\" who botched the tour date announcement. \"Beyoncé might let you go but I just wanted to let you know that I appreciate you. Thank you for warning us to get our bank accounts ready.\"\n\nWell, that escalated quickly\n\nThe posts may have only been published for a few minutes before someone caught the mistake, but it was already too late. \"Ambulances have been called and wigs have already been snatched,\" BET Music pointed out.\n\nFear the wrath of Blue Ivy\n\n\"I know Blue Ivy cussing somebody out\" over the mistake @bronze_bombSHEL speculated. And there's reason to fear the couple's 6-year-old daughter: Remember when she told her superstar parents to chill at the Grammys — and they complied?\n\nThe real reason for the joint tour\n\nTwitter user @jtnghlee has a theory as to why Bey and Jay are touring together again: So she can keep an eye on him and avoid any more Beckys. Tiffany Haddish already told us what happens when someone gets too close to Jay for Bey's comfort.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2018/03/05"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2021/07/20/live-music-austin-fall-guide-concerts-tickets-schedule/7998132002/", "title": "The music is back: A guide to fall concerts in Austin", "text": "At long last, touring acts are on the road again this fall. Pent-up demand from the pandemic shutdown is bursting forth as restrictions have eased, creating an overflow of shows in local arenas, amphitheaters, music halls and clubs in the latter half of 2021. Our list gets an early start with some August events and continues through December, with more than 250 concerts in all.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/07/20"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2022/09/01/phoenix-concerts-september-2022/7921036001/", "title": "Best concerts in Phoenix in September 2022: Bad Bunny, Kendrick ...", "text": "September is going to be a hot month for concerts in metro Phoenix.\n\nBad Bunny brings the ambitiously titled World's Hottest Tour to Chase Field and Kendrick Lamar is coming to Footprint Center in support of one of this year's most acclaimed releases, \"Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.\"\n\nFootprint Center also hosts Gorillaz' first appearance in the Valley since 2010 and Duran Duran's first Phoenix concert as Rock and Roll Hall of Famers.\n\nHere's a look at those and other September concert highlights, from Armand Hammer at Crescent Ballroom to St. Vincent playing her first Valley dates since Innings Festival, where she was easily the best act on the bill.\n\nNostalgia tour? Nah.Duran Duran, Nile Rodgers & Chic's monster hits lit it up in Phoenix\n\nArmand Hammer\n\nThe underground hip-hop duo of Billy Woods and Elucid made the rounds of critics' year-end lists in 2021, from Paste to Pitchfork, for \"Haram,\" their provocative collaboration with the Alchemist. Beats Per Minute praised it as an album \"built to make you uncomfortable, from its harsh cover art to its incendiary lyrics.\" They're joined by PSYPIRITUAL, A. Billi Free and the Lasso.\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 1. Crescent Ballroom, 308 N. Second Ave., Phoenix. $20. 602-716-2222, crescentphx.com.\n\nThe Weeknd's 1st stadium tour was epic: Here's how he filled up State Farm Stadium\n\nSebastian Yatra\n\nThe Colombian chart-topper brings his Dharma World Tour to downtown Phoenix. The singer won New Artist of the Year at the 2018 Latin American Music Awards and Best Latin American Central Act at the MTV Europe Awards in each of the past four years. Seven of his biggest hits have topped the U.S. Latin Pop charts, including \"TBT\" (with Rauw Alejandro and Manuel Turizo) and \"Chica Ideal\" (with Guaynaa).\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 2. Arizona Financial Theatre, 400 W. Washington St., Phoenix. $23 and up. 800-745-300, ticketmaster.com.\n\nThe concert of a lifetime?Here's what brought 2 of Phoenix's biggest bands together\n\nKadim al Sahir\n\nThe Iraqi singer-songwriter has won a World Music Award for Best Middle Eastern/North African Artist, a Jordan Award for Best Arabic Artist & the Murex d’or for Lifetime Achievement Legend Award. He typically performs with an orchestra of 20 to 30 musicians.\n\nDetails: 9 p.m. Friday, Sept. 2. Celebrity Theatre, 440 N. 32nd St., Phoenix. $135 and up. 602-267-1600, celebritytheatre.com.\n\nFlume\n\nThe Grammy-winning superstar is touring in support of \"Palaces,\" a third album that finds him moving into quieter, more introspective moods and features guest appearances by Caroline Polachek, Damon Albarn, Toro y Moi and more. NME responded to the album with a rave said the DJ \"can still soundtrack your night out, but on ‘Palaces’ he’ll also gently bring you back down to Earth when morning comes.\"\n\nDetails: 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 3. Phoenix Raceway, 7602 Jimmie Johnson Drive, Avondale. $54 and up. tixr.com.\n\nGloria Trevi\n\nThe Latin music sensation's Isla Divina World Tour kicked off with six sold-out performances at Mexico City's Auditorio Nacional, where she holds the distinction of being the female artist with the most career performances. In a concert that lasts two and a half hours, the award-winning singer will perform more than 25 hits. A press release promises, \"The show will take audiences into a catharsis to leave everyday challenges behind and embark on an amazing journey from a paradisiacal beach to submerge in the depths of the sea.\"\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 3. Arizona Financial Theatre, 400 W. Washington St., Phoenix. $23 and up. 800-745-300, ticketmaster.com.\n\nSteve Aoki\n\nSuperstar DJ Steve Aoki closes out the season for RELEASE After Dark by the Pool at Talking Stick Resort. The two-time Grammy nominee has built his brand on word of mouth (and social posts) surrounding his amazing light shows, creative beat drops and, of course, habitual throwing of cake at each performance. If you haven't seen a Steve Aoki cake toss, here's your chance. You'll thank me later.\n\nDetails: 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 3. Talking Stick Resort, Loop 101 and Pima Road, Salt River Reservation. $50. 480-850-7734, talkingstickresort.com.\n\nHiatus Kaiyote\n\nThere's an otherworldly experimental flavor to the more ambitious treasures to be found on these Australian soul revivalists' most recent effort, 2021's \"Mood Valiant.\" But it goes down easier than that suggests. As PopMatters noted, they've also \"crafted something brilliant with 'Mood Valiant' – an album that’s effortlessly likable, commandingly confident, and rich with heart and soul.\"\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 4. Marquee Theatre, 730 N. Mill Ave., Tempe. $35-$65. 480-829-0607, luckymanonline.com.\n\nRL Grime\n\nThis L.A.-based DJ/producer topped the iTunes electronic chart with his 2013 “High Beams\" EP. Entertainment Weekly praised his second album, “Nova,” which featured collaborations with Miguel, Julia Michaels, Chief Keef and Ty Dolla Sign. “NOVA fits the dictionary definition of its title,\" EW's critic wrote. \"A bright star packed with vivid, undeniable energy — one that sets the stage for the DJ-producer's consistently evolving sound.”\n\nDetails: 11 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 4. Maya Day & Nightclub, 7333 E. Indian Plaza, Scottsdale. $75. 480-625-0528, mayaclubaz.com.\n\nSammy Hagar and the Circle\n\nThe man who simply can't drive 55 is touring with a group that features fellow Van Halen veteran Michael Anthony on bass, John Bonham's son Jason, who's been known to sit in with his dad's band, on drums and guitarist Vic Johnson. The Crazy Times Tour also features the man who makes every room feel like a bar (with the broken-bottle fistfights or the random drunk dials to old lovers) the undeniable George Thorogood & The Destroyers.\n\nDetails: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 7. Ak-Chin Pavilion, 2121 N. 83rd Ave., Phoenix. $25 and up. 602-254-7200, livenation.com.\n\nDuran Duran\n\nThe New Wave veterans are touring the States in support of \"Future Past,\" their 15th studio release, with special guests Nile Rodgers and Chic. This their first Valley concert since taking their rightful place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their first year on the ballot. They last played Phoenix in 2016, also with Rodgers, a concert that managed to sidestep nostalgia while also dusting off hits. What more could you want?\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 7. Footprint Center, 201 E. Jefferson St., Phoenix. $24.50 and up. 602-379-7800, ticketmaster.com.\n\nAndrew McMahon in the Wilderness\n\nThis is the final night of a co-headlining tour with Dashboard Confessional, which New Noise Magazine says \"is a must-see if you are looking for a nostalgic gut punch and a fun time.\" The once and (I’m assuming) future leader of Jack’s Mannequin and Something Corporate is touring the United States in continued support of his third album as the leader of Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, \"Upside Down Flowers.\"\n\nDetails: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 7. Arizona Financial Theatre, 400 W. Washington St., Phoenix. $39.50 and up. 800-745-300, ticketmaster.com.\n\nKeith Urban\n\nThe four-time Grammy winner's first world tour in four years takes its name from an album he released last year, \"The Speed of Now Part 1.\" In a press release, Urban said, “Every night is the first time we’ve played these songs for that audience, in that moment. It’s why every show is different — spontaneous and unpredictable — even for us.” He's joined by Ingrid Andress and Tyler Hubbard of Florida Georgia Line.\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 8. Footprint Center, 201 E. Jefferson St., Phoenix. $24.50 and up. 602-379-7800, ticketmaster.com.\n\nBanda MS\n\nThe name Banda MS is short for Banda Sinaloense MS de Sergio Lizarraga. The regional Mexican outfit was formed in 2003 by brothers Sergio and Alberto Lizárraga in Mazatlan, Sinaloa, (hence the MS in their name) and features more than a dozen musicians. Their biggest stateside hit, \"Sin Evidencias,\" reached the Hot Latin Tracks chart in 2009.\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 9. Footprint Center, 201 E. Jefferson St., Phoenix. $59 and up. 602-379-7800, ticketmaster.com.\n\nThe Kid LAROI\n\nThe Australian rapper was supposed to launch his first headlining global tour in downtown Phoenix early last year. But like many things there were supposed to happen early last year, the entire sold-out tour got pushed back. The multiplatinum rapper's U.S. hits include \"Without You,\" which features Miley Cyrus on the remix, and \"Stay\" with Justin Bieber. A recent review in the Guardian said, \"At the first of two headline shows at Brixton Academy, he sweats out his setlist like a fever, tearing through two-minute tracks titled like confessions of teen rage.\"\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 9. Arizona Financial Theatre, 400 W. Washington St., Phoenix. Sold out. Resale ticket prices vary. 800-745-300, ticketmaster.com. \\\n\nFlo Rida\n\nThe rapper least likely to leave you guessing what state he calls home started off 2008 at No. 1 with “Low,” which held on for a 10-week run unmatched by any single since Beyonce’s “Irreplaceable” — the biggest difference being that Beyonce was a superstar by then, while “Low” was this guy's first official single (and the biggest single of 2008). He was back at No. 1 in 2009 with “Right Round” and again in 2012 with “Whistle.”\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 9. Marquee Theatre, 730 N. Mill Ave., Tempe. $55-$85. 480-829-0607, luckymanonline.com.\n\nTestament\n\nThese thrash-metal veterans exploded on impact with \"The Legacy,\" a fast and furious debut that hit the streets in 1987 and went on to earn them a spot in the Decibel Magazine Hall of Fame, which said the album \"hit the metal world with the impact of a close-range thunderclap upon its release.\" Their latest album, 2020's \"Titans of Creation,\" was praised in Kerrang! as being \"packed tight with the precision and power that they’ve made their own for more than 30 years.\" They're joined by Exodus and Death Angel.\n\nDetails: 6:50 p.m. Friday, Sept. 9. The Van Buren, 401 W. Van Buren St., Phoenix. $35; $30 in advance. 866-468-3399, thevanburenphx.com.\n\nCults\n\nLast year marked the 10th anniversary of the beloved self-titled debut that introduced the world to the spellbinding magic of Madeline Follin and Brian Oblivion, making good on the shimmering pop transcendence of their breakthrough single \"Go Outside.\" And they're still going strong, as evidenced by the timeless appeal of 2020's \"Host,\" an album that finds them expanding the scope of their sound while retaining the charms of their debut and welcoming Follin into the songwriting process.\n\nDetails: 9 p.m. Friday, Sept. 9. Crescent Ballroom, 308 N. Second Ave., Phoenix. Sold out. 602-716-2222, crescentphx.com.\n\nSlander\n\nThe L.A.-based EDM duo are launching a tour in support of an album called \"Thrive\" that finds them expanding the scope of their sound, venturing into techno on “Before Dawn.” Slander issued a statement saying, “When we sat down to make the album one of the things that was most important to us was having the space to actually try something new.\" They're joined by Svdden Death, HOL!, A Hundred Drums and Redline.\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept 10. Phoenix Raceway, 7602 Jimmie Johnson Drive, Avondale. $50 and up. tixr.com.\n\nAlice in Chains and Breaking Benjamin\n\nSeattle grunge legends Alice in Chains and Pennsylvania post-grunge veterans Breaking Benjamin are on a co-headlining tour with the U.K. branch of the '90s grunge explosion, Bush. This is the first time those two headliners have toured together and the first time either act has been through Phoenix since the summer of 2019.\n\nDetails: 5:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 10. Ak-Chin Pavilion, 2121 N. 83rd Ave., Phoenix. $25 and up. 602-254-7200, livenation.com.\n\nKendrick Lamar\n\nThis is the hip-hop legend's first performance in the Valley since May 2018, when he brought TDE: The Championship Tour to Ak-Chin Pavilion. This tour, which also features Baby Keem, is in support of one of this year's most acclaimed releases, the brilliant \"Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers.\" Lamar's first album since the triple-platinum, Grammy-winning triumph \"Damn,\" it hit Billboard's album chart at No. 1, his third consecutive release to do so.\n\nDetails: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 10. Footprint Center, 201 E. Jefferson St., Phoenix. Sold out; resale ticket prices vary. 602-379-7800, ticketmaster.com.\n\nAlicia Keys\n\nAfter three months of a sold-out European arena tour, the 15-time Grammy winner returns to the States with a concept inspired by her longtime friend and mentor, Prince, to perform intimate concerts on The Alicia + Keys World Tour. In a press release after the tour launched with sold-out show in Charlotte, North Carolina, Keys said, “What an amazing night and what an amazing connection we shared. My spirit has been calling me to bring us all closer together. Tonight is exactly what touring should feel like after we’ve all been disconnected for so long.\"\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 10. Arizona Financial Theatre, 400 W. Washington St., Phoenix. Sold out. Resale ticket prices vary. 800-745-300, ticketmaster.com.\n\nJeezy\n\nThe Artist Formerly Known as Young Jeezy arrives in support of \"The Recession 2.\" He topped the rap and R&B charts in 2005 with \"Soul Survivor,\" the breakthrough single from his platinum debut, \"Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101.\" His biggest hits include \"And Then What,\" \"I Luv It,\" \"Go Getta,\" the double-platinum \"Put On\" (which featured Kanye West and put Jeezy back at the top of the rap charts), \"My President\" (featuring Nas), \"Lose My Mind\" (featuring Plies), \"Leave You Alone\" (with Ne-Yo) and \"R.I.P.\"\n\nDetails: 9 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 10. Celebrity Theatre, 440 N. 32nd St., Phoenix. $40-$125. 602-267-1600, celebritytheatre.com.\n\n'Weird Al' Yankovic\n\nDrawing from his catalog of 14 studio albums, the accordion player most likely to rewrite the lyrics to a Knack song promises a different set list every night on the Unfortunate Return of the Ridiculously Self-Indulgent, Ill-Advised Vanity Tour. The tour marks Yankovic's return to the stage after his hugely successful Strings Attached Tour in 2019 where he performed each night alongside a full symphony orchestra.\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 11. Chandler Center for the Arts, 250 N. Arizona Ave. Sold out. 480-782-2680, chandlercenter.org.\n\nJosh Ritter\n\nThe pride of Moscow, Idaho, Ritter was named to a list of the 100 greatest living songwriters by Paste in 2006, alongside such obvious heroes as Bob Dylan and Steve Earle. Joan Baez and Bob Weir have covered his songs. His latest album was produced by kindred spirit Jason Isbell and features contributions from Amanda Shires and members of Isbell's the 400 Unit.\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 11. MIM Music Theater, Musical Instrument Museum, 4725 E. Mayo Blvd., Phoenix. $44.50-$54.50. 480-478-6000, mim.org.\n\nLauv\n\nThe singer-songwriter is touring in support of \"All 4 Nothing,\" a sophomore effort the Line of Best Fit hailed as \"both brutally honest and beautifully cathartic as well as \"a stunning collection of close to home confessionals that cements his status as an extraordinary storyteller.\" His best-known song remains his breakthrough hit, 2017's \"I Like Me Better.\"\n\nDetails: 7:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 12. Arizona Financial Theatre, 400 W. Washington St., Phoenix. $29.50 and up. 800-745-300, ticketmaster.com.\n\nGiveon\n\nThe R&B star rose to fame in 2020 on the strength of two hit singles — Drake's \"Chicago Freestyle\" and his own quadruple-platinum \"Heartbreak Anniversary,\" for which he earned a Grammy nomination (one of seven). He may be best known in the mainstream for his feature on the Justin Bieber single \"Peaches,\" a triple-platinum smash that topped the Hot 100 and the Billboard global charts.\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Monday, Sept. 12. Marquee Theatre, 730 N. Mill Ave., Tempe. 480-829-0607, luckymanonline.com.\n\nJack Harlow\n\nThe Grammy-nominated rapper peaked at No. 2 on Billboard's Hot 100 with a breakthrough single called \"Whats Poppin,\" a success he topped this year with a feature on \"Industry Baby,\" a multiplatinum chart-topper by Lil Nas X, and current single, \"First Class,\" Harlow's second No. 1 of 2022. He arrives in support of \"Come Home the Kids Miss You,\" which hit the Billboard album charts at No. 3.\n\nDetails: 7:45 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 13. Arizona Financial Theatre, 400 W. Washington St., Phoenix. Sold out. Resale ticket prices vary. 800-745-300, ticketmaster.com.\n\nOf Montreal\n\nThe indie-pop legends from Athens, Georgia, led by the great Kevin Barnes, are returning to Phoenix in support of “Freewave Lucifer,” a gem of an album whose title gets increasingly unprintable from that point out. It’s a deeply psychedelic trip inspired by the isolation caused by the pandemic. Highlights range from the shape-shifting avant-pop splendor of “Marijuana’s a Working Woman” to “Ofrenda-Flanger-Ego-a Gogo,” a twisted lullaby that ends with Barnes “humming ‘If I only had a brain, Dorothy/If I only had a brain.” As previously noted, it’s a trip.\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 13. Crescent Ballroom, 308 N. Second Ave., Phoenix. $25. 602-716-2222, crescentphx.com.\n\nDave Matthews Band\n\nDave Matthews Band have sold more than 25 million tickets since their inception. With the release of 2018's \"Come Tomorrow,\" they became the first group in history to have seven consecutive studio albums debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. This is their first Valley concert since 2020, when they headlined Innings Festival, topping an eclectic bill that managed to bring fans of Jason Isbell, Portugal. the Man and DMB's huge fan base together as one nation under a groove.\n\nDetails: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 14. Ak-Chin Pavilion, 2121 N. 83rd Ave., Phoenix. $25 and up. 602-254-7200, livenation.com.\n\nKehlani\n\nThe Oakland-based R&B singer rose to fame as a member of Poplyfe, a teen pop group that finished fourth on \"America's Got Talent,\" a humble beginning that barely hinted at the artistry Kehlani flashed a debut called \"SweetSexySavage.\" This tour is in support of the singer's third album, \"Blue Water Road,\" with special guests Rico Nasty and Destin Conrad.\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 14. Arizona Financial Theatre, 400 W. Washington St., Phoenix. $49.50. 800-745-300, ticketmaster.com.\n\niDKHow\n\nLed by onetime Panic! at the Disco member Dallon Weekes with drums by Ryan Seaman, iDKHow (short for I Dont Know How But They Found Me) are a good bit quirkier — and more intriguing — than their singer's former band. There are moments on \"Razzmatazz,\" their latest album, that echo the loopier moments of Queen or Sparks while other highlights groove like David Bowie in his Thin White Duke phase. This is a co-headlining tour with Joywave.\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 14. The Van Buren, 401 W. Van Buren St., Phoenix. $33; $29 in advance. 866-468-3399, thevanburenphx.com.\n\nWet Leg\n\nThe Isle of Wight indie-rock duo's self-titled debut is all but guaranteed to make the rounds of critics' year-end best-of lists. And for obvious reasons. It's one of those perfect debuts that arrives at exactly the moment we all need it, like the Strokes' \"Is This It.\" A reviewer at musicOMH.com said they're \"firmly on track to become the biggest band in the country\" with an album that's \"here to shake the post pandemic culture out of its slumber.\"\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 15. The Van Buren, 401 W. Van Buren St., Phoenix. $30; $25 in advance. 866-468-3399, thevanburenphx.com.\n\nTwenty One Pilots\n\nThe title of the Icy Tour refers to \"Scaled and Icy,\" an album that became their third consecutive release to debut in the Top 5 of the Billboard album chart when it arrived in 2021. This is the duo's first Valley performance since November 2018, when the Bandito Tour led us to rave, \"For all the showmanship and spectacle that goes into the staging of their shows, the dedication of those fans may have a little more to do with the emotional connection they've managed to make with their music.\"\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 16. Footprint Center, 201 E. Jefferson St., Phoenix. $74.50 and up. 602-379-7800, ticketmaster.com.\n\nFlashback Party Jam\n\nThis is a stellar flashback to 21st Century hip-hop with performances by Treach of Naughty By Nature (who topped the rap charts with their breakthrough single, \"O.P.P.\"), Sir Mix-A-Lot (who topped the Hot 100 with \"Baby Got Back\"), Sugarhill Gang (whose \"Rapper's Delight\" was hip-hop's first top 40 hit), 112, Hi-Five, Kid N Play, Digital Underground, Tag Team and 60 Boyz.\n\nDetails: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 17. Footprint Center, 201 E. Jefferson St., Phoenix. $35.50 and up. 602-379-7800, ticketmaster.com.\n\nJunior H\n\nA powerful leading voice in the urban corrido movement and a popular live act with more than 8.6 million monthly listeners on Spotify, the Mexican singer brings his much-anticipated, 21-date U.S. tour, the $ad Boyz 4 Life Tour, to Phoenix. Released in February, Junior H's latest album, “Mi Vida En Un Cigarro Vol.2,” has surpassed 100 million streams on Spotify.\n\nDetails: 7:45 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 17. Arizona Financial Theatre, 400 W. Washington St., Phoenix. $29.50 and up. 800-745-300, ticketmaster.com.\n\nBoots in the Park with Tim McGraw\n\nBoots in the Park returns to Tempe Beach Park with Tim McGraw topping a bill that also features Dustin Lynch, Ryan Hurd, Tenille Arts, Frank Ray and Joe Peters. McGraw has been a force on country radio since topping Billboard's country airplay chart with the double-platinum \"Don't Take the Girl\" back in 1994. His biggest hits include \"It's Your Love\", \"Just to See You Smile\" and \"Live Like You Were Dying,\" the top country songs of 1997, 1998 and 2004 respectively.\n\nDetails: 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 17. Tempe Beach Park, 80 W. Rio Salado Parkway. $99. seetickets.us.\n\nPitbull\n\nMr. Worldwide is back in the Valley with special guests Iggy Azalea and Sean Paul on the Can’t Stop Us Now Tour, which shares a name with one of Pitbull's recent singles, a collaboration with country singer Zac Brown. Azalea also joined him on the I Feel Good Tour, which also played Ak-Chin Pavilion last summer and finished fourth on Billboard's list of last year's biggest Latin tours.\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 18. Ak-Chin Pavilion, 2121 N. 83rd Ave., Phoenix. $29.95 and up. 602-254-7200, livenation.com.\n\nThe Gaslight Anthem\n\nIn March, the Jersey punks most likely to have their stage crashed by the Boss (it's happened more than once) announced on Instagram that they were reuniting and beginning work on songs for their first album since 2014. \"Returning to full time status,\" as singer guitarist Brian Fallon put it, adding, \"We’re very much looking forward to the future and seeing you all again. We want to thank you for staying with us. Stay tuned!\"\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 18. Marquee Theatre, 730 N. Mill Ave., Tempe. $35-$55. 480-829-0607, luckymanonline.com.\n\nRemi Wolf\n\nThere's a playful brand of willful eccentricity at work on \"Juno,\" from the breezy funk of a song that hangs its wistful chorus hook on the surreal proclamation, \"I love my family intrinsically like Anthony Kiedis,\" to several highlights recalling the avant-pop genius of M.I.A.'s masterful \"Arular.\" It's not for everyone, of course. But if you like a side of fun with your inventiveness, then you could more than likely use a little Remi Wolf in your life.\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Monday, Sept. 19. The Van Buren, 401 W. Van Buren St., Phoenix. $35; $30 in advance. 866-468-3399, thevanburenphx.com.\n\nAn Evening with Michael Buble\n\nThe Canadian crooner hit the mainstream with \"It's Time,\" a triple-platinum smash that topped the Billboard year-end jazz charts for 2005 and 2006 while spinning off his breakthrough single, \"Home.\" He's also quite the showman. As the Sydney Morning Herald says, “This is a man who holds the audience in the palm of his hand. His soaring vocals absolutely knock it out of the park.”\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 20. Footprint Center, 201 E. Jefferson St., Phoenix. $65 and up. 602-379-7800, ticketmaster.com.\n\nKikagaku Moyo\n\nThese psychedelic rockers from Tokyo are touring the States in support of their fifth and final studio release before taking what they say is an indefinite hiatus. And if \"Kumoyo Island\" does, in fact, turn out to be the swan song they intended, they'll have gone out on a high. \"Kumoyo Island\" is an atmospheric daydream of a headphone record that draws you in and then signs off with a final track that sort of drifts into the ether, a fitting farewell.\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 20. Crescent Ballroom, 308 N. Second Ave., Phoenix. Sold out. 602-716-2222, crescentphx.com.\n\nTinariwen\n\nHailed by Slate as \"rock 'n' roll rebels whose rebellion, for once, wasn't just metaphorical,\" these Tuareg musicians from northern Mali who got together while exiled in Algeria earned a best-world-music-album Grammy in 2011 for \"Tassili.\" They're touring the States in continued support of 2019's breathtaking \"Amadjar.\"\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 21. MIM Music Theater, Musical Instrument Museum, 4725 E. Mayo Blvd., Phoenix. Sold out. 480-478-6000, mim.org.\n\nHearts on Fire\n\nRelentless Beats and Psyko Steve Presents are joining forces on the Hearts on Fire Festival. The emo-stacked inaugural event will feature the All-American Rejects, Boys Like Girls, Mayday Parade, Set It Off and Cray, with more to be announced. The event will also feature experiences the promoters are saying will \"quicken the pulse of pop-punk music lovers everywhere,\" as though their pulses need quickening.\n\nDetails: 6:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23. Phoenix Raceway, 7602 Jimmie Johnson Drive, Avondale. $50 and up. tixr.com.\n\nMaren Morris\n\nThe country star is touring in support of \"Humble Quest,\" an album Pitchfork celebrated as \"11 lithe songs about love, work and family, some great, some good, with a coherence and clarity that make it feel matter-of-factly masterful.\" \"Circles Around This Town,” one of two singles shared in advance, broke Amazon Music’s record for most streams for a country song debut by a female artist.\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23. Arizona Financial Theatre, 400 W. Washington St., Phoenix. $39.75 and up. 800-745-300, ticketmaster.com.\n\nAndrew Bird\n\nThe violinist most likely to whistle arrives in support of \"Inside Problems,\" an introspective journey that makes it easy for the listener to tag along. As Pitchfork hears it, \"These 11 songs may be meant to chronicle a pointedly personal inner voyage, yet he’s wound up with a warm, collaborative record that feels like a balm for fear and loneliness.\" This is a co-headlining tour with Iron & Wine.\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23. The Van Buren, 401 W. Van Buren St., Phoenix. $50.50-$56. 866-468-3399, thevanburenphx.com.\n\nVortiFest\n\nVortiFest returns to Sedona for a two-day celebration in the vortex of red rock country with alternative hip-hop legends Arrested Development and G. Love & Special Sauce topping the bill. This marks the third Sedona VortiFest since it was founded in 2021. Yes, that means three events in two years. The Yawpers, Phoenix Afrobeat Orchestra, Banana Gun, Adam Bruce, Damiyr and Sedona's own decker. round out the lineup.\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23; 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 24. Sedona Red Rock High, 995 Upper Red Rock High Loop Road. $25 Friday; $66 Saturday; $90 two-day pass. vortifest.ticketleap.com/vortifest2022/\n\nFreestyle Festival\n\nThere's no shortage of hits to go around on this one. Stevie B, Lisa Lisa, Taylor Dayne, Expose, Tiffany, Jody Watley, All 4 One, Berlin Connie, JJ Fad, Nice &Wild, the Cover Girls, Shannon, Trinere, Timmy T., George Lamond, Pretty Poison, Noel, Sweet Sensation, Cynthia,Lime, the Flirts, Sugar Hill Gang, Melle Mel & Scorpio From Grandmaster Flash and the Furious 5 are all scheduled to perform.\n\nDetails: 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24. Tempe Beach Park, 80 W. Rio Salado Parkway. $59 and up. ticketstripe.com.\n\nSabaton\n\nThe Swedish metal veterans bring the Tour to End All Tours - North America 2022 to Phoenix with support from Dutch symphonic metal legends Epica. The tour takes its name from Sabaton's latest release, \"The War to End All Wars,\" which topped the Billboard Current Rock Albums and Current Hard Music Albums charts.\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24. Arizona Financial Theatre, 400 W. Washington St., Phoenix. $32.50 and up. 800-745-300, ticketmaster.com.\n\nChvrches\n\nThe Scottish synth-pop trio made our year-end album list with 2021's \"Screen Violence,\" on which they turned to slasher films as an unlikely source of inspiration for an album that shimmers its way through an endless string of effervescent pop hooks. The violence is in the lyrics, a juxtaposition that works because of course it does. Robert Smith of the Cure lends his voice to the drama of \"How Not to Drown,\" which opens on Lauren Mayberry singing, \"I'm writin' a book on how to stay conscious when you drown.\"\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 24. Marquee Theatre, 730 N. Mill Ave., Tempe. $42. 480-829-0607, luckymanonline.com.\n\nGirl in Red\n\nMarie Ulven picked up a Best New Alternative Artist nomination at this year's iHeartRadio Music Awards on the strength of a full-length debut titled \"If I Could Make It Go Quiet,\" the Norwegian bedroom-pop songwriter's first full-length studio effort. DIY Magazine said the album \"has all the qualities of a blockbuster pop record — incessant hooks, A-list producer credits — but hone in on each track and you’ll find intimate vignettes that are fully formed in themselves.\"\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 25. The Van Buren, 401 W. Van Buren St., Phoenix. $25-$28. 866-468-3399, thevanburenphx.com.\n\nGorillaz\n\nThe world’s most successful virtual act will once again be brought to life by Damon Albarn and the 14-piece Gorillaz live band — aided and abetted by a varying cast of guest performers — for Life Is Beautiful, a series of 21 unique arena dates across the U.S. and Canada. This is the British group's first U.S. tour since 2018 and first Phoenix date since 2010, when Albarn's backing band included the Clash's Mick Jones and Paul Simonon. It was a brilliant performance and there's no reason to believe this won't be just as entertaining.\n\nDetails: 7:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 26. Footprint Center, 201 E. Jefferson St., Phoenix. $55 and up. 602-379-7800, ticketmaster.com.\n\nBad Bunny\n\nWorld's Hottest Tour? That's how Bad Bunny's biggest tour to date is being billed, and there's no reason to believe he'll fail to live up to the hype. He is, after all, the most listened-to artist in the world for two straight years on Spotify. The opening night of the tour at Camping World Stadium in Orlando holds the record as that venue’s highest-grossing show. By the time the tour launched, 16 of 21 dates on the first U.S. leg were reportedly sold out. He's joined by Deorro.\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 28. Chase Field, 401 E. Jefferson, Phoenix. Sold out; resale prices vary. 800-745-3000, ticketmaster.com.\n\nWu-Tang Clan and Nas\n\nHip-hop icons Wu-Tang Clan and Nas are on a co-headlining NY State of Mind Tour. Considered by many to be the greatest hip-hop group of all time, Wu-Tang Clan have been touring as a unit since their debut record, \"Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers),\" hit the streets in 1993. In addition to each member of the crew representing their lyrical contributions to the Wu-Tang Clan's eight albums, they'll feature notable cuts from the solo discography.\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 29. Ak-Chin Pavilion, 2121 N. 83rd Ave., Phoenix. $29.50 and up. 602-254-7200, livenation.com.\n\nAlan Jackson\n\nThis performance is part of the Last Call: One More for the Road Tour, a farewell tour for Jackson, who's hitting the road for the first time since revealing a health diagnosis that's made it difficult to tour. In a press release, Jackson said, “I’ve always admired my heroes like George Jones, Merle Haggard, Loretta Lynn and Charley Pride who just played as much as they wanted to, as long as they could. I’ve always thought I’d like to do that, and I’d like to as long as my health will allow.\"\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 30. Gila River Arena, 9400 W. Maryland Ave., Glendale. $59.50 and up. 623-772-3800, ticketmaster.com.\n\nBonnie Raitt\n\nThe singer-guitarist returns to the road in support of \"Just Like That,\" her first release since 2016, which topped the Billboard folk and blues charts. In a press release, Raitt said, \"I’m so excited to reunite with one of my favorite soulful artists and dear friends, Marc Cohn, for our fall tour.\"\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 30. ASU Gammage, Mill Avenue and Apache Boulevard, Tempe. Sold out. Resale ticket prices vary. 480-965-3434, asugammage.com.\n\nSt. Vincent\n\nSt. Vincent topped our year-end album list for 2021 with \"Daddy's Home.\" Annie Clark has never sounded funkier, channeling Prince and David Bowie's art-funk years, complete with gospel-tinged backup singers, on an album inspired by her recently incarcerated father's old records. Hence electric sitar turning up on seven of the album's 14 tracks and one song drifting into Pink Floyd's corner of the galaxy. And yet, she sounds surprisingly contemporary on tracks she co-produced, like her previous effort, with Jack Antonoff of the band fun. She also topped our ranking of the best performances at this year's Innings Festival.\n\nDetails: 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 30. Marquee Theatre, 730 N. Mill Ave., Tempe. $42. 480-829-0607, luckymanonline.com.\n\nLake Street Dive\n\nYou could easily pin a yacht-rock label on the more sophisticated moments, of which there are many, on \"Obviously,\" an album that features elements of cocktail funk and smooth-jazz balladry for a soulful sound that would've fit right in at adult contemporary stations in the '70s. American Songwriter suggests, \"Think Steely Dan minus Becker and Fagen’s wry, occasionally sneering lyrics, and you’re getting warm to Lake Street Dive’s approach.\"\n\nDetails: 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 30. The Van Buren, 401 W. Van Buren St., Phoenix. $35; $30 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": "2022/09/01"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/theater/2019/02/07/pnc-broadway-louisville-kentucky-2019-20-season-lineup-announced/2730878002/", "title": "Louisville Broadway: The 2019-20 season lineup announced", "text": "You've got your Broadway tickets and you're anxiously awaiting the cultural phenomenon known as \"Hamilton\" to arrive in Louisville this June.\n\nBut even though there are still four more shows to get through during this PNC Broadway in Louisville season, including \"The Book of Mormon,\" \"On Your Feet!\" \"Hello, Dolly!\" and of course, \"Hamilton,\" it's never too early to start thinking about next season.\n\nOn Thursday, PNC Broadway in Louisville announced its 2019-20 season which promises a powerhouse lineup kicking off with \"Dear Evan Hansen\" — an award-winning musical by the same people who did the music for \"La La Land\" and \"The Greatest Showman.\"\n\nThat musical, which won six 2017 Tony Awards including Best Musical and the 2018 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album, is described by The Washington Post as “one of the most remarkable shows in musical theatre history.\"\n\n\"It's going to be a great lineup,\" said Leslie Broecker, president of PNC Broadway in Louisville, previously told Courier Journal. \"I mean, it's hard to top 'Hamilton,' but I think we can do it. It's going to be an amazing season. I am really pleased.\"\n\nMore:Hey 'Hamilton' fans, Louisville's 2019 Broadway lineup has more highlights\n\nRead this:A Facebook page has popped up selling 'Hamilton' tix. Is it a scam?\n\nAnd they just might have pulled it off. In addition to \"Dear Evan Hansen,\" also coming in 2019-20 is \"The Band's Visit,\" \"Jesus Christ Superstar,\" \"Miss Saigon,\" \"Anastasia,\" \"Come From Away,\" and returning this year, a season option add-on of \"Disney's The Lion King.\"\n\n\"We're coming off a season with a huge hit like 'Hamilton,'\" Broecker said. \"The show not only appealed to our typical arts patrons but also to a much younger crowd so when we went back to Broadway in search of the best shows for the new season, we looked for productions with broad appeal and I feel like we found that.\"\n\nThe mega-musical, which runs June 4-23 at the Kentucky Center, catapulted PNC Broadway In Louisville to an all-time high in season subscriptions — with around 16,000 eager fans.\n\nEach of those fans was a factor in the PNC Broadway series' decision on what shows to bring to Louisville for the next year.\n\n\"The Band's Visit,\" recently featured on \"The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon\" is the winner of 10 Tony Awards including Best Musical. Broecker chose this production because of its passion and incredible music.\n\nIt's the story of a band of Egyptian musicians who show up lost at a cafe in Israel and \"it will capture you with the depth of its story,\" she said.\n\nThere are also two revivals in the new season's regular line up that Broecker hopes will appeal to both old and new fans of Broadway musicals. A technically enhanced \"Miss Saigon\" may literally blow your hair back — remember the helicopter landing scene?\n\nThe new season of the PNC Broadway in Louisville also marks the 50th anniversary of the production of Andrew Llyod Webber and Tim Rice's \"Jesus Christ Superstar.\" Broecker said it's perennially the most requested of the revivals, followed closely by \"Disney's The Lion King,\" which is back this season for the third time.\n\nA universal story:Your guide to the Kentucky Opera's new season\n\nYou may like:Tips for scoring 'Hamilton' tickets in Louisville. But it still won't be easy\n\nWhile the family-favorite is not part of the season package, it is a season option — which means subscribers can choose to include the production or pass on picking it up.\n\nBrand new to the Louisville stage is \"Anastasia,\" a musical based on the hit 1997 animated film is about the adventures a Russian girl who may or may not be the daughter of a Czar. The stage adaptation features music by Stephen Flaherty and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens whose Oscar-nominated song for the film, “Journey to the Past,” is also featured in the musical.\n\nThe 2019/2020 season closes with a bit of history and an uplifting message.\n\n\"Come From Away\" tells the story of the 7,000 people who were diverted to Newfoundland, Canada because they were in airplanes flying across the Atlantic Ocean when the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 occurred in New York City.\n\n\"I have goosebumps just talking about it. It's an incredible story about how that community rose up and took care of these passengers,\" said Broecker. \"It's an incredible uplift and you get to see the goodness in people.\"\n\nCurrent season subscribers can renew their season tickets now. Season tickets will go on sale to the general public on March 28 in three ways:\n\nOrder online at BroadwayinLouisville.com\n\nCall the Broadway Across America toll-free Louisville Season Ticket Hotline at 502-561-1003 Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.\n\nSelect your seats in person at the PNC Broadway In Louisville Box Office, 620 W Main St., Ste 100 Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.\n\nPrices for the six-show season ticket package range between $255-$813 depending on seat location.\n\nTickets for individual shows are not available at this time and typically go on sale to the general public four to six weeks prior to the opening of the show, according to Matt Porter, director of Public Relations for Broadway Across America. For priority offers, updates, and news, join the EClub at BroadwayInLouisville.com.\n\nYou may like:'A season of love.' Inside Louisville Ballet's love story for the city\n\n“I am extremely proud of our long-term partnership with PNC Broadway in Louisville and couldn’t be happier with this accomplishment,” Kim Baker, president of The Kentucky Center, previously said. “This achievement is a testament to their ability to recognize and bring the very best Broadway entertainment to the Bluegrass and present it right here on The Kentucky Center’s Whitney Hall stage.”\n\nWhile it is hard to top a season with \"Hamilton\" on the playbill, Broecker and her team are pleased they've put together a new season filled with more than enough pizzaz, passion and delight to bring you back to the theater next season for more.\n\nReach Kirby Adams at kadams@courier-journal.com or Twitter @kirbylouisville. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/kirbya.\n\nPNC Broadway in Louisville 2019-20 Season\n\nAll productions take place at the Kentucky Center for Performing Arts, 501 W. Main St.\n\nDear Evan Hansen\n\nWinner of six 2017 Tony Awards including Best Musical and the 2018 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album\n\nWHAT: A letter that was never meant to be seen, a lie that was never meant to be told, a life he never dreamed he could have. Evan Hansen is about to get the one thing he’s always wanted: a chance to finally fit in. \"Dear Evan Hansen\" is a deeply personal and profoundly contemporary musical about life and the way we live it.\n\nWHEN: Oct. 1-6\n\nThe Band's Visit\n\nWinner of 10 Tony Awards, including Best Musical\n\nWHAT: Spend an evening in the company of unforgettable strangers at \"The Band's Visit,\" one of the most celebrated musicals. It rejoices in the way music brings us to life, brings us to laughter, brings us to tears, and ultimately, brings us together. In an Israeli desert town where every day feels the same, something different is suddenly in the air. Dina, the local café owner, had long resigned her desires for romance to daydreaming about exotic films and music from her youth. When a band of Egyptian musicians shows up lost at her café, she and her fellow locals take them in for the night. Under the spell of the night sky, their lives intertwine in unexpected ways, and this once sleepy town begins to wake up.\n\nWHEN: Dec. 3-8\n\nJesus Christ Superstar\n\nWHAT: With music and lyrics by Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony winners Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, the 50th Anniversary production of \"Jesus Christ Superstar\" is set against the backdrop of an extraordinary series of events during the final weeks in the life of Jesus Christ as seen through the eyes of Judas. Reflecting the rock roots that defined a generation, the legendary score includes \"I Don’t Know How to Love Him,\" \"Gethsemane\" and \"Superstar.\"\n\nWHEN: Jan. 7-12, 2020\n\nMiss Saigon\n\nWHAT: This is the story of a young Vietnamese woman named Kim who is orphaned by war and forced to work in a bar run by a notorious character known as the Engineer. There she meets and falls in love with an American G.I. named Chris, but they are torn apart by the fall of Saigon. For three years, Kim goes on an epic journey of survival to find her way back to Chris, who has no idea he's fathered a son. Featuring stunning spectacle and a sensational cast of 42 performing the soaring score, including Broadway hits like “The Heat is On in Saigon,” “The Movie in My Mind,” “Last Night of the World” and “American Dream,” this is a theatrical event you will never forget.\n\nWHEN: Feb. 11-16, 2020\n\nAnastasia\n\nWHAT: This show transports you from the twilight of the Russian Empire to the euphoria of Paris in the 1920s, as a brave young woman sets out to discover the mystery of her past. Pursued by a ruthless Soviet officer determined to silence her, Anya enlists the aid of a dashing conman and a lovable ex-aristocrat. Together, they embark on an epic adventure to help her find home, love and family.\n\nWHEN: March 17-22, 2020\n\nCome From Away\n\nWHAT: Head into the heart of the remarkable true story of 7,000 stranded passengers and the small town in Newfoundland, Canada that welcomed them. Cultures clashed and nerves ran high, but uneasiness turned into trust, music soared into the night, and gratitude grew into enduring friendships.\n\nWHEN: May 5-10, 2020\n\nDisney's The Lion King\n\nPNC Broadway in Louisville 2019-20 season option. Winner of six Tony Awards, including Best Musical.\n\nWHAT: Giraffes strut. Birds swoop. Gazelles leap. The entire Serengeti comes to life as never before. And as the music soars, Pride Rock slowly emerges from the mist. This is Disney’s THE LION KING, making a triumphant return to The Kentucky Center.\n\nWHEN: Oct. 30 to Nov. 17, 2019\n\nHow to get tickets to PNC Broadway in Louisville's 2019-20 season\n\nHOW: Current season subscribers can renew their season tickets now. Season tickets will go on sale to the general public on March 28 in three ways:\n\nOrder online at BroadwayinLouisville.com.\n\nCall the Broadway Across America toll-free Louisville Season Ticket Hotline at 502-561-1003 Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.\n\nSelect your seats in person at the PNC Broadway in Louisville Box Office, 620 W Main St., Ste 100 Monday-Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.\n\nCOST: Prices for the six-show season ticket package range between $255-$813 depending on seat location.\n\nMORE INFORMATION: Tickets for individual shows are not available at this time and typically go on sale to the general public four to six weeks prior to the opening of the show. For priority offers, updates, and news, join the EClub at BroadwayinLouisville.com.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2019/02/07"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2022/09/21/harry-styles-in-austin-tx-at-moody-center-concert-show-tickets-setlist-parking-tour/69505050007/", "title": "Harry Styles is playing 6 nights in Austin. What do you need to know?", "text": "The buzz on the Austin music scene is only going in one direction for the next week. Harry's coming.\n\nPop superstar Harry Styles begins a six-show residency at Austin's Moody Center arena on Sept. 25.\n\nAnd it's a star-studded weekend already: Hollywood actors Robert De Niro and Meryl Streep will be at a gala for the Harry Ransom Center on Saturday, and Alamo Drafthouse's Fantastic Fest continues with a celebration of South Korean auteur Park Chan-wook and more.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/09/21"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/columns/brandy-mcdonnell/2020/12/11/disney-details-taika-waititi-and-sterlin-harjo-show-reservation-dogs-chris-paul-film-on-investor-day/316997007/", "title": "Disney details Taika Waititi and Sterlin Harjo show 'Reservation ...", "text": "Brandy McDonnell\n\nThe Walt Disney Company made a cavalcade of high-profile announcements Thursday, which was its 2020 Investor Day.\n\nThe house of mouse unveiled new details on the future of its direct-to-consumer services Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+ and previewed a slew of new content, including multiple attention-grabbing reveals for Disney Animation Studios, Marvel, Star Wars, Pixar and more. Disney also gave a first look at its upcoming international general entertainment content brand, Star, according to a news release.\n\nA couple of the announcements that emerged should be of special interest to Oklahomans:\n\nThe 2021 slate of FX originals, which includes “The Old Man,” “American Horror Stories,” “Platform,” “Y: The Last Man” and “Reservation Dogs,” will be available on Hulu in the U.S. and Star in multiple international markets.\n\nAs previously reported, \"Reservation Dogs\" is the anticipated new series from Oscar-winning New Zealand filmmaker Taika Waititi, who is of Maori ancestry, and Tulsa moviemaker Sterlin Harjo, who is a member of the Seminole and Creek nations.\n\nNow officially coming to FX with the Disney Investor Day announcement, \"Reservation Dogs\" is a new half-hour, coming-of-age comedy about four Native American teenagers growing up on a reservation in eastern Oklahoma who spend their days committing crime - and fighting it.\n\nThe series is co-created by Harjo (\"Four Sheets to the Wind,\" \"Mekko\"), who also directed the pilot episode, and Waititi (“JoJo Rabbit,” “What We Do in the Shadows”), according to a news release. The series stars D’Pharoah Woon-A-Tai, Devery Jacobs, Paulina Alexis and Lane Factor. \"Reservation Dogs\" is executive produced by Harjo, Waititi and Garrett Basch (and produced by FXP).\n\nIn a June interview, Harjo told me the pilot lensed in Oklahoma, although filming was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.\n\n\"We were about to shoot the pilot when COVID kicked off and everyone had to go home. But it's been nice because it's still moving forward. We're just waiting on production to pick back up, and it gave us time to kind of write more episodes, which has been great,\" Harjo said in June.\n\n\"If you look at Native representation in history, it's been pretty bad. So, almost showing any truthful, real version of Native people is humanizing. ... I think anytime we show Native people kind of on their terms and in their environments, we're humanizing (them) on the screen and we're changing the narrative that history has kind of laid on us - history and Hollywood.\"\n\nOklahoma Film + Music Office Director Tava Maloy Sofsky confirmed in an autumn interview that the FX pilot successfully wrapped in the state over the summer.\n\nAlso as part of the Investor Day event, Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production President Sean Bailey announced several feature films in the works under the Disney banner.\n\nAmong the projects filling the Disney+ slate are “Hocus Pocus 2,” a sequel to the 1993 Halloween cult classic, directed by Adam Shankman; a live-action take on “Pinocchio,” directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Tom Hanks; an animated “Night at the Museum,” with Shawn Levy attached to produce; “Cheaper by the Dozen,” a reimagining of the hit comedy with “black-ish” producer Kenya Barris; “Chip N’ Dale: Rescue Rangers,” a hybrid live-action-animated feature; “Sister Act 3,” the third film in the beloved “Sister Act” series, with Whoopi Goldberg on board to star and produce with Tyler Perry; and “Peter Pan & Wendy,” directed by David Lowery and starring Jude Law and Yara Shahidi.\n\nPreviously announced up-and-coming features include “Jungle Cruise,” starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt and directed by Jaume Collet-Serra; the Rob Marshall–directed “The Little Mermaid”; a live-action prequel to “The Lion King,” with Barry Jenkins on board to direct; and “Cruella,” starring Emma Stone, with Craig Gillespie at the helm.\n\nAlso among the Disney Live Action projects is \"The Chris Paul project,\" a biographical film in development for Disney+ about NBA superstar and former OKC Thunder floor general Chris Paul. It follows Paul, whom the Thunder recently traded to the Phoenix Suns, through his moving story of family, legacy and destiny that helped make him who he is today, according to the news release.\n\nOther highlights from the presentations include:\n\nDisney General Entertainment Group Content\n\nDisney Television Studios for Disney+\n\nDisney Television Studios shared a look at some of the high profile family entertainment series in development for Disney+, including two projects inspired by Disney properties: “Beauty and the Beast (working title),” starring Luke Evans and Josh Gad with new music composed by Alan Menken; and “Swiss Family Robinson,” which is a reimagining of the classic from Ron Moore and Jon M. Chu. The studio is also developing “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” based on the bestselling book series by Rick Riordan from Disney Publishing Worldwide.\n\nDisney Television Studios is currently in production on four live action series set to debut on Disney+ in 2021: “The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers,” “Big Shot,” “The Mysterious Benedict Society” and “Turner & Hooch.”\n\nNational Geographic Content\n\nNational Geographic revealed its ambitious Disney+ slate including high profile titles “Limitless With Chris Hemsworth,” “Welcome to Earth (working title)” featuring Will Smith, and a fourth season of the Emmy-winning anthology series “Genius,” which will profile Martin Luther King, Jr.\n\nThe studio also announced the new documentary film “Cousteau,” which will debut in theatres before coming to Disney+ alongside new documentary series “Secrets of the Whales,” “A Real Bug’s Life,” and “America The Beautiful.”\n\nContent for Hulu and Star\n\nThe Kardashian Jenners will create new global content under a multi-year deal, to stream exclusively on Hulu in the U.S. and internationally on Star, with an expected debut in late 2021. Also premiering on Hulu and Star next year are the premium series “Only Murders in the Building,” “The Dropout,” and “Dopesick.”\n\nHulu\n\nHulu’s award-winning, hit drama series, “The Handmaid’s Tale,” has been renewed for a fifth season ahead of its season four premiere and “Nine Perfect Strangers,” starring and executive produced by Nicole Kidman along with David E. Kelley, will debut next year.\n\nFX\n\nIn addition to Hulu in the U.S., the FX premium content brand will bring its library of award-winning content and exclusive new originals to Star around the world. FX has ordered four additional seasons of “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” for the linear channel, FX on Hulu, and Star, smashing the record for longest running live-action sitcom in television history. The group announced it is developing the first series adaptation of the science-fiction horror classic “Alien” and is in advanced talks for a two-season order of “The Stones,” a drama series about the world’s greatest and most enduring rock ‘n roll band, The Rolling Stones. FX will also embark on one of its most sweeping, sophisticated and adult series with the retelling of James Clavell’s beloved epic saga, “Shōgun,” set within feudal Japan.\n\nWalt Disney Studios Content\n\nLucasfilm\n\nLucasfilm announced an impressive number of exciting Disney+ series and new feature films destined to expand the Star Wars galaxy like never before. Among the projects for Disney+ are “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” starring Ewan McGregor with Hayden Christensen returning as Darth Vader, and two series set in the Mandalorian era from Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni: “Rangers of the New Republic” and “Ahsoka,” a series featuring the fan favorite character Ahsoka Tano.\n\nAdditional new titles announced for Disney+ include “Andor,” “Star Wars: The Bad Batch,” “Star Wars: Visions,” “Lando,” “The Acolyte,” and “A Droid Story.” The studio is also revisiting “Willow” in a new series with Warwick Davis returning in the title role.\n\nThe next feature film in the Star Wars franchise, releasing in December 2023, will be “Rogue Squadron,” which will be directed by Patty Jenkins of the “Wonder Woman” franchise. The next installment of the “Indiana Jones” franchise directed by James Mangold, a Star Wars feature film by writer/director Taika Waititi and “Children of Blood & Bone,” based on Tomi Adeyemi’s New York Times bestselling novel, round out the feature-film slate.\n\nWalt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Production\n\nFor Disney+, the studio unveiled a star-studded lineup of original movies and officially confirmed it will produce “Hocus Pocus 2,” reboots of “Three Men and a Baby” with Zac Efron and “Cheaper by the Dozen” with Kenya Barris and Gabrielle Union, and a new “Sister Act” film starring Whoopi Goldberg, who is on board as a producer with Tyler Perry.\n\nAdditional Disney+ projects revealed include “Chip ‘N Dale: Rescue Rangers,” a hybrid live action-animated film starring John Mulaney and Andy Samberg; “Pinocchio,” directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Tom Hanks; “Peter Pan & Wendy,” starring Jude Law as Captain Hook and Yara Shahidi as Tinker Bell; and “Disenchanted,” with Amy Adams returning as Giselle. New live action biographical films set for the service include “Greek Freak,” about NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo.\n\nThe group is also developing new animated takes on favorite 20th Century Studios’ titles “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”; “The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild,” starring Simon Pegg; and “Night at the Museum.”\n\nThe studio also previewed its slate of feature films including “Jungle Cruise”; “Cruella”; a prequel to “The Lion King”; and “The Little Mermaid.”\n\nWalt Disney Animation Studios\n\nWalt Disney Animation Studios made several announcements today, highlighting the upcoming feature film “Encanto,” which includes new songs by Emmy, Grammy and Tony Award winner Lin-Manuel Miranda and is slated for theaters in November 2021. The studio also revealed that “Raya and the Last Dragon” will debut simultaneously on Disney+ Premier Access and in theatres in March 2021.\n\nMarking the first animated series produced by WDAS, the studio also revealed several new series for Disney+ including “Baymax,” “Zootopia+,” “Tiana” and “Moana, The Series,” as well as “Iwájú,” which will be produced in collaboration with the Pan-African comic book entertainment company Kugali.\n\nPixar Animation Studios\n\nPixar Animation Studios revealed its upcoming slate of original series for Disney+ and feature films. Among the titles are Pixar’s first-ever long-form animated series “Win or Lose,” which debuts exclusively on Disney+ in Fall 2023, and two brand-new feature films slated for theaters in 2022, Academy Award-winning director Domee Shi’s “Turning Red,” and “Lightyear,” the definitive origin story of the hero that inspired the toy. Chris Evans will voice the hero on his journey to becoming the most famous Space Ranger ever. Slated for theaters next summer is the original feature film “Luca.”\n\nAdditional details were shared about new Disney+ series, including “Inside Pixar,” “Pixar Popcorn,” “Dug Days,” and “Cars,” as well as the upcoming feature film “Soul” and short “Burrow”—both debuting on Disney+ on Dec. 25.\n\nMarvel Studios\n\nMarvel Studios shared plans for the expansion and future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, revealing details about upcoming content for both Disney+ and theaters. Among dozens of upcoming projects, three new series for Disney+ were revealed, including the Samuel L. Jackson-starrer “Secret Invasion,” “Ironheart” with Dominique Thorne as a genius inventor, and “Armor Wars,” starring Don Cheadle as James Rhodes aka War Machine who faces Tony Stark’s worst fears.\n\nThese will join the studios robust lineup of Disney+ titles including “WandaVision,” “The Falcon and The Winter Soldier,” and “Loki”; the animated series “What If…?”; “Ms. Marvel”; “Hawkeye,” with Hailee Steinfeld joining Jeremy Renner in the series; “She-Hulk,” starring Tatiana Maslany in the title role alongside co-stars Mark Ruffalo and Tim Roth; “Moon Knight”; “Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special”; and a series of original shorts, “I Am Groot,” featuring everyone’s favorite baby tree.\n\nIncluded in a host of new feature film reveals were “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” the third feature in the “Ant-Man” franchise, and “Fantastic Four,” which introduces Marvel’s most iconic family. Marvel Studios’ upcoming feature films also include “Black Widow,” “Shang Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings,” “Eternals,” “Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness,” “Thor: Love and Thunder,” “Black Panther 2,” “Blade,” “Captain Marvel 2” and “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.”\n\nESPN and Sports Content\n\nESPN announced a milestone new 10-year agreement with the Southeastern Conference (SEC), expanding its partnership and adding college football’s most-watched TV package, beginning with the 2024 season. The deal will also bring select SEC football games to ESPN+, beginning with the 2021 football season and running through the term of the agreement.\n\nESPN+, which now reaches more than 11.5 million U.S. subscribers, will also launch several new original series and studio shows in the coming months. “Peyton’s Places,” the Emmy-nominated series currently in its second season on ESPN+, will return for a third season (Fall 2021) and expand to other sports - with some of the most engaging names in sports fronting their own versions of the series, including Abby Wambach (soccer), Ronda Rousey (combat sports), David Ortiz (baseball), and Peyton’s brother, Eli Manning (college football). ESPN+ will also launch “Stephen A’s World,” a new, original program featuring the insights and opinions of one-of-a-kind personality Stephen A. Smith in January. “Man in the Arena: Tom Brady,” the highly anticipated nine-part documentary series coming to ESPN+, is built around Tom Brady’s never-before-seen, first-hand accounts of the journey to each of his nine Super Bowls. Plus, a newly reimagined version of SportsNation will return weekday mornings, beginning in January, exclusively on ESPN+.\n\n-BAM", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2020/12/11"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/16/us/five-things-october-16-trnd/index.html", "title": "5 things to know on October 16, 2022: Start your week smart: Snow ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nHow much would you pay for a pair of old and dirty Levi’s jeans? A couple of bucks? Maybe $10 or $20 if they were really cool? Well, brace yourself … A pair of Levi’s from the 1880s that were found in an abandoned mine recently sold at auction for more than $87,000.\n\nHere’s what else you need to know to Start Your Week Smart.\n\nThe weekend that was\n\n• The Alaska snow crab harvest has been canceled for the first time ever after billions of the crustaceans have disappeared from the cold, treacherous waters of the Bering Sea in recent years.\n\n• Chinese leader Xi Jinping today opened the 20th Party Congress, where he is poised to break with tradition and take on a third term as party chief – paving the way for potential lifelong rule.\n\n• Two gunmen opened fire on Russian military recruits at a training ground in Russia’s Belgorod region Saturday, killing at least 11 people and wounding another 15, Russia’s state news agency TASS reports\n\n• Mexican authorities are searching for gunmen who killed at least 12 people and injured three more after opening fire in a bar in central Mexico on Saturday evening.\n\n• Documents provided by the Secret Service to the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, insurrection show that the agency and its law enforcement partners were aware of social media posts that contained violent language and threats aimed at lawmakers prior to the attack on the US Capitol.\n\nThe week ahead\n\nMonday\n\nA new FDA rule change goes into effect that allows people with mild to moderate hearing loss to buy hearing aids directly from a store or online – without a prescription. This change could result in savings of about $2,800 a pair, the FDA estimates. Watch CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta explain what this means for the millions of Americans who could benefit from wearing hearing aids but have never used them.\n\nAnd if you were among the many who filed for an extension on your federal income tax return on April 18, your six months are up. Remember that even with an extension, you could still be subject to a late payment penalty unless you paid off your balance in full by the original filing date.\n\nTuesday\n\nOctober 18 marks the 50th Anniversary of the Clean Water Act, which was enacted to “restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation’s waters.” The act extends to “all navigable waters” and prohibits individuals without permits from discharging pollutants into those waters – but the exact definition of such waters remains unclear. The EPA is currently facing a challenge in the Supreme Court over its authority to protect wetlands under the Clean Water Act.\n\nWednesday\n\nFormer President Donald Trump is scheduled to be deposed in a defamation lawsuit brought by E. Jean Carroll, a former magazine columnist who accused Trump of raping her in a department store in the mid 1990s. A federal judge last week rejected Trump’s attempt to pause his deposition, saying his efforts to delay the case are “inexcusable.” Trump has denied the allegations.\n\nFriday\n\nFormer Trump adviser Steve Bannon – who was found guilty in July of two counts of contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol – is set to be sentenced. He faces a minimum sentence of 30 days in jail, according to federal law. Bannon is also facing New York state charges of money laundering, conspiracy and fraud related to an alleged online scheme to raise money for the construction of a wall along the southern US border. He has pleaded not guilty.\n\nHear more about America’s mental health crisis\n\nIn this week’s One Thing podcast, CNN Medical Correspondent Dr. Tara Narula breaks down a new survey from CNN in partnership with the Kaiser Family Foundation, which finds that nine out of 10 adults believe that there’s a mental health crisis in the US today. We explore what’s driving that sentiment, the possible solutions, and why an influential task force has recommended screening children ages 8 and older for anxiety. Listen here.\n\nPhotos of the week\n\nCheck out more moving, fascinating and thought-provoking images from the week that was, curated by CNN Photos.\n\nWhat’s happening in entertainment\n\nMusic\n\nSuperstar singer and songwriter Taylor Swift drops her 10th studio album, “Midnights,” on Friday. Here’s a little preview of what fans can expect.\n\nTV and streaming\n\nSeason 11 of FX’s popular anthology series “American Horror Story” premieres Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET. In “American Horror Story: NYC” ( or “AHS: NYC” for short), mysterious deaths and disappearances ramp up in the city. Meanwhile, a doctor makes a frightening discovery, and a local reporter becomes tomorrow’s headline. Watch the trailer at your own peril…\n\nIf you’d prefer something a little lighter, yet with a Halloween bite, “The School for Good and Evil” arrives on Netflix Wednesday – featuring an all-star cast that includes Charlize Theron, Kerry Washington, Laurence Fishburne, Patti LuPone and Michelle Yeoh, among many others.\n\nIn theaters\n\nFriday is shaping up to be a battle between “The Rock” and two of “Ocean’s Eleven.”\n\n“Black Adam,” the latest chapter in the DC Extended Universe, stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as Teth Adam, who “was bestowed the almighty powers of the gods. After using these powers for vengeance, he was imprisoned, becoming Black Adam.” (“Black Adam” is being released by Warner Bros., which is owned by CNN’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery.)\n\n“Ticket to Paradise” features co-stars George Clooney and Julia Roberts as ex-spouses who team up to try and stop their daughter from getting married in Bali to a man she’s just met.\n\nWhat’s happening in sports\n\nBasketball\n\nThe 2022-23 NBA Season gets underway Tuesday with the Boston Celtics hosting the Philadelphia 76ers in the first game, and the reigning league champions Golden State Warriors hosting the Los Angeles Lakers in the second game. The Warriors have won four titles in the last eight seasons.\n\nBaseball\n\nThe MLB postseason continues later today when the Cleveland Guardians face the New York Yankees in Game 4 of the American League Division Series. The winner will take on the Houston Astros in the American League Championship Series, which begins Wednesday. Game 1 of the National League Championship Series is set for Tuesday, with the San Diego Padres hosting the Philadelphia Phillies.\n\nQuiz time!\n\nTake CNN’s weekly news quiz to see how much you remember from the week that was! So far, 14% of fellow quiz fans have gotten eight or more questions right. How will you fare?\n\nPlay me off\n\nTaylor Swift - Shake It Off\n\n‘Shake It Off’\n\nWith six nominations heading into next month’s American Music Awards and a new album dropping on Friday, why not kick off your Sunday with Taylor Swift’s 2014 hit single? And if you absolutely hate this song, well, you already know what they say… (Click here to view)", "authors": ["Andrew Torgan"], "publish_date": "2022/10/16"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2021/07/06/big-kahuna-wing-festival-becomes-strategic-gateway-world-food-championships/7877601002/", "title": "Knoxville-area SERVPRO franchisees recognized for outstanding ...", "text": "Knoxville News Sentinel\n\nKnoxville-area SERVPRO franchisees recognized for outstanding achievement\n\nKnoxville, TN (Grassroots Newswire) July 27, 2021 - SERVPRO announces that the following franchisees were recognized at the company's 52nd annual convention, held July 19-23 at the Walt Disney World Swan & Dolphin Resort in Orlando, Florida.\n\nMax Pope Jr. & Andrea Pope, Owners of SERVPRO of Blount County, who can be reached at (865) 982-2332 or mpope@servproblountcounty.com, received the MILLIONAIRE'S Bronze award.\n\nJohn & Kristina Greenway, Owners of SERVPRO of Rocky Hill/Sequoyah Hills/South Knoxville, who can be reached at (865) 862-8907 or kgreenway@servpro9669.com, received the HERITAGE Bronze award.\n\nThese top performing entrepreneurs joined the more than 650 franchise owners and key employees to receive recognition at the gala award ceremony. Forty-three of those award-winning entrepreneurs became first-time millionaires as SERVPRO franchise owners over the past business year. In all, SERVPRO boasts 663 franchisees who have attained the million dollar or more milestone through their franchise ownership.\n\n\"On behalf of SERVPRO, I congratulate these high-achieving entrepreneurs,\" said Rick Isaacson, CEO of Servpro Industries, LLC. \"Throughout a difficult time when there were no models to follow, SERVPRO continued to provide the service, expertise, and emergency response that has helped us become the trusted specialists for residential and commercial disasters. I'm proud of our entire team of dedicated remediation professionals who stand ready to provide prompt, professional fire and water cleanup and restoration, and mold mitigation and remediation services to home and business owners in their communities – whatever the challenge and whenever it happens.\"\n\nIn an effort to accommodate all members of the SERVPRO franchise family, SERVPRO planned a high-tech \"hybrid convention\" event this year, encouraging franchise owners and key personnel to access the convention events in-person or virtually, according to their preference. The event theme, \"Game On,\" characterized the excitement and determination that has energized the company and its franchise network as the world begins to reopen and return to normal. All attendees benefitted from three general sessions, including a keynote presentation by well-known motivational speaker Molly Fletcher. More than 40 workshop topics informed and educated attendees on the latest trends and innovations in the disaster restoration and remediation industry.\n\n\"We are always excited and proud to share the latest in SERVPRO innovation and business support with our entire network at our annual Convention, but the real 'win' this year was simply being able to get our franchise family together,\" said Isaacson. \"Our annual convention is designed to encourage an open exchange of knowledge – franchise-to-franchise and franchise-to-headquarters. This sharing of hands-on best practices and real-life experiences benefits our entire company. I congratulate our winners for their outstanding achievements this past year and offer my sincere thanks to the entire SERVPRO family for a job well done in a time of unprecedented challenge.\"\n\nFor more information, please contact one of the award-winning Knoxville-area disaster remediation professionals named above or visit www.SERVPRO.com.\n\nAbout SERVPRO\n\nFor more than 50 years, SERVPRO has been a trusted leader in fire and water cleanup and restoration services, mold mitigation, biohazard and pathogen remediation, and construction services. SERVPRO's professional services network of more than 1,900 individually owned and operated franchises spans the United States and Canada, responding to property damage emergencies large and small – from million-square-foot commercial facilities to individual homes. When disaster strikes, homeowners, business owners and major insurance companies alike rely on SERVPRO to make it \"Like it never even happened.\"\n\nGreene County Partnership announces participation in TVA ED Community Innovation Academy\n\nGreeneville, Tennessee – Greene County is one of 8 communities taking part in this year’s TVA Economic Development Community Innovation Academy, a program and experience to help economic developers create breakthrough ideas together to better their communities.\n\nDeveloped by TVA Economic Development and Guillermo Mazier, Founder of Collective Intelligence and VP of Global Innovation for Conway Data Inc., the Academy aids in unlocking the tools, tactics and skills to more effectively and collaboratively solve community problems with the goal of sparking more economic growth and shared community prosperity.\n\nGreene County’s participation in the TVA Innovation Academy is a collaborative effort with Academy local representation by Jeff Taylor, President and CEO of the Greene County Partnership, Mark Stevans, Director of Special Projects for the First Tennessee Development District, Paige Mengel, CFO of Greeneville Light & Power, and a Community Innovation A-Team back in each community. The Greene County Partnership is the initiative lead.\n\nOver a course of nine months, participating communities are completing community ecosystem maps, performing innovation capacity assessments and engaging in hours of interactive working sessions to identify a critical community challenge and incubating a solution that would solve it and in turn positively affect their local economies.\n\nThe Academy will culminate on October 21 in Nashville, TN with a pitch presentation by each participating community outlining an innovative solution to a proposed problem within their community. Teams will be seeking resources (i.e. feedback, introductions, connections, program funding) from the pitch event judges and audience members to strengthen their solution pathway.\n\n“TVA’s Community Innovation Academy provides participating Valley communities the opportunity to explore fresh and transformational approaches to competitiveness in the economic development industry,” said Heidi Smith, TVA General Manager, Global Business. “We are proud to partner with the Greene County Partnership and Greene County to help prepare the community catalysts for industry disruptors and support innovative solutions to foster economic growth.”\n\n“Cities and their community networks are incredible vectors to solve complex economic development problems. The growing rate of global change and unpredictable business environments present a profound challenge to our ability to plan, manage and grow our communities these days. Companies and talent alike are increasingly looking to locate or grow in communities that welcome change, embrace creativity and build innovative environments. Challenges accelerated by the Covid 19 pandemic like workforce availability, small business readiness, corporate growth/expansion and inequality have grown exponentially more complex. How communities effectively respond to those challenges requires new thinking, new models and new collaborations. By applying community innovation, we can help places like Greene County positively impact their long-term economic future,” said Guillermo Mazier, Founder Collective Intelligence and VP Global Innovation at Conway, Inc.\n\n“We’re both proud and excited to be apart of this remarkably innovative program” said Jeff Taylor, President and CEO of the Greene County Partnership. “By partnering with the First Tennessee Development District and Greeneville Light & Power, we can identify common community problems, and with the help of the Community Innovation Academy, we’ve been able to develop appropriate solutions that are conducive to expanding and diversifying Greene County’s economy.”\n\nThe Tennessee Valley Authority is a corporate agency of the United States that provides electricity for business customers and local power companies serving 10 million people in parts of seven southeastern states. TVA receives no taxpayer funding, deriving virtually all of its revenues from sales of electricity. In addition to operating and investing its revenues in its electric system, TVA provides flood control, navigation and land management for the Tennessee River system and assists local power companies and state and local governments with economic development and job creation. More information is available at TVA.com.\n\nThe Greene County Partnership is a joint venture of the Chamber of Commerce, Economic Development Board, Tourism Council, Keep Greene Beautiful and Education & Workforce Development. The organization actively promotes, preserves and enhances the quality of life and economic well being of all Greene Countians by providing collective leadership and serving as a facilitator, catalyst and unifying force to achieve common community goals. The Partnership is a highly effective organization for building community consensus and has become a model for other communities wanting to form similar organizations across the country.\n\nVisit our website at greenecountypartnership.com\n\nNovis Health of Knoxville announces the opening of new center\n\nKnoxville, TN, July 13, 2021, residents of Knoxville, TN, and the surrounding area will be happy to hear that Novis Health has opened a new facility in their neighborhood. Their unique approach to health is entirely different from what is commonly known as traditional medicine, so much so it is not “healthcare” in the conventional sense at all. Novis Health ensures the seven critical areas of health are addressed and optimized, including a focus on Nutrition, Positive Psychology, Social Well-Being, Optimal Lab-Work, Sleep, Movement & Spirituality. Frequently members are able to reduce and even eliminate dependence on certain medications, optimize their health and reduce many of the known risk factors of chronic disease. The Novis Health process achieves success by collaborating with a certified health coach and partnership with a member’s clinician.\n\nHealth in the US is a REAL GROWING PROBLEM.\n\nAn astonishing 47% of US adults deal with at least one Chronic Disease & many more develop chronic illnesses without knowing it. To make matters worse, deaths from prescription drug treatments (iatrogenic deaths) have become the #3 cause of death in the US.\n\nThese statistics beg the question of where one goes to regain optimal health? The fundamental blueprint of Novis Health is the solution to this crisis, a place that is family-focused and fully dedicated to addressing the root cause of disease.\n\nServices and Products:\n\nWorld-class Functional Health Coaches\n\nHealth Data Tracking Tools That Look At Sleep, Stress, Blood Sugar, Nutrition, And More\n\nCutting-edge Health Technologies\n\nFully Personalized Nutritional Solutions\n\nBiofeedback Enhanced Mindfulness\n\nCoordination W/ Primary Care Providers And Functional Medicine Providers\n\nSpecialized Testing\n\nAll Delivered through an affordable Monthly Membership.\n\nTo celebrate the opening of its new location, Novis Health of Knoxville will offer complimentary consultations for a limited time to experience the Novis Health difference.\n\nNovis Health helps their members achieve:\n\nHealth Optimization\n\nReduction and even elimination of dependency on certain medications\n\nCoordination of Services in Collaboration with Existing Providers\n\nReversal Type 2 Diabetes & Pre-Diabetes\n\nReversal of Low Thyroid Symptoms\n\nWomen’s Health\n\nLoss of Stubborn Weight\n\nImproved Lifestyle\n\nFor complete information, visit https://novishealth.com.\n\nNokian Tyres officially expands to 24/7 production at Dayton factory, earns ISO 14001 certification\n\nDAYTON, Tenn. – Nokian Tyres has added a fourth production shift at its North American factory in Dayton, Tennessee, and is now producing tires around the clock at the state-of-the-art facility it opened in 2019.\n\nThe production milestone coincides with another major achievement at the Dayton Factory: ISO 14001 certification, which validates Nokian Tyres’ strict environmental standards at the facility.\n\n“ISO 14001 certification is another testament to the fact that we are one of the most sustainable tire manufacturers in the world,” said Dayton Factory Environmental, Health and Safety Manager Darren Bakkestuen. “It’s pretty rare that we got through the assessment without any major findings.”\n\nThe Dayton Factory’s production building holds LEED v4 Silver certification, the only tire production facility in the world to achieve that mark, and its solar-powered administration building is LEED v4 Gold. Earlier this month, Nokian Tyres won the Tennessee Governor’s Environmental Stewardship Award for Sustainable Performance for its environmental efforts in Dayton.\n\nNokian Tyres began producing tires 24/7 at its Southeast Tennessee campus on July 12. The global tiremaker has hired nearly 150 team members since the start of 2021 and added a third production shift in mid-May. The creation of a fourth shift is in line with Nokian Tyres’ long-term ramp-up plans at the factory, where it plans to make as many as four million tires annually and employ up to 400 workers once the facility reaches full capacity.\n\n“Adding third and fourth production shifts allows us to keep pace with production goals that will help us grow our presence in North America,” said Dayton Factory Operations Director David Korda. “We’re pleased with the quantity and quality of workers we’ve added this year, and we’re eager to help them thrive as our company grows.”\n\nNokian Tyres started production at the Dayton Factory in January 2020 to serve rising demand for its products in the North American market. It crafts all-season and all-weather tires at the facility in line with its core values of safety and sustainability. All three of Nokian Tyres’ global factories hold ISO 14001 certification.\n\nNokian Tyres aims to use the factory to reduce delivery lead times to North American customers and build tires tailored to the needs of drivers in the region, such as the Nokian Tyres One, an all-season passenger tire it launched in North America in January.\n\nKnoxville’s annual entrepreneurship week returns in-person, celebrates new accelerator programs\n\nKNOXVILLE, Tenn., July 15, 2021 – The Innov865 Alliance announced today Innov865 Week 2021 will return with an in-person annual pitch competition and other special events. Innov865 Week 2021 will take place Monday, October 4 – Friday, October 8.\n\nInnov865 Week boasts a range of events for everyone in the area to support local economic development, from investors and regional entrepreneurs to community leaders and students. Throughout the week, the Innov865 Alliance will celebrate two new startup accelerators coming to town in 2022-- Techstars Industries of the Future Accelerator and the Spark Cleantech Accelerator.\n\nInnov865 Week 2021’s premier event is Startup Day 2021, held Tuesday, October 5 at the Mill and Mine. Startup Day is an annual “Shark-Tank”-style pitch competition, where participants compete for a chance to win up to $10,000 in cash prizes. Six of Knoxville’s most investable startups will pitch their businesses in front of a panel of investor judges. In addition to the opportunity to spotlight their startup for investors, entrepreneurs will compete for a “crowd favorite” cash prize, presented by Truist. Included in this year’s programming is the Impact Award, presented by Verizon, given to an entrepreneur or startup that has made a lasting, positive impact on the community.\n\nEarlier this summer, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Tennessee Valley Authority and The University of Tennessee announced the launch of the Techstars Industries of the Future Accelerator. Over the next three years, this unique program will work with 30 startups that use clean energy, AI, big data, cybersecurity, digital currency, 5G and other innovations to transform society. Less than a week after the announcement of the Techstars Industries of the Future Accelerator, the University of Tennessee’s (UT) Spark Innovation Center announced the formation of the Spark Cleantech accelerator. The accelerator is a regional partnership supported through a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy and includes Clean Energy Trust, Centrepolis Accelerator at Lawrence Technological University and mHUB.\n\nTo learn more about Innov865 Week 2021, visit https://innov865week.com/. The website and event calendar will be updated regularly as more events are added to Innov865 Week.\n\nABOUT INNOV865 WEEK AND THE INNOV865 ALLIANCE\n\nInnov865 Week is a weeklong celebration of Knoxville’s entrepreneurial spirit that brings together startups, entrepreneurs, makers, investors, business leaders, students, and community leaders from across East Tennessee for a week of educational panels, pitch competitions, investor roundtables, and social events. It is presented by the Innov865 Alliance, a coalition that develops, supports, and promotes the region’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Founding members of the Innov865 Alliance include the University of Tennessee Research Foundation, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, PYA, UT’s Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Three Roots Capital, Tennessee Valley Authority, Launch Tennessee, Knoxville Chamber, Knoxville Entrepreneur Center, UT Research Park at Cherokee Farm, the City of Knoxville and Bunker Labs Knoxville. To learn more, visit www.innov865.com/.\n\nDollywood's Dreammore Resort and Spa earns top USA Today award, nominated for second award\n\nPIGEON FORGE, Tenn. (Monday, July 19, 2021) — In early July, Dollywood’s DreamMore Resort and Spa was named the number one Amusement Park Hotel in the country by USA Today readers in the publication’s 10Best Readers’ Choice awards. Dollywood’s family-favorite resort now has the opportunity to go two-for-two, as it has been nominated for the 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards for Best Family Resort.\n\nDollywood’s DreamMore Resort and Spa, which celebrates its sixth anniversary later this month, has quickly become a sought-after resort destination, prompting The Dollywood Company to announce a 10-year, $500 million investment strategy that includes additional resort properties. The first resort planned as part of the strategy is Dollywood’s HeartSong Lodge & Resort, which is slated to open in 2023.\n\nVoting opened today at noon and runs through Monday, Aug. 16 at 11:59 a.m. A page with a link to the voting page can be found at www.dollywood.com/vote. Anyone is eligible to vote and may do so once per day, per device. Nominees for all categories are chosen by a panel of relevant experts which include a combination of editors from USA Today, editors from 10Best.com, relevant expert contributors and more.\n\nNestled in the Smoky Mountains next door to Dollywood theme park and Dollywood’s Splash Country water park, Dollywood’s DreamMore Resort and Spa provides guests with a full-service, comfortable home-away-from-home experience that only Dolly Parton could create. Inspired by Parton’s childhood in Locust Ridge, Tennessee, a love for music and storytelling, and a desire to create a place for families to grow and play, Dollywood’s DreamMore Resort and Spa brings Parton’s vision for a premiere family destination to life.\n\nDollywood’s DreamMore Resort and Spa has several unique areas and experiences for families to spend quality time together. Families gather to play checkers by the fireplace in one of the resort’s grand living rooms, enjoy a glass of sweet tea in a rocking chair on one of the many porches or swap stories on one of the beautiful garden benches. The resort’s lavish 20-acre property includes premiere amenities and perks to help guests create their own special moments and memories.\n\nFull-service dining, indoor and outdoor pool complexes, and exclusive park privileges—like complimentary transportation to Dollywood theme park and complimentary TimeSaver passes for Dollywood rides and shows—make the property a must-visit experience. Additionally, there are a variety of on-site activities at the resort for families. Through fun-filled activities including arts and crafts, storytelling and summertime pool parties, Camp DW is designed to inspire children’s imaginations. At night, families gather around the fireplace for a bedtime story with a book selected from Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Guests also can roast complimentary marshmallows to make s’mores each night around the fire pit.\n\nDuring its history, DreamMore Resort has earned several awards including being named the #1 Amusement Park Hotel in 2018 by USA Today, one of Southern Living’s “Best Places to Stay in the South” and one of Travel + Leisure’s “25 Resorts in the US that are Perfect for Families.”\n\nA panel of experts and USA Today 10Best editors selected Dollywood Parks & Resorts properties and attractions in six categories for award competitions that took place in June. Results included:\n\nBest Amusement Park Hotel- Dollywood’s DreamMore Resort and Spa (#1)\n\nBest Amusement Park Restaurant- Aunt Granny’s Restaurant (#1)\n\nBest Amusement Park Entertainment- Dreamland Drive-In (#3)\n\nBest Amusement Park- Dollywood (#5)\n\nBest Outdoor Water Park- Dollywood’s Splash Country (#5)\n\nBest Amusement Park Roller Coaster- Lightning Rod (#5)\n\nBest Amusement Park Hotel- Dollywood Cabins (#7)\n\nFor more information about Dollywood’s 2021 season, operating calendars and more, please visit Dollywood.com or download the Dollywood app.\n\nPinnacle is one of the country's top 5 workplaces for millennials\n\nNASHVILLE, TN, July 16, 2021 – Pinnacle Financial Partners is among the top companies in the country for millennials to work, which includes associates from age 24 to 40. The firm earned the No. 4 spot on the list of Best Workplaces for Millennials from FORTUNE magazine and Great Place to Work®, just as it did in 2020. In April 2021, Pinnacle was named the overall No. 26 Best Company to Work For in the United States and No. 8 Best Workplace in Financial Services and Insurance.\n\n“The pandemic changed people’s expectations of how work fits into their lives,” said Sarae Janes Lewis, Pinnacle’s director of associate and client experience. “Many of today’s millennials are parents of young children and even approaching middle age, and they expect a work-life dynamic that will let them be at their best in all roles. That’s always been Pinnacle’s value proposition for associates. They’re given the freedom to do what they love at work and the flexibility to take care of their family and personal needs so they never have to compromise. We were built for this moment.”\n\nDuring the height of the pandemic, associates gave glowing reviews of Pinnacle’s response and business continuation plan, which gave them room to prioritize caring for themselves and their families.\n\n“From Day One, I felt like my health and my family’s health was important… I appreciate being a part of the Pinnacle family now more than ever.”\n\n“The constant support and requests for our input makes me feel valued as a person and a member of this Pinnacle family… We are all able to do what works best for our individual situations and offices.”\n\n“I feel that every decision took my family into consideration, as well as my ability to continue performing my daily duties with all the resources necessary to do so.”\n\n“The flexibility for us to take care of our family and kids really helped us. I don’t know what we would have done without that support.”\n\nEven with a hiring philosophy that seeks out seasoned professionals with at least 10 years of experience for most roles, nearly a quarter of Pinnacle’s associates are 40 years old or under. With an average retention rate of 95 percent – unheard of in the financial services industry – they are more likely to stay and build their careers at Pinnacle.\n\nRankings for this list reflect feedback representing more than 5.3 million employees at Great Place to Work-Certified organizations. Great Place to Work, a global people analytics and consulting firm, evaluated more than 60 elements of team members’ experience on the job. Eighty-five percent of the evaluation is based on what millennials say about their experiences of trust and reaching their full human potential as part of their organization, no matter who they are or what they do. The remaining 15 percent of the rank is based on an assessment of millennials’ daily experiences of innovation, the company’s values and the effectiveness of their leaders, to ensure they’re consistently experienced.\n\nBest Workplaces for Millennials is one of a series of rankings by Great Place to Work and FORTUNE based on employee feedback from Great Place to Work-Certified™ organizations. Pinnacle regularly ranks on several of them, including overall Best Company to Work For, Best Workplace in Financial Services and Insurance, Best Workplace for Parents and Best Workplace for Women.\n\nPinnacle Financial Partners provides a full range of banking, investment, trust, mortgage and insurance products and services designed for businesses and their owners and individuals interested in a comprehensive relationship with their financial institution. The firm is the No. 1 bank in the Nashville-Murfreesboro-Franklin MSA, according to 2020 deposit data from the FDIC. Pinnacle earned a spot on the 2021 list of 100 Best Companies to Work For® in the U.S., its fifth consecutive appearance. American Banker recognized Pinnacle as one of America’s Best Banks to Work For eight years in a row and No. 1 among banks with more than $10 billion in assets in 2020.\n\nPinnacle owns a 49 percent interest in Bankers Healthcare Group (BHG), which provides innovative, hassle-free financial solutions to healthcare practitioners and other licensed professionals. Great Place to Work and FORTUNE ranked BHG No. 1 on its 2020 list of Best Workplaces in New York State in the small/medium business category.\n\nThe firm began operations in a single location in downtown Nashville, TN in October 2000 and has since grown to approximately $35.3 billion in assets as of March 31, 2021. As the second-largest bank holding company headquartered in Tennessee, Pinnacle operates in 14 primarily urban markets across the Southeast.\n\nAdditional information concerning Pinnacle, which is included in the Nasdaq Financial-100 Index, can be accessed at www.pnfp.com.\n\nAbout the Best Workplaces for Millennials\n\nGreat Place to Work based its ranking on a data-driven methodology applied to anonymous Trust Index™ survey responses representing over 5.3 million employees at Great Place to Work-Certified organizations. To learn more about Great Place to Work Certification and recognition on Best Workplaces lists published with FORTUNE, visit Greatplacetowork.com.\n\nAbout Great Place to Work\n\nGreat Place to Work® is the global authority on workplace culture. Since 1992, they have surveyed more than 100 million employees around the world and used those deep insights to define what makes a great workplace: trust. Great Place to Work helps organizations quantify their culture and produce better business results by creating a high-trust work experience for all employees. Emprising®, their culture management platform, empowers leaders with the surveys, real-time reporting, and insights they need to make data-driven people decisions. Their unparalleled benchmark data is used to recognize Great Place to Work-Certified™ companies and the Best Workplaces™ in the US and more than 60 countries, including the 100 Best Companies to Work For® and World’s Best list published annually in Fortune. Everything they do is driven by the mission to build a better world by helping every organization become a Great Place to Work For All™.\n\nHUB International acquires the assets of Georgia-based Risk Point Consulting\n\nChicago, July 16, 2021 - Hub International Limited (Hub), a leading full-service global insurance broker, announced today that it has acquired the assets of Risk Point Consulting. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.\n\nLocated in Marietta, Georgia, Risk Point Consulting specializes in professional sports and college athletics contractual bonus coverage and over-redemption insurance. Their team has been helping clients with more than 60 years combined experience in the industry and having managed more than $1 billion in risk exposure during their 15 years in business.\n\nRisk Point Consulting’s focus aligns with Hub’s Sports & Entertainment Specialty practice by complementing and strengthening its existing capabilities. Michael Wright, President of Risk Point Consulting, and his team, including Adam Goldfarb and Ari Weitz, will join the Hub Gulf South region.\n\n“Risk Point Consulting’s deep experience with all sports entities and a specific focus on sports sponsors, professional athletes and college athletic departments, allows it to help its clients achieve their unique goals. We are confident this acquisition will help expand our sports and entertainment capabilities in the South,” said Shaun Norris, President of Hub Gulf South.\n\nAbout Hub’s M&A Activities\n\nHub International Limited is committed to growing organically and through acquisitions to expand its geographic footprint and strengthen industry and product expertise. For more information on the Hub M&A experience, visit WeAreHub.com.\n\nAbout Hub International\n\nHeadquartered in Chicago, Illinois, Hub International Limited is a leading full-service global insurance broker providing risk management, insurance, employee benefits, retirement and wealth management products and services. With more than 13,000 employees in offices located throughout North America, Hub’s vast network of specialists brings clarity to a changing world with tailored solutions and unrelenting advocacy, so clients are ready for tomorrow. For more information, please visit www.hubinternational.com.\n\nUT Knoxville donors invest in students, set scholarship record\n\nMore than 51,000 generous alumni and friends of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, invested in students during the 2020–21 fiscal year, committing more than $202 million and transforming the student experience. The donations resulted in the record-setting awarding of student scholarships, the establishment of a student emergency fund, and the founding of the Big Orange Pantry to alleviate food insecurity.\n\n“The way our alumni and friends have stepped up to support UT students during a difficult year has been nothing short of amazing,” said Chancellor Donde Plowman. “I continue to be inspired all the time by the selflessness, courage, and leadership that define Volunteers of all ages and backgrounds.”\n\nThis record year has enabled another generation of students to gain access to the Volunteer experience. More than 7,400 students were awarded more than 9,500 privately funded scholarships for a disbursed total of over $21 million.\n\n“I am the first person in my entire family to finish high school, let alone a college degree,” said senior Alexis Moreno, a statistics major. “Thanks to the generosity of donors, finances were not one of the obstacles. This is something I will always remember and be grateful for.”\n\nMoreno completed his UT education with support from the Tri-Star Scholarship program, an area that saw significant growth this year. Comprising three scholarships (UT Promise, Tennessee Pledge, and Flagship), the Tri-Star provides pathways for Tennessee residents to receive an affordable UT education.\n\nOne of the proudest achievements of the year was the way Volunteers stepped up to establish the university’s Student Emergency Fund. The initial goal of raising $250,000 using VOLstarter, UT’s crowdfunding platform, was quickly exceeded, and funds were distributed to nearly 830 students by May. For Heath Allen, a geography major, the emergency funding helped him find an apartment in Knoxville, giving him reliable internet service and a pathway to complete his semester virtually.\n\nThe Big Orange Pantry was established after a study on campus revealed that one in three students identified as food insecure; the isolation and economic upheaval of COVID-19 increased the problem. A collaborative cross-campus effort created and stocked the pantry, where students can receive assistance in a stigma-free environment that is like a shopping experience.\n\nThe pantry was made possible by seed funding given by Donnie and Terry Smith (’80), whose philanthropy centers around agriculture and food.\n\n“It’s really hard to ace a math test when you’ve got an empty stomach,” Smith said. “Our hearts are with that kid who needs that bit of extra help to do well in school and not get discouraged. It’s hard to raise your hand and say, ‘I’m hungry.’”\n\nTwo transformative moments during the year were a gift from the Haslam family to the Haslam College of Business and the Zeanah family’s gift to create the Zeanah Engineering Complex. Other highlights included the Big Orange Give, the annual day of giving, which raised $2.5 million in just 24 hours for hundreds of areas across campus; significant growth in alumni chapter and council scholarships; and a gift from Randy and Jenny Boyd (both ’79) to secure a historic replacement of the Carousel Theatre, which will be named the Jenny Boyd Carousel Theatre.\n\nUT raises funds through the University of Tennessee Foundation, an independent nonprofit corporation that seeks to enrich the lives of UT students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends through alumni engagement, financial stewardship, and private investments. The foundation is the preferred channel for all private contributions benefiting faculty and students throughout the University of Tennessee System.\n\nOle Red Gatlinburg to hold hiring event July 20th\n\nOle Red Gatlinburg—the popular restaurant, music venue, and retail space inspired by country superstar Blake Shelton—will welcome job seekers during a one-day hiring event. Prospective candidates will have the opportunity to learn more about careers at Ole Red Gatlinburg, which is owned and operated by Ryman Hospitality Properties (RHP). The hiring event will take place Tuesday, July 20, 10am-6pm, at Ole Red Gatlinburg (511 Parkway, Gatlinburg, TN 37738).\n\nThe company is recruiting for full-time and part-time job openings that include everything from servers, hosts, bartenders, barbacks, bussers, and line cooks to AV, retail, security, and maintenance positions.\n\nCandidates can apply online at RHPCareers.com/Ole-Red-Gatlinburg in advance to secure interview spots. The company will be making job offers on site.\n\nRyman Hospitality Properties offers competitive pay and benefits for both full and part-time positions. As COVID-19 restrictions lift across the U.S., new employees will help meet the surge in customer demand that Ole Red Gatlinburg has experienced.\n\nKeep Knoxville Beautiful to bring mural to Marble City\n\nKeep Knoxville Beautiful (KKB) has commissioned a mural to be installed on the corner of Sutherland Avenue and Concord Road. The mural will be located on the concrete block wall of the Smyrna Ready Mix plant.\n\nKeep Knoxville Beautiful has partnered up with local artist Megan Lingerfelt to bring some greenery to a drab wall at the entrance to the Marble City neighborhood and steps away from the Third Creek Greenway. Lingerfelt was inspired by the lush and flourishing spirit of the Third Creek Greenway. The mural will consist of a pattern of a spade-shaped leaf with a sheen that would reflect light and give a sense of the dappled sun and shade experienced on the greenway. Additionally, a nod to the neighborhood's namesake and history is included with \"Marble City\" woven through the leaves in a light pink broken line to abstractly reference the color and character of Tennessee pink marble.\n\nExecutive Director of Keep Knoxville Beautiful, Alanna McKissack, says “we are excited to bring beautification through the creative lens to this historic neighborhood of Knoxville. Beautiful spaces help promote clean and thriving communities. We hope this will be a start to more projects along Sutherland Avenue.”\n\nKeep Knoxville Beautiful is hoping to raise $5,000 to help pay for the new mural. The organization is asking for donations of $11 on Facebook to help cover the cost of one square foot of the mural. Donations can be made at https://www.facebook.com/donate/245831440413963/.\n\nPrep and painting of the mural will begin in August.\n\nKCDC secures 63 emergency housing vouchers to help stem homelessness in pandemic\n\nKnoxville’s Community Development Corporation (KCDC) has been awarded 63 emergency housing vouchers to help prevent homelessness during the COVID-19 pandemic with funding authorized by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.\n\nThe Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) allocated additional emergency housing vouchers (EHVs) to public housing authorities in areas where populations have the greatest need while also considering housing authority capacity and the requirement to ensure geographic diversity, including rural areas.\n\n“These vouchers will help KCDC get more people into housing who need it the most right now,” KCDC Executive Director and CEO Ben Bentley said. “The pairing of resources through HUD’s Continuum of Care (COC) programs with these EHVs will enable the delivery of rapid housing and support for individuals and families experiencing homelessness.”\n\nThe EHVs will help assist individuals and families who are homeless; recently homeless; at risk of homelessness; or fleeing or attempting to flee domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, stalking or human trafficking.\n\nKCDC’s Section 8 program is seeking additional landlords within Knoxville and Knox County to help provide affordable housing to lower-income families. Benefits to landlords include a guaranteed rent subsidy via direct deposit on the first working day of each month; lower vacancy rates; criminal background checks on applicants; and inspections on units to identify any possible problems. For more information, visit https://www.kcdc.org/landlord or contact section8info@kcdc.org.\n\nAbout Knoxville’s Community Development Corporation\n\nSince 1936, KCDC has been dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for the citizens of Knoxville and Knox County. KCDC’s mission is to improve and transform neighborhoods and communities by providing quality affordable housing, advancing development initiatives and fostering self-sufficiency. For more information, call 865-403-1100 or visit http://www.kcdc.org.\n\nRibbon cutting ceremony officially opens Avertium's Knoxville office\n\nKNOXVILLE, TENN. – July 14, 2021 – Avertium, a cyber security management and consulting company, re-opened its newly renovated Knoxville headquarters today, located at 1431 Centerpoint Blvd, Suite 150 with a grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony attended by Avertium executives and staff, Knoxville Chamber of Commerce, Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs, amongst others.\n\nKnoxville-based Sword & Shield, in business for more than 22 years, was acquired by growth equity firm, Sunstone partners in 2019, merging multiple companies to form Avertium. Avertium’s CEO, Jeff Schmidt, understands the business benefits of running and growing an office in Knoxville. With offices in Phoenix, Ariz. and Longmont, Colo., Avertium’s next chapter requires the talent that comes from East Tennessee and the support of the community.\n\n“Avertium’s exponential growth is a testament to our employees and our mission to keep our customer’s information safe,” says Avertium CEO, Jeff Schmidt. “Cybersecurity is top of mind for IT, security professionals and business executives and when a threat makes it to the news, it’s because of a breach – it’s our job to prepare, prevent and detect these things so that they don’t come to fruition.”\n\nAvertium attracts employees from all over the US and recruits locally from Pellissippi State’s Cybercrime Unit, University of Tennessee and other educational facilities. Avertium’s Knoxville location has a state-of-the-art Cyber Fusion Center operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. As Avertium continues its rapid growth, and goal of helping its customers secure a better future, the team and community in Knoxville will continue to play a critical role.\n\nSolar Alliance to hold free workshop for businesses seeking USDA grants for Rural Energy of America Program (REAP)\n\nKNOXVILLE, Tenn. – July 14, 2021 – In response to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) now accepting federal grant applications for its Rural Energy of America Program [REAP], Knoxville-based Solar Alliance is presenting an informative workshop to help business owners understand how to get 75% of a solar system paid for with tax incentives and grants.\n\nThe free Solar Alliance workshop is hosted by Lick Skillet Farm on Wednesday, July 28 at 5:30 p.m., at 800 Lick Skillet Lane in New Market, Tennessee. Attendance is free by registering online.\n\nREAP provides guaranteed loan financing and grant funding to agricultural producers and rural small businesses for renewable energy systems or to make energy efficiency improvements. REAP grant application submissions are due by October 31, 2021, and many types of businesses are eligible.\n\n“There is a big misconception that grants to fund solar installations to offset energy costs are reserved for agricultural producers or working farms, and that is simply not the case,” noted Harvey Abouelata, vice president of commercial solar for Knoxville-based Solar Alliance. “We’ve helped businesses of all types and sizes apply for and receive grants for solar solutions that have a huge impact on energy costs and their bottom lines. The main prerequisite is that the business be in an area deemed rural and they are classified as a small business. The USDA definition of “small business” is actually broader than most people realize, so we encourage business owners to get in touch with us so we can help them navigate the process and determine what support is available,\" said Abouelata.\n\nApplying for the USDA REAP energy grant can be time-consuming and intimidating, so Solar Alliance offers a turnkey program to help businesses in rural communities. “Solar Alliance has secured millions of dollars in tax incentives/credits and grants for customers to help offset project costs. The REAP grant can be combined with the investment tax credit (ITC) and the modified accelerated cost recovery system (MACRS) depreciation which makes for an attractive payback,” noted Abouelata.\n\n“The savings from our solar installation are a critical part of our cost-cutting strategy, and our customers appreciate our commitment to the environment. The turnkey approach Solar Alliance took to handling both the REAP grant and the total installation made everything easy,” said Alex Miller, CEO of Lick Skillet Farm in New Market, Tennessee. “It’s a rare occasion when a business can drive down a fixed-cost,” said Ted Wampler, Jr., president of Wampler Farm Sausage in Lenoir City, Tennessee. “We installed several solar projects through the grant process since 2009 and have been recognized as an innovative business in our industry. I highly recommend going for a REAP grant,” he said.\n\nAccording to the USDA website, this program helps increase American energy independence by increasing the private sector supply of renewable energy and decreasing the demand for energy through energy efficiency improvements. Over time, these investments can also help lower the cost of energy for small businesses and agricultural producers.\n\nRandy DeBord, an entrepreneurial businessman involved in the revitalization of downtown Morristown, Tennessee utilized a REAP grant to install solar at McFarland Pharmacy where he is president and owner. “Grants to help reduce energy costs aren’t just for farmers,” noted DeBord. “Many small, for-profit businesses qualify, regardless of the type of business.”\n\n“Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it’s been a tough 16 months for small businesses, especially those located in rural areas,” said Abouelata. “We are here to help navigate the application process through construction so small businesses can become energy independent and control their costs.”\n\nSolar Alliance charges a nominal fee for its grant writing services which can be applied in the form of a credit during the construction phase.\n\nFor information, contact Harvey Abouelata at habouelata@solaralliance.com\n\nAbout Solar Alliance\n\nSolar Alliance is a purpose-driven company whose mission is fostering energy independence and promoting sustainable solutions that preserve the environment. The company partners with businesses, utilities, contractors, and other entities to propel economic development, promote environmental stewardship, and spur energy independence.\n\nCBCW’s Christa Rosenberg handles lease of new downtown Knox co-working space for female entrepreneurs\n\nJuly 13, 2021 | Knoxville, Tenn — Coldwell Banker Commercial Wallace announces the lease of an office space at the Langley Building, 520 W. Summit Hill Drive, Suite 601, Knoxville, TN 37902.\n\nThe transaction was handled by Christa Rosenberg for her client, Aught LLC, the driving force behind co-working spaces and cultivated community for women entrepreneurs in Knoxville. Formerly Girl Boss Offices, this concept has been hugely popular with the organization’s West Knox location. Aught is now expanding to downtown Knoxville and beyond.\n\nFounded in 2019 by Erika Biddix, the organization seeks to redefine female entrepreneurship while connecting women with resources to accelerate their success. This downtown location adds 16 available desks to the existing 14 in Cedar Bluff. Franchise opportunities are now open nationwide.\n\nAught and Rosenberg, representing Coldwell Banker Commercial Wallace, are committed to supporting women entrepreneurs and both recently served as co-sponsors for the event “Let Her Speak Presents: Seeing the Superhero in You!” This sold-out event, which also included a networking Happy Hour at Maple Hall, was in the form of a virtual workshop to help women see the superpowers within themselves. https://www.letherspeakus.com/\n\nFor more information about leasing options, contact Christa Rosenberg at 865-309-4950. To learn more about Aught membership options or to apply for co-working space, visit https://www.aughtentrepreneurs.com/.\n\nMagma Equities acquires 146-unit multifamily community in West Knoxville for $15.425 million\n\nManhattan Beach, CA (July 13, 2021) – Multifamily investment firm Magma Equities (“Magma”) in partnership with Viking Partners has added to its Tennessee portfolio with the acquisition of Greentree Homes Apartments, a 146-unit garden-style community in Knoxville for $15.425 million.\n\nThe property, which will be rebranded as The Abigail, benefits from a prime location at 4831 E. Summit Circle in West Knoxville, one of Knoxville’s most affluent neighborhoods. Located within five miles of Downtown Knoxville and the University of Tennessee, the neighborhood’s elementary, middle and high schools are among the most highly rated in Knox County.\n\nDespite the numerous demand drivers, the eight-acre wooded property has suffered from a lack of institutional-quality ownership and has largely remained unimproved since being constructed in 1974. This has impacted both rent growth and occupancy, which was 88 percent at closing, according to Magma Equities Founder and Managing partner Ryan Hall.\n\n“We will immediately address deferred maintenance issues as well as bring on Elmington Property Management, which manages all of our properties in Tennessee, to improve property-level operations,” said Hall, whose Los Angeles-based investment firm owns more than 700 units in Tennessee. “We will then embark on a thoughtful renovation program in the Fall.”\n\nWhen completed, Hall believes The Abigail will be well positioned as a high quality, yet more affordable alternative to the higher-priced rental product in the West Knoxville submarket.\n\nDennis Harris of The Kirkland Companies represented both parties to the transaction.\n\nAbout Magma Equities\n\nManhattan Beach, CA-based Magma Equities (http://www.magmaequities.com) is a diversified real estate organization focused on re-positioning Class A & B apartment communities throughout the country. We strive to maximize returns for investors while providing our residents with homes that are environmentally friendly, efficient, and state-of-the-art. Investment decisions are based on our successful experience in the past, and more importantly, our vision for the future.\n\nAbout Viking Partners\n\nViking Partners (https://www.vikingpartnersllc.com/) is a private equity real estate investment firm focused on the acquisition, turnaround, and disposition of value-add real estate throughout the country. Since its founding in 2008, Viking Partners has completed more than 70 property acquisitions valued at over $925 million on all asset types including office, multifamily, retail, and industrial/flex. Headquartered in Cincinnati, Viking Partners is currently seeking acquisition opportunities for value-add and stabilized properties with a transaction range of $10 million to $60+ million.\n\nCountry Roads Axe Co. brings first self-pour tap wall to Pigeon Forge\n\nPIGEON FORGE, TN (July 13, 2021) – Country Roads Axe Co. has partnered with iPourIt, Inc., a leading provider of self-pour technology, to bring the first self-serve tap wall to Pigeon Forge, TN.\n\nLocated in Sevier County, one of the country’s fastest-growing tourism destinations and home of Dolly Parton’s Dollywood, Country Roads is the first axe throwing concept to offer advanced projected targets with special games and customizable graphics, as well as a full-service dining experience.\n\nGuests can skip the line at the bar and serve themselves using an RFID-enabled wristband to activate the taps and track their tab. The 24-tap draft system offers a rotating selection of both domestic and local craft beers, ciders, seltzers, and more.\n\nOwners Brandon Disney, Chad Preston, Chuck Preston, and Todd Boggess recognized an opportunity to bring a completely new and unique experience to Pigeon Forge and began looking into self-pour technology as a complement to their high-tech indoor axe throwing concept.\n\n“We’re beer drinkers and hate waiting at the bar so when we saw self-pour technology, we started doing research and realized there was nothing like it in town,” shared Disney. “Our beer dispense partner recommended looking at iPourIt and we were sold on the system design and the fact that they develop their own technology and software in the USA instead of buying it from overseas like other providers.”\n\nThe dining menu is provided by West by God CoalFired Pizza, another project for co-owner Boggess. It features gourmet, made from scratch coal-fired pizzas including favorites like the Pizza Party, pepperoni drizzled with Mike’s Hot Honey Sauce, and the Boggey Bomb, meat lovers style with local bacon jam.\n\nDiners can watch the axe throwing activities from “Almost Heaven,” a special mezzanine that overlooks the rest of the venue. Those who are throwing can opt to try ninja stars and knives in addition to the traditional axes. Meeting and event space and group discounts are also available.\n\nWith iPourIt self-pour tap wall technology, operators can differentiate their business while increasing alcohol revenue, reducing labor needs, and enhancing customer experience. The latest GEN 4 platform is loaded with tools and features that are perfect for venues like super quick check-in speeds, automated pricing specials, and real-time inventory management.\n\nCountry Roads Axe Co. is located at 137 E Wears Valley Rd Suite 3, Pigeon Forge, TN 37863.\n\nAbout Country Roads Axe Co.\n\nCountry Roads Axe Co. is the hottest and most technologically advanced family entertainment venue in Pigeon Forge. The never-before-seen axe throwing experience features digitally projected targets, iPourIt’s self-serve draft beverage system, a full-service bar, and gourmet dining by West by God CoalFired Pizza. All of these unique concepts come together in a 7,500 square foot space to create an experience unlike any other in the Smoky Mountains. Visit countryroadsaxeco.com for more information.\n\nAbout iPourIt, Inc.\n\niPourIt, Inc. is America’s leader in self-serve beverage dispense technology with over 7,300 taps installed, 215 million ounces poured, and 260 locations in operation. The team of self-pour experts partners with operators and entrepreneurs to create fun and interactive experiences in restaurants, venues, taprooms, and beyond. iPourIt technology is proven to increase alcohol revenue, simplify labor needs, and enhance customer satisfaction. Visit ipouritinc.com for more information.\n\nFollow iPourIt, Inc. on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter\n\nFort Sanders neighborhood street cleaning planned for successive July weekends\n\nTaking advantage of most University of Tennessee students being off campus during mid-summer, City crews will be cleaning the streets in Fort Sanders next weekend (July 17 and 18) and again the following weekend (July 24 and 25).\n\n“Fort Sanders is a dense neighborhood with a very high demand for on-street parking, so it’s most effective and most convenient to the residents to sweep the streets when UT is out of session and there are fewer residents, fewer cars,” City Parking Systems Manager Mark Elliott said.\n\n“We appreciate the help and understanding of the summer residents in making this successful. This will benefit the neighborhood. We’ll clean the streets and parking lanes – everything from dirt and leaves to litter to oil drippings.”\n\nThe weekend work will occur July 17-18 on north-south streets and on July 24-25 on streets running east-west in the Fort Sanders area.\n\nTraffic is expected to continue to flow on the affected streets during the project. However, temporary short-term closures may occur as needed due to safety protocols. During the project dates and times, parking will not be allowed, and towing will be enforced on the affected streets.\n\nNorth of Cumberland Avenue, the north-south streets included in the project are those between Cumberland Avenue and Grand Avenue, including 12th through 23rd streets and including James Agee Street.\n\nEast-west streets are those parallel to Cumberland Avenue from White Avenue to Grand Avenue, including Clinch, Laurel, Bridge, Highland and Forest avenues, and on Grand Avenue between 11th and 23rd streets.\n\nSouth of Cumberland Avenue to Lake Avenue, a smaller but similar area is being cleaned, between Volunteer Boulevard and Melrose Place.\n\nBoth weekends’ project hours will begin Saturday at 6 a.m. and will end Sunday at 6 p.m.\n\nTemporary no-parking signs will be posted at least 48 hours in advance of the street maintenance work.\n\nAttached are maps showing the affected streets and the dates when they will be cleaned.\n\nCity celebrates $4.8 million grant for additional electric buses\n\nThe City of Knoxville has been awarded a $4.8 million federal grant for additional electric transit buses.\n\nThe Low and No Emission Vehicle Grant Program supports transit agencies in purchasing or leasing low- or no-emission buses and other transit vehicles that use advanced technologies to provide cleaner, more energy efficient transit service in communities across the country.\n\n“This will go a long way in helping KAT transition to an all-electric fleet,” Mayor Indya Kincannon said. “With each new electric bus, we are reducing our carbon footprint. We are moving closer toward our goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions associated with City operations by 50 percent by 2030 – and a communitywide reduction of 80 percent by 2050.”\n\nAs KAT's oldest diesel buses age, they are being replaced with state-of-the-art electric buses that, according to the Argonne National Laboratory, are about three times more fuel-efficient than a standard diesel bus (13 MPGDE vs. 4.4 MPG).\n\nKnoxville Area Transit plans to use these federal funds, coupled with some local dollars, to add six additional electric buses to its fleet. This means the City could have 18 electric buses on area routes by the end of 2022.\n\n“We are so grateful for this opportunity to improve our fleet and help meet the City's sustainability goals with this continuing transition to all electric vehicles,” said Isaac Thorne, the City’s Director of Transit. “Our KAT passengers are excited about this move to all-electric, and so are we.\"\n\nU.S. Sen. Bill Hagerty and Rep. Tim Burchett supported the City’s application for this grant.\n\n“Knoxville Area Transit provides an important service for folks in Knoxville, which is why earlier this year I asked the Federal Transit Administration to give KAT’s Low-No application grant full consideration,” Rep. Burchett said. “I’m glad this grant was awarded to our community so KAT can modernize its fleet to be more efficient and environmentally friendly.”\n\nKAT's goal is to have the entire 71-bus fleet running on electricity in about eight years.\n\nFor more information on the Low and No Emission Vehicle Grant program, visit www.transit.dot.gov/lowno.\n\nFood City continues to grow and expand hiring 1,200 new associates\n\nFood City is proud to have celebrated the opening of several new store locations and store expansions this year, along with the continued growth of their GoCart curbside pick-up and in-store food service options, such as to-go meals. These events have resulted in the creation of a number of new area jobs.\n\nOn Wednesday, July 14th, Food City will be hosting a company-wide hiring event to include both full-time and part-time positions. The company is planning to hire 1,200 friendly, smiling faces in key customer and food service positions at store locations throughout their operation area and their Distribution Center. The positions include, both entry-level positions and experienced, skilled positions, such as meat cutter, cake decorator, and retail management, as well as various warehousing/distribution positions, including truck drivers.\n\nFood City is a family owned and operated company that offers a generous benefits package to their associates including competitive salaries, comprehensive training, healthcare coverage with medical and dental plans, 401(k) with a 3% company match, vacation accrual, vision coverage, and company paid life and disability plans, and Employee Stock Ownership Plan. In addition, to these great benefits, Food City also offers advancement opportunities to associates who wish to progress within a growing company.\n\nInterested candidates, can apply online at FoodCity.com or visit any Food City store to complete an application. Make plans to attend the event at your local Food City to find out how Food City is so much more than a grocery store.\n\n84 Lumber to host hiring event in Knoxville, offering $840 sign-on bonus for candidates who receive an offer\n\nEIGHTY FOUR, PA. (July 8, 2021) – 84 Lumber, the nation’s largest privately held building materials supplier, is launching a recruitment effort to fill immediate openings at retail stores in the Knoxville area. The company will host a Hiring Event on July 13th from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. at its Knoxville retail location (5802 Middlebrook Pike, Knoxville, TN 37921).\n\nAt the event, job seekers will learn more about the company culture and get the opportunity to be interviewed for open positions in the area that include manager trainee (MT), forklift operator, and lumberyard associate. Qualified applicants may receive an offer of employment during the event. Candidates who attend the event and then get hired as a result of it are eligible for a one-time $840 sign-on bonus\n\n“84 Lumber is seeking to fill 15 open positions in the greater Knoxville area, including at our locations in Knoxville, Jefferson City, and Sevierville to add to our team of more than 100 employees in the area,” said Rob Woodrow, divisional vice president at 84 Lumber. “We’re growing along with the growth in the construction industry – here in Knoxville and across the nation. We’re looking for people seeking a fresh start.”\n\nWoodrow went on to detail the openings in the region:\n\nManager trainees (MTs) hired by 84 Lumber enter an intensive, one-on-one, on-the-job training program that teaches them about the company’s business and puts them on a path to become a future leader within the enterprise. Starting compensation for manager trainees is $40,000 per year.\n\nForklift operators and lumberyard associates need no prior experience and perform essential functions behind the scenes – from management of supply shipments to operation of heavy equipment. These associates can expect a starting pay of up to $14 per hour based on experience.\n\n“We are a family-owned company, which means we are committed to helping our employees build and cultivate a career with us. In fact, 95% of our store managers started in our manager trainee program,” Woodrow said. “As we see it, 84 Lumber recruits individuals with a can-do attitude, a willingness to work hard, and a desire to learn. Once we find these people and they join the company, we teach and train them and find ways for them to grow with us.”\n\nWoodrow added that 84 Lumber expects it might find the right fit from all types of candidates – an individual with no construction experience, military veterans ready to embark on their next career challenge, or people with some previous work experience who seek to redirect their career.\n\nCandidates interested in participating in the Hiring Event are asked to pre-register. To sign up, go to 84 Lumber’s Hiring Page and complete the form. Once you are registered, you will receive an email from 84 Lumber with the link to apply for the desired position. To save time, candidates are strongly encouraged to apply for positions online before they attend the event.\n\nNOTE: 84 Lumber continues to follow CDC safety guidelines with regard to COVID-19. We ask that those attendees who are not yet fully vaccinated wear a mask and maintain social distancing.\n\nTo learn more about 84 Lumber, follow the company on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.\n\nABOUT 84 LUMBER\n\nFounded in 1956 and headquartered in Eighty Four, Pennsylvania, 84 Lumber Company is the nation’s largest privately held supplier of building materials, manufactured components and industry-leading services for single- and multi-family residences and commercial buildings. The company operates nearly 250 stores, component manufacturing plants, custom door shops, custom millwork shops and engineered wood product centers in more than 30 states. 84 Lumber also offers turnkey installation services for a variety of products, including framing, insulation, siding, windows, roofing, decking and drywall. A certified national women’s business enterprise owned by Maggie Hardy Knox, 84 Lumber was named by Forbes as one of America’s Largest Private Companies in 2018 and one of America’s Best Large Employers in 2019. For more information, visit 84lumber.com or join us at Facebook.com/84lumber and linkedin.com/company/84-lumber.\n\nArrow Exterminators opens four new offices\n\nATLANTA (July 7, 2021) – Atlanta-based Arrow Exterminators recently opened four new offices in Blue Ridge, GA, Peachtree City, GA, Knoxville, TN, and the south Mobile area of Alabama. These offices will help us better serve these communities and the surrounding areas, and they will also help accommodate recent growth and provide career advancement opportunities for Arrow team members. All four offices will service residential homes with a focus on pest and termite control along with wildlife services in select locations.\n\n“Being a family-owned and operated company for 57 years, we strongly value family and community,” said Emily Thomas Kendrick, Chief Executive Officer. “Our passion is one of the key components of not only providing exceptional service to our customers, but also being involved in the communities where we serve.”\n\nTim Pollard, President and Chief Operating Officer, continues, “Because of our recent growth over the past year, we saw a need in these markets for residential pest control services; whether it be an existing location we already service, or expanding into a new area, we are excited to roll out the welcome wagon to our customers. These new offices provide a unique opportunity for Arrow Exterminators to firmly root itself in the Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee markets. What a great way to kick off the start of our new fiscal year!”\n\nThree Roots Capital receives $1.8M from U.S. Department of the Treasury to provide access to capital in economically distressed communities\n\nKNOXVILLE, TENN. – This week, the U.S. Department of the Treasury awarded $1,826,265 in COVID-19 relief funds to Three Roots Capital (Three Roots) as part of its CDFI Rapid Response Program (CDFI RRP). Based in Knoxville, Tennessee, Three Roots will use these funds to make loans and investments across East Tennessee and greater Central Appalachia, helping support job-creating small businesses, place-making commercial real estate projects and community facilities.\n\nIn total, the U.S. Treasury awarded $1.25 billion to 863 community development financial institutions (CDFIs) in 48 states, the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico. These CDFI RRP grant funds will help recipients build capital reserves and loan-loss reserves, along with providing financial products, financial services, development services and other operational activities in their communities. Three Roots received the maximum award amount given and will use the capital to increase the size of the Three Roots Capital Impact Fund, which is a pool of capital from which it will make equity investments in addition to loans.\n\nThree Roots has a history of providing access to capital for small businesses, entrepreneurs, and projects in rural or low-income areas of East Tennessee and Kentucky. Since its founding in 2016, the CDFI has deployed over $74.5 million of capital, which has created or retained 1,564 jobs and developed 528,732 square feet of real estate. With Three Roots’ support and guidance, small businesses like Southeastern Packaging Technologies have thrived in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and rural, job-creating companies have continued to have positive impacts in their communities like Outdoor Venture Corporation in McCreary County, Kentucky.\n\n“I founded Three Roots in direct response to the chronic need for more investment capital in central and southern Appalachia and in the broader Southeast. This award allows us to continue to support small businesses and entrepreneurs in low-income and economically disadvantaged communities throughout the region,” said Three Roots Capital Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer Grady Vanderhoofven. “CDFIs play an integral role in helping to lift economies, especially in times of need like this pandemic. We are honored to receive the maximum amount of this CDFI RRP award. Receiving these funds helps us continue to do what we do best: providing capital, connections, business coaching and collaboration in our region.”\n\nThree Roots anticipates the CDFI RRP funds could be used to help address an access to capital gap identified by Techstars in their Assessment of the Entrepreneurship Ecosystem of the Greater Knoxville Metropolitan Area. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Tennessee Valley Authority and the University of Tennessee recently announced the upcoming launch of a Techstars Industries of the Future Accelerator in Oak Ridge-Knoxville, which will foster the growth of 30 startups over three years.\n\nAbout Three Roots Capital\n\nThree Roots Capital (Three Roots) is certified by the U.S. Department of the Treasury as a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) and as a Community Development Entity (CDE). Because Three Roots is a CDFI, banks that make loans to, grants to, or investments in Three Roots may be eligible to receive Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) credit. Three Roots maintains its CDFI certification by making loans and/or investments to companies and projects located in low and moderate income (LMI) census tracts and by providing operational and technical assistance to companies and projects located in such areas. As a CDE, Three Roots is eligible to receive an allocation of federal New Markets Tax Credits (NMTCs) and to participate in and facilitate NMTC transactions.\n\nGreen Llama introduces new line of plastic-free, eco-friendly household cleaners\n\nJOHNSON CITY, TN—June 3, 2021--Green Llama, LLC, a startup out of Johnson City, TN, is on a mission to reduce single-use plastic and carbon emissions with effective, non-toxic cleaners. The company launched online sales on May 1, 2021.\n\nThe difference in Green Llama is in its form. Instead of selling cleaners in a plastic bottle, the company provides all-purpose, glass, and bathroom cleaners in pod form. Simply drop the pod in a spray bottle and add water from the tap. The ingredients are biodegradable, non-toxic and naturally occurring or naturally derived. They are scented with essential oils for a touch of aromatherapy. It’s a truly eco-friendly cleaner that eliminates the need to purchase more throw-away plastic bottles.\n\nThe idea for Green Llama was born more than a year ago when Kay Baker, an occupational therapist, was cleaning her home. Baker was tired of buying new plastic bottles every time she ran out of cleaner; a light went on. After a lot of research, testing and many different recipes, she created the formulas for Green Llama.\n\n“I am passionate about the environment and reducing waste,” Baker said. “I love our products because they make it simple to cut out plastic in the home.”\n\nPlastic pollution is a worldwide problem with an estimated 46,000 pieces of floating plastic per square mile of our oceans. This wreaks havoc with an estimated 1 million sea bird and 100,00 marine mammal deaths annually directly from plastic. With increased awareness, individuals can make a big difference, starting in their homes.\n\n“We are trying to reduce the amount of single use plastic while also decreasing the energy cost of shipping water around the country,” Baker explained. “Each ready-made cleaner you buy from the store is more than 90% water. Since you already have water in your home, I removed it.”\n\nGreen Llama estimates if each household in the United States bought one single pod instead of a single-use plastic bottle, we would save 128 million plastic spray bottles from the landfill.\n\nGreen Llama currently sells kitchen, bathroom and all-purpose cleaning pods; sample packs are also available. The company also sells reusable glass bottles for those who have already recycled their plastic bottles.\n\nTo learn more or to purchase, visit greenllamaclean.com.\n\nKindred Healthcare, Tennova Healthcare and UT Medical Center announce opening of Knoxville Rehabilitation Hospital\n\nKNOXVILLE, TN (June 22, 2021) – Kindred Healthcare, Tennova Healthcare and The University of Tennessee Medical Center (UTMC) today announced the opening of Knoxville Rehabilitation Hospital, located in the new Tennova Health Park at 1250 Tennova Medical Way.\n\nThe new 57-bed hospital, with all private rooms, will focus on acute rehabilitation for patients who suffer from stroke, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, complex neurological disorders, orthopedic conditions, multiple trauma, amputation and other injuries or disorders. The first patients are expected to be seen later this month.\n\nThe 68,000-square-foot, two-story rehabilitation facility will feature therapy gymnasiums outfitted with the latest technology in therapy devices including augmented reality balance training, therapy bionics, and a full body exoskeleton. It will have large multidisciplinary gymnasiums equipped for all therapy services as well as a therapeutic courtyard with exterior amenities, such as a golf chipping range, pickle ball and cornhole.\n\nThere is also a dedicated traumatic brain injury unit complete with monitored rooms, specialized beds and patient lifting equipment, and separate therapy and dining spaces. The hospital will also have a unit exclusively for stroke patients, and private, family-friendly rooms with sleeper chairs. Patients will have access to an apartment setting where they can practice daily living tasks before they return home; and pet therapy and community re-entry programs will help ease the transition back to home. For more information about Knoxville Rehabilitation Hospital, visit www.knoxvillerehabhospital.com.\n\n“We are excited about this milestone achievement for our community as this collaborative effort was a result of many hours and hard work for all parties involved. This initiative reinforces our mission with our focus on excellence in quality, service and access,” states Tony Benton, Tennova East Market Chief Executive Officer. “Through this joint venture, we are now able to better serve this population with advanced therapies and resources to help them regain quality of life. It has been an honor to work alongside Kindred and The University of Tennessee Medical Center. We are excited to see the continued growth at this location.”\n\n“It is truly rare and unique when competitors can come together to create a collaborative solution that better serves the needs of our patients and the East Tennessee community,” said Joe Landsman, president and chief executive officer of UTMC. “Our patients will directly benefit from this enhanced coordinated delivery of the high-quality, efficient healthcare services throughout the care continuum from when they first enter our system at our medical center through their rehabilitation at Knoxville Rehabilitation Hospital and throughout their recovery.”\n\nKnoxville Rehabilitation Hospital expects to serve more than 1,200 patients each year. The average length of stay for patients is approximately two weeks. The facility design has been implemented at several Kindred rehabilitation hospitals throughout the country with significant success in enhancing patient outcomes and improving their quality of life.\n\n“We are pleased to open Knoxville Rehabilitation Hospital in partnership with Tennova Healthcare and The University of Tennessee Medical Center—two of the region’s leading healthcare providers,” said Russ Bailey, President, Kindred Rehabilitation. “The new hospital will offer the community increased access to quality care with a team of therapists, nurses and other healthcare professionals dedicated to providing high-quality inpatient rehabilitation services and passionate advocacy for patients that enhance the lives of individuals throughout East Tennessee.”\n\nFree legal advice clinic for veterans July 14th\n\nThe Knoxville Bar Association would like announce that the Veterans Legal Advice Clinic event will once again be held in person at the Knox County Public Defender’s Office, starting on July 14.\n\nAny veteran seeking legal help is encouraged to attend the Legal Advice Clinic for Veterans on July 14, 2021 from 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. Current CDC guidelines will be followed regarding indoor social distancing and masking for those who are not vaccinated. Those wishing to wear a mask are welcome to do so regardless of vaccination status.\n\nVeterans who are not able to attend the clinic in person are encouraged to continue to use the telephone clinic option. Preregistration is required for telephone clinic and veterans are asked to call Legal Aid of East Tennessee at (865)637-0484 to preregister.\n\nThis is a general advice clinic with a wide variety of legal issues, including family law, landlord/tenant, bankruptcy, criminal defense, consumer protection, contract disputes, child support, and personal injury, among other issues.\n\nFree Legal Advice Clinic for Veterans\n\nDate of event\n\nWednesday, July 14, 2021\n\nTime\n\n12 Noon – 2:00 P.M.\n\nLocation\n\nKnox County Public Defender’s\n\nCommunity Law Office\n\n1101 Liberty Street\n\nKnoxville, TN 37919\n\nAttorneys will be available to provide consultations in legal issues such as:\n\nLandlord/tenant\n\nVeterans Benefits\n\nBankruptcy\n\nCriminal defense\n\nConsumer protection\n\nContract disputes\n\nEstate Planning\n\nChild support\n\nPersonal injury\n\nGeneral Legal Issues\n\nThe Veterans’ Legal Advice Clinic is a joint project of the Knoxville Barristers, the Young Lawyers Division of the Knoxville Bar Association (KBA), KBA/Barristers Access to Justice Committees, Legal Aid of East Tennessee, Knox County Public Defender’s Community Law Office, the University of Tennessee College of Law, Lincoln Memorial University – Duncan School of Law, and the local VA office.\n\nApex Bank announces grand opening of South Knoxville office\n\nKnoxville, Tenn. Apex Bank will celebrate the Grand Opening of its South Knoxville office with a ribbon cutting ceremony performed by the Knoxville Chamber on July 9, 2021 at 10:00am with festivities taking place from 9AM until 6PM. The office is located at 7570 Mountain Grove Drive, Knoxville, TN 37920.\n\n“We are thrilled to have our doors open, and expand our presence in Knox County, and introduce the Apex Bank brand, and our competitive services to the residents, and business owners of this lively community,” stated Leslie Ford, office manager at the South Knoxville office. “With our relationship-based banking philosophy, Apex Bank is focused on giving back to the community, as well as a highly-regarded level of service, meeting personal and business banking needs. We are so proud of our team, and look forward to celebrating and supporting our community.”\n\nThe grand opening will feature food, the Seymour Volunteer Fire Department, door prizes, games, reveal of the winners of the Apex coloring contest and more.\n\nApex Bank delivers high-quality financial services and actively looks for opportunities to engage with local communities to build strong relationships that promote economic stability and growth. Apex Bank currently operates 17 offices across Tennessee, in addition to its Knoxville-based national mortgage-servicing center, where the bank purchases residential and commercial mortgages throughout the country. To learn more about Apex Bank and its commitment to education and community outreach, email press@apexbankcom. Apex Bank is a member of the FDIC.\n\nAxle Logistics new building officially opens\n\nKnoxville, Tenn. – Axle Logistics new headquarters is open, representing a $13 million investment that helps stretch downtown to the north. The 1920s-era building, originally a car dealership, is now a state-of-the-art logistics headquarters from which the movement of goods is coordinated across the U.S. as well as in Canada and Mexico.\n\n“The new facility has helped our team with renewed energy,” said Axle cofounder Jon Clay. “Just as importantly, it has helped us recruit. We’ve added 70 new positions already this year.”\n\nCofounder Drew Johnson put it this way: “The new space and the amenities it offers us creates the proper setting for our growing team. It fits our culture perfectly”\n\nThe project was given a 15-year payment in lieu of taxes incentive, commonly called a PILOT from both the City of Knoxville and Knox County. It was also approved by the Industrial Development Board.\n\n\"We appreciate Axle Logistics selecting Knoxville, creating jobs here, and adding to the vibrancy of our city and our neighborhoods,\" Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon said. \"It's an added bonus that Axle shares our love of historic places and has brought back into reuse a century-old building that has long sat vacant.\"\n\n“Knox County is a great place to live, work, and raise a family,” said Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs. “Axle Logistics saw that when they chose to open their new headquarters here and I know they will help us prove that to the many qualified logistics students graduating from the state’s flagship university. I hope their success and growth continue.”\n\nWith an eye to the future, Axle has already purchased an adjoining building.\n\nAxle Logistics is a growing Knoxville company with a focus on providing safe, reliable, advanced logistics services. That includes truckload, less than truckload (LTL), intermodal, and warehousing to customers throughout the continental U.S., Canada, and Mexico.\n\nAxle has been repeatedly named to the Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Companies list and has been recognized as both a Top Workplace and a Top Freight Brokerage firm.\n\nThe new headquarters project was managed by Conversion Properties, was designed by Design Innovation Architects, and built by Denark Construction.\n\nMarc Nelson Denim opens Florida location\n\nKnoxville, TN - Knoxville fashion house Marc Nelson Denim has expanded, opening a second location in the Tampa Bay area. “The Studio” store and showroom will feature men’s accessories and products, Marc Nelson brand denim, and bespoke clothing.\n\nSituated in a historic house at 716 E. Lime Street in the garden district of Lakeland, Florida, The Studio was designed to provide a unique experience for Marc Nelson Denim customers. Local artist Aaron Corbitt was commissioned to create artwork for three rooms that offer different facets of Marc Nelson Denim: the Johnny Cash Room, housing the Marc Nelson line of denim; the Bob Marley Room, where bespoke tailoring takes place; and the Muhammad Ali Room, where customers waiting to be fitted can watch sports television on custom leather chairs made to look like boxing gloves. Antique furniture and fixtures contribute to the private club environment, and customers will be invited to linger and enjoy a glass of whiskey with owner and designer Marcus Hall.\n\n“We are focusing on appointment only, one-on-one visits with our customers,” said Hall. “We help them find pieces that fit not only their bodies, but their personalities.”\n\nThe Knoxville native is looking forward to the expansion. “We want to help gentlemen in Lakeland and the surrounding areas feel their best,” said Hall. “We are excited to join the Lakeland community and hope to be here for years to come.”\n\nAbout Marc Nelson Denim\n\nFounded in 2010 by Marcus Hall in response to the off-shoring of the American denim industry, Marc Nelson Denim is a Knoxville, Tennessee-based designer clothing brand emphasizing high-quality fabrics, customizable fit and small-batch production. Focused on the customer experience, the company’s trademark red slash signifies the brand's approach to duality: Southern comfort with a contemporary edge. Marc Nelson Denim has locations in Knoxville, Tennessee and Lakeland, Florida.\n\nShifting the Approach to Healthcare Real Estate Management\n\nIn the dynamic, competitive healthcare landscape today, healthcare providers are constantly challenged to operate more efficiently. The “balancing act” between continuous growth, high-quality care, cost containment, and streamlining operations is a daunting task. In the midst of these challenges, many health systems, physician practices, and other providers overlook the significant potential for strategic and financial opportunities that lie within their real estate portfolios.\n\nReal estate continues to be, and will always be, a critical component in the delivery of healthcare. With most healthcare providers owning or leasing hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of square feet of real estate, it comes as no surprise that real estate and facilities typically equate to one of the largest assets on the balance sheet and one of the largest expenses on the income statement. Transitioning from the tactical, day-to-day operational approach to real estate property management, to a more holistic approach rooted in organizational strategy can empower healthcare leaders to utilize a more strategic, business-minded approach to leverage real estate to achieve broader strategic objectives.\n\nWhile traditional healthcare property management functions like maintenance and work orders, vendor coordination, and building rules and regulations, are certainly imperative to the successful management of a healthcare facility, they are often tactically focused without consideration of bigger picture strategic and operational considerations across the overall portfolio of properties. Expanding to an all-encompassing portfolio management approach to assess strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats offers a competitive advantage in a versatile environment to those who capitalize on critical operational and strategic opportunities related to real estate.\n\nThere are a number of key elements in effective portfolio management including strategic alignment, portfolio tracking and reporting, relationship management, enterprise facility management, and regulatory compliance. To learn more, download our white paper, “Healthcare Real Estate Portfolio Management: Shifting the Approach to Healthcare Real Estate Management.”\n\nFor more information on RTG insights and solutions, visit the RTG Innovation Center.\n\nAbout Realty Trust Group\n\nRealty Trust Group, LLC (“RTG”) is a real estate advisory and services firm offering a full spectrum of real estate services including advisory, development, transactions, operations and compliance.\n\nSince 1998, RTG has helped hospitals, physician groups, and property owners navigate the rapidly changing industry with growth strategies that gain market leadership as well as enhance patient and physician experiences for better delivery of care. Our philosophy is to provide innovative solutions to the complex and challenging issues found in today’s healthcare real estate market. These solutions include strategic campus and facility planning, portfolio optimization, portfolio monetization, project development, leasing, acquisition and disposition services, portfolio management, regulatory compliance and many other ideas and services. For more information about RTG and our innovative healthcare real estate services, visit www.realtytrustgroup.com, Facebook, LinkedIn, or call 865-521-0630.\n\nTennessee Memory Disorders Foundation to launch July 1\n\nJune 30, 2021 – Knoxville, Tenn. – Dr. Monica Crane, a board-certified geriatrician and founder of Genesis Neuroscience Clinic, will launch the non-profit, Tennessee Memory Disorders Foundation (TMDF), on Thursday, July 1 to address the increasing number of persons suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.\n\nAccording to the Alzheimer’s Association’s “2021 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures report,” there are an estimated 6.2 million Americans aged 65 and older living with Alzheimer’s dementia. As the number of Americans living with Alzheimer’s increases, so does the need for healthcare providers, caregivers, research and education.\n\nTMDF will seek to aid in meeting those challenges.\n\n“First, TMDF will train and mentor students, healthcare professionals, and community advocates to become future providers and leaders in memory disorder care,” said Cheryl Rice, President of the TMDF board of directors. “Second, the non-profit will promote health through raising awareness of the need for research and participation in research trials designed to shed light on these devastating diseases that disproportionally affect older Americans. In addition, TMDF – through its charitable clinic – Genesis Neuroscience Clinic, will provide direct patient care on a sliding fee basis.”\n\nAccording to Crane, TMDF will use its donations to compensate interns while promoting the non-profit’s mission into every step and decision made regarding the mentoring program.\n\n“Genesis Neuroscience Clinic’s mentoring program allows a diverse group of undergraduates a direct pathway into medical school,” said Crane. “The clinic gives opportunities by providing these paid leadership roles with the goal of giving students the best hands-on clinical experience they can have in addition to guidance on how to apply and be admitted into medical school.”\n\nTo donate to TMDF, visit tmdf.org/donate/ or mail to 1400 Dowell Springs Blvd #340, Knoxville, Tenn., 37909.\n\nETMAC, Knoxville Chamber release 2021 Military Economic Impact Report\n\nThe Knoxville area’s military installations and activities generate an estimated $2.98 billion in economic impact each year, according to a study conducted by the East Tennessee Military Affairs Council (ETMAC), in cooperation with the Knoxville Chamber. Data for this study was collected in 2019 and updates the previous study completed in 2017 which showed an impact of $1.8 billion.\n\nThe study calculated the monetary impact of the active duty, guard, and reserve components of the US Air Force, Army, Navy, and Marine Corps. The study takes into account the annual payroll of active duty, guard, reserve, and civilian personnel, expenditures for construction, supplies, services and materials, indirect jobs resulting from military personnel and military contracts given to area businesses and other factors like retirees’ pay and veterans’ benefits.\n\n“ETMAC completes this economic analysis to provide business and civic leaders a discernable look at the significant contribution that the military and defense programs make to the economy of East Tennessee,” said BG Geoff Freeman, US Army, retired, and President of ETMAC. “Because the military is one of the major drivers of economic activity in our area, in terms of direct and indirect jobs, supplies and services, and costs to maintain, train and operate facilities, our hope is that business and civic leaders will consider policies and actions that support and help retain this valuable resource in East Tennessee.”\n\nThe economic impact – measured for the year Fiscal Year 2019 is as follows:\n\nVeteran’s Benefits: $816,460,118 million\n\nActive Duty/Guard/Reserves: $327,057,646 million\n\nDept. of Defense Contracts: $1,378,009,000 billion\n\nMilitary Retirees: $458,373,672 million\n\nTotal: $2.98 billion\n\nThe analysis uses the U.S. Department of Defense methodology to measure activity within 50 miles of Knoxville. The largest installations from an economic standpoint were the McGhee Tyson Tennessee Air National Guard Base and the 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment, TN Army National Guard. Also, more than 9,000 + military retirees live within the 50-mile radius. Several organizations rank Tennessee in the “top ten” most desirable places for military retirees, based on such factors as: the state's cost of living, taxes imposed by the state, city, and county, the availability of a military base and veterans administration facilities, primary care facilities, dentists, shopping stores, banking services, senior citizen services, as well as having a variety of recreational activities.\n\n“It is always important to recognize and honor the contributions of our local military units,” said Freeman. “We hope this report will encourage local businesses to take special care of the many men and women who serve our country, and recognize how important they are to our national defense, as well as our local economy.”\n\nGovernor Lee, Commissioner Rolfe announce Flex-N-Gate to expand Blount County operations\n\nNASHVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bob Rolfe and Flex-N-Gate officials announced today that the company will expand its operations, creating 91 new jobs in Blount County.\n\nFlex-N-Gate, an automotive original equipment manufacturer (OEM) supplier, specializes in manufacturing plastic, metal, lighting and mechanical assemblies. The company will invest $5.5 million to upgrade and expand its Rockford manufacturing facility and increase production in lighting materials.\n\nFlex-N-Gate has been manufacturing automotive parts since the 1960s. Headquartered in Urbana, Ill., Flex-N-Gate currently employs approximately 185 people at its Rockford location and 23,000 throughout the world. For employment inquiries please go to www.Flex-N-Gate.com.\n\nOver the last five years, TNECD has supported nearly 70 economic development projects in East Tennessee, resulting in 9,000 commitments and $2.5 billion in capital investment.\n\n“Supporting the companies in our automotive sector is key to the success and growth of Tennessee’s economy. I’m pleased to have Flex-N-Gate expand its Rockford operations, and I thank them for creating over 90 new jobs in Blount County.” – Gov. Bill Lee\n\n“Tennessee is home to over 900 automotive suppliers, and since last year we have seen more than $2.3 billion invested in the automotive sector. At TNECD, we are focused on doing all that we can to support these companies so that when they are looking to grow, Tennessee is the clear choice. Thank you, Flex-N-Gate, for choosing Tennessee.” – TNECD Commissioner Bob Rolfe\n\n“We would like to thank the state of Tennessee and Blount County for making Rockford the best place to locate this project. Flex-N-Gate looks forward to continued growth and job creation in partnership with TNECD and Blount County.” ­– Bill Beistline, Flex-N-Gate executive vice president of Metals and Procurement\n\n“TVA and Maryville Electric Department congratulate Flex-n-Gate on its decision to expand in Blount County. It’s always an exciting day when we can celebrate a company’s commitment to continued growth in the Valley, and we are proud to partner with the Blount Partnership and Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development to support Flex-n-Gate’s business success.” – John Bradley, TVA senior vice president of Economic Development\n\n“It’s no surprise to me that Flex-n-Gate is making a $5.5 million investment in Blount County to expand their operations and create 91 new jobs. Tennessee, especially Blount County, is a great place to do business. We are grateful to Governor Lee, Commissioner Rolfe and local officials for securing these jobs and this investment.” – Sen. Art Swann (R-Maryville)\n\n“In Blount County, part of our mission has always been to help our existing companies expand and grow. We are grateful that Flex-N-Gate has the confidence to make this investment in our community.” ­– Rep. Jerome Moon (R-Maryville)\n\nAbout the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development\n\nThe Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development’s mission is to develop strategies that help make Tennessee the No. 1 location in the Southeast for high quality jobs. To grow and strengthen Tennessee, the department seeks to attract new corporate investment to the state and works with Tennessee companies to facilitate expansion and economic growth. Find us on the web: tnecd.com. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram: @tnecd. Like us on Facebook: facebook.com/tnecd.\n\nBig Kahuna Wing Festival becomes strategic gateway to World Food Championships\n\nOne of Knoxville’s most anticipated food events, the Big Kahuna Wing Festival, is back and has been named a Super Regional Qualifier for the world’s largest Food Sport event, World Food Championships (WFC).\n\nThrough this regional gateway program, the event will qualify five local Knoxville cooks to compete at WFC’s 9th Annual Main Event, November 5-7, in Dallas, Texas, where more than $300,000 in prize money is up for grabs.\n\n“The Big Kahuna Festival is personally one of my favorite events to attend annually, and we’re happy to be able to welcome them back as a regional qualifier for cooks and chefs who want to compete on a global stage,” said Mike McCloud, WFC President and CEO. “These strategic qualifiers not only highlight the great local cuisine from America’s diverse regions, but they end up giving passionate cooks a chance at WFC to develop life-long friends who share the same passion and purpose of food through competition.”\n\nThe September 5th Big Kahuna Wing Festival is expected to fill Downtown Knoxville with its flavorful and alluring aroma of hot wings on the barbie. The festival will feature over 15,000 pounds of wings to be enjoyed by attendees and then ranked by WFC’s E.A.T.™ certified judges.\n\nAny E.A.T.™ certified foodie who is interested in putting his or her taste buds to the tests and judging some of the best wings in the South can apply here. If you’re not E.A.T.™ certified yet, simply take WFC’s online certification course at www.wfcfoodjudge.com to become eligible.\n\nThe WFC 2021 qualifying event –– which will be held at the World's Fair Park Performance Lawn located between the Sunsphere and 11th Street –– is currently accepting cooking team applications here. Participating teams will be whipping up their best wing recipes for a chance to take home the event’s $10,000 prize purse and “Tennessee’s Best Wings-2021” bragging rights.\n\nVIP tickets go on sale July 5th, while General Admission tickets will be available August 5th. Tickets are available at https://www.bkwfestival.com/ticket-info/.\n\nMore information on the Big Kahuna Wing Festival can be found at https://www.bkwfestival.com/.\n\nIn the meantime, stay up-to-date on all things Food Sport, follow the World Food Championships on Twitter (@WorldFoodChamp), Facebook and Instagram (@WorldFoodChampionships).\n\nAbout Big Kahuna Wing Festival\n\nThis year, the 8th annual Big Kahuna Wing Festival celebrates the creation of the “Buffalo Wing”, which has become a national food icon. Invented in 1964 at the world famous Anchor Bar by Teresa Bellisimo, the popularity of the chicken wing has made it America’s #1 appetizer. Last year alone over 20 billion wings were consumed by Americans, 1.25 billion on Super Bowl weekend alone.\n\nThe Big Kahuna Wing Festival has become one of the best culinary events in the region. Last year the festival drew over 8,000 attendees who enjoyed over 100 different sauces from 40 different teams representing restaurants, cooking teams, businesses, and The University of Tennessee Culinary Institute. Attendees and visitors come from all over the region. All for the love of the “Buffalo Wing” and to raise money for charity.\n\nAbout World Food Championships\n\nThe World Food Championships (WFC) is the highest stakes food competition in the world. This multi-day, live event culinary competition showcases some of the world's best cooks who compete for food, fame and fortune in 10 categories (Bacon, Barbecue, Burger, Chef, Dessert, Recipe, Sandwich, Seafood, Soup and Steak). In 2019, more than 450 culinary teams from 11 countries and 42 American states competed in WFC’s Main Event. In August, the 10 Category Champs went head-to-head for a $100,000 bonus that determined a new World Food Champion in a TV special called The Final Table: Indianapolis. While contestants have to earn their way into WFC by winning a Golden Ticket at a previous competition, potential judges are welcome to take WFC’s online certification course that explains the E.A.T. methodology. Certified judges then request and receive available seats at the next scheduled WFC event. Click here to learn more about getting certified.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/07/06"}]}
{"question_id": "20230203_10", "search_time": "2023/02/04/11:56", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2022/02/07/tom-brady-doesnt-rule-out-possible-nfl-comeback-after-retiring/6700953001/", "title": "Tom Brady doesn't rule out a possible NFL comeback after retiring", "text": "Not even a week after he formally announced his retirement from the NFL, Tom Brady already is dropping hints of a possible comeback.\n\nOn Monday during the \"Let's Go!\" SiriusXM podcast, Jim Gray asked Brady if there was a possibility of coming out of retirement.\n\nBrady left the door open for a possible NFL return.\n\n\"I'm just gonna take things as they come,\" Brady said. \"I think that's the best way to put it and I don't think anything, you know, you never say never. At the same time I know that I'm very, I feel very good about my decision. I don't know how I'll feel six months from now.\n\n\"I try to make the best possible decision I can in the moment, which I did this last week. And, again, I think it's not looking to reverse course, I'm definitely not looking to do that. But in the same time I think you have to be realistic that you never know what challenges there are gonna be in life. Again, I loved playing. I'm looking forward to doing things other than playing. That's as honest as I can be.\"\n\nSuper Bowl Central: Super Bowl 57 odds, Eagles-Chiefs matchups, stats and more\n\nTB12 BY THE NUMBERS:All of Tom Brady's most incredible achievements\n\nOPINION:Tom Brady's legacy also includes the blueprint he provided on NFL player empowerment\n\nNEVER MISS A MOMENT:Subscribe to our NFL newsletter to stay informed\n\nLast Monday on the \"Let's Go!\" podcast, Brady sidestepped questions about retirement. The following morning, Brady officially announced his retirement.\n\nThe 44-year-old Brady led the NFL in passing yards (5,316) and passing touchdowns (43) during the 2021 season, with his final game being an NFC divisional playoff loss to the Los Angeles Rams. Brady is the NFL's all-time leader in many statistical categories, most notably career passing milestones such as touchdowns, yards and completions. He played 22 seasons in the NFL, 20 for the New England Patriots and two for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Brady won three league MVP awards and his seven Super Bowl wins are more than any NFL franchise has accumulated.\n\nIf Brady does in fact \"reverse course,\" this situation would be reminiscent to when Brett Favre retired for the first time following the 2007 season, only to unretire months later. However, the Buccaneers don't have a hand-picked successor waiting in the wings like the Green Bay Packers of 2008 had in Aaron Rodgers.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/02/07"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/31/sport/tom-brady-nfl-future/index.html", "title": "Tom Brady: Legendary NFL quarterback still mulling retirement | CNN", "text": "CNN —\n\nTom Brady, arguably the greatest NFL quarterback of all time and a seven-time Super Bowl winner, said Monday on his podcast that he has made no decision yet on retiring from football.\n\nOver the weekend, ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Jeff Darlington and The Boston Globe, had reported that Brady was retiring, citing unnamed sources.\n\nBut on Sunday, a source familiar with the situation told CNN that “Brady contacted (Tampa Bay) Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht (on Saturday) to inform him he has yet to make a final decision about his future.”\n\nESPN first reported Brady was retiring, citing unnamed sources. The Boston Globe reported an NFL source confirmed the news.\n\nBrady had not commented on the reports until Monday.\n\n“You know, it’s a good week for me and I’m still just going through the process that I said I was going through,” he told sportscaster Jim Gray on their SiriusXM “Let’s Go!” podcast. “Sometimes, it just takes some time to really evaluate how you feel and what you want to do and I think when the time’s right I’ll be ready to make a decision one way or the other just like I said last week.”\n\nBrady just wrapped up his 22nd season in the NFL and second with the Bucs.\n\nWhen Tampa Bay, the defending Super Bowl champion, lost to the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Divisional Round on January 23, Brady said he would take the decision on his professional football future “day-by-day.”\n\nBrady said Monday it’s still a day-to-day process and that he will be the one to announce his future plans when it’s time.\n\n“I understand that my decision affects a lot of people’s lives so when that decision comes, it’ll come,” he said, adding he wasn’t going to “race to some conclusion.”\n\nWhen asked whether the media reports would be motivation for him to return for another season, Brady chuckled and said he was motivated to win and be successful.\n\n“And maybe there’s little parts of motivation that come from different places or what people may say or think but I’m mostly motivated from inside and wanting to be the best for my teammates and my coaches and my organization,” he said.\n\nThe NFL tweeted its gratitude Saturday for his accomplishments, referring to Brady as GOAT – Greatest Of All Time – with the hashtag #ThankYouTom and an illustration of the quarterback wearing his Super Bowl rings. Another NFL tweet read, “Nobody did it better.”\n\nAlong with the league offering its best wishes, athletes from Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes to Brooklyn Nets star James Harden tweeted goat emojis.\n\n“Thanks for the memories, babe,” former Patriots teammate Julian Edelman tweeted.\n\n“Hell of a run!,” wrote Bucs cornerback and teammate Richard Sherman. “Honor to share the field with you.”\n\nBrady’s record-setting career\n\nBrady is considered by many NFL observers to be the greatest quarterback of all time, having led the New England Patriots to six Super Bowl titles and the Bucs to one. No quarterback has thrown for more touchdowns, more yards or won more playoff games than Brady. He has also played in and won more regular-season games in his career than any other quarterback.\n\nBrady is a 44-year-old father of three who has been married to supermodel Gisele Bündchen since 2009. They have two children, a 12-year-old son and a 9-year-old daughter. Brady has a 14-year-old son from a prior relationship with actress Bridget Moynahan.\n\nLast Monday, Brady told the SiriusXM “Let’s Go!” Podcast that Bündchen and his children would be at the heart of any choice he made.\n\n“The biggest difference now that I’m older is I have kids now too, and I care about them a lot as well,” Brady told Jim Gray.\n\n“They’ve been my biggest supporters. My wife is my biggest supporter, it pains her to see me get hit out there.\n\n“She deserves what she needs from me as a husband and my kids deserve what they need from me as a dad.”\n\nTaken by the Patriots with the 199th pick of the 2000 NFL Draft, Brady wasn’t meant to be the starting quarterback; the Patriots already had three-time Pro Bowl selection Drew Bledsoe. The Boston Herald reported Patriots Coach Bill Belichick said they took Brady because he was the highest-rated player still available in the sixth round.\n\n“He’s a good, tough quarterback who played at a high level of competition (at the University of Michigan),” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. “We’ll put him out there with everyone else and let him compete and see what happens.”\n\nAfter Brady had a good training camp and preseason, the Patriots made the rare move of keeping him as a fourth-string quarterback.\n\nHe moved up the depth chart and in the second game of Brady’s second season Bledsoe suffered a severe injury when he was slammed to the ground in a game.\n\nWhen Brady took over, the Patriots were coming off a losing season and had struggled in two losses to open the 2001 season.\n\nTom Brady holds the Vince Lombardi Trophy after leading the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a Super Bowl win in February 2021. Ben Liebenberg/AP Brady played college football at the University of Michigan. He started for the Wolverines in his junior and senior seasons, going 20-5. Peter Read Miller/Sports Illustrated/Getty Images Brady grew up in San Mateo, California, and played football, basketball and baseball before joining Michigan. Jamie Squire/Allsport/Getty Images Despite his successful career at Michigan, Brady was not projected to be a star in the NFL. He was the 199th player taken in the NFL Draft. Many quarterbacks were taken before him. Pro Football Hall of Fame/AP Brady started his career backing up Drew Bledsoe. But when Bledsoe was hurt in September 2001, Brady got his chance to shine. He took over as starter and led the Patriots all the way to the Super Bowl. Winslow Townson/AP Brady loses the ball after being hit by Oakland's Charles Woodson during an NFL playoff game in January 2002. The Patriots got the ball back and went on to win the game, but the controversial play was heavily debated in the offseason. The \"tuck rule\" was eventually repealed in 2013. Jim Davis/The Boston Globe/Getty Images The 2001 season culminated in a Super Bowl victory for Brady and the Patriots in February 2002. They upset the heavily favored St. Louis Rams 20-17. Brady was named Super Bowl MVP, and he became the youngest quarterback to win a Super Bowl. He was 24. Jim Davis/The Boston Globe/Getty Images Brady and the Patriots were back in the Super Bowl in 2004, winning another title over the Carolina Panthers. They repeated the next season with a Super Bowl win over Philadelphia. Jeff Gross/Getty Images Brady and Patriots coach Bill Belichick celebrate after a playoff win in January 2007. The two were together for Brady's entire Patriots career. Kirby Lee/Getty Images Brady throws a pass during a game in Cincinnati in October 2007. Andy Lyons/Getty Images Brady is surrounded by the media in 2007. The Patriots went undefeated in the regular season but lost to the New York Giants in the Super Bowl. Stephan Savoia/AP New York Giants defensive end Justin Tuck strips the ball from Brady during the Super Bowl in February 2008. Chris O'Meara/AP Brady leaves the field in 2012 after another Super Bowl loss to the Giants. Jim Davis/The Boston Globe/Getty Images Brady kisses his mother, Galynn, after the Patriots defeated Seattle for their fourth Super Bowl title in February 2015. David J. Phillip/AP An opposing fan taunts Brady as he takes the field in August 2015. Brady was eventually suspended four games over the \"Deflategate\" controversy, which involved allegations that the Patriots purposely deflated balls to gain an advantage on offense in an AFC Championship game. Grant Halverson/Getty Images Brady runs onto the field before a game in September 2015. Jim Rogash/Getty Images Brady drops back to pass during a game against Dallas in October 2015. Christian Petersen/Getty Images Brady arrives at a federal court to appeal his suspension for \"Deflategate.\" Andrew Burton/Getty Images Brady is tackled by Denver's Aqib Talib in the AFC Championship game in January 2016. Christian Petersen/Getty Images Brady raises the Vince Lombardi Trophy after leading the Patriots to their fifth Super Bowl victory in 2017. The Patriots were trailing 28-3 before pulling off the biggest Super Bowl comeback ever and winning in overtime. Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images Teammate Rob Gronkowski playfully steals Brady's jersey before a Boston Red Sox baseball game in April 2017. Brady had just had his Super Bowl jersey returned by authorities after it had been stolen from the locker room. Maddie Meyer/Getty Images Brady and his wife, model Gisele Bundchen, attend the Met Gala in New York in 2018. The couple married in 2009. Ray Tamarra/GC Images/Getty Images Brady celebrates after an overtime win in January 2019 that put that Patriots in the Super Bowl. Jeff Roberson/AP Brady celebrates with his daughter, Vivian, and his wife, Gisele, after winning his sixth Super Bowl in 2019. In October 2022, Brady and Bundchen announced that they had divorced after 13 years of marriage. Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images Brady leads his team onto the field before a game against the New York Jets in 2019. Al Bello/Getty Images Brady's last game with the Patriots was a playoff loss to Tennessee in January 2020. Greg M. Cooper/USA Today Sports Pro golfer Phil Mickelson reads a putt for Brady as they team up for a made-for-TV charity match in May 2020. Mickelson and Brady lost a close match to Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning. Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images for The Match Brady throws a pass during a game against Carolina in September 2020. Brady finished the regular season with 40 touchdown passes and 12 interceptions as the Buccaneers went 11-5. Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees congratulates Brady after the Buccaneers defeated Brees' Saints in an NFL playoff game in January 2021. It was the first playoff game in NFL history to feature two starting quarterbacks in their 40s. Both players occupy the top two spots for many of the league's quarterback records. Butch Dill/AP Brady celebrates with his teammates in January 2021 after Tampa Bay defeated Green Bay to win the NFC and clinch a spot in the Super Bowl. Jeffrey Phelps/AP Brady celebrates at the end of the Buccaneers' win over Kansas City in Super Bowl LV. He was named the game's Most Valuable Player. Ben Liebenberg/AP Brady throws the Vince Lombardi Trophy to teammates as they celebrate their title during a boat parade in Tampa, Florida, in February 2021. Kyle Zedaker/Tampa Bay Buccaneers President Joe Biden laughs at a joke made by Brady, who was visiting the White House along with his Tampa Bay teammates in July 2021. One of Brady's jokes was about those who continue to deny that Biden won the 2020 election. \"Not a lot of people think that we could have won (the Super Bowl). In fact, I think about 40% of people still don't think we won. You understand that, Mr. President?\" Brady said to laughter. Biden responded, \"I understand that.\" Drew Angerer/Getty Images Brady runs off the field after the Buccaneers defeated his former team, the New England Patriots, in October 2021. It was Brady's first game back in New England since he left the franchise in 2020. Maddie Meyer/Getty Images Brady throws a pass during a playoff game against the Los Angeles Rams in January 2022. The Rams eliminated the Buccaneers 30-27. Kim Klement/USA Today Sports Brady walks off the field after the playoff loss to the Rams. Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images In pictures: NFL legend Tom Brady Prev Next\n\nBut the young quarterback led them to 11 wins in their last 14 regular-season games and on to Super Bowl XXXVI. There the Patriots beat the St. Louis Rams on a last-second field goal after Brady completed five passes on the game-winning drive. It was the first of five times he would be selected as Most Valuable Player in the game.\n\nThe Patriots added Vince Lombardi trophies in 2004, 2005, 2015, 2017 and 2019.\n\nHis best season might have been in 2007 when the Patriots went undefeated in the regular season as Brady threw for a then-record 50 touchdowns and completed a league-high 68.9% of his passes. But the New York Giants upset the Patriots in one of the most exciting Super Bowls ever, one of three NFL title games Brady didn’t win.\n\nBrady’s last season was filled with gaudy numbers, too: 5,316 yards passing and 43 touchdowns. While Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers is the overwhelming favorite to win the MVP award, Brady is the likely runner-up. Whoever wins will be MVP for the fourth time in his career.", "authors": ["Steve Almasy"], "publish_date": "2022/01/31"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/buccaneers/2022/02/01/tom-brady-retires-official-patriots-buccaneers/9298370002/", "title": "Tom Brady retires: Legendary QB walks away from NFL as the GOAT", "text": "The greatest to ever do it is walking away.\n\nFormer Tampa Bay Buccaneer and New England Patriot quarterback Tom Brady officially announced his retirement Tuesday morning, just one day after he said he was contemplating his options.\n\nBrady, 44, has played in the league half his life, with 22 full seasons to his name, two of which came with Tampa Bay after he left New England after the 2019 season.\n\nBrady now walks away with a commanding grip on several NFL records, many of which — at first blush — would appear to be impossible to reach. Perhaps the most impressive of those relate to his success, and his teams’ successes, in the postseason. Brady started 24 conference championship games or Super Bowls in his career. Simply put, he dominated the league.\n\n\"This is difficult for me to write, but here it goes: I am not going to make that competitive commitment anymore,\" Brady said Tuesday in the post that announced his retirement. \"I have loved my NFL career, and now it is time to focus my time and energy on other things that require my attention.\n\nSuper Bowl Central: Super Bowl 57 odds, Eagles-Chiefs matchups, stats and more\n\nNFL NEWSLETTER: Sign up and don't miss a Super Bowl moment\n\n\"I've done a lot of reflecting the past week and have asked myself difficult questions. And I am so proud of what we have achieved. My teammates, coaches, fellow competitors, and fans deserve 100% of me, but right now, it's best I leave the field of play to the next generation of dedicated and committed athletes.\"\n\nHere's everything we know about the G.O.A.T. walking away:\n\nHow did Tom Brady decide to retire?\n\nOn Saturday, USA TODAY Sports’ Mike Jones confirmed that Brady would be announcing his impending retirement. Brady, after the Buccaneers were eliminated from the playoffs in a 30-27 loss in the divisional round against the Los Angeles Rams, deflected on questions about his future, saying: \"I haven’t put a lot of thought into it.\"\n\nBrady's comments about his future, however, had notably softened from previous seasons, when he had said in no uncertain terms that he would be back and looked to play well into his mid-40s. After the loss against the Rams, Brady cited his family as an important factor in determining his future.\n\nOn Monday, in an appearance on the \"Let's Go\" podcast with Jim Gray, Brady said he was still contemplating his next steps and added: \"I'm not going to race to some conclusion on that.\"\n\nThen, just hours after that podcast published, Brady posted his announcement Tuesday morning on his social media channels and thanked former teammates, executives, coaches and fans in a lengthy statement. He also took the opportunity to thank his family for their support throughout his career.\n\nESPN had been the first outlet to report Saturday on Brady’s impending retirement.\n\nWhy did Tom Brady retire?\n\nWith increasing frequency, Brady has mentioned that his family and a desire to spend more time with them would be one of the main reasons why he would walk away. The recent increase of transparency in his thinking, alone, pointed to a rare glimpse into his human side.\n\nHis reasons for leaving New England had, in part, a lot to do with the grueling grind that comes with preparing for an NFL season and weekly games. While he found a more relaxed approach in Tampa Bay under coach Bruce Arians, preparing for opponents and seasons is still taxing. After 22 seasons, he has accomplished all there is to accomplish in the sport.\n\nBrady has also ventured into several successful business and media ventures, not limited to his health, wellness and recovery brand TB 12 Sports, in partnership with personal trainer and friend Alex Guerrero. Now that he won't have to game plan and practice, he's expected to give those ventures more time.\n\n\"The future is exciting,\" Brady said in his retirement announcement before citing three companies that he cofounded and would look to continue to grow. \"As I said earlier, I am going to take it day by day. I know for sure I want to spend a lot of time giving to others and trying to enrich other people's lives, just as so many have done for me.\"\n\nWhat will Tom Brady's legacy be?\n\nUndoubtedly, it will be as the greatest quarterback — and player — of all time. It's not just the poise and methodical approach he took toward seeking competitive advantages, it's the metronomic consistency he embodied when he played. In fact, his retirement announcement alone is sending ripples across the league that he dominated.\n\nBut, on the business side of things, Brady also provided a blueprint for player empowerment. He sought independent treatments for his body that he felt were in his best interests. It's hard to argue with the results. He focused on pliability and healthy eating and became a paradigm of dependability, even into his mid-40s. He was an advocate for improvements in player rights and asserting more control over offseason workout practices. And, in his departure from the Patriots, he also showed the importance of wielding agency and control in player movements.\n\nBrady even controlled the narrative in the media over the final seasons of his career, launching several video stories in which he directed what information got out, and how.\n\nMuch of this can be traced all the way back to his days in Ann Arbor, as the University of Michigan quarterback who just happened to get selected in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL draft.\n\nWhat are others saying about Tom Brady?\n\nTributes have poured in from all corners of the NFL and sporting world. Former Patriots teammates shared their favorite Tom Brady stories.\n\nNFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said Brady \"made everyone around him better and always seemed to rise to the occasion in the biggest moments.\" Buccaneers coach Bruce Arians called it \"an honor\" just to coach him.\n\nSaid Patriots owner Robert Kraft: \"Words cannot describe the feelings I have for Tom Brady, nor adequately express the gratitude my family, the New England Patriots and our fans have for Tom for all he did during his career.\"\n\n\"I have always admired & respected his competitiveness, his dedication, his discipline, and his commitment to being the best,\" friend and former competitor Peyton Manning said.\n\nWhat are Tom Brady’s statistical accomplishments?\n\nAs mentioned above, Brady will likely be untouchable for several NFL records in the decades to come — if not for the rest of the league’s history.\n\nTo start with some of the more notable ones, Brady walks away with the NFL record for most career passing yards in both the regular season (84,520) and the playoffs (13,049). He also has thrown for more touchdowns (624) than anyone.\n\nHe has NFL records for most Super Bowl appearances (10), victories (seven), Super Bowl Most Valuable Player awards (five).\n\nThe list goes on and on. We took a look at some of Brady’s more interesting stats here.\n\nWhat's next for the NFL (and the Buccaneers)?\n\nThere will never be another Tom Brady. He's the product of a perfect storm of talent, drive and franchise stability. Still, there's a crop of young passers who might come close.\n\nThe Bucs will now need to find Brady's replacement and have some decisions to make about a roster that is still talented, but will look very different. Backup quarterback Blaine Gabbert is set to hit free agency, so he may be on the move. That leaves third-string passer Kyle Trask, a second-round rookie Tampa selected in the 2021 draft, as the only quarterback currently left on the roster.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/02/01"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/14/sport/tom-brady-hint-retirement-nfl-spt-intl/index.html", "title": "Tom Brady hints at retirement as Gisele Bündchen says she has ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nTom Brady remarked on his latest podcast appearance that he is “close to the end” of his NFL career as he continued to hint at his retirement.\n\nBrady, now 45 years old, has had a tumultuous offseason, retiring in February only to later reverse that decision. In the midst of August’s training camp, Brady took an 11-day leave of absence to “deal with personal things,” according to his head coach Todd Bowles.\n\nLast week, Brady said: “As you get older, life changes quite a bit. There’s different responsibilities that take form in your life. There’s different perspectives you gain.”\n\nThe seven-time Super Bowl champion, speaking on his regularly scheduled ‘Let’s Go!’ podcast with co-host Jim Gray on Tuesday, said that he is “feeling more than things in the past for some reason” as he competes in his 23rd NFL season.\n\nBrady prepares to take the field for the Bucs against the Cowboys. Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire/Getty Images\n\n“I’m just really feeling intensely my emotions,” the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback told Gray. “And I feel like I always have that, but I think when you get close to the end – and I don’t know exactly where I’m at with that, but there’s no decision to be made, it’s not like I have 10 years left, I definitely don’t have that.\n\n“All these, I’m just never going to take for granted. The only time it really slapped me in the face to say: ‘Don’t take this for granted’ was when I got injured with my knee. And after that, I came back and said: ‘Winning’s great. I love winning and I hated losing, and I still do, but even if you lose and you walk off the field healthy, there’s something to be gained from it.’ The part is, if you get injured and you can’t be there with your team, that’s really where it gets mentally challenging and emotionally challenging.”\n\nBrady and the Bucs opened the new season with a comfortable 19-3 win over the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.\n\nAlthough Brady said that there is a “simplicity to life when you’re in the football season because there’s a rhythm to it,” he explained waking up on Monday morning the day after a win with bruises and cuts on his arm. “Holy s**t, there were a few hits,” he said.\n\nKansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes throws a pass in the fourth quarter of the AFC Championship against the Cincinnati Bengals. Mahomes led his team to a 23-20 victory. Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Haason Reddick causes San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy to fumble during the NFC Championship. It was the Niners' first offensive drive and Purdy injured his elbow on the play. He left the game until the third quarter, when his backup Josh Johnson suffered a concussion. The Eagles won 31-7. Seth Wenig/AP Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase and running back Joe Mixon motion for a touchdown against the Buffalo Bills during the third quarter. Both Chase and Mixon had TDs as the Bengals convincingly beat the Bills 27-10 to advance to the AFC Championship game. Joshua Bessex/AP Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Jaylen Watson celebrates an interception late in the fourth quarter of the game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Despite Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes appearing to suffer a serious ankle injury, Kansas City was able to beat the Jaguars 27-20 to advance to play the Bengals. Scott Winters/Icon Sportswire/AP George Kittle of the San Francisco 49ers catches a pass against the Dallas Cowboys during the third quarter. The 49ers' defense -- which picked off Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott twice -- helped stymie Dallas in a 19-12 victory to move San Francisco to the NFC Championship game. Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones loses the ball while under pressure by Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Josh Sweat. The Eagles thoroughly dominated the Giants, winning 38-7, to advance to play the 49ers in the NFC Championship game. Chris Szagola/AP Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott rushes the ball for a touchdown against Tampa Bay Buccaneers defensive end Akiem Hicks in the first half. Prescott accounted for five touchdowns -- one rushing and four passing -- in the Cowboys' 31-14 victory over the Bucs to set up a clash against the San Francisco 49ers in the next round of the playoffs. Kim Klement/Reuters Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence celebrates on the field after completing a massive comeback against the Los Angeles Chargers. Lawrence threw four interceptions -- and also four touchdowns -- as he led the Jaguars back from 27-0 down in the first half to beat the Chargers 31-30 thanks to a last-second field goal. Kevin Sabitus/AP Baltimore Ravens quarterback Tyler Huntley loses the ball as it is knocked away by Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Logan Wilson. Bengals defensive end Sam Hubbard picked up the fumble and returned it for a 98-yard touchdown in a game-changing moment in Cincinnati's 24-17 victory. Darron Cummings/AP Buffalo Bills wide receiver Khalil Shakir grabs a pass against Miami Dolphins cornerback Kader Kohou. Despite playing with third-string quarterback Skylar Thompson, the Dolphins almost shocked the Bills but came up just short, turning the ball over on downs on Miami's final possession of the game as they lost 34-31. The Bills will now face the Bengals for the first time since Bills safety Damar Hamlin's on-field collapse brought a game between the two teams to a halt and set off a national outpouring of support. Adrian Kraus/AP The Minnesota Vikings' Eric Kendricks tackles New York Giants wide receiver Isaiah Hodgins. The Giants shocked the No. 3 seed 31-24 largely thanks to an excellent performance from quarterback Daniel Jones. The 25-year-old finished with 301 passing yards and two touchdowns, as well as 78 rushing yards. Abbie Parr/AP San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle celebrates after scoring a two-point conversion against the Seattle Seahawks. The 49ers used a big second half to break away from a plucky Seahawks squad and win 41-23. It continues the remarkable run of rookie 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy -- who threw for three touchdowns -- who was drafted with the final pick of last year's NFL draft. Jed Jacobsohn/AP Buffalo Bills running back Nyheim Hines scores a touchdown on a kickoff return during the first half against the New England Patriots. Hines' touchdown -- his first of two against New England -- came in the Bills' first play since Damar Hamlin collapsed and suffered a cardiac arrest. Joshua Bessex/AP Fans hold a sign in support of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin during the second half of the game against the New England Patriots. On Sunday, a source told CNN that the Bills safety had shown continued progress with his recovery after his cardiac arrest and on-field collapse and expects to be released from the hospital in the coming days. Jeffrey T. Barnes/AP Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Kadarius Toney catches a touchdown against Las Vegas Raiders linebacker Luke Masterson during the fourth quarter at Allegiant Stadium. With the emphatic 31-13 victory, the Chiefs clinched the No. 1 seed in the AFC and a bye for the first round of the playoffs. Jeff Bottari/Getty Images The Seattle Seahawks celebrate an interception by Quandre Diggs against the Los Angeles Rams in overtime at Lumen Field. Thanks to their 19-16 win and the Green Bay Packers' defeat later in the day, the Seahawks claimed a wildcard spot in the NFC playoffs. Steph Chambers/Getty Images Indianapolis Colts fans sit in the stands wearing sad face paper bag masks during a game against the Houston Texans at Lucas Oil Stadium. The Colts lost their last seven games of the season -- including Sunday's 32-31 defeat to the Texans -- to finish 4-12-1 for the season, leaving them with the No. 4 pick in the 2023 NFL draft. Robert Scheer/USA Today Sports/Reuters Quez Watkins of the Philadelphia Eagles stiff-arms the New York Giants' Nick McCloud during the first quarter at Lincoln Financial Field. Eagles star quarterback Jalen Hurts returned to the line-up on Sunday and helped the team to a 22-16 win over the Giants, clinching the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs. Mitchell Leff/Getty Images The Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers kneel in prayer for Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin before playing on December 8. The Steelers would go on to win 28-14. Matt Freed/AP Buffalo Bills players react after teammate Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field during the first quarter of the Monday Night Football game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Hamlin was administered CPR before being transported off the field in an ambulance. Joseph Maiorana/USA Today Sports/Reuters Tampa Bay quarterback Tom Brady celebrates after scoring a rushing touchdown against Carolina on Sunday, January 1. The Buccaneers clinched a postseason berth — and their second straight NFC South title — with a 30-24 win. Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images San Francisco running back Christian McCaffrey rumbles into the end zone against Las Vegas on January 1. McCaffrey and the Niners won 37-34 in overtime. John Locher/AP Philadelphia quarterback Gardner Minshew, making his second start in place of injured Jalen Hurts, passes against New Orleans on January 1. The Eagles lost 20-10 but still have a chance to clinch home-field advantage in next week's regular season finale. Matt Slocum/AP Kendrick Bourne of the New England Patriots catches a touchdown over Cam Taylor-Britt of the Cincinnati Bengals during the fourth quarter at Gillette Stadium on December 24. The Bengals won 22-18. Winslow Townson/Getty Images Atlanta Falcons center Drew Dalman prepares to snap the ball during the first half against the Baltimore Ravens at the M&T Bank Stadium. The Ravens won 17-9. Tommy Gilligan/USA Today Sports Rachaad White of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers stretches across the goal line for a touchdown as Marco Wilson of the Arizona Cardinals defends during the fourth quarter. The Bucs won 19-16. Christian Petersen/Getty Images Las Vegas Raiders running back Josh Jacobs (28) is tackled during the second half of the game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers won 13-10. Don Wright/AP Michael Gallup of the Dallas Cowboys is unable to make a catch in the end zone under pressure from James Bradberry of the Philadelphia Eagles. The Cowboys won 40-34. Sam Hodde/Getty Images Minnesota Vikings place kicker Greg Joseph celebrates his game-winning field goal against the Indianapolis Colts. The Vikings rallied from a 33-point deficit at halftime to defeat the Colts 39-36, completing the largest comeback in NFL history. Matt Krohn/USA Today/Reuters Jamal Agnew of the Jacksonville Jaguars attempts to catch a pass against the Dallas Cowboys during the second half. The Cowboys lost 40-34 in overtime after Rayshawn Jenkins' 52-yard interception was returned for a touchdown. Mike Carlson/Getty Images Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals is sacked by Lavonte David of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the second quarter at Raymond James Stadium. Burrow threw four touchdowns as the Bengals overcame a 17-point deficit to beat Tom Brady and the Bucs 34-23. Douglas P. DeFelice/Getty Images Mac Jones of the New England Patriots reacts after losing to the Las Vegas Raiders 30-24. A crazy ending to the game between the teams ended with the Patriots suffering a damaging defeat in their hopes to reach the playoffs. Chris Unger/Getty Images Cleveland Browns tight end David Njoku reaches for a touchdown against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, December 11. It was Deshaun Watson's first touchdown pass for the Browns since returning from an 11-game suspension over sexual misconduct allegations. Despite the touchdown, the Bengals won 23-10. Jeff Dean/AP Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver Mike Williams catches a pass against Miami Dolphins cornerback Xavien Howard on December 11. The Chargers won 23-17. Gary A. Vasquez/USA Today Sports/Reuters San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy celebrates after running for a touchdown against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on December 11. The rookie also threw for two touchdowns in the 35-7 blowout win Jed Jacobsohn/AP Kansas City Chiefs running back Jerick McKinnon dives for a touchdown against the Denver Broncos on December 11. McKinnon scored two receiving touchdowns in the game, and the Chiefs won 34-28. Ron Chenoy/USA Today Sports/Reuters Green Bay Packers' Christian Watson celebrates as he crosses the goal line after catching a touchdown pass from Aaron Rodgers during the second half of a game against the Chicago Bears on December 4. Watson had two touchdowns in the Packers' 28-19 victory over the Bears. Charles Rex Arbogast/AP Miami Dolphins fullback Alec Ingold hurdles over San Francisco 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw during the first half of the teams' game. The 49ers, despite losing starting quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to a season-ending injury early on, beat the Dolphins 33-17. Godofredo A. Vásquez/AP Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Mack Hollins goes upside down on a reception during the first half against the Los Angeles Chargers. The Raiders eventually beat the Chargers 27-20, largely thanks to a monster afternoon for star wide receiver Davante Adams, who finished with 177 receiving yards and two touchdowns. David Becker/AP Cincinnati Bengals running back Chris Evans runs in for a touchdown past Kansas City Chiefs defensive end George Karlaftis in the second half. Behind two touchdown passes from Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, Cincinnati beat the Chiefs 27-24. Jeff Dean/AP New York Jets QB Mike White celebrates after beating the Chicago Bears 31-10 at MetLife Stadium on November 27. White had a monster afternoon, throwing for 315 yards and three touchdowns. Mike Stobe/Getty Images Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Marvin Jones Jr. makes the game-winning touchdown catch with 18 seconds left against Baltimore Ravens cornerback Marcus Peters during the second half of their game in Week 12. Phelan M. Ebenhack/AP Two sides of the coin... Atlanta Falcons quarterback Marcus Mariota and Washington Commanders defensive end Montez Sweat react to Mariota's second half interception on November 27. Washington won the game 19-13. Patrick Semansky/AP New Orleans Saints tight end Taysom Hill is tackled by San Francisco 49ers defensive end Samson Ebukam, linebacker Fred Warner and defensive tackle Kevin Givens in the second half on November 27. The 49ers would go on to shut out the Saints 13-0 to move to 7-4 on the year. Jed Jacobsohn/AP Dallas' Peyton Hendershot, right, celebrates a touchdown with teammates inside a big Salvation Army kettle during the Cowboys' Thanksgiving Day win over the New York Giants on Thursday, November 24. Tony Gutierrez/AP Buffalo wide receiver Stefon Diggs digs into a turkey leg after the Bills defeated Detroit on Thanksgiving Day. Lon Horwedel/USA Today Sports Ahead of their game against the Las Vegas Raiders on November 20, Denver Broncos staff members and fans observe a moment of silence for victims of an attack at a Colorado Springs LGBTQ nightclub late Saturday. A gunman entered the Club Q nightclub and opened fire, killing at least 5 people and injuring 19 others, police said. Jack Dempsey/AP Atlanta Falcons running back Cordarrelle Patterson sets a personal record by running back a kick-return 103 yards for a touchdown in front of his home crowd. Patterson now has nine kickoff return touchdowns, the most in NFL history. The Falcons would go on to beat the Chicago Bears 27-24. John Bazemore/AP Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott celebrates a touchdown with running back Tony Pollard in the third quarter against the Minnesota Vikings at US Bank Stadium. The Cowboys (7-3) demolished the previously Vikings (8-2) 40-3 on the road in an astonishing performance. Brace Hemmelgarn/USA Today/Reuters New England Patriots fans celebrate as cornerback Marcus Jones scores an 84-yard punt return in the final 30 seconds of the game to give the Pats a 10-3 win over division rivals, the New York Jets. Steven Senne/AP Justin Jefferson catches arguably the pass of the year in front of the Bills' Cam Lewis during the fourth quarter at Highmark Stadium in Buffalo. Jefferson had a monster afternoon — finishing with 10 catches, 193 receiving yards and a touchdown — as the Vikings stunned the Bills 33-30 in overtime to go to 8-1 on the year. Isaiah Vazquez/Getty Images Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady keeps on making history. Brady and the Bucs beat the Seattle Seahawks 21-16 in the NFL's first regular season game in Germany. With the victory, the seven-time Super Bowl champion became the first QB to win an NFL game in three different countries outside of the US. He had previously won in the UK and in Mexico. Gary McCullough/AP Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields evades Detroit Lions safety Kerby Joseph as he runs for a 67-yard touchdown. Fields ran for 147 yards and two touchdowns, but it wasn't enough as the Bears lost 31-30 to the Lions. Charles Rex Arbogast/AP Green Bay Packers wide receiver Christian Watson celebrates with fans after scoring a touchdown during the second half against the Dallas Cowboys. The rookie caught three touchdowns as the Packers ended a five-game losing streak to beat the Cowboys 31-28 in overtime. Matt Ludtke/AP Miami Dolphins fullback Alec Ingold scores a touchdown in the first quarter of the game against the Cleveland Browns at Hard Rock Stadium. Miami beat the Browns 39-17, extending its winning run to four games, behind three touchdown passes from quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. Eric Espada/Getty Images Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen scores a first quarter touchdown against the New York Jets, but the Bills' fast start wasn't enough though, as the Jets fought back and were able to record a huge victory over their high-flying division rivals, 20-17. Robert Deutsch/USA Today/Reuters Joe Mixon scores a touchdown for the Cincinnati Bengals during the third quarter against the Carolina Panthers. Mixon scored five TDs in the 42-21 win over the Panthers, breaking the Bengals' record for the most touchdowns in a single game. Andy Lyons/Getty Images Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Brandon Powell is acrobatically tackled by Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Genard Avery during the first half of their game at Raymond James Stadium. Bucs quarterback Tom Brady threw a one-yard touchdown to tight end Cade Otton with 13 seconds left to complete a 16-13 comeback victory over the reigning Super Bowl champions. Mark LoMoglio/AP Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Davante Adams catches a pass for a touchdown while being tightly defended by Jacksonville Jaguars cornerback Tyson Campbell. Despite another excellent afternoon for Adams — finishing with 146 receiving yards and two touchdowns — the Raiders were beaten 27-20 by the Jags. Gary McCullough/AP Green Bay Packers wide receiver Samori Toure is tackled by Detroit Lions safety Will Harris. The Packers lost their fourth straight game, losing to the Lions 15-9, as Aaron Rodgers threw three interceptions on the day. Paul Sancya/AP Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown catches a 29-yard touchdown pass against Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon and safety Minkah Fitzpatrick. Brown caught three touchdown passes as the Eagles remained undefeated with a 35-13 victory over the Steelers to move to 7-0 for the season. Eric Hartline/USA Today/Reuters San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey throws a touchdown pass to Brandon Aiyuk against the Los Angeles Rams. McCaffrey equaled a rare record in the 49ers 31-14 victory, becoming the first NFL player since Hall of Famer LaDainian Tomlinson in 2005 to have a passing, rushing and receiving touchdown in a game. Ric Tapia/Icon Sportswire/Getty Images DeAndre Hopkins make an amazing one-handed catch to reel in a touchdown for the Arizona Cardinals against the Minnesota Vikings. Hopkins' excellent display, finishing with the touchdown and 159 receiving yards, wasn't enough though as the Cardinals lost 34-26 to the Vikings. Adam Bettcher/Getty Images Dallas Cowboys' Micah Parsons celebrates his fumble recovery and touchdown run during the second half against the Chicago Bears. The Cowboys dominated the Bears, winning 49-29, with running back Tony Pollard scoring three rushing touchdowns. Ron Jenkins/AP New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara stretches across the goal line for a touchdown against the Las Vegas Raiders. The Saints shut out the Raiders, intercepting quarterback Derek Carr once, on the way to a 24-0 win. Rusty Costanza/AP Atlanta Falcons kicker Younghoe Koo is congratulated by teammates after kicking the game-winning field goal in overtime against the Carolina Panthers. Regular time ended in dramatic fashion after Panthers quarterback PJ Walker completed a huge Hail Mary touchdown pass to tie the scores but kicker Eddy Pineiro missed two key kicks which would have given Carolina the victory. In the end, Koo's overtime field goal gave the Falcons the 37-34 victory. John Bazemore/AP New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones slides and accidentally kicks Chicago Bears safety Jaquan Brisker in the groin. Later on in the drive, Brisker got his revenge though with an impressive one-handed interception — one of three picks on the evening for \"Da Bears\" in a 33-14 win for Chicago. Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase catches one of his two touchdowns on the afternoon over Atlanta Falcons cornerback Cornell Armstrong and safety Jaylinn Hawkins. The Bengals beat the Falcons 35-17 behind a monster performance from quarterback Joe Burrow, who threw 34-for-42 for 481 yards and three touchdowns. Jeff Dean/AP It was tough times for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Tom Brady on Sunday against the Carolina Panthers. Brady — sacked here by Panthers defensive end Brian Burns — and the Bucs failed to score a touchdown in a 21-3 loss to Carolina to send Tampa Bay to 3-4 on the year. Despite the loss, the Bucs are still first place in the lowly NFC South. Scott Kinser/CSM/ZUMA Press/AP Seattle Seahawks receiver Marquise Goodwin makes an amazing catch for a touchdown in the first half of a 37-23 win against the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday. Goodwin made four catches for 67 yards and two TDs on the day. Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP All eyes might have been focused on quarterback Dak Prescott's return but Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott — here hurdling Detroit Lions safety DeShon Elliott — stole the show with two rushing TDs to help America's Team to a 24-6 win over Detroit. Ron Jenkins/AP Arizona Cardinals cornerback Marco Wilson leaps into the end zone as he returns an interception for a touchdown during a Thursday Night Football football game against the New Orleans Saints. The Arizona defense scored touchdowns on two pick-sixes late in the first half. Norm Hall/Getty Images Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen hurdles Kansas City Chiefs safety Justin Reid as he scrambles for a first down. Allen's fourth quarter touchdown throw to Dawson Knox capped off a 24-20 victory against the Chiefs. Peter Aiken/Associated Press Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Parris Campbell stretches to get the ball over the pylon for a touchdown while defended by Jacksonville Jaguars cornerback Darious Williams. The Colts beat their division rivals 34-27 thanks to a last-gasp touchdown from quarterback Matt Ryan to rookie Alec Pierce. Jenna Watson/USA TODAY New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley dives into the endzone to score a touchdown during the second half against the Baltimore Ravens. The Giants continued their excellent start to the season with a 24-20 win over the Ravens, improving their record to 5-1. Seth Wenig/Associated Press Chicago Bears wide receiver Darnell Mooney makes catch under pressure from Washington Commanders cornerback Benjamin St-Juste just short of the goal line in the final minute of the second half. Mooney came within inches of securing a come-from-behind victory for the Bears, but eventually had to settle for a 12-7 loss after he was adjudged to have landed just short of a touchdown. Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press Gabe Davis of the Buffalo Bills makes a one-handed catch for a touchdown against Minkah Fitzpatrick of the Pittsburgh Steelers during the second quarter at Highmark Stadium. The Bills dominated the Steelers 38-3 with Davis scoring two touchdowns on the day. Bryan M. Bennett/Getty Images San Francisco 49ers cornerback Emmanuel Moseley scores a touchdown after having intercepted Carolina Panthers quarterback Baker Mayfield. The 49ers emphatically beat the Panthers 37-15. Rusty Jones/AP New York Jets running back Breece Hall carries the ball down to the one-yard line against the Miami Dolphins during the fourth quarter. Hall rushed for a touchdown in the Jets' 40-17 demolishing of the Dolphins. His TD was one of the Jets' four rushing touchdowns as they dominated Miami on the ground. Adam Hunger/AP Dallas Cowboys quarterback Cooper Rush celebrates with Dak Prescott after the team's 22-10 win against the Los Angeles Rams. Rush stepped in for starting quarterback Prescott in Week 2 after Prescott suffered a hand injury. Since then, the Cowboys have won four straight games. Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP Minnesota wide receiver Justin Jefferson dives for a two-point conversion during the Vikings' 29-22 victory over the Chicago Bears. Brad Rempel/USA Today Sports New Orleans Saints utility player Taysom Hill breaks the tackle of Seattle Seahawks safety Quandre Diggs and runs to the endzone for a 60-yard rushing touchdown during the Saints' 39-32 victory. Hill ran for three touchdowns, as well as throwing for another, as the Saints ended a three-game losing streak. Gerald Herbert/AP Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr. is tripped up by Denver Broncos cornerback K'Waun Williams. It was a rare glimpse of offense in a lackluster 12-9 win for the Colts. David Zalubowski/AP A protester meets the full force of Los Angeles Rams defensive end Takkarist McKinley, left, and linebacker Bobby Wagner during the Monday night game against the San Francisco 49ers on October 3. \"He looked like he wasn't supposed to be on the field,\" Wagner told reporters after the game. \"I saw security was having a little problem -- so I helped him out.\" The 49ers went on to dominate the Rams behind a stout defense that had seven sacks and an interception, winning 24-9 to move to 2-2 on the season. Godofredo A. Vásquez/AP The Las Vegas Raiders earned their first win of the 2022 season when they beat the Denver Broncos 32-23 in front of their home crowd. The Raiders relied on a heavy run game, led by Josh Jacobs' 144 yards and two TDs on 28 carries. Abbie Parr/AP Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was taken off the field on a stretcher during the game against the Cincinnati Bengals, after suffering apparent head and neck injuries. The incident had a lot of fall out with the NFL beginning a review on allowing Tagovailoa to play, the Dolphins being criticized widely and the National Football League Players Association reportedly terminating the unaffiliated neurotrauma consultant who was involved in the evaluation of Tagovailoa for a concussion during their game against the Buffalo Bills. Jeff Dean/AP Arizona Cardinals QB Kyler Murray runs in a touchdown in the fourth against the Carolina Panthers at Bank of America Stadium on October 2 in Charlotte. Murray's TD was part of a fourth quarter flurry which saw the Cards pull away from the Panthers to go .500 on the year so far. Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence is brought down by Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Kyzir White in the second half of the Eagles' 29-21 win in Philly. The Eagles are now 4-0 after Week 4. Matt Slocum/AP Fireworks and pyrotechnics go off ahead of the Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints clash in London — the NFL's 100th international game. The Vikings won the game when the Saints' \"double doink\" kick — when the ball hits two parts of the uprights on a scoring attempt — fell short and let Minnesota return to the US with the 28-25 win. Paul Childs/Action Images/Reuters The most bizarre incident of Week 3 occurred with the Miami Dolphins backed up in their own endzone. On their own one-yard line, needing to punt the ball away with restricted space available, punter Thomas Morstead kicked the ball off teammate Trent Sherfield's backside and out of bounds for a safety. Dubbed \"butt punt\" by many on social media, the flub ultimately didn't cost Miami as it won 21-19 over the Buffalo Bills. Jasen Vinlove/USA Today Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver George Pickens makes a sensational, one-handed catch over Cleveland Browns cornerback Martin Emerson Jr. on September 22. Unfortunately for Pickens, the Steelers lost 29-17 after the Browns bounced back from an embarrassing Week 2 loss to the New York Jets. David Richard/AP Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Breshad Perriman fumbles after catching a pass during the first half against the Green Bay Packers in Week 3. The fumble was one of two lost by the Bucs on the day, helping the Packers win a tight affair, 14-12, in Tampa Bay. Chris O'Meara/AP Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa sits on the turf in the second quarter of Miami's game against the Buffalo Bills. Tagovailoa was tackled by Matt Milano and his head hit the ground, causing the Miami man to be taken into the locker room to be evaluated for a concussion. He eventually came back to lead the Dolphins to victory, but the NFLPA is initiating a review of the injury and medical evaluation. Megan Briggs/Getty Images Who knew Lions could fly? Detroit wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown soars over Minnesota Vikings cornerback Patrick Peterson to pick up a first down at the two-yard line in the first quarter of their Week 3 clash. The Vikings won the game, 28-24, led by Kirk Cousins' 260 yards passing and two TD tosses, to go to 2-1 on the year. Jerry Holt/AP Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady and New Orleans Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore get into an altercation during the second half of the Bucs' chippy 20-10 win over the Saints in Week 2. The win snapped Brady's personal seven-game losing streak against the Saints. Jonathan Bachman/AP Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Devin Duvernay gave the home crowd something to cheer for when he returned the opening kickoff 103 yards to score a touchdown against the Miami Dolphins on September 18. Despite the feat, the Ravens went on to lose 42-38 after being outscored by 25 in the fourth quarter. Julio Cortez/AP San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo celebrates with his teammates during the second half of a 27-7 win against the Seattle Seahawks on September 18. Garoppolo came on as a substitute after starter Trey Lance went down for the year with a fractured ankle and threw for 154 yards and one touchdown -- and rushed for another -- on 13/21 passing. Tony Avelar/AP The Cleveland Browns run the ball across midfield against the New York Jets during the first quarter at FirstEnergy Stadium. The Browns ended up losing 31-30 after being up by 13 points with 1:55 remaining in the game. Jets QB Joe Flacco threw for 307 yards and four TDs — including two in the final two minutes of the game — to carry the Jets. Sunday's game saw the return of \"Brownie the Elf\" to the Browns' home field. The logo was initially used by the Browns in their inaugural season in 1946 but fell out of favor in the 60s, returning when the franchise was brought back to Cleveland in 1999. Scott Galvin/USA Today Sports Arizona Cardinals cornerback Byron Murphy Jr., left, picks up a fumble and returns it for the winning touchdown during overtime of a dramatic 29-23 win against the Las Vegas Raiders on September 18. David Becker/AP Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow throws during the first half against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 1 on September 11 in Cincinnati. Burrow would go on to have five turnovers on the day — four interceptions and a lost fumble — in a 23-20 loss. Joshua A. Bickel/AP Seattle Seahawks fans make noise as Russell Wilson of the Denver Broncos prepares to take a snap during a failed game-winning drive on September 12. It was Wilson's first game back in Seattle since leaving for Denver after 10 years with the Seahawks. Seattle won 17-16. AAron Ontiveroz/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images Cleveland Browns running back Nick Chubb makes a run in the red zone against the Carolina Panthers on September 11 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Chubb had 141 yards on 22 carries in a tight 26-24 win for the Browns. Rusty Jones/AP Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen stiff-arms Los Angeles Rams safety Nick Scott in the third quarter of a massive 31-10 win against the defending Super Bowl champions at SoFi Stadium. The statement victory on NFL Opening Day shows the Bills are serious contenders for the title in 2022. Gary A. Vasquez/USA Today Sports/Reuters New Orleans Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas makes a reception against Atlanta Falcons cornerback A.J. Terrell in the second half of their game in Atlanta on September 11. Thomas had two touchdown catches on the day as the Saints outscored the Falcons by 14 in the fourth to win 27-26. Erik S. Lesser/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock The best photos from the 2022 NFL season Prev Next\n\n“And you go: ‘OK, how much longer do I want to make this commitment?’ And I obviously made the commitment for this year and everything’s going to be continuously evaluated all these different aspects at play.”\n\nBrady outlined how he now has “no margins of error” as a 45-year-old quarterback compared to those 20 years his junior in terms of his physical preparation and recovery.\n\nWhen asked by Gray about why he would consider retiring if he is still performing at a high level, Brady noted the impact of age on his priorities.\n\n“When I was 25, there was a simplicity of 25-year-old life,” Brady said.\n\n“And I think when you’re 45, and you have a lot of other commitments and obligations which are very important to you – namely children that are growing up and things that, I haven’t had a Christmas in 23 years and I haven’t had a Thanksgiving in 23 years, I haven’t celebrated birthdays with people that I care about that are born from August to late January. And I’m not able to be at funerals and I’m not able to be at weddings.\n\n“I think there comes a point in your life where you say: ‘You know what? I’ve had my fill and it’s enough and time to go on, to move into other parts of life.’”\n\nBrady looks to throw against the Cowboys. Tom Pennington/Getty Images\n\nGisele Bündchen, Brady’s wife, told Elle that she had “concerns” about her husband – already the oldest ever NFL quarterback – making a return from his February retirement.\n\n“This is a very violent sport, and I have my children and I would like him to be more present,” Bündchen said. “I have definitely had those conversations with him over and over again. But ultimately, I feel that everybody has to make a decision that works for [them]. He needs to follow his joy, too.”\n\nShe added: “I’ve done my part, which is [to] be there for [Tom]. I moved to Boston, and I focused on creating a cocoon and a loving environment for my children to grow up in and to be there supporting him and his dreams. Seeing my children succeed and become the beautiful little humans that they are, seeing him succeed, and being fulfilled in his career – it makes me happy. At this point in my life, I feel like I’ve done a good job on that.”\n\nThe Buccaneers face the New Orleans Saints on Sunday.", "authors": ["Ben Morse Matt Foster", "Ben Morse", "Matt Foster"], "publish_date": "2022/09/14"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2022/02/01/tom-brady-retires-nfl-quarterback/9297274002/", "title": "Tom Brady makes it official: Announces via social media that he is ...", "text": "A day after saying he was evaluating his options concerning his future, Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady officially retired from the NFL.\n\nBrady made the announcement via social media on Tuesday morning.\n\n\"I have always believed the sport of football is an 'all-in' proposition – if a 100% competitive commitment isn't there, you won't succeed, and success is what I love so much about our game,\" Brady said. \"There is a physical, mental and emotional challenge EVERY single day that has allowed me to maximize my highest potential. And I have tried my very best these past 22 years. There are no shortcuts to success on the field or in life.\n\n\"This is difficult for me to write, but here it goes: I am not going to make that competitive commitment anymore. I have loved my NFL career, and now it is time to focus my time and energy on other things that require my attention. I've done a lot of reflecting the past week and have asked myself difficult questions. And I am so proud of what we have achieved. My teammates, coaches, fellow competitors, and fans deserve 100% of me, but right now, it's best I leave the field of play to the next generation of dedicated and committed athletes.\"\n\nWINNERS, LOSERS OF BRADY RETIRING:Buccaneers QB's plan sends shockwaves through NFL\n\nSuper Bowl Central: Super Bowl 57 odds, Eagles-Chiefs matchups, stats and more\n\nWHO WILL BE NEXT TOM BRADY?:Probably no one, but these seven quarterbacks might have a shot\n\nBrady, 44, led the NFL in passing yards and passing touchdowns this season and his final game was the NFC Divisional loss at home to the Los Angeles Rams.\n\nUSA TODAY Sports reported Saturday that Brady was set to announce his retirement after 22 seasons.\n\n\"Tom Brady will be remembered as one of the greatest to ever play in the NFL. An incredible competitor and leader, his stellar career is remarkable for its longevity but also for the sustained excellence he displayed year after year,\" NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said.\n\n\"Tom made everyone around him better and always seemed to rise to the occasion in the biggest moments. His record five Super Bowl MVP awards and seven Super Bowl championships set a standard that players will chase for year.\"\n\nNEVER MISS A MOMENT: Subscribe to our NFL newsletter to stay informed!\n\nOn Monday, Brady said on his SiriusXM podcast \"Let's Go\" that he wasn’t ready to announce plans for his future.\n\nBrady's retirement brings an end to a storied career with seven Super Bowl titles, three MVP and five Super Bowl MVP awards and 15 Pro Bowl selections.\n\nAfter being selected in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL draft by the New England Patriots, Brady got his opportunity the next season in Week 2 when starter Drew Bledsoe was hit by New York Jets linebacker Mo Lewis. Brady started the next week against the Indianapolis Colts, leading them to a 44-13 victory.\n\nHe set NFL career marks for touchdown passes (624), passing yards (84,250) and wins as a starting quarterback while also setting league records for playoff wins, touchdowns and passing yards.\n\nOPINION:Brady's retirement serves as rare peek into legendary QB's human side\n\nOPINION:Brady's legacy also includes blueprint he provided on NFL player empowerment\n\n\"Words cannot describe the feelings I have for Tom Brady, nor adequately express the gratitude my family, the New England Patriots and our fans have for Tom for all he did during his career,\" Patriots owner Robert Kraft said in a statement. \"A generation of football fans have grown up knowing only an NFL in which Tom Brady dominated.\"\n\nIf there is one blemish on his record, it came during the 2015 AFC championship when the Colts accused Brady of using a deflated football.\n\nThe NFL investigated and found that it was “more probable than not” that Brady did use a football that was not up to league standards.\n\nHe was suspended four games, and the Patriots were fined $1 million and lost several draft picks because of the incident.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/02/01"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/buccaneers/2022/01/24/tom-brady-retiring-2022-what-we-know-qbs-nfl-future/6633846001/", "title": "Has Tom Brady played his final NFL game? What we know about ...", "text": "Tom Brady had pulled off playoff miracles before, and he nearly did it again for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday.\n\nThe second-half effort was enough to tie the game at 27, but Matthew Stafford and the Rams answered with the game on the line to snatch the game back and advance to the NFC championship game.\n\nThat denied Brady's quest for Super Bowl No. 8 and back-to-back titles with the Buccaneers. Now Tampa Bay enters the offseason with a singular question leading the mind:\n\nWill Brady be back for the 2022 season? Or has the \"GOAT\" played his final NFL game?\n\nTom Brady says he hasn't thought about future\n\nSuper Bowl Central: Super Bowl 57 odds, Eagles-Chiefs matchups, stats and more\n\nBrady's focus had been on the playoffs, he said after Sunday's game. Brady added that he has not thought much about his future.\n\n\"Truthfully, guys, I’m thinking about this game. I’m not thinking about past five minutes from now,\" Brady said, via the Associated Press.\n\n\"I haven’t put a lot of thought into it,\" Brady said. \"So, you know, we will just take it day by day and kind of see where we are at.\"\n\nIn response to a question about whether he thought during the game it might be his final contest, he replied:\n\n\"No, I was thinking about winning. That’s kind of my mentality, always to go out there are try to win. Give my team the best chance to win.\"\n\nTom Brady feels 'great'\n\nBrady famously takes his physical health seriously, so even at age 44, his body can withstand the rigors of a full NFL campaign.\n\n\"I feel great,\" Brady said. \"Physically, I feel great.\"\n\nThat means, as USA TODAY Sports' Jarrett Bell wrote, the decision about his future doesn't necessarily hinge on his health.\n\nBrady will turn 45 prior to next season.\n\nWhat has Tom Brady said in past about retirement?\n\nBrady told ESPN in 2017 he wanted to play until his mid-40s.\n\n\"I’ve always said 45 was the age that I wanted to reach and that was my goal,\" Brady told USA TODAY Sports in June. \"This year I’ll be 44, so next year I’ll be 45. I got a two-year contract.\"\n\nBuccaneers general manager Jason Licht said in May 2021 that Brady could play until he was 50 if he wanted to. The quarterback was a bit more hesitant.\n\n\"50? That’s a long time. Even for me, that’s a long time,\" he said.\n\n\"I’ll just have to evaluate all that when it comes,\" Brady added. \"It’s a physical sport; anything could happen. So I’m going to go out there this year and give everything I’ve got like I’ve done every other year, and then take it from there.\"\n\nWhat will impact Tom Brady's decision?\n\nAs Brady's former Patriots teammate Rob Ninkovich pointed out on ESPN's \"Get Up\" last week, Brady does not have anything left to prove on the football field.\n\nHis seven Super Bowls are a record. But past accomplishments likely won't be a good enough reason for Brady to hang up the cleats.\n\nAs his children get older, there will be family considerations. He has burgeoning business endeavors in apparel (the Brady line partnered with college athletes through new name, image and likeness rules), cryptocurrency and the media space – his production company helped air a 10-part documentary about his Super Bowl seasons on ESPN+.\n\nCould there be enough going on for Brady outside football that it factors into the decision?\n\nWhat is Tom Brady's contract?\n\nBrady initially signed a two-year, $50 million deal with the Buccaneers in March 2020. He signed a one-year extension after last season, with $15 million of the $20 million signing bonus deferred to 2022, according to Spotrac.\n\nIf Brady retires this offseason, the Buccaneers will recoup $16 million of the signing bonus.\n\nWhat did Bruce Arians say about Tom Brady's future?\n\nArians told the Tampa Bay Times on Friday he would be \"shocked\" if Brady didn't come back for the 2022 season.\n\nOn Sunday, Arians said the decision will be entirely up to Brady. The coach added he wasn't sure if his quarterback would return.\n\nHow did Tom Brady leave the New England Patriots?\n\nBrady's departure from New England coincided with the onset of restrictions and lockdown during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. For example, his tearful meeting with Patriots owner Robert Kraft took place outdoors on a porch, according to reports.\n\nIn the past, Brady has been deliberate and not necessarily secretive about his desires. When it seemed certain he would finish his career with the New England Patriots, despite putting his Massachusetts mansion up for sale, he shocked the league by signing with the Buccaneers.\n\nContributing: Jarrett Bell, Jori Epstein; Associated Press\n\nFollow Chris Bumbaca on Twitter @BOOMbaca.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/01/24"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2022/01/29/tom-brady-retire-quarterback-patriots-buccaneers/9269404002/", "title": "GOAT calling it quits: Tom Brady retiring after 22 NFL seasons, 7 ...", "text": "Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady will announce his retirement after 22 seasons, a person with direct knowledge of the situation told USA TODAY Sports' Mike Jones on Saturday.\n\nThe person spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the announcement.\n\nWhile other media outlets reported that Brady had not yet told the Bucs he was retiring, the person who spoke with USA TODAY Sports said Brady wanted to share the news himself but was \"definitely\" retiring.\n\nThe news comes less than a week after the Buccaneers were eliminated in the divisional playoff round by the Los Angeles Rams.\n\nBrady, 44, said after the game that he hadn't made a decision on retiring and would talk to his family concerning any decision.\n\nSuper Bowl Central: Super Bowl 57 odds, Eagles-Chiefs matchups, stats and more\n\n“I haven’t put a lot of thought into it,” Brady said. “So, you know, we will just take it day by day and kind of see where we are at.”\n\nDon Yee, Brady's agent, did not confirm or deny the news in a statement released Saturday after reports emerged of the quarterback's decision.\n\n\"I understand the advance speculation about Tom's future. Without getting into the accuracy or inaccuracy of what's being reported, Tom will be the only person to express his plans with complete accuracy. He knows the realities of the football business and planning calendar as well as anybody, so that should be soon.\"\n\nThis season, Brady, a three-time NFL MVP, set a career high with 5,316 passing yards and led the league with 43 touchdown passes.\n\nBrady hangs up his cleats as the NFL's greatest champion; winning six Super Bowl titles in 20 years with the New England Patriots and another last season with the Buccaneers. He left New England after the 2019 season in one of the most stunning free agency moves in NFL history, splitting with longtime coach Bill Belichick.\n\nWINNERS, LOSERS OF TOM BRADY RETIRING:Buccaneers QB's plan sends shockwaves through NFL\n\nWHO'S THE NEXT TOM BRADY?:Probably no one, but these seven quarterbacks might have a shot\n\nBRADY BY THE NUMBERS:All the biggest statistical achievements of Tom Brady's career\n\nBrady ends his career holding NFL records for the most career touchdown passes (624), passing yards (84,520) and completions (7,263) of any player in history, and his 15 career Pro Bowl nods and five Super Bowl MVP awards stand as all-time bests. His ultimate legacy, however, is likely his winning record, with his seven Super Bowl titles, 243 regular-season wins and 35 postseason wins all unparalleled.\n\nIn 2019, Brady was voted the No. 2 player in NFL history by a panel of USA TODAY Sports columnists, reporters and editors.\n\nA sixth-round pick in the 2000 draft by the Patriots, Brady waited his turn on the bench until he got an opportunity the next season when starter Drew Bledsoe was knocked out by New York Jets linebacker Mo Lewis. Brady took over and led the Patriots to an upset win in Super Bowl 36 over the St. Louis Rams.\n\nBrady added to his Super Bowl haul with back-to-back victories in 2003 and 2004. No NFL team has repeated as champions since.\n\nHe led the Patriots to a perfect 16-0 regular season in 2007, setting the then-NFL record with 50 passing touchdowns. New England was upset by the New York Giants 17-14 in Super Bowl 42.\n\nBrady led the Patriots to more Super Bowl appearances, losing to the Giants again in Super Bowl 46 before beating the Seattle Seahawks in the 2014 season and the Atlanta Falcons in the 2016 campaign. The Patriots would lose another Super Bowl to the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2017 season but won another Lombardi Trophy by defeating the Los Angles Rams in Super Bowl 53.\n\nIn 2015, an investigation determined it was \"more probable than not\" that the Patriots had purposefully deflated footballs for that January's AFC championship game against the Indianapolis Colts and that Brady was \"at least generally aware\" of the infractions. Brady was suspended for four games, sparking an extensive legal battle between the NFL and one of its star players. Brady would eventually serve the four-game ban to start the 2016 season after deciding not to press the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan's decision to reject what would be the final appeal.\n\nThe Patriots were fined $1 million and were forced to surrender the team's first-round pick in the 2016 draft and fourth-round pick the following year.\n\nBrady had 42 fourth-quarter comebacks and 53 game-winning drives in his career.\n\nHe is the second mainstay quarterback to retire this offseason, as the Pittsburgh Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger announced Thursday he would not return in 2022.\n\nBrady's decision leaves immediate uncertainty for coach Bruce Arians and the Buccaneers at quarterback. The team selected Kyle Trask out of the University of Florida in the second round of last year's NFL draft, but Blaine Gabbert served as Brady's backup this season. Gabbert, the former first-round pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars who failed to live up to his draft billing, is set to become a free agent this year and has not started a game in the last two seasons under Brady.\n\nTampa Bay faces additional questions in what could be an offseason of significant change. Wide receiver Chris Godwin, running back Leonard Fournette, center Ryan Jensen, defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, cornerback Carlton Davis III and tight end Rob Gronkowski are among the starters who are set to become free agents.\n\n“It’s a reload like it is every year,” Arians said Monday, according to the team’s website. “Our [priority] in free agency will be our guys — see how many that we can get back and then build a team from there. I always look forward to that part of it, and then the draft. Each year is so different and so new. Last year, to get everybody back was amazing. I doubt we can do it all again this year, but we’re sure going to give it our best.”\n\nGronkowski, the former Patriots standout who came out of retirement to join Brady in Tampa, said this past week he also was contemplating retirement.\n\n\"If they're (the NFL) like, 'Rob, you've got to decide right now, right this second if you're playing next year,' I would say no right now. 'It's two days after the season. I would be like, 'No, I'm not playing,'\" Gronkowski told TMZ Sports. \"You've gotta give it time, you've gotta rest to see how everything goes, to see how everything plays out, how I feel. I just want to heal completely, see where my thoughts are from there ... You really start thinking what you're going to do about three, four, five weeks from now.\"", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/01/29"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/29/football/tom-brady-retiring-nfl/index.html", "title": "Tom Brady: legendary NFL quarterback is set to retire, reports say ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nTom Brady, arguably the greatest NFL quarterback of all time and a seven-time Super Bowl winner, said Monday on his podcast that he has made no decision yet on retiring from football.\n\nBrady just wrapped up his 22nd season in the NFL and second with the Bucs.\n\nLast Sunday, when Tampa Bay, the defending Super Bowl champion, lost to the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Divisional Round, Brady said he would take the decision on his professional football future “day-by-day.”\n\nFollow CNN’s live coverage\n\nThe NFL tweeted its gratitude Saturday, referring to Brady as GOAT – Greatest Of All Time – with the hashtag #ThankYouTom and an illustration of the quarterback wearing his Super Bowl rings. Another NFL tweet read, “Nobody did it better.”\n\nBrady himself has not released a statement, and according to multiple reports, people close to him insist a decision has not been conveyed to them.\n\nBrady’s father Tom Brady, Sr., told NFL Network’s Mike Giardi reports of Brady’s retirement are “total conjecture.”\n\n“Tommy has not made a final decision one way or the other, and anybody else that says that he has is absolutely wrong,” Giardi quoted Brady Sr. as saying.\n\nESPN first reported Brady was retiring, citing unnamed sources. The Boston Globe reported an NFL source confirmed the news.\n\nBuccaneers coach Bruce Arians also was not ready to bid farewell to the seven-time Super Bowl champion.\n\nESPN’s Jenna Laine reported when she asked if Brady has informed the team he is retiring, Arians told her, “He hasn’t. Not even close to making up his mind yet. He told us.”\n\nCNN has reached out to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Brady’s representatives and the NFL, but has not received a response to questions about the situation.\n\n“I understand the advance speculation about Tom’s future,” his agent, Don Yee, said in a statement Saturday, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.\n\n“Without getting into the accuracy or inaccuracy of what’s being reported, Tom will be the only person to express his plans with complete accuracy. He knows the realities of the football business and planning calendar as well as anybody, so that should be soon.”\n\nAlong with the league offering its best wishes, athletes from Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes to Brooklyn Nets star James Harden tweeted goat emojis.\n\n“Thanks for the memories, babe,” former Patriots teammate Julian Edelman tweeted.\n\n“Hell of a run!,” wrote Bucs cornerback and teammate Richard Sherman. “Honor to share the field with you.”\n\nBoston Mayor Michelle Wu said it was an emotional day.\n\n“Tom Brady is just an icon in the sport, but here in New England – 20 seasons that he gave us and some of the most memorable Super Bowls that we will always remember – it’s quite emotional today … for a lot of folks,” she told CNN Saturday.\n\nBrady’s record-setting career\n\nBrady is considered by many NFL observers to be the greatest quarterback of all time, having led the New England Patriots to six Super Bowl titles and the Bucs to one. No quarterback has thrown for more touchdowns, more yards or won more playoff games than Brady. He has also played in and won more regular-season games in his career than any other quarterback.\n\nBrady is a 44-year-old father of three who has been married to supermodel Gisele Bündchen since 2009. They have two children, a 12-year-old son and a 9-year-old daughter. Brady has a 14-year-old son from a prior relationship with actress Bridget Moynahan.\n\nBrady told the SiriusXM “Let’s Go!” Podcast Monday Bündchen and his children would be at the heart of any choice he made.\n\n“The biggest difference now that I’m older is I have kids now too, and I care about them a lot as well,” Brady told Jim Gray.\n\n“They’ve been my biggest supporters. My wife is my biggest supporter, it pains her to see me get hit out there.\n\n“She deserves what she needs from me as a husband and my kids deserve what they need from me as a dad.”\n\nTaken by the Patriots with the 199th pick of the 2000 NFL Draft, Brady wasn’t meant to be the starting quarterback; the Patriots already had three-time Pro Bowl selection Drew Bledsoe. The Boston Herald reported Patriots Coach Bill Belichick said they took Brady because he was the highest-rated player still available in the sixth round.\n\n“He’s a good, tough quarterback who played at a high level of competition,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said. “We’ll put him out there with everyone else and let him compete and see what happens.”\n\nAfter Brady had a good training camp and preseason, the Patriots made the rare move of keeping him as a fourth-string quarterback.\n\nHe moved up the depth chart and in the second game of Brady’s second season Bledsoe suffered a severe injury when he was slammed to the ground in a game.\n\nWhen Brady took over, the Patriots were coming off a losing season and had struggled in two losses to open the 2001 season.\n\nBut the young quarterback led them to 11 wins in their last 14 regular-season games and on to Super Bowl XXXVI. There the Patriots beat the St. Louis Rams on a last-second field goal after Brady completed five passes on the game-winning drive. It was the first of five times he would be selected as Most Valuable Player in the game.\n\nTom Brady holds the Vince Lombardi Trophy after leading the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a Super Bowl win in February 2021. Ben Liebenberg/AP Brady played college football at the University of Michigan. He started for the Wolverines in his junior and senior seasons, going 20-5. Peter Read Miller/Sports Illustrated/Getty Images Brady grew up in San Mateo, California, and played football, basketball and baseball before joining Michigan. Jamie Squire/Allsport/Getty Images Despite his successful career at Michigan, Brady was not projected to be a star in the NFL. He was the 199th player taken in the NFL Draft. Many quarterbacks were taken before him. Pro Football Hall of Fame/AP Brady started his career backing up Drew Bledsoe. But when Bledsoe was hurt in September 2001, Brady got his chance to shine. He took over as starter and led the Patriots all the way to the Super Bowl. Winslow Townson/AP Brady loses the ball after being hit by Oakland's Charles Woodson during an NFL playoff game in January 2002. The Patriots got the ball back and went on to win the game, but the controversial play was heavily debated in the offseason. The \"tuck rule\" was eventually repealed in 2013. Jim Davis/The Boston Globe/Getty Images The 2001 season culminated in a Super Bowl victory for Brady and the Patriots in February 2002. They upset the heavily favored St. Louis Rams 20-17. Brady was named Super Bowl MVP, and he became the youngest quarterback to win a Super Bowl. He was 24. Jim Davis/The Boston Globe/Getty Images Brady and the Patriots were back in the Super Bowl in 2004, winning another title over the Carolina Panthers. They repeated the next season with a Super Bowl win over Philadelphia. Jeff Gross/Getty Images Brady and Patriots coach Bill Belichick celebrate after a playoff win in January 2007. The two were together for Brady's entire Patriots career. Kirby Lee/Getty Images Brady throws a pass during a game in Cincinnati in October 2007. Andy Lyons/Getty Images Brady is surrounded by the media in 2007. The Patriots went undefeated in the regular season but lost to the New York Giants in the Super Bowl. Stephan Savoia/AP New York Giants defensive end Justin Tuck strips the ball from Brady during the Super Bowl in February 2008. Chris O'Meara/AP Brady leaves the field in 2012 after another Super Bowl loss to the Giants. Jim Davis/The Boston Globe/Getty Images Brady kisses his mother, Galynn, after the Patriots defeated Seattle for their fourth Super Bowl title in February 2015. David J. Phillip/AP An opposing fan taunts Brady as he takes the field in August 2015. Brady was eventually suspended four games over the \"Deflategate\" controversy, which involved allegations that the Patriots purposely deflated balls to gain an advantage on offense in an AFC Championship game. Grant Halverson/Getty Images Brady runs onto the field before a game in September 2015. Jim Rogash/Getty Images Brady drops back to pass during a game against Dallas in October 2015. Christian Petersen/Getty Images Brady arrives at a federal court to appeal his suspension for \"Deflategate.\" Andrew Burton/Getty Images Brady is tackled by Denver's Aqib Talib in the AFC Championship game in January 2016. Christian Petersen/Getty Images Brady raises the Vince Lombardi Trophy after leading the Patriots to their fifth Super Bowl victory in 2017. The Patriots were trailing 28-3 before pulling off the biggest Super Bowl comeback ever and winning in overtime. Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images Teammate Rob Gronkowski playfully steals Brady's jersey before a Boston Red Sox baseball game in April 2017. Brady had just had his Super Bowl jersey returned by authorities after it had been stolen from the locker room. Maddie Meyer/Getty Images Brady and his wife, model Gisele Bundchen, attend the Met Gala in New York in 2018. The couple married in 2009. Ray Tamarra/GC Images/Getty Images Brady celebrates after an overtime win in January 2019 that put that Patriots in the Super Bowl. Jeff Roberson/AP Brady celebrates with his daughter, Vivian, and his wife, Gisele, after winning his sixth Super Bowl in 2019. In October 2022, Brady and Bundchen announced that they had divorced after 13 years of marriage. Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images Brady leads his team onto the field before a game against the New York Jets in 2019. Al Bello/Getty Images Brady's last game with the Patriots was a playoff loss to Tennessee in January 2020. Greg M. Cooper/USA Today Sports Pro golfer Phil Mickelson reads a putt for Brady as they team up for a made-for-TV charity match in May 2020. Mickelson and Brady lost a close match to Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning. Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images for The Match Brady throws a pass during a game against Carolina in September 2020. Brady finished the regular season with 40 touchdown passes and 12 interceptions as the Buccaneers went 11-5. Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees congratulates Brady after the Buccaneers defeated Brees' Saints in an NFL playoff game in January 2021. It was the first playoff game in NFL history to feature two starting quarterbacks in their 40s. Both players occupy the top two spots for many of the league's quarterback records. Butch Dill/AP Brady celebrates with his teammates in January 2021 after Tampa Bay defeated Green Bay to win the NFC and clinch a spot in the Super Bowl. Jeffrey Phelps/AP Brady celebrates at the end of the Buccaneers' win over Kansas City in Super Bowl LV. He was named the game's Most Valuable Player. Ben Liebenberg/AP Brady throws the Vince Lombardi Trophy to teammates as they celebrate their title during a boat parade in Tampa, Florida, in February 2021. Kyle Zedaker/Tampa Bay Buccaneers President Joe Biden laughs at a joke made by Brady, who was visiting the White House along with his Tampa Bay teammates in July 2021. One of Brady's jokes was about those who continue to deny that Biden won the 2020 election. \"Not a lot of people think that we could have won (the Super Bowl). In fact, I think about 40% of people still don't think we won. You understand that, Mr. President?\" Brady said to laughter. Biden responded, \"I understand that.\" Drew Angerer/Getty Images Brady runs off the field after the Buccaneers defeated his former team, the New England Patriots, in October 2021. It was Brady's first game back in New England since he left the franchise in 2020. Maddie Meyer/Getty Images Brady throws a pass during a playoff game against the Los Angeles Rams in January 2022. The Rams eliminated the Buccaneers 30-27. Kim Klement/USA Today Sports Brady walks off the field after the playoff loss to the Rams. Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images In pictures: NFL legend Tom Brady Prev Next\n\nThe Patriots added Vince Lombardi trophies in 2004, 2005, 2015, 2017 and 2019.\n\nHis best season might have been in 2007 when the Patriots went undefeated in the regular season as Brady threw for a then-record 50 touchdowns and completed a league-high 68.9% of his passes. But the New York Giants upset the Patriots in one of the most exciting Super Bowls ever.\n\nBrady’s last season was filled with gaudy numbers, too: 5,316 yards passing and 43 touchdowns. While Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers is the overwhelming favorite to win the MVP award, Brady is the likely runner-up. Whoever wins will be MVP for the fourth time in his career.", "authors": ["Steve Almasy Homero De La Fuente", "Steve Almasy", "Homero De La Fuente"], "publish_date": "2022/01/29"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2022/01/30/tom-brady-financial-incentive-retirement-announcement-spottrac/9275831002/", "title": "Tom Brady's $15 million signing bonus pays out Feb. 4, per report", "text": "Tom Brady hasn't officially confirmed he's retiring from the NFL, despite all indications that he won't return for a 23rd season.\n\nAccording to Spotrac, the one-year extension Brady signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last March for the 2022 season included a $20 million signing bonus -- with $15 million of it to be paid on Feb. 4, 2022.\n\nBrady, 44, may have already decided to hang up his cleats, but Tampa Bay could reclaim $16 million of the signing bonus if he does retire, according to reports. Teams can still choose to pay out a player's full signing bonus.\n\nNFL NEWSLETTER:Sign up now for exclusive content sent to your inbox\n\nTHE GOAT RETIRES:Tom Brady's retirement serves as rare peek into legendary QB's human side\n\nSuper Bowl Central: Super Bowl 57 odds, Eagles-Chiefs matchups, stats and more\n\nWINNERS, LOSERS:Buccaneers QB's plan sends shockwaves through NFL\n\nOn Saturday, Brady's agent Don Yee said: \"He knows the realities of the football business and planning calendar as well as anybody, so that should be soon.\"\n\nThe three-time MVP and seven-time Super Bowl champion set a career high with 5,316 passing yards this season and led the league with 43 touchdown passes before the Buccaneers fell to the Los Angeles Rams in last week's NFC divisional playoff.\n\nHis exit would add to the Buccaneers' potential offseason losses. Wide receiver Chris Godwin, running back Leonard Fournette, center Ryan Jensen, defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, cornerback Carlton Davis III and tight end Rob Gronkowski are all set to become free agents.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/01/30"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/2023/02/01/tom-brady-retires-insisting-this-time-its-for-good/51244111/", "title": "Tom Brady retires at 45, insisting this time it's 'for good'", "text": "AP\n\nTAMPA, Fla. (AP) — This time, Tom Brady says he's done for good.\n\nThe seven-time Super Bowl winner with New England and Tampa Bay announced his retirement from the NFL on Wednesday, exactly one year after first saying his playing days were over, by posting a brief video lasting just under one minute on social media.\n\nUnlike last winter, though, the most successful quarterback in league history, as well as one of the greatest athletes in team sports, said his decision was final.\n\n“Good morning guys. I'll get to the point right away,\" Brady says as the message begins. “I'm retiring. For good.\"\n\nHe briefly retired after the 2021 season but wound up coming back for one more year with the Buccaneers. He retires at age 45, the owner of virtually every meaningful NFL passing record in an unprecedented 23-year career.\n\nSuper Bowl Central: Super Bowl 57 odds, Eagles-Chiefs matchups, stats and more\n\nA year ago when he retired, it was in the form of a long Instagram post. But about six weeks later, he decided to return for one more run, citing “unfinished business” after an early playoff exit.\n\nThe Buccaneers — with whom he won a Super Bowl two seasons ago — made the playoffs again this season, losing in their playoff opener. And at the time, it begged the question about whether Brady would play again.\n\nOnly a couple of weeks later, he has given the answer.\n\n“I know the process was a pretty big deal last time, so when I woke up this morning, I figured I’d just press record and let you guys know first,\" Brady says in the video. “I won’t be long-winded. You only get one super emotional retirement essay and I used mine up last year.\n\n“I really thank you guys so much, to every single one of you for supporting me. My family, my friends, teammates, my competitors. I could go on forever. There’s too many. Thank you guys for allowing me to live my absolute dream. I wouldn’t change a thing. Love you all.\"\n\nBrady is the NFL’s career leader in yards passing (89,214) and touchdowns (649). He is the only player to win more than five Super Bowls and has been MVP of the game five times. He also holds marks for regular-season wins (251), Super Bowl appearances (10), playoff games and wins (48, 35), as well as playoff yards (13,400) and TDs (88).\n\n“Tom’s legacy is unmatched in the history of this game. All the Super Bowl titles and statistical records speak for themselves, but the impact he had on so many people through the years is what I appreciate the most,” Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht said.\n\n“His imprint on this organization helped take us to the mountaintop. We will certainly miss him as our quarterback, but I will also miss him as a leader and friend,” Licht added. \"Our entire organization is indebted to him for what he provided us over the past three years. We won’t ever forget the wins or the accolades, and his influence will be felt for years to come.”\n\nBrady announced his retirement one day after attending the premiere of “80 for Brady\" — which comes out Friday — in Los Angeles. The movie tells the story of four lifelong friends, played by Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Rita Moreno and Sally Field, who went to a Super Bowl to see Brady play.\n\nHe was asked Tuesday night whether he felt a connection working with women — the four stars range in age from 76 to 91 — who don’t want to retire.\n\n“They’re working hard and they love it. So good for them,\" Brady told The Associated Press. “You know, it’s just that’s what life is about. You got to, you know, wake up every day with a purpose. And when you find something you love to do, you know, it’s hard to stop. You really enjoy it. And there’s a lot of aspects that you do enjoy. So they still bring it at this age. It’s really unbelievable to watch them on set and how much energy they have. And I certainly was inspired by them and learned a lot of lessons on this whole experience.”\n\nFamously underrated coming into the NFL — he was picked 199th in the 2000 draft by the Patriots, behind six other quarterbacks, three kickers and a punter — Brady certainly wasn’t expected to become synonymous with greatness. He played in one game as a rookie, completing one of three passes for six yards.\n\nThe next year, it all changed.\n\nBrady took over as the Patriots’ starter, the team beat the St. Louis Rams in the Super Bowl that capped the 2001 season and he and New England coach Bill Belichick were well on their way to becoming the most successful coach-QB duo in football history.\n\nMore Super Bowl wins came after the 2003 and 2004 seasons. The Patriots returned to football’s mountaintop for a fourth time in Brady’s era a decade later to cap the 2014 season, the start of three more titles in a span of five years.\n\nHe signed with Tampa Bay in free agency in 2020 and added a seventh Super Bowl ring to his collection in his first season with his new team. The Bucs and won 37 games (including postseason) with Brady at quarterback — third most in the league over the past three seasons behind Kansas City (46) and Buffalo (41).\n\n“I think I’ve been on the record dozens of times saying there’s no quarterback I’d rather have than Tom Brady, and I still feel that way,\" Belichick said in 2021 — shortly before Tampa Bay, with Brady, came to New England and beat the Patriots in a game dubbed “The Return.\" “I was very lucky to have Tom as the quarterback, to coach him, and he was as good as any coach could ever ask for.\"\n\nBrady set league single-season records for completions (490) and pass attempts (733) while throwing for 4,643 yards, 25 touchdowns and nine interceptions in his final season. The Bucs, however ranked dead last in rushing offense and, forced to rely almost solely of Brady’s arm, struggled to get the ball into the end zone.\n\nAfter scoring 61 touchdowns in 2021, Tampa Bay slipped to 31 last season and averaged just 18.4 points per game — down from over 30 in Brady’s first two seasons with the Bucs.\n\nAt 8-9, Brady’s only losing season in over two decades as a NFL starter, the Bucs became just the fourth team in league history to earn a postseason berth with a losing mark in a non-strike year. The offensive struggles continued during a lopsided loss to Dallas in the NFC wild-card round.\n\nBrady won three NFL MVP awards, was a first-team All-Pro three times and was selected to the Pro Bowl 15 times.\n\nBrady and model Gisele Bündchen finalized their divorce this past fall, during the Bucs' season. It ended a 13-year marriage between two superstars who respectively reached the pinnacles of football and fashion.\n\nIt was announced last year that when Brady retires from playing, he would join Fox Sports as a television analyst in a 10-year, $375 million deal.\n\n___\n\nAP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl and https://apnews.com/hub/pro-32 and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/02/01"}]}
{"question_id": "20230203_11", "search_time": "2023/02/04/11:56", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/02/02/groundhog-day-punxsutawney-phil-sees-shadow/9303576002/", "title": "Groundhog Day: Punxsutawney Phil sees shadow, 6 more weeks of ...", "text": "On average, Phil has gotten it right only 40% of the time over the past 10 years.\n\nThis is the 136th year that Phil has made his prediction.\n\nGroundhog Day's origins lie in an ancient European celebration of Candlemas.\n\nWell, the groundhog has spoken, so it's official: Six more weeks of winter, according to Punxsutawney Phil, the world's most famous weather-prognosticating groundhog.\n\nThe Punxsutawney Groundhog Club's Inner Circle – a group that organizes the event and cares for Phil – brought Punxsutawney Phil out of his den in front of a large crowd as cameras beamed his image around the world.\n\nThe group reported that Phil communicated in \"groundhogese\" that he saw his shadow, meaning we'll see at least a month and a half more of miserable cold and snow.\n\nSo how much can we trust Phil's forecast?\n\nUnfortunately, based on weather data, \"there is no predictive skill for the groundhog during the most recent years of the analysis,\" according to a report last year by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.\n\nIn fact, on average, Phil has gotten it right only 40% of the time over the past 10 years\n\nLATEST ON WINTER STORM:Massive winter storm dumps ice, freezing rain and up to 18 inches of snow across US\n\nGROUNDHOG DAY EXPLAINED:Can a fuzzy rodent predict the weather better than a meteorologist?\n\nLast year, Phil forecast a \"long winter\" when he saw his shadow and predicted an additional six weeks of wintry temperatures, according to NOAA. In fact, the contiguous United States saw below-average temperatures in February and above-average temperatures in March.\n\nSo Phil was 50/50 on his forecast in 2021.\n\n2021 A DEADLY YEAR FOR WEATHER:20 disasters killed more than 600 Americans\n\nThis year, the official forecast for the U.S. for the rest of February is for milder-than-average weather across the southern and eastern U.S. and cooler-than-average weather in the northwestern part of the country.\n\nThough Groundhog Day is just some midwinter fun, climate records say winter probably isn't over, according to NOAA. Climatologically speaking, the three coldest months of the year in the U.S. are December, January and February, so winter typically still has a ways to go when the groundhog comes out Feb. 2.\n\nWHAT IS A BOMB CYCLONE?A winter hurricane, explained.\n\nThis is the 136th year Phil has made his prediction.\n\nAlthough Phil is the most famous hog, other furry forecasters include West Virginia's French Creek Freddie, Georgia's Gen. Beauregard Lee, Ohio's Buckeye Chuck, North Carolina's Sir Walter Wally, Louisiana's Cajun Groundhog, Alabama's Smith Lake Jake, Wisconsin's Jimmy and New York's Staten Island Chuck (full name: Charles G. Hogg).\n\nGroundhog Day's origins lie in an ancient European celebration of Candlemas, a point midway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox – the exact midpoint of astronomical winter.\n\nIS IT SLEET, FREEZING RAIN OR HAIL?Learn the difference\n\nSuperstition has it that fair weather predicted a stormy and cold second half to winter, as noted in this Old English saying:\n\n\"If Candlemas be fair and bright,\n\nWinter has another flight.\n\nIf Candlemas brings clouds and rain,\n\nWinter will not come again.\"", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/02/02"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/02/01/groundhog-day-results-phil-record/11128690002/", "title": "Are Groundhog Day results accurate? Phil's record over the years", "text": "It's that time of year, when the fate of the nation's weather outlook rests on not whether a woodchuck could chuck wood, but if a woodchuck can cast a silhouette.\n\nEvery Feb. 2, the world's most famous groundhog Punxsutawney Phil rises from its burrow in Pennsylvania for Groundhog Day to give the prediction on what type of weather the U.S. could expect to see in the coming weeks.\n\nIt's simple:\n\nIf Phil sees his shadow, he predicts six more weeks of winter.\n\nIf Phil doesn't see his shadow, he predicts an early spring.\n\nThe tradition of weather predicting dates back over 130 years ago, but for something that has lasted since the 19th century, how often is the famed groundhog right?\n\nGroundhog Day, explained:Can a rodent predict the weather better than a meteorologist can?\n\nWhen is Groundhog Day 2023?: Here’s when to expect the furry forecaster to seek his shadow\n\nGroundhog Day, who?:These animals are also used to forecast weather in the US\n\nHow often is Punxsutawney Phil right?\n\nSadly, the groundhog is often wrong when it comes to his predictions.\n\nSince making his first prediction in 1887, Punxsutawney Phil has been right 39% of the time, according to the Stormfax Weather Almanac.\n\nThe National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Centers for Environmental Information looked at the most recent predictions and found from 2012-21, Phil was right 40% of the time when comparing the national temperature averages.\n\n\"Predicting the arrival of springtime for an entire country, especially one with such varied regional climates as the United States, isn’t easy,\" the center said. \"Phil’s track record is evidence of that.\"\n\nThe Farmers' Almanac says it'll be a 'soggy, shivery' spring: What will the weather be in your state?\n\nHow many times has he predicted a longer winter or early spring?\n\nSince 1887, Punxsutawney Phil has predicted the weather outlook 127 times, as there have been only 10 instances where it was not recorded or he did not appear.\n\nHe has seen his shadow the most, as he has predicted a longer winter 107 (84%) times. Here's are all of his results since 1887:\n\nSaw shadow (six more weeks of winter): 107\n\nNo shadow (early spring): 19\n\nPartial shadow: 1\n\nNo record: 10\n\nDid not appear: 1\n\nPunxsutawney Phil's recent predictions and Groundhog Day results\n\nHere are the past 10 predictions made by Punxsutawney Phil:\n\n2013: No Shadow\n\nNo Shadow 2014: Shadow\n\nShadow 2015: Shadow\n\nShadow 2016: No Shadow\n\nNo Shadow 2017: Shadow\n\nShadow 2018: Shadow\n\nShadow 2019: No Shadow\n\nNo Shadow 2020: No Shadow\n\nNo Shadow 2021: Shadow\n\nShadow 2022: Shadow\n\nFollow Jordan Mendoza on Twitter: @jordan_mendoza5.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/02/01"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/02/us/groundhog-day-punxsutawney-phil-trnd/index.html", "title": "Groundhog Day: Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow, 6 more ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nPunxsutawney Phil saw his shadow Wednesday, meaning that if you believe in a groundhog’s ability to predict the weather – we’re in for six more weeks of winter.\n\nPhil and his friends at Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, have been predicting the seasons since 1887, according to his website.\n\nThough Phil has no meteorology degree, every year on February 2, the United States tunes in for his prediction.\n\nLegend has it that if Phil sees his shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter and if he doesn’t, spring will arrive sooner. In 2021 the groundhog did see his shadow, calling for six more weeks of cold.\n\nTurns out he was only half correct, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information, a division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which manages “one of the largest archives of atmospheric, coastal, geophysical, and oceanic research in the world.”\n\n“The contiguous United States saw below average temperatures in February and above average temperatures in March of last year. Phil was 50/50 on his forecast,” the NCEI said.\n\nPhil’s track record is not perfect, the agency noted. “On average, Phil has gotten it right 40% of the time over the past 10 years,” it said.\n\nPhil’s fans beg to differ. On his website, the “weather predictor extraordinaire” is said to be “accurate 100% of the time.”", "authors": ["Amanda Watts"], "publish_date": "2022/02/02"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/01/30/groundhog-day-2018-weather-forecast-punxsutawney-phil-see-his-shadow/1081021001/", "title": "Groundhog Day 2018 forecast: Will Punxsutawney Phil see his ...", "text": "Joel Shannon\n\nYork Daily Record\n\nYORK, Pa. — If the meteorologists are right, the nation's most famous groundhog is set to predict an early spring on Groundhog Day, which falls on Friday this year. In fact, he might be covered in a dusting of snow.\n\nWho's Phil?\n\nPunxsutawney Phil is a prognosticating groundhog based in this small town of about 6,000 people in west central Pennsylvania. If Phil sees his shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter weather. If he does not see his shadow, there will be an early spring.\n\nThat's how the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club describes the Feb. 2 tradition, marking the midway point of winter.\n\nIs the tradition scientific? Absolutely not.\n\nAre there other furry, weather-predicting animals? Certainly.\n\nBut the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club has declared Phil the authoritative groundhog in this quirky myth.\n\nWhat's the forecast?\n\nForecasters predict clouds and snow for Friday in Punxsutawney.\n\nThe National Weather Service predicts a bitterly cold day with a high of 18 degrees and a 50% chance of snow in the morning.\n\nThe Weather Channel predicts snow, but is less confident, placing it at a 20% chance. The channel also predicts highs in the upper teens.\n\nAccuweather isn't predicting snow, but it does predict clouds and a cold temperature in the teens.\n\nLocal news is on the same page: WJAC-TV predicts temps in the teens and a 40% chance of morning snow showers.\n\nBut Groundhog Day is still several days out, and forecasts can certainly change — or be wrong.\n\nHow do I watch?\n\nA broadcast will be available on VisitPa's website: visitpa.com/groundhog-day-live-stream/\n\nWhat else should I know?\n\nYou should know there are a lot of weird traditions surrounding Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney. A. Lot.\n\nAnd you should know there are a few explanations for why a sunny day means a prediction of more winter.\n\nRelated:\n\n'Happy Death Day' is like a 'Groundhog Day' reboot\n\nThe 7 best moments from 'Groundhog Day'\n\nFollow Joel Shannon on Twitter: @JoelShannonYDR", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2018/01/30"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/02/02/groundhog-day-live-stream-video-2023/11162669002/", "title": "Groundhog Day 2023 livestream: Punxsutawney Phil makes his ...", "text": "To shadow, or not to shadow?\n\nThat is the question the town of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, asked Thursday morning, as Punxsutawney Phil made his annual weather prediction.\n\nThe famed groundhog rose from his burrow on Groundhog Day and saw his shadow, predicting we will have an additional six weeks of winter here in the U.S.\n\nUnfortunately for Phil, he's not the most accurate when it comes to predicting weather.\n\nHere's what to know about Groundhog Day 2023:\n\nDid the groundhog see his shadow? Get the results of Punxsutawney Phil's winter forecast\n\nCan a rodent predict the weather better than a meteorologist can? Groundhog Day, explained\n\nThe Farmers' Almanac says it'll be a 'soggy, shivery' spring: What will the weather be in your state?\n\nWhen is Groundhog Day?\n\nGroundhog Day is every Feb. 2.\n\nWhat did Punxsutawney Phil predict last year?\n\nIn 2022, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow and predicted a longer winter. It was the 106th time he saw his shadow in 126 years he has made a prediction.\n\nIs Punxsutawney Phil always right?\n\nUnfortunately, no.\n\nSince making his first prediction in 1887, Punxsutawney Phil has been right only 39% of the time, according to the Stormfax Weather Almanac. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Centers for Environmental Information found from 2012-21, Phil was only right 40% of the time.\n\nFollow Jordan Mendoza on Twitter: @jordan_mendoza5.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/02/02"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/02/02/groundhog-day-2020-results-phil-predicts-early-spring-sees-no-shadow/4596947002/", "title": "Groundhog Day 2020 results: Phil predicts early spring, sees no ...", "text": "YORK, Pa. – The results are in: On Groundhog Day 2020, Punxsutawney Phil could not find his shadow. And as the legend goes, this means we're in for an early spring.\n\nThe Pennsylvania groundhog isn't the only weather-predicting rodent in this quirky American tradition, but he is the most famous.\n\nAnd according to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, his opinion is the only one that matters.\n\nThis is only the 20th time out of 124 in his recorded history (there are 10 years where no record remains) that Phil hasn't been able to find his shadow.\n\nEven so, Phil is usually wrong, and meteorologists aren't too sure Phil's suspicions this year are right either.\n\nWhat happened this morning?\n\nThe Punxsutawney Groundhog Club's Inner Circle – a group that organizes the event and cares for groundhog Phil – brought Punxsutawney Phil out of his den in front of a large crowd as cameras beamed his image around the world.\n\nThey reported that Phil communicated in \"groundhogese\" that he could not find his shadow.\n\nThe Punxsutawney Groundhog Club traces the tradition's roots back to Candlemas Day in Europe – the Christian \"festival of lights\" that falls on Feb. 2, midway between the start and end of winter.\n\nAccording to the modern-day legend:\n\nIf Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow, there will be six more weeks of winter weather. If he does not see his shadow, there will be an early spring.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2020/02/02"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/02/02/2023-groundhog-day-results-thursday/11165300002/", "title": "Groundhog Day 2023 results: Did Punxsutawney Phil see his ...", "text": "It's official: We will have a longer winter, according to America's beloved groundhog meteorologist.\n\nPunxsutawney Phil rose from his burrow and saw his shadow Thursday morning in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, in front of a large Groundhog Day crowd as the nation anxiously waited to see what he would predict.\n\nPhil's prediction was made official after speaking with Groundhog Club president Tom Dunkel in \"Groundhogese,\" who then translated the prediction for the world.\n\nPhil spotting his shadow means we will have six more weeks of winter. The prediction comes as much of the country is dealing with another major winter storm.\n\nGroundhog Day 2023 livestream:Watch Punxsutawney Phil make his annual weather prediction\n\nMore:Every Groundhog Day, Punxsutawney Phil predicts the future weather. How often is he right?\n\nThis year marks the third straight year the groundhog has spotted his shadow, something he has done often since his first prediction in 1887. Of the 127 recorded times Phil has predicted the weather, he has now seen his shadow 107 times (or 84% of the time). His longest streak of seeing his shadow remains at 31, when he saw it every year from 1903 to 1933.\n\nIt'll take some time to figure out whether Phil's prediction is right, but given his history, he's probably wrong.\n\nAccording to the Stormfax Weather Almanac, Phil has been right only 39% of the time, and his track record is evidence that trying to predict the weather is hard, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Centers for Environmental Information says.\n\n\"Predicting the arrival of springtime for an entire country, especially one with such varied regional climates as the United States, isn’t easy,\" the center said.\n\nStill, it doesn't prevent the The Punxsutawney Groundhog Club's Inner Circle – the group that puts on the annual event and takes care of Phil – from celebrating its hero. The group says the groundhog's prediction is right \"100% of the time, of course!\"\n\nThe Farmers' Almanac says it'll be a 'soggy, shivery' spring: What will the weather be in your state?\n\nWhat's everyone talking about? Sign up for our trending newsletter to get the latest news of the day.\n\nPunxsutawney Phil's recent predictions and Groundhog Day results\n\nHere are the past 10 predictions made by Punxsutawney Phil:\n\n2014: Shadow\n\nShadow 2015: Shadow\n\nShadow 2016: No shadow\n\nNo shadow 2017: Shadow\n\nShadow 2018: Shadow\n\nShadow 2019: No shadow\n\nNo shadow 2020: No shadow\n\nNo shadow 2021: Shadow\n\nShadow 2022: Shadow\n\nShadow 2023: Shadow\n\nFollow Jordan Mendoza on Twitter: @jordan_mendoza5.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/02/02"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/02/02/groundhog-day-punxsutawney-phil-sees-shadow-six-more-weeks-winte/4351413001/", "title": "Groundhog Day: Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow. It's six more ...", "text": "Not even the COVID-19 pandemic, nor snow, could keep Punxsutawney Phil from getting his job done on Groundhog Day on Tuesday.\n\nThe great weather-predicting groundhog could not be stopped, forecasting six more weeks of winter after seeing his shadow during the annual spectacle at Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.\n\nOver the 135 year-tradition, it is the 106th time Phil has seen his shadow.\n\nWhile the event usually draws thousands to the borough in Jefferson County northeast of Pittsburgh, this year's festivities were all virtual.\n\nThe exception: About a dozen members of Phil's \"Inner Circle,\" a group of men in top hats who organize the event each year. Some cardboard cutouts of some previous attendees were placed around the tiny hill just outside Punxsutawney.\n\nHere a look at the celebration that has gained a foothold in lore across the U.S:\n\nThe shadow tradition explained\n\nTradition says Phil seeing his shadow is a sign that the next six weeks will bring wintry weather.\n\nIf Phil doesn't see his shadow, it means an early spring.\n\nMore on Phil:Groundhog Day give a pandemic-stressed nation some hope?\n\nGroundhog Day isn't scientific (in fact, Punxsutawney Phil's weather predictions are wrong most of the time).\n\nIf we're being honest, it even defies common sense.\n\nThe legend is simple: the groundhog's shadow on Feb. 2 predicts the weather for the next six weeks, until the start of spring.\n\nA sunny day means the groundhog will see his shadow — this is taken as a sign that the next six weeks will bring wintry weather. A cloudy day means the opposite.\n\nWhat keeps Punxsutawney Phil going?\n\nIn Punxsutawney, 1886 marked the first time that Groundhog Day appeared in the local newspaper. The following year brought the first official trek to Gobbler's Knob. Each year since then has seen a steady increase in participation of the celebration from people all over the world.\n\nIt's been the same Punxsutawney Phil for all 135 years of the tradition, according to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club. That's over 15 times longer than the upper end of a groundhog's typical lifespan. That's an old groundhog.\n\nGroundhog Day:5 bizarre things you don't know about this quirky tradition\n\nThose at the club say a special diet keeps Pennsylvania's most famous groundhog coming back each year, according to groundhog.org.\n\nThe club's Inner Circle, 15 members tasked with protecting and perpetuating the legend of the great weather-predicting groundhog, claim they keep him immortal by feeding him the 'groundhog punch' every year.\n\nIn the late summer, the club makes a Trek to Phil's Stump at Gobbler's Knob to feed him his “Elixir of Life,” members say. The elixir is made from a secret recipe and provides Phil with the potion that has sustained his longevity and youthful good looks, they said.\n\nPhil's predictions of years past\n\nPhil's first official shadow sighting came in 1887, followed by several years of no official recordings.\n\nThe first front page coverage came in 1908, when Phil saw his shadow. In 1913, John Frampton was the first to grab photo for the newspaper of Phil spotting his shadow.\n\nHis longest stretch of seeing his shadow is 21 years, which came between 1913 and 1933. His longest streak of not seeing his shadow — two years between 2019 and 2020.\n\nThe only time he did not make an appearance came in 1943 during the middle of World War II.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/02/02"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/weather/2019/02/02/groundhog-day-live-punxsutawney/2744360002/", "title": "Groundhog Day 2019 results: Phil predicts early spring, sees no ...", "text": "On Groundhog Day 2019, Punxsutawney Phil could not find his shadow. And as the legend goes, this means we're in for an early spring.\n\nThe Pennsylvania groundhog isn't the only weather-predicting rodent in this quirky American tradition, but he is the most famous. And according to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, his opinion is the only one that matters.\n\nThis is only the 19th time out of 123 in his recorded history (there are 10 years where no record remains) that Phil hasn't been able to find his shadow.\n\nEven so, Phil is usually wrong, and meteorologists aren't too sure Phil's suspicions are right either.\n\nIt's hard to imagine that spring is right around the corner after the polar vortex this past week, but we'll just have to wait and see.\n\nAt least one other prognosticating groundhog disagreed with Phil on Saturday: New Jersey's Milltown Mel predicted a longer winter after reportedly seeing his shadow. Mel has been giving predictions for the past 10 years.\n\nThe Groundhog Day shadow legend\n\nThe legend goes that if the groundhog sees his shadow on Feb. 2, there will be wintry weather for the next six weeks (just about until the start of spring). If he doesn't see his shadow, that means fairer weather is on the way.\n\nWhat happened at Gobbler's Knob this morning?\n\nThe Punxsutawney Groundhog Club's Inner Circle — a group that organizes the event and cares for groundhog Phil — brought Punxsutawney Phil out of his den in front of a large crowd as cameras beamed his image around the world.\n\nThey reported that Phil communicated in \"groundhogese\" that he could not find his shadow. According to legend, that means there will be an early spring.\n\nThe Punxsutawney Groundhog Club traces the tradition's roots back to Candlemas Day in Europe – the Christian \"festival of lights\" that falls on Feb. 2, midway between the start and end of winter.\n\nContributing: Nick Muscavage, Bridgewater Courier News", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2019/02/02"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2023/01/24/groundhog-day-2023-date-details-history/11077282002/", "title": "Groundhog Day 2023: When is it and what happens if Phil sees ...", "text": "You may know Groundhog Day from the 1993 film in which a TV weatherman finds himself reliving the same day over and over again. This classic movie, where Bill Murray’s character reports on the annual celebration over and over, subsequently put Punxsutawney, Pa., on the map.\n\nAccording to Variety, the town of Punxsutawney typically saw about 15,000-30,000 tourists for the holiday, but that number rose to 35,000 the year after “Groundhog Day” was released. Since then, Punxsutawney and Woodstock, the nearby town where the movie was filmed, host Groundhog Day events for tourists.\n\nWhen is Groundhog Day 2023?\n\nGroundhog Day is on Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023. Though not a federal holiday, Americans tune in to see if the famed groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, sees his shadow every year on the same day, Feb. 2.\n\nThe festivities will begin at sunrise at Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, but the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club celebrates with talent shows, banquets and performances leading up to and after the festivities.\n\nGroundhog Day, who?:These animals are also used to forecast weather in the US\n\n30 years later:'Groundhog Day' actor recounts making the iconic movie\n\nWhat is Groundhog Day?\n\nThe American tradition of Groundhog Day sees the nation’s most well-known groundhog take a stance on the season ahead. If he sees his shadow, he predicts six more weeks of winter. If he doesn’t, it’s a forecast of an early spring.\n\nGroundhog Day’s roots are in the Christian holiday Candlemas, the midway point between the winter solstice and spring equinox. During Candlemas, Christians honored the changing of the seasons and lit candles to predict how long winter would last.\n\nThe first official Groundhog Day happened on February 2, 1887, in the very town it is celebrated in today. The celebrations made a permanent home at Gobbler’s Knob the following year. According to History.com, it was a newspaper editor and groundhog hunter who declared Phil, a groundhog from Punxsutawney, the true predictor.\n\nToday, the ceremony is overseen by a group of men who form the “Inner Circle” of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club. The Inner Circle also cares for and feeds the groundhog carrying out the responsibilities of Punxsutawney Phil.\n\nRelive the classic:Celebrate Groundhog Day with these 7 moments from the film\n\nWhat will happen if the groundhog sees its shadow?\n\nIf Phil sees his shadow, theoretically, we can expect six more weeks of cold. Last year the groundhog predicted a longer winter.\n\nUnfortunately for Phil fanatics, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says the groundhog has “no predictive skill.” In fact, he’s only gotten it right about 40% of the time.\n\nYou’d have more luck monitoring NOAA's seasonal temperature outlook, which predicts the northwestern states will see temperatures leaning below historic norms in February, March and April. The southern states will likely experience normal temperatures and the northeast may see the same.\n\nWhen is the first day of spring?:What to know about moving past winter in 2023\n\nJust Curious?:We try to answer some of life's everyday, common questions", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/01/24"}]}
{"question_id": "20230203_12", "search_time": "2023/02/04/11:56", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/01/31/genetics-company-wants-bring-back-dodo-along-woolly-mammoth/11141047002/", "title": "Scientists trying to bring dodo bird back from extinction", "text": "The list of extinct species that genetic engineering company Colossal wants to bring back to life is growing. The latest addition: the dodo.\n\nColossal gave life to real-world visions of Jurassic Park in 2021 with its mission of bringing back the woolly mammoth. In August 2022, the company, which has offices in Boston, Dallas and Austin, Texas, said it also planned to de-extinct the Australian thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger.\n\nThis new project, announced Tuesday, would bring back a species that's historically highlighted as a case of how humans can contribute to the extinction of an animal species.\n\nPreviously:Scientists are trying to bring back the Tasmanian tiger nearly a century after extinction\n\nAnother incident at Dallas Zoo:2 monkeys missing from Dallas Zoo believed to be taken; fourth incident to occur this month\n\nWhen did the dodo become extinct?\n\nThe last dodo was killed in 1681, according to Britannica.com. Portuguese sailors discovered the dodo on the island of Mauritius, which is off the east coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean, more than five centuries ago.\n\nThe birds, which were larger than turkeys, were killed for food, the site says. Pigs and other animals brought to the island ate dodo eggs.\n\n“The dodo is a prime example of a species that became extinct because we – people – made it impossible for them to survive in their native habitat,\" said Beth Shapiro, lead paleogeneticist and a member of Colossal's scientific advisory board, in the announcement.\n\nShapiro, a professor at the University of California-Santa Cruz, led a group that announced in March 2022 it had sequenced the dodo genome. \"I am thrilled to collaborate with Colossal and the people of Mauritius on the de-extinction and eventual re-wilding of the dodo,\" she said. \"I particularly look forward to furthering genetic rescue tools focused on birds and avian conservation.”\n\nHow are scientists trying to bring back extinct species like the woolly mammoth?\n\nColossal's biotech and genetic engineering teams are combining woolly mammoth and elephant DNA to recreate a next-generation mammoth capable of surviving in the Arctic and helping restore that ecosystem. \"These embryos will be implanted into healthy female elephant surrogates with our first calves expected in 5 years,\" accounting for the 22-month gestation period, Ben Lamm, co-founder and CEO of Colossal, told USA TODAY.\n\nA similar process is being used with the Tasmanian tiger's genome and similar mammal DNA to bring back that predator – exterminated in the early 20th century – to the island off the southeast tip of Australia.\n\nColossal is creating an Avian Genomics Group to bring back the dodo and, eventually, other extinct bird species \"through genetic rescue techniques and its de-extinction toolkit,\" the company said in its announcement. Colossal also announced $150 million in investments, boosting to $225 million its funding since the company's September 2021 debut.\n\nWhat other benefits might Colossal's research yield?\n\nGene editing and biotech advances used for de-extinction \"will inevitably have utility in the human healthcare field,\" Lamm said. Gene editing technology such as CRISPR is already being used to correct genetic mutations found in diseases. \"We'll be building new tools to enable more complex editing protocols which will advance the state of the art when compared to what is available in the healthcare industry,\" he said.\n\nWhat is CRISPR? What to know about the transformative gene-editing tool\n\nAfter a decade, CRISPR gene editing is a 'revolution in progress':What does the future hold?\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": "2023/01/31"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2022/08/17/tasmanian-tiger-resurrection-extinct/10348515002/", "title": "Scientists are trying to bring back the Tasmanian tiger nearly a ...", "text": "In addition to bringing back the woolly mammoth, genetic engineering company Colossal is also looking to resurrect another extinct species: the Tasmanian tiger.\n\nTeaming up with Colossal Laboratories and Biosciences to bring back the Australian thylacine (Tasmanian tiger), a predator exterminated in the early 20th century, is the University of Melbourne's Thylacine Integrated Genetic Restoration Research, or TIGRR, Lab.\n\nScientists will use CRISPR gene editing technology and the TIGRR Lab's complete Tasmanian tiger genome from a preserved specimen to eventually create an embryo. The lab has also identified other surviving mammals with similar DNA to provide needed cells for the process.\n\n“With this partnership, I now believe that in ten years’ time we could have our first living baby thylacine since they were hunted to extinction close to a century ago,\" said Prof. Andrew Pask, who oversees the TIGRR Lab, in a description of the project on the university's website.\n\n'This is absurd':Man appointed as menstrual health lead in Scotland\n\nArgentinian dinosaur find:Remains of house-cat-sized dinosaur with spikes, powerful bite discovered in Argentina\n\nColossal, which has offices in Boston, Dallas and Austin, Texas, got attention last year when it announced plans to bring back the woolly mammoth by using elephant DNA.\n\n\"Some people classify us as a mammoth company, but we're really a de-extinction company, so our goal is to focus on bringing back species that can have a positive impact on various ecosystems, and the Tasmanian tiger is definitely one of those species,\" Colossal CEO and co-founder Ben Lamm told the Austin American-Statesman, part of the USA TODAY Network.\n\nIn other news straight out of Jurassic Park, researchers at the University of Copenhagen and Shantou University in China recently revealed plans to resurrect a smaller mammal, the Christmas Island rat.\n\nBack to Tasmania\n\nFor the Tasmanian tiger, the ultimate goal is to reestablish it on the island of Tasmania – also the home of the Tasmanian devil, an endangered species – located off the southeast tip of Australia.\n\nHad the tiger not been killed off – the predator threatened sheep and livestock – it could have helped prevent the spread of a facial tumor disease that is eliminating the Tasmanian devil population, Pask said in the university's online journal Pursuit.\n\n\"If we look at the modern-day habitat in Tasmania, it has remained relatively unchanged,\" wrote Pask, who has joined Colossal’s scientific advisory board. \"This means it provides the perfect environment to reintroduce the thylacine, enabling it to reoccupy its niche.\"\n\nWhat's everyone talking about? Sign up for our trending newsletter to get the latest news of the day\n\n'A long dog with stripes'\n\nThe Tasmanian tiger typically grew to 20-27 inches tall and 39-51 inches in length, weighing as much as 65 pounds. It could run as fast as 24 mph, and fed on birds, lizards and small mammals, according to Colossal's site.\n\n\"It had an iconic wolf or dog-like appearance, often described as a long dog with stripes, because it had a long, stiff tail and a big head,\" Pask said in Pursuit.\n\nA marsupial, the tiger's young would reside and suckle milk in the mother's pouch. That means an embryo can be implanted in a host species and when born can be bottle-fed. \"We can generate living animals in a range of host species and potentially without the need for a host at all,\" he said.\n\nFollow Mike Snider on Twitter: @mikesnider.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/08/17"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/16/world/tasmanian-tiger-thylacine-deextinction-scn/index.html", "title": "Scientists plan the resurrection of an animal that's been extinct since ...", "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\nAlmost 100 years after its extinction, the Tasmanian tiger may live once again. Scientists want to resurrect the striped carnivorous marsupial, officially known as a thylacine, which used to roam the Australian bush.\n\nThe ambitious project will harness advances in genetics, ancient DNA retrieval and artificial reproduction to bring back the animal.\n\n“We would strongly advocate that first and foremost we need to protect our biodiversity from further extinctions, but unfortunately we are not seeing a slowing down in species loss,” said Andrew Pask, a professor at the University of Melbourne and head of its Thylacine Integrated Genetic Restoration Research Lab, who is leading the initiative.\n\n“This technology offers a chance to correct this and could be applied in exceptional circumstances where cornerstone species have been lost,” he added.\n\nThe project is a collaboration with Colossal Biosciences, founded by tech entrepreneur Ben Lamm and Harvard Medical School geneticist George Church, who are working on an equally ambitious, if not bolder, $15 million project to bring back the woolly mammoth in an altered form.\n\nAbout the size of a coyote, the thylacine disappeared about 2,000 years ago virtually everywhere except the Australian island of Tasmania. As the only marsupial apex predator that lived in modern times, it played a key role in its ecosystem, but that also made it unpopular with humans.\n\nEuropean settlers on the island in the 1800s blamed thylacines for livestock losses (although, in most cases, feral dogs and human habitat mismanagement were actually the culprits), and they hunted the shy, seminocturnal Tasmanian tigers to the point of extinction.\n\nThe last thylacine living in captivity, named Benjamin, died from exposure in 1936 at the Beaumaris Zoo in Hobart, Tasmania. This monumental loss occurred shortly after thylacines had been granted protected status, but it was too late to save the species.\n\nGenetic blueprint\n\nThe project involves several complicated steps that incorporate cutting-edge science and technology, such as gene editing and building artificial wombs.\n\nFirst, the team will construct a detailed genome of the extinct animal and compare it with that of its closest living relative – a mouse-size carnivorous marsupial called the fat-tailed dunnart – to identify the differences.\n\n“We then take living cells from our dunnart and edit their DNA every place where it differs from the thylacine. We are essentially engineering our dunnart cell to become a Tasmanian tiger cell,” Pask explained.\n\nOnce the team has successfully programmed a cell, Pask said stem cell and reproductive techniques involving dunnarts as surrogates would “turn that cell back into a living animal.”\n\n“Our ultimate goal with this technology is to restore these species to the wild, where they played absolutely essential roles in the ecosystem. So our ultimate hope is that you would be seeing them in the Tasmanian bushland again one day,” he said.\n\nThe fat-tailed dunnart is much smaller than an adult Tasmanian tiger, but Pask said that all marsupials give birth to tiny young, sometimes as small as a grain of rice. This means that even a mouse-size marsupial could serve as a surrogate mother for a much larger adult animal like the thylacine, at least in the early stages.\n\nReintroducing the thylacine to its former habit would have to be done very cautiously, Pask added.\n\n“Any release such as this requires studying the animal and its interaction in the ecosystem over many seasons and in large areas of enclosed land before you would consider a complete rewilding,” he said.\n\nThe team hasn’t set a time line for the project, but Lamm said he thought progress would be quicker than the efforts to bring back the woolly mammoth, noting that elephants take far longer to gestate than dunnarts.\n\nThe techniques could also help living marsupials, such as the Tasmanian devil, avoid the thylacine’s fate as they grapple with intensifying bushfires as a result of the climate crisis.\n\n“The technologies we are developing to de-extinct the thylacine all have immediate conservation benefits – right now – to protect marsupial species. Biobanks of frozen tissue from living marsupial populations have been collected to protect against extinction from fires,” Pask said via email.\n\n“However, we still lack the technology to take that tissue – create marsupial stem cells – and then turn those cells into a living animal. That is the technology we will develop as a part of this project.”\n\nHybrid animals\n\nThe path forward, however, is not cut-and-dried. Tom Gilbert, a professor at the University of Copenhagen’s GLOBE Institute, said there are significant limitations to de-extinction.\n\nRecreating the full genome of a lost animal from DNA contained in old thylacine skeletons is extremely challenging, and thus some genetic information will be missing, explained Gilbert, who is also director of the Danish National Research Foundation’s Center for Evolutionary Hologenomics. He has studied resurrecting the extinct Christmas Island rat, also known as the Maclear’s rat, but isn’t involved in the thylacine project. The team won’t be able to exactly recreate the thylacine but instead will end up creating a hybrid animal, an altered form of thylacine.\n\n“We are unlikely to get the full genome sequence of the extinct species, thus we will never be able to fully recreate the genome of the lost form. There will always be some parts that can’t be changed,” Gilbert said via email.\n\n“They will have to cherry pick what changes to make. And thus the result will be a hybrid.”\n\nIt’s possible, he said, that a genetically imperfect hybrid thylacine could have health problems and might not survive without a lot of help from humans. Other experts question the very concept of spending tens of millions of dollars on de-extinction attempts when so many living animals are on the brink of disappearing.\n\n“To me the real benefit of any de-extinction project such as this is the awesomeness of it. Doing it seems very justified to me simply because it will excite people about science, nature, conservation,” Gilbert said.\n\n“And we sure as hell need that in the wonderful citizens of our world if we are to survive into the future. But … do the stakeholders realize what they will get will not be the thylacine but some imperfect hybrid? What we don’t need is yet more people disappointed (or) feeling cheated by science.”", "authors": ["Katie Hunt"], "publish_date": "2022/08/16"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2023/01/31/rep-george-santos-classified-documents-winter-storm-short-list/11147295002/", "title": "Rep. George Santos, classified documents, winter storm: The Short ...", "text": "Rep. George Santos resigned from his House committee seats amid increased legal scrutiny about his campaign finances and an ethics complaint. The prices of some Super Bowl snacks will cost less this year. And scientists are trying to resurrect an extinct bird.\n\n👋 Happy Tuesday! It's Julius. Let's get into today's news, shall we?\n\nBut first: A group of brave otters. 🦦 A viral video shows a bevy of otters circle a deadly cobra in Singapore.\n\nThe Short List is a snappy USA TODAY news roundup. Subscribe to the newsletter here.\n\nSantos quits committee seats amid calls for his resignation\n\nEmbattled Republican Rep. George Santos resigned from his House committee seats Tuesday as pressure mounts for him to step down from Congress. But Santos – who has defied criticism and pledged to serve his term despite admitting that he lied about his background – indicated recusing himself from committees may be a temporary move and that he would return to his positions once his legal and ethical reviews resolve. His resignation from the House Small Business and Science, Space and Technology committees comes a day after he had a meeting with Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Read more about Santos' decision.\n\nWhat we know: Companies linked to embattled congressman George Santos draw scrutiny.\n\nFBI searched Biden's former DC office after first document discovery\n\nThe FBI searched President Joe Biden's former Washington, D.C., office after the president's lawyers initially alerted the National Archives about the discovery of classified documents at the location, a person familiar with the matter said Tuesday. No search warrant was issued in connection with the previously undisclosed action, which involved the consent of the president's legal team, said a source who is not authorized to comment publicly on the investigation. The search was conducted in November after lawyers discovered an initial batch of documents at the think tank office that Biden used after serving as vice president. It was not immediately clear whether additional documents were recovered at the time. Read more.\n\nMore politics updates: Trump invokes Fifth repeatedly in deposition video.\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\nSevere winter storm thwarts travel\n\nWinter storm warnings and weather advisories stretched from Texas to New York on Tuesday as snow, sleet and freezing rain snarled air traffic and brought havoc to roadways. More than 50 million Americans were under some sort of winter weather warning or watch Tuesday. Almost 3,000 flights within, into, or out of the U.S. were delayed or canceled before 10:30 a.m. In Texas, Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and Dallas Love Field issued ground stops Tuesday morning because of snow and ice. See the latest weather updates.\n\nSuper Bowl foods may be cheaper this year\n\nAlthough inflation has driven up prices for at-home food by 11.8% over the past year, some Super Bowl party staples like chicken wings and guacamole will cost less this year, according to a new report from Wells Fargo. The report shows a decline in price for foods like chicken wings means the grocery bill for this year's game should cost less than last year for savvy shoppers. “The last two years have been a real shock to a lot of people, but we're starting to see a lot of things start working in our favor again,\" said Michael Swanson, Wells Fargo's chief agricultural economist. Conversely, the report says goods such as beer, chips and soda are more expensive this year. Read more on the prices of Super Bowl favorites.\n\n'Egg-scuse me, this carton is how much?'Here's why egg prices are soaring across the U.S.\n\nReal quick\n\nScientists are trying to resurrect the dodo\n\nGenetic engineering company Colossal wants to bring the dodo back to life. “The dodo is a prime example of a species that became extinct because we – people – made it impossible for them to survive in their native habitat,\" said Beth Shapiro, lead paleogeneticist and a member of Colossal's scientific advisory board. The last dodo was killed in 1681, according to Britannica.com. Colossal said it is creating an Avian Genomics Group to bring back the dodo and other extinct bird species \"through genetic rescue techniques and its de-extinction toolkit.\" Read more about Colossal's efforts to resurrect extinct species.\n\nMore on Colossal: Scientists are trying to bring back the Tasmanian tiger nearly a century after extinction.\n\nA break from the news", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/01/31"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/09/13/resurrect-woolly-mammoth-company-plans/8325439002/", "title": "Woolly mammoth may return to Arctic after company edits elephant ...", "text": "A company launched on Monday wants to resurrect an animal that went extinct thousands of years ago: the woolly mammoth\n\nColossal, founded by Ben Lamm, a technology and software entrepreneur, and George Church, a biologist at Harvard Medical School, hopes to “rapidly advance the field of species de-extinction,” according to a news release from the company.\n\nThat goal includes using gene editing “to restore the woolly mammoth to the Arctic tundra,” according to the release.\n\nThe research will involve reprogramming elephant DNA with mammoth characteristics, like thick hair and layers of fat, to help the hybrid animals survive in the Siberian tundra, according to multiple reports. Researchers have targeted 60 genes that make up the mammoth’s distinctive characteristics, and they will use elephant eggs or tissue.\n\nResearchers believe that if the mammoths can be created, they could revitalize grasslands in the Arctic. Colossal said Monday that the project could have “major climate change-combatting properties including carbon sequestering, methane suppression and light reflection.”\n\nLamm told USA TODAY that reintroducing woolly mammoths to the Arctic tundra \"will allow mammoths to trample the taiga and slow growing plants, fertilize the ground, uproot trees, and allow for grasslands to return, which in turn support more life.\"\n\nWoolly Mammoths:World's oldest DNA discovered in 1.2-million-year-old mammoth teeth\n\n'Completely preserved':Ice Age cave bear carcass found by reindeer herders in Russia\n\nResearchers hope to produce mammoth calves within four to six years, Lamm told USA TODAY.\n\n\"We are working hard to scale up not only our genomic editing capabilities but also artificial womb research that will support the development of hundreds and potentially thousands of woolly mammoths at the same time,\" he said.\n\nThe project is not new territory for Church, who is a genetics professor at Harvard Medical School and a core faculty member at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University. For eight years, he has been leading a group researching methods of creating mammoths, The New York Times reported.\n\nColossal was launched with $15 million in funding, including investments from Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the twins who rose to fame after suing Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.\n\nThe project has garnered concerns from other researchers. Victoria Herridge, an evolutionary biologist at the Natural History Museum in London, told the Guardian, “My personal thinking is that the justifications given – the idea that you could geoengineer the Arctic environment using a heard of mammoths – isn’t plausible.\n\n“The scale at which you’d have to do this experiment is enormous. You are talking about hundreds of thousands of mammoths which each take 22 months to gestate and 30 years to grow to maturity.”\n\nLamm noted that \"there have been some questions raised on whether the revival of the woolly mammoth can be done at the required speed needed to make a positive impact on the degrading Arctic ecosystem.\"\n\n\"We are confident that Colossal is up to this challenge as we have brought on world renowned scientists and researchers that are passionate about bringing the woolly mammoth back and successfully rewilding them into the Arctic.\"\n\nGareth Phoenix, a professor of plant and global change ecology at the University of Sheffield, also told the Guardian, “While we do need a multitude of different approaches to stop climate change, we also need to initiate solutions responsibly to avoid unintended damaging consequences.”\n\n“Mammoths are proposed as a solution to help stop permafrost thaw because they will remove trees, trample and compact the ground and convert landscapes to grassland, which can help keep the ground cool,” he said. “However, we know in the forested Arctic regions that trees and moss cover can be critical in protecting permafrost, so removing the trees and trampling the moss would be the last thing you’d want to do.”", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/09/13"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2022/08/17/gas-prices-rudy-giuliani-liz-cheney-tasmanian-tiger-resurrection-its-wednesdays-news/10329723002/", "title": "Gas prices, Rudy Giuliani, Liz Cheney, Tasmanian tiger resurrection ...", "text": "Gas prices are dropping. Liz Cheney lost her primary — but could run for higher office. And a team of scientists wants to resurrect a predator that has been extinct nearly a century.\n\n👋 Hey! Laura Davis here. It's Wednesday. Ready for the news?\n\nBut first, eyes to the sky! 🤩 If you live across the far northern U.S., make plans to get outside tonight and hope for clear skies. The aurora borealis, or northern lights, may be making a rare appearance as far south as Pennsylvania, Iowa and Oregon. Find out how to see them here.\n\nThe Short List is a snappy USA TODAY news roundup. Subscribe to the newsletter here or text messages here.\n\n🌤 What's the weather up to in your neck of the woods? Check your local forecast here.\n\nLiz Cheney for president?\n\nRep. Liz Cheney, Trump's most prominent Republican critic, said she's intent on keeping him out of the Oval Office and may consider a presidential run herself. Hours after her stinging defeat in her GOP primary in Wyoming, she said a 2024 campaign \"is something I’m thinking about and I’ll make a decision in the coming months.\" She did not mention party affiliation, and there has been speculation she could run as an independent. But analysts are skeptical, saying Cheney is unlikely to beat Trump or even be a viable independent candidate. Keep reading.\n\nLiz Cheney, from Trump backer - then critic - to considering 2024 run.\n\n- to considering 2024 run. What are Cheney's political positions? What happened in her Wyoming primary? Everything you need to know.\n\n🗳 Wyoming, Alaska primaries recap: Cheney loses to Hageman in Wyoming; Alaska's Murkowski and Palin advance to general.\n\nGiuliani appears before grand jury\n\nRudy Giuliani departed a Georgia courthouse Wednesday, declining to comment following a nearly six-hour session before a special grand jury investigating interference in the 2020 election. Giuliani’s attorney, Robert Costello, declined to say whether former President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer invoked his right against self-incrimination after being designated by prosecutors as a target of the inquiry. Giuliani had made wide-ranging claims that voting systems altered Georgia ballots while ignoring a hand-count audit that confirmed President Joe Biden's victory in the state. Giuliani is the closest Trump associate known to have been summoned before the Fulton County grand jury, and demands for the testimony of others are pending. Here's the latest on Trump's investigations.\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\nHow low can gas prices go?\n\nAfter the national average for gas surpassed $5 per gallon in June, U.S. drivers are finally finding some relief. As of Wednesday, AAA data showed the average price per gallon in 29 states was below $4, and a handful of Southern states are inching closer to $3. But experts warn that prices could spike again. See what gas prices look like in each state.\n\nWhy are gas prices falling? Lackluster demand among drivers and oil released from the strategic petroleum reserve have helped, but the majority of the savings come from the drop in oil prices.\n\nLackluster demand among drivers and oil released from the strategic petroleum reserve have helped, but the majority of the savings come from the drop in oil prices. Will they go below $3? Wholesale gasoline futures indicate gas prices in \"quite a few\" areas could fall under $3 around Thanksgiving and Christmas, according to Tom Kloza, the global head of energy analysis for the Oil Price Information Service. This includes regions in Oklahoma, Kansas and Gulf Coast states like Texas.\n\nFemale athletes stiffed on scholarships\n\nUnder Title IX, schools are required to distribute athletic scholarship dollars equitably between men and women. But each year, thousands of the nation's top college female athletes get the short end of the same stick. And unlike some aspects of Title IX that are subjective and complex, the scholarship requirement is relatively straightforward. USA TODAY analyzed the 107 public universities with top football programs. Only 32 complied. Read the investigation here.\n\nReal quick\n\nResurrecting the Tasmanian tiger\n\nThe Tasmanian tiger hasn't roamed Earth in nearly 100 years. But a genetic engineering company called Colossal is looking to resurrect it. In a project that sounds like it's straight out of Jurassic Park, scientists will use gene-editing technology and a complete Tasmanian tiger genome from a preserved specimen to create an embryo. The ultimate goal is to reestablish the animal on the island of Tasmania, off the southeast tip of Australia. The predator was exterminated in the early 20th century because it was a threat to livestock. Keep reading.\n\nA break from the news\n\nLaura L. Davis is an Audience Editor at USA TODAY. Send her an email at laura@usatoday.com or follow along with her adventures – and misadventures – on Twitter. Support quality journalism like this? Subscribe to USA TODAY here.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/08/17"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/09/09/food-breakfast-34-cereals-you-cant-buy-anymore/113673388/", "title": "Breakfast food: 34 cereals no longer available in stores", "text": "Josie Green\n\n24/7 Wall Street\n\nOh, the days when it was socially acceptable to eat pure sugar in ice cold milk for breakfast. For those of us who grew up on breakfast cereal, the nostalgia runs deep for our old favorites, especially those we’ll likely never taste again.\n\n24/7 Tempo compiled a list of breakfast cereals that are no longer available. While it is by no means a complete archive of discontinued flavors, it includes many cereals that were released in conjunction with a popular movie or cartoon and subsequently disappeared when the hype died down. Also revealed are cereals that have since been reformulated to appeal to changing tastes or, surprisingly, to address parental concerns over the color of their children’s stool.\n\nIt is not always clear when some of the cereals were discontinued. We contacted customer relations representatives to confirm each cereal was in fact removed from the market. For cereals without an exact end year, we listed the decade.\n\nMajor food companies employ virtual armies of chefs, food scientists, and marketing gurus dedicated to rolling out new products. They please us with their vivid flavors and attractive textures – and when they eventually disappear from the shelves, as many of them do, we end up missing them – here are 40 popular discontinued snack foods we really miss.\n\nWin a golden ticket and a candy factory?:Jelly Belly founder has Gold Ticket treasure hunt but be prepared to pay\n\nCoronavirus effect:Americans are buying, building, converting backyard sheds into home offices\n\n34 cereals no longer on the shelf\n\nVanilly Crunch\n\n• Years available: 1971 - early 1980s\n\n• Manufacturer: Quaker\n\n• Description: Birthday cake flavored Cap'n Crunch balls\n\nPink Panther Flakes\n\n• Years available: 1972 - 1974\n\n• Manufacturer: Post\n\n• Description: Neon pink frosted corn cereal\n\nFruit Brute\n\n• Years available: 1975 - 1983\n\n• Manufacturer: General Mills\n\n• Description: Fruit flavored cereal pieces with lime flavored marshmallows\n\nMoonstones\n\n• Years available: 1976 - 1977\n\n• Manufacturer: Ralston\n\n• Description: Fruit flavored, space-shaped cereal of stars, half-moons and planets\n\nDonkey Kong Crunch\n\n• Years available: 1982 - 1984\n\n• Manufacturer: Ralston\n\n• Description: Barrel-shaped crunchy corn cereal\n\nUnhealthy menu:These are the unhealthiest items at every major fast-food chain in the U.S.\n\nStrawberry Honeycomb\n\n• Years available: 1983 - 2002\n\n• Manufacturer: Post\n\n• Description: Strawberry flavored, honeycomb-shaped cereal\n\n*Temporarily made a come-back in 2015\n\nPac-Man\n\n• Years available: 1983 - 1988\n\n• Manufacturer: General Mills\n\n• Description: Corn cereal with Pac Man-shaped marshmallows\n\nSmurf Berry Crunch\n\n• Years available: 1983 - 1988\n\n• Manufacturer: Post\n\n• Description: Red and blue corn puffs in berry flavor\n\nMr. T Cereal\n\n• Years available: 1984 - 1993\n\n• Manufacturer: Quaker\n\n• Description: Corn and oat cereal pieces shaped like the letter T\n\nC3POs\n\n• Years available: 1984 - 1986\n\n• Manufacturer: Kellogg's\n\n• Description: Infinity-shaped, honey sweetened oat, wheat and corn cereal, that basically tasted like Lucky Charms but without the marshmallows\n\nGhostbusters Cereal\n\n• Years available: 1985 - 1990\n\n• Manufacturer: Ralston\n\n• Description: Oat cereal shaped like the Ghostbusters logo with ghost-shaped marshmallows in a glow-in-the-dark box\n\nNerds\n\n• Years available: 1985 - late 1980s\n\n• Manufacturer: Ralston\n\n• Description: Featured two separate tangy flavors divided in one box, like the candies\n\nRainbow Brite Cereal\n\n• Years available: 1985 - 1990\n\n• Manufacturer: Ralston\n\n• Description: Fruit flavored, rainbow-shaped cereal pieces in multiple colors\n\nSpiderman Cereal\n\n• Years available: 1985 - 1990s\n\n• Manufacturer: Ralston\n\n• Description: Spiderweb-shaped cereal with marshmallows\n\nYummy Mummy\n\n• Years available: 1987 - 1993\n\n• Manufacturer: General Mills\n\n• Description: Fruit flavored cereal with vanilla flavored marshmallows\n\nSmurf Magic Berries\n\n• Years available: 1987 - early 1990s\n\n• Manufacturer: Post\n\n• Description: Fruit flavored multigrain cereal with marshmallow stars\n\nMorning Funnies\n\n• Years available: 1988 - 1989\n\n• Manufacturer: Ralston\n\n• Description: Fruit flavored cereal shaped like goofy faces, in a box covered in comics\n\nDunkin' Donuts Cereal\n\n• Years available: 1988 - late 1980s\n\n• Manufacturer: Ralston\n\n• Description: Shaped like donuts, came in glazed donut and chocolate flavors\n\nTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Cereal\n\n• Years available: 1989 - 1995\n\n• Manufacturer: Ralston\n\n• Description: Net-shaped cereal with crunchy marshmallows that left your milk green\n\nBatman Cereal\n\n• Years available: 1989 - 1990\n\n• Manufacturer: Ralston\n\n• Description: Bat-shaped corn cereal\n\nBreakfast with Barbie\n\n• Years available: 1989 - early 1990s\n\n• Manufacturer: Ralston\n\n• Description: Multigrain fruit flavored cereal in the shape of hearts, bows, cars, stars, and the letter B\n\nBill & Ted's Excellent Cereal\n\n• Years available: 1990 - 1991\n\n• Manufacturer: Ralston\n\n• Description: Toasted oat squares with music note-shaped marshmallows\n\nTiny Toon Adventures\n\n• Years available: 1990 - early 1990s\n\n• Manufacturer: Quaker\n\n• Description: Corn, oat, and rice cereal in the shape of Ts, Os, and Ns\n\nCinnamon Mini-Buns\n\n• Years available: 1991 - 1993\n\n• Manufacturer: Kellogg's\n\n• Description: Corn and oat cereal shaped and flavored like swirled cinnamon bun\n\nThe Addams Family Cereal\n\n• Years available: 1991 - early 1990s\n\n• Manufacturer: Ralston\n\n• Description: Spooky-shaped cereal with a memorable lack of flavor\n\nWWF Superstars\n\n• Years available: 1991 - early 1990s\n\n• Manufacturer: Ralston\n\n• Description: Vanilla flavored, star-shaped cereal\n\nJurassic Park Lost World Crunch\n\n• Years available: 1997 - late 1990s\n\n• Manufacturer: General Mills\n\n• Description: Oat and corn cereal with dinosaur-shaped marshmallows\n\nReptar Crunch\n\n• Years available: 1999 - 1999\n\n• Manufacturer: Post\n\n• Description: Purple rice crisps with green Reptar-shaped pieces\n\nHomer's Cinnamon Donut Cereal\n\n• Years available: 2001 - 2002\n\n• Manufacturer: Kellogg's\n\n• Description: Donut-shaped cinnamon flavored cereal\n\nBart's Peanut Butter Chocolate Crunch\n\n• Years available: 2001 - 2002\n\n• Manufacturer: Kellogg's\n\n• Description: Peanut butter chocolate flavored orbs\n\nMonopoly Cereal\n\n• Years available: 2003 - mid-2000s\n\n• Manufacturer: General Mills\n\n• Description: Cinnamon flavored cereal with marshmallow houses, hotels, and deeds\n\nFiberPlus Berry Yogurt Crunch\n\n• Years available: 2010 - 2013\n\n• Manufacturer: Kellogg's\n\n• Description: Wheat and rice flakes with berry yogurt flavored clusters\n\nCupcake Pebbles\n\n• Years available: 2010 - 2011\n\n• Manufacturer: Post\n\n• Description: Cake batter flavored rice cereal\n\nSesame Street C is for Cereal\n\n• Years available: 2011 - 2014\n\n• Manufacturer: Post\n\n• Description: Apple flavored oat and corn cereal pieces shaped like Xs and Os, made for toddlers\n\n24/7 Wall Street is a USA TODAY content partner offering financial news and commentary. Its content is produced independently of USA TODAY.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2020/09/09"}]}
{"question_id": "20230203_13", "search_time": "2023/02/04/11:56", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/06/politics/trump-desantis-dueling-florida-rallies-2022-2024/index.html", "title": "With competing Florida rallies Sunday, Trump and DeSantis preview ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nIn a preview of a potential Republican presidential primary showdown, Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis will hold dueling Florida rallies on Sunday as the two men battle for supremacy of the Sunshine State and the heart of the GOP.\n\nThe former president will welcome supporters in Miami, the third stop in a four-city tour that has effectively made Trump a leading player in his party’s fight for control of Congress. Meanwhile, the Florida governor is headlining his own events in three counties on the state’s opposite coast – Hillsborough, Sarasota and Lee – steering far clear of Trump as he seeks to close out his bid for a second term.\n\nFor the past two years, Trump and DeSantis have coexisted on opposite ends of Florida – Trump plotting his next move from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach and DeSantis building himself into a household name from the state capital in Tallahassee. But as these midterms come to a close and with a decision looming about their political futures, even on a peninsula 450 miles long, it has become increasingly difficult for the two to avoid each other.\n\n“We have two very stubborn, very type-A politicians in Florida that are at the tip of the spear for the GOP,” said one Republican official who asked not to be named. “They both command attention but they both have their own political operations and that’s what you’re seeing. It’s already exhausting to talk about.”\n\nThe long simmering rivalry has spilled into public view during the final weeks leading into Election Day. At a Pennsylvania rally on Saturday, Trump took a direct swipe at DeSantis, and christened a new nickname for the governor, while declaring himself the front-runner in a hypothetical GOP primary.\n\n“There it is, Trump at 71 (percent), Ron DeSanctimonious at 10 percent,” Trump told the crowd as he read alleged poll numbers off a screen.\n\nDeSantis recently endorsed Republican businessman and Colorado Senate candidate Joe O’Dea, as O’Dea vowed in October to “actively campaign” against Trump.\n\n“A BIG MISTAKE!” Trump wrote in response on his Truth Social platform.\n\nTrump followed up by sharing a clip of former Fox News host Megyn Kelly predicting GOP voters would remain firmly in Trump’s camp if DeSantis decided to challenge the former president in a Republican presidential primary. CNN reported Friday that Trump could launch his next presidential bid as soon as this month.\n\nVideo Ad Feedback What Trump told Haberman about potential rival for 2024 GOP nomination 02:51 - Source: CNN\n\nBut planning competing events inside Florida two days before a momentous Election Day is especially illustrative of how fraught the relationship between the former allies has become. Unlike other potential 2024 contenders, DeSantis has not declined to run against Trump in a primary, much to Trump’s ire. DeSantis, meanwhile, believes such a concession would undermine his attempts to keep the focus on his current reelection race instead of what may lie ahead, CNN previously reported. DeSantis and his campaign have declined to publicly discuss his plans for after the midterm, but in a recent debate, he wouldn’t respond when asked if he intends to serve a four-year term if reelected.\n\nIn the first of his three events on Sunday, DeSantis made no mention of Trump or the “Ron DeSanctimonious” nickname, choosing instead to criticize President Joe Biden and the so-called “woke” left.\n\nDeSantis described himself as a fighter who stood up against medical experts and criticism during the pandemic to reopen the state and ban coronavirus vaccine mandates, echoing a sentiment in a campaign ad in which DeSantis suggests he was created by God to fight for Florida.\n\nThe biggest cheers the Florida governor received, however, came when he recounted how he arranged for Florida to send nearly 50 migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard, a stunt that has faced intense scrutiny and legal challenges.\n\nIf they do go head-to-head in a primary, the two candidates may find themselves on similar financial footing. DeSantis has raised $200 million this campaign cycle through his two political committees and has spent just over half, leaving about $90 million in potential seed money for a Super PAC. At the end of October, Trump was sitting on about $117 million between his three active fundraising vehicles, according to federal election data.\n\nTrump’s pre-election travel is motivated at least in part by his desire to launch a third campaign for the White House, CNN reported this week. Indeed, during a visit to Iowa on Thursday, Trump told voters in the first-in-the-nation caucus state to “get ready” for his return as a presidential candidate. Trump stopped in Pennsylvania on Saturday – home to the tight Senate race between his endorsee, Republican Mehmet Oz, and Democrat John Fetterman – and he’ll spend election eve in Ohio, where the former president endorsed Republican J.D. Vance in the Senate race against Democrat Tim Ryan.\n\nBut planning a Florida rally was also widely seen as a shot across the bow at DeSantis. Trump first announced last week his intent to hold a rally for US Sen. Marco Rubio in South Florida, leaving DeSantis noticeably out of his plans. Since then, the roster of guest speakers has grown to include the state’s junior senator, Rick Scott, as well as a dozen other elected officials and candidates from around the state.\n\nThe decision to hold the rally in Miami-Dade County comes as Republicans are optimistic they will carry the one-time Democratic stronghold for the first time in two decades. Investments by Republicans to make inroads in the area’s Hispanic neighborhoods have paid off in recent elections, and the party is seeing a wave of enthusiasm that is turning the state a deeper shade of red. Republicans will hold an advantage in voter registration on Election Day for the first time in Florida’s modern political history.\n\nFormer President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in support of the campaign of GOP Sen. Marco Rubio at the Miami-Dade County Fair and Exposition on Sunday, Nov. 6, 2022, in Miami. Rebecca Blackwell/AP\n\nAhead of his arrival, Trump was already taking credit for that turnaround.\n\n“President Trump delivered a historic red wave in Florida in the 2018 midterms with his slate of endorsed candidates up and down the ballot and molded the Sunshine State into the MAGA stronghold it is today,” the announcement from Trump’s Save America PAC said. “Thanks to President Trump, Florida is no longer a purple state; it’s an America First Red State.”\n\nWhile DeSantis embarked on his own out-of-state campaign circuit for Republican candidates, including a recent rally in New York for GOP gubernatorial nominee Lee Zeldin, he is spending the final days of the race against Democrat Charlie Crist barnstorming across Florida. His campaign had 13 scheduled events between Friday and Monday. On the final day, DeSantis has a stop planned in Trump’s adopted home county of Palm Beach and in Miami-Dade not far from Trump’s Sunday event.\n\nOn the campaign trail, DeSantis doesn’t talk about Trump, but his remarks are peppered with frequent mentions of President Joe Biden in a preview of what a presidential campaign against the incumbent Democrat might look like.\n\nAt an event Thursday in Central Florida, DeSantis called Biden “King Midas in reverse.”\n\n“Biden touches it and turns into something much worse than (gold),” DeSantis said. “It’s frustrating and a lot of people, the vast majority of Americans, they think that the country has seen its best days. They think that we’re clearly on the wrong track. But you know, I think Florida provides the blueprint that other states can follow.”\n\nThis story has been updated with additional information Sunday.", "authors": ["Steve Contorno"], "publish_date": "2022/11/06"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/15/politics/trump-announcement-2024/index.html", "title": "Trump is on the defense as he prepares for expected 2024 ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nShould Donald Trump announce his third presidential bid on Tuesday, as is widely expected, he will begin the next phase of his political career under siege.\n\nSeven years ago, the New York businessman entered the political fray on defense, working vigorously to cast himself as a serious contender for the Republican presidential nomination to the incredulity of veteran political operatives and his primary opponents. This time, Trump takes the plunge as the party’s indisputable frontrunner, but once again, he finds himself in a defensive crouch.\n\nOn the brink of a campaign launch that elicits both enthusiasm and dread from different corners of his own party, Trump’s quest to return to the Oval Office could face untold obstacles in the months to come, even with his loyal base firmly intact. He has spent the days since the midterm elections fending off criticism from fellow Republicans over his ill-fated involvement in key contests, furiously lashing out at two GOP heavyweights who could complicate his path to the White House if they mount their own presidential campaigns, and fretting that he or associates could soon be indicted by federal investigators in two separate Justice Department probes.\n\nAides say Trump is hoping his early entry into the 2024 presidential primary will reframe the conversation away from Republican failures and inject a fresh dose of enthusiasm into a demoralized party amid GOP failures to capture Senate control and win a sizable House majority. Though the former president has been touting his 200-plus victories on Election Night, many of the Trump-endorsed Republicans who prevailed last Tuesday ran uncontested or were widely expected to win their contests, while several Senate candidates he endorsed in highly prized races failed to dethrone their Democratic opponents or flip open seats into the GOP’s column.\n\nMehmet Oz, Adam Laxalt and Blake Masters, three Republican Senate candidates who earned Trump’s support in their primaries, respectively lost to Democratic opponents in Pennsylvania, Nevada and Arizona. Meanwhile, Herschel Walker, a longtime Trump friend challenging Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, is headed to a December runoff after both failed to reach 50% support in Georgia.\n\nOn Saturday, CNN projected that Democrats will retain control of the Senate in the 118th Congress, an outcome that has fractured Republicans and left the party on tenterhooks as Trump readies his “big announcement.”\n\nNext targets\n\nTrump, who in the immediate aftermath of the midterms conceded that his party had suffered a “somewhat disappointing” outcome, has already moved on, settings his sights on winning a second term in Washington and attacking two GOP governors who could challenge his status as the party’s anchor in the months to come, Ron DeSantis of Florida and Glenn Youngkin of Virginia.\n\n“I Endorsed him, did a very big Trump Rally for him telephonically, got MAGA to Vote for him – or he couldn’t have come close to winning,” Trump said of Youngkin in a Truth Social post last week.\n\nThree sources familiar with the matter said the former president believed Youngkin was supportive of comments his lieutenant governor, Winsome Earle-Sears, made during a Fox Business appearance last week. She told the network she would not support Trump if he runs for president a third time.\n\nResponding to repeated questions about Trump’s impending 2024 announcement, Earle-Sears said, “A true leader understands when they have become a liability. A true leader understands that it’s time to step off the stage, and the voters have given us that very clear message.”\n\nSears later declined to tell The Washington Post whether Youngkin knew prior to the interview that she planned to split from Trump, a detail that caught the former president’s attention, according to one of his aides.\n\n“If Glenn Youngkin decides to run for president, that’s his choice. But Team Trump will certainly mount a massive effort to win the Virginia delegates going to Milwaukee that is going to embarrass Youngkin,” said John Fredericks, a Virginia-based conservative radio host who chaired Trump’s campaigns in the state in 2016 and 2020.\n\nThe former president’s criticism of Youngkin, whose 2021 gubernatorial bid he endorsed against former Democratic governor Terry McAuliffe, came on the heels of a spate of insults Trump launched against DeSantis, the popular Florida governor who has refused to rule out a 2024 campaign against the former president and increasingly appears to be laying the groundwork for one. In the span of one week, Trump went from introducing a disparaging new nickname for the Florida governor (“DeSanctimonious”) to heeding requests from Republicans to pare back his criticism of DeSantis in the home stretch before Election Day, to blasting out a scathing statement on the heels of DeSantis’ reelection, calling him “an average Republican governor.”\n\nDeSantis allies said they do not expect the Florida governor to engage at all with Trump’s bashing for as long as he can avoid it. In two press conferences related to Hurricane Nicole that DeSantis held after winning reelection by a 19-point margin, he did not mention the overall midterm results or take any questions. Notably, he has also avoided taking a victory lap on Fox News, which would undoubtedly inquire about Trump and 2024, after appearing frequently on the network while campaigning for reelection.\n\n“Trump rants for a couple of months. DeSantis throws some red meat during [Florida’s next legislative session] and then we have a primary around May,” said one DeSantis ally, describing his current posture\n\nAsked how long the governor can go without acknowledging Trump’s attacks, a second DeSantis ally responded simply, “A long time.”\n\nTrump’s bitter criticism of Youngkin and DeSantis, two rising Republican celebrities, was a stark reminder of the scathing brand of politics he brings to the campaign trail, without regard for how it might impact his own party. His first use of “DeSanctimonious” came just days before the Florida governor appeared on the ballot in his bid for reelection. And much to the chagrin of top Republicans, including some of Trump’s closest allies on Capitol Hill, his Tuesday announcement comes as the party looks to prevent Senate Democrats from securing a 51-seat majority through the Georgia runoff.\n\n“I know there’s a lot of criticism and people saying, ‘Just focus on Georgia,’ but he figures there’s no point in waiting. If Herschel loses, he’ll be blamed for distracting from the runoff but if he wins, he doesn’t believe he will get any credit for energizing the base,” said a current Trump adviser.\n\nSome of Trump’s closest allies said Republicans should brace for a significant escalation in his attacks on rumored GOP challengers once he is a declared presidential contender, meaning he could ramp up his criticism of DeSantis, Youngkin or others while the party is fighting for Walker’s survival in Georgia.\n\n“Nobody should be surprised. This is how Trump does primaries,” said Michael Caputo, a former Trump administration official who remains close to the former president. “The question you have to ask is whether this format can work for him again.”\n\nOf course, Trump has not been in a hotly contested primary since 2016, when he unleashed broadsides against more than a dozen-plus opponents with fury and vitriol that shocked some Republican observers but delighted a segment of the Republican primary electorate that would later evolve into his loyal base. Few Trump allies expect him to behave any differently in the months to come. Even if he remains the only declared candidate until others enter the fray next year, he will continue his preemptive blitz against perceived challengers.\n\n“Donald Trump will make sure every Republican candidate is well-vetted,” said a senior Trump aide.\n\n“No one’s going to get a free pass. It’s going to be brutal,” added the Trump adviser.\n\nOther obstacles\n\nThe likelihood that Trump will face primary challengers may be the least of his concerns at this juncture.\n\nWhile the former president maintains significant support from grassroots Republicans, some of the party’s largest donors have been meeting with other potential presidential hopefuls and signaling they may be interested in bankrolling alternative candidates. It’s a concern Trump allies are confronting head on as they privately explore ways to make the monstrous pile of cash he has raised since leaving office available to him as a presidential candidate. Billionaire Ken Griffin, who gave nearly $60 million to federal Republican candidates and campaigns in the 2022 cycle, told Politico in an interview last week that he would support DeSantis if the Florida governor tosses his hat into the ring for the 2024 GOP nod. Two other Republican donors who gave to Trump in 2016 and 2020 and requested anonymity for fear of retribution told CNN that they, too, were waiting to see what DeSantis decides to do, while one of them said they would also be willing to support former Vice President Mike Pence should he challenge his former boss.\n\n“One of our biggest challenges will be the fundraising component but I do think [Trump] has proved that he doesn’t need deep-pocketed donors, per se,” said a person close to Trump, noting the enduring strength of his small-dollar operation.\n\nTrump will also have to convince Republicans that he would be an asset at the top of the ballot in 2024 as opposed to an albatross for vulnerable candidates in tight races. That task comes amid a fraught intraparty debate over the GOP’s bruising midterm outcome, with some Republicans claiming Trump’s involvement – including an eleventh-hour 2024 campaign tease at a rally on the eve of Election Day – did more to hurt the party than help. Others have blamed party leaders for failing to articulate clear policy priorities, pointed to the party’s money gap against Democrats in key races, or lamented the bickering that unfolded all cycle between two of the party’s biggest campaign committees led by Florida Sen. Rick Scott and allies of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.\n\nSome Trump allies said the donor challenges, midterm outcome and questions about his stature has left a dearth of seasoned campaign operatives willing to join his next campaign. Though the president has told allies he wants to keep his operation lean, much like his 2016 presidential campaign, some have privately questioned whether it’s out of preference or due to recruitment troubles. CNN has previously reported that Trump’s likely campaign is expected to be helmed by three current advisers – Susie Wiles, Chris LaCivita and Brian Jack – with assistance from a group of additional aides and advisers with whom the former president is already familiar. Overall, his 2024 apparatus is expected to dwarf in comparison to his reelection campaign two years ago, multiple sources said.\n\nEither way, as Trump works to find his footing on the verge of a presidential campaign that could coast to the party’s nominating convention or encounter any number of unforeseen troubles, allies who have stuck by his side said they are ready for battle one last time.\n\n“Our team is accustomed to fighting tooth and nail. Team Trump is going to fight for the nomination,” said Fredericks.", "authors": ["Gaborr Steve Contorno", "Steve Contorno"], "publish_date": "2022/11/15"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/17/politics/republican-party-2024-identity-crisis-analysis/index.html", "title": "Trump sets off GOP identity crisis heading into 2024 | CNN Politics", "text": "CNN —\n\nThe Republican Party is plunging into an identity crisis after its November red wave dissolved. And while almost everyone with power and influence in the GOP agrees it’s a mess, no one can agree on how to fix it. Or whether Donald Trump should be involved.\n\nVideo Ad Feedback Kaitlan Collins describes what people in Trump's orbit texted her during announcement 02:00 - Source: CNN\n\nAlthough there was something for the party to cheer on Wednesday with the GOP winning a narrow majority in the House, the combined shockwaves of broader midterm elections disappointment and the ex-president’s leap into the 2024 presidential race Tuesday are causing angst and internal recriminations about the way forward.\n\nAnd the smaller-than-expected House majority – after losing the Senate – has only invigorated debate over how the GOP can regain other centers of power and whether Trump’s influence could doom it to electoral underperformance again.\n\nThe already stirring 2024 Republican presidential race, and the rising prospects of candidates like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, are also stoking the GOP leadership speculation. With the party looking for the next big thing, there may be an opening for a new candidate with the charisma and vision to redefine its direction.\n\nAnother potential GOP primary candidate, former Vice President Mike Pence, said in a CNN town hall on Wednesday that Americans were looking for “new leadership – leadership that will unite our country around our highest ideals, leadership that will reflect the civility and respect that most Americans have for each other.” Pence’s leadership checklist appeared to rule out Trump, as he called for candidates who would look to the future.\n\nVideo Ad Feedback Watch Pence's response when asked if he'll support Trump in 2024 03:30 - Source: CNN\n\n“I think we’ll have better choices than my old running mate,” Pence told CNN’s Jake Tapper.\n\nLeadership fights in both chambers of Congress are, meanwhile, exposing deep disunity about how to win back independent and swing voters who have often been scared away by Trump’s extremism. Many lawmakers blame Trump for his fixation on the 2020 election and his lies that he was cheated out of power for their failure to win back the Senate.\n\nBut some maintain that the party isn’t Trumpy enough. The ex-president’s allies, for instance, failed in an attempt to oust veteran Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell – a longtime Trump antagonist – on Wednesday. But if House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy wants to be the next speaker, he cannot afford to alienate Trump’s acolytes who will wield huge power in the new House, meaning that one half of Capitol Hill at least will dance to the ex-president’s tune.\n\nVideo Ad Feedback See how a Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper covered Trump's announcement 04:16 - Source: CNN\n\nAway from Congress there are possible signs of a political realignment as some big outside donors break cover and demand the party leave Trump behind. And conservative kingmaker Rupert Murdoch also seems to be putting his finger on the scale, as his New York Post steps up its mockery of the former president. The tabloid carried a strap line across the bottom of its front page Wednesday trolling his 2024 launch party reading: “Florida Man Makes Announcement.”\n\nThe level of criticism, and even ridicule, of Trump after his event at Mar-a-Lago lacked the energy of 2016 was unusual and striking and could herald a broader change in attitude toward the two-time Republican nominee.\n\nBut in some ways, we’ve seen all this before. Several times, including after the US Capitol insurrection in 2021, the party has looked set to walk away, before testing the wind on Trump’s dominance of its base and appeasing him yet again.\n\nHowever, Scott Jennings, a Republican strategist and CNN political analyst, said Trump’s subdued 2024 launch on Tuesday didn’t scare rivals off and noted it was beginning to dawn on many party members that the ex-president was a liability.\n\n“A lot of folks are looking for something new, or at least a minimum, they are not quite sure they want to do Donald Trump a third time,” Jennings told CNN’s Erin Burnett.\n\nTrump changed his party – but does it still need him?\n\nThe fresh infighting represents the latest struggle for the soul of the GOP, which predates Trump’s arrival, between radical grassroots activists and deeply conservative but more establishment forces. The party is now more populist, working class and performative, thanks to Trump’s shattering of its internationalist, corporate legacy.\n\nBut the internal estrangement that cost it power in successive elections is intensifying because of Trump’s return to the spotlight and the impact his 2021 attempt to destroy democracy seems to have had on the midterms.\n\nFor years, the equation in the GOP has been simple. Many top Washington office holders would be delighted to sever ties with Trump, whom they regard as unfit for office. But his mystical bond with the party’s voters meant that any politician who wanted a future in the GOP had to genuflect before him.\n\nThere are some reasons to suspect this could change, not least because of the rise in the party of hardline new hopefuls like DeSantis.\n\nIn the old GOP, grassroots voters who wanted a tough line on immigration, attacks on the press, disdain for experts and scientists and culture war policies could only find them in Trump. But now potential presidential candidates and lawmakers operate according to his playbook. It’s possible to have Trumpism without Trump himself and the political liabilities and chaos that he brings.\n\nTime will tell whether this new reality begins to weaken Trump’s power in the base.\n\nBig money searches for a new candidate\n\nThere is no clear evidence yet that Trump’s vaunted base is splintering. But some big GOP donors are already voting with their wallets.\n\nOn Wednesday, for instance, Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman, a one-time Trump booster, distanced himself and his formidable fundraising muscle from the former president over his 2020 election-denial obsession.\n\n“America does better when its leaders are rooted in today and tomorrow, not today and yesterday,” Schwarzman said in a statement sent to CNN. “It is time for the Republican party to turn to a new generation of leaders and I intend to support one of them in the presidential primaries.” The defection was first reported by Axios.\n\nAnother GOP megadonor, Citadel’s Ken Griffin, recently indicated he would side with DeSantis, a former Trump protégé – if he runs in 2024. The Club for Growth, an influential conservative group, which was once supportive of Trump, also seems to be moving on, and is touting its polls showing DeSantis leading the former president in key states.\n\nThe drumbeat of the GOP’s big money donors turning on Trump is sharpening the showdown among party grandees about party philosophy.\n\n“President Trump has lost three in a row and if we want to start winning, we need a new leader,” said Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, the 2012 GOP presidential nominee. Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a one-time primary rival and Trump friend, got a standing ovation at this week’s Republican Governors Association summit when he put the GOP’s disappointing midterms performance down to Trump.\n\nFormer Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a possible 2024 Republican candidate, also seemed to criticize Trump in a tweet. “We need more seriousness, less noise,” Pompeo wrote, dismissing Republicans who are “staring into the rear view mirror claiming victimhood.”\n\nLeadership acrimony in the Senate\n\nThe schism over Trump drove the most serious challenge to McConnell’s Republican leadership in the Senate in 15 years. The Kentucky senator was reelected easily by his conference on Wednesday but had to endure unprecedented criticism of his stewardship following an attempt by Florida Sen. Rick Scott to take his job.\n\nSupporters of Scott, who ran despite heavy criticism of his management of the GOP’s Senate campaign arm in the midterms, framed their critiques of McConnell in Trumpian tones.\n\n“I ran for Senate because we need OUTSIDERS to take on the D.C. swamp and get RESULTS,” Indiana Sen. Mike Braun said in a statement. “Hoosier conservative Republicans are sick and tired of the status quo. I’m proud to support my friend and fellow conservative outsider Rick Scott for our Leader.”\n\nMissouri Sen. Josh Hawley, a possible future Republican presidential candidate who had said he would not back McConnell for leader, has spent recent days slamming his party for its failure to win popular vote majorities and declaring that the midterms were its “funeral.”\n\nAt times, he appeared to be hinting at criticism of Trump, though in his comments on Wednesday, he went after the Kentucky Republican and confirmed he voted for Scott.\n\n“I think Senator McConnell’s view is that Trump is largely to blame, and that Republicans have an image problem because of Trump. I have to say that I don’t agree with that,” he told CNN’s Manu Raju.\n\nMcConnell’s allies, however, point out that in many cases, the candidates that he backed in the midterm elections generally outperformed the election-denying, extremists and neophytes that Trump thrust upon his party. Conservative Republicans who proved to be competent mangers and steered away from 2020 conspiracies – like Govs. Mike DeWine of Ohio and Brian Kemp of Georgia – far outpaced their fellow Republicans running on the same tickets for the Senate who were closely linked to Trump. Their success underscored how a more conventional, yet still conservative, candidate could prosper at the presidential level in 2024 if they eschewed Trump’s extreme behavior and conspiracies.\n\nThe new Republican House, which will take over in January, is likely to also have a strong influence on the GOP’s future direction and its performance in the 2024 election, which will now at least partly become a referendum on its power in government. The new House majority figures to be a valuable political weapon for Trump and its slim room for maneuver could actually give his most extreme allies in the chamber more leeway to dictate policy and tactics. And McCarthy needs the former president to convince House Freedom Caucus members to support him in his bid for the speakership in the new year and to keep him in power. So while the debate over the future of the party rages elsewhere, the House will be pro-Trump.\n\nHow that weighs on his party’s prospects with voters will only become clear in another election, in 2024.", "authors": ["Stephen Collinson"], "publish_date": "2022/11/17"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/15/politics/donald-trump-botched-midterms-analysis/index.html", "title": "GOP puts on a show of disunity as it edges toward House majority ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nWashington Republicans are in an uproar hours ahead of Donald Trump’s expected launch of a new presidential run, exacerbated by the party’s protracted wait for the House majority it will use to try to weaken President Joe Biden.\n\nTrump apparently plans to open the 2024 election cycle at his Mar-a-Lago resort Tuesday evening, despite the failure of his election-denying acolytes in the midterms and unusual ambivalence among GOP lawmakers over his prospects.\n\nHis unsuccessful attempt to leverage the congressional elections to display his own power set off a mess of infighting and recriminations over the failure of the GOP to stir a red wave to claim big congressional majorities. It also raised questions over Trump’s own 2024 general election viability. The result is that the GOP in Washington is further weakened and Trump is under some of the most intense pressure he’s faced during a turbulent political career – even if there’s no sign yet that his enduring power base in the party’s adoring grassroots has eroded.\n\nThe ex-President had clearly hoped to claim credit for a banner Republican midterm performance to supercharge his bid to win back the presidency, but the party failed to recapture the Senate – and a whole week from Election Day, it is still waiting for its control of the House to be confirmed. The GOP did add several seats overnight and now stands three seats short of the 218 it needs. But its eventual margin will be far smaller than it had hoped, meaning the majority will be volatile and hard to manage.\n\nStill, while that could cause general chaos in Washington, it could give pro-Trump factions in the party the chance to maximize their leverage on potential House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who is facing a tougher than expected struggle to nail down the votes he would need to take the top job in January. On Monday evening, GOP Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona confirmed he would challenge McCarthy in a bid to show he didn’t yet have sufficient support to speaker.\n\nStill, the California Republican and current minority leader did get a standing ovation after calling on his conference to show unity on Monday ahead of Tuesday’s leadership elections.\n\nBack-biting has also broken out in the Senate GOP, with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz slamming veteran Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, while Florida Sen. Rick Scott mulls a challenge despite his failed stewardship of the GOP campaign committee’s bid to win the Senate. A fight also looms over control of the Republican National Committee.\n\nVideo Ad Feedback Ted Cruz says he's 'pissed off' and is blaming Mitch McConnell 01:26 - Source: CNN\n\nThe finger-pointing is emerging over a disappointing performance for Republicans. Trump-style extremism was repudiated at the ballot box in a vote that ought to have been a referendum on an unpopular sitting president in a tough economy – rather than one on a predecessor who left the White House but won’t go away.\n\nThere is every logical reason for Republicans to move on from Trump. One lesson from last week’s election is that voters didn’t reject Republicans per se. Authentic conservatives who distanced themselves from the ex-president, like Govs. Brian Kemp of Georgia, Mike DeWine of Ohio, Ron DeSantis of Florida and Chris Sununu of New Hampshire cruised to reelection.\n\nBut multiple Trump-backed candidates for governor, secretary of state posts, and Senate and House seats flamed out. One of the most high-profile election deniers, Arizona Republican Kari Lake, will lose to Democrat Katie Hobbs, CNN projected Monday evening. Democrats in Michigan, meanwhile, won control of the state legislature, which had spent the last two years on election-denying distractions. Swearing loyalty to Trump and his election fraud hot air proved to be a disastrous campaign strategy for many candidates.\n\nCampaign announcement to set up GOP test\n\nThe projected defeat of Lake in the Arizona governor’s race on Monday completes a near total rout of 2020 election deniers in swing states whom Trump thrust into the midterm elections.\n\nHis determination to run again is already drawing widespread opposition among many Republicans on Capitol Hill, who are reeling from their failure to whip up a red wave to capture the Senate, where Democrats held on, and the House, which remains uncalled.\n\nA new Trump campaign would set up a test between the growing skepticism of his ambitions among the upper echelons of his party and the adoration millions of base voters still feel for the twice-impeached ex-president.\n\nDespite once telling supporters he’d do so much winning they’d get tired of it, Trump’s record on Election Day is pretty thin – save from the transformative shock of his 2016 triumph over Democrat Hillary Clinton.\n\nThe GOP’s losses under his watch – when they lost the House in 2018 and the Senate two years later – are driving a debate over his political viability within the party he has long dominated. His foisting of poor quality, extreme, election-denying candidates on the GOP in this year’s midterms is not just dampening his possible launch party. The ex-president is being accused of sabotaging his own team.\n\nBut true to form, Trump has shown little sign of self-doubt. Instead, he’s been attacking those Republicans who have proven they can build broad majorities more recently than he has – including DeSantis, his biggest potential threat in a presidential primary, and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who campaigned for GOP candidates across the country this year after last year flipping a state Biden had won by 10 points.\n\nBut while Trump’s brand is tarnished and there are fresh doubts over whether a new campaign based on his obsessive claims of false voter fraud will fly in a general election, his past record of resilience suggests he shouldn’t be dismissed.\n\nThe 45th president has been down and damaged before – after the “Access Hollywood” tape was released in his first campaign, when Republicans lost the House in 2018, and then again following his own general election defeat in 2020. He earned the historic shame of a second impeachment after inciting an insurrection at the US Capitol in 2021.\n\nBut he’s always bounced back, leveraging a near mythical bond with the Republican base to break party rivals. Trump’s power has always been rooted in the notion that potential Republican foes cannot afford to attack him since they’d alienate his supporters and ruin their own political careers. One motivation behind an early White House announcement may be to prove that’s still true, as candidates like DeSantis, ex-Vice President Mike Pence, and other presidential wannabes assess his strength as they consider their own aspirations.\n\nPence, for example – who will appear in a CNN town hall on Wednesday evening – told ABC News in an interview that aired Monday that the American people will “have better choices in the future.”\n\nA 2024 presidential race – with several strong potential GOP alternatives ready in the wings – will test whether Trump’s magnetism with primary voters will overcome growing fatigue over his incessant 2020 election fraud lies. And it would ask GOP primary voters a question: is their devotion to the ex-president more important than worries about his capacity to actually win the White House, despite growing evidence to the contrary?\n\n‘Is it time to rebuild?’\n\nSo unless he has a major change of attitude, Trump – who still fumes with fury about the last presidential election in every campaign rally – will have to prove that that his false claims of a stolen election in 2020 are a winning message in 2024.\n\nEvidence suggests that while those falsehoods may still be a hot currency inside the GOP grassroots, it’s a bust in a broader national electorate.\n\n“You know, if you lose over and over to what’s really not that great of a team, you have got to reassess, is it time to rebuild?” Maryland’s Republican Gov. Larry Hogan said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “Trump’s cost us the last three elections. And I don’t want to see it happen a fourth time.”\n\nVideo Ad Feedback GOP governor: 'Trump cost us the race' 02:05 - Source: CNN\n\nOutgoing Pennsylvania GOP Sen. Pat Toomey effectively accused the ex-president of losing his seat. The Democratic path to Senate control ran through Pennsylvania, where Democrat John Fetterman defeated Republican Mehmet Oz. With Trump’s backing, Oz had narrowly prevailed over businessman David McCormick, a potentially stronger general election candidate, in the primary.\n\n“All over the country, there’s a very high correlation between MAGA candidates and big losses, or at least dramatically underperforming,” Toomey told CNN’s Erin Burnett last week.\n\nOn Monday, Idaho GOP Rep. Mike Simpson told CNN said that while he embraced Trumpism, he had tired of Trump and didn’t think he was good for the party. “I think his policies were good. I just don’t need all the drama with it,” he told CNN’s Alex Rogers.\n\nAnd one of the incoming Republican House lawmakers, Mike Lawler, who picked up a Democratic seat in New York, said it was time for someone else. “I would like to see the party move forward,” he said on CNN’s “This Morning” last week.\n\nAnd in an exclusive interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Monday, outgoing Republican Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said that people were tired of the radicalism represented by the former president.\n\n“One of the big lessons that the Republican Party nationally needs to take away from (the midterms) is voters want collaborative elected officials. They don’t want extremes,” Baker said.\n\nVideo Ad Feedback Outgoing GOP governor: Here's what Republicans should learn from midterms 02:10 - Source: CNN\n\nTrump still knows his base like few other Republicans\n\nBut while there are important strategic reasons for ambitious Republicans to desert Trump, past experience suggests it would be foolish to dismiss him – even if his early launch, if it happens, could antagonize voters still exhausted by the previous election.\n\nTo begin with, many of those most loudly questioning his continued dominance of the party in recent days have already broken with him in some fashion. There are few signs that more pro-Trump politicians like Cruz are pulling away.\n\nMissouri Sen. Josh Hawley, often spoken of as a future GOP presidential candidate, did hint that he was considering his options when he described the midterms as “the funeral for the Republican Party as we know it.” The Missouri Republican, who has publicly vowed to oppose McConnell’s bid for leader, called for a conversation about what the GOP can do for working class voters before the 2024 election.\n\n“I like a lot of what President Trump did as president … we need to have a conversation about our core convictions. … Clearly this party is going to have to be different or we are not going to be a majority party in this country,” Hawley told Capitol Hill reporters on Monday.\n\nBut at the same time, Trumpism is actually returning to power in Washington. The likely new Republican House may only enjoy a small majority, but it would still be an overwhelmingly pro-Trump force that would relish the chance to try to thwart Biden’s presidency ahead of a possible clash with his predecessor in 2024. Ambitious GOP leaders like New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, the third-ranking House Republican, have already endorsed Trump for president. If Trump is able to demonstrate he’s still strong with grassroots voters, some Republicans might, as they always have before, judge that their hopes for a future in the party mean they must swallow their antipathy to the former president yet again.\n\nFelling Trump might require a candidate like DeSantis to risk his political future to try to take him out. And another crowded primary in the GOP’s winner-take-all presidential race could splinter opposition to Trump and help him plot a path to the nomination.\n\nTrump has never been a cerebral, logical choice for his supporters. In 2016, he fused frustration with the globalized economy and contempt for elites to create a powerful political movement. And it goes deeper than policy. Trump offers his supporters an emotional connection. His rallies are less political speeches than raucous, politically incorrect nights out at which vast crowds relish his defiance, his embrace of their grievances and willingness to say anything, as he crushes propriety and convention. People really do want to believe what he says and not – as he famously once cautioned them against – the facts that the press reports. Attendees often look like they are having the time of their lives with a candidate who, despite serving as president for four years, has maintained the conceit that he’s just one of them and not a real politician.\n\nIf Trump can rekindle that feeling, he’d still be a formidable force in the GOP whether or not its grandees believe he’d risk losing them yet another election in 2024.", "authors": ["Stephen Collinson"], "publish_date": "2022/11/15"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/06/politics/donald-trump-ron-desantis-2024-republican-field/index.html", "title": "Ranking the 2024 Republican field | CNN Politics", "text": "CNN —\n\nDonald Trump is, reportedly, itching to announce his 2024 presidential campaign.\n\nAs CNN’s Gabby Orr reported late last month:\n\n“Over the past few weeks, the former President has been chatting up friends and advisers about the looming 2024 presidential contest, including taking their temperature on an earlier-than-expected campaign announcement.”\n\nEvery single bit of evidence – that reporting included – suggests that another Trump presidential bid is a when-not-if question.\n\n“I would say somewhere between 99 and 100 percent,” Jason Miller told Cheddar last fall when asked about the chances that Trump runs again. “I think he is definitely running in 2024.”\n\nThis spring, Trump himself was blunt about another bid. “We’ve already won two presidential elections,” Trump told a group of Republican donors in New Orleans. (Fact check: he won the 2016 election and lost the 2020 election.) “And now I feel obligated that we have to really look strongly at doing it again. We are looking at it very, very strongly. We have to do it. We have to do it.”\n\nGiven that Trump could be an announced 2024 candidate by the end of the summer, I thought it made sense to offer up my inaugural ranking of the 2024 Republican presidential field now. In addition to Trump’s public statements, a wide variety of other aspiring national candidates have been making the obligatory trips to places like Iowa and New Hampshire as a way to signal their own interest.\n\nBelow, I’ve ranked the 10 people most likely to win the Republican nomination as of today. You’ll notice that you don’t see the likes of Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan or former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie – both of whom would, presumably, run as anti-Trumpers – in the rankings. That’s because I am very skeptical that there is anything close to majority support for a candidate running expressly against Trump/Trumpism.\n\nDon’t see your favorite on the list? Never fear! We are still 884 days away from the 2024 general election! There’s still (plenty of) time! And stay tuned for my rankings of the 2024 Democratic field!\n\n10. Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas: I wrestled with who should get the final spot on the list – considering Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley among others. I eventually settled on Cotton because a) I think he is the smartest politician of that group b) he represents the sort of muscular conservatism that I think very much would appeal to Trump voters if the former President isn’t in the race and c) he will outwork almost any one else in the race. Cotton’s challenges are clear: He would have to prove he could raise money to be competitive and he would have lots of work to do to raise his name identification among GOP base voters.\n\n9. Sen. Rick Scott of Florida: Scott has been perennially underestimated in his political career. First, people said that he couldn’t win the governorship. He served two terms in the job. Then they said he couldn’t get elected to the Senate; he knocked off longtime Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson to do just that in 2018. Scott’s ambitions are clearly national in scope; his decision to release a policy agenda that he wants to implement if Republicans retake control of the Senate in 2023 is proof of that.\n\n8. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin: Two things are true about the Virginia governor: 1) He was just elected to his first public office in 2021 and 2) He is term limited out of that job in 2025. That second point means that Youngkin, necessarily, is already keeping one eye on his future. His successful win in Virginia in 2021 was widely touted as evidence that the GOP can keep the Trump base of the party happy while also appealing to critical swing, suburban voters. I tend to think Youngkin is more VP material in the end but the success and notoriety derived from his 2021 campaign means he can’t be ignored if he goes for the top job.\n\n7. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott: While Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis gets the most 2024 buzz among the Republican state executives – more on that below – Abbott has effectively used his perch as the top elected official in Texas to position himself for a presidential race as well. Abbott has been open about his interest in the race – “We’ll see what happens,” he said in the wake of the 2020 election – but has to win his reelection bid against former Rep. Beto O’Rourke first.\n\n6. Former Ambassador Nikki Haley: You can count on one hand the number of high-profile Trump appointees who left the administration on good terms with the former president. Haley, the former US Ambassador to the United Nations, is one of them. “She’s done a fantastic job and we’ve done a fantastic job together,” Trump said when Haley left in 2018. “We’ve solved a lot of problems and we’re in the process of solving a lot of problems.” But, Haley has also publicly flip-flopped on Trump; she was openly critical of him in the aftermath of the January 6 riot at the US Capitol before falling in line behind him once it became clear that the party’s base didn’t view January 6 as disqualifying for the former president.\n\n5. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas: Don’t forget that the Texas senator was the runner-up to Trump in the 2016 presidential race. And that, after a rocky relationship with Trump during the fall of 2016, Cruz has gone out of his way to make nice with the man who suggested his father might have been involved in the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Cruz’s stronger-than-expected 2016 run should not be discounted – he has organizations in early states and a national fundraising base that is unmatched by those below him on this list.\n\n4. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina: Like a number of people on this list, it’s hard to imagine the South Carolina Senator running for president if Trump is in the field. (Scott is on record as saying he would back a Trump 2024 campaign.) But, in a Trump-less field, Scott is deeply intriguing: He is the first Black senator elected from the Deep South since Reconstruction and the first Black Republican to serve in the Senate since 1979. He’s built a reliably conservative (and pro Trump) record during his nine years in the Senate while showing a willingness to work across the aisle when possible. If Republicans decide they need a new face to lead their party, Scott is at the front of that line.\n\n3. Former Vice President Mike Pence: I really struggled on where the former vice president belonged on this list. On the one hand, he has been disowned by Trump (and the former president’s loyalists) for refusing to overturn the 2020 electoral college results. On the other, Pence has tons of residual name identification from his four years as vice president and retains a solid base of support among religious conservatives. The New York Times reported last month that Pence is trying to edge away from Trump as he considers running in 2024. That’s going to be a very delicate dance.\n\n2. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis: There’s a clear gap between the Florida governor and the rest of the Republican field not named “Donald Trump.” DeSantis even managed to beat out the former President in a straw poll conducted at a Colorado conservative political conference over the weekend. DeSantis can’t take his eye off the ball – he is running for a second term this fall – but he has, to date, very effectively used his day job as a way to boost his national profile.\n\n1. Former President Donald Trump: If you want to find cracks in the Trump foundation, you can do it; his endorsed candidates in governor’s races in places like Georgia, Nebraska and Idaho lost primaries earlier this year. But, that would miss the forest for the trees. The simple fact is that Trump remains the prime mover in Republican Party politics. If he runs – and I absolutely believe he will – he starts in a top tier all his own. The nomination is quite clearly his to lose – which doesn’t mean he can’t lose it.", "authors": ["Chris Cillizza"], "publish_date": "2022/06/06"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/19/politics/2024-candidates-trump-republican-jewish-coalition/index.html", "title": "Republican Jewish Coalition: GOP elites weigh Trump -- and the ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nFormer President Donald Trump addressed the influential Republican Jewish Coalition on Saturday, days after becoming the first declared GOP candidate of the 2024 presidential campaign.\n\nBut the chandeliered ballroom at the opulent Venetian resort hotel in Las Vegas teemed with his rivals – including potential chief nemesis Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis – as some of the party’s most influential donors weigh alternatives to the divisive former president.\n\nTrump still retains a “following” within the party, Mel Sembler, a Florida real-estate developer and GOP donor who sits on the coalition’s board, told CNN last week. But, he said, “I think people are getting tired of his controversies all the time.”\n\n“What concerns me is if he wins the primary and loses the general,” added Sembler, who has not endorsed a 2024 candidate.\n\nThe annual leadership conference of prominent Jewish conservatives marked the first major gathering of GOP establishment forces since this month’s midterm letdown for the party, which saw Democrats retain their hold on the Senate and make inroads in state governments around the country.\n\nRepublicans did flip the House but will hold a slim majority in January after the “red wave” their party envisioned all year failed to materialize.\n\nLeading Republican figures in Washington and elsewhere are casting blame on Trump for his role in boosting far-right Senate candidates who faltered in the general election – and for continuing to publicly nurse his own grievances about the 2020 election and his ongoing legal troubles. During his campaign kickoff Tuesday, he called himself a “victim” of a federal law enforcement system that he has spent years politicizing.\n\nTrump’s legal difficulties appeared to deepen Friday when Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel to oversee the criminal investigations into the retention of national defense information at his Mar-a-Lago resort and parts of the January 6, 2021, insurrection.\n\nRather than seeing the party unify behind his third presidential bid, Trump faced immediate blowback. Minutes after his announcement, daughter and former senior White House adviser Ivanka Trump distanced herself from her father’s campaign, saying she does “not plan to be involved in politics.”\n\nHis announcement also overlapped with a high-profile book tour by his own former vice president – and potential 2024 rival – Mike Pence, who also spoke in Las Vegas and has spent the past several days reminding Americans of Trump’s role in the violent US Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.\n\nPerhaps the biggest blow to Trump’s campaign infrastructure was the swift and public defection of several billionaire GOP donors – including a close ally, Blackstone CEO Steve Schwarzman – who said the country needed leaders “rooted in today and tomorrow, not today and yesterday.”\n\nOthers are hedging their bets.\n\nAmong those playing the field is Miriam Adelson, the billionaire widow of Las Vegas casino magnate and RJC benefactor Sheldon Adelson. The Adelsons have donated nearly a half-billion dollars to Republican groups and candidates in the last four election cycles – including tens of millions to boost Trump’s presidential ambitions, federal records show.\n\nTrump in 2018 bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom – the nation’s highest civilian honor – on Miriam Adelson, citing her philanthropy.\n\nDespite that relationship, Adelson intends to remain neutral in the GOP presidential primaries, an aide confirmed to CNN last week. Adelson, whose political contributions have slowed some since her husband’s death in January 2021, has indicated that she will financially support the eventual GOP nominee, whether that be Trump or someone else.\n\nRJC executive director Matt Brooks said Trump has won plaudits from coalition members for his stalwart support of Israel during his presidency and unilateral withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.\n\nStill, Brooks said, “people are window-shopping right now. There are people who are asking if we need a new direction and a new face.”\n\nThe outsider\n\nEven as Trump prepared to make his pitch to the RJC, his allies and aides had sought to position him as the outsider in the 2024 contest, despite his recent White House occupancy.\n\n“President Trump is running a campaign that represents everyday Americans who love their country,” campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement to CNN. “There are others who will answer to the political establishment, be beholden to corporations, and drag the United States into more unnecessary wars.”\n\nAnd his allies noted that Trump’s fundraising operation largely relies on a small-dollar donor base, reducing his reliance on the party’s elite and giving him a potential edge over opponents who do not boast the same small-donation game.\n\nHe enters the 2024 campaign with more than $100 million in cash reserves across a sprawling network of political committees – although federal law could constrain his ability to fully tap those funds for his campaign.\n\n“He has proven he can raise a lot of money on his own,” Michael Caputo, a former Trump administration official who remains close to the former president, recently told CNN.\n\nTrump did not make the trek to Las Vegas but addressed the gathering live via satellite Saturday as part of a lineup that featured several other potential rivals for the GOP nomination, including South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, newly reelected New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Trump’s remote appearance was announced on Thursday, after it became clear that several of his potential 2024 rivals were scheduled to deliver their own remarks.\n\nTrump opened the speech with lines straight from his standard stump speech, but he did offer a nod to the midterm elections and his White House bid.\n\n“Breaking the radical Democrats’ grip on Congress this month was vital. It was a great thing. But we have always known that 2022 was not the end, only the beginning on the battle to save our country,” Trump said. “Now we have to take the fight straight to Joe Biden … and then we have to take back the White House in 2024.”\n\nMarquee rivalry\n\nDeSantis – fresh off the momentum of his double-digit reelection victory in Florida – addressed the group Saturday night during its gala dinner.\n\nThe governor made no mention of 2024 in his speech but touted his big reelection win – he defeated Democrat Charlie Crist by 19 points – and described Florida as being “a blueprint for success.”\n\n“In times like these, there is no substitute for victory. We in Florida are the light. Freedom will reign supreme with Florida leading the way,” DeSantis said.\n\nTrump has recently stepped up his attacks on DeSantis, and another potential 2024 challenger, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin.\n\nTwo sources familiar with Trump’s thinking said part of the reason he has lashed out is because he believes both governors are actively soliciting support from “his donors.” Trump has told aides and allies that DeSantis especially is trying to pitch himself to deep-pocketed Republicans who helped bankroll Trump’s reelection campaign.\n\nA Republican fundraiser in Florida with knowledge of DeSantis’ political operation said, “Of course, he’s talking to those people. They’re fair game and every Republican is going to go after those donors because that’s the smart thing to do, it’s not with the mindset, ‘Let’s screw Trump.’”\n\nThe conservative Club for Growth, one of the biggest outside spenders in politics, has already broken with Trump and last week circulated internal polling that suggested DeSantis could mount a serious challenge to the former president in early voting states and Florida, where both reside. The group plowed $2 million into DeSantis’ reelection effort this cycle, according to Florida campaign filings.\n\nDavid McIntosh, the former Indiana congressman who runs the group, declined a CNN interview request through a spokesman.\n\nLast week, as the contours of the new GOP majority in the House became clear, DeSantis won praise from national Republicans for injecting himself into congressional map-making this year. In a rare move for a governor, DeSantis pushed state lawmakers to adopt his map, which controversially eliminated two districts represented by Black Democrats and the GOP is now projected to hold 20 of 28 districts in the next Congress.\n\n“That map created four new Republican wins,” said a GOP consultant who has been close to Trump and asked not to be named to speak candidly about the 2024 race. “That’s the practical reality of a conservative governor standing up to his own party and saying, ‘We’re not going to cut deals and do things the old way.’”\n\nDeSantis last week sought to sidestep questions about the growing rivalry with Trump, urging people “to chill out a little bit” – even as he touted his margin of victory in his reelection. CNN has previously reported that those close to DeSantis believe he does not intend to announce his plans before May.\n\n“The smartest thing DeSantis could do is stay out of the fray for as long as possible,” said the Republican consultant. “Don’t stick your face in the frying pan too early.”\n\n‘We keep losing and losing and losing’\n\nMany of Trump’s potential 2024 rivals spoke at the conference in Las Vegas, offering post-midterm assessments and making their pitch for how the party should move forward.\n\nFormer New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, an early ally of Trump, issued a long and passionate indictment of the former president on Saturday, casting Trump as a cancer on the Republican Party and the sole responsible figure for its recent election losses.\n\n“We keep losing and losing and losing,” Christie said. “The reason we’re losing is because Donald Trump has put himself before everybody else.”\n\nChristie slammed Trump for recruiting candidates under the singular qualification that they deny the results of the 2020 election.\n\n“That’s not what this party stands for,” the former governor said. “It’s not what it should stand for in the future, and we’ve got to stop it now.”\n\nChristie pointed to midterm GOP defeats in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, and warned that without a resurgence in those states – especially in the suburbs – Republicans held no hope of winning back the White House in 2024.\n\nEchoing those fears, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu said that “candidate quality matters,” while adding, “I got a great policy for the Republican Party: Let’s stop supporting crazy, unelectable candidates in our primaries and start getting behind winners that can close the deal in November.”\n\nSununu was initially courted to run for US Senate, but ultimately decided to run for reelection. The GOP nominee, retired Brig. Gen. Don Bolduc, who has pushed falsehoods about the 2020 election, went on to lose to Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan earlier this month.\n\nMeanwhile, Florida Sen. Rick Scott, who headed the Senate GOP’s campaign arm this election cycle, said Republicans’ midterm hopes for a “red wave” did not materialize because the party focused too much on “how bad the Democrats are” and did not offer voters its own policy vision.\n\n“The current strategy of most Republicans in Washington is to only be against the crazy Democrats – and they’re crazy – and never outline any plan what we are for and what we will do. That is a mistake,” the senator said.\n\nScott’s comments come days after his failed bid to oust Mitch McConnell as the party’s Senate leader.\n\nTexas Sen. Ted Cruz, who unsuccessfully ran for president against Trump in 2016, urged the GOP to try to broaden its appeal outside the party’s base.\n\n“We spend far too much time preaching to the choir; talking to the same 2.6 million people watching Fox News every night,” Cruz said.\n\nCruz also said he had spoken at Senate Republicans’ recent leadership election to urge the party to take a harder line against Democratic policies.\n\n“Republicans in the Senate don’t fight,” he said Saturday.\n\nCruz said he urged GOP leaders to “pick two or three or four things that matter and say, ‘We believe in it.’”\n\nIn his own remarks, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy touted the GOP taking control of the chamber in the midterms and promised that Republicans would be quick to wield their new subpoena power next year.\n\n“We finally have a check and balance,” the California Republican said, before pausing to prod the audience, “You can applaud that, that was a big victory.”\n\nFormer United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, meanwhile, said Saturday that she will “have more to say soon” about a potential 2024 presidential run, while adding that she’s “won tough primaries” before.\n\nHaley, a onetime South Carolina governor, called on the GOP to “look in the mirror” after the party’s lackluster midterm performance, saying, “Republicans spent as much time fighting each other as we did the Democrats.”\n\n“It is time to quit eating our own,” Haley said.\n\nOutgoing Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan took a hard stance against the former president Friday night, saying in Las Vegas that the Republican Party was “desperately in need of a course correction.”\n\n“Trump was saying that we’d be winning so much we get tired of winning. Well, I’m sick and tired of our party losing. And after this election last week, I’m even more sick and tired than I was before,” Hogan said.\n\n“Look, this is the third election in a row that we lost and should have won. I say three strikes and you’re out. If you repeatedly lose to a really bad team, it’s time for new leadership,” he added.\n\nThis story has been updated with more information.", "authors": ["Fredreka Schouten Gaborr Steve Contorno", "Fredreka Schouten", "Steve Contorno"], "publish_date": "2022/11/19"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/14/politics/kevin-mccarthy-trump-support/index.html", "title": "Kevin McCarthy seeks to assuage House Republican concerns ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nHouse GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy sought to assuage House Republican concerns at a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill on Monday night, part of his campaign to lead the House GOP conference and possibly take the speakership in the next Congress.\n\nThe California Republican and House minority leader got a standing ovation in the conference’s first post-election meeting, according to a source familiar with the meeting. However, McCarthy also faced tough questions and complaints from his members who were disappointed in Republicans’ performance in this year’s midterms. While the GOP appears likely to win enough seats to flip control of the House, the margin is expected to be smaller than originally predicted.\n\n“They don’t give out gavels in small, medium, and large – we have the majority and we have the gavels,” McCarthy said at the meeting, according to the source. CNN has not yet projected who will control the House in the next congress.\n\nHouse Republicans will hold a closed-door vote on Tuesday. McCarthy will only need a simple majority to advance from Tuesday’s vote as the speaker nominee, but the vote on the House floor for speaker will come when the new House convenes in January, and McCarthy will need 218 votes at that time to win the speakership.\n\nOn Monday night, Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona, a former chairman of the pro-Trump House Freedom Caucus, announced in an interview with Newsmax he was mounting a long-shot challenge to McCarthy during the House GOP’s internal leadership elections.\n\n“I’m going to be nominated tomorrow to the position of Speaker of the House,” Biggs said on Newsmax. “We’ll see if we can get the job done and the votes. It’s going to be tough. Kevin has raised a lot of money and done a lot of things. But this is not just about Kevin. I think it’s about institutional direction and trajectory.”\n\nOne of McCarthy’s sharpest critics, Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida predicted McCarthy is far short of the threshold he will need to get the coveted post.\n\n“What I can tell you as I stand here right now is that Kevin McCarthy does not have 218 votes to become speaker,” he said. “I don’t think he has 200.”\n\nTrump encourages allies to back McCarthy\n\nFormer President Donald Trump has been privately encouraging allies to support McCarthy’s bid for House speaker, according to two sources familiar with the effort, believing that the California Republican will be an asset down the road should the former president find himself in a contested 2024 primary.\n\nTrump reaffirmed his support for McCarthy’s leadership bid in an interview with Fox News last week and he has since been working the phones to persuade Republican allies to back him, particularly conservative members who remain skeptical of McCarthy.\n\nThe news comes on the eve of Trump’s expected announcement for a third presidential campaign. The former president and the California Republican have spoken multiple times since the midterm elections, sources said, and McCarthy’s camp is hoping Trump’s endorsement will help win over some of the staunchest Trump supporters who have been critical of McCarthy.\n\nDespite Trump’s pro-McCarthy campaign, it hasn’t fully broken through. Some of Trump’s staunchest allies have been all over conservative media attacking McCarthy. However, one notable Trump ally who will actually get to vote in the speaker’s race went on Steve Bannon’s podcast on Monday and expressed support for McCarthy: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who called it a “bad strategy” and “risky” to challenge McCarthy given their likely razor-thin majority.\n\nMcCarthy has worked hard to court Greene, from having weekly meetings with her in his office to promising her better committee assignments after Democrats kicked her off committees for incendiary remarks.\n\nMeanwhile, Trump aides and allies have been privately critical of Minnesota Rep. Tom Emmer, head of the National Republican Congressional Committee, amid the GOP’s underwhelming midterm gains, especially on the House side. CNN has not yet projected which party will control the lower chamber, though Republicans appear on track to gain a narrow House majority. Emmer is competing against Rep. Jim Banks, an ally of Donald Trump Jr., for the position of House GOP whip.\n\n“The strategy is to protect McCarthy from blame because [Trump] needs him for his presidential run,” said one Trump adviser.\n\nTrump has been eager to lock up public support from Republicans for his third presidential bid, with a separate GOP source saying he has been asking to see which GOP lawmakers have endorsed him in the media. So far, House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik has been the highest-ranking Republican to officially back Trump’s 2024 bid.\n\nTrump’s support for McCarthy stands in contrast with his relationship to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. GOP sources told CNN last week that Trump is calling up his allies in the Senate to gin up opposition to the Kentucky Republican ahead of leadership elections in that chamber Wednesday.\n\nA small, but vocal, group of GOP senators has been calling to delay their leadership elections so they can have a “family discussion” about why the GOP underperformed. And at least one Republican, Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, has publicly vowed to oppose McConnell’s bid for GOP leader.\n\nMcConnell has been calling his colleagues over the last several days to shore up his support as his team plans to plow forward with leadership elections on Wednesday. They are planning to have a GOP air-clearing session on Tuesday.\n\nHouse Freedom Caucus’ influence looms\n\nSeveral members of the Freedom Caucus met with McCarthy in his office Monday as they seek to extract concessions from him in exchange for their speaker votes.\n\nPennsylvania Republican Rep. Scott Perry said that while McCarthy has been willing to hear them out, he doesn’t see McCarthy cutting any deals until after Tuesday, when Perry is “99% confident” that someone will challenge McCarthy to show him he doesn’t have the 218 votes he would need on the House floor in January.\n\n“I don’t think anything’s gonna really change between now and then,” Perry told CNN, leaving the meeting in McCarthy’s office.\n\nRep. Bob Good, who said McCarthy faces “an uphill climb” to the speakership, said they’ve asked McCarthy to bring to them his proposal for running the House.\n\nGood later said he would back Biggs’ run.\n\n“I’m voting for Mr. Biggs tomorrow,” he said. “The country needs transformational change. And that’s gotta start with changing how Congress operates, how the Republican Party operates.”\n\nPerry said that while their primary focus has been seeking rules changes that would empower individual members – and weaken the speaker – that is “not the limit” of their issues.\n\n“We want to see this place change dramatically, to reflect the will of the people and to acknowledge how broken it is,” he said. “It’s incumbent upon anybody that wants to lead to kind of lay out their vision and how they would change their portion of it.”\n\nThis story and headline have been updated with additional developments Monday.", "authors": ["Melanie Zanona Gaborr Alex Rogers Annie Grayer", "Melanie Zanona", "Alex Rogers", "Annie Grayer"], "publish_date": "2022/11/14"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/26/politics/key-dates-2022-midterm-election/index.html", "title": "Key dates for the 2022 midterm election | CNN Politics", "text": "CNN —\n\nVoting ends in the first primaries for the 2022 midterm elections in a matter of days.\n\nTexas will kick things off on March 1, and the primary process will wrap up more than six months later on September 13 in Delaware, New Hampshire and Rhode Island. Those contests will tee up Election Day on November 8, when control of the House and Senate will be up for grabs as well as several high-profile gubernatorial races in key battleground states.\n\nThe outcome of November’s elections will serve as a referendum on President Joe Biden’s first two years in office and set the table for the 2024 presidential campaign. Biden and congressional Democrats have scored some legislative victories and are poised to confirm a history-making pick to the Supreme Court in Ketanji Brown Jackson. Yet economic anxiety punctuated by inflation concerns combined with exhaustion over the coronavirus pandemic has tilted the political environment in favor of Republicans, who also have electoral history on their side. There is also a unique dynamic to these midterms, with former President Donald Trump eyeing a potential return to the White House and looking to lay the groundwork by endorsing candidates in GOP primaries who have embraced his lies about the 2020 election results.\n\nThe majority in the Senate, currently split 50-50 with Vice President Kamala Harris serving as a tiebreaker, is expected to come down to a handful of competitive races. There are four Democratic incumbents running in battleground states Biden won in 2020: Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and New Hampshire. Republicans have incumbents seeking reelection in Wisconsin and Florida, and they’re defending three open seats in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Ohio. In total, 34 Senate seats will be decided in November.\n\nIn the House, Republicans need a net gain of five seats to win control of the chamber. More than 40 members, mostly Democrats, have announced they are leaving Congress. Some of those decisions were driven by redistricting, the once-a-decade process of redrawing congressional and state legislative boundaries. In states with partisan control of the process, both parties have tried to draw new maps to their advantage: to pick up more seats, shore up incumbents or reduce the number of competitive districts.\n\nThere are currently 27 Republican governors and 23 Democratic governors – with 36 seats up for grabs this November – including several in battleground states that could play a significant role in deciding the outcome of the 2024 election. Beyond elections for governor, state races for secretary of state and attorney general will receive unprecedented attention, as the battle over how elections are handled intensifies in the aftermath of the 2020 campaign.\n\nHere are the key dates and contests to watch as the 2022 primary process plays out:\n\nMarch 1: Texas primaries\n\nTexas Gov. Greg Abbott Lynda M. Gonzalez/Pool//Getty Images\n\nThe Lone Star State is home to a few intriguing GOP statewide primaries and a House Democratic primary that highlights the ideological divide within the party.\n\nTexas Gov. Greg Abbott is seeking reelection to a third term, which could set the stage for a potential 2024 bid. First, he must get through a GOP primary that includes challenges from former (Florida) Rep. Allen West and businessman and ex-state Sen. Don Huffines.\n\nThere is also a contested Republican primary in the race for state attorney general, with incumbent Ken Paxton being challenged by state Land Commissioner George P. Bush, US Rep. Louie Gohmert and former state Supreme Court Justice Eva Guzman. Paxton’s rivals have taken aim at his legal problems, but Trump has thrown his support behind the incumbent, who led a failed effort to challenge the 2020 election results in four battleground states at the US Supreme Court.\n\nIn south Texas, there is a rematch of a 2020 Democratic primary in the 28th Congressional District between centrist Rep. Henry Cuellar and immigration attorney Jessica Cisneros, who has received the endorsement of progressive leaders, including Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The FBI searched Cuellar’s home and campaign office in January, but the nine-term congressman released a video a week later vowing to seek reelection despite the “ongoing investigation.”\n\nThe Dallas-area 3rd Congressional District is the site of a battle over how the GOP should handle the 2020 election and the events of January 6, 2021. Rep. Van Taylor is a conservative Republican, but he voted to accept the 2020 presidential election results and supported an independent commission to investigate the January 6 attack on the US Capitol. (He opposed the select committee that was eventually created.) He’s now facing several primary challengers who question the results of the election, criticize Taylor’s vote on the commission and downplay the Capitol insurrection. The district also became much more Republican in redistricting, so while the seat shouldn’t be competitive in November, it could be easier for a more right-wing candidate to defeat Taylor in the primary.\n\nApril 5: Special election primary in California’s 22nd Congressional District\n\nFormer GOP Rep. Devin Nunes JIm Watson/AFP/Getty Images\n\nFormer GOP Rep. Devin Nunes set off this special primary contest with his resignation from Congress in January to join Trump’s new social media venture. Assuming no candidate gets a majority of the vote in the all-party primary, the top two finishers will face off in June, when California holds its general election primaries, giving the eventual winner about six months to represent this Central Valley seat in Congress. The district will have new boundaries for the election held in November.\n\nMay 3: Indiana and Ohio primaries\n\nOhio Gov. Mike DeWine Paul Vernon/AP\n\nThe Buckeye State has a pair of Republican primary battles that could offer early clues about the GOP electorate heading into the heart of the nominating calendar.\n\nRepublican Gov. Mike DeWine is seeking a second term. His management of the coronavirus pandemic has become the target of fierce criticism from opponent Jim Renacci, a former GOP congressman who has accused DeWine of governing Ohio “like a blue-state liberal.” On the Democratic side, it’s a battle between two former mayors, with Dayton’s Nan Whaley and Cincinnati’s John Cranley squaring off for the nomination.\n\nIn the GOP Senate primary, the crowded contest has at times veered toward political theater as several top contenders – most notably former state Treasurer Josh Mandel and “Hillbilly Elegy” author J.D. Vance – have sought to burnish their conservative pro-Trump credentials with incendiary rhetoric and inflammatory displays of opposition to public health precautions. Former state GOP chair Jane Timken and businessman Mike Gibbons are also making plays for the Trump base, while state Sen. Matt Dolan is testing the theory that there is still room in the party for a candidate who doesn’t fully embrace the former President.\n\nAfter a history of teasing potential statewide bids only to pass, Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan decided to take the plunge (with a helpful shove from redistricting) and launched a bid for US Senate. He faces a primary challenge from consumer protection attorney Morgan Harper. While Ohio has been trending red in recent years, Ryan is hoping to follow a similar blue-collar blueprint that has helped Sen. Sherrod Brown win statewide three times, most recently against Renacci in 2018.\n\nMay 10: Nebraska and West Virginia primaries\n\nWest Virginia Rep. David McKinley Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc./Getty Images\n\nWest Virginia is poised to hold the country’s first incumbent vs. incumbent primary of the 2022 cycle, featuring GOP Reps. David McKinley and Alex Mooney. The Republicans were drawn into the new 2nd Congressional District after the state lost a House seat following the 2020 census. The matchup will be an early test of Trump’s sway in GOP primaries, with the former President backing Mooney over McKinley, who did not object to counting the Electoral College vote and supported the bipartisan infrastructure bill. Mooney objected to the Pennsylvania electoral count, but not Arizona, and voted against the infrastructure package.\n\nIn Nebraska, outgoing Gov. Pete Ricketts urged Trump to stay out of the GOP primary to replace him, but the former President spurned the request and threw his support behind businessman Charles Herbster last October. Ricketts later endorsed Nebraska University Regent Jim Pillen, setting up a proxy battle between the two GOP leaders who both carried the Cornhusker State by wide margins.\n\nMeanwhile, in Nebraska’s 1st Congressional District, embattled GOP Rep. Jeff Fortenberry is facing a primary challenge from state Sen. Mike Flood, who has been endorsed by Ricketts and former Gov. Dave Heineman. Fortenberry was indicted last fall for allegedly concealing information and lying to federal authorities investigating illegal campaign contributions. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.\n\nMay 17: Idaho, Kentucky, North Carolina, Oregon and Pennsylvania primaries\n\nCelebrity doctor Mehmet Oz Brad Barket/Getty Images\n\nThe fight for the GOP Senate nomination in Pennsylvania could be one of the nastiest and most expensive primary contests of the entire 2022 cycle, with hedge fund executive David McCormick and celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz trading pointed attacks over their personal ties to foreign countries. Both contenders are pumping massive amounts of their personal wealth into TV ads. The crowded field also includes former US ambassador to Denmark Carla Sands, who, like the top contenders, is relying on her personal wealth, and Jeff Bartos, the party’s 2018 nominee for lieutenant governor. The race to succeed retiring GOP Sen. Pat Toomey was upended last November when Trump-backed candidate Sean Parnell ended his campaign amid scrutiny of his turbulent personal life. So far, the former President has held off on throwing his support behind another candidate, a move that could shake up the trajectory of the primary.\n\nDemocrats see the Keystone State as perhaps the party’s best opportunity to flip a Republican-held Senate seat. The competition on the Democratic side features candidates with distinct backgrounds who represent divergent ideological factions within the party. Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, an outspoken progressive and strong fundraiser, and Rep. Conor Lamb, a Marine Corps veteran and former federal prosecutor, are seen as the top contenders. Rounding out the field is state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, who has won the backing of some progressive groups.\n\nThere is also a wide-open race for governor in Pennsylvania, with Democrat Tom Wolf term-limited. The lone Democratic candidate is state Attorney General Josh Shapiro, who was one of the leading officials rebutting false claims about the commonwealth’s 2020 election results. The GOP field includes state Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman, former US Rep. Lou Barletta, former US Attorney Bill McSwain, state Sen. Doug Mastriano and businessman Dave White. Trump, and his lies about the election, are expected to be a driving factor in the primary.\n\nIn North Carolina, Trump’s early surprise endorsement of US Rep. Ted Budd failed to clear the GOP Senate primary field, with former Gov. Pat McCrory, former US Rep. Mark Walker and Army veteran Marjorie K. Eastman also in the running to succeed retiring Republican Sen. Richard Burr. Walker announced in January he would stay in the Senate race, defying Trump’s effort to get the former congressman to drop his bid and run for a House seat. On the Democratic side, the party has largely cleared the field for former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley.\n\nIdaho is another state home to a GOP civil war, with Gov. Brad Little getting a primary challenge from Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin. The two have engaged in a political tug-of-war, with McGeachin on multiple occasions using her powers as acting governor to issue executive orders while Little was out of state, only to have the governor rescind them upon his return. Trump endorsed McGeachin last November, calling her a “a true supporter of MAGA from the very beginning.”\n\nMay 24: Alabama, Arkansas and Georgia primaries; Texas runoffs (if necessary)\n\nGeorgia Gov. Brian Kemp Megan Varner/Getty Images\n\nThere is perhaps no state on the 2022 map where Trump is seeking to exert his influence on the Republican Party more than Georgia, where he rolled out a “Trump ticket” of candidates, including two who are challenging GOP incumbents the former President attacked after they rejected his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.\n\nThe top target for Trump is Gov. Brian Kemp, whose decision to certify Biden’s narrow win in Georgia unleashed fierce and frequent attacks by the former President. The attacks culminated with Trump’s endorsement of former US Sen. David Perdue after he launched a primary challenge against Kemp. Perdue lost his Senate runoff to Democrat Jon Ossoff in January 2021, which some Republicans blamed, in part, on Trump’s efforts to undermine the state’s election results. Now Perdue is making Trump’s lies about the 2020 election a cornerstone of his bid to defeat Kemp. The winner of the GOP primary will likely face Democrat Stacey Abrams, who lost the 2018 gubernatorial race to Kemp by less than 2 percentage points.\n\nWhile the GOP primary for governor is unsettled, Republican Herschel Walker has plenty of running room in the Senate race. The former football star has Trump’s support as he seeks to defeat Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, who scored a 2-point victory in a Senate special election runoff against Republican Kelly Loeffler last year. Warnock has been a prolific fundraiser, beginning 2022 with nearly $23 million in the bank.\n\nGeorgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger stood up to Trump’s demands that he “find” the votes to overturn the 2020 election results in the state. Now the question is whether the state’s top election official can withstand a primary challenge from Trump-backed US Rep. Jody Hice, who embraced the former President’s false claims about the election. Among the Democratic contenders are state Rep. Bee Nguyen, who succeeded Abrams in the state legislature, and former Fulton County Commission chair John Eaves.\n\nThe Atlanta area will host the year’s first Democratic member vs. member primary, with Reps. Lucy McBath and Carolyn Bourdeaux running in the newly redrawn 7th Congressional District after the GOP-controlled state legislature turned McBath’s current seat safely red. Both Democrats flipped suburban districts previously held by Republicans – McBath in 2018 and Bourdeaux in 2020.\n\nGeorgia won’t be the only state testing the power of Trump’s endorsement on this primary day. In Alabama, US Rep. Mo Brooks is hoping the former President’s support will help deliver him the GOP Senate nomination. But the conservative firebrand is running against two well-funded opponents: Katie Britt, a former top aide to retiring Republican Sen. Richard Shelby, and Mike Durant, an aerospace executive and former Blackhawk helicopter pilot. Brooks has struggled to take command of the field, prompting frustration from the former President.\n\nAlabama Gov. Kay Ivey is running for a second full term but is being challenged by several candidates in the GOP primary, including Lindy Blanchard, who served as ambassador to Slovenia in the Trump administration. Blanchard initially launched a bid for the open Senate seat but switched gears to run for governor last December.\n\nIn Arkansas, Sarah Huckabee Sanders – a former White House press secretary under Trump and daughter of former Gov. Mike Huckabee – has a clear path to the Republican nomination as she seeks to succeed GOP Gov. Asa Hutchinson. With Trump having carried the Natural State by more than 20 points in 2020, Sanders is poised to follow in her father’s footsteps and become Arkansas’ first female governor.\n\nJune 7: California, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota primaries; special election in California’s 22nd Congressional District (if necessary)\n\nCalifornia Gov. Gavin Newsom Justin Sullivan/Getty Images\n\nLast September, California Gov. Gavin Newsom became the second governor in US history to defeat a recall. Now the Democrat appears to be coasting toward a second term in office – which could serve as a platform for a national run down the road. There are already signs of a brewing feud between Newsom and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a top GOP 2024 prospect.\n\nSen. Alex Padilla, appointed by Newsom to the seat vacated by Harris ahead of her becoming vice president, is running for a full six-year term. At the same time, Padilla must run in a special election for the remaining weeks of the original Harris term.\n\nCalifornia is losing a US House seat for the first time in the state’s history because of slower population growth. The new congressional maps, drawn by an independent commission, have scrambled the Golden State’s political landscape. With the potential for as many as 10 competitive House races this fall, the state’s top-two primary system could be a major factor in shaping the battleground map.\n\nGOP Rep. David Valadao is running in the newly drawn 22nd District in the Central Valley, which became more favorable to Democrats under redistricting. Valadao is the only House Republican running for reelection who voted for to impeach Trump in 2021 for inciting the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol and doesn’t have a challenger endorsed by the former President (yet). Among his Democratic challengers is Rudy Salas, a California assemblyman and former member of the Bakersfield City Council.\n\nAnother race to keep an eye on is the new 27th District around Los Angeles, where GOP Rep. Mike Garcia is a top target of Democrats. His challengers include former state assemblywoman Christy Smith, who is running for a third time against Garcia. She lost a special election and general election to him in 2020, with the latter race decided by a margin of just 333 votes. Democrat Quaye Quartey, a retired Navy intelligence officer, is also running.\n\nPrior to serving as Trump’s interior secretary, Ryan Zinke spent about two years representing Montana in the US House. Zinke is now eyeing a return to Capitol Hill after Montana gained a House seat following the 2020 census, though he’s facing scrutiny about his current ties to the state.\n\nJune 14: Maine, Nevada, North Dakota and South Carolina primaries\n\nNevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc./Getty Images\n\nNevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto is one of the most endangered Senate Democrats running this year, looking to carry a state Biden won by less than 3 points in 2020. The top contender in the GOP field is former state Attorney General Adam Laxalt, the party’s 2018 nominee for governor, who has managed to unite the Trump and Mitch McConnell wings. Still, he is facing a primary challenge from Army veteran Sam Brown, who has demonstrated some fundraising strength.\n\nIn the Silver State’s race for governor, incumbent Democrat Steve Sisolak is seeking a second term, with several Republicans lining up to run against him, including former US Sen. Dean Heller and Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo.\n\nThe fate of two Trump targets could be decided this day in South Carolina, where the former President has endorsed primary challengers to GOP Reps. Tom Rice and Nancy Mace. In the 7th Congressional District, Trump has backed state Rep. Russell Fry against Rice, who was one of the 10 House Republicans to vote in favor of Trump’s impeachment last January. Mace, who represents the 1st District, voted to certify the election results (but not for impeachment) and has tried to walk the Trump tightrope, criticizing his actions at times and embracing the former President at others. Trump has thrown his support behind former state Rep. Katie Arrington, who defeated former Rep. Mark Sanford in the 2018 GOP primary for the 1st District, only to lose to Democrat Joe Cunningham in the general election.\n\nIn Maine, a pair of Republicans are attempting political comebacks – with former Gov. Paul LePage and former US Rep. Bruce Poliquin both running for their old jobs. LePage is looking to challenge Democrat Janet Mills, who won the 2018 race to succeed him. Poliquin is eyeing a rematch in the 2nd Congressional District with Jared Golden, the Democrat who defeated him four years ago.\n\nJune 21: DC and Virginia primaries; runoffs in Alabama, Arkansas and Georgia (if necessary)\n\nVirginia Rep. Abigail Spanberger Win McNamee/Getty Images\n\nLast November’s victory by Republican Glenn Youngkin in the race for Virginia governor boosted the GOP’s hopes that 2022 would be a strong year for the party in the commonwealth and beyond. This year, the battleground in the Old Dominion will center on two competitive House races featuring a pair of Democrats first elected in the 2018 blue wave – Reps. Abigail Spanberger and Elaine Luria. A handful Republicans have lined up to challenge Spanberger in the new 7th Congressional District, which was redrawn to include more of the Democratic-leaning exurbs in Northern Virginia but no longer includes the congresswoman’s home near Richmond. Luria’s 2nd District, meanwhile, became more favorable to Republicans under redistricting, with state Sen. Jen Kiggans seen as a top contender in the GOP primary.\n\nJune 28: Colorado, Illinois, Maryland, New York, Oklahoma and Utah primaries; runoffs in Mississippi and South Carolina (if necessary)\n\nIllinois Rep. Mary Miller Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc./Getty Images\n\nThe Land of Lincoln is the scene of not one but two dual incumbent House primaries after Illinois lost a seat based on the 2020 census.\n\nThe GOP contest in the 15th District will provide another test of Trump’s endorsement strength, with Reps. Mary Miller and Rodney Davis facing off. The former President rebuffed the advice of GOP leaders to remain neutral and threw his support behind Miller, a freshman member who has stirred controversy since arriving in Congress. Davis, now in his fifth term, is an ally of House Republican leadership and poised to become a committee chairman if the GOP wins control of the chamber.\n\nDemocrats have their own incumbent vs. incumbent primary in the 6th District, where Reps. Sean Casten and Marie Newman will compete for the party’s nomination. Casten flipped a GOP-held seat in 2018 while Newman narrowly defeated conservative Democratic Rep. Dan Lipinski in a 2020 primary before winning her general election race by double digits.\n\nOn the same day, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul will face off against US Rep. Tom Suozzi and New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams in the Democratic primary as Hochul seeks a full term in office. Hochul became the first female governor of the Empire State last August after Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo resigned amid allegations of sexual harassment. Among the candidates on the Republican side are Rep. Lee Zeldin, 2014 GOP gubernatorial nominee Rob Astorino, businessman Harry Wilson and Andrew Giuliani, the son of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.\n\nWith popular Republican Gov. Larry Hogan unable to run for a third term in Maryland, Democrats are hopeful about their prospects of retaking the governor’s mansion after eight years of Republican rule. That optimism has produced a crowded Democratic field, which includes former US Labor Secretary Tom Perez, state Comptroller Peter Franchot, author and former nonprofit chief Wes Moore and former US Education Secretary John King. Trump has endorsed state Del. Daniel Cox, who is running in the GOP primary against Hogan’s preferred candidate, state Commerce Secretary Kelly Schulz.\n\nJuly 26: North Carolina runoffs (if necessary)\n\nThe calendar in July is rather bare, unless any of the North Carolina primary contests in May require a runoff to decide the winner. Candidates only need to top 30% of the vote to avoid that scenario.\n\nAugust 2: Arizona, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri and Washington primaries\n\nArizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs Ross D. Franklin/AP\n\nTwo states at the center of Trump’s lies about the 2020 election will vote on this day – Arizona and Michigan.\n\nSparked by the former President’s falsehoods, GOP lawmakers in Arizona launched a months-long partisan review of the results in Maricopa County, home to Phoenix, which ultimately confirmed Biden’s victory there. That fact has failed to dissuade Republican candidates from embracing Trump’s baseless claims. The former President has endorsed former TV anchor Kari Lake, who is running for governor, and state Rep. Mark Finchem, a candidate for secretary of state, both of whom have cast doubts about the 2020 election results.\n\nCurrent Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, is running for governor, putting her defense of the state’s elections at the center of her candidacy. In addition to Lake, the other Republican contenders include former US Rep. Matt Salmon, developer and former Arizona Board of Regents member Karrin Taylor Robson and businessman Steve Gaynor.\n\nFinchem is joined in the GOP secretary of state primary by state Sen. Michelle Ugenti-Rita, who has advocated for so-called election integrity legislation. The Democratic candidates hoping to succeed Hobbs include Adrian Fontes, the former Maricopa County recorder, and Arizona House Minority Leader Reginald Bolding.\n\nTrump has yet to endorse in the Arizona GOP Senate primary, but his impact on the field has been felt in how the leading candidates are positioning themselves to align with the former President’s policies and politics. That list of hopefuls includes state Attorney General Mark Brnovich, businessman Jim Lamon and venture capitalist Blake Masters, who has the backing of tech billionaire Peter Thiel and the anti-tax Club for Growth.\n\nDemocratic Sen. Mark Kelly and his massive campaign war chest await whichever candidate emerges victorious on the Republican side. The former astronaut is running for a full six-year term after defeating appointed Republican Sen. Martha McSally in a 2020 special election.\n\nIn Michigan, Trump has endorsed two statewide candidates who’ve spread election falsehoods – Kristina Karamo for secretary of state and Matthew DePerno for state attorney general. They are seeking to challenge incumbent Democrats Jocelyn Benson and Dana Nessel, who have pushed back on Trump’s efforts to undermine the state’s 2020 election results.\n\nMichigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer Bill Pugliano/Getty Images\n\nDemocratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who was on Biden’s short list for vice president, is also seeking a second term. Businessman Kevin Rinke and former Detroit police chief James Craig are among a packed field of GOP candidates looking to challenge Whitmer.\n\nThe new congressional map in Michigan has set up an all-incumbent primary battle in the 11th district featuring Democratic Reps. Haley Stevens and Andy Levin. The district’s new lines make it a safer seat for Democrats than the one Stevens flipped in 2018. Levin has deep political roots in the state, with his father, Sander, serving in the US House for more than 30 years and his uncle Carl Levin serving six terms as a US senator.\n\nGOP Rep. Peter Meijer is running for reelection in Michigan’s 3rd Congressional District after voting for impeachment and faces a primary challenge in John Gibbs, a former Trump administration official who has the backing of the former President.\n\nTrump has also endorsed state Rep. Steve Carra, who had launched a bid against Rep. Fred Upton, another GOP member who voted to impeach. But Upton has not yet officially announced if he’s running for another term, which would mean having to face off against fellow GOP Rep. Bill Huizenga in the newly drawn 4th District.\n\nTwo House Republicans from Washington who voted for Trump’s impeachment – Jaime Herrera Beutler and Dan Newhouse – will also face GOP primary voters on this day. Both have Trump-backed opponents in their all-party primaries. Retired Army Special Forces officer Joe Kent is challenging Beutler, while failed 2020 gubernatorial candidate Loren Culp is seeking to oust Newhouse. Like in California, the top two finishers in the primary advance to the general election, regardless of party affiliation.\n\nIn Missouri, there is a crowded GOP primary to succeed retiring Republican Sen. Roy Blunt in a state that should favor the party. Some Republicans are concerned that if former Gov. Eric Greitens emerges as the nominee, it could put the seat in play for Democrats, given his scandal-plagued past. GOP Sen. Josh Hawley has endorsed US Rep. Vicky Hartzler in the primary, with state Attorney General Eric Schmitt, US Rep. Billy Long, state Senate President Pro Tempore Dave Schatz and St. Louis attorney Mark McCloskey also in the mix. On the Democratic side, Marine veteran Lucas Kunce appears to be the leading contender.\n\nAugust 4: Tennessee primaries\n\nFormer State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus Gabriel Aponte/Getty Images South America/Getty Images for Concordia Ameri\n\nTennessee Republicans cracked Democratic Rep. Jim Cooper’s Nashville-based seat in redistricting, diluting the power of the vote in Davidson County, spreading it across three GOP-leaning districts. The move prompted Cooper to announce his retirement. It has also sparked a GOP showdown for the new 5th Congressional District. Trump is backing Morgan Ortagus, a former State Department spokesperson, while two top allies of the former President – US Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Madison Cawthorn – are supporting social media influencer Robby Starbuck. Former state House Speaker Beth Harwell is running for the redrawn seat as well.\n\nAugust 9: Connecticut, Minnesota, Vermont and Wisconsin primaries\n\nWisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson is the only Republican senator seeking reelection in a state Biden carried in 2020. A dozen Democrats have lined up to take on the two-term incumbent, who has evolved from a tea party insurgent during his first run in 2010 to a promoter of Covid-19 and January 6 conspiracies. The leading Democratic challengers appear to be Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, Milwaukee Bucks executive Alex Lasry and state Treasurer Sarah Godlewski.\n\nThe GOP field to take on Democratic Gov. Tony Evers is less crowded, with former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, state Rep. Timothy Ramthun and Kevin Nicholson, who lost in the 2018 Senate Republican primary, among the contenders.\n\nThe last time a Republican candidate won a statewide office in Minnesota was 2006, when former Gov. Tim Pawlenty was narrowly reelected. Several Republicans are running to prevent Democratic Gov. Tim Walz from winning a second term. Misinformation about Covid-19 and the 2020 election have been key issues in the GOP primary. One leading candidate is Scott Jensen, a former state senator and family doctor, who has voiced vaccine skepticism and opposition to mandates. Another physician, Neil Shah, has suggested he took an unproven drug to treat coronavirus. At a forum last December, none of the five candidates who participated were willing to answer a plain “yes” when asked whether they thought Biden won a “constitutional majority in the Electoral College.”\n\nUltimately, whether Republicans lean toward a candidate like Jensen or Shah or a more mainstream pick like state Sens. Paul Gazelka or Michelle Benson, the primary may well be decided long before August. The state GOP will endorse a candidate at its convention in May and most, if not all, of the other candidates could drop their bids if they don’t earn that nod.\n\nVermont is the only state in the union that’s never sent a woman to Congress. But Democratic Sen. Pat Leahy’s decision to call it quits after almost 50 years in the Senate started a domino effect that could change that. Democratic Rep. Peter Welch, the state’s lone House member, is trying to move across the Capitol to succeed Leahy. That’s set up a Democratic primary in which two of the leading candidates are women. Lt. Gov. Molly Gray and state Sen. Becca Balint both declared for the seat shortly after Welch made his announcement.\n\nVermont Gov. Phil Scott, a Republican who leads one of the most Democratic states in the nation, will also be up for reelection (Vermont governors serve two-year terms) but he’s yet to announce his plans.\n\nConnecticut Gov. Ned Lamont and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, both Democrats, also face voters this year.\n\nAugust 13: Hawaii primaries\n\nHawaii Lt. Gov. Josh Green State of Hawaii\n\nTerm limits prevent Hawaii Gov. David Ige from seeking a third term, and several Democrats have lined up to succeed him. The primary field includes Lt. Gov. Josh Green, a doctor who has been one of the main faces of the state’s pandemic response, former Hawaii first lady Vicky Cayetano and former Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell. US Rep. Kai Kahele has also been mentioned as a potential candidate.\n\nHawaii is one of the most Democratic states in the country, so the winner of the Democratic primary will be heavily favored in November.\n\nAugust 16: Alaska and Wyoming primaries; South Dakota runoffs (if necessary)\n\nWyoming Rep. Liz Cheney Oliver Contreras/Pool/Getty Images\n\nTwo of Trump’s top GOP targets in 2022 are Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney and Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski. The coincidence of both states holding primaries on the same day sets up an epic test of the former President’s sway in the GOP.\n\nThere is arguably no Republican who has drawn Trump’s ire more than Cheney, who voted in favor of impeachment last year and is the vice chair on the House select committee investigating the events surrounding the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. Trump has endorsed Harriet Hageman, a onetime critic, as the candidate to fulfill his goal of ousting Cheney. So has House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. And the Republican National Committee took the unprecedented step of censuring the congreswoman. Working in Cheney’s favor are her family’s deep roots in the state and her massive campaign war chest. She also might benefit from the fact that she could win the primary without receiving a majority of the vote, as Hageman has not cleared the field of Cheney challengers despite Trump’s support.\n\nMurkowski is the lone Republican running for reelection this year who voted to convict Trump at his impeachment trial in the Senate. The former President has backed Kelly Tshibaka, who formerly led Alaska’s Department of Administration. But the race in Alaska will be complicated by the state’s new election system, with all the Senate candidates running on a single ballot and the top four finishers, regardless of party, advancing to the general election, which will be decided by ranked-choice voting. Given that, Murkowski is almost certain to advance to the November vote, where she could benefit from the reallocation process. The senator has faced tough reelection campaigns before – winning as a write-in candidate in 2010 after losing the GOP primary to a tea party challenger. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and his allies are firmly behind Murkowski’s bid.\n\nAugust 23: Florida primaries; Oklahoma runoffs (if necessary)\n\nFlorida Gov. Ron DeSantis SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images\n\nFlorida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, who has made himself a national figure with a laissez-faire approach to the Covid-19 pandemic and willingness to embrace hot-button conservative causes, might be eyeing another office in a few years. But first, he needs to win a second term, with the possibility of a decisive victory likely to only spark further speculation about his ambitions beyond the Sunshine State.\n\nThree Democrats are hoping to derail DeSantis’ rise, with US Rep. Charlie Crist, a former Republican governor, trying to reclaim his seat as Florida’s chief executive. Crist leads the Democratic field in fundraising. The other contenders to take on DeSantis are state Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried and state Sen. Annette Taddeo.\n\nBefore DeSantis, Sen. Marco Rubio was seen as the GOP’s rising star in Florida. His failed 2016 presidential bid upended that trajectory and led Rubio to reverse course and seek reelection to the Senate. Now he’s seeking a third term, with the onetime tea party darling turned Trump critic having fully embraced the former President amid Florida’s shift to the right. US Rep. Val Demings, a former Orlando police chief, is the prohibitive favorite in the Democratic primary and has been a strong fundraiser.\n\nThe outcome of these two races could dictate heading into 2024 how much attention and resources Democrats will deploy to Florida, which has been one of the premier battleground states in presidential races for many cycles.\n\nSeptember 6: Massachusetts primaries\n\nFormer state Rep. Geoff Diehl Matt Stone/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald/Getty Images\n\nThe decision by Republican Gov. Charlie Baker to not seek a third term in deep-blue Massachusetts sets up another test of Trump’s power inside the GOP. Former state Rep. Geoff Diehl originally launched his campaign as a challenge to Baker and picked up Trump’s endorsement. But while Diehl won’t have the popular incumbent as an opponent, he also doesn’t have a clear lane to November. Chris Doughty, a businessman and self-described moderate, joined the race in late January. While he doesn’t have electoral experience like Diehl, Doughty was able to open his campaign with half a million dollars of his own money.\n\nOn the Democratic side, state Attorney General Maura Healey, who entered the race after Baker declined to run again, leads the entire field in fundraising. State Sen. Sonia Chang-Díaz is also running. Despite favoring Democrats at the federal level, Massachusetts has a habit of electing moderate Republican governors. Without Baker on the ballot, Democrats are hopeful they’ll avoid such a fate this November.\n\nSeptember 13: Delaware, New Hampshire and Rhode Island primaries\n\nNew Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan Erin Scott/Getty Images\n\nDemocratic Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire is one of the GOP’s top targets in 2022, but the party’s hopes of flipping the seat took a hit last November when popular Granite State Gov. Chris Sununu passed on a Senate bid. Sununu’s decision sets up what could be a long and crowded GOP primary, given New Hampshire’s late primary date. Candidates include former Londonderry Town Manager Kevin Smith, retired Army Brig. Gen. Don Bolduc and state Senate President Chuck Morse, who’s received praise from McConnell.\n\nRedistricting is poised to make New Hampshire’s 1st Congressional District, currently held by Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas, more favorable for Republicans. That shift has attracted a wide field of GOP challengers, including Matt Mowers, who lost to Pappas in 2020, former Trump aide Karoline Leavitt and Gail Huff Brown, a former TV anchor and the wife of former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown.\n\nThere will likely be another crowded primary on this day on the Democratic side in the Rhode Island governor’s race. Then-Lt. Gov. Dan McKee was elevated to the top job when Gina Raimondo was appointed as Biden’s commerce secretary last year, and he’s now seeking a full term. But Rhode Island Democrats aren’t just letting McKee have it. The packed field currently includes Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea, former Secretary of State Matt Brown and Helena Foulkes, a former executive at Rhode Island-based CVS.\n\nNovember 8: Election Day; Open primaries in Louisiana", "authors": ["Terence Burlij Melissa Holzberg Depalo Ethan Cohen", "Terence Burlij", "Melissa Holzberg Depalo", "Ethan Cohen"], "publish_date": "2022/02/26"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/21/politics/2024-republican-presidential-rankings-trump-desantis/index.html", "title": "Ranking the 2024 Republican presidential field | CNN Politics", "text": "CNN —\n\nJust as Donald Trump began to look vulnerable in a potential GOP presidential primary, the FBI executed a search warrant for classified documents he had kept at his Mar-a-Lago home after leaving the White House.\n\nIn a normal political world, such a development might disqualify Trump or at least hamstring him as he prepares to run for president again in 2024. In the bizarro political world in which we now find ourselves, however, it had the opposite effect among his base – turning Trump, again, into a martyr, the subject of an overreaching government dead set on targeting him no matter the cost.\n\nThe practical, political effects of the FBI’s search – putting aside the legal implications for Trump – are twofold:\n\n1) There is a rallying effect among Republicans around Trump.\n\n2) Talk of him announcing his candidacy before the November midterm elections has faded.\n\nThat does not mean that Trump would skate through the primary without competition. It’s hard to see – given the number of White House hopefuls out there and the level of their activity in key states – Trump not facing at least nominal competition for the Republican nod.\n\nWhat it does mean, however, is that Trump is in a stronger political position today than he was three months ago. (Yes, I know, it’s weird.)\n\nBelow are the 10 people most likely to wind up as the Republican nominee for president in 2024. (My last rankings of the GOP field from June are here. And my latest 2024 Democratic presidential rankings are here.) A word of caution: it’s still very early so this list can and will change.\n\n10. Rick Scott: The Florida senator is in the midst of a cold war with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell over the best way to execute the fall campaign. But Scott, the chair of the Senate GOP’s campaign arm, doesn’t seem particularly interested in trying to take McConnell’s job (and he wouldn’t be able to anyway). Scott’s eye is on a bigger prize – as evidenced by his recent trip to Iowa to campaign with a House candidate. (Previous ranking: 9)\n\n9. Greg Abbott: Abbott has a comfortable, if not massive, edge over Democrat Beto O’Rourke in his bid for a second term as Texas governor. And he’s drawn a lot of national attention for busing migrants to New York and Washington, DC. Abbott has demonstrated an ability to raise the sort of money he would need to run for president, too. (Previous ranking: 7)\n\n8. Mike Pompeo: No one on this list has been more overt about their interest in running for president than Pompeo. The former secretary of state recently visited New Hampshire, simply the latest in a series of trips to states expected to kick off the primary season. If Trump doesn’t run, expect Pompeo to position himself as an inheritor of the muscular foreign policy that the former President sought to make his legacy. (Previous ranking: Not ranked)\n\n7. Nikki Haley: During a trip to Iowa this summer, the former UN ambassador and South Carolina governor leaned as far into a possible candidacy as she ever has. “If it looks like there’s a place for me next year, I’ve never lost a race,” she said. Haley had previously suggested she wouldn’t run if Trump did, but political promises are made to be broken. Haley is charismatic and experienced on the campaign trail. It remains to be seen how she would differentiate herself in a race against Trump, though. (Previous ranking: 6)\n\n6. Ted Cruz: The Texas senator is set to go on a massive campaign trip for the midterm elections that will take him through three states – Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada – that will play a critical role in picking the next Republican presidential nominee. Cruz, who finished second to Trump in the 2016 primary, is smart enough to know that the race is effectively frozen until Trump makes up his mind, but is putting in the work now so that if Trump bows out (unlikely, but possible) he would be in a position to take advantage. (Previous ranking: 5)\n\n5. Mike Pence: Look, I get that he is the former vice president of the United States. And that as a result, Pence has name recognition and a donor network that is the envy of almost everyone on this list. At the same time, he is persona non grata with the unquestioned leader of the Republican Party. Even if Trump doesn’t run in 2024, can you imagine a scenario where he leaves Pence alone during a GOP primary campaign? I sure can’t. (Previous ranking: 3)\n\n4. Glenn Youngkin: There’s a tendency to be skeptical of Youngkin because he is only now in his first year as the governor of Virginia. But as Barack Obama should have taught all of us, inexperience in national politics isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Youngkin is a very hot commodity in Republican politics these days; he’ll campaign for gubernatorial candidates in across the country in the coming weeks. Politics is all about timing and momentum – and right now, Youngkin has both on his side. (Previous ranking: 5)\n\n3. Tim Scott: On the one hand, the South Carolina senator publicly downplays his presidential aspirations. On the other, he spent a day in late August stumping for a House candidate in Iowa. (Scott has been to the state at least five times in the last three years.) So … The reality is that if Trump doesn’t run, it’s hard to see how Scott stays out of the 2024 race. And he would immediately be one of the contest’s front-runners – he is the only Black Republican in the Senate and has demonstrated an ability to raise money. (Previous ranking: 4)\n\n2. Ron DeSantis: There’s no question that the FBI’s search of Mar-a-Lago took some wind from the sails of DeSantis’ presidential ambitions. But there’s also no question that the Florida governor is the only contender on this list who poses a direct threat to Trump in a presidential primary. DeSantis continues to show his knack for attracting national headlines – his stunt of flying migrants to Martha’s Vineyard being the latest example – and, in so doing, rallying Trumpian conservatives to his cause. If Trump, as expected, enters the race, DeSantis will have a very tough choice to make. (Previous ranking: 2)\n\n1. Donald Trump: Yes, the former President is, without question, the favorite to win the Republican nomination for a third time. But it’s worth noting that he’s not as big a favorite as, say, Hillary Clinton was at this point for the Democratic nomination in the 2016 election cycle. (Clinton won the nomination, but the race against Bernie Sanders was far closer than early polling indicated.) Which is to say that the GOP nomination is Trump’s for the taking, but it is not a foregone conclusion that he wins it. Polling of late has picked up a sizable chunk of Republicans who are ready to look elsewhere for the next leader of their party. (Previous ranking: 1)", "authors": ["Chris Cillizza"], "publish_date": "2022/09/21"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/15/politics/trump-2024-presidential-bid/index.html", "title": "Former President Donald Trump announces a White House bid for ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nFormer President Donald Trump, aiming to become only the second commander-in-chief ever elected to two nonconsecutive terms, announced Tuesday night that he will seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.\n\n“In order to make America great and glorious again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States,” Trump told a crowd gathered at Mar-a-Lago, his waterfront estate in Florida, where his campaign will be headquartered.\n\nSurrounded by allies, advisers, and conservative influencers, Trump delivered a relatively subdued speech, rife with spurious and exaggerated claims about his four years in office. Despite a historically divisive presidency and his own role in inciting an attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, Trump aimed to evoke nostalgia for his time in office, frequently contrasting his first-term accomplishments with the Biden administration’s policies and the current economic climate. Many of those perceived accomplishments – from strict immigration actions to corporate tax cuts and religious freedom initiatives – remain deeply polarizing to this day.\n\nAs Trump spoke to a roomful of Republicans who expect him to face primary challengers in the coming months, he also claimed the party cannot afford to nominate “a politician or conventional candidate” if it wants to win back the White House.\n\n“This will not be my campaign, this will be our campaign all together,” Trump said.\n\nTrump’s long-awaited campaign comes as he tries to reclaim the spotlight following the GOP’s underwhelming midterm elections performance – including the losses of several Trump-endorsed election deniers – and the subsequent blame game that has unfolded since Election Day. Republicans failed to gain a Senate majority, came up short in their efforts to fill several statewide seats, and have yet to secure a House majority, with only 215 races called in their favor so far out of the 218 needed, developments that have forced Trump and other party leaders into a defensive posture as they face reproval from within their ranks.\n\nTrump’s paperwork establishing his candidacy landed with the Federal Election Committee shortly before he delivered his announcement at Mar-a-Lago.\n\nTo the delight of aides and allies who have long advised him to mount a forward-looking campaign, he spent only a fraction of his remarks repeating his lies about the 2020 election. Though he advocated for the use of paper ballots and likened America’s election system to that of “third world countries,” Trump also tried at times to broaden his grievances – lamenting the “massive corruption” and “entrenched interests” that in his view have consumed Washington. Many of Trump’s top advisers have expressed concern that his fixation on promoting conspiracies about the last presidential election would make it harder for him to win a national election in 2024.\n\nThroughout the hour-long speech, Trump made clear that he wants his campaign to be seen by Republicans as a sacrificial undertaking.\n\n“Anyone who truly seeks to take on this rigged and corrupt system will be faced with a storm of fire that only a few could understand,” he said at one point, describing the legal and emotional toll his presidency and post-presidential period has taken on his family members.\n\nOn the heels of last week’s midterm elections, Trump has been blamed for elevating flawed candidates who spent too much time parroting his claims about election fraud, alienating key voters and ultimately leading to their defeats. He attempted to counter that criticism on Tuesday, noting that Republicans appear poised to retake the House majority and touting at least one Trump-endorsed candidate, Kevin Kiley of California. At one point, Trump appeared to blame his party’s midterm performance on voters not yet realizing “the total effect of the suffering” after two years of Democratic control in Washington.\n\n“I have no doubt that by 2024, it will sadly be much worse and they will see clearly what has happened and is happening to our country – and the voting will be much different,” he claimed.\n\nBeating others to the punch\n\nTrump is betting that his first-out-of-the gate strategy will fend off potential primary rivals and give him an early advantage with deep-pocketed donors, aides say. He is widely expected to be challenged by both conservative and moderate Republicans, though the calculus of some presidential hopefuls could change now that he is running. Others – like his former Vice President, Mike Pence – may proceed anyway.\n\nTrump’s third presidential bid also coincides with a period of heightened legal peril as Justice Department officials investigating him and his associates revisit the prospect of indictments in their Trump-related probes. The former president is currently being investigated for his activities before and during the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol and his retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate after he left office. While Trump is counting on an easy path to the GOP nomination with his sustained support among the party’s base, his announcement is likely to dash the hopes of party leaders who have longed for fresh talent. In particular, top Republicans have been paying close attention to the next moves of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who won his reelection contest with a 19-point margin of victory and considerable support from minority and independent voters. Some Republican leaders may try to scuttle Trump’s campaign by elevating or encouraging alternative candidates, including DeSantis, who has been quietly laying the groundwork for a possible White House bid of his own.\n\nOf course, any countereffort to inhibit Trump’s path to the nomination is likely to prove difficult. Despite his myriad legal entanglements and the stain of January 6, the twice-impeached 45th president remains immensely popular among most Republican voters and boasts a deep connection with his core backers that could prove difficult for other GOP hopefuls to replicate or weaken. Even leading conservatives who disliked Trump’s pugnacious politics and heterodox policies stuck with him as president because he helped solidify the rightward shift of the US Supreme Court with his nominations – one of the most far-reaching aspects of his legacy, which resulted in the conservative court majority’s deeply polarizing June decision to end federal abortion rights. In fact, while Trump ended his first term with the lowest approval rating of any president, Republicans viewed him favorably, according to a May NBC News poll. That alone could give Trump a significant edge over primary opponents whom voters are still familiarizing themselves with.\n\nAmong those potential competitors is Pence, who would likely benefit from high name recognition due to his role as vice president. Pence, who has been preparing for a possible White House run in 2024, is sure to face an uphill battle courting Trump’s most loyal supporters, many of whom soured on the former vice president after he declined to overstep his congressional authority and block certification of now-President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory. Trump could also find himself pitted against DeSantis, who has risen to hero status among cultural conservatives and who is widely considered a more polished version of Trump. Even some of the former president’s advisers have voiced similar observations to CNN, noting that DeSantis also made inroads with major Republican donors during his quest for reelection and built a mountain of goodwill with GOP leaders by campaigning for federal and statewide Republican candidates in the middle of his own race.\n\nBeyond his potential rivals, Trump has another roadblock in his path as the House select committee continues to investigate his role in January 6, 2021, and Justice Department officials weigh whether to issue criminal charges. The committee, which subpoenaed him for testimony and documents in October and which Trump is now battling in court, held public hearings throughout the summer and early fall featuring depositions from those in Trump’s inner circle at the White House – including members of his family – that detailed his public and private efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election results through a sustained pressure campaign on numerous local, state and federal officials, and on his own vice president.\n\nBut Trump’s desire to announce his campaign early can be especially traced to the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago, which advisers say further emboldened his decision to mount what he believes will be a triumphant political comeback. The day after the search, the former president fielded calls from allies advising him to accelerate his 2024 timeline. That night, he huddled with House lawmakers in the Republican Study Committee and told them he’d “made up his mind” about launching a bid, though some of those same House Republicans later convinced him to wait until after the midterm elections to announce his next move.\n\nFew of those lawmakers were present for Trump’s speech on Tuesday, choosing to remain in Washington as House Republicans conducted their leadership elections and the party continues to grapple with its failures in highly prized midterm races. Rather, the room was filled with prominent election deniers like MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, several of Trump’s attorneys, and past and present aides. Before he entered the room on Tuesday alongside former first lady Melania Trump, several members of the ex-president’s family were also seen filtering into the ballroom, including Eric and Lara Trump, his son Barron, his son-in-law Jared Kushner, and Kimberly Guilfoyle, who is engaged to Donald Trump Jr. His eldest son was notably missing, along with daughter Ivanka, , who has since said she will no longer be involved in the political arena. A source close to Donald Trump Jr. said he was stuck on a hunting trip in the mountain west and unable to catch a flight back to Florida in time for his father’s announcement. Other guests included longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone; outgoing North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn; former congressman and the current CEO of Trump’s Truth Social app Devin Nunes; and his chief political adviser Susie Wiles.\n\nPreparing for 2024\n\nFrom the moment Trump left Washington, defeated and disgraced, in January 2021, he began plotting a return to power – devoting the bulk of his time to building a political operation intended for this moment. With assistance from numerous former aides and advisers, he continued the aggressive fundraising tactics that had become a marker of his 2020 campaign, amassing a colossal war chest ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, and worked diligently to elect steadfast allies in both Congress and state legislatures across the country.\n\nWhile maintaining a home base in Florida, he also regularly jet-setted across the country for campaign rallies that afforded him crucial face time with his base and with candidates he bet would become valuable allies in the US Senate and House.\n\nThrough it all, Trump continued to falsely insist that the 2020 election was stolen from him, indulging in far-flung conspiracy theories about voter fraud and pressuring Republican leaders across the party’s election apparatus to endorse changes that would curtail voting rights.\n\nTrump’s aides were pleased earlier this fall when his public appearances and rally speeches gradually became more focused on rising crime, immigration and economic woes – key themes throughout the midterm cycle and issues they hope will enable him to draw a compelling contrast with Biden as he begins this next chapter. Allies of the former president have long said that he views the 2024 contest as an opportunity to regain what he believes is his: another four years in the Oval Office.\n\nBut there is no guarantee that Trump will glide easily to a nonconsecutive second term. In fact, it could be quite difficult.\n\nNot only does history offer just one example of such a feat (defeated in 1888 after his first term, President Grover Cleveland was elected again in 1892), no previously impeached president has ever run again for office. Trump was first impeached in 2019 on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of justice, and then again in 2021 for inciting the riot at the US Capitol. Though he was acquitted by the Senate both times, 10 House Republicans broke with their party the second time around to join Democrats in a vote to impeach him. Seven Republican senators voted to convict him at his Senate trial.\n\nTrump has also been the subject of a bevy of lawsuits and investigations, including a New York state investigation and a separate Manhattan district attorney criminal probe into his company’s finances, a Georgia county probe into his efforts to overturn Biden’s election win in the state, and separate Justice Department probes into his campaign’s scheme to put forth fake electors in battleground states and his decision to bring classified materials with him to Mar-a-Lago upon leaving office.\n\nTrump’s actions since he left Washington have, for the most part, signaled his interest in an eventual return. While most former presidents go quietly into retirement – resurfacing to assist their parties during midterm cycles or for the opening of their presidential libraries – Trump bucked tradition to instead plot the comeback he now hopes to make. Despite its distance from Washington, Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club has transformed into a new hub for Republicans and a home base for his political machine. Assisted by a small group of paid staffers, he has hosted numerous candidate and committee fundraisers and seen a rotating cast of party leaders and congressional hopefuls filter through its gilded hallways in the hopes of nabbing his endorsement or reingratiating themselves with his base. Trump’s schedule has enabled him to build close relationships with party leaders and fringe figures – from House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy of California to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia – whose support in a contested primary could ultimately help him clear the field. Many of the aides who have been with him since he left the White House are expected to continue on as campaign hands, as the former president and his de facto chief of staff, longtime Florida GOP strategist Wiles, aim to maintain a lean operation much like the early days of his 2016 presidential campaign. Among those who are likely to be involved are Wiles, Taylor Budowich, Chris LaCivita, Steven Cheung, Justin Caporale and Brian Jack. Brad Parscale, who managed part of Trump’s failed 2020 campaign will not be part of his 2024 operation, nor will Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who was deeply involved in his quest for reelection.\n\nTime in office\n\nAs president, Trump faced criticism over several of his actions, especially his management of the worst public health crisis in nearly a century – the Covid-19 pandemic – though his administration helped facilitate the development of vaccines to treat the novel coronavirus in record time. He also was blasted by critics over his handling of Hurricane Maria, which devastated Puerto Rico in 2017; the White nationalist rally, also in 2017, in Charlottesville, Virginia, where Heather Heyer was killed while walking with a group of counterprotesters; and Black Lives Matter protests.\n\nWhile in office, Trump signed sweeping tax cuts into law, enacted controversial hard-line immigration policies, including a policy that separated migrant children from their families and one known as “Remain in Mexico,” which the US Supreme Court ruled in June could be ended by his successor, and appointed hundreds of federal judges with deep conservative credentials. He also successfully nominated three Supreme Court justices, whose decisions this year as part of the court’s majority have shifted American society and laws rightward on issues such as abortion, guns, religious freedom and climate change.\n\nThe former real estate businessman and reality TV star was first elected to office in 2016, beating out a wide field of more than a dozen GOP candidates in an ugly primary, and then prevailing over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a contentious general election, despite sexual misconduct allegations that would have typically been campaign-ending.\n\nAs president, Trump was an impulsive leader, who dispensed with long-standing norms, often announcing policy and Cabinet personnel changes on Twitter. (He was ultimately banned from the platform following the US Capitol riot and was later barred from Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube as well.)\n\nHe pushed an “America First” foreign policy approach, pulling the US out of international agreements such as the Paris climate accord and the Iran nuclear deal, a pair of controversial moves that were decried by many of America’s top European allies.\n\nCORRECTION: An earlier version of this story mistakenly said who was likely to be involved in the Trump campaign. Brad Parscale will not be involved in the 2024 operation. It has also been updated to correctly characterize former President Donald Trump’s position on paper ballots, fix the spelling of Justin Caporale and reflect additional developments.", "authors": ["Gaborr Kristen Holmes Veronica Stracqualursi", "Kristen Holmes", "Veronica Stracqualursi"], "publish_date": "2022/11/15"}]}
{"question_id": "20230203_14", "search_time": "2023/02/04/11:56", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/lifestyle/2022/02/24/garrison-school-arts-seventh-graders-win-second-annual-black-history-month-writing-contest/6925928001/", "title": "Garrison 7th graders win second annual Black History writing contest", "text": "Savannah Morning News\n\nTwo seventh-grade students from Garrison School for the Arts took top honors in the second annual writing contest sponsored by the Savannah Yamacraw Branch of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH).\n\nThe competition is done in partnership with the Savannah Morning News and savannahnow.com.\n\nLast year's winners:Savannah area Black History Month writing contest winners named\n\nClaire Garrity was awarded first place in the poetry section for her piece, \"Brave and bold, His name is Woodson.\" Rigby Aures was awarded first place in the essay category for her piece, \"Carter G. Woodson: A Man of Many Talents.\"\n\nMiddle school students in the Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools were asked to research and write an essay or a poem about Dr. Carter G. Woodson, the founder of Negro History Week (now Black History Month). Students were also encouraged to research significant historical figures or African Americans they admire.\n\nBlack History Month 2022:Here are 8 historic sites to visit in Savannah\n\nStudents from Godley Station School also wrote winning entries for the 2022 competition. The Association for the Study of African American Life and History is an organization dedicated to the study and appreciation of African-American History.\n\nBelow are the top placed poems and essays from the contest:\n\nPoetry, first place\n\nBrave and bold, His name is Woodson\n\nBy Claire Garrity, Garrison School for the Arts, 7th Grade\n\nBrave and bold,\n\nHis story is one to be told,\n\nSaw Black history was squashed,\n\nThought to change the mind of the brain-washed,\n\nHis name is Dr. Carter G. Woodson.\n\nBrave and bold,\n\nThe father of Black history to behold,\n\nA Ph.D. from Harvard he acquired,\n\nAcross the nation he wrote and inspired,\n\nHis name is Dr. Carter G. Woodson.\n\nBrave and bold,\n\nCreated a week for Black stories to be told,\n\nEventually it expanded into four weeks,\n\nEducating on how they were looked down upon and treated like freaks,\n\nHis name is Dr. Carter G. Woodson.\n\nBrave and bold,\n\nStill as he got old,\n\nThe cause of his death was a heart attack,\n\nbut this month he always comes back,\n\nHis name is Dr. Carter G. Woodson.\n\nBrave and bold,\n\nHelped Black peoples’ stories to be told,\n\nDuring his time he was a courageous crusader,\n\nStood up for Black history like a true educator.\n\nHis name is Carter G. Woodson.\n\nBrave and bold,\n\nInspired those to speak up to the rules they were told,\n\nLike Rosa Parks, to a white man she refused to give up,\n\nOn the bus he made a commotion and a stir-up,\n\ncausing Rosa to go to jail,\n\nBut with her stubbornness she knew she would never fail.\n\nHer name is Rosa Parks.\n\nBrave and bold,\n\nInspired those to speak up against the rules they were told,\n\nHarriet Tubman was born a slave and helped her people be set free,\n\nUsing the Underground Railroad ending slavery\n\nWas a guarantee.\n\nHer name is Harriet Tubman.\n\nHis name is Woodson.\n\nHis name is Woodson.\n\nHis name is Woodson.\n\nHis name is Woodson.\n\nPoetry, second place\n\nBeing Black\n\nBy Tianna Goldwire, Godley Station School\n\nBeing Black,\n\nDefinition One:\n\nBeing put into an escape room,\n\nOnly there are no clues,\n\nAnd several locks on the one door out.\n\nBeing Black,\n\nDefinition Two:\n\nDefining invisible with a skin color;\n\nAll the white people walk out of the room,\n\nThey hold the door for each other but,\n\nI watch the door slam in my face\n\nBeing Black,\n\nDefinition Three:\n\nReading clues that act more like mirrors,\n\nI know Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr.,\n\nBut I thank Carter G. Woodson for unlocking\n\nBlack voices hidden in the shadows\n\nSuddenly black is not fighting to be alive,\n\nIt is melodies, movies, paintings, and court cases alike.\n\nBeing Black,\n\nDefinition Four:\n\nKnowing there is no key to my success,\n\nI must carve it out of the past,\n\nI think I’ve found it in myself to be proud,\n\nFor even with how vast my culture is,\n\nThese are not someone else’s footsteps,\n\nThey are a path I’ve made by myself.\n\nBeing Black,\n\nDefinition Five:\n\nLooking into a mirror,\n\nAnd seeing history flowing within my veins,\n\nWe are a culture filled with\n\nPain and Beauty,\n\nPeace and Violence.\n\nBeing black is seeing history,\n\nSprawled out in front of me,\n\nMarked with several footsteps,\n\nAnd still being able to see,\n\nMy own journey.\n\nPoetry, third place\n\nDr. Carter G. Woodson Father of Black History Month\n\nBy Kalilah Hewitt, Godley Station School, 7th Grade\n\nLike Rosa Parks\n\nLike Claudette Colvin\n\nLike Jesse Owens and James Baldwin\n\nAll these people fought for black rights\n\nNobody even cared that they were in the fight\n\nDr. Woodson let their memory thrive\n\nSo, their hopes and dreams would stay alive.\n\nDr. Woodson was born December 19,1875, New Canton, VA\n\nBut he is still remembered to this day.\n\nHe was one of not so many\n\nTo go to high school when he was twenty\n\nHe was the second African American to earn a doctorate, Harvard degree.\n\nDr. Woodson wanted something that celebrated the black race\n\nSo, he consulted this problem face to face.\n\nAnd so, Negro history week was born\n\nDr. Woodson is my inspiration\n\nBecause his hard work and dedication contributed to a new celebration.\n\nOne that celebrated African Americans\n\nWho risked everything for equality\n\nFor black happiness and frivolity.\n\nWhat was once called Negro History Week is now Black History Month\n\nA new celebration amazing and unique.\n\nSo much effort and time has been contributed\n\nSo African Americans could be free of segregation\n\nWhich is why we should all come together and celebrate Black History Month across the nation.\n\nEssay, first place\n\nCarter G. Woodson: A Man of Many Talents\n\nBy Rigby Aures Garrison School for the Arts, 7th Grade\n\nCarter G. Woodson was a man of many talents. Not only was he the founder of Black History Month, he also worked as a journalist, historian and author. He's even commonly referred to as the “Father of Black History.” The reason behind this title is the fact that Woodson was very aware that many achievements by African Americans were often brushed aside and overlooked, so he worked hard to put them in the spotlight and show the true roots to Black history. Although he came from a poor family with illiterate parents, he strived to succeed, nonetheless.\n\nEven when he worked with his father as a teen to support their family’s income, he had also mastered all of the common school subjects by the age of 17. Woodson worked hard to gain a Ph.D. in history at Harvard University, making him the second African American to earn a doctorate degree. On September 9, 1915, he founded the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH). Although women were still utterly despised in the workforce during this time, Woodson accepted them and treated them as he would any other coworker, with respect and belief for equality. One of the outstanding women in this association who would eventually go on to be one of the first female black activists and lay the foundation for the civil rights movement was Mary Mcleod Bethune. She served 16 years as president of this association, and was an extremely inspiring part of black history.\n\nSpeaking of inspiring, one person who inspires me is Kid Cudi. Not only is his music amazing, but he's extremely real about his mental health, even saying that the fame knocked him back into a depression stage. He experienced survivors' guilt due to this, and couldn't feel truly successful because the people around him weren't as fortunate. However, he's been working on improving his health and becoming a more dedicated father, and that's what is truly inspiring about him.\n\nNeedless to say, all of these people are true inspirations, and Black History Month is centered around their wonderful accomplishments.\n\nEssay, second place\n\nWoodson Welcomed Women as Equal to Men\n\nBy Dashiell Carr, Garrison School for the Arts, 7th Grade\n\nDr. Carter G. Woodson was an African American man. He was born on December 19, 1875, in New Canton, Virginia. Woodson was the fourth of nine children whose parents were slaves. Woodson earned his Ph.D. in history in 1912 from Harvard University. This made him the first African American man born to enslaved parents to earn a Ph.D. from any institution in the United States.\n\nAround the turn of the 20th Century he began his own academic career, when he noticed that the public knew little about African Americans in history. On September 9,1915, Woodson co-founded the Association for the Study of African American Life (ASALH), which aimed to inform the public about contributions of Black Americans in the formation of the country.\n\nOn July 18,1922, he purchased his home in which he located the association’s headquarters on the first floor. He lived on the 3rd floor until his death on April 3, 1950. Woodson was dean at Harvard University from 1919 to 1920 until he retired to devote full attention to the association. He published The Journal of Negro History in 1916 and The Negro History Bulletin in 1937. The association had five presidents. In 1936 Mary McLeod Bethune filled the spot after the death of educator John Hope. She wore the title of first female president, and longest serving until1952.\n\nWoodson welcomed African American women as equal co-workers and leaders of his movement. He also facilitated productive, cross-generational dialogue and relationships. He was a mentor to many up-and-coming historians. The association’s headquarters served as a training center, and the scholars in turn trained succeeding generations of African American historians that helped legitimize Black history.\n\nWhile Woodson developed young men and women, the association developed important relationships with Black churches, colleges, universities, schools, and community centers all around the country.\n\nEssay, third place\n\nAfrican Americans in History\n\nBy Jeremiah Norris, Godley Station School, 6th Grade\n\nMany African Americans have supported movements. Others have died of the act of racism. Black History Month is a celebration of achievements by African Americans and a time for acknowledging their central role in USA history. Black History Month is also known as African American History Month. Black History Month was created in 1926 when Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of Negro History and Life declared the second week of February to be \"Negro History Week.”\n\nThe Montgomery Bus Boycott lasted 381 days and resulted in the Supreme Court ruling segregation on public buses unconstitutional. A significant play towards civil rights and equity. The Montgomery Bus Boycott helped eliminate early blockades to transportation access. The arrest of Rosa Parks on 1 December 1955, triggered the Montgomery bus boycott. After the movement, the city appealed to the US Supreme Court, which supported the lower court's decision on December 20, 1956. Montgomery's buses were integrated on December 21, 1956, and the boycott ended.\n\nDr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was the first president of the MIA (Montgomery Improvement Association). His main act happened on August 28, 1963, when more than 200,000 of King's followers participated in the March on Washington for Freedom and Jobs in the nation's capital. The march was successful and pressured the administration of John F. Kennedy to commence a strong civil rights bill. Bayard Rustin organized Dr. King’s March on Washington.\n\nRuby Bridges is an African American civil rights activist who was the first African American to go to an all-white school. On November 14, 1960, when Ruby was only six years old she became the first African American child to be in attendance at the all-white public William Frantz Elementary School. Racial segregation in public schools violated the Fourteenth Amendment. The 1954 decision proclaimed that separate educational facilities for white and African American students were genetically unequal. She lives in New Orleans and runs the Ruby Bridges Foundation to help the troubled children at William Frantz and other schools. Ruby Bridges is the author of several books now.\n\nHarriet Tubman escaped from slavery in the South to become an abolitionist and a leader before the American Civil War. She led hundreds of enslaved people to freedom in the\n\nNorth along the Underground Railroad. During the slavery era, the Underground Railroad was a network of places, routes and people that helped disenfranchised people in the South escape to the North. Because it was too dangerous to be in free states, many people hoping to escape had to travel to Canada.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/02/24"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/lifestyle/2021/02/03/savannah-middle-school-students-win-black-history-month-writing-contest/4348537001/", "title": "Savannah middle school students win Black History Month writing ...", "text": "Savannah Yamacraw ASALH Branch\n\nThree seventh-graders from Garrison School for the Arts took top honors in the Savannah Yamacraw ASALH Branch writing contest for middle students. The poetry contest winners spanned grades sixth to eighth grade fromdifferent schools.\n\nStudents had a choice of two options, and essay or a poem or performed (video) wrap: describe the life of Carter G. Woodson, founder of Black History Month. Who are some of the African Americans — living or deceased — who inspired you, who give you hope for a better tomorrow? Tell us who they are and why you admire them.\n\nMore:Black career journalist recalls her childhood in Savannah\n\nJudges were: Martina Yvette Allen, teaching artist for Young Author’s Project, Deep Center; Vaughnette Goode-Walker, executive director, Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum; Kristopher Monroe, writer and former contributor to the Savannah Morning News; Joseph H. Silver Sr., president of Silver and Associates and former vice president for Academic Affairs, Savannah State University, and Marquice L. Williams, program manager/teaching artist, Deep Center.\n\nPoetry, first place\n\n“The Father of Black History”\n\nBy Isabella Evans, eighth grade, Georgia Cyber Academy\n\nCarter G. Woodson\n\nFather of black history\n\nStrong within the fight\n\nBorn 1785\n\nPublished books about his view\n\nMade other blacks feel pride\n\nTold others kindly:\n\nGod is with us, do not fear\n\nWe will win the fight\n\nShowed us how to live\n\nEquality by our side\n\nHe had hope, all times\n\nWas not rich, but poor\n\nMade his way to the top floor\n\nNever giving up\n\nSomeone just alike\n\nLed slaves within the dark night\n\nHarriet Tubman\n\nCared for others’ lives\n\nPut their needs before her own\n\nThey are my heroes.\n\nPoetry, second place\n\n“Carter G. Woodson”\n\nBy Lebron Jackson, sixth grade, Myers Middle School\n\nCarter G. Woodson was an American historian\n\nWho was born on December 19, 1875 in New Canton, Virginia.\n\nHe was an author and trailblazer\n\nEven a Harvard grad\n\nOh, how rad!\n\nThe second African American to earn a doctorate from Harvard\n\nCarter G. Woodson was a smart one.\n\nHe was one of the first scholars to study the history of the African\n\nDiaspora.\n\nHis life came to an end on April 3, 1950\n\nBut legacy lives on in you and me.\n\nNegro History Week is now Black History Month\n\nWe salute you, Mr. Carter Godwin Woodson.\n\nPoetry, third place\n\n“Dr. Carter G. Woodson”\n\nBy Miley Nguyen, seventh grade, Garrison School for the Arts\n\nA man who gave us a month\n\nTo celebrate all black history,\n\nLet’s start our journey,\n\nWith a Ph.D. from Harvard University\n\nHis mission to protect,\n\nPreserve and honor,\n\nBlack history with every aspect,\n\nNot leaving those to ponder.\n\nIt started as a week,\n\nNot anything longer,\n\nHad stories unique\n\nHuge barriers did it conquer.\n\nThen it enlarged,\n\nAnd now it’s a month,\n\nForward we have charged\n\nWe celebrate for years to come.\n\nNow can we remember\n\nWho started it all?\n\nDr. Carter G. Woodson\n\nMade many stand tall.\n\nEssay, first place\n\n(no title)\n\nBy Kennedi Hazel, seventh grade, Garrison School for the Arts\n\nDr. Carter G. Woodson, better known as the \"Father of Black History,\" was an African American historian, author and publisher. He is most famous for his books, and for starting Black History Month. His most famous books are “The Mis-Education of the Negro, “The Negro in Our History,” “The Education of the Negro Prior To 1861,” and “The History of the Negro Church.”\n\nDr. Woodson was born December 19, 1875, in New Canton, Virginia. He died on April 3, 1950, in Shaw, Washington, DC. He died of a sudden heart attack when he was 74 years old. Carter's parents are former slaves Anne Eliza and James Henry Woodson. He has one sibling, Robert Woodson. Carter went to Harvard University where he got his Ph.D. in history.\n\nAccording to the NAACP, Carter believed that Blacks should know their past to participate intelligently in the affairs in our country. He strongly believed that Black history -- which others have tried so diligently to erase -- is a firm foundation for young Black Americans to build on to become productive citizens of our society. That is why he created Negro History Week, which evolved into Black History Month.\n\nAn African American that inspires me is former First Lady Michelle Obama. She is from Chicago, Illinois. She was born on January 17, 1964. She is an attorney of law and went to Harvard Law School. She is married to the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama. While she was the first lady, she reformed the school lunch program. She made sure that all school meals had healthy food options. She started a garden at the White House. She also started a fitness program with Beyoncé for all public schools called “Lets Move.” She inspires me because she came from humble beginnings and became highly educated and well respected around the world. I feel inspired because she is so nice and approachable. She doesn't treat you differently because she is a lawyer and a former first lady.\n\nThat is inspiring to me.\n\nEssay, second place\n\n(no title)\n\nBy Dana Afifi, seventh grade, Garrison School for the Arts\n\nBlack history is one of the most important things that we can celebrate for us to honor the people who have made and are pushing to make a change in the oppression and racism that black people face. Dr. Carter G. Woodson is one person who had a huge impact on the start of Black history. Woodson was born in New Canton, Virginia, on December 19, 1875, to former slaves, James Henry Woodson and Anna Eliza Riddle-Woodson. Woodson grew up in Virginia with his brother, Robert Woodson, and grew up to be very successful. Woodson attended three different colleges/universities: University of Chicago, Berea College, and Harvard University. Woodson received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in the history field and was the second black person to ever graduate with a Ph.D. from Harvard.\n\nDr. Carter G. Woodson is often referred to as the “Father of Black History\" but was mistaken as uneducated because of the color of his skin. Woodson's determination led him to publish over 30 books, his most popular being \"The Mis-Education of the Negro.\" He also founded and edited the \"Negro History Bulletin,\" a newsletter informing teachers on black history for them to teach. Woodson's motivations were strong and very impactful on the world around him.\n\nCarter G. Woodson isn't the only black person we can learn from. For example, Michelle Obama (first lady from 2009 - 2017) is a huge inspiration to many people around the country. She is an advocate for women, poverty rights, and education. I can say that she is one of my role models. Another well-known person is George Washington Carver. Carver is known for his inventions with peanuts. He was able to create over 300 products with peanuts, many of which we use regularly. Louis Armstrong was a black musician who brought many people joy during the 1920s. One of his most popular songs being \"What a Wonderful World.” His charm was appealing to many and still is.\n\nThese people all made an amazing impact on people's lives and it is about time we gave them more praise for it.\n\nEssay, third place\n\n(no title)\n\nBy Adam Goodwin, seventh grade, Garrison School for the Arts\n\nDr. Carter G. Woodson created Black History Month on February 7, 1926. Black History Month is a month dedicated to the African Americans who helped stop racism. In 1926, racism was something that prevented African Americans from being treated fairly and with respect. Dr. Woodson was born in New Canton, VA, on December 19, 1875. He was born poor and the son of slaves. Although Woodson had a tough childhood he was able to become successful later in his life. Woodson was an author and historian who wrote about African Americans who impacted America. In his lifetime he founded the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. Woodson attended Harvard University and studied African American History. He chose February as Black History Month because February was the month that Abraham Lincoln and Fredrick Douglass were born and together they helped abolished slavery.\n\nIt is important that we celebrate Black History Month because we are able to learn more about what African Americans experienced in the past and what they did to earn equal rights. The month of February is still as popular as it was when first celebrated approximately 94 years ago.\n\nLonnie Johnson and Jackie Robinson are two of many African Americans who inspire me. Lonnie Johnson is an African American inventor who created the Super-Soaker. Johnson was rejected from school competitions because of his skin color, but he did not allow that to stop him. Lonnie Johnson inspires me because he invented a very popular toy that is used around the world although people doubted him.\n\nI am also inspired by Jackie Robinson, the first African American baseball player, who did not allow the negative words or actions of others to stop him from playing the sport he loved. Robinson remained calm and focused on the game. These are two examples of what it means to be resilient.\n\nThanks to Dr. Carter G. Woodson many people worldwide are able to acknowledge and celebrate the life and legacy of African Americans past and present during the month of February.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/02/03"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/history/2021/02/01/black-history-month-2021-kentuckians-remember-february/4327044001/", "title": "Black History Month 2021: Kentuckians to remember this February", "text": "Kentucky Center for African American Heritage\n\nSpecial to Louisville Courier Journal\n\nEditor's note: The Kentucky Center for African American Heritage will provide The Courier Journal with a Black History Maker each day during Black History Month. The center’s goals are to enhance the public’s knowledge about the history, heritage and cultural contributions of African Americans in Kentucky and the heritage we share with the African diaspora. The center is also a vital, contemporary institution, providing space for all types of exhibitions and performances.\n\nCarter Goodwin Wilson\n\nCarter Godwin Woodson (1875-1950) is known as the father of African American history. Woodson was born in New Canton, Virginia, as the son of enslaved parents. As a young man, he worked in the coal mines and devoted only a few months a year to school.\n\nIn 1895, at age 20, Woodson entered a West Virginia high school and earned his diploma in less than two years. In 1903, he earned a bachelor's degree in literature with honors from Berea College in Kentucky. Woodson earned a master's degree in European history from the University of Chicago, and, in 1912, a doctorate from Harvard University. He was the second African American, after W. E. B. Du Bois, to receive a doctorate in history from Harvard and the first person of enslaved parents to receive a Ph.D. in America. He also studied at the Sorbonne in Paris.\n\nWoodson was a historian, author, journalist and the founder of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. Woodson's legacy lives on at Berea College with the Carter G. Woodson Math and Science Institute, the Carter G. Woodson Professorship, and the Carter G. Woodson Student Service Award, which honors students' commitment to academic excellence, service, and interracial education.\n\nHelen LaFrance Orr\n\nHelen LaFrance Orr (1919-2020) was born in Graves County, Kentucky, the second of four daughters. Her parents, James Franklin Orr and Lillie May Orr, grew tobacco and corn. LaFrance Orr started painting when she was 5. She received no formal art instruction and never attended high school. Both of her parents instructed her in reading and math. Her mother inspired young LaFrance Orr to draw, placing a pencil in her hand and gently guiding her hand across the paper. LaFrance Orr's mother kept her supplied in paints by blending laundry bluing with dandelions and berries.\n\nLaFrance Orr practiced a type of folk art called \"memory painting,\" in which the artist records her autobiography in visual images. In 2011, she received Kentucky's Folk Art Heritage Award. Oprah Winfrey, Bryant Gumbel and the collector Beth Rudin DeWoody have all bought her work, which is in the permanent collections of the Saint Louis Art Museum and the Owensboro Museum of Fine Art in Owensboro, Kentucky.\n\nLaFrance Orr, a self-taught artist whose vibrant and intimate \"memory paintings\" of scenes from her childhood in rural Kentucky brought her renown late in life, lived to be 101 years old.\n\nIsaac Murphy\n\nIsaac Murphy (1861-1896) was born as Isaac Burns near Frankfort to former enslaved parents James Burns and a mother whose name is unknown. After his father's death, Isaac and his mother moved to live with her father, Green Murphy, in Lexington. Isaac changed his last name to Murphy once he started racing horses as a tribute to his grandfather.\n\nMurphy got his start in horse racing when his mother worked at the racing stable in Lexington. He began his riding career at 14, and by the end of 1876, he had won 11 races at Lexington. In 1877 he won 19 races and rode in his first Kentucky Derby, coming in fourth place. Murphy rode in 11 Kentucky Derbies, the first jockey to ride three Kentucky Derby winners, Buchanon (1884), Riley (1890) and Kingman (1891). Murphy is the only jockey to have won the Kentucky Derby, the Kentucky Oaks and the Clark Handicap in the same year (1884).\n\nThe son of formerly enslaved parents became one of America's most recognizable athletes during an era when horse racing was one of the country's pastimes. He won an impressive 44% of all the races he rode, a record still unmatched. He is an American Hall of Fame jockey who is considered one of the best jockeys to ever race.\n\nEffie Waller Smith\n\nEffie Waller Smith (1879-1960) was born to formerly enslaved parents Frank Waller and Sibbie Ratliff Waller in the rural mountain community of Chloe Creek in Pike County, on a farm a few miles from Pikeville. Waller Smith began writing at the age of 16. She attended Kentucky Normal School for Colored Persons in Frankfort (now Kentucky State University) from 1900-1901.\n\nShe trained to be a teacher, and she was known to have taught school off and on for several years in Kentucky and Tennessee. Despite her short academic experience, Waller Smith captivated her readers and became one of the first female African American poets to be published in a national literary magazine. Seven of her works were published in major American literary magazines between 1908 and 1917. Her work last appeared in Harper's Magazine in 1917.\n\nDuring her prolific writing career, Waller Smith authored three poetry books that achieved notoriety despite her challenges with racism. She published her first book of poetry, \"Songs of the Months,\" containing 110 poems, in 1904. In 1909, she published two more books of poetry, \"Rhymes of the Cumberland\" and \"Rosemary and Pansies.\"\n\nJames Bond\n\nJames Bond (1863-1929) was born enslaved in the middle of the American Civil War, 1863, in Lawrenceburg. His father was Preston Bond, a white Methodist minister. His mother, Jane; James; and his younger brother, Henry, moved to Barbourville in Knox County after emancipation in 1865.\n\nGrowing up, going to college became a driving desire for Bond. That desire was so strong that he helped pay his way by selling a cow to attend Berea College in the early 1880s. A determined young man, he first walked the cow 75 miles to sell it. He graduated in 1892 from Berea, and he was one of only 2,000 Black Americans to have a college diploma. Bond went on to graduate from Oberlin College, in Ohio, with a divinity degree. He then became a trustee of Berea College and, in 1901, received a doctorate in divinity there.\n\nBond worked to end racial violence and discrimination as the first Kentucky director of the Commission on Interracial Cooperation. Bond was the financial agent of the Lincoln Institute from 1907-1914. During World War I, he was the Camp Taylor YMCA service director. Bond was the first of three generations of family leaders in the Black freedom struggle. The other descendants include educator Horace Mann Bond and former Georgia legislator Julian Bond.\n\nSara Martin\n\nSara Martin (1884-1955) was born Sara Dunn in Louisville's Smoketown neighborhood. She was the daughter of William T. Dunn and Mary Katherine \"Katie\" Pope. Sara assumed the stage name Sara Martin singing on the African American vaudeville circuit by 1915.\n\nShe was one of the most popular blues singers in her time, billed as \"The Famous Moanin' Mama.\" Martin made many recordings, including a few under the names Margaret Johnson and Sally Roberts. She began a successful recording career when Okeh Records signed her in 1922. Martin was among the most-recorded of the classic blues singers. Through the 1920s, she toured and recorded with such performers as Fats Waller, Clarence Williams, King Oliver and Sylvester Weaver. She was known for her lavish regalia with diamonds in her teeth onstage. Martin's stage work in the late 1920s took her to New York, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Cuba, Jamaica and Puerto Rico.\n\nSara retired from singing the blues in the 1930s and returned to Louisville, where she opened a nursing home and sang in the local church gospel choir.\n\nWilliam H. Sheppard\n\nWilliam H. Sheppard (1865-1927) was born to William H. and Fannie Sheppard in Waynesboro, Virginia. Sheppard studied at Hampton Institute from 1880-83, where he was a student of Booker T. Washington. Afterward, he completed his studies at the Presbyterian Theological Institute (now Stillman College) in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.\n\nSheppard became a minister and then found a way to go to Africa, even though African Americans were excluded from heading African missions. Sheppard achieved numerous unprecedented feats as a missionary in the Congo, ethnographer, art collector, minister, explorer, human and civil rights advocate before the 20th century. Sheppard referred to himself as \"The Black Livingston.\" Sheppard was fluent in Tshiluba and Tshikuba languages and dialects, enabling him to communicate with various ethnic groups in Congo's Kasai District. Sheppard's public image was defined mainly by his militant opposition to the genocidal, cruel and exploitative treatment of people in the Congo by the Kasai Rubber Company during the reign of King Leopold II of Belgium (1865-1909).\n\nIn his final years, Sheppard resided in Louisville, where he was a leader in the community and pastor of the Grace Hope Presbyterian Church (1912-1927). The Smoketown housing development Sheppard Square is named in his honor.\n\nMurray Atkins Walls\n\nMurray Atkins Walls (1899-1993) received a bachelor's degree from Butler University and a master's degree from Columbia University. In 1935, she married Dr. John H. Walls and moved to Louisville. Walls was a pioneering civil rights leader who worked for five decades to help integrate Louisville's Girl Scouts, public libraries, department stores, hotels, restaurants and schools.\n\nShe joined the Girl Scouts in 1940 and formed Louisville's first African American Girl Scout troop in the Beecher Terrace Housing Complex. Although troops were still strictly segregated in Kentucky, the national organization recorded that its membership among Black girls had more than doubled. In 1945, Walls became the first African American member of the Girl Scouts board of directors. In 1954, she led the movement that resulted in a shared Camp Shantituck, with Black and white girls attending different sessions, the first time in Louisville history that Black and white Girl Scouts used the same camp. Just two years later, Walls led the board in a vote to integrate Camp Shantituck into one camp session for all girls.\n\nTo honor Walls' leadership, Kentucky erected a Historical Highway Marker in front of the Girl Scouts of Kentuckiana Lexington Road property in Louisville.\n\nCharles Henry Parrish Sr.\n\nCharles Henry Parrish Sr. (1859-1931) was born into slavery in Lexington. His parents, Hiram and Harriet Parrish, belonged to Jeff Barr and Beverly Hicks. After emancipation, Parrish attended the public school in Lexington. A graduate of Louisville Normal and Theological Institute (later known as Simmons University), he also received an LL.D. from Central Law School and was granted a fellowship from the Royal Geographical Society in London, England.\n\nParrish was involved in political and civil rights activity as a delegate to Republican state conventions, colored educational conventions and the 1886 National Convention of Colored Men in Louisville, as well as religious activity as a delegate at the August 1886 American National Baptist Convention and the May 1887 Southern Baptist Convention. In 1908, he established the Kentucky Home Society for Colored Children in Louisville. He was secretary of the board of trustees of the Lincoln Institute from 1909 to 1919.\n\nParrish and his wife, Mary Virginia Cook Parrish, were central figures in African American Kentucky society. They were involved with noted businesswoman Madam C. J. Walker and Booker T. Washington while they lived in Kentucky. Parrish returned to Simmons College of Kentucky to become president, serving from 1918 to 1931.\n\nAudrey Louise Grevious\n\nAudrey Louise Grevious (1930-2017) was born in Lexington, where she attended Constitution Elementary School and then Dunbar Junior and High School, both segregated schools. From an early age, she dreamed of becoming a teacher.\n\nAfter graduating from Dunbar in 1948, she enrolled in Kentucky State University. During this time, Grevious began to realize the depth of racism and everyday discrimination in Kentucky. She graduated from Kentucky State in 1957 with a degree in elementary education. After graduation, she became president of the Lexington NAACP and started teaching at the Kentucky Village Reform School, now the Blackburn Correctional Complex. While teaching grade school there, she noticed how segregated the institution was and challenged the \"separate but equal\" policy by going with her students to eat lunch in the whites-only cafeteria.\n\nFor more than 60 years, Grevious fought for civil and human rights with a determination to overcome beatings and threats during her participation in sit-ins to integrate restaurants, department stores and movie theaters. In the 1950s and 1960s, she faced countless threats to burn down her home because of her stance for equity and social justice.\n\nThomas Fountain Blue\n\nThomas Fountain Blue (1888-1935) was the second child of Noah Hedgeman Blue and Henry Ann Crawley, formerly enslaved. Blue attended Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute from 1885 to 1888, after which he taught school in Virginia. In 1894, he enrolled at Richmond Theological Seminary, graduating in 1898 with a bachelor's in divinity.\n\nDuring the Spanish-American War, Blue served in the Sixth Virginia Volunteers. After the war, he moved to Louisville, where he was in charge of the Colored Branch of the Louisville Young Men's Christian Association. He served on several civic associations and was a charter member of the Louisville Chapter of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, founded by Carter G. Woodson. In 1905, Blue became the first formally trained African American librarian in Kentucky and managed its first library training program for African Americans in the Louisville Colored Western Branch Library. In 1905, the newly constructed Carnegie Library opened at 1125 W. Chestnut St., the first free public library for African Americans staffed entirely by African Americans.\n\nIn 1925, Blue married Cornelia Phillips Johnson, the sister of Lyman T. Johnson, who was an educator and advocate for racial desegregation in Kentucky. Blue continued to be a preacher and church leader throughout his life.\n\nJane Roberta Summers\n\nJane Roberta Summers (1895-1992) was born in Selma, Alabama, the daughter of Calvin and Minerva Kendall Whatley. Summers became a pillar of strength in the Covington, Kentucky, community, organizing campaigns against social injustice, racism, homelessness and hunger.\n\nSummers became the first African American and female manager of the government-subsidized apartments Jacob Price Homes in Covington, where she worked for 25 years. Summers was also instrumental in the organization of the original Meals on Wheels in Covington. After her retirement at the age of 75, she joined the staff of the Covington Community Action Commission.\n\nRemarkably, Summers became a paralegal at the age of 77 to aid those in need of low-cost legal services. She was also a stalwart member of the NAACP and the Poor People's Coalition.\n\nOn May 5, 1991, Covington Mayor Denny Bowman proclaimed the day to be \"Jane Summers' Day\" in honor of the many services that Summers provided to the Covington community. The Jane Roberta Summers Foundation was formed to continue her legacy for social equity. In 1992, Summers was inducted into the Northern Kentucky Leadership Hall of Fame. Throughout her 97 years, Summers wage a lifetime struggle against racism, homelessness, illiteracy and hunger.\n\nJames 'Wink' Winkfield\n\nJames \"Wink\" Winkfield (1880-1974) was born in Chilesburg, Kentucky. He was the youngest of 17 children in a family of sharecroppers and dreamed of becoming a jockey and following in the footsteps of prominent Black riders like Isaac Murphy. Winkfield started as a horse trainer and began his career as a jockey in 1898 at age 16.\n\nHe was one of just five men to win back-to-back Kentucky Derby races in 1901 and 1902, winning on His Eminence and Alan-a-Dalehe. In the early 1900s, violence by white jockeys and intimidation from the Ku Klux Klan forced Winkfield to move to Russia. Winkfield continued his winning streak in Russia, Poland, France, Austria, Hungary, England, Spain and Italy, winning nearly every marquee race in Europe. In 1917, he moved to France, where he won numerous races, including the Prix du Président de la République, Grand Prix de Deauville and the Prix Eugène Adam.\n\nHe retired as a jockey at age 50, having won more than 2,500 races. While being treated with respect in Europe, segregation still ruled American society. When Winkfield was invited to attend a reception at the Brown Hotel in Louisville in 1961, he could not enter by the front door. In 2004, he was inducted posthumously into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.\n\nMarilyn Yarbrough Ainsworth\n\nMarilyn Yarbrough Ainsworth (1945-2004) was born Marilyn Virginia Yarbrough in Bowling Green, daughter of Merca L. Toole and William O. Yarbrough. When Marilyn was a child, the family moved to Raleigh, North Carolina. She was a graduate of Virginia State University and, in 1973, the UCLA School of Law.\n\nAinsworth and her husband, Walter, paid her law school tuition with her winnings from the \"Hollywood Squares\" game show. She later earned additional winnings from the game shows \"Concentration\" and \"Match Game.\" After some time as an aerospace engineer in the 1960s with IBM and Westinghouse, Ainsworth became a law professor at several schools. She was one of the early African American law professors in the United States, holding a tenure track position when she joined the University of Kansas law school faculty in 1976. She then became the dean of the University of Tennessee College of Law. No African American women had ever been dean of a major Southern law school.\n\nAfter leaving UT in 1991, Ainsworth held the visiting William J. Maier Jr. chair of law position at West Virginia University, then became a professor at the University of North Carolina School of Law from 1993 until her death.\n\nI. Willis Cole\n\nI. Willis Cole (1887-1950) was born in Memphis, Tennessee. After graduating from LeMoyne Junior College in Memphis, he later attended the University of Chicago. Cole then moved to Louisville and worked as a salesman.\n\nWith his savings, Cole started the The Louisville Leader, Kentucky's first African American daily newspaper, which boasted as its motto: \"We print your news, we employ your people, we champion your cause.\" Cole began publishing in 1917, and the newspaper flourished for over three decades. By the 1930s, the circulation of The Louisville Leader was 22,000 newspapers daily.\n\nCole was a militant pioneer in the civil rights movement in Louisville. He advocated against segregation and used his newspaper to inform Black readers to vote, to oppose Jim Crow laws and especially to oppose segregation. Cole led efforts to prevent segregation on Louisville's streetcars and fought to keep city parks desegregated. He wrote editorials that were quoted by local, regional and national publications.\n\nCole campaigned for a seat in the state Senate on the Lincoln Party ticket in 1922. Black votes provided the necessary margin to get 19 bond issues passed, which financed Madison and Jackson Junior High Schools' founding and helped fund the Louisville Municipal College. The University of Louisville archives houses what remains of daily issues of the paper, about 1,200 editions.\n\nNancy Green\n\nNancy Green (1834-1923) was born enslaved in Mt. Sterling in Montgomery County, Kentucky. Sometime during her late teens or early twenties Green obtained her freedom and began work in Covington as a nanny and housekeeper for the Walker family. The family relocated from Covington to Chicago, taking Green with them.\n\nYears later, on the recommendation of Walker's son, then a judge, Green was hired by the R.T. Davis Milling Company in Missouri to represent \"Aunt Jemima,\" an advertising character named after a song from a minstrel show. She was the woman who served as the face of one of the most popular brands for more than 100 years. Green made her debut at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition held in Chicago, embodying the intentionally designed role of America's \"Mammy,\" Aunt Jemima.\n\nAlthough Aunt Jemima became a household name for a century, the world does not know that Green defied the mammy caricature's derogatory image. She was a philanthropist who was one of the founding members of the Olivet Baptist Church, once the largest African American church in the United States, with a membership at that time of over 9,000. Green used her economic power to advocate against poverty and support organizations fighting for equal rights.\n\nRobert Todd Duncan\n\nRobert Todd Duncan (1903-1998) was born on Feb. 12, 1903, in Danville, Kentucky. Duncan obtained his musical training at Butler University in Indianapolis, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in music, followed by a Master of Arts degree from Columbia University.\n\nDuncan was a pioneering civil rights activist who broke the color barrier in theater when Black Americans had to use side entrances and sit in the balcony. Duncan created the prominent role of \"Porgy\" in George and Ira Gershwin's classic opera \"Porgy and Bess,\" which opened on Broadway in 1935. He performed the role more than 1,800 times.\n\nDuring the Washington, D.C., run of \"Porgy and Bess,\" Duncan led the cast in a strike to protest the National Theatre's segregation policy. As the cast's spokesman, Duncan stated he would never play in a theater that barred him from purchasing tickets to certain seats because of his race. Theater management conceded, and for the first time, an integrated audience attended the National Theatre.\n\nIn the 1950s, Duncan returned to Kentucky for performances when he insisted that Black audiences sit in the front during his performance. He taught at Howard University for over 50 years while touring as a concert singer with over 2,000 performances in 56 countries.\n\nNannie Helen Burroughs\n\nNannie Helen Burroughs (1879-1961) was born in Orange, Virginia, the daughter of John and Jennie Burroughs. Around the time she was 8 years old, Nannie's father died. By 1883, Burroughs and her mother relocated to the Washington, D.C., where there were better opportunities for employment and education.\n\nBurroughs attended M Street High School, where she organized the Harriet Beecher Stowe Literary Society and studied business and domestic science. There, she met her role models, Anna J. Cooper and Mary Church Terrell, who were active in the suffrage movement and civil rights.\n\nAfter graduating with honors in 1896, Burroughs sought work as a teacher in the District of Columbia Public Schools but was refused the position because officials preferred lighter-complexioned Black teachers. This experience led Burroughs to establish a training school for women and girls where racial pride, respectability, work ethic and racial uplift ideology were key factors in the National Training School curriculum.\n\nIn 1898, Burroughs moved to Louisville to begin her work in the National Baptist Convention as an editorial secretary and bookkeeper of the Foreign Mission Board. During her time in Louisville, Burroughs founded the Women's Convention and was elected president for 13 years. She served the National Baptist Convention for nearly half a century.\n\nWilliam J. Simmons\n\nWilliam J. Simmons (1849-1890) was born enslaved in Charleston, South Carolina, to Edward and Esther Simmons. While Simmons was young, his mother fled slavery with her three children — him and his two sisters.\n\nSimmons worked his way from enslavement to president of the State University of Kentucky, now known as Simmons College of Kentucky. In 1879, the Kentucky Normal Theological Institute in Louisville opened its doors under its first president, the Rev. Elijah P. Marrs. After Simmons succeeded Marrs, the school would begin to flourish in such a way that it would eventually be renamed \"Simmons University\" in appreciation for his contributions.\n\nBy 1893, the school had 159 students, and by 1900 it was offering professional degrees in nursing and law in cooperation with the University of Louisville. During Simmons' 10-year tenure (1880–1890), the school became a full university and expanded its offerings to include liberal arts, college preparatory courses, medical, law, business, music and theological departments.\n\nIn 1889 in Indianapolis, Simmons was a leader at the American National Baptist Convention and wrote a resolution to provide aid for Black Americans fleeing violence in the South and moving to the North.\n\nEleanor Young Love\n\nEleanor Young Love (1922-2006) was born in Lincoln Ridge, Kentucky, to Laura and Whitney Young Sr. She and her brother, Whitney Young Jr., attended the Lincoln Institute in Simpsonville, where her father was a teacher.\n\nThe Young family's lifelong involvement with the Lincoln Institute prepared Love to receive a library science degree from Atlanta University, a Master of Education degree from the University of Louisville and her Doctorate of Education from the University of Illinois. Love worked as a librarian at the Lincoln Institute, Florida A&M University and Bergen Junior College. In 1955, she became the first African American librarian at the University of Kentucky. From 1964 to 1966, Love would return home to head the Lincoln Institute before its rebirth as the Whitney M. Young Job Corps Center.\n\nLove was the first African American dean at the University of Louisville, where she spent 40 years. During her days at U of L, Love was known as a skilled negotiator and became involved in working with students. She provided the necessary leadership criticizing the U of L administration for failing to recruit and support Black students and faculty.\n\nWoodford Roy Porter Sr.\n\nWoodford Roy Porter Sr. (1918-2006) was born in Louisville to Imogene Stewart Porter and Arthur D. Porter Sr. After graduating from Central High in 1936, Porter wanted to go to the University of Louisville, but it did not accept African Americans at the time. Porter was drafted and served in the Navy during World War II.\n\nAfter the war, he became the director of his father's funeral business, A. D. Porter and Sons Funeral Home, one of Louisville's first African American businesses. He married Harriett Bibb Porter, who was an educator. Porter's love for education was evident by his support of educational initiatives in Louisville. He became the first African American to be elected to the Louisville board of education in 1959. He also was the first African American trustee at the University of Louisville, where he served for 32 years and was board chair for four terms.\n\nIn recognition of his contributions to the university, U of L established the Woodford Porter Scholars, and he received the Presidential Medal in 2004. Shortly after his wife's death in 2004, Porter established the Harriet Bibb Porter Cancer Education and Prevention Endowment with a $250,000 donation for the James Brown Cancer. In 2010, the U of L named the College of Education and Human Development building the Woodford R. and Harriett B. Porter Building.\n\nIda B. Wells\n\nIda Bell Wells-Barnett (1862-1931) was born into slavery in Holly Springs, Mississippi, and freed by the Emancipation Proclamation. She lost her parents and her infant brother in the 1878 yellow fever epidemic. Later, Wells moved with some of her siblings to Memphis, Tennessee, where she worked as a teacher. She attended Fisk University in Nashville and Lemoyne-Owen College in Memphis.\n\nWells was a gifted writer who had never been paid as a journalist until she met the Rev. William J. Simmons, the American Baptist Newspaper publisher, president of the National Press Association and president of Simmons College of Kentucky. Simmons hired Wells as a correspondent for the paper. Wells became known as the “Princess of the Press” and traveled to write for the American Baptist. Soon after working for the American Baptist Newspaper, Wells started the Memphis Free Speech and Headlight newspaper.\n\nWells used her work to expose lynching as a barbaric practice of white Americans in the South used to intimidate and oppress African Americans who created economic and political competition. Throughout a lifetime dedicated to combating prejudice and violence and fighting for African American equality, especially for women, Wells arguably became the most famous Black woman in America.\n\nSterling Orlando Neal Sr.\n\nSterling Orlando Neal Sr. (1918-1977), the son of Robert and Anna Harper Neal, was born in Cleveland, Ohio. Neal moved with his family to Louisville when he was young. He attended Louisville Catholic High School and Jefferson Community College.\n\nNeal worked at the International Harvester Company, a global farm equipment industrial power employing hundreds of thousands of workers. Neal became a key leader in the Farm Equipment Workers Union, known as FE. FE leaders led multiracial workers on the \"Southern differential\" strike of 1947. After 40 days, International Harvester conceded and granted workers wage increases to end the strike.\n\nNeal continued his work as a union leader, becoming United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers of America, or UE, president of District 7, representing Kentucky and Ohio. In 1952, he was elected the UE's international vice president and became a member of the UE General Executive Board. Neal represented more than 300,000 workers in the United States and Canada. As a union leader, Neal fought for all workers' rights, winning some of the highest wages for their work in the South. In 2003, Neal was posthumously inducted into the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights Hall of Fame.\n\nRuby Wilkins Doyle\n\nRuby Wilkins Doyle (1925-2018) was born in Louisville to Willie Richard Wilkins and Irene Julie Hill Wilkins. She received her education from Central High School, the University of Louisville and Spalding University.\n\nWilkins worked as a high school English teacher and retired from the Jefferson County Public Schools system after 17 years. After retiring, she earned a bachelor's degree in theology. Doyle was an accomplished writer who authored academic, religious and historical books, including \"Recalling the Record: A Documentary History of the African American Experience Within the Louisville Public School System of Kentucky (1870-1975).\" Her manuscript has over 600 pages and 317 supporting documents of Louisville's African American community's history. The book documents the history and importance of education in Louisville's African American community, identifying the great leaders who upheld high expectations and standards necessary for their survival in a segregated world.\n\nBefore her death, Doyle completed another manuscript that was never published. In this manuscript, \"Louisville's Russell Area: Remembrance and Reflections,\" Doyle penned 11 chapters examining the long and fascinating history of achievement by African Americans who lived in the Russell neighborhood. The Kentucky Center for African American Heritage is working with Doyle's family to have the manuscript edited and published soon.\n\nJoseph McMillan\n\nJoseph McMillan (1929-2010) was born in Louisville, where he graduated from Central High in 1946 and the University of Louisville in 1950. He moved to Michigan to work at Grand Rapids Public Schools, becoming the first African American male elementary teacher and later the system's first Black principal. He finished his career in Grand Rapids as the supervisor for inner-city schools.\n\nMcMillan, affectionately known as \"Dr. Mac,\" began his higher education career at Michigan State University as the assistant vice president for human relations, director of the office of minority affairs, and professor in the college of education. McMillan returned to Louisville in 1976 to become the assistant provost for academic affairs and minority affairs at the University of Louisville. While at U of L, he founded and chaired the annual Black Family in America Conference, or BFC, for more than 40 years, making the conference one of the oldest and most renowned of its kind in the country.\n\nAfter he retired from the university, McMillan dedicated his time to chairing the BFC and directing the Rising 5th Graders and the Street Academy, which addressed the needs of young African American males. McMillan was a tireless community activist, championing civil rights and social justice.\n\nEmma Lewis Minnis\n\nEmma Lewis Minnis (1880-1972) was born in Louisville as the youngest of nine children to Madison Beaumont Minnis and Elizabeth Turner Minnis. Minnis' lifelong love for music came from both of her parents. Her father was the chorister who founded the choir at Fifth Street Baptist Church, the first Baptist church for Black Americans in Louisville. Her mother, Elizabeth, was a renowned private piano teacher who once played before President Abraham Lincoln.\n\nAlong with two of her sisters, Ella and Elizabeth, Minnis pursued education and music as a career. She graduated from Central High School and the Louisville Colored Normal School. She was a high school teacher and principal in Cairo, Illinois, and was principal of Benjamin Banneker Elementary School in Louisville. Most of Minnis' life was spent teaching music around the community, in her pupils' homes or in her own.\n\nIn 1915, a small, predominantly African American school was founded, offering an academic program for prekindergarten through eighth grade. In 1970, the school was named the Emma L. Minnis Junior Academy, honoring her work as a teacher, principal, musician and piano instructor who was also the choral director at Magazine Street Seventh-Day Adventist Church, the progenitor of the school.\n\nJohn H. Smiley\n\nJohn H. Smiley (1881-1937) was born in Louisville as the oldest of 11 children to the Rev. Charles Bell Smiley and Eliza Harvey Smiley. His father organized the Hill Street Baptist Church in 1895, and Smiley assisted his father in the ministry and business facets of the church.\n\nNot only did Smiley play a role in the church, but he was also a prominent figure among the religious music circuit. He and a group of musicians were responsible for creating a seminal Baptist hymnal called \"Gospel Pearls\" in 1921, which the National Baptist Convention U.S.A. Inc. published. It would be the first time the term “gospel music” was mentioned in America. The family was known for their outstanding musical talents in singing and playing instruments, and Smiley became a widely known gospel singer throughout the 1930s. As a youth, Smiley was hired to be a chauffeur for Theodore Ahrens and Gen. W. B. Haldeman. Ahrens recognized his excellent baritone voice and encouraged him to develop it.\n\nSmiley conducted revival services for white and African American audiences throughout the country and sang several times before the Southern Baptist Convention. He was also a guest singer from time to time on the WHAS Radio show with the famed Ballard Chefs, African American radio performers sponsored by the Ballard and Ballard Flour Company.\n\nMary Virginia Cook-Parrish\n\nMary Virginia Cook-Parrish (1862-1945) grew up in Bowling Green. Cook-Parrish showed great academic promise in her early years, and in 1891, she won an award for reading and a spelling bee. The Rev. William J. Simmons, president of State University (now Simmons College), took notice of her academic ability and made it possible for Cook-Parrish to attend the university. Cook-Parrish graduated at the top of her class with an A.B. degree from the normal school and continued to become a professor and principal of the normal school department at Simmons.\n\nCook-Parrish wrote for various newspapers and magazines, becoming a formidable proponent of Black Baptist feminism, working to gain equality and social justice for all. Cook-Parrish attended the National Association of Colored Women's founding session in 1896 at the 19th Street Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. In 1898, she married Charles Henry Parrish, who was president of Eckstein Norton Institute. The following year, their son, Charles H. Parrish, Jr., was born. In 1900, Cook-Parrish was a founder of the National Baptist Women's Convention.\n\nShe continued to speak out and write about women's rights and equality in education, laying the foundation for African Americans and women in the civil rights struggle to come.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/02/01"}]}
{"question_id": "20230203_15", "search_time": "2023/02/04/11:56", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/wnba/2023/01/21/breanna-stewart-headlines-wnba-free-agency-list/51208621/", "title": "Breanna Stewart headlines WNBA free agency list", "text": "AP\n\nBreanna Stewart is the biggest WNBA free agent on the market this offseason and the former MVP has a host of teams courting her, including the Seattle Storm where she's spent her entire career.\n\nShe's one of five former league MVPs who are unrestricted free agents this year. Candace Parker, Nneka Ogwumike, Diana Taurasi and Tina Charles all could potentially change teams in the coming weeks although it would be a surprise if Taurasi left Phoenix and Ogwumike didn't go back to Los Angeles.\n\nBrittney Griner, who was returned to the U.S. last month in a prisoner swap after her 10 months in jail in Russia for drug possession charges, has said that she'll remain in Phoenix.\n\nWhere the others go will be determined over the next few weeks. Teams can start negotiating with players on Saturday and can begin signing players on Feb. 1.\n\n“This year may bring us the most active free agent periods to date with what seems to be a record number of all-stars in conversations for trades or free agent signings,” ESPN analyst LaChina Robinson said. “The kind of moves we have seen in recent off-seasons can really tilt the scales dramatically when we look ahead to what teams will be top contenders for a WNBA championship.”\n\nIt's already been a busy offseason with a handful of trades completed — none bigger than former MVP Jonquel Jones heading to New York. The Liberty are a potential destination for Stewart, who hails from upstate New York. The team had a dinner meeting with Stewart last offseason in Los Angeles. The 2018 MVP is currently playing in Turkey for Fenerbahçe this winter.\n\nStewart told The Associated Press while playing for the U.S. at the World Cup in Australia last September that she'd be taking free agent meetings in Turkey.\n\n“I'm going to be a free agent,” Stewart said. “I did last year and I'll do it again this year. I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't take those meetings and have those conversations. The decision is what's best for myself and my family.”\n\nThe 28-year-old forward has spent her entire WNBA career in Seattle and re-signed with the Storm last season for one year. She was the runner-up for MVP, averaging 21.8 points, 7.6 rebounds and 2.9 assists.\n\nIt's not just the former MVPs who are free agents. Courtney Vandersloot, who is No. 3 on the WNBA career all-time assists list is an unrestricted free agent as well as 2019 Finals MVP Emma Meesseman. Vandersloot, Parker and Meesseman were three key members of Chicago's lineup last season.\n\nConnecticut cored Sixth Woman of the Year Brionna Jones, meaning she'll stay with the Sun for at least another season.\n\nAll the teams are trying to add to their rosters to catch WNBA champion Las Vegas. The Aces have all five of their starters back, signing a few of them during the year ahead of the potential free agency period.\n\n___\n\nAP women’s basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-basketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/01/21"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/wnba/2019/05/24/ap-source-breanna-stewart-to-be-wnba-ambassador-this-season/39511883/", "title": "Breanna Stewart to be WNBA ambassador this season", "text": "AP\n\nNEW YORK (AP) — Breanna Stewart will be a paid ambassador for the WNBA this season.\n\nThe reigning MVP tore her right Achilles tendon while playing overseas this winter and because the league has no injury list for teams, the Seattle Storm suspended Stewart without pay to free up a roster spot.\n\nThe WNBA will pay Stewart in excess of the roughly $65,000 base salary she would have made with the Storm, agent Lindsay Kagawa Colas confirmed to the AP on Friday.\n\nColas said that the deal was done Thursday in discussion with deputy NBA commissioner Mark Tatum, who has been serving as the interim WNBA President. This was after Seattle and Stewart mutually agreed on the suspension. Seattle offered to keep Stewart on the roster and pay her full salary, but the 24-year-old said she wanted to help the team be the best it could be by not taking up an active roster spot.\n\n\"The Storm made the decision independently to suspend her because of the injury,\" Tatum told the AP at the New York Liberty game Friday night. \"After they made the decision, we at the league office said 'What a great opportunity to have the reigning MVP promote the league'. I spoke with Lindsay and then got on the phone with the team after they made the decision. What Stewie wants to do is help us grow and promote the league. It's a great thing for the WNBA.\"\n\nColas was happy that the league was willing to think outside of the box.\n\n\"The league delivered on the idea that they need to invest in their stars and be collaborative with the players. They understand Stewie's value to the business,\" Colas said. \"I applaud them being entrepreneurial. This is a good thing for everyone. We are excited to pilot what I hope will be a model for how stars can work with the league and its partners to engage fans and drive interest year round.\"\n\nThe Storm also lost Sue Bird indefinitely to a knee injury this week, meaning they would have started the season with only 10 healthy players. There is a clause in the current CBA that if a team gets below 10 healthy players, they can sign a replacement player until they get back above 10.\n\nThe union, which was informed of the Stewart decision, is interested some kind of change, whether it's in the form of an injured reserve list or a roster expansion.\n\n\"We thought it was a great idea and encouraged the league to think of other players that would make great ambassadors,\" said Terri Jackson, who is the executive director of the WNBPA. \"We wanted to see how it develops as the concept and plan rolls out. This league is represented by many great players.\"\n\nIt will definitely be a big topic of discussion around the CBA, which expires after this season because the players opted out at the end of 2018 season.\n\n\"That's definitely something that would help the league grow,\" Los Angeles Sparks star Nneka Ogwumike, who is the president of the players' union, said in 2017. \"It's all about resources and talking about the logistics of everything. Looking forward, we'd like to spark that type of change.\"\n\nThe league had an injury list from 1997-2005. Players had to sit out a minimum of three games from the date they were placed on the list. Then, the WNBA had a two-person inactive list from 2006-08 before rosters were reduced to 11 in 2009. Rosters are back up to 12 now.\n\nChiney Ogwumike missed 2015 and 2017 because of two separate injuries. In 2015, she had microfracture surgery on her knee and the Connecticut Sun kept her on the roster all year, costing them a spot. Although Ogwumike couldn't play, she was still the face of the franchise while making appearances.\n\nTwo years later when she hurt her Achilles tendon, the Sun suspended her, freeing up the roster spot and not having to pay her.\n\n___\n\nFollow Doug Feinberg on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/dougfeinberg", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2019/05/24"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/wnba/2021/10/18/wnba-looks-ahead-to-2022-season-with-potential-changes/49278213/", "title": "WNBA looks ahead to 2022 season with potential changes", "text": "AP\n\nCandace Parker made the biggest move last offseason choosing to return home to Chicago. The decision paid off as the WNBA star led the Sky to the franchise's first championship.\n\nChicago will have choices to make if it wants to become the first repeat champion since the Los Angeles Sparks did it in 2001-02. WNBA Finals MVP Kahleah Copper is an unrestricted free agent, as are married Sky teammates Courtney Vandersloot and Allie Quigley.\n\nBesides Chicago, the rest of the WNBA could have a different look next year with potential movement as some of the league's biggest names are available.\n\nIn the past, many of the WNBA's top players didn't move too often, but the collective bargaining agreement that was ratified in 2020 has allowed for more player movement by reducing the number of times teams could potentially force their top player to stay by coring them. While it's unlikely, regular-season MVP Jonquel Jones of Connecticut and former top award winners Breanna Stewart of Seattle and Tina Charles of Washington all could change teams this offseason.\n\nStewart just recently had surgery for a minor repair and reinforcement of the Achilles tendon in her left leg, the team announced Thursday. It wasn't the same Achilles she tore overseas a few years ago. She potentially will be headed overseas at some point this winter to play on her Russian league team.\n\nMany of the WNBA’s players have already headed overseas to play in their winter leagues to supplement their incomes.\n\nLeague greats Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi will also have to make choices whether they want to come back and play. Bird, who turned 41 over the weekend, said she'll sit down with her family and discuss whether she wants to play another year in Seattle. The Storm will be back in their new renovated home arena next year which could be a huge reason for the league's all-time assist leader to return.\n\nTaurasi has one year left on her contract in Phoenix, and said that she'll sit down with her wife Penny Taylor and figure out what she wants to do. The couple just welcomed their second child before the WNBA Finals.\n\nHere are a few other things that could change next year:\n\nSEASON FORMAT\n\nThe WNBA continues to grow with strong ratings and social media engagements. Next season will potentially have a 36-game schedule — the most the league has played. There’s also discussions of a new playoff format that’s supported by players and coaches, as well as some league executives. The current structure, which has been in place since 2016, rewards the top teams with byes until the semifinals and has single elimination games in the opening two rounds.\n\nThis season marked the first time that neither one of the top two teams made the WNBA Finals since the league changed its postseason format. Chicago was a six seed and Phoenix a five. The Sky won the championship in four games to cap off the league's 25th season.\n\n“I’m sure whatever we change it to in the next three to five years, we’ll be looking at it again because there’s pros and cons to every different playoff format,” Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said during her state of the league address at the Finals. “So we want to be very thoughtful about what we do.”\n\nEXPANSION\n\nThe WNBA is also looking into adding more teams.\n\n“Expansion is on the horizon,” Engelbert said.\n\nShe said that the league is conducting a data analysis to find potential expansion cities using about 15 metrics to evaluate different locations and hopes to have a more concrete answer during the 2022 season.\n\n“The data looks like it’s going to read out some interesting information for us to start having exploratory discussions with certain cities,” Engelbert said, “Make sure that we can find great ownership groups to support a WNBA team and great fan bases. So that’s why I think looking at how those cities are already supporting the WNBA, whether it’s viewership, merch sales or other things or whether they’re supporting women’s sports or women’s college basketball are great indicators of how it would get supported if a WNBA team were to go in that market.”\n\nHEALTHY RETURN\n\nElena Delle Donne missed most of the season while recovering from a back injury as she played in only three games. The Washington Mystics star is hoping to be ready to go for 2022 after also missing 2020 because of fear of complications from getting the coronavirus.\n\n___\n\nMore AP women’s basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-basketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/10/18"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/wnba/2023/01/20/2021-wnba-mvp-jonquel-jones-excited-to-be-in-new-york/51207453/", "title": "2021 WNBA MVP Jonquel Jones excited to be in New York", "text": "AP\n\nNEW YORK (AP) — After spending her entire career in Connecticut, Jonquel Jones was ready for a change.\n\nSo she looked around and decided that New York would be the right place for her to continue her WNBA career.\n\n“I’m excited to be here. pleasure to be part of this organization,” Jones said. “For me playing against the Liberty last year I saw a shift in the culture. The way they played, high-octane basketball. For me I wanted to be a part of that. To be in a city like New York, it speaks for itself. Felt like the right move. I know it’s the right move for this chapter in my life.”\n\nThe 2021 MVP was introduced by the Liberty at a press conference Friday a few days after the team traded for her as part of a three-team deal with the Connecticut Sun and Dallas Wings.\n\n“For me any time you have a chance to get someone like this, you jump at that,” Liberty GM Jonathan Kolb said. “Players like Jonquel don’t become available very often. Pairing her with Sabrina (Ionescu) is exciting. They are going to be a dynamic duo for a very long time.”\n\nKolb said that he has had a Liberty jersey for Jones in his office for a year, hoping she might become available. She had one year left on her contract with the Sun before telling the organization she wanted to play elsewhere this season.\n\nThe 6-foot-6 All-Star averaged 14.6 points, 8.6 rebounds and 1.2 blocks last season to help Connecticut reach the WNBA Finals for the second time in four seasons.\n\n“Obviously we didn’t accomplish what we wanted to accomplish (in Connecticut),” Jones said. “My goal as an athlete, I wanted to step into a new situation and a new organization and better myself.”\n\nThe 29-year-old Jones, who is from the Bahamas, bolsters a young New York squad, led by Sabrina Ionescu and Betnijah Laney, that has lost in the opening round of the playoffs the past two years. Jones was the No. 6 pick in the 2016 draft and was the league's Most Improved Player in 2017. The next season she earned the Sixth Woman of the Year award before garnering the MVP three years later.\n\n“The sky’s the limit for her,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said. “The goal is keep improving her game with the players we have here. She’s the perfect fit.”\n\nNew York isn't done making moves. The league's free agency begins Saturday and the Liberty are in the mix to potentially add former MVP Breanna Stewart, who is from upstate New York. Jones played with Stewart on overseas teams and said that she'll do whatever is asked of her to recruit free agents.\n\n___\n\nAP women’s basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-basketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/01/20"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/wnba/2019/05/16/ap-source-liz-cambage-traded-from-dallas-to-las-vegas/39485123/", "title": "WNBA star Liz Cambage traded from Dallas to Las Vegas", "text": "AP\n\nThe Liz Cambage trade saga is finally over.\n\nThe 6-foot-8 Australian was traded from Dallas to Las Vegas on Thursday for Moriah Jefferson, Isabelle Harrison and the Aces' first two picks in 2020.\n\n\"The journey it took to get here will make a great story one day,\" said Bill Laimbeer, president and coach of the Aces. \"Everyone in the Aces family is excited to welcome Liz to Las Vegas.\n\n\"She brings an attitude and physical presence that we need. There is no doubt about her physical ability, but what we respect most about her is her basketball IQ. That is what we are about. We had to give up some quality players and people to make this trade happen.\"\n\nCambage, who finished second behind Breanna Stewart in WNBA MVP balloting last year, said in January she no longer wanted to play in Dallas. Potential deals the past few weeks never materialized. All of which weighed on Cambage, who took to social media with emotional posts this week. Cambage is in Australia and is expected to get to Las Vegas this weekend.\n\nThe 27-year-old center set a league record last season by scoring 53 points against New York. She averaged 23 points and 9.7 rebounds last year.\n\nThe move gives the Aces a formidable frontcourt by pairing Cambage with rookie of the year A'ja Wilson.\n\nDallas receives a point guard in Jefferson and a talented post player in Harrison. Jefferson was the No. 2 pick in the 2016 draft by the franchise when it was in San Antonio. She averaged 13.9 points as a rookie but injured her knee in 2017.\n\nShe was limited to just 16 games last season. Harrison was the No. 12 pick in 2015 by Phoenix, but missed her rookie season with a knee injury. She had a breakout year in 2017, averaging 11.4 points and 6.4 rebounds. She sat out last season because of a medical issue.\n\nThe Wings also acquired Imani McGee-Stafford from the Atlanta Dream, giving up a 2020 third round draft pick for the 6-foot-7 center.\n\n\"We made a series of transactions today that I believe benefit our team now and in the future,\" Dallas Wings President and CEO Greg Bibb said.\n\nHe said talks concerning Cambage began in January, adding that Jefferson and Harrison were the players Dallas sought.\n\n\"While Moriah may ultimately decide to sit out the 2019 season, we are willing to wait for her first appearance in a Wings uniform,\" Bibb said. \"We believe she is an elite-level point guard and we are excited for her to join her hometown team.\"\n\nCambage was the No. 2 pick in the 2011 draft. She played that season and in 2013 for the Tulsa Shock but sat out in 2012 and again from 2014-2017. The franchise moved to Dallas in 2016. Cambage returned to the WNBA last season with Dallas and hit it off with Wings coach Fred Williams. Cambage took it hard when Williams was fired a few weeks before the end of the season.\n\n___\n\nFollow Doug Feinberg on Twitter at https://twitter.com/DougFeinberg", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2019/05/16"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/wnba/2022/01/14/wnba-stars-could-be-on-the-move-as-free-agency-set-to-begin/49650469/", "title": "WNBA stars could be on the move as free agency set to begin", "text": "AP\n\nSome of the biggest stars in the WNBA could be on the move with free agency set to begin this weekend.\n\nTeams can start talking to their own restricted and unrestricted free agents Saturday. Deals can't be officially announced until Feb. 1.\n\nEveryone in the league would like to add that player who could lead them to the title like Chicago found last season when Candace Parker decided to return home and help the Sky win the franchise's first WNBA championship.\n\nThe combination of new coaches in Phoenix, Las Vegas, New York and Atlanta, along with the amount of available talent, could result in a lot of movement over the next few weeks.\n\nSome of the top unrestricted free agents include Sue Bird, Breanna Stewart and Jewell Loyd of Seattle; Liz Cambage of Las Vegas; Sylvia Fowles of Minnesota; Courtney Williams of Atlanta and Courtney Vandersloot, Allie Quigley and Stefanie Dolson of Chicago. Former MVP A'ja Wilson is the top restricted free agent, meaning the Aces could match any offer from other teams. She's not expected to leave Las Vegas.\n\nThe most likely players to move include Cambage and Williams. Atlanta has already said it won't bring Williams back after she and teammate Crystal Bradford were seen on video throwing punches in a confrontation with a number of women in late May near a food truck in the Atlanta area.\n\nThe Sky will have tough choices to make to try and keep their roster together to repeat as WNBA champions. Chicago already has designated WNBA Finals MVP Kahleah Copper with the franchise tag. League MVP Jonquel Jones was also given the core designation by the Connecticut Sun. Copper, Jones and anyone else who is cored will be given a 1-year super max deal of $228,094.\n\nTeams have until 5 p.m. ET Friday to inform the league of who they are giving the franchise tag to.\n\nSeattle could choose to give the core designation to either Stewart or Loyd. Bird announced on social media last week that she'd be returning for one more year. She's played her entire career in Seattle and is expected to finish her career there.\n\nThe business of free agency started early in Seattle.\n\nThe Storm were fined for tweeting out photos of Bird and making public comments on a free agent after the guard announced she was returning for anther season, said a person familiar with the situation. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because no official announcement had been made of the fine. It's rare a WNBA team is fined for publicly commenting on a free agent.\n\nOn Saturday, the business of free-agency officially begins leaguewide.\n\n___\n\nMore AP women’s basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/womens-basketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/01/14"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/wnba/storm/2018/09/21/seattle-storm-stars-had-little-time-rest/1371787002/", "title": "Seattle Storm stars had little time to rest", "text": "Doug Feinberg\n\nAssociated Press\n\nTENERIFE, Spain (AP) — It's been a whirlwind week for Breanna Stewart, Sue Bird and Jewell Loyd. The trio won a WNBA championship with the Seattle Storm and then dashed off to play for USA Basketball in the FIBA Women's World Cup.\n\n\"It's been busy, now we are turning the page,\" said Stewart, MVP of both the regular season and the Finals. \"We did everything we wanted to. Won a championship and had a parade. Now we are switching gears. We'll have more of an appreciation of what we did the last month when this is over. Now we're just focused on helping USA Basketball and do what we can to win.\"\n\nSeattle won the title on Sept. 12, sweeping Washington in the best-of-five series. The team flew back from D.C. the next day and then had a parade three days later to celebrate the championship. The three players and coach Dan Hughes were on a plane the next day to Spain.\n\n\"The last week has been insane, the fact we won a week ago and now are here,\" Stewart said Thursday.\n\nIt's not the first time Bird has had to do this. The Storm last won a title in 2010 and Bird and then-teammate Swin Cash had to fly to the Czech Republic soon after to get ready for the world championship.\n\n\"You just do, there's no science to it. After we won in Washington, we had a good three to four days to really enjoy it,\" Bird said. \"The city did a wonderful job with the parade, the rally. As a team we got to hang out pretty much every night. The city was amazing, everyone was buying us dinner and drinks wherever we went. It starts to wind down and you flip the switch and start all over again.\"\n\nWhile Bird is playing in her fifth world championship, this is Loyd's first.\n\n\"It means a lot. Any time you have a USA jersey on is an honor,\" Loyd said. \"To do it with the teammates who I just won a championship with makes it even more special. I'm excited for this new journey and to add to my legacy.\"\n\nSeattle Storm teammate Sami Whitcomb also is in Spain, playing for Australia. Bird joked that she warned her American teammates before their scrimmage on Wednesday that Whitcomb could shoot extremely well, and yet she still hit a few open looks.\n\n\"To see her get rewarded in this way, it's pretty cool,\" Bird said.\n\nAnother player with Seattle connections is also on the USA roster: Kelsey Plum of the San Antonio Stars. Plum was an All-American at Washington before being picked first overall in the 2017 WNBA draft. She averaged 9.5 points per game in her second year as a professional.\n\nHughes knows he'll have plenty of time to celebrate his first WNBA title after this two-week stretch is finished, hopefully with a gold medal. For now, he's enjoying the chance to be an assistant to U.S. coach Dawn Staley.\n\n\"It's fun for me, I spent 16 years as a collegiate assistant and actually felt like that period was a good period of my life. I enjoyed it, liked being an assistant,\" he said. \"It's fun to revisit it in that regard. How to be helpful to Dawn as opposed to being the final decision-maker.\"\n\nThe Storm players aren't the only ones from the Finals in the World Cup. Washington Mystics star Elena Delle Donne is playing in it for the first time. For her, the World Cup is a chance to get back on the court and move past the disappointing end to the season.\n\n\"I was just dwelling till I got here,\" she said. \"And now I have something new to focus on. It's nice to be able to compete again and win something.\"\n\nDelle Donne said the bone bruise in her left knee that limited her during the playoffs is getting better, but she will talk to Staley about her playing time.\n\n\"It's pretty much Dawn and I talk it out and see how it feels and go from there,\" Delle Donne said. \"I had to convince my doctors. I told them I wouldn't be going crazy minutes, I'd be smart. When this is done I have time to go rest and recover and be all right.\"", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2018/09/21"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/wnba/2023/02/01/stewart-heads-to-new-york-on-first-day-of-wnba-free-agency/51244811/", "title": "Stewart heads to New York on first day of WNBA free agency", "text": "AP\n\nBreanna Stewart couldn't turn down a chance to play in New York and potentially help the Liberty win their first WNBA championship.\n\nThe most coveted free agent this offseason, who won the WNBA MVP award in 2018, announced on social media that she was going to New York with a photo of her in a Liberty shirt on Wednesday. Stewart had spent her entire career in Seattle since the Storm drafted her No. 1 overall in 2016. She won championships with the team in 2018 and 2020.\n\n“I decided to go to New York as I wanted to continue to be great. And I wanted to go to the place where I think I can help this league become better, to raise the standard,” Stewart said in an interview on ESPN. “I feel like why not go to the biggest market in all of sports. I’m excited to go after their first championship.”\n\nThe 28-year-old wing has averaged 20.3 points and 8.6 rebounds in her WNBA career. She missed the 2019 season with an Achilles tendon injury.\n\n“New York is a basketball city and I can’t wait to be a part of it,” Stewart said.\n\nComing to New York brings Stewart closer to home. She grew up in Syracuse, which is an hourlong flight away. She'll also have a shorter flight to Spain to visit relatives of her wife, Marta.\n\nNew York representatives, including coach Sandy Brondello and co-owner Clara Wu Tsai met with Stewart in Turkey last week. Stewart had narrowed her choices to Seattle and New York before choosing the Liberty.\n\nThe move turns the Liberty into an instant championship contender. New York, one of the WNBA's original franchises, has never won a championship. The Liberty already added 2021 MVP Jonquel Jones and Kayla Thornton through a three-way deal to complement 2020 No. 1 draft pick Sabrina Ionescu.\n\n“I think this group has a ton of potential, a lot of amazing players,” Stewart said. “The selflessness helps us set ourselves apart from everyone else.”\n\nThe news was met with elation on social media by Jones, Ionescu and Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant, who said on a podcast that he had reached out to Stewart to get her to come to New York.\n\nStewart was the second big-name free agent to announce her intentions to play for another team. Candace Parker said last weekend she was going to sign with the Las Vegas Aces and did so on Wednesday.\n\n“As I’ve gone through free agency this time around, of course I’m thinking of where I can compete for my third championship, but the words home and family are what I kept coming back to,\" said Parker, a longtime Southern California resident. “After evaluating the landscape together with my family, we’ve decided the Las Vegas Aces are the right organization for us at this point in our lives. To play for a championship close to home is the perfect situation for us. I’m looking forward to continuing the journey this summer in Las Vegas.”\n\nWednesday was the first day that free agents could sign contracts. Other moves announced included:\n\n— Brittney Sykes and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough with Washington.\n\n— Lexie Brown and Stephanie Talbot with Los Angeles.\n\n— Teaira McCowan with Dallas.\n\n— Alysha Clark and Cayla George with Las Vegas.\n\n— AD Durr and Nia Coffey with Atlanta.\n\nMany free agents were waiting for Stewart to make her decision, including Courtney Vandersloot.\n\nVandersloot announced on social media late Tuesday night that she wasn’t returning to Chicago, where she had spent her entire career. She has led the league in assists six times during her 12-year career and helped the Sky win the 2021 WNBA championship.\n\n“To the Sky organization who drafted the little guard from a mid-major and believed in me from the jump, I couldn’t have asked for anything better,” Vandersloot wrote on Instagram. “Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I have realized my dreams because of you. Although I never planned for this day to come, I have decided it is time for me to pursue a new beginning.”\n\nStewart and Vandersloot are currently playing together in Turkey.\n\n“My message to Sloot is she knows I love to play with her, but I'm going to support her in any decision she makes,” Stewart said. “Free agency is hard. It’s been an emotional rollercoaster for everybody. It’s not only basketball these decisions are made behind. It’s life.”\n\nWhile Stewart and Vandersloot will be playing for different WNBA teams, Brittney Griner, who is also a free agent, announced in December when she returned home from her 10-month ordeal in Russia that she planned to remain with the Phoenix Mercury. Her long-time Mercury teammate Diana Taurasi is also a free agent, but she too is expected to go back to Phoenix.\n\n___\n\nAP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/02/01"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/wnba/2019/05/23/wnbas-new-season-ready-to-tip-off/39507329/", "title": "WNBA's new season ready to tip off", "text": "AP\n\nNEW YORK (AP) — It's been a busy offseason for the WNBA with big names changing places, a new commissioner and a few injuries to some of the sport's greatest players.\n\nThe league will tip off its 23rd season on Friday with many teams hoping to win the championship this year. The defending champion Seattle Storm may be extremely hard-pressed to repeat. Reigning MVP Breanna Stewart suffered an Achilles injury in the winter while playing for a Russian club team. She'll be sidelined for the season.\n\nThe Storm took another hit this week when it was announced that veteran point guard Sue Bird was going to be sidelined indefinitely with a knee injury. Seattle is also missing coach Dan Hughes for an indeterminate amount of time as he battles cancer.\n\n\"The most important thing to us is that Sue is healthy and strong. Based on her feedback and evaluation from her longtime surgeon and our medical team, it was determined the best course of action was a scope,\" Storm CEO and general manager Alisha Valavanis said. \"We have confidence this will support Sue's full recovery and we look forward to her return to the court.\"\n\nWith the Storm short-handed, Washington, Las Vegas and Los Angeles are the favorites to win the title. The Mystics lost to the Storm in the WNBA Finals last season. The Aces added 6-foot-8 Australian star Liz Cambage last week. The runner-up for the MVP in 2018 will give Las Vegas a dynamic duo in the front court, pairing her with last season's rookie of the year A'ja Wilson.\n\nThe Sparks added Chiney Ogwumike from the Connecticut Sun, pairing her with her sister Nneka. The sisters will have to carry the load a little more in the early part of the season as Candace Parker is sidelined with a hamstring injury for a few weeks.\n\nHere are a few other tidbits for the upcoming season.\n\nMISSING IN ACTION: Stewart, Bird and Parker aren't the only players not playing for the early part of the season because of injury. Angel McCoughtry is still recovering from a knee injury she suffered last year. Diana Taurasi is out for at least a month while recovering from a back injury. It isn't just injuries that are sidelining some of the league's top players. Skylar Diggins-Smith gave birth to a baby boy this spring and hopes to return to the Dallas Wings lineup at some point this season. Maya Moore decided to take a year away from playing basketball to focus on her family and \"some ministry dreams that have been stirring in my heart for many years.\"\n\nNEW LADY IN CHARGE: The WNBA has a new leader as the league hired Cathy Engelbert as its commissioner last week. The previous four leaders of the WNBA had been known as president.\n\n\"Commissioner, first of all, honored and humbled to have that title. And it comes with awesome responsibility ... just really humbled,\" Engelbert said.\n\nSince 2015, Engelbert has been CEO of Deloitte US, an accounting organization that works with Fortune 500 companies. She was the first woman to hold that job. Engelbert won't start till around the All-Star Break in late July.\n\nMORE TV OPTIONS: The league struck a deal to broadcast 40 of its games on the CBS Sports Network . That nearly doubles the amount of games on national television from last year. The TV channel will use local broadcast feeds for now, similar to what NBA TV does for WNBA games. The league also has a deal with ESPN to show 16 regular-season telecasts, including three on ABC. The upcoming NBA TV schedule of WNBA games has not been finalized yet, but nearly 50 games are expected to be broadcast — the same as last year.\n\nNEW OWNERSHIP: The New York Liberty found a new owner in the offseason as the team was bought by an investment group led by Brooklyn Nets minority owner Joseph Tsai. Tsai, co-founder of the e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, bought a 49 percent interest in the Nets in April. The team played an exhibition game at Barclays Center and drew more than 4,000 fans. The team will play most of its home games this season in Westchester, but Tsai said at the exhibition game that he would welcome more games at Barclays in the future.\n\n___\n\nFollow Doug Feinberg on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/dougfeinberg", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2019/05/23"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/wnba/2021/05/12/aces-sit-atop-ap-preseason-wnba-power-poll/43983879/", "title": "Aces sit atop AP preseason WNBA power poll", "text": "AP\n\nNEW YORK (AP) — The Las Vegas Aces fell just short of the WNBA championship last season while missing three key players.\n\nNow with Liz Cambage, Kelsey Plum and Dearica Hamby back as well as free agent addition Chelsea Gray to help league MVP A'ja Wilson, the Aces sit atop the preseason Associated Press WNBA poll Wednesday.\n\n“We grew up last year, we added other pieces,\" Aces coach Bill Laimbeer said. “There will be bumps in the road. We’re going to have some problems early on. My goal is, we hit the break, we’re there. After the break, get out of our way. There will be a little bumpy road at the start. This is about winning the playoffs, not how you play in the first two or three games.”\n\nLas Vegas received 11 first-place votes from the 15-member national media panel Wednesday. Seattle, the defending WNBA champions, garnered the other four first-place ballots and was picked second. Seattle star Breanna Stewart was picked as the AP preseason player of the year for the second straight season.\n\nThe Aces did suffer a setback last week with the loss of Angel McCoughtry to an ACL injury in her right knee.\n\nChicago, which had the biggest offseason acquisition by signing former MVP Candace Parker, sat in third in the voting. The Sky were followed by Washington, Minnesota, Phoenix and Los Angeles.\n\nThe Mystics made a big move themselves in the offseason in signing Alysha Clark from the Storm. Unfortunately the stout defender injured her foot while playing for France and is out for the season. Star Elena Delle Donne, who opted out of last season because of the coronavirus, is still recovering from a second back surgery in the offseason and is taking it slowly.\n\n\"We have some incredible pieces to this puzzle and if all goes well and people can stay healthy and get healthy, it can be a scary team,” she said.\n\nConnecticut was eighth in the power poll. The Sun welcome back Jonquel Jones, who also sat out last season, but will be missing star Alyssa Thomas. She tore her Achilles tendon playing overseas this offseason.\n\nDallas was picked ninth. The Wings hope to keep building after another productive draft that saw them have the No. 1, 2 and 5 picks. The team chose Charli Collier, Awak Kuier and Chelsea Dungee with those picks. Collier edged out Atlanta's Aari McDonald as the preseason rookie of the year choice.\n\nAtlanta, New York and Indiana round out the poll.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/05/12"}]}
{"question_id": "20230203_16", "search_time": "2023/02/04/11:56", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/01/31/george-santos-resigns-house-committees/11154210002/", "title": "Republican George Santos resigns from House committee seats", "text": "WASHINGTON – Embattled New York Republican Rep. George Santos stepped down from his House committee seats early Tuesday as pressure mounted for him to step down from Congress.\n\nBut Santos, a freshman who has defied criticism and pledged to serve his full two-year term despite calls for his removal, indicated that recusing himself from committees may be a temporary move and that he would return to his positions once his legal and ethical reviews are resolved.\n\n“With the ongoing attention surrounding both my personal and campaign financial investigations, I have submitted a request to Speaker McCarthy that I be temporarily recused from my committee assignments until I am cleared,” said Congressman Santos. “This was a decision that I take very seriously.\"\n\nSantos \"voluntarily\" stepped aside, said Rep. Elise Stefanik, a fellow New York Republican and the House GOP conference chair, in a news conference with House GOP leaders Tuesday morning at the Capitol.\n\nHis resignation from the House Small Business and Science, Space and Technology committees comes a day after he met with Speaker Kevin McCarthy.\n\nMcCarthy told reporters Tuesday that Santos stepping aside was \"an appropriate decision.\"\n\nWhat we know::Companies linked to embattled congressman George Santos draw scrutiny\n\nSantos resignation raises questions\n\nThe decision confused some Democrats, analysts and academics.\n\n“It strikes me as an unusual step as somebody who has been so adamant about staying in office, basically dismissing his fabrications as embellishments and basically staying the course,\" said Gregory Wawro, a professor of political science at Columbia University.\n\nHouse Democratic Chair Pete Aguilar said Tuesday at a Democratic leadership news conference that he was \"struck by the chaos, confusion, dysfunction of the Republican conference.\"\n\n\"They defended putting him on committees and now they're announcing that he's not going to serve on committees,\" he said. \"I just don't know what the play of the day is.\"\n\nA 'letter' from George Santos:'I am recusing myself from committees. Also, I am Batman.'\n\nWhy did Republican George Santos resign from committees?\n\nSantos is facing increased legal scrutiny about his campaign finances, a House Ethics Committee complaint and calls to resign, including from within his own party.\n\nSome of that pressure was extending to McCarthy and other House Republican leaders, who seated Santos on committees but are trying to galvanize votes to oust Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee.\n\nMajority Leader Steve Scalise said Tuesday that Republicans wouldn't object to her nomination but that they would move to vote her off the committee. She would be able to be seated on other committees, but not Foreign Affairs, he said.\n\nSantos told a reporter Tuesday that the Omar debate factored into his decision to temporarily step down and that he didn't want to distract from the opportunity to remove her.\n\n\"He doesn't have a lot of levers to pull to get the attention off him,\" said Casey Burgat, director of the legislative affairs program at George Washington University. \"Without resigning from Congress completely ... pressure will continue to build.\"\n\nLive updates:Santos resigns from House Committees; Biden to meet with black lawmakers on police reform\n\nCandy Woodall is a Congress reporter for USA TODAY. She can be reached at cwoodall@usatoday.com or on Twitter at @candynotcandace.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/01/31"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2023/01/31/george-santos-resigns-house-committees-lies-campaign-finance-investigation/11154133002/", "title": "A letter from George Santos: 'I am recusing myself from committees ...", "text": "A letter (probably) from embattled Republican Rep. George Santos of New York:\n\nDear America, the country I helped found,\n\nMy name is Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.\n\nKIDDING! It’s me, Republican Rep. George Santos of New York. You might remember me from my starring role in the hit NBC television show “Frasier” (I played the dog) or from one of my playful aliases, which include Anthony Devolder, Anthony Zabrovsky, Milton Berle and Fozzie Bear.\n\nSince being elected President of the Universe by my amazing constituents in (NOTE TO SELF: remember to look up which district I claim I’m representing), there has been some unfortunate drama surrounding “things I’ve said” and “claims I’ve made about my background.”\n\nBlah, blah, blah. The people of (INSERT DISTRICT NAME HERE – DON’T FORGET!) spoke when they elected me, and I plan on serving them in Congress just as I served my country as a member of SEAL Team 6 during the Clone Wars.\n\nThat said, the last thing I want to be is a distraction, so as of today I am recusing myself from the committee assignments my fellow Republicans gave me a couple of weeks ago when they apparently didn’t care about the so-called myriad lies I’ve been accused of telling.\n\nIn a conversation with my close personal friend and fellow Led Zeppelin bandmate Kevin McCarthy, we agreed it’s in the GOP’s best interest that I do not sit on the House Small Business and Science, Space and Technology committees until ongoing investigations into my finances and record-setting collegiate volleyball career are concluded.\n\nAs Speaker McCarthy said during our meeting, this move will allow me to devote more time to my central mission in Congress, which is voting for whatever he tells me to vote for.\n\nIt will also allow me to focus on my primary role as The Batman. Many of the committee meetings would have kept me tied up during peak crime-fighting hours, and I owe it to the people of Gotham City to be there for them.\n\nDon't just blame the media:Santos fraud scandal shows winning at all costs is costing America\n\nSantos scammed voters:Congress has a moral duty to kick him out\n\nI realize many Democrats are calling for me to resign simply because I may or may not have embellished details about: where I went to high school; where I went to college; what sport I played; where I worked; where my mother was on 9/11; my name; my faith; my finances; and a number of things nobody has caught onto yet. (THINK ABOUT DELETING THAT LAST PART – SOUNDS SASSY/FUN, BUT COULD BE A PROBLEM.)\n\nI know a new Newsday/Siena College poll found that 78% of voters in (INSERT DISTRICT NAME HERE AGAIN) want me to resign, including 71% of Republican voters. But as a proud graduate of Siena College who received a master’s degree in polling, I can tell you those numbers are fake, and I would know because I invented the word \"fake\" in a word laboratory at the University of Oxford in 1991.\n\nSo don’t worry, George Devol … sorry, George Santos is not going anywhere, and there is nothing to these scurrilous accusations leveled against me, presumably by people jealous of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction I won in 2007 under my pen name Cormac McCarthy.\n\nAs sure as I was able to transform lead to gold in the alchemy class I taught at Harvard University, I will return to my committees once I have helped my party complete the wholesale evisceration of the word “hypocrisy.”\n\nI appreciate your time. May God bless America and all of you, as well as my beloved husband Paul Rudd and our darling daughter Zendaya.\n\nMost sincerely,\n\n– George Santos-ish\n\nFollow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Twitter @RexHuppke and Facebook facebook.com/RexIsAJerk, or contact him at rhuppke@usatoday.com\n\nMore from Rex Huppke:\n\nCalifornia mass shootings show America is too focused on motive instead of solutions\n\nClassified documents at Pence's house? Where next, Reagan's jelly bean vault?\n\nVoters have clearly told Republicans to change their ways. GOP has said, 'Nope.'", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/01/31"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/02/03/george-santos-future-congress-look-expel-resign/11149041002/", "title": "The rocky path for NY Rep. George Santos: Here's what his future in ...", "text": "WASHINGTON – No longer on any committees and facing daily calls to resign, New York Rep. George Santos faces an uncertain future in Congress as he tries to move past damaging revelations that he embellished his resume, personal background and his finances.\n\nThe Republican representative stepped away from his committee seats Wednesday calling it a temporary move until investigations into his background are conducted and he is \"cleared.\"\n\nDespite calls from his colleagues to resign from Congress entirely, Santos remains adamant that he will serve his full two-year term.\n\nSmart analysis delivered to your inbox: Sign up for the OnPolitics newsletter\n\nGeorge Santos controversy: Here's a look at investigations of the House Republican\n\nHere's how things could play out for Santos in Congress:\n\nWhat happens if Santos is expelled?\n\nRepublican leaders could choose to hold a vote that would expel Santos from the House. However, there's no indication Republicans plan to do this.\n\nThe expulsion would require a full vote on the House floor with a two-thirds majority in favor.\n\nGregory Wawro, a political science professor at Columbia University, said getting a supermajority to support an expulsion is extremely unlikely.\n\nMore:George Santos' college education is a myth. Is he the only one lying? We checked\n\nThe vote likely would get the backing of all Democrats, he said, but it would be challenging to get enough Republicans on board in a chamber where the GOP margin is only a handful of lawmakers.\n\nFive members of the House have been expelled in U.S. history – three for supporting the Confederacy, one for bribery and the most recent, former Rep. James Traficant, D-Ohio, for filing false tax returns, among other charges.\n\nWhat happens if Santos resigns?\n\nSantos could willingly resign from his seat, but he doesn't like someone who will leave quietly.\n\n\"I will NOT resign!\" Santos tweeted on Jan. 11.\n\nResignations happen far more frequently in the House than expulsions. Dozens of representatives have resigned before the end of their terms for a variety of reasons including medical issues, the decision to run for a different seat or personal reasons.\n\nA resignation, as well as an expulsion, would lead to a special election in Santos' district to fill the seat.\n\nWho will fill the empty seat?\n\nIf Santos resigns or is expelled, the governor of New York is required to call a special election. Party committees would select nominees and state party leadership would choose the nominee for each party.\n\n\"This is a scenario that Republicans are not especially eager to have to defend the seat,\" said Jonathan Hanson, a lecturer at Michigan University's Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.\n\nPresident Joe Biden carried Santos' district in 2020. The 3rd congressional district, which encompasses part of Long Island outside of Manhattan, was redrawn in May to lean slightly less Democratic. Biden carried the district in 2020, but Republicans flipped it red in the 2022 midterms.\n\nWhat is the outlook for Santos?\n\nSantos has not indicated plans beyond serving out his current term but experts believe it is unlikely Santos will run for reelection if he continues to serve out his term. If he does run in 2024, those same experts doubt he'd be re-elected, experts say.\n\nA recent Newsday/Siena College poll found 78% of voters in his district say he should resign.\n\n\"It's hard to imagine him surviving any further revelation,\" Hanson said. \"I think that's just clearly not tenable for him to try to stay in office at that point.\"\n\nMore:Rep. George Santos pushes back on 'insane' claim he stole funds for veteran's dying dog\n\nIf Santos violated campaign finance law, he could be indicted, Hanson said.\n\nUnder House rules, sitting members of the House who are indicted or convicted can still keep their seat. However, convicted members are instructed by House rules to not vote on the floor or in committees as well as risk losing chairmanships or ranking member status on committees.\n\nWhat would a Santos exit mean for McCarthy?\n\nSantos' departure would make the four-seat Republican majority in the House even narrower – limiting McCarthy's ability to drive legislation through the chamber.\n\n\"I think Republicans feel like they can't afford to lose any more seats,\" Hanson said. \"They already have a very tenuous situation where they can't afford barely any defections on a vote if they want something to pass.\"\n\nWawro said it's a \"gamble\" for Republicans as to whether they back Santos in the short term despite daily revelations about his fabricated background or risk losing the seat in a special election.\n\n\"I think it's fair to say it's a pretty big embarrassment for the party,\" he said.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/02/03"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/01/11/george-santos-resign-congress-republicans/11032431002/", "title": "NY GOP wants George Santos to resign, McCarthy says it's up to ...", "text": "WASHINGTON – As pressure mounts for embattled freshman Rep. George Santos to resign, Speaker Kevin McCarthy said it's up to the New Yorkers who put him in office to decide.\n\n\"The voters elected him to serve,\" McCarthy told reporters at the Capitol Wednesday afternoon in an exchange shown on CNN. \"He has to answer to the voters.\"\n\nHe also said Santos, who voted last week to install McCarthy as speaker, would be placed on committees but did not elaborate.\n\nHis comments come hours after Nassau County Republicans called on Santos to resign for telling a litany of lies that are \"too numerous to count.\"\n\nSantos has been facing scrutiny after multiple reports revealed he lied about his personal story and professional resume in his bid for a congressional seat.\n\nThe new Congress:McCarthy's secret deal, George Santos, Biden and Trump docs, abortion prompt fiery debate in new Congress\n\nRise of the GOP right:How the GOP got here: The rise of ultra conservatives from Barry Goldwater to Donald Trump\n\n\"He's not welcome here,\" Nassau committee GOP Chairman Joseph Cairo said of the county's Republican headquarters. \"We do not consider him one of our congresspeople.\"\n\nOne of the most egregious lies he told, according to the county Republicans, is that he was Jewish from a family of Holocaust survivors. Many residents of his district are Holocaust survivors, and the children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors.\n\nSantos has since walked back his statement that he's Jewish to say he meant \"Jew-ish.\"\n\n\"He's not a normal person,\" said County Executive Bruce Blakeman. \"He needs to get help.\"\n\nBlakeman said America is forgiving, particularly when people atone for their mistakes and get help, but vowed the county would not work with Santos until he corrects course.\n\nA fellow congressman from New York, Rep. Anthony D'Esposito, also called for Santos to step down and said he will not associate with Santos in Congress. D'Esposito said he will encourage other members to shun him as well.\n\nMeanwhile, a defiant Santos told reporters he \"will not\" resign.\n\nAt about 1 p.m., he issued a similar statement on Twitter:\n\n\"I was elected to serve the people of #NY03 not the party & politicians, I remain committed to doing that and regret to hear that local officials refuse to work with my office to deliver results to keep our community safe and lower the cost of living. I will NOT resign!\"\n\nSantos, who was sworn in early Saturday morning, is facing backlash and criminal scrutiny related to campaign finances and alleged lies about his personal and professional resume.\n\nThe Nassau County Republicans, who on Wednesday called for Santos' resignation during a news conference on Long Island, also blamed themselves and their vetting process.\n\nWhen Santos approached the county committee in 2020 to seek their endorsement, they believed the resume he submitted was \"totally truthful,\" but much of it was \"untrue,\" Cairo said.\n\n\"Shame on me for believing people,\" he said.\n\nCairo said the Santos campaign was full of fabrications, including that he was a volleyball star at a college he never attended.\n\n\"He deceived voters,\" he said. \"His lies were not mere fibs. He disgraced the House of Representatives.\"\n\nMore:What can Congress do about Rep.-elect George Santos, who lied ahead of winning his election?\n\nThe latest call follows action Tuesday from New York Democratic Reps. Dan Goldman and Ritchie Torres, who filed a complaint with the House Ethics Committee and requested an investigation.\n\nDuring a news conference yesterday morning, Scalise said the matter was being handled through internal discussions.\n\nThe New York Conservative Party is also joining the calls for Santos to resign.\n\n\"Mr. Santos's profound use of mistruths as a candidate morally disqualifies him from serving in public office and exposes him to potential legal action, seriously compromising his ability to represent his constituents,\" party Chairman Gerard Kassar said in a statement.\n\nThe options:What can Congress do about Rep.-elect George Santos, who lied ahead of winning his election?\n\nThe first week:McCarthy's secret deal, George Santos, Biden and Trump docs, abortion prompt fiery debate in new Congress\n\nContributing: Ledyard King\n\nCandy Woodall is a Congress reporter for USA TODAY. She can be reached at cwoodall@usatoday.com or on Twitter at @candynotcandace.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/01/11"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/01/13/george-santos-finances-raising-questions/11031759002/", "title": "Rep. George Santos' finances are raising questions. What records ...", "text": "Santos reported very little earnings and no assets in 2019 and 2020.\n\nBy 2021, Santos was reporting a salary of $750,000 a year.\n\nSantos loaned more than $800,000 to his campaign and PACs.\n\nHow does a candidate for Congress loan more money to his campaign in a given year than he says he makes at a job or has in his bank account? And how does he suddenly start making a high six-figure salary a year later?\n\nThose are questions that critics are now raising about Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., who weeks ago admitted to fabricating major parts of his resume. The embattled congressman has since taken his oath of office and will be allowed to sit on congressional committees, a key job responsibility.\n\nThis week, a nonpartisan campaign finance watchdog filed a complaint with federal regulators alleging Santos had funneled money from unknown sources into his campaign in order to help get elected. The organization forwarded the complaint to the Department of Justice, which handles federal criminal matters.\n\nOn Tuesday, two Democrats filed a complaint with the House Ethics Committee raising questions about Santos’ financial disclosures, after he claimed almost no assets or income in 2020, but by the next year said he had a condo in Brazil and $750,000 in salary through his own company that was valued at up to $5 million.\n\nSantos wrote on Twitter Wednesday, amid calls from some other House Republicans for his resignation: \"I was elected to serve the people of #NY03 not the party & politicians, I remain committed to doing that and regret to hear that local officials refuse to work with my office to deliver results to keep our community safe and lower the cost of living. I will NOT resign!\"\n\nThursday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., refused to bow to pressure to remove Santos and instead said he would let the Ethics Committee process play out.\n\nAn inquiry to the main contact for his campaign accounts was not immediately returned. USA TODAY also reached out to Santos' office on Capitol Hill.\n\nHere is a look at aspects of Santos’ finances and campaign finance reporting that have been raising questions.\n\n'Not mere fibs.':NY Republicans call for George Santos to resign, McCarthy won't remove him\n\nWhat Congress can do:Rep.-elect George Santos lied ahead of winning his election.\n\nLoaned $75,000 to his campaign but claimed he made no money\n\nIn his first disclosure to the House, filed in May 2020, Santos reported a commission bonus worth somewhere north of $5,000 from a New York company called LinkBridge Investors. The same day, he filed an amendment to the disclosure saying he made $55,000 from LinkBridge in 2019.\n\nAt the time, Santos was running an ultimately unsuccessful campaign for the Long Island congressional seat and loaning his campaign money, according to records from the Federal Election Commission. His campaign reported his occupation as self-employed on the FEC paperwork for all of these donations.\n\nIn late 2019, the year he claimed he did not have assets or income, he loaned the campaign $5,300. In the first three months of 2020, he loaned his campaign $74,750, despite claiming no income or assets that year. In June of that year, he loaned his campaign an additional $1,200.\n\n“Mr. Santos’s financial disclosure reports for 2020 and 2022 are sparse and perplexing,” Reps. Ritchie Torres and Dan Goldman of New York wrote in their complaint to the House Ethics Committee. “At a minimum, it is apparent that he did not file timely disclosure reports for his most recent campaign.\n\n“Moreover, his own public statements have contradicted some information included in the 2022 financial disclosure and confirmed that the 2022 financial disclosure failed to disclose other required information,” the complaint says.\n\nSantos defiant:McCarthy declines to act amid GOP pressure\n\nReports: Federal prosecutors launching investigation into Rep.-elect George Santos' finances\n\nReported huge increase in wealth through Devolder Organization LLC\n\nIn 2021, shortly after launching his second bid for Congress, Santos filed paperwork to create a new limited liability company in Florida, Devolder Organization LLC. (Devolder is his maternal surname.) He is the only member listed with the company, and it’s not clear from public filings what it does or who its clients are.\n\nIn his 2022 financial disclosure to the House, he wrote that the company does “capital intro consulting” and that he is the sole owner. Capital introduction is a type of matchmaking in the world of hedge funds between wealthy potential investors and the managers of such funds.\n\nSantos reported the company brought in between $1 million and $5 million each year in 2021 and 2022, and that he made a salary of $750,000 in each of those years.\n\nFor the first time, he also reported assets: an apartment in Rio de Janiero, Brazil valued at up to $1 million; up to $250,000 in his checking account; and between $1 million and $5 million in his savings account.\n\n“The scale of the sudden, overnight windfall that he had is really striking,” said Saurav Ghosh, the director of federal campaign finance reform at the nonpartisan watchdog Campaign Legal Center. His organization’s complaint notes Santos’ public statements where he gives confusing answers about what Devolder does.\n\nSantos then donated more money to his campaign\n\nSantos may have used his newfound wealth to loan additional money to his congressional campaign. During 2021 and 2022, Santos reported to the FEC that he loaned $705,000 to his campaign and $27,000 to GADS PAC. That would account for about a year's salary.\n\nGADS PAC is a leadership PAC Santos created in December 2020, about a month after he lost his first congressional race. The abbreviation is an apparent reference to his full initials for George Anthony Devolder Santos. Leadership PACs are often used to help a member of Congress gain influence with colleagues and donate to their campaigns. The committee made dozens of donations in 2021 and 2022, including $25,000 to the campaign of Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., $10,800 to a committee tied to Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., and $10,000 to a county Republican committee.\n\nThe Campaign Legal Center alleged in its complaint that Santos must have received money from someone else and then loaned the money to his campaign in an illegal straw donor scheme. Ghosh said the organization took the unusual step of forwarding it to the Department of Justice, which handles federal criminal investigations.\n\nGhosh said using straw donors to donate to a candidate is “one of the oldest tricks in the book,” but it’s more commonly coordinated among donors. For example, a donor might give a friend or relative money to make a donation, or will set up a limited liability company to funnel money through, he said.\n\n“The most egregious straw donor scheme is one that actually involves the candidate itself,” Ghosh said.\n\nSantos campaign spent money right below reporting thresholds\n\nWhen the Santos campaign reported how it spent money during the recent election cycle, it reported dozens of expenses that were just below the FEC’s $200 threshold that requires a campaign to retain a receipt and other details of the spending.\n\nCampaign Legal Center cited 37 items that were listed as costing $199.99, including for a room in an upscale hotel that advertises nightly rates over $700 and a parking facility where the organization said no combination of fees would add up to a number that ended in .99.\n\n“His reporting isn’t just erroneous in kind of a commonplace way,” Ghosh said. “It actually looks like they’ve reported things falsely, which is very odd. You just don’t see campaigns do that. But again, everything about Santos’s campaign seems to be odd.”\n\nCampaign finance regulators skeptical of large donations\n\nThe FEC is also raising questions about Santos’ fundraising from outside parties. In a Jan. 4 letter, the agency said one of Santos’ fundraising accounts took in too much money from some donors and did not report enough information about them.\n\nThe fundraising vehicle in question, Devolder Santos Nassau Victory Committee, reported raising $201,000 since it was registered in August, and splits money among Santos’ primary campaign account, a leadership PAC he sponsors and a county Republican committee. The FEC limits donations to such a committee to a $5,800 limit for his campaign account plus $5,000 for PACs.\n\nThe FEC cited donations from three people as potentially violating campaign finance law: A man who gave $26,000 but had no listed occupation or employer, and two men with the same address who gave $25,000 each and reported their occupations as “NYCBS/MD” and “NYCBS/Self Employed.”\n\nDan Weiner, the director of elections and government at New York University’s Brennan Center, said it’s common for people to give above the limit if they go to multiple events and aren’t tracking the checks they write, but this scenario is less common.\n\n“Writing a $25,000 check in one sitting that is well above the limit that you can give to those three committees — that is a more unusual and frankly troubling scenario because that’s just well beyond the limits for those committees,” Weiner said.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/01/13"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/01/31/politics-updates-biden-house-congress-mccarthy-debt-ceiling/11149757002/", "title": "Video shows Trump taking Fifth; Santos leaves House panels: recap", "text": "Newly released video shows former President Donald Trump being questioned under oath last year for the massive civil fraud lawsuit filed against him, his businesses and his oldest children by the New York Attorney General's office – and pleading the Fifth repeatedly.\n\nHere's what else is going on in politics Tuesday.\n\nGeorge Santos steps away from committees amid furor: Facing increased legal and public scrutiny, New York Rep. George Santos told his House Republican colleagues Tuesday morning he will step aside himself from his committee positions until his name is cleared.\n\nFacing increased legal and public scrutiny, New York Rep. George Santos told his House Republican colleagues Tuesday morning he will step aside himself from his committee positions until his name is cleared. FBI searched Joe Biden's former office: It happened shortly after the president's lawyers discovered an initial batch of documents Nov. 2.\n\nIt happened shortly after the president's lawyers discovered an initial batch of documents Nov. 2. Kamala Harris to attend Tyre Nichols' funeral: The vice president will be at the service Wednesday with four other White House officials.\n\nThe vice president will be at the service Wednesday with four other White House officials. President to discuss police accountability legislation : President Joe Biden will meet with members of the Congressional Black Caucus Thursday to discuss police reform legislation in the wake of Nichols’ brutal beating that led to his death in Memphis, Tennessee.\n\n: President Joe Biden will meet with members of the Congressional Black Caucus Thursday to discuss police reform legislation in the wake of Nichols’ brutal beating that led to his death in Memphis, Tennessee. Debt limit debate: Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., will discuss federal spending Wednesday in a highly-anticipated one-on-one meeting that could indicate how far apart both sides are on addressing the debt ceiling deadline.\n\nBrazil’s president to meet with Biden\n\nPresident Joe Biden will meet with Brazil’s newly inaugurated leftist president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva next week, the White House announced Tuesday.\n\nBiden invited Lula to visit the White House shortly after thousands of supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro swarmed Brazil’s government buildings earlier this month in protest of Lula’s election.\n\nTopics on the agenda for the meeting include how the U.S. and Brazil can work together to promote inclusion and democratic values in the region and around the world.\n\n- Maureen Groppe\n\nBrazil politics:In echo of Jan. 6 attack in U.S., Brazilian protesters storm their Congress, high court and palace\n\nWhite House praises Minnesota for codifying Roe v. Wade\n\nThe White House Tuesday praised Minnesota for being the first state to codify Roe v. Wade. The Supreme Court's 1973 ruling in the case had established a federal constitutional right to abortion that subsisted for nearly half a century until it was overruled by the high court in June.\n\n“Americans overwhelmingly support a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions, as so clearly demonstrated last fall when voters turned out to defend access to abortion – including for ballot initiatives in California, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, and Vermont,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement. Jean-Pierre also applauded Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz for signing the legislation.\n\nSince the high court overturned Roe, abortion rights advocates are now trying to get protections at the state level.\n\n– Rebecca Morin\n\nMore:Post-Roe abortion battle draws attention to state judicial elections, new legal strategies\n\nJoe Biden: Kevin McCarthy is a 'decent man' but caters to extremists\n\nPresident Joe Biden offered both a compliment and a dig at House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., the day before the leaders will meet at the White House to discuss federal spending and the need to raise the federal debt limit.\n\nSpeaking to supporters at a Democratic Party fundraiser in New York City on Tuesday, Biden called McCarthy a “decent man” but said he’s beholden to extremist Republicans.\n\nThe commitments McCarthy had to make to get enough votes to become speaker were “just absolutely off the wall,” Biden said.\n\n– Maureen Groppe\n\nRep. Jamie Raskin asks Secret Service for Trump, Pence visitor logs\n\nRep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, wants the Secret service to turn over the visitor logs from former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate and former Vice President Mike Pence’s Indiana home.\n\nThe move is a counterpoint to committee chair James Comer, R-Ky., who is zeroing in on documents found in President Joe Biden’s Delaware garage and former office in Washington, D.C.\n\nRaskin asked Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle for all documents and communication related to visitor information from Jan. 21, 2021, to present, and he asked her to submit the information by Feb. 14.\n\n– Candy Woodall\n\nVice President Kamala Harris to attend Tyre Nichols’ funeral\n\nVice President Kamala Harris will attend Tyre Nichols’ funeral Wednesday, the White House announced.\n\nIn early January, Nichols was brutally beaten by five Memphis police officers who have been charged with his murder.\n\nIn addition to Harris, four other White House officials are attending. They are: Keisha Lance Bottoms, director of the White House Office of Public Engagement; Tara Murray, deputy director of the White House Office of Public Engagement; senior adviser Mitch Landrieu; and Erica Loewe, White House director of African American media.\n\n– Maureen Groppe\n\nFBI searched Joe Biden's former DC office after first document discovery\n\nThe FBI searched President Joe Biden's former Washington, D.C. office after the president's lawyers initially alerted the National Archives about the discovery of classified documents at the location, a person familiar with the matter said Tuesday.\n\nNo search warrant was issued in connection with the previously undisclosed action, which involved the consent of the president's legal team, said the source who is not authorized to comment publicly on the investigation.\n\nThe search was conducted in November, after lawyers discovered an initial batch of documents Nov. 2, at the think tank office that Biden used after serving as vice president.\n\n– Kevin Johnson\n\nBiden documents latest:FBI searched Biden's former DC office after first classified document discovery\n\nTrump repeatedly invokes Fifth Amendment in deposition for fraud lawsuit\n\nNewly released video showed former President Donald Trump being questioned under oath for the massive civil fraud lawsuit filed against him, his businesses and his oldest children by the New York Attorney General's office.\n\nAfter answering preliminary questions from New York Attorney General Letitia James, Trump used an introductory statement to characterize the investigation as a \"witch hunt,\" an accusation he has repeated since the case was filed in 2022.\n\nThe video confirmed that Trump used much of the deposition to invoke his Fifth Amendment right not to answer questions on grounds that he might incriminate himself. Trump said anyone in his position who did not take the Fifth \"would be a fool, an absolute fool,\" according to CBS News, which first obtained the video.\n\n- Kevin McCoy\n\nGeorge Santos steps down from House committees\n\nFacing increased legal scrutiny about his campaign finances, a House Ethics complaint and numerous calls to resign, New York Rep. George Santos told his House Republican colleagues Tuesday morning he will recuse himself from his committee positions.\n\n“With the ongoing attention surrounding both my personal and campaign financial investigations, I have submitted a request to Speaker McCarthy that I be temporarily recused from my committee assignments until I am cleared,” Santos said in a statement released by his office Tuesday. “This was a decision that I take very seriously. The business of the 118th Congress must continue without media fanfare.\"\n\nSantos indicated it may be temporary and that he would return to his committee seats once his legal and ethical reviews resolve. His resignation from the House Small Business and Science, Space and Technology committees comes a day after he had a meeting with GOP Speaker Kevin McCarthy. The speaker said he initiated the meeting Monday, but he did not disclose their discussion.\n\n- Candy Woodall\n\nBiden to meet with Congressional Black Caucus to discuss police accountability\n\nPresident Joe Biden will meet with members of the Congressional Black Caucus on Thursday to discuss police reform legislation in the wake of Tyre Nichols’ brutal beating that led to his death in Memphis, Tennessee.\n\n“Executive action can’t take the place of federal legislation and we need Congress to come together and take action to ensure our justice lives up to its name,” said Olivia Dalton, White House principal deputy press secretary.\n\nRep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., chair of the CBC, requested a meeting with the president according to a statement released Sunday. “No one in our nation should fear interacting with the police officers who serve our diverse communities, large and small. We all want to be safe,” said Horsford.\n\n- Ken Tran\n\nHow will ending COVID emergency affect Supreme Court's student loan, Title 42 cases?\n\nPresident Joe Biden’s decision to end the national and public emergencies tied to COVID-19 raises questions about what will become of major cases pending at the Supreme Court dealing with the Title 42 immigration effort and the administration’s student loan forgiveness plan.\n\nThe Supreme Court is set to hear arguments in several cases dealing with those programs in February and early March. Because the programs are tied to the pandemic emergencies, it’s not clear how declaring the emergencies officially over will affect the cases.\n\n“The fact that we’ve declared the emergency officially over is a strong political symbol that Title 42 is no longer needed and I think the Supreme Court will pick up on that signal,” said Lawrence Gostin, faculty director of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University Law Center.\n\nTitle 42 allows for the swift removal of some migrants seeking asylum without the usual review during an emergency. The high court is set to hear arguments March 1 on whether a number of conservative states could intervene in the case to defend the policy, which began during the Trump administration. The student loan cases, which question whether the administration had the power to forgive $400 billion in student loan debt, are set for argument Feb. 28.\n\nThe Justice Department declined to comment.\n\n- John Fritze and Chris Quintana\n\nCapitol Police arrest impersonator with knife stash\n\nUS Capitol Police found multiple knives and a chainsaw blade when they stopped and searched 37-year-old Max Eli Viner blocks from the Hill Monday evening, according to a press release.\n\nViner was wanted for questioning by the Secret Service, who after arriving on the scene searched his vehicle and found fake police equipment, along with shell casings, a smoke grenade and gas mask.\n\nThe suspect was arrested and faces pending charges for impersonating a law enforcement officer and possession of a prohibited weapon.\n\n- Savannah Kuchar\n\nHouse GOP will remove Omar from Foreign Affairs committee, Scalise says\n\nIf House Democrats follow through with naming Rep. Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs committee, the majority party will move to a full House vote to remove her, Majority Leader Steve Scalise said during news conference Tuesday.\n\n“Even if Omar were to be removed from the Foreign Affairs committee, she’d still be allowed to serve on other committees,” he said.\n\nSpeaker Kevin McCarthy unilaterally removed Reps. Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell from the House Intelligence committee, but it will take a two-thirds vote of the House to remove Omar from Foreign Affairs.\n\n- Candy Woodall\n\nPelosi won’t serve on House committees\n\nFormer House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who left the powerful leadership position after the 2022 midterm elections, will not serve on any of the chamber’s committees.\n\nThe California lawmaker had previously indicated she would not take any committee assignments this term, with her spokesperson Drew Hammill telling the Daily Beast in November that her “only focus will be San Francisco.”\n\nPelosi’s biography on the House clerk’s website lists no current assignments.\n\n– Ella Lee\n\nHouse GOP budget expected by April deadline, Scalise says\n\nAfter President Joe Biden challenged House Republicans to show him their budget, Majority Leader Steve Scalise said his caucus is working to meet its April 15 deadline.\n\nPresidents are expected to share their budgets the first Monday in February, but many have missed that deadline. Biden said his will be ready on March 9.\n\n“I hope the president meets his deadline just like we’re going to work to meet our deadline,” Scalise said.\n\nHe also commented on the scheduled meeting Wednesday between Biden and Speaker Kevin McCarthy about the debt ceiling and government spending.\n\nThe White House has said there will be no negotiations on the debt ceiling and Biden will not entertain any spending cuts.\n\n“It’s a recklessly irresponsible position for President Biden to say just give him more money so he can keep spending money that we don’t have,” he said. “We have got to get control over spending in Washington.”\n\n-- Candy Woodall\n\nWest Virginia: ‘In God We Trust’ mandate advances through state Senate\n\nA West Virginia bill that would require all public K-12 schools and higher learning institutions to display the phrase “In God We Trust” in a “conspicuous place” in the building is one step closer to becoming law after the state’s Senate passed the measure Monday.\n\n“We know there’s a lot of kids that have problems at home, tough times at home that we don’t know anything about,” Azinger said on the state Senate floor. “Maybe they’ll look up one day and say, ‘In God We Trust’ and know they can put their hope in God.”\n\nThe bill must pass the West Virginia House of Delegates before heading to the state’s governor, Republican Jim Justice, to be signed into law.\n\n- Ella Lee and The Associated Press\n\nGrand jury to see Trump hush money case in NYC: reports\n\nA New York grand jury will hear evidence about former President Donald Trump’s potentially criminal role in making payments to the porn star Stormy Daniels to keep her from sharing details of an alleged sexual encounter with the former president, according to multiple news reports.\n\nManhattan prosecutors began presenting evidence to a new grand jury Monday, the New York Times and NPR reported. It would be the latest of Trump’s legal woes as he ramps up his 2024 bid for president.\n\nIn a Truth Social post, Trump said the “‘Stormy’ nonsense” happened a long time ago – “long past the very publicly known & accepted deadline of the Statute of Limitations,” he said. The former president added that he placed “full Reliance” on his counsel at the time, Michael Cohen.\n\n-Ella Lee\n\nConservative media group goes undercover in search of CRT in Ohio\n\nSeveral Cincinnati-area school districts are featured in an anti-critical race theory sting published over the weekend by Accuracy in Media, a national, conservative media watchdog organization. In the video, local school administrators say they would continue to teach about diversity and social justice even if Ohio law forbids teaching such concepts.\n\n\"We'll just call it something else,\" Mason Early Childhood Center Assistant Principal Vivian Alvarez says in the video. \"We're still going to do the same work.\"\n\nMason City Schools spokesperson Tracey Carson told the Cincinnati Enquirer, a USA TODAY affiliate, that the district does not teach CRT, \"nor do we teach it in practice while calling it something else.\"\n\n-- Madeline Mitchell, Cincinnati Enquirer\n\nWill white women be more reliable voters for Democrats in 2024?\n\nThough women as a whole lean Democratic, white women tend to vote more conservatively than women of color.\n\nIn recent years, Republicans' messaging on schools' purported teachings on \"critical race theory\" — the idea that racism is embedded in all American laws and institutions — has been particularly effective at pushing white women voters to the right, said Jatia Wrighten, an African American studies professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. Critical race theory is an academic concept that is not taught in public schools.\n\nBut the 2022 overturning of Roe brought many white women back into the Democratic fold. In the midterm elections, Democrats successfully defended every incumbent Senate seat and managed to minimize substantial losses in the House, largely due to women who were furious about the decision.\n\nThat leaves Democrats with a daunting task for 2024: Persuading white women to join — and stick with — the party, giving Democrats a shot at control of Washington.\n\n-- Ella Lee, Mabinty Quarshie\n\nBiden traveling to NYC Tuesday\n\nPresident Joe Biden heads to New York City Tuesday, where he will announce Amtrak is receiving $292 million for the Hudson Tunnel Project.\n\nHis trip is the second of three this week to promote benefits of the infrastructure bill. The president highlighted a rail tunnel project in Baltimore on Monday and will discuss lead pipe removal in Philadelphia on Friday.\n\nIn New York, Biden’s trip also includes a fundraising stop for the Democratic National Committee.\n\n-- Maureen Groppe\n\n'We're here':Donald Trump hits the campaign trail again in New Hampshire, South Carolina\n\nBiden family hearing in House Oversight slated for next week\n\nThe day after he delivers the State of the Union, President Joe Biden and his family will be the subject of a GOP-led House Oversight Committee hearing.\n\nA hearing on Twitter’s decision to initially block the New York Post’s reporting on the “Biden family’s business schemes” and Hunter Biden’s laptop will be held Wednesday, Feb. 8, a committee spokesperson confirmed to USA TODAY.\n\nCommittee Chairman James Comer, a Kentucky Republican, has repeatedly said the panel is focused on the president, not his son. Former Twitter employees Vijaya Gadde, Yoel Roth and James Baker will testify at the hearing, according to the committee.\n\n- Candy Woodall\n\nMore:Biden’s most vocal Republican antagonists emerge from the sidelines – with subpoena power", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/01/31"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/01/13/paul-ryan-george-santos-resign-gop-leaders-congress/11047404002/", "title": "George Santos faces mounting pressure to step down by GOP leaders", "text": "The chorus of prominent Republicans calling on freshman Rep. George Santos to resign keeps rising with former House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., joining the list.\n\n\"This isn't an embellished candidacy. It's a fraudulent candidacy. He hoaxed his voters. So, of course he should step down,\" Ryan told CNN's Jake Tapper Thursday. \"He doesn't strike me as an honorable person, though.\"\n\nRyan is the latest Republican calling for Santos' resignation, adding his name to a list which includes, U.S. Rep. Nick Langworthy, who chairs the New York State Republican Committee, and a group of Republican leaders from Nassau County which Santos partly represents.\n\nWhich House GOP members have called for Santos to step down?\n\nAt least seven other GOP House members besides Langworthy have also called for Santos to step down.\n\nThey are: Ohio Rep. Max Miller, South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace and New York Reps. Marcus Molinaro, Nick LaLota, Rep. Michael Lawler, Brandon WIlliams and Anthony D'Esposito.\n\nNew York State Conservative Party Chairman Gerard Kasser also called for Santos to resign in a statement released Wednesday, stating that the freshman's lies \"morally disqualifies\" him from serving in office.\n\nSantos adamant he will serve his term\n\nSantos has faced mounting pressure to resign in recent weeks, following revelations uncovered by The New York Times in December that he lied about his background and resume while running for office. However, the freshman has vowed to serve out his two-year term.\n\nMore:Rep. George Santos' finances are raising questions. Here's what public records show.\n\n\"I came here to serve the people, not politicians and party leaders and I'm going to do just that,\" Santos told Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz Thursday on Steve Bannon's War Room podcast. Gaetz was filling in for Bannon, a former Trump White House strategist.\n\nWhat's Speaker Kevin McCarthy saying about Santos amid the rising pressure?\n\nDespite the growing numbers of Republicans calling for the New York lawmaker to step down, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., has remained unswayed as he still plans to allow Santos to serve on House committees.\n\n\"The voters have elected George Santos. If there is a concern, he will go through ethics (committee),\" McCarthy said during a press conference Thursday. \"If there is something that is found, he will be dealt with in that manner but they have a voice in this process.”\n\nMore:Defiant George Santos vows to serve out term; McCarthy declines to act amid GOP pressure\n\nThe removal of Santos might further erode the GOP's razor-thin majority in the House as Democrats could flip the competitive New York district, which spans northeastern Queens and part of Long Island's North Shore in a special election.\n\nOver the tumultuous House Speaker election spanning four-days earlier this month, Santos remained steadfast in his support for McCarthy. He voted for the California Republican on each of the 15 ballots, helping him win the speakership by a razor-thin margin.\n\nGo deeper", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/01/13"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/27/politics/george-santos-democrats-gop-leadership/index.html", "title": "George Santos faces growing condemnation as House GOP ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nGOP Rep.-elect George Santos is facing growing condemnation from House Democrats, some of whom have called on him to step aside, and even from some corners of the GOP, with at least one of his fellow incoming Republicans calling for him to face an ethics investigation. House GOP leadership, however, remains silent over revelations that the New York Republican lied about parts of his biography.\n\nSantos has admitted to fabricating sections of his resume – including his past work experience and education – and has apologized but says he intends to serve in Congress.\n\nDemocratic Reps. Joaquin Castro of Texas and Ted Lieu of California were among those calling on Santos – after the congressman-elect gave interviews acknowledging “embellishing” his resume – to resign and if he refuses, for the House to expel him.\n\nVideo Ad Feedback Reporter who broke the inconsistencies of GOP Rep.-elect Santos' resume says there's more to explore 06:35 - Source: CNN\n\nCastro called for Santos to be investigated by authorities and argued if the New York Republican is allowed to serve in Congress after lying about his resume, “There will be more who seek office up and down the ballot who will believe that they can completely fabricate credentials, personal features and accomplishments to win office.”\n\nDemocratic Rep.-elect Dan Goldman of New York, a former federal prosecutor, called Santos a “total fraud.” He criticized House Republicans, saying, “Congress also has an obligation to hold George Santos accountable, but it is sadly clear that we cannot trust House Republicans to initiate an investigation in the House Ethics Committee.”\n\nAt least one incoming member of the GOP conference called for Santos to face scrutiny from the House Ethics Committee – an investigative panel that is evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats but has limited options for doling out repercussions.\n\n“As a Navy man who campaigned on restoring accountability and integrity to our government, I believe a full investigation by the House Ethics Committee and, if necessary, law enforcement, is required,” GOP Rep.-elect Nick LaLota said in a statement that marks the sharpest rebuke yet from a Republican coming to Congress or currently serving.\n\nVideo Ad Feedback He lost to Santos. Hear him weigh in on his opponent's lies 02:46 - Source: CNN\n\n“New Yorkers deserve the truth and House Republicans deserve an opportunity to govern without this distraction,” LaLota added.\n\nAnother incoming GOP lawmaker from New York, Rep.-elect Anthony D’Esposito, condemned Santos’ false statements and called on him to “pursue a path of honesty,” although he stopped short of calling for an investigation.\n\n“Neighbors across Long Island are deeply hurt and rightly offended by the lies and misstatements made by Congressman-Elect George Santos,” he said in a statement. “While Santos has taken a required first step by ‘coming clean’ with respect to his education, work experience and other issues, he must continue to pursue a path of honesty.”\n\nIt is unlikely House Republican leadership will refuse to seat Santos, who is scheduled to be sworn in with the rest of the new members of Congress next Tuesday. The House has the power under the Constitution to expel any member with a two-thirds vote, but doing so is extremely rare and only five lawmakers have been expelled in US history.\n\nBesides making a referral to the House Ethics Committee, other potential options for dealing with Santos include not giving him any committee assignments, which would be up to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.\n\nVideo Ad Feedback Analysis: Why a decades-old federal law could be Santos' undoing 01:40 - Source: CNN\n\nIn the past, the California Republican has shown little appetite for punishing his own members for bad behavior – particularly when it comes to actions from before they were a member of Congress. McCarthy has also declined to weigh in when members are under investigation, arguing he will let the probes play out before determining how to proceed.\n\n“This will not deter me from being an effective member of the United States Congress in the 118th session,” Santos told City & State in an interview posted Monday night.\n\nMcCarthy’s office and the National Republican Congressional Committee did not respond to CNN’s request for comment Monday evening.\n\nRepublican condemnation has, however, come from outside Congress.\n\nNassau County Republican Committee Chairman Joseph G. Cairo, Jr., said Tuesday that Santos “has broken the public trust” and “has a lot of work to do to regain the trust of voters.”\n\n“I am deeply disappointed in Mr. Santos, and I expected more than just a blanket apology,” Cairo said in a statement. “The damage that his lies have caused to many people, especially those who have been impacted by the Holocaust, are profound.”\n\nVideo Ad Feedback Records contradict Santos' claim grandparents fled Holocaust 04:02 - Source: CNN\n\nCNN’s KFile reported that claims by Santos that his grandparents “survived the Holocaust” as Ukrainian Jewish refugees from Belgium who changed their surname are contradicted by sources including family trees compiled by genealogy websites, records on Jewish refugees and interviews with multiple genealogists.\n\n“I never claimed to be Jewish,” Santos told the New York Post on Monday. “I am Catholic. Because I learned my maternal family had a Jewish background I said I was ‘Jew-ish.’”\n\nBut Santos described himself as a “proud American Jew” in a document shared with Jewish groups during the campaign, which was first reported by the Forward and confirmed by CNN.\n\nWhen asked about that statement on Tuesday night by former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who was guest hosting Fox’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Santos said, “My heritage is Jewish. I’ve always identified as Jewish. I was raised a practicing Catholic.”\n\nThe Republican Jewish Coalition on Tuesday said the incoming congressman had “misrepresented his heritage” and “will not be welcome at any future RJC event.”\n\n“We are very disappointed in Congressman-elect Santos,” RJC CEO Matt Brooks said in a statement. “He deceived us and misrepresented his heritage. In public comments and to us personally he previously claimed to be Jewish. He has begun his tenure in Congress on a very wrong note.”\n\nSantos admitted Monday he didn’t graduate from any college or university, despite previously claiming he had degrees from Baruch College and New York University.\n\nHe also admitted that he never worked directly for the financial firms Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, as he has previously suggested, but claimed that he did do work for them through his company, telling the New York Post it was a “poor choice of words” to say he worked for them.\n\nThe New York Times first revealed last week that Santos’ biography appeared to be partly fictional. CNN confirmed details of that reporting, including about his college education and employment history.", "authors": ["Kate Sullivan Melanie Zanona", "Kate Sullivan", "Melanie Zanona"], "publish_date": "2022/12/27"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/02/03/republican-george-santos-congress-lies/11136615002/", "title": "Republican George Santos finishes month in Congress with few ...", "text": "WASHINGTON—Republican George Santos is starting February in a weakened political position, battered by public pressure and growing legal scrutiny after he admitted to lying about parts of his personal and professional resume.\n\nHe's facing intense criticism for campaign finance disclosures that have raised several red flags.\n\nBut perhaps the biggest shift in a month is Speaker Kevin McCarthy moving from strongly defending Santos as the voters' choice to saying it was \"appropriate\" for the embattled freshman from New York to recuse himself from two House committees.\n\nWhat Kevin McCarthy is saying about George Santos\n\n\"Santos stepping down is based upon Santos issues. I think it's better that Santos is not on committees right now until he clears up these issues,\" McCarthy told reporters Wednesday night.\n\nWhen asked why it was good for Santos to step down weeks after being seated on committees, McCarthy said, \"I had some new questions.\"\n\nThe speaker didn't describe his questions.\n\n\"I think going through ethics will answer some others,\" McCarthy said. \"I think until he goes through that, it would be better that he doesn't serve on committees.\"\n\nGeorge Santos controversy:Here's a look at investigations of the House Republican\n\nIlhan Omar committee vote and Republican George Santos\n\nSantos said this week part of his calculation for resigning from committees was to avoid being a distraction as House Republicans prepared to remove Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., from the Foreign Affairs committee.\n\nGOP members ousted her from the committee Thursday, citing some of Omar's past comments that were criticized by both parties as antisemitic.\n\nShe was criticized by both Democrats and Republicans for suggesting pro-Israel lobbyists were buying political favors – a comment for which she apologized.\n\nBut Omar and Democrats have said removing her – and Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff and Eric Swalwell last week – is political payback for GOP Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar being removed in the last Congress for incendiary comments and sharing posts that depicted violence against another representative. They had also been accusing Republicans of hypocrisy for seating Santos and removing Omar.\n\nCommittees are where bipartisan relationships are formed and where members can craft legislation that is important to their districts, according to Steve Israel, a former Democratic congressman from New York.\n\n\"One thing I learned in sixteen years in Congress is that most of the hard work is done in committees,\" he said in a statement.\n\nIsrael, who served in the House from 2001 to 2017, is now a government and policy professor at Cornell University.\n\n\"We’re now paying George Santos not to do the hard work,\" he said.\n\nWhat we know:Rep. George Santos quits House committee seats amid uproar over lies\n\nSantos news: FBI investigation, treasurer quits\n\nThe FBI is investigating a U.S. Navy veteran's claims that Santos led a fundraising scheme, a development that was first reported by Politico.\n\nRichard Osthoff told Politico two agents contacted him Wednesday to learn more about Santos starting a GoFundMe account to raise $3,000 for the veteran's pit bull mix, Sapphire, and taking off with the money.\n\nThe GoFundMe probe is one of several issues facing Santos after a month of Congress, where reporters are investigating his biography and campaign finances.\n\nOn Tuesday, Santos campaign treasurer Nancy Marks filed her resignation with the Federal Election Commission.\n\nA new treasurer, Andrew Olson, is listed on his most recent campaign filing.\n\nThe change also comes shortly after progressive magazine Mother Jones reported they could not confirm the identities of more than a dozen of Santos' major campaign donors and the Miami Herald reported several expenditures on his campaign finance reports did not match vendors' records in Florida.\n\nThese latest reports come as Santos is facing multiple legal inquires at the local and federal levels.\n\nJoseph Murray, Santos' personal attorney, told USA TODAY this week, \"it would be inappropriate to comment on an ongoing investigation.\"\n\nThe pressure campaign against Santos continues next when a caravan of his New York constituents will arrive by bus to the Capitol Tuesday to call on him to resign and deliver to McCarthy a petition of more than a thousand district residents calling for his removal.\n\nA deeper look:Companies linked to embattled congressman George Santos draw scrutiny. What we know.\n\nCandy Woodall is a Congress reporter for USA TODAY. She can be reached at cwoodall@usatoday.com or on Twitter at @candynotcandace.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/02/03"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2023/01/31/rep-george-santos-classified-documents-winter-storm-short-list/11147295002/", "title": "Rep. George Santos, classified documents, winter storm: The Short ...", "text": "Rep. George Santos resigned from his House committee seats amid increased legal scrutiny about his campaign finances and an ethics complaint. The prices of some Super Bowl snacks will cost less this year. And scientists are trying to resurrect an extinct bird.\n\n👋 Happy Tuesday! It's Julius. Let's get into today's news, shall we?\n\nBut first: A group of brave otters. 🦦 A viral video shows a bevy of otters circle a deadly cobra in Singapore.\n\nThe Short List is a snappy USA TODAY news roundup. Subscribe to the newsletter here.\n\nSantos quits committee seats amid calls for his resignation\n\nEmbattled Republican Rep. George Santos resigned from his House committee seats Tuesday as pressure mounts for him to step down from Congress. But Santos – who has defied criticism and pledged to serve his term despite admitting that he lied about his background – indicated recusing himself from committees may be a temporary move and that he would return to his positions once his legal and ethical reviews resolve. His resignation from the House Small Business and Science, Space and Technology committees comes a day after he had a meeting with Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Read more about Santos' decision.\n\nWhat we know: Companies linked to embattled congressman George Santos draw scrutiny.\n\nFBI searched Biden's former DC office after first document discovery\n\nThe FBI searched President Joe Biden's former Washington, D.C., office after the president's lawyers initially alerted the National Archives about the discovery of classified documents at the location, a person familiar with the matter said Tuesday. No search warrant was issued in connection with the previously undisclosed action, which involved the consent of the president's legal team, said a source who is not authorized to comment publicly on the investigation. The search was conducted in November after lawyers discovered an initial batch of documents at the think tank office that Biden used after serving as vice president. It was not immediately clear whether additional documents were recovered at the time. Read more.\n\nMore politics updates: Trump invokes Fifth repeatedly in deposition video.\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\nSevere winter storm thwarts travel\n\nWinter storm warnings and weather advisories stretched from Texas to New York on Tuesday as snow, sleet and freezing rain snarled air traffic and brought havoc to roadways. More than 50 million Americans were under some sort of winter weather warning or watch Tuesday. Almost 3,000 flights within, into, or out of the U.S. were delayed or canceled before 10:30 a.m. In Texas, Dallas Fort Worth International Airport and Dallas Love Field issued ground stops Tuesday morning because of snow and ice. See the latest weather updates.\n\nSuper Bowl foods may be cheaper this year\n\nAlthough inflation has driven up prices for at-home food by 11.8% over the past year, some Super Bowl party staples like chicken wings and guacamole will cost less this year, according to a new report from Wells Fargo. The report shows a decline in price for foods like chicken wings means the grocery bill for this year's game should cost less than last year for savvy shoppers. “The last two years have been a real shock to a lot of people, but we're starting to see a lot of things start working in our favor again,\" said Michael Swanson, Wells Fargo's chief agricultural economist. Conversely, the report says goods such as beer, chips and soda are more expensive this year. Read more on the prices of Super Bowl favorites.\n\n'Egg-scuse me, this carton is how much?'Here's why egg prices are soaring across the U.S.\n\nReal quick\n\nScientists are trying to resurrect the dodo\n\nGenetic engineering company Colossal wants to bring the dodo back to life. “The dodo is a prime example of a species that became extinct because we – people – made it impossible for them to survive in their native habitat,\" said Beth Shapiro, lead paleogeneticist and a member of Colossal's scientific advisory board. The last dodo was killed in 1681, according to Britannica.com. Colossal said it is creating an Avian Genomics Group to bring back the dodo and other extinct bird species \"through genetic rescue techniques and its de-extinction toolkit.\" Read more about Colossal's efforts to resurrect extinct species.\n\nMore on Colossal: Scientists are trying to bring back the Tasmanian tiger nearly a century after extinction.\n\nA break from the news", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/01/31"}]}
{"question_id": "20230203_17", "search_time": "2023/02/04/11:56", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/26/economy/inflation-recession-economy-deutsche-bank/index.html", "title": "A major recession is coming, Deutsche Bank warns | CNN Business", "text": "New York CNN Business —\n\nDeutsche Bank raised eyebrows earlier this month by becoming the first major bank to forecast a US recession, albeit a “mild” one.\n\nNow, it’s warning of a deeper downturn caused by the Federal Reserve’s quest to knock down stubbornly high inflation.\n\n“We will get a major recession,” Deutsche Bank economists wrote in a report to clients on Tuesday.\n\nThe problem, according to the bank, is that while inflation may be peaking, it will take a “long time” before it gets back down to the Fed’s goal of 2%. That suggests the central bank will raise interest rates so aggressively that it hurts the economy.\n\n“We regard it…as highly likely that the Fed will have to step on the brakes even more firmly, and a deep recession will be needed to bring inflation to heel,” Deutsche Bank economists wrote in its report with the ominous title, “Why the coming recession will be worse than expected.”\n\nBehind the curve\n\nConsumer prices spiked by 8.5% in March, the fastest pace in 40 years. The jobs market remains on fire, with Moody’s Analytics projecting that the unemployment rate will soon fall to the lowest level since the early 1950s.\n\nTo make its case, Deutsche Bank created an index that tracks the distance between inflation and unemployment over the past 60 years and the Fed’s stated goals for those metrics. That research, according to the bank, finds that the Fed today is “much further behind the curve” than it has been since the early 1980s, a period when extremely high inflation forced the central bank to raise interest rates to record highs, crushing the economy.\n\nHistory shows the Fed has “never been able to correct” even smaller overshoots of inflation and employment “without pushing the economy into a significant recession,” Deutsche Bank said.\n\nGiven that the job market has “over-tightened” by as much as two percentage points of unemployment, the bank said, “Something stronger than a mild recession will be needed to do the job.”\n\nThe good news is that Deutsche Bank sees the economy rebounding by mid-2024 as the Fed reverses course in its inflation fight.\n\nGoldman Sachs: Recession is not inevitable\n\nOf course, no one knows precisely how this will play out. Although Deutsche Bank is pessimistic – it’s the most bearish among major banks on Wall Street – others contend this gloom-and-doom is overdone.\n\nGoldman Sachs concedes it will be “very challenging” to bring down high inflation and wage growth, but stresses that a recession is “not inevitable.”\n\n“We do not need a recession but probably do need growth to slow to a somewhat below-potential pace, a path that raises recession risk,” Goldman Sachs economists wrote in a report Friday evening.\n\nUBS is similarly hopeful that the economic expansion will continue despite the Fed’s shift to inflation-fighting mode.\n\n“Inflation should ease from current levels, and we do not expect a recession from rising interest rates,” Mark Haefele, chief investment officer at UBS Global Wealth Management, wrote in a report on Monday.\n\nWar and Covid lockdowns pressure inflation\n\nDeutsche Bank said the most important factor behind its more negative view is the likelihood that inflation will remain “persistently elevated for longer than generally anticipated.”\n\nThe bank said several developments will contribute to higher-than-feared inflation, including: the reversal of globalization, climate change, further supply-chain disruptions caused by the war in Ukraine and Covid lockdowns in China and coming increases to inflation expectations that will support actual inflation.\n\n“The scourge of inflation has returned and is here to stay,” Deutsche Bank said.\n\nIf inflation does stay elevated, the Fed will be forced to consider more dramatic interest rate hikes. The Fed raised interest rates by a quarter-percentage point in March and Chairman Jerome Powell conceded last week that a half-point hike is “on the table” at next week’s meeting.\n\n“It is sorely tempting to take a go-slow approach hoping that the US economy can be landed softly on a sustainable path. This will not happen,” Deutsche Bank said. “Our view is that the only way to minimize the economic, financial and societal damage of prolonged inflation is to err on the side of doing too much.”", "authors": ["Matt Egan"], "publish_date": "2022/04/26"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/06/economy/federal-reserve-minutes-interest-rate-hike/index.html", "title": "The Fed is ready to move faster on interest rates | CNN Business", "text": "New York CNN Business —\n\nThe Federal Reserve is ready to raise interest rates at a faster pace to get a handle on America’s pervasive inflation problem, according to minutes from the central bank’s March meeting released Wednesday.\n\nThe minutes said “many participants” at the Fed’s meeting in March noted they would have preferred a 50 basis point increase to the federal funds rate in light of high inflation.\n\nInstead the Fed raised the benchmark rate by 25 basis points to a range of 0.25%-0.5% last month, its first interest rate increase since 2018. Only St Louis Fed President James Bullard was in favor of a 50 basis point increase at the March meeting.\n\nThe rate hike came after the Fed announced the wind-down of its pandemic stimulus late last year.\n\nBetween a strong US labor market, which has seen the unemployment rate fall to a new pandemic-era low of 3.6%, and inflation climbing to a 40-year high, the Fed needs to “move expeditiously,” Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said during a conference last month.\n\nThe central bankers are also cautious about any further price increases due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “By leading to higher energy and food prices, weighing on consumer sentiment, and contributing to tighter financial conditions, the invasion also negatively affected the growth outlook,” the minutes said.\n\nFollowing the more moderate rate increase in March, expectations for a steeper hike at the May meeting have risen. According to the CME’s FedWatch Tool, market expectations for a 50 basis point increase are above 75%. Expectations inched higher still after the minutes were released Wednesday.\n\nOther central bank officials have also said they would be open to raising interest rates faster since the initial increase last month, including Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker.\n\nThe Fed said it is also getting ready to shrink down its massive balance sheet, which got bloated during the pandemic stimulus program. The Fed could reduce its Treasury and mortgage-backed security holdings by as much as $95 billion per month starting in May, a faster pace than in previous tightening cycles.\n\nWall Street was displeased to hear the Fed’s increasingly worried tone about inflation. Investors sold off stocks, with the Dow (INDU) falling 200 points, or 0.6%. The broader S&P 500 (SPX) fell 1% and the Nasdaq Composite (COMP) tumbled 2.1%.\n\nBond rates continued to surge with the expectation that rates would rise quickly. The 10-year Treasury yield rose to 2.62%, hitting a three-year high.\n\nFormer Fed President Bill Dudley said in a Bloomberg op-ed Wednesday morning that a down market is a necessary byproduct of lowering inflation. “One thing is certain: To be effective, [the Fed] will have to inflict more losses on stock and bond investors than it has so far,” Dudley said.\n\n–CNN Business’ Dave Goldman and Nicole Goodkind contributed to this report.", "authors": ["Anneken Tappe"], "publish_date": "2022/04/06"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/02/business/global-recession-fears-explained/index.html", "title": "5 signs the world is headed for a recession | CNN Business", "text": "New York CNN Business —\n\nAround the world, markets are flashing warning signs that the global economy is teetering on a cliff’s edge.\n\nThe question of a recession is no longer if, but when.\n\nOver the past week, the pulse of those flashing red lights quickened as markets grappled with the reality — once speculative, now certain — that the Federal Reserve will press on with its most aggressive monetary tightening campaign in decades to wring inflation from the US economy. Even if that means triggering a recession. And even if it comes at the expense of consumers and businesses far beyond US borders.\n\nThere’s now a 98% chance of a global recession, according to research firm Ned Davis, which brings some sobering historical credibility to the table. The firm’s recession probability reading has only been this high twice before — in 2008 and 2020.\n\nConsumer spending accounts for roughly two-thirds of US gross domestic product. That growth engine is beginning to sputter. Richard B. Levine/Levine Roberts/ZUMA Press\n\nWhen economists warn of a downturn, they’re typically basing their assessment on a variety of indicators.\n\nLet’s unpack five key trends:\n\nThe mighty US dollar\n\nThe US dollar plays an outsized role in the global economy and international finance. And right now, it is stronger than it’s been in two decades.\n\nThe simplest explanation comes back to the Fed.\n\nWhen the US central bank raises interest rates, as it has been doing since March, it makes the dollar more appealing to investors around the world.\n\nIn any economic climate, the dollar is seen as a safe place to park your money. In a tumultuous climate — a global pandemic, say, or a war in Eastern Europe — investors have even more incentive to purchase dollars, usually in the form of US government bonds.\n\nThe Bank of England intervened in the bond market this week restore confidence in UK assets. Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg/Getty Images\n\nWhile a strong dollar is a nice perk for Americans traveling abroad, it creates headaches for just about everyone else.\n\nThe value of the UK pound, the euro, China’s yuan and Japan’s yen, among many others, has tumbled. That makes it more expensive for those nations to import essential items like food and fuel.\n\nIn response, central banks that are already fighting pandemic-induced inflation wind up raising rates higher and faster to shore up the value of their own currencies.\n\nThe dollar’s strength also creates destabilizing effects for Wall Street, as many of the S&P 500 companies do business around the world. By one estimate from Morgan Stanley, each 1% rise in the dollar index has a negative 0.5% impact on S&P 500 earnings.\n\nAmerica’s economic engine stalls\n\nThe No. 1 driver of the world’s largest economy is shopping. And America’s shoppers are tired.\n\nAfter more than a year of rising prices on just about everything, with wages not keeping up, consumers have pulled back.\n\n“The hardship caused by inflation means that consumers are dipping into their savings,” EY Parthenon Chief Economist Gregory Daco said in a note Friday. The personal saving rate in August remained unchanged at only 3.5%, Daco said — near its lowest rate since 2008, and well below its pre-Covid level of around 9%.\n\nOnce again, the reason behind the pullback has a lot to do with the Fed.\n\nThe Federal Reserve, led by Chairman Jerome Powell, is aggressively raising rates to combat inflation — even if it risks triggering a recession. Kevin Lamarque/Reuters\n\nInterest rates have risen at a historic pace, pushing mortgage rates to their highest level in more than a decade and making it harder for businesses to grow. Eventually, the Fed’s rate hikes should broadly bring costs down. But in the meantime, consumers are getting a one-two punch of high borrowing rates and high prices, especially when it comes to necessities like food and housing.\n\nAmericans opened their wallets during the 2020 lockdowns, which powered the economy out of its brief-but-severe pandemic recession. Since then, government aid has evaporated and inflation has taken root, pushing prices up at their fastest rate in 40 years and sapping consumers’ spending power.\n\nCorporate America tightens its belt\n\nBusiness has been booming across industries for the bulk of the pandemic era, even with historically high inflation eating into profits. That is thanks (once again) to the tenacity of American shoppers, as businesses were largely able to pass on their higher costs to consumers to cushion profit margins.\n\nBut the earnings bonanza may not last.\n\nIn mid-September, one company whose fortunes serve as a kind of economic bellwether gave investors a shock.\n\nFedEx, which operates in more than 200 countries, unexpectedly revised its outlook, warning that demand was softening, and earnings were likely to plunge more than 40%.\n\nIn an interview, its CEO was asked whether he believes the slowdown was a sign of a looming global recession.\n\n“I think so,” he responded. “These numbers, they don’t portend very well.”\n\nFedEx, with its global footprint, is an economic bellwether. Its revised outlook has renewed recession fears on Wall Street. Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images\n\nFedEx isn’t alone. On Tuesday, Apple’s stock fell after Bloomberg reported the company was scrapping plans to increase iPhone 14 production after demand came in below expectations.\n\nAnd just ahead of the holiday season, when employers would normally ramp up hiring, the mood is now more cautious.\n\n“We’ve not seen the normal September uptick in companies posting for temporary help,” said Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter. “Companies are hanging back and waiting to see what conditions hold.”\n\nWelcome to bear territory\n\nWall Street has been hit with whiplash, and stocks are now on track for their worst year since 2008 — in case anyone needs yet another scary historical comparison.\n\nBut last year was a very different story. Equity markets thrived in 2021, with the S&P 500 soaring 27%, thanks to a torrent of cash pumped in by the Federal Reserve, which unleashed a double-barreled monetary-easing policy in the spring of 2020 to keep financial markets from crumbling.\n\nThe party lasted until early 2022. But as inflation set in, the Fed began to take away the proverbial punch bowl, raising interest rates and unwinding its bond-buying mechanism that had propped up the market.\n\nThe hangover has been brutal. The S&P 500, the broadest measure of Wall Street — and the index responsible for the bulk of Americans’ 401(k)s — is down nearly 24% for the year. And it’s not alone. All three major US indexes are in bear markets — down at least 20% from their most recent highs.\n\nIn an unfortunate twist, bond markets, typically a safe haven for investors when stocks and other assets decline, are also in a tailspin.\n\nAll three major US indexes are in a bear market, down at least 20% from their most recent highs. Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images\n\nOnce again, blame the Fed.\n\nInflation, along with the steep rise in interest rates by the central bank, has pushed bond prices down, which causes bond yields (aka the return an investor gets for their loan to the government) to go up.\n\nOn Wednesday, the yield on the 10-year US Treasury briefly surpassed 4%, hitting its highest level in 14 years. That surge was followed by a steep drop in response to the Bank of England’s intervention in its own spiraling bond market — amounting to tectonic moves in a corner of the financial world that is designed to be steady, if not downright boring.\n\nEuropean bond yields are also spiking as central banks follow the Fed’s lead in raising rates to shore up their own currencies.\n\nBottom line: There are few safe places for investors to put their money right now, and that’s unlikely to change until global inflation gets under control and central banks loosen their grips.\n\nWar, soaring prices and radical policies collide\n\nNowhere is the collision of economic, financial, and political calamities more painfully visible than in the United Kingdom.\n\nLike the rest of the world, the UK has struggled with surging prices that are largely attributable to the colossal shock of Covid-19, followed by the trade disruptions created by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. As the West cut off imports of Russian natural gas, energy prices have soared and supplies have dwindled.\n\nThose events were bad enough on their own.\n\nBut then, just over a week ago, the freshly installed government of Prime Minister Liz Truss announced a sweeping tax-cut plan that economists from both ends of the political spectrum have decried as unorthodox at best, diabolical at worst.\n\nIn short, the Truss administration said it would slash taxes for all Britons to encourage spending and investment and, in theory, soften the blow of a recession. But the tax cuts aren’t funded, which means the government must take on debt to finance them.\n\nThat decision set off a panic in financial markets and put Downing Street in a standoff with its independent central bank, the Bank of England. Investors around the world sold off UK bonds in droves, plunging the pound to its lowest level against the dollar in nearly 230 years. As in, since 1792, when Congress made the US dollar legal tender.\n\nThe BOE staged an emergency intervention to buy up UK bonds on Wednesday and restore order in financial markets. It stemmed the bleeding, for now. But the ripple effects of the Trussonomics turmoil is spreading far beyond the offices of bond traders.\n\nBritons, who are already in a cost-of-living crisis, with inflation at 10% — the highest of any G7 economy — are now panicking over higher borrowing costs that could force millions of homeowners’ monthly mortgage payments to go up by hundreds or even thousands of pounds.\n\nThe upshot\n\nWhile the consensus is that a global recession is likely sometime in 2023, it’s impossible to predict how severe it will be or how long it will last. Not every recession is as painful as the 2007-09 Great Recession, but every recession is, of course, painful.\n\nSome economies, particularly the United States, with its strong labor market and resilient consumers, will be able to withstand the blow better than others.\n\n“We are in uncharted waters in the months ahead,” wrote economists at the World Economic Forum in a report this week.\n\n“The immediate outlook for the global economy and for much of the world’s population is dark,” they continued, adding that the challenges “will test the resilience of economies and societies and exact a punishing human toll.”\n\nBut there are some silver linings, they said. Crises force transformations that can ultimately improve standards of living and make economies stronger.\n\n“Businesses have to change. This has been the story since the pandemic started,” said Rima Bhatia, an economic adviser for Gulf International Bank. “Businesses no longer can continue on the path that they were at. That’s the opportunity and that’s the silver lining.”\n\n— CNN Business’ Julia Horowitz, Anna Cooban, Mark Thompson, Matt Egan and Chris Isidore contributed reporting.", "authors": ["Allison Morrow"], "publish_date": "2022/10/02"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/28/success/money-moves-recession-geopolitical-unrest/index.html", "title": "Recession fears are mounting. Here's how to protect your money ...", "text": "When it comes to fraying nerves, this spring is really outperforming.\n\nA push by the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates and combat high inflation. Supply chain shortages. An ongoing global health crisis. And of course, the geopolitical earthquake caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which is also threatening to create a world food crisis.\n\nWith Russia’s internationally condemned invasion of Ukraine, one thing is certain: No one knows exactly how things will play out.\n\nLock in a new job now\n\nWith ultra-low unemployment and plenty of openings, it’s a job seeker’s market right now. But if there’s a recession, that could change quickly. So make hay while you can.\n\n“If you are not working, or are looking for a better position, now would be a good time to take advantage of the very strong job market and lock in a position,” said Florida-based certified financial planner Mari Adam.\n\nTo help in your search, here are some resume dos and don’ts to keep in mind.\n\nCash in on the housing boom\n\nIf you’ve been on the fence about selling your home, now might be the time to make the leap.\n\nThe housing market has been on a tear, with year-over-year home prices up nearly 15% in April and rents nearly 17% higher.\n\nMeanwhile, mortgage rates are up more than 2 percentage points from a year ago, which makes buying a home much more expensive and that may dampen demand. “I would suggest that anyone planning to put their house on the market do so right away,” said Adam.\n\nCover your near-term cash needs\n\nIt’s always a good idea, but especially when confronted with big events beyond your control, to make sure you have liquid assets for your most urgent needs.\n\nThat means enough money set aside in cash, money market funds or short-term fixed income instruments to cover near-term tax payments, unexpected emergencies and any big, upcoming expenses (e.g., a down payment or tuition).\n\nThis is also advisable if you are near or in retirement, in which case you may want to have enough liquidity to cover a year or more of the living expenses that you would ordinarily pay for with withdrawals from your portfolio, Williams said. This should be the amount you would need to supplement your fixed income payments, such as Social Security or a private pension.\n\nIn addition, Williams suggests having two to four years in lower volatility investments like a short-term bond fund.\n\nThat will help you ride out any market downturn should one occur and give your investments time to recover.\n\nDon’t trade on the headlines\n\nRapid-fire news reports about higher energy and food prices or talk of a potential world war or nuclear attack are unnerving. But making financial decisions based on an emotional response to current events is often a losing proposition.\n\nBut making financial decisions based on an emotional response to current events is often a losing proposition.\n\n“Making a radical change in the midst of all this uncertainty is usually a decision that [you’ll] regret,” said Don Bennyhoff, chief investment officer for Liberty Wealth Advisors and a former investment strategist at Vanguard.\n\nLook back at periods of crisis over the last century and you’ll see that stocks typically came back faster than anyone might have expected in the moment, and did well on average over time.\n\nFor example, since the financial crisis hit in 2008, the S&P 500 has returned 11% a year on average through 2021, according to data analyzed by First Trust Advisors. The worst year in that period was 2008, when stocks fell 38%. But in most of the years that followed, the index posted a gain. And four of its annual gains ranged between 23% and 30%.\n\nIf you go back as far as 1926, that annual average return on the S&P has been 10.5%.\n\n“Staying the course may be hard on your nerves, but it can be healthiest for your portfolio,” Williams said.\n\nThat’s not to discount the seriousness of nuclear threats or the chance that this period could diverge from historical patterns. But were things to truly escalate globally, he noted, “we’d have more to be concerned about than our investment portfolios.”\n\nReview your risk tolerance\n\nIt’s easy to say you have a high tolerance for risk when the S&P 500 keeps setting record highs. But you have to be able to stomach the volatility that inevitably comes with investing over time.\n\nSo review your holdings to make sure they still align with your risk tolerance for a potentially rockier road ahead. And while you’re at it, figure out what it means to you to “lose” money.\n\n“There are many definitions of risk and loss,” Bennyhoff said.\n\nFor instance, if you’re keeping money in a savings account or CD, any interest rate you’re earning is likely being outpaced by inflation. So while you preserve your principal, you lose buying power over time.\n\nThen again, if it’s more important to preserve principal over a year or two than risk losing any of it – which could happen when you invest in stocks – that inflation-based loss may be worth it to you because you’re getting what Bennyhoff calls a “sleep-easy return.”\n\nThat said, for longer-term goals, figure out how much you feel comfortable putting at some risk to get a greater return and prevent inflation from eating away at your savings and gains.\n\n“Over time you’re better off and safer as a person if you can grow your wealth,” Adam said.\n\nRebalance your portfolio\n\nGiven record stock returns in the past few years, now may be a good time to rebalance your portfolio if you haven’t done so in a while.\n\nFor instance, Adam said, you may be overweight in growth stocks. To help stabilize your returns going forward, she suggested maybe reallocating some money into slower-growing, dividend-paying value stocks through a mutual fund.\n\nAnd check to see that you have at least some exposure to bonds. While inflation has resulted in the worst quarterly return in high-quality bonds in 40 years, don’t count them out.\n\n“Should a recession result from the Fed’s aggressive interest rate hikes to quell inflation, bonds are likely to do well. Recessions tend to be far kinder to high quality bonds than they are to stocks,” Bennyhoff said.\n\nMake new investments slowly\n\nIf you have a large lump sum – maybe you just sold your business or house, or you got an inheritance or big bonus – you may wonder what to do with it now.\n\nGiven all the global uncertainty, Adam recommends investing it in smaller chunks periodically – e.g., every month for a given period of time – rather than all at once.\n\n“Space out your investing over time since this week’s news will be different than next week’s news,” she said.\n\nDo your best. Then ‘let go’\n\nWhatever the news today, building financial security over time requires a cool, steady hand.\n\n“Don’t let your feelings about the economy or the markets sabotage your long-term growth. Stay invested, stay disciplined. History shows that what people – or even experts – think about the market is usually wrong. The best way to meet your long-term goals is just stay invested and stick to your allocation,” Adam said.\n\nDoing so will help minimize any damage a rough market in 2022 may cause.\n\n“If you’ve built an appropriately diversified portfolio that matches your time horizon and risk tolerance, it’s likely the recent market drop will be a mere blip in your long-term investing plan,” Williams said.\n\nKeep in mind: It’s impossible to make perfect choices since no one has perfect information.\n\n“Collect your facts. Try to make the best decision based on those facts plus your individual goals and risk tolerance.” Adam said. Then, she added, “Let go.”\n\n(If you want to help Ukrainians who have had to flee or who stayed behind to fight, here’s a growing list of organizations to which you can make a donation.)", "authors": ["Jeanne Sahadi"], "publish_date": "2022/04/28"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/22/economy/gas-prices-oil-recession-fears/index.html", "title": "Gas prices may inch down — but that's not all good news | CNN ...", "text": "New York CNN Business —\n\nEditor’s Note: This story is part of CNN Business’ Nightcap newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free, here.\n\nThere’s good news and bad news on the gas prices front. Good news: Some price relief could be on the way. The bad news: It’s because traders are betting on a recession.\n\nIn simple terms, there are two ways to bring down prices: Increase supply or reduce demand. The former is costly and complicated. The latter happens when consumers start pulling back because prices have risen too much and individual budgets are strained. That’s what appears to have happened this spring, as Americans watched gas prices soar above $5 a gallon and overall inflation top four-decade highs.\n\nAlthough that might spell relief at the fuel pump, it may also signal a different kind of economic pain on the horizon.\n\n“This morning’s market action has recession worries written all over it,” wrote Peter Boockvar, the chief investment officer at Bleakley Advisory Group. He put the odds of a recession this year at 99% because “nothing is 100%.”\n\nPrices of oil spiked to $122.11 on June 8, their highest since March and about a dollar off its highest level since 2008.\n\nIn just two weeks since that spike, oil prices have fallen 16%. Why? It’s inflation, yet again, and the Federal Reserve’s campaign to fight it.\n\nRecession fears\n\nConsumer sentiment plunged to a record low, as consumers grew increasingly frustrated with high prices, according to a closely watched survey released June 10.\n\nOn the same day, the government’s primary inflation gauge, the consumer price index, saw its biggest jump in 40 years, with prices surging 8.6% for the 12 months ending in May. That was higher than the April reading — not the direction anyone was hoping for.\n\nThat mix of bad news more or less guaranteed that the Federal Reserve would have to raise interest rates more aggressively than it had previously signaled — a reality that shook investors and sent equity markets tumbling.\n\nWhen central banks raise interest rates, it slows down economic activity, reducing demand for energy, which brings gas prices down (albeit slowly).\n\nOver the weekend, US drivers got a very slight break on prices as the AAA average for a gallon of unleaded gas fell just below the $5 mark after hitting a high of $5.02 a gallon last week. That price has declined by a fraction of a penny each day since then.\n\nOn Wednesday, oil prices continued to fall even after the Biden administration said it would urge lawmakers to suspend the 18.4-cents-a-gallon federal gas tax in an effort to take the heat off prices – an action you’d expect would be bullish for demand.\n\nBrent crude, the international benchmark, fell 4% to near $109 a barrel on Wednesday. West Texas Intermediate crude, the US standard, sank 4.5% to $104 a barrel.\n\nGas prices have fallen much more slowly than they went up, reaffirming the adage that prices go up like a rocket and come down like a feather. For the two months ahead of last week’s record, the AAA average price reading rose 58 times in 60 days, adding 94 cents to the national average price. That’s a steady climb of nearly 2 cents a day, compared with less than a penny a day that the price has fallen since Tuesday.\n\n— CNN Business’ Chris Isidore contributed to this article.\n\nEnjoying Nightcap? Sign up and you’ll get all of this, plus some other funny stuff we liked on the internet, in your inbox every night. (OK, most nights — we believe in a four-day week around here.)", "authors": ["Allison Morrow"], "publish_date": "2022/06/22"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/13/economy/federal-reserve-december-meeting/index.html", "title": "What to expect from this week's Fed meeting | CNN Business", "text": "New York CNN —\n\nThe Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates by half a point at the conclusion of its two-day policy meeting on Wednesday, an indication that the central bank is pulling back on its aggressive stance as signs begin to emerge that inflation may be easing.\n\nAlthough that increase would be smaller than the three-quarter-point hikes announced at the past four Fed meetings, it’s nothing to scoff at.\n\nIt’s still double the Fed’s customary quarter-point hike, and a sizable increase that will likely cause economic pain for millions of American businesses and households by pushing up the cost of borrowing for homes, cars and other loans.\n\nThe Fed’s anticipated action would increase the rate that banks charge each other for overnight borrowing to a range of between 4.25% and 4.5%, the highest since 2007.\n\nFederal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell confirmed last month that smaller rate hikes could be expected, saying: “The time for moderating the pace of rate increases may come as soon as the December meeting.”\n\nBut while inflation is unlikely to slow dramatically any time soon, partly due to continued pressure on wages amid a shortage of workers, Wall Street appears to believe the Fed will eventually be forced to pivot away from, or even reverse its regimen of rate hikes. Traders are largely pricing in rate cuts in the second half of 2023.\n\nThe Fed will conclude its rate hike regimen by the second quarter of next year, predicted JPMorgan analysts in a recent note. “With inflation continuing to fade and fiscal policy likely on hold, the Fed is likely to end its tightening cycle early in the new year and inflation could begin to ease before the end of 2023,” they wrote. The analysts expect two quarter-point hikes in the first half of 2023.\n\nBut the average period between peak interest rates and the first reductions by the Fed is 11 months, which could mean that even if the central bank stops actively hiking rates, they could remain elevated into 2024.\n\nInvestors will closely read the Fed’s economic outlook, the Summary of Economic Projections, which is also due out Wednesday. And they will watch Powell’s press conferences for clues about what’s to come — though they may end up sorely disappointed.\n\n​”We expect Fed Chair Powell will insist on the need to hold policy at a restrictive level for some time to bring inflation down toward the 2% target,” wrote Gregory Daco, chief economist at EY-Parthenon, in a note to clients Monday. “This will serve to push back against current market pricing … Powell will stress that history cautions strongly against prematurely loosening policy.”\n\nWhat about the famous soft landing?\n\nThe Fed has increased its benchmark lending rate six times this year in an attempt to discourage borrowing, cool the economy and bring down historically high inflation that peaked at 9.1% over the summer.\n\nEven if interest rate hikes do ease off, they will remain high, and economists are largely expecting that the US economy will endure a recession next year. Powell said in November that there is still a chance the economy avoids recession but the odds are slim, noting: “To the extent we need to keep rates higher longer, that’s going to narrow the path to a soft landing.”\n\nIn an interview that aired on CBS on Sunday, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen — Powell’s predecessor at the Fed — said there is “a risk of a recession. But it certainly isn’t, in my view, something that is necessary to bring inflation down.”\n\nAnd the economy has so far withstood the Fed’s aggressive rate hikes. The job market is healthy, wages are growing, Americans are spending and GDP is strong. Business is also good: Companies are largely beating revenue expectations and reporting positive earnings results.\n\nA global problem\n\nThe Fed isn’t acting alone, it’s just one of nine central banks expected to make a rate announcement this week. Landing softly on the ever-narrowing path between high inflation and recession is a global concern as central banks across the world contend with similar economic problems.\n\nThe European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the Swiss National Bank are expected to follow the United States with half-point moves of their own on Thursday. Norway, Mexico, Taiwan, Colombia and the Philippines will also likely increase their borrowing costs this week.\n\nThe Federal Reserve announces its rate hike decision Wednesday at 2 p.m., followed by a press conference with Chair Powell at 2:30 p.m.", "authors": ["Nicole Goodkind"], "publish_date": "2022/12/13"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/21/business/gas-tax-holiday-biden/index.html", "title": "Gas tax holiday: There's a reason Obama once bashed this idea as ...", "text": "New York CNN Business —\n\nIn the spring of 2008, as gas prices were barreling towards record highs, presidential candidates John McCain and Hillary Clinton threw their weight behind a gas tax holiday.\n\nFuture president Barack Obama, by contrast, dismissed the idea as a political “gimmick” designed purely to win votes. “The easiest thing in the world for a politician to do is tell you exactly what you want to hear,” Obama said in April 2008.\n\nFlash forward 14 years. Obama’s former vice president is now pushing for a gas tax holiday to ease the strain of record-high gas prices. President Joe Biden wants a three-month pause on the 18.3-cent-per-gallon federal tax.\n\nIf it gets through Congress, a gas tax holiday would deliver swift — albeit modest — relief to consumers by lowering retail gasoline prices by as much as 18 cents a gallon.\n\nA gas tax holiday would be politically popular. It would also allow the White House to show that Biden is taking tangible action to address one of the biggest headaches facing families.\n\nAmericans are grappling with a 41% spike in gas prices since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February. Record-high gas prices have contributed to the worst inflation in 40 years, forcing the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates so aggressively that markets are in turmoil and recession risks are rising.\n\nYet suspending the gas tax would involve trade-offs that serve to validate why Obama and others have bashed such a move as a gimmick — and why it may not get through Congress.\n\nIt won’t solve the underlying problem\n\nFirst, a gas tax holiday would do nothing to fix the supply shock driving up prices, not just for gasoline but diesel and jet fuel, too.\n\nSecondly, it would push demand in the wrong direction. At a minimum, artificially lowering prices would support buying gasoline, underlining the adage that the best cure for high prices is high prices.\n\n“The risk is that at a time when the supply-and-demand balance that sets prices is already extremely out of balance, it would enable more Americans to hit the road,” said Patrick DeHaan, director of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy.\n\nSuspending the gas tax also would effectively encourage the use of gasoline — running counter to the Biden administration’s ambitious climate goals that call for moving away from fossil fuels.\n\n“Barack Obama was right. A gas tax holiday was a bad idea in 2008 and it’s a bad idea today,” Senator Bernie Sanders wrote on Twitter in March.\n\nLike other progressives, Sanders instead threw his weight behind a windfall profit tax on the oil-and-gas industry, a potentially-popular move that carries its own set of risks.\n\nAdding to inflation?\n\nMark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, told CNN in a phone interview that a gas tax holiday would not be helpful and could even be inflationary, forcing the Fed to raise rates more aggressively.\n\n“I’m not a fan. You want people to drive less and use less gas. This works against that objective,” he said. “It’s not well-targeted.”\n\nZandi also expressed concern that energy companies may not pass along the entire savings from a gas tax holiday.\n\nThe Moody’s economist served as an economic adviser to McCain during the 2008 race when the Arizona Republican endorsed a gas tax holiday.\n\n“I probably lost that battle,” Zandi said.\n\nAnother problem with a gas tax holiday today: Revenue raised from this levy helps finance the Highway Trust Fund, which is already short on funding. The federal gas tax hasn’t been increased since 1993, when gas was selling for just over $1 a gallon.\n\nUnless those funds are replaced from other sources, suspending the gas tax would sap resources for building and repairing highways at a time when the price tag on those projects is going up due to soaring costs for construction materials and labor.\n\nEnergy Secretary Jennifer Granholm acknowledged this issue over the weekend, telling Dana Bash on CNN’s “State of the Union” that one challenge of suspending the gas tax is that it “funds the roads.”\n\nGary Cohn, a longtime Democrat who served as a top economic official in the Trump White House, told CNN Tuesday he’s concerned about how a gas tax holiday would diminish funding for infrastructure — a key policy focus of the Biden administration.\n\n“The unintended consequences of getting rid of the tax are enormous,” said Cohn, who is now vice chairman at IBM. “The gas tax idea, although it looks like it solves the problem today, it actually creates, I think, more problems down the road.”\n\n‘Self-defeating’\n\nMarc Goldwein, senior policy director at the Committee for a Responsible Budget, said a gas tax holiday would be a “mistake,” in part because pushing up demand would lift prices.\n\n“It would be partially self-defeating, not that meaningful for prices at the pump and costly for the federal government,” Goldwein said.\n\nEconomist Larry Summers, a former adviser to Obama and Treasury Secretary under President Bill Clinton, similarly told NBC’s “Meet the Press” last weekend that a gas tax holiday is “kind of a gimmick.”\n\nAnd yet Biden officials say the president is seriously weighing it as an option.\n\nTreasury Secretary Janet Yellen said last weekend a gas tax holiday is “certainly worth considering.”\n\nIf Biden and Congress do go this route, they will face a problem down the road when the tax holiday expires. “It’s going to be very unpopular when prices snap back up by 18 cents a gallon,” GasBuddy’s DeHaan said.\n\nAnd that raises the specter of a temporary gas tax suspension morphing into a permanent holiday.", "authors": ["Matt Egan"], "publish_date": "2022/06/21"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/29/investing/premarket-trading-stocks/index.html", "title": "Premarket stocks: The bond market is crumbling | CNN Business", "text": "A version of this story first appeared in CNN Business’ Before the Bell newsletter. Not a subscriber? You can sign up right here. You can listen to an audio version of the newsletter by clicking the same link.\n\nNew York CNN Business —\n\nThe global bond market is having a historically awful year.\n\nThe yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond, a proxy for borrowing costs, briefly moved above 4% on Wednesday for the first time in 12 years. That’s a bad omen for Wall Street and Main Street.\n\nWhat’s happening: This hasn’t been a pretty year for US stocks. All three major indexes are in a bear market, down more than 20% from recent highs, and analysts predict more pain ahead. When things are this bad, investors seek safety in Treasury bonds, which have low returns but are also considered low-risk (As loans to the US government, Treasury notes are seen as a safe bet since there is little risk they won’t be paid back).\n\nBut in 2022’s topsy-turvy economy, even that safe haven has become somewhat treacherous.\n\nBond returns, or yields, rise as their prices fall. Under normal market conditions, a rising yield should mean that there’s less demand for bonds because investors would rather put their money into higher-risk (and higher-reward) stocks.\n\nInstead markets are plummeting, and investors are flocking out of risky stocks, but yields are going up. What gives?\n\nBlame the Fed. Persistent inflation has led the Federal Reserve to fight back by aggressively hiking interest rates, and as a result the yields on US Treasury bonds have soared.\n\nEconomic turmoil in the United Kingdom and European Union has also caused the value of both the British pound and the euro to fall dramatically when compared to the US dollar. Dollar strength typically coincides with higher bond rates as well.\n\nSo while we’d normally see a rising 10-year yield as a signal that US investors have a rosy economic outlook, that isn’t the case this time. Gloomy investors are predicting more interest rate hikes and a higher chance of recession.\n\nWhat it means: Portfolios are aching. Vanguard’s $514.5 billion Total Bond Market Index, the largest US bond fund, is down more than 15% so far this year. That puts it on track for its worst year since it was created in 1986. The iShares 20+ Year Treasury bond fund (TLT) (TLT) is down nearly 30% for the year.\n\nStock investors are also nervously eyeing Treasuries. High yields make it more expensive for companies to borrow money, and that extra cost could lower earnings expectations. Companies with significant debt levels may not be able to afford higher financing costs at all.\n\nMain Street doesn’t get a break, either. An elevated 10-year Treasury return means more expensive loans on cars, credit cards and even student debt. It also means higher mortgage rates: The spike has already helped push the average rate for a 30-year mortgage above 6% for the first time since 2008.\n\nGoing deeper: Still, investors are more nervous about the immediate future than the longer term. That’s spurred an inverted yield curve – when interest rates on short-term bonds move higher than those on long-term bonds. The inverted yield curve is a particularly ominous warning sign that has correctly predicted almost every recession over the past 60 years.\n\nThe curve first inverted in April, and then again this summer. The two-year treasury yield has soared in the last week, and now hovers above 4.3%, deepening that gap.\n\nOn Monday, a team at BNP Paribas predicted that the inverted gap between the two-year and 10-year Treasury yields could grow to its largest level since the early 1980s. Those years were marked by sticky inflation, interest rates near 20% and a very deep recession.\n\nWhat’s next: The bond market may face fresh volatility on Friday with the release of the Federal Reserve’s favored inflation measure, the Personal Consumption Expenditure Price Index for August. If the report comes in above expectations, expect bond yields to move even higher.\n\nThe Bank of England steps in to save pensions\n\nThe Bank of England held an emergency intervention to maintain economic stability in the UK on Wednesday. The central bank said it would buy long-dated UK government bonds “on whatever scale is necessary” to prevent a market crash.\n\nInvestors around the globe have been dumping the British pound and UK bonds since the government on Friday unveiled a huge package of tax cuts, spending and increased borrowing aimed at getting the economy moving and protecting households and businesses from sky-high energy bills this winter, reports my colleague Mark Thompson.\n\nMarkets fear the plan will drive up already persistent inflation, forcing the Bank of England to push interest rates as high as 6% next spring, from 2.25% at present. Mortgage markets have been in turmoil all week as lenders have struggled to price their loans. Hundreds of products have been withdrawn.\n\n“This repricing [of UK assets] has become more significant in the past day — and it is particularly affecting long-dated UK government debt,” the central bank said in its statement.\n\n“Were dysfunction in this market to continue or worsen, there would be a material risk to UK financial stability. This would lead to an unwarranted tightening of financing conditions and a reduction of the flow of credit to the real economy.”\n\nMany final salary, or defined-benefit, pension funds were particularly exposed to the dramatic sell-off in longer dated UK government bonds.\n\n“They would have been wiped out,” said Kerrin Rosenberg, UK chief executive of Cardano Investment.\n\nThe central bank said it would buy long-dated UK government bonds until October 14.\n\nThe silver-lining case for bonds\n\nSteep drops in bond prices may be signaling doom and gloom for the economy, but some analysts say short-term bonds are still looking more attractive than equities right now.\n\n“Record low yields have kept fixed income in the shadow of equities for decades,” said analysts at BNY Mellon Wealth Management in a research note. “But the aggressive shift in Fed policy is beginning to change this.”\n\nCentral banks around the globe have responded to elevated inflation by hiking interest rates– and bond yields have increased alongside them. The two-year US Treasury bond is currently yielding nearly 4%. That’s still a relatively low return, but better than the S&P 500’s dividend yield of around 1.7%.\n\n“For the first time in several years, bonds are attractive investment options. In addition to providing diversification versus equities…you now get paid for owning them,” wrote Barry Ritholtz of Ritholtz Wealth Management on Wednesday.\n\nConsider the alternative: the S&P is down more than 20% year to date.\n\nUp next\n\nThe US Bureau of Economic Analysis releases its third estimate for Q2 GDP and US weekly jobless claims.", "authors": ["Nicole Goodkind"], "publish_date": "2022/09/29"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/10/economy/jobs-recession-unemployment/index.html", "title": "US economy will soon start losing 175,000 jobs a month, Bank of ...", "text": "New York CNN Business —\n\nThe Federal Reserve’s fight to squash inflation will cause the US economy to start losing tens of thousands of jobs a month beginning early next year, Bank of America warns.\n\nAlthough the jobs market remained surprisingly strong in September, the Fed is working hard to change that by aggressively raising interest rates to ease demand for everything from cars and homes to appliances.\n\nThe pace of job growth is expected to be roughly cut in half during the fourth quarter of this year, Bank of America told clients in a report Friday.\n\nAs pressure from the Fed’s war on inflation builds, nonfarm payrolls will begin shrinking early next year, translating to a loss of about 175,000 jobs a month during the first quarter, the bank said. Charts published by Bank of America suggest job losses will continue through much of 2023.\n\n“The premise is a harder landing rather than a softer one,” Michael Gapen, head of US economics at Bank of America, told CNN in a phone interview Monday.\n\nIn a perfect world, the Fed would slow the jobs market enough to get inflation back to healthy levels, but not so much that it causes significant and persistent job losses. Bank of America doesn’t think the Fed will be able to pull that off.\n\n“We are looking for a recession to begin in the first half of next year,” Gapen said.\n\nUnemployment to peak at 5.5%, Bank of America says\n\nLast Friday’s jobs report showed that although the jobs market is slowing down, the United States added a stronger-than-expected 263,000 jobs in September. The unemployment rate dropped to 3.5%, tied for the lowest level since 1969.\n\nBut Gapen expects the unemployment rate will climb to around 5% or 5.5% over the next year. By comparison, the Fed expects the unemployment rate to hit 4.4% next year.\n\nThe US central bank is raising interest rates at the fastest pace in at least four decades in a bid to cool inflation. Fed officials have made clear they are in no rush to shift out of inflation-fighting mode to save the economy from a slowdown or even a recession.\n\n“They’ll accept some weakness in labor markets in order to bring inflation down,” Gapen said.\n\nFed officials have said interest rates will need to stay at “restrictive” levels for a period of time.\n\nGapen said that although recessions tend to have “quick snapbacks,” the Fed’s stance on keeping rates high for an extended period suggests “maybe this plays out a little longer.”\n\n“We could see six months of weakness in the labor market,” he said.\n\n‘Mild’ recession\n\nSome forecasters are more bullish on the state of the jobs market. The Conference Board said Monday its employment trend index, a combination of leading job market indicators, ticked up last month.\n\nThe Conference Board said this is a signal that “employment will continue to grow over the coming months,” though job gains are likely to “decelerate from their recent pace.”\n\nThe good news is that even those calling for a recession don’t see the unemployment rate skyrocketing as it did in 2020 or 2008.\n\nBank of America expects the unemployment rate will top out at 5.5% next year, well below the peak of nearly 15% in April 2020.\n\n“Although nobody wants to be callous about someone losing their job,” Gapen said, “this could be classified as a mild recession.”", "authors": ["Matt Egan"], "publish_date": "2022/10/10"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/18/energy/gas-prices-inflation-biden/index.html", "title": "Gas prices are in the danger zone. Biden can't do much about it ...", "text": "New York CNN Business —\n\nPresident Joe Biden’s 2022 is off to a dreadful start. Prices at the pump could make it even worse.\n\nCrude oil has already zoomed back to two-month highs. Gasoline prices, which move with a lag, have stopped their muted decline. And they’re starting to creep higher again.\n\nThe energy resurgence is only going to add to the economic anxiety gripping the United States and sinking Biden’s poll numbers.\n\n“This is a terrible situation. Gas prices are in this political danger zone,” Helima Croft, head of global commodity strategy at RBC Capital Markets, told CNN.\n\nThe White House knows how deeply unpopular high gas prices are. That’s why Biden took sweeping action in November to intervene. The administration announced the largest-ever release of emergency crude reserves from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) in US history.\n\nThe return of $85 oil will pile pressure on Biden to act once again — and the administration is signaling further action is on the table.\n\n“Tools continue to remain on the table for us to address prices. This is something the administration is continuing to watch and monitor very closely,” a White House official told CNN.\n\nYet presidents have limited power to lower gas prices. While Biden has options, they all have drawbacks.\n\n“They are in a difficult situation. There are no magic wands here,” said Bob McNally, president of consulting firm Rapidan Energy Group and a former energy adviser to former President George W. Bush.\n\nEmergency release Part II\n\nIf crude prices stay elevated, Biden may be tempted to take another stab at knocking them down.\n\n“President Biden has taken strong, aggressive measures to combat these challenges,” the White House official told CNN, citing the SPR release from November.\n\nAnd the official reiterated that Biden “stands ready to take additional action, if needed,” to maintain adequate supply, echoing what the administration said last fall.\n\nLocated along the US Gulf Coast, the SPR is an underground series of caverns that contains crude stockpiled for break-the-glass moments like hurricanes or wars.\n\nBiden’s SPR intervention was met with mixed results.\n\nOil prices began tumbling in early November on rumors that the White House would step in. By the time of the announcement, crude was down about 10% from the highs.\n\nDays later, US crude crashed to as low as $65.76 a barrel on December 1. But that late November selloff was driven by Omicron fears, and it proved short-lived. Crude is now trading at around $85 a barrel, up 29% from that December 1 low.\n\nThe gas price relief was fleeting.\n\nAfter hitting a seven-year high of $3.42 a gallon in early November, the national average briefly dropped below $3.30 a gallon. But they have since rebounded to $3.31 a gallon — and the market is signaling further gains ahead. Gasoline futures are now trading at two-month highs.\n\nSome energy analysts say the SPR failed to work, while others argue energy prices would have been much higher if Biden hadn’t acted.\n\nCroft, the RBC strategist and a former CIA analyst, said the SPR release may have succeeded as a diplomatic tool used to get oil producers to add supply. She noted that despite Omicron, OPEC and its allies, known as OPEC+, went ahead and increased oil production in December.\n\nStill, barely two months after Biden’s historic intervention, he’s under pressure to tap the SPR again. That underscores the SPR’s limitations.\n\nAfter all, emergency reserves have a finite number of barrels. Washington can’t simply release barrels every month.\n\nA more extreme step\n\nIn November, nearly a dozen Congressional Democrats urged Biden to ban US oil exports, a dramatic step that some Wall Street banks and industry experts have warned would badly backfire. At least one powerful official inside the administration backed that idea: White House chief of staff Ron Klain.\n\nAs CNN reported last fall, the soaring price of gasoline so alarmed Klain that at one point he suggested halting US exports.\n\nHowever, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm later told oil executives in December that the administration is not considering an oil export ban.\n\n“I’ve heard you loud and clear, and so has the White House,” Granholm told the National Petroleum Council in December. “We wanted to put that rumor to rest.”\n\nMcNally, the energy consultant, said an export ban would be a disaster.\n\n“They may be looking for stronger medicine but this would be poison,” McNally said.\n\nThat’s because oil is a globally traded commodity and US gas prices are set by Brent, the world benchmark. If the world lost access to US barrels, Brent prices would likely rise due to less supply.\n\nMake nice with MBS\n\nEnergy diplomacy may be Biden’s best option for driving down gas prices. Only OPEC has enough firepower to quickly add barrels on the market.\n\n“We are in a supply crunch engineered by OPEC+,” said Claudio Galimberti, senior vice president of analysis at Rystad Energy.\n\nThe administration’s efforts to get OPEC to open the spigots have not been helped by the tense relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia, the cartel’s kingpin.\n\nMaking nice with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known as MBS, could help. But that would come at a cost given that US intelligence found that MBS approved the operation to capture or kill journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.\n\n“Does Biden have to pick up the phone and call MBS as opposed to outsourcing it to his lieutenants?” RBC’s Croft asked. “None of this is easy.”\n\nMeet with Big Oil\n\nIn recent months, the Biden administration has begun to take a friendlier tone with a key group in this inflation crisis: the US oil industry.\n\nDuring Granholm’s virtual address to the National Petroleum Council last month, the Energy Secretary asked the industry to ramp up production to meet demand.\n\n“Consumers, as you know, are hurting at the pump…You clearly have some important tools to alleviate that pain,” Granholm said. “Please, take advantage of the leases you have. Hire workers. Get your rig count up.”\n\nGranholm added: “I do not want to fight with any of you.”\n\nIn theory, Biden could take this a step further by meeting with oil CEOs at the White House and considering requests to cut red tape (or at least promise not to add more regulation).\n\nHowever, Biden ran on the most aggressive climate agenda in US history, and climate scientists say the world needs less, not more, fossil fuels. Cozying up to Big Oil isn’t really an option for this White House.\n\nWait it out\n\nThere is a lot of uncertainty over how much higher gas prices will go.\n\nMuch will depend on the path of the pandemic and supply. But the good news is that as long as Russia doesn’t invade Ukraine and disrupt gas supply, some energy analysts expect gas prices will cool off later this year as supply meets demand.\n\nMcNally said his advice to Biden would be not to overreact to rising prices.\n\n“Stand pat. Don’t commit mistakes,” he said. “Wait for prices to come down.”\n\nOf course, presidents with low approval ratings in election years aren’t known for their patience.", "authors": ["Matt Egan"], "publish_date": "2022/01/18"}]}
{"question_id": "20230203_18", "search_time": "2023/02/04/11:56", "search_result": []}
{"question_id": "20230203_19", "search_time": "2023/02/04/11:56", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/tv/2023/01/30/cindy-williams-dead-laverne-and-shirley/11151654002/", "title": "Cindy Williams, 'Laverne & Shirley' star, dies at 75", "text": "Andrew Dalton\n\nThe Associated Press\n\nCindy Williams, who played Shirley opposite Penny Marshall's Laverne on the popular sitcom \"Laverne & Shirley,\" has died, her family said Monday.\n\nWilliams, 75, died in Los Angeles on Wednesday after a brief illness, her children, Zak and Emily Hudson, said in a statement released through family spokeswoman Liza Cranis.\n\n\"The passing of our kind, hilarious mother, Cindy Williams, has brought us insurmountable sadness that could never truly be expressed,\" the statement said. \"Knowing and loving her has been our joy and privilege. She was one of a kind, beautiful, generous and possessed a brilliant sense of humor and a glittering spirit that everyone loved.\"\n\nWilliams worked with some of Hollywood's most elite directors in a film career that preceded her full-time move to television, appearing in George Cukor's 1972 “Travels With My Aunt,” George Lucas' 1973 “American Graffiti” and Francis Ford Coppola's \"The Conversation\" from 1974.\n\nBut she was by far best known for \"Laverne & Shirley,\" the \"Happy Days\" spinoff that ran on ABC from 1976 to 1983. In its prime, \"Laverne & Shirley\" was among the most popular shows on TV.\n\nLisa Loring:Actor who played Wednesday in original ‘Addams Family’ series dies at 64\n\nBarrett Strong:Motown trailblazer with the Temptations and Marvin Gaye dies at 81\n\nWilliams played the straitlaced Shirley Feeney to Marshall's more libertine Laverne DeFazio on the show about a pair of blue-collar roommates who toiled on the assembly line of a Milwaukee brewery in the 1950s and ’60s.\n\n“They were beloved characters,” Williams told The Associated Press in 2002.\n\nDeFazio was quick-tempered and defensive; Feeney was naive and trusting. The actors drew upon their own lives for plot inspiration.\n\n“We’d make up a list at the start of each season of what talents we had,” Marshall told the AP in 2002. “Cindy could touch her tongue to her nose and we used it in the show. I did tap dance.”\n\nWilliams told the AP in 2013 that she and Marshall had “very different personalities,” but tales of the two clashing during the making of the show were “a bit overblown.”\n\nThe series was the rare network hit about working-class characters, with its self-empowering opening song: “Give us any chance, we’ll take it, read us any rule, we’ll break it.\"\n\nThat opening would become as popular as the show itself. Williams’ and Marshall’s chant of “schlemiel, schlimazel” as they skipped together became a cultural phenomenon and oft-invoked piece of nostalgia.\n\nMarshall, whose brother Garry Marshall co-created the series, died in 2018.\n\nThe show also starred Michael McKean and David Lander as Laverne and Shirley's oddball hangers-on Lenny and Squiggy. Lander died in 2020.\n\nAs ratings dropped in the sixth season, the characters moved from Milwaukee to Burbank, California, trading their brewery jobs for work at a department store.\n\nIn 1982, Williams became pregnant and wanted her working hours curtailed. When her demands weren’t met, she walked off the set and filed suit against its production company. She appeared infrequently during the final season.\n\nWilliams was born one of two sisters in the Van Nuys area of Los Angeles in 1947. Her family moved to Dallas soon after she was born, but returned to Los Angeles, where she took up acting while attending Birmingham High School and majoring in theater arts at LA City College.\n\nAnnie Wersching:24' actor and Tess in 'The Last of Us' video game dies at 45\n\nTom Verlaine:Guitarist and co-founder of influential band Television dies at 73\n\nHer acting career began with small roles in television starting in 1969, with appearances on “Room 222,” “Nanny and the Professor” and ”Love, American Style.\"\n\nHer part in Lucas' “American Graffiti” would become a defining role. The film was a forerunner to a nostalgia boom for the 1950s and early 1960s that would follow. “Happy Days,\" starring her “American Graffiti” co-star Ron Howard, would premiere the following year. The characters of Laverne and Shirley made their first TV appearance as dates of Henry Winkler's Fonzie before they got their own show.\n\nLucas also considered her for the role of Princess Leia in “Star Wars,” a role that went to Carrie Fisher.\n\nIn the past three decades, Williams made guest appearances on dozens of TV series including “7th Heaven,” “8 Simple Rules” and “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.” In 2013, she and Marshall appeared in a “Laverne & Shirley” tribute episode of the Nickelodeon series “Sam and Cat.”\n\nLast year, Williams appeared in a one-woman stage show full of stories from her career, “Me, Myself and Shirley,\" at a theater in Palm Springs, California, near her home in Desert Hot Springs.\n\nWilliams was married to singer Bill Hudson of the musical group the Hudson Brothers from 1982 until 2000. Hudson was the father to her two children. He was previously married to Goldie Hawn and is also the father of actor Kate Hudson.\n\nPolo Polo:Mexican comedian dies at 78: 'Everything he wanted, he was able to achieve'\n\nDavid Crosby:Co-founder of Crosby, Stills & Nash, The Byrds, dies at 81, reports say", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/01/30"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/mobile/2015/07/14/actresses-cindy-williams-louise-fletcher-appear-at-plaza/71939776/", "title": "Actresses Cindy Williams, Louise Fletcher to appear at Plaza ...", "text": "Dave Acosta\n\nElPaso\n\n\"Schlemiel! Schlimazel! Hasenpfeffer Incorporated!\"\n\nMany fans remember actress Cindy Williams as Shirley Feeney in the popular television series \"Laverne & Shirley,\" reciting the now-famous hopscotch chant during the show's opening sequence alongside her co-star Penny Marshall.\n\nWilliams, as well as actress Louise Fletcher, will be the celebrity guests at this year's Plaza Classic Film Festival, organizers announced Tuesday.\n\nThe annual movie celebration begins Aug. 5 at the Plaza Theatre in Downtown El Paso.\n\nWilliams will appear at the screening of George Lucas' 1973 blockbuster \"American Graffiti\" at 7 p.m. Aug. 14.\n\nWilliams, who grew up in Texas, starred in the film alongside then-up-and-comers Harrison Ford, Ron Howard and Richard Dreyfus. The film sparked an interest in 1950s and early-1960s America and is said to have influenced the television show \"Happy Days,\" and in turn was spun-off into \"Laverne & Shirley.\"\n\nFletcher, an Academy Award winner, will be the guest at the screening of director Milos Forman's \"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest\" at 7 p.m. Aug. 7. Fletcher won the best supporting actress Oscar for her portrayal of the evil Nurse Ratched in the 1975 drama.\n\nFletcher first appeared on the small screen in shows such as \"Maverick\" and \"Playhouse 90\" during the 1950s. She made her first big-screen appearance in the 1974 cult hit \"Thieves Like Us.\"\n\nIn addition, Fletcher also will headline a private reception for festival pass-holders and will appear at the screening of \"Thieves Like Us\" at 1 p.m. Aug. 8. Fletcher will sign autographs at 4 p.m. Aug. 8 in the El Paso Community Foundation's Foundation Room, 333. N. Oregon. Admission is free, but there will be a charge for autographs.\n\nWilliams will sign copies of her new memoir \"Shirley, I Jest!\" at noon Aug. 15 in the Foundation Room. Admission is free and books can be purchased there.\n\nAdditionally, El Paso-raised actress Yvette Yates will make her return to the festival, where she first appeared in 2014. Yates will appear at the screening of the new comedy horror movie \"Bloodsucking Bastards\" at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 7 at the Plaza's Philanthropy Theatre.\n\nTickets for \"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest\" and \"American Graffiti\" are $10, while tickets for \"Thieves Like Us\" are $6 and $4 for \"Bloodsucking Bastards.\" Festival passes are $200 and include admission to all ticketed events. Film Club passes, for ages 14 to 18, are $100.\n\nTickets are available at the Plaza Theatre Box Office, all Ticketmaster outlets, online via plazaclassic.com and ticketmaster.com, and by phone at 800-745-3000.\n\nDave Acosta may be reached at 546-6138\n\nClick here to read the full story on the El Paso Times Entertainment blog, The Beat ››\n\n", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2015/07/14"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/2015/08/13/actress-cindy-williams-at-plaza-film-fest-tonight/71965308/", "title": "Actress Cindy Williams at Plaza Classic tonight", "text": "Dave Acosta\n\nElPaso\n\nRelated ›› See select Plaza Classic clips\n\n\n\nIt's been 33 years since actress Cindy Williams left behind the character of Shirley Feeney on the popular television show \"Laverne & Shirley\" to begin a new journey — parenthood.\n\nIn that time, her co-star Penny Marshall became a well-respected movie director, as did Ron Howard her co-star in the 1973 movie \"American Graffiti.\" Harrison Ford and Richard Dreyfuss, who also appeared as newcomers in the George Lucas-directed blockbuster, saw their stars rise throughout the 1980s.\n\nLooking back, Williams doesn't regret walking away from the show in 1983 to start a family, she said. Her career, though she continued to appear in several TV shows, movies and on stage, just took a back seat.\n\n\"I wouldn't change anything for the world. I wanted my family and I got them,\" Williams told the El Paso Times. \"I always wanted (to start a family) from the time I can remember. The other night at a film school talk I was asked, 'Can you have it all? A family and a career?' I know in my experience some things have to be sacrificed. You can't spend as much time on your family if you want to further your career, and you can't spend as much time trying to further your career if you want to raise a family.\"\n\nWilliams is set to talk about her life and more Friday night at the Plaza Classic Film Festival. She also will introduce the film that made stars out of her, Howard, Dreyfuss and Ford, and helped Lucas launch his dream of making a big-budget \"space opera\" come true — the legendary \"Star Wars.\"\n\nThe actress recently penned a memoir, \"Shirley, I Jest!,\" in which she recounts her years growing up in Dallas, her family's move to Los Angeles, and her rise to become one of television's biggest stars in the late-1970s and early-1980s.\n\n\"I wanted to write a book while I could still remember things,\" Williams, now 67, said with a laugh. \"It started as a book of anecdotes and fun stories about my career. Then, the publisher asked me to write a bit more about my life.\"\n\nOne of those stories involves the first movie Williams appeared in, 1970's \"Gas-s-s-s,\" which was filmed about three hours away in Socorro, N.M. Williams and co-star Talia Shire — who went on to play the roles of Connie Corleone in \"The Godfather\" series and Adrian Balboa in the \"Rocky\" series — were driven to a hotel on a dirt road called \"The Hub,\" Williams said.\n\n\"Our room shared a common wall with Ramirez Mortuary,\" Williams said. \"We got in the room and started crying. But we grew to love (New Mexico) and I do love Texas.\"\n\nBut it would be Williams' next movie that would guide her career, even though it took some convincing from director Francis Ford Coppola for her to actually audition for his friend's movie, \"American Graffiti.\" Williams, who had just returned from shooting a movie in Spain, initially told producers she was too jet lagged to do a screen test. After being convinced to read the script by friend and casting director Fred Roos, she initially wanted to play the part of Debbie, \"the fast girl,\" Williams said. That part, she was informed, had already been cast.\n\n\"The other part I wanted was for a 12-year-old girl and I wasn't,\" Williams said. \"But I went over and met this kid (Lucas) who didn't say four words to me except terrific ... And I thought, 'This is the wunderkind?' \"\n\nIt wasn't until Williams and Howard had a meeting with Lucas that they finally saw his vision. Lucas imagined the film as a musical, telling them that at no time would the music stop except when the sources of the music — car radios, jukeboxes — are gone. It was then that she realized that Coppola had been right, the film would be something special.\n\n\"Until then, I thought we were just making a hot-rod movie,\" Williams said.\n\nIt was that film that led to a 1950s revival on TV, influencing the creation of the show \"Happy Days,\" also starring Howard, and its immensely popular spin-off show, \"Laverne & Shirley,\" with stars Williams and Marshall.\n\nWilliams had been working with Marshall prior to the creation of the show. The two had been paired by Coppola to write for a musical and comedy sketch movie he was producing and have been friends ever since.\n\n\"We could make each other laugh,\" Williams said, adding that she had recently stayed at Marshall's home for a weekend. \"We're better friends now than when we were on the show, even. But to do comedy like that, you have to have a relationship like that. When it worked, it really worked.\"\n\nDave Acosta may be reached at 546-6138.\n\nWho: Television and movie actress Cindy Williams at the screening of 1973's \"American Graffiti\" at the Plaza Classic Film Festival\n\nWhen: 7 p.m. Friday\n\nWhere: Plaza Theatre in Downtown El Paso\n\nTickets: $10; available at the Plaza Theatre Box Office, all Ticketmaster outlets, online at ticketmaster.com and by phone at 800-745-3000\n\nOf note: Williams also will sign copies of her book \"Shirley, I Jest\" at noon Saturday in the Foundation Room, 333 N. Oregon; admission to the signing is free, however, purchase of the book is required\n\nInformation: 231-1100; plazaclassic.com", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2015/08/13"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/blogs/the-beat/2015/07/14/american-graffiti-actor-cindy-williams-and-one-flew-over-the-coockoos-nest-actor-louise-fletcher-to-appear-at-plaza-classic/31484559/", "title": "Actresses Cindy Williams, Louise Fletcher to appear at Plaza ...", "text": "El Paso\n\nOrganizers of the Plaza Classic Film Festival announced today in a release that actresses Cindy Williams and Louise Fletcher will appear at this year’s festival which begins Aug. 5.\n\nWilliams will appear at the screening of George Lucas’ 1973 blockbuster “American Graffiti” at 7 p.m. Aug. 14 at the Plaza Theatre in Downtown El Paso. Williams, who grew up in Texas, starred in the film alongside then-up-and-comers Harrison Ford and Richard Dreyfus. She went on to co-star as Shirley Feeney in the hit television series “Laverne & Shirley” from 1976 to 1983.\n\nFletcher, an Academy Award winner, will be the guest at the screening of director Milos Forman’s “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” at 7 p.m. Aug. 7 at the Plaza. Fletcher won the best supporting actress Oscar for her portrayal of the evil Nurse Ratched in the 1975 drama.\n\nIn addition, Fletcher also will headline a private reception and will appear at the festival’s\n\nscreening of the 1974 cult hit “Thieves Like Us,” her first credited movie role, at 1 p.m. Aug. 8 at the Plaza Theatre.\n\nTickets for “Cuckoo’s Nest” and “American Graffiti” are $10 at the Plaza Theatre box office, Ticketmaster, online via plazaclassic.com and by phone at 800-745-3000.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2015/07/14"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/local/2015/08/16/credits-final-roll/71941890/", "title": "Plaza Classic Film Festival rolls credits", "text": "Dave Acosta\n\nElPaso\n\nThe lines outside of the Plaza Theatre in Downtown were abuzz Sunday afternoon as the Plaza Classic Film Festival was set to roll the credits on its eighth year of silver screen gems.\n\nThe final day of the festival, presented each year by the El Paso Community Foundation, featured a screening of \"Follow Thru\" with the Laurel and Hardy short \"Brats\" — the first films shown at the theater when it originally opened in 1930.\n\nThe theater, which was nearly demolished in the 1980s in favor of a parking lot, was renovated and re-opened in 2006 thanks to a partnership between the foundation and the City of El Paso.\n\nAlso being screened on Sunday afternoon were a sold-out showing of the film \"Selena,\" the biopic about the beloved fallen Tejano singer starring Jennifer Lopez, and the Audrey Hepburn musical \"Funny Face.\" Closing out the fest Sunday night was the classic British comedy \"Monty Python and the Holy Grail,\" which is celebrating its 40th anniversary.\n\n\"My parents used to come and drop us off here when we were kids,\" East El Pasoan Manny Martinez said. \"We would buy 10-cent hot dogs — my cousin, myself and my brother. That's part of the fun of coming to the festival, I make it a point to come every year, at least to a couple of showings.\"\n\nThis year, the festival, which regularly brings in celebrity guests to talk about the classic films in which they starred, included appearances by actress Louise Fletcher and Cindy Williams. Fletcher won an Academy Award for her portrayal of Nurse Ratched in the 1975 film \"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.\" Williams, best known for her role as Shirley Feeney in the hit television show \"Laverne & Shirley\" in the 1970s and '80s, appeared at a screening of George Lucas' first hit film \"American Graffiti\" on Friday.\n\n\"Cindy Williams is a sweetheart,\" Doug Pullen, the festival's creative director, said. \"We had a private reception for her before (her appearance). When we walked her over to the theater for the red carpet and the line was outside all the way around the building. Before I knew it she was greeting people and taking pictures with them. She had a cold the whole time so instead of hugging and shaking hands she was rubbing elbows with people. And Fletcher was great too.\"\n\nOne of the festival's best attended events was the Aug. 8 free outdoor screening of the campy musical \"The Rocky Horror Picture Show,\" Pullen said. He estimated more than 4,000 film-lovers enjoyed the cult classic whose fans enjoy dressing up as its characters, acting out the film as it plays and various other traditions such as throwing toast and rice at various points in the movie.\n\nThe 1939 epic Civil War romance \"Gone With the Wind\" and the 1985 time travel adventure \"Back to the Future,\" were both equally well attended, attracting about 1,600 people each, Pullen said.\n\n\"I think it's great that we have people interested in seeing films spanning 46 years,\" Pullen said.\n\nAnother annual tradition which has kept people coming to the festival year after year is the theater's light show, which illuminates the ceiling in a night sky scene, and the Mighty Wurlitzer Organ, played on the final day by Ken Fedorick and several other volunteers throughout the festival.\n\n\"I love the theater,\" West El Pasoan Debbie Hinshaw said. \"I love when they show the stars and the organ. I like that it's very diverse and that they have things for all age groups and different interests.\"\n\nSomething new at the Plaza Classic this year was the addition of a two-week kids camp. Campers were taught filmmaking basics and made short films which were screened, along with other local shorts and features, in the El Paso Community Foundation's Foundation Room, located just around the corner from the Plaza on Oregon Street. The camp had 18 participants and Pullen said it will return for next year's festival.\n\nThe Local Flavor series, featuring local filmmakers, has also continued to grow, Pullen said. Some of the screenings played to a capacity audience, he said.\n\n\"Last year we tripled the previous year's attendance (for Local Flavor) and we can safely say we had a higher attendance this year,\" Pullen said.\n\nPart of what makes the festival possible each year is the work of many volunteers who take tickets, usher people to their seats and answer questions for festival-goers.\n\nLuis Suira is a second-year volunteer. He decided to volunteer because he liked the festival and the theater it calls home.\n\n\"I think bringing classic films to El Paso is a great way to bring the community together in a truly fantastic place,\" Suira said. \"I've seen some people that genuinely didn't realize that the Plaza was still (around). People come in and you see the amazement in their eyes. They look around the main hall and see the huge ceilings, the colors, the bar — its really nice to see.\"\n\nOrganizing the festival is a year round affair, Pullen said. He's already making mental notes for next year's Plaza Classic, which is set for Aug. 4-14, and the festival's tenth anniversary in two years.\n\nWhile no concrete plans are in place yet, other than the dates, he hopes to continue the Plaza Classic's partnerships with the El Paso Chihuahuas and with the El Paso museums of art and history.\n\nThe baseball movie \"The Natural,\" starring Robert Redford kicked off the festival two weeks ago at Southwest University Park and the two Downtown museums hosted events and exhibits around the screenings of \"Gone With the Wind\" and several of pop artist Andy Warhol's films.\n\n\"We're already getting requests to show \"Back to the Future (Part II),\" Pullen said. \"People have asked me for more sci-fi and horror. There's ideas and we have meetings with the committee and between them me and (El Paso Community Foundation president) Eric (Pearson) we already have 30-40 ideas we're kicking around.\"\n\nDave Acosta may be reached at 546-6138.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2015/08/16"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2018/12/18/penny-marshalls-death-leaves-celebrities-grieving-you-were-light/2351618002/", "title": "Penny Marshall's death: Co-star Cindy Williams, Tom Hanks, stars ...", "text": "Penny Marshall's death from complications relating to diabetes moved the Hollywood community to grieve on social media.\n\nMarshall was best know to millions as Laverne DeFazio on \"Laverne & Shirley,\" the gravel-voiced, gangly Milwaukee brewery worker with the tough act, soft heart and the big “L” on her sweater.\n\nCindy Williams, who played the Shirley to Marshall's Laverne, mourned her old co-star.\n\n\"What an extraordinary loss,\" she said in a statement to USA TODAY. \"My good friend, Penny Marshall is gone one in a million. Utterly unique, a truly great talent. And, oh what fun we had! Can't describe how I'll miss her.\"\n\nDirector and actor Rob Reiner tweeted that he was \"so sad\" about Marshall's passing. The two were married from 1971-1981.\n\n\"I loved Penny,\" he continued. \"I grew up with her. She was born with a great gift. She was born with a funnybone and the instinct of how to use it. I was very lucky to have lived with her and her funnybone.\"\n\nFellow \"Laverne & Shirley\" co-star Michael McKean was left speechless following the news of Marshall's death. \"I don't know what to say,\" he tweeted.\n\nAside from acting, Marshall became one of the most successful female film directors of all time, with hits such as \"Big,\" \"Awakenings\" and \"A League of Their Own\" to her credit.\n\nTom Hanks, who starred in \"Big\" and \"A League of Their Own,\" said his final \"goodbye\" to Marshall: \"Man, did we laugh a lot! Wish we still could. Love you. Hanx.\"\n\nGeena Davis, who starred in the film about a women’s baseball team during World War II, wrote, “Penny brought so much joy to so many and will be sorely missed. I will be forever grateful to her for letting me be a part of ‘A League of Their Own.’”\n\nRosie O'Donnell, another star of \"A League of Their Own,\" said she was \"simply heartbroken. She shared an ad she did with Marshall.\n\nMadonna, who also starred in \"A League of Their Own,\" shared a photo from set of herself and Marshall.\n\n\"So Lucky to have known you and worked with you Penny Marshall!!\" she wrote in an Instagram post. \"Your Talent was as BIG as your Heart! and you were a Trailblazer For Women In Hollywood!\"\n\nThe All-American Girls Professional Baseball League said without Marshall and \"A League of Their Own,\" \"the AAGPBL would still be 'the best kept secret in baseball.'\"\n\n“RIP to a beautiful friend,” wrote NFL great-turned-\"Good Morning America\" host Michael Strahan. “You will be missed but you were definitely loved and appreciated when you were here. Prayers and love for you and the family!\"\n\nFellow director and basketball fan Spike Lee, who was often spotted sitting courtside next to Marshall at NBA games, simply posted the New York Daily News' cover tribute.\n\n\"Rest in peace to my great friend, Penny Marshall,\" wrote Lakers icon Magic Johnson. \"We shared a lot of laughs and good times together.\"\n\nDonyell Marshall, who transitioned to collegiate-level coaching after leaving the NBA, wrote, \"Still remember when you asked me for my game Jersey. You said you would go around telling people I was your nephew. We always talked before and after games when we played against the Lakers.\"\n\nRon Howard, whose career track mirrored Marshall's, noted, \"She made the transition from sitcom star to A List movie director with ease & had a major impact on both mediums. All that & always relaxed, funny & totally unpretentious. I was lucky to have known & worked with her.\"\n\n\"Thank you for what you contributed to us girls,\" wrote Viola Davis. \"Grateful to have worked with you. Rest well you great Broad!!!\"\n\nBarbra Streisand tweeted that she was \"so sorry to hear\" about Marshall's passing.\n\n\"I have great memories of attending many of her birthday parties with Carrie Fisher in the early days... and she came to so many of my concerts,\" she continued. \"May she rest in peace.\n\nBette Midler said it is the \"end of an era.\" \"The Marshall family grieves again as the great #PennyMarshall dies at age 75. What an extraordinary family they were and continue to be, and how much love and sympathy my family and I send their way,\" she tweeted.\n\nDanny DeVito remembered her as a \"sweet woman.\"\n\n\"I was very fortunate to spend time with her,\" he tweeted. \"So many laughs. She had a heart of gold. Tough as nails. She could play round ball with the best of them.\"\n\nActress Olivia Munn called Marshall \"one of the most important trailblazers. Her comedic talents brought success & fame, but she truly broke the mold with her directing.\"\n\nJosh Gad celebrated Marshall and her impact.\n\n\"At a time when men dominated, #pennymarshall broke barriers as a director, giving us hit after hit,\" he tweeted. \"A League of their Own, Awakenings, & Big aren’t simply great movies. They (are) classics made by a director who was simultaneously setting up shots while breaking down walls.\"\n\n\"Farewell to the lady I imitated as a kid before becoming her neighbor years later, legendary sitcom star and BIG director Penny Marshall,\" wrote Kevin Smith. \"I got to tell Penny that LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN is one of my favorite films when we recorded 4 epic podasts at my house.\"\n\nHollywood wasn’t the only institution to pay tribute. Major League Baseball paid tribute to the director, tweeting, \"We join the baseball community in mourning the passing of Penny Marshall, director of 'A League of Their Own.' \"\n\nLarry King also remembered Marshall on Twitter, sharing a memory of her sports memorabilia collections.\n\n\"So saddened by Penny Marshall's passing. Her work entertained us for years — what a remarkable woman! One thing I'll always remember about Penny — & maybe some people don't know this — she had one of the best sports memorabilia collections I've ever seen,\" he wrote.\n\nTrisha Yearwood thanked Marshall in a tribute tweet.\n\n\"RIP Penny Marshall. You were my childhood, and forever after. Thank you for sharing your gifts with the world. xoxo,\" she wrote.\n\nMark Wahlberg shared a photo with Marshall along with a sweet message.\n\n\"Rest in peace, Penny. Such a wonderful, funny and talented lady,\" he wrote, adding a broken heart emoji. \"Without her support and encouragement, I would not be where I am today. She will be missed.\"\n\n\"Seinfeld\" star Jason Alexander fondly recalled auditioning for Marshall.\n\n\"Penny Marshall had me audition 6 times for a role and then I didn’t get it. She didn’t know that I would audition for her forever,\" he wrote. \"It was a treat to be in the room.\n\n\"Brady Bunch\" actress Maureen McCormick wrote to Marshall: \"Your comedic talent and gift for directing have forever inspired me.\"\n\nRapper Bow Wow remembered taking in \"plenty of Laker games\" with Marshall, a noted basketball fan.\n\n\"Great woman with a great soul!\" he tweeted.\n\n\"Crazy Rich Asians\" actress Awkwafina simply tweeted: \"Rest in Power, Penny Marshall.\"\n\nBilly Crystal recognized Marshall as “a great comedienne, a terrific director and a dear friend.”\n\n“Oh Rest In Peace dear Penny Marshall,” actress Rosanna Arquette posted, “we have had many laughs through the years. This is very sad news.”\n\nGeorge Takei remembered her as a person who \"brought us great laughter and truly broke new ground as a director.\"\n\nHe added: \"Neither a schlemiel, or ever a schlimazel, she shall be missed by her many fans.\"\n\nJournalist Dan Rather dubbed Marshall a \"funny, poignant, and original American voice.\"\n\n\"Penny Marshall was a pioneer in television and the big screen who understood humor comes in many forms and some of life's deeper truths require a laugh,\" he tweeted. \"She will be missed.\"\n\n“Googled this and realized after all these years ... I Remembered every word,” tweeted “Today” co-anchor Hoda Kotb, sharing the opening to 'Laverne & Shirley.'\n\n“We will miss you,” Kotb continued.\n\nRussell Crowe tweeted that just yesterday, he held a Golden Globe award from the 1930s that Marshall gave to him.\n\n\"Hadn't seen it in years. Then today's news...\" the actor wrote. \"She was kind, she was crazy, so talented and she loved movies.\"\n\nComedian Kathy Griffin tweeted a photo of herself with Marshall.\n\n\"Penny Marshall was a loyal friend, a pioneer for women in film, and true supporter of women in the industry,\" she wrote. \"Rest In Peace my friend.\"\n\n\"I Dream of Jeannie\" actress Barbara Eden tweeted that she was \"such an admirer of (Marshall's).\"\n\n\"She and a her wonderful brother are reunited,\" she continued, referencing director Gary Marshall, who died in 2016.\n\nWilliam Shatner hailed her “a true treasure!”\n\nDirector Ava DuVernay expressed gratitude to Marshall \"For the trails you blazed. The laughs you gave. The hearts you warmed.\"\n\nBusy Philipps was brokenhearted over the news.\n\n\"Rest In Peace and thank you for everything,\" the talk show host tweeted.\n\nLin-Manuel Miranda joined those in mourning, tweeting \"#RIPPennyMarshall.\"\n\nActor Sean Astin said he was reflecting on \"so many of her brilliant moments.\"\n\nMayim Bialik referred to Marshall as \"Comedy gold\" in a tweet.\n\n\"I grew up wanting to be as funny as Penny Marshall,\" she wrote, \"and had the pleasure of meeting her a few times.\"\n\nActor James Woods, who was featured in Marshall's 2001 film \"Riding in Cars with Boys,\" remembered her as one of his \"dearest friends.\"\n\n\"I loved her,\" he continued. \"Funny, warm, a true individual and remarkable talent.\"\n\n\"Blockers\" actor Ike Barinholtz reminded his followers, \" 'A League of Their Own' is such a great movie and if you haven't seen it you should.\"\n\n\"Sabrina, the Teenage Witch\" actress Melissa Joan Hart thanked Marshall for being a \"special role model for female comedians.\"\n\n\"The Marshall family holds a special place in my heart for being so kind and creative and encouraging to other artists,\" she wrote in an Instagram post.\n\nJustine Siegal, the first woman to coach for a Major League Baseball organization, praised the filmmaker for “A League of Their Own.” Marshall directed the 1992 flick.\n\n“Your movie... inspired others to play baseball,\" Siegal wrote. “You made a difference. Thank you.”\n\nComedian Christopher Titus shared, \"This news hits with amazingly deep sadness. The world lost a lot of funny today.\"\n\n\"Men in Black\" actor Vincent D'Onofrio recalled Marshall inviting him over to discuss a movie she was working on. \"She was so kind to me,\" he tweeted. \"She was so smart and funny. I will never forget that afternoon. My heart goes out to her family and friends.\"\n\n\"The Simpsons\" producer David Silverman remembered Marshall as the long-time cartoon's first guest star in the Season 1 finale. \"Great comedic actor and director,\" he wrote.\n\nCNN anchor Jake Tapper simply tweeted \"RIP Penny Marshall\" with a GIF.\n\nActor Albert Brooks remembered Marshall as \"so talented and funny.\"\n\n\"A big loss,\" he added.\n\nWriter Matt Oswalt, brother of comic Patton Oswalt, lauded Marshall as one of the top directors.\n\n\"Her movies blended comedy and drama better than anyone,\" he posted.\n\nBlogger Perez Hilton shared with followers his heart was \"heavy\" since learning the loss of the \"TV legend\".\n\n\"I grew up watching 'Laverne & Shirley,' like so many,\" he reminisced.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2018/12/18"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2018/12/31/penny-marshall-died-heart-failure-laverne-shirley/2451551002/", "title": "Penny Marshall, star of 'Laverne & Shirley,' died of heart failure", "text": "Penny Marshall died of heart failure caused by atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease and diabetes, according to E! and Us Weekly. The Blast published a copy of the death certificate, which was issued Monday by the Los Angeles Department of Public Health.\n\nMarshall's body was cremated Dec. 26 and given to her sister, Ronny Marshall, the following day, according to the reports.\n\nMarshall died Dec. 17 at age 75. Family spokeswoman Michelle Began confirmed at the time that the cause was complications from diabetes.\n\nOne of the most successful female film directors of all time, Marshall was responsible for \"Big,\" \"Awakenings\" and \"A League of Their Own.\" She also co-starred as Laverne DeFazio on the hit television series \"Laverne & Shirley.\"\n\nMore:Penny Marshall, 'A League of Their Own' director and TV's 'Laverne,' dies at 75\n\nMore:Penny Marshall mourned by co-star Cindy Williams, ex-husband Rob Reiner and more stars\n\nMarshall spent much of the ’70s perfecting her comedy skills, starting off as Oscar’s woebegone secretary Myrna on \"The Odd Couple.\" After a somewhat similar stint as Mary’s new neighbor on \"The Mary Tyler Moore Show,\" she made a 1975 guest appearance with Cindy Williams on \"Happy Days,\" and a classic character was born.\n\nFor millions of Americans, she remains Laverne, the gravel-voiced, gangly Milwaukee brewery worker with the tough act, soft heart and the big “L” on her sweater. Easily riled and easily hurt, Laverne was the more down-to-earth realist to Shirley Feeney’s (Williams) boo-boo-kitty-loving idealist. They were vastly different but shared the same dream in their 1950s-set blue-collar sitcom: to find true love and a way out of that basement apartment.\n\n\"Laverne\" ended in 1983, and for all intents and purposes, so did Marshall’s acting career. She seemed more comfortable behind the camera, making her big-screen directorial debut with the 1986 comedy \"Jumpin' Jack Flash\" and following it with \"Big,\" a breakout role for Tom Hanks in 1988, and \"A League of Their Own,\" which starred Madonna and Rosie O'Donnell as members of a World War II women's baseball league.\n\nContributing: Robert Bianco, USA TODAY", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2018/12/31"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2018/12/18/penny-marshall-appreciation-dies-75/334477002/", "title": "Penny Marshall, TV's Laverne and 'A League of Their Own' director ...", "text": "USA TODAY\n\nThis story has been updated since its original publication.\n\nWho’s going to help Shirley make her dreams come true now?\n\nPenny Marshall – who died Monday at 75 of complications from diabetes, family spokeswoman Michelle Bega confirmed – became one of the most successful female film directors of all time, with hits such as \"Big,\" \"Awakenings\" and \"A League of Their Own\" to her credit.\n\nYet for millions of Americans, she remains Laverne DeFazio of ABC's \"Laverne & Shirley,\" the gravel-voiced, gangly Milwaukee brewery worker with the tough act, soft heart and the big “L” on her sweater. Easily riled and easily hurt, Laverne was the more down-to-earth realist to Shirley Feeney’s (Cindy Williams) boo-boo-kitty-loving idealist. They were vastly different but shared the same dream in their 1950s-set blue-collar sitcom: to find true love and a way out of that basement apartment.\n\nIt was a role Marshall was born to play, and not just because her brother Garry was the show’s producer (though that family tie, and the corresponding hints of favoritism, eventually caused backstage problems with Williams).\n\nRemembering those we lost: Celebrity Deaths 2018\n\nMarshall spent much of the ’70s perfecting her comedy skills, starting off as Oscar’s woebegone secretary Myrna on \"The Odd Couple,\" another Garry Marshall series. After a somewhat similar stint as Mary’s new neighbor on \"The Mary Tyler Moore Show,\" she made a 1975 guest appearance with Williams on \"Happy Days,\" and a classic character was born.\n\nWell, almost. Laverne and Shirley were softened considerably – made a bit more feminine and a bit less sexually voracious – for the 1976 debut of ABC’s spinoff. What remained was an instantly likable yin-yang onscreen chemistry between the stars. And that, along with terrific supporting work from Michael McKean and David Lander as the girls’ gross neighbors, Lenny and Squiggy, vaulted the show to the top of the ratings.\n\n\"Laverne & Shirley\" was loud and silly and, aside from those four stars, often incredibly badly acted. Often, it was also wildly funny, particularly when it exploited Marshall and Williams’ complementary slapstick skills. Marshall was never a subtle actress, and Laverne was not a subtle role. But when she and Williams were clicking along at their best, they produced some comedic physical stunts that held their own with the best of Lucy and Ethel.\n\nTheir sitcom didn’t stay hugely popular for long; bad scheduling decisions and Williams’ departure saw to that. But there’s no denying the breadth of its appeal, and the series lasted eight seasons.\n\n\"Laverne\" ended in 1983, and for all intents and purposes, so did Marshall’s acting career. She seemed more comfortable behind the camera, making her big-screen directorial debut with the 1986 comedy \"Jumping Jack Flash\" and following it with \"Big,\" a breakout role for Tom Hanks in 1988, and \"A League of Their Own,\" which starred Madonna and Rosie O'Donnell as members of a World War II women's baseball league.\n\nShe appeared on screen only rarely in recent years, including a brief role in CBS' short-lived 2016 remake of \"The Odd Couple.\" Marshall revealed she was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2010, but said two years later she was in remission.\n\nBut as fine as her film work may have been, for many of us, she’ll always hopping down that Milwaukee street, arm in arm with Shirley chanting “Schlemiel, schlemazel, hasenpfeffer incorporated.”\n\nIn our dreams, if nowhere else.\n\nMarshall is survived by her older sister Ronny, daughter Tracy Reiner (with ex-husband Rob Reiner) and three grandchildren, Spencer, Bella and Viva. A memorial will be scheduled later.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2018/12/18"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2021/12/02/eddie-mekka-death-laverne-shirley-carmine-actor/8837495002/", "title": "Eddie Mekka, 'Laverne & Shirley' actor, dies at 69: reports", "text": "Eddie Mekka, known for his role as Carmine Ragusa on the ABC sitcom \"Laverne & Shirley,\" has died. He was 69.\n\nMekka's brother Warren Mekjian confirmed the news of his brother's death to NBC News and Fox News.\n\nThe actor's Facebook fan page also announced that Mekka \"passed away peacefully\" Saturday at his home in Newhall, California.\n\n\"Laverne & Shirley\" was a spin-off of the ABC 1970s sitcom \"Happy Days,\" which Mekka briefly appeared in as his \"Laverne & Shirley\" character Carmine.\n\nIn the spin-off, Mekka's character, nicknamed \"The Big Ragoo,\" took on a lead role as Shirley's (Cindy Williams) high school sweetheart and hot-and-cold romantic interest.\n\nEmmy-winning \"Laverne & Shirley\" ran for eight seasons from 1976 to 1983.\n\nThe actor also took on roles on the stage, and he was nominated for a Tony Award for his lead role in the rock opera musical \"The Lieutenant.\"\n\nThe actor added more TV show and movie appearances throughout his career. He earned acting credits in series like \"Family Matters,\" \"The Jamie Foxx Show\" and 1997's \"Top of the World,\" according to IMDb.\n\nMore deaths:Arlene Dahl, actress in 'One Life to Live,' dies at 96\n\nIn 2006, Mekka was cast as a club owner in the Oscar-winning movie musical \"Dreamgirls,\" starring Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Hudson and Beyoncé.\n\nSome of the actor's most recent movie appearances included \"Diary of a Lunatic,\" and \"Silver Twins\" in 2017 as well as \"Hail Mary!\" in 2018.\n\n\"Laverne & Shirley\" co-star Micheal McKean gave Mekka \"a sad goodbye\" on Twitter Thursday.\n\n\"A genuinely good guy and purveyor of cheer whenever things got cheerless. Value these people. RIP, Eddie,\" McKean wrote.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/12/02"}, {"url": "http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/destinations/2018/08/20/milwaukee-bronze-fonz-statue/1042855002/", "title": "For 10 years, Bronze Fonz has been a favorite for Milwaukee visitors", "text": "On Aug. 19, 2008, Milwaukee got what's now one of its most \"selfied\" landmarks: the Bronze Fonz.\n\nThe life-size statue of \"Happy Days\" character Arthur Fonzarelli, aka The Fonz, is a must-see for visitors. Lake Mills, Wisconsin-based artist Gerald Sawyer created the sculpture. Last year, Sawyer gave The Fonz a little update: He changed his pants from teal to blue.\n\nThe TV show was based in Milwaukee and ran for 11 seasons – from 1974 to 1983. \"Happy Days\" was so popular that it spawned several spinoffs, including \"Laverne & Shirley,\" \"Mork & Mindy\" and \"Joanie Loves Chachi.\"\n\nThe Bronze Fonz arrived with a lot of fanfare and quite a few celebrities. Henry Winkler, the actor who played The Fonz, came. He was one of the first to get a photo with, er, himself. He rode a car in a parade that went from downtown Milwaukee to Miller Park, where Winkler threw the opening pitch at a Brewers' game.\n\nAnson Williams (Potsie) and Erin Moran (Joanie) were there to celebrate. Cindy Williams (Shirley) and Penny Marshall (Laverne) were there too.\n\nBut before The Bronze Fonz was solidified in Milwaukee concrete, it was the source of controversy.\n\nThe statue site was planned for three different locations before it settled on the east side of the Riverwalk near Wells Street.\n\nJournal Sentinel art critic Mary Louise Schumacher wrote in 2008 that the Milwaukee Art Museum director came out against the statue. Two gallery owners were so adamantly opposed to The Bronze Fonz that they claimed they would close down their galleries if the planning went through.\n\nNevertheless, The Bronze Fonz and its supporters prevailed. Visit Milwaukee spearheaded an effort that raised $75,000 for the statue. Henry Winkler loves it.\n\nFans send him photos of them in Milwaukee with the Bronze Fonz. Those fans share their photos on social media, too, often mimicking the classic \"ayyyy\" and Arthur Fonzarelli thumbs up. The Bronze Fonz even has a Yelp page; it has 64 reviews, 48 photos and four stars. It has a Twitter page, too.\n\nWinkler told columnist Jim Stingl, \"It is a great honor. You cannot be blase about that, no matter how much time goes by.\"", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2018/08/20"}]}
{"question_id": "20230203_20", "search_time": "2023/02/04/11:56", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/crime/959493/chinese-food-blogger-fined-for-cooking-and-eating-great-white-shark", "title": "Chinese food blogger fined for cooking and eating great white shark ...", "text": "A Chinese food blogger has been fined £15,000 ($18,500) after posting a video of her illegally buying, preparing and eating a six-foot long great white shark.\n\nThe blogger, who goes by the name Tizi, posted the video on Chinese social media site Douyin last year. In it she is seen posing next to the dead shark outside a shop before later slicing it in half and cooking it over an open fire and then sautéing it in a wok.\n\nPolice began investigating the influencer, who has almost eight million followers on her channel, in August last year after the viral clip “sparked outrage among many Chinese viewers”, CBS News reported.\n\nAccording to an official statement from authorities in Nanchong, a city in Sichuan province, the blogger, who is identified only by the name Jin, was found to have violated China’s wild animal protection law after the shark was identified as a great white from tissue samples. Two other individuals involved in catching and selling the animal were also arrested.\n\nInsider previously reported that Tizi has posted videos of other extreme-eating challenges – known as mukbang videos – including eating crocodiles and ostriches.\n\nAccording to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), great white sharks are considered a vulnerable species, with a “high risk” of extinction in the wild.\n\nThey are also legally protected in China, said Insider, and illegal possession of one can lead to a prison term of between five and ten years.\n\nChina imposed “a total ban on the buying, selling, and consumption of wild animals”, added the Independent, at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic “to prevent activities scientists say may have caused the deadly coronavirus.\n\n“This has also led to a crackdown on viral binge-eating videos,” added the news site.", "authors": ["The Week Staff"], "publish_date": "2023/01/31"}, {"url": "https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/world-news/951849/hitlers-toilet-seat-up-for-auction", "title": "Hitler's toilet seat up for auction | The Week UK", "text": "Adolf Hitler’s toilet seat is expected to fetch around £15,000 at an upcoming auction. A US soldier grabbed the curious keepsake from the Nazi leader’s private bathroom in his holiday home in the Bavarian Alps. And now his family has decided to cash in on the toilet seat at an auction in Maryland. The auction company said: “One can scarcely imagine the plotting the tyrant undertook while contemplating the world from atop this perch.”\n\nDuck surfs to Instagram fame\n\nA surfing duck has become an Instagram sensation after realising that it can catch some waves and make its way into the beach without having to paddle. The duck, who is eight months old, has become a popular sight in Rainbow Bay on the Gold Coast, Australia and has his own Instagram account, @rainbowbayduck.\n\nFish gets lodged in man’s throat\n\nA doctor has removed an 18cm fish from a man’s throat following a fishing accident in Colombia. When the man was dealing with a fish he had caught, a second fish bit his line. He placed the first fish in his mouth while he reeled in the second fish. Unfortunately, it lodged itself in his throat. When he arrived at hospital, doctors removed the 18cm fish from the man’s oesophagus.", "authors": ["Chas Newkey-Burden"], "publish_date": "2021/02/02"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/23/europe/ukraine-war-russian-soldiers-deaths-cmd-intl/index.html", "title": "The bodies of Russian soldiers are piling up in Ukraine, as Kremlin ...", "text": "Lviv, Ukraine (CNN) — The first warm, sunny days of spring in the southern Mykolaiv region are ushering in a grim new reality: the smell of the dead.\n\nAs the frost melts and ground thaws, the bodies of Russian soldiers strewn across the landscape are becoming a problem.\n\nIn his nightly video address on Saturday, Vitaly Kim, the region’s governor, called on local residents to help collect the corpses and put them in bags, as temperatures rise to above freezing. “We’re not beasts, are we?” he implored residents, who have already lost so many of their own in this war.\n\nMykolaiv was among the first regional capitals to be attacked after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the invasion of Ukraine on February 24. After pushing into the urban center, Russian troops have been forced out by Ukraine’s military, leaving a trail of blackened combat vehicles and tanks in their wake. But the battle for the city, a cornerstone in Russia’s westward quest along the Black Sea coast to Odesa, is still raging and it’s unclear how long Ukrainian forces will be able to fend off the assault.\n\nA burned-out Russian combat vehicle, the letter Z emblazoned on its door, east of Mykolaiv city on March 10. Scott Peterson/Getty Images\n\nReferring to them as “orcs”— the evil, monstrous army in J. R. R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” — Kim said that the Russians had retreated and left their colleagues’ charred bodies behind on the battlefield. He sent CNN pictures of the abandoned corpses, adding: “There are hundreds of them, all over the region.”\n\nThe governor has called for the bodies to be placed into refrigerators and sent back to Russia for identification through DNA testing. But, a month into the war, it is still unclear how or if the remains of soldiers are being repatriated to Russia, where reports about the death toll have largely been silenced. The country has cracked down on any information about the realities of the bloody war, restricting access to Western media reports, as well as the social networks Twitter and Facebook, in Russian territory.\n\n“Do you know they have brought a cremation chamber with them? They’re not going to show the bodies to their families. They’re not going to tell the mothers that their children died here.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky\n\nExactly how many Russian troops have been killed in Ukraine remains a mystery. The official line from Russia’s defense ministry was 498 military personnel until Monday, when pro-Putin Russian tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda published a report updating the toll to 9,861. The figure, which was attributed to the ministry and later retracted by the paper — which claimed it was hacked — has not been confirmed by the Kremlin, whose spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Tuesday told CNN: “As far as the numbers are concerned, we agreed from the very beginning that we do not divulge the information.”\n\nThat number tallies with information shared with CNN by US and NATO officials, who gave a recent estimate that Russian casualties range from between 3,000 and 10,000. Ukrainian officials have claimed the toll is even higher, at more than 15,000. CNN has been unable to verify the overall number of Russian deaths.\n\nOne of the most searing, early images of the war in Ukraine was of a dead Russian soldier, his face and body obscured by a dusting of newly fallen snow. The picture, shot by New York Times photojournalist Tyler Hicks, captured the anonymity of the more than 150,000 Russians sent to fight their neighbors — and the anxiety of Russian families desperate to find out any information about their fate.\n\nSnow covers the body of a dead Russian soldier near a highway outside Kharkiv, Ukraine, a day after the invasion began. Tyler Hicks/The New York Times/Redux\n\nThe Ukrainian government has claimed that the Russian army sent mobile crematoriums to burn their own dead. “The Russian people dying here, nobody is counting them, people dying in this war. Do you know they have brought a cremation chamber with them? They’re not going to show the bodies to their families. They’re not going to tell the mothers that their children died here,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told reporters in a briefing on March 3.\n\nOn the same day, Ukrzaliznytsia, the state-owned Ukrainian Railways, said in a statement on its website that it had provided Ukraine’s armed forces with 20 refrigerated cars for the removal of dead Russian soldiers from several areas, including Odesa. Just 72 hours later, Ukrzaliznytsia’s chairman posted a message on his personal Telegram channel saying that Russia never came to load them. “For the sake of ‘victorious’ propaganda, they are ready to deprive mothers of even the opportunity to bury the bodies,” Oleksandr Kamyshin wrote.\n\nUkraine’s government said it is still waiting to receive a request from Russian authorities for the repatriation of the bodies of those killed. The Ukrainian deputy prime minister said the issue of collecting and identifying the bodies had been discussed in a meeting between Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Peter Maurer, on Thursday. But the ICRC has not confirmed whether it is assisting Ukraine in the return of Russian remains to their home country, which is provided for under international law.\n\nHints at the scale of Russia’s troop losses have begun to emerge in videos and reports. On March 18, the Belarus service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a US-funded media organization, published images of Russian ambulance convoys appearing to arrive at field hospitals in southern Belarus, near Ukraine’s border, and reported that morgues in the area were overflowing. A March 21 report by English-language Ukrainian media outlet The Kyiv Independent followed a Ukrainian emergency response unit digging up Russian soldiers buried in unmarked communal graves in Rusaniv, a village east of the capital — left in a heap without identification documents or IDs.\n\nThe deserted corpse of a Russian soldier lying on a road in Sytniaky, Ukraine, on March 5. Anastasia Vlasova/Getty Images\n\nRussian state media reports have stuck to the 498 figure and few funerals have been documented in the country, where censorship of the war has been taken to an extreme with a new law criminalizing reporting contradicting the Kremlin. In the absence of information about Russia’s dead, Ukrainians have been trying to fill in the gaps.\n\nA website and Telegram channel established by the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs, aimed at Russian families, publishes a steady stream of photos of dead soldiers and captured young men, sometimes alongside their identity cards. The name of the site, 200rf.com, is a grim nod to Gruz-200, or Cargo-200, a military code word that came into use in the 1980s during the war in Afghanistan, used by the Soviets for the bodies of soldiers placed in zinc-lined coffins for transport.\n\nViktor Andrusiv, an adviser to Ukraine’s internal affairs minister and the creator and coordinator of the channel, also known as “Look for Your Own,” said he launched the initiative to help Russian families track down information about their soldiers. “We are not making war against the Russian people. And I don’t think they should suffer because of their regime, which lies to them and says everything is good, no one is dying,” he told CNN. “It’s a way for us to bring them some truth.”\n\n“The problem with Russian bodies is really huge. It’s thousands of them. Before the war, the weather was cold, it was okay but now we have problems … I actually don’t know what we will do in the next weeks.” Viktor Andrusiv, founder of 200rf.com\n\nBut identifying dead Russian soldiers has been a difficult task. Andrusiv said only 30 have been found on the Telegram channel by their relatives, who scan through gruesome images of those killed in action for clues about whether their loved ones are alive or dead. Ukrainian forces send Andrusov images of deserted bodies, but they’re often unrecognizable and have no documents on them.\n\n“It’s very difficult to identify the dead because normally they don’t have documents with them, normally the commanders take their documents and put them in some boxes. Normally they die in this fire, in shelling. And you cannot identify the metal ‘dog tags,’ where their number is written, it gives us no information about the person,” Andrusiv said.\n\nAnd as March turns to April, and temperatures climb to around 60 degrees Fahrenheit, the problem is getting worse.\n\n“The problem with Russian bodies is really huge. It’s thousands of them. Before the war, the weather was cold, it was okay but now we have problems because Russians don’t want to take the bodies,” Andrusiv said. “I actually don’t know what we will do in the next weeks with their bodies.”", "authors": ["Eliza Mackintosh"], "publish_date": "2022/03/23"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/17/europe/russia-soldiers-desert-battlefield-intl-cmd/index.html", "title": "Russia's mobilization is mired in problems, with anger on the front ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nRussia’s first mobilization since World War II may be complete, but the deployment of thousands of soldiers to the battlefields of Ukraine is generating dissent and protest on the front lines – and back home.\n\nWith the Russian government touting that at least 50,000 of the recently drafted are now in Ukraine, a long list of complaints is emerging: Lack of leadership from mid-ranking officers, tactics that lead to heavy casualties, non-existent training, promised payments not received.\n\nThere are also logistical difficulties, as reported by soldiers, their families and Russian military bloggers: Insufficient uniforms, poor food, a lack of medical supplies.\n\nAnd there are discipline issues, with some families complaining their men face charges of desertion and are being held in basements in occupied Ukrainian territory.\n\nThe Astra Telegram channel – a project of independent Russian journalists – reported that 300 mobilized Russians are being held in a basement in Zaitsevo in the Luhansk region for refusing to return to the front line, quoting their relatives.\n\nOne woman said her husband had told her: “New people are constantly brought in. They are in a large basement in the House of Culture in Zaitsevo. They feed them once a day: one dry ration to share between 5-6 people. They constantly threaten them.”\n\nAstra reported it had the names of 42 people of those detained. It also cited relatives in identifying seven basements or detention facilities in Luhansk and Donetsk for soldiers.\n\nIt quoted the wife of one detained soldier as saying: “My husband and 80 other people are sitting in the basement; they were stripped naked in order to confiscate their phones, but one person, fortunately, hid the phone.”\n\nAstra said the men were arrested after retreating from the town of Lyman and then refusing to return to the line of fire.\n\nCNN is unable to verify the existence or location of detention centers for men refusing to fight.\n\nMilitary training of Russians called up for military service under the country's partial mobilization is seen in Rostov, Russia on October 21, 2022. Arkady Budnitsky/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images\n\nThere are widespread complaints about incompetent or non-existent leadership.\n\nRussian military bloggers – some of whom have hundreds of thousands of followers – have been bitterly critical of senior officers.\n\n“Do we have generals capable of replacing those who have been sacked? Does anyone know one? I don’t,” asked Vladen Tatarskiy, who has more than half-a-million subscribers. “One idiot is rotated for another. One fails, another fails, the third seems more harmless.”\n\nIn a bold note of dissent, soldiers of the 155th Brigade of the Russian Pacific Fleet Marines wrote to their regional governor saying they’d been thrown into an “incomprehensible battle” in the Donetsk region.\n\n“As a result of the ‘carefully’ planned offensive by the ‘great commanders’, we lost about 300 men, dead and wounded, with some MIA over the past 4 days,” the letter said. It was published by a Russian military blogger and widely circulated.\n\nOne prominent military blogger claimed the 155th and another unit “lost twice as many men in Pavlivka” – in Donetsk region – “as during the two Chechnya wars.”\n\nIn a rare acknowledgment of criticism, the Russian Defense Ministry retorted that losses did “not exceed 1% of the combat strength and 7% of the wounded, a significant part of whom have already returned to duty.”\n\nBut the reported debacle around Pavlivka is not an isolated incident.\n\nKateryna Stepanenko, who tracks the Russian military at the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War, says: “We have seen many complaints about unprepared mobilized men who were committed to the Svatove-Kreminna frontline [in Luhansk], which is currently one of the combat-heavy positions for Russian forces.”\n\nProtests back home\n\nAs soldiers relay their plight back home, their complaints are being amplified by wives and mothers through social media and in direct appeals to regional authorities.\n\nStepanenko says the “most common complaints from these families are lack of information from the Ministry of Defense on the whereabouts of their loved ones, delayed payments, and lack of supplies.”\n\nLast week, video emerged from TV Rain, a Russian media outlet that now operates in exile, of servicemen’s relatives gathered at a military base in the city of Boguchar in Voronezh region, many complaining that they’d not heard from husbands or sons since early October.\n\nIn another video posted on the social network vk.com on Monday, a group of women in Voronezh said their husbands and sons were on the front line without commanders, without water, necessary clothing or weapons.\n\nOne woman, Lyudmila Agarkova, said her son had told her that very few of his battalion had survived. “They literally crawled out from under the corpses,” she said.\n\nAppealing to the governor of Voronezh for help, the women say their men “were not trained, they were taken to the firing range just once, they had no combat experience.”\n\nThey also complain that they can’t get answers, with one saying: “We are a few minutes away from the military commissariat. None of the staff ever gets in touch, they completely ignore us.”\n\nA Russian serviceman addresses reservists at a gathering point in the town of Volzhsky in the Volgograd region, Russia, on September 28. Stringer/Reuters\n\nA video posted on YouTube shows a dozen women reportedly from Sverdlovsk region, some with young children, appealing for help for recruits from the 55th brigade reportedly hiding out near Svatove in Luhansk. The families say their men have been threatened with military tribunals but argue they should not have been on the front line at all.\n\nOne woman says her son had called, saying they were “left without any command, without ammunition, hungry and cold, they are all ill.”\n\n“They ended up there without any professional training,” says another woman, whose 41-year old husband was mobilized.\n\n“They don’t get paid. They are not assigned to any military unit. Where to look for them, whom to ask, we don’t know.”\n\nOccasionally, local authorities do respond. The military commissar of the Vladimir region, Yuri Gusarov, responded to relatives who said their men “were sent to the front near Svatove without proper equipment and training.”\n\n“Our military units have weapons, body armor, clothes, water, hot meals. Deliveries of aid from the Vladimir region are regular, communication with the commanders is maintained,” the military commissar replied.\n\nMore often than not, the families don’t get a response.\n\nJournalist Anastasia Kashevarova, whose Telegram channel has more than 200,000 subscribers, said she’d received hundreds of messages from relatives of fighters. “Groups are abandoned without communication, without the necessary weapons, without medicines, naturally without artillery. No one knows who is on their right, who is on the left, who is in the rear,” she posted.\n\n“Instead of being listened to, they are threatened with punishment, a tribunal, and sent back to the front line with four magazines of ammunition and a grenade launcher with a few shots.”\n\nCNN reached out to relatives of men in the 55th brigade from Tomsk and confirmed that they had met the local military command. But a day later, one woman texted: “Apologies, but our lips have been sealed.”\n\nA volunteer uses his mobile phone as he sits on the top of a destroyed Russian armoured vehicle in the recently liberated town of Izium, in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region, on September 27, 2022. Zohra Bensemra/Reuters\n\nThe moderator of one Telegram channel for families told CNN that mothers and wives often fear “repressive retribution” against their loved ones if they speak out. The moderator, who CNN is not identifying for their safety, said that at the local level “some authorities are already calling them ‘deserters,’ without investigating why they were sent to Ukraine without training, equipment or command on the front line.”\n\nBut complaining can come at a price. Olga Kuznetsova, a resident of Arkhangelsk, was found guilty of “discrediting the Russian Armed Forces” after collecting signatures against mobilization. She was fined 15,000 rubles ($250).\n\nTraining deficit\n\nWestern officials say the Russian war machine is struggling to assimilate tens of thousands of largely inexperienced recruits.\n\nThe UK’s Ministry of Defense said last week that “Russia is probably struggling to provide military training for its current mobilization drive and its annual autumn conscription intake. Newly mobilized conscripts likely have minimal training or no training at all. Experienced officers and trainers have been deployed to fight in Ukraine and some have likely been killed in the conflict.”\n\nUkrainian intelligence has reported that the Russian military is speeding up the graduations of cadets but Stepanenko says that “while these cadets may be more familiar with military craft, it’s hard to say how effective they will be in combat.”\n\nUkrainian officials acknowledge that Russia’s mobilization has put more men into battle, pulling Ukrainian troops in different directions. But they say new recruits are being thrown into battle with no preparation.\n\nSerhii Hayday, head of the Ukrainian Regional Military Administration in Luhansk, said last week that near Svatove, raw conscripts had advanced in waves.\n\n“They die, and the next ones go forward. Every new attack is accompanied by the fact that the Russians are trampling their dead.”\n\nAs winter sets in, the need for accommodation and supplies for troops far from home base is even more critical.\n\nNatalia Ivanova posted on the VKcontact page of a regional official that her husband’s unit was kept waiting for hours outside, before the deployment was canceled. “Now everyone is sick, with a temperature!” she said.\n\nStepananeko points to instances of protests among newly mobilized troops yet to be sent to Ukraine – principally over pay – “with two notable examples being in Chuvashia and Ulyansk.”\n\nVideo emerged earlier this month of dozens of men in Chuvashia, a republic in central Russia, angry that they had not received the 195,000 rubles promised in a decree signed by President Vladimir Putin.\n\nUnofficial Telegram channels said the whole unit had subsequently been placed under house arrest.\n\nAcross Russia, relatives of the mobilized are also chasing unpaid compensation, for example, for buying uniform when it was not issued, with CNN finding many such posts on local government social media.\n\nDozens of mobilized men in Kazan region protested due to poor conditions at their training ground and a lack of water, food and firewood for heating. In one video, a man is heard demanding that washing machines are installed. Then, he said, they “would be happy to be in the mud every day from morning to evening.”\n\nIt’s too early to make a full assessment of the impact of Russia’s mobilization of more than 300,000 men. That’s double the number of men involved at the start of the Ukrainian invasion and would help plug gaps in units degraded by nine months of conflict.\n\nBut the caliber of these troops, leadership in the field and a logistics chain that has never excelled do not bode well for the Russian army.\n\nStepanenko thinks it’s possible “that more reports of deaths or lack of payments may upset more Russians – both those who are pro-war and those who are only involved in the war because of mobilization.”\n\nFor the moment, mobilization has not brought Putin’s special military operation any closer to its stated goals.\n\nIndeed, in chunks of regions annexed with such fanfare by Russia in September, the Ukrainian flag is being raised again.", "authors": ["Tim Lister Katharina Krebs Anastasia Graham-Yooll", "Tim Lister", "Katharina Krebs", "Anastasia Graham-Yooll"], "publish_date": "2022/11/17"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/05/middleeast/social-media-disinformation-mime-intl/index.html", "title": "The battle of narratives on Iran is being fought on social media | CNN", "text": "Editor’s Note: A version of this story first appeared in CNN’s Meanwhile in the Middle East newsletter, a three-times-a-week look inside the region’s biggest stories. Sign up here.\n\nAbu Dhabi, UAE CNN —\n\nAs anti-government protests enter their third week in Iran, the Islamic Republic has imposed a near total blackout of independent information coming out of the country.\n\nA fierce battle to control the narrative is now being fought online, where supporters and opponents of the government alike are taking to social media to tell their version of the truth and, in some cases, go beyond the truth.\n\nWith access to Twitter blocked in Iran, that battle is primarily being fought outside the country.\n\n“It is normal for people to rush to social media when protests break out… It has happened in Iran and the Arab world,” said Marc Owen Jones, an associate professor at Qatar’s Hamad Bin Khalifa University who specializes in digital disinformation. “But the scale here seems quite substantial.”\n\nProtests aren’t new to Iran, and neither are internet blackouts. What’s changing, say experts, is the sophistication of those trying to get their message across.\n\nThe protests started following the death of 22- year-old Mahsa Amini after she was detained by the Islamic Republic’s “morality police,” sparking outrage among Iranians who took to the streets to demand more freedoms.\n\nA hashtag with her name has garnered 52 million tweets, said Jones, who has analyzed pro- and anti-regime activity on Twitter. Some of those tweets, he said, suggest there may be coordinated manipulation campaigns at play, possibly including bots.\n\nBots are social media accounts controlled by software, not real people, that are designed to promote certain topics.\n\nHe told CNN that an analysis of those tweeting the hashtags associated with the protests showed “a striking number of new accounts created” since the protests started.\n\nOf the 108,000 accounts in a sample using #OpIran, another hashtag associated with the protests, he found that around 13,000 were created in September, while the average number of accounts created per month in the sample was only 500. Most of the September accounts were created in around 10 days following Amini’s death, he said.\n\n“It’s quite rare to see this amount of new online mobilization of accounts that then subsequent and continuously engage in tweet activity,” he said, adding that while this indicates manipulation, it isn’t conclusive evidence of it.\n\nI want to share some of the iconic imagery and music from the protests in Iran and around the world. Singer Shervin Hajipour's song \"Baraye\" brings up grievances such as the economy and a lack of women's rights in his country. It has now been removed from Hajipour's account. pic.twitter.com/WZOmh7CPUR — Becky Anderson (@BeckyCNN) October 3, 2022\n\nAsked to comment on the matter, Twitter referred CNN to its policy of “taking robust and proactive action against violating content” where evidence of coordinated inauthentic activity is detected.\n\nThe creation of new accounts “is a repeated hallmark of dis- and misinformation actors… [who] participate in the conversation to push a narrative,” said Steph Shample, a non-resident scholar with the Middle East Institute’s Cyber Program. Content from such accounts is not trustworthy, she said.\n\nMaziar Bahari, editor of IranWire, a pro-reform activist outlet, says there are many ways to verify content on social media, “but in a chaotic, angry situation it’s impossible to expect every member of the public to try and fact check, especially if those exaggerated reports have roots in the reality.”\n\nBahari said there have been several cases of fake news successfully being portrayed as reality from both sides. “After every protest, the government shows confiscated firearms from archives or taken from common criminals and attributes it to their critics,” he told CNN. There are also cases of social media users exaggerating reports of killings and sexual violence by the security forces, he said.\n\nThe harm comes “more when important public figures, such as politicians or educators, retweet the false narratives of controlling countries and their politicians,” said Shample.\n\nAny account on any social media platform that is successfully posting pro-Iranian government material while most of the country is cut off from those services is suspect, she said. “It is very, very dangerous to take things at face value anymore.”\n\nSo, who’s behind all the Twitter activity around #MahsaAmini?\n\nSince Twitter is blocked in Iran, Jones suggests that the large Iranian diaspora may be mobilizing to keep her story alive, but other interests may also be at play.\n\n“We also know there are a number of people with stakes in trying to see regime change in Iran, from right-wing hawks in US and Israel, to the MeK,” he said, referring to Mujahideen-e-Khalq, an Albania-based Iranian dissident group. “The MeK certainly have been active in social media manipulation prior to the [death of] Mahsa Amini.”\n\nShample suggests that the government itself could be behind some of the anti-regime tweets in an effort to track those who support the movement.\n\nThe war of narratives between opposing parties on social media isn’t new. Twitter regularly removes accounts it says are tied to the Iranian government that engage in coordinated manipulation. Last year, Facebook removed hundreds of fake accounts linked to a troll farm in Albania that it said were linked to the MeK. The group was removed from the US terror list in 2012.\n\nFacebook describes troll farms as a “physical location where a collective of operators share computers and phones to jointly manage a pool of fake accounts as part of an influence operation.”\n\nNeither the MeK, which also goes by the name People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, or the Iranian foreign ministry respondedto CNN’s requests for comment.\n\nThe Iranian government has time and again blamed foreign conspiracies aimed at spreading false news about the situation in Iran. But Bahari says the disinformation and foreign exploitation of the protests don’t discredit a movement that has genuine demands for change.\n\n“Disinformation has existed as long as movements have existed,” he said. “But the advent of social media means that [it] can spread more quickly… when movements are popular and have roots in people’s aspirations for change, disinformation is just a nuisance.”\n\nThe digest\n\nOPEC+ agrees on a 2 million bpd cut in oil output, defying US pressure\n\nOPEC+ on Wednesday agreed on a 2 million barrel per day output cut, defying a pressure campaign by the US for the cartel not to make such a drastic reduction. The cut was the biggest since the Covid-19 pandemic and was twice as much as analysts had expected.\n\nBackground: The Biden administration had launched a pressure campaign this week in a last-ditch effort to dissuade Arab allies from slashing oil production. Officials had been lobbying their counterparts in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates to vote against such a move. Some of the draft talking points framed the prospect of a production cut as a “hostile act.”\n\nWhy it matters: A cut in oil production would cause US gasoline prices to rise at a precarious time for the Biden administration , just five weeks before the midterm elections. Requests for a production rise by the US earlier this year were largely rebuffed by Arab oil producers.\n\nSaudi prince has immunity in Khashoggi killing lawsuit, say lawyers\n\nLawyers for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), who is facing a US lawsuit over the 2018 killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, told a court on Monday the crown prince’s appointment as prime minister last week ensured him immunity from prosecution, Reuters reported.\n\nBackground: Khashoggi was killed and dismembered by Saudi agents in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in an operation US intelligence believe was ordered by MBS. The crown prince denied ordering Khashoggi’s killing but acknowledged later it took place “under my watch.” The lawsuit was filed jointly by Khashoggi’s fiancé Hatice Cengiz and a human rights group founded by Khashoggi.\n\nWhy it matters: The court had asked the US Department of Justice to express a view on whether MBS had immunity, setting an Oct. 3 deadline for a response. After the prince’s appointment as prime minister last week, the department said on Friday it was seeking a 45-day extension to prepare its response to the court “in light of these changed circumstances.”\n\nIranian American, 85, held in Tehran for six years, leaves Iran\n\nBaquer Namazi, an 85-year-old Iranian American who was jailed in Iran on spying charges, arrived in Muscat on Wednesday after Tehran allowed him to leave for medical treatment, an Omani government said on Twitter.\n\nBackground: Namazi, a former official with the UN children’s agency UNICEF, holds US and Iranian citizenship and was one of four Iranian Americans, including his son Siamak, detained in Iran in recent years or barred from leaving the country. Namazi was convicted in 2016 of “collaboration with a hostile government” and jailed for 10 years. Iranian authorities released him on medical grounds in 2018 and closed his case in 2020, commuting his sentence to time served. However, they had effectively barred him from leaving until Saturday.\n\nWhy it matters: Iranian Americans, whose US citizenship is not recognized by Tehran, are often pawns between the two nations, now at odds over whether to revive a fraying 2015 pact under which Iran limited its nuclear program in return for sanctions relief. Iran is also grappling with the biggest show of opposition to its clerical authorities since 2019.\n\nAround the region\n\nأنتش وأجري النسخة الأصلية 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/LzAQjoGU13 — Hassan (@Iim_resistance) September 29, 2022\n\nEgypt’s own Michael Jackson is making waves on social media. But this inadvertent pop star calls himself ‘Wegz of the poor,’ referring to an Egyptian rapper.\n\nA young Egyptian man from a modest family has shot to fame in the Arab world after unexpectedly reviving Michael Jackson’s legacy 13 years after the popstar’s death. His quirky Cairene touch had the video go viral across the region.\n\nIn a short TikTok clip, Cairo resident Haytham Ahmed was seen imitating Michael Jackson’s performance in “Smooth Criminal,” mirroring his dance moves with hand gestures and an upbeat singing tune. Ahmed was filmed on the roof of what is reportedly a building in Cairo’s Sheraton district.\n\nAhmed said in a TV interview that the video was filmed spontaneously early in the morning by his friend.\n\nAhmed’s lyrics are barely comprehensible to English or Arabic speakers. Despite that, his passionate mimicking of Jackson proved popular.\n\nHend Sabry, a renowned Egyptian actress, imitated Ahmed’s performance on her own Tiktok account, which got around 1.5 million views.\n\nPhoto of the day", "authors": ["Abbas Al Lawati Nadeen Ebrahim", "Abbas Al Lawati", "Nadeen Ebrahim"], "publish_date": "2022/10/05"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/11/26/food-stamp-cuts-holidays-stress-food-banks/3751445/", "title": "Food stamp cuts, holidays stress food banks", "text": "Jake Grovum\n\nPew/Stateline Staff Writer\n\nThe %245 billion cut in food stamp benefits will affect about 48 million Americans\n\nFor those who help the hungry%2C 2013 is looking a lot like the years since the recession began\n\n15%25 of all Americans are considered %22food insecure%2C%22 and many of those people don%27t use food stamps\n\nFood banks across the country are bracing for what has become an annual occurrence during this season: a spike in demand as millions of Americans struggle to put holiday meals on their tables.\n\nFor those who help the hungry, 2013 is looking a lot like the years since the recession began—with the added challenge of a $5 billion cut in food stamp benefits, which took effect Nov. 1. About 48 million Americans will be hit by the reduction in the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), which will subtract $36 per month for a family of four. Total benefit amounts vary by state.\n\n\"Nobody's been able to catch their breath,\" said Ross Fraser of Feeding America, a nationwide network of 200 food banks that supplies 63,000 agencies around the country. \"Everyone's scared to death about these SNAP cuts.\"\n\nBad timing\n\nAs advocates for the hungry tell it, the reduction in food stamp benefits — the result of an expiration of a temporary boost enacted in 2009 — couldn't have come at worse time.\n\nThe Great Recession has already stretched food banks' ability to help the 15% of all Americans who are considered \"food insecure,\" according to an Agriculture Department report. Many of those people do not use food stamps.\n\nMany food banks are holding extra food drives, or asking companies to make special seasonal donations – turkeys, for example. Others food banks just buy more food; one reported buying 50% more this month compared to October.\n\nThe cut in food stamp benefits will only increase the demand.\n\nEnrollment in food stamps is almost three times what it was in 2000, but that hasn't lessened the dependence on food banks. Since 2006, the number of Americans receiving aid from food pantries and similar services is up almost 50%, according to Feeding America.\n\nA survey by the nonprofit Food Bank for New York City found that almost half of its food pantries and soup kitchens were forced to turn visitors away at some point last year, with 83% blaming a lack of food. At the same time, the group said their ranks shrank during the recession, with 247 of its partners closing since 2007.\n\nIn Indiana this year, lawmakers approved using state funds to pay for the processing of deer meat donated by hunters across the state. This was the first year the state chipped in to pay for the processing in an attempt to boost donations. In the past, hunters or processors covered the cost.\n\nThat led to a welcome infusion of meat donations to the state's food banks, supplementing the normal fare comprised largely of canned vegetables and other non-perishables, said Jake Bruner of the Hoosier Hills Food Bank in Bloomington, Ind.\n\nThose additional donations were well-timed. Hoosier Hills has already distributed more than 3.2 million pounds of food this year, Bruner said, more than in 2011 or 2012.\n\n\"Some pantries are serving thousands of people a week,\" he said.\n\nPerishables move\n\nThe spike in demand has led to an unexpected benefit: In the past, fresh food and produce often lingered on shelves so long it went bad. Now, that's not a concern.\n\n\"A lot of those are fairly rural counties,\" Bruner said of the areas his food bank serves. \"We're seeing agencies, a mom-and-pop food pantry, being able to take full bins of bananas and distribute them quickly.\"\n\nIn Fort Smith, Ark., near the Oklahoma border, the River Valley Food Bank is nearing the end of its own record-setting year, having distributed more than 8 million pounds of food in 2013, compared to 6.7 million last year.\n\nThe reason for the jump is a mix of still-increasing demand and the bank's ability to store more food, said its director, Ted Clemons. \"When you can distribute 8 million pounds and the pantries are still taking that food, that shows there is a demand,\" he said.\n\nUnlike past years, the food bank didn't receive any donated turkeys this year. So River Valley held a one-day \"turkey drive\" last week. Halfway through Friday's effort, Clemons, reached by phone while out collecting turkeys, said they'd already collected more than 300, with a goal of 800 for the day.\n\nStill not enough\n\nBut even the most robust food banks aren't able to fill the need, a fact that was true even before the recent food stamp cuts. By Feeding America's estimate, the benefit cuts will cost 1.9 million meals for low-income Americans next year—more than half the number of meals the organization distributes in a given year.\n\nEven at Washington, D.C.'s Capital Area Food Bank, which moves 45 million pounds of food each year from its 100,000-square-foot facility a few miles from the U.S. Capitol, organizers know they can't feed everybody who is hungry.\n\nThe facility covers parts of Virginia and Maryland, along with the nation's capital itself, where almost one in four residents is on food stamps. In preparation for the holidays, the food bank bought 50% more food this month than it did in October. Two weeks ago, it received a donation of 1,000 turkeys from a grocer.\n\n\"It would be great to put ourselves out of business,\" Page Crosland, director of media and events at the food bank, said last week. \"But I don't see that happening.\"", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2013/11/26"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2013/01/03/antikythera-shipwreck-survey/1804353/", "title": "Famed Roman shipwreck reveals more secrets", "text": "Dan Vergano, USA TODAY\n\nThe famed Antikythera shipwreck appears bigger than believed, loaded with antiquities\n\nThe shipwreck yielded bronze statues and the enigmatic Antikythera mechanism a century ago\n\nShip likely sank when a storm blew it against an underwater cliff\n\nMarine archaeologists report they have uncovered new secrets of an ancient Roman shipwreck famed for yielding an amazingly sophisticated astronomical calculator. An international survey team says the ship is twice as long as originally thought and contains many more calcified objects amid the ship's lost cargo that hint at new discoveries.\n\nAt the Archaeological Institute of America meeting Friday in Seattle, marine archaeologist Brendan Foley of the Woods Hole (Mass.) Oceanographic Institution, will report on the first survey of Greece's famed Antikythera island shipwreck since 1976. The ancient Roman shipwreck was lost off the Greek coast around 67 BC,filled with statues and the famed astronomical clock.\n\n\"The ship was huge for ancient times,\" Foley says. \"Divers a century ago just couldn't conduct this kind of survey but we were surprised when we realized how big it was.\"\n\nCompleted in October by a small team of divers, the survey traversed the island and the wreck site, perched on a steep undersea slope some 150 to 230 feet deep in the Mediterranean Sea.\n\nThe October survey shows the ship was more than 160 feet long, twice as long as expected. Salvaged by the Greek navy and skin divers in 1901, its stern perched too deep for its original skin-diver discoverers to find.\n\nThe wreck is best known for yielding a bronze astronomical calculator, the \"Antikythera Mechanism\" widely seen as the most complex device known from antiquity, along with dozens of marble and bronze statues. The mechanism apparently used 37 gear wheels, a technology reinvented a millennium later, to create a lunar calendar and predict the motion of the planets, which was important knowledge for casting horoscopes and planning festivals in the superstitious ancient world.\n\nA lead anchor recovered in a stowed position in the new survey shows that the ship likely sank unexpectedly when \"a storm blew it against an underwater cliff,\" says marine archaeologist Theotokis Theodoulou of Greece's Ephorate (Department) of Underwater Antiquities. \"It seems to have settled facing backwards with its stern (rear) at the deepest point,\" he says.\n\nScholars have long debated whether the ship held the plunder of a Roman general returning loot from Greece in the era when the Roman Republic was seizing the reins of the Mediterranean world, or merely luxury goods meant for the newly built villas of the Roman elite. The last survey of the shipwreck was led by undersea explorer Jacques Cousteau, whose documentary Diving for Roman Plunder chronicled that 1976 effort, which appears to have excavated the ship's kitchen.\n\nThe October survey team watched the 1970s documentary to help orient themselves to the wreck site. \"They didn't have the diving technology that we now have to do a very efficient survey,\" Theodoulou says.\n\nAlong with vase-like amphora vessels, pottery shards and roof tiles, Foley says, the wreck also appears to have \"dozens\" of calcified objects resembling compacted boulders made out of hardened sand resting atop the amphorae on the sea bottom. Those boulders resemble the Antikythera mechanism before its recovery and restoration. In 2006, an X-ray tomography team reported that the mechanism contained at least 30 hand-cut bronze gears re-creating astronomical cycles useful in horoscopes and timing of the Olympic Games in the ancient world, the most elaborate mechanical device known from antiquity until the Middle Ages. \"The (objects) may just be collections of bronze nails, but we won't know until someone takes a look at them,\" Foley says.\n\nThe survey effort, headed by Aggeliki Simossi of the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities,will continue for the next two years. The international survey team will look in two different locales for ancient shipwrecks in that time, while Greek antiquities officials ponder further exploration. An amphora recovered from the wreck will also have its inner walls tested for DNA traces of the regular cargo, such as wine, once carried by the vessel.\n\nRecovery of whatever cargo remains with the wreck, now covered in sand, presents a technically difficult, but not impossible, challenge for marine archaeologists.\n\n\"Obviously there are a lot of artifacts still down there, but we will need to be very careful about our next steps. This ship was not a normal one,\" Theodoulou says.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2013/01/03"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/04/09/coronavirus-live-updates-stimulus-checks-us-deaths-unemployment-claims/2970660001/", "title": "Coronavirus update: US deaths pass 16K; Britain's Johnson out of ICU", "text": "There was good and bad news Thursday as the world continued to deal with the impact of the coronavirus.\n\nThe United States has surpassed 16,000 deaths as cases continue to increase, while almost 25,000 people have recovered nationwide.\n\nConfirmed cases in the U.S. exceeded 465,000. The death toll was nearing 6,000 one week ago, but there have been nearly 2,000 deaths in each of the last two days, according to the Johns Hopkins University data dashboard.\n\nIn more positive developments, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is out of intensive care, and U.S. stocks surged to their best week since 1974 despite mind-numbing jobless numbers.\n\nAnd a significant encouraging sign: A University of Washington health research center dropped its estimated U.S. death total from the coronavirus, placing the likely toll by August at about 60,000.\n\nWorldwide, there were 1.6 million confirmed cases and more than 95,000 deaths.\n\nOur live blog is being updated throughout the day. Refresh for the latest news, and get updates in your inbox with The Daily Briefing. More headlines:\n\n• The US has a shortage of face masks amid coronavirus pandemic.A USA TODAY investigation shows why.\n\n•A bridge between life and death: Most COVID-19 patients put on ventilators will not survive\n\n• Are you homeschooling during coronavirus quarantine? Moms, teachers share ideas and advice.\n\n• A side of toilet paper to go? Some restaurants are serving up more than meals during coronavirus crisis.\n\n• Authorities say fake cops are taking advantage of coronavirus travel restrictions to illegally stop drivers.\n\n• Support these brands: Here are 20 retailers that are giving back during the pandemic\n\nBritish Prime Minister Boris Johnson out of ICU\n\nBritish Prime Minister Boris Johnson was moved out of an intensive care unit where he was being treated for coronavirus to a regular hospital ward, his office said in a statement Thursday, as the condition of Britain's leader continues to improve.\n\nThe statement from Downing Street said Johnson, 55, is receiving \"close monitoring during the early phase of his recovery.\" Earlier, the prime minister's spokesman said Johnson had a \"good night\" in the hospital and was in stable condition and \"improving.\"\n\nJohnson is being cared for in St Thomas' Hospital in central London. He was diagnosed with COVID-19 on March 26 and still had a cough and fever 10 days later. He was admitted to the hospital Sunday and to its ICU on Monday.\n\nJohnson's wife, Carrie Symonds, is pregnant and also suffered symptoms consistent with the virus. Earlier this week, Symonds tweeted that she was feeling stronger and \"on the mend.\"\n\n– Kim Hjelmgaard\n\nDeaths could fall short of projections; summer vacations 'in the cards'\n\nDr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Thursday he’s cautiously optimistic the steady rise in U.S. deaths could soon “turn around and that curve not only flatten, but (start) coming down.” Last week Fauci and the White House task force estimated U.S. deaths from the virus at 100,000 to 240,000.\n\n“I believe we are going to see a downturn in that, and it looks more like the 60,000,\" Fauci said on the \"Today\" show. That number matches an updated estimate published by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, an independent global health research center at the University of Washington. The total would also match U.S. deaths from a severe influenza season two winters ago.\n\nFauci, asked on \"CBS This Morning\" whether Americans would be taking summer vacations, going to baseball games and holding family get-togethers, replied: \"It can be in the cards.\"\n\nBest week for stocks since 1974\n\nU.S. stocks advanced Thursday, capping their best week in more than four decades after the Federal Reserve said it would provide $2.3 trillion in loans to households, local governments and businesses in another effort to shield the economy from the coronavirus pandemic.\n\nThe Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 285.80 points to close at 23,719.37 in a shortened holiday week. U.S. financial markets will be closed in observance of Good Friday.\n\nThe Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 1.5% to end at 2,789.82. It climbed 12% for the week, its best weekly gain since 1974. The broad index has jumped more than 20% in the past two and a half weeks, driven by massive amounts of aid promised by governments and central banks for the economy and markets.\n\n– Jessica Menton\n\nDonald Trump: Help coming for airlines\n\nTalks are underway with U.S. airlines, already promised a $50-billion chunk of the federal stimulus package, to deliver more aid to them as they endure a dearth of passengers in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, President Donald Trump said Thursday.\n\nTrump led off his daily White House briefing by saying talks will be going on through the weekend to craft more help for beleaguered airlines, which would be consulted.\n\n\"It is moving along quickly. The airline business has been hit very hard, as everyone knows.\" Trump said. \"We will be position to do a lot to help them.\"\n\n-- Chris Woodyard\n\nMnuchin: US could be back in business next month\n\nTreasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Thursday that parts of the economy could reopen by May. Asked by CNBC host Jim Cramer if he thought the economy could be \"open for business\" in May, Mnuchin replied, \"I do ... as soon as the president feels comfortable with the medical issues, we are making everything necessary that American companies and American workers can be open for business.\"\n\nGuidelines issued by President Donald Trump, effective through April 30, recommend that people not gather in groups of 10 or more, not go to restaurants or bars and limit their activities outside the home.\n\n– Nicholas Wu\n\nUnemployment claims near record as layoffs continue to surge\n\nMore than 6.6 million Americans filed unemployment benefit claims for the first time last week, the Labor Department said Thursday, reflecting another surge in layoffs and an economy that has continued to shut down to minimize further contagion from the coronavirus. The previous week’s record 6.65 million jobless claims total was revised up by 219,000 to a new all-time high of 6.86 million. That brings the total over the last three weeks to almost 16.8 million claims.\n\nEconomists had estimated that 5.5 million workers filed initial claims last week, according to a Bloomberg survey. The seasonally adjusted jobless rate was 5.1% for the week ending March 28.\n\n“There are reasons to think this is only the beginning,” says economist Jesse Edgerton of JPMorgan Chase.\n\n– Paul Davidson\n\nAir pollution enhances chances of dying from COVID-19, study says\n\nResidents of areas with high levels of air pollution have a much greater chance of dying from COVID-19, a Harvard University study found.\n\nBased on the notion that many of the underlying health conditions that enhance the risk of dying from the coronavirus are the same that are affected by long-term exposure to air pollution, researchers looked at about 3,000 counties encompassing 98% of the U.S. population.\n\nThey discovered that an increase of just one microgram per cubic meter of fine particulate matter was linked to a 15% increment in the COVID-19 death rate.\n\n\"The study results underscore the importance of continuing to enforce existing air pollution regulations to protect human health both during and after the COVID-19 crisis,'' the report concludes.\n\nDems block $250B for small businesses, cite needs of hospitals\n\nAn effort by Senate Republicans to replenish an emergency fund for small businesses hurt by the coronavirus crisis was blocked by Democrats, who called it a \"political stunt\" that failed to consider hospitals and other pressing needs. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., had proposed legislation boosting the popular Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) by another $250 billion on top of the $349 billion Congress approved last month as part of the $2.2 trillion pandemic response known as the CARES act.\n\nBut when it came up Thursday on a voice vote, Maryland Democratic Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen objected, effectively blocking it. The bill \"was not negotiated so it won’t get done,\" Cardin said.\n\n– Christal Hayes and Ledyard King\n\nStruggling college students to get billions in aid\n\nThe Education Department is dispersing roughly $6.3 billion in emergency aid to colleges, meant to help students struggling financially due to the coronavirus outbreak, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said Thursday.\n\nThe money comes through the CARES Act that passed Congress last month, which is meant to prop up the floundering economy through the virus’ disruptions.\n\nIt’s unclear when students will receive the funds, and it will be up to colleges to distribute the money to students as they see fit. The money can be used for course materials, food, housing, health care and similar expenses, the department said.\n\nThe federal government has also suspended federal student loan payments and set the interest rate on these loans to zero through September.\n\n– Chris Quintana\n\nNew York has another deadliest day, but hospitalizations continue decline\n\nNew York state hit a daily high with 799 deaths Wednesday, bringing the state death toll to more than 7,000, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. But Cuomo added that hospitalizations and intensive care unit admissions continue to slide, indicating that the outbreak's curve is flattening in his state. Almost half the U.S. deaths have occurred in New York. And as he does at all his daily news conferences, he urged residents to remain vigilant.\n\n\"It's only been 18 days since we closed down New York,\" he said. \"It seems like a lifetime.\"\n\nAttorney General Barr calls lockdowns 'draconian'\n\nAttorney General William Barr called the restrictions in effect in many states to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus \"draconian,\" and said Wednesday they should be revisited next month. Asked by Fox News host Laura Ingraham about the balance between religious freedoms and the need to protect people, Barr said the federal government would be \"keeping a careful eye\" on states' use of broad powers to regulate the lives of their citizens.\n\nOfficials, Barr said, should be \"very careful to make sure ... that the draconian measures that are being adopted are fully justified and there are not alternative ways of protecting people.\"\n\n– Nicholas Wu\n\nStudies suggest virus spread in New York came from Europe\n\nThe coronavirus began spreading in New York in February and came to the area via travelers from Europe, new research suggests. Two separate teams of scientists studying the genetics of the virus came to similar conclusions: People were spreading the virus weeks before the first confirmed case in New York.\n\n\"We know with certainty that these were coming from European strains,\" Adriana Heguy, director of the Genome Technology Center at NYU Langone Health, told USA TODAY.\n\nThe first case of the new coronavirus confirmed in New York came on March 1. On Jan. 31, President Donald Trump said he would restrict entry to the United States from those traveling from China. On March 11, Trump said he was restricting travel from Europe.\n\n– Ryan W. Miller\n\nDozens of American Airlines flight crew members test positive\n\nThe unions that represent commercial pilots and flight attendants say dozens of them who work for American Airlines have tested positive for the coronavirus, and they need better protection.\n\nOne hundred of the airline's flight attendants had COVID-19 as of Saturday, the Association of Professional Flight Attendants said. In a statement, Julie Hendrick, AFPA's new president, said the union has been pushing American since January for protective measures for front-line workers.\n\nOn Thursday, Capt. Dennis Tajer, spokesman for the union that represents American Airlines pilots, told USA TODAY that 41 of them have tested positive for the virus.\n\nBecause flight crews could be vectors for the virus, Tajer said they should \"receive 'first responder' status and priority for protective equipment.''\n\n– Rasha Ali and Jayme Deerwester\n\nMeat processing plant has 80-plus positive tests\n\nA Smithfield Foods pork processing plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, will temporarily close for cleaning after more than 80 employees tested positive for the coronavirus. The Virginia-based company said it would suspend operations in a large section of the plant Saturday, then completely Sunday and Monday to sanitize and install physical barriers to “enhance social distancing.”\n\nThe union representing workers at the plant, which employs about 3,700, said the number of confirmed infections is more than 120.\n\nThere has been no evidence that the coronavirus is being transmitted through food or its packaging, according to the Department of Agriculture.\n\nIMF chief warns of worst recession since Depression\n\nThe head of the International Monetary Fund said Thursday the coronavirus pandemic will push the global economy into the deepest recession since the Great Depression, and the poorest countries will fare the worst. That marks a dramatic turnaround to what was on track to be a year of economic growth.\n\nThree months ago, the IMF projected income growth per capita for 160 countries. Now the organization expects more than 170 nations will see per capita income diminish. Emerging markets and low-income nations across Africa, Latin America and much of Asia are at high risk, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said.\n\n“With weak health systems to begin with, many face the dreadful challenge of fighting the virus in densely populated cities and poverty-stricken slums, where social distancing is hardly an option,” Georgieva said.\n\nAfrican countries have sounded the alarm about a lack of access to medical equipment that may leave them vulnerable to the virus.\n\nVirus could be ticket to freedom for some elderly inmates\n\nThe coronavirus pandemic has forced prison officials to confront difficult questions about who gets to spend the rest of their days outside prison walls. Attorney General William Barr has ordered the Bureau of Prisons to move vulnerable inmates to home confinement. The elderly – most at risk of getting sick and dying of the virus – have been the fastest-growing population in federal and state prison systems, in part because of lengthy mandatory sentences. Now worried families and advocates want them released.\n\n“People change. People age out of crime, especially violent crime. That’s a young man’s game,” said Kevin Ring, president of Families Against Mandatory Minimums.\n\n– Kristine Phillips\n\nAnother potential coronavirus vaccine, this time without the deep injection\n\nAnother trial is underway to test the safety of a possible vaccine for the coronavirus, and those who fear needles may be in luck: It uses a skin-deep shot that would feel like a small pinch instead of a deep jab. The trial aims to give 40 healthy volunteers in Philadelphia and Kansas City, Missouri, two doses of the potential vaccine, INO-4800, four weeks apart.\n\nSimilar to another clinical trial that began testing for safety in Seattle last month, the potential vaccine does not rely on using the virus itself. Inovio Pharmaceuticals' trial, instead, injects a piece of synthetic DNA with a section of the virus' genetic code. The Seattle trial relies on messenger RNA. After the shot, volunteers are given a brief electrical pulse that allows the synthetic DNA to more easily enter the body.\n\nDozens of other potential vaccines are being developed around the world, but it could be more than a year to 18 months before a vaccine is widely available, public health officials have said.\n\n– Ryan W. Miller\n\nItalian PM: COVID-19 could break EU; Italy may soon ease lockdown\n\nThe European Union could collapse if it fails to come together over financial challenges presented by the coronavirus, Italy's prime minister said. Giuseppe Conte and some other EU leaders are pressing more frugal members of the bloc to issue so-called \"corona bonds\" – sharing debt that all EU nations would help to pay off. The Netherlands is among nations that have opposed the plan.\n\n\"If we do not seize the opportunity to put new life into the European project, the risk of failure is real,\" Conte told the BBC.\n\nConte also said Italy may start to gradually ease the world's most restrictive national lockdown. The number of new COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths have started to decline across the country in recent days. Italy has reported more than 17,000 deaths, the most of any nation, and almost 140,000 confirmed cases.\n\nMore coronavirus news and information from USA TODAY\n\n• Does COVID-19 have new symptoms? We checked the facts, and it's true.\n\n• Your coronavirus questions, answered: How many people have recovered? Do I need to wear gloves, too? Does UV light kill COVID-19?\n\n• Take a (virtual) field trip:Go to Jamaica, Walt Disney World, Georgia Aquarium and more.\n\n• Toilet paper production is 24/7 these days. So, why can't we find it at stores?\n\n• Black people are overwhelmingly dying from coronavirus. Nobody knows why.\n\n• Is coronavirus spreading 'quickly' on gas pumps: Here are the facts.\n\nMore coronavirus news from USA TODAY\n\nContributing: The Associated Press", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2020/04/09"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/10/29/miracle-drugs-media-hype-news-reports-often-inflate-cancer-drugs-success/74736308/", "title": "Miracle or hype? News reports often inflate cancer drugs' success", "text": "Liz Szabo\n\nUSA TODAY\n\nBreakthrough. Game changer. Miracle drug.\n\nThe media often use terms like these when reporting on new cancer drugs, even when the drugs are unproved, according to a report published online Thursday in JAMA Oncology.\n\nResearchers searched news stories on Google for the words \"cancer drug\" and over-the-top terms such as \"home run,\" \"groundbreaking\" and \"marvel.\" They found 94 news stories from 66 outlets published from June 21 to June 25 after the conclusion of a major cancer conference. News sources ranged from leading newspapers and TV stations to small trade publications.\n\nWhile some new immune therapies put a fraction of patients into long-term remission, none have been proved to definitively cure patients, study co-author Vinay Prasad said.\n\nMost new cancer drugs extend survival by only a few months, said Prasad, an assistant professor at the Knight Cancer Institute at the Oregon Health and Science University.\n\nHyping new cancer drugs \"feeds into this mentality the newest thing has got to be the best thing,\" Prasad said. While newer often means better when it comes to cellphones or computers, that's not necessarily the case with cancer drugs. Prasad said the hard reality of cancer is that, for many tumors, \"our treatments are just not that great yet.\"\n\nHalf of the drugs in the news reports he studied hadn't been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, which requires manufacturers to provide evidence that treatments are safe and effective. In 14% of stories, the drugs being praised hadn't yet been tested on humans.\n\n\"It's always inappropriate to say that something is a 'breakthrough' or 'game changer' based on work in animals,\" Prasad said. \"It would be like doing a news story about someone who's bought a lottery ticket, talking about how much money he plans to win.\"\n\nMedia hype came from a variety of sources.\n\nMore than half of the excessive praise came from journalists themselves, while 27% came from doctors; 9% from health experts; 8% from patients; and 1% from a member of Congress, researchers found.\n\nIf cancer researchers \"start patting ourselves on the back and hailing every small, marginal drug as a game changer, it will take away some of our motivation to do better,\" Prasad said. \"We should set the bar high and really earn it and try to find a drug that is truly great. That's what our patients expect.\"\n\nHyping new therapies can mislead patients, giving them false hope that new treatments will save their lives, said Tim Turnham, executive director of the Melanoma Research Foundation, who wasn't involved in the new study.\n\nWith so many superlatives — and so little context — \"it's difficult for patients to parse out what’s new and exciting and what's not likely to help them very much,\" Turnham said.\n\nThe new study leaves some key questions unanswered, said Lisa Schwartz, a professor of medicine at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice in New Hampshire.\n\nResearchers focused only on news stories about cancer drugs that contained 10 key words; they didn't look at cancer stories without these terms. So it's impossible to know whether sensationalist reporting on cancer accounts for a majority of coverage or just a fraction, said Schwartz, whose research focuses on communicating health news to the public.\n\nStill, few doubt that the hype exists.\n\nThe National Institutes of Health was criticized last month when it put out a press release celebrating a \"landmark study\" on high blood pressure that had not yet been peer-reviewed. Many physicians said they were frustrated that the press release — which claimed to offer \"life-saving\" information to patients — was short on meaningful details.\n\nThe hype around new treatments — most of which carry high price tags — often starts with the marketing juggernaut that accompanies medical conferences, said Karl Stark, president of the board of the Association of Health Care Journalists, who oversees health coverage at the Philadelphia Inquirer.\n\nWhile medical journals have strict standards about what researchers can claim, drug makers have no obligation to follow these rules when writing press releases. \"It's the Wild West in these press releases,\" said Gary Schwitzer, publisher of HealthNewsReview.org, which evaluates medical coverage and press releases. Many inflate drugs' benefits but spend little to no time on side effects.\n\nVirtually everyone touched by the health care industry has an incentive to hype medical progress, Turnham said. Scientists and universities, which face stiff competition for research grants, benefit from the publicity. Journalists face pressure to sensationalize stories to boost their ratings or Web traffic, Turnham said.\n\nFew journalists have formal medical training. Figuring out which claims are too good to be true is a skill that typically takes years to hone.\n\nReporters today face greater pressures than ever before, Schwitzer said. Media organizations have spent years shrinking their staffs, while asking remaining employees to do more with less.\n\nFor its part, the health journalist association tries to raise the quality of medical coverage, both through educational sessions as well as online newsletters, Stark said. Schwitzer regularly teaches workshops at these conferences. Schwitzer listed \"seven words you shouldn't use in medical news\" — including three singled out by the authors of the new study — in a blog post originally published in 2000.\n\n\"Hype causes harm,\" Schwitzer wrote in a post Thursday . \"Let the evidence speak for itself. Good evidence doesn't need the sugar coating.\"", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2015/10/29"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/03/26/newt-gingrich-healthcare-reform-obamacare-medicaid-expansion/70448300/", "title": "Gingrich: GOP really doesn't want to repeal Obamacare", "text": "Jayne O'Donnell\n\nUSA TODAY\n\nFormer House Speaker Newt Gingrich doesn't think Obamacare should be repealed, and congressional Republicans who say they want to repeal it really don't want to either, he told a Washington, D.C. health conference Wednesday.\n\nInstead, he thinks more minor parts of the law that aren't working will be addressed because the core parts of the law have broader support than is often acknowledged.\n\nHouse and Senate GOP leaders will soon start getting things done on a bi-partisan basis, Gingrich predicted, and he said they have been hampered by a far less cordial dynamic with the White House than when he led the House.\n\n\"Congress will get a lot done on a bi-partisan basis but that's a very different question than how you work with the president',\" said Gingrich, who served in the House for 20 years until he resigned under an ethics cloud in 1999. \"You cannot compare my relationship with Bill Clinton with Boehner's relationship with Obama.\"\n\nDuring his bid for the Republican nomination for President in 2012. Gingrich said he had helped save Medicare from bankruptcy with the budget measure known as the \"sustainable growth rate\" formula. This reduced payments to physicians to balance the budget. Gingrich's boast was premature because Congress has passed legislation for 17 years known as the \"doc fix\" that overrides the SGR cuts.\n\n\"You can't cut reimbursements if you don't find a way to cut costs,\" he said.\n\nCongress, under pressure from physician groups, appears poised to pass the first permanent \"doc fix\" as part of a broader Medicare overhaul. Thursday, the House passed the legislation overwhelmingly and it now must be voted on by the Senate. The bill moves Medicare more towards paying for quality over quantity when it comes to medical treatment and continues funding for the Children's Health Insurance Program.\n\nGingrich, who runs a consulting firm with 10 employees and writes books, has favored alternatives to Medicaid financing over the years, especially block grants to states to control costs. He has represented health care clients but insists he's never acted as a lobbyist.\n\nHe told the 2015 World Health Care Congress that existing problems with Medicaid, namely its high cost and challenges some patients have finding doctors, could be better addressed by states. His preference would be to \"voucherize it,\" giving money to the poor to buy their own healthcare, which he says would be cheaper over time.\n\n\"Having insurance with no doctor may not be any better than having a doctor with no insurance,\" he said. \"If you know you don't have a solution, it's better having 50 states working on it.\"", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2015/03/26"}]}
{"question_id": "20230203_21", "search_time": "2023/02/04/11:56", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/11/tennis/novak-djokovic-profile-tennis-australian-open-spt-intl/index.html", "title": "Novak Djokovic is 'the best player in the history of men's tennis' but ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nEven by the standards of Novak Djokovic’s eventful tennis career – replete with trophies and jaw-dropping performances, but also peppered with controversy – the circumstances ahead of this year’s Australian Open have been extraordinary.\n\n“I see life as a great learning curve,” Djokovic told CNN in an interview last year, “and I feel over the years I learned how to bounce back.”\n\nThat ability to bounce back will be put to the test in the coming days as the world No. 1 continues to endure a turbulent start to the year.\n\nArriving in Australia unvaccinated but with a medical exemption to compete following a positive Covid-19 test on December 16, Djokovic spent his first five days in a detention facility in Melbourne as he mounted a legal challenge against the revocation of his visa.\n\nHis lawyers successfully argued that Djokovic had “ticked absolutely every box” for vaccine exemption with his recent Covid infection, but four days later, Australia’s immigration minister Alex Hawke announced the decision to revoke Djokovic’s visa for a second time “on health and good order grounds.”\n\nDjokovic celebrates victory at last year's Australian Open. Darrian Traynor/Getty Images AsiaPac/Getty Images\n\nIt remains unclear whether Australia will move to deport Djokovic as the decision is being challenged by his legal team.\n\nBut it is another setback for the 34-year-old Serbian in his bid to move clear of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer at the top of the men’s all-time list with 21 grand slam titles.\n\nSuch an achievement would arguably be the crowning moment of Djokovic’s already record-breaking career – the time he cements his status as the best player in the history of the men’s game.\n\n“Strictly speaking about results, Novak Djokovic is the best player in the history of men’s professional tennis,” said journalist Ben Rothenberg.\n\n“He’s tied with Federer and Nadal for the most grand slam titles, but Djokovic dominates pretty much every conceivable tiebreak category: most weeks ranked No. 1, a winning record against the other two, having won every grand slam and Masters 1000 event at least twice (no one else has won them all once, even).\n\n“Djokovic is a counterpuncher with a great serve, an extraordinarily flexible athlete, and though he probably isn’t a popular pick for the most stylistically pleasing player ever, when it comes to who is the most effective and dominant on court over the longest period of time, he’s your guy.”\n\nVideo Ad Feedback Novak Djokovic is the no. 1 of number ones 03:44 - Source: CNN\n\nDjokovic’s phenomenal record at the Australian Open, a tournament he has won nine times, had made him the favorite ahead of this year’s tournament, even taking into consideration his spell in detention.\n\nNadal stepped up his return from injury last week by winning the 89th title of his career at the Melbourne Summer Set 1 tournament, while Daniil Medvedev, who beat Djokovic in last year’s US Open final, Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas will also be contenders for the title.\n\n‘Novak is Serbia, and Serbia is Novak’\n\nBut few would have bet against Djokovic, who has received vociferous support from his fans – in Melbourne as well as back in his native Serbia – during the course of his visa saga.\n\nCrowds gathered outside Melbourne’s Park Hotel in protest against Djokovic’s residency there last week, while chants of support were heard outside the office of his lawyers after he was cleared to stay in Australia.\n\nThere were similar scenes outside Serbia’s National Assembly in Belgrade, where the tennis star was hailed as a national hero by his family.\n\n“They are holding him captive. Our Novak, our pride,” Djokovic’s father, Srdjan, railed in support of son last week. “Novak is Serbia, and Serbia is Novak … They trample Novak, and so they trample Serbia and the Serbian people.”\n\nVideo Ad Feedback Djokovic's mission to help Serbia's children 07:31 - Source: CNN\n\nDespite the ardent support of his fanbase, Djokovic remains a divisive figure – within the tennis community and beyond.\n\nHe has spoken of his opposition to mandatory vaccinations, and the decision to grant him a medical exemption for the Australian Open was met with criticism; Stephen Parnis, one of the city’s prominent emergency physicians, said it sent “an appalling message to the public.”\n\n“I’m not an expert, of course, and I’m not going to talk about what are the pros and cons of getting vaccinated,” Djokovic told CNN in August, “but I am a proponent of freedom of choice.”\n\nHe added: “I really believe that it should be left to a player to make a decision.\n\n“We don’t know what the future holds. I don’t think any industry is really certain what the future brings.\n\n“We are going to make sure that we gather as much expert information on this (as possible) and work with players and provide whatever information is needed for them to make a conscious choice.”\n\nVideo Ad Feedback Djokovic's detention in Australia sheds light on refugee crisis 03:40 - Source: CNN\n\nMeanwhile, questions have also been raised about Djokovic’s actions in the aftermath of his positive Covid test last month.\n\nOn Wednesday, he admitted he did not immediately isolate after the positive result, but denied knowing he had the virus when attending public events.\n\nHe also said he had made an “error of judgment” in doing a media interview and photo shoot with French outlet L’Equipe on December 18, two days after his positive test.\n\n‘I still have my fears, my insecurities’\n\nIt’s not the first time Djokovic’s actions have been questioned during the pandemic.\n\nIn June 2020, his Adria Tour exhibition event was canceled after he tested positive for Covid-19 alongside his wife, three other players, three coaches and one player’s pregnant wife.\n\nUnlike other tennis tournaments held at the time, there was limited social distancing on the Adria Tour, which was played in crowded stadiums with players hugging and high-fiving each other.\n\nVideo Ad Feedback Djokovic 'deeply sorry' for Adria Tour after Covid-19 positive test 01:52 - Source: CNN\n\n“I am so deeply sorry our tournament has caused harm,” Djokovic said after his positive test, adding that the charity event was organized “with a pure heart and sincere intentions.”\n\nNine months prior to the Adria Tour, Djokovic landed himself in hot water as he was defaulted from the US Open for striking a line judge with a ball. He again apologized and said he was left “sad and empty” by the situation.\n\nSpeaking about that period in an interview with CNN last year, Djokovic reflected on lessons learned.\n\n“I’m still a human being like everyone else, I still have my fears, my insecurities, I still make mistakes and errors,” he said. “Tennis, it’s kind of my learning ground. My strongest, most beautiful emotions surface there, but all the worst of my emotions surface there.”\n\nDuring and beyond this year’s Australian Open, it’s likely that Djokovic’s stance on vaccines will continue to be scrutinized. According to the ATP Tour, he is one of three unvaccinated players ranked in the top 100.\n\n“Djokovic’s legacy is massively complicated and getting more so,” said Rothenberg\n\n“For all of his professionalism and his generosity (he’s great with charities and in interactions with his fans), his judgment often gets him into trouble, often straying him … toward fringe ideas, like his recent anti-vaccine commitment.\n\n“So much of tennis is about personalities and grace on and off court, and Djokovic has repeatedly sabotaged himself in these areas.”\n\nCNN has contacted Djokovic’s representative for comment numerous times ahead of the Australian Open but has not received a response.\n\nDjokovic is hoping to win his 10th Australian Open title. Daniel Pockett/Getty Images AsiaPac/Getty Images\n\nDjokovic won his first grand slam title at the Australian Open in 2008, after which he had to wait three years for his next major triumph, again at the Australian Open.\n\nGrand slam titles – 11 in total – came thick and fast in the six-year period between 2011 and 2016, culminating in Djokovic claiming the “Nole Slam” as the defending champion of all four grand slam tournaments at the same time.\n\nBut an elbow injury in 2017 derailed Djokovic’s progress. His initial unwillingness to undergo surgery frustrated his former coach Andre Agassi, who told The Guardian he thought Djokovic had hoped his elbow would “heal naturally, holistically.”\n\nDjokovic eventually opted for surgery in early 2018 and returned to the court a few months later, but it was a setback that had almost led to him quitting tennis altogether.\n\n“To do the surgery, it was against his core values,” his wife Jelena told CNN in 2019. “It was really huge, it’s like he buried one part of him with that decision. He said: ‘I’m done, I’m not playing tennis anymore, I lost this, I’m not having fun anymore, this is it.’”\n\nSince that elbow surgery, Djokovic has won eight grand slam titles across a four-year period, eventually equaling Federer and Nadal’s record at Wimbledon last year.\n\nMany see it as only a matter of time before he owns the record outright and establishes himself as the greatest player in the history of men’s tennis – a titan on the court with a complicated, controversial legacy off it.", "authors": ["George Ramsay"], "publish_date": "2022/01/11"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/28/tennis/us-open-preview-serena-williams-rafael-nadal-spt-intl/index.html", "title": "US Open preview: Serena Williams' last hurrah at home grand slam ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nThe curtain will soon come down on one of the greatest careers the world of sport has ever seen and Flushing Meadows, the home of the US Open, will provide a fitting stage for Serena Williams’ final act.\n\nWilliams announced earlier this month that she would “evolve away from tennis” after this year’s US Open, saying that she has “never liked the word retirement.”\n\nHow to watch Serena's farewell tour at the US Open Williams vs. Kovinic When? Monday, 7 p.m. ETWhere? ESPN Monday, 7 p.m. ETESPN\n\nNow 40 years of age, Williams’ career will come full circle as her final match is to be played at the site of the first of her 23 grand slam singles wins, the 1999 US Open. Then just a teenager, Williams burst onto the scene to stun world No. 1 Martina Hingis in the final and lay the first stepping stone on her path to two decades of dominance.\n\n“If I could just pick one thing that she possesses incredibly strongly compared to other players and champions, it’s a strong determination to go through difficult stages and to win no matter what, year after year,” Marin Cilic, the 2014 US Open men’s champion, told CNN Sport.\n\n“I’m hoping that she’s going to have a fantastic US Open and to give the best farewell is to go with the win. So [I’m] hoping that she can do it.”\n\nSerena won her first-round singles match on Monday against Montenegro’s Danka Kovinic in Arthur Ashe Stadium. Williams is also set to play her first doubles match with sister Venus on Wednesday.\n\nSince returning to the circuit back in June after a year out through injury, Williams has managed to win just a single match and has been unable to get close to the form that helped her win her last grand slam title in 2017.\n\nEven if she cannot achieve a dream final flourish by lifting the title at Flushing Meadows, Williams’ 23 grand slam singles titles will go down as the most by any player in the Open Era and just one shy of Margaret Court’s all-time record.\n\nSerena Williams beat Martina Hingis in the 1999 US Open final to win her first grand slam title. Jamie Squire/Getty Images North America/Getty Images\n\nWilliams’ greatness is not only limited to the singles court, having won every doubles grand slam title at least twice and winning two of four mixed doubles grand slam titles. She has also achieved more than $94 million in on-court career earnings.\n\nFew tennis players have transcended the sport like Williams and her presence will undoubtedly be missed on the Tour.\n\nOne of the many young talents that will likely be plugging that gap is defending US Open champion Emma Raducanu. The teenager stunned the world of sport last year by becoming the first qualifier in history to win a grand slam title in what was only her second appearance in the main draw of a slam.\n\nRaducanu and Williams crossed paths for the first time two weeks ago at the Cincinnati Masters, with Raducanu coming out on top in straight sets.\n\nHowever, that was one of just 12 wins that Raducanu has mustered in a season that has been blighted by injuries and patchy form. She’s shown flashes, though, of the player that triumphed at Flushing Meadows last year, most notably in the recent demolition of two-time grand slam champion Victoria Azarenka in Cincinnati.\n\nTwo thousand of the 2,756 ranking points that currently have Raducanu 11th in the world – and as high as 10th back in June – came from her US Open win, and failure to get close to defending her crown will see the 19-year-old plummet down the WTA world rankings.\n\nEmma Raducanu secured one of the most remarkable grand slam wins in history at the 2021 US Open. Elsa/Getty Images North America/Getty Images\n\nRaducanu’s run in Cincinnati was ended at the hands of world No. 8 Jessica Pegula, but it was a closely-fought contest to finish a week that will likely give Raducanu increased confidence going into the US Open.\n\nAmong the stars hoping to snag Raducanu’s New York crown will be Poland’s world No. 1 Iga Swiatek, who has won a remarkable six singles titles in 2022.\n\nThe two-time French Open winner goes into the tournament as the bookmakers’ favorite, but has only ever reached the fourth round at Flushing Meadows and has struggled for form on the hard court in the lead up to the US Open.\n\nHowever, Swiatek did reach the Australian Open semifinals at the start of the year and won three successive WTA 1000 hard court events earlier in the season, so she no doubt has the ability to go all the way in New York.\n\nRafael Nadal aims for No. 23\n\nIn the men’s draw, all eyes will be on Rafael Nadal as he looks to add to his men’s record 22 grand slam titles.\n\nHowever, the 36-year-old has played just one match, a first round defeat to Borna Ćorić at the Cincinnati Masters last week, since withdrawing from the Wimbledon semifinals with an abdominal injury and it remains unclear just how fit Nadal is ahead of the US Open.\n\n“The main thing for me is to stay healthy,” Nadal told reporters after the defeat. “It has been a difficult injury to manage, to be honest.\n\n“The last month and a half hasn’t been easy because, having a tear on the abdominal, you don’t know when (you will be) 100 percent over the thing, so that affects me a little bit in terms of not (being) sure if you are able to try your best in every serve.”\n\nBut New York has been a happy hunting ground for Nadal over the years with the Spaniard winning the title on four occasions, most recently in 2019 when he came through a five-set epic against Daniil Medvedev.\n\nRussia’s Medvedev, competing under a neutral flag since his country’s invasion of Ukraine, is the bookmakers’ favorite to lift the trophy and retain the crown he won in 2021 to mark his maiden grand slam victory.\n\nVideo Ad Feedback Daniil Medvedev on stopping Novak Djokovic's calendar grand slam 02:48 - Source: CNN\n\nThe 26-year-old’s lone title in 2022 came on the hard court in Mexico earlier this month, but Medvedev did reach the Australian Open final at the start of the year, agonizingly losing out after holding a two-set lead over Nadal.\n\nAlexander Zverev, who would have been among the favorites to win, confirmed earlier this week that he was pulling out of the US Open after failing to recover from injury in time.\n\nThe world No. 2 underwent surgery back in June on torn ligaments in his ankle, which he sustained after landing awkwardly in the French Open semifinals against Nadal.\n\nZverev’s absence from the draw moves all those players ranked below him up a place in the seedings, meaning Nadal and Medvedev can now only face each other in the final.\n\nNovak Djokovic confirmed on Thursday that he would not be competing at Flushing Meadows in 2022. The United States’ vaccination rules for non-US citizens meant the Serbian would not have been granted a visa to enter the country, so Nole will wait at least one more year before returning to the Big Apple.\n\nThe world No. 6 triumphed at Wimbledon earlier this year to win his 21st grand slam title and move to within one of long-time rival Nadal, but has been unable to play in any of the Tour’s US Open warmup events in the States or Canada.\n\nThe US Open will be the second grand slam this year that Djokovic will miss out on due to his unvaccinated status, after he twice had his visa revoked ahead of the Australian Open in January.\n\n“Sadly, I will not be able to travel to NY this time for US Open,” Djokovic wrote on social media. “Thank you #NoleFam for your messages of love and support.\n\n“Good luck to my fellow players! I’ll keep in good shape and positive spirit and wait for an opportunity to compete again. See you soon tennis world!”\n\nWith a wide open field, the men’s draw will be fascinating to watch – will it be Nadal tying Serena on 23 grand slam singles titles or will another rise up to reign in New York?", "authors": ["Matias Grez"], "publish_date": "2022/08/28"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/06/tennis/rafael-nadal-french-open-interview-spt-intl/index.html", "title": "Rafael Nadal on his French Open record: 'I always consider myself a ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nWith 14 French Open titles now to his name, the sporting world is running out of superlatives to describe Rafael Nadal.\n\nFor one athlete to have so much success at a single event is wholly unprecedented, while Nadal has also set himself apart from Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic by winning 22 grand slam titles to his rivals’ 20.\n\n“There is no word to describe this feat,” Federer’s coach Ivan Ljubicic said after the Spaniard’s straight sets victory against Casper Ruud in Sunday’s French Open final.\n\n“Don’t think good old Phillippe (Chatrier) would mind if his court changes the name to Rafael Nadal – (a) statue is not enough.”\n\nBut Nadal, always eager to understate his achievements, thinks his record at Roland Garros could one day be bettered.\n\n“I always consider myself a very normal guy, so if I did it, maybe somebody else can do it,” he told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Monday.\n\n“It’s obvious the record of 22 grand slams is something much more possible that somebody can increase that record. I am sure that’s going to happen; 14 Roland Garros is something … very difficult.”\n\nNadal celebrates with his 14th French Open title. Clive Brunskill/Getty Images Europe/Getty Images\n\nIn the 17 years between Nadal’s first and most recent French Open titles, he has lost just three matches on the Paris clay – two against Djokovic, including in the semifinals last year, and one against Robin Soderling.\n\nSunday’s win saw Nadal, who turned 36 on Friday, become the oldest men’s champion at Roland Garros, and it was also the first time he has won both the Australian Open and French Open in the same calendar year to take him clear of Federer and Djokovic’s grand slam tallies.\n\n“Of course, I want to be the player with (most) grand slams in history – that’s competition,” said Nadal.\n\n“But it’s not something that I am obsessed (with) and it’s not something that changed my mind … Honestly, it’s something that does not bother me if Novak wins 23 and I stay with 22. I think my happiness will not change at all, not even one percent.”\n\nPlaying while injured\n\nEvents leading up to this year’s French Open are likely to make this title seem particularly special – not least improbable – to Nadal.\n\nAt last month’s Italian Open, he bowed out of the tournament against Denis Shapovalov in the last 16 while battling a foot injury – an ongoing problem that Nadal said required daily injections at the French Open in order to keep playing and training.\n\nIt meant he played the final without any feeling in his foot.\n\n“After the pandemic, something happened in my foot. I am not able to manage the pain to play often and even practice,” said Nadal, who has been beset by injury problems throughout his career.\n\n“The only thing I can say is going through all these challenges, I always hold the passion to keep going and I always hold the love for the game,” he added. “I always wanted to keep going. That’s probably why I am in the position that I am today.”\n\nNadal holds aloft La Coupe des Mousquetaires (The Musketeers' Trophy) at Roland Garros. Ryan Pierse/Getty Images Europe/Getty Images\n\nIn Sunday’s press conference, Nadal said he would undergo “radio frequency injection” on the nerve in his foot in a bid to ease the pain and continue playing.\n\nWhether he competes at Wimbledon later this month depends on the success of that treatment, and for now, his long-term future in the sport is unclear.\n\n“I never had in my mind (plans) to announce any retirement after this event, but of course, there is a possibility that things are not improving,” he said. “Then I don’t know what can happen.”\n\nIs the ‘King of Clay’ now just ‘The King’?\n\nWinning the first two grand slams of the year means Nadal, for the first time in his career, can potentially win a calendar grand slam by triumphing at Wimbledon and the US Open.\n\nIt’s a feat Djokovic came one game away from completing last year, and one no male player has achieved since Rod Laver in 1969.\n\n“The chances are small in this health situation,” tennis journalist Christopher Clarey told CNN Sport’s Christina Macfarlane on Monday about the likelihood of Nadal triumphing at the next two grand slam tournaments.\n\n“Wimbledon is not his best surface anymore; it’s been a while since he won. But how can you not try for that if you’re healthy?”\n\nNadal plays a forehand against Ruud in the French Open final. ANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT/AFP/AFP via Getty Images\n\nEven if he does not add to his grand slam tally, it will be impossible to ever question Nadal’s status as one of the greatest to play the game. And in time, “the King of Clay” may be remembered simply as “the King.”\n\n“I achieved my dream and I enjoy what I am doing,” said Nadal, who remains unconcerned about how he ranks among his peers.\n\n“I know the press and people are always caring a lot about this stuff, but in some way, I am an important part of the history of the sport and that makes me feel proud and happy.\n\n“At the end, it doesn’t matter much.”", "authors": ["George Ramsay Christiane Amanpour Alicia Lloyd", "George Ramsay", "Christiane Amanpour", "Alicia Lloyd"], "publish_date": "2022/06/06"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/28/tennis/rafael-nadal-australian-open-grand-slam-record-spt-intl/index.html", "title": "Rafael Nadal is one win away from record-breaking grand slam title ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nRafael Nadal is just one win away from winning a record-breaking 21st grand slam title after the Spaniard reached the Australian Open final on Friday.\n\nNadal won his semifinal in impressive fashion after beating Matteo Berrettini of Italy in four sets – 6-3 6-2 3-6 6-3 – and will now face Daniil Medvedev in Sunday’s final.\n\nNadal currently shares the men’s singles grand slam record (20) with Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic but now has the chance to go one better than his historic rivals.\n\nThe 35-year-old was keen to play down his chance to create history and says he is just focused on winning the Australian Open, a title he’s won just once before in his illustrious career.\n\n“For me it’s all about the Australian Open more than anything else,” Nadal said after the match.\n\n“It’s just an amazing event that, as I said a couple of days ago, I had been a little bit unlucky with some injuries.\n\n“There were times I played amazing finals with good chances – against Novak in 2012, against Roger 2017 – I was close a couple of times.\n\n“I feel very lucky that I won it once in my career in 2009 but I never thought about another chance in 2022.”\n\nREAD: Ashleigh Barty thrashes Madison Keys to race into Australian Open final\n\nRafael Nadal reacts after winning the semifinal against Matteo Berrettini. Graham Denholm/Getty Images AsiaPac/Getty Images\n\n‘Best I’ve played for a long time’\n\nThere were questions over Nadal’s fitness going into the tournament after he struggled with injuries and a bout of Covid-19 last year.\n\nHe also suffered through a five-set thriller against Denis Shapovalov in the quarterfinals but the 20-time grand slam champion looked remarkably fresh against Berrettini.\n\nWith the roof closed on the Rod Laver Arena due to storms in Melbourne – creating an atmosphere that arguably might have favored Berrettini – Nadal raced into a two-set lead after producing tennis that he said was the “best I’ve played for a long time.”\n\nThe Italian, known for his power, eventually made a match of it by winning the third set but too many mistakes cost the 25-year-old and he could do little to quell Nadal’s intensity.\n\n“We need to suffer and we need to fight. That is the only way to be where I am today. Honestly, it means a lot to me to be in the final here again,” Nadal said, who will now prepare for the 29th grand slam final of his career.", "authors": ["Ben Church"], "publish_date": "2022/01/28"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/tennis/2021/09/12/novak-djokovic-loses-grand-slam-daniil-medvedev-us-open-final/8310480002/", "title": "Novak Djokovic loses Grand Slam to Daniil Medvedev in US Open ...", "text": "NEW YORK — Daniil Medvedev knew whichever way Sunday’s U.S. Open final turned out, he was going to make it into the history books either either as a footnote in Novak Djokovic’s conquering of the elusive Grand Slam or the man who stopped it from happening.\n\nAnd when the 25-year old Russian got his opportunity Sunday to determine which one would be his destiny, he did not miss.\n\nAfter coming heartbreakingly close two years ago at the U.S. Open against Rafael Nadal and then failing miserably in his first shot at Djokovic in a Grand Slam final earlier this year in Australia, Medvedev finally broke through for his first major title, defeating Djokovic 6-4, 6-4, 6-4.\n\nMedvedev became the first member of the 20-something generation to defeat one of tennis’ so-called Big Three including Djokovic, Nadal and Roger Federer in a Grand Slam final. In doing so, he stopped Djokovic’s quest to win all four majors in the same calendar year, something no man had accomplished since Rod Laver in 1969.\n\nAfter his wins earlier in the Australian Open, the French Open and Wimbledon, Djokovic remains stuck on 20 majors, tied with Nadal and Federer for the most in history.\n\n“You could feel that he was just at the height of his abilities on every shot,” Djokovic said. “He had a lot of clarity what he needs to do tactically and he executed it perfectly. And on the other hand, I was just below par. My legs were not there. I was trying. I did my best. Just one of these days where unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be.”\n\nThough Medvedev had not yet beaten Djokovic on the biggest stage, his victory could not be considered a total surprise. Medvedev, in fact, had beaten Djokovic three of the past five times they played, including a come-from-behind win in the 2019 Cincinnati semifinals that served as his slingshot to prominence and eventually the No. 2 ranking.\n\nWhat Medvedev hadn’t done is beat Djokovic at a Grand Slam, but he vowed to give a better effort this time than in Australia, where he lost a close first set 7-5 and seemed to let down emotionally thereafter.\n\nThis time, he turned that performance around in every possible way, beating Djokovic physically and tactically and refusing to let nerves get the best of him once he got the lead.\n\n“We always talk tactics before the match with my coach the day before, and usually takes 5-to-10 minutes,” Medvedev said. “When it’s against Novak, it took probably 30 minutes. He’s so good that every match he changes his tactics, he changes his approach. I had a clear plan which did seem to work. Was he at his best? Maybe not. Today he had a lot of pressure. But I had a lot of pressure too.”\n\nFor Djokovic, who vowed after his five-set semifinal win over Alexander Zverev that he was approaching the U.S. Open final as if it was the last match he would ever play, it seemed that both the stakes of the moment and the demands on his body finally caught up to him.\n\nAfter being pushed physically and emotionally in the previous three rounds by 20-year old American Jenson Brooksby, Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini and Zverev, Djokovic had already spent 17 hours, 26 minutes on the court in six matches by the final compared to 11 hours, 51 minutes for Medvedev. That difference may have ultimately been decisive.\n\n“Energy-wise, I felt slow,” Djokovic said.\n\nOPINION:Why tennis Grand Slam remains elusive even for all-time greats\n\nOPINION: U.S. Open winner Raducanu and her peers give tennis much to cheer\n\nHISTORY MADE: Emma Raducanu wins U.S. Open women's final\n\nThough the New York crowd lusted to see history made Sunday, at times to the point of being disrespectful to Medvedev, he had total control of both his game and his opponent from the very first ball when he broke Djokovic’s serve to begin the match.\n\nThat tiny opening was all Medvedev needed to win the first set, as he completely befuddled the greatest returner of all time with his serve speed, placement and variety. Medvedev, who made a conscious decision to go for big second serves and not allow Djokovic to get into a rhythm on return, lost only three points on his serve in the first set.\n\n“After the final in Australia we had the feeling that Daniil didn’t have his fire that can help your game be much stronger, especially against a player like Novak,” Medvedev’s coach, Gilles Cervara, said. “He had to change for sure to play this final at another level.”\n\nIn the second set, where Djokovic had made his push throughout the tournament, Medvedev sent an early statement that he would not back down by digging out of a 0-40 hole on his first service game. He also denied a break point to Djokovic on his next service game, drawing a racquet smash in frustration. In the very next game, Medvedev broke a still emotional Djokovic and held onto win the second set, putting him in the same hole that Stefanos Tsitsipas had him in the French Open final earlier this year.\n\nLOSING IT:Novak Djokovic loses temper in final, warned after smashing racquet\n\n“My feeling on the court was not as good as the one that I had in Paris,” Djokovic said. “There was some opening there — one shot here and there, I was very close, and who knows the trajectory of the match if you make them.\n\nBut those moments never materialized, and Medvedev didn't let his foot off the gas even one bit. As he broke Djokovic once early in the third set, and then again for a 4-0 lead, it appeared the stress of the achievement he was attempting and the tough, physical battles he had been through earlier in the tournament had finally taken their toll.\n\nAs Medvedev stepped to the line to serve out the title at 5-1, the New York crowd began to get more involved, heckling Medvedev throughout the game and screaming and whistling during his service motion.\n\nMedvedev did not handle it well, double faulting three times to hand one break back to Djokovic. Though the crowd attempted to give him one more shot of adrenaline at 5-4, Djokovic appeared to be weeping into his towel during the changeover.\n\nMedvedev, too, felt the stress of the moment in the form of leg cramps and was trying not to let Djokovic see him struggling to move.\n\n“Was definitely tough,” Medvedev said. “I knew the only thing I can do is focus. We never know what would happen if it’s 5-5, might start to get crazy.”\n\nMedvedev double faulted one more time at 40-15, but finished the match at 40-30 with one more spectacular wide serve that Djokovic couldn’t put into play — a fitting ending to a mach where he had 16 aces and won 80 percent of the points when he made a first serve.\n\nAs he realized he the match was over, Medvedev — who typically does not do elaborate celebrations after winning tournament — fell on his side and stuck his tongue out, mimicking a move called the “dead fish” from the FIFA video games. He said he thought it up in the middle of the night during Wimbledon, when he was playing so well he thought he might just win the tournament. Instead, he lost in the round of 16 and had to save it for another day.\n\n“The guys in the lockerroom, they’re young guys, super chill guys,” Medvedev said. “They play FIFA. They were like, ‘That’s legendary.’ Everybody who I saw who plays FIFA thinks that’s legendary. That’s how I wanted to make it.”\n\nDuring the trophy presentation afterwards, an emotional and gracious Djokovic said there was no player than Medvedev who was more deserving of a Grand Slam title. He paid tribute to the New York crowd, which had finally embraced him after years here where his treatment was far less warm than Federer and Nadal.\n\n“It's a tough one to swallow, this loss, considering everything that was on the line,” Djokovic said afterwards. “But on the other hand, I felt something I never felt in my life here in New York. The crowd made me very special. They pleasantly surprised me. I did not know, did not expect anything, but the amount of support and energy and love I got from the crowd was something I’ll remember forever.”\n\nMedvedev, who called Djokovic the greatest tennis player in history during the trophy ceremony, was almost apologetic about disappointing the crowd. But he was also satisfied to have achieved something he had wanted so badly.\n\n“Everything that happens or the first time is special,” he said. “When I won my first junior tournament it meant a lot to me. When I won my first futures (tournament), I was happy. You never know if you're going to achieve it in your career. I was always saying, If I don’t, I just want to know that I did my best to do it. That's my first Grand Slam. I don't know how I'm going to feel if I win a second one or third one. That's my first one, so I'm really happy. Means a lot to me.”", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2021/09/12"}, {"url": "https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/sport/tennis/955418/novak-djokovic-visa-re-cancelled-australian-immigration", "title": "Novak Djokovic visa saga: game, set, match to Australian ...", "text": "Game, set, match to the Australian immigration authorities – or is it? Just three days before the start of the opening grand slam of the year, the Novak Djokovic saga took another twist today when the Australian Open defending champion had his visa re-cancelled by Alex Hawke, the country’s immigration minister.\n\nWhen the men’s world No.1 tennis player arrived at Tullamarine Airport in Melbourne nine days ago he was barred from entering the country after the Australian Border Force stated that he had “failed to provide appropriate evidence” to receive a vaccine exemption and his visa was subsequently cancelled.\n\nDescribed by The New York Times’s Lindsay Crouse as an “anti-vaccine star athlete”, the Serb spent five days in detention before winning a courtroom battle after a judge said the decision to revoke his visa was unreasonable.\n\nHowever, immigration minister Hawke today exercised his power under Australia’s Migration Act to cancel the visa on “health and good order grounds”, and on the basis that it was “in the public interest to do so”.\n\nChallenging reality\n\nDjokovic’s quest for a record 21st grand slam win “looks to be over now”, said Tennis.com. But his legal team are pursuing his available legal options heading into the weekend.\n\nUnless he successfully appeals for a second time, Djokovic faces an “even more challenging reality” – the possibility of a three-year ban on receiving a visa to enter Australia, meaning he would be unable to play in the major again until 2025.\n\nDjokovic’s lawyers continue to fight the decision with the “same stubbornness that the Serb brings to a baseline rally”, said The Guardian. A court hearing that took place late on Friday evening in Australia was adjourned after the parties made their submissions.\n\nFollowing the urgent hearing, Djokovic’s counsel Nicholas Wood confirmed that the player is not in detention and is due to attend an interview with immigration officials on Saturday morning.\n\nToday’s hearing was more “procedural” and the main hearing will be Sunday, said The Guardian’s Paul Karp. “So we’ve got at least a couple more days of this to look forward to.”\n\nKarp reported that Djokovic’s weekend “diary” starts with an 8am interview with Border Force tomorrow, then detention, including 10am-2pm at his lawyers’s offices. From 9am on Sunday, also at his lawyers’s offices, this time for the hearing.\n\nMurray: ‘Not great for the tennis’\n\nWood attacked the Australian government’s decision-making process. He claims the visa was cancelled not because Djokovic was unvaccinated, but because it might “excite the anti-vaccination movement in Australia”, the BBC said. His player’s legal team are also “very concerned about time”.\n\nThe nine-time Australian Open champion, who will be detained tomorrow, remains in the draw for the tournament. He is scheduled to play in the first round against fellow Serb Miomir Kecmanovic on Monday.\n\nShould Djokovic win a second appeal, and be allowed to play in the slam, he would be on the same side of the draw as Rafael Nadal. The duo, both 20-time grand slam winners, could possibly face each other in the semi-finals.\n\nFor now though, British player Andy Murray just wants the Djokovic saga to get resolved. It’s “not great for the tennis, not great for the Australian Open, not great for Novak”, the three-time major winner said.\n\nThis is “such a mess” on the eve of the Australian Open, said Tom Parmenter on Sky News. It is one of the “most extraordinary spectacles in sport, off the tennis court”. There’s been bitterness from both sides, and it has polarised the anti-vaccination debate. “It has really become much bigger than that now.”", "authors": ["Mike Starling"], "publish_date": "2022/01/14"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/11/tennis/novak-djokovic-given-no-1-seed-australian-open-spt-intl/index.html", "title": "Australian Open: Novak Djokovic confirmed as No. 1 seed for grand ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nDespite the uncertainty surrounding his participation at the upcoming Australian Open, Novak Djokovic has been listed as the men’s No. 1 seed by tournament organizers.\n\nOn Monday, a judge quashed the Australian government’s decision to cancel Djokovic’s visa and ordered him to be freed from a temporary immigration detention facility in Melbourne.\n\nHowever, the unvaccinated world No. 1 may still face deportation as Australia’s immigration minister considers stepping in to remove the tennis player from the country.\n\nDjokovic comes into this year’s Australian Open with the chance to separate himself from long-time rivals Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer in the race to be considered the greatest player of all time.\n\nAll three are each currently on 20 grand slam titles and with Federer not competing this year due to knee surgery and Nadal still playing his way back into form after time out with an injury, Djokovic would be the heavy favorite to win the title in 2022.\n\nRussian Daniil Medvedev – Djokovic’s conqueror in last year’s US Open final – is seeded second, with Alexander Zverev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Andrey Rublev seeded third, fourth and fifth respectively.\n\nNadal is seeded sixth but will come into the Australian Open with increased confidence after winning the Melbourne Summer Set title last week.\n\nREAD: Djokovic won his court case but few Australians are cheering\n\nVideo Ad Feedback Hear from Djokovic's family as tennis star wins appeal 01:43 - Source: CNN\n\n‘Damaging on all fronts’\n\nThe ATP Tour weighed in on Djokovic’s ordeal for the first time since the 34-year-old was detained by the Australian government last Wednesday.\n\nThe men’s professional tennis tour called the series of events leading up to Djokovic’s Monday visa hearing “damaging on all fronts” – including to the athlete’s well-being, according to a statement from the association on Monday.\n\nThe ATP Tour also strongly recommended vaccination for all players on the ATP Tour, calling it “essential for our sport to navigate the pandemic.” It added that 97% of the top 100 players are vaccinated heading into this year’s Australian Open.\n\nREAD: Judge orders Djokovic be freed from immigration detention in Australia\n\nA screen grab shows a Twitter post by Djokovic after he won a court challenge to remain in Australia, in Melbourne, uploaded on January 11, 2022. DjokerNole/Twitter/Reuters\n\n“The ATP fully respects the sacrifices the people of Australia have made since the onset of COVID-19 and the stringent immigration policies that have been put in place,” the statement read.\n\n“Complications in recent days related to player entry into Australia have however highlighted the need for clearer understanding, communication and application of the rules.\n\n“In travelling to Melbourne, it’s clear Novak Djokovic believed he had been granted a necessary medical exemption in order to comply with entry regulations. The series of events leading to Monday’s court hearing have been damaging on all fronts, including for Novak’s well-being and preparation for the Australian Open.”\n\nInvestigation into travel declaration\n\nMeanwhile, the Australian Border Force (ABF) is investigating whether Djokovic submitted a false travel declaration ahead of arrival in Australia, a source with knowledge of the investigation told CNN.\n\nDjokovic declared he had not traveled and would not do so in the 14 days leading to his arrival in Australia on Wednesday, January 5, according to a travel declaration submitted as evidence to the court determining whether he would be allowed to remain in Australia.\n\nVarious pictures taken during that two-week period appear to show Djokovic in both Spain and Serbia.\n\nWhile court documents show that Tennis Australia filled out the travel declaration on Djokovic’s behalf, the information used was provided by Djokovic, an ABF officer at Melbourne airport on January 5 determined.\n\nThe penalty for submitting a false travel declaration carries a maximum penalty of 12 months in prison, according to the Australian Department of Home Affairs website.\n\nDjokovic’s media team has not responded to CNN’s requests for comment.\n\nThe ABF investigation comes as Australian Immigration Minister Alex Hawke considers whether to exert his personal power to cancel Djokovic’s reinstated visa.", "authors": ["Matias Grez Angus Watson", "Matias Grez", "Angus Watson"], "publish_date": "2022/01/11"}, {"url": "https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/sport/tennis/956178/ash-barty-retires-tennis-reactions", "title": "'I'm fulfilled, I'm happy': Ash Barty retires at the top of her game | The ...", "text": "Ash Barty, the women’s world No.1 and reigning Australian Open and Wimbledon champion, has shocked the world of tennis by announcing her retirement from the sport at the age of 25.\n\nSpeaking to friend and former doubles partner Casey Dellacqua in a video posted on Instagram, the Australian revealed she was quitting tennis as she wanted to “chase other dreams”.\n\n“Success for me is knowing I’ve given everything I can – I’m fulfilled, I’m happy, and I know how much work it takes to bring the best out of yourself,” said the three-time grand slam champion. “I’ve said it to my team multiple times, it’s just that I don’t have that in me, I don’t have the physical drive, the emotional want – everything it takes to challenge yourself at the top level anymore. I am spent... physically I had nothing more to give. I’ve given absolutely everything I can to this beautiful sport of tennis.”\n\nBarty’s second ‘retirement’\n\nThis marks Barty’s second “retirement” from the sport, Sky News said. She walked away from tennis as a teenager in late-2014, before “returning two years later and rising rapidly up the rankings”.\n\nBarty’s rise to the top of women’s tennis was an “incredible story”, said the Daily Mail. After picking up a racquet at the age of four, her talent “was obvious” and she quickly competed against older children. However, after going overseas to play international competitions when she was 14, the schedule “became too much and the teenager found herself overwhelmed”.\n\nIn 2014 she “walked away from a promising tennis career”, Fox Sports said. Barty revealed she got “twisted” and quit tennis to be with the people who loved her. “I think I just needed to find myself a little bit,” she said. “I felt like I got twisted and maybe a little bit lost along the way in the first part of my career, just within myself mentally and what I wanted to do.”\n\nTurning her attention to cricket, Barty earned a contract with the Brisbane Heat in the Women’s Big Bash League. After all the “media attention, pressure and depression” as a ​​dazzling tennis prodigy, the stint playing cricket “set things right”, The Guardian said.\n\n‘As a person, this is right’\n\nAfter winning the Australian Open in January, Barty became the first Aussie to win the men’s or women’s singles title in 44 years. Now feeling “so happy” and “so ready”, Barty knows “in my heart, for me as a person, this is right”.\n\n“People may not understand it and I’m ok with that because for me, Ash Barty the person has so many dreams that she wants to chase after that don’t necessarily involve travelling the world, being away from my family, being away from my home, which is where I’ve always wanted to be, it’s where I’ve grown up,” she said. “I’ll never ever ever stop loving tennis, it’ll always be a massive part of my life, but now I think it’s important that I get to enjoy the next phase of my life as Ash Barty the person, not Ash Barty the athlete.”\n\n‘One of the great champions of the WTA’\n\nAcross all-levels of play, Barty had a 305-102 record in singles and a 200-64 record in doubles, earning total career prize money of $23,829,071, Greg Garber said on the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) website. Her current reign as world No.1 is the “fourth-longest streak in the history of the WTA Tour”, behind Steffi Graf (186 weeks), Serena Williams (186) and Martina Navratilova (156). Her 121 total weeks are seventh on the all-time list.\n\nSteve Simon, chief executive of the WTA, praised Barty for being the “ultimate competitor” who always led by example through the “unwavering professionalism and sportsmanship” she brought to every match. “With her accomplishments at the grand slams, WTA Finals, and reaching the pinnacle ranking of No.1 in the world, she has clearly established herself as one of the great champions of the WTA,” he said.\n\nHow the tennis world reacted on social media\n\nAsh, what can I say, you know I have tears right? My friend, I will miss you on tour. You were different, and special, and we shared some amazing moments. What's next for you? Grand Slam champion in golf?! Be happy and enjoy your life to the max xo Simo@ashbarty pic.twitter.com/WbX7kXnJ1l — Simona Halep (@Simona_Halep) March 23, 2022\n\nCongrats on an incredible career Ash 🙏 It was a privilege to share a court with you. Wishing you all the best in your next chapter, @ashbarty. You will be missed 🥺❤️ pic.twitter.com/bpL20nIUJQ — Karolina Pliskova (@KaPliskova) March 23, 2022\n\nAsh, I have no words... actually you are showing your true class leaving tennis in this beautiful way. I am so happy I could share the court with you.. tennis will never be the same without you! I admire you as a player and a person.. wishing you only the best! ❤️@ashbarty — Petra Kvitova (@Petra_Kvitova) March 23, 2022\n\nHappy for @ashbarty gutted for tennis 🎾 what a player❤️ — Andy Murray (@andy_murray) March 23, 2022\n\nAn incredible tennis player but more importantly one of the nicest people on tour ♥️ Congratulations @ashbarty on an amazing career and good luck with what’s next! pic.twitter.com/Mhwzyf6nbX — Madison Keys (@Madison_Keys) March 23, 2022", "authors": ["Mike Starling"], "publish_date": "2022/03/23"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/tennis/2013/01/27/australian-open-novak-djokovic-victoria-azarenka-mto-serena-williams-andy-murray/1867985/", "title": "What we learned at the Australian Open", "text": "Douglas Robson, Special for USA TODAY Sports\n\nNovak Djokovic keeps climbing the ranks of tennis greats\n\nVictoria Azarenka%27s toughness was on display in Melbourne\n\nThe physicality and dominance of defense in the game were evident%2C too\n\nMELBOURNE, Australia — Novak Djokovic's 6-7 (2-7), 7-6 (7-3), 6-3, 6-2 victory Sunday against Andy Murray brought to a close the season's first major. What has the Australian Open taught us? Six observations:\n\n1. Djokovic now one of the greats\n\nWith his sixth major and Open-era tying fourth at the Australian Open, Novak Djokovic joins the likes of Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg on the Grand Slam leaderboard. Better company awaits.\n\nLike Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, the Serb is a threat to win on every surface, and he is superior on hardcourts, the surface on which two of the four majors are played. Since the start of 2011, he has captured five of nine Slams.\n\nAt 25, and with a good five years of prime playing ahead of him, double-digit majors are well within reach.\n\n\"It's very realistic,\" said his coach, Marian Vajda. \"I can clearly say that his mental state is fantastic now, he's very confident and rolling.\"\n\nThe 2012 French Open runner-up has yet to conquer Paris, but with Rafael Nadal coming back from an extended absence, this could be his year, too.\n\n2. Azarenka is a tough cookie\n\nBy beating resurgent Li Na to win her second consecutive title in Melbourne, Victoria Azarenka kept her grip on No. 1. And she showed she could get the job done in difficult circumstances.\n\nAfter questionable use of a medical timeout in her semifinal win against American teenager Sloane Stephens, she locked in and metaphorically donned the hoodie and headphones she prefers when she takes the court.\n\nShe blocked out a tough opponent, an unfriendly crowd, two days of savage treatment in the press and social media and managed to win the tournament without her best stuff.\n\nHer mental fortitude? Intact.\n\n\"I know how tough she is,\" said her coach, Sam Sumyk. \"I've known that a long time.\"\n\n3. Murray should contend for No. 1\n\nAndy Murray has reached the final of the last three majors, won the U.S. Open and pocketed an Olympic gold medal. Is there any question he's a formidable member of the Big Four?\n\nUnder Ivan Lendl's tutelage, the 25-year-old Scot has improved his court management, mixing in offensive strikes with his smothering defense. Verbally self-abusive, he has improved his body language and emotional comportment.\n\nIn his five-set win against Federer, he absorbed the 17-time major champion's directed anger and was the picture of Zen in the final set after blowing a chance to serve it out in the fourth set.\n\n\"He neutralized Federer's mindset by being calm, which is really cool to see,\" said EuroSport commentator Mats Wilander. \"He is learning fast.\"\n\nAt this rate, he is a bona fide contender for the No. 1 ranking.\n\n4. Defense rules\n\nEquipment advances, bigger balls and slower courts have created an era of defensive magicians, but Murray, Djokovic and the absent Nadal have pushed retorts to new heights.\n\nThey were at it again on Rod Laver Arena on Sunday night, sneakers squeaking as they picked up balls up from their toes at the baseline and launched zingers from full stretch.\n\nWith few exceptions such as Roger Federer — and even his game is somewhat of a relic these days — offense is increasingly a losing proposition against the best defenders.\n\n\"When he's on defense he can actually win the point with one shot,\" Andre Agassi said of Djokovic. \"That's an evolution of the game.\"\n\n5. Is it getting too physical?\n\nSerena Williams sprained her ankle; Azarenka tweaked her knee. On Sunday night in the men's, Murray was hampered by a blister.\n\nLi Na? She fell not once but twice in the women's championship match, whacking her head on the Plexicushion surface and blacking out for a a couple of seconds.\n\nInjuries are the normal hazards of elite competition, but the torque and force being inflicted on bodies — not to mention the increasing length of points and matches — is reaching dangerous levels.\n\n6. MTO needs review\n\nThat being said, the medical timeout rule needs to be tightened.\n\nThere was controversy in the last few days of the women's tournament because of Azarenka's double medical timeout at a crucial time in her match against Stephens.\n\nTournament officials were clear that Azarenka was within the rules. But legit or not, it's up to officials to make sure the rule is not abused, and most were left with a bad feeling after Azarenka — who had just failed on five match points — was able to recover her composure.\n\n\"It's definitely a situation that warrants a review based on controversy it created,\" WTA CEO Stacey Allaster said.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2013/01/27"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/tennis/2023/01/27/tsitsipas-beats-khachanov-to-reach-1st-australian-open-final/51228229/", "title": "Novak Djokovic fights past Tommy Paul and into Australian Open final", "text": "Associated Press\n\nMELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Of all of his considerable talents, Novak Djokovic’s ability to cast aside whatever appears to stand in his way might be the most valuable.\n\nSo forget about the potential distraction of his father’s decision to stay away from Rod Laver Arena for Djokovic’s semifinal against unseeded American Tommy Paul at the Australian Open on Friday after getting caught up in a flap over being seen with a group waving banned Russian flags at the tournament.\n\nForget about the heavily taped left hamstring that was an issue for Djokovic last week. Forget about just how physical the points were against Paul. Forget about how Djokovic produced twice as many unforced errors, 24, as winners, 12, in the opening set. Forget about the lull of four games in a row that went to Paul. Forget about the brief back-and-forth with the chair umpire.\n\nOPINION:Five storylines for the second week of the Australian Open\n\nNEWSLETTER:Sign up to get the latest sports news and stories sent to your inbox\n\nAnd remember this: Djokovic simply does not lose semifinals or finals at Melbourne Park. Does. Not. Lose. And so, not surprisingly, he overcame some shaky play in the early going and took over the match, beating Paul 7-5, 6-1, 6-2 to close in on a 10th Australian Open championship and 22nd Grand Slam title overall.\n\nFrom 5-all in the first set, Djokovic claimed seven games in a row and 14 of the last 17.\n\n“I’m really thankful that I still have enough gas in my legs to able to play at this level,” said Djokovic, a 35-year-old from Serbia. “Some long rallies, you could really feel them. We both had heavy legs in the first set. I was really fortunate to kind of hold my nerves toward the end of the first set. That was a key. After that, I started swinging through the ball more.”\n\nHe extended his Australian Open winning streak to 27 matches, the longest in the Open era, which dates to 1968.\n\nThere was a pause in that string of victories a year ago, of course, when Djokovic was deported from Australia before competition began because he was not vaccinated against COVID-19. He still has not gotten the shots, but the strict border controls established by the country during the pandemic have been eased.\n\n“Of course, it’s not pleasant for me to go through this with all the things that I had to deal with last year and this year in Australia. It’s not something that I want or need,” said Djokovic, who defended his father, Srdjan, for standing with a group of people waving Russian flags — at least one showing an image of Vladimir Putin — after the son's quarterfinal victory against a Russian opponent.\n\n“I hope that people will let it be,\" Djokovic said, “and we can focus on tennis.”\n\nThat is what the No. 4-seeded Djokovic himself will hope to do Sunday when he takes on No. 3 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, who eliminated Karen Khachanov 7-6 (2), 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-3 to reach his first final at Melbourne Park and second at a Slam.\n\nWhoever wins the final will rise to No. 1 in the ATP rankings. For Djokovic, that would mark a return to a spot he has occupied for more weeks than anyone; for Tsitsipas, if would mark a debut there.\n\n“I like that number. It’s all about you. It’s singular. It’s ‘1,‘” said Tsitsipas, who was 0-3 in Australian Open semifinals before Friday. “These are the moments that I’ve been working hard for.”\n\nDjokovic is now a perfect 19-0 over the last two rounds in Melbourne, and his nine triumphs there already are a men’s record. If he can add one more to go alongside his seven titles at Wimbledon, three at the U.S. Open and two at the French Open, Djokovic would equal Nadal for the most Grand Slam trophies earned by a man.\n\n“Winning Grand Slams and being the No. 1 in the world is probably the two biggest peaks that you can climb as a professional tennis player,” said Djokovic, who is 10-2 against Tsitsipas, taking the last nine encounters in a row. “So let’s see what happens.”\n\nTsitsipas’ other major final came at the 2021 French Open, when he grabbed the first two sets before blowing that big lead and losing to Djokovic in five.\n\nWhich was all related to an amusing moment this week, when Djokovic said about Tsitsipas: “He has never played a final, am I wrong?” Reminded by reporters about what happened at Roland Garros, Djokovic replied: “That’s right. Sorry, my bad.”\n\nAsked about that exchange, Tsitsipas responded with a deadpan expression and the words: “I don’t remember, either.”\n\nUntil this week, the 35th-ranked Paul never had been past the fourth round in 13 previous appearances at majors.\n\nThe 25-year-old was born in New Jersey and grew up in North Carolina, playing tennis at a club where the walls were festooned with posters of Andy Roddick — the last American man to win a Grand Slam singles title, way back at the 2003 U.S. Open. That drought will continue for now, because even though Djokovic was not at his best in the opening set, he was good enough at the end of it, breaking in the last game, and never relented.\n\n“He didn’t really let me execute any game plan that I wanted to do,” Paul said.\n\nThe blips for Djokovic arrived right at the outset.\n\nThe footwork was not up to his usual reach-every-ball standard. The shotmaking was subpar. The serving was so-so. He started gesturing and shouting in the direction of coach Goran Ivanisevic and the rest of this entourage.\n\nIn the first game, Djokovic flubbed an overhead, a weakness he’s never solved. He dumped a backhand into the net. He double-faulted. Still, he overcame that to get off to a 5-1 lead. Then came a quick switch in direction.\n\nDjokovic got broken when serving for the set there. And again at 5-3, when Paul walloped a down-the-line forehand and Djokovic’s backhand on a 29-stroke point landed out. Paul held for 5-all.\n\nMight he be making a match of it?\n\nNot for much longer. Djokovic, the greatest returner or his, or maybe any, generation, broke to close that set, when Paul sent a forehand wide. Serbian flags were displayed throughout the stands and the air was filled with chants of Djokovic’s two-syllable nickname, “No-le! No-le!”\n\nThe contest was never much of a contest from there on out.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2023/01/27"}]}
{"question_id": "20230203_22", "search_time": "2023/02/04/11:57", "search_result": []}
{"question_id": "20230203_23", "search_time": "2023/02/04/11:57", "search_result": []}
{"question_id": "20230203_24", "search_time": "2023/02/04/11:57", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/world-news/959509/uks-satanic-capital-is-named", "title": "'Sleepy' Suffolk town named UK's satanic capital | The Week UK", "text": "A “sleepy” Suffolk town has been named the UK’s capital for Satanists. In the last census, some 70 out of 8,500 people living in Bungay identified as devil-worshippers, about 100 times the national average. It has been suggested the trend is linked to a local legend of the devil taking the form of a black dog, which terrorised the congregation of St Mary’s Church in the town in 1577, noted the Daily Star. However, mayor Tony Dawes said: “I am wondering if people with nothing better to do during lockdown decided to put down that they were Satanists.”\n\nTweets show Brits are saddest on Tuesdays\n\nBritons feel most fed up on a Tuesday, according to a study of social media posts. An analysis of nearly two million tweets by the Kyoto Institute of Technology in Japan found that the messages of Londoners were “the most angry and the least joyful on Tuesdays”, said The Telegraph, “while sadness peaked on Wednesdays, before tweets cheered up again as the weekend approached”. Angry tweets were mostly sent from bus stops and train stations, while happy tweets were often seen coming from hotels or farms.\n\nX Files star wants women’s sex fantasies\n\nFormer X Files star Gillian Anderson is calling on women to send her their sexual fantasies for a new book. The 54-year-old actress will publish a selection of the anonymous testimonies sent to her in a new book based on Nancy Friday’s My Secret Garden: Women’s Sexual Fantasies, which the actress read to prepare for her role as Jean Milburn in the Netflix series Sex Education. “As women, we know that sex is about more than just sex but so many of us don’t talk about it,” Anderson said, writing in The Guardian.\n\nFor more odd news stories, sign up to the weekly Tall Tales newsletter.", "authors": ["Chas Newkey-Burden"], "publish_date": "2023/02/02"}]}
{"question_id": "20230203_25", "search_time": "2023/02/04/11:57", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.theweek.co.uk/news/uk-news/959500/the-bbc-the-next-election-and-economic-ignorance", "title": "The BBC, the next election and economic ignorance | The Week UK", "text": "An independent review of the BBC’s coverage of government financial policies has concluded that “too many” of its journalists lack an understanding of “basic economics”, leading to problematic, biased or confused reporting.\n\nThe criticisms were part of a newly published “thematic review” of the BBC’s coverage of “taxation, public spending, government borrowing and debt output”. The review was commissioned by the BBC board.\n\nTwo economics experts, Michael Blastland and Sir Andrew Dilnot, were given the job of assessing the BBC’s impartiality on such matters, but found that reporters at the corporation “lack understanding of basic economics”, which could compromise their ability to cover complex economic and financial stories successfully.\n\n‘Vaunted impartiality is at risk’\n\nThe review “does not hold back,” said James Meadway, director of the Progressive Economy Forum, in The Guardian. Journalists were criticised for regularly relying on simplistic political narratives and reporting party intrigue and Westminster gossip to cover over their “limited understanding” of the issues.\n\n“Some journalists” at the BBC apparently “instinctively” believe all debt to be inherently bad, the review suggested, and therefore failed to appreciate that the role of government debt is “contested and contestable”. The review singles out “household analogies” for the government debt, in particular, as “dangerous territory”.\n\nThe depth of the criticism means the broadcaster’s “vaunted impartiality is at risk”, said the Daily Telegraph. This is especially problematic given that “the reach of the BBC gives it enormous power to move the news agenda”, the paper said. “This is particularly so when it comes to financial matters, as well as spending and taxation policies.”\n\n“This isn’t another piece of ‘BBC bashing’,” said the Telegraph, but a “serious point made by independent scrutineers”, which “Tim Davie, the director-general, and his managers should take seriously”.\n\n‘Most important arena for next election’\n\nThere are “two consequential things we know about the next election”, said Stephen Bush in the Financial Times: “one of the big battlegrounds will be economic policy, and the most important arena the contest will be fought in will be the BBC.”\n\nThe two matters tie together directly because, according to Ofcom, eight in 10 UK adults use the BBC in some form every week, while 73% use the BBC for news.\n\nThis means that “the decisions it makes about how to cover British politics matter more than almost everything else”, Bush wrote. And “some of the most important and difficult decisions will concern tax and spend”.\n\nThe impact that economic reporting has on politics is immediately apparent if you look to the past decade, said Meadway in The Guardian.\n\n“Would a public not spoon-fed mush about the supposed perils of government borrowing have been so ready to accept David Cameron and George Osborne’s austerity in the early 2010s,” he asked. “Would Labour’s then leadership have felt so compelled to support spending cuts – a position that helped lay the ground for Jeremy Corbyn’s anti-austerity leadership bid? Might the Brexit vote have gone differently?”", "authors": ["Arion Mcnicoll"], "publish_date": "2023/02/01"}]}
{"question_id": "20230203_26", "search_time": "2023/02/04/11:57", "search_result": []}
{"question_id": "20230203_27", "search_time": "2023/02/04/11:57", "search_result": [{"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/2022/07/07/tech/theranos-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\nHolmes, the founder and former CEO of Theranos, was found guilty on four out of 11 federal fraud and conspiracy charges in January after a months-long trial. Balwani, Theranos’ former president and COO who was also Holmes’ live-in boyfriend at the time, was found guilty on Thursday of ten counts of federal wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.\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\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\nTheir trials were separated after Holmes indicated she would pursue a defense that included alleging she was the victim of a decade-long abusive relationship with Balwani that impacted every part of her life. (Balwani’s legal team has strongly denied the allegations in court filings.)\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\nThe two kept in touch and began living together in 2005, Holmes testified during her criminal trial. Their personal relationship was largely concealed from employees, investors and business partners. Balwani would ultimately become the company’s chief operating officer and president of the startup.\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\nElizabeth Holmes, founder and former chief executive officer of Theranos Inc. (center right), arrives at U.S. federal court in San Jose, California, U.S., on Thursday May 6, 2021. Holmes and her lawyers appeared in-person in the federal court where the Theranos founder and former chief executive officer was scheduled to go to trial in August on charges that the blood-test startup once valued at $9 billion was a fraud. Nina Riggio/Bloomberg/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\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\nHolmes’s sentencing date is set for late September to allow for the completion of Balwani’s trial. In the meantime, Holmes remains free on a $500,000 bond secured by property.\n\nElizabeth Holmes, founder of Theranos Inc., left center, departs from federal court with, from left, husband Billy Evans, parents Noel Holmes and Christian Holmes IV in San Jose, California, U.S., on Monday, Jan. 3, 2022. David Paul Morris/Bloomberg/Getty Images\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.", "authors": ["Sara Ashley O'Brien"], "publish_date": "2022/07/07"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/06/11/fact-check-bill-gates-has-given-over-50-billion-charitable-causes/3169864001/", "title": "Fact check: Bill Gates has given over $50 billion to charitable causes", "text": "Corrections & clarifications: This story has been updated to reflect Melinda Gates also founded the \"Giving Pledge\" and to clarify the terms of the pledge.\n\nThe claim: Bill Gates has given over $50 billion to charity\n\nBill Gates is a consistent target of conspiracy theories, many becoming especially heightened amid the coronavirus pandemic. While the tech billionaire remains the target of scorn and suspicion online, others defend Gates, citing his history of charitable contributions.\n\nOne viral post imagines Gates’ view of the current conspiracies, writing that the billionaire has spent “30 years\" of his life and \"$50 billion\" of his net worth \"supporting humanitarian causes.”\n\nThe post, which has garnered 36,000 shares and 20,000 comments, criticizes conspiracy theorists in harsh terms for their claims, asserting that Gates has \"arguably\" done “more to better life on earth for humanity than any other human being to ever live.”\n\nGates is a noted philanthropist and has pledged a significant amount of money to research and charitable causes during the coronavirus pandemic. He has given more than $50 billion to charity since 1994. However, his wealth has grown even faster than he has donated money.\n\nAs of June 2020, Gates’ net worth was estimated at roughly than $110 billion, according to Forbes.\n\nMore:Bill Gates is not secretly plotting microchips in a coronavirus vaccine. Misinformation and conspiracy theories are dangerous for everyone.\n\nBill Gates, philanthropist\n\nBill Gates, who has been one of the wealthiest men in the world for decades, made his fortune as the co-founder of Microsoft. The company, which was a key player in the personal computer revolution in the 1990s, eventually became a corporate behemoth, and Gates became a household name as a tech titan and business magnate.\n\nGates stepped down as Microsoft CEO in January 2000, shifting his attention to philanthropy and other assorted projects. In March 2020, Gates stepped down from Microsoft’s board, though he maintains about 1.3% of shares in the company.\n\nIn 2010, Bill and Melinda Gates, alongside billionaire investor Warren Buffett, founded the “Giving Pledge,” a movement encouraging other billionaires to donate most of their wealth to charity either during their lifetimes or after their deaths. The voluntary group now includes more than 200 families and individuals from more than 20 countries.\n\nMore:Fact check: Bill Gates did not craft contact tracing bill\n\nBill and Melinda Gates have given $45.5 billion to charitable causes, including the eponymously named Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, since 1994, CNBC reported, citing the Chronicle of Philanthropy. In 2019, the couple donated $589 million to charity, making them the seventh most philanthropic people last year.\n\nSince the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the Gates family has pledged billions of dollars in donations and funding for efforts to fight the virus. Some of these efforts have come under scrutiny, both from regulators and conspiracy theorists who assert that Gates has malicious intentions behind the giving.\n\nDespite these significant contributions and pledges, Gates remains one of the wealthiest people in the world. From 2000 to 2007, Bill Gates was the richest man in the world, and rotated that title with Buffett and Mexican telecommunications tycoon Carlos Slim from 2008 to 2013. In 2018, Gates lost the title to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Gates remains the second-richest man in the world, according to Forbes.\n\nValuing Gates' fortune\n\nLike many high net-worth individuals, Gates manages his wealth through an investment and holding company known as Cascade Investment LLC. The company maintains a diverse portfolio of investments and assets that account for more than half of Gates’ wealth.\n\nGates’ remaining 1% stake in Microsoft as of June is worth more than $7 billion, while the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation maintains over $50 billion in assets that can be counted among the couple’s net worth.\n\nGates has maintained this fortune both through wealth management as well as investments in the industry that first made him rich: technology. He is not unique among tech billionaires in this way.\n\n“By the end of 2018, tech billionaires’ assets totaled USD 1.3 trillion. Their net wealth has almost doubled over five years, growing by 91.4%,” a 2019 report on global billionaire wealth from the investment bank UBS and consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers found.\n\n“Many of their businesses are phenomenal cash generators. Software, internet and electronic equipment billionaires still account for 62.2% of tech wealth,” the report also said; software, internet and electronic equipment are the consumer products which Microsoft dominated under Gates’ leadership and remains a leader in today.\n\nGates’ wealth is also tied up in luxury assets, which he has purchased over the years. Gates’ home, which he’s dubbed “Xanadu 2.0” as a reference to the movie Citizen Kane, was estimated to be worth $127.48 million in 2017.\n\nXanadu 2.0 also holds the Gates family’s large car collection and a $130 million art collection including a Leonardo da Vinci manuscript. The family also has a private jet worth almost $20 million and owns a private tropical island in Belize called Grand Bogue Caye, valued at about $25 million.\n\nOur ruling: True\n\nBill Gates has been a consistent philanthropist for decades. He has remained extremely wealthy while giving away large amounts of his net worth through steady increases in his financial portfolio. We rate the claim that Gates has given $50 billion to charity as TRUE because it is supported by our research.\n\nOur fact-check sources:\n\nThank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here.\n\nOur fact check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.\n\nEducation coverage at USA TODAY is made possible in part by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Gates Foundation does not provide editorial input.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2020/06/11"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/17/politics/donald-trump-wealth-rich/index.html", "title": "How rich is Donald Trump really? | CNN Politics", "text": "CNN —\n\nEarlier this week, Donald Trump sent The New York Times an email. In it, he claimed that he was very rich – pointing to a “June 30, 2014 Statement of Financial Condition” that said he was worth $5.8 billion in the year before he started running for president.\n\nBut, as the Times noted, when Trump declared his candidacy in 2015, he said that a “Summary of Net Worth as of June 30, 2014” put his total wealth at $8.7 billion. A month after that, Trump’s campaign put out another statement on his wealth. It read, in part:\n\n“Real estate values in New York City, San Francisco, Miami and many other places where he owns property have gone up considerably during this period of time. His debt is a very small percentage of value, and at very low interest rates. As of this date, Mr. Trump’s net worth is in excess of TEN BILLION DOLLARS.”\n\nPinning down how much Trump is actually worth is a bit of a moving target, largely because the former president often exaggerates. Wildly.\n\nAs far back as 2012, when Trump was considering a run for president, he spent time making sure everyone knew he was very wealthy.\n\nVideo Ad Feedback Trump's response to accounting firm may get him in trouble 02:05 - Source: CNN\n\n“I mean, part of the beauty of me is that I’m very rich,” Trump told ABC. “So if I need $600 million, I can put $600 million myself. That’s a huge advantage. I must tell you, that’s a huge advantage over the other candidates.”\n\nWhen he eventually did announce for president in June 2015, he did so with his wealth front and center. “I’m really rich,” Trump told the crowd. “I have total net worth of $8.73 billion. I’m not doing that to brag. I’m doing that to show that’s the kind of thinking our country needs.”\n\nHow rich is Trump, really? It’s a question that has been asked all of his adult life – and one that remains the subject of much debate. The news earlier this week that Mazars, Trump’s former accounting firm, was distancing itself from the veracity of all Trump financial statements between 2011 and 2020 has reignited the conversation over how much the billionaire businessman has – and how much he owes.\n\nThat’s sort of hard to tell – primarily because the former president, in a break with tradition, refused to publicly release any of his previous tax returns, insisting that they don’t actually reveal all that much about a person’s financial status. (Fact check: They do.)\n\nThat said, Forbes has been closely monitoring Trump’s wealth for a long time now. And, as of September 2021, they say that Trump’s net worth is actually $2.5 billion. The bulk of that wealth is tied up in real estate ($1.1 billion) with his golf clubs and resorts accounting for another $650 million.\n\nAccording to Forbes’ calculations, Trump’s net worth peaked in 2015, when he was worth $4.5 billion. It steadily declined during his years in the White House, a fact Trump regularly talked about.\n\n“I said to one of my friends, a very wealthy friend, I said, ‘You know, I’ll bet you it cost me $2 or 3 billion and it’s worth every penny of it,’” Trump told Fox News in 2018. “I don’t need the money and it’s worth every penny because I’m doing so much for the country.”\n\nAnd there was this in 2020: “[It] cost me billions of dollars to be president of the United States.”\n\nHe’s not wrong!\n\nThe other thing you have to consider when trying to calculate Trump’s actual wealth is his debt obligations. We know, thanks to amazing reporting from The New York Times, which got their hands on years of Trump’s tax returns, that he owes a massive sum – and those debts are coming due in the not-too-distant future.\n\nAs David Leonhardt noted in September 2020:\n\n“In the 1990s, Mr. Trump nearly ruined himself by personally guaranteeing hundreds of millions of dollars in loans, and he has since said that he regretted doing so. But he has taken the same step again, his tax records show. He appears to be responsible for loans totaling $421 million, most of which is coming due within four years.”\n\nTrump is also in the midst of a dispute over a $70-million-plus refund he received from the IRS in 2010. (In 2011, the IRS began looking into whether or not Trump actually merited that refund for business losses. The case remains unresolved.)\n\nThe extent of Trump’s wealth, like so much in his life, appears to be, at least in part, made up. Or at least heavily exaggerated.\n\nPerhaps the best way to understand Trump’s approach to his wealth – and to life in general – comes from his 1987 book “The Art of the Deal.” Wrote Trump:\n\n“The final key to the way I promote is bravado. I play to people’s fantasies. People may not always think big themselves, but they can still get very excited by those who do. That’s why a little hyperbole never hurts. People want to believe that something is the biggest and the greatest and the most spectacular. I call it truthful hyperbole. It’s an innocent form of exaggeration—and a very effective form of promotion.”\n\nTruthful hyperbole indeed.", "authors": ["Chris Cillizza"], "publish_date": "2022/02/17"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/11/business/sbf-wealth/index.html", "title": "Sam Bankman-Fried's $16 billion fortune evaporated in less than a ...", "text": "New York CNN Business —\n\nSam Bankman-Fried woke up on Monday still a billionaire, even as his cryptocurrency empire was beginning to unravel. By Friday, his fortune was completely wiped out.\n\nBased on net worth calculations by Bloomberg, Bankman-Fried was worth about $16 billion at the start of the week. But as his crypto exchange, FTX, collapsed, the value of his assets was reduced to zero in what Bloomberg called “one of history’s greatest-ever destructions of wealth.”\n\nFTX on Friday said it filed for bankruptcy, and Bankman-Fried, known as SBF, resigned as chief executive.\n\nThe 30-year-old entrepreneur’s net worth, which was largely tied up in digital assets, peaked at around $26 billion this spring. Over the summer, as crypto prices plummeted, Bankman-Fried emerged as a white knight for the sector, using his FTX exchange and its sister hedge fund, Alameda, to secure lines of credit to crypto companies like BlockFi and Voyager that were at risk of collapsing.\n\nHe told Reuters in July that he and FTX still had a “few billion” on hand to shore up other firms and help stabilize the industry.\n\nBankman-Fried owns about 70% of FTX’s US business, which the index now estimates to be essentially worthless. His stake in online brokerage Robinhood, previously valued at more than $500 million, was removed from Bloomberg’s calculation after news reports said that stake was held through Alameda and may have been used as collateral for loans.\n\nAs a follower of “effective altruism,” Bankman-Fried has sought to make as much money as possible in order to give it away. But the fate of his philanthropic endeavors is now in doubt.\n\nOn Thursday, the entire staff of the FTX Future Fund, which says it has committed $160 million in grants, publicly quit. In a statement, the five-person team wrote that they “have fundamental questions about the legitimacy and integrity of the business operations that were funding the FTX Foundation and the Future Fund.”", "authors": ["Allison Morrow"], "publish_date": "2022/11/11"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/14/business/jeff-bezos-charity/index.html", "title": "Jeff Bezos for the first time says he will give most of his money to ...", "text": "Washington CNN Business —\n\nAmazon founder Jeff Bezos plans to give away the majority of his $124 billion net worth during his lifetime, telling CNN in an exclusive interview he will devote the bulk of his wealth to fighting climate change and supporting people who can unify humanity in the face of deep social and political divisions.\n\nThough Bezos’ vow was light on specifics, this marks the first time he has announced that he plans to give away most of his money. Critics have chided Bezos for not signing the Giving Pledge, a promise by hundreds of the world’s richest people to donate the majority of their wealth to charitable causes.\n\nVideo Ad Feedback Exclusive: Jeff Bezos offers his advice on taking risks right now 01:50 - Source: CNN\n\nIn a sit-down interview with CNN’s Chloe Melas on Saturday at his Washington, DC, home, Bezos, speaking alongside his partner, the journalist-turned-philanthropist Lauren Sánchez, said the couple is “building the capacity to be able to give away this money.”\n\nAsked directly by CNN whether he intends to donate the majority of his wealth within his lifetime, Bezos said: “Yeah, I do.”\n\nBezos said he and Sánchez agreed to their first interview together since they began dating in 2019 to help shine a spotlight on the Bezos Courage and Civility Award, granted this year to musician Dolly Parton.\n\nThe 20-minute exchange with Bezos and Sánchez covered a broad range of topics, from Bezos’s views on political dialogue and a possible economic recession to Sánchez’s plan to visit outer space with an all-female crew and her reflections on a flourishing business partnership with Bezos.\n\nDolly Parton\n\nThat working relationship was on display Saturday as Bezos and Sánchez announced a $100 million grant to Parton as part of her Courage and Civility Award. It is the third such award, following similar grants to chef Jose Andrés, who has spent some of the money making meals for Ukrainians — and the climate advocate and CNN contributor Van Jones.\n\n“When you think of Dolly,” said Sánchez in the interview, “Look, everyone smiles, right? She is just beaming with light. And all she wants to do is bring light into other people’s worlds. And so we couldn’t have thought of someone better than to give this award to Dolly, and we know she’s going to do amazing things with it.”\n\nThe throughline connecting the Courage and Civility Award grantees, Bezos said, was their capacity to bring many people together to solve large challenges.\n\n“I just feel honored to be able to be a part of what they’re doing for this world,” Bezos told CNN.\n\nUnity, Bezos said, is a trait that will be necessary to confront climate change and one that he repeatedly invoked as he blasted politicians and social media for amplifying division.\n\nHow to give it away\n\nBut the couple’s biggest challenge may be figuring out how to distribute Bezos’ vast fortune. Bezos declined to identify a specific percentage or to provide concrete details on where it would likely be spent.\n\nDespite being the fourth-wealthiest person in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Bezos has refrained from setting a target amount to give away in his lifetime.\n\nBezos has committed $10 billion over 10 years, or about 8% of his current net worth, to the Bezos Earth Fund, which Sánchez co-chairs. Among its priorities are reducing the carbon footprint of construction-grade cement and steel; pushing financial regulators to consider climate-related risks; advancing data and mapping technologies to monitor carbon emissions; and building natural, plant-based carbon sinks on a large scale.\n\nThough Bezos is now Amazon’s (AMZN) executive chair and not its CEO — he stepped down from that role in 2021 — he is still involved in the greening of the company. Amazon is one of more than 300 companies that have pledged to reduce their carbon footprint by 2040 according to the principles of the Paris Climate Agreement, Bezos said, though Amazon’s (AMZN) footprint grew by 18% in 2021, reflecting a pandemic-driven e-commerce boom. Amazon’s (AMZN) reckoning with its own effect on the climate mirrors its outsized impact on everything from debates about unionization to antitrust policy, where the company has attracted an enormous level of scrutiny from regulators, lawmakers, and civil society groups.\n\nBezos compared his philanthropic strategy to his years-long effort constructing a titanic engine of e-commerce and cloud computing that has made him one of the most powerful people in the world.\n\n“The hard part is figuring out how to do it in a levered way,” he said, implying that even as he gives away his billions, he is still looking to maximize his return. “It’s not easy. Building Amazon was not easy. It took a lot of hard work, a bunch of very smart teammates, hard-working teammates, and I’m finding — and I think Lauren is finding the same thing — that charity, philanthropy, is very similar.”\n\n“There are a bunch of ways that I think you could do ineffective things, too,” he added. “So you have to think about it carefully and you have to have brilliant people on the team.”\n\nBezos’ methodical approach to giving stands in sharp contrast to that of his ex-wife, the philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, who recently gave away nearly $4 billion to 465 organizations in the span of less than a year.\n\nThe economic downturn\n\nWhile Bezos and Sánchez plot out their plans for Bezos’ immense wealth, many people of more modest means are bracing for what economists fear may be an extended economic downturn.\n\nLast month, Bezos tweeted a warning to his followers on Twitter, recommending that they “batten down the hatches.”\n\nThe advice was meant for business owners and consumers alike, Bezos said in the interview, suggesting that individuals should consider putting off buying big ticket items they’ve been eyeing — or that companies should slow their acquisitions and capital expenditures.\n\n“Take some risk off the table,” Bezos said. “Keep some dry powder on hand…. Just a little bit of risk reduction could make the difference for that small business, if we do get into even more serious economic problems. You’ve got to play the probabilities a little bit.”\n\nMany may be feeling the pinch now, he added, but argued that as an optimist he believes the American Dream “is and will be even more attainable in the future” — projecting that within Bezos’ lifetime, space travel could become broadly accessible to the public.\n\nBezos and Sánchez’s partnership\n\nSánchez said the couple make “really great teammates,” though she laughed, “We can be kind of boring,” Sánchez said. Bezos smiled and replied, “Never boring.”\n\nSánchez, the founder of Black Ops Aviation, the first female-owned and operated aerial film and production company is a trained helicopter pilot. She said in the interview that they’ve both taken turns in the driver’s seat.\n\nBezos has credited his own journey to space for helping to inspire his push to fight climate change. Now, it is Sánchez’s turn.\n\nSánchez told CNN she anticipates venturing into orbit herself sometime in 2023. And while she did not directly address who will be joining her — quickly ruling out Bezos as a crewmate — she said simply: “It’ll be a great group of females.”\n\nWashington’s NFL team\n\nBezos may be adding NFL owner to his resume. CNN recently reported that Bezos and Jay-Z are in talks on a potential joint bid on the Washington Commanders.\n\nIt is not clear if the two have yet spoken with Dan Snyder and his wife, Tanya, the current owners of the NFL team, about the possibility.\n\nBut during the interview on Saturday, Melas asked Bezos if the speculation was true.\n\n“Yes, I’ve heard that buzz,” Bezos said with a smile.\n\nSánchez chimed in with a laugh, “I do like football. I’m just going to throw that out there for everyone.”\n\nBezos added, “I grew up in Houston, Texas, and I played football growing up as a kid … and it is my favorite sport … so we’ll just have to wait and see.”\n\n– CNN’s Chloe Melas contributed to this report", "authors": ["Brian Fung"], "publish_date": "2022/11/14"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/05/29/kylie-jenner-not-billionaire-forbes-investigation-richest-people/5282998002/", "title": "Kylie Jenner not a billionaire, Forbes says, taking away her ranking", "text": "Kylie Jenner's status as a billionaire has been called into question by Forbes in a story that also raises questions about the magazine’s ability to accurately assess the finances of celebrities.\n\nForbes, known for its billionaire rankings, said it no longer considers the youngest member of the Kardashian-Jenner family to be a billionaire, a status it first conferred in March 2019.\n\nThe magazine on Friday published the results of an investigation into Jenner's finances, saying she and her family provided misleading information about her wealth. It now estimates her net worth at just under $900 million.\n\nIn its investigation Friday, Forbes says the Kardashians and Jenners have spent years fighting for higher spots on its annual wealth and celebrity earnings lists.\n\nNot a billionaire but want to be?:Money tips and advice delivered right to your inbox. Sign up here\n\nJenner's brother-in-law and rapper Kanye West was included on the Forbes list in April.\n\nUSA TODAY reached out to Jenner's reps for comment on the report. Jenner took to Twitter, tweeting Friday that the Forbes article had \"a number of inaccurate statements and unproven assumptions\" and she \"never asked for any title or tried to lie my way there EVER. period.\"\n\n'Unproven assumptions':Kylie Jenner responds to Forbes report on 'inflating' billionaire status\n\nFuture trillionaire? Jeff Bezos could become world's first trillionaire, and many people aren't happy about it\n\nLast November, Jenner sold a $600 million stake in her cosmetic company Kylie Cosmetics to Coty Inc, a beauty company that owns CoverGirl, Tiffany & Co. and Balenciaga, among other notable beauty and fashion brands. A news release at the time said Coty would own 51% of Jenner's company.\n\nForbes called the sale one of \"the greatest celebrity cashouts of all time\" and said \"the transaction seemed to confirm what Kylie had been saying all along\" and what it declared in the March 2019 story. Coty officials declined to comment.\n\nJenner pocketed an estimated $340 million, after tax, from the sale, Forbes reported, but said based on filings and the impact of COVID-19 on beauty stocks and consumer spending that Jenner is no longer believed to be a billionaire.\n\nForbes also said in its story that the family created \"tax returns that were likely forged,\" which Jenner’s attorney Michael Kump said in a statement to People magazine was \"unequivocally false.\"\n\n\"Forbes’ accusation that Kylie and her accountants 'forged tax returns' is unequivocally false and we are demanding that Forbes immediately and publicly retract that and other statements,\" Kump told People.\n\nTo some experts, Forbes' about-face may put the publications' popular rankings into question.\n\nJames Warren, executive editor of NewsGuard, which rates the credibility of news and information sites, told USA TODAY the news speaks to the importance of verifying information.\n\n\"The Kardashian claim was and remains the sort that's easy to make, yet hard to verify,” said Warren, a former Chicago Tribune managing editor. “But it requires verification because some people use 'billionaire' as a credential of grand distinction, a sort of Harvard degree, even if one measured in money rather than academic achievement.”\n\nRita McGrath, who is professor of management at Columbia Business School, said the story puts Forbes in a \"tough spot.\"\n\n“I do think a magazine like Forbes has a certain responsibility to present factual data if they are going to claim to be that source,” McGrath said. \"I think maybe a higher level of scrutiny might be merited.”\n\nForbes is not the only publication that ranks billionaires; Bloomberg News has its Billionaires Index, which is a daily ranking of the world's billionaires.\n\nForbes spokeswoman Christina Vega told USA TODAY that this new investigation shows the publication's commitment to \"uncovering new information year after year\" and \"willingness to set the record straight when we do get new information.\"\n\nVega said Forbes' \"investigation was triggered by newly-filed documents that revealed glaring discrepancies between information privately supplied to journalists and information publicly supplied to shareholders.\"\n\n\"There have been rare instances in the history of the list in which people have blatantly lied to us in efforts to move their fortunes up or down,\" Vega said in a statement to USA TODAY. \"We try to spot those cases as soon as possible and report on them immediately to our readers.\"\n\nContributing: Sara M. Moniuszko\n\nFollow USA TODAY reporter Kelly Tyko on Twitter: @KellyTyko", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2020/05/29"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2022/06/23/larry-ellison-oracle-billionaire-florida-home/7717443001/", "title": "Larry Ellison: Oracle billionaire's $173M estate sets Florida record", "text": "PALM BEACH, Fla. – Billionaire Larry Ellison, who was recently ranked by Forbes as the world’s eighth-richest person, dropped $173 million of his fortune to buy a Florida compound in Manalapan, a wealthy town south of Palm Beach. The transaction marks the largest residential sale ever in Florida.\n\nEllison bought the ocean-to-lake estate – and part of nearby Bird Island – from a trust controlled by a fellow software billionaire, Jim Clark. In all, the estate and its island measure more than 22 acres.\n\nEllison used a limited liability company to buy the estate in Manalapan, according to the Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Network.\n\nThe land has been in the hands of the extremely wealthy for years. Clark purchased the property in 2021 from the billionaire Ziff family, which made its fortune in publishing and investments.\n\nHistorically known as Gemini, the estate is bisected by a coastal road. The two sections of the main house – one facing the lake and the other, the ocean – are linked by a series of tunnels beneath the street, including one that serves as a foyer and art gallery.\n\nWith dense vegetation, the property has about 1,200 feet of beach frontage and about 1,300 feet of waterfront on the irregularly shaped side facing the Intracoastal Waterway.\n\nTogether, the main residence and several outbuildings offer nearly 85,000 square feet of living space, inside and out, with 33 bedrooms, 34 bathrooms and 13 powder rooms.\n\nThe park-like estate includes a PGA-standard golf practice area, a regulation tennis court, a half basketball court, a freshwater pond, an 18-hole miniature golf course, a boat dock, a bird sanctuary and a butterfly garden. All of the those items were in place when Clark’s trust bought the property.\n\nSo who is Larry Ellison? Here’s a look at the billionaire.\n\nHow rich is Larry Ellison?\n\nOn June 22, the day the deed recorded for the Florida sale, Forbes estimated the 77-year-old’s net worth at $93.6 billion.\n\nHow did Larry Ellison get his fortune?\n\nEllison co-founded Oracle Corp. with two partners in Santa Clara, California, in 1977. Today, the software powerhouse bills itself as the world’s largest database-management company. Ellison spent 37 years as CEO and still holds the titles of chairman and chief technology officer at the company, which is headquartered in Austin, Texas. His ownership stake in the company is about 35 percent, according to Forbes.\n\nPreviously:As he steps down from Oracle, here are Larry Ellison's titanic moments\n\nLarry Ellison’s ties to Tesla\n\nAmong Ellison’s most well-publicized stock purchases, he invested heavily in his billionaire friend Elon Musk’s Tesla and joined the company’s board in 2018. This month, Tesla reported that Ellison would be stepping down from the board.\n\nDid Larry Ellison go to college?\n\nYes, but he didn’t graduate. He dropped out of the University of Chicago and the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, according to Bloomberg and other published reports.\n\nWhere’s Larry Ellison from and where does he live?\n\nA native New Yorker from The Bronx, Ellison has lived in the Chicago area and California. But he has said his primary home is on the island of Lanai in Hawaii. He reportedly paid $300 million for almost all of that island 10 years ago. He has also bought homes in Newport, Rhode Island, and California.\n\nLarry Ellison’s politics: Report ties him to post-election strategy call with Trump\n\nOn May 20, The Washington Post and other outlets reported that Ellison, who has supported former President Donald Trump and conservative causes, took part in a call on Nov. 14, 2020, with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and others “that focused on strategies for contesting the legitimacy of the vote” in the Nov. 3, 2020, presidential elections. The Post cited court documents and “a participant” as sources.\n\nThe call, the Post reported, is “the first known example of a technology industry titan joining powerful figures in conservative politics, media and law to strategize about Trump’s post-loss options.”\n\nOthers on the call included Fox News host Sean Hannity, Trump attorney Jay Sekulow and attorney James Bopp Jr., who represented True the Vote, a nonprofit group that has “promoted disputed claims of widespread voter fraud,” according to the Post. Ellison and Oracle did not respond to the Post for a request for comment, the Post reported.\n\nLarry Ellison's charitable efforts\n\nAmong his philanthropic initiatives, he gave $200 million to fund cancer-treatment research at the University of Southern California in 2016. The Lawrence J. Ellison Institute for Transformative Medicine in Los Angles is named for him.\n\nDarrell Hofheinz is a USA TODAY Network of Florida journalist who writes about Palm Beach real estate in his weekly “Beyond the Hedges” column. Follow him on Twitter: @PBDN_Hofheinz.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2022/06/23"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2017/10/26/insys-founder-and-arizona-billionaire-john-kapoor-arrested-opioid-marketing-case/803499001/", "title": "Insys founder and Arizona billionaire John Kapoor arrested in opioid ...", "text": "PHOENIX — One of Arizona's richest men was arrested early Thursday and charged with leading a conspiracy to profit by using bribes and fraud to market a powerful opioid narcotic, sometimes to inappropriate patients.\n\nJohn Kapoor, 74, founder and majority owner of Chandler, Ariz.-based Insys Therapeutics Inc., was arrested and charged with the illegal distribution of a fentanyl spray intended for cancer patients and for violating anti-kickback laws, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Boston.\n\nThe company's medication, Subsys, contains a narcotic that's 80 times more powerful than morphine.\n\nThe initial success of that medication turned Insys into one of Arizona's hottest stocks ever, but that was followed by a sharp downturn as the company's profits and revenue were scaled back as the investigations widened.\n\nKapoor ranked sixth last year on Forbes' list of wealthiest Arizonans with a net worth of $2.1 billion, but he dropped off this year's list owing to the declining stock price of Insys, in which he is a controlling shareholder.\n\nKapoor, who also served as the company's former executive chairman and CEO, was to appear in federal court in Phoenix on Thursday and in U.S. District Court in Boston at a later date.\n\nMore:Exclusive: Trump to order public health emergency for opioids, a partial measure to fight drug epidemic\n\nMore:Opioid crisis has a new leading killer: fentanyl\n\nMore:FDA chief supports opioid prescription limits, regrets agency's prior inaction\n\nThe indictment unsealed in Boston includes additional allegations against several former Insys executives and managers who were initially indicted in December. The indictment names Kapoor and former CEO Michael Babich.\n\nThe others named in the indictment are Alec Burlakoff, Insys' former vice president of sales; Richard Simon, former national director of sales; former regional sales directors Sunrise Lee and Joseph Rowan; and the company's former vice president of managed markets, Michael Gurry.\n\nBabich, 40, and Gurry, 53, are Scottsdale, Ariz., residents.\n\nThe officials are charged with conspiring to bribe medical practitioners in various states, many of whom operated pain clinics, to get them to prescribe Subsys, according to the announcement from the U.S. Attorney's Office. In exchange for bribes and kickbacks, the practitioners wrote large numbers of prescriptions for the patients, most of whom were not diagnosed with cancer, according to the allegations.\n\nThe indictment also alleges that Kapoor and the former executives conspired to mislead and defraud health insurers that were reluctant to approve payment for the drug when it was prescribed for non-cancer patients. They pursued this goal by obtaining prior authorization directly from insurers and pharmacy-benefit managers, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.\n\n“In the midst of a nationwide opioid epidemic that has reached crisis proportions, Mr. Kapoor and his company stand accused of bribing doctors to overprescribe a potent opioid and committing fraud on insurance companies solely for profit,” said Acting U.S. Attorney William Weinreb in a statement.\n\n“Today's arrest and charges reflect our ongoing efforts to attack the opioid crisis from all angles. We must hold the industry and its leadership accountable — just as we would the cartels or a street-level drug dealer.”\n\nInsys executives created a corporate culture that utilized \"deception and bribery as an acceptable business practice, deceiving patients and conspiring with doctors and insurers,” said Harold Shaw, a special agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in a statement.\n\nInsys stock was sharply lower Thursday morning, trading down about 11% at $6.62 a share.\n\nReach the reporter at russ.wiles@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8616.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2017/10/26"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/06/01/donald-trump-lawsuits-legal-battles/84995854/", "title": "Exclusive: Trump's 3,500 lawsuits unprecedented for a presidential ...", "text": "Nick Penzenstadler, and Susan Page\n\nUSA TODAY\n\nDonald Trump is a fighter, famous for legal skirmishes over everything from his golf courses to his tax bills to Trump University. But until now, it hasn’t been clear precisely how litigious he is and what that might portend for a Trump presidency.\n\nAn exclusive USA TODAY analysis of legal filings across the United States finds that the presumptive Republican presidential nominee and his businesses have been involved in at least 3,500 legal actions in federal and state courts during the past three decades. They range from skirmishes with casino patrons to million-dollar real estate suits to personal defamation lawsuits.\n\nThe sheer volume of lawsuits is unprecedented for a presidential nominee. No candidate of a major party has had anything approaching the number of Trump’s courtroom entanglements.\n\nJust since he announced his candidacy a year ago, at least 70 new cases have been filed, about evenly divided between lawsuits filed by him and his companies and those filed against them. And the records review found at least 50 civil lawsuits remain open even as he moves toward claiming the nomination at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in seven weeks. On Tuesday, court documents were released in one of the most dramatic current cases, filed in California by former students accusing Trump University of fraudulent and misleading behavior.\n\nThe legal actions provide clues to the leadership style the billionaire businessman would bring to bear as commander in chief. He sometimes responds to even small disputes with overwhelming legal force. He doesn’t hesitate to deploy his wealth and legal firepower against adversaries with limited resources, such as homeowners. He sometimes refuses to pay real estate brokers, lawyers and other vendors.\n\nAs he campaigns, Trump often touts his skills as a negotiator. The analysis shows that lawsuits are one of his primary negotiating tools. He turns to litigation to distance himself from failing projects that relied on the Trump brand to secure investments. As USA TODAY previously reported, he also uses the legal system to haggle over his property tax bills. His companies have been involved in more than 100 tax disputes, and the New York State Department of Finance has obtained liens on Trump properties for unpaid tax bills at least three dozen times.\n\nExclusive: More than 100 lawsuits, disputes, tied to Trump and his companies\n\nAnd despite his boasts on the campaign trail that he “never” settles lawsuits, for fear of encouraging more, he and his businesses have settled with plaintiffs in at least 100 cases reviewed by USA TODAY. Most involve people who say they were physically injured at Trump properties, with settlements that range as high as hundreds of thousands of dollars.\n\nAlan Garten, general counsel for the Trump Organization, said in an interview that the number and tenor of the court cases is the “cost of doing business” and on par with other companies of a similar size. \"I think we have far less litigation of companies of our size,\" he said.\n\nHowever, even by those measures, the number of cases in which Trump is involved is extraordinary. For comparison, USA TODAY analyzed the legal involvement for five top real-estate business executives: Edward DeBartolo, shopping-center developer and former San Francisco 49ers owner; Donald Bren, Irvine Company chairman and owner; Stephen Ross, Time Warner Center developer; Sam Zell, Chicago real-estate magnate; and Larry Silverstein, a New York developer famous for his involvement in the World Trade Center properties.\n\nTo maintain an apples-to-apples comparison, only actions that used the developers' names were included. The analysis found Trump has been involved in more legal skirmishes than all five of the others — combined.\n\nThe USA TODAY analysis included an examination of legal actions for and against Trump and the more than 500 businesses he lists on the personal financial disclosure he filed with the Federal Election Commission. USA TODAY also reviewed five depositions in which Trump sat for 22 hours of sworn testimony. This report is based on those legal filings as well as interviews with dozens of his legal adversaries.\n\nA handful of the ongoing cases involve local or state government entities, with the possibility of personal legal disputes between the president of the United States and other branches of government if Trump is elected. For instance, the Trump team has filed a lawsuit seeking a state ethics investigation of the New York attorney general. The suit was filed in response to an ongoing fraud investigation into Trump University by the attorney general, an elected state official.\n\nTrump, New York attorney general spar again over Trump U.\n\nAnd at a campaign rally in San Diego last Friday, Trump railed against a federal judge overseeing an ongoing lawsuit against Trump University. Trump said Judge Gonzalo Curiel \"happens to be, we believe Mexican,\" and called him a \"hater of Donald Trump\" who \"railroaded\" him. Born in Indiana, Curiel was appointed to the federal bench by President Obama. The judge on Tuesday unsealed hundreds of pages of documents in the case.\n\nThe trial is set for November — just after Election Day.\n\nTrump’s history of legal actions provides clues about his style as a leader and manager. While he is quick to take credit for anything associated with his name, he is just as quick to distance himself from failures and to place responsibility on others. In one lawsuit — filed against him by condo owners who wanted their money back for a Fort Lauderdale condo that was never built — he testified in a sworn deposition: “Well, the word ‘developing,’ it doesn't mean that we're the developers.”\n\nAt times, he and his companies refuse to pay even relatively small bills. An engineering firm and a law firm are among several who filed suits against Trump companies saying they weren't paid for their work. In a 2011 deposition tied to a dispute over his deal with Van Heusen menswear, he said he abruptly decided not to sign a check to a firm that helped broker the deal, after 11 consecutive quarterly payments, because \"I don't feel that these people did very much, if anything, with respect to this deal.”\n\nThe number of lawsuits raises questions about potential conflicts and complications if Trump does win the White House. Dozens of cases remain unresolved, about half in which he is the plaintiff. It raises the possibility of individuals being sued by the president of the United States, or suing him, in non-governmental disputes.\n\nUnder the law, Trump wouldn’t get special advantages as the plaintiff — or protections as a defendant. Under long-standing conflict-of-interest rules, as a plaintiff he couldn’t improperly benefit from governmental knowledge. He also wouldn’t get immunity from civil litigation that stemmed from events prior to taking office.\n\nHow USA TODAY NETWORK gathered Trump court files\n\nTogether, the lawsuits help address this question: How would Trump’s record in business translate into leading the most powerful government on the globe — a task that involves managing a $4 trillion annual budget, overseeing 1.8 million civilian federal employees and commanding the most powerful armed forces in the world?\n\nWhile leaders who had business careers sometimes have been elected to the White House — oilmen George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, for instance, and mining engineer Herbert Hoover — the jobs have some fundamental differences, political scientists and presidential historians say. A president can't rule by fiat, as some CEOs do. And getting things done in government often involves building coalitions among legislators and foreign leaders who have their own priorities and agendas.\n\n“He’s operating as his own boss and a CEO-on-steroids mentality, where you snap a finger and things get done,” said presidential historian Douglas Brinkley, who has written biographies of Franklin Roosevelt and Teddy Roosevelt and edited Ronald Reagan’s diaries. “But a lot of good governance is on learning how to build proper coalitions and how to have patience with the glacial pace of government, and you’re forced to abide by laws at all times. \"\n\nBrinkley sees \"a lot of warning signs about having someone of Trump’s temperament and professional disposition being the commander-in-chief.”\n\nTo be sure, likely Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton has had her own legal challenges, including an ongoing FBI investigation and civil lawsuits into her exclusive use of an email server while secretary of State. When husband Bill Clinton was president, she was involved in investigations by special counsels looking into the Whitewater land deal in Arkansas and other controversies. None resulted in legal charges against her.\n\nDuring her time as first lady, U.S. senator from New York and secretary of State, Clinton has been named in more than 900 lawsuits, mostly as a defendant, a review of state and federal court records finds. More than a third of the lawsuits were filed by federal prisoners, political activists or other citizens seeking redress from the government by suing a list of high-ranking officials.\n\nThe USA TODAY analysis identified at least 3,500 legal actions involving Trump. Reporters reviewed thousands of pages of records collected electronically and in person from courts in 33 states over three months, read more than 20 hours of depositions and interviewed dozens of litigants.\n\nAmong those cases with a clear resolution, Trump's side was the apparent victor in 451 and the loser in 38. In about 500 cases, judges dismissed plaintiffs' claims against Trump. In hundreds more, cases ended with the available public record unclear about the resolution.\n\nClose to half the court cases — about 1,600 — involved lawsuits against gamblers who had credit at Trump-connected casinos and failed to pay their debts. About 100 additional disputes centered on other issues at the casinos. Trump and his enterprises have been named in almost 700 personal-injury claims and about 165 court disputes with government agencies.\n\nDozens dealt with the bankruptcy proceedings of Trump's companies, and dozens more involved plaintiffs' lawsuits against Trump businesses that judges terminated because the Trump companies targeted had gone bankrupt.\n\nThey include Trump's ongoing suit against the town of Palm Beach over airplane noise near his Mar-a-Lago Club and an earlier lawsuit against the town over an 80-foot flag pole. Trump's team argued in court that a smaller flag would understate his patriotism, but he eventually settled with town officials, agreeing among other concessions to lower the pole by 10 feet.\n\nThere also are disputes with local governments from New York to Florida to Nevada over the size of his property-tax bills.\n\nThe terms of most of the 100 settlements that Trump and his businesses reached with plaintiffs have not been disclosed. In about 60 additional cases, those sued by the Trump side have settled with him.\n\nA few have become fodder on the campaign trail, including two breach-of-contract lawsuits he filed against restaurateurs in connection with Trump's development of the Old Post Office on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington. The businesses said they backed out of deals with Trump because of his derogatory comments about Mexicans. Both lawsuits are pending.\n\nThe luxury Trump hotel will have a prime view of the Inaugural Parade next January.\n\nReview of thousands of legal actions show that Trump is fiercely protective of his brand, quick to distance himself from deals that struggle, willing to deploy outsized resources against adversaries and sometimes prone to micro-management, even in disputes that involve relatively small amounts of money. Those approaches, however appropriate in a business setting, may not translate to a political one, especially at the level of the White House.\n\nAmong the details:\n\n• Trump distances himself from deals that sour.\n\nWhen projects struggle, Trump doesn’t hesitate to cut ties, even those that relied on his name to secure investments. That was the case in condo projects that were never completed in Fort Lauderdale, Tampa, Panama and Baja, Mexico.\n\nCondo buyers who sued to get their deposits back often said they believed Trump was a full partner in the buildings. Trump was shielded by disclaimers in sales agreements explaining his branding-only role, though plaintiffs and their lawyers argued in court that fine print didn’t sync with marketing materials that made it appear these were Trump properties.\n\nIn depositions and court filings in the condo cases and similar branding deals, Trump's team appears to try to have it both ways in depicting his involvement. On one hand, Trump contends deep influence over even the smallest details to ensure Trump-branded products and developments are up to his standard, and he places high importance on the influence of his marketing muscle in such deals — usually as the lead name, face and voice behind a project.\n\nOn the other hand, his team argues in court that he's not liable for the deals that fail because he's simply lent his name.\n\nTrump himself walked lawyers through the difference between a brander and a developer in a 2013 deposition in one of the Fort Lauderdale condo cases.\n\n“Well, the word ‘developing,’ it doesn't mean that we're the developers,” Trump said, arguing he’s not accountable when a project he lends just his name to goes under. “We worked on the documents, we worked on the room sizes and the things, but we didn't give out the contracts, we didn't get the financing, we weren't the developer, but we did work with the developer.”\n\nIn lawsuits over his Trump University, he testified that he had never met instructors who were described in the university’s promotional materials as being “handpicked” by him. “It depends on the definition of what that means, handpicked,” Trump said during an exchange with a lawyer in a sworn deposition last December.\n\nWhen attorneys representing plaintiffs pointed out some instructors had criminal pasts and had been accused of berating seniors who signed up for the program, Trump replied: “In every business, people slip through the cracks.”\n\nFlorida attorney Sherri Simpson, who defends homeowners in foreclosure actions, said she signed up for Trump University classes because she hoped to capitalize on low prices during the housing downturn. She wanted to turn to a trusted real-estate name to learn how.\n\n“I’m aggravated that I lost all that money,” she said in an interview. “He promised to hire the best, to handpick the instructors, make sure everyone affiliated with the program was the best. But he didn’t do that.”\n\n• Trump is willing to spend large sums on small claims.\n\nNo detail is too small for a Trump suit, and he often brings to bear overwhelming legal resources that enable him to outlast his adversaries.\n\nIn February, he filed five lawsuits against eight neighbors of his Doral golf club in Miami for $15,000 in damages to reimburse him for \"vandalizing\" or \"destroying\" expensive areca palms and other plants his groundskeepers installed between their homes and the course. Trump's staff says the foliage was planted to block golfers' views of the houses; the homeowners say the trees blocked their views of the course. All five cases are pending.\n\n“No other developer put so many resources in trying to fight claims brought by the plaintiffs,” said Jared Beck, a Miami attorney who has represented dozens of clients in lawsuits against developers in South Florida. He said none has fought with the tenacity of Trump, citing a “mismatch of resources” that often works in Trump’s favor.\n\nBeck is now appealing to the Florida Supreme Court a case that dates to 2008 in which he represented a group of people who invested in condos in a failed development in Fort Lauderdale to which Trump licensed his name. “He is willing to go to the mat and has practically unlimited resources.”\n\n• Trump fiercely protects the monetary value of “Trump” as a brand name.\n\nTrump publicly has placed the value of his licensed real estate and other branding deals at $3.3 billion, though Forbes and other analysts question whether the figure is inflated. His moniker drives the value of his licensing deals, which now make up an important arm of his business model.\n\nIn one case, a South Florida developer hired experts who testified that having Trump's name attached to their proposed condominium development boosted the condos' value by at least $200 per square foot. The swanky seaside complex was only partially built, prompting some condo buyers to file a lawsuit against Trump and the developers seeking to recover their deposits. The developers had paid to license Trump’s brand, allowing them to use Trump’s name, his image and his reputation to help them sell units.\n\nTrump has attempted to pull out or distance himself from similar licensing deals, real estate and otherwise, if he feels the situation is hurting his brand. He also goes to court to collect royalties and other fees he says he's owed on those same kinds of deals.\n\n“Anything I put my name to is very important,” Trump said in a 2010 deposition tied to a failed real-estate development in Tampa licensed to carry Trump’s “mark,\" as he calls it. \"If I allow my name to be used, whether it’s a partnership or whether it is a licensing deal, they are all very important to me.”\n\nTrump sued for $4.5 million over unpaid royalties after a company that had been paying him to call its liquor Trump Vodka fell on hard times during the economic downturn, hurting sales of pricier spirits. The company stopped making its licensing payments, and Trump terminated the deal and sued to recoup what he was owed. He won a judgment for the amount, though it's unclear whether he ever collected from the troubled company.\n\nAnd he has been aggressive in suing unrelated companies that were using his name without permission. He won rulings over attempts to market Trump’s Best Coffee, a series of websites with names like trumpabudhabi.com and trumpbeijing.com, and a marketing agency calling itself Trump Your Competition.\n\nTrump’s general counsel, Garten, defended the number of lawsuits. “Our philosophy is that we are a company of principle,” he said. “When we believe we are in the right, we are going to pursue the matter to the end. If that requires that we go to trial and present evidence to a jury, we are prepared to do so. We are not going to cave to pressure.”\n\nBut experts in the presidency and business say Trump’s record, including in courtroom disputes, raise questions about whether he has exhibited the leadership qualities that have distinguished the nation’s most successful presidents.\n\n“Somebody like Lyndon Johnson was a guy who woke up in the morning studying the decisions and the hopes and the strengths and the weaknesses of all the people he had to influence,” said Jeffrey Pfeffer, a professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and author of Leadership BS: Fixing Workplaces and Careers One Truth at a Time. “For that, you need two traits I think Trump lacks: Number one, an attention to detail, and number two, you have to subordinate your own ego. I’ve seen nothing from Trump that suggests he has that capacity, and government is the art of compromise.”\n\nTrump’s lack of government experience was a political advantage during the GOP primaries, reinforcing his status as an outsider vowing to shake up a dysfunctional Washington. But it threatens to be a liability in the general election. In an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll released last week, six in 10 voters said they had reservations about or were uncomfortable with Trump’s lack of experience in government or the military.\n\nEven so, some of those who have sued Trump, been sued by him or otherwise been caught up in his legal wake, say they still may vote for him in November.\n\nPhilip Monnin represented his daughter, Miss Pennsylvania contestant Sheena Monnin, in a defamation suit Trump filed after she posted on Facebook that she thought the 2012 Miss USA Pageant was “rigged.” An arbitration ruling upheld by a federal judge ordered her to pay $5 million in damages, although she and Trump eventually settled out of court for an undisclosed lesser amount. Monnin, who lives in Michigan, said the suit demonstrated Trump’s bullying tactics and attempts to intimidate legal opponents.\n\nBut he doesn’t rule out voting for Trump for president. “Both sides have failed to bring satisfactory candidates,” he said in an interview. “I don’t think any of us in the family has decided what to do, and we have a lot of time to consider how to cast our votes.”\n\nContributing: David McKay Wilson, Karen Yi, John Kelly and Kevin McCoy\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": "2016/06/01"}]}
{"question_id": "20230203_28", "search_time": "2023/02/04/11:57", "search_result": [{"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/science/energy/2018/10/24/palm-springs-iconic-wind-farms-could-change-dramatically/1578515002/", "title": "Palm Springs is famous for its wind farms. They may look a lot ...", "text": "If you've ever driven from Los Angeles to Palm Springs, you know you're getting close when you see the wind farms. Twenty minutes west of the desert resort town, in the gap between Southern California's two highest mountains, thousands of turbines fill the landscape on either side of Interstate 10, taking advantage of a natural wind tunnel.\n\nSome wind machines are hundreds of feet tall, with wingspans as long as a football field. Others are tiny by comparison, with clunky lattice towers and spinning rotors that wouldn't stretch from home plate to the pitcher's mound on a baseball diamond.\n\nThe iconic landscape could change dramatically in the coming years.\n\nAlready, energy developers here have replaced some aging wind turbines with state-of-the-art models. The newer turbines are much bigger, and far more powerful, than the machines first installed in the 1980s. That means fewer wind turbines are needed to create the same amount of energy. In fact, fewer turbines can create more energy.\n\nBut many 1980s-era turbines are still standing in the San Gorgonio Pass, the gateway to Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley. Developers have an incentive to begin replacing the older machines before the end of 2019, when a federal tax credit is set to expire.\n\nEven if the federal tax credit doesn't inspire immediate action, the San Gorgonio Pass of the future could generate much more electricity than it does today, despite having far fewer wind turbines. Wintec Energy founder and president Fred Noble, who built the area's first wind farm in the 1980s, thinks a full \"repowering\" could reduce the number of wind turbines in and around Palm Springs from more than 2,000 to only 600 or 700.\n\n\"This industry started here. And then we went out and populated the world,\" Noble said in a recent interview. \"And now these machines that are coming up on 25, 30 years old have done their job and need to be replaced.\"\n\nFewer wind turbines could also mean clearer views of the mountains. The remaining turbines would be taller, but there would be much more space between them.\n\n\"As you go bigger, it also opens up the viewshed,\" Noble said.\n\nThere are plenty of reasons for energy companies to repower aging wind farms in the San Gorgonio Pass and other parts of California, including a new law requiring the state to get all of its electricity from climate-friendly sources by 2045. Nancy Rader, executive director of the California Wind Energy Association, an industry trade group, sees unique benefits to replacing old wind turbines with newer ones.\n\n\"You can get twice as much energy or more out of the same site,\" Rader said. \"It's good for California if we can squeeze twice as much energy out of the same land area.\"\n\nBut the repowering of the San Gorgonio Pass also faces obstacles. It's cheaper to build new turbines at undeveloped sites than to replace old ones. A statewide slowdown in renewable energy development could discourage companies from upgrading the Palm Springs wind farms before the federal tax credit expires. California could also meet its climate-friendly energy goals by importing wind power from Wyoming or New Mexico.\n\n\"Economics is really number one at the end of the day, and patience to get the project done,\" said Florian Zerhusen, chief executive of BayWa r.e. Wind, a San Diego-based company that recently bought and sold hundreds of wind turbines in the San Gorgonio Pass. \"There is a need to take these 30-plus-year-old turbines out and replace them, clean up the valley. But the economics have to work, and you have to have patience.\"\n\nMany Coachella Valley residents didn't take kindly to the wind industry when it first arrived in the San Gorgonio Pass nearly four decades ago. Industrial energy generation was seen as incompatible with the valley's reputation as a relaxed tourism destination.\n\nIn 1985, Palm Springs sued the Bureau of Land Management to block further wind development on federal land north of the city, and to try to force the removal of some existing turbines. Then-Mayor Frank Bogert said the machines were \"ruining the views of the mountains and desert floor and creating a living hell for residents who live near them.\" A few years later, Palm Springs city council member Bill Foster wrote in a Desert Sun opinion piece that the wind turbines had been \"as damaging to Palm Springs visually as strip mining has been to towns and villages in Kentucky and West Virginia.\"\n\nPalm Springs eventually learned to live with the wind industry, annexing much of the land beneath today's wind farms to bring in tax revenue. The turbines contributed to the state's renewable energy goals and became an iconic part of the desert landscape. The Palm Springs Bureau of Tourism features a photo of a wind farm on the \"About Palm Springs\" page of its website, with snow-capped Mt. San Jacinto in the background.\n\nToday, the wind farms are a political winner locally.\n\nIn 2014, then-Palm Springs Mayor Steve Pougnet called the San Gorgonio Pass \"the most environmentally safe wind energy site in North America.\"\n\n\"I am proud of the significant role Palm Springs has played in pioneering wind energy,\" Pougnet said, as part of a statement released by the advocacy group Environment California. \"I look forward to how advances in wind energy technology will allow energy producers to expand the important role they play in our clean energy supply.\"\n\nCLIMATE POINT: Subscribe to our energy, climate change and environment newsletter\n\nPOLITICAL FIGHT: Trump wants to open California desert to more solar, wind farms\n\nIt's no surprise why developers wanted to build near Palm Springs: The gap between the San Bernardino and San Jacinto mountains is a natural wind tunnel, with average wind speeds between 15 and 20 miles per hour. Even better, the mountain pass isn't far from millions of energy-hungry homes and businesses in the Los Angeles area.\n\n\"All things considered, this is the best place in the world for wind energy,\" Fred Noble said. \"No snow, sea level, no ice, very good wind, wind in the top 5 percent of what you'd find anywhere. And a big electrical infrastructure that can take the power.\"\n\nNoble's company built the area's first wind farm in 1982, putting up 212 turbines on a plot of land he owned north of Interstate 10 and west of Indian Canyon Drive. Over the next decade, energy developers built more than 4,000 wind turbines in the San Gorgonio Pass. Even more turbines were built at two other wind hot spots in California, the Altamont Pass east of the Bay Area and the Tehachapi Pass east of Bakersfield.\n\nAfter the country's first big wind farms were built in California, the industry boomed nationwide. There are now more than 58,000 turbines in the United States, with some of the biggest clusters in Iowa, Oklahoma and Texas, according to a map created by the U.S. Geological Survey.\n\nWind farms produced 6.3 percent of the electricity generated by U.S. power plants in 2017. In California, 6.2 percent of the electricity generated by in-state power plants came from wind farms last year.\n\nNoble's company, Wintec Energy, eventually replaced its 212 original turbines with 35 larger machines. Those were later replaced with five even larger machines. Today, the five turbines generate six times as much energy as the original 212, Noble said.\n\n\"It's just the difference between a Model T Ford and a Porsche,\" he said.\n\nIn 1992, the San Gorgonio Pass wind turbines produced about 550,000 megawatt-hours of electricity. By 2017, production had risen to nearly 1.5 million megawatt-hours.\n\nThe same trend could continue into the future.\n\nAccording to data compiled by federal agencies and the wind industry, there are about 2,300 wind turbines in the San Gorgonio Pass. Nearly 450 were built this century, but more than 1,600 were built in the 1980s. The older machines are mostly clustered between Highway 111 and Interstate 10, and north of the freeway near Whitewater.\n\nNancy Rader, who leads the California Wind Energy Association, thinks the federal data may underestimate the number of aging wind turbines that stand to be replaced. Her own count shows 324 megawatts worth of wind turbines in the Palm Springs area that were built from 1980 through 1995, compared to 160 megawatts in the federal data.\n\nMany of those machines are still in good shape. Rader compared them to old cars.\n\n\"You can keep an old car running forever if you just keep it in good shape. Something wears out, replace it,\" she said. \"A lot of those old turbines, especially the Danish ones, are like that. They're workhorses, and you can keep them operating a long time.\"\n\nStill, wind turbines are generally designed to last for 25 to 30 years, to match the length of a typical utility power purchase contract, Rader said.\n\n\"They're really designed to have that life, and after that, they do start falling apart,\" she said. \"That's how long bolts are designed to last.\"\n\nOver time, it gets more expensive to keep old wind turbines running — sometimes so expensive that it doesn't make sense to keep operating them without a guaranteed contract to sell the electricity. So it's not surprising that as utility contracts signed in the 1980s have expired in recent years, some turbines in the San Gorgonio Pass have stopped spinning. At the site of Fred Noble's original wind farm, two dozen machines have sat idle since their contract with Southern California Edison ran out in 2015.\n\n\"We can't get a contract that makes them viable to run,\" Noble said.\n\nDespite California's ambitious push to replace fossil fuels with cleaner energy sources, developers say there's been a slowdown in new contracts for wind and solar projects. They cite several reasons for the slowdown, including the fact that the state's big utility companies have already bought most of the energy they need to meet the state's next target, which requires 33 percent of electricity to come from renewable sources by 2020.\n\nAnother factor is the growth of locally run energy programs, known as community choice aggregators or CCAs. From the Bay Area to Los Angeles, cities and counties are getting into the energy business, giving people an alternative to Southern California Edison, Pacific Gas & Electric and San Diego Gas & Electric. By some estimates, the three investor-owned utilities could lose 80 percent of their market share in the next decade. The uncertainty makes it difficult for the big utilities to sign new long-term contracts.\n\nCCAs are making plans to buy lots of wind and solar power. But critics say CCAs have mostly signed short-term contracts to buy renewable energy from existing projects. The problem, they say, is that CCAs don't yet have the credit history to sign long-term contracts and get new projects built — or replace aging wind turbines with new models.\n\nNew renewable energy purchases are \"basically at a standstill\" in California, according to V. John White, executive director of the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies, an advocacy group. And even when the logjam breaks, it might make more sense for utilities to buy low-cost wind power from out of state. That's because the best wind hot spots in California — including the San Gorgonio Pass — have already been developed, and it's cheaper to build new wind farms than repower old ones.\n\n\"The New Mexico wind is really convenient for us to access,\" White said.\n\nREAD MORE: In Wyoming wind, a conservative billionaire sees California's future\n\nSHARING POWER: Why Jerry Brown and Warren Buffett want to rewire the West\n\nIn theory, now is an ideal time to repower aging wind farms. Congress voted in 2015 to extend a federal tax credit for wind energy, but on a schedule that would phase out the tax credit over several years. Companies can get 60 percent of the original tax credit for new or repowered wind projects that start construction in 2018, and 40 percent for projects that start construction in 2019. Then the incentive will disappear entirely.\n\nIn other states, developers are taking advantage of the last few years of the tax credit. A common practice is \"partial repowering,\" in which turbine owners replace key components on their machines to qualify for another 10 years of tax credit eligibility.\n\nNationwide, about 2,000 megawatts of wind turbines were partially repowered in 2017, all in Iowa and Texas, according to a report from the federal Department of Energy. The repowered turbines can often produce as much as 40 percent more energy, according to Anthony Logan, an analyst at Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables.\n\nBut in California, the expiring tax credit may not provide enough incentive for energy companies to tear out their old wind turbines and replace them with new ones.\n\n\"We need to at least begin construction on new wind or repowered wind by the end of next year. And nobody's going to do that if we don't have contracts,\" White said.\n\nAnother roadblock to repowering wind farms is more technical: The economics improve with scale, as do the benefits of the federal tax credit. The thousands of wind turbines in the San Gorgonio Pass are owned by many different companies, and it can be difficult for a company with just a few machines to make the economics of repowering work.\n\n\"It can get done, but it really takes someone with deep pockets to go in and make it happen,\" said Florian Zerhusen, chief executive of BayWa r.e. Wind.\n\nFred Noble, who built the first wind farm in the San Gorgonio Pass, believes the future of repowering is \"pretty much in the hands of the large utility companies,\" including NextEra Energy Resources. The Florida-based company is one of the country's largest renewable energy developers, and in 2011 it replaced 115 turbines from the 1990s with 33 new ones in the San Gorgonio Pass. NextEra owns another 15-megawatt wind farm in the area, but a spokesperson declined to comment on any future repowering plans.\n\nOfficials at the Bureau of Land Management say two companies are in the preliminary stages of applying for repower permits on federal land in the San Gorgonio Pass. New York-based Terra-Gen plans to take down 126 turbines and replace them with seven newer models, according to Bureau of Land Management spokesperson Stephen Razo. The other company with repower plans, Brookfield Renewable, acquired a 30-megawatt wind farm in the Palm Springs area in 2012.\n\nCLIMATE CHANGE: Global warming especially dangerous for low-income communities\n\nSOLAR PLUS STORAGE: Solar industry approaches 'new frontier' in California desert\n\nFred Noble has now sold most of his wind turbines. But he still owns the land beneath them. On a recent afternoon, he drove his four-wheel-drive SUV across the the rough dirt roads that crisscross that land, north of Interstate 10 and west of Indian Avenue.\n\nNoble passed a small solar farm before arriving at two of the four biggest wind turbines in the Palm Springs area. When the tips of the blades reach their highest point, the machines are 410 feet tall. Their power capacity is three megawatts apiece — 120 times more powerful than each of the 212 machines Noble originally built nearby in 1982.\n\nNoble feels certain the San Gorgonio Pass will be populated with more machines like these in the future — and more solar panels too, and batteries to store the energy they produce, for times when the sun isn't shining or the wind isn't blowing. He thinks it's possible the federal tax credit will still be revived, as it has been in the past. But more than that, he knows California has made a commitment to climate-friendly energy. He's confident the Palm Springs area still has a role to play in meeting that commitment.\n\n\"I think it'll get repowered because the wind is so good here. And I think it'll be with solar, because that's what makes sense,\" Noble said. \"At the end of the day, what is going to get built out here is combining wind and solar and batteries.\"\n\nSammy Roth writes about energy and the environment for The Desert Sun. He can be reached at sammy.roth@desertsun.com, (760) 778-4622 and @Sammy_Roth.", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2018/10/24"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/30/investing/dow-stock-market-2022/index.html", "title": "Goodbye 2022 -- and good riddance. Markets close out their worst ...", "text": "New York CNN —\n\nWall Street has said goodbye — and good riddance — to 2022, a year most investors would rather forget.\n\nAll three major averages were down on Friday, clocking their worst year since 2008 and ended a three-year winning streak.\n\nThe Dow fell 73 points, or 0.2% Friday, the last trading day of the year. In 2022, the Dow fell about 9%.\n\nThe S&P 500 was 0.3% lower Friday, leaving it down about 20% for the year.\n\nThe Nasdaq Composite Index was down 0.1% Friday, close to its lowest level since July 2020. The tech-heavy index has been battered this year, falling 33%.\n\nEuropean stocks also closed out the year on a sour note, down 11.8%, securing their worst annual run since 2018.\n\nFew safe havens for investors\n\nRussia’s invasion of Ukraine, snarled supply chains and another year of Covid turned markets on their head this year. Inflation surged around the globe and central banks hiked rates at a historic pace to keep price hikes from spiraling out of control. China, the world’s second-largest economy, periodically shut down entire cities to contain the pandemic. Energy supplies were cut off, but recession fears send demand falling in the second half of the year anyway. Intense storms and climate change upended markets, too.\n\nThat left few safe places for investors to park their money.\n\nAnd while stocks had a miserable year, bonds fared even worse. Inflation, massive rate hikes and a super-strong dollar left bonds unattractive to investors.\n\nThe return on the S&P US Treasury Bond Index was -10.7% in 2022. The 30-year US Treasury bond, at its low, sunk to its worst return, -35%, in a century. Corporate bonds had a miserable 2022, too: The return on bonds issued by S&P 500 companies was -14.2% this year. The Bloomberg Aggregate US Bond Index had its worst year since the index’s inception in 1977, according to FactSet.\n\nInflation, which briefly rose above 9% in the United States — a 40-year high — hurt economic growth, even as consumers continued to spend. But it mostly damaged corporate profits.\n\nS&P 500 companies’ earnings are expected to have grown just 5.1% this year, well below the average annual increase of 8.5% that Wall Street posted over the past 10 years, according to John Butters, senior earnings analyst at FactSet.\n\nEnergy, which boomed as oil and gas prices surged earlier this year, made up the entirety of Wall Street’s profit gains. Excluding energy, S&P 500 earnings would have fallen 1.8% this year, Butters predicted.\n\nMiddling-to-miserable profits sent stocks sharply lower throughout the year. Global equity markets lost $33 trillion in value from their peaks.\n\nGenerac Holdings, an energy technology solution company, is the worst performing stock in the S&P 500 this year, down about 74%. Coming in second is dating app company Match Group, down 70%.\n\nGrowth stocks, or shares of companies that are expanding their business quickly, got hammered particularly hard. Investors value these firms based on expectations for future profits. Those look less enticing in a world in which interest rates are going up.\n\nElon Musk’s Tesla is down about 70%, making the auto tech company the third-worst performer this year. Meta, Facebook’s parent company, also makes an appearance in the bottom 10 stocks — down 64% in 2022.\n\nThat’s a huge shake-up: At the start of this year, Tesla was the fifth-most valuable company in the S&P 500 and Meta was sixth. Tesla is now the 11th most-valuable firm in the index and Meta is in 19th place.\n\nEven Amazon, Apple and Microsoft — tech names that have become staples for investors — took major knocks as investors adjusted to an environment in which rates were rising.\n\nThere were some winners. The energy sector has returned more than 60% this year, significantly outperforming every other S&P 500 sector. No other sector has gained even 5% year-to-date.\n\nOccidental Petroleum has been the biggest gainer in the S&P 500, up about 120% this year. Constellation Energy is in second place, up about 110%, and Hess comes in third with a gain of around 95%.\n\nAs the sheen came off markets, one of the biggest stories has been the disastrous meltdown in cryptocurrencies. After a dramatic run-up in 2021 to record highs (remember the dogecoin rally?), investors were confronted with an epic collapse. The implosion of parts of the industry once viewed as relatively stable, such as Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX exchange, sent traders running for cover.\n\nCrypto insiders acknowledge it will probably take years to rebuild confidence. As regulators circle, the heady days of minting profits off memes feel like a distant memory.", "authors": ["Nicole Goodkind Julia Horowitz David Goldman", "Nicole Goodkind", "Julia Horowitz", "David Goldman"], "publish_date": "2022/12/30"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/18/investing/google-alphabet-stock-split/index.html", "title": "Google's stock just got a lot cheaper for average investors | CNN ...", "text": "New York CNN Business —\n\nOne share of Google’s parent company Alphabet is suddenly a lot more affordable for Main Street investors — following a massive stock split that took effect Monday.\n\nAlphabet (GOOGL) split its two classes of shares (GOOG) by a 20-to-1 margin, a move that reduced the price of one share from just over $2,200 on Friday to about $110 on Monday.\n\nThe stock split doesn’t change Alphabet’s market capitalization. The company is still worth nearly $1.5 trillion, making it one of the most valuable firms on the planet.\n\nBut the split has two potential benefits. First, it may make Alphabet shares more enticing for everyday investors. Second, it increases the odds that Alphabet could eventually be added to the prestigious Dow Jones Industrial Average.\n\nThat’s because the Dow, which lists only 30 stocks, is weighted by price — in contrast to the S&P 500 and many other indexes that weight by market value. So if the Dow were to include a stock with a super high price, that would heavily skew the index’s daily performance.\n\nInsurer UnitedHealth (UNH), which trades at more than $525 a share, currently has the highest weighting in the Dow, making up about 11% of the average. Meanwhile Apple (AAPL) is the 13th biggest Dow component, despite the fact that it has a market value of $2.4 trillion, nearly five times that of UnitedHealth (UNH).\n\nApple was added to the Dow in 2015, but only after a stock split in 2014 reduced its share price.\n\nThe list of Dow components is the subject of some discussion. Even though Dow includes Apple, Microsoft (MSFT) and business software giants Salesforce (CRM) and IBM (IBM), some critics think the century-old market barometer still needs a further revamp for the 21st century. That could mean adding Alphabet as well as Amazon (AMZN), another market behemoth that recently split its stock 20 to 1.\n\nAmazon (AMZN) now trades at about $115 a share, down from pre-split levels above $2,000. But the company is still worth about $1.2 trillion, nearly double the combined market valuations of retail giants Walmart (WMT) and Home Depot (HD), both of which are in the Dow.\n\nSeveral other high-profile companies have also recently announced intentions to split their stocks, including Tesla (TSLA) and meme favorite GameStop (GME). That could lead to more interest from average investors, especially those who look for momentum plays on social media sites like Reddit.", "authors": ["Paul R. La Monica"], "publish_date": "2022/07/18"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/50-states/2019/11/05/doughnut-hustle-hot-now-chalkbus-blackbeards-remittance-news-around-states/40548501/", "title": "Doughnut hustle not so hot now, 'chalkbus': News from around our ...", "text": "From USA TODAY Network and wire reports\n\nAlabama\n\nMonroeville: The south Alabama courthouse linked to Harper Lee’s novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” is receiving a preservation grant. The program Partners in Preservation says the old Monroe County Courthouse is receiving $125,000 to repair serious structural problems in a wall. Recipients were announced following an online vote. The 115-year-old former courthouse is now a museum that tells the story of Lee and fellow writer Truman Capote, who were both from Monroeville. Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book used the red-brick structure as the model for a pivotal trial scene in her story of racial injustice. The two-story courtroom was then recreated as a Hollywood set for the 1962 movie based on Lee’s novel. Partners in Preservation is a project of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and American Express.\n\nAlaska\n\nAnchorage: Leaders of the state Senate majority and minority say Attorney General Kevin Clarkson is violating the state constitution by not defending a law that encourages construction firms to use Alaska workers on state contracts. The Anchorage Daily News reports Senate President Cathy Giessel and Minority Leader Tom Begich, in separate letters, say Clarkson should be defending the law until it’s ruled on by a judge. Clarkson says he took an oath to defend the U.S. and Alaska constitutions. He says local-hire law violates those constitutions, and it makes sense to stop enforcing it. At the time of its passage, Alaska’s local-hire law was believed to be in accordance with the law, and it has remained in force for 30 years. A construction company challenged the law this year.\n\nArizona\n\nTucson: In this city widely credited as the birthplace of the 1980s Sanctuary Movement – an effort by churches to help refugees from Central America and shield them from deportation – a group of activists is looking to revive that history of aggressively resisting immigration authorities. Voters will decide Tuesday whether to designate Tucson as Arizona’s only sanctuary city, a direct challenge to President Donald Trump and to the anti-illegal immigration law that put a spotlight on the state nearly a decade ago. Many in Tucson are eager to send Trump a message that disapproves of his immigration policies. But even some on the left worry the measure would merely draw the ire of the president and his allies in the Arizona Legislature without improving conditions for migrants.\n\nArkansas\n\nLittle Rock: North Little Rock has its eyes on the future as the city builds upon its downtown district, but school district officials want to make sure it doesn’t forget the past when it comes to the Ole Main High School building, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports. The North Little Rock School District recently announced plans to form a task force to provide direction to the Board of Education on how to preserve the historic building that is adjacent to the current high school, which opened in 2015. Board members will suggest one person each for the committee along with three at-large positions and one designated position for the North Little Rock History Commission. The task force will meet and report to the School Board. Board President Tracy Steele said he has already fielded numerous calls from people who want to be on the board.\n\nCalifornia\n\nSan Francisco: The start of the commercial Dungeness crab season will likely be delayed by a week to lower the risk of whales getting entangled in fishing lines. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife said opening day of the season may be postponed from Nov. 15 to Nov. 23. The department said the earlier date presents “a significant risk” of whale entanglement. CDFW Director Charlton Bonham said fishing, environmental and management agencies were consulted before making the preliminary decision. The recreational crab season began Saturday. State health officials warned people not to consume the internal organs or guts of crab caught in two coastal areas due to the presence of domoic acid, a naturally occurring toxin that can cause vomiting or diarrhea when consumed.\n\nColorado\n\nDenver: A state legislative committee formed in the wake of a fatal shooting at a suburban school has proposed five bills that legislators hope will make schools safer. The Denver Post reports the interim committee didn’t introduce any bills on controversial topics, such as gun control or arming teachers, during its work following the May 7 attack on STEM School Highlands Ranch. Police, teachers and others told committee members that Colorado has good programs to prevent violence, but they aren’t used consistently statewide. Lawmakers also expressed concern about gaps and duplication in the state’s school safety programs. The committee’s draft bills approved last week for consideration by the 2020 Legislature include bills that would reorganize the Safe2Tell anonymous tip system and create a working group to continue studying school safety.\n\nConnecticut\n\nHartford: The leader of a coalition of cities and towns across the state says municipal officials are facing an “environmental crisis” of diseased trees, warning the first significant snowfall this year could bring down hundreds across the state, as well as thousands of tree limbs. Connecticut Conference of Municipalities Executive Director Joe DeLong sent a letter Thursday to Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont, seeking additional resources and help dealing with the fallout of trees infested and subsequently weakened by emerald ash borer beetles and gypsy moth caterpillars. Over the weekend, utility crews were restoring power to communities affected by a strong Halloween night storm that left behind numerous downed wires. In Marlborough, local officials say many of the limbs fell on power lines because the trees were too brittle to withstand the high winds.\n\nDelaware\n\nNewark: Beginning early next year, the city’s police officers will be wearing one more piece of equipment: body cameras. At a Newark City Council meeting last week, council members approved a nearly $630,000 request for video equipment, including 60 body cameras. The devices cost about $350,000. The rest of the money will go toward replacing dashboard cameras in Newark patrol vehicles and updating video equipment in interview rooms. The $628,867.77 required for all the equipment, which will be provided by Axon, formerly known as Taser International, will be paid out over five years. Federal and state grants will cover $152,640, while the other $476,227.77 will be paid through Newark’s 2019-2023 Capital Improvements Program.\n\nDistrict of Columbia\n\nWashington: The mayor and the chair of the D.C. Council have nominated two people to represent the city on the regional transit authority board. The Washington Post reports D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson nominated former federal transportation official Stephanie Gidigbi to serve as one of the district’s two voting members on the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority board. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser nominated Lucinda Babers, a deputy mayor for infrastructure. The board spots were vacated when Councilman Jack Evans and Corbett Price resigned their seats after an ethics scandal. Evans resigned this summer after a legal memo saying he knowingly violated board ethics became public. Price later resigned after he lied about the findings of the ethics probe. The full D.C. Council must approve the nominations.\n\nFlorida\n\nOrlando: A new report is recommending a new board, inspector general and ethics standards for the scandal-plagued Florida Virtual School. The Orlando Sentinel reports the recommendations released Friday by the Florida Department of Education also say Florida’s public online school needs to implement cybersecurity measures. The school had a data breach last year, and its former general counsel resigned following an investigation by the Sentinel that documented accusations of improper spending and behavior. Gov. Ron DeSantis and state lawmakers ordered a state takeover of the online school, which operates as its own $240 million public school district serving more than 200,000 students. All Florida public high school students are required to take at least one virtual class, and many choose the school as the provider.\n\nGeorgia\n\nAtlanta: A memorial service was held over the weekend to remember the victims of the Atlanta child murders in the 1970s and 1980s. WSB-TV reports dozens of people, including some family members of the victims, gathered for the service Saturday. The string of murders of mostly black boys terrorized the city between 1979 and 1981. The service included the lighting of candles, songs and a procession of hearses. “The pain is still here,” said Catherine Leach, who lost her son Curtis Walker 40 years ago. Wayne Williams was given two life sentences in 1982 for convictions in the deaths of two adults, thought to be among 29 black children and young adults killed. Police blamed him for the other killings but never charged him. There has been a renewed push to reexamine evidence in the case.\n\nHawaii\n\nHonolulu: An environmental advocacy group has filed a lawsuit against a federal agency for what it says is a failure to protect habitat for 14 endangered species on Hawaii island. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports the Center for Biological Diversity says the failure to designate critical habitat for the plants and animals in a timely manner is a violation of the Endangered Species Act. The lawsuit names Interior Secretary David Bernhardt and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as defendants. The national organization says the Fish and Wildlife Service listed 15 plant and animal species in Hawaii as endangered in October 2013. The lawsuit says the agency was required under the act to designate critical habitat but has only done so for one of the protected species.\n\nIdaho\n\nBoise: About 35,000 Idaho residents have signed up for Medicaid under expanded coverage in the first few days it has been offered. The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare said Monday that’s more than a third of the estimated 91,000 people who are eligible. The agency started taking applications Friday. Idaho voters authorized Medicaid expansion last year with an initiative that passed with 61% of the vote, but lawmakers earlier this year added restrictions requiring five waivers. Federal officials have yet to approve any of the waivers, but enrollment is proceeding with coverage starting Jan. 1. The expansion provides Medicaid to people earning up to a maximum of 138% of the federal poverty level. That maximum is about $17,000 a year for one person and $35,500 for a family of four.\n\nIllinois\n\nPeoria: Officials at Bradley University are marking the first phase of a $100 million new business and engineering building. The (Peoria) Journal Star reports university officials dedicated the building in a Friday ceremony attended by hundreds. Officials say the building’s design will allow students to better collaborate with an open atrium and wide hallways. Crews are still putting the final touches on the 270,000-square-foot Business and Engineering Convergence Center as faculty and staff move in. Classes will start within a few weeks. The building will have 200 offices, dozens of classrooms and more than 40 specialized labs. Work is yet to begin on the second phase, which will include the building’s final wing and require demolition of the old engineer building.\n\nIndiana\n\nIndianapolis: A state legislative panel is recommending that Indiana’s legal age for buying cigarettes be raised from 18 to 21. The Legislature’s public health study committee approved the recommendation last week after hearing testimony recently on the change that has failed to advance among lawmakers for several years. The Journal Gazette reports the proposed age change would cover both traditional and electronic cigarettes. Committee chairman Sen. Ed Charbonneau of Valparaiso says he doesn’t expect action until at least the 2021 legislative session, when a new state budget is considered, because Indiana cigarette tax revenue could decline with the change. Sen. Vaneta Becker of Evansville countered that the state might see a loss in tax revenue initially but will save on long-term health expenses.\n\nIowa\n\nIowa City: The University of Iowa has developed a temporary card to allow students who lack other forms of identification to vote in Tuesday’s election. The card was created at the nudging of student government organizers committed to making voting more accessible to students in the wake of changes to the Iowa Code in 2017 requiring IDs at the polls. Student government collaborators are hopeful this week’s combined city-school election will serve as a test run for the temporary IDs, leading up to the 2020 presidential election. According to the Iowa secretary of state’s office, unregistered residents can vote on the day of an election by showing proof of residency and a school-issued photo ID – but that ID must include an expiration date. The UI’s standard student ID card does not include one, but the temporary cards do: Nov. 6, just one day after the election.\n\nKansas\n\nTopeka: Abortion opponents pushing for a constitutional amendment to ban the procedure in the state are meeting resistance from other anti-abortion groups. Two legislative committees have recommended that lawmakers consider the issue during the 2020 legislative session. The recommendations come as lawmakers try to determine how to respond to a Kansas Supreme Court ruling that the state’s constitution guarantees a right to abortion. Kansas News Service reports that at a hearing last week, some advocates pushed for a “personhood amendment” that would ban all abortions in Kansas. But some of the state’s largest anti-abortion groups say the personhood amendment is not practical. Anti-abortion legislators have generally deferred to Kansans for Life on abortion policy issues for more than two decades. That group argues that an incremental approach builds public support for greater restrictions.\n\nKentucky\n\nGrand Rivers: Officials say they’ve installed a riverbed bubbler and sound system in a lake as an experimental and environmentally friendly way to keep an invasive fish from spreading. The Paducah Sun reports federal, state and local officials are holding an event Friday to showcase the deployment of the bio-acoustic fish fence at Barkley Dam in western Kentucky. It will be evaluated over the course of the next three years, although officials hope to see some preliminary results next year. Several agencies in Kentucky and Tennessee are combining funding, technology or staff to help stop the spread of Asian carp. Lyon County Judge-Executive Wade White says if the bio-acoustic systems proves effective, it will likely be used in other places to deter the spread of the fish.\n\nLouisiana\n\nLafayette: A volunteer search-and-rescue group says it has changed its name to avoid confusion with a similarly named organization whose leader is accused of taking money from a fundraiser meant for children. The director of Pinnacle Search and Rescue, formerly known as Cajun Navy 2016, told KADN-TV it sped up its name change when the president of a separate group called America’s Cajun Navy was charged with fraud two weeks ago. News outlets report the change also comes as its own president, Jon Bridgers, faces fraud charges after a homeowner said he agreed to do contracting work on a house but never finished. Pinnacle Search and Rescue director Ben Husser said some were confusing the two organizations. Both groups include private boat owners who assist rescue operations.\n\nMaine\n\nPortland: Gun control advocates say they plan to keep pushing for tighter gun controls in Maine, despite the failure of a flurry of proposals to move forward during the coming legislative session. Democrats proposed several changes to the state’s gun laws for the session that begins in January, but the Legislative Council rejected most of them and tabled one. Proposals need the council’s approval to move on to legislative committees and the full Statehouse. Members of the Maine chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America say the proposals would’ve protected children from potential school shootings and gun accidents in the home. Republican Sen. Jeffrey Timberlake, who sits on the council, said the proposals didn’t rise to the level of emergency legislation, which is the purpose of the session.\n\nMaryland\n\nGermantown: A decision by a county executive to ban a police station from displaying a “thin blue line” flag is drawing criticism from Gov. Larry Hogan. The wooden flag was a gift from a local resident in recognition of National First Responders Day. It was to be displayed in the 5th District Station. News outlets report that Democratic Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich said the flag provides a symbol of “support” to some but is a symbol of “dismissiveness” to others. The “thin blue line” flag has been labeled by some as a response to the Black Lives Matter movement. Hogan, a Republican, said in a series of tweets Sunday that he was “offended and disgusted” that Elrich had prohibited officers from displaying the flag.\n\nMassachusetts\n\nWellfleet: A marine biologist is reporting a sharp rise in number of sunfish stranded on Cape Cod beaches. The unusual-looking migratory fish, which can grow to nearly 9 feet long and weigh thousands of pounds, can be found in mid- to late summer off the state’s coast. Marine biologist Carol “Krill” Carson tells the Cape Cod Times that a couple dozen or more are usually found stranded on beaches annually. So far, about 130 have been stranded this year. Carson says this year is “out of control,” noting the stranding season starts in mid-August and runs through ecember. She has a network of about 30 volunteers who assist her in returning the fish to the sea or taking tissue samples if it’s dead. The sunfish is capable of long migrations to the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico in the winter.\n\nMichigan\n\nLansing: The state is lowering or eliminating fees assessed on people who register to use marijuana for medical reasons. The Marijuana Regulatory Agency announced last week that new rules are in effect. The application fee for a two-year registry card is now $40, down from $60. A $10 fee to update, replace, add or remove a caregiver has been eliminated. Caregivers, who supply patients with marijuana, will no longer have to pay a $25 background check processing fee. Marijuana Regulatory Agency Executive Director Andrew Brisbo says the state has worked hard to streamline the process for cardholders, not only lowering costs but also making it easier for patients to apply for and receive their cards.\n\nMinnesota\n\nSt. Paul: An enterprising college student who drove to Iowa every weekend to buy hundreds of Krispy Kreme doughnuts that he then sold to his own customers in the Twin Cities area has been warned by the confectionary giant to stop. There have been no Krispy Kreme stores in Minnesota for 11 years. Jayson Gonzalez, 21, of Champlin, Minnesota, would drive 270 miles to a Krispy Kreme store in Clive, Iowa, pack his car with up to 100 boxes of a dozen doughnuts, then drive back north. He charged $17 to $20 per box and said some of his customers spent nearly $100 each time. Gonzalez said he did not receive a discount from the store in Iowa. But less than a week after the St. Paul Pioneer Press reported on his money-making scheme, Gonzalez received a phone call from Krispy Kreme’s Nebraska office telling him to stop. In a statement Sunday night, Krispy Kreme said it’s looking into the matter.\n\nMississippi\n\nGlendora: Men carrying a white nationalist flag were caught on security cameras trying to film in front of a new memorial to lynching victim Emmett Till. Patrick Weems, executive director of the Emmett Till Memorial Commission, says cameras captured the incident Saturday. Security footage from the commission shows the men, one carrying a neo-Confederate group flag, filming at the site. They are seeing running away when a security alarm sounds. Weems says he believes they were filming a propaganda video. Till was 14 when he was beaten and killed in 1955 after he whistled at a white woman. The memorial is at the site where Till’s body was pulled from a river. A bulletproof memorial to Till was dedicated Oct. 19 after the first three markers were vandalized.\n\nMissouri\n\nCape Girardeau: A program that helps young men reach their full potential is earning accolades from southeast Missouri leaders and members of the Legislature’s Black Caucus. The Southeast Missourian reports the Honorable Young Men Club provides mentoring for students in the Cape Girardeau School District, but its organizers hope to expand elsewhere. The program was begun in 2016 by four former Southeast Missouri State University football players, including one now with the Baltimore Ravens, Aaron Adeoye. The other three recently hosted a gathering to show the benefits of the program. The event was organized by former Republican Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder. Co-founders say students who participate in the program have better grades, higher attendance and fewer suspensions than their peers.\n\nMontana\n\nBillings: Figures from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis indicate that Montana outpaces neighboring Wyoming when it comes to recreation economies. The Billings Gazette reports that based on data from 2017, the analysis puts Montana’s total outdoor recreation value at $2.3 billion, compared to $1.6 billion in Wyoming. This is the first national report to drill into state-by-state recreation economies. Rachel VandeVoort, director of the Montana office of Outdoors Recreation, said the state-by-state analysis is helpful in making decisions, such as investing in habitat, protecting public or private lands, or contributing funding to new opportunities. University of Wyoming economics professor Rob Godby attributes the disparity between the two states to Montana’s larger population and more urban areas, which means more businesses catering to hunters, anglers, skiers and bikers.\n\nNebraska\n\nOmaha: The Salvation Army’s annual Tree of Lights campaign is set to get underway in the area this week with the annual lighting of metal Christmas trees in front of American National Bank branches in central Omaha and in Council Bluffs, Iowa. In Omaha, hundreds are expected to gather Friday for the lighting of a 75-foot tall, 2-ton metal tree with more than 60,000 LED lights and 600 lit snowflakes, topped by a 6-foot star. The event features live music, food, reindeer and other Christmas-themed offerings. Across the Missouri River, the Salvation Army will also light a Christmas tree atop the American National Bank branch in Council Bluffs and serve refreshments. The lighting ceremonies kick off the Salvation Army’s red kettle bell-ringing drive.\n\nNevada\n\nReno: A new commander has been chosen to lead Nevada’s 152nd Airlift Wing, also known as the “High Rollers.” Col. Jacob Hammons, an F-16 pilot from Las Vegas, replaced Reno native Col. Eric Wade during a change-of-command ceremony Saturday at the Nevada Air National Guard base. “(I’m) excited, ready to get going,” Hammons said. The 152nd Airlift Wing includes 1,016 airmen, most of whom serve one weekend a month and two weeks each year as traditional guardsmen in a reserve force that supports the federal government overseas, according to the Nevada Air National Guard. The unit provides tactical airlift worldwide and expeditionary combat support. It also operates the U.S. Forest Service’s Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System, which transforms cargo aircraft into firefighting air tankers.\n\nNew Hampshire\n\nConcord: Fifth graders across the state are heading to the polls this week to elect the next “Kid Governor.” This is the second year the state has participated in a national civics program aimed at encouraging civic engagement by teaching students about the history of voting rights, the qualities of good leaders and the mechanics of campaigns. More than 450 students in six New Hampshire schools participated last year, selecting Lola Giannelli, of Nashua, as their first Kid Governor. She has spent the past year promoting efforts to protect animals from abuse. The seven candidates hoping to succeed her have platforms that include topics such as bullying, underage tobacco use, and college and career awareness. Voting started Monday and ends Nov. 12.\n\nNew Jersey\n\nTrenton: Nearly a third of the state’s lawmakers also work in other government jobs with payments that not only increase their pensions but also raise ethical questions about whom they serve when they cast votes in the Legislature, an investigation finds. The 37 lawmakers holding more than one government job or contract racked up nearly $2.7 million in additional taxpayer income beyond their $49,000-a-year Statehouse salaries, the investigation found. Due to quirks in state law, longtime lawmakers can still pad their pensions even though a series of reforms in the past decade limited the plump payout for newer legislators. Good-government groups say so-called double-dipping creates an increased risk of conflict, potential favoritism and a drain on public dollars.\n\nNew Mexico\n\nCarlsbad: Members of this arid state’s congressional delegation are looking for ways to combat water scarcity here and across the West. U.S. Sen. Tom Udall is blaming climate change for growing water scarcity, worrying that New Mexico snowpacks are getting smaller and unable to adequately feed the Rio Grande and the rest of the state’s groundwater supplies. He and other lawmakers last week introduced the Western Water Security Act of 2019. They say the goal is to strengthen New Mexico’s water infrastructure and focus efforts on conservation and the restoration of water supplies throughout the West. The latest federal drought map shows a big pocket of moderate to severe drought over the Four Corners region, where New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Utah meet.\n\nNew York\n\nNew York: The city’s police commissioner is retiring after three years, and a top deputy will succeed him as the leader of the nation’s largest police department, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday. James O’Neill, 61, moved the police department away from controversial “broken windows” policies and oversaw continuing drops in crime. He will remain on the job until next month, when he leaves for a job in the private sector. Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea, a 28-year department member who started as a patrolman in the south Bronx, will be the new commissioner. Shea rose to prominence as the department’s statistical guru, and de Blasio said he is “one of the best-prepared incoming police commissioners this city has ever seen.”\n\nNorth Carolina\n\nRaleigh: A treasure hunter who accuses the state of misusing his images from Blackbeard’s flagship says he’ll ask for 10 times the damages he originally sought, now that a court ruling has come down in his favor. John Masters of Intersal Inc. says he plans to seek $140 million in damages from North Carolina following the ruling Friday from the state Supreme Court that the case must return to Business Court. He said an expert witness had put Intersal’s losses from the state’s use of more than 2,000 images and more than 200 minutes of film at $129 million. He’s seeking another $11 million for losses over a permit that the state denied him, which would have allowed Intersal to search for a Spanish ship. Almost a quarter-century ago, Masters’ father discovered the wreckage of the Queen Anne’s Revenge, which ran aground in Beaufort, in what was then the colony of North Carolina, in 1718.\n\nNorth Dakota\n\nBismarck: State wildlife officials say the number of tags issued for the upcoming deer hunt is up by about 10,000. The Game and Fish Department says about 67,500 deer tags have been issued. Wildlife division chief Jeb Williams says the deer population is trending up in western North Dakota, while the eastern part of the state has been slower from the rough winters of 2009, 2010 and 2011. The Bismarck Tribune reports Williams says there are fewer acres idled under the federal Conservation Reserve Program than a dozen years ago, which means less habitat. In 2018, 64% of tag holders harvested a deer, a little below the department’s benchmark of 70%. The season opens at noon Friday and ends Nov. 24.\n\nOhio\n\nColumbus: The Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame will honor 20 veterans at this year’s annual induction ceremony. Members of the 2019 class will be inducted Thursday at the Radiant Life Church in the Columbus suburb of Dublin. Gov. Mike DeWine and Deborah Ashenhurst, director of the Ohio Department of Veterans Services, will honor the class with medals. Officials say the public is invited to the 10 a.m. ceremony. Former Gov. George Voinovich established the Hall of Fame in 1992 to recognize outstanding professional achievement, service to the community and selfless acts of veterans following their military service. Honorees include astronauts, volunteers, community leaders, veteran advocates and former government officials, among others. The 2019 class joins 875 Ohio veterans inducted since the Hall of Fame was created.\n\nOklahoma\n\nOklahoma City: More than 400 inmates walked out the doors of prisons across the state Monday as part of what officials say is the largest single-day mass commutation in U.S. history. Monday’s release of inmates, all with convictions for low-level drug and property crimes, resulted from a bill signed by new Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt. The bill retroactively applied misdemeanor sentences for simple drug possession and low-level property crimes that state voters approved in 2016. Stitt has made reducing Oklahoma’s highest-in-the-nation incarceration rate one of his top priorities and has appointed reform-minded members to the state’s Pardon and Parole Board. The board last week considered 814 cases and recommended 527 inmates for commutation. However, 65 are being held on detainers, leaving about 462 inmates to be released Monday.\n\nOregon\n\nSalem: A timber investment firm is selling more than 3,000 acres along the Columbia River that has been used to grow poplar trees. The Capital Press reports Greenwood Resources had used the land to grow poplar trees for the U.S. paper industry, but experts say international competition and a low profit margin have made that difficult. Poplar plantations arose due to steep logging declines on federal land in the Pacific Northwest as paper companies worried about acquiring sufficient wood chips to run their plants. But that shortage never materialized, and efforts to grow larger poplar trees for use in furniture construction were stymied by competition from alder wood. Alder trees grow naturally in Pacific Northwest forests and don’t need to be grown on plantations, making them cheaper.\n\nPennsylvania\n\nPittsburgh: After four years of testing, the Pennsylvania Turnpike says it plans to move ahead with a $129 million project to become a completely cashless toll system in two years, eliminating hundreds of toll-collecting and auditing positions along the way. Turnpike CEO Mark Compton told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette last week that “the goal is to have the system completely cashless by the fall off 2021.” Toll booths will still be at some exit ramps until 2026 to record E-ZPass signals or photograph license plates so bills can be mailed to drivers. The jobs of the 600 remaining toll collectors and toll auditors will be eliminated, but officials say they will have the opportunity to move into other turnpike jobs or to take classes at the turnpike’s expense.\n\nRhode Island\n\nProvidence: Gun safety advocates want the state’s family court judges to require more domestic abusers to surrender their firearms. A report released Monday shows 34% of domestic abusers are being ordered to surrender their weapons in final orders of protection. That’s an increase from 5% before a 2017 state law regarding firearm surrenders took effect. In cases where a defendant is ordered to surrender firearms, 36% filed an affidavit – as required under the law – to prove they no longer have the weapons. The report was compiled by Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action. Besides court files, it relies on observations of trained volunteers who monitored 289 domestic violence protection order cases between October 2018 and May 2019. Some judges disagree about how the law should be interpreted.\n\nSouth Carolina\n\nCharleston: State authorities are looking into the finances of Emanuel AME Church, which received millions in donations after a racist attack left nine worshippers at a Bible study dead in 2015. The Post and Courier reports State Law Enforcement Division spokesman Tommy Crosby confirmed the investigation last week but declined to elaborate. The church’s former secretary, Althea Latham, says she spoke to SLED agents recently about the handling of those donations. Latham has long contended that her contract wasn’t renewed less than two months after the shooting because she questioned processing and transparency surrounding the money that was coming in. Church leaders have said her contract simply wasn’t renewed. Latham hopes accountability will resolve lingering suspicions over the donations.\n\nSouth Dakota\n\nSioux Falls: Feeding South Dakota is launching its yearly Thanksgiving Meal Drive as the nonprofit aims to help thousands of families who couldn’t otherwise afford the holiday. Givers who are looking for a way to help can donate food or money to Feeding South Dakota through Nov. 23. The nonprofit hopes to distribute 3,400 turkeys and meals to families across South Dakota on the Saturday before the holiday. Donors Greg and Pam Sands will match any online financial donations up to $15,000. A $20 gift is enough to pay for a turkey dinner for a family of four, according to Feeding South Dakota. People can make financial donations online or by phone at 605-335-0364, ext. 126.\n\nTennessee\n\nAshland City: Neal Ryder was growing produce in part to make his own baby food for 3-month-old son Griffin when he grew a whopping 22.6-pound sweet potato. Ryder says he didn’t realize a sweet potato could grow that big and didn’t consider himself a record-setter “by any means,” but he might have done just that. Guinness World Records shows that the heaviest sweet potato in the world was grown in Spain in 2004. It weighed 81 pounds and 9 ounces, according to Guinness World Records and the Great Pumpkin Commonwealth. Though Ryder’s sweet potato is a fraction of the world record, it could make Tennessee history. Last year, an East Tennessee woman grew a sweet potato that rang in at nearly 14 pounds. News reports from that time claimed it was a record.\n\nTexas\n\nSan Antonio: The mesquite, an iconic tree in the Lone Star State, provides a blessing and a curse, the San Antonio Express-News reports. Ranch manager Farron Sultemeier notes its beans provide late summer feed for cattle and wildlife. But it spreads ridiculously fast and is almost unstoppably invasive. Texas mesquites also produce thorns sharp enough to injure livestock and puncture a car tire. And they grow so gnarly and twisted, the wood is virtually useless for anything other than imparting a bold smokiness to meat – a signature of Texas barbecue. But that soon may change with two new, improved varieties developed by California-based Altman Plants. These experimental trees grow erect, spineless and fast, while still being able to survive and thrive in the harsh, semi-arid climate of South Texas. Altman Plants recently shipped about 150 of its two experimental hybrids – dubbed Mojave and Sonoran – from California to the San Antonio nursery where they’ll be propagated. Specimens should be available for purchase within a year.\n\nUtah\n\nAmerican Fork: A VW bus painted like a black chalkboard is inspiring creative drawings and bringing people together in this city. No matter where he parks the “chalkbus,” owner Jonathan Sherman says he comes back to find great new art adorning the sides. The Daily Herald reports that the story behind the bus inspired a documentary by college students at Utah Valley University. Sherman also lets bands cram into the bus to play music while he drives around town. Sherman, a licensed marriage and family therapist, says the bus seems to provide something people are missing by connecting them. He takes it each year to the Out of Darkness Suicide Prevention Walk in Salt Lake City and lets people draw on it there.\n\nVermont\n\nBennington: A private boarding school in New Hampshire has made a bid to buy a closed Vermont college. The Bennington Banner reports the head of Oliverian School in Pike, New Hampshire, and the board chairman of the former Southern Vermont College confirm the private school has offered $4.9 million for the 371-acre campus and buildings in Bennington. “We feel that our students and faculty would thrive here,” says Will Laughlin, head of Oliverian School. Southern Vermont College officials said the closure last spring after graduation was due to a decline in enrollment and related debt issues that face other small colleges in the Northeast. According to Oliverian School’s website, it’s an alternative college preparatory boarding school for adolescents who have not thrived in traditional settings.\n\nVirginia\n\nRichmond: A Catholic congregation of religious women that serves the elderly is leaving the state after 145 years. It’s the seventh time in six years that the congregation has pulled out across the country because fewer women are joining the order. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports Little Sisters of the Poor has about 30 locations in the U.S. and others in more than 30 countries. Its mission is to serve the elderly in nursing homes around the world. It came to the Richmond region in 1874. The order announced last week that it would be leaving St. Joseph’s Home in Henrico County. The 11 sisters who are leaving don’t yet know yet where they’ll go. But they could be sent to any home in the world that’s run by the religious order.\n\nWashington\n\nOlympia: State officials are notifying voters of a registration error that could affect about 1,000 people attempting to cast a ballot in the state election scheduled for Tuesday. The Seattle Times reports officials have contacted voters by phone and email after detecting a problem with voter registrations submitted through Washington’s health plan website. The website provides a voter registration option for people enrolling in health or dental coverage and transmits the information to the Secretary of State’s Office. Officials say the Washington Health Benefit Exchange underwent a system upgrade in August that caused some voter registration information to be transmitted to the wrong account in the state system. Officials say the Secretary of State’s Office discovered the registration error last week and fixed the problem by Thursday evening.\n\nWest Virginia\n\nCharleston: A wildlife official says a monthlong series of fall tours to see elk drew visitors from eight other states. Chief Logan State Park naturalist Lauren Cole told the Charleston Gazette-Mail that 227 people went on the sold-out tours in September and October. The elk were at the nearby Tomlin Wildlife Management Area and were imported from Kentucky and Arizona. They’re part of a Division of Natural Resources effort to restore the species to the state. Cole says elk were seen on 19 of the 20 tours. She attributed the one tour where elk weren’t seen to a group of hunters who were pursuing raccoons with dogs. Cole says visitors also saw deer, wild turkeys, rabbits and a black bear. The tours also were offered last year.\n\nWisconsin\n\nMadison: The University of Wisconsin-Madison is using rolling robots to deliver food. The school entered into a contact with Starship Technologies this summer to get access to a fleet of 30 robots that resemble coolers on wheels. The robots can navigate sidewalks autonomously, although human controllers can take over at a moment’s notice. Students and faculty can order food from several university restaurants through a Starship app on their phones and watch the robots’ progress as they travel to their address. Users will get an alert when the robot arrives. Each delivery will cost $1.99. That money will go to Starship Technologies. The robots began deliveries Monday on the campus’ north side. University officials hope to expand service campuswide once the robots have mapped the entire area.\n\nWyoming\n\nCheyenne: Gov. Mark Gordon says he is open to the state pursuing a nuclear waste storage facility, though he doesn’t personally believe it’s the best industry for Wyoming. Gordon told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle’s editorial board last week that if a good reason can be found for such an industry in Wyoming, and it has adequate safeguards, he’s not going to stand in its way. The governor says he will wait to see what the Legislature finds in its studies of the idea before making a decision. This week in Casper, the Joint Minerals, Business and Economic Development Interim Committee will consider a bill authorizing the governor to negotiate with the U.S. Energy Department to store spent nuclear fuel rods within the state.\n\nFrom USA TODAY Network and wire reports", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2019/11/05"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/26/media/alex-jones-sandy-hook-texas-trial/index.html", "title": "Alex Jones trial: Sandy Hook parents ask jury to return $150 million ...", "text": "New York CNN Business —\n\nThe lawyer for two Sandy Hook families that have sued right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones asked a jury on Tuesday to award his clients $150 million in damages in a trial that will determine how much money they receive.\n\n“Now that is a huge verdict to be sure, but it is one that will do justice to the level of harm done in this case,” Mark Bankston, the attorney for the plaintiffs, said in his opening statement.\n\n“Harm that was done to the parents, grieving parents of murdered children who have had to endure for 10 years, the most despicable and vile campaign of defamation and slander in American history,” Bankston added.\n\nBankston said the $150 million figure amounted to $1 for each person who believes false information about the Sandy Hook shooting pushed by Jones, which he argued is about 75 million. The additional $75 million would be to compensate the parents for the emotional and mental anguish they’ve endured over the last decade due to harassment from Jones and his followers.\n\nJones, who is also being sued in Connecticut by the families of other Sandy Hook victims, was found legally responsible in October for false claims he made about the tragedy that claimed 26 lives.\n\nThe judge in the case, Travis County District Court Judge Maya Guerra Gamble, issued default judgments against Jones because he refused to comply with court orders.\n\nJones baselessly said in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook shooting that the incident was staged. Facing lawsuits, Jones has since acknowledged the shooting occurred. He said in a 2019 sworn deposition that a “form of psychosis” caused him to make his false comments.\n\nIn his opening statement, Bankston said, “By just one month after the shooting Alex Jones would become patient zero for the Sandy Hook hoax, he had created a sensation.”\n\nBankston also walked the jury through what he said was a decade-long timeline of Jones’ efforts to push the Sandy Hook hoax narrative, saying that despite a public plea from one of the parents to Jones asking the radio host to stop spreading false information, Jones “doubled down,” targeting the parent in video content and calling him an actor lying about having a child who’d died in the shooting.\n\nIn his own opening statement, Andino Reynal, an attorney for Jones, accused the plaintiffs’ lawyer of misleading the court.\n\n“What we heard was a conspiracy of lies,” Reynal said of Bankston’s opening remarks.\n\nReynal sought to portray Jones as someone who had merely made mistakes when covering the Sandy Hook shooting and suggested the quick nature of the news cycle was in part to blame.\n\n“If you understand the news cycle and how it works, commentators, people on talk shows, they get information, they run with it,” Reynal said. “Alex Jones was wrong to believe these people. But he didn’t do it out of spite.”\n\n“The evidence will show he did it because he believed it because he thought it was important coverage,” Reynal added.\n\nThousands of people were questioning the shooting, not just Jones, Reynal argued, due to what he called “bad coverage” by the mainstream media.\n\n“Alex Jones doesn’t trust the government. Millions of Americans don’t trust the government,” Reynal said.\n\nEvidence to be presented during the trial will show Jones didn’t cause harassment of the parents, Reynal said. He also questioned whether the parents heard Jones’ content about the school shooting.\n\nReynal said he is “honored” to represent Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems.\n\n“He is one of the most polarizing figures in this nation,” Reynal said. “And I am honored to represent him not because I agree with everything he says, but I agree with his right to say it and I agree with every Americans right to choose what they watch and listen to and what they believe.”\n\nDuring the proceedings on Tuesday, Gamble admonished Jones for speaking to the news media during a recess.\n\n“We’re not going to have that happen again,” Gamble said.\n\nGamble said every participant in the trial is “ordered to be silent” about the case when outside the courtroom “or if there is any member of the jury in sight.”", "authors": ["Lauren Del Valle Oliver Darcy", "Lauren Del Valle", "Oliver Darcy"], "publish_date": "2022/07/26"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/04/media/minions-the-rise-of-gru-box-office/index.html", "title": "'Minions: The Rise of Gru' breaks box office records | CNN Business", "text": "New York CNN Business —\n\nThe Minions went bananas at the box office this weekend.\n\nIllumination’s “Minions: The Rise of Gru” — the latest animated film in the Despicable Me franchise — made an estimated $125 million domestically for its four-day opening weekend, according to Universal.\n\nThat gives the film the record for biggest opening over the July 4th holiday weekend, overtaking “Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” which made $115 million in 2011.\n\nThe opening is a huge shot in the arm for theaters. The industry has been anxiously waiting to see if families — who have been somewhat reluctant to bring their children to the movies during the pandemic — would return to theaters. While there have been family-friendly hits such as “Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” this question became more pressing after Disney (DIS)’s and Pixar’s “Lightyear” flopped at the box office last month.\n\nBut the performance of “Minions” shows that not only do families want to come back, but they’ll come back in large numbers for the right film.\n\n“Families want to be in theaters,” Jim Orr, Universal’s president of domestic theatrical distribution, told CNN Business. “They want the social event of it all.”\n\nWhy “Minions” did well is likely a mixture of good reviews (it holds a 71% score on Rotten Tomatoes), being the next installment in a franchise that’s made roughly $4 billion worldwide — and possibly even TikTok, after the social media site created a viral trend that had moviegoers dress up in formal wear to see the film.\n\n“Minions” was originally set for release in 2020, but was delayed multiple times due to the pandemic. While other family films decided to go to streaming, Universal held “Minions” for theaters — a strategy that paid off handsomely this weekend.\n\n“A knockout performance by ‘Minions: The Rise of Gru’ may not have been guaranteed, given the less-than-stellar results for some recent family films,” Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore (SCOR), told CNN Business. “But the undeniable appeal of those silly Minions contained in a perfectly executed movie-theater-only confection was pure cinematic catnip for kids and parents.”\n\nNow, theaters hope to keep the hot streak going as they prepare for what could be one of the biggest films of the year: “Thor: Love and Thunder.” The latest Marvel film, which has Chris Hemsworth reprise his role as the God of Thunder, hits theaters this weekend.", "authors": ["Frank Pallotta"], "publish_date": "2022/07/04"}, {"url": "https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/business-journal/2015/03/17/raven-industries-retools-regain-strength/24934945/", "title": "Raven Industries retools to regain strength", "text": "Jodi Schwan\n\njschwan@sfbusinessjournal.com\n\nNo matter what the weather does, it's going to be a dry spring for Raven Industries Inc.\n\nThat much became clear several weeks ago, when new orders for the company's high-tech agricultural products came in lower than expected in what typically would be a busy season.\n\n\"It's just going to be a year where those orders aren't coming,\" president and CEO Dan Rykhus said. \"It's worse domestically, but there aren't very many bright spots globally right now for ag equipment.\"\n\nEarnings from the company's most recent fiscal year, which ended Jan. 31, tell the next part of the story. Operating profit in Raven's applied technology division, which serves the agricultural market, was down $22.4 million and drove an overall 26 percent drop in net income.\n\nWith stagnant new orders, the company started making cuts. Jobs that became vacant went unfilled. Leadership looked for ways to trim discretionary spending. The more drastic measures came last week, when Raven laid off 115 employees, including 75 in Sioux Falls.\n\nRestructuring is part of a broader strategy to reduce the company's exposure to volatility in the markets it serves, which include energy and defense along with agriculture. At one point, the applied technology division accounted for 65 percent of earnings. The new Raven is envisioned to be more balanced.\n\n\"This dramatic restructuring was necessary because of our end-market conditions and to preserve the core of our business,\" Rykhus said. \"This is a first step in our course to recovery.\"\n\nFor those who know Raven, this is not a new approach. In its nearly 60-year history, the company has reconfigured itself multiple times. It was founded by General Mills Inc. employees to develop high-altitude research balloons to help in space exploration. It later branched into plastics and electronics.\n\nBecause Raven knew how to make controls for balloons, it got into controls for farm equipment. The company also has done business in the fiberglass industry and made outerwear sold by Lands' End and L.L. Bean.\n\nRykhus joined Raven in 1990. At that time, nearly one-third of revenue came from apparel.\n\n\"And over time, the U.S. was not competitive in sewing trades, so we moved out of that business,\" he said. \"We've gone through this many times. We're having a season where we're stepping back a little, but we're doing it to be successful in the long term.\"\n\nSomething else has changed at Raven, however. While the company has designed and manufactured some of its own products for years, it also manufactured items for clients.\n\nA couple of years ago, leadership decided to move away from contract manufacturing and focus entirely on developing, manufacturing and selling its own products.\n\nThose outside contracts are ending at the same time that some of Raven's markets are in a downturn.\n\nRevenue from contract manufacturing business dropped to $27 million in fiscal 2015 compared wtih $50 million the previous year, and it's expected to bring in less than $6 million in 2016.\n\n\"It was the right move to make,\" board chairman Tom Everist said. \"We are suffering through that runoff at the same time we're having a downturn in ag, but would we have done something different if we knew how things would go? I wouldn't say that. The contract manufacturing is not the future of Raven, and it's best to have exited that. You might say we didn't do that soon enough.\"\n\nToday's Raven is focusing on longer-term prospects in each of its three divisions, from new product development to strategic acquisitions.\n\n\"We're still a strong company,\" said Steven Brazones, who became chief financial officer late last year. \"We're in some headwinds now, but the fundamentals of the markets we're in are very strong.\"\n\nAdding Integra\n\nYears in the making, Raven acquired Madison-based Integra Plastics Inc. earlier this year as a way to strengthen its engineered films division.\n\n\"Synergies are exceeding expectations,\" Brazones said. \"We are on track for all the cost savings we identified and have identified additional synergies.\"\n\nThe Madison plant employs about 45 people and is finishing a 72,000-square-foot addition. Integra also has a production facility in Brandon that Raven has temporarily taken offline.\n\n\"We're doing that as a precautionary measure until we understand what's going on in the energy market,\" Rykhus said. \"We believe in the long term as demand picks up we'll be utilizing that facility. The intent is not to sell it. It's to ... bring it back online and call back our employees when conditions improve.\"\n\nThe engineered films division has been hit by the decline in the energy market. While decreasing oil prices help with raw-material costs, they also mean Raven customers in the energy industry aren't buying as many films.\n\n\"Their (Integra's) energy component was about 35 percent of their business as was ours when we acquired them, so both businesses have been impacted by the downturn,\" Everist said. \"We still think it was a good acquisition and a good addition to the Raven portfolio even at the price we paid for it.\"\n\nThe $48 million acquisition came through $9 million in cash and the rest in Raven stock. It was structured that way to qualify as a tax-free merger.\n\nThree funds of Sioux Falls-based Bluestem Capital Co. were invested in Integra. The majority of Bluestem investors are from the Sioux Falls area.\n\n\"We're happy with the transaction,\" Bluestem founding partner Steve Kirby said. \"We think Raven is a solid company doing everything it can in this ag environment in particular to move forward. Obviously with soft commodity prices, it's presenting new challenge to the ag community ... but we have all the confidence in the world in Dan Rykhus and his team.\"\n\nRaven's stock was valued at $24 a share when the deal closed. It hit a one-year low of $16.91 per share after earnings were released last week and since has climbed back to $20.10 when the market closed Monday.\n\n\"Certainly, it impacts people locally, and I think overall Raven impacts the local economy not just with the workforce but very concentrated ownership in our market as well,\" said John Barker, president of Elgethun Capital Management, which has Raven in its portfolio. \"The business has been very successful. It's been an incredible investment up through 2013, so there was a lot of excitement and buzz around the stock, and now we're seeing pullback.\"\n\nRaven is misunderstood by the market because of its internal structural changes, said Henry Le in a piece for the investment website Seeking Alpha. He considers it a good buying opportunity and has invested in the company.\n\n\"The long-term view of the North American agriculture market remains optimistic without question,\" he said. \"The world's population is rising, and the need to feed the hungry has never been greater. (Raven's) technology helps meet this challenge by improving crop yield and reducing the cost of production. Over the long run, increasing global demand for food will generate solid growth, and (Raven) is positioning itself to reap the benefits.\"\n\nIn flight with Google\n\nRaven isn't able to say much publicly about its relationship with Google Inc., but occasionally the tech giant will release information updating Project Loon, its effort to use high-altitude balloons to bring Internet service to remote areas of the world.\n\nRaven started designing and manufacturing those balloons a few years ago.\n\nIn a March interview with Bloomberg Businessweek, Google's senior vice president of products detailed Project Loon's progress. When the balloons first launched, they stayed aloft for less than a week and could provide 3G signals on a good day.\n\nThey now average more than six months in the air and keep nearby smartphones running at 4G or LTE speeds. The balloons still are being refined, and Google wouldn't estimate when they would be ready to deploy on a broader scale.\n\n\"We want it to be real full-speed, full-color Internet,\" Mike Cassidy, who leads Project Loon, told Bloomberg.\n\nGoogle has disclosed that the balloons cost tens of thousands of dollars each, compared with millions for a satellite with a comparable range.\n\n\"The program is going fantastic,\" Rykhus said. \"They've been very vocal lately about how important Project Loon is to their success.\"\n\nAn article for the tech website The Verge included the following, \"As Google Glass undergoes a reset, and driverless cars remain years away from commercial viability, Loon looks increasingly like the poster child for bringing a disruptive technology out of Google's labs and into the real world.\"\n\nWhile Loon aims to expand the lifespan of its flights, Cassidy praised how fresh balloons can be developed in months.\n\n\"New technologies come, new compressional algorithms, the electronics can be updated, so you have a pretty fresh fleet in the air at any time.\"\n\nIt sounds like promising potential business for the company designing and manufacturing the products.\n\n\"The goal is Project Loon's success,\" Rykhus said. \"The goal isn't selling Google a bunch of balloons. That will happen if the project is successful, and both parties have come together around that objective.\"\n\nThe Aerostar division achieved a near-record profit contribution in the fourth quarter, excluding contract manufacturing. It has been helped by earnings from Vista Radar, which Raven acquired three years ago. Its technology enables detection of small, slow-moving objects.\n\nIn the absence of major U.S. military campaigns, which generated business in the past, Vista is providing a significant boost. There is increasing interest among contractors and foreign governments who are U.S. allies, Raven said.\n\n\"Think of the worst places in the world today. That's where they want to have this surveillance,\" Rykhus said. \"We're very good at sensing a person walking or a jet ski moving through waves toward a sensitive object.\"\n\nAs Rykhus prepares to mark five years as CEO this summer, the goal is to get back to the years when the company grew operating income in excess of 10 percent.\n\nThe leaner Raven is about 1,000 employees, including 885 in South Dakota. Most of those are in Sioux Falls, where the company sees itself as a job creator in Sioux Falls and takes the role seriously, Rykhus said.\n\n\"Our role in the community is to provide a stable company that delivers above-average returns and creates jobs. We don't lose sight of that,\" he said. \"It's a company that has a solid values system that drives us. We have a vision to solve great challenges, and we'll get through this.\"", "authors": [], "publish_date": "2015/03/17"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/27/sport/golden-state-warriors-most-valuable-nba-franchise-spt-intl/index.html", "title": "Golden State Warriors top Forbes' most valuable NBA franchise list ...", "text": "CNN —\n\nThe Golden State Warriors are the most valuable franchise in the NBA, according to Forbes.\n\nIt means for the first time since Forbes started valuing NBA franchises over 20 years ago, a team other than the New York Knicks or the Los Angeles Lakers top the rankings.\n\nThe Warriors are now worth $7 billion, said Forbes, 25% more than last year. The team generated $765 million in revenue and $206 million operating income during the 2021-2022 season, both the most in NBA history.\n\nThe Warriors won their fourth NBA championship in eight years in June, led by talisman and face of the franchise Stephen Curry.\n\nThe New York Knicks, who have topped each of Forbes’ last seven NBA franchise rankings, came second with a value of $6.1 billion followed by the Los Angeles Lakers with a value of $5.9 billion.\n\nThe Chicago Bulls ($4.1 billion) and the Boston Celtics ($4 billion) complete the top five, with the average NBA franchise is now worth $2.86 billion, 15% more than a year ago.\n\nForbes says the NBA is “back on its pre-Covid growth trajectory” and the league is expected sign a new media deal in 2025-26 that will be worth at lest double the current deal of $2.66 billion-a-year.\n\nFor its methodology, Forbes says: “The information used to compile our valuations primarily came from the teams, sports bankers, media consultants and public documents, such as arena lease agreements and bond documents.”", "authors": ["Matias Grez"], "publish_date": "2022/10/27"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/03/business/nightcap-zelle-fraud-warren-investigation/index.html", "title": "Zelle fraud is rising as big banks neglect victims, Senate report finds ...", "text": "This story is part of CNN Business’ Nightcap newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free, here.\n\nNew York CNN Business —\n\nZelle, the popular payment app, is under fire for how it handles (or rather, doesn’t handle) fraud and scams that have exploded on the platform in recent years.\n\nThe New York Times called Zelle out in two reports earlier this year. That grabbed the attention of US senators, who pressed the CEOs of the nation’s large banks that own the platform in hearings last month and began an investigation into the service.\n\nHere’s the deal: On Monday, Senator Elizabeth Warren’s office said its investigation into Zelle showed that fraud and theft are not only rampant but getting worse. And once people report fraudulent transactions, banks are reimbursing only a small fraction of the swindled customers.\n\nSen. Warren questions bank CEOs about Zelle during a Senate Banking Committee hearing on Sept. 22. Jacquelyn Martin/AP\n\n“Big banks own and profit from Zelle but are failing to make their customers whole for both authorized and unauthorized fraudulent activity on the platform, despite their claims that it is safe,” Warren’s office wrote.\n\nKey things to know:\n\nZelle (rhymes with “tell”) was created in 2017 as the banking industry’s answer to Venmo and Cash App.\n\nThe fintech companies behind those apps were doing what big banks had failed to do for decades — make transferring money to your friend who just paid for dinner easy and free and fast.\n\nSo the big banks got together and created Zelle, which was lame and almost no one used it till around 2020, when digital payments took off in response to the pandemic.\n\nZelle is now by far the largest peer-to-peer payment system in America. Last year, according to Zelle, transactions totaled $490 billion, up 59% from the year before. (PayPal-owned Venmo, its closest rival, handled $230 billion.)\n\nThe service is operated by Early Warning Systems, a fintech company owned by seven of the US’s largest banks.\n\nNaturally, where the internet and money collide is where scammers get to work.\n\nZelle’s size and accessibility — it’s built right into participating banks’ apps — make it the “preferred tool of fraudsters and other bad actors,” according to the report from Warren’s office.\n\nAmong the investigation’s key findings, which corroborate anecdotal evidence reported by the Times:\n\nBanks are not repaying 90% of cases in which customers were tricked into making payments on Zelle.\n\nAn estimated $440 million was lost by Zelle users through frauds and scams in 2021. But banks “appear not to have provided sufficient recourse to their customers.”\n\n“Authorized” vs “Unauthorized:” Under the a federal rule known as Regulation E, banks are technically only liable to cover fraudulent activity when it involves “unauthorized” transactions. Say, when someone steals your credit card and makes purchases without your permission. But if someone persuades you to send them $500 through a phishing scam, banks consider that “authorized” and won’t reimburse those funds.\n\nBUT… The bank data reviewed by Warren’s office suggest even the bulk of unauthorized cases are going unpaid. For example: PNC Bank indicated that its customers reported 10,683 cases of unauthorized payments totaling over $10.6 million. It refunded only 1,495 cases, totaling $1.46 million.\n\nZelle sought to downplay the report and didn’t specifically address Warren’s allegations Monday. In a statement, the company said: “Tens of millions of consumers use Zelle without incident, with more than 99.9% of payments completed without any report of fraud or scam,” adding that the proportion of fraud and scams has steadily decreased as its user numbers have climbed.\n\nThe Bank Policy Institute, a banking industry group, also disputed Warren’s findings and claimed that Zelle’s rivals Venmo and CashApp receive more reports of disputed transactions.\n\n“Zelle is the safest peer-to-peer network,” it said in a statement Monday. “For any real discussion of online fraud, the focus belongs elsewhere.”\n\nBOTTOM LINE\n\nIt’s kind of crazy to remember how anyone moved money among friends before the advent of payment apps. Did I actually carry cash with me? On the first every month did I take my little checkbook out and literally write out my portion of the rent on a magic slip of paper and then just hand it to my roommates? Wild. It would not surprise me if the original idea for a payments app came from a restaurant server who was fed up with splitting bills unevenly across eight different cards.\n\nBut that’s the pre-internet world Regulation E was made for. It’s a 1978 rule that only got a 21st century electronic payments update by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau late last year. It wasn’t made for the world of instant payments, and could hardly have envisioned how easy the internet would make it to swindle people out of their money.\n\nWarren’s report on Zelle could add pressure on regulators including the CFPB to update its guidance.\n\n“Given this uncertain landscape and the banks’ abdication of responsibility, regulatory clarity is needed to further protect Zelle users,” researchers wrote in the report, noting that the CFPB has regulatory authority over peer-to-peer platforms including Zelle.\n\nNUMBER OF THE DAY: $1.26 million\n\nKim Kardashian, the reality TV star, cosmetics entrepreneur and budding private-equity manager, was hit with a $1.26 million fine for touting what turned out to be a worthless crypto token to her millions of Instagram followers.\n\nKardashian failed to disclose that she was paid $250,000 for the endorsement. Her hashtag “#ad” in the June 2021 post wasn’t enough to satisfy the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition to the fine, Kardashian agreed to refrain from any crypto asset promotions for three years.\n\n“This case is a reminder that, when celebrities or influencers endorse investment opportunities, including crypto asset securities, it doesn’t mean that those investment products are right for all investors,” said SEC Chair Gary Gensler.\n\nUK U-Turn\n\nIn a development that I can only assume means that Liz Truss is a Nightcap reader, the British government is reversing part of its tax proposal that was so unpopular it nearly tanked the UK bond market last week.\n\nHere’s the deal: The newly installed government of Prime Minister Liz Truss had announced a massive slate of tax cuts that have amounted to a windfall for the nation’s wealthiest people, slashing the top rate of income tax to 40% from 45%.\n\nThat provision “had become a distraction,” the finance minister said Sunday.\n\nThe proposed cuts of more than $50 billion were aimed at turbo-boosting growth. Instead, it caused panic. The pound plunged to its lowest level against the US dollar, and sparked chaos in the market for UK debt because they will require a large increase in government borrowing.\n\nIt was a dumpster fire of a plan that no mainstream economist supported.\n\nBut, as my colleague Mark Thompson writes, the about-face is more of a symbolic gesture than a genuine reckoning. It will likely reduce the overall size of the tax-cutting package by about £2 billion.\n\n“This move is rather symbolic, being less about the amount of money it will save (low billions) and more about the poor signal it had delivered of ideological (unfunded) tax cuts,” wrote Chris Turner, global head of UK markets at ING.\n\nBottom line: The Truss government’s unfunded tax cuts, which set off a panic in financial markets and put Downing Street in a standoff with the Bank of England, remain, uh, unfunded. The BOE’s bond-buying intervention may have bought the government some time, but Truss has shown no signs of budging on her fringe trickle-down economic theory.\n\nTruss’ finance minister, Kwasi Kwarteng, “still has a lot of work to do if he is to display a credible commitment to fiscal sustainability,” said Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, on Monday.\n\n“Unless he also U-turns on some of his other, much larger tax announcements, he will have no option but to consider cuts to public spending: to social security, investment projects, or public services.”\n\nEnjoying Nightcap? Sign up and you’ll get all of this, plus some other funny stuff we liked on the internet, in your inbox every night. (OK, most nights — we believe in a four-day work week around here.)", "authors": ["Allison Morrow"], "publish_date": "2022/10/03"}, {"url": "https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/29/us/san-antonio-migrant-truck-deaths/index.html", "title": "San Antonio migrant truck deaths: 53 people have died | CNN", "text": "San Antonio CNN —\n\nA distant cry led a worker Monday evening to a tractor-trailer abandoned on a desolate country road under the blazing Texas sun on the outskirts of the city.\n\nOn this barren stretch of scrubland adjacent to railroad tracks, the perilous journey north for dozens of undocumented migrants – many of them Mexican – ended in the back of a scorching tractor-trailer, nearly 150 miles north of the US border with Mexico.\n\nIn all, 53 people died in what one Homeland Security Investigations’ agent called the deadliest human smuggling incident in US history. Some victims could be younger than 18.\n\n“This is nothing short of a horrific human tragedy,” said San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg.\n\nA local businessman described the back road where the semitruck was abandoned as “la boca del lobo” in Spanish, or “the mouth of the wolf,” because it is remote and pitch black.\n\nThe road runs parallel to Interstate 35, a major north-south route in the central United States for traffic and commerce from the southern border. The interstate stretches from Laredo, Texas, to Duluth, Minnesota, near the Canadian border. From San Antonio, it meanders north to Austin, Waco, Fort Worth and Dallas.\n\nLaw enforcement personnel investigate the tractor-trailer Monday in San Antonio. Jordan Vonderhaar/Getty Images\n\nIt’s a route often exploited by smugglers at a time when record numbers of migrants are being intercepted at the US-Mexico border.\n\n“This sheds light on how dangerous human smuggling is,” said Craig Larrabee, Homeland Security Investigations San Antonio acting special agent in charge.\n\n“In the past, smuggling organizations were mom-and-pop,” Larrabee told CNN. “Now, they are organized and tied in with the cartels. So you have a criminal organization who has no regard for the safety of the migrants. They are treated like commodities rather than people.”\n\nA cry for help leads to ‘stacks of bodies’\n\nJust before 6 p.m. on Monday, a worker in a nearby building heard a cry for help and alerted local authorities to the abandoned truck, according to San Antonio Police Chief Bill McManus.\n\nThe doors to the hulking trailer were partially open when the worker arrived. Inside, he saw the bodies, the chief said.\n\nForty-eight people were dead at the scene and two died later at hospitals, said a federal law enforcement official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.\n\nBy Wednesday morning, the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office (BCMEO) said it had received a total of 53 bodies.\n\nThey were migrants from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and possibly El Salvador.\n\nOne body was found outside the trailer.\n\nInside the truck there were at least 22 Mexicans and two Hondurans, the federal law enforcement official said.\n\nSeven Guatemalans were among the dead, and another Guatemalan was in critical condition at a hospital, according to the nation’s foreign minister.\n\n“We’re not supposed to open up a truck and see stacks of bodies in there,” San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood said told reporters on Monday. “None of us come to work imagining that.”\n\nSurvivors, suffering from heat stroke, were hot to the touch\n\nThese dangerous and sometimes fatal human smuggling operations, transporting people in crammed trailers and vans with no air conditioning, are common along the southern border.\n\nIn 2017, 10 migrants died and dozens were injured from heat-related conditions in a tractor-trailer discovered at a San Antonio Walmart about three miles northeast of the latest incident. The driver of the truck was sentenced to life without parole in a federal prison.\n\nPolice and other first responders work at the place where dozens of migrants were found dead Monday in San Antonio. Eric Gay/AP\n\nOn Tuesday, San Antonio resident Angelita Olvera left two colorful crosses in honor of the victims near the site of the latest tragedy.\n\n“I didn’t know them,” she told CNN of the victims. “They are sons, mothers, fathers and grandchildren.”\n\nTemperatures in San Antonio on Monday ranged from the high 90s to the low 100s.\n\nSixteen survivors – 12 adults and four children – were rushed to local hospitals. Suffering from heat stroke and exhaustion, the patients were hot to the touch, according to Hood. On Wednesday, 11 people were still in local hospitals.\n\nThe trailer had no air conditioning. There was no sign of water inside. It was unclear how long the victims had been dead.\n\n“They were still in there, awaiting help, when we arrived … meaning just being too weak – weakened state – to actually get out and help themselves,” Hood said of the survivors.\n\nFelipe Betancourt Jr., co-owner of a trucking company in Alamo, Texas, told CNN the semitruck abandoned on Monday used the same federal and state identifying numbers as one of his vehicles. The truck in San Antonio is the same color as his red Volvo semi, but is not owned by his firm.\n\nA man pays his respects at a makeshift memorial for the victims in San Antonio. Eric Gay/AP\n\nRefrigerated semitrucks are insulated and meant to keep the temperatures stable, Betancourt said, but “if it’s carrying something hot inside, it won’t let the heat escape. The temperatures can reach up to 125-130 degrees when the doors are shut.”\n\nOn Monday, the truck went through a checkpoint north of Laredo, Texas, according to US Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Democrat whose sprawling district includes Laredo and San Antonio.\n\nHomeland security officials are investigating the deaths, along with local police.\n\nThree people were taken into police custody away from the trailer, Chief McManus said. They are believed to be part of the smuggling conspiracy, according to ICE.\n\nTwo men, Juan Claudio D’Luna-Mendez and Juan Francisco D’Luna-Bilbao, were charged federally with “possession of a weapon by an alien illegally in the United States” in connection with the incident, according to criminal complaints filed Monday in US District Court for the Western District of Texas. It is unclear if the two men charged are among the three people detained earlier.\n\nInvestigators at the scene traced the Texas registration plate on the semitruck and to a residence in San Antonio, the affidavit said. The suspects were arrested during traffic stops after leaving the residence, according to the complaints, and numerous weapons were recovered in a car and truck driven by the suspects.\n\n‘Brothers and sisters who died following their hope of a better life’\n\nThe victims were 40 males and 13 females.\n\nSome of them could be under 18 years old, according to Tom Peine, a Bexar County spokesman.\n\nSo far, the medical examiner’s office has potentially identified 37 people, BCMEO said in a statement Wednesday. Medical examiners in neighboring counties were assisting due to the number of victims.\n\nSome victims had one photo ID while others had multiple IDs or none, complicating the identification process, Peine said.\n\nConsular officials from Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras also vowed to help identify victims and assist survivors. The medical examiner was also in touch with the consulate of El Salvador though the nationalities of the victims are still being determined, Peine said.\n\n“Far too many lives have been lost as individuals – including families, women, and children – take this dangerous journey,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said on social media.\n\nThe Biden administration earlier this month launched what Mayorkas called an “unprecedented” operation to disrupt human smuggling networks amid soaring numbers of migrants at the southern border.\n\nPresident Joe Biden described Monday’s discovery as “horrifying and heartbreaking.”\n\n“Exploiting vulnerable individuals for profit is shameful, as is political grandstanding around tragedy, and my administration will continue to do everything possible to stop human smugglers and traffickers from taking advantage of people who are seeking to enter the United States between ports of entry,” Biden said.\n\nPope Francis, via Twitter, urged prayers “for these brothers and sisters who died following their hope of a better life.”\n\n650 died trying to cross US-Mexico border last year\n\nMigrant rescues are increasing across the nation’s southern border.\n\nSince October, more than 14,000 searches and rescues have occurred along the border with Mexico, according to US Customs and Border Protection – including those from dangerous water crossings. That’s up from 12,833 searches and rescues in fiscal year 2021, with more than three months left in this fiscal year.\n\nAt least 650 people died while trying to cross the US-Mexico border last year, the highest number since 2014, according to the International Organization for Migration, a United Nations agency.\n\nMonday’s tragedy brings the total number of deaths for the first six months of the year to 290.\n\nOn Tuesday, helicopters buzzed over the desolate stretch of road where the trailer was abandoned as authorities searched for other migrants who might have been on the truck.\n\nOlvera, the resident who left crosses near the scene, recalled joining neighbors in 2017 to pray for the 10 migrants who died in a broiling tractor-trailer parked at a Walmart.\n\nShe used to live in Piedras Negras, Mexico, Olvera said, fighting back tears, and is too familiar with the poverty some migrants have died fleeing.\n\nIt’s a tragedy that has repeated itself throughout the years. In 2003, 18 migrants, ranging in age from 7 to 91, were found dead in the back of a semitruck in Texas with about 100 other people as temperatures soared past 100 degrees, investigators said. The driver in that case was initially sentenced to life in prison, but in 2011 was resentenced to nearly 34 years in prison.", "authors": ["Ray Sanchez Nicole Chavez Priscilla Alvarez", "Ray Sanchez", "Nicole Chavez", "Priscilla Alvarez"], "publish_date": "2022/06/29"}]}
{"question_id": "20230203_29", "search_time": "2023/02/04/11:57", "search_result": []}