Volume 80 Edition 85A ©SS 2021 CONTINGENCY EDITION SATURDAY, AUGUST 14, 2021 Free to Deployed Areas
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VIDEO GAMES
Arcade shooter‘Ascent’ is a joltof ’90s nostalgia Page 12
VIRUS OUTBREAK
States that oncehad grip on COVIDsee crush of cases Page 6
MLB
White Sox, Yankeesgo deep in ‘Field ofDreams’ gamePage 24
Richardson becomes 2nd woman to head combatant command ›› Page 3
KABUL, Afghanistan — U.S.
troops who deployed to Afghanis-
tan over the past two decades say
the Taliban’s rapid conquest of
much of the country has left them
stunned and dismayed.
“This one will hurt for a long
time, man,” said Sean Gustafson, a
retired Army lieutenant colonel
who deployed to the city of Herat
in western Afghanistan from 2006
to 2007.
The capture of Herat by the Tali-
ban on Thursday shocked Gustaf-
son. On Friday, he forwarded to
Stars and Stripes photos from 2007
of him and other troops building
schools and handing out books to
children.
Now, like other veterans of
America’s longest war, he can only
watch from afar as the projects he
worked on and the people he tried
to help come under threats from
the Taliban.
The Taliban controlled an esti-
mated two-thirds of the country as
of Friday, after gaining several
provincial capitals and large cities
throughout the country.
The collapse of much of the Af-
ghan military has come weeks be-
fore the scheduled Aug. 31 final
withdrawal of U.S. troops ordered
by President Joe Biden. The with-
drawal stems from a peace deal
signed last year by the Taliban and
the Trump administration.
The final days of the U.S. war in
Afghanistan should have been
handled better, several veterans
told Stars and Stripes.
“A complete pullout is not only
unnecessary, it is sabotage,” said
Army Staff Sgt. Seamus Fennessy,
who fought in Ghazni province in
US veterans despair as Taliban take over much of the country they fought inBY J.P. LAWRENCE
Stars and Stripes
SEE VETERANS ON PAGE 5
SIDIQULLAH KHAN/AP
Smoke rises after fighting between the Taliban and Afghan security personnel, in Kandahar, southwest of Kabul, Afghanistan, on Thursday.
Afghan unraveling■ The Taliban complete sweep of country’s south■ US sending 3,000 troops to evacuate diplomats
Page 4
AFGHANISTAN
PAGE 2 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Saturday, August 14, 2021
WASHINGTON — Inflation at
the wholesale level jumped a high-
er-than-expected 1% in July, match-
ing the rise from the previous
month, and dimming hopes that the
upward trajectory of prices would
begin to slow.
Prices at the wholesale level over
the past 12 months are up a record
7.8%, the largest increase in that
span of time in a series going back to
2010.
And the back-to-back monthly in-
creases in the producer price index,
which measures price pressures be-
fore they reach consumers, were
the most sizeable since a 1.2% rise in
January, the Labor Department re-
ported Thursday.
The latest data on rising producer
prices comes a day after the U.S. re-
ported that there was some evi-
dence of slowing in price hikes at the
retail level. Consumer prices in July
rose 0.5%, compared with a 0.9%
jump in June. Over the past year re-
tail prices are up a notable 5.4%, the
same 12-month gain posted in June
with both months recording the
largest annual gain since 2008.
July’s 1% wholesale price uptick
exceeded the 0.6% gain many econ-
omists had expected and signaled
the price surge that has lifted the
cost of everything from airline tick-
ets and hotels to food and gasoline
and has pushed prices well above
the 2% target for annual gains set by
the Federal Reserve.
Core inflation at the wholesale
level, which excludes volatile food
and energy costs, also rose 1% in Ju-
ly. Core prices over the past 12
months are up 6.2%.
Inflation at wholesale level jumps 1% in July Associated Press
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73/32
Ramstein82/57
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Lajes,Azores76/73
Rota89/69
Morón112/75 Sigonella
93/73
Naples93/74
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Tokyo69/66
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Iwakuni80/75
Seoul84/66
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Military rates
Euro costs (Aug. 16) $1.15Dollar buys (Aug. 16) 0.8284 British pound (Aug. 16) $1.35Japanese yen (Aug. 16) 108.00South Korean won (Aug. 16) 1139.00
Commercial rates
Bahrain(Dinar) 0.3770Britain (Pound) 1.3839Canada (Dollar) 1.2525China(Yuan) 6.4801Denmark (Krone) 6.3209 Egypt (Pound) 15.6999 Euro 0.8500Hong Kong (Dollar) 7.7828 Hungary (Forint) 299.90 Israel (Shekel) 3.2176 Japan (Yen) 110.11 Kuwait(Dinar) 0.3007
Norway (Krone) 8.8146
Philippines (Peso) 50.56 Poland (Zloty) 3.89 Saudi Arabia (Riyal) 3.7505Singapore (Dollar) 1.3571
South Korea (Won) 1164.82 Switzerland (Franc) 0.9192Thailand (Baht) 33.33 Turkey (NewLira) 8.5484
(Military exchange rates are those availableto customers at military banking facilities in thecountry of issuance for Japan, South Korea, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.For nonlocal currency exchange rates (i.e., purchasing British pounds in Germany), check withyour local military banking facility. Commercialrates are interbank rates provided for referencewhen buying currency. All figures are foreigncurrencies to one dollar, except for the Britishpound, which is represented in dollarstopound, and the euro, which is dollarstoeuro.)
INTEREST RATES
Prime rate 3.25Interest Rates Discount �rate 0.75Federal funds market rate �0.093month bill 0.0630year bond 2.01
EXCHANGE RATES
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Saturday, August 14, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 3
WASHINGTON — An Army
officer at Joint Base Lewis-
McChord has become the 29th
service member to die of compli-
cations from the coronavirus, the
service said Thursday.
Lt. Col. Scott Flanders, 56, died
Aug. 2 at Brooke Army Medical
Center in San Antonio, where he
was being treated, according to
the Army.
Since February, Flanders
served as the operations officer
for I Corps, which manages daily
activities for more than 44,000
soldiers stationed at Joint Base
Lewis-McChord in Washington
state and across the Pacific in-
cluding Hawaii, Alaska and Ja-
pan, the Army said.
“Our thoughts and prayers are
with Lt. Col. Scott Flanders’s
family,” said Brig. Gen. Bill
Ryan, special assistant to I Corps’
deputy commanding general.
“Our priority is to take care of his
family, ensuring they have all the
resources they need during this
difficult time.”
Flanders received his ROTC
commission as an air defense ar-
tillery officer in May 1994
through the University of Massa-
chusetts Amherst, according to
the Army.
Throughout his military ca-
reer, Flanders served in the Navy
and Army, earning honors in-
cluding the Defense Meritorious
Service Medal, Joint Service
Command Medal, Army Achieve-
ment Medal and the Navy and
Marine Corps Achievement Med-
al.
Flanders is the third service
member to die of the coronavirus
in less than a month. Two unvac-
cinated sailors — including an ac-
tive-duty doctor — died July 23
and July 26, respectively.
The deaths come as Defense
Secretary Lloyd Austin prepares
to make the coronavirus vaccine
mandatory in the coming month.
The shots are now under the
Food and Drug Administration’s
emergency-use authorization, but
Austin said he will seek President
Joe Biden’s permission to man-
date the vaccine for troops if it
does not receive full federal ap-
proval by mid-September.
So far, 1,061,952 service mem-
bers are fully vaccinated against
the coronavirus and 239,926 have
received at least one shot, accord-
ing to the Pentagon’s most recent
data published Wednesday.
Since the coronavirus pandem-
ic began, 217,982 service mem-
bers contracted the virus, with
1,962 of them hospitalized, ac-
cording to the data.
Army officer is 29thto die of coronavirus
BY CAITLIN DOORNBOS
Stars and Stripes
[email protected] Twitter: @CaitlinDoornbos
Army Lt. Gen. Laura Richard-
son was confirmed by the Senate
in a unanimous voice vote on
Wednesday to become the next
commander of U.S. Southern
Command, which will make her
just the second woman in history
to lead a combatant command.
Richardson, who now leads U.S.
Army North, will receive a fourth
star before taking command of
SOUTHCOM, which oversees
U.S. military operations across
South and Central America and
the Caribbean. She will become
just the second female four-star
general in the Army’s history.
Richardson will replace
SOUTHCOM’s outgoing chief,
Navy Adm. Craig Faller, who has
led the combatant command
headquartered just outside Miami
since November 2018. The De-
fense Department has yet to set a
date for the change of command, a
SOUTHCOM spokesman said
Thursday.
SOUTHCOM leaders have tra-
ditionally faced challenges in the
region such as drug trafficking,
narcoterrorism, providing hu-
manitarian and disaster relief,
and overseeing the controversial
detention facility at Guantanamo
Bay, Cuba. Richardson will also
inherit responsibility for oper-
ations in a portion of the globe that
has been devastated by the ongo-
ing coronavirus pandemic. She
will also have to work to ensure
the United States retains its long-
held influence throughout the vast
majority of the region, where Rus-
sia and China in recent years have
increased efforts to work with and
influence nations in the Western
Hemisphere.
Richardson told senators last
week during her confirmation
hearing on Capitol Hill that her
priorities included expanding
training exercises and other secu-
rity cooperation operations with
partner nations in the region and
increasing opportunities for part-
ner nations in the region to send
their troops to U.S. military train-
ing and education programs.
“We must hasten to pick up the
pieces left by the pandemic and
transform our relationships to
meet 21st-century security chal-
lenges. Put simply, winning to-
gether with our allies and partners
matters,” Richardson told sen-
ators. “Whether [it is working]
against [the coronavirus], trans-
national criminal organizations,
the predatory actions of China, the
malign influence of Russia, or nat-
ural disasters, there’s nothing we
cannot overcome or achieve
through an integrated response
with our interagency allies and
partners.”
Richardson commissioned into
the Army as an aviation officer in
1986 and flew UH-60 Black
Hawks, according to her official
biography. She commanded a
101st Airborne Division aviation
battalion in Iraq and has also
served in Afghanistan.
She took command of U.S. Army
North at Joint Base San Antonio in
July 2019 after serving as the dep-
uty commander of U.S. Army
Forces Command at Fort Bragg,
N.C.
Richardson could soon be fol-
lowed by the third female to lead a
combatant command. President
Joe Biden nominated Air Force
Gen. Jacqueline Van Ovost to lead
U.S. Transportation Command.
The Senate has yet to formally
consider her nomination.
Air Force Gen. Lori Robinson
was the first woman to lead a com-
batant command. She led U.S
Northern Command from 2016
until her retirement in 2018.
Biden nominated Richardson
and Van Ovost for those top jobs in
April, after they were recom-
mended by top Pentagon leaders
during President Donald Trump’s
administration. The New York
Times reported in February that
former Defense Secretary Mark
Esper and Gen. Mark Milley, the
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, slow rolled their recommen-
dations of the two women for those
jobs until after the November 2020
election, fearing the White House
might nix their selections because
of their genders.
Esper, who was fired shortly af-
ter Trump’s election loss, told The
Times that he and Milley agreed
Richardson and Van Ovost were
the best, most qualified choices
for the positions. He confirmed
their recommendations were de-
layed until after Biden had been
elected.
“They were chosen because
they were the best officers for the
jobs, and I didn’t want their pro-
motions derailed because some-
one in the Trump White House
saw that I recommended them or
thought [the Defense Depart-
ment] was playing politics,” Esper
told The New York Times in Feb-
ruary. “This was not the case.
They were the best qualified. We
were doing the right thing.”
Richardson confirmed to lead SOUTHCOMBY COREY DICKSTEIN
Stars and Stripes
[email protected]: @CDicksteinDC
U.S. ARMY NORTH
Army Lt. Gen. Laura Richardson
MILITARY
DAVENPORT, Ill. — A small, stifled cry escaped
Kaitlin Schepers’ lips Thursday after she closed her
eyes and thought about her friend Alexa Sheeder.
Sheeder, an Army spouse, died Tuesday from com-
plications of COVID-19 — just 13 days after hearing
the cries of her newborn boy Barrett.
“Alexa was always so much fun to be around. She
included everyone,” Schepers said. “No one was ever
left out. You laughed. And she laughed. It was one of
her gifts, I think. Alexa had joy and she shared it.
“I think her joy came from her life. Alexa loved be-
ing a wife and mom. That’s the best way I can tell you
about her life.”
Sheeder married her husband Drew, who is sta-
tioned at Fort Rucker in Alabama, six years ago. The
couple’s daughter, Landi, was born almost three
years ago.
At the time of her death, Sheeder was living at
home in Davenport, but had recently relocated to
Alabama to give birth.
“She was visiting down there to have the baby,”
Schepers said. “Then she got sick.”
Kaitlin recalled the Sheeders’ unique love story.
“Alexa had no idea who Drew was — only that he
was serving in the military,” Schepers said, adding
that Drew’s mother was a coworker of Sheeder.
“One day, just to be nice, Alexa asked if she could
send Drew a care package,” Schepers said. “Well,
that grew into this kind of pen-pal thing. And it grew
from there. Basically Drew came home and a few
weeks later, they were married. It was love at first
letter, maybe.”
Sheeder tested positive for COVID-19 on July 25.
She was admitted to a hospital and gave birth to Bar-
rett on July 28. Barrett went home the same day, but
Sheeder stayed in the hospital with more severe
symptoms until Aug. 2, when she was sent home.
After spending a day at home with her newborn son
— who also tested positive for COVID-19 — Sheeder
was readmitted to the hospital Aug. 3 and had to be
intubated Aug. 7.
“Alexa had no underlying conditions — other than,
I guess, pregnancy,” Schepers said.
Schepers explained the Sheeders’ family wanted
people to know Alexa’s story for another reason.
“Alexa was not vaccinated,” Schepers said. “She
was pregnant and she wasn’t sure what she wanted to
do. But she did plan to get vaccinated after the birth of
the baby.
“Alexa’s family doesn’t care about politics. They
want people to know how important the vaccines are
to help protect us. If you have worries — and many of
us do — you should go to your doctor or find good
sources and make informed decisions.”
Kaitlin has started a GoFundMe account that will
help pay the cost of college for Landri and Barrett.
Army spouse diesof virus two weeksafter giving birth
BY TOM LOEWY
The Moline Dispatch and Rock Island Argus
Army spouse Alexa Sheeder shown here with herhusband Drew Sheeder.
PAGE 4 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Saturday, August 14, 2021
WAR ON TERRORISM
KABUL, Afghanistan — The
Taliban completed their sweep of
Afghanistan’s south on Friday,
taking four more provincial cap-
itals in a lightning offensive that
brought them closer to Kabul just
weeks before the U.S. is set to of-
ficially end its two-decade war.
In the last 24 hours, the coun-
try’s second- and third-largest ci-
ties — Herat in the west and Kan-
dahar in the south — have fallen
to the insurgents, as has the cap-
ital of the southern province of
Helmand, where American, Brit-
ish and NATO forces fought some
of the bloodiest battles of the con-
flict.
The blitz through the Taliban’s
southern heartland means the in-
surgents now hold half of Afghan-
istan’s 34 provincial capitals and
control more than two-thirds of
the country. The Western-backed
government in the capital, Kabul,
still holds a smattering of prov-
inces in the center and east, as
well as the northern city of Ma-
zar-i-Sharif.
While Kabul is not directly un-
der threat yet, the resurgent Tali-
ban were battling government
forces in Logar province, some 50
miles from the capital. The U.S.
military has estimated that Kabul
could come under insurgent pres-
sure within 30 days and that the
Taliban could overrun the rest of
the country within a few months.
They have already taken over
much of the north and west of the
country.
In the south, insurgents swept
through three provincial capitals
on Friday.
Attaullah Afghan, the head of
the provincial council in Hel-
mand, said the Taliban captured
Lashkar Gah following weeks of
heavy fighting and raised their
white flag over governmental
buildings. He said that three ar-
my bases outside of the city re-
main under government control.
In Tirin Kot, the capital of the
southern Uruzgan province, Tali-
ban fighters paraded through a
main square, driving a Humvee
and a pickup seized from Afghan
forces. Local officials confirmed
that the Taliban also captured the
capitals of Zabul province in the
south and Ghor in the west.
With security rapidly deterio-
rating, the United States planned
to send in 3,000 troops to help
evacuate some personnel from
the U.S. Embassy in Kabul. Bri-
tain and Canada are also sending
forces to aid their evacuations.
Denmark said it will temporarily
close its embassy, while Germany
is reducing its embassy staff to
the “absolute minimum.”
Hundreds of thousands of Af-
ghans have fled their homes amid
fears the Taliban will return the
country to the sort of brutal, re-
pressive rule it imposed when it
was last in power at the turn of
the millennium. At that time, the
group all but eliminated women’s
rights and conducted public exe-
cutions as it imposed an unspar-
ing version of Islamic law. An
early sign of such tactics came in
Herat, where insurgents paraded
two alleged looters through the
streets on Friday with black
makeup smeared on their faces.
There are also concerns that
the fighting could plunge the
country into civil war, which is
what happened after the Soviets
withdrew in 1989.
“We are worried. There is
fighting everywhere in Afghanis-
tan. The provinces are falling day
by day,” said Ahmad Sakhi, a res-
ident of Kabul. “The government
should do something. The people
are facing lots of problems.”
The U.N. refugee agency said
nearly 250,000 Afghans have
been forced to flee their homes
since the end of May, and 80% of
those displaced are women and
children. In all, the agency said,
some 400,000 civilians have been
displaced since the beginning of
the year, joining millions who
have fled previous rounds of
fighting in recent decades.
Peace talks in Qatar between
the Taliban and the government
remain stalled, though diplomats
are still meeting, as the U.S., Eu-
ropean and Asian nations warned
that battlefield gains would not
lead to political recognition.
“We demand an immediate end
to attacks against cities, urge a
political settlement, and warn
that a government imposed by
force will be a pariah state,” said
Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. envoy
to the talks.
But the Taliban advance con-
tinued.
Hasibullah Stanikzai, the head
of the Logar provincial council,
said fighting was still underway
inside Puli-e Alim, with govern-
ment forces holding the police
headquarters and other security
facilities. He spoke by phone
from his office, and gunfire could
be heard in the background. The
Taliban, however, said they had
captured the police headquarters
and a nearby prison.
A day earlier, in Herat, Taliban
fighters rushed past the Great
Mosque in the historic city — a
structure that dates to 500 BC and
was once a spoil of Alexander the
Great — and seized government
buildings.
Herat had been under militant
attack for two weeks, with one
wave blunted by the arrival of
warlord Ismail Khan and his
forces. But on Thursday after-
noon, Taliban fighters broke
through the city’s defensive lines.
The insurgents circulated pho-
tos and a video showing Khan in
their captivity as well as video
footage that appeared to show
captured military helicopters.
At least 18 civilians were killed
and more than 250 wounded in
the two-week battle for Herat, ac-
cording to Mohammad Arif Jala-
li, head of the city’s public hospi-
tal. He said more than 50 women
and children were among the
wounded. It’s unclear how many
people were killed and wounded
in battles elsewhere across the
country.
In Kandahar, insurgents seized
the governor’s office and other
buildings, witnesses said, adding
that the governor and other offi-
cials fled. They spoke on condi-
tion of anonymity because the de-
feat has yet to be acknowledged
by the government, which has not
commented on the latest advanc-
es.
The Taliban had earlier at-
tacked a prison in Kandahar and
freed inmates inside, officials
said.
Taliban sweep through southern areas
GULABUDDIN AMIRI/AP
A Taliban fighter stands guard over surrendered Afghan security member forces in the city of Ghazni,Afghanistan, Friday.
BY TAMEEM AKHGAR,RAHIM FAIEZ
AND JOSEPH KRAUSS
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Three thou-
sand fresh U.S. troops were rush-
ing to Kabul on Friday in a tempo-
rary deployment to speed evacua-
tion flights for some American
diplomats and thousands of Af-
ghans, as the Taliban pressed a
lightning offensive that has cap-
tured much of the country and
risks isolating Afghanistan’s capi-
tal city.
The Pentagon also was moving
another 4,500 to 5,000 troops to
bases in the Gulf countries of Qa-
tar and Kuwait, including 1,000 to
Qatar to speed up visa processing
for Afghan translators and others
who fear retribution from the Tali-
ban for their past work with Amer-
icans, and their family members.
The remainder — 3,500 to 4,000
troops from a combat brigade of
the 82nd Airborne Division —
were bound for Kuwait. Pentagon
spokesman John Kirby said the
combat troops would be a reserve
force on standby “in case we need
even more” than the 3,000 going to
Kabul.
The temporary buildup of
troops for U.S. evacuations high-
lights the stunning pace of the Ta-
liban takeover of much of the
country, less than three weeks be-
fore the U.S. is set to officially end
nearly 20 years of combat in Af-
ghanistan.
President Joe Biden has re-
mained adamant about ending the
U.S. mission in Afghanistan on
Aug. 31, insisting the American
and NATO mission that launched
Oct. 7, 2001, has done what it could
to build up a Kabul-based Afghan
government and military that
could withstand the Taliban when
Western troops finally withdrew.
The Taliban, emboldened by the
imminent end of the U.S. combat
mission in the country, took four
more provincial capitals Friday.
The advance is gradually encir-
cling Kabul, home to millions of
Afghans.
The U.S. had already withdrawn
most of its troops, but had kept
about 650 troops in Afghanistan to
support U.S. diplomatic security,
including at the airport.
Kirby said Thursday the influx
of fresh troops does not mean the
U.S. is reentering combat with the
Taliban.
“This is a temporary mission
with a narrow focus,” he told re-
porters at the Pentagon.
The Biden administration
warned Taliban officials directly
that the U.S. would respond if the
Taliban attacked Americans dur-
ing the stepped-up deployments
and evacuations.
Americans are preparing a mil-
itary base abroad to receive and
house large numbers of those Af-
ghan translators and others as
their visa applications are proc-
essed. The Biden administration
has not identified the base, but ear-
lier was talking with both Kuwait
and Qatar about using U.S. bases
there for the temporary reloca-
tions.
As of Thursday, the U.S. has
flown 1,200 Afghans — former
American employees and their
families whose visas are farthest
along in the approval process — to
Fort Lee, Va.
State Department spokesman
Ned Price said Thursday that the
U.S. soon will have evacuation
planes flying out daily, for those
Afghan translators and others who
manage to reach the Kabul airport
despite the fighting.
The number of Afghans flown
out under the special visa program
is going to “grow very quickly in
the coming days,” Price said.
Shortly before Price’s announ-
cement, the U.S. Embassy in Ka-
bul urged U.S. citizens to leave im-
mediately — reiterating a warning
it first issued Saturday.
The latest drawdown will fur-
ther limit the ability of the embas-
sy to conduct business, although
Price maintained it would still be
able to function. Nonessential per-
sonal had already been withdrawn
from the embassy in April after Bi-
den’s withdrawal announcement
that same month.
US rushes in troops to speed evacuations from KabulAssociated Press
Saturday, August 14, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 5
2010.
The withdrawal was “a betrayal
of American and international
forces who have expended so
much in life and limb to prevent
the resurgence of the Taliban,”
Fennessy said in a Facebook
message.
Some U.S. troops should have
stayed in the country to preserve
the gains of the last 20 years, he
said.
“I am disgusted,” he said.
Other troops spoke about the
way the withdrawal imperils their
Afghan friends and co-workers.
“Maybe we stayed longer than
we should have, but the manner in
which we pulled out, it’s just unfor-
tunate, and my heart breaks,” said
Christy Barry, who deployed to
Afghanistan multiple times as
both an Air Force officer and a ci-
vilian adviser.
Like other veterans, Barry said
she’s been deluged with messages
from people seeking her help to
get visas to escape the country.
Barry learned about Afghanis-
tan’s culture and received lan-
guage training as part of the Af-
ghanistan-Pakistan Hands, which
aimed to build a cadre of military
officers who could advise local
leaders in their own languages.
In a phone call Thursday, she re-
called the days when she thought
she was making a difference in the
country. In 2010, Barry helped
start a women’s bazaar in partner-
ship with two Afghan Americans.
The project gave jobs to women in
need by allowing them to sell
goods at U.S. bases.
Then Barry learned in 2015,
when she came to Afghanistan as a
civilian adviser, that the bazaar
had stopped coming to the bases.
Commanders who came after her
discontinued it, which is when she
said she first felt disheartened
about her earlier achievements.
“You pour your heart into it, and
at the time, it feels like you’re do-
ing something great and you’re
making a difference,” she said.
“And looking back on it now, I still
feel that way, but it’s with a sad-
ness.”
Many U.S., British, Afghan and
allied troops sacrificed much in
pursuit of a modernized Afghanis-
tan, said Richard Mills, a retired
Marine lieutenant general who
commanded in the southern prov-
ince of Helmand from 2009 to 2011.
Mills recalled efforts to build
the enormous Kajaki Dam, with
hopes of bringing electrical power
and prosperity to the area.
The U.S. invested more than
$775 million into the dam since
2004, betting that it would bolster
support for the government and
turn people against the Taliban.
U.S. Marines and British troops
launched the Battle of Sangin in
part to secure supply lines to the
dam. It was the bloodiest cam-
paign of the war, with more than
100 coalition troops killed in ac-
tion.
With U.S. help, the Afghan gov-
ernment installed a third turbine
generator in the dam in 2017,
greatly increasing the electricity
supply to the region, a 2019 report
by the United States Agency for
International Development said.
But the dam’s success did noth-
ing to stem the Taliban’s power in
Helmand, which fell to the mili-
tant group Friday.
The U.S. came close to “turning
the tide” in Helmand province,
Mills said in a phone call Thurs-
day. He said Americans had con-
structed several pillars of stability
in Helmand by shoring up the
economy, establishing schools and
providing security.
“It’s sad to see that those pillars
are being destroyed one at a time
by the Taliban,” Mills said. “To see
it snatched away, of course it’s
hard.”
EZEKIEL R. KITANDWE/U.S. Marine Corps
U.S. Marine Maj. Gen. Richard Mills walks off the flight line at Bastion airfield, Camp Leatherneck,Afghanistan, in April 2010.
Veterans: Some feel betrayal in US exitFROM PAGE 1
Zubair Babakarkhail contributed to this report. [email protected]: @jplawrence3 �
MATTHEW CHLOSTA/U.S. Army
U.S. Air Force Maj. Christy Barry speaks Dari with Afghan nationalarmy officers in 2009 at the Counter Insurgency Training Academy onCamp Julien, Afghanistan.
SEAN GUSTAFSON
Students thank U.S. troops forthe school built for them in ShadiJam, a town in the Afghanprovince of Herat.
WAR ON TERRORISM
KABUL, Afghanistan — The
exodus from the capital has begun
for those who can afford it.
Demand for visas and plane
tickets out of Afghanistan has
been up ever since President Joe
Biden announced the withdrawal
of U.S. forces in April. But the Ta-
liban’s takeover of Kandahar and
Herat, Afghanistan’s second and
third largest cities, along with
many provincial capitals, has sent
demand skyrocketing.
“Almost all flights are full these
days, and the prices for tickets
have gone up,” said Mujeeb Rez-
qi, a Kabul travel agent. “It’s be-
cause everyone is afraid. They
don’t want to live under a regime
that will only bring destruction to
Afghanistan.”
But for most, leaving the coun-
try isn’t an option.
Some of the scenes at Shar-e-
now Park in central Kabul, a cou-
ple of miles from the U.S. Embas-
sy, resembled those of better
times: small children climbed all
over the jungle gym, while older
boys raced across the dusty
ground to a water fountain.
Some of those children are also
sleeping in the park, after fleeing
hundreds of miles with their fam-
ilies from cities taken by the Tali-
ban.
Amina, a widow who like many
of her compatriots goes by one
name, left the northern city of
Kunduz with her four children af-
ter the city fell earlier in the week.
The family huddled alongside
pitched tents and blankets spread
on the ground.
“To leave, you need a lot of
money, and we simply cannot af-
ford it,” Amina said. “I don’t even
have my own tent. I’m sharing it
with others.”
Anjamudin, an ex-local police
officer in northern Baghlan prov-
ince, fled with his family of five
after the fall of the provincial cap-
ital Pul-e-Khumi, believing his
former job put his life in danger.
“Look around. Everyone here is
desperate, and this is the govern-
ment’s fault,” said Anjamudin,
who also has been living in the
park.
“It’s the government’s job to de-
fend the country, but whenever
an area is surrounded by the ene-
my, it just collapses. It’s as if no
one is defending the country,” An-
jamudin said.
Anjamudin said he doesn’t want
to leave Afghanistan. He held out
hope Friday that the government
would be able to provide shelter
for its displaced citizens.
Those who have found ways to
leave have generally sought out
the most affluent countries that
would take them. Abdul Hamid
Hamdan, a business owner in Ja-
lalabad, said he will leave for In-
dia. From there, he will try to get
to Europe or North America.
Like many Afghans, Hamdan
partly blamed the withdrawal of
U.S. forces for the chaos gripping
the country.
“When the first province was
captured by the Taliban, I decid-
ed to leave,” Hamdan said by
phone. “Anything can happen any
minute here. I don’t feel safe any-
more.”
Afghans fly out,sleep in parksto flee Taliban
BY PHILLIP WALTER
WELLMAN
Stars and Stripes
PHILLIP WALTER WELLMAN/Stars and Stripes
A family waits at a Kabul park on Friday.
Zubair Babakarkhail contributed to this report.
PAGE 6 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Saturday, August 14, 2021
VIRUS OUTBREAK
The COVID-19 surge that is
sending hospitalizations to all-
time highs in parts of the South is
also clobbering states like Hawaii
and Oregon that were once seen as
pandemic success stories.
After months in which they kept
cases and hospitalizations at man-
ageable levels, they are watching
progress slip away as record num-
bers of patients overwhelm bone-
tired health care workers.
Oregon — like Florida, Arkan-
sas, Mississippi and Louisiana in
recent days — has more people in
the hospital with COVID-19 than
at any other point in the pandemic.
Hawaii is about to reach that
mark, too.
This, despite both states having
vaccination levels higher than the
national average as of last week.
Arkansas and Louisiana were sig-
nificantly below average, while
Florida was about even. Mississip-
pi, meanwhile, ranks at the very
bottom for vaccination rates.
“It’s heartbreaking. People are
exhausted. You can see it in their
eyes,” said Dr. Jason Kuhl, chief
medical officer at Oregon’s Provi-
dence Medford Medical Center,
where patients are left on gurneys
in hallways, their monitoring ma-
chines beeping away. Others
needing treatment for cancer or
heart disease are being turned
away.
The U.S. is seeing the virus
storming back, driven by a combi-
nation of the highly contagious
delta variant and lagging vaccina-
tion rates, especially in the South
and other rural and conservative
parts of the country.
New cases nationwide are ave-
raging about 123,000 per day, a
level last seen in early February,
and deaths are running at over 500
a day, turning the clock back to
May.
For the most part during the
pandemic, Hawaii enjoyed one of
the lowest infection and death
rates in the nation. In recent days,
though, it reported record highs of
more than 600 new virus cases
daily.
On its worst day in 2020, Hawaii
had 291 patients hospitalized with
the coronavirus. Officials expect
to hit 300 by the end of this week.
Despite the promising demand
for COVID-19 shots early on, it
took three weeks — much longer
than expected — to get from 50%
to 60% of the vaccine-eligible pop-
ulation fully vaccinated. Vaccina-
tions have since plateaued. Na-
tionally, the rate is about 59%.
The biggest hospital on Hawai-
i’s Big Island is feeling the pres-
sure. Out of 128 acute beds, 116
were taken Wednesday at Hilo
Medical Center, and the hospital’s
11 intensive care unit beds are al-
most always full these days, spo-
keswoman Elena Cabatu said.
“If someone out there has a
heart attack or a sepsis or gets into
a bad accident that requires inten-
sive care, we will have to hold that
person in the emergency depart-
ment,” Cabatu said.
“I’m surprised we landed here,”
she lamented. “The hope during
the mass vax clinics was just so
high.”
In Oregon, a record number of
COVID-19 hospitalizations — 670
—was reported for a third straight
day Thursday. ICU beds across
the state remain about 90% full
with COVID-19 patients occupy-
ing 177 of them, the Oregon Health
Authority said. The previous peak
of 622 hospitalizations came dur-
ing a November surge.
“Our doctors and nurses are ex-
hausted and rightfully frustrated
because this crisis is avoidable. It
is like watching a train wreck
coming and knowing that there’s
an opportunity to switch tracks,
yet we feel helpless while we
watch unnecessary loss of life,”
said David Zonies, associate chief
medical officer at Portland’s Ore-
gon Health & Science University.
Public health officials in the
southern part of the state said they
fear the situation will only get
worse as the delta variant spreads
through a region where fewer
than half the residents have been
fully vaccinated.
“I’m fearful that the darkest
days of this pandemic may still be
ahead of us,” said Chris Pizzi, CEO
of Providence Medical Center in
Medford.
States that hadgrip on COVIDnow have surge
Associated Press
MIKE STEWART/AP
A promask demonstrator, right, speaks with a nonmask demonstrator, left at the Cobb County SchoolBoard Headquarters during a pro mask wearing protest, Thursday, in Marietta, Ga.
WASHINGTON — When the
pace of vaccinations in the U.S.
first began to slow, President Joe
Biden backed incentives like mil-
lion-dollar cash lotteries if that’s
what it took to get shots in arms.
But as new coronavirus infections
soar, he’s testing a tougher ap-
proach.
In just the past two weeks, Bi-
den has forced millions of federal
workers to attest to their vaccina-
tion status or face onerous new re-
quirements. He’s met with busi-
ness leaders at the White House to
press them to do the same.
Meanwhile, the administration
has taken steps toward mandating
shots for people traveling into the
U.S. from overseas. And the White
House is weighing options to be
more assertive at the state and lo-
cal level, including potential sup-
port for school districts imposing
rules to prevent spread of the vi-
rus over the objection of Republi-
can leaders.
“To the mayors, school superin-
tendents, educators, local leaders,
who are standing up to the gover-
nors politicizing mask protection
for our kids: thank you,” Biden
said Thursday. “Thank God that
we have heroes like you, and I
stand with you all, and America
should as well.”
But even as Biden becomes
more aggressive, he has refrained
from using all his powers to pres-
sure Americans to get vaccinated.
He’s held off, for instance, on pro-
posals to require vaccinations for
all air travelers or, for that matter,
the federal workforce. The result
is a precarious balancing act as Bi-
den works to make life more un-
comfortable for the unvaccinated
without spurring a backlash in a
deeply polarized country that
would only undermine his public
health goals.
Vaccine mandates are “the
right lever at the right time,” said
Ben Wakana, the deputy director
of strategic communications and
engagement for the White House
COVID-19 response, noting the
public’s increasing confidence in
the vaccines and adding that it
marks a new phase in the govern-
ment’s campaign to encourage
Americans to get shots.
Many Republicans, particularly
those eyeing the party’s 2024 pres-
idential nomination, disagree and
warn of federal overreaching into
decisions that should be left to in-
dividuals. Biden and Gov. Ron De-
Santis of Florida, an epicenter of
the latest virus wave, have spent
weeks feuding over the proper
role of government during a pub-
lic health crisis.
There is notable support for
vaccine mandates. According to a
recent poll from the Kaiser Fam-
ily Foundation, 51% of Americans
say the federal government
should recommend that employ-
ers require their workers to get
vaccinated, while 45% say it
should not.
For now, Biden has required
most federal workers to attest to
their vaccination status under po-
tential criminal penalties, with
those who have not received a
dose required to maintain social
distancing, test weekly for the vi-
rus and face other potential re-
strictions on their work.
Health workers at the Depart-
ment of Veterans Affairs and the
Department of Health and Hu-
man Services will be required to
get vaccinated, and the Pentagon
has announced that it intends to
mandate vaccines for the military
by next month.
Biden aims for tough vaccine rules without backlashAssociated Press
LAURIE SKRIVAN, ST. LOUIS POSTDISPATCH/AP
Toni Gwynn, 13, who shows her mom two tickets to a St. LouisCardinals game she received after getting the first dose of the PfizerCOVID19 vaccination on Tuesday, at North Central CommunityHealth Center in Pine Lawn, Mo.
Saturday, August 14, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 7
NATION
WASHINGTON — Prospects
seem increasingly faint for a bi-
partisan Senate deal on overhaul-
ing policing practices as dead-
locked lawmakers have fled the
Capitol for August recess and po-
litical pressure for an accord eas-
es with each passing week.
Bargainers insist they’re still
talking and haven’t abandoned
hope, though they’ve repeatedly
blown past self-imposed dead-
lines. This spring, President Joe
Biden pumped momentum into
talks with a nationally televised
address telling Congress to “get it
done” by May 25, the anniversary
of a Minneapolis police officer’s
killing of George Floyd, a Black
man.
That didn’t happen.
Now, Washington’s focus is
shifting to Biden’s drive to spend
trillions on social, environmental
and public works programs, one
of many budget showdowns that
will clog Congress’ autumn calen-
dar. With next year’s elections for
House and Senate control edging
closer, both parties are increas-
ingly compelled to bank on issues
they can use against their rivals,
weakening the political will for
compromise.
“We all have to make sure we
don’t lose this moment,” Ben
Crump, an attorney representing
the families of Floyd and other
Black victims of police shootings,
said in an interview Thursday.
“Time right now is an enemy of
a deal,” said James Pasco, exec-
utive director of the Fraternal Or-
der of Police, the police union.
The Senate’s policing talks are
aimed at writing compromise leg-
islation curbing law enforcement
agencies’ use of force and making
them more accountable for abus-
es.
For months, bargainers have
been stymied over Democrats’
demands to make individual po-
lice officers accused of abuses lia-
ble for civil penalties. It’s current-
ly difficult to pursue such actions
in all but the most egregious
cases. Republicans and law en-
forcement groups like the Frater-
nal Order of Police have resisted
easing those limitations.
Negotiators are also divided
over whether to ease the stan-
dards for bringing criminal cases
against officers for excessive use
of force.
“I had hoped that we’d be done
by now, but we are still trading
paper and making incremental
progress,” South Carolina Sen.
Tim Scott, the chief Republican
negotiator, told reporters this
week.
Scott, who in May set a “June or
bust” goal that never material-
ized, declined to say whether an
agreement would be reached this
year. He said ongoing violence
like this month’s slaying of a Chi-
cago police officer “has made this
a more important process, in my
opinion, and a longer process.”
Scott’s Democratic counter-
part, New Jersey Sen. Cory Book-
er, would say little.
“I’m just putting my head down
and getting the work done as
quickly as we can,” he told report-
ers recently.
J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE/AP
Ben Crump, the civil rights attorney representing George Floyd’s family, speaks to reporters after theymet with Sen. Cory Booker, DN.J., about police reform legislation, at the Capitol in Washington May 25.
Prospects for bipartisan policingoverhaul deal growing more faint
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Moderate
House Democrats say they would
sink a crucial fiscal blueprint out-
lining $3.5 trillion in social and en-
vironment spending unless a sep-
arate infrastructure bill is ap-
proved first, a new complication
for the divided party’s drive to en-
act President Joe Biden’s domes-
tic agenda.
The centrists’ threat directly de-
fies House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s
announced
plans, and she is
initially showing
no signs of back-
ing down. It also
completes a two-
sided squeeze on
the California
Democrat, who
has received
similar pressure from her party’s
progressives.
Democrats can only pass legis-
lation in the narrowly divided
House if they lose no more than
three votes. Solid Republican op-
position seems certain.
“We will not consider voting for
abudget resolution until the bipar-
tisan Infrastructure Investment
and Jobs Act passes the House and
is signed into law,” nine centrists
wrote in a letter to Pelosi obtained
Friday by The Associated Press.
Ultimate House passage of the
budget resolution seems certain
because without it, Senate Repub-
licans would be able to use a fil-
ibuster, or procedural delays, to
kill a follow-up $3.5 trillion mea-
sure bolstering social safety net
and climate change programs.
That measure, not expected until
autumn, represents the heart of
Biden’s domestic agenda.
Pelosi has repeatedly said the
House will not vote on the $1 tril-
lion package of road, rail, water
and other infrastructure projects
until the Senate sends the House
the companion $3.5 trillion bill.
Pelosi has set that sequence be-
cause her party’s progressives
have worried that if the infrastruc-
ture bill is approved first, moder-
ates unhappy with the separate
$3.5 trillion measure’s cost would
feel free to vote against it, causing
its defeat.
A senior House Democratic
aide said the party doesn’t have
enough votes to pass the infras-
tructure bill this month, explain-
ing that dozens of Democrats
would vote against that measure
unless it comes after the House
gets the Senate’s $3.5 trillion social
and environmental bill. The aide
was not authorized to publicly dis-
cuss the party’s internal dynamics
and spoke on condition of anonym-
ity.
Leaders of the Congressional
Progressive Caucus, which in-
cludes nearly 100 House Demo-
crats, say many of their members
have indicated they would vote
against the infrastructure bill until
the expansive $3.5 trillion legisla-
tion has cleared the Senate.
The Senate approved the budget
resolution early Wednesday over
solid GOP opposition, hours after
it approved the infrastructure bill
with bipartisan support.
House Majority Leader Steny
Hoyer, D-Md., has announced that
the House will return early from
its summer recess, on Aug. 23, to
vote on the budget and perhaps
other legislation.
The letter was dated Thursday
and reported earlier by Punch-
bowl News, a publication that cov-
ers Capitol Hill, and The New
York Times.
Moderate Demsdemand passage ofinfrastructure bill
BY ALAN FRAM
Associated Press
Pelosi
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Re-
publicans enlisted the help of law
enforcement for the first time
Thursday to force the return of
Democratic legislators who fled
the state a month ago to block new
voting restrictions.
The move, a significant escala-
tion in the holdout, came a day af-
ter officers of the Texas House of
Representatives served civil ar-
rest warrants to the offices of
more than 50 Democrats who
have not returned to the Capitol
since fleeing for Washington,
D.C., on July 12. Some have re-
turned to Texas but remain ab-
sent from the state House of Rep-
resentatives.
“Earlier today the House Ser-
geant-at-Arms deputized mem-
bers of Texas law enforcement to
assist in the House’s efforts to
compel a quorum. That process
will begin in earnest immediate-
ly,” said Enrique Marquez, a
spokesman for Republican House
Speaker Dade Phelan.
He did not say which law en-
forcement agencies were in-
volved or what measures they
would take, but Democrats have
acknowledged the possibility of
facing arrest and have spent days
petitioning courts in Texas for or-
ders that would prevent them
from being forced to return to the
Capitol.
But in another setback, the Tex-
as Supreme Court halted those or-
ders Thursday. Some Democrats
have previously said they would
not rule out again leaving Texas
— and outside the jurisdiction of
state troopers — if there were no
court protections in place.
“The Dems have filed some of
the most embarrassing lawsuits
ever seen. Time for them to get to
the Capitol and do the job they
were elected to do,” Republican
Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted.
The Texas Department of Pub-
lic Safety, the state’s law enforce-
ment division, said in a statement
that it did not “discuss operational
specifics” and referred further
questions to Phelan’s office.
The NAACP had stepped in on
behalf of the Texas Democrats,
urging the Justice Department to
investigate whether a federal
crime was being committed when
Republicans threatened to have
them arrested.
The Texas Legislature has en-
tered uncommon territory with
neither side showing any certain-
ty over what comes next as Re-
publicans remain determined to
secure a quorum of 100 present
lawmakers — a threshold they
were just four members shy of re-
aching.
Democrats acknowledge they
cannot permanently stop the GOP
voting bill from passing because
of Republicans’ dominance in
both chambers of the Texas Leg-
islature.
Refusing to attend legislative
sessions is a violation of House
rules — a civil offense, not a crim-
inal one.
Texas law enforcement enlisted to end Democrats’ holdoutAssociated Press
PAGE 8 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Saturday, August 14, 2021
NATION
LAME DEER, Mont. — Wildfires in Mon-
tana threatened rural towns and ranchland,
and victims of a California blaze returned to
their incinerated town even as the region
faced another round of dangerous weather.
Firefighters and residents scrambled to
save hundreds of homes as flames continued
to advance on the Northern Cheyenne Indi-
an Reservation in southeastern Montana.
Since Sunday, the fire has carved its way
through some 260 square miles and prompt-
ed evacuation orders for thousands of peo-
ple.
As the fire raged across rugged hills and
narrow ravines, tribal member Darlene
Small helped her grandson move about 100
head of cattle to a new pasture, only to relo-
cate them twice more as the flames from the
Richard Spring fire bore down, she said
Thursday. An extreme drought that’s blan-
keting the West has made matters worse by
stunting vegetation untouched by fire.
“They’ve got to have pasture where
there’s water. If there’s no water, there’s no
good pasture,” Small said. Particularly hard
hit were some ranchers already depending
on surplus grass after a fire burned them off
their normal pasture last year, she said.
Gusts and low humidity were creating ex-
treme fire behavior as flames devoured
brush, short grass and timber, fire officials
said.
The same conditions turned California’s
Dixie Fire into a furious blaze that last week
burned down much of the small town of
Greenville in the northern Sierra Nevada.
The fire that began a month ago has de-
stroyed some 550 homes.
On Thursday, residents were trying to
cope with the magnitude of the losses.
“Everything that I own is now ashes or
twisted metal. That’s just all it is,” said
Greenville resident Ken Donnell, who es-
caped with just the clothes on his back.
Donnell said he was heart-broken but “by
God, I’m gonna smile. Because you know, it
just makes things a little bit better and a little
bit better right now is a lot.”
Sam Prentice, a firefighter for the USDA
Forest Service battled the flames in Green-
ville on Aug. 5, when the town was leveled.
He was not optimistic on Greenville’s ability
to rebuild.
“Essentially it starts to become an archae-
ology site — kind of a testament to the fire era
that we’re in right now,” Prentice said. “It’s
daunting.”
The fire had ravaged more than 800
square miles and continued to threaten
more than a dozen rural and forest commu-
nities.
Despite firefighting progress, it was 31%
contained and fire officials warned that hot
weather would continue and Northern Cali-
fornia would see a red flag warning of criti-
cal fire weather beginning Friday after-
noon. The weather would bring a chance of
dry lightning that could spark new blazes
even as crews continue trying to surround a
number of other forest fires that were ignit-
ed by lightning last month.
Hot, dry weather with strong afternoon
winds also propelled several fires in Wash-
ington state and similar weather was ex-
pected into the weekend, fire officials said.
Unstable weather was forecast through-
out the drought-stricken West, where more
than 100 large fires were burning in more
than a dozen states.
In Montana, days of swirling winds spread
flames in all directions, torching trees and
blowing embers that flew across a dry land-
scape.
The fire had crept within about a mile of
the eastern edge of the evacuated town of
Lame Deer, home to about 2,000 people, the
tribal headquarters and several subdivi-
sions.
With 40-foot flames visible from parts of
Lame Deer, firefighters worked into early
Thursday morning to keep the blaze from
destroying houses. None were reported lost,
but officials continued assessing the dam-
age.
PETE CASTER, LEWISTON TRIBUNE/AP
A wildland firefighter grimaces as he walks back to his crew after doing recon on a firecresting into the trees Thursday at the Bedrock Fire north of Lenore, Idaho.
Wildfires threateningtowns in Mont., Calif.
BY MATTHEW BROWN
Associated Press
PORTLAND, Ore. — Oregon
volunteers scrambled to hand out
water, portable fans, Popsicles
and information about cooling
shelters to homeless people living
in isolated encampments on the
outskirts of Portland as the Pacific
Northwest sweated through an-
other heat wave.
In an area more used to temper-
ate weather, authorities are trying
to provide relief to the vulnerable,
including low-income older peo-
ple and those living outdoors. They
are mindful of a record-shattering
heat wave in late June that killed
hundreds in Oregon, Washington
and British Columbia when the
thermometer went as high as 116
degrees Fahrenheit.
In Portland, temperatures reac-
hed 103 F by late afternoon Thurs-
day and more heat was expected
Friday. It was hotter than Phoenix,
where the desert city hit a below-
normal 100 F. In Seattle, highs
were in the 90s in a region where
many don’t have air conditioning.
In Bellingham, Wash., on Thurs-
day the high hit 100 F for the first
time on record.
In Portland, a nonprofit group
that serves the homeless and those
with mental illness used three
large vans to transport water and
other cooling items to homeless
encampments along the Columbia
River on the eastern outskirts of
the city.
The effort was important be-
cause people experiencing home-
lessness are often reluctant to go to
cooling centers, said Kim James,
director of homeless and housing
support for Cascadia Behavioral
Healthcare.
Scott Zalitis, who was shirtless
in the heat, ate lime-green Popsi-
cles handed out by the group and
told volunteers that the temper-
ature at his campsite reached 105 F
the day before. A huge cooler full of
food spoiled when all the ice melt-
ed and he couldn’t find any more to
buy.
“It’s miserable. I can’t handle
the heat no matter what. So, I
mean, it’s hard to stand. Even in
the shade it’s too hot,” said Zalitis,
who became homeless last year
when the apartment where he
subleased a room burned down in
an electrical fire. “You want to stay
somewhere that’s cool, as cool as
possible.”
The encampment, where rust-
ed-out cars and broken-down RVs
mixed with tents and piles of gar-
bage, was in sharp contrast to
downtown Portland, where
sweaty pedestrians cooled off by
running through a large public
fountain in a riverfront park.
Luna Abadia, 17, was out train-
ing with her cross country team
from Lincoln High School in the
morning when the group stopped
for a few minutes at the fountain.
The runners normally train at 4
p.m., but in recent weeks, they
have had to shift it to 8 a.m. — and
it’s still oppressively hot, she said.
“It was very hot, lots of sweat.
That’s something we’ve noticed in
the past week or so,” Abadia said.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has de-
clared a state of emergency and ac-
tivated an emergency operations
center, citing the potential for dis-
ruptions to the power grid and
transportation. City and county
governments have opened cooling
centers, extended public library
hours and waived bus fare for
those headed to cooling centers. A
24-hour statewide help line will di-
rect callers to the nearest cooling
shelter and offer safety tips.
NATHAN HOWARD/AP
Katherine Morgan wipes sweat from her forehead while walking towork in high temperatures Thursday in Portland, Ore.
Pacific Northwest heat wave spurs help forvulnerable residents, especially the homeless
BY GILLIAN FLACCUS
Associated Press HAVANA — Tropical depres-
sion Fred was slowly strengthen-
ing and had the potential to regain
tropical storm status sometime on
Friday, ahead of its projected track
towards the Florida Keys and
southwest Florida, forecasters
said.
The system was dropping heavy
rain over parts of Cuba in the early
morning hours and was expected
to reach Florida by Saturday, the
U.S. National Weather Service
said.
The main threats were rain and
flooding. A tropical storm warning
was issued Friday morning for the
Florida Keys and Florida Bay. A
tropical storm watch was in place
for southwest Florida and parts of
Cuba.
The hurricane center said 3 to 7
inches of rain were expected
across the Florida Keys and south-
ern peninsula by Monday, with iso-
lated maximums of 10 inches.
The Miami-based U.S. hurricane
center said Fred had maximum
sustained winds of 35 mph Friday
morning and was centered just
north of Cuba’s coast. The system
was about 370 miles east-southeast
of Key West, Fla. Fred was headed
west-northwest at 10 mph.
Fred expected to reach Florida by Saturday
Associated Press
Saturday, August 14, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 9
NATION
ALBANY, N.Y. — For two
years, New York temporarily set
aside its usual time limit on civil
lawsuits in order to allow victims
of childhood sexual abuse to sue
churches, hospitals, schools,
camps, scout groups and other in-
stitutions and people they hold re-
sponsible for enabling pedophiles
or turning a blind eye to wrong-
doing.
That window closes Saturday,
after more than 9,000 lawsuits
were filed, a deluge whose impact
may be felt for many years.
Four of the state’s Roman Ca-
tholic dioceses have filed for
bankruptcy partly as a result of li-
tigation unleashed by the state’s
Child Victims Act. Thousands of
new allegations against priests,
teachers, scout leaders and other
authorities have intensified the al-
ready harsh light on institutions
entrusted with caring for chil-
dren.
And survivors of abuse have
been given an outlet for their trau-
ma and a chance at accountability
once thought long lost.
“This has, ironically, been a ve-
ry healing experience for me on a
personal level,” said Carol DuPre,
74, who sued the Roman Catholic
diocese in Rochester, saying she
was molested by a priest as a teen
in the early 1960s as she counted
offerings and typed up bulletins
after church services.
She put the events “in a store-
house in her mind,” but it still
haunted her for decades. When
the chance came to file a suit, it
was an easy decision.
“The idea of confronting it, talk-
ing about it and dealing with it is
internally setting me free.”
New York is among a number of
states that have in recent years es-
tablished windows allowing peo-
ple to sue over childhood abuse no
matter how long ago it took place.
Similar windows were opened in
New Jersey and California.
Ordinarily, courts put dead-
lines on suing because of the diffi-
culty in holding a fair trial over in-
cidents that happened many
years ago. Witnesses die or move
away. Records are lost. Memories
fade. But lawmakers believed
that, despite those hurdles, vic-
tims deserved an opportunity for
justice and might feel embold-
ened now to speak up about things
they’ve kept to themselves for
many years.
New York’s one-year window
was originally supposed to end
Aug. 14, 2020, but it was extended
twice amid concerns that the cor-
onavirus pandemic and resulting
court disruptions were keeping
survivors from coming forward.
NY let childhood sexual abuse victims sue; 9,000 went to courtAssociated Press
The once-a-decade battle over
redistricting is set to be a show-
down over the suburbs, as new
census data showed rapid growth
around some of the nation’s large-
st cities and shrinking population
in many rural counties.
From Texas to Florida, some of
the biggest gains reported Thurs-
day came in states where Repub-
licans will control the redistricting
process, but often in and around
cities where Democrats have been
faring well in recent elections.
The new detailed population da-
ta from the 2020 census will serve
as the building block to redraw 429
U.S. House districts in 44 states
and 7,383 state legislative districts
across the U.S. The official goal is
to ensure each district has roughly
the same number of people.
But many Republicans and
Democrats also will be trying to
ensure the new lines divide and
combine voters in ways that make
it more likely for their party’s can-
didates to win future elections, a
process called gerrymandering.
The parties’ successes in that ef-
fort could determine whether tax-
es and spending grow, climate-
change polices are approved or ac-
cess to abortion is expanded or
curtailed.
Republicans need to gain just
five seats to take control of the U.S.
House in the 2022 elections — a
margin that could potentially be
covered through artful redistrict-
ing. As they did after the 2010 cen-
sus, Republicans will hold greater
sway in more states over the redis-
tricting process.
“The question is going to be how
creative this new data will force
Republicans to get in maintaining
or expanding their advantages,
given an increasingly diverse, in-
creasingly urban population,”
said Joshua Blank, research direc-
tor of the Texas Politics Project at
the University of Texas.
Texas will be a major focal point
in redistricting.
The Census Bureau said five of
the 14 U.S. cities that grew by at
least 100,000 people are located in
Texas — Austin, Dallas, Fort
Worth, Houston and San Antonio.
Four of the nation’s 10 fastest
growing cities also were Texas
suburbs — Frisco and McKinney
near Dallas; Conroe near Hous-
ton, and New Braunfels near San
Antonio. All are prime battle
grounds for redistricting.
By contrast, many Texas coun-
ties outside of its metropolitan ar-
eas saw populations decline, the
Census Bureau said.
Republicans, who currently
hold 23 of the 36 U.S. House seats
in Texas, will have full control
over the redistricting process, al-
lowing them to decide where to
draw the two new seats the state is
gaining. But that could be compli-
cated because Democrats gener-
ally have fared better in Texas
suburbs in recent elections.
Though Republican Donald
Trump carried Texas by more
than 6 percentage points in the
2020 presidential election, he and
Democrat Joe Biden essentially
split voters who identified as sub-
urbanites, according to The Asso-
ciated Press’ VoteCast. Trump
won decisively among men and
Biden had a wide advantage
among women in the Texas sub-
urbs.
The GOP will control redistrict-
ing in 20 states accounting for 187
U.S. House seats, including the
growing states of Texas, Florida,
Georgia and North Carolina,
where the governor is a Democrat,
but the legislature has complete
control of drawing new electoral
lines.
Democrats will control redis-
tricting in just eight states ac-
counting for 75 seats, including
New York and Illinois, where the
loss of a seat in each gives them a
chance to squeeze out Republican
incumbents.
Census sets upredistricting fight
Associated Press
No racial or ethnic group dom-
inates for those under age 18, and
white people declined in numbers
for the first time on record in the
overall U.S. population as the His-
panic and Asian populations
boomed this past decade, according
to the 2020 census data.
The figures released Thursday
by the U.S. Census Bureau offered
the most detailed portrait yet of how
the country has changed since 2010
and will also be instrumental in re-
drawing the nation’s political maps.
The numbers are sure to set off an
intense partisan battle over repre-
sentation at a time of deep national
division and fights over voting
rights. The numbers could help de-
termine control of the House in the
2022 elections and provide an elec-
toral edge for years to come.
The data also will shape how $1.5
trillion in annual federal spending is
distributed.
The data offered a mirror not only
into the demographic changes of
the past decade, but also a glimpse
of the future. To that end, they
showed there is now no majority ra-
cial or ethnic group for people
younger than 18, as the share of non-
Hispanic whites in the age group
dropped from 53.5% to 47.3% over
the decade.
The share of children in the U.S.
declined because of falling birth
rates, while the share of adults
grew, driven by aging baby boom-
ers. Adults over 18 made up more
than three-quarters of the popula-
tion in 2020, or 258.3 million people,
an increase of more than 10% from
2010. However, the population of
children under age 18 dropped from
74.2 million in 2010 to 73.1 million in
2020.
“If not for Hispanics, Asians, peo-
ple of two or more races, those are
the only groups underage that are
growing,” said William Frey, a se-
nior fellow at Brookings’ Metropoli-
tan Policy Program. “A lot of these
young minorities are important for
our future growth, not only for the
child population but for our future
labor force.”
The Asian and Hispanic popula-
tions burgeoned from 2010 to 2020,
respectively increasing by around a
third and almost a quarter over the
decade. The Asian population reac-
hed 24 million people in 2020, and
the Hispanic population hit 62.1 mil-
lion people.
The Hispanic boom accounted
for almost half of the overall U.S.
population growth, which was the
slowest since the Great Depression.
By comparison, the non-Hispanic
growth rate over the decade was
4.3%. The Hispanic share of the U.S.
population grew to 18.7% of the U.S.
population, up from 16.3% in 2010.
The share of the white population
fell from 63.7% in 2010 to 57.8% in
2020, the lowest on record, driven
by falling birthrates among white
women compared with Hispanic
and Asian women. The number of
non-Hispanic white people shrank
from 196 million in 2010 to 191 mil-
lion.
White people continue to be the
most prevalent racial or ethnic
group, though that changed in Cali-
fornia, where Hispanics became
the largest racial or ethnic group,
growing from 37.6% to 39.4% over
the decade, while the share of white
people dropped from 40.1% to
34.7%.
MORRY GASH/AP
People enjoy a hot summer day Thursday at Bradford Beach in Milwaukee. The Census Bureau has issuedits most detailed portrait yet of how the U.S. has changed over the past decade.
Census data: US is diversifyingand white population shrinking
Associated Press
PAGE 10 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Saturday, August 14, 2021
Malaysian air forceofficer goes on rampage
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia —
A Malaysian air force officer went
on a shooting rampage Friday,
killing three colleagues before
turning the gun on himself, offi-
cials said.
Police in eastern Sarawak state
on Borneo island said the shoot-
ings occurred at a security post on
an air force base in the state, and
that they were still investigating
the motive.
Sarawak deputy police commis-
sioner Mancha Anak Ata said an
initial investigation showed the
gunman had snatched firearms
from the security post before go-
ing on a rampage.
He said one of the victims had
tried to calm him down but was
shot in the stomach. The gunman
then entered the post and shot two
officers, killing them on the spot,
he said. Mancha said the gunman
then put the gun to his chin and
killed himself.
The officer who was shot in the
stomach died of his injuries in a
hospital, he said.
Police say 6 people dead
in shooting in UK cityLONDON — Police in south-
west England said six people were
killed, including the suspected
shooter, in the city of Plymouth
Thursday in a “serious firearms
incident” that wasn’t terror-relat-
ed.
Devon and Cornwall Police said
in a statement on Twitter that sev-
eral other casualties were receiv-
ing treatment following the shoot-
ing. They declared a “critical inci-
dent” but did not provide details of
what occurred in the Keyham dis-
trict of the city.
The area has been cordoned off.
Algeria to probe mob
lynching linked to firesALGIERS, Algeria — An Alger-
ian prosecutor has ordered an in-
vestigation into the death of a man
who was lynched by a mob after
being accused of setting fires that
devastated the region, Algeria’s
official APS news agency said.
Wildfires in Algeria have killed
at least 69 people through the
mountainous Berber region.
The killing took place in Larbaa
Nath Irathen, in the Tizi Ouzou
district, one of the worst hit by the
fires.
The victim was identified as 38-
year-old Djamel Ben Ismail.
The local prosecutor issued a
statement carried by APS on
Thursday “following videos on
Wednesday on social media show-
ing the killing of a citizen (burned
to death and lynched).”
He ordered an investigation in-
to the case with the aim of identify-
ing the assailants and sending
them to trial “so that the odious
crime does not go unpunished.”
WORLD
MOSCOW — A court in Moscow
on Thursday ordered a specialist in
hypersonic technologies to be kept
in jail pending trial on charges of
high treason, in the latest in a series
of espionage cases targeting Rus-
sian scientists.
The Lefortovo District Court
ruled at a hearing behind closed
doors that Alexander Kuranov, di-
rector-general and chief designer of
the St. Petersburg-based Hyperson-
ic Systems Research Institute,
should remain in pre-trial detention
for two months. The materials of the
case were classified, but Russian
media reports said Kuranov was ac-
cused of handing over sensitive in-
formation to representatives of un-
specified foreign countries.
The website of Kuranov's institute
states that it has worked on the con-
cept of the Ajax hypersonic vehicle,
a project first proposed in the late
1980s by Soviet engineer Vladimir
Freighstadt. Instead of protecting a
vehicle flying at hypersonic speed
from the heat it generates, Freigh-
stadt suggested assimilating the
heat to augment energy resources.
It's unclear whether Freighstadt's
concept has seen any practical de-
velopment since he first proposed it.
The website of Kuranov's institute
also contained a program of an inter-
national workshop on thermochem-
ical processes in plasma aerody-
namics held in St. Petersburg last
month.
Russia has prided itself on being
the only country to commission hy-
personic missiles — traveling more
than five times faster than sound.
Their development came as Mos-
cow's relations with the West hit
post-Cold War lows after Russia's
2014 annexation of Ukraine's Cri-
mean Peninsula.
The new weapons include the
Avangard hypersonic glide vehicle,
which Russian officials say is capa-
ble of flying 27 times faster than
sound and making sharp maneu-
vers on its way to target to dodge the
defensive missile shield.
Avangard has been fitted to the
existing Soviet-built intercontinen-
tal ballistic missiles instead of older
type warheads, and the first unit
armed with the Avangard entered
duty in December 2019.
Another hypersonic weapon, the
Kinzhal, which has been commis-
sioned to arm Russian warplanes,
has a range of up to about 1,250 miles
and flies at 10 times the speed of
sound, according to Russian offi-
cials.
And later this year, the Russian
navy is set to complete the tests of
the Tsirkon hypersonic missile in-
tended to equip cruisers, frigates
and submarines. Russian President
Vladimir Putin said it would be ca-
pable of flying at nine times the
speed of sound and have a range of
620 miles.
Russian officials have charged
that Western spy agencies have re-
doubled their efforts to obtain infor-
mation on the country's new technol-
ogies. Over the past years, several
scientists, including those involved
in studies on hypersonic technolo-
gies, have been accused of passing
classified information to foreign
powers.
Russian expert accused of high treasonStars and Stripes
ANKARA, Turkey — Search-
and-rescue crews in northern
Turkey recovered 10 more bodies
overnight, raising the death toll
from the severe floods and mud-
slides that struck the region to 27,
officials said on Friday. Dozens
more people were believed to be
missing.
Torrential rains pounded the
Black Sea coastal provinces of
Bartin, Kastamonu, Sinop and
Samsun on Wednesday, causing
the flooding that demolished
homes and bridges and swept
away cars. Helicopters lifted doz-
ens of people to safety from roof-
tops, others were rescued on
boats. More than 1,700 people
were evacuated across the region
and many were being temporarily
housed at student dormitories.
In worst-hit Kastamonu, a
stream burst its banks inundating
much of the town of Bozkurt,
where most of the victims were
found. One building was demol-
ished and two others were severe-
ly damaged amid torrents of
floodwaters.
The Disaster and Emergency
Management Presidency, or
AFAD, said Friday that crews are
still searching for a woman who
was reported missing in Bartin
province. Private NTV television
said however, that dozens of peo-
ple remain unaccounted for.
They include 12-year-old twin
sisters and their grandparents
who were trapped inside an eight-
story building in Bozkurt, their
mother told private DHA news
agency.
Speaking in Bozkurt late Thurs-
day, Interior Minister Suleyman
Soylu described the scenes as
“the most severe flood disaster I
have seen.” On Wednesday, he
said, flood waters reached 10-13
feet high in some areas. President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who can-
celed celebrations marking his
ruling party’s 20th anniversary,
was scheduled to travel to the ar-
ea.
“The destruction is huge,” Ke-
rem Kinik, head of the Turkish
Red Crescent, told NTV. “I hope
that the missing are safe and that
the number of deaths doesn't in-
crease.”
Bozkurt resident Yilmaz Erse-
venli told NTV that he left his
house to move his car to a safe ar-
ea as the waters began to rise, but
soon got swept away by the gushi-
ng floods. He managed to save
himself by holding on to a tree
that had also washed away.
“I nearly lost my life trying to
save my car,” he said.
In Bartin province, at least 13
people were injured when a sec-
tion of a bridge caved in.
In total, five bridges collapsed
in the floods while two others
were damaged, AFAD said. Doz-
ens of villages are still without
power and several roads remain
blocked.
Erdogan said Thursday that at
least 4,500 personnel, 19 helicop-
ters and 24 boats were involved in
the search-and-rescue operation.
Turkey’s Black Sea region is
frequently struck by severe rains
and flash flooding. At least six
people were killed in floods that
hit the eastern Black Sea coastal
province of Rize last month.
Death toll rises from floods in northern Turkey
ISMAIL COSKUN / AP
Destroyed buildings are seen after floods and mudslides in Bozkurttown of Kastamonu province in Turkey on Friday.
Associated Press
ATHENS, Greece — A new fire
broke out Friday on Greece’s is-
land of Evia but south from the ar-
ea where a massive wildfire deci-
mated forests, torched homes and
still smoldered 10 days after it
started.
Greece’s fire department said
four water-dropping aircraft and
six helicopters were sent to con-
trol the new fire in central Evia,
along with 23 firefighters and 10
vehicles. The larger fire that
broke out on Aug. 3 destroyed
most of the island’s north and is
one of the country’s worst known
forest fires.
Although wildfires are common
in Greece during the hot, dry
summers, hundreds of blazes
have broken out across the coun-
try this year in the wake of an es-
pecially long and intense heat
wave. Prime Minister Kyriakos
Mitsotakis on Thursday de-
scribed the fires as the greatest
ecological disaster Greece has
seen in decades.
Several Mediterranean coun-
tries have suffered intense heat
and quickly spreading wildfires
in recent weeks, including Tur-
key, where at least eight people
have died, and Italy. In Algeria,
wildfires in the mountainous Ber-
ber region have killed at least 69
people.
Worsening drought and heat —
both linked to climate change —
have also fueled wildfires this
summer in the Western United
States and in Russia’s northern
Siberia region. Scientists say
there is little doubt that climate
change from the burning of coal,
oil and natural gas is driving more
extreme events.
The fires in Greece stretched
the country’s firefighting capabil-
ities to the limit, and the govern-
ment appealed for help from
abroad. Around 24 European and
Middle Eastern countries sent
aid, including firefighters, air-
craft and vehicles.
New blaze breaks out on Evia island amid Greece wildfiresAssociated Press
From The Associated Press
Saturday, August 14, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 11
AMERICAN ROUNDUP
Man accused of tattooingchild inside a McDonald’s
SC LAURENS — A South
Carolina man accused
of tattooing a juvenile in a fast-food
restaurant has been arrested and
is facing charges, police said.
Brandon Presha, 28, of Laurens,
was arrested Tuesday on charges
of illegal tattooing and underage
tattooing, Laurens Police Chief
Chrissie Latimore said. The chief
said a judge has set bond on both
charges at $25,000, WYFF-TV
reported.
The Aug. 6 incident came to the
attention of police last week after
some detectives were tagged on so-
cial media posts showing video of
the child being tattooed, Latimore
said.
During an ensuing investiga-
tion, authorities determined
Presha was the unlicensed tattoo
artist and that the individual re-
ceiving the tattoo was a juvenile,
Latimore said. She did not provide
the child’s age or elaborate.
Man pleads guilty togender reveal explosion
NH KINGSTON — A man
has pleaded guilty to a
disorderly conduct charge stem-
ming from an explosive gender re-
veal party that was heard by near-
by residents in New Hampshire
and Massachusetts.
As part of a plea deal reached
Tuesday, Anthony Spinelli, of
Kingston, was convicted and fined
$620, of which $500 will be sus-
pended for 12 months as long as he
stays out out of trouble, according
to court records.
Police in Kingston, a town not far
from the Massachusetts state line,
received reports in April of a loud
explosion. They responded to a
quarry, where people acknowl-
edged holding a gender reveal par-
ty with explosives.
The explosive was 80 pounds of
Tannerite, police said. The family
thought the quarry would be the
safest spot to detonate the explo-
sive, which is typically sold over
the counter as a target for firearms
practice, police said.
Some nearby residents reported
their homes were shaken by the
explosion. No injuries were report-
ed, police said.
300-wolf limit set afterrunaway spring hunt
WI MADISON — Wildlife
officials in Wisconsin
set a 300-animal limit Wednesday
for the state’s fall wolf hunt, ex-
ceeding biologists’ recommenda-
tions as they study the impact of a
rushed spring season that saw
hunters take almost twice as many
wolves as allotted.
State Department of Natural Re-
sources scientists asked its policy
board to cap kills at 130 animals,
saying board members must be
cautious because the four-day sea-
son in February took place during
wolves’ breeding season and the
long-term ramifications on the
population are unknown.
But conservative-leaning mem-
bers of the board countered that
the population is still well above
the DNR’s goal of 350 animals and
they have a responsibility to man-
age the pack and protect livestock
from wolf attacks. The board ulti-
mately voted 5-2 to set aside the de-
partment’s recommendation and
up the quota to 300 animals.
Two hikers injured inencounter with grizzly
MT HELENA — A grizzly
bear injured two peo-
ple in an encounter southeast of
Ennis, the Montana Department of
Fish, Wildlife and Parks reported
Wednesday.
Two men were hiking with a dog
off trail in the Bear Creek area
around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday when
they encountered a grizzly bear
sow with cubs at close range. The
hikers used bear spray to defend
themselves. They sustained minor
injuries from the encounter and
were able to hike out without as-
sistance.
Skinny House back onmarket, listed for $1.2M
MA BOSTON — Boston’s
famous Skinny House
is on sale again for a whopping $1.2
million.
The vertically rectangular-
shaped house was listed on Mon-
day, the first time it’s been on the
market since 2017. Four years ago,
it was sold for $900,000, The Bos-
ton Globe reported.
The home, located in Boston’s
North End, is about 1,165 square
feet. But more interestingly, the
house is barely 10 feet wide at its
widest point. The humble abode
narrows in the back, ending at 9.25
feet.
There are four stories in the
home and a private deck that dis-
plays views of the Boston Harbor.
Also, the house offers updated ap-
pliances, hardwood floors and ex-
posed brick, and a Juliet balcony
facing private gardens.
The home does not have a front
door. Guests enter through a pri-
vate side door and they’re met with
a somewhat full-sized kitchen and
dining room.
Destroyed historicalbuilding torn down
CT NEW HARTFORD — A
historical building in
Connecticut was torn down
Wednesday after it was destroyed
in a fire that injured three firefight-
ers and left 22 people homeless.
Crews began demolition in the
morning on the three-story build-
ing in New Hartford, said Jon Bar-
bagallo, a spokesperson for region-
al emergency response agencies.
Cleanup of the site is expected to
take up to two weeks, he said.
The blaze at New Hartford
House was reported shortly before
2:30 a.m. Tuesday, leaving only
part of the brick facade standing.
Barbagallo said all 20 adults and
two children who lived on the sec-
ond and third floors were account-
ed for, but several pets were mis-
sing.
Three firefighters were taken to
hospitals, including two who suf-
fered minor injuries and a third
who had a serious medical prob-
lem and was in critical condition
Tuesday, Barbagallo said.
The cause of the blaze is under
investigation.
The building dates from 1850
and had six businesses on the
ground floor and 14 apartments
above, officials said.
Tree lands on passingvehicle and kills driver
PA WASHINGTON — A
falling tree landed on a
passing vehicle, killing the driver,
in western Pennsylvania, author-
ities said.
The Washington County coro-
ner’s office said Floyd Stephen,
53,of Follansbee, W.Va., was driv-
ing Wednesday on a street in
Washington, Pa., during a severe
storm.
A passenger in the vehicle told
authorities that a tree on the oppo-
site side of the roadway began to
fall as they passed and landed on
their vehicle. A passing motorist
called authorities.
Stephen was pronounced dead a
little more than an hour after the
2:20 p.m. Wednesday accident. An
autopsy is planned to determine
the cause and manner of death.
The passenger was taken to Wash-
ington Hospital.
3 brothers die fromfumes in manure pit
OH ST. HENRY — Three
brothers who were
trapped in a manure pit on their
livestock farm after being over-
come by fumes have died, author-
ities said.
Rescue crews found the men un-
conscious and unable to move in
the pit Tuesday afternoon. They
were fixing a manure pump before
they passed out from the fumes,
said St. Henry Fire Chief Matt Le-
feld.
Authorities identified the vic-
tims as Gary, Todd and Brad
Wuebker. All three were taken to
area hospitals and later pro-
nounced dead.
Manure pits are common on
large livestock farms and are used
to store waste before it is used as
fertilizer on fields. But the pits can
produce dangerous gases includ-
ing hydrogen sulfide, methane,
carbon monoxide and ammonia.
Some of those gases can lead to
headaches, dizziness, breathing
trouble and deaths, according to
the Ohio State University Exten-
sion.
KRISTOPHER RADDER, THE BRATTLEBORO (VT.) REFORMER/AP
Austin Powers, from Grafton, Vt., jumps into the water at one of the ponds inside Grafton State Forest on Wednesday.
Set for a splash
THE CENSUS
$1K The reward wildlife officials are offering for tips that lead to aconviction in an investigation of a deer that was killed and left in
a residential neighborhood near Elko County’s South Fork Reservoir in north-eastern Nevada. Nevada State Game Warden Lt. Buck Tingle said conserva-tion officials were called by a resident reporting a dead mule deer buck in theiryard and believe it was killed illegally on July 31.
From The Associated Press
PAGE 12 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Saturday, August 14, 2021
VIDEO GAMES
The Ascent reminds me of so many other games
— but in a very good way.
When I shoot through its cyberpunk, iso-
metric city, leaving a wake of bodies and blood-
stains, I think about Smash TV, the classic 1990 arcade
shooter that helped popularize the twin-joystick shooter
genre. The classic Contra comes to mind; how its infinite
ammunition guns made the game less about how many
bullets you need, and more about how you’re going to
shoot. I recall how Gears of
War for the Xbox 360 felt
like a 2006 update of the
Contra formula, starring
caricatures of burly soldier
men barreling and shouting
through an invading force
of evil aliens.
I even think about the
forgotten but once-contro-
versial 2015 game Hatred,
which caused a firestorm
for its depiction of mass
murder of innocent people. There are no house parties to
crash in The Ascent, but players can still stroll through a
cyberpunk subway station, food market or any other
setting and leave a similar trail of bystander bodies. The
difference from Hatred is that none of that carnage really
benefits the player. The corporate-run planet of Veles and
its citizens are mere collateral damage. It contributes to
this foreboding sense of ever-present strife and conflict.
It’s gory like a classic ’90s video game.
And of course, I think about Cyberpunk 2077, and how
with The Ascent, a 12-person studio (with support from
other teams) was able to craft a believable dystopian
future in recent years that doesn’t fall apart when you try
to play it. That’s not to say The Ascent is free of bugs.
Currently, the game has a few quests that are unable to
progress unless you reload a checkpoint. But as bad as
that is, the smaller, tighter nature of the game means its
setting never really threatens the consistency of play and
fantasy, as it did with CD Projekt Red’s recent bug-ridden
title.
I’ve said a lot without talking about the actual game, but
that’s because it isn’t anything you haven’t seen before.
The Ascent feels like a celebration of arcade shooters
long past, and it’s executed so well, I want to reciprocate
some of that adoration. It’s become my favorite game of
2021.
Even if there’s nothing new about The Ascent, every
facet of its presentation and gameplay feels like it was
molded by veteran hands. The founding team of Swedish
studio Neon Giant (The Ascent is their first game under
that banner) is made up of developers who worked on
Gears of War, the recent Doom series and Far Cry 3, all
modern exemplars of the shooter genre.
It has light role-playing elements, though the game
doesn’t offer hours of upgrading guns and skill points.
Players can assign skill points or upgrade points as linear
investments by picking up purple glowing items around
the dense map. The game limits how much you can up-
grade, encouraging fresh replays. The character designs
are limited, generic and ugly, although The Ascent thank-
fully lives up to the promise of the cyberpunk genre by
allowing players to alter their appearance and gender at
any time.
This ugliness doesn’t extend to the planet of Veles and
its cityscape — on the surface, at least. Within a few min-
utes of starting the game, you’ll be greeted with splashes
of neon color and mountainous architecture. The Ascent
builds on the concept of “destroyed beauty,” coined by
Gears of War creator Cliff Bleszinski in 2006. In those
games, destroyed beauty meant ancient, ruined architec-
ture. In “The Ascent,” it envisions the kind of monuments
humans can erect when the notion of humanity is erased
from the equation. Rather than buildings and landscapes,
the destroyed beauty of Veles is the soullessness of its
people, made material in its sleek buildings and neon
signs.
Neon Giant flirts with open-world concepts by creating
several “town” areas where players can rearm and recon-
struct themselves or pick up side missions. Like with the
skill and weapon improvements, the game is light on
role-playing mechanics, but that helps it achieve its mood
and pacing. It gives players time to soak in the atmo-
sphere and take stock of the environments and absorb its
booming soundtrack. While action sequences thump with
bass, the quieter moments are backed by music like the
Buddhist prayer chants in anime films like “Akira” and
“Ghost in the Shell.” If The Ascent has one big issue, it’s
that its aesthetics are almost too obviously referential. It’s
cookie-cutter cyberpunk.
There’s not much to talk about when it comes to story,
either. Each player is an anonymous mercenary working
for The Ascent, the largest corporation on the planet, and
you’re basically fighting for your freedom by taking on
bloody jobs around the city. That last detail is probably
the biggest drawback to the game (other than the lack of
variety in gameplay). The art of The Ascent is so dense
that it can be tough to figure out where you can or can’t
go. The city’s architecture stacks on top of itself, and it
can be hard to visualize and remember locations thanks
to this unorthodox layout.
Sometimes it pays off, though. Like Ico and other clas-
sic 3D games, The Ascent has an amazing sense of scale
and place. You’ll be able to look across the cavernous city
to see killing fields you just crossed. And despite mostly
being in a classic PC-style isometric perspective, Neon
Giant has made several areas of the city change perspec-
tives, sometimes panning out to showcase its art. Other
times, the game will switch to a side view perspective,
living up to my early Contra parallel. It’s never antici-
pated, and always welcome. This makes moving through
Veles surprising and exciting, even if the job is, at its
core, still just about shooting up a place.
The game is available on Xbox Game Pass, or purchas-
able for $30, and it’s well worth the price of admission.
The Ascent reminds me of the good old days of Xbox 360
and its robust indie offerings on the old Xbox Live Arcade
service, where games like Shadow Complex or Super
Meat Boy were not afraid of making small twists to clas-
sic formulas.
I thought a lot about other games while playing The
Ascent, and this time, it’s a great thing. The game has a
lineage and influences. It reminds me of old times.
Platforms: Microsoft Windows, Xbox Series X and
Series S, Xbox One
Online: curve-digital.com/en-us/games/featured/156/
the-ascent
NEON GIANT PHOTOS
The Ascent, a throwback to the shooter games of the ’90s, will remind players of old times. Players are mercenariesworking for a large corporation, called The Ascent, basically fighting for their freedom.
It’s a blastThe Ascent, an arcade shooterthrowback, reminds players ofa classic 1990s video game
BY GENE PARK
The Washington Post
The Ascent feels like a celebration of ’90sstyle arcadeshooter games set in a dystopian future.
The character designs are limited, generic and ugly,although players may alter their appearance and gender.
The game is light on roleplaying, giving players ampleopportunity to absorb their surroundings.
Saturday, August 14, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 13
HEALTH & FITNESS
When my son left for universi-
ty, I felt both elated for him
and sad that he would no
longer be home. When I’m
invited to dinner, I’m pleased to be in-
cluded but would also rather lounge on the
couch. When I occasionally leave my mask
in my bag, I delight in the freedom but
worry about my health.
Wrestling with two opposite feelings at
once is called ambivalence. It’s a normal
part of being human, but at times such
internal conflict can be unhealthy. I spoke
with three experts to understand more
about this phenomenon.
What is ambivalence? Ambivalence means “feeling both good
and bad,” Jeff Larsen, a professor of psy-
chology at the University of Tennessee,
Knoxville, told me. Feeling bittersweet or
nostalgic are common forms of it. “Think
about how you might feel when you’re at
the top of a roller coaster: excited but also
terrified.”
Amusement parks aren’t required. Ev-
eryday events can trigger this state, and
Larsen has found that “meaningful end-
ings” can, too. University students, for
example, are likely to spend their gradua-
tion day reminiscing about the good times
over the past several years. In a study led
by Larsen, which will be published soon,
such graduates reported both happiness
and sadness on this occasion.
“We feel sad when we experience an
irrevocable loss,” he says.
The benefits of ambivalence The ability to experience two contradic-
tory feelings at once has an evolutionary
benefit, says Antonio Damasio, professor
of psychology, philosophy and neurology
at the University of Southern California
and author of “Feeling & Knowing: Mak-
ing Minds Conscious.”
“Animals that have only positive or
negative feelings are very limited because
things are too much black or white,” he
says, “whereas we have the possibility of
seeing nuances.”
These nuances can help people make
good decisions. If an animal approaches a
watering hole without considering the
possible outcomes, it may get eaten. As for
humans, say you meet a person you like
but who gives you strange vibes — and
then wants you to do something with your
finances.
Ambivalence makes you “more likely to
be cautious when you make the decision,
and think twice,” Damasio says.
It can also help you learn from yester-
day’s missteps.
David Newman — a postdoctoral schol-
ar in the department of psychiatry and
behavioral sciences at the University of
California, San Francisco — gave this
example: “If you feel nostalgic about some
past romantic relationship, maybe it’s
good to not simply just act on the positive
but also remember some of the negative,
so you don’t repeat the mistakes.”
When ambivalence is unhealthy So when does ambivalence become a
problem? In the 18th and 19th centuries,
nostalgia was considered a serious psychi-
atric condition. Being too attached to the
past meant one couldn’t adapt to the pre-
sent — which could ultimately lead to
death.
While nostalgia is no longer classified as
such, Damasio says that negative emotions
of any kind can infringe on your physical
health, as they involve chemical molecules
that result, for example, in increases in
blood pressure, repeat tightening of blood
vessels and changes in cardiac rhythm.
These can cause diseases in blood vessels
and the heart.
Mental well-being may also suffer. Pro-
longed ambivalence has been associated
with post-traumatic stress disorder, obses-
sive-compulsive disorder, depression and
addiction.
“People tend to be really sad when they
feel nostalgia,” Newman says. By compar-
ing the present to an idealized past,
“you’re always going to be upset and feel-
ing as if you’re not satisfied.”
Ambivalence can also make us freeze.
Whether deciding to buy a car or break
up with a partner, “the prospect of teasing
apart the pros and cons can make it really
difficult to make a decision,” Larsen says.
“In those cases, ambivalence can paralyze
us.”
Who is more susceptible? Are there some people who feel ambiv-
alent more often than others? Newman’s
work has found that neurotic people or
those who try to avoid negative stimuli are
more likely to become nostalgic: They
tend to find the present unpleasant and so
spend more time idealizing the past.
As for ambivalence in general — not
just nostalgia — people who are open to
new experiences tend to feel more mixed
emotions.
“If you’re always seeking out the same
thing, you’re probably seeking out the
things that make you happy,” Larsen says.
If you like to dive into new situations, you
may experience the fun you were hoping
for, but you may also experience some
less-than-great aspects you hadn’t expect-
ed — thus ending up with contradictory
feelings.
Damasio adds: “There are people that
are extremely jovial and forward-looking
and are in a sort of permanent happy
state, and people that are cautious and
tend to be always finding something nega-
tive with day-to-day events.” The latter
may experience more ambivalence in
their everyday lives.
How to deal with ambivalenceWhat can people who experience an
unhealthy amount of ambivalence do
about it? One simple way is to keep a grat-
itude journal. Sustaining this habit can
force you to focus on the positive side of
things, which Newman says can improve
one’s well-being.
Therapy could also help. By learning
various skills — to increase mindfulness,
for example, or the ability to endure dis-
tress — people taking part in dialectical
behavior therapy “find a way to tolerate,
and hold together side by side, experi-
ences or realities that seem incongruent,”
says Sarah Mintz, a psychologist. This
enables them to “move away from ex-
tremes or embrace confusion.”
Even without a therapist’s guidance,
people can try breathing exercises, such
as “falling into the pauses between your
in-breath and out-breath,” Mintz says.
Sometimes, the answer may be as sim-
ple as letting your conflicting feelings run
their course.
“Often, mixed emotions get resolved, so
we’re left feeling one or the other,” Larsen
says.
iStock
The good, the bad and the in betweenExperts define ambivalence, explain when it can be beneficial or detrimental and advise how to deal with an excess
BY GALADRIEL WATSON
Special to The Washington Post
PAGE 14 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Saturday, August 14, 2021
MOVIES
Jennifer Hudson knew she had her work cut out for
her when she agreed to play the Queen of Soul.
“You just can’t wake up one morning and decide
‘I’m gonna be Aretha Franklin,’” said Hudson. “I
mean, her voice. Her legacy. The songs. Who she is to all
of us. It was daunting. There were times when I was like,
‘Jennifer, what have you done?’”
The answer is “Respect,” the highly anticipated biopic
sanctioned by Franklin, who handpicked Hudson for the
role before her death in 2018. The film chronicles the late
singer’s rise from her father’s church choir to internation-
al stardom, shining a light on the talent and the stories
behind the songs.
“‘Respect’ is the song and the hit we all love from the
gifted Aretha Franklin,” says Hudson. “But when you add
her life narrative around it, it’s that much more powerful.
Understanding the era she grew up in and the courage
that she had and her activism. Her relationship with Dr.
King and Angela Davis. It’s like, wow, you see all sides of
the human and the way she used her art to reflect herself
and support others and be an advocate. So now it’s more
than just the song. It’s more than just the artist. Knowing
her history helped me understand her legacy and under-
stand why her impact has been so great.”
The film, now in theaters after decades of planning and
a year of COVID-related release delays, moves from
Franklin’s religious upbringing with the charismatic but
controlling Reverend C.L. Franklin to her hard-won star-
dom of the 1960s to a spiritual return to gospel music with
her highest-selling album ever, 1972’s “Amazing Grace.”
Rather than lip sync to pre-recorded tracks, Hudson
belted out The Queen’s material live on set during filming
(“Ain’t No Way,” “Chain of Fools,” “Think”) as did the
rest of the cast — which includes Tony award winner
Audra McDonald portraying young Aretha’s mother and
Broadway talents Hailey Kilgore and Saycon Sengbloh
playing her sisters Carolyn and Erma Franklin (the wom-
en’s harmonizing alone is worth the price of admission).
But Hudson is a singular force. The former “American
Idol” contestant, who like Franklin grew up singing in
church, emotes with the same passion that won her an
Oscar for 2006’s “Dreamgirls,” using her powerhouse
vocals to re-create iconic moments in music history in-
cluding the birth of Aretha’s own sound in Muscle Shoals’
Fame studio and a knock-’em-dead performance of the
film’s namesake at Madison Square Garden. With Hud-
son and other music-minded folks on board, “Respect” is
the rare biopic where the celebrated artist’s compositions
also land a starring role.
“I wanted to make a movie where music was front and
center,” said director Liesl Tommy. Known for her work
on Broadway, including her Tony-nominated direction of
the play “Eclipsed,” “Respect” marks Tommy’s first time
directing a feature film.
“Aretha was capable of so much power when she sings
and so much delicacy and nuance. I wanted the way that
we feel listening to her music to be the way that we felt
watching the film. Another thing that guided me is that
she has so much emotion in her singing. I felt that the film
should be emotional too because that’s who she was. And
even though she was very protective of her private life,
her private life is all over her music.”
Written by Tracey Scott Wilson (a playwright who has
also written for TV series including “The Americans” and
“Fosse/Verdon”), “Respect” stars Forest Whitaker as
Franklin’s father; Marlon Wayans as her husband and
manager, Ted White; and Tituss Burgess as the gentle
Reverend Dr. James Cleveland. Mary J. Blige plays diva
Dinah Washington and Marc Maron is pushy Atlantic
Records exec Jerry Wexler.
“Respect” follows in the footsteps of other biopics, such
as “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” “Ray” and “Walk the Line,”
that dared to tackle the legacies of treasured singers. And
as American icons go, Aretha is right at the top.
The pressure of portraying her was not lost on Hudson.
“I was calm on set. The freakout came later,” said Hud-
son recently while in Los Angeles to promote the film.
She arrived to the interview wearing a necklace that
spelled out “R.E.S.P.E.C.T.” in gold letters. She had it
made as a memento of the film because “it’s not every
day you get to be the Queen of Soul,” she said, slipping on
pink, fuzzy slippers after shedding a pair of deadly high
stilettos she donned for a photo shoot.
Hudson worked with acting and dialect coaches for the
role, and she turned to the legendary Patti LaBelle for
insight into the experience of Black female artists in the
1960s. “They had a lot less freedom, and women took up
less space” says Hudson. “Ms. Franklin spoke up with her
music.”
Hudson took her job seriously, learning to play piano
for the role: “I’m really still trying to get ‘Dr. Feelgood.’ I
got the piano part, but now I’ve got to figure out how to
sing it while playing it. It’s a process.” Slipping into fab-
ulous reproductions of Aretha’s wardrobe was easier,
though Hudson counted 83 costume changes and 11 dif-
ferent wigs (the beehive was her favorite). “And I loved
her clothes in the birthday scene. She’s wearing a gold
dress and a big fur. I couldn’t help but feel royal.”
Hudson grew up in 1980s Chicago worshipping Whit-
ney Houston, but by the time she auditioned for “Amer-
ican Idol,” her song of choice was Franklin’s version of
“Share Your Love With Me.” Even the jaded Simon Cow-
ell was impressed (still, she lost the competition in 2004
when she came in seventh). But Hudson’s personal asso-
ciations with The Queen’s catalogue had its disadvantages
when she was prepping for the film.
“Playing her is a completely different thing from being
a singer and fan who sings her songs,” said Hudson. “I
mean, thank God I already knew the majority of her ma-
terial. That was one less thing I had to worry about. But I
remember saying on the set, ‘She doesn’t know this song
yet.’ Jennifer Hudson knows the song. We all know the
song. We know what it became. But in Aretha’s life, in
that moment, she doesn’t. She’s learning it. It hasn’t mani-
fested yet. We can’t overshoot the story and speak of her
as who she became, because we’re in the beginning phas-
es of the making of Aretha.”
Tommy said she too had to break from her own person-
al associations with Franklin’s work in order to approach
the story with a fresh perspective. “When you listen to
music and there’s a song that you love, you’re bringing
yourself to that,” said Tommy. “It’s like it becomes your
personal soundtrack and it’s about your life. So there’s a
detaching from how I felt when I was 8 years old that I
first heard ‘Natural Woman.’ It’s not about me sitting in a
window looking at the rain. It’s something else. You just
have to give over to her and her story and her history, and
that was the great joy of this — discovering the music in a
brand new way.”
Walking in the shoes of an iconJennifer Hudson finds new‘Respect’ for Aretha Franklinin the film role of a lifetime
BY LORRAINE ALI
Los Angeles Times
PAUL SANCYA/AP
Jennifer Hudson poses for a portrait to promote “Respect” on Aug. 2 at the Fox Theatre in Detroit. Hudson has insome ways been preparing to play Aretha Franklin for her entire life, but she was still surprised when the Queen ofSoul asked her to take on the role following her Oscar win for the 2006 film “Dreamgirls.”
“Playing her is a completely different thing from being a singer and fan who sings her songs... But I remember saying on the set, ‘She doesn’t know this song yet.’ Jennifer Hudson
knows the song. We all know the song. We know what it became.”Jennifer Hudson
SEE RESPECT ON PAGE 15
Saturday, August 14, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 15
MOVIES
Tommy and Wilson did exten-
sive research into Franklin’s life
to ensure the film was as accu-
rate as possible, from her preg-
nancy at age 12 to her plight in
the studio as the only female
musician to her friendship with
the Reverend Martin Luther
King Jr. For the religious and
gospel references, it helped that
Wilson’s father and grandfather
were Baptist ministers.
Franklin herself had also re-
portedly been involved in the
planning of her biopic up until a
week before her death, and more
recently, her family and estate
made themselves available to the
filmmakers. The scenario was
quite different for another recent
television biopic, National Ge-
ographic’s four-part limited se-
ries “Genius: Aretha,” which
earned an Emmy nomination for
star Cynthia Erivo but was blast-
ed by Franklin’s family for its
apparent inaccuracies.
“[Franklin’s family] really
trusted us, which is a great gift,”
said Tommy. “I will never stop
being grateful to them for how
they sensed our care and sensed
that we were two Black women
who would die before we let
anything not be right in this film.
... In the past, these stories about
Black people were pretty often
written and directed by white
men. Aretha was so real. She was
so authentic. I wanted this film to
feel like it was undeniably her
world and it wasn’t from some
kind of voyeur’s perspective. It
was from a lived-in perspective.
It was really important that her
realness be present inside of the
film.”
Hudson met Franklin when
both women were doing what
they loved best: performing on
stage. “I got to open up for her in
Merrillville, Ind., in 2003 at one
of her concerts,” says Hudson.
“It was like, ‘Oh my God, I get to
sing at Aretha Franklin’s show.
She allowed me to do this!’ That
was a moment in itself. And then
after I won the Oscar for ‘Dream-
girls’ [in 2007], we had a meeting
about the possibility of me [por-
traying] her. ... Years later she
called me when I was doing [the
Broadway revival of] ‘The Color
Purple’ and she said, ‘I’ve made
my decision on who I want to
play me. It is you. Don’t say any-
thing to a soul.’ And I’m like,
‘Yes, ma’am. I won’t.’ Now here
we are. It was like holding my
breath for 15 years.”
During that time, Hudson has
released three albums, appeared
in countless TV series and films
(“Sex and the City,” “Empire,”
“The Secret Life of Bees,”
“Cats”), did Broadway and had a
son with professional wrestler
David Daniel Otunga. She also
overcame the 2008 murder of her
mother, brother and nephew by
her sister’s estranged husband.
Hudson has said she made it
through the tragedy thanks to her
faith.
The church is embedded in
Hudson’s soul. And apparently,
so is Franklin’s influence. “I
didn’t realize until researching
and even shooting ‘Respect’ that
‘Amazing Grace’ and ‘Precious
Little Words,’ songs from her
‘Amazing Grace’ album, they
were the same versions I grew
up singing in church. I was
brought up in a church too. We
sang ‘Amazing Grace’ every
Sunday. But to learn it was her
renditions, it’s like wow. So she’s
always been there.”
Hudson sang “Amazing Grace”
at Franklin’s funeral, 50 years
after Franklin sang “Take My
Hand, Precious Lord” at King’s
memorial. “She was courageous
enough to take a stand,” says
Hudson of Franklin’s involve-
ment in the civil rights move-
ment. “She used her platform to
respond to the times. She fought
so hard to get there, and that
could have taken her down, but
she did it. She left us an example
— for us to keep pushing. That’s
what got me through ... — her
saying, ‘Jennifer, go on.’ I’m like,
‘I don’t know if I’m as coura-
geous as you, but if you think I
can, I’m going to give it a try.’”
Respect: Franklin’s family, estate wholeheartedly supported projectFROM PAGE 14
MGM/TNS
Jennifer Hudson, left, stars as Aretha Franklin and Mary J. Blige asDinah Washington in “Respect.” Rather than lipsync to prerecordedtracks, Hudson performed the songs live during filming.
Respect is due to Aretha Fran-
klin, and it is given in “Re-
spect,” the classy, reverent
biopic that traces Aretha Fran-
klin’s rise from the daughter of a Detroit
preacher to the internationally renowned
Queen of Soul.
It follows Franklin’s formative years,
from about ages 10-30, as she learns to
find her voice in the world. She endures
artistic struggles, an abusive relationship
and a system that sought to keep women
— especially Black women — in the place
that was deemed appropriate for them.
Aretha fought through it all, and while
“Respect” dutifully honors her journey
and roots her on, it’s never quite able to
achieve the same fighting, fiery spirit as
Ms. Franklin so fully embodied.
Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson plays
Franklin, a role she was hand-picked for
by Aretha before her death in 2018. Hud-
son does Franklin’s vocals justice, in a role
that requires plenty of singing; Hudson
re-creates a number of Franklin’s songs,
from “Respect” to “Ain’t No Way” (a high-
light) to “Chain of Fools,” and the lack of
overdubs is important in a role where
authenticity is paramount.
As Franklin, Hudson burrows into the
vulnerability of the singer, and later the
strength that allows her to become a force
of nature. The voice was always there,
even at an early age when she would sing
at her father’s swinging house parties,
thrust into an adult world well before her
time. (Franklin’s early pregnancy at age
12 is addressed here, although the partic-
ulars are danced around.)
The script by Tracey Scott Wilson focus-
es on Franklin’s struggles and her over-
coming of them, and while it’s set up as a
superhero’s origin story of sorts, it doesn’t
allow Hudson to fully inhabit the brassy,
vigorous, funny, spirited figure Aretha
became. It’s so busy hitting the marks and
re-creating the important moments of her
life that it doesn’t stop to breathe and let
Hudson live in Aretha’s skin.
As her father, the Rev. C.L. Franklin,
Forrest Whitaker is a stern figure, but the
complicated dynamics of his relationship
with his daughter aren’t as thoroughly
explored as they were in this year’s “Geni-
us: Aretha,” one of the few advantages Nat
Geo’s eight-part series on Franklin has
over “Respect.”
Whitaker is more one-dimensional here,
a function of limited screen time and a
story that has a lot to cram into a 2 ½-hour
running time more than it is a reflection
on his performance.
Director Liesl Tommy, in her feature
film debut, delivers a slick film that hits
the key points in Franklin’s ascent — the
studio sessions, the record company deal-
ings, the first time she hears her song
being played in public — and moves at an
expedient pace. “Respect” never drags
and has a steady momentum that keeps it
moving forward.
As her first husband Ted White, Marlon
Wayans is confined to villain tactics, and
he often feels like he’s putting on serious
voice. Marc Maron has a little more to
play with — and winds up having a lot
more fun — as music producer Jerry
Wexler, who’s both in awe of Franklin’s
talent and afraid of incurring her wrath.
It all builds to her legendary perform-
ance at Los Angeles’ New Temple Mis-
sionary Baptist Church, where Franklin
recorded her “Amazing Grace” album
over two nights in early 1972, which allows
the film to be bookended by scenes in
church. It’s an appropriate stopping point
in tracing Franklin’s rise, a career tri-
umph that saw her royalty achieved, and
Hudson — whose performance feels more
natural as the film goes on — is never
better than she is in the film’s home
stretch.
Yet it’s telling that when the real Aretha
Franklin shows up, singing “(You Make
Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” at the
2015 Kennedy Center Honors over the
film’s closing credits, it’s not only refresh-
ing, it’s a relief. Here is Franklin at age 73,
a life lived and in all her regal glory, ef-
fortlessly bringing down the house in a
room full of luminaries. Not only do you
see her perform, you see the way others
react to her, including the Obamas — how
taken they are with her presence, her
power, her gift.
“Respect” is never less than in awe of
Franklin and what she’s given to the
world. But seeing the Queen herself per-
form is the one time that she, and “Re-
spect,” truly feels alive.
Telling the storybehind the musicAretha biopic earns ‘Respect,’ honors the Queen of Soul
BY ADAM GRAHAM
The Detroit News
MGM/AP
Tituss Burgess as the Rev. James Cleveland, left, and Jennifer Hudson as ArethaFranklin in “Respect.” Hudson sings Franklin’s vocals herself.
“Respect" is rated PG-13 for mature thematic content, stronglanguage including racial epithets, violence, suggestive materialand smoking. Running time: 145 minutes. Now playing in selecttheaters.
PAGE 16 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Saturday, August 14, 2021
Max D. Lederer Jr., Publisher
Lt. Col. Marci Hoffman, Europe commander
Lt. Col. Michael Kerschbaum, Pacific commander
Michael Ryan, Pacific chief of staff
EDITORIAL
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WashingtonJoseph Cacchioli, Washington Bureau [email protected]
(+1)(202)886-0033
Brian Bowers, Assistant Managing Editor, [email protected]
CIRCULATION
MideastRobert Reismann, Mideast Circulation [email protected]@stripes.comDSN (314)583-9111
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© Stars and Stripes 2021
stripes.com
OPINION
WASHINGTON
The bloody war in Afghanistan is
nearing what may be a final tipping
point this week, as the Taliban race
to encircle Kabul and the United
States pumps in 3,000 troops to protect the
evacuation of Americans from the Afghan
capital.
Don’t “wait until it’s too late,” Pentagon
spokesman John Kirby told reporters Thurs-
day, explaining the sudden decision to send in
extra U.S. forces to safeguard the departure of
Americans who might otherwise be trapped in
the war’s brutal endgame. “It’s doing the right
thing at the right time to protect our people.”
For President Joe Biden, who had hoped for
an orderly U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan,
the chaos in Kabul carries echoes of the fall of
Saigon in 1975 — precisely the image he want-
ed to avoid. And the Taliban’s drive for mili-
tary victory — ignoring pledges to negotiate a
transition of power — will raise questions
about whether its promises to prevent al-Qai-
da from rebuilding safe havens in Afghanistan
can be trusted.
Biden was said by close associates to be
“resolute” in his decision to withdraw U.S.
forces, despite the rapidly deteriorating situa-
tion and the temporary return of troops to
shepherd the sharp reduction in U.S. Embas-
sy personnel. Biden has felt strongly since
2009 that the United States should pursue only
alimited mission in Afghanistan, and as presi-
dent he moved quickly to withdraw troops de-
spite contrary advice from Defense Secretary
Lloyd Austin and Gen. Mark Milley, chairman
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The speed of the Taliban’s advance has
been a stunning demonstration of battlefield
momentum, in which one victory fuels anoth-
er, and of the immense psychological impact
of Biden’s decision to withdraw all U.S. com-
bat troops without a solid plan to stabilize the
country afterward. For Biden and other senior
officials, the biggest surprise is that the Af-
ghan military hasn’t performed better on the
battlefield since the president announced he
would pull the plug.
Against those who argue that Biden should
have retained the 2,500 U.S. troops stationed
in Afghanistan when he became president, ad-
ministration officials contend that maintain-
ing the status quo with such a small force
would have been impossible. The Taliban
would have resumed attacks on U.S. forces,
prompting the U.S. to consider adding more
troops and perhaps beginning another fruit-
less cycle in what seems like an endless war.
The Taliban’s blitz has surprised senior ad-
ministration officials. Since Biden’s with-
drawal announcement in April, the insurgents
have swept across the country. Maps of Af-
ghanistan compiled by the Long War Journal
have shown Taliban control spreading like a
massive ink blot, with only a small area of gov-
ernment control in the center.
The Taliban escalated their campaign a
week ago, moving to seize provincial capitals
that have fallen like a row of dominoes and
mounting a surprisingly sophisticated cam-
paign. They moved early in the north, knowing
that this region had spawned the Northern Al-
liance that drove the Taliban from power in
2001. The Taliban deployed their own version
of special operations forces, known as “red
units,” which helped break government de-
fenses. When they seized provincial capitals
such as Kunduz, they freed prisoners held
there, augmenting their forces.
The Taliban also control major exit routes
from the country, after seizing what U.S. offi-
cials say were more than half of the 14 crossing
points in recent days. The sense of entrapment
is likely to increase the panic among Afghan
civilians. The Biden administration has
pledged to aid the departure of Afghans who
worked with U.S. forces, one reason for the ad-
ditional troops. But amid the chaos, those
promises will be hard to keep.
What appears ahead is a battle for Kabul it-
self, a bloody confrontation from which the Bi-
den administration is trying to extricate as
many Americans as possible. The Taliban,
having nearly encircled the approaches to the
capital, may decide to delay the final battle.
U.S. officials hope the Taliban will be de-
terred by a warning this week from neighbors
—Pakistan, Russia, China and Turkey — that
they won’t recognize a Taliban government if
the insurgents take power by force. This diplo-
matic pressure is welcome, but late and limit-
ed. Many key countries have been displaying
the diplomatic equivalent of schadenfreude —
savoring America’s predicament rather than
considering their own future difficulties.
The Taliban will have difficulty swallowing
Afghanistan, for all their success on the battle-
field. Afghanistan has become an increasingly
urban and modern society since the U.S. inva-
sion in 2001. The Taliban’s military forces
number only about 80,000, in a country of
about 39 million. For millions of Afghan wom-
en, who have been attending schools and uni-
versities the past two decades and sharing in a
freer country, the prospect of a Taliban return
to power is especially bleak.
On paper, the Afghan government’s mili-
tary is nearly four times larger than the Tali-
ban. But they lack the organization, discipline
and will to combat the insurgents. As Carter
Malkasian writes in “The American War in
Afghanistan,” his superb new history, “The
Taliban exemplified something that inspired,
something that made them powerful in battle,
something closely tied to what it meant to be
Afghan.” That story was written in blood
across the country this week.
Afghanistan is nearing a final tipping pointBY DAVID IGNATIUS
Washington Post Writers Group
My last international trip before
the COVID-19 lockdown was to
Nigeria’s neighbor Chad. It
wasn’t my first visit to the
north-central African nation of some 16 mil-
lion, which ranks last on the World Bank’s Hu-
man Capital Index, but it was unique. I ven-
tured to the Lac region, the country’s principal
agricultural region, an area impoverished by
climate change, corruption, diseases, dicta-
torship — and now, the militant group Boko
Haram. Having monitored the advent and
transformation of Boko Haram in Nigeria, I
knew that the group had inflicted substantial
damage across the Lake Chad region, but I
wanted to see and feel the situation for myself.
What I found was much worse than I had
imagined. Repeated sights of burned or aban-
doned homes, farmlands and schools ensured
the three chatty passengers of our Land Cruis-
er remained silent in the final and most dan-
gerous lap of the journey. The local head of the
United Nations in Baga Sola, where we stop-
ped en route to a camp housing thousands of
Nigerian refugees, lamented that their “major
concern now are Boko Haram land mines that
are scattered everywhere,” and showed us
graphic photographs of the latest blasts.
Thus, the perception that Boko Haram is
just a threat to Nigeria is misguided. Even in
the case of Nigeria, only the most heinous or
large-scale atrocities, such as the 2014 abduc-
tion of the Chibok girls, are widely known. But
Boko Haram went transnational in 2012, when
its violence started to collaterally spill into
parts of Niger, Chad and Cameroon. Now, it is
asecurity threat that continues to destroy lives
and livelihoods daily across the region, though
it remains a blind spot in much of the interna-
tional coverage and attention.
Niger, Chad and Cameroon became its de-
liberate targets since 2015, when they joined
Nigeria’s military efforts to rout the group. In
2016, the share of Boko Haram’s attacks out-
side Nigeria grew from roughly 30% to nearly
half, and it has remained in that range since.
Boko Haram has killed hundreds and dis-
placed more than 100,000 people in Chad. But
the worst-hit of Nigeria’s neighbors is Cam-
eroon. The situation is getting even more des-
perate in its Far North region, where more
than 5,000 people have been killed and over
320,000 displaced. Niger has also seen its fair
share of attacks and displacements.
More worrying, however, is the transna-
tional spread of Boko Haram’s ideology. In
Niger, a small group of Boko Haram members
formed in Diffa’s central mosque as far back
as 2007. In Cameroon, it was a Boko Haram
founder who fled to his mother’s village across
the border in the wake of the group’s first clash
with Nigerian security forces in 2009 and
planted the seeds of the group. From 2014,
thousands of Chadians joined Boko Haram’s
self-declared Islamist caliphate, the size of
Belgium.
Boko Haram’s influence also extends to the
Sahel. The group’s Islamic State-allied fac-
tion, Islamic State West Africa Province, ad-
ministratively oversees the Islamic State in
the Greater Sahara operating in Mali, Burkina
Faso and Niger, and it takes credit for attacks
in the Sahel.
In fact, Boko Haram’s sway has carried
thousands of miles beyond West Africa. The
group’s unique tactics and ideological fea-
tures are visible in Ansar al-Sunna, the ISIS af-
filiate wreaking havoc in northern Mozam-
bique that some respected experts describe as
Mozambique’s Boko Haram. All of this makes
Boko Haram one of Africa’s — and the world’s
— greatest security threats now and moving
forward.
Properly tackling Boko Haram requires a
recognition that it is a potent threat not just to
theLake Chad region but also far beyond. This
necessitates close transnational coordination
not only in military efforts but also in counter-
ing the group’s ideological appeal, rehabilitat-
ing former members and addressing the un-
derlying socioeconomic and political root
causes. After all, the two decades since the 9/11
attack demonstrate clearly that violent extre-
mism is infectious and lethal; that bullets and
bombs alone cannot surmount this complex
challenge; and that no country can do it alone.
Boko Haram militants sowing chaos across AfricaBY BULAMA BUKARTI
Special to The Washington Post
Bulama Bukarti is a senior analyst on sub-Saharan Africa at theTony Blair Institute for Global Change, a senior nonresidentassociate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies,and a columnist at Daily Trust.
Saturday, August 14, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 17
ACROSS 1 Some corp.
recruits
5 Bay Area
force, briefly
9 Gmail alternative
12 Boo-Boo’s
mentor
13 Competed
14 Slugger’s stat
15 “The Addams
Family” actor
Julia
16 Building wings
17 URL ending
18 Asia’s — Sea
19 Zodiac feline
20 — butter
21 Even so
23 Reggae relative
25 Bargain
28 Coves
32 Uppity person
33 Skateboarder’s
leap
34 Forbidden acts
36 Sneaky sort
37 NBC show
since 1975
38 TV alien
39 Green gem
42 Moray, for one
44 Tehran’s country
48 Eggs
49 Michael of
“Superbad”
50 Architect
Saarinen
51 Junior
52 Eager
53 Hideaway
54 Chang’s brother
55 Honey bunch?
56 Apothecary
measure
DOWN 1 “— Breckinridge”
2 Wild porker
3 Oaxaca
water
4 Foolish sort
5 Willowy
6 Dossier
7 House Speaker
Nancy
8 Driller’s deg.
9 Foot part
10 Slender
woodwind
11 Peru’s capital
20 “Forrest Gump”
actress
22 Pop star John
24 Small hill
25 DDE
predecessor
26 Literary
collection
27 Sailor
29 Santa’s helper
30 Uncle (Sp.)
31 Gender
35 Jacket part
36 Light lunches
39 Singer Feliciano
40 Bard’s river
41 “Rats!”
43 Buffalo’s
county
45 Bring up
46 Met melody
47 Standard
49 Taxi
Answer to Previous Puzzle
Eugene Sheffer CrosswordFra
zz
Dilbert
Pearls B
efo
re S
win
eN
on S
equitur
Candorv
ille
Beetle B
ailey
Biz
arr
oCarp
e D
iem
PAGE 18 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Saturday, August 14, 2021
Saturday, August 14, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 19
SCOREBOARD/GOLF
PRO SOCCER
MLS
EASTERN CONFERENCE
W L T Pts GF GA
New England 12 3 4 40 35 22
Orlando City 8 4 6 30 28 23
NYCFC 8 5 4 28 32 18
Philadelphia 7 5 7 28 25 19
Nashville 6 2 10 28 26 17
D.C. United 8 7 3 27 27 21
Columbus 6 6 6 24 21 23
CF Montréal 6 7 5 23 24 24
New York 5 8 4 19 21 22
Atlanta 3 6 9 18 21 25
Chicago 4 9 5 17 20 29
Inter Miami CF 4 8 4 16 15 26
Cincinnati 3 7 7 16 18 30
Toronto FC 3 9 6 15 23 38
WESTERN CONFERENCE
W L T Pts GF GA
Sporting KC 10 4 4 34 33 20
Seattle 9 3 6 33 26 14
LA Galaxy 10 6 2 32 29 28
Colorado 8 4 4 28 22 16
Minnesota 7 5 5 26 21 21
Portland 7 8 2 23 23 29
LAFC 6 7 5 23 24 25
Real Salt Lake 5 6 6 21 26 20
FC Dallas 5 7 6 21 23 25
San Jose 5 7 6 21 21 27
Houston 3 6 9 18 19 25
Austin FC 4 9 4 16 13 20
Vancouver 3 7 7 16 19 28
Note: Three points for victory, one pointfor tie.
Friday’s game
Vancouver at San Jose
Saturday’s games
LA Galaxy at Minnesota Miami at New York City FC New England at Toronto FC New York at CF Montréal Colorado at Houston Sporting Kansas City at FC Dallas Austin FC at Real Salt Lake
NWSL
W L T Pts GF GA
Portland 9 3 1 28 20 7
North Carolina 6 4 3 21 17 9
Gotham FC 5 2 5 20 13 8
Orlando 5 4 5 20 17 16
Chicago 6 6 2 20 15 20
Reign FC 6 6 1 19 17 14
Washington 5 5 3 18 15 15
Houston 5 6 2 17 15 18
Louisville 4 6 2 14 10 18
Kansas City 0 9 4 4 6 20
Note: Three points for victory, one pointfor tie.
Friday’s game
Washington at Houston
Saturday’s games
Portland at OrlandoReign FC at Kansas City
Sunday’s games
Louisville at Gotham FCChicago at North Carolina
PRO BASKETBALL
WNBA
EASTERN CONFERENCE
W L Pct GB
Connecticut 14 6 .700 —
Chicago 10 10 .500 4
New York 10 11 .476 4½
Washington 8 10 .444 5
Atlanta 6 13 .316 7½
Indiana 4 16 .200 10
WESTERN CONFERENCE
W L Pct GB
Seattle 16 5 .762 —
Las Vegas 15 6 .714 1
Minnesota 12 7 .632 3
Phoenix 9 10 .474 6
Dallas 9 12 .429 7
Los Angeles 6 13 .316 9
Thursday’s games
Commissioner’s Cup Final: Seattle 79,Connecticut 57
Friday’s games
No games scheduled
Saturday’s games
No games scheduled
Sunday’s games
Connecticut at DallasSeattle at ChicagoAtlanta at PhoenixWashington at Las VegasNew York at MinnesotaIndiana at Los Angeles
TENNIS
National Bank OpenThursday
At IGA Stadium & Aviva CentreMontreal
Purse: $1,835,490Surface: Hardcourt outdoor
Women’s SinglesRound of 16
Aryna Sabalenka (1), Belarus, def. Re-becca Marino, Canada, 6-1, 6-3.
Coco Gauff (15), United States, def. Jo-hanna Konta, Britain, walkover.
Sara Sorribes Tormo, Spain, def. Kateri-na Siniakova, Czech Republic, 6-7 (4), 6-0,6-3.
Victoria Azarenka (8), Belarus, def. Ma-ria Sakkari (11), Greece, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (2).
Karolina Pliskova (4), Czech Republic,def. Amanda Anisimova, United States,6-1, 7-6 (8).
Camila Giorgi, Italy, def. Petra Kvitova(7), Czech Republic, 6-4, 6-4.
Ons Jabeur (13), Tunisia, def. Bianca An-dreescu (2), Canada, 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-1.
Jessica Pegula, United States, def. Da-nielle Collins, United States, 6-4, 3-6, 7-5.
Women’s DoublesRound of 16
Gabriela Dabrowski, Canada, and LuisaStefani (5), Brazil, def. Tara Moore, Britain,and Emina Bektas, United States, 7-5, 6-2.
Andreja Klepac, Slovenia, and Darija Ju-rak (6), Croatia, def. Alicja Rosolska, Po-land, and Vivian Heisen, Germany, 6-0, 7-6(4).
Elise Mertens, Belgium, and Aryna Saba-lenka (1), Belarus, def. Rebecca Marinoand Leylah Annie Fernandez, Canada, 7-6(4), 6-2.
Veronika Kudermetova, Russia, and Ele-na Rybakina, Kazakhstan, def. KarolinaPliskova and Karolina Muchova, Czech Re-public, 6-2, 6-4.
QuarterfinalsMagda Linette, Poland, and Bernarda
Pera, United States, def. Kveta Peschke,Czech Republic, and Ellen Perez (7), Aus-tralia, 1-6, 6-2, 13-11.
Rogers CupThursday
At Aviva CentreToronto
Purse: $2,850,975Surface: Hardcourt outdoor
Men’s SinglesRound of 16
Casper Ruud (6), Norway, def. Dusan La-jovic, Serbia, 6-4, 6-3.
Stefanos Tsitsipas (3), Greece, def. Ka-ren Khachanov, Russia, 6-3, 6-2.
John Isner, United States, def. AndreyRublev (4), Russia, 7-5, 7-6 (5).
Reilly Opelka, United States, def. LloydHarris, South Africa, 4-6, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (4).
Roberto Bautista Agut (10), Spain, def.Diego Schwartzman (8), Argentina, 6-3,3-6, 7-5.
Gael Monfils (11), France, def. FrancesTiafoe, United States, 6-1, 7-6 (2).
Daniil Medvedev (1), Russia, def. JamesDuckworth, Australia, 6-2, 6-4.
Hubert Hurkacz (7), Poland, def. NikolozBasilashvili, Georgia, 6-7 (7), 6-4, 6-4.
Men’s DoublesRound of 16
Matwe Middelkoop, Netherlands, andLuke Saville, Australia, def. Cristian Garin,Chile, and Alexander Bublik, Kazakhstan,6-3, 1-0, ret.
Rajeev Ram, United States, and Joe Sa-lisbury (3), Britain, def. Andrey Golubev,Kazakhstan, and Andreas Mies, Germany,6-3, 6-2.
Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen, Belgium,def. Austin Krajicek, United States, andWesley Koolhof, Netherlands, 7-6 (5), 2-6,10-8.
Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic (1), Croa-tia, def. Daniel Evans and Neal Skupski,Britain, 3-6, 7-5, 13-11.
Dusan Lajovic, Serbia, and Aslan Karat-sev, Russia, def. Lukasz Kubot, Poland,and Marcelo Melo (5), Brazil, 6-4, 6-4.
Robert Farah and Juan Sebastian Cabal(2), Colombia, def. Karen Khachanov andAndrey Rublev, Russia, 6-3, 6-4.
PRO FOOTBALL
NFL preseason
Thursday’s games
New England 22, Washington 13Pittsburgh 24, Philadelphia 16
Friday’s games
Buffalo at DetroitTennessee at AtlantaDallas at Arizona
Saturday’s games
Miami at ChicagoDenver at MinnesotaCleveland at JacksonvilleNew Orleans at BaltimoreCincinnati at Tampa BayN.Y. Jets at N.Y. GiantsHouston at Green BayKansas City at San FranciscoSeattle at Las VegasL.A. Chargers at L.A. Rams
Sunday’s game
Carolina at Indianapolis
on a major league contract. Optioned INFNick Maton to Lehigh Valley. TransferredRHP Sam Coonrod from the 10-day IL to the60-day IL. Sent LHP Bailey Falter to LehighValley on a rehab assignment.
SAN DIEGO PADRES — Optioned RHP Re-iss Knehr to El Paso (Triple-A West). Re-called RHP Nabil Crismatt from El Paso.Sent OF Jorge Ona to ACL Padres (ArizonaComplex League) on a rehab assignment.
SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS — Placed RHPJohnny Cueto on the 10-day IL, retroactiveto August 9. Recalled INF Thairo Estradafrom Sacramento (Triple-A West).
BASKETBALLNational Basketball Association
LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS — Re-signed FKawhi Leonard.
MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES — Signed Killian Til-lie to a two-way contract.
PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS — Signed FGreg Brown III.
FOOTBALLNational Football League
BUFFALO BILLS — Activated OT DionDawkins from the reserve/COVID-19 list.
DETROIT LIONS — Released CB QuintonDunbar. Signed RB Craig Reynolds. PlacedRB Michael Warren on IR after passingwaivers unclaimed.
GREEN BAY PACKERS — Signed CB Do-minique Martin. Placed LB Randy Ramseyon IR.
INDIANAPOLIS COLTS — Reached an in-jury settlement with WR Gary Jennings.
NEW YORK GIANTS — Signed DT WillieHenry. Waived LB Cale Garrett.
NEW ORLEANS SAINTS — Claimed DT R.J.McIntosh off waivers from the New YorkGiants. Placed WR Jalen McCleskey on in-jured reserve.
NEW YORK JETS — Waived CB BrendonWhite from IR with a settlement.
SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS — Signed S Ha HaClinton-Dix and DL Eddie Vanderdoes.Placed S Tony Jefferson on IR. Waived DLBellamy.
SEATTLE SEAHAWKS — Signed WR Da-rece Roberson Jr..
TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS — Signed OLEarl Watford. Waived DL Sam Renner withan injury designation.
TENNESSEE TITANS — Signed Ss TedricThompson and Reggie Floyd. Waived WRKalija Lipscomb. Waived OL Adam Coonwith an injury designation.
HOCKEYNational Hockey League
EDMONTON OILERS — Signed D SlaterKoekkoek to a two-year contract.
NEW YORK RANGERS — Signed F Bren-nan Othmann.
WASHINGTON CAPITALS — Loaned F Da-mien Riat to Lausanne HC for the remain-der of the season.
WINNIPEG JETS — Signed F Andrew Coppto a one-year contract.
SOCCERMajor League Soccer
MLS DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE — Sus-pended Houston Dynamo FC M DarwinCeren for one additional match (twomatches total) and fined an undisclosedamount for violent conduct in the 20thminute of an Aug. 4 match against AustinFC.
ATLANTA UNITED — Named GonzaloPineda head coach through 2024 season.
D.C. UNITED — Loaned F Erik Sorga toVVV-Venlo in the Erste Division (Nether-lands) for the remainder of the season. Ac-quired F Ramon Abila off waivers fromClub Atlético Boca.
COLLEGEMEMPHIS — Named Robb Hornett mens’
basketball strength and conditioningcoach.
TENNESSEE — Named J.B. Bowling seniorassociate athletics director for compli-ance.
Thursday’s transactionsBASEBALL
Major League BaseballAmerican League
BALTIMORE ORIOLES — Optioned RHPIsaac Mattson to Norfolk (Triple-A East).Reinstated RHP Tyler Wells from the 10-day IL.
BOSTON RED SOX — Recalled RHP Tan-ner Houck from Worcester (Triple-A East).Optioned RHP Phillips Valdez to Worces-ter. Sent OF Kyle Schwarber to Worcesteron a rehab assignment.
CHICAGO WHITE SOX — Recalled INFDanny Mendick from Charlotte (Triple-AEast). Returned INF Danny Mendick toCharlotte.
CLEVELAND INDIANS — Recalled LHPAlex Young from Columbus (Triple-AEast). Placed RHP Nick Sandlin on the 10-day IL.
DETROIT TIGERS — Sent LHP MatthewBoyd to Toledo (Triple-A East) on a rehabassignment. Placed SS Niko Goodrum onthe 10-day IL. Selected the contract of RFJacob Robson from Toledo and agreed toterms on a major league contract. Sent 2BIsaac Peredes to Lakeland (Low-A South-east) on a rehab assignment.
LOS ANGELES ANGELS — Reinstated INFJared Walsh from the 10-day IL. OptionedLHP Packy Naughton to Salt Lake (Triple-AWest). Returned RHP Chris Rodriguez toSalt Lake. Reinstated RHP Steve Cishekfrom the bereavement list. Optioned RHPAaron Slegers to Salt Lake.
NEW YORK YANKEES — Returned RHPClarke Schmidt from rehab assignmentand reinstated him from the 60-day IL thenoptioned him to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre(Triple-A East). Named OF Estevan Florialthe 27th Man for today’s game. Sent RHPCorey Kluber to Somerset (Double-ANortheast) on a rehab assignment.
SEATTLE MARINERS — Placed RHP PaulSewald on the paternity list. Recalled RHPYohan Ramirez from Tacoma (Triple-AWest).
TAMPA BAY RAYS — Selected the con-tract of RHP Evan Phillips from Durham(Triple-A East) and agreed to terms on amajor league contract. Optioned LHP Die-trich Enns to Durham. Sent RHP Nick An-derson to Durham on a rehab assignment.
TORONTO BLUE JAYS — Sent 3B CavanBiggio to Buffalo on a rehab assigment.
National LeagueARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS — Sent RHP
Jordan Weems outright to Reno (Triple-AWest). Recalled RF Jake Hager from Reno.Placed RF Kole Calhoun on the 10-day IL.Placed RHP Taylor Widener on the 10-dayIL. Recalled RHP Humberto Castellanosfrom Reno.
CHICAGO CUBS — Placed RHP Jake Arrie-ta on unconditional release waivers.Placed C Willson Contreras on the 10-dayIL. Selected the contract of RHP RyanMeisinger from Iowa (Triple-A East) andagreed to terms on a major league con-tract. Reinstated C Austin Romine fromthe 60-day IL. Designated LHP Kyle Ryanfor assignment.
LOS ANGELES DODGERS — Recalled RHPMitch White from Oklahoma City (Triple-AWest). Designated RHP Kevin Quacken-bush for assignment.
MILWAUKEE BREWERS — ReinstatedLHP Josh Hader from the COVID-19 IL. Op-tioned LHP Hoby Milner to Nashville (Tri-ple-A East). Transfereed RHP John Axfordto the 60-day IL.
NEW YORK METS — Optioned RHP GeoffHartlieb to Syracuse (Triple-A East). Re-called RHP Trevor Williams from Syra-cuse.
PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES — Selected thecontract of RHP David Paulino from LehighValley (Triple-A East) and agreed to terms
DEALS
AP SPORTLIGHT
Aug. 14
1936 — In Berlin, the U.S. wins the firstOlympic basketball gold medal with a 19-8win over Canada. The game is played out-doors on a dirt court in a driving rain. JoeFortenberry leads the U.S. with sevenpoints. James Naismith, the inventor ofthe game, presents the medals.
Scottish OpenLPGA TourThursday
At Dumbarnie LinksFife, Scotland
Purse: $1.5 millionYardage: 6,573; Par: 71
First RoundMichele Thomson 34-31—65 -7Anne van Dam 33-34—67 -5Yuka Saso 36-31—67 -5Jasmine Suwannapura 31-36—67 -5Nanna Koerstz Madsen 31-37—64 -4Yealimi Noh 34-34—68 -4Ryann O'Toole 33-35—68 -4Kelsey MacDonald 35-33—68 -4Mi Jung Hur 32-36—68 -4Lauren Stephenson 34-34—68 -4Atthaya Thitikul 34-34—68 -4Olivia Cowan 33-35—68 -4Sarah Schmelzel 31-37—68 -4Becky Morgan 35-33—68 -4Celine Herbin 33-36—69 -3Charley Hull 36-33—69 -3Ariya Jutanugarn 35-34—69 -3Patty Tavatanakit 36-33—69 -3Emily Kristine Pedersen 34-35—69 -3Bronte Law 33-36—69 -3Yu Liu 35-34—69 -3Marina Alex 33-36—69 -3Lydia Hall 35-34—69 -3Liz Young 32-38—70 -2Anna Nordqvist 34-36—70 -2Celine Boutier 34-36—70 -2Prima Thammaraks 34-36—70 -2Haeji Kang 34-36—70 -2Mi Hyang Lee 35-35—70 -2Caroline Masson 34-36—70 -2Lydia Ko 34-36—70 -2
GOLF
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Russell
Henley shot an 8-under 62, his low-
est round in more than two years, to
take the lead Thursday in the sus-
pended first round of the Wyndham
Championship.
Henley birdied three of his final
four holes for a two-stroke lead over
Sung Kang, Ted Potter Jr., Chris
Kirkand, Hudson Swofford, Scott
Piercy and Michael Thompson in
the PGA Tour’s final regular-season
event. Adam Hadwin also was 6-un-
der, but had two holes left when
darkness ended play.
A storm halted play for 2 hours, 7
minutes, with 22 players unable to
finish. They finished the round Fri-
day.
Past champion Webb Simpson
and Kevin Kisner led a group of 10
another stroke behind at 65 at Sed-
gefield Country Club, where many
competitors are scrambling to make
it into top 125 to advance to the play-
offs that start next week at the
Northern Trust.
Henley, at No. 46 in the standings,
had no worries about the postsea-
son, but came out fast with a bogey-
free round in chasing his first PGA
Tour victory in four years.
He moved in front with a two-putt
birdie on the par-5 15th before clos-
ing with birdies on 17 and 18, the last
with a 20-foot putt. He had his lowest
round on the tour since a career-low
61 at the John Deere Classic in 2019.
Henley has played some solid golf
of late. He was tied for the 36-hole
lead at the U.S. Open in June, then
had two straight top-20 finishes be-
fore missing the cut at the British
Open. He returned this week, hop-
ing he can carry his strong play to
the end.
“I haven’t won in years, so I feel
like as well as I’ve been playing, I
feel like I’ve underachieved a little
bit,” he said.
“My mindset,” Henley contin-
ued, “is I feel if I can play my game,
play my normal game, then I can
maybe give myself a chance and
that’s kind of where I’m at.”
There are several big names com-
peting to keep their seasons alive.
Adam Scott, who started at No. 121,
and Matt Kuchar, at No. 124, both
had strong starts at 66.
“I would like to play well this
week and get a chance to play next
week and keep getting my game into
place,” Scott said.
Rickie Fowler, who came in 130th
and needing a good week, didn’t
help himself with a 71. Justin Rose,
the Payne Stewart Award winner
this week, has to finish in the top 10 to
advance after coming in 138th. He
opened with a 66, tied for 19th.
Henleysits atopWyndham
Associated Press
Wyndham ChampionshipPGA Tour
FridayAt Sedgefield Country Club
Greensboro, N.C.Yardage: 7,131; Par: 70
Purse: $6.4 MillionFirst Round
Russell Henley 31-31—62 -8Sung Kang 32-32—64 -6Ted Potter, Jr. 33-31—64 -6Michael Thompson 32-32—64 -6Chris Kirk 31-33—64 -6Scott Piercy 30-34—64 -6Hudson Swafford 30-34—64 -6Adam Hadwin 31-33—64 -6Tyler McCumber 32-33—65 -5Andrew Landry 33-32—65 -5Brian Stuard 29-36—65 -5Jhonattan Vegas 30-35—65 -5Michael Gligic 30-35—65 -5Denny McCarthy 30-35—65 -5Webb Simpson 33-32—65 -5Kevin Kisner 32-33—65 -5Erik van Rooyen 33-32—65 -5Nick Taylor 33-32—65 -5Bronson Burgoon 32-33—65 -5Luke List 32-34—66 -4Padraig Harrington 35-31—66 -4Matt Kuchar 32-34—66 -4Adam Scott 32-34—66 -4Branden Grace 32-34—66 -4Sebastián Muñoz 32-34—66 -4K.J. Choi 33-33—66 -4Sepp Straka 31-35—66 -4Kiradech Aphibarnrat 31-35—66 -4Mark Anderson 33-33—66 -4Rafael Campos 31-35—66 -4Rory Sabbatini 31-35—66 -4
PAGE 20 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Saturday, August 14, 2021
COLLEGE FOOTBALL/SPORTS BRIEFS
Dave Aranda became Baylor’s coach
about 19 months ago knowing that NCAA
penalties were coming for a scandal that
embroiled the football program long be-
fore he arrived.
It had been much longer for athletic di-
rector Mack Rhoades, who found “an in-
stitution and athletics department in tur-
moil” when he took over
five years ago in the
wake of the revelation of
a sprawling sexual as-
sault scandal that cost
two-time Big 12 cham-
pion coach Art Briles his
job.
With the NCAA case
against the Bears finally
resolved, and without any major pro-
gram-crushing penalties, they can move
forward without that lingering unknown.
“It’s been hanging around. It’s been a
black cloud since I arrived on this cam-
pus,” Rhoades said. “We’re glad to have
some closure and to be able to to look for-
ward and move forward. And again, re-
member our mistakes, learn from our
mistakes, learn from our past. And then
we’ll navigate whatever comes in front of
us.”
With no players or coaches remaining
from Briles’ tenure, Baylor was placed on
four years of probation, but could still
play in a postseason bowl game. There
will be recruiting restrictions in place for
Aranda and his staff during the 2021-22
academic year, including a reduction of
30 official visits and a three-week ban on
unofficial visits.
The penalties could have been much
worse considering the scope of the allega-
tions, but the actual mishandling of sex-
ual assault claims by Baylor was deemed
out of the NCAA’s jurisdiction.
Aranda knew about the case when he
took over at Baylor in January 2020, fresh
off a 15-0 national championship as LSU’s
defensive coordinator. He attended the
school’s two-day virtual hearing with
NCAA officials last December, four years
after the school received a notice of in-
quiry from the NCAA enforcement staff.
The coach said he never thought in
terms of feeling a sense of relief that the
penalties weren’t harsher. The survivors
were the first thing he thought about
when he heard this week that the penal-
ties were forthcoming.
“I was at the trial in December, so lis-
tening to it and just hearing the details
and being part of it gave me greater in-
sight to it, and I was able to put myself in
a lot of people’s shoes. I spent most of my
time on that,” Aranda said.
The NCAA did find secondary rules vi-
olations that occurred between 2011 and
2016, including impermissible benefits
for a player who failed to follow an aca-
demic performance plan following an
academic violation. There were also a
predominantly female student host pro-
gram that improperly operated outside of
recruiting protocols.
Rhoades and Aranda met with the team
on the middle of the field during practice
Wednesday, after the penalties were re-
vealed. The AD kept what was said be-
tween them private, but said he was
proud of the players.
“They have been part of the culture
change, each and every one of them,”
Rhoades said. “And not saying we’re per-
fect, not saying they’re perfect, but they
have been instrumental in the culture
change, the way they lead and the way
they interact with one another.”
Aranda described what Rhoades said
as “very focused and very on point,” call-
ing it a strong moment for the team just
more than three weeks before its Sept. 4
opener at Texas State.
“There’s a lot of lessons to learn from
it,” Aranda said. “I’ll continue to meet
with the team as we move forward.”
The Bears went 2-7 in Aranda’s debut
season, which came without the benefit of
spring drills last year because of the pan-
demic.
LM OTERO/AP
Baylor coach Dave Aranda speaks during Big 12 football media days on July 15 inArlington, Texas. The Bears went 27 in Aranda’s debut season last year.
Moving forwardWith NCAA penalties imposed, Baylorno longer operating under ‘black cloud’
BY STEPHEN HAWKINS
Associated Press
Rhoades
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The
Jacksonville Jaguars have agreed
to trade linebacker Joe Schobert
to the Pittsburgh Steelers, accord-
ing to a person familiar with the
deal.
The person spoke to The Associ-
ated Press on condition of ano-
nymity Thursday night because
neither side had formally finalized
the deal. Schobert confirmed the
trade to ESPN, though, saying
“great place to play behind that D-
line." Compensation details were
not immediately disclosed.
The trade makes sense for both
teams and puts Schobert back in
the AFC North, where he spent the
first four years of his NFL career
with Cleveland.
Jacksonville unloads Schobert's
hefty contract and puts veteran
Damien Wilson playing alongside
Myles Jack in its new 3-4 scheme.
The 27-year-old Schobert signed a
five-year, $53.7 million contract
that included $21.5 million guar-
anteed in March 2020. He was
signed to play middle linebacker
in a 4-3 defense and will count $7.3
million against Pittsburgh's salary
cap in 2021.
Schobert had 141 tackles, three
interceptions and 2 1/2 sacks in his
lone season in Jacksonville.
In other NFL news:
■ The Superdome remains on
track to open at full capacity for
New Orleans Saints games this
season, but only to fans who pro-
vide proof of vaccination or a neg-
ative COVID-19 test taken 72
hours prior to games, and who
wear masks.
The City of New Orleans enact-
ed new rules Thursday for enter-
tainment venues and indoor facil-
ities hosting large social gather-
ings on the heels of spiking CO-
VID-19 related hospitalizations in
the state in recent weeks. That
came after the State of Louisiana
enacted a mask mandate for such
venues.
■ The cost of the Bills’ pro-
posed new stadium is $1.4 billion,
and is to be built across the street
from their existing facility in sub-
urban Buffalo, a person with di-
rect knowledge of discussions told
The Associated Press .
The person spoke to The AP
Thursday on the condition of ano-
nymity because the details of the
proposal haven’t been made pub-
lic.
Thornton, 42, signs
1-year deal with Panthers SUNRISE, Fla. — Joe Thorn-
ton’s pursuit of an elusive Stanley
Cup is bringing him to the Florida
Panthers at age 42.
He signed a one-year deal Fri-
day, making Florida his fourth
franchise in a now 24-year NHL
career. He has more points than
any other active NHL player and
is 14th all-time on that list with
1,529.
The 13 players ahead of him in
points are in the Hall of Fame.
Conversations with the Pan-
thers’ braintrust — including Pan-
thers general manager Bill Zito,
head coach Joel Quenneville and
his former Team Canada team-
mate Roberto Luongo — helped
convince Thornton this was the
right move, he said.
Thornton has done about all
there is in hockey, except win a
Stanley Cup. He went to the Final
once, with San Jose in 2016 when
the Sharks lost in six games to the
Pittsburgh Penguins.
He won an Olympic gold medal
with Canada in 2010, the Hart Tro-
phy as the league’s MVP in 2005-
06 and the scoring title that same
season.
He was the No. 1 pick in the 1997
draft and started his career play-
ing parts of eight seasons with
Boston. He then went on to a 15-
year run with the Sharks and
spent last season with Toronto —
scoring five goals in 44 games.
BRIEFLY
Source: Jaguars trade LB Schobert to SteelersAssociated Press
PHELAN M. EBENHACK/AP
Linebacker Joe Schobert, right, signed a fiveyear, $53.7 millioncontract with Jacksonville that included $21.5 million guaranteed inMarch 2020. A source says Schobert is being traded to Pittsburgh.
Saturday, August 14, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 21
MLB
American League
East Division
W L Pct GB
Tampa Bay 70 45 .609 _
Boston 66 51 .564 5
New York 63 52 .548 7
Toronto 62 52 .544 7½
Baltimore 38 75 .336 31
Central Division
W L Pct GB
Chicago 68 48 .586 _
Detroit 57 60 .487 11½
Cleveland 55 58 .487 11½
Minnesota 50 65 .435 17½
Kansas City 49 64 .434 17½
West Division
W L Pct GB
Houston 68 46 .596 _
Oakland 67 48 .583 1½
Seattle 61 55 .526 8
Los Angeles 58 58 .500 11
Texas 40 75 .348 28½
National League
East Division
W L Pct GB
Philadelphia 60 55 .522 _
New York 59 55 .518 ½
Atlanta 59 56 .513 1
Washington 50 65 .435 10
Miami 48 67 .417 12
Central Division
W L Pct GB
Milwaukee 70 46 .603 _
Cincinnati 62 54 .534 8
St. Louis 58 56 .509 11
Chicago 52 65 .444 18½
Pittsburgh 41 74 .357 28½
West Division
W L Pct GB
San Francisco 74 41 .643 _
Los Angeles 69 46 .600 5
San Diego 66 51 .564 9
Colorado 51 64 .443 23
Arizona 36 80 .310 38½
Thursday’s games
Oakland 17, Cleveland 0 Seattle 3, Texas 1 Detroit 6, Baltimore 4 Tampa Bay 8, Boston 1 Chicago White Sox 9, N.Y. Yankees 8 L.A. Angels 6, Toronto 3 N.Y. Mets 4, Washington 1, 7 innings, 1st
game N.Y. Mets 5, Washington 4, 7 innings, 2nd
game St. Louis 7, Pittsburgh 6 Philadelphia 2, L.A. Dodgers 1 Milwaukee 17, Chicago Cubs 4 Cincinnati 12, Atlanta 3 San Francisco 7, Colorado 0 Arizona 12, San Diego 3
Friday’s games
Baltimore at Boston Cleveland at Detroit Oakland at Texas Tampa Bay at Minnesota Houston at L.A. Angels Toronto at Seattle Atlanta at Washington Cincinnati at Philadelphia Milwaukee at Pittsburgh Chicago Cubs at Miami L.A. Dodgers at N.Y. Mets St. Louis at Kansas City San Diego at Arizona Colorado at San Francisco
Saturday’s games
Baltimore (López 3-12) at Boston (Sale0-0)
Cleveland (TBD) at Detroit (Peralta 3-2) Oakland (Kaprielian 6-4) at Texas (Lyles
5-9) N.Y. Yankees (TBD) at Chicago White
Sox (Cease 9-6) Tampa Bay (Wacha 2-3) at Minnesota
(Maeda 5-4) Houston (Garcia 8-6) at L.A. Angels (Bar-
ria 2-0) Toronto (Ryu 11-5) at Seattle (Kikuchi
7-6) Cincinnati (Castillo 6-11) at Philadelphia
(Moore 1-3) Atlanta (Fried 9-7) at Washington (Cor-
bin 6-11) Chicago Cubs (Davies 6-9) at Miami
(TBD) Milwaukee (TBD) at Pittsburgh (Wilson
2-5) L.A. Dodgers (Buehler 12-2) at N.Y. Mets
(Walker 7-7) St. Louis (Lester 3-6) at Kansas City (Kell-
er 7-11) San Diego (Musgrove 8-7) at Arizona
(Gilbert 0-1) Colorado (Freeland 3-6) at San Francisco
(TBD)
CalendarAug. 22 — Los Angeles Angels vs. Cleve-
land at Williamsport, Pa.
Scoreboard
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Shohei Ohtani grinned
and laughed after Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
bounced a single to left field in the Toronto slug
ger’s first career plate appearance against the
Angels’ twoway superstar.
When he struck out Guerrero with a wicked
slider two innings later, Ohtani smiled and
chuckled at that one, too.
Ohtani had plenty of fun in his first mound
meeting with most likely his strongest compet
itor for the AL MVP award. He also did plenty
against the rest of the Blue Jays to secure anoth
er win for the Los Angeles Angels.
Ohtani pitched six innings of threehit ball to
win his third consecutive start, and he also dou
bled and scored an early run in the Angels’ 63
victory Thursday night.
Although Ohtani (71) issued three walks for
the first time since June and threw two wild
pitches in his 17th mound start of the season, he
allowed just two runs and struck out six to keep
his ERA at 2.93.
Athletics 17, Indians 0: Mitch Moreland
homered twice, Chris Bassitt posted his AL
leading 12th win and visiting Oakland routed
Cleveland for its seventh straight victory.
Matt Canha and Starling Marte each drove in
three runs and Chapman scored three times as
the Athletics moved a seasonhigh 18 games over
.500.
Brewers 17, Cubs 4: Luis Urías tied a major
league record with five extrabase hits and Man
ny Piña drove in six runs as visiting Milwaukee
routed Chicago.
Urías homered in the seventh and ninth in
nings. He also hit three doubles, drove in five
runs and scored five.
Piña had a grand slam and a tworun homer.
Phillies 2, Dodgers 1: Bryce Harper home
red, Ian Kennedy escaped a basesloaded jam in
the ninth inning and host Philadelphia ended Los
Angeles’ fourgame winning streak.
Harper hit his 21st homer and scored twice as
the Phillies won with just four hits.
Reds 12, Braves 2: Jesse Winker hit a grand
slam in the second inning and visiting Cincinnati
added four more homers in a win over Atlanta
that snapped a threegame skid.
The loss dropped Atlanta one game behind
firstplace Philadelphia and into third place in
the NL East.
Mariners 3, Rangers 1: Marco Gonzales
pitched a twohitter, J.P. Crawford and Jake Fra
ley homered and host Seattle beat Texas.
Mets 45, Nationals 14: Pete Alonso hit a
gameending homer with one out in the seventh
inning and host New York recovered from a
blown lead to sweep its doubleheader against
Washington.
The Mets won the opener 41 as Brandon Nim
mo homered and drove in four runs and Marcus
Stroman took a shutout into the sixth.
Cardinals 7, Pirates 6: Six St. Louis relievers
combined to allow three runs in seven innings,
and Paul DeJong and Lars Nootbaar homered to
complete a threegame sweep of host Pittsburgh.
Tigers 6, Orioles 4: Renato Núñez homered
in his return to his former home, and Detroit
dealt host Baltimore its eighth straight loss as
Miguel Cabrera sat out while one homer shy of
500.
Cabrera can go for the milestone at home after
the Tigers finished their road trip with a three
game sweep in Baltimore.
Rays 8, Red Sox 1: Wander Franco hit a tie
breaking tworun homer in the sixth inning,
Drew Rasmussen threw four strong innings in a
spot start and visiting Tampa Bay added to its
lead in the AL East with a win over Boston.
Mike Zunino hit a threerun homer out of Fen
way Park as the Rays took two of three games at
secondplace Boston and extended their lead in
the AL East to five games.
Giants 7, Rockies 0: LaMonte Wade Jr. hit a
threerun homer after pitcher Logan Webb add
ed a tworun single to help his winning cause,
and MLBleading San Francisco beat visiting
Colorado for its fifth straight win.
Alex Dickerson hit an RBI double and Curt
Casali doubled in a run for San Francisco.
Diamondbacks 12, Padres 3:Yu Darvish left
arocky start early with lower back tightness, and
host Arizona took advantage to beat San Diego.
Pavin Smith had four RBIs and Caleb Smith
pitched 51⁄�3 quality innings of relief for the last
place Diamondbacks.
ROUNDUP
Ohtani, Angels down Blue Jays
MARCIO JOSE SANCHEZ/AP
Los Angeles Angels starting pitcher Shohei Ohtani delivers against the Toronto Blue Jaysduring Thursday’s game in Anaheim, Calif. Ohtani pitched six innings of threehit ball.
Associated Press
BALTIMORE — Chris Davis’ ascent and de
cline were quick and steep.
In between, he was one of baseball’s top
homerun hitters — and that’s what Baltimore
manager Brandon Hyde wanted to remember
on the day Davis announced his retirement.
“Those really good years, those ’12 to ’17
years, he was a fixture in the lineup and a ma
jor run producer. He was a middleoftheor
der bat on a really, really good team,” Hyde
said Thursday. “He’s done so much off the
field as well. Great teammate — wellliked in
the clubhouse, wellliked around the league.”
Davis became one of baseball’s most prodi
gious power hitters before his production
dropped amid injury problems during his final
seasons with the Orioles. Davis, 35, was going
to miss the entire 2021 season after surgery in
May to repair the labrum in his left hip.
“After an extended time dealing with my in
jury and recent hip surgery, I informed the
Orioles about my decision to retire effective to
day,” Davis said in a statement released by the
team. “I want to thank the Orioles partnership
group, led by the Angelos family, the Orioles
organization, my teammates and coaches.”
Next year was the final season of Davis’ $161
million, sevenyear contract, a deal that be
came increasingly burdensome for the re
building Orioles.
Davis came to the Orioles in a 2011 trade
from Texas. He hadn’t hit more than 21 home
rs in a season with the Rangers, but he hit 33 in
his first full season with Baltimore. Davis led
the majors with 53 homers in 2013 and 47 in
2015. He finishes his career with 295 in 13 sea
sons with the Orioles and Rangers.
A powerful lefthanded hitter at 6foot4,
Davis was a crucial part of Baltimore’s best
run since the 1990s. He helped the Orioles re
ach the postseason in 2012, 2014 and 2016, al
though he did not play in the playoffs in 2014,
when the team made it to the AL Champion
ship Series.
Orioles’ Davis, 35, announces retirement
TONY DEJAK/AP
After announcing his retirement Thursday,35yearold Chris Davis finishes his careerwith 295 home runs in 13 seasons withBaltimore and Texas.
BY NOAH TRISTER
Associated Press
PAGE 22 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Saturday, August 14, 2021
MLB
Baseball game in this state that’s
usually focused on college and
community sports, spotlighted by
presidential campaigns and
fueled by the hog and grain indus-
try.
Judge provided a pair of pic-
ture-perfect images, launching
two long drives into the corn-
stalks. Tim Anderson hit the
eighth homer of the game, a two-
run liner in the ninth inning that
lifted the White Sox over the Yan-
kees in a 9-8 thriller.
Anderson delivered a Holly-
wood ending, too, circling the
bases as fireworks exploded. So
what if it was more from “The Nat-
ural” than “Field of Dreams”?
This won’t be a one-time visit,
either. Commissioner Rob
Manfred confirmed that the Field
of Dreams game will return in Au-
gust 2022, with the teams to be de-
termined.
The made-from-scratch stadi-
um — built to hold about 8,000
fans who watched the White Sox
and Yankees play in one of the
most anticipated mid-August
games in history — was placed
next to the actual diamond where
the 1989 movie starring Kevin
Costner was shot outside the town
of Dyersville, population 4,000.
Costner came back for this,
stealing the scene with a slow,
ponderous stroll into the outfield
his character Ray Kinsella often
took in the film before stopping to
watch the real White Sox and Yan-
kees emerge from the corn for
pregame introductions.
Clutching a ball in his hand,
while the original symphonic
score from the movie played over
the loudspeakers, Costner
stepped up to a microphone and
told the crowd, “It’s perfect.”
White Sox slugger José Abreu
delivered an instant highlight in
the first inning, hitting a line drive
that zipped over the fence in left
field and vanished into the corn.
Judge connected for a three-
run smash in the third and a two-
run drive in the ninth. Neither was
a can of corn — they both flew far.
There were rows upon rows of
corn between the two outfields, in
fact. Yes, it’s the same spot where
Shoeless Joe Jackson and his pals
appeared — and disappeared —
throughout the Academy Award-
nominated film about fathers,
children, culture, self-discovery,
ghosts and, oh, yeah, baseball.
“As a kid you dream of the
chance to play Major League
Baseball and you watch certain
movies or heroes in comic books
and fairytales, and getting a
chance to actually be at the Field
of Dreams and play a game here
and have family and friends here
and getting a chance to represent
the Yankees here, never in my life
did I think I’d ever experience
this,” Judge said.
Major leaguers can be particu-
lar about the details when they’re
on a road trip, desiring to maxi-
mize comfort and minimize intru-
sion for optimal performance on
the field, but nobody minded any
of the logistical hurdles of playing
this game a four-hour drive from
Chicago and about a half-hour
ride from the airport in Dubuque
where both teams flew in.
White Sox closer Liam Hen-
driks was all smiles as he recount-
ed his exploration of the white
farmhouse where the Kinsella
family lives in the movie that’s
been well-kept as a tourist attrac-
tion.
Both teams had their fill of mo-
vie reenactment moments during
pregame photo ops on the original
field, before retreating into the
corn and returning to the regula-
tion stadium to prepare for the
game. The players were politely
warned not to scrape their faces
on the stalks and not to try to enter
the maze — one of the fan attrac-
tions added to the site for the event
— to avoid getting lost.
“Anyone who follows me on In-
stagram is going to be very sick of
corn,” said Hendriks, whose
phone storage had filled up after
all the photos and videos he re-
corded.
Judge was born three years af-
ter “Field of Dreams” was re-
leased, but his father introduced
him to the movie when he was a
kid and he quickly became a big
fan. He noted that some of his
younger teammates had not yet
seen the film.
“I think one of these nights
we’re going to sit down and I’ll
have a DVD for ’em, ready to go,”
Judge said with a wide smile.
The film, naturally, remains a
strong source of local pride, and
Iowa residents were given pur-
chasing priority when the limited
amount of public tickets went on
sale. The “Field of Dreams Ghost
Players,” many of whom were ex-
tras in the film, gathered on the
movie field in the afternoon in
their 1919-style uniforms in honor
of Jackson’s “Black Sox” team
that plays a key part in the plot.
“It’s given us a real identity.
When you think of Dyersville, it’s
‘Field of Dreams,’ and all the pub-
licity we’ve been getting lately has
just been tremendous for the town
and the area,” said Jude Milbert,
one of the Ghost Players who de-
veloped a Globetrotters-style
troupe after their involvement in
the film by putting on youth clin-
ics, doing comedy routines and
traveling around the world as am-
bassadors of the game. They’re all
former college or semipro players
who live in northeast Iowa.
The Ghost Players and every-
one else can get ready for more
next year.
“You never mess with a win-
ning streak, but it does feel like all
the teams are going to want to
touch this. There’s going to be hot
competition to play this,” Costner
said before the game.
Picture: White Sox top Yankees in thriller at ‘Field of Dreams’FROM PAGE 24
CHARLIE NEIBERGALL/AP
New York Yankees designated hitter Giancarlo Stanton walks on the field with ears of corn in his backpockets before Thursday's game against the Chicago White Sox in Dyersville, Iowa.
CHICAGO — Jake Arrieta won
a Cy Young Award and helped the
Chicago Cubs capture a drought-
busting World Series champion-
ship in his first stint with the club.
His second go-round was nowhere
near as successful.
It ended with his release Thurs-
day.
Arrieta was informed of the de-
cision a day earlier, after getting
tagged for eight runs in a 10-0 loss
to Milwaukee, Cubs president Jed
Hoyer said. The 35-year-old right-
hander was 5-11 with a 6.88 ERA
in 20 starts.
“Nothing that happened on the
mound last night or the other
nights in any way diminishes his
role in club history,” Hoyer said.
“When you look back, I think
there’s a really good argument to
say he’s one of the more influential
people in the history of this fran-
chise.”
The Cubs also placed catcher
Willson Contreras on the 10-day
injured list because of a sprained
right knee that Hoyer said is not
serious. They selected right-hand-
ed pitcher Ryan Meisinger from
Triple-A Iowa, reinstated catcher
Austin Romine from the 60-day IL
and designated left-hander Kyle
Ryan for assignment.
Arrieta agreed in February to a
$6 million, one-year deal. His re-
turn to Chicago had a chance to be
a feel-good story, but it ended on a
rough note. He was 0-7 with a 9.92
ERA in his final 11 starts.
Arrieta was the NL Cy Young
Award winner with Chicago in
2015 and helped the Cubs win the
2016 World Series, their first
championship since 1908. He
went 68-31 with a 2.73 ERA in 128
starts over five years and threw
two no-hitters during his first stint
with the team.
He then signed a $75 million,
three-year contract with Philadel-
phia in free agency and went 22-23
with a 4.36 ERA in 64 starts with
the Phillies. He had a 4-4 record
and a 5.08 ERA in nine starts dur-
ing the pandemic-shortened 2020
season.
Cubs release former Cy Young winner Arrieta
DAVID ZALUBOWSKI/AP
The Chicago Cubs released starting pitcher Jake Arrieta on Thursday,a disappointing end to the former Cy Young winner’s second stint withthe franchise he helped lead to a World Series title in 2016.
Associated Press “When you look back, I think there’s a really goodargument to say he’s one of the more influentialpeople in the history of this franchise.”
Jed Hoyer
Cubs president, on Jake Arrieta
Saturday, August 14, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 23
NFL
Coach Kyle Shanahan knows
that in the big picture, it won’t
matter how well Trey Lance plays
in his exhibition debut for the San
Francisco 49ers.
That doesn’t dampen Shana-
han’s excitement to see his rookie
first-round quarterback take the
field in a game for the first time
Saturday night when the Niners
host the Kansas City Chiefs in an
exhibition game.
“It’s fun to watch quarterbacks
go out there for the first time,”
Shanahan said Thursday. “But I
don’t get nervous for the person or
anything like that. It’s fun to
watch. I know no one’s going to re-
member how his first preseason
game is, but they will the next day.
That’s all right. I know rookies get
some butterflies. It is a big deal
for them. But the reality of it is it is
an experience for them. I think
Trey is going to make the team so
he doesn’t have to go out there and
just freak out about that. But he
knows a lot of eyes will be on
him.”
A lot of eyes have been on
Lance ever since the 49ers draft-
ed him in April after trading three
first-round picks for the No. 3 se-
lection.
San Francisco is working Lance
in gradually behind starter Jim-
my Garoppolo but the rookie has
impressed during training camp.
But there are some things he
can’t truly experience until game
action, like how to deal with get-
ting the play call from the sideline
in a loud stadium and how to make
the decision about when to slide,
dive headfirst, go out of bounds or
take a hit when scrambling.
Shanahan wants Lance to stay
on his feet on scrambles in prac-
tice to avoid any chance of an in-
jury but drills him afterward on
what he would have done in a real
game. He’s been pleased with the
answers so far but now gets to see
it for real.
“That’s something that we’ll all
see in the game,” he said. “Trey
says the right things, he’s a pretty
good runner, he’s pretty compet-
itive. I hope he takes my word for
it. Sometimes those guys don’t be-
lieve how hard people hit until
they get a couple of times in the
NFL.”
The preseason may be more im-
portant for Lance because of how
little experience he had in college.
He started only 17 games at FCS-
level North Dakota State and
played only one game in a CO-
VID-shortened 2020 season.
His last game with fans in the
stadium came more than 19
months ago against James Madi-
son in the FCS title game for the
2019 season.
That only adds to his level of an-
ticipation for this game.
“Excited to go out and compete
with this locker room of guys,” he
said. “Everything’s new, so just
being able to get used to every-
thing, everything from the hotel
the night before the game to pre-
game warmup. Everything’s go-
ing to be new, but at the same time
football is football.”
The 49ers have been very
pleased with what they have seen
from Lance so far, reinforcing
their strong belief in him from the
draft process.
Notes: Shanahan said he will
hold several players out of the
game, including DE Nick Bosa,
DE Dee Ford and WR Jalen Hurd.
... CB K’Waun Williams (hip) and
DE Arden Key (quadriceps) mis-
sed practice and are day to day.
JEFF CHIU/AP
49ers rookie quarterback Trey Lance throws during training camp in Santa Clara, Calif., on Tuesday inpreparation for his first exhibition game this weekend.
49ers excited for rookieLance’s preseason debutNo. 3 overall draft pick has impressed in camp
JOSIE LEPE/AP
San Francisco 49ers head coachKyle Shanahan, pictured, is looking forward to seeing Lance inaction when he makes his preseason debut Saturday.
BY JOSH DUBOW
Associated Press
WESTFIELD, Ind. — Indiana-
polis quarterbacks Jacob Eason
and Sam Ehlinger finally got to
throw some passes against a dif-
ferent defense Thursday.
Sam Darnold
faced the first re-
al challenge with
his new Carolina
teammates, too.
After finishing
the first of two
joint practices at
Colts training
camp it’s clear
everybody has
some finetuning
to do before Sun-
day’s preseason
opener.
“They’re an
11-5 team, they
were a playoff
team last year, so
I guess that’s one
of the reasons we
wanted to come
here,” Panthers
coach Matt
Rhule said. “We
want to see how
far away we are
from them.”
Rhule wasn’t
impressed with
the Panthers’ slow start but ap-
plauded the team’s reaction by
picking up the pace later and per-
haps setting up a better workout
Friday.
But this week will largely be
graded on the quarterback play.
Both teams made big offseason
moves to acquire what they hope
will be foundational pieces.
Carolina obtained Darnold in a
deal with the New York Jets, who
swapped first-round picks with
the Colts in 2018 to take the former
Southern California star No. 3
overall. Darnold is trying to revive
his career after going 13-25 with
the Jets, and the long weekend in
Indy started with mixed results.
Meanwhile, the Colts found
themselves working in two young-
sters.
Carson Wentz, the projected
starter after a trade with Philadel-
phia, hasn’t practiced in almost
two weeks because of an injured
left foot. Wentz was walking
around on the field with a mask —
and no protective gear around the
surgically repaired foot.
Team owner Jim Irsay told re-
porters the Colts would be cau-
tious with Wentz for the Sept. 12
season opener against Seattle.
If Wentz doesn’t play against
the Seahawks, Irsay believes the
likely replacement may already
be in camp.
The strong-armed Eason is in
his second season out of Washing-
ton, but his rookie year was a
washout. Joint practices and the
preseason were canceled, and as
No. 3 on the depth chart he never
took a regular-season snap. When
Wentz went down, the former
Washington star initially inherit-
ed the No. 1 job.
But he’s been splitting reps this
week with rookie Sam Ehlinger, a
sixth-round draft pick, and that’s
the plan for Friday and likely Sun-
day. Ehlinger is more athletic and
has better touch, which were evi-
dent again Thursday.
“Both Sam and Jacob, I thought,
were really solid,” coach Frank
Reich said. “They both had touch-
down passes in that last period. I
just felt like there was some pretty
good execution, all things consid-
ered. It was their first go-round ...
going against an NFL defense.”
MICHAEL CONROY/AP
Indianapolis Colts tight end Jack Doyle makes a catch in front ofCarolina Panthers safety Juston Burris during a joint practice attraining camp in Westfield, Ind., on Thursday.
Colts, Panthersface first testsat joint practice
BY MICHAEL MAROT
Associated Press
Eason
Ehlinger
Darnold
PAGE 24 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Saturday, August 14, 2021
SPORTSReady to move forward
Finally clear of NCAA penalties, Baylorfocuses on future ›› College football, Page 20
49ers excited for rookie QB Lance’s preseason debut ›› NFL, Page 23
As the bus carried the NewYork Yankees through thecornfields blanketing thisserene, rolling farmland of
northeast Iowa, Aaron Judge noticed adifference from the usual arrival in thenext city.
The ride to the Field of Dreams sitein Dyersville, Iowa, to play the ChicagoWhite Sox on Thursday night had ev-eryone’s attention, like a bunch of kidswho couldn’t believe what they weregetting to do.
“It was the first time people hadtheir headphones out, and they were
just glued to the windows, checking outthe scenery,” said Judge, the three-time All-Star right fielder.
“We have a lot of guys from differentcountries who really haven’t seen thecountry like this, or guys from big ci-ties who really haven’t seen open fieldsand stuff like this, so it was pretty cooldriving in and seeing everybody intown kind of standing on the side of theroads with signs and cheering us on,”he said.
The made-for-TV event, delayed bya year due to the COVID-19 pandemic,had the billing as the first Major League
Top: Chicago White Sox pitcher Lance Lynn warms up prior to Thursday’s game against the New York Yankees in Dyersville, Iowa. Above right: The outfield scoreboard isseen before the Yankees and White Sox played at a temporary stadium in the middle of a cornfield at the “Field of Dreams” movie site. Chicago won 98.
PHOTOS BY CHARLIE NEIBERGALL/AP
White Sox, Yankees go deep in ‘Field of Dreams’ thrillerBY DAVE CAMPBELL
Associated Press
SEE PICTURE ON PAGE 22
Picture perfectMLB
Cubs release former ace Arrieta after rough return ›› Page 22 O’s slugger Davis retires ›› Page 21