Stars and Stripes - Volume 77, No. 182B ©SS 2018 MIDEAST … · 2018-12-29 · Stars and Stripes A...

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stripes.com Free to Deployed Areas Volume 77, No. 182B ©SS 2018 MIDEAST EDITION SUNDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2018

BY PAMELA CONSTABLE

The Washington Post

KABUL — Just 10 days ago, Afghani-stan finally seemed to be moving forward.Peace negotiations with the Taliban weregaining traction and the country’s neigh-bors were playing a newly positive role. National polls had been set for April, and President Ashraf Ghani appeared stronglypositioned for re-election. The U.N. specialrepresentative for Afghanistan, TadamichiYamamoto, was so optimistic that he toldthe U.N. Security Council that the chanceof settling the Afghan conflict “has never been more real in the past 17 years than itis now.”

Today, it is a very different story. Theforward momentum has all but stopped,the news has all been bad, and the coun-

try’s political futureseems more uncer-tain than ever.

Afghan officials,stunned by President Donald Trump’s planto call back thou-sands of U.S. troops, have retreated intosilence and fran-tic maneuvering to shore up the govern-ment. The election has been thrown intodoubt and seems like-ly to be postponed for

months. A brutal, unclaimed terrorist as-sault on two government ministries in thecapital left 43 people dead Monday, and the Taliban’s leverage in future power-sharing seems stronger than ever.

“The state of play in Afghanistan is becoming increasingly volatile,” said Mi-chael Kugelman, an Afghanistan expertat the Woodrow Wilson International Cen-ter for Scholars in Washington. The new uncertainties about peace talks and elec-tions, plus “looming U.S. troop withdraw-als and a relentless Taliban insurgency,” have created a “powder keg,” he said in an email Friday.

Several Afghan observers expressedsimilar concerns, warning that the poten-tial double whammy of a prolonged-but-weakened government and a politicallystrengthened, still-aggressive insurgency could create a power vacuum filled withviolence and political turmoil.

SEE SLOWS ON PAGE 2

BY J.P. LAWRENCE

Stars and Stripes

HERAT, Afghanistan

About a dozen children clam-bered over a low wall into a field of purple flowers and began plucking buds from

their rubbery stems, harvesting the “red gold” that one day might be served at a fancy American eatery.

As they worked, the sounds of SEE CONCERN ON PAGE 3

Top: A farmer stands in a saffron field on Nov. 13 in Afghanistan’s Herat province. Right: A woman inspects red stigmas from a purple crocus flower on Nov. 14 while refining saffron, the world’s most expensive spice.

PHOTOS BY J.P. LAWRENCE/Stars and Stripes

Saffron slump challenges company founded by Afghan war veterans

Growing concern

Afghanistan momentum on peace, election slows to crawl

‘ The state of play in Afghanistan is becoming increasingly volatile. ’

MichaelKugelman

Afghanistan expert

• S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Sunday, December 30, 2018

American Roundup ............ 14Books .............................. 18Business/Weather ............. 23Crossword ........................ 19Entertainment ................... 15Music ............................... 16Opinion ............................ 22Sports .........................24-32

T O D A YIN STRIPES

FROM FRONT PAGE

“Unfortunately, the timing of the troop cutbacks has fallen right when there was an effort to convince the Taliban to accept a settlement, and at a crucial phase in a new political transition,” analyst Haroun Mir said. Now, he said, “the Taliban will have no reason to make meaningful con-cessions,” and it will be equally difficult to hold credible elections on time or to extend the current administration’s tenure.

Technically, the election has nothing to do with the peace talks, but the imbroglio over its timing, initially due to concerns over security and fraud, became linked to the talks last month, as U.S. officials pushed for speedy negotiations with the insurgents. Some Afghans and foreign do-nors urged that the presidential polls be delayed, and a variety of Afghans said an interim caretak-er government should be set up to oversee the peace process.

Ghani, then widely viewed as the front-runner and adamantly opposed to an interim govern-ment, insisted that the polls be held in April as mandated by the constitution. The national elec-tions commission vacillated for weeks, changing its mind several times. Early this week, the panel indicated that the polls might be delayed by three to four months, but no announcement was made.

At the same time, the abrupt White House decision to cut half of the 14,000 U.S. troops, most serving as trainers and advisers to Afghan forces, upended both the pre-electoral political calcu-lus here and the growing sense of momentum in the peace process, especially after a third round of talks in Abu Dhabi to which half a

dozen foreign countries extended support and Taliban leaders sent senior delegates.

When news of Trump’s plan broke here, it appeared to many Afghans and others that the Tal-iban, which had been waging an aggressive ground campaign and killing record numbers of Afghan forces for months, was being handed one of its major longtime demands — that foreign forces leave the country — without hav-ing to give up anything in return. There were media reports of Tal-iban fighters celebrating at the news and predicting that victory was close at hand.

“The fundamental challenge is still how to convince the Taliban to stop fighting,” Kugelman said in his email Friday. “With the in-surgents poised to gain a major battlefield advantage if thousands of U.S. troops start heading for the exits, the Taliban seemingly has more incentive to take up arms than to lay them down.”

American military officials here have insisted that no mat-ter how large or small their troop numbers, U.S. support for Afghanistan will remain stead-fast. The senior U.S. commander here, Gen. Austin “Scott” Miller, has given several interviews in

the past week to emphasize that point. He also made a quick trip to Pakistan, which has strongly supported the peace talks, to de-liver the same message to its mili-tary chief.

But Afghanistan’s military and police forces have struggled with mixed success to overcome long-term morale and institutional problems that foreign advisers can only partly address. Although Ghani has said nothing publicly in response to Trump’s decision, he moved swiftly to shore up his se-curity team, appointing two hard-line former intelligence chiefs as his new ministers of defense and

interior.Even more, than the fighting,

what worries Afghans most iswhat political, social and reli-gious conditions the extremist Taliban movement might imposeon them in return for peace, afternearly 18 years of civilian rule inwhich Afghanistan has becomemore modern and free of repres-sion, with extensive legal rights for women.

The beleaguered Afghan presi-dent, who took office in 2014vowing to usher in an era of tech-nocracy, human rights and rule of law, is despised by the Talibanas an American stooge, and the group has refused to negotiate with him. Even before the troopcuts, aides to Ghani expressed concerns that U.S. officials wouldmake too many concessions to the insurgents to win a quick peace.

Now that his government’s most important military backer hasundercut him without warning,and it appears that elections may be delayed, analysts said Ghaniis scrambling to consolidate hispolitical power at all costs, co-opting critics and potential rivalswith job offers, and even unoffi-cially freeing an abusive militia commander with a large tribalfollowing.

“The president is going afterhis political survival,” said NajibMahmoud, a political analysthere, adding that Ghani now hopes he can build a strongenough team to remain in power if elections are delayed and stillprevail at the polls next year. “But everything he is doing shows wehave no political stability and norule of law.”

MILITARY

Slows: Decision to draw down forces changes Afghan calculus

RAHMAT GUL/AP

A member of Afghan security forces stands guard after Monday’s Christmas Eve attack, in Kabul, Afghanistan on Tuesday.

• S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 3Sunday, December 30, 2018

FROM FRONT PAGE

snapping flower heads filled the air — the only sound besides the occasional rumble of attack helicopters at a nearby range.

Nadir Khan Alizai, 55, watched as his son, 3, mimicked his older brothers can-vassing the rows of flowers. His daughter, 4, hopped a furrow and wandered off hold-ing a blossom.

The greying village elder once grew opium poppies, but a decade ago switched to crocus, from which saffron is made. The most expensive spice in the world, it can sell for up to $4,000 a pound. His family operates one of 400 farms that sell part of their harvest to Rumi Spice, a million-dol-lar company founded by U.S. Army combat veterans. Still, this year, prices for his saf-fron have fallen due to factors outside his control.

“I’m just a farmer, I don’t know why the prices went down, I just know it depends on the government and the mafia,” Alizai said.

The Americans see their business as continuing a mission they started in the military, but its rise comes as trafficking from Iran, counterfeiting and other grow-ing pains for Afghan farmers threaten to undo progress in the fledgling saffron trade here.

Made from hand-picked flower stigmas, saffron is coveted as a seasoning in teas and rice dishes, as a dye in textiles, a fra-grance in perfume and in medical applica-tions. The legal cash crop is credited with helping Herat kick its opium-growing habit and giving jobs to vulnerable women.

But recent upheavals may force some to return to the poppies that have helped fuel the 17-year Taliban insurgency. And despite the backing of a billionaire and tes-timonials from award-winning chefs, Rumi Spice’s success remains tied to the condi-tions in a volatile country gripped by insur-gency and corruption.

Still, the veterans hope commerce can win entrenched battles that combat couldn’t win on its own.

The rise of Rumi Spice

While saffron growing has a long history in Afghanistan, it fell out of favor during de-cades of war, until refugees returned home from Iran after the Taliban fell in 2001 and began cultivating it near Herat. The flower thrived in the dry soil and cultivation was spurred by ample government and interna-tional aid.

Keith Alaniz got the idea to sell the aro-matic red saffron threads to Americans while deployed to the country in 2011 and then again in 2013. He was inspired by a local farmer who struggled to find overseas buyers for the spice, which remains pricey because of the labor needed to harvest and process it.

While he keeps a wary eye on news of growing insecurity, Alaniz believes busi-ness investments are critical for Afghani-stan’s future.

“It’s impossible to reconcile that the last 10 years of my life were dedicated to a fruitless cause,” he said. “I believe the mis-sion will be completed through the private sector, and I believe veterans are well posi-tioned to do that.”

A former Army engineer turned regional expert in the military’s Afghanistan-Paki-stan Hands program, Alaniz teamed with

two fellow Army veterans to start the busi-ness in 2014. Billed as a luxury brand, Rumi Spice saffron runs $9 per half gram jar or $170 for a one-ounce “bulk” order in a small tin.

Last year, billionaire Mark Cuban backed the company on the show “Shark Tank.” This year, it netted more than $1 million in revenues and began selling products na-tionally in Whole Foods stores, said Alaniz, now its chief executive.

Some earnings get reinvested into social causes, such as creating jobs for women. Its three saffron processing centers in Herat employ some 250 women — war widows and others displaced by drought — to hand-pluck crocus stigmas.

The women earn about $2 a day, Alaniz said. That’s more than double what a study earlier this year found most Afghans live on.

Economic development remains crucial to long-term stability in Afghanistan, both to improve livelihoods and to help fill gov-ernment tax coffers to fund defense and se-curity costs, most of which U.S. taxpayers now foot.

Rumi Spice has poured some $120,000 into training and equipment here in the past two years, Alaniz said. It also holds suppliers to U.S. agricultural standards, such as labor laws that allow young chil-dren to work only on family farms and only outside school hours.

It’s now one of five companies with mean-ingful sales out of some 30 saffron compa-nies in the province, agriculture officials

in Herat said. They said the Chicago-based firm is the largest importer of the spice to the United States.

Alaniz now hopes to build a local pack-aging facility and expand the product line to include wild cumin growing on the coun-try’s mountainsides, which he said could go for 10 times the domesticated variety.

A rising underdog and a shadowy underworld

The company’s rise parallels Afghani-stan’s emergence as an underdog to com-pete with neighboring Iran, the world’s largest supplier of the spice, which has struggled against U.S.-imposed banking and trade restrictions that barred legal exports of its vast supply of saffron to the West.

Those sanctions and a weakened curren-cy have led Iran to flood Afghan markets with its crop to skirt the restrictions and suppress vulnerable competitors across the border, locals and experts said.

“The stagnation of Afghan saffron pric-es, that’s the perverse effect of blocking the saffron from Iran,” said Philippe De Vienne, a 30-year veteran spice hunter and CEO of Epices De Cru, a Montreal-based spice company that purchases from Rumi Spice. “That is a shame because good Af-ghan saffron is a great product.”

Smuggled and counterfeit spice is glut-ting local markets and getting shipped abroad, officials in Herat said, citing data

that showed saffron exports exceeded pro-duction last year, even with half the crop remaining in the country.

Industry experts blamed Iran’s interfer-ence for a sharp fall in wholesale prices, which hurts farmers who invested heav-ily in the crop a few years ago amid what looked to be a boom, with rising prices and talk of Chinese markets opening.

To fuel its growth, the industry has for years sought inroads into new foreign mar-kets like the U.S., where Iranian imports have long been barred but still enter, la-beled as Spanish saffron. The average con-sumer has no way to know the difference.

“It’s a very opaque industry,” said Al-aniz, who believes Americans may have been turned off by low-quality and fake saffron, such as imitations made of horse hair, shredded paper or safflower — an un-related red thistle flower.

Alaniz and others have sought to com-pete by positioning Afghan saffron as a premium spice through ethical sourcing, rigorous quality standards and greater transparency. Rumi Spice doesn’t take sec-ondhand saffron and processes its crocus buds in a carefully controlled environment to prevent contamination, for example.

The government has also stepped in to protect the industry by trying to ban all saffron imports, even small amounts previ-ously allowed to be carried from Iran.

Meanwhile, Afghan saffron exports to the U.S. have jumped from one kilogram in 2008 to 845 kilograms last year, United Na-tions figures show.

Production has shot up in the same pe-riod, more than doubling since 2015, ac-cording to government data. But farmers have seen prices flatten and then fall off one-third from their peak three years ago.

Opportunities in China have not materi-alized, said Abdul Saboor Rahmany, Herat province’s agricultural chief, and lower prices may be the norm for a while. Grow-ers still earn more than they would from wheat or onions, he said, but “when the price decreases, the benefits decrease.”

Some farmers say that for the trouble they face from armed saffron-runners and declining prices, they might as well be in the more lucrative illicit drug trade.

“If the situation doesn’t change, I’ll go back to cultivating poppies, even if I get killed,” said Abdul Reza, a saffron farmer. “When guns rule the land, only the farmers and the poor suffer.”[email protected]: @jplawrence3

Concern: Vets’ company looks to expand product line

WAR ON TERRORISM

Mariam Gul, 4, and her brother Mustafa, 3, harvest saffron flowers from a field in their village in a rural district of Herat province in Afghanistan.

PHOTOS BY J.P. LAWRENCE/Stars and Stripes

Women working for Rumi Spice, a saffron import company founded in 2014 by U.S. military veterans, bring forward saffron they have processed for inspection Nov. 13 in Herat, Afghanistan. Saffron companies often employ women to process the spice, known as the most expensive in the world.


BY SETH ROBSONAND ROSE L. THAYER

Stars and Stripes

Coast Guard servicemembers will receive their paychecks Mon-day despite an earlier announce-ment saying they’d miss out due to the federal government shut-down, officials said Friday.

“I am pleased to announce the Administration, the Depart-ment of Homeland Security and the Coast Guard have identified a way to pay our military work-force on 31 December,” Coast Guard Vice Commandant Adm. Charles Ray said in message to servicememebers.

Earlier in the week, a Coast Guard spokesman had indicated that pay would stop during the shutdown, which began Dec. 21 and shows no signs of ending soon.

“I recognize that this changes course from previously provided guidance on military pay, how-ever, this is outstanding news for our military workforce,” Ray said.

Though the other military ser-vice branches — Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines — are part of the Department of Defense, which has been unaffected by the shutdown, the Coast Guard falls under the Department of Home-land Security, one of several fed-eral agencies whose budget was not approved beyond Dec. 21.

There are about 42,000 ac-tive-duty Coast Guard members. In addition, about 7,400 civilian Coast Guard employees are on furlough and another 1,300 are continuing to work without pay.

The Coast Guard’s one-time action applies to servicemem-bers who were on active duty in December and reservists who drilled before the lapse in appro-priation, Ray said.

Information posted on the Coast Guard’s official website says the service generally lacks the authority to pay its members during a government shutdown. However, research and legal analysis determined that it can execute pay and allowances for December.

“If you were an active-duty military member in December,

then you will receive your month-ly paycheck on Dec. 31, 2018. That paycheck will include all of the normal pay and allowance benefits,” the website says.

“If you were a reservist that served on active duty during the month of December, you will also receive your monthly paycheck … if you were a reservist that conducted reserve training prior to Dec. 21, 2018, then you will re-ceive the appropriate pay and al-lowance entitlements on Dec. 31, 2018,” it adds.

However, the website warns that servicemembers’ Jan. 15 paychecks are not guaranteed.

“Meeting active duty and re-serve military payroll for Janu-ary 2019 will require a fiscal year 2019 appropriation, a continuing resolution, or passage of an al-ternative measure,” the website says.

An agreement to end the shut-down hangs on a standoff between the White House and Democrats on Capitol Hill over funding for a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. President Donald Trump has said he will not sign a spend-ing resolution without border wall funding. Congressional Demo-crats are refusing to relent to the president on this issue.

Many day-to-day operations continue at Coast Guard facili-ties, with some exceptions.

The service’s Facebook page isn’t getting updated frequently because the civilian employee tasked with social media at the Coast Guard’s public affairs head-

quarters in Washington, D.C., has been furloughed, said Chief War-rant Officer Chad Saylor, a Coast Guard spokesman. Furloughed civilians also handle purchasing for the office, so supply orders must wait.

Saylor also said maintenance to navigation aids, such as buoys, is on hold, as is credentialing and merchant documentation. Some routine maintenance and train-ing will also hold until the shut-down ends.

In Houston, where about 15 ci-vilians are furloughed, another impacted operation is fishing enforcement patrols, said Petty Officer 3rd Class Johanna Strick-land, a spokeswoman with the Coast Guard’s Public Affairs De-tachment Texas.

Security, though, remains mis-sion essential, she said.

The Coast Guard is providing servicemembers with financial counseling and employee as-sistance programs, Saylor said. An internal messaging network is keeping servicemembers in-formed of the shutdown and its impact to pay and operations.

“They’re reminded to take ac-count of what bills they’ll have and what their financial obliga-tions are and to meet them,” he said.

Leadership within Sector Houston-Galveston of the Coast Guard is keeping lines of commu-nication open among its 350 ser-vicemembers, Strickland said.

“All supervisors in depart-ments have been in touch with

their members,” she said, in-cluding information about Coast Guard Mutual Assistance, which offers assistance for everyday es-sentials to servicemembers dur-ing financial hardship.

A welcome message on the program’s website addresses con-cerns caused by the shutdown and asks servicemembers to reach out to their banks, landlords and creditors who “can often help keep the ship afloat while the emergency situation recedes.”

During any single pay cycle, about $150 million is required to pay all Coast Guard military and civilian employees, the program’s welcome message says.

But the program does not have the resources to help everyone and the goal is to assist at least the 21,000 servicemembers ranked E-5 and below, said retired Rear Adm. Cari Thomas, chief execu-tive officer for Coast Guard Mu-tual Assistance.

“Our mission is to care for our own,” she said. “It is hard when the Coast Guard that you love doesn’t have the ability to pay you. It impacts you, your family, and your home. I have lived through earlier government shutdowns, and know first-hand how much life at home impacts your life at work. That is why we help those who help the public.”

[email protected]: @[email protected]: @Rose_Lori

NATION

Trump threatens to close southern border

Coast Guard lands brief pay reprieve

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump and Democrats are trading blame for the partial government shutdown but doing little substantive talking with each other as the disruption in federal services and public employees’ pay slogs into an-other weekend.

Trump upped the brinkmanship by threatening Friday to close the border with Mexico to press Congress to cave to his de-mand for money to pay for a wall. Demo-crats vowed to pass legislation restoring the government as soon as they take con-

trol of the House on Thursday, but that won’t accomplish anything unless Trump and the Republican-controlled Senate go along with it.

The effects to the public of the impasse grew as the Environmental Protection Agency, which had the money to function a week longer than some agencies, imple-mented its shutdown plan at midnight Fri-day night. EPA spokeswoman Molly Block said many of the agency’s 14,000 employees were being furloughed while disaster-re-sponse teams and certain other employees deemed essential would stay on the job.

Also running short on money: the Smith-sonian Institution, which said its museums popular with visitors and locals in the capi-tal will close starting midweek if the par-tial shutdown drags on. But federal flood insurance policies will continue to be is-sued and renewed, in a reversal prompted by pressure from lawmakers, said Repub-lican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida.

Trump appeared no closer to secur-ing money for his signature border wall, which he vowed during the campaign that he would make Mexico pay for. He’s failed to do so. Now Democrats are adamant that

they will not authorize money for the proj-ect, calling it wasteful and ineffective.

“We are far apart,” White House presssecretary Sarah Sanders told CBS.

Trump tweeted from Friday: “We willbe forced to close the Southern Borderentirely if the Obstructionist Democratsdo not give us the money to finish the Wall& also change the ridiculous immigrationlaws that our Country is saddled with.” Healso threatened to cut off U.S. aid to El Sal-vador, Guatemala and Honduras, amongcountries he deems have not done enough to combat illegal immigration.

PATRICK KELLEY/U.S. Coast Guard

A Coast Guardsman works during a patrol off the coast of Southern California, Nov. 27 .

BY ERIC YODER

The Washington Post.

WASHINGTON — PresidentDonald Trump issued an orderFriday to freeze federal employeesalary rates at current levels in2019, although a chance remainsthat employees will still receive araise.

Trump’s order was expectedsince he has advocated a freezeall year. It however was neces-sary under the complex law gov-erning federal pay to prevent alarge raise from taking effect by default, due to Congress not mak-ing a decision regarding a raise.

The order comes as some800,000 federal employees, out of a workforce of 2.1 million, are in unpaid status due to the partialgovernment shutdown that nowhas lasted a week and is virtuallyguaranteed to last at least a num-ber of days more. Of those, about 380,000 have been furloughed while the rest are still on the job, although without pay, due to thenature of their work.

“This is just pouring salt intothe wound,” National TreasuryEmployees Union president TonyReardon said in a statement. “It is shocking that federal employ-ees are taking yet another finan-cial hit. As if missed paychecks and working without pay werenot enough, now they have beentold that they don’t even deserve a modest pay increase.”

Trump’s order only applies tocivilian workers. Military per-sonnel, which are covered undera separate funding measure, will receive a 2.6 percent raise.

The order is the latest in a long series of developments regard-ing a raise. After Trump’s origi-nal proposal for a freeze in anearly year budget plan, the Housepassed a measure that in effect consented, by making no mentionof a raise. But the Senate thenpassed a counterpart favoringan average 1.9 percent increase,with variation by locality.

Trump followed with a letter toCongress stating his intention toimpose a freeze if legislators did not act by the end of the calen-dar year. For a time it appeared that the House would agree to theSenate’s proposed raise, but thetwo chambers never produced abill resolving the issue.

Trump ices federal pay


NATION

Nielsen visits Texas border after second child’s death

Supreme Court lays low after Brett Kavanaugh confirmation

Pelosi taps Florida Dem to lead climate change panel

Associated Press

EL PASO, Texas — Home-land Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen on Friday visited the Texas border city where an 8-year-old Guatemalan boy was detained with his father before dying in government custody.

DHS spokeswoman Katie Wald-man said earlier in the week that Nielsen was scheduled to tour multiple stations and substations, and was also scheduled to meet with emergency medical techni-cians and medical professionals, as well as local officials.

Nielsen then was scheduled to go to Yuma, Arizona, on Saturday.

DHS did not immediately re-lease more details on the trip or who Nielsen met, saying it was closed to the press. Late Friday, El Paso Mayor Dee Margo con-firmed he was among those who met with Nielsen, saying they dis-cussed “our immigration needs on the border.” The statement from Margo, a Republican, did not mention the boy’s death or whether it was discussed.

The trip came four days after the death of 8-year-old Felipe

Gomez Alonzo. Felipe was the second Guatemalan child to die in government custody in three weeks.

Nielsen has called the death “deeply con-cerning and heartbreak-ing” and requested medical help from other government agencies, in-cluding the U.S. Coast Guard. As Nielsen made the trip to Texas, New Mexico’s Democratic sena-tors, Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich, sent her a letter Friday seeking answers about the boy’s death.

“The timeline, action and fac-tors that led to Felipe’s death are still developing, but the informa-tion that has become public so far is alarming and demands imme-diate attention and investigation,” the letter says.

Felipe and his father, Agustin Gomez, were apprehended by border agents on Dec. 18 near the Paso del Norte bridge connect-

ing El Paso to Juarez, Mexico, according to U.S. Customs andBorder Protection. The two weredetained at the bridge’s process-ing center and then the Border Patrol station in El Paso, untilbeing taken at about 1 a.m. Sun-day to a facility in Alamogordo,New Mexico, about 90 milesaway.

After an agent noticed Felipecoughing, father and son weretaken to an Alamogordo hospital,where Felipe was diagnosed witha common cold and found to havea fever of 103 degrees Fahrenheit ,CBP has said.

Felipe was held for observa-tion for 90 minutes, according to CBP, before being released withprescriptions for amoxicillin andibuprofen.

But the boy fell sick hours later on Monday and was re-admittedto the hospital. He died just be-fore midnight.

New Mexico authorities said lateThursday that an autopsy shows Felipe had the flu, but more testsneed to be done before a cause ofdeath can be determined.

BY MARK SHERMAN

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The Su-preme Court began its term with the tumultuous confirmation of Justice Brett Kavanaugh, fol-lowed by a studied avoidance of drama on the high court bench — especially anything that would divide the five conservatives and four liberals.

The justices have been unusu-ally solicitous of each other in the courtroom since Kavanaugh’s confirmation, and several have voiced concern that the public perceives the court as merely a political institution. Chief Justice John Roberts seems determined to lead the one Washington insti-tution that stays above the politi-cal fray. Even Roberts’ rebuke of President Donald Trump, after the president criticized a federal judge, was in defense of an inde-pendent, apolitical judiciary.

The next few weeks will test whether the calm can last.

When they gather in private on Jan. 4 to consider new cases for arguments in April and into next term, the justices will confront a raft of high-profile appeals.

Abortion restrictions, work-place discrimination against LGBT people and partisan ger-rymandering are on the agenda. Close behind are appeals from the Trump administration seeking to have the court allow it to end an Obama-era program that shields young immigrants from deporta-

tion and to put in place restrictive rules for transgender troops.

In recent weeks, three conser-vative justices accused the court of ducking its job of deciding im-portant cases, especially when lower courts have disagreed on the outcome. Their criticism, written by Justice Clarence Thomas and joined by Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch, came after a recent decision to

avoid a case involving funding for Planned Parenthood.

Then, on the Friday before Christmas, the court divided 5-4 in refusing to allow the Trump administration to enforce new restrictions on asylum seekers. Roberts joined the four liber-als. The three conservatives who were displeased by the Planned Parenthood case outcome again noted their disagreement, this

time joined by Kavanaugh.The two votes can’t be used to

draw any firm conclusions about what may be happening behind closed doors at the court, as the cases arrived in different cir-cumstances. In the Planned Par-enthood case, the justices were considering whether to grant full review, a process that takes only four votes. The asylum case was an emergency appeal from the

administration. At least five ofthe nine justices would have hadto vote in the administration’sfavor.

But Lawrence Solum, a pro-fessor of constitutional law atGeorgetown University’s law school, said Roberts seems to havetwo reasons to limit the court’s in-volvement in hot-button cases: hispreference for taking small steps in the law and his concern for thecourt’s reputation.

“It’s clear that 5-4 decisions will be perceived by many, manylawyers, many politicians andlarge numbers of the public at large as ideological decisions,”Solum said. “So given Roberts’ desire to preserve the legitimacy of the court, he could be highlymotivated to avoid decisions like that in the next immediate periodin the history of the court.”

One result of the Kavanaugh turmoil has been the most serious discussion in decades of limiting the court’s powers, including pos-sibly increasing the number of justices, Solum said. “It suggeststhat the legitimacy of the court isat issue now in perhaps a way ithasn’t been until recently.”

Roberts is not only the chiefjustice, but he has essentiallytaken Kennedy’s place as theswing vote — the conservative justice nearest the court’s center.The Supreme Court will go only as far as Roberts is willing in ei-ther direction.

BY MATTHEW DALY

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi on Friday appointed Florida Rep. Kathy Castor to lead a special committee on climate change that will be reinstated in the new Congress.

Pelosi, the likely House speak-er, said Castor brings experience, energy and “urgency to the exis-tential threat of the climate cri-sis” facing the United States and the world. Castor is set to begin her seventh term representing the Tampa Bay area and serves on the House Energy and Com-merce Committee.

“Congresswoman Castor is a proven champion for public health and green infrastructure, who deeply understands the scope and seriousness of this threat. Her de-cades of experience in this fight, both in Florida and in the Con-gress, will be vital,” Pelosi said.

Castor said in a statement that she was honored to lead the panel and pledged to “act with urgency to reduce carbon pollution” and “unleash” American ingenuity to create clean-energy jobs.

“The costs of the changing cli-mate and extreme weather events pose greater risks every day to American families, businesses

and our way of life,” Castor said. She added that the new panel “will tackle the crisis head-on. Failure is not an option.”

The climate panel is similar to one that Pelosi created when Democrats last controlled the House from 2007 to 2011. It was eliminated by then-Speaker John Boehner when Republicans took the majority.

The membership and exact scope of the panel remains to be determined, but Pelosi said it will play a key role in shaping how Congress responds to the threat of global warming while creating good-paying, “green” jobs.

Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer, the incoming House majority leader, said last week the climate committee likely would not have legal authority to demand docu-ments under subpoena. But he added that he doesn’t think the panel will need subpoena author-ity since experts will be “dying to come before them.”

Democratic Rep.-elect Alex-andria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and other progressives have pushed for a “green new deal” that includes thousands of jobs in renewable energy such as wind and solar power. She and other leaders say the climate panel is a key platform to advance the green agenda.

Nielsen

J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE/AP

The justices of the U.S. Supreme Court gather for a formal group portrait on Nov. 30, at the Supreme Court Building in Washington.


BY JOHN SEEWER

Associated Press

A powerful winter storm that brought blizzard warnings Fri-day across the Upper Midwest was blamed for at least three fatal crashes while flash flooding from rains in the South swept away cars and forced dozens of water rescues.

In northern New England, a mix of snow, sleet, freezing rain and rain added up to make for dangerous driving Friday for post-holiday travelers.

Much of the Dakotas and part of Minnesota were under a blizzard warning after many areas got a foot of snow or more Thursday.

A collision between a small bus and an SUV in Minnesota killed a 47-year-old woman on the bus and injured nine others Thurs-day. A second person died in cen-tral Minnesota after being struck on a road by a pickup with a plow blade.

In North Dakota, a pickup truck driver was killed Thursday on a snow-covered highway when visibility was reduced by blowing snow from a plow, according to the state highway patrol.

Another storm dumped up to 12 inches of rain in Louisiana and Mississippi, sweeping away cars and forcing some residents to be rescued from their homes before the rains moved into Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, and western North Carolina on Friday.

The National Weather Service posted flash flood watches and warnings for much of the South from Louisiana into southwest Virginia.

“We had an extreme flash flooding event,” said Glen Moore, the emergency management di-rector in Forrest County, in south-western Mississippi, which saw 9 inches of rain fall over 12 hours through early Friday.

Authorities had to rescue resi-dents from about 25 area homes

in Forrest County, Moore said.They rescued one man whose

car was swept away after he went around a barricade on a flooded road, Moore said.

“He was able to make it outside of the car and latch onto a tree until we could get a boat to him,” Moore said.

Mississippi officials warned that flood levels on some rivers in the state could be high, espe-cially if the forecast for more rain through Tuesday holds up. Some levels could match a 2016 flood that led to a federal disaster declaration, said Greg Flynn, the state’s Emergency Management Agency spokesman.

He said survey teams were still assessing damage from flash flooding in southern Mississippi and it was too soon to say how many roads and bridges were damaged or how many homes were flooded.

Rain-fed rivers were rising Fri-day in some New Orleans suburbs north of big Lake Pontchartrain.

The St. Tammany Parish gov-ernment told residents of neigh-borhoods along both sides of the Tchefuncte River to consider vol-untary evacuation because of the possibility of flooding into Satur-day. The parish also declared an emergency to coordinate local, state and federal resources.

North of St. Tammany Parish in Washington Parish, Parish President Richard N. Thomas said in a Facebook message that 10 to 13 inches of rain had caused flash floods in the Bogalusa, Var-nado and Angie areas, and some people had to be rescued.

There was one death in Ten-nessee where a woman fell into a rain rain-swollen creek near Chattanooga. Authorities who recovered the woman’s body Fri-day morning about three hours after she lost her footing said she had been camping in a cave with friends and they were trying to

leave the area when she fell into the water.

Rescue workers in north Geor-gia used a ladder and ropes to get to a woman and baby stranded in a truck inundated by rising waters Friday. Dramatic video posted to Facebook showed crews work-ing to reach the truck as water reached the vehicle’s windshield.

The storm system was blamed for a death in Louisiana earlier this week when a tree fell on a

camper.Forecasters said up to 5 inches

of rain was possible in northern Alabama and central and north Georgia.

Water also flooded more than a dozen homes in St. Charles Par-ish, L a., and a Trader Joe’s store near New Orleans lost power dur-ing the storm, prompting it to do-nate perishable grocery items to a food bank.

Some areas of the Midwest were

seeing spring-like conditions.Shorts and t-shirts replaced

winter running gear Friday forseveral joggers in downtown Co-lumbus, Ohio, where tempera-tures were in the 50s.

“It’s weird that there’s no snow,” said Evan Miller, whowas about four miles into his runwhile wearing gray shorts and ashort sleeve shirt.

Associated Press

OAKLAND, Calif. — The 2-year-old son of a Yemeni woman who sued the Trump administra-tion to let her into the country to be with the ailing boy has died, the Council on American-Islamic Relations announced.

Abdullah Hassan died in UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in Oakland, where his father, Ali Hassan, brought him in the fall to get treatment for a genetic brain disorder. His mother, Shaima

Swileh, is not an American citi-zen and remained in Egypt while fighting for a visa.

“We are heartbroken. We had to say goodbye to our baby, the light of our lives,” Ali Hassan was quoted as saying in the statement published Friday by the council.

A funeral was scheduled for Saturday.

Hassan is a U.S. citizen who lives in Stockton, Calif . Hassan and his wife moved to Egypt after marrying in war-torn Yemen in 2016.

Swileh had been trying to get a visa since 2017, so the family could move to the United States.

Citizens from Yemen and four other mostly Muslim countries, along with North Korea and Ven-ezuela, are restricted from com-ing to the United States under President Donald Trump’ s travel ban.

When the boy’s health wors-ened, Hassan went ahead to Cali-fornia in October to get their son help, and Swileh remained in Egypt hoping for a visa. As the

couple fought for a waiver, doc-tors put Abdullah on life support.

“My wife is calling me every day wanting to kiss and hold her son for the one last time,” Hassan said, choking up at a news confer-ence earlier this month.

He started losing hope and was considering pulling his son off life support to end his suf-fering. But then a hospital social worker reached out to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which sued Dec. 16, said Basim Elkarra, executive director of the

group in Sacramento.The State Department granted

Swileh a waiver the next day.“With their courage, this fam-

ily has inspired our nation to confront the realities of DonaldTrump’s Muslim Ban,” said SaadSweilem, a lawyer with the coun-cil who represents the family. “Inhis short life, Abdullah has beena guiding light for all of us in the fight against xenophobia andfamily separation.”

NATION

2-year-old Yemeni boy whose mom sued US to see him has died

PAULA MERRITT, THE MERIDIAN (MISS.) STAR/AP

A stop sign is partially submerged in water from the flooded Okatibbee River near the Meridian Regional Airport in Meridian, Miss. on Friday.

LISA RATHKE/AP

Matteo Perantoni spreads ice melt on the platform on Friday, at the Montpelier-Berlin Amtrak train station in Berlin, Vt.

Water rescues in South, heavy snow in Midwest


NATION

Mormon-dominated Utah adopts nation’s strictest DUI threshold

Tipping the conversation? BY LINDSAY WHITEHURST

Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY — New Year’s Eve revelers in Utah could find themselves with more than a hang-over as 2019 dawns. If they drink and drive, they could end up on the wrong side of the nation’s new-est and lowest DUI threshold.

The 0.05 percent limit goes into effect Sunday, de-spite protests that it will punish responsible drink-ers and hurt the state’s tourism industry by adding to the reputation that the predominantly Mormon state is unfriendly to those who drink alcohol. The state’s old limit was 0.08 percent, the threshold in most states.

For Utah lawmakers, the change is a safety mea-sure aimed at encouraging people not to drive at all if they’ve been drinking.

The change was easily approved in 2017 by the Legislature, which is mostly Mormon and mostly Republican, and signed into law by Gov. Gary Her-bert, also a Republican and member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The religion teaches its members to abstain from drinking alcohol.

“The vast majority of people nationwide think that if a person has been drinking they shouldn’t be driving,” said Republican Rep. Norm Thurston, who sponsored the measure.

The change means that depending on things such as food intake, a 150-pound man could be over the 0.05 limit after two beers in an hour, while a 120-pound woman could exceed it after a single drink in that time, according to figures from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The National Transportation Safety Board also backs the change, and many in the hospitality in-dustry worry that other states will follow suit. Utah was among the first to adopt the now-standard 0.08 threshold decades ago, and lawmakers in four states — Washington, Hawaii, Delaware and New York — have floated measures to lower their DUI limit in recent years. None has passed.

“Other states proposing the 0.05 law, don’t just fol-low blindly in the footsteps of Utah,” said Jackson Shedelbower, a spokesman for the American Bever-age Institute, a national restaurant group.

In 2017, the group took out newspaper ads in Utah, neighboring states and in USA Today, featur-ing a fake mugshot under a large headline reading, “Utah: Come for vacation, leave on probation.”

It’s unfair that smaller people could violate the new threshold after just one or two drinks in quick succession, even though they’re no more impaired than someone talking on a hands-free cellphone, his group argues.

NTSB member Bella Dinh-Zarr countered that fears about the law are overblown. Nearly 100 coun-tries have a similar limit, and it hasn’t correlated with less drinking per-capita. Federally funded re-search indicates the standard could save some 1,500 lives a year if adopted around the U.S., she said.

“The restaurant industry should support this be-cause it keeps their customers alive and drinking,” Dinh-Zarr said.

Utah’s law takes effect as the state basks in the news that the U.S. Olympic Committee chose Salt Lake City over Denver as a future bid city, most likely for the 2030 Winter Olympics. State tourism officials say they’re not concerned about the law driving away visitors.

With the increased use of Uber and other ride-hailing apps, many people going out for a night on the town don’t set foot in their own cars. In Utah, DUI arrests have dropped more than 50 percent over the past seven years despite a booming popula-tion, according to state figures.

PHOTOS BY RICK BOWMER/AP

Protesters holds signs during a rally in March concerning the DUI threshold at the Utah state Capitol in Salt Lake City. Startiing Dec. 30, the state will have the lowest DUI threshold in the nation.

Maude Romney, 29, right, with her sister at the pub Beerhive, said she’ll likely only drink at places she can walk to from her home downtown. “I’m paranoid about it already,” she said.

BY MARK SCOLFORO

Associated Press

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Penn-sylvania’s highest court ruled Friday that mothers who use il-legal drugs while pregnant can-not be considered perpetrators of child abuse against their newly born children under the state’s child protection law.

The Supreme Court’s main opinion said the law’s definition of a child does not include fetuses or unborn children, and victims of perpetrators must be children under the Child Protective Ser-vices Law.

“The fact that the actor, at a later date, becomes a person who meets one of the statutorily-de-fined categories of ‘perpetrator’ does not bring her earlier actions — even if committed within two years of the child’s bodily injury — under the CPSL,” wrote Jus-tice Christine Donohue.

Two justices who dissented said what should matter is when the injury shows itself, and that can be after the child is born.

“The facts in this matter more closely resemble neglect cases where the injury manifests at some point in time after the ne-glect as in cases of malnour-ishment from lack of food, or suffering from a severe diaper rash from failure to routinely change diapers,” wrote Justice Sallie Mundy, joined by Justice Debra Todd.

The case involves a girl whospent 19 days in WilliamsportHospital last year after she wasborn, being treated for drug de-pendence that caused withdrawalsymptoms. Her mother had re-lapsed into drug use after gettingout of jail, and two weeks before the girl was born in January 2017.the mother tested positive for opi-ates, marijuana and benzodiaz-epines, Donohue wrote.

While her daughter was hos-pitalized, Donohue wrote, themother did not check in on her or stay with her. Clinton CountyChildren and Youth Services wasgranted protective custody. In May 2017, the county judge deter-mined the law did not provide for a finding of abuse .

The Clinton County child wel-fare agency argued that a finding of child abuse would help protect other children if the mother were to become pregnant again.

The mother’s lawyer, David S.Cohen, called the decision a victo-ry for public health and the rightsof women and children.

“There are many states that have decided by statute to labelthis type of behavior child abuse,but the majority do not,” Cohensaid Friday. “We think that’s the right way to approach this, be-cause this is a health issue and the worst thing you can do witha health issue is punish people. Itdrives people from treatment andit results in worse outcomes foreveryone.”

BY KEITH RIDLER

Associated Press

BOISE, Idaho — U.S. officials and at least one state said Friday that they have started investiga-tions into a nationwide Century-Link internet outage that has disrupted 911 service.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai called the outage that began Thursday “completely unaccept-able” because people who need help couldn’t use the emergency number.

“Its breadth and duration are particularly troubling,” he said.

The commission’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau will investigate the cause and ef-fect of the outage, he said.

The Monroe, La.-based compa-ny offers communications and in-formation technology services in dozens of states. Customers from New York to California reported outages.

CenturyLink spokeswoman Debra Peterson said the outage “is not related to hacking,” but she declined further comment.

The company said on Twitter that it’s working to restore ser-vice and appears to be making progress. It hasn’t provided a cause for the problems.

“Where CenturyLink is the 911 service provider 911 calls arecompleting,” the company said ina tweet.

Regulators in Washington state also said they were opening an investigation into an outage of itsstatewide 911 service.

The state Utilities and Trans-portation Commission said inter-ruptions began about 8:30 p.m. Thursday. The commission’s reg-ulatory services division director,Mark Vasconi, said the systemappeared stable Friday but the agency was monitoring it.

In Idaho, Emergency Office Management Director Brad Richy said he didn’t receive anyreports of 911 service failures, but some state agencies, includ-ing the state Department of Correction, lost service on inter-net-based phones.

Some businesses in Idaho alsolost the ability to make creditcard sales, and some ATM ma-chines weren’t working in Idahoand Montana.

Due to sporadic 911 outages in Massachusetts, public safety of-ficials recommended individualslooking for emergency help use the 10-digit telephone numberof the fire or police departments they wanted to contact.

US probes CenturyLink internet, 911 disruptions

Court: Mother’s drug use isn’t child abuse


BY RICH MILLER

Bloomberg

A surprise shortage of blue collar workers is changing the contours of the U.S. labor mar-ket, boosting their pay, narrow-ing wage inequality and drawing more women into those jobs.

The shortfall is being driven by a shrinking supply of manual and low-pay service workers as the labor force becomes more educated and less willing to take on such jobs, according to a new Conference Board study.

“The divergence between blue collar and white collar supply is going to persist and even become bigger through 2030,” Gad Leva-non, chief economist for North America at the New York-based research group and one of the authors of the report, said in an interview.

That is likely to keep upward pressure on labor costs in such industries as construction, trans-portation and accommodation and food services. It also has im-plications for inflation and for the Federal Reserve as Chairman Jerome Powell and his colleagues try to sustain the 9½ -year-old ex-pansion without overheating the economy. Unemployment at 3.7

percent is the lowest since 1969 and running well below Fed esti-mates for its long-run sustainable rate.

“The acute shortage of talent in the blue collar space is very, very pronounced,” said Peter Quigley, executive vice president at Kelly Services Inc., a staffing company with branches in all 50 states.

Manufacturers and other com-panies with physically demand-ing jobs are finding it tough to fill those positions when baby boom-ers retire. “It’s harder and harder to attract younger people into those jobs, either because they’re pursuing education alternatives or the stigma associated with light industrial work,” Quigley said.

The supply of lower-skilled workers is also being squeezed by growth in the number of Ameri-cans who’ve claimed disability benefits and dropped out of the labor force. Exacerbated by the opioid epidemic, that’s much more concentrated in the population without a bachelor’s degree, the Conference Board report says.

Tighter restrictions on immi-gration are also playing a role and will continue to do so in the future, said Moody’s Analytics’s Chief Economist Mark Zandi. Many of those foreign workers are lower-

skilled and in industries such as construction and farming.

Automation and off-shoring were widely expected to devastate demand for industrial workers and depress their pay, especially when compared with their more educated counterparts. But that hasn’t happened, at least so far, according to the Conference Board: Blue collar and low-pay services jobs have grown as rap-idly as total employment since the economy began recovering in June 2009.

For much of this expansion, manufacturers and other compa-nies have been slow to ramp up capital spending and step up au-tomation, opting instead to take on more workers to meet rising demand for their products and services.

That’s been reflected in the slow growth of productivity: Out-put per hour worked has risen at an annual average rate of 1.2 per-cent since the recession ended in June 2009, well below the 2.2 per-cent post World War II pace.

The combination of surprising-ly robust demand for blue collar workers and their limited supply is forcing companies to increase pay at the bottom end of the scale. Minimum wage increases have

also helped those less well-off.That’s helping to reverse the

decades-long trend toward great-er wage inequality, according to Levanon, who co-wrote the report with economist Frank Steemers.

Besides granting bigger wage increases, companies are getting creative in offering other perks to employees, including more breaks, re-jigged work schedules and greater flexibility for work-ing parents, Quigley said.

The improved packages look to be attracting more women into blue collar jobs. “It helps remove

some of the inhibitions or reluc-tance” some women may have intaking those positions, Levanon said.

The increase in female partici-pation is particularly evident in the transportation sector, wheredemand for workers has taken off because of the growth of onlineshopping. “It’s probably groundzero for labor shortages,” Leva-non said.

“Lower income workers aredoing better,” Moody’s Zandi said.“The balance of power has shifted from employers to employees.”

BY ANNIE ZAK

Anchorage Daily News

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Consider the hagfish.

Maybe you’ve never heard of these deep ocean creatures, also called “slime eels” for their eel-like appearance and ability to secrete huge amounts of opaque slime. Not exactly a mouth-watering description at first glance; yet over the past two years, a small-scale effort has developed in South-east Alaska to harvest these fascinating uggos as a fledgling Alaska fishery.

That’s unusual news in a state where most fishery resources are already developed.

“There really aren’t too many species that we’re aware of where there is potential for growth that isn’t being taken advantage of,” said Forrest Bowers, acting director for the commercial fisheries division at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. “So with hagfish, this is something totally new. We hadn’t been fishing for them. It’s like, finding a new species of salmon or some-thing you’re going to fish for.”

The young fishery is just outside Ketchi-kan, in the Clarence Strait area. In Alaska waters there are two kinds of hagfish, Pa-cific and black. Fishermen here primarily catch the latter.

And then there’s the slime. Whitish and opaque, it calls up thoughts of Flubber.

The creatures have a “pre-slime mole-cule” that can expand to 20 times the mol-ecule’s volume — or more — when it comes in contact with water, said Aaron Baldwin, a fisheries biologist with Fish and Game. That creates a slime that feels sort of like liquid latex to the touch, he said.

The creatures don’t have a jaw, simply a mouth and a tongue, said Baldwin. They are still classified as vertebrates even though they lack vertebrae, “which is sort of counter-intuitive,” he said.

Other hagfish facts compiled by the Uni-versity of California Museum of Paleontol-ogy: They have three “accessory hearts,” they “may change sex from season to sea-son,” and “will ‘sneeze’ when their nostrils clog with their own slime.”

“An unusual species for sure,” Bowers said.

The creatures burrow into fish on long-lines or traps and eat the flesh, leaving slime and bone, Baldwin said. Hagfish se-

crete their slime when threatened, and also use it as a “lubricant” when they burrow into fish or dead mammals. Commercial fishermen even avoid areas where there is known to be a high abundance of hagfish, he said.

This isn’t the first time Alaskans have tried to ignite a hagfish fishery. There was also an effort made in the 1990s, said An-drew Olson, the Southeast Alaska ground-fish project leader at Fish and Game. Hagfish fisheries in Korea and Japan col-

lapsed in the 1980s and 90s and then thefishery took off along the West Coast, inwaters off Washington, Oregon and Cali-fornia, according to Fish and Game.

“In Southeast (Alaska), it just didn’twork out,” Olson said.

Things started up again in 2016.“A lot of guys down in Southeast, they

like to fish whatever they can,” said Olson.“Hagfish is one of those things that hadn’t been revisited and they just wanted to try it out and something ended up sticking thistime.”

Fishermen typically catch hagfish usingpots baited with fish parts, and the pots are hooked to a longline. The hagfish get intothe pots and then can’t get back out.

Korea is the main market for slime eels,Baldwin said. The meat is sold there forfood and the skin used for leather. The slime is even used as an egg substitute.

“If you’ve ever seen eel skin products,it’s all hagfish,” Baldwin said. He’s evenseen hagfish couches.

The fishing season for the creatures isyear-round, which provides a winter fish-ing opportunity. Up to 120,000 pounds ofhagfish can be caught each year in thestate, under current quotas.

Baldwin, the Fish and Game biologist,said the slime is being studied for new potential uses including stitches to closewounds and even clothing fibers. Still,people aren’t exactly clamoring for hagfishpermits.

“The gross factor, I think, definitely de-ters people,” Olson said. “We’ve done a lotof outreach stuff ... but we haven’t reallyhad anyone knocking down our door to gofish for it.”

NATION

Blue collar worker shortage changing US labor market

Some Alaska fishermen target hagfish for winter harvest

GEORGE FREY/Bloomberg

A worker welds a custom built aluminum body frame for a Venice roadster model vehicle at the Vanderhall Motor Works manufacturing facility in Provo, Utah. A shortage of blue collar workers is drawing more women into these jobs.

PHOTOS BY STEVEN SENNE/AP

Above: A hagfish is shown in Portsmouth, N.H., in 2002. Right: biology student Byron Pedler, left, and biochemistry grad student Mihael Freamat pour a barrel of hagfish into a holding tank in 2002. A few southeast Alaska fishermen are targeting hagfish as a species for 2018 winter harvest.


BY SHANNON PRATHER

(Minneapolis) Star Tribune

Pam Kaiser browses the shelves of figurines at Goodwill in Roseville, Minn., in search of vintage items that speak to her family’s roots.

“I love to find Scandinavian things. I’m Swedish and my husband is German,” said Kai-ser, who is a thrift store regular. “It’s fun to find things that are unique.”

She has plenty of places to treasure hunt these days. Non-profit thrift stores in Minnesota are experiencing unprecedented growth to handle both a growing appetite for secondhand bargains and a burgeoning amount of do-nated items.

Thrift stores viewed a genera-tion ago as places where poor peo-ple shop, are now attracting more middle class, environmentally conscious consumers in search of vintage and one-of-a-kind items.

“The temperament and mind-set about reusing things have changed dramatically, and that’s across the country,” said Michael Wirth-Davis, Goodwill-Easter Seals Minnesota’s president and CEO.

In the past seven years, Good-will has more than doubled its Minnesota retail locations to 51, including outlet stores and bou-tiques. It’s seen online sales soar with merchandise on eBay, Etsy and its own auction site Shop-goodwill.com.

Sales topped $94 million last year, revenue that helps fund its job training programs.

“Traditionally thrift does a little bit better when the economy is down,” said Brent Babcock, Goodwill’s chief sales and mar-keting officer. “Right now, we are experiencing the opposite of that in our organization. The economy is strong and we are doing very well also.”

The Twin Cities Salvation Ar-my’s nine thrift stores brought in $15 million last year to support its drug and alcohol rehabilitation program. Family Pathways, with locations in the north metro sub-urbs, has expanded from eight to 11 secondhand stores and has

seen revenue grow to $5 million to fund its food banks, youth, se-nior and family services.

“In the late 1990s, early 2000s, a lot of folks — particularly younger folks — thought it was OK to purchase thrift goods,” Wirth-Davis said. “With Craig-slist, they were selling things to each other. It became much more mainstream and another venue for shopping that people found fun and a place to find what they were looking for.”

The growth in Minnesota echoes the national trend.

“The entire industry has been growing, and growing faster than other retail,” said Adele Meyer, executive director of Michigan-based NARTS: The Association

of Resale Professionals.“People are much more aware

of sustainability and recycling, and it’s the thrill of the hunt. Plus, people have a lot of places to spend their money — their children’s education, retirement, vacation homes. Consumer goods is a place they can save.”

Tom Canfield, who as the Sal-vation Army’s business adminis-trator oversees its thrift stores, said the Great Recession 10 years ago changed how people viewed secondhand shopping. Many first-time customers walked into thrift stores out of necessity and were surprised by the quality and selection they found. Even when financial fortunes improved, peo-ple continued thrift-store shop-

ping, he said.Nonprofits have redesigned

their stores to attract and keep this new class of customer. Thrift stores feel more like big box re-tailers, brightly lit with polished floors and wide aisles to accom-modate shopping carts. Merchan-dise is neatly hung and sorted by size and style, just like standard retailers.

Impact on the environment has become a large part of the nonprofits’ branding to new customers.

“We are seeing the younger gen-erations, the millennials shopping our stores more frequently. One of the aspects of that generation is environmental consciousness,” said Chris Lenzen, Family Path-ways’ director of thrift stores.

Goodwill resold or recycled 58,000 tons of goods last year and behind the scenes has focused on recycling donated items that don’t sell in its retail locations, said Chris Simon, Goodwill’s director of facilities and logistics.

Simon and his team have found companies that buy bulk stuffed

animals, old record albums and baled plastics and clothing. TSAeven buys Goodwill’s leftoversuitcases for training.

The Salvation Army does simi-lar bulk recycling and reselling,diverting 4.3 million pounds of textiles from the trash each year.

“It’s incredible the amount of product we are diverting out ofthe waste stream,” Canfield said. “My biggest competition is the landfill.”

That environmental mindsetalso is influencing retail opera-tions. Many Goodwill stores areoutfitted with solar panels on theroof and electric-vehicle charg-ing stations in the parking lots.

“We need to take care of ourplanet,” Wirth-Davis said.

As thrift stores grow, the non-profits that run them are tryingto better explain how their pro-ceeds support their mission. Most people who donate and shop knowthey’re supporting a good cause,but they’re often not sure exactlywhat, nonprofit leaders say.

“That’s been one of our biggest challenges,” Babcock said.

The Salvation Army uses its thrift store proceeds to support its Adult Rehabilitation Center,where men take counseling andclasses on anger management,life and job skills, and Christianvalues.

Part of the program is “worktherapy,” which often means working in the thrift operations. The goal is to help men find jobs and restart their lives.

“The program changed my lifecompletely,” Canfield said.

Goodwill offers job trainingin automotive, banking and fi-nance, construction and medicaloffice work. Sheila Danurahardjacompleted Goodwill’s eight-weekbanking and finance course and landed a job at U.S. Bank.

“I was looking for somethingdifferent, but I didn’t have a fi-nancial background or a finance degree,” Danurahardja said. Theprogram introduced her to bank-ing, helped her network and gaveher job tips.

“I’ve always shopped Goodwill,but now I understand a lot better what they do,” she said.

BY ELLEN KNICKMEYER

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has targeted an Obama-era regulation credited with helping dramatically reduce toxic mercury pollution from coal-fired power plants, say-ing the benefits to human health and the environment may not be worth the cost of the regulation.

The 2011 Obama administra-tion rule, called the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, led to what electric utilities say was an $18 billion clean-up of mercury and other toxins from the smoke-stacks of coal-fired power plants.

Overall, environmental groups

say, federal and state efforts have cut mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants by 85 percent in roughly the last decade.

Mercury causes brain damage, learning disabilities and other birth defects in children, among other harm. Coal power plants in this country are the largest single man-made source of mer-cury pollutants, which enters the food chain through fish and other items that people consume.

The proposal Friday from the Environmental Protection Agen-cy challenges the basis for the Obama regulation. It calculates that the crackdown on mercury and other toxins from coal plants produced only a few million dol-

lars a year in measurable health benefits and was not “appropriate and necessary” — a legal bench-mark under the country’s land-mark Clean Air Act.

The proposal, which now goes up for public comment before any final administration approval, would leave the current mercury regulation in place.

However, the EPA said it will seek comment during a 60-day public review period on whether “we would be obligated to rescind” the Obama-era rule if the agency adopts Friday’s finding that the regulation was not appropriate and necessary. Any such change would trigger new rounds in what

have already been years of court battles over regulating mercury pollution from coal plants.

This move is the latest by the Trump administration that changes estimates of the costs and payoffs of regulations as part of an overhaul of Obama-era en-vironmental protections.

It’s also the administration’s latest proposed move on behalf of the U.S. coal industry, which has been struggling in the face of competition from natural gas and other cheaper, cleaner forms of energy. The Trump adminis-tration in August proposed an overhaul for another Obama-era regulation that would have prod-

ded electricity providers to getless of their energy from dirtier-burning coal plants.

In a statement, the EPA said Friday the administration was“providing regulatory certainty”by more accurately estimat-ing the costs and benefits of the Obama administration crack-down on mercury and other toxicemissions from smokestacks.

Janet McCabe, a former air-quality official in the Obama administration’s EPA, calledthe proposal part of “the quietdismantling of the regulatoryframework” for the federalgovernment’s environmentalprotections.

NATION

Thrift stores grow as bargains are coveted

Trump’s EPA orders rollback of Obama-era mercury regulations

JOHN MOORE, GETTY IMAGES/TNS

Shoppers search bins for toys at a Goodwill thrift store on Nov. 26, 2010, in Denver, Colo .

‘ People are much more aware of sustainability and recycling, and it’s the thrill of the hunt. ’

Adele Meyerexecutive director of NARTS: The Association of Resale Professionals

• S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 11

BY DAN LAMOTHE

The Washington Post

A retired Army general will face trial in Virginia on charges of rape and incest beginning in April, according to court docu-ments filed in the case.

James J. Grazioplene, a retired two-star officer, was charged by a grand jury in December with three counts of rape and three counts of incest in Prince Wil-liam General District Court. A Feb. 1 pretrial hearing has been set, with the trial scheduled to begin April 29.

The Army was planning to court-martial Grazioplene, 69, in

the spring of 2018, but the charg-es were dismissed in March after a ruling by the U.S. Court of Ap-peals for the Armed Forces in an-other case effectively limited the statute of limitations in the case to five years. Army investiga-tors focused on accusations from

1983 to 1989, while authorities in Virginia are focused on a period from 1988 to 1989 when Grazio-plene lived in Virginia.

Legislation passed by Congress in 2006 says rape cases have no statute of limitations under the Uniform Code of Military Jus-

tice, but cases from before they are subject to the laws at the time of the alleged crime.

Grazioplene’s case was the sub-ject of a Washington Post story in which the general’s daughter, Jennifer M. Elmore, 47, detailed years of abuse accusations against him that spanned numerous mili-tary assignments and locations. Five other people, including one of Grazioplene’s sisters, corrobo-rated aspects of her story.

The Post generally does not identify alleged victims of sexu-al assault but did so in this case after Elmore said she wanted to tell her story. She first report-ed the allegations to the Army

in 2015, prompting a lengthy investigation.

“Sometimes, it’s just easier toshut your mouth,” she said ear-lier this year. “But if I stay silentand the next person opts for that,and the next person opts for that,and the next person opts for that,where are we?”

A lawyer for Elmore, RyanGuilds, declined to comment on the status of the case.

Lawyers for Grazioplene did notrespond to a request for comment.He has denied the accusations.

“I will not comment,” Grazio-plene said in a Sept. 6 phone call.“The charges are false and incor-rect. Nope.”

Sunday, December 30, 2018

NATION

Study: Potential security threats to smart homes

Trial date set for retired Army general charged in Virginia rape case

BY TAMARA DIETRICH

The (Newpot News, Va.) Daily Press

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. — Say you’re on your laptop at Star-bucks, minding your own busi-ness, when an acquaintance of yours across the room isn’t mind-ing his.

Unbeknownst to you, he’s using the same store Wi-Fi as you to conduct a virtual invasion of your smart home: accessing your light switch app and using it to dis-able your home’s security cam-era so real thieves can break in — or walk in, if he’s disabling the smart lock, too.

And you’re none the wiser — until you get home and discover your home’s been hacked. And burgled.

This is just one scenario dem-onstrating one of many inherent flaws that computer scientists at the College of William and Mary discovered in internet-connected smart home devices during tests they conducted over the summer.

This particular flaw allows hackers to attack a smart home’s low-security device — a light switch or thermostat, for instance — and use that access to attack a high-security device they could not otherwise access.

It’s one example of what’s called lateral privilege escalation, and experts warn that such smart home hacks are easier than you might think. They can lead to all kinds of potential mischief, if not outright harm, from switching off your security system to cranking up your smart oven until it over-heats and burns the house down.

“The possibilities are limit-less,” said Adwait Nadkarni, lead investigator and assistant profes-sor of computer science. “There are so many devices in the home that affect your security, affect the integrity of your home.”

Experts say that in just two years there will be 20 billion smart home products in use.

“You can imagine the possible combinations of these kinds of at-tacks will obviously increase as we’ll have more interconnected devices,” said associate profes-sor Denys Poshyvanyk. “At this point, it’s hard for us to imagine what else people will do.”

Nadkarni and Poshyvanyk co-authored a paper on their work that they’ll present at the 9th an-nual ACM Conference on Data and Application Security and Pri-vacy in Dallas in March. Student co-authors include Kaushal Kafle and Sunil Manandhar and post-doctoral fellow Kevin Moran.

In the paper, they lay out the potential misuses of the computer routines or portions of code that control smart home products and offer 10 key findings with “seri-ous security implications.”

“The diversity of these products is staggering,” the paper states, “ranging from small physical devices with embedded comput-ers such as smart locks and light bulbs to full-fledged appliances such as refrigerators and HVAC systems.”

And the risks, it states, can be rather alarming.

“Because many of these prod-ucts are tied to the user’s security or privacy (e.g., door locks, cam-eras), it is important to under-stand the attack surface of such devices and platforms in order build practical defenses without sacrificing utility.”

For their research, Nadkarni and Poshyvanyk focused on two of the most popular smart home platforms — Google Nest and Philips Hue — that implement home automation “routines.”

Routines are the interactions between smart home devices and the apps that control them. They

are becoming the heart of seam-less home automation.

According to the paper, there are two broad categories of rou-tines: one that allows users to “chain together” a variety of devices using a third-party app interface, and one that uses a “centralized data store” as a sort of switchboard where devices and apps can communicate with each other over the internet.

Both are intended to make smart home automation more seamless for the user, and both were found to be vulnerable, giv-ing hackers the ability to attack all the internet-connected devic-es in the home.

For the centralized data store platform, for instance, when you use your mobile app to commu-

nicate with a low-security device — say, a light switch — the device accesses your smart home using an authorization token.

“Anybody can steal that access token,” Nadkarni said, and use it to, say, make your smart home think you’re inside and turn off the security camera.

The scientists insist it’s not that hard.

“You don’t need any special-ized education,” said Poshyvanyk. ‘You just need to know how to run certain programs. Even a high schooler could do that.”

They blame the vulnerabilities on consumer demand and the headlong rush to meet it.

“Manufacturers race to release these systems without having a good understanding of how they

will be used in the wild,” Poshy-vanyk said.

After the researchers identi-fied the security flaws, they con-tacted platform vendors Google and Philips and app developerand manufacturer TP-Link to re-port what they found.

TP-Link fixed the flaw in itslatest Kasa Switch light dimmer app, which prevents the type oftheoretical lateral attack out-lined earlier. Philips is expectedto roll out a fix to its platform and Google is working to address vulnerabilities.

But the issue is bigger than onecompany — it’s the industry over-all that needs to get smarter.

“We’re basically arguing thatwe need a systemic effort in terms of properly designing these systems with security in mind,”Poshyvanyk said.

“Because these problems willget worse with time. More de-vices will be added. (If) they’renot thinking about designing insecurity in the first place, we’regoing to be having even bigger problems down the road.”

ROB OSTERMAIER, THE (NEWPOT NEWS, VA.) DAILY PRESS/AP

William & Mary computer science associate professors Adwait Nadkarni and Denys Poshyvanyk and their students have identified security vulnerabilities in smart home devices.

‘ Sometimes, it’s just easier to shut your mouth. But if I stay silent and the next person opts for that … where are we?’

Jennifer M. Elmorerape victim

‘ You don’t need any specialized education. Even a high schooler could do that.’

Adwait NadkamiScience associate professor

• S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S •

Associated Press

IBI, Spain — Every year since Roman times, it’s been a pitched battle for control of the Spanish town of Ibi.

Friday’s events included a chaotic fight using thousands of mostly rotten eggs and packages of flour, topped off by hundreds of wildly exploding fireworks.

This is the topsy-turvy world of the “Enharina-dos” (the “floured”) where for one day a year the underdogs are in control of this town in the eastern region of Alicante.

Every Dec. 28, the citizens of Ibi are divided into two groups, the “Enharinados,” — the “floured” — who try to take control for a day and the opposition, which aims to restore order.

In Roman times, it was the slaves who took over for a day. Nowadays, friends and neighbors take up the differing roles.

The uprising starts in the morning as “the floured” take control of the town hall and announce a new regime and laws. The two groups then move to the local square to slug it out, using a seemingly endless supply of eggs and flour. It doesn’t take long for everyone to be dusted white with flour and egg smears to coat the cartoonish military uniforms.

Local records in Ibi first mention the winter festi-val in 1636. The tradition was lost during the right-wing dictatorship of Francisco Franco, but in 1981 the festival started up again.

As soon as the eggs have run out, it’s the turn of

the “drunk” fireworks to overthrow the upstarts. Directionless and explosive, the fireworks end up going everywhere.

“We always come to beat them and we eat them alive,” said participant Ramon Castella, a 35-year-old electrician. “The drunk rockets, this is the mo-ment we really give it a go.”


WORLD

Flour power: Spanish town of Ibiholds a centuries-old mock battle

BY AHMED AL-HAJ

Associated Press

SANAA, Yemen — Yemen’s Shiite rebels Saturday handed over control of the main port in the Red Sea city of Hodeida to the country’s navy and coast guard under U.N. supervision, security officials said, in a significant step in the implementation of a deal reached during peace talks in Sweden earlier this month.

The handover is the first in a series of confidence-building measures agreed to in Sweden that could pave the way for a political settlement of Yemen’s 4-year-old

war pitting the Iran-aligned rebels known as Houthis against the internationally rec-ognized government backed since 2015 by a Saudi-led coalition.

The rebels control most of northern Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, while their war foes control much of the south, in-cluding the Arabian Sea port city of Aden, where the exiled government is located.

The two sides have observed a cease-fire in Hodeida for more than a week, ending months of fierce fighting between the two sides for control of Hodeida. A U.N. team led by a Dutch officer arrived last week in the city to monitor the cease-fire. The U.N.

team is led by retired Dutch Maj. Gen. Pat-rick Cammaert.

Some 70 percent of Yemen’s imports come through Hodeida, and the Sweden deal is designed in part to facilitate the ar-rival of relief supplies to push Yemen back from the brink of famine. The fighting has killed tens of thousands of people, and has driven millions to hunger. The U.N. calls it the world’s worst humanitarian disaster.

The two sides also agreed in Sweden to exchange prisoners of war in a deal involv-ing thousands captured from both sides. The implementation of that deal is yet to begin and may run into difficulties.

Government officials maintain that the Houthis are denying the presence in theirdetention facilities of nearly 3,000 from atotal of some 8,500 prisoners whose nameswere submitted to the rebels.

The security officials said the Houthis have taken advantage of their control ofHodeida to place their fighters in both thenavy and the coast guard, something thathas been a major source of concern forthe government side. The two sides also agreed over the weekend to open “humani-tarian corridors” extending from Hodeidato Sanaa to allow relief supplies to peace-fully pass through.

Shiite rebels cede control of key Yemeni port

PHOTOS BY ALBERTO SAIZ/AP

Revellers take part Friday in the festival of Els Enfarinats, in the town of Ibi near Alicante, Spain.

BY HAMZA HENDAWI

Associated Press

CAIRO — A roadside bomb hit a tourist bus on Friday near the Giza Pyramids, killing three Vietnamese and their Egyptian guide, officials said.

The bus was traveling in the Marioutiyah area near the pyra-mids when the crude roadside bomb, concealed by a wall, went off, Egypt’s chief prosecutor Nabil Sadeq said in a statement. The blast wounded 11 other Viet-namese tourists as well as the Egyptian driver.

The bus was carrying a total of 15 Vietnamese tourists, accord-ing to Vietnam’s Ministry of For-eign Affairs. It said that 10 were seriously injured.

Vietnamese Ambassador to Egypt Tran Thanh Cong visited the scene of the attack and Al Haram Hospital, where the vic-tims were being treated, the min-istry said.

Egypt has battled Islamic mili-tants for years in the Sinai Pen-insula in an insurgency that has occasionally spilled over to the mainland, hitting minority Chris-tians or tourists. However, this is the first attack to target foreign tourists in almost two years.

The attack takes place as Egypt’s vital tourism industry is showing signs of recovery after years in the doldrums because of the political turmoil and violence that followed a 2011 uprising that toppled former leader Hosni Mubarak.

It will likely prompt authorities to further tighten security around churches and associated facilities ahead of the New ear’s Eve cele-brations and next month’s Christ-mas celebrations of the Coptic Orthodox Church, the dominant denomination among Egypt’s es-timated 10 million Christians.

Over the past two years, mili-tant attacks against Christians in Egypt — usually targeting churches or buses carrying pil-grims to remote desert monas-teries — have killed more than a hundred people.

BY NICOLE WINFIELD

Associated Press

VATICAN CITY — The Vati-can’s sexual abuse case againstex-Cardinal Theodore McCar-rick has expanded significantlyafter a man testified that the re-tired American archbishop sexu-ally abused him for years startingwhen he was 11, including during confession.

James Grein testified Thursday in New York before the judicialvicar for the New York City arch-diocese, who was asked by theHoly See to take his statement forthe Vatican’s canonical case, saidGrein’s attorney Patrick Noaker.

The testimony, which lasted about an hour, was difficult and stressful, but Grein was proud to have done it, Noaker said.

“He wants his church back. Hefelt that in order to accomplishthat end, he had to go in and tes-tify here and tell them what hap-pened, and give the church itself the chance to do the right thing,”Noaker said in a telephone inter-view Friday.

Grein initially came forwardin July after the New York arch-diocese announced that a churchinvestigation determined an alle-gation that McCarrick had gropedanother teenage altar boy in the 1970s was credible.

Grein’s claims, first reported by The New York Times, aremore serious. He has alleged that McCarrick first exposed himselfto Grein when he was 11 and then sexually molested him for yearsthereafter.

Noaker said in the testimonyThursday, Grein also gave “chill-ing” details about alleged repeat-ed incidents of groping during confession — a serious canoni-cal crime on top of the originaloffense of sexually abusing aminor.

Grein had previously not madepublic those claims, but Noaker confirmed his testimony to The Associated Press. Grein also al-lowed McCarrick’s defense law-yers to listen to his testimony bytelephone.

Bomb kills 4 on bus in Egypt

Lawyer says Ex-Cardinal groped client in confession

The festival , fought with eggs, flour and firecrackers, dates back to 1636, if not earlier.


From wire reports

AMERICAN ROUNDUP

$800KThe approximate value of diamond-encased jewelry stolen from an Aspen luxury hotel by three men. The Aspen Daily News reported police said one of the men used a screwdriver to pop open the locked display case in the lobby of The Little Nell hotel in Aspen, Colo. The items belonged to Pranesi, a New York City-based business that has an outlet in Aspen.

2 plead guilty to racist graffiti on high school

MD GLENELG — Two Maryland teenagers

pleaded guilty to writing racist and Nazi graffiti on their Glenelg High School over the summer.

The Baltimore Sun reported Joshua Shaffer and Seth Taylor, both 19, pleaded guilty to a hate crime charge Thursday as part of a deal.

Prosecutors said Shaffer wrote racist graffiti targeting the Gle-nelg High School principal, who is black. Shaffer was sentenced to 18 weekends at a detention center followed by supervised probation and community service, among other requirements.

Prosecutors said Taylor spray-painted “KKK” and swastikas around the school and was sen-tenced to nine weekends at the center.

Man drops stolen TV from getaway scooter

FL DAVIE — Police said two Florida men stole

a flat-screen television from a South Florida Walmart store and dropped it as they fled on a mo-torized scooter.

Davie police said on Twitter that Michael Patrick Flanagan, 36, was arrested Wednesday.

Video surveillance showed a man taking the 43-inch Vizio flat screen television valued at $348 on Dec. 16. In a tweet, the agency said the “clumsy” pair al-most crashed as they made their getaway. They left the TV on the ground.

Stolen dog returned home a year later

NJ WALL — A New Jersey man was reunited with

his dog more than a year after the pooch was stolen from his car.

The dog-napping occurred in Virginia when the owner was on vacation.

The Yorkie, named Buddah, was recently taken in as a stray by Richmond Animal Care and Control.

NJ.com reported the dog’s mi-crochip showed its owner lived in Wall Township. The owner, only identified as John T., wasn’t able to drive to Virginia, so volunteers from the shelter drove the dog to New Jersey on Thursday.

‘Sniffles,’ dog with no nose, up for adoption

FL ORLANDO — Sniffles may have no nose but

he has a big heart, and an animal rescue organization is looking to find the 12-year-old Florida pooch a permanent home.

Those efforts have gotten the former stray dog in Orlando na-tional news media attention.

While living on the streets in Puerto Rico, Sniffles was attacked by larger dogs and lost his nose in the fight. He was later taken in by an animal rescue group, and his injuries required three surgeries.

Poodle and Pooch Rescue of Florida said they’ve had 200 in-quiries and they’re now evalu-ating which is the best home for Sniffles.

THE CENSUS

Customers draw guns on men stealing tools

WA MARYSVILLE — Au-thorities said two men

were surrounded by customers with guns while attempting to steal tools from a Washington store.

The Daily Herald reported the men, ages 22 and 23, alleg-edly took four nail guns, each worth more than $400, from the Coastal Farm & Ranch store in Marysville.

The men walked out of the store and got into a Honda Civic, only to be surrounded by about six cus-tomers with guns raised.

Court documents said the driv-er pulled forward, causing one man confronting him to land on the hood.

Documents said another cus-tomer shot at the driver’s side front tire, while a third fired twice at the rear tire.

Marysville police found the theft suspects’ car unoccupied about three blocks away, with two flat tires and the tools inside.

Woman in Rudolph mask robs business

CO FORT COLLINS — Police in northern

Colorado said a woman wearing a Rudolph the Red-Nosed Rein-deer mask robbed a business in Fort Collins the week before Christmas.

The Fort Collins Coloradan re-ported police posted surveillance video of the suspect on their Face-book page, along with a parody of the famous Rudolph song.

It ends with, “Rudolph the Red Nosed Criminal, we need your help with her I.D.”

Man’s wish for 2 front teeth comes true

MO KANSAS CITY — A Kansas man’s wish

for two front teeth for Christmas is coming true.

The Kansas City Star reported that a local church and friends helped raise money for Olathe man Evans Kamuru’s dental implants.

Kamuru wrote on Facebook that one front tooth broke off when he was using his teeth to cut tape and wrap presents last Christmas season. He said the other one broke in January when he was eating a waffle.

His friends created a group to help raise money for implants. Lenexa’s Gospel Outreach Center chipped in $15,000 this month, and a dentist offered a discount.

Traffic stop leads to head-butting an officer

NY NEW YORK — Author-ities said a suspected

drunken driver head-butted a state trooper and his wife threw her shoes and underwear in pro-test after they were pulled over on Long Island.

New York State Police said Michael Nelson, 38, struck the trooper several times while being arrested on an intoxicated driving charge last weekend on the South-ern State Parkway in Hempstead.

Nelson’s 29-year-old wife was arrested after police said she got

out of their 2017 Mercedes-Benz and tried obstructing his arrest.

In addition to throwing objects, troopers said Alexandra Nelson was spitting at them.

Rescue may cost driver who ignored sign

VT PITTSFORD — A Ver-mont fire department

may bill a woman who drove ontoa closed flooded road and had tobe rescued.

Pittsford Fire Chief Bill Hemp-le told the Rutland Herald thatcrews responded to a driver who was stranded in Pittsford. Hemp-le said the woman had climbedto her car’s roof. Firefightersbacked a utility truck up to thedisabled vehicle and rescued thewoman.

State law allows rescue agen-cies to bill people who are rescuedafter disobeying road closures.

Hemple said he’s still consider-ing whether he’ll fine the motor-ist. According to Hemple, the finecould exceed $1,000.

Leaps and boundsWith One World Trade Center seen in the background, a little girl leaps across boulders forming a breakwater along the Brooklyn Bridge Park on Thursday, in the Brooklyn borough, of New York.

WONG MAYE-E/AP


ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR

Streaming giant rides dominant 12 months to top of AP balloting

BY MARK KENNEDY

Associated Press

After a year like this, Netfl ix shows no signs of chilling.

The dominant online video streamer started 2018 with almost 118 million subscribers, went on to win its fi rst feature-fi lm Oscar, briefl y surpassed Disney as the most valuable U.S. media company, lured the likes of superstar showrunners Shonda Rhimes, Kenya Barris and Ryan Murphy — not to mention Barack and Michelle Obama — and is expected to end the year with 146 million subscribers and a likely best picture Oscar nominee in “Roma.”

In a sign of how infl uential the giant streamer has become, it also got what every celebrity gets — a gentle mocking on “Saturday Night Live.” The sketch comedy show’s season-ending episode this month aired a fake ad highlighting Netfl ix’s enormous effort to produce as much content as possible.

“Our goal is the endless scroll. By the time you reach the bottom of our menu, there’s new shows at the top,” explained the voiceover.

For a dominating 12 months, Netfl ix has been named The Associated Press Entertainer of the Year, voted by members of the news cooperative.

“There’s been so much amazing entertainment this year, and we’re proud of the part we’ve played and humbled by this recognition from the AP,” Ted Saran-dos, Netfl ix’s chief content offi cer, said Dec. 20 after being told of the honor.

“We are thrilled to be working with the best cre-ators who have helped us to entertain the world with shows, fi lms and specials from Hollywood, Mumbai, Madrid, Seoul, Berlin and everywhere in between.”

Netfl ix topped candidates including Donald Glover, Ariana Grande, Bradley Cooper and Michelle

Obama, among others. Previous AP Enter-tainer of the Year winners have included

Lin-Manuel Miranda, Adele, Taylor Swift, Jennifer Lawrence, Lady

Gaga, Tina Fey and Betty White.Although Netfl ix doesn’t release ratings, 2018 was

a year when it seemed to really fl ex its

digital muscles, showing off

its deep

reservoir of titles, from original unscripted shows to those produced in other countries, to even becoming a home for shows canceled elsewhere.

The company that once concentrated on sending DVDs through the mail in little red envelopes scored its fi rst feature-fi lm Oscar in March, with a best documentary trophy going to “Icarus,” Bryan Fogel’s investigation into doping in sports. (Netfl ix won its fi rst ever Oscar last year with the short doc “The White Helmets.”)

Netfl ix movies, specials and shows were all over popular culture this year, including “The Kiss-ing Booth,” “Nanette,” “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before,” “The Kominsky Method,” “The Haunting of Hill House,” “GLOW,” “Lost in Space,” “The Great British Baking Show,” “Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat” and “Queer Eye.” “House of Cards” — Netfl ix’s fi rst origi-nal series — debuted just six years ago.

It has backed such Oscar bait as “Roma” and “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs” and TV fans await more episodes from “Stranger Things,” “The Crown,” “Or-ange Is the New Black” and “Ozark.” The company has even seen the phrase “Netfl ix and chill” part of the mainstream vocabulary.

In May, Netfl ix’s market capitalization — or the total value of its stock — shot higher than the capi-talization for mighty Disney, previously the most valuable media company in the world. The Cham-pagne-popping moment didn’t last very long, but it was a sign of how a maverick company could disrupt the order.

Netfl ix then knocked HBO off its longtime perch — 18 years — as the most nominated Emmy Award platform, eventually earning 112 nods. The stream-ing behemoth would go on to tie the premium cable network with 23 wins at the Emmy Awards. Netfl ix also dominated the television categories at the Screen Actors Guild Awards with 15 total nods, nearly double any other network.

Top fi lmmaking talent like Martin Scorsese, the Coen brothers and Michael Bay are working for Netfl ix, and the streaming giant convinced Charlie Brooker to bring his “Black Mirror” to its platform. It hired Channing Dungey from ABC Entertainment and Kira Goldberg from 21st Century Fox. It has promised to spend more than $8 billion on content this year alone.

In 2019, Netfl ix will likely face stiffer challenges from the likes of Amazon, Hulu, Apple, WarnerMedia and Disney, as well as needing to handle its long-term debt. But Netfl ix is looking for more subscribers in India and South America and the company’s market

value is more than $100 billion.“At Netfl ix, we’re always working to give our members great choice and a better enter-

tainment experience, and we’re excited about what’s in store for 2019,” Saran-

dos said.

Images courtesy of Netflix


YEAR IN REVIEW — MUSIC

BY MESFIN FEKADU

Associated Press

1. Janelle Monae, ‘Dirty Computer’When Janelle Monae released the masterfully brilliant “The ArchAndroid” in 2010, it was hard to imagine how this futuris-tic, already-seasoned artist could grow, and where that growth would take her. Enter “Dirty Computer,” her third full-length album and another work of genius from one of contemporary music’s best entertainers. There are so many ways to describe this stunning album: Honest. Fun. Sexual. Political. Thought-provoking. Empowering. Liberating. And simply put — it’s just damn good. Songs like “Crazy, Classic, Life,” “Take a Byte,” “Screwed,” “I Got the Juice” and “Pynk” inject into your bloodstream and spread a carefree confidence through-out your body, causing you to dance, and dance, and dance some more. It feels like freedom.

Janelle MonaeCourtesy ofAtlantic Records

2. Kacey Musgraves, ‘Golden Hour’ At its base, Kacey Musgraves’ fourth album is a country record. And woven into it are sounds like dance, pop, R&B and other genres. The result is a piercing, soulful album where Musgraves’ gliding vocals treat each song like a mini masterpiece. The lyrics are strong and sharp throughout the 13-track album, and each song is touching and beautiful. “Golden Hour” will put a smile on your face, and live inside of your heart.CONTINUED ON PAGE 17


1. “X,” Nicky Jam and J Balvin Nicky Jam and J Balvin’s “X” is not just the Latin song of the year — it is SIMPLY THE SONG OF THE YEAR. A year after the uber-successful “Despacito,” comes “X” — a fusion of Latin, reggae and dancehall sounds and the perfect song to listen to while getting ready to go out, at a club or even while you’re cleaning or cooking. “X” is addictive and the beat will move your bones, even if you’re not trying to move. Just don’t fight the feeling.

2. “Long as I Live,” Toni Braxton Toni Braxton’s R&B classics from the ’90’s and 2000’s still sound iconic today, and her latest single, “Long as I Live,” allows you to feel nostalgic, while not getting stuck in the past. Toni’s still got it.

3. “Ha Ha (I Love You),” Jussie Smollett This Quiet Storm anthem shows that while playing Jamal Lyon on “Empire” helped make Jussie Smollett famous, he sounds even better when he’s singing his own songs.

4. “Slow Dancing in the Dark,” Joji This burning R&B number is unforgettable.

5. “Boo’d Up,” Ella Mai The song of the summer sounds good in the fall and winter, too.

6. “All the Stars,” Kendrick Lamar and SZA The star of “All the Stars” might seem to be Kendrick Lamar — and while he shines on the song, it’s really SZA’s singalong hook and killer second verse that makes this “Black Panther” track one of the year’s best.

7. “Love Lies,” Normani and Khalid With all of the Fifth Harmony singers going solo, Normani is the one to look out for. The proof: “Love Lies.”

8. “SAD!,” XXXTentacion So many rappers died young this year, and it’s sad to see so much talent not live up to its full potential. XXXTentacion’s “SAD!” was already a hit before he died, but after his death, the song, and his music, took on new life.

9. “In My Feelings,” Drake Don’t front — this is your jam, too! Hey, Keke!

10. “Sex Money Feelings Die,” Lykke Li Hit play, and dance.

Honorable mention“The Middle,” Zedd, Maren Morris and Grey “I Like It,” Cardi B feat. Bad Bunny & J Balvin “Blue Lights,” Jorja Smith “Tequila,” Dan + Shay “You Say,” Lauren Daigle “OTW,” Ty Dolla $ign, Khalid and 6LACK “New Light,” John Mayer “Pynk,” Janelle Monae

— Mesfin Fekadu

YEAR IN REVIEW — MUSIC

Nicky Jam (left) and J BalvinAP

3. J. Cole, ‘KOD’At a time when the entertainment world is questioning the relevance of the Grammys, it’s hard to take the organization seriously when J. Cole’s “KOD” didn’t garner a nomination for best rap album. His fifth release, which he mainly produced on his own, is powerful, striking and remarkable, and easily the year’s best hip-hop album, and we don’t need a Grammy co-sign to confirm that.

4. Various artists, ‘Insecure: Music from the HBO Original Series, Season 3’There’s not much that can hold you over during the months and months of waiting in between seasons of “Insecure,” except for the TV show’s epic soundtrack. This compilation is a breezy effort that plays smoother than most of the albums released this year. Every song is outstanding — no skipping going on here — and the track list will give a chance to discov-er some artists you may have never heard before.

5. Chloe x Halle, ‘The Kids Are Alright’The sister duo Chloe x Halle have beautifully mastered harmonization, and they sound like angels throughout “The Kids Are Alright.” The album intro, “Hello Friend,” brilliantly tran-sitions into the title track and the rest of the next-level songs, from “Fake” to “Everywhere” to “Happy Without Me,” prove there’s more to come from the talented Beyonce mentees.

6. The Carters, ‘Everything Is Love’Beyonce’s debut rap album was an adventure and further shows that there is probably little she can’t do. She shines, alongside Jay-Z, on their first collaborative album that is a mix of Soundcloud rap, alternative R&B and overall amazingness.

7. Robyn, ‘Honey’Robyn’s album is like a tasty des-sert, with just the right amount of sweetness.

8. Ariana Grande, ‘Sweetener’With all her successful singles, Ari-ana Grande may not come across as an album artist, but that’s not accu-rate. “Sweetener” is her fourth album and her fourth laudable effort, which is a great blend of upbeat jams and pop-R&B ballads.

9. Christine and the Queens, ‘Chris’French singer Christine and the Queens’ sophomore album is a pop escapade, with addictive songs like “Comme si,” “Girlfriend,” “Goya Soda” and “Feels so good” worth listening again, again and again.

10. Madisen Ward & the Mama Bear, ‘The Radio Winners’Harmonizing with family members — done correctly — can feel like an out-of-body experience. The mother-and-son duo Madisen Ward & the Mama Bear know how to do just that, and their latest EP, “The Radio Win-ners,” proves it.

Ariana Grande proves she’s more than just a singles artist on “Sweetener.”EVAN AGOSTINI, INVISION/AP


‘Fear’Bob Woodward ’s two works on Obama, “The Price of Politics” and “Obama’s Wars,” made little impact compared to such early blockbusters as the Watergate-era “All the President’s Men.” And his only book during Obama’s second term was a return to the Nixon years: “The Last of the President’s Men,” about Alexander Butterfi eld, the White House aide who revealed to the world that Nixon had a tap-ing system in the Oval Offi ce. But Trump is a singular muse for political writers and with “Fear: Inside the Trump White House,” Woodward was fully back in the present. “Fear” reads like a more sober version of “Fire and Fury,” another tale of an uncontrollable chief executive and a staff that tries both to contain and encour-age him. Trump’s verdict: “The Woodward book is a Joke.”

‘A Higher Loyalty’In a spirit of anger, admiration and curiosity, readers wanted to know why James Comey re-opened the FBI investiga-tion into Hillary Clinton’s emails less than two weeks before Election Day and what he and Trump had said to each other before Trump fi red him in May 2017, just four months into his administration. “This

president,” Comey wrote, “is unethical, and unte-thered to truth and institutional values.” Only in the Trump era could a memoir by a former FBI direc-tor, one little known to the general public before 2016, sell hundreds of thousands of copies. And only in the Trump era would a sitting president refer to a former FBI director as an “untruthful slimeball.”

BY HILLEL ITALIE

Associated Press

The publishing world made headlines in 2018, and not always by design. A wave of best-sellers offered damaging accounts of Donald Trump’s White House, a million-

selling memoir by Michelle Obama had readers longing for the previous administration and a po-litical thriller by former President Bill Clinton had some taking a closer look at a White House scandal from the 1990s. Meanwhile, some of the country’s top writers were called out for sexual harassment, and a dystopian novel written in the 1980s seemed ever more timely.

Here are some highlights:

YEAR IN REVIEW — BOOKS

‘Fire and Fury’It landed in early January and quickly had the country talking and Trump threatening to sue (a way to boost sales that ranks with an Oprah Winfrey endorse-ment). Michael Wolff’s tale of backbiting and chaos in the Trump administration wasn’t so much a revelation, as a confi r-mation of what millions had suspected. Reporters questioned some of his facts, but the book had at least one real conse-quence: Former senior adviser Steve Bannon, who didn’t deny speaking with the author and criticizing both the president and Donald Trump Jr., was forced out as executive chairman of the far-right Breitbart News. His old boss called him “Sloppy Steve.”

‘The President Is Missing’The million-selling collaboration between Clinton and James Patterson was the novel of the summer, and launched a very different conversation from what the authors had intended. “The President Is Missing,” a near-apocalyptic thriller, is a cautionary tale about preventing cyberattacks. But the book also included a chapter about a president facing impeachment — an experience Clinton is uniquely qualifi ed to draw upon — and Clinton responded defen-sively to questions about his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. “This was litigated 20 years ago,” Clinton told NBC’s Craig Melvin. The most notable thing about his answers, wrote New York magazine’s Rebecca Trais-ter, was that “Clinton seemed to be shocked that he would be asked about his behavior in light of #MeToo.”

‘Becoming’The initial headlines were about Trump, whom Michelle Obama vowed she would never forgive for promoting the “birther” lie that her husband was born in Kenya. But Obama’s book quickly became among the best-selling political memoirs ever. Reviewers cited the qualities which mil-lions had admired her for — the warmth and humor of her courtship with the future president, her candor in describing their marital struggles and efforts to have children and the care and insight into how Michelle LaVaughn Robinson — a self-de-scribed “girl of the South Side” of Chicago — adapted to being the country’s fi rst black fi rst lady.

Margaret AtwoodThe Canadian author didn’t need to publish any new fi ction to make news in 2018. “The Hand-maid’s Tale,” released more than 30 years ago and dramatized in an acclaimed Hulu series, continued to rank with George Orwell’s “1984” as a defi ning dys-topian text for the current time. Questions from readers about the imagined country of Gilead, a brutal patriarchy that didn’t seem very fi ctional, were so persistent that Atwood fi nally changed her mind about writing a sequel and announced that “The Testaments” would come out in 2019.

Books about the current president, one by a former president, a blockbuster by a former fi rst lady made headlines in 2018

From Trump to #MeToo

Atwood

#MeTooIt began in January with a comments thread on the website of School Library Journal: Stories of widespread harassment by some prominent writers for children and young adults, with the alleged harassers fi rst unnamed, then named. Within weeks, “Maze Runner” author James Dashner had been dropped by his publisher and “13 Reasons Why” novelist Jay Asher by his agent. Sherman Alexie, whom the American

Library Association had just awarded a Carn-egie Medal for his memoir “You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me,” declined the prize. And Daniel Handler of “Lemony Snicket” fame withdrew as commencement speaker at Wes-leyan University. His replacement was well known to the #MeToo movement: Anita Hill, the woman who testifi ed in 1991 that Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas had repeat-edly harassed her.

PassagesWithin eight days last spring, two of the country’s most celebrated writers died, Tom Wolfe and Philip Roth. But 2018 also was a year for welcoming new voices. Tara Westover’s “Educated,” a memoir about growing up in an isolated Mormon home, was a best-seller admired by everyone from book critics to for-mer President Barack Obama. Tommy Orange’s novel “There There” was widely acclaimed and the rare work of literary fi ction over the past year to succeed commercially. Other notable debuts included Jamel Brinkley’s story collection “A Lucky Man” and Lisa Halliday’s novel “Asymmetry,” which included a char-acter based on a real-life former lover — Philip Roth.

Invision/AP

AP

Comey

Authors Philip Roth , left, and Tom Wolfe both died in May. Roth was 85, and Wolfe was 88. AP


CROSSWORD AND COMICS

“Gunston Street” is drawn by Basil Zaviski. Email him at [email protected]. Online: gunstonstreet.com.

GUNSTON STREET RESULTS FOR ABOVE PUZZLE

NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD


YEAR IN REVIEW — POP CULTURE

BY LEANNE ITALIE

Associated Press

Keep your backyard chicken coops, dear 2018, and your vampire fa-cials, too. And the

stiff-arm Floss dance? Stomp it out in the new year.

Among other things we’re over as we slide into 2019: Bell sleeves that need constant policing, so-called desserts that contain no sugar and Alec Baldwin’s “Saturday Night Live” Donald Trump, because isn’t the real one enough?

Here’s what we’d like to leave behind come Jan. 1.

Floss no moreThe arm-fl ailing, hip-swaying, rapid-

fi re dance craze is the new Dab, and we owe it to 16-year-old social media dude Russell Horning, aka The Backpack Kid. Horning grew a sizable Instagram follow-ing through his dance moves as far back as 2014, and Rihanna reposted a photo of him well before Katy Perry invited him to do his thing with her on “Saturday Night Live” in 2017, launching him to social media superstardom.

Other celebs, moms, dads, athletes and pretty much all of YouTube are fl ossing their lives away. So are all the little kids in your households, once they outgrow “Baby Shark,” that is.

“Fortnite” added a Floss Battle Royale victory emote. The fi sted, stiff-armed dance that involves rotating arms from the front to back over and over again isn’t as easy as it looks for some, so it has sprouted instructional videos. It also won Horning a 2018 Shorty Award.

Aren’t all you Flossers exhausted? Have a seat. Take a load off. Go cheek-to-cheek with someone. Anything but another year of your back-and-forth-ness.

Bye bye, BIRDIESUrban chicken coops, gender reveal parties, fl ossing among 2018 trends we detested

Flossing. All the kids are doing it. Please stop now.

Gender reveal parties Have we not outgrown blue for boys and

pink for girls? And whatever happened to being surprised? Or how about keeping all of this to yourselves?

Gender reveal events, such as the one recently that sparked a massive fi re in Arizona, have grown into an industry, with party supplies on sale and DIY tips all over the place.

Celebrate the birth of a human being instead. Oh wait, that’s what baby showers are for, and birthdays.

Your chicken friendsOrganic eggs, pest control, fertilizer!

Those are some of the apparent joys of keeping backyard chickens. The idea is they roam around your Brooklyn patio, patch of grass or suburban wood, fi nding their way home at night. Or something. Some are confi ned to enclosed runs. And what happens when hipsters can’t cope? According to news reports, the feathered puffs with legs get dumped at animal shelters, sanctuaries or worse, gobbled by some predator.

Just go to a store , sweet faux farmers. After all, how many eggs do you really need?

Keto dessertsKetogenics, and ketosis, and the keto-

genic diet have been around forevah. But the masses got all whipped up in 2018.

Here’s how it goes: A high-fat, adequate-protein, low-carb approach to eating may be good for diffi cult-to-control epilepsy in children, and for weight loss and general health in all. The idea is for you to get more calories from protein and fat and fewer from carbs, in part by cutting back on carbs that are easy to digest.

And that, my friends, includes sugar — so many desserts. Of course, eat what you want. Celebrate your health, but do the rest of us need to go without when we come over for dinner?

“My sister’s cheesecake was basi-cally a fatberg,” notes one unsatisfi ed enlistee.

Big ol’ sleevesRunways and stores are full

of bell sleeves. But what about the marinara sauce? Nobody needs to police their sleeves quite this much, especially when they’re eating or doing something equally bottom-of-the-sleeve-skimming.

Bell sleeves were once oh-so-boho, but have popped up on all manner of tops and dresses. How hard do you want to work to stuff those things into a jacket or coat? How big the bells have become. How utterly same-same we all look.

And tiered bell sleeves? And those fl ares that fall at the elbow or way high off the wrist? Prairie-wear and swingy sleeves, take a breather.

Vampire facialsUsing your own blood with little skin

pricks to make you, what, the best skin-deep version of yourself, is on the gross side of the beauty equation.

Let’s shed some light on the bloody facials. First, you need your blood drawn. Then you need your blood to be run through a centrifuge to isolate the plate-lets. This is all about PRPs, or platelet-rich plasma. Then microdermabrasion or microneedling is done to really get those platelets in there. Vampire facials can hydrate and offer boosts of collagen and elastin, fans say.

Kim Kardashian West famously partook and shared her bloody face on social media. It’s also all over Instagram.

We never thought we would wax sen-timental about bird poop facials, caviar facials or cow amniotic fl uid. On the face.

Beyond, beyond and beyondWhen we’re not “obsessed” with

everything, we’re “beyond blessed,” “beyond grateful,” “beyond honored,” “beyond exhausted” and “beyond excited.”

No. We’re all right here in this dimension. Is the meaning of the word not enough without the quali-fi er? Why not allow yourselves to be, simply, blessed, grateful and honored? The same with “truly” happy, sad or angry.

Be thrilled beyond words, but do trust that language has your back. Hopefully, so does the new year.

iStock images


THE TOP 10 TV SHOWSYEAR IN REVIEW — TELEVISION

Rachel Brosnahan in a scene from “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” AMAZON/AP

BY ALICIA RANCILIO

Associated Press

1. ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,’ Amazon Prime From its costumes to the dialogue to the music to the quirky characters, this show is a delight. Watch it to feel good.

2. ‘This Is Us,’ NBC Some suggest the third season has lagged but this show is still solid, and we can’t discount how invested the pub-lic was in just how Milo Ventimiglia’s character, Jack, died. The lead-up and reveal earlier this year launched so many theories, memes, hashtags and jokes about crock-pots. Also, those oc-casional fl ash-forwards to show charac-ters in the future keeps us guessing and trying to fi ll in the blanks between now and then.

3. ‘Killing Eve,’ BBC America This cat-and-mouse chase between Sandra Oh as an MI5 investiga-tor and Jodie Comer’s assassin is great fun to watch. Oh has received many accolades for her work on the show, which are deserved, but Comer is also a standout and should be recognized. She mastered various accents and has a smile that can light up a room, before she pounces to kill you, of course.

4. ‘Succession,’ HBO This show about a powerful family that owns a major media conglomerate is disturbing, funny and sad all at once. The characters aren’t likable and don’t even seem to like each other, but to be a voyeur and watch them interact is worth tuning in for.

5. ‘Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan,’ Amazon Prime John Krasinski joins Ben Affl eck, Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford and Chris Pine as actors who’ve por-trayed the CIA ana-lyst created by Clancy. In Krasinski’s version, he’s got brawn and brains and he quickly proves he’s a leading man worthy of the role. It’s fast-paced, suspenseful, entertaining and season two can’t come soon enough.

6. ‘You,’ Lifetime This show hasn’t gotten enough at-tention. Penn Badgley is masterful as a psychopathic stalker named Joe who charms his way into the heart of a young woman living in Manhattan. There’s a scene in the fi rst episode where his character stares at his obses-sion as she drunkenly teeters on the edge of a subway platform like he’s studying an animal in the wild. It’s chilling. Catch up because the series is moving to Netfl ix for its second season.

7. ‘Escape at Dannemora,’ Showtime The real prison escape that this series portrays was in 2015 and caught the world’s attention because of the revela-tion that the two escapees were helped by a female prison employee. The series, directed by Ben Stiller, is just as interesting. Patricia Arquette, Benicio Del Toro, Paul Dano and Eric Lange dissolve into their characters.

8. ‘The Clinton Affair,’ A&E This six-part documentary series is an extremely compelling deep dive into the events that led up to President Clinton’s impeachment. You may remember the news coverage, but there’s likely information in this series that will be new. Many of the major players includ-ing Monica Lewinsky are interviewed extensively and to see her now, as a 40-something-year-old woman, refl ect on that period of her life with candor and grace is heartbreaking, inspiring and fi tting for this #MeToo era.

9. ‘grown-ish,’ on Freeform Zoey, the eldest child on “black-ish” (played by Yara Shahidi), went off to college and it’s worth keeping up with this new phase of her life. “grown-ish” doesn’t hold back. The show deals with issues that some college kids are faced with, including abusing pills like Adderall and the hook-up culture. Also, Shahidi has major star quality.

10. ‘Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,’ Netflix No offense to the original “Queer Eye,” which was fun, but the reboot kicks things up in a major way. For one, tissues are required for viewing because it gets very emotional. The show doesn’t just fi nd men who need a new look, but the fi ve experts go deep into why these guys are stuck in a rut. It’s positive and heart-warming and feels like a hug.

Honorable mentions“The Good Place” on NBC, “Wild Wild Country” on Netfl ix, “The Handmaid’s Tale” on Hulu, “Counterpart” on STARZ, “Jane the Virgin” on The CW, “Crazy Ex-Girl-friend” on The CW and “13 Reasons Why,” Netfl ix.

NBC/AP

AMAZON/AP

FREEFORM/AP

BBC AMERICA

AP

SHOWTIME/AP

Sunday, December 30, 2018PAGE 22 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S •

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The Washington Post

The shutdown of roughly 25 percent of the federal government contin-ued into a sixth day Thursday, with little or no evidence that Presi-

dent Donald Trump and his Democratic opponents on Capitol Hill are moving any closer toward a deal that would break the impasse. Of the roughly 800,000 federal workers directly affected, about 350,000 sit home on furlough while the rest, deemed “essential,” continue working; none of them can get paid. The hardship for them, and for those ordinary citizens who need access to agencies such as the IRS or the national parks, may last into the new year, even past the start of the new Congress on Jan. 3. This shutdown is perhaps even more senseless and frustrating than previ-ous ones because the way out is, and has been, perfectly obvious for weeks.

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: Trump wants money for his pet bor-der-wall project so badly that he’s willing to stage a partial government shutdown. Democrats should let him have funding for the wall in return for a permanent fix to the immigration status of the “Dreamers,”

people brought to this country as children without authorization but who have been living otherwise lawful and productive American lives since.

This would be a grand bargain that would give both sides something to brag about and, in fact, simply calls on them to do a version of a deal that Democrats and Republicans have at least tentatively em-braced in the past. Trump says he wants to resolve the Dreamers’ plight; Democrats have, in the past, voted for enhanced “bor-der security,” including physical barriers.

In that sense, there’s no real issue of principle preventing a bipartisan deal, just the politics of base-pleasing polarization. Congress seriously entertained immigra-tion grand bargains with wall-for-dream-ers deals at their core in February and March, but the White House undid them by demanding additional restrictions on legal immigration designed to please the Re-publican base. That dynamic still informs Trump’s approach to the current shut-down; his position hardened after he came under attack from right-wing personalities such as Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter, who accused him of contemplating a sell-out. Meanwhile, on the Democratic side,

likely next House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., newly beholden to left-wing mem-bers of her soon-to-be-majority caucus inthe House, has branded a wall “immoral”and has sworn that she won’t approve a dollar for it under any circumstances.

Neither side may have as much lever-age in this battle as they think. The risksfor the GOP are defined by the fact thatthe border wall remains broadly unpopu-lar outside of Trump’s base. As for the Democrats, they feel less pressure to deal because of a federal court ruling that hasprotected the Dreamers from deportation.That ruling is by no means permanent, however, especially now that conservatives enjoy a solid 5-4 majority on the SupremeCourt. A prolonged battle with Trump oversimply funding the government threatens to detract from the new House majority’slegislative agenda for 2019 before Demo-crats even have a chance to unveil it.

Both parties are still acting as though prolonging a shutdown, and avoiding thewall-for-Dreamers deal, is in their politi-cal interest, when in fact it’s the deal that would really benefit them in the long run.It would also be the right thing to do.

Troops coming home means war was lost BY ELLIOT ACKERMAN

Special to The Washington Post

Just before midnight Tuesday, Presi-dent Donald Trump departed the White House for his first visit to U.S. troops in a combat zone. Of course, it

wasn’t just any Tuesday. It was Christmas. A president with his troops at Christmastime — look no further than George Washington crossing the Delaware on the night of Dec. 25, 1776, to understand the sentimental re-sponse this elicits in many Americans. Se-nior administration officials claim the trip had been in the works for weeks. One would be forgiven, however, for concluding that in the wake of the government shutdown, the resignation of Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis and the controversial announce-ment of plans to withdraw troops fully from Syria and partly from Afghanistan, Trump decided that this was an opportune mo-ment to harness the powerful iconography of a commander in chief with his troops at Christmas, particularly one who was there to deliver the message that many of their comrades in arms would soon be returning home. What better gift?

However welcome that message might be, it does not offer reassurance that peace is at hand, even if we tend to think so. Troops returning home doesn’t mean a war is over. On the contrary, a total with-drawal is more likely to mean that a war is lost than won. And it leaves the United States open to a more significant emergen-cy deployment of troops later on.

If we look at a history of America’s wars, the conflicts we’ve won and crafted into a lasting peace have always required some of our troops to stay, from the Civil War and Reconstruction to the Second World War and subsequent European and Japanese occupations. Troops deployed need not be seen as troops at war — the notion that they are equivalent is harmful to creating an ef-fective national security strategy. We can keep the troops deployed, thus securing our interests, while also keeping them relative-ly secure, as we’ve long done in places like Korea. President Barack Obama couldn’t see this possibility and made a mistake by pulling all the troops out of Iraq in 2011, only to have to redeploy thousands before the end of his administration after Islamic State swept through the country. Trump is

about to make the same mistake by pull-ing them all out of Syria and dangerously reducing them in Afghanistan.

Binary concepts of war and peace are inadequate to understanding the nature of U.S. military force projection abroad. Look at Germany, where we have 35,000 troops stationed, or in Japan, where we have 40,000 troops. Debates about “exit strategies” and “troop levels” are seldom used in those cases; there are no wars in those countries but there are troops in them. The troops came home from Viet-nam and interventions like Somalia — and those conflicts cannot be called victories. For a president who likes to “win,” Trump doesn’t seem fluent in what his orders to withdraw will mean.

The president argues that “the United States cannot continue to be the policeman of the world.” As someone who spent eight years fighting in these wars and under-stands their costs firsthand, I’m certainly sympathetic to that logic. Trump is hardly the first person to make this case, one he equates with his “America First” brand of nationalism. However, his promise to “Make America Great Again” is contin-gent on an engaged foreign policy.

One might infer that the “again” in his slogan — stitched into the caps he signed for some of the troops on his Iraq visit — would include the Eisenhower and Reagan years, two presidents whom Trump openly admires. Both the 1950s and 1980s were decades of sustained American engage-ment abroad, from the implementation of the post-World War II Marshall Plan, which rebuilt and developed European markets for American goods, to Reagan’s Cold War engagement that led to perestroi-ka, the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and the opening up of Eastern Europe and its markets. A capitalist like Trump should appreciate that American engagement has never been synonymous with American al-truism alone.

Nevertheless, Trump is quick to dis-miss the strategic imperative of sustained American influence in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, choosing instead to view them as regional problems. Trump has also played down the possibility that a vacuum of U.S. military power in Syria could allow ISIS to rebuild, despite an Inspector General report from the Pentagon in the summer

estimating that more than 30,000 ISIS fighters still remain in Iraq and Syria.

“If we see something happening withISIS that we don’t like,” Trump said, speaking Wednesday, “we can hit them so fast and so hard ... they really won’t know what the hell happened,” adding that he has no plans to remove U.S. troops from Iraq. But without U.S. forces in Syria, ISIS will have a sanctuary from which to oper-ate. Consider the current challenges along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, or the flawed American strategy in Vietnam, which never dealt with enemy sanctuariesin Cambodia and Laos, to understand how crippling a sanctuary in Syria will be to se-curity in neighboring Iraq.

During his Christmas visit to the al-Asad Air Base in Iraq, Trump explainedhow he had repeatedly directed “the gen-erals” to get out of Syria, but they had con-tinually asked for six-month extensions. “Isaid, ‘Nope.’ You can’t have any more time.You’ve had enough time. We’ve knockedthem out,” he said, referring to ISIS.“We’ve knocked them silly.”

Trump, who once surrounded himselfwith generals, seemed unwilling to lis-ten to any of them on this issue. Most are now gone from his administration — Mi-chael Flynn, H.R. McMaster, John Kellyand now Mattis. If only one of them couldhave put the matter into terms he mighthave appreciated: Someone could havetold the developer-turned-president aboutthe Christmas holiday in 1944 when Gen.George S. Patton was fighting a desperatecampaign against the German army in the Ardennes Forest, later known as the Battle of the Bulge. The fighting was about 50 miles west of Ramstein Air Base, whereTrump stopped to refuel and hold a rallywith troops on his way back from Iraq.When Patton’s exhausted Third Army wasconfronted with several days’ more fight-ing, one of his subordinates suggested theywithdraw and regroup. As recounted inthe 1970 movie “Patton,” the general says,“Not me,” and then adds, “I don’t like topay for the same real estate twice.”Elliot Ackerman is a former Marine who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and was a White House Fellow in the Obama Administration. He is the author of several books, most recently the novel “Waiting for Eden.”

Path out of shutdown has been obvious for weeks


Associated Press

NEW YORK — Sears Chair-man Eddie Lampert’s hedge fund said it submitted a last-minute bid Friday valued at $4.4 billion to keep the struggling retailer from being liquidated.

Transform Holdco LLC, an affiliate of the ESL Investments hedge fund that Lampert heads, said it hoped to keep 425 stores open. The bid includes $1.3 bil-lion in financing from three insti-tutions, ESL said in a statement.

The iconic retailer, once the nation’s largest department store chain, faced a deadline of Friday for bids for its remaining stores to avert closing down completely.

Earlier on Friday, Sears said

it was closing 80 more stores as it teeters on the brink of liquidation.

The retailer that began as a mail order catalog in the 1880s has been in a slow death spiral, hobbled by the Great Recession and then overwhelmed by rivals both down the street and across the internet.

The 80 stores are due to close by March. That’s in addition to 182 stores already slated for clo-sure, including 142 by the end of 2018 and 40 by February. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Octo-ber, saying at the time it would close more than 20 percent of all stores, keeping open only its 500 most profitable locations.

Sears Holdings Corp., which also runs Kmart, joins the list of retail brands taken over by hedge funds that collapsed under the weight of debt forced upon them.

Under hedge fund manager Eddie Lampert, Sears has bought time by spinning off stores and putting on the block the brands that had grown synonymous with the company, such as Craftsman. The company’s chairman and big-gest shareholder, Lampert loaned out his own money and put to-gether deals to keep the company afloat and to turn whatever profit he could for the ESL hedge fund. Lampert and ESL have been try-ing to buy the rest of Sears for up to $4.6 billion in cash and stock.

ESL said that should the $4.4 billion bid be accepted, “we expect that the company that emerges from bankruptcy would offer employment to up to 50,000 associates.”


MARKET WATCH

Military ratesEuro costs (Dec 31) ........................... $1.1788Dollar buys (Dec 31) ........................ €0.8483British pound (Dec 31) ......................... $1.30Japanese yen (Dec 31) .......................108.00South Korean won (Dec 31) ...........1,091.00

Commercial ratesBahrain (Dinar) ....................................0.3769British pound .....................................$1.2686Canada (Dollar) ...................................1.3638China (Yuan) ........................................6.8776Denmark (Krone) ................................6.5181Egypt (Pound) ....................................17.8889Euro ........................................ $1.1454/0.8730Hong Kong (Dollar) ............................. 7.8327Hungary (Forint) .................................280.78Israel (Shekel) .....................................3.7590Japan (Yen) ........................................... 110.33Kuwait (Dinar) .....................................0.3036Norway (Krone) ...................................8.6940Philippines (Peso).................................52.53Poland (Zloty) .......................................... 3.76Saudi Arabia (Riyal) ........................... 3.7511Singapore (Dollar) ..............................1.3653South Korea (Won) .......................... 1,116.01Switzerland (Franc)............................0.9803Thailand (Baht) .....................................32.56Turkey (Lira) .........................................5.2748(Military exchange rates are those available to customers at military banking facilities in the country of issuance for Japan, South Korea, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. For nonlocal currency exchange rates (i.e., purchasing British pounds in Germany), check with your local military banking facility. Commercial rates are interbank rates provided for reference when buying currency. All figures are foreign currencies to one dollar, except for the British pound, which is represented in dollars-to-pound, and the euro, which is dollars-to-euro.)

EXCHANGE RATES

INTEREST RATESPrime rate ................................................ 5.50Discount rate .......................................... 3.00Federal funds market rate ................... 2.403-month bill ............................................. 2.3330-year bond ........................................... 3.04

WEATHER OUTLOOK

Mildenhall/Lakenheath

47/43

Ramstein36/27

Stuttgart35/33

Lajes,Azores66/58

Rota62/47

Morón62/42 Sigonella

59/44

Naples56/35

Aviano/Vicenza52/33

Pápa43/33

Souda Bay60/45

SUNDAY IN EUROPE

Brussels50/37

Bahrain74/63

Baghdad59/43

Doha77/64

KuwaitCity

66/48

Riyadh70/50

Djibouti83/75

Kandahar70/34

Kabul52/21

SUNDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST MONDAY IN THE PACIFIC

Misawa34/22

Guam83/76

Tokyo40/27

Okinawa65/58

Sasebo41/34

Iwakuni40/29

Seoul30/9

Osan28/17 Busan

39/28

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

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

BUSINESS/WEATHER

US markets flail after week of ups and downs

Lampert’s hedge fund submits bid to save Sears

BY TAYLOR TELFORD

The Washington Post

U.S. markets were jittery but ended mostly negative Friday, capping a turbulent week marked by a brutal losing streak and the best single day of trading in a decade.

Thursday’s wild swings mir-rored the volatility that has de-fined December, with markets sinking nearly 3 percent, then making a last-minute turnaround to close with modest gains. On Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 0.33 percent at close. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index was down 0.13 percent, and the tech-heavy Nas-daq composite index was up 0.08 percent. U.S. markets are up 3 percent across the board, look-ing to break a three-week losing streak.

After Wall Street’s recovery, overseas markets followed suit Friday despite a challenging start. With the exception of To-kyo’s Nikkei 225, which slipped 0.31 percent to 20014.77, Asian markets logged mild gains. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 0.1 percent at the close; the Shang-hai Composite Index was up 0.44 percent. European markets re-bounded after a grim Thursday, with the benchmark Stoxx 600 up 2 percent. Germany’s DAX up more than 1.7 percent. France’s CAC 40 was up more than 2 per-cent, and Britain’s FTSE 100 rose more than 2.3 percent.

December has been brutal for Wall Street, erasing gains throughout the year and put-ting markets on track for annual losses, while stocks are nearing their worst December since 1931. A trade conflict with China, the

Federal Reserve’s decision to hike interest rates, which drew attacks by President Donald Trump, and a partial government shutdown have rattled investors.

Since Dec. 1, the S&P 500 is down more than 10 percent. The uncertainty has dampened con-sumer attitudes, according to the Conference Board, a business re-search group, which said its con-sumer confidence index fell more than expected this month despite a strong labor market. Concerns about an economic slowdown have pushed consumer expecta-tions for the future to their lowest point since November 2016.

In a shortened trading session Monday, the markets suffered their worst Christmas Eve de-cline in decades, with the S&P 500 ending in bear territory. As Trump renewed his attacks on the Federal Reserve, accusing it

of not having a “feel for the mar-ket,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin called executives at major banks in an effort that was meant to be reassuring but that sowed more anxiety than faith.

But on Wednesday, the markets roared back to life in the best sin-gle day of trading in more than a decade, with the Dow logging its biggest point gain in history in a 1,086-point jump. Investors were steadied by assurances from White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett that Federal Re-serve Chairman Jerome H. Pow-ell’s job was “100 percent safe.” Markets surged after the an-nouncement. Thursday brought more turbulence, however, with markets falling as much as 3 per-cent, then rebounding in the final hours of trading to close positive across the board.

Friday’s decline, headlined

by the possibility of the partialgovernment shutdown extendinginto the new year, ended the weekwith losses one day before the lasttrading day of 2018.

As Wall Street has flirted withbear territory, many analystshave wondered whether this isthe beginning of an economicslowdown. The political whirl-wind has destabilized the mar-kets, bringing on a volatility thathasn’t been seen for years, saidHoward Silverblatt, a senior ana-lyst with S&P Dow Jones Indices.


SCOREBOARD

Go to the American Forces Network website for the most up-to-date TV schedules.myafn.net

Sports on AFN

College football

Bowl scheduleSaturday, Dec. 15Celebration Bowl

At AtlantaN.C. A&T 24, Alcorn State 22

Cure BowlOrlando, Fla.

Tulane 41, Louisiana-Lafayette 24New Mexico Bowl

AlbuquerqueUtah State 52, North Texas 13

Las Vegas BowlFresno State 31, Arizona State 20

Camellia BowlMontgomery, Ala.

Georgia Southern 23, Eastern Michigan 21New Orleans Bowl

Appalachian State 45, Middle Tennes-see 13

Tuesday, Dec. 18Boca Raton (Fla.) Bowl

UAB 37, North Illinois 13Wednesday, Dec. 19Frisco (Texas) Bowl

Ohio 27, San Diego State 0Thursday, Dec. 20Gasparilla Bowl

At St. Petersburg, Fla.Marshall 38, South Florida 20

Friday, Dec. 21Bahamas Bowl

NassauFIU 35, Toledo 32

Famous Idaho Potato BowlBoise

BYU 49, Western Michigan 18Saturday, Dec. 22

Birmingham (Ala.) BowlWake Forest 37, Memphis 34

Armed Forces BowlFort Worth, Texas

Army 70, Houston 14Dollar General Bowl

Mobile, Ala.Troy 42, Buffalo 32

Hawaii BowlHonolulu

Louisiana Tech 31, Hawaii 14Wednesday, Dec. 26

SERVPRO First Responder BowlDallas

Boston College (7-5) vs. Boise State (10-3), ccd.

Quick Lane BowlDetroit

Minnesota 24, Georgia Tech 10Cheez-It Bowl

PhoenixTCU 10, California 7, OT

Thursday, Dec. 27Independence Bowl

Shreveport, La.Duke 56, Temple 27

Pinstripe BowlBronx, N.Y.

Wisconsin 35, Miami 3Texas Bowl

HoustonBaylor 45, Vanderbilt 38

Friday, Dec. 28Music City BowlNashville, Tenn.

Auburn 63, Purdue 14Camping World Bowl

Orlando, Fla.Syracuse 34, West Virginia 18

Alamo BowlSan Antonio

Washington State 28, Iowa State 26

Saturday, Dec. 29Peach Bowl

AtlantaFlorida (9-3) vs. Michigan (10-2)

Belk BowlCharlotte, N.C.

South Carolina (7-5) vs. Virginia (7-5)Arizona BowlTucson, Ariz.

Arkansas State (8-4) vs. Nevada (7-5)Cotton Bowl Classic

Arlington, TexasCFP Semifinal, Notre Dame (12-0) vs.

Clemson (13-0)Orange Bowl

Miami Gardens, Fla.CFP Semifinal, Oklahoma (12-1) vs.

Alabama (13-0)Monday, Dec. 31

Military BowlAnnapolis, Md.

Cincinnati (10-2) vs. Virginia Tech (6-6)Sun Bowl

El Paso, TexasStanford (8-4) vs. Pittsburgh (7-6)

Redbox BowlSanta Clara, Calif.

Michigan State (7-5) vs. Oregon (8-4)Liberty Bowl

Memphis, Tenn.Missouri (8-4) vs. Oklahoma State (6-6)

Holiday BowlSan Diego

Northwestern (8-5) vs. Utah (9-4)Gator Bowl

Jacksonville, Fla.NC State (9-3) vs. Texas A&M (8-4)

Tuesday, Jan. 1Outback Bowl

Tampa, Fla.Mississippi State (8-4) vs. Iowa (8-4)

Citrus BowlOrlando, Fla.

Kentucky (9-3) vs. Penn State (9-3)Fiesta Bowl

Glendale, Ariz.LSU (9-3) vs. UCF (12-0)

Rose BowlPasadena, Calif.

Washington (10-3) vs. Ohio State (12-1)Sugar Bowl

New OrleansTexas (9-4) vs. Georgia (11-2)

Monday, Jan. 7College Football Championship

Santa Clara, Calif.Cotton Bowl winner vs. Orange Bowl

winnerSaturday, Jan. 19

East-West Shrine ClassicAt St. Petersburg, Fla.

East vs. WestNFLPA Collegiate Bowl

At Pasadena, Calif.American vs. National

Saturday, Jan. 26Senior Bowl

At Mobile, Ala.North vs. South

FCS playoffsChampionship

Saturday, Jan. 5At Toyota Stadium

Frisco, TexasNorth Dakota State (14-0) vs. Eastern

Washington (12-2)

Pro football

NFL injury reportSunday

ARIZONA CARDINALS at SEATTLE SE-AHAWKS — CARDINALS: OUT: TE Ricky Seals-Jones (shoulder). QUESTIONABLE: DE Markus Golden (ankle), DE Ben-son Mayowa (back, neck). SEAHAWKS: DOUBTFUL: G J.R. Sweezy (foot). QUES-TIONABLE: G D.J. Fluker (hamstring), DE Dion Jordan (knee), S Bradley McDou-gald (knee), RB Rashaad Penny (knee), S Tedric Thompson (ankle).

ATLANTA FALCONS at TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS — FALCONS: OUT: C Wes Schweitzer (back). BUCCANEERS: DOUBT-FUL: WR DeSean Jackson (achilles), DE Carl Nassib (shoulder). QUESTIONABLE: LB Devante Bond (illness), DE Jason Pierre-Paul (knee, shoulder).

CAROLINA PANTHERS at NEW OR-LEANS SAINTS — PANTHERS: OUT: QB Cam Newton (right shoulder), DT Kawann Short (calf), G Trai Turner (ankle). QUES-TIONABLE: T Marshall Newhouse (hip). SAINTS: OUT: T Terron Armstead (pec-toral), G Jermon Bushrod (hamstring), G Larry Warford (knee).

CHICAGO BEARS at MINNESOTA VI-KINGS — BEARS: DOUBTFUL: S Eddie Jack-son (ankle), LB Aaron Lynch (elbow), WR Allen Robinson (ribs). QUESTIONABLE: DT Bilal Nichols (knee). VIKINGS: OUT: WR Chad Beebe (hamstring), RB C.J. Ham (elbow), LB Eric Kendricks (hamstring), CB Marcus Sherels (foot). QUESTION-ABLE: G Tom Compton (shoulder), CB Xavier Rhodes (groin).

CINCINNATI BENGALS at PITTSBURGH STEELERS — BENGALS: OUT: LB Vontaze Burfict (concussion), CB Tony McRae (hamstring). STEELERS: DOUBTFUL: LB Vince Williams (toe). QUESTIONABLE: WR Antonio Brown (not injury related, knee), RB James Conner (ankle), S Sean Davis (quadricep).

CLEVELAND BROWNS at BALTIMORE RAVENS — BROWNS: OUT: CB Denzel Ward (concussion). QUESTIONABLE: C J.C. Tretter (ankle). RAVENS: QUESTION-ABLE: WR John Brown (hamstring), LB Anthony Levine (toe, ankle), G Alex Lewis (shoulder), LB Terrell Suggs (hamstring), CB Tavon Young (groin).

DALLAS COWBOYS at NEW YORK GI-ANTS — COWBOYS: OUT: DE Tyrone Crawford (neck), DE David Irving (an-kle). QUESTIONABLE: CB Anthony Brown (back), LB Sean Lee (hamstring), G Zack Martin (knee), T Tyron Smith (neck). GI-ANTS: OUT: WR Odell Beckham (quadri-cep), DE Mario Edwards (calf), TE Rhett Ellison (concussion), LB Alec Ogletree (concussion), WR Russell Shepard (an-kle).

DETROIT LIONS at GREEN BAY PACK-ERS — LIONS: OUT: DT A’Shawn Robinson (knee), CB DeShawn Shead (knee), TE Luke Willson (concussion). QUESTION-ABLE: CB Jamal Agnew (knee), RB Le-Garrette Blount (knee), S Quandre Diggs (back), WR Kenny Golladay (chest), DT Damon Harrison (ankle), CB Nevin Law-son (ankle). PACKERS: DOUBTFUL: T Jason Spriggs (concussion), WR Equanimeous St. Brown (concussion). QUESTIONABLE: WR Davante Adams (knee), CB Jaire Al-exander (groin), T David Bakhtiari (hip), S Kentrell Brice (ankle, not injury related), DE Fadol Brown (toe), G Lucas Patrick (abdomen), G Lane Taylor (knee).

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS at HOUSTON TEXANS — JAGUARS: OUT: CB A.J. Bouye(toe), K Josh Lambo (right groin), T JoshWells (concussion). DOUBTFUL: RB Leon-ard Fournette (ankle, foot). QUESTION-ABLE: CB D.J. Hayden (groin), RB CarlosHyde (knee). TEXANS: QUESTIONABLE: WR Keke Coutee (hamstring), DT Bran-don Dunn (ankle), CB Johnathan Joseph(neck).

LOS ANGELES CHARGERS at DENVER BRONCOS — CHARGERS: QUESTIONABLE: TE Sean Culkin (back). BRONCOS: No players listed.

MIAMI DOLPHINS at BUFFALO BILLS— DOLPHINS: DOUBTFUL: S T.J. McDonald(ankle). QUESTIONABLE: LB Kiko Alonso (knee, hamstring), DE Andre Branch(knee), DE Ziggy Hood (hamstring), CBXavien Howard (knee). BILLS: OUT: LB Ju-lian Stanford (ankle), WR Deonte Thomp-son (toe). QUESTIONABLE: RB Chris Ivory(shoulder), CB Ryan Lewis (concussion).

NEW YORK JETS at NEW ENGLAND PA-TRIOTS — JETS: OUT: CB Morris Claiborne(shoulder, ankle), WR Quincy Enunwa(ankle), WR Jermaine Kearse (achilles),LB Kevin Pierre-Louis (shoulder) QUES-TIONABLE: LB Jordan Jenkins (ankle). PATRIOTS: OUT: TE Jacob Hollister (ham-string). QUESTIONABLE: TE Dwayne Al-len (knee), LB Brandon King (knee), WR Cordarrelle Patterson (knee), T LaAdrian Waddle (illness).

OAKLAND RAIDERS at KANSAS CITY CHIEFS — RAIDERS: OUT: CB Montrel Me-ander (quadricep). QUESTIONABLE: CBGareon Conley (concussion), DT MauriceHurst (ankle). CHIEFS: OUT: WR SammyWatkins (foot). QUESTIONABLE: S Eric Berry (heel), CB Kendall Fuller (thumb),RB Spencer Ware (hamstring), RB Darrel Williams (hamstring).

PHILADELPHIA EAGLES at WASH-INGTON REDSKINS — EAGLES: OUT: LB D.J. Alexander (hamstring), CB SidneyJones (hamstring), G Isaac Seumalo(pectoral), WR Mike Wallace (ankle), QBCarson Wentz (back). QUESTIONABLE:DE Michael Bennett (foot), LB Jordan Hicks (calf), C Jason Kelce (knee), T Ja-son Peters (quadricep). REDSKINS: OUT:WR Maurice Harris (concussion), T TyNsekhe (knee). DOUBTFUL: TE Vernon Davis (concussion). QUESTIONABLE:LB Ryan Anderson (hamstring), G Tony Bergstrom (knee, ankle), WR Josh Doct-son (illness), DE Matt Ioannidis (ham-string), G Zac Kerin (knee).

SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS at LOS ANGE-LES RAMS — 49ERS: OUT: RB Matt Breida(ankle), TE Garrett Celek (concussion),WR Marquise Goodwin (calf), WR Dante Pettis (knee). QUESTIONABLE: CB Tar-varius Moore (shoulder). RAMS: OUT: RB Todd Gurley (knee), S Lamarcus Joyner(ankle). QUESTIONABLE: RB Justin Davis(shoulder), DT Ethan Westbrooks (ill-ness).

INDIANAPOLIS COLTS at TENNES-SEE TITANS — COLTS: OUT: WR DauriceFountain (ankle), C Ryan Kelly (neck). QUESTIONABLE: TE Eric Ebron (concus-sion, knee), S Clayton Geathers (knee),CB Nate Hairston (hip), WR T.Y. Hilton(ankle), WR Dontrelle Inman (shoulder), WR Zach Pascal (knee), DE Jabaal Sheard(teeth, knee). TITANS: OUT: LB Brian Or-akpo (elbow). QUESTIONABLE: QB Mar-cus Mariota (neck, foot).College basketball

Friday’s men’s scoresEAST

Hofstra 91, Delaware 46Manhattanville 92, Old Westbury 78Northeastern 93, Drexel 83Westfield St. 84, Baruch 72

SOUTHEast Carolina 77, NC A&T 57Georgia Tech 87, Kennesaw St. 57LSU 81, Louisiana-Monroe 69N. Kentucky 92, IUPUI 77NC State 97, Loyola (Md.) 64Towson 77, Elon 60Virginia Tech 85, Md.-Eastern Shore 40William & Mary 79, James Madison 74

MIDWESTDetroit 78, Youngstown St. 66Kent St. 70, Albany (NY) 68Marquette 84, Southern U. 41N. Dakota St. at South Dakota, ppd.North Dakota at Purdue Fort Wayne, ppd.Oakland 89, Cleveland St. 77Omaha 91, Denver 84S. Dakota St. 100, W. Illinois 58Thomas More 89, Adrian 57UIC 75, Wright St. 72, OT

SOUTHWESTArkansas 76, Austin Peay 65Texas 76, Texas-Arlington 56Texas Tech 71, Rio Grande 46

FAR WESTAir Force 72, UC Riverside 60Gonzaga 96, North Alabama 51Utah St. 84, Eastern Oregon 57Hawaii Pacific at TCU, ppd.

Friday’s women’s scoresEAST

Delaware 48, Saint Joseph’s 39Hartford 54, CCSU 52Harvard 80, Rhode Island 47Maryland 77, Penn St. 61Rutgers 45, Northwestern 41

SOUTHCharlotte 73, Bethune-Cookman 69Duke 83, East Carolina 66Georgia 83, Presbyterian 59Miami 103, Florida A&M 54Mississippi 82, North Florida 69NC A&T 67, FAU 65North Carolina 85, Howard 63Tennessee 98, Murray St. 77Vanderbilt 77, Samford 52Yale 58, Saint Louis 52

MIDWESTBradley 89, Chicago St. 59Cleveland St. 64, Oakland 62Denver 95, Omaha 68Green Bay 76, Milwaukee 62Indiana 85, Illinois 83Minnesota 74, Wisconsin 56N. Dakota St. 70, Purdue Fort Wayne 54N. Kentucky 67, UIC 49Nebraska 70, Michigan 56Purdue 60, Ohio St. 42S. Dakota St. 93, W. Illinois 84Wright St. 78, IUPUI 75Youngstown St. 85, Detroit 59

FAR WESTCal Lutheran 71, William Smith 63UC Riverside 65, New Mexico St. 64UCLA 81, Cal Poly 35

Deals

Friday’s transactionsBASEBALL

American LeagueTORONTO BLUE JAYS — Agreed to

terms with RHP Matt Shoemaker on a one-year contract.

BASKETBALLNational Basketball Association

MIAMI HEAT — Assigned G Dion Wait-ers Sioux Falls (NBAGL).

FOOTBALLNational Football League

ARIZONA CARDINALS — Promoted WR Malachi Dupre and DT Pasoni Tasini from the practice squad. Released CBs Leon-ard Johnson and Deatrick Nichols.

BUFFALO BILLS — Announced the re-tirement of DT Kyle Williams after the season.

CINCINNATI BENGALS — Placed WR Tyler Boyd, CB Dre Kirkpatrick and LB Jordan Evans on injured reserve. Signed HB Quinton Flowers, OT Kent Perkins and WR Hunter Sharp from the practice squad.

CLEVELAND BROWNS — Signed WR Blake Jackson from the practice squad. Placed LB Tanner Vallejo on injured re-serve.

DENVER BRONCOS — Placed RB Phil-lip Lindsay and WR Andre Holmes on in-jured reserve. Signed LB Aaron Wallace and CB Horace Richardson.

DETROIT LIONS — Placed DT A’Shawn Robinson on injured reserve. Announced DE Mitchell Loewen have been assigned to the team via waivers from New Or-leans.

INDIANAPOLIS COLTS — Waived S Ro-lan Milligan.

NEW YORK JETS — Signed WR Quincy Enunwa to a multiyear contract exten-sion.

WASHINGTON REDSKINS — Placed WR Maurice Harris on injured reserve.

HOCKEYNational Hockey League

NHL — Suspended Boston F David Backes three games for an illegal check to the head of New Jersey F Blake Cole-man during a Dec. 27 game. Fined Win-nipeg D Dustin Byfuglien $2,500 for slash-ing Calgary F Johnny Gaudreau in a Dec. 27 game.

ANAHEIM DUCKS — Recalled G Kevin Boyle from San Diego (AHL).

ARIZONA COYOTES — Acquired F Giovanni Fiore from Anaheim for D Trev-or Murphy.

CALGARY FLAMES — Assigned F Alan Quine to Stockton (AHL).

DALLAS STARS — Reassigned D Gavin Bayreuther to Texas (AHL). Activated D Connor Carrick from injured reserve. Placed F Jason Dickinson on injured re-serve, retroactive to Dec. 22 and F Martin Hanzal on injured reserve, retroactive to Dec. 23. Recalled C Roope Hintz from Texas.

LOS ANGELES KINGS — Assigned D Daniel Brickley to Ontario (AHL).

NEW YORK RANGERS — Assigned F Lias Andersson to Hartford (AHL).

ST. LOUIS BLUES — Assigned F Zach Sanford to San Antonio (AHL).

SOCCERMajor League Soccer

SEATTLE SOUNDERS — Acquired D Jonathan Campbell from Chicago for its natural fourth-round pick in the 2020 MLS SuperDraft.

College hockey

Friday’s scoresEAST

Canisius 2, Union (NY) 2, OTDenver 3, Merrimack 1Northeastern 3, RPI 2, OTPrinceton 1, Maine 0Vermont 4, Ala.-Hunstville 1

MIDWESTMinnesota 5, Ferris St. 3Ohio St. 3, Mercyhurst 1

WESTClarkson 3, Arizona St. 0Minn.-Duluth 4, Minnesota St. 3, OT

EXHIBITIONTeam China at Yale, ccd.

Pro baseball

Free agentsNEW YORK — The 127 remaining free

agents (q-rejected $17.9 million qualify-ing offer):

AMERICAN LEAGUEBALTIMORE (2) — Adam Jones, of; Col-

by Rasmus, of.BOSTON (3) — q-Craig Kimbrel, rhp;

Brandon Phillips, 2b; Drew Pomeranz, lhp.

CHICAGO (4) — Jeanmar Gomez, rhp; Miguel Gonzalez, rhp; Hector Santiago, lhp; James Shields, rhp.

CLEVELAND (6) — Cody Allen, rhp; Melky Cabrera; of; Brandon Guyer, of; Oliver Perez, lhp; Adam Rosales, inf; Josh Tomlin, rhp.

DETROIT (4) — Jose Iglesias, ss; Fran-cisco Liriano, lhp; Victor Martinez, dh; Jarrod Saltalamacchia, c.

HOUSTON (6) — Evan Gattis, of; Mar-win Gonzalez, inf-of; q-Dallas Keuchel, lhp; Martin Maldonado, c; Charlie Mor-ton, rhp; Tony Sipp, lhp.

KANSAS CITY (2) — Alcides Escobar, ss; Jason Hammel, rhp.

LOS ANGELES (5) — Jim Johnson, rhp; Blake Wood, rhp; Junichi Tazawa, rhp; Chris Young, of; Eric Young Jr., of,

MINNESOTA (6) — Matt Belisle, rhp; Logan Forsythe, 2b; Chris Gimenez, c; Joe Mauer, 1b; Logan Morrison, 1b; Ervin Santana, rhp,

NEW YORK (4) — Zach Britton, lhp; Ad-einy Hechavarria, ss; David Robertson, rhp; Neil Walker, inf.

OAKLAND (6) — Brett Anderson, lhp; Edwin Jackson, rhp; Matt Joyce, of; Shawn Kelley, rhp; Jed Lowrie, 2b; Jona-than Lucroy, c.

SEATTLE (8) — Gordon Beckham, 2b; Nelson Cruz, dh; Zach Duke, lhp; Camer-on Maybin, of; David Phelps, rhp; Andrew Romine, inf-of; Denard Span, of; Adam Warren, rhp.

TAMPA BAY (2) — Carlos Gomez, of; Sergio Romo, rhp.

TEXAS (6) — Tony Barnette, rhp; Adri-an Beltre, 3b; Bartolo Colon, rhp; Doug Fister, rhp; Yovani Gallardo, rhp; c; Mar-tin Perez, lhp.

TORONTO (2) —Tyler Clippard, rhp; Marco Estrada, rhp,

NATIONAL LEAGUEARIZONA (7) — Clay Buchholz, rhp;

Randall Delgado, rhp; Jake Diekman, lhp; Jon Jay, of; q-A.J. Pollock, of; Chris Stew-art, c; Brad Ziegler, rhp.

ATLANTA (8) — Brad Brach, rhp; Lucas Duda, 1b; Ryan Flaherty, inf; Nick Marka-kis, of; Brandon McCarthy, rhp; PeterMoylan, rhp; Rene Rivera, c; Anibal San-chez, rhp.

CHICAGO (4) — Jorge De La Rosa, lhp; Jaime Garcia, lhp; Bobby Wilson, c; Jus-tin Wilson, lhp;

COLORADO (6) — Drew Butera, c; Car-los Gonzalez, of; Matt Holliday, of; DJ Le-Mahieu, 2b; Adam Ottavino, rhp; Gerardo Parra, of.

LOS ANGELES (6) — John Axford, rhp;Brian Dozier, 2b; q-Yasmani Grandal, c;Daniel Hudson, rhp; Manny Machado, ss;Ryan Madson, rhp.

MILWAUKEE (4) — Gio Gonzalez, lhp; Curtis Granderson, of; Wade Miley, lhp;Mike Moustakas, 3b.

NEW YORK (6) — Jerry Blevins, lhp; Austin Jackson, of; Jose Lobaton, c; Devin Mesoraco, c; A.J. Ramos, rhp; JoseReyes, inf.

PHILADELPHIA (3) — Jose Bautista, of; Asdrubal Cabrera, 2b; Aaron Loup, lhp.

PITTSBURGH (1) — Josh Harrison, 2b.ST. LOUIS (2) — Matt Adams, 1b; Bud

Norris, rhp.SAN DIEGO (2) — A.J. Ellis, c; Freddy

Galvis, ss.SAN FRANCISCO (4) — Gregor Blanco,

of; Derek Holland, lhp; Nick Hundley, c;Hunter Pence, of.

WASHINGTON (8) — Joaquin Benoit,rhp; Tim Collins, lhp; q-Bryce Harper, of; Jeremy Hellickson, rhp; Kelvin Herrera,rhp; Greg Holland, rhp; Mark Reynolds,1b; Matt Wieters, c.

MLB calendarJan. 11 — Salary arbitration figures

exchanged.Jan. 22 — BBWAA Hall of Fame voting

announced.Jan. 28-Feb. 15 — Salary arbitration

hearings, St. Petersburg, Fla.Feb. 6-8 — Owners’ meetings, Orlando,

Fla.

AP sportlightDec. 30

1956 — The New York Giants win the NFL title with a 47-7 rout of the Chicago Bears.

1962 — The Green Bay Packers beat the New York Giants 16-7 to win the NFL title for the second straight year.

1973 — The Minnesota Vikings beat the Dallas Cowboys 27-10 to win the NFC championship.

1973 — The Miami Dolphins, behind 266 yards rushing, beat the Oakland Raiders 27-10 for an unprecedented third straight AFC title.

1981 — In the 39th game of the season, Edmonton’s Wayne Gretzky scores five goals, including his 50th into an empty net, to lead the Oilers to a 7-5 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers. Gretzy betters the mark of 50 goals in 50 games held by Maurice Richard and Mike Bossy.

2007 — Drew Brees sets an NFL record with 443 completions, passing the previ-ous mark of 418 set by Rich Gannon in 2002. Brees completes 35 of 60 passes for 320 yards with three TD passes in New Orleans’ 33-25 loss to Chicago.

2010 — Top-ranked Connecticut’s re-

cord 90-game winning streak in women’s basketball ends when No. 9 Stanford outplays the Huskies from the start in a 71-59 victory at Maples Pavilion — where the Cardinal have their own streak going. Stanford hasn’t lost in 52 games at home. The Cardinal took an early 13-point lead, never trailed and didn’t let the mighty Huskies back in it.

2016 — Isaiah Thomas scores 29 of his career-high 52 points in the fourth quar-ter, setting a club record for points in a period and leading Boston to a 117-114 victory over the Miami Heat.


SPORTS BRIEFS/NHL

NHL scoreboard

Eastern ConferenceAtlantic Division

GP W L OT Pts GF GATampa Bay 38 29 7 2 60 160 111Toronto 38 26 10 2 54 144 105Buffalo 38 21 12 5 47 112 109Montreal 38 20 13 5 45 120 120Boston 38 20 14 4 44 107 101Florida 36 15 15 6 36 118 130Detroit 39 15 18 6 36 111 131Ottawa 38 15 19 4 34 121 150

Metropolitan DivisionWashington 36 23 10 3 49 132 104Columbus 38 22 13 3 47 123 116Pittsburgh 37 19 12 6 44 124 112N.Y. Islanders 36 19 13 4 42 107 101N.Y. Rangers 36 15 14 7 37 105 119Philadelphia 36 15 16 5 35 109 131Carolina 36 15 16 5 35 91 106New Jersey 36 13 16 7 33 107 127

Western ConferenceCentral Division

GP W L OT Pts GF GAWinnipeg 37 24 11 2 50 129 105Nashville 38 22 14 2 46 111 97Colorado 38 19 13 6 44 130 117Dallas 38 19 16 3 41 101 102Minnesota 36 17 16 3 37 105 104St. Louis 35 15 16 4 34 100 115Chicago 40 14 20 6 34 116 147

Pacific DivisionCalgary 38 23 12 3 49 131 104San Jose 39 20 12 7 47 128 117Vegas 40 21 15 4 46 119 113Anaheim 39 19 15 5 43 97 113Vancouver 40 18 18 4 40 121 127Edmonton 37 18 16 3 39 104 115Arizona 37 16 19 2 34 94 103Los Angeles 38 15 20 3 33 88 113

Note: Two points for a win, one point for overtime loss. Top three teams in each division and two wild cards per conference advance to playoffs.

Friday’s gamesMontreal 5, Florida 3Toronto 4, Columbus 2N.Y. Islanders 6, Ottawa 3

Saturday’s gamesCarolina at New JerseySan Jose at EdmontonMinnesota at WinnipegVegas at Los AngelesBoston at BuffaloN.Y. Islanders at TorontoMontreal at Tampa BayPhiladelphia at FloridaWashington at OttawaPittsburgh at St. LouisDetroit at DallasN.Y. Rangers at NashvilleChicago at ColoradoArizona at AnaheimVancouver at Calgary

Sunday’s gameVegas at Arizona

Monday’s gamesNashville at WashingtonVancouver at New JerseyPhiladelphia at CarolinaPittsburgh at MinnesotaN.Y. Islanders at BuffaloN.Y. Rangers at St. LouisOttawa at ColumbusFlorida at DetroitTampa Bay at AnaheimLos Angeles at ColoradoMontreal at DallasSan Jose at CalgaryWinnipeg at Edmonton

FridayMaple Leafs 4, Blue Jackets 2Toronto 2 1 1—4Columbus 1 0 1—2

First Period—1, Toronto, Tavares 25 (Kadri, Marner), 2:22 (pp). 2, Columbus, Foligno 10 (Jones, Wennberg), 4:47. 3, To-ronto, Tavares 26 (Marner), 18:04.

Second Period—4, Toronto, Marner 13 (Matthews, Gardiner), 9:46.

Third Period—5, Toronto, Gauthier 2 (Lindholm, Moore), 13:44. 6, Columbus, Panarin 12 (Werenski), 18:32.

Shots on Goal—Toronto 13-6-10—29. Columbus 8-10-11—29.

Power-play opportunities—Toronto 1 of 2; Columbus 0 of 2.

Goalies—Toronto, Sparks 6-1-1 (29 shots-27 saves). Columbus, Bobrovsky 16-11-1 (29-25).

A—18,963 (18,500). T—2:24.

Islanders 6, Senators 3Ottawa 1 2 0—3N.Y. Islanders 0 2 4—6

First Period—1, Ottawa, Stone 17, 16:18.

Second Period—2, Ottawa, Duchene 15 (Chabot, Ryan), 2:47 (pp). 3, N.Y. Is-landers, Bailey 8 (Barzal), 3:11. 4, Ottawa, Ceci 5 (Tierney, Boedker), 6:11. 5, N.Y. Is-landers, Lee 14, 17:28.

Third Period—6, N.Y. Islanders, Boy-chuk 2 (Martin, Cizikas), 2:57. 7, N.Y. Islanders, Barzal 6 (Komarov, Beauvil-lier), 4:51. 8, N.Y. Islanders, Barzal 7 (Bai-ley), 12:24. 9, N.Y. Islanders, Cizikas 10 (Kuhnhackl), 19:06.

Shots on Goal—Ottawa 10-11-6—27. N.Y. Islanders 10-15-14—39.

Power-play opportunities—Ottawa 1 of 2; N.Y. Islanders 0 of 1.

Goalies—Ottawa, McKenna 1-4-1 (38 shots-33 saves). N.Y. Islanders, Greiss 12-7-1 (17-14), Lehner 7-6-3 (10-10).

A—13,434 (15,795). T—2:35.

Canadiens 5, Panthers 3Montreal 2 0 3—5Florida 2 0 1—3

First Period—1, Montreal, Tatar 13, 0:35. 2, Montreal, Deslauriers 2 (Weber, Mete), 2:51. 3, Florida, Borgstrom 2 (Hoff-man), 8:01. 4, Florida, Malgin 4 (Brouw-er), 13:53.

Third Period—5, Montreal, Tatar 14 (Domi, Drouin), 8:54 (pp). 6, Montreal, Le-hkonen 7 (Shaw, Kulak), 15:40. 7, Florida, Yandle 6 (Hoffman, Barkov), 18:44 (pp). 8, Montreal, Drouin 12 (Petry), 19:37.

Shots on Goal—Montreal 9-7-12—28. Florida 7-8-11—26.

Power-play opportunities—Montreal 1 of 3; Florida 1 of 3.

Goalies—Montreal, Niemi 5-3-1 (26 shots-23 saves). Florida, Luongo 8-7-1 (27-23).

A—19,512 (19,250). T—2:24.

CalendarJan. 1 — Winter Classic, Boston at Chi-

cago, Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, Ind.

Jan. 25 — All-Star Skills Competition, San Jose, Calif.

Jan. 26 — All-Star Game, San Jose, Ca-lif.

Briefl y NHL roundup

Shiffrin garners36th WC slalom

Associated Press

SEMMERING, Austria — Mi-kaela Shiffrin capped the best year of her career by setting yet another milestone Saturday, over-taking one of her childhood idols to become the most successful fe-male slalom skier in the 52-year history of the World Cup.

In the last race of 2018, the American added her 36th vic-tory. Shiffrin previously shared the record with Austria’s Marlies Raich, who, competing as Marl-ies Schild, won 35 times before retiring in 2014.

“She is my biggest idol be-side Bode Miller,” Shiffrin said. “When I was young I wanted to be the best skier in the world. I was always watching Marlies, she was a legend. To me, she is the best slalom skier. I wouldn’t be here without her. For me, she has this record forever.”

Only Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark has won more World Cup slaloms, 40, between 1974 and 1987.

Watched by 10,200 fans on the Zauberberg, Shiffrin built on a big first-run lead to beat Petra Vl-hova of Slovakia by 0.29 seconds and Wendy Holdener of Switzer-land by 0.38 for her 51st career victory.

By winning Saturday, Shif-frin also became the first skier, male or female, to win 15 World Cup races in a single calendar year, moving one victory past men’s overall champion Marcel Hirscher of Austria, who has won 14 times in 2018.

In other skiing news:� Italy’s Dominik Paris made

it two World Cup victories in two days on home snow by winning a men’s super-G by the slimmest of margins on Saturday in Bormio, Italy.

Paris, who won a downhill on Friday, beat Olympic champion

Matthias Mayer of Austria by 0.01 seconds for a record fourth victo-ry on the Stelvio course, eclipsing Austrian greats Hermann Maier and Michael Walchhofer.

Aleksander Aamodt Kilde of Norway finished third, 0.46 behind.

Farabee has hat trick, US beats Kazakhstan

VICTORIA, British Columbia — Boston University freshman Joel Farabee had a natural hat trick in a 6:52 span of the first period and the United States beat Kazakhstan 8-2 on Friday night to improve to 2-0 in the world ju-nior hockey championship.

Drafted 14th overall by the Philadelphia Flyers this year, Farabee gave the United States a 2-1 lead with a power-play strike at 5:13 and added goals at 8:53 and 12:05.

Boston College’s Oliver Wahl-strom, St. Cloud State’s Ryan Poehling, Northeastern’s Tyler Madden, Michigan’s Josh Nor-ris and Sasha Chmelevski of the Ontario Hockey League’s Ottawa 67’s also scored to help the Amer-icans keep pace with Sweden atop Group B heading into their show-down Saturday night.

Jason Robertson of the OHL’s Niagara IceDogs assisted on all three of Farabee’s goals, and also set up Norris’ goal. Northeastern’s Cayden Primeau made 11 saves.

In other hockey news:� Montreal Canadiens forward

Phillip Danault was fined $5,000 for a dangerous trip against Flor-ida Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad.

Danault tripped Ekblad with about 2 ½ minutes remaining in Montreal’s 5-3 win at Florida on Friday night. Danault was given a roughing penalty on the play. The NHL announced the fine Saturday.

Montrealholds offFlorida

Associated Press

SUNRISE, Fla. — Tomas Tatarnever thought his game was off track, and he showed that for the Canadiens in their first gameafter the holiday break.

Tatar scored twice, includingthe go-ahead goal in the third pe-riod, and the Canadiens beat theFlorida Panthers 5-3 on Friday night.

The left wing scored on a turn-over in the first minute and brokea 2-2 tie with a shot that beat goal-ie Roberto Luongo on the nearpost in the third period. Tatarhad been on a six-game pointdrought over a nine-day periodthis month.

“I never really thought (myplay) was out. We were winning.It’s a team effort every night andit doesn’t really matter who’s going to score, who’s going to pro-duce the most,” Tatar said.

Jonathan Drouin had a goal andan assist, and Nicolas Deslauriersand Artturi Lehkonen also scored for the Canadiens, who won theirthird straight.

Henrik Borgstrom, Denis Mal-gin and Keith Yandle scored forthe Panthers, who ended a two-game winning streak, and MikeHoffman had two assists.

Islanders 6, Senators 3: Mathew Barzal had two goals andan assist to help host New Yorkrally for a win over Ottawa.

Josh Bailey had a goal and anassist, and Anders Lee, JohnnyBoychuk and Casey Cizikas also scored for New York, which cameback from a pair of two-goal defi-cits to win for the fifth time in sixgames.

Thomas Greiss gave up three goals on 17 shots before he waspulled 6:11 into the second peri-od. Robin Lehner, who began hiscareer with Ottawa, came on andstopped all 10 shots he faced to improve to 7-0-3 against his for-mer team.

Mark Stone, Matt Duchene and Cody Ceci scored for Ottawa,which has lost six of eight (2-5-1). Mike McKenna finished with 33 saves as the Senators fell to 4-13-1on the road.

Maple Leafs 4, Blue Jackets 2: John Tavares scored two goals, Garret Sparks had 27 saves and visiting Toronto beat Columbus.

Mitch Marner had a goal andassisted on both Tavares’ tallies, and Frederik Gauthier also scored to power the Maple Leafs to their fifth straight win, matching thelongest streak of the season.

Nick Foligno and Artemi Pan-arin scored for Columbus, andSergei Bobrovsky had 25 saves. The Blue Jackets, playing on thesecond night of a back-to-back, saw their five-game winning streak snapped as they try to stayclose to Washington at the top of the Metropolitan Division.

JOE SKIPPER/AP

Montreal Canadiens left wing Tomas Tatar, front, celebrates his third-period goal with teammates Jonathan Drouin, center, and Max Domi during Friday’s game against the Panthers in Sunrise, Fla. Tatar scored two goals in the Canadiens’ 5-3 victory.

GIOVANNI AULETTA/AP

Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States celebrates winning Saturday’s World Cup slalom in Semmering, Austria.


Scoreboard

NBA

Roundup

Eastern ConferenceAtlantic Division

W L Pct GBToronto 26 11 .703 —Philadelphia 23 13 .639 2½Boston 20 14 .588 4½Brooklyn 17 20 .459 9New York 9 27 .250 16½

Southeast DivisionCharlotte 17 17 .500 —Miami 17 17 .500 —Orlando 15 19 .441 2Washington 13 23 .361 5Atlanta 10 24 .294 7

Central DivisionMilwaukee 24 10 .706 —Indiana 24 12 .667 1Detroit 16 17 .485 7½Chicago 10 26 .278 15Cleveland 8 28 .222 17

Western ConferenceSouthwest Division

W L Pct GBHouston 19 15 .559 —Memphis 18 16 .529 1San Antonio 19 17 .528 1Dallas 16 18 .471 3New Orleans 16 20 .444 4

Northwest DivisionDenver 22 11 .667 —Oklahoma City 22 12 .647 ½Portland 20 15 .571 3Utah 17 19 .472 6½Minnesota 16 19 .457 7

Pacific DivisionGolden State 23 13 .639 —L.A. Clippers 21 14 .600 1½L.A. Lakers 20 16 .556 3Sacramento 19 16 .543 3½Phoenix 9 27 .250 14

Thursday’s gamesHouston 127, Boston 113Milwaukee 112, New York 96Sacramento 117, L.A. Lakers 116Philadelphia 114, Utah 97Portland 110, Golden State 109, OT

Friday’s gamesCharlotte 100, Brooklyn 87Chicago 101, Washington 92Indiana 125, Detroit 88Orlando 116, Toronto 87Atlanta 123, Minnesota 120, OTMiami 118, Cleveland 94New Orleans 114, Dallas 112Denver 102, San Antonio 99Oklahoma City 118, Phoenix 102L.A. Clippers 118, L.A. Lakers 107

Saturday’s gamesBrooklyn at MilwaukeeCharlotte at WashingtonHouston at New OrleansCleveland at AtlantaBoston at MemphisNew York at UtahDenver at PhoenixGolden State at PortlandSan Antonio at L.A. Clippers

Sunday’s gamesDetroit at OrlandoChicago at TorontoMinnesota at MiamiOklahoma City at DallasPhiladelphia at PortlandSacramento at L.A. Lakers

Monday’s gamesAtlanta at IndianaOrlando at CharlotteBoston at San AntonioMemphis at HoustonDallas at Oklahoma CityMinnesota at New OrleansGolden State at Phoenix

FridayThunder 118, Suns 102

OKLAHOMA CITY — Ferguson 2-2 0-0 4, Grant 6-12 0-0 12, Adams 5-10 2-3 12, Westbrook 17-29 3-6 40, Schroder 8-18 2-2 20, Nader 7-13 2-2 18, Noel 0-1 0-0 0, Pat-terson 1-2 0-0 2, Felton 2-3 0-0 4, Diallo 3-5 0-0 6. Totals 51-95 9-13 118.

PHOENIX — Bridges 5-10 0-0 13, War-ren 8-15 0-0 19, Ayton 8-13 0-0 16, Melton 1-5 2-2 4, Booker 8-22 7-8 25, Jackson 3-9 2-2 9, Oubre Jr. 2-8 0-0 4, Holmes 1-1 4-4 6, Crawford 3-7 0-0 6. Totals 39-90 15-16 102.

Oklahoma City 36 22 23 37—118Phoenix 29 28 27 18—102Three-Point Goals—Oklahoma City 7-

20 (Westbrook 3-7, Nader 2-4, Schroder 2-7, Grant 0-1, Patterson 0-1), Phoenix 9-29 (Warren 3-6, Bridges 3-8, Booker 2-5, Jackson 1-3, Crawford 0-1, Melton 0-2, Oubre Jr. 0-4). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Oklahoma City 49 (Adams 13), Phoenix 34 (Ayton 9). Assists—Okla-homa City 22 (Westbrook 8), Phoenix 22 (Booker 10). Total Fouls—Oklahoma City 13, Phoenix 18. A—18,055 (18,422).

Nuggets 102, Spurs 99SAN ANTONIO — DeRozan 6-12 3-6

15, Gay 4-11 0-0 8, Aldridge 11-22 2-3 24, White 4-9 1-2 10, Forbes 5-11 0-0 13, Cunningham 1-2 0-0 2, Bertans 2-5 0-0 6, Poeltl 3-6 1-4 7, Mills 1-6 2-2 5, Belinelli 3-5 2-3 9. Totals 40-89 11-20 99.

DENVER — Hernangomez 2-6 2-2 6, Jokic 10-14 0-0 21, Plumlee 1-3 1-2 3, J.Murray 13-27 1-2 31, Craig 4-8 0-0 10, Lyles 1-10 1-2 3, Goodwin 0-0 0-0 0, Morris 1-6 4-4 7, Bea-sley 7-11 5-5 21. Totals 39-85 14-17 102.

San Antonio 23 24 28 24— 99Denver 31 30 17 24—102Three-Point Goals—San Antonio 8-

27 (Forbes 3-6, Bertans 2-5, Belinelli 1-3, White 1-4, Mills 1-4, Gay 0-5), Denver 10-29 (J.Murray 4-7, Beasley 2-3, Craig 2-6, Morris 1-2, Jokic 1-4, Lyles 0-3, Hernangomez 0-4). Fouled Out—Craig, Jokic. Rebounds—San Antonio 38 (Aldridge 7), Denver 53 (Plum-lee 13). Assists—San Antonio 23 (DeRozan 5), Denver 29 (Jokic 9). Total Fouls—San Antonio 19, Denver 20. A—20,076 (19,520).

Hawks 123,Timberwolves 120 (OT)

ATLANTA — Huerter 4-10 0-0 10, Collins 9-15 3-5 21, Dedmon 6-12 3-4 19, Young 7-11 1-1 16, Bazemore 9-19 2-4 23, Bembry 3-8 0-0 6, Poythress 4-8 3-4 12, Lin 2-8 1-2 7, Carter 3-6 0-0 9, Anderson 0-3 0-0 0. To-tals 47-100 13-20 123.

MINNESOTA — Covington 10-20 3-5 28, Gibson 2-3 0-0 4, Towns 10-17 10-15 31, Rose 10-24 2-3 25, Wiggins 5-14 5-12 16, Saric 3-11 0-1 7, Dieng 0-2 0-0 0, Jones 4-6 0-0 8, Okogie 0-1 1-2 1. Totals 44-98 21-38 120.

Atlanta 42 29 18 23 11—123Minnesota 27 32 30 23 8—120Three-Point Goals—Atlanta 16-35

(Dedmon 4-6, Carter 3-6, Bazemore 3-7, Lin 2-2, Huerter 2-7, Young 1-1, Poythress 1-2, Bembry 0-1, Anderson 0-1, Collins 0-2), Minnesota 11-32 (Coving-ton 5-13, Rose 3-5, Wiggins 1-3, Towns 1-4, Saric 1-5, Dieng 0-1, Okogie 0-1). Fouled Out—Covington, Bazemore. Re-bounds—Atlanta 58 (Dedmon 13), Min-nesota 47 (Towns 19). Assists—Atlanta 32 (Young 11), Minnesota 28 (Rose 9). Total Fouls—Atlanta 33, Minnesota 26. A—18,978 (19,356).

Pelicans 114, Mavericks 112DALLAS — Barnes 7-18 5-6 21, Kleber

3-8 0-0 7, Jordan 3-3 3-5 9, Smith Jr. 5-9 2-2 14, Doncic 10-16 7-13 34, Finney-Smith 0-0 0-0 0, Powell 3-6 4-5 10, Nowitzki 4-7 2-2 11, Harris 0-4 0-0 0, Barea 2-7 0-0 6. Totals 37-78 23-33 112.

NEW ORLEANS — Miller 0-2 0-0 0, Da-vis 20-32 8-11 48, Randle 9-19 4-5 22, Fra-zier 3-5 0-0 7, Holiday 5-19 8-8 18, Hill 2-7 2-3 7, Johnson 0-1 0-0 0, Diallo 0-0 0-0 0, Okafor 1-1 0-0 2, Jackson 2-4 0-0 5, Clark 1-3 0-0 3, Moore 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 44-96 22-27 114.

Dallas 29 37 22 24—112New Orleans 26 29 31 28—114Three-Point Goals—Dallas 15-32 (Don-

cic 7-10, Barea 2-4, Smith Jr. 2-4, Barnes 2-5, Nowitzki 1-3, Kleber 1-4, Harris 0-1, Powell 0-1), New Orleans 4-23 (Jackson 1-2, Frazier 1-3, Clark 1-3, Hill 1-5, Mill-er 0-1, Johnson 0-1, Davis 0-2, Randle 0-2, Holiday 0-4). Fouled Out—Powell. Rebounds—Dallas 39 (Jordan 15), New Orleans 49 (Davis 17). Assists—Dallas 19 (Kleber, Barea, Smith Jr. 4), New Or-leans 22 (Holiday 8). Total Fouls—Dallas 22, New Orleans 28. Technicals—Dallas coach Mavericks (Delay of game), Pow-ell, New Orleans coach Pelicans (Delay of game), Hill. A—18,364 (16,867).

Heat 118, Cavaliers 94CLEVELAND — Osman 5-13 0-0 12, Blos-

somgame 2-10 2-2 7, Frye 3-7 0-0 8, Sex-ton 2-10 3-4 8, Burks 6-10 4-4 17, Nance Jr. 3-8 5-7 11, Jones 1-6 2-2 4, Dellavedova 3-6 0-0 9, Clarkson 6-11 3-3 18. Totals 31-81 19-22 94.

MIAMI — McGruder 5-10 2-2 16, J.Johnson 0-1 0-0 0, Whiteside 5-8 2-4 12, Winslow 11-21 2-3 24, Richardson 5-14 4-5 16, Jones Jr. 1-1 0-0 2, Olynyk 4-7 0-0 9, Adebayo 8-8 2-2 18, Wade 5-10 0-0 10, T.Johnson 4-11 0-0 11. Totals 48-91 12-16 118.

Cleveland 30 22 17 25— 94Miami 29 27 26 36—118Three-Point Goals—Cleveland 13-37

(Dellavedova 3-5, Clarkson 3-7, Frye 2-6, Osman 2-7, Burks 1-1, Blossomgame 1-4, Sexton 1-4, Nance Jr. 0-1, Jones 0-2), Miami 10-31 (McGruder 4-8, T.Johnson 3-7, Richardson 2-7, Olynyk 1-3, Wade 0-2, Winslow 0-4). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Cleveland 42 (Blossomgame 10), Miami 45 (Winslow 11). Assists—Cleveland 21 (Burks 5), Miami 29 (Win-slow 7). Total Fouls—Cleveland 15, Miami 21. Technicals—Cleveland coach Cava-liers (Defensive three second), Miami coach Heat (Defensive three second). A—19,617 (19,600).

Hornets 100, Nets 87BROOKLYN — Kurucs 2-6 1-2 5, Hollis-

Jefferson 1-7 0-0 2, Allen 1-8 6-8 8, Russell 13-24 5-5 33, Harris 2-6 0-0 4, Dudley 1-7 0-0 2, Carroll 5-9 5-5 15, Davis 2-4 0-0 4, Dinwiddie 1-7 0-0 3, Napier 5-5 0-0 11. To-tals 33-83 17-20 87.

CHARLOTTE — Batum 2-3 0-0 5, M.Williams 2-10 2-2 6, Zeller 6-15 1-3 14, Walker 11-20 0-0 29, Lamb 8-17 2-2 19, Bridges 0-3 0-0 0, Kidd-Gilchrist 0-3 0-0 0, Hernangomez 1-5 1-2 3, Monk 2-8 0-0 5, D.Graham 0-2 0-0 0, Parker 9-14 1-1 19. Totals 41-100 7-10 100.

Brooklyn 17 25 23 22— 87Charlotte 33 21 19 27—100Three-Point Goals—Brooklyn 4-27

(Russell 2-8, Napier 1-1, Dinwiddie 1-4, Harris 0-1, Carroll 0-3, Hollis-Jefferson 0-3, Kurucs 0-3, Dudley 0-4), Charlotte 11-33 (Walker 7-12, Batum 1-1, Zeller 1-1, Lamb 1-5, Monk 1-6, D.Graham 0-1, Parker 0-1, Bridges 0-2, M.Williams 0-4). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Brook-lyn 48 (Davis 11), Charlotte 49 (Zeller 10). Assists—Brooklyn 15 (Dinwiddie 5), Charlotte 19 (Batum 5). Total Fouls—Brooklyn 20, Charlotte 22. Technicals—Charlotte coach Hornets (Defensive three second), Batum, M.Williams. A—19,411 (19,077).

Magic 116, Raptors 87TORONTO — Leonard 7-19 5-5 21,

Siakam 1-8 2-3 4, Ibaka 8-16 0-0 17, VanV-leet 3-12 3-4 11, Green 1-6 0-0 2, Anunoby 2-4 2-4 8, Miles 1-9 5-6 7, Boucher 3-4 0-0 9, Monroe 0-4 0-0 0, Wright 2-8 0-0 6, Brown 0-4 0-0 0, Richardson 0-1 2-2 2. To-tals 28-95 19-24 87.

ORLANDO — Isaac 4-13 3-3 14, Gordon3-6 2-2 9, Vucevic 12-17 6-8 30, Augustin5-7 5-5 17, Fournier 3-11 0-0 7, Iwundu 4-7 2-2 10, Martin 1-2 0-0 2, Birch 1-2 0-0 2,Bamba 3-5 1-2 7, Briscoe 0-0 0-0 0, Sim-mons 1-11 0-0 2, Ross 6-10 0-0 14, Grant1-2 0-0 2. Totals 44-93 19-22 116.

Toronto 29 19 15 24— 87Orlando 25 32 35 24—116Three-Point Goals—Toronto 12-34

(Boucher 3-3, Anunoby 2-2, Wright 2-5, Leonard 2-5, VanVleet 2-6, Ibaka 1-3,Brown 0-1, Richardson 0-1, Green 0-1,Siakam 0-2, Miles 0-5), Orlando 9-26 (Isaac 3-5, Augustin 2-3, Ross 2-4, Gordon1-2, Fournier 1-6, Iwundu 0-1, Vucevic 0-1, Simmons 0-4). Fouled Out—None. Re-bounds—Toronto 41 (Ibaka 8), Orlando 60 (Vucevic 20). Assists—Toronto 18(Wright 6), Orlando 29 (Vucevic 8). TotalFouls—Toronto 21, Orlando 20. Techni-cals—Gordon. A—18,846 (18,846).

Bulls 101, Wizards 92CHICAGO — Holiday 2-6 4-5 10, Mark-

kanen 5-15 3-5 14, Carter Jr. 8-10 1-1 17, Dunn 5-12 2-2 13, LaVine 7-12 7-8 24,Hutchison 2-2 1-2 5, Lopez 5-7 0-0 10, Arcidiacono 0-5 0-0 0, Harrison 2-7 1-2 6, Blakeney 1-3 0-0 2. Totals 37-79 19-25 101.

WASHINGTON — Ariza 3-11 2-2 10, Green 3-10 5-6 11, Bryant 4-8 4-5 12, Sa-toransky 4-11 0-0 9, Beal 13-27 4-5 34, Dekker 3-6 0-0 6, Mahinmi 1-4 0-0 2, Ran-dle 3-6 0-0 8, Baker 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 34-85 15-18 92.

Chicago 20 20 34 27—101Washington 22 20 30 20— 92Three-Point Goals—Chicago 8-22

(LaVine 3-4, Holiday 2-5, Harrison 1-2, Dunn 1-2, Markkanen 1-5, Lopez 0-1, Ar-cidiacono 0-3), Washington 9-30 (Beal 4-10, Randle 2-3, Ariza 2-8, Satoransky 1-4,Baker 0-2, Green 0-3). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Chicago 46 (Markkanen 14), Washington 40 (Bryant 8). Assists—Chi-cago 20 (Dunn 8), Washington 22 (Beal 5). Total Fouls—Chicago 18, Washington 18. Technicals—Mahinmi, Washington coach Scott Brooks. A—20,409 (20,356).

Pacers 125, Pistons 88DETROIT — Bullock 5-10 0-0 13, Griffin

6-14 3-3 18, Drummond 6-11 0-0 12, Jack-son 2-11 3-3 8, Brown 3-12 0-0 6, S.Johnson2-9 0-0 4, Leuer 2-3 1-2 5, Pachulia 2-4 2-2 6, Calderon 1-2 0-0 2, Galloway 0-6 0-0 0, Kennard 5-8 2-2 14, Thomas 0-1 0-0 0. To-tals 34-91 11-12 88.

INDIANA — Bogdanovic 6-10 0-0 12, Young 8-13 1-2 17, Turner 8-11 1-2 17, Collison 7-7 3-3 19, Oladipo 2-9 3-4 7, Mc-Dermott 5-8 1-2 12, Leaf 1-1 0-0 3, Sabo-nis 8-12 3-4 19, O’Quinn 2-4 0-0 4, Holiday2-2 0-0 5, Joseph 0-1 0-0 0, Reed 0-1 0-0 0, T.Evans 4-9 2-3 10. Totals 53-88 14-20 125.

Detroit 21 24 24 19— 88Indiana 32 26 33 34—125Three-Point Goals—Detroit 9-36 (Grif-

fin 3-7, Bullock 3-8, Kennard 2-4, Jackson 1-5, Thomas 0-1, Drummond 0-1, Brown 0-3, S.Johnson 0-3, Galloway 0-4), Indi-ana 5-19 (Collison 2-2, Leaf 1-1, Holiday1-1, McDermott 1-2, O’Quinn 0-1, Young0-1, Joseph 0-1, Turner 0-2, Oladipo 0-2, T.Evans 0-3, Bogdanovic 0-3). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Detroit 44 (Drummond 12), Indiana 43 (Sabonis 12). Assists—Detroit 25 (Calderon 7), Indiana33 (Oladipo, Collison 7). Total Fouls—De-troit 22, Indiana 17. Technicals—Pachu-lia. A—17,923 (20,000).

Clippers 118, Lakers 107L.A. CLIPPERS — Harris 3-9 3-3 9, Gal-

linari 5-13 8-9 19, Marjanovic 2-4 0-0 4, Gilgeous-Alexander 2-8 2-2 7, Bradley 4-12 0-0 8, Harrell 6-9 0-0 12, Scott 0-4 0-0 0, Gortat 1-2 0-0 2, Beverley 1-5 5-6 8, Wallace 3-4 0-0 6, L.Williams 11-18 11-11 36, Thornwell 2-3 3-3 7. Totals 40-91 32-34 118.

L.A. LAKERS — Ingram 5-12 6-12 17, Kuzma 9-21 6-7 24, Zubac 1-8 5-5 7, Ball 7-16 2-2 19, Hart 5-10 0-0 12, Chandler 2-4 2-6 6, Caruso 0-0 0-0 0, Caldwell-Pope 4-83-3 14, Stephenson 3-8 0-0 8. Totals 36-87 24-35 107.

L.A. Clippers 28 23 31 36—118L.A. Lakers 23 31 26 27—107Three-Point Goals—L.A. Clippers 6-19

(L.Williams 3-3, Gilgeous-Alexander 1-2, Gallinari 1-3, Beverley 1-4, Harris 0-1, Scott 0-1, Bradley 0-5), L.A. Lakers 11-30 (Caldwell-Pope 3-5, Ball 3-8, Hart 2-4, Stephenson 2-4, Ingram 1-2, Kuzma 0-7). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—L.A. Clip-pers 53 (Harris, Gallinari 10), L.A. Lakers50 (Chandler 15). Assists—L.A. Clippers 21 (Gortat 5), L.A. Lakers 23 (Ball 6). To-tal Fouls—L.A. Clippers 29, L.A. Lakers 22. Technicals—L.A. Clippers coach Clippers (Defensive three second), L.A. Lakerscoach Lakers (Defensive three second),L.A. Lakers coach Luke Walton, Hart 2. Ejected—Hart. A—18,997 (18,997).

Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS — Anthony Davis hit a go-ahead, fall-away jumper with 43.9 seconds left and scored a season-high 48 points to outduel rookie Luka Doncic and lift the New Orleans Pelicans over the Dallas Mavericks 114-112 on Friday night.

Davis was fouled on the shot and made the free throw for a two-point lead. Dallas got two more possessions, but Doncic had a layup blocked by Jrue Holi-day, Dennis Smith Jr. missed a three-pointer and the Mavericks couldn’t get off a shot on a final possession with four seconds left.

Davis also grabbed 17 rebounds and New Orleans snapped a five-game skid. The Pelicans dominat-ed in the paint, scoring 70 points, including 22 from Julius Randle.

Doncic scored 34 points, hitting 7 of 10 three-pointers .

Clippers 118, Lakers 107: Lou Williams scored a season-high 36 points, and the Clippers scored 22 consecutive points dur-ing the second half in a victory over the depleted Lakers.

Danilo Gallinari added 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Clippers, who held the Lakers without a field goal for more than six minutes late in the first meet-ing of the season between the Sta-ples Center co-tenants and Los Angeles rivals. The Clippers have won 22 of their last 25 meetings with the Lakers, yet still trail the 16-time NBA champions 146-70 in the overall series.

Kyle Kuzma scored 24 points and Lonzo Ball had 19 for the Lakers, who played without LeB-ron James, Rajon Rondo and Ja-Vale McGee.

Magic 116, Raptors 87: Nikola Vucevic had 30 points and 20 rebounds and host Orlan-do snapped a four-game losing streak with a rout of Toronto.

Bulls 101, Wizards 92: Zach LaVine scored 24 points, in-cluding 11 straight in the third quarter, as Chicago defeated short-handed host Washington.

Hornets 100, Nets 87: Kemba Walker scored 29 points and made seven three-pointers, Tony Parker had 17 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter and Charlotte avenged a double-overtime loss to visiting Brooklyn earlier this week.

Heat 118, Cavaliers 94: Justise Winslow had 24 points and 11 rebounds, Bam Adebayo made all eight shots and scored 18 points, and host Miami beat Cleveland.

Pacers 125, Pistons 88: Domantas Sabonis got his league-leading 15th double-double as a reserve, Darren Collison scored 19 points and Indiana routed vis-iting Detroit.

Hawks 123, Timberwolves 120 (Ot): Kent Bazemore scored 23 points, John Collins added 21 and Atlanta blew a big lead but outlasted host Minnesota in overtime.

Thunder 118, Suns 102: Rus-sell Westbrook scored 40 points, 15 in the game’s final 6 ½ min-utes, and visiting Oklahoma City pulled away to beat Phoenix.

Nuggets 102, Spurs 99: Jamal Murray scored 31 points, Monte Morris hit two big free throws with 7.2 seconds remain-ing and Denver held off San An-tonio to extend its home winning streak to eight.

Davis scores 48 asPelicans edge Mavs

GERALD HERBERT/AP

Pelicans forward Anthony Davis, left, is called for a foul as he blocks a shot by Dallas Mavericks forward Luka Doncic on Friday in New Orleans. Davis finished with 48 points in the Pelicans’ 114-112 win.


DON PETERSEN/AP

Maryland-Eastern Shore guard Canaan Bartley, top, commits a charge on Virginia Tech forward P.J. Horne during the first half of Friday’s game in Blacksburg, Va. The Hokies won 85-40.

YOUNG KWAK/AP

Gonzaga forward Brandon Clarke dunks during the second half of Friday’s 96-51 win over North Alabama in Spokane, Wash. Clarke had 16 points, 12 rebounds, four blocks and three steals for the Bulldogs.

BY NICHOLAS K. GERANIOS

Associated Press

SPOKANE, Wash. — Gonzaga came out refreshed and focused after a weeklong Christmas break.

Zach Norvell Jr. scored 20 points, and the seventh-ranked Bulldogs started with a 29-1 run against North Alabama in a 96-51 victory on Friday night, Gonzaga’s 13th straight win at home.

Brandon Clarke had 16 points, 12 re-bounds, four blocks and three steals for Gonzaga (12-2), which was ranked No. 1 for two weeks earlier this season. Rui Hachimura added 14 points, Josh Perkins scored 13 and Corey Kispert had 10.

The Bulldogs were worn out after an early schedule that included some of the nation’s top teams. Gonzaga beat then-No. 1 Duke before losing to Tennessee and North Carolina.

“We had to get some guys a break,” coach Mark Few said. “I hoped to spend a little more time on ourselves.”

Apparently, it worked.“We did a great job of dictating the of-

fense and defense,” Few said. “We played with good energy.”

Christian Agnew scored 18 for North Alabama (3-11), which is in its first year of Division I basketball and is still seeking its first win over a D-I opponent. Jamari Blackmon added 14 points.

For the second consecutive game, taller and quicker Gonzaga overwhelmed an op-ponent early.

The Zags went ahead 29-1 in the first seven minutes, making nine of their first 12 shots.

North Alabama did not make a field goal

until nearly eight minutes were gone in the first, when Agnew scored.

The Lions’ second basket, also by Agnew, came four minutes later and they trailed 35-6.

Norvell’s basket put the Zags up 47-6 as North Alabama made just two of its first 20 shots.

Gonzaga led 48-14 at halftime after hold-ing the Lions to 18.5 percent shooting, in-cluding 0-for-9 from three-point range. North Alabama had two shot-clock viola-tions and 10 turnovers in the first half.

“That was a good 20 minutes of basket-ball,” Few said. “I’m proud.”

“We were very, very efficient again on offense,” Few added.

North Alabama went on an 11-5 run to open the second half, cutting Gonzaga’s lead to 53-25, but the Lions could not get closer.

However, the Lions’ shooting dramati-cally improved in the second half.

“I love the effort our guys put into the second half,” coach Tony Pujol said. “The guys wanted to come out and play.”

“Hats off to Gonzaga. They’re by far one of the elite programs in the country,” he said. “It was a great opportunity for our guys.”

Ouch: North Alabama committed 20 turnovers, and Gonzaga piled up 15 steals and seven blocked shots.

The boards: Gonzaga won the rebound battle 43-32 and outscored the Lions in the paint 46-26.

Shooting woes: After shooting just 18.5 percent in the first, the Lions shot 46 per-cent in the second half to finish at 32.7 percent for the game. Gonzaga shot 54 percent.

Norvell, Clark pace Bulldogs in 13th straight home win

No. 7 Gonzaga rolls past North Alabama

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Roundup

Associated Press

BLACKSBURG, Va. — Ahmed Hill scored 20 points and Vir-ginia Tech shot nearly 66 percent as it drubbed Maryland-Eastern Shore 85-40 for the Hokies’ sixth consecutive victory.

Kerry Blackshear Jr. added 15 points and Wabissa Bede scored 14 for the Hokies (11-1), who con-tinued their best start to a season in 100 years.

The Hawks (1-13) were led by Dontae Caldwell with 10 points as they lost their eighth in a row and 30th consecutive game on the road.

The Hokies played without scoring leader Nickeil Alex-ander-Walker (18.5 points per game) because of a sprained right ankle.

No. 11 Texas Tech 71, Texas-rio Grande Valley 46: Jarrett Culver scored 19 points, first-time starter Deshawn Coprew had 13 points and 10 rebounds and the host Red Raiders pulled away from the Vaqueros in their final tuneup before Big 12 Con-

ference play. No. 18 Marquette 84, South-

ern 41: Markus Howard scored 23 of his 26 points in a hot-shoot-ing first half, and the Golden Eagles overpowered the visitingJaguars.

No. 20 North Carolina State97, Loyola-Maryland 64: TorinDorn scored 17 points and thehost Wolfpack wrapped up their nonconference schedule by beat-ing the Greyhounds.

Service academiesAir Force 72, UC Riverside

60: Ryan Swan scored 16 points,Lavelle Scottie added 13 and thehost Falcons cruised to a victory over the Highlanders on Friday.

Swan was 5-for-8 from the fieldand made a pair of three-pointers and Scottie was 4-for-11 shootingfor the Falcons (5-7), who shot25-for-45 (55.6 percent) from the field.

The Falcons snapped a two-game skid and open Mountain West Conference play on Wednes-day hosting New Mexico.

Hokies win 6th straight


COLLEGE FOOTBALL

BY JIM VERTUNO

Associated Press

SAN ANTONIO — Gardner Minshew II and that glorious mustache conjured up a final bit of magic in a grand finale for Washington State.

The graduate transfer quarterback whose whis-kered upper lip was loved and mimicked by Cougars fans all season, threw two touchdown passes and ran for another score in sending No. 12 Washington State to a 28-26 win over No. 25 Iowa State in the Alamo Bowl on Friday night.

Minshew’s passing and scrambling earned the Cougars (11-2) a school record for wins in a season.

He threw for 299 yards, none of them bigger than a play made out of desperation when Iowa State had all the momentum.

After watching a 21-10 lead dwindle to 21-20 by early in the fourth quarter, the Cougars stripped the ball from Iowa State running back David Montgom-ery at the Cyclones’ 30. Minshew, who had been held in check in the third quarter, escaped a third-down pass rush to flip a last-second shovel pass to Tay Martin that went for 20 yards.

The play stunned the Cyclones, and Max Borghi scored on a 10-yard run the next play.

It was just another big fourth-quarter moment for the transfer from East Carolina who coach Mike Leach had lured out West with the promise he could lead the nation in passing.

Minshew was the nation’s leading passer in yards per game this season and won the Johnny Unitas Award as the nation’s top senior quarterback in a season the Cougars fell one game short of playing for the Pac-12 championship.

Nearly all of his completions this season were more orthodox than the flip to Martin. None were bigger for the season and the legacy it set for the program.

“I want to say thank you to these coaches, this uni-versity and these fans for taking me in,” Minshew said.

“So glad to be a part of this,” he said. “One thing I’ve always been told is to leave a place better than we found it. This place could be really special.”

The Cyclones did a good job in bottling him up for

much of the game. Iowa State’s defense held Wash-ington State 10 points and 135 yards below their sea-son averages and two of the Cougars’ touchdownscame on short drives after turnovers.

But after Minshew found a way to get WashingtonState in the end zone, the Cougars’ defense made theone play it had to at the end.

Iowa State’s last chance came after quarterbackBrock Purdy scored from a yard out with 4:02 left.The Cyclones went for two, but a pass to Montgom-ery was stopped well short of the goal line after afalse-start penalty pushed the line of scrimmage back to the 8.

Iowa State had seven false start penalties and hadtwo players ejected for targeting hits on Minshew.

Minshew, Cougars edgeCyclones in Alamo Bowl

PHOTOS BY ERIC GAY/AP

Iowa State quarterback Brock Purdy, right, is stopped short of a first down by Washington State defenders Skyler Thomas, center, and Logan Tago during the Alamo Bowl on Friday in San Antonio.

Washington State quarterback Gardner Minshew threw for 299 yards and two touchdowns.

Bowls roundup

Syracuse secures10th win of season

Associated Press

ORLANDO, Fla. — Syracuse sent Eric Dungey out a winner, and got a good look at its future.

Dungey capped his record-set-ting college career by throwing for 303 yards, Abdul Adams and Trishton Jackson combined to score three touchdowns in their Syracuse debuts and the 17th-ranked Orange got their first 10-win season since 2001 by topping No. 15 West Virginia 34-18 in the Camping World Bowl on Friday.

“The trophy is really, really heavy,” Syracuse coach Dino Babers said. “And I’m glad we got it.”

The Orange ended with a flour-ish, too: Down 18-17 going into the final quarter, they scored 17 points in the first 5:01 of the fourth.

“Just very thankful,” Dungey said, talking through tears. “I’ve been through a lot. ... All I want to do is compete. I’ll get grief for crying, but I’ve been through a lot here. All I can say is I’m very thankful.”

Adams rushed for two first-half scores, and Jackson hauled in a TD pass from Dungey on the first play of the fourth quarter for Syracuse (10-3), which survived a game that featured eight lead changes. Adams (from Oklaho-ma) and Jackson (from Michigan State) are transfers who had to sit out a year, which by NCAA rule was satisfied at the end of the first semester.

Their touchdowns counted; their year will not. Under the new NCAA rule on redshirting, Adams and Jackson still have two remaining seasons of eligibility, and both are expected to play big roles for the Orange in 2019.

“It’s going to be fun to watch Syracuse in the future,” Dungey said.

Jack Allison, making his first collegiate start because West Vir-ginia star quarterback Will Grier elected to skip the bowl game and focus on preparing for the NFL, completed 17 of 35 passes for 277 yards for the Mountaineers (8-4). Besides Grier, West Virginia was also without two of his three top targets this season — Gary Jennings was ruled out long ago with an ankle injury, and Marcus Simms was a surprise scratch.

Music City BowlAuburn 63, Purdue 14: At

Nashville, Tenn., Jarrett Stid-ham threw for 373 yards and five touchdowns in his final college game and the Tigers routed the Boilermakers.

Auburn (8-5) rolled in the fi-nale of a season that opened with a top-10 ranking, stumbled a bit in the middle and concluded with a record-setting performance. It was the Tigers’ first postseason victory since beating Memphis in the 2015 Birmingham Bowl.

Auburn scored the most points by a Southeastern Conference team in a bowl, topping Alabama’s 61-6 victory over Syracuse in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 1, 1953. The Tigers had a chance to match the most points ever in a bowl at 70, most recently by Army in the Armed Forces Bowl last week, but they took a knee at the Pur-due 1 with 1:01 left.

Auburn scored TDs on its first eight possessions. It tied the Music City Bowl records for most points and TDs set by West Virginia in 2000 — with 5:36 left in the first half. By halftime, Auburn led 56-7 with the most points scored in any half in program history after holding the ball for only 11 minutes.

Purdue (6-7) dropped three of its last four games in its second season under coach Jeff Brohm.

JOHN RAOUX/AP

West Virginia quarterback Jack Allison, left, is sacked by Syracuse defensive lineman Kendall Coleman during the second half of the Camping World Bowl in Orlando, Fla. Syracuse won 34-18.


BY GREG BEACHAM

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — Rams running back Todd Gurley has been ruled out of Los An-geles’ regular-season finale against San Francisco because of a knee injury.

Safety Lamarcus Joyner also won’t play Sunday at the Coliseum, Rams coach Sean McVay confirmed Friday.

“Those guys are making progress, but we don’t feel like it’s going to be at the point where they’ll be ready to go,” McVay said. “So we want to continue to be smart with that.”

Los Angeles (12-3) can clinch a first-round postseason bye with a win over the 49ers or a loss by the Chicago Bears, but the Rams will have to do it without the cen-terpiece of their offense.

Gurley is the NFL’s second-leading rusher with 1,251 yards, and he leads the league with 21 touchdowns. He is fourth with 1,831 total yards from scrimmage after leading the NFL last season when he was the AP’s Offensive Player of the Year.

Gurley will miss the final two games of the regular season after sitting out last week’s win at Arizona, but McVay says he isn’t concerned about the star running back’s availability for the playoffs. While Gurley wasn’t ready to declare himself out for another week when he spoke to media Thursday, the Rams decided to be careful.

“I think he understands his body better than anybody else,” McVay said. “I don’t get the sense that he’s concerned, but we want to be smart about this. If it’s feeling like something where he’s not going to be able to be the Todd Gurley that we’re ac-customed to seeing, just based on the way that that thing is feeling, the smart thing for him, No. 1, and for our football team is to be able to rest him and get him back as quickly as possible.”

Gurley rushed for just 76 combined yards in his past two games earlier this month, and he appeared to be moving gingerly at times. He couldn’t identify a specific play

on which he was injured, saying he just felt “something wasn’t right” during the Rams’ loss to Philadelphia on Dec. 16.

C.J. Anderson is likely to be Gurley’s pri-mary replacement again this week against the 49ers. The longtime Denver running back joined the Rams last week and imme-diately thrived, rushing for 167 yards and a touchdown in a 31-9 victory over the Car-dinals last Sunday.

Gurley participated in pregame warmups at Arizona. He said he could have played, but wasn’t sure how effective he would have been.

Knee pain has stalked Gurley for months — no surprise given his heavy workload. After sitting out the entire preseason, Gurley also felt pain in his knee after the Rams’ season-opening win at Oakland back in September — and that was worse, he claimed.

“It was bad,” Gurley said with a laugh. “I was contemplating on giving the Rams back their money and everything.”

That win over the Raiders was Gurley’s first game after agreeing to a four-year, $60 million contract extension through 2023 at the start of training camp, making him the NFL’s highest-paid running back with $45 million guaranteed.

The Rams won’t have any concrete idea about Gurley’s playoff availability until next week, but McVay is cautiously opti-mistic he will be back to full strength.

“I would think so, but if you said a couple weeks ago that we would have to hold him out for the last two weeks, I probably would have been surprised about that,” McVay said. “But based on the information that we’re getting, there isn’t any reason for us to ... think that he won’t be available.”

Joyner has started all 15 games for Los Angeles while playing more than 95 per-cent of the Rams’ defensive snaps, but he has an ankle injury. He is the Rams’ third-leading tackler with 78, along with one interception.

Backup defensive backs Blake Countess and Marqui Christian will play extensively in Joyner’s absence, McVay said.


NFL

JAE C. HONG/AP

Los Angeles Rams running back Todd Gurley has been ruled out of Los Angeles’ regular-season finale on Sunday against San Francisco with a knee injury , but head coach Sean McVay says he isn’t concerned about Gurley’s availability for the playoffs.

New England Patriots quarterback Tom BradyELISE AMENDOLA/AP

Brady, Pats expect tough challenge from Jets Associated Press

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Yes, Tom Brady still wants to play next season. And beyond.

But first up is Sunday’s regular-sea-son finale and then the playoffs for the New England Patriots.

The 41-year-old Brady reiterated Friday that he plans to play in 2019,

and then quickly tried to return the focus to this weekend’s game

against the New York Jets.“This week’s the one that

matters and that’s what we got to do — take care of busi-ness this week,” he said.

Brady has long said he plans to play past this season. But a

sore left knee and a poor per-formance in Sunday’s win over the Buffalo Bills brought back questions about the future.

Appearing on Westwood One Radio, Brady said: “I know

I’ve talked about it for a long

time. I have goals to not only play next year, but beyond that. And I’m going to try to do it as best I possibly can. I’m going to give it everything I have, like I always have. It will certainly be a chal-lenge. I don’t take any of these things for granted, but I hope I can keep play-ing and I hope I can keep playing at a championship level.”

There have been times in the past when Brady rested for Week 17, but the AFC East champions are looking to clinch a first-round bye at home against the Jets. The Patriots (10-5) also have a long-shot chance of grabbing the top AFC seed for the postseason.

Playing at home in the playoffs could be a major factor for a team that is 7-0 at Gillette Stadium and 3-5 on the road.

“I think if we play well (at home), the crowd’s into it, but the one positive I see from being here is that we practice in the elements all the time,” Brady said. “Going out and executing in whatever conditions, hopefully we handle them

better than our opponents.”Brady is 27-7 against the Jets, win-

ning his last five and eight of the lastnine — including a 27-13 victory at theMeadowlands on Nov. 25. This week, hefaces a 4-11 team that could be playing its final game under coach Todd Bowlesand arrives at Gillette with nothing to lose.

“We’ve talked about all those things — we’ve prepared for all those things,”Brady said. “We’ve played this team alot and they defend us a little different-ly each time that they play us. They’ve got good players, they’ve got a goodscheme, they have a lot of defense, theyhave a lot of calls. They’re well-coached and they kind of pick what they want to do. I’m sure they’ll be aggressive andwe’ve got to be able to counter that.”

Brady was 20-for-31 for 283 yards,two touchdowns and no interceptions inthe Nov. 25 game. Rookie Sony Michel rushed for a season-high 133 yards in the victory.

Star running back not expected to miss time in playoffs

Rams rule out Gurley against San Francisco


FROM BACK PAGE

last February.“Playing in the Super Bowl is really a big stage

but I remember staying in the moment, not worry-ing about the clock, not worrying about the score,” Foles said. “It was peaceful, which it shouldn’t be, but it was.”

He said he hasn’t mastered his “stay-in-the-mo-ment” philosophy but he’s working on it daily.

“I still have to remind myself,” Foles said. “There are times you get overwhelmed, you get excited thinking about all the things you want to accomplish. ... I’m still learning. I don’t have it conquered.”

The Eagles were on the verge of playoff elimina-tion when a back injury forced Wentz out of the line-up earlier this month, but Foles came to the rescue again.

He helped the 13 ½-point underdog Eagles beat the Los Angeles Rams 30-23 on the road, and set a franchise record with 471 yards passing in a 32-30 comeback win over Houston last week.

Teammates have raved about Foles’ leadership skills and confidence.

“He’s extremely calm. He’s always exuding posi-tivity,” tight end Zach Ertz said. “He’s playing at an extremely high level. We love playing for him.”

Foles doesn’t get flustered when things go wrong. He doesn’t call out guys on the sideline or argue with coaches.

“There will be mistakes. I might throw a pick. I

might fumble,” he said. “But what are we gonna do? That’s where we need to react and be confident and be positive.”

Staying consistent on and off the field is important to Foles.

“When I step in the huddle, I’m not going to change, when we’re at a restaurant or out in pub-lic (I’m not going to change),” he said. “I want to be who I am. I want to be genuine, and I think that’s a powerful thing. “

Foles is 22-7 as a starter for the Eagles over two stints since his rookie season in 2012. He has expe-rienced plenty of highs and lows — he was traded by the Eagles in 2015 and released by the Rams in 2016 — during his seven seasons in the NFL and now faces an uncertain future.

The Eagles are committed to Wentz as their fran-chise quarterback so they’re expected to decline an option to pay Foles $20 million in 2019, allowing him to become a free agent. Foles became emotional talking about the possibility he has played his last game in Philadelphia.

“This city means a lot to me, this team means a lot to me, wearing that jersey means a lot to me,” he said. “I’m very grateful for every opportunity to play here, to play in front of our fans, to wear that jersey no matter what. No one can ever take that away from me.”

Wherever Foles goes, fans in Philadelphia will al-ways consider him a hero for winning the franchise’s first Vince Lombardi Trophy.

NFL

MATT ROURKE/AP

Quarterback Nick Foles is 22-7 as a starter for the Eagles over two stints since his rookie season in 2012. The Eagles are expected to decline an option to pay him $20 million in 2019 and allow him to become a free agent.

Peace: Foles tries to focus on the moment

Everything’s on the line for Luck, Colts

BY TERESA M. WALKER

Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — An-drew Luck is a win away from putting the Indianapolis Colts back into the playoffs for the first time since 2014 while doing something no NFL quarterback has managed since at least 1970.

Beat an opponent 11 straight games.

Luck has won his first 10 games against the Tennessee Titans, matching Hall of Famer John Elway, who went 10-0 against the Patriots. Another victory Sunday night would leave Luck all alone in dominating another team with an AFC wild-card berth at worst for the Colts (9-6).

Not that Luck is counting on past success, especially after the Colts needed a late TD to edge the Giants 28-27 for their eighth vic-tory in nine weeks.

“What happened previously and what happened in previous years, it doesn’t matter,” Luck said. “What happened last week-end does not matter. It’s a new cycle.”

Tennessee safety Kevin Byard refuses to ponder why Luck has tormented the Titans so. The Ti-tans are 2-3 against the Colts in Byard’s three seasons — Luck missed 2017 with a shoulder in-jury — and four straight wins have Tennessee (9-6) a win away from a second straight postsea-son berth.

By kickoff, they’ll all know ex-actly what’s at stake. The AFC South title will be up for grabs if Houston loses to Jacksonville.

Even crazier for the Titans, a No. 2 seed with a first-round bye would be available if the Tex-ans, Patriots and Ravens all lose. That’s more than enough to keep the Titans focused.

“We’re just blessed to be in this position to be playing for a play-off game, so that’s all the motiva-tion that guys need,” Byard said. “They’ll be motivated, we’ll be motivated. It’ll be a fun game.”

Some things to know about the final game of the NFL’s regular season:

Mariota’s status: The Titans may not know if quarterback Mar-cus Mariota will play against the Colts. Mariota was knocked out of the Titans’ 25-16 victory over Washington last weekend with a stinger — the same injury that kept him out of a 38-10 loss Nov. 18 in Indianapolis. Mariota, who is listed as questionable for the game, is optimistic he’ll play in-stead of backup Blaine Gabbert.

“This is what it’s about,” Mario-ta said. “You’re playing for every-thing. I’m doing everything I can day and night, and just trying to make sure that I can be ready.”

One-sided: This division ri-valry has been one of the most lopsided in football over the past 15 years.

Since losing three straight against the Titans from 2000-02, Indianapolis is 25-6. While the Titans often came up short against University of Tennessee grad Peyton Manning, they have been even worse against Luck. It’s not just Luck and Manning who have been problematic for the Titans. Matt Hasselbeck and

Dan Orlovsky, now both ESPN commentators, also beat the Ti-tans in backup roles. Hasselbeck also played for the Titans from 2011-12.

Defending Henry: One differ-ence from the last game between these teams is Derrick Henry. The Titans running back leads the NFL with 532 yards rushing and eight TD runs in Decem-ber, though he had nine carries for 46 yards against the Colts in

November.“He’s as good as advertised,”

Colts linebacker Anthony Walker said. “He’s big, he’s explosive, and when he gets outside he’s a problem in the open field. Defi-nitely, have to get him before he gets going.”

One for the ages: Adam Vinat-ieri has been achieving new feats all season and can add a couple more just three days after cel-ebrating his 46th birthday.

If the league’s oldest activeplayer — and NFL’s new careerscoring leader — simply appearsSunday, he would break a tie withJeff Feagles (352) for the third-most games played in NFL his-tory and become only the fourthplayer to participate in a game at 46. The others are George Blanda(48), Morten Andersen (47) and John Carney (46). AP Sports Writer Michael Marot con-tributed to this report.

MARK TENALLY/AP

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck, left, speaks with coach Frank Reich, right, during the team’s game against the Washington Redskins on Sept. 16 in Landover, Md. Luck has beaten the Tennessee Titans, this week’s opponent, 10 straight times.

Indianapolis will make postseasonif QB continues mastery of Titans


GAMEDAYWEEK 17

TELEVISED GAMES

Indianapolis Colts (9-6) at Tennessee Titans (9-6)AFN-Sports, 2 a.m. Monday Central European Time

Marquee matchup

American ConferenceEast

W L T Pct PF PA Home Away AFC NFC Divy-New England 10 5 0 .667 398 322 7-0-0 3-5-0 7-4-0 3-1-0 4-1-0Miami 7 8 0 .467 302 391 6-2-0 1-6-0 6-5-0 1-3-0 4-1-0Buffalo 5 10 0 .333 227 357 3-4-0 2-6-0 3-8-0 2-2-0 1-4-0N.Y. Jets 4 11 0 .267 330 403 2-6-0 2-5-0 3-8-0 1-3-0 1-4-0

Southx-Houston 10 5 0 .667 382 313 5-2-0 5-3-0 8-3-0 2-2-0 3-2-0Indianapolis 9 6 0 .600 400 327 6-2-0 3-4-0 6-5-0 3-1-0 3-2-0Tennessee 9 6 0 .600 293 270 6-1-0 3-5-0 5-6-0 4-0-0 3-2-0Jacksonville 5 10 0 .333 242 296 3-5-0 2-5-0 4-7-0 1-3-0 1-4-0

NorthBaltimore 9 6 0 .600 363 263 5-2-0 4-4-0 7-4-0 2-2-0 2-3-0Pittsburgh 8 6 1 .567 412 347 4-3-0 4-3-1 5-5-1 3-1-0 3-1-1Cleveland 7 7 1 .500 335 366 5-2-1 2-5-0 5-5-1 2-2-0 3-1-1Cincinnati 6 9 0 .400 355 439 4-4-0 2-5-0 4-7-0 2-2-0 1-4-0

Westx-Kansas City 11 4 0 .733 530 418 6-1-0 5-3-0 9-2-0 2-2-0 4-1-0x-L.A. Chargers 11 4 0 .733 405 320 5-3-0 6-1-0 8-3-0 3-1-0 3-2-0Denver 6 9 0 .400 320 326 3-4-0 3-5-0 4-7-0 2-2-0 2-3-0Oakland 4 11 0 .267 287 432 3-5-0 1-6-0 3-8-0 1-3-0 1-4-0

National ConferenceEast

W L T Pct PF PA Home Away NFC AFC Divy-Dallas 9 6 0 .600 303 289 7-1-0 2-5-0 8-3-0 1-3-0 4-1-0Philadelphia 8 7 0 .533 343 348 5-3-0 3-4-0 5-6-0 3-1-0 3-2-0Washington 7 8 0 .467 281 335 3-4-0 4-4-0 6-5-0 1-3-0 2-3-0N.Y. Giants 5 10 0 .333 334 376 2-5-0 3-5-0 4-7-0 1-3-0 1-4-0

Southy-New Orleans 13 2 0 .867 490 320 6-1-0 7-1-0 9-2-0 4-0-0 4-1-0Atlanta 6 9 0 .400 380 391 4-4-0 2-5-0 6-5-0 0-4-0 3-2-0Carolina 6 9 0 .400 343 368 5-3-0 1-6-0 4-7-0 2-2-0 1-4-0Tampa Bay 5 10 0 .333 364 430 4-3-0 1-7-0 4-7-0 1-3-0 2-3-0

Northy-Chicago 11 4 0 .733 397 273 7-1-0 4-3-0 9-2-0 2-2-0 4-1-0Minnesota 8 6 1 .567 350 317 5-2-0 3-4-1 6-4-1 2-2-0 3-1-1Green Bay 6 8 1 .433 376 369 5-1-1 1-7-0 3-7-1 3-1-0 1-3-1Detroit 5 10 0 .333 293 360 3-5-0 2-5-0 3-8-0 2-2-0 1-4-0

Westy-L.A. Rams 12 3 0 .800 479 352 6-1-0 6-2-0 8-3-0 4-0-0 5-0-0x-Seattle 9 6 0 .600 401 323 5-2-0 4-4-0 7-4-0 2-2-0 2-3-0San Francisco 4 11 0 .267 310 387 4-4-0 0-7-0 2-9-0 2-2-0 1-4-0Arizona 3 12 0 .200 201 398 1-7-0 2-5-0 3-8-0 0-4-0 2-3-0

EXPANDED STANDINGS

Also on AFN: Dallas Cowboys (9-6) at New York Giants (5-10), AFN-Sports, 7 p.m. Sunday CETCarolina Panthers (6-9) at New Orleans Saints (13-2), AFN-Atlantic, 7 p.m. Sunday CET

Miami at BuffaloAtlanta at Tampa BayDetroit at Green BayN.Y. Jets at New EnglandArizona at SeattleL.A. Chargers at DenverOakland at Kansas CitySan Francisco at L.A. Rams

REST OF THE SCHEDULE

Game capsules compiledfrom nfl media.com

SERIES RECORD: Colts lead 32-16LAST MEETING: Colts beat Titans 38-10, Nov. 18LAST WEEK: Colts beat Giants 28-27; Titans beat

Redskins 25-16COLTS OFFENSE: OVERALL (7), RUSH (21), PASS

(6)COLTS DEFENSE: OVERALL (11), RUSH (8), PASS

(17)TITANS OFFENSE: OVERALL (26), RUSH (5), PASS

(29)TITANS DEFENSE: OVERALL (7), RUSH (14), PASS

(6)STREAKS, STATS AND NOTES: Colts can end

three-year playoff drought with win. Titans can earn second straight playoff berth with win. ... Indy has won eight of nine overall and 12 of last 14 in series. ... Andrew Luck has won all 10 starts vs. Titans and could become only player since 1970 with 11-0 mark against one team. ... Luck needs 24 comple-tions to reach 2,000 and 24 pass attempts to set single-season high. ... Colts rookie LB Darius Leonard needs

six tackles to break Jeff Herrod’s single-season fran-chise record (160), which has stood since 1991. ... RB Nyheim Hines needs six receptions to pass Bill Brooks for most receptions by Colts rookie since 1970 (65 in 1986). ... Pro Bowl TE Eric Ebron has been in concus-sion protocol this week but needs 22 yards receiving and 31 scrimmage yards to set single-season bests. ... Titans QB Marcus Mariota recovering from stinger that knocked him out of last game. Mariota averaging 301.7 yards per game and 92.2 passer rating in three home starts vs. Colts. ... Backup QB Blaine Gabbert has started twice and come off bench in three other games

this season for Mariota. Gabbert fi rst backup to win game Mariota left injured. Titans had been 0-6

in such games. Gabbert had TD pass and 123.7 passer rating last week. ... Titans have allowed two offensive TDs in last four games and have NFL’s No. 2 scor-ing defense. ... Titans have third straight winning record for fi rst time since fran-chise relocated to Tennessee. ... Titans have allowed 28 TDs, fewest in NFL. ... Tennessee has won four straight games,

six of last eight.— Associated Press

x-clinched playoff spot; y-clinched division

Jacksonville Jaguars (5-10)at Houston Texans (10-5)

AFN-Sports27 p.m. Sunday CET

Series: Texans lead 20-13.Last meeting: Texans beat Jag-uars 20-7, Oct. 21, 2018.Notes: Jaugars have won two of past three meetings. ... Texans can clinch AFC South title with win, but will fall back into wild-card berth with a loss. ... Jaguars QB Blake Bortles will start the season finale after coming off the bench in Weeks 16. ... Texans placed four players on AFC Pro Bowl team.

Chicago Bears (11-4)at Minnesota Vikings (8-6)

AFN-Sports10:25 p.m. Sunday CET

Series: Vikings lead 60-52-2.Last meeting: Bears beat Vikings 25-20, Nov. 18, 2018.Notes: Vikings have won three of past four meetings. ... Vikings can clinch playoff berth with victory, but can still lose and make play-offs with an Eagles loss. ... Bears QB Mitch Trubisky completed 25 of 29 passes for 246 yards in Week 16. ... Vikings RB Dalvin Cook had 108 scrimmage yards last week.

Cincinnati Bengals (6-9)at Pittsburgh Steelers (8-6-1)

AFN-Atlantic10:25 p.m. Sunday CET

Series: Steelers lead 61-35.Last meeting: Steelers beat Ben-gals 28-21, Oct. 14, 2018.Notes: Steelers have won past six meetings. ... Steelers have to win and hope for Ravens loss in order to make playoffs. ... Bengals QB Jeff Driskel had two TDs and ca-reer-high 123.4 rating in Week 16. ... Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger passed for 380 yards and three TDs in Week 16.

Philadelphia Eagles (8-7)at Washington Redskins (7-8)

AFN-Sports210:25 p.m. Sunday CET

Series: Redskins lead 85-76-5.Last meeting: Eagles beat Red-skins 28-13, Dec. 3, 2018.Notes: Eagles have won past three meetings. ... Eagles can earn play-off berth win win and Vikings loss. ... Eagles QB Nick Foles completed 35 or 49 passes for franchise-record 471 yards and four TDs in Week 16. ... Redskins RB Adrian Peterson rushed for 119 yards in Week 16.

LEADERSAFC quarterbacks

Att Com Yds TD IntRoethlisberger, PIT 630 421 4842 33 15Mahomes, KC 556 369 4816 48 11Luck, IND 604 406 4308 36 14P. Rivers, LAC 484 333 4132 31 10Brady, NE 537 351 4105 25 11Watson, HOU 470 320 3931 26 9D. Carr, OAK 520 357 3864 19 8Keenum, DEN 538 334 3598 17 14Mayfield, CLE 444 287 3349 24 11

NFC quarterbacks Att Com Yds TD IntRyan, ATL 564 391 4546 33 6Goff, LA 535 349 4489 28 12A. Rodgers, GBY 592 369 4416 25 2Cousins, MIN 573 405 4166 29 10Manning, NYG 535 356 3998 19 10Brees, NOR 489 364 3992 32 5Stafford, DET 523 347 3511 19 11Prescott, DAL 482 329 3498 18 8Newton, CAR 471 320 3395 24 13

Coltsrunning backMarlon MackMICHAEL CONROY/AP

S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S Sunday, December 30, 2018

SPORTS Last hurrahMinshew leads Washington State

past Iowa State » College football, Page 28

Davis scores 48 points as Pelicans hold off Mavericks » NBA, Page 26

NFL

Eagles quarterback Nick Foles eludes the grasp of Texans defensive end J.J. Watt during last week’s game in Philadelphia.

MATT ROURKE/AP

FRANK FRANKLIN II/AP

Quarterback Carson Wentz, right, hands the Vincent Lombardi trophy to Nick Foles after the Eagles beat the New England Patriots 41-33 in Super Bowl 52 on Feb. 8 in Minneapolis. Regardless of where he winds up playing next season, Foles will always have a special place in the hearts of Eagles fans.

INNER PEACE

Inside: Gurley won’t play in Rams’ fi nale, Page 29

BY ROB MAADDI

Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA

Nick Foles plays with a strong sense of inner peace because he doesn’t allow success or failure to define him.

Win or lose, he’s the same guy.“My identity is rooted in Christ, not

in my accomplishments,” Foles said a few days before he leads the Philadel-phia Eagles (8-7) against the Wash-

ington Redskins (7-8) in another big game.

The Eagles will earn the NFC’s final wild-card berth if they win Sunday and the Vikings (8-6-1) lose at home against the Bears (11-4).

Foles has performed well at quar-terback in high-pressure situations the past two seasons while filling in for Carson Wentz. He’s 5-0 in must-win games and earned Super Bowl MVP honors in a win over New EnglandSEE PEACE ON PAGE 30

Eagles’ Foles content with role

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