Volume 80 Edition 135A ©SS 2021 CONTINGENCY EDITION SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2021 Free to Deployed Areas

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VIDEO GAMES

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VIRUS OUTBREAK

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NATION

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Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin

reaffirmed the U.S. commitment

to Taiwan on Friday, but stopped

short of saying whether the U.S.

military would help defend the

country if it were

to come under

attack from Chi-

na.

“I won’t en-

gage in hypo-

theticals with re-

spect to Tai-

wan,” Austin

said at the con-

clusion of talks with allies at NA-

TO headquarters in Brussels.

On Thursday, President Joe Bi-

den caused a stir during a CNN

town hall meeting when asked if

the U.S. would defend Taiwan if it

came under attack.

“Yes, we have a commitment to

do that,” Biden said, raising ques-

tions about whether the U.S. was

shifting from its long-standing

policy of “strategic ambiguity.”

The U.S. offers support to Taiwan

though military aid, weapons

sales and training.

Austin said the U.S. was still

committed to its one China policy.

The 1979 policy acknowledges

Beijing as the sole legal govern-

AustinrestatesTaiwansupport

BY JOHN VANDIVER

Stars and Stripes

RELATED

China reiteratesTaiwan stance afterBiden commentsPage 10

As the United States and

nations around the

world struggle to blunt

the effects of rising

temperatures and extreme

weather, sweeping assessments

released Thursday by the White

House, the U.S. intelligence com-

munity and the Pentagon con-

clude that climate change will ex-

acerbate long-standing threats to

global security.

Together, the reports show a

deepening concern within the

U.S. security establishment that

the shifts unleashed by climate

change can reshape U.S. strategic

interests, offer new opportunities

to rivals such as China, and in-

crease instability in nuclear states

such as North Korea and Pakis-

tan.

The reports emerge as world

leaders prepare to gather in Glas-

gow next month for crucial U.N.

climate talks. And the assess-

ments suggest that the Biden ad-

ministration is preparing to take

on the national security conse-

quences of global warming after

four years of inaction under Presi-

dent Donald Trump. During his

presidency, climate-related secu-

rity assessments were routinely

suppressed because they did not

match his administration’s skepti-

cal stance toward climate science.

Shortly after President Biden

came into office, he ordered that

climate change play a far more

prominent role in U.S. security

strategy.

The Pentagon report in partic-

ANJUM NAVEED/AP

Pakistani soldiers patrol the border with Afghanistan in August. Pakistan is one of 11 countries seen as particularly susceptible to strife broughton by climate change, according to the recent National Intelligence Estimate.

Climate

of conflict

DOD, intelligence reports warn of security threats in countries vulnerable to global warming

BY SHANE HARRIS

AND MICHAEL BIRNBAUM

The Washington Post

SEE THREAT ON PAGE 5

Austin

SEE TAIWAN ON PAGE 5

BUSINESS/WEATHER

WASHINGTON — The Federal

Reserve is imposing a broad new

set of restrictions on the invest-

ments its officials can own, a re-

sponse to questionable recent

trades that forced two top Fed offi-

cials to resign.

The Fed announced Thursday

that its policymakers and senior

staff would be barred from invest-

ing in individual stocks and bonds.

They would also have to provide

45 days’ advance notice of any

trade and receive prior approval

from ethics officials. And they

would have to hold the invest-

ments for at least a year.

These senior officials will also

have to sell any individual stocks

or bonds they now own, as well as

any category of securities, such as

municipal bonds, that the Fed is

buying as part of its economic sup-

port programs.

The new rules would also re-

quire Fed officials to publicly dis-

close all financial transactions

within 30 days, and would bar

trading during periods of “height-

ened financial market stress.” The

central bank said it hasn’t yet de-

cided how to define such periods.

In a statement, the Fed said it

would incorporate the restrictions

into its written policies “in the

coming months.”

“These tough new rules raise

the bar high in order to assure the

public we serve that all of our se-

nior officials maintain a single-

minded focus on the public mis-

sion of the Federal Reserve,”

Chair Jerome Powell said in a

statement.

Fed imposes limits on investments of officialsAssociated Press

Bahrain88/85

Baghdad84/59

Doha91/75

Kuwait City87/69

Riyadh89/65

Kandahar

Kabul

Djibouti91/79

SATURDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Mildenhall/Lakenheath

52/44

Ramstein49/32

Stuttgart49/42

Lajes,Azores72/69

Rota72/60

Morón77/52 Sigonella

72/57

Naples72/63

Aviano/Vicenza62/47

Pápa53/44

Souda Bay71/65

Brussels53/43

Zagan47/40

DrawskoPomorskie

48/40

SATURDAY IN EUROPE

Misawa59/46

Guam85/82

Tokyo59/41

Okinawa78/75

Sasebo66/56

Iwakuni64/58

Seoul59/38

Osan60/40

Busan63/54

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

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

SUNDAY IN THE PACIFIC

WEATHER OUTLOOK

TODAYIN STRIPES

American Roundup ...... 11Comics/Crossword .......17Movies ......................... 12Opinion ........................ 16Sports .................... 18-24Television .................... 14Video Games ............... 13

Military rates

Euro costs (Oct. 25) $1.14Dollar buys (Oct. 25) 0.8375 British pound (Oct. 25) $1.34Japanese yen (Oct. 25) 111.00South Korean won (Oct. 25) 1149.00

Commercial rates

Bahrain(Dinar) 0.3770Britain (Pound) 1.3786 Canada (Dollar) 1.2330 China(Yuan) 6.3842 Denmark (Krone) 6.3896 Egypt (Pound) 15.7006 Euro 0.8588Hong Kong (Dollar) 7.7736 Hungary (Forint) 312.50Israel (Shekel) 3.2063 Japan (Yen) 113.77 Kuwait(Dinar) 0.3015

Norway (Krone) 8.3473

Philippines (Peso) 50.81 Poland (Zloty) 3.95 Saudi Arabia (Riyal) 3.7509 Singapore (Dollar) 1.3476

South Korea (Won) 1176.47 Switzerland (Franc) 0.9155Thailand (Baht) 33.26 Turkey (NewLira) 9.6017

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

INTEREST RATES

Prime rate 3.25Interest Rates Discount rate 0.75Federal funds market rate 0.093-month bill 0.0630-year bond 2.13

EXCHANGE RATES

PAGE 2 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Saturday, October 23, 2021

Saturday, October 23, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 3

WASHINGTON — The Navy has

agreed to review and potentially up-

grade other-than-honorable dis-

charges given to Navy and Marine

Corps veterans dating back to

March 2012, as part of a settlement

reached this month.

The agreement is pending ap-

proval by the U.S. District Court for

the District of Connecticut. It orders

the Navy Discharge Review Board

to reconsider cases in which the

board denied upgrades despite evi-

dence that veterans were struggling

with post-traumatic stress disorder,

traumatic brain injury or military

sexual trauma when they separated

from the military.

A hearing is scheduled for Dec.

16, during which the court will de-

cide whether to give final approval

to the settlement.

The court approved a similar set-

tlement agreement with the Army

during the spring. At the time, law-

yers with the Yale Law School Vet-

erans Legal Services Clinic, which

represented veterans in the case,

said they hoped the decision would

provide momentum for the Navy

case.

The Defense Department insti-

tuted a policy in 2017 to give “liberal

consideration” to veterans looking

to upgrade their other-than-honor-

able discharges, or “bad paper” dis-

charges, in situations in which a ser-

vice-related medical disorder could

have led to their

misconduct.

Plaintiffs in the

lawsuit argued

the Army Dis-

charge Review

Board ignored

the policy and de-

nied upgrades

when they were warranted.

The wrongful discharges go back

even further, according to the Gov-

ernment Accountability Office. The

GAO has reported the Pentagon

didn’t consistently apply previous

policies going back to 2011 that re-

quired discharge review boards to

take mental health issues into con-

sideration.

Bad paper discharges disqualify

veterans from receiving certain

health and education benefits, as

well as preferential hiring and tax

breaks.

The lawsuit was filed in 2018 by

Iraq War veteran Tyson Manker,

who was kicked out of the Marine

Corps after being caught with mari-

juana, which he said he used to self-

medicate. He was later denied a dis-

charge upgrade despite being diag-

nosed with post-traumatic stress

disorder.

The Veterans Legal Services

Clinic is seeking other veterans who

might be part of the class-action set-

tlement. Veterans affected by the

settlement can submit written com-

ments to the court or appear at the

hearing Dec. 16 to offer their opin-

ions on the agreement. The clinic is

asking those veterans to go to man-

kersettlement.com to learn if they

meet the criteria for the case.

In addition to reviewing cases go-

ing back to 2012, the settlement

would require the Navy to allow vet-

erans with bad paper discharges go-

ing back to 2001 to reapply for a dis-

charge upgrade.

As part of the agreement, veter-

ans also will be allowed to participa-

te in their review board hearings

through video conferencing. Veter-

ans are required now to appear in

person in Washington if they want

to argue their case.

Navy will reassess ‘bad paper’ dischargesBY NIKKI WENTLING

Stars and Stripes

Manker

Wentling.nikki@stripes.com Twitter: @nikkiwentling

WASHINGTON — The Penta-

gon inspector general’s office has

concluded there was “no improper

influence” in the decision to select

a former Republican operative as

the National Security Agency’s top

lawyer last fall.

The inspector general also

found that the NSA Director’s

placement of Michael Ellis on ad-

ministrative leave shortly after he

assumed the general counsel posi-

tion was appropriate.

NSA Director Paul Nakasone

placed Ellis on leave in January in

part because the agency was in-

vestigating two “security inci-

dents” involving allegations that

Ellis mishandled classified infor-

mation, according to the report is-

sued Thursday.

Ellis, a former White House aide

under President Donald Trump,

resigned in April before the inves-

tigation into the mishandling of

classified material was completed.

The NSA then closed its inquiry.

The incidents involved material

that included “some of the most

sensitive information that NSA

possesses,” according to the 35-

page report.

The inspector general said there

was no failure to comply with Pen-

tagon guidance in the selection

process. The NSA is part of the De-

fense Department and the depart-

ment’s general counsel is the se-

lecting official for the position.

The report also describes con-

cerns that Nakasone had about El-

lis’ naming, as well as then-Penta-

gon General Counsel Paul Ney’s

view that Ellis “most closely fit”

the job description.

In one exchange between the

two men, Ney stated he viewed

some of Nakasone’s stated con-

cerns as “inappropriately inject-

ing partisan politics” into the proc-

ess.

“NSA welcomes the oversight

and accountability from the DoD

IG on this matter and others,” the

NSA said in a statement. “We coop-

erated fully throughout the proc-

ess of this investigation and wel-

come the review offered.”

In a statement, Ellis said: “I am

pleased that the DOD inspector

general validated my selection as

NSA General Counsel. National se-

curity professionals should be al-

lowed to serve based on qualifica-

tion without regard to personal

politics or party.”

Concerns over the potential poli-

ticization of Ellis’s selection re-

flected the fraught atmosphere

that pervaded even the usually

apolitical world of national securi-

ty.

Ellis had been a lawyer on the

House Intelligence Committee be-

fore joining the White House, first

as a lawyer on the National Securi-

ty Council and then becoming se-

nior director for intelligence.

The report also said that none of

the individuals involved in the hir-

ing process, including Ney, indi-

cated they were under any pres-

sure by the White House to select

Ellis. The Post reported last fall

that Ellis’ appointment was made

under pressure from the White

House, according to a person fa-

miliar with the matter.

“I was not in any way or manner

pressured or unduly influenced by

any person at or associated with

the White House to appoint Mi-

chael Ellis to the NSA GC posi-

tion,” Ney wrote in an email to

then-acting defense secretary Da-

vid Norquist on Jan. 21

Pentagon IG finds ‘noimproper influence’ inhiring of NSA lawyer

BY ELLEN NAKASHIMA

The Washington Post

MILITARY

WASHINGTON — A man who

said he was a Marine Corps veter-

an is being heralded in Yuma,

Ariz., for his quick reaction in dis-

arming a would-be robber

Wednesday at a gas station conve-

nience store, according to the Yu-

ma County Sheriff’s Office.

James Kilcer’s heroics were

captured in eight seconds of sur-

veillance footage that show him

standing with his back to the

store’s front door as two masked

men — one with a handgun and

another with a bag — enter the

store. The armed robber immedi-

ately pointed the gun directly at

Kilcer, who turned around to see

the two men.

The armed robber then turned

the gun toward the cashier. That’s

when Kilcer quickly acted, grab-

bing the handgun. He then wres-

tled the robber to the ground and

out of the camera’s view.

“The customer was able to de-

tain the suspect he disarmed until

law enforcement arrived,” the

sheriff’s office said in a statement

late Wednesday. “No injuries re-

ported from any of the victims.”

The unarmed robber and a

third person not seen in the video

escaped before police arrived.

When deputies later asked Kil-

cer how he was able to take con-

trol of the situation, he said: “The

Marine Corps taught me not to

[mess] around,” according to po-

lice.

The incident happened at about

4:30 a.m. at a Chevron gas station,

police said. An investigation is un-

derway.

The armed robber is a minor

who was booked into the Yuma

County Juvenile Justice Center

on charges of armed robbery and

aggravated assault, according to

police.

The sheriff’s office did not re-

lease Kilcer’s age or place of resi-

dence. The Marine Corps was un-

able to verify Kilcer’s service re-

cord without his date of birth.

Screenshot from Yuma County Sherrif's Office

James Kilcer is shown Wednesday in surveillance footage disarming a would­be robber at a conveniencestore in Yuma, Ariz.

Customer disarms robber duringstickup at Ariz. convenience store

BY CAITLIN DOORNBOS

Stars and Stripes

Doornbos.caitlin@stripes.com Twitter: @CaitlinDoornbos

PAGE 4 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Saturday, October 23, 2021

MILITARY

Before 2020, Candice Velazquez

had the option to telework one day

a week with her job at Joint Base

San Antonio, Texas. She declined.

“I was dead-set against it. I was

one of the ones holding out, I didn’t

want to do it,” said the retired Air

Force reservist who has spent the

past 22 years in civil service. She’d

spent her entire career going into

an office and saw no reason not to

continue doing so.

After the coronavirus pandemic

forced her to work from home, Ve-

lazquez, a government information

specialist with Air Force Installa-

tion and Mission Support Center,

or AFIMSC, said she was happy to

learn the agency is retooling to be-

come up to 70% telework. She now

only goes into the office when the

work of the day requires it — about

twice a week.

She said working from her home

limited distractions and interrup-

tions, allowing her to complete

work at a faster pace.

Throughout AFIMSC, supervi-

sors were noticing that many em-

ployees were like Velazquez, meet-

ing the same standard of work, but

from home — and they were happy

to be there.

“What we found over time …

was that we were very successful if

not as successful working from

home, as we were when everyone

came into the office every single

day,” said Col. Kevin Mantovani,

AFIMSC vice commander. With-

out the pandemic forcing the agen-

cy to switch to telework, he said the

plan to keep the majority of person-

nel working from home might nev-

er have been taken seriously.

“For the government, it was

probably a bridge too far to say,

‘Hey, we wear uniforms, and we’re

going to work from home,’” he said.

Following guidance from the

Department of the Air Force re-

leased in May to incorporate more

telework options into the post-pan-

demic workspace, AFIMSC is hop-

ing to create and test a model that

can be incorporated at other ser-

vice agencies and bases where the

local mission allows for it.

Positive impacts of telework

were seen across the Defense De-

partment, according to a March re-

port from the Defense Department

inspector general. Of more than

54,600 survey respondents, 88%

said their productivity level re-

mained the same or increased dur-

ing telework, regardless of any ini-

tial challenges faced when adjust-

ing to the sudden shift in oper-

ations. About two-thirds of

respondents said they’d like to tele-

work regularly in the future, with

many citing benefits such as com-

muting less often, better work-life

balance and more flexibility in

their work schedule.

However, the Defense Depart-

ment has not issued any specific

guidance to the services regarding

telework.

‘More efficient’

AFIMSC oversees and provides

support operations to 78 Air and

Space Force bases around the

globe and employs about 3,200

people. Of those, about 2,000 work

from offices at Port San Antonio,

formerly Kelly Air Force Base, and

about two-thirds are civilians

tasked with base services such as

civil engineering, financial man-

agement, logistical readiness and

security forces.

Velazquez wasn’t alone in her

reservations about telework — or

her change of heart. As employers

gauge how, and if, to bring person-

nel back to an office environment

as the coronavirus pandemic loos-

ens its grip on American society,

they must also understand many

employees are happy at home.

Early in the pandemic, Velaz-

quez said she purchased a desk

and a new chair and carved out a

work area in her home. Without

her 30- to 40-minute commute, she

starts the workday earlier, usually

at about 6:30 a.m., takes an actual

hourlong lunchbreak, then ends

the day by 4 p.m.

During work breaks, she said

she cooks her own meals instead of

eating fast food lunches at a desk

and uses quick household tasks,

such as ironing, to clear her head

when she’s stuck on a work prob-

lem or struggles to organize her

thoughts to write a memo. It clears

her head and allows her to refocus,

she said.

Velazquez’s job is centered on

filling information requests, most-

ly through the Freedom of Infor-

mation Act, and it requires she go

into the office to sort through clas-

sified paperwork. As telework con-

tinued, she found the days she went

into the office were more produc-

tive than in the past. She entered

the building with set goals and

achieved them quicker.

“It gave me time without the

stressors of the office to review ev-

erything and it helped me to be

more efficient,” Velazquez said.

While there are some cost sav-

ings included in reducing the phys-

ical space required to provide ev-

eryone a desk, it’s also about reten-

tion of personnel, said Lt. Gen.

Brian Kelly, Air Force deputy

chief of staff for manpower, per-

sonnel and services, who in May

released a statement on the servic-

e’s expanded telework policy.

“Telework and remote work

provides additional tools and op-

tions to help us recruit and retain

the right talent to compete in the

high-end future fight,” he said.

“We recognize the value these flex-

ible work arrangements can have,

in some circumstances, to enhance

work-life balance and maximize

organizational productivity.”

About 54% of employed adults

said they would like to continue te-

lework once the pandemic ends,

according to a Pew Research Cen-

ter poll released in December.

However, the poll also found there

are some people who said they

faced difficulties, such as finding

adequate workspace, having the

technology necessary and feeling

motivated. This is, in part, why

Mantovani said AFIMSC will

move forward with a hybrid ap-

proach.

He said he is also aware that

some jobs just don’t allow for work-

ers to be at home even part of the

time. There’s no “one-size-fits-all,”

he said. He’s asked leaders in vari-

ous departments and sections of

AFIMSC to coordinate with per-

sonnel to create a plan and adjust

and adapt as needed.

Prior to the pandemic, AFIMSC

was looking at plans to expand the

number of desks in its 10,500-

square-foot headquarters to ac-

commodate more workers. Now,

Mantovani said they have

scrapped those plans and started a

new plan to make the office more

open and sharable.

First thing to go, about 100 cubi-

cles, with more to follow.

They’ve removed assigned

spaces for the majority of employ-

ees and created “hotel” desks that

people can reserve for the days

that they plan to come into the of-

fice. Otherwise, they can work

freely from an open area with a va-

riety of chairs, tables and small

booths that offer varying degrees

of privacy.

Personnel can also book confer-

ence rooms and certain collabora-

tive spaces to bring together teams

and host in-person meetings as the

pandemic conditions allow for

more group settings.

Renovations are ongoing as

AFIMSC waits for furniture deliv-

eries and a few technology up-

dates, but personnel are already

taking advantage of the new con-

cept, Mantovani said.

‘Move fast and experiment’

Named the “Office of the Fu-

ture,” Mantovani said they will

continue to adapt the space as em-

ployees provide feedback on what

they like and what they don’t.

“You know the Department De-

fense keeps saying, innovate, inno-

vate, innovate. Move fast and ex-

periment. This is our culture now.

It didn’t used to be this way, so I

think the culture plus the pandem-

ic encourages us not to have it 100%

right on day one,” Mantovani said.

Because AFIMSC oversees

bases, he said he knows they aren’t

alone in navigating through this

new telework environment. As a

headquarters, they want to provide

guidance to other bases and offices

as quickly as possible, he said.

Mantovani has fielded calls from

other Air Force offices to give ad-

vice, share ideas and collaborate

on telework.

“We’re trying not to let everybo-

dy reinvent the wheel. Let’s work

together and figure it all out togeth-

er. What works? What doesn’t?” he

said.

The challenge is making certain

everyone at AFIMSC feels like a

valued member of a team, he said

“The culture and the camarade-

rie has been absolutely hurt by te-

lework,” Mantovani said. “In our

minds, it has to be hybrid. In order

for us to create that culture that we

enjoy in the military, that you’re

part of a higher purpose, you have

a mission.”

Velazquez, who leads the train-

ing team in her section, said

they’ve been able to maintain a

sense of camaraderie through vid-

eo conference meetings and off-

site meetups that could move into

the open-office environment once

it’s complete.

“You appreciate the time, the

off-sites, when we all get together

to talk,” she said. “As far as the

team concept, we still have it.”

Air Force agency converts to mostly telework

PHOTOS BY AIR FORCE

Col. Kevin Mantovani, vice commander of Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center, and Lt. Col.Craig Svanberg, special projects officer for AFIMSC directorate of staff, discuss the organization’s changeto a majority telework environment during a livestreamed town hall with personnel in September.

BY ROSE L. THAYER

Stars and Stripes

Candice Velazquez, agovernment informationspecialist for Air ForceInstallation and Mission SupportCenter at Joint Base San Antonio,Texas, enters the organization’smain building recently.

Thayer.rose@stripes.comTwitter: @Rose_Lori

“It gave me timewithout thestressors of theoffice to revieweverything.”

Candice Velazquez

government information specialist

Saturday, October 23, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 5

ular marks a shift in how the U.S.

military establishment is incorpo-

rating climate issues into its secu-

rity strategy, analysts said. Until

now, when the Defense Depart-

ment has considered climate

change, it has tended to focus on

how floods and extreme heat can

affect military readiness rather

than the broader geopolitical con-

sequences of a warming world.

Now it is worried that climate

change could lead to state failure.

“Climate change is altering the

strategic landscape and shaping

the security environment, posing

complex threats to the United

States and nations around the

world,” Defense Secretary Lloyd

Austin said in a statement that ac-

companied the Pentagon report.

“To deter war and protect our

country, the [Defense] Depart-

ment must understand the ways

climate change affects missions,

plans, and capabilities.”

The shift in Washington comes

as militaries and security agen-

cies around the world are account-

ing for global warming in their

planning. At NATO, Secretary-

General Jens Stoltenberg earlier

this year made climate change a

major focus of the defense alliance

as it overhauls its strategic plans.

The British military this spring

unveiled a sustainability report

that counsels a top-to-bottom

overhaul of military operations to

prepare for far more climate-re-

lated deployments in the coming

decades.

The release of the U.S. assess-

ments “sends a warning message

ahead of next month’s U.N. sum-

mit of the grave risks that we’re

facing and why it’s so critical.

These reports are overdue,” said

Erin Sikorsky, director of the Cen-

ter for Climate and Security and a

former senior U.S. intelligence of-

ficial focused on climate issues.

The new National Intelligence

Estimate (NIE) on climate, a first-

of-its kind document by the Office

of the Director of National Intelli-

gence, builds on other grim warn-

ings from national security offi-

cials about how a changing cli-

mate could upend societies and

topple governments.

“We assess that climate change

will increasingly exacerbate risks

to U.S. national security interests

as the physical impacts increase

and geopolitical tensions mount

about how to respond to the chal-

lenge,” the document states. It al-

so concludes that while momen-

tum to reduce global emissions of

greenhouse gases is growing,

“current policies and pledges are

insufficient” to meet the goals that

countries laid out in the landmark

Paris climate accord.

A former senior intelligence of-

ficial lauded the document’s con-

tribution to understanding the se-

curity implications of climate

change.

“This NIE represents a valuable

iteration on findings from past in-

telligence assessments,” said Rod

Schoonover, who was director of

environment and natural re-

sources at the National Intelli-

gence Council in the Obama and

Trump administrations.

“However, the report lacks a

singular top-line statement that

adequately conveys the serious-

ness and immediacy of the multi-

factorial risks associated with on-

going climate-linked stresses, and

humanity’s tendency to increase

its own vulnerability to these

stresses,” Schoonover said in an

email.

The NIE offers a dim assess-

ment of the prospects for unified

international action.

“Countries are arguing about

who should act sooner and com-

peting to control the growing

clean energy transition,” it states,

concluding that “most countries

will face difficult economic choic-

es and probably will count on tech-

nological breakthroughs to rapid-

ly reduce their net emissions lat-

er.”

As developing and vulnerable

nations cope with the effects, they

may turn to Washington for help,

“creating additional demands on

U.S. diplomatic, economic, hu-

manitarian, and military re-

sources,” the report says.

The Pentagon warns that dis-

ruption to fisheries could spark

conflict over food security. Unpre-

dictable rainfall might increase

tensions over access to rivers that

cross national boundaries, such as

the Nile and the Mekong. Even ef-

forts to combat climate change

could lead to unintended conse-

quences, such as conflicts over ac-

cess to the rare minerals that are

needed to build circuitry and wind

turbines.

The report says the Defense De-

partment should ready itself to

provide humanitarian assistance

in climate crises, incorporate cli-

mate-related issues into its war-

games — and also work on “coun-

tering malign actors who seek to

exploit climate change to gain in-

fluence.” Some of the most specif-

ic analyses remained classified.

The White House report on mi-

gration, which examines the way

climate change is driving human

movement around the world,

notes that drought and other ex-

treme weather can spark conflicts

and force population displace-

ments — and that countries such

as China and Russia are poised to

take advantage.

“Absent a robust strategy from

the United States and Europe to

address climate-related migra-

tion, the People’s Republic of Chi-

na (PRC), Russia, and other states

could seek to gain influence by

providing direct support to im-

pacted countries grappling with

political unrest related to migra-

tion,” the White House report

says.

It advocates expanding asylum

and refugee programs to better

take into account climate-driven

migration. And it says that U.S.

policymakers need to be ready to

direct funding and resources to-

ward regions that are facing in-

fluxes of migrants driven to move

by extreme weather, droughts and

climate-related conflicts. It cites

one report that estimates that by

2050, up to 143 million people in

Latin America, sub-Saharan Afri-

ca and South Asia could move for

climate-driven reasons.

“We’re leaving climate-dis-

placed people with valid asylum

claims behind,” said Ama Francis,

an analyst at the International

Refugee Assistance Project.

To a significant degree, China

will influence how quickly and

how much global temperatures

rise. The NIE notes that it ac-

counts for about 30% of emissions

globally, the largest single source.

But “modest reduction targets”

in China’s long-term plans raise

doubts about whether it will meet

its reduction goals, the NIE finds.

“China has not publicly articu-

lated detailed plans for meeting its

2060 net-zero emissions target; to

do so, we assess that Beijing would

need to follow through on Presi-

dent Xi Jinping’s pledge at the

U.S. Climate Summit in April to

phase out coal consumption,” the

NIE said.

And that will be hard to do. Chi-

na, along with India — the world’s

fourth-largest emitter — are in-

corporating more renewable and

low-carbon sources of energy, the

NIE says, “but several factors will

limit their displacement of coal.”

The NIE concludes that geopol-

itical tensions are likely to rise in

the coming decades as countries

struggle to deal with the physical

effects of climate change — which

scientists say already is producing

more devastating floods, fires and

storms — as well as the political

ones. Mitigating climate-related

disasters may call for solutions

that some countries cannot afford

and political will that some lead-

ers cannot muster.

The physical effects are likely to

be most keenly felt in parts of the

world already being reshaped —

such as the Arctic — and in re-

gions and countries that are par-

ticularly vulnerable because they

experience extreme climate

events, such as hurricanes or

droughts, and because their gov-

ernments are ill-equipped to man-

age the fallout.

The NIE identifies 11 countries

in that category of acute risk: Af-

ghanistan, Colombia, Guatemala,

Haiti, Honduras, India, Iraq,

Myanmar, North Korea, Nicara-

gua and Pakistan.

An NIE is a unique document in

that it reflects the consensus view

of all the U.S. intelligence agen-

cies. Traditionally, producing the

documents can take months, and

they present the most comprehen-

sive analysis of significant nation-

al security concerns. The NIE re-

leased publicly is unclassified, but

a classified version will be provid-

ed to policymakers, officials said.

The report’s warnings build on

years of intelligence analysis that

also painted a bleak picture. Just

six months ago, in its quadrennial

“Global Trends” report, the Office

of the Director of National Intelli-

gence forecast that climate

change could spawn social up-

heaval and political instability.

In one scenario, the authors

imagined fisheries devastated by

rising ocean temperatures and

acidity, grain harvests depressed

by changes in precipitation and

rising food prices conspiring to

trigger “widespread hoarding”

that leads to a global famine — all

by the early 2030s.

A wave of protest over “govern-

ments’ inability to meet basic hu-

man needs” could bring down

leaders and governments, the re-

port warned.

In 2014, the National Intelli-

gence Strategy warned that cli-

mate change could spark new

wars over water and other vital re-

sources that are likely to become

scarce.

The CIA also recently establish-

ed a center to address what it de-

scribes as transnational security

threats, including climate change.

Threat: Problems may strain US resources to copeFROM PAGE 1

AHMAD HALABISAZ/AP

An Afghan man sits at the Kart­e­Sakhi cemetery in Kabul,Afghanistan, Tuesday. Afghanistan is one of 11 countries seen asparticularly susceptible to strife brought on by climate change,according to the recent National Intelligence Estimate.

ment of China but takes no clear

position on Taiwan’s sovereignty.

For NATO’s part, China has be-

come more of a focal point.

In 2019, the alliance declared

for the first time that China’s rise

brings with it security implica-

tions for Europe.

And in June, NATO issued a

declaration saying members are

“increasingly confronted by cyb-

er, hybrid, and other asymmetric

threats, including disinformation

campaigns, and by the malicious

use of ever-more sophisticated

emerging and disruptive technol-

ogies” at the hands of China and

Russia.

Among NATO members, Austin

said “there is an increasing inter-

est in checking that kind of behav-

ior.”

Still, there are mixed views

within the alliance about how to

deal with China’s increasing as-

sertiveness. Germany, an eco-

nomic powerhouse in Europe that

relies heavily on exports to China,

has been especially reluctant to

take a more critical stance against

Beijing.

But with China and Russia in

mind, allies on Friday agreed to

establish an innovation fund that

aims to funnel more than $1 billion

into new technologies intended to

help “futureproof” the alliance.

Secretary-General Jens Stol-

tenberg said the fund will ensure

allies get the latest technology and

capabilities that will be critical to

security. Allies also agreed to an

artificial intelligence strategy for

the first time during the Brussels

talks.

“New technologies are re-

shaping our world and our securi-

ty,” Stoltenberg said.

Taiwan: Allies agree to create more than $1B fund to ‘futureproof’ NATO FROM PAGE 1

MILITARY

PAGE 6 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Saturday, October 23, 2021

VIRUS OUTBREAK

WASHINGTON — Millions

more Americans can get a CO-

VID-19 booster and choose a dif-

ferent company’s vaccine for that

next shot, federal health officials

said Thursday.

Certain people who received

Pfizer vaccinations months ago

already are eligible for a booster

and now the Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention says spe-

cific Moderna and Johnson &

Johnson recipients qualify, too.

And in a bigger change, the agen-

cy is allowing the flexibility of

“mixing and matching” that extra

dose regardless of which type

people received first.

The Food and Drug Adminis-

tration had already authorized

such an expansion of the nation’s

booster campaign on Wednesday,

and it was also endorsed Thurs-

day by a CDC advisory panel.

CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Wa-

lensky had the final word on who

gets the extra doses.

“These past 20 months have

taught us many things, but mostly

to have humility,” she told the

panel. “We are constantly learn-

ing about this virus, growing the

evidence base and accumulating

more data.”

There still are restrictions on

who qualifies and when for a

booster. Starting six months past

their last Pfizer or Moderna vac-

cination, people are urged to get a

booster if they’re 65 or older,

nursing home residents, or at

least 50 and at increased risk of

severe disease because of health

problems. Boosters also were al-

lowed, but not urged, for adults of

any age at increased risk of in-

fection because of health prob-

lems or their jobs or living condi-

tions. That includes health care

workers, teachers and people in

jails or homeless shelters.

Moderna’s booster will come at

half the dose of the original two

shots.

As for recipients of the single-

shot J&J vaccine, a COVID-19

booster is recommended for ev-

eryone at least two months after

their vaccination. That’s because

the J&J vaccine hasn’t proved as

protective as the two-dose Mod-

erna or Pfizer options.

The CDC panel didn’t explicit-

ly recommend anyone get a dif-

ferent brand than they started

with but left open the option —

saying only that a booster of some

sort was recommended. And

some of the advisers said they

would prefer that J&J recipients

receive a competitor’s booster,

citing preliminary data from an

ongoing government study that

suggested a bigger boost in virus-

fighting antibodies from that

combination.

About two-thirds of Americans

eligible for COVID-19 shots are

fully vaccinated, and the govern-

ment says getting first shots to

the unvaccinated remain the pri-

ority.

While health authorities hope

boosters will shore up waning im-

munity against milder coronavi-

rus infections, all the vaccines

have offered strong protection

against hospitalizations and

death, even as the extra-conta-

gious delta variant burned

through the country.

CDC approvesrollout of moreboosters, mixing

Associated Press

BEIJING — China’s capital Beij-

ing has begun offering booster

shots against COVID-19, four

months before the city and sur-

rounding regions are to host the

Winter Olympics.

Anyone 18 or older who have re-

ceived two-dose Chinese vaccines

and belong to at-risk groups, in-

cluding those participating, orga-

nizing or working on games facili-

ties, would be eligible for the addi-

tional shot, state media reported

Friday.

The booster has been rolling out

in cities across the vast nation since

late September, but Beijing au-

thorities have been extra cautious

in who receives the extra jab.

The games are set to begin on

Feb. 4 with only residents of China

allowed in the stands. Indoor

events with sliding, skiing and

jumping will be held in the suburb

of Yanqing and the neighboring

city of Zhangjiakou.

China has been largely success-

ful in preventing local transmis-

sion through strict requirements

on mask wearing, quarantining

and contact tracing. Cases contin-

ue to pop up however, with 28 new

ones reported Friday, including

one in the Beijing suburb of Feng-

tai.

The pandemic is believed to

have originated in the central Chi-

nese city of Wuhan in late 2019,

leading to a total lockdown that af-

fected more than 50 million people.

China has been accused of cov-

ering up the initial outbreak and

stymying investigations into the

coronavirus’ origins, although it

said earlier this week that it would

cooperate with a renewed investi-

gation by the World Health Orga-

nization while “firmly opposing

any forms of political manipula-

tion.”

WHO on Wednesday released a

proposed list of 25 experts to advise

it on next steps in the search for the

virus’ origins after its earlier ef-

forts were attacked for going easy

on China.

Beijing offering COVID-19 boosters, 4 months before Olympics

ANDY WONG/AP

Residents line up to receive booster shots against COVID­19 at avaccination site near a residential area in Beijing, on Friday.

Associated Press

NIZHNY NOVGOROD, Russia

— As she stood in the courtyard of

the morgue holding the body of

her grandmother who died of CO-

VID-19, Ramilya Shigalturina

had a message for anyone still re-

sisting vaccinations.

“I’m begging all Russians:

Please get vaccinated, because

it’s really dreadful and danger-

ous,” said the resident of Nizhny

Novgorod, the country’s fifth-

largest city.

Shigalturina said her 83-year-

old grandmother “died right

away after catching it. She wasn’t

vaccinated.”

When Russia last year became

the first country to launch a coro-

navirus vaccine, called Sputnik V,

it was hailed as a matter of nation-

al pride and a sign of its scientific

know-how. But since the free im-

munization program began in De-

cember 2020, only about a third of

the country’s 146 million people

have gotten fully vaccinated.

The low vaccine acceptance is

of increasing concern as Russia

suffers a sharp rise in cases, set-

ting records for infections and

deaths nearly every day this

month. On Thursday, the national

coronavirus task force reported

1,036 deaths and more than

36,000 new infections over the

past 24 hours.

“I can’t understand what’s go-

ing on,” President Vladimir Putin

said, a rare admission of bewil-

derment from the steely leader.

“We have a reliable and efficient

vaccine. The vaccine really re-

duces the risks of illness, grave

complications and death.”

At Nizhny Novgorod’s Infec-

tious Hospital No. 23, where the

seriously ill patients lie in wards

with little space between their

beds, Dr. Natalia Soloshenko is

battered by the onslaught.

“I can tell you that out of every

50 admitted, only one or two of

them are vaccinated,” the chief

doctor told The Associated Press.

“The whole ICU is full of highly

critical patients; all of those pa-

tients are unvaccinated.”

“To be honest, we’re not even

outraged anymore; we just feel

sorry for these people,” she said.

Nina Pugacheva is still in the

hospital, but is one of the lucky

ones — she is recovering.

“Tell everyone to get vaccinat-

ed,” she said.

Soloshenko said widespread

misinformation appears to be

driving the vaccine hesitancy.

Many Russians are suspicious

of vaccines as a whole because of

a distrust of authorities dating to

the Soviet era. With Sputnik V,

there was widespread concern

that it was approved for use be-

fore the completion of full clinical

trials.

ROMAN YAROVITCYN/AP

A medical worker wearing a protective suit treats a patient at an ICU in Infectious Hospital No. 23 in NizhnyNovgorod, Russia, on Wednesday.

Virus cases surge in Russia asmany urge public to get vaccine

Associated Press

Saturday, October 23, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 7

NATION

WASHINGTON — The White

House and Democrats are hurri-

edly reworking key aspects of

President Joe Biden’s $2 trillion

domestic policy plan, trimming

the social services and climate

change programs and rethinking

new taxes on corporations and the

wealthy to pay for a scaled-back

package.

The changes come as Biden

more forcefully appeals to the

American public, including in a

televised town hall Thursday, for

what he says are the middle-class

values at the heart of his proposal.

Biden mentioned during the

evening event the challenge he

faces in wrangling the sharply di-

vergent factions in the Democrat-

ic party to agree to the final con-

tours of the bill. With an evenly di-

vided Senate, he can’t afford to

lose a single vote, and he is naviga-

ting the competing demands of

progressives, who want major in-

vestments in social services, and

centrists, who want to see the price

tag on the package come down.

“When you’re president of the

United States, you have 50 Demo-

crats — every one is a president.

Every single one. So you gotta

work things out,” he said during a

CNN town hall.

Still, he expressed optimism

about the process, saying “I think

so” when asked if Democrats were

close to a deal.

“It’s all about compromise.

Compromise has become a dirty

word, but bipartisanship and com-

promise still has to be possible,”

he said.

Biden later said the discussions

are “down to four or five issues.”

On one issue — the taxes to pay

for the package — the White

House idea seemed to be making

headway with a new strategy of

abandoning plans for reversing

Trump-era tax cuts in favor of an

approach that would involve tax-

ing the investment incomes of bil-

lionaires to help finance the deal.

Biden has faced resistance from

key holdouts, in particular Sen.

Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., who has

not been on board with her party’s

plan to undo President Donald

Trump’s tax breaks for big corpo-

rations or individuals earning

more than $400,000 a year.

The president

was unusually

forthcoming

Thursday night

about the stick-

ing points in the

negotiations

with Sinema and

another key

Democrat, con-

servative Sen. Joe Manchin of

West Virginia.

While the president said Sinema

“will not raise a single penny in

taxes” on the wealthy or corpora-

tions, a White House official later

clarified that the president was re-

ferring to raising the top tax rates,

not the range of tax proposals

“which Senator Sinema supports.”

Biden said Manchin doesn’t

want to “rush” the transition to

clean energy so quickly it will re-

sult in major job losses in his coal-

producing state.

Even as he seemed encouraged

by progress, Biden acknowledged

major reductions to his original vi-

sion. He signaled the final plan

would no longer provide free com-

munity college, but said he hoped

to increase Pell Grants to compen-

sate for the loss of the policy.

“It’s not going to get us the

whole thing, but it is a start,” he

said.

White House andDems reworking$2T Biden plan

Associated Press

Sinema

WASHINGTON — The House

has voted to hold Steve Bannon, a

longtime ally and aide to former

President Donald Trump, in con-

tempt of Congress for defying a

subpoena from the committee in-

vestigating the violent Jan. 6

Capitol insurrection.

In a rare show of bipartisan-

ship on the House floor, the com-

mittee’s Democratic chairman,

Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thomp-

son, led the floor debate along

with Republican Rep. Liz Che-

ney of Wyoming, one of two Re-

publicans on the panel. Still, the

vote Thursday was 229-202 with

all but nine GOP lawmakers who

voted saying “no.”

The House vote sends the mat-

ter to the U.S. attorney’s office in

Washington, where it will now be

up to prosecutors in that office to

decide whether to present the

case to a grand jury for possible

criminal charges. It’s still uncer-

tain whether they will pursue the

case — Attorney General Mer-

rick Garland would only say at a

House hearing on Thursday that

they plan to “make a decision

consistent with the principles of

prosecution.”

The partisan split over Ban-

non’s subpoena — and over the

committee’s investigation in

general — is emblematic of the

raw tensions that still grip Con-

gress nine months after the Capi-

tol attack.

Democrats have vowed to

comprehensively probe the as-

sault in which hundreds of

Trump’s supporters battered

their way past police, injured

dozens of officers and interrupt-

ed the electoral count certifying

President Joe Biden’s November

victory. Lawmakers on the panel

say they will move swiftly and

forcefully to punish anyone who

won’t cooperate with the probe.

“We will not allow anyone to

derail our work, because our

work is too important,” Thomp-

son said ahead of the vote.

Republicans call it a “witch

hunt,” say it is a waste of time

and argue that Congress should

be focusing on more important

matters.

Indiana Rep. Jim Banks, lead-

ing the GOP opposition on the

floor, called the probe an “illicit

criminal investigation into

American citizens” and said

Bannon is a “Democrat party

boogeyman.”

Lawmakers on the panel said

Bannon was alone in completely

defying its subpoena, while more

than a dozen other subpoenaed

witnesses were at least negotiat-

ing with them.

House votes to hold Trump ally Bannon in contempt of CongressAssociated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Envi-

ronmental groups were cautiously

optimistic about California Gov.

Gavin Newsom’s proposal to ban

new oil and gas wells within 3,200

feet of schools and homes, but the

oil industry and labor allies warned

the plan would raise California en-

ergy prices and potentially bring

political consequences for the gov-

ernor.

The ambitious proposal, an-

nounced Thursday, would create

the nation’s largest buffer zone be-

tween wells and community sites,

but it has a long way to go before it

becomes official policy in the na-

tion’s seventh-largest oil produc-

ing state. It would not shut down

existing wells within the 3,200-foot

zone but subject them to new pollu-

tion controls.

Newsom’s administration point-

ed to studies that show living near a

drilling site can elevate the risks of

birth defects, respiratory problems

and other health issues. More than

2 million Californians are estimat-

ed to live within that distance of

drilling, mostly in Los Angeles and

Kern counties.

“This is about public health, pub-

lic safety, clean air, clean water —

this is about our kids and our

grandkids and our future,” News-

om said in Wilmington, a Los An-

geles neighborhood with the city’s

highest concentration of wells. “A

greener, cleaner, brighter, more

resilient future is in our grasp, and

this is a commitment to advance

that cause.”

It’s the latest in a series of bold

proposals the Democratic gover-

nor, who just survived an attempt-

ed recall, has made to wind down

oil and gas production in Califor-

nia, which holds significant sway

over national policy. He has direct-

ed state agencies to create plans to

halt production by 2045 and end

the sale of new gas-powered cars

by 2035.

But some environmental groups,

particularly those that represent

low-income people and communi-

ties of color most affected by pollu-

tion, want him to act more swiftly.

They were encouraged by the pro-

posal but want to see Newsom take

a more aggressive stand against

existing neighborhood drilling.

In a statement, Juan Flores, a

community organizer with the

Center on Race, Poverty & the En-

vironment, said the plan “misses

the chance to prohibit new permits

for existing wells, a key element for

our communities.”

On the other side, the Western

States Petroleum Association, an

oil and gas lobbying group, and the

State Building and Construction

Trades Council, a union, warned

the rule would make energy less

reliable in California, forcing the

state to buy more oil from other na-

tions and leading to a spike in pric-

es. In the past, efforts to create set-

backs have failed in the capital,

where the two groups are influen-

tial.

“I think the people of California

are going to get (Newsom’s) atten-

tion when prices go through the

roof,” said Robbie Hunter, presi-

dent of the union. He said the rule

was designed by “extreme envi-

ronmentalists.”

HUNTER LEE, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER/AP

California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks near oil fields by the Wilmington Boys & Girls Club on Thursday inWilmington, Calif. 

California plan to ban communityoil drilling far from being decided

Associated Press

PAGE 8 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Saturday, October 23, 2021

SANTA FE, N.M. — Actor Alec

Baldwin fired a prop gun on the set

of a Western and killed the cine-

matographer, officials said. The

director of the movie was wound-

ed, and authorities are investigat-

ing what happened.

Halyna Hutchins, cinematogra-

pher on “Rust,” and director Joel

Souza were shot Thursday in the

desert on the southern outskirts of

Santa Fe.

A spokesperson for Baldwin

said there was an accident involv-

ing the misfire of a prop gun with

blanks. Santa Fe County Sheriff’s

spokesman Juan Rios said detec-

tives were investigating what type

of projectile was discharged and

how. No immediate charges were

filed.

It was not clear if Baldwin was

performing at the time of the

shooting or how many rounds

were fired and little was known

about the weapon. On Friday,

Baldwin tweeted, expressing his

condolences to Hutchins’ family

and calling the shooting an acci-

dent.

“There are no words to convey

my shock and sadness regarding

the tragic accident that took the

life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife,

mother and deeply admired col-

league of ours. I’m fully cooperat-

ing with the police investigation,”

he wrote on Twitter. “My heart is

broken for her husband, their son,

and all who knew and loved Haly-

na.”

Images of the 63-year-old actor

—known for his roles in “30 Rock”

and “The Hunt for Red October”

as well as his impression of former

President Donald Trump on “Sat-

urday Night Live” — showed him

distraught outside the sheriff’s of-

fice on Thurs-

day.

Prop guns fire

blanks, gunpow-

der charges that

produce a flash

and a bang but

not a hard pro-

jectile. But when

the trigger is

pulled, the paper or plastic wad-

ding is ejected from the barrel

with enough force that it can be le-

thal at close range, as proved to be

the case in the death of an actor in

1984. In another on-set accident in

1993, the actor Brandon Lee was

killed after a bullet was left in a

prop gun.

Gun safety protocol on sets in

the United States has dramatically

improved since then, said Steven

Hall, a veteran director of photog-

raphy in Britain. But he said one of

the riskiest positions to be in is op-

erating the camera — noting that

person would be in the line of fire

in gripping scenes where someone

appears points a gun at the audi-

ence.

Hutchins, 42, was airlifted to a

hospital, where she was pro-

nounced dead. Souza, 48, who was

wounded in the collarbone area,

was taken by ambulance to a med-

ical center.

Sheriff’s deputies responded

about 2 p.m. to the movie set at the

Bonanza Creek Ranch after 911

calls described a person being

shot there, said Rios, the sheriff’s

spokesman.

“This investigation remains

open and active,” Rios said in a

statement. “No charges have been

filed in regard to this incident.

Witnesses continue to be inter-

viewed by detectives.”

Production was halted on

“Rust.” The movie is about a 13-

year-old boy who is left to fend for

himself and his younger brother

following the death of their par-

ents in 1880s’ Kansas, according to

the Internet Movie Database web-

site. The teen goes on the run with

his long-estranged grandfather

(played by Baldwin) after the boy

is sentenced to hang for the acci-

dental killing of a local rancher.

Baldwin fired prop gun, killed crew memberAssociated Press

Baldwin

NATION

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The

FBI on Thursday identified hu-

man remains found in a Florida

nature preserve as those of Brian

Laundrie, a person of interest in

the death of girlfriend Gabby Pet-

ito while the couple was on a

cross-country road trip.

The remains, a backpack and

notebook believed to belong to

Laundrie were discovered

Wednesday in a Florida wilder-

ness park, according to the FBI.

The area where they were found

had been under water during ear-

lier searches.

The FBI’s Denver office said in

a news release a comparison of

dental records confirmed that the

remains were Laundrie. A lawyer

for his parents, Steve Bertolino,

also confirmed in a statement

they were told the remains were

those of their son.

“We have no further comment

at this time and we ask that you

respect the Laundrie’s privacy at

this time,” the statement said.

The FBI statement did not list a

cause of death. It wasn’t clear how

long the remains may have been

submerged in water.

The discovery of the remains

concluded a massive search in-

volving federal, state and local

law enforcement that began

shortly after Laundrie disap-

peared Sept. 14, two weeks after

the 23-year-old returned alone to

his parents’ home in North Port,

Florida.

The investigation into Petito’s

slaying, however, is not yet con-

cluded. But only Laundrie has ev-

er been identified by law enforce-

ment officials as a person of inter-

est in the case.

Petito’s family reported her

missing Sept. 11, launching a

search that garnered worldwide

media attention and, in Laun-

drie’s case, focused largely on the

Carlton Reserve wilderness park

near the Laundrie home. It is a

densely wooded, swampy area

that’s home to alligators, coyotes,

bobcats, snakes and numerous

other creatures.

Her body was found Sept. 19 on

the edge of Wyoming’s Grand Te-

ton National Park, which the cou-

ple had visited. The coroner there

concluded she died of strangula-

tion.

The remains were found

Wednesday as searches concen-

trated on the nearby Myakka-

hatchee Creek Environmental

Park, where a Ford Mustang that

Laundrie drove to the wilderness

was found. That park is directly

adjacent to the Carlton Reserve,

both of which are about 35 miles

south of Sarasota, Fla.

CHRIS O'MEARA/AP

Supporters hold up photos of Gabby after a news conference Wednesday, in North Port, Fla.

FBI: Body ID’d as Brian LaundrieAssociated Press

WASHINGTON — The Su-

preme Court is not immediately

blocking the Texas law that bans

most abortions, but has agreed to

hear arguments in the case in

early November.

The justices said Friday they

will decide whether the federal

government has the right to sue

over the law. Answering that

question will help determine

whether the law should be

blocked while legal challenges

continue. The court is moving at

an unusually fast pace that sug-

gests it plans to make a decision

quickly. Arguments are set for

Nov. 1.

The court’s action leaves in

place for the time being a law that

clinics say has led to an 80% re-

duction in abortions in the na-

tion’s second-largest state.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote

that she would have blocked the

law now.

“The promise of future adjudi-

cation offers cold comfort, howev-

er, for Texas women seeking

abortion care, who are entitled to

relief now,” Sotomayor wrote.

The law has been in effect since

September, aside from a district

court-ordered pause that lasted

just 48 hours, and bans abortions

once cardiac activity is detected,

usually around six weeks and be-

fore some women know they are

pregnant.

That’s well before the Supreme

Court’s major abortion decisions

allow states to prohibit abortion,

although the court has agreed to

hear an appeal from Mississippi

asking it to overrule those deci-

sions, in Roe v. Wade and Planned

Parenthood v. Casey.

But the Texas law was written

to evade early federal court re-

view by putting enforcement of it

into the hands of private citizens,

rather than state officials.

The focus of the high court ar-

guments will not be on the abor-

tion ban, but whether the Justice

Department can sue and obtain a

court order that effectively pre-

vents the law from being en-

forced, the Supreme Court said in

its brief order.

If the law stays in effect, “no de-

cision of this Court is safe. States

need not comply with, or even

challenge, precedents with which

they disagree. They may simply

outlaw the exercise of whatever

rights they disfavor,” the Biden

administration wrote in a brief fil-

ed earlier in the day.

Other state-enforced bans on

abortion before the point at which

a fetus can survive outside the

womb, around 24 weeks, have

been blocked by courts because

they conflict with Supreme Court

precedents.

“Texas should not obtain a dif-

ferent result simply by pairing its

unconstitutional law with an un-

precedented enforcement

scheme designed to evade the tra-

ditional mechanisms for judicial

review,” the administration

wrote.

A day earlier, the state urged

the court to leave the law in place,

saying the federal government

lacked the authority to file its law-

suit challenging the Texas ban.

The Justice Department filed

suit over the law after the Su-

preme Court rejected an earlier

effort by abortion providers to put

the measure on hold temporarily.

High Court doesn’t blockTexas abortion law, setsearly November hearing

BY MARK SHERMAN

Associated Press

Saturday, October 23, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 9

NATION

BOSTON — For several years,

the Miami-Dade County Public

Schools had toyed with replacing

some of its 1,000 diesel buses with

cleaner electric vehicles. But

school leaders said the change

would be too costly.

Then 12-year-old student Holly

Thorpe showed up at a school

board meeting to tout the benefits

of going electric and returned to

encourage the district to apply for

a state grant.

Two years on, the school board

on Wednesday approved a district

plan to use state money to replace

up to 50 diesel buses with electric

models over the next several

years.

Thorpe is overjoyed the district

is making the switch. “It wasn’t

imaginary any more,” she said. “It

just wasn’t like an idea. It was

coming to life.”

The transition is part of a small

but growing movement led by par-

ents, students and lawmakers to

purchase electric school buses to

improve the health of students and

cut planet-warming carbon diox-

ide emissions.

Roughly 25 million children

ride school buses every year. And

though only about 1% of 480,000

U.S. school buses are electric,

there are signs the push to aban-

don diesel buses is gaining mo-

mentum:

— Late last year, the World Re-

sources Institute announced a

$37.5 million Bezos Earth Fund

grant to help electrify all school

buses in the country by 2030. The

nonprofit will

work over the

next five years

on the project

with school dis-

tricts, communi-

ties, environ-

mental justice

groups, utilities,

bus manufactur-

ers and policymakers.

— This year, a suburban Mary-

land district became the country’s

largest to commit to going com-

pletely electric. It plans to replace

1,442 diesel buses by 2035. The

first 326 electric ones will be

leased from Massachusetts-based

Highland Electric Transporta-

tion.

—California, the country’s elec-

tric school bus leader, has funded

the purchase of 1,167 and budget-

ed for another 1,000 over the next

three fiscal years.

“This is an opportunity to make

sure that we are doing all we can to

protect kids health,” said Califor-

nia Energy Commission member

Patty Monahan. “Some of these

kids in parts of Los Angeles are on

the bus for an hour, two hours a

day. So we want to make sure that

they are breathing clean air.”

At Twin Rivers Unified School

District in Northern California,

where diesel buses have been re-

placed by 40 electric buses and 34

that run on compressed natural

gas, officials say clouds of dirty air

have disappeared.

“One of the drivers said ‘I can’t

believe the change I’m seeing in

my lifetime,’” said Tim Shannon,

the district’s director of transpor-

tation services. “He said ‘I used to

have to hold a handkerchief over

my face to walk through the yard

because of the thick diesel soot.’”

The electric buses are 60%

cheaper to operate and will pay for

themselves over time, Shannon

said.

Some districts are planning to

sell excess energy from batteries

back to the grid, a move welcomed

by utilities who have launched

programs to buy electric school

buses. This summer, a school bus

in a Massachusetts district deliv-

ered power back to the grid.

Efforts to replace diesel school

buses are driven by the fact that

children are more susceptible to

health impacts of air pollution. Ex-

posure to diesel exhaust, accord-

ing to the EPA, can lead to asthma

and respiratory illnesses and

worsen heart and lung ailments,

especially in children and the el-

derly.

Astudy of school buses in Wash-

ington state found using cleaner

fuels or upgrading older diesel re-

duced children’s exposure to air-

borne particles by as much as 50%

and improved their health. Their

findings suggest a nationwide

switch to cleaner school buses

could result in around 14 million

fewer absences each year. The re-

searchers at the universities of

Washington and Michigan did not

examine electric buses, which

produce less local pollution than

those using fossil fuels.

School districtsadopt e-busesamid concerns

BY MICHAEL CASEY

Associated Press

MICHAEL CASEY/AP

An electric school bus, leased by Beverly Public Schools in Beverly, Mass., rests in a bus yard Thursday. 

Thorpe

NEW YORK — After struggling to hire

workers for its outlet store in Dallas, Bal-

sam Hill finally opened on Sept. 1. But the

very next day, the online purveyor of high-

end artificial holiday trees was forced to

close after four of its five workers quit.

The main gripe for three of them? Work-

ing on weekends. So they found jobs else-

where with better hours.

Balsam Hill reopened weeks later with

nine workers, hiking the hourly pay by $3 to

$18 per hour. But more importantly, it

changed its approach: Instead of only focus-

ing on the needs of the business, it’s now

closely working with each employee to tai-

lor their schedules based on when they

want to work.

“We’re working against people who have

the choice of wherever they want to work,”

said Kendra Gould, senior retail strategist

at Balsam Hill. “Now, it’s more about what

do you need as an employee and how can we

make you happy?”

Companies are confronting demands by

hourly workers on terms that often used to

be non-negotiable: scheduling. Taking a

page from their white-collar peers who are

restructuring their workdays to accommo-

date their lifestyles, hourly workers are

similarly seeking flexibility in how — and

when — they do their jobs. That means

pushing back on weekend, late night or holi-

day shifts.

Job openings are plentiful, so workers

can afford to be picky. There were 10.4 mil-

lion job openings at the end of August and

11.1 million openings the month before, the

highest on record since at least December

2000, when the government started record-

ing that figure.

At the same time, the Labor Department

said that the number of people quitting their

jobs jumped to 4.3 million in August from 4

million in July.

Among the new workers Balsam Hill

hired was Rickey Haynes, 62, a pastor for a

local Baptist church. He retired in July but

still preaches in the community. He said he

was looking for part-time work in retail, but

didn’t want to work Sundays because of his

preaching. Balsam Hill was willing to work

around his schedule.

“They were accommodating,” he said. “If

I could, I could work with them until I am

done.”

A recent study from ManpowerGroup re-

vealed that nearly 40% of job candidates

worldwide said schedule flexibility is one of

their top three factors in career decisions.

The shifting mindset is showing up in da-

ta from job site platforms.

SnagAJob.com, an online marketplace

for hourly workers, says the word “flexibil-

ity” now accounts for roughly 11% of the

more than 7 million job postings on its site

compared with 8% earlier in the year. But

overnight shifts at restaurants have also in-

creased significantly since January.

Instawork, a staffing marketplace that

connects local businesses with skilled hour-

ly workers, says the rate at which employ-

ers were able to fill weekend shifts dropped

significantly from January through August

compared with weekday shifts.

Workers fed up with nights, weekends seek flexible schedulesBY ANNE D’INNOCENZIO

Associated Press

LM OTERO/AP

Balsam Hill Outlet sales associate Rickey Haynes walks through the store duringon­the­job training with retail manager Kelly Bratt in Allen, Texas, on Sept. 20.

PAGE 10 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Saturday, October 23, 2021

WORLD

BEIJING — China on Friday

said there is “no room” for com-

promise or concessions over the

issue of Taiwan, following a com-

ment by U.S. President Joe Biden

that the U.S. is committed to de-

fending the island if it is attacked.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson

Wang Wenbin reasserted China’s

longstanding claim that the island

is its territory at a daily briefing

after Biden made his comment a

day before at a forum hosted by

CNN.

China has recently upped its

threat to bring Taiwan under its

control by force if necessary by

flying warplanes near the island

and rehearsing beach landings.

“When it comes to issues relat-

ed to China’s sovereignty and ter-

ritorial integrity and other core

interests, there is no room for

China to compromise or make

concessions, and no one should

underestimate the strong deter-

mination, firm will and strong

ability of the Chinese people to

defend national sovereignty and

territorial integrity,” Wang said.

“Taiwan is an inalienable part

of China’s territory. The Taiwan

issue is purely an internal affair

of China that allows no foreign in-

tervention,” Wang said.

Biden’s comments on Thursday

were viewed as stretching the

“strategic ambiguity” Washing-

ton has maintained over how it

would respond to an assault on

the self-governing island repub-

lic.

The U.S. should “be cautious

with its words and actions on the

Taiwan issue, and not send any

wrong signals to the separatist

forces of Taiwan independence,

so as not to seriously damage Chi-

na-U.S. relations and peace and

stability in the Taiwan Strait,”

Wang said.

In his comments, Biden said

the U.S. did not want a new Cold

War but expressed concern about

whether China was “going to en-

gage in activities that will put

them in a position where they

may make a serious mistake.”

“I just want to make China un-

derstand that we are not going to

step back, we are not going to

change any of our views.” Biden

said.

Asked whether the U.S. would

come to Taiwan’s defense if it

were attacked, he replied: “Yes,

we have a commitment to do

that.”

In Taipei, a spokesperson for

independence-minded President

Tsai Ing-wen said the U.S. has

shown its support for Taiwan

through concrete actions and the

island’s 23 million citizens would

not surrender to pressure or act

rashly.

“Taiwan will demonstrate our

firm determination to defend our-

selves and continue to work with

countries with similar values to

make a positive contribution to-

ward the Taiwan Strait and Indo-

Pacific region’s peace and stabil-

ity,” spokesperson Chang Tun-

han said.

China and Taiwan split during

a civil war in 1949. The U.S. cut

formal diplomatic relations with

Taipei in 1979 in order to recog-

nize Beijing. The U.S. does not

openly contest China’s claim to

Taiwan, but is committed by law

to ensure the island can defend it-

self and to treat all threats toward

it as matters of “grave concern.”

China: ‘No room’

for concessions

on Taiwan issueAssociated Press

WASHINGTON — A hefty set of

tusks is usually an advantage for

elephants, allowing them to dig for

water, strip bark for food and joust

with other elephants. But during

episodes of intense ivory poach-

ing, those big incisors become a

liability.

Now researchers have pinpoint-

ed how years of civil war and

poaching in Mozambique have led

to a greater proportion of ele-

phants that will never develop

tusks.

During the conflict from 1977 to

1992, fighters on both sides

slaughtered elephants for ivory to

finance war efforts. In the region

that’s now Gorongosa National

Park, around 90% of the elephants

were killed.

The survivors were likely to

share a key characteristic: Half

the females were naturally tusk-

less — they simply never devel-

oped tusks — while before the

war, less than a fifth lacked tusks.

Like eye color in humans, genes

are responsible for whether ele-

phants inherit tusks from their

parents.

Although tusklessness was once

rare in African savannah ele-

phants, it’s become more common

— like a rare eye color becoming

widespread.

After the war, those tuskless

surviving females passed on their

genes with expected, as well as

surprising, results. About half

their daughters were tuskless.

More perplexing, two-thirds of

their offspring were female.

The years of unrest “changed

the trajectory of evolution in that

population,” said evolutionary

biologist Shane Campbell-Staton,

based at Princeton University.

With colleagues, he set out to

understand how the pressure of

the ivory trade had tipped the

scale of natural selection. Their

findings were published Thurs-

day in the journal Science.

In Gorongosa, the team collect-

ed blood samples from seven

tusked and 11 tuskless female ele-

phants, then analyzed their DNA

for differences.

Because the tuskless elephants

were female, they focused on the

X chromosome. (Females have

two X chromosomes; males have

one X and one Y chromosome.)

They also suspected that the rel-

evant gene was dominant —

meaning that a female needs only

one altered gene to become tusk-

less — and that when passed to

male embryos, it may short-cir-

cuit their development.

“When mothers pass it on, we

think the sons likely die early in

development, a miscarriage,” said

Brian Arnold, a co-author and evo-

lutionary biologist at Princeton.

ELEPHANTVOICES/AP

One of the tuskless elephants walks through teh grass in the Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique. 

Poaching tips scales, leadsto more tuskless elephants

BY CHRISTINA LARSON

Associated Press

PORT-AU-PRINCE) — The

boss of a notorious Haitian gang

accused of kidnapping 17 mem-

bers of a U.S.-based missionary

group last weekend is warning

that the hostages will be killed if

his demands aren’t met.

“I swear by thunder that if I

don’t get what I’m asking for, I

will put a bullet in the heads of

these Americans,” gang leader

Wilson Joseph said in a video

posted on social media Thursday.

Officials said early in the week

that the 400 Mawozo gang was de-

manding $1 million for each of

those kidnapped, although it

wasn’t clear if that included the

five children in the group, among

them an 8-month-old. Sixteen

Americans and one Canadian

were abducted, along with their

Haitian driver.

Joseph also threatened Prime

Minister Ariel Henry and Haiti’s

national police chief as he spoke

in front of the open coffins that

apparently held several members

of his gang who were recently

killed.

“You guys make me cry. I cry

water. But I’m going to make you

guys cry blood,” he said.

Later in the day, Henry’s office

announced that Leon Charles had

resigned as head of Haiti’s Na-

tional Police and was replaced by

Frantz Elbe. The newspaper Le

Nouvelliste said Elbe was direc-

tor of the police departments of

the South East and Nippes and

previously served as general se-

curity coordinator at the National

Palace when Jocelerme Privert

was provisional president.

“We would like for public peace

to be restored, that we return to

normal life and that we regain our

way to democracy,” Henry said.

There was no immediate com-

ment from Charles or Elbe.

The missionaries who were ab-

ducted Saturday during a visit to

an orphanage are with Ohio-

based Christian Aid Ministries,

which held a news conference be-

fore Joseph’s video was posted.

Weston Showalter, spokesman

for the religious group, said the

families of those kidnapped are

from Amish, Mennonite and other

conservative Anabaptist commu-

nities in Ohio, Michigan, Wiscon-

sin, Tennessee, Pennsylvania,

Oregon and Ontario, Canada. He

read a letter from the families,

who weren’t identified by name,

in which they said, “God has giv-

en our loved ones the unique op-

portunity to live out our Lord’s

command to love your enemies.”

The group invited people to join

them in prayer for the kidnappers

as well as those kidnapped and

expressed gratitude for help from

“people that are knowledgeable

and experienced in dealing with”

such situations.

“Pray for these families,”

Showalter said. “They are in a dif-

ficult spot.”

The organization later issued a

statement saying it would not

comment on the video.

Gang boss in Haiti threatens to kill abducted missionaries Associated Press

Saturday, October 23, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 11

AMERICAN ROUNDUP

Leaf peepers see finalpeak foliage conditions

ME AUGUSTA — Maine

leaf peepers have just

a few more days to watch the

state’s annual fall foliage display.

Almost all of the state is past

peak conditions for fall colors, the

Maine Department of Agricul-

ture, Conservation & Forestry said

Wednesday. The department said

peak conditions are still occurring

along the state’s immediate coast-

al areas.

The state’s oak trees are typical-

ly the last to reveal orange and

gold leaves, and that’s starting to

happen along the coast, said Gale

Ross, the state’s fall foliage spo-

kesperson.

“While there are still pockets of

color throughout Maine, the leaf

drop has become more apparent,”

Ross said.

3 more wolves killed for attacking cattle

OR BAKER CITY — Em-

ployees from the Ore-

gon Department of Fish and Wild-

life shot and killed three more

wolves from the Lookout Moun-

tain pack on Wednesday, officials

said.

Two 6-month-olds and one

yearling were shot from a helicop-

ter in eastern Oregon, The Baker

City Herald reported.

The agency says it has now

killed eight wolves from the pack,

which has killed at least seven

head of cattle and injured three

others in eastern Baker County

since mid-July. The collared

breeding female and up to two ju-

venile wolves remain, officials

said.

The agency doesn’t plan to kill

more wolves, according to a news

release, and local ranchers are no

longer authorized to kill wolves.

Firm gets early OK fortunnel transit plan

NV LAS VEGAS — A com-

pany headed by Tesla

Inc. chief Elon Musk passed a hur-

dle Wednesday in its plan to drill

an underground motorway be-

neath the Las Vegas Strip that

could one day also link the city’s

busy international airport and

downtown casino mall.

The Clark County Commission

unanimously approved a special

use permit for The Boring Co. to

submit plans for some 29 miles of

twin tunnels dubbed the Vegas

Loop.

An overall cost wasn’t dis-

closed. Las Vegas Convention and

Tourism Authority chief Steve

Hill said the plan could cost up to

$1 billion and will be privately

funded.

The tunnel system would con-

nect with an existing Convention

Center Loop the company began

operating in June. It whisks trade

show attendees in Tesla electric

vehicles between stops on the ex-

panded Las Vegas Convention

Center campus.

Juneteenth could becomea court holiday in state

MI LANSING — The Mi-

chigan Supreme Court

is considering a statewide court

holiday on Juneteenth, which

commemorates the end of slavery.

The court said it will accept

public comment and hold a hear-

ing in the months ahead.

Juneteenth commemorates

June 19, 1865, when Union sol-

diers brought the news of freedom

to enslaved Black people in Gal-

veston, Texas, two months after

the Confederacy had surren-

dered. It was about 2 ½ years after

the Emancipation Proclamation

freed slaves in Southern states.

Congress and President Joe Bi-

den created a federal holiday this

year.

The Supreme Court said it’s

willing to consider dropping an-

other court holiday, such as

Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve,

to make room for Juneteenth or

simply add Juneteenth to the ros-

ter.

New road signs recognizeBlack college, university

KY LOUISVILLE — New

road signs are being in-

stalled to recognize Kentucky’s

two historically Black colleges

and universities, officials said.

Gov. Andy Beshear joined local

leaders and higher education offi-

cials on Wednesday at Simmons

College in Louisville to announce

the signs recognizing that institu-

tion and Kentucky State Universi-

ty in Frankfort. Contractors will

begin installing five signs this

week, officials said.

“Louisville and Frankfort are

home to the state’s only HBCUs,

and these signs will elevate

awareness to Kentuckians and

travelers alike of the historic sig-

nificance these higher learning in-

stitutions have played in Kentuck-

y’s history,” Beshear said in a

statement.

Three signs in Louisville will

recognize Historic Simmons Col-

lege and two in Frankfort will rec-

ognize Kentucky State University.

Former prosecutor facesmeth-dealing charges

IN NEW CASTLE — The at-

torney for an eastern In-

diana county who once served as

its top prosecutor has been

charged with dealing metham-

phetamines.

Martin R. Shields, 67, was ar-

rested Tuesday and charged in

Henry Circuit Court with two

counts of dealing in meth and two

counts of possession of meth.

Shields, of New Castle, was re-

leased from the county jail after

posting a $25,000 surety bond and

a $2,200 cash bond.

Court documents allege that an

informant wearing audio- and vid-

eo-recording equipment for the

Henry County Area Drug Task

Force obtained meth from Shields

during transactions earlier this

month, The Star Press reported.

That person had allegedly been

to Shields’ home “on several occa-

sions and observed methampheta-

mines in plain view and had been

given (meth) in the past, some-

times for money and sometimes

for free,” according to court re-

cords.

Man found dead in canalwas accidental drowning

AZ SCOTTSDALE — A 23-

year-old man whose

body was found in a Scottsdale ca-

nal in July apparently was intox-

icated and drove a rented scooter

into the water, according to au-

thorities.

Scottsdale police said Wednes-

day that Robert “Bobby” Cuillo’s

death has been ruled an acciden-

tal drowning by the Maricopa

County Medical Examiner’s Of-

fice.

They said the medical examin-

er’s report showed that Cuillo’s

blood alcohol level was above the

legal limit for operating a motor

vehicle. His body was found July

19, two days after he was reported

missing.

Police said they were able to ac-

quire the GPS and tracking infor-

mation from the scooter Cuillo

rented through his phone.

Man agrees to stopsending sweepstakes ads

RI PROVIDENCE — A

Providence man has

agreed to stop sending mail-order

sweepstakes solicitations over ac-

cusations that he scammed $10

million from vulnerable people.

Michael Shine, a resident of

Warwick, made a deal with prose-

cutors prohibiting him from par-

ticipating in mailing solicitations

and advertisements, The Provi-

dence Journal reported.

Shine did not admit to any fraud

accusations in the agreement but

he must inform federal authorities

of any mass-mailing activity and

report any new mailing addresses

for the next few years.

Prosecutors alleged that Shine

and his wife Meagan Shine

scammed people in a predatory

mail fraud scheme that targeted

vulnerable people.

The Shines used fake mailers to

collect fees from people and in re-

turn, the people were to collect

prizes and winnings that they nev-

er received, prosecutors said.

MIKE SIMONS, TULSA (OKLA.) WORLD/AP

Taylor Averill with Tulsa Boys Home shows a TikTok video that she made of the arrival of Texas Longhorns Rowdy and Coco at the Tulsa BoysHome on Wednesday in Sand Springs, Okla. The TikTok has gotten millions of views and made the cattle a local attraction. 

Celebrity steers

THE CENSUS

$10M The amount the former HCA Healthcare CEO who is cur-rently Belmont University’s board chairman and his wife

have donated $10 million to the Nashville, Tenn., institution’s new medicalschool. The private university says Milton Johnson and his wife, Denice, an-nounced the gift Wednesday for the Thomas F. Frist Jr. College of Medicine.Frist co-founded HCA, and Johnson called Frist his mentor. Belmont is part-nering with HCA on the new college. The school will name the lobby of the newbuilding after the couple.

From The Associated Press

PAGE 12 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Saturday, October 23, 2021

MOVIES

It was the eyes that drew Denis Villeneuve to“Dune.”

Long before he’d decided to become a filmmaker,he was just a teenager browsing a bookstore when

he spotted the cover of Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel. But itwasn’t a hard sell for the biology-obsessed 14-year-oldwho had already learned that science fiction was a way todream on a grand scale.

Then he read it and was mesmerized by the poetic,atmospheric story of a young man’s heroic journey thatdealt with religion, politics, destiny, heritage, the envi-ronment, colonialism and giant space worms.

“It became an obsession,” Villeneuve, 54, said.And it was just the beginning of a decade-spanning

dream that is finally coming to fruition as his own versionof “Dune” makes its way to North American theaters.

Villeneuve is not the first filmmaker who has dared tofantasize about making “Dune,” but he’s the first to seehis vision realized in a way that might satisfy both fansand novices. For a book that has inspired so much sciencefiction over the past 50 years, from “Star Wars” to“Alien,” filmed adaptations have proved difficult. Firstthere was Alejandro Jodorowsky’s near-mythic movie/14-hour event that would have starred Mick Jagger, OrsonWelles, Gloria Swanson and Salvador Dalí (chronicled inthe 2013 documentary “Jodorowsky’s Dune”). Then Da-vid Lynch’s swing was a critical and commercial flopwhen it was released in 1984.

“Dune” seemed cursed until producers Mary Parentand Cale Boyter acquired the rights through Legendaryand found out that Villeneuve, who had established him-self as a filmmaker with that rare ability to make large-scale films that are cerebral and commercially viable,was a lifelong fan. Plans were set in motion to try to make“Dune” once more — with a $165 million productionbudget.

“My movie is not an act of arrogance,” Villeneuve said.“It’s an act of humility. My dream was that a hardcore fanof ‘Dune’ would feel that I put a camera in their mind.”

The book was his bible and compass throughout theprocess. He kept it close on set so that the spirit of it wasalways nearby and encouraged his crew and cast to readit closely as well. And he wasn’t daunted by the outsizedexpectations. He’s the one who made a sequel to “BladeRunner,” after all (although that is a whole different storyand one that he still thinks was a bad idea even thoughhe’d do it again in a heartbeat).

“I will not say ‘Dune’ is an impossible task. I think it’s a

difficult one,” Villeneuve said. “Creativity is linked withrisk. I love to jump in with no safety net. It’s part of mynature.”

Part of that difficulty was homing in on a film thatwould appeal to die-hards and newcomers. The first stepwas convincing the studio that he’d need two films tocomplete the story. Although they agreed, the second hasyet to get the official “go.”

He and screenwriters Jon Spaihts and Eric Roth sim-plified the structure to focus on Paul Atreides, the youngaristocrat whose family takes control of the dangerousdesert planet Arrakis, home to the universe’s most valuedresource, as an intergalactic power struggle betweenruling families heats up. He had only one name in mindfor the part: Timothée Chalamet.

“There’s not a lot of actors like Timothée in the world,”he said. “Timothée has an old soul. For a young man ofhis age, he has a really impressive maturity. At the sametime, Timothée looks really young on camera.”

And there’s that “rock star” charisma that would lendcredence to his evolution into a messianic figure that “willlead a world into chaos.”

The film is packed with lauded actors, including Rebec-ca Ferguson as Paul’s mother and Oscar Isaac as hisfather. The movie also has Jason Momoa, Josh Brolin,Stellan Skarsgård, Javier Bardem, Charlotte Rampling,Stephen McKinley Henderson and Zendaya, whom he ledon a globetrotting journey to Hungary, Jordan, Abu Dhabiand Norway.

“I’ve been in these adventure films that really try to

add a lot of emotion. But there’s something that is so poet-ic in the way that Denis approaches this massive film andthe scale of it,” Isaac said. “Even if there’s explosions,even if there’s giant worms, he’s just always looking at itthrough his poetic lens, which for me is totally, totallyunique.”

It was especially important to be in the desert to filmthe Arrakis scenes, which meant harsh conditions andsand getting, well, everywhere. But it was vital to do it onlocation.

“It would have been impossible to do on the stage or ona backlot,” Villeneuve said. “Maybe I’m too old fashioned,but that’s the way I work.”

“Dune” was originally slated to come out last yearbefore the pandemic upended most theatrical releases.Villeneuve used that time to his film’s advantage.

“It was very nice for me to have the chance to let themovie sleep a little, coming back to it, sizzle it,” he said.“If people don’t like the movie, I have no excuses becauseI had the time to do it and the resources.”

But as welcome as the added time was, the pandemicalso led to the decision to release all of Warner Bros.’ 2021slate simultaneously in theaters and on HBO Max. Ville-neuve responded at the time with a strongly worded openletter that ran in the trade publication Variety, that wasn’tjust about his film but the implications for the future ofcinema.

Ten months later, the pandemic is still going and therelease strategy has held its course, even as theatricalattendance ramps up.

“We are in a pandemic and that reality is twisted rightnow, and I totally understand if people can’t go to thetheater or people are afraid of the theater. I respect that,and that’s the priority. Health is the priority,” Villeneuvesaid. “But the movie has been made, designed, dreamedto be seen on a big screen.”

The film has made $129 million so far during its in-ternational rollout. Now comes the test of the NorthAmerican audience, who will have the option to go to thetheater or watch it on HBO Max. Hanging on the line isthe sequel — or, more accurately, the conclusion to thefirst film.

“I don’t know when it’s going to be decided, but it willcome down to if the movie generates enough enthusiasm,if there’s enough passion about it. We’ll see. I’m at peacewith that. I hope there will be a Part 2,” he said.

Villeneuve’s grateful that he gets to show the world atleast part of what he’s been dreaming about for almost 40years.

“I had the time of my life making ‘Dune,’” Villeneuvesaid.

WARNER BROS. PICTURES

Timothée Chalamet’s young aristocrat, Paul Atreides, has as much as he can handle on the desert planet of Arrakis in “Dune,” including colossal sand worms.

BIG DREAMS

Director Denis Villeneuve’s grand visions for ‘Dune’ finally reach the big screen BY LINDSEY BAHR

Associated Press

CHIA BELLA JAMES, WARNER BROS. PICTURES/AP

Actor Javier Bardem, right, receives instruction fromdirector Denis Villeneuve on the set of “Dune.” 

Saturday, October 23, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 13

VIDEO GAMES

Video games have a way of mak-ing tourists out of all of us. Theytransport players to anotherworld or another time. Whether

we enjoy the visit often depends on thestory, the gameplay and mission design.

Those are important, but one of theoverlooked elements is how players con-

nect with the place. Adeveloper can createjaw-dropping scenery,but if there’s no hook tohold a player’s attention,it turns the world intonothing more than beauti-ful empty space. That’sone of the factors thatmade Far Cry 5 seem so

dull, and it’s also a major reason why Ifind Far Cry 6 so appealing.

The latest entry to the series has a mag-nificent sense of place. The campaign isset on the fictional Caribbean island ofYara, a location heavily inspired by Cuba.It’s run by a dictator named Anton Castil-lo, who exploits the island’s people andresources to stay in power. Hit by an em-bargo, it remains a nation trapped in theera of its 1967 revolution.

Ubisoft Montreal and Toronto paintwith those broad brushstrokes to create asituation in need of a hero named DaniRojas. It’s the colors that the developerspaint with that’s intriguing. The teamborrows cultural material found in otherLatin American countries to craft a placethat feels more concrete than past settingssuch as Kyrat and the Rook Islands. De-tails such as the cockfighting pits, support-ing characters and references to SimonBolivar are touchstones that anchor Yarain a familiar authenticity.

That’s important for Far Cry 6 becauseit asks a lot from players. As Dani Rojas, aprotagonist who can either be male orfemale, players are tasked with helpinglead a guerrilla force to overthrow theCastillo regime. After reluctantly joiningthe rebel group Libertad, Dani becomesinvested in the freedom fighters led byClara Garcia. Players then have to exploreYara’s three regions — Madrugada, Vallede Oro and El Este — and help the fac-tions fighting Castillo.

This splits Far Cry 6 into three predict-able chunks as Dani helps the Monterofamily battle Castillo’s nephew Jose. Theprotagonist also unites two factionsagainst Admiral Benitez and aids Maxi-mas Matanzas against the culture ministerMaria Marquessa. Each of the regions hasa distinct personality and a narrativeattached to it. Dani’s goal is to persuadethe factions to join Libertad in defeatingthe strongman, who resides in the capitalcity of Esperanza.

Familiar gameplayFar Cry 6 starts off hitting similar beats

to its predecessor. Ubisoft’s open-worldshooter gives players tools to scout anarea, create a plan of attack and executeit. That’s the gameplay loop on which thedevelopers built the franchise. What’sdifferent about this campaign is that skilltrees are gone, and they’re replaced by aprogression system built around gear.

Early on one of Dani’s mentors, formerspy master Juan Cortez, tells the hero thatplayers must bring in the right tool for thejob, and Far Cry 6 is built around thisconcept. Missions will ask players to infil-trate a base or join an assault on a convoy.

Each task requires different types ofweapons, armor and a specialized back-pack called a Supremo. It’s a more com-plicated system and one that requiresplayers to constantly juggle their weaponsand loadouts for scenarios. It’s cumber-some.

In the beginning, the options are limitedand Far Cry 6 is difficult. Attempts atstealth degenerate into chaos, and playerswill use the Supremo as a get-out-of-jailcard to bail them out of dicey situations.As players level up, they discover moreweapons by exploring the world and cus-tomizing the assets using resources theyscrounge up, and they develop a betterfeel for what works and what doesn’t.

Progression and amigosIf players find a mission that’s difficult,

they can switch gears to boost armor orincrease their stealth in order to make thetask easier. If a quest requires a lot ofplatforming, players can equip the FuriosoSupremo that gives Dani a double jump. Ifthey’re dying a lot during a skirmish, theycan equip the Medico Supremo that essen-tially grants players an extra life.

Along with that, players can bring alongan animal companion called an amigo thathelps with the battles. They’re not essen-tial, but they offer an extra bit of firepow-er or advantage that helps pull Danithrough an encounter. A bigger help oftencomes from the vehicles that the protago-nist has on hand. Players can fly attackchoppers or drive tanks to help them com-plete missions or take over bases andcheckpoints.

This introduces more chaos to battlesand makes the game easier than expected,

but it’s all part of the over-the-top natureof the campaign. This gives Far Cry 6 thefeel of Pandemic Studios’ Mercenariesfranchise. It can be equal parts difficultand stupid fun.

A balancing actThrough it all, the campaign has a con-

sistent levity and hopefulness that Far Cry5 lacked. That isn’t to say the sequel is allsunshine and roses. It has its darker mo-ments as Anton Castillo, played by Gian-carlo Esposito of “Breaking Bad” fame,reacts to the player’s successes, andfriends and allies die along the way.

Far Cry 6 does a good job balancingthese moods. For every resounding victo-ry and funny moment, the specter of con-

tinuing violence and the possibility ofanother dictator arising lurks in the back-ground. That creates a bit of forebodingamid the laughter.

In a way, that encapsulates a touristexperience. Visitors only stay for weeks ata destination. They don’t live there, nor dothey go beyond the veneer that’s present-ed. In the same way, Far Cry 6 can onlysay so much about the politics of a desti-nation. The best it can offer is a sense ofplace as it transports players to a worldthat’s both authentic and unreal.

Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One,PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, PC, AmazonLuna, Stadia

Online: ubisoft.com/en-us/game/far-cry/far-cry-6

PHOTOS BY UBISOFT/TNS

Far Cry 6 players will encounter different biomes in the island nation of Yara’s three regions: Madrugada, Valle de Oro and El Este.

Dedication to destinationFar Cry 6 transports players to a fictional island called Yara, which borrows

cultural elements from real Latin American countries to make it feel authentic

BY GIESON CACHO

The Mercury News

In Far Cry 6, the franchise’s skills tree system has been replaced with a progressionsystem built around gear. Each task requires different types of weapons, armor and aspecialized backpack called a Supremo. 

PAGE 14 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Saturday, October 23, 2021

TELEVISION

Don’t expect Steve Martin to

give away any secrets about

himself or his popular Hulu

whodunit “Only Murders in

the Building,” which wrapped its sea-

son earlier this month.

But he’ll gladly tell you about his

co-star and best friend forever Martin

Short and their new third amiga, Sele-

na Gomez.

Let’s start with Short, the veteran of

“SCTV” and “Saturday Night Live.” He is

not really like his Mr. Showbiz stage per-

sona.

“It’s all his comic persona that he’s been

good at doing for a very, very long time.

Sort of the show business enthusiast,” said

Martin, who met Short in 1986 when they

co-starred in “Three Amigos!” with Chevy

Chase. “We both play egotistical pretty

well. He’s not egotistical offstage in the

least.”

Is Martin?

“I don’t think so,” said the comedian,

playwright, author, musician, screenwrit-

er, actor and art collector.

Martin is a straight shooter. At least in

interviews. Or one-on-one interviews. If he

has a foil to bounce off, his banter almost

becomes one-upmanship.

Martin’s humor works even better with

a third wheel on “Only Murders in the

Building,” even though Gomez, at 29, is

more than 40 years younger than her

cohorts (Martin is 76, Short 71).

The series follows a trio of lonely misfits

creating a true-crime podcast as they try

to solve a murder in their stately New

York City apartment building.

“Selena was already a pro. She didn’t

need anything from us,” Martin said of

Gomez, who starred in the Disney Chan-

nel series “Wizards of Waverly Place”

(2007-12) and Woody Allen’s 2019 movie

“A Rainy Day in New York.” “The ques-

tion was: ‘Are we going to get along with

this new person that we don’t know?’ The

answer is, we did. It was better than ex-

pected because she has a great sense of

humor. Marty and I have worked together

for a hundred years. And Selena is just the

perfect fit.”

The witty, sometimes absurd scripts

play on the generation gap with Gomez’s

sarcastic, secretive millennial often cor-

recting her older would-be sleuths —

Short is a has-been Broadway director and

Martin a graceless ex-TV detective —

about texting and other modern ways.

A parody of the true-crime genre featur-

ing cameos by Tina Fey, Jane Lynch and

Sting, the “crimedy” series leans on repar-

tee that’s not unlike Martin and Short’s

live duo act, billed as “An Evening You

Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life”

when it played the Twin Cities in 2017.

Martin said the pair have added “Only

Murders” references to their ongoing

stage routine. But he doesn’t play concerti-

na, as he does in the series.

“I don’t play the concertina,” said Mar-

tin, a Grammy-winning banjoist. “Banjo is

not [befitting] my character. So I suggest-

ed the concertina because it has a good

sound. I did work with a professional play-

er so I could imitate it very well.

“We’re not really detectives, either,” he

added with a light chuckle.

No more movies

The idea for “Only Murders in the

Building” has been percolating in Martin’s

brain for a decade. He was inspired by the

1990s TV series “Forensic Files” because

it was a half-hour show focusing on using

scientific methods to solve crimes, not

about “mourning the victim.”

In real life, he does follow one true-

crime podcast, “Case File,” from Austra-

lia: “It’s written very, very well.”

Last month, “Only Murders” got the

green light for Season 2. Filming is slated

to begin next month.

“It’s still being written,” Martin said,

declining to share spoilers. “The team is

back; let’s put it that way.”

Although he appreciates the chemistry

with his gung-ho gumshoes, he has no

intention of making a “Three Amigos!”

sequel with Short and Gomez. Or any

movies, for that matter. He doesn’t want to

be on location for three months away from

his 9-year-old daughter and wife. “Only

Murders” is shot in New York, where he

has a home.

A veteran of more than 50 films, in-

cluding “The Jerk” and the “Father of the

Bride” series, Martin found his first TV

series to be more like movie-making than

he imagined.

“I was expecting it to be much more

streamlined and fewer takes, operating at

a completely different pace. But it’s exact-

ly the same,” he observed. “The biggest

change since I was doing movies is the

lighting. We used to go rehearse our scene

and then go to our trailers and sit for two

hours while they lit it. Now we rehearse it,

and they’re ready.”

Serious business

Martin is good at talking business. It’s

hard to get him to make funny over the

phone. Even if you give him some poten-

tial straight lines. Though he did reveal a

tiny secret after 25 minutes of back-and-

forth:

Star Tribune: What do you think about

extending your record as host of “SNL”

(he’s done it 15 times, second most to

Alec Baldwin’s 17) but co­hosting with

Short and having Gomez as the musical

guest?

Martin: It’s being explored. It’s not that

Marty and I would host; it’s that Selena

would host and do it all, and we would

guest-star or be in a sketch. We don’t have

any plans right now. That show is heavily

booked.

One of my favorite lines in “Only

Murders” is “embrace the mess.” Tell

me about the latest mess you embraced.

I guess it would be the show. When you

start a show, you don’t know what it’s

going to be and you’re dealing with 10

scripts that have to tell a story and have

everything make sense at the end. The line

“embrace the mess” came from the writ-

ers. I think it’s good advice, rather than to

be intimidated by something that seems

too big.

What’s next musically?

Nothing major musically. The next thing

I’m working on is with Harry Bliss, the

cartoonist. (They collaborated on the 2020

bestseller “A Wealth of Pigeons.”) We’re

going to do another book called “Memo-

ries of the Movies.” It’s my movie-career

anecdotes expressed in comic-strip form.

What makes you giddy?

I get a lot of laughs from Marty. And I

like hanging out with comedians. My

child. I keep my daughter in my private

life. Every time I get on the phone with

Marty, something funny happens. I just

spoke with him yesterday.

Give me some adjectives to describe

the real Steve Martin.

I don’t even know what an adjective is.

Didn’t you go to college?

It didn’t amount to much.

What happened to the arrows you used

to wear on your head in your stand­up

comedy days? (YouTube it.)

I don’t know where they went. The rea-

son I know, I recently did an inventory

and auctioned a lot of memorabilia for

charity. I couldn’t find an arrow. Strange.

How many did you have?

I think I had two. One and a backup. We

were kind of primitive back then.

The Season 1 finale of “Only Murders in

the Building” is now available to stream

on Hulu.

HULU/TNS

From left, Selena Gomez, Steve Martin and Martin Short appear in a scene from Hulu’ s “Only Murders in the Building,” a whodunit that parodies the true­crime genre. 

No laughing matterComedy legend Steve Martin gets serious talking about his new TV show, ‘Only Murders in the Building’

BY JON BREAM

Star Tribune

Saturday, October 23, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 15Saturday, October 23, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 15

HEALTH & FITNESS

Although it’s a divisive

massage treatment

with some professing

their love and others

vowing to never get it again,

cupping has gained popularity in

recent years.

The ancient massage treat-

ment is known for leaving circu-

lar marks on the skin, but much

of the actual practice remains a

mystery to most.

The treatment broke into the

limelight and garnered national

attention in 2016 after Michael

Phelps was spotted with the

signature marks at the Rio Olym-

pics. Other celebrities, including

Gwyneth Paltrow, have been

doing it for years.

“Some people have incredibly

strong feelings about it,” said

Jenaveve Biernat, owner and

lead massage therapist at Meta

Physica Wellness Center in De-

troit.

“And it’s not a esoteric, up for

debate, fake thing. I’m not going

to tell you it’s going to remove

toxins from your body ... we’re

dealing with things that can be

proven.”

Here are answers to some of

your cupping questions:

OriginsCupping has been traced to

medicinal practices in several

parts of the world, including

China and the Middle East, dat-

ing all the way back to 1550 B.C,

according to the National In-

stitutes of Health.

After more frequent athlete

and celebrity sightings with the

cupping marks, the practice

grew in popularity and became a

more common massage treat-

ment.

Still, the NIH says there has

been very little research on cup-

ping, and that evidence for it as a

pain reliever isn’t very strong.

“There’s not enough high-

quality research to allow conclu-

sions to be reached about wheth-

er cupping is helpful for other

conditions,” the NIH website

reads.

How it worksCupping works by creating

suction on the skin. It’s essential-

ly the reverse of a more typical

massage, Biernat said.

“If you think about a massage,

a massage applies pressure to the

muscle, the fascia, and the ten-

dons, right; we’re putting our

body weight into you,” she said.

“The cupping creates negative

pressure, so instead of pushing

down, we’re pulling out, we’re

pulling up the muscle and the

fascia and allowing space for

blood to flow, for oxygen to in-

crease.”

According to the NIH, there

are two types of cupping, wet and

dry. Wet cupping pierces the skin

and blood flows into the cup, but

dry cupping doesn’t involve

piercing the skin.

The signature mark can last

from hours to weeks, depending

on an individual’s skin sensitivity

and the intensity of the cupping

itself.

Biernat said that, despite the

marks it leaves, cupping doesn’t

actually hurt.

“It should not hurt, but like a

deep tissue massage, it’ll be in-

tense,” she said. “But that all

depends on how deeply your

practitioner is cupping you.”

BenefitsPotential benefits of cupping

range from relaxation to easing

pain and tension.

That said, Biernat noted that

the benefits and enjoyment of the

practice vary from person to

person based on personal prefer-

ences.

She said a lot of her frequent

customers are athletes and peo-

ple who exercise frequently, as

well as people who are always

sitting down for their desk jobs.

“I find that most clients benefit

from cupping who are very tight

and have very tight fascia,” she

said. “So we have tight muscles

and we have tight fascia. And this

can be from working out exces-

sively, it can be from 40-plus

hours a week on a computer, it

can just be like overall stiffness

from, you know, whatever you

have going on with your body.”

Should I get cupped?Some scientists doubt the ef-

fectiveness of cupping, but Bier-

nat said it all comes down to

personal preference and there

isn’t any harm in trying it out.

Everyone has a different toler-

ance when it comes to massage

and body work, she said.

Biernat said anyone except

those who are pregnant or who

have broken skin can be cupped.

However, she wouldn’t advise

people to get cupped the first

time they ever get a professional

massage.

“You’ve got to get comfortable

with your body and therapeutic

touch first,” she said.

If you do decide to get cupped,

she said it’s important to commu-

nicate with your practitioner

what you want and what you’re

looking for.

“Some people are runners and

they want their IT bands cupped

from their knee to their hip,” she

said. “Other people, if you do

that, they will jump off the table.

It’s total preference.”

COLORADO SPRINGS GAZETTE/TNS

Michael Phelps cheers teammate Nathan Adrian as he swims the lastleg of the 4X100­meter freestyle relay at the 2016 Rio Games. Thebrown circles on Phelps’ shoulder are the result of “cupping.”

iStock

Cupping, fleshed outAncient massage treatment used to relieve pain, tension and stress

BY EMMA STEIN

Detroit Free Press

“And it’s not a esoteric, up fordebate, fake thing. I’m not going totell you it’s going to remove toxinsfrom your body ... we’re dealingwith things that can be proven.”

Jenaveve Biernat

owner and lead massage therapist

Meta Physica Wellness Center in Detroit

PAGE 16 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Saturday, October 23, 2021

Max D. Lederer Jr., Publisher

Lt. Col. Marci Hoffman, Europe commander

John Rodriguez, Europe chief of staff

Lt. Col. Michael Kerschbaum, Pacific commander

Michael Ryan, Pacific chief of staff

EDITORIAL

Terry Leonard, Editorleonard.terry@stripes.com

Robert H. Reid, Senior Managing Editorreid.robert@stripes.com

Sean Moores, Managing Editor for Presentationmoores.sean@stripes.com

BUREAU STAFF

Europe/MideastErik Slavin, Europe & Mideast Bureau Chiefslavin.erik@stripes.com

+49(0)631.3615.9350; DSN (314)583.9350

PacificAaron Kidd, Pacific Bureau Chiefkidd.aaron@stripes.com

+81.42.552.2511 ext. 88380; DSN (315)227.7380

WashingtonJoseph Cacchioli, Washington Bureau Chiefcacchioli.joseph@stripes.com

(+1)(202)886-0033

Brian Bowers, Assistant Managing Editor, Newsbowers.brian@stripes.com

CIRCULATION

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stripes.com

OPINION

While watching images of the

American withdrawal from Af-

ghanistan, it was impossible

not to reflect on the stark differ-

ences in how we welcome home our service-

men and women today versus Vietnam era

veterans decades ago. When today’s heroes

return home from war and transition out of the

military to civilian life, they are given months

of training by the Department of Defense and

awealth of support from veteran service orga-

nizations. Warriors returning home from

Vietnam, as is well known, were treated atro-

ciously: no parades, no new nonprofits cater-

ing to their various needs, and certainly far too

little respect.

A little known or discussed result of this

treatment was the serious long-term health

implications on Vietnam era veterans. How-

ever, recent changes in federal policy and

nonprofit practices bring some hope that our

past mistakes as a nation are beginning to be

rectified.

While the old guard of veteran service orga-

nizations have always served veterans from

all eras, they have historically provided few

direct resources to these veterans. Rather,

their focus has been on national policy efforts

and providing veterans with venues to social-

ize. Following 9/11, a whole host of new orga-

nizations popped up to fill this gap and provid-

ed veterans of Operation Enduring Freedom

and Operation Iraqi Freedom with everything

from career training, mountain climbing and

hunting, to free psychological services.

That said, the huge surge in support for OEF

and OIF veterans has exacerbated the already

large gap between resources for Vietnam era

veterans and everybody else. That gap has

had tragic consequences. Many are familiar

with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

research on suicide — the VA’s 2021 report

found that an average of 17 veterans died by

suicide every day in 2019. However, a deeper

dive into the data reveals that this crisis dis-

proportionately affects pre-9/11 veterans:

Veterans aged 75 and over accounted for

1,336 deaths by suicide in 2019.

Veterans aged 55-74 accounted for 2,407

deaths by suicide in 2019.

Veterans aged 35-54 accounted for 1,663

deaths by suicide in 2019.

Veterans aged 18-34 accounted for 828

deaths by suicide in 2019.

In the fight to end veteran suicide, we must

ensure that the latest treatment options and

resources are accessible to veterans of all

eras, not only those who served in the last two

decades.

Thankfully, policy changes are beginning to

close the gap in available services to pre-9/11

and post-9/11 veterans. This past August,

President Joe Biden signed the Puppies As-

sisting Wounded Servicemembers (PAWS)

Act into law, which for the first time ever re-

quires the VA to establish a pilot program pro-

viding service dog training to veterans diag-

nosed with post-traumatic stress.

Federal support for this program is signifi-

cant given recent research verifying the posi-

tive impact that trained service dogs have on

veterans struggling to overcome mental trau-

ma. Purdue University studies found statisti-

cally lower severity of post-traumatic stress

symptoms in veterans who were paired with a

service dog compared with those who were

not. Moreover, researchers determined that,

on average, a service dog’s ability to recognize

and interrupt episodes of anxiety were report-

ed by veterans as the most important task per-

formed in a typical day.

I’m the CEO of K9s For Warriors. From our

perspective, veterans have reported they fi-

nally feel comfortable leaving their house dur-

ing the day thanks to the calming effects of

their service dog. A veteran reclaiming their

ability to venture from their home empowers

them to reconnect with their community and

access support services that can help reduce

their likelihood of dying by suicide.

While K9s For Warriors was founded in the

post-9/11 era, we want to ensure veterans of all

eras have the option of pairing with a service

dog to help mitigate symptoms of mental trau-

ma. As the president and the VA move to pro-

vide service dog training to veterans, we also

have grown our program to serve veterans of

all eras.

Such policy and practice changes are al-

ready making a difference. Earlier this year,

our team connected with David, a 73-year-old

veteran living in Oregon. He joined the Army

in 1967, served in Vietnam and received a Pur-

ple Heart before exiting the service in 1995.

Despite nearly 30 years of service and sacri-

fice, David has struggled to overcome post-

traumatic stress with only limited access to

the latest and most innovative treatment op-

tions. He and all his fellow veterans from the

pre-9/11 era deserve more, and we are honor-

ed to assist him in pairing him with a service

dog during our next training class.

If our country’s dedicated veteran-serving

organizations and policymakers can continue

working together to close this gap in services

between pre-9/11 and post-9/11 veterans, we

may soon hear more stories like David’s in the

near future rather than another statistic in a

veteran suicide study. I, for one, cannot wait to

hear their stories.

Ensure critical support in place for vets of all erasBY RORY DIAMOND

Special to Stars and Stripes

Rory Diamond is CEO of K9s for Warriors(www.k9sforwarriors.org), the nation’s largest provider ofservice dogs for disabled American veterans and the largestservice dog agency in the world using primarily rescue dogs.

The death of Colin Powell leaves

Americans in mourning, and

searching for appropriate ways to

memorialize the pathbreaking

general and statesman who played such an

influential part in contemporary history.

One possibility would be for New York City

to reconsider the planned removal of Tho-

mas Jefferson’s statue from the City Council

chamber where it has stood since 1915. New

York’s Public Design Commission voted 8 to

0 on Monday to oust Jefferson by year’s end.

The decision met a long-standing demand

of City Council members of color. “Thomas

Jefferson was a slaveholder who owned over

600 human beings,” Adrienne Adams, co-

chair of the Black, Latino and Asian Caucus,

testified to the commission. “It makes me

deeply uncomfortable knowing that we sit in

the presence of a statue that pays homage to a

slaveholder who fundamentally believed

that people who look like me were inherently

inferior, lacked intelligence, and were not

worthy of freedom or rights.”

Yet Powell almost certainly would have

questioned this. He often described himself

as an “admirer” of Jefferson, and spoke of the

inspiration he had drawn from Jefferson’s

preamble to the Declaration of Independ-

ence — “all men are created equal” — ever

since he first memorized the words at the in-

struction of public school teachers during his

own New York boyhood.

Powell, a son of Jamaican immigrants who

became the first Black general to chair the

Joint Chiefs of Staff, was hardly unaware of,

or an apologist for, Jefferson’s enslaving and

racism. Rather, he insisted that the Declara-

tion, inspiring to millions for centuries, not

enslaving, defined Jefferson’s principal leg-

acy.

Addressing new Americans at a naturali-

zation ceremony — the date was July 4, 1997

— on the grounds of Monticello, the Virginia

plantation where Jefferson enslaved hun-

dreds, Powell acknowledged they were

standing on the scene of deep injustices. Yet,

with unfeigned emotion, he repeated the

Declaration’s stirring phrases and told his

audience that Jefferson “left us so very, very

much.”

Nominated to serve as secretary of state —

the position Jefferson held in George Wash-

ington’s Cabinet — Powell told a Jan. 17, 2001,

confirmation hearing that he took pride in be-

coming Jefferson’s “admiring successor,”

even as he knew that it had taken “the sacri-

fices made by Dr. [Martin Luther] King and

so many others to make Jefferson’s dream

possible for people like me.”

Powell, in short, had considered Jefferson

in full and reached the conclusion that this

U.S. founder’s achievements were worthy of

celebration even if his transgressions were

unpardonable. The complicated truth about

Jefferson, as Powell understood it, was that

he simultaneously practiced slavery and

planted the ideological seeds of its destruc-

tion.

Now Powell himself belongs to history,

with a complicated record of his own to con-

sider.The country has an opportunity to con-

sider tangible memorials to Powell that

would, by their very existence, reject nega-

tive assessments of his career — and strike a

blow against reductionist historical judg-

ment generally.

Powell passed away just as the work of a

congressionally mandated commission on

rebranding U.S. military bases named for

former Confederate officers was gathering

momentum. Powell would make a particu-

larly fitting new namesake for Fort Benning,

Ga., which, since its hasty establishment dur-

ing World War I, has honored Henry Ben-

ning, a lawyer and enslaver, co-author of Ge-

orgia’s secession ordinance and Confederate

officer who commanded troops against the

Union at Antietam and other battles. After

the war, he represented Ku Klux Klan mem-

bers on trial for murder before an Army mil-

itary commission in Atlanta.

Powell himself started out as a second lieu-

tenant at Fort Benning in 1958, experiencing

Benning’s legacy in the form of Jim Crow re-

strictions at off-base restaurants and lodg-

ings. The contrast between his patriotism

and Benning’s disloyalty could not be stark-

er, or more instructive. Fort Powell would be

the perfect place to commemorate it.

Honor a complicated patriot: Make Fort Powell happenBY CHARLES LANE

The Washington Post

Charles Lane is a Washington Post editorial writer specializingin economic and fiscal policy, and a weekly columnist.

Saturday, October 23, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 17

ACROSS

1 Petrify

6 Bog

11 Shoulder wraps

12 Moving day

rentals

14 Border plants

15 Find hilarious

16 Suitable

17 Doles (out)

19 Kingston Trio hit

20 — gum

(thickener)

22 Bracketed word

23 Pair’s air

24 Binge

26 False rumors

28 Trojans’ sch.

30 Calendar abbr.

31 X-ray alternative

35 Cuts into cubes

39 Scarce

40 Goose egg

42 TV explorer

43 — standstill

44 Suitcase

attachment

46 Some coll.

degrees

47 Insurance type

49 Quagmire

51 Esoteric

52 Barnum’s partner

53 Grinch creator

54 Job openings

DOWN

1 Clog

2 Top billing sharer

3 Flight stat

4 500 sheets

5 Road curves

6 “You betcha

I will!”

7 “— on first?”

8 Bond rating

9 Speak softly

10 Coated, as

with gold

11 Thick carpets

13 Sports figures?

18 Spasm

21 Waste not

23 Goliath’s foe

25 PC key

27 Auction signal

29 Menorah

inserts

31 “The Devil

Wears —”

32 Foodies

33 Stupor

34 Petty peeve

36 Blue hue

37 Deletes

38 Impudent

41 Young sheep

44 Holm and

Fleming

45 Soccer score

48 Greek cross

50 Carnival

city

Answer to Previous Puzzle

Eugene Sheffer CrosswordFra

zz

Dilbert

Pearls B

efo

re S

win

eN

on S

equitur

Candorv

ille

Beetle B

ailey

Biz

arr

oCarp

e D

iem

PAGE 18 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Saturday, October 23, 2021

SCOREBOARD

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Thursday’s scores

SOUTH

FAU 38, Charlotte 9 SOUTHWEST

Louisiana-Lafayette 28, Arkansas St. 27 SMU 55, Tulane 26

FAR WEST

San Jose St. 27, UNLV 20 Schedule

Friday's games

EAST

Columbia (4-1) at Dartmouth (5-0)Middle Tennessee (2-4) at Uconn (1-7)

SOUTH

Memphis (4-3) at UCF (3-3)FAR WEST

Colorado St. (3-3) at Utah St. (4-2)Washington (2-4) at Arizona (0-6)

Saturday’s gamesEAST

Wake Forest (6-0) at Army (4-2) Cincinnati (6-0) at Navy (1-5) Illinois (2-5) at Penn St. (5-1) Bryant (4-3) at Wagner (0-6) Morehead St. (4-2) at Marist (3-2) Duquesne (4-1) at Sacred Heart (4-3) LIU Brooklyn (0-5) at CCSU (1-5) Penn (2-3) at Yale (2-3) Harvard (5-0) at Princeton (5-0) Maine (2-4) at Albany (NY) (0-6) Georgetown (1-4) at Bucknell (1-5) Brown (1-4) at Cornell (1-4) Norfolk St. (4-2) at Howard (2-4) Lehigh (0-6) at Fordham (4-3) NC Central (2-4) at Morgan St. (0-6) SC State (2-4) at Delaware St. (3-3) James Madison (5-1) at Delaware (3-3) Richmond (2-4) at Stony Brook (2-5) Rhode Island (5-1) at Villanova (5-1) Clemson (4-2) at Pittsburgh (5-1) Colgate (2-5) vs. Holy Cross (4-2)

SOUTHUmass (1-5) at Florida St. (2-4) Syracuse (3-4) at Virginia Tech (3-3) New Hampshire (3-3) at Elon (3-3) Incarnate Word (5-1) at McNeese St.

(2-4)San Diego (3-4) at Presbyterian (2-4) Chattanooga (3-3) at Samford (3-3) Robert Morris (2-3) at Gardner-Webb

(2-4)NC A&T (3-3) at Hampton (2-4) BCC (0-7) at Jackson St. (5-1) ETSU (6-1) at Furman (4-2) W. Carolina (0-6) at The Citadel (2-4) Texas State (2-4) at Georgia St. (2-4) Charleston Southern (2-3) at North Ala-

bama (1-6) SE Missouri (2-5) at UT Martin (5-1) Austin Peay (2-4) at Murray St. (3-3) LSU (4-3) at Mississippi (5-1) Towson (3-3) at William & Mary (4-2) Rice (2-4) at UAB (5-2) SE Louisiana (5-1) at Northwestern St.

(1-5)Kennesaw St. (5-1) at Campbell (3-3) Florida A&M (4-2) at MVSU (2-4) Mississippi St. (3-3) at Vanderbilt (2-5) Boston College (4-2) at Louisville (3-3) Wofford (1-5) at Mercer (4-2) UTSA (7-0) at Louisiana Tech (2-4) Prairie View (5-1) at Southern U. (3-3) Temple (3-3) at South Florida (1-5) W. Kentucky (2-4) at FIU (1-5) Tennessee (4-3) at Alabama (6-1) South Alabama (4-2) at La.-Monroe (3-3) Georgia Tech (3-3) at Virginia (5-2) NC State (5-1) at Miami (2-4)

MIDWESTE. Michigan (4-3) at Bowling Green (2-5) N. Illinois (5-2) at Cent. Michigan (4-3) Northwestern (3-3) at Michigan (6-0) Oklahoma (7-0) at Kansas (1-5) Youngstown St. (2-3) at Indiana St. (3-4) Stetson (2-4) at Drake (2-5) Kent St. (3-4) at Ohio (1-6) Dayton (3-3) at Valparaiso (1-5) Davidson (4-1) at Butler (2-5) Illinois St. (2-4) at South Dakota (5-2) Wisconsin (3-3) at Purdue (4-2) Tennessee St. (3-3) at E. Illinois (1-6) W. Illinois (1-6) at North Dakota (2-4) N. Iowa (3-3) at S. Dakota St. (5-1) Oklahoma St. (6-0) at Iowa St. (4-2) Missouri St. (4-2) at N. Dakota St. (6-0) Miami (Ohio) (3-4) at Ball St. (4-3) Buffalo (3-4) at Akron (2-5) W. Michigan (5-2) at Toledo (3-4) Maryland (4-2) at Minnesota (4-2) Southern Cal (3-3) at Notre Dame (5-1) Ohio St. (5-1) at Indiana (2-4)

SOUTHWESTArk.-Pine Bluff (1-5) vs. Arkansas (4-3) at

Little Rock, Ark. Kansas St. (3-3) at Texas Tech (5-2) Jacksonville St. (3-3) at Sam Houston St.

(5-0)Liberty (5-2) at North Texas (1-5) East Carolina (3-3) at Houston (5-1) Midwestern St. (0-0) at Tarleton St. (3-3) Nicholls (2-4) at Houston Baptist (0-6) Cent. Arkansas (2-4) at Lamar (2-4) West Virginia (2-4) at TCU (3-3) South Carolina (4-3) at Texas A&M (5-2) Alcorn St. (4-2) at Texas Southern (2-4)

FAR WESTIdaho St. (1-5) at Montana St. (6-1) BYU (5-2) at Washington St. (4-3) Oregon (5-1) at UCLA (5-2) New Mexico (2-5) at Wyoming (4-2) Colorado (2-4) at California (1-5) Weber St. (2-4) at E. Washington (7-0) Nevada (5-1) at Fresno St. (5-2) San Diego St. (6-0) at Air Force (6-1) Utah (4-2) at Oregon St. (4-2) Montana (4-2) at Idaho (2-4) N. Colorado (2-5) at S. Utah (1-6) UC Davis (6-1) at Cal Poly (1-5) N. Arizona (3-3) at Sacramento St. (4-2) Stephen F. Austin (3-3) at Dixie St. (0-6)

Sunday’s gameFAR WEST

New Mexico St. (1-6) at Hawaii (3-4).

Thursday’s TransactionsBASEBALL

Major League BaseballMLB — Announced it has approved a

roster substitution for Los Angeles Dodg-ers 3B Justin Turner with 3B Andy Burns.

American LeagueBOSTON RED SOX — Reinstated RHP

Phillips Valdez from the COVID-19 list andreassigned to the minor leagues. Desig-nated OF Franchy Cordero for assignment.

NEW YORK YANKEES — Announced firstbase coach and outfield instructor ReggieWillits will be leaving.

National LeagueATLANTA BRAVES — Reassigned OF

Cristian Pache to the minor leagues. Acti-vated OF Jorge Soler from the 10-day IL.

COLORADO ROCKIES — Sent RHP YencyAlmonte, RHP Tommy Doyle, 3B JoshuaFuentes and 2B Rio Ruiz to Alberquerque(Triple-A West).

LOS ANGELES DODGERS — Reassigned3B Justin Turner to the minor leagues. Se-lected the contract of 3B Andy Burns fromOklahoma City (Triple-A West). Designat-ed RHP Edwin Uceta for assignment.

BASKETBALLNational Basketball Association

NBA — Announced New York Knicks F Ju-lius Randle was fined for his actions on Oc-tober 20th at Madison Square Garden.

PHOENIX SUNS — Signed F IshmailWainwright to a two-way contract.

FOOTBALLNational Football League

DENVER BRONCOS — Promoted WR JohnBrown and OLB Pita Taumoepenu from thepractice squad to the active roster.

CINCINNATI BENGALS — Activated RBSamaje Perine from the reserve/COVID-19list.

CLEVELAND BROWNS — Activated WRJarvis Landry from injured reserve. Pro-

moted QB Nick Mullens and CB Herb Millerfrom the practice squad to the active ros-ter.

DALLAS COWBOYS — Signed RB NickRalston to the practice squad.

GREEN BAY PACKERS — Signed LB Whit-ney Mercilus.

HOUSTON TEXANS — Placed DB Ter-rence Brooks on the reserve/COVID-19list. Signed DT Eli Ankou to the practicesquad.

LOS ANGELES CHARGERS — Signed WRAndre Roberts. Waived WR K.J. Hill.

MINNESOTA VIKINGS — Activated DBHarrison Hand from the reserve/COVID-19list.

NEW ORLEANS SAINTS — Designated TENick Vannett, DB Ken Crawley and LBChase Hansen return from injured reserveto practice.

PHILADELPHIA EAGLES — Activated TEDallas Goedert from the reserve/COVID-19list.

TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS — Signed GJohn Molchon to the practice squad. Re-leased WR Travis Jonsen from the practicesquad. Waived OT Brad Seaton from in-jured reserve.

HOCKEYNational Hockey League

CALGARY FLAMES — Sent C Glenn Gaw-din to Stockton (AHL).

DALLAS STARS — Reassigned D DawsonBarteaux, F Yauheni Aksiantsiuk and GAdam Scheel to Idaho (ECHL).

FLORIDA PANTHERS — Recalled D ChasePriske from Charlotte (AHL).

NEW JERSEY DEVILS — Placed C JackHughes on injured reserve. Recalled G Ni-co Daws from Utica (AHL).

SEATTLE KRAKEN — Waived C AlexBarre-Boulet.

VANCOUVER CANUCKS — Sent LW NicPetan to Abbotsford (AHL).

WINNEPEG JETS — Sent C Cole Perfetti toManitoba (AHL).

DEALS

Kremlin Cup

FridayAt Olympic Stadium

MoscowPurse: $697,125

Surface: Hardcourt indoorMen’s SinglesQuarterfinals

Ricardas Berankis, Lithuania, def.Adrian Mannarino, France, 6-2, 7-6 (1).

Women’s SinglesQuarterfinals

Marketa Vondrousova, Czech Republic,def. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Russia,6-4, 6-2.

Ekaterina Alexandrova, Russia, def. Ary-na Sabalenka (1), Belarus, 6-3, 6-4.

European Open

ThursdayAt Lotto Arena

Antwerp, BelgiumPurse: Euro 508,600

Surface: Hardcourt indoor

Men’s SinglesRound of 16

Lloyd Harris (7), South Africa, def. Jan-Lennard Struff, Germany, 6-2, 6-3.

Marton Fucsovics, Hungary, def. Rober-to Bautista Agut (4), Spain, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-1.

Diego Schwartzman (2), Argentina, def.Andy Murray, Britain, 6-4, 7-6 (6).

Brandon Nakashima, United States, def.Henri Laaksonen, Switzerland, 7-6 (5), 6-7(5), 6-3.

Men’s DoublesQuarterfinals

Jean-Julien Rojer and Wesley Koolhof(3), Netherlands, def. Benoit Paire, France,and Lorenzo Musetti, Italy, walkover.

Denys Molchanov, Ukraine, and Alek-sandr Nedovyesov, Kazakhstan, def. Fe-derico Delbonis, Argentina, and David Ve-ga Hernandez, Spain, 6-3, ret.

Nicolas Mahut and Fabrice Martin (2),France, def. Oliver Marach and Philipp Os-wald, Austria, 7-6 (3), 6-4.

Xavier Malisse, Belgium, and Lloyd Har-ris, South Africa, def. Marcelo Melo, Brazil,and Ivan Dodig (1), Croatia, 6-4, 3-6, 10-7.

TENNIS

MLS

Eastern Conference

W L T Pts GF GA

New England 21 4 6 69 62 38

Nashville 11 3 16 49 47 27

Philadelphia 12 8 10 46 42 32

Orlando City 12 8 10 46 43 42

Atlanta 11 9 10 43 40 34

CF Montréal 11 10 9 42 43 40

D.C. United 12 13 5 41 51 44

New York City FC 11 11 8 41 45 34

New York 11 11 7 40 35 30

Columbus 10 12 8 38 37 40

Inter Miami CF 10 15 5 35 28 47

Chicago 8 16 7 31 35 51

Toronto FC 6 17 7 25 34 59

Cincinnati 4 18 8 20 32 59

Western Conference

W L T Pts GF GA

Seattle 17 6 7 58 50 26

Sporting Kansas City 15 7 7 52 52 33

Colorado 14 6 10 52 43 32

Portland 14 12 4 46 48 49

LA Galaxy 13 11 6 45 44 46

Minnesota United 12 10 8 44 35 37

Vancouver 11 9 10 43 40 41

Real Salt Lake 12 11 6 42 48 45

Los Angeles FC 11 12 7 40 46 44

San Jose 9 12 9 36 40 47

Houston 6 13 12 30 35 49

FC Dallas 6 14 10 28 41 50

Austin FC 7 19 4 25 29 49

Note: Three points for victory, one pointfor tie.

Wednesday’s games

Chicago 4, Cincinnati 3 CF Montréal 1, Orlando City 1, tie New York City FC 1, Atlanta 1, tie New England 3, D.C. United 2 Miami 3, Toronto FC 0

Los Angeles FC 3, FC Dallas 2 Minnesota 3, Philadelphia 2 Columbus 1, Nashville 1, tie LA Galaxy 3, Houston 0 Seattle 1, Colorado 1, tie Vancouver 3, Portland 2 San Jose 4, Austin FC 0

Saturday’s games

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

Sunday’s games

Houston at Austin FC New England at Orlando City

NWSL

W L T Pts GF GA

Portland 13 6 4 43 33 17

Reign FC 12 8 3 39 34 24

Washington 10 7 6 36 28 26

Chicago 10 8 5 35 27 28

Gotham FC 8 5 8 32 26 18

Houston 9 9 5 32 31 30

North Carolina 9 9 5 32 28 23

Orlando 7 9 7 28 27 31

Louisville 5 12 5 20 19 38

Kansas City 3 13 6 15 14 32

Note: Three points for victory, one pointfor tie.

Friday’s game

Gotham FC at Kansas City

Thursday, Oct. 28

Gotham FC at Louisville

Friday, Oct. 29

Chicago at Orlando Reign FC at Kansas City

Saturday, Oct. 30

North Carolina at Portland

SOCCER

NFL Injury ReportNEW YORK — The National Football

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

SUNDAYATLANTA FALCONS at MIAMI DOLPHINS

— ATLANTA: DNP: OLB Dante Fowler Jr.(knee). LIMITED: CB Avery Williams(hamstring). FULL: S Jaylinn Hawkins (ill-ness). MIAMI: LIMITED: QB Jacoby Brissett(hamstring), RB Malcolm Brown (ribs), CBXavien Howard (shoulder/groin), G/TAustin Jackson (shoulder), DT John Jen-kins (knees), S Brandon Jones (ankle), CBByron Jones (achilles/groin), C GregMancz (groin), WR DeVante Parker (shoul-der/hamstring), LB Jaelan Phillips (ankle),QB Tua Tagovailoa (ribs), WR Preston Wil-liams (Groin). FULL: LB Elandon Roberts(throat), TE Adam Shaheen (knee).

CAROLINA PANTHERS at NEW YORK GI-ANTS — CAROLINA: DNP: WR TerranceMarshall Jr. (concussion), FB Giovanni Ric-ci (concussion), LB Shaq Thompson (foot).LIMITED: WR Alex Erickson (concussion),LB Frankie Luvu (bicep), T Cam Erving(neck). FULL: CB C.J. Henderson (shoul-der), C Matt Paradis (knee). NEW YORK GI-ANTS: DNP: RB Saquon Barkley (ankle), WRKenny Golladay (knee), WR Kadarius To-ney (ankle), TE Evan Engram (calf). LIMIT-ED: WR John Ross (hamstring), TE KadenSmith (knee), OL Ben Bredeson (hand), DLDanny Shelton (pectoral), WR Darius Slay-ton (hamstring), CB Sam Beal (hamstring),WR Sterling Shepard (hamstring). FULL: LBAzeez Ojulari (NIR-personal matter).

CHICAGO BEARS at TAMPA BAY BUCCA-NEERS — CHICAGO: DNP: WR Jakeem Grant(ankle), DL Akiem Hicks (groin), LB KhalilMack (foot), DB Tashaun Gipson (hip), DLBilal Nichols (knee). LIMITED: LB CalebJohnson (knee), WR Allen Robinson (an-kle), TE J.P. Holtz (quadricep), WR DarnellMooney (groin), DB Duke Shelley (ankle).FULL: TE Jimmy Graham NIR-injury/rest-ing veteran), RB Khalil Herbert (shoulder),DB Xavier Crawford (back). TAMPA BAY:DNP: WR Antonio Brown (ankle), LB La-vonte David (ankle), TE Rob Gronkowski(ribs), DT Steve McLendon (NIR-restingplayer), LB Jason Pierre-Paul (shoulder,hand), CB Richard Sherman (hamstring).LIMITED: TE O.J. Howard (ankle). FULL: RBGiovani Bernard (knee, chest), QB TomBrady (right thumb), K Ryan Succop(back), S Antoine Winfield (concussion).

CINCINNATI BENGALS at BALTIMORERAVENS — CINCINNATI: DNP: CB Jalen Da-vis (ankle), DT Tyler Shelvin (NIR-illness).LIMITED: HB Chris Evans (hamstring), DETrey Hendrickson (shoulder), C Trey Hop-kins (knee), HB Samaje Perine (NIR-rest),DT Josh Tupou (knee). FULL: S Ricardo Al-len (ankle), QB Joe Burrow (throat), G Jack-son Carman (NIR-rest), LS Clark Harris(knee), WR Mike Thomas (ankle). BALTI-MORE: DNP: RB Latavius Murray (ankle),WR Sammy Watkins (thigh), NT BrandonWilliams (NIR-rest). LIMITED: C BradleyBozeman (back), LB Patrick Queen (thigh),T Alejandro Villanueva (knee), CB TavonYoung (knee). FULL: OLB Justin Houston(NIR-rest), CB Jimmy Smith (NIR-rest).

DETROIT LIONS at LOS ANGELES RAMS —DETROIT: LIMITED: RB Jason Cabinda(hip), LB Trey Flowers (knee), TE T.J. Hock-enson (knee), RB D'Andre Swift (groin), DENicholas Williams (knee). FULL: DE Mi-chael Brockers (shoulder), LB Charles Har-ris (hip, oblique), S Will Harris (rib). LOSANGELES RAMS: DNP: OL Brian Allen (ill-ness). LIMITED: RB Sony Michel (shoul-der). FULL: OL Andrew Whitworth (NIR-rest), OLB Terrell Lewis (NIR-rest).

HOUSTON TEXANS at ARIZONA CARDI-NALS — HOUSTON: DNP: DT Ross Blacklock(NIR-personal matter), DT Jaleel Johnson(back), QB Deshaun Watson (NIR-personalmatter). LIMITED: C Justin Britt (knee), WRNico Collins (foot), WR Chris Conley(neck). FULL: WR Danny Amendola (thigh).ARIZONA: DNP: TE Darrell Daniels(hamstring), LB Kylie Fitts (concussion),CB Antonio Hamilton (NIR-resting player),LB Jordan Hicks (toe, ankle), DT RashardLawrence (calf), G Justin Pugh (back). LIM-ITED: T Kelvin Beachum (ribs), LB ZavenCollins (shoulder), RB Chase Edmonds(shoulder), LB Devon Kennard (shoulder),LB Tanner Vallejo (hand). FULL: DT Leki Fo-tu (elbow), LB Dennis Gardeck (hand, el-bow).

INDIANAPOLIS COLTS at SAN FRANCIS-CO 49ERS — INDIANAPOLIS: DNP: S JulianBlackmon (Achilles), TE Jack Doyle (NIR-

resting player), WR T.Y. Hilton (quadri-cep), T Braden Smith (foot, thumb), DE Ke-moko Turay (groin), RB Jordan Wilkins(non-football illness), CB Rock Ya-Sin (an-kle). LIMITED: LB Darius Leonard (ankle,knee), DE Tyquan Lewis (elbow), DE KwityPaye (hamstring), CB Xavier Rhodes (an-kle), S Andrew Sendejo (concussion). SANFRANCISCO: DNP: DT Javon Kinlaw (knee),QB Trey Lance (knee), T Trent Williams(ankle, elbow). LIMITED: QB Jimmy Garop-polo (calf), LB Marcell Harris (thumb), DLMaurice Hurst (calf). FULL: CB K'Waun Wil-liams (calf).

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS at TENNESSEE TI-TANS — KANSAS CITY: DNP: FB MichaelBurton (pectoral), TE Jody Fortson(achilles), WR Tyreek Hill (quadricep), LBAnthony Hitchens (tricep), OL Joe Thuney(hand). LIMITED: DT Chris Jones (hand), TETravis Kelce (neck), S Tyrann Mathieu, CBCharvarius Ward (quadricep). FULL: DTJarran Reed (back), OL Trey Smith (ankle),TE Blake Bell (back), T Orlando Brown(groin), CB CHris Lammons (shin), DT Kha-len Saunders (ankle), CB L'Jarius Sneed(wrist). TENNESSEE: DNP: WR A.J. Brown(illness), RB Derrick Henry (NIR-restingplayer), T Taylor Lewan (concussion), WRChester Rogers (groin). LIMITED: LB BudDupree (knee), CB Chris Jackson (ankle),WR Julio Jones (hamstring), RB JeremyMcNichols (ankle), LB Monty Rice (groin).FULL: RB Khari Blasingame (shoulder), KRandy Bullock (shoulder), G Rodger Saf-fold (shoulder).

NEW YORK JETS at NEW ENGLAND PATRI-OTS — NEW YORK JETS: DNP: TE Tyler Kroft(back), LB C.J. Mosley(hamstring). FULL: SMarcus Maye (ankle), S Adrian Colbert(concussion), DT Nathan Shephard(knee), WR Jeff Smith (Concussion). NEWENGLAND: DNP: DL Davon Godchaux (fin-ger), CB Jonathan Jones (shoulder), CBShaun Wade (concussion). LIMITED: DLChristian Barmore (shoulder), LBJa'Whaun Bentley (ribs), RB Brandon Bol-den (thigh), S Kyle Dugger (knee), K NickFolk (left knee), LB Dant'a Hightower (el-bow/ankle), LB Brandon King (thigh), GShaq Mason (abdomen), DB Jalen Mills(hamstring), DB Adrian Phillips (back), LBJosh Uche (shoulder), LB Kyle Van Noy(groin), DL Deatrich Wise Jr. (knee).

PHILADELPHIA EAGLES at LAS VEGASRAIDERS — PHILADELPHIA: DNP: TE DallasGoedert (illness). LIMITED: LS Rick Lovato(hamstring). FULL: DE Derek Barnett(foot), S Anthony Harris (hands), T LaneJohnson (NIR-resting player), C JasonKelce (NIR-rest/foot). LAS VEGAS: DNP: TENick Bowers (neck), DT Quinton Jefferson(NIR-personal). LIMITED: S Dallin Leavitt(quadricep). FULL: QB Derek Carr (left fin-ger), DE Maxx Crosby (hip), WR Bryan Ed-wards (hamstring), DB Brandon Facyson(hip), DT Johnathan Hankins (hip), LB NickKwiatkoski (toe), T Kolton Miller (pecto-ral), DE Carl Nassib (ribs), DE Yannick Nga-koue (knee), LB Denzel Perryman (thumb),WR Henry Ruggs (knee), G John Simpson(elbow), DT Solomon Thomas (wrist), TEDarren Waller (NIR-rest/knee).

WASHINGTON FOOTBALL TEAM atGREEN BAY PACKERS — WASHINGTON:DNP: T Samuel Cosmi (ankle), WR CurtisSamuel (groin), G Brandon Scherff (knee),WR Cam Sims (hamstring). LIMITED: WRDyami Brown (knee), RB Antonio Gibson(shin), CB William Jackson (knee), WR Ter-ry McLaurin (hamstring), TE Ricky Seals-Jones (quadricep). FULL: DT Jonathan Al-len (knee), T Charles Leno (NIR-restingplayer). GREEN BAY: DNP: T Dennis Kelly(back), C Josh Myers (knee), LB PrestonSmith (oblique). LIMITED: CB Kevin King(shoulder), S Darnell Savage (concus-sion). FULL: WR Equanimeous St. Brown(shoulder).

MONDAYNEW ORLEANS SAINTS at SEATTLE SEA-

HAWKS — NEW ORLEANS: DNP: RB DwayneWashington (neck), WR/RS Deonte Harris(hamstring), QB Taysom Hill (concussion),DL Malcolm Roach (illness), WR Chris Ho-gan (NIR). LIMITED: T Terron Armstead (el-bow), C/G Erik McCoy (calf). FULL: DB Mar-shon Lattimore (hand). SEATTLE: DNP: RBAlex Collins (groin), G Gabe Jackson (NIR-resting veteran), G Damien Lewis (shoul-der), LB Carlos Dunlap (NIR-resting veter-an), T Duane Brown (NIR-resting veteran).LIMITED: T Brandon Shell (ankle), T CedricOgbuehl (biceps), CB Sidney Jones (con-cussion), DE Darrell Taylor (neck), LB Bob-by Wagner (NIR-resting veteran). FULL:WR DK Metcalf (foot), WR Freddie Swain(ribs), T Jamarco Jones (neck), CB TreBrown (knee).

PRO FOOTBALL

ZOZO ChampionshipPGA TourThursday

At Accordia Narashino Country ClubChiba, Japan

Purse: $10 millionYardage: 7,041; Par: 70

Second RoundHideki Matsuyama 64-68—132 -8

Cameron Tringale 67-66—133 -7

Brendan Steele 66-68—134 -6

Matt Wallace 65-69—134 -6

Tommy Fleetwood 67-68—135 -5

Joaquin Niemann 64-71—135 -5

Lanto Griffin 69-67—136 -4

Hiroshi Iwata 63-73—136 -4

Matt Jones 67-69—136 -4

Troy Merritt 68-68—136 -4

Sebastian Munoz 70-66—136 -4

Alex Noren 68-68—136 -4

James Hahn 68-69—137 -3

BMW Ladies ChampionshipLPGA Tour

ThursdayAt LPGA International Busan

Busan, South KoreaPurse: $2 million

Yardage: 6,726; Par: 72Second Round

Na Rin An 64-69—133 -11

Hee Jeong Lim 67-66—133 -11

In Gee Chun 65-69—134 -10

Danielle Kang 66-68—134 -10

Jin Young Ko 71-64—135 -9

Minjee Lee 67-69—136 -8

Hae-Ran Ryu 66-70—136 -8

Moriya Jutanugarn 68-69—137 -7

Ji Hyun Kim 68-69—137 -7

A Lim Kim 66-71—137 -7

Ju Young Pak 65-72—137 -7

Yunji Jeong 68-70—138 -6

Alison Lee 67-71—138 -6

GOLF

Saturday, October 23, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 19

NBA/SPORTS BRIEFS

Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division

W L Pct GB

New York 1 01.000 —

Philadelphia 1 01.000 —

Boston 0 1 .000 1

Toronto 0 1 .000 1

Brooklyn 0 1 .000 1

Southeast Division

W L Pct GB

Miami 1 01.000 —

Washington 1 01.000 —

Charlotte 1 01.000 —

Atlanta 1 01.000 —

Orlando 0 1 .000 1

Central Division

W L Pct GB

Chicago 1 01.000 —

Milwaukee 1 1 .500 ½

Indiana 0 1 .000 1

Detroit 0 1 .000 1

Cleveland 0 1 .000 1

Western Conference

Southwest Division

W L Pct GB

San Antonio 1 01.000 —

Memphis 1 01.000 —

Houston 0 1 .000 1

New Orleans 0 1 .000 1

Dallas 0 1 .000 1

Northwest Division

W L Pct GB

Utah 1 01.000 —

Minnesota 1 01.000 —

Denver 1 01.000 —

Portland 0 1 .000 1

Oklahoma City 0 1 .000 1

Pacific Division

W L Pct GB

Golden State 2 01.000 —

Sacramento 1 01.000 ½

L.A. Clippers 0 1 .000 1½

L.A. Lakers 0 1 .000 1½

Phoenix 0 1 .000 1½

Wednesday’s games

Chicago 94, Detroit 88 Charlotte 123, Indiana 122 Washington 98, Toronto 83 Philadelphia 117, New Orleans 97 Memphis 132, Cleveland 121 Minnesota 124, Houston 106 New York 138, Boston 134, 2OT San Antonio 123, Orlando 97 Utah 107, Oklahoma City 86 Denver 110, Phoenix 98 Sacramento 124, Portland 121

Thursday’s games

Atlanta 113, Dallas 87 Miami 137, Milwaukee 95 Golden State 115, L.A. Clippers 113

Friday’s games

Charlotte at Cleveland Indiana at Washington New York at Orlando Brooklyn at Philadelphia Toronto at Boston New Orleans at Chicago Oklahoma City at Houston San Antonio at Denver Phoenix at L.A. Lakers Utah at Sacramento

Saturday’s games

Atlanta at Cleveland Miami at Indiana Dallas at Toronto Detroit at Chicago New Orleans at Minnesota Milwaukee at San Antonio Phoenix at Portland Memphis at L.A. Clippers

Sunday’s games

Charlotte at Brooklyn Boston at Houston Orlando at New York Philadelphia at Oklahoma City Golden State at Sacramento Memphis at L.A. Lakers

Scoring leadersThrough Thursday

G FG FT PTS AVG

Brown, BOS 1 16 6 46 46.0

Morant, MEM 1 17 2 37 37.0

Barnes, SAC 1 10 8 36 36.0

Randle, NY 1 12 8 35 35.0

LaVine, CHI 1 11 11 34 34.0

James, LAL 1 13 3 34 34.0

McCollum, POR 1 14 0 34 34.0

Sabonis, IND 1 13 3 33 33.0

Curry, GS 2 21 14 66 33.0

Davis, LAL 1 15 2 33 33.0

Fournier, NY 1 13 0 32 32.0

NBA scoreboard

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — The

U.S. women’s national team had

its 22-match winning streak on

home soil snapped Thursday night

in a scoreless draw against a sur-

prisingly resilient South Korean

team.

The Americans were one win

away from matching the longest

home streak in team history, set

from April 1993 to February 1996.,

The U.S. is still unbeaten in 61

matches at home, which includes

55 wins and six draws. It was the

first time in 60 games on home soil

that the team failed to score.

U.S. rowing coach Teti

steps down from jobOAKLAND, Calif. — Longtime

U.S. rowing coach Mike Teti, who

has been criticized by some of his

former athletes as being emotion-

ally abusive and using physical in-

timidation, has resigned but im-

mediately accepted a position

funded by a large donor leading a

new high-performance training

club that still has ties to the nation-

al program.

Congress wants WFT

investigation documentsA Congressional committee is

seeking documents and informa-

tion from the NFL regarding the

investigation into the Washington

Football Team and how the league

handled it.

The House Committee on Over-

sight and Reform said Thursday it

sent a letter to Commissioner Rog-

er Goodell requesting by Nov. 4 all

documents and communication

about the probe into the work-

place culture at the Washington

Football Team.

COLIN E. BRALEY/AP

United States forward AlexMorgan, left, and South Koreamidfielder Park Yeeun head theball during the teams’ 0­0 tieThursday in Kansas City, Kan.

US womentie S. Korea,snap homewin streak

Associated Press

BRIEFLY

SAN FRANCISCO — Stephen

Curry raised his arms, waved to

acknowledge the adoring fans as

shot after shot dropped through

the net and screamed in celebra-

tion — no trash about it.

Curry hit a go-ahead three-

pointer with 56.8 seconds remain-

ing to follow up a 30-footer less

than a minute earlier, and he rel-

ished every bit of his 45-point

home opener that lifted the Gold-

en State Warriors over the Los An-

geles Clippers 115-113 on Thurs-

day night.

Curry bounced back from a sub-

par outing in the season opener by

his high standards.

“I never worry about my shot.

Ever,” he said.

The reigning NBA scoring

champion even secured a key re-

bound with 36 seconds left before

calmly converting a pair of free

throws with less than 5 seconds

left, scoring eight points over the

final 1:54.

Fans cheered Curry well after

the game ended until he finally

disappeared down the tunnel.

“Steph Curry was just Steph

Curry, there’s never been any-

body like him,” coach Steve Kerr

said. “Those last two threes were

ridiculous. ... I’m still blown

away.”

Chants of “MVP!” began late in

the first quarter, and by the time

the buzzer sounded to finish the

initial period, Curry already had

topped his total from two nights

earlier with 25 points on 9-of-9

shooting and five three-pointers

as Golden State built a 44-27 lead.

Heat  137,  Bucks  95: Tyler

Herro scored 27 points in 24 min-

utes off the bench, Jimmy Butler

added 21 and host Miami opened

the season with an easy victory

over NBA champion Milwaukee.

Bam Adebayo had 20 points and

13 rebounds for the Heat, who set

team records for opening night

scoring and opening night margin

of victory. It was nearly the big-

gest margin of victory in any game

— falling just short of a 43-point

win over the Los Angeles Clippers

in 1994.

The previous team record for

points in an opener was 128 points

against Detroit in 1999, and the

biggest margin of victory was 26

points over Orlando in 2000.

Giannis Antetokounmpo scored

15 points and Grayson Allen added

14 for the Bucks Olympic gold

medalist Khris Middleton had 10

points on 4-for-14 shooting for Mil-

waukee, which was without,

among others, Jrue Holiday (right

heel), Brook Lopez (back) and

Bobby Portis (left hamstring).

Miami outrebounded the Bucks

58-38.

Hawks  113,  Mavericks  87:

Cam Reddish scored 20 points,

Trae Young added 19 and Atlanta

began a season of high expecta-

tions with a rout of Luka Doncic

and visiting Dallas ruining the de-

but of coach Jason Kidd.

Coming off a surprising run to

the Eastern Conference final, the

Hawks took control of the game

with a dominant third quarter,

stretching a 51-44 halftime lead to

86-64 heading to the fourth.

After a sluggish start, Young

scored 12 points and dished out

nine assists in the decisive period.

TONY AVELAR/AP

Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry had 45 points, including eight three­pointers, in a 115­113win over the visiting Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday in San Francisco.

Curry scores 45 points,Warriors hold off Clippers

Associated Press

ROUNDUP

MICHAEL LAUGHLIN/Miami Sun Sentinel

Heat forward Bam Adebayo dives for the ball in front of the MilwaukeeBucks’ Khris Middleton on Thursday in Miami.

PAGE 20 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Saturday, October 23, 2021

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

The last three weeks have fea-

tured a team ranked in the top

three of the AP college football

poll losing to an unranked team.

That streak will be tough to ex-

tend in Week 8.

No. 1 Georgia is off, No. 2 Cincin-

nati is a four-touchdown favorite

at Navy and No. 3 Oklahoma is fa-

vored by more than five touch-

downs against Kansas.

No. 4 Alabama and No. 5 Ohio

State are also big favorites so may-

be this is the weekend things calm

down a bit after 47 ranked teams

have lost through the first seven

weeks of the season.

Best gameNo. 10 Oregon at UCLA: The

Ducks have made a solid case as

the Pac-12’s best team. No other

team in the conference is ranked.

The Bruins were in the rankings

for a few weeks after beating LSU

early in the season, but losses to

Fresno State and Arizona State

have tamped down the enthusi-

asm for Chip Kelly’s team.

Still, the Bruins (5-2) are in the

thick of the South Division race.

Lots of layers here with Kelly

facing his old team for the third

time, looking for his first victory.

A loss for the Bruins raises ques-

tions about just how much pro-

gress Kelly has made at UCLA in

year four.

A loss for Oregon (5-1) gives

back most of the credibility the

Ducks gained by winning at Ohio

State and sets up the Pac-12 for yet

another season without a playoff

participant.

Heisman watchKenny Pickett, QB, Pittsburgh:

The fifth-year senior is putting up

Dan Marino-type numbers with 21

touchdown passes in six games for

the No. 23 Panthers (5-1), who face

Clemson at home on Saturday.

At a time when the top players

rarely get to senior year, having a

Heisman contender who has been

in college long enough to be near-

ing tenure is weird and also kind of

refreshing.

Pickett will have a tough time

keeping up with the quarterbacks

from the CFP contending teams

down the stretch of the season —

unless he can turn Pitt into a con-

tender.

Clemson (4-2) is having all sorts

of problems scoring, but the Ti-

gers’ defense has been about as

good as any outside Athens, Ga.

If Pickett can deliver in this

spot, it’s time to start taking him

seriously as a Heisman contender.

Numbers to know7 — Average margin of victory

for No. 8 Oklahoma State (6-0).

The Cowboys’ largest margin is 11

points and they have won four

one-possession games. Oklahoma

State goes to Iowa State for a game

that could put the Cowboys in a

commanding position for a spot in

the Big 12 title game.

7­3 — No. 13 Notre Dame’s re-

cord against Southern California

in the last 10 meetings. The long-

time rivals did not play in last sea-

son’s pandemic-altered schedule.

It was the first season without a

Notre Dame-USC game since they

went three straight without a

meeting from 1943-45.

14 — Points per game allowed

by No. 25 Purdue (4-2), more than

half as many as the Boilermakers

have allowed per game over the

last three seasons. Purdue plays

its first game as a ranked team

since 2007 at home against Wis-

consin.

26 — Consecutive victories by

No. 5 Ohio State against Indiana.

The Hoosiers host the Buckeyes

on Saturday night.

101 — Points scored in last sea-

son’s game between Mississippi

and LSU. The Tigers won 53-48 in

Baton Rouge in the highest scor-

ing game in the history of a series

that dates back to 1894. This will

be the first game for LSU since it

was announced that coach Ed Or-

geron is not returning next season.

Chip vs. Oregon; Pickett’s Heisman chargeBY RALPH D. RUSSO

Associated Press

MATT GENTRY/AP

Pittsburgh quarterback Kenny Pickett has 21 touchdown passes in six games to become an early Heismanfavorite. His No. 23 Panthers will host Clemson on Saturday.

WEEKEND PREVIEW

Cincinnati coach Luke Fickell’s

unbeaten Bearcats handled their

first two conference tests with

ease.

Up next is Navy — and although

the Midshipmen aren’t having a

good season, they always present

some challenges for whoever is

preparing to face them.

“Now we get a chance to really

kind of move on to something com-

pletely different,” Fickell said.

“For those of you that have never

prepared for a triple-option team,

it is quite a unique week.”

It’s unique for a variety of rea-

sons. Cincinnati moved up to No. 2

in The Associated Press Top 25

poll Sunday, its best ranking ever

and the first time in more than a

decade that a team from outside

the traditional power conferences

has been that high. Now the Bear-

cats play at Navy on Saturday. It’s

the first time the Midshipmen are

hosting a top-five team since 1984.

“The last three years or so

they’ve been the pinnacle of our

league,” Navy coach Ken Niuma-

talolo said. “It’s a great opportuni-

ty to play against the No. 2 team in

the country coming to our house.

We recognize that.”

The stakes for Cincinnati (6-0,

2-0 American Athletic Confer-

ence) have been clear for a while

— at least since the Bearcats won

at Notre Dame earlier this month.

Keep winning, and an unbeaten

record could lead to a spot in the

College Football Playoff. Cincin-

nati can’t afford a slip-up, and

there’s pressure to win as impres-

sively as possible.

Lately, the Bearcats have done

just that. After the Notre Dame

game, they beat Temple 52-3, then

routed Central Florida and new

coach Gus Malzahn 56-21. Mal-

zahn made a name for himself via

his hurry-up offense. Cincinnati’s

next opponent obviously has a

much different approach.

The Midshipmen (1-5, 1-3) did

beat UCF as well, and they lost by

seven the following week to a na-

tionally ranked SMU team. Navy

lost 35-17 to Memphis last week.

Moving upThe Bearcats have never been

higher than No. 4 in the AP poll un-

til this season. They moved up to

No. 3 last week and then took ad-

vantage of second-ranked Iowa’s

loss.

“It’s obviously exciting, big

time for the university, big time

for the city,” quarterback Des-

mond Ridder said. “But for us,

we’ve just got to keep going week

by week.”

A good sign for Navy?The last time the Midshipmen

hosted a top-five team, No. 2 South

Carolina came in undefeated and

lost to Navy in 1984. The Midship-

men had a losing record before

that game as well.

Good sign for Cincinnati?In 1976, No. 2 Pittsburgh came

to play at Navy with a 6-0 record,

the same as Cincinnati now. The

Midshipmen were 1-5, same as

this year. Pitt won 45-0 and stayed

unbeaten the whole season, beat-

ing Georgia in the Sugar Bowl.

Making more historyCincinnati has scored 50 points

in back-to-back games for the first

time.

“Watching a little bit of Cincin-

nati’s film, they’re well rounded,”

Navy receiver Mychal Cooper

said.

AARON DOSTER/AP

Cincinnati’s Desmond Ridder has thrown for 1,444 yards and 13touchdowns and has a 159.6 quarterback rating.

Unbeaten Bearcats put No. 2ranking on the line at Navy

BY NOAH TRISTER

Associated Press

Saturday, October 23, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 21

COLLEGE FOOTBALL/NFL

DALLAS — SMU coach Sonny

Dykes saw the best first half of the

season from his team, which made

it easier to excuse a drop-off after

halftime.

Tanner Mordecai threw three

touchdown passes to push his na-

tion-leading total to 29, ran for an-

other score and the No. 21 Mus-

tangs dominated the opening half

in a 55-26 victory over Tulane on

Thursday night.

SMU (7-0, 3-0 American Athlet-

ic) is a victory away from its sec-

ond 8-0 start in the past three sea-

sons as it gets ready to play three

of the next four games on the road

in a stretch that ends with a trip to

No. 2 Cincinnati.

“You’ve got to go play well when

you have the national stage,”

Dykes said. “We don’t get it very

often. I thought our guys were ex-

cited about the opportunity and

took advantage of it certainly in

the first half. Second half wasn’t as

good.”

Mordecai had 300 of his career-

high 427 yards at halftime, capped

by a 22-yard toss to Reggie Rober-

son Jr. for a 31-7 lead 53 seconds

before the break. The Oklahoma

transfer’s 3-yard scoring run on a

bootleg off a fake pitch fooled the

entire Green Wave defense early.

“Overall just poor execution on

the defensive side of the ball,” Tu-

lane linebacker Nick Anderson

said. “Many times we had them

third-and-long and just didn’t exe-

cute the right calls to get off the

field.”

Second-year freshman Michael

Pratt tied a career high with three

touchdown passes to give him at

least one in all 17 of his games, but

the early deficit was too big in a

fifth consecutive loss for the

Green Wave (1-6, 0-3), which was

displaced by Hurricane Ida early

in the season.

Pratt exited the game midway

through the fourth quarter after

getting hit while sliding at the end

of a scramble. Mustangs lineback-

er Gary Wiley was penalized for a

late hit after a targeting call was

overturned. Freshman Kai Hor-

ton took over and later threw an

interception.

“I thought those guys played

hard all the way through the

game,” Dykes said. “That’s hard

to do when those guys have been

through what they’ve been

through this year. I know it’s been

a tough year for them.”

With lead running back Ulysses

Bentley IV limited again by an an-

kle injury, SMU’s Tre Siggers had

81 yards rushing and two touch-

downs, including a 1-yard score

that was initially ruled short of the

goal line but reversed on replay.

Bentley had one early catch for 6

yards.

Danny Gray had eight catches

for a career-high 140 yards, the

biggest a 43-yarder on third-

and-14 from the Mustangs’ 18-

yard line with Tulane building

momentum in the third quarter.

SMU keeps moving: Mordecai,

who entered the game tied with

Western Kentucky’s Bailey Zappe

for the national lead at 26 TD pas-

ses, was 30 of 42 without an inter-

ception as the Mustangs finished

with a season-high 612 yards total

offense, 400 before halftime.

Grant Calcaterra, another Okla-

homa transfer who helped Morde-

cai decide to come to SMU, had

seven receptions for 90 yards. Fel-

low tight end Tommy McIntyre

had a 24-yard scoring catch.

Poll  implications: The Mus-

tangs’ seventh consecutive win

over the Green Wave was the sixth

under Tulane coach Willie Fritz,

but the previous five were by an

average of just 4.2 points. The

Green Wave wasn’t that close af-

ter the 6:08 mark of the first quar-

ter. Still, the sluggish start to the

second half might keep SMU from

moving up much.

MICHAEL AINSWORTH/AP

SMU quarterback Tanner Mordecai evades Tulane defenders duringthe second half of Thursday’s game in Dallas. 

Mordecai’s 4 TDs leadNo. 21 SMU past Tulane

Associated Press

CLEVELAND — Baker May-

field had the best seat in the

house to watch the Browns’ back-

ups deliver.

Case Keenum stepped in for an

injured Mayfield and made the

most of his first start in two years,

third-string back D’Ernest John-

son rushed for 146 yards and Cle-

veland overcame a short week

and a long list of injuries to beat

the Denver Broncos 17-14 on

Thursday night.

Keenum didn’t put up impres-

sive stats (21 of 33 for 199 yards),

but threw a touchdown pass and

did enough — as did the Browns’

maligned defense — to get Cleve-

land (4-3) a much-needed victo-

ry.

They survived without May-

field, who sat out with a shoulder

injury and could miss more time.

“Unfortunately, some people

are going to get hurt,” Keenum

said after his first win since 2019.

“At the same time, you love other

young guys getting chances.”

Johnson, playing because stars

Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt

were both out with calf injuries,

had the best game of his young

career. He scored on a 4-yard run

in the first half and picked up 52

yards on seven carries as the

Browns chewed up the final 5:17

after the Broncos pulled within

three.

Once he reached the end zone,

Johnson wasn’t sure how to react.

“It’s unexplainable,” he said. “I

wanted to celebrate but I didn’t

know what to do. It’s been a long

journey.”

Denver couldn’t stop Johnson

and now it can’t stop losing, ei-

ther.

“The last drive was very frus-

trating,” Broncos coach Vic Fan-

gio said. “We loaded up against

the run and we couldn’t stop

them.”

Afterward, Johnson, who

worked on a fishing boat when he

wasn’t drafted, got doused with

water by his teammates in a rau-

cous locker room celebration.

Johnson couldn’t believe that

NBA superstar LeBron James

tweeted about him in the game’s

final minutes.

“LeBron?” he said. “Man, that’s

my favorite basketball player.

LeBron? That’s amazing. That

means a lot. Wow!”

Denver quarterback Teddy

Bridgewater threw a pair of TD

passes and gutted it out while

playing with foot and quadriceps

injuries. He finished 23 of 33 for

187 yards with one interception.

The Broncos (3-4) dropped

their fourth straight game, and

maybe as importantly, lost star li-

nebacker Von Miller to a

sprained ankle. The eight-time

Pro Bowler missed all of 2020

with a dislodged ankle tendon.

Miller got hurt late in the first

half when he banged legs with

teammate Dre’Mont Jones while

rushing Keenum.

PHOTOS BY DAVID RICHARD/AP

Cleveland quarterback Case Keenum celebrates after the Brownsdefeated the Denver Broncos 17­14 on Thursday in Cleveland.

Backups Keenum,Johnson help Brownstop skidding Broncos

Broncos linebacker Von Millerwalks off the field after an injuryduring the first half on Thursday. 

BY TOM WITHERS

Associated Press

AMERICAN CONFERENCE

East

W L T Pct PF PA

Buffalo 4 2 0 .667 203 98

New England 2 4 0 .333 125 127

N.Y. Jets 1 4 0 .200 67 121

Miami 1 5 0 .167 99 177

South

W L T Pct PF PA

Tennessee 4 2 0 .667 166 161

Indianapolis 2 4 0 .333 139 131

Houston 1 5 0 .167 92 172

Jacksonville 1 5 0 .167 116 172

North

W L T Pct PF PA

Baltimore 5 1 0 .833 170 123

Cincinnati 4 2 0 .667 148 111

Cleveland 4 3 0 .571 173 165

Pittsburgh 3 3 0 .500 117 132

West

W L T Pct PF PA

L.A. Chargers 4 2 0 .667 148 150

Las Vegas 4 2 0 .667 147 144

Kansas City 3 3 0 .500 185 176

Denver 3 4 0 .429 140 127

NATIONAL CONFERENCE

East

W L T Pct PF PA

Dallas 5 1 0 .833 205 146

Philadelphia 2 4 0 .333 137 152

Washington 2 4 0 .333 136 186

N.Y. Giants 1 5 0 .167 114 177

South

W L T Pct PF PA

Tampa Bay 5 1 0 .833 195 144

New Orleans 3 2 0 .600 127 91

Carolina 3 3 0 .500 143 121

Atlanta 2 3 0 .400 105 148

North

W L T Pct PF PA

Green Bay 5 1 0 .833 144 136

Chicago 3 3 0 .500 98 124

Minnesota 3 3 0 .500 147 137

Detroit 0 6 0 .000 109 172

West

W L T Pct PF PA

Arizona 6 0 0 1.000 194 109

L.A. Rams 5 1 0 .833 179 127

San Francisco 2 3 0 .400 117 119

Seattle 2 4 0 .333 140 149

Thursday’s game

Cleveland 17, Denver 14

Sunday’s games

Atlanta at Miami Carolina at N.Y. Giants Cincinnati at Baltimore Kansas City at Tennessee N.Y. Jets at New England Washington at Green Bay Detroit at L.A. Rams Philadelphia at Las Vegas Chicago at Tampa Bay Houston at Arizona Indianapolis at San Francisco Open: Buffalo, Jacksonville, L.A. Char-

gers, Pittsburgh, Dallas, Minnesota

Monday’s game

New Orleans at Seattle

NFL scoreboard

PAGE 22 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Saturday, October 23, 2021

NHL

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Connor

McDavid and Leon Draisatl came

up together through the Edmonton

Oilers’ system, putting up prodi-

gious numbers nearly side by side.

The friends have continued the

success in the NHL, so it seemed

fitting they reached the same mile-

stone only days apart.

McDavid scored twice to eclipse

200 career goals two nights after

Draisatl, and the Oilers remained

undefeated with a 5-1 victory over

the winless Arizona Coyotes on

Thursday night.

McDavid scored in the second

period to hit the 200-goal mark and

scored his sixth goal in four games

in the third. He also joined Wayne

Gretzky as the only Edmonton

players to have multiple points in

the first four games of a season.

“To be going through this whole

thing together, it’s fun,” said

McDavid, who has 11 points. “It’s

special to be a part of that. We’ve

grown very close, and it’s fun on

and off the ice with him.”

Edmonton was sharp in its first

regular-season game in the U.S.

since March 5, 2020, due to the

pandemic, scoring at least five

goals for the third straight game.

Mikko Koskinen had 25 saves in

his first start since Mike Smith

went on injured reserve with a low-

er-body injury. Zach Hyman had

short-handed and power-play

goals in the same game for the first

time in his career. Warren Foegele

also scored for the Oilers.

“We’ve been getting contribu-

tions throughout the lineup a little

more than last year, so we’re off to a

decent start, but we’ve got a lot of

work to do yet,” Edmonton coach

Dave Tippett said.

So does Arizona.

The Coyotes had a strong first

period despite giving up a late goal

but were on their heels after Hy-

man scored his short-handed goal

in the second period.

Oilers’ McDavid tops 200 goalsEdmonton captain scores

twice in win over Arizona

BY JOHN MARSHALL

Associated Press

ROSS D. FRANKLIN/AP

Edmonton Oilers center Derek Ryan (10) and Arizona Coyotes center Travis Boyd (72) tangle after a faceoff during the Oilers’ 5­1 win Thursday in Glendale, Ariz.

MONTREAL — Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored

his first goal for the Carolina Hurricanes in his re-

turn Thursday to Montreal, helping them beat the

winless Canadiens, 4-1.

The 21-year-old Kotkaniemi left Montreal for

Carolina over the summer after signing a $6.1

million offer sheet. The Finn was booed every

time he touched the ice, let alone the puck.

With 10:37 to go, Kotkaniemi tipped in a shot

from Brady Skjei to restore the Canes’ two-goal

lead.

Sebastian Aho had two goals and an assist, An-

drei Svechnikov also scored and Vincent Tro-

check and Teuvo Teravainen each had two as-

sists.

Frederik Andersen made 27 saves, allowing

only Tyler Toffoli’s goal.

Jake Allen made 29 saves as the Canadiens

dropped to 0-5-0 after reaching the Stanley Cup

Finals last season.

Sharks 2, Senators 1:Logan Couture and Ke-

vin Labanc scored in the second period and

James Reimer made 30 saves in San Jose’s victo-

ry at Ottawa.

The Sharks improved to 3-0-0. They have out-

scored opponents 11-4.

Drake Batherson scored for the Senators.

Brady Tkachuk and goaltender Matt Murray

made their season debut for Ottawa. Tkachuk,

who signed a new contract last week, assisted on

Batherson’s goal. Murray made 22 saves after

missing the first three games with the flu.

Capitals 4, Devils 1: Daniel Sprong set up

Washington’s first goal and scored on a second-

period breakaway in a victory at New Jersey.

Anthony Mantha, Dmitry Orlov and Evgeny

Kuznetsov also scored to help the Capitals im-

prove to 3-0-1 and drop the Devils to 2-1-0. Alex

Ovechkin had his three-game goals streak

snapped but had two assists.

Vitek Vanecek had 25 saves for Washington,

losing his shutout bid on Janne Kuokkanen’s

power-play goal with 6:42 to play.

Blue Jackets 3, Islanders 2 (OT):Patrik Laine

scored at 1:49 of overtime to lift host Columbus

past New York.

Laine’s wrist shot from the left circle sent him

tumbling to the ice and beat Ilya Sorokin. Elvis

Merzlikins made 28 saves as the Blue Jackets im-

proved to 3-1. Mathew Barzal scored early in the

third period for the Islanders to tie it after Colum-

bus tallied twice in 33 seconds to end the second.

Rangers 3, Predators 1: Alexis Lafrenière

scored with 9:07 remaining in the third period to

lift New York to a win at Nashville.

Filip Chytil and Barclay Goodrow also scored

and Igor Shesterkin made 28 saves for the Rang-

ers, winners of three straight.

Canucks 4, Blackhawks 1: Jason Dickinson,

Tanner Pearson and Brock Boeser scored their

first goals of the season to help Vancouver win at

winless Chicago.

Thatcher Demko made 29 saves, and Conor

Garland added an empty-netter for the Canucks

int he fifth game of a six-game trip, their longest to

start a season in team history.

Jets 5, Ducks 1: Kyle Connor scored twice and

added an assist with regular linemates Blake

Wheeler and Mark Scheifele in COVID-19 proto-

col and host Winnipeg beat Anaheim for its first

victory of the season.

Playing on a line with Pierre-Luc Dubois and

Evgeny Svechnikov, Connor scored his first goal

into an empty net with 2:49 left, then beat goalie

John Gibson with 1:14 to go to cap the scoring.

Flames 3, Red Wings 0: Jacob Markstrom

made 33 saves for his ninth career NHL shutout

in Calgary’s victory at Detroit.

Kotkaniemi helps lead Canes past Canadiens

PAUL CHIASSON/AP

Carolina Hurricanes’ Jesperi Kotkaniemi,center, celebrates his goal Thursday in a 4­1win against the Montreal Canadiens withBrady Skjei, Sebastian Aho, TeuvoTeravainen and Brett Pesce, from left.

Associated Press

ROUNDUP

Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division

GP W L OT Pts GF GA

Florida 4 4 0 0 8 18 14

Buffalo 3 3 0 0 6 12 12

Toronto 4 2 1 1 5 8 6

Detroit 4 2 1 1 5 13 13

Ottawa 4 2 2 0 4 8 7

Tampa Bay 4 2 2 0 4 12 3

Boston 2 1 1 0 2 6 3

Montreal 5 0 5 0 0 4 2

Metropolitan Division

GP W L OT Pts GF GA

Washington 4 3 0 1 7 16 12

N.Y. Rangers 5 3 1 1 7 11 2

Carolina 3 3 0 0 6 13 6

Pittsburgh 4 2 0 2 6 16 6

Columbus 4 3 1 0 6 14 13

Philadelphia 3 2 0 1 5 16 16

New Jersey 3 2 1 0 4 9 9

N.Y. Islan-ders

4 1 2 1 3 10 0

Western Conference

Central Division

GP W L OT Pts GF GA

St. Louis 3 3 0 0 6 15 0

Minnesota 3 3 0 0 6 11 6

Dallas 4 2 2 0 4 8 0

Winnipeg 4 1 2 1 3 14 5

Nashville 4 1 3 0 2 8 8

Colorado 4 1 3 0 2 11 7

Arizona 4 0 3 1 1 8 5

Chicago 5 0 4 1 1 9 2

Pacific Division

GP W L OT Pts GF GA

Edmonton 4 4 0 0 8 19 14

San Jose 3 3 0 0 6 11 4

Vancouver 5 2 2 1 5 14 0

Anaheim 5 2 3 0 4 14 5

Calgary 3 1 1 1 3 7 2

Seattle 5 1 3 1 3 11 0

Los Angeles 3 1 2 0 2 9 8

Vegas 3 1 2 0 2 7 5

Thursday’s games

Columbus 3, N.Y. Islanders 2, OT Washington 4, New Jersey 1 Carolina 4, Montreal 1 San Jose 2, Ottawa 1 Florida 4, Colorado 1 Calgary 3, Detroit 0 Winnipeg 5, Anaheim 1 N.Y. Rangers 3, Nashville 1 Vancouver 4, Chicago 1 Edmonton 5, Arizona 1

Friday’s games

San Jose at Toronto Boston at Buffalo Los Angeles at Dallas Edmonton at Vegas

Saturday’s games

Calgary at Washington N.Y. Rangers at Ottawa Anaheim at Minnesota Buffalo at New Jersey Carolina at Columbus Colorado at Tampa Bay Detroit at Montreal Florida at Philadelphia Nashville at Winnipeg Toronto at Pittsburgh Los Angeles at St. Louis N.Y. Islanders at Arizona Vancouver at Seattle

Sunday’s games

San Jose at Boston Nashville at Minnesota Detroit at Chicago N.Y. Islanders at Vegas

Monday’s games

Arizona at Florida Calgary at N.Y. Rangers Dallas at Columbus Tampa Bay at Buffalo Toronto at Carolina Washington at Ottawa Los Angeles at St. Louis

Scoring leadersThrough Thursday

GP G A PTS

Leon Draisaitl, EDM 3 2 6 8

Connor McDavid, EDM 3 4 4 8

Anze Kopitar, LA 3 5 3 8

Drew Doughty, LA 3 1 6 7

Jordan Kyrou, STL 3 2 5 7

Steven Stamkos, TB 4 3 4 7

Victor Hedman, TB 4 0 6 6

Jakob Silfverberg, ANA 4 1 5 6

Jesse Puljujarvi, EDM 3 2 4 6

Evgeny Kuznetsov, WSH 3 2 4 6

Joel Farabee, PHI 3 3 3 6

Alex Ovechkin, WSH 3 4 2 6

Tyler Bertuzzi, DET 3 5 1 6

Scoreboard

Saturday, October 23, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 23

MLB PLAYOFFS

taking a curtain call in the dugout.

“I  never  look  cool  doing  any­

thing,” Taylor said.

The versatile veteran had an op­

portunity  to  match  the  major

league mark of four home runs in a

game, but struck out swinging to

end the eighth.

“I was trying not to think about

it,” Taylor said. “Usually I’m just

trying to hit line drives.”

Taylor also hit a game­winning

homer in the bottom of the ninth

inning against St. Louis in the NL

wild­card  game  for  the  106­win

Dodgers.

“He’s just super calm and he’s

so consistent for us,” Pollock said.

“Maybe  the  three  home  runs

might have spiked his adrenaline,

but probably not.”

Albert  Pujols  wasn’t  just  hug­

ging, he was hitting, too.

The 41­year­old slugger got on

base three times, including a walk,

and  scored  twice  on  Taylor’s

homers. He got two singles for his

third and fourth hits of the post­

season in his second start. He had

two hits in the NL Division Series

against San Francisco.

Pujols has taken to greeting his

younger  teammates  with  bear

hugs  in  the  dugout  after  home

runs, and they kept him busy.

The three­time MVP is among

the 11 players with a three­homer

game in the postseason. Ruth ac­

complished the feat twice in the

World Series.

“Watching Chris doing  that,  it

was pretty special,” Pujols said. “I

was actually rooting for four, but

he ended up striking out. But he

did a heck of a job out there.”

Los  Angeles  got  a  clutch  per­

formance from its bullpen, too, af­

ter  opener  Joe  Kelly  allowed  a

two­run homer  to Freddie Free­

man in the first and soon exited af­

ter 28 pitches with tightness in his

right biceps that will sideline him

for the rest of the postseason. 

Evan Phillips, Alex Vesia, Brus­

dar Graterol, Blake Treinen, Co­

rey  Knebel  and  Kenley  Jansen

combined to allow just three hits

the rest of the way. 

Phillips struck out three in 1 1⁄�3

innings and picked up the win. 

Atlanta’s  Eddie  Rosario,  who

homered twice in his second four­

hit game of the NLCS in Game 4,

went 2­for­4 with a strikeout.

Taylor set a Dodgers postseason

record  with  13  total  bases,  the

most by any major leaguer in an

elimination game. He became the

first player to hit three homers in a

postseason game for a team facing

elimination.

Drives: Clutch performances help Dodgers stay alive in NLCSFROM PAGE 24

JAE C. HONG/AP

The Dodgers’ Mookie Betts steals second base on Thursday, beating the throw to the Braves secondbaseman Ozzie Albies during the eighth inning in Game 5 of the NLCS in Los Angeles. 

LOS  ANGELES  —  Max  Fried

had  every  ingredient  in  front  of

him for the biggest day of his base­

ball life at Dodger Stadium.

The  Braves  ace  from  Santa

Monica,  Calif.,  took  the  mound

Thursday night with the opportu­

nity to pitch Atlanta into its first

World Series of the 21st century.

He had the chance to do it in front

of about 60 family members and

friends at the fabled baseball ca­

thedral where he grew up idoliz­

ing  Shawn  Green  and  Clayton

Kershaw.

Fried  did  not  seize  his  Holly­

wood moment: The talented left­

hander  had  his  shortest  start  in

nearly  five  months  and  took  an

emphatic loss in the Braves’ 11­2

defeat in Game 5 of the NL Cham­

pionship Series.

The  defending  World  Series

champions earned a return trip to

Atlanta by hitting Fried early and

often, chasing him in the fifth and

leaving  him  disconsolate  in  the

dugout after failing to finish five

innings  for  the  first  time  since

June 1.

Fried hadn’t cheered up by the

time the Dodgers wrapped up the

blowout.

“At the end of the day, it’s play­

off  baseball,”  Fried  said.  “(Los

Angeles  is)  a  really  good  team,

won a lot of games, and you’ve got

to  be  on  top  of  your  game  and

bring your best to give your team a

chance to win. And unfortunately

tonight,  I  wasn’t  as  sharp  as  I

needed to be.”

Fried’s big night at Chavez Ra­

vine turned out to be memorable,

but for none of the reasons he had

hoped.

The  pitcher  with  the  majors’

lowest ERA in the second half of

the season — including a minus­

cule  1.55  ERA  over  his  last  14

starts — gave up eight hits and five

runs, walking two and managing

only three strikeouts while groov­

ing far too many pitches over the

plate. All in all, the performance

was  barely  recognizable  from  a

pitcher who has grown into one of

the majors’ most dependable win­

ners in the past three seasons.

The Dodgers had to try a bull­

pen  game  Thursday  with  their

pitching staff in thorough disarray

after their extensive reliever use

and three straight mediocre starts

from  Max  Scherzer,  Walker

Buehler  and  Julio  Urías.  The

Braves had won a bullpen game

Wednesday,  and  they  had  Fried

pitching on full rest after his six

solid  innings  in  Game  1  of  the

NLCS.

Seemingly  everything  favored

Fried and Atlanta — but the Los

Angeles hitters weren’t paying at­

tention.

“I think the big thing is just ... if

Max was sharp, we were hoping

that he could extend the game,”

Braves  manager  Brian  Snitker

said. “Honestly, I was hoping that

he would go at least seven innings

with where we were after the bull­

pen game, and it didn’t work out

that way.”

Fried even got an early two­run

lead in Game 5 from fellow South­

ern  California  native  Freddie

Freeman’s  first­inning  homer.

But the Dodgers’ bats awoke from

their postseason struggles.

AJ  Pollock  and  Chris  Taylor

tagged  Fried  for  homers  in  the

second  inning,  turning  that  2­0

deficit into a 3­2 lead. Taylor hit

the first of his historic three home­

rs on a first­pitch, 95 mph fastball

across  the  heart  of  the  plate  by

Fried,  who  looked  shaken  from

that moment onward.

“Physically  felt  great,”  Fried

said. “Just a really good, aggres­

sive lineup hit some pitches over

the middle. I wasn’t executing on

the corners like I normally do, and

when you leave the balls over the

middle,  normally  damage  hap­

pens.”

ASHLEY LANDIS/AP

Atlanta Braves pitcher Max Fried, who had a minuscule 1.55 ERA over his last 14 starts, gave up eight hitsand five runs, walking two and managing only three strikeouts against the Dodgers in Game 5 on Thursday.

Extra crispyBY GREG BEACHAM

Associated Press

Fried can’t pitch Braves into World Series

PlayoffsLEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

(Best-of-seven)x-if necessary

American LeagueHouston 3, Boston 2

Houston 5, Boston 4Boston 9, Houston 5Boston 12, Houston 3Houston 9, Boston 2 Houston 9, Boston 1Friday: Boston (Eovaldi 11-9) at Houston

(Garcia 11-9)x-Saturday: at Houston

National LeagueAtlanta 3, Los Angeles 2

Atlanta 3, Los Angeles 2Atlanta 5, Los Angeles 4Los Angeles 6, Atlanta 5Atlanta 9, Los Angeles 2Thursday: Los Angeles 11, Atlanta 2Saturday: at Atlanta AFN-Sports 11 p.m.

Saturday CET; 6 a.m. Sunday JKTx-Sunday: at Atlanta

Scoreboard

For a guy who dislikes drama,

Chris Taylor sure provided

plenty of it.

Taylor hit three homers and

drove in six runs, joining the likes of Reg-

gie Jackson and Babe Ruth in October

baseball lore, as the Dodgers broke loose

at the plate to beat Atlanta 11-2 on Thurs-

day in Los Angeles, cutting the Braves’

lead to 3-2 in the best-of-seven NL Cham-

pionship Series.

“It’s cool. It’s definitely a surreal feel-

ing for me,” Taylor said. “I never thought

I was going to hit three homers in a game,

let alone a postseason game, and it just

still hasn’t really sunk in.”

AJ Pollock had two home runs and four

RBIs for the defending champion Dodg-

ers, who have won seven straight postsea-

son elimination games dating to last sea-

son. They also trailed 0-2 and 1-3 against

Atlanta in the NLCS last year before rally-

ing to win three straight at a neutral site in

Texas.

“We needed to make a statement,” the

mild-mannered Taylor said. “They put it

on us yesterday. We had to respond.”

Game 6 is Saturday in Atlanta, where

the Braves get two more chances to clinch

their first trip to the World Series since

1999.

“I guess when our backs are against the

wall we play our best and fight, but that’s

just not an ideal spot to be in,” Los Angeles

manager Dave Roberts said.

After mustering only four hits during a

9-2 loss in Game 4 that pushed them to the

brink of elimination, the desperate Dodg-

ers rapped out eight hits by the third in-

ning off Max Fried. They finished with 17,

a club record for a postseason game, and

also equaled a postseason franchise mark

with five home runs.

Los Angeles got to Fried with four con-

secutive hits in the second. Pollock hit a

tying homer and Taylor drove the first

pitch he saw to left field, putting the team

in front for good, 3-2.

Starting in place of injured Justin Turn-

er at third base, Taylor became the sec-

ond Dodgers player with a three-homer

game in the playoffs. Kiké Hernández al-

so did it in Game 5 of the 2017 NLCS

against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field

as Los Angeles won its first pennant in 29

years.

Taylor had an RBI single in the third to

make it 4-2. He went deep in the fifth,

sending an 0-2 pitch from Chris Martin to

center field and extending the lead to 6-2.

Taylor homered again in the seventh,

taking Dylan Lee out to left-center before

The Los Angeles Dodgers’Chris Taylor watches his

two­run home run during thesecond inning Thursday in

Game 5 of the NLCS Thursdayagainst the Atlanta Braves. 

PHOTOS BY JAE C. HONG/APDramaticresponse

Taylor hits three home runs, drives in six as Dodgers beat Braves to extend NLCSBY BETH HARRIS

Associated Press

SEE DRIVES ON PAGE 23

MLB PLAYOFFS

INSIDE

Fried can’tfind rightrecipe tocook LAPage 23

Atlanta Bravespitcher Max Friedwalks off the moundafter being relievedin the fifth inningon Thursday.

“It’s cool. It’s definitely a surreal feeling for me.”

Chris Taylor

Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman

PAGE 24 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Saturday, October 23, 2021

SPORTSUp to the task

Browns backups Johnson, Keenumhelp deliver win ›› NFL, Page 21

Navy can shake things up against No. 2 Cincinnati ›› College football, Page 20