strategy - epub.stripes.com

24
Volume 80 Edition 134 ©SS 2021 THURSDAY,OCTOBER 21, 2021 50¢/Free to Deployed Areas stripes.com MLB PLAYOFFS Dodgers bounce back, cut Braves’ series lead to 2-1 Page 24 MILITARY Decades-old tape test in Army may be replaced Page 4 FACES Mötley Crüe’s Nikki Sixx looks back at his formative years Page 18 Russian fighters intercept US military planes over Black Sea ›› Page 5 WASHINGTON — A Navy re- port has concluded there were sweeping failures by command- ers, crew members and others that fueled the July 2020 arson fire that destroyed the USS Bon- homme Richard, calling the mas- sive five-day blaze in San Diego preventable and unacceptable. While one sailor has been charged with setting the fire, the more than 400-page report, ob- tained by The Associated Press, lists three dozen officers and sail- ors whose failings either directly led to the ship’s loss or contributed to it. The findings detailed wide- spread lapses in training, coordi- nation, communication, fire pre- paredness, equipment mainte- nance and overall command and control. “Although the fire was started by an act of arson, the ship was lost due to an inability to extinguish the fire,” the report said, conclud- ing that “repeated failures” by an “inadequately prepared crew” de- livered “an ineffective fire re- sponse.” It slammed commanders of the amphibious assault ship for poor oversight, and said the main fire- fighting foam system wasn’t used because it hadn’t been maintained properly and the crew didn’t know HECTOR CARRERA/U.S. Navy Sailors combat a fire aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard on July 13, 2020. A new report on the blaze details widespread lapses in training, coordination, communication, fire preparedness, equipment maintenance and overall command and control. ‘Inadequately prepared’ Navy report finds major failures in fire that destroyed USS Bonhomme Richard BY LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press SEE REPORT ON PAGE 6 NATO will adopt its first strat- egy on artificial intelligence and launch an innovation fund this week with the aim of investing $1 billion to “futureproof” the 30-nation security pact, Secreta- ry-General Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday. “We see authoritarian re- gimes racing to develop new technologies, from artificial in- telligence to autonomous sys- tems,” Stoltenberg said at a news conference at the allianc- e’s Brussels headquarters. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will join his NATO mem- ber counterparts Thursday in Brussels to formally approve the plans during two days of talks. Stoltenberg said he expects the new NATO fund to invest in emerging and disruptive tech- nologies. New headquarters and test centers will be set up in both Europe and North America to support the effort, he said. “We must keep our technolog- ical edge,” Stoltenberg said. NATO plans AI strategy BY JOHN VANDIVER Stars and Stripes NIDS/NATO Multimedia Library NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday in Brussels that the organization will unveil its first strategy for the use of artificial intelligence. SEE NATO ON PAGE 5

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Page 1: strategy - epub.stripes.com

Volume 80 Edition 134 ©SS 2021 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2021 50¢/Free to Deployed Areas

stripes.com

MLB PLAYOFFS

Dodgers bounceback, cut Braves’series lead to 2-1Page 24

MILITARY

Decades-old tapetest in Army maybe replacedPage 4

FACES

Mötley Crüe’s NikkiSixx looks back athis formative yearsPage 18

Russian fighters intercept US military planes over Black Sea ›› Page 5

WASHINGTON — A Navy re-

port has concluded there were

sweeping failures by command-

ers, crew members and others

that fueled the July 2020 arson fire

that destroyed the USS Bon-

homme Richard, calling the mas-

sive five-day blaze in San Diego

preventable and unacceptable.

While one sailor has been

charged with setting the fire, the

more than 400-page report, ob-

tained by The Associated Press,

lists three dozen officers and sail-

ors whose failings either directly

led to the ship’s loss or contributed

to it. The findings detailed wide-

spread lapses in training, coordi-

nation, communication, fire pre-

paredness, equipment mainte-

nance and overall command and

control.

“Although the fire was started

by an act of arson, the ship was lost

due to an inability to extinguish

the fire,” the report said, conclud-

ing that “repeated failures” by an

“inadequately prepared crew” de-

livered “an ineffective fire re-

sponse.”

It slammed commanders of the

amphibious assault ship for poor

oversight, and said the main fire-

fighting foam system wasn’t used

because it hadn’t been maintained

properly and the crew didn’t know

HECTOR CARRERA/U.S. Navy

Sailors combat a fire aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Bonhomme Richard on July 13, 2020. A new report on the blaze detailswidespread lapses in training, coordination, communication, fire preparedness, equipment maintenance and overall command and control.

‘Inadequately prepared’Navy report finds major failures in fire that destroyed USS Bonhomme Richard

BY LOLITA C. BALDOR

Associated Press

SEE REPORT ON PAGE 6

NATO will adopt its first strat-

egy on artificial intelligence and

launch an innovation fund this

week with the aim of investing

$1 billion to “futureproof” the

30-nation security pact, Secreta-

ry-General Jens Stoltenberg

said Wednesday.

“We see authoritarian re-

gimes racing to develop new

technologies, from artificial in-

telligence to autonomous sys-

tems,” Stoltenberg said at a

news conference at the allianc-

e’s Brussels headquarters.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd

Austin will join his NATO mem-

ber counterparts Thursday in

Brussels to formally approve the

plans during two days of talks.

Stoltenberg said he expects

the new NATO fund to invest in

emerging and disruptive tech-

nologies. New headquarters and

test centers will be set up in both

Europe and North America to

support the effort, he said.

“We must keep our technolog-

ical edge,” Stoltenberg said.

NATOplans AIstrategy

BY JOHN VANDIVER

Stars and Stripes

NIDS/NATO Multimedia Library

NATO Secretary-General JensStoltenberg said Wednesday inBrussels that the organizationwill unveil its first strategy for theuse of artificial intelligence.

SEE NATO ON PAGE 5

Page 2: strategy - epub.stripes.com

WASHINGTON — More than

six weeks after promising a new

vaccination-or-testing rule cov-

ering the millions of Americans

at companies with 100 or more

workers, President Joe Biden’s

most aggressive move yet to com-

bat the COVID-19 pandemic is al-

most ready to see the light of day.

An obscure White House office

is expected to give the green light

any day to the rule’s fine print de-

tailing how and when companies

will have to require their employ-

ees to be vaccinated or undergo

weekly testing.

The full enforcement deadline,

which could carry penalties of

about $14,000 per violation, may

not take effect until after the new

year. That’s why Biden and his

aides have for weeks encouraged

businesses to act as though the

rule was already in effect and

start imposing vaccination re-

quirements.

The regulation, to be published

in the Federal Register, was

drafted by the Occupational

Safety and Health Administra-

tion under emergency author-

ities to protect worker safety and

will cover an estimated 80 mil-

lion U.S. workers. The White

House sees it as a potent tool to

winnow down the ranks of rough-

ly 65 million Americans who

have thus far refused to get a

shot.

White House officials declined

to discuss when the rule will be

published or go into details on

when businesses will have to

comply.

Bahrain88/85

Baghdad85/62

Doha96/77

Kuwait City89/73

Riyadh93/69

Kandahar90/51

Kabul75/45

Djibouti92/75

THURSDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Mildenhall/Lakenheath

55/45

Ramstein59/46

Stuttgart55/52

Lajes,Azores68/65

Rota73/64

Morón80/57 Sigonella

70/57

Naples68/58

Aviano/Vicenza84/81

Pápa66/54

Souda Bay69/62

Brussels52/49

Zagan59/56

DrawskoPomorskie

57/54

THURSDAY IN EUROPE

Misawa54/46

Guam83/80

Tokyo49/46

Okinawa76/73

Sasebo66/61

Iwakuni67/59

Seoul59/38

Osan57/37

Busan62/53

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

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

FRIDAY IN THE PACIFIC

WEATHER OUTLOOK

TODAYIN STRIPES

American Roundup ...... 11Classified .................... 13Comics .........................16Crossword ................... 16Faces .......................... 18Opinion ........................ 14Sports .................... 19-24

BUSINESS/WEATHER

Military rates

Euro costs (Oct. 21) $1.14Dollar buys (Oct. 21) 0.8376British pound (Oct. 21) $1.34Japanese yen (Oct. 21) 111.00South Korean won (Oct. 21) 1,148.00

Commercial rates

Bahrain (Dinar) .3770Britain (Pound) 1.3785Canada (Dollar) 1.2347China (Yuan) 6.3927Denmark (Krone) 6.3880Egypt (Pound) 15.7102Euro .8586Hong Kong (Dollar) 7.7753Hungary (Forint) 311.09Israel (Shekel) 3.2118Japan (Yen) 114.27Kuwait (Dinar) .3016

Norway (Krone) 8.3819

Philippines (Peso) 50.74Poland (Zloty) 3.95Saudi Arabia (Riyal) 3.7508Singapore (Dollar) 1.3437

South Korea (Won) 1,174.40Switzerland (Franc) .9208Thailand (Baht) 33.37Turkey (New Lira) 9.2503

(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 0.0530-year bond 2.08

EXCHANGE RATESBusinesses await fine print of vax-or-test ruleAssociated Press

PAGE 2 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Thursday, October 21, 2021

Page 3: strategy - epub.stripes.com

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

CAMP HUMPHREYS, South

Korea — North Korea confirmed

Wednesday it has tested a “new

type” of submarine-launched bal-

listic missile, its fifth weapons test

in recent weeks, as U.S. intelli-

gence leaders began meeting with

their South Korean and Japanese

counterparts.

The missile was successfully

launched from an older subma-

rine Tuesday and included “lots of

advanced control guidance tech-

nologies,” the state-run Korean

Central News Agency said in a

statement.

The missile “will greatly con-

tribute to putting the defense tech-

nology of the country on a high lev-

el and to enhancing the underwa-

ter operational capability of our

navy,” the statement said.

South Korean military officials

on Tuesday said they tracked a

short-range ballistic missile that

flew 279 miles at a maximum alti-

tude of 37 miles. The 10:17 a.m.

launch from North Korea’s east-

ern coast was also confirmed by

the Japan Coast Guard. No inju-

ries or damages were reported.

Initial estimates indicate the

missile flew the same distance but

at a lower altitude than North Ko-

rea’s SLBM launch in 2019, when a

Pukguksong-3 SLBM flew 279

miles at a maximum altitude of

565 miles.

The military officials also noted

that the missile appeared to have

been fired from Sinpo, where a

North Korean shipyard is believed

to be working on a new ballistic

missile submarine.

North Korea launched its 2019

SLBM test from an underwater

platform, rather than a newly de-

veloped, operational submarine.

North Korea claims its weapons

program is purely a defense

against international aggression.

The communist regime cites an-

nual U.S.-South Korean military

drills, which it views as a precur-

sor to a full-scale invasion, and the

numerous sanctions against its

country to justify its program.

The U.N. Security Council sanc-

tioned North Korea because of its

nuclear weapons and ballistic

missile tests.

Experts question North Korea’s

self-defense claims, as an SLBM is

typically viewed as a retaliatory,

second-strike weapon.

“The significance of this capa-

bility is that the North Koreans

continue to invest in their sea-

based missile program,” Ankit

Panda, a North Korea analyst and

Stanton senior fellow at the Carne-

gie Endowment for International

Peace, told Stars and Stripes by

phone Wednesday. “They see that

as necessary, even if North Ko-

rean submarines are going to be

very vulnerable to the U.S. and al-

lies in submarine warfare at-

tacks.”

Panda added that sea-based

missiles are “more survivable and

more difficult to destroy through

pre-emptive attack than land-

based systems.”

North Korea’s latest test comes

one month after Seoul announced

it had successfully test-fired its

own SLBM from a submarine.

South Korea joins only a handful

of nations to successfully develop

an SLBM but is the first without a

nuclear weapon to do so.

Meanwhile, U.S. intelligence of-

ficials, including director of na-

tional intelligence Avril Haines,

are scheduled to meet with their

South Korean and Japanese coun-

terparts in Seoul to discuss North

Korean matters this week.

The U.S. special representative

for North Korea, Sung Kim, will

also be traveling to Seoul and meet

with Ambassador Noh Kyu-duk,

the South Korean special repre-

sentative for Korean Peninsula

Peace and Security Affairs.

N. Korea says ‘new type’ of missile testedBY DAVID CHOI

Stars and Stripes

KCNA

A submarine­launched ballisticmissile test by North Korea isseen Tuesday. 

[email protected] Twitter: @choibboy

pared to meet our nation’s call.”

Great Britain forcibly expelled

the native inhabitants from Diego

Garcia beginning in the late 1960s

to establish a military base on the

island for British and American

forces.

B-1B bombers and about 200 air-

men deployed recently to the is-

land of Diego Garcia in the center

of the Indian Ocean, the first time

Lancers have operated there in

over 15 years, the Air Force said

Tuesday.

The bombers arrived late last

week to support Pacific Air

Forces’ continuing Bomber Task

Force mission, the service said in a

news release Tuesday.

Lancers of the 28th Bomb Wing

flew from Ellsworth Air Force

Base, S.D., to Naval Support Facil-

ity Diego Garcia, the Air Force

said.

Citing operational security, Pa-

cific Air Forces declined to specify

the number of bombers sent to

Diego Garcia, which is a territory

of Great Britain, or how long the

deployment would last.

Airfields in Diego Garcia and

Andersen Air Force Base on Guam

are key hubs in the Air Force’s ef-

fort to maintain a bomber pres-

ence in the Indo-Pacific region.

The bomber missions demon-

strate America’s commitment to

allies and partners through the

employment of military force, the

Air Force said.

Sorties flown during the deploy-

ment support differing objectives

of geographic combatant com-

mand and training requirements.

The task force missions are an

“opportunity to showcase the un-

matched range, speed and lethal-

ity of the B-1,” Lt. Col. Ross Hobbs,

37th Bomb Squadron director of

operations, said in the news re-

lease.

“It’s been over 15 years since

B-1s have operated out of this loca-

tion and the 37th Bomb Squadron

is beyond proud to be back,” he

said. “We are extremely grateful

for the opportunity and well pre-

Former inhabitants have sought

to regain control of their former

home, and in 2019 the Internation-

al Court of Justice in The Hague

ruled that the U.K. had not legally

separated Diego Garcia from

Mauritius in 1965.

The U.N. General Assembly

subsequently ordered the U.K. to

help resettle Mauritian nationals

to the island.

B-1 bombers deploy toisland of Diego Garcia

BY WYATT OLSON

Stars and Stripes

HANNAH MALONE/U.S. Air Force

Air Force Capt. Orr Genish, 37th Bomb Squadron weapons systems officer, watches a B­1B Lancerbomber land at Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia on Sunday. 

[email protected] Twitter: @WyattWOlson

MILITARY

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Ar-

my has closed an investigation into

the killing of a paratrooper from

California whose head was found

severed from his body, according to

Rep. Norma Torres, who is asking

the Pentagon’s inspector general to

examine whether the military’s

probe was flawed.

Enrique Roman-Martinez, 21, of

Chino, was stationed at Fort Bragg

in North Carolina when he went

missing in May 2020. Roman-Mar-

tinez had gone camping during the

Memorial Day weekend with seven

fellow soldiers on an island off the

North Carolina coast. His partial re-

mains later washed ashore near the

camp.

In a letter Tuesday to Sean

O’Donnell, acting inspector general

of the Defense Department, Torres,

D-Calif., said the Army “regretta-

bly” closed the investigation this

summer “with no justice for Ro-

man-Martinez or his family.” She

requested a “full and independent

examination of the response to and

investigation of Roman-Martinez’s

murder.”

“As we look forward to the holi-

day season, Spc. Roman-Martinez

should be with his family. He should

have been already discharged from

the military and settling into his new

life,” Torres wrote. “Instead, his

family has spent over 16 months

painfully waiting for justice with no

end in sight. During this time, the

family has lost all confidence in the

Army Criminal Investigation Com-

mand.”

An Army spokesperson said “we

welcome an outside view and will

follow-up on any investigative leads

that the IG identifies.”

In a phone interview, Torres

raised questions about the other sol-

diers on the camping trip, who wait-

ed 19 hours to report Roman-Marti-

nez missing.

“When they came across a park

ranger, who approached them be-

cause they were parked illegally on

the campground, that would’ve

been the time for them to say: ‘Hey,

there’s a soldier that’s missing. One

of the campers, one of our friends, is

missing,’ ” Torres said.

“But they didn’t say that,” she

said. “They didn’t say that because

they said they believed that he was

suicidal and they were afraid to

bring attention to that. Well, if he

was suicidal, I think that is the big-

ger reason to ask for help and to say

that your friend and colleague is

missing. But they didn’t do any of

that.”

Torres wants a review of how the

military communicated with the

family and addressed language bar-

riers; the Army’s treatment of any

people of interest; requirements for

soldiers to report a missing member

or co-worker; the timeline of the in-

vestigation; and whether the pace of

the probe was affected by any logis-

tical or jurisdictional hurdles.

Lawmaker urges new probe after Army closes slaying investigationLos Angeles Times

Page 4: strategy - epub.stripes.com

PAGE 4 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Thursday, October 21, 2021

worse than what we’re doing?”

Volunteers participating in the

study each go through all four

body composition assessments.

This includes the traditional tape

test, which uses a regular measur-

ing tape to calculate body fat per-

centages based on Army height

and weight tables. It measures

neck and abdomen circumference

in men and neck, waist and hips

circumference in women.

The other three tests use ma-

chines to gather masses of data

about a person’s body. They are:

Dual-energy x-ray absorp-

tiometry, or DXA, which is consid-

ered the medical industry’s “gold

standard” body composition as-

sessment, using low-energy x-ray

photos to determine the amount of

muscle, fat and bone within a hu-

man, according to the Army.

Bioelectrical impedance

analysis, or BIA, which uses low-

level electrical currents flowing at

different rates through the body to

produce body composition and

body water level data based on a

person’s size in a 60-second scan.

Three-dimensional body

scan, which examines a person’s

entire body surface using infrared

technology to collect some 2 mil-

lion pieces of data, including the

amount of muscle and fat a person

has within their body.

Grinston said Tuesday that it

was much too soon to make any re-

al guess if Army leaders will de-

cide to adopt any of the technolo-

gy-driven techniques or kill the

tape test. He defended the test as

cost-effective and generally accu-

rate for measuring a person’s

body fat percentage.

“Is this going to change any-

thing? I have no idea. Stay tuned,”

he said. “We’re literally on the sec-

ond day … [and] the ultimate goal

is to make us more healthy as indi-

vidual soldiers, so we’ll let the sci-

ence do the talking.

The study is meant to gather da-

ta to be used to determine much

more than whether to keep the

tape test, said Holly L. McClung, a

nutritional physiologist with USA-

RIEM helping lead the study. The

data gathered from soldiers via

the four tests — along with their

scores for Army fitness tests and

other health information — will

help scientists better understand

the relationship between body

makeup, health and performance,

she said. It comes as the Army

works to shift the service toward a

culture focused on holistic health,

which encompasses mental

health, nutrition and other well-

ness factors along with physical

training.

McClung said the study would

sample soldiers of all shapes and

sizes, races and ethnicities and it

would include at least one-third

women among those tested. She

said she hopes it will provide Ar-

my leaders with new insights into

the relationship between body

composition and certain injuries

such as knee and back problems

so pervasive among service mem-

bers. It could also provide new da-

ta about the recovery needed

among postpartum mothers.

“We’re really interested in look-

ing at what the time for recovery

impacts on their body composi-

tion, and does it have any link to

their birthing method,” McClung

said.

The study began at Fort Bragg,

and McClung expects to gather

most of the data needed from sol-

diers at the North Carolina post. It

will include assessment of active-

duty, National Guard and Army

Reserve soldiers, she said. The

study might add additional stops

later to collect further informa-

tion, McClung said.

Officials hope to gather prelimi-

nary data by December, but they

acknowledged it could be six to

nine months before their study is

completed and senior leaders can

decide what, if any, decisions to

make across the force.

Grinston said soldiers partici-

pating in the study told him Tues-

day that they appreciated the Ar-

my looking at body composition,

even if the service does not make

major changes to its policies.

“They said, ‘Even if you don’t

change it, at least you’re looking at

it, you’ve heard us. It’s something

we’re concerned about,’” he said.

“We’re talking about the health of

our soldiers here. And their

height, their weight and how

healthy and physically fit they are

matter for them as individuals and

for their units.”

The Army’s decades-old tape

test used to determine whether

soldiers meet body fat standards

could be on its way out when the

service gets the results of a new

body composition study launched

Monday at Fort Bragg, N.C., Army

officials said.

The study will compare data

gleaned from the roughly 30-year-

old tape test — officially known as

manual circumference measure-

ments — with information provid-

ed by three new technology-dri-

ven measurement techniques in

an effort to understand the rela-

tionship between soldiers’ size

and composition and their health,

service officials said. The Army’s

Center for Initial Military Train-

ing and its Research Institute of

Environmental Medicine, known

as USARIEM, are leading the

study that will gather data from

about 1,500 soldiers at Fort Bragg

through Oct. 29.

“The [study] really came from

an outpouring of soldiers at just

about every stop I’ve had who

want to know about the [Army

Combat Fitness Test], and then

they want to know if we’re going to

do something about height and

weight standards,” said Sgt. Maj.

of the Army Michael Grinston, the

Army’s top enlisted soldier who

visited Fort Bragg on Tuesday to

observe the study. “The rationale

was — it was time to look at it, and

[consider] … what technology do

we have today that didn’t exist 30

years ago? There’s a lot of new

technology … but, is it better or

Army’s tape testmight be replacedby new technology

BY COREY DICKSTEIN

Stars and Stripes

[email protected]: @CDicksteinDC

LILLIANA FRASER/49th Public Affairs Detachment

A soldier receives a dual­energy x­ray absorptiometry scan at Fort Bragg, N.C., on Monday. 

Space Command, which operat-

ed from 1985 to 2002, was reestab-

lished in 2019 just months before

the newest military service

branch, Space Force, was found-

ed. It is a joint, combatant com-

mand that oversees the military’s

various space-based infrastruc-

ture and operations.

Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo.,

has joined in the effort to review

the decision, which has since been

called politically motivated.

Trump was elected as a Republi-

can, and Alabama is traditionally

a stronghold for the party.

The lawmakers’ requests to re-

view the decision were accepted

by the Government Accountabili-

ty Office and the Defense Depart-

ment inspector general. Both of-

Two reviews into the Air

Force’s decision to move U.S.

Space Command from Colorado to

Alabama should be out by spring

2022, but Colorado lawmakers are

asking for the investigations to be

expedited before taxpayer money

is spent on the relocation.

Sen. Michael Bennet and Rep.

Jason Crow, both D-Colo., told re-

porters Monday that moving

Space Command would jeopar-

dize national security because of

the buildup of resources and per-

sonnel already at bases in their

state.

“It is the nexus of national secu-

rity space operations for the intel-

ligence community and the De-

partment of Defense, and it’s why,

from a national security perspec-

tive, Colorado is the most strategic

choice by far for U.S. Space Com-

mand,” Bennet said after he and

Crow visited several military

bases across Colorado.

Peterson Space Force Base in

Colorado is also home to North

American Aerospace Defense

Command, or NORAD, and U.S.

Northern Command.

Former Air Force Secretary

Barbara Barrett announced in Ja-

nuary — as former President Do-

nald Trump’s time in office waned

— the decision to move Space

Command from its temporary

headquarters at Peterson to a per-

manent home at Redstone Arsenal

in Alabama.

fices said the reviews are ongoing.

GAO officials confirmed the agen-

cy’s report is scheduled to be com-

pleted by spring, and they said

they continue to keep lawmakers

informed of their progress.

Crow and Lamborn also had an

amendment added to the House

version of the 2022 National De-

fense Authorization Act that

would postpone any efforts to

move Space Command until the

two reviews are complete. The

Senate has yet to pass its draft of

the NDAA, which is annual legis-

lation that creates a budget and

updates policies for the Defense

Department.

Lawmakers push to hold Space Command move until investigations endBY ROSE L. THAYER

Stars and Stripes

[email protected]: @Rose_Lori

Office of Rep. Jason Crow

From right, Rep. Doug Lamborn,R­Colo., Rep. Jason Crow andSen. Michael Bennet, bothD­Colo., speak outside ofPeterson Space Force Base,Colo., on Thursday after touringthe base and meeting withofficials.

MILITARY

Page 5: strategy - epub.stripes.com

Thursday, October 21, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 5

MILITARY

A pair of Russian fighter jets intercepted

four U.S. military planes in international

airspace over the Black Sea, the Kremlin

said Wednesday.

Two U.S. B-1 bombers and two KC-135

tanker refueling planes were intercepted

Tuesday, Russian officials said.

The Russian Defense Ministry said the

two Su-30 fighters had been scrambled to

“prevent a violation of Russia’s state bor-

der.”

The encounter, which appears to have oc-

curred without incident, happened amid

NATO’s annual deterrence exercise Stead-

fast Noon, taking place this week all across

southern Europe.

Aircraft from 14 NATO countries, includ-

ing the U.S., are taking part in the drill.

The U.S. B-1B Lancers operating in the

Black Sea are from Dyess Air Force Base in

Texas and have been carrying out missions

across Europe as part of a bomber task

force rotation.

The U.S. military regularly flies in inter-

national airspace over the Black Sea, and

encounters with Russian aircraft have be-

come commonplace.

While most intercepts occur without in-

cident, the U.S. has cited instances in recent

years of Russian planes flying too close to

American aircraft or buzzing Navy ships on

patrol.

The Black Sea has been a focal point this

week for the Pentagon.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is tour-

ing the region, making stops in Georgia, Uk-

raine and Romania.

On Thursday, Austin will attend a NATO

defense ministers meeting at alliance head-

quarters in Brussels.

RussiansinterceptUS planes

Russian Defence Ministry

A U.S. Air Force KC­135 Stratotanker refuels a B­1B Lancer in flight Tuesday over the Black Sea. This still image from video wasrecorded by Russian crew members aboard a Sukhoi Su­30 fighter jet, which mobilized in response to the U.S. flights overinternational waters. 

Encounter reported inairspace over Black Sea

Stars and Stripes

WASHINGTON — A Maryland

couple arrested earlier this

month on charges of trying to sell

information about nuclear-pow-

ered warships to a foreign coun-

try have been indicted, the Jus-

tice Department said Tuesday.

Federal prosecutors say Jo-

nathan and Diana Toebbe are

each charged with one count of

conspiracy to communicate re-

stricted data and two counts of

communication of restricted da-

ta.

They were arrested in West

Virginia on Oct. 9 and charged in

a criminal complaint with viola-

tions of the Atomic Energy Act.

The couple was due in federal

court Wednesday for a detention

hearing.

Jonathan Toebbe, a Navy nu-

clear engineer, is accused of try-

ing to pass information about the

design of submarines to someone

he thought was a representative

of a foreign government but who

was actually an undercover FBI

agent. Court documents do not

reveal the identity of the foreign

country he is accused of trying to

sell the information to.

Prosecutors say Diana Toebbe

accompanied her husband on

several instances to pre-arranged

“dead-drop” locations at which

he left behind memory cards con-

taining the sensitive information.

West Virginia Regional Jail and Correctional Facility Authority

Jonathan and Diana Toebbe were indicted Tuesday. 

Md. coupleindicted inattempt tosell data

Associated Press

An Army reservist charged in

the Justice Department’s sweep-

ing investigation of the U.S. Capi-

tol riot was quietly demoted and

discharged earlier this year, be-

coming the first known service

member to be forced out of the

military after officials learned of

an alleged involvement in the Jan.

6 insurrection, according to per-

sonnel records reviewed by The

Washington Post and the former

soldier’s attorney.

Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, 31,

was an Army sergeant working

part-time as a human resources

soldier until May, records show.

In June, he was demoted to pri-

vate and given an other-than-hon-

orable discharge, terminating a

12-year military career, said his

attorney Jonathan Crisp.

Crisp called the punitive dis-

charge, which severely limits ben-

efits and resources otherwise

available to military veterans,

“improper” because, he said, it

was delivered while Hale-Cusa-

nelli was incarcerated and be-

cause any comments made in the

former soldier’s defense could vi-

olate his 5th Amendment rights in

the federal case.

“This was a knee-jerk reaction

to the charges,” the attorney said,

adding that he intends to help

Hale-Cusanelli fight the Army’s

decision and have him reinstated.

Army officials declined to com-

ment on Hale-Cusanelli’s dis-

charge, citing privacy laws.

Hale-Cusanelli, whom federal

authorities have accused of ille-

gally entering the Capitol and ha-

rassing police officers, is one of at

least six service members

charged in connection with the

riot. Another, Marine Corps Maj.

Christopher Warnagiris, also

faced a military administrative

proceeding recently, the outcome

of which is pending, officials said.

Authorities have accused Warna-

giris of assaulting police and lead-

ing rioters into the Capitol build-

ing.

Both men have pleaded not

guilty.

At the time of his arrest, Hale-

Cusanelli, who remains in federal

custody, according to the Justice

Department, was employed as a

civilian security contractor at Na-

val Weapons Station Earle in New

Jersey and held a secret security

clearance, prosecutors said in a

March court filing. Navy investi-

gators interviewed 44 of his col-

leagues, including Navy person-

nel and fellow security contrac-

tors, about his behavior at work.

All but 10 described Hale-Cusa-

nelli as “having extremist or rad-

ical views pertaining to the Jewish

people, minorities and women,”

prosecutors said.

Several colleagues told investi-

gators about his wearing of a “Hit-

ler mustache” while at work, court

papers show.

Soldier with ‘Hitlermustache’ dischargedafter riot charges

BY ALEX HORTON

The Washington Post

“Future conflicts will be fought

not just with bullets and bombs

but also with bytes and big da-

ta.”

The alliance’s artificial intelli-

gence strategy will integrate ar-

eas such as data analysis, imag-

ery and cyberdefense, he said.

During the past couple of

years, NATO has expanded be-

yond its traditional focus of land,

sea and air operations to adapt to

a more complicated security en-

vironment.

Last year, it established a new

center at Ramstein Air Base’s

Allied Air Command to coordi-

nate efforts in space, which was

declared a new domain of mili-

tary operation for the alliance.

And in 2017, allies also added

cyber as a military domain.

In Brussels, ministers also

will discuss military efforts to

deter potential Russian aggres-

sion as well as the overall state

of relations with Moscow, which

Stoltenberg said are at their low-

est point since the Cold War.

Earlier this week, Russia an-

nounced it was closing its diplo-

matic mission to NATO in retal-

iation for the expulsion of eight

members of that entourage who

NATO accused of being intelli-

gence operatives.

Still, Stoltenberg said, NATO

remains open to the possibili-

ty of dialogue with Moscow.

Calling Russia NATO’s big-

gest neighbor, Stoltenberg said

“there is no way you cannot talk

to them.”

NATO: Move integrates several key defense areasFROM PAGE 1

[email protected]: @john_vandiver

Page 6: strategy - epub.stripes.com

PAGE 6 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Thursday, October 21, 2021

how to use it. The report was ex-

pected to be released Wednesday.

U.S. Navy officials on Tuesday

said that while crews at sea consis-

tently meet high firefighting stan-

dards, those skills drop off when

ships move into maintenance peri-

ods. The Bonhomme Richard was

undergoing maintenance at the

time of the fire.

During maintenence there are

more people and organizations in-

volved with the ship, including

contractors. And the repairs often

involve equipment and chemicals

that present different hazards and

challenges.

The report describes a ship in

disarray, with combustible mate-

rials scattered and stored impro-

perly. It said maintenance reports

were falsified, and that 87% of the

fire stations on board had equip-

ment problems or had not been in-

spected.

It also found that crew members

didn’t ring the bells to alert sailors

of a fire until 10 minutes after it

was discovered. Those crucial

minutes, the report said, caused

delays in crews donning fire gear,

assembling hose teams and re-

sponding to the fire.

Sailors also failed to push the

button and activate the firefight-

ing foam system, even though it

was accessible and could have

slowed the fire’s progress. “No

member of the crew interviewed

considered this action or had spe-

cific knowledge as to the location

of the button or its function,” the

report said.

The report spreads blame

across a wide range of ranks and

responsibilities, from the now re-

tired three-star admiral who

headed Naval Surface Force Pa-

cific Fleet — Vice Adm. Richard

Brown — to senior commanders,

lower ranking sailors and civilian

program managers. Seventeen

were cited for failures that “di-

rectly” led to the loss of the ship,

while 17 others “contributed” to

the loss of the ship. Two other sail-

ors were faulted for not effectively

helping the fire response. Of the

36, nine are civilians.

Adm. William Lescher, the vice

chief of naval operations, has des-

ignated the commander of U.S.

Pacific Fleet to handle any disci-

plinary actions for military mem-

bers. The Navy officials said the

disciplinary process is just begin-

ning. One official said the key

challenge in making improve-

ments will be addressing the “hu-

man factor,” including leadership

skills and ensuring that everyone

down to the lowest ranking sailors

understands their responsibili-

ties, and can recognize problems

and correct them.

The officials spoke on condition

of anonymity to discuss the report

ahead of its public release.

Specifically, the report said fail-

ures of Vice Adm. Brown; Rear

Adm. Scott Brown, the fleet main-

tenance officer for the Pacific

Fleet; Rear Adm. William Greene,

the fleet maintenance officer for

U.S. Fleet Forces Command;

Rear. Adm. Eric Ver Hage, com-

mander of the regional mainte-

nance center; Rear Adm. Bette

Bolivar, commander of Navy Re-

gion Southwest; Capt. Mark Nies-

wiadomy, commander of Naval

Base San Diego; and Capt. Tony

Rodriguez, commander of Am-

phibious Squadron 5, all “contrib-

uted to the loss of the ship.”

The report also directly faults

the ship’s three top officers —

Capt. Gregory Thoroman, the

commanding officer; Capt. Mi-

chael Ray, the executive officer;

and Command Master Chief Jose

Hernandez — for not effectively

ensuring the readiness and condi-

tion of the ship.

“The execution of his duties cre-

ated an environment of poor train-

ing, maintenance and operational

standards that directly led to the

loss of the ship,” the report said of

Thoroman. And it said Ray, Her-

nandez and Capt. David Hart,

commander of the Southwest Re-

gional Maintenance Center, also

failed in their responsibilities,

which directly led to the loss of the

ship.

The report only provides names

for senior naval officers. Others

were described solely by their job

or rank.

More broadly, the crew was

slammed for “a pattern of failed

drills, minimal crew participation,

an absence of basic knowledge on

firefighting” and an inability to co-

ordinate with civilian firefighters.

“The loss of the USS Bonhomme

Richard was a completely avoida-

ble catastrophe,” said U.S. Rep.

John Garamendi, D-Calif., chair-

man of the House Armed Services

readiness subcommittee. He said

he read the report “with shock and

anger,” and will look into the mat-

ter carefully to “determine the full

extent of the negligence and com-

placency that occurred.”

The ship was undergoing a two-

year, $250 million upgrade pier-

side in San Diego when the fire

broke out. About 115 sailors were

on board, and nearly 60 were

treated for heat exhaustion,

smoke inhalation and minor inju-

ries. The failure to extinguish or

contain the fire led to temper-

atures exceeding 1,200 degrees

Fahrenheit in some areas, melting

sections of the ship into molten

metal that flowed into other parts

of the ship.

Due to the damage, the Navy de-

commissioned the ship in April. In

August, Seaman Apprentice Ryan

Mays was charged with aggravat-

ed arson and the willful hazarding

of a vessel. He has denied setting

the fire.

The blaze began in the lower

storage area, which Mays’ duty

station had access to, according to

a court document. Investigators

found three of four fire stations on

the ship had evidence of tamper-

ing, including disconnected fire-

hoses, and flammable liquid was

found near the ignition site.

Efforts to put out the fire were

hampered because the ship’s crew

and other outside fire response

departments and organizations

were not coordinated, couldn’t

communicate effectively, hadn’t

exercised together and weren’t

well trained, the report said.

The report, written by Vice

Adm. Scott Conn, included a num-

ber of recommended changes and

improvements that have been en-

dorsed by Lescher. The Navy set

up a new fire safety assessment

program that conducts random in-

spections, and has taken steps to

increase training. Nearly 170 of

those inspections have already

been done, and officials said they

are finding good results.

The Navy also conducted a his-

torical study, looking closely at 15

shipyard fires over the last 12

years. It found recurring trends

including failures to comply with

fire prevention, detection and re-

sponse policies.

As a result, Navy leaders are ex-

panding the staffing and respon-

sibilities of the Naval Safety Cen-

ter to perform audits and unan-

nounced assessments of Navy

units. The final costs are still being

calculated.

Report:Failures byadmiralsoutlined FROM PAGE 1 DENIS POROY/AP

Smoke rises from the USS Bonhomme Richard in July 2020 after anexplosion and fire aboard the ship at Naval Base San Diego. 

MILITARY

An Army veteran who was

wounded in Iraq is accused of

fraudulently receiving over $1

million in federal benefits after

claiming for more than a decade

that he was paralyzed.

William Rich, of Windsor Mill,

Md., was injured in a 2005 bomb

blast in Baqouba, Iraq. In 2007, he

convinced a Department of Veter-

ans Affairs doctor that he was a

paraplegic as a result, earning a

100% disability rating, authorities

said last week.

It wasn’t until 2018 that the VA

Inspector General launched an in-

vestigation after learning of un-

specified conduct that conflicted

with his disability rating, court re-

cords show.

Rich appeared in U.S. District

Court in Baltimore on Oct. 13 and

was ordered to be released pend-

ing trial.

If convicted, he faces up to 20

years in prison on a wire fraud

charge and 10 years on a charge of

theft of government property, the

Justice Department said.

Over two years, investigators

recorded him performing a range

of movements without the aid of a

medical device, court documents

state. The only time they saw him

using a wheelchair was when he

was going to or from VA medical

appointments, according to a

search warrant application.

Records were unsealed Oct. 12,

after Rich’s arrest, a Justice De-

partment statement released last

week said. Authorities say he re-

ceived more than $800,000 from

the VA and over $240,000 from the

Social Security Administration.

The VA assistance Rich re-

ceived included money for a vehi-

cle and adaptive equipment,

which prosecutors say he used to

buy a BMW 645ci.

The two-door luxury sports

coupe “is not readily adaptable to

the use of a paraplegic person,”

agent Brian J. Maddox of the IG

office wrote in an affidavit.

Rich totaled that car, but Mad-

dox sought warrants to search his

two other vehicles and his home

on suspicion that investigators

would find that all of them lacked

the modifications a paraplegic

would need.

Rich’s Instagram page indicat-

ed that he owned an extensive

gym, and two videos on his social

media accounts appear to show

him standing and lifting weights,

court documents state.

A photo he took of himself in a

gym mirror was posted on his In-

stagram page in 2016 with the cap-

tion “Lol lift or leave.”

Rich’s discharge paperwork

says he served in the Army from

September 1998 to February 2007,

court records state. He was in-

jured on Aug. 23, 2005, but his

medical records say an MRI the

following day showed no spinal

cord impingement or abnormali-

ties, the document says.

Less than two months later, he’d

begun to recover and his legs were

no longer paralyzed, said docu-

mentation in his medical history,

according to investigators.

In late 2006, a rehab nurse re-

corded his ability to do all essen-

tial daily activities, like going to

the bathroom and moving around

without anyone’s help, investiga-

tors said.

Yet in October 2007, a physician

documented him as being paralyz-

ed in both legs and “confined to a

wheelchair,” having neither the

ability to stand or walk “even with

maximal assistance” nor control

his bowels or bladder, court re-

cords say.

The physician did not order X-

rays to confirm the condition be-

cause he “did not feel that it was

worth the trauma of manipulating

him around,” the affidavit quotes

the records as stating.

The doctor did not have access

to Rich’s full medical history with

the earlier report of his recovery,

it says.

His 100% permanent disability

rating was based on that exam,

and he was given special monthly

compensation for paraplegia and

allowances for a caregiver, the

Justice Department said.

Rich was assigned a federal

public defender, who did not im-

mediately return a request for

comment.

Prosecutors: Vetgot over $1M byfaking paralysis

BY CHAD GARLAND

Stars and Stripes

U.S. District Court Maryland

Federal prosecutors say WilliamRich, shown here in a gym selfie,falsely claimed to be a para­plegic. 

Page 7: strategy - epub.stripes.com

Thursday, October 21, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 7

VIRUS OUTBREAK

MOSCOW — Russian President

Vladimir Putin on Wednesday

backed the Cabinet’s proposal to

declare a non-working week and

keep Russian workers away from

their offices as coronavirus deaths

surged to another daily record.

The government task force on

Wednesday reported 1,028 coro-

navirus deaths over the past 24

hours, the highest number since

the start of the pandemic. That

brought Russia’s total death toll to

226,353, which is by far the high-

est in Europe.

Putin said Wednesday that he

supports the Cabinet’s proposal to

introduce a nonworking period

starting Oct. 30 and extending

through the following week, when

four of seven days are already

state holidays. He added that in

some regions where the situation

is the most threatening, the non-

working period could start as

early as Saturday.

In some regions, mounting in-

fections forced authorities to sus-

pend medical assistance to the

population as health care facilities

were forced to focus on treating

coronavirus patients.

Russia’s daily coronavirus mor-

tality numbers have been surging

for weeks and topped 1,000 for the

first time over the weekend amid

sluggish vaccination rates, lax

public attitudes toward taking

precautions and the government’s

reluctance to toughen restrictions.

About 45 million Russians, or

32% of the country’s nearly 146

million people, are fully vaccinat-

ed.

Even though Russia in August

2020 became the first country of

the world to authorize a coronavi-

rus vaccine and vaccines are plen-

tiful, Russians have shown hesi-

tancy about getting the shots, a

skepticism blamed on conflicting

signals sent by authorities.

While extolling Sputnik V and

three other domestic vaccines,

state-controlled media were often

critical of Western-made shots, a

controversial message that many

saw as feeding public doubts

about vaccines in general.

Until now, the Kremlin has

ruled out a new nationwide lock-

down like the one early on in the

pandemic that dealt a heavy blow

to the economy and sapped Putin’s

popularity, empowering regional

authorities across the country’s 11

time zones to decide on local re-

strictions, depending on their sit-

uation.

Many of Russia’s 85 regions

have already restricted attend-

ance at large public events and

limited access to theaters, restau-

rants and other venues. Some

have made vaccinations compul-

sory for certain public servants

and people over 60.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry

Peskov admitted that the situation

is “very sad,” noting that the level

of vaccination in those regions

was particularly low.

ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO/AP

Medics wearing special suits to protect against the coronavirus prepare to move a COVID patient at an ICUat the Moscow City Clinical Hospital 52 on Tuesday.

Putin keeps Russian workers homefor a week as deaths keep soaring

BY VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV

Associated Press

tive: 10 service members, three De-

fense Department civilian employ-

ees, one contractor and two family

members at Camp Humphreys;

two service members at Osan Air

Base; and one South Korean civil-

ian employee at Yongsan Garrison

in Seoul.

Contact tracing turned up anoth-

er 10: four service members, two

family members and two South Ko-

rean contractors at Humphreys;

and one DOD employee and a fam-

ily member at Daegu Garrison.

Surveillance testing discovered

U.S. Forces Korea put four dis-

tricts in Seoul and three in adjacent

Gyeonggi province off-limits fol-

lowing a rise in COVID-19 cases

there, according to an announce-

ment Wednesday.

Only mission-essential visits are

permitted to the Jongno, Yeo-

ngdeungpo, Guro and Geumcheon

districts in Seoul and the Gwache-

on, Dongducheon and Ansan dis-

tricts in Gyeonggi, according to

USFK’s weekly travel restrictions

update. The command placed 10

districts off-limits Wednesday.

The Jongno district includes the

U.S. Embassy, Seoul City Hall and

the presidential Blue House. Camp

Humphreys, the headquarters for

USFK and the U.N. Command, and

Osan Air Base are in Gyeonggi

province.

Individuals who live in so-called

red districts may conduct routine

business but should minimize their

activities to avoid contracting or

spreading the virus, according to

USFK.

Of 1,556 new COVID-19 cases in

South Korea on Tuesday, Seoul ac-

counted for 501, an increase of

about 200 over previous days, ac-

cording to the Korean Center for

Disease Control and Prevention

Agency update Wednesday. Gye-

onggi reported 582.

Also Wednesday, USFK report-

ed 32 locally generated cases of CO-

VID-19 in the week ending Oct. 16,

according to a news release.

Nineteen people developed

symptoms of the coronavirus respi-

ratory disease before testing posi-

two on Oct. 14: a service member at

Humphreys and a contractor at

Yongsan.

Finally, a service member at

Humphreys tested positive Oct. 12

before departing the peninsula on

an international flight.

KDCA reported that 79% of

South Korea’s population has re-

ceived the first of a two-shot dose of

a COVID-19 vaccine; 66.7% are ful-

ly vaccinated.

US military places central Seoul off-limits because of case increaseBY JOSEPH DITZLER

Stars and Stripes

[email protected]: @JosephDitzler

A senior Senate Republican’s

call for a suspension of mandatory

coronavirus vaccines for U.S.

troops and Pentagon civilians

could fuel partisan divisions over

the pandemic and add a defense

element to the debate.

Sen. James M. Inhofe of Oklaho-

ma, the top Republican on the

Armed Services Committee, in a

letter Monday to Defense Secreta-

ry Lloyd J. Austin III called the

Pentagon’s vaccine mandates

“haphazardly implemented and

politically motivated.”

Inhofe said they “risk irrevoca-

ble damage to our national securi-

ty,” which he said would be greater

“than any external threat.” He re-

quested answers from Austin on

the mandates’ costs and impact on

readiness.

Some Democrats on the Armed

Services Committees, however,

are outraged by Inhofe’s letter.

These lawmakers, in statements

to CQ Roll Call, noted that U.S.

troops must be up to date on a varie-

ty of vaccinations, from chicken-

pox to measles, and may have to get

additional jabs depending on

where they are deployed.

“There are already 17 vaccines

that are mandatory for all service-

members,” said Sen. Kirsten Gilli-

brand, D-N.Y., the chair of the

Armed Services Personnel Sub-

committee. “This is a military

readiness issue — the COVID vac-

cine will keep our troops healthier,

safer and ready to fight when

called upon.”

Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif.,

chair of the Armed Services Mili-

tary Personnel Subcommittee, ex-

pressed a similar view.

“The COVID-19 outbreak

aboard the USS Theodore Roose-

velt last year, which saw over 1,200

sailors infected and one killed,

should serve as a grave reminder

for anyone trying to make vaccine

requirements a political football,”

Speier said. “The cost of doing so

will be paid in wasted dollars and

the lives of our brave servicemem-

bers.”

Under new Defense Department

and federal government direc-

tives, a coronavirus vaccination is

mandatory for not only service-

members but also Defense Depart-

ment civilians and contractors, ex-

cept for those with religious or

medical exemptions. Except for

Army National Guard and Army

Reserve soldiers, all the shots must

occur by the end of this year.

The pending National Defense

Authorization Act bills do not cur-

rently address whether to force the

Pentagon to either drop or main-

tain its mandates. But as the vacci-

nation deadlines near and political

passions rise, lawmakers could still

debate whether to include a direc-

tive in the final law.

The House has passed its NDAA,

but the Senate has yet to debate its

Armed Services Committee mea-

sure. As a result, House and Senate

negotiators are still weeks away

from writing a final version.

The House-passed NDAA does

indirectly address the coronavirus

vaccine mandate. It would forbid

the Pentagon from dishonorably

discharging troops who decline to

be vaccinated. The Navy, for one,

has said it does not plan to make

any separations from service other

than honorable ones if a sailor re-

fuses to be vaccinated.

The House NDAA would also ex-

empt from the vaccine require-

ment those who have been previ-

ously infected with the virus. Such

an allowance does not appear to be

part of any Defense Department

guidance.

GOP senator calls

for halt to DOD’s

vaccine mandateBY JOHN M. DONNELLY

CQ-Roll Call

Page 8: strategy - epub.stripes.com

PAGE 8 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Thursday, October 21, 2021

NATION

WASHINGTON — Children

age 5 to 11 will soon be able to get a

COVID-19 shot at their pediatri-

cian's office, local pharmacy and

potentially even their school, the

White House said Wednesday as it

detailed plans for the expected

authorization of the Pfizer shot for

younger children in a matter of

weeks.

Federal regulators will meet

over the next two weeks to weigh

the benefits of giving shots to kids,

after lengthy studies meant to en-

sure the safety of the vaccines.

Within hours of formal approv-

al, expected after the Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention

advisory meeting scheduled for

Nov. 2-3, doses will begin shipping

to providers across the country,

along with smaller needles neces-

sary for injecting young kids, and

within days will be ready to go into

the arms of kids on a wide scale.

“We’re completing the oper-

ational planning to ensure vacci-

nations for kids ages 5-11 are

available, easy and convenient,”

said White House COVID-19 coor-

dinator Jeff Zients on Wednesday.

The Biden administration notes

the nationwide campaign to ex-

tend the protection of vaccination

to the school-going cohort will not

look like the start of the country's

vaccine rollout 10 months ago,

when scarcity of doses and capac-

ity issues meant a painstaking

wait for many Americans.

The country now has ample

supplies of the Pfizer shot to vac-

cinate the roughly 28 million kids

who will soon be eligible, White

House officials said, and have

been working for months to en-

sure widespread availability of

shots once approved.

More than 25,000 pediatricians

and primary care providers have

already signed on to administer

COVID-19 vaccine shots to kids,

the White House said, in addition

to the tens of thousands of retail

pharmacies that are already ad-

ministering shots to adults.

Hundreds of school- and com-

munity-based clinics will also be

funded and supported by the Fed-

eral Emergency Management

Agency to help speed putting

shots into arms.

The White House is also pre-

paring to mobilize a stepped-up

campaign to educate parents and

kids about the safety of the shots

and the ease of getting them.

As has been the case for adult

vaccinations, the administration

believes trusted messengers —

educators, doctors and communi-

ty leaders — will be vital to encou-

raging vaccinations.

While children are at lower risk

than older people of having seri-

ous side effects from COVID-19,

those serious consequences do oc-

cur — and officials note that vac-

cination both dramatically reduc-

es those chances and will reduce

the spread of the more transmis-

sible delta variant in communi-

ties, contributing to the nation's

broader recovery from the pan-

demic.

The U.S. has purchased 65 mil-

lion doses of the Pfizer pediatric

shot — expected to be one third

the dosage for adults and adoles-

cents — according to officials,

more than enough for every kid in

the age group.

They will ship in smaller pack-

ages of about 100 doses each, so

that more providers can deliver

them, and they can be stored for

up to 10 weeks at standard refrig-

eration temperatures.

About 219 million Americans

aged 12 and up, or 66% of the total

population, have received a CO-

VID-19 shot and nearly 190 mil-

lion are fully vaccinated.

US lays out plan to vaccinate childrenBY ZEKE MILLER

Associated Press

BROOKSHIRE, Texas — A plane

taking passengers from Texas to the

American League Championship Se-

ries game in Boston burst into flames

after it ran off a runway during take-

off Tuesday morning, but no one was

seriously hurt, authorities said.

The McDonnell Douglas MD-87

was carrying 21 people when it rolled

through a fence and caught fire at the

Houston Executive Airport in

Brookshire, the Federal Aviation Ad-

ministration said.

Everyone made it off the plane safe-

ly and the only reported injury was a

passenger with back pain, Waller

County Judge Trey Duhon said on

Facebook.

Duhon, who is the highest elected

official in the county, told reporters

that the group was headed to see

Game 4 of the ALCS between the

Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox

on Tuesday night.

Cheryl McCaskill, who lives in the

Houston suburb of Cypress, was

aboard the plane.

She told the Houston Chronicle that

she felt “shaky and shocked” after

running from the burning jet in her

Astros jersey.

“When it finally stopped, everyone

went ‘get out, get out, get out.’ We

jumped out on that inflatable thing

and then everyone went ‘get away,’”

McCaskill said.

The FAA and National Transporta-

tion Safety Board will investigate.

NTSB spokesman Keith Holloway

said a team of agency investigators

would likely examine the aircraft's

flight data recorder.

The aircraft is registered to a Hous-

ton-area investment firm.

KTRK/ AP

Firefighters work to put out a fire after a plane taking passengers from Texas to the American League ChampionshipSeries game in Boston burst into flames after it ran off a runway during takeoff Tuesday in Brookshire, Texas. No one wasseriously hurt, authorities said. 

Passengers race to safety afterplane bursts into flames in Texas

Associated Press

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Nikolas Cruz plead-

ed guilty to murder on Wednesday in the 2018 high

school massacre in Parkland, Fla., that left 17 dead.

Cruz, 23, entered his pleas in a courtroom hearing

attended by a dozen relatives of victims after answer-

ing a long list of questions from Cir-

cuit Judge Elizabeth Scherer aimed

at confirming his mental competen-

cy. He was charged with 17 counts

of murder and 17 counts of attempt-

ed first-degree murder for those

wounded in the Feb. 14, 2018, attack

at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High

School in Parkland, located just out-

side Fort Lauderdale.

A penalty trial will determine if Cruz will receive a

sentence of death or life in prison without parole.

Scherer plans to begin screening jurors next month

in hopes testimony can begin in January.

As several parents shook their heads, Cruz apol-

ogized, saying, “I’m very sorry for what I did. ... I

can’t live with myself sometimes.” He also added that

he wished it was up to the survivors to determine

whether he lived or died.

Several parents and other relatives of victims

broke down in tears while listening to the court pro-

ceedings via a Zoom call.

The guilty pleas will set the stage for a penalty trial

in which 12 jurors will determine whether Cruz

should be sentenced to death or life in prison without

parole.

Following the pleas, Broward State Attorney Mike

Satz recounted the details of the murders. Cruz killed

the 14 students and three staff members on Valen-

tine’s Day 2018 during a seven-minute rampage

through a three-story building at Stoneman Douglas,

investigators said.

They said he shot victims in the hallways and in

classrooms with an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle.

Cruz had been expelled from Stoneman Douglas a

year earlier after a history of threatening, frighten-

ing, unusual and sometimes violent behavior that

dated back to preschool.

The shootings caused some Stoneman Douglas stu-

dents to launch the March for Our Lives movement,

which pushes for stronger gun restrictions national-

ly.

Parkland shooterpleads guilty inschool massacre

Associated Press

Cruz

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Thursday, October 21, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 9

NATION

OMAHA, Neb. — A federal

grand jury on Tuesday indicted

U.S. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry of Ne-

braska, accusing him of lying to

the FBI and concealing informa-

tion from federal agents who were

investigating campaign contribu-

tions funneled to him from a Ni-

gerian billionaire.

The U.S. attorney’s office an-

nounced that the grand jury in Los

Angeles had indicted the nine-

term Republican on one charge of

scheming to falsify and conceal

material facts and two counts of

making false

statements to

federal investi-

gators. Forten-

berry is expect-

ed to appear for

an arraignment

Wednesday af-

ternoon in feder-

al court in Los Angeles.

The indictment stems from an

FBI investigation into $180,000 in

illegal campaign contributions

from Gilbert Chagoury, a Niger-

ian billionaire of Lebanese de-

scent.

The contributions were fun-

neled through a group of Califor-

nians from 2012 through 2016 and

went to four U.S. politicians, in-

cluding $30,200 to Fortenberry in

2016. Using an analysis of federal

election records, Politico has iden-

tified the other three Republican

recipients as former U.S. Rep. Lee

Terry, of Nebraska, in 2014; Rep.

Darrell Issa, of California, in 2014;

and Mitt Romney during his 2012

presidential campaign.

Federal authorities haven’t al-

leged that any of the other three

campaigns or candidates were

aware that the donations originat-

ed with Chagoury.

Chagoury, who lives in Paris,

admitted to the crime in 2019,

agreed to pay a $1.8 million fine

and is cooperating with federal

authorities. Prosecutors have said

Chagoury made some of the illegal

contributions to politicians from

smaller states because he thought

the amounts would be more no-

ticeable and give him better ac-

cess. He also drew attention years

ago for giving more than $1 million

to the Clinton Foundation.

The indictment alleges that a

co-host of the 2016 fundraiser in

Los Angeles told Fortenberry that

the donations probably did come

from Chagoury, but Fortenberry

never filed an amended campaign

report with the Federal Election

Commission as required. It says

he later “made false and mislead-

ing statements” to federal investi-

gators during a March 23, 2019, in-

terview at his home in Lincoln.

According to the indictment,

Fortenberry falsely told investiga-

tors he wasn’t aware of an associ-

ate of Chagoury being involved in

illegal contributions. He also al-

legedly said that his donors were

publicly disclosed and he wasn’t

aware of any contributions from a

foreign national, which is illegal.

Indictment accuses Nebraska congressman of lying to FBIBY GRANT SCHULTE

Associated Press

Fortenberry 

WASHINGTON — Scaling

down his “build back better”

plans, President Joe Biden has

described a more limited vision to

Democratic lawmakers of a $2

trillion government-overhaul

package with at least $500 billion

to tackle climate change and mon-

ey for middle-class priorities —

child tax credits, paid family

leave, health care and free pre-

kindergarten.

He expects negotiations to

wrap up as soon as this week.

The president met privately in-

to the evening Tuesday with near-

ly 20 centrist and progressive

lawmakers in separate groups as

Democrats appeared ready to

abandon what had been a loftier

$3.5 trillion package for a smaller,

more workable proposal that can

unite the party and win passage in

the closely divided Congress.

Likely to be eliminated or seri-

ously shaved back: plans for tui-

tion-free community colleges, a

path to legal status for immi-

grants who are in the United

States without documentation and

a specific clean energy plan that

was the centerpiece of Biden’s

strategy for fighting climate

change.

The details were shared by

those familiar with the conversa-

tion and granted anonymity to

discuss the private meetings.

Biden felt “more confident” af-

ter the day of meetings, said press

secretary Jen Psaki.

“There was broad agreement

that there is urgency in moving

forward over the next several

days and that the window for fina-

lizing a package is closing,” she

said.

After months of fits and starts,

Democrats are growing anxious

they have little to show voters de-

spite their campaign promises.

Biden’s ideas are all to be funded

by tax hikes on corporations and

the wealthiest individuals — those

earning more than $400,000 a

year.

A key holdout on Biden’s pro-

posals, conservative Sen. Joe

Manchin from coal-state West

Virginia, has made clear he op-

poses the president’s initial Clean

Energy Performance Plan. The

plan would have the government

impose penalties on electric util-

ities that fail to meet clean energy

benchmarks and provide finan-

cial rewards to those that do — in

line with Biden’s goal of achieving

80% “clean electricity” by 2030.

Instead, Biden focused in his

Tuesday meetings on providing at

least $500 billion in tax credits,

grants and loans to fight climate

change, much of it likely coming

from a package compiled by Sen.

Ron Wyden, D-Ore., the chairman

of the the Finance Committee.

Those include the tax breaks for

energy producers that reach

emission-reduction goals.

SUSAN WALSH/AP

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D­Wash., the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, center, along withother lawmakers, talks with reporters outside the West Wing of the Washington on Tuesday following theirmeeting with President Joe Biden.

Biden focuses on climate andfamilies in trimmed $2T plan

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — A House

committee investigating the Jan. 6

Capitol insurrection voted unani-

mously to hold former White

House aide Steve Bannon in con-

tempt of Congress after the long-

time ally of former President Do-

nald Trump defied a subpoena for

documents and testimony.

Still defending his supporters

who broke into the Capitol that

day, Trump has aggressively tried

to block the committee’s work by

directing Bannon and others not to

answer questions in the probe.

Trump has also filed a lawsuit to

try to prevent Congress from ob-

taining former White House docu-

ments.

But lawmakers have made clear

they will not back down as they

gather facts and testimony about

the attack involving Trump’s sup-

porters that left dozens of police

officers injured, sent lawmakers

running for their lives and inter-

rupted the certification of Joe Bi-

den’s presidential election victo-

ry.

The committee’s chairman,

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss.,

said Tuesday that Bannon “stands

alone in his complete defiance of

our subpoena” and the panel will

not take no for an answer.

He said that while Bannon may

be “willing to be a martyr to the

disgraceful cause of whitewash-

ing what happened on January 6th

— of demonstrating his complete

loyalty to the former president,”

the contempt vote is a warning to

other witnesses.

The Tuesday evening vote

sends the contempt resolution to

the full House, which is expected

to vote on the measure Thursday.

House approval would send the

matter to the Justice Department,

which would then decide whether

to pursue criminal charges

against Bannon.

The contempt resolution asserts

that the former Trump aide and

podcast host has no legal standing

to rebuff the committee — even as

Trump’s lawyer has argued that

Bannon should not disclose infor-

mation because it is protected by

the privilege of the former presi-

dent’s office. The committee

noted that Bannon, fired from his

White House job in 2017, was a pri-

vate citizen when he spoke to

Trump ahead of the attack. Trump

has also not asserted any such ex-

ecutive privilege claims to the

panel itself, lawmakers said.

Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney —

one of just two Republicans on the

committee, and a rare GOP critic

of Trump — said Bannon and

Trump’s privilege arguments sug-

gest the former president was

“personally involved” in the plan-

ning and execution of the day’s

events.

The committee says it is pursu-

ing Bannon’s testimony because

of his reported communications

with Trump ahead of the siege, his

efforts to get the former president

to focus on the congressional cer-

tification of the vote Jan. 6 and his

comments on Jan. 5 that “all hell is

going to break loose” the next day.

Bannon “appears to have had

multiple roles relevant to this in-

vestigation, including his role in

constructing and participating in

the ‘stop the steal’ public relations

effort that motivated the attack”

and “his efforts to plan political

and other activity in advance of

January 6th,” the committee

wrote in the resolution recom-

mending contempt.

Jan. 6 panel votesto hold Bannon incriminal contempt

Associated Press

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PAGE 10 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Thursday, October 21, 2021

NATION

Scientists temporarily attached

a pig’s kidney to a human body

and watched it begin to work, a

small step in the decadeslong

quest to one day use animal organs

for life-saving transplants.

Pigs have been the most recent

research focus to address the or-

gan shortage, but among the hur-

dles: A sugar in pig cells, foreign to

the human body, causes immedi-

ate organ rejection. The kidney for

this experiment came from a

gene-edited animal, engineered to

eliminate that sugar and avoid an

immune system attack.

Surgeons attached the pig kid-

ney to a pair of large blood vessels

outside the body of a deceased re-

cipient so they could observe it for

two days. The kidney did what it

was supposed to do — filter waste

and produce urine — and didn’t

trigger rejection.

“It had absolutely normal func-

tion,” said Dr. Robert Montgom-

ery, who led the surgical team last

month at NYU Langone Health.

“It didn’t have this immediate re-

jection that we have worried

about.”

This research is “a significant

step,” said Dr. Andrew Adams of

the University of Minnesota Med-

ical School, who was not part of the

work. It will reassure patients, re-

searchers and regulators “that

we’re moving in the right direc-

tion.”

The dream of animal-to-human

transplants — or xenotransplanta-

tion — goes back to the 17th centu-

ry with stumbling attempts to use

animal blood for transfusions. By

the 20th century, surgeons were

attempting transplants of organs

from baboons into humans, nota-

bly Baby Fae, a dying infant, who

lived 21 days with a baboon heart.

With no lasting success and

much public uproar, scientists

turned from primates to pigs, tin-

kering with their genes to bridge

the species gap.

Pigs have advantages over mon-

keys and apes. They are produced

for food, so using them for organs

raises fewer ethical concerns.

Pigs have large litters, short gesta-

tion periods and organs compara-

ble to humans.

Pig heart valves also have been

used successfully for decades in

humans. The blood thinner hepa-

rin is derived from pig intestines.

Pig skin grafts are used on burns

and Chinese surgeons have used

pig corneas to restore sight.

In the NYU case, researchers

kept a deceased woman’s body go-

ing on a ventilator after her family

agreed to the experiment. The

woman had wished to donate her

organs, but they weren’t suitable

for traditional donation.

Several biotech companies are

in the running to develop suitable

pig organs for transplant to help

ease the human organ shortage.

More than 90,000 people in the

U.S. are in line for a kidney trans-

plant. Every day, 12 die while

waiting.

The advance is a win for Reviv-

icor, a subsidiary of United Ther-

apeutics, the company that engi-

neered the pig and a herd of 100

raised in tightly controlled condi-

tions at a facility in Iowa.

“This is an important step for-

ward in realizing the promise of

xenotransplantation, which will

save thousands of lives each year

in the not-too-distant future,” said

United Therapeutics CEO Mar-

tine Rothblatt in a statement.

Experts say tests on nonhuman

primates and last month’s experi-

ment with a human body pave the

way for the first experimental pig

kidney or heart transplants in liv-

ing people in the next several

years.

Animalorganpassestest

JOE CARROTTA, NYU LANGONE HEALTH / AP

A surgical team at NYU Langone Health in New York examines a pig kidney attached to the body of adeceased recipient for any signs of rejection last month. From left are Drs. Zoe A. Stewart­Lewis, RobertA. Montgomery, Bonnie E. Lonze and Jeffrey Stern. 

Gene-edited pigkidney functionsin human subject

BY CARLA K. JOHNSON

Associated Press

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Mana-

tees have starved to death by the

hundreds along Florida’s east

coast because algae blooms and

contaminants are killing the sea-

grass the beloved sea mammals

eat, a wildlife official told a House

committee Tuesday.

Seagrass has been decimated in

the 156-mile-long Indian River

Lagoon and neighboring areas.

The aquatic plant thrives in clear,

sandy water, but murkier water

because of the algae and pollu-

tants has made it harder for sea-

grass to survive, said Melissa

Tucker, director of the Division of

Habitat and Species Conservation

at the Florida Fish and Wildlife

Conservation Commission.

“Our statewide death count

from all sources has been higher

than it’s ever been reported be-

fore,” Tucker told the House State

Affairs Committee. “This is a star-

vation issue. There’s not enough

seagrasses that are available to

the manatees.”

Officials noticed a sharp rise in

manatee deaths from December

through May, when the sea cows

congregate in warm waters. Dur-

ing that period, 677 manatees

died, when typically only 156 die,

Tucker said.

While manatee mortality lev-

eled out after May, when the

mammals extend their range in

summer and fall, the state has re-

corded 968 manatee deaths in

2021, with more than two months

left in the year. The previous an-

nual high was 830 deaths in 2013,

Tucker said.

Big manatee die-offs in past

years have been attributed to

more transitory events like algae

blooms and unusually cold weath-

er, but the seagrass problem could

take longer to reverse, Tucker

said. Efforts are being made to re-

plant seagrass and restore clam

and oyster beds so the mollusks

can help filter the water, she said.

Manateesstarve aspollutantskill seagrass

Associated Press

LYNNE SLADKY / AP

With algae blooms and pollutantsaffecting their food source,manatees are dying off in recordnumbers in Florida this year.

PORTLAND, Maine — Maine’s

beloved puffins suffered one of

their worst years for reproduction

in decades this summer due to a

lack of the small fish they eat.

Puffins are seabirds with color-

ful beaks that nest on four small is-

lands off the coast of Maine. There

are about 1,500 breeding pairs in

the state and they are dependent

on fish such as herring and sand

lance to feed their young.

Only about a quarter of the birds

were able to raise chicks this sum-

mer, said Don Lyons, director of

conservation science for the Na-

tional Audubon Society’s Seabird

Institute in Bremen, Maine. About

two-thirds of the birds succeed in

a normal year, he said.

The puffin colonies have suf-

fered only one or two less produc-

tive years in the four decades

since their populations were re-

stored in Maine, Lyons said. The

birds had a poor year because of

warm ocean temperatures this

summer that reduced the availa-

bility of the fish the chicks need to

survive, he said.

“There were fewer fish for puf-

fins to catch, and the ones they

were able to were not ideal for

chicks,” Lyons said. “It’s a severe

warning this year.”

The islands where puffins nest

are located in the Gulf of Maine, a

body of water that is warming fas-

ter than the vast majority of the

world’s oceans. Researchers have

not seen much mortality of adult

puffins, but the population will

suffer if the birds continue to have

difficulty raising chicks, Lyons

said.

The discouraging news comes

after positive signs in recent years

despite the challenging environ-

mental conditions. The population

of the birds, which are on Maine’s

state threatened species list, has

been stable in recent years.

The birds had one of their most

productive seasons for mating

pairs in years in 2019. Scientists

including Stephen Kress, who has

studied the birds for decades, said

at the time that birds seemed to be

doing well because the Gulf of

Maine had a cool year that led to

an abundance of food.

The puffins are Atlantic puffins

that also live in Canada and the

other side of the ocean. Interna-

tionally, they’re listed as “vulner-

able” by the International Union

for Conservation of Nature.

Warm waters lead to fewer puffins in Maine

ROBERT F. BUKATY / AP

Research assistant Andreinna Alvarez holds a puffin chick beforeweighing and banding the bird in 2019 off the coast of Maine. Thebirds saw a drastic reduction in reproduction rates this year.

Associated Press

Page 11: strategy - epub.stripes.com

Thursday, October 21, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 11

AMERICAN ROUNDUP

Man gets probation forrolling boulders off cliff

ND MANDAN — A North

Dakota man has been

sentenced to probation for rolling a

boulder off a cliff at a state historic

site.

The Bismarck Tribune reported

that Charles Gipp, 36, of Mandan,

pleaded guilty Friday to misde-

meanor reckless endangerment

and criminal mischief. Prosecutors

dismissed a refusal-to-halt charge

and reduced the reckless endanger-

ment count from a felony to a misde-

meanor in exchange for the plea.

According to court documents,

Gipp was arrested in June 2020. He

told authorities he rolled a 700-

pound boulder off a cliff at Double

Ditch Indian Village Historic Site

for spiritual reasons. People were

below but no one was hurt.

Dog helps lead gamewarden to suspect at lake

KS WELLINGTON — Ru-

by the K-9 officer for

Kansas game wardens may be

pushing 10 years old, but her sniffer

works just fine. That was evident

earlier this month when Ruby

played a key role in tracking down a

man wanted by police in the south-

central Kansas town of Wellington.

A Facebook posting by Kansas

Wildlife & Parks-Game Wardens

said Ruby and her handler, Chris

Stout, joined in the search for the

suspect on Oct. 8 at Wellington City

Lake. The Facebook post says Ruby

“immediately picked up the track”

and led Stout through thick vegeta-

tion, eventually finding the suspect

“face down in mud under dense

brush.” She stood on top of the man

and licked him until Stout caught up.

None injured in Walmartparking lot 7-car pileup

ME AUBURN — An SUV

accelerated through a

Walmart parking lot in Maine, hit-

ting multiple vehicles and a shop-

ping cart corral before coming to a

stop with another SUV balanced on

top of it.

The driver was an 83-year-old

woman who Auburn Deputy Police

Chief Timothy A. Cougle said

seemed to have been trying to hit the

brake and instead hit the gas pedal,

the Lewiston Sun-Journal reported

Monday.No one, including the driv-

er, was injured.

“We are still sorting all the details

out, but there is a total of seven vehi-

cles involved — two significantly

damaged or totaled,” Cougle told

the newspaper.

Law enforcement gets cash from firearms sale

WV PINEVILLE — Several

police and sheriff’s de-

partments in West Virginia are

among those benefiting from the

state treasurer’s recent unclaimed

property firearms auction.

Last week, state Treasurer Riley

Moore presented a check for

$19,098 to the Wyoming County

Sheriff’s Department for proceeds

from the auction, his office said in a

news release.

State and local law enforcement

agencies are allowed to turn over

unclaimed, seized or outdated fire-

arms to the treasurer’s office for

auction. The proceeds can be given

back to the agency for its use.

People who want to bid must be a

valid, licensed federal firearms

dealer.

Surfboards burn in blazenext to historic hotel

HI HONOLULU — For the

second time in less than

two years, a fire destroyed surf-

boards stored next to a historic Wai-

kiki hotel.

Firefighters called to the scene

found several storage racks of surf-

boards at a beach alleyway in flames

and evacuated the adjacent build-

ings: the Moana Surfrider Hotel and

the Honolulu Police Department’s

Waikiki substation.

The blaze scorched the exterior of

the hotel, which first opened in 1901,

and spread to the substation’s walls,

roof and eaves, the Honolulu Fire

Department said.

An investigation is underway. Po-

lice arrested a 43-year-old man on

suspicion of arson.

Surfer Theresa Strange told the

Honolulu Star-Advertiser she lost

two boards worth about $2,000 each.

She also lost boards during a similar

fire there in February 2020.

Holocaust survivor givenFrance’s Legion of Honor

TX HOUSTON — An 88-

year-old Holocaust sur-

vivor from Houston who has spent

decades educating people on the

genocide of Jews during World War

II has been honored by France.

The Houston Chronicle reported

that Ruth Steinfeld was awarded the

Legion of Honor, France’s highest

prize, in a ceremony Sunday at Hol-

ocaust Museum Houston. As chil-

dren during the war, Steinfeld and

her sister were saved by a French

humanitarian organization.

French Consul General Valérie

Baraban praised Steinfeld as an “in-

valuable witness” to the horrors of

genocide, saying Steinfeld is “com-

mitted to speaking for the 1.5 million

children who never had a chance to

survive.”

Steinfeld’s family was forced

from their home in Germany to an

internment camp in France. She

and her sister and mother were sent

to the women’s barracks. Their

mother released her daughters —

ages 7 and 8 — to the care of human-

itarian rescuers who got into the

camp by posing as the Red Cross.

Her parents died at Auschwitz.

She and her sister eventually set-

tled in Houston. Her sister died in

2008.

Pier condemned: Formerbridge section unstable

LA DOYLINE — Louisiana

authorities have con-

demned and will remove a section of

a Louisiana bridge used for nearly

two decades as a fishing pier, offi-

cials said Monday.

Work at the Lake Bistineau spill-

way fishing pier will begin Oct. 25

and is expected to take 90 days, the

Louisiana Department of Wildlife

and Fisheries said in a news release.

When the current Louisiana

Highway 154 bridge over Lake Bis-

tineau was built in 2001, the Louisia-

na Department of Transportation

and Development left a section of

the old one for use as a fishing pier

owned and managed by Wildlife

and Fisheries. It’s in Bossier Parish,

about 23 miles southeast of Shreve-

port. The pier has become so unsta-

ble that it’s a safety hazard both for

people who might use it and for the

spillway itself, the news release

said.

2men arrested after blastset off in dispute

GA WINDER — Two men

have been arrested after

police concluded they set off an ex-

plosion in a subdivision in northeast

Georgia in early October, damaging

anumber of houses.

Winder police said Friday that

they have arrested Michael Bonzo

Huff, 31, of Nicholson, and Royce

Van Court, 38, of Winder. The men

are being held on charges including

possessing explosives, terroristic

threats and acts, reckless conduct

and criminal property damage.

Some sort of bomb went off before

dawn on Oct. 2 in a Winder subdivi-

sion, heavily damaging a car and

blowing out windows in multiple

houses. No one was injured. Winder

police say the blast appears to be re-

lated to a “domestic conflict.”

DANIEL SANGJIB MIN, RICHMOND (VA.) TIMES­DISPATCH/AP

Blakeley Catlett, 4, of Henrico, Va., manages to push a wheelbarrow after picking up her pumpkin as herfamily visits Gallmeyer Farms' pumpkin patch in Henrico on Monday.

Patchwork

THE CENSUS

38 The amount of time,in minutes, an elec-

tric scooter rider in St. Louis, whohad collided with a minivan, waitedfor an ambulance, according to hisfamily. The St. Louis Post-Dispatchreported that a nearby St. Louis trafficpatrol officer saw the Sept. 27 colli-sion that injured 60-year-old RodneyLaRue. A firetruck arrived within afew minutes, according to a video ofthe crash and police records providedthrough a public records request.About 30 minutes after the crash,when the ambulance was about 3miles from the scene, a man threw arock at the emergency vehicle, delay-ing it further. Police said LaRue ini-tially appeared to be suffering from“noncritical, moderate accident inju-ries" but his “condition worsened,and he became unresponsive” oncethe ambulance arrived. He had inter-nal bleeding and died that night.

From The Associated Press

Page 12: strategy - epub.stripes.com

PAGE 12 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Thursday, October 21, 2021

WORLD

NAIROBI, Kenya — New air-

strikes hit the capital of Ethiopia’s

Tigray region, residents said

Wednesday, as video showed in-

jured people with bloodied faces

being rushed to vehicles and thick

black smoke rising in the sky. Eth-

iopia’s government said it targeted

facilities to make and repair weap-

ons, which a spokesman for the ri-

val Tigray forces denied.

Meanwhile, the United Nations

told The Associated Press it is

slashing by more than half its Ti-

gray presence as an Ethiopian gov-

ernment blockade halts humani-

tarian aid efforts and people die

from lack of food.

The war in Africa’s second-most

populous country has ground on

for nearly a year between Ethio-

pian and allied forces and the Ti-

gray ones who long dominated the

national government before a fall-

ing-out with Prime Minister Abiy

Ahmed, the 2019 Nobel Peace

Prize winner.

There was no immediate word of

deaths from the new airstrikes in

Mekele, reported by Kindeya Ge-

brehiwot of the Tigray external af-

fairs office and confirmed by a res-

ident and a humanitarian worker.

One resident said five people were

injured, speaking on condition of

anonymity for fear of retaliation.

“Indeed there have been air-

strikes in Mekele today,” Ethio-

pian government spokesperson

Legesse Tulu told the AP, saying

they targeted facilities at the Mes-

fin Industrial Engineering site that

Tigray forces use to make and re-

pair heavy weapons. Legesse said

the airstrikes had “no intended

harm to civilians.”

“Not at all,” Kindeya with the Ti-

gray forces told the AP, calling the

site a garage “with many old tires.

That is why it is still blazing.”

The attack came two days after

Ethiopia’s air force confirmed air-

strikes in Mekele that a witness

said killed three children. The air

force said communications towers

and equipment were attacked.

Mekele hadn’t seen fighting since

June, when Tigray forces retook

much of the region in a dramatic

turn in the war.

The airstrikes have caused fresh

panic in a city under siege, where

doctors and others have described

running out of medicines and other

basic needs.

New airstrikes hit Ethiopia’s Tigray regionAssociated Press

AP

People are seen in front of clouds of black smoke from fires in the aftermath at the scene of an airstrike inMekele, the capital of the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia on Wednesday.

LONDON — The world needs to

cut by more than half its produc-

tion of coal, oil and gas in the com-

ing decade to maintain a chance of

keeping global warming from re-

aching dangerous levels, accord-

ing to a U.N.-backed study re-

leased Wednesday.

The report published by the

U.N. Environment Program found

that while governments have

made ambitious pledges to curb

greenhouse gas emissions, they

are still planning to extract double

the amount of fossil fuels in 2030

than what would be consistent

with the 2015 Paris climate ac-

cord’s goal of keeping the global

temperature rise below 2.7 de-

grees Fahrenheit.

Even the less ambitious goal of

capping global warming at 3.6 de-

grees Fahrenheit by the end of the

century compared to pre-industri-

al times would be overshot, it said.

Climate experts say the world

must stop adding to the total

amount of greenhouse gas in the

atmosphere by 2050, and that can

only be done by drastically reduc-

ing the burning of fossil fuels as

soon as possible, among other

measures.

The report, which was released

days before a U.N. climate summit

begins Oct. 31 in Glasgow, found

most major oil and gas producers

— and even some major coal pro-

ducers — are planning on increas-

ing production until 2030 or even

beyond.

It also concluded that the group

of 20 major industrialized and

emerging economies have invest-

ed more into new fossil fuel pro-

jects than into clean energy since

the start of 2020.

The disparity between climate

goals and fossil fuel extraction

plans — termed the “production

gap” — will widen until at least

2040, the report found.

This would require increasingly

steep and extreme measures to

meet the Paris emissions goal,

UNEP said.

“There is still time to limit long

term warming to 1.5°C, but this

window of opportunity is rapidly

closing,” said the agency’s execu-

tive director, Inger Andersen,

adding that governments should

commit to closing the gap at the

Glasgow climate summit.

The report, which had more

than 40 researchers contributing,

examine 15 major fossil fuel-pro-

ducing countries.

For the United States, they

found that government projec-

tions show oil and gas production

increasing to 17% and 12%, respec-

tively, by 2030 compared to 2019

levels. Much of that would be ex-

ported, meaning the emissions

from burning those fossil fuels

would not show up in the U.S. in-

ventory although they would add

to the global total.

Study: Fossil fuel plans wouldfar overshoot climate goals

Associated Press

VENICE, Italy — After Venice

suffered the second-worst flood in

its history in November 2019, it

was inundated with four more ex-

ceptional tides within six weeks,

shocking Venetians and trigger-

ing fears about the worsening im-

pact of climate change.

The repeated invasion of brack-

ish lagoon water into St. Mark’s

Basilica this summer is a quiet re-

minder that the threat hasn’t re-

ceded.

“I can only say that in August, a

month when this never used to

happen, we had tides over a meter

five times. I am talking about the

month of August, when we are

quiet,” St. Mark’s chief caretaker,

Carlo Alberto Tesserin, told The

Associated Press.

Venice’s unique topography,

built on log piles among canals,

has made it particularly vulnera-

ble to climate change. Rising sea

levels are increasing the frequen-

cy of high tides that inundate the

1,600-year-old Italian lagoon city,

which is also gradually sinking.

It is the fate of coastal cities like

Venice that will be on the minds of

climate scientists and global lead-

ers meeting in Glasgow, Scotland,

at a U.N. climate conference that

begins Oct. 31.

Venice’s worse-case scenario

for sea level rise by the end of the

century is a startling 3 feet, 11

inches, according to a new study

published by the European Geos-

ciences Union. That is 50% higher

than the worse-case global sea-

rise average of 2 feet, 7½ inches

forecast by the U.N. science panel.

The city’s interplay of canals

and architecture, of natural hab-

itat and human ingenuity, also has

earned it recognition as a UNES-

CO World Heritage site for its out-

standing universal value, a desig-

nation put at risk of late because of

the impact of over-tourism and

cruise ship traffic. It escaped the

endangered list after Italy banned

cruise ships from passing through

St. Mark’s Basin, but alarm bells

are still ringing.

Sitting at Venice’s lowest spot,

St. Mark’s Basilica offers a unique

position to monitor the impact of

rising seas on the city. The piazza

outside floods at around 30 inches,

and water passes the narthex into

the church at 34.5 inches, which

has been reinforced up from a pre-

vious 25.5 inches.

“Conditions are continuing to

worsen since the flooding of No-

vember 2019. We therefore have

the certainty that in these months,

flooding is no longer an occasional

phenomenon. It is an everyday oc-

currence,” said Tesserin, whose

honorific, First Procurator of St.

Mark’s, dates back to the ninth

century.

Flooding in Venice worseningoff-season amid climate change

Associated Press

ANTEO MARINONI/AP

People wade their way through water in flooded St. Mark’s Squarefollowing a high tide, in Venice, Italy, in December 2020.

Page 13: strategy - epub.stripes.com

Thursday, October 21, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 13

WORLD

BRUSSELS — Imprisoned

Russian opposition leader Alex-

ei Navalny, President Vladimir

Putin’s main critic, was awarded

the European Union’s top human

rights prize on Wednesday.

In a sign of open criticism of

the Kremlin, the leaders of the

European Parliament picked the

Russian politician for the Sakha-

rov Prize. Other candidates had

been a group of Afghan women,

and imprisoned Bolivian politic-

ian and former interim Presi-

dent Jeanine Anez.

The parliament’s EPP Chris-

tian Democrat group announced

the decision in a tweet.

“Mr. Putin, free Alexei Naval-

ny. Europe calls for his — and all

other political prisoners’ — free-

dom,” it said.

Navalny survived a Soviet-era

nerve agent poisoning while on a

domestic flight in Russia. After

receiving treatment and reco-

vering in Germany, he returned

to Russia early this year, where

he was promptly arrested and

jailed.

Navalny winstop EU prize

Associated Press

DAMASCUS, Syria — Two

bombs attached to a bus carrying

Syrian troops exploded in Damas-

cus during the morning rush hour

Wednesday, a military official

said. Fourteen people were killed

in the attack, one of the deadliest

in the capital in years.

While the Syrian government’s

decadelong conflict with insur-

gents continues in parts of the

country including the rebel-held

northwest, bombings in Damas-

cus have become exceedingly

rare since President Bashar As-

sad’s troops pushed opposition

fighters from the capital’s suburbs

in 2018.

The explosions, which also left

several wounded, happened at a

busy intersection near a main bus

transfer point where commuters

and schoolchildren typically con-

verge. After the blasts, Syrian

state TV showed footage of smoke

rising from a charred bus as sol-

diers hosed down the vehicle and

onlookers flocked to a nearby

bridge to watch.

No one immediately claimed re-

sponsibility for the attack, but sev-

eral insurgent and jihadist groups

that seek to overthrow Assad are

active in Syria.

Separately, rescue workers re-

ported 10 people were killed, in-

cluding four children and a wom-

an, in government shelling of a

town in the last rebel enclave in

the country’s northwest. The U.N.

Deputy Regional Humanitarian

Coordinator Mark Cutts de-

scribed the reports of the shelling

that hit a market and roads near

schools as students were heading

to classes as “shocking.”

In addition to the four children

killed, their teacher also died, ac-

cording to UNICEF, the U.N. chil-

dren’s agency.

“Today’s violence is yet another

reminder that the war in Syria has

not come to an end. Civilians,

among them many children, keep

bearing the brunt of a brutal dec-

adelong conflict,” the agency said.

“Attacks on civilians including

children are a violation of interna-

tional humanitarian law.”

The attack was one of the most

violent in the area since a March

2020 truce in the northwest nego-

tiated by Turkey and Russia — al-

lies of the opposition and Syrian

government, respectively. The

truce has been repeatedly violat-

ed, and government forces often

vow to take territories still out of

their control.

In the central city of Hama,

meanwhile, an explosion at an

arms depot left six pro-govern-

ment fighters dead, according to

the Syrian Observatory for Hu-

man Rights, an opposition war

monitor. The pro-government

Sham FM radio station also re-

ported that six fighters were killed

in a depot explosion, but did not

give a location.

While fighting still rages in the

northwest, Assad’s forces now

control much of Syria after mili-

tary support from his allies, Rus-

sia and Iran, helped tip the bal-

ance of power in his favor. U.S.

and Turkish troops, meanwhile,

are deployed in parts of the coun-

try’s north.

Bus bombs kill overdozen in Syria capital

Associated Press

SANA/AP

A Syrian firefighter extinguishes a burned bus at the site of a deadlyexplosion in Damascus, Syria, on Wednesday. 

Page 14: strategy - epub.stripes.com

PAGE 14 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Thursday, October 21, 2021

Max D. Lederer Jr., Publisher

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CIRCULATION

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stripes.com

OPINION

For more than a century, business

experts have been trying to dial up

the United States’ efficiency. Ever

since Frederick Taylor published

“The Principles of Scientific Management”

in 1911, companies have focused on doing

things more quickly, and raising consumers’

expectations as a result.

But Taylor’s ideas didn’t take into account

the havoc a pandemic might do to supply

chains — and how that would blunt what a

few months ago seemed like a looming re-

sumption of modern daily life’s zippy pace.

Across the country, Americans’ expecta-

tions of speedy service and easy access to

consumer products have been crushed like a

Styrofoam container in a trash compactor.

Time for some new, more realistic expecta-

tions.

Fast food is less fast. A huge flotilla of con-

tainer ships is stuck offshore in California,

waiting to unload. Shelves normally stocked

with Halloween candy this time of year are

empty, as I saw the other day at a Target here

in Ann Arbor, Mich.

The issue has become so troublesome —

with alarming economic and political ramifi-

cations — that the White House is stepping in,

urging unions, port operators and big con-

sumer-goods companies to work around the

clock (if they aren’t already) to unclog supply

pipelines.

American consumers, their expectations

pampered and catered to for decades, are not

accustomed to inconvenience.

“For generations, American shoppers

have been trained to be nightmares,” Aman-

da Mull wrote in August in the Atlantic, be-

fore the supply chain problem turned truly

ugly. “The pandemic has shown just how des-

perately the consumer class clings to the feel-

ing of being served.”

Customers’ persistent whine, “Why don’t

they just hire more people?,” sounds feeble in

this era of the Great Resignation, especially

in industries, such as food service, with repu-

tations for being tough places to work.

Rather than living constantly on the verge

of throwing a fit, and risking taking it out on

overwhelmed servers, struggling shop own-

ers or late-arriving delivery people, we’d do

ourselves a favor by consciously lowering ex-

pectations.

I don’t know about where you live, but in

Ann Arbor the luxury of blithely tapping on a

phone and summoning a restaurant delivery

that arrives in 45 minutes is over. There’s a

shortage of food-delivery drivers nationwide.

The sanity-preserving move is to assume an

hour and half for delivery, and then a mere

hour and 10 minutes is a pleasant surprise.

“I understand people are getting frustrat-

ed, but it’s time for people to take a chill pill,”

says Lisa McDonald, owner of TeaHaus, an

Ann Arbor shop selling tea and gifts. “I’m just

not going to have the things that I usually

have. Maybe they aren’t going to get the pur-

ple mug, but the blue one is pretty, too.”

The other day I found myself carrying

home a loaf of bread in my bare hands be-

cause the bakery had run out of bags. Back

when we didn’t know how good we had it —

circa 2019 — I might have been annoyed by

the inconvenience. Now I was just glad the

bakery was still in business.

Other Ann Arbor merchants have given

me a glimpse of what it’s like on their side of

the supply chain misery. Leyla Conlan, own-

er of the stationery shop The Write Touch by

Leyla, says she recently returned from a gift

trade show, where vendors were happy to

take her orders but warned that they couldn’t

promise the same delivery time as they had in

the past. The reasons included factory slow-

downs, shortages of packing materials and

fewer truck drivers.

Steve Mangigian, managing partner at Zin-

german’s coffee and candy companies, tells

me he used to order paper cups and lids for

his baristas about six to eight weeks in ad-

vance. Now, the wait is 16 to 18 weeks — pos-

sibly longer. “If I can’t get cups to sell my

product, what am I supposed to do? The sup-

ply chain could literally shut down my busi-

ness.”

I know Mangigian because I’ve been writ-

ing a book about Zingerman’s. It’s scheduled

to be published in February. Everything

seems on track, but the publishing industry

hasn’t been immune to the supply chain

snarls. Paper shortages, worker shortages

and the traffic jams at shipping ports are en-

dangering holiday books sales, according to

CNN.

All I can do is hope for the best. Like every-

body else. And keep those expectations rea-

sonable. Eventually the supply chain will get

straightened out.

American consumers might have been

spoiled, but generations of them have also

dealt with shortages of some kind — gasoline

in the 1970s, food rationing in the 1940s, hous-

ing in the 1920s when cities such as Detroit

were booming. Now it’s our turn to make ad-

justments.

Lower your expectations amid supply chain woesBY MICHELINE MAYNARD

Special to The Washington Post

Micheline Maynard is a contributing columnist for The Washing-ton Post, concentrating on Detroit, Michigan and the Midwest.

It’s time to set firm dates for ending

masking in schools.

The risk of COVID-19 to kids is al-

ready very low. And with the expected

arrival of vaccines for 5-to-11-year-olds in

early November, schools should be able to lift

their mask mandates by the end of the year at

the latest.

This is true even in areas where schools do

not require vaccines for kids. To be clear, I ful-

ly support such mandates. My 15-year-old and

12-year-old are already vaccinated, and my 9-

year-old will get the shot on the first day it’s ap-

proved for his age. But vaccine mandates do

not have to be a precondition to end masking.

Right now, schools have to craft policies

based on acceptable risks. Now that children

will soon have access to vaccines, all parents

will have the tools to send their kids to school

with the assurance that they will be safe, even

without masks.

Data from all over the world affirms that the

risk of severe outcomes from COVID-19 is ex-

tremely low for kids. In highly vaccinated

New England, the hospitalization rate right

now for kids under 17 is about 7 per 10 million.

That is not a typo.

At the worst of the delta surge in Florida, the

hospitalization rate for this age group was

about 1 per 100,000. It has since dropped

sharply in that region, and is now approaching

1 per million again. And these are overesti-

mates of hospitalization risk for 5-to-11-year-

olds, since the Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention’s data lumps them together with

the slightly higher-risk 12-to-17-year-olds.

The same low risk for kids holds true for

mortality, where the risk for 5-to-11-year-olds

has consistently been about 1 per 1 million. Se-

rious COVID-related conditions, such as mul-

tisystem inflammatory syndrome and long

COVID, are rare, too.

The CDC is meeting on Nov. 2 and 3 to make

the final recommendation on vaccines for 5-

to-11-year-olds. Health officials should be pre-

paring now to administer these vaccines on

the first day they’re allowed. With full protec-

tion of the two-dose regimen kicking in one

month after the second shot and strong protec-

tion one month after that, that would mean

children who receive their shot immediately

would be fully vaccinated around the third

week of December. In other words, there

should be no mask mandates for kids in

schools in the new year — or even earlier.

Why do we need a quick timeline? Because

if we don’t set deadlines, it’s easy to see how

schools could sleepwalk into indefinite mask-

ing for kids for at least this entire school year.

Last year, a major concern was that kids

might infect their high-risk teachers or par-

ents. But those groups have now had access to

vaccines for at least six months. Many of them

have access to booster shots, as well, and can

continue to wear a high-grade mask to protect

themselves if they remain concerned.

As for adults who remain unvaccinated, the

delta variant will find them eventually, and,

when it does, their risk of severe outcomes re-

mains high. But kids should not have to bear

the burden of reckless adults any longer than

they already have.

Here are four things we should do to prior-

itize the health of children:

Mandate vaccines for all adults in

schools, as Los Angeles and New York City

have done. We know this causes vaccination

rates to rise sharply. New York City’s Depart-

ment of Education saw its rate spike from

around 50% in early August to 95%.

Host at-school vaccination clinics for 5-

to-11-year-olds in every U.S. school. Any fam-

ily that wants their child vaccinated should

have that opportunity as soon as vaccines are

available. The time to prepare for this is now.

Expand use of rapid antigen tests so we

can end the unnecessary quarantining of kids.

Quarantines are a blunt instrument to control

spread by assuming every close contact might

be infectious. Rapid tests solve that problem

by revealing who is actively infectious.

Improve ventilation and filtration. This

helps reduce the amount of virus anyone in a

classroom will inhale, which lowers the likeli-

hood of infection and likely lowers severity if

infected.

This also isn’t about whether masks work.

They do. But as with all control measures,

there is a time and place for them. The best

thing about masks is that if things change for

the worse — and they might — then we just

pull the masks back out of the drawer. But we

must be just as willing to put them away when

things look better.

Schools should end their mask mandates before 2022BY JOSEPH G. ALLEN

Special to The Washington Post

Joseph G. Allen is an assistant professor of exposure andassessment science, director of the healthy buildings programat Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health andco-author of “Healthy Buildings: How Indoor Spaces DrivePerformance and Productivity.”

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Thursday, October 21, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 15

Page 16: strategy - epub.stripes.com

PAGE 16 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Thursday, October 21, 2021

ACROSS

1 “Phooey!”

5 Swab the decks

8 From the top

12 Apiece

13 Rock’s Brian

14 “Holy cow!”

15 “Alfred” com-

poser

16 Seminary subj.

17 Jocular Johnson

18 Antenna

20 Tenant

22 Hosp. scan

23 Enzyme suffix

24 Bright star

27 Small hourglass

32 Verb for you

33 — Canals

34 Pub order

35 Flemish car-

tographer

38 L-Q bridge

39 Periodical,

for short

40 “Levitating”

singer Lipa

42 Loves to pieces

45 Released

49 Oz creator L.

Frank —

50 Deli choice

52 Tea carrier

53 Diminutive suffix

54 Poem of praise

55 Being, to Brutus

56 Wonka’s creator

57 Roofing goo

58 Beams

DOWN

1 Like Beethoven

2 Scarce

3 Teen’s woe

4 Louise’s pal

5 Most mirthful

6 Small bill

7 Survey

8 Tennis great

Andre

9 Viking, e.g.

10 Noble Italian

family

11 Sledder’s cry

19 Hectic hosp.

area

21 Dig in

24 “Platoon” locale

25 Miner’s find

26 Martini ingredient

28 Stickum

29 “July’s People”

author Nadine

30 “Xanadu” band

31 Gym unit

36 Mount —

37 Candle count

38 Chess expert

41 NBC’s “This

Is —”

42 Sleeping

43 Info

44 Attempt

46 Celestial bear

47 Relaxed

48 Salon jobs

51 Nabokov novel

Answer to Previous Puzzle

Eugene Sheffer CrosswordFra

zz

Dilbert

Pearls B

efo

re S

win

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on S

equitur

Candorv

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Beetle B

ailey

Biz

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Thursday, October 21, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 17

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PAGE 18 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Thursday, October 21, 2021

FACES

Before he was a heavy metal icon, he sold

light bulbs. Before he shouted at the devil,

he shouted at his mom. Before he was Nikki

Sixx, he was Franklin Feranna.

The Mötley Crüe co-founder and bassist

looks back at his formative years in his new

autobiography “The First 21: How I Be-

came Nikki Sixx,” revealing family secrets

and the origins of his drive to succeed.

“If some young musician picks up my

book, they’re going to go, ‘Oh, wow.’ Yes, it’s

entertaining. And, yes, there’s revelations.

But there’s sort of a road map in here to suc-

cess,” Sixx says, before adding: “Don’t use

my exact road map.”

Few heavy metal acts were as notorious

in the 1980s onstage as well as off as Mötley

Crüe, whose songs include “Looks That

Kill,” “Shout at the Devil” and “Girls, Girls,

Girls.” Fueled by drugs and booze, their

stage show included excessive amounts of

pyro and chain-sawing the head off a man-

nequin filled with blood.

“The First 21,” written with Alex Abra-

movich, charts Feranna’s birth in 1958 to

the date in 1980 — before Mötley Crüe

founded — when he finally let go of his fa-

ther and legally rechristened himself Sixx,

a name he admits he stole from another art-

ist. The book release coincides with his oth-

er band, Sixx:A.M., releasing a retrospec-

tive album with their biggest hits.

Elements of his childhood seemed idyllic

as he bounced from farm to farm and state

to state, including Idaho and Washington.

He put playing cards in the spokes of his

bike to mimic the sound of a motorcycle and

went to Dairy Queen. He sold worms for

pocket money and played defensive end on

the high school football team. (Later, in

Mötley Crüe, he would paint dark stripes

under his eyes as a tribute to those days).

But there was also

neglect and a compli-

cated family life. His

father abandoned him

early on and his mother

was a wild child who

once dated Richard

Pryor. He reveals he

had a sister, Lisa, who

was born blind and

with Down syndrome.

He was never allowed

to know her.

“I was angry for a long time and I think a

lot of that anger fueled a lot of music. Drive

and anger probably helped catapult myself

and my band,” says Sixx. “By writing the

book, I discovered a lot about my dad, dis-

covered a lot about myself.”

Sixx was mostly raised by his grandpar-

ents, and they instilled in him a fierce work

ethic. He worked hard — on potato farms, in

steel manufacturing, rug cleaning, being a

janitor, selling light bulbs. To be fair, there

also was some shoplifting and light break-

ing and entering.

His car was so busted up he had to drive it

backward if he wanted to go up hills. He

even sold his own blood.

“I learned a very, very valuable lesson ve-

ry early in my life: You work hard and you

don’t complain,” he says. “I work extra hard

because I don’t think I’m naturally as gifted

as some of my peers.”

There are fascinating life-changing pivot

points — Sixx calls them “moments of im-

pact” — like the decision to take a Grey-

hound bus down to Los Angeles with just his

guitar, some cassettes and a bagful of

clothes.

Another was when he was offered the

bassist spot in what would become another

influential metal band, Quiet Riot. For some

reason, he declined, even though his band at

the time, London, wasn’t taking off. “The

rock god up there said, ‘No, not for you.

You’re just going to stay over here and

starve a little bit longer,’” Sixx says.

He has included plenty of photos to docu-

ment the transformation from all-American

small-town boy to skinny rock god with long

hair. He purposely included ones capturing

him in an awkward stage. “I put those pho-

tos in the book on purpose because I wanted

people to be like, ‘Yeah, I had that, too.’”

Sixx barely mentions his Mötley Crüe

bandmates, Tommy Lee, Vince Neil and

Mick Mars, who have been covered in his

“The Heroin Diaries,” “This Is Gonna

Hurt” and Neil Strauss’ “The Dirt.”

This is very much Sixx’s story, a father

now himself settled in Wyoming with his

family — not far from Idaho, where much of

his story started — who is feeling around in

his past.

“I really wanted to come at this with em-

pathy on some of the characters that were in

my life because it’d be really easy to bring

out the guillotine, start taking people’s

heads off,” he says.

“Families are hard. It’s not easy being a

parent. It’s not easy being a friend. It’s not

easy being in a band. Life’s not always easy.

So how can you look at it? Learn a lesson

from it and pass it on to the next person

that’s in line behind you.”

Forces thatshaped a starMötley Crüe’s Nikki Sixx’s book recalls formative years

BY MARK KENNEDY

Associated Press

ARTHUR MOLA/AP

Nikki Sixx attends the premiere for “Long Time Running” at the Toronto InternationalFilm Festival in 2017 in Toronto, Canada. The Mötley Crüe co­founder and bassist, bornFranklin Feranna, has a new autobiography, “The First 21: How I Became Nikki Sixx.”

The ’90s are making a comeback — with a little

help from music idols Brandy and Eve.

ABC’s “Queens,” which premiered Tuesday

stateside, finds the two real-life ’90s performers play-

ing former members of fictional all-girl hip-hop

group Nasty B—es, who get back together years after

their heyday.

The other members of the glitzy group, all mature

adults now, are played by Naturi Naughton and Na-

dine Velazquez.

“I’ve never seen four women in a group that rap,”

Brandy, 42, said. “There’s been hip-hop guy groups,

but I’ve never seen hip-hop girl groups.”

The “The Boy Is Mine” singer added: “Usually

there’s been times where one female is celebrated as

the rapper, with all of these guys. Even Eve was part

of the Ruff Ryders. It was just one girl for each crew.

But I’ve never seen four women together doing it, and

so I just think that’s a beautiful way to kind of rewrite

history with this show by putting us all together.”

Estranged for the better part of two decades, Chris-

tian housewife Jill (Naughton), mother of five Brian-

na (Eve), acoustic singer Naomi (Brandy) and TV

host Valeria (Velazquez) are drawn back to the stage

by the promise of a revival.

The show switches between the 1990s, when they

were huge stars — and often at odds — and the pre-

sent day, as they try to regain the spotlight despite old

wounds and new challenges.

“This show gives us a way to show sisterhood,”

Naughton said. “You often see women at each other’s

throats and fighting and catty. I’m just so refreshed

by the ways the writers are giving these women dra-

ma, but because they really love each other. At the

core of it, they really care about what they’re doing.”

In “Queens,” the drama stems from more than just

catty backstabbing.

“It felt like a grown-a— woman show, not a little

girl show,” Velazquez, 42, said.

’90s female hip-hopsees revival in newABC series ‘Queens’

New York Daily News

ABC/TNS

Eve, Brandy, Naturi Naughton and NadineVelazquez star as ’90s hip­hop icons in “Queens.” 

The next act for Ryan Reynolds

will see him take a break.

Reynolds, 44, announced he will

hit pause on acting for a little while

after wrapping up production for

his latest film, “Spirited,” which

also stars Will Ferrell and Octavia

Spencer.

“Perfect time for a little sabbat-

ical from movie making,” Rey-

nolds wrote Oct. 16 in an Insta-

gram post. “I’m gonna miss every

second working with this obscene-

ly gifted group of creators and art-

ists.”

The upcoming movie, which

will be released by Apple TV+, is

billed as an updated, musical ver-

sion of “A Christmas Carol.”

“Not sure I’d have been ready to

say yes to a film this challenging

even three years ago,” Reynolds

wrote in his Instagram post.

“Singing, dancing and playing in

the sandbox with Will Ferrell

made a whole lotta dreams come

true. And this is my second film

with the great @octaviaspencer.”

Soul Train Awards at

Apollo for the first timeThe annual Soul Train Awards

will be presented for the first time

at New York City’s Apollo Thea-

ter, the legendary Harlem per-

formance venue, as two icons of

Black culture team up.

The 2021 awards show, which

honors the year’s best in soul, hip-

hop and R&B, will be taped and

debut on BET and BET Her

stateside on Nov. 28. BET has

aired the show since 2009, taping

in Las Vegas in recent years.

It is also celebrating the 50th an-

niversary of the debut of “Soul

Train,” the television show that

beamed the best of Black music

and popular dance into American

homes each week.

Ryan Reynolds taking breakafter wrapping new movie

From wire reports

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Thursday, October 21, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 19

SCOREBOARD/COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Schedule

Wednesday’s game

SOUTH

Coastal Carolina (6-0) at Appalachian St.(4-2)

Thursday’s games

SOUTH

FAU (3-3) at Charlotte (4-2)

SOUTHWEST

Tulane (1-5) at SMU (6-0)Louisiana-Lafayette (5-1) at Arkansas

St. (1-5)

FAR WEST

San Jose St. (3-4) at UNLV (0-6)

Friday’s games

EAST

Columbia (4-1) at Dartmouth (5-0)Middle Tennessee (2-4) at Uconn (1-7)

SOUTH

Memphis (4-3) at UCF (3-3)

FAR WEST

Colorado St. (3-3) at Utah St. (4-2)Washington (2-4) at Arizona (0-6)

Saturday’s games

EAST

Wake Forest (6-0) at Army (4-2)Cincinnati (6-0) at Navy (1-5)Illinois (2-5) at Penn St. (5-1)Bryant (4-3) at Wagner (0-6)Morehead St. (4-2) at Marist (3-2)Duquesne (4-1) at Sacred Heart (4-3)LIU Brooklyn (0-5) at CCSU (1-5)Penn (2-3) at Yale (2-3)Harvard (5-0) at Princeton (5-0)Maine (2-4) at Albany (NY) (0-6)Georgetown (1-4) at Bucknell (1-5)Brown (1-4) at Cornell (1-4)Norfolk St. (4-2) at Howard (2-4)Lehigh (0-6) at Fordham (4-3)NC Central (2-4) at Morgan St. (0-6)SC State (2-4) at Delaware St. (3-3)James Madison (5-1) at Delaware (3-3)Richmond (2-4) at Stony Brook (2-5)Rhode Island (5-1) at Villanova (5-1)Clemson (4-2) at Pittsburgh (5-1)Colgate (2-5) vs. Holy Cross (4-2) at Wor-

cester, Mass.

SOUTH

Umass (1-5) at Florida St. (2-4)Syracuse (3-4) at Virginia Tech (3-3)New Hampshire (3-3) at Elon (3-3)Incarnate Word (5-1) at McNeese St.

(2-4)San Diego (3-4) at Presbyterian (2-4)Chattanooga (3-3) at Samford (3-3)Robert Morris (2-3) at Gardner-Webb

(2-4)NC A&T (3-3) at Hampton (2-4)Bethune-Cookman (0-7) at Jackson St.

(5-1)ETSU (6-1) at Furman (4-2)W. Carolina (0-6) at The Citadel (2-4)Texas State (2-4) at Georgia St. (2-4)Va. Lynchburg (0-3) at Tennessee Tech

(2-5)Charleston Southern (2-3) at North Ala-

bama (1-6)

SE Missouri (2-5) at UT Martin (5-1)Austin Peay (2-4) at Murray St. (3-3)LSU (4-3) at Mississippi (5-1)Towson (3-3) at William & Mary (4-2)Rice (2-4) at UAB (5-2)SE Louisiana (5-1) at Northwestern St.

(1-5)Kennesaw St. (5-1) at Campbell (3-3)Florida A&M (4-2) at MVSU (2-4)Mississippi St. (3-3) at Vanderbilt (2-5)Boston College (4-2) at Louisville (3-3)Wofford (1-5) at Mercer (4-2)UTSA (7-0) at Louisiana Tech (2-4)Prairie View (5-1) at Southern U. (3-3)Temple (3-3) at South Florida (1-5)W. Kentucky (2-4) at FIU (1-5)Tennessee (4-3) at Alabama (6-1)South Alabama (4-2) at Louisiana-Mon-

roe (3-3)Georgia Tech (3-3) at Virginia (5-2)NC State (5-1) at Miami (2-4)

MIDWEST

E. Michigan (4-3) at Bowling Green (2-5)N. Illinois (5-2) at Cent. Michigan (4-3)Northwestern (3-3) at Michigan (6-0)Oklahoma (7-0) at Kansas (1-5)Youngstown St. (2-3) at Indiana St. (3-4)Stetson (2-4) at Drake (2-5)Kent St. (3-4) at Ohio (1-6)Dayton (3-3) at Valparaiso (1-5)Davidson (4-1) at Butler (2-5)Illinois St. (2-4) at South Dakota (5-2)Wisconsin (3-3) at Purdue (4-2)Tennessee St. (3-3) at E. Illinois (1-6)W. Illinois (1-6) at North Dakota (2-4)N. Iowa (3-3) at S. Dakota St. (5-1)Oklahoma St. (6-0) at Iowa St. (4-2)Missouri St. (4-2) at N. Dakota St. (6-0)Miami (Ohio) (3-4) at Ball St. (4-3)Buffalo (3-4) at Akron (2-5)W. Michigan (5-2) at Toledo (3-4)Maryland (4-2) at Minnesota (4-2)Southern Cal (3-3) at Notre Dame (5-1)Ohio St. (5-1) at Indiana (2-4)

SOUTHWEST

Ark.-Pine Bluff (1-5) vs. Arkansas (4-3) atLittle Rock, Ark.

Kansas St. (3-3) at Texas Tech (5-2)Jacksonville St. (3-3) at Sam Houston St.

(5-0)Liberty (5-2) at North Texas (1-5)East Carolina (3-3) at Houston (5-1)Midwestern St. (0-0) at Tarleton St. (3-3)Nicholls (2-4) at Houston Baptist (0-6)Cent. Arkansas (2-4) at Lamar (2-4)West Virginia (2-4) at TCU (3-3)South Carolina (4-3) at Texas A&M (5-2)Alcorn St. (4-2) at Texas Southern (2-4)

FAR WEST

Idaho St. (1-5) at Montana St. (6-1)BYU (5-2) at Washington St. (4-3)Oregon (5-1) at UCLA (5-2)New Mexico (2-5) at Wyoming (4-2)Colorado (2-4) at California (1-5)Weber St. (2-4) at E. Washington (7-0)Nevada (5-1) at Fresno St. (5-2)San Diego St. (6-0) at Air Force (6-1)Utah (4-2) at Oregon St. (4-2)Montana (4-2) at Idaho (2-4)N. Colorado (2-5) at S. Utah (1-6)UC Davis (6-1) at Cal Poly (1-5)N. Arizona (3-3) at Sacramento St. (4-2)Stephen F. Austin (3-3) at Dixie St. (0-6)

Sunday’s game

FAR WEST

New Mexico St. (1-6) at Hawaii (3-4)

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

MLS

Eastern Conference

W L T Pts GF GA

New England 20 4 6 66 59 36

Nashville 11 3 15 48 46 26

Philadelphia 12 7 10 46 40 29

Orlando City 12 8 9 45 42 41

Atlanta 11 9 9 42 39 33

D.C. United 12 12 5 41 49 41

CF Montréal 11 10 8 41 42 39

New York City FC 11 11 7 40 44 33

New York 11 11 7 40 35 30

Columbus 10 12 7 37 36 39

Inter Miami CF 9 15 5 32 25 47

Chicago 7 16 7 28 31 48

Toronto FC 6 16 7 25 34 56

Cincinnati 4 17 8 20 29 55

Western Conference

W L T Pts GF GA

Seattle 17 6 6 57 49 25

Sporting Kansas City 15 7 7 52 52 33

Colorado 14 6 9 51 42 31

Portland 14 11 4 46 46 46

Real Salt Lake 12 11 6 42 48 45

LA Galaxy 12 11 6 42 41 46

Minnesota United 11 10 8 41 32 35

Vancouver 10 9 10 40 37 39

Los Angeles FC 10 12 7 37 43 42

San Jose 8 12 9 33 36 47

Houston 6 12 12 30 35 46

FC Dallas 6 13 10 28 39 47

Austin FC 7 18 4 25 29 45

Note: Three points for victory, one pointfor tie.

Wednesday’s games

Chicago at Cincinnati CF Montréal at Orlando City New York City FC at Atlanta New England at D.C. United

Toronto FC at Miami Los Angeles FC at FC Dallas Philadelphia at Minnesota Columbus at Nashville LA Galaxy at Houston Seattle at Colorado Vancouver at Portland Austin FC at San Jose

Saturday’s games

Sporting Kansas City at Seattle New York at Columbus D.C. United at New York City FC Nashville at Philadelphia CF Montréal at Toronto FC Los Angeles FC at Minnesota Real Salt Lake at Chicago Cincinnati at Miami Portland at Colorado FC Dallas at LA Galaxy Vancouver at San Jose

Sunday, Oct. 24

Houston at Austin FC New England at Orlando City

NWSL

W L T Pts GF GA

Portland 13 6 4 43 33 17

Reign FC 12 8 3 39 34 24

Washington 10 7 6 36 28 26

Chicago 10 8 5 35 27 28

Gotham FC 8 5 8 32 26 18

Houston 9 9 5 32 31 30

North Carolina 9 9 5 32 28 23

Orlando 7 9 7 28 27 31

Louisville 5 12 5 20 19 38

Kansas City 3 13 6 15 14 32

Note: Three points for victory, one pointfor tie.

Friday’s game

Gotham FC at Kansas City

Thursday, Oct. 28

Gotham FC at Louisville

Friday, Oct. 29

Chicago at OrlandoReign FC at Kansas City

SOCCER

DEALS

Tuesday’s Transactions

BASEBALLMajor League Baseball

American LeagueNEW YORK YANKEES — Fired third-base

coach Phil Nevin, hitting coach MarcusThames and assistant hitting coach P.J. Pi-littere. Signed manager Aaron Boone to athree-year contract.

BASKETBALLNational Basketball Association

GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS — Signed GGary Payton II.

MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES — Exer-cised third-year options on G Anthony Ed-wards and F Jaden McDaniels.

FOOTBALLNational Football League

ARIZONA CARDINALS — Signed DL JoshMauro to the practice squad.

BALTIMORE RAVENS — Placed LT RonnieStanley on injured reserve. Signed RBLe’Veon Bell. Signed G James Carpenterand OLB Joe Thomas to the practicesquad. Released OLB Chris Smith from thepractice squad.

CAROLINA PANTHERS — Signed P RyanWinslow. Placed WR Brandon Zylstra oninjured reserve. Signed RB Reggie Bonna-fon to the practice squad.

CHICAGO BEARS — Placed DB Deon Bushon injured reserve. Placed LB Robert Quinnon the reserve/COVID-19 list. PromotedDB Teez Tabor from the practice squad tothe active roster. Signed RB Chris Thomp-son to the practice squad.

CLEVELAND BROWNS — Promoted RBJohn Kelly from the practice squad to theactive roster. Placed RB Kareem Hunt andLB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah on injuredreserve. Activated WR Ja’Marcus Bradleyfrom injured reserve to the practicesquad.

DALLAS COWBOYS — Waived RB NickRalston. Released DB Isaiah Johnson fromthe practice squad.

DENVER BRONCOS — Placed LB Alexan-der Johnson and OLB Andre Mintze on in-jured reserve. Released WR David Moore.Signed ILBs Curtis Robinson and Barring-ton Wade. Signed LB Pita Taumoepenu tothe practice squad.

GREEN BAY PACKERS — Signed LB AaronAdeoye to the practice squad. ReleasedCB Quinton Dunbar from the practicesquad.

HOUSTON TEXANS — Released DE Whit-ney Mercilus and WR/KR Andre Roberts.Signed LB Connor Strachan to the practicesquad.

INDIANAPOLIS COLTS — Signed DT Ant-waun Woods. Promoted K Michael Bad-gley from the practice squad to the activeroster. Activated QB Sam Ehlinger from in-jured reserve. Placed WR Parris Campbellon injured reserve. Waived QB Jacob Ea-son and DT Chris Williams. Placed S JordanLucas and CB Marvell Tell III on the prac-tice squad injured reserve.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS — Released KJosh Lambo and OL Rashaad Coward.

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS — Signed LB Shi-lique Calhoun to the practice squad. Re-leased C Darryl Williams from the practicesquad.

LAS VEGAS RAIDERS — Signed CB Des-mond Turfant.

LOS ANGELES RAMS — Promoted RBBuddy Howell and CB Donte Deayon fromtheir practice squad to the active roster.Placed RB Jake Funk and TE Johnny Mundton injured reserve.

MIAMI DOLPHINS — Signed LB Vince Bie-gel to the practice squad. Released LBShaquem Griffin from the practice squad.

MINNESOTA VIKINGS — Released RBAmeer Abdullah. Designated RB KeneNwangwu return from injured reserve topractice.

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS — Signed DBMyles Bryant. Placed DL Chase Winovichon injured reserve. Signed K Riley Patter-son to the practice squad.

NEW ORLEANS SAINTS — Signed RB La-mar Miller, LB Lakiem Williams and G For-rest Lamp to the practice squad. Designat-ed LB Kwon Alexander, DE Marcus Daven-port and WR Tre’Quan Smith return frominjured reserve to practice.

NEW YORK GIANTS — Placed LT AndrewThomas and WR C.J. Board on injured re-serve. Promoted T Korey Cunningham andWR Dante Pettis from the practice squadto the active roster.

TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS — PromotedCB Rashard Robinson from the practicesquad to the active roster. Waived OL JohnMolchon. Re-signed WR Jayden Mickensto the practice squad.

TENNESSEE TITANS — Activated S BradyBreeze from injured reserve. Waived PJohnny Townsend. Placed CB Caleb Farleyand WR Cameron Batson on injured re-serve.

WASHINGTON FOOTBALL TEAM — Re-signed K Chris Blewitt to the practicesquad. Signed LB De’Jon Harris to the prac-tice squad.

HOCKEYNational Hockey League

ANAHEIM DUCKS — Recalled C Sam Car-rick and LW Sonny Milano from San Diego(AHL).

EDMONTON OILERS — Assigned C RyanMcLeod to Bakersfield (AHL). ReleasedRW Kirill Madsimov.

NEW YORK ISLANDERS — Recalled LWDmytro Timashov from Bridgeport (AHL)loan.

PHILADELPHIA FLYERS — Assigned DEgor Zamula and C Max Willman to LehighValley (AHL).

SEATTLE KRAKEN — Recalled G JoeyDaccord from Charlotte (AHL). ReturnedRW Kole Lind to Charlotte (AHL). Placed GChris Driedger on injure reserve.

VANCOUVER CANUCKS — Waived LWNic Petan.

WASHINGTON CAPITALS — Assigned GHunter Shepard to South Carolina (ECHL)from Hershey (AHL).

PRO FOOTBALL

NFL

AMERICAN CONFERENCE

East

W L T Pct PF PA

Buffalo 4 2 0 .667 203 98

New England 2 4 0 .333 125 127

N.Y. Jets 1 4 0 .200 67 121

Miami 1 5 0 .167 99 177

South

W L T Pct PF PA

Tennessee 4 2 0 .667 166 161

Indianapolis 2 4 0 .333 139 131

Houston 1 5 0 .167 92 172

Jacksonville 1 5 0 .167 116 172

North

W L T Pct PF PA

Baltimore 5 1 0 .833 170 123

Cincinnati 4 2 0 .667 148 111

Cleveland 3 3 0 .500 156 151

Pittsburgh 3 3 0 .500 117 132

West

W L T Pct PF PA

L.A. Chargers 4 2 0 .667 148 150

Las Vegas 4 2 0 .667 147 144

Denver 3 3 0 .500 126 110

Kansas City 3 3 0 .500 185 176

NATIONAL CONFERENCE

East

W L T Pct PF PA

Dallas 5 1 0 .833 205 146

Philadelphia 2 4 0 .333 137 152

Washington 2 4 0 .333 136 186

N.Y. Giants 1 5 0 .167 114 177

South

W L T Pct PF PA

Tampa Bay 5 1 0 .833 195 144

New Orleans 3 2 0 .600 127 91

Carolina 3 3 0 .500 143 121

Atlanta 2 3 0 .400 105 148

North

W L T Pct PF PA

Green Bay 5 1 0 .833 144 136

Chicago 3 3 0 .500 98 124

Minnesota 3 3 0 .500 147 137

Detroit 0 6 0 .000 109 172

West

W L T Pct PF PA

Arizona 6 0 0 1.000 194 109

L.A. Rams 5 1 0 .833 179 127

San Francisco 2 3 0 .400 117 119

Seattle 2 4 0 .333 140 149

Sunday, Oct. 17

Jacksonville 23, Miami 20, London, UKBaltimore 34, L.A. Chargers 6Cincinnati 34, Detroit 11Green Bay 24, Chicago 14Indianapolis 31, Houston 3Kansas City 31, Washington 13L.A. Rams 38, N.Y. Giants 11Minnesota 34, Carolina 28, OTArizona 37, Cleveland 14Dallas 35, New England 29, OTLas Vegas 34, Denver 24Pittsburgh 23, Seattle 20, OT

Monday’s game

Tennessee 34, Buffalo 31

Thursday’s game

Denver at Cleveland

Sunday’s games

Atlanta at MiamiCarolina at N.Y. GiantsCincinnati at BaltimoreKansas City at TennesseeN.Y. Jets at New EnglandWashington at Green BayDetroit at L.A. RamsPhiladelphia at Las VegasChicago at Tampa BayHouston at ArizonaIndianapolis at San FranciscoOpen: Buffalo, Jacksonville, L.A. Char-

gers, Pittsburgh, Dallas, Minnesota

Monday’s game

New Orleans at Seattle

TENNIS

Kremlin Cup

WednesdayAt Olympic Stadium

MoscowPurse: $697,125

Surface: Hardcourt indoorMen’s SinglesRound of 32

Federico Coria, Argentina, def. AlibekKachmazov, Russia, 6-2, 5-7, 6-2.

Men’s DoublesRound of 16

Santiago Gonzalez, Mexico, and AndresMolteni, Argentina, def. Andrey Golubev,Kazakhstan, and Hugo Nys (2), Monaco,7-5, 6-7 (6), 10-7.

Six schools from Conference

USA, including UAB, Texas-San

Antonio and Florida Atlantic, have

applied for membership to the

American Athletic Conference

and are expected to be accepted by

the end of the week, according to

two people with knowledge of the

process.

Rice, North Texas and Charlotte

also have applied for membership,

said the people who spoke to The

Associated Press on condition of

anonymity Wednesday because

the league was not yet prepared to

make its expansion plans public.

The American was in the market

for new members after three of its

most successful schools, Cincinna-

ti, Houston and Central Florida,

announced in September they

would be joining the Big 12.

Those moves are expected to

happen by the 2023 football sea-

son, and the American hopes to

have its six new members in place

when the departing schools leave.

The end result would be a 14-

team conference, with four

schools in Texas — the three new

members and SMU.

The American targeted schools

based in large media markets and

fertile recruiting territory for foot-

ball.

UAB has been C-USA’s most

consistent winner in recent sea-

sons, playing in three straight

league title games and winning

two. It has been a remarkable

bounce back for a program that

was terminated after the 2014 sea-

son but returned to competition in

2017.

FAU, located in Boca Raton,

Fla., won Conference USA titles in

2017 and ’19 under then-coach

Lane Kiffin.

North Texas, based in Denton,

played for a C-USA title in 2017.

UTSA is a relatively new major

college football program. The Roa-

drunners’ first season was 2011,

but they already have played in

two bowl games and are currently

undefeated and ranked No. 24 in

the AP poll.

Charlotte is also a newcomer to

the highest tier of Division I foot-

ball, having joined in 2013.

Rice, a Houston-based private

school, has the longest history of

major college football competition

among the six schools heading to

the American. The Owls were once

a member of the Southwest Con-

ference with schools such as Texas

and Arkansas.

C-USA has been a frequent tar-

get when the American, formerly

the Big East, has needed to recon-

stitute.

Sources: 6from C-USAexpectedto join AAC

BY RALPH D. RUSSO

Associated Press

Page 20: strategy - epub.stripes.com

PAGE 20 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Thursday, October 21, 2021

NHL

Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division

GP W L OT Pts GF GA

Florida 3 3 0 0 6 14 11

Buffalo 3 3 0 0 6 12 9

Detroit 3 2 0 1 5 13 10

Toronto 4 2 1 1 5 8 6

Ottawa 3 2 1 0 4 7 6

Tampa Bay 4 2 2 0 4 12 6

Boston 1 1 0 0 2 3 3

Montreal 4 0 4 0 0 3 6

Metropolitan Division

GP W L OT Pts GF GA

Pittsburgh 4 2 0 2 6 16 7

Washington 3 2 0 1 5 12 9

N.Y. Rangers 4 2 1 1 5 8 2

Carolina 2 2 0 0 4 9 6

New Jersey 2 2 0 0 4 8 6

Columbus 3 2 1 0 4 11 14

Philadelphia 2 1 0 1 3 10 10

N.Y. Islanders 3 1 2 0 2 8 1

Western Conference

Central Division

GP W L OT Pts GF GA

Minnesota 3 3 0 0 6 11 5

St. Louis 2 2 0 0 4 12 0

Dallas 4 2 2 0 4 8 1

Nashville 3 1 2 0 2 7 6

Colorado 3 1 2 0 2 10 13

Winnipeg 3 0 2 1 1 9 6

Arizona 3 0 2 1 1 7 4

Chicago 4 0 3 1 1 8 4

Pacific Division

GP W L OT Pts GF GA

Edmonton 3 3 0 0 6 14 13

San Jose 2 2 0 0 4 9 4

Anaheim 4 2 2 0 4 13 11

Vancouver 4 1 2 1 3 10 5

Seattle 5 1 3 1 3 11 4

Vegas 2 1 1 0 2 6 4

Los Angeles 3 1 2 0 2 9 10

Calgary 2 0 1 1 1 4 2

Tuesday’s games

Buffalo 5, Vancouver 2San Jose 5, Montreal 0Dallas 2, Pittsburgh 1, SOFlorida 4, Tampa Bay 1Washington 6, Colorado 3New Jersey 4, Seattle 2Detroit 4, Columbus 1Nashville 2, Los Angeles 1N.Y. Islanders 4, Chicago 1Minnesota 6, Winnipeg 5, OTEdmonton 6, Anaheim 5

Wednesday’s games

Boston at PhiladelphiaSt. Louis at Vegas

Thursday’s games

Carolina at MontrealColorado at FloridaN.Y. Islanders at ColumbusSan Jose at OttawaWashington at New JerseyCalgary at DetroitAnaheim at WinnipegN.Y. Rangers at NashvilleVancouver at ChicagoEdmonton at Arizona

Friday’s games

San Jose at TorontoBoston at BuffaloLos Angeles at DallasEdmonton at Vegas

Scoreboard

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Jeff Skinner

and Tage Thompson scored 23 sec-

onds apart in the third period and

the Buffalo Sabres rallied to beat

the Vancouver Canucks 5-2 on

Tuesday night.

Buffalo’s alternate captains,

Kyle Okposo and Zemgus Girgen-

sons, each added a goal and an as-

sist, and Craig Anderson made 32

saves. After finishing in last place

for the fourth time in eight seasons,

the Sabres are 3-0 for the first time

since 2008 and the fifth time in fran-

chise history.

“You go through ups and downs

and you got to keep this momentum

when you have it,” said Okposo,

who scored his 200th NHL goal and

has recorded a point in eight

straight games against the Ca-

nucks. “So we’re just hoping to con-

tinue to keep that confidence for the

season. We know it’s going to dip at

some points.

“We have a young group. But if

we continue to practice well and

have games like that, it’s going to be

fun.”

Bo Horvat and Justin Dowling

scored for Vancouver in the team’s

second straight loss.

Skinner scored on a rebound 3:33

into the third, lifting a backhand

shot from his knees over his shoul-

der — and Demko’s glove — to give

Buffalo its first lead of the game.

“Great goal,” Okposo said. “Not

many guys in the world that can

spin it around and tuck it top shelf.”

While Skinner’s goal was being

announced during the next shift,

Thompson knocked in a rebound

from the the left side of the crease to

make it 4-2. Rasmus Asplund add-

ed a goal into the empty net with

2:55 remaining.

Stars 2, Penguins 1 (SO): Joe

Pavelski and Alexander Radulov

scored in a shootout, lifting visiting

Dallas past Pittsburgh in the start of

the Stars’ season-opening four-

game trip.

Michael Raffl scored his second

goal of the season for Dallas. Goal-

tender Braden Holtby turned aside

27 shots in regulation and overtime,

and stopped Jake Guentzel and

Kris Letang in the shootout as the

Stars ended a five-game losing

streak in Pittsburgh.

Devils 4, Kraken 2:Rookie Daw-

son Mercer and Damon Severson

scored first-period goals and Jo-

nathan Bernier made 27 saves,

leading host New Jersey to a win

over Seattle.

The Kraken slipped to 1-3-1 on

their five-game road trip ahead of

the much-anticipated home opener

against Vancouver on Saturday.

Jimmy Vesey added a goal and

Pavel Zacha scored into an empty

net with 20 second left.

Sharks 5, Canadiens 0: Rookie

Jonathan Dahlen scored his first

two goals in his second career

game, and visiting San Jose

blanked Montreal.

Erik Karlsson and Timo Meir

each had a goal and two assists for

the Sharks.

The Canadiens lost their fourth

straight to start a season for the first

time since 1995.

Panthers 4, Lightning 1: Alek-

sander Barkov scored the go-ahead

goal 3:40 into the third period and

visiting Florida won its third

straight game.

Barkov slammed a loose puck in

the crease past Andrei Vasilevskiy

for his second of the season. It came

1:04 after Tampa Bay tied it 1-all on

Brayden Point’s goal.

The Panthers also got goals from

defenseman Brandon Montour,

Anton Lundell and Anthony Du-

clair.

Red Wings 4, Blue Jackets 1:

Lucas Raymond made his first

NHL goal a big one for host Detroit,

breaking a scoreless tie at 6:38 of

the third period on the way to a vic-

tory over Columbus.

The 19-year-old Raymond, the

fourth overall pick in the 2020 draft

from Gothenburg, Sweden, assist-

ed on Tyler Bertuzzi’s fifth goal of

the season.

Predators 2, Kings 1: Matt Du-

chene and Tanner Jeannot scored

in the third period in host Nash-

ville’s win over Los Angeles.

Predators goalie Juuse Saros

made 25 saves.

Anze Kopitar had the lone goal

and Calvin Petersen made 29 saves

for the Kings.

Islanders 4, Blackhawks 1: Ilya

Sorokin made 39 saves and Oliver

Wahlstrom scored twice in the

third period, helping visiting New

York beat Chicago for its first victo-

ry of the season.

Anthony Beauvillier and Cal

Clutterbuck also scored as New

York improved to 1-2-0 on its open-

ing 13-game road trip. The Islan-

ders don’t play their first home

game at the new UBS Arena until

Nov. 20.

The Blackhawks have been out-

scored 17-8 this season. They

haven’t led in any of their four

games.

Oilers 6, Ducks 5: Leon Drai-

saitl had two goals and two assists

and host Edmonton extended its

season-opening winning streak to

three games with a win over Ana-

heim.

The Oilers’ Mike Smith stopped

11 of 15 shots before leaving mid-

way through the second period with

an apparent injury. He was re-

placed by Mikko Koskinen, who

had 20 saves in the win.

Wild 6, Jets 5 (OT): Joel Eriksson

Ek had a hat trick, tying the game

with 59 seconds remaining in regu-

lation and winning it on a power

play in overtime as host Minnesota

stunned Winnipeg.

Eriksson Ek scored the equalizer

just 15 seconds after an empty-net-

ter by Jets center Mark Scheifele

was wiped out by an offside call that

came from a replay challenge by

the Wild.

Mats Zuccarello had two goals

and two assists, Marcus Foligno

scored on a power play with 4:58

left in regulation and Kirill Kapri-

zov had three assists for Minnesota.

Kyle Connor had two goals and

an assist to fuel an eight-point night

for Winnipeg’s new first line with-

out captain Blake Wheeler, who

tested positive for COVID-19 and

will miss at least three more games.

ROUNDUP

Unbeaten Sabres rally past Canucks

JEFFREY T. BARNES/AP

Buffalo’s Tage Thompson, right, carries the puck past Vancouver’s BoHorvat. Thompson’s third­period goal helped the Sabres rally Tuesday.

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Evgeny Kuznetsov

skated to the bench after a turnover cost the

Washington Capitals a goal against and

wanted to slink into the ground.

None of his coaches or teammates said a

thing, but it took until he scored his second

goal of the game on the way to the Capitals

beating the Colorado Avalanche 6-3 Tues-

day night that Kuznetsov finally felt better.

He was the most noticeable player on the ice,

finishing with three points after an assist on

Alex Ovechkin’s empty-netter for career

goal No. 734 and looking like the player

Washington needs him to be.

“The confidence always goes from the

coaches and teammates,” said Kuznetsov,

who is tied with Ovechkin for the team lead

in scoring with six points through three

games. “I feel like I have a great relationship

with the coaches and teammates, and that

always gives you a lot of confidence when

you can be creative.”

Kuznetsov dazzled from his first shift on,

skating around defenders with ease and

showing off the talent that made him the

Capitals’ leading scorer on their 2018 Stan-

ley Cup run. It was only fitting he brought

back his flapping wings bird celebration on a

night that he showed the best he could offer.

Especially without top center Nicklas

Backstrom for at least their first 10 games-

,Washington will take every bit of the good

and bad of Kuznetsov if he produces like

this. And it could have been even more be-

cause teammates kept trying to set Kuznet-

sov up for the hat trick in the third period, but

that’s the last thing he wanted.

“I’m not a shooter,” he said. “I always say

one goal for four games and I’m all set: get 20

in a year, so now I’m all set for 10 games

probably.”

Fourth-liner Nic Dowd shook his head and

told Kuznetsov the Capitals don’t want him

settling.

“We need more,” Dowd said. “A goal ev-

ery game would be perfect.”

Nick Jensen, Anthony Mantha and Dowd

also scored for Washington before Ovechkin

sent the puck into an empty net from 143 feet

to continue his quest for the career goals re-

cord. Mantha’s goal was the 100th of his ca-

reer and ended a 17-game drought counting

the playoffs and the end of last season.

“It’s been a long time,” Mantha said after

his first goal since April 18. “From 99 to 100,

it was hard.”

The Capitals spoiled Avalanche star

Nathan MacKinnon’s first game of the sea-

son after he missed the past week in NHL

COVID protocol. MacKinnon, fellow top-

line forward Mikko Rantanen and Norris

Trophy finalist Cale Makar were each on the

ice for four goals against.

Colorado coach Jared Bednar called it a

“bad night” for some of his top players.

“I thought we got outcompeted in a lot of

areas, so we gave up way too much,” Bednar

said. “I just thought they were the faster, big-

ger, stronger and hungrier team tonight,

start to finish.”

Kuznetsov scores twice as Caps beat AvsBY STEPHEN WHYNO

Associated Press

Page 21: strategy - epub.stripes.com

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

NFL

NFC Individual Leaders

Quarterbacks

Att Com Yds TD Int

Brady, TB 267 183 2064 17 3

Stafford, LAR 200 139 1838 16 4

Prescott, Dal 216 158 1813 16 4

Cousins, Min 239 166 1769 13 2

K.Murray, Ari 195 144 1741 14 4

Darnold, Car 224 137 1573 7 7

Jones, NYG 208 130 1524 4 4

Goff, Det 238 159 1505 7 4

Hurts, Phi 208 130 1480 8 4

Aa.Rodgers, GB 186 124 1436 12 3

Rushers

Att Yds Avg LG TD

Elliott, Dal 102 521 5.1 47 5

Jones, GB 83 385 4.6 57 2

Henderson, LAR 81 372 4.6 29 4

Kamara, NO 94 368 3.9 23t 1

Cook, Min 80 366 4.6 23 2

Pollard, Dal 61 366 6.0 28 1

Gibson, Was 89 357 4.0 27 3

Fournette, TB 78 332 4.3 21 3

Edmonds, Ari 53 316 6.0 54 0

Montgomery, Chi 69 309 4.5 41 3

Receivers

No Yds Avg LG TD

Adams, GB 46 668 14.5 59 2

Kupp, LAR 46 653 14.2 56t 7

Samuel, SF 31 548 17.7 79t 3

Jefferson, Min 41 542 13.2 37 3

Moore, Car 40 513 12.8 39 3

Lamb, Dal 33 497 15.1 49t 4

Metcalf, Sea 31 441 14.2 30 5

McLaurin, Was 33 428 13.0 37 3

Lockett, Sea 27 425 15.7 69t 3

Evans, TB 31 420 13.5 34t 4

Punters

No Yds Lg Avg

Fox, Det 24 1235 67 51.5

Lee, Ari 20 1012 60 50.6

Scoring

Touchdowns

TD Rush Rec Ret Pts

Kupp, LAR 7 0 7 0 42

Elliott, Dal 6 5 1 0 36

Kicking

PAT FG LG Pts

Prater, Ari 23/23 11/14 62 56

Zuerlein, Dal 19/21 12/15 56 55

Weekly statistics

AFC Individual Leaders

Quarterbacks

Att Com Yds TD Int

Carr, Las 232 149 1946 10 4

Mahomes, KC 242 167 1887 18 8

Herbert, LAC 246 161 1771 14 4

Allen, Buf 230 149 1723 15 3

Jackson, Bal 194 131 1686 9 5

Wentz, Ind 193 124 1545 9 1

Burrow, Cin 174 123 1540 14 7

Roethlisberger, Pit 235 153 1515 7 4

Bridgewater, Den 198 139 1514 10 4

Mayfield, Cle 173 116 1474 6 3

Rushers

Att Yds Avg LG TD

Henry, Ten 162 783 4.8 76t 10

Chubb, Cle 90 523 5.8 52t 4

Mixon, Cin 111 480 4.3 27 3

Taylor, Ind 87 472 5.4 83 4

J.Robinson, Jac 84 460 5.5 58 5

Jackson, Bal 64 392 6.1 31 2

Harris, Pit 102 388 3.8 20 2

Hunt, Cle 69 361 5.2 33 5

Ekeler, LAC 73 356 4.9 20 4

Gordon, Den 70 332 4.7 70t 2

Receivers

No Yds Avg LG TD

Hill, KC 46 592 12.9 75t 5

Chase, Cin 27 553 20.5 70t 5

Williams, LAC 33 498 15.1 72t 6

Brown, Bal 32 486 15.2 49t 5

Cooks, Hou 40 481 12.0 52 1

Sutton, Den 33 471 14.3 55 2

Andrews, Bal 34 468 13.8 41 3

Kelce, KC 38 468 12.3 46t 4

Diggs, Buf 37 463 12.5 61 2

Ruggs, Las 20 445 22.3 61t 2

Punters

No Yds Lg Avg

Cole, Las 27 1430 71 53.0

Bailey, NE 21 1008 68 48.0

Scoring

Touchdowns

TD Rush Rec Ret Pts

Henry, Ten 10 10 0 0 60

Ekeler, LAC 7 4 3 0 42

Kicking

PAT FG LG Pts

Bass, Buf 21/21 14/15 52 63

Tucker, Bal 13/13 13/14 66 52

AFC team statistics

AVERAGE PER GAMEOFFENSE

Yards Rush Pass

Kansas City 433.5 125.0 308.5

Baltimore 421.7 155.2 266.5

Buffalo 411.5 130.7 280.8

Cleveland 396.3 168.5 227.8

Las Vegas 385.2 79.8 305.3

Tennessee 384.7 164.2 220.5

L.A. Chargers 377.5 94.7 282.8

Denver 368.3 117.5 250.8

Indianapolis 367.5 124.2 243.3

Jacksonville 356.0 121.8 234.2

Cincinnati 344.5 106.2 238.3

Pittsburgh 323.8 81.2 242.7

New England 322.3 86.7 235.7

Houston 294.3 87.2 207.2

Miami 290.0 71.5 218.5

N.Y. Jets 267.0 74.0 193.0

DEFENSE

Yards Rush Pass

Buffalo 270.2 89.7 180.5

Cleveland 307.7 87.0 220.7

Denver 314.7 85.5 229.2

Cincinnati 331.0 90.5 240.5

Pittsburgh 352.3 107.7 244.7

Las Vegas 353.3 130.7 222.7

New England 359.2 112.8 246.3

Baltimore 359.3 82.0 277.3

L.A. Chargers 364.3 162.5 201.8

Indianapolis 366.5 111.0 255.5

N.Y. Jets 372.8 123.4 249.4

Tennessee 384.0 107.7 276.3

Houston 391.3 141.3 250.0

Kansas City 410.5 133.2 277.3

Jacksonville 412.2 114.3 297.8

Miami 417.8 125.3 292.5

NFC team statisticsAVERAGE PER GAME

OFFENSE

Yards Rush Pass

Dallas 460.8 164.3 296.5

Tampa Bay 426.0 85.3 340.7

Minnesota 414.2 127.8 286.3

Arizona 403.0 130.7 272.3

L.A. Rams 401.0 103.5 297.5

San Francisco 368.2 122.0 246.2

N.Y. Giants 360.7 89.8 270.8

Carolina 354.0 109.5 244.5

Philadelphia 346.0 113.7 232.3

Atlanta 345.6 91.0 254.6

Seattle 344.0 110.7 233.3

Green Bay 343.5 109.5 234.0

Washington 336.2 106.3 229.8

Detroit 321.0 91.8 229.2

New Orleans 295.2 125.8 169.4

Chicago 246.2 129.0 117.2

DEFENSE

Yards Rush Pass

Carolina 308.3 111.5 196.8

Green Bay 315.0 108.5 206.5

San Francisco 329.8 113.2 216.6

Chicago 330.8 112.2 218.7

Tampa Bay 335.7 54.8 280.8

Arizona 342.8 128.0 214.8

Philadelphia 347.2 135.3 211.8

Atlanta 352.6 108.2 244.4

New Orleans 354.0 79.0 275.0

Minnesota 358.3 128.0 230.3

L.A. Rams 367.0 107.7 259.3

Dallas 381.2 86.2 295.0

Detroit 384.5 132.2 252.3

N.Y. Giants 401.3 137.2 264.2

Washington 423.0 113.5 309.5

Seattle 433.2 140.8 292.3

CLEVELAND — Baker May-

field had to surrender to the pain.

Cleveland’s starting quarter-

back, who has played the past four

weeks with a torn labrum in his

left shoulder, will sit out Thurs-

day’s game against the Denver

Broncos and backup Case Kee-

num will start.

The Browns (3-3) announced

the switch on Wednesday, ending

speculation about whether May-

field would try to push through an

injury to his non-throwing shoul-

der that he suffered last month

and has worsened in recent

weeks.

“Case Keenum will be our start-

er tomorrow night and we have

full confidence in him to lead us

and do the things necessary to put

us in position to win,” Browns

coach Kevin Stefanski said. “Bak-

er fought really hard to play, he’s a

competitor and obviously wants to

be out there but just couldn’t make

it on a short week.

“We know he will continue to do

everything in his power to return

as quickly as possible.”

Mayfield was limited in prac-

tice on Tuesday, when he said he

still expected to play. However, it

was decided it would be best for

him to rest, ending Mayfield’s

streak of 53 consecutive starts for

Cleveland.

The loss of Mayfield means the

Browns’ entire starting backfield

has been wiped out by injuries.

Not only will they be missing

Mayfield against the Broncos

(3-3) in an important game for

both teams, but running backs

Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt,

the NFL’s top running back tan-

dem, also will sit out with calf in-

juries.

Cleveland could be missing star

receiver Odell Beckham Jr. as

well due to a shoulder injury, and

starting offensive tackles Jack

Conklin (knee) and Jedrick Wills

Jr. (ankle) haven’t practiced this

week and could be game-time de-

cisions.

On Tuesday, Mayfield was still

planning to play despite a shoul-

der tear that was affecting his play

and sleep. The 26-year-old under-

went an MRI on Monday and the

results were examined by a shoul-

der specialist.

Mayfield is dealing with swell-

ing that needs to go down before

he can strengthen the injured ar-

ea.

The 2017 Heisman Trophy win-

ner hasn’t missed a game due to

injury since 2013 when he was a

walk-on at Texas Tech.

Mayfield was adamant that the

decision on whether he would play

would be his alone, but also under-

stood he needed to do what was

best for the Browns.

“I have to make that decision.

Only I know how my body feels,”

he said. “And if anyone questions

whether I’m hindering the team in

going out there injured, that’s just

not right. So it’s my decision, I get

to say whether I’m able to play or

not, and that’s just how it is.”

By sitting out against the Bron-

cos, Mayfield will have some extra

time to rest and heal because the

Browns don’t play again until Oct.

31 against Pittsburgh.

Mayfield has been wearing a

harness to stabilize his shoulder

since getting hurt on Sept. 19. He

said Tuesday that the pain in his

shoulder had increased after he

twice had it pop out in Sunday’s

loss to Houston.

Mayfield had several uneven

performances since getting hurt

while trying to make a tackle after

an interception. His completion

percentage has plummeted in re-

cent weeks and he had three turn-

overs — two fumbles and a pick —

against the Texans.

Keenum has made 62 career

NFL starts, most recently for

Washington in 2019. The 33-year-

old was signed as a free agent be-

fore last season by the Browns to

back up and serve as a mentor for

Mayfield.

He also had a strong knowledge

of Cleveland’s offense after work-

ing with Stefanski in Minnesota.

Keenum had his best season in

2017 with the Vikings, passing for

3,547 yards with 22 touchdowns

and seven interceptions. He has

thrown just 13 passes in four

games in two years with the

Browns.

Nick Mullens is expected to be

elevated from the practice squad

to serve as Keenum’s backup.

Broncos expect

Bridgewater to startTeddy Bridgewater gingerly

limped out to practice Tuesday

and then stumbled onto the podi-

um afterward, still feeling the ef-

fects of the battering he endured

48 hours earlier.

“Oh! Short week. Almost fell,”

said Bridgewater, who was hit 17

times Sunday by the Las Vegas

Raiders.

What really left Bridgewater

hurting, however, was right guard

Graham Glasgow, who stepped on

his left foot just as he delivered a

late touchdown pass to Noah Fant

that made Denver's deflating 34-

24 loss look a little less one-sided.

The Broncos (3-3) are expecting

Bridgewater to start Thursday

night at Cleveland, where the

Browns (3-3) are dealing with a

similar rash of injuries and suspi-

cions about their season being on

the brink.

Broncos coach Vic Fangio said

Tuesday's indoor walkthrough

wasn't strenuous, so Wednesday's

workout would be a better indica-

tor of Bridgewater's mobility.

“My understanding is he’ll be

ready to go,” Broncos offensive

coordinator Pat Shurmur said.

When asked if there were any

questions in his mind about start-

ing, Bridgewater didn't give a di-

rect answer: “Honestly, we're just

hitting it aggressively in the train-

ing room right now and I'm locked

in on this game plan with the

mindset of going out there and

competing and trying to win a

football game.”

Browns’ Mayfield pulled withtorn labrum, Keenum to start

PHELAN M. EBENHACK/AP

Case Keenum will be the Browns’ starter in Thursday’s game againstthe Denver Broncos. Cleveland starter Baker Mayfield is out with ashoulder injury, ending speculation about whether Mayfield would tryto push through an injury to his non­throwing shoulder that hesuffered last month and has worsened in recent weeks.

BY TOM WITHERS

Associated Press

Page 22: strategy - epub.stripes.com

PAGE 22 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Thursday, October 21, 2021

NBA

Eastern ConferenceAtlantic Division

W L Pct GB

Boston 0 0 .000 —

New York 0 0 .000 —

Philadelphia 0 0 .000 —

Toronto 0 0 .000 —

Brooklyn 0 1 .000 ½

Southeast Division

W L Pct GB

Atlanta 0 0 .000 —

Charlotte 0 0 .000 —

Miami 0 0 .000 —

Orlando 0 0 .000 —

Washington 0 0 .000 —

Central Division

W L Pct GB

Milwaukee 1 01.000 —

Chicago 0 0 .000 ½

Cleveland 0 0 .000 ½

Detroit 0 0 .000 ½

Indiana 0 0 .000 ½

Western ConferenceSouthwest Division

W L Pct GB

Dallas 0 0 .000 —

Houston 0 0 .000 —

Memphis 0 0 .000 —

New Orleans 0 0 .000 —

San Antonio 0 0 .000 —

Northwest Division

W L Pct GB

Denver 0 0 .000 —

Minnesota 0 0 .000 —

Oklahoma City 0 0 .000 —

Portland 0 0 .000 —

Utah 0 0 .000 —

Pacific Division

W L Pct GB

Golden State 1 01.000 —

L.A. Clippers 0 0 .000 ½

Phoenix 0 0 .000 ½

Sacramento 0 0 .000 ½

L.A. Lakers 0 1 .000 1

Tuesday’s games

Milwaukee 127, Brooklyn 104Golden State 121, L.A. Lakers 114

Wednesday’s games

Chicago at DetroitIndiana at CharlotteBoston at New YorkWashington at TorontoCleveland at MemphisHouston at MinnesotaPhiladelphia at New OrleansOrlando at San AntonioOklahoma City at UtahDenver at PhoenixSacramento at Portland

Thursday’s games

Dallas at AtlantaMilwaukee at MiamiL.A. Clippers at Golden State

Friday’s games

Charlotte at ClevelandIndiana at WashingtonNew York at OrlandoBrooklyn at PhiladelphiaToronto at BostonNew Orleans at ChicagoOklahoma City at HoustonSan Antonio at DenverPhoenix at L.A. LakersUtah at Sacramento

Scoreboard

LOS ANGELES — Opening night

in Hollywood went well for three

quarters for Los Angeles Lakers su-

perstars LeBron James and Antho-

ny Davis against Stephen Curry

and the Golden State Warriors.

But it was a flop for their new sup-

porting cast, including L.A. native

and former league MVP Russell

Westbrook.

Curry, a two-time MVP, had 21

points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists

for the Warriors, who rallied from

10 points down to stun the Lakers

121-114 in a season opener Tuesday

night.

The Lakers went cold in the

fourth quarter, and surrendered

the lead halfway through the peri-

od.

James had 34 points and 11 re-

bounds, while Davis had 33 points

and 11 rebounds. No other Lakers

scored in double figures.

“Those two guys were spectacu-

lar," coach Frank Vogel said. “We're

going to be pretty good if we get

those type of performances. We just

have to be better defensively. This

is a team that is all new to each oth-

er, so everybody's finding their way

a little bit.”

Wesbrook shot just 4-for-13 for

eight points in his Lakers debut.

“Him more than anybody, it's go-

ing to be an adjustment period," Vo-

gel said. “He's coming into our cul-

ture, our system, he's the new guy,

he's got to find his way. It's difficult,

when you're used to being the guy

that has the ball most nights, to be

able to play off others like LeBron

and A.D. It's just a little bit different

for him. He's going to be great for us

but it's going to be an adjustment pe-

riod."

James and Davis said they

helped console Westbrook after-

ward.

“I told Russ to go home and watch

acomedy,” James said. “Put a smile

on his face. Don’t be so hard on him-

self.”

The Lakers had an 84-74 lead late

in the third quarter after a jumper

by Kent Bazemore, but the War-

riors slowly closed the gap.

“We didn't finish quarters well

the whole night," Vogel said. “We

gave up a 38-point fourth quarter. If

you do that you're going to lose most

nights. Our defense is just not on a

string yet. I thought we did a good

job being up on Steph, but the back

side was much better in the first

half than the second half.”

Curry made three free throws in

the closing seconds of the third

quarter after he was fouled taking a

3-pointer, and Jordan Poole and

Damion Lee hit three-pointers

early in the fourth.

Poole’s layup with 9:17 left put the

Warriors ahead for good at 91-90,

and he finished with 20 points. The

Warriors expanded the lead to 98-

90 before the Lakers twice closed

within two points.

But Curry and Nemanja Bjelica

each hit 3-pointers to give the War-

riors some breathing room. Bjelica

had 15 points and 11 rebounds, while

Lee also scored 15 points.

“We kept our composure and

didn't turn the ball over in the sec-

ond half, which was a huge benefit

to just maintaining the pace and giv-

ing ourselves some looks,” Curry

said. “But the fact that everybody

who was on the floor contributed in

a meaningful way kind of speaks to

our depth and how we want to play

going forward. We're excited about

that and it's good to be 1-0.”

RINGO H.W. CHIU/AP

Warriors guard Stephen Curry shoots over Lakers forward CarmeloAnthony on Tuesday. The Warriors won 121­114.

Curry, Warriorsrally to stun LA

BY BERNIE WILSON

Associated Press

MILWAUKEE — Giannis An-

tetokounmpo and the Milwaukee

Bucks didn’t let the celebration of

the franchise’s first NBA cham-

pionship in half a century distract

them as they opened their title de-

fense.

In his first game since scoring

50 points in a title-clinching Game

6 NBA Finals victory over the

Phoenix Suns, Antetokounmpo

had 32 points, 14 rebounds and

seven assists to lead the Bucks to a

127-104 victory over the Brooklyn

Nets on Tuesday night.

“We’re part of history,” Anteto-

kounmpo said. “I’m excited. But

now it’s over with. We’ve got to fo-

cus on building good habits, keep

moving forward and keep playing

good basketball and hopefully we

can repeat this again this year,

next year and all the years that

we’re going to be here down the

road.”

Khris Middleton and Pat Con-

naughton each added 20 points to

help the Bucks withstand the loss

of Jrue Holiday, who sat out the

second half with a bruised right

heel after scoring 12 points. Bucks

coach Mike Budenholzer said

MRI results on Holiday were en-

couraging.

Kevin Durant led the Nets with

32 points and 11 rebounds. Patty

Mills scored 21 points and shot 7-

for-7 from three-point range.

James Harden added 20 points.

“We weren’t very good,” Brook-

lyn coach Steve Nash said. “If

you’re not playing at a high level

against the champs, you’re not go-

ing to win.”

The Nets were missing star

guard Kyrie Irving, who isn’t with

the team due to his refusal to get a

COVID-19 vaccine.

A New York mandate requires

professional athletes on local

teams to be vaccinated to practice

or play in public venues. Rather

than using Irving exclusively in

road games, the Nets decided he

wouldn’t play or practice with

them at all until he could be a full

participant.

After receiving their rings, rais-

ing a banner and watching a high-

light video of their first NBA

championship since 1971, the

Bucks defeated the team that

nearly eliminated them in the sec-

ond round of the playoffs. Anteto-

kounmpo acknowledged that he

teared up a little bit during the

pregame ceremony.

“When they were playing those

videos, you cannot help yourself

but get emotional,” Anteto-

kounmpo said. “Looking back to

the journey, where we started

from and where we are right

now.”

Milwaukee rallied from a 2-0

deficit and won Game 7 at Brook-

lyn in overtime after Durant’s foot

barely crept across the 3-point arc

in the final seconds of regulation,

turning a potential series-winning

three-pointer into a game-tying 2-

point basket.

The Bucks went on a 21-4 run in

the first quarter to extend a 10-8

advantage to 31-12. They got the

lead back up to 19 again in the sec-

ond quarter and were ahead 66-59

at halftime. The lead never drop-

ped below seven the rest of the

way.

Fancy ringsMilwaukee’s championship

rings include the messages “Fear

The Deer” and “Bucks In 6.” The

latter slogan has served as a rally-

ing cry among fans ever since for-

mer Bucks guard Brandon Jen-

nings used those words while in-

correctly predicting the outcome

of Milwaukee’s 2013 first-round

series with the eventual NBA

champion Miami Heat.

Jennings and former Bucks

guard Michael Redd were both in

the crowd.

The rings, designed by Jason of

Beverly Hills, have 360 diamonds

on the top to represent the Bucks’

total wins under current owner-

ship. There are 16 emerald-shape

diamonds on each side, symboliz-

ing their 16 playoff wins last sea-

son and their 16 division titles in

franchise history.

MORRY GASH/AP

The Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo, left, looks for a shot as the Nets’Blake Griffin defends during the first half on Tuesday.

Bucks celebrate,roll past Nets

BY STEVE MEGAERGEE

Associated Press

Page 23: strategy - epub.stripes.com

Thursday, October 21, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 23

MLB PLAYOFFS

Playoffsx-if necessary

WILD CARDAmerican League

Boston 6, New York 2National League

Los Angeles 3, St. Louis 1DIVISION SERIES

(Best-of-five)American League

Boston 3, Tampa Bay 1Tampa Bay 5, Boston 0Boston 14, Tampa Bay 6Boston 6, Tampa Bay 4, 13 inningsBoston 6, Tampa Bay 5

Houston 3, Chicago 1Houston 6, Chicago 1Houston 9, Chicago 4Chicago 12, Houston 6Houston 10, Chicago 1

National LeagueLos Angeles 3, San Francisco 2

San Francisco 4, Los Angeles 0Los Angeles 9, San Francisco 2San Francisco 1, Los Angeles 0Los Angeles 7, San Francisco 2Los Angeles 2, San Francisco 1

Atlanta 3, Milwaukee 1Milwaukee 2, Atlanta 1Atlanta 3, Milwaukee 0Atlanta 3, Milwaukee 0Atlanta 5, Milwaukee 4

LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES(Best-of-seven)

American LeagueBoston 2, Houston 2

Houston 5, Boston 4Boston 9, Houston 5Boston 12, Houston 3Tuesday: Houston 9, Boston 2 Wednesday: at Boston Friday: at HoustonAFN-Sports, 2 a.m.

Saturday CET; 9 a.m. Saturday JKTx-Saturday: at Houston

National LeagueAtlanta 2, Los Angeles 1

Atlanta 3, Los Angeles 2Atlanta 5, Los Angeles 4Tuesday: Los Angeles 6, Atlanta 5Wednesday: at Los Angeles Thursday: at Los Angeles AFN-Sports, 2

a.m. Friday CET; 9 a.m. Friday JKTx-Saturday: at Atlantax-Sunday: at Atlanta

ScoreboardBOSTON — Six outs from falling

behind 3-1 in the AL Championship

Series and facing elimination in

Game 5 in Boston — where the Red

Sox had yet to lose this postseason

— the Houston Astros offense

awakened.

After tying it in the eighth inning

on Jose Altuve’s solo homer, the As-

tros bullied the Red Sox bullpen for

seven runs in the ninth to win 9-2 on

Tuesday night and even the best-of-

seven playoff at two games apiece.

“This is one of the great things

about baseball,” said Houston’s 72-

year-old manager, Dusty Baker.

"When you’re dead in the water and

things aren’t going good, and then

all of a sudden, boom, boom, boom,

and you got seven runs.

“That’s what they’ve been doing

to us this whole series,” he said.

“And we’re capable of doing that as

well.”

Jason Castro looked off a poten-

tial third strike from Nathan Eoval-

di before driving in watch-tapping

Carlos Correa with the go-ahead

run in the ninth, then the AL West

champions kept on scoring to guar-

antee themselves at least one more

game back home.

Game 5 is Wednesday in Boston,

with Games 6 and 7 back in Hous-

ton on Friday and, if necessary, Sat-

urday.

The Red Sox are 5-0 after playoff

losses under manager Alex Cora.

“We’re feeling pretty confident,”

said Eovaldi, the Game 2 winner

who made his first relief appear-

ance since 2019. “That’s been one of

our strengths is being able to turn

the page and come in tomorrow.”

In a series that had been dom-

inated by offense — especially Bos-

ton’s, which has hit 10 homers in the

series, including a record-setting

three grand slams to turn Games 2

and 3 into routs — the teams traded

first-inning home runs.

Alex Bregman hit a solo shot into

the Green Monster seats, then Xan-

der Bogaerts topped it with a tower-

ing, two-run drive onto Lansdowne

Street in the bottom half to give the

Red Sox a 2-1 lead.

Then, the pitchers took over.

It was still 2-1 when Altuve home-

red against Garrett Whitlock to tie it

in the eighth. It was his 21st career

postseason home run, breaking a tie

with Derek Jeter for third-most in

baseball history and trailing only

Manny Ramirez (29) and Bernie

Williams (22).

Eovaldi, making his first relief

appearance since he was coming

back from an injury two years ago,

came on for the ninth and gave up

Correa’s leadoff double.

Boston thought it was out of the

inning when Eovaldi’s 1-2 breaking

ball appeared to catch the plate for

strike three on Castro. Still alive,

Castro singled in Correa to give the

Astros the lead.

“Yeah, a lot of people thought it

was a strike,” Cora said. “It was a

good game until the end, right? We

were one pitch away from ending

that inning, and it didn’t happen,

and then they scored seven.”

Michael Brantley hit a three-run

double off Martín Pérez. Yordan

Alvarez added an RBI single. Pé-

rez's throwing error on Correa's in-

field single allowed a run to score,

and Kyle Tucker singled in another

run.

Houston has scored 36 runs with

two outs in the postseason, includ-

ing 18 of its 22 in this series.

WINSLOW TOWNSON/AP

Houston Astros’ Jose Altuve scores against the Boston Red Sox during the ninth inning of a 9­2 win overthe Boston Red Sox on Tuesday in Game 4 of the ALCS in Boston.

Astros awaken, evenseries with Red SoxHouston scores 7 runs in the 9th for 9-2 victory

DAVID J. PHILLIP/AP

Houston Astros’ Carlos Correahits a double against the BostonRed Sox during the ninth inning.

BY JIMMY GOLEN

Associated Press

But that’s history now. And so

are Bellinger’s recent struggles.

The 2019 NL MVP, Bellinger

batted a miserable .165 this year

with a paltry .240 on-base percent-

age and 94 strikeouts in 315 at-

bats. He helped redeem himself

last week with a tiebreaking single

in the ninth inning of the decisive

Game 5 of the NL Division Series

against the rival Giants at San

Francisco.

“Fresh start,” Bellinger said of

the postseason. “At least for me

this year it’s a fresh start. You

know, a tough regular season but

you know, I felt good towards the

end of the season, and just try to

continue that feel all the way

through.”

“Just you know, staying sim-

ple,” he said. “Crazy things are

happening.”

Bellinger’s done this before, too.

After the Dodgers overcame a 3-1

deficit against Atlanta in the NLCS

last year, his tiebreaking home

run in the seventh inning won

Game 7.

With the cheering, chanting

crowd on its feet in the ninth, Ken-

ley Jansen struck out the side to

earn the save, the ninth pitcher

used by the Dodgers. They ran

through a combined 15 in the first

two games.

Staggered with back-to-back

walk-off losses in Atlanta, the

Dodgers returned home, where

they’ve dominated the Braves in

recent years and were an MLB-

best 58-23 during the regular sea-

son.

The Braves haven’t won at

Dodger Stadium since June 8,

2018. Going back to the 2013

NLDS, the Braves have dropped

20 of their last 23 in LA — they’ve

lost 10 straight in Los Angeles

overall.

It sure looked like they’d end

that skid after leading 5-2 in the

fifth.

After Corey Seager’s two-run

shot gave them an early lead, the

Dodgers’ offense stalled out from

the second to eighth innings, with

only five hits.

“It’s never going to just be easy

and handed to us,” Bellinger said.

“We got to fight for it.”

But the wild-card winner staged

another improbable comeback

late, just like the Dodgers have

done so often this postseason.

They beat St. Louis in the NL

wild-card game, then edged 107-

win San Francisco in the NLDS.

Despite trailing the best-of-sev-

en series, the Dodgers have

grabbed the momentum. They’re

at home for the next two games,

knowing they overcame that 3-1

deficit against the Braves in last

year’s NLCS at a neutral site in Ar-

lington, Texas.

The Braves built their lead with

abunch of singles, pounding out 12

hits, and a dropped flyball by nov-

ice center fielder Gavin Lux.

Freddie Freeman broke out of

his slump, going 3 for 4 with a walk

and a run scored after he struck

out seven times in eight at-bats in

the first two games.

Every Atlanta batter got on base

at least once.

Tony Gonsolin got the victory,

recording one out in relief.

Jackson took the loss after get-

ting hammered in the eighth.

Eddie Rosario and Freeman

jump-started the Braves with

back-to-back singles off Walker

Buehler to open the game.

The Braves quieted the crowd

of 51,307 while knocking around

Buehler and taking a 4-2 lead in

the fourth.

Atlanta got RBI singles from

Joc Pederson, Adam Duvall and

Dansby Swanson, and Buehler

walked Rosario with the bases

loaded to force in another run.

Swanson’s hit off his former

Vanderbilt teammate went off the

glove of shortstop Seager and

rolled into left, allowing Pederson

to score the go-ahead run as the

Braves batted around.

Seager’s wasn’t the only miscue

in the fourth. Lux chased Austin

Riley’s double to the warning

track in right-center only to have

the ball go off his glove to keep the

inning going.

Back: Bellinger HR isreminiscent of last yearFROM PAGE 24

Page 24: strategy - epub.stripes.com

PAGE 24 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Thursday, October 21, 2021

SPORTSA nice start, for openers

Bucks begin defense of NBA title witha defeat of the Nets ›› NBA, Page 22

Astros’ offense stirs with late rally ›› Page 23

LOS ANGELES — Cody Bellinger keeps erasing a forget-

table regular season, with his latest big swing putting the

Los Angeles Dodgers right back in the NL Championship

Series.

Bellinger hit a tying, three-run homer and Mookie Betts

then lined an RBI double in the Dodgers’ eighth-inning ral-

ly, storming back to beat the Atlanta Braves 6-5 Tuesday

and cutting the Braves’ lead in the series to 2-1.

“It’s hard to remember a bigger hit, with what was at

stake,” Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts said. “I’m kind

of exhausted now.”

Some of the 51,307 fans had already left when the Dodg-

ers were down to their final five outs and facing the daunt-

ing prospect of a 3-0 deficit in the series. Bellinger swung

and missed two pitches down the middle for strikes, going

to his knees in the dirt.

“Ball’s coming in hard, some shadows you’re dealing

with, so I saw it well and I just tried to barrel it up,” Bell-

inger said. “Just continue to barrel up the ball and pass the

baton.”

Bellinger drove a shoulder-high, 95.6-mph fastball from

Luke Jackson into the right-field pavilion, igniting the blue

towel-waving crowd and reviving the hopes of the defend-

ing World Series champions.

“Sad thing is I would do the same thing again,” Jackson

said. “I was trying to throw a fastball up and away. I actually

threw it better than I thought I threw it. Out of my hand, I

was like, ‘Oh, that’s a ball. It’s too high.’ And no, it wasn’t too

high. Good player, put a good swing on it and pretty remark-

able.”

Chris Taylor singled, stole second and moved to third on

pinch-hitter Matt Beaty’s groundout. Betts followed with

the double off Jesse Chavez to right-center.

“One of our strong suits is not worrying about what hap-

pened yesterday, focusing on right now,” Betts said.

Game 4 is Wednesday at Dodger Stadium.

“We can do it, we’re confident,” Atlanta manager Brian

Snitker said. “There is going to be no residual effects after

this game.”

The Dodgers had lost all 83 previous postseason games —

in both Los Angeles and Brooklyn — in which they trailed

by three or more runs in the eighth inning or later.

ASHLEY LANDIS/AP

Los Angeles Dodgers center fielder Cody Bellinger reacts after hitting a three­run home run during the eighth inning in Game 3 of the NLCS series, won 6­5 by Los Angeles.

Backin it

Bellinger, Betts rally Dodgers, cut Braves’ NLCS lead to 2-1BY BETH HARRIS

Associated Press

MLB PLAYOFFS

MARCIO JOSE SANCHEZ/AP

Los Angeles Dodgers’ Mookie Betts rounds first baseafter hitting an RBI double in the eighth inning againstthe Atlanta Braves on Tuesday in Los Angeles.

“It’s hard to remember abigger hit, with what was atstake.”

Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts

On Cody Bellinger’s game-tying three-run homer

SEE BACK ON PAGE 23