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KABUL, Afghanistan — Mazar-e-Sharif, the

fourth-largest city in Afghanistan, fell to the

Taliban on Saturday after a multipronged as-

sault launched by insurgents, according to a

lawmaker.

Balkh lawmaker Abas Ebrahimzada said the

province’s national army corps surrendered

first, which prompted the pro-government mi-

litias and other forces to lose morale and give

up in the face of the onslaught.

According to the lawmaker, all of the provin-

cial installations, including the governor’s of-

fice, are in Taliban hands.

The insurgents have captured much of

northern, western and southern Afghanistan in

a breakneck offensive less than three weeks

before the U.S. is set to withdraw its last troops,

raising fears of a full militant takeover or an-

other Afghan civil war.

The Taliban have made major advances in

recent days, including capturing Herat and

Kandahar, the country’s second- and third-

Insurgents sit on the back of a vehicle in the city of Herat, west of Kabul, Afghanistan, on Saturday after taking the province fromthe Afghan government. The Taliban seized two more provinces on Saturday as they approached the outskirts of Afghanistan’s capital.

HAMED SARFARAZI/AP

Insurgents approach Kabul’s outskirts, take major northern Afghan cityBY AHMAD SEIR, RAHIM FAIEZ

AND JOSEPH KRAUSS

Associated Press

SEE APPROACH ON PAGE 5

Taliban rolling in

AFGHANISTAN

Last month, President Joe Bi-

den vowed that his decision to pull

American forces out of Afghanis-

tan would never

end in a repeat of

the infamous

helicopter evac-

uation from the

U.S. Embassy in

Saigon at the ig-

nominious close

of the Vietnam

War. “There’s

going to be no circumstance when

you’re going to see people being

lifted off the roof,” he said.

But the drama in Afghanistan is

now closer to that scenario than

Biden might have envisioned, as

the president found himself order-

ing thousands of troops back into

Kabul to help evacuate American

diplomats from the bunkered U.S.

Embassy.

SEE TOUGH ON PAGE 6

Dignifiedwithdrawaltough taskfor Biden

BY ANNE GEARAN

AND KAREN DEYOUNG

The Washington Post

GULABUDDIN AMIRI/AP

Taliban flags fly at a square in thecity of Ghazni, southwest ofKabul, Afghanistan, on Saturday.

Biden

ANALYSIS

• S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Sunday, August 15, 2021

BUSINESS/WEATHER

Another wobbly day of trading on

Wall Street gave way Friday to

small gains and new highs for the

S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial

Average.

The two indexes wavered for

much of the day before eking out

their fourth straight gains. The

benchmark S&P 500 rose 0.2% and

notched its second-straight weekly

increase. The Dow and the Nasdaq

edged up less than 0.1%.

Stocks in the S&P 500 were nearly

evenly split between winners and

losers. Gains in technology, health

care and household goods compa-

nies outweighed losses by banks,

energy stocks and other sectors.

Small-company stocks fell more

than the broader market.

An economic report showing a

big drop in consumer confidence

last month due to the spreading del-

ta variant of the coronavirus didn’t

keep the market from managing

more records.

“The reality is the market is hold-

ing up pretty well,” said Rob Ha-

worth, senior portfolio manager at

U.S. Bank Wealth Management. He

noted that the consumer sentiment

report is “something the market is

looking through as temporary.”

The S&P 500 rose 7.17 points to

4,468. The Dow added 15.53 points

to 35,515.38, and the Nasdaq picked

up 6.64 points to 14,822.90.

The University of Michigan con-

sumer sentiment index fell to 70.2

from its previous level of 81.2 in Ju-

ly. That was the largest drop in sen-

timent since April 2020, when the

pandemic took its initial grip on the

country.

US stocks eke out small gains after wobbly dayAssociated Press

Bahrain99/94

Baghdad105/79

Doha109/84

Kuwait City110/91

Riyadh109/82

Kandahar99/61

Kabul86/60

Djibouti102/82

SUNDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Mildenhall/Lakenheath

73/59

Ramstein79/61

Stuttgart80/66

Lajes,Azores74/71

Rota88/72

Morón114/74 Sigonella

95/70

Naples90/72

Aviano/Vicenza93/70

Pápa94/69

Souda Bay81/78

Brussels75/56

Zagan78/60

DrawskoPomorskie

70/60

SUNDAY IN EUROPE

Misawa68/65

Guam86/83

Tokyo69/66

Okinawa84/81

Sasebo82/74

Iwakuni80/75

Seoul84/66

Osan92/71

Busan80/74

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

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

MONDAY IN THE PACIFIC

WEATHER OUTLOOK

TODAYIN STRIPES

American Roundup ...... 11Books .......................... 14Comics .........................15Crossword ................... 15Music ..................... 12-13Opinion ........................ 17Sports .................... 19-24

Military rates

Euro costs (Aug. 16) $1.15Dollar buys (Aug. 16) 0.8284 British pound (Aug. 16) $1.35Japanese yen (Aug. 16) 108.00South Korean won (Aug. 16) 1139.00

Commercial rates

Bahrain(Dinar) 0.3770Britain (Pound) 1.3839Canada (Dollar) 1.2525China(Yuan) 6.4801Denmark (Krone) 6.3209 Egypt (Pound) 15.6999 Euro 0.8500Hong Kong (Dollar) 7.7828 Hungary (Forint) 299.90 Israel (Shekel) 3.2176 Japan (Yen) 110.11 Kuwait(Dinar) 0.3007

Norway (Krone) 8.8146

Philippines (Peso) 50.56 Poland (Zloty) 3.89 Saudi Arabia (Riyal) 3.7505Singapore (Dollar) 1.3571

South Korea (Won) 1164.82 Switzerland (Franc) 0.9192Thailand (Baht) 33.33 Turkey (NewLira) 8.5484

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

INTEREST RATES

Prime rate 3.25Interest Rates Discount �rate 0.75Federal funds market rate �0.093month bill 0.0630year bond 2.01

EXCHANGE RATES

Sunday, August 15, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 3

A proposed stretch of interstate

highway that would connect a doz-

en military bases between Texas

and Georgia made its way into the

$1 trillion infrastructure bill

passed by the Senate last week

with the expectation it will im-

prove access to bases located in

some of the more isolated stretch-

es of the South.

The highway is a “major step in

advancing Interstate 14 as a future

corridor for handling freight

movement, military facility con-

nectivity, coastal evacuation and

sparking economic develop-

ment,” said John Thompson,

chairman of the Gulf Coast Strate-

gic Highway Coalition, a group of

community leaders who advocate

for the highway.

If the House passes the sweep-

ing legislation and sends it to Pres-

ident Joe Biden to sign into law, it

will expand Interstate Highway 14

from its 25 miles near Fort Hood,

Texas, into Louisiana, Mississippi,

Alabama and onto Augusta, Ga.

The proposed 1,300-mile route

runs between Interstate High-

ways 10 and 20 and would primar-

ily upgrade existing roads.

It would better connect tens of

thousands of troops and families

at bases including Goodfellow Air

Force Base, Texas, Fort Polk, La.,

Camp Shelby and Keesler Air

Force Base, Miss., Maxwell Air

Force Base, Ala., and Fort Ben-

ning, Robins Air Force Base and

Fort Gordon in Georgia, advo-

cates contend.

By linking to other interstate

highways, it could also ease travel

as far west as Fort Bliss, Texas,

and as far east as Fort Stewart,

Ga., and the Port of Savannah, ac-

cording to a map of the proposed

route.

Thompson, a former county

judge for Polk County, Texas,

which the highway is planned to

stretch across, used the phrase

“forts to ports” to describe the

proposed route.

“It’s about moving troops and

material, and it creates an ease in

the ability to keep our country

safe,” he said.

Of the Army’s 11 armored bri-

gade combat teams, six reside in

Texas, said Keith Sledd, a coali-

tion board member.

“Sure, you can go to the Texas

ports, but what if something hap-

pens like [Hurricane Harvey] in

Houston several years ago?” he

said.

In 2017, the massive storm

closed the Port of Houston for an

entire week. The nearby Port of

Beaumont, which Sledd said is al-

so used by the military, remained

closed to large ships for several

weeks after Harvey and suffered

eroded shorelines and infrastruc-

ture damage that took years to ful-

ly repair.

“To get them to another port,

that’s what this highway offers.

It’s the ability to move to ports

over in Louisiana or Mississippi or

Alabama, or vice versa,” said

Sledd, a retired Army colonel and

executive director of the Heart of

Texas Defense Alliance. Based

outside of Fort Hood in Killeen,

the nonprofit is funded by local

governments to advocate on is-

sues that benefit the military in

central Texas and the surround-

ing communities.

Fort Stewart is home to three

Army brigades but also experi-

ences hurricanes. The new high-

way would allow those brigades to

get to other ports to the west to de-

ploy, if needed, he said.

“[Hurricanes] often interdict

I-10 and it may lead to flooding or

sometimes physical damage to the

road structure itself or bridges.

What this gives you is an ability if

there is a contingency going on at

the same time you’ve got one of

those extreme weather events go-

ing on, you now can bypass it fur-

ther inland,” Sledd said.

Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and

Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., pro-

posed the amendment to the bill

with support from the other eight

senators in the five affected states.

The House has not released a

schedule of when lawmakers

might debate the infrastructure

bill.

Cruz said passage of the amend-

ment clears the way to “begin the

necessary work to upgrade this

road system and connect strategic

military installations across our

states.”

“This planned route would con-

nect military installations across

Georgia and drive economic op-

portunities to our rural communi-

ties,” Warnock said.

Outside of the military, local

communities could also see an ec-

onomic bump, Sledd and Thomp-

son said.

Where I-10 and I-20 run through

some of the largest cities in these

five states, proposed I-14 would

bring life to some smaller towns,

including many where military

families live, shop and seek em-

ployment.

“All the large corporations, dis-

tribution centers or manufactur-

ing companies, they want to locate

where their logistics is simplified

and it’s usually adjacent to an in-

terstate system,” Sledd said.

In the existing stretch of I-14

running near Fort Hood, where

about 89,000 trucks make deliver-

ies each year, he said they’ve al-

ready seen positive improve-

ments to traffic and new business

development. Federalizing the

highway also allowed for the road

to expand from two lanes to three

in each direction.

Proposed highwayexpansion wouldconnect 12 bases

BY ROSE L. THAYER

Stars and Stripes

Gulf Coast Strategic Highway Coalition

A proposed 1,300 mile route expanding Interstate Highway 14 would connect a dozen military bases between Texas and Georgia. It is part of the $1 trillion infrastructure bill passed by the Senate last week.

WASHINGTON — A member

of the House Armed Services

Committee is urging the Defense

Department to give honorable dis-

charges to troops who choose not

to get the coronavirus vaccine and

face disciplinary action .

Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., in-

troduced a resolution to that effect

on Friday.

The resolution comes after De-

fense Secretary Lloyd Austin an-

nounced he will require all troops

get the shots. Austin said Monday

that regardless of whether the

shots obtain full federal approval

—expected to happen in the fall —

he plans to seek President Joe Bi-

den’s permission by mid-Septem-

ber to require all troops to receive

the coronavirus vaccine.

“Having gone into battle my-

self, I strongly believe punishing

those who refuse this vaccine,

which has only been available for

less than a year, is antithetical to

the values of our

military,” said

Green, a 24-year

Army veteran

who deployed to

Iraq and Afghan-

istan.

Troops can ap-

ply for an ex-

emption to the

coronavirus vaccine mandate for

certain health conditions or reli-

gious reasons, chief Pentagon

spokesman John Kirby said last

week.

A commander has the authority

to decide what punishment troops

will get if they decline to get the

shot. Kirby said Austin expects

commanders “to treat the admin-

istration of that vaccine with …

professionalism, skill and com-

passion.”

“Commanders have a range of

tools short of using the [courts]

available to them to try to help in-

dividuals make the right deci-

sions” without issuing puni-

shments, Kirby said.

Rebecca Galfano, a spokeswo-

man for Green, said the lawmaker

had been vaccinated.

The resolution has nine Repub-

lican co-sponsors including Reps.

Chip Roy and Dan Crenshaw of

Texas, Andy Harris of Maryland,

Kat Cammack of Florida, Greg

Murphy of North Carolina, Mike

Garcia of California, Thomas

Massie of Kentucky, Tim Bur-

chett of Tennessee and Tom Tiffa-

ny of Wisconsin.

Ahead of the Defense Depart-

ment announcement of the pend-

ing vaccine mandate, Green,

along with other lawmakers,

wrote a letter to Austin arguing

mandatory vaccination for mili-

tary personnel prior to full ap-

proval from the Food and Drug

Administration is illegal.

He wrote the Defense Depart-

ment does not have the authority

to mandate the vaccine for troops

as long as the shots are authorized

under emergency use.

“To be clear, we believe [the

coronavirus] vaccines are not only

a testament to American ingenui-

ty but are also safe and effective …

Despite that, it is clear that the

mandate that you are considering

is an unprecedented violation of

federal law,” Green wrote in the

letter, signed by 15 other GOP law-

makers.

In June, Massie introduced a

bill that would prohibit the re-

quirement that all members of the

armed forces must receive a vac-

cination against the coronavirus.

Similar to Green’s resolution, it

would also ensure that service

members do not face retaliation or

punishment for refusing to re-

ceive a vaccination.

Massie wrote on Twitter in July

that he had been “contacted by

members of our voluntary mili-

tary who say they will quit if the

[coronavirus] vaccine is mandat-

ed.”

However, a large number of

service members have already re-

ceived a vaccine. About 1,044,924

service members are fully vacci-

nated, and another 237,082 have

had at least one vaccine dose, ac-

cording to Pentagon data issued

Aug. 4.

“As a physician, I’ve weighed

the pros and cons and have taken

the vaccine. But that is a decision

for each American to make — with

their doctor — not under coercion

from the government,” Green

wrote.

Resolution urges honorable discharges for troops who refuse vaccineBY SARAH CAMMARATA

Stars and Stripes

Green

MILITARY


WAR ON TERRORISM

KABUL, Afghanistan — It was

early evening and Zahra, her moth-

er and three sisters were on their

way to dinner at another sister’s

home when they saw people run-

ning and heard gunshots on the

street.

“The Taliban are here!” people

screamed.

In just a few minutes, everything

changed for the 26-year-old resi-

dent of Herat, Afghanistan’s third-

largest city.

Zahra grew up in a mostly Tali-

ban-free Afghanistan, where wom-

en dared to

dream of careers

and girls got an

education. For

the past five

years, she has

been working

with local non-

profit organiza-

tions to raise

awareness for women and press for

gender equality.

Her dreams and ambitions came

crashing down Thursday evening

as the Taliban swept into the city,

planting their white flags embla-

zoned with an Islamic proclamation

of faith in a central square as people

on motorcycles and in cars rushed

to their homes.

Like most other residents, Zahra,

her parents and five siblings are

now hunkering indoors, too scared

to go out and worried about the fu-

ture. The Associated Press chose

not to identify her by her full name

to avoid making her a target.

“I am in big shock,” said Zahra, a

round-faced, soft-spoken young

woman. “How can it be possible for

me as a woman who has worked so

hard and tried to learn and advance,

to now have to hide myself and stay

at home?”

Amid a lightning offensive over

the past several days, the Taliban

now control more than two-thirds of

the country, just two weeks before

the U.S. plans to withdraw its last

troops. And they are slowly closing

in on the capital, Kabul.

The U.N. refugee agency says

nearly 250,000 Afghans have fled

their homes since the end of May

amid fears the Taliban would reim-

pose their strict and ruthless inter-

pretation of Islam, all but eliminat-

ing women’s rights. Eighty percent

of those displaced are women and

children.

The fundamentalist group ruled

the country for five years until the

2001 U.S.-led invasion. During that

time, it forbade girls an education

and women the right to work, and

refused even to let them travel out-

side their homes without a male rel-

ative to accompany them. The Tali-

ban also carried out public execu-

tions, chopped off the hands of

thieves and stoned women accused

of adultery.

There have been no confirmed

reports of such extreme measures

in areas the Taliban fighters recent-

ly seized. But militants were report-

ed to have taken over some houses

and set fire to at least one school.

At a park in Kabul, transformed

since last week into a shelter for the

displaced, families told the AP on

Friday that girls riding home in a

motorized rickshaw in the northern

Takhar province were stopped and

lashed for wearing “revealing san-

dals.”

A schoolteacher from the prov-

ince said no one was allowed to go

out to the market without a male es-

cort. Some 3,000 families mainly

from northern provinces recently

taken over by the Taliban now live

in tents inside the park, some on the

sidewalks.

Zahra stopped going to the office

about a month ago as the militants

approached Herat, and she worked

remotely from home. But on Thurs-

day, Taliban fighters broke through

the city’s defensive lines, and she

has been unable to work since.

Her eyes welled up with tears as

she considered the possibility that

she will not be able to return to

work; that her 12-year-old sister will

be unable to continue going to

school (“She loves learning”); that

her older brother will not be able

play football; or that she won’t be

able to freely play the guitar again.

The instrument hung on a wall be-

hind her as she spoke.

She listed some of the achieve-

ments made by women in the past

20 years since the Taliban’s ouster

— incremental but meaningful

gains in what is still a deeply conser-

vative, male-dominated society:

Girls are now in school, and women

are in Parliament, government and

business.

Marianne O’Grady, Kabul-based

deputy country director for CARE

International, said the strides made

by women over the past two dec-

ades have been dramatic, particu-

larly in urban areas, adding she

cannot see things going back to the

way they were, even with a Taliban

takeover.

“You can’t uneducate millions of

people,” she said. If women “are

back behind walls and not able to go

out as much, at least they can now

educate their cousins and their

neighbors and their own children in

ways that couldn’t happen 25 years

ago.”

Still, a sense of dread appears to

be omnipresent, particularly

among women, as Taliban forces

take more territory each day.

“I feel we are like a bird who

makes a nest for a living and spends

all the time building it, but then sud-

denly and helplessly watches oth-

ers destroy it,” said Zarmina Kakar,

a 26-year-old women’s rights activ-

ist in Kabul.

Kakar was a year old when the

Taliban entered Kabul the first time

in 1996, and she recalled a time

when her mother took her out to buy

her ice cream, back when the Tali-

ban ruled. Her mother was

whipped by a Taliban fighter for re-

vealing her face for a couple of min-

utes.

“Today again, I feel that if Tali-

ban come to power, we will return

back to the same dark days,” she

said.

Afghan women fear a return to ‘dark days’BY ZEINA KARAM

AND AHMAD SEIR

Associated Press

RAHMAT GUL/AP

Internally displaced school teacher wearing a burqa from Takhar province, who identified by her firstname, Nilofar, left, speaks during an interview inside her tent in a public park Friday in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Kakar

WASHINGTON — The rapid

collapse of security in Afghanistan

has turned a slow-building U.S. ef-

fort to rescue men and women who

have assisted the United States into

a full-blown humanitarian crisis,

with tens of thousands of people

still seeking refuge and potentially

little time to relocate them.

The scramble to rescue Ameri-

ca’s Afghan allies comes after U.S.

lawmakers in both parties have

pressed the Biden administration

for months to move faster on the is-

sue, and as U.S. intelligence offi-

cials assess that the capital city of

Kabul could fall to the Taliban

within one to three months. More

than a dozen major cities fell to the

Taliban in the last week as the U.S.

military’s 20-year mission in Af-

ghanistan barrels toward the Aug.

31 departure set by President Joe

Biden.

The U.S. government has trans-

ported about 1,200 Afghans to the

United States in recent days, State

Department spokesman Ned Price

said. But the Biden administration

has committed to temporarily relo-

cating another 4,000 applicants and

their families to other countries

while their immigration paper-

work is finalized and assessed, and

there are many thousand more who

are earlier in the process and face a

stark outlook.

“I’m really upset and heartbro-

ken,” said Ismail Khan, an Afghan

who served as an interpreter for

U.S. troops and now advocates for

other interpreters through the non-

profit No One Left Behind. “I don’t

understand. What are they waiting

for? Are they waiting for everyone

to be dead, and then they’ll bring

them out?”

Responding to the crisis, the Bi-

den administration announced on

Thursday that it was deploying

3,000 combat troops to Kabul to

harden security at the airport as

embassy personnel depart and the

administration jump-starts its ef-

fort to evacuate Afghans aboard ci-

vilian and military aircraft.

But the withdrawal at the embas-

sy in Kabul threatens to further im-

pair the Biden administration’s

ability to evacuate vulnerable Af-

ghans, some of whom are still wait-

ing on paperwork to be completed

so they may flee.

Deputy Secretary of State Wen-

dy Sherman held closed-door

briefings with lawmakers on

Thursday and informed them that

acore embassy team would remain

in Kabul but their status could

change depending on the rapidly

shifting security environment, ac-

cording to three people familiar

with the discussion. Like some oth-

ers, they spoke on the condition of

anonymity because of the issue’s

sensitivity.

The core team consists of the po-

litical section to coordinate with the

Afghan government, the diplomat-

ic security team and the consular

affairs team, which processes the

special immigrant visas.

“There is a rush to get them proc-

essed so as not to leave them,”

Sherman told lawmakers, accord-

ing to people familiar with her

briefing.

A second category of Afghans al-

so need assistance, a bipartisan

group of about 40 members of Con-

gress said in a letter to Biden on

Friday. They advocated evacuat-

ing not only SIV applicants, but

journalists, civil servants, activists

and others who may qualify as ref-

ugees under another category

known as “P2.”

“With the collapse of Kabul an

imminent possibility, we should

view this as a Dunkirk moment,”

the congressmen wrote, referring

to the daring rescue of Allied troops

from the French city before they

were annihilated by Nazi forces.

“The safety of U.S. diplomats

and military personnel must be our

first priority,” they continued. “But

we must also evacuate Afghans eli-

gible for Special Immigrant Visas,

and all public and private re-

sources must now be mobilized to

save not just those eligible for SIVs

but as many other vulnerable Af-

ghans as possible.”

Taliban assault imperils US effort to rescue Afghan alliesThe Washington Post


WAR ON TERRORISM

largest cities. They now control

about 20 of Afghanistan’s 34 prov-

inces, leaving the Western-backed

government with a smattering of

provinces in the center and east,

as well as Kabul.

On Saturday, the Taliban cap-

tured all of Logar province, just

south of the capital, Kabul, and de-

tained local officials, said Hoda

Ahmadi, a lawmaker from the

province. She said the Taliban

have reached the Char Asyab dis-

trict, just 7 miles south of Kabul.

Insurgents also captured the

capital of Paktika, bordering Pa-

kistan, according to Khalid Asad,

a lawmaker from the province. He

said fighting broke out in Sharana

early Saturday but ended after lo-

cal elders intervened to negotiate

a pullout. He said the governor

and other officials surrendered

and were on their way to Kabul.

The Taliban also took control of

Maimana, the capital of northern

Faryab province, said Fawzia

Raoufi, a lawmaker from the prov-

ince. Maimana had been under

siege for a month, and Taliban

fighters entered the city days ago.

Security forces finally surren-

dered Saturday, she said.

Sayed Hussan Gerdezi, a law-

maker from the neighboring Pak-

tia province, said the Taliban

seized most of its local capital,

Gardez, but that battles with gov-

ernment forces were still under-

way. The Taliban said they con-

trolled the city.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani

delivered a televised speech Sat-

urday, his first public appearance

since the recent Taliban gains. He

vowed not to give up the “achieve-

ments” of the 20 years since the

U.S. toppled the Taliban after the

9/11 attacks.

The U.S. has continued holding

peace talks between the govern-

ment and the Taliban in Qatar this

week, and the international com-

munity has warned that a Taliban

government brought about by

force would be shunned. But the

insurgents appear to have little in-

terest in making concessions as

they rack up victories on the bat-

tlefield.

“We have started consultations,

inside the government with elders

and political leaders, representa-

tives of different levels of the com-

munity as well as our internation-

al allies,” Ghani said. “Soon the re-

sults will be shared with you,” he

added, without elaborating fur-

ther.

The president had flown to Ma-

zar-e-Sharif on Wednesday to ral-

ly the city’s defenses, meeting

with several militia commanders,

including Abdul Rashid Dostum

and Ata Mohammad Noor, who

command thousands of fighters.

They remain allied with the

government, but during previous

rounds of fighting in Afghanistan,

warlords have been known to

switch sides for their own surviv-

al. Ismail Khan, a powerful former

warlord who had tried to defend

Herat, was captured by the Tali-

ban when the insurgents seized

the western city after two weeks of

heavy fighting.

Tens of thousands of Afghans

have fled their homes, with many

fearing a return to the Taliban’s

oppressive rule. The group had

previously governed Afghanistan

under a harsh version of Islamic

law in which women were forbid-

den to work or attend school, and

could not leave their homes with-

out a male relative accompanying

them.

Salima Mazari, one of the few

female district governors in the

country, said she has never even

considered surrendering.

“There will be no place for

women,” said Mazari, who gov-

erns a district of 36,000 people

near Mazar-e-Sharif. “In the prov-

inces controlled by the Taliban, no

women exist there anymore, not

even in the cities. They are all im-

prisoned in their homes.”

The withdrawal of foreign

troops and the swift collapse of Af-

ghanistan’s own forces — despite

hundreds of billions of dollars in

U.S. aid over the years — has

raised fears the Taliban could re-

turn to power or that the country

could be shattered by factional

fighting, as it was after the Soviet

withdrawal in 1989. It’s also

prompted many American and Af-

ghan veterans of the conflict to

question whether two decades of

blood and treasure was worth it.

Afghans have been streaming

into Kabul’s international airport

in recent days, desperate to fly

out, even as more American

troops have arrived to help par-

tially evacuate the U.S. Embassy.

The first Marines from a contin-

gent of 3,000 arrived Friday. The

rest are expected by Sunday, and

their deployment has raised ques-

tions about whether the adminis-

tration will meet its Aug. 31 with-

drawal deadline.

The U.S. Air Force has carried

out several airstrikes to aid its Af-

ghan allies on the ground but they

appear to have done little to stem

the Taliban’s advance. A B-52

bomber and other warplanes tra-

versed the country’s airspace Sat-

urday, flight-tracking data

showed.

RAHMAT GUL/AP

Internally displaced Afghans from northern provinces, who fled their home due to fighting between theTaliban and Afghan security personnel, take refuge in a public park in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Friday.

Approach: Taliban nearing KabulFROM PAGE 1

WASHINGTON — A fresh con-

tingent of Marines arrived in Ka-

bul on Saturday as part of a 3,000-

troop force intended to secure an

airlift of U.S. Embassy personnel

and Afghan allies as Taliban in-

surgents approach the outskirts of

the capital.

The last-minute decision to re-

insert thousands of U.S. troops in-

to Afghanistan reflects the dire

state of security and calls into

question whether President Joe

Biden will meet his Aug. 31 dead-

line for fully withdrawing combat

forces.

After an advance group of Ma-

rines arrived on Friday, more

flowed into the Kabul internation-

al airport on Saturday, said Navy

Capt. William Urban, a spokes-

man for U.S. Central Command.

Citing operational security, Ur-

ban declined to provide specific

numbers. The Pentagon said on

Friday that the bulk of the 3,000 —

comprising two battalions of Ma-

rines and one of Army soldiers —

are due by the end of the week-

end.

Officials have stressed that the

newly arriving troops’ mission is

limited to assisting the airlift of

embassy personnel and Afghan

allies, and they expect to com-

plete it by month’s end. But they

might have to stay longer if the

embassy is threatened by a Tali-

ban takeover of Kabul by then.

On Saturday, the Taliban seized

two more provinces and ap-

proached the outskirts of Kabul

while also launching a multi-

pronged assault on a major north-

ern city defended by former war-

lords, Afghan officials said.

“Clearly from their actions, it

appears as if they are trying to get

Kabul isolated,” Pentagon

spokesman John Kirby said, re-

ferring to the Taliban’s speedy

and efficient takedown of major

provincial capitals this past week.

Biden had given the Pentagon

until Aug. 31 to complete the with-

drawal of the 2,500 to 3,000 troops

that were in Afghanistan when he

announced in April that he was

ending U.S. involvement in the

war. That number has dropped to

just under 1,000, and all but about

650 are scheduled to be gone by

the end of the month; the 650 are

to remain to help protect the U.S.

diplomatic presence, including

with aircraft and defensive weap-

ons at the Kabul airport.

But Thursday’s decision to dis-

patch 3,000 fresh troops to the air-

port adds a new twist to the U.S.

withdrawal. There is no discus-

sion of rejoining the war, but the

number of troops needed for se-

curity will depend on decisions

about keeping the embassy open

and the extent of a Taliban threat

to the capital in coming days.

Having the Aug. 31 deadline

pass with thousands of U.S. troops

in the country would be awkward

for Biden given his insistence on

ending the 20-year U.S. war by

that date. Republicans have al-

ready criticized the withdrawal as

a mistake and ill-planned, though

there’s little political appetite by

either party to send fresh troops

to fight the Taliban.

Kirby declined on Friday to dis-

cuss any assessment of whether

the Taliban are likely soon to con-

verge on Kabul, but the urgent

movement of extra U.S. troops in-

to Afghanistan to assist the em-

bassy drawdown is clear evidence

of Washington’s worry that after

the rapid fall of major cities this

week with relatively little Afghan

government resistance, Kabul is

endangered.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani

delivered a televised speech Sat-

urday, his first public appearance

since the recent Taliban gains,

and pledged not to give up the

“achievements” of the 20 years

since the U.S. toppled the Taliban

after the 9/11 attacks.

The Biden administration has

asserted that Afghan security

forces have tangible advantages

over the insurgents, including a

viable air force and superior num-

bers. The statement serves to

highlight the fact that what the Af-

ghan forces lack is motivation to

fight in a circumstance where the

Taliban seem to have decisive

momentum.

Stephen Biddle, a professor of

international and public affairs at

Columbia University, said in an

interview the announcement that

3,000 U.S. troops were heading to

Kabul to help pull out American

diplomats and embassy staff like-

ly made Afghan morale even

worse.

“The message that sent to Af-

ghans is: ‘The city of Kabul is go-

ing to fall so fast that we can’t or-

ganize an orderly withdrawal

from the embassy,’” Biddle said.

This suggests to Afghans that the

Americans see little future for the

government and that “this place

could be toast within hours.”

More Marines in Kabul to aidembassy airlift

Associated Press


WAR ON TERRORISM

The country edged toward col-

lapse as senior Afghan officials

and hundreds of government

troops surrendered to the Taliban.

The militants overran three key

cities and partly encircled the cap-

ital Kabul, where the U.S.-backed

government appeared tenuous.

The moment highlighted the

enormous gamble Biden has tak-

en in withdrawing troops from a

conflict he says has lasted too long

and cost too many lives. The Tali-

ban’s strikingly rapid onslaught is

bolstering the appearance that the

United States has lost or given up

in Afghanistan, a prospect from

which Americans have historical-

ly recoiled.

It is also a grim reckoning for

Biden, who announced in April

that all U.S. forces were coming

home after an inconclusive and, as

he saw it, increasingly irrelevant

conflict. It was a pivotal moment

in his presidency, as he rebuffed

Pentagon recommendations that

the United States maintain a small

force in the country.

And he has not backed away,

even as conditions on the ground

have worsened. “I do not regret

my decision,” he said Tuesday, de-

spite a new intelligence assess-

ment that Kabul could fall to the

Taliban in as little as a month.

American diplomats began de-

stroying classified documents and

equipment Friday in preparation

for a potential takeover of the U.S.

Embassy, per orders in an inter-

nal memo obtained by The Wash-

ington Post.

U.S. officials said the latest de-

velopments would not derail the

withdrawal strategy, in which all

American forces leave the coun-

try by the end of the month. But

the need for reinforcements un-

derscored that the plan has

brought unforeseen consequenc-

es.

If the United States were simply

handing off responsibility to the

Afghan security forces, as Biden

has said, there would be no need

for thousands of armed U.S. troops

to guarantee the safe departure of

Americans and vulnerable Af-

ghans, said Ryan Crocker, a for-

mer U.S. ambassador to Afghanis-

tan.

“You can’t rewind this film,”

Crocker said, suggesting that

Americans will see a botched ef-

fort and question Biden’s abilities.

“Of course the Republicans will

have a field day with it,” Crocker

said. “But for a whole lot of other

Americans, you have to look at

what’s happening and think, ‘This

is the commander in chief, this is

the guy who’s responsible for the

security of the nation, and what an

incredible mess he’s made of it in

his first time out of the blocks.’”

Republicans are already pounc-

ing as Afghanistan’s collapse has

accelerated in recent days. Over

the past week, the Taliban has

moved on to the major cities of

Kandahar and Herat; the Taliban

has swept up more territory; and

Americans have been urged to

leave Afghanistan.

“This debacle was not only fore-

seeable, it was foreseen,” Senate

Minority Leader Mitch McCon-

nell, R-Ky., said Friday. “The

president and his team actively

decided against a far more re-

sponsible approach to preserving

our national security interests and

protecting our Afghan partners,”

McConnell said in a statement.

He urged immediate U.S. mili-

tary action to prevent the Taliban

from overrunning Kabul, some-

thing Biden has shown no willing-

ness to do.

But the politics of Afghanistan

— and U.S. foreign engagements

in general — are not straightfor-

ward. Some centrist Democrats

have joined hawkish Republicans

in questioning the pullout. And

some conservative libertarians

agree with liberal peace activists

that the United States should not

spend blood and treasure over-

seas that could be used at home.

Former Republican congress-

man Justin Amash of Michigan,

for example, suggested the Tali-

ban’s onslaught only proves the

wisdom of withdrawing.

“The Taliban’s rapid gains in

Afghanistan underscore the futil-

ity of permanent occupation,”

Amash tweeted Thursday. “The

United States wasn’t able to mea-

ningfully shape circumstances

through 20 years of war. We’d

have seen the same results had we

pulled out 15 years ago or 15 years

from now. End the wars.”

Biden has stuck with his gut in-

stincts all along, convinced that

the United States should have left

years ago and suspicious of Penta-

gon leaders’ arguments for stay-

ing. Announcing the withdrawal

in April, Biden noted that he is the

fourth U.S. president to preside

over the war, which has cost bil-

lions of dollars and killed more

than 2,000 American troops.

“I will not pass this responsibil-

ity on to a fifth,” he said at the time.

Biden initially supported the

2001 U.S. invasion of Afghanistan,

but by 2005, he had changed his

mind. As vice president, he op-

posed the expansion of the war un-

der President Barack Obama.

Biden’s confidence that he can

quit a war that snared his prede-

cessors also is based on a view that

leaving will have few costs for the

United States. Biden argues that

terrorism is not the threat it was —

especially from Afghanistan —

and that the United States is better

served by focusing on China,

which he sees as the true national

security threat.

Most Americans support the

military withdrawal, which was

initially announced last year by

President Donald Trump. In a

rare instance, Biden stuck to

Trump’s plan, though he extended

the deadline for withdrawal by

about four months.

A survey conducted by the Chi-

cago Council on Global Affairs in

July found 70% support among

Americans for the decision to

withdraw. A May Quinnipiac poll

found a smaller 62% approving.

Even if the Taliban takes over,

Biden’s supporters say, it would

make little sense for the United

States to linger for decades, shor-

ing up an unstable government

and losing even more lives. But

the swift Taliban gains could

threaten that consensus, said Lisa

Curtis, who was a top foreign pol-

icy adviser to Trump.

“It depends on what happens in

the coming weeks and months,”

said Curtis, who is now with the

Center for a New American Secu-

rity. “If there is a humanitarian

catastrophe, or women are getting

shot in the streets by the Taliban,

and this is played over U.S. net-

works, I think it will be a major

stain on the Biden administra-

tion.”

Trump contended Thursday

that if he were still in charge, the

withdrawal would be going far

more smoothly.

“I personally had discussions

with top Taliban leaders whereby

they understood what they are do-

ing now would not have been ac-

ceptable,” Trump wrote in a fun-

draising appeal. “It would have

been a much different and much

more successful withdrawal, and

the Taliban understood that better

than anyone.”

The political risk to Biden will

grow if he is wrong and significant

terrorist attacks are launched

from Afghan soil. U.S. intelligence

officials acknowledge that the

troop withdrawal — along with the

end of CIA access to bases and the

shrinking of the embassy staff —

has significantly reduced the

United States’ ability to watch,

and strike, al-Qaeda and the Is-

lamic State.

“When the time comes for the

U.S. military to withdraw, the U.S.

government’s ability to collect and

act on threats will diminish. That’s

simply a fact,” CIA Director Wil-

liam J. Burns told the Senate Intel-

ligence Committee in the spring.

Burns told NPR in July that the

CIA would “retain significant ca-

pabilities both in and around Af-

ghanistan” to monitor terrorist ac-

tivity. But he spoke before Af-

ghanistan’s neighbors made it

clear they would reject the posi-

tioning of U.S. counterterrorism

resources on their territory.

For now, U.S. intelligence capa-

bilities are largely dependent on

aircraft carriers in the Arabian

Sea and facilities as far away as

the Persian Gulf to keep an eye on

Afghanistan.

William Wechsler, a senior

counterterrorism official in the

Obama administration, said the

effectiveness of such “over-the-

horizon” operations depends on

their distance from the target.

“You can do it,” Wechsler said.

“It’s just that your effectiveness

goes down and the risk goes up.”

But the task becomes close to

impossible, he said, when the

United States has little or no intel-

ligence presence on the ground,

even to deal with local operatives,

at a viable U.S. Embassy.

Although ISIS is not viewed as a

major threat emanating from Af-

ghanistan, al-Qaeda is gaining

strength there and has significant

ties to the Taliban, experts said,

making it a potential force to be

reckoned with.

Sens. Jeanne Shaheen of New

Hampshire and Robert Menendez

of New Jersey are among the

Democrats who question Biden’s

withdrawal plans, while Sen.

Chris Murphy, D-Conn., backed

the president Monday on the Sen-

ate floor.

Like Amash, Murphy argued

that the Taliban’s gains prove the

need for the withdrawal, not its fu-

tility.

“The Taliban’s surge is actually

a reason to stick to the withdrawal

plan,” he said. “The complete, ut-

ter failure of the Afghan National

Army, absent our hand-holding, to

defend their country is a blistering

indictment of a failed 20-year

strategy predicated on the belief

that billions of U.S. taxpayer dol-

lars could create an effective,

democratic central government in

a nation that has never had one.”

Biden said much the same

Tuesday, telling reporters that Af-

ghan forces need to muster the

will to fight for their own country.

“Afghan leaders have to come

together.... They’ve got to fight for

themselves, fight for their nation,”

Biden said. “I think they’re begin-

ning to realize they’ve got to come

together politically at the top, but

we’re going to continue to keep

our commitment. But I do not re-

gret my decision.”

Paul Rieckhoff, founder of Iraq

and Afghanistan Veterans of

America, said that message ig-

nores the role played by the Unit-

ed States in setting up the current

faceoff. “That is geopolitical vic-

tim shaming,” Rieckhoff said.

As conditions deteriorate, he

warned, American leaders will

not be able to avoid their own cul-

pability. “When the Taliban gets

in there and fires up their cell-

phones and starts sending be-

heading videos, they will not be

able to spin this,” Rieckhoff said.

Crocker had his own pithy sum-

mation of the risk, saying, “This

may make Saigon look good.”

Tough: Presidentbacks his decisionFROM PAGE 1

SIDIQULLAH KHAN/AP

Afghan military and officials leave Kandahar city during fighting between the Taliban and Afghan securitypersonnel in Kandahar, southwest of Kabul, Afghanistan, on Thursday.

“We’d have seenthe same resultshad we pulledout 15 years agoor 15 years fromnow.”

Justin Amash

Former Repbulican congressman


VIRUS OUTBREAK

Hold on to that vaccination

card. A rapidly growing number

of places across the U.S. are re-

quiring people to show proof they

have been inoculated against CO-

VID-19 to teach school, work at a

hospital, see a concert or eat inside

a restaurant.

Following New York City’s lead,

New Orleans and San Francisco

will impose such rules at many

businesses starting next week,

while Los Angeles is looking into

the idea.

The new measures are an at-

tempt to stem the rising tide of CO-

VID-19 cases that has pushed hos-

pitals to the breaking point, in-

cluding in the Dallas area, where

top officials warned they are run-

ning out of beds in their pediatric

intensive care units.

Dallas County Judge Clay Jen-

kins said the situation is so dire

that if a parent is seeking care for a

sick or injured child, “your child

will wait for another child to die.

Your child will just not get on a

ventilator. Your child will be care-

flighted to Temple or Oklahoma

City or wherever we can find them

a bed, but they won’t be getting

one here unless one clears.”

Earlier this week, Jenkins or-

dered that masks be worn inside

schools, county buildings and

businesses after a judge blocked

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s ban on

such rules. The county is not re-

quiring people to show proof of

vaccination.

On Friday, the Chicago school

system, the nation’s third-largest

district, with more than 360,000

students, announced it will re-

quire all its teachers and other

employees to be fully vaccinated

by mid-October unless they qual-

ify for a medical or religious ex-

emption.

Philadelphia has decreed that

health care workers and college

students and staff members must

get their shots by mid-October.

New Orleans Mayor LaToya

Cantrell called proof of vaccina-

tion the best way to protect busi-

nesses. She said she is not impos-

ing capacity limits or contemplat-

ing a shutdown similar to the one

that devastated businesses in

2020.

“Unlike this time last year, we

have a tool that we did not have,”

she said, referring to vaccines.

Over the past two weeks, Loui-

siana has set daily records for the

number of people hospitalized

with COVID-19, reaching 2,907

patients on Friday. Ninety-one

percent of those hospitalized are

unvaccinated, according to state

data.

Critics say that requiring people

to be vaccinated to enter a busi-

ness violates their rights and their

privacy.

At least 18 states led by Repub-

lican governors or legislatures

prohibit the creation of so-called

vaccine passports or ban public

entities from demanding proof of

vaccination. Several of those — in-

cluding Alabama, Florida, Iowa,

Montana, North Dakota and Texas

— also bar most businesses from

denying service to those who

aren’t vaccinated.

In Salt Lake City, restaurant

owner Mark Alston decided to re-

quire vaccination when he reo-

pened in May. He thought his de-

cision would draw “a little bit of

publicity,” but the backlash came

quickly in the form of hundreds of

nasty phone calls, Facebook com-

ments and emails.

“People were literally wishing

death upon our family, our staff,

everyone we knew,” Alston said.

“They were cheering for our inev-

itable failure.”

Although his staff has had to

turn away about 20% of patrons,

Alston said he has no regrets: “I

would personally feel like an in-

credible hypocrite to be running a

restaurant that I knew was unsafe,

that was contributing to the

spread.”

More US citiesrequire proofof vaccination

Associated Press

NAM Y. HUH/AP

A pedestrian wears a face mask as she walks past an information sign of COVID19 testing in Chicago, Ill.,on Friday.

LONDON — When global health officials

created COVAX, a U.N.-backed effort to

share coronavirus vaccines, it was sup-

posed to guarantee the world’s most vulner-

able people could get doses without being at

the mercy of unreliable donations.

It hasn’t worked out that way. In late

June, COVAX sent more than 530,000 doses

to Britain — more than double the amount

sent that month to Africa, where fewer than

2% of the population is immunized.

While poor countries joined COVAX to

receive donated doses, higher-income

countries were enticed to join as an insur-

ance policy in case their private vaccine

deals fell through. Most rich countries have

declined to buy COVAX doses after acquir-

ing enough shots through private deals. But

some, including the U.K. and Canada,

tapped into the initiative’s meager supply

even after reserving most of the world’s

coronavirus vaccines.

The result is that poorer countries have

landed in exactly the predicament COVAX

was intended to avoid: depending on the

whims and politics of rich countries for do-

nations.

“If we had tried to withhold vaccines

from parts of the world, could we have

made it any worse than it is today?” asked

Dr. Bruce Aylward, a senior advisor at the

World Health Organization, during a public

session on vaccine equity.

The U.S. never got any doses through CO-

VAX, although Saudi Arabia, Australia and

New Zealand did. Canada got so much crit-

icism for taking COVAX shipments that it

said it would not request more. In the mean-

time, Venezuela has yet to receive any of its

COVAX doses. Haiti has received less than

half of its share, Syria about a 10th.

British officials confirmed the U.K. re-

ceived about 539,000 COVAX vaccines in

late June and that it has options to buy an-

other 27 million. Both Britain and Canada

noted that COVAX was also open to higher-

income countries.

However, Brook Baker, a Northeastern

University specialist in access to medi-

cines, said it was unconscionable that rich

countries would dip into COVAX supplies at

a time when its biggest supplier, the Serum

Institute of India, stopped exporting vac-

cines to deal with a surge of cases on the

subcontinent. That left nearly 60 countries

with few options. So far, the initiative has

delivered less than 10% of the doses it prom-

ised.

COVAX is run by the World Health Orga-

nization, the vaccines alliance Gavi and the

Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Inno-

vations. The program is now trying to re-

gain credibility by getting rich countries to

distribute donated vaccines through its sys-

tem, Baker said, adding that many dona-

tions are aimed at currying political favors.

COVAX is well aware of the problem.

During its last board meeting in June, offi-

cials conceded they had failed to achieve

equitable distribution. But they decided

against blocking rich countries from getting

more vaccines, reasoning that without

them, “it would be difficult to secure deals

with some manufacturers.”

During a subsequent call with partners,

Gavi CEO Dr. Seth Berkley said COVAX in-

tended to honor the agreements it had made

with rich countries but would ask them to

“adjust” their allocated doses to request

fewer vaccines, according to a meeting par-

ticipant who spoke about the confidential

call on condition of anonymity. Among the

reasons Berkley cited was the potential risk

to its balance sheet.

In response to an AP request for com-

ment, Gavi said the initiative aims to deliver

2 billion doses by early 2022 and that “the

vast majority of the COVAX supply” would

go to developing countries.

COVAX blasted for not doing what it was created to doAssociated Press

RAHMAT GUL/AP

A woman receives the Johnson & Johnson COVID19 vaccine, July 11, at a vaccinationcenter with COVID19 vaccines donated by the United States and delivered through theU.N.backed COVAX program, in Kabul, Afghanistan.


NATION

WASHINGTON — With the

Obama health care law undergo-

ing a revival under President Joe

Biden, Sunday was the deadline

for consumers to take advantage

of a special sign-up period for pri-

vate coverage made more affor-

dable by his COVID-19 relief law.

A strong close would bolster Bi-

den’s case that Congress needs to

make permanent the temporary

boost in health insurance subsi-

dies provided by the COVID-19

legislation. His campaign prom-

ise to build on existing programs

to move the U.S. toward coverage

for all might also gain credence.

The government says more

than 2.5 million people have

signed up since Biden ordered the

HealthCare.gov marketplace to

reopen Feb. 15 to account for

health insurance needs in the

pandemic. Then, starting in April,

the cost of coverage came down

due to sweeter subsidies in the

COVID-19 law, which attracted

more enrollment. Officials at the

Centers for Medicare and Medi-

caid Services, or CMS, hoped that

this deadline weekend in mid-Au-

gust would surprise skeptics.

“We’ve seen even in the last

couple of weeks increased inter-

est in enrollment,” Administrator

Chiquita Brooks-LaSure said in

an interview. “When you make

coverage more affordable, people

buy it. What we need to do is to

make coverage more affordable.”

Biden’s special enrollment pe-

riod was to end at midnight local

time Sunday around the country.

The regular annual sign-up sea-

son won’t start again until Nov. 1.

Interest has been high in a cou-

ple of states feeling the scourge of

the delta variant. Nearly 490,000

people have signed up in Florida,

and more than 360,000 have done

so in Texas.

At a nonprofit service center in

Austin, Texas, more than 500 peo-

ple have enrolled so far with the

help of staff and volunteers. Foun-

dation Communities health pro-

gram director Aaron DeLaO said

the schedule is booked and

they’re working to clear the wait-

ing list.

“Especially with the delta vari-

ant, people are thinking about

their health a little more,” he said.

The application process can be

complicated, requiring details

about citizenship or legal immi-

grant status, income, and house-

hold members. That’s before a

consumer even picks a health in-

surance plan. People can apply

online, via the HealthCare.gov

call center, or through programs

like the one in Austin.

About 9 in 10 customers at

Foundation Communities have

selected standard “silver” plans,

which cost somewhat more but of-

fer better financial protection

when illness strikes.

“That to me says that people are

really interested in having com-

prehensive coverage,” DeLaO

said.

The Obama-era Affordable

Care Act offers subsidized private

insurance to people who don’t

have job-based coverage, availa-

ble in every state. The ACA also

expanded Medicaid for low-in-

come adults, an option most states

have taken. The two components

cover about 27 million people, ac-

cording to the nonpartisan Kaiser

Family Foundation.

“Obamacare’s” place among

government health programs

seems secure now, after more

than a decade of fruitless efforts

by Republicans to repeal it or get

the Supreme Court to overturn it.

Earlier this year by a vote of 7-2

the conservative-leaning court

dismissed the latest challenge.

Special enrollmentperiod for cheaper‘Obamacare’ ends

BY RICARDO

ALONSO-ZALDIVAR

Associated Press

ALBANY, N.Y. — The New

York state Assembly will suspend

its investigation of Gov. Andrew

Cuomo once he steps down after

its leader concluded the Legisla-

ture didn’t have the clear author-

ity to impeach a departed official,

the chamber’s top Democrat said

Friday.

Cuomo announced Tuesday he

planned to resign over sexual ha-

rassment allegations as it became

clear he was almost certain to be

impeached by the Legislature. He

said his resignation was effective

in 14 days, at which point he’ll be

replaced by Lt. Gov. Kathy Ho-

chul.

Some lawmakers have urged

the Assembly to press on with an

impeachment proceeding, per-

haps to bar Cuomo from holding

state office in the future if he at-

tempted a political comeback.

But Assembly Speaker Carl

Heastie said Friday that lawyers

had advised the body’s judiciary

committee that the state constitu-

tion doesn’t authorize the Legisla-

ture to impeach an elected official

no longer in office.

Heastie had provided reporters

a less definitive legal memoran-

dum saying Assembly lawyers

and outside counsel had conclud-

ed lawmakers “probably” lack the

constitutional authority to do so,

though the matter hasn’t been set-

tled definitely.

“Let me be clear — the commit-

tee’s work over the last several

months, although not complete,

did uncover credible evidence in

relation to allegations that have

been made in reference to the gov-

ernor,” said Heastie, a New York

City Democrat.

He said that included evidence

related to the sexual harassment

claims, possible misuse of state re-

sources in conjunction with the

publication of the governor’s book

on the pandemic and “improper

and misleading disclosure of nurs-

ing home data.”

“This evidence — we believe —

could likely have resulted in arti-

cles of impeachment had he not

resigned,” Heastie said.

When asked whether lawmak-

ers could still release a report with

findings to the public as originally

planned, Heastie said: “I guess it

could.”

“The concern behind that is, if

you’re in the middle of an investi-

gation and other law enforcement

areas are looking at this, I don’t

know if we can; I don’t want to

have us step on their toes while

there are criminal investigations

going on,” he said Friday on the

news program “Capital Tonight.”

Heastie didn’t explain how re-

leasing a committee report could

interfere with independent law

enforcement investigations. He

has previously said that he’s asked

the committee to turn over evi-

dence it had gathered “to the rele-

vant investigatory authorities.”

Heastie denied that he had reac-

hed any deal with Cuomo to let

him resign without facing an im-

peachment trial or investigation.

“There was no deal,” Heastie

said. “I’ve said that 150 times and

I’ll make that the 151st time.”

Cuomo’s office and his lawyer,

Rita Glavin, didn’t immediately

respond to a request for comment.

The first woman to publicly ac-

cuse Cuomo of misconduct, Lind-

sey Boylan, called the Assembly

leadership’s decision to call off its

separate investigation “an unjust

cop out.”

“The public deserves to know

the extent of the Governor’s mis-

deeds and possible crimes. His

victims deserve justice and to

know he will not be able harm oth-

ers,” she tweeted.

HANS PENNINK/AP

A billboard on Interstate I787 against supporting New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is seen Friday in Albany,N.Y. Lawyers concluded the state Legislature lacks the clear authority to impeach Cuomo after he resigns.

NY Legislature won’t attempt toimpeach Cuomo after he resigns

BY MARINA VILLENEUVE

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The upcoming 20th

anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks as well as

approaching religious holidays could in-

spire extremist attacks, the Department of

Homeland Security said in a terrorism alert

issued Friday.

DHS did not cite any specific threats in

the National Terrorism Advisory System

Bulletin. But it noted that the U.S. is in a

“heightened threat environment,” fueled

by factors that include violent extremists

motivated by racial and ethnic hatred and

resentment of restrictions imposed during

the pandemic.

DHS issues the warnings to alert the pub-

lic as well as state and local authorities.

They reflect intelligence gathered from

other law enforcement agencies.

The bulletin is an extension of a similar

one issued in May that expired on the day

the new one was issued. DHS says domestic

extremists remain a national threat priority

for U.S. law enforcement and will for at

least the remainder of the year.

The agency noted that al-Qaida in the

Arabian Peninsula recently released the

first English-language edition of its Inspire

magazine in four years, apparently to mark

the upcoming anniversary of the Sept. 11,

2001, terrorist attacks.

The anniversary and the approaching ho-

lidays “could serve as a catalyst for acts of

targeted violence,” it said.

DHS also noted that domestic extremists

motivated by religious and ethnic hatred

have in the past attacked houses of worship

and other gatherings, but it said there aren’t

any “credible or imminent threats identi-

fied to these locations.”

As in previous bulletins, DHS expressed

concern about both domestic extremists,

motivated by “personal grievances and ex-

tremist ideological beliefs,” and foreign in-

fluences.

The agency said Russian, Chinese and

Iranian government-linked media outlets

have helped spread conspiracy theories

about the origins of COVID-19 and the ef-

fectiveness of vaccines and have in some

cases amplified calls for violence against

people of Asian descent.

Bulletin warns 9/11 anniversary could inspire extremist attacksAssociated Press


NATION

WESTWOOD, Calif. — A month-old wild-

fire burning through forestlands in North-

ern California lurched toward a small lum-

ber town as blazes across U.S. Western

states strained resources and threatened

thousands of homes with destruction.

Crews were cutting back brush and using

bulldozers to build lines to keep the Dixie

Fire from reaching Westwood east of Lake

Almanor, not far from where the lightning-

caused blaze destroyed much of the town of

Greenville earlier this month..

The entire town of about 1,700 people was

placed under evacuation orders Aug. 5 as

the blaze inched closer.

To the northwest, the Monument Fire —

one of at least three large blazes sparked by

lightning last month — continued to grow af-

ter destroying a dozen homes and threat-

ened about 2,500 homes in a sparsely pop-

ulated region. U.S. Forest Service officials

said Friday that flying embers ignited spot

fires as far as a mile ahead of the main blaze

in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest.

They were among more than 100 large

wildfires burning in a dozen Western states

seared by drought and hot, bone-dry weath-

er that has turned forests, brushlands,

meadows and pastures into tinder.

The U.S. Forest Service said Friday it’s op-

erating in crisis mode, fully deploying fire-

fighters and maxing out its support system.

The roughly 21,000 federal firefighters

working on the ground is more than double

the number of firefighters sent to contain

forest fires at this time a year ago, and the

agency is facing “critical resources limita-

tions,” said Anthony Scardina, a deputy for-

ester for the agency’s Pacific Southwest re-

gion.

More than 6,000 firefighters alone were

battling the Dixie Fire, which has destroyed

more than 1,000 homes, businesses and oth-

er structures and was the largest wildfire

burning in the U.S. Its flames have ravaged

more than 800 square miles — an area larger

than the city of London.

There also was a danger of new fires

erupting because of unstable weather condi-

tions, including a chance of thunderstorms

that could bring lightning to northern Cali-

fornia, Oregon and Nevada, according to the

National Interagency Fire Center.

“Mother nature just kind of keeps throw-

ing us obstacles our way,” said Edwin Zuni-

ga, a spokesman with the California Depart-

ment of Forestry and Fire Protection, which

was working with the Forest Service to tamp

out the Dixie Fire.

In southeastern Montana, firefighters and

residents were scrambling to save hundreds

of homes as flames advanced across the

Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation.

The blaze was more than 50% contained.

But its southern edge was still burning near

the tribal headquarters town of Lame Deer,

where a mandatory evacuation remained in

place, and a second fire was threatening

from the opposite direction.

The fires already had burned or threat-

ened grasslands that many locals with cattle

and horses depend upon for their liveli-

hoods, Montana officials said.

Smoke from the blazes grew so thick Fri-

day that the health clinic in Lame Deer was

shut down after its air filters could not keep

up with the pollution, Northern Cheyenne

Tribe spokesperson Angel Becker said.

Smoke also drove air pollution levels to

unhealthy or very unhealthy levels in parts

of Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Northern

California, according to the Environmental

Protection Agency.

EUGENE GARCIA/AP

A tractor is left behind as a home burns outside of Taylorsville in Plumas County, Calif.,from the impacts of the Dixie Fire on Friday.

Western fires strain Forest Service resourcesBY EUGENE GARCIA

AND DAISY NGUYEN

Associated Press

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — It’s

only a few days into the new

school year, but New Mexico’s

largest district is reeling from a

shooting that left one student

dead and landed another in custo-

dy.

The gunfire at Washington

Middle School during the lunch

hour Friday marked the second

shooting in Albuquerque in less

than 24 hours. With the city on

pace to shatter its homicide re-

cord this year, top state officials

said they were heartbroken by

what they described as a scourge.

“These tragedies should never

occur. That they do tells us there

is more work to be done,” Gov.

Michelle Lujan Grisham said.

Albuquerque Police Deputy

Commander Kyle Hartsock de-

scribed the shooting as an isolated

incident between two students

who were believed to be about 13

years old. He said a school re-

source officer ran toward the two

boys after gunfire erupted and

prevented any other violence

while tending to the boy who was

shot.

Investigators were trying to de-

termine how the student obtained

the gun and what may have

prompted the shooting, Hartsock

said. Other students were being

interviewed as detectives tried to

piece together what happened, he

said.

Dozens of fretful parents gath-

ered outside the school Friday af-

ternoon as they waited for their

children to be released.

Friday marked the third day of

classes for Albuquerque’s public

school district. While students

won’t return until Tuesday, Su-

perintendent Scott Elder said the

staff will be making preparations

to ensure students have access to

counseling and any other support

services they need.

“Of course it’s extremely diffi-

cult,” he said of something like

this happening so early in the

school year. “There’s a lot of pres-

sure in the community. People

are nervous. It was a terrible in-

cident that happened between

two people. It should have never

happened … This shouldn’t hap-

pen in the community. It certainly

shouldn’t happen at a school.”

Police said more officers will be

present when students return,

hoping to provide a sense of secu-

rity and in case students have any

more information about the shoot-

ing they want to share.

Gunfire also rang out Thursday

night at a sports bar and restau-

rant near a busy Albuquerque

shopping district. Police said one

person was killed and three were

injured after someone pulled out

a gun during a fight.

No arrests have been made in

that case. Investigators were re-

viewing surveillance video and

interviewing witnesses.

ROBERT BROWMAN, THE ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL/AP

Family members wait to pick up students after a fatal shooting atWashington Middle School in Albuquerque, N.M., Friday.

New Mexico school year off todeadly start amid gun violenceBY SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN

Associated Press

Earth sizzled in July and became

the hottest month in 142 years of re-

cordkeeping, U.S. weather officials

announced.

As extreme heat waves struck

parts of the United States and Eu-

rope, the globe averaged 62.07 de-

grees Fahrenheit last month, beat-

ing out the previous record set in

July 2016 and tied again in 2019 and

2020, the National Oceanic and At-

mospheric Administration said

Friday. The margin was just .02 de-

grees.

The last seven Julys, from 2015 to

2021, have been the hottest seven

Julys on record, said NOAA clima-

tologist Ahira Sanchez-Lugo. Last

month was 1.67 degrees warmer

than the 20th century average for

the month.

“In this case first place is the

worst place to be,” NOAA Adminis-

trator Rick Spinrad said in a press

release. “This new record adds to

the disturbing and disruptive path

that climate change has set for the

globe.”

“This is climate change,” said

Pennsylvania State University cli-

mate scientist Michael Mann. “It is

an exclamation mark on a summer

of unprecedented heat, drought,

wildfires and flooding.”

Last week, a prestigious United

Nations science panel warned of

worsening climate change caused

by the burning of coal, oil and nat-

ural gas and other human activity.

Warming on land in western

North America and in parts of Eu-

rope and Asia really drove the re-

cord-setting heat, Sanchez-Lugo

said. While the worldwide temper-

ature was barely higher than the

record, what shattered it was land

temperature over the Northern

Hemisphere, she said.

Northern Hemisphere temper-

atures were a third of a degree

higher than the previous record set

in July 2012, which for temperature

records is “a wide margin,” San-

chez-Lugo said.

July is the hottest month of the

year for the globe, so this is also the

hottest month on record.

One factor helping the world

bake this summer is a natural

weather cycle called the Arctic Os-

cillation, sort of a cousin to El Nino,

which in its positive phase is associ-

ated with more warming, the

NOAA climatologist said.

Even with a scorching July and a

nasty June, this year so far is only

the sixth warmest on record. That’s

mostly because 2021 started cooler

than recent years due to a La Nina

cooling of the central Pacific that

often reduces the global temper-

ature average, Sanchez-Lugo said.

“One month by itself does not say

much, but that this was a La Nina

year and we still had the warmest

temperatures on record ... fits with

the pattern of what we have been

seeing for most of the last decade

now,” said University of Illinois

meteorology professor Donald

Wuebbles.

NOAA: July was hottestmonth on record for globe

Associated Press


WORLD

ISTANBUL — The death toll

from severe floods and mudslides

along Turkey’s Black Sea coast

has climbed to at least 51, the

country’s emergency and disaster

agency said Saturday, as author-

ities disputed reports that hun-

dreds of people were missing.

Torrential rains that pounded

the Black Sea provinces of Bartin,

Kastamonu and Sinop on Wednes-

day caused flooding that demol-

ished homes, severed at least five

bridges, swept away cars and ren-

dered numerous roads unpassa-

ble. Turkish disaster agency

AFAD said 43 people were killed

in Kastamonu, seven in Sinop and

one in Bartin.

Nine people remained hospital-

ized, according to the agency.

Some residents in Kastamonu

said on social media that there are

hundreds more missing, a state-

ment also made by an opposition

lawmaker. But the provincial gov-

ernor’s office said that reports

about 250 unidentified bodies

were untrue. It did not specifically

address how many people could

be missing in the flooding.

Rescue teams and sniffer dogs

kept up the painstaking task of try-

ing to locate residents. AFAD said

5,820 personnel, 20 rescue dogs,

20 helicopters and two search

planes were at the disaster spots.

About 2,250 people were evac-

uated across the region amid the

floods, scores of them lifted from

rooftops by helicopters. Many are

being temporarily housed in stu-

dent dormitories.

Climate scientists unequivocal-

ly say that climate change is lead-

ing to more extreme weather

events as the world warms be-

cause of the burning of coal, oil

and natural gas.

Experts in Turkey, however,

said interference with rivers and

improper construction also con-

tributed to the massive flood dam-

age.

Geologists say that construction

narrowed the river bed and the

surrounding alluvial flood plain of

the Ezine stream in Kastamonu’s

Bozkurt district, where the dam-

age was most severe, from 1,300

feet wide to 50 feet. Residential

buildings were also built along the

waterfront.

During severe rains, the con-

stricted stream can only overflow.

Videos posted by residents

showed water rushing down-

stream in Bozkurt as buildings

and roads flooded.

One geologist, Ramazan Demi-

rtas, explained the river bed nar-

rowing on Twitter and said hu-

mans were to blame for this

week’s disaster.

In Sinop, floodwaters almost

completely wiped out the village

of Babacay, leaving toppled

homes, damaged bridges and rub-

ble in their wake. A five-story

apartment building constructed

on a riverbed was destroyed.

Turkish broadcaster CNN Turk

showed only an entrance door and

wall remaining.

Turkish flood deaths rise as rescuers go onAssociated Press

ISMAIL COSKUN, IHA/AP

A man sitting next to a statue of Turkey’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk among destruction in Bozkurttown of Kastamonu province, Turkey, on Saturday.

LONDON — Britain’s police watchdog says it has

launched an investigation into why a 22-year-old man

who fatally shot five people in southwestern England

on Thursday was given back his confiscated gun and

gun license last month.

Police have said Jake Davison killed his mother

and four other people, including a 3-year-old girl, be-

fore taking his own life in the port city of Plymouth. It

was Britain’s first mass shooting in over a decade.

Firearm crimes are rare in Britain, which has strict

gun control laws and regulations.

The Independent Office for Police Conduct said

late Friday it would investigate the Devon and Corn-

wall police department’s decision-making in relation

to Davison’s possession of a shotgun and the license.

The watchdog said it was not yet known whether the

shotgun returned to Davison was the same one he

used in Thursday’s shootings.

Police took away the gun and the certificate in De-

cember 2020 following an allegation of assault three

months earlier, the watchdog office said. They were

returned to Davison last month.

“We will examine what police actions were taken

and when, the rationale behind police decision-mak-

ing and whether relevant law, policy and procedures

were followed concerning Mr. Davison’s possession

of a shotgun,” the office’s regional director, David

Ford, said in a statement.

“The investigation will also consider whether the

force had any information concerning Mr. Davison’s

mental health and if so, if this information was appro-

priately considered,” Ford said.

Hundreds attended a candlelit vigil in Plymouth

Friday, close to where the killings took place.

Police said Davison shot and killed his 51-year-old

mother, Maxine Davison, also known as Maxine

Chapman, at a house before going into the street and

killing 3-year-old Sophie Martyn and her father, Lee

Martyn, 43.

According to the police timeline, Davison next

killed Stephen Washington, 59, in a nearby park, be-

fore fatally shooting Kate Shepherd, 66, on a nearby

street.

Two other people were wounded.

Shaun Sawyer, chief constable for Devon and

Cornwall police, told reporters that investigators

think the crimes started as “domestically related”

and “spilled into the street.” He said the investigators

were keeping open minds but do not think extremist

ideology prompted the attack.

“Let’s see what’s on his hard drive, let’s see what’s

on his computer, let’s see what’s on social media,”

Sawyer said.

UK suspect gotseized gun backbefore shootings

Associated Press

BEN BIRCHALL, PA/AP

Police stand Saturday, in the Keyham area ofPlymouth, England, where a young man who killedfive people and then took his own life on Thursday.

HAVANA — Tropical Storm

Grace formed Saturday morning

in the Atlantic Ocean, while Fred

remained a tropical depression

headed into the eastern Gulf of

Mexico.

Both systems were expected to

bring heavy rain and flooding.

Fred, which has already been clas-

sified as a tropical storm before,

could regain such strength later in

the day or on Sunday, according to

the U.S. National Hurricane Cen-

ter.

Grace was centered about 420

miles east of the Leeward Islands

and could reach the Lesser Anti-

lles by Saturday night. It was mov-

ing west at 22 mph with maximum

sustained winds of 40 mph.

Atropical storm warning was is-

sued for the U.S. Virgin Islands

and Puerto Rico. A tropical storm

watch was in effect for the British

Virgin Islands. Forecasters said

Grace could reach the Dominican

Republic by Monday.

Grace was forecast to bring 3 to 6

inches of rain to the Leeward Is-

lands, Virgin Islands and Puerto

Rico into Monday.

Meanwhile, Fred remained a

tropical depression with top winds

around 35 mph. Forecasters said

the system appeared “disorga-

nized,” and projecting that it would

pass west of the lower Florida Keys

on Saturday afternoon and then

move into the eastern Gulf of Mex-

ico.

A tropical storm warning was in

effect for the Florida Keys west of

the Seven Mile Bridge to the Dry

Tortugas. Fred was centered Sat-

urday morning 90 miles south of

Key West, and it was moving west-

northwest at 13 mph.

Once a tropical storm, Fred

weakened to a depression by its

spin over Haiti and the Dominican

Republic, where it knocked out

power to some 400,000 customers

and caused flooding that forced of-

ficials to shut down part of the

country’s aqueduct system, inter-

rupting water service for hun-

dreds of thousands of people. Local

officials reported hundreds of peo-

ple were evacuated and some

buildings were damaged.

Fred was expected to bring 3 to 5

inches of rain to the Keys and

southern Florida through Monday.

No evacuations are planned for

tourists or residents in Monroe

County, Keys officials said Friday.

The county’s emergency manage-

ment officials are advising people

in campgrounds, recreational ve-

hicles, travel trailers, live-aboard

vessels and mobile homes to seek

shelter in a safe structure during

the weather event.

Tropical Storm Graceforms; Fred nears Fla.

Associated Press


AMERICAN ROUNDUP

Man charged after humanhead found in freezer

PA — A Pennsylvania man

was arrested after po-

lice pulled a frozen human head

out of his freezer, according to the

Lancaster Bureau of Police.

Donald Meshey Jr., 32, alleged-

ly told a witness who had shown up

at his house that he had a cadaver

in one of the beds at his Lancaster

home and a human head in the

freezer, police said in a statement.

After being taken into custody,

Meshey allegedly told detectives

he found a “cadaver doll” in his fa-

ther’s bedroom, “which looked

and sounded like his father,” ac-

cording to the Lancaster Bureau

of Police. Meshey admitted to

stabbing the “cadaver doll” for

two or three minutes with a knife,

then dismembering the body.

Police are still working to iden-

tify the remains.

Meshey has been charged with

criminal homicide, abuse of a

corpse and tampering with evi-

dence.

Toddler fatally shootsmom during video call

FL ALTAMONTE

SPRINGS — A toddler

found an unsecured, loaded hand-

gun inside an apartment and fatal-

ly shot a woman while she was on a

work-related video call, police in

central Florida said.

According to news outlets, the

woman was the mother of the tod-

dler who shot her in the head.

Someone on the video call

dialed 911 after seeing the toddler

in the background and hearing a

noise, Altamonte Springs police

said in a news release. The wom-

an, identified as Shamaya Lynn,

21, fell backward and never re-

turned to the video call, the person

reported.

An adult in the apartment left

the firearm unsecured, police

said. Investigators were working

with the Seminole County State

Attorney’s Office to determine

whether charges will be filed.

Anne Frank Center toopen at university

SC COLUMBIA — An

Anne Frank Center is

opening at the University of South

Carolina, which will be the first

museum in North America and

the fourth in the world where vis-

itors can walk through the famed

story of the teenage Holocaust vic-

tim.

The 1,060-square-foot center on

the Columbia campus features a

rendering of the attic where the

girl’s Jewish family hid from the

Nazis for more than two years dur-

ing World War II. That exhibit in-

cludes a reproduction of the desk

where Frank wrote what was

eventually published as “The Di-

ary of a Young Girl.”

All the artifacts for the museum

were provided by the original

Anne Frank House in Amsterdam,

which preserved the secret annex

where the Franks hid. Other part-

ner sites are located in Berlin,

London and Buenos Aires.

Investigation ongoingafter boaters strike kids

LA NEW ROADS— A Loui-

siana sheriff is investi-

gating after three children riding

on tubes on a waterway were

struck and injured by a pontoon

boat.

The occupants on the boat all

fled the scene after the crash,

Pointe Coupee Parish Sheriff

Rene Thibodeaux told WBRZ-TV.

Two of the children required

hospital treatment, including one

who was flown to the hospital.

The investigation has been

turned over to the Louisiana De-

partment of Wildlife and Fisheries

because it happened on False Riv-

er, Thibodeaux said.

Teen arrested in fatalshooting over shoe raffle

CA LOS ANGELES— Po-

lice arrested a teenager

on suspicion of shooting to death a

shoe store employee who tried to

break up a dispute over a raffle for

a pair of sneakers.

The teen, 16, was taken into cus-

tody at in the Los Angeles suburb

of South Gate and booked on sus-

picion of murder, according to a

police statement.

The shooting in the Fairfax area

of Los Angeles was captured on

cellphone video. Investigators

worked through the night to track

down the killer, the LAPD said.

Caretaker arrested afterkilling, burying woman

NC NEWLAND — A wom-

an whose body was

found buried in concrete in the

basement of her western North

Carolina home had fired her care-

taker in June, but neighbors said

the former caretaker was still liv-

ing in the woman’s home until late

July, according to court docu-

ments.

Search warrants state Elizabeth

Carserino, 53, of Goose Creek,

S.C., was hired by family to be

Lynn Keene’s live-in caretaker

earlier this year after she fell and

suffered a traumatic brain injury,

WSOC-TV reported.

Relatives reported Keene, 70,

missing in July from her home in

Linville Falls, which is located

about 110 miles northwest of Char-

lotte, N.C. They said they had last

spoken to Keene on June 14.

Court documents state Keene

was strangled with a belt and

struck in the head. Investigators

have not said when Keene died.

Avery County Sheriff Kevin

Frye announced Carserino was

taken into custody and charged

with murder, identity theft, larce-

ny of motor vehicle and financial

card theft.

Police investigating aftercontractor finds noose

MO ST. LOUIS — Police

in St. Louis are inves-

tigating after a Black contractor

found a noose at the renovation

site of a Benton Park home owned

by an Asian American woman.

The noose was found in a tree by

the contractor, a Black woman

who lives in Benton Park and has

been visible working on the house

for weeks. The incident was

brought to light by the homeown-

er, Julia Ho, and City Alderman

Dan Guenther, who has been

knocking on neighborhood doors

to see if anyone knows who might

have hung the noose.

Police are investigating and

seeking any surveillance video

that could help in determining

who left the noose, the St. Louis

Post-Dispatch reported.

Police arrest 2 in allegedplot to defraud lottery

IA MASON CITY — Two Io-

wa men accused of using

bad checks to buy more than $800

in lottery tickets saw a total profit

of $134 after winning on some of

the tickets, Cerro Gordo County

authorities said.

Richard Lee Pierce II, 29, of

Ventura, faces charges of attempt-

ing to defraud the Iowa lottery and

forgery, while Joey Henry Allen,

31, of Clear Lake, faces similar

charges plus a felony theft count,

the Globe Gazette reported.

Court documents say Allen

went to a Ventura convenience

store on six different occasions,

buying a total of $824 worth of lot-

tery tickets and paying with a

check that bounced. Police said

Pierce later took the winning tick-

ets back to the store, cashing out

for $958 in winnings.

JACQUELINE DORMER, (POTTSVILLE, PA.) REPUBLICANHERALD/AP

The Mechanicals act out a scene in Schuylkill Free Shakespeare’s presentation of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in the garden at theYuengling Mansion at the Schuylkill County Council for the Arts in Pottsville, Pa..

Summer night of Shakespeare

THE CENSUS

2 The number of shark attacks in a one-week span on beaches approxi-mately 18 miles apart, near Savannah, Ga. A lifeguard on South Car-

olina’s Hilton Head Island suffered deep cuts to the chest area but is expectedto survive after being bitten on Aug. 3, WTOC-TV reported. At nearby TybeeIsland, Ga., a surfing instructor was bitten July 27 while leading one of hissurfing classes. South Carolina recorded just one unprovoked shark bite lastyear, and Georgia had none, according to the Florida Museum of Natural Histo-ry’s International Shark Attack File.

From The Associated Press


MUSIC

Jackson Browne knows people think he’s past his prime. Or “wayout over my due date,” as he puts it on his new album.

“I’m talking about shelf life,” he says. “But I think a lot ofstuff is still good after the date that’s printed on the package.”

At 72, the musician is grappling with what his life will amountto — that’s really what the lyric is about, he says: “An admissionthat you’re supposed to have settled stuff by this time.”

It’s not that he had a vision for what life in his 70s would be like; he’s neverlooked that far into the future. But he has always been a self-reflective sort,unafraid to question whether he’s squeezing all of the juice out of the fruit.Even one of his first hits, “Doctor, My Eyes” — released in the midst of theVietnam War — told the story of a man puzzling over how to digest the hard-ships of the world.

Browne’s eyes are still wide open on “Downhill From Everywhere,” theRock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee’s first collection of new music in sixyears. On the album, the singer-songwriter takes typically forthright standson ocean pollution, immigration rights and gay marriage. Though he growssomber when he discusses current events, Browne also seems to have soft-ened with age — exuding less of an obstinate attitude than an equable one.

In the late ’60s and ’70s, Browne establish-

ed himself as one of Laurel Canyon’s preem-

inent songwriters with now-standards like

“These Days” (written when he was 16),

“Take It Easy,” co-written with the Eagles’

Glenn Frey and “Running on Empty.” Back-

to-back smash albums “The Pretender” and

“Running on Empty” made him a full-fledged

rock star, but gradually he would pivot his

music and career away from pop philosophy

and toward the political. He organized “No

Nukes” benefit concerts against nuclear

weapons and nuclear energy alongside Gra-

ham Nash and Bonnie Raitt in 1979 and con-

demned U.S. policy in Central America on his

1986 album “Lives in the Balance.”

Browne still champions numerous causes;

he was performing at a fundraiser for the

charity God’s Love We Deliver in March 2020

when he became one of the first stars to con-

tract COVID-19. He likes experimental thea-

ter — he’s wearing a shirt from Tim Robbins’

Culver City, Calif.-based the Actors’ Gang

nonprofit — and seeing live music with some

of the young artists he’s befriended, like

Dawes, Jenny Lewis, Inara George and

Phoebe Bridgers. (Earlier this year, Bridgers

enlisted Browne to duet with her on a new

version of her song “Kyoto,” and she in turn

then appeared in a music video for his song

“My Cleveland Heart.”)

Browne, who lives in Los Angeles’ Mid-

City with his longtime partner, Dianna Co-

hen, has two adult children from previous

marriages.

As he prepared for a three-month tour with

James Taylor, The LA Times spoke with

Browne at his Santa Monica recording studio,

Groove Masters, where Bob Dylan, Frank

Ocean and David Crosby have made music.

(Editor’s note: This interview has been edited

for length.)

LA Times: What made you decide to

record an album after six years?

Browne: The way you pose the question

presupposes that there’s getting ready. I’ve

had a studio for 30 years. I’m always doing

something. It’s more like there’s a residue

you gather or a condensation that gathers.

You once said that your standards plague

you. Do you still feel that way?

I think I was talking about the fact that it’s

not a good idea to try to write a song as good

as some other song you’ve already written.

Because when you wrote that song that you

thought so highly of, you weren’t holding it up

to some other standard; you were just trying

to write something new. Look, I’ve got a high

opinion of some of my songs, but to write

RICARDO DEARATANHA/Los Angeles Times

Singersongwriter Jackson Browne is pictured in the control room of his studio, Groove Masters, on July 6 in Santa Monica, Calif. Brownetouches on a wide variety of current events on “Downhill From Everywhere,” his first album of new music in six years.

Jackson Browne,these days

Influential singer-songwriter, 72, talks about cancel culture,his ‘shelf life’ and how he feels about a personal memoir

BY AMY KAUFMAN

Los Angeles Times

Q&A

SEE BROWNE ON PAGE 13

Jackson Browne

Downhill From Everywhere

(Inside Recordings)

Jackson Browne was one

of the most artistically and

commercially successful

singer-songwriters of the

’70s, with classic records

such as “The Pretender”

and “Running on Empty.”

As he became more in-

volved in activist move-

ments, many of his sub-

sequent works, such as

1986’s “Lives in the Bal-

ance,” foregrounded social

justice themes, with mixed

results.

One of the remarkable

things about “Downhill

From Everywhere,”

Browne’s 15th studio al-

bum, is how much it sounds

like a solid, sturdy Jackson

Browne album. Browne is

72, and his voice has

weathered, but it’s familiar

and comforting, especially

on ballads such as “A Little

Soon to Say.” He’s working

with some longtime collab-

orators, including drum-

mer Russ Kunkel (who

appeared on his 1972 de-

but) and guitarist Waddy

Wachtel. David Lindley, his

regular foil, is absent, but

pedal steel guitarist Greg

Leisz effectively reprises

Lindley’s role.

The album is full of char-

acter-driven stories, from

the young immigrant in the

empathetic bilingual ballad

“The Dreamer” to the

aging lover getting an arti-

ficial heart in the (some-

what stiff) rocker “My

Cleveland Heart,” to the

bicycle-riding Haitian

priest in the lovely, loping

“Love is Love,” to America

itself on the title track.

Personal reflections

bookend the album, begin-

ning with “Still Looking for

Something” and ending

with “A Song for Barcelo-

na,” an 8 ½-minute tribute

to the “city that gave me

back my fire and restored

my appetite.” That feeling

of rejuvenation permeates

“Downhill From Every-

where.”

— Steve Klinge

Philadelphia Inquirer

REVIEW


MUSIC

Bleachers

Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night

(RCA Records)

How’s this for a flex from Jack Antonoff? Get

no less than Bruce Springsteen to show up on

your new solo album. For background vocals.

The Boss helps the multi-instrumentalist and

super-producer on Bleachers’ song “China-

town” and the results are electric, a sound from two New Jersey lads

reminiscent of The National mashed with “Born to Run.” Springsteen

appears on only that one song, but he’s spiritually all over this album.

Antonoff, the guitarist in the band fun. who also records as Bleach-

ers, channels The Boss’ driving, sax-and-jam sound in “How Dare

You Want More,” “Big Life” and “Don’t Go Dark,” but his idiosyn-

cratic musical tastes are also on vivid display on the terrific 10-track

“Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night.”

No song prepares you for whatever comes next in this collection

from an artist who has sharpened the recent sounds of Taylor Swift,

St. Vincent, Lana Del Rey, Sia, Lorde and The Chicks.

The opener — the cello-and-violin beauty “91” — has an unexpect-

ed lyrical assist from novelist Zadie Smith and the set ends with two

downbeat examinations of belief, “Strange Behavior” and “What’d I

Do with All This Faith?” He ends sing-whispering the phrase: “Ain’t

no faith can take your place.” Take a listen: You’ll be a believer.

— Mark Kennedy

Associated Press

Los Lobos

Native Sons (New West)

Considering the covers album “Native Sons”

pays tribute to the music of a single city — Los

Lobos’ native Los Angeles — the set’s breadth

is breathtaking.

Familiar songs by Jackson Browne, Buffalo

Springfield and the Beach Boys are inter-

spersed with R&B and garage-rock obscurities, along with nods to Los

Lobos’ Latin influences. It’s melting-pot pop and true Americana.

The adventurous song selections make the album a celebration of

diversity, and a showcase for Los Lobos’ marvelous versatility. Guitar

solos by David Hidalgo and Cesar Rosas soar, and both shine on lead

vocals, while the group’s harmonies shimmer, especially on the Beach

Boys’ “Sail On, Sailor.”

On War’s “The World Is a Ghetto,” Los Lobos becomes a jam band.

Other highlights include “Dichoso,” a smoky Willie Bobo ballad;

“Love Special Delivery,” freewheeling ’60s rock with a whole lotta

drumming; and “Los Chucos Suaves,” a dance number that mixes

Spanish lyrics with a line about the “boogie woogie jitterbug.”

The lone original is the title cut, a love song to Los Lobos’ hometown

that serves as the album’s centerpiece. It’s true roots music.

— Steven Wine

Associated Press

something new you have to for-

get everything you’ve ever done.

You sing on this album about

being concerned for the future

your children will inherit. What

scares you?

I am in a state of grief for the

world that my kids are inheriting

— my grandson. Elephants and

tigers are in danger. The ocean’s

got dead spots in it. The reefs are

dying. The natural world’s ability

to bounce back from what we’ve

done is an existential threat. ...

We’ve got these electric cars, so

why don’t more people have

electric cars? Why don’t we

phase out fossil fuels? They won’t

until they’ve sold us every last

thing they have. I don’t get to talk

about this stuff very much in

conversation. So for me, the chal-

lenge is to write a song that peo-

ple don’t mind hearing and that

helps galvanize some sort of

feelings or helps them find some

resolve.

When you started more

politically themed music in the

1980s, were you worried about

losing your audience?

I know it was considered prob-

lematic by some people in the

music industry to talk about

politics. But they were never my

people. You hear people like, ‘Oh,

he’s losing an enormous part of

his audience by talking about

this.’ They’re talking about sales

and s— like that. That never

mattered to me anyway. Please.

It didn’t matter to you at all?

When you sing about stuff that

nobody knows anything about,

the recognition for what you’re

doing is gonna drop off. At the

same time, a bunch of other

things were happening that are

probably more responsible for

the popularity declining, like

punk music. You’re just not 25,

now you’re 33, and there’s a

completely different aesthetic

going on and an attitude about

everything that’s come before,

rightfully or wrongfully dismis-

sing you.

You’ve developed

relationships with a lot of

younger artists. How did those

friendships start?

That’s the music that really

moves me. I feel really lucky to

know all these people, and I

guess I know them because I go

to their shows. I met Phoebe at a

party, but I hadn’t heard her

play. It was a birthday party for

[Australian singer-songwriter]

Tal Wilkenfeld at an escape

room. I was sure we were gonna

escape, but we didn’t make it.

Funnily enough, the room was

about a pandemic. But it was

hard to figure out. But later,

when I heard her music, I went,

“That’s Phoebe. That’s that girl I

met. Holy s—.”

What did you like about it?

If I want to use the word “grat-

itude” in a sentence, it would be

about artists like Taylor [Gold-

smith, from Dawes] and Phoebe,

who are bringing an emotional

literacy and prowess with words

to rock lyrics again. It hasn’t

been absent; Lucinda Williams

and Randy Newman have been

there all along. But when you see

somebody young applying them-

selves to those kinds of skills, it’s

encouraging because it makes

you think that is on the rise and

that a more youthful segment of

the population will be exposed to

that.

Did any musicians serve as

mentors to you when you were

young?

David Crosby agreed to sing on

my first record. He absolutely

showed me how to record — how

to multi-track vocals. He praised

me to others and to myself, and

that was really important. I feel a

great debt of gratitude to David.

But you no longer speak to

him?

That’s true. He said nobody

he’s ever made music with will

talk to him anymore. I would

point out that his son makes

music with him, and that’s really

what’s at the heart of his produc-

tivity right now, is his great rela-

tionship with his son. I don’t

really want to go into the details

of why we’re not talking.

There was a good

documentary made about him

recently. Do you ever think

about being a part of a film like

that or writing a memoir?

I’ve thought about it because

it’s been proposed. I may eventu-

ally not be good for much else, so

I’ll leave myself enough time to

sound off about stuff. I kind of

feel like I don’t know anything.

I’m sure people would love to

hear your stories — and about

dating the likes of Nico, Joni

Mitchell and Daryl Hannah. Carly

Simon wrote a really good

memoir about her marriage to

James Taylor.

Who’s interested in that,

though? Who’s interested in Car-

ly talking about James?

Uh, me? A lot of people!

I’m not very interested in that

stuff. Have you read Linda’s

[Ronstadt] book? Now that’s a

good book. It’s about music. Yes!

People don’t want to know about

Jerry Brown and Mick Jagger

and all of the people Linda had

relationships with. Besides, you

have to be a really good writer.

And I can’t even write a post-

card.

What are your thoughts on

cancel culture?

I’m not very aware of cancel

culture, because I’m basically

helpless about social media and

the kind of quick, fast-breaking

news about s—. That washes over

me. I’m concerned that “can-

celed” has become a reflexive

thing. My version of cancel cul-

ture is just turn it off or change

the channel.

To use an example involving

people you know, Phoebe

Bridgers and Mandy Moore —

they were part of an

investigation alleging that Ryan

Adams was emotionally and

verbally abusive. As a result,

some say he should be

canceled.

I think powerful men have

been taking advantage of their

status with women and that

should stop. ... I think it made a

big impression on everybody that

[Bridgers and Moore] came forth

and talked about it. That’s their

right and their responsibility to

tell the truth and why we like

their work.

I worry about [cancel culture],

though, because there are exam-

ples of actors, supposedly, who I

think are tremendously gifted

and I don’t know what all they

did. ... In some cases, it sounds

really bad. In some cases, it

sounds like, really? They patted

somebody on the butt and so we

should not see this person’s mo-

vies now? I don’t know. I’m not

just trying to wriggle out of your

question. I’m just trying to say

that I’m actually not a good per-

son to [talk about this] because

I’m so uninterested in that stuff. I

wouldn’t watch the O.J. trial.

What are you hoping your fans

will take away from your new

album?

You mean, you want me to boil

it down? It’s not for me to say.

There are no CliffsNotes for

these songs. I’m not that self-

conscious. I’m not worried about

what people are gonna think

about me. This is not an ad for

myself. This is a collection of

songs with me really trying to

express myself.

So you don’t think about how

you’ve evolved musically?

Honestly? The things that I

think about are trying to sing in

tune and making the song sound

good.

Why keep making new music?

[Laughs] I just thought that

this morning. There’s so many

other things going on. What could

possibly be a more glacial f—ing

process than writing a song about

climate change, for instance?

What it gives me is a song to sing

that can be sung on an occasion,

and sometimes that occasion is

where people have gathered

together to do something about

something. I like the way I just

said that, because it’s very all-

inclusive. It may sound like I’m

being vague, but I mean it gives

me a song I can sing that reaf-

firms what I think.

Browne: Musician praises Bridgers,Dawes’ Goldsmith for ‘emotional literacy’FROM PAGE 12

Prince

Welcome 2 America (Legacy Recordings)

Anyone who feared that Prince’s vault was

filled with nothing but Billy Joel covers, as the

satirical website The Onion joked shortly after

his death, need not worry.

“Welcome 2 America” is the first complete,

previously unreleased record to come out since

Prince died in 2016. And it’s a stunner.

Incredibly, the album manages to be as relevant, or maybe even

more relevant, today than when it was recorded, and promptly

shelved, in 2010. Most of the songs have been unheard until now.

Confronting themes of racial justice, equality, big tech and just

what it means to be human, “Welcome 2 America” feels like the

soundtrack for the years since Prince’s untimely death. It’s almost as

if Prince knew “Welcome 2 America” would mean more in 2021 than

it might have when first recorded.

From the first song and title track, which starts off with Prince

bemoaning the power of the iPhone and Google, the tone of “Welcome

2 America” is made clear.

“Land of the free / home of the slave,” Prince determines, and we’re

off. Oh, and it rocks, too, in the genre-defying way that defined Princ-

e’s career.

“Welcome 2 America” is also tinged with melancholy. As alive,

relevant and fresh as Prince sounds, there’s no escaping the fact that

he’s gone, and the only reason we’re hearing this is because of that.

— Scott Bauer

Associated Press


BOOKS

Joyce Carol Oates dedi-

cated her new novel,

“Breathe,” to her second

husband, Charles Gross,

who died in 2019. The overlaps

between the novel and reality are

impossible to miss. Like Oates,

the lead character of “Breathe,”

Michaela, is a successful writer

and teacher. And she’s mourning

the death of her husband, Ge-

rard, who, like Gross, was a neu-

roscientist. Michaela’s anguish is

intense from the start, as she

observes Gerard on his deathbed:

“Pleading in desperation,” she

writes. “In childish hope, un-

reason. Begging your husband

Breathe! Don’t stop breathing!”

“Unreason” is the key word

there. “Breathe” is stormy, even

by Oates’ dark domestic-gothic

standards, dramatizing Michae-

la’s grief as it curdles into disori-

entation and then utter derange-

ment. As a narrator, Michaela

out-magical-thinks Joan Didion’s

magical thinking. She unreliably

narrates like few have unreliably

narrated before. It’s both

wrenching and at times over the

top.

Widowhood is a subject Oates

knows well. In 2011, she publish-

ed “A Widow’s Story,” which

collected journal entries she

wrote about the death of her first

husband, Raymond Smith, in

2008. The book was thick with

everyday detail — the slog of

phone

calls,

errands,

and ar-

rang-

ements

that at-

tended the

loss. (Crit-

ics noted

that Oates

covered

just about

everything except the fact that

she married Gross a little more

than a year after Smith’s death.)

The early going of “Breathe” is

rich with many similarly fine-

grained passages about Michae-

la’s morbid disorientation in the

face of her widowhood. She’s lost

not just a spouse, but much of her

identity. “If there is no one to

admire us, do we exist?” Michae-

la muses. And the corollary: “If

there is no one to love us, do we

merit existence?”

Michaela’s internal torments

are offset by the novel’s placid

setting: a town outside Albuquer-

que where Gerard had taken a

residency to finish a book and

where Michaela teaches memoir

writing. It’s a place of “dark-

bruised El Greco skies,” troubled

only by the artwork of Pueblo

gods in their rental home that

leave Michaela oddly disturbed.

The couple planned a few pleas-

ant months away from Cam-

bridge, Mass., before Gerard

learned he had late-stage cancer.

Gerard’s book has the pointed

title of “The Human Brain and

Its Discontents,” and after the

diagnosis, the discontent acceler-

ates, as both quickly unravel

mentally.

Michaela tries to manage Ge-

rard’s decline by soldiering on

with her classes, but she has

trouble staying on track. When

she’s informed that Gerard has

died, she vividly imagines receiv-

ing word of his resurrection.

Instead of focusing on fulfilling

Gerard’s wish to be cremated,

she dwells on the silliness of the

funeral home’s name (“Chapel of

Chimes”) and the absurdity of

the word cremains. The world is

undone. “How ridiculous life is,

Michaela thinks.”

Over her notoriously prolific

six-decade career, Oates has

honed a few strategies to convey

this kind of woman-on-the-verge

predicament. No writer this side

of Emily Dickinson uses the

exclamation point more to con-

vey manic alienation: “Chapel of

Chimes! — Michaela’s numbed

brain hears Chapel of Crimes.”

Parentheses are deployed to

capture the way Michaela’s un-

settled mind keeps drifting into

morbidity: “The widow’s life is

the life of a penitent bearing her

(grotesque, bleeding) heart on

the outside of her body.”

But in time, even simple decla-

rative sentences start to warp.

Michaela’s expressions of loss, at

first dark but rational, become

obsessive and crazed: “The first

duty of the widow is to join her

husband.” The narration shifts

deeper into the second person, as

if Michaela were trying to recruit

the reader into her funhouse-

mirror-vision of the world. All

sorts of anxieties about race,

spirituality and the mind begin to

well up. Michaela fears she’s the

imminent victim of one of those

Pueblo gods, a “god of eyeless

sockets, Skull God, beast-god,

scavenger-god poised to devour

the body’s organs.” Widowhood

isn’t just a cause for mourning

but a kind of sump pump for the

psyche, voiding everything.

As a portrait of the wobbly

unreality of existence that comes

with a loved one’s death,

“Breathe” can be effective and

harrowing. Oates finds an effec-

tive way to resolve the story

while preserving Michaela’s

boiled-brain irrationality. She

isn’t afraid to delve into over-

statement to make the point that

losing someone we love carves

out a piece of us. But that also

means Oates makes Michaela

cartoonish in the novel’s latter

stages. No rationality can reach

her. Gerard’s neuroscience offers

no comfort. Nor does spirituality

— she sees those Pueblo gods as

vile monsters. Nor does teaching,

which only introduces her to

people she can’t trust. She’s

friendless and has no family.

She’s so inconsolable that she

becomes less a character than a

leaden symbol of inconsolability.

Michaela’s fevered brain va-

porizes the affection that defined

her marriage: “To be a good

widow, as to be a good wife, one

must learn how to lie convincing-

ly,” Oates writes, just as Michae-

la is starting to slip badly into

irrationality. In its best moments,

“Breathe” shows how that makes

a kind of sense; so many relation-

ships are made of the stories we

tell each other. But it’s also a

novel that falls in love with its

portrait of paranoia — and that’s

not a healthy relationship for

anybody.

‘Breathe’ captures widowhood’s wobbly realityBY MARK ATHITAKIS

Special to The Washington Post

Heard about the bestselling book about

the adventures of an 11-year-old named

Potter? No, not that one — the one about

the military kid. All the magic in this new

book, “The Islanders,”

by Mary Alice Monroe

and Angela May, ema-

nates from the bonds

of family and friend-

ship, and all the spells

are cast by the natural

beauty and wildlife of

a Carolina barrier

island.

Jake Potter is the

son of dual-service

parents — an Air Force C-17 pilot and an

Army officer — stationed in New Jersey.

When Jake’s soldier father is seriously

injured in Afghanistan and is hospitalized

stateside, Jake’s mom goes with him. With

both his parents away, Jake has to spend

the summer with his eccentric grand-

mother, known to everyone as Honey.

Honey lives on DeWees Island, S.C.

Soon Jake discovers that like Honey, her

isolated island home has a few quirks —

some more challenging than charming.

Jake meets a couple of local kids, Lovie

and Macon, and begins to find the brighter

side of island life. Honey gives Jake the

nature journal his father kept when he

was an 11-year-old, offering Jake a peek

into his father’s childhood and a way to

see the island through his dad’s eyes. Jake,

Lovie and Macon help Honey with sea

turtle rescues and of course manage to get

into a little trouble. Along the way, they

learn more about themselves and each

other.

The authors wisely avoid having the

story turn too much on Jake’s military

connection, creating a well-rounded nar-

rative that rings true for all young readers.

Though deeply affected by military life,

Jake’s character has other dimensions,

and his connection to his parents is not

based on their careers. The story also

emphasizes the bond of friendship Jake

shares with Lovie and Macon. Each friend

faces challenges unique to his or her life,

and Jake’s trials are not portrayed as

greater or less than that of his friends,

only different.

Against a backdrop of nature and con-

servation, “The Islanders” addresses

themes of friendship, caring for family,

facing fear, taking responsibility and

more. The story also touches on topics

related to military life: moving, missing

friends, family separation, injury and

recovery. All wrapped up in a gentle,

encouraging story that middle schoolers

can understand and process.

Summer magic found in thebonds of friendship, family

BY TERRI BARNES

Special to Stars and Stripes

Terri Barnes is a book editor and the author of “Spouse Calls:Messages from a Military Life,” based on her long-runningcolumn in Stars and Stripes. Her three military kids are nowadults, but she still reads children’s books for fun. Contact heronline at terribarnesauthor.com.

Among the many remarkable things

about Stephen King is that he has yet to

run out of ideas. Put another way, he finds

great new ways to explore themes that

have interested him his entire career.

“Billy Summers”

tells the story of the

title character — his

past and his present. A

sniper in the Iraq war,

now an assassin for

hire, Billy displays a

“dumb self” to his

clients while inside

he’s very curious and

introspective. So when

he takes one last job

that requires him to

have a long-term cover story, he chooses

writer. In what other profession could he

keep such weird hours and be responsible

to no one but his creative muse, right?

The passages where Billy writes his life

story are some of the best in the book.

King is adept at shifting voices, from the

“dumb self” narrative voice Billy uses in

his story, to the killer whose brain never

stops wondering who’s trying to manip-

ulate him.

“Billy saves what he’s written, gets up,

and staggers a little because his feet feel

like they’re in another dimension,” writes

King. “He feels like a man emerging from

a vivid dream.” It’s not hard to imagine

King himself somewhere in Maine doing

the same decades ago after bringing a

chapter of “The Stand” to life.

Redemption is the novel’s central

theme. Billy has always told himself he

only kills bad men who deserve it, but

when he starts having doubts about his

final job, he distracts himself by writing

his life story.

It’s when he finds an audience for his

story that the book really starts to find its

groove. Before that, it’s heavy on inner

monologue as Billy thinks through all the

possible consequences of his actions and

the motivations of the people around him.

The plot is straightforward and not

really very compelling until about the

midway point, when Alice Maxwell enters

the story. A victim of gang rape, she’s

dropped out of a slowly rolling car around

midnight outside the apartment where

Billy is lying low. She gives him a new

purpose as an avenging hit man while

serving as an eager audience for Billy’s

life story.

The action kicks into a higher gear as

Billy and Alice head west to tie up loose

ends. There’s even a cameo from a certain

hotel landscaped with animal topiary. It’s

just one of those “King-winks” for fans.

And those fans will happily ride along with

Billy and Alice.

For readers who are new to the King

canon, though, there are literally dozens of

other books with which you’re better off

beginning your Stephen King journey.

King’s latest revolves aroundredemption of assassin for hire

BY ROB MERRILL

Associated Press


CROSSWORD AND COMICS

NEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD

OFF BRANDBY MATTHEW STOCK / EDITED BY WILL SHORTZ

51 Hole

52 Diagnosis characterized by repetitive behavior, in brief

53 Focus of a marathon runner’s training

54 Grand opening?

55 Sides (with)

58 ____ school

59 Dessert with some assembly required

61 Grammy recipient Lisa

63 What pro bono lawyers waive

65 General mills?

69 The British 20-pence and 50-pence coins, geometrically

71 Member of a South Asian diaspora

72 Photo finish

75 Every last drop

76 Bank, often

78 Exams offered four times a year, for short

81 Grown-up pup

82 ‘‘I promise I won’t laugh,’’ often

83 Certain guiding principle

84 Texas instruments?

87 Meadow grass with brushlike spikes

90 Fermented Baltic drink

91 ‘‘Ugh, gross’’

92 Stag’s date?

93 Doc treating sinus infections

94 X, in linear functions

95 Dolphins’ div.

97 Like many a company softball game

99 ‘‘That stinks!’’

100 Subj. devoting extra time to idioms

102 ____ milk

103 Band aid?

107 Truce

109 Litter-box emanation

113 Efflux

114 Old navy?

117 Like many a grillmaster

118 Supermodel Kate

119 Headache helper

120 Took a little look

121 [Hey, over here!]

122 Rough patch

DOWN

1 Standing on

2 Texter’s ‘‘Hilarious!’’

3 Soy something

4 Ones working block by block?

5 Hoodwink

6 Drift apart

7 Certain Ivy Leaguers

8 Pac-12 school, informally

9 Qualification shorthand

10 ‘‘Ple-e-e-ease?’’

11 Help when writing a letter

12 Its national drink is the pisco sour

13 State of disorder

14 Some vacation rentals

15 Lube up again

16 Old pal

17 Actress ____ Creed-Miles

19 South American capital

20 Figures

22 Statements of will?

27 ‘‘The power of global trade’’ sloganeer

29 ____ Millions

31 Into crystals and auras, say

34 Its calendar began in A.D. 622

35 Inflated feeling of infallibility

36 Letters on a stamp

38 ____ B or ____ C of the Spice Girls

39 Actor Alan of ‘‘Crimes and Misdemeanors’’

40 Binghamton Rumble Ponies or Birmingham Barons

41 ‘‘My b!’’

43 Sign

44 Feudal lord

45 Plots of western films?

46 Brain-freeze cause, maybe

47 Does a summer job?

49 Warrant

50 Magic can be seen here

51 Relating to land, old-style

56 They can help you see or taste

57 Like the odds of finding a needle in a haystack

60 Airline based near Tel Aviv

62 Deserving of a timeout, say

64 Big spread

66 ‘‘No need to

elaborate’’

67 Like the Hmong

language

68 ____ Ng, author

of ‘‘Little Fires

Everywhere’’

69 12/24, e.g.

70 ____ Perlman, role for

Timothée Chalamet

in ‘‘Call Me by Your

Name’’

73 Means of divination

74 ‘‘What ____?’’

77 Indicate availability, in a way

79 ‘‘Weekend, here I come!’’

80 Side dish at a barbecue

85 Upsilon preceder

86 Producer of the world’s most widely read consumer catalog

88 Genre for One Direction

89 ‘‘. . . finished!’’

90 Ties

94 Android alternative

95 Exclamation after a sigh

96 Teeny-tiny

97 Sporty wheels

98 Eccentric

99 Explorer Richard who made the first flight over the South Pole

101 Attempt to control the narrative, in a way

103 Lava, e.g.

104 Took to court

105 Omar of ‘‘Love & Basketball’’

106 Rolls around while

exercising?

108 Quick talk

110 What nyctophobia is

the fear of

111 Slobbery cartoon

character

112 ‘‘____ over’’ (words

after letting off

steam)

115 Often-contracted

word

116 Tech sch. in Troy,

N.Y.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17

029181

322212

72625242

332313039282

04938373635343

74645444342414

2515059484

857565554535

463626160695

86766656

473727170796

18089787776757

6858483828

291909988878

69594939

201101001998979

211111011901801701601501401301

611511411311

911811711

221121021

Matthew Stock, who turns 25 this month, works for a math-education nonprofit in East St. Louis, Ill. The idea for this puzzle came about in January, when he was on a long road trip and passed a Honda Odyssey. He reinterpreted the name as ‘‘Honda odyssey’’ (small ‘‘o’’), which aptly described what he was on. That bit of wordplay didn’t make it into this puzzle, but similar ones with other brand names did. This is Matthew’s sixth Times crossword, and his second Sunday. — W.S.

ACROSS

1 A is one

8 Ozone-harming compounds, for short

12 Actor Guy

18 ‘‘How awesome!’’

19 Play with, as a cat might a toy mouse

20 Naysayers

21 Five guys?

23 It might have desks and drawers

24 Shade of purple

25 Those: Sp.

26 Green giant?

28 Ambulance driver, for short

30 Finished first

32 ‘‘____-ching!’’

33 Just

34 Like basalt and obsidian

37 Something sent on a Listserv

40 Police broadcast, for short

41 ‘‘Special Agent ____’’ (animated Disney show about a bear)

42 Main character in Larry McMurtry’s ‘‘Lonesome Dove’’

43 Apt name for a Christmas caroler?

44 ____ Clarendon, first openly transgender W.N.B.A. player

48 Jolly rancher?

GUNSTON STREET

“Gunston Street” is drawn by Basil Zaviski. Email him at [email protected], and online at gunstonstreet.com.

RESULTS FOR ABOVE PUZZLE

ARTICLECFCSPEARCE

TOOCOOLPAWATDENIERS

OFFENSIVELINEARTROOM

PLUMESOSWINDTURBINE

EMTWONCHAONLY

IGNEOUSEMAILAPB

OSOGUSEWELLLAYSHIA

OLDMACDONALDPITOCD

PACEHARDGAGREESMED

SMORELOEBLEGALFEES

MILITARYACADEMIES

HEPTAGONSDESIMATTE

ALLLENDERLSATSSEAL

LIETAOSTEELGUITARS

FOXTAILKVASSICKDOE

ENTINPUTAFCEAST

COEDBOOESLOAT

SOUNDSYSTEMPACTODOR

OUTPOURSPANISHARMADA

APRONEDUPTONASPIRIN

PEEPEDPSSTTHICKET


GADGETS & TECHNOLOGY

I never thought I’d be review-

ing a desk chair that offers med-

ical advice. But the Nexvoo

Health Ergonomic Adjustable

Desk Chair has a USB port for

charging a built-in health mon-

itor that takes readings of heart

rate, blood oxygen level, HRV

and fatigue index.

What makes the chair stand

out is the right armrest, which

has built-in health controls. Be-

fore using the controls, the in-

cluded proprietary magnetic

USB-A cable has to be connected

for charging and you’ll need the

free Nexvoo App (available on

iOS and Android platforms).

After downloading the app, a

Bluetooth connection must be

made between the chair and the

app.

The app records the health

data and displays it in real time.

The app stores the history of

tests and has resources of in-

formation of health categories of

the collected data.

Once the charging and app are

ready, while sitting in the chair

place your right index finger on

the top side measurement unit

for three seconds to activate it

and then 15 seconds to run the

test.

You can watch the data being

collected, and like I did, you’ll

run it a few times for compari-

son. Hopefully, nothing alarming

will be revealed, but if so, the

next step should be contacting

your doctor.

As for the chair, it’s first-class

in comfort. Putting it together

was simple with the included

instructions.

The ergonomic features are

adjustable, along with both 3D

armrests. Levers on the bottom

allow for moving the seat for-

ward and back. A left-side lever

allows for the back to be ad-

justed to recline back or forward,

up to 140 degrees, and then lock-

ing it in the position of choice.

And one on the right is for ad-

justing the height of the seat.

Like any piece of furniture, it

takes some getting used to, but

once the adjustments are set to

the right position, the chair is

very comfortable.

The back and headrest are

made with soft mesh to promote

cool air circulation. The foam

seat is 2.3 inches thick with a

waterfall seat edge. Once

charged, the rechargeable bat-

tery should last for 30 days if

used once per day.

Online: nexvoo.healthcare;

$499, in choices of blue and

black

GADGETS

A desk chairthat monitorsyour health

BY GREGG ELLMAN

Tribune News Service

When the men’s basketball tour-

nament at the Olympics opened

last week, the most captivating

player in the building wasn’t

Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard or any of the

other NBA superstars on Team USA.

Instead, all eyes in the Saitama Super

Arena were peeled for Japan’s answer to

Stephen Curry: CUE5, Toyota’s basketball-

shooting, artificial intelligence-powered

robot. Within minutes after CUE5 calmly

swished a free throw, a three-pointer and a

half-court shot in quick succession, its shoot-

ing exploits had gone viral online, with one

clip racking up more than 4.9 million views.

“Computers are absurdly more accurate

than humans,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk wrote

approvingly on Twitter.

CUE5 is a sight to behold: Its 7-foot, 220-

pound physique is comparable to Giannis

Antetokounmpo and Anthony Davis. The

robot bears a slight resemblance to C3P0

from Star Wars, although its all-black exte-

rior and faceless design project an intimi-

dating air. For the Olympics, CUE5 is

dressed in a black jersey with a Japanese

flag, “Tokyo 2020” and the number “95”

across its chest, black shorts, and oversized

gray shoes with red shoelaces.

These aesthetic details and the complex AI

computing power inside CUE5’s body are the

brainchild of Toyota project leader Tomohiro

Nomi. The 43-year-old Nomi has worked at

Toyota for two decades, focusing his efforts

on basketball robots for the past four years.

The CUE team has made remarkable and

gradual progress given that it originally

launched as a volunteer program. CUE1 shot

only free throws and featured a plain base.

CUE2 stood on two legs and added a three-

point shot. CUE3 entered the Guinness Book

of World Records in May 2019 — under the

category “Most consecutive basketball free

throws by a humanoid robot (assisted)” — by

making 2,020 consecutive free throws in 6

hours and 35 minutes.

CUE4 participated in a three-point contest

at Japan’s B League All-Star Game in front

of thousands of fans. Along the way, Toyota

partnered with Levanga Hokkaido, a Japa-

nese professional basketball team, to take its

development to the next level.

CUE5, the latest model, delighted media

members, basketball officials and television

viewers during the Olympics. According to

Nomi, CUE5 can shoot “almost 100 percent”

on 15-foot free throws, 98% on three-pointers

from the 22-foot, 1.75-inch international line

and better than 60% on half-court shots,

which travel nearly 46 feet.

By comparison, Chris Paul led the NBA

last season by shooting 93% on free throws,

Bogdan Bogdanovic posted a league-best

44% on three-pointers and Curry managed to

make 39% of his attempts from beyond 30

feet.

In other words, CUE5 comfortably out-

shoots the NBA’s best at all three distances,

although it doesn’t need to worry about pes-

ky defenders or shot clocks. Curry, who once

made 105 consecutive unguarded three-

pointers at practice, would surely be CUE5’s

toughest human competition.

“Stephen Curry is my favorite player,”

Nomi said during an interview in Saitama

last week. “I want to see [a shooting contest

between CUE5 and Curry]. That’s my

dream.”

CUE5 boasts seven sensors: One in its

chest to measure the distance to the hoop,

two in its feet for moving, and four in its

hands for picking up the ball and dribbling.

CUE5’s hands are huge — “like Shaquille

O’Neal,” Nomi said — because its palms

handle the dribbling while its long fingers

are responsible for cradling the ball during

its shooting motion. All told, approximately

25 parts in the robot’s arms and legs are

activated on each shot.

Nomi, who was accompanied by a team of

13 technicians at the Olympics, has gone to

great lengths to imbue his robots with hu-

manlike qualities. CUE5 shoots with a typical

motion, picking up the ball off a rack with

two hands, bending at the knees, using its left

hand as a guide hand, executing the shot

with its right hand from above its right

shoulder and following through with a flick

of the wrist. The robot is even programmed

to wave to the crowd as it enters and leaves

the court.

While CUE5’s Olympic demonstrations

have taken place from the middle of the

court, its distance sensor allows it to shoot

from any angle. According to Nomi, CUE5

has a 1.2 degree margin of error to make a

free throw. That drops to 0.8 degree for

three-pointers and less than 0.5 degree on

half-court shots.

Misses can be chalked up to noise in its

distance sensor reading or slight variations

in the ball’s size, weight or center of gravity.

Previous CUE robots swayed during and

after their shots in a way that negatively

impacted shooting efficiency.

The robot can make real-time adjustments

if it shoots too short or too long, but it will

never attempt a bank shot as a matter of

principle.

“A swish looks much better than using the

backboard,” Nomi said.

While Nomi has spent so much time on the

CUE project that he considers the robots to

be his “friends,” he is quick to acknowledge

their limitations and said it could be another

10 or 20 years before they can play the sport.

After mastering the art of shooting, though,

Nomi has his heart set on another major

innovation.

“I don’t know his limits yet,” Nomi said. “I

want the robot to try to dunk. We would have

to change everything. Jumping for a dunk,

moving in the air — that’s a challenge.”

A flick and a swishAn inside look at CUE5,the hoops-shooting robot

BY BEN GOLLIVER

The Washington Post

BEN GOLLIVER/The Washington Post

Toyota’s CUE5 basketballshooting robot stands 7 feet tall and weighs 220 pounds.


Max D. Lederer Jr., Publisher

Lt. Col. Marci Hoffman, Europe commander

Lt. Col. Michael Kerschbaum, Pacific commander

Michael Ryan, Pacific chief of staff

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OPINION

Filling out the 2020 Census launched

me into a bit of an identity crisis.

Under the “race or origin” ques-

tion, I saw myself, a person of Egyp-

tian descent, defined as “white” for the first

time. The Census Bureau just released de-

tailed reports on its race and ethnicity data.

While this census showed a drop in the white

population, those numbers might have been

lower still if the census had been conducted

more fairly.

I’ve never considered myself white or been

viewed as white by anyone else, to my knowl-

edge, so it felt misleading and dishonest to

check that box. When it comes to surveys

such as these, it’s rare to find an option for

“Middle Eastern or North African,” or ME-

NA, though it kind of delights me whenever I

do. At least on most forms I have the option to

choose “other.”

The United States conducted the first cen-

sus of its population in 1790. Since the start,

the government has used the data to allocate

congressional seats and funds for federal pro-

grams. Historical census forms reflect the

country’s troubling and ever-evolving rela-

tionship with race and how to define, and

count, people of color.

The question of a person’s “color” first ap-

peared on the 1850 Census, with three options

given: white, black or mulatto. Other minority

groups were added through the decades. Be-

tween the 2010 and 2020 Censuses, the Office

of Management and Budget under President

Barack Obama convened a working group to

improve the quality of federal data on race

and ethnicity. One of the group’s key recom-

mendations resulting from their research

was to add MENA to the standards for collect-

ing data.

Not only was this advice discarded in the

creation of the 2020 Census in the Trump ad-

ministration, but Middle Easterners also

were explicitly absorbed into the white cate-

gory. “White” had never been defined in any

previous census, but this time the form read,

“White - Print [origin(s)], for example, Ger-

man, Irish, English, Italian, Lebanese, Egyp-

tian, etc.”

Undoubtedly, there are many Arabs in the

United States who would prefer to identify as

white. Passing has always been an effective

way to access power and privilege, an adapta-

tion that lighter-skinned minorities have long

practiced. It is important to understand what

role the Naturalization Act of 1790 has likely

played in this.

Among the first pieces of legislation passed

by the first Congress, the law restricted ac-

cess to U.S. citizenship to immigrants who

qualified as free whites of good character.

This led to an extensive series of racial pre-

requisite legal cases between 1878 and 1952,

when immigration and nativist attitudes were

both at a peak, with immigrants from East

Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, North Afri-

ca and other non-European origins seeking to

be legally defined as white, and therefore eli-

gible for U.S. citizenship.

It wasn’t until 1952 that racial restrictions

related to immigration and naturalization

were abolished. My parents immigrated to

the United States in 1980. I was born in Cana-

da, where they had earned citizenship as

graduate students. When my parents were

naturalized as Americans, I was a minor and

therefore afforded citizenship through their

efforts. My brother was born in Denver a year

after we moved to the States. He used to tease

me that he could run for president, but I

couldn’t.

Igrew up in the suburbs of Denver, went to

Stanford University and work at an art mu-

seum in Austin, Texas — which is to say that

my dominant experience in this world has

been as a person of color navigating majority-

white spaces, usually keenly aware of my sta-

tus as an outsider. As a child, I was frequently

teased for being darker than my peers and for

the last name on my birth certificate: Abdel-

Azim. I became so ashamed of the “Abdel,”

which clearly marked me as Arab, that I drop-

ped it in college.

I’m trying to raise my kids to be proud of

their Middle Eastern heritage. But our contri-

butions to diversity aren’t systematically

tracked. We’re not typically who a company

or university is looking for when seeking to di-

versify its staff, student body or faculty. When

you’re part of an invisible minority, it can

make you feel invisible, like your diversity

doesn’t add value to the cultural table. Not to

mention that invisible minorities cannot rely

on civil rights and anti-discrimination protec-

tions afforded to recognized minority groups.

Aggregating people of Middle Eastern ori-

gin into the white category also falsely inflates

the statistical edge of the alleged majority

group. It’s like gerrymandering demographic

data, redrawing the boundaries of race and

ethnicity to the advantage of those in power.

People who identify as white still constitute a

majority of the U.S. population, according to

the Census Bureau. But, then again, I’m iden-

tified as white on the latest census, and I’m not

white. There may very well be a robust ME-

NA population in Austin, but you wouldn’t

know it by looking at the numbers.

We’re here. Hiding in plain sight.

I am Middle Eastern. The census lists me as white.BY DALIA AZIM

Special to The Washington Post

Dalia Azim is a writer in Austin, Texas.

WASHINGTON

When President Theodore Roo-

sevelt asked Attorney General

Philander Knox to concoct a

retroactive justification of the

U.S. seizure of land for the Panama Canal,

Knox reportedly replied, “Oh, Mr. President,

do not let so great an achievement suffer from

any taint of legality.” Today’s Democrats, hav-

ing channeled Knox when extending the evic-

tion moratorium, can avoid further diminish-

ing their stature by allowing the Equal Rights

Amendment to languish for another 50 years.

In March 1972, Congress sent the ERA

(”Equality of rights under the law shall not be

denied or abridged by the United States or by

any state on account of sex”) for ratification by

38 states within seven years. This was an act of

gallantry by a chivalrous and nearly unani-

mous Congress whose 535 members included

15 women. (Unassisted by the ERA’s sup-

posed barrier-breaking and consciousness-

raising potency, there are today 143 women in

Congress.) Congress was too cavalier, in sev-

eral senses, to explain what this would add to

the 14th Amendment’s guarantee to “any per-

son” of “equal protection of the laws.”

Hawaii, matching Congress’ frivolity, rati-

fied the ERA 32 minutes after it flew through

the Senate. Most of the 20 states that ratified it

in the first three months held no hearings. In

January 1977, Indiana became the 35th state

to ratify. Twenty-six of the 35 explicitly re-

ferred to the seven-year deadline in their rat-

ification resolutions.

When the seven years expired, with the

ERA still three states shy of ratification, those

who were supposedly passionate about equal

treatment of women sought and received spe-

cial treatment: Although the Constitution re-

quires a two-thirds majority for amendments,

a simple congressional majority was used to

extend the original deadline for 39 months.

Compounding the lawlessness, Congress said

the extra time for consideration of the ERA

was available only for states that had not rati-

fied it. This was to block state legislatures from

joining the four that, having had second — or

perhaps first — thoughts, had rescinded their

ratifications. Nevertheless, the ERA died, re-

dundantly, after 123 months. In the 65 months

since Indiana’s became the 35th ratification,

no other state had ratified and five of the 35 re-

scinded their ratifications.

Today, ERA advocates say (a) the clock can

never expire on ratification (the House voted

in March to remove the deadline) and (b) no

ratification can be rescinded. The only federal

court that has ruled on the 39-month extension

of the original seven-year deadline ruled it un-

constitutional and said all rescissions are val-

id. In 2020, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, cit-

ing controversies about the three states that

ratified the ERA decades after even the sec-

ond deadline, said, “I’d like it to start over.”

She added: “If you count a latecomer on the

plus side, how can you disregard states that

said, ‘We’ve changed our minds’?”

Nevada (2017), Illinois (2018) and Virginia

(2020) became the 36th, 37th and 38th, respec-

tively, to ratify. In doing so, they ignored this

constitutional ethic: A limited period of delib-

eration about an amendment guarantees (in

the Supreme Court’s words) a “sufficiently

contemporaneous” consensus of three-quar-

ters of the states. Beginning with the 18th

Amendment (Prohibition) that was proposed

in 1917, Congress has attached a seven-year

ratification deadline to all nine amendments it

has sent to the states. Disregard the most “re-

cent” amendment, the 27th (concerning con-

gressional pay), which was passed by Con-

gress without a ratification deadline in 1789,

when there were 13 states, and was ratified by

a 38th in 1992, when the public was inflamed

about congressional pay raises. Aside from

the 27th, the first 10 amendments (the Bill of

Rights) were ratified in 27 months, the 26th

(lowering the voting age to 18) took less than

four, and the average time for the 16 amend-

ments since the first 10 has been less than 18.

ERA advocates argue that Congress has,

and courts enforce, such a cramped notion of

congressional power that the ERA is neces-

sary to protect women. Actually, what the ad-

vocates want, aside from applause, is to disem-

power Congress. They hope to clutter the Con-

stitution with vague language that courts will

use to impose unspecified social policies (con-

cerning “equal pay,” abortion and other mat-

ters) that Congress will not pass.

A Venn diagram probably would show an

almost complete overlap of today’s victory-at-

any-price ERA advocates and the most vocif-

erous progressive critics of the previous presi-

dent’s disdain for constitutional norms.

ERA backers bend the rules as they seek ‘equality’BY GEORGE F. WILL

Washington Post Writers Group


SCOREBOARD/GOLF

PRO SOCCER

MLS

EASTERN CONFERENCE

W L T Pts GF GA

New England 12 3 4 40 35 22

Orlando City 8 4 6 30 28 23

NYCFC 8 5 4 28 32 18

Philadelphia 7 5 7 28 25 19

Nashville 6 2 10 28 26 17

D.C. United 8 7 3 27 27 21

Columbus 6 6 6 24 21 23

CF Montréal 6 7 5 23 24 24

New York 5 8 4 19 21 22

Atlanta 3 6 9 18 21 25

Chicago 4 9 5 17 20 29

Inter Miami CF 4 8 4 16 15 26

Cincinnati 3 7 7 16 18 30

Toronto FC 3 9 6 15 23 38

WESTERN CONFERENCE

W L T Pts GF GA

Sporting KC 10 4 4 34 33 20

Seattle 9 3 6 33 26 14

LA Galaxy 10 6 2 32 29 28

Colorado 8 4 4 28 22 16

Minnesota 7 5 5 26 21 21

Portland 7 8 2 23 23 29

LAFC 6 7 5 23 24 25

San Jose 5 7 7 22 21 27

Real Salt Lake 5 6 6 21 26 20

FC Dallas 5 7 6 21 23 25

Houston 3 6 9 18 19 25

Vancouver 3 7 8 17 19 28

Austin FC 4 9 4 16 13 20

Note: Three points for victory, one pointfor tie.

Friday’s game

Vancouver 0, San Jose 0, tie Saturday’s games

LA Galaxy at Minnesota Miami at New York City FC New England at Toronto FC New York at CF Montréal Colorado at Houston Sporting Kansas City at FC Dallas Austin FC at Real Salt Lake

Sunday’s games

Los Angeles FC at Atlanta Columbus at Chicago D.C. United at Nashville Seattle at Portland

NWSL

W L T Pts GF GA

Portland 9 3 1 28 20 7

North Carolina 6 4 3 21 17 9

Gotham FC 5 2 5 20 13 8

Orlando 5 4 5 20 17 16

Chicago 6 6 2 20 15 20

Washington 5 5 4 19 17 17

Reign FC 6 6 1 19 17 14

Houston 5 6 3 18 17 20

Louisville 4 6 2 14 10 18

Kansas City 0 9 4 4 6 20

Note: Three points for victory, one pointfor tie.

Friday’s game

Washington 2, Houston 2, tie Saturday’s games

Portland at OrlandoReign FC at Kansas City

Sunday’s games

Louisville at Gotham FCChicago at North Carolina

PRO BASKETBALL

WNBA

EASTERN CONFERENCE

W L Pct GB

Connecticut 14 6 .700 —

Chicago 10 10 .500 4

New York 10 11 .476 4½

Washington 8 10 .444 5

Atlanta 6 13 .316 7½

Indiana 4 16 .200 10

WESTERN CONFERENCE

W L Pct GB

Seattle 16 5 .762 —

Las Vegas 15 6 .714 1

Minnesota 12 7 .632 3

Phoenix 9 10 .474 6

Dallas 9 12 .429 7

Los Angeles 6 13 .316 9

Friday’s games

No games scheduledSaturday’s games

No games scheduledSunday’s games

Connecticut at DallasSeattle at ChicagoAtlanta at PhoenixWashington at Las VegasNew York at MinnesotaIndiana at Los Angeles

Monday’s games

No games scheduled

PRO FOOTBALL

NFL preseason

Thursday’s games

New England 22, Washington 13Pittsburgh 24, Philadelphia 16

Friday’s games

Buffalo 16, Detroit 15Tennessee 23, Atlanta 3Arizona 19, Dallas 16

Saturday’s games

Miami at ChicagoDenver at MinnesotaCleveland at JacksonvilleNew Orleans at BaltimoreCincinnati at Tampa BayN.Y. Jets at N.Y. GiantsHouston at Green BayKansas City at San FranciscoSeattle at Las VegasL.A. Chargers at L.A. Rams

Sunday’s games

Carolina at Indianapolis

Thursday, Aug. 19

New England at Philadelphia

Friday, Aug. 20

Cincinnati at WashingtonKansas City at Arizona

Saturday, Aug. 21

Buffalo at ChicagoN.Y. Jets at Green BayAtlanta at MiamiBaltimore at CarolinaDetroit at PittsburghTennessee at Tampa BayHouston at DallasIndianapolis at MinnesotaDenver at SeattleLas Vegas at L.A. Rams

Sunday, Aug. 22

N.Y. Giants at ClevelandSan Francisco at L.A. Chargers

Monday, Aug. 23

Jacksonville at New Orleans

TENNIS

Rogers CupFriday

At Aviva CentreToronto

Purse: $2,850,975Surface: Hardcourt outdoor

Men’s SinglesQuarterfinals

Stefanos Tsitsipas (3), Greece, def.Casper Ruud (6), Norway, 6-1, 6-4.

Reilly Opelka, United States, def. Rober-to Bautista Agut (10), Spain, 6-3, 7-6 (1).

Daniil Medvedev (1), Russia, def. HubertHurkacz (7), Poland, 2-6, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (5).

John Isner, United States, def. Gael Mon-fils (11), France, 7-6 (5), 6-4.

Men’s DoublesQuarterfinals

Horia Tecau, Romania, and Kevin Kra-wietz (4), Germany, def. Dusan Lajovic,Serbia, and Aslan Karatsev, Russia, 6-3,3-6, 10-3.

Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic (1), Croa-tia, def. Matwe Middelkoop, Netherlands,and Luke Saville, Australia, 6-3, 6-7 (6),10-7.

Rajeev Ram, United States, and Joe Sa-lisbury (3), Britain, def. Rohan Bopanna, In-dia, and Ivan Dodig (8), Croatia, 4-6, 6-3,10-4.

Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen, Belgium,def. Robert Farah and Juan Sebastian Ca-bal (2), Colombia, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 10-8.

National Bank OpenFriday

At IGA Stadium & Aviva CentreMontreal

Purse: $1,835,490Surface: Hardcourt outdoor

Women’s SinglesQuarterfinals

Aryna Sabalenka (1), Belarus, def. Victo-ria Azarenka (8), Belarus, 6-2, 6-4.

Karolina Pliskova (4), Czech Republic,def. Sara Sorribes Tormo, Spain, 6-4, 6-0.

Camila Giorgi, Italy, def. Coco Gauff (15),United States, 6-4, 7-6 (2).

Jessica Pegula, United States, def. OnsJabeur (13), Tunisia, 1-6, 7-6 (4), 6-0.

Women’s DoublesQuarterfinals

Andreja Klepac, Slovenia, and Darija Ju-rak (6), Croatia, def. Alexa Guarachi Mathi-son, Chile, and Desirae Krawczyk (4), Unit-ed States, 6-4, 6-2.

Veronika Kudermetova, Russia, and Ele-na Rybakina, Kazakhstan, def. Ulrikke Eik-eri, Norway, and Catherine Harrison, Unit-ed States, 6-0, 6-2.

Gabriela Dabrowski, Canada, and LuisaStefani (5), Brazil, def. Elise Mertens, Belgi-um, and Aryna Sabalenka (1), Belarus, 6-2,6-2.

DEALS

Friday’s transactionsBASEBALL

Major League BaseballAmerican League

BOSTON RED SOX — Sent RHP Eduard Ba-zardo to Florida Complex League (FCL) ona rehab assignment. Reinstated OF KyleSchwarber from the 10-day IL. ReinstatedOF Alex Verdugo from the paternity leavelist. Designated INF/OF Marwin Gonzalezfor assignment. Optioned RHP TannerHousck to Worcester (Triple-A East).

CHICAGO WHITE SOX — Optioned SSDanny Mendick to Charlotte (Triple-AEast).

CLEVELAND INDIANS — Placed CF HaroldRamirez on the 10-day IL, retroactive toAugust 12. Optioned LHP Francisco Perezto Columbus (Triple-A East). Recalled 1BYu Chang and LHP Logan Allen from Co-lumbus.

NEW YORK YANKEES — Returned OF Es-tevan Florial to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre(Triple-A East). Returned INF Chris Gittensfrom rehab assignment and reinstatedhim from the 10-day IL then optioned himto Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Transferred OFClint Frazier’s rehab assignment fromTampa (Low-A Southeast) to Somerset(Double-A Northeast). Transferred RHPLuis Severino’s rehab assignment fromSomerset to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.

TEXAS RANGERS — Reinstated RHP DaneDunning from the 10-day IL. Selected thecontract of C Yohel Pozo from Round Rock(Triple-A West) and agreed to terms on amajor league contract. Optioned LHP WesBenjamin and 1B Curtis Terry to RoundRock. Designated RHP Jimmy Herget forassignment.

National LeagueARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS — Optioned

RHP Sean Poppen to Reno (Triple-A West).Activated RHP J.B. Wendelken.

ATLANTA BRAVES — Optioned LHP KyleMuller to Gwinnett (Triple-A East). Re-called RHP Jacob Webb from Gwinnett.Sent C Kevan Smith outright to GwinnettStripers.

CINCINNATI REDS — Sent RHP R.J. Alanizto Louisville (Triple-A East) on a rehab as-signment.

COLORADO ROCKIES — Sent RHP Chi ChiGonzalez to Arizona Complez League(ACL) on a rehab assignment.

MIAMI MARLINS — Agreed to terms withRF Dustin Fowler on a minor league con-tract. Placed INF Joe Panik on the 10-day IL.Reinstated INF Jazz Chisholm from the 10-day IL.

MILWAUKEE BREWERS — Signed RHPRobbie Baker to a minor league contract.Sent RHP Sal Romano outright to Nashville(Triple-A East).

NEW YORK METS — Placed INF JavierBaez on the 10-day IL, retroactive to Au-gust 12. Recalled INF Travis Blakenhornfrom Syracuse (Triple-A East). OptionedRHP Trevor Williams to Syracuse. SignedOF Josh Reddick to a minor league con-tract.

ST. LOUIS CARDINALS — Placed LHPWade LeBlanc on the 10-day IL. ReinstatedRHP Jack Flaherty from the 60-day IL.

SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS — Agreed toterms with SS Brandon Crawford on a two-year contract. Reinstated RHP AnthonyDeSclafani from the 10-day IL. OptionedRHP Camilo Doval to Sacramento (Triple-AWest). Placed RHP Aaron Sanchez on un-conditional release waivers.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS — OptionedRHP Tanner Rainey to Rochester (Triple-AEast).

BASKETBALLNational Basketball Association

BOSTON CELTICS — Signed C Enes Kan-ter and G Dennis Schroder.

HOUSTON ROCKETS — Signed F MattHurt to a two-way contract.

LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS — Re-signed GNicolas Baturn.

NEW ORLEANS PELICANS — Re-signed GDidi Louzada.

FOOTBALLNational Football League

CHICAGO BEARS — Activated DT EddieGoldman from the COVID-19 list. WaivedWR Thomas Ives.

GREEN BAY PACKERS — Placed OLB Ran-dy Ramsey on unclaimed waivers and re-verted to IR.

HOUSTON TEXANS — Placed OTs LaremyTunsil and Tytus Howard on the COVID-19list.

LAS VEGAS RAIDERS — Activated DBIsaiah Johnson from the physically unableto perform (PUP) list.

NEW ORLEANS SAINTS — Waived LBQuentin Poling with an injury designation.Released CB Keith Washington from IRwith a settlement. Signed OT LawrenceWoods.

NEW YORK GIANTS — Waived RB MikeWeber with an injury designation settle-ment. Signed OT Ted Larsen. Waived DBJordyn Peters.

PHILADELPHIA EAGLES — Waived DBNate Meadors with an injury designationsettlement.

HOCKEYNational Hockey League

BUFFALO SABRES — Signed D Casey Fitz-gerald to a two-year contract.

COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS — Signed LWZac Rinaldo to a one-year, two-way con-tract.

FLORIDA PANTHERS — Signed LW JoeThorton to a one-year contract.

SOCCERMajor League Soccer

MINNESOTA UNITED FC — Acquired$75,000 in 2022 general allocation money(GAM) from D.C. United for first refusal forD Jose Aja. Waived F Ramon Abila.

COLLEGEMEMPHIS — Named Kassie Kadera as

associate head volleyball coach andMitchell Baumgartner as assistant volley-ball coach.

AP SPORTLIGHT

Aug. 15

1948 — Babe Didrikson Zaharias winsthe U.S. Women’s Open golf title over BettyHicks.

1950 — Ezzard Charles knocks out Fred-die Beshore in the 14th round to retain hisworld heavyweight title.

1965 — Dave Marr edges Jack Nicklausand Billy Casper to take the PGA Cham-pionship.

2014 — Mo’Ne Davis, one of two girls atthe Little League World Series, throws atwo-hitter to help Philadelphia beat Nash-ville 4-0 in the opener for both teams. Da-vis, the first girl to appear for a U.S. team inSouth Williamsport since 2004, has eightstrikeouts and no walks.

GOLF

Wyndham ChampionshipPGA Tour

FridayAt Sedgefield Country Club

Greensboro, N.C.Yardage: 7,131; Par: 70

Purse: $6.4 MillionSecond Round

Russell Henley 62-64—126 -14 Rory Sabbatini 66-64—130 -10 Webb Simpson 65-65—130 -10 Scott Piercy 64-66—130 -10 Justin Rose 66-65—131 -9Tyler Duncan 69-62—131 -9Brian Stuard 65-66—131 -9Kevin Streelman 66-66—132 -8Alex Smalley 68-64—132 -8Tyler McCumber 65-67—132 -8Kevin Na 68-64—132 -8 Chris Kirk 64-69—133 -7 Kevin Kisner 65-68—133 -7Hudson Swafford 64-69—133 -7Bronson Burgoon 65-68—133 -7Sam Ryder 68-65—133 -7 Mackenzie Hughes 70-63—133 -7Matt Kuchar 66-67—133 -7Sung Kang 64-69—133 -7 Sebastián Muñoz 66-67—133 -7Jhonattan Vegas 65-68—133 -7John Augenstein 68-65—133 -7Denny McCarthy 65-69—134 -6Tommy Fleetwood 66-68—134 -6Sungjae Im 66-68—134 -6 Si Woo Kim 66-68—134 -6 Erik van Rooyen 65-69—134 -6

Scottish OpenLPGA Tour

FridayAt Dumbarnie Links

Fife, ScotlandPurse: $1.5 million

Yardage: 6,573; Par: 71Second Round

Ariya Jutanugarn 69-66—135 -9Charley Hull 69-69—138 -6Emily Kristine Pedersen 69-69—138 -6Atthaya Thitikul 68-70—138 -6Jeongeun Lee6 71-68—139 -5Lydia Hall 69-70—139 -5Sarah Schmelzel 68-71—139 -5Ryann O’Toole 68-71—139 -5Kelsey MacDonald 68-71—139 -5Yuka Saso 67-72—139 -5Marina Alex 69-71—140 -4Yealimi Noh 68-72—140 -4Ssu-Chia Cheng 72-69—141 -3Whitney Hillier 72-69—141 -3Ashleigh Buhai 71-70—141 -3Anna Nordqvist 70-71—141 -3Celine Boutier 70-71—141 -3Nanna Koerstz Madsen 68-73—141 -3Jasmine Suwannapura 67-74—141 -3Ally Ewing 73-69—142 -2Karolin Lampert 71-71—142 -2A Lim Kim 71-71—142 -2Jing Yan 71-71—142 -2Lydia Ko 70-72—142 -2Cheyenne Knight 70-72—142 -2Prima Thammaraks 70-72—142 -2Becky Morgan 68-74—142 -2Esther Henseleit 75-68—143 -1Jenny Shin 73-70—143 -1Azahara Munoz 73-70—143 -1Carlota Ciganda 72-71—143 -1Leona Maguire 71-72—143 -1Bronte Law 69-74—143 -1Celine Herbin 69-74—143 -1

Shaw Charity ClassicChampions Tour

FridayAt Canyon Meadows Golf & Country Club

Calgary, AlbertaPurse: $2.35 million

Yardage: 7,086; Par: 70First Round

Billy Mayfair 32-30—62 -8Mike Weir 31-32—63 -7Doug Barron 30-34—64 -6Steve Flesch 34-30—64 -6Stephen Ames 33-31—64 -6Ken Duke 33-32—65 -5Brandt Jobe 34-31—65 -5Robert Gamez 35-31—66 -4Kirk Triplett 34-32—66 -4Billy Andrade 33-33—66 -4Scott Dunlap 32-34—66 -4Jeff Maggert 32-34—66 -4Dean Wilson 34-33—67 -3John Riegger 33-34—67 -3Paul Stankowski 34-33—67 -3Paul Goydos 35-32—67 -3Tim Herron 35-32—67 -3Matt Gogel 36-31—67 -3Steve Pate 34-33—67 -3Alex Cejka 34-33—67 -3Jonathan Kaye 34-34—68 -2Lee Janzen 36-32—68 -2Kent Jones 34-34—68 -2Tom Pernice Jr. 35-33—68 -2Tim Petrovic 35-33—68 -2David McKenzie 34-34—68 -2Bernhard Langer 35-33—68 -2Cliff Kresge 35-33—68 -2Gibby Gilbert III 35-33—68 -2David Morland IV 37-31—68 -2Dennis Hendershott 35-33—68 -2

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Russell

Henley shot a 6-under 64 on Fri-

day to open a four-stroke lead half-

way through the Wyndham Cham-

pionship.

Henley was at 14-under 126, ty-

ing Stewart Cink at the RBC Heri-

tage in April for the lowest 36-hole

score this season in a tournament

Cink went on to win.

Olympic silver medalist Rory

Sabbatini was tied for second with

past champion Webb Simpson and

playoff bubble man Scott Piercy.

Sabbatini shot a 64, Simpson 65

and Piercy at 66.

Former FedEx Cup champion

Justin Rose, outside the playoffs at

the start of the week, continued his

surge toward the postseason with

a 65 that left him at 9 under in a

group with Tyler Duncan and

Brian Stuard.

Duncan had the lowest score of

the round at 62. Stuard shot 66.

When Henley teed off, the first-

round leader had already been

passed by Sabbatini, Piercy and

Simpson. Henley, who opened on

the back nine, got going with four

straight birdies on Nos. 14-17 to re-

gain the lead.

Henley added three more bird-

ies on his final nine. It was a couple

of months ago that Henley shared

the halfway lead at the U.S. Open.

He was among three leaders after

54 holes until falling off with final-

round 76.

Henley hopes he can keep the

same drive and mentality on the

weekend. After all, this is not the

U.S. Open and pars here will prob-

ably lead you out of contention.

“You have to do everything

right,” Henley said. “So it’s kind of

the same way except for I’m just

mainly trying to keep committing

to every shot off the tee and put

myself in the fairway” where he

can stay aggressive.

It was a good day for Sabbatini,

Piercy and Rose, all who began

the week outside the 125-man

postseason cutoff, but have played

themselves into next week’s

Northern Trust with 36 holes to go.

Sabbatini has moved from 141st

in the FedEx standings to a pro-

jected 95th. He tied his career low

36-hole score of 130, last accom-

plished in 2003 at the Shriner’s

Children’s Open.

Piercy started this week as first

man out at No. 126. His 64-66 start

has him projected at 80th for the

playoffs.

Rose was also outside at No. 138

when he teed off Thursday. He’s at

117th after shooting 66-65.

Henleyleads by4 shots

Associated Press


NBA/SPORTS BRIEFS

INDIANAPOLIS — Helio Cas-

troneves celebrated his record-ty-

ing fourth Indianapolis 500 victo-

ry in May.

The rewards are still rolling in.

When the popular 46-year-old

Brazilian returned to Indianapolis

Motor Speedway on Thursday,

track officials presented him with

a bronze brick and on Friday, he

was named as the headliner in a

nine-member Motorsports Hall of

Fame of America induction class

for 2022.

“The motivation has always

been there,” Castroneves said.

“It’s not about the title. I never lost

faith. I wouldn’t be going inside

the helmet if I didn’t think I had a

chance to succeed. For me that

keeps me right there on the edge

and the competition in the Indy-

Car Series, it’s so competitive that

if you sneeze, you lose a tenth.”

Castroneves, the open-wheel

selection, will be joined by long-

time NASCAR owner Jack Roush,

Pete Brock from sports cars, Dick

LaHaie from drag racing, NAS-

CAR co-founder Raymond Parks

and NASCAR builder Banjo Mat-

thews, Denise McCluggage in the

media category while motorcycle

innovators Trey Vance and Byron

Hines will go in as a single entry.

Roush was the mastermind of

more than 300 Cup Series wins.

Brock deigned the 1965 world

champion Cobra Daytona coupes.

LaHaie is the only person to win

NHRA Top Fuel titles as a driver

and a crew chief.

The final inductee will be

named later this month.

Beltre going into Rangers

Hall of Fame with Morgan ARLINGTON, Texas — Much

of what Adrian Beltre now hears

about his Hall of Fame-caliber ca-

reer comes from his son, a base-

ball fanatic who grew up in the

Texas Rangers clubhouse during

his father’s last eight big league

seasons.

“When AJ (Adrian Jr.) sees

stuff like that, I can see in his face

that he’s proud, which just makes

me emotional,” Beltre said. “And I

always try to be humble with him

and kind of teach how to be, you

know, hungry for what you want,

but stay humble.”

The four-time All-Star and five-

time Gold Glove-winning third

baseman, who retired in 2018 after

21 big league seasons, was induct-

ed into the Texas Rangers Base-

ball Hall of Fame on Saturday

night. He went to his only World

Series in 2011, his first season in

Texas, and joined MLB’s 3,000-hit

club in a Rangers home game in

2017 at their old stadium across

the street.

Beltre and Chuck Morgan, in

his 38th season as the public ad-

dress announcer for the Rangers

spanning three different stadi-

ums, are the 23rd and 24th induc-

tees in the team’s Hall of Fame

since the first class in 2003.

The Rangers retired Beltre’s

No. 29 jersey two years ago, in

their last season at Globe Life

Park before moving last season in-

to the new Globe Life Field with a

retractable roof. His first time on

the ballot for the National Base-

ball Hall of Fame will be for the

Class of 2024.

Bills owners committed

to sharing stadium costsBUFFALO, N.Y. — Buffalo Bills

owners Terry and Kim Pegula are

committed to paying a portion of

the projected $1.4 billion in their

proposal to build a stadium.

“When it comes to the future

new home of the Bills, (the Pegu-

las) have always known that, like

virtually all NFL stadiums, this

will ultimately be some form of a

public/private partnership,” Peg-

ula Sports and Entertainment se-

nior vice president Ron Raccuia

said in a statement to The Associ-

ated Press on Saturday.

Raccuia’s comments are the

team’s first public statement since

discussions with state and county

officials on the team’s future home

opened two months ago. The state-

ment is timed at ending specula-

tion the Bills want taxpayers to

pay the entire cost.

How the costs will be split is un-

clear, and to be determined in ne-

gotiations, which are expected to

resume once Lt. Gov. Kathy Ho-

chul takes over as New York gov-

ernor following Andrew Cuomo’s

resignation last week.

The Bills want to replace the

newly renamed Highmark Stadi-

um, which opened in 1973. The

proposal calls for the stadium to

be built in a Bills-controlled park-

ing lot across the street from their

current home.

BRIEFLY

Castroneves headlinesMotorsports HoF class

Associated Press

MICHAEL CONROY/AP

Helio Castroneves poses afterwinning this year’s Indianapolis500. It was the fourth timeCastroneves won the race.

CHICAGO — Joining Olympian Zach LaVine and

Nikola Vucevic in what could be a high-scoring trio

appealed to DeMar DeRozan. He is thrilled to get to

play alongside fellow newcomer Lonzo Ball, too.

He sees a team poised to make a jump, and that ex-

plains why the Chicago Bulls were an attractive des-

tination.

“Every guy, when I look at their roster, has a chip

on their shoulders,” DeRozan said. “Vuc, since col-

lege, I know the type of player he is, how bad he wants

to win. Zach wanting to be on that main stage and

wanting to compete for something much more than

just stats during the season. Myself, I always carried

achip on my shoulder. And Lonzo. ... There’s so much

there that can bring so much potential.”

The Bulls finished 11th in the Eastern Conference

and missed the playoffs for the fourth straight year.

While it was their first season with Arturas Karniso-

vas leading the front office and Billy Donovan coach-

ing the club, they clearly have their sights set on the

postseason.

The Bulls are banking on DeRozan and Ball to help

them get there after making big moves to acquire the

two in separate sign-and-trade deals. They intro-

duced their new arrivals on Friday.

DeRozan, a four-time All-Star with eight straight

seasons averaging more than 20 points, agreed to a

three-year, $85 million contract. In return, the Bulls

sent San Antonio veteran forwards Thaddeus Young

and Al-Farouq Aminu, a protected first-round draft

pick and two second-round draft picks.

The Bulls gave Ball, a restricted free agent, $85

million over four years. The Pelicans got Garrett

Temple, Tomas Satoransky, a 2024 second-round

draft pick from Chicago and landed guard Devonte

Graham from Charlotte in a separate sign-and-trade

move.

“I think everything happens for a reason and ev-

erything plans out how it’s supposed to plan out,” Ball

said. “I think at this point in my life, it was time for me

to be a Chicago Bull. I’m happy to be in Chicago. Ob-

viously, I’ve got good bonds with guys over there in

New Orleans. It could have worked out, but like I

said, everything happens for a reason.”

Ball, a four-year veteran who turns 24 in October,

is coming off his best season. In his second year with

the Pelicans, he averaged career highs in points (14.6

per game) and field-goal percentage (41.4) while av-

eraging 5.7 assists. He hit a career-high 172 three-

pointers last season while making a career-best

37.8% of his shots from deep.

Ball, drafted by the Lakers with the No. 2 pick out of

UCLA in 2017, changed his shooting mechanics after

being traded to the Pelicans in the deal that sent An-

thony Davis to Los Angeles.

“Since he’s been in the league, it seems like he

hasn’t really been let free to be the player that I be-

lieve he is,” DeRozan said. “Coming to this organiza-

tion once I’d seen him sign and seeing him having

that opportunity for the first time in his career, was

something that I definitely want to be a part of. The

dynamic that he brings to the court on both ends is

tremendous.”

FRANK FRANKLIN II/AP

DeMar DeRozan, left, believes the Chicago Bulls, his new team, is ready to make the jump to contenderafter four straight years of missing the playoffs.

With DeRozan, Ball, Bullsexpect to be contenders

BY ANDREW SELIGMAN

Associated Press

TONY GUTIERREZ/AP

Like DeRozan, Lonzo Ball joined Chicago in asignandtrade agreement.


MLB

American LeagueEast Division

W L Pct GB

Tampa Bay 71 45 .612 _

Boston 67 51 .568 5

New York 63 52 .548 7½

Toronto 62 53 .539 8½

Baltimore 38 76 .333 32

Central Division

W L Pct GB

Chicago 68 48 .586 _

Cleveland 56 58 .491 11

Detroit 57 61 .483 12

Minnesota 50 66 .431 18

Kansas City 49 65 .430 18

West Division

W L Pct GB

Houston 69 46 .600 _

Oakland 67 49 .578 2½

Seattle 62 55 .530 8


Texas 41 75 .353 28½

National LeagueEast Division

W L Pct GB

Atlanta 60 56 .517 _

Philadelphia 60 56 .517 _

New York 59 56 .513 ½

Washington 50 66 .431 10

Miami 49 67 .422 11

Central Division

W L Pct GB

Milwaukee 70 46 .603 _

Cincinnati 63 54 .538 7½

St. Louis 59 56 .513 10½

Chicago 52 66 .441 19

Pittsburgh 41 74 .357 28½

West Division

W L Pct GB

San Francisco 75 41 .647 _


San Diego 66 52 .559 10

Colorado 51 65 .440 24

Arizona 37 80 .316 38½

Friday’s gamesCleveland 7, Detroit 4Boston 8, Baltimore 1 Texas 8, Oakland 6 St. Louis 6, Kansas City 0 Tampa Bay 10, Minnesota 4 Houston 4, L.A. Angels 1 Seattle 3, Toronto 2 Cincinnati 6, Philadelphia 1 Atlanta 4, Washington 2 Miami 14, Chicago Cubs 10 L.A. Dodgers 6, N.Y. Mets 5 (10) Arizona 3, San Diego 2 San Francisco 5, Colorado 4 Milwaukee at Pittsburgh, ppd.

Saturday’s gamesBaltimore at BostonCleveland at Detroit Oakland at Texas N.Y. Yankees at Chicago White Sox St. Louis at Kansas City Tampa Bay at Minnesota Houston at L.A. Angels Toronto at Seattle Milwaukee at Pittsburgh (2)Cincinnati at Philadelphia Atlanta at Washington Chicago Cubs at Miami L.A. Dodgers at N.Y. Mets San Diego at Arizona Colorado at San Francisco

Sunday’s gamesBaltimore (Akin 0-6) at Boston (Rodrí-

guez 8-6) Cleveland (McKenzie 1-5) at Detroit

(Mize 6-6) N.Y. Yankees (Cortes Jr. 0-1) at Chicago

White Sox (Giolito 9-8) St. Louis (Happ 6-6) at Kansas City (Bub-

ic 3-5) Tampa Bay (Patiño 2-3) at Minnesota

(TBD)Oakland (Manaea 8-7) at Texas (Allard

2-10) Houston (McCullers Jr. 9-3) at L.A. An-

gels (Detmers 0-2) Toronto (Matz 9-7) at Seattle (Gilbert 5-3)Atlanta (Smyly 8-3) at Washington (Es-

pino 3-3) Cincinnati (Gray 4-6) at Philadelphia

(Nola 7-6) Milwaukee (Peralta 9-3) at Pittsburgh

(Brault 0-1) Chicago Cubs (Mills 5-4) at Miami

(Thompson 2-5) Colorado (Gray 7-8) at San Francisco

(Wood 9-3) San Diego (TBD) at Arizona (Gallen 1-6) L.A. Dodgers (Scherzer 9-4) at N.Y. Mets

(Carrasco 0-0) Monday’s games

L.A. Angels at N.Y. YankeesBaltimore at Tampa Bay Cleveland at Minnesota Houston at Kansas City Oakland at Chicago White Sox Atlanta at Miami Chicago Cubs at Cincinnati San Diego at Colorado N.Y. Mets at San Francisco Pittsburgh at L.A. Dodgers

Scoreboard

MIAMI — Bryan De La Cruz hit a grand

slam and Alex Jackson added a three-run

homer as the Marlins tied a team record by

scoring 11 times in the second inning of a 14-10

victory over the slumping Chicago Cubs.

The 11 runs tied a Marlins mark set in the

fifth inning at Milwaukee on June 4, 2019.

The Marlins’ second-inning outburst erased

a three-run deficit. De La Cruz’s drive against

Adbert Alzolay (4-13) put Miami ahead 5-4.

Jesús Aguilar also homered for Miami.

Starter Jesús Luzardo (4-5) benefited from

the offensive support and allowed five runs

and six hits in five innings. He struck out six,

walked four and hit a batter.

Chicago got two-run homers from Frank

Schwindel and Ian Happ. Robinson Chirinos

homered, doubled twice and singled. The

Cubs have lost nine straight.

Braves 4, Nationals 2: Austin Riley home-

red in the seventh inning of a weather-delayed

game, and Atlanta beat host Washington to

move into a first-place tie in the NL East with

Philadelphia.

Dodgers 6, Mets 5 (10): Will Smith hit a

two-run homer to start the 10th inning and

visiting Los Angeles bounced back after blow-

ing a four-run lead to beat New York.

Reds 6, Phillies 1: Joey Votto hit a three-

run homer and Tyler Mahle tossed seven

shutout innings to lead Cincinnati over host

Philadelphia.

Red Sox 8, Orioles 1: Kyle Schwarber

scored twice in his debut with his new team

and his new teammates delivered three home

runs to lift Boston over visiting Baltimore.

Rangers 8, Athletics 6: Yohel Pozo hit a

go-ahead, three-run home run in the sixth in-

ning of his major league debut, fellow rookie

DJ Peters had a two-run shot and host Texas

beat Oakland.

Rays 10, Twins 4: Nelson Cruz homered in

his return to Minnesota and Tampa Bay

moved a season-high 26 games over .500 with

the win.

Cruz made his first appearance in Minneso-

ta since being traded by the Twins to Tampa

Bay on July 22. He struck out on three pitches

in his first at-bat before sending a line drive

into the left-field seats for his 24th home run

of the season and fifth for the Rays. Cruz fin-

ished 2-for-4 with a walk and two runs scored.

Cardinals 6, Royals 0: Jack Flaherty

pitched six innings of two-hit ball in his return

from an oblique injury, and St. Louis blanked

host Kansas City.

Astros 4, Angels 1: At Anaheim, Calif.,

Kyle Tucker hit his first career grand slam,

Zack Greinke pitched two-hit ball over seven

scoreless innings and Houston beat Los An-

geles.

Diamondbacks 3, Padres 2: Daulton Var-

sho hit a game-ending homer in the ninth in-

ning, sending Arizona past visiting San Diego.

Giants 5, Rockies 4: Wilmer Flores hit a

three-run homer in the first, Thairo Estrada

added an RBI single, and host San Francisco

extended its winning streak to six games with

a win over Colorado.

Mariners 3, Blue Jays 2: Jarred Kelenic

drew a bases-loaded walk in the ninth inning,

and Seattle stretched its winning streak to

three games with a win over visiting Toronto.

Marlins score 11 in second inning, beat CubsAssociated Press

LYNNE SLADKY/AP

The Marlins’ Alex Jackson hits a threerun home run during the second inning of Friday’s gameagainst the Chicago Cubs in Miami. The Marlins won 1410.

ROUNDUP

DETROIT — Cleveland rookie

Ernie Clement hit the first two

homers of his career while Miguel

Cabrera stayed one drive short of

No. 500 as the Indians beat the De-

troit Tigers 7-4 on Friday night.

“It was obviously a great feeling

to hit my first one, but I was in

complete shock when the second

one went out,” said Clement, who

only had three homers in 268 mi-

nor league games.

“My game is about trying to hit

the ball hard and get on base for

the guys behind me. I’m not a

home-run hitter,” he said.

Cabrera went 0-for-4, leaving

him at 499 career home runs and

disappointing a crowd of 22,107.

Fans were crammed into Comeri-

ca Park’s outfield seats at where

the milestone drive might land.

“It was electric every time Mig-

gy came up to the plate,” Indians

starter Zach Plesac said. “The

ground was shaking — that was a

playoff atmosphere. I just didn’t

want to be the one who gave it up.”

Cabrera struck out in the first

inning, flied out twice and ground-

ed out.

“Miggy is fine,” Tigers manager

A.J. Hinch said. “As great as he is,

he can’t just will a home run when-

ever he wants one. He’s swinging

well and it will come.”

Cabrera homered Wednesday

night at Baltimore and sat out

Thursday against the Orioles. The

Tigers then returned to Detroit to

open a six-game homestand.

“We know the fans are here for

Miggy, but we’re all feeding off

this energy,” Tigers catcher Eric

Haase said. “We’ve been a win-

ning team for a couple months

now, and it is fun seeing the crowd

respond to that.”

Yu Chang homered and tripled

for the Indians, who improved to

11-5 against Detroit this season.

Plesac (7-4) allowed two runs on

five hits in seven innings. He

struck out nine without a walk af-

ter giving up five runs in four in-

nings against the Tigers Sunday.

“I knew I had good stuff in that

game, but I didn’t do a good job of

executing my pitches,” he said.

“That’s been something I’ve been

dealing with, but today was a lot

better.”

Tyler Alexander (2-2) gave up

four runs in five innings.

“The top of Cleveland’s order is

really tough against lefties and he

did a really good job against

them,” Hinch said. “But the bot-

tom of the order had three homers

and a triple. That’s just how it goes

some days.”

JOSE JUAREZ/AP

Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera reacts after striking out against Indianspitcher Zach Plesac during the first inning Friday in Detroit.

Tribe top Tigers; Cabrera stuck at 499Associated Press

0-for-4Tigers slugger Miguel Cabrera’s outputat the plate on Friday in a 7-4 loss tothe Cleveland Indians in Detroit. Ca-brera struck out in the first inning, fliedout twice and grounded out.

SOURCE: Associated Press


COLLEGE FOOTBALL

A deal BYU has made available

to its football players could test

how much allowing athletes to be

compensated by outside compa-

nies for name, image and likeness

can be used as a competitive ad-

vantage.

Earlier this week, BYU an-

nounced Built Brands — a Utah-

based company that makes pro-

tein snacks — will give all 123

members of the Cougars’ football

team the opportunity to be paid to

promote its products.

Scholarship players can earn

$1,000. For walk-ons, players who

are not on athletic scholarship, the

payment can be equivalent to the

cost of a year’s tuition at BYU,

which ranges from about $3,000 to

$6,000 per semester.

“This is creative and different,”

said Blake Lawrence, the CEO of

Opendorse, a firm that works with

schools on NIL-related matters

from brand building to compli-

ance. “The first-move advantage

here for both BYU and Built is ve-

ry evident.”

BYU’s arrangement with Built

drew national attention for the

joyous celebration it sparked

among the players and because it

seems to provide the Cougars a

way to circumvent the NCAA’s

scholarship-limit rules. Teams

that play in the highest division of

college football can only have 85

scholarship players on the roster.

BYU athletic director Tom Hol-

moe told the AP on Friday that he

and football coach Kalani Sitake

were searching for a way to pro-

vide an NIL opportunity to the en-

tire team, not trying to find a work-

around to the scholarship limit.

“The whole mindset wasn’t to

try to get a recruiting advantage or

anything,” Sitake said. “It was just

to do what we thought was right

and to help the walk-ons on this

team.”

But Holmoe didn’t refute the

idea that this could benefit BYU.

“Are we saying that people in

collegiate football these days are

not looking for competitive advan-

tages? That’s like the essence of

athletics is competitive advan-

tage,” said Holmoe, who played

seven seasons in the NFL with the

San Francisco 49ers in the 1980s.

“Competitive advantage exists in

life. It’s called creativity. You

come up with good ideas that give

you a competitive advantage.”

To satisfy their contracts with

Built, BYU football players must

wear a decal with the company’s

logo on their practice helmets and

make at least one appearance at a

company event.

Walk-ons are required to make

two appearances and promote the

company on social media.

Holmoe said BYU did not nego-

tiate the deal with Built Brands

CEO Nick Greer, who is a friend of

Sitake’s, but it was vetted by the

school’s general counsel and pres-

ident.

The NCAA has taken a hands-

off and permissive approach to

NIL, allowing schools in states

that do not have NIL laws to set

their own policies. Utah has no

law, but the NCAA still does not al-

low NIL payments to be used as

recruiting inducements or pay-

for-play.

“There are still, I’ll say, rules,”

Holmoe said.

Built Brands is not funding

scholarships, but paying athletes

directly.

“(The players) don’t have to pay

for their tuition,” Holmoe said.

“They can do whatever they want

with that money.”

For most walk-ons, though, the

money can be a game-changer.

“It takes stress off for sure,”

said Nick Billoups, a walk-on

quarterback.

The NCAA lifted its longtime

ban on athletes being compensat-

ed for the use of their names, im-

ages and likenesses on July 1,

opening the door for all kinds of

endorsement opportunities for

athletes.

GEORGE FREY/AP

On Thursday, BYU announced Built Brands — a Utahbased company that makes proteinheavy snacks —will give the opportunity for all 123 members of its football team to be paid to promote its products.

BYU deal raises questionsof competitive advantageMarketing partnership will give all players opportunity for paid promotions

BY RALPH D. RUSSO

Associated Press

“Competitive advantage

exists in life. It’s called

creativity. You come up with

good ideas that give you a

competitive advantage.”

Tom Holmoe

BYU athletic director

The dichotomy in Mississippi is

striking.

The state has one of the lowest

COVID-19 vaccination rates in the

country. Its hospitals are on the

verge of being overwhelmed by

those stricken with the potentially

deadly disease.

Yet, in the face of all that discou-

raging news, the flagship univer-

sity’s football team is fully vacci-

nated — all 240 coaches, players

and staff.

It will be intriguing to see just

how much influence coach Lane

Kiffin and his Ole Miss players

have on those who have been re-

luctant to embrace, even in the

face of overwhelming scientific

evidence, their best defense

against the coronavirus pandem-

ic.

That goes for the entire South-

eastern Conference, the country’s

mightiest football league and one

that, in normal times, wields enor-

mous influence in its neck of the

woods.

“Going out and talking about it

... is one thing,” Kiffin said during

an appearance this week on

MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” talk

show. “But when a team, an entire

organization — not just the play-

ers — decides to do this at 100%, I

would like to think that’s pretty

eye-opening for a lot of people that

were sitting right on the edge or

not really motivated to do it.

“I bet our numbers go up,” he

went on to prognosticate. “That’s

pretty cool.”

Those numbers have nowhere

to go but up.

According to data compiled by

the Mayo Clinic, just 42.7% of Mis-

sissippi residents have received at

least one dose of a COVID-19 vac-

cine. Only one other state (Idaho

at 42.1%) has a lower vaccination

rate.

All across the SEC’s 11-state

footprint the anti-vax movement

is strong.

Florida, Kentucky, Texas and

Missouri are the only SEC states

with vaccination rates above 50%.

The remaining seven have yet to

reach even that modest threshold,

even though vaccines are free and

pretty much available now on ev-

ery street corner.

The numbers are especially

troubling when one considers the

example being set by the power-

house football programs in those

states.

The Georgia Bulldogs say more

than 90% of their players are fully

vaccinated, while Alabama coach

Nick Saban reported recently that

his team was closing in on that

number. Saban also has made

PSAs urging Alabamians to get

vaccinated.

“We feel really comfortable

where we are,” Georgia coach

Kirby Smart said at the start of

preseason practice. “My goal as

always is to be 100%. I think it’s the

safest thing for our players.”

These coaches have selfish rea-

sons for goading their teams to get

vaccinated, of course.

With the pandemic raging again

and the start of the season just

weeks away, vaccines are the best

defense against schools having to

forfeit games — and possibly ruin

any championship hopes — be-

cause they don’t have enough

healthy players to take the field.

The SEC has already an-

nounced that forfeits — not post-

ponements or cancellations, like

last season — are on the table if

COVID-19 disrupts the season.

The PAC-12 joined that stance

this week.

It shouldn’t be controversial.

ROGELIO V. SOLIS/AP

Mississippi coach Lane Kiffin, left, and wide receiver John RhysPlumlee look at the camera during practice on Aug. 9.

Kiffin, Ole Miss settingshining example with100% vaccination rate

BY PAUL NEWBERRY

Associated Press

COMMENTARY


NFL

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. —

Blake Cashman’s right forearm

tells his story in black ink.

Tattooed images and words

are sources of inspiration, with

the most recent addition provid-

ing a constant reminder:

“Always Bet On Yourself.”

The New York Jets linebacker

got that one this past offseason

and it’s especially fitting as he

pushes through his third NFL

training camp following two in-

jury-marred seasons.

“I keep telling myself my bad

luck ran out,” Cashman told The

Associated Press after a recent

practice, “and only good things

will come moving forward.”

To some, the 25-year-old

Cashman is a forgotten man, al-

ready phased out in their minds

and replaced by newer, younger

players. He’s competing for a

role and a roster spot, but em-

braces the doubters.

It’s what he has been doing all

his life.

“I felt like ever since I gradu-

ated high school,” Cashman

said, “I was left out until I

wasn’t.”

And that’s a big reason the for-

mer Minnesota star is even here.

He wasn’t the best, fastest or

most talented. But he’s resilient,

tough and determined. Cash-

man’s blue-collar approach on

the field made him a fan favorite

with the Golden Gophers. Same

thing when he was drafted in the

fifth round by the Jets in 2019.

Plenty of negativity has come

along the way, much of it beyond

his control. That includes the

people who laugh and say he’s

brittle and injury-prone.

“You can’t let that get to you,”

he said. “I’m somebody that’s,

I’m relentless. I block out the

negativity. And to get by, even if

you have to put on a fake smile,

that’s what you’ve got to do.”

Cashman would ideally like

his play to do all the talking —

and silence the naysayers. But

he has had trouble staying on the

field to do so.

“It has been upsetting,” Cash-

man acknowledged. “I would be

lying if I said it hadn’t gotten me

down at times and had me frus-

trated. But those things are just

another roadblock, another chal-

lenge where you’ve just got to

overcome. And I’ve never been

someone to quit on myself.”

Even if seemingly everyone

else has.

He had shoulder issues in col-

lege at Minnesota and then an-

other landed him on injured re-

serve as a rookie with the Jets.

Cashman appeared poised to be

a major contributor last season

as a fill-in for C.J. Mosley, who

opted out because of the corona-

virus pandemic, but injured his

groin during punt coverage

when he his ankle was stepped

on.

He came back from that, but

ended up back on IR a few weeks

later with a hamstring injury —

relegated to being a spectator as

New York trudged through a 2-

14 season.

“I had those thoughts like, ‘Am

I made for this?’ ” Cashman said.

“I felt like every single opportu-

nity I was getting, I was getting

knocked back. And I kept asking,

‘Why me? Why me?’

“But every time I’d go to that, I

guess, dark place, I’d have to re-

mind myself, I just said, ‘That

ain’t me. Like, you have to re-

main positive. This is not how

this is going to end. I refuse to let

an injury like this, a soft tissue,

be the end of my playing.’ ”

ADAM HUNGER/AP

New York Jets linebacker Blake Cashman, right, on New England Patriots tight end Benjamin Watsonduring his rookie season in 2019. Cashman has battled injuries his first seasons in the league.

Betting on himselfOft-injured Cashman confident big playsloom as he begins third season with Jets

BY DENNIS WASZAK JR.

Associated Press “I keep telling myself my bad luckran out and only good things willcome moving forward.”

Blake Cashman

Jets linebacker on injuries that limited his playing time his first two seasons

Mayfield is more measured withhis actions and words: businessBaker. More of a leader, a rolemodel, franchise quarterback.

“Experience,” he said, “defi-nitely teaches you.”

Mayfield crashed after a re-cord-setting rookie year, only tobounce back in 2020 under first-year coach Kevin Stefanski. Onthe eve of his fourth trainingcamp, he was relaxed and reflec-tive as he prepared for a seasonBrowns fans have awaited for ageneration.

Mayfield helped Cleveland end

the playoff drought. Next chal-

lenge: the Super Bowl, which the

Browns never have reached.

He’s physically fit, having drop-

ped “bad weight,” and in a good

place mentally. He’s found inner

peace, and the 25-year-old feels a

strong connection with this foot-

ball-crazed city and its fans. Cle-

veland is where he wants to play

his entire career.

“We’ve talked about it, Emily

and I,” Mayfield said, referring to

his wife, who co-stars with him in

those TV ads for Progressive In-

surance. “It wouldn’t be the same

if we lived in a city where they

didn’t live, breathe and die foot-

ball. That’s the atmosphere we

want — and it’s here.”

There’s an unmistakable bond

between this Ohio city and this Ok-

lahoma quarterback. Both under-

dogs, they’ve been through good

years and bad ones. Knocked

down and counted out, they’ve

fought back.

“When I say that my work ethic

and mentality fits right in here,”

he said, “I genuinely mean that.”

Even before being drafted first

in 2018, Mayfield sensed Cleve-

land was where he belonged.

“If anybody’s going to turn that

franchise around it would be me,”

he boasted at the combine that

year.

He was right.

The Browns went 1-31 in two

seasons before he arrived and

spent two decades discarding

quarterbacks and coaches at diz-

zying speed. In Mayfield, they

have seemingly found the leader

missing since Bernie Kosar led

Cleveland to three AFC title

games from 1986-89.

After breaking Peyton Man-

ning’s rookie record for TD passes

and going 7-8-1, Mayfield took

things for granted. He didn’t

spend nearly enough time work-

ing on his craft, got heavy and

threw nearly as many intercep-

tions (21) as TDs (22) in 2019.

Picked to contend for the AFC

North title, the Browns disinte-

grated. They went 6-10, fired

coach Freddie Kitchens and May-

field’s critics circled with sharp-

ened knives.

“For the first time in my life, I

was kind of listening to the outside

noise and I let that affect me too

much,” he said. “I was so worried

about what type of picture I need-

ed to portray as a franchise QB be-

cause everybody was telling me I

had to be a certain way, instead of

just doing how I’ve always done it

— which is how I’m here.”

While it would have been easy to

blame Cleveland’s ceaseless dys-

function, Mayfield held himself

accountable.

“The whole 2019 season was just

kind of a miserable year,” he said,

glancing at a ”Believe In Your-

self” tattoo on his left forearm. “I

expect a lot of things out of myself

and I just didn’t play well. That

was a humbling experience.”

Then came 2020’s strangeness.

But in the midst of masks and

mandates, Mayfield found stabil-

ity and kinship with Stefanski, his

third coach in three years. Shortly

after being hired, Stefanski visited

Mayfield in Texas, not imagining

he wouldn’t see him again in per-

son for five months.

Although most of their interac-

tions came over Zoom, coach and

QB bonded.

“He’s a sports junkie and not the

biggest guy ever,” Mayfield said,

smiling when asked about their

connection. “We agree on the

work-ethic mentality. You can’t

just show up. He loves the grind

and so do I. When you put two peo-

ple together with the same inner

values and drive, that’s pretty spe-

cial.”

Expectations for the 2021

Browns are enormous, even ex-

cessive. Mayfield says he isn’t

fazed by them.

“It would bring the great tradi-

tion back,” he said. “It’s a football

town because of what it’s been in

the past, and what it deserves to

be. It would mean a ton to me, but I

wouldn’t be satisfied at just stop-

ping at one.”

Grown: ‘Experiencedefinitely teaches you’FROM PAGE 24

TONY DEJAK/AP

In head coach Kevin Stefanski,above, Cleveland quarterbackBaker Mayfield has found akindred spirit.


SPORTSStuck at 499 homers

Tigers’ Cabrera goes 0-for-4in loss to Indians ›› MLB, Page 21

DeRozan says additions should make Bulls contenders ›› NBA, Page 20

Quarterback Baker Mayfieldhelped lead the Cleveland Browns

to an 115 record and their firstplayoff berth since 2002.

DAVID DERMER/AP

CLEVELAND

Baker Mayfield has grown up. There wasno other option.

“I had to hit rock bottom for a littlebit,” he said.

He’s rising, and judging by last season, so arethe Browns.

As he picked at lunch during a break last monthwhile shooting commercials at FirstEnergy Stadi-um, Mayfield exuded some of that chip-on-his-shoulder confidence that transported him fromcollege walk-on to NFL starting quarterback.

That will always be on display, defining him,driving him. The brashness, though, has beenmuted.

While discussing the stuttering start to his procareer, his future in Cleveland and expectationsfor this season during a sit-down interview withThe Associated Press, there was something no-ticeably different about Mayfield.

He’s changed. It’s not a 180-degree turn by any means, but

NFL

TONY DEJAK/AP

Mayfield and the Browns beat rival Pittsburgh 4837 in awildcard playoff game last season, leading to even greaterexpectations for this season, Mayfield’s fourth.

Grown upMore mature Mayfieldwelcomes lofty goals

BY TOM WITHERS

Associated Press

SEE GROWN ON PAGE 23

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