MUSIC

Costello reimaginesclassic ’78 ‘Model’album in SpanishPage 12

MILITARY

Air Guard chaplainassisted troopsleaving AfghanistanPage 3

Volume 80 Edition 120B ©SS 2021 CONTINGENCY EDITION SUNDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2021 Free to Deployed Areas

stripes.com

NATION

Biden vows to‘get it done,’ buttalks drag on plan Page 5

200-inning pitchers no longer commonplace in major leagues ›› Page 24

office said in a statement posted Friday on

Twitter. The airport is in the Mojave Des-

ert, near Naval Air Weapons Station China

Lake.

When deputies arrived on the scene,

they found some 26 special operations sol-

diers training at the airport “hunkered

down” in the hangar after an attack by a

man dressed as a ninja, Ridgecrest Police

Department records show. Stars and

Nonlethal rounds failed to stop a sword-

wielding man dressed as a ninja who au-

thorities say injured two special operations

soldiers, then brandished his blade at sher-

iff’s deputies last month at a California air-

port, according to authorities.

Deputies from a Kern County Sheriff’s

Office substation in Ridgecrest, Calif., re-

sponded to a call of an assault with a dead-

ly weapon Sept. 18 at Inyokern Airport, the SEE NINJA ON PAGE 3

BY CHAD GARLAND

Stars and Stripes

Nonlethal rounds couldn’t stop ‘ninja’ who attacked special ops troops

Kern County Sheriff’s office

The sword used to attack troops at Inyokern Airport in the Mojave Desert on Sept. 18.

It’s a milestone that by all ac-

counts didn’t have to happen this

soon.

The U.S. death toll from CO-

VID-19 eclipsed 700,000 late Fri-

day — a number greater than the

population of Boston. The last

100,000 deaths occurred during a

time when vaccines — which

overwhelmingly prevent deaths,

hospitalizations and serious ill-

ness — were available to any

American over the age of 12.

The milestone is deeply frus-

trating to doctors, public health of-CHARLIE EHLERT/AP

University of Utah Health medical professionals treat a COVID-19 patient on July 30 in Salt Lake City. Millions of Americans have refused to getvaccinated, allowing the highly contagious delta variant to spread and send the death toll from 600,000 to 700,000 in 3½ months.

Deathseclipse700KUnited States crossesmorbid milestone asdelta variant rages

BY TAMMY WEBBER AND

HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH

Associated Press

SEE MORBID ON PAGE 4

VIRUS OUTBREAK

PAGE 2 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Sunday, October 3, 2021

BUSINESS/WEATHER

Wall Street rebounded on Friday,

led by companies that would benefit

most from a healthier economy, but

not by enough to keep the stock mar-

ket from its worst week since the

winter.

The S&P 500 rose 49.50, or 1.1%, to

4,357.04 following another choppy

day of trading. It swung between a

loss of 0.4% and a gain of 1.6%

through the day.

The Dow Jones Industrial Aver-

age climbed 482.54 points, or 1.4%,

to 34,326.46, and the Nasdaq com-

posite gained 118.12, or 0.8%, to

14,566.70.

Merck helped pace the market

and leaped 8.4% after it said its ex-

perimental pill to treat COVID-19

cut hospitalizations and deaths by

half. Prospects for an additional tool

to tame the pandemic helped lift

shares of airlines, hotels and com-

panies hurt by restrictions on travel

and other activities.

United Airlines soared 7.9%, casi-

no owner Caesars Entertainment

swept 6.4% higher and Live Nation

Entertainment jumped 8.3%.

Energy producers, financial

companies and other businesses

whose profits are often closely tied

to the economy’s strength were also

helping to lead the way.

The market’s widespread gains

weren’t enough to make up for a dis-

mal last few days. The S&P 500 still

dropped to a weekly loss of 2.2%, its

worst since February. A swift rise in

interest rates earlier this week rat-

tled the market and forced a reas-

sessment of whether stocks had

grown too expensive, particularly

the most popular ones.

Stocks rebound but still close out dismal week Associated Press

Bahrain88/84

Baghdad104/71

Doha93/77

Kuwait City101/84

Riyadh100/73

Kandahar

Kabul

Djibouti93/84

SUNDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Mildenhall/Lakenheath

59/51

Ramstein68/45

Stuttgart71/60

Lajes,Azores71/68

Rota69/64

Morón73/62 Sigonella

72/66

Naples72/67

Aviano/Vicenza66/56

Pápa70/53

Souda Bay67/64

Brussels58/54

Zagan66/50

DrawskoPomorskie

66/52

SUNDAY IN EUROPE

Misawa76/58

Guam85/82

Tokyo79/62

Okinawa84/81

Sasebo80/67

Iwakuni77/70

Seoul78/66

Osan79/66

Busan77/71

The weather is provided by the American Forces Network Weather Center,

2nd Weather Squadron at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb.

MONDAY IN THE PACIFIC

WEATHER OUTLOOK

TODAYIN STRIPES

American Roundup ...... 11Comics .........................15Crossword ................... 15Lifestyle ...................... 14Music ..................... 12-13Opinion ........................ 18Sports .................... 19-24

Military rates

Euro costs (Oct. 4) $1.13Dollar buys (Oct. 4) 0.8398 British pound (Oct. 4) $1.32Japanese yen (Oct. 4) 109.00South Korean won (Oct. 4) 1157.00

Commercial rates

Bahrain(Dinar) 0.3770Britain (Pound) 1.3559 Canada (Dollar) 1.2676 China(Yuan) 6.4467 Denmark (Krone) 6.4111 Egypt (Pound) 15.7197 Euro 0.8621Hong Kong (Dollar) 7.7856 Hungary (Forint) 308.55 Israel (Shekel) 3.2200 Japan (Yen) 110.98 Kuwait(Dinar) 0.3014

Norway (Krone) 8.6395

Philippines (Peso) 50.63 Poland (Zloty) 3.95Saudi Arabia (Riyal) 3.7507 Singapore (Dollar) 1.3560

South Korea (Won) 1182.73 Switzerland (Franc) 0.9293Thailand (Baht) 33.66 Turkey (NewLira) 8.8468

(Military exchange rates are those availableto customers at military banking facilities in thecountry of issuance for Japan, South Korea, Ger-many, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.For nonlocal currency exchange rates (i.e., pur-chasing British pounds in Germany), check withyour local military banking facility. Commercialrates are interbank rates provided for referencewhen buying currency. All figures are foreigncurrencies to one dollar, except for the Britishpound, which is represented in dollars-to-pound, and the euro, which is dollars-to-euro.)

INTEREST RATES

Prime rate 3.25Interest Rates Discount rate 0.75Federal funds market rate 0.093-month bill 0.0430-year bond 2.09

EXCHANGE RATES

Sunday, October 3, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 3

MILITARY

Stripes first reported details of

the incident, which was revealed

in a military report leaked on so-

cial media, earlier this week.

Officers discovered the suspect

had assaulted one victim with a

sword and hit another victim af-

ter tossing a rock through a hang-

ar window, the sheriff’s office

said.

The suspect, identified as Gino

Rivera, 35, was booked for at-

tempted homicide, assault with a

deadly weapon, brandishing a

weapon, brandishing a weapon

with the intent to resist or prevent

an arrest, vandalism, and ob-

struct/delay a peace officer in the

discharge of their duties, accord-

ing to the Kern County Sheriff’s

Office.

The victims were identified as

a staff sergeant and captain with

F Co., 2nd Battalion, 160th Special

Operations Aviation Regiment,

according to the report posted on

social media. A spokesman for

the Army’s Special Operations

Aviation Command confirmed

the incident occurred, but de-

clined to provide further details.

The staff sergeant was outside

the hangar smoking when the

ninja-clad Rivera approached

and asked the soldier if he knew

who he was. The soldier did not.

Rivera then asked if the soldier

knew where his family was — the

soldier did not — prompting Riv-

era to slash the soldier’s phone,

knee and leg with a sword.

The soldier then ran through

the parking lot and jumped a

fence before entering the hang-

ar’s admin building, where the

staff sergeant and an unnamed

captain began locking doors and

calling 911, the leaked report said.

Rivera gave chase, kicking and

punching the building’s doors and

windows before leaving to grab a

large piece of asphalt that he

tossed through the window.

When Ridgecrest Police re-

sponded to the scene, Rivera re-

fused to follow commands and

brandished the sword at deputies,

authorities said.

“Non-lethal rounds were de-

ployed but were ineffective,” the

sheriff’s office said in Friday’s

statement.

Rivera ran and continued to

disobey commands. He dropped

the sword after a taser was de-

ployed, authorities said.

“Deputies used control holds to

take Rivera into custody,” the

sheriff’s office said.

Officials said the wounded sol-

diers were taken to a local hospi-

tal for treatment. The military re-

port on social media said the two

soldiers both required multiple

stitches for their wounds before

returning to duty.

Rivera was being held on a

$125,000 bond with a court hear-

ing scheduled for Oct. 25, said in-

mate information on the sheriff’s

department website.

Ninja: Two soldiers required multiple stitches for their woundsFROM PAGE 1

garland.chad@stripes.com Twitter: @chadgarland

LINCOLN, Neb. — Someone

had to be the one to say it.

On Aug. 30, it was United States

soldiers who were the ones to

break the news: The planes were

full. No more refugees could be

taken out of Afghanistan.

“Part of their frustration, I imag-

ine, is that they probably would

have wanted to do more. To do

whatever it takes to save people,”

said Nebraska Air Guard chaplain

Michael Zimmer, who has assisted

troops in recent weeks as they’ve

returned from the Mideast.

“So that’s a struggle in itself for

people in the military. They’re al-

ways wanting to do more to help in

whatever way, in whatever capac-

ity.”

Zimmer is a Catholic priest of

two small parishes in Nebraska —

St. Mary’s in Sutton and St. Hele-

na’s in Grafton — and also serves

as a full-time chaplain for the 155th

Air Refueling Wing out of Lincoln.

As chaplain his duty is to protect

religious liberties of members of

the military, provide counseling

and advise leadership on moral

and ethical issues.

The Lincoln Journal Star re-

ports that Zimmer flew to a base in

Charleston, S.C., on Aug. 21, at the

height of Operation Allies Refuge,

to support those who were working

on the mission.

He spent about three weeks

there, greeting crews as they ar-

rived back in the country. He said

everyone associated with the mis-

sion had a very busy few weeks,

trying to get refugees and troops

out of Afghanistan and relocating

them. His role was to be available

24 hours a day to speak with any-

one who needed support.

He said the hours were chal-

lenging, as he and others would of-

ten greet crews very early in the

morning. It was a tiring, yet edify-

ing mission, he said.

“I consider it a great privilege to

be the one that greets almost every

crew that has come back from that

quick tempo … doing their de-

briefs, just checking in on them

and giving them perspective,”

Zimmer said.

Maj. Scott Ingalsbe, spokesper-

son for the Nebraska National

Guard, said coming back to the

U.S. after a mission like the one in

Afghanistan can be challenging.

“Loading people onto an aircraft

evacuating from the Kabul airport

to then the next day coming back to

home base in the U.S., that’s a pret-

ty dramatic shift,” Ingalsbe said.

“And can certainly be distressing

for someone to process what

they’ve gone through.”

Airmen and soldiers were in

highly stressful situations, he said.

Especially when it came to help-

ing people get on the aircraft, and

then at some point saying, “We’re

full and we can’t take anyone else,”

Ingalsbe added. That type of deci-

sion-making can be something

that they may need to talk with a

chaplain about afterward, to help

them process what they’ve been

through.

Zimmer said he and other mem-

bers of the support staff compared

this mission to the Berlin Airlift of

the late 1940s, to give military

members coming back from Af-

ghanistan proper perspective.

“They put in some very long

hours and saw some things that we

just really never see in the Air

Force,” he said.

This operation was larger than

the Berlin Airlift and historically

unprecedented, Zimmer said. The

Berlin Airlift brought out 68,700

people in 15 months, while Oper-

ation Allies Refuge brought out

122,000 people in 14 days.

“It was just phenomenal the way

they responded, but that also

comes at a cost,” Zimmer said.

“They encountered things that are

hard to see for any person. There’s

no amount of training that can

make you immune to seeing the

struggles and the hardships that

were going on in Kabul at the

time.”

Air Guard chaplain helpedtroops leaving Afghanistan

FRANCIS GARDLER, LINCOLN JOURNAL STAR/AP

Chaplain (Capt.) Michael Zimmer, ho's been working with troopsreturning from Afghanistan, poses on Sept. 22 at the Nebraska AirNational Guard base in Lincoln, Neb. 

BY LAUREN DIETRICH

Lincoln Journal Star

trials.”

During the first trial, held in

April, a jury awarded $7.1 million

to three Army veterans. 3M won in

the second trial in May, which in-

volved one veteran. In June, a jury

found 3M partially liable and

awarded $1.05 million to another

Army veteran.

Rogers initially ordered a series

of bellwether trials for earplug

cases, which have become the na-

tion’s largest multidistrict litiga-

tion, and last month ordered attor-

ney’s move 1,358 more cases onto

the docket and closer to trial to al-

leviate a backlog that has formed.

Bellwether cases are used to pre-

sent a representative of the cases

before a jury to gain useful infor-

A federal jury on Friday award-

ed $8.2 million to Army veteran

Brandon Adkins in his lawsuit

against manufacturer 3M that

claimed the company’s earplugs

that he used during his military

service damaged his hearing.

It is the fourth trial against Min-

nesota-based company 3M relat-

ed to earplugs that it sold to the

military. Those earplugs were

used during the wars in Iraq and

Afghanistan. More than 250,000

cases have been filed against the

company.

All cases have gone before

Judge Casey Rogers in the North-

ern District of Florida, and three

of the four have ended in favor of

the veteran. In one trial, the jury

sided with 3M.

“We are humbled by the brav-

ery and courage shown by service

members like Brandon Adkins not

only for their service to our coun-

try, but also for standing up

against 3M on behalf of all the vet-

erans who now face preventable

hearing loss and tinnitus as a re-

sult of the [combat arms version 2]

earplugs,” said Adkins’ attorneys

Bryan Aylstock of Aylstock Witkin

Kreis & Overholtz, PLLC, Shelley

Hutson of Clark, Love & Hutson

GP, and Christopher Seeger of

Seeger Weiss LLP.

Adkins, who lives in Washing-

ton state, has hearing loss and bi-

lateral tinnitus, or a ringing in the

ears, according to the lawsuit filed

Jan. 17, 2020. Aside from 3M, the

lawsuit named Aearo, which was

acquired by 3M in 2008. His trial

began Sept. 20 with the jury reac-

hing a verdict Friday.

“While we are disappointed in

today’s verdict, it is just one of sev-

eral initial steps in this litigation,

with many more cases to be tried

before different juries,” 3M repre-

sentatives said in a statement.

“We do not believe the plaintiff

here met his burden of proving his

allegations, and we are evaluating

our legal options. We remain con-

fident in our case and are ready to

defend ourselves against plain-

tiffs’ allegations at all upcoming

mation for potentially reaching a

settlement for all cases.

The next trial is scheduled for

Oct. 18 for Texas military veteran

Michelle Blum, according to on-

line court records. Five more

cases are scheduled for trial by the

end of the year.

The cases target 3M’s combat

arms version 2 dual-sided ear-

plugs. Work on designing the ear-

plug began in the 1990s and it was

used in the military until 2015. The

company never issued a recall on

the product and version 4 of the

earplug remains in use by the mil-

itary, according to 3M.

Army veteran is awarded $8.2 million in fourth trial over 3M earplugsBY ROSE L. THAYER

Stars and Stripes

Thayer.rose@stripes.com Twitter: @Rose_Lori

PAGE 4 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Sunday, October 3, 2021

VIRUS OUTBREAK

ficials and the American public,

who watched a pandemic that had

been easing earlier in the summer

take a dark turn. Tens of millions

of Americans have refused to get

vaccinated, allowing the highly

contagious delta variant to tear

through the country and send the

death toll from 600,000 to 700,000

in 3½ months.

Florida suffered by far the most

deaths of any state during that pe-

riod, with the virus killing about

17,000 residents since the middle

of June. Texas was second with

13,000 deaths. The two states ac-

count for 15% of the country’s pop-

ulation, but more than 30% of the

nation’s deaths since crossing the

600,000 threshold.

Dr. David Dowdy, an infectious

disease epidemiologist at Johns

Hopkins Bloomberg School of

Public Health who has analyzed

publicly reported state data, said

it’s safe to say at least 70,000 of the

last 100,000 deaths were in unvac-

cinated people. And of those vac-

cinated people who died with

breakthrough infections, most

caught the virus from an unvacci-

nated person, he said.

“If we had been more effective

in our vaccination, then I think it’s

fair to say, we could have prevent-

ed 90% of those deaths,” since

mid-June, Dowdy said.

“It’s not just a number on a

screen,” Dowdy said. “It’s tens of

thousands of these tragic stories of

people whose families have lost

someone who means the world to

them.”

Danny Baker, 28, is one of them.

The seed hauler from Riley,

Kan., contracted COVID-19 over

the summer, spent more than a

month in the hospital and died

Sept. 14. He left behind a wife and

a 7-month-old baby girl.

“This thing has taken a grown

man, 28-year-old young man, 6-

foot-2, 300-pound man, and took

him down like it was nothing,”

said his father, J.D. Baker, 56, of

Milford, Kan. “And so if young

people think that they’re still ...

protected because of their youth

and their strength, it’s not there

anymore.”

In the early days of the pandem-

ic, Danny Baker, who was a cham-

pionship trap shooter in high

school and loved hunting and fish-

ing, insisted he would be first in

line for a vaccine, recalled his

mother.

But just as vaccinations opened

up to his age group, the U.S. rec-

ommended a pause in use of the

Johnson & Johnson vaccine to in-

vestigate reports of rare but po-

tentially dangerous blood clots.

The news frightened him, as did

information swirling online that

the vaccine could harm fertility,

though medical experts say

there’s no biological reason the

shots would affect fertility.

His wife also was breastfeeding,

so they decided to wait. Health ex-

perts now say breastfeeding

mothers should get the vaccine for

their own protection and that it

may even provide some protec-

tion for their babies through anti-

bodies passed along in breast

milk.

“There’s just a lot of miscom-

munication about the vaccine,”

said his wife, Aubrea Baker, 27, a

labor and delivery nurse, adding

that her husband’s death inspired

a Facebook page and at least 100

people to get vaccinated. “It’s not

that we weren’t going to get it. We

just hadn’t gotten it yet.”

When deaths surpassed 600,000

in mid-June, vaccinations already

were driving down caseloads, re-

strictions were being lifted and

people looked forward to life re-

turning to normal over the sum-

mer. Deaths per day in the U.S.

had plummeted to an average of

around 340, from a high of over

3,000 in mid-January. Soon after-

ward, health officials declared it a

pandemic of the unvaccinated.

But as the delta variant swept

the country, caseloads and deaths

soared — especially among the

unvaccinated and younger people,

with hospitals around the country

reporting dramatic increases in

admissions and deaths among

people under 65. They also report-

ed breakthrough infections and

deaths, though at far lower rates,

prompting efforts to provide

booster shots to vulnerable Amer-

icans.

Now, daily deaths are averaging

about 1,900 a day. Cases have

started to fall from their highs in

September but there is fear that

the situation could worsen in the

winter months when colder

weather drives people inside.

Almost 65% of Americans have

had at least one dose of vaccine,

while about 56% are fully vacci-

nated, according to the Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention.

But millions are either refusing

or still on the fence because of

fear, misinformation and political

beliefs. Health care workers re-

port being threatened by patients

and community members who

don’t believe COVID-19 is real.

The first known deaths from the

virus in the U.S. were in early Feb-

ruary 2020. It took four months to

reach the first 100,000 deaths.

During the most lethal phase of

the disaster, in the winter of 2020-

21, it took just over a month to go

from 300,000 to 400,000 deaths.

The U.S. reached 500,000

deaths in mid-February, when the

country was still in the midst of the

winter surge and vaccines were

only available to a limited number

of people. The death toll stood

about 570,000 in April when every

adult American became eligible

for shots.

“I remember when we broke

that 100,000-death mark, people

just shook their heads and said

‘Oh, my god,’” said Dr. Georges

Benjamin, executive director of

the American Public Health Asso-

ciation. “Then we said, ‘Are we go-

ing to get to 200,000?’ Then we

kept looking at 100,000-death

marks,” and finally surpassed the

estimated 675,000 American

deaths from the 1918-19 flu pan-

demic.

“And we’re not done yet,” Ben-

jamin said.

Morbid: Public health association doctor says ‘we’re not done yet’ FROM PAGE 1

SAN FRANCISCO — California will be-

come the first U.S. state to require CO-

VID-19 vaccinations for children to attend

public and private schools in person in a

mandate that could effect millions of stu-

dents.

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday an-

nounced that the coronavirus shot will be

added to 10 other immunizations already re-

quired for school kids, including those for

measles and mumps.

Exemptions would be granted for medical

reasons or because of religious or personal

beliefs but the exemption rules haven’t been

written yet pending public comment.

Any student without an exemption who

refuses to get the vaccine would be forced to

do independent study at home.

“We want to end this pandemic. We are all

exhausted by it,” Newsom said during a

news conference at a San Francisco middle

school after visiting with seventh graders.

“Vaccines work. It’s why California leads

the country in preventing school closures

and has the lowest case rates,” Newsom

said.

The mandate will be phased in as the U.S.

government grants final vaccine approval

for age groups. Currently, children 12 to 15

can only get the Pfizer vaccine under an

emergency authorization from the U.S.

Food and Drug Administration. Vaccines

for children 5 to 11 are still in the testing

stage.

Under California’s mandate, students in

seventh to 12th grades would have to be vac-

cinated by the semester following full U.S.

approval of the shots for their age group,

probably meaning by next July. It will be

even longer for children in kindergarten

through sixth grades.

The mandate eventually will affect more

than 6.7 million public and private school

students in the nation’s most populous state.

California already has a mask requirement

for schoolchildren.

Until now, Newsom had left the decision

on student vaccine mandates to local school

districts, leading to a variety of different or-

ders. In Los Angeles, a vaccine mandate for

eligible students is set to take effect in Janu-

ary.

The announcement drew swift reaction

from parents, including some who said they

should have the final choice of whether to

vaccinate their children.

“I’m furious. On so many levels,” said Jen-

ny Monir, a Los Angeles mother of two who

said she felt Newsom’s mandate was made

more for political than public health rea-

sons. “We’re just pawns in an elite game.”

Janet Meadows, whose children are in

first grade and preschool, said she’d consid-

er homeschooling her children before vacci-

nating them. The 41-year-old from Kern

County said she’s worried about the health

effects of the not-yet-approved shots for

children.

“I don’t think we know enough about the

vaccine to make our children get it,” she

said. “There’s just a lot of unknowns. We

don’t need to rush into this right now.”

Others praised Newsom’s announcement.

“I’m delighted to see that we’re trying to

get this health crisis under control,” said An-

drew Patterson, father of an elementary

school student in San Francisco. “And we

have lots of other vaccine requirements. I

don’t see why this one would be any differ-

ent.”

California has one of the highest vaccine

rates in the country — 84% of people 12 and

older have gotten at least one shot, and 70%

are fully vaccinated. But only 63.5% of chil-

dren ages 12 to 17 have received a dose and

the state has a vocal minority skeptical of

both the vaccine and the government’s as-

surances of its safety.

Newsom’s announcement comes as CO-

VID-19 infections in most of California have

dropped markedly. The statewide positivity

rate for the last week was 2.8%, and the aver-

age number of daily cases was about 6,355,

roughly half what it was when the latest

surge peaked in mid-August. Hospitaliza-

tions have fallen by 40%.

In Los Angeles County — the nation’s

largest, with more than 10 million residents

— just 1.7% of people tested for the virus

have it, and daily infections are down by half

in the last month, when most kids went back

to school.

California’s largest teachers unions back

the vaccination mandate, as does the Cali-

fornia Association of School Boards.

Calif. to mandate vaccines for schoolchildren BY OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ

AND ADAM BEAM

Associated Press

DAMIAN DOVARGANES/AP

Evelyn Guillen with her 3­year­old son, joins anti­vaccine protesters outside the LosAngeles Unified School District administrative offices in Los Angeles Sept. 9.

Sunday, October 3, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 5

WASHINGTON — President

Joe Biden pledged Friday at the

Capitol to “get it done” as Demo-

crats strained to rescue a scaled-

back version of his $3.5 trillion

government-overhaul plan and

salvage a related public works bill

after days of frantic negotiations.

But it’s not getting done right

now.

Biden huddled with House

Democrats on their home ground

in a private meeting that was part

instructional, part morale booster

for the tattered caucus of lawmak-

ers, telling them he wanted both

bills passed regardless of the time

it takes. He discussed a compro-

mise topline of $1.9 trillion to more

than $2 trillion for his bigger vi-

sion, according to lawmakers in

the room.

But it was clear they are all now

in it for the long haul as the White

House and its allies in Congress

prepared for protracted negotia-

tions.

“It doesn’t matter whether it’s

six minutes, six days or six weeks

— we’re going to get it done,” Bi-

den declared to reporters as he left

his late-afternoon meeting at the

Capitol.

It’s a pivotal time for both presi-

dent and party, as Biden’s approv-

al ratings have dropped and Dem-

ocrats are restless, eager to deliver

on his signature campaign prom-

ise of rebuilding the country. His

ideas go beyond roads-and-

bridges infrastructure to deliver-

ing dental, vision and hearing care

for seniors, free pre-kindergarten

for youngsters, major efforts to

tackle climate change and other

investments that would touch

countless American lives.

Biden’s sudden excursion to

Capitol Hill was aimed at giving

the legislation a needed boost to-

ward the finish line. Holdout Dem-

ocratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West

Virginia had sunk hopes for a swift

compromise on a framework when

he refused to budge late Thursday

on his demands for a smaller over-

all package, around $1.5 trillion,

despite hours of shuttle diplomacy

with White House aides.

Without a broader deal, pro-

spects for a Friday vote on the

companion public works bill

stalled out, progressives refusing

to lend their votes until senators

reach agreement. Speaker Nancy

Pelosi said in a late-evening letter

to colleagues that “more time is

needed” as they shape the broader

package.

Instead the House passed a 30-

day stopgap measure to keep

transportation programs running

during the stalemate, essentially

setting a new deadline for talks,

Oct. 31. The Senate was set to fol-

low with a vote Saturday, to halt the

furloughs of more than 3,500 fed-

eral transportation workers, a by-

product of the political impasse.

With Republicans solidly op-

posed to Biden’s sweeping vision,

the president and his party are re-

aching for a giant legislative ac-

complishment on their own — all

to be paid for by rewriting federal

balance sheets with tax hikes on

corporations and the wealthy,

those earning more than $400,000

a year.

Biden confident as talks drag on $3.5T planAssociated Press

Democrats as wannabe socialists,

and leveraged the disarray to try

to define Biden as an inept leader.

The House Republican leader,

Rep. Kevin McCarthy of Califor-

nia, ticked off the “border crisis,”

“inflation crisis,” “labor crisis,”

“China crisis” and “foreign policy

crisis” as all converging at once.

“Democrats want to enlist a bu-

reaucratic army to achieve their

goal of a big government socialist

nation,” he said.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas,

called Biden’s agenda an “accel-

erator to socialism.”

Words were no less heated on

the other side.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi,

arguing for lifting the debt ceiling,

accused resistant Republicans of

leaving the country vulnerable to

a “cascading catastrophe of unbe-

lievable proportions” that could

“damage America for 100 years.”

Pelosi, D-Calif., was quoting

WASHINGTON — Washing-

ton’s tempestuous week of walk-

ing, chewing gum, juggling balls

and spinning plates at the same

time is giving rise to apocalyptic

rhetoric about the state and future

of the country.

Four big things are happening

at once, all

attended by

hyperventi-

lation.

The White House talks of a “ca-

taclysmic economic threat” if Re-

publicans don’t start cooperating.

Republicans assail Democrats for

unleashing a “big-government so-

cialist nation.” Senate Majority

Leader Chuck Schumer says: “In-

sanity and disaster are now the

Republican Party line.”

It’s a contest to see which side

can bash back better. This is what

governing by crisis looks like. It

may be the only way anything gets

done.

The government has essential

housekeeping to do this time of

year. Yet no deal comes until it ab-

solutely must. Why act at the 11th

hour when you’ve got 59 minutes

left?

There are a couple of must-do’s.

The government needed a law

to keep itself open in the budget

year that began Friday morning.

That happened, with a few hours

to spare. It also needs to raise or

suspend its borrowing ceiling to

cover current expenses and avoid

a default on its debt payments

over the next two weeks, some-

thing that has never happened.

Then there are the want-to-do’s.

President Joe Biden, many

Democrats and a sizable number

of Republicans want to build or re-

store roads, bridges, broadband

and more in an ambitious public

works package. Biden and many

Democrats, but no Republicans,

also want to supercharge social

and climate spending, potentially

costing upward of three times

more than the infrastructure one.

Acton on that front came to a

halt Friday despite Biden’s visit to

the Capitol to try to break the log-

jam between liberal and moderate

Democrats over the two packages

and get Congress to move on his

overall agenda. He said he was

confident his agenda would pre-

vail whether it takes “six minutes,

six days or six weeks,” though the

way forward was murky.

The crises arose, as they typi-

cally do in Washington, when one

matter was linked to another or

another and the things that must

be done were held hostage to

things lawmakers want done.

It may defy logic. It’s also how

big change often happen.

Asense of dancing at the precip-

ice persisted all week in a capital

with a 50-50 Senate, a closely di-

vided House, a pushy left Demo-

cratic flank, obstinate Democratic

centrists, gleefully obstructionist

Republicans and a president

struggling to deliver on his prom-

ise to restore competence and nor-

malcy after the Donald Trump

years.

In large measure, Democratic

moderates want the infrastruc-

ture plan, liberals want the ulti-

mate package and Biden wants

both. The divisions bared inside

the party over this agenda could

leave him with neither.

As negotiations with lawmakers

proceeded behind in private mid-

week, Biden press secretary Jen

Psaki joked that the outcome

would determine whether the Bi-

den administration was living in

an idealistic drama or a farce.

“Maybe ‘The West Wing’ if

something good happens,” she

said. “Maybe ‘Veep’ if not.”

Republicans hurled their favor-

ite insult with abandon, branding

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon in

her House speech.

Few doubt that the consequenc-

es of a U.S. debt default would be

severe . Not lifting the debt ceiling

could drive up interest rates on

car and home loans, for example.

But few expect that to be allowed

to happen.

When members of the tea party

class of 2011 first threatened debt

default, they were outliers. Now,

it’s standard operating procedure

in the GOP to keep that long-un-

thinkable threat alive, even if Re-

publicans may not be serious

about letting it unfold.

Avoiding default is just one of

the procedural steps or routine

tasks that have become weapon-

ized in Congress, particularly in

the Senate by Republican leader

Mitch McConnell of Kentucky,

who always exacts a price for

cooperating with Democrats even

if it’s just to embarrass them.

Partial government shutdowns,

though, are a line that lawmakers

have been willing to cross. The

longest shutdown in history hap-

pened under Trump, 35 days

stretching into January 2019,

when Democrats refused to ap-

prove money for his U.S-Mexico

border wall. Trump backed down.

Trump’s immigration policy al-

so sparked a three-day shutdown a

year earlier. In 2013, a Republican

attempt to torpedo money for the

Obama-era health law set off a

shutdown that lasted 16 days and,

as in the other cases, furloughed

hundreds of thousands of federal

workers.

This time, lawmakers sealed a

deal in the last hours to finance the

government until Dec. 3, when

they’ll have to reckon with it

again. Instead of defusing the

bomb, Stephen Colbert cracked

on “The Late Show,” “they just hit

the bomb’s snooze button.”

What governing by crisis looks like

BY CALVIN WOODWARD

Associated Press

J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE/AP

President Joe Biden and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D­Calif., talk in a basement hallway of theCapitol after meeting with House Democrats in Washington on Friday.

NATION

ANALYSIS

PAGE 6 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Sunday, October 3, 2021

A Black Navy veteran in Virgin-

ia who has been subjected to

months of racist harassment by a

neighbor took to the national air-

waves to share her ordeal, which

police say they can do little to rem-

edy.

Jannique Martinez and her fam-

ily moved to Jessamine Court in

Virginia Beach five years ago, she

told CNN’s Don Lemon. Soon after-

ward, the neighbor began blaring

recordings to antagonize other res-

idents, and has now stepped it up

by playing monkey noises and ra-

cial slurs whenever her family

steps out of the house.

Martinez said her youngest son,

who is 7, is terrified of the man. In

addition to more typical bad-

neighbor behavior like yelling at

kids who step on his lawn, he has

the cul-de-sac’s residents under

the eye of eight security cameras,

she said.

As soon as she opens her front

door, his lights flash or the speak-

ers' boom with the racist record-

ings. The noises were tailored to

taunt whichever neighbor triggers

the sensors after such innocuous

behavior as pulling into their own

driveway, she said.

The Virginia Beach Police De-

partment has responded to several

calls related to nuisance and loud

music on the block, but it “has no

authority to intervene,” it tweeted

this week.

“As appalling and offensive as

the neighbors’ behaviors are, the

city attorney and Virginia magist-

rates have separately determined

that the actions reported thus far

did not rise to the level that Virgin-

ia law defines as criminal behav-

ior,” police said Thursday.

Martinez’s only direct interac-

tion with the neighbor over the

noise came about a year ago, when

she was working from home and

her children were starting virtual

classes during the pandemic, she

said. She asked him to turn down

music that was blasting from his

open window at 8 a.m.

“His response to me was, ‘Well,

let me call the police to make sure

I’m in good standing with the law to

play my music,’” she said on CNN.

“I was floored, because how about

you just be a neighborly person, a

parent, just anything to under-

stand where I’m coming from, and

he was adamant that he was doing

nothing wrong.”

After her repeated complaints

about the loud music, he set the

sounds that played for her family

to include screeching monkeys

and skits using the N-word.

“So racist it’s disgusting,” she

told the local NBC station WAVY

News last week. “I don’t even know

how else to explain it.”

When she called police to com-

plain about the noise, officers

would come and tell him to turn his

music down, and he would, she

said on CNN.

But when she called about the

“escalation” with the racist lan-

guage and noises, she was told the

department could do nothing and

she was advised to go to a local ma-

gistrate.

When she did, she “felt dismis-

sed,” she told Lemon, adding that

“he said that it was a figure of

speech or freedom of speech or ‘a

phrase.’”

A civil court judge was “a little

more compassionate” but told her

that if the neighbor did not threat-

en the family or pose bodily harm,

the courts could do nothing about

it.

“Leaving the courtroom, I felt

deflated,” she said. “I just felt like I

couldn’t protect my kids. I couldn’t

imagine living like this in my own

home. It really broke my heart.”

Martinez served in the military

for 11 years, and her husband is al-

so a veteran, she told WAVY.

“We fought for this country, but

yet there’s no one to fight for us,”

she said.

Several neighborhood residents

gathered last week to protest, hold-

ing signs that said “love thy neigh-

bor” and “spread love not hate,”

WAVY reported.

Police pledged to help the family

“within the limits of the law.”

The Martinezes plan to stand

their ground. When asked on CNN

if they’d considered moving, Jan-

nique Martinez didn’t hesitate:

“Absolutely not.”

Police say theycan’t halt racistremarks at vet

BY CHAD GARLAND

Stars and Stripes

YOUTUBE/WAVY TV 10

In this screenshot from a YouTube video, Jannique Martinez talks to WAVY TV 10 about her family beingharassed by a neighbor in Virginia Beach, Va., in late September. 

garland.chad@stripes.comTwitter: @chadgarland

WAVERLY, Tenn. — In the 100

years that Jim Traylor’s family

had lived in his house in rural Wa-

verly, Tenn., it hadn’t once flood-

ed. The normally shallow Trace

Creek where he had fished and

swam as a kid had never crossed

the one-lane road that separated it

from his home.

That changed on Aug. 21, when

more than 17 inches of rain just

upstream transformed the usually

placid waterway into a roiling riv-

er that rushed into his house and

devastated the town, killing 20

people before it receded.

The water was already halfway

up his tires by the time the 79-

year-old decided to flee.

“Sitting here in the car and just

watching it, how fast it was com-

ing this way — it’d blow your

mind,” he said recently. “It’s unre-

al. You can’t imagine.”

Traylor’s family got out safe,

dogs and all, but the home his

grandfather bought in 1921 may

have seen its last days, barring

help from the Federal Emergency

Management Agency. He doesn’t

have the money to repair it and

doesn’t want a loan.

“At (almost) 80 years old, I can’t

see it,” Traylor said. “I’d love to

save the old house. That’s why I

put so much money into it. Be-

cause it was home.”

A hundred years ago, the mas-

sive flood would have been seen as

a fluke of nature, a once-in-a-life-

time event. Residents could have

built back without fear. But today,

climate change is making the type

of flood-producing rainfall that in-

undated Waverly more common,

experts say.

And so now, the roughly 4,000

people who live there face a dilem-

ma. With more than 500 homes

and 50 businesses damaged, Wa-

verly will likely see massive losses

in property and sales tax revenue

even as it prepares to spend mil-

lions on debris removal and in-

frastructure repairs. If those

homes and businesses don’t re-

turn, the town could slowly die.

But if they build back along the

creek, are they risking another di-

saster?

Janey Smith Camp, a Vander-

bilt University engineering pro-

fessor, said there are a number of

options for communities that risk

a repeat of devastating floods, in-

cluding the need to “really think

about whether or not it makes

sense to rebuild in some areas.”

“I fully realize that we’re talking

about people’s lives, their homes

—and some of them may be multi-

generational,” Camp said. “It’s a

tough thing to swallow. But there’s

a point that we need to start say-

ing, ‘It’s not safe to live here any-

more.’”

Camp said similar tough discus-

sions are happening elsewhere,

including in Nebraska, where an

entire town is considering relocat-

ing to a higher elevation after 2019

floods. Over the past decade,

weather-related storms, fires and

floods have displaced about 23

million people a year globally, ac-

cording to the World Meteorolog-

ical Organization. After Waverly

was ravaged, more than a dozen

Tennessee mayors formed a

group aimed at bolstering com-

munities against flooding.

State and federal officials said

they’re willing to help if more

funding is needed, without mak-

ing specific commitments yet.

Already, Humphreys County

commissioners have said they

won’t push to rebuild a low-in-

come public housing complex

near the creek after families testi-

fied that they don’t want to go

back. Residents suggested a me-

morial for neighbors who lost

their lives.

Many in town hope the U.S. Ar-

my Corps of Engineers will solve

their problem. The Corps has sur-

veyed the flooded area and is seek-

ing funding for an analysis, but

any follow-up would require some

local money. That could be a big

ask for a small town.

Flooded Tenn. town wrestles with how, where to rebuildAssociated Press

MARK HUMPHREY/AP

Tommy Goodwin walks his dog, Tasha, down a street lined withflood­damaged buildings and piles of debris Sept. 27, in Waverly, Tenn.

NATION

Sunday, October 3, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 7

NATION

AUSTIN, Texas — A federal judge is de-

ciding whether to block the nation’s most re-

strictive abortion law, which has banned

most abortions in Texas since early Septem-

ber and sent women racing hundreds of

miles to get care outside the state.

The Biden administration on Friday urged

U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman to sus-

pend the law, saying Texas has waged an at-

tack on a woman’s constitutional right to

abortion. But even if the law is put on hold,

abortion services in the second-most pop-

ulous state may not instantly resume be-

cause doctors still fear that they could be

sued without a more permanent legal deci-

sion.

That worry underscores the durability of

Senate Bill 8, which has already withstood a

wave of challenges. Pitman, based in Austin

and who was appointed by former President

Barack Obama, presided over a nearly

three-hour hearing Friday but did not say

when he will rule.

The law bans abortions once cardiac activ-

ity is detected, which is usually around six

weeks, before some women know they are

pregnant. To enforce the law, Texas depu-

tized private citizens to file lawsuits against

violators, and has entitled them to at least

$10,000 in damages if successful.

So far, abortion providers trying to block

the Texas law have been rejected at every

turn. That makes the lawsuit filed by the Jus-

tice Department their best chance yet to de-

liver the first legal blow to the GOP-engi-

neered restrictions, which were signed into

law by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in May

and took effect Sept. 1.

Amy Hagstrom Miller, president of Whole

Woman’s Health, said some of the 17 physi-

cians at her four clinics are ready to resume

normal abortion services if the law is put on

hold. Preparations began last week when

some doctors gave patients found to have

cardiac activity information to comply with

another restriction — requiring a 24-hour

waiting period before an abortion — so that

they would be ready to be called back.

“It’s not the hundreds of people we’ve had

to turn away,” Hagstrom Miller said in an in-

terview. “But there is a significant group of

people who have said, ‘Please, let me do

whatever I can. Keep me on a list, and call me

if you get an injunction.’”

But the majority of her physicians, Hag-

strom Miller said, remain wary and fear law-

suits absent a permanent court ruling. Clinic

staff are also worried.

“Of course, we understand that,” she said.

If the Justice Department prevails, Texas

officials would likely seek a swift reversal

from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals,

which previously allowed the restrictions to

take effect.

The Texas law is just one that has set up

the biggest test of abortion rights in the U.S.

in decades, and it is part of a broader push by

Republicans nationwide to impose new re-

strictions on abortion.

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court be-

gins a new term, which in December will in-

clude arguments in Mississippi’s bid to over-

turn 1973’s landmark Roe v. Wade decision

guaranteeing a woman’s right to an abortion.

Ahead of the new Supreme Court term,

Planned Parenthood on Friday released a re-

port saying that if Roe v. Wade were over-

turned, 26 states are primed to ban abortion.

This year alone, nearly 600 abortion restric-

tions have been introduced in statehouses

nationwide, with more than 90 becoming

law, according to Planned Parenthood.

Abortion providers wary even if Texas law haltedBY PAUL J. WEBER

Associated Press

BRANDON WADE/AP

Anti­abortion demonstrators pray and protest outside of Whole Women’s Health of NorthTexas, Friday in McKinney, Texas. 

HOUSTON — A former student

of a Houston public charter school

shot and wounded the campus

principal Friday before quickly

surrendering to police, authorities

said.

The 25-year-old man shot

through a locked, glass door at

YES Prep Southwest Secondary,

Houston Police Chief Troy Finner

said. No students were hurt.

Police initially identified the

wounded as a school employee,

but a statement from the YES

Prep charter system later identi-

fied him as Principal Eric Espino-

za.

In a letter to students and fam-

ilies, YES Prep CEO Mark DiBella

said Espinoza was grazed by a bul-

let from behind. He was taken to a

hospital and was expected to be

released Friday.

“We had an incredibly frighten-

ing day and are immensely grate-

ful there were no life-threatening

injuries,” DiBella said in the let-

ter.

Police did not release the name

of the shooter but said they were

able to quickly identify him be-

cause he was a former student. Po-

lice also did not release a motive,

but Finner said authorities were

investigating whether the shooter

and wounded man had any past in-

teractions.

The shooting happened at about

11:45 a.m.

A line of students in masks

streamed out of the school just be-

fore 1 p.m., holding their hands up

to show officers they were not car-

rying a weapon. Multiple students

told reporters in Spanish and En-

glish what they witnessed. Some

said they saw blood while leaving

the building, and others said they

hid and blocked doorways with

furniture like they had practiced

in drills to survive a shooting.

Parents could be seen having

tearful reunions as they met their

children in a parking lot near the

school.

“You don’t want anything like

this to happen,” Finner said, “but I

want to commend those students.

Every student I’ve seen coming

out, they were calm. The adminis-

trators, the teachers, outstanding

job. I want to commend them ...

They train for it.”

The shooting Friday happened

about 30 miles from the site of one

of the deadliest school shootings in

U.S. history.

A then-17-year-old armed with

a shotgun and a pistol opened fire

at Santa Fe High School in May

2018, killing 10 people, most of

whom were students.

Principal of Houston schoolshot by ex-student on campus

Associated Press

MARIE D. DE JESÚS, HOUSTON CHRONICLE/AP

Miguel Granados embraces YES Prep Southwest Secondary schoolsenior Miguel Granados, 17, as they reunite at a parking lot after ashooting took place at the school, Friday, in Houston. 

A U.S. judge has set aside

roughly 7,000 visas allowing peo-

ple who won a lottery aimed at in-

creasing the country’s diversity to

try to go to the United States after

the government issued only a

fraction of the visas allocated for

the past year.

U.S. District Judge Amit P.

Mehta in Washington issued the

order after the State Department

gave out only 27% of up to 55,000

diversity visas allotted for the fis-

cal year that ended in September.

The agency has said the delays

stemmed from coronavirus-relat-

ed issues, but Mehta said that’s

only part of the problem.

“Some of that shortfall is no

doubt due to the difficulties

caused by the COVID-19 pandem-

ic, but the pandemic is not the pri-

mary culprit,” Mehta wrote in a

ruling late Thursday. “That would

be the State Department’s com-

plete cessation of adjudicating di-

versity visa applications for five

months and its unlawful deprior-

itizing of those applications when

adjudications resumed.”

A State Department official de-

clined to comment on the deci-

sion.

Millions of people from around

the world enter the lottery each

year, hoping for a shot at a visa to

go to the United States.

Their chances are already slim,

with up to 55,000 visas set aside

each year for people from coun-

tries with low representation in

the United States, many from

Africa and Europe.

From there, applicants must

file paperwork and wait in anoth-

er line for a consular interview,

and not all get visas before the

U.S. runs out, even in a normal

year.

Any visas that are not issued

typically expire at the end of the

fiscal year each September.

Those circumstances led to

Mehta’s calculation on how many

visas should remain viable for

more than 20,000 applicants from

countries spanning from Cuba to

Nepal who sued over the delays.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs said

they were pleased he kept the

hopes of some of their clients

alive, but it was not enough, add-

ing that the lottery winners now

face a roughly 1-in-3 chance of

prevailing.

“It’s unfortunate that now our

plaintiffs have to do another lot-

tery,” lawyer Rafael Urena said in

a statement.

After the pandemic hit, the

Trump administration put a

freeze on many green cards is-

sued outside of the United States,

including the diversity visas.

The Biden administration lifted

the freeze on green cards, but the

State Department still wasn’t is-

suing most of the visas.

Applicants sued both last year

and this year to get some visas

saved.

Judge saves US visas forsome, but not all in lottery

Associated Press

PAGE 8 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Sunday, October 3, 2021

The House committee investi-

gating the violent Jan. 6 Capitol in-

surrection, with its latest round of

subpoenas, may uncover the de-

gree to which former President

Donald Trump, his campaign and

White House were involved in

planning the rally — which had

been billed as a grassroots demon-

stration — that preceded the riot.

The 11 subpoenas sent this week

went to people who organized or

worked at the rally at the Ellipse

where Trump encouraged the

crowd to march to the Capitol and

told them “you’ll never take back

our country with weakness. You

have to show strength, and you

have to be strong.”

Most of the organizers had

worked on Trump’s presidential

campaign or in his administration

and could provide new details of

how the rally that launched the vi-

olent attack came together.

The committee’s demands in-

cluded materials having to do with

planning, funding and participa-

tion in the event at the Ellipse,

which was organized to protest the

results of the November elections,

as well as events that led up to it,

including a bus tour and marches

in Washington in November and

December. The committee said it

also asked for communications

with Trump administration offi-

cials and lawmakers, which could

show whether and how deeply

government officials were in-

volved in the day’s planning.

One of the people subpoenaed,

whose firm was hired to provide

event security that day, told The

Associated Press he planned to

cooperate.

“We have every intention of

complying with the House select

committee,” said Lyndon Brent-

nall, who runs Florida-based RMS

Protective Services. “As far as

we’re concerned, we ran security

at a legally permitted event run in

conjunction with the U.S. Secret

Service and the Park Police.”

It was not clear whether the oth-

ers would turn over documents by

Oct. 13 or testify in depositions

scheduled from late October

through the beginning of Novem-

ber, as the committee has de-

manded. The AP sent emails and

text messages, called phone list-

ings or sent messages to online ac-

counts for every person subpoe-

naed, but only Brentnall provided

comment.

Brentnall said staff who worked

security with him at the event

were vetted by the Secret Service

and Park Police. Their names,

phone numbers and Social Securi-

ty numbers were submitted in ad-

vance, he said.

“We literally ran the event secu-

rity and the transport of VIPs from

the hotel into the event, and then

from the event into the hotel.

That’s literally all we did,” he told

AP.

Two people familiar with the

planning of the event have told the

AP that the White House coordi-

nated with event organizers after

Trump became aware of the plans

for the rally in mid-December.

They weren’t authorized to dis-

cuss the matter publicly and spoke

on condition of anonymity.

Nearly all the people subpoe-

naed were listed on the permit for

the event, which was issued to

Women for America First, a pro-

Trump group with roots in the tea

party movement. Three people

currently or previously involved

with the group were subpoenaed:

Amy Kremer, her daughter, Kylie

Jane Kremer, and Cindy Chafian.

Chafian had obtained a permit

for Women for America First for a

Dec. 12 rally at Freedom Plaza that

grabbed Trump’s attention.

Trump drew huge cheers from the

crowd below as the presidential

helicopter, Marine One, passed

over the rally on its way to the Ar-

my-Navy football game in New

York.

Within days, several groups that

had come together under the um-

brella of “Stop the Steal” began

planning their next move, this

time tied to the Jan. 6 vote certifi-

cation in Congress, according to

Kimberly Fletcher, founder of

Moms for America, a member of

the coalition. Fletcher told the AP

in January that the groups began

planning around mid-December.

Trump soon caught wind of the

plan.

“Big protest in D.C. on January

6th,” Trump tweeted to his mil-

lions of followers on Dec. 19. “Be

there, will be wild!”

“When the president said,

‘Come to D.C.,’ then it ... just

whooh!” Fletcher recalled to The

AP in January. The AP reported at

that time that numerous people

listed in staff positions on the per-

mit for the Jan. 6 rally had been on

the Trump campaign payroll or

had close connections to the White

House. Seven of the people sub-

poenaed had worked for the

Trump campaign, and at least

three had previously worked in

the Trump administration.

As Trump’s interest piqued in

the Jan. 6 event, people closely af-

filiated with his presidential cam-

paign became involved, including

Caroline Wren, a national finance

consultant for Trump Victory, a

joint fundraising organization run

by Trump’s reelection campaign

and the RNC. Wren is among the

people subpoenaed by the com-

mittee.

She and her Texas-based con-

sulting company, Bluebonnet

Fundraising, received $892,000

between April 2017 and November

2020 from the Trump presidential

campaign, the Republican Nation-

al Committee and Trump Victory,

according to Federal Election

Commission records.

The former president wasn’t on

the original rally schedule, but

soon after New Year’s Day, it be-

came clear that he would attend in

person, recalled people involved

in organizing the events on Jan. 5

and 6, including Fletcher.

With Trump all but certain to be

the main speaker, who would

share the stage with him sparked

heated arguments among the ral-

ly’s organizers and people close to

the White House, according to in-

dividuals knowledgeable of the

discussions. They weren’t autho-

rized to discuss the matter publi-

cly and spoke on condition of ano-

nymity.

Katrina Pierson, a longtime

Trump ally and presidential cam-

paign adviser, was bought in to co-

ordinate with the White House and

iron out a list of speakers who

would share the stage with Trump.

Pierson is one of two people sub-

poenaed this week who was not

listed on the final permit issued

Jan. 5. The other was Chafian.

Subpoenas could shed light on Jan. 6 originsBY MICHELLE R. SMITH

AND RICHARD LARDNER

Associated Press

JOHN MINCHILLO/AP

The face of President Donald Trump appears on large screens assupporters participate in a rally in Washington on Jan. 6.

help monitor threat levels and as-

sess risks to students, educators,

board members and school build-

ings.

“As these acts of malice, vio-

lence, and threats against public

school officials have increased, the

classification of these heinous ac-

tions could be the equivalent to a

form of domestic terrorism and

hate crimes,” the association

wrote.

The association represents more

than 90,000 school board members

in 14,000 public school districts.

The letter documents more than

20 instances of threats, harass-

ment, disruption, and acts of intim-

idation in California, Florida, Ge-

orgia, New Jersey, Ohio and other

states. It cites the September ar-

rest of an Illinois man for aggravat-

ed battery and disorderly conduct

for allegedly striking a school offi-

cial at a meeting. In Michigan, a

meeting was disrupted when a

A group representing school

board members around the coun-

try asked President Joe Biden on

Thursday for federal assistance to

investigate and stop threats made

over policies including mask man-

dates, likening the vitriol to a form

of domestic terrorism.

The request by the National

School Boards Association demon-

strates the level of unruliness that

has engulfed local education meet-

ings across the country during the

pandemic, with board members

regularly confronted and threat-

ened by angry protesters.

School board members are

largely unpaid volunteers, parents

and former educators who step for-

ward to shape school policy,

choose a superintendent and re-

view the budget, but they have

been frightened at how their jobs

have suddenly become a culture

war battleground. The climate has

led a growing number to resign or

decide against seeking reelection.

“Whatever you feel about

masks, it should not reach this level

of rhetoric,” NSBA Interim Exec-

utive Director Chip Slaven told

The Associated Press by phone.

White House press secretary

Jen Psaki said responsibility for

protecting school boards falls

largely to local law enforcement

but “we’re continuing to explore if

more can be done from across the

administration.”

“Obviously these threats to

school board members is horrible.

They’re doing their jobs,” she said

during a press briefing.

The association asked for the

federal government to get involved

to investigate cases where threats

or violence could be handled as vi-

olations of federal laws protecting

civil rights. It also asked for the

Justice Department, FBI, Home-

land Security and Secret Service to

man performed a Nazi salute to

protest masking.

“We are coming after you,” a let-

ter mailed to an Ohio school board

member said, according to the

group. “You are forcing them to

wear mask—for no reason in this

world other than control. And for

that you will pay dearly.”

It called the member “a filthy

traitor.”

Last week, a crowd of up to 200

protesters who banged on doors

and shouted at police shut down a

school board meeting in Coeur d’A-

lene, Idaho, where members

planned to consider a temporary

COVID-19 mask mandate.

School board group asks Biden for helppolicing threats over pandemic policies

Associated Press

ALEXANDRA WIMLEY, PITTSBURGH POST­GAZETTE/AP

People hold signs and chant during a meeting of the North AlleghenySchool District school board regarding the district’s mask policy inAugust at North Allegheny Senior High School in McCandless, Pa.

NATION

Sunday, October 3, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 9

NATION

LAS VEGAS — People who are

healing and some still struggling

gathered Friday to remember

those who died and were injured

during the deadliest mass shoot-

ing in modern U.S. history four

years ago on the Las Vegas Strip.

“I was wounded. Those physical

wounds have healed,” said Dee

Ann Hyatt, whose daughter also

was hurt and whose brother died

in the Oct. 1, 2017, shooting. “But

the lasting scars for our family re-

main.”

Hyatt spoke to several hundred

people during a sunrise ceremony

at the Clark County Government

Center in Las Vegas.

She remembered her slain

brother, Kurt von Tillow, a truck-

er from Northern California, be-

fore a screen at an outdoor amphi-

theater that displayed photos of

the dead. Fifty-eight people were

killed that night, and two others

died later. More than 850 were in-

jured.

“We continue to live the impact

of all that happened that night,

four years later,” Hyatt said.

“People thrive and people strug-

gle to live with the physical and

mental pain, and our lives are for-

ever changed.”

The morning memorial fea-

tured a song, “Four Years After,”

sung by Matt Sky, that was com-

posed for the anniversary by Mark

R. Johnson and released with mul-

ti-Grammy award winner Alan

Parsons.

The event was the first of sever-

al scheduled Friday in Las Vegas

and elsewhere, including a live-

stream in California’s Ventura

County hosted by a support group

called “So Cal Route 91 Heals.”

The group also planned a ceremo-

ny at a Thousand Oaks park.

Tennille Pereira, director of the

Vegas Strong Resiliency Center, a

Las Vegas program set up to sup-

port those affected by the shoot-

ing, noted that about 60% of tickets

sold to the fateful concert were

purchased by California resi-

dents.

The names of the dead were to

be read beginning at 10:05 p.m.,

the time the shooting started, at a

downtown Las Vegas Community

Healing Garden.

Pereira also is chairwoman of a

Clark County committee develop-

ing plans for a permanent memo-

rial. She said next year’s fifth an-

niversary may feature a dedica-

tion of the memorial at a corner of

the former concert venue across

Las Vegas Boulevard from the

Mandalay Bay resort. That’s

where the shooter spent several

days gathering an arsenal of as-

sault-style rifles before breaking

out windows of his 32nd floor suite

and unleashing carnage.

MGM Resorts International,

owner of the hotel and the concert

venue, is donating 2 acres for the

memorial — just off the Strip at a

spot near a church where people

sought refuge and medical help

during the shooting.

Hyatt, speaking at the memo-

rial, said four years have taught

her that some things can’t be

fixed.

“All you can do is be there for

each other,” she said. “Listen, cry,

hug, love and support one another.

You just need to be patient and

loving and caring to everyone you

meet, because you don’t know

what they’re going through.”

WADE VANDERVORT, LAS VEGAS SUN/AP

People attend a fourth annual Oct. 1 sunrise remembrance ceremony in Las Vegas on Friday.

Las Vegas marks 4 years sinceshooter killed 58, hurt hundreds

BY KEN RITTER

Associated Press

DETROIT — In a normal month

before the pandemic, Con Paulos’

Chevy dealership in Jerome, Idaho,

sold around 40 new vehicles. In

September, it was only six. Now

he’s got nothing new in stock, and

every car, truck or SUV on order

has been sold.

Last month, what happened at his

dealership about 115 miles south-

east of Boise was repeated across

the country as factory closures due

to a worsening global shortage of

computer chips crimped U.S. new

vehicle shipments.

U.S. new vehicle sales tumbled

about 26% in September as chip

shortages and other parts-supply

disruptions cut into the selection on

dealer lots and raised prices once

again to record levels. That sent

many frustrated consumers to the

sidelines to wait out a shortage that

has hobbled the industry since late

last year.

Automakers sold just over 1 mil-

lion vehicles during the month, ac-

cording to Edmunds.com, a figure

that included estimates for Ford

and others that didn’t report num-

bers Friday. September was the

lowest sales month of the year, Ed-

munds said. For the third quarter,

sales were 3.4 million, down 13%

from the same period a year ago.

Automakers on Friday reported

some pretty poor numbers. Gener-

al Motors, which only reports sales

by quarter, said its deliveries were

off nearly 33% from July through

September of last year. Stellantis,

formerly Fiat Chrysler, saw quar-

terly sales dip 19%, while Nissan

sales were down 10% for the quar-

ter.

Honda’s U.S. sales fell almost

25% last month, and were down 11%

for the quarter. At Toyota, sales

were off 22% for September but up

just over 1% in the third quarter.

Hyundai reported sales off 2% last

month but up 4% for the third quar-

ter. Volkswagen third-quarter sales

were down 8%.

“September results show that

there are simply not enough vehi-

cles available to meet consumer de-

mand,” said Thomas King, presi-

dent of data and analytics at J.D.

Power.

The average sales price of a new

vehicle hit a record $42,802 last

month, breaking the old record of

$41,528 set in August, J.D. Power

said. The average U.S. price is up

nearly 19% from a year ago, when it

broke $36,000 for the first time, J.D.

Power said. The auto price increas-

es have helped to drive up U.S. in-

flation.

General Motors, hit hard by tem-

porary plant closures last quarter,

expressed some optimism, though.

Steve Carlisle, president of GM

North America, said the computer

chip shortage is improving.

“As we look to the fourth quarter,

a steady flow of vehicles held at

plants will continue to be released

to dealers, we are restarting pro-

duction at key crossover and car

plants and we look forward to a

more stable operating environment

through the fall,” he said in a state-

ment.

The shortage and crazy high

prices for both new and used vehi-

cles began with the eruption of the

pandemic last year, when many

states issued stay-at-home orders.

Prices plummeted, and automak-

ers shuttered factories for eight

weeks.

While the auto plants were shut

down in April and May last year,

computer chip makers shifted pro-

duction to satisfy wild demand for

laptops, gaming devices and tab-

lets. That created a shortage of au-

tomotive-grade chips, a problem

that might not be fully resolved un-

til next year.

Automakers reportslump in sales dueto chip shortage

BY TOM KRISHER

Associated Press

CHANDLER, Ariz. — A heli-

copter and a single-engine plane

collided in midair Friday near a

suburban Phoenix airport, send-

ing the helicopter crashing into a

field and killing both people on

board. The plane landed safely,

and the flight instructor and a stu-

dent inside were not hurt.

The collision happened in the

city of Chandler near its munici-

pal airport, said police Sgt. Jason

McClimans. He said no one on the

ground was hurt but the airport

would remain closed for several

hours.

The Chandler Fire Department

received reports of a fire in a

brush field next to the airport

shortly before 8 a.m. Crews found

a large plume of smoke and the

wreckage of the helicopter on fire

but were able to extinguish it rela-

tively quickly, fire officials said.

They inspected the helicopter

and found the bodies of the two

people on board. The Maricopa

County medical examiner’s office

will determine their identities.

The chopper was operated by

Quantum Helicopters and the

plane by Flight Operations Acade-

my. Both are flight schools, ac-

cording to McClimans, of Chan-

dler Police.

Richard Bengoa, owner of

Flight Operations Academy, told

The Associated Press the four-

seat plane is used mostly for flight

training. The only people aboard

were the flight instructor and the

student pilot.

Though officials did not allow

Bengoa to get close to the plane, he

said it appeared from a distance

that its landing gear had been

damaged. He said he had no infor-

mation about how the collision

happened and was not allowed to

speak with the instructor or stu-

dent.

Bengoa described his operation

as “more of a family business to

kind of promote aviation and help

people get their licenses.”

A statement from the Federal

Aviation Administration also indi-

cated evidence of damage on the

Piper PA-28 aircraft’s landing

gear. The agency listed the heli-

copter as a Robinson R22.

The airport’s control tower was

operating at the time of the colli-

sion. But FAA officials declined to

say how many of the staff were

there, noting that detail will be

part of the overall investigation.

The National Transportation

Safety Board will lead the investi-

gation into the cause of the colli-

sion and crash.

Police are seeking any witness-

es or people who may have filmed

the ordeal.

Midair collision of helicopter, plane near Arizona airport kills 2Associated Press

PAGE 10 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Sunday, October 3, 2021

WORLD

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine Pres-

ident Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday an-

nounced he was retiring from politics and

dropping plans to run for vice president in

next year’s elections when his term ends,

avoiding a legal battle with opponents who

question such a move.

Speaking before reporters, Duterte said

many Filipinos have expressed their oppo-

sition to his vice-presidential bid in surveys

and public forums.

“The overwhelming sentiment of the Fil-

ipino is that I’m not qualified, and it would

be a violation of the constitution,” Duterte

said. “In obedience to the will of the people

... I will follow what you wish and today I an-

nounce my retirement from politics.”

The 76-year-old leader, known for his

deadly anti-drugs crackdown, brash rheto-

ric and unorthodox political style, earlier

accepted the ruling party’s nomination for

him to seek the vice presidency in the May 9

elections. The decision outraged many of

his opponents, who have described him as a

human rights calamity in an Asian bastion

of democracy.

Duterte announced his surprise with-

drawal from the election after accompany-

ing his former longtime aide, Sen. Bong Go,

to register his own vice presidential candi-

dacy with the ruling party at a Commission

on Elections center.

Philippine presidents are limited by the

constitution to a single six-year term and

opponents had said they would question the

legality of Duterte’s announced vice presi-

dential run before the Supreme Court if he

pursues his bid.

While two past presidents have run for

lower elected positions after their terms

ended in recent history, Duterte was the

first to consider running for the vice presi-

dency. If he pursued the candidacy and

won, that could elevate him back to the

presidency if the elected leader dies or is in-

capacitated for any reason.

Duterte’s withdrawal could also pave the

way for the possible presidential run of his

politician daughter.

Sara Duterte currently serves as mayor

of southern Davao city, and has been prod-

ded by many supporters to make a bid to

succeed her father. She has topped inde-

pendent public opinion surveys on who

should lead the country next.

But after her father initially declared that

he would seek the vice presidency, Sara Du-

terte announced she would not run for pres-

ident, saying she and her father have

agreed that only one Duterte would run for

a national office next year.

There was no immediate reaction from

the president’s daughter, who has gone on a

weeklong medical leave.

Duterte announces retirement from politicsAssociated Press

LISA MARIE DAVID, POOL/AP

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte wears a face shield and face mask while inside theCommission on Elections at the Sofitel Harbor Garden Tent in Metropolitan Manila,Philippines on Saturday. Duterte says he will retire from politics after his term ends. 

LONDON — The adventures of

the honey-loving bear “Winnie the

Pooh” have captivated children —

and their parents — for nigh-on

100 years. Fans now have a chance

to own a central piece of Pooh’s

history, when a countryside

bridge from southern England

goes up for auction this week.

The author of the hugely pop-

ular Pooh series of books, A. A.

Milne, often played with his son,

Christopher Robin, at the bridge

in the 1920s. It became a regular

setting for the adventures of Pooh

and his friends in the series that

launched in 1926.

“Offering it at auction is prob-

ably the biggest opportunity glob-

ally for people to reach out and be

able to buy it and put it in a mu-

seum,” said James Rylands of

Summer Place Auctions, which

has previously auctioned items in-

cluding 20 tons of the Berlin Wall.

Rylands described the bridge as

“one of the most important iconic

literary objects there is,” and laid

out hope that it could go for

250,000 pounds, way beyond the

40,000 to 60,000-pound estimate

placed on Tuesday’s auction.

“When you actually talk about

history and add in the emotion and

the happiness that ‘Winnie the

Pooh’ has brought to generations

as children and adults over the

years, it is very difficult to price

it,” Rylands said. “If it fetches a

quarter of a million pounds, then I

won’t be surprised.”

The bridge, originally called

Posingford Bridge, was built

around 1907 and officially re-

named Poohsticks Bridge in 1997

by the late author’s son, whose toy

animals were the basis of the Pooh

series.

It was then taken down in 1999

after being worn out by visitors

and was replaced by a newer

structure funded largely by the

Disney corporation.

The original bridge was dis-

mantled and stored in Ashdown

Forest Centre in the southern

county of East Sussex, until the lo-

cal Parish Council recently gave

permission for it to be restored

and rescued. The bridge, which

measures 29 feet by 15 feethas

now been fully restored using lo-

cal oak for any missing elements.

The auction coincides with the

centenary of Pooh’s arrival in the

world when Christopher Robin re-

ceived a fluffy teddy bear from the

luxury department store Harrods

on his first birthday.

Rylands said there’s been inter-

est from around the world, but

hoped that the bridge stays local.

“I do hope it stays in Sussex be-

cause it obviously has great rele-

vance to the locality,” he said.

“But if it does end up in the United

States or indeed Japan, I have no

doubt it will be a little bit loved

over there as well.”

Bridge from ‘Winnie the Pooh’series to be auctioned in England

Associated Press

GARETH FULLER, PA/AP

Silke Lohmann of Summers Place Auctions stands on the originalPoohsticks Bridge from Ashdown Forest, featured in A.A. Milne’s“Winnie the Pooh” books and E.H. Shepard’s illustrations, near itsoriginal location in Tonbridge, Kent, England, Thursday. 

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates

— Dubai’s Expo 2020 on Saturday

offered conflicting figures for how

many workers had been killed on

site during construction of the

massive world’s fair, first saying

five and then later three.

Expo refused for months to pub-

licly provide any figures for con-

struction-related casualties in the

run-up to the $7 billion fair rising

from the desert outside Dubai, de-

signed the burnish the city’s repu-

tation abroad and draw millions of

visitors.

Expo officials did not immedi-

ately explain their inconsistent

statements, which come as the

event and the United Arab Emir-

ates as a whole has long faced crit-

icism from human rights activists

over the poor treatment of the low-

paid migrant laborers who keep

the country’s economy humming.

When pressed to provide a num-

ber for worker deaths at a news

conference Saturday morning,

spokesperson Sconaid McGea-

chin said “we have had five fatal-

ities now,” adding that “you know,

that is obviously a tragedy that

anybody would die.”

But just after 5 p.m. Saturday

and hours after an Associated

Press report quoted McGeachin,

Expo put out a statement that said:

“Unfortunately, there have been

three work-related fatalities (and)

72 serious injuries to date.” When

asked by the AP, officials declined

to immediately explain the discre-

pancy from a top Expo official and

their own written statements.

Expo said that its 200,000 labor-

ers who built the site worked over

240 million hours in its construc-

tion. It previously had not offered

any overall statistics previously

on worker fatalities, injuries or

coronavirus infections despite re-

peated requests from the AP and

other journalists.

The admission comes after the

European Parliament last month

urged nations not to take part in

Expo, citing the UAE’s “inhu-

mane practices against foreign

workers” that it said worsened

during the pandemic. Ahead of

Expo, businesses and construc-

tion companies are “coercing

workers into signing untranslated

documents, confiscating their

passports, exposing them to ex-

treme working hours in unsafe

weather conditions and providing

them with unsanitary housing,”

the resolution said.

McGeachin also acknowledged

that authorities were aware of

cases involving contractors “with-

holding passports” and engaging

in suspect “recruitment practic-

es” and workplace safety viola-

tions on site.

“We have taken steps to ensure

those have been addressed and

very much intervened in cases on

that,” she said, without elaborat-

ing.

Laborers in the UAE are barred

from unionization and have few

protections, often working long

hours for little pay and living in

substandard conditions.

Dubai Expo admits deathsduring fair’s construction

Associated Press

Sunday, October 3, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 11

AMERICAN ROUNDUP

School crossing guardcelebrates 100th birthday

NC GREENSBORO — A

North Carolina man

who reached his 100th birthday

has been celebrated by the ele-

mentary school students he helps

get through morning traffic and

safely to class.

Students at Peck Elementary

School marked the milestone

birthday for Thomas Faucette

with hand-decorated birthday

hats and two-dimensional con-

struction paper candles, the News

& Record of Greensboro reported.

Faucette also accepted a plaque

from Greensboro Police Chief

Brian James in appreciation for

his service with the department.

Faucette began his part-time

career as a crossing guard in 1988.

Activists chained to boatat leader’s home arrested

MA SWAMPSCOTT —

Several environmen-

tal activists who chained them-

selves to a pink sailboat with the

words “climate emergency” on

the side at Gov. Charlie Baker’s

home were arrested, state police

said.

In addition to the six people who

chained themselves to the boat, a

seventh person who was on top of

the boat was arrested, according

to an emailed statement from state

police spokesperson David Proco-

pio.

The protesters used the sailboat

on a trailer to block the road out-

side the governor’s Swampscott

home at about 7 a.m. It was un-

clear if Baker was at home.

The protesters from a group

called Extinction Rebellion Bos-

ton posted on social media that

they “put Baker under a ‘citizen’s

arrest’ for his repeated crimes

against environmental justice

communities and climate inac-

tion.”

Catfish eaten beforebeing vetted loses award

CT COVENTRY — Uncer-

tainty about the species

of a massive catfish that was eaten

before it could be vetted by au-

thorities in August has led Con-

necticut to withdraw its awarding

of a new state record.

Connecticut Fish and Wildlife

wrote in a Facebook post that be-

cause it was not able to examine

the actual fish, authorities cannot

confirm it was a white catfish.

“Without the ability to examine

the actual fish, identification is left

to still images and videos, which

have proven to be ambiguous and

inconclusive to definitively identi-

fy the species of catfish in this

case,” state Fish and Wildlife

wrote, adding that it is not disput-

ing the weight of the catch that

was made on Aug. 21.

Ben Tomkunas, 25, of Coventry,

who caught the 21.3-pound fish,

said he gave it to his grandfather

the morning after he caught it and

it was eaten.

“I can’t believe that they think

it’s OK to do this to someone,”

Tomkunas told the Journal In-

quirer. “It’s such an embarrass-

ment.”

Police shoot man afterchase in store parking lot

WA CLEARVIEW — Po-

lice from a King

County agency shot and wounded

a man at the end of a car chase in a

grocery store parking lot south of

Snohomish.

Snohomish County sheriff’s

deputies responded to reports of

“multiple shots fired” along State

Route 9, The Daily Herald

reported.

One injured man was taken to

Harborview Medical Center in

Seattle, authorities said.

Snohomish County Sheriff’s Of-

fice spokesperson Courtney

O’Keefe confirmed the officers in-

volved in the shooting were from a

King County agency.

A team of Snohomish County

law enforcement agencies, Wash-

ington State Patrol and communi-

ty members are investigating.

Monk seal completes1K-plus-mile trip in month

HI HONOLULU — Re-

searchers say an endan-

gered Hawaiian monk seal has

made an exceptionally fast and

long swim across the archipelago.

The female seal, 6, made her

way from Kure Atoll in the unin-

habited Northwestern Hawaiian

Islands to the North Shore of Oahu

— a trip of about 1,300 miles. She

made the grueling swim in only a

month.

Michelle Barbieri, the National

Oceanic and Atmospheric Admin-

istration’s Hawaiian Monk Seal

Research Program chief, said

there is data that shows more than

a dozen seals have made trips

from the remote northern islands

to the main islands in recent dec-

ades.

“What’s impressive about (this

seal) is she made the trip in about a

month, where other seals are

more likely to make it over the

course of several years,” Barbieri

said in a statement.

Female state SupremeCourt Justice lies in state

TN NASHVILLE —

Tennessee Supreme

Court Justice Cornelia Clark, who

died last month, lay in state at the

State Capitol on Wednesday.

According to court officials,

Clark was the first active member

of the judiciary to lie in state and

the second woman after former

state Sen. Thelma Harper did so

earlier this year.

Clark was appointed to her seat

in 2005 by former Democratic

Gov. Phil Bredesen and served as

chief justice from 2010 to 2012.

The court announced she had died

overnight on Sept. 24. She served

16 years in her role, the longest

tenure of her counterparts on the

court, and was on the bench for

more than 1,100 Supreme Court

cases.

Man charged after fakebadge, guns found in car

MI NORTHFIELD

TOWNSHIP — A man

has been charged with false repre-

sentation as a peace officer after a

fake badge, two handguns and a

shotgun were found in a vehicle

which was off the road with a flat

tire in Washtenaw County.

George Galbraith, 63, also was

arraigned in Ann Arbor district

court on weapons charges, the Mi-

chigan Department of Natural Re-

sources said.

A conservation officer was pa-

trolling Sept. 21 in Northfield

Township, west of Detroit, when

he saw a vehicle down an embank-

ment.

Aman inside the vehicle held up

what turned out to be a fake badge

and said he worked for an area po-

lice department. The officer later

found the weapons and a gun belt

containing a handcuff case. The

man also was wearing a coat with

a zip-on attachment that read

“POLICE.”

University reports recordenrollment of freshmen

WI MADISON — Universi-

ty of Wisconsin-Madi-

son’s record freshman enrollment

this fall is due in part to pent-up

demand among high school grad-

uates who spent much of last year

taking classes online, a school offi-

cial said.

Nearly 8,500 new freshman en-

rolled at the state’s largest public

university earlier this month.

That’s up 12% and nearly 1,000

freshmen from the previous re-

cord set in fall 2019.

UW-Madison Provost Karl

Scholz said in addition to the inter-

est from students who last year

navigated through COVID-19 pro-

tocols, the university’s reputation

and standing was a factor in the re-

cord numbers, Wisconsin Public

Radio reported.

The school said in a release that

nearly 3,900 students, or about

46% of the freshman class, are

Wisconsin residents. That’s the

most in 20 years, Scholz said.

KRISTOPHER RADDER, THE BRATTLEBORO REFORMER/AP

People look out over the hillside on Hogback Mountain, in Marlboro, Vt., on Wednesday.

Mountaintop views 

THE CENSUS

$7.5M The cost of the expansion underway at Mount RoseSki Tahoe in Nevada, the largest capital improvement

project in the ski resort’s history. Resort officials say the expansion including anew high-speed chairlift in the Lakeview mountain zone near the Mount RoseHighway connecting Reno to Lake Tahoe is expected to be completed ahead ofthe 2022-23 winter season.

From The Associated Press

PAGE 12 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Sunday, October 3, 2021

MUSIC REVIEW

The concept of “Spanish Model” is as

intriguing as its billing by Elvis Cos-

tello & The Attractions is at least

somewhat misleading. That seems par

for the course for an album as playful — and

playfully subversive — as “Spanish Model,”

whose release date was pushed back from last

year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The 16-song album repurposes Costello and

the long-defunct Attractions’ 1978 debut re-

lease, the new wave-era rock classic “This

Year’s Model,” along with several other num-

bers recorded during the same period.

All the original instrumental tracks have been

remixed and all of Costello’s lead vocals have

been removed. His singing is replaced with new

vocals — all performed in Spanish — by Juanes,

Luis Fonsi, Oscar-winner Jorge Drexler, Menu-

do alum Draco Rosa, Jesse & Joy and other

artists from across the Latin-music world.

They hail from Argentina, Spain, the United

States and seven other countries in between.

Nearly all of them were born years, or even

decades, after “This Year’s Model” was re-

leased. But no matter.

Because all of the guest artists profess to be

No longer the “angry young man” of his earlyalbums, Elvis Costello, 66, has stepped backfor a fresh take on one of his greatest works.

Paul Moore

Elvis as a secondlanguageCostello reimagines 1978 classic ‘This Year’s Model’ in Spanish, with help fromJuanes, Luis Fonzi and more

BY GEORGE VARGA

The San Diego Union-Tribune

Various artists/

Elvis Costello & The AttractionsSpanish Model (UMe)

The original cover art for the UK version of“This Year’s Model.”

SEE ELVIS ON PAGE 13

Sunday, October 3, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 13

MUSIC REVIEWS

big fans of Costello, 66. His status as a true

musical renaissance man with an unusually

broad creative range has placed him in a

category all his own, as befits an artist whose

previous recording partners range from Burt

Bacharach, Loretta Lynn and Paul McCart-

ney to The Roots, Tony Bennett and Allen

Toussaint.

All of “Spanish Model’s” guest artists

jumped at the invitation from Costello and

producer Sebastian Krys — a 16-time Gram-

my and Latin Grammy Award-winner — to

be on the album. Some of the guests were not

remotely familiar with the original 43-year-

old album.

Each worked directly with Krys and Cos-

tello, who gave them carte blanche to in-

terpret these songs any way they wanted,

with just one caveat. They had to sing over

guitarist Costello and The Attractions’ fero-

cious original instrumental backing tracks.

Whether the resulting album earns him

and his former band a new coterie of fans in

Latin America, or here, remains to be deter-

mined. If not, it won’t be for a lack of effort,

including a six-part film documentary on the

making of “Spanish Model” that debuted last

month on YouTube.

Nearly all of the album’s guest artists have

solid track records. The lesser-known per-

formers, such as former Texas band Girl in a

Coma singer Nina Diaz, 33, and Chilean solo

artist Cami, 25, are accomplished vocalists.

Having Cami do “This Year’s Girl” —

whose acidic lyrics skewer vapid young wom-

en — provides an unexpected and compelling

twist. So does her decision to retitle the song

“La Chica De Hoy” (“Today’s Girl”) and to

make its subject more simpatico and multidi-

mensional than in the Costello original.

The similarly unkind to women “Little

Triggers” is performed here as “Detonantes”

by La Santa Cecilia band vocal powerhouse

Marisol “La Marisoul” Hernandez.

Her impassioned delivery and pinpoint

dynamic control elevate the song in a way its

creator surely could not have previously

imagined. And by seizing control of the song

and inverting its sexual politics through the

sheer power of her performance, Hernandez

sets off a whole new batch of triggers.

Equally potent, if far different in tone,

“Night Rally” is recast here by Jorge Drexler

as “La Turba.” One of Costello’s most power-

ful early political commentaries, it takes

direct aim at fascism and the fomentation of

hate.

Having the song performed by Drexler,

who grew up in Uruguay when that country

was ruled by a military dictatorship in the

1970s and ’80s, is a canny move. He infuses

the lyrics with a palpable depth of feeling —

born from firsthand experience — that adds

welcome new poignancy.

Costello does not speak Spanish, although

he surely could learn to if he wanted. This,

after all, is an artist who taught himself to

read and write music specifically so that he

could make an ambitious neo-chamber-music

album with a string quartet, 1993’s “The

Juliet Letters.”

To ensure that the lyrics from “This Year’s

Model” were adapted into Spanish as accu-

rately as possible, producer Krys brought in

such veteran songwriters as Ximena Munoz,

Elsten Torres, Luis Mitre, Andie Sandoval

and Mercedes Mígel “Vega” Carpio to hone

Costello’s famously crafty wordplay. Conspic-

uously missing is famed Puerto Rican tune-

smith and singer Elvis Crespo, whose ab-

sence robs “Spanish Model” of the opportuni-

ty to have one artist with the initials E.C.

salute another E.C.

For some listeners simply reading the

translated titles on “Spanish Model,” whether

literal or idiomatic, will inspire smiles. “(I

Don’t Want To Go To) Chelsea” appears here

as “(Yo No Quiero Ir A) Chelsea.” “Running

Out of Angels” is now “Se Esta Perdiendo La

Inocencia” (which translates as “We Are

Losing Innocence”), while “Lip Service” is

recast as “Mentira” (literally, “Lies,” which

is close enough).

As for “Pump It Up,” which is given an

energetic reading by Juanes (with Costello

singing on the chorus), its title remains un-

changed on “Spanish Model.” That may be,

perhaps, because neither “Bombalero” nor

“Para Activario” quite fits the bill or the

cadence.

On the snarling, turbo-charged “Radio,

Radio,” Argentine rock hero Fito Paez, 58,

pokes fun at his and Costello’s senior musical

statesman status in an age of streaming and

bedroom TikTok sensations.

“I don’t know what music turns you on / I’ll

go back to Elvis Costello on my radio,” Paez

sings, before concluding: “I want to hear this

song on the (expletive) radio, man!”

What longtime Costello fans will hear for

the first time is then-Clash guitarist Mick

Jones’ guitar part at the conclusion of “Span-

ish Model’s” revamped version of “Pump It

Up.” Jones’ contribution was cut from the

1978 original by Costello and The Attractions.

Ultimately, “Spanish Model” will sound

foreign and familiar to non-Spanish and

Spanish speakers alike. It could also prove

strangely appealing to anyone who was put

off by Costello’s sneering, sometimes proudly

abrasive vocals when “This Year’s Model”

came out in 1978.

Then again, part of the charm of Costello’s

early work was how gleefully he embraced

the “angry young man” persona that was

used to market him and such kindred spirits

as Graham Parker and The Clash’s Joe

Strummer.

That bile-filled persona reflected the anger,

frustration and alienation of the young Cos-

tello, who — early in his career — told an

interviewer “the only motivation points for

me writing all these songs are revenge and

guilt. Those are the only emotions I know

about, that I know I can feel ...”

Some of those feelings sound pretty much

the same in Spanish. Others sound markedly

different, especially when sung by women

artists who reject and subvert the sometimes

bitter sexual jealousy of lyrics Costello wrote

when he was 23.

The pivotal difference here is the singers

much more than the songs, which — musi-

cally speaking — remain instantly recog-

nizable. That’s a tribute to the impressive

durability of Costello’s writing and the for-

midable instrumental skills of The Attrac-

tions, whose drummer, Pete Thomas, is also

featured on Juanes’ latest album, “Origen.”

What is lost, or gained, in translation on

“Spanish Model” ultimately comes down to

the talents of the guest artist on each song

and their ability to make it their own.

Beyond the change in language, “Despaci-

to” singer Luis Fonsi doesn’t bring anything

notably different to “Tu Eres Para Mi” (“You

Belong To Me”). That is, very likely, because

he is overly deferential to Costello’s original,

while adapting a more polite tone that doesn’t

really suit the hard-biting lyrics. Ditto Col-

ombian pop band Morat’s by-the-numbers

version of “Lipstick Vogue.”

An intriguing misfire comes from Peruvian

vocal star Gian Marco and his daughter,

Nicole Zignago. Their unison singing on

“Crawling to the U.S.A.” is so upbeat and

peppy it sounds like a TV jingle for a minty

breath freshener on a song that unabashedly

addresses issues of immigration and cultural

assimilation.

This may be precisely the kind of musical

subversion that Costello — and, perhaps, a

new generation of Spanish-speaking or bi-

lingual hipsters — will welcome.

If so, multilingualism could breathe addi-

tional new life into some of this 2003 Rock &

Roll Hall of Fame inductee’s recent and vin-

tage work alike.

(“Spanish Model” follows the March re-

lease of “La Face de Pendule a Coucou,” a

six-track EP of songs from Costello’s 2020

album, “Hey Clockface,” newly performed in

French.)

Next up (well, maybe): A Latin version of

his 1982 masterpiece with The Attractions,

“Imperial Bedroom,” snappily retitled “Im-

perialis Cubiculum.”

Elvis: For many of these Spanish remakes,something is gained – not lost – in translationFROM PAGE 12

AP photos

Chilean singer Cami offers a more simpatico,multidimensional take on Elvis Costello’s1978 song “This Year’s Girl,” whose lyricsskewer vapid young women. Its new title is“La Chica De Hoy” (“Today’s Girl”).

Jorge Drexler, who grew up in Uruguay whenthat country was ruled by a dictatorship,brings more depth and poignancy to the political commentary of “Night Rally.”

Lil Nas X

Montero (Columbia)

Anyone able to count had to

acknowledge months ago that Lil

Nas X was no longer at risk of

being remembered as a one-hit

wonder. Anyone, that is, except

for Lil Nas X.

Two years after “Old Town

Road” vaulted him to instant

superstardom — and nearly six

months after he topped Bill-

board’s Hot 100 for a second time

with “Montero (Call Me By Your

Name)” — the singer, rapper and

internet savant has finally re-

leased his long-awaited full-

length debut, “Montero,” which

is all but certain to end up one of

2021’s biggest commercial suc-

cesses (and which also stands to

pick up multiple Grammy nomi-

nations in the weeks ahead).

Yet here he is in “One of Me,”

a mournful pop-rap song that

arrives halfway through this

15-track LP, still hearing the

voices of those who’d assumed —

not unreasonably! — that “Old

Town Road” would be the last

we’d hear of Lil Nas X: “You’s a

meme, you’s a joke / Been a gim-

mick from the go,” he croons,

somehow capturing both his

haters’ scorn and the damage it

inflicted. “All the things that you

do just to get your face to show.”

Elsewhere on the album he

licks even older wounds, as in

“Dead Right Now,” where he

recounts being told by his father

that his chances of making it

were “one in a million.”

What’s remarkable about these

songs is that although they clear-

ly land as a flex — would a

flame-out be able to get Elton

John on the keys as Lil Nas X did

for “One of Me”? — they don’t

feel like the 22-year-old born

Montero Hill is inviting us to

apologize for doubting him. Even

now, his anxiety seems genuine,

which of course is precisely the

reason he outlived the viral phe-

nomenon that spent a record-

setting 19 weeks at No. 1.

He’s framed the steps in his

unlikely journey — as a Black kid

trying to break into country mu-

sic, as a gay man making hip-hop

— in richly emotional terms,

which means his audience shares

in his triumphs while his detrac-

tors come off like scolds.

“Montero” strikes an impres-

sive balance between craft and

heart. Produced by a team of

young studio wizards led by the

duo Take a Daytrip, the album

might be the year’s most beauti-

fully constructed, with crisp

beats, vivid textures and hooks

nestled inside hooks (nestled

inside hooks).

— Mikael Wood

Los Angeles Times

PAGE 14 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Sunday, October 3, 2021

HOW FREE SHOULD WE BE?

Have you ever had one of those

days — that turned into weeks

— when you had approximate-

ly 645 things to do and not a

minute for leisure time?

Like many of us, Cassie Mogilner

Holmes sometimes feels like she lives in

that state. She also — and this will prob-

ably sound familiar — has entertained the

idea of trading all those obligations for a

desert island.

Instead, Holmes, a professor of market-

ing and behavioral decision-making at

UCLA’s Anderson School of Management,

decided to research whether extra free

time would actually make her happier. It

turns out that reclining alone on a beach

all day might not be as ideal as it sounds.

“To that initial question, shall we quit

everything and go live on a desert island,

the answer is no,” Holmes says. “We

would not be any happier.”

According to study results published

last month in the Journal of Personality

and Social Psychology, an individual’s

well-being increases in correlation with

their free time — but only to a certain

point. While having too little free time isn’t

healthy, having too much also diminishes

well-being.

“What we found is that a moderate

amount of free time or discretionary time

is kind of the sweet spot that people are

happiest with,” says lead author Marissa

Sharif, an assistant professor of marketing

at the Wharton School at the University of

Pennsylvania who collaborated on the new

study with Holmes and Hal E. Hershfield.

“Having a moderate amount of dis-

cretionary time leads people to be happier

than having a small amount, because it

relieves that time stress,” Sharif says.

“But perhaps the more interesting part is

that a moderate amount of discretionary

time leads people to be better off or hap-

pier compared to having a large amount of

free time. And that’s because with a large

amount of free time, people feel this lack-

ing sense of productivity and purpose.”

As Holmes puts it, “We, as humans,

don’t like to be idle.”

The researchers did not assign exact

numbers to the optimal amount of free

time per day. In general, it hovered

around two to five hours, Sharif says.

Those who had less than two hours experi-

enced stress around their tight schedules.

Once one’s daily free time exceeded five

hours, their well-being began to decline.

There were, however, exceptions: When

people with large amounts of free time

spent that time with others or felt like they

were passing the hours in a meaningful

way, they didn’t experience that same

drop in well-being.

The research is based on several data

sets, including from the Bureau of Labor

Statistics’ American Time Use Survey and

the Society for Human Resource Manage-

ment’s National Study of the Changing

Workforce. The researchers also conduct-

ed experiments in which they asked more

than 6,000 Americans to imagine having a

certain amount of free time every day for

at least six months, and to estimate how

much they would enjoy that time.

Selin Malkoc, an associate professor of

marketing at Ohio State, noted that the

findings might vary in countries “where

leisure is valued differently.” Americans

tend to be more obsessed with work than

people in other nations, she says.

Based on the results of the study, here

are a few tips from experts on how to

optimize your free time to increase your

sense of well-being.

If you feel like you have too much lei-

sure time:

Choose your optional activities wise-

ly. According to the new study, people who

spent their free time in “productive” ways,

such as developing new hobbies, lifting

weights, bowling or biking, experienced

optimal well-being. So, if you’re newly

retired or unemployed, and unsure what

to do with your suddenly empty days,

consider hitting the trails or, say, master-

ing a new language.

Fritz emphasizes that “productive”

means worthwhile or fulfilling, rather

than contributing to the greater good. “For

some people, it might be sitting on the

beach watching the waves, and for others,

it’s volunteering or renovating the house.”

Seek out other people. You’re more

likely to be happy if you spend some free

time engaged in social activities, the re-

search suggests. Activities that participa-

nts enjoyed sharing with others included

sports or playing billiards. When people

spend their free time together socially, the

study authors wrote, “more [free time] is

better.” As Sharif put it: “If you’re lucky

enough to have the opportunity to spend

that time with other people, that’s a great

way to not experience the drop-off” in

happiness that typically accompanies

copious amounts of leisure time.

Flip your perspective. Recent re-

search co-authored by Malkoc found that

viewing leisure time as wasteful under-

mines how much you enjoy it. People who

believed that free time was fundamentally

a waste were also more likely to be

stressed and anxious, she says. To shake

that attitude, she suggests focusing on the

higher end-goal of enjoying discretionary

time: It will improve your life. That might

mean telling yourself, “It will actually

make me a better person, a better parent,

a better friend,” she says. “Remind your-

self that everything serves a purpose,

including putting your feet up and reading

a book or doing nothing.”

If you feel like you have too little leisure

time:

Evaluate what’s most important to

you and what you can cut from your

schedule. Most of us could benefit from

pruning our schedules — but cramming

them full is often a reflex. Building in

leisure time requires establishing good

boundaries and a strong sense of prior-

ities, experts say. Make a list of things that

demand your time on the average day and

note which tasks could be outsourced or

scrapped. Malkoc suggests asking your-

self: “What is the busy work that we can

eliminate and replace with better things?”

Malkoc’s biggest piece of advice is to be

mindful and introspective about how you

use your time. “We need to know what

makes us happy and take a moment to

take stock of our activities, what we

choose to do and what really does contrib-

ute to happiness in our lives.”

Put your calendar away. Scheduling

takes the fun out of free time, says Gabrie-

la Tonietto, an assistant professor of mar-

keting at Rutgers Business School. Ac-

cording to her previous research, pencil-

ing in a date and time for leisure can make

it feel like a chore. It also decreases antici-

pation of that time. “Scheduled leisure is

less enjoyable than more spontaneous or

impromptu leisure,” Tonietto says. “It

makes it feel more like work once it’s on

your calendar. People start saying, ‘Well,

this is an obligation,’ as opposed to some-

thing that you want to do.” While some

scheduling is inevitable, “rough sched-

uling” is often best: Make loose plans to

meet someone for lunch or for a jog on a

Friday, for example, but don’t assign a

time until shortly beforehand. That’s one

way to leave room for spontaneity.

Focus on finding two hours. It can

feel impossible to steal even five minutes a

day for yourself. But two hours a day, the

minimum amount of time the study found

that people needed to feel less stressed, “is

actually quite feasible” for some people,

Holmes says. It doesn’t all have to come at

the same time — coffee breaks, short

walks and reading or watching TV count

toward your free time. “You don’t have to

quit everything,” she says. “The important

thing is that you carve out a couple hours

in your day, and that you’re spending it in

ways you want — not on obligations.”

iStock

Why having too much discretionary time can be as bad for you as having too little

BY ANGELA HAUPT

The Washington Post

LIFESTYLE

Sunday, October 3, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 15

CROSSWORD AND COMICS

NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD

NEW LOOK BY PETER GORDON / EDITED BY WILL SHORTZ

54 Body-shop fig.

55 Owing

56 Buddy of Buddy, maybe

58 What might whet an appetite

59 Taken down and put up elsewhere

63 Relative of cerulean

66 Scale for some judges

68 Possible reason for refusing to wear a tank top?

71 Worries about something

73 2018 crime biopic

74 ‘‘Potatoes done perfect’’ sloganeer

77 Shape of a doughnut

78 Shape of a canine ID tag, often

80 Fossil suffix

82 ‘‘Most miserable hour that ____ time saw’’: Lady Capulet

83 ‘‘Checkmate’’

85 Means of learning about Chiang Kai-shek?

91 Massachusetts’ College of Our Lady of the ____

92 Some post-pollution efforts

94 Become ticked off

95 Ready

96 Wielder of the hammer Mjölnir

98 Tools used by horologists

99 Inept dancers at Oktoberfest?

105 Express-line count

107 Mentor of 50 Cent

108 Valedictorian’s pride, in brief

109 Mag space seller

111 Smurf with a white beard

115 Dish at a traditional Bedouin wedding

116 New look provider . . . or a homophonic hint to this puzzle’s theme

119 Small hill

120 Poorly lit

121 Series of steps

122 Early R&B group for Missy Elliott

123 Stockpiles

124 Felt on the head?

DOWN

1 ‘‘2 Broke Girls’’ co-star Behrs

2 Bounce off the wall

3 Musk of SpaceX

4 Incendiary explosive

5 Big news to share in the biz world?

6 Company acquired by Allstate in 2011

7 Longtime first name in TV talk

8 Unpartitioned apartment

9 Clicking sounds?

10 Letter two after tau

11 ____ E (skin care brand)

12 Guacamole ingredient

13 Major exporter of nutmeg

14 ____ admin

15 ‘‘LOLOL’’

16 Big name in microwaves

17 Straight sides of sectors

18 Put up

19 Soccer superstar nicknamed ‘‘La Pulga’’ (‘‘The Flea’’)

24 Water (down)

29 The National Zoo’s Xiao Qi Ji, e.g.

31 Agitate

32 Hungarian herding breed

33 Figure on Italy’s 2,000-lira note before euros were introduced

34 Common viper

35 Free

36 People can’t lie under it

38 Actor who delivered the line ‘‘Nobody puts Baby in a corner’’

39 Word with power or brakes

42 GQ V.I.P.s

44 Best

45 ‘‘____: Vegas’’ (TV reboot of 2021)

46 Revolted

47 Treat for Mr. Owl

48 Seward Peninsula city

49 Verve

51 ‘‘There was no choice’’

53 Person with star power?

57 Triangular piece in a party bowlful

60 Rentals that might come with dolly carts

61 ‘‘Wrong!’’

62 Nickname for someone whose full name is a calendar month

64 Spur

65 Letter two before tau

67 Obie-winning playwright Will

69 Defamed, in a way

70 ‘‘Indeed’’

71 Reason to see an ophthalmologist

72 Pea-jacket material

75 Caterpillar competitor

76 Thomas Jefferson or John Tyler, by birth

79 Org. that bestows the Community Assist Award

81 Liberal-arts sch. major

84 Certain curtain

86 On the ____ (no longer friendly)

87 Overseas speed meas.

88 Go from here to there . . . like *that*

89 Quark’s place

90 ‘‘It’s my hunch . . .’’

93 Pithy saying

95 Dish whose yellow color comes from saffron

97 ‘‘Rude Boy’’ singer,

to fans

99 Divisions of bushels

100 Like the Mideast

exclave of Madha

101 Long rides?

102 Used a prayer rug,

say

103 Literally, ‘‘works’’

104 Pieces of work

106 Traditional rivals of

the N.C.A.A.’s ’Hoos

109 Church part

110 There are three of

them in a Morse ‘‘O’’

112 Passing through

D.C.?

113 USD : dollar :: MXN

: ____

114 Part of 79-Down:

Abbr.

116 Frequent C.D.C.

collaborator

117 ‘‘____ Way’’ (Kitty

Kelley biography of

Sinatra)

118 Opponent

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

221202

524232

92827262

33231303

04938373635343

948474645444342414

35251505

8575655545

59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67

079686

675747372717

281808978777

0998887868584838

49392919

89796959

60150140130120110100199

411311211111011901801701

811711611511

121021911

421321221

Peter Gordon is a puzzlemaker and editor from Great Neck, N.Y. He has been a puzzle editor for Games magazine, Sterling Publishing and the bygone New York Sun. Since 2010 he has edited Fireball Crosswords, a 45-times-a-year online-only super-challenger. One of Peter’s bugaboos as a constructor is partial phrases — multiword answers that would ordinarily require fill-in-the-blank clues (like ‘‘Getting ___ years’’ for ON IN). He hates them. You won’t find any of them here. — W.S.

ACROSS

1 Like the Rock vis-à-vis any of the Stones

8 Small doodles, perhaps

15 ____ pants

20 Surpass

21 Candy bar with an exclamation point in its name

22 To love, in Italian

23 Meticulous magical beings?

25 The land down under

26 Sharpen

27 Screams

28 Calendar column: Abbr.

29 Frenzied states

30 High-ranking figures, collectively

32 Like some cross-Caribbean flights?

34 Three-time Pro Bowl wide receiver in the New York Jets Ring of Honor

37 Biblical father of Eliphaz

40 CNN political correspondent Bash

41 Bushy-tailed rodents

43 Postseason tournament pick

46 ____ Reader (quarterly magazine)

50 Journals of a certain stunt performer?

52 Commuting arrangement

GUNSTON STREET

“Gunston Street” is drawn by Basil Zaviski. Email him at gunstonstreet@yahoo.com, and online at gunstonstreet.com.

RESULTS FOR ABOVE PUZZLE

BEEFIERLAPDOGSHAREM

ECLIPSEOHHENRYAMARE

THOROUGHFAIRIESHADES

HONERIOTSMONPANICS

BRASSPANAMAHAITI

ALTOONESAUDANA

DORMICEWILDCARDUTNE

DOUBLEDIARIESCARPOOL

ESTSHYFIDOAROMA

REHUNGAZUREONETOTEN

SHOULDERHAIRINESS

SWEATSITGOTTIOREIDA

TORUSBONEITEEER

YOULOSEBOOKSONTAIPEI

ELMSCLEANUPSGETSORE

PREPTHORLOUPES

POLKAIDIOTSITEMS

EMINEMGPAADREPPAPA

CAMELFRESHPAIROFEYES

KNOLLDARKISHPROCESS

SISTAAMASSESSTETSON

PAGE 16 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Sunday, October 3, 2021

GADGETS & TECHNOLOGY

The iconic Rubik’s Cube drove me nuts

during the time I had one. Fast forward a

few decades, and now I have Heykube, the

new generation technology-driven version

of the Rubik’s Cube. Much more fun and

much less frustrating.

Heykube is different because it’s smart.

The programmable six-sided, 3-by-3

smart cube puzzle does not require an

app, but there is the Heykube companion

app available for sharing with others and

watching tutorials.

Unlike most gadgets I try out, this one

forced me to read the directions. The way

it works is, players solve scrambles with

hints and different levels of difficulty,

which include quick solve, learn to solve,

and 16 patterns instantly ready to be

solved.

Heykube allows users to create, share

and solve their own algorithms via Python.

With a Raspberry Pi (not included), users

can access the HeyKube’s Python library

for controlling the lights and sounds in the

cubed smart toy.

Inside the Bluetooth-enabled Heykube

is a microprocessor, a long-lasting internal

battery and an included micro USB cable

that connects to the proprietary charging

adapter. The cube teaches you how to

solve it, which gives you a nice modern

technology advantage over the famous

’80s cubed toy.

Using it is the same as with the origi-

nal: turn the pieces up, down and side-

ways to get the puzzle solved. The outside

pieces rotate around the center one, which

determines the color for that side. At first,

it’s not that easy, though the tutorials and

the LEDs lend a helping hand. There are

tricks to know and learn, but solving it

does happen, and then the fun is trying to

solve it over and over. Sometimes the

solution was quick, but other times it

brought me the same frustration and de-

termination to persevere as the older

cube.

The lights on the center-piece rotate,

telling you the rotating direction. When

the sound changes, the mode has changed.

The

hints

can be

turned on or

off, making it

programmable to

a different level of

difficulty.

After a short time, the Hey-

kube gets to be obsessive and time-

consuming. Solving it once isn’t good

enough, neither is just a few times.

Online: heykube.com; $79.99

GADGETS

Heykube is a smart updateto the Rubik’s Cube puzzle

BY GREGG ELLMAN

Tribune News Service

Heykube is aprogrammablesix­sided, 3­by­3smart cube puzzle.

HEYKUBE/TNS

Your palm could soon be

your ticket into a con-

cert.

Amazon says it is

bringing its palm-recognition

technology to the Red Rocks

Amphitheatre in Denver and it

will be available at other venues

in the coming months. It’s the

first time the technology, called

Amazon One, will be used out-

side some of Amazon’s stores,

where shoppers can pay for gro-

ceries and snacks by swiping

their palms.

Starting Sept. 14, concertgoers

at Red Rocks can sign up to con-

nect their palm to a ticketing

account by hovering their hand

over a device. They only need to

sign up once and then can use

their palm to get into other shows

and events at the venue. An Ama-

zon account is not needed to use

it.

Amazon signed a deal with

entertainment company AEG to

bring the technology to Red

Rocks, which sells tickets on

AEG’s ticketing site, AXS.

Bryan Perez, CEO of AXS, said

other venues plan to add the

technology in the coming months

but he declined to say where or

how many. AEG partners with

more than 350 stadiums and

theaters around the world.

Concertgoers can get to their

seats faster with their palm than

holding up their phone to an

attendant to scan a bar code,

Perez said. Those who want to

scan their palms will have a

separate lane to enter.

“You don’t have to fumble

around with your phone,” said

Perez. “Your hand is always

attached to your body.”

Privacy experts have warned

against companies using bio-

metric data, such as face or palm

scans, because of the risk of it

being hacked and stolen. Amazon

said it keeps the palm images in a

secure part of its cloud and

doesn’t store the information on

the Amazon One device. Users

can also ask for their information

to be deleted at any time, Ama-

zon said.

A handier wayto gain accessAmazon brings palm-swiping techused in stores to concert facility

BY JOSEPH PISANI

Associated Press

ED ANDRIESKI/AP

Amazon says it is bringing its palm­recognition technology to Denver’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre, and it willsoon be available at other venues. It’s the first time the technology, called Amazon One, will be usedoutside of some of Amazon’s stores, where shoppers can pay for groceries by swiping their palms. 

Sunday, October 3, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 17

PAGE 18 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Sunday, October 3, 2021

Max D. Lederer Jr., Publisher

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OPINION

On Monday, Facebook announced

that it was halting work on its de-

velopment of “Instagram Kids,” a

version of its photo-sharing app

aimed at children under the age of 13. “While

we stand by the need to develop this experi-

ence,” Instagram head Adam Mosseri wrote

in a blog post, “we’ve decided to pause this pro-

ject.”

The news came on the heels of The Wall

Street Journal’s “Facebook Files” exposé,

which revealed, among other things, that the

company knew from its own research that the

Instagram app was uniquely and actively

harmful to teenage girls, contributing to body

image and mental health issues, eating disor-

ders and suicidal thoughts. In public and to

lawmakers, however, the company concealed

its findings and played down the problem. In-

ternally, it was still referring to children as a

“valuable but untapped” resource, seriously

debating whether it could “leverage play-

dates” to boost the company’s growth.

Critics of Facebook might be tempted to cel-

ebrate this pause as a win, but we shouldn’t. In-

stagram Kids will come back in some form or

another. Its top brass is already laying the

groundwork: “The reality is that kids are al-

ready online,” Mosseri wrote in that same blog

post, “and we believe that developing age-ap-

propriate experiences designed specifically

for them is far better for parents than where

we are today.”

The kids will sign on anyway. We might as

well let them. It’s inevitable.

Is it, though? The myth of Instagram’s inevi-

tably is just that — a myth. Our children don’t

have to be on social media. For that matter,

neither do we. Facebook does not, in fact, need

to continue to grow. We could make policy de-

cisions to stop it.

But to resist the myth of inevitability, we

will need to reevaluate some of our own unspo-

ken assumptions.

The general pushback toward seriously

regulating Facebook tends to go something

like this: It’s not the company’s fault. People

can just log off if they want to; just because

junk food is bad for us doesn’t mean we should

outlaw it.

Yet it’s not clear that we can so easily log off

—and, more important, it’s not clear whether

our children can. Most of us, at this point, are

quite familiar with the dopamine pleasure hits

Facebook has engineered into its platform —

the addictive quality, fine-tuned via algo-

rithm, that keeps us scrolling deep into the

night. And even if Facebook and its various

apps were somehow restricted to over-18s, or

over-13s (the bar slips ever lower), it’s not the

case that the degradation of our discourse, de-

mocracy and attention should be resisted only

on an individual basis.

The second claim is this: Facebook is a pri-

vate company. We should let companies grow

and innovate, as they do. If there weren’t a

market for Instagram, it would cease to exist.

But a company shouldn’t be allowed to grow

unchecked if it’s causing harm. And it’s now

evident that the harms of Facebook have be-

gun to outweigh the benefits of whatever it’s

selling. The companies it can be compared

with are those such as the tobacco makers R.J.

Reynolds and Philip Morris: businesses that,

in hindsight, we recognize as net negatives to

society. It’s understood that it was a bad idea to

wait until lung cancer was a full-blown prob-

lem to begin limiting those companies’

growth. For the sake of children and adults,

they should have been blocked, shrunk or oth-

erwise regulated down in size as soon as we

had hints about the dire consequences of using

their products. At this point, we’re in close to

the same situation with Facebook.

Companies such as Facebook use narra-

tives of inevitability to control. As the critic

L.M. Sacasas puts it, such myths “provide con-

venient cover for tech companies to secure

their desired ends, minimize resistance and

convince consumers that they are buying into

a necessary, if not necessarily desirable fu-

ture.”

They “have the effect of foreclosing thought

and deliberation,” he adds. “If outcomes are

inevitable, then there’s nothing to do but assi-

milate to this predetermined future, to go

along for the ride prepared for us whatever the

consequences.”

The success of these narratives relies on our

very American tendency not to question win-

ners, and not to criticize ambition or growth.

We want to apply individualist principles to all

areas of life, and we find it hard to accept limi-

tations imposed on a societal level, even if they

will ultimately make us better off.

But to push back against the myths of inevi-

tability — to help us help ourselves — we may

need to redevelop our appetite for restraint.

We should remember that nothing, not even

Facebook, is inevitable. There are still choices

to be made, if we choose to make them.

Facebook’s domination isn’t inevitableBY CHRISTINE EMBA

The Washington Post

Christine Emba is an opinion columnist and editor for TheWashington Post.

Critics of Facebookmight be tempted tocelebrate this pauseas a win, but weshouldn’t. InstagramKids will come backin some form oranother.

The U.S. unemployment rate was a

seasonally adjusted 5.2% in Au-

gust. In and around the country’s

biggest cities, unemployment was

much higher than that: 10.2% in New York

City, 10.1% in Los Angeles County and 8% in

the core of the Chicago metropolitan area.

A big part of what’s going on here is what

was described last month in a National Bu-

reau of Economic Research working paper

as the “urban and industry bias of remote

work.” That is, big, dense cities employ lots

of skilled knowledge workers. These people

have generally kept their jobs during the

pandemic, but most stopped going into the

office when COVID-19 arrived and many

have yet to return, with ill effects for the peo-

ple who used to serve them lunch, shine their

shoes, clean their suits, drive them around

and so on. As the authors put it:

“Many high-skill service workers started

to work remotely, withdrawing spending

from big-city consumer service industries

dependent on their demand. As a result, low-

skill service workers in big cities bore most

of the recent pandemic’s economic impact.”

This got me wondering what the pandem-

ic’s economic impact on the U.S. looks like if

you separate out the biggest cities. Are their

troubles weighing down the national num-

bers to an extent that it misrepresents what’s

going on elsewhere? The data that enable

such a calculation for unemployment rates

through August came out on Wednesday.

The numbers aren’t adjusted for seasonal

factors because the Bureau of Labor Statis-

tics only releases seasonally adjusted unem-

ployment-rate estimates for an odd and in-

consistent smattering of locales. The nation-

al unemployment rate was 5.3% in August

without the seasonal adjustment versus

5.2% with it, so it’s not a huge difference. The

data show a gap between the combined un-

employment rate of the New York, Los An-

geles and Chicago metropolitan areas and

that of the rest of the country that’s been

much bigger during the pandemic than at

any other time since 1990. Removing those

three metro areas from the picture delivers

an unemployment rate of 4.9%, less than the

5.3% national figure but not enough to dra-

matically revise one’s picture of the U.S.

economy.

Unemployment rates may not be the best

way to measure the impact, though. They

represent the estimated number of people

living an area who are actively looking for a

job divided by the number who are employ-

ed plus those who are actively looking.

Those who have stopped looking for a job, or

left the area, don’t show up in the calcula-

tion.

Those factors are, however, reflected in

changes in nonfarm payroll employment.

Other big metro areas with lots of high-skill

knowledge workers, such as San Francisco

and Boston, don’t have unemployment rates

nearly as high as New York’s or Los Ange-

les’s but have nonetheless seen big payroll

job losses. I added up the numbers for the

seven metro areas that have shed more than

150,000 jobs since February 2000 and the re-

sult was pretty striking.

These seven metropolitan areas — New

York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco,

Boston, Washington and Philadelphia — ac-

counted for 21.6% of U.S. payroll jobs in Feb-

ruary 2020 and 25.1% of the job losses in the

first two months of the pandemic. Now

they’re responsible for 44.8% of the pandem-

ic jobs deficit.

Nationally, payroll employment is down

3.5% since the beginning of the pandemic. In

the seven metros employment is down 7.3%

— still worse than the 6.3% national decline

during the Great Recession. In the rest of the

country it’s down 2.5%, still short of a full re-

covery but getting pretty close. The pan-

demic jobs deficit isn’t just a big-city thing,

but it’s starting to look as if it may soon be

mostly a big-city thing.

Big cities are holding back US jobs recoveryBY JUSTIN FOX

Bloomberg Opinion

Justin Fox is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering business.He was the editorial director of Harvard Business Review andwrote for Time, Fortune and American Banker. He is the authorof “The Myth of the Rational Market.” This column does notnecessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board orBloomberg LP and its owners.

Sunday, October 3, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 19

SCOREBOARD

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Friday’s scoresEAST

Dartmouth 31, Penn 7Iowa 51, Maryland 14S. Connecticut 23, American Internation-

al 7SOUTHWEST

Houston 45, Tulsa 10FAR WESTBYU 34, Utah St. 20

NFL

AMERICAN CONFERENCE

East

W L T Pct PF PA

Buffalo 2 1 0 .667 94 44

Miami 1 2 0 .333 45 82

New England 1 2 0 .333 54 51

N.Y. Jets 0 3 0 .000 20 70

South

W L T Pct PF PA

Tennessee 2 1 0 .667 71 84

Houston 1 2 0 .333 67 76

Indianapolis 0 3 0 .000 56 80

Jacksonville 0 4 0 .000 74 115

North

W L T Pct PF PA

Cincinnati 3 1 0 .750 92 75

Baltimore 2 1 0 .667 82 85

Cleveland 2 1 0 .667 86 60

Pittsburgh 1 2 0 .333 50 66

West

W L T Pct PF PA

Denver 3 0 0 1.000 76 26

Las Vegas 3 0 0 1.000 90 72

L.A. Chargers 2 1 0 .667 67 60

Kansas City 1 2 0 .333 92 95

NATIONAL CONFERENCE

East

W L T Pct PF PA

Dallas 2 1 0 .667 90 69

Philadelphia 1 2 0 .333 64 64

Washington 1 2 0 .333 67 92

N.Y. Giants 0 3 0 .000 56 74

South

W L T Pct PF PA

Carolina 3 0 0 1.000 69 30

New Orleans 2 1 0 .667 73 42

Tampa Bay 2 1 0 .667 103 88

Atlanta 1 2 0 .333 48 94

North

W L T Pct PF PA

Green Bay 2 1 0 .667 68 83

Chicago 1 2 0 .333 40 77

Minnesota 1 2 0 .333 87 78

Detroit 0 3 0 .000 67 95

West

W L T Pct PF PA

Arizona 3 0 0 1.000 103 65

L.A. Rams 3 0 0 1.000 95 62

San Francisco 2 1 0 .667 86 74

Seattle 1 2 0 .333 75 79

Thursday’s game

Cincinnati 24, Jacksonville 21

Sunday’s games

Carolina at Dallas Cleveland at Minnesota Detroit at Chicago Houston at Buffalo Indianapolis at Miami Kansas City at Philadelphia N.Y. Giants at New Orleans Tennessee at N.Y. Jets Washington at Atlanta Arizona at L.A. Rams Seattle at San Francisco Baltimore at Denver Pittsburgh at Green Bay Tampa Bay at New England

Monday’s game

Las Vegas at L.A. Chargers

NFL injury reportNEW YORK — The National Football

League injury report, as provided by theleague (DNP: did not practice; LIMITED:limited participation; FULL: Full participa-tion):

SUNDAYARIZONA CARDINALS at LOS ANGELES

RAMS — ARIZONA: OUT: RB Eno Benjamin(hamstring). QUESTIONABLE: T KelvinBeachum (ribs), T Justin Murray (back), GJustin Pugh (back). FULL: WR DeAndreHopkins (ribs). LOS ANGELES RAMS: QUES-TIONABLE: WR Tutu Atwell (illness), RBDarrell Henderson (ribs). DNP: WR DeSeanJackson (not injury related - resting play-er). FULL: DT Aaron Donald (not injury re-lated - resting player), LB Leonard Floyd(ankle), LB Terrell Lewis (not injury related- resting player), CB Robert Rochell (ill-ness), T Andrew Whitworth (not injury re-lated - resting player).

BALTIMORE RAVENS at DENVER BRON-COS — BALTIMORE: OUT: T Ronnie Stanley(ankle), DE Derek Wolfe (back, hip). QUES-TIONABLE: CB Anthony Averett (ankle), SChuck Clark (hip), S DeShon Elliott (qua-dricep), CB Marlon Humphrey (knee), QBLamar Jackson (back), LB Pernell McPhee(shoulder), S Geno Stone (thigh), T Alejan-dro Villanueva (knee), CB Tavon Young(knee). DNP: DE Calais Campbell (not inju-ry related - resting player), LB Justin Hous-ton (not injury related - resting player).DENVER: OUT: G Graham Glasgow (knee).QUESTIONABLE: LB Baron Browning(back), RB Melvin Gordon (ribs, lower leg),DE Shelby Harris (wrist, illness), DE Dre-’Mont Jones (calf), LB Andre Mintze(hamstring), G Dalton Risner (ankle).FULL: DT Mike Purcell (knee), LB MalikReed (ankle, thumb), LB Justin Strnad(hand).

CAROLINA PANTHERS AT DALLAS COW-BOYS — CAROLINA: OUT: RB ChristianMcCaffrey (hamstring). DOUBTFUL: DE Ye-tur Gross-Matos (ankle). QUESTIONABLE:G John Miller (shoulder). DNP: WR ShiSmith (not injury related - personal mat-ter). LIMITED: DT Phil Hoskins (not injuryrelated - personal matter). FULL: T Cam-eron Erving (knee), CB C.J. Henderson(groin), WR Terrace Marshall (thumb), LBShaq Thompson (back). DALLAS: OUT: DEDorance Armstrong (ankle), T Ty Nsekhe(illness), DE Carlos Watkins (knee), S Do-novan Wilson (groin). QUESTIONABLE: DERandy Gregory (knee). FULL: RB Tony Pol-lard (not injury related - personal matter).

CLEVELAND BROWNS at MINNESOTAVIKINGS — CLEVELAND: OUT: T Christoph-er Hubbard (triceps), CB Greg Newsome(calf). QUESTIONABLE: LB Sione Takitaki(hamstring), C J.C. Tretter (knee), T JedrickWills (ankle). LIMITED: T Jack Conklin

(knee). FULL: WR Odell Beckham (shoul-der), DE Jadeveon Clowney (neck). MINNE-SOTA: OUT: WR Ihmir Smith-Marsette(toe). QUESTIONABLE: LB Anthony Barr(knee), CB Kris Boyd (hamstring), RB Dal-vin Cook (ankle), DT Michael Pierce (el-bow, shoulder). FULL: CB Mackensie Alex-ander (not injury related - personal mat-ter), CB Bashaud Breeland (illness), TE Tyl-er Conklin (glute, elbow), T ChristianDarrisaw (groin), TE Ben Ellefson (neck),CB Harrison Hand (hamstring), K Greg Jo-seph (right hip), LB Eric Kendricks (hip), SXavier Woods (hamstring).

DETROIT LIONS at CHICAGO BEARS — DE-TROIT: OUT: LB Trey Flowers (shoulder,knee). QUESTIONABLE: DE Michael Brock-ers (shoulder), LB Romeo Okwara (shoul-der), RB D’Andre Swift (groin). CHICAGO:OUT: LB Joel Iyiegbuniwe (hamstring).DOUBTFUL: S Tashaun Gipson (hamstr-ing). QUESTIONABLE: CB Xavier Crawford(back), QB Andy Dalton (knee), LB KhalilMack (foot), WR Darnell Mooney (groin).FULL: QB Justin Fields (right thumb), DTEddie Goldman (knee), TE Jimmy Graham(not injury related - resting player), TEJesse James (not injury related - personalmatter).

HOUSTON TEXANS AT BUFFALO BILLS —HOUSTON: OUT: WR Danny Amendola(thigh), RB Scottie Phillips (illness), QBDeshaun Watson (not injury related - per-sonal matter). QUESTIONABLE: CB Ter-rance Mitchell (concussion, illness), LBGarret Wallow (illness). FULL: C Justin Britt(thigh), LB Kamu Grugier-Hill (knee), S Jus-tin Reid (knee). BUFFALO: OUT: G Jon Fel-iciano (concussion), S Jordan Poyer (an-kle). QUESTIONABLE: CB Taron Johnson(groin), DE Efe Obada (ankle). DNP: WRStefon Diggs (not injury related - restingplayer), DE Jerry Hughes (not injury relat-ed - resting player). FULL: S Micah Hyde(quadricep).

INDIANAPOLIS COLTS at MIAMI DOL-PHINS — INDIANAPOLIS: OUT: G QuentonNelson (ankle, knee), DE Kwity Paye(hamstring), T Braden Smith (foot,thumb), S Khari Willis (ankle, groin), CBRock Ya-Sin (ankle). QUESTIONABLE: TEJack Doyle (back), G Mark Glowinski(knee), RB Jonathan Taylor (knee), QB Car-son Wentz (ankles). LIMITED: LB Darius Le-onard (ankle). FULL: T Eric Fisher (not in-jury related - resting player), DT AntwaunWoods (back). MIAMI: OUT: C Michael Dei-ter (foot, quadricep). FULL: LB Jerome Bak-er (hamstring), WR Will Fuller (chest, el-bow), CB Xavien Howard (shoulder), SBrandon Jones (ankle), WR DeVante Park-er (shoulder).

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS at PHILADELPHIAEAGLES — KANSAS CITY: OUT: CB RashadFenton (concussion). QUESTIONABLE: DEFrank Clark (hamstring), CB CharvariusWard (quadricep). FULL: T Orlando Brown(groin), WR Mecole Hardman (hip), WR Ty-reek Hill (rib), DE Chris Jones (wrist), CBChris Lammons (biceps), DT Derrick Nnadi(elbow), WR Demarcus Robinson (knee),CB L’Jarius Sneed (quadricep). PHILADEL-PHIA: OUT: T Jordan Mailata (knee). FULL:G Landon Dickerson (hip), S Marcus Epps(shoulder), T Lane Johnson (ankle), C Ja-son Kelce (foot, not injury related - restingplayer), S Rodney McLeod (knee), LB Da-vion Taylor (calf).

NEW YORK GIANTS at NEW ORLEANSSAINTS — NEW YORK GIANTS: OUT: G BenBredeson (hand), WR Sterling Shepard(hamstring), WR Darius Slayton (hamstr-ing). QUESTIONABLE: CB Keion Crossen(elbow), LB Tae Crowder (hamstring), SNate Ebner (quadricep), TE Kaden Smith

(knee). LIMITED: RB Saquon Barkley(knee), RB Cullen Gillaspia (ankle), WRKenny Golladay (hip), LS Casey Kreiter(knee), S Logan Ryan (hamstring). NEWORLEANS: OUT: T Terron Armstead (el-bow), C Erik McCoy (calf). FULL: LB Dema-rio Davis (not injury related - personalmatter), CB Marshon Lattimore (hand), QBJameis Winston (knee).

PITTSBURGH STEELERS at GREEN BAYPACKERS — PITTSBURGH: OUT: T RashaadCoward (ankle), DT Carlos Davis (knee), TChukwuma Okorafor (concussion). QUES-TIONABLE: WR Chase Claypool (hamstr-ing). FULL: LB Alex Highsmith (groin), WRDiontae Johnson (knee), QB Ben Roethlis-berger (pectoral), WR JuJu Smith-Schus-ter (ribs), LB T.J. Watt (groin). GREEN BAY:OUT: WR Marquez Valdes-Scantling(hamstring). DOUBTFUL: G Elgton Jenkins(ankle), CB Kevin King (concussion).QUESTIONABLE: LB Krys Barnes (concus-sion), DT Jack Heflin (ankle), S VernonScott (hamstring). LIMITED: RB A.J. Dillon(back), RB Aaron Jones (ankle). FULL: CJosh Myers (finger).

SEATTLE SEAHAWKS at SAN FRANCISCO49ERS — SEATTLE: OUT: RB Rashaad Penny(calf), T Brandon Shell (ankle). DOUBTFUL:WR D’Wayne Eskridge (concussion).QUESTIONABLE: WR Tyler Lockett (hip), LBBenson Mayowa (neck), DE Alton Robin-son (knee). SAN FRANCISCO: OUT: CBK’Waun Williams (calf). DOUBTFUL: CBJosh Norman (chest). QUESTIONABLE: DTJavon Kinlaw (knee), TE George Kittle(calf), RB Elijah Mitchell (shoulder). FULL:DE Arik Armstead (adductor), DE Nick Bo-sa (not injury related - resting player).

TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS at NEW EN-GLAND PATRIOTS — TAMPA BAY: OUT: RBGiovani Bernard (knee), CB Jamel Dean(knee). DOUBTFUL: DOUBTFUL TE RobGronkowski (ribs). QUESTIONABLE: LB Ja-son Pierre-Paul (shoulder, hand). DNP:Ndamukong Suh (not injury related - rest-ing player). FULL: CB Carlton Davis (abdo-men, ribs), WR Chris Godwin (thumb), DTSteve McLendon (not injury related - rest-ing player), WR Jaydon Mickens (abdo-men). NEW ENGLAND: OUT: RB JamesWhite (hip). QUESTIONABLE: LB Ja’WhaunBentley (shoulder), T Trenton Brown(calf), S Kyle Dugger (hamstring), K NickFolk (left knee), CB J.C. Jackson (knee), LBJosh Uche (back), LB Kyle Van Noy (groin),T Isaiah Wynn (knee).

TENNESSEE TITANS at NEW YORK JETS —TENNESSEE: OUT: WR A.J. Brown (hamstr-ing), LB Bud Dupree (knee), CB Caleb Far-ley (shoulder), WR Julio Jones (hamstr-ing), P Brett Kern (right groin), DT LarrellMurchison (elbow). LIMITED: RB JeremyMcNichols (hamstring), G Rodger Saffold(shoulder), DT Teair Tart (shoulder). FULL:LB Jayon Brown (hamstring), TE AnthonyFirkser (knee), CB Kristian Fulton (ankle),RB Derrick Henry (not injury related - rest-ing player), T Taylor Lewan (toe). NEWYORK JETS: OUT: S Marcus Maye (ankle),WR Elijah Moore (concussion), WR JeffSmith (concussion). QUESTIONABLE: WRJamison Crowder (groin), TE Tyler Kroft(rib), RB La’Mical Perine (illness).

WASHINGTON FOOTBALL TEAM at AT-LANTA FALCONS — WASHINGTON: OUT:CB Benjamin St-Juste (concussion). QUES-TIONABLE: RB Antonio Gibson (shin), DTMatt Ioannidis (knee). FULL: T Charles Le-no (not injury related - resting player), GBrandon Scherff (chest). ATLANTA: OUT:DT Marlon Davidson (ankle), WR RussellGage (ankle). FULL: WR Frank Darby (calf),G Colby Gossett (illness), S Erik Harris(back), CB A.J. Terrell (concussion).

PRO FOOTBALL

MILWAUKEE BREWERS — Optioned RHPMiguel Sanchez to Nashville (Triple-AEast). Reinstated RHP Hunter Stricklandfrom the paternity list.

PITTSBURGH PIRATES — Recalled RHPShea Spitzbarth from Indianapolis (Tri-ple-A East). Optioned RHP Miguel Yajureto Indianapolis.

ST. LOUIS CARDINALS — Agreed to termswith RHP Adam Wainwright on a one-yearcontract for 2022.

SAN DIEGO PADRES — Selected the con-tract of RHP Pedro Avila from El Paso (Tri-ple-A West). Optioned RHP Shaun Ander-son to El Paso. Transferred C Austin Nolafrom the 10-day to the 60-day IL.

SAN FRANCISO GIANTS — Placed LHPScott Kazmir on the 10-day IL. RecalledLHP Sammy Long from Sacramento (Tri-ple-A West).

FOOTBALLNational Football League

CLEVELAND BROWNS — Placed WR Ja-’Marcus Bradley on the practice squad in-jured reserve.

CINCINNATI BENGALS — Returned GKeaton Sutherland to the practice squadfrom the reserve/COVID-19 list.

DETROIT LIONS — Claimed DL Eric Banksoff waivers from Los Angeles Chargers.

HOUSTON TEXANS — Placed LB ZachCunningham and DL Ross Blacklock on thereserve/COVID-19 list.

LOS ANGELES CHARGERS — Signed DLJoe Gaziano to the active roster.

MIAMI DOLPHINS — Placed OL MichaelDeiter on injured reserve.

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS — Placed RBJames White on injured reserve.

TENNESSEE TITANS — Promoted OLBSharif French and DL Woodrow Hamiltonfrom the practice squad to the active ros-ter. Placed DL Larrell Murchison on injuredreserve.

WASHINGTON FOOTBALL TEAM — Acti-vated WR Curtis Samuel from injured re-serve.

HOCKEYNational Hockey League

ARIZONA COYOTES — Assigned Ds DysinMayo and Cam Dineen, C Blake Spears andF Hudson Fasching to Tucson (AHL).

BOSTON BRUINS — Assigned G CallumBooth to Providence (AHL).

CALGARY FLAMES — Assigned D ColtonPoolman and C Luke Philp to Stockton(AHL).

COLORADO AVALANCHE — Assigned GHunter Miskato to Colorado (AHL). WaivedG Alex Lyon.

COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS — Assigned GCameron Johnson to Cleveland (AHL).

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS — Signed C Col-ton Dach to a three-year, entry-level con-tract.

DALLAS STARS — Waived D Ben Gleasonand C Joel L’Esperance.

FLORIDA PANTHERS — Waived C ZacDalpe, D Noah Juulsen and G Sam Montem-beault.

MINNESOTA WILD — Assigned Ds KevinCzuczman, Joe Hicketts, Dakota Mermin,Fs Mason Shaw, Will Bitten and Cs DominicTurgion and Joseph Cramarossa to IowaWild (AHL). Assigned D Fedor Gordeev toIowa Heartlanders (ECHL).

MONTREAL CANADIENS — Assigned DsXavier Ouellet and Louie Belpedio to Laval(AHL).

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS — Waived DTaylor Fedun.

NEW YORK RANGERS — Assigned Fs An-thony Greco, Jonny Brodzinski, Ty Ron-ning, Tim Gettinger, D Anthony Bitetto andG Keith Kinkaid to Hartford (AHL).

SAN JOSE SHARKS — Waived Fs JaydenHalbgewachs, Nick Merkley, C Joel Kell-man and D Jaycob Megna.

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS — Signed CBraeden Kressler to a three-year entry-level contract.

VANCOUVER CANUCKS — Re-signed CElias Pettersson to a three-year contract.Agreed to terms with D Quinn Hughes on asix-year contract extension.

SOCCERMajor League Soccer

PORTLAND TIMBERS — Loaned M BlakeBodily to San Diego (USL).

Friday’s transactionsBASEBALL

Major League BaseballAmerican League

BALTIMORE ORIOLES — Recalled RHPIsaac Mattson from Norfolk (Triple-AEast). Optioned LHP Alexander Wells toNorfolk.

CHICAGO WHITE SOX — Reinstated RHPRyan Tepera from the 10-day IL. Designat-ed RHP Mike Wright for assignment.

CLEVELAND INDIANS — Recalled RHPJames Karinchak from Columbus (Triple-AEast). Placed 2B Owen Miller on the be-reavement list.

KANSAS CITY ROYALS — Optioned RHPTyler Zuber to Omaha (Triple-A East). Re-called C Sebastian Rivero from Omaha.

OAKLAND ATHLETICS — Placed INF Vi-mael Machin on the 10-day IL. Selected INFPete Kozma from Las Vegas and agreed toterms on a major league contract.

National LeagueATLANTA BRAVES — Selected the con-

tract of RHP Spencer Strider from Gwin-nett (Triple-A East) and agreed to termson a major league contract. Optioned LHPSean Newcomb to Gwinnett. Placed RHPEdgar Santana on the 10-day IL, retroac-tive to Sept. 28. Recalled LHP Dylan Leefrom Gwinnett.

CHICAGO CUBS — Selected the con-tracts of CF Johneshwy Fargas and SS Tyl-er Ladendorf from Iowa (Triple-A East).Recalled RHP Cory Abbott from Iowa.Placed RF Nick Martin and 2B David Boteon the 10-day IL. Placed 2B Nico Hoerneron the 10-day IL, retroactive to Sept. 28.

MIAMI MARLINS — Designated 3B JoePanik and RHP Luis Madero for assign-ment. Placed RF Jesus Sanchez and RHPEdward Cabrera on the 10-day IL. Trans-ferred 3B Jon Berti from the 10-day IL to the60-day IL. Recalled LF Brian Miller fromJacksonville (Triple-A East). Selected thecontracts of 3B Deven Marrero and RHPsPreston Guilmet and Andrew Bellatti fromJacksonville.

DEALS

PRO SOCCER

MLS

EASTERN CONFERENCE

W L T Pts GF GA

New England 20 4 5 65 57 34

Nashville 11 3 13 46 46 26

D.C. United 12 11 4 40 48 39

NYCFC 11 10 6 39 44 32

Philadelphia 10 7 9 39 33 26

Atlanta 10 8 9 39 36 31

Orlando City 10 8 9 39 39 40

CF Montréal 10 10 7 37 38 36

Columbus 9 11 7 34 32 36

Inter Miami CF 9 12 5 32 25 41

New York 8 11 7 31 32 30

Chicago 7 15 6 27 28 43

Toronto FC 5 15 7 22 31 53

Cincinnati 4 14 8 20 28 51

WESTERN CONFERENCE

W L T Pts GF GA

Seattle 15 5 6 51 41 22

Sporting KC 14 6 7 49 47 29

Colorado 13 4 9 48 38 24

Portland 13 10 4 43 44 44

Real Salt Lake 11 10 6 39 44 42

LA Galaxy 11 11 5 38 38 44

Minnesota 10 9 7 37 30 32

Vancouver 8 8 10 34 31 34

LAFC 9 12 6 33 39 40

San Jose 8 10 9 33 35 41

FC Dallas 6 13 9 27 39 47

Houston 5 11 12 27 31 41

Austin FC 6 17 4 22 27 43

Note: Three points for victory, one pointfor tie.

Saturday’s games

Real Salt Lake at Austin FC Atlanta at CF Montréal D.C. United at Orlando City New York at Cincinnati Minnesota at FC Dallas San Jose at Vancouver

Sunday’s games

Nashville at New York City FC Columbus at Philadelphia Chicago at Toronto FC Houston at Sporting Kansas City Miami at Portland Los Angeles FC at LA Galaxy Colorado at Seattle

NWSL

W L T Pts GF GA

Portland 12 5 2 38 29 13

Reign FC 11 7 2 35 30 19

North Carolina 8 6 5 29 23 13

Chicago 8 7 5 29 22 24

Orlando 7 6 7 28 24 24

Washington 7 7 5 26 21 25

Houston 7 7 5 26 24 23

Gotham FC 6 5 7 25 20 16

Louisville 4 10 5 17 15 31

Kansas City 2 12 5 11 10 30

Note: Three points for victory, one pointfor tie.

Friday’s games

Washington at North Carolina ppd. Gotham FC at Louisville ppd.

Saturday’s games

Orlando at Chicago ppd. Houston at Kansas City ppd. Reign FC at Portland ppd.

Wednesday, Oct. 6

Louisville at North CarolinaWashington at Gotham FCHouston at Portland

PRO BASKETBALL

WNBA playoffsSemifinals

(Best-of-five)No. 6 Chicago 1, No. 1 Connecticut 1

Chicago 101, Connecticut 95, 2OTConnecticut 79, Chicago 68Sunday: Connecticut at ChicagoWednesday: Connecticut at Chicagox-Friday: Chicago at Connecticut

No. 2 Las Vegas 1, No. 5 Phoenix 1Las Vegas 96, Phoenix 90Phoenix 117, Las Vegas 91Sunday: Las Vegas at PhoenixWednesday: Las Vegas at Phoenixx-Friday: Phoenix at Las Vegas

Finals(Best-of-five)

Game 1: Sunday, Oct. 10Game 2: Wednesday, Oct. 13Game 3: Friday, Oct. 15x-Game 4: Sunday, Oct 17x-Game 5: Tuesday, Oct. 19

GOLF

Sanderson Farms ChampionshipPGA Tour

FridayAt Country Club of Jackson

Jackson, Miss.Purse $7 million

Yardage: 7,461; Par: 72Second Round

Will Zalatoris 70-61—131 -13 Nick Watney 65-66—131 -13 Sahith Theegala 64-67—131 -13 Cameron Young 67-65—132 -12 Hayden Buckley 67-65—132 -12 Roger Sloan 66-67—133 -11 Aaron Wise 68-66—134 -10 Stephan Jaeger 68-66—134 -10 Henrik Norlander 68-66—134 -10Sam Burns 68-66—134 -10 Denny McCarthy 69-65—134 -10 Kurt Kitayama 66-68—134 -10

ShopRite ClassicLPGA Tour

FridayAt Seaview, Bay Course

Galloway, N.J.Purse: $1.75 million

Yardage: 6,190; Par: 71First Round

Jodi Ewart Shadoff 33-32—65 -6So Yeon Ryu 32-33—65 -6Jin Young Ko 34-32—66 -5Celine Boutier 34-32—66 -5Amy Olson 33-33—66 -5Paula Reto 35-31—66 -5Matilda Castren 32-34—66 -5Brooke M. Henderson 36-30—66 -5Inbee Park 34-32—66 -5Nanna Koerstz Madsen 35-31—66 -5Liz Nagel 35-32—67 -4Ashleigh Buhai 34-33—67 -4Leona Maguire 34-33—67 -4Yuka Saso 33-34—67 -4

PAGE 20 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Sunday, October 3, 2021

SPORTS BRIEFS/NASCAR

National  Women’s  Soccer

League Commissioner Lisa Baird

resigned after some 19 months on

the job amid allegations that a for­

mer coach engaged in sexual ha­

rassment and misconduct. 

Baird’s  resignation  was  an­

nounced by the league late Friday,

a day after The Athletic published

the accounts of two former play­

ers who claimed misconduct, in­

cluding sexual coercion, by North

Carolina coach Paul Riley. 

Riley was fired by the Courage

on Thursday and  the allegations

touched off a wave of condemna­

tion  by  players  that  forced  this

weekend’s games to be called off.

Additionally,  FIFA  on  Friday

opened  an  investigation  into  the

case. It is rare that soccer’s inter­

national governing body gets  in­

volved in a controversy involving

amember association. U.S. Soccer

also  announced  an  independent

investigation on Friday.

U.S. Soccer was instrumental in

founding  the NWSL  in 2013 and

helped  support  the  league  until

last  year,  when  it  became  inde­

pendent. The federation continues

its financial support of the league.

“Player safety and respect is the

paramount responsibility of every

person involved in this game. That

is true across every age, competi­

tion and ability level,” U.S. Soccer

President  Cindy  Cone  said  in  a

statement. “We owe it to each ath­

lete, each fan and the entire soccer

community  to  take  every  mea­

ningful action in our power to en­

sure  nothing  like  this  ever  hap­

pens again.”

U.S. Soccer  suspended Riley’s

coaching  license  Thursday  after

The Athletic published claims of

abuse  made  by  former  NWSL

players Sinead Farrelly and Mana

Shim.

FIFA told The Associated Press

it was “deeply concerned” by the

case and will now be seeking fur­

ther details from American soccer

authorities  about  the  issues

raised.

Riley told The Athletic the alle­

gations  were  “completely  un­

true.”

Zalatoris fires 61, shares

Sanderson Farms leadJACKSON, Miss. — Will Zalato­

ris felt like he couldn’t miss on the

green and rarely did Friday in set­

ting the course record with an 11­

under  61  to  share  the  lead  with

Nick Watney and Sahith Theegala

in  the  Sanderson  Farms  Cham­

pionship.

Zalatoris, voted the PGA Tour

rookie of the year despite not hav­

ing full status  last year, made it

look so simple at the Country Club

of Jackson that his longest putt for

par was 3 feet.

One of the poorer shots he hit

was on the par­5 third hole after

making  the  turn. He hit  a weak

fade into a bunker some 30 yards

away  and  blasted  out  to  3  feet,

turning a difficult shot into yet an­

other birdie.

Watney,  coming  off  his  worst

season in a decade, backed up a

solid  start  with  another  good

round. He opened with four bird­

ies in six holes and dropped only

one shot on his way to a 66.

Theegala also held his own after

opening with a 64, new territory

for the California rookie in just his

second start as a PGA Tour mem­

ber. He chipped in for eagle on the

par­5 third hole to right back in the

mix. Theegala finished with a 30­

foot birdie putt for a 67.

They  were  at  13­under 131  in

what figures to be a week of low

scoring.

Wainwright, Cardinals

agree on deal for 2022ST.  LOUIS  —  Longtime  St.

Louis ace Adam Wainwright will

return next season,  the club an­

nounced  five  days  ahead  of  his

next big start for the Cardinals.

The  40­year­old  Wainwright

and the Cardinals reached agree­

ment on a one­year contract  for

2022, the team said before Friday

night’s game against the Chicago

Cubs.  Financial  terms  were  not

disclosed.

Wainwright  is  set  to  pitch

Wednesday night in the NL wild­

card game, on the road against ei­

ther the Los Angeles Dodgers or

San Francisco Giants. He is 17­7

with a 3.05 ERA.

The  three­time  All­Star  will

spend his 18th year with the Cardi­

nals in 2022, tying Hall of Famer

Jesse Haines for the most years as

a pitcher with the team.

Wainwright  is  184­105  with  a

3.35  ERA  in  425  games,  358  of

them  starts,  while  spending  his

entire career with the Cardinals.

In other baseball news:

The  Los  Angeles  Dodgers

took a big blow before they even

began  a  postseason  defense  of

their World Series championship.

Ace Clayton Kershaw exited his

start with left forearm discomfort

in  the second  inning against  the

Milwaukee  Brewers  on  Friday

night.  It’s  the  same  injury  that

shut him down from July 4 to Sept.

12.

Kershaw  is  10­8  with  a  3.38

ERA, his highest mark since a 4.26

ERA as a rookie in 2008.

He gave up three runs and two

hits on 42 pitches over 12⁄�3 innings

in  his  final  regular­season  start.

The left­hander struck out one and

walked none before he  felt pain

strong enough that he had to stop.

BRIEFLY

Amid scandal, NWSLcommissioner resigns

Associated Press

TALLADEGA,  Ala.  —  Denny

Hamlin is already through to the

third round of NASCAR’s playoffs

with nothing to worry about at Tal­

ladega Superspeedway. 

His championship rivals? Not so

much. 

NASCAR’s challenging second

round of the playoffs — three wild­

ly different circuits — moves Sun­

day  to  the  behemoth  2.66­mile

Alabama  superspeedway  where

luck is as important as skill. The

white­knuckled  race  falls  be­

tween Las Vegas, a traditional 1.5­

mile  speedway  where  Hamlin

won last week, and the twists and

turns  of  the  hybrid  oval/road

course at Charlotte Motor Speed­

way next week. 

The  unpredictability  expected

this week and next has the 11 driv­

ers  vying  for  seven  remaining

playoff slots slightly on edge. 

“You can’t freak out and try any

harder because I’m already trying

as hard as I can,” said Alex Bow­

man, who narrowly raced his way

through to the second round only

for Las Vegas  to drop him right

back to 11th out of 12 in the stand­

ings.

“We’re not in a great spot and

we’re going to a place that’s a huge

wild card,” he said. “We’ve just got

to wait and see how it shakes out. If

it works out for us, it does. And if it

doesn’t, it doesn’t.”

Hamlin, who automatically ad­

vanced to the third round with his

Las Vegas victory, is the defend­

ing race winner, and Brad Kese­

lowski scored his only win of the

season at Talladega in April. Ke­

selowski returns to the track only

four  points  above  the  cutline,  a

mere  two  points  separating  him

and teammate Joey Logano. 

“It  is  stressful  because  your

whole season can be decided this

weekend and that may be some­

what out of your control,” said Lo­

gano, who has never been elimi­

nated before the round of eight. 

“This  is  the  round  that a  true

championship contender can be a

surprise knockout.”

The four drivers below the cut­

line  headed  into  Talladega  are

William  Byron,  Kevin  Harvick,

Bowman  and  Christopher  Bell.

Harvick  is  1­for­41  at  Talladega

and his fourth­place finish in April

was only his third top­10 in nine

races,  a  span  that  included  two

race­ending crashes. 

“It’s been a destruction derby

over  the  last  couple  of  years,”

Harvick  said.  “It’s  one  of  those

places where you want to race up

front and race hard all day. ... I be­

lieve you have better odds at the

front of the pack when it comes to

staying out of a wreck if you can

keep that track position all day. 

“You’re going to race in a pack,

three­wide  at  times,  and  you’re

going to get pushed and have to

push  at  times.  You  just  never

know what’s going to happen be­

cause Talladega is its own animal.

It’s hard to finish a race there.”

Ryan Blaney, a two­time Talla­

dega winner who is above the cut­

line  alongside  his  Team  Penske

teammates Keselowski and Loga­

no,  said  drivers  need  the  same

mindset  for  this  playoff  race  as

any other event. 

“You have to be aware that you

can get wiped out and it’s none of

your doing. We’ve all been there.

You’re  just  minding  your  own

business  and  you  get  blindsided

and  you’re  destroyed  the  next

thing  you  know,”  Blaney  said.

“But you can’t let that eat at you.

You’ve just got to say, ‘Let’s focus

and let’s do these things like we

know how to do them, and go rac­

ing.’ ”

Drivers go to Talladegawith several on bubble

BY JENNA FRYER

Associated Press

MARK HUMPHREY/AP

Denny Hamlin doesn’t have to worry about racing at Talladega on Sunday — he’s already made it throughto the third round of the NASCAR Cup playoffs.

JOHN RAOUX/AP

Kevin Harvick is 1­for­41 atTalladega and his fourth­placefinish in April was only his thirdtop­10 in nine races. 

Sunday, October 3, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 21

NFL

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Tom Brady’s

legacy is forever steeped in each of the six

Super Bowl championship banners he had a

part in hanging above New England’s Gil-

lette Stadium.

Yet, he might as well be playing in front of

a mirror when he returns to face the Patri-

ots.

Everything will be in reverse.

“I know that home locker room. I know

that home tunnel. I know which way the

wind blows. I know everything about that,”

Brady said this week. “So, in some ways it’ll

be unique. I’ve never had that experience.

New England will be the first time for me

being on the other sideline.”

Brady will be back in Foxborough on

Sunday night to meet the Patriots for the

first time since he left after 20 seasons to

join the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He’ll be

opposite not only former coach Bill Belich-

ick, but past teammates who have also nev-

er taken an NFL field and looked across at

Brady wearing another team’s jersey, let

alone ever had a chance to tackle him.

“The opportunity is wonderful and I’m

looking forward for the moment,” Patriots

defensive end Deatrich Wise Jr. said.

While they all have played against former

teammates before, the Patriots acknowl-

edge this time is much different. None of

those other players has the institutional

knowledge Brady does of their defensive

schemes or tendencies.

It makes the margin for error minute

against a quarterback who is a master at

getting the ball out quickly and reading and

deceiving defenses with his eyes.

“It’s gonna be a guy that he’s gonna know

a lot of what we do,” said veteran safety De-

vin McCourty, who won three Super Bowls

with Brady. “So what we do, we’ve gotta do a

good job of. We have to play our best foot-

ball.”

This 44-year-old version of Brady is still

playing at a high level after taking the Bucs

to a Super Bowl title last season. He leads

the league this season with 10 touchdown

passes and his 362.3 passing yards per

game are second to Las Vegas’ Derek Carr.

Tampa Bay’s 34.3 points per game are al-

week.

“Certainly, Tom has an intimate knowl-

edge of everything that we do here, more so

than any other player in the league by far.

So, I’m sure he’ll use it to his advantage. I

would expect him to,” Belichick said. “I

don’t think it would be in our best interest to

go in there and do everything differently

than we’ve done it all year. What we need to

do is continue to do the things we do and do

them better. That would help us more than

anything else.”

so tied for tops in the NFL, thanks largely to

one of the most stacked offenses in the

league that includes receivers Chris God-

win, Mike Evans and tight end Rob Gron-

kowski

“This is one of those weeks where we

can’t have a bunch of ‘my bads,’ ” McCourty

said. “We gotta be on.”

As much as Brady knows the Patriots,

they also know him. But Belichick, 8-11

since Brady’s departure, said it doesn’t

mean they will reinvent themselves this

Bucs’ Brady returns to New England for 1st timeBY KYLE HIGHTOWER

Associated Press

KEVORK DJANSEZIAN/AP

Tampa Bay quarterback Tom Brady, at 44 years old, will return to Foxborough, Mass., on Sunday night to meet the Patriots for thefirst time since he left New England after 20 seasons to join the Buccaneers. 

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2-1)at New England Patriots (1-2)

AFN-Sports2:20 a.m. Monday CET9:20 a.m. Monday JKT

ARLINGTON, Texas — In try-

ing to prove they aren’t just the

“Carolina Christian McCaffreys,”

the Panthers will take on another

running back with an All-Pro ped-

igree in Ezekiel Elliott and the

surging ground game of the Dallas

Cowboys.

McCaffrey won’t play because

of a strained hamstring when Car-

olina makes a second consecutive

appearance in Texas on Sunday.

The Panthers (3-0) will have to

figure on needing plenty of points

even with the NFL’s No. 1 defense

because of the way quarterback

Dak Prescott, Elliott and company

are playing for the league’s fifth-

best offense.

“We’re not called the Carolina

Christian McCaffreys,” tackle

Cameron Erving, who played for

the Cowboys last year, said after

the star back was injured in the

first quarter of last week’s 24-9

victory at Houston. “Everybody

understands that we have to step

up and make plays when he’s not

in there. At receiver, at tight end,

at quarterback.”

The Cowboys (2-1) are coming

off their best back-to-back weeks

in the running game since 2019,

with Elliott getting a season-high

95 yards and two touchdowns in a

41-21 win over Philadelphia on

Monday.

Dallas is averaging 179 yards on

the ground in two victories since

Prescott threw for 403 yards and

the Cowboys ran for just 60 in a 31-

29 loss to defending Super Bowl

champion Tampa Bay in the open-

er.

The Cowboys didn’t even try to

establish the run against last

year’s top rushing defense.

They’re likely to give it a shot

against the defense leading the

NFL in all three yardage catego-

ries — total, rushing and passing

—but they probably won’t force it.

“It seems like each week we’ve

had a little bit different of a game

plan,” said Elliott, a 2016 All-Pro

and two-time rushing champ. “I

think we’ve showed that we can

beat you through the air, we can

beat you through the run, just de-

pending on what you give us.”

With the 2019 All-Pro McCaf-

frey out, rookie fourth-round pick

Chuba Hubbard should make his

first career start not far from his

college home of Oklahoma State.

Royce Freeman is likely to get

some carries as well.

ROGER STEINMAN/AP

Dallas Cowboys RB Ezekiel Elliott ran for a season­high 95 yards andtwo touchdowns in a 41­21 win over Philadelphia on Monday.

Short-handed Panthers visitCowboys and surging Elliott

BY SCHUYLER DIXON

Associated Press

Carolina Panthers (3-0)at Dallas Cowboys (2-1)

AFN-Sports7 p.m. Sunday CET2 a.m. Monday JKT

PAGE 22 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Sunday, October 3, 2021

COLLEGE FOOTBALL/MLB

the mark. In 2011, there were 39,

led by Justin Verlander’s 251 in­

nings.

No one will get close to touching

250 this season. Wheeler could top

220 depending on how many in­

nings he throws in his final start.

There are myriad  reasons  the

200­inning starter is becoming so

rare. Among them:

The  COVID­19  effect: The

workload for starting pitchers had

been  trending  downward  for

years,  but  it  really  accelerated

during the coronavirus­shortened

2020  season.  When  pitchers  re­

turned for  the abbreviated sum­

mer camp, teams were ultra­cau­

tious with their starters. It’s an ap­

proach that’s largely continued in­

to 2021.

Pitch counts: The concept of

limiting a starter’s pitches  in an

outing is far from new, but manag­

ers  are  sticking  to  lower  limits,

even  for  ace  pitchers.  In  2019,

starters were allowed to throw at

least 100 pitches 1,167 times. Two

years later, that number might not

even reach 700.

Openers: Also not a new con­

cept, but the idea of starting the

game  with  a  reliever  or  having

“bullpen”  games  has  become

more  commonplace  throughout

the league. The Tampa Bay Rays

— who made the World Series in

2020 and could win 100 games this

season — have been one of the big­

gest  proponents  of  the  trend.

Their  starting  pitchers  have

thrown  less  than  80  pitches  84

times  this  season,  which  leads

MLB.

26­man  rosters: MLB  has

historically allowed 25 players on

the active roster, but that number

was bumped to 28 in the altered

2020 season. Starting in 2021, the

number was reduced to 26, but it

still allowed many teams to carry

another pitcher in the bullpen.

The  31­year­old  Wheeler  has

evolved  into  one  of  MLB’s  best

pitchers, but even with his team

locked in a playoff race most of the

season, manager Joe Girardi has

had a close eye on the right­hand­

er’s pitch counts. He’s topped 100

pitches  just  once  in  his  last  six

starts.

“They’re  just  looking  out  for

me,” Wheeler said. “I communi­

cate with them between starts on

how I feel. That’s why we’re doing

what we’re doing. I want to keep

pitching for the rest of the season.”

Wainwright might be the most

unlikely  member  of  this  year’s

club.  The  40­year­old  has  been

one of the game’s top pitchers for a

long time but this is his first 200­

inning season since 2014. He led

the National League with 2412⁄�3 in­

nings pitched in 2013.

The 26­year­old Alcantara is the

most  anonymous  of  the  bunch,

quietly leading the Marlins pitch­

ing staff.

Miami manager Don Mattingly

said pitchers still relish taking the

mound every fifth day and going

deep into games.

“When  he’s  out  there,  he’s

thinking  nine  (innings)  all  the

time,” Mattingly said. “He doesn’t

like coming out of games. It’s just a

continuation of his growth. It’s a

mark for guys just being out there

for your club.”

JEFFREY PHELPS/AP

Cardinals starting pitcher Adam Wainwright is an unlikely member ofthe 200­inning club. The 40­year­old has been one of the game’s toppitchers for a while, but his last 200­inning season was in 2014.

Shrinking: 200-inningstarter increasingly rareFROM PAGE 24

AP sports writers Beth Harris and Dan Gelstoncontributed.

COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Spen­

cer Petras barely had time to ex­

hale in the second quarter. The Io­

wa  quarterback  would  come  off

the field following a scoring drive

— then immediately return after

the  defense  forced  yet  another

turnover.

“You sit on  the bench for  two

seconds,  you’re  right  back  out,”

Petras said.

Petras  threw  for  three  touch­

downs and ran for two and No. 5

Iowa took advantage of seven Ma­

ryland turnovers in a 51­14 victory

Friday night.

The  Hawkeyes  (5­0,  2­0  Big

Ten) intercepted five of Taulia Ta­

govailoa’s  passes,  and  they  out­

scored the Terrapins 31­0  in the

second quarter as Maryland com­

pletely unraveled. The Terps (4­1,

1­1) never recovered after losing

standout receiver Dontay Demus

to an apparent leg injury on a kick­

off return early in the second.

Iowa beat Iowa State earlier this

season thanks to a plus­four turn­

over margin on a day  the Haw­

keyes were badly outgained. The

matchup  with  Maryland  was  an

even  more  extreme  version  of

that.  The  Terrapins  turned  the

ball over five times in the first half,

four in the second quarter.

Tagovailoa had thrown only one

interception  all  season  —  while

leading the Big Ten in yards pass­

ing — but he was picked off on the

Terrapins’ second possession Fri­

day  in a  sign of  things  to come.

That turnover led to a field goal

that opened the scoring, but Mary­

land  responded  sharply,  driving

69 yards in eight plays and taking

the lead on a 9­yard scoring pass

from  Tagovailoa  to  Chigoziem

Okonkwo.

No. 13 BYU 34, Utah State 20:

Tyler  Allgeier  ran  for  a  career­

high 208 yards and three touch­

downs to help the visiting Cougars

beat the Aggies.

BYU (5­0) beat Utah State (3­2)

for the second straight time in the

Battle for the Old Wagon Wheel ri­

valry series.

Baylor  Romney  threw  for 187

yards  and  a  touchdown  on  15­

for­19 passing in the first half, but

was  injured  just before halftime

and  sat  out  the  second  half.  He

made his second consecutive start

with Jaren Hall sidelined because

of a rib injury.

Third­string quarterback Jacob

Conover led the offense after half­

time. The freshman threw for 45

yards on 5­for­9 passing in his col­

lege debut.

Logan  Bonner  threw  for  276

yards and two touchdowns for the

Aggies.  Bonner  left  with  eight

minutes to go because of a knee in­

jury.

The  Cougars  scored  on  their

first four drives and averaged 9.1

yards  per  play  before  halftime.

Romney completed his first eight

passes,  and  Allgeier  nearly

eclipsed 100 rushing yards before

halftime.

The Cougars took a 7­0 lead af­

ter Allgeier took a hit and burst

down  the  sideline  for  a  22­yard

run.  Malik  Moore  intercepted

Bonner’s pass at the BYU 26 to set

up  the  scoring  drive.  Allgeier

broke free and raced 59 yards for

his second scoring run in the sec­

ond quarter, pushing the lead to

24­10.

Allgeier’s  second  touchdown

helped  BYU  regain  a  little  mo­

mentum  after  Justin  McGriff

hauled  in a 21­yard reception  to

cap an 18­play, 75­yard drive for

Utah State that took 7 ½ minutes

off the clock and cut the Cougars’

lead in half.

JULIO CORTEZ/AP

Maryland running back Isaiah Jacobs, left, is brought down by Iowa defensive back Kaevon Merriweatherduring the second half of Friday’s game in College Park, Md. No. 5 Iowa won 51­14. 

TOP 25 ROUNDUP

Iowa forces 7 turnoversin beatdown of Maryland

Associated Press

RICK BOWMER / AP

BYU’s Tyler Allgeier scores atouchdown against Utah Stateduring the first half Friday inLogan, Utah. 

Sunday, October 3, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 23

MLB

American League

East Division

W L Pct GB

x-Tampa Bay 99 61 .619 _

New York 91 69 .569 8

Boston 90 70 .563 9

Toronto 89 71 .556 10

Baltimore 52 108 .325 47

Central Division

W L Pct GB

x-Chicago 92 68 .575 _

Cleveland 79 81 .494 13

Detroit 76 84 .475 16

Kansas City 74 86 .463 18

Minnesota 71 89 .444 21

West Division

W L Pct GB

x-Houston 93 67 .581 _

Seattle 89 71 .556 4

Oakland 86 74 .538 7

Los Angeles 76 84 .475 17

Texas 59 101 .369 34

National LeagueEast Division

W L Pct GB

x-Atlanta 86 73 .541 _

Philadelphia 82 78 .513 4½

New York 77 83 .481 9½

Miami 65 95 .406 21½

Washington 65 95 .406 21½

Central Division

W L Pct GB

x-Milwaukee 95 65 .594 _

y-St. Louis 90 70 .563 5

Cincinnati 82 78 .513 13

Chicago 69 91 .431 26

Pittsburgh 60 100 .375 35

West Division

W L Pct GB

z-San Francisco 106 54 .663 _

z-Los Angeles 104 56 .650 2

San Diego 78 82 .488 28

Colorado 74 85 .465 31½

Arizona 50 110 .313 56

x-clinched division y-clinched wild card z-clinched playoff berth

Friday’s games

Toronto 6, Baltimore 4 Tampa Bay 4, N.Y. Yankees 3 Cleveland 9, Texas 6 Chicago White Sox 8, Detroit 1 Kansas City 11, Minnesota 6 Oakland 8, Houston 6 L.A. Angels 2, Seattle 1 Pittsburgh 9, Cincinnati 2 Philadelphia 5, Miami 0 N.Y. Mets 4, Atlanta 3 Boston 4, Washington 2 St. Louis 4, Chicago Cubs 3 San Francisco 3, San Diego 0 Colorado 9, Arizona 7 L.A. Dodgers 8, Milwaukee 6

Saturday’s games

Tampa Bay at N.Y. Yankees Baltimore at Toronto Cleveland at Texas Detroit at Chicago White Sox Minnesota at Kansas City Oakland at Houston L.A. Angels at Seattle Boston at Washington San Diego at San Francisco Philadelphia at Miami Cincinnati at Pittsburgh Chicago Cubs at St. Louis N.Y. Mets at Atlanta Colorado at Arizona Milwaukee at L.A. Dodgers

Sunday’s games

Cleveland (TBD) at Texas (Dunning 5-9) Tampa Bay (Wacha 3-5) at N.Y. Yankees

(TBD) Baltimore (Zimmermann 4-4) at Toronto

(Ryu 13-10) Detroit (Alexander 2-4) at Chicago White

Sox (Cease 13-7) L.A. Angels (Detmers 1-3) at Seattle (An-

derson 7-10) Minnesota (TBD) at Kansas City (Kowar

0-5) Oakland (Irvin 10-15) at Houston (Urqui-

dy 8-3) Boston (Sale 5-1) at Washington (TBD) Cincinnati (Sanmartin 1-0) at Pittsburgh

(TBD) San Diego (TBD) at San Francisco (Webb

10-3) Colorado (TBD) at Arizona (Mejía 0-3) Milwaukee (TBD) at L.A. Dodgers (TBD) Philadelphia (Wheeler 14-10) at Miami

(López 5-5) Chicago Cubs (Mills 6-7) at St. Louis

(Woodford 3-3) N.Y. Mets (Syndergaard 0-0) at Atlanta

(TBD)

Monday’s games

No games scheduled

Scoreboard

SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Gi-

ants couldn’t celebrate a division title yet — not

with the rival Dodgers still going win for win in

the NL West race.

San Francisco clinched at least a tie pursu-

ing its first West title since 2012 by matching

the franchise record with its 106th win, beating

the San Diego Padres 3-0 Friday night before

turning attention to Los Angeles’ home game

against Milwaukee.

“They’re probably more frustrated with us

because we’re ahead and we keep winning,”

Giants winning pitcher Anthony DeScalfani

said.

Darin Ruf hit a first-inning home run and

Mike Yastrzemski added an RBI single to send

San Francisco on its way to a seventh straight

win, and then the Giants waited on the Dodg-

ers’ victorious 8-6 result against the NL Central

champion Brewers. A Dodgers loss would

have ensured San Francisco the division crown

outright over the eight-time defending West

winners and reigning World Series champions.

If the teams finish with the same record, they’ll

play a tiebreaker game.

Red Sox 4, Nationals 2: Hunter Renfroe

and Bobby Dalbec hit back-to-back homers

during a four-run sixth inning, and Boston

maintained its playoff position by beating host

Washington.

The Red Sox hold the second AL wild-card

spot and moved within one game of the wild

card-leading New York Yankees.

Blue Jays 6, Orioles 4: Steven Matz pitched

seven solid innings to win his fifth straight de-

cision, Danny Jansen homered and drove in

three runs, and Toronto beat visiting Balti-

more to keep its playoff hopes alive.

Toronto (89-71) remained one game behind

Boston, which held onto the second AL wild-

card spot by beating Baltimore.

Cardinals 4, Cubs 3: Paul Goldschmidt hit a

walk-off RBI single in the ninth inning, and

playoff-bound host St. Louis beat Chicago for

its 19th win in 20 games.

Athletics 8, Astros 6: Matt Olson and Chad

Pinder each homered and visiting Oakland cut

into Houston’s edge for home-field advantage

in the AL playoffs.

Houston leads the White Sox by one game for

home field in their best-of-five Division Series

matchup next week. The AL West champion

Astros also own the tiebreaker after going 5-2

against Chicago this season.

White Sox 8, Tigers 1: Lance Lynn pitched

one-run ball over five innings, José Abreu

homered and drove in four runs, and host Chi-

cago beat Detroit for its fifth straight win.

Mets 4, Braves 3: Brandon Nimmo hit two

solo home runs, Tylor Megill allowed one hit in

five scoreless innings and visiting New York

ended NL East champion Atlanta’s six-game

winning streak.

Phillies 5, Marlins 0: Bryce Harper had

three hits including his 35th homer, Ranger

Suárez pitched seven scoreless innings, and

Philadelphia beat host Miami.

Pirates 9, Reds 2: Second baseman Cole

Tucker made a spectacular diving catch, then

hit his first career grand slam to cap an eight-

run rally in the eighth inning that sent Pitts-

burgh over visiting Cincinnati.

Royals 11, Twins 6: Salvador Perez went

hitless while every other Kansas City starter

had at least one hit in a win over visiting Minne-

sota.

Indians 9, Rangers 4: Austin Hedges and

Bobby Bradley homered, Jose Ramirez drove

in three runs, and rookie Eli Morgan won his

third straight start as Cleveland drubbed host

Texas.

Surprising Giants clinch at least tie in NL West

JEFF CHIU/AP

San Francisco catcher Buster Posey (28)celebrates with pitcher Camilo Doval afterthe Giants defeated the San Diego Padres3­0 in San Francisco on Friday. 

Associated Press

ROUNDUP

NEW YORK — Gary Sánchez

and Rougned Odor both struck out

with two runners on to blunt a

ninth-inning rally and the New

York Yankees’ lead atop the AL

wild-card race got even tighter

with a 4-3 loss to the Tampa Bay

Rays on Friday night.

The Yankees’ edge fell to one

game over Boston and is two

games over Toronto and Seattle.

“Just couldn’t break through

enough and love the fight there at

the end and the quality of the at-

bats there at the end — just

couldn’t break through,” New

York manager Aaron Boone said.

New York needed a win plus a

loss by either Boston or Seattle to

clinch its fifth straight playoff ap-

pearance. Instead, the Yankees

fell short against the AL East

champion Rays in the opener of a

season-ending three-game series.

“We want to clinch, that’d be

nice, but we got two more games to

do that,” New York left fielder

Joey Gallo said. “We control our

own destiny but that’s up to us.”

The Yankees lost for only the

second time in 10 games.

Rookie Wander Franco gave the

Rays a 4-1 lead by chopping a

grounder up the middle for a two-

run single in the ninth. His hit

came a few pitches after he mis-

sed a three-run homer by lining a

ball a few feet foul in left.

“We got the playoff juices flow-

ing and this is great for guys of all

ages,” Rays center fielder Kevin

Kiermaier said.

Franco’s hit also came a night

after he went 0-for-4 to snap a 43-

game on-base streak, which tied

Frank Robinson in 1956 for the

longest such string in MLB history

among players 20 or younger.

After Franco gave the Rays a

three-run lead, the Yankees near-

ly pulled off a comeback.

Rays reliever Andrew Kit-

tredge allowed Giancarlo Stan-

ton’s one-out double and a bunt

RBI single by Gallo. Brett Gardn-

er followed by singling home a run

before Kittredge fanned Sánchez

and Odor to end the game and get

his eighth save.

MARY ALTAFFER/AP

The Tampa Bay Rays’ Yandy Diaz, right, steals second base past the Yankees’ Gleyber Torres in the eighthinning of Friday's game in New York. The Rays won 4­3.

Yanks’ loss tightens AL wild-card raceAssociated Press

SPORTS

PAGE 24 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Sunday, October 3, 2021

Not even close

No. 5 Iowa forces 7 turnovers in routof Maryland ›› College football, Page 22

NWSL Commissioner Baird steps down amid scandal ›› Sports briefs, Page 20

Los Angeles Dodgers

right-hander Walker

Buehler has a lot of pride

in reaching 200 innings

pitched this season, especially

considering he’s battled injuries

through parts of his career, in-

cluding Tommy John surgery.

Considering the current state of

big-league pitching, it’s even more

impressive.

“I’ve never done it before and

it’s weird because it used to be the

norm,” Buehler said. “It’s been a

goal of mine for a long time. It’s

hard to put into words because

you’re doing it over 32, 33 starts.”

It appears that just four pitchers

will reach the 200-inning mark

this season, including Buehler,

Phillies right-hander Zack Wheel-

er, Cardinals right-hander Adam

Wainwright and Marlins righty

Sandy Alcantara. That would be

the fewest in a full season in mod-

ern MLB history.

Buehler’s durability has been a

bonus for the Dodgers, who have

won 104 games and are still in the

hunt for a share of the NL West ti-

tle.

“It’s great, certainly consider-

ing what we’ve been through with

pitching,” Dodgers manager Dave

Roberts said. “To really be able to

bank six or six-plus (innings) ev-

ery time he takes the mound is

huge.”

It wasn’t long ago that 200 in-

nings pitched in a season was a

common occurrence in the big

leagues — a sign of a solid, healthy

season but nothing special. Just

two years ago, 15 pitchers topped

Dodgers starter Walker Buehler,above, surpassed 200 inningspitched during Wednesday’s 2­1victory over the Padres, whileMarlins starter Sandy Alcantara,right, eclipsed the mark duringFriday’s 5­0 loss to the Phillies.

AP photos

MLB

ShrinkingWith today’s approach to pitchers,200-inning club is getting smaller

BY DAVID BRANDT

Associated Press

IInnssiiddee::Loss to Rays trims Yanks’ lead in

wild-card race to one game, Page 23Giants down Padres, earn at least

a share of NL West title, Page 23

SEE SHRINKING ON PAGE 22