Volume 80 Edition 153 ©SS 2021 WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2021 50¢/Free to Deployed Areas

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COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Bennett runningaway with startingQB job for GeorgiaPage 24

MILITARY

Iranian navy heloflies within 25yards of USS EssexPage 3

FACES

Krauss-Plantalbum, Will Smithfilm new this weekPage 18

DOD affirms Austin’s power to order shots for National Guard ›› Page 6

The Navy will give sailors who receive no

exemption to the coronavirus vaccine man-

date five days to start receiving their shots

before facing separation from the service,

according to official guidance to command-

ers Monday.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in Au-

gust ordered that all service members be

vaccinated against the coronavirus but left

the timeframe up to individual services.

Last month, the Navy said it would dis-

charge sailors who refuse the vaccine un-

less they are given an exemption after the

Nov. 28 deadline.

“In order to ensure a fully vaccinated

force, it is U.S. Navy policy to separate all

Navy service members who refuse the law-

ful order to receive the COVID-19 vaccina-

tion,” Vice Adm. John Nowell Jr., the chief

of naval personnel, said in a news release

Monday.

“The least favorable characterization of

Warning

SHOTSailors denied a vaccineexemption face dischargeafter five days, Navy says

BY WYATT OLSON

Stars and Stripes

EMILY BENNETT/U.S. Navy

Sailors assigned to Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson man the rails on the flight deck in August. About 95% of the Navy’sactive-duty force is fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.

RELATED

US bases in Japan roll out vaccines forkids ages 5-11Page 6

SEE VACCINE ON PAGE 3

STUTTGART, Germany — The

German tax collectors wanted to

know it all: commissary expendi-

tures, on-base gasoline purchases,

visits to a Ramstein Air Base fit-

ness center and discounted airline

flights to the United States.

And special agent Dirk Roess-

ling, a German employee of the

U.S. Air Force’s Office of Special

Investigations at Ramstein,

obliged in a five-page report that

ended up being used against a U.S.

military-affiliated family in tax

court.

The report shows a U.S. military

agency collaborating with Ger-

man authorities to collect German

income tax penalties on U.S. mil-

itary paychecks — a practice the

State Department considers a vio-

lation of a multinational treaty.

“It felt like there was a mole on

the inside,” said the American,

who worked as a military civilian

at Ramstein under the NATO Sta-

tus of Forces Agreement before

moving to the U.S. in 2020.

Added his German wife: “They

knew everything. I feel like they

are Stasi people working there,” a

reference to the secret police of

communist East Germany during

the Cold War.

The couple, who spoke on condi-

tion of anonymity for fear of being

retargeted by collectors, are

among an untold number of

Americans connected to the mili-

tary in Germany who have been fi-

nancially ruined by local tax offic-

es.

The amount they paid, much of

it related to penalties connected to

so-called base “privileges,” was

248,452.99 euros, or roughly

USAF employee handed over couple’s purchase records, leading to $300K tax bill from GermansBY JOHN VANDIVER

Stars and Stripes

SEE RECORDS ON PAGE 5

VIRUS OUTBREAK

PAGE 2 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Wednesday, November 17, 2021

BUSINESS/WEATHER

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio’s

largest public employee pension

fund has sued Facebook — now

known as Meta — alleging that it

broke federal securities law by

purposely misleading the public

about the negative effects of its

social platforms and the algo-

rithms that run them.

The lawsuit by the Ohio Pub-

lic Employees Retirement Sys-

tem specifically claims that

Facebook buried inconvenient

findings about how the company

has managed those algorithms,

as well as the steps it said it was

taking to protect the public.

The suit also contends claims

that Facebook knew that its plat-

form facilitated dissention, ille-

gal activity and violent extre-

mism, but refused to correct it.

“Facebook said it was looking

out for our children and weed-

ing out online trolls, but in real-

ity was creating misery and di-

visiveness for profit,” Ohio At-

torney General Dave Yost said

in a statement. “We are not peo-

ple to Mark Zuckerberg, we are

the product and we are being

used against each other out of

greed.”

The lawsuit, filed last week in

federal court in California, says

market losses resulting from

publicity over Facebook’s ac-

tions caused investors — includ-

ing OPERS — to lose more than

$100 billion.

A Facebook spokesperson

called the lawsuit without merit

and said the company would

fight it.

Retirement fund sues Facebook over lossesAssociated Press

Bahrain79/75

Baghdad74/56

Doha84/66

Kuwait City77/62

Riyadh79/62

Kandahar72/36

Kabul59/33

Djibouti87/70

WEDNESDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Mildenhall/Lakenheath

52/39

Ramstein43/39

Stuttgart42/39

Lajes,Azores67/64

Rota67/50

Morón68/39 Sigonella

62/50

Naples65/56

Aviano/Vicenza54/47

Pápa43/39

Souda Bay61/58

Brussels49/41

Zagan42/37

DrawskoPomorskie

42/38

WEDNESDAY IN EUROPE

Misawa52/40

Guam85/82

Tokyo53/44

Okinawa76/73

Sasebo62/53

Iwakuni62/56

Seoul57/43

Osan63/38

Busan58/50

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

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

THURSDAY IN THE PACIFIC

WEATHER OUTLOOK

TODAYIN STRIPES

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

Military rates

Euro costs (Nov. 17) $1.11Dollar buys (Nov. 17) 0.8573British pound (Nov. 17) $1.31Japanese yen (Nov. 17) 111.00South Korean won (Nov. 17) 1,151.00

Commercial rates

Bahrain (Dinar) .3770Britain (Pound) 1.3426Canada (Dollar) 1.2549China (Yuan) 6.3958Denmark (Krone) 6.5551Egypt (Pound) 15.7101Euro .8815Hong Kong (Dollar) 7.7884Hungary (Forint) 320.82Israel (Shekel) 3.0948Japan (Yen) 114.61Kuwait (Dinar) .3024

Norway (Krone) 8.7292

Philippines (Peso) 50.36Poland (Zloty) 4.10Saudi Arabia (Riyal) 3.7508Singapore (Dollar) 1.3563

South Korea (Won) 1,184.13Switzerland (Franc) .9286Thailand (Baht) 32.76Turkey (New Lira) 10.2737

(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 2.01

EXCHANGE RATES

Wednesday, November 17, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 3

service for Navy service members

refusing the vaccine, without ex-

tenuating circumstances, will be

GENERAL (under honorable con-

ditions),” Nowell said.

The guidance suggested that ex-

tenuating circumstances could

lead to a more favorable level of

separation but did not elaborate

on the details.

The Navy is reviewing requests

by sailors for medical and reli-

gious exceptions to the COVID-19

vaccination.

“Sailors requesting these ex-

emptions will not be processed for

separation or be subject to admin-

istrative consequences for refusal

while their request is being adju-

dicated,” the news release said.

The service has not announced

how many sailors have requested

or received exemptions.

About 95% of the Navy’s active-

duty force is fully vaccinated, with

more than 99% having received at

least one shot of a two-shot series,

according to the release. The Navy

has roughly 350,000 active-duty

sailors.

If a sailor fails to start vaccina-

tions five days after being denied

an exemption, commanders are

directed to begin processing the

discharge.

“Decisions on whether to sus-

pend or go ahead with separation

after that deadline will be made by

the Navy’s Consolidated Disposi-

tion Authority,” the news release

said.

Commanders have the option of

temporarily reassigning sailors

with pending exemption requests

— based on readiness and mission

requirements — but must first get

approval from the first flag officer

in their chain of command, ac-

cording to the release.

Sailors receiving a general dis-

charge could lose eligibility for

some benefits from the Depart-

ment of Veterans Affairs, such as

the GI Bill, the news release said.

Sailors separated for refusing

the vaccine would not be eligible

to reenlist, and any pending agree-

ments for reenlistment would be

canceled, the news release said.

Sailors could also be on the hook

to repay costs of education and

specialized training.

“If in doubt as to how to adjudi-

cate issues related to a Navy ser-

vice member refusing the vac-

cine, seek guidance from your

chain of command, your staff

judge advocate, or the [Consoli-

dated Disposition Authority] be-

fore acting,” Nowell said in the

news release. “In all cases, you are

accountable to ensure the health

and safety of your command while

treating every Navy service mem-

ber with dignity and respect.”

Vaccine: Commanders can reassign sailors with pending exemption requestsFROM PAGE 1

olson.wyatt@stripes.comTwitter: @WyattWOlson

MILITARY

SAN DIEGO — A preliminary

hearing for the sailor charged with

starting a fire that destroyed a $1

billion Navy warship in San Diego

last year has been postponed until

December, the Navy said Monday.

It is the second time the military

hearing, originally scheduled for

October then pushed to November,

has been delayed.

Seaman Apprentice Ryan Mays,

20, was charged with aggravated

arson and hazarding a vessel in

connection with the July 2020

blaze on the amphibious assault

ship Bonhomme Richard. Court

documents suggest Mays was

identified by other sailors on board

as being in the vicinity of the ship’s

lower vehicle storage area, where

Navy investigators say the fire

started.

The hearing, called an Article

32, functions as a type of grand jury

in the military, although evidence

is weighed by a single hearing offi-

cer as opposed to the group of peo-

ple serving on civilian grand ju-

ries. The hearing officer will then

make recommendations to a Navy

admiral, in this case commander of

the San Diego-based 3rd Fleet,

whether there is enough evidence

to proceed with a criminal trial.

While one junior sailor is

charged with starting the blaze,

two recent Navy investigations list

a series of leadership and training

failures on the San Diego water-

front as contributing to the ship’s

vulnerability to fire at the time.

Thirty-six Navy leaders and civil-

ian Navy officials were found by

the service to bear some culpabil-

ity in the fire.

A Pacific Fleet-led consolidated

disposition authority is evaluating

those officials and will dole out

whatever punishments — if any —

that are warranted, Navy leaders

have said.

Mays’ hearing is tentatively

scheduled for the week of Dec. 13,

although no specific date has been

set, said Cmdr. Sean Robertson, a

3rd Fleet spokesperson.

2nd delay of hearing forsailor who is charged inBonhomme Richard fire

BY ANDREW DYER

The San Diego Union-Tribune

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Flor-

ida-based U.S. Navy flight officer

has been convicted of buying guns

for a Chinese businessman who was

later convicted of export crimes.

Lt. Fan Yang, 36, also lied about

his relationship with the business-

man on security forms, authorities

said.

Yang was found guilty Friday in

Jacksonville federal court of con-

spiring to violate U.S. firearms laws,

making false written statements to

federally licensed firearms dealers

during the purchase of two firearms

and making false written state-

ments as part of a security clearance

background investigation, accord-

ing to court records. The Chinese-

born American citizen faces up to 30

years in prison at a sentencing hear-

ing scheduled for March 16.

Before becoming a commis-

sioned naval officer, Yang formed a

relationship online with Ge Songtao,

a citizen of the People’s Republic of

China, according to an indictment.

They eventually met in person in

2013, while Yang was in Navy flight

training in Pensacola, prosecutors

said.In 2017 and again in 2018, Yang

purchased two handguns for Ge

Songtao, who later reimbursed the

naval officer. In both cases, investi-

gators said Yang completed a Fire-

arms Transactions Record where

he falsely represented that he was

purchasing the firearm for himself,

rather than for Ge Songtao.

Navy officer guilty of hidingties to Chinese businessman

Bloomberg

WASHINGTON — An Iranian

navy helicopter on Thursday flew

within 25 yards of the USS Essex,

which was cruising through inter-

national waters in the Gulf of

Oman, chief Pentagon spokesman

John Kirby said Monday.

The state-owned helicopter

flew close to the ship’s port side

and, at one point, “as low as about

10 feet off the surface of the

ocean,” Kirby said.

The helicopter circled the 820-

foot-long ship three times before

leaving. The Essex is a Wasp-class

amphibious assault ship.

“Without getting into specifics,

the crew of the Essex took the ap-

propriate force protection mea-

sures that they felt they needed to

and they acted in accordance with

international law,” Kirby said.

“There was no impact ultimately

to the Essex’s transit or its oper-

ations but that doesn’t mean that

this wasn’t an unsafe and unpro-

fessional act.”

Kirby also called the incident

“dangerous” because U.S. ship

commanders “have the right of

self-defense.”

“When you have another armed

force — in this case, the Iranian

navy — that flies like this, you defi-

nitely run the risk of some sort of

escalation and a miscalculation on

either side here, and that’s not

helpful,” he said. “This one ended

peacefully, but it doesn’t mean it

was safe and professional. It abso-

lutely wasn’t.”

Tensions between the U.S. and

Iran are longstanding and inci-

dents like Thursday’s are not un-

common. In April and May, the

U.S. fired warning shots to warn

off Iranian Revolutionary Guard

vessels that approached Navy and

Coast Guard ships at high speeds.

Iranian officials have not said

why the helicopter flew so close to

the Essex.

FRANCISCO DIAZ/U.S. Marine Corps

The USS Essex, a Wasp­class amphibious assault ship, is pictured underway in the Pacific Ocean in 2018.An Iranian navy helicopter on Thursday flew within 25 yards of the Essex in the Gulf of Oman, chiefPentagon spokesman John Kirby said Monday. 

Iranian helo flies within25 yards of USS Essex

BY CAITLIN DOORNBOS

Stars and Stripes

doornbos.caitlin@stripes.comTwitter: @CaitlinDoornbos

PAGE 4 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Wednesday, November 17, 2021

MILITARY

The Army has begun a new

program to take a closer look at

command sergeants major eligi-

ble to lead brigades in an effort to

weed out potentially toxic lead-

ers.

“It wasn’t that the old system

was bad. It’s just how do we pick a

better leader?” Sgt. Maj. of the

Army Michael Grinston told re-

porters Monday. “We want to

move into the 21st century with

really good talent management

and assess and ensure that we

have the absolute best leaders for

our soldiers. Our soldiers deserve

the best we can give them.”

The program mirrors one re-

cently launched for senior offi-

cers that has shown to give sol-

diers more fit and capable com-

manders, according to the Army

Talent Management Task Force.

About 490 noncommissioned

officers will pass through Fort

Knox, Ky., this month to conduct

the in-person assessment, said

Grinston, who traveled to the

base to observe the increased

screening process. Previously, a

board reviewed an NCO’s past

evaluations and records to assign

leaders into these roles. These

command sergeants major advise

brigade commanders on leading

up to 5,000 troops.

“You get one more look at a

leader, and it’s a completely holi-

stic view,” Grinston said.

The Sergeant Major Assess-

ment Program evaluates some of

the Army’s most senior NCOs us-

ing cognitive and noncognitive

evaluations, tests on written and

verbal communication, peer and

subordinate feedback and a phys-

ical fitness test, according to the

Army Talent Management Task

Force. Candidates also interview

with a psychologist and participa-

te in an in-person panel review in

which reviewers cannot physical-

ly see the candidate.

About 65 of the Army’s oper-

ational psychologists are on site to

conduct the interviews, which are

meant to be an extra layer to de-

termine whether someone has the

potential for toxic or counterpro-

ductive behavior. The Army has

primarily used these types of in-

terviews in the past when selec-

ting candidates for special-mis-

sion units, Grinston said.

The new program matches one

launched in January 2020 for

lieutenant colonels looking to take

battalion command. Known as

the Command Assessment Pro-

gram, it expanded to include colo-

nels taking brigade commands

about a year ago.

Data from those officer assess-

ments show the process pro-

duced, on average, commanders

who were “more physically fit,

more cognitively capable, better

written communicators, better

verbal communicators, more self-

aware, and less likely to display

counterproductive leader behav-

iors,” said Maj. Joseph Payton,

spokesman for the Army Talent

Management Task Force.

The Army completed a pilot

program of the new NCO assess-

ment last year with 28 graduates

of the Army Sergeants Major A-

cademy, but this will be the first

iteration to produce binding re-

sults for the candidates.

The new review also removed

an old barrier that blocked NCOs

with 30 years of service from con-

tinuing in the Army and attempt-

ing to take on a brigade leader-

ship role. Removing that variable

allows those who still feel phys-

ically able and qualified to contin-

ue to compete for jobs in the Ar-

my and does not discount the ser-

vice on the chance to place a qual-

ified candidate, Grinston said.

So far, about 166 command ser-

geants major have been through

the assessment at Fort Knox,

Grinston said. As he watches can-

didates vie for positions, he said

he’s seeing where some people

have struggled to meet writing

standards and the physical fitness

requirements.

“This is the first time a lot of

NCOs have gone … to a board

where you had to physically go

and stand in front of someone and

I think that is unnerving in itself,”

Grinston said.

For some soldiers, the last time

they stood before a board was a

staff sergeant, he said.

Once completed, candidates

will be labeled as ready or not yet

ready for brigade command.

For those who don’t make the

cut, they will receive feedback,

and the NCO can request a coach

through an Army coaching pro-

gram to help them improve for fu-

ture evaluations.

Army expands reviews of brigade leadersBY ROSE L. THAYER

Stars and Stripes

Thayer.rose@stripes.com Twitter: @Rose_Lori

WHITE BEACH NAVAL FA-

CILITY, Okinawa — The Cana-

dian frigate HMCS Winnipeg

pulled into this U.S. Navy port on

Okinawa on Monday, three

months into its annual fall patrol

of the Indo-Pacific region.

The Royal Canadian Navy in

2018 started sending a frigate and

a P-3 Orion reconnaissance plane

into the region for several

months, Canadian defense atta-

ché to Japan Capt. Hugues Ca-

nuel said at a news conference

Monday morning.

“In terms of the fairly small

Canadian armed forces, this is

quite a commitment,” he said.

“This is reflective of the commit-

ment of the Canadian govern-

ment to contribute to peace and

security in the region and rein-

force the bilateral relationships

between Canada and Japan.”

The Winnipeg’s silhouette took

shape on the horizon off White

Beach just after sunrise. As it ar-

rived, its crew of 220 male and 35

female sailors pulled and coiled

thick ropes on deck while others

manned the rails clad in their

blue coveralls.

The Canadians have regularly

sent forces to the region since fall

2017, after North Korea in a two-

month span fired two ballistic

missiles over Japan and tested a

nuclear weapon, Canuel said.

Canada was among the first to

send units to enforce sanctions on

oil imports and textiles exports

imposed on North Korea by the

U.N. Security Council in re-

sponse to those weapons tests.

Since September, the Winni-

peg has trained alongside the

U.K. Carrier Strike Group and

the Japan Maritime Self-Defense

Force, patrolled the South and

East China seas, transited the

Taiwan Strait and monitored ille-

gal fuel transfers to North Korea.

Winnipeg skipper Cmdr. Doug

Layton said he had sent evidence

of potential illegal North Korean

fuel transfers to the U.N.

The deployment “shows our

commitment to our responsibili-

ties to the United Nations,” Lay-

ton said. “It also demonstrates

our commitment to regional al-

lies and partners and increases

our own skills to make sure that

we’re able to do this in a time of

increasing tensions.”

It’s been a good deployment,

despite not being allowed liberty

at most port stops due to CO-

VID-19, Royal Canadian Air

Force pilot Capt. Cory Proulx

said standing next to his CH-148

Cyclone helicopter.

“We’ve been getting a fair bit of

experience doing things we nev-

er would have, for instance,

working with four [aircraft] car-

riers,” he said. “That’s pretty un-

heard of for the Canadian mili-

tary.”

Operations with partner na-

tions pose challenges in terms of

differing communication sys-

tems, training methods and mil-

itary equipment, Proulx said, so

working together before a crisis

arises is beneficial.

The Winnipeg sailors will have

three days’ rest and relaxation on

Okinawa, Layton said. They are

not permitted to leave the U.S.

base, and will participate in a 10-

day exercise with the Japan Self-

Defense Forces and U.S. Navy

before heading back to Canada in

time for Christmas.

“Canada will remain commit-

ted to conducting these kinds of

operations and deployments to

the region for the long-term,” Ca-

nuel said.

Canadian frigate’s crewtakes break on Okinawaduring Indo-Pacific patrol

BY MATTHEW M. BURKE

Stars and Stripes

PHOTOS BY MATTHEW M. BURKE/Stars and Stripes

Above:: The Royal Canadian Navy frigate HMCS Winnipeg docks Monday at White Beach Naval Facility,Okinawa. Below: The crew of a Royal Canadian Air Force CH­148 Cyclone helicopter pose aboard theHMCS Winnipeg.

burke.matt@stripes.com Twitter: @MatthewMBurke1

Wednesday, November 17, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 5

there are new questions about

how much cooperation U.S. mili-

tary investigators should give

when German authorities pursue

these tax cases.

The dispute centers on how to

interpret the NATO treaty, which

puts the pay and benefits of those

with military visas off-limits to lo-

cal tax collectors.

No other country with large con-

centrations of U.S. forces, includ-

ing Italy, the United Kingdom, Ja-

pan and South Korea, has tried to

collect income tax on military pay-

checks, which are already taxed

by the U.S. government.

But some German authorities

say the treaty leaves the door open

to taxing Americans who have

personal reasons for being in Ger-

many.

Being married to a German,

sending children to local schools

or having lengthy tours of duty are

some of the factors considered in

tax liability cases.

Certain groups of military civil-

ians, such as teachers, are espe-

cially at risk because their posi-

tions don’t come with tour length

restrictions, and they can spend

their whole careers abroad.

For American personnel, get-

ting into a tax battle with the Ger-

$300,000, the couple said.

The cooperation of the Air

Force’s OSI branch at Ramstein

came to light after Stars and

Stripes was provided a copy of the

purchase records covering four

years that Roessling sent the

Neustadt finance department in

2018.

The Neustadt office is where

Rheinland-Pfalz tax dispute cases

are litigated.

The couple lost their case in tax

court in Neustadt in 2020. The

court determined that the Ameri-

can wasn’t in Germany “solely”

for his job and that he had no in-

tention of returning to the U.S.,

where he now lives, the family

said.

Mike Goff, a retired Air Force

senior master sergeant who

serves as an advocate for the af-

fected military community in Ger-

many, said he was “astonished”

that any U.S. military office hand-

ed over information about on-base

purchases by a SOFA-protected

American “to share with a foreign

country’s most feared agency.”

U.S. Air Forces in Europe said

in a statement that the Air Force

Office of Special Investigations

“does not comment on pending le-

gal matters.”

Roessling, the special agent

who sent the report to the tax au-

thorities, did not respond to a re-

quest for comment.

More than one year after the

U.S. government lodged a diplo-

matic complaint that German fi-

nance offices are misinterpreting

the SOFA in their attempts to tax

military personnel, there is still no

end in sight to what has become a

revenue stream for some German

garrison towns.

“At this time, we cannot get into

specific discussions,” a U.S. State

Department spokesman told Stars

and Stripes in a statement. “How-

ever, we can assure you that the

U.S. government has expressed at

very high levels our eagerness to

see the long-standing issue resolv-

ed. We will continue to engage

with our German partners on this

matter.”

In September, Secretary of

State Antony Blinken told report-

ers during a visit to Ramstein Air

Base that he was unaware of the

matter but that he would look into

it. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin

raised his concerns with his Ger-

man counterpart during a Penta-

gon meeting in June.

While diplomatic talks drag on,

mans involves more than just pay.

Finance offices use base ameni-

ties to inflate bills.

Things like access to discounted

gas, Defense Department schools

for children, tax-free shopping

and free gyms are among the priv-

ileges that get factored in.

“This is what the [German fi-

nance offices] use to tack on up-

wards of 15,000 euros (or $16,996)

to our fellow Americans’ income

to squeeze more illegal money out

of them,” Goff said.

Both USAFE and U.S. Army Eu-

rope and Africa said they are un-

aware of requests by local tax of-

fices for purchase records from

base authorities for use in tax as-

sessments against personnel.

That raises the question of

whether German tax officials are

approaching U.S. military investi-

gators with felony allegations of

tax fraud as a means of accessing

the records, which can then be re-

directed to noncriminal tax dis-

pute cases at issue in the SOFA

dispute.

Under the SOFA, the military

must provide relevant informa-

tion in certain cases, such as when

goods are being sold on the black

market.

The SOFA provisions also apply

when a person or business is al-

ready subject to German taxation.

For example, the military would

have to provide records pertain-

ing to on-base concessionaires

who are accused of not reporting

income and purchases to German

authorities.

Yet Ramstein’s OSI office ap-

pears to have gone a step further,

sending information on a military-

affiliated family that it acknowl-

edged in its letter to German fi-

nance officials had “full entitle-

ment” to privileges.

The Landstuhl-Kusel finance

office, which oversees matters in

the Ramstein area, defended its

methods.

In a statement, it said it seeks in-

formation for tax cases “based ex-

clusively” on what is “permitted

under procedural law” and provi-

sions in the SOFA.

German authorities haven’t re-

vealed how much money they’ve

collected from American person-

nel over the years or how many

people have been targeted in all,

but in the Ramstein Air Base area

alone, there were roughly 400

cases as of last year.

Records: No end in sight to tax issues for some German garrison towns

vandiver.john@stripes.comTwitter: @john_vandiver

FROM PAGE 1

MILITARY

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germa-

ny — Americans affiliated with

the U.S. military who are waiting

for COVID-19 booster shots to

open to everyone 18 and older may

be able to get the additional dose

sooner off-base in Germany.

In the state of Rheinland-Pfalz,

which includes Kaiserslautern

and numerous U.S. military in-

stallations, roving vaccination

buses are providing free CO-

VID-19 inoculations, including

boosters.

Officials from the German Red

Cross, which runs the service,

have said no appointments are

necessary, although wait times

can vary.

“Anyone 18 and older can re-

ceive a booster shot six months af-

ter the second coronavirus shot,”

said a post Monday on Rheinland-

Pfalz’s official Facebook page.

Vaccination drives for the U.S.

general public at military bases in

Europe began ramping up in May,

so many Americans are just now

reaching the six-month mark

since their last dose.

A German Red Cross spokes-

man at the Hoppstaedten-Weiers-

bach bus location near Birkenfeld

said Tuesday that Americans are

welcome.

“All will be vaccinated,” said

Manuel Borgmann, a spokesman

for the agency in Rheinland-Pfalz.

“A reported address in Germany

is not required, nor is German

health insurance.”

Some of the stops this week are

in places near U.S. installations,

including Mainz, Weilerbach,

Trier and Baumholder.

An ID is necessary to ensure

that proof of vaccination is given

to the right person, Borgmann

said. It should include a name,

date of birth and address. Also,

proof of vaccination is necessary

to receive a booster, he said.

Rheinland-Pfalz has dispatched

six buses around the state since

August to supermarket parking

lots, city centers, sports clubs,

schools and leisure facilities. The

buses have administered more

60,000 doses so far.

They offer the Johnson & John-

son and Pfizer vaccines. Anyone

18 and older who had the one-dose

J&J vaccine at least four months

ago may get a booster shot.

It was unclear whether the bus-

es will give a Pfizer booster shot to

someone who has received two

doses of Moderna, which is what

many on bases have received. U.S.

Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention guidelines do allow for

receiving a different brand of

booster.

Vaccinations are available to

children ages 12 to 15 who are ac-

companied by a legal guardian.

Written consent from a parent or

guardian is acceptable for chil-

dren ages 16 and 17.

The bus schedule is posted

weekly at www.corona.rlp.de/fil-

eadmin/corona/KW46.pdf.

On U.S. military bases in Eu-

rope, booster shots six months af-

ter the second dose are restricted

to people in certain categories.

They include seniors age 65 and

older and anyone 18 and up who

has an underlying medical condi-

tion or works in a job that puts

them at higher risk of contracting

the virus. Health care workers,

teachers, child care providers and

people preparing to deploy are

among those in the latter category.

Anyone 18 and older who re-

ceived the Johnson & Johnson

vaccine is eligible for a booster

shot two months afterward on mil-

itary bases.

Guidance from the CDC has yet

to expand booster shot eligibility

to everyone 18 and older.

Air Force officials at Ramstein

Air Base said Tuesday that CDC-

approved vaccinations received

from German facilities will be rec-

ognized by military health offi-

cials.

The Army advised people who

normally receive military medical

care to get vaccinated on base to

ensure that the local population

has as much access to the shots as

possible.

But people who obtain a vacci-

nation or booster from a host-na-

tion medical source should take

their documentation to their base

medical clinic so it can be put in

their records, said Kirk Frady, a

spokesman for Regional Health

Command Europe.

Other communities in Germany

are also providing the vaccine to

Americans affiliated with the U.S.

military.

In Weiden, near U.S. installa-

tions in Bavaria, Americans can

get vaccinated at the city’s vac-

cine center, said Sebastian Seib-

ert, head of administration for the

center.

Avaccine bus in Stuttgart also is

open for Americans, said Niklas

Junkermann, a city spokesman. A

schedule is available in German

at: www.stuttgart.de/leben/ge-

sundheit/infektionsschutz/coro-

na-impfung/offenes-impfen.php.

German vaccine buses let Americans get boostersBY JENNIFER H. SVAN

AND MARCUS KLOECKNER

Stars and Stripes

Stars and Stripes reporter Alexander W. Riedelcontributed to this report.svan.jennifer@stripes.comTwitter: @stripesktownkloeckner.marcus@stripes.com

ALEXANDER W. RIEDEL/Stars and Stripes

Seyed Hossein Riazimand, a German Red Cross team leader, checksvaccination paperwork in Hoppstaedten­Weiersbach, Germany, onTuesday.

PAGE 6 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Wednesday, November 17, 2021

VIRUS OUTBREAK

itary spouse Jennifer Lee of San

Diego with daughter Ana, 7. “We

didn’t feel comfortable going back

to the States until she could be vac-

cinated. So we’re just overall more

comfortable.”

The Food and Drug Administra-

tion on Oct. 29 approved the Pfizer

vaccine for emergency use for

children ages 5 to 11 in two doses,

three weeks apart. Their 10-micro-

gram dose is half that for children

ages 12 and older, according to the

FDA.

Yokosuka, where the number of

confirmed new and active cases

has shrunk to zero this month,

moved into health protection con-

dition Alpha at 1 p.m. Monday.

Condition Alpha means the virus

may be spreading, but only basic

precautions are required, such as

keeping surfaces clean and disin-

fected, maintaining good hygiene

and getting vaccinated, among

other measures.

All public health measures at

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Ja-

pan — Two U.S. military bases

near Japan’s capital city are the

first in the country to offer corona-

virus vaccines to the young chil-

dren of military parents.

Yokosuka Naval Base, home-

port of the 7th Fleet 35 miles south

of Tokyo, started vaccinating chil-

dren ages 5 to 11 on Tuesday, with

further shots available by appoint-

ment through Friday.

“I’ve been waiting for the vac-

cine for kids to come out, and it’s fi-

nally here,” said Michael Perez, a

civilian Defense Department em-

ployee from Guam and father to

Luke, 5, and Adriana, 10. “I’m very

relieved.”

Yokosuka had 300 doses availa-

ble Tuesday and 2,000 for the

week, according to Lt. Cmdr. Ja-

mal Phillips, Yokosuka’s CO-

VID-19 vaccine task force coordi-

nator.

“I’m excited to get these kids

taken care of and get them one step

closer to ‘normal,’” he told Stars

and Stripes during Tuesday’s shot

clinic.

Yokota Air Base, home of U.S.

Forces Japan in western Tokyo,

has scheduled an appointment-on-

ly shot line for Thursday, with a

promise of more to come.

Neither base has any confirmed

active cases of COVID-19, the cor-

onavirus respiratory disease.

At Yokosuka, shots of the Pfizer

BioNTech pediatric vaccine were

scheduled at The Sullivans Ele-

mentary from 2-7 p.m. Wednesday

and Thursday and at Ikego Ele-

mentary School from 2-6 p.m. Fri-

day. Vaccines are not mandated

for children in U.S. military fam-

ilies as they are for service mem-

bers.

“I think it’s definitely going to

change our decision to go back to

the States when we can,” said mil-

Yokosuka remain in place, howev-

er, including mandatory mask

wear while inside schools, health

care facilities, while interacting

with Japanese personnel, and at all

times while off the base, according

to the Naval Forces Japan mask

policy published in August.

The move from condition Bravo

to Alpha represents a significant

milestone on the return to normal,

base commander Capt. Rich Jar-

rett told Stars and Stripes via email

Tuesday. But the pandemic is not

over.

“We do expect a winter outbreak

of COVID-19 and will need contin-

ued efforts from the community to

ensure that we are able to maintain

our current health protection con-

dition,” Jarrett said. “With a high

immunization rate and some sim-

ple community health protection

measures, maintaining HPCON

ALPHA is an achievable goal.”

Yokosuka confirmed 65 new

coronavirus cases in September

and 119 in August, during the most

extreme phase of the pandemic in

Japan thus far. The base reported

293 cases in January, more than it

publicly acknowledged in all of

2020, though like many installa-

tions in Japan, the naval base with-

held case numbers in spring and

summer that year.

At Yokota, which moved to con-

dition Alpha in early October, the

medical group scheduled an ap-

pointment-only shot line for eligi-

ble children from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Thursday at the dental clinic. In-

formation about Yokota’s upcom-

ing shot lines will be posted on the

374th Medical Group Facebook

page, according to an announce-

ment online from the group.

Links for appointment sites are

available on the official Facebook

pages for both bases.

Vaccines for kids ages 5-11 roll out at US bases in JapanBY JOSEPH DITZLER

AND ALEX WILSON

Stars and Stripes

ditzler.joseph@stripes.comTwitter: @JosephDitzlerwilson.alex@stripes.comTwitter: @AlexMNWilson

WASHINGTON — Defense

Secretary Lloyd Austin has the au-

thority to order National Guard

troops to receive the coronavirus

vaccine even while they are on

state duty, chief Pentagon spokes-

man John Kirby said Monday.

Kirby’s comments follow a me-

mo issued Thursday by newly ap-

pointed Oklahoma Adjutant Gen-

eral Thomas Mancino that told

Oklahoma National Guard troops

that they are no longer required to

receive the vaccine despite a fed-

eral policy mandating the shots

for all service members.

Mancino’s memo included “no

negative administrative or legal

action will be taken” against

Guard members who decline the

coronavirus vaccine, The Oklaho-

man reported Friday.

In August, Austin issued a De-

fense Department memo requir-

ing all service members to get the

vaccine or face being kicked out of

the military for failing to obey a

lawful order.

“These vaccines are safe and ef-

fective, and National Guardsmen

are required to take them under

the authorities that the secretary

has, including when they’re Title

32 status,” Kirby told reporters at

the Pentagon, referring to the sec-

tion in the U.S. Code under which

Guard troops operate on state mis-

sions.

Title 10 of the U.S. Code gives

the National Guard Bureau au-

thority to issue its mandate for

Guard troops activated for federal

missions, while Title 32 gives indi-

vidual states the power to issue in-

structions when Guard troops are

operating under the state’s au-

thority.

The National Guard’s vaccina-

tion deadline is June 30, 2022 —

the latest of all the military com-

ponents. But the Air Force vaccine

deadline was Nov. 2 and the Ar-

my’s deadline is Dec. 15, which is

more than six months before the

bureau’s deadline. Both services

require Guard troops to be vacci-

nated to be mobilized on federal

orders.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt on

Nov. 2 wrote to Austin requesting

the defense secretary suspend the

mandate for Oklahoma Guard

members. Stitt noted in the letter

that about 800 Oklahoma Guard

troops — or about 10% of its force

— “have not and do not plan on re-

ceiving” the shot.

Austin has received the letter

but has not yet replied to Stitt, Kir-

by said Monday.

Kirby said the Oklahoma Guard

troops are still required to receive

the vaccine, though he declined to

say how the Pentagon would en-

force the mandate if the adjutant

general continues to assert there

is no vaccine requirement for

Guard members in his state.

“I’m not going to speculate to-

day about what actions we might

or might not take,” he said. “Hope-

fully it won’t come to that.”

Pentagon: National Guardmust obey Austin shot order

BY CAITLIN DOORNBOS

Stars and Stripes

doornbos.caitlin@stripes.comTwitter: @CaitlinDoornbos

ANDREW LAMOREAUX/U.S. Air National Guard

Tech. Sgt. Rachel Clark, an aerospace medical technician with the137th Special Operations Medical Group, administers a coronavirusvaccine to an Oklahoma National Guard soldier at the Armed ForcesReserve Center in Norman, Okla., in January.

CAMP HUMPHREYS, South

Korea — Thirteen people, includ-

ing nearly a dozen children, link-

ed to an on-base children’s center

recently tested positive for the

coronavirus respiratory disease,

an official at the center said Tues-

day.

At least 11 children and two staff

members from the Capt. Jennifer

M. Moreno School Age Center on

Humphreys tested positive within

the past week, center coordinator

Tiffany Harris told Stars and

Stripes by phone. Around 178 chil-

dren in grades one through five

are enrolled in the center, which

employs 24 people.

The center, which provides

children with after-school pro-

grams, was closed Friday for

cleaning and sanitizing; it reo-

pened Monday.

Many of the children who tested

positive were sent home after ex-

hibiting COVID-19 symptoms,

Harris said. Anyone who enters

the center has their temperature

checked and is screened with a se-

ries of questions, such as whether

they have a headache or a runny

nose.

Harris said not all the positive

cases originated within the cen-

ter.

“It was not just from the school-

age center,” she said. “A lot of

them were already sick when they

came to us, and we sent them

home.”

Harris said contact tracing was

still underway on Monday and one

of the elementary schools con-

ducted mass COVID-19 testing on

Friday. As of Tuesday morning,

no faculty members at the center

had tested positive.

Contact tracing and sanitation

on the base is scrupulous at edu-

cation facilities on Humphreys,

Harris said. At the school-age cen-

ter, over 20 cameras record in and

around the building, while school

lockers, bathrooms and play areas

are cleaned every two hours, she

said.

Humphreys’ commander, Ar-

my Col. Seth Graves, confirmed

Tuesday that a number of cases

among children prompted the

school-age center to close. He said

health officials believe “we con-

tained the spread well enough”

for the center to reopen Monday.

“The safety and well-being of

our community members and

staff is our No. 1 priority,” Graves

told Stars and Stripes by phone.

“We’ll continue to work as hard as

possible to ensure a safe environ-

ment for all.”

Graves said he encourages par-

ents not to send children who are

feeling ill to their school or the

center.

Children’s center at US base in S. Korea confirms 13 new casesBY DAVID CHOI

Stars and Stripes

choi.david@stripes.comTwitter: @choibboy

Wednesday, November 17, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 7

VIRUS OUTBREAK

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Federal

workplace safety regulators an-

nounced Monday that they have

reached an agreement with Smith-

field Foods to settle a contested ci-

tation of the company’s coronavi-

rus safety measures during a mas-

sive outbreak last year at a South

Dakota pork processing plant.

Under the agreement, Virginia-

based Smithfield Foods will devel-

op a plan to prevent infectious dis-

eases at meatpacking plants na-

tionwide and pay a $13,500 fine.

Smithfield’s Sioux Falls plant

was one the nation’s worst CO-

VID-19 hotspots during the early

days of the pandemic. By June 16,

2020, four workers were dead and

nearly 1,300 had tested positive for

the virus, according to the Occupa-

tional Safety and Health Adminis-

tration. After an investigation, the

federal agency said Smithfield did

not do enough to space workers out

or provide other safety measures

such as face coverings or physical

barriers.

The company contested that as-

sessment, however, and defended

its actions at a time when safety

precautions against COVID-19

were not clear. Smithfield’s

spokesman, Jim Monroe, said the

company admitted no wrongdoing

and called OSHA’s allegations

“baseless.”

STEPHEN GROVES/AP

Employees of two departments at the Smithfield pork processingplant in Sioux Falls, S.D., report to work on May 4, 2020, as the plantmoved to reopen after a coronavirus outbreak infected workers.

OSHA and S.D. porkplant settle complaint

Associated Press

Pfizer Inc. reached a licensing

agreement that will allow gener-

ic-drug manufacturers to pro-

duce inexpensive versions of its

COVID-19 pill for 95 low- and

middle-income countries, follow-

ing a similar move by Merck &

Co.

In a statement on Tuesday,

Pfizer said it signed an agree-

ment with the United Nations-

backed Medicines Patent Pool to

license the experimental pill,

once it is authorized by regula-

tors, to generic companies that

can supply it to countries that ac-

count for roughly 53% of the

world population. The shares fell

1% in pre-market U.S. trading.

Pfizer won’t receive royalties

from sales in low-income coun-

tries, and it won’t get royalties

from sales to middle-income

countries covered by the pact as

long as COVID-19 is classified as

a public health emergency, ac-

cording to the statement.

The widely awaited deal could

help bolster access to a potent

new virus-fighting tool. Unlike

the exotic mRNA technology in

Pfizer’s COVID-19 shot, the

chemical techniques used to

manufacture pills are mature and

long-established, and numerous

generic companies can cheaply

produce them. Pfizer has been

under considerable pressure to li-

cense the technology ever since it

announced promising clinical-

trial results earlier this month.

Highly effective pills that can

be taken at the first sign of in-

fection are seen as crucial for get-

ting the pandemic under control.

Pfizer’s drug reduced hospitaliza-

tions and deaths by 89% in a large

study of high-risk patients, the

company said this month. It is ap-

plying for emergency authoriza-

tion in the United States and has

said it plans to seek authoriza-

tions in other countries soon.

Pfizer moves to allow cheapversions of encouraging pill

Bloomberg News

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla.

— A Florida teacher hospitalized

with COVID-19 has died after her

husband unsuccessfully sued to

force doctors to treat her with iver-

mectin, a drug popular among

some skeptics of accepted corona-

virus treatments despite a lack of

studies proving its effectiveness.

Tamara Drock died Friday, 12

weeks after being admitted to

Palm Beach Gardens Medical

Center, Ryan Drock told the Palm

Beach Post.

He sued the hospital last month

in an attempt to require doctors to

administer ivermectin, a drug

used to treat conditions caused by

parasitic worms. The U.S. Food

and Drug Administration has not

approved the drug to treat CO-

VID-19, saying it hasn’t proved ef-

fective in preclinical trials.

Palm Beach County Circuit

Judge James Nutt rejected

Drock’s lawsuit last month, saying

allowing judges to countermand

doctor’s decisions could set a dan-

gerous precedent.

Ryan Drock, who also was in-

fected but recovered from COVID,

told the Post he’s not giving up.

Woman who sued for ivermectin dies of COVIDAssociated Press

PAGE 8 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Wednesday, November 17, 2021

NATION

WASHINGTON — President Joe

Biden and China’s Xi Jinping’s

more than three-hour virtual talk

concluded with the leaders of the

superpowers agreeing they need to

tread carefully as their nations find

themselves in an increasingly

fraught competition.

Facing domestic pressures at

home, both Biden and Xi seemed

determined to lower the temper-

ature in what for both sides is their

most significant — and frequently

turbulent — relationship on the

global stage.

“As I’ve said before, it seems to

me our responsibility as leaders of

China and the United States is to en-

sure that the competition between

our countries does not veer into

conflict, whether intended or unin-

tended,” Biden told Xi at the start of

their virtual meeting Monday.

“Just simple, straightforward com-

petition.”

The White House set low expec-

tations for the meeting, and no ma-

jor announcements or even a joint

statement were delivered. Still,

White House officials said the two

leaders had a substantive ex-

change.

Xi greeted the U.S. president as

his “old friend” and echoed Biden’s

cordial tone in his own opening re-

marks, saying, “China and the Unit-

ed States need to increase commu-

nication and cooperation.”

The relationship has had no

shortage of tension since Biden

strode into the White House in Ja-

nuary and quickly criticized Beijing

for human rights abuses against

Uyghurs in northwest China, sup-

pression of democratic protests in

Hong Kong, military aggression

against the self-ruled island of Tai-

wan and more. Xi’s deputies, mean-

while, have lashed out against the

Biden White House for interfering

tions.”

The White House said Biden reit-

erated the U.S. will abide by the

long-standing U.S. “One China”

policy, which recognizes Beijing

but allows informal relations and

defense ties with Taipei.

But Biden also made clear the

U.S. “strongly opposes unilateral

efforts to change the status quo or

undermine peace and stability

across the Taiwan Strait,” the White

House said.

With Beijing set to host the Win-

ter Olympics in February and Xi

expected to be approved by Com-

munist Party leaders to serve as

party leader next year and then a

third term as president in 2023 —

unprecedented in recent Chinese

history — the Chinese leader may

be looking to stabilize the relation-

ship in the near term.

“China and the United States

should respect each other, coexist

in peace, and pursue win-win coop-

eration,” Xi said.

meet Xi in person, but the Chinese

leader has not left his country since

the start of the coronavirus pan-

demic. The White House floated the

idea of a virtual meeting as the next

best thing to allow for the two lead-

ers to have a candid conversation

about a wide range of strains in the

relationship.

Chinese officials said in advance

that Taiwan would be their top issue

for the talks. Tensions have height-

ened as the Chinese military has

dispatched an increasing number

of fighter jets near Taiwan, which

Beijing considers part of its territo-

ry. Chinese military forces held ex-

ercises last week near Taiwan in re-

sponse to a visit by a U.S. congres-

sional delegation to the island.

“The Taiwan issue concerns Chi-

na’s sovereignty and territorial in-

tegrity, as well as China’s core inter-

est,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spo-

kesperson Zhao Lijian said Mon-

day. “It is the most important and

sensitive issue in China-U.S. rela-

gy shortages, and a looming hous-

ing crisis that Biden officials worry

could cause tremors in the global

market.

“Right now, both China and the

United States are at critical stages

of development, and humanity lives

in a global village, and we face mul-

tiple challenges together,” Xi said.

The U.S. president was joined in

the Roosevelt Room for the video

call by Secretary of State Antony

Blinken and a handful of aides. Xi,

for his part, was accompanied in the

East Hall of the Great Hall of the

People by communist party direc-

tor Ding Xuexiang and a number of

advisers.

The high-level diplomacy had a

touch of pandemic Zoom meeting

informality as the two leaders

waved to each other once they saw

one another on the screen, with Xi

telling Biden, “It’s the first time for

us to meet virtually, although it’s not

as good as a face-to-face meeting.”

Biden would have preferred to

in what they see as internal Chinese

matters.

The White House in a statement

said that Biden again raised con-

cerns about China’s human rights

practices, and made clear that he

sought to “protect American work-

ers and industries from the PRC’s

unfair trade and economic practic-

es.” The two also spoke about key

regional challenges, including

North Korea, Afghanistan and Iran.

As the U.S.-China tensions have

mounted, both leaders also have

found themselves under the weight

of increased challenges in their own

backyards.

Biden, who has watched his poll

numbers diminish amid concerns

about the lingering coronavirus

pandemic, inflation and supply

chain problems, was looking to find

a measure of equilibrium on the

most consequential foreign policy

matter he faces.

Xi, meanwhile, is facing a CO-

VID-19 resurgence, rampant ener-

Biden, Xi talk, try to tamp down tensionBY AAMER MADHANI

AND COLLEEN LONG

Associated Press

YUE YUEWEI, XINHUA/AP

Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, and President Joe Biden appear on a screen as they hold a meeting via video link, in Beijing, on Tuesday.Biden said the goal of the two leaders should be to ensure that competition between the two superpowers “does not veer into conflict.” 

BEIJING — No breakthroughs

were delivered during talks be-

tween Chinese leader Xi Jinping

and President Joe Biden, but the

cordial tone of the virtual meeting is

an indication that relations between

the sides may be turning a corner —

even if that means for now merely

walking back from the heated ex-

changes of earlier this year.

Here is a look at what is driving

tensions between the world’s two

biggest economies and the main

takeaways from the Xi-Biden talks.

From worse to bad: Relations

went into sharp decline after then-

President Donald Trump imposed

sweeping tariffs on Chinese goods in

retaliation for what he said were

Beijing’s unfair trading practices.

The U.S. had for years been com-

plaining of the theft or forced trans-

fer of American technology and was

campaigning to keep Chinese com-

munications giants, most notably

Huawei, out of the U.S. and other

markets. The Trump administra-

tion also sharply criticized China on

human rights issues.

Relations remained frosty after

Biden took office. At a meeting in

Alaska in March, senior Chinese

foreign policy adviser Yang Jiechi

berated Secretary of State Antony

Blinken and national security advis-

er Jake Sullivan, accusing the U.S. of

failing to deal with its own human

rights problems and taking issue

with what he said was American hy-

pocrisy.

Cautious optimism:Relations ap-

peared to bottom out when Sullivan

and Yang met again in Switzerland

last month, in a follow-up to a phone

call between Xi and Biden. Sullivan

made clear that the U.S. sought bet-

ter engagement at a senior level “to

ensure responsible competition,”

according to the White House.

The meeting laid the groundwork

for the virtual meeting Tuesday be-

tween Xi and Biden.

Causes of tension:The sides are at

odds over everything from trade

and technology to human rights,

self-governing Taiwan and the

South China Sea.

In some of his most pointed com-

ments, Xi said “Taiwanese inde-

pendence forces” and those in the

U.S. who would use them to contain

China were the key sources of ten-

sion over the island that China

claims as its own territory. “We have

patience and are willing to show ut-

most sincerity and exert the greatest

efforts to obtain peaceful unifica-

tion,” Xi said, according to China’s

official Xinhua News Agency.

“However, if the Taiwan independ-

ence separatist forces provoke and

force our hand, we will be required

to take drastic measures.”

Alongside “human rights more

broadly,” Biden raised concerns

about China’s practices in Tibet, the

crackdown in Hong Kong, and the

Uyghur homeland of Xinjiang

where more than a million have

been detained in political re-educa-

tion camps, according to the U.S.

Where do they go from here?:

The softened rhetoric marks a ma-

jor improvement. What benefits ac-

crue depends on whether the two

countries can find areas of coopera-

tion and come up with agreements,

work-arounds or other ways of ma-

naging their disputes.

“This is an important relation-

ship, perhaps the most consequen-

tial bilateral relationship in the

world, the two largest economies,

two largest militaries, two largest

greenhouse gas emitters,” said Paul

Haenle of the Carnegie Endowment

for World Peace. “So the fact that the

two leaders are meeting, in my view,

is a good thing. But we need, I think,

to be realistic.”

It is “very important for the lead-

ers of the two countries to define the

relationship and steer the direc-

tion,” said Yu Wanli, a professor of

international relations at Beijing

Language and Cultural University.

China will be looking for Biden to

take action but recognizes the politi-

cal constraints he faces, Yu said.

Will US-China ties improve after leaders’ discussions?Associated Press

Wednesday, November 17, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 9

NATION

WASHINGTON — A coalition

of organizations working to evac-

uate people who could be targeted

by the Taliban rulers in Afghanis-

tan appealed Monday for more as-

sistance from the U.S. govern-

ment and other nations as condi-

tions deteriorate in the country.

Members of the AfghanEvac

Coalition met in a video call with

Secretary of State Antony Blinken

to press the case for additional re-

sources to help tens of thousands

of people get out of Afghanistan,

now faced with a deepening eco-

nomic and humanitarian crisis in

addition to a precarious security

situation following the U.S. with-

drawal.

Participants said afterward

they were grateful for what the

State Department has done so far,

including helping to arrange a se-

ries of evacuation flights for U.S.

citizens and residents since the

withdrawal, but more will be

needed in the months ahead.

“The State Department doing

enough isn’t enough. We need

whole of government solutions,

we need the international commu-

nity to step up and we need it

quickly,” said Peter Lucier, a for-

mer Marine who served in Af-

ghanistan who works with coali-

tion-member Team America.

“Winter is coming. There is a fam-

ine already. ”

Private groups, particularly

with ties to the veteran communi-

ty, have played an important role

in the evacuation and resettle-

ment of tens of thousands of Af-

ghans since the United States end-

ed its longest war and the govern-

ment fell to the Taliban. Members

of the coalition, which includes

about 100 organizations, have

been working to help people get on

the scarce flights out of the coun-

try and helping them get settled in

communities once they reach the

U.S.

State Department spokesman

Ned Price said the call included

discussion of what he called “our

collective efforts” to aid visa hold-

ers and applicants and to “facili-

tate the departure of these individ-

uals who are at a stage where it is

appropriate to do so.”

About 82,000 people have come

to the U.S. so far under what the

Biden administration calls Oper-

ation Allies Welcome. The De-

partment of Homeland Security

said 10% were American citizens

or permanent residents.

The rest were a combination of

people who had obtained special

immigrant visas, for those who

had worked for the U.S. govern-

ment as interpreters or in some

other capacity; people applying

for one of the visas but who hadn’t

yet received it; or other Afghans

who might be vulnerable under

the Taliban, such as journalists or

government officials, and quali-

fied to come as refugees. Nearly

half were children.

As of Monday, DHS said about

46,000 are still being housed at do-

mestic U.S. military bases until

they can be resettled by private

refugee organizations around the

country. Another 2,600 remain at

overseas transit points, dubbed

“lily pads,” as they undergo secu-

rity vetting and health screening

before coming to the U.S.

ACHMAD IBRAHIM/AP

Afghan women and children refugees living in Indonesia hold posters during a rally outside a building thathouses UNHCR representative office in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Monday.

US urged to help more refugeesescape Taliban-led Afghanistan

BY BEN FOX

Associated Press

DETROIT — Take a step back

from the picked-over store

shelves, the stalled container ships

and the empty auto showrooms,

and you’ll find a root cause of the

shortages of just about everything.

Even as the pandemic has

dragged on, U.S. households flush

with cash from stimulus checks,

booming stock markets and en-

larged home equity have felt like

spending freely again — a lot. And

since consumer demand drives

much of the U.S. and global econo-

mies, high demand has brought

goods shortages to the United

States and much of the world.

Add the fact that companies are

ordering — and hoarding — more

goods and parts than they need so

they don’t run out, and you end up

with an almost unquenchable de-

mand that is magnifying the sup-

ply shortages.

That’s where a big problem

comes in: Suppliers were caught

so flat-footed by how fast pent-up

spending surged out of the reces-

sion that they won’t likely be able

to catch up as long as demand re-

mains so robust. That’s especially

so because Americans, still hun-

kered down at home more than

they did before the pandemic, con-

tinue to spend more on goods —

electronics, furniture, appliances,

sporting goods — than on services

like hotels, meals out and movie

tickets. All that demand for goods,

in turn, is helping to accelerate

U.S. inflation.

Unless spending snaps sharply

back to services — or something

else leads people to stop buying so

much — it could take deep into

2022 or even 2023 before global

supply chains regain some sem-

blance of normalcy.

“Demand is completely

skewed,” said Bindiya Vakil, CEO

of Resilinc, a consulting firm that

helps companies manage supply

chains. “This has now become

more and more painful by the

day.”

One reason people may eventu-

ally stop spending so much is that

everything simply costs more

now. Consumer prices in the U.S.

skyrocketed 6.2% over the past

year as food, gasoline, autos and

housing catapulted inflation to its

highest pace since 1990. The laws

of gravity suggest that the cumula-

tive effect of so much inflation will

eventually exert a brake on spend-

ing.

For now, though, manufactur-

ers foresee no end to heavy de-

mand — and no end to beleaguered

supply chains or spiking inflation

pressures. A chronic lack of com-

puter chips has forced Ford Motor

Co., for instance, to revamp its sys-

tem of ordering parts that require

long periods from order to deliv-

ery to try to address shortages.

“It’s highlighted that the “just-

in-time” operating model that’s

been prevalent in autos may not be

the right operating model,” Hau

Thai-Tang, Ford’s chief oper-

ations and product officer, told

analysts.

Key reason for supply shortages: Americans keep spending Associated Press

WASHINGTON — President

Joe Biden signed his hard-fought

$1 trillion infrastructure deal into

law Monday before a bipartisan,

celebratory crowd on the White

House lawn, declaring that the

new infusion of cash for roads,

bridges, ports and more is going to

make life “change for the better”

for the American people.

But prospects are tougher for

further bipartisanship ahead of

the 2022 midterm elections as Bi-

den pivots back to more difficult

negotiations over his broader

$1.85 trillion social spending pack-

age.

The president hopes to use the

infrastructure law to build back

his popularity, which has taken a

hit amid rising inflation and the in-

ability to fully shake the public

health and economic risks from

COVID-19.

“My message to the American

people is this: America is moving

again and your life is going to

change for the better,” he said.

With the bipartisan deal, the

president had to choose between

his promise of fostering national

unity and a commitment to trans-

formative change. The final mea-

sure whittled down much of his ini-

tial vision for infrastructure. Yet

the administration hopes to sell the

new law as a success that bridged

partisan divides and will elevate

the country with clean drinking

water, high-speed internet and a

shift away from fossil fuels.

“Folks, too often in Washington,

the reason we didn’t get things

done is because we insisted on get-

ting everything we want. Every-

thing,” Biden said. “With this law,

we focused on getting things done.

I ran for president because the on-

ly way to move our country for-

ward in my view was through com-

promise and consensus.”

Biden will get outside Washing-

ton to sell the plan more broadly in

coming days.

He traveled to New Hampshire

on Tuesday to visit a bridge on the

state’s “red list” for repair, and he

will go to Detroit on Wednesday

for a stop at General Motors’ elec-

tric vehicle assembly plant, while

other officials also fan out across

the country. The president went to

the Port of Baltimore last week to

highlight how the supply chain in-

vestments from the law could limit

inflation and strengthen supply

chains, a key concern of voters

who are dealing with higher pric-

es.

“We see this as is an opportunity

because we know that the presi-

dent’s agenda is quite popular,”

White House press secretary Jen

Psaki said Monday before the

signing. The outreach to voters can

move “beyond the legislative proc-

ess to talk about how this is going to

help them. And we’re hoping that’s

going to have an impact.”

Ohio Sen. Rob Portman, a Re-

publican who helped negotiate the

package, celebrated Biden’s wil-

lingness to jettison much of his ini-

tial proposal to help bring GOP

lawmakers on board. Portman

even credited former President

Donald Trump for raising aware-

ness about infrastructure, even

though the loser of the 2020 elec-

tion voiced intense opposition to

the ultimate agreement.

“This bipartisan support for this

bill comes because it makes sense

for our constituents, but the ap-

proach from the center out should

be the norm, not the exception,”

Portman said.

$1T infrastructuredeal signed withbipartisan crowd

Associated Press

PAGE 10 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Wednesday, November 17, 2021

NATION

WASHINGTON — Steve Ban-

non’s indictment on contempt of

Congress charges is the nation’s

first since 1983, and his appear-

ance in federal court provides a

rare glimpse into one of U.S. law-

makers’ politically messiest and

least-used powers.

The last successful prosecution

reaches all the way back to Wa-

tergate and its aftermath when G.

Gordon Liddy and Richard

Kleindienst were convicted and

pleaded guilty, respectively, for

refusing to answer congressional

questions.

Bannon appeared in federal

court Monday to face charges for

refusing a House subpoena to tell

Congress what he knows about

the lead-up to the Jan. 6 Capitol

attack to interrupt certification of

Democrat Joe Biden’s election

victory over President Donald

Trump.

The last indictment almost four

decades ago was less historic: A

federal environmental official

under President Ronald Reagan

failed to heed a House subpoena.

The official, Rita M. Lavelle, who

headed the Superfund, would go

on to be acquitted of the contempt

charge but later was convicted of

lying to Congress. She was sen-

tenced to six months in prison

and fined $10,000.

Defendant Lavelle was a mem-

ber of the Republican adminis-

tration, while Democrats con-

trolled the House. And the Jus-

tice Department has been wary of

prosecuting such cases when the

White House and the House of

Representatives are controlled

by opposing political parties.

“While the (contempt) law

doesn’t differentiate in any way

between a Republican or a Dem-

ocratic president or Congress, it

tends to break down along those

lines,” said Stan Brand, who

served as former House counsel

when lawmakers referred the

then-EPA chief to the U.S. Jus-

tice Department for criminal

charges.

At present, Democrats control

the House and White House as

lawmakers are probing the worst

attack on the U.S. Capitol in two

centuries, which occurred with

Republican Trump at the White

House calling for protests.

Bannon indictment defies history of Congress’ power of contemptAssociated Press

A national leader of the Proud

Boys, a far-right group with a his-

tory of violence, asked a judge on

Monday to release him from a

Washington, D.C., jail and place

him on home confinement, citing

what he described as inhumane

conditions in the facility.

Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, who

has served 70 days of a five-month

jail term, pleaded guilty in August

to two crimes, including setting

fire to a stolen Black Lives Matter

banner during a tumultuous dem-

onstration in Washington after the

election defeat of former Presi-

dent Donald Trump.

Appearing in D.C. Superior

Court via video, Tarrio, 37, and his

attorney said Tarrio has endured

abuse from staff members, unsan-

itary conditions, poor food and a

lack of medical care. The com-

plaints echoed the findings of a

surprise inspection of the facility

last month by the U.S. Marshals

Service, which listed numerous

“systemic failures” at the 45-year-

old jail in Southeast Washington.

“I’ve been in jail before, but

what I’ve seen here, I’ve never

seen before,” Tarrio told Judge

Jonathan Pittman. “It’s insane. It’s

a gulag.”

At Monday’s hearing, a lawyer

for the D.C. Department of Cor-

rections disputed many of Tarrio’s

assertions, and Assistant U.S. At-

torney Paul Courtney argued that

Tarrio’s emergency motion for re-

lease, filed Nov. 9, was legally im-

proper. Courtney said the correct

course would be for Tarrio to file a

lawsuit, which is a more protract-

ed process.

Pittman said he would issue a

ruling later this week, but on the

bench Monday, he seemed to side

with the government.

“It’s obviously distressing to

hear of these conditions,” he said

of the Marshals Service’s findings

and Tarrio’s complaints. But the

poor conditions are not unique to

Tarrio, the judge noted. “What

makes Mr. Tarrio different from

all the other prisoners?” If he were

allow to finish his sentence on

home confinement, “why isn’t ev-

erybody else?”

In the Nov. 9 motion, Tarrio’s

lawyer Lucas Dansie said his cli-

ent’s cell was flooded with foul toi-

let water that overflowed from an

adjacent cell, while the water in

Tarrio’s cell “remains shut off ... as

retribution for some unknown act

that [Tarrio] never committed.”

He said Tarrio’s “meals are lit-

erally thrown in his cell, cold and

frequently inedible,” and his “re-

quests for medical treatment have

been completely ignored.”

Among other instances of mis-

treatment, the lawyer said, “a cor-

rectional officer slammed Mr.

Tarrio against the wall for no ap-

parent reason, telling him that

‘you shouldn’t have done what you

did,’ presumably referring to” the

BLM banner burning.

The surprise inspection by the

Marshals Service, conducted Oct.

18 to Oct. 22, found that water in

some parts of the facility “had

been shut off for days” as puni-

shment, creating an “overpower-

ing” stench from “standing hu-

man sewage,” according to La-

mont Ruffin, the acting marshal

for U.S. District Court in Washing-

ton.

The Marshals Service and the

D.C. government signed a legal

document Nov. 9 in which they

agreed to work together to im-

prove conditions at the jail.

ALLISON DINNER/AP

Proud Boys leader Henry “Enrique” Tarrio wears a hat that says The War Boys during a rally in Portland,Ore., on Sept. 26, 2020. Tarrio asked a judge Monday for early release from a D.C. jail.

Proud Boys leader seeks release fromDC jail, alleging inhumane conditions

BY PAUL DUGGAN

The Washington Post

A Connecticut judge found Info-

wars host Alex Jones liable by de-

fault Monday in a defamation law-

suit brought by parents of children

killed in the Sandy Hook Elemen-

tary School shooting over the con-

spiracy theorist’s claims that the

massacre was a hoax.

The ruling by the judge, who cit-

ed Jones’ refusal to abide by court

rulings or turn over evidence,

means a jury will determine how

much in damages Jones should pay

to the families.

Shortly after the judge’s decision,

Jones went on his show and said

he’d been deprived of a fair trial.

“These individuals, again, are not

allowing me to have a jury trial be-

cause they know the things they

said I supposedly did didn’t hap-

pen,” he said. “They know they

don’t have a case for damages. And

so the judge is saying you are guilty

of damages, now a jury decides how

guilty you are. It’s not guilty until

proven guilty.”

Judge Barbara Bellis took the

rare step of issuing a default judg-

ment in the case because she said

Jones and his companies, Infowars

and Free Speech Systems, had

failed to turn over documents in-

cluding records that might have

showed how, and if, they had profit-

ed from spreading misinformation

about the school shooting and other

mass killings.

Norman Pattis, a lawyer for

Jones, said an appeal of Bellis’ de-

fault ruling is planned.

“The ruling is founded neither in

law or fact,” Pattis said in an email.

“We remain confident that, in the

end, the Sandy Hook families can-

not prove either liability or damag-

es. We think their lawyers know

this; hence, the desperate effort to

obtain a default.”

His lawyers have asked that Bel-

lis be removed from the case, alleg-

ing she has not been impartial.

The ruling has the same outcome

as a jury determining the case in fa-

vor of the families. A jury will now

determine the damages.

Twenty first-graders and six

educators were killed in the De-

cember 2012 shooting. The gun-

man, 20-year-old Adam Lanza,

killed his mother at their Newtown

home before the shooting, and

killed himself at the school as police

arrived, officials said.

The shooting was portrayed on

Jones’ Infowars show as a hoax in-

volving actors aimed at increasing

gun control. Jones has since ac-

knowledged the school shooting did

occur.

Families of the victims said they

have been subjected to harassment

and death threats from Jones’ fol-

lowers because of the hoax conspir-

acy pushed on Infowars. They sued

Jones and his companies for defa-

mation and infliction of emotional

distress. The hearing on damages

before a jury is expected to be held

next year.

“What’s clear from Judge Bellis’

ruling is that Alex Jones and the

Jones defendants have engaged in a

long, continuous course of miscon-

duct in this case designed to pre-

vent the plaintiffs from getting evi-

dence about Mr. Jones’ business

and about his motives for publish-

ing lies about them and their fam-

ilies,” said Christopher Mattei, a

lawyer for relatives of eight of the

victims who sued Jones in Connec-

ticut.

A Texas judge recently issued

similar rulings against Jones in

three defamation lawsuits brought

by Sandy Hook families in that

state, finding Jones liable for dam-

ages after defaulting him and his

companies for not turning over doc-

uments. Hearings on damages also

were ordered.

Alex Jones liablefor defamation inSandy Hook case

BY DAVE COLLINS

Associated Press

Wednesday, November 17, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 11

AMERICAN ROUNDUP

Juveniles arrested for carchase, attempted assault

NC KINSTON — Two ju-

veniles are facing

criminal charges after one of them

tried to back a vehicle over a po-

lice officer and led others on a

chase before they were captured,

authorities said.

The Kinston Police Department

said in a news release that officers

checked out what was described

as a suspicious vehicle. When the

officers tried to find out why they

were there, the driver tried to

back over one of the officers, who

was able to get out of the way and

avoid injury, police said.

Officers attempted to stop the

vehicle as it went through several

parking lots, police said, After the

chase reached speeds of 120 mph,

the supervisor called it off.

Craven County sheriff’s depu-

ties located the vehicle and stop-

ped it approximately 35 miles

away in New Bern when the driver

lost control, the news release said.

The juveniles face charges in-

cluding assault with a deadly

weapon, felony flee to elude and a

number of motor vehicle viola-

tions.

Father, daughter surviveplane crash in woods

PA BEAR CREEK TOWN-

SHIP — Personal elec-

tronic devices helped lead res-

cuers to a father and daughter who

survived a plane crash in Pennsyl-

vania, authorities said.

According to state police, the

aircraft had taken off from the

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Interna-

tional Airport when it went down

in a wooded area of Luzerne Coun-

ty.

Authorities asked the U.S. Air

Force to help with the search and

they pinged the 58-year-old dad’s

cellphone and 13-year-old daugh-

ter’s iPad to locate them.

It took hours before state troop-

ers found them huddled together

suffering from hypothermia.

Emergency responders called it

a miracle.

Authorities were investigating

what caused their plane to crash.

Woman charged for over$700K worth of drugs

ME AUGUSTA — A med-

ical emergency in-

volving a child led to the discovery

of fentanyl and other drugs valued

at $700,000, police said.

Ashley Malloy, 21, of Oakland,

dialed 911 to report that her 14-

month-old child was unrespon-

sive. The youngster later died at a

hospital.

State police detectives then

searched the home and found

nearly 6 pounds of fentanyl, more

than 3 pounds of methampheta-

mine, more than a pound of crack

cocaine and more than $2,000 in

cash.

Malloy was charged with aggra-

vated drug trafficking.

The state medical examiner’s

office has not released the cause of

the child’s death.

2 charged with theft ofNative American art

KS LAWRENCE — Two

University of Kansas

students have been charged with

stealing part of a Native American

art exhibit that also was vandal-

ized while displayed outside a

campus museum.

The Lawrence Journal-World

reported that Samuel McKnight

and John Wichlenski were

charged in Douglas County Dis-

trict Court with theft of property

of a value of at least $1,500 but less

than $25,000.

The exhibit, titled “Native

Hosts,” by artist Hock E Aye Vi

Edgar Heap of Birds, is installed

outside the Spencer Museum of

Art.

It consists of five aluminum

signs that name Native tribes who

historically or currently inhabit

the region now called Kansas. On

each sign, the colonial name is

printed backward while the name

of the land’s original occupants is

printed forward.

Train derails, spills coalinto Mississippi River

IA MONTROSE — A train

struck a barge in south-

east Iowa, knocking several cars

off the tracks and spilling coal into

the Mississippi River.

BNSF railroad officials told the

Burlington Hawk Eye that two

coal cars landed in the river and

three others were partially in the

water after the collision near Mon-

trose, Iowa, that also knocked over

two locomotives. One other car

that left the tracks remained up-

right.

The Iowa Department of Natu-

ral Resources said several

hundred gallons of diesel fuel also

spilled out of the locomotives.

No injuries were reported, said

Jason Dinwiddie, director of Lee

County Emergency Management.

The railroad said it will work to

remove any coal that ended up in

the river.

City cancels turkey shootas price of birds doubles

FL SEVILLE — A small

Florida town is cancel-

ing its decadeslong annual turkey

shoot to help feed needy families,

saying the price of birds has more

than doubled.

For nearly 70 years, residents of

Seville fired shotguns at targets

hoping to win a frozen turkey. But

nonprofit organizers said they

simply can’t afford the expensive

gobblers, which usually cost be-

tween 50 to 70 cents per pound.

But this year, the turkeys were

around $1.19 a pound. And it’s also

gotten harder to find smaller

birds, with many turkeys averag-

ing 15 to 17-pounds.

The nonprofit usually buys 60

turkeys to give away leading up to

Thanksgiving, but told The Dayto-

na Beach News-Journal it couldn’t

even afford 30 birds.

“It’s terrible,” said 89-year-old

Seville resident Pasco Cade, who

has been attending the event since

he was a teenager. “But I am not

surprised. Everything is going sky

high. And it doesn’t look like

things are going to get better.”

Man suspected of 10 robberies arrested

AZ TUCSON — A man sus-

pected of 10 robberies

in Tucson, including at six banks,

has been arrested, according to

police.

James Siehien, 52, is accused of

robbing two of the six banks twice

and also robbing a convenience

store and a fast-food restaurant,

they said.

The robberies all occurred be-

tween Oct. 4 and Nov. 5, when po-

lice said Siehien was arrested

without incident following a hold-

up.

A criminal complaint said Sie-

hien would pass demand notes to

bank tellers and sometimes

threaten them with weapons like a

machete or an ax.

Authorities said nobody was

physically injured in any of the

robberies.

Sequoia National Parkpartially reopens after fire

CA SEQUOIA NATIONAL

PARK — Fire-scarred

Sequoia National Park will par-

tially reopen, the park announced.

The reopening will be limited to

day-use only in part of the Foot-

hills area, including the Foothills

Visitor Center, Tunnel rock and

some trails.

Access to Giant Forest, Lodge-

pole and the General Sherman

Tree will remain closed.

Sequoia National Park was

closed after lightning ignited two

fires that merged. The KNP Com-

plex scorched nearly 138 square

miles of forest. Work to make the

park safe, including removal of

hazard trees, is continuing.

Adjacent Kings Canyon Nation-

al Park is largely open, including

the Grant Grove of giant sequoias.

THOMAS SLUSSER, THE (JOHNSTOWN, PA.) TRIBUNE­DEMOCRAT/AP

A statue is reflected off The Tribune­Democrat building in downtown Johnstown, Pa., on Sunday.

Seeing double

THE CENSUS

34M The amount in dollars a chemical company has agreed topay to compensate residents of a Vermont town for chemical

contamination in groundwater and soil. The ChemFab plant in Bennington,owned by Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics, used industrial chemicals thatspread throughout the town and into the groundwater supply, The BenningtonBanner reported. Saint-Gobain will also provide up to $6 million for continuedmedical monitoring for those who have higher-than-usual background levels ofPFOA in their blood.

From The Associated Press

PAGE 12 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Wednesday, November 17, 2021

NATION

KENOSHA, Wis. — The jury be-

gan deliberating Tuesday at the

murder trial of Kyle Rittenhouse

after listening to dueling portrayals

of him as a “wannabe soldier” who

went looking for the trouble, or a

concerned citizen who came under

attack while trying to protect prop-

erty.

The case went to the anonymous,

12-member jury after Rittenhouse

himself, in an unusual move, was

allowed by the judge to draw the

slips of paper from a raffle drum

that determined which of the 18

people who sat in judgment during

the trial would decide his fate and

which ones would be dismissed as

alternates. That task is usually done

by a courtroom clerk, not the de-

fendant.

Rittenhouse, 18, faces life in pris-

on if convicted as charged for using

a AR-style semi-automatic rifle to

kill two men and wound a third dur-

ing a night of protests against racial

injustice in Kenosha in the summer

of 2020. The former police youth ca-

det is white, as were those he shot.

The resulting jury appeared to be

overwhelmingly white.

Rittenhouse testified he acted in

self-defense after coming under at-

tack, while prosecutors argued he

instigated the bloodshed. The case

has become a flashpoint in the U.S.

debate over guns, protests, vigilan-

tism and law and order.

With a verdict near, Gov. Tony

Evers said that 500 National Guard

members would stand ready for du-

ty in Kenosha if needed.

During closing arguments Mon-

day, prosecutor Thomas Binger ar-

gued that Rittenhouse set the dead-

ly chain of events in motion by

bringing a semi-automatic rifle to a

protest and menacing others, then

walked off like a “hero in a West-

ern.”

But Rittenhouse lawyer Mark

Richards countered that Ritten-

house was ambushed by a “crazy

person” he feared would wrest

away his gun and use it to kill him.

Rittenhouse, then 17, had gone to

Kenosha from his home in Antioch,

Ill., in what he said was an effort to

protect property from rioters in the

days after a Black man, Jacob

Blake, was shot by a white Kenosha

police officer.

Binger said Rittenhouse was

“looking for trouble that night,” and

he repeatedly showed the jury

drone video that he said depicted

Rittenhouse pointing the AR-style

weapon at demonstrators.

“This is the provocation. This is

what starts this incident,” the pros-

ecutor declared. He added: “You

lose the right to self-defense when

you’re the one who brought the gun,

when you are the one creating the

danger, when you’re the one pro-

voking other people.”

Rittenhouse shot and killed Jo-

seph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony

Huber, 26, and wounded Gaige

Grosskreutz, now 28.

In making his case for self-de-

fense on the witness stand, Ritten-

house said that Rosenbaum chased

him down and made a grab for his

rifle — testimony largely corrobo-

rated by video and some of the pros-

ecution’s own witnesses.

As for Huber, he was gunned

down after he was seen on video hit-

ting Rittenhouse with a skateboard.

And Grosskreutz admitted he had

his own gun pointed at Rittenhouse

when he was shot.

In his instructions to the jury,

Circuit Judge Bruce Schroder said

that to accept Rittenhouse’s claim

of self-defense, the jurors must find

that he believed there was an un-

lawful threat to him and that the

amount of force he used was rea-

sonable and necessary.

Rittenhouse jury begins its deliberationsAssociated Press

SEAN KRAJACIC, THE KENOSHA (WIS.) NEWS /AP

Kyle Rittenhouse pulls numbers of jurors out of a tumbler during his trial in Kenosha, Wis., on Tuesday.The jurors selected through this process will not participate in deliberations.

BRUNSWICK, Ga. — Ahmaud

Arbery’s autopsy photos were

shown to jurors on Tuesday at the

murder trial of three white men

who chased the Black man down

before he was fatally shot in their

neighborhood last year.

Prosecutors called as a witness

Dr. Edmund Donoghue, who ex-

amined Arbery’s body on Feb. 24,

2020 — the day after he was slain

— at the Georgia Bureau of Inves-

tigation’s crime lab in coastal Ge-

orgia.

“His cause of death was multiple

shotgun wounds,” Donoghue said

as the questioning began.

The photos showed shotgun

wounds that left a gaping hole in

the center of Arbery’s chest.

The testimony followed the

judge’s refusal to declare a mistrial

over defense claims that jurors

were tainted when Arbery’s moth-

er wept over evidence photos, call-

ing attention to the presence of the

Rev. Jesse Jackson, sitting beside

her in the courtroom’s public gal-

lery.

Rejecting a defense lawyer’s

complaints about Black pastors at

the trial as “reprehensible,” Supe-

rior Court Judge Timothy Walm-

sley said no

group would be

excluded from

his courtroom.

Father and son

Greg and Travis

McMichael

armed them-

selves and pur-

sued the 25-year-

old in a pickup truck after spotting

him running in their neighborhood

on Feb. 23, 2020. Their neighbor

William “Roddie” Bryan joined

the chase and took cellphone video

of Travis McMichael shooting Ar-

bery three times with a shotgun.

Their defenders say the men had

a right to make a citizen’s arrest of

someone they suspected of steal-

ing from the neighborhood, and

that the younger McMichael fired

the gun in self-defense after Ar-

bery tried to take it from him.

They also say that the presence

of civil rights icons at the trial will

unfairly influence the jury, all but

one of whom are white. Jackson ac-

knowledged Monday that Arbery’s

mother wept “very quietly” in the

courtroom after prosecutors

showed a photo of her son to a wit-

ness.

“As the judge said, it was my

constitutional right to be there,”

Jackson said lat-

er outside the

courthouse. “It’s

my moral obliga-

tion to be there.”

The Rev. Al

Sharpton sat last

week with the

victim’s parents,

Wanda Cooper-

Jones and Marcus Arbery Sr., in-

side the Glynn County courtroom.

He pledged to return to the cour-

thouse, and activists said 100 Black

pastors will join him.

Bryan and the McMichaels are

charged with murder and other

crimes. Prosecutors say they

chased Arbery for five minutes to

keep him from exiting the Satilla

Shores subdivision outside the port

city of Brunswick. The chase end-

ed when Arbery, trailed by Bryan’s

truck, tried to run around the

McMichaels’ truck as it idled in the

road ahead. The video shows Tra-

vis McMichael confronting Arbery

and then shooting him as he throws

punches and grapples for the gun.

The McMichaels told police they

suspected Arbery was a burglar af-

ter security cameras recorded him

several times inside a home under

construction, five houses away.

Arbery autopsy photos shown tojurors; mistrial request refused

BY RUSS BYNUM

Associated Press

TravisMcMichael

GregMcMichael

NEW YORK — American jour-

nalist Danny Fenster, who was

freed after nearly six months in jail

in military-ruled Myanmar, arrived

Tuesday in the United States for an

emotional reunion with his family.

Fenster, who was sentenced last

week to 11 years of hard labor, was

handed over Monday to former U.S.

diplomat Bill Richardson, who

helped negotiate the release. He is

one of more than 100 journalists,

media officials or publishers who

have been detained since the mili-

tary ousted the elected government

of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi

in February.

It’s been a “long time coming, a

moment I had been imagining so in-

tensely for so long,” a bearded and

shaggy-haired Fenster said after

landing in New York. “Surpasses

everything I had imagined.”

As he exited a car outside an air-

port hotel, Fenster’s mother rushed

over to hug him, as did his brother

and father.

Late Monday, as Fenster transit-

ed through Qatar, he told reporters

that he was physically OK and had

not been starved or beaten while in

custody. While jailed, he had told his

lawyer that he believed he had CO-

VID-19, though prison authorities

denied that.

Fenster, the managing editor of

online magazine Frontier Myan-

mar, was convicted Friday of

spreading false or inflammatory in-

formation, contacting illegal organi-

zations and violating visa regula-

tions. Days before his conviction, he

learned he had been charged with

additional violations that put him at

risk of a life sentence.

It “feels great to get Danny back

home. It’s worth the effort, worth ev-

erything we did,” said Richardson, a

former governor of New Mexico

and past ambassador to the United

Nations who helped negotiate the

release through his foundation.

Fenster has been in detention

since he was arrested at Yangon In-

ternational Airport on May 24.

The exact allegations against him

were never clear, but much of the

prosecution’s case appeared to

hinge on proving that he was em-

ployed by another online news site

that was ordered closed this year

during the crackdown on the media

that followed the military takeover.

Fensterleft that job last year.

His brother, Bryan, has said he

was particularly interested in the

plight of people from the Muslim

Rohingya minority, hundreds of

thousands of whom fled Myanmar

during a brutal counterinsurgency

campaign by the army in 2017.

US journalist held for monthsin Myanmar lands in NYC

Associated Press

Wednesday, November 17, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 13

WORLD

VANCOUVER, British Colum-

bia — Nearly 300 people trapped

overnight in their vehicles by mud-

slides on a highway in British Co-

lumbia were being flown to safety

by helicopters Monday while au-

thorities sought to determine if

anyone was swept up in the flow of

debris set off by torrential rain.

A yellow Cormorant chopper

dropped people off near the com-

munity center in the town of Agas-

siz before taking off for another

rescue trip.

“Trapped between two slides

are approximately 275 additional

people, including 50 children, who

were advised to shelter in place

overnight as debris was unstable

and unsafe to cross,” the City of

Vancouver and Canada Task

Force 1 said in a joint release.

Multiple highways in British Co-

lumbia were closed due to the

downpour.

Melanie Forsythe said her drive

home from Vancouver to Hope,

British Columbia, had her making

at least five detours as rain washed

out a bridge, closed roads and

trapped her overnight between

two mudslides before a helicopter

landed on the highway and carried

her to Agassiz.

Forsythe, who was with her boy-

friend, Shawn Ramsay, and a

friend, made it to the town about 18

hours after they were forced to

stop on Highway 7 with nearly 300

other travelers.

“All three of us were kind of hyp-

ing each other up, saying it’s going

to be good, we’re going to get out of

here. But then we all had moments

like, ‘Is this it? Is this the last time

we’re going to see our kids?’ We

were talking to our parents and our

families, but it was just a scary sit-

uation,” she said.

Forsythe said everyone in her

vehicle joined about two dozen

people on the flight to Agassiz,

where nearly 80 others from the

highway had already arrived.

Helos rescuetravelers whowere trappedby mudslides

Associated Press

JONATHAN HAYWARD, THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP

Search and rescue personnel help flood evacuees disembark from ahelicopter in Agassiz, British Columbia, on Monday.

WARSAW, Poland — Polish

forces at the border with Belarus

used a water cannon Tuesday

against stone-throwing migrants,

as Warsaw accused Belarusian au-

thorities of giving smoke grenades

and other weapons to those trying

to cross the frontier.

The events marked an escala-

tion in the tense crisis on the Eu-

ropean Union’s eastern border,

where the West has accused Presi-

dent Alexander Lukashenko of us-

ing the migrants as pawns to desta-

bilize the 27-nation bloc in retalia-

tion for its sanctions on his author-

itarian regime. Belarus denies

orchestrating the crisis.

The Poland Border Guard agen-

cy posted video on Twitter show-

ing a water cannon being directed

across the border at a group of mi-

grants who appeared to be throw-

ing objects. Polish authorities said

nine of its forces were injured —

seven policemen, one soldier and a

female border guard.

Some 2,000 migrants were at the

frontier in makeshift camps in the

freezing weather, but only about

100 were believed to be involved in

attacking the Polish forces at the

crossing near Kuznica, said Bor-

der Guard spokeswoman Anna

Michalska. The crossing has been

closed to all traffic since last week.

The Belarus State Border Guard

Committee and the Belarusian

Foreign Ministry both said they

would investigate Poland’s ac-

tions.

Some of the migrants have chil-

dren with them at the border in

their desperate bid to reach the

EU.

Events at the border have been

difficult to verify independently.

Poland has imposed a state of

emergency, which bars reporters

and human rights workers from

the area. In Belarus, journalists

face severe restrictions on their

ability to report.

Poland uses watercannon on migrants

Associated Press

PAGE 14 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Wednesday, November 17, 2021

Max D. Lederer Jr., Publisher

Lt. Col. Marci Hoffman, Europe commander

John Rodriguez, Europe chief of staff

Lt. Col. Michael Kerschbaum, Pacific commander

Michael Ryan, Pacific chief of staff

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OPINION

AU.S. delegation led by President

Joe Biden’s Iran envoy, Robert

Malley, is in the middle of a 10-day,

four-country visit to consult with

key Middle Eastern allies. The trip comes just

ahead of the next round of talks in Vienna,

scheduled for Nov. 29, to revive the 2015 nu-

clear accord between the regime in Iran and

world powers.

The tour and its timing indicate how con-

cerned the Biden administration is about the

upcoming talks — and the grim possibilities it

faces if a new deal isn’t reached soon.

But in some quarters that eagerness to

break the impasse is being conflated with ex-

aggerated claims about the menace Iran ac-

tually poses. A senior official told me the most

likely alternative to an accord is a war. This is

something the United States doesn’t want but

that Iranian intransigence and Israeli alar-

mism are inching us closer toward.

While the administration is eager to push

for a diplomatic solution, Israel says it’s pre-

paring for a fight. Last week, Israeli army

chief of staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kohavi said that his

country’s forces were “speeding up the oper-

ational plans and readiness for dealing with

Iran and the nuclear military threat.” A threat,

it must be said, that does not currently exist.

In response, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, com-

mander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard

Corps Aerospace Force, said Israel “may be

able to start a battle, but it is the Islamic Re-

public that will end it.” The only way that

would happen, though, would be with Iranian

forces waving a white flag.

Iran cannot mount a credible defense

against the U.S. or its allies, even if it were to

reach the so-called nuclear breakout capabil-

ity. And though the assertion is repeated often,

Israel does not consider the Iranian regime a

real threat to its existence. With its conven-

tional military might, a large yet undeclared

nuclear weapons arsenal, technological supe-

riority over all other regional countries and

the backing of the United States, how could it?

In fact, Israel is already engaged in a covert

war against Iran that it has been escalating,

with little response, for years. A string of as-

sassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists dat-

ing back to 2010, culminating with a highly so-

phisticated ambush of the program’s chief,

Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, demonstrated Israel’s

seriousness — and Tehran’s inability to mount

ameaningful retaliation.

Cyberattacks on Iranian nuclear facilities

and a major Persian Gulf port — and most re-

cently, a disruption of Iran’s gas stations wide-

ly believed to be carried out by Israel — dem-

onstrate Israel’s superior mastery of technol-

ogy. Iran, meanwhile, is unable to pull off may-

hem on that scale, settling for targeted

extraterritorial abductions and assassina-

tions and occasional drone attacks against its

adversaries.

The real threat of the Iranian regime re-

mains aimed, as it has always been, at the peo-

ple of Iran and its closest neighbors. The

schisms between the Iranian public and the

state, and between Tehran and regional allies,

are expanding. The Iranian leadership’s in-

ability to defend against attacks and satisfy the

country’s population can’t be ignored. In fact,

this should be at the heart of any new deal.

Viewed through that lens, the maximalist

demands set forth by Iranian officials — Iran’s

lead nuclear negotiator claimed last week that

the new talks will focus solely on removing

sanctions on the country’s battered economy

—should not be mistaken as a sign of a streng-

thened position. And Iran’s continued flouting

of international norms further undermines its

case to be taken seriously by the international

community.

The hyperbole on both sides muddies the

reality that Iran is a minor-league power at

best. To be sure, it has destructive potential,

but its hold on power both within its own bor-

ders and regionally is tenuous and on the de-

cline.

Israeli and Iranian officials have engaged in

this sort of back-and-forth for years, yet the re-

surgence of this kind of unchecked bombast,

especially from Iranian authorities, is worri-

some. The relative pragmatism by Iranian of-

ficials that led to the original nuclear deal is

gone, and Tehran’s rhetoric and actions have

reverted to the obstinate stances of the past.

The 2015 deal didn’t change the fundamen-

tal nature of Iran’s political system, but it

struck a blow to the worldview of the regime’s

most insular forces. Now, the myth that Iran

would somehow become more powerful

through being sanctioned by gaining self-suf-

ficiency has been resurrected by ideological

purists in the regime who have been re-em-

boldened since Ebrahim Raisi was elected

president in June. If the regime continues

down a path of belligerence, an Israeli attack

will become even more likely.

Former diplomat Dennis Ross recently as-

serted in Foreign Policy magazine that the Bi-

den administration must reestablish fear in

Iran’s leaders that a U.S. military threat is

credible if the regime continues to grow its nu-

clear program.

I would argue instead that the U.S. should

let go of its fear of Iran, a country whose mil-

itary capabilities and overall resources are so

far behind those of America and its allies that

it is laughable. In the upcoming talks, the U.S.

should negotiate from that position of

strength.

The US shouldn’t fear the Iranian menaceBY JASON REZAIAN

The Washington Post

Jason Rezaian is a writer for Global Opinions. He served as TheWashington Post’s correspondent in Tehran from 2012 to 2016.He spent 544 days unjustly imprisoned by Iranian authoritiesuntil his release in January 2016.

The FDA recently made two impor-

tant decisions — one bad, one good

—that will affect people with cogni-

tive decline.

The approval of Aduhelm (aducanumab),

an expensive and controversial treatment for

Alzheimer’s disease, has been roundly and de-

servedly criticized, and the manufacturer’s

close relationship with the FDA questioned.

The approval of the sale of over-the-counter

hearing aids, on the other hand, should be ap-

plauded by anyone who cares about dementia

and cognitive decline.

Friends and family may confuse a person’s

loss of hearing with cognitive decline; certain-

ly, difficulty hearing conversation can cause

miscommunications, impair social interac-

tions, and contribute to anxiety and frustra-

tion.

It turns out, though, that hearing loss can ac-

tually cause a decrease in cognitive ability.

And while most causes of cognitive decline

are not reversible, this one is: Evidence indi-

cates that hearing aids protect people against

further cognitive decline.

Currently, hearing aids are prohibitively

expensive and require multiple visits to a spe-

cialist. A lost or broken hearing aid can cause a

substantial financial hit. The FDA decision to

allow over-the-counter sales of hearing aids

will lower cost barriers and increase availabil-

ity for a community in need.

Oddly, no Alzheimer’s group has publicly

advocated for hearing aids, nor has any group

heralded the FDA’s recent decision. In con-

trast, the Alzheimer’s Association, which re-

ceives money from Biogen and many other

pharmaceutical companies, actively cam-

paigned to get Aduhelm approved, even her-

alding its approval on their website.

Harry Johns, president of Alzheimer’s As-

sociation, said, “This approval is a victory for

people living with Alzheimer’s and their fam-

ilies,” and called Aduhelm “the first FDA-ap-

proved drug that delays decline due to Alz-

heimer’s disease.” The treatments section of

the Alzheimer’s Organization lists Aduhelm

first and never mentions hearing aids.

It’s hard not to connect large donations from

Biogen and other pharmaceutical companies

to the laserlike focus that Alzheimer’s groups

have on drug-based approaches. Research on

Alzheimer’s disease has focused on expensive

drugs aimed at amyloid plaque, a biomarker

of uncertain importance. The presence of

plaque in a brain does not correlate with de-

mentia symptoms, and half of elders with no

cognitive deficits have evidence of plaque and

other signs of Alzheimer’s on autopsy.

Also, no drug that reduces plaque, including

Aduhelm, has reversed dementia. The pre-

dominant industry emphasis on amyloid

plaque as the cause of Alzheimer’s disease has

restricted research on any theories or ther-

apies that do not focus on amyloid.

A set of hearing aids would cost less than a

tenth of what one year of Aduhelm would cost.

Perhaps research funding could be redirected

toward improving hearing aids, enhancing ef-

ficacy, comfort, durability, affordability and

ways to keep them from being lost.

Hearing aids enhance communication, so-

cial interaction and cognitive stimulation.

They improve the quality of life for many se-

niors and even more so for patients struggling

with cognitive decline or dementia. The FDA

decision to allow hearing aids to be sold over

the counter will lower cost barriers and great-

ly expand the hearing aid market, encourag-

ing further research and development to im-

prove effectiveness and usability of these de-

vices.

Improving the lives of patients depends on

treating risk factors, modifying the environ-

ment, maintaining meaningful social connec-

tions and utilizing hearing aids.

A public education campaign is needed to

encourage testing for and treatment of hear-

ing loss in anyone with cognitive decline. If on-

ly Alzheimer’s groups would drive this cam-

paign as they did the Aduhelm approval. Des-

peration for progress on an elusive cure may

explain Alzheimer’s groups’ infatuation with

Aduhelm but pushing false hope does not help

patients.

Cover hearing aids, not a questionable Alzheimer’s drugBY DAVID STANKE

AND ADRIANE FUGH-BERMAN

Special to the Chicago Tribune

Adriane Fugh-Berman is a professor in the department ofpharmacology and physiology at Georgetown University MedicalCenter. Dave Stanke is a research associate at PharmedOut.

Wednesday, November 17, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 15

PAGE 16 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Wednesday, November 17, 2021

ACROSS 1 Minor quibbles

5 Soon-to-be grads

8 Champagne

brand

12 In — (shortly)

13 Shaft of light

14 Always

15 Minimize

17 Plane-related

18 Like seawater

19 “The Prince of

Tides” author

21 Lettuce unit

24 Nile reptile

25 Hoodwink

28 Take five

30 Trail the pack

33 Internet address

34 Ear parts

35 Ginger —

36 Actress

Vardalos

37 Concerning

38 Ballyhoo

39 Cen. parts

41 Italian wine

region

43 Spud

46 Shelled out

50 “— you not!”

51 Act out

54 Peru’s

capital

55 PC key

56 Lena of

“Chocolat”

57 Ogler’s look

58 Homer’s

neighbor

59 Red-tag event

DOWN 1 Siestas

2 Actress Fisher

3 Pond duck

4 Reaping tool

5 “No seats”

6 Cold and damp

7 Harmonization

8 Stands for

9 Exaggerate

10 Architect

Saarinen

11 “Iliad” setting

16 Coloring agent

20 Feedbag fill

22 “East of

Eden” son

23 Messing

on TV

25 Press for

payment

26 Swiss canton

27 Grade school

break

29 Beholds

31 Jungfrau, e.g.

32 “Gosh!”

34 Roster

38 Safari

heavyweights

40 Doppler device

42 Mao — -tung

43 Tablet

44 Tom Joad,

for one

45 Algerian port

47 First lady of scat

48 Hammer target

49 Daly of “Judging

Amy”

52 Flamenco cry

53 Old Ford model

Answer to Previous Puzzle

Eugene Sheffer CrosswordFra

zz

Dilbert

Pearls B

efo

re S

win

eN

on S

equitur

Candorv

ille

Beetle B

ailey

Biz

arr

oCarp

e D

iem

Wednesday, November 17, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 17

“Procession,” Greene gathers a

group of six now-adult survivors of

childhood sexual abuse by Mid-

west priests. Seeking some sense

of closure, they write, direct and

perform their stories in a ther-

apeutic exercise of filmmaking.

Greene ultimately shares author-

ship of “Procession,” a collabora-

tive effort of catharsis, with the

film’s subjects. It debuts Friday on

Netflix.

Lin-Manuel Miranda makes

his feature film directorial debut

with “Tick, Tick... Boom!,” an ad-

aptation of Jonathan Larson’s mu-

sical about writing a musical. Lar-

son, played by Andrew Garfield,

was the playwright of the Broad-

way smash “Rent.” Before that

production made Larson a suc-

cess, he struggled to get produced a futuristic rock musical

called “Superbia.” Larson turned that experience into an

autobiographical show about the pressures of achieving

something as an artist before he turned 30. Miranda’s film,

on Netflix on Friday, is an affectionate ode to Larson, musi-

cal theater and Broadway dreams.

— AP Film Writer Jake Coyle

Television

Carole Baskin is getting a second act on discovery+. In

Here’s a collection curated by The Associated Press’ en-

tertainment journalists of what’s arriving on TV, streaming

services and music platforms this week.

Music

The wait is nearly over. Adele releases “30” on Friday,

and we’re ready with the tissues. Since the “Rolling in the

Deep” singer’s last album, “25,” Adele has gone through di-

vorce and depression, and her albums have always cap-

tured specific times in her life. What’s clear is there is pent-

up demand for her voice: The first single from the new col-

lection, “Easy on Me,” became the artist’s fifth Hot 100 No. 1

and first since “Hello” ruled for 10 weeks in 2015-16. The

song’s video has been seen more than 152 million times and

the holiday charts are hers for the taking.

Robert Plant and Alison Krauss are hoping for a re-

peat. Fourteen years after their surprise hit, “Raising

Sand,” the unlikely duo are back with another album of cov-

ers, “Raise the Roof,” out Friday from Rounder Records. It

follows the blueprint of the first, including many of the

same musicians and the production of T Bone Burnett.

Something special happens when these singers tackle deep

cuts from the likes of Merle Haggard, Allen Toussaint, The

Everly Brothers, Anne Briggs, Geeshie Wiley, Bert Jansch

and Betty Harris.

Sting tackles a year of uneasy upheaval in “The

Bridge,” a new album out Friday that showcases the bas-

sist-songwriter’s chops. Press materials say “the new col-

lection finds him ruminating on personal loss, separation,

disruption, lockdown and extraordinary social and political

turmoil.” Among the 10 tracks are “Rushing Water,” which

finds him funky, and “If It’s Love,” which is unabashedly

upbeat and Broadway-ish. There also are brooding charac-

ters and mists, cold gods and references to the Bible.

— AP Entertainment Writer Mark Kennedy

Movies

Tennis anyone? In “King Richard,” Will Smith plays

Richard Williams, father and tennis guru to Venus and Se-

rena Williams. The film, directed by Reinaldo Marcus

Green, is an authorized dramatization (the Williams family

was heavily involved) of the long-odds origin story of two of

tennis’ greatest stars. “King Richard,” which Warner Bros.

will release Friday in theaters and on HBO Max, is a por-

trait of their father coach as he steers them in their youth on

the court and off. Often portrayed as a brash self-promoter,

“King Richard” — featuring one of Smith’s most sensitive

and acclaimed performances — captures Richard Williams

as a trailblazing and inspiring parent whose vision for his

daughters led them from Compton, Calif., to a global stage.

In Robert Greene’s unconventional documentary

Netflix’s hit “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness,”

she was the nemesis and would-be victim of Joe Exotic, who

was sentenced to prison in 2020 after being convicted in a

failed murder-for-hire plot targeting Baskin. In the two-

part documentary “Carole Baskin’s Cage Fight,” debuting

Saturday, the animal activist and her husband, Howard, in-

vestigate the treatment of big cats at what’s characterized

by discovery+ as personal risk. “Tiger King” is roaring

back as well, with season two out Wednesday on Netflix.

A flash of nudity during the 2004 Super Bowl halftime

show is the focus of “Malfunction: The Dressing Down of

Janet Jackson,” a documentary debuting stateside at 10

p.m. EST Friday, on FX and Hulu. The moment that Justin

Timberlake briefly exposed Jackson’s breast took a toll on

her career and became a cultural and racial flashpoint, one

reconstructed in the film and discussed by cultural critics,

music industry insiders and members of the Jackson fam-

ily. Part of “The New York Times Presents” series, the doc-

umentary takes its title from what was then labeled a “war-

drobe malfunction.”

Attention, fans of jazz and creatively daring artists: Es-

peranza Spalding, the Grammy-winning bassist and singer,

performs Wayne Shorter’s “Gaia” in “Great Performances:

San Francisco Symphony Reopening Night.” Jazz great

Shorter intended the piece to showcase Spalding, who’s

joined by a trio of guest musicians. Also part of the evening

with conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen: Silvestre Revueltas’

“Noche de Encantamiento” from his film score to “La

Noche de los Mayas.” The PBS program airs Friday, and is

available at online and on the PBS Video app.

— AP Television Writer Lynn Elber

New this week:Krauss-Plantreunion, Adele

Associated Press

Will Smith stars in“King Richard,”about the father oftennis stars Venusand Serena Williams.The film is intheaters andstreaming on HBOMax on Friday. 

David McClister

Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, who collaborated on the hit album “Raising Sand” in 2007, are back with many of thesame musicians and producer T Bone Burnett on “Raise the Roof.” The album will be released Friday.

PAGE 18 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Wednesday, November 17, 2021

FACES

Morgan Wallen is hitting the road again

after hurtling over a career speed bump this

past year.

On Monday, the country musician an-

nounced plans to resume touring after can-

celing shows this summer to work on him-

self after being largely cast out by the coun-

try music industry for using a racial slur.

The “Whiskey Glasses” and “7 Sum-

mers” crooner will launch the 46-city Dan-

gerous Tour in the new year, kicking off

Feb. 3 at the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind.,

and wrapping in Los Angeles at Staples

Center on Sept. 24.

The tour marks Wal-

len’s continued attempt at

a comeback after the Feb-

ruary fallout, which began

when the once fast-rising

singer was caught on a

neighbor’s security cam-

era using the N-word.

In less than 24 hours,

Wallen’s music was pulled from rotation by

radio conglomerates, his record contract

with Big Loud was suspended and his ap-

pearances were removed from country mu-

sic-focused cable TV networks. The artist

was also effectively banned from awards

shows despite being nominated at a few.

Though his actions prompted apologies

and a reckoning in country music, many

continued to embrace Wallen, 28. He re-

turned to the stage in September to assist

with Tennessee flood relief efforts and sold

out a three-night engagement at the Rupp

Arena in Kentucky. Last Friday, he sold out

a 31,000-person show in Mobile, Ala.

Sesame Street set to introduce

Asian American character

The sunny days of Sesame Street will now

shine over the series’ first Asian American

character, who will debut during an upcom-

ing special.

Ji-Young, a 7-year-old Korean American

muppet performed by Sesame Workshop

puppeteer Kathleen Kim, will debut in “See

Us Coming Together: A Sesame Street Spe-

cial,” a Thanksgiving show celebrating di-

versity among the Asian and Pacific Islan-

der communities.

The show comes after nearly two years of

increased violence toward the Asian and

Pacific Island community following the on-

set of the coronavirus pandemic, which

reignited conversations and activism sur-

rounding anti-Asian hate.

After fallout from racial slur, Morgan Wallen ready to tour againFrom wire reports

Wallen

Wednesday, November 17, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 19

SCOREBOARD/COLLEGE BASKETBALL

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

FCS Coaches Poll

Record Pts Pvs

1. Sam Houston (27) 9-0 698 1

2. James Madison 9-1 665 2

3. Montana State (1) 9-1 644 3

4. North Dakota St. 9-1 575 6

5. Kennesaw St. 9-1 563 5

6. Eastern Washington 8-2 559 8

7. Montana 8-2 510 9

8. UT Martin 9-1 486 10

9. Villanova 8-2 465 11

10. East Tennessee St. 9-1 444 12

11. UC Davis 8-2 413 4

12. SE Louisiana 8-2 381 13

13. South Dakota St. 7-3 352 7

14. Missouri St. 7-3 326 14

15. Southern Illinois 7-3 294 16

16. South Dakota 7-3 278 17

17. Jackson St. 9-1 277 15

18. Sacramento State 8-2 246 18

19. UIW 8-2 187 21

20. Princeton 8-1 147 22

21. Dartmouth 8-1 136 23

22. Stephen F Austin 7-3 99 NR

23. Mercer 7-2 88 NR

24. Monmouth (N.J.) 7-3 86 NR

25. Florida A&M 8-2 53 NR

Dropped out: Chattanooga (19), VMI(20), Northern Iowa (24), Eastern Kentucky(25)

Others receiving votes: Holy Cross, 35;Rhode Island, 33; Chattanooga, 18; EasternKentucky, 17; Northern Iowa, 5; VMI, 4;Weber St., 4; Central Arkansas, 3; William& Mary, 3; Jacksonville St., 2; Maine, 2; Har-vard, 1; Sacred Heart, 1.

AP Top 25 scheduleFriday

No. 17 Houston vs. MemphisNo. 23 San Diego St. at UNLV

SaturdayNo. 1 Georgia vs. Charleston Southern No. 2 Alabama vs. No. 21 ArkansasNo. 3 Cincinnati, vs. SMU No. 4 Oregon at No. 24 UtahNo. 5 Ohio St. vs. No. 7 Michigan St. No. 6 Notre Dame vs. Georgia TechNo. 8 Michigan at Maryland No. 9 Oklahoma St. at Texas TechNo. 10 Mississippi vs. VanderbiltNo. 11 Baylor at Kansas St.No. 12 Oklahoma vs. Iowa St. No. 13 Wake Forest at Clemson No. 14 BYU at Georgia SouthernNo. 15 UTSA vs. UAB No. 16 Texas A&M vs. Prairie View No. 18 Iowa vs. IllinoisNo. 19 Wisconsin vs. NebraskaNo. 20 Pittsburgh vs. Virginia No. 22 Louisiana-Lafayette at LibertyNo. 25 NC State vs. Syracuse

NCAA Division II playoffsFirst Round

Saturday’s gamesBentley at New Haven Findlay at Shepherd Slippery Rock at Notre Dame (Ohio) West Georgia at Albany St. (Ga.)Lenoir-Rhyne at Bowie St. Newberry at West FloridaLindenwood at Grand Valley St. Washburn at Harding Cent. Washington at NW Missouri St.Bemidji St. at Augustana (SD) Minn. Duluth at Angelo St.Nebraska-Kearney at Western St. (Col.)

Second RoundSaturday, Nov. 27

Bentley-New Haven winner at KutztownFindlay-Shepherd vs. Slippery Rock-

Notre Dame (Ohio) winnerWest Georgia-Albany St. (Ga.) at Valdos-

ta St.Lenoir-Rhyne-Bowie St. winner vs. New-

berry-West Florida winner Lindenwood-Grand Valley St. winner at

Ferris St.Washburn-Harding winner vs. Cent.

Washington-NW Missouri St. winnerBemidji St.-Augustana (SD) winner at

Colorado MinesMinn. Duluth-Angelo St. winner vs. Ne-

braska-Kearney-Western St. (Col.) winner

NCAA Division III playoffsFirst Round

Saturday’s gamesLake Forest at Saint John’s (Minn.)Redlands at LinfieldTrinity (Texas) at Mary Hardin-Baylor Huntington at BirminghamGreenville at Wis.-Whitwater Rose-Hulman at DePauw Bethel (Minn.) at Central (Iowa)Aurora at Wheaton (Ill.) Carnegie Mellon at North Central Wis.-LaCrosse at Albion Springfield at SUNY-Cortland Rensselaer at Endicott Washington & Lee at Mount Union Johns Hopkins at Salisbury Anna Maria at Delaware Valley Framingham at Muhlenberg

NAIA playoffsFirst Round

Saturday’s gamesMontana Western at Lindsey Wilson (Ky.)Ottawa at Morningside (Iowa) Dickinson State (N.D.) at Grand View (Io-

wa) Central Methodist (Mo.) at Northwest-

ern (Iowa) Kansas Wesleyan at Indiana WesleyanKeiser (Fla.) at Reinhardt (Ga.) Southwestern (Kan.) at Marian (Ind.) St. Xavier (Ill.) at Concordia (Mich.)

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Monday’s men’s scoresEAST

Fordham 84, St. Thomas (Minn.) 78 Marshall 80, Milligan 58 Quinnipiac 76, Holy Cross 68 St. Francis (Pa.) 100, Franciscan 54 UMBC 85, PSY 47 UMass 81, Penn St. 56 Weber St. 63, Duquesne 59

SOUTHAppalachian St. 98, William Peace 49 Belmont 95, Furman 89, OT Clemson 93, Bryant 70 Florida A&M 95, LeMoyne-Owen 70 Georgia Tech 75, Lamar 66 Kennesaw St. 117, Carver 58 LSU 74, Liberty 58 Louisville 77, Navy 60 McNeese St. 116, Champion Christian 66 Old Dominion 79, Manhattan 58 Presbyterian 74, The Citadel 70, 2OT SC-Upstate 96, St. Andrews 43 South Florida 56, NC A&T 54 UNC-Greensboro 55, Coppin St. 48 Virginia Tech 65, Radford 39 Wofford 98, Erskine 41

MIDWESTCent. Michigan 62, E. Illinois 61 Marquette 67, Illinois 66 North Dakota 79, Montana 77 Ohio 85, Robert Morris 71 Ohio St. 89, Bowling Green 58 Providence 63, Wisconsin 58 SIU-Edwardsville 75, Knox 37 UMKC 80, Missouri 66

SOUTHWESTArkansas St. 90, Central Baptist 63 Baylor 89, Nicholls 60 Buffalo 69, North Texas 66 SMU 95, Northwestern St. 48 TCU 83, Southern Miss. 51 Texas A&M Commerce 65, UTSA 62 Texas Tech 84, Prairie View 49 Tulsa 64, Oregon St. 58

FAR WESTArizona St. 72, North Florida 63 California 75, San Diego 70 Colorado 90, Maine 46 Denver 63, IUPUI 47 E. Washington 111, Walla Walla 71 Fresno St. 69, Idaho 62 Gonzaga 84, Alcorn St. 57 N. Arizona 97, Benedictine Mesa 48 N. Colorado 93, Colorado 53 New Mexico 86, Grambling St. 61 Sacramento St. 58, Cal Poly 57 Saint Mary’s (Cal.) 70, S. Utah 51 San Francisco 77, Samford 55 Stanford 76, San Jose St. 62 UCLA 100, Long Beach St. 79 UNLV 64, N. Dakota St. 62 Utah 86, Bethune-Cookman 55 Utah Valley St. 86, Pepperdine 74, OT Washington 72, Texas Southern 65 Washington St. 73, UC Santa Barbara 65

Monday’s women’s scoresEAST

Delaware 83, Maine 60 SOUTH

East Carolina 81, Gardner-Webb 52 Elon 60, Howard 44 FIU 67, Kennesaw St. 57 Florida 61, Wofford 47 Georgia 78, Furman 41 Jacksonville 69, Edward Waters 64 Mercer 75, Troy 66 Middle Tennessee 55, Vanderbilt 46 Murray St. 94, University of the Cumber-

lands 56 NC State 100, Towson 52 SE Louisiana 74, LSU-Shreveport 35 South Alabama 70, Auburn-Montgom-

ery 49 Tennessee 52, South Florida 49 UNC-Asheville 71, Mars Hill 38

MIDWESTBradley 83, Upper Iowa 53 Iowa St. 75, S. Dakota St. 56 Kansas St. 73, NC A&T 49 Marquette 65, Southern U. 40 South Dakota 61, Drake 46 UT Martin 63, W. Kentucky 47 Youngstown St. 57, Akron 55

SOUTHWESTArkansas St. 96, McNeese St. 72 Baylor 78, New Orleans 39 Stephen F. Austin 83, SE Missouri 59 Texas A&M 95, DePaul 75 Tulsa 64, Sam Houston St. 48

FAR WESTArizona 93, Texas Southern 38 Boise St. 83, Oregon Tech 48 CS Northridge 72, Cal State Dominguez

Hills 67 Colorado St. 71, Oral Roberts 56 Wichita St. 76, Denver 61

DEALS

Monday’s transactionsBASEBALL

Major League BaseballAmerican League

NEW YORK YANKEES — Named Luis Ro-jas third base coach.

SEATTLE SEAHAWKS — Promoted JarretDeHart to hitting coach and director of hit-ting strategy. Named Tony Arnerich hit-ting coach. Named Andy McKay majorleague Coach and Sr. director of baseballdevelopment. Named Kristopher Negronfirst base coach.

National LeagueATLANTA BRAVES — Signed C Manny Pi-

na to a two-year contract.CHICAGO CUBS — Named Daniel Moskos

assistant pitching coach.ST. LOUIS CARDINALS — Named Jared

“Skip” Schumaker bench coach and Turn-er Ward assistant hitting coach.

BASKETBALLNational Basketball Association

NBA — Fined Minnesota $250,000 for vio-lating league rules that prohibit teamsfrom arranging or paying for offseasonpractice or group workout sessions fortheir players outside a team’s home mar-ket.

FOOTBALLNational Football League

ARIZONA CARDINALS — Released RB Ta-vien Feaster from the active roster and DLMatt Dickerson and WR Darrius Shepherdfrom the practice squad.

BUFFALO BILLS — Reinstated QB MitchTrubisky from the reserve/COVID-19 list.Released WR Austin Proehl from the prac-tice squad.

CINCINNATI BENGALS — Signed S Mi-chael J. Thomas from the practice squadto the active roster and LB Austin Calitroto the practice squad.

GREEN BAY PACKERS — Reinstated QBKurt Benkert from the practice squad re-serve/COVID-19 list. Released QB BlakeBortles from the practice squad.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS — Signed CBMichael Jacquet to the practice squad.Placed CB Lorenzo Burns on the practicesquad injured reserve.

LAS VEGAS RAIDERS — Signed FB SuttonSmith to the practice squad. Released WRGary Jennings.

LOS ANGELES RAMS — Promoted DLMarquise Copeland and DB Jake Gervasefrom the practice squad to the active ros-ter.

NEW YORK GIANTS — Reinstated RB Ga-ry Brightwell from the reserve/COVID-19list.

NEW YORK JETS — Reinstated CB JasonPinnock from the reserve/COVID-19 list.

PITTSBURGH STEELERS — Signed QBJames Morgan to the practice squad.

SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS — Promoted STony Jefferson II from the practice squadto the active roster. Placed WR MohamedSanu Sr. and Tavon Wilson on injured re-serve.

TENNESSEE TITANS — Waived T BobbyHart and DL Amani Bledsoe from the ac-tive roster.

HOCKEYNational Hockey League

ARIZONA COYOTES — Called up RWsHudson Fasching, Jan Jenik and LW BenMcCartney from Tuscon (AHL).

CAROLINA HURRICANES — Sent RW JoshLeivo to Chicago (AHL).

DETROIT RED WINGS — Called up C JoeVeleno from Grand Rapids (AHL).

NEW YORK RANGERS — Sent C GregMcKegg to Hartford (AHL).

ST. LOUIS BLUES — Called up D Scott Pe-runovich from Springfield (AHL). Sent DCalle Rosen, G Joel Hofer and C DakotaJoshua to Springfield (AHL). Waived LWKyle Clifford.

VANCOUVER CANUCKS — Reinstated DTucker Poolman from suspension. Sent DMadison Bowey to Abbotsford (AHL).Called up D Travis Hamonic from Abbots-ford (AHL).

WASHINGTON CAPITALS — Called up CGarrett Pilon from Hershey (AHL).

SOCCERMajor League Soccer

ATLANTA UNITED — Signed Carlos Boca-negra to a multiyear contract extension.

COLLEGE SOCCER

NCAA Women’s TournamentSecond RoundFriday, Nov. 19

Florida St. vs. SMUNC State vs. PepperdineTennessee vs. Washington St.Wake Forest vs. MichiganArkansas vs. Virginia TechPurdue vs. Notre DameTCU vs. PrincetonSaint Louis vs. RutgersDuke vs. MemphisBrown vs. SamfordGeorgetown vs. Santa ClaraWisconsin vs. UC IrvineSouth Carolina vs. HofstraPenn St. vs. Southern CalBYU vs. AlabamaMilwaukee vs. Virginia

PRO SOCCER

MLS playoffsFirst Round

Eastern ConferenceSaturday’s game

No. 2 Philadelphia vs. No. 7 NY Red Bulls Sunday, Nov. 21

No. 4 New York City FC vs. No. 5 AtlantaTuesday, Nov. 23

No. 3 Nashville SC vs. No. 6 Orlando CityWestern Conference

Saturday’s gameNo. 3 Sporting Kansas City vs. No. 6 Van-

couverSunday, Nov. 21

No. 4 Portland vs. No. 5 Minnesota UnitedTuesday, Nov. 23

No. 2 Seattle vs. No. 7 Real Salt Lake

NWSL playoffsSaturday, Nov. 20

ChampionshipAt Louisville

Washington vs. Chicago

AP SPORTLIGHT

Nov. 17

1959 — Syracuse’s Connie Dierking be-comes the first player to foul out of a gamein the first quarter, as the Nationals beatCincinnati 121-116 at New York.

1975 — Ken Anderson of the CincinnatiBengals passes for 447 yards and twotouchdowns in a 35-24 victory over theBuffalo Bills.

1981 — Bill Cartwright of the New YorkKnicks ties a 20-year-old NBA record byhitting 19 of 19 free throws in a 124-110 lossto the Kansas City Kings.

MILWAUKEE — Tyler Kolek

converted a steal into a go-ahead

layup with 18 seconds left and

Marquette forced 26 turnovers for

a 67-66 comeback victory over No.

10 Illinois on Monday night.

The Golden Eagles (3-0) came

back from a 12-point deficit in the

second half to give new coach Sha-

ka Smart his first signature win,

despite going 3-for-9 from the foul

line down the stretch.

The Illini (2-1) were clinging to a

66-65 lead when Kolek stole the

ball from Trent Frazier at mid-

court, maintained his balance and

made a layup despite getting

fouled. Kolek missed the ensuing

free throw, but Kur Kuath stole

the ball from Illinois guard Andre

Curbelo with three seconds left to

thwart the Illini.

Darryl Morsell scored 21 points,

Justin Lewis had 17 and Kolek

added 12 points.

For Illinois, Frazier had 23

points, including 6 of 10 three-

pointers, while Coleman Hawkins

scored 13 points and Jacob Gran-

dison 10.

No. 1 Gonzaga 84, Alcorn State

57: Julian Strawther scored 18

points in the Bulldogs’ dominating

win over the Braves, extending

the nation’s longest home-winning

streak to 54 games.

Freshman Hunter Sallis added

16 points for Gonzaga (3-0), which

was coming off a decisive win over

then-No. 5 Texas on Saturday.

Keondre Montgomery scored

13 points for Alcorn State (0-4),

which was no match for the taller

Bulldogs. Justin Thomas added 10.

Gonzaga has been ranked No. 1

for 19 consecutive weeks.

No. 2 UCLA 100, Long Beach

State 79: Johnny Juzang scored

25 points and the host Bruins

pulled away in a dominant second

half to beat the 49ers.

Jules Bernard added 22 points

— one off his career high — and a

career-high seven assists for

UCLA (3-0). The senior was 8-

for-11 from the floor, 4-for-5 from

three-point range, made both his

free throws and had five re-

bounds.

Colin Slater had career highs of

27 points and five three-pointers

for Long Beach State (1-1).

No. 9 Baylor 89, Nicholls State

60:LJ Cryer had a career-high 20

points to lead five players scoring

in double figures for the host

Bears, who overwhelmed the Col-

onels in a rare midday game.

Freshman Kendall Brown had

13 points and 10 assists for Baylor

(2-0), which had 33 assists on its 37

made baskets. Jeremy Sochan, an-

other freshman, had 14 points,

while returning guards Adam Fla-

gler and Matthew Mayer had 12

each.

Cryer finished 7-for-9 shooting

and made five of Baylor’s 13 three-

pointers.

Ty Gordon had 20 points for de-

fending Southland Conference

champion Nicholls State (3-1). La-

trell Jones had 11 points.

No. 19 Ohio State 89, Bowling

Green 58: Five players scored in

double figures for the host Buck-

eyes in their victory over the Fal-

cons.

Ohio State (3-0) started pouring

it on early and never allowed the

Mid-American Conference squad

to get close.

E.J. Liddell and Meechie John-

son each scored 13 points. Zed Key

had 12 points and nine rebounds,

and Eugene Brown III had a ca-

reer-high 12.

Chandler Turner led Bowling

Green (1-2) with 12 points, and Sa-

mari Curtis and Joe Reese each

had 11 points.

AARON GASH/AP

Marquette’s Tyler Kolek, right, drives to the basket against Illinois’Trent Frazier during the first half of Monday’s game in Milwaukee. 

TOP 25 ROUNDUP

Marquette stuns10th-ranked Illini

Associated Press

PAGE 20 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Wednesday, November 17, 2021

NBA

Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division

W L Pct GB

Brooklyn 10 4 .714 —

New York 8 6 .571 2

Philadelphia 8 6 .571 2

Boston 7 7 .500 3

Toronto 7 8 .467 3½

Southeast Division

W L Pct GB

Washington 10 3 .769 —

Miami 9 5 .643 1½

Charlotte 8 7 .533 3

Atlanta 6 9 .400 5

Orlando 3 11 .214 7½

Central Division

W L Pct GB

Chicago 10 4 .714 —

Cleveland 9 6 .600 1½

Milwaukee 6 8 .429 4

Indiana 6 9 .400 4½

Detroit 3 10 .231 6½

Western Conference

Southwest Division

W L Pct GB

Dallas 9 4 .692 —

Memphis 7 7 .500 2½

San Antonio 4 9 .308 5

New Orleans 2 13 .133 8

Houston 1 13 .071 8½

Northwest Division

W L Pct GB

Denver 9 5 .643 —

Utah 8 5 .615 ½

Portland 7 8 .467 2½

Oklahoma City 5 8 .385 3½

Minnesota 4 9 .308 4½

Pacific Division

W L Pct GB

Golden State 11 2 .846 —

Phoenix 10 3 .769 1

L.A. Clippers 8 5 .615 3

L.A. Lakers 8 7 .533 4

Sacramento 6 8 .429 5½

Monday’s games

Sacramento 129, Detroit 107 Boston 98, Cleveland 92 Washington 105, New Orleans 100 New York 92, Indiana 84 Atlanta 129, Orlando 111 Memphis 136, Houston 102 Miami 103, Oklahoma City 90 Dallas 111, Denver 101 Phoenix 99, Minnesota 96 Portland 118, Toronto 113 Chicago 121, L.A. Lakers 103

Tuesday’s games

Golden State at Brooklyn Philadelphia at Utah San Antonio at L.A. Clippers

Wednesday’s games

Indiana at Detroit Washington at Charlotte Boston at Atlanta Cleveland at Brooklyn L.A. Lakers at Milwaukee New Orleans at Miami Orlando at New York Houston at Oklahoma City Sacramento at Minnesota Chicago at Portland Dallas at Phoenix

Thursday’s games

Golden State at Cleveland Washington at Miami L.A. Clippers at Memphis San Antonio at Minnesota Philadelphia at Denver Toronto at Utah

Leaders

Through Wednesday

Scoring

G FG FT PTS AVG

Durant, BKN 14 154 79 415 29.6

Curry, GS 13 117 64 365 28.1

George, LAC 13 127 50 344 26.5

Rebounds

G OFF DEF TOT AVG

Gobert, UTA 13 42 157 199 15.3

Jokic, DEN 13 37 143 180 13.8

Valanciunas, NO 15 50 148 198 13.2

Assists

G AST AVG

Paul, PHO 13 133 10.2

Harden, BKN 14 130 9.3

Young, ATL 15 136 9.1

Scoreboard

Kristaps Porzingis had 29

points and 11 rebounds, Tim Har-

daway Jr. scored 13 of his 19 points

in the fourth quarter and the Dal-

las Mavericks rallied past the

Denver Nuggets 111-101 on Mon-

day night.

Dallas opened the fourth period

on a 17-6 run that included three-

pointers by Hardaway, Luka Don-

cic, Dorian Finney-Smith and

Reggie Bullock to go ahead 98-88

with six minutes left, its largest

lead to that point.

Doncic had 23 points and 11 as-

sists and Jalen Brunson scored 17

off the bench for the Mavericks,

who have won five of six.

Nikola Jokic scored a season-

high 35 points and grabbed 16 re-

bounds for Denver, which fin-

ished a back-to-back and had its

five-game winning streak

snapped.

Doncic limped off the court, fa-

voring his left ankle, with 44 sec-

onds remaining after Nuggets

guard Austin Rivers fell on his leg

from behind after Doncic tried to

block Rivers’ layup attempt.

Doncic has a history of ankle in-

juries, including missing 11 games

during the 2019-20 regular season

because of right ankle sprains and

dealing with a left ankle sprain

during the 2020 playoffs in the

NBA bubble.

Bulls 121, Lakers 103: DeMar

DeRozan scored a season-high 38

points and Zach LaVine had added

26 in Chicago’s win at Los Angeles.

Lonzo Ball had a season-high 27

points, eight assists and seven re-

bounds against his former team as

the promising Bulls rolled to their

fourth win in five games, following

up their win over the Clippers on

Sunday night by sweeping back-

to-back games at Staples Center.

Chicago also snapped an eight-

game skid against the Lakers dat-

ing to November 2016.

DeRozan and Los Angeles flirt-

ed with each other in free agency

during the summer, but the Lak-

ers eventually went with Russell

Westbrook over DeRozan, his fel-

low Los Angeles-area native.

Anthony Davis had 20 points

and six rebounds before getting

ejected by referee Scott Wall with

2:20 left in the third quarter.

Trail  Blazers  118,  Raptors

113: CJ McCollum had 29 points

and Damian Lillard added 24 to

lead host Portland to a victory over

Toronto.

The Blazers, who were playing

the second of a back-to-back, im-

proved to 6-1 at home.

OG Anunoby had 27 points for

the Raptors, who have lost five of

six. Pascal Siakam added 20.

Larry Nance Jr.’s alley-oop

dunk gave Portland a 99-89 lead in

the final quarter. McCollum’s

three-pointer pushed it to 105-92.

Toronto rallied with a 9-0 run,

pulling to 105-101 on Fred VanV-

leet’s three-pointer with 5:34 left.

The Blazers didn’t let the Raptors

get any closer, and Lillard’s three

stretched Portland’s lead to 110-

101.

Suns  99,  Timberwolves  96:

Chris Paul scored 19 of his 21

points in the fourth quarter, Devin

Booker had 29 and Phoenix won at

Minnesota for its ninth straight

win.

Deandre Ayton had 22 points

and 12 rebounds in his return to

the Suns after missing five games

with a right lower leg contusion.

Phoenix won a day after a 115-89

victory in Houston.

Grizzlies 136, Rockets 102:Ja

Morant had 22 points, six re-

bounds and six assists, Jaren

Jackson Jr. added 18 points and

host Memphis sent Houston to its

12th straight loss.

Dillon Brooks finished with 16

points, and Kyle Anderson added

15 as the Grizzlies snapped a

three-game losing streak. The 136

points was a season-high for the

team.

Wizards  105,  Pelicans  100:

Spencer Dinwiddie scored 19 of

his 27 points in the second half,

and host Washington erased a 19-

point deficit for its fifth consecu-

tive victory.

The Wizards, at 10-3, are off to

the franchise’s best start in 47

years when the Bullets opened the

1974-75 season 11-2. Washington

played without All-Star guard

Bradley Beal, who missed a sec-

ond consecutive game mourning

the death of his grandmother.

Knicks 92, Pacers 84: Imma-

nuel Quickley came off the bench

to score 16 points, and host New

York limited Indiana to two bas-

kets in the fourth quarter to rally

for the win.

Kemba Walker also had 16

points for the Knicks, but he didn’t

play in the fourth when the re-

serves and especially the defense

won it for New York. Derrick

Rose, Walker’s backup, added 14

points.

Hawks 129, Magic 111: Trae

Young and John Collins each

scored 23 points and host Atlanta

beat Orlando for its second

straight win.

Clint Capela finished with 20

points and 16 rebounds and Bog-

dan Bogdanovich added 20 points

for the Hawks, who snapped a six-

game skid with a 20-point win over

defending NBA champion Mil-

waukee on Sunday.

Celtics 98, Cavaliers 92: Jay-

son Tatum scored 23 points and

Dennis Schroder had six points in

the final 76 seconds as Boston won

at Cleveland.

Al Horford had 17 points and

nine rebounds, and Schroder and

Marcus Smart each scored 14 as

the Celtics (7-7) won for the third

time in four games. Tatum also

had eight rebounds, five assists

and two blocks.

Kings 129, Pistons 107: Bud-

dy Hield scored 22 points and Ty-

rese Haliburton added 17 points

and 10 assists as visiting Sacra-

mento routed Detroit.

The Kings ended a four-game

losing streak, taking control with a

26-2 run for a 33-12 lead early in

the second quarter.

Heat 103, Thunder 90: Tyler

Herro scored 26 points and short-

handed Miami won at Oklahoma

City.

Duncan Robinson scored 21

points and Kyle Lowry added 11

points and 11 assists for the Heat.

Porzingis leads Mavs past NuggetsDallas’ Doncic has 23points, 11 assists butleaves game with injury

Associated Press

TONY GUTIERREZ/AP

Dallas Mavericks center Kristaps Porzingis, left, works against Denver Nuggets center Bol Bol for a shot.Porzingis had 29 points and 11 rebounds in his team’s 111­101 win Monday in Dallas.

MARK J. TERRILL/AP

Bulls guard Zach LaVine, left, shoots as Lakers guard Malik Monkdefends during the Bulls’ 121­103 road win Monday.

ROUNDUP

Wednesday, November 17, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 21

MLB/SPORTS BRIEFS

It didn’t feel like Randy Aroza-

rena was a rookie this season.

Tampa Bay’s speedy and power-

ful outfielder certainly didn’t play

like one, either.

Arozarena won AL Rookie of the

Year honors with a superb follow-

up to his 2020 postseason heroics

while Cincinnati Reds second

baseman Jonathan India earned

NL Rookie of the Year on Monday

night.

The standout years for Arozare-

na and India highlight the chang-

ing profile of a good MLB leadoff

hitter. Both players have speed

and a good eye, but also consider-

able power. It’s the first time since

1953 that the rookie of the year win-

ners were both primarily leadoff

hitters. That season, Detroit’s Har-

vey Kuenn and Brooklyn’s Jim

Gilliam won.

If it didn’t seem like this wasn’t

Arozarena’s first year, there’s a

reason. The 26-year-old Cuban

provided a stunning lift for the

Rays during the 2020 postseason

with 10 homers in 18 games during

their run to the World Series.

But Arozarena didn’t play

enough during the 2020 regular

season to lose his rookie status so

he was eligible for the award this

year. He followed up his postsea-

son breakout with an excellent

season in 2021, finishing with a

.274 average, 32 doubles, 20 home-

rs, 20 stolen bases and 69 RBIs

while adding excellent defense,

helping the Rays return to the post-

season.

“I know I was favored to be the

rookie of the year,” Arozarena said

through a translator. “But for me,

my mind wasn’t set on the award or

winning the award. My mind and

my goal was to have another good

season and continue what I had

done the year before.”

Arozarena earned 22 of 30 first-

place votes in balloting by mem-

bers of the Baseball Writers’ Asso-

ciation of America, beating out

Houston right-hander Luis Garcia

and Tampa Bay infielder Wander

Franco.

India won the NL award eight

months after earning the team’s

second base job during spring

training and never letting it go dur-

ing a stellar first season.

The 24-year-old India received

29 of 30 first-place votes, beating

out Miami left-handed pitcher

Trevor Rogers and St. Louis out-

fielder Dylan Carlson. Rogers got

one first-place vote. India said it’s

been an amazing journey from

spring training, where he was a

longshot to even make the regular-

season roster.

“I didn’t really have a role on the

team, I was just there to fill in for

some guys who weren’t playing,”

India said. “I kind of took it person-

al. I just wanted to be a big leaguer

this season and I made it a point to

put my head down and grind.”

India was the No. 5 overall pick

in the 2018 draft and played third

base in college at Florida, but he’s

found a home at second base in the

big leagues and become a corner-

stone for the Reds’ future.

The 6-foot, 200-pound India was

an all-around threat — particular-

ly during the second half of the sea-

son — often batting leadoff and fin-

ishing with a .269 average, 34 dou-

bles, 21 homers, 69 RBIs and 12 sto-

len bases. He also showed good

discipline in the batter’s box, coax-

ing 71 walks to finish with a .376 on-

base percentage, and scored 98

runs.

DAVID J. PHILLIP/AP

Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Randy Arozarena won the AL Rookie of the Year award. He hit .274 with 20homers, 20 stolen bases and 69 RBIs.

Rays’ Arozarena, Reds’India earn rookie honors

BY DAVID BRANDT

Associated Press

JEFF DEAN/AP

Cincinnati Reds second baseman Jonathan India hit .269 with 21homers and 69 RBIs and won NL Rookie of the Year honors.

Virginia Tech and football

coach Justin Fuente have mutual-

ly agreed to part ways with two

games left in his sixth season with

the Hokies.

In a statement released Tues-

day morning, athletic director

Whit Babcock said co-defensive

line coach and recruiting coordi-

nator J.C. Price will lead the Ho-

kies through their final two regu-

lar-season games.

Fuente was 43-31 at the Blacks-

burg, Va., school. The Hokies (5-5)

travel to Miami on Saturday and

close the season at Virginia.

“While it is never easy to make a

change, I believe in order for our

football program to attain the type

of sustained success that is ex-

pected at Virginia Tech, the time

was right for new leadership of

our football program,” Babcock

said.

He said the program “is one of

the most attractive football jobs in

America” and “I’m extremely

confident that we’ll be able to

identify and hire a new head coach

who can build on our rich history

and winning tradition.”

Fuente was heralded as a cre-

ative offensive coach who special-

ized in developing quarterbacks

when he was hired away from

Memphis.

He led the Hokies to a 10-4 re-

cord and the Atlantic Coast Con-

ference Coastal Division title in

his first season and was named the

ACC’s coach of the year. But that

proved to be the high point of his

tenure.

The program has been hurt by a

rash of player transfers, and the

Hokies were 6-7 in 2018, their first

losing season since 1992, and 5-6

last season when they were among

the teams hardest hit by the CO-

VID-19 pandemic.

Per his contract, Fuente is due a

$10 million buyout.

Indians settle lawsuit

with roller derby teamCLEVELAND — The Cleveland

Indians have resolved a lawsuit

filed by a local roller derby team

over rights to the name Guardi-

ans, the final hurdle for the Major

League Baseball team to continue

its changeover.

The sides jointly announced an

“amicable resolution” on Tues-

day, saying both organizations

will continue to use Guardians. No

other terms of the agreement

were disclosed.

The legal scuffle had delayed

the Indians’ transition to Guardi-

ans, which will soon become offi-

cial. The American League fran-

chise has been known as the Indi-

ans since 1915.

In other baseball news:

The Toronto Blue Jays have

reached an agreement with pitch-

er Jose Berríos on a seven-year,

$131 million deal, pending a phys-

ical, a person familiar with the

matter told The Associated Press

on Tuesday.

The Blue Jays acquired the 27-

year-old right-hander at the July

trade deadline from the Minneso-

ta Twins.

The World Series champion

Atlanta Braves added depth at

catcher by signing Manny Piña to

a two-year, $8 million contract

Monday.

The New York Yankees hired

former Mets manager Luis Rojas

as their third-base coach, a month

after he lost his job with the cross-

town rivals.

Emmert says reform

efforts not fear drivenThe NCAA’s move to restruc-

ture college sports is not being dri-

ven by fear, but rather a desire to

seize an opportunity to tackle is-

sues that have been building for

decades, NCAA president Mark

Emmert said Monday,

“There’s few things that are be-

ing discussed right now that have

been discussed off and on at least

for the 10 years that I’ve been in-

volved in the NCAA,” Emmert

said during a brief news confer-

ence. “But yet at the same time,

we’ve never had a moment where

we had state legislators, congres-

sional actors, the courts, the eco-

nomic dynamics, and even the

pandemic, all providing a very im-

portant catalyst for change.”

NBA will play preseason

games in Abu DhabiThe NBA is bringing two pre-

season games to Abu Dhabi next

season, marking the first time the

league will play in the Arabian

Gulf.

The games will be in October

2022. The exact dates and the

teams involved have not been an-

nounced.

Fuente out after 6 seasonsas Virginia Tech FB coach

MICHAEL DWYER/AP

Virginia Tech and football coachJustin Fuente, above, havemutually agreed to part ways withtwo games left in his sixth seasonwith the Hokies.

Associated Press

BRIEFLY

PAGE 22 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Wednesday, November 17, 2021

NHL/COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division

GP W L OT Pts GF GA

Florida 15 10 2 3 23 56 41

Tampa Bay 15 9 3 3 21 47 41

Toronto 16 10 5 1 21 43 42

Detroit 17 8 7 2 18 49 55

Boston 13 8 5 0 16 41 37

Buffalo 14 6 6 2 14 43 43

Montreal 17 4 11 2 10 36 58

Ottawa 15 4 10 1 9 36 52

Metropolitan Division

GP W L OT Pts GF GA

Carolina 13 11 2 0 22 45 25

Washington 15 9 2 4 22 54 36

N.Y. Rangers 15 9 3 3 21 42 43

New Jersey 14 7 4 3 17 42 42

Philadelphia 13 7 4 2 16 36 34

Columbus 13 8 5 0 16 43 40

Pittsburgh 14 5 5 4 14 42 49

N.Y. Islanders 13 5 6 2 12 29 37

Western Conference

Central Division

GP W L OT Pts GF GA

Minnesota 14 10 4 0 20 48 43

Winnipeg 14 8 3 3 19 46 38

Nashville 15 9 5 1 19 44 39

St. Louis 14 8 4 2 18 49 39

Colorado 12 6 5 1 13 43 39

Dallas 13 5 6 2 12 32 41

Chicago 15 4 9 2 10 33 51

Arizona 15 1 13 1 3 23 60

Pacific Division

GP W L OT Pts GF GA

Edmonton 14 11 3 0 22 59 42

Anaheim 16 9 4 3 21 57 44

Calgary 15 8 3 4 20 48 32

Vegas 15 9 6 0 18 47 46

Los Angeles 15 8 5 2 18 42 37

San Jose 14 7 6 1 15 39 41

Vancouver 16 5 9 2 12 41 55

Seattle 15 4 10 1 9 42 55

Monday’s games

Columbus 5, Detroit 3Tampa Bay 4, N.Y. Islanders 1

Tuesday’s games

Buffalo at PittsburghCalgary at PhiladelphiaMontreal at N.Y. RangersN.Y. Islanders at FloridaNashville at TorontoOttawa at New Jersey, ppdArizona at St. LouisEdmonton at WinnipegSan Jose at MinnesotaDetroit at DallasCarolina at VegasWashington at Anaheim

Wednesday’s games

Colorado at VancouverChicago at SeattleWashington at Los Angeles

Thursday’s games

Calgary at BuffaloN.Y. Rangers at TorontoNashville at Ottawa, ppdNew Jersey at FloridaPittsburgh at MontrealTampa Bay at PhiladelphiaDallas at MinnesotaSan Jose at St. LouisColumbus at ArizonaWinnipeg at EdmontonCarolina at AnaheimDetroit at Vegas

NHL scoreboard

Bennett has rushed for 233 yards this sea-

son.

“Honestly, my dad has tried to get me to

run more because I’ve always been pretty

fast,” Bennett said.

Smart said Bennett’s runs are “a new dy-

namic that our offense needs.”

Still, because Daniels opened the season

as the starter, there was an ongoing expec-

tation he would eventually overtake Ben-

nett.

Even as Georgia has only two regular-

season games remaining, the quarterback

questions continued on Monday.

Smart smiled when asked if Daniels will

play against Charleston Southern.

“Our goal is to go out there and get the

best quarterback ready to play and go out

and play with best guy,” Smart said. “If that

presents itself, absolutely. Straight up, I

hope everybody gets to play. I really do. I

hope everybody gets to play, but I don’t con-

trol that.”

Only two weeks ago, it appeared Georgia

might be on the verge of another round of its

quarterback derby.

After missing four games with a lat inju-

ry, Daniels returned to play a significant

role in the Bulldogs’ 43-6 win over Missouri.

Bennett started but Daniels completed 7 of

11 passes for 82 yards with one touchdown

and one interception.

The Missouri game could have been the

first step to a quarterback rotation or a bid

by Daniels to reclaim the starting job.

Instead, Daniels did not play against Ten-

nessee.

As Bennett has solidified his role as the

starter, Daniels has been working with the

second-team offense.

“He goes out to practice and takes really

quality reps,” Smart said of Daniels. “He

takes ownership in those, and he watches

Stetson’s reps and goes over what he saw on

defense.”

Smart said Daniels has “done a really

good job handling that and continuing to

work to get better. ... Both those guys are

playing well, to me, right now.”

Bennett has 15 touchdown passes, includ-

ing five in a 56-7 win over UAB, with only

four interceptions. He has completed 65.1%

of his passes for 1,625 yards, helping to keep

Georgia’s offense balanced.

In four games, including three starts, Da-

niels has completed 74.4% of his passes for

649 yards with six touchdowns and three in-

terceptions.

Bennett has given Smart and his staff a

role model for any walk-on who has been

told he won’t have a chance against more

highly recruited players.

“I’m so proud of what he’s been through,”

Smart said. “For a young man that was a 3

coming out of spring, a 3 going into fall

camp, a 3 coming out of fall camp. What

does it say about his character that he stuck

around and he kept working to get better?

That’s what you’re supposed to do in life,

overcome hurdles and obstacles, and he’s

done that.”

Top: Bennett’s running ability adds new dimension to Georgia’s offenseFROM PAGE 24

TAMPA, Fla. — Andrei Vasilev-

skiy made 25 saves, Anthony Cirelli

had a tiebreaking goal and a fight,

and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat

the New York Islanders 4-1 on

Monday night.

Tampa Bay also got goals from

Mathieu Joseph, Brayden Point

and Steven Stamkos. The defend-

ing Stanley Cup champions are 6-

0-2 in their past eight games, allow-

ing two goals or fewer in seven of

them.

“We’re defending,” Lightning

coach Jon Cooper said. “You’re giv-

ing yourself a chance to get points.”

Mathew Barzal scored for the Is-

landers, who have lost three in a

row. Semyon Varlamov stopped 24

shots. New York has been out-

scored 13-3 during the current skid.

“We’re working for those chanc-

es, they’re not going in right now,”

Islanders left wing Anders Lee

said. “It’s one of those stretches

where that can lead to some frus-

tration. I think right now we’ve just

got to find a way to stick together,

stick to it and eliminate some of the

mistakes on the other end.”

It was the the team’s 12th of 13

games during a season-opening

road trip. New York will play its

home opener at the new UBS Arena

on Saturday night against Calgary.

The teams met for the first time

since Tampa Bay beat the Islan-

ders 1-0 in Game 7 of the Stanley

Cup semifinals last June.

New York defenseman Zdeno

Chara and Lightning forward Pat

Maroon fought right after the open-

ing puck drop. Chara was given a

high-sticking minor and 10-minute

misconduct, and Tampa Bay roo-

kie Boris Katchouk received a 10-

minute misconduct following a

scrum late in the third.

Blue Jackets 5, Red Wings 3:

Zach Werenski scored the go-

ahead goal with 1:19 remaining af-

ter Yegor Chinakhov tied it with his

first NHL goal, and host Columbus

snapped a two-game skid by beat-

ing Detroit.

Boone Jenner added a goal and

an assist, and Adam Boqvist and

Alexandre Texier also scored for

the Blue Jackets. Elvis Merzilikins

had 24 saves.

Dylan Larkin, Michael Rasmus-

sen and Lucas Raymond scored for

the Red Wings. Thomas Greiss

stopped 33 shots.

Columbus trailed 2-0 in the sec-

ond period and 3-2 in the third, but

Chinakhov pulled the Blue Jackets

even with 4:18 left. Jakub Voracek’s

assist was his team-leading 12th

and extended his point streak to six

games.

MIKE CARLSON/AP

The Lightning’s Anthony Cirelli, center, looks for a rebound from New York Islanders goaltender SemyonVarlamov as he’s defended by Ryan Pulock during the second period of Monday’s game in Tampa, Fla. 

NHL ROUNDUP

Lightning shut down IslesAssociated Press

The NHL postponed three Otta-

wa Senators games on Monday

amid a COVID-19 outbreak on the

team, the first time any North

American major professional

sports league has been hit by res-

cheduling this fall because of the

coronavirus.

Games scheduled for Tuesday at

New Jersey, at home Thursday

against Nashville and at home Sat-

urday against the New York Rang-

ers were postponed. Ten Senators

players are currently in the NHL’s

COVID-19 protocol.

While Ottawa played shorthand-

ed Sunday in a 4-0 loss to Calgary,

the depth of the outbreak led to the

decision to postpone games, which

the league said was made in light of

evidence of continued spread in re-

cent days. The Senators are shut

down through at least Saturday,

with their training facilities closed

to players until then as a precaution.

“The Senators organization has,

and will continue to follow, all rec-

ommended guidelines aimed at

protecting the health and safety of

its players, staff and community at

large as set by the NHL, local, pro-

vincial and national agencies,” the

league said in a statement.

Neither the NFL nor the NBA has

had to postpone a game so far this

fall. Major League Baseball had

nine virus-related postponements

among 2,430 scheduled games,

down from 45 in last year’s short-

ened 900-game schedule.

The NHL postponed 51 games for

virus reasons during its last regular

season.

A handful of other NHL teams

have been hit by COVID-19 this sea-

son, including Pittsburgh and San

Jose.

Senatorssufferingoutbreak

BY STEPHEN WHYNO

Associated Press

AP baseball writer Ron Blum and The Canadian

Press contributed.

Wednesday, November 17, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 23

NFL

American ConferenceEast

W L T Pct PF PA

Buffalo 6 3 0 .667 280 135

New England 6 4 0 .600 275 177

Miami 3 7 0 .300 177 252

N.Y. Jets 2 7 0 .222 161 296

South

W L T Pct PF PA

Tennessee 8 2 0 .800 278 232

Indianapolis 5 5 0 .500 268 230

Jacksonville 2 7 0 .222 149 232

Houston 1 8 0 .111 128 258

North

W L T Pct PF PA

Baltimore 6 3 0 .667 231 217

Pittsburgh 5 3 1 .611 177 185

Cincinnati 5 4 0 .556 236 203

Cleveland 5 5 0 .500 231 241

West

W L T Pct PF PA

Kansas City 6 4 0 .600 262 241

L.A. Chargers 5 4 0 .556 219 228

Las Vegas 5 4 0 .556 210 230

Denver 5 5 0 .500 200 183

National ConferenceEast

W L T Pct PF PA

Dallas 7 2 0 .778 284 195

Philadelphia 4 6 0 .400 257 231

N.Y. Giants 3 6 0 .333 179 216

Washington 3 6 0 .333 185 246

South

W L T Pct PF PA

Tampa Bay 6 3 0 .667 279 212

New Orleans 5 4 0 .556 222 178

Carolina 5 5 0 .500 205 193

Atlanta 4 5 0 .444 178 263

North

W L T Pct PF PA

Green Bay 8 2 0 .800 216 180

Minnesota 4 5 0 .444 221 211

Chicago 3 6 0 .333 150 224

Detroit 0 8 1 .056 150 260

West

W L T Pct PF PA

Arizona 8 2 0 .800 287 189

L.A. Rams 7 3 0 .700 271 227

San Francisco 4 5 0 .444 216 212

Seattle 3 6 0 .333 181 186

Thursday, Nov. 11

Miami 22, Baltimore 10

Sunday’s games

Buffalo 45, N.Y. Jets 17Dallas 43, Atlanta 3Detroit 16, Pittsburgh 16, OTIndianapolis 23, Jacksonville 17New England 45, Cleveland 7Tennessee 23, New Orleans 21Washington 29, Tampa Bay 19Carolina 34, Arizona 10Minnesota 27, L.A. Chargers 20Green Bay 17, Seattle 0Philadelphia 30, Denver 13Kansas City 41, Las Vegas 14Open: Cincinnati, Houston, Chicago, N.Y.

Giants

Monday’s game

San Francisco 31, L.A. Rams 10

Thursday’s game

New England at Atlanta

Sunday, Nov. 21

Baltimore at ChicagoDetroit at ClevelandGreen Bay at MinnesotaHouston at TennesseeIndianapolis at BuffaloMiami at N.Y. JetsNew Orleans at PhiladelphiaSan Francisco at JacksonvilleWashington at CarolinaCincinnati at Las VegasArizona at SeattleDallas at Kansas CityPittsburgh at L.A. ChargersOpen: Denver, L.A. Rams

Monday, Nov. 22

N.Y. Giants at Tampa Bay

Calendar2022

Jan. 22-23 — Wild card playoff gamesJan. 22-23 — Divisional playoff gamesJan. 30 — AFC and NFC championship

gamesFeb. 6 — NFL Pro Bowl, Allegiant Stadi-

um, Las Vegas.Feb. 13 — Super Bowl LVI, SoFi Stadium,

Inglewood, Calif.

Scoreboard

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — After a nearly two-

month stretch that featured one win and far too

many disappointments, the San Francisco 49ers

were running out of time to establish an identity

this season.

An opening 18-play touchdown drive against

the rival Los Angeles Rams was a pretty good

start.

Jimmy Garoppolo capped that long drive with

the first of his two touchdown passes, Jimmie

Ward returned one of his two first-quarter inter-

ceptions for another score and the 49ers beat the

Rams 31-10 on Monday night for their first home

win in more than a year.

“It got us into a rhythm for sure,” Garoppolo

said. “That’s the way we want to do it. Just run-

ning the ball, converting on third down and then

score at the end. I don’t want to say it took their

soul away but it definitely did something.”

The Niners (4-5) had lost four of five games

and were in danger of falling out of the playoff

race before putting together a complete per-

formance in their fifth straight win against the

Rams (7-3).

Garoppolo threw TD passes to George Kittle

and Deebo Samuel, Samuel also ran for a score

and Ward delivered the big plays defensively to

give San Francisco its second home win in the

past two seasons. The other also came against

the Rams on Oct. 18, 2020.

It all started on the ground, where coach Kyle

Shanahan had set an audacious goal of 40 car-

ries that the Niners exceeded with 44 runs for

156 yards.

“I almost regretted it because it’s tough to do,”

Shanahan said. “I’m glad I set it. We came

through with it. It’s a huge team goal.”

San Francisco had its most rushes in a regu-

lar-season game in nine years.

Last week, San Francisco had 11 carries for 39

yards in a 31-17 loss to Arizona.

“If you want to establish any type of dom-

inance, especially in the trenches, I think that is

necessary,” left tackle Trent Williams said.

“You got to run the ball and got to make your op-

ponents respect it.”

The Niners sealed the game when Garoppolo

connected on a 40-yard TD to Samuel on fourth-

and-6 early in the fourth quarter that made it

31-7.

Garoppolo finished 15-for-19 for 182 yards

and the two TDs.

The Rams lost for the second straight week

with Matthew Stafford once again throwing two

interceptions, including one returned for a

touchdown.

Los Angeles struggled to get into any rhythm

offensively in the first game after receiver Rob-

ert Woods went down with a season-ending knee

injury last week in practice.

“This was a humbling night for us as a team,

and a great opportunity for us to be able to take a

deep breath, step away, look at the things that we

need to correct, particularly offensively over the

last couple of weeks,” coach Sean McVay said.

Odell Beckham Jr. made his Los Angeles de-

but after signing last week but had only two

catches for 18 yards.

Recently acquired edge rusher Von Miller al-

so played for the first time with the Rams and

had three tackles but didn’t put pressure on Ga-

roppolo.

Stafford went 26-for-41 for 243 yards with one

TD, two interceptions and a third that was wiped

off by a penalty.

Take it awayWard intercepted Stafford on Los Angeles’

first two drives of the game after coming into the

night with two INTs in 85 games and none since

2016.

The first came on a deep heave by Stafford to

Beckham that went right to Ward. The next

came on a quick throw that tight end Tyler Hig-

bee bobbled right into Ward’s hands, leading to a

27-yard TD return.

Ward became the seventh player since 2000

with two interceptions, including a pick-6, in the

first quarter.

Keep it awayThe Niners did a good job keeping the ball

away from Stafford in the first half. They had an

18-play, 93-yard drive that took 11:03 off the

clock after Ward’s first interception. It was

capped by an 8-yard TD pass from Garoppolo to

Kittle.

San Francisco then had an 11-play, 91-yard

drive on its second possession capped by Sa-

muel’s 8-yard run to take a 21-7 lead.

49ers run their way past RamsBY JOSH DUBOW

Associated Press

JED JACOBSOHN/AP

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel runs past Los Angeles Rams safety JordanFuller to score during the second half in Santa Clara, Calif., on Monday.

Chase Young will not play the

rest of this season after injuring his

right leg and is scheduled to under-

go surgery.

Washington coach Ron Rivera

confirmed the prognosis for

Young on Monday in the wake of

the reigning Defensive Rookie of

the Year going down during the

first half of an upset of defending

Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay.

Rivera did not reveal whether

Young tore the ACL in his right

knee and did not specify what the

surgery is for. Washington said

Sunday that Young left the game

with a knee injury, and Rivera said

it was possibly an ACL tear.

The 2020 No. 2 pick finishes his

second NFL season with 1 ½ sacks.

Rookie Shaka Toney is among the

pass rushers who will fill in for

Young, starting at Carolina.

“We’re going to rely on some

young guys to step up and get op-

portunities,” Rivera said.

Young got hurt Sunday while

trying to get past left tackle Dono-

van Smith in order to pressure

Buccaneers quarterback Tom

Brady. He ended up on the grass,

wincing and writhing around on

the ground for a bit, all the while

keeping his right leg straight.

After Young was checked by

team trainers, a cart was driven

out onto the field. But Young de-

clined to get on and be driven off,

instead motioning for teammate

Brandon Scherff to give him a

hand to help stand up.

Young then headed toward the

locker room, draping his arms on

the shoulders of two people for

support while he limped off. He

gave teammates a speech of en-

couragement at halftime and re-

turned to the sideline on crutches

later.

Washington DE Young out for the season

NICK WASS/AP

Washington defensive end ChaseYoung is tended to after beinginjured on Sunday.

BY STEPHEN WHYNO

Associated Press

PAGE 24 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Wednesday, November 17, 2021

SPORTSRookies of the year

Rays’ Arozarena, Reds’ Indiaclaim honors ›› MLB, Page 21

Marquette knocks off No. 10 Illinois ›› College basketball, Page 19

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

ATHENS, Ga.

Against all odds, Stetson Bennett is run-

ning away with No. 1 Georgia’s quarter-

back job.

No better than third string on Geor-

gia’s depth chart entering the season,

Bennett took advantage of an injury to JT Daniels to

grab the job. His legs are a big reason he has kept the

job.

Bennett, a former walk-on, has avoided mistakes

when passing the ball and has taken advantage of his

running ability to help the Bulldogs (10-0, 8-0 South-

eastern Conference) remain atop the AP Top 25 and

earn a spot in the SEC championship game on Dec. 4.

Georgia plays Charleston Southern on Saturday in

its final home game of the season.

Some observers believe Daniels would provide the

team’s best hope for winning the SEC and national

championships. Coach Kirby Smart is basing his faith

in Bennett on what he has seen in practice and in

games.

Following the win over Tennessee, Smart said “I’m

not going to overthink it with Stetson. We’re trying to

go game by game to get him better.”

Bennett has been solid, if not spectacular, as a pas-

ser. His edge is his running ability.

“His legs have played a big part in his success,”

Smart said after Bennett ran for 40 yards and a touch-

down in last week’s 41-17 win at Tennessee. Bennett

completed 17 of 29 passes for 213 yards with a touch-

down.

Taking overthe top jobBennett making caseto remain Georgia QB

BY CHARLES ODUM

Associated Press

Stetson Bennett, a walk­on at Georgia, stepped in forinjured starter JT Daniels and has helped guide theBulldogs to a 10­0 record and the No. 1 spot in both theAssociated Press Top 25 and the CFP rankings.

BUTCH DILL/AP

SEE TOP ON PAGE 22