fires two ballistic missiles

Volume 80 Edition 109 ©SS 2021 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2021 50¢/Free to Deployed Areas

stripes.com

MILITARY

Russia exercisesshowcase newunmanned robots Page 6

NATION

Governor Newsomeasily defeats recalleffort in California0

MILITARY

Trump rails atMilley after bookrevelationsPage 3

Ohio State looks to rebound after a rare home loss ›› College Foot ball, Page 24

CAMP HUMPHREYS, South

Korea — The two Koreas fired

ballistic missiles in separate tests

Wednesday as officials from

neighboring countries held meet-

ings to discuss tensions on the Ko-

rean Peninsula.

North Korea fired two ballistic

missiles into the sea off its eastern

coast in the afternoon, according

to the South Korean military.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of

Staff confirmed those launches to

Stars and Stripes and said the mis-

siles flew about 500 miles at a

maximum altitude of 37 miles.

“Our military tightened surveil-

lance and security, [maintained]

their readiness posture, and the

[South Koreans] and the U.S. are

working closely together,” a JSC

spokesperson said in a text mess-

age on the customary condition of

anonymity.

Meanwhile, South Korea an-

nounced it had succeeded in test-

firing a submarine-launched bal-

listic missile, according to the

Agency for Defense Develop-

ment.

It is now one of a handful of na-

tions to successfully develop an

SLBM after the United States,

Russia, China, Britain, France and

India. North Korea also claims to

have successfully test-fired one.

South Korean President Moon

Jae-in was expected to meet

Wednesday with the National Se-

curity Council about the North Ko-

rean missile test, according to a

statement from the presidential

Blue House.

The U.S. Indo-Pacific Com-

N. Korea

fires two

ballistic

missiles BY DAVID CHOI

Stars and Stripes

SEE MISSILES ON PAGE 6

COVID-19 deaths and cases in

the United States have climbed

back to levels not seen since last

winter, erasing months of pro-

gress and potentially bolstering

President Joe Biden’s argument

for his sweeping new vaccination

requirements.

The cases — driven by the delta

variant combined with resistance

among some Americans to getting

the vaccine — are concentrated

mostly in the South.

While one-time hot spots like

Florida and Louisiana are improv-

ing, infection rates are soaring in

Kentucky, Georgia and Tennes-

see, fueled by children now back

in school, loose mask restrictions

and low vaccination levels.

The dire situation in some hos-

pitals is starting to sound like Ja-

nuary’s infection peak: Surgeries

canceled in hospitals in Washing-

ton state and Utah. Severe staff

shortages in Kentucky and Alaba-

ma. A lack of beds in Tennessee.

Intensive care units at or over ca-

pacity in Texas.

PHOTOS BY PATRICK SEMANSKY/AP

Workers plant white flags as part of artist Suzanne Brennan Firstenberg’s temporary art installation, “In America: Remember,” inremembrance of Americans who have died of COVID-19, on the National Mall in Washington on Tuesday.

COVID cases, deaths climb – againMonths of progress wiped out as delta variant and vaccine hesitancy fuel surge in US

Associated Press

VIRUS OUTBREAK

SEE SURGE ON PAGE 9

WASHINGTON — U.S. consum-

er prices rose a lower-than-expect-

ed 0.3% last month, the smallest in-

crease in seven months and a hope-

ful sign that a recent jump in infla-

tion may be cooling.

The August gain was weaker than

the 0.5% increase in July and a 0.9%

surge in June, the Labor Depart-

ment reported Tuesday. It was the

smallest increase since prices rose

0.3% in January.

While the upward march of pric-

es appears to have eased last month,

economists caution that the same

underlying causes remain. Supply

chains are still snarled especially

for critical components like com-

puter chips. Consumer demand is

easily outpacing supply, which will

push prices higher.

Over the past 12 months, prices

are up 5.3%, down slightly from two

consecutive months averaging

5.4%, the strongest 12-month price

gains since 2008.

Core prices, which exclude vola-

tile food and energy costs, rose a tiny

0.1% in August and are up 4% over

the past year, an improvement from

12-month gains of 4.3% in July and

4.5% in June.

Republicans have attacked the

Biden administration for this year’s

surge in prices, but administration

officials have insisted that the price

jump will be temporary and price

gains will begin to return to more

normal levels supply chains catch

up to recovering economies.

For August, food prices rose 0.4%,

a slight moderation after gains of

0.8% and 0.7% in the previous two

months.

Bahrain95/91

Baghdad98/71

Doha102/82

Kuwait City101/81

Riyadh98/75

Kandahar100/61

Kabul85/50

Djibouti101/84

THURSDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Mildenhall/Lakenheath

55/52

Ramstein66/58

Stuttgart61/53

Lajes,Azores71/68

Rota75/55

Morón79/63 Sigonella

90/64

Naples79/70

Aviano/Vicenza71/62

Pápa79/63

Souda Bay77/71

Brussels67/55

Zagan64/61

DrawskoPomorskie

64/61

THURSDAY IN EUROPE

Misawa69/60

Guam83/80

Tokyo70/63

Okinawa84/81

Sasebo80/77

Iwakuni78/75

Seoul78/65

Osan69/64

Busan73/70

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

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

FRIDAY IN THE PACIFIC

WEATHER OUTLOOK

BUSINESS/WEATHER

Military rates

Euro costs (Sept. 16) $1.15Dollar buys (Sept. 16) 0.8242British pound (Sept. 16) $1.35Japanese yen (Sept. 16) 107.00South Korean won (Sept. 16) 1,144.00

Commercial rates

Bahrain (Dinar) .3768Britain (Pound) 1.3850Canada (Dollar) 1.2642China (Yuan) 6.4322Denmark (Krone) 6.2919Egypt (Pound) 15.7104Euro .8461Hong Kong (Dollar) 7.7812Hungary (Forint) 295.46Israel (Shekel) 3.2043Japan (Yen) 109.31Kuwait (Dinar) .3007

Norway (Krone) 8.5844

Philippines (Peso) 49.71Poland (Zloty) 3.86Saudi Arabia (Riyal) 3.7504Singapore (Dollar) 1.3407

South Korea (Won) 1,168.91Switzerland (Franc) .9181Thailand (Baht) 32.89Turkey (New Lira) �8.4401

(Military exchange rates are those availableto customers at military banking facilities in thecountry of issuance for Japan, South Korea, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.For nonlocal currency exchange rates (i.e., purchasing 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 dollarstopound, and the euro, which is dollarstoeuro.)

INTEREST RATES

Prime rate 3.25Interest Rates Discount �rate 0.75Federal funds market rate �0.093month bill 0.0430year bond 1.85

EXCHANGE RATESUS consumer prices see 0.3% rise in AugustAssociated Press

PAGE 2 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Thursday, September 16, 2021

TODAYIN STRIPES

American Roundup ...... 13Classified .................... 12Comics .........................15Crossword ................... 15Faces .......................... 14Opinion ........................ 16Sports .................... 19-24

Thursday, September 16, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 3

point that the U.S. was not going to

suddenly attack China without

any warning — whether it be

through diplomatic, administra-

tive or military channels.

Milley also spoke with a num-

ber of other chiefs of defense

around the world in the days after

the Jan. 6 riot, including military

leaders from the United King-

dom, Russia and Pakistan. A read-

out of those calls in January re-

ferred to “several” other counter-

parts that he spoke to with similar

messages of reassurance that the

U.S. government was strong and

in control.

The second call was meant to

placate Chinese fears about the

events of Jan. 6. But the book re-

ports that Li wasn’t as easily as-

suaged, even after Milley prom-

ised him: “We are 100 percent

steady. Everything’s fine. But de-

mocracy can be sloppy some-

times.”

Milley believed the president

suffered a mental decline after the

election, agreeing with a view

shared by House Speaker Nancy

Pelosi in a phone call they had

Jan. 8, according to officials.

Pelosi had previously said she

spoke to Milley that day about

“available precautions” to pre-

vent Trump from initiating mili-

tary action or ordering a nuclear

launch, and she told colleagues

she was given unspecified assur-

ances that there were longstand-

ing safeguards in place.

Milley, according to the book,

called the admiral overseeing the

U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, the

military unit responsible for Asia

and the Pacific region, and recom-

mended postponing upcoming

military exercises. He also asked

senior officers to swear an “oath”

that Milley had to be involved if

Trump gave an order to launch

nuclear weapons, according to the

book.

Officials in January and on

Tuesday confirmed that Milley

spoke with Pelosi, which was

made public by the House speak-

er at the time. The officials said

the two talked about the existing,

long-held safeguards in the proc-

ess for a nuclear strike. One offi-

cial said Tuesday that Milley’s in-

tent in speaking with his staff and

commanders about the process

was not a move to subvert the

president or his power, but to

reaffirm the procedures and en-

sure they were understood by ev-

eryone.

It’s not clear what, if any, mil-

WASHINGTON — Former

President Donald Trump said the

chairman of the Joint Chiefs

should be tried for treason if the

general told his Chinese counter-

part he would provide warning in

the event of a U.S. attack.

According to the book “Peril,”

written by Washington Post jour-

nalists Bob Woodward and Robert

Costa, Chairman of the Joint

Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley feared

Trump would order a strike on

China in the waning days of his

presidency.

The book says Milley told Gen.

Li Zuocheng of the People’s Liber-

ation Army that the United States

would not strike. One call took

place on Oct. 30, 2020, four days

before the election that defeated

Trump. The second call was on

Jan. 8, 2021, just two days after the

insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by

supporters of the outgoing chief

executive.

Milley went so far as to promise

Li that he would warn his counter-

part in the event of a U.S. attack,

according to the book.

Trump responded Tuesday

with a sharply worded statement

dismissing Milley as a “dum-

bass,” and insisting he never con-

sidered attacking China.

Still, he said that if the report

was true, “I assume he would be

tried for TREASON in that he

would have been dealing with his

Chinese counterpart behind the

President’s back and telling China

that he would be giving them noti-

fication ‘of an attack.’ Can’t do

that!”

“Actions should be taken imme-

diately against Milley,” Trump

said.

According to the book, Milley

told his counterpart in the first

call, “General Li, I want to assure

you that the American govern-

ment is stable and everything is

going to be okay. We are not going

to attack or conduct any kinetic

operations against you.”

“If we’re going to attack, I’m go-

ing to call you ahead of time. It’s

not going to be a surprise,” Milley

reportedly said.

A senior defense official, speak-

ing after the conversations were

described in excerpts from the

book, said that Milley’s message

to Li on both occasions was one of

reassurance. The official ques-

tioned suggestions that Milley told

Li he would call him first, and in-

stead said the chairman made the

itary exercises were actually post-

poned. But defense officials said it

is more likely that the military

postponed a planned operation,

such as a freedom of navigation

transit by a U.S. Navy ship in the

Pacific region. The defense offi-

cials spoke on condition of ano-

nymity to discuss private conver-

sations.

Milley was appointed by Trump

in 2018 and later drew the presi-

dent’s wrath when he expressed

regret for participating in a June

2020 photo op with Trump after

federal law enforcement cleared a

park near the White House of

peaceful protesters so Trump

could stand at a nearby damaged

church.

In response to the book, Sen.

Marco Rubio, R-Fla., sent Presi-

dent Joe Biden a letter Tuesday

urging him to fire Milley, saying

the general worked to “actively

undermine the sitting Command-

er in Chief.”

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, called

the report “deeply concerning,”

telling reporters at the Capitol, “I

think the first step is for General

Milley to answer the question as to

what exactly he said.”

Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said he

had no concerns that Milley might

have exceeded his authority, tell-

ing reporters that Democratic

lawmakers “were circumspect in

our language, but many of us

made it clear that we were count-

ing on him to avoid the disaster

which we knew could happen at

any moment.”

A spokesperson for the Joint

Staff declined to comment.

Milley’s second warning to

Beijing came after Trump had

fired Defense Secretary Mark

Esper and filled several top posi-

tions with interim officeholders

loyal to him.

Trump: Try Milley for treason if book is trueBY JONATHAN LEMIRE

Associated Press

JULIAN KEMPER/Department of Defense, Defense Media Activity

Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, briefsthe media on Afghanistan at the Pentagon in August.

MILITARY

SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, Ha-

waii — A Hawaii-based soldier

was sentenced to 62 years in prison

on Tuesday for bludgeoning and

then stabbing his sleeping wife to

death early this year.

Spc. Raul Hernandez Perez, 23,

an intelligence analyst assigned to

the 500th Military Intelligence

Bridge, confessed to the premedi-

tated killing of Serena Roth, 25, in-

side her Schofield Barracks home

on Jan. 10. It was part of a plea bar-

gain that called for a sentence of 50

to 65 years.

“I would like to apologize for

what I’ve done,” he told the court

and Roth’s family members. “I

don’t expect them to forgive me.

“During the time I will be locked

up, I will do everything I can to be-

come a better human.”

Col. Mark Bridges, a judge in the

25th Infantry Division Staff Judge

Advocate’s Office, also sentenced

the soldier to a concurrent two-

month sentence for disobeying his

first sergeant’s order to have no

contact with Roth.

Bridges, who also ordered the

soldier to be reduced in grade to

E-1 and dishonorably discharged,

made his ruling after two days of

testimony from Hernandez Perez,

family members and friends of the

couple.

Hernandez Perez displayed lit-

tle emotion as he answered ques-

tions about his background and re-

lationship with Roth from defense

attorney Capt. Brian Tracy.

Hernandez Perez and Roth mar-

ried on Jan. 9, 2020, but their mar-

riage was rocky, with frequent

quarreling, according to evidence

presented at an Article 32 hearing

in May.

Hernandez Perez filed for di-

vorce in October 2020 and later ob-

tained a restraining order against

her. He moved out of their home

and into barracks at Schofield.

But the couple got together for

their first anniversary on Jan. 9,

went to a movie and were out late.

Hernandez Perez told the court

on Monday that he woke up in the

middle of the night, grew angry

and decided the only way of getting

her out of his life was to kill her.

He described how he used a

baseball bat to smash the back of

Roth’s head, then stabbed her in

the back four times.

He then stuffed her body into a

garbage can, where military police

discovered it three days later after

family members requested a wel-

fare check for Roth.

Hernandez Perez’s family and

friends painted a picture of an in-

troverted and quiet person who

had no history of angry outbursts

or violence.

“I’ve always looked up to him,

and I always will,” said his young-

er sister, Rosemary Hernandez,

who testified via speaker phone

from Naples, Fla.

“He was never mad; he was a

happy kid,” family friend Sergio

Camarava told the court over

speaker phone from Miami-Dade

County, Fla. “He was always really

respectful, always a good kid.”

Hernandez Perez’s mother,

Carmen Perez, who sat in the gal-

lery directly behind her son, pref-

aced her testimony with an apol-

ogy to the dozen Roth family mem-

bers attending the sentencing.

“There is nothing that justifies

an act like that,” she said through a

Spanish-language interpreter. “I

myself have a daughter, and I put

myself in their shoes. From the

bottom of my heart, I am sorry.”

In his closing summary, prose-

cutor Capt. Benjamin Koenigsfeld

expressed outrage that Hernan-

dez Perez “spent 25 seconds apol-

ogizing to this family” while using

the next 30 minutes to talk about

himself and how he expects to

make the best of prison life.

“From January to today, he

hasn’t shown one ounce of re-

morse,” Koenigsfeld said. “He’s

not sad at all for what he put these

people through.”

Hernandez Perez will receive

244 days toward his sentence for

time served in pre-trial confine-

ment. He will be eligible for parole

after 10 years.

Soldier gets 62 years in prison for bludgeoning wife to deathBY WYATT OLSON

Stars and Stripes

[email protected]: @WyattWOlson

• S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Thursday, September 16, 2021

cademy” with a rooftop balcony

and the spacious gymnasium are

big hits, she said.

Brady praised the Defense De-

partment’s commitment to ensur-

ing that military members’ chil-

dren have the best schools. That has

required $4 billion over 10 years for

school construction and renovation,

most of that overseas, DODEA has

said.

Ramstein “is the brand-new flag-

ship of DODEA” and a “magnifi-

cent building,” with the largest

gymnasium in the DODEA system,

Brady said.

Brady will visit four new DO-

DEA schools in Germany this

week. Ribbon-cutting ceremonies

are planned at Kaiserslautern and

Wiesbaden elementary schools,

and a dedication ceremony is

scheduled for Friday at Spangdah-

lem middle and high schools, which

opened more than a year ago.

New schools are under construc-

tion in Brussels, Grafenwoehr and

Stuttgart, according to the U.S. Ar-

my Corps of Engineers Europe Dis-

trict.

Eight new schools are in design,

including five in the Kaiserslautern

Military Community. A new Ram-

stein Middle School will be built

across the street from the new high

school after vacant housing is de-

molished, officials said.

All the schools have trademark

design features, such as open class-

rooms grouped in “neighborhoods”

with common areas in which stu-

dents can study or collaborate.

Teachers go to the students instead

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germa-

ny — Students and teachers have

quickly adapted to life at the new

$98.8 million Ramstein High

School, one of a number of schools

being built in Europe with ameni-

ties well beyond simple classrooms

and lockers.

The Ramstein school built for

1,100 students has an indoor rifle

range for Junior ROTC cadets, arti-

ficial turf for kicking around soccer

balls, tall windows, spotless white

walls and an overall look that barely

resembles what many parents re-

member from their high school

days.

“This may be the nicest public

high school you ever attend,” said

Col. Patrick Dagon, the command-

er of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Europe District.

Dagon was among the U.S. and

German officials who marked the

school’s opening at a ceremony

Tuesday, about two weeks after the

school year began. Also in attend-

ance was Thomas Brady, director

of the Department of Defense Edu-

cation Activity.

The first days were exciting “but

alittle confusing,” said Kay Golden,

the student council president, as

she navigated the three-story build-

ing, which is located a few minutes’

walk from the old school building

that was occupied beginning in

1982.

Golden said students differ on

their choices of favorite features of

the new school. The “freshmen a-

of occupying a single classroom.

The culinary arts kitchen and

classroom are state of the art, said

instructor Sean Lucas, a profes-

sional chef. But he wishes it had

more cooking space, including

larger ovens, which he told Brady.

“You get one opportunity, so I

had to say it,” Lucas said, adding

that “we’ll make it work.”

For some kids, just being at

school is a thrill. Ryan Newburn, a

freshman who transferred from

Texas, spent eighth grade in virtual

school.

“I’m happy that I now get to meet

other people and have a more ful-

filling experience as a freshman,”

Newburn said.

Ramstein High showsoff DODEA’s newestgeneration of schools

BY JENNIFER H. SVAN

Stars and Stripes

PHOTOS BY JENNIFER H. SVAN/Stars and Stripes

The new Ramstein High School cost $98.8 million and was built for about 1,100 students.

Students, staff members and guests attended a ceremonial openingat the new Ramstein High School on Tuesday.

[email protected] Twitter: @stripesktown

ment facility on July 13, the web-

site said. “This is highly regretta-

ble, and we are currently consid-

ering future measures.”

The city said it also discovered

0.069 micrograms of perfluoro-

hexane sulfonate, or PFHxS. The

synthetic compound is in the

same family of perfluorochemi-

cals as PFOS and PFOA, accord-

ing to the National Center for Bio-

technology Information.

Discharged wastewater even-

tually reaches the ocean, accord-

ing to the agency responsible for

the island’s water quality.

A Ginowan city official request-

ed questions in writing from Stars

and Stripes on Monday but had

not responded by Wednesday.

The Ginowan waterworks and

sewage bureau asked the Marines

to incinerate treated water that

contains PFOS and other pollu-

tants rather than discharge it into

the wastewater system, according

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa —

Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki

called for an on-site investigation

after high levels of toxins were

found in wastewater flowing last

month from a Marine base on the

island.

Ginowan city said it sampled

water just outside Marine Corps

Air Station Futenma’s fence line

on Aug. 26, approximately two

hours after the Marines began

dumping treated wastewater into

the public system.

The water had combined con-

centrations of PFOS and PFOA

more than 13 times higher than

Japan’s safety target, Ginowan

city wrote in results published to

the city website Friday.

“With regard to the test results

from Ginowan city, we would like

to continue to request the U.S.

military for on-site investigations

on the base,” Tamaki told report-

ers on Friday. He did not com-

ment further.

A spokesman for Marine Corps

Installations Pacific did not re-

spond to an email from Stars and

Stripes seeking comment on Mon-

day.

The Marine Corps released an

unknown amount of treated

wastewater into the public system

at about 9:30 a.m. Aug. 26. The

water came from underground

tanks and contained spilled fire-

fighting foam that included conta-

minants PFOS and PFOA.

The synthetic compounds are

found in the foam, aircraft grease,

water-repellant materials and flu-

orine chemicals. They have been

known to cause tumors, increases

in body and organ weight and

death in animals.

The Marine Corps said it treat-

ed the water prior to its release to

a point its toxic levels were 20

times below a provisional thresh-

old set by Japan. Tamaki at the

time said he was caught off guard

by the release and demanded it

stop.

Two hours after the discharge

began, Ginowan’s Sewage Facility

Division took wastewater samples

from a manhole in the Isa area,

where MCAS Futenma’s waste-

water meets the public system,

according to the city website.

The sample showed a PFOS

concentration of 0.63 micrograms

per liter and a combined concen-

tration of PFOS and PFOA of 0.67

micrograms per liter, the city

said. Japan’s safety threshold for

drinking water is 0.05 micro-

grams per liter.

“The results were highly unex-

pected and greatly different from

the PFAS concentration value of

treated water” observed during

an onsite visit to the base treat-

to the website.

They took samples that do not

include treated wastewater and

plan to release those results soon.

Okinawa prefecture also took

water samples from the same site

and expects results back next

week, a spokeswoman from their

Sewage System Division told

Stars and Stripes by phone on

Monday.

“Regarding the recent water

release, we are fully aware of the

concerns of local citizens, includ-

ing the citizens of Ginowan city,”

an Okinawa Defense Bureau

spokesman said by phone on

Tuesday. “However, the Ministry

of Defense would like to refrain

from commenting on the investi-

gation conducted by the local gov-

ernment.”

Okinawa wants on-site water scrutiny at baseBY MATTHEW M. BURKE

AND MARI HIGA

Stars and Stripes

[email protected] Twitter: @MatthewMBurke1 [email protected] Twitter: @MariHiga21

MILITARY


One of the U.S. military’s most

high-tech stealth bombers was

damaged after making an emer-

gency landing early Tuesday at

Whiteman Air Force Base, Mo.,

according to an Air Force spokes-

woman.

The B-2 Spirit was damaged on

a runway in the incident at ap-

proximately 12:30 a.m., Jennifer

Greene, a spokeswoman for the

Air Force Global Strike Com-

mand, told Kansas City television

station KMBC.

The bomber landed after an “in-

flight malfunction” on a routine

training mission, Greene said, ac-

cording to the station.

The Federal Aviation Adminis-

tration temporarily restricted

flights around the air base “to pro-

vide a safe environment for an ac-

cident investigation,” the station

reported.

“There were no personnel inju-

ries and no fire associated with the

landing,” Greene told the TV sta-

tion. “The incident is under inves-

tigation and more information will

be provided as it becomes availa-

ble.”

The B-2s, which each cost more

than a billion dollars when they

entered service in the late 1990s,

can carry conventional or nuclear

weapons.

The aircraft’s maker, Northrop

Grumman, calls the bomber “a

key component of the nation’s

long-range strike arsenal, and one

of the most survivable aircraft in

the world.”

The bomber’s unique stealth

characteristics allow it to pene-

trate the most sophisticated ene-

my defenses. It has seen action in

Iraq, Afghanistan, Serbia and Li-

bya, the company states on its

website.

There are just 20 of the two-pilot

aircraft on active duty, according

to an Air Force factsheet.

A B-2 crashed in February 2008

at the end of a four-month Guam

deployment with the 509th Bomb

Wing out of Whiteman. The crash

was caused by bad computer data,

according to an Air Force investi-

gation report released four

months later.

Three U.S. B-2s from the 509th

deployed last month to Keflavik

Air Base, Iceland, for a bomber

task force mission, the Air Force

announced on Aug. 25.

B-2 stealth bomber is damaged during emergency landing in Missouri BY SETH ROBSON

Stars and Stripes

[email protected] Twitter: @SethRobson1

ing on the weight of the package.

The same parcel service between

Camp Humphreys in Korea and

Ohio will cost between 25 cents

and $2.50 more, according to in-

formation on the USPS website.

Service members overseas will

have to pay more to mail packages

to the U.S. starting next month

when the U.S. Postal Service hikes

rates for the peak end-of-year ho-

liday period, a USPS spokeswo-

man said.

The price increases, which go

into effect on Oct. 3 and run

through Dec. 26, will affect all do-

mestic U.S. mail, including any-

thing sent to military or diplomat-

ic postal addresses overseas, spo-

keswoman Kim Frum told Stars

and Stripes in an email Tuesday.

The temporary price increase

means anyone who ships packag-

es using the USPS flat-rate prior-

ity mail service will have to pay 75

cents more for the white box the

goods are mailed in.

Packages sent from Germany

or Djibouti in East Africa to Col-

orado by non-flat-rate priority

mail will cost between 75 cents

and $5 more for shipping, depend-

The postal service calculates

shipping rates using a system of

zones. The zone for a package sent

from Germany to Colorado is not

the same as for one sent in the oth-

er direction, but the shipping

price appears to be, according to a

calculation done by Stars and

Stripes using information on the

USPS website.

Rates for shipping via priority

mail cubic, which is based on a

parcel's dimensions rather than

its weight, and first class package

service will increase by between

25 and 75 cents for all zones.

The Pirate Ship mailing ser-

vice, which ships through the

USPS but gives individuals and

small businesses a discounted

commercial rate usually reserved

for organizations that mail at least

500,000 items a year, said it will be

launching a new service on Oct. 3

to offset the temporary USPS

price rises.

Prices are not going up for mail

sent to recipients outside the U.S.

who don’t have military or diplo-

matic postal addresses, Frum

said.

All parcels sent from military

addresses overseas still require a

customs form to be completed on-

line.

U.S. Army Europe said in a

brief statement that it was aware

of the looming price increases and

planned to communicate the

changes to the Army community.

US Postal Service to temporarily hike ratesBY KARIN ZEITVOGEL

Stars and Stripes

MARQUIS WHITEHEAD/U.S. Navy

Personnel at Camp Lemonnier’s post office prepare for the holiday rush of mail Dec. 12, 2019.

A top Russian court declined to

hear a U.S. Marine veteran’s pet-

ition to be turned over to his

home country to

serve the re-

mainder of his

prison term for

an espionage

conviction.

The Supreme

Court for Rus-

sia’s Mordovia

region referred

the case of Paul Whelan back to

the Justice Ministry for consid-

eration, according to a statement

issued Tuesday.

“The court simply washed its

hands of this, stood aside and re-

fused to make a decision,” Vladi-

mir Zherebenkov, one of Whe-

lan’s attorneys, told the Russian

news agency RIA Novosti.

Whelan was charged in De-

cember 2018 with espionage. Af-

ter being convicted, he was sen-

tenced to 16 years in prison in

May 2020. Whelan’s family has

repeatedly said that he was in

Moscow to attend a wedding and

was set up by a person he had

befriended.

The U.S. has criticized Mos-

cow’s handling of the case, which

it says is based on trumped-up

charges.

The Russian Justice Ministry

said Tuesday that it has not yet

received a petition from Whelan,

his attorneys or U.S. authorities,

according to the Russian outlet

MK.ru. Nor has it received a copy

of the court’s decision.

The ministry said a review of

the case could start once a formal

request is made.

Whelan, who worked as a secu-

rity director for a U.S. auto parts

company, has denied being a spy.

Marine veteran imprisonedin Russia refused hearing

Stars and Stripes

[email protected]

Whelan

MILITARY

The Department of Defense

this week awarded contracts val-

ued at over $2.01 billion to Lock-

heed Martin Corp. to continue

making and maintaining the F-35

fighter jet fleet for the U.S. and its

allies through 2023.

Under the contracts, the Mary-

land-based company will contin-

ue to provide logistics support,

maintenance and training, among

other services, for more than

3,000 F-35s. Both Lockheed Mar-

tin and the Pentagon emphasized

the importance of cost-reduction

in coming years.

The majority of work — 57% —

will be performed in Fort Worth,

Texas, where the company em-

ploys about 18,400 workers in its

aeronautics division. The F-35

jets are assembled there.

“These contracts represent

more than a 30% reduction in

cost-per-flying-hour from the

2020 annualized contract and ex-

emplify the trusted partnership

and commitment we share to re-

duce sustainment costs and in-

crease availability for this unri-

valed 5th generation weapon sys-

tem,” said Lockheed Martin vice

president and F-35 program gen-

eral manager Bridget Lauder-

dale.

Lockheed Martin reduced its

cost-per-flight-hour by 44% in the

last five years, the company said,

and it expects to reduce that num-

ber by an additional 40% in the

next five years. It said the savings

will be achieved by improving ef-

ficiencies and reliability.

As of Sept. 1, Lockheed Martin

has trained over 1,460 pilots and

delivered over 690 aircraft as part

of the F-35 Lightning II Program.

It employs about 114,000 people

worldwide.

The contracts pave the way for

a longer-term performance-based

logistics agreement for the F-35

program, which would incentiv-

ize even more cost-savings, the

company said.

“Together with the F-35 Joint

Program Office, we recognize the

critical role the F-35 plays in sup-

porting our customers’ global

missions and the need to deliver

this capability affordably,” Lau-

derdale said.

The company is one of the

largest contractors working with

the Department of Defense, re-

ceiving $75 billion in Pentagon

contracts in fiscal year 2020, ac-

cording to a Brown University

study released Monday. Defense

contractors received one-third to

one-half of the Pentagon’s $14 tril-

lion in spending since the begin-

ning of the war in Afghanistan.

Lockheed Martin secures $2B inPentagon contracts for F-35 fleet

BY MARIN WOLF

The Dallas Morning News


mand said the missiles did “not

pose an immediate threat to U.S.

personnel or territory, or to our al-

lies.”

“The missile launch highlights

the destabilizing impact of [North

Korea’s] illicit weapons pro-

gram,” a statement from the com-

mand added.

Japanese Prime Minister Yosh-

ihide Suga told reporters the mis-

siles landed in the sea outside of

his country’s exclusive economic

zone. He called the launches “out-

rageous” actions that threaten

peace and security in the region.

The United Nations Security

Council expressly forbids North

Korea from testing ballistic mis-

siles, which are powered by rock-

ets and fly in a high arch.

The launches come days after

Pyongyang said it fired long-

range cruise missiles that flew 932

miles for over two hours on Satur-

day and Sunday. The missiles’

range, if accurate, would be

enough to reach Tokyo.

Jet-powered cruise missiles fly

at lower altitudes and are harder

to detect than ballistic missiles.

The launches happened amid a

trilateral meeting in Tokyo, where

the U.S. envoy for North Korea

was meeting with his counterparts

from South Korea and Japan. Also

Wednesday, South Korean For-

eign Affairs Minister Chung Eui-

yong and his Chinese counterpart,

Wang Yi, discussed North Korea

and their countries’ ties.

Prior to the weekend cruise-

missile tests, the North’s last

known launch was in March. It

fired two short-range ballistic

missiles into the sea.

In January, North Korean lead-

er Kim Jong Un urged the ruling

Workers’ Party to develop longer-

range intercontinental ballistic

missiles, as well as other nuclear

military weaponry.

Missiles: Japanese prime minister calls N. Korean launches ‘outrageous’ actionsFROM PAGE 1

Stars and Stripes reporters Yoo Kyong Changand Hana Kusumoto contributed to this [email protected] Twitter: @choibboy

MILITARY

Russia has employed un-

manned ground vehicles in com-

bat formations for the first time, a

significant step in the country’s

quest to develop an effective all-

robot military unit, experts say.

Two remote-controlled vehicles

were deployed during Russia’s

weeklong Zapad joint military ex-

ercises with Belarus, which are set

to conclude Thursday.

Western leaders have viewed

the exercises with concern be-

cause of their sheer size and prox-

imity to NATO’s eastern flank.

Both armored vehicles were

used for fire support and recon-

naissance work, Russia’s Defense

Ministry said in a statement re-

leased Monday.

The Uran-9, a tracked vehicle

equipped with a 30 mm autocan-

non, a machine gun, anti-tank mis-

siles and a flamethrower, de-

stroyed mock enemy targets over

3 miles away, the statement said.

Meanwhile, the smaller Nerek-

hta unmanned ground vehicle, or

UGV, fired at targets with a

mounted machine gun and a gre-

nade launcher in addition to per-

forming tasks that would be dan-

gerous for troops, such as deliver-

ing ammunition and equipment in

combat.

Russia has been working to im-

prove its robot combat vehicle ca-

pability for years and previously

tested a prototype of the Uran-9 on

the battlefield in Syria. In April,

Russia’s Defense Ministry an-

nounced plans to establish a unit

armed with strike robots.

The apparently successful use

of UGVs during the Zapad exercis-

es underscores Moscow’s deter-

mination to improve its robotic ca-

pabilities, said Alexis Mrachek, a

researcher specializing in Russian

and Eurasian affairs at The Heri-

tage Foundation, a Washington,

D.C.-based think tank.

“That fact is certainly signifi-

cant because it means that Russia

is continuing to experiment and

seeking new ways to obtain grea-

ter lethality and survivability,”

Mrachek said. “We should expect

that with continued experimenta-

tion they will perfect their equip-

ment and tactics.”

Another expert elaborated on

the significance of the announce-

ment.

That Russian UGVs were per-

forming various tactical roles dur-

ing combat simulations is notable,

said Samuel Bendett of the Center

for a New American Security.

In addition to the fire support

and reconnaissance work provid-

ed by the Uran-9 and the Nerekhta,

other machines were being used

for mine clearing and urban war-

fare, he said.

“The Zapad drills are part of the

effort to guide the Russian mili-

tary in ways to better incorporate

such systems in combined arms

formations, where they have to

function as part of different units

and manned forces,” Bendett said.

Russia has said as many as

200,000 military members have

been taking part in the quadren-

nial drills, which have occurred in

various locations in the country

and also in Belarus, which shares

borders with NATO members Po-

land and Lithuania.

The drills have a history of un-

nerving alliance officials, who are

concerned that Moscow may use

them to move undisclosed num-

bers of troops to NATO’s back-

yard.

The United States remains a

leader in the development of au-

tonomous and robotic systems

used for land, air and maritime op-

eration, and the Russians have yet

to match its expertise in the field.

Even so, it’s important for Wash-

ington and its allies to take note of

Russia’s efforts to incorporate

armed robots into its formations,

said Peter W. Singer, a strategist at

the New American Foundation.

“Just like with tanks and air-

planes at roughly the same point

last century, there will be all sorts

of different approaches and doc-

trines for how to use robotics,”

Singer said in an email exchange.

“Each nation’s wargames give a

hint of that future and should be

watched for insights into what is to

come.”

Drills showcase Russian robots’ progress

Russian defense ministry

Russia tested two unmanned combat robots this week during the jointstrategic Zapad2021 exercise with Belarus.

BY PHILLIP WALTER WELLMAN

Stars and Stripes

[email protected]: @pwwellman

WASHINGTON — The general who

leads U.S. efforts to thwart foreign-based

cyberattacks, and punish those responsible,

says he’s mounting a “surge” to fight incur-

sions that have debilitated government

agencies and companies responsible for

critical infrastructure.

In an interview Tuesday with The Associ-

ated Press, Gen. Paul Nakasone broadly de-

scribed “an intense focus” by government

specialists to better find and share informa-

tion about cyberattacks and “impose costs

when necessary.”

Those costs include publicly linking ad-

versarial countries to high-profile attacks

and exposing the means by which those at-

tacks were carried out, he said.

“Even six months ago, we probably

would have said, ‘Ransomware, that’s crim-

inal activity,’ ” Nakasone said.

“But if it has an impact on a nation, like

we’ve seen, then it becomes a national secu-

rity issue. If it’s a national security issue,

then certainly we’re going to surge toward

it.”

A devastating wave of cyberattacks has

compromised sensitive government re-

cords and at times led to the shutdown of the

operations of energy companies, hospitals

and schools.

The SolarWinds espionage campaign ex-

posed the emails of 80% of the email ac-

counts used by the U.S. attorneys’ offices in

New York and several other departments. A

separate hack of Microsoft email server

software affected potentially tens of thou-

sands.

Nakasone jointly leads the National Secu-

rity Agency, the chief intelligence agency

tracking foreign communications, and U.S.

Cyber Command, the Pentagon’s force for

offensive attacks. While the two organiza-

tions work mostly in secret, they have been

part of a Biden administration effort to pub-

licly identify the people and countries be-

hind attacks. The White House has linked

the SolarWinds breach to Russian intelli-

gence and the Microsoft hack to China.

President Joe Biden directly pressed

Russian President Vladimir Putin in July to

take action against cyber attackers, telling

reporters, “We expect them to act if we give

them enough information to act on who that

is.”

FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate said

“there is no indication” yet that Russia had

acted to crack down on ransomware. Ab-

bate, Nakasone and other U.S. government

officials spoke Tuesday at the Intelligence

& National Security Summit.

Nakasone also oversees efforts to track

and stop foreign efforts to influence U.S.

elections. He disclosed earlier this year that

U.S. Cyber Command conducted more than

two dozen operations intended to thwart in-

terference in last year’s presidential elec-

tion.

Biden said in July that Russia had al-

ready begun efforts to spread misinforma-

tion regarding the 2022 midterm elections,

calling them a “pure violation of our sover-

eignty.” Nakasone declined to detail allega-

tions against Russia, saying intelligence

agencies were “generating insights which

will move to sharing information in the not

too distant future.”

U.S. agencies are not aware of any specif-

ic threats related to the California guberna-

torial recall election that concluded Tues-

day, Nakasone said.

General promises US ‘surge’ against foreign cyberattacksAssociated Press “If it has an impact on a

nation, like we’ve seen,then it becomes anational security issue.”

Gen. Paul Nakasone

Head of NSA and U.S. Cyber Command


Republicans on the Senate

Armed Services Committee casti-

gated President Joe Biden’s deci-

sion to pull U.S. forces from Af-

ghanistan and the chaotic with-

drawal that followed after a closed

hearing Tuesday with the last gen-

eral to lead America’s longest

war.

Army Gen. Austin “Scott” Mill-

er testified during the classified

hearing Tuesday afternoon that

he had advised against withdraw-

ing all U.S. forces in Afghanistan,

said Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma,

the top Republican on the commit-

tee. Inhofe told reporters that

Miller delivered his recommen-

dations to Defense Secretary

Lloyd Austin, Army Gen. Mark

Milley, the chairman of the Joint

Chiefs of Staff, and Marine Gen.

Kenneth McKenzie, his direct su-

pervisor and commander of U.S.

Central Command. Inhofe’s com-

ments confirmed previous reports

about Miller’s recommendations.

Miller never met directly with

Biden to provide his advice, In-

hofe said during a short news

briefing held along with eight oth-

er Republican members of the

committee. The senators declined

to provide any other specifics

from the session with Miller, cit-

ing its secretive nature. Instead,

they took turns admonishing Bi-

den and his administration for

their handling of the Afghanistan

pullout.

“What we’ve seen in Afghanis-

tan has been nothing short of a di-

saster,” Inhofe said. “You’ve

heard everybody say it over and

over again. We’re having a hard

time finding words to properly de-

scribe it.”

Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., at-

tempted to make such a descrip-

tion, saying the “withdrawal was

chaotic. It was a blunder. It was

disgraceful.”

Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss.,

placed the blame fully on Biden

and his advisers, calling the Af-

ghanistan pullout “the worst for-

eign policy debacle in decades

and decades.”

Miller’s closed hearing was the

first of several planned sessions

that the Senate Armed Services

Committee has scheduled to ex-

amine the Afghanistan withdraw-

al, committee officials announced

last week. Austin, McKenzie and

Milley are scheduled to appear

before the committee in a public

hearing on Sept. 28. They are ex-

pected to face tough questioning

from Democrats and Republi-

cans.

Miller commanded U.S. and

NATO forces in Afghanistan from

September 2018 until he turned

over responsibility for U.S. oper-

ations to his boss, McKenzie in Ju-

ly, about seven weeks before all

American troops left the country.

He was not in Afghanistan when

the Taliban launched a lightning

offensive that allowed the group

by Aug. 15 to take control of the

vast majority of the country, in-

cluding its capital Kabul.

Despite leading the last leg of

America’s longest war, Miller — a

longtime veteran of secretive spe-

cial operations units — never

briefed reporters at the Pentagon

nor appeared publicly for an over-

sight hearing on Capitol Hill dur-

ing his tenure. John Kirby, the

Pentagon’s top spokesman, said

Monday that Senate Armed Ser-

vices Committee officials had

asked for the classified briefing.

Inhofe said Tuesday that a public

hearing with Miller had not been

scheduled.

Miller was previously said to

have disagreed with Biden’s deci-

sion in April to pull all U.S. troops

from Afghanistan by Sept. 11. Bi-

den was adamant about ending

the almost 20-year war and even-

tually moved his deadline for

American troops to leave Afghan-

istan up to Aug. 31.

As American forces drew down,

the Taliban began its offensive in

August to retake dozens of dis-

tricts across the country. In many

regions, it did so with little resist-

ance, as the U.S.-trained Afghan

security forces largely surren-

dered. On Aug. 15, the Taliban

took control of Kabul as U.S.-

backed President Ashraf Ghani

fled his country.

With American troops confined

to Kabul’s international airport,

the United States led a roughly

two-week effort to evacuate

Americans, foreign nationals

from partner countries and U.S.-

allied and at-risk Afghans from

the Taliban-controlled country.

But, the exit was chaotic, as Af-

ghans flocked by the thousands to

the airport’s heavily guarded

gates.

On Aug. 26, a suicide bomber

from the Islamic State group’s Af-

ghan affiliate blew himself up out-

side a gate, killing 13 American

service members, wounding near-

ly two dozen more, and killing and

maiming hundreds in the crowd of

people hoping to enter the airfield.

Biden and his administration

have defended their handling of

the withdrawal, even as some

Americans and Afghan partners

were left behind after Aug. 31.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken

on Tuesday told senators that the

evacuation was “an extraordinary

effort under the most difficult con-

ditions imaginable.”

“Our diplomats, our military,

our intelligence professionals …

worked around the clock to get

American citizens, Afghans who

have helped U.S. citizens and our

allies and partners, and at-risk Af-

ghans onto planes out of the coun-

try, off to the United States or to

other locations,” Blinken told the

Senate Foreign Relations Com-

mittee. “In the end, we completed

one of the biggest airlifts in histo-

ry, with 124,000 people evacuated

to safety.”

Republicans were not the only

senators on Tuesday critical of the

withdrawal. During the hearing

with Blinken, Sen. Bob Menendez,

D-N.J., called the effort “clearly

and fatally flawed.”

“I supported the decision to

eventually withdraw our military

from Afghanistan,” said Menen-

dez, the chairman of the Senate

Foreign Relations Committee. “I

have long maintained, however,

that how the United States left

mattered. Doing the right thing in

the wrong way can end up being

the wrong thing.”

Senate Republicans blast Biden’s withdrawalBY COREY DICKSTEIN

Stars and Stripes

[email protected]: @CDicksteinDC

Austin “Scott” Miller

attacks prompted the U.S. to launch

a military assault which ousted the

Taliban and led to a 20-year war in

Afghanistan.

Many experts remain skeptical

the Taliban have broken ties with

al-Qaida since they reached the

2020 withdrawal deal with the

Trump administration. But al-Qai-

da has been significantly weak-

ened, and Washington has made

clear its top priority is preventing

Islamic State attacks from Afghan-

istan.

The Taliban have battled with

the Islamic State since its emer-

gence in Afghanistan in 2014. A

burgeoning ISIS-K affiliate has

claimed responsibility for most re-

cent attacks, including the horrific

bombing outside the Kabul airport

that killed 13 U.S. service personnel

and 169 Afghans during last

month’s chaotic evacuations.

Still, U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Scott

Berrier, who leads the Defense In-

telligence Agency, said at a nation-

al security summit Tuesday that al-

Qaida could begin to threaten the

U.S. from Afghanistan within one

to two years, echoing warnings that

were issued before the U.S. with-

drawal.

Meanwhile, the broader terms of

the world’s relationship with the

Taliban remain unsettled a month

KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghan-

istan’s new foreign minister said

Tuesday that the Taliban govern-

ing the country remain committed

to not allowing militants to use their

territory to launch attacks. But he

refused to say when or if the coun-

try’s new rulers would create a

more inclusive government.

Without other political factions

and women serving in the govern-

ment, the Taliban seem unlikely to

win international recognition as the

legitimate leaders of Afghanistan.

And without such recognition, the

Afghan state is unable to tap bil-

lions of its funds frozen abroad,

leaving it virtually bankrupt at a

time of immense humanitarian

need.

The Taliban received sharp crit-

icism last week after they an-

nounced a Cabinet made up entire-

ly of men from their movement, in-

cluding several on international

terror lists. Taliban leaders had

previously promised broader rep-

resentation.

Amir Khan Mutaqi, a longtime

Taliban negotiator named as for-

eign minister, appeared Tuesday at

his first news conference since be-

coming a member of the interim

government. But he gave little indi-

cation of whether the Taliban

would bend to international pres-

sure.

Asked if the Taliban would in-

clude women or ethnic and reli-

gious minorities in the govern-

ment, Mutaqi answered, “We will

decide in time” but did not offer a

commitment.

He underscored that the current

government is ruling on an interim

basis and said that when a perma-

nent one is formed, “we will take in-

to account what the people want.”

He would not give a timetable for a

permanent government.

“We are taking everything step

by step. We have not said how long

this Cabinet will last,” Mutaqi said.

After the withdrawal of Western

troops and the Taliban’s sudden re-

turn to power last month, the Unit-

ed States and its allies have used

money, potential recognition and

warnings of isolation to pressure

them away from repeating their re-

pressive rule of the 1990s. At that

time, the Taliban imposed a harsh

interpretation of Islamic law, in-

cluding severe restrictions on

women and minorities.

Mutaqi, responding Tuesday to a

question about the eventual hold-

ing of elections, replied that other

countries must not interfere in Af-

ghanistan’s internal issues, a com-

ment he repeated several times

during the news conference.

The foreign minister did, howev-

er, give the first confirmation from

the interim government of the new

Cabinet’s intention to honor a deal

the Taliban reached with the U.S.

last year.

Under the deal, which opened

the way for the American with-

drawal from Afghanistan, the Tali-

ban promised to break ties with al-

Qaida and other militant groups

and ensure they don’t threaten oth-

er countries from the movement’s

territory.

“We will not allow anyone or any

groups to use our soil against any

other countries,” Mutaqi said.

While ruling Afghanistan during

the late 1990s, the Taliban shel-

tered al-Qaida and its chief, Osama

bin Laden. Their refusal to hand

over bin Laden and other al-Qaida

members after the Sept. 11 terror

after they swept into Kabul on Aug.

15 and Afghanistan’s U.S.-backed

president, Ashraf Ghani, fled the

presidential palace.

There also appear to be divisions

within the Taliban over the next

steps. Some leaders are said to be

more open to compromise, while

others insist on resolute Taliban

domination.

The makeup of the Taliban gov-

ernment poses a dilemma for the

United Nations as it prepares to

open a new session of the U.N. Gen-

eral Assembly. Several of the inter-

im ministers, including Mutaqi,

Prime Minister Mohammad Ha-

san Akhund and Interior Minister

Sirajuddin Haqqani, are on the

U.N.’s so-called black list of inter-

national terrorists and terrorist fi-

nancers.

Haqqani is also wanted by the

FBI for questioning in connection

with attacks in the Afghan capital

during the last two decades. As the

interim interior minister, he over-

sees Afghanistan’s police and has

already called former officers back

to work. While some have returned,

including most traffic police, many

are reluctant.

Mutaqi urged the U.N. to remove

the Taliban ministers from the

watch list. “The list has no logic,” he

said.

Minister pledges Taliban government won’t allow militant attacksBY KATHY GANNON

Associated Press

Amir Khan Mutaqi

AFGHANISTAN


VIRUS OUTBREAK

WASHINGTON — Army offi-

cials on Tuesday issued the servic-

e’s plan for mandating soldiers re-

ceive the coronavirus vaccine,

with active-duty troops required

to get the shots by mid-December

and other troops by the end of

June.

Soldiers who refuse coronavirus

vaccines will be issued repri-

mands that “can be career-end-

ing,” according to the Army.

The guidance from service lead-

ers lays out the process for how the

Army will handle soldiers leery of

the coronavirus vaccine, which

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin

on Aug. 24 made mandatory for

service members.

The day before, the U.S. Food

and Drug Administration granted

full approval to the two-shot Pfiz-

er-BioNTech vaccine, which had

been under emergency use autho-

rization only.

Active-duty soldiers have until

Dec. 15 to become fully vaccinat-

ed, and Reserve and National

Guard units have until June 30,

2022, the Army said. A soldier is

considered fully vaccinated two

weeks after receiving his or her

second shot.

Approximately 414,780 — or

about 41% — of active-duty, Re-

serve and Guard troops were fully

vaccinated as of Sept. 8, with an-

other 191,988 partially vaccinated,

according to the Pentagon’s most

recent data. There are 485,000 ac-

tive-duty soldiers, 189,500 Re-

serve troops and 336,000 in the Na-

tional Guard, according to the de-

fense budget.

Comparatively, the Navy boasts

a 75% vaccination rate of its force,

about 55% of the Marine Corps are

fully vaccinated and about 60% of

the Air Force are fully vaccinated,

according to the most recent Pen-

tagon data from Sept. 8.

Active-duty airmen and Space

Force guardians must be fully vac-

cinated against the coronavirus by

Nov. 2, Air Force officials an-

nounced Sept. 3. Air Force reserv-

ists and Guard troops have until

Dec. 2 to meet the requirement.

Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro

on Aug. 30 ordered active-duty

sailors and Marines get the vac-

cine by Nov. 28 and reservists by

Dec. 28.

Since the start of the pandemic,

43 service members have died

from the coronavirus, according to

the Defense Department, which

does not break down the numbers

by service.

“This is quite literally a matter

of life and death for our soldiers,

their families and the communi-

ties in which we live,” Lt. Gen. R.

Scott Dingle, the Army surgeon

general, said in the statement.

“Case counts and deaths continue

to be concerning as the delta varia-

nt spreads, which makes protect-

ing the force through mandatory

vaccination a health and readiness

priority for the total Army.”

Soldiers who first refuse the

vaccine will be “counseled by

their chain of command and med-

ical providers,” but subsequent

failure to get the shots “could re-

sult in administrative or nonjudi-

cial punishment — to include re-

lief of duties or discharge,” ac-

cording to the statement.

However, soldiers with legiti-

mate medical or religious reasons

that justify not receiving the vac-

cine can apply for exemption to

the requirement, and those with

pending exemption requests “will

not be subject to adverse actions

until the exemption is fully proc-

essed,” according to the service.

While all soldiers will be issued

a memorandum of reprimand

should they refuse the vaccine

without a pending or approved ex-

emption request, officers are sub-

ject to removal from command po-

sitions should they refuse.

“Prior to any adverse action,

each would be notified of the sus-

pension and potential relief from

their duties,” the Army said.

“They would then be counseled

and provided the opportunity to be

vaccinated before they would be-

come subject to removal from

their positions by a general offi-

cer.”

Officers and noncommissioned

officers waiting to assume com-

mand, key-billet or sergeant major

positions will be removed from the

list for their assignments should

they refuse the vaccine, according

to the statement.

The service also noted in its

statement that soldiers with previ-

ous coronavirus infections “are

not automatically exempt from

full vaccination.”

Army vaccine deadline: Active-duty by Dec. 15 BY CAITLIN DOORNBOS

Stars and Stripes

BRIAN BARBOUR/Arizona Army National Guard

Army Cpl. Jonathan Leon Camacho, a practical nursing specialist withDwight D. Eisenhower Army Medical Center at Fort Gordon, Ga.,injects an Army Reserve soldier with the coronavirus vaccination lastmonth at Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center, Miss.

[email protected]: @CaitlinDoornbos

NAPLES, Italy — U.S. military

hospitals and clinics throughout

Italy saw a steady stream of CO-

VID-19 inoculations over the sum-

mer without much prompting to

get the shots, thanks to broad ac-

ceptance of the vaccine, medical

officials said.

Naval Support Activity Naples,

Naval Air Station Sigonella in Sici-

ly and Aviano Air Base adminis-

tered about 4,250 shots to a mix of

service members and their fam-

ilies, retirees and DOD civilians

from June through August.

“Vaccines were widely accept-

ed by our community, which pro-

vided us strong protection

through the spring and summer

waves of COVID-19,” said Lt.

Cmdr. Mike Parenteau, a doctor

and the Navy Region Europe Afri-

ca Central public health emergen-

cy officer.

Parenteau said U.S. Navy Hos-

pital Naples saw a slight uptick in

vaccinations over the last few

weeks of the summer as children

returned to in-person learning

and Defense Secretary Lloyd Aus-

tin issued a vaccine mandate for

members of the military.

But Parenteau and other medi-

cal officials said the mandate and

efforts by European countries, in-

cluding Italy, to incentivize vacci-

nation did not appear to be a sig-

nificant factor in the decision-

making of military community

members.

“We did not see a huge bump in

demand due to these later chang-

es, but that is likely because our

community had already widely

embraced vaccination as a way to

travel safely over the summer,”

Parenteau said.

Navy officials said in July that

more than 80% of NSA Naples ar-

ea active-duty personnel were ful-

ly vaccinated, but they didn’t pro-

vide more recent numbers for the

base or NAS Sigonella.

Just over 84% of active-duty

personnel at Aviano Air Base are

fully vaccinated, base spokeswo-

man Natalie Stanley said.

“COVID-19 cases at Aviano

have not followed the same in-

crease as cases in the local area

due to our high rates of vaccina-

tion among our military members,

civilian employees, and SOFA de-

pendents,” Stanley said, adding

that community members also

must follow all Italian quarantine

requirements after traveling.

U.S. Army Garrison Italy in Vi-

cenza could not provide specific

numbers or other details about

vaccine administration over the

same period, base spokesman

Maj. Devon Thomas said.

However, USAG Italy medical

officials said the number of fully

vaccinated active-duty service

members, dependents and civil-

ians at the installation is consis-

tent with the nearly 90% reported

for the Army community in Eu-

rope.

Much of Italy saw a deadly

surge in COVID-19 cases over the

summer as a result of the highly

contagious delta variant.

For example, Sicily reported

more than 1,000 new cases daily

during the last two weeks of Au-

gust, triggering tougher restric-

tions for residents and NAS Sigo-

nella community members.

Similarly, an increase in the

Campania region resulted in

tougher mask restrictions at NSA

Naples that were in effect regard-

less of people’s vaccination status.

On Tuesday, the Italian Health

Ministry reported 4,021 new CO-

VID-19 cases, a decline from pre-

ceding weeks. The ministry also

reported 72 deaths, up from 36

from the day before, according to

data on the ministry’s website.

The ministry said Wednesday

that 74.4% of the Italian popula-

tion 12 and older had “completed

the vaccination course.”

Weekly vaccination data for Ita-

ly show a peak of just over 4 mil-

lion doses given during the second

week of June, with fewer people

getting vaccinated each succes-

sive week over the summer. Near-

ly 2 million doses were given in the

week after Aug. 6, when an Italian

government decree took effect,

according to data on the health

ministry’s website.

The decree requires people 12

and up who want to eat indoors at a

restaurant or visit a museum, the-

ater, gym or other venue to pro-

vide documentation. They can

show Italy’s green pass, a U.S.

Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention card, a negative CO-

VID-19 test or proof of recovery.

Italy broadened the decree

Sept. 1 to include high-speed

trains, planes, ferries and interre-

gional coaches, Reuters reported.

Many of the shots given at U.S.

military installations were second

doses, with the Moderna vaccine

having an edge over Pfizer. The

Johnson & Johnson vaccine was a

distant third, according to figures

supplied by the military installa-

tions.

NSA Naples and USAG Italy

said parents were bringing chil-

dren 12 and up to be vaccinated.

“We have been giving Pfizer to

children 12 and older since the

vaccine was approved for that age

group earlier in the summer, and

since then we have seen a steady

stream of parents bringing their

children in for the vaccines,”

USAG Italy medical officials said.

Medical workers said they

didn’t ask about or weren’t always

aware of why a person decided to

get vaccinated, but some people

said they wanted to protect their

family, get back to normal or avoid

COVID-19 infection.

US personnel in Italy lauded for vaccine willingnessBY ALISON BATH

Stars and Stripes

NATHANIEL U. CORPUZ/U.S. Navy

Seaman Dayshia Hall, assigned to U.S. Navy Medicine Readiness andTraining Command Sigonella, vaccinates a sailor at Naval Air StationSigonella, Italy, this month.

[email protected]: @TMSWatchdog


The deteriorating picture nine

months into the nation’s vaccina-

tion drive has angered and frus-

trated medical professionals who

see the heartbreak as preventable.

The vast majority of the dead and

the hospitalized have been unvac-

cinated, in what has proved to be a

hard lesson for some families.

“The problem now is we have

been trying to educate based on

science, but I think most of the

education that is happening now is

based on tragedy, personal trage-

dy,” said Dr. Ryan Stanton, an

emergency room physician in

Lexington, Ky.

In Kentucky, 70% of the state’s

hospitals — 66 of 96 — are report-

ing critical staff shortages, the

highest level yet during the pan-

demic, the governor said.

“Our hospitals are at the brink

of collapse in many communities,”

said Dr. Steven Stack, Kentucky’s

public health commissioner.

The U.S. is averaging over 1,800

COVID-19 deaths and 170,000 new

cases per day, the highest levels

respectively since early March

and late January. Both figures

have also been on the rise over the

past two weeks.

The country is still well below

the terrifying peaks reached in Ja-

nuary, when it was averaging

about 3,400 deaths and a quarter-

million cases per day.

The U.S. is dispensing about

900,000 vaccinations per day,

down from a high of 3.4 million a

day in mid-April. On Friday, a

Food and Drug Administration

advisory panel will meet to dis-

cuss whether the U.S. should be-

gin giving booster shots of the

Pfizer vaccine.

On a positive note, the number

of people now in the hospital with

COVID-19 appears to be leveling

off or even declining at around

90,000, or about where things

stood in February.

Last week, the president or-

dered all employers with more

than 100 workers to require vacci-

nations or weekly tests, a measure

affecting about 80 million Ameri-

cans. The roughly 17 million work-

ers at health facilities that receive

federal Medicare or Medicaid will

also have to be fully vaccinated.

“We read about and hear about

and we see the stories of hospital-

ized people, people on their death-

beds among the unvaccinated

over the past few weeks,” Biden

said in announcing the rules.

“This is a pandemic of the unvac-

cinated.”

The requirements have met

with resistance and threats of law-

suits from Republicans.

Arizona on Tuesday reported

117 deaths, the most in a single day

since last February. Tennessee

now ranks first in the U.S. in new

cases per capita. Hundreds of stu-

dents there have been forced to

quarantine. Some schools have

closed because of staffing shortag-

es, while others have asked to

switch to remote learning.

Measures aimed at containing

the virus, however, have run into

opposition. Last week, a Tennes-

see high school student who spoke

at a school board meeting in favor

of a mask mandate was heckled by

adults while he talked about his

grandmother dying from the vi-

rus.

Stanton, the ER doctor in Ken-

tucky, said he has admitted fam-

ilies where the delta variant has

swept through generations, espe-

cially if the older members are un-

vaccinated.

“Now in Kentucky, one-third of

new cases are under age 18,” he

said. Some children brought it

home from summer camp and

spread it to the rest of the family,

and now, “between day care and

schools and school activities, and

friends getting together, there are

just so many exposures.”

The biggest surge over the sum-

mer occurred in states that had

low vaccination rates, particularly

in the South, where many people

rely on air conditioning and

breathe recirculated air, said Lin-

sey Marr, a professor of civil and

environmental engineering at Vir-

ginia Tech. She said states farther

north could see upticks as the on-

set of cold weather sends people

indoors.

Surge: Southern states continue to see biggest spikes in new cases, deathsFROM PAGE 1

VIRUS OUTBREAK

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE —

All active-duty sailors stationed

ashore in Japan should be fully

vaccinated against the coronavi-

rus well ahead of the Navy’s 90-

day deadline, according to the

commander of Naval Forces Ja-

pan.

Rear Adm. Carl Lahti, who also

commands Navy Region Japan,

recently told Stars and Stripes

that while he can’t predict when

his command will reach 100%, he

expects that to happen sooner

than the Nov. 28 deadline, due in

part to vaccine availability.

“We’re actually in the process

of administering vaccinations

right now, and we believe we

have enough vaccine in-country

and pushed to our medical clinics

to be able to complete them right

now,” he said.

Naval Forces Japan spokeswo-

man Cmdr. Katie Cerezo told

Stars and Stripes by phone Tues-

day that she was not authorized to

say what percentage of all U.S.

sailors in Japan are currently

vaccinated.

Lahti said a high percentage of

active-duty and civilian person-

nel in Japan were already vacci-

nated ahead of the Navy secretar-

y’s mandate, a fact he said con-

tributes to the low number of ac-

tive coronavirus cases at Navy

installations in Japan. Naval

Forces Japan accounts for about

6,000 of the approximately 54,000

U.S. military personnel in the

country, according to U.S. Forces

Japan.

“We’ve been able to manage

the infection rate, predominantly

due to our vaccination rate,” Lah-

ti said. “Although we’re still expe-

riencing some cases, it’s much

lower than other communities

and not providing an impact on

operations.”

While controversy around the

vaccine has continued to flare up

in the United States, Lahti said

there’s been no “large-scale re-

sistance” to the Navy’s mandate.

He also acknowledged the impor-

tance of discussing vaccine con-

cerns with medical professionals.

“Anything dealing with your

health is really an individual one-

on-one thing between you and

your medical provider,” he said.

“We’re strongly encouraging sail-

ors to talk to their individual med-

ical providers about the vaccine

and understanding the impor-

tance of getting the vaccine and

why we would make it mandato-

ry.”

Lahti’s timeline follows an ad-

ministrative message from Secre-

tary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro

issued on Aug. 30, which gave ac-

tive-duty sailors and Marines 90

days to be fully vaccinated. Re-

servists were given 120 days.

Navy commanderin Japan expectsto beat deadline

BY ALEX WILSON

Stars and Stripes

[email protected]: @AlexMNWilson

TOKYO — New coronavirus

cases in Japan’s capital city are con-

tinuing to drop to levels not seen

since the runup to the fifth and high-

est wave of infections, which

peaked a month ago.

Tokyo reported 1,052 newly in-

fected people Wednesday, accord-

ing to public broadcaster NHK. For

24 consecutive days, new case num-

bers have fallen below those a week

prior, according to metropolitan

government data.

Tokyo and other major Japanese

cities are under a state of emergen-

cy aimed at stemming the virus’s

spread by limiting business hours

and curtailing alcohol sales at res-

taurants and bars, among other

measures.

U.S. Army Japan has experi-

enced 22 new cases of COVID-19,

the coronavirus respiratory dis-

ease, since Sept. 8, according to a

news release Wednesday.

One individual was tested by Ja-

panese authorities upon arrival in

Japan, and three more recent arriv-

als turned up positive while in re-

stricted movement, the release

said. Four became ill and 12 were

discovered through contact tracing.

Two tested positive before leaving

Japan on international travel.

Also Wednesday, two Defense

Department schools at Kadena Air

Base on Okinawa resumed classes

with the end of contact tracing link-

ed to several coronavirus cases

over the weekend.

Four classes at the middle school

and eight at the high school were

canceled Monday and Tuesday, ac-

cording to messages from their

principals posted late Tuesday on

the Marine Corps Community Ser-

vices, School Liaison Officer Face-

book page.

More than seven people tested

positive at six on-base schools, ac-

cording to messages sent to parents

Sunday. Four of those schools can-

celed classes, citing ongoing con-

tact tracing and quarantine re-

quirements.

Okinawa prefecture, where Ka-

dena and most of the III Marine Ex-

peditionary Force are located, had

another 255 people turn up positive

for COVID-19 on Wednesday, ac-

cording to the prefectural Depart-

ment of Public Health and Medical

Care.

AKIFUMI ISHIKAWA/Stars and Stripes

Tokyo reported another 1,052 new coronavirus infections on Wednesday.

US Army Japan reports 22 casesBY JOSEPH DITZLER

Stars and Stripes

Stars and Stripes reporter Mari Higa contributedto this [email protected]: @JosephDitzler


NATION

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — De-

spite warnings the race would be

close, California Gov. Gavin News-

om decisively defeated efforts to

kick him out of office, a win the

Democrat cast as an endorsement of

his handling of the coronavirus pan-

demic and his party’s liberal values.

Newsom cruised to victory in the

recall election Tuesday, boosted by

healthy turnout among an over-

whelmingly Democratic electorate,

ensuring the nation’s most populous

state will remain a laboratory for

progressive policies.

With an estimated two-thirds of

ballots counted, the “no” response to

the question of whether to recall

Newsom was ahead by a 30-point

margin. That lead was built on votes

cast by mail and in advance of Tues-

day’s in-person balloting. While

likely to shrink somewhat in the

days ahead as votes cast at polling

places are counted, Newsom’s lead

couldn’t be overcome.

“ ‘No’ is not the only thing that was

expressed tonight,” Newsom said.

“I want to focus on what we said ‘yes’

to as a state: We said yes to science,

we said yes to vaccines, we said yes

to ending this pandemic.”

Republican talk radio host Larry

Elder almost certainly would have

replaced Newsom had the recall

succeeded, an outcome that would

have brought a polar opposite politi-

cal worldview to Sacramento.

The recall turned on Newsom’s

approach to the pandemic, includ-

ing mask and vaccine mandates,

and Democrats cheered the out-

come as evidence voters approve of

their strategy. The race also was a

test of whether opposition to former

President Donald Trump and his

brand of conservative politics re-

mains a motivating force for Demo-

crats and independents, as the party

looks ahead to midterm elections

next year.

Republicans had hoped for proof

that frustrations over months of

pandemic precautions would drive

voters away from Democrats. The

GOP won back four U.S. House

seats last year, success that Repub-

lican leaders had hoped indicated

revived signs of life in a state con-

trolled by Democrats for more than

a decade. But a recall election is an

imperfect barometer — particular-

ly of national trends. Democrats

outnumber Republicans nearly 2-

to-1 in California, so the results may

not translate to governors in toss-up

states or reflect how voters will

judge members of Congress next

year.

Trump, who had largely stayed

out of the contest, made unsubstan-

tiated claims that the election was

rigged in the closing days that were

echoed by Elder’s campaign. Elder

did not mention fraud as he ad-

dressed his supporters after the re-

sults were in — while hinting his

first campaign may not be his last.

“Let’s be gracious in defeat. We

may have lost the battle, but we are

going to win the war,” he said, later

adding that the recall has forced

Democrats to focus on issues such

as homelessness and California’s

high cost of living.

Newsomhad likened the recall to

efforts by Trump and his supporters

to overturn the presidential election

and a push in Republican-led states

to restrict voting access.

“Democracy is not a football, you

don’t throw it around. It’s more like

— I don’t know — an antique vase,”

Newsom said after his win. “You can

drop it, smash it into a million differ-

ent pieces — and that’s what we’re

capable of doing if we don’t stand up

to meet the moment and push back.”

He became the second governor

in U.S. history to defeat a recall, ce-

menting him as a prominent figure

in Democratic politics and preserv-

ing his prospects for a future run.

Republican Wisconsin Gov. Scott

Walker survived a recall in 2012.

California voters were asked two

questions: Should Newsom be re-

called, and, if so, who should replace

him? Only a handful of the 46 names

on the replacement ballot had pub-

lic recognition, but most failed to

gain traction with voters.

Newsom crushes recall effort in Calif.BY KATHLEEN RONAYNE

AND MICHAEL R. BLOOD

Associated Press

RICH PEDRONCELLI/AP

California Gov. Gavin Newsom walks to the podium to talk with reporters, after beating back the recallattempt that aimed to remove him from office, in Sacramento, Calif., on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON — The Justice

Department has asked a federal

court in Texas to stop the enforce-

ment of a new state law that bans

most abortions in the state while it

decides the case.

The Texas law, known as SB8,

prohibits abortions once medical

professionals can detect cardiac ac-

tivity — usually around six weeks,

before some women know they’re

pregnant. Courts have blocked oth-

er states from imposing similar re-

strictions, but Texas’ law differs sig-

nificantly because it leaves enforce-

ment to private citizens through civ-

il lawsuits instead of criminal

prosecutors. The law went into ef-

fect earlier this month after the Su-

preme Court declined an emergen-

cy appeal from abortion providers

asking that the law be stayed.

In Tuesday’s emergency motion

in the U.S. District Court for the

Western District of Texas, Austin

Division, the department said “a

court may enter a temporary re-

straining order or a preliminary in-

junction as a means of preventing

harm to the movant before the court

can fully adjudicate the claims in

dispute.”Last week, the Justice De-

partment filed a lawsuit in Texas

asking a federal judge to declare

that the law is invalid because it un-

lawfully infringes on the constitu-

tional rights of women and violates

the Supremacy Clause of the Consti-

tution, which says federal law su-

persedes state law. The department

made a similar argument in seeking

the restraining order or temporary

injunction and said that its chal-

lenge would likely be successful.

“When other States have enacted

laws abridging reproductive rights

to the extent that S.B. 8 does, courts

have enjoined enforcement of the

laws before they could take effect. In

an effort to avoid that result, Texas

devised an unprecedented scheme

that seeks to deny women and pro-

viders the ability to challenge S.B. 8

in federal court. This attempt to

shield a plainly unconstitutional law

from review cannot stand.”

Under the Texas law, someone

could bring a lawsuit — even if they

have no connection to the woman

getting an abortion — and could be

entitled to at least $10,000 in damag-

es if they prevail in court. Abortion

providers have said they will com-

ply, but already some of Texas’

roughly two dozen abortion clinics

have temporarily stopped offering

abortion services altogether.

Justice officials seek orderagainst Texas abortion law

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — House Demo-

crats began the serious work of try-

ing to implement President Joe Bi-

den’s expansive spending plan, but

getting there will require remarka-

ble legislative nimbleness, since Bi-

den has said the revenue to pay for it

must come only from Americans

who earn more than $400,000 a

year.

Republicans, who have vowed

lockstep opposition to the plan,

turned their anger against proposed

tax breaks they portrayed as subsi-

dies for wealthy elites rather than

help for the poor and middle class.

Electric vehicles became a rallying

symbol as class-warfare overtones

echoed through a committee ses-

sion.

The Democrats are proposing

that the top tax rate rise back to

39.6% on individuals earning more

than $400,000 — or $450,000 for

couples — in addition to a 3% surtax

on wealthier Americans with ad-

justed income beyond $5 million a

year. For big business, the proposal

would lift the corporate tax rate

from 21% to 26.5% on companies’

annual income over $5 million.

“Look, I don’t want to punish any-

one’s success, but the wealthy have

been getting a free ride at the ex-

pense of the middle class for too

long,” Biden tweeted Tuesday. “I

intend to pass one of the biggest

middle class tax cuts ever — paid

for by making those at the top pay

their fair share.”

The reach for revenue from the

wealthy was even billboarded at the

ultra-chic Met Gala in Manhattan

on Monday night. Rep. Alexandria

Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., a leading

House progressive, wore a white

gown with “Tax the Rich” in giant

red letters emblazoned on the back

(designer Aurora James).

For middle- and low-income peo-

ple, tax help, not increase, is on offer

as the House Ways and Means

Committee digs into debate and

drafting of tax proposals to both

fund and buttress Biden’s ambi-

tious $3.5 trillion rebuilding plan

that includes spending for child

care, health care, education and

tackling climate change.

It’s an opening bid at a daunting

moment for Biden and his allies in

Congress as they assemble the

“Build Back Better” package con-

sidered by some on par with the

Great Society of the 1960s or even

the New Deal of the 1930s Depres-

sion.

The proposals call for $273 billion

in tax breaks for renewable energy

and “clean” electricity, including

$42 billion for electric vehicles and

$15 billion for a “green workforce”

and environmental items. Increas-

es in the child tax credit to $300 a

month per child under 6 and $250

monthly per child 6-17, which came

in coronavirus relief legislation ear-

lier this year, would be extended

through 2025.

The House Energy and Com-

merce Committee, meanwhile, ad-

vanced proposals promoting clean

electricity, investments in electric

vehicles and other climate provi-

sions. The 30-27 vote along party

lines sends the energy measure for-

ward as part of House Speaker Nan-

cy Pelosi’s goal to approve the huge

overall package.

All GOP lawmakers are expected

to vote against the overall legisla-

tion. But Republicans are largely

sidelined as Democrats rely on a

budget process that will allow them

to approve the proposals on their

own — if they can muster their

slight majority in Congress.

Dems try delicate tax maneuversfor $3.5T bill with no GOP support

BY MARCY GORDON

Associated Press


SEQUOIA NATIONAL PARK,

Calif. — Sequoia National Park is

shut down, as its namesake gigan-

tic trees are potentially threat-

ened by two forest fires burning in

steep and dangerous terrain in

California’s Sierra Nevada.

Both fires were projected to ad-

vance in the direction of Giant

Forest, home to more than 2,000

giant sequoias including the Gen-

eral Sherman Tree, which is the

largest tree on Earth by volume.

The massive sequoias grow on

the western slope of the Sierra Ne-

vada. The General Sherman Tree

stands 275 feet and is over 36 feet

in diameter at the base, according

to the U.S. National Park Service.

“There’s no imminent threat to

Giant Forest, but that is a poten-

tial,” Mark Ruggiero, fire infor-

mation officer for Sequoia and

Kings Canyon national parks, said

Tuesday.

Ruggiero estimated that the

closest flames were about a mile

from the grove. Sequoia head-

quarters personnel, about 75 peo-

ple, were being evacuated, he

said.

The Colony and Paradise fires,

named for locations where they

started, were ignited by lightning

last week and were being battled

collectively under the name of the

KNP Complex. Their combined

sizes grew to more than nine

square miles late Tuesday, with

fire jumping over the Generals

Highway.

All park facilities were already

closed and wilderness trailhead

permits had been canceled. The

Silver City retreat and the sum-

mer cabins of Cabin Cove were

under evacuation orders. Part of

the community of Three Rivers

outside the park entrance was un-

der an evacuation warning.

Kings Canyon National Park, to

the north of Sequoia, remained

open.

California has had more than

7,400 wildfires so far this year,

scorching more than 3,500 square

miles.

California’s second-largest fire

on record, the Dixie Fire, re-

mained 75% contained after burn-

ing 1,500 square miles in the

northern Sierra and southern

Cascades region. Near Lake Ta-

hoe, containment of the 342-

square-mile Caldor Fire in-

creased to 68%.

Fires shut Sequoia National Park, could threaten huge treesAssociated Press

NATION

POINTE-AUX-CHENES — Ni-

cholas weakened to a tropical de-

pression as it crawled from Texas

into southern Louisiana on

Wednesday, unleashing heavy

rain across a landscape where

Hurricane Ida destroyed thou-

sands of rooftops now covered

with flimsy tarps.

Forecasters said Nicholas

would slow to a stall over central

Louisiana through Thursday, with

plenty of water still to dump east

of its center, drenching the Gulf

Coast as far as the western Florida

Panhandle. Southeast Louisiana

faced the biggest flooding threat,

and Gov. John Bel Edwards

warned people to take it seriously,

even though Nicholas was no long-

er the hurricane that made land-

fall in Texas on Tuesday.

“This is a very serious storm,

particularly in those areas that

were so heavily impacted by Hur-

ricane Ida,” Edwards said.

Forecasters warned people

along the central Gulf Coast that

up to 20 inches are possible

through Friday in places across a

region still recovering from Cate-

gory 4 hurricanes — Ida weeks

ago and Laura last year.

Galveston, Texas, recorded

nearly 14 inches of rain from Ni-

cholas, the 14th named storm of

the 2021 Atlantic hurricane sea-

son, while Houston reported more

than 6 inches. The New Orleans

office of the National Weather Ser-

vice said late Tuesday that as

much as 10 inchesof rain could fall

in parts of Louisiana, with some

areas seeing particularly intense

periods of 2 to 3 inches of rainfall

per hour.

In the small Louisiana commu-

nity of Pointe-aux-Chenes, Ida

peeled open the tin roof of Terry

and Patti Dardar’s home, leaving

them without power and water for

more than two weeks since. Nicho-

las made the damage that much

worse, soaking the upstairs. But it

also provided them with badly

needed water, which their son

Terren and grandchildren collect-

ed in jugs and poured into a huge

plastic container through a strain-

er. From there, a pump powered

by a generator brought the water

inside.

His mom, Patti, said the family

didn’t have anywhere else to go af-

ter Ida, so members were doing

their best during Nicholas.

“We ain’t got no other place,”

she said. “This is our home.”

Edwards noted that 95,000 elec-

tric customers were still without

power more than two weeks after

Ida hit. And he said the new storm

could mean some who had re-

gained power might lose it again.

Homes already badly damaged by

Ida were not yet repaired to the

extent that they could withstand

heavy rain, Edwards added.

Energy companies working to

restore power to remaining areas

in the state said Wednesday that

they were watching Nicholas

closely, but didn’t expect it to af-

fect their restoration times.

A spokesman for Entergy Loui-

siana said Nicholas so far has not

caused any delays to previously

announced times to restore pow-

er. Crews cannot operate when

lightning is within 10 miles and

can’t put bucket trucks in the air at

winds greater than 30 mph, said

Jerry Nappi. But once conditions

improve, they would quickly re-

sume work.

Nicholas crawls into La. from Texas, dumping rainAssociated Press

GERALD HERBERT/AP

Storm clouds from Tropical Storm Nicholas are seen Tuesday behindhomes of the vanishing Native American community of Isle de JeanCharles, La., which were destroyed by Hurricane Ida.


WORLD

PARIS — The key defendant in the 2015

Paris attacks trial said Wednesday that the

coordinated killings were retaliation for

French airstrikes on the Islamic State

group, calling the deaths of 130 innocent

people “nothing personal” as he acknowl-

edged his role for the first time.

Salah Abdeslam, who wore all black and

declined to remove his mask as he spoke in

a custom-built courtroom, has been silent

throughout the investigation.

Nine Islamic State group gunmen and su-

icide bombers struck within minutes of one

another at several locations around Paris on

Nov. 13, 2015, targeting fans at the national

soccer stadium and cafe-goers and ending

with a bloodbath inside the Bataclan con-

cert hall.

It was the deadliest violence to strike

France since World War II and among the

worst terror attacks to hit the West, shaking

the country’s sense of security and re-

writing its politics.

Abdeslam is the only survivor of that cell,

most of whose members were French or

Belgian.

After his suicide vest malfunctioned on

the night of the attacks, he fled to his home-

town of Brussels.

On Wednesday, a screen in the courtroom

showed a photo of the car Abdeslam aban-

doned in northern Paris after he dropped

off the three suicide bombers at the national

stadium.

Abdeslam’s target was unclear, but when

Islamic State claimed responsibility the

next day, the statement alluded to an attack

in the neighborhood where he left the car

that never took place.

The two people Abdeslam called upon to

drive through the night from Brussels to Pa-

ris to pick him up are among the 20 on trial.

Six of those are being tried in absentia.

Abdeslam, who was arrested months af-

ter the attacks, said the killings were a re-

sponse to French airstrikes in Syria and

Iraq. France was part of the international

coalition that formed as the extremists con-

quered vast territory in both countries.

“We fought France, we attacked France,

we targeted the civilian population. It was

nothing personal against them,” Abdeslam

said. “I know my statement may be shock-

ing, but it is not to dig the knife deeper in the

wound but to be sincere towards those who

are suffering immeasurable grief.”

The same network struck the Brussels

airport and subway system in March 2016,

killing another 32 people.

Among those on trial in Paris is Mo-

hammed Abrini, who left the city the night

before the 2015 attacks and took part in the

Brussels one.

Abrini acknowledged a role on Wednes-

day.

“I recognize my participation ... (but) in

this evil that happened in France, I am nei-

ther the commander nor the architect. I

provided no logistical nor financial help,”

Abrini said.

Paris attack suspect: Deaths of 130 ‘nothing personal’BY LORI HINNANT

Associated Press


AMERICAN ROUNDUP

70-year-old man attacksnoisy child, police say

FL CLEARWATER — A

70-year-old man has

been accused of slamming a child

to the ground at a Florida play-

ground after yelling that kids were

making too much noise.

Police arrested the man on a

child abuse charge in Clearwater

and took him to the Pinellas Coun-

ty Jail, arrest records show.

Officials say there were several

kids playing at the playground

about 6:30 p.m. Saturday when the

man stormed out of his apartment

annoyed over the noise.

WTSP reported the man picked

up a 10-year-old child by the shirt

and slammed the kid to the

ground. Officials say the child was

not seriously hurt.

Man dies after crashinginto county welcome sign

SC RICHBURG — A

North Carolina man

died after his van ran off Inter-

state 77 in South Carolina and hit a

brick welcome sign for Chester

County, authorities said.

Gregory Morris Hill, 70, of

Charlotte, N.C., died at the scene

of the crash Monday afternoon,

Chester County Coroner Terry

Tinker said.

Hill’s van was heading south on

I-77 when it ran off the right side

of the highway and into the “Wel-

come to Chester County” sign at

Exit 65, South Carolina Highway

Patrol Cpl. Joe Hovis said.

Health officials urgeagainst use of ivermectin

ND FARGO — North Da-

kota health officials

took to an internet town hall Tues-

day to promote certain treatments

for COVID-19 and discourage use

of the anti-parasitic medicine

ivermectin.

Ivermectin has a limited scope

for human treatment, sometimes

prescribed for worms, scabies and

head lice. It is more popular in vet-

erinary form as a treatment for

parasitic infections and infesta-

tions in cows and horses. The Food

and Drug Administration, Centers

for Disease Control and Preven-

tion, other medical groups and

Merck, maker of the drug, have

warned against use of the drug for

treating or preventing COVID-19

in humans.

Across the country, calls to poi-

son control centers regarding

ivermectin overdoses or expo-

sures has increased five-fold from

the pre-pandemic level, according

to the CDC.

Former von Bulowmansion sells for $30M

RI NEWPORT — A Rhode

Island estate once fa-

mously owned by Claus and Mar-

tha von Bulow has sold for $30 mil-

lion.

Clarendon Court on Newport’s

famed Bellevue Avenue mansion

row was sold late Thursday, the

Newport Daily News reported.

The buyer’s name wasn’t dis-

closed. The grand estate on more

than seven acres with sweeping

ocean views was built in 1904 by

the architect Horace Trumbauer,

the newspaper reported.

The sale easily tops the $17.75

million paid by singer Taylor

Swift in 2013 for her home in West-

erly, which is considered the high-

est price fetched by a home in the

state, according to the Newport

Daily News.

Clarendon Court was where

heiress Martha “Sunny” von Bu-

low slipped into a coma in 1980

from which she never woke up.

Claus Von Bulow, a Danish-

born socialite, was convicted but

later acquitted of trying to kill her

to gain her fortune so he could live

with his soap opera actress mis-

tress.

Psychiatric hospitalpatient steals truck

WA STEILACOOM — A

Western State Hospi-

tal patient stole a delivery truck

and drove off the grounds of the

state’s largest psychiatric hospital

Sunday, injuring a hospital staffer

before being found at a school li-

brary, according to police and

state officials.

“The patient got into the truck

with the keys in it and drove the

truck through a large gate and off

the campus,” said Lt. Chris Law-

ler, a spokesperson for the Lake-

wood Police Department.

The patient “didn’t try very

hard to evade capture” and was lo-

cated by the hospital’s security

team before police officers ar-

rived, he said.

The Seattle Times reported that

the patient ended up at Steilacoom

High School, where he was found

in the school’s library and return-

ed to Western, said Chris Wright, a

spokesperson for the Department

of Social and Health Services,

which operates the hospital.

A hospital staffer was injured

after falling off the truck and was

hospitalized, Wright said.

Ex-tax official sentencedin embezzlement case

NM BERNALILLO — A

former head of the

New Mexico Taxation and Reve-

nue Department has been sen-

tenced to five years of probation

for her convictions in an embez-

zlement case.

A state District Court judge for

Sandoval County last week sen-

tenced former Secretary Demesia

Padilla on her June jury convic-

tions for embezzlement and com-

puter access with intent to de-

fraud or embezzle.

Padilla faced up to 18 years in

prison but Judge Cindy Mercer

suspended all prison time for Pa-

dilla and imposed five years of su-

pervised probation, the Albuquer-

que Journal reported.

Judge suspends tougherstandards on deadly force

MN ST. PAUL — A judge

has suspended Min-

nesota’s new stricter standards on

when police can use deadly force,

halting a change in state law that

followed the death of George

Floyd while in custody of Minnea-

polis police.

The new standards, passed by

the Legislature in 2020, raised the

bar on officers to justify in specific

terms how their actions involving

lethal force were necessary.

Several law enforcement lobby-

ing groups filed a legal challenge

to get the law tossed out or at least

suspended until more officers

could be trained on the new expec-

tations.

Ramsey County Judge Leonar-

do Castro on Monday ruled that

the changes to the law will be put

on hold until the lawsuit is com-

plete and that the use of force con-

ditions will revert to those that

were in place before the new law

went into effect in March. Castro

said oral arguments will take

place within 60 days, the Star Tri-

bune reported.

“The public policy implications

are severe, and it is imperative

that we get this right,” Castro

wrote in his order.

The 2020 law change no longer

allows officers to justify deadly

force by claiming that they used

such force to protect themselves

or another person from “appar-

ent” death or great bodily harm.

The new law now reads, “to pro-

tect the peace officer or another

from death or great bodily harm.”

Sept. 11 monumentdefaced by vandals

SC GREENVILLE — A

large granite monu-

ment of the twin towers was de-

faced by vandals who spray-paint-

ed “Taliban” on it in two places,

authorities said.

The granite statue is made of

two towers, each weighing 4,000

pounds with a light beam outside a

Greenville County business,

WYFF-TV reported.

Deputies were called to investi-

gate the vandalism Sunday morn-

ing and the damage was cleaned

up later that day, said Paul Ni-

chols, founder and CEO of Upstate

Granite Solutions.

His granite company construct-

ed the memorial, which is sur-

rounded by 1,000 American flags,

to commemorate the 20th anni-

versary of the Sept. 11 terror at-

tacks on the U.S.

PETE CASTER, LEWISTON (IDAHO) TRIBUNE/AP

Ryan Collins, an engineer with the Washington State Department of Transportation, is lifted in a cherry picker Monday as he checks the steelgirders on the Interstate Bridge, which spans the Snake River between Lewiston, Idaho, and Clarkston, Wash. The vertical lift truss bridge,which was built in 1939, is inspected around this time every year.

Steel and sky

From The Associated Press

FACES


It’s beginning to sound a lot like

Christmas.

Sure, the calendar on the wall

says it’s still only September, but

pop stars

are already

busy getting

ready for

the holiday

(music) sea-

son.

Journey

legend Steve Perry is one of the

first out of the gates with the re-

lease of “I’ll Be Home for Christ-

mas,” the new single from the

forthcoming holiday offering

“The Season.” The album — Per-

ry’s first full-length seasonal out-

ing — is due out Nov. 5 on Fantasy

Records. Yet, “I’ll Be Home for

Christmas” is available to stream

now via Spotify, Amazon Music

and other retailers. People can al-

so watch the video on YouTube.

“I hope when people hear this

record, they’re teleported in the

same way I was when I recorded

all these songs — I hope it brings

them back to those golden mo-

ments with their loved ones and

gives them that feeling of joy and

connection and comfort that we all

need so much,” Perry says.

The album contains eight

tracks, consisting of six Christmas

tunes and two New Year’s Eve fa-

vorites.

Perry says he hopes these eight

tracks send listeners to the place

they find the most comforting dur-

ing the holiday season. For Perry,

that place is his grandmother’s

house.

“When I was recording vocals

for ‘I’ll Be Home for Christmas,’ as

I was singing ‘please have snow

and mistletoe and presents under

the tree’ … I was emotionally

thrown into standing in my grand-

mother’s house staring through

the door where I always hung mis-

tletoe, and then I saw her beautiful

Christmas tree in front of her liv-

ing room window,” he says. “I had

to stop singing because it felt like I

was really there — I was a bit

stunned.

“Back home for Christmas is

where everyone wants to be!”

Steve Perry to releasefirst Christmas album

BY JIM HARRINGTON

The Mercury News

Comedian Norm Macdonald

died Tuesday after privately fight-

ing cancer for nine years, a repre-

sentative confirmed to The Wash-

ington Post. He was 61.

Known for his

offbeat and ab-

surdist humor,

Macdonald

spent a handful

of years on “Sat-

urday Night

Live” in the

mid-1990s. He

anchored

“Weekend Update” for three sea-

sons, picking up a cult-ish follow-

ing that lasted long after his time

on the show (which allegedly end-

ed because he angered NBC’s Don

Ohlmeyer by consistently joking

about Ohlmeyer’s friend O.J.

Simpson).

Speaking to The Post five years

ago, “SNL” creator Lorne Mi-

chaels noted that Macdonald, who

rarely repeated jokes, made com-

edy seem effortless — “which, of

course, is what a pro is supposed to

do,” Michaels added.

Macdonald, who briefly wrote

for “Roseanne” before working on

“SNL,” returned to sitcoms when

he co-created and starred as a for-

mer NHL player in “The Norm

Show” from 1999 to 2001. He be-

gan a video podcast called “Norm

Macdonald Live” in 2013 — on

which he interviewed other celeb-

rities — and carried the concept to

Netflix for 2018’s “Norm Macdo-

nald Has a Show.”

The comedian also made nota-

ble guest appearances on multiple

talk shows hosted by Conan

O’Brien as well as “The Late Show

with David Letterman,” perform-

ing the latter show’s final stand-up

set in May 2015. The choice may

have seemed unconventional at

the time, but Letterman told The

Post soon afterward that “if we

could have, we would have had

Norm on every damn week.”

“He is funny in a way that some

people inhale and exhale,” Letter-

man said. “With others, you can

tell the comedy, the humor is con-

sidered. With Norm, he exudes it.

It’s sort of a furnace in him be-

cause he’s so effortless. The com-

bination of the delivery and his ap-

pearance and his intelligence.

There may be people as funny as

Norm, but I don’t know anybody

who is funnier.”

Macdonald reflected on fame in

his 2016 memoir, “Based on a True

Story.” In what he titled “The Fi-

nal Chapter,” he wrote that he be-

lieved “a lot of people feel sorry

for you if you were on ‘SNL’ and

emerged from the show anything

less than a superstar.

“They assume you must be bit-

ter,” he continued. “But it is im-

possible for me to be bitter. I’ve

been lucky. If I had to sum up my

whole life, I guess those are the

words I would choose, all right.”

Norm Macdonald dies after9-year battle with cancer

BY SONIA RAO

The Washington Post

Macdonald

If you can remember the price of a 30-ounce jar

of mayonnaise, what an Armani purse goes for

and how much to pay for an iPhone 12, there’s

really only one place to shine — “The Price Is

Right.”

The longest-running game show in television histo-

ry is celebrating its 50th season this month and of-

fering viewers a chance to, as always, “come on

down” to win by guessing the correct retail price for

various items.

Some rival game shows reward their contestants

for esoteric knowledge, others physicality. With

some shows, contestants need luck, a friend to phone,

strategy or an ability to cook or sing. On “The Price Is

Right,” the value of things is itself valued.

“This show is about how much a can of creamed

corn is. That’s what’s great about it. Because whether

you are just scraping by or you’re Martha Stewart,

you probably bought a can of creamed corn,” says

George Gray, the show’s announcer since 2011.

“The Price Is Right” is a remarkably sturdy thing,

surviving the retirement of beloved host Bob Barker

in 2007, a turnover in models — sometimes acrimo-

niously — the introduction of male models in 2012

and even outwitting COVID-19.

It has subtlely evolved, with sturdy grandfather

clocks as prizes replaced by electronic gadgets.

High-definition TV monitors make exotic trips in the

showcases pop these days, and the packages them-

selves have become more experiential, with scuba

gear or golf clubs added to packages to Belize or Scot-

land, respectively.

“We’ve really been able to keep up with the trend of

new prizes and what people want today. But it’s still

the same game show — you still need to know the

price of that laptop or that iPhone,” says Rachel Rey-

nolds, a model from Baton Rouge, La., who joined the

show in 2003.

Contestants are mostly regular people, nursing

aides or home renovators or book store managers.

“Good luck, man,” current host Drew Carey will say.

Or, “Let’s see those great prizes back there, Heath-

er.” They are overjoyed to be there. One recently

wore a partially bedazzled T-shirt that said: “Drew,

Let’s party like it’s $19.99.”

To celebrate its milestone, the show this week will

feature a game each day where contestants can win

up to $1 million. A two-hour primetime special on

Sept. 30 will include a look back at the biggest win-

ners, new outtakes and a salute to Barker.

“The Price Is Right” made its debut on NBC in

1956, with Bill Cullen as host and consisting of four

people bidding auction-style on items. The show was

canceled in 1965, but the current version was revived

in 1972 at CBS, with Barker as host, influencing a na-

tion with his sign-off advice to get “pets spayed or

neutered.” Carey has kept that slogan in his honor.

Producers say that more than $300 million in cash

and prizes has been given away since 1972. More than

2 million audience members have attended a taping,

and 68,000 of them have become contestants. More

than 8,400 cars have been given away.

Gray says he’s always heartened that contestants

cheer each other on, even if they just lost. “If you’re

the Red Sox, you don’t cheer for the Yankees,” he

says. “But when somebody else gets to play instead of

you, you cheer for them.”

“I love the fact that ‘The Price Is Right’ is always a

positive show,” he adds. “Everybody pitches in and

wants everybody else to win. I think that really is al-

ways a bright spot in people’s days.”

KEVORK DJANSEZIAN/AP

Host Bob Barker appears with contestants during filming of a special primetime episode of “The Price IsRight,” in 2007 in Los Angeles. The longestrunning game show in television history is celebrating its 50thseason, with prize giveaways this week of up to $1 million.

The value of longevityGame show ‘The Price Is Right’ celebrates its 50th season

BY MARK KENNEDY

Associated Press

DAMIAN DOVARGANES/AP

“The Price Is Right” host, comedian Drew Carey,left, appears with former host Bob Barker in March2009 at the CBS Studio Center in Los Angeles.


ACROSS

1 Glam Gardner

4 Sunrise direction

8 Morsels

12 Cover

13 Winter fall

14 Booty

15 Washroom

17 Oklahoma tribe

18 Anger

19 Graceful

21 Grammy

category

24 Director Lee

25 GI’s address

26 Pas’ mates

28 Hinder

32 Skulk

34 Alphabet end

36 Lavish affection

(on)

37 To date

39 Young bloke

41 Cen. parts

42 “You bet!”

44 Waist-cinching

garment

46 Currently stylish

50 Snip

51 Fuzzy fruit

52 Hearing-related

56 Similar

57 Genuine

58 Kanga’s kid

59 Safecracker

60 Differently

61 Longing

DOWN

1 100%

2 By way of

3 Warning

4 Honor

5 Year, in San Juan

6 Achy

7 Tharp of dance

8 Opined online

9 Speck

10 Animated figure

11 Dele undoer

16 Dadaist artist

20 Finale

21 Big bash

22 Piece of work

23 Remiss

27 Wd. division

29 Buzz Lightyear’s

film

30 To be,

in Tours

31 Kick back

33 Jangling

purse item

35 Efron of

“Parkland”

38 Golf peg

40 Pliant

43 Entrap

45 Trench

46 Fine

47 Goddess of

victory

48 Tiny branch

49 Sword fight

53 “— Kapital”

54 Shad product

55 Thither

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

Data show that lung cancer is the

leading cause of cancer death

among men and women, account-

ing for about 25% of all cancer fa-

talities in the United States. Compared to the

general population, lung cancer incidence in

veterans and service members of the Ameri-

can military is significantly higher due to the

prevalence of heavy smoking associated with

the inhalation and ingestion of a large spec-

trum of carcinogens.

During their service, military workers have

been regularly and unwittingly exposed to

hazardous substances. The risk of exposure to

carcinogens can be high depending on where

the service member once served or is current-

ly serving. Exposure to asbestos, PFAS chem-

icals found in firefighting foam, Agent Or-

ange, carbon monoxide in diesel exhaust,

smog, pesticides, and detonated or destroyed

chemical weapons can all lead to lung cancer.

Lung cancer often progresses with few

signs or symptoms until patients have reached

an advanced stage of the disease. This has a

huge impact on patient mortality. The survival

rate for lung cancer is 73-90% at stage 0 but de-

creases to fewer than 10% by stage IV.

Lung cancer is often insidious, with no obvi-

ous signs or symptoms until the illness has

progressed. In approximately 7-10% of cases,

lung cancer is diagnosed incidentally in

asymptomatic patients after a chest X-ray was

performed for other reasons. In other instanc-

es, physicians may misdiagnose the persistent

cough caused by lung cancer as pneumonia or

bronchitis. A general practitioner may treat

what they think to be a common respiratory ill-

ness rather than sending a patient to a pulmo-

nologist for additional testing or assessment.

By the time the doctor determines that the

treatment has failed, and that additional test-

ing is required, valuable time has been lost.

Suspicious findings such as lymph node enlar-

gement or nodules may be detected on an X-

ray; if these abnormal findings are not reeval-

uated within a short period, a lung cancer di-

agnosis may be missed. Long-term survival is

contingent upon early and accurate diagnosis

— and the Detection of Early Lung Cancer

Among Military Personnel (DECAMP) initia-

tive, a multidisciplinary and translational re-

search program, aims to enhance lung cancer

detection via noninvasive techniques and bet-

ter screening.

The purpose of this program, which is being

conducted by Boston University in collabora-

tion with the American College of Radiology

and is funded by the Department of Defense’s

Lung Cancer Research Program, Johnson &

Johnson and Novartis Biomedical Research

Institutes, is to gain a better understanding of

the military’s unique lung cancer risk in com-

parison to the general population. Scientists’

current priority is to eradicate deaths and suf-

fering from lung cancer by finding lung can-

cer in people before they have any symptoms

and further improving therapeutic outcomes.

Molecular biomarkers testing, used to de-

termine the presence of particular mutations

or a particular protein among patients diag-

nosed with advanced-stage lung cancer, is the

first step in precision medicine — ensuring

that based on the individual’s biomarker sta-

tus, the patient gets matched to the right treat-

ment at the right time.

A better delineation between COPD (em-

physema and/or chronic bronchitis), pneu-

monia and tuberculosis, and lung cancer may

lead to meaningful improvement in lung can-

cer prognosis and reduce the morbidity and

mortality associated with this deadly disease.

Complete copies of your service medical re-

cords should be considered by the pathologist

when confirming or excluding lung cancer.

Understanding the possible signs, symptoms

and nature of pulmonary malignancy related

to inhalation of a spectrum of carcinogens can

reduce the time to diagnose them and poten-

tially contribute to the improved survival rate.

In some cases, obtaining a private, profes-

sional medical opinion can mean the differ-

ence between getting veterans’ benefits for

disabilities or not. Using private medical evi-

dence such as evidence from your family phy-

sician, or a specialist you’ve previously con-

sulted, also establishes greater credibility for

your claim, informs the Department of Veter-

ans Affairs that you currently suffer from the

claimed condition, and allows your private

physician to consider possible service connec-

tion for a clinically diagnosed condition.

Pollution at military bases is so extended

and hazardous that more than two-thirds of all

Superfund sites listed by the U.S. Environ-

mental Protection Agency are military-affil-

iated, according to an EPA report. Dumped in-

to pits, leaking from corroding containers,

buried in unlined landfills, and left on test

ranges, contaminants such as metal cleaning

solvents, machining oils, metals, metalwork-

ing fluids, and chemical ingredients used in

explosives have leached into groundwater,

thereby causing groundwater pollution.

While the VA’s primary function is tending

to badly injured soldiers during their time of

service, it failed to support those exposed to

hazardous chemicals and materials during

their military service.

“We have to make sure that no veteran is

locked out of treatment for conditions related

to toxic exposure,” said then-President-elect

Joe Biden in a 2020 Veterans Day speech.

A bill to reform how military personnel ex-

posed to toxic substances in the line of duty re-

ceive treatment and benefits for illnesses link-

ed to toxic exposure was reintroduced this

year in the Senate by Sens. Thom Tillis and

Maggie Hassan. The Toxic Exposure in the

American Military Act would enhance eligi-

ble veterans’ access to health care by provid-

ing consultation and testing for eligible veter-

ans through the VA.

Enable early detection of lung cancer for troops, vetsBY JONATHAN SHARP

Special to Stars and Stripes

Jonathan Sharp is the director of claims at EnvironmentalLitigation Group P.C., a law firm in Birmingham, Ala., thatfocuses on advocating for veterans exposed to toxic chemicalswhile on active duty.

The Department of Defense’s recent

announcement that all service

members must now receive the CO-

VID-19 vaccine, or else, sends the

wrong message to America’s military. My

firm, First Liberty Institute, has recently been

inundated with requests for legal help from

service members about the legality of a CO-

VID-19 vaccine mandate.

The service members who have contacted

us are as diverse as our armed forces. They are

officers, enlisted, men, women, aviators, Spe-

cial Forces, chaplains, commanders and

JAGs. But they all share one thing in common:

Each has a sincere religious objection to the

COVID-19 vaccine.

Under federal law and DOD regulations,

service members have the legal right to seek a

religious accommodation from any duty or re-

quirement — including vaccines — that sub-

stantially burdens their sincerely held reli-

gious beliefs. Importantly, the law also pro-

tects those who seek religious accommoda-

tions from being punished in any way. In fact,

a religious accommodation request does not

challenge the legality of an order, regulation

or policy, or the authority of the person who is-

sued it. Rather, it seeks to have that order, reg-

ulation or policy deemed “not applicable” to

the service member under the specific cir-

cumstances of the request.

Thus far, the Pentagon has publicly stated

that it intends to honor those requirements.

But the reports coming in from the front lines

tell a much different story.

Multiple times each day, I field desperate

cries for help from service members who have

been told that requesting a religious accom-

modation is an exercise in futility. Or worse,

that merely seeking a religious accommoda-

tion would cause the individual to be blacklist-

ed, ensuring they will never be promoted

again. Others still report that military privi-

leges such as being able to travel home for ho-

lidays, leaving the ship when it is in port, or

flight status, will be withheld unless and until

they show proof of vaccination.

America’s warriors deserve far better. The

men and women with whom I’ve spoken are

brave, proud, patriotic Americans. They can

tolerate the bad knees, broken backs, missed

life events (such as birthdays, weddings and

funerals), being shot at or blown up, and the

enduring trauma that come with decades of

war. But to be told to ignore their deepest reli-

gious convictions and “just get the shot” is ut-

terly intolerable.

Nearly every service member with whom

I’ve spoken tells me that, if given an ultima-

tum, they would rather leave the service than

violate their religious beliefs. Some are willing

to be court-martialed. Let that sink in. This is

an issue so deeply personal and important that

some service members are willing to follow in

Desmond Doss’ footsteps and face criminal

charges rather than violate their beliefs.

It defies logic that the Pentagon would be so

willing to purge thousands of service mem-

bers. It costs American taxpayers millions of

dollars for the military to produce a com-

mander, aviator, Special Forces operator,

chaplain or JAG — not to mention the years of

institutional knowledge and experience that

will be lost.

As our nation just observed the 20th anni-

versary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks that result-

ed in two decades of war, we should be doing

everything we can to honor our service mem-

bers. Forcing them to choose between their re-

ligious beliefs and serving their nation dishon-

ors the sacrifices they made to keep us free.

The solution is simple. Stop paying lip ser-

vice to religious freedom. Our goal should be

100% Constitution compliance, not 100% vac-

cine compliance. The commander in chief and

DOD officials must send a clear message that

Americans do not give up their religious free-

dom when they join the military.

DOD must honor religious accommodations on shotsBY MIKE BERRY

Special to Stars and Stripes

Mike Berry is general counsel at First Liberty Institute, and aformer active-duty U.S. Marine Corps officer.


Max D. Lederer Jr., Publisher

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stripes.com

OPINION


SCOREBOARD

MLS

EASTERN CONFERENCE

W L T Pts GF GA

New England 17 4 4 55 47 29

Nashville 10 2 11 41 38 21

Orlando City 10 5 8 38 33 29

NYCFC 10 8 5 35 41 27

Inter Miami CF 9 9 5 32 24 31

Philadelphia 8 7 8 32 28 24

D.C. United 9 10 4 31 36 33

CF Montréal 8 8 7 31 30 28

Columbus 8 11 6 30 29 34

Atlanta 7 7 9 30 28 28

New York 6 11 5 23 25 28

Chicago 6 12 5 23 24 35

Cincinnati 4 10 8 20 23 38

Toronto FC 3 15 6 15 26 50

WESTERN CONFERENCE

W L T Pts GF GA

Seattle 13 4 6 45 36 19

Sporting KC 12 5 7 43 39 26

Colorado 12 4 6 42 32 21

LA Galaxy 11 8 4 37 36 36

Portland 10 10 3 33 32 39

Minnesota 8 7 7 31 24 25

Real Salt Lake 8 9 6 30 36 32

LAFC 8 9 6 30 35 33

Vancouver 7 8 8 29 29 33

FC Dallas 6 10 9 27 36 40

San Jose 6 8 9 27 25 31

Houston 4 10 10 22 27 36

Austin FC 5 14 4 19 21 34

Note: Three points for victory, one point

for tie.

Tuesday’s games

FC Dallas 3, New York City FC 3, tie Miami 1, Toronto FC 0 Columbus 2, New York 1

Wednesday’s games

Cincinnati at Atlanta CF Montréal at Orlando City Chicago at D.C. United Minnesota at Sporting Kansas City Los Angeles FC at Austin FC Colorado at Portland Houston at LA Galaxy Real Salt Lake at San Jose

Friday’s game

New York at Miami

NWSL

W L T Pts GF GA

Portland 11 4 2 35 25 11

Reign FC 10 7 2 32 27 19

North Carolina 8 5 5 29 22 10

Orlando 7 5 7 28 24 21

Chicago 7 7 5 26 20 23

Washington 6 6 5 23 19 21

Houston 6 7 5 23 20 23

Gotham FC 5 5 7 22 17 15

Louisville 4 9 5 17 15 27

Kansas City 2 11 5 11 9 28

Note: Three points for victory, one pointfor tie.

Friday, Sept. 10

Chicago 1, Houston 1, tie

Saturday, Sept. 11

Orlando 3, Louisville 1

Sunday, Sept. 12

Portland 1, North Carolina 0 Reign FC 3, Washington 0

PRO SOCCER

PRO BASKETBALL

WNBA

EASTERN CONFERENCE

W L Pct GB

xConnecticut 24 6 .800 —

xChicago 15 15 .500 9

Washington 12 18 .400 12

New York 11 19 .367 13

Atlanta 8 22 .267 16

Indiana 6 24 .200 18

WESTERN CONFERENCE

W L Pct GB

xLas Vegas 22 8 .733 —

xMinnesota 20 10 .667 2

xSeattle 20 11 .645 2½

xPhoenix 19 11 .633 3

xDallas 13 18 .419 9½

Los Angeles 11 19 .367 11

Tuesday’s game

Atlanta 85, Indiana 78

Wednesday’s game

New York at Connecticut

Thursday’s game

Los Angeles at Atlanta

Friday’s games

Minnesota at IndianaWashington at New YorkLas Vegas at ChicagoPhoenix at Seattle

Saturday’s games

No games scheduled

Sunday’s games

Minnesota at IndianaWashington at New YorkLas Vegas at ChicagoPhoenix at Seattle

PRO FOOTBALL

NFL

AMERICAN CONFERENCE

East

W L T Pct PF PA

Miami 1 0 0 1.000 17 16

Buffalo 0 1 0 .000 16 23

N.Y. Jets 0 1 0 .000 14 19

New England 0 1 0 .000 16 17

South

W L T Pct PF PA

Houston 1 0 0 1.000 37 21

Indianapolis 0 1 0 .000 16 28

Jacksonville 0 1 0 .000 21 37

Tennessee 0 1 0 .000 13 38

North

W L T Pct PF PA

Cincinnati 1 0 0 1.000 27 24

Pittsburgh 1 0 0 1.000 23 16

Baltimore 0 1 0 .000 27 33

Cleveland 0 1 0 .000 29 33

West

W L T Pct PF PA

Denver 1 0 0 1.000 27 13

Kansas City 1 0 0 1.000 33 29

L.A. Chargers 1 0 0 1.000 20 16

Las Vegas 1 0 0 1.000 33 27

NATIONAL CONFERENCE

East

W L T Pct PF PA

Philadelphia 1 0 0 1.000 32 6

Dallas 0 1 0 .000 29 31

N.Y. Giants 0 1 0 .000 13 27

Washington 0 1 0 .000 16 20

South

W L T Pct PF PA

Carolina 1 0 0 1.000 19 14

New Orleans 1 0 0 1.000 38 3

Tampa Bay 1 0 0 1.000 31 29

Atlanta 0 1 0 .000 6 32

North

W L T Pct PF PA

Chicago 0 1 0 .000 14 34

Detroit 0 1 0 .000 33 41

Green Bay 0 1 0 .000 3 38

Minnesota 0 1 0 .000 24 27

West

W L T Pct PF PA

Arizona 1 0 0 1.000 38 13

L.A. Rams 1 0 0 1.000 34 14

San Francisco 1 0 0 1.000 41 33

Seattle 1 0 0 1.000 28 16

Thursday, Sept. 9

Tampa Bay 31, Dallas 29

Sunday, Sept. 12

Arizona 38, Tennessee 13Carolina 19, N.Y. Jets 14Cincinnati 27, Minnesota 24, OTHouston 37, Jacksonville 21L.A. Chargers 20, Washington 16Philadelphia 32, Atlanta 6Pittsburgh 23, Buffalo 16San Francisco 41, Detroit 33Seattle 28, Indianapolis 16Denver 27, N.Y. Giants 13Kansas City 33, Cleveland 29Miami 17, New England 16New Orleans 38, Green Bay 3L.A. Rams 34, Chicago 14

Monday, Sept. 13

Las Vegas 33, Baltimore 27, OT

Thursday’s game

N.Y. Giants at Washington

Sunday’s games

Buffalo at MiamiCincinnati at ChicagoDenver at JacksonvilleHouston at ClevelandL.A. Rams at IndianapolisLas Vegas at PittsburghNew England at N.Y. JetsNew Orleans at CarolinaSan Francisco at PhiladelphiaAtlanta at Tampa BayMinnesota at ArizonaDallas at L.A. ChargersTennessee at SeattleKansas City at Baltimore

Monday’s game

Detroit at Green Bay

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

ScheduleThursday’s games

SOUTHAlabama A&M (10) at BethuneCook

man (02)Ohio (02) at LouisianaLafayette (11)

Friday’s gamesSOUTH

UCF (20) at Louisville (11)MIDWEST

Maryland (20) at Illinois (12)Saturday’s games

EASTSE Louisiana (11) at CCSU (11)Uconn (03) at Army (20)Holy Cross (11) at Yale (00)Albany (NY) (02) at Syracuse (11)Princeton (00) at Lehigh (02)Virginia Tech (20) at West Virginia (11)Hampton (11) at Howard (02)Wagner (02) at St. Francis (Pa.) (02)W. Michigan (11) at Pittsburgh (20)Coastal Carolina (20) at Buffalo (11)Boston College (20) at Temple (11)Merrimack (20) at Maine (02)Rhode Island (20) at Brown (00)Harvard (00) at Georgetown (10)New Hampshire (20) at Lafayette (02)William & Mary (11) at Colgate (02)Marist (00) at Columbia (00)Morgan St. (02) at Sacred Heart (11)VMI (11) at Cornell (00)Delaware (20) at Rutgers (20)Richmond (20) at Villanova (20)E. Michigan (11) at Umass (02)East Carolina (02) at Marshall (20)Penn (00) at Bucknell (02)N. Dakota St. (20) at Towson (11)Auburn (20) at Penn St. (20)

SOUTHMichigan St. (20) at Miami (11)Chattanooga (11) at Kentucky (20)Tennessee Tech (02) at Tennessee (11)Samford (11) at W. Carolina (02)Morehead St. (11) at Austin Peay (11)Kentucky St. (00) at Tennessee St. (02)Florida St. (02) at Wake Forest (20)Georgia Tech (11) at Clemson (11)Elon (11) at Appalachian St. (11)SMU (20) at Louisiana Tech (11)Alabama (20) at Florida (20)Mississippi St. (20) at Memphis (20).Northwestern (11) at Duke (11)WinstonSalem (00) at NC Central (11)Monmouth (NJ) (11) at Charleston

Southern (10)Old Dominion (11) at Liberty (20)Lincoln (Pa.) (00) at GardnerWebb (02)Fordham (02) at FAU (11)Presbyterian (20) at Campbell (02)Elizabeth City St. (00) at Norfolk St. (02)Kennesaw St. (11) at Wofford (10)North Greenville (00) at The Citadel

(02)McNeese St. (02) at Southern U. (11)Florida A&M (11) at South Florida (02)South Carolina (20) at Georgia (20)Charlotte (20) at Georgia St. (02)Troy (11) at Southern Miss. (11)North Alabama (02) at Jacksonville St.

(11)Indiana St. (11) at E. Kentucky (11)UT Martin (11) at Northwestern St. (02)Delaware St. (11) at ETSU (20)Furman (20) at NC State (11)Cent. Michigan (11) at LSU (11)Virginia (20) at North Carolina (11)Alcorn St. (11) at South Alabama (20)Stanford (11) at Vanderbilt (11)Tulane (11) at Mississippi (20)Jackson St. (20) at LouisianaMonroe

(01)MIDWEST

SE Missouri (02) at Missouri (11)Cincinnati (20) at Indiana (11)N. Illinois (11) at Michigan (20)Dartmouth (00) at Valparaiso (02)Nevada (20) at Kansas St. (20)Purdue (20) at Notre Dame (20)Kent St. (11) at Iowa (20)Baylor (20) at Kansas (11)Bryant (11) at Akron (02)Tulsa (02) at Ohio St. (11)LIU Brooklyn (02) at Miami (Ohio) (02)E. Washington (20) at W. Illinois (02)Colorado St. (02) at Toledo (11)Drake (11) at North Dakota (11)St. Thomas (Minn.) (10) at N. Iowa (11)Murray St. (11) at Bowling Green (02)Butler (11) at Taylor (00)Dayton (10) at S. Illinois (11)Illinois St. (11) at E. Illinois (03)

SOUTHWESTNew Mexico (20) at Texas A&M (20)Nebraska (21) at Oklahoma (20)Georgia Southern (11) at Arkansas (20)Middle Tennessee (11) at UTSA (20)Grambling St. (11) at Houston (11)Ark.Pine Bluff (10) at Cent. Arkansas

(02)TexasPermian Basin (00) at Abilene

Christian (11)Houston Baptist (02) at Prairie View (11)S. Utah (02) vs. Tarleton St. (11) at Ar

lington, TexasMVSU (01) at Stephen F. Austin (11)FIU (11) at Texas Tech (20)Incarnate Word (11) at Texas State (11)UAB (11) at North Texas (11)Rice (02) at Texas (11)

FAR WESTMinnesota (11) at Colorado (11)San Diego (02) at Montana St. (11)Idaho (11) at Oregon St. (11)Southern Cal (11) at Washington St. (11)Ball St. (11) at Wyoming (20)Sacramento St. (11) at California (02)Lamar (11) at N. Colorado (11)Arkansas St. (11) at Washington (02)W. Oregon (00) at Portland St. (02)Utah (11) at San Diego St. (20)Stony Brook (11) at Oregon (20)Utah St. (20) at Air Force (20)SC State (02) at New Mexico St. (03)James Madison (20) at Weber St. (11)South Dakota (11) at Cal Poly (11)Oklahoma St. (20) at Boise St. (11)Dixie St. (02) at UC Davis (20)N. Arizona (02) at Arizona (02)Arizona St. (20) at BYU (20)Iowa St. (11) at UNLV (02)Fresno St. (21) at UCLA (20)

vid Bednar on the 10day IL, retroactive toSept. 11. Promoted RHP Enyel De Los Santos to the active roster.

SAN DIEGO PADRES — Signed LHP RossDetwiler to a major league contract. Optioned RHP Shaun Anderson to El Paso(TripleA West).

BASKETBALLNational Basketball Association

MIAMI HEAT — Signed F Caleb Martin toa twoway contract.

MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES — Resigned G Jordan McLaughlin.

FOOTBALLNational Football League

ARIZONA CARDINALS — Released TEBruno Labelle.

ATLANTA FALCONS — Released K ElliotFry, WR Juwan Green and TE David Wellsfrom the practice squad.

BALTIMORE RAVENS — Placed OL Tyreon injured reserve. Released RB TrentonCannon.

CAROLINA PANTHERS — Released KRyan Santoso. Promoted K Zane Gonzalezfrom the practice squad to the active roster.

DALLAS COWBOYS �— Signed K Lirim Hajrullahu to the practice squad.

DENVER BRONCOS — Signed CB NateHairston and WR Kendell Hinton. SignedWR Rico Gafford and DB Rojesterman Farris to the practice squad. Placed CB RonaldDarby and WR Jerry Jeudy on injured reserve.

INDIANAPOLIS COLTS — Signed S Andrew Sendejo. Released CB Chris Wilcox.Released S Sean Davis from the practicesquad.

MIAMI DOLPHINS — Placed DT RaekwonDavis on injured reserve.

NEW ORLEANS SAINTS — Signed DB JeffHeath to the acitve roster. Released FBAdam Prentice. Signed OT Caleb Benenoch and WR Kenny Stills to the practicesquad. Signed DT Montravius Adams.

NEW YORK JETS — Placed OT Mekhi Becton, P Braden Mann, LB Blake Cashmanand S Lamarcus Joyner on injured reserve.Signed S Jarrod Wilson, OL Isaiah Williams, LB BJ Goodson and P Thomas Morstead to the active roster. Signed OL ElijahNkansah and LB Noah Dawkins to thepractice squad.

PHILADELPHIA EAGLES — Placed T Le’Raven Clark on the practice squad injuredlist. Signed C Harry Crider to the practicesquad. Released DB Trenton Cannon.

SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS — Placed RB Raheem Mostert and DB Jason Verrett on injured reserve. Signed DB Dontae Johnsonand CB Dre Kirkpatrick. Signed LB CurtisBolton to the practice squad.

TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS — Released GEarl Watford from injured reserve. SignedLS Carson Tinker and DB Andrew Adams.Signed DB Chris Cooper to the practicesquad.

TENNESSEE TITANS — Signed TEs AustinFort and Tommy Hudson to the practicesquad. Signed K Randy Bullock to the active roster from the practice squad.Placed S Amani Hooker on injured reserve.

WASHINGTON FOOTBALL TEAM —Placed QB Ryan Fitzpatrick on injured reserve. Signed LB Jared Norris from thepractice squad to the active roster.

HOCKEYNational Hockey League

DETROIT RED WINGS — Resigned RW Givani Smith to a twoyear contract.

NEW JERSEY DEVILS — Signed Fs JimmyVesey and Mark Jankowski and D TylerWotherspoon to professional tryout contracts.

ST. LOUIS BLUES — Signed C Tyler Bozakto a oneyear contract.

Tuesday’s transactionsBASEBALL

Major League BaseballAmerican League

BOSTON RED SOX — Reinstated LHPMartin Perez from the COVID19 IL. Returned RHP Kaleb Ort To Worcester (TripleAEast).

BALTIMORE ORIOLES — Recalled RHPMarcos Diplán from Norfolk (TripleAEast). Selected the contract of INF Pat Valaika from Norfolk and agreed to terms ona major league contract. Placed LHP Tanner Scott on the 10day IL. Placed INF JorgeMateo on the 60day IL.

CHICAGO WHITE SOX — Reinstated SSTim Anderson and RHP Lucas Giolito fromthe 10day IL. Recalled C Zack Collins fromCharlotte (TripleA East). Placed OF Andrew Vaughn on the 10day IL, retroactiveto Sept. 10. Optioned INF Danny Mendickand C Seby Zavala to Charlotte. PlacedRHP Ryan Tepera on the 10day IL, retroactive to September 11. Recalled LHP JaceFry from Charlotte.

CLEVELAND INDIANS — Recalled RHP J.C.Mejia from Columbus (TripleA East). Reinstated C Roberto Perez from the 10dayIL. Designated C Ryan Lavarnway for assignment.

DETROIT TIGERS — Placed RHP JoséCisnero on the 10day IL, retroactive toSeptember 13. Recalled RHP Jason Foleyfrom Toledo (TripleA East).

HOUSTON ASTROS — Reinstated RHPZack Greinke from the 10day IL. PlacedRHP Jake Odorizzi on the 10day IL.

KANSAS CITY ROYALS — Named DaytonMoore president of baseball operationsand J.J. Picollo has been promoted to senior vice president of baseball operations/general manager.

MINNESOTA TWINS — Placed RHP JohnGant on the 10day IL. Recalled LHP Andrew Albers from St. Paul (TripleA East).Designated LPH Charlie Barnes to serve asthe 29th man for today’s doubleheaderagainst the Cleveland Indians.

NEW YORK YANKEES — Optioned RHPClarke Schmidt to Scranton/WilkesBarre(TripleA East). Signed RHP Sal Romano toa major league contract. Designated RHPBrooks Kriske for assignment. Sent RHPDomingo Germán to Scranton/WilkesBarre for a rehab assignment.

OAKLAND ATHLETICS — Selected thecontract of RHP Domingo Acevedo fromLas Vegas (TripleA West) and agreed toterms on a major league contract. Designated RHP Burch Smith for assignment.

SEATTLE MARINERS — Reinstated OFJake Fraley from his rebab assignmentand the 10day IL. Designated INF/OF JoséMarmolejos for assignment.

TEXAS RANGERS — Reinstated RHPDrew Anderson and 3B Brock Holt from the10day IL. Transferred RHP Nick Snyderand OF Eli White from the 10day IL to the60day IL. Optioned LHPs Wes Benjaminand HyeonJong Yang to Round Rock (TripleA West).

National LeagueCHICAGO CUBS — Placed OF Jason Hey

ward on the 7day concussion IL, retroactive to September 12. Selected the contract of OF Trayce Thompson from Iowa(TripleA East) and agreed to terms on amajor league contract. Transferred OF Michael Hermosillo from the 10day IL to the60day IL.

LOS ANGELES DODGERS — ReinstatedRHP Kenley Jansen from the paternity list.Optioned RHP Mitch White.

NEW YORK METS — Reinstated C TomásNido and RHP Jake Reed from the 10DayIL.

PITTSBURGH PIRATES — Placed RHP Da

DEALS

TENNIS

Luxembourg OpenTuesday

At Kockelscheuer Sport CentreLuxembourg

Purse: $235,238Surface: Hardcourt indoor

Women’s SinglesRound of 32

Marketa Vondrousova (5), Czech Republic, def. Alison van Uytvanck, Belgium,62, 63.

Aliaksandra Sasnovich, Belarus, def. Lesia Tsurenko, Ukraine, 75, 76 (6).

Arianne Hartono, Netherlands, def. AnnaLena Friedsam, Germany, 76 (5), 36,76 (4).

Zarina Diyas, Kazakhstan, def. AnnaKarolina Schmiedlova, Slovakia, 60, 16, 64.

Greet Minnen, Belgium, def. Nuria Parrizas Diaz, Spain, 76 (4), 67 (1), 76 (2).

Mandy Minella, Luxembourg, def. Varvara Gracheva, Russia, 63, 64.

Jelena Ostapenko (3), Latvia, def. JuleNiemeier, Germany, 62, 62.

Women’s DoublesRound of 16

Vitalia Diatchenko and Yana Sizikova,Russia, def. Alexandra Panova, Russia,and Oksana Kalashnikova, Georgia, 63,46, 108.

Kimberley Zimmermann, Belgium, andErin Routliffe, New Zealand, def. LidziyaMarozava, Belarus, and CristinaAndreeaMitu (4), Romania, 64, 75.

Zavarovalnica Sava PortorozTuesday

Portoroz, SloveniaPurse: $235,238

Surface: Hardcourt outdoorWomen’s Singles

Round of 32Lucia Bronzetti, Italy, def. Rebecca Pe

terson (7), Sweden, 63, 63. Alison Riske (3), United States, def. Pia

Lovric, Slovenia, 75, 63. Katie Boulter, Britain, def. Katarina Za

vatska, Ukraine, 75, 63. Aleksandra Krunic, Serbia, def. Ziva

Falkner, Slovenia, 63, 61. Anna Kalinskaya, Russia, def. Danka Ko

vinic, Montenegro, 60, 64. Tereza Martincova, Czech Republic, def.

Kristina Kucova, Slovakia, 64, 61.Yulia Putintseva (2), Kazakhstan, def. Ja

queline Adina Cristian, Romania, 64, 64. Viktoria Kuzmova, Slovakia, def. Tereza

Mrdeza, Croatia, 62, 63. Jasmine Paolini, Italy, def. Dayana Yas

tremska (6), Ukraine, 76 (5), 41, ret. Kaja Juvan, Slovenia, def. Petra Martic

(1), Croatia, 63, 64. Anhelina Kalinina, Ukraine, def. Sara Er

rani, Italy, 76 (4), 62. Tamara Zidansek (5), Slovenia, def. Cris

tiana Ferrando, Italy, 61, 61. Women’s Doubles

Round of 16Anna Danilina, Kazakhstan, and Fanny

Stollar, Hungary, def. Tina Cvetkovic andEla Nala Milic, Slovenia, 61, 60.

Sept. 16

1885 — The America’s Cup is successfully defended by U.S. yacht Puritan as itbeats Britain’s Genesta in two heats.

1926 — Henri Cochet ends Bill Tilden’ssixyear reign as the U.S. Lawn Tennis Association champion as he beats Tilden inthe quarterfinals.

1927 — Rene Lacoste wins the U.S. LawnTennis Association championship, beating Bill Tilden in three sets.

1951 — Betsy Rawls wins the U.S. Women’s Open golf title by edging LouiseSuggs.

1955 — The formation of the UnitedStates Auto Club is completed and willoversee four major categories of autoraces.

1993 — Dave Winfield of the MinnesotaTwins becomes the 19th player in majorleague history to get 3,000 hits, with a single off Oakland’s Dennis Eckersley.

AP SPORTLIGHT


MLB

American League

East Division

W L Pct GB

Tampa Bay 90 55 .621 _

New York 81 64 .559 9

Toronto 81 64 .559 9

Boston 82 65 .558 9

Baltimore 46 98 .319 43½

Central Division

W L Pct GB

Chicago 83 61 .576 _

Cleveland 70 73 .490 12½

Detroit 69 76 .476 14½

Kansas City 66 78 .458 17

Minnesota 64 82 .438 20

West Division

W L Pct GB

Houston 84 60 .583 _

Seattle 78 67 .538 6½

Oakland 77 67 .535 7

Los Angeles 70 74 .486 14

Texas 54 90 .375 30

National LeagueEast Division

W L Pct GB

Atlanta 76 67 .531 _

Philadelphia 72 72 .500 4½

New York 72 74 .493 5½

Miami 61 84 .421 16

Washington 60 85 .414 17

Central Division

W L Pct GB

Milwaukee 89 56 .614 _

St. Louis 75 69 .521 13½

Cincinnati 75 70 .517 14

Chicago 66 79 .455 23

Pittsburgh 53 91 .368 35½

West Division

W L Pct GB

z-San Francisco 95 50 .655 _

z-Los Angeles 93 53 .637 2½

San Diego 74 70 .514 20½

Colorado 67 78 .462 28

Arizona 47 98 .324 48

z-clinched playoff berthTuesday’s games

Cleveland 3, Minnesota 1, 7 inningsMinnesota 6, Cleveland 3, 7 inningsTampa Bay 2, Toronto 0Detroit 1, Milwaukee 0, 11 inningsN.Y. Yankees 7, Baltimore 2Texas 8, Houston 1Chicago White Sox 9, L.A. Angels 3Kansas City 10, Oakland 7Boston 8, Seattle 4Pittsburgh 6, Cincinnati 5Washington 8, Miami 2Chicago Cubs 6, Philadelphia 3Colorado 5, Atlanta 4St. Louis 7, N.Y. Mets 6, 11 inningsSan Francisco 6, San Diego 1L.A. Dodgers 8, Arizona 4

Wednesday’s games

Milwaukee at DetroitTampa Bay at TorontoBoston at SeattleN.Y. Yankees at BaltimoreCleveland at MinnesotaHouston at TexasL.A. Angels at Chicago White SoxOakland at Kansas CityMiami at WashingtonCincinnati at PittsburghChicago Cubs at PhiladelphiaSt. Louis at N.Y. MetsColorado at AtlantaSan Diego at San FranciscoArizona at L.A. Dodgers

Thursday’s games

L.A. Angels (Ohtani 9-2) at ChicagoWhite Sox (López 3-2)

Oakland (Blackburn 0-2) at Kansas City(Hernández 6-1)

N.Y. Yankees (Montgomery 5-6) at Balti-more (Ellis 1-0)

Detroit (Boyd 3-8) at Tampa Bay (Enns 1-0)Houston (Valdez 10-5) at Texas (Otto 0-1)Colorado (Márquez 12-10) at Atlanta

(Anderson 7-5)Cincinnati (Mahle 11-5) at Pittsburgh

(Brubaker 5-13)San Diego (TBD) at San Francisco (Gaus-

man 14-5)Chicago Cubs (Hendricks 14-6) at Phila-

delphia (TBD)Friday’s games

Cleveland at N.Y. YankeesMinnesota at TorontoBaltimore at BostonDetroit at Tampa BayChicago White Sox at TexasArizona at HoustonSeattle at Kansas CityOakland at L.A. AngelsColorado at WashingtonL.A. Dodgers at CincinnatiPhiladelphia at N.Y. MetsPittsburgh at MiamiChicago Cubs at MilwaukeeSan Diego at St. LouisAtlanta at San Francisco

Scoreboard

SEATTLE — Pinch-hitter Kyle Schwarber hit

a tiebreaking three-run double in the eighth in-

ning and the Boston Red Sox beat the Seattle

Mariners 8-4 on Tuesday night to keep pace in

the competitive AL wild-card race.

Schwarber, out of the lineup in favor of Alex

Verdugo, entered against reliever Drew Steck-

enrider with one out in the eighth and the bases

loaded. His double to right ended a tense standoff

with the Mariners, who beat the Red Sox 5-4 on

Monday with the help of Schwarber’s fielding er-

ror.

Verdugo added a two-run home run in Bos-

ton’s next at-bat against Yohan Ramirez.

The victory kept the Red Sox percentage

points behind the New York Yankees and Toron-

to Blue Jays for the AL’s two wild-card spots.

Seattle dropped to three games back.

Rays 2, Blue Jays 0: Drew Rasmussen com-

bined with four relievers on a three-hitter, Bran-

don Lowe and Ji-Man Choi homered and visiting

Tampa Bay became the first AL team to reach 90

wins.

After losing four of their previous five, the

East-leading Rays (0-55) hit the 90-win mark for

the eighth time — all in the past 14 seasons.

Giants 6, Padres 1: Buster Posey homered in

the first inning and scored the go-ahead run on an

error in the third, and host San Francisco beat

San Diego for its ninth straight victory a day after

becoming the first team in the big leagues to

clinch a playoff berth.

With nine straight wins, the Giants have their

longest winning streak since a 10-game unbeaten

run from May 20-31, 2004.

Yankees 7, Orioles 2: Aaron Judge started a

five-homer barrage that backed Gerrit Cole, and

New York won at Baltimore, winning consecu-

tive games for the first time since Sept. 1 and 3.

Cole (15-7) returned from left hamstring tight-

ness that cut short his Sept. 7 start against Toron-

to. He stranded the bases loaded in a 29-pitch

first inning when he struck out Ramón Uris and

allowed one run and four hits in five innings with

seven strikeouts and three walks.

Rockies 5, Braves 4: Brendan Rodgers hit a

tiebreaking, two-run homer in the fifth inning,

Trevor Story went deep in the second and Col-

orado held on to win at Atlanta.

Jon Gray pitched five innings as the Rockies

moved to 22-51 on the road coming off a four-

game series win at Philadelphia. Carlos Estévez

earned his eighth save in 13 chances.

White Sox 9, Angels 3: Rookie Gavin Sheets

hit a long three-run homer and had four RBIs in

his first three-hit game, and the Chicago beat Los

Angeles in Joe Maddon’s first game back in the

Windy City.

Pirates 6, Reds 5: Wade Miley surrendered

six runs on 10 hits and visiting Cincinnati lost for

the sixth time in eight games.

Rangers 8, Astros 1: All-Star slugger Adolis

García tied Texas’ single-season rookie record

with his 30th homer, one of three long balls al-

lowed by visiting Houston pitcher Zack Greinke

in his return after testing positive for COVID-19.

Cardinals 7, Mets 6 (11): Edmundo Sosa hit

the go-ahead single in a three-run 11th inning and

St. Louis climbed all the way back into playoff po-

sition with a win at New York.

Tigers 1, Brewers 0 (11):Derek Hill hit a lead-

off RBI double in the 11th inning as host Detroit

ended Milwaukee’s five-game winning streak.

Royals 10, Athletics 7: Salvador Perez hit a

go-ahead three-run homer in the sixth inning, the

bullpen bailed out starter Jackson Kowar and

host Kansas City rallied from an early six-run

hole to beat Oakland.

Indians 33, Twins 16: Cleveland’s Triston

McKenzie cruised through six innings of the first

game of a doubleheader to beat host Minnesota

when a comebacker off the wrist of rookie Joe

Ryan shortened the pitching duel.

Ryan Jeffers had four RBIs in the nightcap as

the Twins gained a split.

Cubs 6, Phillies 3: Patrick Wisdom and Alfon-

so Rivas hit back-to-back homers for Chicago in a

win at Philadelphia.

Nationals 8, Marlins 2: Ryan Zimmerman

homered, Erick Fedde pitched five solid innings

and host Washington pounded out 14 hits in win-

ning for the second time in three games.

Schwarber’s 3-run double lifts Red Sox

ELAINE THOMPSON/AP

Boston Red Sox pinch hitter Kyle Schwarberwatches his threerun double against theMariners during the eighth inning of an 84win by the Red Sox on Tuesday in Seattle.

Associated Press

ROUNDUP

LOS ANGELES — The Los An-

geles Dodgers are chasing the San

Francisco Giants in the NL West.

They caught their rival in one big

way by becoming the second team

in the majors to clinch a postseason

berth.

Max Muncy, Trea Turner and

Will Smith homered in an 8-4 victo-

ry over the Arizona Diamondbacks

on Tuesday night that was their fifth

in a row.

The Giants had locked up a play-

off spot a night earlier. The Dodgers

secured their ninth consecutive

postseason appearance with their

eighth straight home win and help

from Cincinnati and San Diego,

which both lost. The defending

World Series champions got it done

at home, where their 51-23 record

leads the majors.

“It’s definitely something that

shouldn’t be taken for granted,”

third baseman Justin Turner said.

“At the same time, our focus is on us

and taking care of what’s in front of

us.”

San Francisco partied after mak-

ing the postseason for the first time

in five years. Los Angeles kept

things low key.

“We did a little Champagne toast,

said a few words and acknowledged

the fact that it’s a big accomplish-

ment,” said manager Dave Roberts,

wearing a blue “Built for October”

T-shirt. “We got a lot of work to do

and this is just the beginning.”

The Dodgers finally have their

full rotation — led by Cy Young

Award contenders Walker Buehler,

Max Scherzer and Julio Urías — in

place after numerous injuries.

“You win with starting pitching

and I believe we have the best start-

ing pitching in baseball,” Roberts

said. “I love where we’re at.”

Dodgers clinch postseason spotDefending champions topDiamondbacks for theirfifth consecutive victory

BY BETH HARRIS

Associated Press

MARCIO JOSE SANCHEZ/AP

Los Angeles Dodgers relief pitcher Kenley Jansen, left, hugs Max Muncy after the Dodgers’ 84 win overthe Arizona Diamondbacks Tuesday in Los Angeles.


WNBA/SPORTS BRIEFS

NEW YORK — With less than a

week left in the regular season of

the WNBA, playoff seeding, a

postseason berth and draft lottery

chances are still undecided.

Buoyed by a 12-game winning

streak, Connecticut has clinched

the top seed throughout the play-

offs and leads The Associated

Press power poll. Las Vegas needs

one more victory or loss by Minne-

sota this week to earn the No. 2

seed and the other double bye to

the semifinals. The Lynx are third

with Phoenix and Seattle both in

the mix for the third and fourth

seeds.

With the playoffs beginning

next week, Chicago has locked in

the sixth seed and will host a first-

round game against the No. 7 seed,

which right now is Dallas.

At the other end of the spec-

trum, Indiana, New York and At-

lanta are in the mix for the best

odds at winning the league’s draft

lottery.

Heading into the final days of

the season, the Fever have the best

chance at securing the top pick in

the draft. Indiana has 12 wins over

the past two seasons, one more

than New York and two more than

Atlanta. Indiana and Atlanta play

on Tuesday night — one of three

games the Fever have left. Indiana

would need to win two of them for

the Liberty to have any chance to

pass them.

“Definitely is something at the

back of my head,” Liberty coach

Walt Hopkins said of getting into

the draft lottery again and poten-

tially getting the No. 1 pick for a

third straight season. “It is a silver

lining if that were to happen, but

we’re not talking about that even-

tuality at all. Right now we’re fo-

cused on the next game.”

Power pollThis week’s WNBA poll:

1. Connecticut (246): The Sun

will have homecourt advantage

throughout the playoffs and have

lost just one home game all season.

Connecticut also could be boosted

by the return of Alyssa Thomas,

who has been out this season with

an Achilles’ injury suffered in Ja-

nuary. She recently has been prac-

ticing taking warmups with the

team.

2. Las Vegas (228): The Aces

hit the road for the final two games

of the regular season and hope to

have Liz Cambage back soon from

her bout with COVID-19.

3. Minnesota (2010): Aerial

Powers continues to provide a

boost to the Lynx since her return

Aug. 21 from a thumb injury. The

team is 7-1 with her back.

4. Phoenix (1911):The Mercu-

ry saw their 10-game winning

streak end with a loss to Connecti-

cut last week. They are still one of

the hottest teams in the league,

buoyed by the strong play of Britt-

ney Griner and Skylar Diggins-

Smith. Diana Taurasi has missed

the last few games with an ankle

injury.

5. Seattle (2011): The Storm

are missing Breanna Stewart due

to a foot injury she suffered in a

win over Washington last Tues-

day. Earning a first-round bye to

give Stewart more recovery time

would be huge for Seattle.

6. Chicago (1515): With the

Sky’s playoff seeding determined,

coach James Wade has decisions

to make about how he handles the

final two games of the season.

7. Dallas (1318): The Wings

clinched a playoff spot for the first

time since 2018 and are getting

healthy at the right time. Satou Sa-

bally played for the first time since

the season resumed from the

Olympic break in the one-point

win over New York that earned

Dallas the postseason appearance.

8. Washington (1218): The

Mystics can secure a playoff spot

with a win over New York on Fri-

day. Washington could be one of

the most dangerous teams to face

in the postseason if it is healthy.

9. Los Angeles (1119): The

Sparks ended a six-game skid and

are still alive in the playoff hunt,

but need a bit of help to make the

postseason.

10. New York (1119): Most of

the Liberty players are healthy

that coach Walt Hopkins expected

to have on the floor when the sea-

son began. It may be too late.

11. Atlanta (722): The Dream

close out the season with home

games against Indiana and Los

Angeles before heading to Con-

necticut.

12. Indiana (623): The Fever

have been playing teams tough

lately with a short-handed roster,

but haven’t gotten wins to show for

it.

ASHLEY LANDIS/AP

Connecticut Sun forward DeWanna Bonner (24) and Los Angeles Sparks guard Erica Wheeler, right, diveafter a loose ball during a Sept. 9 game in Los Angeles. Connecticut has clinched the top seed throughoutthe playoffs, thanks to a 12game winning streak.

Teams position for playoffspots in WNBA’s final week

BY DOUG FEINBERG

Associated Press

Six unidentified members of the

New Orleans Saints coaching

staff, a player and a nutritionist

have tested positive for CO-

VID-19, two people familiar with

the situation said.

The people spoke with The As-

sociated Press on Tuesday on con-

dition of anonymity because the

team and NFL had not made a

public statement about the matter.

The people said the entire Saints

coaching staff had been vaccinat-

ed.

Later Tuesday, Michael Tho-

mas — who already was ineligible

to play the first six games while on

the club’s physically unable to

perform list — was placed on New

Orleans’ COVID-19 reserve list.

The names of most others who

tested positive were not expected

to be released in the short term be-

cause of federal medical privacy

laws.

It is unclear how long those who

tested positive will remain isolat-

ed from the team before they may

return to the field or in-person

meetings.

In other NFL news:

■ San Francisco 49ers running

back Raheem Mostert will under-

go season-ending surgery on his

knee after getting injured in the

season opener.

Coach Kyle Shanahan had said

Mostert was expected to miss

eight weeks because of chipped

cartilage in his knee, but Mostert

announced on his Twitter account

Tuesday that he will miss the rest

of the season.

Source: Mariners will

host 2023 All-Star Game NEW YORK — The Seattle

Mariners will host baseball’s 2023

All-Star Game at T-Mobile Park.

The team announced a news

conference for Thursday at Seat-

tle’s Space Needle with baseball

Commissioner Rob Manfred. The

purpose of the news conference is

to announce that Seattle will be

the site of the 2023 All-Star Game,

a person familiar with the plan-

ning told The Associated Press on

Tuesday, speaking on condition of

anonymity because the subject

was not announced.

NBA to test unvaccinated

players oftenFor NBA players, the scenario

this season is simple: Get vacci-

nated or get tested, and often.

The league told its teams on

Tuesday that it is going ahead with

a plan where those who are fully

vaccinated against the coronavi-

rus will not need to submit to regu-

lar testing. Those who are unvac-

cinated, however, will undergo

rigorous testing — one test on

practice or travel days, and atleast one test on game days.

Teams were given parametersof the plan earlier this month andthe league, in a memo Tuesday ob-tained by The Associated Press,revealed more details to its clubsabout how the testing will work.Many of the tests given this seasonwill be administered through CueHealth, which provides rapid mo-lecular tests and processes themthrough mobile technology inabout 20 minutes.

Tests that will clear an unvacci-nated player to be in a game willstill be of the PCR variety, theleague said.

In other NBA news:■ Forward Aaron Gordon and

the Denver Nuggets have agreedon a four-year, $92 million con-tract extension.

His agent, Calvin Andrews, con-firmed the contract to The Associ-ated Press on Tuesday. The dealcontains a player option for Gor-don for the ’25-26 season.

NASCAR will open 2022

season at LA Coliseum CHARLOTTE, N.C. — NAS-

CAR will open the 2022 season in-side Los Angeles Memorial Coli-seum in one of the biggest shakeu-ps to its schedule in years.

The annual exhibition Clash,held at Daytona InternationalSpeedway since 1979, will shift toLos Angeles next year. The invita-tion-only race was always thekickoff to competitive NASCARracing and held the week beforethe season-opening Daytona 500.

Biles testifies before

Congress on abuseOlympic gold medalist Simone

Biles told Congress through tearsWednesday that the FBI and gym-nastics officials turned a “blindeye” to USA Gymnastics teamdoctor Larry Nassar’s sexualabuse of her and hundreds of oth-er women.

Biles told the Senate JudiciaryCommittee that “enough isenough” as she and three otherU.S. gymnasts spoke in stark emo-tional terms about the lasting tollNassar’s crimes have taken ontheir lives.

In other Olympic news: ■ Kenya’s former sports minis-

ter was convicted Wednesday ofcorruption and abuse of office re-lating to the misuse of more than$800,000 that was meant for thecountry’s 2016 Olympic team.

Hassan Wario and former Ke-nyan Olympic committee officialStephen Soi, the 2016 team’s chefde mission, were both found guiltyafter some of the money set asideto pay for flights and accommoda-tion at the Rio de Janeiro Gamesand fund the team’s preparationswas misappropriated.

Player, 5 others on Saints,test positive for COVID-19

Associated Press

BRIEFLY


COLLEGE FOOTBALL

LOS ANGELES — Clay Hel-

ton’s players hate the fact their

head coach’s firing was a cause

for celebration for much of South-

ern California’s vast football fan

base.

When those players went back

to work Tuesday night, Helton’s

sudden departure was a cause for

mourning and reflection — and a

renewed determination to make

him proud.

“It hurt, for sure,” veteran safe-

ty Isaiah Pola-Mao said. “Coach

has always had a huge impact on

me. I signed here with him in

mind. We wanted him to be the

next Pete Carroll. We wanted to

lift him up, and for him to be

great. Of course, things don’t go

our way.”

At the high-pressure level of

college football inhabited by

USC, it’s sometimes easy to forget

the vast majority of Helton’s play-

ers decidedly do not share the

profound dislike of their coach

that practically every vocal fan of

the Trojans seems to hold.

Thousands of people chanted

for Helton’s firing last Saturday

night at the Coliseum during

USC’s embarrassing loss to Stan-

ford. Many of those same people

welcomed athletic director Mike

Bohn’s decision Monday with on-

line glee — and the players saw it.

Many of the people who had

daily interactions with Helton on

campus and in the locker room

still revere him as a mentor and a

father figure to his players. Many

of those players still haven’t proc-

essed the fact they must continue

a long season without the coach

who recruited them and em-

braced the responsibility of fos-

tering their development into

well-rounded adults.

“It was heart-wrenching for a

lot of us,” receiver Drake London

said. “He’s such a good man to us,

on and off the field. It was sad to

see him go.”

One day after Helton’s seven-

season tenure ended with his fir-

ing, the Trojans (1-1, 0-1 Pac-12)

held their usual opening practice

of game week on campus. USC

visits Washington State for its

road opener on Saturday with

Donte Williams as interim head

coach.

USC only allowed three team

captains to speak with reporters

after practice, but Bohn and Wil-

liams both spoke at length about

the challenges ahead after chang-

ing leadership only two games in-

to a season.

“For young people, sudden

change is very, very difficult, and

it’s really difficult for all of us,”

Bohn said. “I have tremendous

respect for Clay Helton as a

coach and a man.”

Helton and Bohn jointly broke

the news to the team Monday.

Bohn said Williams will run the

Trojans with his big-picture moti-

vational skills, while coordinators

Graham Harrell and Todd Orlan-

do will handle most of the game

planning, as they did under Hel-

ton.

“It happened pretty quick,”

punter Ben Griffiths said. “But it

was nice to have that time. ... We

understand as players we’ve got a

job to do, and that’s to finish off

this season.”

Bohn revealed nothing new

about the reasons for the unusual

timing of his decision on Helton,

who had won nine straight regu-

lar-season games before the Stan-

ford blowout.

“It just really felt like the right

time, and I think it was the right

time for (Helton) as well,” Bohn

said. “There’s a sense of knowing

when to play things a certain way,

and having that gut feeling. I

think we had the right one.”

But USC’s actions make it clear

the school was past tired of wait-

ing for Helton’s on-field success

to catch up to his team-building

skills. A program that believes it

should be an annual national title

contender finally moved on from

a coach who never got it there.

Helton’s record was 46-24 —

also a fairly solid mark at a nor-

mal program, although he also

had the school’s first losing sea-

son in 18 years back in 2018. He

won one Rose Bowl and one con-

ference title in six attempts, fall-

ing short of two more Pac-12

crowns in the conference title

game.

The Trojans’ improvements

over the past decade include the

building of their $70 million

headquarters in the John McKay

Center, along with $315 million in

improvements to the 98-year-old

Coliseum. USC expanded its

recruiting resources and re-

search capabilities in moves that

both gave Helton every chance to

succeed and put a strong struc-

ture in place to woo a successor if

Helton was no longer around.

“We had a great offseason with

great recruiting and continued in-

vestment in the football enter-

prise,” Bohn said. “In the end,

when we really came out, I just

don’t think we just had that same

sense of belief that with all the

resources and all the commit-

ment we’ve put together that we

could really aspire to those na-

tional championship aspirations

that we talk about all the time.”

USC players saddened by Helton’s firingBY GREG BEACHAM

Associated Press

JOHN MCGILLEN/AP

Donte Williams, center, USC’s cornerbacks coach and associate head coach, is taking over for the rest ofthe season alongside offensive coordinator Graham Harrell and defensive coordinator Todd Orlando, afterthe school fired head coach Clay Helton on Monday. Helton was with USC for seven seasons.

but more game reps should help work out

some of the problems.

The team resumes Big Ten play on the

road against Rutgers on Oct. 2. Big ones

ahead include No. 10 Penn State at home on

Oct. 30 and No. 25 Michigan at Ann Arbor

on Nov. 27.

Indiana and Michigan State could end up

being trouble, too.

Fifth-year defensive tackle Haskell Gar-

rett insisted that all the Buckeyes’ goals are

still attainable, noting that Ohio State’s 2014

team lost to Virginia Tech at home in Week

2but rebounded to run the table and win the

national championship.

“We’re going to get on the film, make the

proper corrections, we’re going to put it be-

hind us and then go play the next game,”

Garrett said. “It is what it is. They did it in

’14. We can do it in 2021.”

C.J. Stroud, the 19-year-old quarterback

whose first collegiate start was the Sept. 2

win over Minnesota, said he and his team-

mates are keeping level heads.

“Haskell came up after the game and he

said something great: ‘The season’s not

over.’ ” Stroud said. “We’re not going to

press, we’re going to stick together. We’re

not going to point fingers.”

for tuneup games of the kind that typically

are scheduled to open the season. Blowout

wins — Tulsa is a 27-point underdog Satur-

day — aren’t going to impress poll voters

considered a failure in Columbus — but it

makes it a little harder and more complicat-

ed.

Take 2018, when the No. 2 Buckeyes lost

to unranked Purdue in October. They won

the rest and the Big Ten title but were out-

side looking in when playoff selections were

announced.

In 2017, Baker Mayfield brazenly tried to

plant an Oklahoma flag in the Ohio Stadium

artificial turf after the Sooners prevailed 31-

16 in Week 2. A head-scratching loss to Iowa

followed two months later. Ohio State won

the Big Ten title, but had to settle for the

Cotton Bowl and a No. 5 ranking.

Any loss these days by the storied pro-

gram causes turmoil inside the Woody

Hayes Athletic Center. Issues with the

Buckeyes defense must be cleaned up fast.

The offense has to get more balanced.

Schemes will be dissected, personnel eval-

uated and assistant coaches upbraided.

Fortunately for Ohio State, the next two

weeks bring Tulsa and Akron to Columbus

Sifting: Loss complicates Buckeyes’ chances of making playoffFROM PAGE 24

JAY LAPRETE/AP

Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud, left, is sacked on the final play of the game duringlast weekend’s 3528 loss to Oregon in Columbus, Ohio.


NFL

Sitting out the preseason did

nothing to slow the start to the sea-

son for guys like Matthew Staf-

ford, Russell Wilson and Dak

Prescott.

For guys like Aaron Rodgers,

Ryan Tannehill and Matt Ryan,

there appeared to be some rust.

In all, nine quarterbacks who

didn’t take a snap in the preseason

started Week 1, and there was no

consistent pattern on whether that

decision helped or hurt.

Four of the nine quarterbacks

ended up on the winning side, with

Wilson’s Seahawks beating Car-

son Wentz’s Colts in the only game

featuring two starting QBs who sat

out the preseason. The combined

95.2 passer rating for the quarter-

backs was slightly lower than the

league average of 99.6.

Perhaps the most impressive

performance came from Stafford,

who went 20-for-26 for 321 yards

and three TDs in a win against Chi-

cago in his debut with the Rams.

The 156.1 passer rating was the

highest ever in Week 1 for a player

on a new team, as the lack of pre-

season work didn’t seem to have a

negative impact.

Dallas’ Prescott and Las Vegas’

Derek Carr each threw for more

than 400 yards in the opener, with

Prescott losing to the Buccaneers

and Carr leading a wild comeback

for a 33-27 overtime win against

Baltimore thanks to a walk-off 31-

yard TD pass to Zay Jones.

Wilson had four TDs and no in-

terceptions in his first game under

new play-caller Shane Waldron.

His 11 games with at least four TDs

and no interceptions are the sev-

enth-most ever.

On the other side was Rodgers,

who went 15-for-28 for 133 yards

and two interceptions in a 38-3 loss

to New Orleans for a 36.8 passer

rating that was the lowest ever for

a reigning NFL MVP in Week 1.

He even threw a red zone inter-

ception for the first time since Oct.

14, 2019, against Detroit, ending a

streak of 50 TD passes in the red

zone without an interception, in-

cluding the playoffs.

Ryan and Tannehill struggled in

new offenses after sitting out the

preseason, with Ryan throwing for

only 164 yards in a 32-6 loss to Phi-

ladelphia in his first game with Ar-

thur Smith as coach in Atlanta.

Tannehill missed Arthur Smith,

his former offensive coordinator,

in Tennessee’s opener against Ari-

zona. He went 21-for-35 for 210

yards with a TD, an interception

and six sacks in his first game with

Todd Downing as offensive coor-

dinator.

West is best

The eight teams in the West divi-

sions all won their openers this

season. This marked the first time

since the merger that every team

in two separate divisions won ev-

ery game in the same week.

Since the current eight-division

format started in 2002, this

marked the third and fourth times

that a division went 4-0 in Week 1

with the AFC West doing it in 2002

and the AFC East in 2015.

The NFC West was more dom-

inant with the 65-point combined

margin of victory compared to

plus-28 for the AFC West.

On the other side of the equation

was the NFC North, whose teams

went 0-4 and got outscored by 66

points.

Go for it

Fourth-down aggressiveness

for coaches keeps increasing with

the 52 attempts the second-most

ever in a week dating to 1991.

The 33 fourth-down attempts in

the first three quarters were the

most in any week as far as Spor-

tRadar records go back to in 2000.

Teams converted 18 of those tries.

CHARLIE NEIBERGALL/AP

Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson waves to fans as he leaves the field following a 2816 winover the Indianapolis Colts. Neither Wilson nor Colts starter Carson Wentz played in the preseason.

Rest or rust? QBs skippingpreseason had mixed results

JEFFREY PHELPS/AP

Green Bay Packers quarterbackAaron Rodgers, after missing thepreseason, went 15for28 for133 yards and two interceptionsin a 383 loss to New Orleans.

BY JOSH DUBOW

Associated Press

NEW YORK— Matt Ammendo-

la caught the snap, booted the ball

with his right leg and sent it soar-

ing downfield 50 yards.

Not a bad punt, right?

Well, the fact the New York Jets

rookie placekicker hadn’t previ-

ously attempted a punt in a game

— not college, not high school, not

ever — made it even more impres-

sive. And because of an injury to

punter Braden Mann, Ammendo-

la had to handle those duties the

rest of the game and finished with

a solid 48.5-yard average.

“I’ve actually never punted,

which is the craziest thing,” a

smiling Ammendola said. “It was

a whirlwind, just kind of going in

there. You never want to see a

teammate go down, especially my

punter, my holder.

“But, you know, sometimes

you’ve just kind of got to step in

and just go about it.”

Mann sprained his left knee —

his plant leg — when he was rolled

into during his first punt in the

first quarter of New York’s 19-14

loss at Carolina on Sunday. With

the punter done for the day and

wearing a heavy brace on his leg,

the Jets turned to Ammendola.

And he did more than just fill in.

He was stunningly solid.

His second punt traveled an

eye-widening 65 yards.

“Kind of surreal,” Ammendola

said.

Next came kicks of 46, 37, 57

and 42 yards, helping keep the

Jets out of potentially awful field

position throughout the day. In a

weird twist, Ammendola never

got a chance to try a field goal or

extra point — the main reason he’s

on the team, of course — in his

NFL debut.

“Terrific job by him,” coach

Robert Saleh said. “I thought he

punted the heck out of it for not re-

ally practicing it. Showed no pale

face or anything. Just stepped

right in and did a really good job.

Hats off to him. Wish we could

have got him a field goal opportu-

nity in there somewhere, but

thought he did a great job.”

The punting gig was just a tem-

porary thing, though, for the

strong-legged, 24-year-old Am-

mendola. With Mann placed on in-

jured reserve and expected to be

sidelined four to six weeks, New

York signed veteran punter Tho-

mas Morstead, rather than have

Ammendola pull double duty

again.

Not that he would be opposed to

it. But he wouldn’t necessarily call

himself an NFL-caliber punter.

Not yet, anyway.

“It definitely takes a lot to be an

NFL specialist, for sure, especial-

ly a punter,” Ammendola said.

“Consistency is probably the word

I’d use as far as being a punter. I

definitely think if I could really fo-

cus just on punting in the offsea-

son, maybe over time, within a few

years. But, no, I don’t think I could

do it right just this second.

“Obviously, if need be, I’ll go out

there and do my best like I did

(Sunday), but that’s about all I can

say.”

JACOB KUPFERMAN/AP

New York Jets kicker Matt Ammendola punts against the CarolinaPanthers on Sunday. He averaged 48.5 yards over six punts.

Jets PK Ammendolahas stunning debutas pinch-hit punter

BY DENNIS WASZAK

Associated Press 65The yardage in Matt Ammendola’slongest punt in his first game on Sun-day with the New York Jets. Ammen-dola is the team’s placekicker and hadnever punted in a game in high schoolor college, but had to fill in for injuredpunter Braden Mann. Ammendola’spunt tied for second-longest in theleague this past week.

SOURCES: AP, NFL.com


SPORTSMixed results

Sitting out preseason helped some QBs,left others a little rusty ›› NFL, Page 23

Dodgers latest team to earn playoff spot ›› MLB, Page 20

let a regular-season game slip

away since 2018, and hadn’t lost

one at home since 2017.

Day says much can be learned

from the setback about players, as

well as about the team’s support-

ers, some of whom are quick to get

surly when the Buckeyes fail.

“You find out a lot about a lot of

people when adversity hits,” he

said. “You find out about their true

character.”

As Day noted after the game,

one loss isn’t fatal to Ohio State’s

bid to make the College Football

Playoff — anything less would be

Perennial powerhouse

Ohio State is not accus-

tomed to losing games

during the regular sea-

son. The Buckeyes especially

aren’t used to losing in September

to two-touchdown underdogs,

which happened last week.

So how will the Buckeyes, who

dropped from No. 3 to No. 9 in the

AP Top 25, respond?

“I know no one is used to losing

or anything like that but, you

know, we’ve just got to move on,

make corrections,” coach Ryan

Day said Tuesday. “The sun came

up, and we’re going to go from

there. It’s nothing that different

guys haven’t felt before. They’ve

lost games before.”

But not too often around here.

Before major defensive lapses

led to Saturday’s strange 35-28

loss to Oregon, Ohio State hadn’t

Sifting through the rubbleBuckeyes fixing mistakesfollowing rare home loss

BY MITCH STACY

Associated Press

PHOTOS BY JAY LAPRETE/AP

Above: Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud looks for an open receiver during last weekend’s 3528 loss toOregon in Columbus, Ohio. Right: Oregon defensive back Verone McKinley tackles Ohio State tight endJeremy Ruckert. The Buckeyes dropped from No. 3 to No. 9 in the latest Associated Press Top 25.

“You find out a lot about a lot ofpeople when adversity hits. You

find out about their true character.”Ryan Day

Ohio State head coach, referring to the Buckeyes’ 35-28 loss to Oregon

DID YOU KNOW?Ohio State’s 2014 team lost to

Virginia Tech at home in Week 2

but rebounded to run the table and

win the national championship.

SOURCE: Associated Press

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