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FACES

‘Ghosts’ make forstrange bedfellowsin new CBS sitcomPage 14

MILITARY

Marine officer whocriticized leadersfaces 6 chargesPage 3

MLB PLAYOFFS

Red Sox dent Cole,beat Yankees 6-2in AL wild cardPage 24

All DOD security clearance holders now continuously vetted ›› Page 5

Chinese President Xi Jinping has ordered

his military to pump up pressure on the south-

western region of Taiwan, according to sourc-

es quoted by a Japanese news agency this

week.

The order was issued at a recent meeting of

China’s top military body, the Central Military

Commission, after three aircraft carriers from

the United States and United Kingdom partici-

pated in weekend drills near Taiwan, Kyodo

News reported Tuesday.

Nearly 150 Chinese warplanes buzzed

through Taiwan’s air defense zone between

Friday and Monday, the island’s Ministry of

National Defense said in a series of press state-

ments this week.

Taiwan said it is preparing to defend itself

after the record-breaking number of incur-

sions. The comments were made Monday by

Foreign Minister Joseph Wu on the Australian

Broadcasting Corporation Television program

“China Tonight.”

China and Taiwan have been governed sep-

arately since splitting, in 1949 after a civil war.

The U.S. military had troops on the island until

1979, when President Jimmy Carter withdrew

from the Sino-American Mutual Defense

Treaty. Congress responded by passing the

Taiwan Relations Act, which requires the U.S.

to sell arms to the island.

Xi is thought to believe that the recent carri-

er drills, which also involved more than a doz-

NG HAN GUAN/AP

Chinese air force personnel march past the Chinese military’s J10C fighter and JH-7A2 fighter bomber during the 13th China InternationalAviation and Aerospace Exhibition, also known as Airshow China 2021, on Sept. 29 in Zhuhai in southern China’s Guangdong province.

‘Alwaysready to fight’

Chinese president orders military to turn up the heat on Taiwan, report saysBY SETH ROBSON

Stars and Stripes

DOMINIQUE PINEIRO/U.S., Navy

Chinese President Xi Jinping walks through theGreat Hall of the People in Beijing in 2017. SEE TAIWAN ON PAGE 4

Military firefighting crews bat-

tling blazes in California wrapped

up their second-busiest fire sea-

son in nearly half a century, U.S.

Northern Command said.

The crews were part of a pro-

gram that converts military C-130

aircraft into air tankers able to dis-

perse fire retardant. The military

planes are the last line of defense,

used when all commercial tankers

that combat wildfires are unavail-

able.

This year, aircraft assigned to

the Modular Airborne Fire Fight-

ing Systems program, or MAFFS,

flew 945 sorties and dropped over

2.5 million gallons of fire retar-

dant, U.S. Northern Command

said in a statement.

That’s the second-highest total

since the MAFFS program was es-

tablished in the early 1970s, and it

was surpassed only during the

1994 fire season.

Much of this year’s efforts fo-

cused on containing the Dixie Fire

in Northern California, the sec-

Fire season2nd-busiest in decades formilitary crews

BY PHILLIP WALTER

WELLMAN

Stars and Stripes

PAULA MACOMBER/U.S. Air National Guard

An Air National Guard C-130 outof Reno, Nev., flies over theBeckwourth Complex Fire on July9 in Northern California.

SEE FIRE ON PAGE 6

PAGE 2 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Thursday, October 7, 2021

OMAHA, Neb. — Work at all of

the Kellogg Company’s U.S. cereal

plants came to a halt Tuesday as

roughly 1,400 workers went on

strike, but it wasn’t immediately

clear how much the supply of Frost-

ed Flakes or any of the company’s

other iconic brands would be dis-

rupted.

The strike includes plants in

Omaha, Neb., Battle Creek, Mich.,

Lancaster, Pa., and Memphis,

Tenn.

The union and the Battle Creek-

based company have been at an im-

passe at the bargaining table for

more than a year, said Daniel Os-

born, president of the local union in

Omaha. The dispute involves an as-

sortment of pay and benefit issues

such as the loss of premium health

care, holiday and vacation pay, as

well as reduced retirement benefits

“The company continues to

threaten to send additional jobs to

Mexico if workers do not accept out-

rageous proposals that take away

protections that workers have had

for decades,” said Anthony Shelton,

president of the Bakery, Confec-

tionary, Tobacco Workers and

Grain Millers International Union.

The company has insisted that its

offer is fair and would increase

wages and benefits for its employ-

ees that it said made an average of

$120,000 a year last year.

“We are disappointed by the

union’s decision to strike. Kellogg

provides compensation and bene-

fits for our U.S. ready to eat cereal

employees that are among the in-

dustry’s best,” Kellogg spokesper-

son Kris Bahner said in a statement.

Bahrain89/85

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Kandahar91/55

Kabul81/49

Djibouti93/84

THURSDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Mildenhall/Lakenheath

64/44

Ramstein57/48

Stuttgart54/48

Lajes,Azores71/68

Rota79/60

Morón87/58 Sigonella

69/62

Naples66/61

Aviano/Vicenza62/50

Pápa55/51

Souda Bay70/62

Brussels59/48

Zagan59/47

DrawskoPomorskie

58/47

THURSDAY IN EUROPE

Misawa64/60

Guam84/81

Tokyo78/62

Okinawa82/79

Sasebo79/69

Iwakuni76/71

Seoul71/63

Osan71/63

Busan75/71

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

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

FRIDAY IN THE PACIFIC

WEATHER OUTLOOK

TODAYIN STRIPES

American Roundup ...... 11Classified .................... 13Comics .........................16Crossword ................... 16Faces .......................... 14Opinion ........................ 15Sports .................... 18-24

BUSINESS/WEATHER

Military rates

Euro costs (Oct. 7) $1.13Dollar buys (Oct. 7) 0.8437British pound (Oct. 7) $1.32Japanese yen (Oct. 7) 108.00South Korean won (Oct. 7) 1,159.00

Commercial rates

Bahrain (Dinar) .3770Britain (Pound) 1.3566Canada (Dollar) 1.2634China (Yuan) 6.4467Denmark (Krone) 6.4460Egypt (Pound) 15.7202Euro .8664Hong Kong (Dollar) 7.7863Hungary (Forint) 311.14Israel (Shekel) 3.2408Japan (Yen) 111.35Kuwait (Dinar) .3015

Norway (Krone) 8.6028

Philippines (Peso) 50.91Poland (Zloty) 3.95Saudi Arabia (Riyal) 3.7503Singapore (Dollar) 1.3608

South Korea (Won) 1,196.17Switzerland (Franc) .9284Thailand (Baht) 33.85Turkey (New Lira) 8.8945

(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 0.0430-year bond 2.10

EXCHANGE RATESKellogg’s US cereal plant workers go on strikeAssociated Press

Thursday, October 7, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 3

according to the Marine Corps. Of

the 13 troops killed in the attack, 11

were Marines, one was a soldier

and another was a sailor.

While no longer receiving in-pa-

tient treatment, the other 16 Ma-

rines “are now on the West Coast

in the vicinity of their parent

units” receiving follow-on care,

Henderson said.

“Their recoveries are being

monitored and assisted by the Ma-

rine Corps’ wounded warrior re-

giment,” he said.

The service members were

screening hopeful evacuees at the

airport’s entrance when the attack

happened after nearly two weeks

of an evacuation mission to re-

move Americans and allies, in-

cluding Afghans, from the country

after it fell to the Taliban on Aug.

15.

More than 124,000 people were

evacuated from Afghanistan be-

fore the last U.S. troops left Kabul

on Aug. 30.

All but one Marine injured in

the attack by an Islamic State sui-

cide bomber at Kabul’s airport in

August that killed 13 U.S. service

members have been released

from Walter Reed National Mili-

tary Medical Center, a Marine

Corps spokesman said Tuesday.

The remaining Marine is in “se-

rious but stable condition,” Capt.

Johnny Henderson said. The up-

date shows steady improvement.

On Sept. 22, the service reported

four Marines were still at Walter

Reed — one in “very serious con-

dition” and three in “serious con-

dition.” On Sept. 7, 15 wounded

Marines were being treated at

Walter Reed, one of whom was in

critical condition, three were in

serious condition and 11 were in

stable condition, Henderson said

at the time. The service did not

provide further details on their in-

juries or the names of those in-

jured, which is Marine Corps pol-

icy to protect their privacy.

The injured Marines were

among the survivors of an ISIS-K

attack at Hamid Karzai Interna-

tional Airport during the final

days of the U.S. military’s with-

drawal from Afghanistan. Along

with the 13 troops killed, more

than 20 others were injured when

an ISIS-K terrorist detonated an

explosive vest and gunmen fired

into the crowds near the airport’s

Abbey gate.

ISIS-K, an abbreviation for

ISIS-Khorasan, is the Afghanistan

branch of the Islamic State terror-

ist group.

Seventeen Marines were

wounded in the attack, and all the

troops killed were awarded Pur-

ple Hearts and approved this

month for combat action ribbons,

All but one Marine hurt in Kabul attackout of Walter Reed

BY CAITLIN DOORNBOS

Stars and Stripes

/

The injured Marines at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center were among the survivors of anISIS­K attack at Hamid Karzai International Airport during the final days of the U.S. military’s withdrawalfrom Afghanistan. 

doornbos.caitlin@stripes.com Twitter: @CaitlinDoornbos

MILITARY

or administration’s policy.

Kristensen said disclosing the

stockpile number will assist U.S.

diplomats in arms control negotia-

tions and at next year’s Nuclear

Non-Proliferation Treaty confer-

ence, which will review the disar-

mament commitment made by nu-

clear powers who are treaty signa-

tories, including the United States.

The Biden administration is

conducting a nuclear weapons

WASHINGTON — In a reversal

of Trump administration policy,

the State Department on Tuesday

disclosed the number of nuclear

weapons in the U.S. stockpile. It

said this will aid global efforts to

control the spread of such weap-

ons.

The number of U.S. weapons, in-

cluding those in active status as

well as those in long-term storage,

stood at 3,750 as of September

2020, the department said. That is

down from 3,805 a year earlier and

3,785 in 2018.

As recently as 2003, the U.S. nu-

clear weapon total was slightly

above 10,000. It peaked at 31,255 in

1967.

The last time the U.S. govern-

ment released its stockpile num-

ber was in March 2018, when it said

the total was 3,822 as of September

2017. That was early in the Trump

administration, which subse-

quently kept updated numbers se-

cret and denied a request by the

Federation of American Scientists

to declassified them.

“Back to transparency,” said

Hans Kristensen, director of the

Nuclear Information Project at the

Federation of American Scien-

tists. He said the Biden adminis-

tration was wise to reverse the pri-

posture and policy review that is

expected to be completed early

next year.

At the Conference on Disarma-

ment last February, Secretary of

State Antony Blinken said, “Presi-

dent Biden has made it clear: the

U.S. has a national security imper-

ative and a moral responsibility to

reduce and eventually eliminate

the threat posed by weapons of

mass destruction.”

State Department discloses number of nuclear weapons in US stockpileAssociated Press

Marine Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller

Jr. will face a court-martial on six

charges related to his public ad-

monishing of U.S. officials hand-

ling of the withdrawal from Af-

ghanistan, service officials an-

nounced Wednesday.

Scheller — whose social media

posts blasting top civilian and mil-

itary officials garnered hundreds

of thousands of views in the days

after 13 U.S. troops were killed in

a bombing at the Kabul airport —

was formally charged Monday,

one day before he was released

from the brig at Camp Lejeune,

N.C., a Marine spokesman said.

He is accused of displaying

contempt toward officials, disre-

specting superior commissioned

officers, willfully disobeying a su-

perior commissioned officer, der-

eliction in the performance of his

duties and failure to obey an or-

der or regulation, and by display-

ing conduct unbecoming an offi-

cer and a gentleman.

Those charges

were referred on

Wednesday

morning to a

special court-

martial by Maj.

Gen. Julian D.

Alford, who

leads Marine

Training Com-

mand, according

to Capt. Sam Stephenson, a

spokesman for the command. A

special court-martial limits the

maximum punishment for ser-

vice members found guilty to one

year in prison, a bad-conduct dis-

charge, a reduction in rank to E-1,

and a forfeiture of two-thirds pay

per month, according to the

UCMJ.

Stephenson said Wednesday

that no hearings had been sched-

uled in Scheller’s case.

The lieutenant colonel was re-

leased from the brig Tuesday af-

ter about one week in pre-trial

confinement on suspicions of vio-

lating the UCMJ as the result of

an agreement between Scheller’s

defense attorneys and Alford, Ste-

phenson said. He declined to pro-

vide any additional details.

Scheller was held in an individ-

ual cell in the Camp Lejeune brig,

but he was not held in solitary

confinement at any time, Ste-

phenson said. He was in regular

contact with other prisoners and

staff during and allowed at least

two hours of recreation time per

day.

Scheller is a 17-year infantry of-

ficer who has served in Iraq and

Afghanistan. He was fired from

his job commanding one of Camp

Lejeune’s infantry training battal-

ions on Aug. 27, after he posted a

video on Facebook and LinkedIn

demanding accountability for top

military and civilian officials in

the hours after the deadly bomb-

ing at Hamid Karzai Internation-

al Airport, where U.S. troops

worked to evacuate more than

100,000 people from Kabul after

the Taliban takeover of Afghanis-

tan.

Scheller expressed his “grow-

ing discontent and contempt for

… perceived ineptitude at the for-

eign policy level” in the viral vid-

eo in which he appeared in his

combat uniform. In follow-up vid-

eos, he accused Marine Gen. Ken-

neth “Frank” McKenzie, the com-

mander of U.S. Central Com-

mand, of dereliction of duty and

he promised to resign his com-

mission and help “bring the whole

(expletive) system down.”

Corps officials have said Ma-

rines have proper channels via

their chains of command to raise

concerns about issues, but criti-

cizing leadership via social media

is not acceptable.

Scheller plans to face the

charges in a court-martial, ac-

cording to a statement issued

Tuesday by the Pipe Hitter Foun-

dation, which has raised money

for Scheller’s defense.

The foundation is run by for-

mer Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher

and his wife. Gallagher was court-

martialed in 2019 on allegations of

war crimes, but he was acquitted

of most of the charges.

The Pipe Hitter Foundation

said Scheller remains subjected

to a gag order, which it labeled

“unlawful.” It also said he had

formally requested to resign his

commission instead of facing a

court-martial.

Fired officer charged with 6 crimesBY COREY DICKSTEIN

Stars and Stripes

Scheller 

PAGE 4 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Thursday, October 7, 2021

en warships from Japan, New

Zealand, Canada and the Nether-

lands, were aimed at stopping

Beijing from unifying democratic

Taiwan with the mainland and

from capturing the Japanese-ad-

ministered Senkaku Islands,

which are also claimed by China,

Kyodo reported.

At the Central Military Com-

mission, Xi said China should

demonstrate that it is “always

ready to fight,” though he wants to

avoid a head-on confrontation

with the U.S., according to un-

named sources quoted by Kyodo.

Meanwhile, President Joe Bi-

den has sent White House national

security adviser Jake Sullivan to

Switzerland for meetings with se-

nior Chinese foreign policy advis-

er Yang Jiechi, the White House

said in a statement Tuesday.

The talks, slated for Wednesday

in Zurich, are to be a follow-up to

Biden’s call with Xi last month as

the administration continues “to

seek to responsibly manage the

competition” between the two

countries, National Security

Council spokeswoman Emily

Horne said in the statement.

Chinese aircraft have been fly-

ing into Taiwan’s airspace since

last year, but the large number of

warplanes in the latest incursions

have attracted attention, said No-

rah Huang, director for interna-

tional relations at the Prospect

Foundation, a security and foreign

affairs think tank in Taipei.

The incursions send a stronger

message, which security experts

have correctly characterized as

psychological warfare and intimi-

dation, she said in a telephone in-

terview Wednesday.

“This kind of action won’t win

the hearts and minds of Taiwa-

nese people,” she said, noting that

even the island’s opposition poli-

ticians have blamed Beijing rath-

er than trying to score points

against the ruling party.

The Chinese military activity

may also be an effort to pressure

the Biden administration not to

push forward with a plan to re-

name Taiwan’s mission in Wash-

ington, D.C., Huang said.

Last month, Taiwan asked to

change the name of the office from

“Taipei Economic and Cultural

Representative Office” to “Tai-

wan Representative Office,” ac-

cording to the Financial Times.

“China does not want to give

Taiwan an international identity

that is distinctive from China,”

Huang said. “They don’t want peo-

ple to easily differentiate Taiwan

from China.”

The U.S. and Taiwan should

protect their interests, she said in

a follow-up email.

“The decision to allow the name

changing or not should not [be

based] on Beijing’s reaction,” she

said.

Taiwan: National security adviser sent to Switzerland for talks with ChinaFROM PAGE 1

PACIFIC

CAMP HUMPHREYS, South

Korea – The former head of a CIA

center tasked with countering se-

rious threats from North Korea

expects that country’s leader to

meet again with South Korean

President Moon Jae-in before he

leaves office next year.

However, such a summit will

likely happen online and not face

to face, said Andrew Kim, a veter-

an CIA officer and founding direc-

tor of the Korean Mission Center

established in 2017.

Kim, who served as the point

man for summits between the

North Korean leader and then-

President Donald Trump, made

his comments during a panel dis-

cussion with The Washington

Brief on Tuesday.

The Moon administration has

been cautiously optimistic about

improving relations with North

Korea. The president, whose term

ends in March, frequently calls for

the Korean War signatories to de-

clare an official end to the conflict

and has volunteered to meet with

Kim Jong Un and other North Ko-

rean leaders without precondi-

tions.

Moon and Kim held three sum-

mits in 2018, where they discussed

the goals of formally ending the

1950-53 Korean War and restart-

ing inter-Korean programs. The

results of those meetings were

widely panned by critics for lack-

ing specific details and require-

ments.

Andrew Kim did not elaborate

on why he believed the next sum-

mit would be held virtually; how-

ever, orchestrating the highly cho-

reographed meetings can be time-

intensive and financially costly.

The cost of hosting the Singa-

pore summit was roughly $15 mil-

lion, that nation’s leader, Lee

Hsien Loong, told reporters in

2018.

An in-person summit would al-

so require delegates from both na-

tions to account for the ongoing

COVID-19 pandemic, of which lit-

tle is known about within North

Korea’s borders. Pyongyang has

rejected millions of coronavirus

vaccines and said it has zero con-

firmed infections, a claim that is

widely disputed by international

health experts.

Trump and Kim met first in Sin-

gapore in 2018, then again in Ha-

noi the following year. The leaders

also met briefly at the Joint Secu-

rity Area inside the Demilitarized

Zone in 2019, during which Trump

stepped across the border and be-

came the first sitting U.S. presi-

dent to visit North Korea.

Kim described his negotiations

with North Korean officials lead-

ing up to those meetings as “very

challenging.”

“We weren’t going anywhere

with any kind of a meaningful, de-

tailed agreement," he said of his

discussions with North Korean of-

ficials prior to the Singapore sum-

mit. “They wanted to pursue a

kind of a bigger, overall agree-

ment. We wanted more detail — it

went through several meetings

and it led up to almost a day before

the summit.”

Kim retired from the CIA in No-

vember 2018 after 28 years. He is

now a non-resident fellow with the

Korea Project at the Harvard

Kennedy School’s Belfer Center

for Science and International Af-

fairs.

Ex-CIA head in S. Koreaexpects Moon, Kim talks

INTER-KOREAN SUMMIT PRESS CORPS

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right, walks with South KoreanPresident Moon Jae­in during an Inter­Korean Summit in 2018. 

BY DAVID CHOI

Stars and Stripes

choi.david@stripes.comTwitter: @choibboy

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — An Okina-

wa-based soldier found guilty of attempting

to smuggle drugs into Japan through the

mail received a three-year suspended sen-

tence from a Japanese court on Monday.

Spc. Kenyatta Lane, 22, pleaded guilty to

violating the country’s Narcotics and Psy-

chotropics Control and Customs Law in his

first appearance in Naha District Court, a

spokeswoman from the Naha District Pub-

lic Prosecutors Office told Stars and Stripes

by phone Tuesday. The soldier works at a

communications facility on the Army base

Torii Station in Yomitan, she said.

Lane was accused of having 0.92 grams of

powder containing MDMA, an ingredient in

the drug ecstasy, sent through the mail from

the United States to the Marine Corps’

Camp Kinser, the spokeswoman said.

With the help of “unidentified individu-

als,” Lane sent the powder through the post

on March 29, the spokeswoman said. The

parcel arrived at Narita International Air-

port on April 5 and then at Kinser’s post of-

fice, where it was detected by a customs of-

ficer four days later.

It is unclear who sent the drugs, the spo-

keswoman said, but Lane was the intended

recipient.

An Army spokeswoman at Torii Station

said Tuesday she was working to get infor-

mation on Lane’s case but had not respon-

ded to questions by Wednesday afternoon.

The soldier was held under house arrest

on base until he was charged Aug. 12, the

prosecutors’ spokeswoman said. He was

never taken into custody by Japanese po-

lice.

Lane pleaded guilty Monday and was

sentenced by Judge Koji Oohashi to one

year and six months in prison, which was

then suspended for three years, the spokes-

woman said. He likely won’t serve actual

jail time unless he commits another crime

in Japan.

It is not clear if Lane will appeal the judg-

e’s decision, the spokeswoman said. He had

14 days from Monday to do so.

It’s customary in Japan for some govern-

ment officials to speak to the media on con-

dition of anonymity.

MDMA, or 3,4-methylenedioxy-meth-

amphetamine, is a synthetic drug that alters

mood and perception and is chemically

similar to both stimulants and hallucino-

gens, according to a National Institute on

Drug Abuse factsheet. Often referred to as

molly, the drug is known for producing feel-

ings of “increased energy, pleasure, emo-

tional warmth, and distorted sensory and

time perception.”

MDMA use can lead to a slew of health

problems from depression and anxiety to

liver, kidney, or heart failure and some-

times even death, the factsheet said.

Soldier who mailed drugs won’t serve actual prison timeBY MATTHEW M. BURKE

AND MARI HIGA

Stars and Stripes

FRANK ANDREWS/Stars and Stripes

A soldier attempted to smuggle the drugMDMA at the post office at Camp Kinser,Okinawa.

burke.matt@stripes.com Twitter: @MatthewMBurke1

Thursday, October 7, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 5

WASHINGTON — All Defense

Department clearance holders are

now under “continuous vetting” as

part of a reform to the personnel se-

curity process that determines who

should have access to classified in-

formation and secure facilities, the

director of the Defense Counterin-

telligence and Security Agency

said Tuesday.

The automated system constant-

ly checks criminal records, credit

ratings and other pertinent infor-

mation for those with security

clearances to “ensure the trustwor-

thiness of the national security

workforce” and “identify and ad-

dress factors that may lead to in-

sider threat incidents,” DCSA di-

rector William Lietzau told report-

ers at the Pentagon.

Continuous vetting replaces the

prior process of periodic reinvesti-

gations for clearance holders every

five to 10 years. The idea is that the

new program will identify poten-

tial security threats as they occur in

real time, allowing risks to surface

sooner to enable earlier interven-

tion.

“If you get [charged with driving

under the influence], that’ll come

in the next day,” Lietzau said, ex-

plaining how fast the new system

works.

Once the automated system

alerts of a risk factor, staff at the

agency then initiate an investiga-

tion to analyze whether the issue

should be further analyzed or con-

sidered an active threat, he said.

In addition to criminal conduct,

the system also analyzes suspi-

cious financial transactions, do-

mestic and foreign travel records,

terrorism and counterterrorism

databases and other public records

for indicators of insider threats,

Lietzau said.

The initiative is part of the direc-

tor of National Intelligence’s Trust-

ed Workforce 2.0, an interagency

effort launched in 2018 to modern-

ize the security clearance system to

“deliver stronger security, faster

processing and better information

sharing,” the agency said in a state-

ment issued Tuesday.

“It replaces a suite of outdated

legacy IT systems that no longer

meet the needs of the U.S. govern-

ment,” DCSA said in the statement.

While all troops, Defense De-

partment civilians and defense

contractors with clearances are

now in the system, Lietzau said 29

other federal agencies, including

the Federal Aviation Administra-

tion and Department of Health and

Human Services, are also vetting

their clearance holders this way.

The system is already working,

Lietzau said. In January, it detect-

ed a federal employee was under

“an active investigation by another

agency for potential terrorism ac-

tivities, including a plan targeting

United States facilities and ties to

know or suspected terrorists,” he

said.

In another case, the system alert-

ed the DCSA that an arrest warrant

was issued for a federal employee

accused of attempted murder and

felonious assault, Lietzau said. The

agency then contacted law en-

forcement to validate the employee

was the wanted person and provid-

ed information that helped police

apprehend the suspect.

“The key is that the alert infor-

mation developed through the

DCSA continuous vetting system

was received and validated five-

and-a-half years before the sub-

ject’s next periodic reinvestiga-

tion,” Lietzau said.

The DCSA is continuing to enroll

other federal agencies in the pro-

gram and working to expand data

sources from which the vetting sys-

tem can pull information, Lietzau

said.

The agency is now running pilot

programs to test how social media

information could be included,

Lietzau said. One day, biometrics

beyond standard fingerprint analy-

sis could be used, as well.

Security clearanceholders now undercontinuous vetting

BY CAITLIN DOORNBOS

Stars and Stripes

doornbos.caitlin@stripes.comTwitter: @CaitlinDoornbos

the National Park Service to clean

up the area, it said.

The Super Hornet was assigned

to Air Test and Evaluation Squad-

ron 9 at Naval Air Weapons Station

China Lake in Ridgecrest, Calif.,

the Navy said.

The jet is the latest to go down in

Death Valley in recent years. In

ANavy pilot suffered minor inju-

ries when his F/A-18F Super Horn-

et crashed Monday in Death Valley

National Park, according to Navy

officials.

The jet went down in a remote ar-

ea of the park, the service said in a

news release that evening. The uni-

dentified pilot, who ejected from

the aircraft, was treated at Las Ve-

gas’ Sunrise Hospital and Medical

Center and released that night.

No civilians were hurt, and Navy

and local authorities are investigat-

ing the crash, according to the re-

lease. The military is working with

2019, a Super Hornet assigned to

Strike Fighter Squadron 151 at Na-

val Air Station Lemoore crashed

into a ravine wall during routine

training. The pilot was declared

dead the day after the incident, af-

ter Navy officials called off recov-

ery efforts.

That crash took place about 40

miles from Navy Air Station China

Lake. The Navy has utilized the

China Lake installation, about 125

miles from Los Angeles in the Mo-

jave Desert, since the 1940s for

missile and rocket development.

Navy pilot safely ejects as Super Hornet crashes in Death ValleyBY ALEX WILSON

Stars and Stripes

wilson.alex@stripes.comTwitter: @AlexMNWilson

GRAFENWOEHR, Germany —

The apse of a former church on a

U.S. Army base in Bavaria has

been transformed into a bat sanc-

tuary — in every sense of the

word.

Restoration of the St. Agid

Bergheim Church in Hohenfels

into a haven for a handful of bat

species began in 2012, and with

funding from the Defense Depart-

ment, the Army began building a

new apse onto the remnants of a

15th century Gothic chapel.

The holy bat habitat received a

few finishing touches just before a

Sept. 27 dedication ceremony at-

tended by Army and German offi-

cials.

“The apse has been in the works

since before 2019,” said Gary

Hart, the U.S. Army Europe-Afri-

ca, Hohenfels Integrated Training

Area management coordinator.

“The bats were in the church

structure during the apse renova-

tion process.”

The 7th Army Training Com-

mand celebrated the rehabilita-

tion of the Bergheim Church apse

serving as a bat sanctuary with

Germany’s forest service, U.S. Ar-

my Garrison Bavaria, the Joint

Multinational Readiness Center

and Training Support Activity Eu-

rope.

The project was geared toward

protecting the population of grea-

ter horseshoe bats after a colony

was discovered at the northern

border of the Hohenfels Training

Area in 1992, an Army statement

said.

That colony has grown from just

a few bats in 1992 to a few

hundred, according to 7th Army

Training Command data.

The greater horseshoe bat is the

rarest bat species in Germany.

Hohenburg, which is adjacent to

Hohenfels, has the last reproduc-

ing greater horseshoe bat popula-

tion in the country, said Juli-anne

Jensen, a 7th ATC spokeswoman.

The Bergheim church is their sec-

ondary home, she said.

Other species are finding the

refuge to their liking. The apse al-

so houses brown and gray long-

eared bats, pygmy bats and pug

bats.

The Hohenfels Training Area is

home to 19 species of bats, five of

which are federally protected.

In terms of home security, this

bat sanctuary leaves little to be de-

sired. Besides being situated on a

U.S. military installation, it’s con-

structed with walls that proved in-

destructible even when subjected

to modern explosives.

The original Gothic chapel on

the site was expanded into a Ba-

roque church in the 18th century,

said Markus Perpeet, the Hohen-

fels director of the German forest-

ry service, or Bundesforst.

Safety concerns prompted the

Bundeswehr to raze the church in

1972, but the Romanesque walls

defied all attempts to blow them

up. Further efforts to destroy the

stubborn structure were called

off, Perpeet said.

The bats enter and exit the apse

via louver access points in the

boarded-up windows of the

church, Hart said. He added that

the sighting of three greater

horseshoe bats during the Sept. 27

ceremony showed that the deni-

zens had not been disturbed by the

years of renovation work.

Officials said neither German

nor American soldiers had ever

used the building as a church. But

thanks to some Army repurpos-

ing, it has an all-new congregation.

NATHANIEL GAYLE/U.S. Army

St. Agid Bergheim Church in Hohenfels Training Area, Germany, was restored and converted into a batsanctuary.

Derelict Army church in Germanysoars again as sanctuary for bats

BY IMMANUEL JOHNSON

Stars and Stripes

johnson.immanuel@stripes.comTwitter: Manny_Stripes

MACARIO MORA/7th Army Training Command

The apse provides additionalroosting habitat for several batspecies.

MILITARY

PAGE 6 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Thursday, October 7, 2021

ond-largest wildfire in the state’s

history. It destroyed about 1 mil-

lion acres, according to state data.

Military C-130s were also used

to help the U.S. Forest Service and

other federal agencies contain

other blazes in the state, including

the Caldor, Antelope, River Com-

plex, Monument and French fires,

the Air Force said last month.

At one point in August, all eight

aircraft assigned to the MAFFS

program were being used simulta-

neously to support the joint effort,

the U.S. Northern Command

statement said. That hasn’t hap-

pened in nearly a decade despite

eight of the 10 biggest wildfires in

California’s history occurring in

the past five years.

“This was an exceptional year

that saw each unit contribute to a

highly successful interagency

firefighting effort,” Lt. Gen. Kirk

Pierce, the commander of Air

Forces Northern, was quoted in

the statement Monday as saying.

Still, the Dixie Fire alone devas-

tated an area larger than the state

of Rhode Island and claimed over

1,300 buildings, California state

data show.

Hundreds of other soldiers and

airmen have also assisted fire-

fighting efforts, both on the

ground and in different aircraft,

NORTHCOM said.

C-130s assigned to the MAFFS

program were first requested in

late June, a month earlier than in

2020, marking the earliest request

in about a decade.

However, all eight of the pro-

gram’s aircraft were used simul-

taneously only for a few weeks at

most during the 96 consecutive

days MAFFS was activated.

No plans are in the pipeline to

increase the number of C-130s in

the MAFFS fleet, NORTHCOM

spokesman Capt. Nathanael Cal-

lon told Stars and Stripes. Climate

scientists have stated that increas-

ingly large fires will likely contin-

ue to batter the Western U.S. be-

cause of climate change.

The U.S. Forest Service con-

tracts with private companies to

provide tankers to drop fire retar-

dant as part of wildfire suppres-

sion efforts. But during periods of

high activity there often aren’t

enough of these contracted air-

tankers to meet demand, accord-

ing to the Forest Service.

When needed, the Modular Air-

borne Fire Fighting System is in-

serted into the military C-130s

without any major structural

modifications to the planes.

The system consists of a series

of five pressurized fire-retardant

tanks and associated equipment

that can be carried in the aircraft’s

cargo bay and drop up to 3,000 gal-

lons in less than 10 seconds.

The systems belong to the For-

est Service, but the C-130s and

their crews must be pulled from

their regular military duties with

the Air National Guard or Air

Force Reserve.

Fire: MAFFS insertedinto C-130s with nomajor modificationsFROM PAGE 1

wellman.phillip@stripes.comTwitter: @pwwellman

MILITARY

WASHINGTON — For more

than 100 years, young men have

registered for the draft. Now,

Congress is poised to make a his-

toric change for gender equality

by requiring women, for the first

time in American history, to do

the same.

But while support for the

change is bipartisan, Congress

is leaving the details for later.

That’s the easy thing to do,

considering the military hasn’t

drafted anyone since the Viet-

nam War and it’s possible it nev-

er will need to again. But if a cri-

sis of monumental proportions

were to emerge, the logistics of

incorporating women into a

much larger military could

prove complicated.

Would drafted women be ex-

pected to serve in combat roles?

And if not, what would their

roles be? Would they be housed

with men? It appears that nei-

ther Congress nor the Pentagon

has thought that through.

Still, included in the House

version of the fiscal 2022 Nation-

al Defense Authorization Act,

which that chamber passed last

month, was an amendment by

Pennsylvania Democrat Chrissy

Houlahan and Florida Republi-

can Michael Waltz that would

require women to sign up with

the Selective Service, a govern-

ment agency that keeps records

of Americans eligible for a po-

tential draft.

And the Senate Armed Servic-

es Committee also included lan-

guage that would require wom-

en to register when it marked up

its version of the NDAA in July,

although the full Senate has not

yet taken it up.

Proponents of the change see

the move as a victory for wom-

en’s rights.

“Equity is important,” Houla-

han told CQ Roll Call in an inter-

view, “and women have con-

stantly had to fight for a level

playing field — and this change

is a step in the right direction.”

Waltz argues that were a crisis

requiring a draft to emerge, the

United States would need every

available person.

The country would “need ev-

erybody … man, woman, gay,

straight, any religion, Black,

white, brown,” he said recently

on the House floor.

According to Houlahan, she

and Waltz paired up on the

amendment out of a shared be-

lief that Congress should change

the current “outdated way of

thinking about things.”

Waltz is a former Army Green

Beret who served in Afghanis-

tan. Houlahan spent 17 years in

the Air Force and Air Force re-

serves, leaving as a captain.

Democrats seem united on

making the change. Republicans

are split, but a critical mass

seems to now favor it. Reps. Liz

Cheney, of Wyoming; Jack Berg-

man, of Michigan; and Pat Fal-

lon, of Texas, all voted in favor of

the amendment when it came up

at the Armed Services markup

last month.

Logistical challenges are not

the only sticking point for some

opponents of the change. For

some Republicans, the inclusion

of women in the Selective Ser-

vice is a moral issue — one that

may come up when the House

and Senate conference the de-

fense policy bill later this year.

At the Senate Armed Services

markup over the summer, five

Republicans voted against the

amendment by the panel’s

chairman, Democrat Jack Reed,

of Rhode Island, requiring wom-

en to register.

Ranking member James In-

hofe, of Oklahoma, was among

the five, along with Tom Cotton,

of Arkansas; Josh Hawley, of

Missouri; Roger Wicker, of Mis-

sissippi; and Mike Rounds, of

South Dakota. Cotton tweeted at

the time that he would “work to

remove it before the defense bill

passes.”

Women soon may have to register for draftBY MARK SATTER

CQ Roll Call

Four B-1B Lancers arrived

Wednesday at RAF Fairford in

England as part of a long-planned

bomber mission to Europe, the Air

Force said.

The bombers deployed with 200

personnel from the 9th Expedition-

ary Bomb Squadron at Dyess Air

Force Base, Texas, according to a

U.S. Air Forces in Europe-Air

Forces Africa statement Wednes-

day.

The B-1 heavy bomber carries

the largest conventional payload

of both guided and unguided

weapons in the Air Force invento-

ry, according to the service.

The aircraft deployed as part of

a regularly scheduled bomber

task force mission for U.S. Eu-

ropean and U.S. Strategic com-

mands.

Bomber task force missions

“amplify our coalition reach and

project our collective airpower

across theaters,” Gen. Jeff Harri-

gian, USAFE-AFAFRICA’s com-

mander, said in a statement.

Since 2018, EUCOM has been

conducting bomber task force

missions, which consist of rota-

tions of Lancers as well as B-52

Stratofortresses and B-2 Spirit

stealth bombers.

B-1Bs deployed most recently to

Europe in March along with B-2s,

training with Norwegian and

Swedish aircraft and marking the

first time a B-1B had landed in the

Arctic Circle.

Air Force bombers deploy to UKfor European training mission

Stars and Stripes

COLIN HOLLOWELL/U.S. Air Force

A B­1B Lancer assigned to the 9th Expeditionary Bomb Squadronlands at RAF Fairford, England, on Wednesday. Four B­1Bs arrived aspart of a long­planned bomber mission to Europe, the Air Force said. 

The military police officer

killed in a vehicle wreck Monday

at Fort Bragg, N.C., was a recent

enlistee from Texas, Army offi-

cials said Wednesday.

Pfc. Patrick J. Hernandez was

killed in the crash midday Mon-

day on the installation, Fort Bragg

officials said in a statement. Her-

nandez, 30, was assigned to the

108th Military Police Company,

503rd MP Battalion, 16th MP Bri-

gade at Fort Bragg.

Lt. Col. Andrew Till, Hernan-

dez’s battalion commander, said

the incident,

which also in-

jured four other

soldiers, had

been difficult for

the unit.

Army officials

have provided

few details about

the incident, including the kind of

military vehicle in which Hernan-

dez and the other soldiers were

traveling or whether the crash oc-

curred during a training event.

Army investigators from the U.S.

Army Combat Readiness Train-

ing Center traveled this week

from Fort Rucker, Ala., to lead the

examination into the incident, the

Army said.

Hernandez enlisted in the Army

in August 2020 as a military po-

liceman and had recently gradu-

ated from airborne school at Fort

Benning, Ga., according to the Ar-

my. He was a native of Harlington,

Texas, and is survived by his wife,

two daughters, two stepchildren,

his parents and his brothers.

Fort Bragg plans to hold a me-

morial for Hernandez in the com-

ing weeks, said Capt. Perianne

Duffy, a spokeswoman for the in-

stallation.

Soldier killed in Fort Bragg wreck identifiedBY COREY DICKSTEIN

Stars and Stripes

Hernandez

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

International School Westpfalz—Job Offer

We are looking for a native English speaker who is

passionate about teaching music and able to promote

a creative and fun-filled learning environment.

Along with our small class sizes (maximum of 18),

IS Westpfalz offers teachers a large amount of creativity

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The ideal candidate should be able to:

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Show enthusiasm in their teaching and promote a

positive learning environment

Hundreds of Afghans gathered

outside a passport office in Kabul

on Wednesday, a day after Taliban

officials said that the country

would resume issuing travel docu-

ments, ending a monthslong sus-

pension that had further dimin-

ished the already limited ability of

Afghans to leave their war-torn

country.

Alam Gul Haqqani, acting head

of the passport office, told report-

ers Tuesday that up to 6,000 pass-

ports would be issued daily. The

Taliban government would also

release 25,000-plus new passports

that had previously been paid for,

he said at a news conference.

In Wednesday’s chaotic scenes,

Taliban guards beat back people

trying to apply for passports in an

attempt to maintain order, Reu-

ters reported. The Taliban plans

to start issuing passports on Satur-

day and isn’t yet taking new appli-

cations, according to the news

agency.

The passports will continue to

be issued under the name of the

former government, the Islamic

Republic of Afghanistan. No coun-

try has officially recognized the

Taliban, which has renamed the

country an Islamic Emirate, as Af-

ghanistan’s legitimate govern-

ment.

The reopening comes as the Ta-

liban struggles to govern a coun-

try that is facing a major brain

drain. Many educated Afghans

fled following the Taliban take-

over of the country in August,

fearing that the regime would im-

plement its severe interpretation

of Islamic law. While the Islamist

militants have pledged to govern

more moderately than during

their brutal 1996 to 2001 reign,

many remain deeply skeptical of

such promises.

In the past two months, the

passport office received at least

170,000 applications, local media

reported.

A Taliban spokesman had pre-

viously said educated Afghans

should stay because it was “time

for people to work for their coun-

try,” though the militants have

agreed to let citizens with valid vi-

sas freely leave, according to

Western officials.

There are no restrictions on

who can apply for a passport, Inte-

rior Ministry spokesman Qari

Saeed Khosti said at the news con-

ference. But he urged former gov-

ernment officials and profession-

als “to come forward as the nation

has invested in” them and “to play

their part in rebuilding” Afghan-

istan.

Afghans with valid passports

still face difficulties leaving the

country. Afghanistan sits at the

bottom of the 2021 Henley Pass-

port Index, which ranks travel

documents based on the number

of places holders can visit without

having to obtain a visa. Afghanis-

tan has been in last place for most

of the past 16 years, and many em-

bassies that issued visas have relo-

cated out of the country since the

Taliban seized power.

However, even the prospect of

being able to leave Afghanistan

has led to some relief. Kabul resi-

dent Najia Aman told Reuters that

she was “very happy” to hear

about the resumption of passport

issuance, because it meant a fam-

ily member could go to Pakistan

for medical treatment.

Pakistan’s ambassador to Af-

ghanistan Mansoor Ahmad Khan

said in an interview that his coun-

try could only process visas on val-

id passports and that “passport re-

newal is an Afghanistan issue.”

But it wasn’t immediately clear

if Afghans outside Kabul, the cap-

ital, would be able to easily apply

for passports. Many regional pass-

port offices were damaged in

fighting during the Taliban take-

over, according to a resident of

Helmand province, who spoke on

the condition of anonymity due to

fear of retribution.

“Maybe now, it is only in the

capital Kabul that people could

get their passports,” the person

said.

The Taliban is also allowing

some female employees at the In-

terior Ministry to return to work

so that they can process paper-

work submitted by women apply-

ing for a passport, Khosti said. He

noted, however, that the female

staff “will come to the office

through a separate entrance.”

The vast majority of female Af-

ghan government employees have

been told to stay home from work,

though the Taliban has said such a

move would be temporary.

Taliban resumes issuing travel documents

FELIPE DANA/AP

Afghans gather outside a government passport office after the Taliban announced they would be issuing abacklog of applications approved by the previous administration Wednesday in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Hundreds of Afghansgather outside of Kabul passport office

BY AMY CHENG

AND HAQ NAWAZ KHAN

The Washington Post

Aug. 26 that killed more than 169

Afghans and 13 U.S. military per-

sonnel outside the Kabul airport.

The Taliban have since

launched many raids to root out

ISIS cells.

Separately, two witnesses and a

hospital official said two Taliban

members were shot and killed and

three civilians were wounded

when unknown gunmen opened

fire at a Taliban patrol in a vegeta-

ble market Wednesday morning

in the northeastern city of Jalala-

bad. The hospital official said the

hospital received two dead bodies

and two wounded men.

They spoke on condition of ano-

nymity due to the sensitive nature

of the subject.

Jalalabad has emerged as a

flashpoint in the rivalry between

the Taliban and ISIS, with numer-

ous attacks taking place there

since the takeover.

KABUL, Afghanistan — The

Taliban arrested four Islamic

State members and seized their

documents and weapons north of

the Afghan capital, the group’s

chief spokesman said Wednesday.

Zabihullah Mujahid said the op-

eration was carried out Tuesday

night by special unit forces in the

Pashai area of Pagham district in

Kabul province. He provided no

additional details.

The arrests came as the Taliban

leadership, which assumed con-

trol of the country after seizing the

capital on Aug. 15, grapples with a

growing security threat from the

group known as Islamic State

Khorasan, an ISIS affiliate. The

extremist group has ramped up

attacks since the Taliban consoli-

dated power following the U.S. ex-

it. It has claimed responsibility for

attacks including two deadly

bombings in the capital in the last

month.

ISIS claimed it targeted Tues-

day night a vehicle carrying Tali-

ban members with an explosive

device in District 1 in Kunar prov-

ince, northeast of the capital, kill-

ing and wounding those onboard.

It said a Taliban reinforcement

patrol rushed to the area to help

but ISIS fighters clashed with

them, killing and wounding

“many.”

ISIS re-emerged in Afghanistan

in 2020 after being weakened by a

heavy U.S. bombing campaign di-

rected against them in the eastern

part of the country in 2019. The

group claimed responsibility for

Sunday’s bombing at Kabul’s Eid

Gah Mosque which killed five ci-

vilians. It has also claimed respon-

sibility for the horrific bombing on

Taliban arrest 4 ISIS membersas threat from extremists grows

BY RAHIM FAEIZ

AND SAMYA KULLAB

Associated Press

AFGHANISTAN

PAGE 8 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Thursday, October 7, 2021

VIRUS OUTBREAK

Guam recorded its 200th CO-

VID-19 fatality Monday — a 27-

year-old unvaccinated man —

and the U.S. territory has an-

nounced 10 more deaths from the

coronavirus respiratory disease

since then.

Fatality No. 200 was pro-

nounced dead upon arrival at

Guam Memorial Hospital on Sept.

30, according to a news release

from the island’s Joint Informa-

tion Center. He had underlying

health conditions and tested posi-

tive that day.

Of the 10 deaths that followed,

six had not been vaccinated, the

information center said. The

208th fatality, however, a 68-year-

old woman, was announced near-

ly a year after it occurred on Oct.

31, 2020, when COVID-19 vac-

cines were unavailable.

“Too many families and loved

ones have experienced the great-

est loss and sadness over the

course of this pandemic,” Gov.

Lou Leon Guerrero said in a state-

ment Wednesday. “May their

passing not be in vain — that we

each take the extra precautions to

protect ourselves and those

around us with all the tools avail-

able to us.”

Since the pandemic began,

Guam has recorded 15,789 coro-

navirus cases, 2,452 of which

were active as of Wednesday eve-

ning. There were 159 new patients

identified that day.

Guam has vaccinated more

than 80% of its eligible population,

but the island’s hospitals are at

capacity and have been strug-

gling amid a shortage of health

care workers, The Associated

Press reported Sept. 30.

The state surgeon for the Guam

Army National Guard, Dr. Mike

Cruz, said nurses are being of-

fered more than $100 per hour in

some states, according to the re-

port. Because of this, Guam is los-

ing out to places offering higher

wages and can’t afford to bring in

more nurses, he said.

SHAINA O'NEAL/U.S. Navy, Joint Region Marianas

Guam Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero speaks during a meeting earlier this year at the Ricardo J. Bordallo Gover­nor's Complex in Adelup, Guam.

Guam announces spate ofdeaths; most unvaccinated

Stars and Stripes

news@stripes.comTwitter: @starsandstripes

African American and Hispanic

veterans were more likely than

their white counterparts to get the

COVID-19 vaccine at a veterans’

health facility in the first few

months that mRNA vaccines were

available in the United States, a

study published Wednesday

found.

Non-Hispanic Black veterans

who received care through the Vet-

erans Health Administration made

up 21% of those who had at least

one dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech or

Moderna vaccine in the three

months following the two vaccines’

rollout in December, according to

the study published on the Journal

of the American Medical Associ-

ation’s Network Open website.

Among Hispanic veterans, 18%

had at least a first dose of one of the

two mRNA shots after they were

authorized for emergency use by

the U.S. Food and Drug Adminis-

tration.

Black people made up just 17% of

the more than 6.6 million veterans

whose electronic health records

were looked at for the study, and

Hispanics represented just 7% of

the study population.

White veterans, on the other

hand, made up two-thirds of the

study population but only 22% of

those who were inoculated during

the study period.

None of the fully vaccinated vet-

erans died during the study period,

and the vaccine was 95% effective

at preventing infection in veterans

regardless of race, sex, age or resi-

dence in an urban or rural area.

That contrasts with how CO-

VID-19 has affected the general

population, disproportionately hit-

ting racial and ethnic minorities

and low-income communities, the

study found.

Getting the vaccine gave veter-

ans, who are older and often have

underlying health conditions, ro-

bust protection against infection

from the coronavirus, which as of

this month has claimed about

700,000 U.S. lives.

Most infections detected during

the study period were in younger

veterans, who were more likely to

be white, the study found.

The VHA rapidly rolled out a

program to inoculate veterans as

soon as the two mRNA vaccines

were authorized by the FDA.

The pandemic already had a

devastating effect on veterans by

then, with some 207,000 infections

reported among VHA-enrolled

veterans prior to authorization and

around 10,000 deaths of veterans in

VHA care.

More than a third of pre-vacci-

nation infections were among

Black veterans, and the figure was

13% among Hispanics. Both groups

make up a small proportion of the

overall VHA care population,

which is predominantly composed

of white men.

The differences in health out-

comes could not be attributed to

underlying health conditions, the

study said.

“Over a period of only 3 months

after the first COVID-19 vaccine

was authorized, the VHA success-

fully vaccinated and tested mil-

lions of veterans of all socioec-

onomic groups,” it said.

The success of the VHA vaccina-

tion program prompted Congress

to pass a law authorizing the VA to

expand its vaccination effort be-

yond veterans who receive care

through the VHA.

Black, Hispanicvets more likely toget shots early on

BY KARIN ZEITVOGEL

Stars and Stripes

zeitvogel.karin@stripes.comTwitter: @StripesZeit

MOSCOW — Russia’s daily cor-

onavirus death toll surpassed 900

on Wednesday for the first time in

the pandemic, a record that comes

amid the country’s low vaccination

rate and the government’s reluc-

tance to impose tough restrictions

to control new cases.

Russia’s state coronavirus task

force reported 929 new deaths on

Wednesday, the fourth time this

month that daily COVID-19 deaths

have reached record highs. The

previous record, 895 deaths, was

registered Tuesday. Russia al-

ready has Europe’s highest death

toll in the pandemic at over 212,000

people, but some official data sug-

gests that is an undercount.

The task force also reported

25,133 new confirmed cases

Wednesday.

Despite the surge, government

officials rejected the idea of impos-

ing a lockdown and said regional

authorities would take steps to

stem the spread of the virus.

Russia’s daily virus deathssurpass 900 for first time

Associated Press

The Biden administration on

Tuesday ordered Arizona Gov.

Doug Ducey to stop using the

state’s federal pandemic funding

on a pair of new education grants

that can only be directed to schools

without mask mandates.

In a letter to Ducey, the Treasu-

ry Department said the grant pro-

grams are “not a permissible use”

of the federal funding. It’s the lat-

est attempt by the Biden adminis-

tration to push back against Re-

publican governors who have op-

posed mask mandates and other-

wise sought to use federal

pandemic funding to advance

their own agendas.

Ducey, a Republican, created

the grant programs in August to

put pressure on school districts

that have defied the state’s ban on

mask mandates.

He launched a $163 million

grant program using federal fund-

ing he controls, but he made it

available only to schools without

mask mandates. He also establish-

ed a $10 million program that of-

fers vouchers to families at public

schools that require masks or that

tell students to isolate or quaran-

tine due to COVID-19 exposure.

In the letter, Deputy Treasury

Secretary Wally Adeyemo said the

conditions “undermine evidence-

based efforts to stop the spread of

COVID-19.” He asked the state to

explain how it will “remediate” the

problem within 30 days.

C.J. Karamargin, a spokesper-

son for Ducey, said it’s “baffling”

why anyone would oppose the

grant programs.

“Following the challenges dur-

ing the 2020 school year, every-

one’s primary focus should be

equipping families with the re-

sources to get their kids caught up.

That’s exactly what this program

does — giving families in need the

opportunity to access educational

resources like tutoring, child care,

transportation and more,” Kara-

margin said in a statement.

He said the governor’s office is

reviewing the letter and plans to

respond.

Arizona is one of at least eight

states that have laws or executive

orders banning mask require-

ments in public schools.

Ariz. can’t use pandemic fundsfor anti-mask grants, feds say

Associated Press

Thursday, October 7, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 9

NATION

WASHINGTON — President

Joe Biden and congressional

Democrats’ push for a 10-year,

$3.5 trillion package of social and

environmental initiatives has re-

ached a turning point, with the

president repeatedly conceding

that the measure will be consider-

ably smaller and pivotal lawmak-

ers flashing potential signs of flex-

ibility.

In virtual meetings Monday and

Tuesday with small groups of

House Democrats, Biden said he

reluctantly expected the legisla-

tion’s final version to weigh in be-

tween $1.9 trillion and $2.3 trillion,

a Democrat familiar with the ses-

sions said Tuesday. He told them

he didn’t think he could do better

than that, the person said, reflect-

ing demands from some of the

party’s more conservative law-

makers.

Biden used those same figures

during a Friday meeting in the

Capitol with nearly all House

Democrats, according to that per-

son and a second Democrat famil-

iar with the gathering. Both Dem-

ocrats would describe the meet-

ings only on condition of anonym-

ity.

There has been no agreement

on a final figure, and plenty of oth-

er unanswered questions — plus

the possibility of failure — remain.

Crucial unresolved matters in-

clude how to get virtually every

Democrat in Congress to vote for a

measure they’ve spent months

fighting over and that Republi-

cans will solidly oppose, and

whether the shrunken price tag

would be reached by dropping

some proposals or by keeping

most but at lower cost or shorter

duration.

But by repeatedly conceding

that the crown jewel of his own do-

mestic agenda will have to shrink

and providing a range for its cost,

Biden is trying to push his party

beyond months of stalemate and

refocus bargainers on nailing

down needed policy and fiscal de-

cisions.

“I want to make sure that we

have a package that everyone can

agree on,” Biden told reporters

Tuesday in Howell, Mich., where

he went to try building public sup-

port for his plan. “It’s not going to

be $3.5 trillion. It’s going to be less

than that.”

Asked how he would trim $1 tril-

lion from his initial plan, Biden

said, “My objective is to get every-

thing that I campaigned on

passed.” He added, “It won’t all

happen at once.” That seemed to

suggest that some initiatives in the

bill might not begin right away or

might last only temporarily to

save money.

Asked if there would be “means

testing,” or limits on the incomes

of people who would qualify for

initiatives, the president said,

“Sure.” Some moderates have

wanted to impose such limits on

some programs.

The social and environment bill

is the heart of Biden’s push to beef

up federal efforts to help families

and slow global warming.

It would require paid family and

medical leave; extend tax breaks

for families with children, low ear-

ners and people buying health in-

surance; expand Medicare cover-

age; prod energy companies to

move toward cleaner fuels and

provide free pre-kindergarten

and community college. In a nod

to his party’s progressive in-

stincts, it would be largely paid for

by increasing taxes on the wealthy

and corporate America.

Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.,

and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz.,

have insisted on curbing the bill’s

cost and have been their party’s

highest-profile holdouts.

Biden concedeslower price tagfor massive bill

BY ALAN FRAM

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — President

Joe Biden is escalating his cam-

paign to get Congress to lift the fed-

eral debt limit, hosting business

leaders at the White House on

Wednesday and warning in a new

report that failure to extend the

government’s borrowing authority

could set off a global financial cri-

sis.

The moves come amid indica-

tions Democrats may change Sen-

ate filibuster rules to get around

Republican opposition.

Biden will host a number of CE-

Os — including the heads of banks

like Citi, JP Morgan Chase and

Bank of America — to underscore

the severe ramifications if the gov-

ernment runs out of money to cover

its bills.

Ahead of the meeting, the White

House warned that if the borrow-

ing limit isn’t extended, it could set

off a global financial crisis that the

United States may not be able to

manage.

“A default would send shock

waves through global financial

markets and would likely cause

credit markets worldwide to freeze

up and stock markets to plunge,”

the White House Council of Eco-

nomic Advisers said in a new re-

port. “Employers around the world

would likely have to begin laying

off workers.”

The recession that could be trig-

gered could be worse than the 2008

financial crisis because it would

come as so many nations are still

struggling with the COVID-19 pan-

demic, the report said. It was first

obtained by The New York Times.

Congress has just days to act be-

fore the Oct. 18 deadline when the

Treasury Department has warned

it will run short of funds to handle

the nation’s already accrued debt

load.

The Senate, meanwhile, is

scheduled to vote Wednesday on

whether to take up a bill to suspend

the debt limit, but Republicans are

again expected to block it.

To get around the GOP standoff,

Biden indicated in off-the-cuff

comments Tuesday that Demo-

crats are weighing a procedural

change.

“It’s a real possibility,” Biden

told reporters outside the White

House.

Getting rid of the filibuster rule

would lower the typical 60-vote

threshold for passage to 50. In the

split 50-50 Senate, Vice President

Kamala Harris can break a tie, al-

lowing Democrats to push past Re-

publicans.

The topic was broached during a

private Democratic Senate lunch

session Tuesday as senators were

growing exasperated with Repub-

lican Leader Mitch McConnell’s

refusal to allow a simple vote on the

debt limit. Instead, McConnell is

forcing Democrats to undertake

what they view as a cumbersome

process taking days, if not weeks,

that will eat into their agenda.

With Republicans putting up

hurdles to the vote, Democratic

senators have been discussing a

range of options — including a

carve-out to the chamber’s filibus-

ter rules. But invoking a filibuster

rules change seems unlikely, in

part because all Democratic sen-

ators would need to be on board.

At his weekly press conference,

Senate Majority Leader Chuck

Schumer, D-N.Y., did not embrace

— or reject — the idea of changing

the filibuster for this one specific

issue. Instead, Schumer simply re-

peated what he, Biden and others

have said — that Republicans

should “ get out of the way” and al-

low Democrats to pass the measure

that’s already been approved and

sent over from the House.

As Republicans obstruct, Bidenescalates warnings of default

Associated Press

SUSAN WALSH/AP

President Joe Biden talks with reporters at the White House onTuesday, after a trip to Michigan to promote his infrastructure plan. 

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Optimism

for transformational funding for

the nation’s historically Black col-

leges was running high after the Bi-

den administration included $45

billion for the schools in its massive

multitrillion-dollar spending plan.

That outlook quickly soured as

the funding became ensnared in

Democratic infighting over the size

of the economic package and what

it should cover. The latest iteration

of the bill includes just $2 billion

that can go toward educational pro-

grams and infrastructure for Black

colleges, and even that amount

would be reduced to competitive

grant funding rather than direct al-

locations.

That’s especially disappointing

for many smaller, private histori-

cally Black colleges that don’t have

the endowments as their larger and

more well-known peers. They often

struggle to upgrade their campuses

and programs, hurting their ability

to attract students.

The Biden administration’s orig-

inal $3.5 trillion proposal called for

sending at least $45 billion to Black

colleges and other minority-serv-

ing institutions to update their re-

search programs, create incuba-

tors to help students innovate and

help traditionally underserved

populations.

Getting a slice of that would have

been a boon to Philander Smith

College in Little Rock, Ark., a pri-

vate historically Black college.

President Roderick L. Smothers

said federal coronavirus relief

money was instrumental in helping

the university survive the pandem-

ic with technology upgrades and

student support, but he said Bi-

den’s original proposal provided

the kind of money that would have

had a long-term impact.

“We used the funds that we re-

ceived to serve the students that we

have, and now we’re asking for ad-

ditional funds to make sure that

when we are on the other side of

this global pandemic our institu-

tions will be bigger and better and

more resilient,” Smothers said.

Beyond building upgrades,

Smothers said Philander Smith

College would have used the long-

term federal funding to expand

programs for its students, 81% of

which are low income. That might

include launching a public health

school that would train students to

tackle health disparities affecting

racial minorities and help address

the state’s nursing shortage.

Black colleges’ funding hopes dimAssociated Press

Police: Student opens fire at Texas high school

ARLINGTON, Texas — A stu-

dent opened fire inside a Dallas-

area high school during a fight, in-

juring four people before he fled,

authorities said Wednesday.

The shooting happened at Tim-

berview High School in Arlington,

which is part of the Dallas-Fort

Worth metropolitan area. Two

people were shot and two others

had unspecified injuries, Arling-

ton Assistant Police Chief Kevin

Kolbye said at a news conference.

Three of the four were taken to

hospitals, he said. Police were

searching for the suspected shoo-

ter, whom they identified as Tim-

othy George Simpkins, 18.

“This is not a random act of vio-

lence,” Kolbye said. “This is not

somebody attacking our school.”

From The Associated Press

PAGE 10 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Thursday, October 7, 2021

NATION

LEESBURG, Va. — When Demo-

crat Terry McAuliffe said during

the Virginia governor’s debate last

week that he doesn’t believe “par-

ents should be telling schools what

they should teach,” his opponent

pounced.

Republican Glenn Youngkin

quickly turned the footage into a

digital ad, then announced spending

$1 million on a commercial airing

statewide proclaiming that “Terry

went on the attack against parents.”

Youngkin’s campaign has since

founded a parent-led group to circu-

late petitions and distribute flyers

rejecting “McAuliffe’s disqualify-

ing position,” while scheduling a

“Parents Matter” rally Wednesday

in northern Virginia.

Youngkin is trying to capitalize on

a surge of relatively small but vocal

groups of parents organizing

against school curriculums they

view as “anti-American,” CO-

VID-19 safety measures and school

board members whom they consid-

er too liberal and closely aligned to

teachers unions.

It’s an effort to excite the GOP-

leaning suburban voters Youngkin

needs to win the Nov. 2 race. If the

approach proves successful in Vir-

ginia, a one-time swing state that

has become more reliably blue, Re-

publicans across the country are

likely to replicate his efforts during

next year’s midterms.

“Glenn Youngkin is harnessing

the energy of parents that are frus-

trated and fed up,” said Youngkin

spokesperson Macaulay Porter.

Virginia’s most active parental

activist groups maintain they are

nonpartisan and not seeking to in-

fluence the governor’s race, instead

focusing on school board elections

and efforts to recall board mem-

bers, especially in growing areas

outside Washington. But many such

organizations have ties to Republi-

can donors, and are led by people

who worked for the GOP and its can-

didates, which may make it easier to

replicate the message nationally.

“The other side wants to say this is

all geared toward helping candi-

dates. I think it’s the opposite,” said

Ian Prior, 44, a former Trump ad-

ministration official who founded

Fight for Schools, which aims to re-

call five school board members in

Loudoun County, where his chil-

dren attend school. “This exists, and

smart candidates are picking up on

it. Politically, I would say it’s a bipro-

duct.”

McAuliffe supporters dismiss the

blitz as Youngkin firing up the base.

“Youngkin is working to divide

Virginians instead of keeping our

children safe from COVID-19,” said

McAuliffe spokesperson Christina

Freundlich.

Virginia GOPcandidatetests schoolsfight as issue

Associated PressLONG BEACH, Calif. — A

ship’s anchor may have hooked,

dragged and torn an underwater

pipeline that spilled tens of thou-

sands of gallons of crude oil into

the ocean off Southern California,

according to federal investigators

who also found the pipeline owner

didn’t quickly shut down oper-

ations after a safety system alert-

ed to a possible spill.

Questions remained about the

timeline of the weekend spill,

which fouled beaches and a pro-

tected marshland, potentially

closing them for weeks along with

commercial and recreational fish-

ing in a major hit to the local econ-

omy.

Some reports of a possible spill,

a petroleum smell and an oily

sheen on the waters off Hunting-

ton Beach came in Friday night

but weren’t corroborated and the

pipeline’s operator, Amplify En-

ergy Corp., didn’t report a spill un-

til the next morning, authorities

said.

An alarm went off in a company

control room at 2:30 a.m. Saturday

that pressure had dropped in the

pipeline, indicating a possible leak

but Amplify waited until 6:01 a.m.

to shut down the pipeline, accord-

ing to preliminary findings of an

investigation into the spill.

The Houston-based company

took another three hours to notify

the U.S. Coast Guard’s National

Response Center for oil spills, in-

vestigators said, further slowing

the response to an accident for

which Amplify workers spent

years preparing.

However, Amplify CEO Martyn

Willsher insisted that the compa-

ny wasn’t aware of the spill until it

saw a sheen on the water at 8:09

a.m.

The company’s spill-response

plan calls for the immediate noti-

fication of a spill. Criminal charg-

es have been brought in the past

when a company took too long to

notify federal and state officials of

a spill.

On Tuesday, federal transporta-

tion investigators said the pipe

was split open at a depth of about

98 feet and a nearly milelong sec-

tion was pulled along the sea floor,

possibly by an anchor that hooked

it and caused a partial tear, federal

transportation investigators said.

“The pipeline has essentially

been pulled like a bow string,”

Willsher said. “At its widest point,

it is 105 feet away from where it

was.”

Huge cargo ships regularly

cross above the pipeline as they

head into the gigantic Los An-

geles-Long Beach port complex.

They are given coordinates where

they are to anchor until unloading.

The spill sent up to 126,000 gal-

lons of heavy crude into the ocean

but animal rescuers ashore have

been pleasantly surprised to find

few birds covered in oil.

During a two-hour boat tour off

Huntington Beach coastline, an

AP video journalist saw no visible

oil. Pelicans and other sea birds

floated on calm waters, and four

dolphins swam by the boat.

Meanwhile, Coast Guard offi-

cials defended their decision to

wait until Saturday morning to in-

vestigate a possible spill first re-

ported Friday night — some 10

hours earlier — near a cluster of

boats that were anchored off Hun-

tington Beach.

At 2:06 a.m. Saturday, the Na-

tional Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration said satellite im-

ages showed the strong likelihood

of an oil slick. The report was

made to the National Response

Center, a hazardous spill hotline

staffed by the Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard was alerted to

a sheen on the water by a “good

Samaritan” but did not have

enough corroborating evidence

and was hindered by darkness and

a lack of technology to seek out the

spill, Coast Guard Rear Adm.

Brian Penoyer told The Associat-

ed Press.

Penoyer said it was fairly com-

mon to get reports of oil sheens in

a major seaport.

“In hindsight, it seems obvious,

but they didn’t know that at that

time,” Penoyer said.

Ship anchor may have caused spillInvestigators find pipelineowner didn’t act quickly

Associated Press

RINGO H.W. CHIU/AP

Workers in protective suits clean the contaminated beach after an oil spill in Huntington Beach, Calif., onTuesday. A major oil spill off the coast of Southern California fouled popular beaches and killed wildlifewhile crews scrambled Sunday, to contain the crude before it spread further into protected wetlands. 

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Cali-

fornia has been a leader in restrict-

ing offshore oil drilling since the in-

famous 1969 Santa Barbara spill

that sparked the modern environ-

mental movement, and the latest

spill off Huntington Beach is

prompting fresh calls for an end to

such drilling.

That’s easier said than done, even

in California. While the state hasn’t

issued a new lease in state water in

five decades, drilling from existing

platforms continues. Similarly, an

effort in Congress that aims to halt

new drilling in federal waters —

more than 3 miles off the coast —

wouldn’t stop drilling that’s already

happening.

Speaking from Huntington

Beach on Tuesday, California Gov.

Gavin Newsom acknowledged it’s

easier to resist new drilling than to

wind down what already exists.

“Banning new drilling is not com-

plicated,” he said. “The deeper

question is how do you transition

and still protect the workforce?”

Today, there are 19 oil and gas

agreements in California’s coastal

waters and 1,200 active wells. In fed-

eral waters, there are 23 oil and gas

production facilities off the state’s

coast. A pipeline connected to one of

those platforms in federal waters,

run by Houston-based Amplify En-

ergy, has spilled up to 126,000 gal-

lons of heavy crude in one of the

worst oil spills in recent California

history.

Newsom said there is now a new

sense of urgency to curb oil produc-

tion, including by issuing more per-

mits for well abandonment.

“It’s time, once and for all, to dis-

abuse ourselves that this has to be

part of our future. This is part of our

past,” he said alongside other elect-

ed officials.

California remains the nation’s

seventh-largest oil producing state,

and winding down oil production

has proved politically difficult. The

industry employs more than 150,000

people and the state makes money

from oil and gas leases.

Newsom highlighted the steps

he’s taken to curb reliance on oil

since he took office in 2019, includ-

ing a plan to end oil production in the

state by 2045 and stop selling new

gas-powered cars by 2035. Still, his

administration continues to issue

new oil drilling permits offshore and

on land, though in 2020 it issued

more permits to close wells than to

open new ones, said Jacob Roper, a

spokesman for the state Depart-

ment of Conservation.

Offshore, there are nearly 1,200

active wells in California waters, ac-

cording to state data compiled by

FracTracker Alliance. About 370

wells are idle, while nearly 1,300

have been plugged. Five permits

have been granted to drill new off-

shore wells during Newsom’s ten-

ure, according to the group.

Efforts to plug and decommission

several state oil platforms are un-

derway, but the process is costly and

time consuming. It’s expected to

cost more than $800 million to de-

commission wells in the Wilming-

ton Oil Fields off the coast of Long

Beach. The state has just $300 mil-

lion set aside.

Calif. oil spill renews calls to ban offshore drillingAssociated Press

Thursday, October 7, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 11

AMERICAN ROUNDUP

Woman killed while tryingto help dog on highway

AL ALBERTVILLE — A

woman who was trying

to save a stray dog on a highway in

north Alabama died after she was

struck by a vehicle during the res-

cue attempt, police said.

Christina Nicole Green, 31, of

Decatur was a passenger in a vehi-

cle traveling on U.S. 431 Saturday

night when she saw a dog trying to

cross traffic and wanted to help it

get out of the road, WAFF-TV re-

ported.

The driver of the vehicle stop-

ped at Green’s request, and she

walked across the northbound

lane and median before being

struck by a pickup truck in the

southbound lane, Albertville po-

lice said.

Green died at the scene, and the

driver of the pickup was not hurt.

No charges were filed, and it

wasn’t immediately clear what

happened to the dog.

2 cops hurt, 5 teensarrested in school brawl

FL FORT LAUDERDALE

— Two officers were in-

jured and five teens were arrested

after a large fight broke out at a

South Florida high school just af-

ter the dismissal bell.

Fort Lauderdale Police said the

school resource officer at Dillard

High School was notified there

was a big brawl on campus and

was injured when he intervened.

He was taken to the hospital with

serious but not life threatening in-

juries, Detective Ali Adamson

said.

Police didn’t say what prompt-

ed the fight or how many were in-

volved, but said five were arrested

and face charges including disor-

derly conduct, resisting arrest,

and battery on a law enforcement

officer. A 17-year-old girl was

charged with battery on a law en-

forcement officer and resisting

with violence, police said.

State fair attendancehealthy after year’s layoff

IL SPRINGFIELD — State

officials are celebrating

attendance at this year’s Illinois

State Fair after it was canceled in

2020 because of the COVID-19

pandemic.

The state Department of Agri-

culture reported that the Spring-

field-based festival in August at-

tracted 472,390. Since 2014, when

the agency started formally track-

ing attendance, that’s second only

to the 508,900 who attended in

2019.

Given the the turnstile count in

2019, State Fair Manager Kevin

Gordon said “the bar was set pret-

ty high” for attendance after a

year’s layoff.

2 polar bears leaving zooafter recommendations

MD BALTIMORE — The

two polar bears living

at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore

are moving to new locations after

recommendations from a non-

profit organization which focuses

on animal care and welfare, offi-

cials said.

A news release says Neva and

Amelia Gray came to the Mary-

land Zoo as 2-year-olds in 2018

from the Columbus Zoo & Aquar-

ium and are half-sisters.

Based on the recommendations

from the Association of Zoos &

Aquariums, Amelia Gray will go

to the Oregon Zoo in Portland to

join her half-sister Nora.

Neva will move to an accredited

zoo on a breeding recommenda-

tion and will eventually be paired

with an older male polar bear, ac-

cording to the news release.

With the move, both habitat sec-

tions at Polar Bear Watch at the

zoo will now be solely for the use of

the grizzly bears, Nova and Nita.

Cops: Woman stole SUVwith 5 kids inside

NC CURRITUCK — A

Virginia woman is ac-

cused of stealing an SUV with five

children inside after the driver

had stopped to help her following

a multicar crash, a North Carolina

sheriff’s office said.

The Currituck County Sheriff’s

Office said in a news release that

the SUV driver stopped and got

out to assist after witnessing the

crash on U.S. Highway 158 in

Grandy. One of the drivers in-

volved in the crash got out of their

car, jumped into the SUV and

drove off with the children, the

news release said.

Deputies chased the SUV down

Caratoke Highway to a conve-

nience store, where deputies ap-

prehended the suspect after she

got out of the vehicle and ran, the

sheriff’s office said.

The children were described as

“extremely shaken but not

harmed,” according to the news

release.

Multiple charges were filed

against Markell Hancox of Chesa-

peake, Va., including five counts

of second-degree kidnapping.

She is jailed on a $210,000 bond.

Record number of gunsfound at Memphis airport

TN MEMPHIS — Trans-

portation Security Ad-

ministration officers at Memphis

International Airport in Tennes-

see discovered a record number of

guns at security checkpoints this

year, officials said.

TSA security officers have

found 48 firearms in carry-on bag-

gage in 2021, surpassing the re-

cord of 47 guns set in 2018 and

again last year, the agency said in

a statement.

Travelers face criminal and civ-

il penalties for bringing firearms

to a security checkpoint.

Guns can be transported on a

commercial aircraft only if they

are unloaded, packed in a locked,

hard-sided case and placed in

checked baggage.

City apologizes for 1887Chinatown destruction

CA SAN FRANCISCO —

The city of San Jose

was once home to one of the large-

st Chinatowns in California. In the

heart of downtown, it was the cen-

ter of life for Chinese immigrants

who worked on nearby farms and

orchards.

More than a century after arso-

nists burned it to the ground in

1887, the San Jose City Council

last week unanimously approved

a resolution to apologize to Chi-

nese immigrants and their de-

scendants for the role the city

played in “systemic and institu-

tional racism, xenophobia, and

discrimination.”

San Jose, with a population over

1 million, is the largest city in the

country to formally apologize to

the Chinese community for its

treatment of their ancestors.

In May, the city of Antioch apol-

ogized for its mistreatment of Chi-

nese immigrants, who had to built

tunnels so they could return home

after work because they were

banned from walking the streets

after sundown.

“It’s important for members of

the Chinese American community

to know that they are seen and that

the difficult conversations around

race and historic inequities in-

clude the oppression that their an-

cestors suffered,” San Jose Mayor

Sam Liccardo said.

Male tiger kills female inbreeding intro in Tacoma

WA TACOMA — A female

Sumatran tiger from

Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium in

Tacoma has died after another ti-

ger attacked her during a breed-

ing introduction, officials said.

Six-year-old tiger Kirana, who

was born at the zoo, died Monday,

The News Tribune reported.

Zoo staff had slowly introduced

Kirana and Raja, the zoo’s 2-year-

old male Sumatran tiger as part of

a plan to help save the endangered

species.

The two were closely monitored

and separated by a mesh door,

staff said.

When zoo keepers removed the

barrier to allow the tigers to meet

physically Friday, Kirana was at-

tacked and staff moved quickly to

separate them, officials said.

KRISTOPHER RADDER/AP

Tom Gilbert, crossing guard for Windham Southeast Supervisory Union, helps students cross Western Avenue in Brattleboro, Vt., on Monday.

Wet walk

THE CENSUS

$1M The street value of methamphetamines seized in Oregon’slargest bust ever. Federal and local police say they arrested

the leader of a drug trafficking cell, Martin Manzo-Negrete, 47, on Sept. 15 inEugene. Manzo-Negrete was charged with possession with intent to distributemethamphetamine.

From The Associated Press

PAGE 12 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Thursday, October 7, 2021

NATION

BENICIA, Calif. — The machine

Ted Bowman helped design can

make water out of the air, and in

parched California, some home-

owners are already buying the pri-

cey devices.

The air-to-water systems work

like air conditioners by using coils to

chill air, then collect water drops in

a basin.

“Our motto is, water from air isn’t

magic, it’s science, and that’s really

what we’re doing with these ma-

chines,” said Ted Bowman, design

engineer at Washington state-based

Tsunami Products.

The system is one of several that

have been developed in recent

years to extract water from humid-

ity in the air. Other inventions in-

clude mesh nets, solar panels and

shipping containers that harvest

moisture from the air.

Bowman said his company’s ma-

chines — made for use at homes, of-

fices, ranches and elsewhere — de-

humidify the air, and in doing so

create water that’s filtered to make

it drinkable.

The technology works especially

well in foggy areas and depending

on the size can produce between 200

gallons and 1,900 gallons of water a

day. The machines also operate effi-

ciently in any area with high humid-

ity, including California’s coastline,

he said.

The machines are not cheap,

however, with prices ranging from

$30,000 to $200,000, and require a

significant amount of energy to run.

Still, in California, where residents

have been asked to conserve water

because one of the worst droughts in

recent history has depleted reser-

voirs, some homeowners are buy-

ing them to meet their water needs.

Don Johnson, of Benica, Calif.,

said he bought the smallest ma-

chine, which looks like a towering

AC unit, hoping it would generate

sufficient water to sustain his gar-

den. But he found it puts out more

than enough for his garden and his

household.

“This machine will produce wa-

ter for a lot less than you can buy

bottled water at Costco for, and I be-

lieve, as time goes on and the price

of freshwater through our utilities

goes up, I think it’s going to more

than pay for itself,” he said.

HAVEN DAILY/AP

Ted Bowman, design engineer with Tsunami Products, installs a unit last month in homeowner Don John­son’s backyard in Benicia, Calif.

In Calif., some buy machineswhich make water out of air

Associated Press

NASA will launch a spacecraft

next month to hit an asteroid — on

purpose — to change its path, test-

ing for the first time a method of

“planetary defense,” the agency

announced Tuesday.

The launch of the Double Aste-

roid Redirection Test mission will

occur at 1:20 a.m. Eastern time on

Nov. 24, NASA said. A SpaceX Fal-

con 9 rocket will be launched from

the Vandenberg Space Force

Base, about 50 miles northwest of

Santa Barbara, Calif.

NASA is targeting a pair of aste-

roids that orbit the sun and occa-

sionally come close to Earth. The

asteroids don’t come close enough

to pose a threat, NASA said, but

their proximity makes them a

prime candidate for the test of a

technique that could someday

prevent a “hazardous asteroid

from striking Earth.”

“We’re going to make sure that a

rock from space doesn’t send us

back to the Stone Age,” Thomas

Statler, a NASA scientist, said on

the agency’s podcast.

The larger of the two asteroids,

Didymos, is about a half-mile

across in size, with a smaller

“moonlet,” called Dimorphos, or-

biting it. Dimorphos, about 500

feet in size, is “more typical of the

size of asteroids that could pose

the most likely significant threat

to Earth,” according to NASA.

Dimorphos is “not necessarily

the asteroid that’s going to cause

[a] devastating effect on Earth,”

Statler said. Rather, the launch is a

“test to make sure that we have the

capabilities for that asteroid in the

future, if there is one.”

The DART mission is aiming to

hit Dimorphos at a speed of nearly

15,000 miles per hour with the goal

of changing its orbit “by a fraction

of 1%” — a small but significant

enough change that scientists will

be able to observe it from tele-

scopes on Earth.

If NASA were to detect an aste-

roid that poses a risk to Earth —

Statler said the agency is not

aware of such a risk over the next

hundred years — it would attempt

to hit it and change its course,

rather than destroy it altogether.

The DART spacecraft will de-

tach from the SpaceX rocket and

cruise in space for more than a

year before it hits Dimorphos

sometime late September next

year, a time when the pair of aste-

roids will be close enough to Earth

— just over 6.8 million miles —

that scientists will be able to see

them.

The interaction will be recorded

by a 31-pound Italian satellite

launching from the spacecraft.

Although the collision isn’t im-

mediately stopping an Earth-shat-

tering asteroid, it is a mission of

“historical proportions,” Statler

said.

It will be “the first time that hu-

manity has actually changed

something in space,” he said.

“We’ve left footprints and tire

tracks and things like that,” Stat-

ler added, “but this will be the first

time humanity has changed a ce-

lestial motion.”

NASA will shoot a

rocket at asteroid

in test of defenseBY BRYAN PIETSCH

The Washington Post

WASHINGTON — Some poli-

ticians think they’ve found a silver

bullet for the impasse over the

debt limit, except the bullet is

made of platinum: Mint a $1 tril-

lion coin, token of all tokens, and

use it to flood the treasury with

cash and drive Republicans crazy.

Even its serious proponents —

who are not that many — call it a

gimmick. They have said it is an

oddball way out of an oddball ac-

counting problem that will have

severe consequences to average

people’s pocketbooks and the

economy if it is not worked out in

coming days.

But despite all the jokes about

who should go on the face of the

coin — Chuck E. Cheese? Donald

Trump, to tempt or taunt the GOP?

— there’s scholarship behind it,

too. However improbable, it is

conceivable the government

could turn $1 trillion into a coin of

the realm without lawmakers hav-

ing a say.

How is this possible when the

treasury secretary can’t simply

print money to pay public debts?

It’s because a quirky law from

more than 20 years ago seems to

allow the administration to mint

coins of any denomination without

congressional approval as long as

they’re platinum.

The intent was to help with the

production of commemorative

coins for collectors, not to create a

nuclear option in a fiscal crisis.

Specifically, the law says the

treasury secretary “may mint and

issue platinum bullion coins and

proof platinum coins in accord-

ance with such specifications, de-

signs, varieties, quantities, de-

nominations and inscriptions as

the Secretary, in the Secretary’s

discretion, may prescribe from

time to time.”

This is that time, in the view of

coin advocates. But Treasury Sec-

retary Janet Yellen, the White

House and some Democrats

slapped down the idea Tuesday,

just as past leaders have done

when the going got tough and rad-

ical quick-fixes emerged.

“The only thing kookier would

be a politically inflicted default,”

Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said of

the coin.

Said Yellen, “What’s necessary

is for Congress to show that the

world can count on America pay-

ing its debt.” A platinum coin, she

told CNBC, “is really a gimmick.”

Sure it is, said Rohan Grey, a

Willamette University law profes-

sor and expert on fiscal policy.

“The fact that (the coin) repre-

sents an accounting gimmick is a

source of its strength, rather than

a weakness,” Grey wrote in a

2020-21 study in the Kentucky

Law Journal. “The idea of ‘fight-

ing an accounting problem with an

accounting solution’ is entirely co-

herent ... the debt ceiling itself can

be viewed as one big, poorly de-

signed accounting gimmick.”

The United States will hit the

ceiling Oct. 18 unless Congress

acts in time to suspend it. The two

parties are in a stalemate in the

Senate — Republicans unwilling

to join Democrats in what used to

be a routine exercise; Democrats

holding back on using only their

own votes to fix the problem.

That’s what makes a shiny coin

with a 1 and 12 zeroes tempting to

some, if that untested and auda-

cious path would actually work.

But fraught questions arise for

lots of Democrats as well as Re-

publicans: Would they have want-

ed President Donald Trump to be

ordering up mega-coins like Diet

Cokes to his desk? Do they want

the next president to have that

power? Or even this one?

The White House has looked at

all such options “and none of those

options were viable,” press secre-

tary Jen Psaki said. “So, we know

that the only path forward here is

through Congress acting.”

Some politicians advocating for minting a $1T coin to fix debt limit issueBY CALVIN WOODWARD

Associated Press

Thursday, October 7, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 13

WORLD

STOCKHOLM — Two scien-tists won the Nobel Prize forchemistry Wednesday for findingan “ingenious” new way to buildmolecules that can be used tomake everything from medicinesto food flavorings.

The work of Benjamin List ofGermany and Scotland-born Da-vid W.C. MacMillan has allowedscientists to produce those mole-cules more cheaply, efficiently,safely and with significantly lessenvironmental impact.

“It’s already benefiting human-

kind greatly,” said Pernilla Wit-tung-Stafshede, a member of theNobel panel.

Making molecules — which re-quires linking individual atoms to-gether in specific arrangement —is a difficult and slow task. Untilthe beginning of the millennium,chemists had only two methods —or catalysts — to speed up theprocess.

That all changed in 2000, whenList, of the Max Planck Institute,and MacMillan, of Princeton Uni-versity, independently reportedthat small organic molecules can

be used to do the same job as bigenzymes and metal catalysts.

The new method, known asasymmetric organocatalysis, “isused widely today, for example, indrug discovery and in fine chem-icals production,” said Wittung-Stafshede.

Johan Åqvist, chair of the Nobelpanel, called the new method as“simple as it is ingenious.”

“The fact is that many peoplehave wondered why we didn’tthink of it earlier,” he added.

H.N. Cheng, president of theAmerican Chemical Society, said

the laureates developed “newmagic wands.”

Before the laureates’ work, “thestandard catalysts frequentlyused were metals, which fre-quently have environmentaldownsides,” said Cheng. “Theyaccumulate, they leach, they maybe hazardous.”

Peter Somfai, another memberof the committee, stressed the im-portance of the discovery for theworld economy.

“It has been estimated that ca-talysis is responsible for about35% of the world’s GDP, which is a

pretty impressive figure,” he said.“If we have a more environmen-tally friendly alternative, it’s ex-pected that that will make a differ-ence.”

Speaking after the announce-ment, List said the award was a“huge surprise.”

“You really made my day to-day,” the 53-year-old said by tele-phone to the journalists gatheredfor the announcement from his va-cation in Amsterdam.

“When I saw it worked, I did feelthat this could be something big,”he said of his eureka moment.

Chemistry Nobel honors ‘greener’ way to build moleculesAssociated Press

BERLIN — The two parties thatemerged as the likely kingmakersfrom Germany’s election lastmonth said Wednesday that theywill hold talks on a possible newgovernment under the leadershipof outgoing center-left SocialDemocrats.

If ultimately successful, whichis far from certain, the negotia-

tions would send outgoing Chan-cellor Angela Merkel’s center-right Union bloc into oppositionafter 16 years at the helm of Eu-rope’s biggest economy.

But such exploratory talks arethe first of several steps toward anew coalition government, andboth parties said a coalition withthe Union isn’t off the table.

Germany’s Sept. 26 election left

two parties as likely kingmakers:the Greens, who finished third,and the business-friendly FreeDemocrats, who finished fourth.Those two parties could team upwith either the Social Democrats,who narrowly won the electionwith outgoing Vice ChancellorOlaf Scholz as their candidate forthe top job, or the Union for a par-liamentary majority.

The Greens traditionally lean tothe left, while the Free Democratshave mostly allied with the Unionin recent decades.

All four parties have held bilat-eral meetings with each other inrecent days.

On Wednesday, the Greens saidthey had proposed to the FreeDemocrats holding three-way ex-ploratory talks with the Social

Democrats. That combination ap-pears to offer the “biggest over-laps in terms of content,” thoughthere are “significant open ques-tions and differences,” Green co-leader Robert Habeck said.

A little later, the Free Demo-crats said they had accepted —though leader Christian Lindnersounded more cautious about theprospect.

German parties to discuss new government under center-leftAssociated Press

PAGE 14 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Thursday, October 7, 2021

FACES

Rose McIver describes

her new sitcom as a lit-

tle like moving into a

college dorm room — if

your roommates happen to be

ghosts.

“Ghosts,” based on the BBC sit-

com of the same name and pre-

miering Thursday stateside on

CBS, is about just that: a group of

spirits trapped in a rundown coun-

try estate in upstate New York

who suddenly find themselves

with new neighbors when Saman-

tha (McIver) and husband Jay

(Utkarsh Ambudkar) inherit

Woodstone Manor and move in.

At first, the ghosts — including a

Prohibition-era lounge singer

(Danielle Pinnock), a hippie

(Sheila Carrasco), an ’80s scout

troop leader (Richie Moriarty), a

Viking explorer (Devon Chandler

Long), a ’90s finance bro (Asher

Grodman) and the wife of an

1800’s robber baron — try to drive

Samantha and Jay out of the

house.

Then, after Sam falls down a

flight of stairs, briefly dies and can

suddenly see her otherworldly

housemates, the dynamics

change.

The premise, McIver said, “re-

minded me of ‘What We Do in the

Shadows’ — that unlikely room-

mate dynamic, with a bit of ‘The

Good Place’ thrown in and that

heightened, stylized goodness,”

she said referring to the FX vam-

pire comedy and the NBC sitcom.

Just like the FX vampire come-

dy and the NBC sitcom, there’s al-

most immediate buy-in on

“Ghosts.” Sure, you’re in the Bad

Place. Sure, there are ghosts living

in your house that only you can

see.

“That’s the difference between

doing a CBS show and an HBO

show. It’s CBS, baby,” Ambudkar

said, laughing. “We gotta get right

to the point. We’re not answering

questions. It’s all action. We’re not

thinking about our moves, we’re

just making them. What’s that?

We’re moving to a haunted house?

We’ve got 22 minutes; we’d better

go. What’s that? We’re already

moved into a haunted house be-

fore the cold open? Let’s do this.”

Ambudkar said he wants

“Ghosts” to be a hangout comedy

like “Friends” or “Seinfeld.”

“A show the whole family can sit

down and watch and really enjoy

and engage in. It’s been a very dif-

ficult 18 months for a lot of people,

and our goal is to create an envi-

ronment of joy and fun and heart,”

the 37-year-old actor said.

The beauty of the show, McIver

said, are the endless plot possibil-

ities. Each ghost brings something

new to the table for her to bounce

off of. The overly optimistic troop

leader reminds her of herself. The

Wall Street golden child repulses

her. There are endless new ghosts

the writers could bring into the

world as they see fit.

“Finding the nuances between

Sam and each of the ghosts is

something I’m looking forward to

playing with,” the “iZombie”

alum, 32, told The News.

Jay, on the other hand, doesn’t

get to see the ghosts. That’s where

years of D-minuses at Tisch pay

off, Ambudkar joked.

“It’s pretty much just me saying

lines. He likes toys. He likes Dun-

geons and Dragons. He likes com-

ic books. He likes food. And he’s

generally just flabbergasted by

what’s going on around him at all

times. There’s a general state of

sarcastic confusion, which is me,

not going to lie,” he said. “Some of

us get hired to act. Some of us get

hired to say the words we were go-

ing to say anyway.”

“Ghosts” isn’t reinventing the

wheel, Ambudkar added. It’s a sil-

ly CBS sitcom with no stakes and

no cliffhangers.

“It’s not rocket science,” he

said. “It’s just some innocent,

good, clean fun.”

Living with the dead‘Ghosts’ make forstrange bedfellowsin new CBS sitcom

BY KATE FELDMAN

New York Daily News

CBS/TNS

Rose McIver and Utkarsh Ambudkar share space with spirited roommates in the CBS sitcom “Ghosts.”

Hoping to reverse a pandemic-

worsened ratings slide for its all-

important awards telecast, the A-

cademy of Motion Picture Arts

and Sciences announced Tuesday

that film and television producer

Will Packer will produce the 94th

Oscars ceremony.

The prolific Packer’s film cred-

its include

“Girls Trip,”

“Ride Along”

and “Straight

Outta Comp-

ton,” and he

earned an Em-

my nomination

for the 2016 re-

make of

“Roots.” This

will be his first involvement with

the Oscars. Shayla Cowan, chief

of staff of Will Packer Produc-

tions and Will Packer Media, will

serve as co-producer.

“Will is a powerhouse producer

who has enjoyed success across

all movie genres. He’s already

bringing a boundless energy and

a focus on innovation to this

year’s Oscars, to entertain the

widest spectrum of fans. Many

wonderful surprises ahead!” a-

cademy president David Rubin

and chief executive Dawn Hud-

son said in a joint statement.

“The power, the beauty, the ro-

mance of the imagery in movies

has always attracted me,” Packer

said in his own statement. “I’m

fully embracing the challenge of

bringing an ode to one of the most

iconic mediums in the world to

life. What an honor!”

The film academy has strug-

gled for years with an inexorably

declining audience for the Os-

cars. Forced to adjust to the pan-

demic, the producers of the 2021

telecast, Steven Soderbergh, Sta-

cey Sher and Jesse Collins, at-

tempted a number of innovations,

investing the show with a more

cinematic look and reshuffling

the sequence of awards, includ-

ing the best picture category.

In the end, the show drew

largely unenthusiastic reviews

and record-low ratings, with few-

er than 10 million viewers tuning

in, a far cry from the all-time-

high 57.2 million people who

watched the show in 1998 when

the box-office behemoth “Titan-

ic” won best picture.

With the movie business strug-

gling to regain its footing amid

the ongoing pandemic and a num-

ber of high-profile awards hope-

fuls coming down the pike, in-

cluding the sci-fi epic “Dune” and

Steven Spielberg’s remake of

“West Side Story,” the academy

is hoping that brighter days lie

ahead.

Will Packerto producenext Oscars

Will Packer 

BY JOSH ROTTENBERG

Los Angeles Times

Carrie, Miranda and Charlotte will be back

for the holidays.

“And Just Like That,” the modern-day reviv-

al of “Sex and the City,” will premiere in De-

cember, HBO Max announced Tuesday.

The series, which was originally announced

in January, reunites original stars Sarah Jessi-

ca Parker, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis as

Carrie Bradshaw, Miranda Hobbs and Char-

lotte York “as they navigate the journey from

the complicated reality of life and friendship in

their 30s to the even more complicated reality

of life and friendship in their 50s.”

Chris Noth, Mario Cantone, David Eigen-

berg and Evan Handler will all reprise their

roles, as will Willie Garson, who died last

month.

“Grey’s Anatomy” alum Sara Ramirez will

join the cast as Che Diaz, “a non-binary, queer,

stand-up comedian that hosts a podcast on

which Carrie Bradshaw is regularly featured.”

LeVar Burton named Rose Parade

grand marshalAfter getting snubbed on the messy search

for the next host of “Jeopardy!,” LeVar Burton

is finally getting his flowers.

On Tuesday, the Tournament of Roses

named the beloved actor and TV host grand

marshal of the 2022 Rose Parade, which will

take place in Pasadena on Jan. 1, per New

Year’s Day tradition.

While making the announcement this week,

Tournament of Roses President Bob Miller

showered Burton with praise.

“LeVar Burton perfectly epitomizes this

year’s theme,” Miller said. “The 2022 theme is

‘Dream. Believe. Achieve.’ and celebrates edu-

cation and the determination of those who trav-

el the path from dream to reality.”

“I am thrilled to named Grand Marshall of

the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasede-

na,” Burton tweeted Tuesday afternoon.

“Thank you Tournament of Roses for this high

honor!”

In addition to taking up the historic mantle of

Rose Parade grand marshal, Burton will also

participate in pregame events for the 108th

Rose Bowl college football game.

Billie Eilish becomes youngest star

to headline GlastonburyNineteen-year-old pop singer Billie Eilish

has broken numerous records in her short ca-

reer. Now she will become the Glastonbury

Festival’s youngest-ever solo headliner when

she takes the stage at the 2022 event.

Eilish teased the news on Sunday on Insta-

gram, posing herself wearing a Glastonbury

hoodie in a photo captioned “2022." The festiv-

al's organizers confirmed Monday that the

American singer will perform on June 24.

“This feels like the perfect way for us to re-

turn, and I cannot wait!” organizer Emily Ea-

vis said.

‘Sex and the City’ revival to premiere in December on HBO Max From wire reports

Thursday, October 7, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 15

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OPINION

WASHINGTON

With the United States’ with-

drawal from Afghanistan,

some subtle shifts are under-

way in a Middle East where

countries are exploring new regional partner-

ships — and reckoning with a world where the

leading superpower appears to have lost

some of its sparkle.

These regional realignments are helping

“depressurize” an area that has been danger-

ously stressed in recent years. Countries in-

creasingly are trying to solve their own prob-

lems, through regional economic links, rather

than depending on U.S. military might. The

danger is that some countries may turn to Chi-

na as a new security partner, to replace what

they see as an unreliable United States.

The most notable diplomatic initiatives in-

clude Iranian talks with Saudi Arabia and the

United Arab Emirates, and a UAE rapproche-

ment with Turkey and Qatar. In each case, the

shared agenda is trade and economic pros-

perity. U.S. diplomacy has encouraged this

“deconfliction,” but its momentum is outside

Washington’s control.

The new tone was evident during a tour of

the region last week by Jake Sullivan, Presi-

dent Joe Biden’s national security adviser.

Sullivan stopped in Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and

Cairo. In each capital, officials expressed

their desire for U.S. diplomatic and military

support, but voiced frustration with erratic

U.S. policy, according to officials from all

sides.

The region’s thorniest conflict is in Yemen.

The United States is working with U.N. Spe-

cial Envoy Hans Grundberg on a new peace

plan in which the Saudis would allow the Unit-

ed Nations to monitor the port in Hodeida and

the airport in Sanaa. In exchange, the Saudis

want the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels to ac-

cept a cease-fire, a demand the Houthis

haven’t yet met.

Yemen has partly been a Saudi-Iranian

proxy war, so the diplomatic Riyadh-Tehran

opening may aid the fledgling peace effort. Al-

ready, Iranian-backed militias in Iraq have

ceased missile attacks against the Saudis,

though the Houthis continue to launch mis-

siles and drones from the south. U.S. officials

hope that this month’s Group of 20 meeting,

which Saudi Arabia will attend, may offer a fo-

rum for ending the catastrophic conflict.

Saudi contacts with Iran have been led by

Khalid al-Humaidan, the head of Saudi intelli-

gence, working through Iraqi mediators. The

Iranians are said to have expanded these con-

tacts under the new hard-line President Ebra-

him Raisi. For both sides, it appears to be a

pragmatic maneuver: The Saudis have con-

cluded that the United States isn’t going to top-

ple the mullahs, and that future stability will

be enhanced by mutual investment — and

eventually, a resumption of diplomatic rela-

tions. The Iranians are said to be ready to reo-

pen an embassy in Riyadh immediately.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Sal-

man remains the stress point in the U.S.-Saudi

relationship. Sullivan repeated warnings

from previous U.S. visitors that MBS, as the

crown prince is known, must accept respon-

sibility for the murder of Washington Post

contributing columnist Jamal Khashoggi,

which the CIA believes he authorized. MBS

repeated his past denials of personal involve-

ment but said he has taken steps to make sure

that such an incident won’t happen again.

MBS complained to Sullivan that he gets no

credit for modernizing the kingdom and ex-

panding women’s rights. U.S. officials respon-

ded that there’s a bipartisan demand in Con-

gress that Riyadh do more on human rights. In

this stalemate, Saudi Arabia is likely to hedge

its options, expanding ties with China and

Russia without breaking links with Washing-

ton.

The new Middle East catechism of “no ene-

mies, no problems” was formulated in the

UAE. Sullivan heard an explanation from

Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, the country’s

de facto ruler, who’s known as MBZ. The

United States withdrawal from Afghanistan

has hit the UAE hard, in part because several

sons of MBZ fought in the U.S.-led coalition

there.

The UAE leader, troubled by what he sees

as the unpredictable zigs and zags in U.S. pol-

icy, floated a provocative remedy. He sug-

gested that the UAE’s future relationship with

the United States might be more stable if it

were anchored by a formal security pact —

not a treaty alliance like NATO, necessarily,

but a pact that had a congressional stamp of

approval. U.S. officials are mulling this idea.

The UAE has a budding relationship with

China, too. The Chinese have even talked of a

port in the UAE as a key node in their Belt and

Road Initiative for Chinese-led global eco-

nomic development, according to media re-

ports. Anwar Gargash, a top UAE diplomat,

said last weekend his country was worried by

“a looming Cold War” between the United

States and China. “The idea of choosing is

problematic,” he said.

For the Middle East, which has been buffet-

ed by the United States’ 20 years of war in the

region, the withdrawal from Afghanistan

marked an inflection point. The United States’

traditional partners are still in the game with

us, but the deck has been reshuffled.

Realignments are helping depressurize the MideastBY DAVID IGNATIUS

Washington Post Writers Group

Sixty years ago, Oct. 6, 1961, the condi-

tion of the world had reached such a

point that President John F. Kenne-

dy advised Americans nationwide to

prepare fortified shelters, ideally under-

ground, and stock them with everything

needed to live for weeks.

The existential menace embodied by fal-

lout shelters has been defanged by time.

Now, the little cells are part of a gauzy mid-

century nostalgia, much like tail fins on cars

and dancing the twist. With a little effort,

though, one might imagine the dread that

must have permeated a society upon learn-

ing that its preeminent leader felt nuclear

war could be near.

Kennedy said, in effect: Make it a priority

to have a blast-protected hole in the ground,

close enough to reach in a matter of minutes,

where you can wait out a lethal dose of radi-

ation before surfacing into a hellscape where

hundreds of millions of people are dead.

It is fashionable to say that the United

States is at its low point, and that the rest of

the world is going to blazes, too. We are more

divided, more demoralized, more deceived

than ever before. Our problems are too large

for our leaders, who are too small for their

jobs.

There is a lot of truth in that diagnosis. We

have allowed ourselves to become deeply di-

vided, living in politically homogeneous en-

claves, feeding on information that rein-

forces our biases, waging culture wars for

fun and profit. We magnify small differences

even as we deny common purposes. The re-

sulting erosion of trust cripples the nation’s

ability to meet both internal and external

challenges.

What the diagnosis gets wrong is the his-

torical dimension. Little is happening now

that has not happened before, in some shape

or form. Today’s climate crisis, for example,

only appears more menacing than the poten-

tial nuclear holocaust of the Kennedy years

because one is in the foreground while the

other has receded. Today’s immigration cri-

sis feels more urgent than the immigration

crisis of a century ago only because this one is

ours. Today’s racial reckoning feels unusual-

ly raw because it is happening to us — not be-

cause it is somehow more painful than lynch-

ings or chattel slavery.

Charles Dickens was onto something

when he wrote of the French Revolution: “It

was the best of times, it was the worst of

times.” Every era and generation contains

elements of both: concurrent seasons of light

and darkness. To deny this is to reveal a

shortage of historical understanding.

What distinguishes the present age is the

widespread and lucrative focus on the apoc-

alyptic: the magnification of threats and min-

imizing of opportunities; the exaggeration of

differences; the desire to see things as worse

than they are. We invent ever-more-outland-

ish conspiracies, impute ever-baser motives,

foretell ever-bleaker futures.

Fear sells.

This is why courage has been revered

throughout history as a cardinal human vir-

tue. Courage has many facets, but each re-

flects an individual’s choice to be the best

person possible in even the worst of times.

Courage is not the antithesis of fear, for it

would not have any meaning in the absence

of fear. Rather, courage acknowledges fear

but refuses to be mastered by it.

Like all virtues, courage is an individual

choice — though tremendous damage can be

done by leaders who operate on fear rather

than courage. Those with open eyes can see

such leaders everywhere they look: leaders

in government and industry stoking fear of

enemies, fear of conspiracies, fear of calami-

ties, fear of the future.

The moral weakness of these fearmongers

demands courage from the rest of us. We

must recognize appeals to fear and reject

them — even if the fear being invoked feels

real and true and justified to us. Indeed, se-

ductive fears are the ones we are especially

called to rise above.

If you feel, as so many do today, that these

are some of America’s worst days, if you fear

for the future of this democratic republic,

then your duty is to master the fear and re-

fuse to be governed by it. If the voice on TV is

trying to scare you, turn it off. If your social

media leave you anxious, shut them down.

Let the worst of times bring out the best of

you, for a light shines brightest in the dark.

Fear sells. We can be courageous and not give in to it.BY DAVID VON DREHLE

The Washington Post

Washington Post columnist David Von Drehle is the author offour books, including “Rise to Greatness: Abraham Lincoln andAmerica’s Most Perilous Year.”

PAGE 16 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Thursday, October 7, 2021

ACROSS

1 Tennis great

Steffi

5 Big mouth

8 Queue after Q

12 Bellow

13 Hollywood’s

Lupino

14 Get wind of

15 Texter’s “As

I see it”

16 Fish-fowl insert

17 Knitting fiber

18 Outlaw-chasing

groups

20 Viral video, e.g.

22 “Relax!”

26 Insertion mark

29 Chef Garten

30 Dean’s list stat

31 Pencil filler

32 Identify

33 Bridge coup

34 Gallery display

35 Luau dish

36 Well-versed

folks?

37 “Relax!”

40 Mine find

41 Saudi neighbor

45 Russian refusal

47 “Awesome!”

49 Mid-month date

50 Roll call reply

51 Guitar’s kin

52 Bart’s sister

53 Colleen

54 Standard

55 Trendy low-

carb diet

DOWN

1 Clench

2 QB Tony

3 Contented

sounds

4 Iced, as a

cupcake

5 Capital of

Belarus

6 Commotion

7 Heating (up)

8 Limerick feature

9 Erne

10 Sailor

11 Coffee vessel

19 Nosh

21 LAX info

23 “Old MacDonald”

refrain

24 Quarrel

25 Orange veggies

26 Family

27 Sleek, in

car lingo

28 Noisy snakes

32 Start, as an

engine

33 Vegan beverage

35 Group of seals

36 Opposite of

“post-”

38 Carries

39 Actress Winona

42 Actress Falco

43 Tree house

44 Golfer Aoki

45 Stanley Cup org.

46 Verily

48 Alias letters

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

Thursday, October 7, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 17

PAGE 18 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Thursday, October 7, 2021

SCOREBOARD

(2-3)Yale (2-1) at Dartmouth (3-0)Old Dominion (1-4) at Marshall (2-3)Merrimack (3-2) at Sacred Heart (2-3)Va. Lynchburg (0-1) at Delaware St. (2-3)Charleston Southern (1-2) at Robert

Morris (1-2)Wake Forest (5-0) at Syracuse (3-2)Uconn (0-6) at Umass (0-5)SMU (5-0) at Navy (1-3)Stony Brook (1-4) at Towson (1-3)

SOUTHSouth Carolina (3-2) at Tennessee (3-2)Vanderbilt (2-3) at Florida (3-2)Arkansas (4-1) at Mississippi (3-1)Georgia Tech (2-3) at Duke (3-2)North Alabama (0-5) at NC A&T (2-2)SE Louisiana (3-1) at Nicholls (2-2)Morehead St. (2-2) at Presbyterian (2-2)Chattanooga (2-2) at VMI (3-2)Furman (2-2) at Wofford (1-3)Tennessee Tech (1-4) at NC Central (2-3)Kennesaw St. (3-1) at Hampton (2-2)Villanova (3-1) at James Madison (4-0)Virginia (3-2) at Louisville (3-2)Jackson St. (3-1) at Alabama A&M (3-1)Murray St. (2-2) at UT Martin (3-1)Grambling St. (2-3) at Alcorn St. (2-2)Ark.-Pine Bluff (1-3) at Alabama St. (2-2)Georgia (5-0) at Auburn (4-1)Middle Tennessee (2-3) at Liberty (4-1)FAU (3-2) at UAB (3-2)Florida St. (1-4) at North Carolina (3-2)

ScheduleThursday’s games

SOUTHHouston (4-1) at Tulane (1-4)

SOUTHWESTCoastal Carolina (5-0) at Arkansas St.

(1-4).Friday’s games

EASTMorgan St. (0-4) at Howard (1-4)

SOUTHCharlotte (3-2) at FIU (1-4)

MIDWESTTemple (3-2) at Cincinnati (4-0)

FAR WESTStanford (3-2) at Arizona St. (4-1)

Saturday’s gamesEAST

Elon (2-3) at Maine (1-3)Bryant (3-2) at Duquesne (3-1)Michigan St. (5-0) at Rutgers (3-2)Stetson (2-2) at Marist (1-2)Bucknell (1-3) at Lafayette (1-4)Colgate (2-3) at Brown (0-3)Cornell (0-3) at Harvard (3-0)Wagner (0-5) at Fordham (2-3)Princeton (3-0) at Monmouth (NJ) (3-2)Columbia (2-1) at CCSU (1-3)Lehigh (0-5) at Penn (1-2)Delaware (3-1) at Rhode Island (4-0)LIU Brooklyn (0-3) at St. Francis (Pa.)

Albany (NY) (0-4) at William & Mary (3-1)Mercer (3-1) at W. Carolina (0-5)Stephen F. Austin (3-2) at Jacksonville

St. (2-3)SE Missouri (1-4) at Austin Peay (2-3)The Citadel (2-2) at ETSU (5-0)MVSU (1-3) at Bethune-Cookman (0-5)Texas Southern (1-3) vs. Southern U.

(2-2) at Arlington, TexasCampbell (2-2) at Gardner-Webb (2-3)Abilene Christian (3-2) at E. Kentucky

(3-2)SC State (1-3) at Florida A&M (2-2)East Carolina (3-2) at UCF (2-2)Georgia Southern (2-3) at Troy (2-3)UTEP (4-1) at Southern Miss. (1-4)UTSA (5-0) at W. Kentucky (1-3)LSU (3-2) at Kentucky (5-0)Notre Dame (4-1) at Virginia Tech (3-1)Georgia St. (1-4) at Louisiana-Monroe

(2-2)MIDWEST

Akron (1-4) at Bowling Green (2-3)San Diego (1-4) at Butler (2-3)N. Illinois (3-2) at Toledo (3-2)Maryland (4-1) at Ohio St. (4-1)W. Illinois (1-4) at Indiana St. (2-3)Dayton (2-2) at Drake (2-3)N. Iowa (3-1) at N. Dakota St. (4-0)Valparaiso (1-4) at St. Thomas (Minn.)

(2-2)Missouri St. (3-1) at Youngstown St. (1-3)North Dakota (2-2) at South Dakota (3-2)S. Illinois (4-1) at S. Dakota St. (4-0)

Wisconsin (1-3) at Illinois (2-4)Cent. Michigan (2-3) at Ohio (1-4)Ball St. (2-3) at W. Michigan (4-1)Miami (Ohio) (2-3) at E. Michigan (3-2)Penn St. (5-0) at Iowa (5-0)North Texas (1-3) at Missouri (2-3)Buffalo (2-3) at Kent St. (2-3)Michigan (5-0) at Nebraska (3-3)

SOUTHWESTOklahoma (5-0) vs. Texas (4-1) at DallasWest Virginia (2-3) at Baylor (4-1)Lamar (2-2) at Sam Houston St. (4-0)Northwestern St. (0-4) at Houston Bap-

tist (0-4)TCU (2-2) at Texas Tech (4-1)South Alabama (3-1) at Texas State (1-3)Alabama (5-0) at Texas A&M (3-2)Memphis (3-2) at Tulsa (1-4)

FAR WESTE. Washington (5-0) at N. Colorado (2-3)Dixie St. (0-4) at Montana (3-1)UC Davis (5-0) at Idaho St. (0-4)Boise St. (2-3) at BYU (5-0)San Jose St. (3-2) at Colorado St. (1-3)Oregon St. (4-1) at Washington St. (2-3)Cal Poly (1-4) at Montana St. (4-1)Portland St. (2-3) at Idaho (1-3)Wyoming (4-0) at Air Force (4-1)Utah (2-2) at Southern Cal (3-2)New Mexico (2-3) at San Diego St. (4-0)S. Utah (1-4) at Sacramento St. (2-2)UCLA (3-2) at Arizona (0-4)New Mexico St. (1-5) at Nevada (3-1)

COLLEGE FOOTBALLPRO FOOTBALL

NFL

AMERICAN CONFERENCE

East

W L T Pct PF PA

Buffalo 3 1 0 .750 134 44

Miami 1 3 0 .250 62 109

N.Y. Jets 1 3 0 .250 47 94

New England 1 3 0 .250 71 70

South

W L T Pct PF PA

Tennessee 2 2 0 .500 95 111

Houston 1 3 0 .250 67 116

Indianapolis 1 3 0 .250 83 97

Jacksonville 0 4 0 .000 74 115

North

W L T Pct PF PA

Baltimore 3 1 0 .750 105 92

Cincinnati 3 1 0 .750 92 75

Cleveland 3 1 0 .750 100 67

Pittsburgh 1 3 0 .250 67 93

West

W L T Pct PF PA

Denver 3 1 0 .750 83 49

L.A. Chargers 3 1 0 .750 95 74

Las Vegas 3 1 0 .750 104 100

Kansas City 2 2 0 .500 134 125

NATIONAL CONFERENCE

East

W L T Pct PF PA

Dallas 3 1 0 .750 126 97

Washington 2 2 0 .500 101 122

N.Y. Giants 1 3 0 .250 83 95

Philadelphia 1 3 0 .250 94 106

South

W L T Pct PF PA

Carolina 3 1 0 .750 97 66

Tampa Bay 3 1 0 .750 122 105

New Orleans 2 2 0 .500 94 69

Atlanta 1 3 0 .250 78 128

North

W L T Pct PF PA

Green Bay 3 1 0 .750 95 100

Chicago 2 2 0 .500 64 91

Minnesota 1 3 0 .250 94 92

Detroit 0 4 0 .000 81 119

West

W L T Pct PF PA

Arizona 4 0 0 1.000 140 85

L.A. Rams 3 1 0 .750 115 99

San Francisco 2 2 0 .500 107 102

Seattle 2 2 0 .500 103 100

Thursday’s game

L.A. Rams at Seattle

Sunday’s games

N.Y. Jets vs Atlanta at London, UKDenver at PittsburghDetroit at MinnesotaGreen Bay at CincinnatiMiami at Tampa BayNew England at HoustonNew Orleans at WashingtonPhiladelphia at CarolinaTennessee at JacksonvilleChicago at Las VegasCleveland at L.A. ChargersN.Y. Giants at DallasSan Francisco at ArizonaBuffalo at Kansas City

Monday’s game

Indianapolis at Baltimore

PRO SOCCER

MLS

EASTERN CONFERENCE

W L T Pts GF GA

New England 20 4 5 65 57 34

Nashville 11 3 14 47 46 26

Philadelphia 11 7 9 42 36 26

Orlando City 11 8 9 42 41 41

D.C. United 12 12 4 40 49 41

NYCFC 11 10 7 40 44 32

CF Montréal 11 10 7 40 40 37

Atlanta 10 9 9 39 37 33

New York 9 11 7 34 33 30

Columbus 9 12 7 34 32 39

Inter Miami CF 9 13 5 32 25 42

Chicago 7 16 6 27 29 46

Toronto FC 6 15 7 25 34 54

Cincinnati 4 15 8 20 28 52

WESTERN CONFERENCE

W L T Pts GF GA

Seattle 16 5 6 54 44 22

Sporting KC 15 6 7 52 51 31

Colorado 13 5 9 48 38 27

Portland 14 10 4 46 45 44

Real Salt Lake 11 11 6 39 45 44

LA Galaxy 11 11 6 39 39 45

Minnesota 10 9 8 38 30 32

Vancouver 9 8 10 37 34 34

LAFC 9 12 7 34 40 41

San Jose 8 11 9 33 35 44

FC Dallas 6 13 10 28 39 47

Houston 5 12 12 27 33 45

Austin FC 7 17 4 25 29 44

Note: Three points for victory, one pointfor tie.

Saturday’s games

Miami at New York Philadelphia at Cincinnati Vancouver at Seattle

Sunday’s game

Colorado at Minnesota

Saturday, Oct. 16

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

NWSL

W L T Pts GF GA

Portland 12 5 2 38 29 13

Reign FC 11 7 2 35 30 19

North Carolina 8 6 5 29 23 13

Chicago 8 7 5 29 22 24

Orlando 7 6 7 28 24 24

Washington 7 7 5 26 21 25

Houston 7 7 5 26 24 23

Gotham FC 6 5 7 25 20 16

Louisville 4 10 5 17 15 31

Kansas City 2 12 5 11 10 30

Note: Three points for victory, one pointfor tie.

Wednesday’s games

Washington at Gotham FCLouisville at North Carolina Houston at Portland

Saturday’s games

Gotham FC at OrlandoLouisville at WashingtonNorth Carolina at Houston

Sunday’s games

Chicago at Reign FCPortland at Kansas City

PRO BASKETBALL

WNBA playoffs(x-if necessary)

First RoundThursday, Sept. 23

No. 6 Chicago 81, No. 7 Dallas 64No. 5 Phoenix 83, No. 8 New York 82

Second RoundSunday, Sept 26

No. 5 Phoenix 85, No. 4 Seattle 80, OTNo. 6 Chicago 89, No. 3 Minnesota 76

Semifinals(Best-of-five)

No. 6 Chicago 2, No. 1 Connecticut 1Chicago 101, Connecticut 95, 2OTConnecticut 79, Chicago 68Chicago 86, Connecticut 83Wednesday: Connecticut at Chicagox-Friday: Chicago at Connecticut

No. 5 Phoenix 2, No. 2 Las Vegas 1Las Vegas 96, Phoenix 90Phoenix 117, Las Vegas 91Phoenix 87, Las Vegas 60Wednesday: Las Vegas at Phoenixx-Friday: Phoenix at Las Vegas

Finals(Best-of-five)

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

Webster. Released LB Rashad Smith fromthe practice squad. Signed RB ArtavisPierce to the practice squad.

CINCINNATI BENGALS — Signed P DrueChrisman and S Michael Thomas to thepractice squad. Released S Sean Davis andCB Tony Brown from the practice squad.

CLEVELAND BROWNS — Signed G HjalteFroholdt. Placed C Nick Harris on injuredreserve. Released LB Elijah Lee.

DALLAS COWBOYS — Released CB Hol-ton Hill from the practice squad. Signed CBIsaiah Johnson to the practice squad.

DENVER BRONCOS — Signed WR JoshMalone to the practice squad. Released CHarry Crider and DB Rojesterman Farrisfrom the practice squad.

DETROIT LIONS — Placed DE Romeo Ok-wara on injured reserve.

HOUSTON TEXANS — Signed WR DavionDavis. Signed OL Jake Eldrenkamp and OTJordan Steckler to the practice squad.

INDIANAPOLIS COLTS — Signed TE Mi-chael Jacobson to the practice squad. Re-leased TE David Wells from the practicesquad.

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS — Activated LB Wil-lie Gay from injured reserve to return topractice. Signed WR Josh Gordon to theactive roster. Placed DE Joshua Kaindohon injured reserve.

LOS ANGELES CHARGERS — Signed DTAndrew Brown and LB Josh Watson to thepractice squad.

LOS ANGELES RAMS — Re-signed DB J.R.Reed to the practice squad. Released OLJared Hocker from the practice squad.

MIAMI DOLPHINS — Traded WR JakeenGrant to Chicago in exchange for an undis-closed draft pick. Signed C Austin Reiter.

MINNESOTA VIKINGS — Placed DB Harri-son Hand on the reserve/COVID-19 list.Signed DT T.J. Smith to the practice squad.

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS — Placed LTIsaiah Wynn and LG Michael Onwenu onthe reserve/COVID-19 list.

NEW ORLEANS SAINTS — Released K Al-drick Rosas. Promoted DE Jalyn Holmesfrom the practice squad to the active ros-ter. Signed DB Bryce Thompson to thepractice squad.

NEW YORK GIANTS — Released OL SamJones and DB Steven Parker from the prac-tice squad. Signed DB Ka’dar Hollman tothe practice squad.

NEW YORK JETS — Placed LB HamsahNasirildeen on injured reserve. PromotedOL Isaiah Williams from the practicesquad to the active roster. Signed RB Aus-tin Waller to the practice squad. ReleasedOL Elijah Nkansah from the practicesquad. Signed OT Isaiah Williams to theactive roster.

PHILADELPHIA EAGLES — Placed G SuaOpeta on the reserve/COVID-19 list.Waived WR Michael Walker from injuredreserve.

PITTSBURGH STEELERS — Signed DT EliAnkou to the practice squad.

SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS — Signed WR Jor-dan Matthews to the practice squad. Re-leased LB Curtis Bolton, RB Kerryon John-son and RB Chris Thompson from the prac-tice squad.

TENNESSEE TITANS — Signed OLB JohnSimon and DL Caraun Reid to the practicesquad. Waived K Tucker McCann from in-jured reserve.

WASHINGTON FOOTBALL TEAM — Pro-moted and signed LB Jordan Kunaszykand CB Danny Johnson from the practicesquad to the active roster. Placed LB JonBostic and CB Torry McTyler on injured re-serve. Signed WR Damion Willis,CB DannyJohnson and K Chris Blewitt to the practicesquad.

HOCKEYNational Hockey League

BUFFALO SABRES — Assigned Fs MatejPekar, Ryan Macinnis, Sean Malone and Li-nus Weissbach, Ds Oksari Laaksonen andG Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to Rochester(AHL).

DALLAS STARS — Signed D Artem Grush-nikov to a three-year contract. AssignedRW Nicholas Caamano to Texas (AHL).

NASHVILLE PREDATORS — Assigned FsMatt Luff, Cole Smith, Ds Frederic Allardand Matt Tennyson to Milwuakee (AHL).Claimed F Rem Pitlick off waivers fromMinnesota.

Heyward, Cs Robinson Chirinos and Wil-son Contreras, RHPs Manuel Rodriguezand Keegan Thompson and 2B Nico Hoer-ner from the 10-day IL. Recalled C MiguelAmaya and LHP Brailym Marquez fromTennessee (Double-A South). RecalledRHP Alexander Vizcaino from South Bend(High-A Central).

CINCINNATI REDS — Reinstated 3B MikeMoustakas, LHP Wade Miley and OFs Sho-go Akiyama and Tyler Naquin from the 10-day IL. Recalled 1B Alex Blandino, 2B AlejoLopez, RHPs Ryan Hendrix and RileyO’Brien, LHP Andrew Heaney and C MarkKolozsvary from Louisville (Triple-A East).

COLORADO ROCKIES — Agreed to termswith RHP Anthony Senzatela on a five-yearcontract and 1B C.J. Crohn on a two-yearcontract. Recalled RHP Tommy Doyle andLHP Yoan Aybar from Hartford (Double-ANortheast). Recalled LHP Helcris Olivaresfrom Spokane (High-A West). Recalled 2BsRio Ruiz, Alan Trejo, LHP Ben Bowden, RHPRyan Feltner, LF Ryan Vilade, 3B JoshuaFuentes and 1B Elehuris Montero from Al-buquerque (Triple-A West).

MIAMI MARLINS — Sent RHP Luis Mad-ero outright to Jacksonville (Triple-AEast). Reinstated LHP Sean Guenther andRHP Edward Cabreara from the 10-day IL.Recalled RHPs Jordan Holloway, SixtoSanchez and Nick Neidert, LHPs BraxtonGarrett and Daniel Castano, 2B Isan Diazand CF Monte Harrison from Jacksonville.Recalled RF Jerar Encarnacion from Pen-sacola (Triple-A East). RHPs Jairo Diaz andAustin Pruitt elected free agency.

NEW YORK METS — Recalled 2B TravisBlankenhorn, RFs Mark Payton, Khalil Lee,RHPs Jake Reid, Jordan Yamamoto, Ste-phen Nogosek, Sean Reid-Foley YennsyDiaz, and Tylor Megill from Syracuse (Tri-ple-A East). Sent C Chance Sisco outrightto Syracuse. Reinstated RHP Drew Smithfrom the 10-day injured list.

PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES — ActivatedRHPS Archie Bradley and RHP ConnorBrogdon from the 10-day injured list. Re-called RHPs Francisco Morales, JD Ham-mer and Ramon Rosso, LHP Damon Jones,CFs Adam Haseley and Mickey Moniak,2Bs Nick Maton and Luke Williams and CRafael Marcha from Lehigh Valley (Tri-ple-A East).

PITTSBURGH PIRATES — Recalled C Tay-lor Davis, 2B Tucupita Marcano, RHP Mi-guel Yajure, Rodolfo Castro, LF PhillipEvans, CF Jared Oliva and RHP RoansyContreras from Indianapolis Triple-AEast). Reinstated RHPs Tanner Anderson,JT Brubaker, Connor Overton and LuisOviedo abd 3B Ke’Bryan Hayes from th 10-day IL.

SAN DIEGO PADRES — Reinstated RHPsYu Darvish and Chris Paddack and LHPBlake Snell from the 10-day IL. Recalled 2BIvan Castillo, RHPs Shaun Anderson, Pe-dro Avila, Miguel Diaz C Luis Campusano,LHPs Daniel Camerena and Ryan Weath-ers and RF Brian O’Grady from El Paso (Tri-ple-A West). Recalled RHP Reggie Lawsonfrom San Antonio (Double-A Central).

WASHINGTON NATIONALS — Agreed toterms with INF Alcides Escobar on a one-year contract. Recalled RHPs Wander Sue-ro, Gabe Klobosits and Steven Fuentes,LHPs Seth Romero and Sam Clay, C TresBarrera, 1B Mike Ford and CF Victor Roblesfrom Rochester (Triple-A East). RecalledRHP Gerardo Carrillo from Harrisburg(Double-A Northeast). Recalled SS YaselAntuna from Wilmington (High-A East).Reinstate SS Luis Garcia and LHP JoshRogers from the 10-day IL.

FOOTBALLNational Football League

ARIZONA CARDINALS — Re-signed CBLuq Barcoo to the practice squad. Activa-ted WR Josh Doctson to the practice squadfrom the reserve/COVID-19 list. ReleasedCB Quinton Dunbar and OL Michal Menetfrom the practice squad.

ATLANTA FALCONS — Placed CB IsaiahOliver and P Cam Nizialek on injured re-serve. Signed K Elliott Fry and S Shawn Wil-liams to the practice squad. Promoted PDustin Colquitt from the practice squad tothe active roster. Signed DT Mike Pennel.

CAROLINA PANTHERS — Re-signed OLMichael Jordan to the practice squad.

CHICAGO BEARS — Waived WR Nsimba

Tuesday’s transactionsBASEBALL

Major League BaseballAmerican League

BALTIMORE ORIOLES — Reinstated LHPTanner Scott, 2B Ramon Urias, RHPs TylerWells, Chris Ellis and RF Anthony Santan-der from the 10-day IL. Recalled RF YusnielDiaz, LHPs Alexander Wells, Paul Fry, RHPsDean Kramer, Mike Baumann, Zack Burdiand 3B Rylan Bannon from Norfolk (Tri-ple-A East).

BOSTON RED SOX — Recalled 2B Jonath-an Araux, CF Jarren Duran and C ConnorWong from Worcester (Triple-A East).Reassigned LHPs Darwinzon Hernandez,Martin Perez, Chris Sale and Josh Taylor,RHP Hirokazu Sawamura and LF J.D. Marti-nez to the minor leagues. Reinstated LHPJosh Taylor from the 10-day IL.

CLEVELAND INDIANS — Reinstated 2BOwen Miller from the bereavement list.Recalled RHP Carlos Vargas from Akron(Double-A Northeast). Recalled 2B ErnieClement, LHPs Francisco Perez, ScottMoss, Alex Young, Kyle Nelson, RF DanielJohnson, SS Gabriel Arias, RHPs Cam Hill,J.C. Mejia, 3B Nolan Jones from Columbus(Triple-A East).

DETROIT TIGERS — Named Gabe Ribasdirector of pitching. Recalled LHP JoeyWentz and RHP Alex Faedo from Erie (Dou-ble-A Northeast). Recalled RHPs NivaldoRodriguez, Drew Carlton, C Grayson Grein-er and RF Jacob Robson from Toledo (Tri-ple-A East). Reinstated LHPs MatthewBoyd and Gregory Soto from the 10-day IL.

KANSAS CITY ROYALS — ReinstatedRHPs Jakob Junis and Brady Singer, LHPsDnaiel Lynch and Mike Minor from the 10-day IL. Recalled RHPs Ronald Bolanos,Scott Blewett and Tyler Zuber and CF Ed-ward Olivares from Omaha (Triple-A East).

LOS ANGELES ANGELS — Recalled LHPHector Yan from Tri-City (High-A West).Recalled RHPs Janson Junk, Jose Marte,Cooper Criswell, Chris Rodriguez and Grif-fin Canning, LHPs Packy Naughton andJhonathan Diaz and C Chad Wallach fromSalt Lake (Triple-A West). Reinstated RHPsKyle Tyler and Jaime Barria and RF TaylorWard from the 10-day IL.

MINNESOTA TWINS — Reinstated CF RobRefsnyder and RHPs Bailey Ober and JohnGrant from the 10-day IL. Recalled RHPJhoan Duran, CF Gilberto Celestino, LHPAndrew Albers and 3B Drew Maggi fromSt. Paul (Triple-A East).

NEW YORK YANKEES — Designated LHPAndrew Heaney and RHP Brody Koernerfor assignment. Selected the contract ofCF Greg Allen and C Rob Brantley fromScranton/Wilkes-Barre (Triple-A East).Reassigned RHPs Luis Gil, Corey Kluberand Jameson Taillon and LHP JordanMontgomery to the minor leagues.

OAKLAND ATHLETICS — Recalled RHPsGrant Holmes and Wandisson Charles,LHP A.J. Puk and C Austin Allen from LasVegas (Triple-A West). Reinstated SS ElvisAndrus, RF Stephen Piscotty, 2B VimaelMachin, 1B Mitch Moreland and RHP Daul-ton Jefferies from the 10-day IL.

SEATTLE MARINERS — Recalled CF Tay-lor Trammell, C Jose Godoy, LHPs JustusSheffield and Aaron Fletcher, RHPs JoeyGerber, Wyatt Mills and Darren McCaugh-an and 3B Kevin Padlo from Tacoma (Tri-ple-A West).

TEXAS RANGERS — Recalled SS Ander-son Tejeda from Frisco (Double-A Cen-tral). Recalled LF Jason Martin, Cs SamHuff and Yohel Pozo, 2B Sherten Apostel,1B Curtis Terry, RHPs Demarcus Evans,Glenn Ottos and Yerry Rodriguez and LHPsJoe Palumbo and Brock Burke from RoundRock (Triple-A West).

TORONTO BLUE JAYS — Recalled LHPsAnthony Kay, Tayler Saucedo, Kirby Sneadand Ryan Borucki and RHPs Trent Thorn-ton and Bryan Baker from Buffalo (Triple-AEast).

National LeagueARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS — Recalled

RHPs Matt Peacock, Brandyn Sittinger,Corbin Martin, Taylor Clarke and J.B. Bu-kauskas, LHP Miguel Aguilar, LF StuartFairchild, 3B Drew Ellis and 2B AndrewYoung from Reno (Triple-A West).

CHICAGO CUBS — Reinstated RF Jason

DEALS

Thursday, October 7, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 19

NBA/NHL

NEW YORK — Kyrie Irving didn’t prac-

tice with the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday,

again remaining away from the team amid

questions about his availability to play in

New York because of the city’s vaccine man-

date.

Coach Steve Nash said he had no further

update about the status of his All-Star guard.

“We support him, we’re here for him.

When things change and there’s a resolu-

tion, we’re here for him,” Nash said.

Irving hasn’t said if he has been vaccinat-

ed against COVID-19, asking for privacy

when pressed about his status during the

team’s media day on Sept. 27. He wasn’t with

his teammates that day at Barclays Center,

instead appearing via Zoom.

New York has a mandate requiring CO-

VID-19 vaccinations for athletes who play in

or practice in the city.

The Nets held training camp last week in

San Diego, with Irving present and practic-

ing, and they ran their first practice at their

training facility in Brooklyn on Tuesday

with everyone except Irving.

Nash said he wasn’t concerned about not

being able to have his full team together, two

weeks before the Nets play the NBA’s sea-

son-opening game at the reigning champion

Milwaukee Bucks.

“We’re just trying to work every day,”

Nash said. “So we came in today and had a

great practice and we’ll do the same tomor-

row and that’s kind of where I’ll leave it.”

The NBA doesn’t require players to be

vaccinated, but those who aren’t face fre-

quent coronavirus testing and severe re-

strictions on their activities. Players in New

York and San Francisco, which has a similar

mandate soon going into effect, won’t be

paid for the games they miss.

The New York Knicks have said their en-

tire team is vaccinated and Andrew Wiggins

recently became the last of the Golden State

Warriors to get a shot, leaving Irving as the

lone player potentially facing a pay cut for

virus reasons.

Nash frequently pointed to a lack of prac-

tice time last season as a problem for the

Nets, with the condensed schedule and coro-

navirus testing forcing them instead to often

opt for rest when they could get it.

He said the team won’t consider holding

practice outside the city, even if it would en-

sure the entire roster would be available.

“No, this is our home and this is where

we’re going to practice and we have almost

the whole group,” Nash said. “So that’s a pos-

itive and we’re just working at getting better

every day and focusing on the things we can

control.”

With Nets back in NY, Irving misses practiceBY BRIAN MAHONEY

Associated Press

ADAM HUNGER/AP

Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving, left,who hasn’t said if he has had a COVIDvaccination, didn’t practice Tuesday. 

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Owen

Power stood in a sea of maize-clad

fans pumping pompoms and cheer-

ing on Michigan’s football team in a

win over Washington this fall.

Power is 6-foot-5 and has some

notoriety as the No. 1 overall pick in

the NHL Draft, but he blended right

in with his fellow students among

the 108,345 fans under the lights on

an electric night at the Big House.

That’s just the way the 18-year-

old Canadian wanted it.

Power passed on a chance to

make millions this season with the

Buffalo Sabres, who selected the

defenseman No. 1 overall in July.

He decided to stay in school and re-

turn for his sophomore season with

the Wolverines, ranked No. 3 in the

preseason.

“I just thought there’s no need to

rush into it,” he said.

The Mississauga, Ontario, native

is the first player drafted No. 1 over-

all not to go straight to the NHL

since St. Louis selected Erik John-

son in 2006 and he went to play at

Minnesota for a season. He is only

the fourth NCAA player to be draft-

ed No. 1 overall, joining Michigan

State’s Joe Murphy (1986), Boston

University’s Rick DiPietro (2000)

and Johnson.

Power spent last year walking

around a largely empty and eerie

campus in Ann Arbor and played

his freshman season without fans in

the stands because of COVID-19 re-

strictions. Without a doubt, the pan-

demic played a part in Power’s de-

cision to stay.

“He wants a normal year,” Mi-

chigan coach Mel Pearson said.

“He came to college for a reason,

came to the University of Michigan

for a reason: To go to class, to be a

college student, to hang out with

kids, to go to a football game on a

Saturday and enjoy that experi-

ence.”

Amajority of the 2021 NHL Draft

class elected to spend one more sea-

son developing before making the

jump to the world’s top hockey

league, and many of them are Pow-

er’s teammates. Including Tyler

Boucher (Ottawa, No. 10 pick),

who’s committed to play at Boston

University, five of the top 10 draft

choices playing college hockey the

season after they were chosen

matches the total for the previous

four drafts combined.

Dallas Stars general manager

Jim Nill, who came up as a scout

and director of player develop-

ment, believes the pandemic-short-

ened season last year played a role

in this anomaly of so many top picks

going back to school.

“I think the disruption of the sea-

son last year probably comes into

play,” Nill said. “If they played a full

season, would’ve got 50 games in

and gone to a national champion-

ship, played more hockey, devel-

oped more, maybe a different sto-

ry.”

Michigan had to withdraw from

the NCAA Tournament because of

a virus outbreak, but the Wolve-

rines are loaded this season: Four of

the top five NHL Draft picks and

five of the top 24 are wearing maize

and blue this season to take a shot at

winning it all.

The expansion Seattle Kraken

took Matt Beniers No. 2 overall;

New Jersey drafted Luke Hughes

two picks later to eventually pair

him with his brother, Jack, drafted

first overall in 2019; Columbus took

Kent Johnson No. 5 overall; and

Florida selected Mackie Samoskev-

ich No. 24.

“It’s safe to say that they’ve turn-

ed down a considerable amount of

money and investment,” said Mi-

chigan associate head coach Bill

Muckalt, who played in the NHL for

five seasons after winning two na-

tional titles with the Wolverines.

“They still feel that they can get bet-

ter and improve here, and we feel

the same way.”

Michigan has seven first-round

picks — the most in NCAA history

— and 13 players on the roster have

had their names called in the NHL

Draft.

“Everyone expects Michigan to

probably win the national cham-

pionship,” said Jack Hughes, enter-

ing his third season with the Devils.

“It’s like almost like a Duke basket-

ball or Kansas basketball-type

thing, having four of the top five

kids drafted. That’s unheard of, and

Idon’t know if that will ever happen

again.”

PHOTOS BY PAUL SANCYA/AP

Above: University of Michigan defenseman Owen Power, an 18­year­old Canadian, was the No. 1 draftchoice by the Buffalo Sabres, but he decided to stay in school and return for his sophomore season withthe Wolverines, ranked No. 3 in the preseason. Below: Michigan center Matty Beniers will also stay inschool though he was drafted No. 2 by the expansion Seattle Kraken.

Top NHL picksstay in school,including No. 1

BY LARRY LAGE

AND JOHN WAWROW

Associated Press

AP hockey writer Stephen Whyno contributed tothis report. Wawrow reported from Buffalo, N.Y.

PAGE 20 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Thursday, October 7, 2021

NFL

AFC team statistics

AVERAGE PER GAME

OFFENSE

Yards Rush Pass

Kansas City 427.5 130.2 297.2

Baltimore 420.0 164.5 255.5

Las Vegas 406.5 80.5 326.0

Buffalo 404.0 145.2 258.8

Tennessee 394.5 163.8 230.8

L.A. Chargers 391.0 107.5 283.5

Cleveland 389.2 177.0 212.2

Denver 353.8 121.8 232.0

Indianapolis 326.0 112.0 214.0

Cincinnati 325.5 98.0 227.5

Jacksonville 321.5 112.2 209.2

New England 311.8 68.5 243.2

Pittsburgh 301.8 55.2 246.5

N.Y. Jets 276.2 76.5 199.8

Houston 263.2 83.0 180.2

Miami 252.0 78.2 173.8

DEFENSE

Yards Rush Pass

Buffalo 216.8 68.0 148.8

Cleveland 250.2 66.5 183.8

Denver 267.8 70.0 197.8

New England 306.8 121.8 185.0

Cincinnati 323.0 93.5 229.5

Indianapolis 330.8 114.0 216.8

L.A. Chargers 332.0 139.5 192.5

N.Y. Jets 353.5 127.2 226.2

Pittsburgh 357.8 99.0 258.8

Tennessee 358.2 91.5 266.8

Baltimore 358.8 85.8 273.0

Las Vegas 361.8 132.2 229.5

Miami 388.2 136.8 251.5

Houston 401.8 137.0 264.8

Jacksonville 418.5 106.2 312.2

Kansas City 437.8 146.0 291.8

NFC team statistics

AVERAGE PER GAMEOFFENSE

Yards Rush Pass

Arizona 440.5 136.5 304.0

Dallas 420.8 165.8 255.0

Tampa Bay 399.5 72.0 327.5

Philadelphia 397.5 122.8 274.8

L.A. Rams 391.2 93.0 298.2

Carolina 387.5 107.5 280.0

N.Y. Giants 384.0 101.5 282.5

Minnesota 382.5 112.2 270.2

San Francisco 375.8 114.5 261.2

Detroit 351.8 101.8 250.0

Seattle 350.2 107.0 243.2

Washington 342.0 103.2 238.8

Atlanta 319.5 86.8 232.8

Green Bay 318.0 92.5 225.5

New Orleans 276.8 132.8 144.0

Chicago 237.0 122.8 114.2

DEFENSE

Yards Rush Pass

Carolina 251.5 95.0 156.5

Green Bay 311.5 102.0 209.5

San Francisco 336.2 118.0 218.2

New Orleans 349.2 66.0 283.2

Chicago 350.0 112.0 238.0

Philadelphia 354.2 150.2 204.0

Arizona 357.2 135.8 221.5

Tampa Bay 375.0 47.5 327.5

Detroit 381.2 132.8 248.5

N.Y. Giants 382.0 122.8 259.2

Atlanta 383.2 119.2 264.0

Minnesota 389.0 135.5 253.5

Dallas 396.2 81.0 315.2

L.A. Rams 396.8 123.5 273.2

Washington 417.5 118.5 299.0

Seattle 444.5 152.0 292.5

AFC individual statistics

Quarterbacks

Att Com Yds TD Int

Carr, Las 170 109 1399 8 3

Mahomes, KC 141 102 1218 14 4

Herbert, LAC 164 113 1178 9 3

Jackson, Bal 124 75 1077 4 3

Allen, Buf 156 99 1055 9 2

Tannehill, Ten 151 96 1054 5 3

Roethlisberger, Pit 170 109 1033 4 4

M.Jones, NE 160 112 1012 4 4

Burrow, Cin 107 78 988 9 4

Mayfield, Cle 113 74 935 2 2

Rushers

Att Yds Avg LG TD

Henry, Ten 113 510 4.5 60t 4

Chubb, Cle 69 362 5.2 26t 3

Mixon, Cin 83 353 4.3 27 2

Edwards-Helaire, KC 58 291 5.0 17 0

Ekeler, LAC 50 283 5.7 20 2

Jackson, Bal 42 279 6.6 31 2

Taylor, Ind 58 274 4.7 38 1

Singletary, Buf 49 259 5.3 46t 1

Gordon, Den 51 248 4.9 70t 2

J.Robinson, Jac 49 238 4.9 21 3

Receivers

No Yds Avg LG TD

Hill, KC 30 453 15.1 75t 4

Cooks, Hou 28 369 13.2 52 1

Brown, Bal 19 326 17.2 49t 3

Kelce, KC 24 312 13.0 46t 3

Williams, LAC 23 306 13.3 43 4

Diggs, Buf 26 305 11.7 41 1

Chase, Cin 17 297 17.5 50t 4

Ruggs, Las 14 297 21.2 61t 1

Allen, LAC 28 294 10.5 42 1

Pittman, Ind 23 279 12.1 42 0

Punters

No Yds Lg Avg

Cole, Las 19 978 67 51.5

Cooke, Jac 20 996 64 49.8

Scoring

Touchdowns

TD Rush Rec Ret Pts

Chase, Cin 4 0 4 0 24

Ekeler, LAC 4 2 2 0 24

Kicking

PAT FG LG Pts

Bass, Buf 14/14 10/11 48 44

Tucker, Bal 9/9 10/11 66 39

Weekly statistics

NFC individcual statistics

Quarterbacks

Att Com Yds TD Int

Brady, TB 184 119 1356 10 2

K.Murray, Ari 134 102 1273 9 4

Stafford, LAR 135 92 1222 11 2

Darnold, Car 146 99 1189 5 3

Jones, NYG 144 96 1184 4 1

Hurts, Phi 145 96 1167 7 2

Cousins, Min 157 108 1121 9 1

Goff, Det 161 110 1100 7 2

Prescott, Dal 133 100 1066 10 2

Wilson, Sea 109 79 1044 9 0

Rushers

Att Yds Avg LG TD

Elliott, Dal 64 342 5.3 47 4

Montgomery, Chi 69 309 4.5 41 3

Kamara, NO 78 297 3.8 14 0

Edmonds, Ari 43 255 5.9 54 0

Gibson, Was 59 253 4.3 27 1

Pollard, Dal 37 250 6.8 28 1

Carson, Sea 54 232 4.3 33 3

Cook, Min 51 226 4.4 17 1

Hurts, Phi 34 226 6.6 27 1

Henderson, LAR 43 212 4.9 15 2

Receivers

No Yds Avg LG TD

Samuel, SF 28 490 17.5 79t 3

Kupp, LAR 30 431 14.4 56t 5

Moore, Car 30 398 13.3 39 3

Adams, GB 31 373 12.0 50 1

McLaurin, Was 25 354 14.2 37 3

Jefferson, Min 26 338 13.0 34 3

Lockett, Sea 20 333 16.7 69t 3

Godwin, TB 22 296 13.5 28 2

Metcalf, Sea 20 285 14.3 30 3

Golladay, NYG 17 282 16.6 28 0

Punters

No Yds Lg Avg

O'Donnell, Chi 15 761 63 50.7

Lee, Ari 14 706 60 50.4

Scoring

Touchdowns

TDRush Rec Ret Pts

Darnold, Car 5 5 0 0 30

Jones, GB 5 2 3 0 30

Kicking

PAT FG LG Pts

Prater, Ari 17/17 7/9 62 38

Gay, LAR 13/13 8/9 53 37

RENTON, Wash. — When Pete

Carroll and the Seattle Seahawks

went shopping for an offensive co-

ordinator in the offseason, they

landed on Shane Waldron, hoping

he could recreate the success he

had with the division rival Rams.

So, four weeks into the regular

season, how does Waldron’s for-

mer boss in Los Angeles think it’s

going?

“They’ve got a lot of playmak-

ers, but I think Shane’s putting his

own spin on it,” Rams coach Sean

McVay said. “There are some ele-

ments of some things that would

look familiar to you guys. But it’s

certainly it’s the Seahawks offense

for sure. And he’s done a nice job

for the first four weeks without a

doubt.”

Seattle was hoping when it

hired Waldron that he could

merge what worked so well for

Los Angeles with the talents of

Russell Wilson. The biggest test of

that partnership so far will be

Thursday night, when the Sea-

hawks host the Rams in an early

NFC West showdown.

Seattle watched for the previous

four seasons as Los Angeles’ of-

fense became one of the best in the

game. Waldron wasn’t the archi-

tect, but he was heavily involved

in the development of McVay’s

schemes.

Seattle coach Pete Carroll saw

that development firsthand, twice

a year and three times last year.

And when the Seahawks fired

Brian Schottenheimer after last

season, Waldron immediately be-

came a top candidate to replace

him.

“I thought Shane and a couple

other guys from that same back-

ground were guys that I was really

excited about as well,” Carroll

said. “Shane was the best, right

guy for our situation for every-

thing that we were trying to get

done.”

So far, it’s been a mixed bag for

Seattle. Wilson leads the league in

passer rating and hasn’t thrown an

interception. But the Seahawks

were putrid offensively in the sec-

ond half of losses to Tennessee

and Minnesota, and last week

went five straight drives to start

the game against San Francisco

without a first down.

Waldron said Tuesday he’s try-

ing to separate his worlds — his

personal relationships with

friends still with the Rams and the

crush of preparing quickly for an

important game.

“The Thursday night kind of

puts it in such a fast-forward tem-

po as far as the preparation goes,

so you don’t really have a lot of

time to stop and think about how

would this be different than going

against another opponent,” Wal-

dron said.

In a normal week, Wilson might

take some extra time with Wal-

dron to break down all aspects of

the Los Angeles defense. With the

shortened week, that’s not going to

happen.

But Wilson is plenty familiar

with the Rams, and Waldron sees

only incremental changes from

LA’s defense under former coor-

dinator Brandon Staley to this

year’s unit led by Raheem Morris.

“I think having Shane around is

great because you really have to

know, kind of, their players,” Wil-

son said. “Obviously, we’ve played

them so much over the years, but I

think he just has a great under-

standing of who they are and just

kind of the players they are and

everything else.”

Seattle’s defense also hopes to

benefit from having Waldron, and

to a lesser extend tight end Gerald

Everett, around this year. The

Seahawks have been going against

schemes similar to the Rams’

since the offseason.

The flip side? Los Angeles also

has an understanding of how Seat-

tle wants to operate.

“We have been talking about it

the whole time in all aspects,” Car-

roll said. “We really couldn’t have

more help in that regard. It doesn’t

mean it shows, but we do have a lot

of insight. They do, too. They have

theirs because he’s been with

those guys a lot longer than with

us. It’s a factor in some regard but

I don’t know where it fits.”

TED S. WARREN/AP

Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Shane Waldron, left, talks with quarterback Russell Wilson atpractice. The Seahawks host the Rams this week, where Waldron coached the past four seasons. 

Seahawks’ OC Waldronscheming to attack RamsAfter four seasons on Los Angeles’ staff, he’s ready to turn tables on former team

BY TIM BOOTH

Associated Press Los Angeles Rams (3-1)

at Seattle Seahawks (2-2)AFN-Sports2

2 a.m. Friday CET9 a.m. Friday JKT

Thursday, October 7, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 21

NFL/COLLEGE FOOTBALL

FRISCO, Texas — The Dallas Cowboys

are releasing linebacker Jaylon Smith in

what could be considered a cost-cutting

move because of a guaranteed salary next

season in the case of an injury.

Smith’s role had been reduced after Mi-

cah Parsons was drafted 12th overall this

year and the Cowboys moved free-agent

pickup Keanu Neal to linebacker from

safety. The move could’t become official

before Wednesday.

The decision won’t save the Cowboys any

money on Smith’s $9.8 million salary cap

figure this year, but protects them from his

$9.2 million salary for 2022 becoming guar-

anteed if he gets injured.

The team said on its website that at-

tempts to trade Smith were unsuccessful.

Dallas drafted Smith in the second round

in 2016 knowing he wouldn’t play as a roo-

kie because of a significant left knee injury

sustained in his final game with Notre

Dame at the Fiesta Bowl.

After an up-and-down debut in 2017,

Smith had his best season in 2018 with 150

tackles and career bests of four sacks and

13 quarterback pressures. It was the only

one of his four full seasons when the Cow-

boys made the playoffs.

Smith signed a $64 million, five-year ex-

tension before the 2019 season. About $34

million of that contract was guaranteed.

Even with Neal out for a second consec-

utive game because of COVID-19 protocols

Sunday against Carolina, Smith played just

28 snaps. Neal is expected to return from

the COVID-19 reserve list this week against

the New York Giants.

Panthers acquire Pats’ GilmoreCHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Carolina

Panthers have acquired veteran corner-

back and 2019 NFL Defensive Player of the

Year Stephon Gilmore from the New En-

gland Patriots for a 2023 sixth-round draft

pick.

The moves comes after Gilmore and the

Patriots couldn’t come to terms on a new

contract.

Carolina has been looking to upgrade its

cornerback position after losing first-round

pick Jaycee Horn to a broken foot, which

could keep him out for the remainder of the

season. Last week Carolina traded for cor-

nerback C.J. Henderson, the No. 9 pick in

last year’s NFL Draft, from the Jackson-

ville Jaguars.

Gilmore was raised in Rock Hill, S.C.,

about 26 miles from Carolina’s current

headquarters. The Panthers will be moving

their headquarters to Rock Hill within the

next two years.

The four-time Pro Bowl cornerback con-

firmed his departure from New England

earlier Wednesday in an Instagram post,

saying the moments he shared with his

teammates on and off the field over the past

four seasons — including winning the Su-

per Bowl following the 2018 season — “will

never be forgotten.”

“It is with mixed emotions that I an-

nounce my goodbye to this great fan base,”

Gilmore wrote. “We enjoyed so much suc-

cess together and you have been an incred-

ible inspiration for my individual achieve-

ments.”

Gilmore began the season on the phys-

ically unable to perform list as he worked

his way back from a quadriceps injury late

last season that required offseason surgery.

He is eligible to begin practicing again af-

ter Week 6.

The Patriots and Gilmore had been try-

ing to work out a restructured deal since

this summer. The 31-year-old sat out both

the voluntary and mandatory portions of

New England’s offseason program in May

and June as he looked to get additional

compensation entering the final season of

the five-year, $65 million deal he signed in

2017.

He was scheduled to make a $7 million

base salary this season. He also received a

$500,000 roster bonus, but even with that,

his 2021 compensation would have ranked

him 25th among NFL cornerbacks.

That didn’t sit well with Gilmore, who

has been a standout in New England’s sec-

ondary since arriving as a free agent from

Buffalo in 2017. He has 11 interceptions in

his four seasons with the Patriots.

Gilmore tied a career low with one in-

terception last season. He appeared in just

11 games after missing time due to a CO-

VID-19 diagnosis and the quad injury.

With Gilmore now gone, the Patriots will

turn their full attention to fortifying a de-

fense that ranks fourth in the NFL, allowing

185 passing yards per game.

Dolphins send Grant to BearsMIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — The Miami

Dolphins traded wide receiver and return-

er Jakeem Grant to the Chicago Bears on

Tuesday.

Grant is going to the Bears in exchange

for a sixth-round pick in the 2023 draft.

Grant had primarily been a returner for

the Dolphins this season, with only two

catches for minus-7 yards in the season’s

first four games.

He returned eight punts for 59 yards and

two kickoffs for 46 yards so far this season.

The trade gives Miami the chance to

make rookie Jaylen Waddle the primary

returner.

MATT PATTERSON/AP

Cowboys linebacker Jaylon Smithcelebrates during a game on Sept. 27.Dallas is releasing Smith, whose 2022salary is guaranteed if he is injured thisseason.

CowboysreleasingLB Smith

Associated Press

NFL BRIEFS

NORMAN, Okla. — Former Oklahoma

quarterback Charles Thompson never imag-

ined he’d even consider putting up the “Hook

’em Horns” hand gesture.

He’s done it now, and for good reason. His

son, Casey, will start at quarterback for No. 21

Texas (4-1, 2-0 Big 12) against No. 6 Oklahoma

(5-0, 2-0) in the annual rivalry game.

It’s a strange situation for the elder Thomp-

son, who lives in Moore, Okla. — a short drive

from Oklahoma’s campus. Charles ran the

wishbone offense for coach Barry Switzer,

playing a significant role in Sooners victories

over Texas in 1987 and 1988.

“I’ve been an OU fan since I was 6,” Char-

les, a native of Lawton, Okla., said. “Every

year, this time of year, I’ve always rooted

against Texas. Even the last few years with

Casey on the team, I still kind of quietly want-

ed Oklahoma to win — kind of a win/win sit-

uation for me. This will be the first year that

honestly, I’m really rooting for Texas.”

Charles said he catches some grief from his

old teammates with his son playing for Okla-

homa’s biggest rival.

“I mean, there’s surely some joking, kind of

messing around a little bit, but I think all of

them are kind of in support of him,” he said.

“They certainly want Casey to have a great

game, but want Oklahoma to win.

“I get a mulligan. I want Casey to win.”

Charles won’t go so far as to wear Texas’

burnt orange, and he said if you gut him open,

he’ll bleed Oklahoma crimson. He’ll wear a

custom-made black Texas shirt when he sits

with the other parents.

“Well, I’ve never put on burnt orange,” he

said defiantly.

The situation has provided an opportunity

for Charles to learn a few things about the ri-

valry from the Texas side.

“All my life, I’ve always called it the OU-

Texas game,” he said. “Ask anybody from Ok-

lahoma, they’ll say OU-Texas. I got sort of ha-

rassed a little bit in Austin because they say

Texas-OU. They want Texas first.”

Casey is in an odd situation, too. He wore

Oklahoma’s crimson and cream until his high

school days. Another of Charles’ sons, Kendal,

played for the Sooners, further strengthening

the bond between the family and the school.

Casey played high school football at South-

moore High School in Moore before playing

his senior season at Newcastle High School in

Newcastle, Okla.

As he became a major prospect, his loyalty

to Oklahoma waned. Former Texas coach

Tom Herman recruited Thompson back

when Herman was the head coach at Hous-

ton, and Tim Beck had recruited him when he

was an assistant at Ohio State. When Herman

took over at Texas and Beck became the of-

fensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach

at Texas, it made sense for Casey to take a

look. He attended the 2017 rivalry game as a

Longhorns prospect.

Naturally, the locals objected when Texas

entered the picture.

“I remember even in high school when I

was getting recruited, some of my teachers

and best friends were like, ‘If you go to that

school, I’ll never root for you, never cheer for

you,’ ” Casey said. “But I’m really not worried

about people who are hating. I’m trying to fo-

cus on this team and the people who care

about me and love and support me.”

Though he was highly recruited, his jour-

ney hasn’t been easy. Even after he stepped in

for the injured Sam Ehlinger and threw four

touchdown passes in the 55-23 Alamo Bowl

win over Colorado, he didn’t secure the start-

ing job. Freshman Hudson Card won the spot

in the summer and started the first two

games.

Casey has taken over and completed 71% of

his passes. He has thrown nine touchdown

passes and just three interceptions. Now, he

has the Cotton Bowl stage.

“It’s a dream come true for me to start in

this game,” he said. “But I don’t really think

that I’ll be nervous or anxious or uptight. I’m

excited to play.”

Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley has fol-

lowed Casey throughout the years and has a

good relationship with the family. He’s glad to

see Casey succeed.

“Here from game three on he has played at

ahigh level, has done some really good things

— moving around, throwing the ball well like

he does,” Riley said. “I don’t wish him success

on Saturday. We’re going to get out there and

compete against each other. But I’m happy for

him. I’m glad he’s having success. And I’m not

surprised.”

Ex-Sooners QB’s sonleads Texas in rivalry

BY CLIFF BRUNT

Associated Press

CHUCK BURTON/AP

Texas quarterback Casey Thompson, center, flashes the “Hook ’em Horns” gesturewith his teammates after a game against Rice last month in Austin, Texas.

PAGE 22 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Thursday, October 7, 2021

MLB PLAYOFFS

Playoffsx-if necessary

WILD CARDAmerican League

Tuesday: Boston 6, New York 2National League

Wednesday: St. Louis at Los AngelesDIVISION SERIES

(Best-of-five)American League

Tampa Bay vs. BostonThursday: Boston (TBD) at Tampa Bay

(McClanahan 10-6) AFN-Sports, 2 a.m. Fri-day CET; 9 a.m. Friday JKT

Friday: at Tampa Bay AFN-Sports, 1 a.m.Saturday CET; 8 a.m. Saturday JKT

Sunday: at Boston AFN-Sports, 10 p.m.Sunday CET; 5 a.m. Monday JKT

x-Monday: at Bostonx-Wednesday, Oct. 13: at Tampa Bay

Houston vs. ChicagoThursday: Chicago (TBD) at Houston

(McCullers 13-5) AFN-Sports, 10 p.m.Thursday CET; 5 a.m. Friday JKT

Friday: Chicago (TBD) at Houston (Val-dez 11-6) AFN-Sports, 8 p.m. Friday CET; 3a.m. Saturday JKT

Sunday: at Chicago AFN-Sports, 2 a.m.Monday CET; 9 a.m. Monday JKT

x-Monday: at Chicagox-Wednesday, Oct. 13: at Houston

National LeagueSan Francisco

vs. Los Angeles-St. Louis winnerFriday: at San Francisco AFN-Sports2,

3:30 a.m. Saturday CET; 10:30 a.m. Satur-day JKT

Saturday: at San Francisco AFN-Sports,3 a.m. Sunday CET; 10 a.m. Sunday JKT

Monday: at Los Angeles-St. Louis winnerx-Tuesday, Oct. 12: at Los Angeles-St.

Louis winnerx-Thursday, Oct. 14: at San Francisco

Milwaukee vs. AtlantaFriday: Atlanta (Morton 14-6) at Milwau-

kee (Burnes 11-5) AFN-Sports2, 10:30 p.m.Friday CET; 5:30 a.m. Saturday JKT

Saturday: Atlanta (Fried 14-7) at Mil-waukee (Woodruff 9-10) AFN-Sports, 11p.m. Saturday CET; 6 a.m. Sunday JKT

Monday: at Atlantax-Tuesday, Oct. 12: at Atlantax-Thursday, Oct. 14: at Milwaukee

Scoreboard

the longtime foes, with Boston tak-

ing a 3-2 edge. That doesn’t count

the 1978 AL East tiebreaker —

technically regular season Game

No. 163 — that the Yankees won

thanks to Bucky Dent’s homer into

the net above the Green Monster.

Boone was a New York third

baseman when he added to the

heartbreak with his 11th-inning

walk-off homer in Game 7 of the

2003 AL Championship Series.

The Red Sox haven’t lost to

them since.

They got their revenge the next

year when they rallied after losing

the first three games of the ALCS

to eliminate the Yankees, then

went on to win their first World Se-

ries title in 86 years. They won

three more championships, in ’07,

’13 and in ’18 when they knocked

out New York in the divisional

round.

Any lingering pain disappeared

into the center-field bleachers in

the first inning on Tuesday night.

Unlike Dent, who barely clear-

ed the left-field wall that sits just

310 feet from home plate, Bo-

gaerts drilled a line drive 427 feet

to straightaway center. And un-

like Carlton Fisk, who contorted

his body to will the ball fair in

Game 6 of the 1975 World Series,

Bogaerts interrupted his home

run trot only to flex for the Boston

dugout.

With Dent in the crowd and Aa-

ron Boone in the Yankees dugout,

the Red Sox chased Cole in the

third after he allowed Schwar-

ber’s solo shot and put two more

men on with nobody out. In all, he

was charged with three runs on

four hits and two walks, striking

out three in two-plus innings.

Cole said he felt “sick to my

stomach.”

“This is the worst feeling in the

world,” said the star who signed a

$324 million, nine-year deal to join

New York for the 2019 season.

With Boston leading 3-1, Judge

followed with an infield single that

finished Eovaldi, and reliever

Ryan Brasier gave up a wall single

to Giancarlo Stanton. Mistakenly

waved home by third base coach

Phil Nevin, Judge was easily

thrown out at the plate — 8-6-2 —

by the team that led the majors

with 43 outfield assists.

“That was better than a homer

for me, personally,” Bogaerts

said. “I mean, if that run scores,

it’s 3-2. Stanton is at second base,

the whole momentum is on their

side. The dugout is getting

pumped up.”

“As Judge was out at home, I

saw Stanton was pretty mad. He

probably wanted a homer there,

but also an RBI, and he didn’t get

that, and he probably felt like he

didn’t do much because that run

didn’t score. But that changed the

game,” he said.

AL: Bogaerts got Boston started with early home runFROM PAGE 24

CHARLES KRUPA/AP

The Red Sox’s Xander Bogaerts, middle, celebrates his two­runhomer with Rafael Devers, left, and Alex Verdugo during the firstinning of Tuesday’s American League wild­card playoff against theNew York Yankees at Fenway Park in Boston.

SAN FRANCISCO — Fresh off

an NL West crown that took 107

wins for the Giants to 106 by the

Dodgers, Brandon Crawford and

Buster Posey couldn’t help but en-

vision a poten-

tially epic play-

off matchup

against rival Los

Angeles.

Now, the team

gets to wait until

after Wednes-

day’s NL wild-

card game be-

tween the Cardinals and Dodgers

to see if that matchup will materi-

alize.

“It’ll be fun no matter what,”

said Posey, who caught five of the

final six games and 10 of 13 down

the stretch. “When it comes down

to the postseason, the intensity’s

there no matter what, but there’s

no doubt that it would be height-

ened if we play them.”

San Francisco is holding option-

al workouts Tuesday through

Thursday in preparation for host-

ing Game 1 of the NL Division Se-

ries on Friday night at Oracle

Park, though manager Gabe Ka-

pler expects the sessions to be well

attended.

it, too, and he is proud of the trio of

Belt, Crawford and Posey— Posey

a cornerstone in title runs in 2010,

’12 and ’14, while Belt and Craw-

ford contributed in the last two

championships — for all they did

to lead the Giants this far.

“When you’ve been through bat-

tles and you’ve been through as

much as we’ve been together, you

pull for them as if they were your

own kids,” Wotus said. “I’m so

happy. Coming into the year there

were a lot of people who maybe

doubted them, didn’t think this

would happen. We would not be

here if it wasn’t for our veteran

leadership.”

tance.

“What stands out to me was after

the game looking up in the stands

and seeing everybody together,”

Posey said. “That’s what I noticed

more than anything, and it made

me really happy. It made me hap-

py to see people sharing moments

together like this. I think that’s

what’s obviously so great about

sports. It allows people, families,

communities to come together.

What the whole world’s endured

the last two years having to really

just isolate, it was a great feeling

seeing everybody enjoying the

moment.”

Retiring coach Ron Wotus loved

positive sign.

The break this week especially

mattered for Posey and the taxed

bullpen, which took on a greater

load last month as starters Johnny

Cueto and Alex Wood were out.

“It was a grind. You think about

winning 107 games, you think that

you’re going to get to relax a little

bit the last 10 days or so at least of

the season,” Posey said. “It makes

it all the more special coming

down to the last day and to play as

well as we did.”

Posey took a moment during the

on-field celebration after Sun-

day’s 11-4 win over San Diego to

appreciate the scene and impor-

The Giants finally got to catch

their breath after the division went

down to the final day and they

edged out the reigning World Se-

ries winner and eight-time de-

fending West champion.

“Well, that’s what it’s like to be in

the division against the Dodgers,”

Crawford said. “They always have

a great team. To be able to hold

them off for most of the second half

is pretty great for us.”

Kapler hadn’t decided on a

Game 1 starter, equally confident

in his two options: right-handers

Kevin Gausman and Logan Webb .

Crawford, Posey and the club’s

injured home run leader Brandon

Belt are a major reason San Fran-

cisco is back on the October post-

season stage.

It delivered time and again

when many counted it out months

ago. For Posey to return after sit-

ting out the coronavirus-short-

ened 60-game season last year

meant so much to the Giants both

on the field and in the clubhouse.

Belt and Crawford produced ca-

reer numbers.

Belt’s recovery timeline re-

mained unclear, though Kapler

noted Tuesday, he “talked about

the NLCS as kind of the dream sce-

nario.” And Belt was on the field to

take grounders at first, certainly a

JEFF CHIU/AP

The Giants’ Brandon Belt fields ground balls during an optional workout Tuesday in San Francisco. 

Giants have time

to take a breathNL West champs await NLDS opponent

BY JANIE MCCAULEY

Associated Press

Kapler

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

MLB

ALDS capsule

Season series: Astros won 5­2.

Chicago White Sox

Record: 93­69.Playoff entry: AL Central champion.Manager: Tony La Russa (first season

of second stint with team).Projected rotation: RHP  Lance  Lynn

(11­6, 2.69 ERA, 176 Ks in 157 IP), RHP Lu­cas Giolito (11­9, 3.53, 201 Ks in 1782⁄�3 IP),RHP  Dylan  Cease  (13­7,  3.91,  226  Ks  in1652⁄�3 IP),  LHP Carlos Rodón  (13­5,  2.37,185 Ks in 1322⁄�3 IP).

Top hitters: SS Tim Anderson (.309, 17HRs,  61  RBIs,  94  runs,  18  SBs),  1B  JoséAbreu  (.261,  30,  117,  .831  OPS),  CF  LuisRobert (.338, 13, 43, .946 OPS), C YasmaniGrandal (.240, 23, 62, .939 OPS).

Top relievers: RHP Liam Hendriks (8­3,2.54 ERA, 38/44 saves), RHP Craig Kim­brel (2­2, 5.09, 1 save with White Sox; 2­3,0.49,  23/25  saves  with  Cubs),  RHP  Mi­chael Kopech (4­3, 3.50, 103 Ks in 691⁄�3 IP).

October glance: The  White  Sox  aremaking  consecutive  postseason  ap­pearances for the first time in franchisehistory. They were a wild card last yearand lost to Oakland in the first round ofthe playoffs. ... They won the AL Centralfor the first time since 2008, finishing 13games  ahead  of  second­place  Cleve­land. It was the club’s first season withat  least  90  wins  since  it  went  90­72  in2006.  ...  Chicago  was  swept  in  a  four­game series at Houston in June but tooktwo of three from the Astros at home inJuly. ... The White Sox swept the Astros inthe  2005  World  Series,  when  Houstonwas in the National League, in the onlyprevious postseason matchup betweenthe teams. ... Rodón set career bests forwins, strikeouts and ERA in a breakoutperformance for the No. 3 overall pick inthe 2014 amateur draft. He went 1­0 witha sparkling 0.64 ERA in two starts againstHouston this year, striking out 18 in 14 in­nings. But  the All­Star  left­hander washampered  by  arm  trouble  down  thestretch,  and  it’s  unclear  what  he’ll  beable to provide in the playoffs. ... Kopechpitched  multiple  innings  in  five  of  hislast eight relief appearances in the regu­lar  season,  including  three  innings  ineach of his last two outings. He could bethe first man out of the bullpen if Rodónor another starter falters. ... Robert wasa force after he returned from a right hipinjury.  He  batted  .350  with  12  homersand 35 RBIs in his last 43 games. He alsohit .308 (4­for­13) with a homer and twoRBIs in last year’s playoff series againstthe A’s. ... Grandal is in the playoffs forthe  seventh  straight  year.  The  switch­hitting catcher has a .125 (11­for­88) bat­ting  average  with  five  homers  and  12RBIs in 36 career postseason games withthe White Sox, Brewers and Dodgers. 

Houston Astros

Record: 95­67.Playoff entry: AL West champion.Manager: Dusty  Baker  (second  sea­

son).Projected rotation: RHP Lance McCull­

ers Jr. (13­5, 3.16 ERA, 185 Ks, MLB­high 76walks), LHP Framber Valdez (11­6, 3.14,125 Ks), RHP Luis Garcia (11­8, 3.30, 167Ks  as  rookie),  RHP  Jake  Odorizzi  (6­7,4.21, 91 Ks).

Top hitters: 1B Yuli Gurriel (AL­leading.319,  15  HRs,  81  RBIs),  2B  Jose  Altuve(.278, 31, 83), LF Michael Brantley (.311, 8,47), SS Carlos Correa (.279, career­high26, 92), DH Yordan Alvarez (.277, 33, 104),RF Kyle Tucker (.294, 30, 92, 37 doubles).

Top relievers: RHP Ryan Pressly (5­3,2.25 ERA, 26/28 saves), RHP Kendall Gra­veman (1­1, 3.13 in 23 games with Hous­ton; 4­0, 0.82, 10 saves in 30 games withSeattle),  RHP  Ryne  Stanek  (3­5,  3.42,  2saves), RHP Zack Greinke (11­6, 4.16 in 30games, 29 starts).

October glance: The Astros are in theplayoffs  for  the  fifth straight year andlook to return to the World Series for thesecond time in three seasons. They wonthe AL West for the fourth time in fiveyears after finishing second to Oaklandduring  the  pandemic­shortened  2020season. ... Houston had a tough stretchlate in the season, losing five of six be­fore bouncing back to win three of its fi­nal four games. ... Baker is the first man­ager  to  win  division  titles  with  fiveteams after also leading the Nationals,Reds, Cubs and Giants to crowns. This ishis  eighth  division  championship  and11th  trip  to  the  playoffs.  ...  Houston’slongest winning streak this season was11 games from June 13­24. ... Led the ma­jors  with  a  .276  batting  average,  .339OBP, 863 runs and 1,496 hits. ... Rankedsecond in the majors by striking out just1,222 times. ... Pitching staff was fourthin the AL with a 3.76 ERA. ... 3B Alex Breg­man  returned  Aug.  25  after  missingmore  than  two  months  with  a  quadri­ceps injury. He hit .270 with 12 homersand 55 RBIs in 91 games. ... Greinke, whoreturned from the injured list on the lastday of the regular season, is expected topitch out of the bullpen. The 37­year­oldright­hander, who won  the 2009 AL CyYoung Award, threw 21⁄�3 innings of reliefSunday in his first appearance out of thebullpen  since  2007.  ...  Correa,  a  freeagent this fall, had one of his best sea­sons and led all position players with 7.2overall WAR. His 2.9 defensive WAR alsoranked first.

Associated Press

HOUSTON — Carlos Correa seems resigned

to what now appears inevitable.

A Houston Astro since he was 17, his time

with the team is probably approaching its expi-

ration date — likely to end when the club’s

playoff run does.

“This is my home,” he said. “But it’s not up to

me.”

Correa becomes a free agent after the season

and the Astros seem unwilling to pay him what

another team surely will. The sides negotiated

in the offseason to no avail, and the star short-

stop cut off talks when the season began.

He certainly hasn’t looked preoccupied on

the field this year, hitting a career-high 26

homers and leading all position players with a

7.2 overall WAR and 2.9 defensive WAR. But

as AL West champion Houston prepares to

play the Chicago White Sox in their best-of-five

Division Series beginning Thursday, the possi-

bility that these are Correa’s final games with

the team looms large.

“I’m just hoping that there’s a way that we

can retain and sign Carlos, because he’s a big

part of this team, not only on the field, but he’s

one of the real leaders,” manager Dusty Baker

said.

General manager James Click deflected talk

about Correa’s future Tuesday.

“Right now, we’re focused on the postsea-

son,” he said. “We’ll address the rest of it when

we can.”

With his future in limbo, Correa reflected on

what this team has meant to him as he grew

from a boy to a man. He thought back to the day

in 2012 when the Astros drafted him first over-

all. And the overwhelming feelings that enve-

loped him the moment he set foot in Minute

Maid Park not long after that.

“I just felt like it was still a dream and I

couldn’t wait to be here, playing full-time,” he

said.

Correa knew what was expected of him from

Day 1 and embraced the challenge of helping

turn around a franchise that lost 107 games the

year he was drafted.

“When they take you with the first pick over-

all, I feel like all the pressure should be on you

to make this organization better,” he said.

“Through my time here I have delivered, and

I’ve done good things for this organization.

Winning a championship was up there with

that, but also representing this team the right

way off the field, that makes me proud.”

Perhaps the only person close to Correa who

is optimistic he’ll be around next year is good

friend Jose Altuve. The second baseman con-

stantly tells his buddy that they’ll figure out a

way to keep him clad in orange and navy.

“But he doesn’t write the checks, he doesn’t

negotiate contracts,” Correa said.

Then his face brightens as another thought

enters his mind.

“But he does have power in this organiza-

tion, so we’ll see what happens,” Correa said.

The team doesn’t have a history of spending

big on free agents. The most owner Jim Crane

has ever paid a free agent was a four-year, $52

million deal with outfielder Josh Reddick in

2017.

That number wouldn’t even scratch the sur-

face of what Correa expects to be paid. He says

his friend and fellow shortstop Francisco Lin-

dor set the market for the position when he

fetched a $341 million, 10-year contract with

the New York Mets before this season.

Correa prepares for what could be final run with Astros

KEVIN M. COX/AP

Carlos Correa has been with the HoustonAstros’ organization since he was 17, butafter hitting a career­high 26 homers may beheaded elsewhere next season.

BY KRISTIE RIEKEN

Associated Press

CHICAGO — Kenny Heuer and

his fiancée, Carrie Campbell,

showed up dressed for the occa-

sion.

He made his loyalties clear by

wearing an Eloy Jiménez jersey for

agame between his beloved Chica-

go White Sox and the crosstown

Cubs at Guaranteed Rate Field in

late August. She showed hers with

an Ian Happ shirt.

For a couple with opposing alle-

giances, the hourlong drive from

their home in La Porte, Ind., was

not an easy one.

“It’s been a rough ride up here so

far,” Campbell said, laughing. “In

good fun.”

While the Cubs set their sights on

the future after breaking up their

championship core, the fun could

just be starting on the South Side.

The White Sox are in the playoffs

for the second year in a row, a first

for the charter American League

franchise, with their sights set on

the biggest prize after running

away with the Central division. It

won’t be easy, starting with a divi-

sion series against the AL West

champion Houston Astros.

But in a city where they’re often

overshadowed by their neighbors a

few miles north, they have a rare

opportunity. With young and vi-

brant stars such as Tim Anderson

and Luis Robert and Jimenez, not

to mention reigning AL MVP José

Abreu, the spotlight is on them.

“They need to get known by

more than just their core fans,”

sports marketing executive Marc

Ganis said. “And there’s a barn

door that is wide open to them right

now because of the Cubs, because

of the rebuilding that the Cubs are

in and the trades they made of al-

most all of their known stars.

“This is a window of opportunity

that won’t last all that long,” he said.

“They need to get their players

known. They need to get them have

their names out there in the com-

munity. They need to get more at-

tention to the White Sox.”

Ganis, cofounder of Chicago-

based consulting group Sports-

corp, said the White Sox have a

chance to increase local sponsor-

ship, ticket sales, suite sales and

other stadium revenues by 25% to

40% without having to cut into the

Cubs’ fan base because of the size

of the population. That hinges on

their marketing and how far the

team advances.

“You look at our team and we’re

probably the closest thing to an

NBA-like team of making the game

fun,” White Sox chief revenue and

marketing officer Brooks Boyer

said. “We continue that from a mar-

keting perspective because change

the game is ultimately what these

guys are trying to do and change

the perception of how much fun

baseball can be, change the way

our fans look at the White Sox.”

Second no more in the second city?Playoffs give White Sox achance to build fan base

BY ANDREW SELIGMAN

Associated Press

MATT MARTON/AP

Fans greet the Chicago White Sox’s Brian Goodwin after he hit a walkoff homer on Aug. 1 against Clevelandin Chicago. The team has an opportunity to capture the spotlight and expand its fan base in Chicago.

SPORTS

PAGE 24 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Thursday, October 7, 2021

Adding to the rivalrySon of former OU QB under centerfor Texas ›› College football, Page 21

Seahawks OC goes up against former team ›› NFL, Page 20

BOSTON — As the ball sailed over the

center-field fence, landing 427 feet from the

plate in a horde of happy Red Sox fans, Xan-

der Bogaerts turned to the Boston dugout to

flex his muscles before resuming his home

run trot.

This is the matchup the Yankees wanted.

And the Red Sox were ready.

Bogaerts and Kyle Schwarber homered

off Yankees ace Gerrit Cole, and Nathan Eo-

valdi took a shutout into the sixth inning in

the AL wild-card game to help the Red Sox

beat New York 6-2 on Tuesday night.

Bogaerts also cut down Aaron Judge at

the plate in the sixth as Boston advanced to

the best-of-five AL Division Series against

Tampa Bay.

Game 1 is Thursday night in St. Peters-

burg, Fla.

“Now we go to the next one, and we’ve

just got to be ready to face a great baseball

team,” Red Sox manager Alex Cora said.

“Coming into the season, everybody talked

about them being the best team in the big

leagues, and we have a huge challenge. But

we’re ready for it.”

The Yankees, who lead the majors with

27 World Series championships, have not

won it all since 2009. After angling for a

matchup with the Red Sox in a potential tie-

breaker, the Yankees wound up in Boston

for the wild-card game instead.

And the Red Sox beat them in the postsea-

son for the third straight try.

“Guys are crushed,” New York manager

Aaron Boone said. “The ending is really

cruel. But there’s nothing better than com-

peting for something meaningful.”

A year after baseball took its postseason

into neutral-site bubbles to protect against

the pandemic, a sellout crowd of 38,324 —

the biggest at Fenway Park since the 2018

World Series — filled the old yard to rekin-

dle one of the sport’s most passionate rival-

ries. Enough Yankees fans were among

them to fuel a raucous back-and-forth of in-

sulting chants.

“The Bogaerts homer in the first inning

— I mean, talk about a pop. And, you know,

the crowd went nuts, and you feed off that

energy,” Schwarber said. “You thrive for

that, and Red Sox nation brought it tonight.

We needed it, and you can’t say enough

about the crowd.”

It was the fifth playoff matchup between

Red Sox win AL wild card

PHOTOS BY CHARLES KRUPA/AP

Above: The Red Sox’s Kyle Schwarber watches his solo home run against the New YorkYankees during the third inning of Tuesday’s American League wild­card playoff game atFenway Park in Boston. Right: The Yankees’ Aaron Judge is tagged out at the plate byRed Sox catcher Kevin Plawecki during the the sixth inning. 

Bogaerts, Schwarber hit homersto dent Cole, end Yanks’ season

BY JIMMY GOLEN

Associated Press DID YOU KNOW?

This was the fifth playoff matchup between the

Yankees and Red Sox, with Boston taking a 3-2

edge. After losing Game 7 of the 2003 AL

Championship Series, the Red Sox have won

the last three matchups, rallying to win the

2004 ALCS after losing the first three games.

They went on to win their first World Series title

in 86 years. They won three more champion-

ships, in ’07, ’13 and in ’18, when they ousted

the Yankees in the divisional round.

SOURCE: Associated Press

SEE AL ON PAGE 22

MLB PLAYOFFS