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FACES

Ali documentaryhighlights boxinglegend’s legacy8

MILITARY

Milley discussesbases with Russiandefense chiefPage 3

RYDER CUP

Young, talented USteam faces familiarbattle with EuropePage 24

Afghan evacuation took toll on mental health of volunteers ›› Page 7

COVID-19 deaths in the United States have

climbed to an average of more than 1,900 a day

for the first time since early March, with ex-

perts saying the virus is preying largely on a

distinct group: 71 million unvaccinated Amer-

icans.

The increasingly lethal turn has filled hospi-

tals, complicated the start of the school year,

delayed the return to offices and demoralized

health care workers.

“It is devastating,” said Dr. Dena Hubbard, a

pediatrician in the Kansas City, Mo., area who

has cared for babies delivered prematurely by

cesarean section in a last-ditch effort to save

their mothers, some of whom died. For health

workers, the deaths, combined with misinfor-

mation and disbelief about the virus, have been

“heart-wrenching, soul-crushing.”

Twenty-two people died in one week alone at

CoxHealth hospitals in the Springfield-Bran-

son area, a level almost as high as that of all of

Chicago. West Virginia has had more deaths in

the first three weeks of September — 340 —

than in the previous three months combined.

Georgia is averaging 125 dead per day, more

than California or other more populous states.

“I’ve got to tell you, a guy has got to wonder if

we are ever going to see the end of it or not,”

said Collin Follis, who is the coroner in Missou-

GERALD HERBERT/AP

A funeral home employee covers the body of a COVID-19 patient as he prepares to take it away from a loading dock, at the Willis-KnightonMedical Center in Shreveport, La., last month.

US COVID deaths top 1,900 a dayBY HEATHER HOLLINGSWORTH

Associated Press

VIRUS OUTBREAK

“A guy has got towonder if we are evergoing to see the end ofit or not.”

Collin Follis

coroner in Missouri’s Madison County

SEE COVID ON PAGE 8

DEL RIO, Texas — Many Hai-

tian migrants camped in a small

Texas border town are being re-

leased in the United States, two

U.S. officials said, undercutting

the Biden administration’s public

statements that the thousands in

the camp faced immediate expul-

sion.

Haitians have been freed on a

“very, very large scale” in recent

days, according to one U.S. official

who put the figure in the thou-

sands. The official, who has direct

knowledge of operations, was not

authorized to discuss the matter

Tuesday and spoke on condition of

anonymity.

Many have been released with

notices to appear at an immigra-

tion office within 60 days, an out-

come that requires less process-

ing time from Border Patrol

agents than ordering an appear-

ance in immigration court and

points to the speed at which au-

thorities are moving, the official

said.

The Homeland Security De-

partment has been busing Hai-

Officials: Manymigrants fromborder campstaying in US

BY ELLIOT SPAGAT, MARIA

VERZA AND JUAN A. LOZANO

Associated Press

FERNANDO LLANO/AP

A man carries a boy across theRio Grande as migrants leave DelRio, Texas, to return to CiudadAcuna, Mexico, on Wednesday.

SEE MIGRANTS ON PAGE 9

The Justice Department and offi-

cials in six states have filed a lawsuit

to block a partnership formed by

American Airlines and JetBlue,

claiming that it will reduce competi-

tion and lead to higher fares.

The Justice Department said

Tuesday that the agreement will

eliminate important competition in

New York and Boston and reduce

JetBlue’s incentive to compete

against American in other parts of

the country.

“In an industry where just four

airlines control more than 80% of

domestic air travel, American Air-

lines’ ‘alliance’ with JetBlue is, in

fact, an unprecedented maneuver

to further consolidate the industry,”

Attorney General Merrick Garland

said in a statement. “It would result

in higher fares, fewer choices and

lower quality service if allowed to

continue.”

American and JetBlue vowed to

fight the lawsuit and to continue

their alliance unless a court orders

them to stop.

The companies announced their

deal last year and have already

started coordinating Northeast

flights. They argue it is a pro-con-

sumer deal that has already helped

them start 58 new routes from four

airports in New York and Boston,

add flights on other routes and plan

new international destinations.

American CEO Doug Parker said

that blocking the deal will “take

away consumer choice and inhibit

competition, not encourage it. This

is not a merger: American and Jet-

Blue are — and will remain — inde-

pendent airlines.”

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Tokyo76/70

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Seoul76/60

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Busan74/67

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

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

FRIDAY IN THE PACIFIC

WEATHER OUTLOOK

TODAYIN STRIPES

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

BUSINESS/WEATHER

Military rates

Euro costs (Sept. 23) $1.14Dollar buys (Sept. 23) 0.8310British pound (Sept. 23) $1.33Japanese yen (Sept. 23) 107.00South Korean won (Sept. 23) 1,150.00

Commercial rates

Bahrain (Dinar) .3769Britain (Pound) 1.3633Canada (Dollar) 1.2795China (Yuan) 6.4639Denmark (Krone) 6.3391Egypt (Pound) 15.7039Euro .8525Hong Kong (Dollar) 7.7856Hungary (Forint) 302.62Israel (Shekel) 3.2041Japan (Yen) 109.57Kuwait (Dinar) .3010

Norway (Krone) 8.6354

Philippines (Peso) 50.31Poland (Zloty) 3.94Saudi Arabia (Riyal) 3.7508Singapore (Dollar) 1.3516

South Korea (Won) 1,184.13Switzerland (Franc) .9229Thailand (Baht) 33.41Turkey (New Lira) 8.6504

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

INTEREST RATES

Prime rate 3.25Interest Rates Discount rate 0.75Federal funds market rate 0.093-month bill 0.0330-year bond 1.86

EXCHANGE RATESUS sues to stop partnership between airlinesAssociated Press

PAGE 2 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Thursday, September 23, 2021

Thursday, September 23, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 3

Wing at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-

Hickam, Hawaii, tries to send a

C-5 ground trainer to bases in the

Pacific region to get maintainers

familiar with the aircraft.

Maughan’s squadron is a ten-

ant unit with the 374th Mainte-

nance Squadron and takes care of

transient aircraft, including the

C-17 Globemaster III and the

C-5M. The technicians under

Maughan’s supervision are qual-

ified to work on either aircraft.

“Think of us as a gas station;

we are a highly qualified Jiffy

Lube,” Maughan said.

The C-5M is an improvement

over previous C-5 models and en-

tered service in December 2013.

The Super Galaxy has less than

half the failure rate and mainte-

nance hours required by the C-5

Galaxy, and more than 70 im-

provements, according to its

manufacturer, Lockheed Martin.

The Air Force has 52 of all

models of the big airlifters, which

can carry as much as 142 tons

aloft at 518 mph, according to the

Air Force. The C-5M has an 11-

person crew, including two crew

chiefs. It’s expected to be around

past 2040.

The two that stopped at Yokota

are based at Travis Air Force

Base, Calif., Maughan said.

While they were here, airmen

could qualify on towing, refueling

YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan —

The largest aircraft in the U.S.

Air Force is a rare enough sight

at this airlift hub in western To-

kyo, but two together will turn

heads.

A pair of C-5M Super Galaxies

parked on Yokota’s ramp for

about a week served up training

opportunities for maintenance

airmen who don’t often get to

turn a wrench on the 200-ton be-

hemoths.

One arrived as a “quarterly

ground trainer,” a regularly

scheduled chance for airmen to

train up on the aircraft. It hap-

pened to land here with a cracked

windshield needing repair.

The second arrived on an un-

disclosed mission but served as

another training platform while

its crew rested, said Master Sgt.

Robert Maughan, production su-

perintendent for the 730th Air

Mobility Squadron at Yokota.

“We don’t have that opportuni-

ty for an extended ground time,

so for the wing to send us these

C-5 aircraft, logistically it’s a big

deal to get this aircraft out over

here,” said Maughan during an

interview with Stars and Stripes

on Sept. 13.

About four times per year, the

515th Air Mobility Operations

and defueling them, as well as

overall servicing, he said.

Senior Airman Hunter Dunn,

730th Air Mobility Squadron

maintenance crew chief, helps

keep track of qualifications that

maintainers receive while being

trained on the C-5M. He also gets

hands-on as a supervisor.

“I really like it; I like getting

out there and getting involved,”

Dunn said. “It’s a really awesome

feeling, especially when some-

thing comes down broken and

you fix it, and then that plane

flies, and you know that that mis-

sion was because you helped [it]

continue.”

Super-sized airliftersprovide rare trainingopportunity in Tokyo

PHOTOS BY JUAN KING/Stars and Stripes

At top: Airmen take part in aircraft recovery training next to a C5MSuper Galaxy visiting Yokota Air Base, Japan, on Sept. 13. Above:Two C5M Super Galaxy airlifters park on the flight line at Yokota.

BY JUAN KING

Stars and Stripes

[email protected] Twitter: @juanking_17

The U.S. used the Transit Cen-

ter at Manas, in Krygyzstan, for

a large part of the Afghanistan

war, moving troops in and out of

the war zone through that base.

Under pressure from Russia and

its allies, however, Krygyzstan

insisted the U.S. vacate the base

in 2014.

The U.S. also leased Karshi-

Khanabad, known as K2, as a

base in Uzbekistan for several

years after the Afghanistan war

began. Uzbekistan ordered the

base closed in 2005 amid ten-

sions with Washington, and the

Defense Ministry reaffirmed in

May that the country’s constitu-

tion and military doctrine rule

out the presence of foreign

troops there.

It’s unclear whether there is

any potential for negotiations

with the Russians to encourage

them to lessen their objections

to U.S. or allied presence in the

region. But Russian officials al-

so have expressed concern that

the Taliban takeover could des-

tabilize Central Asia, and they

worry about a growing threat

HELSINKI, Finland — The

top American military officer

held talks Wednesday with his

Russian counterpart as the Unit-

ed States struggles to secure

basing rights and other counter-

terrorism support in countries

bordering Afghanistan — an ef-

fort Moscow has opposed.

The six-hour meeting in Fin-

land’s capital between Gen.

Mark Milley, chairman of the

U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, and

Gen. Valery Gerasimov, chief of

the Russian General Staff, came

at a crucial time after the U.S.

military withdrawal from Af-

ghanistan.

Without troops on the ground,

the U.S. needs to reach more

basing, intelligence sharing and

other agreements to help moni-

tor al-Qaida and Islamic State

militants in Afghanistan.

Russia’s deputy foreign minis-

ter, Sergei Ryabkov, had said in

July that Moscow warned the

U.S. that any deployment of

American troops in countries

neighboring Afghanistan “is un-

acceptable.” He said Russia told

the U.S. “in a direct and straight-

forward way that it would

change a lot of things not only in

our perceptions of what’s going

on in that important region, but

also in our relations with the

United States.”

Ryabkov also said that Russia

had a “frank talk” with the Cen-

tral Asian countries to warn

them not to allow U.S. troops

within their borders.

Both sides agreed not to dis-

close details of the talks, as has

been the practice in previous

meetings and calls. Afterward,

Milley said: “It was a productive

meeting. When military leaders

of great powers communicate,

the world is a safer place.”

He recently made clear that

the basing issue was a key topic

on his European trip, saying he

discussed it with NATO counter-

parts when they met in Greece

over the weekend.

Milley, U.S. Defense Secreta-

ry Lloyd Austin and American

intelligence officials have

warned that al-Qaida or IS could

regenerate and pose a threat to

the United States in one year to

two years.

U.S. military leaders have

said they can

conduct coun-

terterrorism

surveillance

and, if neces-

sary, strikes in

Afghanistan

from military

assets based in

other countries.

But they acknowledge that sur-

veillance flights from bases in

the Persian Gulf are long and

provide limited time in the air

over Afghanistan. So the U.S.

and allies want basing agree-

ments, overflight rights and in-

creased intelligence-sharing

with nations closer to Afghanis-

tan, such as Uzbekistan, Kyrgyz-

stan or Tajikistan.

So far there are no indications

of any progress. Moscow main-

tains a tight grip on the Central

Asian nations and opposes a

Western presence there.

from IS.

Milley’s meeting with Gerasi-

mov, and broader discussions

about counterterrorism this

week, come on the heels of a

deadly U.S. airstrike in Afghan-

istan in the final days of the

chaotic evacuation of Ameri-

cans, Afghans and others. The

U.S. initially claimed the drone

strike killed an Islamic extre-

mist looking to attack the Kabul

airport, but now says it was a

mistake that killed 10 civilians,

including seven children.

The incident triggered ques-

tions about the future use of

drone strikes to target terrorists

in Afghanistan from beyond the

country. But Gen. Frank

McKenzie, head of U.S. Central

Command, said that while that

airstrike was a “tragic mistake”

it was not comparable to future

counterterror strikes.

Future strikes on insurgents

deemed to pose a threat to

America, McKenzie said, would

be “done under different rules of

engagement” and there would

be more time to study the target.

Milley holds talks with Russian counterpartBY LOLITA C. BALDOR

Associated Press

Milley

MILITARY

• S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Thursday, September 23, 2021

prah, Ghana’s chief of army staff,

said Tuesday.

The Army and other U.S. mil-

itary services are involved in nu-

merous training events with oth-

er countries inside Germany

GRAFENWOEHR, Germany

— Senior military leaders from 11

African countries were treated to

an aerial gunnery display involv-

ing AH-64D Apache attack hel-

icopters as they convened for a

seminar focused on finding novel

ways of conducting joint exercis-

es with U.S. forces.

The African Land Forces Collo-

quium is a four-day event hosted

by Maj. Gen. Andrew Rohling,

the U.S. Army’s deputy com-

mander for Africa. It brought to-

gether senior officers from Mo-

rocco, Tunisia, Senegal, Nigeria,

Kenya, Djibouti, Botswana,

Rwanda, Cote d’Ivoire, Gabon

and Ghana.

“To me this isn’t about new

equipment,” Rohling said. “I’m

not looking for anyone to buy a

piece of equipment, I want them

to invest in the training range and

infrastructure at the institutional

level that then drives training at

the unit level.”

Part of the training African of-

ficers saw on this Bavarian range

was an exercise the 12th Combat

Aviation Brigade conducted us-

ing the Apaches. The attack hel-

icopter entered the U.S. Army in

1984 and has been widely export-

ed since then.

“We have three to four aircraft

engaging targets downrange,”

said 1st Lt. Lisabeth Quinn, bat-

talion fire support officer for the

1-3 Attack Reconnaissance Bat-

talion. Soldiers also can integrate

unmanned aerial systems or ve-

hicles, and joint terminal attack

controllers with the Apaches

when available, she said.

The AH-64D has a fire control

radar and uses Hellfire missiles

in an anti-armor role.

U.S. Africa Command oversees

all military efforts on the conti-

nent, where training activities are

carried out from the volatile

Horn of Africa in the east, to

countries facing various militant

groups in the west.

“So far what I have seen today

specifically, there are facilities

and opportunities for us to train

our personnel either [by bring-

ing] them over here to Grafen-

woehr, or they come to Ghana,”

Maj. Gen. Thomas Oppong-Pe-

throughout the year.

“You can’t do the same things

with 53 countries as you can with

a smaller group,” Rohling said of

the African Land Forces Collo-

quium, which ends in Frankfurt

on Friday. “It is more intimate;

you can have more in-depth con-

versations and interact.”

African military leadersvisit Grafenwoehr totalk training with US

BY IMMANUEL JOHNSON

Stars and Stripes

IMMANUEL JOHNSON/Stars and Stripes

AH64D Apache attack helicopters fly during a livefire aerial gunnery on Grafenwoehr Training Area,Germany, on Tuesday. African leaders attending the African Land Forces Colloquium observed thegunnery while learning about what capabilities are available at the training area.

[email protected] Twitter: @Manny_Stripes

opening the door to hundreds if

not thousands of other troops who

also were similarly wronged, at-

torney Patrick Hughes said.

“The fact that this unlawful in-

terpretation has been allowed to

perpetuate for over five years now

demonstrates the need for contin-

ued court intervention to hold the

Army accountable and to recover

the monies improperly denied to

all these soldiers,” said Hughes, a

former Air Force attorney now

with the Patriots Law Group.

For years, reservists received

dual allowances when mobilized

without their household goods and

forced to maintain two residences

when the Army was unable to pro-

vide base housing.

The Army’s “gross negligence

to deny this entitlement” was con-

firmed by the Defense Finance

and Accounting Service, which is

responsible for paying service

members, and the Army’s highest

level of administrative review, the

court complaint states.

On Aug. 27, the Army Board for

the Correction of

Military Re-

cords issued a

decision that

said the Army

was guilty of

“unjust actions”

because of its in-

correct interpre-

tation of the fed-

eral Joint Travel Regulation.

The service’s mistakes “gave

rise to the investigative and disci-

plinary actions” that “were erro-

neously executed and erroneously

implemented,” the decision said.

The Army board was ordered to

hear the case by a federal court in

connection with a separate law-

suit filed in 2018 on behalf of seven

reservists.

Those soldiers, some of whom

have since retired or had their ca-

reers cut short because of the Ar-

my’s actions against them, must

now be paid what they were de-

nied, according to the board rul-

ing, which also directed the Army

to convene a special selection

board to determine if they were

wrongly denied promotions.

Meanwhile, the Army on Mon-

day refused to comment on wheth-

er going forward it intends to offer

dual allowances to eligible reserv-

ists on assignments overseas, cit-

ing pending litigation.

The Army also declined to say

whether it has or intends to hold

accountable finance officials re-

sponsible for the false interpreta-

tion of a regulation, which result-

ed in six-figure debts being im-

posed on some reservists.

“Who is going to hold these peo-

ple accountable?” said Gulley,

who served as a deputy chief of

staff at U.S. Africa Command in

Stuttgart before retiring in 2017.

The Army ordered Gulley to re-

pay $135,500 of his housing allow-

ance. Over a five-year span, Gul-

ley said he faced repeated investi-

gations, harassment and even ar-

rest by Army criminal

investigators as a result of errors

by service finance officials.

Hughes said the Army contin-

ues to break the law by forcing re-

servists on assignments overseas

to choose between either an allow-

ance for their American residence

or for off-post housing.

“We will be submitting affida-

vits to the court from multiple sol-

diers who are currently on orders

as of today who were forced to

make that choice themselves or

know of others they are presently

serving with who were,” Hughes

said.

STUTTGART, Germany — The

U.S. Army is facing a potential

class-action lawsuit on behalf of

soldiers who say they were wrong-

fully indebted because of a hous-

ing allowance policy that a mili-

tary board recently determined

broke federal law.

A complaint filed earlier this

month in federal claims court con-

tends that Army finance officials

in Europe have unlawfully denied

mobilized Army reservists the

right to both an allowance for their

American residence and an over-

seas allowance when the Army

cannot provide on-post accommo-

dations.

Retired Col. Richard Gulley and

Maj. Jennifer Walters are the

named plaintiffs in the complaint.

The case also was filed on behalf

of “all others similarly situated,”

Army may face suit over housing funds policyBY JOHN VANDIVER

Stars and Stripes

Gulley

MILITARY

LAKE WORTH, Texas — One

of the two pilots injured when

their military training jet crashed

into a suburban Fort Worth, Tex-

as, neighborhood over the week-

end has been released from the

hospital.

The instructor pilot was re-

leased from the hospital Monday,

the Chief of Naval Air Training in

Corpus Christi said in a state-

ment.

Navy officials said Tuesday that

the student pilot remained hospi-

talized in serious but stable condi-

tion.

Three homes were damaged in

Sunday's crash, but no one on the

ground was seriously injured. The

two pilots ejected from the air-

craft before it crashed into the

neighborhood in Lake Worth,

which is just west of Fort Worth.

Lake Worth police have said

that one of the pilots was electro-

cuted after being caught in power

lines.

Navy officials have said that the

Navy T-45C Goshawk was on a

routine training flight that origi-

nated from an airport in Corpus

Christi, about 350 miles south of

Lake Worth along the Gulf Coast.

The jet was based at Naval Air

Station Kingsville, near Corpus

Christi.

Navy officials say the investiga-

tion into what caused the crash is

ongoing.

1 of 2 pilots injured in military jet crash in Texas is out of hospitalAssociated Press


MILITARY

The role of sports in rehabilitat-

ing wounded warriors is explored

in a new novel that combines a

former paratrooper’s love of ice

hockey with his experiences in a

U.S. military community in the

German state of Bavaria.

“Ahab: A Hockey Story,” by

Brad Huestis, tells the tale of a

U.S. soldier who loses his leg in an

accident parachuting into Poland

with the 173rd Airborne Brigade

during an exercise.

The book gives readers a taste

of what troops go through when

they recover from a serious injury

and the important role that sports

can play in their treatment.

Members of the Bavarian mil-

itary community will find a lot of

familiar scenes in the book, such

as Grafenwoehr Training Area’s

iconic water tower and Oktober-

fest, which Huestis, 54, of Spring

Hill, Fla., based on his own expe-

rience.

The retired lieutenant colonel

served as a paratrooper, artillery-

man and

judge advo-

cate and re-

ceived the

Bronze Star

in Iraq before

moving to a

civilian role

providing le-

gal services

to troops at

Grafen-

woehr.

“The story

is 100% fic-

tional but the

background

is 100% real,” he said in a recent

phone interview about the book.

The novel is set in 2013 and

talks about real-life events, such

as the Boston Marathon bombing,

that happened that spring.

The book’s protagonist, Cpl.

Will Foley, has a love of hockey

that reflects Huestis’ passion for

the sport.

When he arrived at Grafen-

woehr in 2009, he started a base

team that he coached and played

on for a decade.

“There is still a team there

called the Bayern Rangers,” he

said. “I called them the BMC

Rangers in the book.”

Many of the soldiers playing

hockey in Germany were wound-

ed warriors going through Army

medical boards, Huestis said.

“I had several players going

boards at any one time and at the

JAG office we would help soldiers

go through that process,” he said.

“Some soldiers were fighting to

stay in and others were fighting

for benefits when they got out.”

Foley has his own challenges.

He crash-lands during a para-

chute jump, has a leg amputated

and the Army sends him a bill for

his damaged gear.

It’s not something that happens

in real life to that extent, but

Huestis said he knew troops

who’d been charged for damaged

gear after being injured in train-

ing.

“That’s one of the things about

military life,” he said. “When

you’re in good graces with the

chain of command you get awards

and promotions and get sent to

school, and when you are in their

bad graces, they will lock you

down and make life really hard.”

Foley’s prosthetic leg, which

enables him to excel as a member

of the hockey team, wasn’t in-

spired by Huestis’ real life.

“I found one person skating

with a prosthesis on YouTube,” he

said. “It looked like really rough

going. He didn’t have a lot of sta-

bility.”

However, Huestis said, that

doesn’t mean there won’t be am-

putees who can skate well with

the aid of advanced technology.

“It raises ethical issues about

once we have the technology that

allows this,” he said, noting that

some disabled athletes might

have an advantage with the right

prosthesis.

Army vet’s bookplays up hockeyas sports rehab

Brad Huestis

When he arrived at Grafenwoehr Training Area in 2009, author and Army veteran Brad Huestis started abase hockey team that he coached and played on for a decade.

BY SETH ROBSON

Stars and Stripes

BRAD HUESTIS

“Ahab: A HockeyStory,” aims toshow how sportshelps troopsrecover fromserious injury.

[email protected] Twitter: @SethRobson1

WASHINGTON — An effort to

pass legislation that would allow

for the construction of a Global

War on Terrorism Memorial on

the National Mall was blocked

Monday out of concern that its

passage would be unfair and cre-

ate a bad precedent for any future

memorials.

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, asked

on the Senate floor Monday eve-

ning that her colleagues approve

the bill under unanimous consent,

meaning the chamber could pass

the legislation unless someone

stood to object. Sen. Joe Manchin,

D-W.Va., blocked the vote.

The bill seeks to exempt the

Global War on Terrorism Memo-

rial from a 2003 law that prohibits

any more development on the Na-

tional Mall in Washington, D.C.

“This legislation would over-

ride this provision,” Manchin

said. “This precedent would reo-

pen fights to locate other memo-

rials on the National Mall, create

conflict, and ultimately delay the

construction of this memorial.”

Organizers behind the effort to

establish the memorial are renew-

ing their push for it to be on the Na-

tional Mall after the 20th anniver-

sary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks

and the withdrawal of U.S. forces

from Afghanistan in August.

They held a news conference

Tuesday, urging Congress to con-

sider the bill.

“We’re at a significant moment

in the history of the Global War on

Terrorism,” said Marina Jack-

man, an Army veteran and the

president of the Global War on

Terrorism Memorial Foundation.

“Now more than ever, the service

member and veteran community

needs a place to gather, reflect and

heal.”

Ernst, along with Sen. Maggie

Hassan, D-N.H., introduced the

Global War on Terrorism Memo-

rial Location Act last year, but it

failed to make it through Con-

gress. They reintroduced the bill

earlier this year.

The Senate subcommittee on

national parks held a hearing on

the issue in June. The bill has not

yet been considered by the full

committee.

Manchin, who is chairman of

the Committee on Energy and

Natural Resources, promised on

the Senate floor Monday to sched-

ule a hearing to discuss the bill.

The Commemorative Works

Act, which prohibits more devel-

opment on the National Mall, was

approved in 2003 because of the

concern over a loss of open space.

Between 1980 and 2000, seven

new memorials were established

in the area.

“Little did we know in 2003 that

these wars would go on for dec-

ades,” Hassan said. “This is

America’s longest war. The notion

that a memorial to it wouldn’t be

built on the National Mall is just

mind-boggling.”

In the time since the law was

passed, organizers behind the

World War I Memorial and the

National Desert Storm and Desert

Shield War Memorial have sought

locations on the National Mall.

The World War I Memorial, which

opened earlier this year, was in-

stead placed in Pershing Park,

east of the White House.

Construction has not yet begun

on the Desert Storm and Desert

Shield Memorial. It was approved

for a location north of the Lincoln

Memorial. Though it’s near the

other war memorials on the Na-

tional Mall, it’s outside of the bor-

der that’s restricted by the Com-

memorative Works Act.

Jane Horton, whose husband

was killed in Afghanistan, said she

and other Gold Star family mem-

bers would “accept no less than

the National Mall” for the Global

War on Terrorism Memorial.

Horton spoke Tuesday about the

urgency she and other families

feel about the creation of a memo-

rial that would honor their de-

ceased loved ones.

Horton’s husband, Spc. Chris-

topher Horton, deployed to Af-

ghanistan with the Oklahoma Na-

tional Guard in 2011. He was killed

by small-arms fire on Sept. 9, 2011.

“There is no better place, no

more appropriate place, than the

National Mall to honor them,”

Horton said.

“This is where schoolchildren

will go and future generations will

learn about those who gave their

lives for our country.”

Senator blocks bill to OK Global War on Terrorism Memorial on Mall

BY NIKKI WENTLING

Stars and Stripes

STRIPES

This map shows the three locations under consideration for the GlobalWar on Terrorism Memorial on the National Mall in Washington.


MILITARY

WASHINGTON — The Penta-

gon is falling short in its efforts to

combat fraud in defense contracts,

according to a draft federal audit

obtained by CQ Roll Call.

The Government Accountabili-

ty Office report, which was made

public Monday, credits Defense

Department leaders with making

some progress in establishing sys-

tems to find and root out fraud. But

the audit nonetheless documents

several ways military and civilian

officials are lagging in their ef-

forts.

The auditors cited examples of

major defense organizations, such

as the Army, not naming represen-

tatives to a year-old task force on

fighting fraud and not conducting

assessments of risks that are rec-

ommended in official guidance.

The audit focused on activities

during fiscal 2020, when the Pen-

tagon spent $422 billion on con-

tracts.

From fiscal years 2013 to 2017,

over $6.6 billion was recovered

from defense contracting fraud

cases, the report said. In 2020,

nearly 20% of the 1,716 investiga-

tions run by the department’s in-

spector general were about pro-

curement fraud.

“The scope and scale of this ac-

tivity makes DOD procurement

inherently susceptible to fraud,”

the GAO said.

The Pentagon’s efforts to fight

such crimes is “a work in pro-

gress,” the auditors concluded.

“Given the billions of dollars

DOD spends annually on procure-

ment, failing to manage and miti-

gate fraud effectively may ulti-

mately adversely affect DOD’s

ability to support the warfighter,”

they said.

The lawmakers who requested

the report expressed dismay

about its findings.

“The Pentagon doesn’t seem to

want to get serious about combat-

ing the fraud, waste, and financial

mismanagement that has been its

legacy for decades,” said Sen. Ber-

nie Sanders, I-Vt., chairman of the

Budget Committee, one of two

lawmakers who requested the re-

port.

Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y.,

who chairs the Committee on

Oversight and Reform, was the

other.

“This failure to safeguard tax-

payer dollars is completely unac-

ceptable, and I urge the Biden Ad-

ministration to quickly and fully

implement GAO’s recommenda-

tions and put the Defense Depart-

ment on a path to operate more ef-

ficiently and effectively, with the

confidence that it is not spending

money on fraudulent contracts,”

Maloney said in a statement.

In the auditors’ report, they cit-

ed signs that some in the Defense

Department may not be treating

the problem with the urgency it

deserves.

For example, the department

created in 2020 a task force to im-

prove officials’ focus on fraud and

gave the military services and oth-

er components one week to name

representatives.

A year later, nearly 20% of the

59 seats on the task force were not

filled, the GAO said. The Army —

which spent about $100 billion on

contracts in fiscal 2020, or nearly a

quarter of the department’s total

— is among the components with-

out a representative, the report

said.

Another sign of a torpid re-

sponse to the problem, the audi-

tors said, is the failure of major

parts of the Defense Department

to conduct fraud risk assessments.

In fact, three organizations that to-

gether obligated $180.1 billion in

fiscal 2020 have so far failed to

conduct the reviews: the Air

Force, the Army and the Washing-

ton Headquarters Service, which

administers and manages oper-

ations at the Pentagon and other

facilities.

The fraud at issue takes several

forms, the report said. For in-

stance, contractors can overbill

for their products, falsify their

prices to win a bid, use counterfeit

parts, bill for work that was not

performed or disguise conflicts of

interest.

Sanders, in his statement, said

the report shows that the Pentagon

does not “want to get serious about

spending taxpayer dollars wisely

and effectively.” He called that

“absolutely unacceptable.”

Audit: DOD can do more on contract fraudBY JOHN M. DONNELLY

CQ Roll Call

STUTTGART, Germany — Rob-

ert Reismann, who played an inte-

gral role in getting Stars and Stripes

newspapers to readers in far-flung

locations across Europe and the

Middle East for more than 30 years,

died Tuesday in a Kaiserslautern,

Germany, hospital from complica-

tions related to cancer treatment.

He was 60.

“Without Bob and all his hard

work, I don’t know we would have

had the paper delivered in the way

we did,” said Lt. Col. Marci Hoff-

man, commander of Stars and

Stripes Europe and Expeditionary,

who oversees non-editorial oper-

ations. “He was instrumental in ev-

erything and made sure the troops

were informed.”

Reismann’s career with Stars

and Stripes began in 1990 in Germa-

ny during the end of the Cold War,

when the military had bases all over

Europe. Reismann and others had

to coordinate a complicated deliv-

ery network to serve the hundreds

of thousands of troops keeping the

Soviet Union in check.

After the Cold War ended, and a

decade of helping to get papers to

readers in Europe, the terrorist at-

tacks of 9/11 meant a change in fo-

cus. Reismann was selected to head

up the distribution effort for getting

newspapers to troops in the wars

that followed.

In 2003, after U.S. forces entered

Iraq, Reismann spent about six

months setting up operations that

enabled Stars and Stripes to deliver

papers to the bases that were pop-

ping up all over

the country.

At the time, Re-

ismann and his

crew were get-

ting 50,000 pa-

pers a day to din-

ing facilities and

combat outposts

in Iraq, stretching from Baghdad to

places like Fallujah and Mosul, said

James Afflerbach, who worked for

Reismann and now oversees distri-

bution of Stars and Stripes products

in Europe.

“All of us came into close calls at

the time,” said Afflerbach, who re-

called questioning at one point

whether the job was worth it.

“But Bob was one of the deter-

mining factors in why we stayed,”

Afflerbach said. “We trusted him.

He was a friend, but he also com-

manded our respect.”

Reismann remained Stars and

Stripes’ point man in the Middle

East. In the 2018 documentary

about Stars and Stripes, “The

World’s Most Dangerous Paper

Route,” Reismann was featured

prominently given his key role in

delivering newspapers to combat

zones.

He described his job this way: “I

am working to get the paper to the

soldiers at the earliest time as pos-

sible, out in the field. … I am just a

paperboy.”

Reismann is survived by his wife

Elina and sons Samuel, Matthew

and Charles.

Reismann, who helpedtroops at war get thenewspaper, dies at 60

BY JOHN VANDIVER

Stars and Stripes

Reismann

[email protected]: @john_vandiver

South Korean President Moon

Jae-in in a speech to the United Na-

tions General Assembly on Tues-

day urged his country, the United

States, North Korea and possibly

China to formally end the decades-

long Korean War.

The two Koreas formally remain

at war after their 1950-53 conflict

ended in an armistice instead of a

peace treaty. The U.N. Command

and China were also signatories in

the armistice agreement, which

was originally intended to facilitate

a “final peaceful settlement.”

Moon, who proposed the idea of

ending the Korean War during a

speech before the General Assemb-

ly in 2019, renewed his calls for the

signatories to “come together and

declare that the war on the Korean

Peninsula is over.”

“More than anything, an end-of-

war declaration will mark a pivotal

point of departure in creating a new

order of reconciliation and cooper-

ation on the Korean Peninsula,”

Moon said Tuesday.

The president suggested three-

party talks with the U.S., South Ko-

rea and North Korea; or a four-par-

ty system that included China.

“When the parties involved in the

Korean War stand together and

proclaim an end to the war, I be-

lieve we can make irreversible pro-

gress in denuclearization and usher

in an era of complete peace,” Moon

said.

President Joe Biden in his own

U.N. speech Tuesday said the U.S.

sought “serious and sustained di-

plomacy to pursue the complete de-

nuclearization of the Korean Penin-

sula” in order to “increase stability”

in the region.

Proposals to formally end the Ko-

rean War have been made for dec-

ades by lawmakers in Seoul, as well

as congressional leaders in Wash-

ington.

Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., in-

troduced the Peace on the Korean

Peninsula Act in May, which called

for the formal end to the war and re-

quires the secretary of state to re-

view and narrowly define the travel

restrictions to North Korea.

“The current restrictions barring

United States nationals from travel-

ing to North Korea have had pro-

found effects on Americans with

relatives living in North Korea,”

Sherman said in a press release. “A

comprehensive review of our re-

strictions on travel to North Korea

is necessary so that Korean Amer-

icans can attend major family

events, such as funerals, burials, or

other religious and family com-

memorations in North Korea.”

Diplomatic relations between the

allies and North Korea have stalled,

particularly after Pyongyang re-

cently test-fired long-range cruise

missiles and ballistic missiles. Evi-

dence that the North restarted its

nuclear reactor has also mounted

following a report by the U.N.’s nu-

clear watchdog in late August.

Despite the chilled relations, the

U.S. continued to express an inter-

est in holding talks without precon-

ditions. Sung Kim, the U.S. envoy

for North Korea, has told reporters

he is willing to meet his counterpart

“anywhere and at any time.”

S. Korea’s leader revives callfor formal end to Korean War

BY DAVID CHOI

Stars and Stripes

EDUARDO MUNOZ / AP

South Korea’s President Moon Jaein addresses the 76th session ofthe United Nations General Assembly in a prerecorded message,Tuesday at UN headquarters.

[email protected]: @choibboy


AFGHANISTAN

The chaotic evacuation of Afghans follow-

ing the Taliban’s victory and U.S. military

withdrawal took an unseen toll on the volun-

teers who tried to help from afar, therapists

and mental health organizations said.

Many volunteers were veterans or service

members who teamed up to guide Afghan al-

lies past Taliban checkpoints and dangerous

crowds in hopes of getting them on planes at

Kabul’s international airport. A sizable num-

ber of these efforts failed, however, and thou-

sands of Afghan allies remain in the country.

Anguish over the fruitless attempts has

created a need for mental health services for

evacuation volunteers, said Jim McDo-

nough, executive director of the New York-

based Headstrong Project, which provides

mental health treatment to veterans.

The Headstrong Project partnered with

two groups during the evacuation, the Tru-

man Project and Allied Airlift.

“Both groups realized that their members

were under a great deal of stress and they

didn’t know how to deal with the growing

guilt and the loss they felt with not getting ev-

eryone out,” McDonough said.

The Headstrong Project saw a 66% in-

crease in requests for therapy during the last

week of the evacuation in August, mostly

from volunteers, according to data from the

group. And the Veterans Crisis Line has seen

almost 5% more calls, 66% more texts and

31% more webchats in the five weeks since

Kabul fell, compared with the same time last

year, according to the Department of Veter-

ans Affairs.

While most volunteers were thousands of

miles away, the impact of the evacuation on

their mental health should not be discounted,

said Amy Williams, the chief clinical officer

at Headstrong.

Many volunteers have personal ties to the

people they were trying to help. Veterans

who had unresolved trauma from their time

at war thought evacuating people would

“make things right,” Williams said.

These volunteers often worked day and

night, spending hours conversing with Af-

ghan families.

Many believed that if they stepped away

from their phones, they might miss an oppor-

tunity to help a family escape the country,

Williams said. Thoughts of rest or watching a

movie with family fell by the wayside.

“I’ve had a lot of folks thinking, ‘Maybe I

could have done more. Maybe if I had done

this, maybe they could have gotten out,’ ”

said Blake Schroedter, a veteran and a clin-

ical psychologist for the Road Home Pro-

gram, which also partnered with Allied Air-

lift.

The task of guiding Afghan families often

proved a heavy burden for the volunteers,

who believed that the families they were

helping were at risk from the Taliban if they

didn’t escape.

Bridget Altenburg of Allied Airlift feared

that she had sent a family to their deaths dur-

ing the evacuation.

The Army veteran said she directed a

group to Abbey Gate, an entry point to Ka-

bul’s international airport. Hours later, she

learned that a suicide bomber at the gate had

killed 13 U.S. troops and more than 169 Af-

ghans.

Luckily, 12 hours later, she heard from the

family that they were safe. Altenburg said

many others in the organization had experi-

enced the same panic and guilt that she did

during that period of uncertainty.

Laura Falk, a licensed mental health coun-

selor and former Air Force chaplain’s assist-

ant, started a weekly Zoom call to provide a

virtual support group for fellow volunteers at

Allied Airlift.

Volunteers shared their feelings of guilt

and anger with her but were afraid or unable

to talk to others about how they felt, Falk said.

They told her that they don’t think they can

complain when others have worse situations,

she said. Or they said they didn’t think others

would understand what they had gone

through.

Some volunteers, though, said they did not

feel any adverse effects from their unsuc-

cessful efforts to help Afghans. On the con-

trary, they said they feel better for having

tried.

“I have found this process to actually help

bring some closure and try to make some-

thing good out of this awful situation,” said

Alex Plitsas, a veteran who volunteered with

an effort called Digital Dunkirk.

Evacuation taxed volunteers’ mental healthBY J.P. LAWRENCE

Stars and Stripes

Alex Flynn

Marine veteran Chris Jones passes out after long hours speaking with families trying toflee Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover last month. The rushed evacuation took apsychological toll on many who tried to help, veterans and mental health groups said.

[email protected]: @jplawrence3

UNITED NATIONS — Who should repre-

sent Afghanistan at the United Nations this

month? It’s a complex question with plenty of

political implications.

The Taliban, the country’s new rulers for a

matter of weeks, are challenging the creden-

tials of their country’s former U.N. ambassa-

dor and want to speak at the General Assem-

bly’s high-level meeting of world leaders this

week, the international body says.

The question now facing U.N. officials

comes just over a month after the Taliban,

ejected from Afghanistan by the United

States and its allies after 9/11, swept back into

power as U.S. forces prepared to withdraw

from the country at the end of August. The Ta-

liban stunned the world by taking territory

with surprising speed and little resistance

from the U.S.-trained Afghan military. The

Western-backed government collapsed on

Aug. 15.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres re-

ceived a communication on Sept. 15 from the

currently accredited Afghan ambassador,

Ghulam Isaczai, with the list of Afghanistan’s

delegation for the assembly’s 76th annual ses-

sion.

Five days later, Guterres received another

communication with the letterhead “Islamic

Emirate of Afghanistan, Ministry of Foreign

Affairs,” signed by “Ameer Khan Muttaqi” as

“Minister of Foreign Affairs,” requesting to

participate in the U.N. gathering of world

leaders.

Muttaqi said in the letter that former Af-

ghan President Ashraf Ghani was “ousted” as

of Aug. 15 and that countries across the world

“no longer recognize him as president,” and

therefore Isaczai no longer represents Af-

ghanistan, Dujarric said.

The Taliban said they were nominating a

new U.N. permanent representative, Mo-

hammad Suhail Shaheen, the U.N. spokes-

man said. He has been a spokesman for the

Taliban during peace negotiations in Qatar.

Senior U.S. State Department officials said

they were aware of the Taliban’s request —

the United States is a member of the U.N. cre-

dentials committee — but they would not pre-

dict how that panel might rule. However, one

of the officials said the committee “would take

some time to deliberate,” suggesting the Tali-

ban’s envoy would not be able to speak at the

General Assembly at this session at least dur-

ing the high-level leaders’ week.

In cases of disputes over seats at the United

Nations, the General Assembly’s nine-mem-

ber credentials committee must meet to make

a decision. Both letters have been sent to the

committee after consultations with General

Assembly President Abdulla Shahid’s office.

The committee’s members are the United

States, Russia, China, Bahamas, Bhutan,

Chile, Namibia, Sierra Leone and Sweden.

Afghanistan is scheduled to give the last

speech on the final day of the high-level meet-

ing on Sept. 27. It wasn’t clear who would

speak if the committee met and the Taliban

were given Afghanistan’s seat.

When the Taliban last ruled from 1996 to

2001, the U.N. refused to recognize their gov-

ernment and instead gave Afghanistan’s seat

to the previous, warlord-dominated govern-

ment of President Burhanuddin Rabbani,

who eventually was killed by a suicide bom-

ber in 2011. It was Rabbani’s government that

brought Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of

9/11, to Afghanistan from Sudan in 1996.

The Taliban have said they want interna-

tional recognition and financial help to re-

build the war-battered country. But the

makeup of the new Taliban government pos-

es a dilemma for the United Nations. Several

of the interim ministers are on the U.N.’s so-

called blacklist of international terrorists and

funders of terrorism.

UN says Taliban want to address General AssemblyAssociated Press


fered breakthrough infections,

those tend to be mild.

The number of vaccine-eligible

Americans who have yet to get a

shot has been put at more than 70

million.

“There is a very real risk you’ll

end up in the hospital or even in

the obituary pages,” Dr. Bruce

Vanderhoff, chief medical officer

for the Ohio Department of

Health, said to the unvaccinated.

“Don’t become a statistic when

there is a simple, safe and effec-

tive alternative to go out today and

get vaccinated.”

Many low-vaccination commu-

nities also have high rates of con-

ditions like obesity and diabetes,

said Dr. William Moss of Johns

ri’s Madison County and works at

a funeral home.

The nation was stunned back in

December when it was witnessing

3,000 deaths a day. But that was

when almost no one was vaccinat-

ed.

Now, nearly 64% of the U.S. pop-

ulation has received at least one

dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

And yet, average deaths per day

have climbed 40% over the past

two weeks, from 1,387 to 1,947, ac-

cording to data from Johns Hop-

kins University.

Health experts say the vast ma-

jority of the hospitalized and dead

have been unvaccinated. While

some vaccinated people have suf-

Hopkins. And that combination —

along with the more contagious

delta variant — has proved lethal.

“I think this is a real failure of

society and our most egregious sin

to be at this stage where we have

hospitals overwhelmed, ICUs

overwhelmed and hitting this

mark in terms of deaths per day,”

Moss lamented.

New cases of the coronavirus

per day in the U.S. have dropped

since the start of September and

are now running at approximately

139,000. But deaths typically take

longer to fall because victims of-

ten linger for weeks before suc-

cumbing.

In Kansas, 65-year-old cattle-

man Mike Limon thought he had

beaten COVID-19 and went back

to work for a few days. But the vi-

rus had “fried” his lungs and ulti-

mately he died last week, said his

grandson, Cadin Limon, 22, of

Wichita.

He said his grandfather didn’t

get vaccinated for fear of a bad re-

action, and he hasn’t gotten the

shot either for the same reason,

though serious side effects have

proved extremely rare.

He described his grandfather as

a “man of faith.”

“Sixty-five is still pretty young,”

the young man said. “I know that.

It seems sudden and unexpected,

but COVID didn’t surprise God.

His death wasn’t a surprise to

God. The God I serve is bigger

than that.”

Cases are falling in West Virgin-

ia from pandemic highs, but

deaths and hospitalizations are

expected to continue increasing

for as many as six more weeks,

said retired National Guard Maj.

Gen. James Hoyer, who leads the

state’s coronavirus task force.

Dr. Greg Martin, who is presi-

dent of the Society of Critical Care

Medicine and practices mostly at

Grady Hospital in Atlanta, said

the staff is buckling under the

strain.

“I think everyone in 2020

thought we would get through this.

No one really thought that we

would still be seeing this the same

way in 2021,” he said.

COVID: Unvaccinated lead to surge of coronavirus deaths in USFROM PAGE 1

VIRUS OUTBREAK

TOKYO — The fifth wave of

COVID-19 in Japan’s capital

city subsided Wednesday to lev-

els not seen since July.

Tokyo reported 537 newly in-

fected people, 515 fewer than

one week prior, according to

public broadcaster NHK and

metropolitan government data

online. The city has confirmed

fewer than 1,000 new infections

for seven consecutive days, ac-

cording to metro data.

The most recent coronavirus

surge in Tokyo, which began in

July and continued through the

Tokyo Olympics and Paralym-

pics, peaked at 5,773 new cases

on Aug. 13. The previous daily

record stood at 2,520 on Jan. 7

Tokyo, with an estimated pop-

ulation of 13.4 million, has re-

ported more than 373,000 CO-

VID-19 cases during the pan-

demic and more than 2,800

deaths, according to metro data.

Also Wednesday, U.S. Army

Japan reported 12 new corona-

virus cases since Sept. 15. Elev-

en are close contacts of another

infected person and one tested

positive prior to travel outside

of Japan, according to an Army

news release Wednesday.

At Yokota Air Base in western

Tokyo, the principal at Joan K.

Mendel Elementary School no-

tified families and staff

Wednesday that someone at the

school had tested positive for

the coronavirus respiratory dis-

ease.

The letter from principal Jus-

tin Treisch did not indicate that

the school would close tempora-

rily or that a class or classes

would be canceled. He wrote

that contact tracing had been

complete and families of indi-

viduals who were potential

close contacts were notified.

“If you are not contacted by

public health officials, your stu-

dent is not considered to be a

close contact,” Treisch wrote.

Okinawa prefecture, where

the bulk of U.S. troops are sta-

tioned in Japan, reported 162

new infections, according to the

prefectural Department of Pub-

lic Health and Medical Care.

More than half of Japan’s pop-

ulation, 54.5%, or 69 million

people, are fully vaccinated, ac-

cording to the Johns Hopkins

Coronavirus Resource Center.

Japan reported 1,761 new cases

of COVID-19 on Tuesday, and 47

deaths.

US Army Japan reports 12 new cases as Tokyo’s numbers continue to fallBY JOSEPH DITZLER

Stars and Stripes

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

President Joe Biden announced

Wednesday that the United States is

doubling its purchase of Pfizer’s

COVID-19 shots to share with the

world to 1 billion doses as he em-

braces the goal of vaccinating 70%

of the global population within the

next year.

The stepped-up U.S. commit-

ment marks the cornerstone of the

global vaccination summit Biden

convened virtually on the sidelines

of the U.N. General Assembly,

where he encouraged well-off na-

tions to do more to get the coronavi-

rus under control.

World leaders, aid groups and

global health organizations are

growing increasingly vocal about

the slow pace of global vaccinations

and the inequity of access to shots

between residents of wealthier and

poorer nations.

The U.S. purchase of another 500

million shots brings the total U.S.

vaccination commitment to more

than 1.1 billion doses through 2022.

About 160 million shots supplied by

the U.S. have already been distrib-

uted to more than 100 countries, rep-

resenting more donations than the

rest of the world combined. The re-

maining American doses will be dis-

tributed over the coming year.

“To beat the pandemic here, we

need to beat it everywhere,” Biden

said. He added that with the new

commitments, “For every one shot

we’ve administered to date in Amer-

ica, we have now committed to do

three shots to the rest of the world.”

The latest purchase reflects only

a fraction of what will be necessary

to meet a goal of vaccinating 70% of

the global population — and 70% of

the citizens of each nation — by next

September’s U.N. meeting. It’s a tar-

get pushed by global aid groups that

Biden threw his weight behind.

Biden is pressing other countries

to do more in their vaccine sharing

plans.

“We need other high income

countries to deliver on their own

ambitious vaccine donations and

pledges,” Biden said. He called on

wealthy countries to commit to do-

nating, rather than selling the shots

to poorer nations, and to provide

them “with no political strings at-

tached.”

More than 5.9 billion COVID-19

doses have been administered glob-

ally over the past year, representing

about 43% of the global population.

But there are vast disparities in dis-

tribution, with many lower-income

nations struggling to vaccinate even

the most vulnerable share of their

populations, and some yet to exceed

2% to 3% vaccination rates.

The World Health Organization

says only 15% of promised donations

of vaccines — from rich countries

that have access to large quantities

of them — have been delivered. The

U.N. health agency has said it wants

countries to fulfill their dose-shar-

ing pledges “immediately” and

make shots available for programs

that benefit poor countries and Afri-

ca in particular.

Biden doubles USglobal donationof vaccine shots

BY ZEKE MILLER

Associated Press

ROGELIO V. SOLIS/AP

Jackson State University student Kendra Daye, right, reacts as Tameiki Lee, a nurse with theJacksonHinds Comprehensive Health Center, injects her with the Pfizer COVID19 vaccine, in Jackson,Miss., across the street from the university on Tuesday.


“What they are asking for is to

be allowed to pass freely through

Mexico to the United States,”

Ebrard said.

Two Mexican federal officials,

who requested anonymity be-

cause they were not authorized to

speak publicly, confirmed Mexi-

co’s actions.

One of the officials said three

busloads of migrants left Acuña on

Tuesday morning for Piedras Ne-

gras, about 55 miles down the bor-

der, where they boarded a flight to

the southern city of Villahermosa

in the state of Tabasco.

The other official said there was

a flight Monday from the northern

city of Monterrey to the southern

city of Tapachula near the Guate-

mala border. Tapachula is home

to the largest immigrant detention

center in Latin America. The

flight carried about 100 migrants

who had been picked up around

the bus station in Monterrey, a

hub for various routes north to the

U.S. border.

The second official said the plan

was to move to Tapachula all Hai-

tians who already solicited asylum

in Mexico.

The Haitian migrants who are

already in Mexico’s detention cen-

ters and have not requested asy-

lum will be the first to be flown di-

rectly to Haiti once Mexico begins

ing a new level of support for the

United States as the camp pre-

sented President Joe Biden with a

humanitarian and increasingly

political challenge.

Mexico has helped at key mo-

ments before. It intensified pa-

trols to stop unaccompanied Cen-

tral American children from reac-

hing the Texas border in 2014, al-

lowed tens of thousands of

asylum-seekers to wait in Mexico

for hearings in U.S. immigration

courts in 2019 and, just last month,

began deporting Central Ameri-

can migrants to Guatemala after

the Biden administration flew

them to southern Mexico.

Haitians have been migrating to

the U.S. in large numbers from

South America for several years,

many having left their Caribbean

nation after a devastating 2010

earthquake. Haiti also is strug-

gling to recover from the July 7 as-

sassination of President Jovenel

Moïse and a 7.2-magnitude earth-

quake in mid-August.

Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico’s for-

eign relations secretary, said

Tuesday he had spoken with his

U.S. counterpart, Secretary of

State Antony Blinken, about the

Haitians’ situation. Ebrard said

most of the Haitians already had

refugee status in Chile or Brazil

and weren’t seeking it in Mexico.

nonprofit human rights advocacy

organization. McMullen had trav-

eled to Del Rio to assist other ad-

vocacy groups helping the immi-

grants at the camp.

Advocates also don’t know how

many of the immigrants have

been deported so far and how

many have been released into the

U.S., he said.

What information attorneys and

advocates have been able to find

out has come from interviews they

have conducted in Del Rio with

dozens of immigrants who have

been released into the U.S.

U.S. authorities scrambled in

recent days for buses to Tucson

but resorted to flights when they

couldn’t find enough transporta-

tion contractors, both officials

said. Coast Guard planes took Hai-

tians from Del Rio to El Paso.

The releases in the U.S. were oc-

curring despite the signaling of a

massive effort to expel Haitians

on flights to Haiti under pandem-

ic-related authority that denies

migrants an opportunity to seek

asylum. A third U.S. official not

authorized to discuss operations

said there were seven daily flights

to Haiti planned starting Wednes-

day.

Accounts of wide-scale releases

— some observed at the Del Rio

bus station by Associated Press

journalists — are at odds with

statements a day earlier by Home-

land Security Secretary Alejandro

Mayorkas, who traveled to Del Rio

to promise swift action.

“If you come to the United

States illegally, you will be return-

ed, your journey will not succeed,

and you will be endangering your

life and your family’s life,” he said

at a Monday news conference.

The releases come amid a quick

effort to empty the camp under a

bridge that, according to some es-

timates, held more than 14,000

people over the weekend in a town

of 35,000 people. Texas Gov. Greg

Abbott, during a visit Tuesday to

Del Rio, said the county’s top offi-

cial told him the most recent tally

at the camp was about 8,600 mi-

grants.

The criteria for deciding who is

flown to Haiti and who is released

in the U.S. was unclear, but two

U.S. officials said single adults

were the priority for expulsion

flights.

The Homeland Security De-

partment did not immediately re-

spond to a request for comment

late Tuesday night.

Meanwhile, Mexico has begun

busing and flying Haitian mi-

grants away from the U.S. border,

authorities said Tuesday, signal-

tians from Del Rio to El Paso, La-

redo and the Rio Grande Valley

along the Texas border, and this

week added flights to Tucson,

Ariz., the official said. They are

processed by the Border Patrol at

those locations.

A second U.S. official, also with

direct knowledge and speaking on

the condition of anonymity, said

large numbers of Haitians were

being processed under immigra-

tion laws and not being placed on

expulsion flights to Haiti that

started Sunday. The official

couldn’t be more specific about

how many.

For Haitians hoping to get to the

United States, the administra-

tion’s decision to release many

people is a welcome relief.

Three hours after leaving the

makeshift camp under the Inter-

national Bridge with his pregnant

wife, Mackenson Veillard stood

outside a gas station in Del Rio,

Texas waiting on a Greyhound

Bus to take the couple to a cousin

who is living in San Antonio.

Veillard was one of many to be

processed and released on Mon-

day, possibly because his wife is

expecting their first child in two

months.

“I felt so stressed,” Veillard

said. “But now, I feel better. It’s

like I’m starting a new life.”

However, the decision to re-

lease many Haitians, particularly

without a clearly stated criteria

for who stays and who gets return-

ed to Haiti, will likely add to crit-

icism of the White House, which is

already facing bipartisan con-

demnation. Republicans say Bi-

den administration policies led

Haitians to believe they would get

asylum. Democrats are express-

ing outrage after images went vi-

ral this week of Border Patrol

agents on horseback using aggres-

sive tactics against the migrants.

Attorneys and advocates say

they have so far been denied ac-

cess to the migrant camp under-

neath the international bridge in

Del Rio and have been given very

little information by officials on

what is happening with the immi-

grants.

“Everybody in this country and

around the world should be up in

arms about the fact that we have

an immigration system that oper-

ates as such a black box. Right

now, we have no official access to

understand what processes are

under way, what protections are

being provided for the migrants,”

said Wade McMullen, an attorney

with Robert F. Kennedy Human

Rights, a Washington, D.C.-based

those flights, according to the offi-

cial.

Around Ciudad Acuña, Mexi-

can authorities were stepping up

efforts to move migrants away

from the border. There were de-

tentions overnight by immigration

agents and raids on hotels known

to house migrants.

“All of a sudden they knocked

on the door and (yelled) ‘immigra-

tion,’ ‘police,’ as if they were look-

ing for drug traffickers,” said

Freddy Registre, a 37-year-old

Venezuelan staying at one hotel

with his Haitian wife, Vedette Dol-

lard. The couple was surprised at

midnight.

Authorities took four people

plus others who were outside the

hotel, he said. “They took our tele-

phones to investigate and took us

to the immigration offices, took

our photos,” Registre said. They

were held overnight but finally

were given their phones back and

released. Authorities gave them

two options: leave Mexico or re-

turn to Tapachula.

On Tuesday afternoon, they de-

cided to leave town. They bought

tickets for a bus ride to the Gulf

Coast state of Veracruz, planning

to continue to Tapachula where

they had already applied for asy-

lum.

Others left without being told.

Small groups arrived at Ciudad

Acuña’s bus station to buy tickets

to Veracruz, Monterrey and Mex-

ico City. The same bus lines pro-

hibited from selling them tickets

for rides north through Mexico,

sold them tickets to head south

without issue.

In Haiti, dozens of migrants up-

set about being deported from the

U.S. tried to rush back into a plane

that landed Tuesday afternoon in

Port-au-Prince as they yelled at

authorities. A security guard

closed the plane door in time as

some deportees began throwing

rocks and shoes at the plane. Sev-

eral of them lost their belongings

in the scuffle as police arrived.

The group was disembarking

from one of three flights sched-

uled for the day.

Migrants: Policydraws fire from bothDems, RepublicansFROM PAGE 1

FELIX MARQUEZ/AP

A woman distributes clothes Tuesday at an improvised refugee camp in Ciudad Acuña, Mexico.

FERNANDO LLANO/AP

A migrant from Honduras wades across the Rio Grande river to leaveDel Rio, Texas, and return to Ciudad Acuna, Mexico, Wednesday.

NATION


NATION

WASHINGTON — The House

voted to keep the government

funded, suspend the federal debt

limit and provide disaster and ref-

ugee aid, setting up a high-stakes

showdown with Republicans who

oppose the package despite the

risk of triggering a fiscal crisis.

The federal government faces a

shutdown if funding stops on Sept.

30, the end of the fiscal year. Addi-

tionally, at some point in October,

the United States risks defaulting

on its accumulated debt load if its

borrowing limits are not waived or

adjusted.

Rushing to prevent that dire

outcome, the Democratic-led

House passed the measure Tues-

day night by a party-line vote of

220-211. The bill now goes to the

Senate, where it is likely to falter

because of overwhelming GOP

opposition.

“Our country will suffer greatly

if we do not act now to stave off this

unnecessary and preventable cri-

sis,” House Majority Leader Steny

Hoyer, D-Md., said shortly before

the vote.

Backed by the White House, the

Democratic leaders pushed the

package to approval at a time of

great uncertainty in Congress.

With lawmakers already chiseling

away at the $3.5 trillion price tag

of President Joe Biden’s broad

“build back better” agenda, im-

mediate attention focused on the

upcoming deadlines to avert deep-

er problems if votes to shore up

government funding fail.

The measure approved Tues-

day would provide stopgap money

to keep the government funded to

Dec. 3 and extend borrowing au-

thority through the end of 2022. It

includes $28.6 billion in disaster

relief for the aftermath of Hurri-

cane Ida and other extreme

weather events, and $6.3 billion to

support Afghanistan evacuees in

the fallout from the end of the 20-

year war.

While suspending the debt ceil-

ing allows the government to meet

financial obligations already in-

curred, Republicans argued it

would also facilitate a spending

binge in the months ahead.

“I will not support signing a

blank check as this majority is ad-

vancing the most reckless expan-

sion of government in genera-

tions,” said Rep. Dan Meuser, R-

Pa., during the debate.

Senate Republican leader

Mitch McConnell said since Dem-

ocrats control the White House

and Congress, it’s their problem to

find the votes — even though he

had relied on bipartisan coopera-

tion to approve the debt limits

when Republicans were in

charge.

“The debt ceiling will be raised

as it always should be, but it will be

raised by the Democrats,”

McConnell said.

In the 50-50 Senate, Democrats

will be hard-pressed to find 10 Re-

publicans to reach the 60-vote

threshold needed to overcome a

filibuster.

“This is playing with fire,” said

Senate Majority Leader Chuck

Schumer, D-N.Y.

The Treasury Department has

been using “extraordinary mea-

sures” to fund the government

since the last debt limit suspen-

sion expired July 31, and projects

it will run out cash reserves at

some point next month. Then, it

will have to rely on incoming re-

ceipts to pay its obligations, now at

$28.4 trillion. That could force the

Treasury to delay or miss pay-

ments.

Mark Zandi, the chief econo-

mist at Moody’s Analytics, warned

if lawmakers allow a federal debt

default, “this economic scenario is

cataclysmic.” In a report circulat-

ed by Democrats, Zandi warned

that a potential downturn from

government funding cutbacks

would cost 6 million jobs and stock

market losses would wipe out $15

trillion of household wealth.

White House press secretary

Jen Psaki told reporters that “in

our view, this should not be a con-

troversial vote.” Psaki noted that

Congress has raised the debt ceil-

ing numerous times on a biparti-

san basis, including three times

under President Donald Trump.

House OKs debtand funding plan,clashing with GOP

Associated Press

J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE/AP

House Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro, DConn., left, joined by Rep. Kay Granger,RTexas, the ranking member of Appropriations, appear before the House Rules Committee as they fieldquestions about the politics of the federal debt at the Capitol in Washington, on Tuesday.

BERKELEY, Calif. — Big Tech

companies that operate around the

globe have long promised to obey

local laws and to protect civil rights

while doing business. But when Ap-

ple and Google capitulated to Rus-

sian demands and removed a politi-

cal-opposition app from their local

app stores, it raised worries that

two of the world’s most successful

companies are more comfortable

bowing to undemocratic edicts —

and maintaining a steady flow of

profits — than upholding the rights

of their users.

The app in question, called Smart

Voting, was a tool for organizing op-

position to Russia President Vladi-

mir Putin ahead of elections held

over the weekend. The ban levied

last week by a pair of the world’s

richest and most powerful compa-

nies galled supporters of free elec-

tions and free expression.

“This is bad news for democracy

and dissent all over the world,” said

Natalia Krapiva, tech legal counsel

for Access Now, an internet free-

dom group. “We expect to see other

dictators copying Russia’s tactics.”

Technology companies offering

consumer services from search to

social media to apps have long

walked a tightrope in many of the

less democratic nations of the

world. As Apple, Google and other

major companies such as Amazon,

Microsoft and Facebook have

grown more powerful over the past

decade, so have government ambi-

tions to harness that power for their

own ends.

“Now this is the poster child for

political oppression,” said Sascha

Meinrath, a Penn State University

professor who studies online cen-

sorship issues. Google and Apple

“have bolstered the probability of

this happening again.”

Neither Apple nor Google re-

sponded to requests for comment

from The Associated Press when

the news of the app’s removal broke

last week; both remained silent this

week as well.

Google also denied access to two

documents on its online service

Google Docs that listed candidates

endorsed by Smart Voting, and

YouTube blocked similar videos.

According to a person with direct

knowledge of the matter, Google

faced legal demands by Russian

regulators and threats of criminal

prosecution of individual employ-

ees if it failed to comply. The same

person said Russian police visited

Google’s Moscow offices last week

to enforce a court order to block the

app. The person spoke to the AP on

condition of anonymity because of

the sensitivity of the issue.

Google’s own employees have re-

portedly blasted the company’s

cave-in to Putin’s power play by

posting internal messages and im-

ages deriding the app’s removal.

That sort of backlash within Goo-

gle has become more common-

place in recent years as the compa-

ny’s ambitions appeared to conflict

with its one-time corporate motto,

“Don’t Be Evil,” adopted by co-

founders Larry Page and Sergey

Brin 23 years ago. Neither Page nor

Brin — whose family fled the for-

mer Soviet Union for the United

Stateswhen he was a boy — are cur-

rently involved in Google’s day-to-

day management, and that motto

has long since been set aside.

Apple, meanwhile, lays out a

lofty “Commitment To Human

Rights” on its website, although a

close read of that statement sug-

gests that when legal government

orders and human rights are at

odds, the company will obey the

government.

“Where national law and interna-

tional human rights standards dif-

fer, we follow the higher standard,”

it reads. “Where they are in conflict,

we respect national law while seek-

ing to respect the principles of in-

ternationally recognized human

rights.”

A recent report from the Wash-

ington nonprofit Freedom House

found that global internet freedom

declined for the fifth consecutive

year and is under “unprecedented

strain” as more nations arrested in-

ternet users for “nonviolent politi-

cal, social or religious speech” than

ever before. Officials suspended in-

ternet access in at least 20 coun-

tries, and 21 states blocked access to

social media platforms, according

to the report.

For the seventh year in a row,

China held the top spot as the worst

environment for internet freedom.

But such threats take several

forms. Turkey’s new social media

regulations, for instance, require

platforms with over a million daily

users to remove content deemed

“offensive” within 48 hours of being

notified, or risk escalating penalties

including fines, advertising bans

and limits on bandwidth.

It’s possible that the blowback

could prompt either or both compa-

nies to reconsider their commit-

ment to operating in Russia. Google

made a similar decision in 2010

when it pulled its search engine out

of mainland China after the Com-

munist government there began

censoring search results and videos

on YouTube.

Russia isn’t a major market for

either Apple, whose annual reve-

nue this year is expected to ap-

proach $370 billion, nor Google’s

corporate parent, Alphabet, whose

revenue is projected to hit $250 bil-

lion this year. But profits are prof-

its.

“If you want to take a principled

stand on human rights and freedom

of expression, then there are some

hard choices you have to make on

when you should leave the market,”

said Kurt Opsahl, general counsel

for the digital rights group Elec-

tronic Frontier Foundation.

Apple, Google raise new concerns by yanking Russian appAssociated Press

ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO/AP

The app Smart Voting is seen onan iPhone screen in Moscow.


AMERICAN ROUNDUP

Man gets prison forpointing laser at helo

AL BIRMINGHAM — An

Alabama man has been

sentenced to eight months in federal

prison for aiming a laser at a heli-

copter last year.

U.S. District Judge Anna M. Ma-

nasco sentenced Gabriel Lopez

Mathews, 27, who pleaded guilty to

the charge in April, the U.S. Attor-

ney’s Office for the Northern Dis-

trict of Alabama said Wednesday in

anews release. The maximum pen-

alty for aiming a laser at an aircraft

is five years in prison.

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s

Office Star 1 helicopter was helping

the Alabama Law Enforcement

Agency in a nighttime operation to

recover stolen firearms on April 11,

2020. While flying below an ap-

proach path for the Birmingham-

Shuttlesworth International Air-

port, the sheriff’s helicopter re-

ceived numerous laser strikes from

aresidence below.

The FAA reported 6,852 laser in-

cidents in 2020, up from 6,136 in

2019 and 5,663 in 2018.

Feds: Bomb technicianscaused major explosion

CA LOS ANGELES— Los

Angeles police bomb

technicians made major miscalcu-

lations in June when they detonated

illegal fireworks improperly and

caused a massive explosion that

rocked a city neighborhood and in-

jured 27 people in June, according

to a report by federal investigators.

The 51-page report from the Bu-

reau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms

and Explosives, released Tuesday,

ruled out other possible causes,

such as an equipment defect, for the

June 30 blast in South Los Angeles.

The Los Angeles Police Depart-

ment also issued its own 53-page af-

ter-action report.

The technicians overloaded a

containment chamber with the ille-

gal fireworks above the equip-

ment’s safety rating after author-

ities were called to a South LA home

for a huge stash of fireworks ahead

of the Fourth of July. .

The vessel exploded, and debris

rained down on dozens of residenc-

es, businesses and vehicles. The

ATF estimates that the catastrophic

blast caused more than $1 million in

damage to the neighborhood.

Sheriff raising money to aid kids at Halloween

GA LEESBURG — A Geor-

gia sheriff’s department

is raising money to help needy chil-

dren have a happy Halloween.

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office in

southwest Georgia will use the cash

donations to buy Halloween cos-

tumes for kids whose families other-

wise couldn’t afford them.

The idea started with a Lee Coun-

ty sheriff’s lieutenant who visits

schools each year to give safety tips

for trick-or-treating, WALB-TV re-

ported.

The sheriff’s office works with a

nonprofit, Lee County Family Con-

nection, which helps financially

struggling families, to identify chil-

dren who would benefit from the

Halloween fundraiser. On Oct. 2,

sheriff’s deputies will accompany

the children and their parents on a

shopping spree at a retailer in near-

by Albany. Each child will get $50 to

assemble the perfect costume.

Plant to pretreat fats forrenewable fuel industry

NE DAKOTA CITY — Con-

struction is starting next

week on a Nebraska plant that will

pretreat animal fat for eventual con-

version into renewable diesel fuel.

The JST Global facility is a joint

venture between Tyson Foods’ and

Jacob Stern & Sons. It will be built on

6.5 acres next to Tyson’s flagship

beef plant in Dakota City and will

complement a similar JST plant in

Houston, The Sioux City Journal re-

ports.

Dakota Dunes-based Tyson

Fresh Meats, which operates six

beef plants and six pork plants in the

U.S., has supplied Jacob Stern &

Sons, the largest U.S. processor and

marketer of animal fats, with pork

and beef-derived fats and oils for

over 50 years.

The animal fat products are used

for industries ranging from phar-

maceuticals to animal nutrition and

the growing renewable foods mar-

ket.

Woman dies when car fallsfrom parking deck

CA ORANGE — A woman

died after she drove her

car through a wall on the fourth sto-

ry of a Southern California parking

structure and it fell to the ground,

authorities said Friday.

The Orange County Register re-

ports the car landed on the ground

upside down and bystanders flipped

it over.

The crash occurred at a usually

busy intersection near a hospital

and a children’s hospital in the city

of Orange, said Orange police Sgt.

Phil McMullin.

No one else was injured in the

crash, McMullin said, adding that

the woman was the car’s only occu-

pant.

Native Americans aimto boost voting power

NM SANTA FE — A coali-

tion of Native Ameri-

can communities has proposed re-

drawing New Mexico’s political

map to boost Indigenous voters’ in-

fluence in elections.

The proposed changes from New

Mexico’s 19 Native American pueb-

los and the Jicarilla Apache Nation,

outlined Monday, would reshape a

congressional swing district where

Republicans regained control in

2020. They would also lead to more

Native American potential voters in

six state House and three Senate

districts northwestern New Mexico.

The proposals were submitted to

a committee that will provide rec-

ommendations to the Legislature at

the end of October. The Democrat-

led Legislature can draw its own

lines. Democratic Gov. Michelle

Lujan Grisham must approve the

redistricting, and court challenges

are possible.

New Mexico is home to 23 feder-

ally recognized tribes.

Man who posed as copnabbed for doing it again

MN MINNEAPOLIS — A

man with a history of

pretending to be a law enforcement

officer was arrested in Minnesota

after a TikTok user alerted a woman

he was dating that he was faking it

again.

Authorities said in a complaint fil-

ed Friday that Reyel Devon Sim-

mons, 52, of Dodge Center, used the

name “Rey Reeves” and regularly

held himself out as a federal agent

on social media. He is charged in

federal court in Minneapolis with

impersonating a federal officer.

Simmons’ profile photo on Tik-

Tok showed him wearing law en-

forcement gear. He made several

posts displaying police equipment,

badges, and firearms and referred

“explicitly and implicitly” to him-

self as a federal agent, authorities

said. He had more than 10,000 fol-

lowers on TikTok, including one

woman from Georgia who began a

romantic relationship with him.

The woman, who dated Simmons

for about eight months, eventually

went to the FBI after a TikTok user

posted about Simmons impersonat-

ing a police officer “again.”

Vandalism at Sikh temple apossible hate crime

WA FEDERAL WAY —

Police in Washington

state are searching for a man they

say vandalized a Sikh temple south

of Seattle in what's being investigat-

ed as a possible hate crime.

Several portable electronic de-

vices were stolen during the Friday

break-in at the Khalsa Gurmat Cen-

ter in Federal Way.

The building houses religious,

educational and social services for

local Sikh residents. The suspect

was seen on surveillance video da-

maging the center's main hall and

prayer area, KOMO-TV reported.

No one from the center was pre-

sent at the time.

Artist Cary Haycox demonstrates a printing technique to Carra Purvis during the Maker Faire at the Mississippi Industrial Heritage Museumat the Soulé Steam Works in Meridian, Miss., on Saturday.

Art in gear

From The Associated Press

BILL GRAHAM, THE MERIDIAN (MISS.) STAR/AP


NATION

NORTH PORT, Fla. — Gabby

Petito was killed by another per-

son, a coroner concluded while al-

so confirming that the human re-

mains found recently at a Wyom-

ing national park were those of the

22-year-old woman who disap-

peared months after she set out on

a cross-country road trip with her

boyfriend, the FBI said Tuesday.

Teton County Coroner Brent

Blue determined Petito was a

homicide victim, but did not dis-

close a cause of death pending fi-

nal autopsy results, officials said.

Her body was found Sunday near

an undeveloped camping area in

remote northern Wyoming along

the border of Grand Teton Nation-

al Park.

Meanwhile, authorities contin-

ued to search a swampy Florida

preserve area near the home of

Petito’s boyfriend. Police in North

Port, Fla., said investigators re-

turned Tuesday to the Carlton Re-

serve to look for Brian Laundrie,

23. Nothing of note was found, and

the search was expected to contin-

ue Wednesday. Investigators be-

gan searching the 24,000-acre

Florida nature preserve over the

weekend, focusing on the area af-

ter Laundrie’s parents told police

he may have gone there.

Authorities are using helicop-

ters, drones, dogs and officers in

all-terrain vehicles in their search

for Laundrie. About 75% of the

search area is underwater.

On Monday, the FBI went to

Laundrie’s parents’ home in North

Port and removed several boxes

and towed away a car neighbors

said Laundrie’s mother typically

used.

Laundrie and Petito had been

living with his parents at the North

Port home before the road trip on

which she died.

The young couple had set out in

July in a converted van to visit na-

tional parks in the West. They got

into a fight along the way, and

Laundrie was alone when he re-

turned in the van to his parents’

home Sept. 1, police said.

Laundrie has been named a per-

son of interest in the case, but his

whereabouts in recent days were

unknown.

Petito’s father, Joseph, posted

on social media an image of a bro-

ken heart above a picture of his

daughter, with the message: “She

touched the world.”

In an interview broadcast Mon-

day on TV’s “Dr. Phil” show, Jo-

seph Petito said Laundrie and his

daughter had dated for 2 1/2 years,

and Laundrie was “always re-

spectful.” During the interview,

which was recorded before his

daughter’s body was found, Petito

said the couple had taken a previ-

ous road trip to California in her

car and there were no problems.

Joseph Petito said the family

began worrying after several days

without hearing from their daugh-

ter.

The FBI said investigators are

seeking information from anyone

who may have seen the couple

around Grand Teton.Gabby Petito

and Laundrie were childhood

sweethearts who met while grow-

ing up on New York’s Long Island.

His parents later moved to North

Port, about 35 miles(55 kilome-

ters) south of Sarasota.

A man who saw Petito and

Laundrie fighting in Moab, Utah,

on Aug. 12 called 911 to report a do-

mestic violence incident, accord-

ing to a recording of the call ob-

tained from the Grand County

Sheriff’s Office. The man said he

saw Laundrie slap Petito while

walking through the town and pro-

ceeded to hit her before the two

got in their van and drove off.

Video released by the Moab po-

lice showed that an officer pulled

the couple’s van over on the same

day after it was seen speeding and

hitting a curb near Arches Nation-

al Park. The body-camera footage

showed an upset Petito.

Laundrie said on the video that

the couple had gotten into a scuffle

after he climbed into the van with

dirty feet. He said he did not want

to pursue a domestic violence

charge against Petito, who offi-

cers decided was the aggressor.

Moab police separated the cou-

ple for the night, with Laundrie

checking into a motel and Petito

remaining with the van.

In the footage, Gabby Petito

cried as she told the officer she

and Laundrie had been arguing

over her excessive cleaning of the

van.

CURT ANDERSON/AP

Law enforcement officials investigate home of a young man wanted for questioning in the disappearance ofhis girlfriend, Gabby Petito, on Monday in North Port, Fla.

Florida coroner IDs remains, saysmissing woman was homicide victim

BY CURT ANDERSON

Associated Press

FBI DENVER/AP

Petito, 22, vanished while on acrosscountry trip in a convertedcamper van with her boyfriend.

NEW YORK — Former Presi-

dent Donald Trump on Tuesday

sued his estranged niece and The

New York Times over a 2018 story

about his family’s wealth and tax

practices that was partly based on

confidential documents she provid-

ed to the newspaper’s reporters.

Trump’s lawsuit, filed in state

court in New York, accuses Mary

Trump of breaching a settlement

agreement by disclosing tax records

she received in a dispute over family

patriarch Fred Trump’s estate.

The lawsuit accuses the Times

and three of its investigative report-

ers, Susanne Craig, David Barstow

and Russell Buettner, of relentlessly

seeking out Mary Trump as a source

of information and convincing her to

turn over documents. The suit

claims that the reporters were

aware the settlement agreement

barred her from disclosing the doc-

uments.

The Times’ story challenged

Trump’s claims of self-made wealth

by documenting how his father,

Fred, had given him at least $413

million over the decades, including

through tax avoidance schemes.

Mary Trump identified herself in

a book published last year as the

source of the documents provided to

the Times.

Trump’s lawsuit alleges Mary

Trump, the Times and its reporters

“were motivated by a personal ven-

detta” against him and a desire to

push a political agenda.

The defendants “engaged in an

insidious plot to obtain confidential

and highly-sensitive records which

they exploited for their own benefit

and utilized as a means of falsely le-

gitimizing their publicized works,”

the lawsuit said.

In a statement to NBC News, Ma-

ry Trump said of her uncle, “I think

he is a loser, and he is going to throw

anything against the wall he can. It’s

desperation. The walls are closing in

and he is throwing anything against

the wall that he thinks will stick. As is

always the case with Donald, he’ll

try and change the subject.”

A Times spokesperson, Danielle

Rhoads Ha, said the lawsuit “is an

attempt to silence independent

news organizations and we plan to

vigorously defend against it.”

The Times’ coverage of Trump’s

taxes, she said, “helped inform citi-

zens through meticulous reporting

on a subject of overriding public in-

terest.”

One of the Times reporters, Craig,

responded in a tweet: “I knocked on

Mary Trump’s door. She opened it. I

think they call that journalism.”

Trump is seeking $100 million in

damages.

Trump sues niece,NYT over recordsbehind tax story

BY MICHAEL R. SISAK

Associated Press

While there has been a decline in

births in the United States during

the pandemic, a new report re-

leased Tuesday by the U.S. Census

Bureau suggests the drop may have

turned a corner last March as births

started rebounding.

The decline in births was most

noticeable at the end of 2020 and be-

ginning of 2021. In December 2020,

births in the U.S. were down 7.7%

from the previous year, and they

were down 9.4% last January com-

pared to the previous January.

Births continued to be down 2.8%

in February from the previous year,

but in March births barely declined,

only 0.15%, compared to March

2020, when the new coronavirus

was declared a national emergency.

“This trend suggests that some

people who postponed having ba-

bies last year had them this year,”

said Anne Morse, a Census Bureau

demographer in the report. “The

winter decrease in births may have

been prompted by couples who con-

sciously chose to delay having chil-

dren amid the uncertainty of the

pandemic. It may also have been in-

fluenced by stress or limited phys-

ical interaction with a sexual part-

ner.”

It’s still probably too soon to de-

termine if births will still go in an

upward year-over-year projection

given the herky-jerky nature of pan-

demic recovery. After all, the ba-

bies born in the U.S. last March

were likely conceived in June 2020

when spring lockdowns seemed to

be easing up. But that optimism was

soon met with the summer surge of

2020.

“It is still too soon to make broad

conclusions about the pandemic’s

effect on U.S. birth trends,” the re-

port said. “But the data so far indi-

cate there was a temporary drop in

births amid the pandemic after ac-

counting for other factors that exist-

ed before the pandemic — declining

births and seasonality.”

Pandemic-related declinein births may be reversing

Associated Press


WORLD

TODOQUE, Canary Islands — A

wall of lava up to 40 feet high bore

down on a Spanish village Wednes-

day as islanders scrambled to save

what they could before the molten

rock swallowed up their homes fol-

lowing a volcanic eruption.

The lava still spewing from Sun-

day’s eruption in the Canary Is-

lands off northwest Africa ad-

vanced slowly down hillsides to the

coast, where Todoque was the last

village between the molten rock

and the Atlantic Ocean. The lava

could take several days to cover the

remaining 1.25 miles to the sea, ex-

perts said, but authorities and lo-

cals were taking no chances amid

the unpredictable seismic activity.

Residents hoping to save some

belongings queued up so they could

be escorted into the village. The la-

va was advancing in the distance at

around 400 feet an hour, with

smoke coming from its leading

edge as it destroyed everything it

touched.

Javier López said his house for

the past three decades appeared to

be in the lava’s path. He and his rel-

atives had been staying at a friend’s

house with the few documents,

photos and basic belongings they

had been able to take when they

were evacuated on Monday.

“I’ve put my whole life in a van,”

López told The Associated Press as

he waited for his turn to try to re-

cover a vehicle he had left behind

and other valuables.

“This is probably going to be the

last time I see my home,” he said.

“Or, in the best-case scenario, the

house will remain isolated by the

lava and inaccessible for who

knows how long.”

Firefighting crews trying to save

as many houses as possible from

being entombed by lava worked

nonstop overnight to open a trench

to divert the lava flow.

As the lava headed toward the is-

land’s more densely populated

coast, 1,000 people were evacuated

late Tuesday from Todoque, bring-

ing the total number of evacuated

on the island of La Palma to over

6,800.

Authorities say more dangers lie

ahead for residents, including

more earthquakes, possible new la-

va flows, toxic gases, volcanic ash

and acid rain.

Spanish island residents raceto rescue belongings from lava

Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS — Racism,

climate change and worsening divi-

sions among nations and cultures

topped the agenda Wednesday as

leaders from China to Costa Rica,

from Finland to Turkey to the Unit-

ed Nations itself outlined reasons

why the world isn’t working as it

should — and what must be done

quickly to fix it. Said one country’s

president: “The future is raising its

voice at us.”

For the first time since the CO-

VID-19 pandemic began early last

year, more than two dozen world

leaders appeared in person at the

U.N. General Assembly on the

opening day of their annual high-

level meeting Tuesday. In speech

after speech, the atmosphere was

somber, angry and dire.

Chinese President Xi Jinping

warned that “the world has entered

a period of new turbulence and

transformation.” Finland President

Sauli Niinistö said: “We are indeed

at a critical juncture.” And Costa Ri-

can President Carlos Alvarado Que-

sada declared: “The future is raising

its voice at us: Less military weapon-

ry, more investment in peace!”

Speaker after speaker at Tues-

day’s opening of the nearly week-

long meeting decried the inequali-

ties and deep divisions that have

prevented united global action to

end the COVID-19 pandemic, which

has claimed nearly 4.6 million lives

and is still raging, and the failure to

sufficiently tackle the climate crisis

threatening the planet.

COVID-19 and climate are cer-

tain to remain top issues for heads of

state and government. But Wednes-

day’s U.N. agenda will first turn the

spotlight on the commemoration of

the 20th anniversary of the contro-

versial U.N. World Conference

Against Racism in Durban, South

Africa, which was dominated by

clashes over the Middle East and the

legacy of slavery.

Two of the most closely watched

speeches on Tuesday were deliver-

ed by President Joe Biden and Chi-

nese President Xi Jinping.

In an interview on Saturday, U.N.

Secretary-General Antonio Gu-

terres warned that the world could

plunge into a new and probably

more dangerous Cold War if China

and the United States don’t repair

their “completely dysfunctional”

relationship.

Biden said in his U.N. address that

the United States was not attempt-

ing to be divisive or confrontational.

“We are not seeking a new Cold

War or a world divided into rigid

blocs,” he said. “The United States is

ready to work with any nation that

steps up and pursues peaceful reso-

lution to shared challenges even if

we have intense disagreements in

other areas.”

Speaking later, Xi said disputes

among countries “need to be han-

dled through dialogue and coopera-

tion.”

“One country’s success does not

have to mean another country’s fail-

ure,” Xi said.

‘The future is raising its voice’:Dire mood defines UN meeting

BY EDITH M. LEDERER

Associated Press


Max D. Lederer Jr., Publisher

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stripes.com

OPINION

President Joe Biden gave a solid

speech to the U.N. General As-

sembly on Tuesday, but one line

brought many observers up short.

“I stand here today for the first time in 20

years with the U.S. not at war,” he said to ap-

plause. “We have turned the page.”

But have we really? That’s not what Biden

himself said in a letter that he sent on June 8

to the leaders of the House and Senate in ac-

cordance with the War Powers Act. Biden

noted that the United States was withdraw-

ing from Afghanistan but continued to de-

ploy its “forces to conduct counterterrorism

operations and to advise, assist, and accom-

pany security forces of select foreign part-

ners on counterterrorism operations.” The

president’s letter noted that these troops are

in harm’s way: “In many of these locations,

the security environment is such that United

States military personnel may be required to

defend themselves against threats or at-

tacks.”

Most of these deployments are relatively

small in scale, and the nature and extent of

the operations remain classified. But Biden’s

letter noted the presence of U.S. troops on

counterterrorism missions in Iraq, Syria, Ye-

men, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, East Africa,

Lake Chad and the Sahel region of Africa,

and the Philippines.

The biggest deployments are in Iraq, with

about 2,500 U.S. troops, and Syria, with about

900 U.S. troops. These troops act in support

of local forces — the Iraqi armed forces and

the Syrian Democratic Forces (a primarily

Kurdish militia) — by providing them with

intelligence, air power, logistics and other

“enablers.” Their mission is primarily to

prevent a resurgence of Islamic State but al-

so to counteract the growth of Iranian power

in the region.

ISIS lost its “caliphate” — which once con-

trolled much of eastern Syria and northern

and western Iraq — in 2019, but it still has

thousands of fighters in Iraq and Syria carry-

ing out terrorist attacks. ISIS also has at least

nine affiliates around the world, including in

North Africa, West Africa, the Philippines

and Bangladesh. Its Afghanistan and Pakis-

tan affiliate, ISIS-Khorasan, carried out the

suicide bombing that killed 13 American ser-

vice members and nearly 200 Afghans at the

Kabul airport last month. So it makes perfect

sense that the United States would maintain

asmall military commitment to prevent ISIS

from becoming an ever-bigger threat.

Somalia shows how difficult it is to actually

end such U.S. operations. President Donald

Trump ordered the withdrawal of 700 U.S.

troops from Somalia in December, but most

didn’t go far — they simply relocated to out-

posts in nearby Kenya and Djibouti. Gen.

Stephen J. Townsend, head of U.S. Africa

Command, revealed in April that some 100

U.S. military personnel remain in Somalia

and others “commute to work” — i.e., flying

in to train Somali forces to more effectively

battle al-Shabab. In June, Africa Command

was reported by The New York Times to be

developing plans to send more trainers back

to Somalia.

U.S. drone strikes also continue in Soma-

lia. New America, a Washington-based think

tank, reports that the United States has car-

ried out 11 drone strikes in Somalia this year,

the most recent on Aug. 24. Biden has tough-

ened the rules for approving drone strikes

but has not ended them.

There is a good reason U.S. forces remain

militarily engaged in Somalia and so many

other countries. It’s not because of the “mil-

itary-industrial complex” or “neocons” or

“woke generals” or any other conspiracy

theory. It’s simply because U.S. policymak-

ers perceive a real threat.

Consider Somalia. It’s a distant, impover-

ished country, but al-Shabab has been called

“the largest, wealthiest and most violent al-

Qaida-associated group in the world.” It is

believed to have 5,000 to 10,000 fighters in

control of “wide swaths of territory in south-

ern Somalia” and, in recent years, two of its

operatives were arrested either taking flying

lessons or attempting to do so from an appar-

ent desire to emulate the terrorist attacks of

Sept. 11, 2001.

The Biden administration has repeatedly

vowed to carry out “over the horizon” strikes

against terrorists, but the errant Aug. 29

drone strike in Kabul — which killed 10 civil-

ians — shows how hard it is to gather accu-

rate intelligence if you don’t have personnel

on the ground. (By that point, the only U.S.

troops left in Afghanistan were at the Kabul

airport.)

Counterterrorism operations are more ef-

fective if the United States has eyes on the

ground — i.e., intelligence and military per-

sonnel working with local forces to track ter-

rorist targets. That’s why, for all of Biden’s

talk of ending “forever wars,” the United

States can’t actually afford to withdraw all of

its personnel from the front lines.

The battle is much reduced from its peak,

when the United States had tens of thousands

of combat troops in Afghanistan and Iraq,

but it hasn’t ended. As the U.S. military likes

to say, the enemy gets a vote — and militant

Islamist organizations are still fighting. So

the United States and its allies are fighting

back. That means that, contrary to what Bi-

den said on Tuesday, we remain at war.

Contrary to Biden’s UN speech, US is still at warBY MAX BOOT

Special to The Washington Post

Max Boot is a Washington Post columnist, a senior fellow at theCouncil on Foreign Relations and author of “The Road Not Taken:Edward Lansdale and the American Tragedy in Vietnam.”

U.S. Navy recently stood up a seago-

ing task force that it hopes will sail

into not just the Arabian Gulf but

also the future. The question is

whether the service, and the Pentagon as a

whole, can put its focus and money into the

weapons of tomorrow and not those of the past.

Instead of the traditional collection of de-

stroyers and cruisers, Task Force 59 is outfit-

ted with unmanned vehicles powered by arti-

ficial intelligence. It is commanded by Capt.

Michael “Brasso” Brasseur, whom I met in

the days after the Sept. 11 attacks in the Penta-

gon, which still reeked of smoke and jet fuel. I

was a recently promoted rear admiral, in

charge of a small group of officers chosen to

create new ways of thinking about how to use

marine forces in what we would come to call

“the global war on terror.”

Known as Deep Blue, our team worked on

new alignments of land-attack forces built

around amphibious ships; alternating crew

arrangements that allowed the Navy to keep

ships forward in combat far longer; and inte-

grating naval Special Forces with our conven-

tional capabilities to fight in a landlocked

country, Afghanistan.

One of the most energetic and creative

members of that team was young Lt. Brasseur.

Twenty years later, he is a commodore of a

cutting-edge force more capable than any-

thing we imagined after 9/11. We talked re-

cently, and he emphasized how important it is

to move these weapons into the field. “We

want to accelerate getting these new capabil-

ities in the hands of the operators,” he said.

“They are the ultimate innovators because

they are closest to the problems.”

His boss, Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, com-

mander of the Bahrain-based 5th Fleet, em-

phasizes the mission’s international dimen-

sion. “Going forward,” he told me, “we will

work closely with our many allies and part-

ners in the region. Like us, they fully recognize

the value that unmanned systems can bring to

maritime security and deterrence.”

Working with other navies is particularly

important, given the inherent complexities of

the Gulf. In addition to local U.S. partners —

Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emir-

ates, Qatar — U.S. allies from outside the re-

gion operate extensively there: a British flag

officer is typically a deputy to the U.S. fleet

commander in what’s called the Combined

Military Forces. It is one of the busiest ship-

ping lanes in the world, with around 35% of the

world’s seaborne oil passing through the nar-

row Strait of Hormuz. And, of course, Iran

controls its eastern shore.

Task Force 59 will have various unmanned

assets: airborne drones, surface vessels and

underwater vehicles. While all the Navy’s

“numbered fleets” operate some unmanned

vehicles in the Atlantic, Pacific, Caribbean

and elsewhere, the 5th Fleet will have the most

capability. Examples cited by Brasseur in-

clude the MQ-8B Fire Scout, an autonomous

helicopter; the MQ-9B SeaGuardian, a seago-

ing version of the well-known MQ-9 Reaper;

and the unmanned surface vehicles Sea Hun-

ter and Seahawk.

The advantages of these new technologies

go beyond capability in battle. First, they are

cost-effective, eliminating the most expensive

part of any platform, the crew. They are also in

many cases environmentally attractive, using

a smaller carbon footprint than full-sized,

manned naval vessels and aircraft.

Unfortunately, the Department of Defense

remains wedded to big legacy programs: the

huge nuclear aircraft carriers and subma-

rines, long-range strategic bombers, and main

battle tanks with supporting close-air support

helicopter forces. Drones, cyber and AI are

still far too small in terms of the budget, and

the department must continue to swing the

rheostat away from the big contracts and to-

ward the more-nimble systems.

When I was a commodore in the Gulf, I had

command of eight destroyers from several

different countries. That was a powerful mil-

itary force in its day. But the new way of war

will be increasingly unmanned and supported

by AI, and Task Force 59 is well-positioned on

the leading edge of 21st-century warfare.

Navy gets Task Force 59 drone fleet into the waterBY JAMES STAVRIDIS

Bloomberg Opinion

Bloomberg Opinion columnist James Stavridis is a retired U.S.Navy admiral and former supreme allied commander of NATO,and dean emeritus of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacyat Tufts University. This column does not necessarily reflect theopinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.


ACROSS

1 A/C measures

5 Opening

8 Literary reps

12 French river

13 Perfume

label word

14 “Star Wars” royal

15 Done with

16 Highland hat

17 Detail

18 Classic Ford

20 Video-game

parlor

22 “Unh-unh”

23 “There’s no

— team!”

24 Forum wear

27 Golden break-

fast roll

32 Pub order

33 Street, in

Montreal

34 Numbered rd.

35 Software trial

38 Printer’s blue

39 Calendar abbr.

40 Actor Stephen

42 Poorly made

45 Chopin pieces

49 60 minutes

50 Lab eggs

52 Singer Alessia

53 Rim

54 Pantheon

member

55 Submachine

guns

56 Wan

57 Whatever

58 Beholds

DOWN

1 Prosperous time

2 DVR brand

3 Secondhand

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Williams

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6 Motorist’s org.

7 Cougar

8 Singer Keys

9 Blow one’s top

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11 “Ditto”

19 Scale member

21 Tease

24 Bar bill

25 Flamenco cheer

26 Crack down

28 Gloomy guy

29 Prepare

30 Greek vowel

31 Author Deighton

36 Hollywood’s

Hepburn

37 Slugger Williams

38 Political meeting

41 Alien, for short

42 — butter

43 Coal scuttles

44 Meditative

practice

46 Stupor

47 One of HOMES

48 Back talk

51 Otto — Bismarck

Answer to Previous Puzzle

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Dilbert

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win

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opponent just hard enough to keep him on his

feet so he could continue to punish him. There

are also highlights from the 1966 fight against

Cleveland Williams, which many experts be-

lieve was Ali’s finest moment.

“That’s his Picasso. His Baryshnikov. That’s

Miles Davis,” Bentt says in the documentary.

“That kind of artistry will never be seen again.”

In addition to Bentt’s analysis, the docuseries

features terrific commentary from novelist

Walter Mosley, promoter Bob Arum and essay-

ist Gerald Early.

David Remnick, longtime editor of the New

Yorker, reflects on the Ali of the ’70s, when the

boxer was slower and more vulnerable. He may

not have been a better boxer, Remnick argues,

but he was a better story. That’s when we really

fell in love with Ali.

There’s also valuable insight from former

wives, his brother and daughter Rasheda.

It couldn’t have been easy for Rasheda Ali to

watch parts of the film that deal with her fa-

ther’s ugly treatment of Joe Frazier, the cruel

way he disowned Malcolm X and his constant

womanizing. Burns and co-directors Sarah

Burns and David McMahon dedicate much of

the fourth hour to Ali’s quest for redemption.

In many ways, he changed as much as Amer-

ica did.

“Daddy is a good-spirited person, but he

made mistakes, and my dad always owned up to

his mistakes,” Rasheda Ali said during the news

conference. “He was just always evolving.”

Ken Burns series shows heavyweight champion’s journey from outcast to idol

Ali doc pulls no punches

AFP, GETTY IMAGES/TNS

Sonny Liston lies on the canvas after being knocked out in the first round of a rematch against world heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali inLewiston, Maine, on May 25, 1965. Ken Burns’ “Muhammad Ali” explores the boxer’s life in and out of the ring.

spised him,” said actor and former WBO heavy-

weight champion Michael Bentt, one of the

most eloquent voices in the film. “When you

achieve something and you’re in the spotlight,

then have a challenge, people hate you because

they can’t do that or they would fold under the

pressure of trying to do that.”

Some of the series’ most jarring scenes deal

with the years Ali was not allowed to fight and

how close he came to going to jail.

When Ali was in the ring, he was a power-

house. I had doubted the idea that he was the

greatest of all time. Now I’m not so sure.

There’s a good chance you’ve seen key mo-

ments from the brutal “Thrilla in Manila” fight.

It’s less likely that you’ve seen footage of his

1965 bout against Floyd Patterson, hitting his

We remember Muhammad Ali as

The Greatest. But there was a

time when much of America hat-

ed his guts. To his dissenters, he

was too cocky, too pretty, too Muslim, too Black.

His journey from outcast to idol is at the heart of

“Muhammad Ali,” an eight-hour documentary

premiering Sunday on PBS and AFN-Spectrum

(check local listings).

Like the rest of Ken Burns’ projects, it has a

lot to say about our country.

“What we are always drawn to are very, very

complicated stories that are engaged in an es-

sential American-ness, whatever that is, and we

pursue it,” the acclaimed director said last

month during a virtual news conference. “No

one could be more important to the exploration

of that question than Muhammad Ali.”

The four-part series includes familiar mile-

stones like the “Rumble in the Jungle” in Zaire

where he famously beat George Foreman, his

comedy routines with Howard Cosell and the

lighting of the torch at the Atlanta Olympics.

But you might get thrown for a loop by the

chapters in which Ali’s religion and refusal to go

to Vietnam got under people’s skins. Newspa-

pers kept referring to him as Cassius Clay long

after he had changed his name. He was booed —

and not just by white spectators.

“There’s a certain section of Black people

that loved Muhammad and another that de-

BY NEAL JUSTIN

Star Tribune

“What we are alwaysdrawn to are very, verycomplicated stories thatare engaged in an essentialAmerican-ness, whateverthat is, and we pursue it.”

Ken Burns

director of “Muhammad Ali”

REVIEW


FACES

The Fugees are reuniting for the

first time in 15 years.

The hip-hop trio — comprised

of original members Lauryn Hill,

Wyclef Jean and Pras Michel —

announced Tuesday that they are

celebrating the 25th anniversary

of their seminal 1996 album, “The

Score,” with a 12-city tour.

“I decided to honor this signif-

icant project, its anniversary, and

the fans who appreciated the mu-

sic by creating a peaceful plat-

form where we could unite, per-

form the music we loved, and set

an example of reconciliation for

the world,” Hill said in a state-

ment.

The Grammy-winning group

was to kick off Wednesday with an

intimate pop-up show in New

York City as part of the Global Ci-

tizen Live series of concerts.

The tour will continue Nov. 2 in

Chicago and will make stops in

Oakland, Calif.; Los Angeles; At-

lanta; Miami; Newark, N.J.; and

Washington, D.C. The group will

then travel abroad to Paris, Lon-

don, Nigeria and Ghana.

Considered one of the best hip-

hop albums of all time by critics

and fans alike, “The Score” sold

more than 12 million copies and

earned two Grammy Awards:

Best Rap Album, and Best R&B

Performance by a Duo or Group

with Vocals, for their contempo-

rary cover of Roberta Flack’s ’70s

classic “Killing Me Softly.”

Other newsNetflix has acquired the

works of Roald Dahl, the late Brit-

ish author of celebrated children’s

books such as “Charlie and the

Chocolate Factory.” The deal

builds on a partnership struck in

2018 to create a slate of animated

TV series, under which “Charlie

and the Chocolate Factory” is get-

ting a reboot by Academy Award-

winning filmmaker Taika Waititi.

Willie Garson, who played

Stanford Blatch, Carrie Brad-

shaw’s friend on TV’s “Sex and the

City” and its movie sequels, has

died, his son announced Tuesday.

He was 57. No details of his death

were released.

Singer Sarah Dash, who co-

founded the all-female group La-

belle — best known for the rau-

cous 1974 hit “Lady Marmalade”

— has died. She was 76. Patti La-

belle and Nona Hendryx complet-

ed the trio. They announced

Dash’s death Monday on social

media. No cause was disclosed.

“Gone Girl” author Gillian

Flynn and Emmy-winning writer-

producer-actor Lena Waithe will

each run imprints at Zando, a new

puslishing house headed by Molly

Stern, who helped establish Flynn

when she was at Crown.

The Fugeesreuniting to celebrate‘The Score’

From wire reports


SCOREBOARD

PRO FOOTBALL

NFL

AMERICAN CONFERENCE

East

W L T Pct PF PA

Buffalo 1 1 0 .500 51 23

Miami 1 1 0 .500 17 51

New England 1 1 0 .500 41 23

N.Y. Jets 0 2 0 .000 20 44

South

W L T Pct PF PA

Houston 1 1 0 .500 58 52

Tennessee 1 1 0 .500 46 68

Indianapolis 0 2 0 .000 40 55

Jacksonville 0 2 0 .000 34 60

North

W L T Pct PF PA

Baltimore 1 1 0 .500 63 68

Cincinnati 1 1 0 .500 44 44

Cleveland 1 1 0 .500 60 54

Pittsburgh 1 1 0 .500 40 42

West

W L T Pct PF PA

Denver 2 0 0 1.000 50 26

Las Vegas 2 0 0 1.000 59 44

Kansas City 1 1 0 .500 68 65

L.A. Chargers 1 1 0 .500 37 36

NATIONAL CONFERENCE

East

W L T Pct PF PA

Dallas 1 1 0 .500 49 48

Philadelphia 1 1 0 .500 43 23

Washington 1 1 0 .500 46 49

N.Y. Giants 0 2 0 .000 42 57

South

W L T Pct PF PA

Carolina 2 0 0 1.000 45 21

Tampa Bay 2 0 0 1.000 79 54

New Orleans 1 1 0 .500 45 29

Atlanta 0 2 0 .000 31 80

North

W L T Pct PF PA

Chicago 1 1 0 .500 34 51

Green Bay 1 1 0 .500 38 55

Detroit 0 2 0 .000 50 76

Minnesota 0 2 0 .000 57 61

West

W L T Pct PF PA

Arizona 2 0 0 1.000 72 46

L.A. Rams 2 0 0 1.000 61 38

San Francisco 2 0 0 1.000 58 44

Seattle 1 1 0 .500 58 49

Sunday, Sept. 19

Buffalo 35, Miami 0 Carolina 26, New Orleans 7 Chicago 20, Cincinnati 17 Cleveland 31, Houston 21 Denver 23, Jacksonville 13 L.A. Rams 27, Indianapolis 24 Las Vegas 26, Pittsburgh 17 New England 25, N.Y. Jets 6 San Francisco 17, Philadelphia 11 Arizona 34, Minnesota 33 Tampa Bay 48, Atlanta 25 Dallas 20, L.A. Chargers 17 Tennessee 33, Seattle 30, OT Baltimore 36, Kansas City 35

Monday, Sept. 20

Green Bay 35, Detroit 17 Thursday’s game

Carolina at Houston Sunday’s games

Arizona at Jacksonville Atlanta at N.Y. Giants Baltimore at Detroit Chicago at Cleveland Cincinnati at Pittsburgh Indianapolis at Tennessee L.A. Chargers at Kansas City New Orleans at New England Washington at Buffalo Miami at Las Vegas N.Y. Jets at Denver Seattle at Minnesota Tampa Bay at L.A. Rams Green Bay at San Francisco

Monday’s game

Philadelphia at Dallas

NFL injury reportNEW YORK — The National Football

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

THURSDAYCAROLINA PANTHERS at HOUSTON TEX-

ANS — CAROLINA: DNP: G Pat Elflein(hamstring), DE Yetur Gross-Matos (an-kle). LIMITED: DE Morgan Fox (ankle).FULL: T Cameron Erving (knee), RB Giovan-ni Ricci (knee). HOUSTON: DNP: WR DannyAmendola (thigh), LB Kamu Grugier-Hill(knee), CB Terrance Mitchell (concus-sion), S Justin Reid (knee), QB DeshaunWatson (not injury Related - personal mat-ter). LIMITED: LB Kamu Grugier-Hill (knee),S Justin Reid (knee).

PRO SOCCER

MLS

EASTERN CONFERENCE

W L T Pts GF GA

New England 17 4 5 56 48 30

Nashville 10 3 11 41 39 23

NYCFC 11 8 5 38 43 28

Orlando City 10 7 8 38 36 36

CF Montréal 10 8 7 37 36 30

Atlanta 9 7 9 36 35 30

Philadelphia 9 7 8 35 31 25

D.C. United 10 11 4 34 41 36

Inter Miami CF 9 10 5 32 24 35

Columbus 8 11 7 31 30 35

New York 7 11 5 26 29 28

Chicago 6 14 5 23 24 40

Cincinnati 4 12 8 20 24 44

Toronto FC 4 15 6 18 28 51

WESTERN CONFERENCE

W L T Pts GF GA

Sporting KC 13 5 7 46 43 26

Seattle 13 5 6 45 36 20

Colorado 12 4 8 44 35 24

LA Galaxy 11 9 5 38 37 40

Portland 11 10 4 37 36 42

Real Salt Lake 10 9 6 36 41 35

Minnesota 9 8 7 34 27 29

LAFC 9 10 6 33 38 36

Vancouver 7 8 9 30 30 34

San Jose 7 9 9 30 32 38

FC Dallas 6 11 9 27 38 43

Houston 5 10 11 26 31 39

Austin FC 5 16 4 19 25 40

Note: Three points for victory, one pointfor tie.

Wednesday’s games

Nashville at Miami New England at Chicago New York City FC at New York

Saturday’s games

Atlanta at Philadelphia Orlando City at New England Cincinnati at D.C. United CF Montréal at Columbus New York at New York City FC Houston at Minnesota Toronto FC at Colorado FC Dallas at Vancouver Los Angeles FC at San Jose Real Salt Lake at Portland

Sunday’s games

Nashville at Chicago Seattle at Sporting Kansas City LA Galaxy at Austin FC

Wednesday, Sept. 29

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

Saturday, Oct. 2

Real Salt Lake at Austin FC Atlanta at CF Montréal D.C. United at Orlando City New York at Cincinnati Minnesota at FC Dallas San Jose at Vancouver

Sunday, Oct. 3

Nashville at New York City FC Columbus at Philadelphia Chicago at Toronto FC Houston at Sporting Kansas City Miami at Portland LA Galaxy at Los Angeles FC Colorado at Seattle

NWSL

W L T Pts GF GA

Portland 11 4 2 35 25 11

Reign FC 10 7 2 32 27 19

North Carolina 8 5 5 29 22 10

Orlando 7 5 7 28 24 21

Chicago 7 7 5 26 20 23

Washington 6 6 5 23 19 21

Houston 6 7 5 23 20 23

Gotham FC 5 5 7 22 17 15

Louisville 4 9 5 17 15 27

Kansas City 2 11 5 11 9 28

Note: Three points for victory, one pointfor tie.

Saturday’s games

North Carolina at Gotham FC Portland at Chicago

Sunday’s games

Houston at Louisville Kansas City at Washington Orlando at Reign FC

Friday, Oct. 1

Washington at North Carolina Gotham FC at Louisville

Saturday, Oct. 2

Orlando at ChicagoHouston at Kansas CityReign FC at Portland

TENNIS

Moselle OpenTuesday

At Arenes de MetzMetz, France

Purse: Euro 419,470Surface: Hardcourt indoor

Men’s SinglesRound of 32

Mikael Ymer, Sweden, def. Jan-LennardStruff, Germany, 7-5, 6-3.

Marcos Giron, United States, def. ArthurRinderknech, France, 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4.

Philipp Kohlschreiber, Germany, def.Marco Cecchinato, Italy, 7-6 (3), 6-3.

Holger Vitus Nodskov Rune, Denmark,def. Bernabe Zapata Miralles, Spain, 6-0,6-0.

Karen Khachanov (7), Russia, def. Alex-andre Muller, France, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3.

Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Spain, def.Gilles Simon, France, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (2), 6-2.

Andy Murray, Britain, def. Ugo Humbert(6), France, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Men’s DoublesRound of 16

Oliver Marach and Philipp Oswald (3),Austria, def. Nicolas Mahut, France, andVasek Pospisil, Canada, 6-4, 6-3.

Jan Zielinski and Hubert Hurkacz, Po-land, def. Igor Zelenay, Slovakia, and Szy-mon Walkow, Poland, 6-3, 6-3.

Lucas Pouille and Gregoire Barrere,France, def. David Vega Hernandez, Spain,and Alex de Minaur, Australia, 6-3, 3-6, 10-5.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

ScheduleThursday’s games

SOUTHMarshall (2-1) at Appalachian St. (2-1)

SOUTHWESTAlcorn St. (1-2) at Ark.-Pine Bluff (1-1)

Friday’s gamesEAST

Brown (0-1) at Harvard (1-0)Liberty (3-0) at Syracuse (2-1)

SOUTHMiddle Tennessee (1-2) at Charlotte (2-1)Wake Forest (3-0) at Virginia (2-1)

FAR WESTUNLV (0-3) at Fresno St. (3-1)

Saturday’s gamesEAST

Norfolk St. (1-2) at St. Francis (Pa.) (1-2)New Hampshire (3-0) at Pittsburgh (2-1)Villanova (3-0) at Penn St. (3-0)Miami (Ohio) (1-2) at Army (3-0)Howard (0-3) at Robert Morris (0-1)Wagner (0-3) at Temple (1-2)Cornell (0-1) at Yale (0-1)Missouri (2-1) at Boston College (3-0)Va. Lynchburg (0-0) at Duquesne (1-1)Holy Cross (2-1) at Monmouth (NJ) (2-1)Lehigh (0-3) at Colgate (0-3)Stetson (2-0) at Princeton (1-0)Georgetown (1-1) at Columbia (1-0).Sacred Heart (2-1) at Dartmouth (1-0)Merrimack (2-1) at Delaware St. (1-2)Wyoming (3-0) at Uconn (0-4)Penn (1-0) at Lafayette (0-3)Kent St. (1-2) at Maryland (3-0)Fordham (0-3) at Stony Brook (1-2)Bryant (1-2) at Marist (0-1)

SOUTHGeorgia (3-0) at Vanderbilt (1-2)Richmond (2-1) at Virginia Tech (2-1)LSU (2-1) at Mississippi St. (2-1)CCSU (1-2) at Miami (1-2)San Diego (0-3) at Davidson (1-1)Umass (0-3) at Coastal Carolina (3-0)Wofford (1-1) at VMI (2-1)William & Mary (2-1) at Elon (1-2)Mercer (1-1) at Furman (2-1)E. Illinois (0-4) at Tennessee Tech (0-3)Delta St. (0-0) at Jackson St. (2-1)ETSU (3-0) at Samford (2-1)Austin Peay (2-1) at E. Kentucky (1-2).UTSA (3-0) at Memphis (3-0)Louisville (2-1) at Florida St. (0-3)Clemson (2-1) at NC State (2-1)North Alabama (0-3) at Nicholls (0-2)UT Martin (2-1) at Jacksonville St. (2-1)Georgia St. (1-2) at Auburn (2-1)Kansas (1-2) at Duke (2-1)Alabama A&M (2-0) vs. Tuskegee (0-0) at

Mobile, Ala.Bethune-Cookman (0-3) at Alabama St.

(1-1)W. Carolina (0-3) at Gardner-Webb (1-2)NC Central (2-1) at NC A&T (0-2)Buffalo (1-2) at Old Dominion (1-2)Louisiana-Lafayette (2-1) at Georgia

Southern (1-2)Charleston Southern (1-1) at East Caroli-

na (1-2)North Texas (1-2) at Louisiana Tech (1-2)Tennessee (2-1) at Florida (2-1)Kentucky (3-0) at South Carolina (2-1)Southern Miss. (1-2) at Alabama (3-0)North Carolina (2-1) vs. Georgia Tech

(1-2) at AtlantaUAB (2-1) at Tulane (1-2)Indiana (1-2) at W. Kentucky (1-1)Troy (2-1) at Louisiana-Monroe (1-1)

MIDWESTBowling Green (1-2) at Minnesota (2-1)Ohio (0-3) at Northwestern (1-2)Notre Dame (3-0) vs. Wisconsin (1-1) at

ChicagoFIU (1-2) at Cent. Michigan (1-2)Presbyterian (2-1) at Dayton (1-1)Valparaiso (0-3) at Drake (1-2)S. Dakota St. (2-0) at Indiana St. (2-1)Butler (2-1) at St. Thomas (Minn.) (1-1)Texas State (1-2) at E. Michigan (2-1)Toledo (1-2) at Ball St. (1-2)San Jose St. (2-1) at W. Michigan (2-1)Maine (1-2) at N. Illinois (1-2)Illinois St. (2-1) at S. Illinois (2-1)Tennessee St. (1-2) at SE Missouri (0-3)Colorado St. (1-2) at Iowa (3-0)Rutgers (3-0) at Michigan (3-0)Illinois (1-3) at Purdue (2-1)W. Illinois (0-3) at Youngstown St. (1-1)Nebraska (2-2) at Michigan St. (3-0)Akron (1-2) at Ohio St. (2-1)South Dakota (2-1) at Missouri St. (1-1)

SOUTHWESTSMU (3-0) at TCU (2-0)McNeese St. (1-2) at Incarnate Word

(2-1)Texas Tech (3-0) at Texas (2-1)Iowa St. (2-1) at Baylor (3-0)Texas A&M (3-0) vs. Arkansas (3-0) at Ar-

lington, TexasArkansas St. (1-2) at Tulsa (0-3)Sam Houston St. (2-0) at Cent. Arkansas

(1-2)Grambling St. (1-2) vs. Prairie View (2-1)

at DallasTexas Southern (0-2) at Rice (0-3)Kansas St. (3-0) at Oklahoma St. (3-0)Abilene Christian (2-1) at Lamar (2-1)N.M. Highlands (0-0) at Tarleton St. (1-2)Navy (0-2) at Houston (2-1)Lincoln University (CA) (0-0) at Stephen

F. Austin (2-1)West Virginia (2-1) at Oklahoma (3-0)New Mexico (2-1) at UTEP (2-1)

FAR WESTBoise St. (1-2) at Utah St. (3-0)Washington St. (1-2) at Utah (1-2)Cal Poly (1-2) at Montana (2-0)Sacramento St. (1-2) at Idaho St. (0-2)N. Arizona (1-2) at N. Colorado (1-2)Towson (1-2) at San Diego St. (3-0)Montana St. (2-1) at Portland St. (1-2)UCLA (2-1) at Stanford (2-1)Hawaii (1-3) at New Mexico St. (1-3)E. Washington (3-0) at S. Utah (1-2)FAU (2-1) at Air Force (2-1)UC Davis (3-0) at Weber St. (1-2)California (1-2) at Washington (1-2)South Florida (1-2) at BYU (3-0)Oregon St. (2-1) at Southern Cal (2-1)Arizona (0-3) at Oregon (3-0)Colorado (1-2) at Arizona St. (2-1)

Colquitt to the practice squad. ReleasedOL Bryan Witzmann from the practicesquad.

BALTIMORE RAVENS — Signed OLs DavidSharpe and Jaryd Jones-Smith to the prac-tice squad. Released LB Blake Gallagherand OL Foster Sarell from the practicesquad.

CAROLINA PANTHERS — Placed LG PatEflein on injured reserve.

CINCINNATI BENGALS — Signed C La-mont Gaillard to the practice squad.

CLEVELAND BROWNS — Placed WR Jar-vis Landry on injured reserve. PromotedDE Ifeadi Odenigbo from the practicesquad to the active roster.

DENVER BRONCOS — Placed LB JoseyJewell on injured reserve.

GREEN BAY PACKERS — Released TEJace Sternberger. Signed Shawn Davis andDL R.J. McIntosh to the practice squad. Re-leased DL Abdullah Anderson and G/T Ja-cob Capra from the practice squad.

HOUSTON TEXANS — Placed QB TyrodTaylor and WR Nico Collins on injured re-serve. Signed TE Anthony Auclair. SignedLB Hardy Nickerson to the practice squad.

LOS ANGELES RAMS — Signed RB JavianHawkins to the practice squad.

MINNESOTA VIKINGS — Promoted QBSean Mannion from the practice squad tothe active roster. Released RB Ameer Ab-dullah and signed to the practice squad.Signed TE Brandon Dillon to the practicesquad.

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS — Promoted KNick Folk from the practice squad to theactive roster. Signed C Drake Jackson tothe practice squad.

NEW YORK GIANTS — Released TE RyanIzzo from the practice squad. Signed S Ste-ven Parker and G Cole Banwart to thepractice squad. Placed G Nick Gates on in-jured reserve.

NEW YORK JETS — Promoted LB Del-’Shawn Phillips from the practice squad.Waived DB Sheldrick Redwine.

PHILADELPHIA EAGLES — Signed TE Ri-chard Rodgers to the practice squad. Re-leased C Harry Crider. Placed G BrandonBrooks and DE Brandon Graham on injuredreserve.

SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS — Signed RB Jac-ques Patrick.

TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS — Signed WRJohn Hurst and CB Rashard Robinson tothe practice squad.

TENNESSEE TITANS — Waived S BradleyMcDougald and DL Anthony Rush from theactive roster.

HOCKEYNational Hockey League

BOSTON BRUINS — Re-signed F ZachSentyshyn to a one-year, two-way con-tract.

COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS — Signed G El-vis Merzukins to a five-year contract ex-tension.

MINNESOTA WILD — Signed F Kirill Ka-prizov to a five-year contract.

WINNIPEG JETS — Waived D Sami Niku.SOCCER

Major League SoccerFC CINCINNATI — Loaned D Avionne Fla-

nagan to FC Tulsa (USL Championship) forthe remainder of the season.

LOS ANGELES FC — Acquired F MicheeNgalina on loan from Colorado Springs(USL).

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC — Placed MCaio Alexandre on the season-ending inju-ry list. Acquired $50,000 in 2022 genaral al-location money from Los Angeles FC in ex-change for a 2021 interantional roster slot.

Tuesday’s transactionsBASEBALL

Major League BaseballAmerican League

BALTIMORE ORIOLES — Claimed RHPJoey Krehbiel off waivers from Tampa Bay.Designated RHP Manny Barreda for as-signment. Sent RHP Dusten Knight offwaivers to Norfolk (Triple-A East). SentLHP Bruce Zimmermann to Norfolk on a re-hab assignment. Selected the contract ofRHP Cesar Valdez from Norfolk andagreed to terms on a major league con-tract. Placed OF D.J. Stewart on the 60-dayIL.

BOSTON RED SOX — Placed RHP GarrettWhitlock on the 10-day IL, retroactive toSept. 20. Recalled RHP Ryan Brasier fromWorcester (Triple-A East). Reinstated INFChristian Arroyo from the COVID-19 IL. Re-turned INF Jack Lopez to Worcester.

CHICAGO WHITE SOX — Reinstated OFAdam Engel from the 10-day IL. OptionedINF Romy Gonzalez to Charlotte (Triple-AEast).

CLEVELAND INDIANS — Optioned RHPJ.C. Mejia to Columbus (Triple-A East).Placed SS Amed Rosario on the COVID-19list.

KANSAS CITY ROYALS — Optioned C Se-bastian Rivero and CF Edward Olivares toOmaha (Triple-A East). Reinstated C CamGallagher from the 10-day IL.

LOS ANGELES ANGELS — Released RHPJake Petricka.

MINNESOTA TWINS — Reinstated SS An-drelton Simmons from the restricted list.Reinstated C Mitch Garver from 10-day IL.

OAKLAND ATHLETICS — Optioned RHPMiguel Romero to Las Vegas (Triple-AWest). Activated RHP Michael Feliz.

TEXAS RANGERS — Sent RHP Kohei Arih-ara outright to Round Rock (Triple-AWest).

National LeagueARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS — Sent RHP

Jake Faria outright to Reno (Triple-AWest). Transferred 1B Seth Beer from the10-day IL to the 60-day IL.

ATLANTA BRAVES — Optioned C Chad-wick Tromp to Gwinnett (Triple-A East).

CHICAGO CUBS — Recalled RF Nick Mar-tini from Iowa (Triple-A East). Placed 1BAlfonso Rivas on the 10-day IL, retroactiveto Sept. 20. Placed RF Jason Heyward onthe 10-day IL. Sent RHP Dillon Maples to Io-wa (Triple-A East).

LOS ANGELES DODGERS — Recalled OFLuke Raley from Oklahoma City (Triple-AWest). Placed OF Cody Bellinger on the 10-day IL, retroactive to Sept. 18. ReleasedRHP Jake Petricka.

MILWAUKEE BREWERS — Reinstated OFTyrone Taylor from the 10-day IL. Op-tioned RHP Miguel Sanchez to Nashville(Triple-A East).

PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES — ReleasedRHP Tyler Phillips.

SAN DIEGO PADRES — Reinstated RHPJavy Guerra from the 60-day IL. Designat-ed RHP Jake Arrieta for assignment.

SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS — Claimed CChadwick Tromp off waivers from Atlanta.Sent RHP Reyes Moronta outright to Sac-ramento (Triple-A West) after clearingwaivers.

FOOTBALLNational Football League

ARIZONA CARDINALS — Activated WRAntoine Wesley from the reserve/CO-VID-19 list. Released K Matt McCrane fromthe practice squad.

ATLANTA FALCONS — Signed P Dustin

DEALS

PRO BASKETBALL

WNBA playoffs(x-if necessary)

First RoundThursday, Sept. 23

No. 7 Dallas at No. 6 ChicagoNo. 8 New York at No. 5 Phoenix

Second RoundSunday, Sept 26

TBD at No. 3 MinnesotaTBD at No. 4 Seattle

Semifinals(Best-of-five)

No. 1 Connecticut vs. TBDTuesday, Sept. 28: TBD at ConnecticutThursday, Sept. 30: TBD at ConnecticutSunday, Oct. 3: Connecticut at TBDx-Wednesday, Oct. 6: Connecticut at

TBDx-Friday, Oct. 8: TBD at Connecticut

No. 2 Las Vegas vs. TBDTuesday, Sept. 28: TBD at Las VegasThursday, Sept. 30: TBD at Las VegasSunday, Oct. 3: Las Vegas at TBDx-Wednesday, Oct. 6: Las Vegas at TBDx-Friday, Oct. 8: TBD at Las Vegas

Finals(Best-of-five)Teams TBD

Game 1: Sunday, Oct. 10Game 2: Wednesday, Oct. 13Game 3: Friday, Oct. 15x-Game 4: Sunday, Oct 17x-Game 5: Tuesday, Oct. 19

Sept. 231926 — Gene Tunney beats Jack Demp-

sey with a 10-round decision to retain theworld heavyweight title.

1952 — Rocky Marciano knocks out Jer-sey Joe Walcott in the 13th round to retainthe world heavyweight title.

1979 — St. Louis’ Lou Brock steals his938th base to break Billy Hamilton’s re-cord as the Cardinals beat New York Mets7-4 in 10 innings.

1983 — Gerry Coetzee knocks out Mi-chael Dokes in the 10th round to win the

WBA heavyweight title in Richfield, Ohio.1992 — Manon Rheaume becomes the

first woman to play in one of the four ma-jor pro sports leagues when she takes theice in the first period for the NHL expan-sion Tampa Bay Lightning in an exhibitiongame. The 20-year-old goalie faces nineshots and allows two goals in St. Louis’ 6-4victory.

2000 — Ben Matthews ties an NCAA re-cord with five interceptions as Bethel beatGustavus 14-13. Matthews ties the all-divi-sion record shared by eight players.

AP SPORTLIGHT


NBA/COLLEGE FOOTBALL

There was a play early last sea-

son that generated much attention

around the NBA. Atlanta’s Trae

Young used his speed to dribble

past Brooklyn’s Timothé Luwa-

wu-Cabarrot. And as Luwawu-Ca-

barrot tried to catch up, Young

slammed on the brakes.

Collision. Whistle.

Foul on Luwawu-Cabarrot, who

shrugged in disbelief.

“That’s not basketball,” Nets

coach Steve Nash pleaded from

the bench.

The NBA is apparently inclined

to agree. Following suggestions

from the league’s competition

committee, the NBA has spent

time this offseason teaching its

referees how to handle it when of-

fensive players are making non-

basketball moves with hopes of

drawing contact from defenders

— something that will be a point of

emphasis this season.

Going forward, such plays will

merit either a no-call or an offen-

sive foul.

“One of the things that we real-

ized with a free-flowing game

that’s played in space is this idea

that we want competitive bal-

ance,” said Monty McCutchen, the

NBA’s senior vice president and

head of referee development and

training. “We want this idea that

both on offense and defense, you

have equal opportunities to be

competitive and to compete every

night. ... And as the rules are writ-

ten, our players are the best in the

world at innovating up to the lim-

its of those rules.”

It falls under the league’s “free-

dom of movement” rules, which

became a major talking point

three years ago when the NBA

made players cut down on grab-

bing and dislodging opponents —

and that skewed toward helping

the offense. By telling offensive

players to stop making non-bas-

ketball moves to create contact

with opponents, that should help

defenders.

MATT SLOCUM/AP

The Atlanta Hawks’ Trae Young, right, is fouled by the Philadelphia 76ers’ Matisse Thybulle in a playoffgame on June 16. Players such as Young will have a tougher time drawing foul calls this season.

NBA cracking down onluring defense into fouls

BY TIM REYNOLDS

Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA — Ben Sim-

mons may have missed his last

playoff free throw with the Sixers.

Simmons will not report to Phi-

ladelphia 76ers’ training camp

next week and prefers to continue

his NBA career with another

team, a person with direct knowl-

edge of the player’s plans told The

Associated Press on Tuesday.

The person spoke to the AP on

condition of anonymity because

discussions of Simmons’ plans

with the franchise have been pri-

vate.

Simmons, the No. 1 pick of the

2016 draft, is a three-time All-Star

who had been paired with Joel

Embiid as the franchise corner-

stones as the Sixers chase their

first NBA championship since

1983.

Simmons, though, took the

brunt of the blame for the top-

seeded Sixers’ second-round exit

in last season’s playoffs. He shot

34% from the free-throw line in

the postseason and was reluctant

to attempt a shot from anywhere

on the floor late in games.

Simmons missed a stunning 10

free throws in Game 5 against the

Atlanta Hawks and helped blow a

26-point lead in a loss.

Simmons did not attempt a shot

in the fourth quarter in Game 2

against the Hawks. He did the

same in Games 4 through 7 — go-

ing 0-for-0 in the final period. Not

one single shot in the fourth over

five playoff games.

Redick retires after 15

seasons in the NBA

J.J. Redick, the sharpshooter

who was The Associated Press

college player of the year at Duke

before embarking on a 15-season

NBA career, announced his retire-

ment Tuesday. The 37-year-old

Redick played with six NBA

teams — Orlando, the Los Angeles

Clippers, Philadelphia, New Or-

leans, Milwaukee and Dallas. He

averaged 12.8 points in 940 regu-

lar-season game.

Source: Simmons won’t report to campAssociated Press

NBA BRIEFS

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The

Big 12 is no longer considered a

prolific passing league, replaced

for now by a wave of ground attacks

that are producing plenty of indi-

vidual stars.

In every year except two from

2002 to 2018, the Big 12 had at least

one quarterback exceed 4,000

passing yards. In 2012, there were

four of them.

It didn’t happen in the last two

seasons. This year, no quarter-

backs are among the top 25 in the

nation in passing yards.

No one seems to miss those gun-

slinger days. Big 12 teams are now

content with mostly handing the

ball off — and carrying it far.

“It sure looks like a physical con-

ference. Everybody plays a physi-

cal brand of football,” Texas coach

Steve Sarkisian said. “I don’t think

this is the Big 12 of old when you

watch from afar. Teams believe in

running the ball and stopping the

run.

“The old adage of that’s where

the game is won and lost at the line

of scrimmage is kind of what it feels

like.”

Numerous running backs have

joined all-conference preseason

picks Breece Hall of Iowa State and

Bijan Robinson of Texas in grab-

bing early season headlines.

Kansas State sophomore Deuce

Vaughn leads the way with 371

yards, which is eighth nationally.

Two Baylor players are averaging

more than 100 yards per game:

Abram Smith (122) and Trestan

Ebner (106).

The running resurgence is be-

coming a team effort, too. Last

weekend Texas ran for 427 yards,

Baylor 307 and No. 25 Kansas State

269.

Bear attack

In three games Baylor has al-

ready surpassed last year’s team

rushing total. The Bears didn’t

have anyone rush for 100 yards in

2020. Jeff Grimes was hired from

BYU as Baylor’s offensive coordi-

nator in the offseason and the

Bears already have six 100-yard ef-

forts.

“Long way to go, but I like what

we’ve done so far,” said Baylor

coach Dave Aranda.

Behind Smith, Ebner and Taye

McWilliams, Baylor is averaging

321 yards on the ground, which is

fifth in the nation. McWilliams has

a league-high 13 yards per carry.

The 217-pound Smith moved this

season from linebacker to running

back, where he started his career,

to give the Bears a needed physical

runner. He is the first Baylor run-

ning back with three consecutive

100-yard games since 2015.

The Bears will face the league’s

top rush defense Saturday against

No. 14 Iowa State. The Cyclones al-

so have Hall, a preseason Associat-

ed Press all-American who got off

to a slow start with a pair of 69-yard

games before rushing for 100 yards

as Iowa State easily beat UNLV.

Deuce is wild

Vaughn has been the league’s top

workhorse so far with 62 carries in

three games. He needed just 13

games to surpass 1,000 career

yards, one game faster than school

career record-holder Darren

Sproles.

“It’s a humbling stat,” Vaughn

said.

Kansas State coach Chris Klie-

man credits his big blockers as well

as change-of-pace back Joe Ervin

with helping to spring Vaughn for

big gains.

Vaughn won’t be the running

back with the highest one-game

production so far on the field Satur-

day. That honor goes to Oklahoma

State’s Jaylen Warren, a Utah State

transfer who has helped the Cow-

boys soften the loss of all-American

Chuba Hubbard to the NFL.

CHARLIE RIEDEL/AP

Kansas State running back Deuce Vaughn leads the Big 12 with 371rushing yards, good enough for eighth nationally.

Rush to change:Big 12 no longer apass-happy league

BY JOHN RABY

Associated Press


NFL

AFC leaders

Quarterbacks

Att Com Yds TD Int

Carr, Las 93 62 817 4 1

Mahomes, KC 67 51 680 6 1

Herbert, LAC 88 62 675 2 3

Bridgewater, Den 70 54 592 4 0

Tannehill, Ten 75 48 559 1 1

Mayfield, Cle 49 40 534 1 2

Wentz, Ind 69 45 498 3 1

Roethlisberger, Pit 72 45 483 2 1

Jackson, Bal 56 37 474 2 2

Burrow, Cin 57 39 468 4 3

Z.Wilson, NYJ 70 39 468 2 5

Rushers

Att Yds Avg LG TD

Henry, Ten 52 240 4.6 60t 3

Mixon, Cin 49 196 4.0 19 1

Jackson, Bal 28 193 6.9 28 2

Chubb, Cle 26 178 6.8 26t 3

Harris, NE 39 162 4.2 35 1

Singletary, Buf 24 154 6.4 46t 1

T.Williams, Bal 22 142 6.5 35t 1

Gordon, Den 24 132 5.5 70t 1

Ingram, Hou 40 126 3.2 11 1

Ekeler, LAC 24 111 4.6 20 1

Receivers

No Yds Avg LG TD

Hill, KC 14 211 15.1 75t 1

Cooks, Hou 14 210 15.0 52 1

Allen, LAC 13 208 16.0 42 0

Kelce, KC 13 185 14.2 46t 3

Brown, Bal 12 182 15.2 42t 2

Sutton, Den 10 173 17.3 55 0

Williams, LAC 15 173 11.5 27 2

Waller, Las 15 170 11.3 25 1

Punters

No Yds Lg Avg

Cooke, Jac 10 524 64 52.4

Cole, Las 10 506 67 50.6

Kern, Ten 5 245 59 49.0

Touchdowns

TDRush Rec Ret Pts

Chubb, Cle 3 3 0 0 18

Henry, Ten 3 3 0 0 18

Kelce, KC 3 0 3 0 18

Pascal, Ind 3 0 3 0 18

12 tied 2 0 2 0 12

Kicking

PAT FG LG Pts

Carlson, Las 5/5 6/6 55 23

Folk, NE 2/3 7/7 49 23

NFC Leaders

Quarterbacks

Att Com Yds TD Int

K.Murray, Ari 68 50 689 7 3

Brady, TB 86 56 655 9 2

Prescott, Dal 85 65 640 3 2

Stafford, LAR 56 39 599 5 1

Wilson, Sea 54 40 597 6 0

Cousins, Min 81 58 595 5 0

Darnold, Car 73 50 584 3 1

Goff, Det 93 64 584 5 2

Jones, NYG 69 44 516 2 0

Garoppolo, SF 55 39 503 2 0

Rushers

Att Yds Avg LG TD

Cook, Min 42 192 4.6 17 1

McCaffrey, Car 45 170 3.8 18 1

Montgomery, Chi 36 169 4.7 41 1

Gibson, Was 33 159 4.8 27 0

Mitchell, SF 36 146 4.1 38t 1

Hurts, Phi 17 144 8.5 27 1

Sanders, Phi 28 129 4.6 23 0

Henderson, LAR 29 123 4.2 15 2

Pollard, Dal 16 123 7.7 28 1

Carson, Sea 29 122 4.2 33 2

Jones, NYG 15 122 8.1 46 2

Receivers

No Yds Avg LG TD

Samuel, SF 15 282 18.8 79t 1

Lockett, Sea 12 278 23.2 69t 3

Kupp, LAR 16 271 16.9 56t 3

Shepard, NYG 16 207 12.9 37t 1

Lamb, Dal 15 185 12.3 34 1

Moore, Ari 11 182 16.5 77t 1

Adams, GB 13 177 13.6 50 0

McLaurin, Was 15 169 11.3 34 1Godwin, TB 13 167 12.8 26 2

Punters

No Yds Lg Avg

Lee, Ari 7 365 60 52.1

Fox, Det 5 259 57 51.8

Gillikin, NO 8 397 60 49.6

Touchdowns

TDRush Rec Ret Pts

Gronkowski, TB 4 0 4 0 24

Jones, GB 4 1 3 0 24

4 tied 3 0 3 0 18

Kicking

PAT FG LG Pts

Hopkins, Was 4/4 6/7 49 22

Gay, LAR 7/7 4/4 53 19

Zuerlein, Dal 4/5 5/7 56 19

Weekly statistics

AFC team statistics

AVERAGE PER GAMEOFFENSE

Yards Rush Pass

Las Vegas 458.0 67.0 391.0

Baltimore 443.5 220.0 223.5

L.A. Chargers 416.0 92.5 323.5

Denver 409.0 130.5 278.5

Cleveland 406.0 154.5 251.5

Kansas City 401.0 67.5 333.5

Tennessee 390.0 149.0 241.0

Houston 375.5 121.0 254.5

Indianapolis 345.0 111.0 234.0

Buffalo 342.5 130.0 212.5

New England 324.5 113.0 211.5

Cincinnati 307.0 109.0 198.0

N.Y. Jets 294.0 98.5 195.5

Jacksonville 292.0 75.5 216.5

Pittsburgh 291.5 57.0 234.5

Miami 237.5 72.5 165.0

DEFENSE

Yards Rush Pass

Buffalo 234.0 73.0 161.0

Denver 251.5 67.5 184.0

New England 297.5 113.0 184.5

Cincinnati 304.5 95.0 209.5

N.Y. Jets 318.5 106.0 212.5

L.A. Chargers 339.0 162.0 177.0

Cleveland 349.5 77.5 272.0

Miami 353.5 134.0 219.5

Las Vegas 368.5 114.0 254.5

Houston 375.0 116.0 259.0

Indianapolis 376.0 120.5 255.5

Pittsburgh 398.0 84.5 313.5

Tennessee 406.5 106.5 300.0

Jacksonville 423.5 128.0 295.5

Baltimore 448.0 72.0 376.0

Kansas City 469.0 202.0 267.0

NFC Team statistics

AVERAGE PER GAMEOFFENSE

Yards Rush Pass

Arizona 445.0 119.5 325.5

Dallas 435.0 129.0 306.0

Minnesota 411.0 122.0 289.0

Seattle 389.0 108.5 280.5

Detroit 387.0 112.0 275.0

Tampa Bay 386.0 67.0 319.0

Carolina 382.0 100.0 282.0

Philadelphia 381.0 162.0 219.0

L.A. Rams 378.5 87.5 291.0

San Francisco 374.0 124.0 250.0

N.Y. Giants 352.5 111.5 241.0

Washington 333.0 106.5 226.5

Atlanta 304.0 89.5 214.5

Green Bay 276.0 69.5 206.5

Chicago 264.0 128.5 135.5

New Orleans 225.0 109.5 115.5

DEFENSE

Yards Rush Pass

Carolina 190.0 46.5 143.5

Philadelphia 283.0 120.5 162.5

New Orleans 306.0 66.0 240.0

Chicago 317.0 71.5 245.5

Green Bay 333.0 139.5 193.5

Arizona 333.5 131.5 202.0

L.A. Rams 338.0 121.5 216.5

San Francisco 379.0 133.5 245.5

Detroit 382.5 113.5 269.0

Atlanta 387.5 127.5 260.0

Tampa Bay 399.5 57.5 342.0

Washington 407.5 126.5 281.0

N.Y. Giants 413.5 126.0 287.5

Dallas 419.5 73.5 346.0

Minnesota 420.0 126.0 294.0

Seattle 434.0 162.5 271.5

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Carolina

Panthers defensive end Brian

Burns envisions himself riding

around the Wofford College campus

next summer at training camp in his

new tricked out golf cart waving to

teammates.

That will mean he has won “the

bet.”

Burns and new Panthers pass

rusher Haason Reddick made a wa-

ger before the season on who’ll have

the most sacks this season. The loser

buys the winner a new golf cart —

with accessories — for next sum-

mer.

“I already told him how I want

mine done — black and purple and

all spotted out,” Burns said with a

laugh.

The friendly wager is providing

motivation for both players as Red-

dick already has three sacks and

Burns has two sacks entering Car-

olina’s Week 3 Thursday night game

against the Houston Texans (1-1).

“I’m keeping an eye on him,”

Reddick said of having Burns in the

rearview mirror.

The competition is benefitting the

team as well, as the Panthers’ 10

sacks are tops in the league and their

defense ranks No. 1 overall in total

yards allowed, yards rushing and

points allowed.

Reddick had 12 sacks last season

with the Arizona Cardinals, but opt-

ed to sign with the Panthers as a free

agent, rejoining former Temple

coach Matt Rhule in Carolina. His

signing was meant to take some of

the double teams away from Burns,

who still managed nine sacks last

season despite getting little help

from his teammates.

When they’re not talking golf

carts, they’re talking football — par-

ticularly getting to the quarterback.

“We constantly talk about pass

rush,” Reddick said. “All day, every

day, every time we see each other.

When we are out at practice, during

the game, we constantly talk about

pass rush.

“How we are being set by the

tackles on each side, what worked,

what didn’t work. Always picking

each other’s brain and trying to see,

OK, you use that (move) and then let

me see if I can use this and beat them

with this.”

Said Burns: “If I see he has suc-

cess with this move on this particu-

lar guy I will ask him about it and I’ll

try the move myself. Or if I see

something I will tell him, ‘Hey this

didn’t work because (the offensive

lineman) is sitting heavy on his in-

side,’ or whatever the case may be.

It’s just sharpening our IQs.”

NELL REDMOND/AP

Saints quarterback Jameis Winston is sacked by Panthers defensive end Brian Burns, top, and outsidelinebacker Haason Reddick. The two Panthers players are betting a trickedout golf cart on whoever getsthe most sacks this season.

Big bet drives Panthersto tee off on opponentsTraining camp golf cart incentive motivates Carolina defenders Burns, Reddick

BY STEVE REED

Associated Press

HOUSTON — Rookie Davis

Mills will start at quarterback for

the Houston Texans on Thursday

night against the Carolina Pan-

thers with Tyrod Taylor out with

a hamstring injury.

Coach David Culley an-

nounced the decision Tuesday

and said Taylor would be inac-

tive. Later Tuesday the Texans

placed Taylor on injured reserve

which means that he must miss at

least three games.

Culley said Houston plans to

promote Jeff Driskel from the

practice squad to back up Mills

against the Panthers (2-0).

Taylor was injured in the first

half of the Texans’ 31-21 loss to

Cleveland on Sunday and didn’t

return after halftime. Mills, a

third-round pick from Stanford,

took over and threw for 102 yards

with a touchdown and an inter-

ception.

Deshaun Watson was not an

option to fill in in the wake of

Taylor’s injury after Culley said

Monday that he would be inac-

tive for Thursday’s game just as

he has been for the first two

games.

Watson has been listed as inac-

tive/not injury-related following

his trade request and after 22

women filed lawsuits alleging

sexual assault or harassment.

Texans will start Mills against PanthersBY KRISTIE RIEKEN

Associated Press


American League

East Division

W L Pct GB

Tampa Bay 93 59 .612 _

Boston 87 65 .572 6

Toronto 85 66 .563 7½

New York 85 67 .559 8

Baltimore 48 103 .318 44½

Central Division

W L Pct GB

Chicago 85 66 .563 _

Cleveland 74 76 .493 10½

Detroit 74 78 .487 11½

Kansas City 69 83 .454 16½

Minnesota 66 85 .437 19

West Division

W L Pct GB

Houston 90 61 .596 _

Oakland 82 69 .543 8

Seattle 82 69 .543 8

Los Angeles 72 79 .477 18

Texas 55 96 .364 35

National LeagueEast Division

W L Pct GB

Atlanta 79 70 .530 _

Philadelphia 77 74 .510 3

New York 73 78 .483 7

Miami 64 87 .424 16

Washington 62 89 .411 18

Central Division

W L Pct GB

z-Milwaukee 91 60 .603 _

St. Louis 81 69 .540 9½

Cincinnati 78 74 .513 13½

Chicago 67 84 .444 24

Pittsburgh 57 94 .377 34

West Division

W L Pct GB

z-San Francisco 98 53 .649 _

z-Los Angeles 97 54 .642 1

San Diego 76 74 .507 21½

Colorado 70 80 .467 27½

Arizona 48 103 .318 50

z-clinched playoff berth

Tuesday’s games

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

Wednesday’s games

Chicago White Sox at DetroitToronto at Tampa BayKansas City at ClevelandBaltimore at PhiladelphiaTexas at N.Y. YankeesN.Y. Mets at BostonMinnesota at Chicago CubsHouston at L.A. AngelsSeattle at OaklandPittsburgh at CincinnatiWashington at MiamiSt. Louis at MilwaukeeL.A. Dodgers at ColoradoAtlanta at ArizonaSan Francisco at San Diego

Thursday’s games

Chicago White Sox (Cease 12-7) at Cle-veland (Plesac 10-6)

Chicago White Sox (Lynn 10-5) at Cle-veland (Civale 11-4)

Seattle (Kikuchi 7-9) at Oakland (Bas-sitt 12-4)

Texas (Otto 0-2) at Baltimore (Lowther0-2)

Toronto (Matz 13-7) at Minnesota(Pineda 7-8)

Houston (McCullers Jr. 12-4) at L.A. An-gels (Cobb 8-3)

St. Louis (Wainwright 16-7) at Milwau-kee (Houser 9-6)

L.A. Dodgers (Scherzer 15-4) at Colora-do (Freeland 6-8)

Atlanta (Morton 13-6) at Arizona (Bum-garner 7-10)

San Francisco (Webb 10-3) at San Die-go (Darvish 8-10)

Washington (Corbin 8-15) at Cincinnati(Gray 7-8)

Pittsburgh (Crowe 4-7) at Philadelphia(Nola 8-8)

Scoreboard

AL wild card

W L Pct WCGB

Boston 87 65 .572 _

Toronto 85 66 .563 _

New York 85 67 .559 ½

Oakland 82 69 .543 3

Seattle 82 69 .543 3

Tuesday’s games

N.Y. Yankees 7, Texas 1Toronto 4, Tampa Bay 2Boston 6, N.Y. Mets 3Seattle 5, Oakland 2

Wednesday’s games

Toronto at Tampa BayTexas at N.Y. YankeesN.Y. Mets at BostonSeattle at Oakland

NL wild card

W L Pct WCGB

z-Los Angeles 97 54 .642 _

St. Louis 81 69 .540 _

Cincinnati 78 74 .513 4

z-clinched playoff berth

Tuesday’s games

Pittsburgh 6, Cincinnati 2Boston 6, N.Y. Mets 3St. Louis 2, Milwaukee 1L.A. Dodgers 5, Colorado 4, 10 innings

Wednesday’s games

Pittsburgh at CincinnatiN.Y. Mets at BostonSt. Louis at MilwaukeeL.A. Dodgers at Colorado (Márquez 12-

10)

MLB

SAN DIGEO — LaMonte Wade

Jr. singled over leaping AllStar

shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. in the

ninth inning to bring in the go

ahead run and the San Francisco

Giants beat the staggering San

Diego Padres 65 Tuesday night to

keep a onegame lead in the NL

West.

Wade’s hit was the third straight

oneout single off Mark Melancon

(43) and brought in Brandon Belt.

Melancon, who leads baseball

with 37 saves, started the ninth

with the score tied at 5.

The Giants stayed ahead of the

Dodgers in the division race after

Los Angeles beat Colorado 54.

Yankees 7, Rangers 1: Gian

carlo Stanton lined a laser beam of

a home run, Aaron Judge added a

threerun shot and New York pow

ered past visiting Texas to keep

pace in the crowded AL wildcard

chase.

Joey Gallo also went deep —

against his former team — and

Luis Severino closed with two

shutout innings in his first major

league appearance since the 2019

AL Championship Series. The

Yankees remained a halfgame

behind Toronto for the final Amer

ican League playoff spot.

Blue Jays 4, Rays 2: Rookie

Alek Manoah rebounded from

early control issues to last six in

nings and Toronto won at AL East

leading Tampa Bay to improve to a

major leaguebest 164 in Septem

ber.

The Blue Jays maintained a

halfgame lead lead over the New

York Yankees for the second AL

wild card. The Rays, closing in on

their second straight division title,

are six games ahead of second

place Boston.

Dodgers 5, Rockies 4 (10):

Pinchhitter Albert Pujols drove

in the goahead run with a single

up the middle in the 10th inning

and Los Angeles overcame a rare

off night by major league wins

leader Julio Urías to win at Colora

do.

The Dodgers have won nine of

their last 10 to remain on the heels

of San Francisco in the NL West.

Los Angeles remained a game

back of the Giants, who beat San

Diego.

Tigers 5, White Sox 3: Akil

Baddoo and Victor Reyes drove in

two runs apiece and host Detroit

stalled Chicago’s drive for the AL

Central title.

The magic number for the

White Sox to clinch the division re

mained at two games.

Indians 4, Royals 1: Yu Chang

hit a basesloaded triple off left

fielder Andrew Benintendi’s glove

in the first inning, leading Cal

Quantrill and host Cleveland over

Kansas City.

Ernie Clement homered as the

secondplace Indians kept Chica

go’s magic number for clinching

the AL Central at two. Cleveland

hosts the White Sox in a fivegame

series beginning Thursday.

Phillies 3, Orioles 2 (10): J.T.

Realmuto hit a tworun triple with

two outs in the 10th inning to rally

Philadelphia and boost its playoff

hopes.

Mariners 5, Athletics 2: Marco

Gonzales pitched six uneven in

nings and won his eighth straight

decision, and visiting Seattle

moved into a tie with Oakland in a

matchup of wildcard contenders.

Braves 6, Diamondbacks 1:

Austin Riley and Ozzie Albies

launched tworun homers as At

lanta held its NL East lead with a

win at Arizona.

Astros 10, Angels 5: Shohei

Ohtani hit his 45th homer in the

eighth inning, but Aledmys Díaz

and Kyle Tucker hit backtoback

homers and drove in three runs

apiece in leading Houston to a win

at Los Angeles.

Twins 9, Cubs 5: Nick Gordon

hit a tworun homer and two sin

gles, Josh Donaldson and Max Ke

pler each had three hits and two

RBIs, and visiting Minnesota dealt

Chicago its fifth loss in six games.

Red Sox 6, Mets 3: Xander Bo

gaerts hit a goahead, tworun

homer in the fifth inning and a

tworun double in the sixth, lifting

AL wildcard leading Boston over

visiting New York.

Pirates 6, Reds 2: Ben Gamel

homered, Ke’Bryan Hayes had

three hits and visiting Pittsburgh

dampened Cincinnati’s fading

postseason hopes.

Nationals 7, Marlins 1: Josh

Rogers pitched 72⁄�3 innings of one

run ball and Washington won at

Miami.

Giants beat Padres, keep slim NL West leadAssociated Press

MILWAUKEE — Cardinals

closer Giovanny Gallegos fanned

pinchhitter Pablo Reyes with the

bases loaded for the final out and

St. Louis won its 10th straight

game, increasing its lead in the

playoff chase by holding off the di

visionleading Milwaukee Brew

ers 21 Tuesday night.

The Cardinals increased their

edge for the second NL wildcard

spot to four games over Cincinnati.

Philadelphia remained 4½ behind

St. Louis while San Diego fell five

back.

The Brewers, who have secured

a playoff spot, lost their third

straight. Their magic number to

clinch the NL Central stayed at

three, and they lead St. Louis by 9½

games.

Jake Woodford (33) and four

relievers combined on a fourhit

ter as the Cardinals moved closer

to the longest winning streak in

franchise history, 14 games set in

1935. In the franchise’s 130year

history, it has only had 12 double

digit winning streaks.

“It’s hard to capture, because I

don’t plan on being done with it.

We keep moving to tomorrow,” St.

Louis manager Mike Shildt said

“Regardless of the time of year you

do that, it’s important — this time

of year is clearly more magnified.”

Avisail Garcia singled to open

the Milwaukee ninth and Lorenzo

Cain grounded into a forceout —

originally ruled a double play, the

call was reversed by replay.

After Luis Urias walked, Cain

took third on a flyout. Christian

Yelich was intentionally walked

and Gallegos struck out Reyes for

his 11th save, and eighth in nine

chances in September.

“Even when he’s not as sharp,

he’s still going to figure out a way to

compete and you can live with

that,” Shildt said. “That’s what he

did tonight.”

The Brewers are 25 in their last

seven games, scoring a total of

eight runs in the five losses.

Cards top Brewers for 10th straightExtend NL wild-card lead

to 4 games over the Reds

BY JIM HOEHN

Associated Press

AARON GASH/AP

The St. Louis Cardinals’ Tommy Edman watches his RBI single during the eighth inning of his team’s 21defeat of the Brewers on Tuesday in Milwaukee.


RYDER CUP

Sergio Garcia didn’t waste

much time making a

point on how he values

the Ryder Cup.

He was a teenager — at 19, still

the youngest player in Ryder Cup

history — and just over five

months removed from being the

low amateur at the Masters, when

Garcia and Jesper Parnevik took

down Tiger Woods and Tom Leh-

man in foursomes at Brookline.

That was his first point. And

that was just the start.

Now with more gray than dark

brown in his stubble, the 41-year-

old Spaniard sets off for his 10th

Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits to

extend a remarkable run defined

by numbers.

He is one of only four players to

compete in Ryder Cups across

four decades, the first one in 1999,

with no reason to think this one

will be the last.

Garcia has won 25½ points

(winning 62% of his matches),

which already is the most in Ryd-

er Cup history. That’s as many

points as this U.S. team com-

bined. He is two wins away from

breaking the Ryder Cup record

held by Nick Faldo, which would

be sweet for other reasons.

Perhaps most telling is the list

of Americans who have lost to

him — Woods and Phil Mickelson

(four times each), Davis Love III

and David Duval, Steve Stricker

and Jim Furyk.

“Sergio Garcia loves the Ryder

Cup,” European captain Padraig

Harrington said, a rare occasion

when the Irishman felt no need to

elaborate.

The Ryder Cup is everything to

him, as much as that Masters

green jacket he won in 2017 for his

first major. And yes, he’s done

OK. But while he has contributed

points, that’s not how Garcia

keeps score.

He has been on six winning

teams as a player, one as a last-

minute vice captain in Wales.

“Being the highest points

scorer in Ryder Cup history, that

was never my goal,” Garcia said.

“It’s something that I never

thought about because I was al-

ways focused on winning the Ryd-

er Cup as a team. I never thought,

‘Oh, even if we lose, if I win 3 or

3½ points, I had a great Ryder

Cup.’ No, that doesn’t do it for me.

“I’ve always said I could win

five matches. If we don’t win the

Ryder Cup, it’s not a good Ryder

Cup for me,” he said. “It’s not the

way my brain works and probably

is one of the reasons why I’ve

been fortunate to be a part of so

many teams and do so well in it.”

The passion he brings is remi-

niscent of Spaniards from anoth-

er generation, Seve Ballesteros

and Jose Maria Olazabal, the lat-

ter who was Garcia’s fourballs

partners in 2006 (they won both

their matches at The K Club).

Those three losses Garcia expe-

rienced in the Ryder Cup sting.

Garcia and Parnevik were un-

beaten at Brookline, and then Fu-

ryk took him down in singles in a

pivotal match that set up the stun-

ning U.S. comeback in 1999.

In 2016 at Hazeltine, Garcia did

his part to stave off an inevitable

loss. He birdied his last three

holes, the final two to match

Mickelson birdies, and earned a

halve. Garcia and Mickelson

combined for 19 birdies that

match and both had a medal score

of 63.

And then there was 2008 at Val-

halla, with Faldo as the captain,

the only Ryder Cup in which Gar-

cia failed to win a match (he had

two halves). Six years later dur-

ing the Ryder Cup telecast, Faldo

said on air that Garcia was “use-

less” that week because of phys-

ical and emotional issues.

European players at Glenea-

gles rallied around Garcia. He

and Lee Westwood had never

missed a match until that year —

Westwood had gone 12 consecu-

tive matches without a loss — and

Faldo sat them both on Saturday

morning.

“I’d say Sergio was fairly use-

less ... because he wasn’t able to

play,” Graeme McDowell said.

JEFF ROBERSON/AP

Team Europe’s Sergio Garcia smiles as he answers questions during a practice day Tuesday for the RyderCup at Whistling Straits Golf Course in Sheboygan, Wis.

From freshface togrizzledveteran

In fourth decade, Spain’s Garcia still going strongBY DOUG FERGUSON

Associated Press

MATT DUNHAM/AP

Garcia kisses the trophy afterEurope won the Ryder Cup onSept. 30, 2018 at Le GolfNational outside Paris.

DID YOU KNOW?

Spain’s Sergia Garcia has won 25½

points (winning 62% of his match-

es) over nine Ryder Cups, which

already is the most in history. That’s

as many points as this U.S. team

combined. He is two wins away

from breaking the Ryder Cup record

held by Nick Faldo.

SOURCE: Associated Press

that. At the last Ryder Cup in

France three years ago, the U.S.

was just as loaded, with nine ma-

jor champions on the 12-man

squad who had combined to win 10

of the last 16 majors.

They got smoked again.

“I feel like on paper, from head

to toe, the world ranking, I would

say we’re a stronger team,” U.S.

captain Steve Stricker said. “But I

don’t think our guys feel we’re bet-

ter. They know deep down how

hard it is to beat them.”

All that matters on paper are the

results. Europe has won nine of

the last 12 times in the Ryder Cup.

And while the U.S. still holds a 26-

14-2 advantage dating to the start

in 1927, that’s not the real mea-

sure. Continental Europeans did

not join the fray until 1979, and

since then they are 11-8-1.

Europe, with Padraig Harring-

ton now at the helm of the jugger-

naut, tries to extend its dominance

at the 43rd Ryder Cup, which was

postponed a year because of the

pandemic.

Three relentless days of match-

es Sept. 24-26 will be held at Whis-

tling Straits, the cliffside course

with 1,000 or so bunkers that has

hosted the PGA Championship

three times in the last 17 years.

American players, it should be

noted, have been runner-up in all

three.

Why do the Europeans keep

winning the Ryder Cup?

They relish the role as under-

dogs. They seem to play with a

chip on their shoulders, perhaps

because the Americans don’t —

and probably should — have one

on theirs.

“That’s our advantage, I guess,

in a way, right?” Ian Poulter said

in a SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio in-

terview. “That we have delivered

when perhaps we shouldn’t have

delivered. And this is the magical

question that gets asked all the

time. That’s what has the Ameri-

can press scratching their head.

That’s what has the American

team scratching their heads at

times. On paper — on paper — the

U.S. team should have delivered.

“It’s for us to enjoy and for the

American team to figure out,” he

said. “There is a level of magic

sauce which we’ve been able to

create over the years.”

The six rookies are the most for

the Americans since 2008 when

they won at Valhalla.

Those include Collin Morikawa,

who was an amateur when the last

Ryder Cup was played and since

then has won two majors, a World

Golf Championship and led the

U.S. standings in his first year of

eligibility. It includes FedEx Cup

champion Patrick Cantlay and

Olympic gold medalist Xander

Schauffele, who were a formida-

ble team at the Presidents Cup in

Australia two years ago.

“I think it’s a good time for a

younger influx of players,”

Schauffele said, “and really excit-

ed to run with these guys.”

And while the veterans include

Dustin Johnson and Jordan Spieth

— the only Americans to have

played at least three Ryder Cups

— they also include Brooks Koep-

ka and Bryson DeChambeau, who

have made their dislike for each

other abundantly clear over the

last few months.

This is the drama Stricker can

do without as he leads a team des-

perate for a win. He said he spoke

to Koepka and DeChambeau in

the last month and they assured

him they would put their differ-

ences aside.

That’s never been a problem for

Europe, which has not been im-

mune to personality conflicts over

the years. It just never shows in-

side the ropes, in uniform, with a

17-inch trophy at stake.

Maybe it’s that European magic

sauce. Whatever it is, it’s been

working.

Before: Being favoredhasn’t helped US muchFROM PAGE 24

ASHLEY LANDIS/AP

An American fan smiles while watching a practice day Tuesday at theWhistling Straits Golf Course in Sheboygan, Wis.

SPORTS

The Americans would seem to have a lot in their

favor at the Ryder Cup.

They are on home soil at Whistling Straits

along the Wisconsin shores of Lake Michi-

gan. A full house is expected, along with

louder-than-usual cheering for the Stars &

Stripes because of COVID-19 travel re-

strictions for European-based fans.

As for the players? Younger than ever,

to be sure, but no less stacked. The Amer-

icans have eight of the top 10 in the world

rankings — Europe only has Jon Rahm at No.

1 — on a team that has won twice as many majors.

This is nothing new, of course. With one exception,

the Americans always bring a better collection of

players to the Ryder Cup.

They just rarely leave with the precious gold tro-

phy.

“We have the best players this year,” said Paul Az-

inger, the lead analyst for NBC Sports who still uses

pronouns as if it were 2008 when he was the U.S. cap-

tain. “And obviously, they (Europe) roll in with the

most confidence and maybe the best team.”

The trick is getting the American players to realize

Team Europe captain Padraig Harrington, right, holdsthe Ryder Cup trophy while taking team photos withMatt Fitzpatrick, center, and Rory McIlroy on Tuesdayat Whistling Straits Golf Course in Sheboygan, Wis.

JEFF ROBERSON/AP

Bryson DeChambeau has promised to put aside the animosity he feels toward teammate Brooks Koepka.

CHARLIE NEIBERGALL/AP


Adding to the streakCardinals down Brewers for 10th

straight victory ›› MLB, Page 22

Source: Simmons won’t report to camp ›› NBA, Page 20

RYDER CUP

Been here beforeStacked US team favored again – on paper

BY DOUG FERGUSON

Associated Press

SEE BEFORE ON PAGE 23

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