OVEMBER Fun, in small doses

KHWAJA TAWFIQ SEDIQI/AP

Afghans inspect damage after a dronestrike in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Aug. 29.The U.S. strike killed 10 civilians.

WASHINGTON — Confirmation bias,

limited communication and a heightened

threat environment led to the military’s

Aug. 29 airstrike that mistakenly killed 10

Afghan civilians, Air Force Gen. Sami Said

said Wednesday, but no criminal negli-

gence was to blame.

Said, the Air Force inspector general, said

his review of the airstrike revealed no crim-

inal wrongdoing, instead calling it “an hon-

est mistake.” Operators believed they were

targeting a car with Islamic State fighters

and explosives when they launched the at-

tack, but further investigation revealed it

was a civilian vehicle with packages.

“I found given the information they had,

the analysis that they did — I understand

they reached the wrong conclusions — but

… was it reasonable to conclude what they

concluded based on what they had? It was

not unreasonable,” Said said.

Said was ordered in September to review

the drone strike investigation that revealed

three men and seven children were killed in

the attack that took place three days after 13

American troops died in an Islamic State at-

tack at the Hamid Karzai International Air-

port in Kabul.

U.S. and coalition troops were there evac-

Air Force IG: Limited communications, ‘confirmation bias’ led to deadly airstrikeBY CAITLIN DOORNBOS

Stars and Stripes

SEE AIRSTRIKE ON PAGE 7

Volume 80 Edition 145 ©SS 2021 CONTINGENCY EDITION FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2021 Free to Deployed Areas

stripes.com

FACES

New ‘Dexter’series exploresfamily bonds4

MILITARY

Marines looking formore experienced,well-trained forcePage 5

AUTO RACING

Larson on verge of NASCAR title incomeback seasonPage 24

17 detained after Istanbul protesters put hood on Navy civilian ›› Page 5

Hugs with friends. Birthday parties in-

doors. Pillow fights. Schoolchildren who got

their first COVID-19 shots Wednesday said

these are the pleasures they look forward to

as the U.S. enters a major new phase in

fighting the pandemic.

Health officials hailed shots for kids aged

5 to 11 as a major breakthrough after more

than 18 months of illness, hospitalizations,

deaths and disrupted education.

Kid-sized doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech

vaccine cleared two final hurdles Tuesday

— a recommendation from CDC advisers,

NOAH BERGER/AP

Finn Washburn, 9, shows his injection site as his mother, Kate Elsley, takes a photo shortly after he received a Pfizer-BioNTechCOVID-19 vaccine in San Jose, Calif., on Wednesday. The U.S. has made shots available to millions of children aged 5 to 11.

Fun, insmalldosesSome children celebrategetting their long-awaitedchance at COVID-19 shots

BY LINDSEY TANNER

Associated Press

RELATED

Europe bases prepare forkids, offer booster shotsPage 6

SEE SMALL ON PAGE 8

• S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Friday, November 5, 2021

BUSINESS/WEATHER

BANGKOK — Police in Thai-

land announced Wednesday the ar-

rest of the head of a company sus-

pected of cheating overseas buyers

of millions of dollars they paid for

undelivered medical rubber gloves

during the coronavirus pandemic.

Thai authorities have been

cracking down on a surge in rubber

glove fraud, including the sale of

substandard and used gloves.

Police Lt. Gen. Jirabhob Bhuri-

dej said Florida-based company

Rock Fintek filed a complaint that

Thailand’s Sufficiency Economy

City Co. failed to deliver 2 million

boxes of nitrile gloves worth $15.5

million for which it had paid a 40%

deposit.

He said two other companies,

from France and Hong Kong, also

filed complaints about Sufficiency

Economy City Co., which market-

ed gloves branded SkyMed.

The Thai company’s CEO, Kam-

pee Kampeerayannon, was arrest-

ed Tuesday on charges of fraud and

posting false information online, he

said. Kampee could not be contact-

ed Wednesday and his company

declined to comment.

In a separate case Tuesday, the

Thai attorney-general’s office an-

nounced that a Thai employee of

Paddy the Room Trading Co., Pi-

patpon Homjanya, was sentenced

to four years in prison.

The company had exported mil-

lions of substandard and in some

cases secondhand gloves to the

United States which were packed

without permission in boxes of a le-

gitimate glove producer, Thai offi-

cials said.

Thai firms accused of fraud in medical gloves salesAssociated Press

Bahrain82/79

Baghdad85/63

Doha86/73

Kuwait City85/71

Riyadh85/64

Kandahar

Kabul

Djibouti89/72

FRIDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Mildenhall/Lakenheath

50/43

Ramstein48/41

Stuttgart44/40

Lajes,Azores70/67

Rota63/48

Morón62/44 Sigonella

71/60

Naples64/57

Aviano/Vicenza55/41

Pápa48/42

Souda Bay72/66

Brussels51/42

Zagan44/41

DrawskoPomorskie

45/42

FRIDAY IN EUROPE

Misawa55/47

Guam84/81

Tokyo59/45

Okinawa77/73

Sasebo67/57

Iwakuni77/62

Seoul63/45

Osan65/47

Busan66/60

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

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

SATURDAY IN THE PACIFIC

WEATHER OUTLOOK

TODAYIN STRIPES

American Roundup ...... 11Comics .........................15Crossword ................... 15Faces .......................... 14Opinion ........................ 16Sports .................... 17-24

Military rates

Euro costs (Nov. 5) $1.13Dollar buys (Nov. 5) 0.8439British pound (Nov. 5) $1.33Japanese yen (Nov. 5) 111.00South Korean won (Nov. 5) 1150.00

Commercial rates

Bahrain(Dinar) 0.3770Britain (Pound) 1.3530Canada (Dollar) 1.2426China(Yuan) 6.3936Denmark (Krone) 6.4370Egypt (Pound) 15.7104Euro 0.8654Hong Kong (Dollar) 7.7846Hungary (Forint) 311.53Israel (Shekel) 3.1158Japan (Yen) 113.82Kuwait(Dinar) 0.3018

Norway (Krone) 8.5278

Philippines (Peso) 50.62Poland (Zloty) 3.98Saudi Arabia (Riyal) 3.7511Singapore (Dollar) 1.3507

South Korea (Won) 1184.83Switzerland (Franc) 0.9134Thailand (Baht) 33.31Turkey (NewLira) 9.7132

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

INTEREST RATES

Prime rate 3.25Interest Rates Discount rate 0.75Federal funds market rate 0.093-month bill 0.0530-year bond 1.99

EXCHANGE RATES

Friday, November 5, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 3

PACIFIC

YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan —

The central U.S. airlift hub in

western Tokyo could be the right

place for Japan Air Self-Defense

Force C-130H Hercules crews to

practice short takeoffs and land-

ings.

Thirteen Japanese airmen and

a U.S. instructor pilot assigned to

the 401st Tactical Airlift Squadron

at Komaki Air Base, Nagoya,

toured Yokota’s 36th Airlift

Squadron on Thursday.

The Japanese fliers arrived in a

green C-130H, a precursor to the

C-130J adopted by the Air Force

and flown from Yokota, the head-

quarters of the 5th Air Force and

U.S. Forces Japan.

Komaki, 40 minutes by air from

Yokota, was home to the 5th Air

Force in the 1940s and ‘50s.

Maj. Lucas Crouch, 39, of Green

Bay, Wis., the only American sta-

tioned at Komaki, accompanied

the Japanese aviators. He did two

tours at Yokota and speaks Japa-

nese.

“Their assault training capabil-

ities are very limited” at Komaki,

he said. “My idea was, let’s see if

we can train at Yokota.”

The Yokota runway is marked

to designate the length of an aus-

tere airfield where a pilot may

have to land during a natural di-

saster or conflict, Crouch said.

Marking Komaki’s runway

would be challenging since the

base shares it with civilian airlin-

ers, he said.

The 401st is Japan’s only Her-

cules squadron. The unit sent two

planes to help evacuate people

from Afghanistan this summer

and has participated in Operation

Christmas Drop since 2015,

Crouch said.

The Japanese airmen got a tour

of Yokota’s air traffic control tow-

er. They were not permitted by

their escort to answer questions

from Stars and Stripes.

Col. Kevin Martin, commander

of the 374th Operations Group,

showed Col. Hiroshi Fuji, com-

mander of the 1st Tactical Aircraft

Flight Group, the view from the

top.

“We welcome the opportunity

to work and train with the

JASDF,” Martin said. “We have

had a long-term relationship with

them on the C-130 side.”

The coronavirus pandemic has

meant fewer exchanges between

U.S. and Japanese forces since

last year, “but now that people are

vaccinated, we are trying to con-

tinue that,” he said.

SETH ROBSON/Stars and Stripes

Air Force 1st Sgt. Grant Krause shows Japanese airmen from Komaki Air Base, Nagoya, the control towerat Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo on Thursday.

Japan tactical airlifters eye USAFbase in Tokyo for flight training use

BY SETH ROBSON

Stars and Stripes

[email protected]: @SethRobson1

Philippines President Rodrigo

Duterte is pivoting his country

back to its longtime ally the United

States after years of wooing China

failed to bear fruit, according to

defense experts.

The maverick leader began his

term in 2016 by

hurling insults

at then-U.S. President Barack

Obama and offering warm words

to America’s strategic competi-

tors.

“I realign myself in your ideo-

logical flow and maybe I would al-

so go to Russia to talk to [President

Vladimir] Putin and tell him that

there are three of us against the

world — China, Philippines, Rus-

sia,” Duterte said that year on his

first trip to Beijing.

As he prepares to step down af-

ter six years in office, however,

the Philippine strongman has “ef-

fectively ended” his China-friend-

ly policy, a senior defense analyst

at the Rand Corp. argues.

“Now, just as easily as he

flipped one way, he’s flopping the

other,” Derek Grossman wrote in

a commentary posted Tuesday on

Rand’s website, “and he’s doing

his best to align the Philippines

with the United States again.”

The evidence for that includes

recent visits by top U.S. military

leaders, the Philippines’ endorse-

ment of the AUKUS defense pace

between Australia, the United

Kingdom and the U.S., and plans

for expanded bilateral military

exercises next year, Grossman

wrote.

In July 2020, Duterte autho-

rized his Department of Foreign

Affairs to call on China to recog-

nize an international tribunal’s re-

jection in 2016 of Beijing’s claims

to areas of the South China Sea in-

side the Philippines’ exclusive ec-

onomic zone.

He told the U.N. General As-

sembly two months later that the

ruling was “beyond compromise.”

During an online conference in

September, Philippine Ambassa-

dor to the U.S. Jose Manuel Ro-

mualdez said the U.S. and the Phi-

lippines “plan to move fairly

quickly” on facilities for U.S.

forces at five Philippine bases that

were authorized under the 2014

Enhanced Defense Cooperation

Agreement.

The head of U.S. Indo-Pacific

Command, Adm. John Aquilino,

visited the Philippines in late Au-

gust, and last month said the U.S.

wants to “increase the complexity

and scope” of exercises in the is-

lands and invite new partners to

join, Bloomberg reported Oct. 14.

Duterte’s pro-China policy

failed to clinch a deal on joint pro-

specting in the South China Sea or

persuade the Chinese to fund in-

frastructure projects in the Philip-

pines through its Belt and Road

initiative, Grossman wrote.

Meanwhile, China has contin-

ued to send its maritime militia in-

to waters claimed by the Philip-

pines and, in January, authorized

its coast guard to fire upon foreign

vessels.

In March, more than 200 Chi-

nese fishing boats moored at the

disputed Whitsun Reef.

“Duterte thought he could play

China against the U.S. but ended

up being played by China,” Ralph

Cossa, president emeritus of the

Pacific Forum think tank in Ha-

waii, said in an email Wednesday.

China made Duterte look bad

and never delivered on many of its

promises, he said.

“Meanwhile, support for U.S.

runs deep among Philippine peo-

ple and especially among mili-

tary,” he said, adding that the pro-

China, anti-U.S. position isn’t a

vote-getter in the Philippines.

The Philippines, however, can’t

afford to shun China, its biggest

trading partner, said Patricio Abi-

nales, a professor at the Universi-

ty of Hawaii’s School of Pacific

and Asian Studies, in an email

Wednesday.

“What the Philippines is doing

is returning to the pre-Duterte ap-

proach of dealing with China —

the international court, diplomatic

pressure,” Abinales said, “all of

which will irritate China, but not

to the point of ending a mutually

beneficial trading relationship.”

Duterte is turningPhilippines fromChina to US again

BY SETH ROBSON

Stars and Stripes

[email protected]: @SethRobson1

Rodrigo Duterte

ANALYSIS

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — A

group of Okinawa-based Ma-

rines were rescued by the Japan

Coast Guard after they were

sucked out to sea while snorkel-

ing, coast guard officials said.

The incident began shortly be-

fore 3:25 p.m. Saturday just off

Sosu Beach at Kunigami village

on the northeastern tip of Okina-

wa, a spokesman for the coast

guard’s 11th Regional Headquar-

ters told Stars and Stripes by

phone Thursday.

Five Marines from Camp

Schwab were snorkeling when

three of them were swept away

from shore, the spokesman said.

The Marines were plucked from

the ocean about two hours later

and delivered to the U.S. mili-

tary, he said.

“I am so glad that they didn’t

lose their lives,” another spokes-

man, from the Nakagusuku Coast

Guard Office, told Stars and

Stripes on Thursday. It’s custom-

ary in Japan for some govern-

ment officials to speak to the

media on condition of anonymi-

ty.

The five Marines were spotted

swimming and diving earlier

that afternoon by a group of Ja-

panese people camping nearby,

the Nakagusuku spokesman said.

Two Marines came ashore and

turned back to see the others be-

ing swept out. The most likely

culprit was a rip current, he said.

The three Marines, wearing

wetsuits and snorkels, waved for

help and the campers called

emergency services, the spokes-

man said. He did not have identi-

fying information for any of the

service members.

The trio was spotted around

5:10 p.m. and rescued 11 minutes

later by an MH977 AgustaWes-

tland helicopter, the headquar-

ters spokesman said. It landed at

the nearby Ada fishing port,

where they were picked up by

the Marine Corps.

Marine Corps Installations Pa-

cific did not immediately reply to

an email seeking comment on

Thursday.

“It is always good to check the

weather and terrain before going

out and be careful of rip cur-

rents,” the Nakagusuku spokes-

man said. “Moreover, never go

near water alone.”

Japanese Coast Guard rescues snorkelingMarines captured by Okinawa rip current

BY MATTHEW M. BURKE

AND MARI HIGA

Stars and Stripes

[email protected]: @[email protected]: @marihiga21


MILITARY

KADENA AIR BASE, Okinawa

— U.S. forces on Okinawa for the

first time joined their Japanese

military counterparts to rehearse

their unified response to a natural

disaster — a simulated earth-

quake Tuesday on a small, near-

by island.

This year’s Remote Island Di-

saster Exercise, or RIDEX, in-

volved about 200 Marines and

airmen from the III Marine Ex-

peditionary Force and Kadena

Air Base, along with 400 troops

from the Japan Self-Defense

Force, Air Force Capt. Matthew

Wilson, the 353rd Special Oper-

ations Wing’s director of medical

operations, told Stars and Stripes

this week.

A Japan Ground Self-Defense

Force spokesman for the Western

Army’s 15th Brigade summed up

the purpose of this year’s exer-

cise.

“We aim to improve the JSDF's

ability to respond to disaster sit-

uations in remote islands and to

strengthen cooperation with re-

lated organizations such as the

U.S. military,” he said on the cus-

tomary condition of anonymity.

Japan’s Self-Defense Forces

have held the island disaster ex-

ercise every year since 2014, ex-

cept last year, because of the pan-

demic, the spokesman said.

The exercise scenario involves

an earthquake off Okinawa’s

southeast coast. A second day of

drills involving the Self-Defense

Forces and Okinawa prefecture

was inexplicably canceled, the

spokesman said.

During the exercise Tuesday,

medical personnel from the two

nations confronted language bar-

riers under trying conditions.

“We pretty frequently will train

in scenarios in our small teams to

most effectively treat and move a

patient, so that’s less important to

us today,” said Lt. Col. Shana

Hirchert, 39, the senior flight

physician for the 353rd Special

Operations Wing. “This is pretty

unique that we can kind of inte-

grate our teams.”

The exercise began at Ukibaru

Island, less than five miles off

Okinawa’s east coast, Wilson said.

A mix of 20 Japanese and Amer-

ican troops simulating injuries

ranging from severe burns to bro-

ken bones were airlifted to the

amphibious transport dock JS

Kunisaki.

There they were triaged and

then flown to either Camp Naha,

a Ground Self-Defense Force

base, or Kadena.

From the Kadena flight line, a

converted bus carried the simu-

lated casualties to a medical tent

some distance away. Doctors and

paramedics of the special oper-

ations wing and the III MEF sur-

geon’s office jumped into render-

ing care, suturing wounds and

splintering breaks. Heart moni-

tors beeped and ventilators

whirred as fluids were hung and

sterile packages ripped open.

Leaders of the 15th Brigade ob-

served while their medical per-

sonnel worked through transla-

tors to process patients with less

severe injuries. One Japanese

soldier took an airman’s blood

pressure and recorded the re-

sults. The airman had a simulated

piece of metal sticking through

his already bandaged hand.

A patient was declared dead

and placed outside the tent, under

a blue tarp. The remaining pa-

tients were driven aboard the am-

bulance bus to U.S. Naval Hospi-

tal Okinawa at the Marine Corps’

Camp Foster.

Air Force Staff Sgt. Christoph-

er Andersen, 25, a medic with the

special operations wing, said the

training provided good insight in-

to Japanese military operations.

He said he was blown away by

their professionalism and organi-

zational skills.

“We understand that we’re

stronger together,” Wilson said.

“The more that we’re able to have

meaningful discussions and plan

for different engagements and

share that information, the better

off we are together.”

US, Japanese troops hold disaster exerciseBY MATTHEW M. BURKE

AND MARI HIGA

Stars and Stripes

[email protected]

MATTHEW M. BURKE/Stars and Stripes

A Japan Ground SelfDefense Force medic checks the vital signs of a U.S. airman acting as an earthquakevictim during the Remote Island Disaster Exercise on Okinawa, on Tuesday.

CAMP HUMPHREYS, South

Korea — Most South Koreans see

the alliance with the United States

as stable, a dramatic increase over

last year, according to an annual

poll from a government-funded

think tank.

The Seoul-based Korea Institute

for Defense Analysis polled 1,000

South Koreans, 67% of whom view

the alliance favorably. The figure

represents a “substantial” increase

from last year’s 47%, and the two

years prior to 2020.

“The relatively low level of sta-

bility perceived by the public dur-

ing these past few years implies

that they were concerned about the

disharmony between [South Ko-

rean President Moon Jae-in] and

the Trump administration over

North Korea policies,” Hong Sukji,

an institute fellow, wrote in her

analysis published Tuesday.

Foreign policy analysts ques-

tioned the relationship between the

two allies during President Donald

Trump’s tenure. Trump, who

railed against North Korea with

threats of “fire and fury” before

holding summits with its leader, al-

so criticized the U.S. trade relation-

ship with South Korea and de-

manded Seoul foot more of the bill

for stationing roughly 28,500

American troops on the peninsula.

“In contrast, the sharp improve-

ment in the sense of stability within

the alliance suggests that anxiety

regarding the [South Korea]-U.S.

Alliance is being alleviated due to

consistent signaling by the Moon

and Biden administration reaf-

firming their firm relations since

the inauguration of the Biden ad-

ministration in January 2021,”

Hong wrote.

Other evidence from the poll

suggests more South Koreans be-

lieve the U.S. would come to their

aid than in previous years. Asked if

the U.S. will be “fully committed to

the defense of South Korea if there

is a military provocation by North

Korea,” 77% of respondents said

they agreed, compared to 62% last

year.

Most respondents also viewed

the alliance as a positive force on

the peninsula: Nearly 94% said

they agreed it is “contributing to

the peace and stability of South Ko-

rea.”

However, the continued pres-

ence of U.S. troops in South Korea

in the event of a peace treaty with

the North may create mixed feel-

ings, the poll suggests. President

Moon, who must step down next

year because of term limits, has

prioritized a formal end to the 1950-

53 Korean War to normalize rela-

tions with Pyongyang.

About 35% respondents said U.S.

Forces Korea ought to remain in

the country, while another 40%

said “it should be decided based on

the circumstances after the signing

of a peace treaty.”

Another 21% said USFK troops

“should withdraw.”

The results demonstrate that

South Korea’s view of a USFK

withdrawal is incumbent “on the

circumstances and conditions” of

the political climate, rather than

merely the passage of a peace trea-

ty, Hong said in her analysis.

Critics have scrutinized Moon’s

push to end the Korean War and re-

main doubtful of substantial chang-

es by North Korea. The communist

regime has long lambasted the

joint military exercises conducted

by the two allies and has called for

the immediate withdrawal of U.S.

forces from the South.

The defense policy institute’s

poll was conducted between Sept.

10 and Oct. 14 and has a 3.1% mar-

gin of error.

Poll finds US alliance more popular withSouth Koreans under Biden than Trump

BY DAVID CHOI

Stars and Stripes

JERMAINE RALLIFORD/U.S. Navy

A South Korean sailor welcomes the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinsonto Busan, South Korea, in 2017.

[email protected] Twitter: @choibboy


MILITARY

The Marine Corps released anew plan Wednesday that says itmust overhaul how it recruits andretains Marines, suggesting forthe first time in decades thatthreats posed by China and otheradversaries require personnelchanges that could require someshrinking of the service to accom-modate a new emphasis on keep-ing trained personnel.

Gen. David Berger, comman-dant of the Marine Corps, said hesees no alternative but to pivotaway from a system that throughmultiple wars has prioritizedmassing a “young, physicallytough, replaceable force” that was“not all that highly skilled.”

For the past 35 years, Bergersaid, the service has turned overabout 75% of its force each year,rotating annually through thou-sands of young enlisted Marineswho join for four years, while oth-er services retain a higher per-centage of troops.

“We’re the anomaly, and webrag about it — and I think it’sworked for us,” Berger said. “Itwill not work for us going forward,I don’t think.”

Berger said the Marine Corps isgoing to have to “treat people like

human beings instead of invento-ry,” making it appealing for morewho already have experience tostay.

There is urgency to do so, hesaid, because rising challengessuch as China will require mature,experienced service memberswho possess multiple skills andcan act on their own in the absenceof communications with higherheadquarters.

The plan — titled “Talent Man-agement 2030” — amounts to asignificant cultural shake-up for aservice that once told Americansin recruiting advertisements thatthey were “looking for a few goodmen” and wouldn’t “promise youa rose garden.” It also calls for theservice to promote equity and di-versity among Marines, create“lateral” ways for people with cov-eted skills to join the service with-out starting at bottom ranks andreduce requirements for person-nel to move as frequently.

Additionally, the Corps plans toseek authorization next year to in-crease the duration of parentalleave available to its personnel.The plan calls for primary care-givers to be able to take up to ayear of leave, with a secondary ca-regiver receiving up to 12 weeks.

Marines announce plans toadjust recruiting, retention

The Washington Post

Turkish authorities detained 17members of a political organiza-tion after protesters put a hoodover the head of a U.S. Navy civil-ian in Istanbul.

Youth Union of Turkey, alsoknown as Türkiye Gençlik Birligi,posted a photo Tuesday to twoTwitter accounts, and in one post,the group claimed to have put a“sack on the head of an Americansoldier.”

In a statement, the Istanbul gov-ernor’s office said the 17 people de-tained had targeted a civilian em-ployee of a U.S. Navy ship that“came to our city as part of a portvisit,” according to Reuters.

USS Mount Whitney, the U.S.6th Fleet’s flagship, arrived in Is-tanbul on Monday and entered theBlack Sea on Thursday to join thedestroyer USS Porter.

In addition to putting the hood onthe civilian’s head, the group alsochanted “you are our enemy, andyou are not wanted here. … Yan-kee go home,” Reuters reported.

U.S. 6th Fleet didn’t commentThursday on the incident. At amedia briefing Wednesday, De-fense Department spokesmanJohn Kirby thanked Turkey for itsswift action and responsiveness.He referred further questions toTurkish authorities.

The United Statesand other NA-TO members and partners rou-tinely conduct military exercisesin the Black Sea.

Personnel from Naval Strikingand Support Forces NATO and 6thFleet, both under the command ofVice Adm. Gene Black III, wereaboard USS Mount Whitney, 6thFleet said in an Oct. 29 statement.

On Wednesday, the ship hosteda reception that included the U.S.ambassador to Turkey and variousTurkish dignitaries, according to6th Fleet. Black spoke at the recep-tion.

“It is very important to be hereand to deepen our maritime coop-eration. Turkey is a very valuableNATO ally,” he said. “Achievingeconomic prosperity in the BlackSea region depends on the stabilityto be achieved at sea.”

This isn’t the first time TGB hasprotested the U.S. by putting hoodsover Americans’ heads.

In 2014, it attacked a group ofservice members from the de-stroyer USS Ross who weredressed in civilian clothes. Theprotesters threw red paint on atleast one service member and putaplastic sack over his head, callinghim a murderer, the pro-govern-ment Turkish newspaper DailySabah reported.

The newspaper said puttinghoods on U.S. service members is

viewed as revenge for a 2003 inci-dent in Iraq, in which U.S. militarypersonnel detained and put hoodson Turkish soldiers operating aspart of a special operations team.

U.S. officials had accused thesoldiers of plotting to kill an Amer-ican-backed Iraqi official, TheNew York Times reported at thetime.

On its English-language web-site, TGB says it stands up for asecular and populist Turkey. Thegroup says it “was founded in or-der to unite Turkish youth — ig-noring whether they’re leftists orrightists — to defend the mother-land.”

Istanbul protesters place hood on Navy civilianBY ALISON BATH

Stars and Stripes

[email protected]: @alisonbath_

YOUTH UNION OF TURKEY (TÜRKIYE GENÇLIK BIRLIGI)/Twitter

Protesters shouting antiU.S. slogans surround and put a plastic bagover the head of a U.S. Navy civilian in Istanbul on Wednesday.


MILITARY

Some U.S. military medical

clinics in Europe have started of-

fering COVID-19 vaccine booster

shots to priority groups and are

preparing to provide the vaccine

to younger children within weeks,

health officials said Thursday.

People who are age 65 and ol-

der, adults with underlying med-

ical conditions and those who

work or live in high-risk settings,

including day care centers or

schools, are immediately eligible

for the booster shots at various

Army, Air Force and Navy clinics

in Europe, officials said.

So are all adults, regardless of

age or work status, who received

the one-dose Johnson & Johnson

shot at least two months ago. The

boosters are being made available

in accordance with Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention

guidelines.

Landstuhl Regional Medical

Center in Germany, the largest

U.S. Army hospital overseas, be-

gan vaccinating health care staff

with boosters last Friday, said Gi-

no Mattorano, a spokesman for

Regional Health Command Eu-

rope.

Army medical clinics in Europe

plan to open up booster appoint-

ments to eligible workers and

beneficiaries in one to two weeks,

Mattorano said. Details will be

posted on official web and social

media sites soon, he said.

The Navy in Italy, Spain and

Greece began offering boosters

this week, as did Ramstein Air

Base, Germany, which had its

first walk-in booster clinic for eli-

gible recipients Tuesday.

For those who received the two-

dose Pfizer or Moderna vaccine,

the booster is available six

months after the initial series.

The booster isn’t required by

the Defense Department but is

recommended, officials said.

Navy officials in Italy, Spain

and Greece said that while they

weren’t tracking numbers, inter-

est appeared high.

“Based on the early demand for

booster appointments in (the ap-

pointment portal), U.S. Naval

Hospital Naples (USNHS) ex-

pects most eligible members of

the Naval Support Activity Naples

community to elect to receive a

COVID-19 vaccine booster,” said

Tia McMillen, a Naval Medical

Forces Atlantic and Tidewater

spokeswoman.

NSA Naples, along with Naval

Air Station Sigonella in Sicily and

Naval Station Rota in Spain, were

offering Pfizer, Moderna and

Johnson & Johnson boosters and

allowing people to choose which

shot they wanted.

NSA Souda Bay in Greece is of-

fering only Pfizer but had ordered

the other two vaccines, McMillen

said.

Among Air Force bases, Mod-

erna and Pfizer boosters are

available by appointment at

Spangdahlem in Germany, offi-

cials said.

Ramstein Air Base has booster

walk-in clinics scheduled at

Building 2116, with Moderna

shots available Friday and both

Moderna and Pfizer on Nov. 19.

Interest is also expected to be

high at several locations for a two-

shot series of the Pfizer vaccine

available to 5- to 11-year-olds,

which the CDC endorsed Tues-

day.

Stuttgart has a clinic for young-

er children planned Nov. 19, if

supplies arrive on time. More

than 10,000 of the lower-dose

shots have been ordered, an Army

official said.

NSA Naples and NAS Sigonella

also said they had ordered the

Pfizer vaccine for 5- to 11-year

olds.

The Navy in Naples expects a

high turnout for the shots, based

on demand among children ages

12 to 17.

“Our overseas military commu-

nities are setting the standard for

population immunity to CO-

VID-19 as a key step towards end-

ing the pandemic,” Capt. Chad E.

McKenzie, commander of U.S.

Naval Hospital/Navy Medicine

Readiness and Training Naples,

said in a statement.

NSA Souda Bay officials said

they would immunize children as

requested. But they didn’t antici-

pate giving many pediatric CO-

VID-19 vaccinations because the

base is dependent-restricted.

Europe bases offer boosters, prep for kidsBY ALISON BATH

AND JENNIFER H. SVAN

Stars and Stripes

[email protected]: @[email protected]:@alisonbath_

SANTA ANA, Calif. — Military

veterans eligible for GI Bill benefits

at state and community colleges and

universities in California with CO-

VID-19 vaccination mandates may

have to drop classes and would like-

ly lose out on thousands of dollars in

monthly housing allowances if they

choose not to get the shot.

As the pandemic cleared out cam-

puses in 2020, legislators changed

rules that required veterans-turn-

ed-students to take at least some of

their classes in person, allowing full-

time virtual learning through this

December. Unless legislators do an-

other extension or make other

changes, those refusing the vaccine

who aren’t approved for religious or

medical exemptions at schools with

mandates, have said they will pause

their education or move out of state

or apply to private institutions with

less restrictive mandates.

The GI Bill requires veteran stu-

dents to take at least one class on-

campus to receive the full monthly

housing allowance of about $3,300,

which at most schools mirrors the

cost of living. If they don’t, the

amount they can receive drops to

$900.

Hunter Holub, an infantry Ma-

rine who served at Camp Pendleton,

Calif., between 2014 and 2018, said

he would choose to lose the money

and possibly stall his education rath-

er than take the vaccination. He is

studying marketing at Saddleback

Community College.

“I won’t sacrifice my religion,” he

said. “God comes first.”

GI Bill benefitsmay be lost ifstudents don’tget vaccinatedThe Orange County (Calif.) Register

The Air Force has granted 1,866 airmen and

Space Force guardians exemptions from the

mandatory coronavirus vaccination, the vast

majority for medical reasons, according to ser-

vice data released Wednesday.

The data also showed 8,486 active-duty air-

men and guardians remained unvaccinated

without an approved exemption as of Wednes-

day, one day after the Air Force’s deadline for

its troops to be fully vaccinated or request an

exemption. Among those unvaccinated service

members, 4,933 had requested a religion-

based exemption, but the service had yet to ap-

prove any religious accommodation as of

Wednesday, the data showed.

Service officials said 800 troops in the Air

Force and Space Force had outright refused

the vaccine without seeking an exemption,

leaving them exposed to potential punishment

including dismissal from the military. Howev-

er, the officials declined to provide further in-

formation, including whether the service had

discharged any of those individuals to date. Of-

ficials said earlier this week that the service

had kicked out 40 trainees — 23 in basic train-

ing and 17 in technical training — who declined

vaccination and issued them uncharacterized,

entry-level discharges.

The Air Force on Tuesday became the first of

the Pentagon’s military services to reach its

vaccination deadline for active-duty troops, af-

ter the Defense Department mandated in Au-

gust that its personnel receive the coronavirus

vaccine.

Defense Department civilians must be vac-

cinated by Nov. 22, while active-duty troops in

the Marine Corps and Navy must be vaccinated

by Nov. 28, and soldiers have until by Dec. 15.

National Guard and reservists have later

deadlines in each of the services. Air Force Na-

tional Guard members and reservists must be

fully vaccinated by Dec. 2, officials said. It

takes two weeks after one’s last shot to be con-

sidered fully vaccinated.

About 97% of the about 326,000 active-duty

airmen and guardians had received at least one

coronavirus injection as of Wednesday, ac-

cording to a service spokesperson, who spoke

on the condition of anonymity. About 96% of all

active-duty airmen and guardians were fully

vaccinated by Wednesday.

Vaccination rates were lower for the Re-

serve components. The data showed 90.5% of

the about 501,000 Air National Guard and Air

Force Reserve members were fully vaccinated

by Wednesday, and another 3.7% had received

at least one shot.

The Air Force spokesperson said mandatory

vaccinations were needed to ensure troops

could respond to issues around the globe when-

ever they are needed without the risk of serious

illness. More than 43,700 airmen and guardi-

ans have been diagnosed with the coronavirus

since last year, including six deaths among

them.

“This is a readiness issue,” the spokesperson

said.

The Air Force will spend 30 days reviewing

additional requests for medical and religious

exemptions to the vaccine, the service said in a

statement. Medical exemptions will be ap-

proved by service medical providers for a va-

riety of reasons, including issues such as an al-

lergy to a vaccine ingredient, officials said. Re-

ligious accommodations can be granted by

commanders.

Those with active requests seeking an ex-

emption, including an appeal of a command-

er’s decision, will not face punishment for not

being immunized until their case is closed, at

the earliest, the service said.

Those who are not fully vaccinated, includ-

ing those granted accommodations, must be

tested weekly in order to enter a Defense De-

partment facility, the Air Force said.

Service officials have yet to publicly de-

scribe precisely what will happen to those who

do not ultimately meet vaccination require-

ments, but they said commanders will be re-

sponsible for making punishment decisions.

Service members who fail to become vaccinat-

ed and do not receive an exemption could be

charged with failure to obey an order, Article

92 under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

A conviction for that offense can be punished

by a dishonorable discharge, pay forfeiture or

up to two years of jail time, according to the

UCMJ.

USAF grants more than 1,800 vaccine exemptionsBY COREY DICKSTEIN

Stars and Stripes

AMANDA RUSSELL/Georgia National Guard

Master Sgt. Tiffany Sneeze administers the coronavirus vaccination to an airman on June 8 onDobbins Air Force Base, Ga.

[email protected]: @CDicksteinDC

uating Americans and Afghans

from the country in the final days

of the U.S. military’s involvement

in Afghanistan.

“The issue here is to figure out

what we could have done better to

make sure this never happens

again,” Said said. “I never found

an instance where somebody is I

asked a question of ‘Why did you

decide that?’ and I got crickets or I

got an illogical answer.”

Said told reporters Wednesday

at the Pentagon that his investiga-

tion discovered “execution errors

combined with confirmation bias

and communication breakdowns

that regrettably led to civilian ca-

sualties.”

Confirmation bias happens

when a person interprets a series

of intelligence reports or other in-

formation in a way that supports

one assumption without consider-

ing alternate theories, Said said.

“You can interpret the intelli-

gence in a way that leads you to

further believe that this is the ve-

hicle of interest, but you can also

interpret it as benign,” Said said.

To address the issues, the classi-

fied report made three recom-

mendations to prevent similar

mistakes in the future.

The report recommended im-

plementing strike cell procedures

to mitigate the risk of confirma-

tion bias and sharing situational-

awareness information more

broadly across the strike cell and

with supporting elements operat-

ing elsewhere.

“[It] will provide better insight

and better cross-check of what ex-

actly are we looking at? What are

we seeing what else could it be?

Are we interpreting the intelli-

gence in an appropriate way or

not?” Said said.

The general said the timing of

the attack on U.S. forces caused

airstrike operators to be on high

alert for potential threats, contrib-

uting to a confirmation bias that

led to the military accidentally

targeting the civilians.

“With the attack that happened

three days prior ... you can imag-

ine the stress on the force is high

and the risk to force is high, and

not appreciating [the incident]

through that lens, I think would be

inappropriate,” Said said.

The report also recommended a

review of how strike cells assess

the presence of civilians in strike

zones after the investigation found

that a child was visible in video of

the targeted Kabul compound two

minutes before U.S. operators

launched the airstrike, Said said.

Said and his investigators were

able to see the child in the strike

zone’s video feed two minutes be-

fore the strike was launched, but

the child was “100% not obvious”

and went unnoticed by strike op-

erators.

“The physical evidence of a

child was apparent about the two-

minute point, but I’m just telling

you ... you have to be like, no kid-

ding looking for it,” Said said.

The target was a white Toyota

Corolla about 1.5 miles from the

airport that strike operators be-

lieved was filled with packages

containing explosives. U.S. offi-

cials in the hours after the attack

said secondary explosions after

the airstrike indicated that intelli-

gence was correct but Said said

further technical analysis con-

cluded they could have been pro-

pane tanks, not bombs.

Said said the report details oth-

er correlations the civilian car has

with the ISIS Corolla that made it

“reasonable to conclude that that

should be a vehicle of interest,”

but he could not provide further

information because the report is

classified. The actual Corolla as-

sociated with the terrorists was

never found.

“Individuals interviewed dur-

ing this investigation truly be-

lieved at the time that they were

targeting an imminent threat to

U.S. forces on [the airport],” Said

said. “The intended target of the

strike the vehicle — the white Co-

rolla, its contents and occupants —

were genuinely assessed at the

time to be a threat to U.S. forces.”

Said said he “didn’t find viola-

tions of law or the law of war,” but

the report will be sent to the chain

of command to decide whether

anyone should be held account-

able for the strike.

“I didn’t eliminate the possibil-

ity of accountability — that is com-

mander business,” Said said.

“They can decredential folks, they

can retrain folks, they can fire

folks, they can do a variety of dif-

ferent things. … The fact that I

didn’t call any individual out with

accountability, that doesn’t mean

the command won’t.”

Airstrike: New procedures are recommended in IG reportFROM PAGE 1

[email protected] Twitter: @CaitlinDoornbos


AFGHANISTAN

KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghan-

istan's Central Bank doubled the

cap on weekly withdrawals

Wednesday, a day after the Taliban

government banned all foreign

currency transactions.

The back-to-back decisions

come at a time of a continued dete-

rioration of the Afghan economy.

The Taliban portrayed the foreign

currency ban as a way of trying to

stabilize economy, and warned that

violators would be prosecuted.

Others suggested the ban could

be counterproductive. Much of Af-

ghanistan's economy revolves

around foreign trade, foreign aid

and remittances from abroad. The

local currency, the afghani, has de-

preciated since the Taliban take-

over of Afghanistan in August.

After the Taliban takeover, the

U.S. froze nearly $9.5 billion in as-

sets belonging to the Central Bank

and stopped shipments of cash. It

was part of a pressure campaign

aimed at getting Afghanistan's new

rulers to respect the rights of wom-

en and minorities.

In response, bank withdrawals

were capped at the equivalent of

$200 a week. Huge crowds formed

outside banks every day as Af-

ghans tried to get money for daily

needs.

On Wednesday, the Central

Bank announced the cap would in-

crease to the equivalent of $400 a

week, or $1,200 a month. The bank

said those who deposit money

starting Wednesday will be able to

withdraw funds without restric-

tions.

The economic situation remains

dire. The Taliban’s seizure of pow-

er resulted in an abrupt halt to most

donor funds. These disbursements

accounted for 45% of GDP and fi-

nanced 75% of state expenditures,

including public sector salaries. In

2019, total government expendi-

tures were nearly $11 billion. Hu-

manitarian agencies say they've

seen a sharp increase in hunger,

with a drought and the onset of win-

ter worsening the situation.

In addition to the economic

woes, the Taliban have also been

faced with a sharp rise in attacks by

its main rival, the extremist group

Islamic State. Hardest-hit has been

the ISIS stronghold of Jalalabad,

the capital of the eastern province

of Nangarhar.

On Wednesday, a roadside bomb

struck a Taliban patrol in Jalala-

bad, killing two people and wound-

ing three, witnesses said.

There was no immediate claim

of responsibility.

Afghan Central Bank doublescap on weekly withdrawals

Associated Press

BRAM JANSSEN / AP

Men wait in a line to receive cash at a money distribution organized bythe World Food Program in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Wednesday.


followed by a green light from Dr.

Rochelle Walensky, director of

the Centers for Disease Control

and Prevention.

At a Decatur, Ga., pediatrician’s

office Wednesday, 10-year-old

Mackenzie Olson took off her

black leather jacket and rolled up

her sleeve as her mother looked

on.

“I see my friends but not the

way I want to. I want to hug them,

play games with them that we

don’t normally get to,” and have a

pillow fight with her best friend,

Mackenzie said after getting her

shot at the Children’s Medical

Group site.

With the federal government

promising enough vaccine to pro-

tect the nation’s 28 million kids in

this age group, pediatricians’ of-

fices and hospitals began inoculat-

ing children, with schools, phar-

macies and other locations plan-

ning to follow suit in the days

ahead.

The atmosphere surrounding

the launch of shots for elemen-

tary-age students was festive in

many locations. California vac-

cine sites welcomed children with

kid-friendly motifs like inflatable

animals and handed out coloring

books and prizes. Vehicles lined

up before dawn at an Atlanta site

where a 10-year-old girl bounced

around her family’s car in excite-

ment.

Many pediatricians’ offices

were expecting strong interest in

the shots at least initially, but

health officials are worried about

demand tapering off. Almost two-

thirds of parents recently polled

by the Kaiser Family Foundation

said they would wait or not seek

out vaccines for their kids.

Brian Giglio, 40, of Alexandria,

Va., brought his 8-year-old son,

Carter, in for vaccination at Chil-

dren’s National Hospital in Wash-

ington, D.C., where kids with un-

derlying conditions got first dibs.

Carter has Type 1 diabetes that

puts him at risk for complications

if he were to become infected.

Giglio said the vaccine was “like

a hallway pass for us to begin liv-

ing life again.” And Carter said he

can’t wait to leave masks behind

once he’s fully vaccinated, so he

can smell the things he used to be

able to smell without it.

“I’m ready to trash it,” he said,

though the CDC still recommends

masks in schools and indoor pub-

lic spaces where virus activity is

high, even for the fully vaccinated.

Hartford Hospital in Connecti-

cut vaccinated seven youngsters

Tuesday night, minutes after

CDC’s director gave the OK, and

three more early Wednesday. One

girl squeezed her eyes shut and a

boy barely flinched as they got

their shots and other waiting kids

applauded.

The vaccine — one-third the

dose given to older children and

adults and administered with kid-

sized needles — requires two dos-

es three weeks apart, plus two

more weeks for full protection.

That means children who get vac-

cinated before Thanksgiving will

be covered by Christmas.

“The timing before winter holi-

days is very fortunate,” said Dr.

Jennifer Shu, whose Children’s

Medical Group office in Decatur,

Georgia, began vaccinating first

thing Wednesday. “This age group

will be able to spend holidays with

friends and family more safely

than they have been able to since

the start of the pandemic.”

KEITH BIRMINGHAM, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER/AP

Wren Nagata, 7, of Pasadena grimaces as he receives his vaccine from Jacqueline Valdez during an eventkicking off coronavirus vaccinations for children age 511 at Eugene A. Obregon Park in Los Angeles onWednesday.

Small: Kids roll up their sleeve for shotFROM PAGE 1

VIRUS OUTBREAK

Tens of millions of Americans

who work at companies with 100

or more employees will need to be

vaccinated against COVID-19 by

Jan. 4 or get tested for the virus

weekly under government rules

issued Thursday.

The Occupational Safety and

Health Administration said com-

panies that fail to comply could

face penalties of nearly $14,000

per violation.

The new requirements, which

were first previewed by President

Joe Biden in September, will ap-

ply to about 84 million workers at

medium and large businesses, al-

though it is not clear how many of

those employees are unvaccinat-

ed.

Tougher rules will apply to an-

other 17 million people who work

in nursing homes, hospitals and

other facilities that receive money

from Medicare and Medicaid.

Those workers will not have an op-

tion for testing and will need to be

vaccinated.

It was unclear how OSHA

planned to enforce the rules. A se-

nior administration official said

the agency would target compa-

nies if it gets complaints.

Workers will be able to ask for

exemptions on medical or reli-

gious grounds.

The release of the rules fol-

lowed weeks of regulatory review

and meetings with business

groups, labor unions and others.

The regulations form the corner-

stone of Biden’s most aggressive

effort yet to combat the spread of

COVID-19, which has killed more

than 740,000 people in the U.S.

OSHA drafted the rules under

emergency authority meant to

protect workers from an immi-

nent health hazard. Senior admin-

istration officials said the rules

preempt conflicting state laws or

orders, including those that ban

employers from requiring vacci-

nations, testing or the wearing of

face masks.

The administration will face an

immediate challenge from Re-

publican state officials who are ea-

ger to fight Biden in court. More

than two dozen Republicans serv-

ing as state attorneys general have

indicated they plan to sue, arguing

that only Congress can enact such

sweeping requirements under

emergency authority.

Last week, 19 states sued to stop

Biden’s narrower mandate that

employees of federal contractors

be vaccinated. That requirement

was scheduled to take effect Dec.

8, but the administration said

Thursday it will be delayed until

Jan. 4 to match the requirements

on other large employers and

health care providers.

Workers will need to receive ei-

ther two doses of the Pfizer or

Moderna vaccine or one dose of

the Johnson & Johnson vaccine by

Jan. 4. Unvaccinated employees

must submit a verified negative

test to the company at least once a

week and wear face masks on the

job.

Employees who test positive

must be removed from the work-

place.

OSHA will require businesses

to provide paid time off for em-

ployees to get vaccines and sick

leave to recover from side effects

that prevent them from working.

The requirements for masks and

paid time off for shots will take ef-

fect Dec. 5.

Because vaccines are free,

OSHA said, companies do not

have to provide or pay for tests.

US vaccine

rule will affect

84M workersBY DAVID KOENIG

Associated Press

LONDON — Britain granted conditional

authorization on Thursday to the first pill

shown to successfully treat COVID-19 so

far. It also is the first country to OK the

treatment from drugmaker Merck, al-

though it wasn’t immediately clear how

quickly the pill would be available.

The pill was licensed for adults 18 and ol-

der who have tested positive for COVID-19

and have at least one risk factor for devel-

oping severe disease, such as obesity or

heart disease. Patients with mild-to-moder-

ate COVID-19 would take four pills of the

drug, known as molnupiravir, twice a day

for five days.

An antiviral pill that reduces symptoms

and speeds recovery could prove ground-

breaking, easing caseloads on hospitals and

helping to curb outbreaks in poorer coun-

tries with fragile health systems. It would

also bolster the two-pronged approach to

the pandemic: treatment, by way of medica-

tion, and prevention, primarily through

vaccinations.

Molnupiravir is also pending review with

regulators in the U.S., the European Union

and elsewhere. The U.S. Food and Drug Ad-

ministration announced last month it would

convene a panel of independent experts to

scrutinize the pill’s safety and effectiveness

in late November.

Initial supplies will be limited. Merck has

said it can produce 10 million treatment

courses through the end of the year, but

much of that supply has already been pur-

chased by governments worldwide.

In October, U.K. officials announced they

secured 480,000 courses of molnupiravir

and expected thousands of vulnerable Brit-

ons to have access to the treatment this win-

ter via a national study.

“Today is a historic day for our country,

as the U.K. is now the first country in the

world to approve an antiviral that can be

taken at home for COVID-19,” British

health secretary Sajid Javid said.

“We are working at pace across the gov-

ernment and with the NHS to set out plans

to deploy molnupiravir to patients through

anational study as soon as possible,” he said

in a statement, referring to the U.K.’s Na-

tional Health Service. Doctors said the

treatment would be particularly significant

for people who don’t respond well to vacci-

nation.

UK authorizes Merck antiviral pill to treat COVID-19Associated Press


NATION

WASHINGTON — The hazard

lights are blinking for President

Joe Biden after Democratic set-

backs in this week’s elections, but

the president professes to see no

reason for panic.

Just one year after he rode to the

White House with a record 81 mil-

lion votes, Biden saw Democratic

stalwart Ter-

ry McAuliffe

fall to first-

time Repub-

lican candidate Glenn Youngkin

in the governor’s race in Virginia,

a state that Biden had won by 10

percentage points. In New Jersey,

incumbent Gov. Phil Murphy

barely won in a state that Biden

had won by 16 percentage points.

But with some on the left warn-

ing that Democrats face a five-

alarm fire, Biden is making the

case that the electorate’s mood —

and Democratic fortunes — will

improve when he gets Congress to

pass his domestic agenda.

“People need a little breathing

room. They’re overwhelmed. And

what happened was I think we

have to just produce results for

them to change their standard of

living and give them a little more

breathing room,” Biden said

Wednesday.

The president parsed the elec-

tion results after delivering re-

marks at the White House to show-

case federal approval of CO-

VID-19 shots for young children,

pronouncing it “a day of relief and

celebration” for families.

But even as he argued that his

administration was making pro-

gress in moving past the coronavi-

rus pandemic and that his domes-

tic spending plan is the balm to

soothe an angry electorate, the

president rejected the idea that

the Democrats’ poor showing at

the polls was linked to intraparty

delays in advancing a stalled $1

trillion infrastructure bill and a 10-

year, $1.75 trillion package of so-

cial and environmental initiatives.

Instead, Biden said, even if the

bills had passed ahead of Tues-

day’s election, it probably

wouldn’t have mattered much for

McAuliffe, who drew more votes

than any Democratic gubernato-

rial candidate in the common-

wealth’s history.

“I’m not sure that I would be

able to have changed the number

of very conservative folks who

turned out in the red districts who

were Trump voters,” Biden said.

“But maybe. Maybe.”

Voter surveys tell a different

story. Three-quarters of voters

said drawn-out negotiations in

Washington over Biden’s govern-

ing agenda were an important fac-

tor in their vote. Those voters were

more likely to back Youngkin, ac-

cording to preliminary results

from AP VoteCast, a survey of Vir-

ginia voters.

The president now sees his sup-

port diminished, with 47% of Vir-

ginia’s voters approving of his job

performance and 53% disapprov-

ing — a split similar to U.S. adults

nationwide in recent AP-NORC

polling.

Rep. Gerry Connolly, a Virginia

Democrat, said the results in Vir-

ginia, where GOP candidates also

won statewide races for lieutenant

governor and attorney general,

should be a wake-up call for Dem-

ocrats — and Biden — ahead of

2022 midterm elections in which

they are looking to protect razor-

thin majorities in the House and

Senate.

“I think the president’s tanking

approval rating really made it ve-

ry difficult for the ticket to rise

above that,” Connolly said,

Even as Virginia has trended

Democratic in recent years the sit-

ting president’s party has lost the

governor’s race in 11 of 12 elec-

tions there. In New Jersey, Mur-

phy’s slim victory marked the first

time an incumbent Democratic

governor was reelected in 44

years.

Biden looked at the results and

suggested no reset was necessary

for his White House.

He spoke with certitude of the

many factors grinding on Ameri-

cans as problems that would go

away if he could just get his agen-

da passed.

“If I’m able to pass, sign into law

my Build Back Better initiative,

I’m in a position where you’re go-

ing to see a lot of those things ame-

liorated quickly and swiftly,” the

president said.

Biden dismisses worry after tough electionAssociated Press

ANALYSIS

WASHINGTON — The FBI released hundreds of

pages of newly declassified documents Wednesday

about its long effort to explore connections between

the Saudi government and the Sept. 11 attacks, re-

vealing the scope of a strenuous but ultimately fruit-

less investigation whose outcome many question to

this day.

Agents for years investigated support given to sev-

eral of the hijackers upon their arrival in the U.S., fo-

cusing in particular on whether three Saudi nationals

— including a Saudi Embassy official in Washington

— had advance knowledge of the attacks.

Ultimately, investigators found insufficient evi-

dence to charge any of the three with illegally sup-

porting the hijackers, according to an FBI memo

from May that closed out the probe and was among

the more than 700 pages released Wednesday. The

FBI noted in the memo that al-Qaida compartmental-

ized the roles within its major attacks and “did not

make the attack plans known in advance to others”

for fear of word getting out.

“Specifically, in relation to the 9/11 attacks, the hi-

jackers knew there was a martyrdom operation, but

did not know about the nature of the operation until

shortly before the attack for operational security rea-

sons,” the FBI memo states.

The documents were the latest materials to be re-

leased under an executive order from President Joe

Biden aimed at making public long-classified investi-

gative reports related to the attacks. A separate in-

vestigative document was released on the 20th anni-

versary of the attacks in September. The records

have long been sought by victims’ relatives as they

sue in federal court in New York to try to prove that

the Saudi government was complicit, something Ri-

yadh officials have vigorously denied.

The Saudi Embassy in Washington did not respond

to a request for comment on Wednesday, but had is-

sued a statement in September calling any allega-

tions of complicity malicious and categorically false.

U.S. government investigations over the past two

decades have documented support given by Saudi

government officials to several of the hijackers upon

their arrival in the U.S., but have not produced clear

evidence that senior government leaders helped plot

the attacks. The FBI memo closing out the investiga-

tion says the bureau “has not identified additional

groups or individuals responsible for the attack other

than those currently charged.”

FBI has releaseddeclassified docson 9/11 attacks

Associated Press

JOHN MINCHILLO/AP

A firefighter places his hand on the nameengravings on the south pool during ceremonies tocommemorate the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11terrorist attacks, Sept. 11, 2021, in New York.

At least seven people who at-

tended the pro-Trump rally on

Jan. 6 in Washington that preced-

ed the insurrection at the U.S.

Capitol were elected to public of-

fice Tuesday.

BuzzFeed News first reported

last week that at least 13 Republi-

cans who traveled to Washington

on Jan. 6 to protest the results of

the 2020 election were running for

office this year. None were

charged with crimes, and all de-

nied being part of the pro-Trump

mob that stormed the Capitol to

try to stop the certification of Joe

Biden’s electoral college win. The

attack resulted in five deaths and

left some 140 members of law en-

forcement injured.

On Tuesday, three of those 13

Republicans — Dave LaRock,

John McGuire and Marie March

— were elected to the Virginia

House of Delegates, as first re-

ported by HuffPost. LaRock and

McGuire won reelection, while

March won an open seat.

“We’re in a very conservative

district, and a lot of people do like

Donald Trump,” March, a restau-

rant owner, told The Associated

Press on Wednesday. “He was the

sitting president of the United

States of America at the time. We

went to see him speak.”

March told the AP she did not

regret participating in the rally.

According to HuffPost, other

Jan. 6 rallygoers who won elected

office Tuesday include Christine

Ead for the Watchung, N.J., city

council; Natalie Jangula for the

city council in Nampa, Idaho; Mat-

thew Lynch for the local school

committee in Braintree, Mass.;

and Susan Soloway for reelection

to the board of directors in Hun-

terdon County, N.J.

According to the Idaho Press,

Jangula said participating in the

Jan. 6 rally was a “once-in-a-life-

time opportunity to show support

for our country.” Lynch, a former

teacher who resigned after a pho-

to surfaced of him at the rally, told

Patch, a local news organization,

that the FBI had visited him twice

after that day. It is unclear wheth-

er he entered the Capitol. Solo-

way, meanwhile, faced a Change-

.org petition calling for her to step

down from her county’s governing

body after it was revealed that she

was at the rally.

Some Jan. 6 rallygoerswon public office roles

The Washington Post


NATION

NEW YORK — After Sister

Barbara Battista, a Roman Ca-

tholic nun staunchly opposed to

the death penalty, agreed to ac-

company a condemned man at his

execution in federal prison, she

wondered doubtfully, “Am I just

part of this whole killing ma-

chine?”

“The answer is ‘No,’ ” she de-

cided, proceeding with her mis-

sion to the death chamber in

Terre Haute, Ind., where in Au-

gust 2020 Battista said a silent

prayer while witnessing the le-

thal injection of Keith Dwayne

Nelson, convicted of kidnapping,

sexually assaulting and killing a

10-year-old girl.

“No matter how heinous the

act, no matter how much I’m op-

posed to it, that person deserves

to have someone who is there sim-

ply because they care,” she said.

Battista’s name is now on a

friend-of-the-court brief submit-

ted to the U.S. Supreme Court by

the American Civil Liberties

Union. Along with other spiritual

advisers and former corrections

officials, Battista argues against a

Texas policy that prohibits a

Southern Baptist pastor from

praying aloud and laying hands

on a condemned man, John Rami-

rez, as he is executed.

Ramirez, sentenced to death

for the 2004 murder of a conve-

nience store clerk, was scheduled

to be executed Sept. 8, but the Su-

preme Court ordered a delay to

consider claims that restrictions

on the pastor’s role would violate

his religious liberties. Oral argu-

ments are scheduled for next

Tuesday.

The ACLU has a long history of

opposing the death penalty and

also says that condemned prison-

ers, even at the moment of execu-

tion, have religious rights.

“If the state is going to engage

in this practice, it should make

every effort to honor the dignity

and religious liberties of those it

plans to kill,” said Daniel Mach,

director of the ACLU Program on

Freedom of Religion and Belief

Intriguingly, the ACLU’s posi-

tion in the Ramirez case is echoed

by some conservative religious

groups that support the death

penalty and are often at odds with

the ACLU on other issues, for ex-

ample in cases where religious

conservatives believe they have a

right to discriminate against

LGBTQ people.

The Southern Baptist Conven-

tion has an official position sup-

porting “the fair and equitable

use of capital punishment.” Last

month the SBC joined six other

faith-based groups in a friend-of-

the-court brief making the same

argument as the ACLU — that

Ramirez’s pastor, Dana Moore,

should be able to lay hands on him

and pray aloud during the execu-

tion.

“Religious freedom doesn’t

end as you approach the moment

of death,” said Brent Leather-

wood, acting president of the

SBC’s public policy arm. “The

state has yet to make a compelling

reason for why Pastor Moore can-

not minister to Mr. Ramirez in

these final moments.”

Texas allows spiritual advisers

into the execution chamber but

bars them from praying audibly

or being by the condemned in-

mate’s side. In its arguments to

the Supreme Court, Texas said

granting Ramirez’s request

would be a step toward enabling

federal courts to “micromanage”

details of execution protocol.

In some cases, states still em-

ploying capital punishment have

made adjustments to comply with

court orders regarding spiritual

advisers.

In February, for example, the

Supreme Court blocked Alabama

from executing Willie Smith III

— convicted of the 1991 abduction

and murder of a 22-year-old

woman — unless it allowed his

personal pastor to be present in

the execution chamber. Alabama

complied; Smith was executed

Oct. 21 with the pastor, Robert

Wiley, by his side.

Efforts to provide condemned

prisoners with spiritual comfort

at their executions have been ec-

umenical.

In 2019, the Supreme Court

blocked Texas from executing a

Buddhist prisoner unless he was

allowed to have a Buddhist priest

at his side. The same year, the

high court allowed Alabama to

execute a Muslim inmate, Dom-

ineque Ray, even though his spir-

itual adviser was not allowed to

be present; the court said Ray

was too late in making his re-

quest.

In the past year, Yusuf Nur, a

Muslim professor of business

who teaches at Indiana Universi-

ty Kokomo, was the spiritual ad-

viser at two federal executions of

Muslim inmates. He was present

— and permitted to say a tradi-

tional Islamic prayer aloud — for

the executions of Orlando Hall in

November 2020 and Dustin Higgs

in January 2021.

“When I first got recruited to

talk to a young guy who accepted

Islam in prison, I went to see

him,” Nur told The Associated

Press. “My feeling was that if this

person wants somebody to talk to,

and the U.S. government is plan-

ning to execute him, I’d do what-

ever I can to contribute so they’re

spiritually strong.”

Nur, who opposes capital puni-

shment, said he was moved by the

atmosphere in the death chamber

for Hall’s execution, given that

the others present were “people

who came to execute him.”

“To have a friendly face makes

a difference to the person being

executed,” Nur said. “I’m glad I

did it even though it was traumat-

ic to witness a human being killed

right in front of your eyes. I would

do it again.”

Nur has shared his convictions

with Battista, whose order — the

Sisters of Providence of Saint Ma-

ry-of-the-Woods — is based just

10 miles from the federal prison

complex in Terre Haute. All four

lethal injections she and Nur at-

tended were part of the federal

government’s unprecedented

run of 13 executions in six months

at the end of the Trump adminis-

tration.

Currently, Battista, 64, is deep-

ly engaged in anti-racism activ-

ities, but she was often on the

front line in vigils outside the

prison protesting recent federal

executions. She’s grateful to have

had the opportunity to accompa-

ny Nelson and a second con-

demned man, William Emmett

LeCroy, at their executions last

year.

“Yes, I had some doubts. ... but I

know that through my prayer, my

interaction with these men, I was

there for them,” she said. “That

person deserves to have some-

body with them who is the face of

love.”

In LeCroy’s case, Battista said

he asked her to pray for him, and

she informed the executioner

that she would be doing so —

aloud.

The prayer was the Chaplet of

Divine Mercy. Its closing passage

includes the words “Eternal God,

in whom mercy is endless … look

kindly upon us and increase Your

mercy in us, that in difficult mo-

ments we might not despair nor

become despondent.”

Spiritual advisers offer comfort at executionBY DAVID CRARY

Associated Press

MICHAEL CONROY/AP

Sister Barbara Battista holds a photo taken during her last visit with Keith Dwayne Nelson, after he wasexecuted at the federal prison complex in Terre Haute, Ind., on Aug. 28, 2020.

PHILADELPHIA — The mayor ordered

police Wednesday to stop pulling over driv-

ers for low-level offenses that critics say

lead to disproportionate stops of minority

drivers, making Philadelphia the largest

city government in the U.S. to ban what are

sometimes called pretextual stops.

The executive order from Mayor Jim

Kenney puts a bill passed last month by the

City Council — called the Driving Equality

Bill — into effect. It bans officers from pull-

ing over vehicles solely for a handful of traf-

fic offenses deemed “secondary viola-

tions,” such as improperly displayed regis-

tration or inspection stickers, and single

broken taillights.

Advocates for law enforcement say such

stops can uncover illegal drugs and weap-

ons, noting that the U.S. Supreme Court

ruled in 1996 that they were acceptable. But

critics say the practice has led to Black and

Latino motorists being unfairly stopped and

searched at high rates and sometimes being

detained for small infractions.

It has also led to a handful of high-profile

deaths. Sandra Bland in Texas, Walter Scott

in South Carolina and Daunte Wright in

Minnesota were all initially pulled over for

pretextual stops.

At least two prosecutor’s offices in Min-

nesota have said they will no longer prose-

cute motorists charged with other crimes

resulting from pretextual stops.

Municipalities smaller than Philadel-

phia, the nation’s sixth-most populous city,

have issued similar bans, and the state of

Virginia banned stops solely for infractions

like smelling marijuana, overly tinted win-

dows or objects hanging from the rearview

mirror.

The Defender Association of Philadel-

phia projected that the enforcement change

could mean as many as 300,000 fewer police

encounters a year. The order also put into

effect a second bill passed by the City Coun-

cil requiring Philadelphia to collect and

publish data on traffic stops, including the

reason for the initial stop, the demographics

of the driver and passengers, and the loca-

tions of those stops.

In 2011, the city settled a policing discrim-

ination lawsuit that alleged Philadelphia of-

ficers illegally targeted Black residents for

pedestrian searches. Reform advocates

have argued in recent years that because

those pedestrian stops have been closely

monitored, officers turned to pretextual

traffic stops to conduct the same barred

searches on Black drivers instead.

Philadelphia bans traffic stops for minor infractionsAssociated Press


AMERICAN ROUNDUP

Ruling: Policy, not DNA,decides paternity claims

AZ PHOENIX — An Arizo-

na court says state law

comes down in favor of a man who

voluntarily acknowledged paterni-

ty of a child and not another man

shown by DNA results to be the

child’s genetic father.

The state Court of Appeals

decision Tuesday said Arizona law

law clearly declares the impor-

tance of providing “permanency

and stability for a child” and that a

voluntary acknowledgment of pa-

ternity “creates a presumption of

paternity like that arising from a

marriage or a birth certificate.”

Arizona law sets strict limits on

legal grounds and timeframes for

contesting voluntary acknowledg-

ments of paternity, and those crite-

ria weren’t met by the man shown

by DNA results to be the genetic fa-

ther, the decision said.

According to the decision, the

mother said either man might have

been the father and neither man

knew of the other’s relationship

with the mother during the period

when conception occurred.

Man gets 17 months forbribing postal workers

NJ NEWARK — A New Jer-

sey man was sentenced to

17 months in prison for bribing

postal workers to steal packages.

Jabre Beauvoir, 23, had pleaded

guilty in June to one count of brib-

ery. U.S. District Judge Kevin

McNulty imposed the sentence

Tuesday and also ordered Beau-

voir to pay restitution of about

$24,000.

The U.S. attorney’s office alleged

that in the summer of 2019 Beau-

voir bribed U.S. Postal Service em-

ployees in Elizabeth to steal mail

containing checkbooks and credit

cards, usually paying them $100

per package.

Prosecutors alleged that Beau-

voir and others then used the

checks and credit cards to fraudu-

lently obtain money. Two Elizabeth

postal workers have pleaded guilty

and await sentencing.

2 roofers electrocutedafter ladder touched lines

NH DERRY — Two work-

ers from a roofing com-

pany were electrocuted when their

ladder came into contact with over-

head wires in Derry, police said.

The men suffered life-threaten-

ing injuries Monday night and were

taken to separate hospitals in Bos-

ton, police said. Their conditions

weren’t immediately known.

The Occupational Health and

Safety Administration is investigat-

ing.

31 tornadoes breaksstate’s October record

OK OKLAHOMA CITY —

A total of 31 tornadoes

last month was a record-high for

October in Oklahoma dating to

1950, according to the National

Weather Service.

The previous high for October,

the fifth most active month for tor-

nadoes, was 27 in 1998, according to

weather service records. Those re-

cords show that March-June are

the four most active months for

twisters in Oklahoma.

The most powerful of last

month’s tornadoes was an EF2 that

struck Oct. 10 near Anadarko with

wind speeds of 113-157 mph. The

twister was one of 17 recorded in

the state that day as strong storms

also spawned tornadoes and severe

weather in parts of Arkansas, Kan-

sas, Missouri and Texas.

Another 13 tornadoes were

recordedon Oct. 12-13, and one was

recorded on Oct. 27.

No deaths were reported from

the October Oklahoma twisters.

Lack of pedestrian bridgedelays school opening

HI KIHEI — A new high

school on Maui won’t be

welcoming students as planned

next fall because the state Depart-

ment of Education didn’t build a pe-

destrian bridge to the campus.

The state Land Use Commission

on Thursday voted unanimously to

stick to its earlier decision to re-

quire the state to build the bridge

over Piilani Highway to Kihei High

School, Hawaii News Now

reported. That means the school

won’t be able to open for the fall

2022 semester.

The busy highway separates the

school from neighborhoods where

many students live. Currently, pub-

lic school students in Kihei are en-

rolled at Maui High School, which

is overcrowded. There are some

charter school options in the area.

The commission in 2013 said ei-

ther a pedestrian overpass or an

underpass would be required for

safety.

Adepartment spokesperson said

the department is assessing its next

steps.

Pilot program testselectric school buses

VT FAIRFAX — Some Ver-

mont school districts are

using electric school buses this fall

as part of a pilot project to test their

effectiveness.

Gov. Phil Scott and education

leaders recently celebrated the in-

troduction of four electric buses in

Fairfax with more expected to ar-

rive next month. The buses also be-

ing used by the Champlain Valley

School District and the Barre Uni-

fied Union District will start using

them next month.

The goal is to reduce greenhouse

gas emissions and ultimately save

school districts money, officials

said. An emissions settlement with

Volkswagen is funding most of the

project. The school districts each

get two buses.

Bus driver Patsy Parker said the

electric buses are quieter than die-

sel models, which she believes

makes her young passengers quie-

ter, too.

Wild horse dies fromcontaminated water

NC COROLLA — Contami-

nated water is being

blamed for the death of a wild horse

on North Carolina’s Outer Banks.

The Corolla Wild Horse Fund an-

nounced that an 8-year-old stallion

known as Taco died last week. The

horse was known because of a lump

he had on his hip. He’s the fourth

stallion in the last two years to die

due to bacteria or other contami-

nants in the water, the group said.

“Every single loss is a tragedy

when you have such a small pop-

ulation to begin with, but some hit a

bit harder than others,” the group

wrote. “Taco had such a big person-

ality.”

Officials have collected water

from various locations in the

horse’s territory and will send it out

for testing.

2 more school districtsdropping Indian mascots

MI HARTFORD — Two

more Michigan school

districts are dropping Indian nick-

names and images.

Saranac in Ionia County and

Hartford in Van Buren County are

the latest to make the change.

Hartford Superintendent Kelly

Millin said the district, known as

the Indians, was greatly influenced

by members of the Pokagon Band

of Potawatomi. The Indian mascot

will no longer be used by the end of

the school year.

“What once served as a repre-

sentation for culture, no longer car-

ries the same point of pride for all

that see it, and we have been asked

to change our Native American lo-

go and mascot,” Millin said in a let-

ter to the community.

The Saranac school board last

week voted to “respectfully retire

the Redskin mascot.”

Camden-Frontier schools in

Hillsdale County and the Sandusky

district in Sanilac County still call

themselves Redskins, MLive.com

reported.

More Michigan districts still use

“Indians.”

DAVID CRIGGER, BRISTOL (VA.) HERALD COURIER/AP

Workers with Bristol Virginia Utilities spent part of Monday stringing lights around the Christmas tree in downtown Bristol, Va. The 39th annualBristol Christmas tree lighting is scheduled for Nov. 29.

Lights, camera, action

THE CENSUS

19 The number of families on the Gulf Coast that have been leftwithout a home after Pascagoula, Miss., condemned a dec-

ades-old motel. WLOX-TV reported that Pascagoula officials said Crown Innhad structural problems, safety hazards and code violations. Several residentssaid they received no warning that the building would be closed. Open DoorsHomeless Coalition, United Way and Church on the Rock have been workingwith the city to set up temporary homes for the displaced residents.

From The Associated Press


WORLD

ing factory” and took aim at what

he called American aggression in

the region, declaring that “chil-

dren of this nation (Iran) will

stand bravely against any power

that wants to damage their inter-

ests.”

Gathered Iranians waved flags

and raised portraits of Gen. Qas-

sem Soleimani, the powerful

commander killed in early Janu-

ary 2020 in an American drone

strike in Baghdad ordered by

Trump.

A large American flag was

spread on the street, forcing those

marching to walk over it.

Long-simmering tensions be-

tween the U.S. and Iran have

flared again in recent months af-

TEHRAN, Iran — Thousands

of Iranians gathered on Tehran

streets Thursday for the anniver-

sary of the 1979 seizure of the U.S.

Embassy, chanting “Death to

America” and “Death to Israel,”

and burning American and Israe-

li flags. The embassy takeover

triggered a 444-day hostage crisis

and break in diplomatic relations

that continues to this day.

The government-organized

commemoration, long a venue for

voicing anti-Western sentiment,

typically draws angry crowds

each year. Last year, authorities

canceled the event due to the still-

raging coronavirus pandemic but

on Thursday, state TV said that

800 cities across Iran staged dem-

onstrations.

Protesters hoisted an effigy of

President Joe Biden wearing a T-

shirt emblazoned with the Star of

David, drops of red paint drip-

ping from its mouth. It wasn’t

clear whether the demonstrators

were trying to make a point or

were simply recycling old props

from their 2019 parade, but the

figure’s mop of orange hair re-

sembled that of the effigy of for-

mer President Donald Trump

used at the rally two years ago.

In a lengthy speech to the

crowds, Gen. Hossein Salami,

chief of the paramilitary Revolu-

tionary Guard, denounced the

United States as a “dictator-mak-

ter Iran’s election of ultracon-

servative President Ebrahim Rai-

si, which brought hard-liners to

power across every branch of

government and stalled Tehran’s

negotiations with world powers to

revive its now-tattered 2015 nu-

clear deal.

Iran marks anniversary oftakeover of US Embassy

VAHID SALEMI/AP

A mock U.S. flag is set on fire by demonstrators in a rally in front ofthe former U.S. Embassy commemorating the anniversary of its 1979seizure in Tehran, Iran, on Thursday.

Associated Press

CANBERRA, Australia — Cleo

Smith was back to her laughing,

bubbly self as she played in the

backyard of her Australian west

coast family home on Thursday,

hours before a 36-year-old strang-

er was charged with abducting the

4-year-old from a camping tent

more than two weeks ago.

Police charged Terry Kelly, a

local resident, with forcibly taking

achild among other offenses, a po-

lice statement said.

Kelly appeared briefly in court

in the town of Carnarvon where a

magistrate refused to release him

on bail.

Police visited Cleo’s family in

Carnarvon as they prepared to

gather crucial eyewitness evi-

dence involving Kelly, who is sus-

pected of snatching her from a

campground north of the town of

5,000 people on Oct. 16.

“I can only see her on the out-

side, but from that point of view,

I’m amazed that she seems to be so

well-adjusted and happy, and it

was really ... heartwarming to see

that she’s still bubbly and she’s

laughing,” Detective Senior Ser-

geant Cameron Blaine said.

“I’m sure that it has had an im-

pact, but just to see her behaving

quite naturally like a 4-year-old

girl should do and just enjoying

being in the presence of her little

sister and her family was good,”

Blaine added.

Blaine was part of a four-mem-

ber police team that used a batter-

ing ram to smash into a locked

house early Wednesday and res-

cue Cleo. The lights were on and

she was alone playing with toys in

a house less than a 10-minute

drive from her own, police said.

“My name is Cleo,” the smiling

girl told the police officers who

rescued her and asked her name

as confirmation that they had

found the right child.

Kelly was arrested in a nearby

street at about the same time, po-

lice said.

Man charged with abducting4-year-old girl in Australia

Associated Press

BRUSSELS — The European

Union announced on Wednesday

that talks between world powers

and Iran to revive the troubled

2015 Iran nuclear deal will resume

in Vienna on Nov. 29.

The EU said the meeting of the

commission of the so-called Joint

Comprehensive Plan of Action

will be attended by high-level offi-

cials from Iran, China, France,

Russia, Germany and Britain.

“Participants will continue the

discussions on the prospect of a

possible return of the United

States to the JCPOA and how to

ensure the full and effective im-

plementation of the agreement by

all sides,” a statement said.

The JCPOA was aimed at curb-

ing Iran’s nuclear activity in ex-

change for the lifting of crippling

sanctions. The U.S. pulled out of

the accord under former Presi-

dent Donald Trump and reim-

posed sanctions on Iran.

European nations have tried to

bring the U.S. back into the nucle-

ar accord, but their efforts had

been frustrated so far by the un-

willingness of Tehran’s new har-

dline government to resume for-

mal talks that would include reo-

pening parts of the 2015 deal.

President Joe Biden and Eu-

ropean leaders criticized Tehran

last week for what it saw as accel-

erated and provocative nuclear

steps as Iran continues to enrich

uranium to near-weapons-grade

levels.

EU says talks on 2015 Iran nuclear deal to resume Nov. 29Associated Press


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FACES

America’s favorite serial killer is hiding out in

upstate New York when we finally catch up to

him. The good news is he hasn’t killed anyone

in a decade. The bad news is his knife skills

are still top-notch.

Michael C. Hall, who plays the troubled hero of the “Dex-

ter” series, steps back into the role with Showtime’s “Dex-

ter: New Blood,” resurrecting one of TV’s darkest charac-

ters after an eight-year break and an ending that many

found unsatisfying. It starts Sunday in the U.S., and Nov. 9

on AFN-Spectrum (check local listings).

“The fact that the ending of the series was both open-end-

ed and unsatisfying was part of the motivation to come back

and revisit the character with all this time having passed

and find out more definitively what happened to him,” says

Hall.

The new series isn’t a ninth season, but a departure. Dex-

ter Morgan has abandoned warm and bustling Miami for

the fictional small town of Iron Lake, N.Y. The 10-episode

series takes place over 17 days in the icy winter, as blood

mixes with snow.

Dexter may have left a trail of corpses in Florida, but in

New York, he’s managed to keep his murderous impulse —

he calls it his Dark Passenger — in check for 10 years.

There are fewer than 3,000 residents in his new town and

few secrets. He’s got a job at a fish and game outfitter —

access to guns and knives — and is even dating the chief of

police. They line-dance to a Blondie song at the local bar.

But not all is calm. His dead sister — played by Jennifer

Carpenter — haunts Dexter. And the arrival of his long-lost

son, Harrison — now a moody teen with lots of questions

about why he was abandoned by his dad — forces Dexter

out of his comfort zone.

“People are going to die. We know all of that. I wanted to

present Michael with a theme, and the theme, which is very

dear to me, is fathers and sons,” says showrunner and exec-

utive producer Clyde Phillips.

Hall notes that the arrival of Dexter’s son coincides with

the bubbling out of his murderous impulses: “A sort of door

to his humanity that he’s shut is opened, but you can’t selec-

tively open internal doors. They all open and everything

starts to get out.”

In addition to coming to grips with fatherhood, Dexter is

both fearful and excited by the notion that his son also might

have a Dark Passenger. Is his murderous streak genetic? Or

does it have to do with both of them experiencing horrific

events when they were infants?

“The lines remain blurred and the blacks and whites turn

to gray,” says Hall. “And that’s a part of what the show al-

ways does, and where the show always lived, I think.”

While the nature-versus-nature debate takes center

stage, the series also delves into opioid abuse, bullying,

school shootings and climate change. Throughout is its

trademark dark humor. In one scene, Dexter butchers a

body while the Christmas song “God Rest Ye Merry Gentle-

men” is sung by a choir. “Sorry about the mess,” he tells the

victim. “I’m out of practice.”

Eagle-eyed fans will watch as Jack Alcott, who plays Har-

rison, mimics many of Dexter’s behaviors, like the way he

eats his food aggressively or the similar ways they sleep or

cross a room.

“It’s all reminiscent,” says Phillips. “But does he have the

essence of Dexter? Does he have the Dark Passenger? And

that’s the big question for the season.”

“Dexter” ran for eight seasons from 2006 to 2013, win-

ning four Emmys and a 2007 Peabody Award. Hall earned

five straight Emmy nominations as the title character be-

tween 2008-2012.

“Dexter: New Blood” was filmed this year during a 119-

day shoot in northern Massachusetts. They began in frigid

February when, if the wind changed, the temperature

would drop from 20 degrees to 2 degrees.

The cast and crew filmed all the snowy scenes first before

spring arrived and had to act like it was cold even when it

wasn’t anymore. Phillips laughs about one final scene shot

on July 28 when the crew was in shorts and T-shirts and the

cast was in overcoats, boots and hats.

“It was a very challenging and very rewarding shoot,”

says Phillips. “You stand there in a snowstorm, in knee-

deep mud and you look at each other and you say, ‘God, I

love what I do for a living!’”

SHOWTIME/AP

Jack Alcott, left, and Michael C. Hall are pictured in a scene from the new series “Dexter: New Blood,” premieringSunday on Showtime (Nov. 9 on AFNSpectrum). The 10episode series picks up Dexter Morgan’s story 10 years afterhe left Miami for small town New York, and answers many of the questions fans had when the original series ended.

The tiesthat bindShowtime’s ‘Dexter: New Blood’tests monstrous family bonds

BY MARK KENNEDY

Associated Press

Tupac Shakur’s handwritten lyrics from

classic songs such as “California Love” and

“Dear Mama” along with galleries that pay

homage to his upbringing and late mother

are among the features in a massive touring

museum exhibit.

The Shakur Estate announced Tuesday

that the “Tupac Shakur. Wake Me When

I’m Free” will open Jan. 21 in Los Angeles.

The exhibit is described as a fully immer-

sive, thought-provoking museum experi-

ence that explores the life and legacy of the

late rapper.

Shakur, one of the most prolific figures in

hip-hop, died in 1996 from gunshot wounds.

He was 25.

The exhibit is expected to spend six

months in Los Angeles with the hopes of

touring other cities.

“There are thousands of pieces of paper,

handwritten pieces of paper — which is ev-

erything from his lyrics to all of the songs

and poetry that you know down to a grocery

list for a birthday party,” said Arron Saxe,

president of Kinfolk Management + Media,

who is working with Shakur’s estate. Saxe

has worked with estates for other iconic

music artists including Otis Redding and

Donny Hathaway.

“The whole point of this exhibit was to not

only show the kaleidoscopic nature of Tu-

pac, but also show how he is relatable,” Saxe

continued. “There are incredible pieces of

clothing. This exhibit is also a mix of con-

temporary art and technology too. Many of

the artifacts have never been seen before.”

The 20,000-square foot exhibit will show-

case Shakur’s music, poetry, wardrobe, ac-

tivism journey and other items in galleries.

Paul Newman’s unpublished

memoir to come out next yearAmemoir Paul Newman left unpublished

in his lifetime will come out next fall.

Publisher Alfred A. Knopf announced

Wednesday that the book, currently unti-

tled, will include Newman’s thoughts on

“acting, directing, boyhood, family, fame,

Hollywood, Broadway, love, his first mar-

riage, his 50-year marriage to Joanne

Woodward, drinking, politics, racing, his ul-

timate ride to stardom, and aging graceful-

ly.”

Newman, who died in 2008, began the

book in the 1980s with the help of screen-

writer Stewart Stern, who in turn spoke to

dozens of Newman’s friends and associates.

It was recently found in the Connecticut

home where Woodward still lives.

The Gap Band founder

Ronnie Wilson dies at age 73Ronnie Wilson, multi-instrumentalist

and founder of the popular R&B and funk

group The Gap Band, has died. He was 73.

His wife, Linda Boulware-Wilson, posted

on Facebook that her husband died on Tues-

day.

“Ronnie Wilson was a genius with creat-

ing, producing, and playing the flugelhorn,

trumpet, keyboards, and singing music,

from childhood to his early seventies,” she

wrote. “He will be truly missed!!!”

Tupac Shakur’s life, legacy to be subject of massive exhibitFrom wire services

AP

Rapper Tupac Shakur attends a voterregistration event in South Central LosAngeles on Aug. 15, 1996.


ACROSS

1 Fluffy neckpiece

4 Church section

8 Reddish brown

12 Rainbow shape

13 Cattle calls?

14 Quatrain form

15 Driver’s

protection

17 Quite

18 Shoulder muscle,

for short

19 Hawk’s nest

20 Largest

Greek isle

22 Bruce of

“Nebraska”

24 Drones

25 Chair for a pair

29 Frazier foe

30 Justice

Sotomayor

31 Actress Long

32 Traveling buddy

34 Cooking fat

35 Operates

36 Yokels

37 Composer

Edvard

40 Earth

41 Croquet site

42 Inferior position

46 Yankee nickname

47 Lotion additive

48 MLB stat

49 Oodles

50 Bryn —

51 Bottom line

DOWN

1 Some coll.

degrees

2 Mined matter

3 College life

4 Saunter

5 Bard

6 Note after fa

7 “Guinness

Book” suffix

8 Black birds

9 Taxi alternative

10 Mumbai dress

11 Diggs of “Rent”

16 Hanoi holidays

19 Bailiwick

20 Cartoonist

Addams,

familiarly

21 Hold sway

22 Taboos

23 Marisa’s “Only

Love” role

25 Cash

advance

26 User’s helpers

27 Suffix for billion

28 Tiny amounts

30 Overconfident

33 Hot

34 San — Obispo

36 Al of “Today”

37 Glitzy rock genre

38 — avis

39 Victor’s cry

40 Garbage barge

42 “Kapow!”

43 Carte lead-in

44 “Aladdin”

monkey

45 Singer McGraw

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


Max D. Lederer Jr., Publisher

Lt. Col. Marci Hoffman, Europe commander

John Rodriguez, Europe chief of staff

Lt. Col. Michael Kerschbaum, Pacific commander

Michael Ryan, Pacific chief of staff

EDITORIAL

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CIRCULATION

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© Stars and Stripes 2021

stripes.com

OPINION

WASHINGTON

As Ronald Reagan prepared for his

1980 debate with Jimmy Carter,

his aides fretted that Carter might

cite some of Reagan’s indiscreet

quips, such as: When Patty Hearst’s kidnap-

pers demanded the distribution of free

canned goods, Reagan reportedly said this

would be a good time for a botulism outbreak.

How might Reagan explain this? An aide

drolly suggested: “Say it was taken out of

context.”

Terry McAuliffe, the loser in Tuesday’s

Virginia gubernatorial race, says his career-

ending 12 words (“I don’t think parents

should be telling schools what they should

teach”) were taken “out of context.” They

were, however, congruent with a progressiv-

e’s loyalty to teachers unions. His “out of con-

text” alibi was part of a deluge of rhetoric

currently making many leaders look ludi-

crous.

Before the climate conference in Glasgow,

Scotland (this month’s “last, best hope” for

humanity), Joe Biden interspersed his warn-

ings about the “existential” threat of global

warming caused by fossil fuels with pleas for

OPEC nations to increase petroleum produc-

tion. “On the surface,” he says, this seems

“like an irony.” Biden, perhaps the least iron-

ic person on the planet, cannot know that iro-

ny is usually a sardonic use of words, not an

incongruity such as that between his absurd-

ly overheated rhetoric and his policy accom-

modations to reality.

In extenuation of himself, he says “no one

anticipated” today’s facts: worldwide energy

shortages and an unusually cold winter fore-

cast. A president wagering hundreds of bil-

lions on complex climate anticipations is

complaining about unreliable anticipating.

Earth, Biden says, is careening toward un-

inhabitability. But drivers, aka voters, are

fuming as the digital numbers on gas pumps

race to startling sums. So, get Saudi Arabia

on the phone. Regarding Americans’ low

pain threshold: Nationwide, gas prices just

passed $3.30 a gallon, moderately above the

inflation-adjusted cost in 1951 ($2.84).

Greta Thunberg, the Swedish Savonarola,

scourge of adults who are less alarmed than

she about the climate, was in Glasgow. Now

18 and decreasingly winsome, she pro-

claimed: “No more whatever the f--- they’re

doing in there.” The U.N. secretary-general

said, “Our addiction to fossil fuels is pushing

humanity to the brink.” Well.

Addiction is non-rational — physiological

or psychological — behavior. For 250 years,

fossil fuels have been sensibly relied on to

produce the economic growth that has pulled

most of humanity up from the disease and

subsistence squalor that hitherto had been

the lot of almost everyone who had ever lived.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, for

whom the word “blatherskite” could have

been invented, says mankind stands “one

minute to midnight,” and without commen-

surate action, “the anger and impatience” of

the world will be “uncontainable.” No, anger

would end the careers of politicians who im-

plemented measures matching their rheto-

ric. This winter might provide a foretaste in

Europe, where natural gas prices have in-

creased almost 500% in a year, and in the half

of U.S. households heated by natural gas,

where heating costs probably will increase at

least 30% over last year’s. U.S. electricity

generation by coal will increase this year for

the first time since 2014.

Glasgow was as historic as climate cam-

paigners hoped it would be, but not in the way

they wanted: It, and the preceding Group of

20 meeting, made clear that sufficient mea-

sures will not be taken to keep global warm-

ing to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Good. Now atten-

tion might turn to physical adaptations, a

much more cost-effective strategy than

wielding industrial policy — inevitably, cro-

ny capitalism — to cope with warming. Fur-

thermore, today’s gap between rhetoric and

reality will narrow in other policy areas.

The Washington Post reported last week

that mayoral candidates nationwide were

“pledging to restore law and order, a major

setback for racial justice protesters who only

a year ago thought they had permanently re-

shaped the debate on policing.” They — with

their slogan “defund the police” — and

2020’s 30% increase in homicides did re-

shape the debate, but not as they wanted.

This week, The Wall Street Journal report-

ed that strikers at Deere & Co., the machine

manufacturer, would vote on a contract with

extra protections against inflation, which

“resurfaced as an issue in negotiations for

the first time in years.” Remember those

years?

In the final season of “The Mary Tyler

Moore Show,” episodes were introduced by a

vignette of Mary’s life, including: In a super-

market she looks askance at the price of a

wrapped piece of meat, then rolls her eyes, si-

lent commentary on inflation. The show’s fa-

mous last episode aired in March 1977, when

the energy-and-inflation plagued Carter ad-

ministration was, like Biden’s, still in its first

year.

The climate blather isn’t ‘out of context’BY GEORGE F. WILL

Washington Post Writers Group

You wouldn’t know it from watching

debates over voter suppression

laws, but higher turnout in elec-

tions does not automatically trans-

late into Democratic victories.

Amid record-shattering turnout, Republi-

cans swept all three statewide offices in Vir-

ginia on Tuesday and appear to have flipped

control of the House of Delegates. The Old Do-

minion provided its citizens with 45 days of

early voting — and conservatives and inde-

pendents made the most of that opportunity.

This should shatter the myth that making vot-

ing easier is somehow inherently partisan.

But it does little to fix the Democrats’ broad-

er problems. Political independents in Virgin-

ia swung 29 points since last year, according to

exit polls, from favoring Joe Biden by 19 points

to backing Glenn Youngkin by 9 points. As

much as anything else, that’s how the Repub-

lican gubernatorial nominee won by 2 points

in a state the president carried by 10 points.

As off-year elections go, turnout was a stun-

ner: Three-quarters as many Virginians voted

in 2021 as in last year’s presidential contest. In

2013, Terry McAuliffe was elected governor

with about 1.1 million votes. On Tuesday, he at-

tracted 1.6 million votes but still fell short.

Democrats cannot blame the rules for losing

fair and square.

The Trump effect was in play, but the Biden

undertow was stronger. Republicans won in

Tuesday’s elections in part because Biden

turned out to be a bigger drag on Democrats

than former President Donald Trump was on

GOP candidates. Exit polling pegged Biden’s

job approval rating among Virginia voters at

45%, and twice as many Virginia voters

strongly disapprove (46%) of Biden than

strongly approve of him (23%). Trump was

viewed unfavorably by 54%, but Youngkin

nonetheless won about 1 in 5 of them.

The results offered fresh evidence that try-

ing to link every generic Republican to Trump

isn’t going to be the killer app that helps Demo-

crats hold the House and Senate next year.

Youngkin forged a coalition of Forever Trum-

pers and Never Trumpers. He outperformed

Trump among every demographic group and

in all but the reddest sections of the common-

wealth, and showed that Democrats had rent-

ed the suburbs during the Trump years, but

did not own them.

Biden captured the White House with an

anti-Trump coalition of convenience, which

included support from places such as Hamp-

ton Roads in the Tidewater and bedroom com-

munities outside Richmond. But that coalition

is already fractured. The bungled withdrawal

from Afghanistan made him look incompe-

tent, especially to the state’s many veterans

and military families. Strategists on both sides

of the governor’s race call the fall of Kabul a

turning point. Continuing congressional pa-

ralysis makes Biden look impotent, especially

since Democrats control both chambers.

Moreover, if Biden seemed moderate during

the 2020 campaign — especially in compari-

son to his rivals for the nomination — he’s

since governed more liberally than many of

his own voters expected.

Like alcoholics in denial that they have a

problem, too many Democrats seem intent to

play down their defeats. It’s fair to apportion

some blame to McAuliffe for his gaffe about

not wanting parents to tell schools what they

should teach. But the closeness of the gover-

nor’s race in New Jersey, a state Biden carried

by 16 points, shows the Democrats’ weakness-

es are national in scope.

Even though Barack Obama won Virginia

twice — and the state elected a Black female

Republican to be lieutenant governor on Tues-

day — some liberal activists are trying to sug-

gest that racial animus was key to McAuliffe’s

defeat. They note that Youngkin promised to

ban critical race theory in Virginia public

schools, even though the graduate-school con-

cept is not taught. This misses the point:

“CRT” became a stand-in for a deeper set of

parental anxieties. Rather than address the

fears directly or sincerely, McAuliffe foolishly

called it a racist dog whistle — which made

him seem aloof and condescending.

But exit polling showed the economy, not

education, was actually the chief concern of

Virginia voters, and Youngkin, the fleece-vest

wearing former investment banker, was

trusted more to handle the issue.

With so many Americans afraid that our

country is careening toward authoritarian-

ism, socialism or some terrible combination,

perhaps we’ve entered a new era of high-turn-

out elections. If it’s easier to vote, more people

will vote. But these voters won’t necessarily

vote for Democrats, especially if they feel as

though they and their families aren’t better off.

Va. Democrats get caught in the Biden undertowBY JAMES HOHMANN

The Washington Post

James Hohmann is a Washington Post opinion columnist.


SCOREBOARD

Wednesday’s scoresMIDWEST

Central Michigan 42, Western Michigan30

Kent St. 52, Northern Illinois 47

ScheduleFriday’s games

EASTPrinceton (7-0) at Dartmouth (6-1)Virginia Tech (4-4) at Boston College

(4-4)FAR WEST

Utah (5-3) at Stanford (3-5)Saturday’s games

EASTMerrimack (4-4) at Wagner (0-8)Bryant (5-3) at CCSU (2-6)Stony Brook (3-5) at Maine (4-4)Kennesaw St. (7-1) at Robert Morris (3-4)Duquesne (4-3) at LIU Brooklyn (2-5)Sacred Heart (5-3) at St. Francis (Pa.)

(4-4)Drake (2-6) at Marist (3-4)Yale (4-3) at Brown (2-5)Fordham (5-3) at Georgetown (2-5)Lafayette (3-5) at Holy Cross (6-2)New Hampshire (3-5) at Albany (NY)

(0-8)North Alabama (2-6) at Monmouth (NJ)

(5-3)Cornell (1-6) at Penn (3-4)Lehigh (0-8) at Bucknell (1-7)William & Mary (6-2) at Delaware (4-4)Harvard (5-2) at Columbia (5-2)Penn St. (5-3) at Maryland (5-3)Oklahoma St. (7-1) at West Virginia (4-4)Wisconsin (5-3) at Rutgers (4-4)Rhode Island (5-3) at Umass (1-7)

SOUTHLiberty (7-2) at Mississippi (6-2)Wake Forest (8-0) at North Carolina (4-4)SMU (7-1) at Memphis (4-4)Louisiana Tech (2-6) at UAB (5-3)Pittsburgh (6-2) at Duke (3-5)Alcorn St. (5-3) at Bethune-Cookman

(0-8)Missouri (4-4) at Georgia (8-0)Georgia Tech (3-5) at Miami (4-4)St. Thomas (Minn.) (5-2) at Davidson

(6-1)Dayton (4-4) at Stetson (4-4)VMI (6-2) at ETSU (7-1)Nicholls (4-4) at McNeese St. (3-5)Gardner-Webb (3-5) at Hampton (3-5)NC A&T (3-5) at Charleston Southern

(3-4)Chattanooga (5-3) at Wofford (1-7)Tennessee Tech (3-5) at Murray St. (3-5)Towson (4-4) at Richmond (3-5)MVSU (2-6) at Alabama A&M (4-3)Furman (4-4) at W. Carolina (2-6)Howard (2-6) at SC State (4-4)Villanova (6-2) at Elon (4-4)Abilene Christian (4-4) at Jacksonville

St. (3-5)Texas Southern (3-5) at Jackson St. (7-1)Norfolk St. (6-2) at NC Central (3-5)North Texas (2-6) at Southern Miss. (1-7)E. Illinois (1-8) at Austin Peay (3-5)The Citadel (2-6) at Samford (3-5)Tennessee St. (5-3) at UT Martin (7-1)Temple (3-5) at East Carolina (4-4)Middle Tennessee (4-4) at W. Kentucky

(4-4)South Alabama (5-3) at Troy (4-4)Campbell (3-5) at James Madison (7-1)Rice (3-5) at Charlotte (4-4)Houston Baptist (0-8) at Northwestern

St. (1-7)NC State (6-2) at Florida St. (3-5)Tulane (1-7) at UCF (5-3)Marshall (5-3) at FAU (5-3)Coastal Carolina (7-1) at Georgia South-

ern (2-6)LSU (4-4) at Alabama (7-1)Florida A&M (6-2) at Southern U. (4-4)Tennessee (4-4) at Kentucky (6-2)Old Dominion (2-6) at FIU (1-7)Clemson (5-3) at Louisville (4-4)Florida (4-4) at South Carolina (4-4)Houston (7-1) at South Florida (2-6)

MIDWESTKansas St. (5-3) at Kansas (1-7)Ohio St. (7-1) at Nebraska (3-6)Illinois (3-6) at Minnesota (6-2)N. Iowa (5-3) at Illinois St. (3-5)Youngstown St. (2-5) at North Dakota

(3-5)South Dakota (5-3) at W. Illinois (2-7)Missouri St. (5-3) at S. Illinois (6-2)Presbyterian (2-6) at Valparaiso (2-6)N. Dakota St. (8-0) at S. Dakota St. (6-2)Navy (2-6) at Notre Dame (7-1)Tulsa (3-5) at Cincinnati (8-0)Michigan St. (8-0) at Purdue (5-3)Iowa (6-2) at Northwestern (3-5)Indiana (2-6) at Michigan (7-1)Texas (4-4) at Iowa St. (5-3)

SOUTHWESTDixie St. (0-8) at Sam Houston St. (7-0)Appalachian St. (6-2) at Arkansas St.

(1-7)SE Louisiana (7-1) at Incarnate Word

(6-2)Alabama St. (3-4) at Prairie View (6-1)Louisiana-Monroe (4-4) at Texas State

(2-6)Grambling St. (3-5) at Ark.-Pine Bluff

(1-7)Auburn (6-2) at Texas A&M (6-2)Baylor (7-1) at TCU (3-5)Mississippi St. (5-3) at Arkansas (5-3)E. Kentucky (6-2) at Stephen F. Austin

(5-3)Texas Wesleyan (0-0) at Cent. Arkansas

(4-4)Lamar (2-6) at Tarleton St. (4-4)UTSA (8-0) at UTEP (6-2)

FAR WESTAir Force (6-2) vs. Army (4-3) at Arling-

ton, TexasMontana (6-2) at N. Colorado (3-6)California (3-5) at Arizona (0-8)Portland St. (4-4) at Weber St. (4-4)Idaho St. (1-7) at BYU (7-2)Colorado St. (3-5) at Wyoming (4-4)UC Davis (7-1) at N. Arizona (4-4)S. Utah (1-8) at Idaho (2-6)Morehead St. (5-3) at San Diego (5-4)Utah St. (6-2) at New Mexico St. (1-7)Montana St. (7-1) at E. Washington (7-1)UNLV (0-8) at New Mexico (3-5)Boise St. (4-4) at Fresno St. (7-2)Oregon St. (5-3) at Colorado (2-6)Oregon (7-1) at Washington (4-4)Cal Poly (1-7) at Sacramento St. (6-2)San Jose St. (5-4) at Nevada (6-2)Southern Cal (4-4) at Arizona St. (5-3)San Diego St. (7-1) at Hawaii (4-5)

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

NFL

AMERICAN CONFERENCE

East

W L T Pct PF PA

Buffalo 5 2 0 .714 229 109

New England 4 4 0 .500 206 164

N.Y. Jets 2 5 0 .286 114 206

Miami 1 7 0 .125 138 233

South

W L T Pct PF PA

Tennessee 6 2 0 .750 227 195

Indianapolis 3 5 0 .375 200 183

Jacksonville 1 6 0 .143 123 203

Houston 1 7 0 .125 119 241

North

W L T Pct PF PA

Baltimore 5 2 0 .714 187 164

Cincinnati 5 3 0 .625 220 162

Pittsburgh 4 3 0 .571 132 142

Cleveland 4 4 0 .500 183 180

West

W L T Pct PF PA

Las Vegas 5 2 0 .714 180 166

L.A. Chargers 4 3 0 .571 172 177

Denver 4 4 0 .500 157 137

Kansas City 4 4 0 .500 208 220

NATIONAL CONFERENCE

East

W L T Pct PF PA

Dallas 6 1 0 .857 225 162

Philadelphia 3 5 0 .375 203 191

N.Y. Giants 2 6 0 .250 156 200

Washington 2 6 0 .250 156 227

South

W L T Pct PF PA

Tampa Bay 6 2 0 .750 260 183

New Orleans 5 2 0 .714 176 128

Carolina 4 4 0 .500 165 159

Atlanta 3 4 0 .429 148 195

North

W L T Pct PF PA

Green Bay 7 1 0 .875 192 167

Minnesota 3 4 0 .429 163 157

Chicago 3 5 0 .375 123 195

Detroit 0 8 0 .000 134 244

West

W L T Pct PF PA

Arizona 7 1 0 .875 246 138

L.A. Rams 7 1 0 .875 245 168

San Francisco 3 4 0 .429 168 171

Seattle 3 5 0 .375 181 169

Thursday’s game

N.Y. Jets at Indianapolis

Sunday’s games

Atlanta at New Orleans Buffalo at Jacksonville Cleveland at Cincinnati Denver at Dallas Houston at Miami Las Vegas at N.Y. Giants Minnesota at Baltimore New England at Carolina L.A. Chargers at Philadelphia

Arizona at San Francisco Green Bay at Kansas City Tennessee at L.A. Rams Open: Detroit, Seattle, Tampa Bay,

Washington

Monday’s game

Chicago at Pittsburgh

Thursday, Nov. 11

Baltimore at Miami

NFL injury reportNEW YORK — The National Football

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

SUNDAYARIZONA CARDINALS at SAN FRANCISCO

49ERS — ARIZONA: DNP: WR DeAndre Hop-kins (hamstring), QB Kyler Murray (ankle),RB Jonathan Ward (concussion), DE J.J.Watt (shoulder), S James Wiggins (knee).LIMITED: OL Kelvin Beachum (non injuryrelated-rest), ILB Zaven Collins (shoul-der), RB Chase Edmonds (shoulder), OLMax Garcia (achilles), DT Rashard Law-rence (calf), OL Justin Pugh (calf). SANFRANCISCO: DNP: DL Maurice Hurst (calf),RB Elijah Mitchell (rib), WR Deebo Samuel(calf), S Jimmie Ward (quad), T Trent Wil-liams (ankle). FULL: LB Azeez Al-Shaair(concussion), DL Dee Ford (concussion),LB Marcell Harris (thumb).

ATLANTA FALCONS at NEW ORLEANSSAINTS — ATLANTA: DNP: DT JonathanBullard (concussion), WR Calvin Ridley(not injury related - personal matter). LIM-ITED: WR Russell Gage (groin). NEW OR-LEANS: DNP: DE Carl Granderson (shoul-der), S Malcolm Jenkins (knee), WR TyMontgomery (hamstring), QB Jameis Win-ston (knee). LIMITED: T Terron Armstead(groin), QB Taysom Hill (concussion), DEPayton Turner (calf), RB Dwayne Washing-ton (neck). FULL: CB Marshon Lattimore(hand).

BUFFALO BILLS at JACKSONVILLE JAG-UARS — BUFFALO: DNP: DE Mario Addison(not injury related - resting player), WRCole Beasley (ribs), T Spencer Brown(back), G Jon Feliciano (calf), TE DawsonKnox (hand). FULL: DT Justin Zimmer(foot). JACKSONVILLE: DNP: LB Dakota Al-len (ankle), T Ben Bartch (illness), RBJames Robinson (heel). LIMITED: RB Car-los Hyde (calf). FULL: CB Tyson Campbell(toe), DT Davon Hamilton (shoulder).

CLEVELAND BROWNS at CINCINNATIBENGALS — CLEVELAND: DNP: WR OdellBechham Jr. (shoulder-NIR personal), DEJadeveon Clowney (ankle,knee,hip), TJack Conklin (elbow), DE Malik Jackson(ankle), S John Johnson (neck), WR JarvisLandry (knee), DT Malik McDowell (ill-ness), DE Takkarist McKinley (groin). LIM-ITED: CB A.J. Green (groin), DE Joe Jackson(shoulder), WR Donovan Peoples-Jones(groin), J.C. Treeter (knee), CB DenzelWard (hamstring), T Jedrick Wills (ankle).FULL: QB Baker Mayfield (left shoulder), TEDavid Njoku (neck). CINCINNATI: DNP: CTrey Hopkins (knee), DE Cam Sample(knee). LIMITED: HB Chris Evans, WR Au-den Tate (thigh). FULL: G Jackson Carman(back).

DENVER BRONCOS at DALLAS COWBOYS— DENVER: DNP: T Garett Bolles (ankle), SCaden Sterns (shoulder). LIMITED: CB Ro-nald Darby (shoulder), S Jamar Johnson(quad), DE Dre’Mont Jones (hip), TE AlbertOkwuegbunam (knee), DL Mike Purcell(thumb), DL DeShawn Williams (ankle).FULL: DE Shelby Harris (wrist). DALLAS:DNP: TE Blake Jarwin (hip), T Tyron Smith(ankle). LIMITED: WR Amari Cooper(hamstring), WR CeeDee Lamb (ankle), QBDak Prescott (calf). FULL: DE Dorance Arm-strong (ankle), CB Trevon Diggs (ankle), TESean McKeon (ankle), S Donovan Wilson(groin).

GREEN BAY PACKERS at KANSAS CITYCHIEFS — GREEN BAY: DNP: DT Jack Heflin(illness), DE Kingsley Keke (concussion),DE Dean Lowry (hamstring). LIMITED: TDennis Kelly (back). FULL: TE Josiah De-guara (finger), CB Kevin King (shoulder,

back). KANSAS CITY: DNP: TE Daniel Brown(travel after trade, not injury related - per-sonal matter), T Mike Remmers (knee).LIMITED: DT Chris Jones (back, wrist),FULL: FB Michael Burton (pectoral), WR Ty-reek Hill (ankle), LB Anthony Hitchens (tri-ceps), LB Melvin Ingram (groin), TE TravisKelce (neck), DT Derrick Nnadi (hip), DTKhalen Saunders (knee), CB L’Jarius Sneed(wrist), G Joe Thuney (hand).

HOUSTON TEXANS at MIAMI DOLPHINS— HOUSTON: DNP: WR Danny Amendola(NIR), TE Pharaoh Brown (thigh), WR Bran-din Cooks (NIR), LB Christian Kirksey(thumb), LB Kevin Pierre-Louis (illness),QB Deshaun Watson (NIR). LIMITED: RBRex Burkhead (hip), WR Chirs Conley(calf), DL Jacob Martin (knee), OL JustinMcCray (ankle), LB Hardy Nickerson (con-cussion). MIAMI: LIMITED: LB Jerome Bak-er (knee), S Brandon Jones (ankle), WR De-Vante Parker (shoulder/hamstring), QBTua Tagovailoa (ribs/left finger). FULL: CGreg Mancz (groin), LB Jaelan Phillips (an-kle).

LAS VEGAS RAIDERS at NEW YORK GI-ANTS — LAS VEGAS: FULL: DT JohnathanHankins (neck), G John Simpson (knee).NEW YORK GIANTS: DNP: RB Saquon Bar-kley (ankle/COVID-19 protocol), LB Loren-zo Carter (ankle), DB Nate Ebner (ankle),WR Kenny Golladay (knee), DB XavierMcKinney (COVID-19 protocol), WR DantePetis (shoulder), WR Sterling Shepard(quadricep), OL Matt Skura (COVID-19 pro-tocol). LIMITED: TE Kaden Smith (knee),WR Kadarius Toney (thumb).

LOS ANGELES CHARGERS at PHILADEL-PHIA EAGLES — LOS ANGELES CHARGERS:DNP: CB Michael Davis (hamstring), S Alo-hi Gilman (ankle), RB Justin Jackson(quad), CB Asante Samuel Jr. (concus-sion). LIMITED: QB Justin Herbert (righthand). FULL: RB Austin Ekeler (hip), LBDrue Tranquill (chest). PHILADELPHIA:DNP: WR J.J. Arcega-Whiteside (ankle), DTFletcher Cox (knee, not injury related -resting player), DT Javon Hargrave (shoul-der), WR Jalen Reagor (ankle). LIMITED: LBShaun Bradley (shoulder), T Jack Driscoll(thumb), T Lane Johnson (not injury relat-ed - resting player), C Jason Kelce (not in-jury related - resting player), T Jordan Mai-lata (elbow), CB Zech McPhearson(hamstring). FULL: S Anthony Harris(hands, groin).

MINNESOTA VIKINGS at BALTIMORERAVENS — MINNESOTA: DNP: LB AnthonyBarr (knee), DE Everson Griffen (NIR-rest-ing player), CB Cameron Dantzler (ankle).LIMITED: DT James Lynch (toe), DT Mi-chael Pierce (elbow), S Harrison Smith(NIR-resting player). FULL: WR Dede West-brook (ankle).

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS at CAROLINAPANTHERS — NEW ENGLAND: LIMITED: DTChristian Barmore (foot), LB Ja’WhaunBentley (ribs), DL Carl Davis (hand), S CodyDavis (hand), S Kyle Dugger (neck), K NickFolk (left knee), LB Dont’a Hightower (an-kle), G Shaq Mason (abdomen), TE JonnuSmith (shoulder), LB Josh Uche (shoulder),LB Kyle Van Noy (groin). CAROLINA: LIMIT-ED: QB Sam Darnold (concussion/rightshoulder), CB Stanley Thomas-Oliver(toe). FULL: LB Jermaine Carter Jr. (ankle),T Cam Erving (knee), CB Stephon Gilmore(qaudricep), CB C.J. Henderson (shoul-der), WR Terrace Marshall Jr. (concus-sion), C Matt Paradis (knee), LB ShaqThompson (foot).

TENNESSEE TITANS at LOS ANGELESRAMS — TENNESSEE: DNP: FB Khari Blasin-game (knee), G Nate Davis (concussion),LB Rashaan Evans (ankle), CB Chris Jack-son (foot), CB Greg Mabin (ankle), DT Jef-fery Simmons (ankle). LIMITED: FB ToryCarter (shoulder), LB Bud Dupree (knee),WR Julio Jones (hamstring), T KendallLamm (back), DT Teair Tart (groin). FULL: SDane Cruikshank (concussion). LOS AN-GELES RAMS: DNP: WR Robert Woods(foot), QB Matthew Stafford (back), OL An-drew Whitworth (rest), DL Bobby Brown III(non injury related), LB Von Miller (ankle),WR Cooper Kupp (rest), Te Brycen Hopkins(illness), CB Jalen Ramsey (rest). LIMITED:DL Sebastian Joseph-Day (chest).

PRO FOOTBALL

lton to return from injured reserve. SignedDT Treyvon Hester to the practice squad.Released OL Aaron Monteiro. Activated OLPat Elflein from injured reserve.

CHICAGO BEARS — Waived DE Sam Kam-ara.

CLEVELAND BROWNS — Designated FBAndy Janovich for return from injured re-serve. Waived FB Johnny Stanton IV.

DENVER BRONCOS — Placed CB BryceCallahan on injured reserve. Signed TE Ca-leb Wilson to the practice squad. Desig-nated CB Essang Bassey, CB Duke Dawsonand CB Mike Ford to return from injured re-serve.

GREEN BAY PACKERS — Placed QB AaronRodgers and CB Isaac Yiadom on the re-serve/COVID-19 list. Signed DL AuzoyahAlufohai and RB Ryquell Armstead to thepractice squad.

HOUSTON TEXANS — Signed DL ChrisSmith to the practice squad. Waived DBVernon Hargreaves III. Signed LB HardyNickerson to the active roster from thepractice squad.

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS — Signed TE NakieGriffin-Stewart to the practice squad.

LAS VEGAS RAIDERS — Signed QB Nath-an Peterman and WR Marcell Ateman tothe practice squad. Signed LB Marquel Leeto the active roster. Released OL Dan Skip-per from the practice squad. Waived WRHenry Ruggs III.

LOS ANGELES RAMS — Designated CBDarious Williams to return from injured re-serve. Signed WR Warren Jackson to the

MIAMI MARLINS — Sent CB MagneurisSierra outright to Jacksonville (Triple-AEast).

MILWAUKEE BREWERS — Agreed toterms with free agent RHP Trevor Gott on aminor league contract.

PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES — Declined cluboptions for next season on OFs OdubelHerrera and Andrew McCutchen.

PITTSBURGH PIRATES — Claimed RHPEric Hanhold off waivers from Baltimore.

SAN DIEGO PADRES — Sent RHP Dan Al-tavilla outright to El Paso (Triple-A West).

WASHINGTON NATIONALS — NamedTim Bogar bench coach, Darnell Coles hit-ting coach, Pat Roessler assistant hittingcoach, Jim Hickey pitching coach, EricYoung Jr. first base coach, Gary DiSarcinathird base coach, Henry Blanco catchingand strategy coach and Ricky Bones bull-pen coach.

BASKETBALLNational Basketball Association

NEW ORLEANS PELICANS — Placed FHerbert Jones on injured reserve underconcussion protocol.

FOOTBALLNational Football League

ARIZONA CARDINALS — Placed WR A.J.Green on the reserve/COVID-19 list.

ATLANTA FALCONS — Designated PCameron Nizialek to return from injuredreserve.

CAROLINA PANTHERS — Designated RBChristian McCaffrey and P Joseph Char-

Wednesday’s transactionsBASEBALL

Major League BaseballAmerican League

BALTIMORE ORIOLES — Sent RHPs Mar-cos Diplan, Conner Greene and C Pedro Se-verino outright to Norfolk (Triple-A East).

KANSAS CITY ROYALS — Named ReneFrancisco to senior vice president/assist-ant general manager of Major League & In-ternational Operations; Scott Sharp to se-nior vice president/assistant generalmanager; Jin Wong to vice president/as-sistant general manager of Baseball Ad-ministration; Dr. Daniel Mack to vice presi-dent/assistant general manager of Re-search & Development; Jeff Davenport tovice president of Major League Team Op-erations and Rusty Kuntz to special assist-ant to the president & general manager ofQuality Control.

SEATTLE MARINERS — Declined 2022club option on 3B Kyle Seager and 2022-25options on LHP Yusei Kikuchi.

National LeagueATLANTA BRAVES — Activated LF Mar-

cell Ozuna from the restricted list.CHICAGO CUBS — Sent RHPs Kohl Stew-

art, Jonathan Holder, RF Nick Martini andCF Trayce Thompson outright to Iowa (Tri-ple-A East).

CINCINNATI REDS — Traded C TuckerBarnhart to Detroit for 3B Nick Quintana.

LOS ANGELES DODGERS — ActivatedRHP Trevor Bauer from the restricted list.

practice squad. Signed WR J.J. Koski andLB Christian Rozeboom to the active ros-ter. Waived WR DeSean Jackson.

MINNESOTA VIKINGS — Waived DE Jo-nah Williams. Claimed DE Jonah Williamsfrom Los Angeles Rams waivers.

NEW YORK GIANTS — Signed WR AlexBachman and WR/KR Pharoh Cooper tothe practice squad. Placed RB Saquon Bar-kley and S Xavier McKinney on the re-serve/COVID-19 list.

PHILADELPHIA EAGLES — Waived LB EricWilson.

PITTSBURGH STEELERS — Signed DE Ta-co Charlton.

SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS — Designated KRobbie Gould, TE George Kittle and RB JeffWilson Jr. to return from injured reserve.Signed LB Tyrell Adams, LB Christian El-liss, S Will Parks and WR Austin Watkins Jr.to the practice squad. Announced DLCharles Omenihu passed his physical.

HOCKEYNational Hockey League

NHL — Fined New Jersey Devils' D P.KSubban $15,000 for tripping Anaheim FTrevor Zegras in a game against Anaheimon Nov. 2.

ARIZONA COYOTES — Assigned G DavidTendeck to Rapid City (ECHL) from Tucson(AHL).

BOSTON BRUINS — Reassigned G CallumBooth from Providence (AHL) to Maine(ECHL).

BUFFALO SABRES — Loaned D Mattias

Samuelsson to Rochester (AHL).COLORADO AVALANCHE — Recalled RW

Kiefer Sherwood from Colorado (AHL)loan.

FLORIDA PANTHERS — Recalled D ChasPriskie from Charlotte (AHL) loan.

NEW JERSEY DEVILS — Waived G ScottWedgewood.

NEW YORK ISLANDERS — Reassigned GKen Appleby from Bridgeport (AHL) toWorcester (ECHL).

NEW YORK RANGERS — Loaned F VitaliKravtsov to the Traktor Chelyabinsk of theKontinental Hockey League (KHL). SignedC Matt Rempe to a three-year, entry-levelcontract.

SAN JOSE SHARKS — Recalled C Joel Kell-man and D Artemi Kniazev from San Jose(AHL) loans.

SEATTLE KRAKEN — Assigned G AntoineBibeau to Allen (ECHL) from Charlotte(AHL).

VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS — Assigned DConnor Corcoran to Fort Wayne (ECHL)from Henderson (AHL).

WINNIPEG JETS — Recalled LW KristianVesalainen from Manitoba (AHL) loan.

SOCCERMajor League Soccer

NEW YORK CITY FC — Signed G Luis Bar-raza to a contract extension through the2023 season with options through 2025.

COLLEGETRINE — Named David Lyme men's rug-

by head coach.

DEALS

Paris MastersWednesday

At Palais Omnisports de Paris-BercyParis

Purse: Euro 2,603,700Surface: Hardcourt indoor

Men’s SinglesRound of 32

Dominik Koepfer, Germany, def. FelixAuger-Aliassime (9), Canada, 6-3, 7-5.

James Duckworth, Australia, def. Loren-zo Musetti, Italy, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

Hugo Gaston, France, def. Pablo CarrenoBusta (12), Spain, 6-7 (3), 6-4, 7-5.

Taylor Fritz, United States, def. AndreyRublev (5), Russia, 7-5, 7-6 (2).

Hubert Hurkacz (7), Poland, def. TommyPaul, United States, 7-5, 7-6 (4).

Cameron Norrie (10), Britain, def. ReillyOpelka, United States, 6-3, 6-4.

Grigor Dimitrov (16), Bulgaria, def. KarenKhachanov, Russia, 4-6, 6-2, 6-0.

Alexei Popyrin, Australia, def. StefanosTsitsipas (3), Greece, 4-2, ret.

Carlos Alcaraz, Spain, def. Jannik Sinner(8), Italy, 7-6 (1), 7-5.

Gael Monfils (15), France, def. AdrianMannarino, France, 2-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2.

Marcos Giron, United States, def. DiegoSchwartzman (11), Argentina, 7-6 (2), 7-6(4).

Alexander Zverev (4), Germany, def. Du-san Lajovic, Serbia, 6-3, 7-6 (5).

Sebastian Korda, United States, def. Ma-rin Cilic, Croatia, 6-2, 6-4.

Daniil Medvedev (2), Russia, def. IlyaIvashka, Belarus, 7-5, 6-4.

TENNIS


AUTO RACING

Racing equipment was rarely fast

enough. Larson tallied an under-

performing six wins with Ganassi.

Still, he was a highly desired

free agent at the end of the 2020

season and Larson likely could

have named his price with a new

team — right up until he used a ra-

cial slur while racing online early

in the pandemic. NASCAR sus-

pended him for the season, Ganas-

si had to fire him to placate angry

sponsors and Larson wasn’t sure if

he’d ever be back.

But here he is, headed into Sun-

day’s race in Arizona in the come-

back of all comebacks. He is the

star driver of Hendrick Motor-

sports, the winningest team in

NASCAR that hired him out of his

banishment a year ago, and the fa-

vorite to close out his nine-win

season with a championship.

On the track he’s been virtually

unbeatable. He also has turned

sponsor HendrickCars.com into

one of the hottest car-buying sites

around. His contract was extend-

ed through 2023.

Larson, in his seventh full Cup

season, is Hendrick’s new guy.

Asked if Larson has done every-

thing he expected when he gave

him the No. 5 Chevrolet for a sec-

ond chance in NASCAR, Hendrick

said: “More. Much more than I

would anticipate him doing.”

“He’s been the front of our

whole program for feeding peo-

ple. I don’t know any driver out

there as busy as that guy is, that

spends as much time trying to do

good for other people,” Hendrick

said. “If you just look at his track

record, what he’s accomplished

this year, going and visiting food

banks, schools, giving money

away, just trying to be a model citi-

zen ... He did that on his own.”

Larson spent his season of exile

mostly back in the sprint car

world, traveling the country in a

motorhome with his wife and two

children, jumping from track to

track, car to car, wherever the

show was in town. He very publi-

cly won 46 races.

Larson says he was naive, not

racist, when he said the “n-word”

in April 2020. And he was OK if the

consequence for not knowing any

better meant the end of his prom-

ising NASCAR career.

“Until it happened, I didn’t real-

ly think that I was ever going to

make it back to the Cup Series and

nothing looked too promising,”

Larson said. “I accepted it. I was

having the time of my life racing,

sprint cars and midgets and then

dirt late models. I was doing stuff

that I always wanted to do — may-

be didn’t think I’d be doing it at 28

years old — but I did accept it.”

He is now the driver so many

predicted he was going to be. He

twice this season put together

three-race winning streaks and

was the driver the day Hendrick

Motorsports passed Petty Enter-

prises as the winningest team in

NASCAR.

Larson won four times in the

playoffs and his win two weeks

ago at Kansas made him the only

one of the four championship driv-

ers to win his spot in the finale.

He can’t really explain why ev-

erything clicks at Hendrick,

where he was given the final crew

to work with retired seven-time

champion Jimmie Johnson. Lar-

son also believes it is best that

way, that crew chief Cliff Daniels

can learn more from looking at da-

ta than he can from his driver.

Steve Letarte, former crew

chief for Gordon and Dale Earn-

hardt Jr. and now analyst for NBC

Sports, believes Larson staying

out of Daniels’ way has been key.

“Kyle self-admittedly doesn’t

understand the setups of a Cup

car. He just gets in the car and

drives it as fast as it can be driven

or to whatever level Cliff expects,”

Letarte said. “They have a very

impressive working relationship.”

The duo needs to click again on

Sunday, where Larson must beat

Elliott, Hamlin and Martin Truex

Jr. in the winner-take-all finale.

Elliott and Truex are former

champions, Hamlin is 0-for-4 and

this is Larson’s first attempt.

Tough: Larson already exceedingexpectations at Hendrick MotorsportsFROM PAGE 24

COLIN E. BRALEY/AP

Kyle Larson crosses the finish line in Kansas City, Kan., on Oct. 24.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Veteran

team owner Chip Ganassi said he

is “100%” rooting for Kyle Larson

to win the NASCAR Cup Series

championship in Sunday’s season

finale.

“Look, I’m fine with Larson and

absolutely I am pulling for him,”

Ganassi said. “It would prove

what everybody has said all along

— that he was going to be a cham-

pion someday.”

Larson, a nine-race winner this

season and the title favorite, of

course will not be racing for Ga-

nassi at Phoenix Raceway. He

drives for Hendrick Motorsports

now.

What an ironic ending it would

be if Larson goes and gets that big

trophy on Ganassi’s final day in

NASCAR. Ganassi brought Lar-

son into the series from sprint cars

and then developed him over

nearly eight seasons, taking him

right to the edge of superstardom.

The future of Ganassi’s NAS-

CAR operation depended on Lar-

son, but Ganassi fired him last

year over Larson’s use of a racial

slur. There wasn’t really any other

decision to make. Ganassi could

keep Larson or he could keep the

sponsors that keep the lights on at

the shop. Larson got a pink slip.

A year and half later, Ganassi

will leave Phoenix with NASCAR

in the rearview mirror. He sold his

NASCAR operation to Trackhouse

Racing. All of it belongs to Justin

Marks and Pitbull as soon as the

race is over.

Ganassi didn’t sell because he

lost Larson. It was a free-agent

year, anyway, and there was no

guarantee Larson wouldn’t move

to Hendrick Motorsports. But it

didn’t help.

The sponsorship market is tight

and new business hard to find. Pit-

bull and Michael Jordan are now

NASCAR team owners and Chip

Ganassi Racing, in its 20th anni-

versary year, was no better than

middle class.

Marks couldn’t get the NAS-

CAR charters he needed for his

own upstart team, so he bought an

entire race team after cold-calling

Ganassi. It’s been a fast-moving

four months: CGR had a farewell

luncheon at the shop Tuesday.

Some employees will be hired by

Trackhouse; some are out of luck.

That’s business.

“You could be melancholy if you

want to be, but I look at it and see a

lot of successes over the years,”

Ganassi told The Associated Press

this week.

“You never read about that, we

never made the papers for that,

but we grew great managers and

great engineers and great me-

chanics,” he added. “And we did it

over 20 years, so you know a lot of

these people well and you see

them grow and their families grow

and their kids grow, and I’m very

happy with what we did and what

my legacy will be in NASCAR.”

The record book shows 24 Cup

Series victories and 21 Xfinity Se-

ries wins, 53 poles and two All-

Star race victories. Only having 24

wins and no championships sug-

gests a team that couldn’t get over

the hump to become one of NAS-

CAR’s powerhouse organizations,

but it was not a dry well.

The highlight was 11 years ago

when Jamie McMurray returned

to Ganassi and won the season-

opening Daytona 500. McMurray

won the Brickyard 400 that sea-

son, too, and coupled with Dario

Franchitti’s victory in the Indiana-

polis 500 and a sports car win at

Rolex 24 at Daytona to open the

2011 season, Ganassi became the

only team owner to claim all those

crown jewels in a 12-month peri-

od.

The 63-year-old Ganassi

doesn’t own car dealerships,

doesn’t run a global transportation

business, doesn’t even make en-

gines to sell to other race teams.

The Ganassi engines in NASCAR

come from Hendrick. He’s had

sponsors come and go.

There is no single reason Ga-

nassi is leaving NASCAR and he is

certainly not leaving racing. Alex

Palou’s championship in his first

year of IndyCar in September was

Ganassi’s 14th in American open

wheel racing. Six of the sport’s leg-

ends have won titles for Ganassi,

himself a former driver.

Ganassi will have four IndyCar

teams next season, and he told AP

he will run a fifth in the Indianapo-

lis 500 for Jimmie Johnson.

Ganassi also returned to sports

car competition this year and next

season will field two full-time en-

tries as IMSA prepares to return

to the 24 Hours of Le Mans. And he

has a team in the global Extreme E

Series and was with that team two

weeks ago in Italy.

Still, Ganassi hedged this week

on whether he is done with NAS-

CAR forever.

“I left IMSA and now I’m back

at IMSA,” Ganassi said. “Who

knows?”

It would take a significant finan-

cial guarantee. The sleepless

nights, the debt, losing Larson, the

DC financial mess — it just got tir-

ing. For now, the NASCAR chap-

ter has ended for Ganassi.

“This is racing, and you have

those big ups and those big downs,

and we had big downs. But you

know what? The big ups we had

outweighed the downs,” Ganassi

said. “When I weighed every-

thing, I just decided that moving

forward was not the best decision.

But it doesn’t mean I’m not racing

and it doesn’t mean I can’t come

back to NASCAR.”

Ganassi hitting brakes on20 years of NASCAR racing

TERRY RENNA/AP

Car owner Chip Ganassi, left, and driver Kyle Larson during a practicesession on Feb. 13, 2015. Ganassi will close his 20year run inNASCAR at Sunday’s season finale watching Larson, who hediscovered, compete for the Cup title with Hendrick Motorsports.

BY JENNA FRYER

Associated Press

“I am pulling for(Larson). It wouldprove what everybodyhas said all along —that he was going to bea champion someday.”

Chip Ganassi

NASCAR team owner


NBA

Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division

W L Pct GB

Philadelphia 6 2 .750 —

Toronto 6 3 .667 ½

Brooklyn 5 3 .625 1

New York 5 3 .625 1

Boston 3 5 .375 3

Southeast Division

W L Pct GB

Miami 6 1 .857 —

Washington 5 3 .625 1½

Charlotte 5 3 .625 1½

Atlanta 4 4 .500 2½

Orlando 2 7 .222 5

Central Division

W L Pct GB

Chicago 6 2 .750 —

Cleveland 5 4 .556 1½

Milwaukee 4 4 .500 2

Indiana 3 6 .333 3½

Detroit 1 6 .143 4½

Western Conference

Southwest Division

W L Pct GB

Dallas 5 3 .625 —

Memphis 5 3 .625 —

San Antonio 2 6 .250 3

Houston 1 6 .143 3½

New Orleans 1 7 .125 4

Northwest Division

W L Pct GB

Utah 6 1 .857 —

Denver 4 4 .500 2½

Minnesota 3 4 .429 3

Portland 3 5 .375 3½

Oklahoma City 1 6 .143 5

Pacific Division

W L Pct GB

Golden State 5 1 .833 —

L.A. Lakers 5 3 .625 1

Phoenix 3 3 .500 2

Sacramento 3 4 .429 2½

L.A. Clippers 3 4 .429 2½

Tuesday’s games

Milwaukee 117, Detroit 89Miami 125, Dallas 110Utah 119, Sacramento 113Phoenix 112, New Orleans 100L.A. Lakers 119, Houston 117

Wednesday’s games

Boston 92, Orlando 79Cleveland 107, Portland 104Indiana 111, New York 98Philadelphia 103, Chicago 98Toronto 109, Washington 100Brooklyn 117, Atlanta 108L.A. Clippers 126, Minnesota 115Memphis 108, Denver 106Dallas 109, San Antonio 108Charlotte at Golden StateNew Orleans at Sacramento

Thursday’s games

Philadelphia at DetroitBoston at MiamiUtah at AtlantaHouston at PhoenixOklahoma City at L.A. Lakers

Friday’s games

Brooklyn at DetroitMemphis at WashingtonSan Antonio at OrlandoCleveland at TorontoNew York at MilwaukeeL.A. Clippers at MinnesotaCharlotte at SacramentoIndiana at PortlandNew Orleans at Golden State

Saturday’s games

Houston at DenverUtah at MiamiPhiladelphia at ChicagoBoston at DallasAtlanta at PhoenixL.A. Lakers at Portland

Scoreboard

SAN FRANCISCO — When Klay

Thompson tweets a shoutout, things

must be going well.

“I can watch Gary Payton II play

defense all night long,” Thompson

posted.

“I could watch Klay Thompson

shoot the ball all day long,” Payton

said with a smile upon hearing his

teammate’s compliment.

Payton came off the bench and

sparked the defense, Jordan Poole

took the pressure off Stephen Curry

with a season-best 31 points, and the

Golden State Warriors used one of

their big third quarters of old to pull

away and beat the Charlotte Horn-

ets 114-92 on Wednesday night.

“That’s what I’m here for,” Pay-

ton said. “... This is what I do.”

The Warriors needed Payton’s

defensive instincts and hustle in the

second half.

“He dominated the game while

he was out there. Just changed ev-

erything with his defense, his activ-

ity,” coach Steve Kerr said. “He is

just an electric athlete. It’s hard to

stand out on an NBA floor athletical-

ly ’cause all those guys are the

world’s greatest athletes. And he

jumps off the page when you see

him out there. ... His teammates

love him, as they should.”

Payton scored 14 points to go with

three steals and drew a rousing ova-

tion when he left the game late. He’s

the son of Hall of Famer Gary Pay-

ton and had been waived by the

Warriors after the final preseason

game last month only to re-sign

ahead of the opener four days later

to earn the final roster spot.

Poole shot 11-for-21 and hit a ca-

reer-high seven three-pointers and

had a good feeling a couple of days

ago he would find his shooting

touch.

Poole, who has learned from Cur-

ry and Thompson not to let a few

tough shooting nights get to him,

scored 22 points in the initial two

quarters: shooting 8-for-11 and 6-

for-9 on threes. He sensed this kind

of performance coming.

“Yeah, definitely. Went to sleep a

couple nights ago and I felt it,” said

Poole, who also had four steals.

JEFF CHIU/AP

Golden State Warriors guard Gary Payton II, left, dunks againstCharlotte Hornets guard Kelly Oubre Jr. during the Warriors’ 11492win Wednesday in San Francisco.

Poole party:Guard scores 31to lead Warriors

BY JANIE MCCAULEY

Associated Press

25 points, hitting 7 of 10 three-pointers, and had

13 rebounds in host Indiana’s victory over New

York.

Turner scored the first eight points of the

game — and the Pacers never trailed. Caris

LeVert added 21 points for Indiana.

Clippers 126, Timberwolves 115: Paul Ge-

orge had 32 points and eight assists, Reggie

Jackson scored a season-high 29 points and Los

Angeles won at Minnesota.

George shot 11-for-18, including 4-for-8 from

NEW YORK — Kevin Durant scored 32

points and led the spurt that broke open the

game late in the third quarter, and the Brooklyn

Nets beat the Atlanta Hawks 117-108 on

Wednesday night for their third straight victory.

Durant had 13 points in a 20-4 run to end the

third that turned a tie game into a 16-point Nets

lead going to the fourth. He added seven re-

bounds and five assists overall.

Joe Harris made six three-pointers and

scored 18 points, James Harden had 16 points

and 11 assists, and the Nets finished 4-2 on their

homestand after making 22 three-pointers.

76ers 103, Bulls 98: Joel Embiid had 18

points, nine rebounds and seven assists in his re-

turn to the lineup, and Seth Curry scored 22

points and hit a crucial jumper late to lead host

Philadelphia over Chicago.

Georges Niang added 18 points to help the

short-handed 76ers win their fourth in a row. In

addition to Ben Simmons (personal reasons),

who has missed all eight games, Philadelphia

was without starters Tobias Harris (health and

safety protocols) and Danny Green (hamstr-

ing).

Mavericks 109, Spurs 108: Jalen Brunson

had 31 points and 10 rebounds, Luka Donic add-

ed 23 points and 12 rebounds and Dallas rallied

to a win at San Antonio.

Tim Hardaway Jr. also had 23 points for the

Mavs.

Pacers 111, Knicks 98:Myles Turner scored

long distance, as the Clippers had their best

shooting night of the season and won their sec-

ond straight game. They shot 60.3% from the

field and made a season-high 21 three-pointers

on 36 attempts.

Celtics 92, Magic 79: Jaylen Brown scored

28 points and Boston used an 18-1 run at the start

of the second half to roll to a win at Orlando.

Jayson Tatum added 14 points to help the Cel-

tics snap a three-game losing streak and beat the

Magic for a seventh consecutive time.

Raptors 109, Wizards 100: Fred VanVleet

scored a season-high 33 points, OG Anunoby

added 21 and Toronto won at Washington for its

fifth straight victory.

Svi Mykhailiuk and Gary Trent Jr. each add-

ed 15 points for the Raptors.

Grizzlies 108, Nuggets 106: Jaren Jackson

Jr. had 22 points, eight rebounds and three

blocks in host Memphis’ victory over Denver.

Ja Morant added 18 points, six rebounds and

six assists, and Desmond Bane and Kyle Ander-

son had 16 points each. Bane’s three-pointer

with 1:19 remaining gave the Grizzlies the lead

for good in their second straight victory over the

Nuggets.

Cavaliers 107, Trail Blazers 104: Jarrett Al-

len had 24 points and 17 rebounds in Cleveland’s

win over visiting Portland.

Kings 112, Pelicans 99: Tyrese Haliburton

scored seven of his 20 points during a big run

early in the fourth quarter and host Sacramento

beat New Orleans.

Durant scores 32, three-happy Nets beat Hawks

FRANK FRANKLIN II/AP

The Brooklyn Nets’ Kevin Durant drives pastthe Atlanta Hawks’ John Collins during theNets’ 117108 win Wednesday in New York.

Associated Press

ROUNDUP

22Three-pointers made by the BrooklynNets in a 117-108 win Wednesdayover the Atlanta Hawks. It was theNets’ most three-pointers made sincehitting a franchise-best 27 last Feb. 15at Sacramento.

SOURCE: Associated Press


NHL

Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division

GP W L OT Pts GF GA

Florida 9 8 0 1 17 36 18

Tampa Bay 9 5 3 1 11 29 30

Buffalo 9 5 3 1 11 28 22

Toronto 10 5 4 1 11 25 29

Detroit 10 4 4 2 10 29 34

Boston 7 4 3 0 8 18 20

Ottawa 9 3 5 1 7 24 30

Montreal 11 3 8 0 6 22 34

Metropolitan Division

GP W L OT Pts GF GA

Carolina 9 9 0 0 18 37 15

N.Y. Rangers 10 6 2 2 14 24 22

Washington 9 5 1 3 13 32 22

Columbus 9 6 3 0 12 28 26

Philadelphia 8 5 2 1 11 28 21

New Jersey 8 4 3 1 9 21 25

N.Y. Islanders 7 3 2 2 8 17 18

Pittsburgh 8 3 3 2 8 26 25

Western Conference

Central Division

GP W L OT Pts GF GA

St. Louis 8 6 1 1 13 31 18

Winnipeg 9 5 2 2 12 32 29

Minnesota 9 6 3 0 12 27 30

Nashville 10 5 5 0 10 28 29

Colorado 9 4 4 1 9 28 32

Dallas 9 3 4 2 8 18 26

Chicago 11 1 8 2 4 25 42

Arizona 10 0 9 1 1 13 42

Pacific Division

GP W L OT Pts GF GA

Edmonton 9 8 1 0 16 39 23

Calgary 9 6 1 2 14 31 18

San Jose 9 6 3 0 12 27 22

Anaheim 11 4 4 3 11 35 35

Los Angeles 10 4 5 1 9 27 29

Vancouver 10 4 5 1 9 25 27

Vegas 9 4 5 0 8 21 30

Seattle 10 3 6 1 7 25 33

Tuesday’s games

Toronto 4, Vegas 0Philadelphia 3, Arizona 0Montreal 3, Detroit 0Minnesota 5, Ottawa 4, OTWinnipeg 4, Dallas 3, SONashville 3, Calgary 2, OTVancouver 3, N.Y. Rangers 2, OTAnaheim 4, New Jersey 0San Jose 5, Buffalo 3

Wednesday’s games

Carolina 4, Chicago 3 Edmonton 5, Nashville 2 Columbus 5, Colorado 4, OT Los Angeles 3, St. Louis 2, SO

Thursday’s games

Detroit at Boston N.Y. Islanders at Montreal Philadelphia at Pittsburgh Tampa Bay at Toronto Vegas at Ottawa Washington at Florida Dallas at Calgary Buffalo at Seattle St. Louis at San Jose

Friday’s games

Chicago at Winnipeg N.Y. Rangers at Edmonton Arizona at Anaheim Nashville at Vancouver New Jersey at Los Angeles

Saturday’s games

Tampa Bay at Ottawa Carolina at Florida Boston at Toronto Colorado at Columbus Detroit at Buffalo Minnesota at Pittsburgh N.Y. Islanders at Winnipeg Philadelphia at Washington Vegas at Montreal N.Y. Rangers at Calgary Seattle at Arizona New Jersey at San Jose

Sunday’s games

Vegas at Detroit Nashville at Chicago N.Y. Islanders at Minnesota St. Louis at Anaheim Dallas at Vancouver

Scoring leaders

Through Thursday

GP G A PTS

Leon Draisaitl, EDM 9 9 11 20

Connor McDavid, EDM 9 7 12 19

Alex Ovechkin, WSH 9 9 6 15

Kyle Connor, WPG 9 7 7 14

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, EDM 9 0 13 13

Evgeny Kuznetsov, WSH 9 5 8 13

Andrei Svechnikov, CAR 9 7 6 13

Anze Kopitar, LA 10 7 6 13

Oliver Bjorkstrand, CBJ 9 4 8 12

Scoreboard

BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Jack Eichel era in

Buffalo is over, with a nasty public eight-

month feud reaching a conclusion on Thurs-

day when the Sabres traded their former

captain and face of the franchise to the Vegas

Golden Knights.

The trade ends a stalemate between Eichel

and Buffalo over how to repair his herniated

disk, which has sidelined him since March.

The dispute revolved around the NHL’s col-

lective bargaining agreement giving teams

the final say over the treatment of injuries.

Though Eichel remains sidelined, the

Golden Knights addressed their biggest

long-term need in landing a top-line center

by trading forward Alex Tuch, rookie center

Peyton Krebs and two draft picks to the

Sabres.

Eichel is expected to have the disk replace-

ment surgery he preferred, though the re-

covery timetable means he’ll likely miss

most if not all of the remainder of the season.

The length of the dispute also essentially

eliminates Eichel’s chance to represent the

United States at the Winter Olympics, which

will be held in Beijing in February.

Sabres doctors favored Eichel having fu-

sion surgery and opposed the disk replace-

ment procedure because it has never been

conducted on an NHL player.

Eichel was the Sabres’ highest-paid player

and is in the fourth year of an eight-year, $80

million contract. He topped 20 goals in each

of his first five seasons and enjoyed a break-

out year in 2019-20, when he had a career-

best 36 goals in 68 games before the season

was abruptly canceled due to the coronavi-

rus pandemic.

Overall, he finishes with 139 goals and 355

points in 375 career games with Buffalo.

Buffalo acquired a top-10 protected first-

round pick in the 2022 draft and a 2023 sec-

ond-round selection. Vegas also acquired a

2023 third-round pick.

The feud became public in May, when Ei-

chel revealed what he called “a disconnect”

with the team over treating the injury, and he

questioned his future with a franchise that

once regarded him as a key building block

after selecting him with the No. 2 pick in the

2015 draft.

The dispute escalated over the summer,

with Eichel changing agents in August in a

bid to spur a trade. In September, the Sabres

stripped Eichel of his captaincy before the

start of training camp.

In recent weeks, Eichel’s camp began

threatening to file a grievance through the

NHL Players’ Association, questioning

whether Sabres doctors followed the collec-

tive bargaining agreement in giving his op-

tion of surgery serious consideration.

The standoff drew the attention of the

highest levels of the league, with NHL Com-

missioner Gary Bettman calling it “a terrible

situation,” without fixing blame on either

side.

Sabres end stalemate by trading Eichel

DERIK HAMILTON/AP

The Buffalo Sabres traded former captainJack Eichel to the Vegas Golden Knights onThursday for forward Alex Tuch, rookiecenter Peyton Krebs and two draft picks

BY JOHN WAWROW

Associated Press

CHICAGO — Jesper Fast and

Martin Necas scored 3:09 apart in

the third period, and the unde-

feated Carolina Hurricanes

topped the Chicago Blackhawks

4-3 on Wednesday night.

Derek Stepan had a goal and an

assist as Carolina matched a fran-

chise record with its ninth

straight victory. Seth Jarvis add-

ed his first career goal, and Fre-

derik Andersen made 27 saves in

the opener of a challenging three-

game trip.

At 9-0, the Hurricanes moved

into a tie with the 2015-16 Mon-

treal Canadiens for the NHL’s

third-longest winning streak to

begin a season. Next up is a trip

to Florida for a Saturday match-

up with the Panthers, who were

8-0-1 heading into their game

against Washington on Thursday

night.

Alex DeBrincat had two goals

for Chicago, which lost 6-3 at Car-

olina on Friday night. Patrick

Kane had a goal and an assist,

and Marc-Andre Fleury made 28

stops.

Oilers 5, Predators 2: Leon

Draisaitl had two goals and an as-

sist to take the NHL scoring lead

— a point ahead of teammate

Connor McDavid — and host Ed-

monton beat Nashville.

Draisaitl has 20 points on nine

goals and 11 assists. McDavid as-

sisted on both of Draisaitl’s goals.

Kailer Yamamoto, Devin Shore

and Jesse Puljujarvi also scored,

and Mikko Koskinen made 31

tory over St. Louis.

Both teams scored twice in the

first three rounds of the tiebreak-

er. Adrian Kempe and Alex Iafal-

lo also converted for the Kings.

David Perron and Jordan Kyrou

made their shots for the Blues.

Kempe and Kaliyev scored

third-period goals for Los An-

geles, which trailed 1-0 after two.

Jonathan Quick made 33 saves as

the Kings avoided being swept in

the three-game season series.

this season in games decided af-

ter regulation.

Cole Sillinger scored twice and

Boone Jenner added a goal for

Columbus, which finished its

three-game trip with a 2-1 mark.

Joonas Korpisalo stopped 28

shots.

Kings 3, Blues 2 (SO): Arthur

Kaliyev scored in the fourth

round of a shootout and host Los

Angeles extended its winning

streak to three games with a vic-

saves to help the Western Confer-

ence-leading Oilers improve to 8-

1-0.

Blue Jackets 5, Avalanche 4

(OT): Jake Bean scored twice, in-

cluding the winner 1:12 into over-

time, and visiting Columbus re-

bounded after surrendering a late

two-goal lead to beat Colorado.

Bean skated in and lined a shot

through the pads of Avalanche

goaltender Jonas Johansson as

the Blue Jackets improved to 4-0

ROUNDUP

Hurricanes remain undefeated

NAM Y. HUH/AP

Hurricanes fans hold signs as Carolina players celebrate Wednesday after beating the Blackhawks 43 inChicago. The Hurricanes have won their first nine games and are the last unbeaten team in the NHL.

Associated Press


COLLEGE FOOTBALL

No. 4 Oklahoma could hardly

wait to get started on what the

Sooners hope is another perfect fi-

nal month of the regular season un-

der coach Lincoln Riley.

The last seconds were ticking

down in a blowout win over Texas

Tech on Saturday when Sooners

defensive lineman Isaiah Thomas

heard linebacker Nik Bonitto say

on the sidelines, “It’s time for

championship November.”

To which Riley replied, “I’m al-

ready in championship Novem-

ber,” according to Thomas.

The undefeated Sooners (9-0,

6-0 Big 12) have a bye week to pre-

pare for what’s left: games against

the three teams directly behind

them in the standings that all have

a shot to reach the Dec. 4 confer-

ence championship game.

It’s a tough task, for sure. Then

again, Oklahoma is 14-0 under Ri-

ley as a head coach in November.

“The older guys that’s been

here, even the coaches, know it’s

just a different aura around here.

It’s a different environment, a dif-

ferent type of atmosphere,” said

Thomas, a senior. “For us as a

team, we know we’ve got to play

our best ball, because that’s what

we do here. It’s not just something

we say. It’s a culture.

“You can see that with (our) re-

cent teams that we play our best

football in the month of November.

And we’re going to try to let the

young guys know that.”

A young guy leads them on of-

fense. Quarterback Caleb Wil-

liams, one of the nation’s top fresh-

men, has thrown for 875 yards and

12 touchdowns in three starts since

taking over for Spencer Rattler.

“There’s some things, just for

him, that he does at a young age

that are really impressive,” Riley

said. “He’s got a good calm demea-

nor about the game. He’s done a

good job in scramble situations

here early in the season. He does a

good job not getting too high or too

low. I think there’s a certain feel

that he has on some things that are

good. And I would expect him to

continue to get better.”

That could be a challenge. The

Sooners play at No. 14 Baylor on

Nov. 13, home against Iowa State

on Nov. 20, then finish the regular

season with the Bedlam game at

No. 11 Oklahoma State on Nov. 27.

Cowboys, Bears lurkingOklahoma State and Baylor are

tied for second place with identical

7-1 overall and 4-1 league marks.

The Cowboys beat the Bears last

month.

Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy

has one Big 12 title in his 16 previ-

ous seasons. He’s chasing his sec-

ond with one of the league’s top de-

fenses. The Cowboys have not al-

lowed more than 24 points in a

game this season.

“There’s probably not a lot of

teams in the country that can say

they play pretty good defensively

every week,” Gundy said. “We’ve

played pretty good defensively ev-

ery week.”

Baylor coach Dave Aranda, who

has turned the Bears around from

a 2-7 season in 2020, would rather

his players think about how to im-

prove themselves, not on the con-

ference race.

“It’s getting into a rhythm. It’s

about winning the day,” Aranda

said. “Anything outside that, you

risk thinking about things that you

really can’t control. I think the abil-

ity to play each day and bring our

best, bring our standard, I think it’s

crazy how a lot of stuff will come to

you if that’s the case.”

Iowa State (5-3, 3-2) fell into

fourth place after losing at West

Virginia last week. The Cyclones

will need some help in order to re-

turn to the championship game for

the second straight season..

Oklahoma has won the confer-

ence title game each year since it

resumed in 2017, part of six

straight Big 12 championships for

the Sooners. They’re also seeking

their fifth berth in the College

Football Playoff.

There’s been plenty of drama in

the league already. TCU (Gary

Patterson) and Texas Tech (Matt

Wells) both made coaching chang-

es in the past two weeks after loss-

es to Kansas State.

Under first-year coach Steve

Sarkisian, Texas has lost three

straight for the first time since

Charlie Strong’s final three games

in 2016. The Longhorns haven’t

dropped four in a row since 2010,

when they finished 5-7.

Championship month:Three teams chasingSooners in the Big 12

CHARLIE RIEDEL/AP

Oklahoma coach Lincoln Rileyargues a call during a win on Oct.23 at Kansas. The Sooners (90,60 in the Big 12) have a bye thisweek.

BY JOHN RABY

Associated Press

With four weeks to go in conference play, the Big

Ten’s three highest-ranked teams remain in pursuit

of a spot in the College Football Playoff.

The races in both divisions are tight, with half of

the league harboring goals of reaching the confer-

ence championship. In the middle and back of the

pack, even for the handful of longshots, bowl eligibil-

ity is still on the table.

But postseason projections, while fodder for fans

and analysts, are hardly part of a team’s regular

game plan.

“If you don’t win the next one, you are going to go

from being first to fifth or whatever it may be,” said

Minnesota quarterback Tanner Morgan, whose team

is in first place in the West Division. “Any team can

beat you any week, so you have to be at your best.

We’re humble enough to know that anybody can beat

us on any Saturday.”

There’s no program more committed to the art of

staying present in the moment than the Gophers un-

der coach P.J. Fleck, whose limits to looking beyond

the current opponent — as publicly stated, at least —

are the offseason and the bye week.

“I know you guys probably laugh when we say,

‘one-game championship season’ or whatever, but

that’s really our mantra, our mentality. This game is

all we’ve got,” Morgan said. “If we don’t win this

week, who knows what next week holds?”

The Gophers (6-2, 4-1) host Illinois (3-6, 2-4) on Sat-

urday in the epitome of a trap game, given that the

Illini beat Penn State on Oct. 23 in that NCAA-record

nine-overtime grind. Minnesota then plays at No. 19

Iowa (6-2, 3-2) on Nov. 13 in the first of two rivalry

games for the Gophers that will determine the West

Division title. They host Wisconsin (5-3, 3-2) on Nov.

27, after a game at Indiana (2-6, 0-5).

Who wins the West?Wisconsin would claim a seventh Big Ten cham-

pionship-game berth in 11 seasons of the divisional

format by winning out — a legitimate scenario after

an uncharacteristic 1-3 start. The Badgers visit Rutg-

ers (4-4, 1-4) on Saturday and host Northwestern (3-5,

1-4) and Nebraska (3-6, 1-5) before the battle for Paul

Bunyan’s Axe at Minnesota.

Backsliding Iowa plays at Northwestern on Satur-

day. After the crucial game against the Gophers, the

Hawkeyes finish with Illinois and Nebraska.

Losing earlier in the season to the Gophers and the

Badgers hurts Purdue (5-3, 3-2) in the hunt. The Boi-

lermakers play host to No. 5 Michigan State (8-0, 5-0)

Saturday and visit No. 6 Ohio State (7-1, 5-0) on Nov.

13 before finishing with Northwestern and Indiana.

Beasts of the EastMichigan State has a path to the East Division title

with no outside help required after beating archene-

my Michigan (7-1, 4-1) last week. The Spartans play

at Purdue on Saturday and host Maryland (5-3, 2-3)

on Nov. 13, before the big finish at No. 6 Ohio State

(7-1, 5-0) on Nov. 20 and at home against No. 22 Penn

State (5-3, 2-3) on Nov. 27.

“We put ourselves in a good position heading into

the last month of the season,” Spartans coach Mel

Tucker said. “But really, we need to play our best

football down the stretch in November. That’s really

what it’s all about: November madness. We have to be

at our best when our best is needed.”

NAM Y. HUH/AP

Minnesota quarterback Tanner Morgan, left, celebrates with wide receiver Mike BrownStephens. TheGophers play host to Illinois on Saturday, followed by a game at No. 19 Iowa the following week.

Big Ten bowl race crowdedat top, murky in the middle

BY DAVE CAMPBELL

Associated Press

ANDY MANIS/AP

Wisconsin linebackers Leo Chenal, left, NickHerbig, back, , and safety Scott Nelson, right, wrapup Iowa running back Tyler Goodson. The Badgerscan guarantee a berth in the Big Ten championshipgame if they win their final four games.


MLB

ATLANTA — A celebration 26 years in

the making was still going strong when a jar-

ring dose of reality hit the Braves.

Has Freddie Freeman, the face of the

franchise for the past decade, played his last

game in an Atlanta uniform?

“Did I think I’d be sitting here with no con-

tract? No, I didn’t,” Freeman said after stop-

ping by the Fox set during the postgame cel-

ebration in Houston, not long after catching

a throw to first for the final out. “This is a

crazy game, a crazy business. But everyone

knows where my heart is. And that’s the At-

lanta Braves.”

Freeman’s future is the most pressing off-

season issue facing the Braves, who capped

an improbable run to their first World Se-

ries title since 1995 with a 7-0 rout of the

Houston Astros in Game 6 on Tuesday night.

It’s hard to envision the Braves defending

the title they worked so hard to achieve

without No. 5 at first base.

The Braves had hoped to lock up the 32-

year-old Freeman to a long-term deal be-

fore they got to the end of the season, but the

two sides have yet to agree on terms.

Freeman was among 160 players who be-

came a free agent Wednesday, along with

World Series MVP Jorge Soler and NL

Championship Series MVP Eddie Rosario.

“I’ve been here since I was 17 years old.

Almost half my life, I’ve been in this organi-

zation,” Freeman said. “It means every-

thing to put on that Braves uniform every

day. So hopefully I can continue to do that.”

Freeman’s uncertain status left the city

with a bit of dread, even as it prepared for a

Friday parade to toast Atlanta’s second

championship in the four major American

sports.

If Freeman re-signs, the Braves should be

the favorites for a fifth straight NL East title

and one of the top contenders for another Se-

ries championship.

Their most dynamic player, outfielder

Ronald Acuña Jr., is expected to be fully re-

covered at some point during the first half of

the 2022 season after going down in July

with a season-ending knee injury.

Slugger Marcell Ozuna, who also missed

most of the season after breaking his hand

and then being arrested for allegedly attack-

ing his wife during a domestic dispute, could

return as well — most likely as a designated

hitter if that rule, as expected, is adopted by

both leagues.

Beyond Freeman, the rest of Atlanta’s

stellar infield — Ozzie Albies, Austin Riley

and Dansby Swanson — is all locked up for

next season. So are the top three starting

pitchers — Charlie Morton, Max Fried and

Ian Anderson — as well as the key figures in

a bullpen that dominated the postseason:

closer Will Smith and setup men Tyler Mat-

zek, A.J. Minter and Luke Jackson. Travis

d’Arnaud will be back to catch them.

It’s a tight-knit group that the Braves

would like to keep together as much as they

can.

“Kind of the one thing that really sets us

apart is how organically it’s been created,

the love and compassion for one another and

the friendships,” Swanson said. “It’s very

real.”

The four outfielders who played such a

key role in the Braves’ success after being

acquired ahead of the trade deadline could

all be headed elsewhere in 2022.

In addition to Soler and Rosario becoming

free agents, NL RBI leader Adam Duvall

and pearl-wearing Joc Pederson both have

contract options for next season that must

be exercised by both player and team.

General manager Alex Anthopoulos

pushed all the right buttons in the Braves’

run to the championship, and there’s every

reason to believe he will assemble a roster

capable of repeating in 2022.

The Braves don’t want to wait another 26

years for their next championship.

“Year after year, it never happened. This

year it was improbable,” Freeman said.

“We hit every pothole, every bump you

could possibly hit this year, and somehow

the car still made it onto the other side. It’s

just an incredible group.”

Now the big question is:

Will Freeman still be a part of it in 2022?

Freeman top priority for champion Braves

ERIC GAY/AP

Atlanta’s Freddie Freeman celebrates hishome run in Game 6 of the World Series.Freeman's future is the most pressingoffseason issue facing the Braves.

BY PAUL NEWBERRY

Associated Press


NFL

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The

Chiefs insisted Wednesday that

their preparation for the Green

Bay Packers would not change up-

on learning that league MVP Aa-

ron Rodgers had tested positive

for COVID-19 and would miss

their matchup this weekend.

That doesn’t mean there we-

ren’t a few relieved smiles behind

closed doors.

After all, rather than face one of

the game’s best quarterbacks Sun-

day at Arrowhead Stadium, Kan-

sas City and its much-maligned

defense likely will get second-

year pro Jordan Love making his

NFL starting debut.

“It’s definitely disappointing,”

said Chiefs quarterback Patrick

Mahomes, who has become close

friends with Rodgers in part

through shared endorsement

deals. “I’ve watched him a long

time. I feel like I play a similar

style. You always want to play the

best. Hopefully he’s healthy, it’s

not too bad and he comes back

stronger than before.”

After Kansas City plays the

Packers, of course.

Then again, it’s not like Ma-

homes would be responsible for

slowing down Rodgers and the

Green Bay offense. That task falls

to a defense that ranks near the

bottom of the league in just about

every meaningful statistical cate-

gory, even after the Chiefs played

better on that side of the ball in a

20-17 comeback win over the Gi-

ants on Monday night.

The Packers should still have

running back Aaron Jones, who

creates plenty of problems. They

also hope to have Devante Adams

back after their star wide receiver

missed last week’s win in Arizona

with COVID-19, and running mate

Allen Lazard, who had to miss the

showdown in the desert because

he’s unvaccinated and was

deemed a close contact.

“Adams is one of those receiv-

ers, it doesn’t matter who is throw-

ing him the ball. He’s a tough cov-

er,” Kansas City safety Tyrann

Mathieu said. “The more I watch

Jones, I like the way he runs the

football. A lot of straight-line

speed, a lot of power for his size.

He runs through a lot of arm tack-

les. That’s going to be a tough task

for us.”

Still, they won’t have Rodgers

delivering them the ball down-

field.

That’s good news for the Chiefs

given the way he’s sliced them up

in their past two meetings.

When they met at Lambeau

Field in 2015, Rodgers threw for

333 yards with five touchdowns

and no picks in a 38-28 victory that

was never as close as the final

score — it was 31-7 in the third

quarter. And in their rematch two

years ago, Rodgers merely threw

for 305 yards with three touch-

downs and no picks in a 31-24 win

at Arrowhead Stadium.

Kansas City went on to beat the

49ers in the Super Bowl that sea-

son.

“Obviously, Aaron is a special

player, probably one of the most

talented quarterbacks in this

league,” Mathieu said, “but in

terms of preparation and mindset,

our attitude — pretty sure those

guys’ offense won’t change too

much.

“It’s all about information, rec-

ognition and understanding

what’s going on out there.”

In that respect, it helps that the

Chiefs learned about the QB

change on Wednesday. They

didn’t learn about Tyrod Taylor’s

injury until just before kickoff

against the Chargers last year and

were shredded by backup Justin

Herbert in his debut.

The challenge now is to find

some information on Love, even if

that means going back to his col-

lege tape coming out of Utah State.

Love has played quite a bit in the

preseason, especially this year,

but he’s thrown just seven regu-

lar-season NFL passes with all of

them in a blowout loss to the Saints

in Week 1.

That’s more than 6,800 fewer

passes than the guy he is replac-

ing.

“You know they’re not going to

completely change the whole of-

fense. That’s not going to happen,”

Kansas City coach Andy Reid

said. “You prep for the offense,

and you take the unique qualities

each one has and you work on

that.”

MIKE ROEMER/AP

Green Bay backup quarterback Jordan Love has only thrown seven regularseason passes in the NFL, andhas yet to start a game. He’ll be starting in place of Aaron Rodgers in Sunday’s game against Kansas City.

Chiefs: Rodgers’ absencedoesn’t alter preparation

BY DAVE SKRETTA

Associated Press Green Bay Packers (7-1)

at Kansas City Chiefs (4-4)AFN-Sports

10:25 p.m. Sunday CET6:25 a.m. Monday JKT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The

Tennessee Titans have only one

real choice after losing the NFL’s

rushing leader in Derrick Henry

to a broken right foot.

“Keep moving,” Titans quarter-

back Ryan Tannehill said

Wednesday. “We have to keep

moving forward

as a team, as an

offense, and find

a way to continue

to play our foot-

ball and play

good.”

For the first

time since be-

coming Tennes-

see’s starting quarterback in mid-

October 2019, the pressure will be

on Tannehill to deliver in the Ti-

tans’ passing game. And his first

shot without Henry comes Sunday

night in Los Angeles against the

Rams (7-1) and three-time AP

NFL Defensive Player of the year

Aaron Donald.

“I want to do whatever it takes

to win,” Tannehill said. “If that is

throwing the ball more, then it is

throwing the ball more. If that is

running the ball more, then it is

running the ball more. I just love

winning football games. Whatever

it takes to win and give our team

the best chance to win, that is what

I will do.”

The Titans (6-2) signed 2012

NFL MVP Adrian Peterson for

what might wind up a committee

approach to replacing the two-

time rushing champ.

Henry had carried much of the

offense before being hurt, running

for 10 touchdowns through six

games. Tannehill only got to 10 TD

passes last weekend with his sec-

ond three-TD game of the season.

But Tannehill also is the Titans’

second-leading rusher this sea-

son, averaging 7.2 yards per carry

with three more TDs.

Tannehill is 26-12 since becom-

ing Tennessee’s starting quarter-

back. He just led the Titans to a

12th comeback when trailing in

the fourth quarter or overtime

with the overtime win in Indiana-

polis last week. He also has had a

passer rating of 90 or better in

three of four road starts this sea-

son.

He threw for 3,819 yards last

season with a career-high 33 TD

passes. This season, Tannehill has

topped 300 yards only once. Ten-

nessee ranks only 21st in the NFL,

averaging 229.5 yards passing per

game.

“His toughness, his understand-

ing of our offense and what we are

trying to do each and every week

has been good,” coach Mike Vra-

bel said of Tannehill. “It can al-

ways improve. We have a lot of

things to work on.”

The passing game isn’t what

was expected after the Titans

traded for seven-time Pro Bowl

wide receiver Julio Jones in June,

pairing him with 2020 Pro Bowl

receiver A.J. Brown.

Both receivers have dealt with

hamstring issues this season.

Jones has missed three games, in-

cluding last week’s win over the

Colts. He has 17 catches and 301

yards receiving and is still looking

for his first TD this season after of-

ficials overturned a catch at the

back of the end zone in Seattle.

Brown has had his two best

games over the past two weeks,

and he caught a season-high 10

passes for 155 yards and a TD in

Indianapolis.

RICK SCUTERI/AP

The Tennessee Titans signed running back Adrian Peterson this weekto help replace injured NFL rushing leader Derrick Henry.

Tannehill, Titansadapting to offensewithout top rusher

BY TERESA M. WALKER

Associated Press Tennessee Titans (6-2)

at Los Angeles Rams (7-1)AFN-Sports

2:20 a.m. Monday CET10:20 a.m. Monday JKT

Tannehill


SPORTS

Re-signing Freeman top priority for champion Braves ›› MLB, Page 22

Self-described ‘not a tough guy’ Kyle Larson cancap comeback season with NASCAR championship

Better fastthan tough

AUTO RACING

Kyle Larson has heard that mental toughness is required

to win a championship. He has no idea if that’s true —

and if it is required, well, then he doesn’t consider him-

self the championship favorite this weekend.

Toughness, Larson said, makes him think of veteran driver Ke-

vin Harvick. And when he thinks about mental toughness, Larson

points to Tony Stewart and the 2011 news conference where Stew-

art trash-talked Carl Edwards right out of the title.

But Larson? Tough? He’s 5-foot-6 and 135 pounds. When asked

what weapon he’d choose in a

zombie apocalypse, Larson said

he’d take his orders from fellow

drivers Chase Elliott, Ryan Bla-

ney and Corey LaJoie. He’d let

them be in charge.

“People tell me all the time

you have to be mentally tough to

win the championship, and I feel

like enough people hype it up to

where you have to act different

come playoff time,” Larson said.

“But I’m not a tough guy. So I

don’t know how to be tough. I

don’t know what I’m ‘supposed’

to be doing.”

He is doing just fine.

The 29-year-old Larson has been deemed a future NASCAR

champion his entire career. He came to the series as a 19-year-old

sprint car sensation and those who know such things said Larson

was even better than both Jeff Gordon and Stewart, a pair of driv-

ers who started on dirt and are now NASCAR Hall of Famers.

He didn’t disappoint upon his 2012 arrival, but his Chip Ganassi

BY JENNA FRYER

Associated Press

INSIDE

Chip Ganassi Racing putting brakeson 20 years of NASCAR competitionPage 18

Kyle Larson has won nine Cup races this season after a oneyearexile from NASCAR for saying the “nword” during an onlinerace in April 2020. He can cap his comeback on Sunday inPhoenix with a championship.

COLIN E. BRALEY/AP

SEE TOUGH ON PAGE 18

“I don’t knowhow to betough. I don’tknow what I’m‘supposed’ tobe doing.”

Kyle Larson

NASCAR championship favorite

Ready for anythingChiefs say Rodgers’ absence won’tchange preparation ›› NFL, Page 23

OVEMBER Fun, in small doses

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