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THE NATION'S NEWS | $3 | THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 2024
By a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court
on Wednesday said the Biden
administration is allowed to squash
content on social media platforms
that is considered misinformation.
BUDA MENDES/GETTY IMAGES
Social
content
can be
restricted
High court gives Biden
administration a win
Maureen Groppe and Bart Jansen
USA TODAY
WASHINGTON − The Supreme
Court on Wednesday handed the Bi-
den administration an election-year
victory, throwing out a conservative
challenge to government efforts to
have social media companies remove
posts it considered misinformation.
The 6-3 decision, led by Justice
Amy Coney Barrett, was a response to
a suit that came during a hot-button
period when social media was thick
with contentious posts over COVID-19,
vaccines, top government scientist
Anthony Fauci, and other emotional
topics. Justices Samuel Alito, Neil Gor-
such and Clarence Thomas dissented.
Barrett, writing for the majority,
said the challengers argued that unfet-
tered speech on social media is critical
to their work as scientists, pundits and
activists.
“Our country benefits when
ideas can be tested and
debated fairly on their
merits, whether online or in
the halls of Congress.”
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio
“But they do not point to any specif-
ic instance of content moderation that
caused them identifiable harm,” Bar-
rett wrote. “They have therefore failed
to establish an injury that is sufficient-
ly ‘concrete and particularized.’ ”
In the dissent, Alito complained
that the majority “unjustifiably re-
fuses to address this serious threat to
the First Amendment.”
“For months, high-ranking Govern-
ment officials placed unrelenting pres-
sure on Facebook to suppress Ameri-
cans’ free speech,” Alito wrote.
By dismissing the case without
See SOCIAL MEDIA, Page 4A
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She and “A Quiet Place:
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ELECTIONS 2024
Presidential debate:
Opportunity and risk
President Joe Biden has spent much of the past week at Former President Donald Trump has foregone traditional
Camp David, practicing for Thursday night’s faceoff debate preparation, but he has been given verbal policy
against Trump in a television studio in Atlanta. There will briefings and has kept up with the news, a Trump campaign
be no studio audience. THOMAS BENDER/USA TODAY NETWORK official said. MAX CURRAN/USA TODAY NETWORK
Biden aiming to How to watch
Tune in to the first
Trump will be
change narrative presidential debate of the
2024 campaign Thursday
playing offense
regarding his age at 9 p.m. EDT.
– and defense
USA TODAY will stream the
Francesca Chambers event at youtube.com/ David Jackson and Zac Anderson
and Michael Collins @USATODAY. The debate USA TODAY
USA TODAY also will air on CNN and cable
networks. WASHINGTON – After spending six
WASHINGTON – President Joe Bi- weeks sitting in a criminal courtroom,
den’s challenge to debate Donald Trump CNN’s Jake Tapper and Dana former President Donald Trump gets to
in June, before the former president has Bash will moderate. play both prosecutor and defense law-
even been awarded the Republican yer in another arena: a presidential de-
nomination, took many in his party by Play along bate.
surprise. Use our presidential debate Trump and his allies say he plans to
The 81-year-old president is battling bingo cards as you watch the use Thursday’s showdown to indict
perceptions he’s too old for another debate. 3A President Joe Biden, 81, for his age and
term. And another faceoff with Trump handling of issues like inflation and the
could be risky. Any slip up or stumble southern border. But the former presi-
will fuel concerns about his mental acu- dent will also have to play defense over
ity and feed into fears Biden is past his GOP debates on abortion rights, his own
prime. mental acuity, and his sweeping crimi-
But with Trump leading in many polls nal charges that include his May 30 con-
– even after his conviction on 34 felo- viction in his New York City hush money
nies following a highly publicized crimi- case.
nal trial in New York – Biden is playing “How should I handle him?” Trump
one of the few cards he has left. asked supporters during a weekend
See BIDEN, Page 3A See TRUMP, Page 2A
The vast new legal frontier?
Falling ‘space junk’ claims
Jeanine Santucci uninsured property damage and emo-
USA TODAY tional anguish.
Space junk – any of the millions of
When a Florida family filed a claim pounds of objects left by humans in
against NASA over “space junk” that fell space ranging from small nuts and bolts
through their roof earlier this year, it to pieces of defunct satellites – falls into
launched a potentially precedent-set- Earth’s atmosphere every day. The vast
ting question: Who is liable when debris majority of it burns up on its way down,
This piece of support equipment that from space causes damage or injury? but every so often, pieces fall to the sur-
was part of a pallet of used batteries Nobody was hurt when a cylindrical face. They most often land in oceans,
from the International Space Station object that was part of a pallet of used which cover most of Earth’s surface, and
sailed through the roof of a home in batteries from the International Space other unpopulated places on land.
Naples, Fla., in March. Now the family Station came sailing through Alejandro Very rarely, they have caused damage
has filed a claim against NASA for Otero and his family’s roof in what their or minor injury, but experts say a
property damage and emotional attorney called a “near miss,” but the
distress. PROVIDED BY NASA claim for a more than $80,000 includes See SPACE JUNK, Page 4A
2A ❚ THURSDAY JUNE 27, 2024 ❚ USA TODAY
ELECTIONS 2024
Pro-Israel Dem beats Bowman, Boebert wins
Takeaways from state,
Congressional primaries
Karissa Waddick
USA TODAY
Congressional and state primary re-
sults on Tuesday in New York, Colorado
and Utah showcased the influence of
the political fringes in 2024.
Progressive Democrats suffered a
major blow when second-term Rep. Ja-
maal Bowman’s lost his New York pri-
mary, while one of the most conserva-
tive factions in Congress notched a vic-
tory with Rep. Lauren Boebert’s win in
Colorado.
In Utah, voters appeared to soundly
reject candidates favored by the party
establishment.
Here are some initial takeaways for
how Tuesday’s results could reverber-
ate throughout the rest of the 2024 elec-
tion cycle.
An uncertain future
for ‘the Squad’
Bowman’s defeat in the Democratic
primary for New York’s 16th Congres-
sional District, covering parts of the
Bronx, Yonkers and Westchester, marks
the first ouster in 2024 of a member of
the progressive group of House lawmak-
ers called “the squad.”
First elected in 2020, Bowman on
Tuesday lost to Westchester County Ex-
ecutive George Latimer, a more moder-
ate candidate. Latimer received en-
dorsements from establishment Demo-
cratic figures including former Secre-
tary of State Hillary Clinton.
The Israel-Hamas war featured as a
prominent topic in the race, given Bow-
man’s criticism of Israel’s approach to
the war and calls for a cease-fire. The
American Israel Public Affairs Commit-
tee, a pro-Israel lobbying group, spent
millions of dollars in the race against
Bowman.
Trump
Continued from Page 1A
rally in Philadelphia. “Should I be tough
and nasty? ... Or should I be nice and
calm and let him speak?”
As the pro-Trump crowd voiced its
support for the first option, Trump said,
“Be tough ... be tough.”
But what approach will the presump-
tive Republican nominee actually take
as he faces off against Biden for the first
time since 2020? The current and for-
mer presidents will meet Thursday
night at the CNN-sponsored debate in
Atlanta.
A low bar for Biden? Trump team
notes strong past performances
Poll after poll has shown that Amer-
icans are concerned about Biden’s age.
For months, Trump has tried to take ad-
vantage of that, criticizing Biden over
his age and mental fitness.
But now, some Trump allies fear he’s
set the bar too low for the president
ahead of Thursday’s showdown.
“They need to keep the bar off the
floor,” said Sean Spicer, a former White
House press secretary for Trump. “At
this point the bar is if Biden walks on
stage and doesn’t trip he has exceeded
expectations.”
Trump has apparently heard the
message. In recent days, he and his
aides have retooled. They’ve publicly ar-
gued that Biden had strong debate per-
formances in the past, including a 2012
vice presidential debate with then-Re-
publican nominee Paul Ryan.
In an interview on “The All-In Pod-
cast,” Trump said: “I think he will be
somebody who will be a worthy debater.
I don’t want to underestimate him.”
After all, Trump, 78, is only three
years younger than Biden, and he’s also
had gaffes on the campaign trail. Ap-
proximately 59% of Americans think
both Trump and Biden are too old to
serve another term in office, according
to an ABC News/Ipsos poll from earlier
Volume 42, No. 202
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Congressman Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., concedes during his Primary Election
Night Watch Party in Yonkers, N.Y., on Tuesday.
DAVID ‘DEE’ DELGADO/REUTERS
Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., pictured
Jan. 4, 2023, in Washington, D.C.,
defeated five competitors in the GOP
primary for Colorado’s 4th District on
Tuesday. JACK GRUBER/USA TODAY
Some political spectators, like former
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, have
suggested that Bowman’s loss is a refer-
this year.
However, Trump’s still widely ex-
pected to press Biden on voters’ con-
cerns about his age on Thursday – al-
though Biden’s just as likely to challenge
Trump over his advanced years, gaffes,
and mental acuity.
Biden campaign co-chair Mitch Lan-
drieu, speaking on NBC’s “Meet The
Press,” said it doesn’t matter how Trump
tries to characterize Biden in Atlanta. It
makes no difference “if he comes in un-
hinged, like he has most of the time, or
he sits there and is quiet,” Landrieu said.
“People are going to know that he’s a
twice-impeached convicted felon who
has been found to have defamed some-
body sexually abused somebody and
going bankrupt six times,” Landrieu
said.
What will be the impact
of new rules? Who knows?
Even if the former president zeroes in
on the current president’s age, the
Trump who shows up in Atlanta should
be more focused and disciplined, allies
said.
And he’ll need to be because of the
debate’s rules.
There will be no audience that Trump
can play to. He won’t be able to roam the
stage and stalk Biden from behind, as he
did to Democratic opponent Hillary
Clinton in 2016.
Trump will also have a hard time in-
terrupting Biden, as he frequently did in
their 2020 campaign debates. The can-
didates’ microphones will be off when
the other is speaking.
Bemoaning the rules before his sup-
porters in Philadelphia, Trump said:
“This could be the most boring (debate).
... Or it could be quite exciting. Who
knows?”
But Trump allies said he could use
the new rule about not interrupting to
his advantage. Marc Lotter, who worked
on Trump’s campaigns in 2016 and 2020
and now is the chief communications
officer for the Trump-aligned America
First Policy Institute, said Trump won’t
be able to take Biden off the hook if the
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endum on his rhetoric around the war in
Gaza. But others, including Latimer,
have suggested the trouncing was more
a result of Bowman becoming “out of
step,” with the district.
Other pro-cease-fire members of the
squad, such as Rep. Summer Lee, D-Pa.,
have headed off primary challenges this
year from candidates who have attacked
their stance on the Israel-Hamas war.
The role of Bowman’s stance on Isra-
el, and AIPAC’s funding, in the race may
be unclear until another contentious
election later this summer. Fellow squad
member Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., faces a
tough primary challenge from St. Louis
County Prosecutor Wesley Bell in Au-
gust and AIPAC has already donated
more than $630,000 to Bell’s campaign
ahead of the Aug. 6 election in Missouri.
Lauren Boebert victorious
Rep. Lauren Boebert’s, R-Colo., deci-
latter is struggling with an answer.
“Because of the debate rules ... I think
it plays to Trump’s advantage, because
he won’t be able to throw a life preserver
to Joe Biden” by interrupting him, Lotter
said, adding: “Joe Biden’s got that two
minutes without a life raft. It’s all on
him.”
During the rally in Philadelphia,
Trump said he accepted the restrictions
because he’s eager to get into the same
room with Biden – for better or for
worse.
“They’ve taken so much fun out of it,”
he told the crowd of supporters.
Trump’s criminal convictions
take center stage
Republicans fully expect Biden to cite
an unprecedented feature of this elec-
tion: Trump is the first major party
presidential candidate who has been
convicted of a felony.
On May 30, a New York City jury con-
victed Trump of falsifying business rec-
ords to hide hush money payments to
Stormy Daniels in an effort to prevent
voters from learning about his encoun-
ter with the adult film star before the
2016 election.
Trump also was found liable for sexu-
al abuse and defamation of writer E.
Jean Carroll, and for inflating his prop-
erty values in order to secure favorable
loans. Trump faces more than $500 mil-
lion in civil judgments, though he has
appealed in these cases.
Trump is also set to have three more
criminal trials on charges related to al-
legedly mishandling classified docu-
ments and attempting to steal the 2020
election.
As he has on the campaign trail,
Trump’s expected to use the debate to
claim that his indictments and lawsuits
are all a politically motivated “scam.”
Trump has been making that argu-
ment for a year, but it’s unclear what
kind of effect it has among pivotal inde-
pendent voters.
A Politico Magazine/Ipsos survey
conducted June 7-9 found that 21% of
independents polled said they are now
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NEWS
sion to switch districts appears to
have paid off. The Freedom Caucus Re-
publican defeated five competitors in
the GOP primary for Colorado’s 4th Dis-
trict.
Boebert first announced her plans to
make a play for the seat, rather than for
her current 3rd District position, after
Republican Rep. Ken Buck announced
he would not seek another term repre-
senting the eastern Colorado area.
The 37-year-old Boebert would have
met a difficult general election battle in
the 3rd District, if she had decided to re-
main in her existing seat. Her 2022
Democratic challenger Democratic
challenger Adam Frisch, who she only
narrowly beat in that year’s midterms, is
running again in 2024.
Boebert’s victory in the 4th District
against more traditional GOP figures,
including former Colorado state Sen.
Jerry Sonnenberg and current state
Reps. Mike Lynch and Richard Holtorf,
highlights the salience of Boebert’s
name recognition and hard-line MAGA
stances with conservative voters.
Utah voters snub state
GOP’s picks – and Trump
The Utah GOP backed Senate and gu-
bernatorial candidates running on pro-
Trump messages in the state’s prima-
ries on Tuesday. In the governor’s race,
they supported Rep. Phil Lyman over in-
cumbent Gov. Spencer Cox. And for Sen.
Mitt Romney’s successor, they favored
Riverton Mayor Trent Staggs.
Republican voters largely rejected
those choices.
Cox, who said in February that it
would be a “huge mistake” to choose
Trump as the GOP presidential nomi-
nee, beat Lyman by double-digits. Rep.
John Curtis, who was similarly the only
candidate in the race for Romney’s open
Senate seat who did not explicitly en-
dorse Trump, bested his three compet-
itors and won more than 50% of the
vote.
less inclined to support the former
president after his New York trial, and
his conviction will be an important fac-
tor in how they vote. Still, numerous
polls show the overall race virtually tied.
Playing defense on abortion,
rhetoric on migrants
Trump’s debate defense also is likely
to include an array of policy issues, par-
ticularly abortion.
Democrats notched victories across
the country during the 2022 midterms
as they campaigned on abortion access,
and Biden is using a similar playbook in
2024.
The former president is expected to
argue that states should set their own
rules, and Republicans shouldn’t em-
brace national abortion restrictions. In
remarks over the weekend to religious
supporters who want a federal abortion
ban, Trump said that proposal is hurting
Republican candidates.
In a pre-debate memo, the Biden
campaign noted that Trump appointed
three of the Supreme Court justices who
decided to overturn Roe v. Wade − and
they alleged he “wants to go even fur-
ther in a second term.”
Biden on Thursday will likely em-
brace that message and accuse Trump
of being open to a national abortion ban
if he’s elected to a second term.
But abortion isn’t the only topic
Trump expects to be called upon to de-
fend during the debate. Biden’s aim
could range from Trump’s promises of
mass deportations of migrants, investi-
gations and prosecutions of political
opponents, and pledges to be a “dicta-
tor” on “day one” of his second term.
Trump has also discussed pardons
for at least some of his supporters in-
volved in the insurrection of Jan. 6,
2021.
But regardless of which issues
Trump and Biden take on during Thurs-
day’s debate − or which strategies they
use on stage − the real question comes
on Friday: Which pitch are voters buy-
ing as they gear up for early voting and
Election Day?
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NEWS
Presidential debate bingo cards
As you watch the presidential debate, compete in some political
games of your own. The winner gets bragging rights, and all players
come away more informed. Scan the QR code to download and print
different bingo cards.
Biden
Continued from Page 1A
“Biden needs to remind voters why
they voted for him in the first place and
why they fired Trump already,” said Jim
Messina, who served as former Presi-
dent Barack Obama’s campaign man-
ager during his reelection in 2012. “A
head-to-head contrast is the best way to
do that.”
The debate will give Biden the oppor-
tunity to remind undecided voters of
Trump’s tumultuous exit from office –
when a deadly contagion was ravaging
the country and a violent mob of Trump
supporters attacked the Capitol in an ef-
fort to overturn the results of the 2020
election, which Trump lost to Biden.
Biden’s campaign has also signaled
he will hammer home Trump’s criminal
convictions and Supreme Court ap-
pointments that led to the Roe v. Wade
reversal. Trump’s pledges to cut the cor-
porate tax rate and authoritarian rheto-
ric, such as his vow to only be a dictator
on ‘day one,’ will also be fodder for Bi-
den’s debate stage attacks.
“I think it’s all upside for Joe Biden,
and nothing but exposure and vulnera-
bility for a very, very brittle Donald
Trump,” said Center for American Pro-
gress CEO Patrick Gaspard, the political
director for Obama’s first campaign.
A week of preparation
Biden has spent much of the past
week at Camp David, the presidential
retreat outside of Washington, practic-
ing for Thursday’s faceoff against
Trump in a television studio in Atlanta.
Former White House chief of staff
Ron Klain is leading his prep. Biden’s
campaign has declined to say who’s
playing Trump, although it is said to be
Biden attorney Bob Bauer.
Biden’s early prep work typically in-
volves group brainstorming sessions
with his staff that hone in on topics and
messaging, said Bill Russo, a former long-
time aide to Biden who was the deputy
communications director for his 2020
campaign. The second phase is about
knocking him off his game, Russo said.
“The purpose of doing the mocks is
really to kind of make sure that that
punch in the face happens not for the
first time on the debate stage, in front of
a national audience, but behind the
scenes,” Russo said.
Under terms Biden proposed and
Trump agreed to, a studio audience will
not be present during the debate. The
candidates’ microphones will be muted
except when it is a candidate’s turn to
speak.
Even so, Maryland Sen. Chris Van
Hollen, who played Paul Ryan in Biden’s
2012 vice presidential debate prep, said:
“It’s worth pausing a little bit just to sort
of try to anticipate what kind of specta-
cle Donald Trump wants to put on.”
Candidates will be provided with a
Joe Biden answers a question as Donald Trump listens during the 2020 election's
second and final debate at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn. POOL VIA REUTERS
pen, pad of paper and a water bottle.
They will be prohibited from bringing
props or prewritten material. Campaign
aides will also be barred from interact-
ing with the candidates during the two
commercial breaks. The faceoff will be
moderated by CNN hosts Dana Bash
and Jake Tapper.
According to Nielsen, more than
73 million people watched the first gen-
eral election debate in September 2020
between Biden and Trump. A second
debate in October drew 63 million view-
ers.
With much of the American public
disengaged in the electoral process,
both candidates will try to use the de-
bate to make news and get voters to
start paying attention, said Jennifer
Mercieca, a historian of American polit-
ical rhetoric.
“I suspect that Biden will find an op-
portunity to talk about American values
and about his policy successes and
about the threat that Trump represents
to democracy in America,” said Mercie-
ca, a professor in Texas A&M’s Depart-
ment of Communication & Journalism.
“I suspect Trump will try to find an op-
portunity to humiliate Biden – attacking
him personally, calling him weak or old
or making fun of his stutter or his son’s
legal troubles.”
Both the Biden and Trump cam-
paigns hope that by debating earlier this
year, they can awaken tuned out voters
and build preconvention momentum.
Trump has foregone traditional de-
bate prep. He’s receiving verbal policy
briefings and keeping up with the news,
a Trump campaign official said. But he
has not done practice rounds against a
stand-in for Biden.
After weeks in a New York court-
room, Trump has made campaign ap-
pearances in battleground states his
priority. His campaign says he will de-
liver a disciplined debate performance
that is rooted in policy.
USA TODAY ❚ THURSDAY JUNE 27, 2024 ❚ 3A
How to play: Choose a bingo card. When you hear a candidate mention a phrase or
topic on your card, cover the corresponding box with an item such as a coin or
cross it off. If you’re the first to get five boxes in a row – horizontally, vertically or
diagonally – you win. Good luck!
&
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But as often happens with the unpre-
dictable Trump, the Biden camp is ex-
pecting the unexpected.
“The president and the team have to
prepare for any and all of them – all of
those versions of Trump that might
come out to debate,” Russo said.
The expectations game
Both candidates have spent the
weeks leading up to the debate lowering
expectations for their opponent, with
Team Biden warning that Trump is un-
hinged and desperately clinging to pow-
er, and Trump’s campaign painting Bi-
den as a doddering old man incapable of
stringing together a coherent sentence.
But each has dialed back those criti-
cisms in recent days, apparently fearing
that they’ve set expectations so low that
even a lackluster performance by their
opponent would be seen as a victory.
“That framing makes it easier for Bi-
den to exceed expectations, though I
doubt many Trump supporters will
change their minds and vote for Biden if
he looks stronger than they expected,”
Mercieca said. “The Trump team has
‘poisoned the well’ in both directions. If
Trump looks strong, it’s because Biden
is old. If Biden looks strong, it’s because
he cheats. Trump loves a ‘heads I win,
tails you lose’ frame.”
After months of characterizing Biden
as feeble and mentally diminished, the
Trump campaign tried Tuesday to walk
that back and reset expectations by
praising Biden’s debate skills.
“It’s important to remind people that
Joe Biden has been doing this success-
fully for 50 years,” top Trump aide Jason
Miller said in a call with reporters.
Miller read off headlines from stories
about Biden’s past debates and recent
State of the Union address that charac-
terized the president as delivering
strong performances.
“We know that Joe Biden, that after

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taking an entire week off, he’s going to
be ready for this. ... His team’s going to
have him ready just as they have in
2008, 2012, 2024,” Miller said.
Top Trump aide Chris LaCivita sug-
gested without providing evidence that
Biden would be on performance enhanc-
ing drugs. “He’s probably going to be filled
with Adderall like he was at the night of
the State of the Union,” LaCivita said.
Hillary Clinton, who has debated
both Trump (in the 2016 campaign) and
Biden (in 2008), wrote in a New York
Times guest column on Tuesday that
expectations for Trump are so low that
“if he doesn’t literally light himself on
fire on Thursday evening, some will say
he was downright presidential.”
“It is a waste of time to try to refute
Mr. Trump’s arguments like in a normal
debate,” Clinton warned Biden. “It’s
nearly impossible to identify what his
arguments even are. He starts with non-
sense and then digresses into blather.”
Biden has also had to practice deli-
vering concise answers. “You always
have to figure out how to punch out,
right, the key points that you want to
make,” Van Hollen said.
The president has a tendency to di-
gress into stories that he caps off with
“anyway.” And after a primary debate in
2019, when Biden said he was thrown off
guard by a personal attack, he declared:
“My time is up, I’m sorry.”
Biden later told CNN he wasn’t used
to the format and didn’t want to get into
the scrum.
Now he faces the added scrutiny of
voters’ concerns about his cognitive
ability.
Poll after poll has shown that voters
are worried about Biden’s age. At 81, he
is the oldest man to ever hold the presi-
dency. Trump, at 78, is just three years
younger. Biden’s campaign has tried to
address the age issue head on by high-
lighting his experience and achieve-
ments while in office. Biden himself has
tried to deflect the criticism by cracking
age jokes at his own expense.
But a special counsel report that
called into question Biden’s long-term
memory and incidents in which he has
mixed up the names of world leaders
have not helped.
Van Hollen said the same chatter ex-
isted before Biden’s most recent State of
the Union address. “And he came out
swinging.”
Biden’s campaign has said it does not
expect the debate to significantly shift
polling, even if it does go well for their
candidate. The president’s advisers
hope the performance, combined with
other voter touchpoints such as adver-
tising and grassroots outreach, will con-
vince undecided voters.
The debate will not necessarily de-
termine the outcome of the election, the
president’s allies argue.
“There will be another debate,” Russo
said. “There will be the party conven-
tions. There will be months between
now and voting.”
Contributing: Zac Anderson
4A ❚ THURSDAY JUNE 27, 2024 ❚ USA TODAY
New fire burns 6 years after Paradise blaze
Crews also working on
blazes in Oregon, N.M.
Jeanine Santucci
USA TODAY
Firefighters were working Wednes-
day to contain a blaze that prompted
evacuations in a rural Northern Califor-
nia town near the area decimated by the
state’s deadliest wildfire six years ago.
The fire, dubbed the Apache Fire,
started on Monday, burned 691 acres
and was 47% contained by Wednesday
morning, according to Cal Fire. After
firefighters made progress because of
improved weather conditions Tuesday,
authorities said residents could return
to their homes in Palermo, about 30
miles outside Paradise, where the Camp
Fire killed 85 people and destroyed
14,000 homes in 2018.
The Apache Fire has burned at least
two structures and caused one injury.
“Please be mindful of fire personnel
in the area and possible hazards associ-
ated with the fire,” Cal Fire and the Butte
County Fire Department said Tuesday
evening.
Meanwhile, crews in New Mexico
and Oregon were contending with their
own blazes, and two fires in southern
New Mexico were still burning after
more than a week.
Progress made in New Mexico
wildfires, authorities seek culprits
Firefighters have made inroads on
the two wildfires that have killed two
people and displaced thousands on
Mescalero Tribal land and in the area of
Ruidoso, about two hours outside Albu-
querque.
The FBI is offering a $10,000 reward
for information leading to the arrests of
the people who may have started the
Biden pardons vets convicted
during military ban on gay sex
Francesca Chambers
and Rachel Barber
USA TODAY
President Joe Biden is issuing a proc-
lamation pardoning thousands of U.S.
veterans who were convicted under a
military law that banned gay sex, mak-
ing them eligible to apply for previously
withheld benefits.
In a statement early Wednesday an-
nouncing the clemency actions, Biden
said he was “righting an historic wrong”
to pardon former service members “who
were convicted simply for being them-
selves.”
The ban held for more than six dec-
ades until Congress in 2013 amended
the Uniform Code of Military Justice Ar-
ticle 125, which had criminalized con-
sensual sodomy, after the repeal of
“don’t ask don’t tell.”
“Despite their courage and great sac-
rifice, thousands of LGBTQI+ service
members were forced out of the military
because of their sexual orientation or
gender identity. Some of these patriotic
Americans were subject to court-mar-
tial, and have carried the burden of this
great injustice for decades,” Biden said.
Affected veterans will automatically
receive a pardon. But to receive care and
previously withheld benefits, individual
service members will have to provide
proof they qualify, a senior administra-
Social media
Continued from Page 1A
deciding the underlying First Amend-
ment issue, the justices avoided saying
when governments go too far in inter-
acting with media platforms about their
content.
The Republican-led states of Missou-
ri and Louisiana and five individual us-
ers of social media had charged the
White House, the surgeon general and
others with violating their free speech
rights by coercing Facebook, YouTube
and X (formerly Twitter) to remove or
downgrade posts.
The Department of Justice said gov-
ernment agencies weren’t improperly
threatening social media companies,
but instead, were encouraging them to
remove harmful or false information, in-
cluding about vaccines. There was no
retaliation when the platforms did not
comply, the DOJ said.
In July 2023, a district court in Loui-
siana sided against the administration,
Fire crews worked to contain the Apache Fire in the early morning hours on Tuesday in Oroville, Calif. The fire started on
Monday, burned 691 acres and was 47% contained by Wednesday morning. ETHAN SWOPE/GETTY IMAGES
fires.
The South Fork fire had burned 17,569
acres and was 64% contained, and the
Salt Fire had burned 7,939 acres and was
55% contained, officials said early
Wednesday. Residents were allowed to
return to their homes this week after
evacuation orders were lifted, but crews
were still working on flames along High-
way 70. The fires have been burning
since June 17.
Officials asked residents near Ruido-
so not to set off fireworks this Fourth of
July to prevent igniting new fires in the
dry climate.
tion official said.
Once they have a certificate of par-
don, they can apply to have their dis-
charge characterization changed, the
official said. The specific details of the
process will be available on the De-
fense Department website, and infor-
mation will be provided to veterans by
the Justice Department.
The Biden administration esti-
mates that thousands of people were
convicted under Article 125 before it
was rewritten by Congress. Officials
were unable to say how many might
seek benefits, how long the applica-
tion process would take or how the ad-
ministration plans to reach reach vet-
erans experiencing homelessness.
Biden said in a statement that he is
“committed to maintaining the finest
fighting force in the world,” and that
includes making sure that “every
member of our military is safe and re-
spected.”
“This is about dignity, decency, and
ensuring the culture of our Armed
Forces reflect the values that make us
an exceptional nation,” Biden said.
CNN was first to report the presi-
dent’s plan to issue the proclamation.
The proclamation is Biden’s latest
use of his clemency authority after he
issued a sweeping pardon late last year
for every American who had used mar-
ijuana.
imposing sweeping restrictions on the
government’s interaction with social
media platforms.
The New Orleans-based 5th Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals narrowed the re-
straints. But the DOJ said that would
still place unprecedented limits on how
government officials can speak about
matters of public concern, address na-
tional security threats, or relay public
health information.
The restrictions were on hold while
the Supreme Court reviewed the case.
Experts had called the case, Murthy
v. Missouri, a unique chance for the
court to define how far governments
may go to protect against online distri-
bution of harmful content.
Alex Abdo, litigation director of the
Knight First Amendment Institute at
Columbia University, said it was disap-
pointing the high court didn’t provide
more guidance on the limits the First
Amendment places on the govern-
ment’s pressure campaigns.
“This guidance would have been es-
pecially valuable in the months leading
up to the election,” he told USA TODAY.
Oregon blaze spreads rapidly,
fueled by fire weather
A fast-growing fire that sprang up on
Tuesday in central Oregon had con-
sumed more than 2,400 acres as of
Wednesday morning, up from 1,700
acres Tuesday evening, authorities said.
The Darlene 3 Fire was 30% contained
overnight.
Darlene 3 was reported after noon
Tuesday, prompting evacuations to res-
idents nearby and closing camp-
grounds. Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek in-
voked the state’s Emergency Conflagra-
Space junk
Continued from Page 1A
growing amount of junk in space
means those occurrences may happen
more frequently in the future.
So who should pay in a case like the
Oteros’, and how worried should peo-
ple be about space objects hurtling
toward them?
This is an “unprecedented” scenar-
io, said Michelle L.D. Hanlon, director
of the Center for Air and Space Law at
the University of Mississippi School of
Law.
“It’s a really fascinating story,” Han-
lon told USA TODAY. “I don’t think it’s
going to happen to you, but I hope it
does get people to think about space,
because space is an integral part of our
lives, and it’s just going to become
even more so.”
Who pays for the damage?
There is an international treaty to
deal with just such an event. It says
that if space junk falls to Earth and
causes damage or injury, whatever
country launched the object is respon-
sible, without anyone having to prove
that negligence caused it, Hanlon said.
It doesn’t apply, however, when a
country’s own space object causes
harm to its own citizens. The piece that
came through the family’s house in
Florida from the space station was U.S.
space junk, so the family had to file a
claim through the Federal Tort Claims
But the Supreme Court said the chal-
lengers failed to show enough of a con-
nection between the Biden administra-
tion’s communications with social
media companies and restrictions on
their postings.
“To be sure, the record reflects that
the Government defendants played a
role in at least some of the platforms’
moderation choices,” Barrett wrote.
“But the Fifth Circuit, by attributing ev-
ery platform decision at least in part to
the defendants, glossed over complex-
ities in the evidence.”
Even if there was a link, Barrett
wrote, the challengers didn’t show
enough likelihood that they would be
harmed in the future.
Platforms have continued to enforce
their own policies against COVID-19
misinformation, so blocking the govern-
ment from communicating with the
companies is unlikely to make a differ-
ence, the majority said.
The court also heard another case
this year about content moderation, ex-
amining the constitutionality of laws
passed by Florida and Texas to limit the
NEWS
tion Act to mobilize resources statewide
to fight the fire, according to Fire Mar-
shal Mariana Ruiz-Temple.
Photos and video posted to social
media by the Deschutes County Sher-
iff ’s Office showed a huge plume of dark
smoke rising over homes and forest.
“This fire has quickly grown within
the last few hours, pushed by gusty
winds and high fire conditions,” Ruiz-
Temple said Tuesday.
“As we enter the hot and dry summer
months, I am asking Oregonians to do
everything they can to prevent wild-
fires.”
Act, the process by which American citi-
zens can sue the federal government −
which requires them to prove negli-
gence, Hanlon said.
NASA has six months to respond to
the claim. The agency can choose to set-
tle with the family, Hanlon said, or the
case would go to court, and the outcome
could set a precedent for space junk
cases in the U.S. going forward.
“It’s very interesting situation, be-
cause there’s no way to actually prove
negligence,” Hanlon said. She said that
it would be impossible to send inspec-
tors up to the space station to evaluate
and that NASA’s analyses led it to be-
lieve the pallet released in 2021 would
orbit Earth for a few years before burn-
ing up on reentry to the atmosphere.
Space is getting crowded
NASA estimates there are 17.6 million
pounds of objects in Earth’s orbit, and
the volume of space junk is only expect-
ed to increase.
Though the risk of being struck by
debris is low – about 1 in 100 billion –
there have been documented cases of
minor injury resulting from falling space
junk. In 1997, Oklahoman Lottie Wil-
liams was famously hit but not hurt by a
falling piece of a U.S. Delta II rocket
while she was at a park.
“It’s going to happen again,” Hanlon
said, referring to space junk liability
claims. “It’s not like the sky is falling ...
but it’s going to happen more and more.”
Contributing: Janet Loehrke and
Gabe Hauari, USA TODAY; Dave Osborn,
USA TODAY Network-Florida
ability of social media giants to regulate
user content.
Both cases grew out of concern from
conservatives that their views were be-
ing suppressed, including claims of
2020 election fraud, the origin of and
treatments for COVID-19.
The chairman of the House Judiciary
Committee, Rep. Jim Jordan, who has
argued the Biden administration pres-
sured social media companies to censor
posts about Hunter Biden’s laptop and
COVID-19 vaccines, said Wednesday the
high court’s decision demonstrated the
need for legislation to protect the free-
dom of expression.
“Our country benefits when ideas
can be tested and debated fairly on their
merits, whether online or in the halls of
Congress,” said Jordan, R-Ohio.
“While we respectfully disagree with
the Court’s decision, our investigation
has shown the need for legislative re-
forms, such as the Censorship Account-
ability Act, to better protect Americans
harmed by the unconstitutional censor-
ship-industrial complex. Our important
work will continue.”
NEWS USA TODAY ❚ THURSDAY JUNE 27, 2024 ❚ 5A


 

 



 





 

 
 
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6A ❚ THURSDAY JUNE 27, 2024 ❚ USA TODAY
Justices may loosen Idaho abortion law
Draft opinion would allow
procedure in emergencies
Maureen Groppe
USA TODAY
WASHINGTON − The Supreme Court
may be about to allow emergency abor-
tions in Idaho, according to a copy of the
pending opinion obtained by Bloomberg
News.
The version that appeared briefly on
the court’s website would reinstate a
lower court order that had allowed hos-
pitals to perform abortions needed to
protect the health of the mother.
A majority planned to dismiss the
case as “improvidently granted,”
Bloomberg reported.
While the litigation would continue,
the opinion would still be a win for the
Biden administration, which had chal-
lenged Idaho’s strict abortion ban. The
administration argued abortions are the
standard of care in some situations un-
der a federal law that requires hospitals
provide emergency treatment regard-
less of a patient’s ability to pay.
That underlying issue would still
need to be resolved. But the court would
reverse its January decision that al-
lowed Idaho to fully enforce its ban in
the meantime.
Still, the response from some abor-
tion rights advocates was less than en-
thusiastic.
Mini Timmaraju, president and CEO
of Reproductive Freedom for All, said
she agrees with the reported views of
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson that the
decision is not a victory, but a delay.
Fatima Goss Graves, who heads the
National Women’s Law Center, said the
COVID-19 cases on the Closed-door espionage trial
rise as summer kicks off for reporter begins in Russia
Eduardo Cuevas
USA TODAY
Just as summer gatherings begin,
Americans are also catching COVID-19
again.
Cases predictably rose, in upticks,
during the winter with more people in-
doors. They are also increasing as ex-
perts expected at the start of summer.
Centers for Disease Control and Pre-
vention data shows small jumps in
hospitalizations and deaths and slight
increases in new cases. This latest rise
in cases shows how the virus has per-
sisted four years since the start of the
COVID-19 pandemic.
“When you begin to see a pattern,
you then might say it’s becoming en-
demic,” Dr. Jessica Justman, a profes-
sor of epidemiology and medicine at
Columbia University, told USA TODAY.
“When something is endemic, that
does not mean it’s going away. That
means it’s staying around.”
Another common endemic disease
Americans have learned to prevent
routinely is seasonal flu.
SARS-CoV-2, like any virus, is con-
stantly mutating so it can infect more
people and survive. New variants and
sub-variants expand outward like
branches from trees, each with differ-
ent mutations seeking to adapt. As the
changes happen, health experts and
officials have responded with vaccines
and other protections to reduce the
risk of serious illness or overwhelmed
health systems.
COVID-19 increases
The upticks from the latest sub-
variants are nowhere near levels the
U.S. experienced in 2020, or when the
omicron variant began to drive cases
and deaths across the globe in 2021.
Hospitalizations and emergency room
visits are far less frequent this season
than in December. Deaths have not
reached the levels of this winter when
more than 2,000 people died from
COVID-19 each week in January. In the
latest CDC estimates as of June 15,
fewer than 150 people died of
COVID-19.
Cases are driven by consistent up-
ticks in a collection of sub-variants
known as FLiRT, named for the muta-
tions’ technical names. FLiRT derives
from the JN.1 variant, descended from
omicron, which dominated cases until
the spring, according to the CDC’s
Nowcast loose estimates of circulating
variants. Now, FLiRT increasingly
causes cases in the U.S. The largest is
the KP.3 sub-variant which accounts
for about a third of cases, followed by
KP.2, and KP.1.1, CDC data showed.
LB.1, derived from JN.1, also accounts
E2
After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 and Idaho tightened
abortion restrictions, doctors have said they can’t treat women who might suffer
serious health consequences without an abortion unless her life is clearly in
danger. TARIQ ZEHAWI/USA TODAY NETWORK
opinion appears to leave the door open
for the Supreme Court to end emergen-
cy abortion care in the coming months
or years.
“It is only a small measure of justice
that for now people in Idaho can con-
tinue to access the care that they need,”
she said.
A spokesperson for the court, Patri-
cia McCabe, said in a statement that no
opinion has been released in the two re-
lated appeals.
“The Court’s Publications Unit inad-
vertently and briefly uploaded a docu-
The CDC warns that new COVID-19
variants, nicknamed FLiRT, have been
found in wastewater. GETTY IMAGES
for a substantial portion of estimated
circulating variants.
The western U.S. and Hawaii have
experienced increases in recent
weeks, CDC data showed. However,
wastewater samples – a surveillance
tool to detect COVID-19’s spread –
across the U.S. appear to show in-
creases in the virus’ spread.
Michael Osterholm, director of the
University of Minnesota’s Center for
Infectious Disease Research and Pol-
icy, said a portion of the new cases in-
volve the FLIRT variant, however, he
noted that the U.S. lacks good sur-
veillance this late in the pandemic.
Is FLiRT more transmissible?
FLiRT may be more transmissible,
partially because of mutations that
make it easier to shield the virus from
antibodies, according to Andy Pe-
kosz, a professor of molecular biology
and immunology at Johns Hopkins
Bloomberg School of Public Health,
in a Q&A in May. But it doesn’t seem
to cause more severe illness or pre-
sent different symptoms.
Vaccines provide protection
against COVID-19, though they may
wane over time. The last vaccine in
late 2023 targeted the XBB.1.5 vari-
ant. In February, the CDC updated its
guidance for people 65 and older to
get a booster of the current vaccine.
In early June, a Food and Drug Ad-
ministration advisory panel recom-
mended vaccine makers to target the
JN.1 lineage. A new round of vaccines
is expected in the late summer or
early fall.
People experiencing respiratory
symptoms should reduce the spread
of the virus by staying home. They
should also contact health providers
for treatment if they’re at serious risk
of illness. Experts continue to recom-
mend wearing a mask and distancing
to reduce transmission of COVID-19.
ment to the Court’s website,” McCabe
said. “The Court’s opinion in these cases
will be issued in due course.”
Since Idaho and other states tight-
ened abortion restrictions after the Su-
preme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in
2022, doctors have said they can’t treat
women who might lose organs or their
reproductive ability, have uncontrolla-
ble bleeding or suffer other serious
health consequences without an abor-
tion − unless her life is clearly in danger.
Women in need of emergency care
have had to travel to other states for
REUTERS
YEKATERINBURG, Russia – U.S.
journalist Evan Gershkovich went on
trial behind closed doors on Wednes-
day in the Russian city of Yekaterin-
burg, where he faces charges of espio-
nage and a likely sentence of up to 20
years in prison.
Prosecutors say the Wall Street
Journal reporter gathered secret infor-
mation on the orders of the U.S. Cen-
tral Intelligence Agency about a com-
pany that manufactures tanks for Rus-
sia’s war in Ukraine.
Gershkovich, his newspaper and
the U.S. government all reject the alle-
gations and say that he was just doing
his job as a reporter accredited by the
Foreign Ministry to work in Russia.
“This bogus accusation of espio-
nage will inevitably lead to a bogus
conviction for an innocent man,” Wall
Street Journal Editor-in-Chief Emma
Tucker said in a letter to readers.
The U.S. embassy said in a state-
ment: “His case is not about evidence,
procedural norms, or the rule of law. It
is about the Kremlin using American
citizens to achieve its political objec-
tives.”
The Kremlin declined to comment
on the opening of the trial. Spokesman
Dmitry Peskov told reporters: “We
know that this topic is very, very reso-
nant in the United States, but it is not
so resonant within our country.”
After several hours of closed pro-
ceedings, the court said the next ses-
sion would take place on Aug. 13 – an
indication the case will drag on for
months.
Journalists were briefly allowed to
film the 32-year-old before the start of
the trial, from which the media are
barred. The reporter’s head was shav-
en, in contrast to previous court ap-
pearances, and wore an open-necked
shirt. He smiled and nodded at col-
leagues he recognized.
Prosecutor Mikael Ozdoyev spoke
briefly to journalists to summarize the
charges. “Gershkovich carried out the
illegal actions while observing pains-
taking conspiratorial measures,” he
said.
Reporter’s trial held in secret
Closed trials are standard in Russia
for alleged treason or espionage in-
volving classified material. The law-
yers sign nondisclosure agreements,
preventing the emergence of any de-
tails on Gershkovich’s alleged actions
and how he will defend himself.
The Kremlin says the case and the
trial arrangements are a matter for the
court, but has stated – without
publishing evidence – that Gershkov-
NEWS
abortions or wait until they’ve gotten
sick enough that a doctor won’t fear vio-
lating a state ban.
During oral arguments in April, Idaho
Solicitor General Joshua Turner said
hospitals don’t have to wait until the
mother is on the verge of death before in-
tervening. But he acknowledged under
questioning from Justice Amy Coney
Barrett that a prosecutor might not agree
with a doctor’s “good faith” assessment
that life-saving care is necessary.
Medical providers who violate Ida-
ho’s law can be imprisoned and lose
their license.
The 1986 federal law at issue, the
Emergency Medical Treatment and La-
bor Act (EMTALA), was one of the few
tools President Joe Biden had to re-
spond to the court’s elimination of the
national right to an abortion.
Biden directed the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services to make
it clear doctors must provide abortions
if needed in emergency situations to
prevent death or serious illness.
Texas challenged that directive while
the Justice Department challenged Ida-
ho’s law.
The Louisiana-based 5th Circuit
Court of Appeals sided with Texas and
the California-based 9th Circuit Court
of Appeals sided with the Biden admini-
stration.
The Supreme Court in January al-
lowed Idaho to fully enforce its law
while it considered the issue.
Most voters (62%) support a federal
right to abortion, according to an April
survey from KFF, a nonpartisan health
policy group.
The combined cases are Moyle v.
United States and Idaho v. United
States.
Evan Gershkovich appears at a hearing
in Yekaterinburg, Russia, on
Wednesday. EVGENIA NOVOZHENINA/REUTERS
ich was caught “red-handed.”
Against the background of the Uk-
raine war, he and other Americans de-
tained in Russia have been caught up in
the gravest crisis between Moscow and
Washington for more than 60 years.
President Vladimir Putin has said
that Russia is open to a prisoner ex-
change involving Gershkovich and that
contacts with the United States have
taken place but must remain secret.
The U.S. has accused Russia of using
Gershkovich and another jailed Ameri-
can, Paul Whelan, as bargaining chips.
It has designated both men as “wrong-
fully detained” and says it is committed
to bringing them home.
The U.S. Embassy said Russian au-
thorities had failed to provide evidence
supporting the charges against Gersh-
kovich or to explain why his work as a
journalist constituted a crime.
Details of reporting trip unclear
The trial is taking place in Yekaterin-
burg, 900 miles east of Moscow, where
officers of the FSB security service ar-
rested Gershkovich on March 29, 2023,
while he was eating in a steakhouse. He
has spent nearly 16 months in Moscow’s
Lefortovo prison.
The Wall Street Journal has declined
to comment on the purpose of his re-
porting trip to the Urals region or on the
specific allegation that he was seeking
information on Uralvagonzavod, a sup-
plier of tanks for Russia’s war in Uk-
raine.
“He was there as an accredited jour-
nalist, doing his job,” Wall Street Journal
publisher Almar Latour told Reuters in a
phone interview before the trial.
Many Western news organizations
pulled staff out of Russia after Putin
sent his army into Ukraine in February
2022 and Moscow passed laws that set
long prison terms for “discrediting” the
armed forces or spreading “fake news”
about them.
NEWS
OPINION
Supreme Court is doing what Congress won’t
Dace Potas
USA TODAY
In the coming days, the Supreme
Court is expected to hand down deci-
sions on a dozen outstanding cases re-
maining for the term, which serves as a
sad reminder that the nine justices
make up the only branch of our federal
government actually doing its job.
With cases considering the future of
the administrative state, the legality of
abortion in medical emergencies and
former President Donald Trump’s im-
munity from prosecution for acts during
his time in office, the nation’s highest
court has taken on the responsibility of
deciding things nobody else seems to
want to touch.
The Supreme Court hears about 1% of
petitions received, or about 60 cases a
year as of late.
Compare that with the 27 bills Con-
gress passed last year and you see the
court is making twice as many impact-
ful constitutional decisions than Con-
gress is passing laws, period.
Congress is a joke
of ineffectiveness
Now, all of this isn’t to say that the
justices are perfect or that people can’t
take issue with their decisions.
However, you can’t say that the jus-
tices aren’t doing their jobs or that Con-
gress isn’t failing at doing its job.
When was the last time Congress had
a busy week solving a problem to make
things better? Sure, our legislators are
Trump-Biden debate is upon us. Don’t ignore Gen Z voters.
Sara Pequeño
USA TODAY
President Joe Biden and former
President Donald Trump will face off in
a debate on CNN Thursday night and
we'll all be watching. If they want to win
over Gen Z, they’ll need to use this time
wisely.
Both major party candidates are dec-
ades older than Generation Z’s oldest
members – Biden is 81, Trump is 78 and
the oldest Zoomers are 27. But they both
need my generation’s attention to eke
out a victory in November.
While it isn’t guaranteed that Gen Z
will tune in (the majority of us prefer
streaming services over cable), both
candidates should be thinking about
how their platforms can be truncated to
fit on a phone screen. As of June, both
candidates are on TikTok, where a third
of 18- to 29-year-olds get their news, ac-
cording to the Pew Research Center.
To get the quick remarks that will
perform best on TikTok or Instagram,
both candidates will need to stay on
topic and consider three major issues
for Gen Z in the upcoming election.
The presidential debate
should focus on the economy
The majority of stories about Gen Z
this election cycle have been about voter
apathy and the disillusionment our gen-
eration feels about the electoral process.
In spite of these headlines, I have
faith that Gen Z voters will show up to
the polls in November.
There are a few issues motivating
Gen Z voters. Tufts University’s Center
for Information and Research on Civic
Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE)
found that the majority of Americans
ages 18-34 say the cost of living/infla-
tion are among their top concerns ahead
of the election.
And 28% say “jobs that pay a living
wage” are among their priorities.
Despite the flak Biden has received
for the economy, parts of it have im-
proved during his time in office. The un-
employment rate has been below 4% for
16 straight months. More than 270,000
“USA TODAY hopes to serve as a forum for better understanding and unity to help make the USA truly one nation.” – Allen H. Neuharth, Founder, Sept. 15, 1982
Chairman and CEO Chief Financial Officer:
Gannett Co. Doug Horne
Michael Reed
busy arguing over the debt ceiling (in-
stead of actually addressing govern-
ment spending) or when they have to
pick a new House speaker (after hastily
disposing of the previous) or expelling
degenerate members. But these are all
solutions to problems they created.
Instead, Republicans in Congress are
more focused on spending their time
defending their felonious presidential
candidate, and Democrats are bickering
over how best to protest Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s con-
gressional address next month.
Congress was so unproductive in
2023 that writers at NPR were able to
summarize every bill they passed in
fewer than 1,000 words.
“Give me one thing I can campaign on
and say we did,” Rep. Chip Roy, a Texas
Republican, asked of his peers last year,
and surely other members share his
sentiment, even if they are the minority.
Supreme Court even
picking up after Congress
Not only are the justices doing their
own job, but they often pick up the slack
left by Congress.
This was precisely the issue at stake
in Garland v. Cargill, the case decided by
the court this month reversing the
Trump-era ban on “bump stocks”
through executive action.
Following the deadliest mass shoot-
ing in modern U.S. history, when a gun-
man killed nearly 60 people and injured
more than 850 at a Las Vegas music fes-
tival in October 2017, there was im-
mense political pressure on Congress to
take action banning bump stocks, the
instrument used in the shooting that
enabled the gunman to emulate fully
A 2020 presidential debate between
President Donald Trump and former
Vice President Joe Biden in Nashville,
Tenn. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/POOL PHOTO
jobs were added in May, and the stock
market has been performing better un-
der Biden. All of these things should be
mentioned at the debate.
Trump and the Republicans typically
blame the president for a reportedly bad
economy. The former president will
likely make these claims again during
the debate.
Trump will probably also mention his
tariff idea, a 10% tax on all goods coming
from outside the United States. I’d rath-
er see the former president talk about
tax cuts or other Republican solutions to
the imagined economic turmoil.
Both candidates would be wise to
talk about the successes under their re-
spective economies, and would also be
wise to attack their opponent’s record.
Gun violence remains a top issue
The survey from CIRCLE revealed
that gun violence is the third most
pressing issue for Gen Z voters, just be-
hind “jobs that pay a living wage” and
“cost of living/inflation.”
Gun violence is also a prevalent issue
because of the Supreme Court. The jus-
tices recently reversed a ban on bump
stocks, which alter semiautomatic rifles
and allow them to fire quickly. The ban
was signed into law under the Trump
administration.
Chief Content Officer: Editor in Chief,
Kristin Roberts USA TODAY
Terence Samuel
USA TODAY ❚ THURSDAY JUNE 27, 2024 ❚ 7A
WANT TO COMMENT?
We’re on Facebook (USA TODAY Opinion) and Instagram and X, formerly Twitter (@usatodayopinion).
You can also comment directly on columns.
automatic fire on a semiautomatic rifle.
Congressional members seemed
open to some level of rare agreement on
the action, but before their processes
could run their course, then-President
Trump directed his attorney general to
propose rule changes reclassifying
bump stocks as machine guns.
Congress gave up on the effort.
The Supreme Court was then forced
to decide and ultimately nullify the
Trump action, saying the interpretation
by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Fire-
arms and Explosives of existing law bla-
tantly went beyond the scope of what
the Founding Fathers intended.
So, in a nearly seven-year ordeal,
Congress was given an easy escape
from doing its job, the executive branch
overreached and the Supreme Court
was tasked with sorting out the mess.
This could have been avoided had
Congress done its job and the executive
stayed in its lane.
This is just one example of Congress
doing nothing, leaving the court to take
action.
Anyone looking for more should take
a look through some of Justice Neil Gor-
such’s concurring and dissenting opin-
ions, in which he frequently takes the
extra time to outline how Congress
could fix the problem before the court if
only lawmakers could be bothered.
Instead, the justices are burdened
with decisions they shouldn’t have to
make while lawmakers accomplish the
bare minimum to keep the country run-
ning, often failing at that.
The misalignment of our three
branches of government remains one of
the core problems with our nation’s cur-
rent political state.
If left without remedy, these trends
For Biden, the best option is to talk to
people at March For Our Lives, a youth-
led nonprofit founded after a mass
shooter killed 17 at Marjory Stoneman
Douglas High School in Parkland, Flori-
da. The organization has a number of
objectives from banning assault weap-
ons to addressing poverty and the pris-
on industrial complex in an effort to
curb their effects.
For Trump, addressing gun violence
could mean doubling down on his decla-
ration to NRA members earlier this year
that “no one will lay a finger on your fire-
arms.” It might also require him to dis-
cuss his own gun license, which may be
revoked by the New York Police Depart-
ment because of his recent felony con-
victions. If he does talk about guns, my
hope is that he will at least prioritize
commonsense gun laws over the most
right-wing members of his party.
Abortion is driving
conversations – and voters
If Biden and Trump want to dig into
another issue that motivates both Gen Z
and older generations, they’ll talk about
abortion. The CIRCLE polling found that
19% of Americans ages 18-34 say “ex-
panding access to abortion” is one of
their top three issues.
Surprisingly, both presidential can-
didates are weak on the issue. Biden has
publicly said that he does not personally
support abortion. Trump has tried to
avoid the issue and won’t go on record
about whether he would support a na-
tional ban.
What I would like to hear from both
candidates is simply the word “abor-
tion.” Not something about a “woman’s
right to choose” or the phrase “abortion
on demand.”
I want the two candidates to have an
adult conversation about what they
want to see with regard to abortion na-
tionwide. If Republicans are pushing for
a total abortion ban across the country,
Trump should just say that. He has al-
ready bragged about being the reason
Roe v. Wade was overturned by the U.S.
Supreme Court. If that isn’t the plan, it
needs to be made clear to voters.
For Biden, it’s time to take a page
from Vice President Kamala Harris’
book and acknowledge that abortion is
health care.
Vice President/Group Editor,
Gannett Opinion
Michael McCarter
will only worsen the dysfunction in each
branch of government and the in-
creased scrutiny on the court.
The less Congress does, the more the
court is tasked with alleviating some of
the burden suffered from ambiguous
statutes.
Four justices will be in their 70s
under a new presidential term
Trump’s three Supreme Court ap-
pointees are the most significant legacy
of his presidency, shaping the land-
scape of our politics for the foreseeable
future.
In this presidential election year, the
importance of the court ought to be
weighed by both parties even more, as
the next president could get a lifetime
justice appointment.
The Supreme Court has four justices
who will be in their 70s under a new
presidential term; multiple have known
health problems.
Some Democrats are already con-
cerned with Justice Sonia Sotomayor
remaining on the court into a potential
second Trump term.
The most important thing Congress
does nowadays is confirm the justices
who do the job for them, and even that
has become a partisan sideshow.
We can debate the Supreme Court’s
decisions, many of which are expected
this week, but it’s clear that Congress is
unwilling to do its job, so we’ll be stuck
with the broken system we’ve been
dealing with for years.
Dace Potas is an opinion columnist
for USA TODAY and a graduate of De-
Paul University with a degree in politi-
cal science.
Above all, I want both candidates to
offer solutions. This would align with
what the Biden campaign is doing to
commemorate the anniversary of the
ruling that overturned Roe, and would
show voters that he takes the issue seri-
ously in spite of his personal beliefs.
Ultimately, we just need these
two candidates not to lose focus
There are other issues factoring into
Gen Z’s vote. The poll from CIRCLE at
Tufts University found that climate
change, public education and immigra-
tion are issues people ages 18-34 care
about, just not as much as they care
about the economy or gun violence.
What respondents found important
also differed based on race: Among eco-
nomic issues and gun violence preven-
tion, fighting racism was a top issue.
It’s unclear how much Gen Z cares
about Trump’s new felony convictions.
While there has yet to be any age-spe-
cific polling on the hush money trial’s
outcome, 21% of independents say
they’re less likely to support Trump be-
cause of it.
If Biden is smart, he will use the
34 counts of falsifying business records
to hammer home how unfit Trump is to
be president.
It’ll be a miracle if Biden and Trump
get through Thursday night without los-
ing the plot. According to the rules of the
debate, microphones will be muted until
it is the respective candidate’s turn to
speak.
Both men should aim for sound bites
to use on TikTok, Instagram and other
social media sites. That’ll be easier if
you aren’t being interrupted every few
seconds.
Still, it’s embarrassing that we can’t
trust two of the oldest nominees for
president to act like anything other than
children. There are high school debate
teams that manage themselves better.
If Biden and Trump are serious about
winning over Gen Z, a generation largely
up for grabs this election cycle, they’ll
need to prove it at the debate. They’ll be
grateful they did come November.
Follow USA TODAY elections colum-
nist Sara Pequeño on X, formerly Twit-
ter, @sara__pequeno and Facebook
facebook.com/PequenoWrites
Vice President/Executive Editor,
Sports
Roxanna Scott
8A ❚ THURSDAY JUNE 27, 2024 ❚ USA TODAY NEWS

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MONEY
Verizon rolls out changes
to its logo and brand
The telecom giant kicks off a new advertising
USA TODAY | THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 2024 | SECTION B campaign and offers new deals. Page 3B
You can check the headlines
from your home state or city
We survey and compile the top news stories
from all 50 states plus Washington, D.C. Page 4B

MONEYLINE

Keep on
truckin’
AARON E. MARTINEZ/USA TODAY NETWORK This Oklahoma business
empire started with one store
THOUSANDS OF TESLA
CYBERTRUCKS RECALLED

Tesla is recalling thousands of Cy-

bertrucks in a pair of recalls − one for
a windshield wiper malfunction and
one for a trunk bed trim issue − both
which can increase the risk of a crash,
federal highway safety regulators said.
One recall is due to a potential wind-
shield wiper issue that may reduce
visibility and affects 11,688 of the
electric pickup trucks, the National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration
said. According to the agency, in some
cases the windshield wiper fails with-
out warning and will not work when it
is raining. The second recall is for the
trunk bed trim sail applique, which Love’s Travel Stops now has nearly 650 stores catering to casual drivers and professional truckers in 42 states.
could have been improperly adhered PROVIDED BY LOVE’S TRAVEL STOP
and can loosen. It affects 11,383 2024
Cybertruck vehicles. Richard Mize The Oklahoman | USA TODAY NETWORK
What you may not
WATONGA, Okla. – Harold Wells, 73, has worked for Love’s know about Love’s
CDK GLOBAL: OUTAGES Travel Stops & Country Stores for 51 years, an entire career, h Love’s is growing its Fresh
TO CONTINUE INTO JULY Kitchen concept after
after starting out here in one of the late Tom Love’s earliest customer feedback, offering
CDK Global said in a message to cli- stores. h Al Harper, 70, is still here in Watonga, where he grew fresh, healthier and
ents its system shutdown is expected diet-specific food options,
to continue at least until the end of up and where he’s worked for 24 years in Love’s No. 1, the first including a new omelet bowl,
the month. The company that pro- of what is now nearly 650 Love’s Travel Stops and convenience upgraded snack trays,
vides software to car dealerships in improved mac and cheese
North America does not expect to get stores catering to casual drivers and professional truckers in bowls, and other items.
“all dealers live” before Sunday, June 42 states. The company has about 40,000 employees. h Love’s, a top 10 restaurant
30, according an update to customers
operator in the U.S., with
viewed by multiple media outlets
Over those decades, Wells and Harper have demonstrated, actually quick-service offerings from
including Reuters and Bloomberg on
lived out what Love’s points to for its success: “humble beginnings, team- Arby’s to McDonald’s to
Tuesday. CDK, which continues to
work, work ethic and perseverance.” Wendy’s, will add 20
grapple with the cyberhack and ran-
The Love family, and the family-owned corporation, which is celebrat- restaurants this year.
som demand, has been working to
restore systems used by 15,000 auto ing its 60th anniversary, say those aspects of the company’s culture – h Love’s will keep expanding
dealers nationwide, Reuters reported. humble beginnings, teamwork, work ethic and perseverance – have guid- its own branded food and
Some dealerships have reverted to ed its growth since Tom and Judy Love started out in 1964. snacks including new chip
paper methods to conduct business. Judy Love doesn’t say much to the media, but in light of Love’s 60th flavors, meat sticks, honey
This attack has dramatically impacted anniversary, she told The Oklahoman: buns, powdered doughnuts
salespeople’s ability to process orders and cookies.
for customers. See LOVE’S, Page 2B

HOOTERS CLOSES 44
RESTAURANTS AROUND US
At least 44 “underperforming” Hoot-
ers restaurants have been permanent-
ly closed in 14 states across the nation
in response to “pressure from current
market conditions,” the chain told USA
TODAY. Hooters will continue to open
locations domestically and interna-
tionally while launching Hooters fro-
zen products at grocery stores. “En-
suring the well-being of our staff is
our priority in these rare instances,”
the statement issued Monday says.
“This brand of 41 years remains highly
resilient and relevant. We look forward
to continuing to serve our guests at
home, on the go and at our restau-
rants here in the U.S. and around the
globe.” The company did not clarify
which Hooters locations closed or
share a timeline for the closures.
Big changes are in the works for Disney Genie+
Eve Chen
USA TODAY
Disney Genie+ is going away at Walt
Disney World, sort of.
Starting July 24, Genie+ will be
called Lightning Lane Multi Pass, and
Individual Lightning Lanes will be
called Lightning Lane Single Passes,
but that’s not the biggest change.
Beginning that same day, guests
will be able to reserve rides and shows
ahead of time instead of having to wait
for park days, as part of changes first
teased in May 2023.
“Lightning Lane passes will blend
features from our current services and
the previously offered FastPass+ ser-
vice, giving guests the choice to plan
Day or night, rain or shine, there’s
always a long standby line for Peter
Pan’s Flight at Disney World.
BRITT KENNERLY/USA TODAY NETWORK
ahead and removing the hassle of plan-
ning during their vacation,” the Florida
resort announced Tuesday.
Here’s what guests should know.
How does Disney Lightning Lane
work?
The Lightning Lane Multi Pass will
include the same rides currently cov-
ered by Genie+ as well as Tiana’s Bayou
Adventure, which opens on June 28. A
la carte Lightning Lane Single Passes
will be available for the most popular at-
tractions at each park, like Individual
Lightning Lanes.
However, starting July 24, guests will
See GENIE+, Page 2B

Pack patience, leave early if traveling around July 4th

Kathleen Wong
USA TODAY
If you’re one of the projected record-
breaking 70.9 million travelers going on
a Fourth of July trip, get ready to pack
some patience.
“With summer vacations in full
swing and the flexibility of remote work,
more Americans are taking extended
trips around Independence Day,” said
Paula Twidale, senior vice president of
AAA Travel, in a statement. “We antici-
pate this July 4 week will be the busiest
ever with an additional 5.7 million peo-
ple traveling compared to 2019.”
Whether you’re going by airplane or
car, traveler numbers are hitting historic
highs. An estimated 5.74 million people
will fly to their Independence Day desti-
nation, a 7% increase from 2023. (We
can thank domestic airfare being slight-
ly cheaper this year for that.)
This year, 2.8 million more people
will travel by car than last year, for a to-
tal of 60.6 million travelers. According
to AAA partner and rental car company
Hertz, cities like Dallas, Los Angeles,
Denver and San Francisco are showing
the highest rental car demand.
Here’s everything you need to know
about Fourth of July travel.
What are the most popular
destinations?
Many travelers are headed to the
coast for their Independence Day trip,
with states like Hawaii and Florida top-
ping the list. With the best time for Alas-
kan cruises in full swing, cities like Seat-
tle, Vancouver and Anchorage are pop-
ular among travelers. As expected, be-
loved European destinations like
London and Rome earned spots on the
list as well.
Most popular domestic destina-
tions: 1. Seattle; 2. Orlando, Florida; 3.
Anchorage, Alaska; 4. Honolulu; 5. Mi-
ami
Most popular international desti-
nations: 1. Vancouver, British Columbia;
2. London; 3. Rome; 4. Dublin; 5. Paris
What are the best times to drive?
As is typical with holiday travel, the
early bird will catch the worm, which
means encountering the least traffic.
Drivers should depart on their Inde-
pendence Day road trips before noon on
July 3 and 4. To return home, drivers
should leave before 11 a.m. on July 7 and
after 7 p.m. on July 8.
What are the worst times to drive?
“Drivers in large metro areas can ex-
pect the worst traffic delays on Wednes-
day, July 3, as they leave town, and Sun-
day, July 7, as they return,” Bob Pishue,
transportation analyst at INRIX, said in
a statement. “Road trips over the holi-
day week could take up to 67% longer
than normal.”
On July 3 and 4, drivers should avoid
being on the road between 2 p.m. and 7
p.m., when traffic will be most congest-
ed. On Friday, July 5, the worst traffic
will be between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m.
On Saturday, July 5, the worst traffic
for travelers returning home will be be-
tween 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. The
worst traffic is expected July 7.
2B ❚ THURSDAY JUNE 27, 2024 ❚ USA TODAY
Love’s
Continued from Page 1B
“When Tom and I opened the first lo-
cation in Watonga 60 years ago, we
couldn’t imagine what this company
would become. The journey has been
amazing. One thing I know is that we
wouldn’t be here without our loyal team
members and customers. We are fortu-
nate so I feel that we should help others.
That’s why we’ve always given back to
many nonprofit organizations.”
Harper said a manager at Love’s No. 1
recruited him to take the night shift in
2001, when shoplifters and others were
causing the store trouble. It was his sec-
ond career after 27 years working at a
carpet mill until it closed. He said he
“got it cleaned up,” and has been happy
working there ever since.
“I like meeting the people. I told (a su-
pervisor), ‘I’ll stay here and keep the
store going as long as I can,’” the 70-
year-old said.
Wells started at Love’s in Watonga
part time in 1972, when he was working
on degrees in math and physics at
Southwestern State College in Weather-
ford, just before it was renamed South-
western Oklahoma State University. He
graduated but stayed with Love’s, never
looking back.
Wells is Love’s manager of retail ac-
counting systems and has lived in Ed-
mond and worked at company head-
quarters – at suburban 10601 N. Penn-
sylvania Ave. in The Village – for dec-
ades. He said every innovation Love’s
has made over the years has given him
something new and exciting to learn. He
could have retired 10 years ago, but he’s
kept at it. “It’s easy to work for a compa-
ny and believe in what you do,” he said,
when the company has a reputation like
Love’s.
Love’s Field: A reminder that roots
and reputation helped bring the
big-hearted Loves big riches
Roots and reputation helped make
Love’s a top workplace, and helped
make the Loves generous billionaires,
giving to causes across the state, not
just in Oklahoma City.
Love’s Travel Stops had $26.5 billion
in revenue last year, according to
Forbes, making it the ninth-largest pri-
vate company in the country. Judy Love
had a net worth of $10.2 billion, landing
her at No. 2 on USA Today’s list of
“America’s richest self-made women.”
Symbols abound for “humble begin-
nings, teamwork, work ethic and perse-
verance.” Add benevolence, and the
symbol Jenny Love Meyer keeps in her
office makes sense. She’s a daughter of
Tom and Judy Love, and Love’s chief
culture officer.
The reminder of what it took to get
the family and company where they
are? A softball trophy, but a replica,
making it a reminder of a reminder:
Love’s Field, which opened this year.
Love’s contributed the lead gift of the
$37 million that helped pay for the $48
million field and stadium, earning it
naming rights. The trophy is a reproduc-
tion of the University of Oklahoma
Sooners’ 2023 NCAA championship
softball trophy.
“This 44,000 square-foot complex is
a nod to Coach (Patty) Gasso and all
those who have been instrumental to
building the Oklahoma softball dynasty
and hopefully an inspiration for the
female student-athletes who compete
in it. They are our leaders of the future,”
Love Meyer said. “Love’s is humbled to
stand alongside the more than 1,100 do-
nors who graciously supported this pro-
ject. The $37 million raised is the largest
dollar amount privately fundraised for a
female-specific facility project in col-
lege athletics history.”
Raising Love’s Field took years and “a
village of dedicated people to complete,”
Love Meyer said. She said she sees par-
allels to her parents’ success after their
beginnings in Watonga and Gasso’s suc-
cess after 30 years of “building a softball
powerhouse in Norman, Oklahoma.”
“With little money to invest and a
growing family to support, my parents
used a $5,000 loan to lease an aban-
doned service station in Watonga, a
small community 60 miles west of Okla-
Genie+
Continued from Page 1B
no longer have to wait for their park day
to reserve experiences.
h Guests staying at Disney World’s
resort hotels can make selections up to
seven days in advance, all at once, for up
to 14 days of their stay. Other guests can
make selections up to three days in ad-
vance.
h Guests can make up to three ad-
Tom Love, the founder of Love’s Travel Stops, is pictured in this 2012 file photo
taken during the opening of Love’s first “fast fill” CNG facility at Interstate 40
and Morgan Road in Oklahoma City. USA TODAY NETWORK FILE PHOTO
The first Love’s, opened by Tom and
Judy Love, is shown in Watonga.
PROVIDED BY LOVE’S TRAVEL STOPS
homa City,” she said. “That initial will-
ingness to start and grow a business re-
quired confidence, innovative thinking,
hard work and perseverance, and is why
Love’s is where it is today.
“Similarly, when Coach Gasso arrived
in Norman in 1994, she organized prac-
tices at a local park and needed to
schedule practice in between slow pitch
softball leagues. And sometimes had to
clean up the dugout from festivities the
night before.
“She never gave up. From former OU
Associate Athletic Director Marita
Hynes, Coach Gasso, softball alumni, to
current players, and the university, they
persevered through all the challenges.
That championship mindset is how suc-
cess is built.”
Nobody in the Love family, or among
the earliest employees, could have
dreamed that Love’s, first called Musket
Corp., would ever become such a retail
juggernaut, with locations popping up
along interstate highways like spring
dandelions – plus several other ven-
tures catering to, and supporting, the
trucking industry, everyday travelers,
and fuel supply chain management.
“When my parents opened our first
location 60 years ago, they never imag-
ined what Love’s would grow into,” Love
Meyer said. “They had two small chil-
dren to feed and bills to pay and had to
figure out a way to do that. My dad had
the idea to lease an abandoned filling
station, and through hard work, finding
ways to learn about the business and, as
he would say, working with and hiring
people smarter than him, they grew it
into what it is today.
“We attribute our success to our team
members and customers. They’ve
helped us grow into what we are today
while remaining true to the family-
owned and -operated business model
that we know sets us apart from com-
petitors. We always say that if our teams
take care of customers, we’ll take care of
them, and we think that’s been a pretty
good standard to live by.”
Love’s rolls both ways, with
professional drivers and casual
customers
If you’re a professional truck driver,
Love’s is a truck stop. If you’re not,
Love’s is a convenience store with fast
food. Chances are, trucker or not, you
don’t know what all drives the family-
owned company.
Love’s rolls both ways, of course.
Two-thirds of fuel sales are to profes-
sional drivers, and two-thirds of in-
vance Lightning Lane Multi Pass selec-
tions for each day of their trip. Once they
arrive at the park and complete their
first experience, they can book addi-
tional experiences pending availability.
Lightning Lane Single Passes remain
limited to two per day, like Individual
Lightning Lanes are currently.
h Guests will also be able to see
prices and select attraction times before
purchasing passes “so you know what
you’re getting.” Currently, guests have to
purchase Genie+ before they can see
availability. Disney World’s app and
Tom and Judy Love, children Laura and
Greg standing, Jenny and Frank
sitting, with Little Bud, their English
Setter, in an undated family portrait.
PROVIDED BY LOVE’S TRAVEL STOPS
store sales are to casual customers, the
company says. But Love’s business is
more than gasoline, diesel, and road trip
snacks and fast food.
This year, the company plans to add
up to 25 new locations, update up to 40
older stores, and rebuild four, among
other company expansions, said Shane
Wharton, Love’s president.
“Six decades ago, (the late) Tom Love
opened our first service station in Wa-
tonga, Oklahoma, and almost immedi-
ately started selling household items to
make stopping in more convenient for
customers,” Wharton said. “Today, as
the only major travel stop that is still
family owned and operated, we con-
tinue with his innovative spirit by add-
ing new products and improving the ex-
perience to give customers more rea-
sons to stop in.”
Four generations of Loves are in-
volved with the company, including bil-
lionaire co-founder Judy Love. But nu-
merous others have helped build Love’s
since 1964, Love-Meyer said.
“While a lot has changed ... the heart
of Love’s has not,” she said. “We are so
grateful for our incredible team mem-
bers – past and present – whose contri-
butions play a role in shaping our com-
pany.
“Growth and innovation of our prod-
uct offerings, living our core values and
culture daily, and dedication to clean
places, friendly faces are what this com-
pany was started on in 1964. Today, we
proudly stand on that foundation and
know our best is still ahead of us.”
Love’s went on a buying spree in
2023, its biggest year for mergers and
acquisitions.
The company acquired EZ GO from
Lawton-based Carey Johnson Oil Co.,
including six travel stops on Oklahoma
turnpikes, five on the Kansas turnpike
and 11 convenience stores in Oklahoma
and Nebraska.
EZ GO, like Love’s, features franchise
food and owns and operates Back Forty
Barbecue at two locations. Terms of the
deal were not disclosed.
Houston-based Musket Corp.,
owned by Love’s, established European
operations with headquarters in Gene-
va, Switzerland. Musket’s focus is sup-
website will be updated for easier plan-
ning and purchasing.
How much is the Lightning Lane
at Disney World?
Disney Lightning Lane pricing varies
by date and park.
There will be no price increase relat-
ed to these changes.
Why is Genie+ changing?
Disney World said: “Guests have told
MONEY
plying Love’s Travel Stops with gasoline
and diesel and managing the company’s
biodiesel program. Subsidiary Musket
Europe SARL extends the company’s
commodity supply and logistics, pro-
viding relief for the instability in global
fuel supply chains.
Love’s also bought OKC-based TVC
Pro-Driver, a motor club and commer-
cial driver’s license protection service. It
assists drivers and fleets in reducing or
dismissing fines, preventing downtime
for court, and protecting federal compli-
ance, safety and accountability scores.
A subscription provides access to a net-
work of attorneys and discounts on
safety solutions, health care and more.
Terms were not disclosed.
Love’s continues to expand and en-
hance services for drivers – profession-
al and casual.
Through awards from the Federal
Highway Administration’s National
Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula
Program, Love’s-owned Trillium Energy
Solutions, which Love’s acquired in
2016, plans to add to Love’s electric ve-
hicle fast-charging network with new
chargers at 29 locations this year.
For truckers driving Freightliners,
which Love’s said accounts for about
half all trucks on the road, Freightliner
ExpressPoint is now available at more
than 400 Love’s truck care locations,
providing light mechanical warranty re-
pair work for Freightliner trucks
through Love’s partnership with Daim-
ler Truck North America. Love’s rolled
out the service in January and plans to
expand it this year.
Love’s plans 10 new full-service
Speedco locations next to its travel
stops, 50 maintenance bays and and
about 60 emergency roadside vehicles.
Love’s has owned Speedco since 2017.
Love family philanthropy seen
across Oklahoma, elsewhere
Love’s donates 2% of net profits to
charity and good causes.
“Many know the story of Love’s ...”
Love Meyer said last year in Love’s first-
ever Community Impact Report. “And
from those humble roots, he built a fam-
ily-owned and -operated network of
travel stops now approaching 700 loca-
tions. “But it’s important to know that
from the start, as he built the business,
he cared about the communities where
the stores were located. It is this caring,
combined with a desire to give back,
that is the foundation for charitable giv-
ing at Love’s. This is certainly one of the
legacies my dad left with us. ... Helping
others is nothing new for Love’s.”
This year, in addition to the debut of
Love’s Field, the Oklahoma City Zoo’s
Expedition Africa and completely reno-
vated Love’s Pachyderm Building
opened, the new Women’s Center at
Mercy Hospital opened, and Love’s
Planetarium at Science Museum Okla-
homa is scheduled to open. “Our efforts
are certainly not limited to Oklahoma
and include building meaningful part-
nerships to transform communities na-
tionwide,” Love Meyer said.
Love’s gave away nearly $12 million in
2022, according its 2023 Community
Impact Report – 46% to youths and edu-
cation, 20% to health and human ser-
vices, 25% to civic and community or-
ganizations, and 9% to other needs. Re-
cipients included:
h $6.9 million to Children’s Miracle
Network, which has received nearly
$50 million in all from Love’s.
h $3.5 million to Science Museum
Oklahoma/Love’s Planeterium.
h $150,000 to Operation Home-
front.
h $100,000 to St. Christopher
Trucking Development and Relief
Fund.
h $50,000 to Truckers Against
Trafficking.
In addition, Love’s corporate employ-
ees donated $676,000 to United Way of
Central Oklahoma and 1,400 volunteer
hours to various causes.
Judy Love, as matriarch, has led the
way in the Love family’s giving.
Recipients include Positive Tomor-
rows, the Oklahoma Hall of Fame, the
Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, the Uni-
versity of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State
University, Children’s Miracle Network
and United Way, as well as out-of-state
organizations and groups.
us they would prefer to have the option
to do more of their planning before their
theme park day. So, this summer we will
make changes to our Disney Genie+ ser-
vice and individual Lightning Lane en-
try, including new ways to plan ahead.”
Will Disney Genie
still be available?
The free Disney Genie planning tool
will still be available for all guests to help
plan their trips. The paid Genie+ service
is the one changing.
MONEY
Verizon rolls out changes to logo, brand
Telecom offers wireless,
home internet deals
Mike Snider
USA TODAY
With a slew of new subscriber op-
tions and a revamped brand strategy,
Verizon wants customers to know, “We
hear you now.”
The telecom giant kicks off a new ad-
vertising campaign Wednesday that
harkens back to the “Can You Hear Me
Now?” commercials. The ad starts with
an appearance by the iconic Verizon
technician, who originally was por-
trayed by an actor but is now a real Veri-
zon engineer named Mike Morgan.
The action then expands into other
ways the company connects customers,
including smartphone messaging and
video connections, home broadband,
online gaming and electronic payments.
“We are a telco company but, truly,
we are a life company,” Leslie Berland,
Verizon’s chief marketing officer, told
USA TODAY. “Whether you are at home
… (or) on the road, whether you are at
work, whether you are traveling … in
times of amazingness or times of crisis,
Verizon is there.”
Six Flags “Chief Fright Officer” Edithann Ramey says just stepping into the park will feel creepy. PROVIDED BY SIX FLAGS
Six Flags is betting big on new
Fright Fest Extreme attraction
Eve Chen
USA TODAY
Six Flags Entertainment is taking its
fan-favorite Halloween event to the
next level this year with the debut of
Fright Fest Extreme – Presented By
SNICKERS at two of its parks.
Building on last year’s “Saw” and
“The Conjuring” experiences at Six
Flags Magic Mountain in Southern Cali-
fornia and Six Flags Great Adventure in
New Jersey, those same parks are get-
ting a complete Fright Fest overhaul, go-
ing heavy on intellectual property.
“I think Halloween turns the world
upside down, and these Halloween
movies are thrill rides, so it just became
like the perfect fit for us,” Edithann Ra-
mey, Six Flags’ chief commercial officer
and “Chief Fright Officer,” told USA TO-
DAY.
“It's our busiest time of the year
across the whole nation, and so we did
want to invest big on making them the
most exciting they can be.”
The world’s largest regional theme
park operator is also expanding Fright
Fest offerings at other parks across
North America. Here’s what fans can ex-
pect.
What will Fright Fest
Extreme include?
Six Flags Great Adventure and Six
Flags Magic Mountain will get the most
intellectual property theming.
“Visitors … will step into a world
where nightmarish creatures inspired
by legendary horror brands come to life
with Lionsgate and Twisted Pictures’
‘SAW’ franchise, Netflix’s ‘Stranger
Things’ and ‘Army of the Dead,’ Warner
Bros. Discovery’s ‘The Conjuring,’ ‘An-
nabelle’ and ‘The Nun,’ and Legendary
Entertainment’s ‘Trick ‘r Treat,'” Six
Flags announced Tuesday. “Guests at
Verizon rolling out streaming
deals with campaign
The new ad will be seen on broadcast
and streaming TV, as well as on social
media and in theaters.
With the new ad, Verizon “pushed
ourselves (to) bring that feeling and that
experience and storytelling to life in a
totally different way,” Berland said.
In conjunction with the brand refresh
campaign come newly updated promo-
tions, also available Wednesday. They
include selected discounted streaming
video deals from Disney+, and guaran-
teed smartphone trade-ins for devices
that may be cracked and inoperable.
Verizon MyHome goal: Simplify
home internet
Verizon hopes to make it easier for
customers to get the desired home inter-
net and entertainment options with its
new MyHome internet plans starting at
$35 monthly with auto pay and select
mobile coverage (no hidden fees or
equipment charges).
When you choose a plan, the price
won’t change for up to four years (Veri-
zon Forward plans for low-income cus-
tomers start at $20 monthly.)
Six Flags Great Adventure will also be
treated to a new experience from Leg-
endary Entertainment’s ‘Texas Chain-
saw Massacre’ while visitors to Six Flags
Mexico will have access to a special ex-
clusive maze based on the bestselling
comic series (DCeased) from DC Com-
ics.”
Over the summer, Six Flags will an-
nounce additional IP offerings at other
parks.
How scary will Fright Fest
Extreme be?
Fright Fest Extreme is designed to
scare.
“There's a fanatic of Halloween, a
real true thrill seeker that we want to de-
light,” Ramey said. “When we began this
project, I literally went online and Goo-
gled the top Halloween franchises in
America.” She wanted to understand
what excited these fans and also appeal
to a wide range of guests.
“Like ‘Saw’ is all about like getting
killed maybe two minutes into the film
and your head's exploding. That's one
spectrum of it,” she said. “And then the
other is ‘Stranger Things,’ which has this
beautiful ’80s vibe and this storyline
and this mass appeal … There's a little
bit of everything for everybody.”
The event will also feature creepy de-
cor, outdoor mazes designed to make
guests feel like they could really get lost
in them, roving scare actors aiming to
catch guests off guard, themed food and
drinks, and roller coasters for a different
kind of thrill.
What are the dates
for Fright Fest Extreme?
Fright Fest Extreme will be held
across 32 nights between Sept. 7
through Nov. 3 at both Six Flags Magic
Mountain and Six Flags Great Adven-
USA TODAY ❚ THURSDAY JUNE 27, 2024 ❚ 3B
Customers can now add several
streaming services, including the Dis-
ney Bundle (Disney+, Hulu, and
ESPN+), Netflix and Max (with ads),
YouTube Premium and Walmart+
(which also gets you Paramount+ Es-
sentials streaming) for $10 monthly
each – a discounted rate compared to
subscribing directly. Apple One and Ap-
ple Music Family subscription deals are
expected to be added later this summer.
“The whole internet and entertain-
ment market is very, very complicated
today,” Verizon Consumer CEO Sow-
myanarayan Sampath told USA TODAY.
“So we’ve made it easy for a household
to consume entertainment and get the
best internet. … MyHome is aimed at
solving exactly those pain points. It’s a
single place, all services, and you can
drop and take (them when you want).”
Other optional perks include live TV
from Fios TV (300+ channels) or You-
Tube TV (100+ channels), starting at
$109 or $72.99 monthly, respectively;
cloud storage, and Home Device Advi-
sor tech support.
Verizon wireless phone trade-in;
NFL, Copa America giveaways
Those who have Verizon’s wireless
ture.
It’ll be the longest Fright Fest sea-
son ever for Six Flags Magic Mountain,
which will host the event on select
Thursdays through Sundays. Six Flags
Great Adventure’s Fright Fest Extreme
will run on select Wednesdays through
Sundays.
Ramey says fans may want to come
back multiple times throughout the
season.
“Several of the houses have like
choose your own experience, and after
you go, you're going to want to do that
again and again,” she said.
How much are tickets
to Fright Fest Extreme?
Fright Fest Extreme will be a sepa-
rately ticketed event not included with
regular park admission. Prices vary by
date and ticket type.
Single-night tickets include entry to
all haunted houses. They start at $49
for Six Flags Great Adventure and $75
for Six Flags Magic Mountain as part of
a three-day flash sale launched Tues-
day.
Gold, Platinum and Diamond Sea-
son Pass holders, Six Plus members
and Legacy members with a valid pass
can get into the event for free but will
have to pay a separate fee to enter
haunted houses.
An express upgrade will also be
available for purchase to cut waits.
“We also have spent some time
thinking about the lines, and so when
you're lining up to go into the maze,
what are some of the sensory things
that can be happening as you line up?”
Ramey said. “Showing maybe a little
bit of the film, or showing you some
pictures of the film, or even having
some scares along the way so (waiting
in) line isn't as awful as you think it
would be.”
myPlan Unlimited plans will be able to
trade in any smartphone, regardless of
the condition, toward a new device (for
a value of up to $830).
“The whole thesis of that is, acci-
dents happen, your phone gets injured
and your phone is worth nothing,” Sam-
path said. “Don’t worry about it, give it
to us, we’ll give you full guarantee on it.
It goes back to listening to customers.”
Verizon’s new premium access pro-
gram will give home and mobile cus-
tomers access to ticket presales for con-
certs, including Jelly Roll’s upcoming
tour. Also upcoming: free tickets to Copa
America matches and every NFL game
in the upcoming season. Other give-
aways and events include passes to red-
carpet movie premieres.
Verizon drops check in
its new logo
Another aspect of Verizon’s rebrand-
ing is an updated logo dropping the cur-
rent red checkmark – sometimes seen
as a small V checkmark, too – for a red V
with a yellow glow, used solo and in the
name “Verizon.”
The new logo and ads will play on so-
cial media and digital platforms, as well
as on TV systems.
Cruise line
passenger
says she was
raped at hotel
Kathleen Wong
USA TODAY
A Margaritaville at Sea passenger is
suing the cruise line’s parent company
Classica Cruise Operator claiming she
was sexually assaulted by an employ-
ee of the hotel booked by the company,
according to the lawsuit filed last
week.
The hotel has a history of sexual as-
sault allegations, and the cruise line
was liable to warn about and protect
passengers from the hotel’s “danger-
ous conditions,” said the lawsuit,
which was filed in the U.S. District
Court for the Southern District of Flori-
da. “We want to make people aware,”
Alex Perez, the passenger’s attorney
from the maritime and admiralty law
firm Lipcon, Margulies & Winkleman,
P.A., told USA TODAY. “These things
happen in foreign ports. I know you’re
on vacation but you have to be careful.
This can help people make informed
decisions.”
The passenger, named “Jane Doe” in
the case, is a Missouri resident who
went on a two-day cruise from West
Palm Beach, Florida, to the Bahamas
and back in August 2023.
According to the complaint, Classi-
ca had arranged for the passenger to
stay at the Viva Fortuna Beach by
Wyndham, located in Freeport in the
Bahamas because the ship did not
have cabins available for her.
The lawsuit states that the passen-
ger left her room at night to get water
when an employee forced her into the
control room of the resort’s theatre,
locked the door and raped her.
This isn’t the first allegation of rape
at the Viva Fortuna Beach by Wynd-
ham. In 2016, a TripAdvisor user who
went to the resort to get married wrote
a review saying she was gang raped by
staff when a security officer opened
her door while her husband was out.
The general manager had responded
to the review by saying the resort takes
“allegations of violence very serious-
ly.” The investigation hit a dead-end
when no evidence was found.
Resort employees have a “practice”
of encouraging alcohol to the guests
“with a motive to sexually assault and/
or rape them if they became vulnera-
ble,” according to the complaint.
“Prior to the subject incident, (Clas-
sica and Wyndham) knew or should
have known that the resort was not
reasonably safe and/or employees at
the Resort had a proclivity for sexual
misconduct,” the lawsuit said. Howev-
er, Classica neglected to warn the pas-
senger or provide her with security
during her stay there.
Margaritaville at Sea and Wynd-
ham Hotels & Resorts did not respond
to USA TODAY’s request for comment.
Jane Doe is suing the resort for
damages for the physical injuries and
pain, post-traumatic stress disorder,
“mental anguish,” “loss of enjoyment
of life” and medical expenses among
other things she experienced from the
assault.
4B ❚ THURSDAY JUNE 27, 2024 ❚ USA TODAY
ALABAMA St. Clair County: A couple
crashed into the same church in Ala-
bama days apart, and both died in
fiery wrecks, officials said.
ALASKA Ketchikan: Authorities said
the body of a missing woman has
been found near Ward Lake’s western
shore, KRBD reported.
ARIZONA Phoenix: With temper-
atures climbing above 110 degrees,
extreme summer heat has arrived in
Phoenix, the hottest city in America.
But for the second year in a row, 11 of
Phoenix’s 29 public pools remain
closed, limiting access to a place to
cool off or learn how to swim for peo-
ple in some of the most underprivi-
leged neighborhoods. What’s more,
five of the 11 pools closed this summer
and will most likely never reopen.
ARKANSAS Little Rock: A new U.S.
Coast Guard recruiting office has
opened in Little Rock, KATV reported.
CALIFORNIA Yosemite Valley: A man
who worked in Yosemite National
Park has been indicted in the violent
sexual assault of a fellow employee in
Yosemite Valley last month.
COLORADO Bellvue: Mysterious
monoliths have been popping up in
strange places around the world in
recent years, including Utah’s red
rock country, California, the Nevada
desert and in Las Vegas as well as
Wales and Romania. And most re-
cently on a hill outside of Bellvue,
where a popup reflective monolith
apparently appeared overnight. The
monolith is on private property
owned by Rob and Lori Graves. It
stands approximately 8 feet tall and
4 feet wide and is bolted into a con-
crete pad. The finish reflects the sky
and surrounding foothills.
CONNECTICUT Newtown: Ferris
Acres Creamery in Newtown was
named as best ice cream in Connecti-
cut by Reader’s Digest.
DELAWARE Delaware City: In late
May, Delaware City Refinery spilled
around 1,000 gallons of crude oil into
a wetland surrounding the Delaware
River, making up just one of the facil-
ity’s seven permit violations reported
this year. Although officials from the
refinery have affirmed that this par-
ticular incident has resulted in mini-
mal impact, the Delaware City Refin-
ery has continued to pollute the sur-
rounding air and water with occa-
sionally toxic substances not
permitted by state and federal agen-
cies, according to data from Dela-
ware’s Department of Natural Re-
sources and Environmental Control.
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washing-
ton: U.S. Secretary of State Antony
Blinken met with his counterpart
from the Maldives on Tuesday and
said Washington sought a deeper
partnership with the Indian Ocean
island state and stood with it in en-
suring a free-and-open Indo-Pacific
region and in dealing with climate
change. Maldives Foreign Minister
Moosa Zameer’s Washington visit
comes two months after the party of
President Mohamed Muizzu won a
landslide in parliamentary elections.
FLORIDA Port Canaveral: Disney
Cruise Line is preparing to debut its
new cruise ship, the Treasure, at Port
Canaveral later this year. But it also is
planning ahead as far as 2026, with
the cruise line’s latest announcement
of ship schedules out of Port Canav-
eral and other ports. Disney’s just-
released ship schedules for October
2025 through May 2026 – Disney’s
winter and spring cruise seasons –
shows that the cruise line will have
three ships based on Port Canaveral
during that time.
GEORGIA Athens: The man who was
critically wounded in a machete at-
tack at a homeless center in Athens
on June 20 is recovering at Grady
Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, while
his alleged attacker, convicted of
assaulting a university student seven
years ago with a razor blade, remains
in jail without bond.
HAWAII Honolulu: Professional surf-
er, lifeguard and actor Tamayo Perry,
49, was killed by shark while surfing
near the north shore of Oahu on Sun-
day, officials said.
IDAHO Emmett: Officials said “a
swather striking a rock” caused a fire
that burned an estimated 443 acres
Friday, KTVB7 reported.
INDIANA Indianapolis: Republican
leaders unanimously selected former
state lawmaker Randy Head as the
next chairman of the Indiana Repub-
lican Party.
HIGHLIGHT: ILLINOIS
A plaque commemorating the horseshoe sandwich was unveiled on the Leland
building in Springfield. THOMAS J. TURNEY/USA TODAY NETWORK
Springfield: A central Illinois staple and beloved sandwich is being forever me-
morialized where Texas toast first met buttery cheese sauce. Visit Springfield, a
tourism division of the Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau, unveiled a
plaque to commemorate the birth of the horseshoe sandwich at the historic Le-
land building in Springfield. The location is where the original Springfield horse-
shoe sandwich was created. Visit Springfield marketing manager Amy Beadle
said the idea for the plaque came from tourists asking if the Leland Hotel was still
serving horseshoes.
IOWA West Des Moines: The rec-
ord-breaking Great Dane named
Kevin, recently crowned the world’s
tallest known dog, has died.
KANSAS Topeka: Jack Alexander
Sr.’s ability to bring people together
helped pave the way for other Afri-
can-Americans to gain key positions
with Topeka’s city government.
Alexander, who was elected in 1973
as Topeka’s first Black city commis-
sioner, died Monday at age 93.
KENTUCKY Louisville: Louisville
Metro Police Chief Jacquelyn
Gwinn-Villaroel resigned from her
position Tuesday, the mayor said,
less than two weeks after she was
placed on administrative leave for
her handling of internal sexual ha-
rassment allegations.
LOUISIANA Shreveport: Heirloom
Carbon Technologies, Inc. an-
nounced it is moving forward with
the first phase of a decarbonization
project that combines public and
private investment to create two
direct air capture facilities at the
Port of Caddo-Bossier.
MAINE Augusta: Gov. Janet Mills
signed a proclamation recognizing
Gen. William Whipple, who was
born in Kittery, for his efforts and
contributions to the founding of the
United States. Whipple was the only
native Mainer to sign the Declara-
tion of Independence.
MARYLAND Ocean City: A large
portion of the fence along the be-
loved Ocean City Fishing Pier is
noticeably bare after heaps of love
locks were removed without much
warning in May. Now, signs urging
people to refrain from attaching
additional locks hang in their place.
Most of the locks and much of the
fence have begun to rust as a result
of the salt air. This safety concern is
what ultimately led to their removal,
a decision which has been met with
much controversy from townsfolk
and visitors alike.
MASSACHUSETTS Hyannis: The
number of homeless people on Cape
Cod, Nantucket and Martha’s Vine-
yard has increased since last year to
its highest figure in 10 years, accord-
ing to the annual point-in-time
count. In total, the number of
homeless increased to 568 people,
141 more than last year.
MICHIGAN Detroit: Three Detroit
neighborhoods have been selected
to house solar arrays in the city’s
latest effort to fight climate change.
Mayor Mike Duggan announced
that Gratiot-Findlay, Van Dyke-
Lynch and the State Fair neigh-
borhoods are part of the first phase
selections of Detroit’s solar neigh-
borhoods initiative, which the city
announced last year, to generate
clean energy to offset electricity
used by all 127 municipal buildings.
MINNESOTA St. Cloud: Inspiration
Mock Orbiter arrived at St. Cloud’s
public works building this weekend.
Its arrival comes after months of
high anticipation.
MISSISSIPPI Jackson: Jackson
State University announced it is the
first historically Black college and
university to implement a student
loan repayment program aimed at
fixing the state’s teacher shortage.
MISSOURI Springfield: Drury Uni-
versity provided an update on its
annual fundraising efforts, includ-
ing gifts that were part of the long-
range Fortify the Future campaign.
The private liberal arts institution
announced it raised more than
$15.6 million from June 2023
through May 2024 from 3,671 do-
nors.
MONTANA Helena: A new species
of dinosaur, sporting unusually
ornate horns on its head and behind
its neck, was living alongside at
least four other species of rhinocer-
os- or elephant-type dinosaurs
78 million years ago in what is now
northern Montana, researcher Jo-
seph Sertich said. Sertich, an affili-
ate faculty member at Colorado
State University, and University of
Utah professor Mark Loewen identi-
fied and named the new species
“Lokiceratops rangiformis.”
NEBRASKA Lincoln: Authorities
said that a cockatoo that has been
missing for three weeks had fallen
prey to falcons, Omaha World-Her-
ald reported.
NEVADA Las Vegas: A man suspect-
ed of killing five people and injuring
a 13-year-old girl during a shooting
is now in police custody and “no
longer a threat to the community.”
NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: Some
lawmakers are exploring an 11th
hour attempt to settle a showdown
between Gov. Chris Sununu and the
state’s hospitals over Sununu’s plan
to cut their state Medicaid pay-
ments by nearly $35 million a year,
New Hampshire Bulletin reported.
NEW JERSEY Bordentown: A life-
guard found a boy unresponsive in a
shallow pool at a New Jersey day
camp on Monday, officials said.
NEW MEXICO Ruidoso: New Mexico
has spent $12.5 million so far to
fight the South Fork and Salt fires
near Ruidoso, which are now the
subject of $10,000 reward from the
FBI to anyone who has credible
information on who started them.
NEW YORK Albany: Central Hudson
Gas & Electric has agreed to pay up
to $64.59 million to resolve a state
investigation into a billing fiasco
that led to a ratepayer revolt as
thousands of customers were hit
with overcharges pegged to estimat-
ed monthly bills.
NORTH CAROLINA New Hanover
County: More than 160 swimmers
were rescued over the last week and
weekend from rip currents on North
Carolina beaches.
NORTH DAKOTA Kenmare: The city
is under a boil water advisory after
a water outage, KFYR reported.
OHIO East Palestine: The National
Transportation Safety Board said
Tuesday that burning off chemicals
after a Norfolk Southern train de-
railed in Ohio last year was unnec-
essary.
OKLAHOMA Oklahoma County:
While Oklahoma County officials
are still ironing out details for the
location of a new jail, the facility’s
actual design is much further along
in the process. Architects working
on plans for the new jail completed
a schematic design in recent weeks.
MONEY
News from across the USA
OREGON Salem: The bird flu out-
break has expanded to 31 states and
jumped to dozens of species, includ-
ing nine mammals in Oregon that
tested positive for the H5NI virus
since 2022. A half dozen skunks, a
raccoon, a red fox and a marten in
Oregon were infected with the bird
flu, according to the U.S. Department
of Agriculture.
PENNSYLVANIA Harrisburg: Ques-
tions about education, income tax
and recreational vice remain un-
resolved as Gov. Josh Shapiro’s sec-
ond budget proposal approaches the
June 30 deadline.
RHODE ISLAND Providence: Lifes-
pan, the largest health care system in
Rhode Island and the state’s largest
employer, will rebrand itself as Brown
University Health later this year,
Lifespan CEO and President John
Fernandez and Brown University
President Christina Paxson an-
nounced.
SOUTH CAROLINA Myrtle Beach: A
North Carolina couple is suing a Myr-
tle Beach theme park after they say a
man was paralyzed after riding a
roller coaster.
SOUTH DAKOTA North Sioux City:
Homes were ruined, roads were
washed out, sinkholes opened up, a
railroad bridge was destroyed, and
rescuers worked through Sunday
night into Monday morning to save
people from rising floodwaters in the
McCook Lake area, South Dakota
Searchlight reported.
TENNESSEE Gatlinburg: The black
bear captured on video wandering
into a concessions stand at an
amusement park in Tennessee and
pawing a park employee has been
euthanized, the Tennessee Wildlife
Resources Agency said.
TEXAS El Paso: Officials with the
Japanese company that owns the
Vinton Steel minimill are considering
a $420.5 million expansion of the
62-year-old facility located in El Paso
County’s Upper Valley.
UTAH Diamond Valley: Officials is-
sued a boil order for Diamond Valley
after the Diamond Valley Water Com-
pany said water samples tested posi-
tive for E. coli bacteria, KSL reported.
VERMONT Burlington: The Univer-
sity of Vermont Medical Center’s
nurses voted by an overwhelming
majority last week to authorize a
strike if they’re not able to reach an
agreement on a new contract with
the UVM Medical Center, the presi-
dent of the nurses’ union said.
VIRGINIA Petersburg: The Virginia
Department of Enivronmental Qual-
ity has put the Tri-City area on the
lookout for a potential drought. The
drought-watch advisory envelops all
but the Shenandoah Velley region,
which has been put under drought
warning, DEQ said.
WASHINGTON Olympia: Washing-
ton’s public lands commissioner,
Hilary Franz, is voicing skepticism
about a federal proposal to kill thou-
sands of barred owls in the Pacific
Northwest to help the threatened
northern spotted owl, Washington
State Standard reported. Franz wrote
in a letter sent to Interior Secretary
Deb Haaland that she’s concerned
about “unintended consequences”
and that the plan “could be unwork-
able given the scale of the overlap-
ping habitat for barred owls and spot-
ted owls.”
WEST VIRGINIA Shepherdstown:
Shepherd University unveiled a new
brand and logo earlier this month.
The branding brings the university
together under a singular image
across all administrative and aca-
demic units.
WISCONSIN Milwaukee: Davidson
Park, a new, 4.8-acre public park
located at Harley-Davidson’s corpo-
rate headquarters on Milwaukee’s
near west side, officially opened
Monday morning. The $20 million
park is the product of a three-year
effort by the Harley-Davidson Foun-
dation and its partners to transform
parking lots south of the company’s
headquarters into green space acces-
sible to all who visit and live in the
near west side neighborhood, Harley-
Davidson said in a news release.
WYOMING Cheyenne: Authorities
said a suspect has been arrested in
connection to a 2015 shooting and
robbery that killed two men, Wyo-
ming News Now reported.
From USA TODAY Network and
wire reports
SPORTS
USA TODAY | THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 2024 | SECTION C
Forward midfielder Alex Morgan had been part of the USWNT team for the Olympics in the past three games, including 2021 in Tokyo. RON CHENOY/USA TODAY SPORTS
‘It was not easy making a decision’
Alex Morgan doesn’t make USWNT roster cut for Paris Olympics
Nancy Armour
USA TODAY
Alex Morgan got caught up in a num-
bers game.
Morgan, who is the U.S. Women’s Na-
tional Team’s active leading goal scorer
and fifth on its all-time list, was left off
Emma Hayes’ 18-player soccer roster for
the Paris Olympics.
NWSL scoring leader Sophia Smith,
Mallory Swanson, Jaedyn Smith, Trin-
ity Rodman and Crystal Dunn are listed
as the forwards.
“The biggest factor is (we can have) 16
outfield players,” Hayes said after the
roster was released Wednesday. “To
play a lot of games, arguably, I hope over
a 17-day period, having a roster that
could adapt is essential. ... Having play-
ers on the roster that could play more
than one position mattered with squad
depth.
“I also think the players on the roster,
Guardians stand tall under 1st-year manager
Stephen Vogt guides
Cleveland to MLB’s
best first-half record
Gabe Lacques
USA TODAY
BALTIMORE – The plaudits are com-
ing for Stephen Vogt, and deservedly so.
In his first year as a major league
manager, less than two years removed
from the final game of his playing career,
Vogt has piloted the surprising Cleve-
land Guardians to the best record in Ma-
jor League Baseball as the season
reaches the halfway point. One year af-
ter a 76-86, third-place finish, the
Guardians are 51-26 and overwhelming
favorites – a 93% probability, according
to FanGraphs – to reach the playoffs.
Come November, Vogt very well
could be the American League Manager
Mired in season-long slump,
Rickie Fowler seeks spark, 2C
What to know about NBA free agency, 3C
What to know about upcoming NHL draft, 7C
in the forward areas, are performing
well. The decision to take those players
was one that we certainly deliberated
over.”
The other players on the roster are
goalkeepers Casey Murphy and Alyssa
Naeher; defenders Tierna Davidson,
Emily Fox, Naomi Girma, Casey Krueger,
Jenna Nighswonger and Emily Sonnett;
and midfielders Korbin Albert, Sam Cof-
fey, Lindsey Horan, Rose Lavelle and
Catarina Macario.
Hayes also bypassed Morgan as an
alternate, selecting Lynn Williams as
the forward instead. Goalkeeper Jane
Campbell and midfielders Hal Hershfelt
and Croix Bethune are the other alter-
nates, all of whom will travel with the
USWNT to France.
Emma Hayes explains decision
“First off, I want to talk about what an
amazing player and human that Alex
Stephen Vogt, who last played in the majors in 2022, is in his first year as the
manager of the Guardians. DAVID RICHARD/USA TODAY SPORTS
Latest news, results, opinions
24/7 at sports.usatoday.com
Check out who was the top pick in the NBA draft
and the other 29 first-round selections
Morgan has been,” Hayes said during a
news conference after the roster
dropped. “I’ve only had one opportunity
to work with her in the last camp and
saw firsthand not just her qualities but
her professionalism. Her record speaks
for itself.
“It was not easy making a decision.
There are 16 outfield players and two
goalkeepers on a roster of 18. It was a
tough decision, especially considering
Alex’s record and history with this team.
I felt I wanted to go in another direction
and selected other players.”
Morgan statement on Olympics
“Today, I’m disappointed about not
having the opportunity to represent our
country on the Olympic stage,” Morgan
wrote on social media. “This will always
be a tournament that is close to my
heart and I take immense pride any time
I put on the crest. In less than a month, I
look forward to supporting this team
and cheering them on alongside the rest
of our country. LFG”
Why isn’t Morgan going
to the Olympics?
Morgan’s exclusion will surely come
as a shock to many, given she’s been
both a cornerstone of the USWNT and
one of the world’s best players for more
than a decade. She’s been part of the
USWNT roster at every major tourna-
ment dating to the 2011 World Cup and
in January was named to FIFPro’s World
11 for the third year in a row.
But Morgan, who turns 35 on Tues-
day, has had a slow start to the NWSL
season. She missed a month with an an-
kle injury and has yet to score, and her
goal against Argentina on Feb. 23 was
her first in a year for the USWNT.
See MORGAN, Page 4C
of the Year, as the award almost always
goes to a manager engineering a turn-
around, and it would be well-deserved.
Yet there’s a significant chance we
have yet to see the very best of Stephen
Vogt, manager, just yet.
See, the major leagues are filled with
dozens of players who counted Vogt as
teammates, who loved him for his work
habits and his goofy demeanor and the
skills that made him a two-time All-
Star. But mostly they loved Vogt for
showing them the way when they were
anything but established big leaguers,
and for finding paths through the dark-
ness of a game that can be unflinchingly
cruel.
“I learned a lot about what it is to be a
good teammate. And Vogt-er, with the
season we were having at the time, was
a big light in our clubhouse,” says Balti-
more Orioles left-hander Cole Irvin,
See VOGT, Page 4C
2C ❚ THURSDAY JUNE 27, 2024 ❚ USA TODAY
In slump, Fowler seeks a spark
Adam Schupak
Golfweek | USA TODAY NETWORK
Rickie Fowler is searching for his
game again.
The 35-year-old fan favorite is mired
in a season-long slump that has him on
the outside looking in for the FedExCup
playoffs at No. 91 in the standings with
just six weeks until the top 70 advance
to the first of three playoff events in
Memphis, Tennessee.
Fowler is hoping that a return to the
Motor City and the Rocket Mortgage
Classic at Detroit Golf Club will jump-
start a playoff run.
Much like the rebirth of Detroit itself,
Fowler a year ago capped off a resur-
gence in his game in the city with his
first victory on the PGA Tour in more
than four years. He sank a 12-foot birdie
putt to win a three-man, sudden-death
playoff.
That win was his first as a father, and
pictures with Maya from that day al-
ways will be a treasured memento.
So, too, will the photo of his reaction
as his winning putt dropped. No caption
necessary; the image of him, head tilted
ever-so-slightly to the sky, is the defini-
tion of pure relief.
“I was kind of just still and quiet and
everyone was going crazy around me,”
Fowler said. “It was a nice moment just
to kind of feel like the weight on my
shoulders was finally off.”
Fowler, whose world ranking had
plummeted to No. 185 and had barely
qualified for the FedExCup Playoffs
when the top 125 made it, rose to No. 22 a
week after his Rocket Mortgage Classic
win and went on to be chosen to the 12-
man U.S. Ryder Cup team. Although the
tour no longer gives out such an award,
he would have been an unanimous
choice for winner of the tour’s Come-
back Player of the Year. But ever since
the calendar flipped, Fowler has lost his
swagger again.
He enters the week at No. 50 in the
world and has recorded just two top-20s
in 16 starts, including missing the cut at
the Memorial and U.S. Open in June.
Whereas last year he entered the Rocket
Mortgage Classic with three top-10s and
a top-15 finish, Fowler has no top-10s
and five missed cuts in 23 starts since
tasting victory.
“I’ve basically played terrible this
year. Pretty simple way to sum it up,” he
said. “I’ve been putting the work in but
just need to stay patient and wait to see
some progress.”
His ball-striking, which sparked his
resurgence, has been a key reason for
his decline. Last season, he ranked sev-
Notre Dame had banner week ’til swim probe surfaced
Tom Noie
South Bend Tribune
USA TODAY NETWORK
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – We made a deal.
For years, there was little reason to
venture to that one part of the Joyce
Center – through Heritage Hall, veer
left, then straight back to the farthest
corner of the building, where a pair of
glass doors separate you from the un-
mistakable scent of chlorine – for a sto-
ry.
For a Notre Dame men’s swimming
and diving story.
Little reason indeed, until earlier this
month when rising senior sprinter Chris
Guiliano was on the cusp of doing some-
thing that no Fighting Irish swimmer
has done in the modern era – earning a
roster spot on the United States team for
an upcoming Olympics. Guiliano re-
cently did, qualifying in three events –
the 50, 100 and 200 freestyle – while
earning likely consideration for roles on
the relay teams for this summer’s Paris
Games.
Guiliano was the obvious angle, but
there was more to this swimming story.
Something was happening in that far
back corner of the old building. Head
coach Chris Lindauer, who just finished
his second season in South Bend, was
building something, building a program
that rocketed to 10th place nationally
this past season and positioned to chase
a national championship in 2024-25.
The program was that good.
While the story that day earlier this
month was Guiliano, there were more
stories waiting to be told, more reasons
to visit those cramped but comfortable
offices where confidence – you don’t
want to be great, don’t bother walking
through those doors – radiates off just
about everyone and everything.
You promised Lindauer that you’d be
Rickie Fowler chips on the 18th hole during the final round of the Travelers
Championship on Sunday at TPC River Highlands. GREGORY FISHER/USA TODAY SPORTS
enth in strokes gained: approach. This
season? He’s No. 142.
Precision was part of Fowler’s win-
ning formula last year at Detroit GC as
he ranked second in the field in greens in
regulation, hitting 61 of 72.
To hear Fowler tell it, what he really
needs to do is get his putter back in his
good graces. He entered the week
ranked No. 131 in strokes gained: putting
after finishing at 48th last season. He
ranked fifth in that category on the un-
dulating, tiered putting surfaces at De-
troit GC a year ago.
“I think a big part of freeing myself up
and allowing myself to play better golf
starts on the greens and helps when I’m
making putts,” said Fowler, who noted
the putter cooperated a little more last
weekend, when he recorded a top-20
finish at the Travelers Championship.
“When I’m putting at least up to my
standards or at least average, it kind of
frees up the rest of the game.”
With rain already having fallen this
week and more in the forecast, Detroit
Chris Guiliano points after competing in the 100-meter freestyle semifinals on
June 18 at the U.S. Olympic Team Swimming Trials. GRACE HOLLARS/INDYSTAR
back, maybe sooner than later. There
was too much good going on, too much
energy in that program, in his program,
to dismiss. Come back and tell our sto-
ries, Lindauer said. Whenever. On
whomever.
Deal.
But this one? The one that Sports Il-
lustrated writer Pat Forde, who knows
those college and USA swimming circles
as well as anyone with a notepad and a
laptop, dropped on social media early
Tuesday evening?
News that Notre Dame athletic direc-
tor Pete Bevacqua, still so new on and to
the job that he probably hasn’t finished
decorating his first-floor Joyce Center
office, circulated an email in his depart-
ment regarding “recently received re-
ports of potential issues with the cul-
ture of our men’s swimming and diving
team.”
What? That team? Lindauer’s team?
The one that includes Guiliano?
In any other offseason, the three
GC should be ripe for the taking again.
Fowler, who led the field in par breakers
last year, is a fan of the Donald Ross
layout, which dates to 1916 and is sched-
uled for a renovation before next year’s
tournament.
“We don’t get to play very many old-
school golf courses like this so it’s a treat
for a lot of guys who can appreciate kind
of old-school golf course architecture,”
Fowler said.
Perhaps coming back to one of his
happy hunting grounds and site of his
sixth career tour title will provide the
necessary spark. After all, it had been
1,610 days, or 4 years, 4 months, 29 days
between victories, the longest drought
of his tour career. He called his T-20 last
weekend “good progress” and a momen-
tum builder that instilled a boost of con-
fidence that his game may be as close as
he thinks it is.
“We’ll see if we can kind of reignite
some stuff from then and get past the
little bit of a slow year it’s been and just
go have some fun this week,” he said.
posts from Forde on X (formerly Twitter)
barely/rarely moves the meter. Espe-
cially in June. It surfaces quietly (if at
all) and fades quickly. Not this offsea-
son. Not under this head coach. Not for
this program.
It’s not nothing. It may be something.
It could mean everything.
Looking forward to his swim in Indi-
anapolis and how he got to where he
was going, Guiliano pointed to the Irish
program. He praised the culture, a cul-
ture that is seemingly in question.
“There’s a huge culture shift in our at-
titudes toward the sport,” Guiliano said.
“We go out there and grind, be there for
one another. It’s incredible to see that
growth around here and the mindset to-
ward the goals that we have.”
Following Guiliano’s A-plus effort in
Indianapolis last week, arrangements
were made through Notre Dame to again
sit with Guiliano and Lindauer this
week. As a bonus storyline, Lindauer
was named this week a Team USA assis-
SPORTS
Rocket Mortgage Classic
Course: Detroit Golf Club, North
Course (Par 72, 7,370 yards)
Purse: $9.2 million (Winner:
$1.65 million)
TV (EDT): Thursday-Friday: 3-6
p.m. (Golf Channel); Saturday-
Sunday: 1-3 p.m. (Golf Channel)
and 3-6 p.m. (CBS)
Streaming (ESPN+): Thursday-
Friday, 6:45 a.m.-6 p.m. ET; Sat-
urday-Sunday, 7 a.m.-6 p.m.
X: @RocketClassic
Stat
15 That’s the rank of Akshay
Bhatia in the FedExCup. He’s
the highest-ranked player in the
field this week at the Rocket Mort-
gage Classic. There are only six
weeks remaining until the Fed
ExCup Playoffs get underway.
Keep an eye on …
h Cameron Young. Last week, he
became the 12th golfer to shoot 59
on the PGA Tour. He held a share of
the lead on Sunday before fin-
ishing T-9. The 2021-22 PGA Tour
Rookie of the Year is still seeking
his first victory, and this could be
the week.
h Tom Kim. After a sluggish start to
his season, he’s heating up and is
coming off a playoff defeat to
Scottie Scheffler. His game seems
to be firing on all cylinders.
h Miles Russell. The 15-year-old
reigning AJGA Player of the Year
became the youngest player ever
to make a cut on the Korn Ferry
Tour in April. Now he’s set to make
his debut on the PGA Tour.
h Nick Bienz. This full-time worker
at a golf retail store survived an
eight-hole playoff at Monday’s
qualifier to earn one of four spots
into the field. He’s making his first
career PGA Tour-sanctioned start.
Tee times
Golf Channel will provide live
coverage (3 p.m.-6 p.m. EDT). On
Thursday, defending champion
Rickie Fowler is grouped with Will
Zalatoris and past Rocket Mort-
gage Classic champion Cam Davis
(1:05) and will be featured along
with the popular threesome of
veteran tour winners Cameron
Champ, Kevin Kisner and Gary
Woodland (1:16).
On Friday, the afternoon cov-
erage will center on Nick Dunlap,
Chris Kirk and Erik van Rooyen
(12:54) and Robert MacIntyre, Tom
Kim and Cameron Young (1:05).
tant coach. Guiliano and Lindauer are
both headed to Paris.
Two columns for one. We’ll make it
happen, Notre Dame promised.
Instead, only radio silence from the
communications team. No word Mon-
day on the sit-down with Guiliano and
Lindauer. No word Tuesday, either.
Then Sports Illustrated comes off the
top rope with the Bevacqua email.
Scrap that scheduled column with
Guiliano for Friday’s Tribune. There
won’t be one. No feel-good piece on him
or on his head coach. We won’t hear
from Guiliano anytime soon. In Paris.
Maybe. We won’t hear from Lindauer
anytime soon. In Paris. Maybe.
Instead of comments about a chance
to chase gold in Paris, we hear/see
words like “internal inquiry” and “out-
side counsel” and “potential issues.”
Ranks have closed. Wagons have cir-
cled. According to Bevacqua’s staff
email, upon Notre Dame “learning of the
potential issues” outside counsel
(Ropes & Gray) has been retained by the
University Office of General Counsel to
“conduct a timely, independent review
of the program.”
Bevacqua promised the review
would be “fair and complete.” That
doesn’t sound good. Sounds like there
might be something there. You know
what it also sounds like? It sounds like
something that’s impossible to com-
pletely shake, no matter the outcome.
A permanent Perma cloud.
You know how this ends? Probably
with a news dump/university press re-
lease, preferably on a Friday afternoon.
Good news? Bad news? Does it matter?
Either way, too few will care. Besides,
how many more days until football sea-
son?
This week for Notre Dame men’s
swimming and diving was supposed to
be one of its finest hours.
Instead, heavy lifting may be re-
quired to keep it from being the start of
one of the darkest.
SPORTS
Knicks bring in another ’Nova star
Jeff Zillgitt
USA TODAY
The New York Knicks see an opportu-
nity to win the Eastern Conference.
They have reached a deal with the
Brooklyn Nets to acquire forward Mikal
Bridges for Bojan Bodganovic, four un-
protected first-round picks, a 2025 pro-
tected first-round pick, a pick swap and
two second-round picks, a person fa-
miliar with the trade confirmed to USA
TODAY Sports.
The person requested anonymity be-
cause they were not authorized to speak
publicly until the deal is announced.
The Nets get the Knicks’ first-round
picks in 2025, 2027, 2029 and 2031.
Bridges is one of the game’s top two-
way players and one of the most reli-
able. He averaged 19.6 points, 4.5 re-
bounds, 3.6 assists and 1.0 steals and
shot 43.6% from the field, 37.2% on 3-
pointers and 81.4% on free throws for
the Nets in 2023-24.
The 27-year-old Bridges has played
in every game possible in his six-year
career, and even played in 83 games in
2022-23 after being traded to the Nets
by Phoenix in the Kevin Durant trade.
Bridges has two seasons and
$48.2 million left on his contract. He
will be an unrestricted free agent after
Top 25 NBA free agents in 2024 class
Jeff Zillgitt and Cydney Henderson
USA TODAY
Does LeBron James stay with the Los
Angeles Lakers? The reasonable answer
is yes.
Does Klay Thompson remain with
the Golden State Warriors? Do Paul
George and James Harden continue
their careers with the Los Angeles Clip-
pers? The answers to those questions
are murkier.
All those questions will be answered
during the NBA’s fast-paced, league-re-
shaping free agency period which be-
gins Sunday.
Before we look at the top 25 free
agents, some key dates and terms you
might be hearing during free agency.
Also, two players who would’ve been
on this list are Malik Monk and Pascal
Siakam. But Monk and Sacramento and
Siakam and Indiana took advantage of a
new rule that allows teams to negotiate
with their free agents after the Finals
and before the start of free agency.
When is free agency?
NBA free agency begins on Sunday at
6 p.m. EDT, when teams can officially
start negotiating with free agents.
Teams are allowed to start signing free
agents on July 6 at 12:01 p.m. EDT.
Some free agents, however, may be
off the board by then. The NBA imple-
mented a rule that allows teams to start
negotiating with their own free agents
the day after the conclusion of the NBA
Finals. Since the 2024 Finals wrapped
up with Boston’s Game 5 win over Dallas
on June 17, teams had the opportunity to
start negotiating with “upcoming free
agents who finished the just-completed
season on its roster” on June 18.
NBA free agency explained
Some key free agency terms to know:
h An unrestricted free agent can
sign with any team.
h A restricted free agent can sign an
offer sheet from another team but the
team he was with the previous season
can match the offer and retain him. The
NBA says the original team has the
“right of first refusal.”
h A player with a player option on
the next season can opt out of his con-
tract and become a free agent, or he can
play out the final season of the contract
he is under.
h A player whose contract includes a
team option on the final year of the deal
means the team has the choice to keep
him or let him become a free agent.
Top free agents
1. LeBron James, Los Angeles
Lakers, forward, unrestricted
free agent, player option
James, who has $51.4 million for
2024-25 left on his contract, indicated
at the All-Star Game he wants to remain
with the Lakers. But he could opt out
and re-sign for more years and money.
2. Tyrese Maxey, Philadelphia
76ers, guard, restricted free agent
An All-Star for the first time in 2023-
the 2025-26 season.
The Knicks lost to Indiana in seven
games in the Eastern Conference semi-
finals but were hampered by injuries to
key players including Julius Randle,
Bogdanovic, OG Anunoby and Mitchell
Robinson. Star Jalen Brunson was even
knocked out of the Game 7 defeat with a
fractured hand.
The Knicks also continue to assem-
ble former Villanova players. With the
addition of Bridges, the Knicks will have
four players who went to Villanova:
Bridges, Brunson, Josh Hart and Donte
DiVincenzo. All four played together on
Lakers forward LeBron James
celebrates a slam dunk against the
Suns at Footprint Center.
MARK J. REBILAS/USA TODAY SPORTS
24 and a vital part of the Sixers, Maxey,
who averaged 25.9 points and 6.2 as-
sists, is headed for a massive salary in-
crease, and the Sixers have no plans to
let him go.
3. Paul George, Los Angeles
Clippers, forward, unrestricted,
player option
Under contract for $48.7 million in
2024-25, George can become a free
agent. Amid a successful season, it will
be interesting to see if the Clippers can
keep George, a nine-time All-Star at 33
years old who averaged 22.6 points and
5.2 rebounds and shot 47.1% from the
field last season.
4. OG Anunoby, New York Knicks,
forward, unrestricted, player
option
Acquired by the Knicks at the trade
deadline, Anunoby has a player option
at $19.9 million for 2024-25. He was a
big part of the Knicks’ success, and it’s
imperative they retain him if they want
to remain a factor in the Eastern Confer-
ence.
5. James Harden, Los Angeles
Clippers, guard, unrestricted
Harden was good for the Clippers at
16.6 points, 8.5 assists, 5.1 rebounds and
1.1 steals per game and at 38.1% shooting
on 3s. Money and years on a new deal
are key factors on his next contract.
6. DeMar DeRozan, Chicago Bulls,
guard, unrestricted
Turning 35 in August, DeRozan was
fantastic last season, averaging 24.0
points, 5.3 assists and 4.3 rebounds and
shooting 48% from the field and 85.3%
on free throws.
7. Immanuel Quickley,
Toronto Raptors, guard, restricted
After the Knicks traded Quickley, he
produced with the extra playing time,
E2 USA TODAY ❚ THURSDAY JUNE 27, 2024 ❚ 3C
The Nets
are trading
Mikal
Bridges to
the Knicks.
WENDELL
CRUZ/
USA TODAY
SPORTS
Villanova’s 2016-17 team.
This was the first trade between the
two franchises since 1983, when the
Knicks traded a second-round pick to
the Nets for Len Elmore.
Grading the Knicks-Nets trade
Knicks: B+
The Knicks gave up a lot for Bridges.
Four unprotected first-round picks plus
other assets is significant. But there’s
something to be said for making a push
to contend for a title when windows
open and shut quickly. Even if entirely
increasing his scoring, assists and re-
bounds.
8. Kentavious Caldwell-Pope,
Denver Nuggets, guard,
unrestricted, player option
A vital member of Denver’s 2023
championship squad, Caldwell-Pope
can take the $15.4 million for 2024-25 or
seek a longer deal for more money –
with the Nuggets or another team.
9. Isaiah Hartenstein, New York
Knicks, center, unrestricted
Another valuable contributor to the
Knicks’ success, Hartenstein averaged
10.3 points and 6.5 rebounds against
Philadelphia in the first round and 6.9
points, 9.0 rebounds and 4.3 assists
against Indiana in the conference semi-
finals.
10. Nic Claxton, Brooklyn Nets,
center, unrestricted
Claxton was almost a double-double
producer for the Nets (11.8 points and 9.9
rebounds plus 2.1 assists and 2.1 blocks
per game and 62.9% from the field).
11. Tobias Harris, Philadelphia
76ers, unrestricted
Harris just finished his 13th season
and his fifth-plus season with the Six-
ers. Will his 14th season be with a team
other than Philadelphia?
12. Klay Thompson, Golden State
Warriors, unrestricted
Thompson in a uniform other than
Golden State’s is strange to consider but
that’s a possibility for the game’s all-
time great 3-point shooter.
13. D’Angelo Russell, Los Angeles
Lakers, unrestricted, player option
Russell is due $18.6 million next sea-
son if he decides to start another with
the Lakers. He averaged 18.0 points and
6.3 assists and shot 41.5% on 3s in 2023-
24.
14. Miles Bridges,
Charlotte Hornets, unrestricted
If a team is looking for a forward who
averaged 21.0 points, 7.3 rebounds and
3.3 assists, Bridges can fill that role. (On
Wednesday, the Hornets and Knicks
agreed to a trade.)
15. Tyus Jones,
Washington Wizards, unrestricted
Jones had the best assist-to-turn-
over ratio in the league (7.3-to-1.0), shot
48.9% from the field and 41.4% on 3-
pointers. He wants to start, and Wash-
ington may be the best place for him to
do that and get the contract he wants.
16. Bruce Brown, Toronto Raptors,
unrestricted, team option
Brown took a big-dollar, short-term
deal a year ago with the Indiana Pacers,
who traded him to Toronto. He should
be looking for a longer deal.
healthy, the Knicks knew they needed to
improve if they want to compete with
Boston for the East title. And the Knicks
still have work to do with the roster. OG
Anunoby and Isaiah Hartenstein are
free agents, and both were an important
part of New York’s success. Re-signing
both might not be possible.
Nets: A-
The Nets are still recovering from the
Kevin Durant-James Harden-Kyrie Ir-
ving era that didn’t produce anything of
significance and are trying to get draft
picks back in their rebuilding effort. It’s
a major haul, but Brooklyn needs to turn
those picks into quality players.
Nets make separate deal with
Rockets
Brooklyn also reached a deal with
Houston involving draft picks. The Nets
will get a 2025 pick swap and a 2026
first-round pick from Houston, and the
Rockets will get a 2027 first-round pick,
a 2029 first-round pick and a 2025 first-
round pick swap, according to ESPN. It
is a convoluted deal that involves picks
from Phoenix, Dallas and Oklahoma
City. The Nets are in rebuilding mode,
and the Rockets are looking to improve
their roster by trading draft picks for a
proven player, according to ESPN.
17. Gary Trent Jr.,
Toronto Raptors, unrestricted
Trent averaged 13.7 points and 1.1
steals and shot 39.3% on 3s last season
and can be a sly acquisition for a con-
tender in need of bench scoring.
18. Isaac Okoro,
Cleveland Cavaliers, restricted
Okoro had his best all-around sea-
son, including a career-best 39.1% on 3s,
with the Cavs, whose offseason roster
decisions will be interesting to follow.
19. Obi Toppin, Indiana Pacers,
restricted
Toppin played a significant role for
the Pacers – mostly off the bench – and
was reliable, appearing in all 82 regular-
season games. He averaged 10.3 points
and 3.9 rebounds and was efficient with
his scoring, shooting 57.3% from the
field, including 70.6% on 2-pointers and
40.3% on 3-pointers.
20. Jonas Valanciunas,
New Orleans Pelicans,
unrestricted
Massive big men still have a place in
today’s game, and Valanciunas delivers
at 12.2 points, 8.8 rebounds and 2.1 as-
sists while shooting 55.9% from the field
– in just 23.5 minutes per game.
21. De’Anthony Melton,
Philadelphia 76ers, unrestricted
Melton played in just 38 games due to
injury (back), but he is a strong defen-
sive guard who also can supply double-
digits in points per game.
22. Buddy Hield,
Philadelphia 76ers, unrestricted
The Sixers acquired Hield at the trade
deadline. He alternated between start-
ing and coming off the bench, averaging
12.2 points, 3.2 rebounds and 3.0 assists
and shooting 28.9% on 3s. Another
shooter who will get attention from
teams in need of that specialty.
23. Caleb Martin, Miami Heat,
unrestricted, player option
The Heat develop players – some-
times they retain them and sometimes
they end up elsewhere.
24. Kelly Oubre,
Philadelphia 76ers, unrestricted
The Sixers’ roster decisions are add-
ing up, from Harris to Melton to Hield to
Oubre who was dependable in heavy
minutes for Philadelphia in the playoffs.
He averaged 15.4 points and 5.0 re-
bounds last season.
25. Kyle Anderson, Minnesota
Timberwolves, unrestricted
The Timberwolves had Anderson on
a deal that was friendly for the team.
Will the Timberwolves, who are facing
financial decisions in coming seasons,
be able to retain Anderson on a deal that
both sides like?
4C ❚ THURSDAY JUNE 27, 2024 ❚ USA TODAY
Morgan
Continued from Page 1C
Hayes, who took over as the
USWNT’s coach last month, has also
stressed the need for versatility with
such a small roster, and others play mul-
tiple positions while Morgan does not.
Olympic rosters have only 18 players,
compared with 23 for a World Cup and
most other tournaments. Dunn, for ex-
ample, has spent most of her USWNT
career as a left back and plays midfield
in the NWSL. Macario is listed as a mid-
fielder on the Olympic roster but also
can play forward.
Still, Morgan has long been prized for
her leadership, and this is a young team.
Paris will be the first Olympics for half
the team and four will be playing in their
first major international tournament.
But the USWNT has been transition-
ing from the generation that won two
World Cup titles and one Olympic gold
medal between 2012 and 2019, a process
that has accelerated under Hayes. While
Horan, the USWNT captain, Dunn, La-
velle and Naeher all have 100-plus caps,
and Swanson and Sonnett are over 90,
five players on the Olympic roster have
made 20 or fewer appearances for the
USWNT.
Vogt
Continued from Page 1C
who played with Vogt in his final year on
the 2022 Oakland Athletics, a team that
lost 102 games and would lose 110 the
next as the franchise stripped the roster
for parts. “Not a bad thing is going to be
said about the man. He’s a competitor.
He loves to win. But he cares about ev-
eryone he’s going to battle with. He’s
one of the best people in this game.”
Vogt insists little has changed now
that he resides in the manager’s office
and walks a different beat, to the coach-
es’ room and the analysts’ nest and, oc-
casionally, his old domain, the club-
house. He’s learned quickly how fast the
game moves when you’re in charge of it,
when you oversee 26 players and an
equal amount of support staff, all with
little contributions in service to the very
difficult task of winning an MLB game.
He says he is still the same bearded
dude who rose to some fame with hilari-
ous imitations of Chris Farley’s motiva-
tional speaker and a recurring referee
bit on MLB Network that even inspired a
bobblehead complete with headband
and pinstriped jersey.
No, he won’t be hosting “Saturday
Night Live” anytime soon. But the ethos
is unchanged.
“This is fun. That’s one thing I tell
these guys all the time: Don’t ever lose
sight that we’re still playing a game. And
for four hours a day, you get to go be a
12-year-old kid,” Vogt tells USA TODAY
Sports. “There’s a business side, there’s
family and all these other things. That’s
real, and that’s important, too. But for
three, four hours a night, you get to go be
a 12-year-old kid and suit up and play
the game you love.”
Yet even the very talented and very
privileged who bubble up the major
leagues need a beacon.
‘The kind of person he is’
In February 2017, Sean Murphy had
23 games of professional experience, in
rookie and low Class A ball, when he ar-
rived in Phoenix for his first big league
spring training. Sure, he was a third-
round pick a year before, but his roster
fate was already written: a ticket to
Stockton, California, and high Class A
ball.
Remember the nerves you felt the
day before the first day of school?
That was Murphy on this day, work-
ing out at the A’s minor league complex
but knowing that tomorrow, he’d be go-
ing down the street to big league camp,
when Vogt walked in and pulled him
aside. Aren’t you that catcher we draft-
ed last year, he asks.
“He doesn’t have to come out of his
way to talk to me. I’m going to A ball. I’m
the warm body in camp,” Murphy re-
members. “He says, ‘Well, we’re going to
go over to the big league side, we’re go-
ing to introduce you to everybody. We’re
going to make sure your locker is set up
for everything tomorrow, so that you
don’t look lost on your first day.’
“He took time away from his family to
make sure I went over there and met ev-
erybody, learned everyone’s names,
made sure I had pants that fit, unpack
some boxes. I thought that was cool. He
didn’t have to do it.
“It’s kind of the person he is.”
The big league camp was locked, but
with Vogt coming off his second straight
All-Star appearance, “Stephen Vogt can
get in the gates,” says Murphy. They en-
With an average of 26.8 years, this is
the youngest Olympic roster the
USWNT has had since the 2008 gold
medal-winning team.
“There’s been a lack of development
of putting players, some of the less ex-
perienced players, in a position where
they can develop that experience. We
have to do that to take that next step,”
Hayes said.
“There’s such a big gap between the
top experience and the rest. We really
have to bring that up,” Hayes added.
“The last eight months has been about
giving experiences to bridge that gap
because there is a correlation between
caps and success at international tour-
naments.”
The USWNT is also trying to turn the
page from its recent disappointing per-
formances on the world stage. The
Americans were bronze medalists at the
Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and were elim-
inated in the round of 16 at the World
Cup last summer, their earliest exit ever
at a major international tournament.
The USWNT will play two sendoff
matches, against Mexico on July 13 and
against Costa Rica on July 16, before
heading to Paris.
There, the Americans will face Zam-
bia in their Group B opener July 25, fol-
lowed by a game against Germany on
July 28. They wrap up the group stage
tered the big league clubhouse, Vogt al-
ready slowing the game down before
Murphy caught one bullpen session.
Don’t sit there – that’s for veterans
with service time. Don’t try to get in the
batting cage if a Yonder Alonso or a
Khris Davis beat you to it. Get there
early if you want to get training room
time.
Murphy would not make his debut
until September 2019, but the ground-
work was lain for a player who’d eventu-
ally make an All-Star Game and sign a
$73 million contract. Yet there was a
second act to their story, when Murphy
was the lone leftover from the A’s spring
2022 fire sale and Vogt was the return-
ing veteran.
Murphy would hit 18 home runs that
season and earn MVP votes, but as a de-
pleted organization sent a conga line of
undeveloped pitchers to Oakland, Vogt
helped Murphy compartmentalize.
“He was really important for me, per-
sonally, that year,” says Murphy. “We
didn’t win a lot of games. He tried to
keep me sane. He was like, ‘You gotta
keep doing your job.’ We had a rotation
of pitchers coming in and out and trying
to stay on top of everything. He was
really important in that.
“You knew he’d want to manage or
stay involved in any way he could. He
wasn’t playing that much at that point,
but he was so important to have around,
in terms of that team having so many
young guys, and there’s the one old guy
who’d been around the block. He was a
necessity on that team. Because it
wasn’t going well.”
Vogt’s selflessness was partly a mat-
ter of paying it forward, of remembering
his own debut on a veteran Tampa Bay
Rays team in 2012, and the counsel he
received from Sam Fuld and Wade Davis
and, later, Billy Butler in Oakland.
But Vogt’s empathic tool was devel-
oped long before the big leagues and he
credits his father, Randy, with showing
him the way. Now 68, Randy Vogt is a
valued consultant to the agriculture in-
dustry in their Central Valley hometown
of Visalia, California, and served as
president of their church’s Visalia Res-
cue Mission.
“The thing he always talked to my
brother Danny and I about was, ‘You
need to put everyone around you above
yourself,’ ” says Vogt. “When you serve
them, you’re going to get the results you
want to.”
‘He’s a connector’
In Cleveland, the results have been
fantastic. The Guardians have not lost
more than three games in a row, have an
eight-game lead in the AL Central, are
26-9 at home and hit the 50-win mark
faster than any Cleveland squad since
their late-’90s glory days.
It really shouldn’t be that much of a
surprise: Seven of their key position
players got significant at-bats during
their 2022 playoff run, when they top-
pled the Rays in the wild-card series and
pushed the 99-win Yankees to five
games in a wild ALDS.
Even with Shane Bieber lost to Tom-
my John surgery, the Guardians always
have enough pitching, and this year
their bullpen is deep and daunting, with
a major league-best 2.34 ERA.
It doesn’t hurt that the guy punching
the buttons has already made an im-
pact.
“He’s definitely a player’s manager,”
says Guardians right-hander Triston
McKenzie. “Especially being closely re-
moved from the game, he has a very
USWNT coach Emma Hayes cited the
smaller size in deciding who made the
roster. MICHAEL MADRID/USA TODAY SPORTS
July 31 against Australia.
“I’ve been clear that everything we’re
doing is a step-by-step approach to get
us as close as we possibly can to our best
level. To our best version of ourselves,”
Hayes said.
“This is a team that’s making really
good progress in doing that, and my in-
terest and investment is getting our per-
formances right, day by day and game
by game, so we can get as close as we
possibly can to ideal world scenario.”
Stephen Vogt played 794 games in his 10-year MLB career.
DAVID RICHARD/USA TODAY SPORTS
good pulse on when guys are feeling
good or not so good, being able to com-
municate on a very good level as op-
posed to maybe an older manager where
it might have been different when he
played. He does a good job connecting
with the guys, building relationships,
especially with a young team.
“Spring training was a big indicator
for me. One of the things he said to me
was, I’m not looking to change the cul-
ture here. I’m looking to enhance it. And
I think he’s done just that.”
Vogt and the players both say a lively
give-and-take prevails, each side giving
as good as they get. Yet the “big goober”
persona, as the Orioles’ Irvin calls it, is
but one dimension.
“That’s 1% of what he is,” says Arizo-
na Diamondbacks manager Torey Lo-
vullo, who managed Vogt in his penulti-
mate 2021 season. “He’s a very intense
competitor, a very smart competitor
that knows how to have a good time and
lighten the load.
“He’s a connector. A connector of
people and personalities and knows
how to have conversations with any-
body inside a clubhouse. That’s hard to
do. He’d be able to talk to me, to talk to a
clubbie. And he was fearless in his abil-
ity to communicate.”
Those Diamondbacks lost 110 games
that year, most of them by the time Vogt
was traded to Atlanta. Two years later,
they’d reach the World Series, many of
them holdovers from that grim ’22 sea-
son and the guy who made it a little easi-
er.
“When things felt heavy, he could
pull you aside and put his arm around
your shoulder, and talk you off the ledge
a little bit,” says Arizona first baseman
Christian Walker. “Top to bottom, that
guy was A-plus. When I heard he was
going to be done playing, I knew it’d only
be a matter of time he’d be a manager
somewhere. It was always worth it to
hear his perspective.”
Built for bumpy roads
It is a valuable perspective if only for
the eras Vogt’s career spanned. He was
drafted in 2007, debuted in 2012, walked
away in 2022. Given the game’s ad-
vancements the past decade, that’s like
living long enough to walk with dino-
saurs but also have WiFi in your home.
“The game I grew up in was, ‘Go
play,’ ” remembers Vogt. “It’s old school,
we don’t have much information. I had
to learn how to play baseball and grow
up in the minor leagues and early part of
SPORTS
USWNT 2024 Paris
Olympics roster by
position (caps/goals)
GOALKEEPERS (2): Casey Murphy
(North Carolina Courage; 19), Alyssa
Naeher (Chicago Red Stars; 104)
DEFENDERS (6): Tierna Davidson
(NJ/NY Gotham FC; 58/3), Emily Fox
(Arsenal FC, ENG; 49/1), Naomi Girma
(San Diego Wave FC; 32/0), Casey
Krueger (Washington Spirit; 49/0),
Jenna Nighswonger (NJ/NY Gotham FC;
9/2), Emily Sonnett (NJ/NY Gotham FC;
91/2)
MIDFIELDERS (5): Korbin Albert (Paris
Saint-Germain, FRA; 11/0), Sam Coffey
(Portland Thorns FC; 17/1), Lindsey
Horan (Olympique Lyon, FRA; 148/35),
Rose Lavelle (NJ/NY Gotham FC;
100/24), Catarina Macario (Chelsea FC,
ENG; 19/8)
FORWARDS (5): Crystal Dunn (NJ/NY
Gotham FC; 147/25), Trinity Rodman
(Washington Spirit; 38/7), Jaedyn Shaw
(San Diego Wave FC; 14/7), Sophia
Smith (Portland Thorns FC; 48/19),
Mallory Swanson (Chicago Red Stars;
92/34)
the big leagues still watching the game
and asking questions.
“We didn’t have video, we didn’t have
all these things we have now. And then
throughout my career, getting things in-
troduced to me along the way and hav-
ing to adapt to new information while
still going out and doing my job. So now I
feel like I have a good understanding of,
this is what the data is for, this is what
that is for.”
Beyond veteran pitching coach Carl
Willis, Vogt has a thoroughly modern
staff alongside him in Cleveland, with
bench coach Craig Albernaz and major
league field coordinator Kai Correa
plucked from Gabe Kapler’s progressive
former staff in San Francisco.
As for Vogt, he has just one year of
coaching experience but remains grate-
ful to Seattle manager Scott Servais for
giving him significant latitude during a
2023 season in which he was nominally
the bullpen coach yet had a hand in all
game preparation.
Paul Sewald, who began 2023 as the
Mariners closer, said Servais called him
when Vogt was hired: Vogt, Servais told
Sewald, is going to be a manager some-
day, but for now he’s your bullpen coach
and he will have a hand in everything.
A year later, Vogt is perhaps the pla-
tonic ideal of a manager who combines
human elements with the game’s mod-
ern trappings.
“At 6:40, the game starts, and there’s
nothing you can do about anything oth-
er than playing and grinding,” says Se-
wald, now a Diamondbacks reliever.
“Some of this, you just cannot compute
it. Somebody who came up with that
and adapted to what’s going – especially
in the Cleveland organization where
they’re going to take the data pretty se-
riously – it was very important he had
some experience in that.”
For now, it is going startlingly well.
The Guardians are tracking to become
the first AL Central team to earn a first-
round bye since the expanded playoffs
began. Corner infielders Jose Ramirez
and Josh Naylor have already slugged 21
and 20 home runs, respectively. Steven
Kwan is batting .385 with a 1.006 OPS in
51 games.
Certainly, it won’t be this good all the
time, not even this year, certainly in
coming years. Vogt has clearly proved
he was prepared to handle success.
And when the road gets bumpier,
he’ll be ready then, too.
“It has to be fun,” he says. “You gotta
be laughing. You gotta be smiling. Even
in the dark times.”
SPORTS USA TODAY ❚ THURSDAY JUNE 27, 2024 ❚ 5C

Specialist hops on pommel horse in Paris bid

Tom Schad
USA TODAY
There are six events in men’s gym-
nastics, each designed to test a different
combination of athletes’ strength, bal-
ance and skill.
Stephen Nedoroscik only competes
in one event – but it could be his ticket to
the Paris Olympics.
In a sport that generally rewards all-
arounders, Nedoroscik, 25, has taken a
completely opposite approach leading
up to the U.S. Olympic gymnastics trials
in Minneapolis this
week. Since the waning
days of his high school
career, he has competed
only on pommel horse –
emerging as one of the
best athletes in the world
Nedoroscik on this one apparatus,
even at the apparent ex-
pense of the other five.
Where other gymnasts like Brody
Malone and Frederick Richard have
room to overcome a mistake in competi-
tion, Nedoroscik’s entire night comes
down to a 45-second pommel horse rou-
tine. Where they have strengths and
weaknesses, he has a singular specialty.
But it’s worked. Over the past eight
years, the Massachusetts native has
won two NCAA titles, four national
championships and a 2021 world title,
all on pommel horse.
“Somebody like Stephen is a real
anomaly,” said Randy Jepson, who
coached Nedoroscik in college at Penn
State. “You don’t get a lot of those guys
that stand up and stick out where
they’re the best in the world (in a single
event).”
Nedoroscik’s elite ability – and obvi-
ous limitations – make him something
of a wild card entering the trials, where
the five members of the men’s Olympic
team will be decided. In the Olympic
team final, three men per country com-
pete on each apparatus and all three
scores count. Nedoroscik would be un-
able to contribute in five of those events
– but in the sixth, he is capable of put-
ting up a score that few athletes in the
world can match.
“It’s a little complicated,” Nedoroscik
said of his Olympic chances. “But right
now, the way things are looking, I think
I’ve put myself in a pretty dang good
spot here. I’m just hoping that I can go
out to Olympic trials and knock out a
couple more good routines. At that
point, everything would be out of con-
trol. Fingers crossed I’d make it.”
Stephen Nedoroscik easily won the pommel horse competition at this year’s U.S.
Gymnastics Championships in Fort Worth, Texas. JEROME MIRON/USA TODAY SPORTS
What makes pommel horse
so difficult
Nedoroscik is one of three specialists
competing at the Olympic trials and one
of two who focus on pommel horse, the
notoriously tricky apparatus that is
sometimes compared to balance beam
in women’s gymnastics. The U.S. has
historically struggled on the apparatus,
and many all-arounders dread it. Jep-
son likened the technical requirements
of the event to playing a round of golf
with fairways that are 10 feet wide and
putting the ball on the green every time.
“It’s really challenging because
you’re dealing with so many different
balance issues and constant motion,” he
said. “So as the difficulty of the skill goes
up, the precariousness of keeping that
balance, in motion, without any impedi-
ments and flaws to the fluidity of that
motion – it’s really, really important.”
Nedoroscik, however, has always
loved it. Though he competed in every
event as a kid, and was actually best at
parallel bars for a while, he said he
would often drag a pommel horse train-
ing device – known colloquially as a
mushroom – into the living room to
show off his pommel horse skills for
family members and friends.
When he was 11 or 12, he said he de-
cided to start going into practice early to
spend one full hour doing simple one-
pommel loops. About a year later, he
could do more loops in a row than some
of the guys who were heading off to col-
lege. And by 15, his father had purchased
an old pommel horse from the 1980s at
an auction and set it up in the backyard.
“So when I got that, then it turned
into the family coming over and I’d go
show them some stuff on that,” Nedo-
roscik said.
Why Nedoroscik went all-in
on one event
That backyard practice helped Nedo-
roscik win back-to-back pommel horse
titles at junior Olympic nationals, which
in turn helped him get on Jepson’s radar
at Penn State. As a freshman, Nedoros-
cik said he intended to add other events
to his competitive repertoire but soon
realized that pommel horse was his ave-
nue to competing. So he zeroed in on the
event, won a national title and hasn’t
looked back since.
“It was kind of just a route that no one
had taken before,” he said. “I had no idea
what was going to happen.”
After graduating from Penn State
with an electrical engineering degree,
Nedoroscik was perhaps best known for
the non-prescription goggles he wore
while competing – a gift from a team-
mate that he has said was more about
superstition than improving his eye-
sight. But by 2019, he had made it to the
U.S. national team. And in 2021, after
missing out on the Tokyo Olympic team,
he became the first U.S. gymnast ever to
win a world championship on pommel
horse. (Peter Vidmar won Olympic gold
in the event in 1984.)
Nedoroscik said competing as a one-
event specialist has its own set of chal-
lenges. At last month’s national cham-
pionships, for instance, he warmed up
and then had to wait for more than 140
routines to take place before his one
turn on pommel horse arrived.
It also comes with daunting pressure
– and, for USA Gymnastics officials, a
certain degree of risk.
The Olympic calculus of including
a specialist
If he has a clean routine, Nedoroscik
is capable of scoring above 15.000 and
likely adding one or two points to the
team’s score, which could bump the
team above one of its rivals. But if he fal-
ters, the team has essentially assumed
the risk of being short-handed in case of
an injury without getting any of the sub-
sequent reward. (In Tokyo, there were
only four athletes allowed per team but
each country could also bring a “plus-
one” athlete to compete only in individ-
ual events. The U.S. took another pom-
mel horse specialist, Alec Yoder.)
“You want to win, you’ve got to be
able to put the best score up. And maybe
that means thinking out of the box a lit-
tle bit and taking a little bit more risk,”
Jepson explained. “The fact that he’s a
one-event guy but he can make that big
a difference, I think that’s really key.
And I think that as we’ve looked at the
selection procedures, (they’ve) made it
such that somebody like that can make
it – but they have to be that valuable.”
The U.S. is hardly the only country
weighing questions about specialists
ahead of the Olympic team competition,
and Nedoroscik wouldn’t be alone if he
were to be selected. Great Britain has
long relied on pommel horse specialists,
most recently Max Whitlock, and China
is expected to have a specialist on rings
in Paris.
Ultimately, however, it’s a question of
risk and reward. And Nedoroscik knows
that all he can do is try to impact that
equation with consistent performances
in Minneapolis this week – ideally by
matching or exceeding his scores at the
national championships earlier this
summer, where he finished nearly two
points higher than any of the other like-
ly members of Team USA over two pom-
mel horse routines.
“It does look like I have a chance,” Ne-
doroscik said. “I think I actually have a
really good chance of making that
squad.”

Lynx win $500,000 WNBA Commissioner’s Cup

Jordan Mendoza
USA TODAY
The Minnesota Lynx used their hot
shooting and slowed down one of the
best offenses in the league to beat the
New York Liberty 92-89 on Tuesday to
win the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup.
In the first half it looked like the first-
place Liberty were going to cruise to-
ward victory thanks to a hot start from
Sabrina Ionescu, but the second half
was a different story. New York couldn’t
stop turning the ball over and Minneso-
ta capitalized on a majority of the op-
portunities, turning 22 Liberty turn-
overs into 27 points.
Breanna Stewart engineered her own
run to cut the deficit to one point in the
fourth quarter, but Minnesota held off
all late rallies from New York.
The Lynx showed why they lead the
WNBA in 3-point shooting percentage
with a whopping 14-for-29 (48.3%) per-
formance from beyond the arc. Minne-
sota got big-time performances from
Bridget Carleton and Napheesa Collier,
who combined for 44 points and made
Lynx forward Napheesa Collier had 21
points and six rebounds and was
named MVP of the Commissioner’s
Cup final. WENDELL CRUZ/USA TODAY SPORTS
nine of the 3-point shots for the team.
Collier was named the MVP of the final.
The win is just another mark in what
has been a remarkable turnaround in
Minnesota. A team that finished the
2023 season 19-21, Minnesota has now
won seven games in a row, even though
Tuesday’s game won’t count toward the
regular-season standings or stats. Of
those victories, only the win on Tuesday
and a win over Los Angeles on June 14
were single-digit wins. At 13-3 Minneso-
ta is tied with the Connecticut Sun for
second place in the WNBA and one
game back of New York.
Commissioner’s Cup prize
Not only do the Lynx get to claim the
Commissioner’s Cup trophy, they also
went home with a solid payday.
The winners of the Commissioner’s
Cup are awarded $500,000, about one-
third of the WNBA salary cap. With 12
players on a roster, each player will get
about $41,000, and the MVP of the game
– Collier – gets an additional $5,000.
Coinbase, the sponsor of the Com-
missioner’s Cup, added $120,000 in
cryptocurrency to the prize pool so ev-
ery player on each team will get $5,000,
so there’s some prize for the Liberty.
Every team partnered with a non-
profit organization decided by players
for the competition and those organiza-
tions also get donations for their teams
making and winning the final. The Lynx
partnered with Gender Justice and the
organization will receive $10,000, and
Women Creating Change will get $5,00
from its partnership with the Liberty.
Commissioner’s Cup history
The Lynx denied New York a chance
to be the first back-to-back Commis-
sioner’s Cup winners in the in-season
competition’s young history. The Liber-
ty won last year’s edition by defeating
the eventual WNBA champion Las Ve-
gas Aces. The winners of the Commis-
sioner’s Cup:
h 2024: Minnesota Lynx (defeated
New York Liberty)
h 2023: New York Liberty (defeated
Las Vegas Aces)
h 2022: Las Vegas Aces (defeated
Chicago Sky)
h 2021: Seattle Storm (defeated Con-
necticut Sun)

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FOR THE RECORD

PROFESSIONAL GOLF PREVIEWS
All times ET Monday’s Games MLS
Spain 1, Albania 0 EASTERN CONFERENCE
SOCCER Croatia 1, Italy 1 W L T Pts GF GA LPGA: Dow Championship
GROUP C Inter Miami CF 12 3 5 41 46 29
GP W D L GD Pts Cincinnati 12 4 3 39 32 23
England 3 1 2 0 +1 5 NY Red Bulls 9 4 7 34 34 25 Course: Midland (Michigan) Country Club (Par
Copa América Denmark 3 0 3 0 0 3 Charlotte FC 9 6 5 32 23 20
GROUP STAGE Slovenia 3 0 3 0 0 3 Columbus 8 3 6 30 29 17 70, 6,277 yards)
GROUP A Serbia 3 0 2 1 -1 1 NY City FC 9 8 2 29 26 23 TV (EDT): Thursday-Friday, 10 a.m.-noon (Golf
GP W D L GD Pts Nashville 6 5 8 26 23 23
Suunday, June 16
Argentina
Canada
2
2
2
1
0
0
0
1
+3
-1
6
3 England 1, Serbia 0 Toronto FC
Atlanta
7 10
5 8
3
6
24
21
28
26
35
24
Channel/Peacock) and noon-1 p.m. (Peacock); New BetMGM customers can sign
Chile 2 0 1 1 -1 1 Thursday, June 20 Orlando City 5 8 6 21 23 31 Saturday, 4-5 p.m. (Peacock) and 5-7 p.m. (Golf up today and get a First Bet Offer
Peru 2 0 1 1 -1 1 Slovenia 1, Serbia 1 Philadelphia 4 7 8 20 31 31 up to $1,500 using bonus code
Thursday, June 20 England 1, Denmark 1 New England 6 10 1 19 17 30 Channel/Peacock); Sunday, Noon-1 p.m. USAT. Just download the BetMGM
Argentina 2, Canada 0 Tuesday’s Games D.C. United 4 9 7 19 26 37
Denmark 0, Serbia 0 CF Montreal 4 8 7 19 26 41 (NBCSports.com/App) and 1-3 p.m. (Golf Chan- app, deposit at least $10 and
Friday, June 21 England 0, Slovenia 0 Chicago 4 9 6 18 23 34 place your first wager on any
Peru 0, Chile 0
GROUP D WESTERN CONFERENCE
nel/Paramount+)
Tuesday’s Games game. If your first bet loses, you
Canada 1, Peru 0 Austria
GP
3
W
2
D
0
L
1
GD
+2
Pts
6 Los Angeles FC
W
11
L T
4 4
Pts
37
GF
38
GA
23
This is a 72-hole, stroke-play team event. The will receive bonus bets in the
Argentina 1, Chile 0 France 3 1 2 0 +1 5 Real Salt Lake 10 3 7 37 40 23 two-player teams will compete in foursomes amount of your bet (up to
Saturday’s Games Netherlands 3 1 1 1 0 4 LA Galaxy 10 3 7 37 38 27 $1,500). Just make sure you use
Argentina vs. Peru, 8 p.m. (FS1) Poland 3 0 1 2 -3 1 Colorado 9 7 4 31 38 32 (alternate shot) in the first and third rounds and bonus code USAT when you sign
Canada vs. Chile, 8 p.m. (FS2) Sunday, June 16 Minnesota 8 6 5 29 31 29
GROUP B Netherlands 2, Poland 1 Portland 7 7 6 27 36 33 in four ball (best ball) in the second and final up. Bet now!
GP W D L GD Pts Houston 7 6 6 27 26 23
Venezuela 1 1 0 0 +1 3 Monday, June 17 Austin FC 7 7 6 27 23 28 rounds. There will be a cut to the low-33 teams
Mexico
Ecuador
1
1 0
1 0
0
0
1
+1
-1
3
0
France 1, Austria 0
Friday, June 21
Vancouver
Seattle
7
6
7 4
7 7
25
25
26
27
24
25 and ties after 36 holes. In the event there is a ODDS SPONSORED
Jamaica 1 0 0 1 -1 0 Austria 3, Poland 1
Netherlands 0, France 0
FC Dallas
Saint Louis
5
3
9 5
6 10
20
19
27
24
31
31
playoff, it would be played in foursomes format. BY BETMGM.COM
Saturday, June 22
Tuesday’s Games Sporting KC 3 12 5 14 31 44
Venezuela 2, Ecuador 1
Mexico 1, Jamaica 0 France 1, Poland 1 San Jose 3 14 2 11 29 51 PGA Tour Champions: US Senior Open Gannett may earn revenue from sports
Austria 3, Netherlands 2 Friday’s Game betting operators for audience refer-
Wednesday’s Games
Ecuador vs. Jamaica GROUP E New York City FC vs. Orlando, 7:30 p.m.
Course: Newport (Rhode Island) Country Club rals to betting services. Sports betting
GP W D L GD Pts Saturday’s Games operators have no influence over nor
Venezuela vs. Mexico Romania 3 1 1 1 +1 4
Sunday, June 30 Belgium 3 1 1 1 +1 4
Philadelphia at CF Montreal, 7:30 p.m. (Par 70, 7,024 yards) are any such revenues in any way de-
Jamaica vs. Venezuela, 8 p.m. (FS1) Columbus at New England, 7:30 p.m. pendent on or linked to the newsrooms
Mexico vs. Ecuador, 8 p.m. (FOX)
Slovakia
Ukraine
3
3
1
1
1
1
1
1
0
-2
4
4
Toronto FC at Atlanta, 7:30 p.m. TV (EDT): Thursday-Friday, Noon-3 p.m. ET or news coverage. Terms apply, see op-
D.C. United at NY Red Bulls, 7:30 p.m.
GROUP C
GP W D L GD Pts Sunday, June 16 Cincinnati at FC Dallas, 8:30 p.m. (Golf Channel) and 3-5 p.m. (Peacock); Saturday, erator site for Terms and Conditions.
Slovenia 1, Denmark 1 Charlotte FC at Houston, 8:30 p.m. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAM-
Uruguay 1 1 0 0 +2 3
Monday, June 17 Inter Miami CF at Nashville, 8:30 p.m. Noon-3 p.m. (NBC) and 3-5 p.m. (Golf Channel); BLER CO, DC, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MD, MS,
USA 1 1 0 0 +2 3 NJ, OH, PA, TN, VA, WV, WY. Call 877-8-
Panama 1 0 0 1 -2 0 Romania 3, Ukraine 0 Austin FC at Sporting KC, 8:30 p.m. Sunday, 12:30-3:30 p.m. (NBC) and 3:30-5:30
Slovakia 1, Belgium 0 Colorado at Los Angeles FC, 10:30 p.m. HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY)
Bolivia 1 0 0 1 -2 0
Sunday’s Games Friday, June 21 Saint Louis at Vancouver, 10:30 p.m.
Chicago at Seattle, 10:30 p.m.
p.m. (Golf Channel) Call 1-800-327-5050 (MA). 21+ to wa-
Ukraine 2, Slovakia 1 ger. Please Gamble Responsibly. Call 1-
United States 2, Bolivia 0
Uruguay 2, Panama 0 Saturday, June 22
Minnesota at Portland, 10:30 p.m. This is the third of five tour majors. The field 800-NEXT-STEP (AZ), 1-800-522-4700
LA Galaxy vs San Jose at Stanford, 10:30 p.m. (NV), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), 1-800-270-
Thursday’s Games Belgium 2, Romania 0 includes every winner of the event dating to 7117 for confidential help (MI), 1-800-
Panama vs. United States, 6 p.m. (FOX) Wednesday’s Games
Uruguay vs. Bolivia, 9 p.m. (FOX) Slovakia 1, Romania 1 MLB 2013. Defending champ Bernhard Langer won in 981-0023 (PR). In partnership with Kan-
sas Crossing Casino and Hotel. Visit Be-
Monday, July 1 Ukraine 0, Belgium 0
Bolivia vs. Panama, 9 p.m. (FS2) GROUP F 2010 too; ’22 champ Padraig Harrington is com- tMGM.com for Terms & Conditions. US
AMERICAN LEAGUE promotional offers not available in DC,
United States vs. Uruguay, 9 p.m. (FS1)
Portugal
GP
3
W
2
D
0
L
1
GD
+2
Pts
6
ing off his third win in a row at the Dick’s Open. Nevada, New York or Ontario.
GROUP D East Division
GP W D L GD Pts Turkey
Georgia
3
3
2
1
0
1
1
1
0
0
6
4
W L Pct GB – Field Level Media | Reuters
Colombia 1 1 0 0 +1 3 N.Y. Yankees 52 29 .642 —
Brazil 1 0 1 0 0 1 Czechia 3 0 1 2 -2 1 Baltimore 49 30 .620 2
Costa Rica 1 0 1 0 0 1 Tuesday, June 18 Boston 43 37 .538 8½
Paraguay 1 0 0 1 -1 0 Turkey 3, Georgia 1 Tampa Bay 40 41 .494 12
Portugal 2, Czechia 1 Toronto 36 43 .456 15
Monday’s Games
Colombia 1, Paraguay 0 Saturday, June 22 Central Division N.Y. Mets 9, N.Y. Yankees 7 Colorado at Chicago White Sox, 7:10 p.m. Saturday’s Games
Brazil 0, Costa Rica 0 Georgia 1, Czechia 1 W L Pct GB Atlanta at St. Louis, ppd. San Diego at Boston, 7:10 p.m. Las Vegas at Washington, 2 p.m.
Friday’s Games Portugal 3, Turkey 0 Cleveland 51 26 .662 — L.A. Dodgers 4, Chicago White Sox 3 Houston at N.Y. Mets, 7:10 p.m. Dallas at Seattle, 9 p.m.
Wednesday’s Games Minnesota 43 36 .544 9 Houston 5, Colorado 2 Pittsburgh at Atlanta, 7:20 p.m.
Colombia vs. Costa Rica, 6 p.m. (FS1) Kansas City 44 38 .537 9½
Paraguay vs. Brazil, 9 p.m. (FS1) Turkey 2, Czechia 1 Miami 2, Kansas City 1 Cleveland at Kansas City, 8:10 p.m.
Tuesday, July 2 Georgia 2, Portugal 0 Detroit
Chicago
37 43
21 60
.463
.259
15½
32
Milwaukee 3, Texas 1 Chicago Cubs at Milwaukee, 8:10 p.m. DEALS
L.A. Angels 7, Oakland 5 Cincinnati at St. Louis, 8:15 p.m.
Brazil vs. Colombia, 9 p.m. (FS1) ROUND OF 16 Arizona 5, Minnesota 4 Detroit at L.A. Angels, 9:38 p.m.
Costa Rica vs. Paraguay, 9 p.m. (FS2) Saturday’s Games West Division
W L Pct GB San Diego 9, Washington 7 Oakland at Arizona, 9:40 p.m. BASEBALL
Switzerland vs. Italy, 12 p.m. (FS1) Seattle 46 37 .554 — San Francisco 5, Chicago Cubs 1 Minnesota at Seattle, 9:40 p.m. Major League Baseball
Euro 2024 Germany vs. Denmark, 3 p.m. (FOX) L.A. Dodgers at San Francisco, 10:15 p.m. ATLANTA BRAVES — P Bryce Elder Called Up
GROUP STAGE Houston 39 40 .494 5 Wednesday’s Games
Three points for a win, one point for a draw.
Sunday’s Games Texas 37 43 .463 7½ Seattle 5, Tampa Bay 2 from Minors recalled as 27th roster player.
England vs. Slovakia, 12 p.m. (FOX) L.A. Angels 32 46 .410 11½ Pittsburgh 6, Cincinnati 1 CINCINNATI REDS — P Graham Ashcraft Called
GROUP A
GP W D L GD Pts
Spain vs. Georgia, 3 p.m. (FOX) Oakland 29 53 .354 16½ Philadelphia 6, Detroit 2 WNBA Up from Minors. P Yosver Zulueta Sent to Mi-
NATIONAL LEAGUE Atlanta 6, St. Louis 2 nors.
Germany 3 2 1 0 +6 7 NWSL Houston 7, Colorado 1 CLEVELAND GUARDIANS — Jhonkensy Noel
Switzerland 3 1 2 0 +2 5 GP W D L GF GA GD P East Division Kansas City 5, Miami 1 EASTERN CONFERENCE Called Up from Minors. RF Johnathan Rodri-
Hungary 3 1 0 2 -3 3 Kansas City 14 9 5 0 37 20 +17 32 W L Pct GB W L Pct GB guez Sent to Minors.
Scotland 3 0 1 2 -5 1 Orlando 14 9 5 0 27 11 +16 32 Philadelphia 53 27 .663 — Milwaukee 6, Texas 5
Oakland at L.A. Angels N.Y. Liberty 15 3 .833 — COLORADO ROCKIES — P Jake Bird Placed on
Washington 14 10 1 3 29 17 +12 31 Atlanta 44 33 .571 71⁄2
Friday, June 14 NJ/NY Gotham 14 8 3 3 16 11 +5 27 N.Y. Mets 38 39 .494 13½ Washington at San Diego Connecticut 13 3 .813 1 15-Day IL Right groin strain.
Germany 5, Scotland 1 Cleveland at Baltimore Atlanta 6 9 .400 7½ DETROIT TIGERS — P Keider Montero Called
Portland 14 7 2 5 26 20 +6 23 Washington 38 41 .481 14½ Chicago 6 9 .400 7½ Up from Minors. P Easton Lucas Sent to Mi-
Saturday, June 15 North Carolina 14 6 1 7 16 16 0 19 Miami 28 52 .350 25 Toronto at Boston
Indiana 7 11 .389 8
Switzerland 3, Hungary 1 N.Y. Yankees at N.Y. Mets nors.
Chicago 14 5 2 7 19 22 -3 17 Central Division Washington 4 13 .235 10½ MIAMI MARLINS — Valente Bellozo Purchased
Wednesday, June 19 Louisville 14 3 7 4 20 18 +2 16 Atlanta at St. Louis
W L Pct GB L.A. Dodgers at Chicago White Sox WESTERN CONFERENCE From Minors. P Kent Emanuel Designated for
Germany 2, Hungary 0 San Diego 14 3 6 5 12 13 -1 15 Milwaukee 48 33 .593 —
Angel City 14 4 3 7 15 21 -6 15 Minnesota at Arizona W L Pct GB Assignment.
Scotland 1, Switzerland 1 St. Louis 40 38 .513 61⁄2 MILWAUKEE BREWERS — Dallas Keuchel Pur-
Bay FC 14 5 0 9 18 25 -7 15 Chicago Cubs at San Francisco Minnesota 13 3 .813 —
Sunday’s Games Pittsburgh 39 41 .488 8½ Seattle 10 6 .625 3 chased From Minors. DH Gary Sanchez Placed
Hungary 1, Scotland 0 Houston 14 3 5 6 11 20 -9 14 Cincinnati 37 43 .463 10½ Thursday’s Games on 10-Day IL Strained left calf. P Joe Ross
Seattle 14 2 3 9 14 26 -12 9 Minnesota at Arizona, 3:40 p.m. Las Vegas 8 6 .571 4
Switzerland 1, Germany 1 Chicago 37 43 .463 10½ Phoenix 8 8 .500 5 Transferred to 60-Day IL Lower back strain. P
Utah 14 2 1 11 7 27 -20 7 Chicago Cubs at San Francisco, 3:45 p.m.
GROUP B Note: Three points for a win, one for a draw. West Division Atlanta at Chicago White Sox, 4:10 p.m. L.A. Sparks 4 13 .235 9½ Joel Kuhnel Designated for Assignment. Eric
GP W D L GD Pts W L Pct GB Dallas 3 13 .188 10 Haase Purchased From Minors.
Spain 3 3 0 0 +5 9 Friday’s Games Miami at Philadelphia, 6:20 p.m.
L.A. Dodgers 50 31 .617 — Texas at Baltimore, 6:35 p.m. Tuesday’s Game ST. LOUIS CARDINALS — P Chris Roycroft
Italy 3 1 1 1 0 4 Kansas City vs. Houston, 8 p.m. San Diego 43 41 .512 8½ Called Up from Minors recalled as 27th roster
Croatia 3 0 2 1 -3 2 San Diego vs. Chicago, 10 p.m. N.Y. Yankees at Toronto, 7:07 p.m. Minnesota 94, N.Y. Liberty 89
Arizona 39 40 .494 10 Cincinnati at St. Louis, 7:45 p.m. player.
Albania 3 0 1 2 -2 1 Saturday’s Games San Francisco 38 42 .475 11½ Thursday’s Games TEXAS RANGERS — P Cole Winn Transferred to
Cleveland at Kansas City, 8:10 p.m. Minnesota at Dallas, 1 p.m.
Saturday, June 15 Racing Louisville vs. Bay FC, 4 p.m. Colorado 27 52 .342 22
Detroit at L.A. Angels, 9:38 p.m. 60-Day IL Right shoulder sprain. RF Derek Hill
Washington vs. North Carolina, 7:30 p.m. Connecticut at Washington, 7 p.m. Purchased From Minors. P Yerry Rodriguez
Spain 3, Croatia 0 Tuesday’s Games Friday’s Games Las Vegas at Chicago, 7 p.m. Designated for Assignment. 2B Justin Foscue
Italy 2, Albania 1 Utah vs. Portland, 10 p.m. Cleveland 10, Baltimore 8 Miami at Philadelphia, 6:20 p.m. Indiana at Seattle, 10 p.m. Sent to Minors. 2B Justin Foscue Removed
Wednesday, June 19 Sunday’s Games Detroit 4, Philadelphia 1 Washington at Tampa Bay, 6:50 p.m.
Croatia 2, Albania 2 NJ/NY Gotham FC vs. Seattle, 1 p.m. Tampa Bay 11, Seattle 3 Friday’s Games From 60-Day IL Strained left oblique. 2B Jus-
Texas at Baltimore, 7:05 p.m. Atlanta at Connecticut, 7:30 p.m. tin Foscue Recalled From Minors Rehab. 3B
Thursday, June 20 Angel City FC vs. Orlando, 7:30 p.m. Toronto 9, Boston 4 N.Y. Yankees at Toronto, 7:07 p.m.
Pittsburgh 9, Cincinnati 5 L.A. Sparks at Phoenix, 10 p.m. Ezequiel Duran Sent to Minors.
Spain 1, Italy 0

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A cold front progressing into

the Southeast will produce thun- Seattle
derstorms with a risk of localized Olympia
64 Bangor
67 Spokane
76
damaging wind gusts in southern Portland 71 Miles City
Bismarck Duluth Marquette

Alabama, southern Georgia, the Salem 69

Helena
90 74 71 64 PRECIPITATION FORECAST
74 76 Burlington Augusta

Florida Panhandle and the cen- Boise Fargo Mpls-St. Paul 74 Montpelier
78 T-storms Rain Snow Ice/mix
Bend
81 Billings 80 77 Boston
tral and eastern Carolinas today. 72 87
Rapid City Grand Buffalo 69 83
Burns
93 Milwaukee Rapids 72 Albany
Spotty, non-severe thunderstorms 76 Pierre Sioux Falls
69 74 75
Detroit
80
Hartford
Eureka Idaho Falls Jackson
83 76 Cleveland 86
are expected just to the north and 61 82 Hole Casper
Des Moines Madison
Lansing 74 Pittsburgh New York
over the Florida Peninsula. Sacramento
Reno
Elko 74 89 North Platte
78 76 73 81 85
89 90 89 Salt Lake City 83 Chicago
Harrisburg Philadelphia
Morning showers will become 88
Cheyenne Omaha
74 Columbus
Carson City
85 77 81 89 88
thunderstorms over the Rockies 87 Kansas City Springfield Washington Annapolis
San Francisco
81 82 Indianapolis Cincinnati
90 87
with flash flooding, large hail, 67 St. George Aspen
Denver
82 84
Las Vegas
104 71 93 Topeka
Charleston Richmond
damaging wind gusts and even a Fresno
109 83 Jefferson City St. Louis Louisville 87 89 TODAY
96 Wichita 87 88
Knoxville
87
tornado all possible. That risk will Dodge City 88 Raleigh
90 88 Memphis
91
extend as far east as the western Los Angeles Santa Fe Charlotte
84
Palm Springs Flagstaff
86 Oklahoma 90 Nashville
90 Columbia
Dakotas and western Nebraska. 112 79 City
Tulsa
88
Albuquerque 95 97
Afternoon thunderstorms may San Diego
Phoenix 89 95 Little Rock Birmingham Atlanta Charleston
74 Lubbock Dallas/Ft. Worth 93 86 89 97
stretch as far east as eastern Alaska 112 101 100 Montgomery Savannah
Minnesota and central Iowa. El Paso Midland- Shreveport Jackson 88 96
Morning showers will affect 100 Odessa Austin
95 91 Jacksonville
Fairbanks Hawaii 100 97 Mobile
Tallahassee
97
much of New England although 85 Juneau
Honolulu San Antonio
Baton Rouge 87 90
rain may be steadier in northern, Anchorage 69 89 97 Houston 92 New FRIDAY
66 97
Orleans
central and eastern Maine. 88 Tampa
91
Puerto Rico
Miami EXTREMES
San Juan
Brownsville 91 91 Note: For contiguous 48 states through 3 p.m. ET yesterday
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather Inc. ©2024
96 HOTTEST: 101° COLDEST: 37°
Needles, Calif. Utica, Mont.
Below 10 10s 20s 30s 40s 50s 60s 70s 80s 90s 100s 110+
TOP TRAVEL CITIES Air quality index (AQI)
ATLANTA BALTIMORE BOSTON CHARLOTTE CHICAGO DALLAS/FT. WORTH DENVER DETROIT HONOLULU HOUSTON LAS VEGAS LOS ANGELES
Stray Partly Stray Sunny, Heavy Mostly Mostly
THU THU sunny THU Shower THU THU Cooler THU THU THU THU Showers THU Humid THU Hot THU
t-storm t-storm hot t-storm sunny sunny
90/67 83/61 74/63 89/76 97/79 109/84
89/73 90/72 100/80 93/65 75/56 84/64
Stray Mostly Mostly Stray Breezy, Stray Partly Showers Sunny, Partly
FRI FRI sunny FRI FRI FRI T-storms FRI FRI FRI FRI FRI Humid FRI FRI
t-storm sunny t-storm hot t-storm sunny around hot sunny
88/72 79/69 94/79
91/77 75/60 92/76 99/81 90/57 78/69 86/76 108/80 84/63
Stray Stray Stray Stray Breezy, Mostly A few Stray Sunny, Mostly
SAT SAT t-storm SAT Shower SAT SAT SAT SAT SAT T-storm SAT SAT SAT SAT
t-storm t-storm t-storm hot cloudy showers t-storm hot sunny
86/78 75/68 83/65
90/78 92/76 87/62 100/83 84/62 85/73 94/78 108/82 82/62
AQI Moderate AQI Moderate AQI Moderate AQI Moderate AQI Moderate AQI Good AQI Good AQI Moderate AQI Good AQI Good AQI Moderate AQI Moderate
MIAMI MPLS-ST. PAUL NEW ORLEANS NEW YORK ORLANDO PHILADELPHIA PHOENIX SALT LAKE CITY SAN DIEGO SAN FRANCISCO SEATTLE WASHINGTON
Stray Stray Stray Turning Stray Sunny, Stray Partly
THU THU t-storm THU THU THU THU Clearing THU THU THU THU Breezy THU Shower THU Clearing
t-storm t-storm sunny t-storm hot t-storm sunny
77/66 88/65 67/54 64/52 90/71
91/79 88/78 85/63 93/76 112/89 88/65 74/65
A P.M. T-storms Stray Mostly A P.M. Mostly Sunny, Sunlit, Some Partly Mostly Mostly
FRI t-storm FRI FRI t-storm FRI sunny FRI t-storm FRI sunny FRI warm FRI nice FRI sun FRI sunny FRI cloudy FRI sunny
76/65
92/77 93/80 78/66 92/76 84/68 109/87 86/66 73/65 69/54 73/55 86/72
Breezy Stray A P.M. Stray Sunny, Partly Partly A brief Stray
SAT T-storm SAT SAT SAT T-storms SAT SAT SAT SAT Warmer SAT SAT SAT SAT
77/54 t-storm t-storm t-storm warm sunny sunny shower t-storm
90/80 79/71 100/76
92/78 94/76 86/74 110/90 75/65 69/56 72/55 90/78
AQI Good AQI Good AQI Good AQI Moderate AQI Good AQI Moderate AQI Moderate AQI Moderate AQI Moderate AQI Good AQI Moderate AQI Moderate
c Cloudy f Fog i Ice r Rain sf Snowflurries sn Snow w Windy dr Drizzle h Haze pc Partly cloudy s Sunny sh Showers t Thunderstorms

U.S. CITIES TODAY FRI

Cincinnati
TODAY
84/63s
FRI
87/74pc Hartford, Conn.
TODAY
86/56pc
FRI
81/60s Nags Head, N.C.
TODAY
88/73t
FRI
84/76s Sarasota, Fla.
TODAY
90/80t
FRI
91/77pc
WORLD CITIES
Akron, Ohio 75/53s 84/69pc Cleveland 74/57s 84/71pc Indianapolis 82/62s 84/72c Nashville, Tenn. 88/70t 92/77pc Savannah, Ga. 96/76t 90/76t TODAY FRI
Albany, N.Y. 80/53s 79/61s Colorado Springs 88/64t 87/60t Islip, N.Y. 85/62pc 78/63s Newark, N.J. 89/65pc 82/68s Scottsdale, Ariz. 108/87s 108/85s Beijing 97/73pc 100/74pc
Albuquerque 89/69t 94/72s Columbia, S.C. 97/72t 90/77t Jackson, Miss. 91/72t 94/77s New Haven, Conn. 85/62pc 81/64s Shreveport, La. 95/77t 97/78s Buenos Aires 62/47pc 55/39s
Allentown, Pa. 84/56pc 80/62pc Columbus, Ohio 81/59s 87/74pc Jacksonville, Fla. 97/76t 94/76t Norfolk, Va. 86/73t 83/74s Sioux Falls, S.D. 76/66t 85/61t Cancun, Mexico 91/80t 89/80t
Amarillo, Texas 100/76s 101/75pc Corpus Christi, Texas 97/80t 94/82t Jefferson City, Mo. 87/71pc 91/76t Oakland, Calif. 69/53pc 69/54pc South Bend, Ind. 76/57s 82/69t Dubai, UAE 107/91s 108/91s
Anaheim, Calif. 83/64s 82/61s Dayton, Ohio 81/58s 86/74pc Kansas City 81/70t 91/74t Oklahoma City 95/76s 102/77w Spokane, Wash. 71/49w 74/56pc Frankfurt 87/66pc 82/58pc
Anchorage, Alaska 66/52pc 66/53pc Daytona Beach, Fla. 93/76t 91/76t Key West, Fla. 91/83c 90/85t Omaha, Neb. 77/67t 90/71t Springfield, Mo. 88/71pc 93/77pc Hong Kong 92/83c 91/84c
Aspen, Colo. 71/53t 74/49t Des Moines, Iowa 78/67t 86/69t Knoxville, Tenn. 88/71t 93/76pc Palm Springs, Calif. 112/78s 111/78s Springfield, Ill. 82/63pc 83/73sh Istanbul 85/71s 85/72w
Atlantic City, N.J. 85/65pc 76/69w Duluth, Minn. 71/55pc 67/60t Laredo, Texas 100/79s 98/81pc Pensacola, Fla. 86/76t 91/79t St. Louis 88/71s 91/78sh Jerusalem 92/70s 93/68s
Augusta, Ga. 94/72t 92/75t Durham, N.C. 89/71t 92/73t Lexington, Ky. 87/64s 90/74pc Pierre, S.D. 83/66r 85/55w St. Petersburg, Fla. 91/79t 92/78c Johannesburg 63/40pc 64/43pc
Austin, Texas 97/75s 96/75pc El Paso, Texas 100/81t 104/78pc Lincoln, Neb. 79/70t 92/70t Pittsburgh 81/55s 87/71c Syracuse, N.Y. 75/53pc 81/66s London 77/54pc 72/52s
Bakersfield, Calif. 98/68s 97/67s Fairbanks, Alaska 85/59pc 79/59c Little Rock, Ark. 93/70s 97/78s Portland, Maine 79/54sh 74/55s Tallahassee, Fla. 90/76t 91/75t Mexico City 75/57sh 72/56c
Baton Rouge, La. 92/77t 94/79t Flagstaff, Ariz. 79/55t 83/52s Long Beach, Calif. 80/66pc 79/64pc Portland, Ore. 69/52c 78/54c Tampa, Fla. 91/80t 91/78pc Montreal 70/50pc 72/59s
Billings, Mont. 87/52t 73/47w Fargo, N.D. 80/68t 80/57t Louisville, Ky. 87/67s 91/78pc Providence, R.I. 83/58pc 78/57s Toledo, Ohio 78/57s 83/70pc Moscow 79/57r 86/64s
Birmingham, Ala. 86/75t 92/77t Fort Myers, Fla. 90/78t 92/76t Lubbock, Texas 101/77s 102/77s Raleigh, N.C. 91/72t 92/75t Topeka, Kan. 83/72t 97/76t Mumbai, India 86/82r 84/81t
Bismarck, N.D. 74/64t 80/55w Fort Smith, Ark. 95/73s 101/79s Madison, Wis. 76/57s 71/68t Rapid City, S.D. 93/61t 79/51w Tucson, Ariz. 104/83t 102/83s Paris 87/58t 77/58pc
Boise, Idaho 81/53s 83/58pc Fort Wayne, Ind. 77/58s 84/69c Manchester, N.H. 85/55sh 78/56s Reno, Nev. 90/57w 93/59s Tupelo, Miss. 89/73t 96/77s Rio de Janeiro 77/68sh 82/73h
Buffalo, N.Y. 72/53pc 82/69pc Fresno, Calif. 96/65s 97/66s Memphis, Tenn. 90/72t 94/78pc Richmond, Va. 89/70t 89/72pc Tulsa, Okla. 95/77s 100/81w Rome 83/63s 86/65s
Burlington, Vt. 74/52pc 74/60s Grand Rapids, Mich. 74/55pc 80/67t Milwaukee 69/59s 74/68t Rochester, N.Y. 73/52pc 78/67s Virginia Beach, Va. 83/71t 81/74s Seoul 91/67c 89/69c
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 79/63pc 78/69t Green Bay, Wis. 73/54pc 73/65t Mobile, Ala. 87/76t 90/76t Sacramento, Calif. 89/56s 94/56s Wichita, Kan. 88/77t 105/77w Singapore 89/79pc 90/80t
Charleston, S.C. 97/77t 90/77t Greensboro, N.C. 85/72t 86/72t Modesto, Calif. 92/58s 93/59s San Antonio 97/78s 94/78pc Wilmington, Del. 88/64pc 85/69s Sydney 65/46s 64/45s
Charleston, W.Va. 87/61pc 92/72c Greenville, S.C. 89/70t 89/72t Montgomery, Ala. 88/74t 95/77t San Jose, Calif. 79/55s 82/55s Winston-Salem, N.C. 86/73t 87/73t Toronto 71/52pc 73/61pc
Cheyenne, Wyo. 85/60t 82/50t Harrisburg, Pa. 89/63s 86/69s Myrtle Beach, S.C. 91/78t 89/78t Santa Fe, N.M. 86/61t 90/61s Worcester, Mass. 80/56pc 76/58s Tokyo 83/71c 78/74h
SPORTS
NHL
Everything to know about the draft
Mike Brehm
USA TODAY
The Stanley Cup Final has ended
with a Florida Panthers championship
and with that, the first round of the NHL
draft is set.
The Boston Bruins and Ottawa Sena-
tors also changed up the order with a
trade just before Game 7 began.
The champion Panthers get the 32nd
pick and the runner-up Edmonton Oil-
ers pick No. 31. But they already traded
those picks, so the Philadelphia Flyers
(32) and Anaheim Ducks (31) will choose
instead.
The first 16 slots were set after the
draft lottery, with the San Jose Sharks
winning and retaining the top pick.
None of the non-playoff teams moved
up or down. The next 12 picks went to
the teams eliminated in the first two
rounds. Picks Nos. 29 and 30 went to the
conference final losers.
Monday’s trade of goaltender Linus
Ullmark to the Senators gives Ottawa’s
No. 1 pick (originally Boston’s) to the
Bruins.
First-round order?
1 San Jose Sharks
2 Chicago Blackhawks
3 Anaheim Ducks
4 Columbus Blue Jackets
5 Montreal Canadiens
6 Utah Hockey Club
7 Ottawa Senators
8 Seattle Kraken
9 Calgary Flames
10 New Jersey Devils
11 Buffalo Sabres
12 Philadelphia Flyers
13 Minnesota Wild
14 San Jose Sharks (from Pittsburgh
Penguins in the Erik Karlsson deal)
15 Detroit Red Wings
16 St. Louis Blues
17 Washington Capitals
Awards night set to close out NHL season
Mike Brehm
USA TODAY
The Stanley Cup Final is over and
now it’s time to take one last look at the
regular season before building for the
future.
The NHL will announce the winners
of its remaining regular-season awards
on Thursday (7 p.m. EDT, ESPN) during
the league’s annual televised show. The
event will be held at Fontainebleau Las
Vegas, near the Sphere, where the NHL
draft will be conducted on Friday night
and Saturday.
Five awards will be handed out for
MVP (writers vote, players vote) and the
top goalie, defenseman and rookie.
Here are the finalists, plus the win-
ners of the awards that have already
been announced:
Hart Trophy (MVP to his team)
Finalists (in alphabetical order):
Tampa Bay Lightning’s Nikita Kucherov,
Colorado Avalanche’s Nathan MacKin-
non and Edmonton Oilers’ Connor
McDavid.
Who votes: Professional Hockey
Writers Association
Notes: Kucherov led the NHL and set
a franchise record with 144 points and
became one of five players in NHL histo-
ry to record 100 assists in a season.
MacKinnon set a franchise record with
140 points and led the league in even-
strength points (92), multi-point games
(44) and shots on goal (405). McDavid
scored 132 points in 76 games to help the
Oilers surge from a 2-9-1 start and make
Longtime Predators GM, captain highlight Hall class
Alex Daugherty
The Nashville Tennessean
USA TODAY NETWORK
Former Nashville Predators general
manager David Poile and former de-
fensemen and captain Shea Weber have
been elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Poile will join the Hall as a builder,
along with Colin Campbell, while Shea
Weber will join as a player along with
Pavel Datsyuk, Jeremy Roenick, Natalie
Darwitz, and Krissy Wendell-Pohl.
The first general manager in fran-
chise history, Poile led the Predators for
25 seasons starting in 1997. Before join-
Boston University forward Macklin Celebrini is the consensus No. 1 overall pick of
the NHL draft. BRACE HEMMELGARN/USA TODAY SPORTS
18 Chicago Blackhawks (from New
York Islanders in a swap of picks in
May. Chicago gave up the 20th pick and
two second-rounders for the 18th pick
and a second-rounder)
19 Vegas Golden Knights
20 New York Islanders (from Tampa
Bay Lightning via Chicago Blackhawks
in the 2022 Brandon Hagel deal)
21 Los Angeles Kings
22 Nashville Predators
23 Toronto Maple Leafs
24 Colorado Avalanche
25 Boston Bruins (from Bruins via
Detroit Red Wings via Ottawa Senators.
The Red Wings got the Bruins’ first-
rounder in 2023’s Tyler Bertuzzi deal.
Detroit traded it to Ottawa in the Alex
DeBrincat deal and the Senators traded
it to Boston in the Ullmark deal)
26 Montreal Canadiens (from Winni-
peg Jets in the Sean Monahan deal)
27 Carolina Hurricanes
Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon
is a finalist for the Hart Trophy as MVP
to his team.
BOB FRID/USA TODAY SPORTS
the playoffs after a coaching change. He
also hit the 100-assist milestone.
Ted Lindsay Award
(most outstanding player)
Finalists (in alphabetical order):
Kucherov, MacKinnon, Toronto Maple
Leafs’ Auston Matthews
Who votes: Members of the NHL
Players’ Association
Notes: Kucherov won the award in
2019 and Matthews won it in 2022.
MacKinnon is a three-time finalist but
has never won. Matthews led the league
this season with 69 goals, the most
since 1995-96.
Norris Trophy (defenseman)
Finalists (in alphabetical order):
Vancouver Canucks’ Quinn Hughes,
Nashville Predators’ Roman Josi and
Colorado Avalanche’s Cale Makar.
ing Nashville, he was with the Washing-
ton Capitals from 1982 until 1997.
He is the only general manager to
lead two separate clubs for 1,000 games
and to 500 wins, and he became the
winningest GM in NHL history with his
1,320th victory during the 2017-18 sea-
son.
During his tenure as general man-
ager, the Predators made the playoffs 15
times, including eight straight seasons
between 2015 and 2022. They made the
Stanley Cup Final once (2017) and won
the Presidents’ Trophy once (2018).
Poile retired in 2023, with Barry Trotz
taking over the position.
E2 USA TODAY ❚ THURSDAY JUNE 27, 2024 ❚ 7C
28 Calgary Flames (from Vancouver
Canucks in the Elias Lindholm deal)
29 Dallas Stars
30 New York Rangers
31 Anaheim Ducks (from the Oilers
in the Adam Henrique trade)
32 Philadelphia Flyers (from the
Panthers in the 2022 Claude Giroux
trade)
When and where is draft?
The draft will be held Friday and Sat-
urday at the Sphere in Las Vegas. The
first round will start Friday at 7 p.m. EDT
and the second through seventh rounds
will start Saturday at 11:30 a.m. EDT.
How to watch, live stream
The first round will shown Friday on
ESPN and Saturday’s rounds will be
shown on NHL Network. Both days can
Who votes: Professional Hockey
Writers Association
Notes: Hughes led all defensemen
with 75 assists and 92 points – breaking
his franchise records for a defenseman
– as the Canucks won their first playoff
berth since 2019-20 and first division ti-
tle since 2012-13. Josi led defensemen in
goals (23), power-play goals (nine) and
shots on goal (268) and finished third
with 85 points. Makar had 21 goals, 69
assists and 90 points to top defensemen
with 1.17 points per game.
Vezina Trophy (goaltender)
Finalists (in alphabetical order):
Florida Panthers’ Sergei Bobrovsky,
Vancouver Canucks’ Thatcher Demko
and Winnipeg Jets’ Connor Hellebuyck.
Who votes: General managers
Notes: Bobrovsky (36-17-4, 2.37
goals-against average, .915 save per-
centage, six shutouts) had a 14-1-1
stretch from Dec. 23 to Feb. 20 as Florida
rose from third place to first. Demko (35-
14-2, 2.45, .918, five shutouts) set career
bests in wins, goals-against average,
save percentage and shutouts in just 51
starts as the Canucks won the division
title. Hellebuyck (37-19-4, 2.39, .921, five
shutouts) won the Jennings Trophy as
the goaltender on the team allowing the
fewest regular-season goals. He yielded
three or fewer goals in 50 of his 60 ap-
pearances, including a pair of 10-game
streaks with two or fewer goals against.
Calder Trophy (rookie)
Finalists (in alphabetical order):
Shea Weber, seen here during a 2016
game, is part of the Hockey Hall of
Fame’s 2024 class.
AARON DOSTER/USA TODAY SPORTS
be streamed on ESPN+.
Who will be taken No. 1 overall?
The consensus top pick is Macklin
Celebrini, 17, a 6-foot, 190-pound fresh-
man center at Boston University. He had
32 goals and 32 assists in 38 games to
lead the Terriers to the Frozen Four,
where they lost to eventual champion
Denver in the semifinals. He won the
Hobey Baker Award as college hockey’s
top men’s player, plus was voted Hockey
East’s top player and rookie.
Top prospects
Celebrini is the consensus No. 1 pick
in mock drafts and has been all season.
“He possesses that rare, elite ability
to thrive with his skills and smarts while
competing with a consistent passion to
face every challenge head-on and gen-
erate results, all the while making him-
self a better player,” said Dan Marr, vice
president of NHL Central Scouting.
There is no consensus No. 2 pick. The
draft is deep in defensemen.
Here is how NHL Central Scouting
ranks the top 10 North American
prospects and top five international
prospects.
North American prospects: Celebri-
ni, Michigan State defenseman Artyom
Levshunov, Medicine Hat center Cay-
den Lindstrom, Denver defenseman
Zeev Buium, Saginaw defenseman
Zayne Parekh, Tri-City winger Trevor
Connelly, London defenseman Sam
Dickinson, Spokane center Berkly Cat-
ton, Kelowna center Tij Iginla (son of
Hall of Famer Jarome Iginla) and Chi-
cago center Michael Hage.
International prospects: Russian
6-7 defenseman Anton Silayev, Russian
winger Ivan Demidov, Finnish center
Konsta Helenius, Czech defenseman
Adam Jiricek and Swedish winger Mi-
chael Brandsegg-Nygard.
Chicago Blackhawks forward Connor
Bedard, Minnesota Wild defenseman
Brock Faber and New Jersey Devils de-
fenseman Luke Hughes.
Who votes: Professional Hockey
Writers Association
Bedard led or tied for first among
rookies in goals (22), assists (39) and
points (61) despite missing 14 games
with a broken jaw. He had a five-point
game on March 12 against Anaheim and
scored a lacrosse-style “Michigan” goal
on Dec. 23 against St. Louis. Faber tied
for first among rookies in assists (39)
and led rookies in average ice time
(24:58) and blocked shots (150). His 47
points broke the Wild’s previous record
for points by a rookie defenseman (Filip
Kuba, 30 in 2000-01). Hughes led all
rookies with 21 power-play assists and
25 power-play points.
Already awarded
Jack Adams Award (coach): Ca-
nucks’ Rick Tocchet
Selke Trophy (defensive forward):
Panthers center Aleksander Barkov
Lady Byng Trophy (sportsman-
ship): Carolina Hurricanes defenseman
Jaccob Slavin
Jim Gregory GM of the Year: Dallas
Stars’ Jim Nill
Masterton Trophy (perseverance):
Arizona Coyotes’ (now Utah Hockey
Club) Connor Ingram
King Clancy Trophy (humanitar-
ian): New York Islanders’ Anders Lee
Mark Messier NHL Leadership
Award: New York Rangers’ Jacob Trou-
ba
Weber was drafted in the second
round of the 2003 NHL draft. He played
763 games for the Predators, scoring 166
goals and recording 277 assists. He was
traded in 2016 to Montreal, where he
played five more seasons with the Cana-
diens.
Weber was named captain of the
Predators in 2010, a role that was passed
to Mike Fisher in 2016.
Poile and Weber are the first two
members of the Nashville Predators or-
ganization to be inducted into the Hock-
ey Hall of Fame.
The induction ceremony will take
place on Friday, Nov. 8.
8C ❚ THURSDAY JUNE 27, 2024 ❚ USA TODAY
Noah Lyles plays cards in racing bib at US trials
Richard Morin
USA TODAY
It’s time to duel.
At least that’s the spirit embodied by
Noah Lyles as he emerged victorious in
the 100 meters this week at the U.S.
Olympic Track & Field Trials in Eugene,
Oregon.
Lyles, 26, qualified for the Paris
Olympics, where he will have the
chance to earn the title of the fastest
man in the world.
His secret weapon? Trading cards.
Yu-Gi-Oh! cards, to be exact. In two
consecutive rounds leading to his win,
Lyles pulled a Yu-Gi-Oh! card out of his
bib and flashed it to the camera before
the heat.
What’s the story behind Lyles’ new
tradition? And why Yu-Gi-Oh! cards?
What is Yu-Gi-Oh!?
Yu-Gi-Oh! is a trading card game
played around the world. Its origins
were as a manga created by Kazuki Ta-
kahashi that tells the story of a teenager
who comes to possess a magical relic of
ancient Egypt that contains the spirit of
a 5,000-year-old pharaoh.
Eventually, the card game depicted in
the manga became so popular with Jap-
anese readers that it was turned into a
physical trading card game in 1999. Yu-
Gi-Oh! soon expanded worldwide with
the release of cards in North America in
2002 followed by a dubbed anime,
movies and video games that became
wildly popular.
The card game, which is published by
Konami, continues to release new cards
and host tournaments around the
world. Games held by two players are
called “duels.” The game consists of
three basic types of cards – monsters,
spells and traps – and the basic objec-
tive is to reduce your opponent’s life
points to zero. Each monster card has a
unique attack and defense value, and
many have powerful effects. The idea is
to use your monsters to battle those of
your opponent, dealing damage equal to
the difference in attack value and clear-
ing the way for direct attacks. Spell
cards can help fortify monsters and de-
plete your opponent’s resources, but
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Noah Lyles already has claimed the title of fastest man in America with his 100
meters win. Next up at the Olympic trials: the 200. PATRICK SMITH/GETTY IMAGES
some can also be used defensively. Trap
cards can catch your opponent off guard
and swing a duel’s momentum back in
your favor.
Yu-Gi-Oh! has introduced many new
mechanics and types of monster cards
in its 25-year history, making it a much
more complex and strategic game than
the original iteration. But the basic prin-
ciples still apply.
Lyles shares reason for
game trading cards at trials
Lyles said a running bet with world
champion shot-putter Chase Ealey is
the reason behind his new tradition,
and it has to do with a love the two ath-
letes share for anime.
If Lyles continues to draw Yu-Gi-Oh!
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cards before races, Ealey will wear the
famous Rock Lee leg weights, inspired
by the Naruto anime, during her finals.
“Me and Chase Ealey got something
going on,” Lyles said. “She said if I pull
out Yu-Gi-Oh! cards each round, she’ll
wear the Rock Lee weighted shoes and
drop weights during her finals. So I’ve
got to live up to my part of the deal so
she lives up to her part of the deal.”
Lyles played monster cards before
his heats preceding 100 final
On the first day of competition, Lyles
pulled out a Blue-Eyes White Dragon
monster card. Arguably the franchise’s
most iconic card, Blue-Eyes White
Dragon has the highest attack value of
any normal monster in the game and
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was the signature monster used by the
series’ anti-hero, Seto Kaiba.
The card has been printed countless
times in many different rarities over the
years, but the first-edition print of the
card from 2002 is highly sought by col-
lectors and is very expensive. One list-
ing on eBay has the card, which was
graded a Gem Mint 10 by PSA, priced at
$150,000.
The second card Lyles showed was
Exodia the Forbidden One, a card argu-
ably just as iconic as the Blue-Eyes
White Dragon and the monster used to
defeat Seto Kaiba by the series’ protago-
nist Yugi Muto, who duels while being
possessed by the spirit of an Egyptian
pharaoh, in the pilot episode of the
anime.
Exodia is not a strong monster in
terms of its statistics – it has just 1,000
attack points compared to the 3,000 of
Blue-Eyes – but its effect is unstoppable
if applied. If you hold Exodia in your
hand along with the four other neces-
sary pieces – the right leg, left leg, right
arm and right leg – you automatically
win the duel.
First-edition copies of this card can
also fetch a pretty penny, but it’s unlike-
ly these expensive versions were used
by Lyles and stuffed into his bib.
“It depends which version you want,”
Lyles said of the cards. “Not all of them
are expensive, some of them you can
find for $15-$30, some of them you can
easily pay $500.”
Speculating on cards Lyles could
pull out for 200 and Paris Games
Lyles is scheduled to run the 200 on
Thursday and is the prohibitive favorite
in the event, so which Yu-Gi-Oh! card
could he show next?
Red-Eyes Black Dragon and Dark
Magician are intriguing options. Both
are iconic cards used by Yugi Muto and
other characters in the anime.
But what about Paris? If Lyles want-
ed to save the best for last, he could
bring the legendary Egyptian God cards
to the Olympics. The three cards – Slifer
the Sky Dragon, Obelisk the Tormentor
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LIFE
USA TODAY | THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 2024 | SECTION D
LIFELINE
JEFFERSON GRAHAM / USA TODAY NETWORK
THEY SAID WHAT?
THE STARS’ BEST QUOTES
“Being vulnerable and authentic
are two things I thought I had
really worked on and accomplished
and I really thought I had conquered
most of my demons. I have heard that
being in a relationship after healing
from a toxic one will bring out some
triggers you didn’t know were still
buried. And ain’t that the truth.” –
Valerie Bertinelli shared on Instagram
Monday amid her relationship with
writer Mike Goodnough. Bertinelli
finalized her divorce from Tom Vitale
in November 2022 and was married to
musician Eddie Van Halen from
1981-2007.
IT’S YOUR BIRTHDAY
WHO’S CELEBRATING TODAY
Vera Wang is 75. Khloe Kardashian is
40. Ed Westwick is 37.
HOROSCOPE | SANCTUARY
More: www.sanctuaryworld.co
Aries (March 21-April 19). Searching
for fulfillment? You may be on a quest
for deeper meaning as the moon
lights up Saturn and Mercury.
Taurus (April 20-May 20). Reaching
your most cherished goals takes com-
plete devotion. Feeling like you don’t
have what it takes? Dig deep.
Gemini (May 21-June 21). The weight
begins to wear on your mind, poten-
tially activating martyr tendencies.
Cancer (June 22-July 22). Don’t be-
lieve everything you think today.
Zoom out while the moon amplifies
Saturn and Mercury.
Leo (July 23-Aug. 22). Unprocessed
grief may try to pull you under. Reliv-
ing all the things that went wrong?
Come back to your power.
Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). Partnership
can feel overwhelming. Your mindset
is serious when the moon meets Sat-
urn and Mercury.
Libra (Sept.23-Oct. 23). Struggling to
see the bright side? Life has a gloomi-
er glow when the moon talks with
Saturn and Mercury.
Scorpio (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). Forgiving
yourself? Learning from mistakes?
Make peace with the past while the
moon lights up Saturn and Mercury.
Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). Family
members or housemates may be ask-
ing for your assistance. Unsure what
to decide? Patiently think it over.
Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). You may
be due for some serious reflection.
Get space to fully understand the
connection.
Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). Knowing
what holds value helps you overcome
self-doubts. Move past previous fears.
Time to put the work in.
Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20). Trust your
gut. It may not be what you want to
hear, but the message is reliable.
Is the secret to finding your
true love embracing chaos?
Chaotic Singles Party in Los Angeles have gone
TikTok viral, created a loyal fanbase. Page 2D
MOVIES
“It’s a privilege for me to depict scenarios that are way more dire than my
own,” says “A Quiet Place: Day One” star Lupita Nyong’o.
Nyong’o says
‘Quiet Place’
helped her
face mortality
Patrick Ryan USA TODAY
NEW YORK − People won’t shut up about the “Quiet Place” cat. h
In the days leading up to “A Quiet Place: Day One” (in theaters
Friday), movie fans have flooded social media with concerned
posts about the fate of the horror thriller’s feline star, Frodo, who
weathers an alien apocalypse with his owner, Sam (Lupita
Nyong’o), and her new friend, Eric (Joseph Quinn). Someone
“needs to tell me definitively if the cat survives,” film critic Matt
Bullions wrote. “If not, I am literally canceling my tickets.” h “I get
it,” quips Nyong’o, who adopted a kitty of her own, Yoyo, after
making the movie. “The thought that anything would happen to
my cat would send me to the grave. What I don’t get is how people
could be more invested in the cat than us! That’s hard to take for
my ego. h “But, you know, little furry things,” she adds with a
laugh. “They steal the scene every time.”
Exploring ‘unexpected’ ing to protect her family from vi-
emotional territory cious, reptilian creatures that are
hypersensitive to noise.
“Day One” is a prequel to John This new film follows the melan-
Krasinski’s 2018 hit “Quiet Place” choly Sam as she takes a day trip
and its 2021 sequel, both of which
starred Emily Blunt as a mom fight- See ‘QUIET PLACE’, Page 2D
“You can’t carry around that stuff all day,” says Joseph Quinn, left, who
decompressed with Lupita Nyong’o over lunches and “silly TV shows.”
PHOTOS BY GARETH GATRELL/PROVIDED BY PARAMOUNT PICTURES
Using headphones in public
is becoming a fading practice
Professor: “We’re not thinking very much about
how other people might be affected.” Page 4D
K1
K1
STREAMING REVIEW
‘The Bear’
Season 3 is
chewy and
delicious
Kelly Lawler
Columnist
USA TODAY
Take out your forks and knives for
one more order of “The Bear,” please.
No show is a better fit for binge-
watching than the culinary and emo-
tional feast of FX and Hulu’s restau-
rant-set dramedy (Season 3 now
streaming on Hulu, eee). This is a
show you devour when new episodes
become available. You savor each pro-
fane fight between the characters. You
chew on the few moments of emotion-
al clarity. You consume the frenzy of a
restaurant kitchen, lest that frenzy
consume you.
“Bear” returns after winning hefty
armfuls of Emmy, SAG and Golden
Globe awards this winter, graduating
from the buzzy and meme-able show
of summers 2022 and 2023 to a bona
fide Hollywood heavyweight. Now it
seems there is nothing creator Christo-
pher Storer can’t pile into the new sea-
son of the show, from yet more A-list
guest stars to weird experimental epi-
sode formats to more expensive Wa-
gyu beef than you might find at Nobu.
The series is very much the same as
it’s been for two great seasons: still so
stressful it might give you an ulcer
while you watch, and still full of acer-
bic scripts, great performances and
more trauma processing than you’ll
find in a therapist’s office. “The Bear”
still grabs you and holds you hostage
inside its very particular world for 10
episodes. When you get out, you’ll be
calling your friends “cousin” and
shouting “hands!” every time you need
someone to hold something. To say it’s
immersive is an understatement.
Jeremy Allen White as Carmen
“Carmy” Berzatto in Season 3 of "The
Bear." PROVIDED BY FX
Season 3 is also, a little like its head
chef Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto (Jere-
my Allen White), a little overinflated
and self-important after all the hype
and praise. Chefs (fictional and real
ones playing themselves) keep talking
about how less is more, noting that too
many flavors can ruin a dish. Perhaps
“The Bear” writers could have taken
one or two elements off Season 3’s
plate.
That’s not to say the season is bad –
far from it. But this is a show in which
the characters demand “everyday ex-
cellence.” How can I not judge it with
the same eye that Carmy might bring
to his sous chefs’ creations?
The series picks up after the tumul-
tuous Season 2 finale, in which a fairly
tame friends and family preview at
Carmy and his mentee/partner Syd-
ney’s (Ayo Edebiri) new restaurant is
rocked by Carmy’s temper tantrum
when he’s stuck inside a freezer.
The aftershocks of that night are
big, from further cracks in Carmy’s al-
ready fragile mental state to a fracture
in his relationship with friend and
house manager Richie (Ebon Moss-
Bacharach) to chaos at the restau-
rant’s nightly service. In addition to
the threat of Carmy’s nervous break-
down, the restaurant is on precarious
See ‘THE BEAR’, Page 2D
2D ❚ THURSDAY JUNE 27, 2024 ❚ USA TODAY
LIFESTYLES
Chaotic Singles Parties are getting attention
Charles Trepany
USA TODAY
LOS ANGELES − Is the secret to find-
ing love embracing chaos?
Maybe, maybe not. But over 200 peo-
ple were willing to give it a try Friday
night at a singles party at Hollywood’s
Sassafras Saloon. The main instruc-
tion? Leave your caution at the door and
get messy − all in the name of, hopefully,
meeting your perfect match.
It’s called a Chaotic Singles Party.
Started on a whim by Cassidy Davis in
her Los Angeles apartment in February
2022, the parties, which have gone viral
on TikTok, are now hosted by Davis
across the country and have attracted a
loyal fanbase of repeat attendees. Activ-
ities vary from party-to-party, but all in-
volve forcing people out of their shells
and into flirting.
Davis’ means of accomplishing this
are, well, chaotic. Friday’s event, spon-
sored by Ghost Tequila, saw guests,
fresh off a cocktail-making class,
scramble to fill out spicy bingo cards.
(One square asked people to find some-
one at the party who “looks like your
ex.”) Previous Chaotic Singles Parties
required attendees to bring a stranger
they matched with on a dating app as a
plus one. At another past party, guests
left with free vibrators.
The parties are unorthodox, but
they’ve worked for some. Davis says she
knows of 40 couples who met at her
parties and are still together. She also
says her parties tap into a deeper need
in our culture: So many young adults
find dating apps monotonous and long
to meet romantic connections in real
life. According to Davis, that requires
some degree of chaos.
“The idea that we’re all dating in per-
son, we’re all single in a bar together, is
very chaotic to a lot of people because
they’re used to only online dating,” Da-
vis says. “I really encourage people to
truly lean into the chaos and be bold, go
approach people. This is not just your
average Friday night. It’s Chaotic Sin-
gles Night. ... You are being an agent of
chaos in that you’re just unabashedly
going after what you want and the hope
Ayo Edebiri as Sydney Adamu in “The Bear” Season 3. PHOTOS PROVIDED BY FX
‘The Bear’
Continued from Page 1D
financial footing and the Chicago Tri-
bune review is due any day.
So yes, just another nerve-racking
day in the neighborhood for our fair
chefs.
Amid all the mania of the series’ infa-
mous kitchen scenes there are also qui-
eter moments, like in an episode that
gives beef-sandwich-line-cook-turned-
fancy-schmancy-sous-chef Tina (Liza
Colón-Zayas) a heart-wrenching back-
story and another set far away from the
kitchen with a returning guest star.
They are powerful and understated, the
very best “The Bear” can be.
The show’s characters tend to have
the deepest conversations of their lives
pretty much everyday. Which is fine!
The show has never done anything less
than take itself as seriously as Carmy
takes a plate of ravioli. But a few mo-
ments this season cross the line from
boldly artistic to pretentious. The sea-
son premiere, which Gen Z might de-
scribe as simply “vibes,” is an extended
montage meant to return the viewer to
the mind and mood of Carmy. Experi-
mental and cool? Sure! Also a bit self-
indulgent? Yes, indeed.
During a few overwrought moments,
the series transforms from a story into a
thought experiment on the very nature
of food and cooking and life. Plot isn’t
everything, but it does ground a TV
show. It’s OK to get your head up in the
clouds and think Big Thoughts every
once in a while, but you have to come
back down to Earth at some point. Sea-
Chaos reigns supreme at this singles party. PROVIDED BY TAYLOR WONG PHOTOGRAPHY
of finding love.”
How the Chaotic Singles Party
came to be
Davis threw her first Chaotic Singles
Party around Valentine’s Day in 2022,
after five years of being single in Los An-
geles.
“I was so tired of going on crappy cof-
fee dates with dating app matches,” she
says. “I was like, ‘I’m so much more fun
at a party with my friends. I just wish I
could date in this setting. This is really
where I thrive.’ “
Then she got an idea: What if she and
all her single friends invited a random
person from a dating app to a party at
her apartment? What could go wrong?
“At the last minute, I kind of panicked
and invited 65 men from Tinder and
gave them all my address, which was
the dumbest thing I’ve ever done,” Davis
says. “Yeah, my parents were very mad
to hear my plan, but the party happened
and no one robbed us; no one got kid-
napped. So, a 10 out of 10, some would
say.”
It also worked well for her: One of the
guests from that first Chaotic Singles
Party ended up becoming Davis’ boy-
friend. They’ve been together ever
since.
Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Richard
“Richie” Jerimovich in "The Bear"
Season 3.
son 3 sometimes just floats away, par-
ticularly in its first and final install-
ments.
There is still a lot of story to tell in
this world. Tina got the spotlight this
season, but there’s more we want to
know about Marcus (Lionel Boyce),
the Faks (Matty Matheson and Ricky
Staffieri), Ebraheim (Edwin Lee Gib-
son) and every other fascinating em-
ployee in the kitchen. Richie and Car-
my have plenty more to fight over. Syd-
ney is only just starting to realize her
full potential. There are more plates to
cook. As anyone in the restaurant in-
dustry could tell us, the work is never
done.
“The Bear” is one of the best shows
on TV right now, and it will cement its
place on a list of the all-time best if it
stays the course and sheds the ex-
cesses. No need for frills, trills and
soubise foam on top of the meat of the
dish. The characters, the kitchen, the
relationships and the hardships are
what people come back to watch.
Give us what we’re hungry for.
Davis shared videos of this first party
on TikTok, where they went viral. Soon
after, people flooded her comments ask-
ing her to host more of these parties so
they could go. She threw the first public
Chaotic Singles Party at a bar the follow-
ing month. It sold 500 tickets in 30 min-
utes and had a waitlist of 900.
The parties have only grown more
popular. “I keep expecting them to die or
have it be a viral moment that once was,
but they actually keep getting bigger,”
Davis says.
About 25%-30% of Chaotic Singles
Partygoers are repeat attendees, whom
Davis calls her “little chaotic communi-
ty.” Christine Lane, an actor in Los An-
geles, is one of them.
After finding out about Chaotic Sin-
gles from TikTok, Lane planned on go-
ing to one with a friend. The friend
bailed on her last minute, but she went
anyway and became fast friends with
Davis.
“I love that she wanted to create a
place for people who want to be present
and experience reality to connect and
have that together,” Lane says. “I know
that I’m always going to meet someone
fun and lively and interesting to talk to
and can gab. It’s never going to be bor-
ing.”
‘Quiet Place’
Continued from Page 1D
into New York, which happens to coin-
cide with the start of the alien inva-
sion.
She meets Eric while fleeing mon-
sters, and together they venture to-
ward her old Harlem neighborhood,
where she longs to visit the pizza shop
and jazz club of her youth.
Despite its metropolis setting, “Day
One” tells an even more intimate story
than the first two movies. The friend-
ship between Eric and Sam is the bed-
rock of the film.
“We’ve seen disaster movies about
military involvement, people trying to
rescue a family member or escape the
city,” writer/director Michael Sarnoski
says. But with Sam, “I wanted a char-
acter who didn’t have the same priori-
ties that everyone else would have in
this situation. That opened her up to a
quieter journey that might be unex-
pected,” taking audiences “into differ-
ent emotional territory.”
Nyong’o, 41, first watched Sarnos-
ki’s 2021 film “Pig,” and says she ad-
mired how he tells “these visceral sto-
ries that have a lot of violence, but
there is a tenderness at the heart of it.”
The A-lister is no stranger to intense
material, from her Oscar-winning fea-
ture film debut in 2013’s “12 Years a
Slave” to her chilling dual roles in Jor-
dan Peele’s “Us” in 2019. But “Day One”
is brutal in its own way, as Sam dodges
debris, swims through flooded subway
tunnels, and narrowly escapes getting
crushed by a car. Nyong’o also went on
a strict diet to appear gaunt (we can’t
say why), meaning she had less
strength and energy for the movie’s
frequently demanding stunts.
“Joe was my support system,”
Nyong’o says.
The actors have since become close
friends, squeezing in trips to the pool
and Broadway’s “Hell’s Kitchen” dur-
ing their whirlwind promotional tour.
But unlike Sam, their New York jaunt
will not include pizza.
“I’m gluten-free and dairy-free,”
Nyong’o says with a sigh. “I don’t know
why I’m the spokesperson for pizza!”
Lupita Nyong’o, Joseph Quinn
found the movie to be cathartic
“Day One” is the latest project in a
LIFE
Why daters are choosing
chaos over apps
Perhaps the most chaotic element
of each party, Davis says, is the fact
people are meeting and engaging with
each other in person rather than online
− something that feels revolutionary,
especially to younger adults who have
only known a dating landscape dom-
inated by apps.
Statistically, dating apps still reign
as one of the most popular ways cou-
ples meet. According to a 2023 Pew
Research Center report, 1 in 10 part-
nered adults met their current signifi-
cant other on a dating app or website.
That figure is 1 in 5 for those under 30.
Still, that doesn’t mean everyone’s
happy with dating apps. In that same
report, 46% of people said their expe-
riences using a dating app or website
were very or somewhat negative.
Gen Z in particular seems less en-
thusiastic about online dating ser-
vices. According to a 2023 Statista re-
port, people between the ages of 30
and 49 make up 61% of online dating
users, while people between 18 and 29
make up only 26%.
Chris Thomas is one adult in his 30s
who’s grown tired of apps and wants to
meet people in person.
“Going back to the pandemic and
quarantine and everything, there was
a long period of time where a lot of us
weren’t interacting with people in per-
son,” he says. “So ever since then, even
four years later, it still feels good to talk
to people in person and be close to
people.”
For those looking to attend a
Chaotic Singles Party, Davis recom-
mends shelving your timidity, at least
for the night, and boldly going up to
people.
“Just really go for it. Put your fear
aside for one night only, and just kind
of see where this takes you,” she says.
“If it helps you find your person that
night, obviously, I’m thrilled; but, even
if it doesn’t, you can make amazing
friends or just kind of give your love life
the CPR it needs to bring the excite-
ment and the joy back into it.”
Lupita Nyong’o, left, and Joseph Quinn
do “a really good job of bolstering”
feline actor Schnitzel, director Michael
Sarnoski says. “He’s really the main
character of the movie!”
ALAN CHAPMAN/DAVE BENETT/WIREIMAGE
career hot streak for Quinn, who broke
out as Eddie Munson on Netflix series
“Stranger Things” and will appear in
Ridley Scott’s upcoming “Gladiator II”
and Alex Garland’s “Warfare.” “It came
at a time in my life when I benefited
from some quiet,” says Quinn, who’s
most content when he’s cooking and
gardening at home in the U.K. “With the
madness in one’s life, it’s important to
have something concrete.”
The movie wrestles with poignant
themes of acceptance and grief, which
also proved healing for Nyong’o. She
starred in Marvel’s “Black Panther” with
Chadwick Boseman, who died in 2020
at 43 after a private battle with colon
cancer.
She shot “Day One” right after the re-
lease of “Panther” sequel “Wakanda
Forever.”
“In that film, we were grappling with
the loss of Chadwick Boseman, which
really shook me to my core when it hap-
pened,” Nyong’o says. “I have been in a
season of thinking about mortality, and
this film brought me even closer to al-
most seeking answers to the questions
I’ve been asking with the loss of that
friend of mine. It was scary to have to
live in that tenuous place making this
film; I was afraid to go there. But once I
was there, there’s something about
knowing you will surely leave this Earth
that makes living much more worth do-
ing.
“It’s hard for us as human beings to
remember that we are mortal. But it’s
good to be reminded of it at key points in
your life so you don’t take it for granted.
We must remember to meditate on the
small pleasures, which is what this film
is about – it’s about pizza.”
LIFE
LIFE USA TODAY ❚I THURSDAY JUNE 27, 2024 ❚■ 3D

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4D ❚ THURSDAY JUNE 27, 2024 ❚ USA TODAY LIFE

USA TODAY BEST-SELLING BOOKS BOOKLIST.USATODAY.COM

n Rank this week n Rank last week

TITLE/AUTHOR PUBLISHER GENRE C TITLE/AUTHOR PUBLISHER GENRE C

1 2 Swan Song / Hilderbrand, Elin Little Brown and Women F 26 27 Everything We Never Said / Harlow, Sloan G.P. Putnam’s Sons Social Themes - F
Company Dating & Sex

2 3 The Housemaid Is Watching / McFadden, Freida Poisoned Pen Psychological F 27 124 Bluey: A Jigsaw Puzzle Book: Includes 4 Dou- Penguin Young Imagination & Play F
Press ble-Sided Puzzles / Penguin Young Readers Licenses Readers Licenses

3 1 Eruption: Following Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton Little Brown and Thrillers - Suspense F 28 n/a Winter Lost / Briggs, Patricia Ace Books Action & Adventure F
Started Another Masterpiece--James Patterson Just Company
Finished It / Crichton, Michael
4 n/a On Call: A Doctor’s Journey in Public Service / Viking Political NF 29 40 Twisted Love / Huang, Ana Bloom Books Romance - New Adult F
Fauci, Anthony

5 6 The Women / Hannah, Kristin St. Martin’s Press Women F 30 15 Leather & Lark: The Ruinous Love Trilogy / Zando - Slowburn Romance - F
Weaver, Brynne Romantic Comedy

6 n/a Red Sky Mourning: A Thriller / Carr, Jack Atria Books Thrillers - Suspense F 31 30 This Summer Will Be Different / Fortune, Carley Berkley Books Women F

7 5 Camino Ghosts / Grisham, John Doubleday Books Thrillers - Suspense F 32 n/a Scandalous / Shen, L. J. Bloom Books Romance - F
Contemporary

8 11 A Court of Thorns and Roses / Maas, Sarah J. Bloomsbury Fantasy - Epic F 33 29 Butcher & Blackbird: The Ruinous Love Trilogy Zando Romance - F
Publishing / Weaver, Brynne Romantic Comedy

9 n/a Burn: The Burn Boot Camp 5-Step Strategy for Hachette Go Personal Growth - NF 34 9 The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, Crown Publishing United States - NF
Inner and Outer Strength / Kline, Devan Happiness and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War / Larson, Erik Group (NY) 19th Century

10 n/a Middle of the Night / Sager, Riley Dutton Thrillers - Suspense F 35 35 Happy Place / Henry, Emily Berkley Books Women F

11 10 Dog Man: The Scarlet Shedder: A Graphic Novel (Dog Graphix Humorous Stories F 36 31 A Court of Mist and Fury / Maas, Sarah J. Bloomsbury Fantasy - Epic F
Man #12): From the Creator of Captain Underpants / Publishing
Pilkey, Dav
12 4 Not in Love / Hazelwood, Ali Berkley Books Romance - Workplace F 37 26 The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of Broadside Books American NF
the Men Who Keep Us Free / Hegseth, Pete Government

13 20 The Housemaid / McFadden, Freida Grand Central Psychological F 38 16 Funny Story / Henry, Emily Berkley Books Women F
Publishing

14 7 How Leaders Learn: Master the Habits of the Harvard Business Personal Success NF 39 32 Fourth Wing / Yarros, Rebecca Entangled: Red Fantasy - Epic F
World’s Most Successful People / Novak, David Review Press Tower Books

15 18 The Measure / Erlick, Nikki William Morrow & Literary F 40 39 Horror Movie / Tremblay, Paul William Morrow & Literary F
Company Company

16 n/a Love & Whiskey: The Remarkable True Story of Jack Melcher Media Inc Personal Memoirs NF 41 36 James / Everett, Percival Doubleday Books Literary F
Daniel, His Master Distiller Nearest Green, and the
Improbable Rise of Uncle Nearest / Weaver, Fawn
17 n/a Sandwich / Newman, Catherine Harper Humorous - General F 42 37 If He Had Been with Me / Nowlin, Laura Sourcebooks Fire Social Themes - F
Dating & Sex

18 n/a The Midnight Feast / Foley, Lucy William Morrow & Women F 43 50 It Ends with Us / Hoover, Colleen Atria Books Women F
Company

19 33 The Rainbow Parade: A Celebration of Sourcebooks Social Themes F 44 47 Powerless / Roberts, Lauren Simon & Schuster Social Themes - F
Lgbtqia+ Identities and Allies / Jordan, Shane Jabberwocky Class Differences

20 8 You Like It Darker: Stories / King, Stephen Scribner Book Thrillers - Suspense F 45 14 All Fours / July, Miranda Riverhead Books Humorous - General F
Company

21 n/a Love Unwritten / Asher, Lauren Bloom Books Romance - F 46 48 Iron Flame / Yarros, Rebecca Entangled: Red Fantasy - Epic F
Contemporary Tower Books

22 22 Just for the Summer / Jimenez, Abby Forever Humorous - General F 47 38 The Housemaid’s Secret / McFadden, Freida Mobius Psychological F

23 n/a Crossing the Desert: The Power of Embracing Benbella Books Business NF 48 46 A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder / Jackson, Holly Ember Thrillers & Suspense F
Life’s Difficult Journeys / Zamani, Payam

24 34 Haunting Adeline / Carlton, H D Hailey Carlton Romance - F 49 n/a Same as It Ever Was / Lombardo, Claire Doubleday Books Literary F
Contemporary

25 28 The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Penguin Press Mental Health NF 50 69 Throne of Glass / Maas, Sarah J. Bloomsbury Action & Adventure - F
Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness / Publishing General
Haidt, Jonathan

WHAT AMERICA’S READING® The book list appears every Thursday. You also can find it at booklist.usatoday.com. Each week, USA TODAY collects sales data from booksellers representing a variety of outlets:
bookstore chains, independent bookstores, mass merchandisers and online retailers. Using that data, we determine the 150 top-selling titles of the week.

TECHNOLOGY

Why no one uses headphones anymore

Felecia Wellington Radel
USA TODAY
Once you notice it, you’ll see that it’s
happening all around us almost every-
where we go.
There’s the woman on FaceTime at
the next table in the restaurant, the man
scrolling Instagram Reels during the el-
ementary school band concert, the em-
ployee in a virtual meeting at the pool
sitting next to someone reading, the fel-
low commuters or travelers enjoying
some tunes – all on speakerphone.
It hasn’t been an immediate change,
but slowly, more people in public places
are not using headphones and just loud-
ly sharing their digital dalliances with
everyone in their immediate social
space.
With so many headphone options
available, it’s a baffling choice. Do you
really want me to hear all about your
mom’s recent doctor’s appointment
while we’re both in the cereal aisle at
Target? All the best intentions about not
eavesdropping are difficult to uphold
when a stranger in a close radius has the
volume turned way up. So what gives?
Doom-scrolling and our phone
addictions explain a lot
Smartphones have made it easy to
amuse ourselves with even a hint of
possible oncoming boredom. Distrac-
tion from stresses, worldly worries and
other pressures and problems are also
right at our fingertips, never mind the
side effects of FOMO and doom-scroll-
ing that may worsen your mood.
So why might people choose to watch
or listen to something publicly on their
mobile phones sans headphones? They
aren’t thinking about those around
them.
“They’re thinking about themselves,”
says Taya Cohen, professor of organiza-
tional behavior and theory at Carnegie
Mellon University.
But not necessarily in a malevolent or
purposely rude way.
“When we have a narrow focus on the
content we’re consuming or the interac-
tion we’re having,” Cohen says, “we’re
not thinking very much about how other
It hasn’t been an immediate change, but slowly, more people in public places are
foregoing headphones and just loudly sharing their digital dalliances with
everyone in their immediate social space. FELECIA WELLINGTON RADEL/USA TODAY
people might be affected by that and
how negatively other people might be
affected – that they might not like the
noise, that they could even hear it.”
And noisy people doing noisy things
in public, disrupting others, is nothing
new.
“It just seems now there’s more op-
portunities for people to do so because
we all have technology that makes
noise,” Cohen says.
Are we all just selfish and
self-centered? Maybe
The shift in how people are using
their mobile phones and personal de-
vices has been acute but seems to be
growing more disruptive.
“People are becoming more self-fo-
cused,” Cohen says.
And advances in technology – as
well as increased prices – make it easier
to choose to go without headphones,
too.
Improvements to microphones,
speakers and noise-suppressing capa-
bilities on our phones, tablets and lap-
tops allow better filtering of background
noise and overall audio.
But where so many of us are gener-
ally unbothered by what others are do-
ing, why are loud speakerphone calls so,
well, annoying?
“When there’s these stimuli in the
environment, we want to attend to it,”
Cohen says. “And then it’s hard to sup-
press that or override that temptation to
want to attend to whatever the person is
doing. Some people can tune that out
better than others, and maybe we get
more used to tuning that out. But it still
can be a distraction.”
Is reality TV to blame for
our awful phone etiquette?
Another influence on our current
public behavior may be how phone use
is often portrayed on television and in
movies, in particular on reality shows.
Having phone calls on speakerphone or
otherwise sharing whatever is happen-
ing on the device out loud captures the
exchanges for the audience.
What we’re seeing may also impact
our own behavior.
“Once we get an impression that oth-
er people are doing something or that
they might find it acceptable, that shifts
our view of what the norms are,” Cohen
says.
Some may change how they interact
and have a skewed perception of how
others actually feel about the behavior if
it might be seen as rude. There’s a term
from psychology for this: pluralistic ig-
norance.
“So even if the majority of people or
most people think a behavior is inap-
propriate, we might have a sense of plu-
ralistic ignorance where we think other
people are more accepting of this be-
havior than they actually are.”
How to combat phone rudeness
One thing that may not be loud
enough is our voices. If something is
bothering or distracting us, why are we
reluctant to speak up? Why might a per-
son avoid asking someone to turn the
sound down or off, to ask someone if
they may be able to use headphones, es-
pecially if it may help others realize the
behavior is negatively affecting those
around them?
“People have a reticence to engage in
difficult conversations, to communicate
honestly,” Cohen says, “and we have
misperceptions of how people will re-
spond to honesty, to conflict, to feed-
back, to even to positive things like
compliments.”
People are more likely to go to social
media or a friend group to communicate
with those who are like-minded, she
says, venting frustration without en-
gaging in a conversation where you may
have to express disagreement.
But having difficult conversations
may not go as badly as you think, and
it also might be better for the communi-
ty.
“We have these misimpressions or
mispredictions about what honesty in
our lives will be like,” Cohen says,
“Whether that’s giving feedback or just
having a difficult conversation. And it’s
not to say it always goes positively, but
it’s much less negative than we expect,
and it tends to strengthen our relation-
ships.”
Somewhere, there’s a balance be-
tween the extremes of narrow focus
where we ignore those around us and
being too self-conscious and micro-
managing our behavior.
“Our actions directly impact others,
and that includes innocuous kinds of
behaviors, like how loudly we’re talking
on the phone or watching videos to
more consequential kind of interac-
tions. Right now, because of the way the
technology has been integrated into our
lives and focusing our attention, I think
maybe we’re shifting too far into the
self-focus and less mindful about how
our actions affect other people.”
Sounds like a good time to remember
the golden rule.
 NATION & WORLD EXTRA - USA TODAY NETWORK | THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 2024 | 1NN

INSIDE
CDC narrows age
recommendation for
RSV shots in U.S.
7NN

PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE

AGE TAKES
CENTER STAGE
Dems anxious as Biden campaign hopes
faceoff with Trump will ease concerns
Steve Holland and Nandita Bose
and Jeff Mason
REUTERS
For 90 minutes on Thursday night, Presi-
dent Joe Biden has the chance to show doubt-
ing Americans that, at age 81, he is capable of
handling the rigors of another four-year term,
when he faces off in a debate against Repub-
lican Donald Trump.
A strong showing could help neutralize
those concerns and focus voter attention on
policy issues. A weak performance could
dampen fundraising and push Trump further
ahead in the polls. Both men are under scruti-
ny over their age and stamina.
Trump is 78 and prone to making outland-
ish statements and mangling his sentences on
the campaign trail. Biden has a stiff gait,
makes verbal slipups and has inconsistent
public appearances, sometimes veering from
solidly delivered speeches to rushed,
See AGE, Page 8NN
Thursday’s debate will take place at a CNN studio in
Atlanta with no audience. KEVIN DIETSCH/GETTY IMAGES
ABOVE: Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
JIM WATSON, MANDEL NGAN/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES FILE
What to know
about highly
anticipated debate
Katharine Jackson
REUTERS
WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden and
former president Donald Trump will meet on a
debate stage on Thursday for the first of two
televised faceoffs that could prove critical in
their tight rematch race to win the White
House in November.
Here is what you need to know:
See DEBATE, Page 8NN
Debate coverage
Follow a live blog on Thursday’s CNN
Presidential Debate at usatoday.com. Tune
into the debate at 9 p.m. on CNN or simulcast
on usatoday.com. After the debate, read
takeaways, a fact check and debate analysis.

US keeps pause on bomb shipment

to Israel while it’s under review
Matt Spetalnick and Steve Holland
REUTERS
WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden’s top aides
told the visiting Israeli defense chief this week that
Washington is maintaining a pause on a
shipment of heavy bombs for Israel
while the issue is under review, a senior
U.S. official said on Wednesday.
The official, briefing reporters about
national security adviser Jake Sulli-
van’s meeting with Defense Minister
Gallant Yoav Gallant, said the allies remain in
discussions about the single shipment
of powerful munitions, which was paused by Biden in
May over concerns they could cause more Palestinian
civilian deaths in Gaza.
Without providing specifics, the official said other
U.S. weapons will continue to flow to Israel as it battles
Hamas militants in Gaza and faces Lebanese Hezbol-
lah fighters on its northern border, where increased
hostilities have spurred fears of a wider regional con-
flict.
Gallant warned during his visit that Israel was ca-
pable of taking Lebanon “back to the Stone Age” in any
war with Iran-backed Hezbollah but stressed that his
government prefers a diplomatic solution being pur-
sued by the United States.
Wrapping up his trip, Gallant said on Wednesday
that there had been significant progress on the issue of Palestinian boys sit by their belongings near
al-Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on
See ISRAEL, Page 8NN Wednesday. EYAD BABA/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

SUBSCRIBER-EXCLUSIVE SPECIAL EDITION

2NN | THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 2024 | NATION & WORLD EXTRA - USA TODAY NETWORK

In the digital e-edition, you can click anywhere on the US map to get up-to-date forecasts, radar, MinuteCast® and more.
NATIONAL SUMMARY
A cold front progressing Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation for Thursday. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
into the Southeast will
Winnipeg
produce thunderstorms
with a risk of localized
72/58
damaging wind gusts Seattle Montreal
today. In the Rockies and 65/52 69/47
northern High Plains, Billings
widespread thunderstorms 87/53
Minneapolis Toronto
could cause flash flooding, 70/51
77/65
large hail, damaging wind
gusts and even a tornado.
Detroit
A few morning showers will
75/56
dampen New England. Chicago
San Francisco New York
73/61
67/53 85/64

Denver Washington
92/64 Kansas City 90/72
Los Angeles 83/68
84/64
Fairbanks
86/60
Atlanta
86/74
Anchorage El Paso
65/53 99/82
Juneau
70/55 Houston
Honolulu 96/78
88/75 Chihuahua
100/75 Miami
Hilo Monterrey 91/79
83/68 90/71
-10s -0s 0s 10s 20s 30s 40s 50s 60s 70s 80s 90s 100s 110s Showers T-storms Rain Flurries Snow Ice Cold front Warm front Stationary front

WEDNESDAY EXTREMES TODAY IN HISTORY WEATHER TRIVIA™

NATIONAL (for the 48 contiguous states) INTERNATIONAL (excludes Antarctica) Hurricane Audrey slammed ashore just Q: What occurs first, lightning or thunder?
High: 112 at Palm Springs, CA High: 120 at In Salah, Algeria east of the Texas-Louisiana border on June
Low: 37 at Utica, MT Low: 11 at El Calafate, Argentina 27, 1957. The storm killed 430 people in
Precip: 4.13” at Poplar Bluff, MO Precip: 6.61” at Honavar, India Cameron, La., and caused $130 million in
damages. The storm had 105-mph winds,
bashing breakers and raging rain. A: Lightning

NATIONAL CITIES THURSDAY O Denotes possible travel delays

Air Air Air Air
High/low/W Quality High/low/W Quality High/low/W Quality High/low/W Quality
O Aberdeen, SD 76/67/t 31 Evansville, IN 87/67/s 48 Levittown, PA 89/63/pc 77 Rochester, NY 72/52/pc 35
O Abilene, TX 102/79/s 40 Fall River, MA 83/56/pc 58 Lincoln, IL 80/62/pc 49 Rockford, IL 76/58/s 45
Accomac, VA 85/68/t 59 O Farmington, NM 89/64/t 42 Louisville, KY 87/68/s 65 Ruidoso, NM 80/63/t 59
Adrian, MI 76/55/s 33 O Fayetteville, NC 94/73/t 71 O Lubbock, TX 101/77/s 51 Salem, OR 73/53/c 24
Akron, OH 75/53/s 34 Fond du Lac, WI 72/56/s 33 Manitowoc, WI 65/56/s 27 O Salina, KS 84/72/t 48
Alamogordo, NM 96/73/t 58 Fort Myers, FL 90/77/t 33 Mansfield, OH 74/53/s 33 Salinas, CA 67/53/pc 44
Alexandria, VA 90/70/pc 72 Fort Smith, AR 94/72/s 53 Marshall, NC 82/66/t 63 Salisbury, MD 88/67/c 72
Alliance, OH 75/53/s 36 Framingham, MA 84/54/c 62 Marshfield, WI 71/56/pc 34 San Angelo, TX 105/78/s 34
O Amarillo, TX 98/77/s 56 Freeport, IL 75/57/s 40 Massillon, OH 76/55/s 39 Sarasota, FL 90/80/t 20
O Ames, IA 77/66/t 51 Fremont, OH 75/58/s 30 McLean, VA 90/68/pc 68 O Savannah, GA 96/76/t 55
Anderson, SC 89/72/t 76 O Fort Collins, CO 92/63/t 95 Melbourne, FL 91/75/t 32 Sheboygan, WI 65/57/s 24
Appleton, WI 75/58/pc 31 Gadsden, AL 85/72/t 62 Memphis, TN 89/72/t 34 Shelby, NC 86/69/t 72
Asheville, NC 81/67/t 65 O Gainesville, FL 92/74/t 29 Middletown, NY 81/50/pc 62 Sherman, TX 100/78/s 44
Ashland, OH 74/53/s 32 Galesburg, IL 80/61/pc 49 Milford, MA 83/52/pc 62 Shreveport, LA 94/76/t 41
Athens, GA 87/71/t 81 Gastonia, NC 87/70/t 73 Milwaukee, WI 68/59/s 33 O Silver City, NM 95/69/t 58
O Augusta, GA 93/73/t 81 Glen Rose, TX 101/78/s 37 Monroe, MI 75/59/s 33 O Sioux Falls, SD 75/68/t 33
Austin, TX 99/76/s 28 Gonzales, LA 90/76/t 30 Monroe, LA 92/72/t 32 Somerset, PA 78/53/s 50
Bartlesville, OK 91/74/pc 64 O Great Falls, MT 72/48/t 42 Montgomery, AL 87/74/t 53 Somerville, NJ 88/58/pc 74
Battle Creek, MI 75/58/s 45 Green Bay, WI 73/55/pc 26 Muncie, IN 79/59/s 38 South Bend, IN 76/58/s 47
Bedford, IN 82/62/s 43 Greenville, SC 89/71/t 76 Murfreesboro, TN 85/69/t 54 Spartanburg, SC 87/70/t 80
Binghamton, NY 72/50/pc 50 Hackensack, NJ 87/62/pc 78 Naples, FL 90/79/t 28 Springfield, IL 81/62/pc 60
O Bluffton, SC 92/76/t 59 Hagerstown, MD 89/63/s 55 Nashville, TN 87/70/t 51 Springfield, MO 88/69/pc 71
Bremerton, WA 65/51/c 17 Hattiesburg, MS 89/75/t 30 Neptune, NJ 84/65/pc 61 O St. Augustine, FL 93/77/t 33
Brockton, MA 85/56/pc 71 Henderson, KY 86/65/s 46 New Bedford, MA 82/56/sh 57 O St. Cloud, MN 77/66/t 26
O Brownwood, TX 104/76/s 41 Hendersonville, NC 80/67/t 66 O New Bern, NC 92/72/t 45 O St. George, UT 104/78/pc 67
Burlington, IA 79/65/pc 50 Herkimer, NY 73/49/pc 41 New Philadelphia, OH 78/54/s 35 Staunton, VA 88/63/pc 51
Burlington, NC 88/68/t 68 Hillsdale, MI 75/55/s 39 Newark, OH 81/55/s 40 Stevens Point, WI 73/57/s 32
Burlington, VT 73/51/pc 31 Holland, MI 68/61/s 38 Newton, NJ 84/52/pc 66 Stockton, CA 92/56/s 53
Cambridge, OH 81/56/s 40 Hornell, NY 72/48/pc 31 New York, NY 85/64/pc 75 Stroudsburg, PA 83/52/s 67
Camdenton, MO 85/69/pc 59 Houma, LA 89/77/t 31 Norwich, CT 85/54/pc 71 Stuart, FL 91/76/t 45
Canandaigua, NY 71/52/pc 33 Howell, MI 73/53/s 32 O Ocala, FL 91/75/t 29 Sturgis, MI 74/60/s 39
Canton, OH 76/54/s 40 O Hutchinson, KS 87/74/t 48 Oklahoma City, OK 95/76/s 55 O Tallahassee, FL 91/76/t 29
Carlsbad, NM 101/75/pc 75 Hyannis, MA 77/58/sh 58 Opelousas, LA 90/76/t 30 Thibodaux, LA 87/76/t 31
Chambersburg, PA 88/59/s 54 Indianapolis, IN 81/62/s 50 Oshkosh, WI 73/58/pc 30 O Topeka, KS 85/71/t 58
Cherry Hill, NJ 89/65/pc 76 Iowa City, IA 79/65/pc 49 Palm Beach, FL 90/78/t 41 Tuscaloosa, AL 86/73/t 43
Cincinnati, OH 83/62/s 46 Ithaca, NY 70/49/pc 44 Palm Springs, CA 112/79/s 73 Utica, NY 72/46/pc 41
Clarksville, TN 88/68/s 43 Jackson, MS 89/74/t 30 O Panama City, FL 86/80/t 27 Ventura, CA 72/59/pc 51
Coldwater, MI 74/57/s 40 Jackson, TN 88/70/t 38 Pekin, IL 81/64/pc 49 O Victorville, CA 97/63/s 90
Columbus, OH 81/59/s 36 O Jacksonville, FL 96/76/t 38 O Pensacola, FL 88/77/t 25 Vineland, NJ 90/61/pc 71
Corning, NY 75/50/pc 41 O Jacksonville, NC 90/72/t 43 Peoria, IL 81/63/pc 49 Visalia, CA 97/61/s 70
Corpus Christi, TX 97/81/t 49 Kent, OH 73/52/s 40 Petersburg, VA 89/69/t 61 Washington, DC 90/72/pc 76
O Daytona Beach, FL 92/76/t 32 Kewanee, IL 78/60/pc 46 Phoenix, AZ 112/90/s 78 O Watertown, SD 73/66/t 50
O Deming, NM 97/72/t 53 Keyser, WV 87/59/s 54 Port Huron, MI 70/48/s 24 Wausau, WI 73/56/pc 30
DeRidder, LA 92/76/t 28 O Kinston, NC 94/71/t 56 Portsmouth, NH 82/54/sh 57 Waynesboro, PA 89/63/s 58
O Des Moines, IA 78/68/t 57 Knoxville, TN 85/70/t 74 Poughkeepsie, NY 84/53/pc 66 White Plains, NY 84/58/pc 82
Detroit, MI 75/56/s 32 Lafayette, IN 78/58/s 53 Providence, RI 82/57/pc 64 Wichita Falls, TX 102/79/s 49
O Devils Lake, ND 70/63/t 31 Lafayette, LA 89/78/t 30 O Pueblo, CO 97/65/t 77 Wilmington, DE 87/64/pc 79
Dover, NH 83/53/sh 53 Lakeland, FL 91/75/t 32 Quincy, MA 84/60/c 71 O Wilmington, NC 94/73/t 45
El Paso, TX 99/82/t 66 Lansing, MI 73/54/s 45 Redding, CA 95/67/s 48 Wisconsin Rapids, WI 74/57/pc 32
Elmira, NY 75/51/pc 44 Las Cruces, NM 97/75/t 69 Reno, NV 90/57/s 53 Wooster, OH 75/53/s 32
Erie, PA 72/56/s 32 Lebanon, PA 86/57/s 68 Ravenna, OH 73/52/s 36 Worcester, MA 79/54/pc 66
Eugene, OR 75/49/c 19 O Leesburg, FL 89/76/t 32 Richmond, IN 80/58/s 40 York, PA 88/62/s 68
Air Quality Index: 0-50, Good; 51-100, Moderate; 101-150, Unhealthy for sensitive groups; 151-200, Unhealthy; 201-300, Very unhealthy; 301-500, Hazardous
INTERNATIONAL CITIES
Thursday Friday Thursday Friday Thursday Friday Thursday Friday
High/low/W High/low/W High/low/W High/low/W High/low/W High/low/W High/low/W High/low/W
Acapulco 89/75/pc 88/75/pc Cape Town 75/51/s 79/59/s La Paz 61/32/pc 63/30/s O San Jose 75/66/r 79/67/r
Addis Ababa 69/55/sh 70/56/sh Caracas 92/75/sh 90/75/t Lagos 85/76/t 86/76/t O San Salvador 84/70/r 79/69/r
Algiers 85/68/s 84/70/pc O Casablanca 77/62/pc 80/63/pc Lima 65/58/pc 65/60/pc Santiago 60/41/pc 59/36/s
Amman 97/76/s 96/73/s O Colombo 87/80/t 87/81/sh Lisbon 79/64/pc 74/63/c O Sao Paulo 73/60/c 82/62/c
Amsterdam 80/60/pc 68/55/pc Copenhagen 81/64/pc 74/56/c O London 75/54/pc 71/52/s Sarajevo 75/58/t 80/61/t
Ankara 90/62/s 93/65/s O Damascus 105/68/s 104/69/s Madrid 95/64/pc 81/61/r O Shanghai 78/73/t 85/77/t
Asuncion 69/57/pc 74/52/c O Dublin 62/52/pc 64/52/c O Manila 89/80/t 92/80/t Singapore 89/79/pc 89/80/t
Athens 91/70/s 92/78/s Geneva 86/64/c 89/66/t Mexico City 75/57/sh 73/57/c Stockholm 83/61/s 78/55/t
Auckland 61/43/s 59/46/pc O Guatemala City 79/63/t 76/63/t Milan 87/66/s 90/72/pc Sydney 65/45/s 64/45/s
Baghdad 109/84/pc 111/85/pc Hanoi 90/80/t 94/82/t Mombasa 84/72/pc 85/72/c Taipei 98/81/c 98/80/t
Bangkok 93/81/t 95/81/t Harare 67/49/pc 67/43/pc Montevideo 62/47/pc 54/40/pc O Tegucigalpa 84/66/t 78/69/t
O Beijing 96/73/pc 100/74/pc Havana 91/75/t 89/75/t Montreal 69/47/pc 72/59/s Tehran 97/75/s 97/79/s
Beirut 87/79/s 87/78/s Helsinki 71/62/s 74/63/s O Moscow 79/58/r 84/67/s Tokyo 82/70/c 75/71/pc
Belgrade 79/66/t 84/67/sh Hong Kong 92/84/c 92/84/c Nairobi 70/54/pc 73/54/c O Toronto 70/51/pc 73/61/pc
Berlin 87/68/t 83/57/c Jakarta 91/77/t 92/76/t New Delhi 90/81/t 90/81/t O Tunis 95/73/s 96/74/s
O Bogota 68/49/sh 64/50/sh Jerusalem 93/70/s 93/68/s Panama City 84/77/t 86/77/t Vancouver 64/54/sh 67/57/pc
Brussels 84/55/pc 74/53/pc Johannesburg 63/40/pc 64/43/pc Paris 87/57/t 77/57/pc O Vienna 79/65/t 87/67/pc
Bucharest 91/60/s 93/65/s Kabul 93/69/s 95/67/s Port-au-Prince 98/75/pc 95/75/t Warsaw 89/66/pc 89/66/t
Budapest 82/63/sh 86/66/r Khartoum 106/84/pc 106/84/pc O Rio de Janeiro 78/69/sh 83/74/pc Yerevan 78/56/s 81/58/s
Buenos Aires 62/47/pc 55/39/s Kyiv 84/64/s 85/66/s Riyadh 112/86/pc 111/85/s Zagreb 82/63/c 88/65/pc
O Cairo 102/78/s 103/79/s Kingston 91/82/r 92/81/pc Rome 83/64/s 86/66/s Zurich 81/61/t 83/63/t
O Denotes possible travel delays Thursday Weather(W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow flurries, sn-snow, i-ice.
©2024; forecasts and graphics provided by

DAILY CHATTER
RUSSIA
The most
wanted
The International Criminal Court
this week issued arrest warrants for
two senior Russian officials accused
of war crimes and crimes against hu-
manity for their role in Russia’s inva-
sion of Ukraine, the Associated Press
reported.
On Tuesday, the Netherlands-
based tribunal accused former De-
fense Minister Sergei Shoigu and mil-
itary chief of staff Gen. Valery Gerasi-
mov of being responsible for civilian
attacks in Ukraine. The allegations
center on the period between October
2022 and March 2023, when Russia
launched a wave of missile and drone
strikes on Ukraine that killed thou-
sands and damaged key infrastruc-
ture, including its energy system.
The court alleged there was rea-
sonable ground to believe that Shoigu
– who served as Russia’s defense
minister at the time – and Gerasimov
were responsible for “missile strikes
carried out by the Russian armed
forces against the Ukrainian electric
infrastructure” during that period.
Moscow has insisted that the
strikes mainly targeted military in-
stallations, despite the civilian casu-
alties. However, ICC judges stated
that the attacks targeted civilians and
that any potential military targets
would have caused excessive civilian
harm compared with any anticipated
military advantage.
Shoigu, a long-time ally of Russian
President Vladimir Putin and defense
minister for 12 years, was replaced last
month by economist Andrey Belou-
sov, CNN wrote.
Gerasimov has led Russia’s armed
forces for over a decade and was key
in planning the Ukraine invasion. He
was appointed overall commander of
the campaign in January 2023.
It is unlikely that either suspect
will be detained because Russia is not
a member of the global court, does not
recognize its jurisdiction and has re-
fused to hand over other individuals.
Bolivian military coup attempt fails
US says it has been closely
monitoring situation
Daniel Ramos
REUTERS
LA PAZ – Bolivian armed forces
pulled back from the presidential palace
in La Paz on Wednesday evening and a
general was arrested after President
Luis Arce slammed a “coup” attempt
against the government and called for
international support.
Earlier in the day, military units led
by Gen. Juan Jose Zuniga, recently
stripped of his military command, had
gathered in the central Plaza Murillo
square, home to the presidential palace
and Congress. A Reuters witness saw an
armored vehicle ram a door of the presi-
dential palace and soldiers rush in.
“Today the country is facing an at-
tempted coup d’état. Today the country
faces once again interests so that de-
mocracy in Bolivia is cut short,” Arce
said in comments from the presidential
palace, with armed soldiers outside.
“The Bolivian people are summoned
today. We need the Bolivian people to
organize and mobilize against the coup
d’état in favor of democracy.”
A few hours later, a Reuters witness
saw soldiers withdraw from the square
and police take control of the plaza. Bo-
livian authorities arrested Zuniga and
took him away, though their destination
was unclear.
Inside the presidential palace, Arce
swore in José Wilson Sanchez as the
military commander, Zuniga’s former
role. He called for calm and order.
“I order that all personnel mobilized
on the streets return to their units,” San-
chez said. “We entreat that the blood of
our soldiers not be spilled.”
The United States said it was closely
monitoring the situation and urged
calm and restraint.
Tensions have been building in Boliv-
ia ahead of general elections in 2025,
with leftist ex-President Evo Morales
planning to run against former ally Arce,
creating a major rift in the ruling social-
ist party and wider political uncertainty.
Many do not want a return of
Morales, who governed from 2006-2019
NATION & WORLD EXTRA - USA TODAY NETWORK | THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 2024 | 3NN
NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
MONGOLIA
Sharing
the wealth
Mongolian judges recently visited
Plainview, Texas, to learn about
American justice. They also visited
the Cadillac Ranch art installation,
which features half-buried, colorful-
ly painted cars, and the Big Texan
Steak Ranch, home of the famous
72-ounce steak-eating challenge, the
Plainview Herald reported.
The Mongolian judges may have
found these lessons useful as their
country – wedged between China
and Russia – prepares for a parlia-
mentary election on Friday.
Corruption is the biggest issue on
voters’ minds, the Diplomat wrote.
Many especially want the Mongolian
People’s Party, which dominates the
legislature and holds the executive
branch under President Khurelsukh
Ukhnaa, to share the wealth that the
country’s massive mining sector
now generates – but for what many
believe is only an elite few.
Opposition parties were especial-
ly excited this year to gain at least
some power because the number of
legislative seats has increased from
76 to 126, giving them a chance to
win more offices.
A woman walks away from tear gas fired by military troops outside the
presidential palace in La Paz on Wednesday.
Military troops are deployed outside the palace Wednesday. Tensions have
grown ahead of general elections in 2025. PHOTOS BY AIZAR RALDES/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
when he was ousted amid widespread
protests and replaced by an interim
FOLLOW THE QR CODE TO SUBSCRIBE TO
DAILY CHATTER’S EMAIL NEWSLETTER
But the MPP is entrenched. Ob-
servers at Fitch Solutions, for ex-
ample, believe that opposition
groups have little or no chance to
gain significant seats in parliament.
Meanwhile, the party appears
determined not to leave anything to
chance. A leader of the Democratic
Party, who was also governor of the
district of Sant Sum, for example,
was beaten to death recently while
meeting with MPP representatives.
DP leaders blamed the oppressive
political climate that has grown
worse in recent years under the rul-
ing party.
Mongolian voters might have to
wait to see the benefits of the extrac-
tive industries in their midst, too,
even though, as the Foreign Policy
Research Institute explained, it can
easily trade with China and Russia –
while also playing both off against
the U.S.
Record-high coal exports have
yielded record revenues for the
country, while the new Oyu Tolgoi
copper mine promises even more
cash as demand for the metal has
skyrocketed, the East Asia Forum
noted.
But Mongolia might need to wait
until the 2030s before revenues from
these industries make up for the
economy having tanked during the
coronavirus pandemic.
conservative government. Arce then
won election in 2020.
DISCOVERIES
Little engineer
that could
Shipworms have been the bane of
ships, ports and dikes for thousands
of years.
The marine creatures are the ter-
mites of the sea: They are capable of
digesting wood – a feat that few
animals can do.
Measuring up to six inches in
length, they have gone down in his-
tory for wrecking San Francisco Bay
a hundred years ago and contrib-
uting to the destruction of the Span-
ish Armada by the English in 1588.
Even so, American poet and natu-
ralist Henry David Thoreau paid
homage to them in the poem
“Through All the Fates.”
Now, scientists have discovered
how the shipworm – technically, a
mollusk species – is able to consume
wood.
In their paper, a research team
dissected and analyzed the insides
of Teredo navalis shipworms to un-
derstand their timber-gobbling abil-
ities.
Wood is not easy to digest be-
cause it contains a very tough com-
ponent known as lignin, requiring
special enzymes to break it down.
The team found that the enzymes
weren’t produced by the intestines
or the stomach, but originated from
a sub-organ, typhlosole.
A closer examination showed that
bacteria known as Alteromonas pro-
duced the special enzyme, a finding
that underscores a symbiotic rela-
tionship between shipworms and
microbes.
The study challenges previous
assumptions that the shipworm’s
guts were “nearly sterile,” while also
underscoring the practical applica-
tions of the mollusk’s ability.
“(Shipworms) are found through-
out the world’s oceans and not only
have they changed history, they are
also ecosystem engineers and play a
fundamental role in cycling carbon
in aquatic environments,” co-author
Reuben Shipway said in a statement.
“Today the country is facing an
attempted coup d’état. Today the
country faces once again interests so
that democracy in Bolivia is cut short.
The Bolivian people are summoned
today. We need the Bolivian people to
organize and mobilize against the
coup d’état in favor of democracy.”
Bolivian President Luis Arce
Zuniga said recently that Morales
should not be able to return as president
and threatened to block him if he at-
tempted to, which led Arce to remove
Zuniga from his post.
Ahead of the attack on the presiden-
tial palace, Zuniga had addressed re-
porters in the square and cited growing
anger in the landlocked country, which
has been battling an economic slump
with depleted central bank reserves and
pressure on the boliviano currency as
gas exports have dried up.
“Stop destroying, stop impoverishing
our country, stop humiliating our army,”
Zuniga told a local TV station while call-
ing for a new cabinet of ministers. He
was in full uniform, flanked by soldiers,
insisting the action being taken was
supported by the public.
Zuniga told reporters later on
Wednesday that Arce had on Sunday
asked him to “raise something up” to
boost his popularity, without offering
evidence.
Interior Minister Eduardo del Castillo
later said Zuniga was seeking to court
popular support and that the nine peo-
ple injured in the attempt proved “this
was not a drill.”
Morales, head of the ruling MAS so-
cialist party, said that his supporters
would mobilize.
“We will not allow the armed forces to
violate democracy and intimidate peo-
ple,” Morales said.
Bolivia’s public prosecutor’s office
said it would launch a criminal investi-
gation against Zuniga and others in-
volved in the attempted coup. Public
support for Arce and Bolivia’s democra-
cy has poured in from regional leaders
and beyond, including Mexican Presi-
dent Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
4NN | THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 2024 | NATION & WORLD EXTRA - USA TODAY NETWORK
Stress test: US banks
may face steeper losses
But large cushions
remain in annual
Fed health check
Pete Schroeder and Nupur Anand
REUTERS
WASHINGTON – The biggest U.S.
banks would have enough capital to
withstand severe economic and market
turmoil, the Federal Reserve’s annual
“stress test” exercise showed on
Wednesday, but firms faced steeper hy-
pothetical losses this year due to riskier
portfolios.
The exercise found 31 big banks
would weather a spike in the jobless
rate, severe market volatility, and dives
in the residential and commercial mort-
gage markets and still retain enough
capital to continue lending.
Specifically, the Fed found levels of
high-quality capital at the banks would
dip to 9.9% at their lowest levels, which
is more than twice the regulatory mini-
mum.
The relatively clean bill of health
clears the way for the banks to an-
nounce capital plans to shareholders in
the coming days, including stock buy-
backs and dividends. Banks can an-
nounce capital plans after the market
closes on Friday, a senior Fed official
said.
“We are positively surprised with the
results as we expected losses to be
slightly higher compared to the last few
years, especially in areas such as com-
mercial real estate,” said Chris Marinac,
director of research at financial adviser
Janney Montgomery Scott. “This shows
that the banks are in good health.”
However, the test did find banks suf-
fered steeper losses this year. The 2024
version of the stress test was broadly
similar to last year’s, and the Fed said
the higher losses were due to how bank
portfolios have shifted.
The banks that were tested would
suffer a combined $685 billion in losses
under a hypothetical severe scenario.
On average, banks saw their capital ra-
tios fall by 2.8 percentage points, the
steepest decline since 2018.
Of the banks tested, Charles Schwab
Corp. reported the highest capital levels
under the test, posting a 25.2% capital
ratio under that severe scenario. Bank
of New York Mellon Corp, JPMorgan
Chase, Morgan Stanley, Northern Trust
and State Street all reported double-
digit capital ratios after the test, as did
the U.S. operations of Deutsche Bank
and UBS.
The largest global banks all posted
Republican AGs challenge fuel economy rules
David Shepardson
REUTERS
WASHINGTON – A group of 26 state
attorneys general led by West Virginia
and Kentucky on Wednesday chal-
lenged the Biden administration’s new
fuel economy rules, calling the require-
ments unworkable and saying they
would force automakers to build more
electric vehicles.
The National Highway Traffic Safety
Administration earlier this month final-
ized tighter vehicle fuel economy rules
through 2031 that are significantly less
stringent than first proposed. NHTSA
said it would hike corporate average fuel
economy requirements to about 50.4
miles per gallon by 2031 from 39.1 mpg
currently. The new requirement is bare-
ly above the 49 mpg it previously re-
quired for 2026.
Republican state attorneys general
and oil industry groups have challenged
a number of regulatory efforts by the Bi-
den administration to boost vehicle effi-
ciency, reduce greenhouse gas emis-
sions and increase EVs, while Republi-
can presidential candidate Donald
Trump has vowed to rescind the Biden
administration’s EV regulations.
The lawsuit by the state attorneys
general, filed in the 6th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals, argues that the rule
“exceeds the agency’s statutory author-
ity and otherwise is arbitrary, capri-
cious, an abuse of discretion, and not in
accordance with law.”
NHTSA did not immediately com-
ment.
In July 2023, NHTSA proposed
boosting CAFE requirements by 2% per
year for passenger cars and 4% per year
for light trucks from 2027 through 2032.
The final regulation, however, has no in-
Of the banks tested, Charles Schwab Corp. reported the highest capital levels,
posting a 25.2% capital ratio under that severe scenario.
RUSS WILES/ARIZONA REPUBLIC FILE
The Fed singled out credit cards as a
particular source of losses for banks,
accounting for over a quarter of
hypothetical losses.
PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES FILE
capital ratios well above minimums,
with JPMorgan posting the highest at
12.5%, and Wells Fargo the lowest at
8.1%. Bank of America posted a 9.1%
capital ratio, and Citigroup posted a
9.7% ratio.
“The continued strength and resil-
ience of the banking sector is further ev-
idence that the recent tsunami of new
regulation, including proposed higher
capital standards, is unwarranted,” Rob
Nichols, CEO of the American Bankers
Association, said in a statement.
Bigger losses
The Fed singled out credit cards as a
particular source of losses for banks, ac-
counting for over a quarter of hypotheti-
cal losses. The Fed noted that large bank
credit card balances have grown by over
$100 billion in the last year, and delin-
quency rates have risen by over 40%.
The tested banks overall saw losses
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration earlier this month finalized
tighter vehicle fuel economy rules through 2031. EDUARDO MUNOZ/REUTERS FILE
crease for light trucks for 2027 and 2028
and will require only 2% increases from
2029 through 2031.
Last year, NHTSA said its proposal to
hike fuel economy standards through
2032 would cost the industry $14 billion
in projected fines over a five-year-peri-
od. Under the final rule, the auto indus-
try is collectively expected to face a total
of $1.83 billion in fines from 2027
through 2031 – or it could be as little as
of 17.6% to existing loan balances on
credit cards, but Ally Financial experi-
enced losses of 40.6% in the test on its
relatively small credit card portfolio.
Capital One, one of the nation’s largest
credit card banks, experienced losses of
23.2%, and Goldman Sachs recorded
25.4% in losses.
The Fed also said that banks’ corpo-
rate credit portfolios have shifted to-
ward riskier loans, and they now hold a
larger share of non-investment grade
corporate credit, with these loans more
than three times more likely to default
than investment grade ones.
In the 2024 stress test, banks were
projected to lose $142 billion on com-
mercial and industrial (C&I) loans, rep-
resenting 21% of total projected losses.
C&I loans are made to businesses and
can include working capital advances,
term loans and loans to individuals for
business purposes.
Discover Financial, which Capital
One hopes to buy pending regulatory
approval, posted the steepest commer-
cial and industrial loan losses at 21.8%.
The Fed also flagged that non-inter-
est income at banks from items like in-
vestment fees have declined signifi-
cantly in recent years, while non-inter-
est expenses like compensation and
real estate costs have not.
While banks were expected to per-
form well under this year’s exam as they
have in years prior, the annual results
are significant for each firm because
how well they perform dictates how
much capital they must hold against po-
tential losses. Excess funds beyond
those capital levels can then be returned
to shareholders.
nothing, NHTSA said.
It was the third action that President
Joe Biden’s administration has taken in
recent months that tightened vehicle
regulatory proposals less than originally
promised. New compliance calculations
for EVs that were less strict than pro-
posed, and new tailpipe rules would ul-
timately require automakers to make
fewer EVs than they had originally fore-
cast.
FINANCIAL MARKETS
Wall Street
indexes
slightly up
Trade choppy ahead
of inflation data
Ankika Biswas, Lisa Pauline
Mattackal and Carolina Mandl
REUTERS
Major U.S. stock indexes closed
with modest gains on Wednesday
after a choppy trading session, with
investors holding their cards close to
the vest ahead of a presidential de-
bate and an inflation report closely
watched by Federal Reserve policy-
makers.
“We’re in this kind of holding pat-
tern while we wait to see on Friday’s
personal consumption expenditure
report to get more information,” said
Michael Green, portfolio manager at
Simplify.
Leading chipmaker Nvidia closed
up 0.25%, surging just before the
closing bell to erase losses. Other
megacaps such as Apple, Amazon-
.com and Tesla also posted gains.
Several economic data releases
are due this week, leading to Friday’s
release of the personal consumption
expenditures, or PCE, price index,
the Federal Reserve’s preferred in-
flation gauge used to decide on the
path of monetary policy.
The Fed has been projecting only
one interest rate cut this year, in De-
cember. But investors see a 56.3%
chance of a 25-basis point rate cut in
September, and about two cuts by
the year-end, LSEG’s interest rate
probabilities app showed.
The Dow Jones Industrial Aver-
age rose 16.10 points, or 0.04%, to
39,128.26, the S&P 500 gained 8.61
points, or 0.16%, to 5,477.91 and the
Nasdaq Composite gained 87.50
points, or 0.49%, to 17,805.16.
“Investors are sitting on their
hands, waiting for tomorrow’s presi-
dential debate and for additional
economic news in particular this Fri-
day’s PCE,” said Sam Stovall, chief
investment strategist at CFRA.
Positive earnings and benign in-
flation data could encourage more
rotation from tech to sectors that
have lagged this year, said Ryan De-
trick, chief market strategist at the
Carson Group. Earlier this week, in-
vestors had increased bets on non-
technology sectors.
“We’re probably going to see this
choppiness continue until there is a
catalyst,” said Brian Jacobsen, chief
economist at Annex Wealth Man-
agement.
Appliances manufacturer Whirl-
pool surged 17.1% after Reuters re-
ported that German engineering
group Robert Bosch is weighing a bid
for the U.S. appliances maker.
FedEx jumped 15.53% after the
delivery giant forecast fiscal 2025
profit above estimates, boosting the
Dow Jones Transport index to its
highest in over a month.
Apple rose nearly 2% after Rosen-
blatt upgraded the iPhone maker’s
stock to “buy” from “neutral.” Tesla
gained 4.81% as Stifel initiated cov-
erage with a buy rating.
Shares of Amazon Inc. rose 3.9%,
bringing the company’s market val-
ue above $2 trillion, the fifth U.S.
corporation to cross that level.
Shares of major U.S. banks in-
cluding Morgan Stanley, Citigroup
and Bank of America slipped ahead
of the Fed’s release of results from
its annual banking sector stress test.
The broader S&P 500 financial in-
dex fell 0.47%.
Rivian soared 23.24% as German
automaker Volkswagen said it will
invest up to $5 billion in the U.S.
electric-vehicle maker.
General Mills fell 4.59% after the
Cheerios cereal maker forecast an-
nual profit below estimates and
posted a bigger-than-expected drop
in quarterly sales.
Declining issues outnumbered
advancers by a 1.41-to-1 ratio on the
NYSE. There were 106 new highs and
89 new lows on the NYSE.
The S&P 500 posted 10 new 52-
week highs and 6 new lows while the
Nasdaq Composite recorded 41 new
highs and 171 new lows.
“We’re probably going to see this
choppiness continue until there is
a catalyst.”
Brian Jacobsen
Chief economist at Annex Wealth Management

Court set to allow emergency abortions
Draft ruling in Idaho case
is inadvertently posted
REUTERS
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme
Court appears poised to allow – for now
– abortions to be performed in Idaho in
cases of medical emergencies for preg-
nant women, according to an apparent
draft ruling in the case that a spokesper-
son said was inadvertently and briefly
uploaded to the court’s website.
The document was published by
Bloomberg after the court issued two
rulings earlier in the day, as the justices
near the end of their current term with
decisions in several major cases due to
be announced in the coming days. The
disclosure of the document represented
another embarrassment for the top U.S.
judicial body, coming two years after the
draft of a blockbuster ruling rolling back
abortion rights was leaked in advance.
The opinion in the Idaho case “has
not been released,” court spokesperson
Patricia McCabe said in a statement.
The justices heard arguments in the
case in April.
“The court’s Publications Unit inad-
vertently and briefly uploaded a docu-
ment to the court’s website,” McCabe
added, saying the ruling “will be issued
in due course.”
Reuters could not immediately con-
firm the authenticity of the document.
The decision, as reflected by the doc-
ument, would effectively reinstate a
lower court’s ruling that had found that
Idaho’s near-total abortion ban must
yield to a 1986 U.S. law known as the
Emergency Medical Treatment and La-
bor Act when the two statutes conflict.
EMTALA ensures that patients can re-
ceive emergency care at hospitals that
receive funding under the federal Medi-
care program.
President Joe Biden’s administration
sued Idaho, arguing that EMTALA takes
precedence over state law.
The 6-3 decision, as reflected in the
document, was an unsigned, one-line
order to lift a block, or stay, that the Su-
preme Court previously placed on the
lower court’s ruling in January. The jus-
tices did not resolve the underlying legal
Supreme Court narrows reach of corruption law
Conservative justices
side with former mayor
John Kruzel
REUTERS
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme
Court sided on Wednesday with a for-
mer mayor of an Indiana city who was
convicted in a case in which he was ac-
cused of taking a bribe, in a ruling that
could make it harder for federal prose-
cutors to bring corruption cases against
state and local officials.
The justices ruled 6-3 to reverse a
lower court’s decision that had upheld
the corruption conviction of former Por-
tage Mayor James Snyder for accepting
$13,000 from a truck company that re-
ceived more than $1 million in contracts
during his time in office.
The court’s conservative justices
were in the majority in the ruling au-
Paris Hilton calls for more federal oversight of foster care
Moira Warburton
REUTERS
WASHINGTON – Reality TV star Par-
is Hilton called for greater federal over-
sight of youth care programs at a U.S.
House of Representatives committee
hearing on Wednesday as she described
her traumatic experience in youth care
facilities.
Hilton, 43, the great-granddaughter
of Hilton Hotels founder Conrad Hilton,
has spoken out publicly about the emo-
tional and physical abuse that she en-
dured when she was placed in residen-
tial youth treatment facilities as a teen-
ager.
In remarks to the committee on
Wednesday, Hilton described being tak-
en from her bed in the middle of the
night at age 16 and transported across
state lines to a residential facility where
she experienced physical and sexual
abuse.
“This $23 billion industry sees this
population (of vulnerable children) as
dollar signs and operates without
meaningful oversight,” she said.
“There’s no education in these
NATION & WORLD EXTRA - USA TODAY NETWORK | THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 2024 | 5NN
The disclosure of the document represented another embarrassment for the Supreme Court. ANDREW HARNIK/GETTY IMAGES
dispute, opting instead to dismiss the
case as “improvidently granted,” ac-
cording to the document.
The document indicated that conser-
vative Justices Clarence Thomas, Sam-
uel Alito and Neil Gorsuch voted in dis-
sent.
‘Not a victory’
Liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jack-
son in a separate opinion agreed with
the court’s decision to lift its stay, but
said she would not have dismissed the
case, according to the document.
“Today’s decision is not a victory for
pregnant patients in Idaho. It is delay,”
Jackson wrote, according to the docu-
ment. “While this court dawdles and the
country waits, pregnant people experi-
encing emergency medical conditions
remain in a precarious position, as their
doctors are kept in the dark about what
the law requires.”
Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote a
separate concurring opinion that was
joined by two fellow conservatives,
Jackson Kavanaugh
thored by Justice Brett Kavanaugh,
while its liberal members dissented.
Federal prosecutors charged Snyder
with corruptly soliciting a payment in
connection with the government con-
tracts, a crime that carries a penalty of
up to 10 years in prison.
A jury convicted him, and a judge
sentenced him to one year and nine
months in prison.
“The question in this case is whether
(federal law) makes it a crime for state
and local officials to accept gratuities –
Paris Hilton arrives to testify at Wednesday’s House Committee meeting.
SAMUEL CORUM/GETTY IMAGES
places, there’s mold and blood on the
walls,” she added in response to law-
maker questions. “It’s horrifying what
these places are like. They’re worse than
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice
Brett Kavanaugh, according to the docu-
ment.
Barrett wrote that the dispute has
significantly narrowed since the court
agreed to resolve it, according to the
document.
Barrett said Biden’s administration
has disclaimed certain interpretations
of EMTALA that Idaho had raised, in-
cluding that it would force doctors to
perform abortions over conscience ob-
jections, and that the state said its law
would permit emergency abortions for
certain conditions, according to the
document.
Alito disagreed with Barrett’s ratio-
nale to toss the case, according to the
document.
“Nothing legally relevant has oc-
curred” since the court decided to take
up the dispute, Alito wrote in a dissent
joined by Thomas and Gorsuch, accord-
ing to the document. “Apparently, the
court has simply lost the will to decide
the easy but emotional and highly polit-
icized question that the case presents.
for example, gift cards, lunches,
plaques, books, framed photos or the
like – that may be given as a token of ap-
preciation after the official act,” Kava-
naugh wrote. “The answer is no.”
In 2013, while Snyder was mayor,
Portage awarded two contracts to local
truck company Great Lakes Peterbilt for
the purchase of five trash trucks, total-
ing around $1.1 million.
The next year, while Snyder was still
in office, Peterbilt paid him $13,000,
which Snyder said was a consulting fee
for his work with the company. Kava-
naugh wrote that Portage, a city in
northwest Indiana with some 38,000
residents, apparently allows local pub-
lic officials to obtain outside employ-
ment.
The Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit
Court of Appeals rejected Snyder’s ar-
gument that the federal crime at issue
outlaws bribery but not gratuities. This
led Snyder to appeal to the Supreme
some dog kennels.”
Hilton said private equity firms that
have taken a greater stake in the indus-
try in recent years focus on maximizing
That is regrettable.”
Alito was the author of the 2022 deci-
sion that overturned the landmark 1973
Roe v. Wade precedent that had legal-
ized abortion nationwide and was
leaked a month before being formally is-
sued. The culprit behind that leak has
never been identified.
EMTALA requires hospitals that re-
ceive funding under the federal Medi-
care program to “stabilize” patients with
emergency medical conditions. Hospi-
tals that violate EMTALA can face law-
suits by injured patients, civil fines and
potentially the loss of Medicare fund-
ing.
Reuters/Ipsos polling shows that
Americans broadly opposed Idaho’s
push to deny abortions to women who
needed them to protect their health.
Some 77% of respondents to a May
poll, including 86% of Democrats and
77% of Republicans, said they support-
ed requiring states with strict abortion
bans to permit abortion if necessary to
protect the health of a pregnant patient
facing a medical emergency.
Court.
Kavanaugh wrote in Wednesday’s
ruling that the federal corruption law
“leaves it to state and local governments
to regulate gratuities to state and local
officials.”
In a dissent written by Justice Ketanji
Brown Jackson, the court’s liberal jus-
tices expressed concern over how the
ruling could undermine efforts to com-
bat public corruption.
The government has not used the
statute as an dragnet against permissi-
ble conduct, but rather to prosecute se-
rious cases that involve “exactly the
type of palm greasing that the statute
plainly covers and that one might rea-
sonably expect Congress to care about
when targeting graft in state, local and
tribal governments,” Jackson wrote.
“After today, however, the ability of
the federal government to prosecute
such obviously wrongful conduct is left
in doubt,” Jackson added.
profits, prompting them to hire unqual-
ified workers.
“They’re caring more about profit
than the safety of children,” she said.
Hilton first described her experience
at a Utah facility – which she said has
left her with post-traumatic stress dis-
order that she continues to suffer from –
in 2021, and has been a vocal advocate
for greater oversight of the system.
“These programs promised ‘healing,
growth, and support,’ but instead did
not allow me to speak, move freely, or
even look out of a window for two
years,” Hilton told the committee. “My
parents were completely deceived – lied
to and manipulated by this for-profit in-
dustry – so you can only imagine the ex-
perience for youth who don’t have any-
one checking in on them.”
Several lawmakers agreed that more
federal oversight was necessary.
“We must always be concerned about
fraud and guard against Wall Street vul-
tures snatching public funds to line
their pockets,” Democratic Rep. Bill Pa-
screll said. “We cannot allow the private
equity octopus to reach its tentacles
into child services.”
6NN | THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 2024 | NATION & WORLD EXTRA - USA TODAY NETWORK

Kenyan president backs off on taxes

At least 23 killed
nationwide in Tuesday
clashes, medics say
Giulia Paravicini and Aaron Ross
REUTERS

NAIROBI, Kenya – Kenyan President

William Ruto on Wednesday withdrew
planned tax hikes, bowing to pressure
from protesters who had stormed par-
liament, launched demonstrations
across the country and threatened more
action this week.
The move will be seen as a major vic-
tory for a week-old, youth-led protest
movement that grew from online con-
demnations of tax rises into mass rallies
demanding a political overhaul, in the
most serious crisis of Ruto’s two-year-
old presidency.
But some demonstrators said on so-
cial media that despite Ruto’s climb-
down they would go ahead with a rally
planned for Thursday, with many reiter-
ating demands he resign.
Ruto announced he would not sign a
finance bill including the tax increases,
a day after clashes between police and
protesters at the assembly and nation-
wide left at least 23 people dead and
scores wounded, according to medics.
“Listening keenly to the people of Ke-
nya who have said loudly that they want
nothing to do with this finance bill 2024,
I concede. And therefore, I will not sign
the 2024 finance bill, and it shall sub-
sequently be withdrawn,” he said in a
televised address with lawmakers,
some clapping, seated behind him.
Vice President Rigathi Gachagua
asked young people to call off the pro-
tests to avoid any further loss of life and
destruction of property, and blamed the
intelligence services for giving the gov-
ernment poor advice.
“There would have been no mayhem,
but they slept on the job,” Gachagua said
in a speech, calling on the head of the
National Intelligence Service to resign.
Protesters were defiant, repeating
calls for Ruto to step down and vowing
further action in the streets.
Boniface Mwangi, a prominent social
justice activist involved in the protests,
A protester runs from a policeman during a demonstration in Nairobi on Tuesday.
PHOTOS BY SIMON MAINA/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
called for a “million people march.”
“The arrogance is gone, but the lies
are still there,” he said on social media
platform X. “Yesterday they unleashed
goons and police to kill peaceful protes-
ters. That will not stop us.”
Other members of the protest move-
ment continued to post on social media
using the hashtag #tupatanethursday,
or “see you on Thursday” in a mix of
Swahili and English.
Kalonzo Musyoka, a senior opposi-
tion leader and former vice president,
wrote on X that pulling the bill did not go
far enough and he called on Ruto to quit.
“Many Kenyans died. Many Kenyans
suffered serious injuries. It is currently
beyond the Finance Bill, 2024,” Musyo-
ka said.
The International Monetary Fund
said on Wednesday that it was closely
monitoring the situation and was deep-
ly concerned about the unrest.
“Our main goal in supporting Kenya
is to help it overcome the difficult eco-
nomic challenges it faces and improve
its economic prospects and the well-be-
ing of its people,” the IMF said in a state-
ment.
The bill will return to parliament with
the recommendation that all its clauses
be deleted, Ruto wrote in a document
addressed to the speaker of the national
assembly.
Ruto said he would now start a dia-
logue with Kenyan youth, without going
into details, and work on austerity mea-
sures – beginning with cuts to the bud-
get of the presidency – to help tackle the
fiscal deficit.
He said the loss of life on Tuesday
was “very unfortunate.” Kenyan police
have not responded to requests for com-
ment about the violence.
Competing demands
Even if Ruto’s concession manages to
see off the immediate threat of more un-
rest, it still leaves him caught between
the competing demands of his hard-
pressed citizens and of lenders such as
the IMF – which is urging the govern-
ment to cut deficits to obtain more fi-
nancing.
Kenya’s sovereign dollar bonds were
trading largely flat despite Ruto’s rejec-
tion of the finance bill. Its bonds were
trading between 74.6 and 95 cents on
the dollar, Tradeweb data showed, with
the longer-dated 2034 maturity at the
lowest price.
“Listening keenly to the people of
Kenya who have said loudly that they
want nothing to do with this finance
bill 2024, I concede,” Kenyan President
William Ruto said Wednesday.
On Tuesday, police opened fire on
crowds who massed around parliament
and later broke into the senate chamber
and national assembly, minutes after
lawmakers had voted through the tax
measures and sent them to the presi-
dent.
The Nation newspaper documented
protests in at least 35 of Kenya’s 47
counties, from big cities to rural areas –
even in Ruto’s hometown of Eldoret in
his ethnic Kalenjin heartland.
At least 23 people were killed across
the country and another 30 were being
treated for bullet wounds, the Kenya
Medical Association said on Wednes-
day. Medical officials in Nairobi said
scores had been injured.
Posts on social media had urged peo-
ple to occupy the State House, the presi-
dent’s office and residence on Thursday,
and the local offices of the World Bank
and the IMF on Friday, though it was not
immediately clear whether the calls
came from individuals or a broader
movement.
Heavily armed police patrolled the
streets of the capital Nairobi, which
were quieter than usual on Wednesday.
The protests began as an online out-
pouring of anger by young, tech-savvy
Kenyans at proposed taxes on bread and
diapers and evolved into a nationwide
movement calling for the scrapping of
the entire finance bill including the tax-
es. Thousands took to the streets of Nai-
robi and several other cities during two
days of protests last week as an online
movement gathered momentum.

US: WikiLeaks founder’s actions dangerous

Judge stated no harm
from Assange’s releases
could be identified
Simon Lewis and
Kanishka Singh
REUTERS
WASHINGTON – The U.S. State De-
partment said on Wednesday that Ju-
lian Assange’s actions put lives at risk
even as the judge who accepted the Wi-
kiLeaks founder’s guilty plea to resolve
his case noted that no victims had been
identified.
A State Department spokesperson
was repeatedly asked by reporters to
give examples of harm caused by the
WikiLeaks releases but did not provide
any. The spokesperson said the depart-
ment’s involvement in the resolution of
Assange’s case was very limited.
Assange landed to an ecstatic wel-
come in Australia on Wednesday after
pleading guilty to violating U.S. espio-
nage law in a deal that sets him free
from a 14-year legal battle.
Chief U.S. District Judge Ramona V.
Manglona in the U.S. territory of Saipan
accepted Assange’s guilty plea on
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange arrives at Canberra Airport in Australia on
Wednesday. ILLIAM WEST/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Wednesday. Assange had agreed to
plead guilty to a single criminal count,
according to filings in the U.S. District
Court for the Northern Mariana Islands.
While Washington has often called
Assange’s actions reckless and claimed
they put its agents at risk, the judge not-
ed that the United States could not iden-
tify any personal victim from them.
“There’s another significant fact –
the government has indicated there is
no personal victim here. That tells me
the dissemination of this information
did not result in any known physical in-
jury,” the judge said.
The State Department spokesperson
reiterated the U.S. position when asked
about the judge’s comments.
Assange’s supporters say he is a hero
who was victimized because he exposed
U.S. wrongdoing and alleged war
crimes, including in conflicts in Afghan-
istan and Iraq in a 2010 publication of
documents.
“The State Department did an ex-
traordinary amount of work when we
found out that these cables were going
to be published to get people out of
harm’s way,” the department’s spokes-
person said.
The State Department said the Jus-
tice Department acted independently in
the case.
The spokesperson added that there
was some limited coordination between
the State Department and the Aus-
tralian government recently.
“There was some small coordination
role between our embassy and the Aus-
tralian government just in the past few
days but this was other than that a law-
enforcement matter handled through
law-enforcement channels,” he told re-
porters.
Australia had been advocating for the
release of Assange, an Australian citi-
zen. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese
had lobbied for years to free the Wiki-
Leaks founder.

British candidates for PM clash in testy final debate

Kylie MacLellan and Kate Holton
REUTERS
LONDON – British Prime Minister
Rishi Sunak and Labour leader Keir
Starmer went head-to-head on
Wednesday in their last debate before
an election next week, with both
launching highly personal attacks over
their and their parties’ credibility.
With Sunak’s Conservatives trailing
Labour by around 20 points in the polls,
the prime minister went on the attack,
accusing Starmer of not being straight
with the country on migration, tax and
women’s rights, and urging voters not to
“surrender” to the Labour Party.
Starmer responded that Sunak was
too rich to understand the concerns of
most ordinary Britons. A snap YouGov
poll said the debate had been a tie, with
Starmer Sunak
both on 50%.
On immigration, one of the top con-
cerns for British voters, Sunak rejected
Starmer’s argument that he would seek
to return migrants to their home coun-
tries, saying many had arrived in Britain
from Iran, Syria and Afghanistan.
“Is he going to sit down with the Ira-
nian Ayatollah? Are you going to try and
do a deal with the Taliban? It’s com-
pletely nonsensical. You are taking peo-
ple for fools.”
Polls indicate that Labour’s Starmer
is on course to win the election with a
large majority, ending 14 years of Con-
servative rule.
Starmer argued the country was ex-
hausted after 14 years of Conservative
“chaos,” and that he would better under-
stand the challenges of many families
who have struggled under soaring infla-
tion and a cost of living crisis.
“Part of the problem we have with
this prime minister is that his lived
world is millions of miles away from the
lived worlds of individuals across the
country, the businesses and the families
that they’re trying to support,” he said.
Sunak’s campaign has struggled
since the beginning. He launched the
election in pouring rain in Downing
Street and was heavily criticized for fail-
ing to attend a D-Day memorial event.
He has also had to contend with a
betting scandal after five party officials,
including two candidates, were investi-
gated over bets that were placed on the
timing of an early election.
Starmer has also faced criticism at
public events, being accused by voters
of sticking to a script and being robotic,
and failing to give enough information
on how he would fund much-needed
improvements to public services.
One questioner, Robert, seemed to
speak for much of the audience when he
set out his feelings.
“Are you two really the best we’ve got
to be the next prime minister of our
great country?” he said, to loud ap-
plause. He later told the BBC he had still
not decided who to vote for.

SpaceX gets $843M to
help discard space station
Joey Roulette
REUTERS
WASHINGTON – NASA awarded
SpaceX $843 million to build a vehicle
capable of pushing the International
Space Station into Earth’s atmosphere
for its planned destruction around
2030, it said on Wednesday, a task orig-
inally meant for Russia’s thrusters.
Under its new NASA contract, Spa-
ceX will build what the space agency
called the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle to deor-
bit the space station and avoid risks to
populated areas, with NASA taking
ownership of the craft and handling the
deorbiting operation.
The football field-sized research lab,
led primarily by the United States and
Russia, has been continuously staffed
with government astronauts during its
24 years of operation, but its aging
components have led NASA and its for-
eign partners to set 2030 as a planned
retirement date.
The U.S., Japan, Canada and the
countries under the European Space
Agency have committed to the space
station partnership through 2030,
while Russia has agreed to remain a
partner through 2028, the date through
which the Russian space agency Ros-
cosmos believes its hardware can last.
The scientific cooperation aboard
the ISS, orbiting some 250 miles above,
has survived years of geopolitical strife
on Earth, including Russia’s war in Uk-
raine that has ended nearly all other co-
operative ties with the Western world.
Holding the U.S.-Russian alliance
together is largely a technical interde-
CDC narrows age recommendation
of RSV vaccines for older adults
Michael Erman
REUTERS
The CDC on Wednesday narrowed
its recommendation for use of respira-
tory syncytial virus vaccines in older
adults this year and held off on recom-
mending their use for adults under age
60.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention’s decision echoed that
of its panel of outside advisers who vot-
ed to recommend all adults 75 and old-
er, as well as those who are 60 to 74 and
have an increased risk of severe RSV
due to medical conditions, receive the
shots.
“The CDC has updated its RSV vacci-
nation recommendation for older
adults to prioritize those at highest risk
for serious illness from RSV,” Director
Mandy Cohen said in a statement.
Last year, GSK and Pfizer went head-
to-head with rival RSV shots for all
adults aged 60 and over, who could get
the vaccine after consulting a health
care provider. Moderna received ap-
proval from the U.S. Food and Drug Ad-
ministration for its shot, mRESVIA, for
the same age group last month.
“We think that with a risk-based ap-
proach, you are much more likely to get
the vaccine than you are right now,”
said Dr. Camille Kotton, a panel mem-
ber and professor at Harvard Medical
School.
Aside from guiding physicians as to
what vaccinations their patients need,
the panel of vaccine experts’ recom-
FDA approves Verona Pharma’s
treatment for chronic lung disease
Pratik Jain and
Sruthi Narasimha Chari
REUTERS
The U.S. Food and Drug Administra-
tion has granted approval to a treat-
ment from Verona Pharma for a chronic
lung disease that commonly affects
smokers, the U.K.-based company said
on Wednesday.
U.S.-listed shares of the company
surged 11% in extended trading. The
FDA’s assent for the therapy, to be sold
under the brand Ohtuvayre, is the com-
pany’s first and provides a new inhaled
non-steroidal treatment for chronic ob-
structive pulmonary disease.
COPD, a chronic condition which
causes restricted airflow and breathing
NATION & WORLD EXTRA - USA TODAY NETWORK | THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 2024 | 7NN
Under its new NASA contract, Elon Musk’s SpaceX will build what the space
agency called the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle. DADO RUVIC/REUTERS ILLUSTRATION
pendency in which Russian thrusters
maintain the station’s orbital altitude
and U.S. solar arrays keep its power
running.
Those Russian thrusters were origi-
nally meant to push the ISS into Earth’s
atmosphere at the end of its life. But in
recent years NASA has sought its own
deorbit abilities should Russia bow out
of the alliance earlier than planned or
become unable to do the task itself.
The U.S. deorbit plan was acceler-
ated in recent years as the White House
and other government entities pres-
In clinical trials, Pfizer’s vaccine
Abrysvo was 78% effective through a
second RSV season.
PFIZER/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS
mendations are important in determin-
ing insurance coverage in the U.S. Peo-
ple covered by the U.S. government’s
Medicare program receive recommend-
ed vaccines for free.
The new recommendation may cut
the addressable U.S. market for RSV
shots in 2024-25 from 93 million, in-
cluding adults under age 60, to about 55
million, said Jefferies analyst Peter
Welford. Use of the shots would expand
in the longer-term as “less complex rec-
ommendations may aid penetration,”
he added.
GSK received FDA approval earlier
this month to expand use of its vaccine
to adults ages 50 to 59 at increased risk
from the illness, but the committee
postponed endorsing its use in that age
group. The committee’s work group
said the balance of risk and benefits for
the shot in that age group is more un-
problems, commonly affects cigarette
smokers and is also known as “smoker’s
lungs.” Other contributing factors for
COPD include fumes, chemicals and
dust in many working environments.
It affects around 16 million Ameri-
cans and is the sixth leading cause of
death in the country, according to gov-
ernment data.
Verona’s application was backed by
efficacy and safety data from two late-
stage trials in which Ohtuvayre demon-
strated improvements in lung function
and symptoms, substantially reducing
the risk of exacerbation in mild-to-se-
vere COPD patients.
The therapy is a type of single-drug
medication designed to relax the mus-
cles around the airways, making it easi-
sured NASA to make contingency plans
amid souring relations with Russia.
For after 2030, NASA has been fund-
ing early development of privately built
space stations in low-Earth orbit to
maintain U.S. presence in the cosmic
region, with Airbus and Jeff Bezos’ Blue
Origin involved in those efforts.
Though the market for private space
stations is not fully understood, U.S. of-
ficials believe a commercial ISS re-
placement is crucial to compete with
China’s newer space station in low-
Earth orbit.
certain.
Last year, GSK won two-thirds of the
market, mostly due to its contracts with
retail pharmacies, including CVS. Ana-
lysts had suggested expanded avail-
ability of the RSV vaccine to younger
adults could help cement the compa-
ny’s lead position this year.
RSV, which typically causes cold-like
symptoms, is a leading cause of pneu-
monia in toddlers and older adults,
causing 177,000 hospitalizations and
14,000 deaths in the United States an-
nually.
Combined revenue for the Pfizer and
GSK shots in their first year of availabil-
ity topped $2.4 billion.
Analysts, on average, expect sales of
$1.59 billion for GSK’s RSV shot, $1.47
billion for Pfizer’s and $370 million this
year for Moderna.
Moderna presented data at the
meeting showing its mRESVIA shot had
50% efficacy in preventing RSV for 18
months, lower than what GSK and Pfiz-
er previously showed in their own clin-
ical trials. Moderna previously cau-
tioned against comparing its vaccine’s
efficacy to rivals, noting that the trials
were not head-to-head and used differ-
ent case criteria for RSV disease.
In their clinical trials, GSK’s RSV
vaccine Arexvy was 78% effective in
preventing severe RSV over a second
year and Pfizer’s Abrysvo was 78% ef-
fective through a second RSV season.
Adults who have already received an
RSV shot are not recommended to re-
ceive another this year, the CDC said.
er to breathe, while reducing inflamma-
tion in the lungs without using steroids.
“Physicians are wildly excited about
this drug because it is very safe and it
helps patients breathe to a measurable
extent,” BTIG analyst Thomas Shrader
told Reuters ahead of the decision.
Shrader estimated the drug could
generate $3.6 billion in peak sales.
The company expects to have
around 100 sales representatives to
reach about 15,000 physicians and is
“in a very good position to execute on
that” if it gets approval, Chief Commer-
cial Officer Christopher Martin told
Reuters ahead of the FDA decision.
The company said it planned to pro-
vide details on pricing during an inves-
tor conference call on Thursday.
IN BRIEF
Illinois man accused of July 4
shooting backs out of plea deal
An Illinois man accused of opening
fire on spectators watching an Inde-
pendence Day parade in a Chicago
suburb two years ago backed out of a
plea deal on Wednesday, local media
reported.
The suspect, Robert Crimo, 23, had
been expected to plead guilty to seven
counts of murder and 48 counts of ag-
gravated battery during a court hear-
ing in Lake County, the Chicago Tri-
bune reported, citing the local state’s
attorney.
But during the hearing, Crimo did
not respond when asked if he agreed
with the guilty plea. Crimo, who was in
a wheelchair, was then wheeled out of
the courtroom to discuss the matter
with his attorneys. When he returned,
he answered “no” to whether he ac-
cepted the terms of the agreement, the
Tribune reported.
He was to face a sentence of life in
prison without parole, plus 30 years
for each count of aggravated battery,
according to the Tribune.
Crimo is accused of climbing on the
roof of a building in downtown High-
land Park, a suburb 25 miles north of
Chicago, and opening fire on specta-
tors and participants at a Fourth of
July parade in 2022.
Report: Wisconsin’s top court
set to hear abortion rights case
Wisconsin’s highest court is expect-
ed to agree to hear a lawsuit by
Planned Parenthood asking it to recog-
nize a right to abortion in the state,
news site Wisconsin Watch reported
on Wednesday, citing an unpublished
draft decision that it had obtained.
Wisconsin Supreme Court Chief
Justice Annette Kingsland Ziegler said
that the seven-member court was
“shocked” by the leak and had asked
law enforcement to investigate.
Wisconsin Watch also reported that
the Wisconsin court, which has a 4-3
liberal majority, is expected to deny a
bid by anti-abortion groups to inter-
vene, but to allow them to file a brief
opposing the lawsuit.
The lawsuit argues that an 1849 law
prohibiting the killing of a fetus except
to save the mother’s life violates the
fundamental rights to life, liberty and
equal protection under the law guar-
anteed by the Constitution.
US religious freedom report
notes violence in India
The U.S. State Department’s 2023
religious freedom report on India not-
ed violent attacks on minority groups,
especially Muslims and Christians, in-
cluding killings, assaults and vandal-
ism of houses of worship.
The report on international reli-
gious freedom released on Wednesday
said that in 2023, senior U.S. officials
continued to “raise concerns about re-
ligious freedom issues” with their Indi-
an counterparts.
Rights experts say India has seen a
rise in attacks on minorities under
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who
recently won a third term, and his Hin-
du nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.
“In India, we see a concerning in-
crease in anti-conversion laws, hate
speech, demolitions of homes and
places of worship for members of mi-
nority faith communities,” U.S. Secre-
tary of State Antony Blinken said
when the report was released.
Criticism of India by the U.S. is usu-
ally restrained due to close economic
ties and New Delhi’s importance for
Washington to counter China, political
analysts say.
FDA recommends steps to
improve diversity in clinical trials
The U.S. Food and Drug Admini-
stration on Wednesday recommended
steps for drugmakers and medical de-
vice makers to improve racial, ethnic
and other diversity in their clinical
trials.
The draft guidance includes sug-
gestions for companies and research-
ers conducting trials on how to set
goals for study enrollment, separated
by age group, ethnicity, sex and race,
and describe how they intend to meet
those goals, the FDA said.
The objective of the guidance is to
improve the composition of patient
population at clinical trials that have
had lower participation by some
groups including Black Americans de-
spite higher rates of certain diseases in
the underrepresented groups than in
the general population.
Improving access to clinical trials,
such as by initiating the study in geo-
graphical sites with diverse popula-
tions, could help drugmakers achieve
enrollment goals.
Reuters
8NN | THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 2024 | NATION & WORLD EXTRA - USA TODAY NETWORK
Age
Continued from Page 1NN
mumbled public remarks in the same
day.
A recent Reuters-Ipsos poll showed
that mental fitness is one of the key is-
sues for undecided voters ahead of the
Nov. 5 election, and they are more wor-
ried about Biden.
Another Reuters-Ipsos poll this year
showed that 78% of respondents - in-
cluding 71% of Democrats – thought Bi-
den too old to work in government.
Some 53% said the same of Trump. Bi-
den’s age has been relentlessly targeted
by political opponents and conservative
media, who have used a stew of real,
fake and misleadingly edited video clips
aimed at portraying him as feeble and
erratic.
The White House and Biden cam-
paign have pushed back on the effort,
with limited success.
Aware that this debate could be a de-
fining moment for his campaign, Biden
has confined himself to nearly a week of
“debate camp” with top advisers at the
Camp David presidential retreat in the
mountains of western Maryland, where
he was to remain until departing for At-
lanta on debate day.
The goal: Show U.S. voters a wise and
steady leader with a record of success,
in contrast to Trump’s often chaotic
2017-21 presidency, and highlight differ-
ences on abortion rights, democratic
norms and fiscal policy.
To do so, Biden is spending hours
each day preparing while also taking his
Debate
Continued from Page 1NN
When and where are the debates?
The first debate will air at 9 p.m. ET
on Thursday on CNN and be broadcast
from an Atlanta studio without a live
audience.
Television news channel ABC said it
will host the second presidential debate
on Sept. 10, also from an audience-free
studio.
Who will moderate the debates?
Anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash
will moderate CNN’s debate. ABC’s will
be moderated by anchors David Muir
and Linsey Davis.
Who will debate?
CNN said only Biden and Trump met
its conditions for participating in the
debate: appear on enough state ballots
to potentially win the presidency and
receive at least 15% in four separate na-
tional polls of registered or likely voters.
Independent presidential candidate
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. did not make the
cut.
ABC will also require debaters to ap-
pear on enough state ballots to reach the
270 electoral votes and receive at least
15% in four separate national polls.
What are the rules?
In Thursday’s 90-minute debate,
candidates will appear at a uniform po-
dium, be given a pen, paper and bottle of
water and cannot use props or notes,
CNN said.
“Microphones will be muted
Israel
Continued from Page 1NN
U.S. munitions supply to Israel, adding
that “obstacles were removed and bot-
tlenecks were addressed.”
Gallant and U.S. officials sought to
cool tensions following Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent claims
that Washington was withholding
weapons, prompting Biden’s aides to
express disappointment and confusion
over the Israeli leader’s remarks
The United States in May paused a
shipment of 2,000-pound and 500-
pound bombs due to concern over the
impact they could have in densely pop-
ulated areas in Gaza in the war that be-
gan with Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 cross-
border raid. But Israel is still due to get
billions of dollars worth of other U.S.
weaponry.
“We are in discussions ultimately to
find a resolution,” the senior U.S. official
said on condition of anonymity. “But I
think the president has expressed his
concerns about that one shipment, and
those are very valid concerns.”
The official acknowledged there have
been “bottlenecks” in some weapons
deliveries to Israel but attributed that to
Then-President Donald Trump, left, and Joe Biden participate in their final 2020
debate in Nashville, Tenn. MIKE SEGAR/REUTERS
usual daily security briefings.
Many Democrats are anxious about
how well Biden will do because the
stakes are so high.
“It (the age issue) is obviously a chal-
lenge and an obstacle for Biden,” said
one Democrat close to the White House.
“I think it’s always about, does he pro-
ject strength and confidence? I think
he’s just got to demonstrate that he’s in
command of his agenda and confident
on stage, and I think he’ll do that.”
The debate will take place at a CNN
studio in Atlanta with no audience. The
men may not bring notes on stage.
John Morgan, a Florida attorney and
Biden donor, said he would like to see
Biden address the question of age right
Candidates will appear at a uniform podium, be given a pen, paper and bottle of
water and cannot use props or notes, CNN said. KEVIN DIETSCH/GETTY IMAGES
throughout the debate except for the
candidate whose turn it is to speak” and
moderators “will use all tools at their
disposal to enforce timing and ensure a
civilized discussion,” CNN said.
Biden will be on the podium on the
right side of viewers’ screens, and
Trump will get the last word after a coin
toss.
Campaign staff may not interact with
candidates during the two commercial
breaks, and there will be no studio audi-
ence.
ABC’s debate rules have not yet been
announced.
What to watch for?
U.S. presidential debates often draw
tens of millions of viewers, and through
history have determined the course of
some races.
This time, strategists say there are
Palestinians walk past damaged buildings at al-Bureij refugee camp in the
central Gaza Strip on Wednesday. EYAD BABA/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
a “complicated bureaucratic system” for
approving military assistance and not
any deliberate slowdown.
Israel-Lebanon border
Gallant said he also discussed with
U.S. officials the need to resolve the “se-
curity situation in the north,” insisting
away during the debate.
Biden should “talk about his physical
and mental fitness compared to the oth-
er guy. He should challenge Trump to a
Peloton ride and let the country see who
is fitter and stronger. I’m not joking,”
Morgan said.
Protecting Biden
Biden’s team has built a campaign
aimed at protecting the president, who
for most of his decades in public life was
a loquacious presence, back-slapping
with colleagues over a long Senate ca-
reer and bantering with reporters.
Aides now stroll alongside him when
he walks to his helicopter as a way of
risks for both candidates, who are
locked in a tight race and share low en-
thusiasm from voters.
Topics may include: how the candi-
dates would handle challenges posed by
persistently high grocery prices, mi-
grants on the U.S.-Mexico border, and
the ongoing Israel-Hamas and Russia-
Ukraine wars.
Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, at-
tack on the U.S. Capitol, efforts to over-
turn the 2020 election and his convic-
tion on 34 felony counts for involvement
in a hush money scheme could come up
during the debate, as could the legal
woes facing Biden’s son, Hunter, who
was convicted of lying about his drug
use to illegally buy a gun.
Who will be there?
Campaign staff will be on hand to
talk to reporters afterward in the “spin
that Israel cannot accept Hezbollah
“military formations” on the border with
Lebanon.
An exchange of shelling and missile
strikes has led to the evacuation of tens
of thousands of people on both sides,
and escalation has sparked fears of an
all-out war.
“We do not want war, but we are pre-
shifting focus away from his slow gait.
He wears comfortable soft-soled
shoes and now gets aboard Air Force
One via a shorter set of stairs, to limit
the possibility of a misstep in front of
the cameras. The accommodations are
more aesthetic than anything, said one
former White House official, who does
not believe they have worked.
“All these things that they do … may-
be mitigate risk for aesthetic reasons,
(but) they don’t necessarily help him,”
the former official said. “They all add up
to this overhandling that makes him
look more feeble than he actually is.”
Democratic critics say Biden should
spend more time engaged with the pub-
lic and the press to sharpen his image
and allay age concerns.
His allies say age is not the issue.
“This election’s not about age. Joe and
the other guy are about the same age.
This election is about character, wisdom
and ability,” first lady Jill Biden said at an
event in Philadelphia on Monday.
Biden’s schedule and workload re-
main robust. A Boston Globe analysis of
Biden’s 2023 travel found it to be on a
par with Barack Obama and Trump dur-
ing their third years in office. Biden vis-
ited 29 different states in 2023, com-
pared with 30 states for Trump and 31
states for Obama, it said.
So far in 2024, Biden has made stops
in 21 states at least once, according to
statistics compiled by former CBS News
White House correspondent Mark
Knoller.
Earlier this month he did back-to-
back trips to Europe, attending D-Day
anniversary celebrations in France and
a G7 summit in Italy.
room.”
The Biden campaign declined to
comment on whether the president
might bring any guests to the debate,
but California Gov. Gavin Newsom is ex-
pected to be there.
Trump’s campaign is hosting a watch
party in Atlanta, with rumored contend-
ers to be Republican vice presidential
running mate – North Dakota Gov. Doug
Burgum, U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio and
J.D. Vance, and others listed as “special
guests.”
What happened last time?
Then-President Trump and Biden
debated twice during the 2020 race,
with their first exchange devolving into
a chaotic shouting match.
According to Nielson Media Re-
search, more than 73 million people
tuned in for the first Biden-Trump de-
bate in 2020.
For the second debate, moderators
said they would mute each candidate’s
microphone to allow the other to speak
without interruption for the first two
minutes of each debate segment. But
the candidates behaved more civilly and
the mute button was not a major factor.
A third debate was canceled after
Trump tested positive for COVID-19 and
spent three days in a hospital. He de-
clined to participate in a virtual event.
Is that it?
Traditionally, there are three presi-
dential debates, however no third
Trump-Biden matchup has been an-
nounced yet.
Vice President Kamala Harris accept-
ed a CBS News invitation for a vice
presidential debate on either July 23 or
Aug. 13, according to a campaign
spokesperson.
paring for every scenario,” Gallant told
reporters.
Gallant said he also laid out to U.S. of-
ficials a three-level “day after” proposal
for governance of post-war Gaza that
would include local Palestinians, re-
gional partners and the U.S., but not Is-
rael or Hamas. He offered reporters few
specifics, however, and said “it is a long
and complex process that depends on
many things.”
The Biden administration has re-
peatedly urged Israel to craft a realistic
post-war plan for Gaza, warning the lack
of such an arrangement could trigger
chaos.
Gallant said he also discussed Isra-
el’s transition to the next phase in Gaza.
The Israeli military says it is preparing
to shift to lower-intensity operations
against Hamas’ remaining fighters.
Another focus of Gallant’s meetings
was Iran, Israel’s regional arch-foe.
While Israel has expressed increas-
ing alarm over Iran’s nuclear program,
the U.S. official cited intelligence as-
sessments that Tehran is not “currently
pursuing the procedures and processes
they would need to develop an explosive
nuclear device.” But the official added
that Iran had taken some “provocative
steps” recently. Iran says its nuclear
program is solely for peaceful purposes.
 SPORTS EXTRA - USA TODAY NETWORK | THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 2024 | 1NS

SPORTS EXTRA

NBA DRAFT
Top 10 picks

1
Zaccharie Risacher, SF,
Atlanta

2
Alexandre Sarr, C,
Washington

3
Reed Sheppard, G,
Houston (from Brooklyn)

4
Stephon Castle, G,
San Antonio

5
Ron Holland II, SF,
Detroit

6
Tidjane Salaun, SF,
Charlotte

7
Donovan Clingan, C,
Portland
Zaccharie Risacher poses for photos with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver after being selected first overall by the Atlanta
Hawks in the first round of the NBA draft on Wednesday in Brooklyn. BRAD PENNER/USA TODAY SPORTS

8
FRENCH CONNECTION Rob Dillingham, G, San
Antonio (from Toronto,
pick traded to Minnesota)

No. 1 pick Risacher leads
3 players from France
taken in 1st 10 selections
FIELD LEVEL MEDIA
With Victor Wembanyama on the ta-
ble, there was little doubt as to who was
going No. 1 overall at last year’s NBA
draft.
over the past month, but it was Risacher
who went No. 1 overall when the Atlanta
Hawks selected him to open the first
round on Wednesday.
Risacher most recently played for JL
Bourg-en-Bresse of LNB Elite, France’s
premier division of professional basket-
ball.
“So exciting. There’s a lot of feelings
and emotions right now,” Risacher told
ESPN. “I don’t know what to say, but …
at the draft combine in May.
According to Spotrac, Risacher will
sign a four-year, $57.2 million contract
with the Hawks.
Atlanta does not own another pick in
this year’s draft, which has been split
9
Zach Edey, C,
into two days. The first round was held
Memphis
on Wednesday at Barclays Center in
New York. ESPN’s Seaport District Stu-
dios – also in New York – will host the
second round on Thursday.

It was a different story this time
around.
Fellow Frenchmen Zaccharie Risach-
er and Alexandre Sarr frequently traded
places atop the board in mock drafts
10
I’m so blessed.” The Washington Wizards took Sarr
In 32 games last season, Risacher av- off the board with the second overall
eraged 10.1 points, 3.8 rebounds and 0.9 pick.
assists for JL Bourg. The 19-year-old is Cody Williams, F, Utah
6-foot-9 and weighed in at 195 pounds See DRAFT, Page 2NS

GOLF PGA TOUR

Fowler hopes to find

his footing in Detroit
FIELD LEVEL MEDIA
Rickie Fowler ended a massive title
drought at last year’s Rocket Mortgage
Classic. Then things fell off again.
As the headliner of a beatable field,
Fowler will try to get lightning to strike
twice in his return to Detroit Golf Club
when the Rocket Mortgage Classic be-
gins Thursday.
The PGA Tour’s signature event se-
ries is in the rearview mirror after Scot-
tie Scheffler captured the Travelers
Championship last week for his sixth
win of 2024. Most of the tour’s elite
players are catching their breath this
week, but Fowler and a handful of other
top-50 golfers are in Detroit, hoping to
capitalize while Scheffler is away.
Fowler tied for 20th at the Travelers,
but that was just his second top-20 fin-
ish of the season. Perhaps being back at
this par-72 Donald Ross design will
spark something in him.
“I feel like it’s a fairly simple, old-
school golf course and if you can just get
to the green, it becomes a bit of kind of
who can make more putts throughout
the week,” Fowler said.
“It’s fun, we don’t get to play very
many old-school golf courses like this so
it’s a treat for a lot of guys who can
Rickie Fowler chips on the 18th hole during the final round of the Travelers
See ROCKET, Page 6NS Championship on Sunday in Cromwell, Conn. GREGORY FISHER/USA TODAY SPORTS

SUBSCRIBER-EXCLUSIVE SECTION
2NS | THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 2024 | SPORTS EXTRA - USA TODAY NETWORK
NBA
NOTEBOOK
Knicks keep Anunoby with $212.5M deal
FIELD LEVEL MEDIA
OG Anunoby and the New York
Knicks agreed to a five-year, $212.5 mil-
lion deal on Wednesday, two days after
he opted out of the final year of his exist-
ing deal.
Contract terms were reported by The
Athletic and ESPN less than an hour be-
fore the NBA draft began on Wednesday.
Rather than hit free agency when the
NBA market opens Sunday, Anunoby
remains in the fold even after the Knicks
acquired Mikal Bridges from the Brook-
lyn Nets for multiple draft picks.
Anunoby signed a four-year, $72 mil-
lion deal with the Toronto Raptors in
2020 with a player option for the 2024-
25 season, but he declined the $19.9 mil-
lion salary for next season to set up the
massive contract agreement Wednes-
day.
Results were indisputable with Anu-
noby on the court in New York: the
Knicks were 20-3 in games he played af-
ter the trade from Toronto that sent RJ
Barrett to the Raptors.
Health is the biggest question mark
on Anunoby’s resume. He missed 76 to-
tal games the past three seasons due to
injuries and did not play during Toron-
to’s NBA title run in 2019 following an
emergency appendectomy.
Anunoby turns 27 next month. He av-
eraged 14.7 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.1
Draft
Continued from Page 1
Sarr, 19, spent the 2023-24 campaign
with the Perth Wildcats of Australia’s
National Basketball League. He aver-
aged 9.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.5
blocks in 27 games.
It marked the third time in NBA draft
history that the top two picks had no
college experience. Sarr is leaning on his
brother, Oklahoma City Thunder center
Olivier Sarr, for guidance as he prepares
to play the next level.
“He’s shared a lot with me,” Alex-
andre Sarr told ESPN. “Everything I’ve
learned is through him and he gave me
all his knowledge, and to this day it’s
really special to have someone like him
in my corner.”
Kentucky’s Reed Sheppard went to
the Houston Rockets at No. 3, while
UConn’s Stephon Castle landed with the
San Antonio Spurs at No. 4. Ron Holland
II of G League Ignite, who will be joining
the Detroit Pistons, rounded out the top
five.
In his lone season with the Wildcats,
Sheppard posted averages of 12.5
points, 4.5 assists and 4.1 boards across
33 games.
Castle also spent just one season at
the collegiate level, helping the Huskies
secure their second straight national ti-
tle by recording 11.1 points, 4.7 rebounds
and 2.9 assists per game.
“This guy when you look at fit right
there, the Spurs value winning, they
value workers, they value champion-
ships, and this is just the perfect player
for them to draft,” UConn coach Dan
Hurley told ESPN. “This guy is just
scratching the surface.”
Holland appeared in 14 games last
season. He averaged 20.6 points, 6.6 re-
bounds, 3.2 assists and 2.5 steals.
After another Frenchman, Tidjane
Salaun, was taken by the Charlotte Hor-
nets at No. 6, the Portland Trail Blazers
grabbed UConn big man Donovan Clin-
gan. Clingan was a two-time champion
with the Huskies in his only two sea-
sons of college basketball.
The Timberwolves traded up to the
eighth overall pick to grab guard Rob
Dillingham out of Kentucky. Minnesota
sent San Antonio a 2031 unprotected
first-round pick and a protected 2030
pick swap to grab the No. 8 slot, per mul-
tiple media reports.
Purdue center Zach Edey, a two-time
National Player of the Year, landed with
the Memphis Grizzlies at No. 9. Edey av-
eraged 25.2 points, 12.2 rebounds and
2.2 blocks last season.
Another Thunder player will be op-
posing his brother in the NBA, as the
Utah Jazz selected Colorado’s Cody Wil-
liams with the 10th overall pick. Wil-
liams is the brother of Oklahoma City
guard/forward Jalen Williams.
Matas Buzelis, a native of Chicago,
will be staying in his hometown after the
Bulls took him at No. 11 from the G
League Ignite. Serbian Nikola Topic
then went to Oklahoma City, Provi-
dence’s Devin Carter went to the Sacra-
mento Kings and Pitt’s Bub Carrington
OG Anunoby, shown during a May 19
game, and the New York Knicks agreed
to a five-year, $212.5 million deal on
Wednesday. BRAD PENNER/USA TODAY
assists per game last season in 50 total
regular-season games with the Raptors
(27 games) and Knicks.
During the 2024 playoffs, Anunoby
went from an essential cog in beating
the Philadelphia 76ers to attempting to
fight through a hamstring injury in the
seven-game series with the Indiana
Pacers.
In 418 career games, Anunoby has av-
eraged 12.0 points, 4.3 rebounds, 1.6 as-
sists and 1.3 steals during his first seven
Reed Sheppard, right, shakes hands with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver after being selected in the first round of the NBA
draft by the Houston Rockets on Wednesday in Brooklyn. PHOTOS BY BRAD PENNER/USA TODAY SPORTS
was selected by Portland but will be
heading to the Wizards.
The Blazers traded the 14th overall
pick and Malcolm Brogdon earlier
Wednesday as part of a package to ac-
quire Deni Avdija from Washington.
Carter is the son of 13-year NBA vet-
eran Anthony Carter.
“I caught him at the end of his career,
so I had to watch highlights and stuff,”
Devin Carter told ESPN. “I respect …
how hard he worked, he always got on
the court for how hard he played de-
fense, the way he led the second unit.”
Outside of the lottery, the Miami
Heat snatched Kel’el Ware of Indiana
with the 15th overall pick, the Philadel-
phia 76ers took Duke’s Jared McCain at
No. 16 and Tennessee’s Dalton Knecht
went to the Los Angeles Lakers, who
had the 17th overall pick.
The Orlando Magic, Toronto Raptors
and Cleveland Cavaliers had the next
three picks, selecting Colorado’s Tristan
da Silva, Baylor’s Ja’Kobe Walter and
Cal’s Jaylon Tyson, respectively.
Highlights of the final third of the
first round included the Phoenix Suns
trading the 22nd overall pick to the Nug-
gets, who ended up bringing Dayton’s
DaRon Holmes II to Denver, and the
Minnesota Timberwolves selecting Illi-
nois star Terrence Shannon Jr. with the
27th pick.
The NBA champion Boston Celtics
chose Baylor Scheierman out of Creight-
on with the 30th pick to close the first
round.
The Atlanta Hawks selected forward
Zaccharie Risacher with the No. 1 overall
pick of the 2024 NBA draft on Wednes-
day night.
Risacher comes out of France, where
he most recently played for JL Bourg-
en-Bresse of LNB Elite, the country’s
NBA seasons.
Suns owner: Durant staying in
Phoenix to compete for title
Suns owner Mat Ishbia dropped his
own draft night news on Wednesday,
declaring “drama” surrounding Phoenix
trading Kevin Durant is pure fiction.
Ishbia responded via social media to
multiple reports on Tuesday and TV
commentary on Wednesday that linked
the Houston Rockets, Chicago Bulls and
others to Durant.
“NBA Draft night is the best. Every-
one talking about the drama and story-
lines, some are right and some are just
wrong. My turn. Phoenix loves Kevin
Durant and Kevin Durant loves Phoenix,
and we are competing for a champion-
ship this year because we have the team
to do it. Gotta love draft night! Go Suns.”
ESPN reported Wednesday the Rock-
ets were intrigued by potentially land-
ing Durant, but would also be interested
in Devin Booker if the Suns make him
available.
Durant was fifth in the NBA in scor-
ing last season at 27.1 points per game.
He also averaged 6.6 rebounds and 5 as-
sists per game in his 17th season since
being drafted by the Seattle Superson-
ics No. 2 overall in 2007.
Durant has played 83 regular-season
games with the Suns. He is eligible to
premier division of professional basket-
ball.
“So exciting. There’s a lot of feelings
and emotions right now,” Risacher told
ESPN. “I don’t know what to say, but …
I’m so blessed.”
In 32 games last season, Risacher av-
eraged 10.1 points, 3.8 rebounds and 0.9
assists for JL Bourg. The 19-year-old is
6-foot-9 and weighed in at 195 pounds at
the draft combine back in May.
According to Spotrac, Risacher will
sign a four-year, $57.2 million contract
with the Hawks.
Atlanta does not own another pick in
this year’s draft, which has been split
into two days. Wednesday’s first round
is being held at Barclays Center in New
York. ESPN’s Seaport District Studios –
also in New York – will host the second
round.
The Washington Wizards then took
fellow Frenchman Alexandre Sarr off
the board with the second overall pick.
Sarr, 19, spent the 2023-24 campaign
with the Perth Wildcats of Australia’s
National Basketball League. He aver-
aged 9.4 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.5
blocks in 27 games.
It marked the third time in NBA draft
history where the top two picks have not
had college experience. Sarr has leaned
on his brother, Oklahoma City Thunder
center Olivier Sarr, for guidance as he
prepares to play the next level.
“He’s shared a lot with me,” Alex-
andre Sarr told ESPN. “Everything I’ve
learned is through him and he gave me
all his knowledge, and to this day it’s
really special to have someone like him
in my corner.”
Kentucky’s Reed Sheppard went to
the Houston Rockets at No. 3, while
UConn’s Stephon Castle landed with the
San Antonio Spurs at No. 4. Ron Holland
sign a one-year extension worth nearly
$60 million for the 2026-27 season. He
was acquired by the Suns at the trade
deadline in 2022 for a package of play-
ers and picks that went to the Brooklyn
Nets.
The Suns sent Mikal Bridges, Jae
Crowder, Cam Johnson, first-round
picks in 2023, 2025, 2027 and 2029 and
a 2028 pick swap to the Nets in the
trade.
Reports: Claxton, Nets reach
4-year, $100 million deal
Center Nic Claxton has reached an
agreement on a four-year, $100 million
contract extension with the Brooklyn
Nets, multiple outlets reported
Wednesday.
ESPN identified Claxton as “intends
to sign” while The Athletic termed him
“nearing plans to sign” with a guaran-
teed amount of $96 million.
Claxton, 25, recorded career highs for
the Nets in 2023-24 in rebounds (9.9)
and assists (2.1) while scoring 11.8 points
per game, the second-best average of
his career.
He’s also shown durability the past
two seasons, missing a total of 17 games
after injuries being a concern early in his
career.
Claxton appeared in a total of 94
games over his first three seasons.
II of G League Ignite, who will be joining
the Detroit Pistons, rounded out the top
five.
In his lone season with the Wildcats,
Sheppard posted averages of 12.5
points, 4.5 assists and 4.1 boards across
33 games.
Castle also spent just one season at
the collegiate level, helping the Huskies
secure their second straight national ti-
tle by recording 11.1 points, 4.7 rebounds
and 2.9 assists per game.
“This guy when you look at fit right
there, the Spurs value winning, they
value workers, they value champion-
ships, and this is just the perfect player
for them to draft,” UConn coach Dan
Hurley told ESPN. “This guy is just
scratching the surface.”
2024 DRAFT SELECTIONS
Round 1
1. Atlanta, Zaccharie Risacher, SF.
2. Washington, Alexandre Sarr, C.
3. Houston (from Brooklyn), Reed Sheppard, G, Kentucky.
4. San Antonio, Stephon Castle, G, Connecticut.
5. Detroit, Ron Holland II, SF.
6. Charlotte, Tidjane Salaun, SF.
7. Portland, Donovan Clingan, C, Connecticut.
8. San Antonio (from Toronto), Rob Dillingham, G, Kentucky. (Pick
traded to Minnesota)
9. Memphis, Zach Edey, C, Purdue.
10. Utah, Cody Williams, F, Colorado.
11. Chicago, Matas Buzelis, SF.
12. Oklahoma City (from Houston), Nikola Topic, PG.
13. Sacramento, Devin Carter, G, Providence.
14. Portland (from Golden State through Boston and Memphis),
Carlton Carrington, G, Pittsburgh. (Pick traded to Washington)
15. Miami, Kel’el Ware, C, Indiana.
16. Philadelphia, Jared McCain, G, Duke.
17. L.A. Lakers, Dalton Knecht, G, Tennessee.
18. Orlando, Tristan da Silva, F, Colorado.
19. Toronto (from Indiana), Ja’Kobe Walter, G, Baylor.
20. Cleveland, Jaylon Tyson, G, California.
21. New Orleans (from Milwaukee), Yves Missi, C, Baylor.
22. Phoenix, DaRon Holmes II, F, Dayton. (Pick traded to Denver)
23. Milwaukee (from New Orleans), AJ Johnson, SG.
24. N.Y. Knicks (from Dallas), Kyshawn George, G, Miami (FL). (Pick
traded to Washington)
25. N.Y. Knicks, Pacôme Dadiet, SF.
26. Washington, Dillon Jones, SF, Weber State (Pick traded to
Oklahoma City via New York)
27. Minnesota, Terrence Shannon Jr., SG, Illinois
28. Denver, Ryan Dunn, SF, Virginia (Pick traded to Phoenix)
29. Utah, Isaiah Collier, PG, Southern California
30. Boston, Baylor Scheierman, G, Creighton
 SPORTS EXTRA - USA TODAY NETWORK | THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 2024 | 3NS

SOCCER

US looks to overcome struggles vs. Panama

FIELD LEVEL MEDIA

The U.S. men’s national team faces a

familiar and pesky foe in Atlanta on
Thursday when it goes up against Pana-
ma in a Copa America Group C match.
Panama earned a shootout victory
over the Americans in the 2023 CONCA-
CAF Gold Cup semifinals, although it
should be noted that the U.S. essentially
fielded a B-team after winning the CON-
CACAF Nations League Finals a few
weeks earlier.
Still, the Panamanians can use that
result and a 1-0 home victory over the
U.S. in a 2022 World Cup qualifier for
confidence after opening this year’s Co-
pa with a 3-1 loss to Uruguay.
“We just have to make sure that we
come out 100 percent and not take any-
thing for granted,” U.S. forward Tim
Weah said.
“We know what Panama is capable of
and we just have to make sure we’re on
our A game.”
It’s crunch time for Panama (0-0-1),
which needs a victory to improve its
slim chances of being in the top two in
Group C to advance to the knockout
round. The U.S. (1-0-0), coming off a 2-0
win against Bolivia, is in much better
position.
Panama coach Thomas Christiansen
felt his team gave Uruguay too much re-
spect based on its South American line-
age and hopes his team starts more ag-
gressively on Thursday. U.S. forward Tim Weah (21) and Mexico defender Johan Vasquez chase the ball during the first half of a March 24 game at
“We’ve known the U.S. team for AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. JEROME MIRON/USA TODAY SPORTS
years,” Christiansen said. “We’ve seen
their evolution, a very good and impor-
tant revolution, and besides the players with Uruguay in that sense.” sharpening play in front of the goal be- U.S. midfielder Gio Reyna said.
they have in the big leagues, we have the The United States dominated Bolivia fore playing Uruguay on Monday in a “I think collectively, as a group, it’s
whole team to consider. in shot attempts (20-6) but only man- match that could determine the group more important that we know what we
“It’s been a very competitive team. … aged goals from Christian Pulisic and winner. can really show the world what we can
As to intensity, I think they’re quite even Folarin Balogun. The focus will be on “It’s a huge opportunity for all of us,” do.”

NHL NOTEBOOK COLLEGE BASEBALL

Sather, 80, retires after

24 years with Rangers
FIELD LEVEL MEDIA

Hockey Hall of Fame member Glen

Sather announced his retirement on
Wednesday as the senior adviser to the
owner and alternate governor of the
New York Rangers.
Sather, 80, has been with the Rang-
ers since June 2000 after being named
as the team’s president and general
manager. He served as the club’s GM
for 14 years and president for 19 before
moving into his advisory role five years
ago. All together, Sather has spent a to-
tal of six decades in hockey as a player,
head coach and front office executive.
Prior to his time with the Rangers,
the Alberta native Sather guided the Glen Sather, shown in 2025, is retiring
Edmonton Oilers to five Stanley Cup as the senior adviser to the owner and
championships as general manager – alternate governor of the New York
including four as a head coach. He was Rangers. PERRY NELSON/USA TODAY SPORTS
inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame
in the builder category in 1997.
“Having the opportunity to be asso- energy, grit and physical presence to
ciated with the National Hockey the line-up every night that will greatly New Texas baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle speaks at his introductory news
League, and specifically the New York complement the excitement we expect conference on Wednesday. JAY JANNER/AMERICAN-STATESMAN - USA TODAY NETWORK
Rangers and Edmonton Oilers, has from Utah hockey fans, especially in

Texas’ Schlossnagle
been one of the great privileges of my our inaugural season.”
life,” Sather said. “I want to thank Jim O’Brien, 29, recorded career-high to-
Dolan for giving me the chance to work tals in goals (five), assists (nine), points

for the Rangers 24 years ago and for his
consistent guidance and friendship.
“I want to thank everyone in the
Rangers organization for their dedica-
tion and pursuit of excellence through-
out the years, as well as the family
atmosphere they helped create. I would
also like to thank the great Rangers fans
for their passion and loyalty. This expe-
rience is something I will always trea-
sure.”
Rangers president and general man-
ager Chris Drury played four seasons
(2007-11) under Sather’s watch with the
Rangers.
“I would like to congratulate Glen on
his tremendous career,” Drury said. “I
will forever be grateful to Glen for giv-
ing me the opportunity to play for the
Rangers, and I was so fortunate to lean
on him for guidance as I began my own
career in the front office.”
Liam O’Brien signs 3-year
extension with Utah HC
Utah Hockey Club forward Liam
O’Brien signed a three-year contract
extension on Wednesday.
Financial terms were not disclosed
by the team, however TSN reported the
deal was worth a total of $3 million. He
was a pending unrestricted free agent
prior to signing the contract.
“We are very pleased to sign Liam to
a three-year contract,” Utah general
manager Bill Armstrong said. “He adds
(14) and penalty minutes (153) in 75
games last season with the Arizona
Coyotes, who have relocated to Salt
Lake City under new ownership.
Coaches can challenge puck out
of play delay next season
The NHL on Wednesday announced
rule changes for the 2024-25 season,
including the ability for coaches to
challenge delay of game penalties for a
puck out of play.
“This only will apply to delay of
game penalties when the puck is deter-
mined to have deflected off a player,
stick, glass or boards, and not on a
judgment call on how the puck left the
defensive zone,” the NHL said.
However, a failed challenge will re-
sult in an additional two-minute minor
on top of the delay penalty.
Teams will also be hit with a bench
minor penalty for players sitting on the
boards. Referees will give one warning
to each team before a penalty is as-
sessed.
Also, following an icing call, offen-
sive centers will receive a warning for a
faceoff violation moving forward, same
as defensive players.
Finally, an adjustment will be made
to prevent the defensive team from
making a line change when its goal-
tender accidentally dislodges the net.
The old language to that rule applied to
just skaters.
apologizes to reporter
FIELD LEVEL MEDIA
New Texas baseball coach Jim
Schlossnagle took a distinctly different
tone at his introductory press confer-
ence on Wednesday than he did the last
time he was in front of a live micro-
phone.
Schlossnagle was not pleased on
Monday after a reporter asked about
his prospective interest in the Long-
horns’ job – the day his Texas A&M
team lost the final of the best-of-three
series to Tennessee in the Men’s Col-
lege World Series. He even went so far
as to label the reporter as “selfish” for
asking it, however Schlossnagle be-
came Texas’ coach on Tuesday.
“I took the job at Texas A&M to never
take another job again, and that hasn’t
changed in my mind,” Schlossnagle
said on Monday. “That’s unfair to talk
about something like that. … I gave up a
big part of my life to come take this job,
and I’ve poured every ounce of my soul
in this job. And I’ve given this job every
single ounce I could possibly give it. So
write that.”
On Wednesday, Schlossnagle took a
decidedly different tone.
“I want to publicly apologize to Rich-
ard Zane from TexAgs,” Schlossnagle
said.
“He asked the question that was an
obvious question. I wish I could have
answered that better. But, in the mo-
ment, 30 minutes after the last pitch,
all I could think about was our players.”
Schlossnagle ended his news con-
ference Wednesday by admitting that
“this was an opportunity I couldn’t
walk away from.”
Schlossnagle now is reunited with
Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte,
who held that same role during part of
the time the former coached at TCU
from 2004-21. Del Conte said Wednes-
day that he waited to talk formally with
Schlossnagle at a Snook (Texas) ceme-
tery as a means to avoid being recog-
nized.
Undler Schlossnagle, the Aggies
made the school’s first appearance in a
College World Series championship se-
ries in 2022.
Schlossnagle, 53, produced a 135-62
record in three seasons at Texas A&M.
The Aggies finished 53-15 this season,
making the MCWS for the second time
in his tenure.
He led TCU to five MCWS.
Texas finished this season at 36-24
and 297-162 in eight seasons under Da-
vid Pierce, who parted ways with the
school on Monday in a mutual decision,
per Del Conte.
4NS | THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 2024 | SPORTS EXTRA - USA TODAY NETWORK
MLB
WEDNESDAY’S ROUNDUP
Dodgers rookie Stone shuts out White Sox
FIELD LEVEL MEDIA
Rookie Gavin Stone pitched a four-
hit shutout and Shohei Ohtani smacked
his National League-best 25th home
run as the visiting Los Angeles Dodgers
beat the Chicago White Sox 4-0 on
Wednesday to complete a three-game
sweep.
Stone stymied the White Sox on a ca-
reer night. He never had pitched more
than seven innings in 18 previous starts
but proved to get stronger as the game
progressed.
Stone (9-2) didn’t walk a batter and
struck out seven to match his career
high. He set down 10 and nine straight
White Sox, during separate stretches as
the Dodgers ran their winning streak to
four games.
Chicago went 0-for-17 with runners
in scoring position during the series,
getting outscored 11-3. The White Sox
have lost five home games in a row and
seven of eight overall.
Ohtani set a franchise record by driv-
ing in at least one run for a 10th succes-
sive game. He snapped a tie with four
other Dodgers who collected RBIs in
nine straight games.
Astros 7, Rockies 1
Spencer Arrighetti fanned a career-
high 10 over seven shutout innings and
Houston won its seventh straight game,
beating visiting Colorado.
Arrighetti (4-6), who entered the
game with an ERA of 6.36, enjoyed the
longest outing of his major league ca-
reer. He gave up just three hits and
didn’t issue a walk in his 14th big-league
start.
Ryan Feltner (1-7) absorbed the loss
after giving up seven hits and four runs
in six-plus innings. Feltner walked one
and fanned two.
Arrighetti didn’t allow a baserunner
until Ezequiel Tovar hit a one-out single
in the fourth. Nolan Jones doubled with
two outs in the fifth and Tovar doubled
with two outs in the sixth, but Arrighetti
stranded both runners by recording in-
ning-ending strikeouts.
Feltner was nearly as good for most
of his outing, but Houston broke
through in the fourth. Jose Altuve led off
with a single before stealing second and
third, then rode home when Yainer Diaz
sliced a single to right-center.
Brewers 6, Rangers 5, 10 innings
Andruw Monasterio hit a walk-off
RBI single in the bottom of the 10th, lift-
ing Milwaukee over visiting Texas.
Christian Yelich and Sal Frelick each
finished with three hits while Jake
Bauers hit a third-inning grand slam for
the Brewers, who won their fourth
straight game.
Nathaniel Lowe went 2-for-5 with a
home run and three RBIs for Texas,
which was swept in the three-game se-
ries.
Jared Koenig (7-1) pitched a scoreless
top of the tenth for Milwaukee. In the
bottom of the inning, Jacob Latz (2-3)
relieved Kirby Yates. Latz retired Bauers
on a popout, then intentionally walked
Rhys Hoskins.
After Frelick popped out, automatic
runner Willy Adames advanced to third
on a wild pitch, with Hoskins soon mov-
ing to second on defensive indifference.
Monasterio then singled to center to
bring home Adames.
Padres 8, Nationals 5
Dylan Cease allowed just one hit over
seven shutout innings while battery
mate Kyle Higashioka homered twice
and knocked in six runs as San Diego
polished off a three-game sweep of vis-
iting Washington.
Cease (7-6) walked two and fanned
nine, throwing 65 of his 102 pitches for
strikes. The only hit he allowed was a
two-out single by Nick Senzel in the top
of the fifth inning. Washington never
even got a runner into scoring position
until the ninth.
Then, the Nationals erupted for five
runs on two-run doubles by Lane
Thomas and Luis Garcia, plus an RBI
single by Harold Ramirez. They had the
tying run on deck before Senzel ground-
ed into a game-ending double play.
Rookie left-hander DJ Herz (1-2) suf-
fered the loss after permitting six hits
and four runs over 31⁄3 innings with two
walks and one strikeout. The result
capped a 6-1 homestand for San Diego,
which is now 14-4 in its last 18 home
games.
After wild 7-6 and 9-7 victories in the
series’ first two games, the Padres con-
tinued to pile up hits and runs in the se-
Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Gavin Stone delivers against the White Sox
during the first inning on Wednesday in Chicago. KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/USA TODAY
ries finale. Higashioka put them ahead
to stay in the bottom of the second.
Braves 6, Cardinals 2, Game 1
Cardinals 4, Braves 1, Game 2
Matthew Liberatore blanked visiting
Atlanta for six innings on two hits as St.
Louis won the second half of a split dou-
bleheader.
The Braves won the first game 6-2.
Liberatore (2-2) has worked primari-
ly in relief this year. He was supposed to
be the opener in a scheduled bullpen
start.
Instead, he lasted 85 pitches and set
his season high for innings. He struck
out a career-high eight batters and
walked just one.
Ryan Helsley closed out the ninth to
convert his 28th consecutive save, ex-
tending his team-record streak.
Alec Burleson hit two doubles and
drove in two runs as the Cardinals won
for the 10th time in 14 games.
In the early game, Jarred Kelenic
went 3-for-5 with a two-run homer and
RBI single to drive the Braves past the
Cardinals.
Zack Short reached base three times
and drove in two runs for the Braves,
who have won nine of their past 12
games.
Braves starting pitcher Reynaldo Lo-
pez (6-2) allowed two runs on four hits
and four walks in five innings. He struck
out five.
Royals 5, Marlins 1
Salvador Perez’s RBI double high-
lighted a late rally as Kansas City re-
bounded for a win over visiting Miami to
win the rubber game of the three-game
series.
Trailing 1-0 with two in the eighth,
the Royals erupted for five straight hits
against Huascar Brazoban (0-1). Bobby
Witt Jr. tripled and scored on Vinnie
Pasquantino’s sharp single to center, ty-
ing the game.
Pinch-runner Dairon Blanco stole
second and scored on Perez’s drive
down the left-field line. Perez scored on
Nick Loftin’s looping single to left and
Freddy Fermin, after a walk, capped the
five-run outburst with a two-run, bas-
es-loaded single.
Fermin, Pasquantino and Hunter
Renfroe each collected two hits for the
Royals.
Kansas City starter Brady Singer al-
lowed just one hit after the second in-
ning, retiring the final 11 batters he faced.
He pitched 71⁄3 innings, surrendering one
run on five hits and a walk, with five
strikeouts.
Phillies 6, Tigers 2
Brandon Marsh had four hits, includ-
ing a two-run homer, and drove in four
runs as visiting Philadelphia defeated
Detroit.
Bryson Stott scored three runs for the
Phillies, who took two games in the
three-game series. Bryce Harper ex-
tended his hitting streak to 11 games
with a ninth-inning single.
Philadelphia starter Spencer Turn-
bull, facing his former team for the first
time, left the game early due to shoulder
soreness. He gave up one run and one
hit in three innings, walking two and
striking out two.
Jose Ruiz (2-1) notched the win with
an inning of scoreless relief.
Matt Vierling hit a solo homer and a
double while scoring both runs for the
Tigers. Andy Ibanez added an RBI sin-
gle.
Pirates 6, Reds 1
Luis Ortiz pitched six solid innings in
his first start of the season, and Rowdy
Tellez and Andrew McCutchen each ho-
mered to help Pittsburgh pull away for a
win over host Cincinnati.
Jason Delay also drove in two runs to
help the Pirates take the three-game se-
ries.
Ortiz (4-2) made his first start since
Sept. 28, 2023, and gave up just one run
on four hits while striking out seven bat-
ters and issuing no walks.
The game was tied 1-1 early until the
Pirates were able to break through and
score five unanswered runs from the
fourth through the sixth inning.
Tellez hit his third home run of the
season to break the tie and give the Pi-
rates a 2-1 lead in the fourth inning.
McCutchen followed up with a two-run
shot, his 11th of the season, in the next
inning to extend Pittsburgh’s lead.
Mariners 5, Rays 2
Cal Raleigh smashed a two-out,
three-run homer in the sixth inning as
Seattle closed out a disappointing nine-
game road swing with a win over Tampa
Bay in St. Petersburg, Fla.
Raleigh’s 14th of the season, walloped
422 feet off reliever Shawn Armstrong
(2-2), put Seattle out front for good, 3-1.
The Mariners’ George Kirby (7-5)
turned in an outstanding 87-pitch start.
The right-hander lasted six innings and
yielded one run on a fluky infield single.
He fanned seven without a walk.
J.P. Crawford was 2-for-3 with a dou-
ble, walk, two RBIs and a stolen base as
Seattle broke a three-game losing streak
and concluded its road trip with a 3-6
record.
Jose Caballero was 3-for-3 with a
double and a run for the Rays. Yandy
Diaz went 2-for-4 with an RBI, stretch-
ing his on-base streak to a career-high
28 games.
Angels 5, Athletics 2
Zach Neto’s three-run double high-
lighted a five-run sixth inning, propel-
ling Los Angeles over Oakland in Ana-
heim, Calif., completing a three-game
sweep.
A’s starting pitcher Joey Estes stifled
the Angels’ bats for five innings, with
Oakland taking a 1-0 lead into the sixth
before the Angels rallied.
The Angels had two on with two outs
when A’s manager Mark Kotsay re-
moved Estes in favor of reliever Austin
Adams. Angels manager Ron Washing-
ton countered by sending up Luis Guil-
lorme to pinch hit for Kevin Pillar.
Guillorme walked to load the bases
and Adams hit Mickey Moniak on a 1-2
pitch to force home a run and tie the
score at 1-1. It was the ninth batter Ad-
ams has hit this season, the most in the
American League.
That brought Neto to the plate, and
the Angels shortstop hit a liner into the
left field corner to drive in all three base-
runners for a 4-1 Angels lead. Matt
Thaiss followed with an RBI double to
make it 5-1.
Orioles 4, Guardians 2
Baltimore’s Gunnar Henderson, Ce-
dric Mullins and Ryan O’Hearn homered
to overcome a head-turning debut from
Cleveland rookie Jhonkensy Noel as the
Orioles snapped a season-worst, five-
game losing streak.
Noel homered in his first big-league
at-bat and teammate Gabriel Arias also
went deep, but the Guardians had their
seven-game winning streak end as they
failed to complete a three-game series
sweep.
Mullins led off the seventh inning
with his eighth homer of the season,
breaking a 2-2 tie with the blast off re-
liever Xzavion Curry (0-2). O’Hearn’s
10th long ball, also off Curry, leading off
the eighth ended the scoring.
Baltimore starter Grayson Rodriguez
held the Guardians to two runs and five
hits in seven innings. Rodriguez (9-3),
who struck out four without issuing a
walk, recorded a victory for the fourth
time in his last five starts.
Henderson hit his 26th homer of the
season in the fifth inning, a tying solo
shot.
Mets 12, Yankees 2
Francisco Alvarez homered, collected
three RBIs and reached base in all four
of his plate appearances for the red-hot
New York Mets, who routed the visiting
New York Yankees to sweep a two-game
Subway Series.
Tyrone Taylor and Harrison Bader
also homered for the Mets, who have
gone 15-6 this month – the best record in
the majors – to climb to .500 at 39-39.
Aaron Judge hit his major league-
leading 30th homer for the Yankees,
who have dropped nine of 12.
Alvarez, who walked in the first,
capped a three-run third inning with a
two-run homer off Luis Gil (9-3). Alva-
rez ripped an RBI double in the fifth just
before a lengthy rain delay. He singled in
the sixth immediately before Taylor’s
three-run homer.
With a chance at the cycle, Alvarez
was pinch-hit for by Luis Torrens in the
eighth. Alvarez is batting .415 with three
homers and 11 RBIs since returning from
a sprained left thumb June 11.
Twins 8, Diamondbacks 3
Jose Miranda hit a three-run double
and Willi Castro belted a two-run homer
to lead Minnesota over Arizona in Phoe-
nix.
Miranda, Carlos Correa and Carlos
Santana had three hits apiece as Minne-
sota racked up 14 overall, including sev-
en doubles, while evening the three-
game series.
Castro and Trevor Larnach each had
two hits as the Twins won for the 11th
time in their past 16 games.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. had two RBIs for
Arizona, which had just four hits while
falling to 9-6 over its past 15 games.
Minnesota’s Simeon Woods Richard-
son (3-1) was charged with three runs
and four hits over 51⁄3 innings. He struck
out four and walked two.
Minnesota relievers Josh Staumont,
Steven Okert, Jhoan Duran and Ronny
Henriquez combined for 32⁄3 perfect in-
nings.
Giants 4, Cubs 3
Luis Matos broke a fifth-inning tie
with a home run, the San Francisco bull-
pen pitched brilliantly for a second con-
secutive game and the host Giants held
off Chicago for a third straight win.
Michael Conforto and David Villar
also went deep for the Giants, who re-
corded their first three-homer game at
home this season after producing five
such contests on the road.
The Giants will attempt to sweep the
four-game series Thursday afternoon.
Matos came to the plate with two
outs and no runners on in the fifth after
the Cubs’ Seiya Suzuki drew the visitors
even at 3-3 with his ninth homer in the
top of the inning.
Matos went deep off Cubs reliever
Drew Smyly (2-5), his third of the sea-
son.
Blue Jays at Red Sox, suspended
The Boston Red Sox’s home game
against the Toronto Blue Jays was sus-
pended in the second inning due to a se-
vere rainstorm.
The game will resume on Aug. 26 at
2:05 p.m. as part of a split-admission
doubleheader, beginning with one out
in the top of the second inning. The
teams will play their originally sched-
uled contest at 7:10 p.m.
Neither team recorded a hit in the
first 11⁄3 innings of the game, though
starting pitchers Yariel Rodriguez of the
Blue Jays and Kutter Crawford of the
Red Sox combined to issue three walks.
 SPORTS EXTRA - USA TODAY NETWORK | THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 2024 | 5NS

MLB
WEDNESDAY’S BOX SCORES
Philadelphia 6, Detroit 2 Gonzales 2b 4 1 1 0 0 1 .281
Hayes 3b 4 1 0 0 0 1 .222
PHI ............. 100 220 010 — 6 12 0 Joe rf 3 1 2 0 1 0 .245
DET...............100 000 001 — 2 4 0 Suwinski cf 4 0 1 1 0 1 .174
Delay c 3 1 2 2 1 0 .200
Philadelphia AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Totals 36 6 10 6 2 7
Schwarber dh 4 1 1 0 1 3 .250
Turner ss 5 0 2 0 0 3 .329 Cincinnati AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
Harper 1b 4 0 1 0 1 2 .305 India 2b 4 0 2 1 0 1 .268
Bohm 3b 5 0 0 0 0 0 .304 De La Cruz ss 4 0 0 0 0 2 .249
Castellanos rf 4 1 1 1 1 0 .223 Steer 1b 4 0 0 0 0 2 .239
Stott 2b 3 3 1 0 1 0 .242 Stephenson c 3 0 0 0 1 1 .240
Marsh cf 4 1 4 4 0 0 .269 Martini rf 3 0 1 0 0 1 .206
Dahl lf 3 0 1 1 0 1 .250 Espinal 3b 3 0 0 0 0 0 .203
Stubbs c 4 0 1 0 0 1 .202 Fairchild cf 3 1 1 0 0 1 .218
Totals 36 6 12 6 4 10 Soto dh 3 0 0 0 0 1 .000
Jordan lf 3 0 0 0 0 1 .143
Detroit AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Totals 30 1 4 1 1 10
Vierling 3b 4 2 2 1 0 0 .254
Keith 2b 3 0 1 0 0 1 .240 2B: Joe (15), Delay 2 (3), India (13). HR:
a-Ibanez ph 1 0 1 1 0 0 .291 McCutchen (11), Tellez (3). RBI:
Greene cf 2 0 0 0 1 0 .259 McCutchen 2 (24), Tellez (20), Suwinski
Canha 1b 4 0 0 0 0 0 .236
Perez rf 4 0 0 0 0 3 .263 (20), Delay 2 (6), India (31). Runners left in
Malloy dh 3 0 0 0 0 1 .148 scoring position: Pittsburgh 3
Baddoo lf 3 0 0 0 0 2 .122 (McCutchen, Suwinski, Delay), Cincinnati
Kelly c 3 0 0 0 0 0 .242
Kreidler ss 1 0 0 0 1 0 .167 2 (De La Cruz, Fairchild). RISP: Pittsburgh
b-McKinstry ph-ss 1 0 0 0 0 0 .195 3 for 7, Cincinnati 1 for 3. GIDP: Cruz, De La
Totals 29 2 4 2 2 7 Cruz. DP: Pittsburgh 1, Cincinnati 1.
a-singled for Keith in 9th. b-flied out for Pittsburgh IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
Kreidler in 8th. Ortiz W, 4-2 6.0 4 1 1 0 7 85 3.23
2B: Stott (11), Vierling (10). HR: Marsh (7), Nicolas 2.0 0 0 0 1 1 28 4.70
Vierling (10). RBI: Castellanos (39), Marsh Chapman 1.0 0 0 0 0 2 10 3.86
4 (31), Dahl (8), Vierling (32), Ibanez (19). Cincinnati IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
CS: Marsh (3), Kreidler (1). SB: Stott (20). Ashcraft L, 4-4 5.1 9 6 6 1 3 89 5.45
Wilson 1.2 1 0 0 0 2 18 5.40
SF: Dahl. Runners left in scoring position: Sims 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 11 3.71
Philadelphia 5 (Schwarber, Turner, Diaz 1.0 0 0 0 1 1 17 4.91
Castellanos, Stott 2), Detroit 1 (Perez). Inherited runners: Wilson 2-0. Balk: Ortiz
RISP: Philadelphia 2 for 11, Detroit 1 for 3. (1). Umpires: HP-Gibson, 1B-Rehak,
GIDP: Castellanos, Canha. DP: 2B-Vondrak, 3B-Hanahan. T: 2:18. A:
Philadelphia 1, Detroit 1. 22,450 (45,814).
Philadelphia IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
N.Y. Mets 12, N.Y. Yankees 2
Turnbull 3.0 1 1 1 2 2 36 2.65
Soto 1.0 0 0 0 0 2 12 3.91 NYY ............. 000 002 000 — 2 6 1
Ruiz W, 2-1 1.0 0 0 0 0 2 16 3.32 NYM ...........003 043 11x — 12 12 1
Strahm 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 18 0.86
Kerkering 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 13 1.57 N.Y. Yankees AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
Hoffman 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 11 1.08 Volpe ss 5 0 0 0 0 1 .266
Alvarado 1.0 2 1 1 0 1 16 3.27 Soto rf 2 1 0 0 2 1 .303
Jones rf 1 0 0 0 0 0 .182
Detroit IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Judge cf 2 1 2 2 1 0 .309
Holton 1.2 4 1 1 1 1 29 4.10 c-Grisham ph-cf 1 0 0 0 0 1 .136
Vest 1.1 0 0 0 0 2 18 3.27 Davis dh 2 0 0 0 2 2 .227
Montero L, 0-2 4.1 5 5 5 3 6 94 9.35 Verdugo lf 4 0 2 0 0 0 .247
Wentz 1.2 3 0 0 0 1 28 5.35 LeMahieu 3b 4 0 1 0 0 0 .178
Trevino c 2 0 0 0 0 1 .247
Inherited runners: Vest 2-2, Wentz 2-1. a-Wells ph-c 1 0 0 0 1 1 .209
HBP: Greene. WP: Alvarado. Umpires: Rice 1b 4 0 0 0 0 1 .261
HP-Libka, 1B-Hoye, 2B-Drake, Cabrera 2b 3 0 1 0 1 0 .238
Totals 31 2 6 2 7 8
3B-Reyburn. T: 2:30. A: 22,530 (41,083).
N.Y. Mets AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
Seattle 5, Tampa Bay 2 Lindor ss 5 1 2 0 0 1 .246
SEA..............000 003 200 — 5 5 0 Iglesias ss 0 0 0 0 0 0 .400
Nimmo lf 3 2 0 0 2 0 .242
TB .................001 000 001 — 2 5 0 Gamel lf 0 0 0 0 0 0 ...
Seattle AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Martinez dh 4 0 1 1 0 0 .287
Crawford ss 3 0 2 2 1 0 .217 Alonso 1b 3 3 1 0 1 0 .241
Rojas 3b 4 1 0 0 0 3 .251 Alvarez c 3 3 3 3 1 0 .313
b-Torrens ph-c 1 0 1 0 0 0 .360
Rodriguez cf
Raleigh dh
3
2
1
1
0 0 1 1
1 3 2 0
.252
.204
Astros starting pitcher Spencer Arrighetti delivers a pitch against the Colorado Rockies during the first Taylor rf 3 2 1 3 1 0 .240
Vientos 3b 3 0 1 2 2 2 .298
France 1b
Garver c
4
4
0
1
0 0 0 1
1 0 0 1
.234
.178
inning of Wednesday’s game at Minute Maid Park in Houston. ERIK WILLIAMS/USA TODAY SPORTS McNeil 2b 4 0 0 1 0 0 .213
Canzone rf 3 1 1 0 0 2 .227 Bader cf 5 1 2 2 0 0 .275
a-Robles ph-rf 1 0 0 0 0 0 .333 Totals 34 12 12 12 7 3
Moore lf 3 0 0 0 0 3 .209 a-struck out for Trevino in 6th. b-singled
Bliss 2b 4 0 0 0 0 2 .245
for Alvarez in 8th. c-struck out for Judge
Totals 31 5 5 5 4 13 2B-Baker, 3B-Carlson. T: 2:31. A: 33,603
in 8th.
Tampa Bay AB R H BI BB SO Avg. (41,168).
Diaz 1b 4 0 2 1 0 0 .275 E: Gil, Vientos. 2B: Cabrera (6), Lindor 2
Lowe rf 3 1 0 0 1 1 .234 Milwaukee 6, Texas 5 (10) (23), Alvarez (8), Bader (14). HR: Judge
Arozarena lf 3 0 0 0 1 0 .189 TEX...... 010 400 000 0 — 5 10 1 (30), Alvarez (4), Taylor (3), Bader (6). RBI:
Paredes 3b 3 0 0 0 0 2 .272
Palacios dh 4 0 0 1 0 1 .244 MIL .......004 100 000 1 — 6 11 0 Judge 2 (77), Martinez (34), Alvarez 3 (19),
Rosario 2b 4 0 0 0 0 0 .296 Texas AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Taylor 3 (20), Vientos 2 (22), McNeil (16),
Siri cf 3 0 0 0 0 3 .212 Semien 2b 5 0 0 0 0 0 .244 Bader 2 (30). SF: McNeil. Runners left in
Caballero ss 3 1 3 0 0 0 .243
Jackson c 3 0 0 0 0 1 .077
Grossman dh 4 0 1 1 0 1 .220 scoring position: N.Y. Yankees 6 (Jones 2,
a-Taveras ph-dh 1 0 0 0 0 0 .214
Totals 30 2 5 2 2 8 Smith ss 5 0 0 0 0 4 .294 Verdugo 2, LeMahieu, Rice), N.Y. Mets 6
a-grounded out for Canzone in 9th. Garcia rf 5 1 1 0 0 1 .218 (Lindor 2, Taylor 2, Vientos, Bader). RISP:
2B: Crawford (11), Caballero (11). HR: Langford lf 3 1 1 0 2 0 .250 N.Y. Mets 6 for 15. GIDP: Verdugo 2,
Lowe 1b 5 1 2 3 0 2 .256 Trevino, Alonso. DP: N.Y. Yankees 1, N.Y.
Raleigh (14). RBI: Crawford 2 (25), Raleigh Heim c 3 1 2 1 1 0 .234
3 (49), Diaz (40), Palacios (17). CS: Hill cf 4 0 1 0 0 2 .231 Mets 3.
Wendzel 3b 4 1 2 0 0 1 .150
Caballero (9). SB: Crawford (3). S: Moore. Totals 39 5 10 5 3 11
N.Y. Yankees IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
Runners left in scoring position: Seattle 2 Milwaukee AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
Gil L, 9-3 4.1 4 5 5 4 2 87 3.15
(Rojas 2), Tampa Bay 2 (Paredes, Rosario). Ferguson 0.0 1 1 1 0 0 5 5.84
Turang 2b 5 0 1 0 0 1 .288 Gomez 2.0 4 5 5 3 1 62 5.87
RISP: Seattle 2 for 5, Tampa Bay 1 for 6. Contreras c 5 0 0 0 0 1 .292 Hill 1.2 3 1 1 0 0 27 5.40
GIDP: Rosario. DP: Seattle 2. Yelich lf 4 1 3 0 1 0 .325
Adames ss 4 2 0 0 1 2 .238 N.Y. Mets IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
Seattle IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Bauers 1b 4 1 1 4 1 1 .219 Manaea W, 5-3 5.0 2 0 0 5 3 77 3.89
Kirby W, 7-5 6.0 4 1 1 0 7 87 3.35 Hoskins dh 4 0 0 0 1 2 .221 Young 0.1 2 2 2 1 1 17 4.09
Voth 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 13 3.62 Frelick cf 5 0 3 0 0 0 .269 Ottavino 0.2 0 0 0 0 1 15 4.99
Stanek 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 16 3.45 Ortiz 3b 2 0 0 0 0 0 .275 Houser S, 1 3.0 2 0 0 1 3 44 5.55
Munoz 0.0 0 1 1 2 0 18 1.69 b-Monasterio ph-3b 2 0 1 1 0 1 .163
Thornton S, 1 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 12 3.22 Chourio rf 4 2 2 1 0 0 .236 Ferguson pitched to 1 batter in the 5th.
Tampa Bay IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
Totals 39 6 11 6 4 8 Inherited runners: Ferguson 2-1, Gomez
a-fouled out for Grossman in 9th. b-was 2-0, Ottavino 1-1. HBP: Martinez, Alonso,
Pepiot 5.1 1 1 1 2 8 88 4.40
Armstrong L, 2-2 BS, 0.2 1 2 2 1 0 22 3.96 hit by a pitch for Ortiz in 6th. Taylor. Umpires: HP-Lentz, 1B-Jimenez,
1 E: Yates. 2B: Wendzel (2). HR: Lowe (3), 2B-Scheurwater, 3B-Barksdale. T: 3:05. A:
Kelly 1.0 3 2 2 0 2 27 3.41
Heim (7), Bauers (7), Chourio (8). RBI: 43,004 (41,922).
Adam 1.0 0 0 0 1 2 25 2.12
Poche 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 10 3.20 Grossman (11), Lowe 3 (24), Heim (33), Minnesota 8, Arizona 3
Munoz pitched to 3 batters in the 9th. Bauers 4 (32), Monasterio (6), Chourio MIN ............031 220 000 — 8 14 0
Inherited runners: Thornton 3-2, (29). SB: Hill (2), Yelich (16). Runners left in ARI............... 000 102 000 — 3 4 0
Armstrong 1-0. HBP: Paredes. Umpires: scoring position: Texas 5 (Semien 2,
Minnesota AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
HP-Knight, 1B-Morales, 2B-Barber, Grossman 2, Lowe), Milwaukee 4 Castro 2b 4 2 2 2 0 1 .274
3B-Ramos. T: 2:50. A: 18,286 (25,025). (Adames 3, Chourio). RISP: Texas 3 for 13, Larnach lf 5 1 2 1 0 1 .255
Milwaukee 2 for 8. GIDP: Semien, Ortiz. Margot lf 0 0 0 0 0 0 .232
Kansas City 5, Miami 1 DP: Texas 1, Milwaukee 1. Lewis dh 4 0 0 0 1 1 .311
Kepler rf 5 0 0 0 0 3 .245
MIA.............. 010 000 000 — 1 5 0 Texas IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Correa ss 4 2 3 1 1 0 .306
KC..............000 000 05x — 5 10 0 Eovaldi 7.0 9 5 5 1 4 101 3.45
Santana 1b 5 1 3 0 0 1 .251
Buxton cf 3 1 0 1 0 1 .251
Miami AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Robertson 1.0 0 0 0 1 2 13 3.38
Miranda 3b 4 1 3 3 1 0 .293
Chisholm Jr. cf 4 0 1 0 0 1 .264 Yates 1.0 1 0 0 1 2 19 0.95
Vazquez c 5 0 1 0 0 2 .188
De La Cruz dh 4 0 0 0 0 2 .242 Latz L, 2-3 0.2 1 1 0 1 0 5 3.38
Totals 39 8 14 8 3 10
Bell 1b 3 0 0 0 1 0 .243 Milwaukee IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
Sanchez rf 4 0 1 0 0 0 .233 Arizona AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
Burger 3b 4 0 0 0 0 1 .211 Keuchel 4.0 8 5 5 1 4 71 11.25 Carroll cf 4 0 1 0 0 1 .216
Lopez 2b 3 0 0 0 0 1 .250 Junis 2.0 1 0 0 1 3 36 3.00 Marte 2b 2 1 0 0 2 0 .278
Gordon lf 3 0 1 0 0 0 .227 Hudson 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 12 0.84 Pederson dh 3 1 1 0 0 1 .289
Brujan ss 3 1 1 0 0 0 .236 Payamps 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 10 3.72 Walker 1b 4 1 1 0 0 1 .252
Fortes c 3 0 1 1 0 1 .160 Megill 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 12 1.78 Gurriel Jr. lf 3 0 1 2 0 0 .260
Totals 31 1 5 1 1 6 Koenig W, 7-1 1.0 0 0 0 1 2 13 1.72 McCarthy rf 4 0 0 0 0 1 .281
Suarez 3b 3 0 0 0 0 1 .192
Kansas City AB R H BI BB SO Avg. HBP: Monasterio. IBB: Yates (2), Latz (3), Barnhart c 3 0 0 0 0 1 .171
Garcia 2b 4 0 0 0 0 2 .232 Koenig (2). WP: Eovaldi, Latz. Umpires: Perdomo ss 3 0 0 0 0 2 .262
Witt Jr. ss 3 1 1 0 0 1 .311 HP-Conroy, 1B-Segal, 2B-Vanover, Totals 29 3 4 2 2 8
Pasquantino dh 4 0 2 1 0 0 .236
a-Blanco pr-dh 0 1 0 0 0 0 .236 3B-Tomlinson. T: 2:43. A: 36,552 (41,700). 2B: Castro (21), Larnach 2 (7), Correa (15),
Perez 1b 4 1 1 1 0 1 .279 Atlanta 6, St. Louis 2 Santana (13), Miranda 2 (16), Walker (15).
Loftin 3b 4 1 1 1 0 0 .228
Game 1 3B: Gurriel Jr. (1). HR: Castro (7). RBI:
Melendez lf
Renfroe rf
4
3
1 1 0 0 1
0 2 0 1 0
.179
.202
The Brewers’ Andruw Monasterio hits a walk-off RBI single in the 10th inning Castro 2 (26), Larnach (25), Correa (37),
ATL ..............040 002 000 — 6 9 0
Fermin c
Hampson cf
4
2
0 2 2 0 1
0 0 0 0 1
.294
.278 STL ...............010 010 000 — 2 4 0 against the Rangers in Milwaukee. MARK HOFFMAN/MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL Buxton (27), Miranda 3 (33), Gurriel Jr. 2
b-Massey ph-cf 2 0 0 0 0 1 .288
(45). CS: Pederson (1). SF: Buxton, Gurriel
Atlanta AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Jr.. Runners left in scoring position:
Totals 34 5 10 5 1 8 Kelenic cf 5 1 3 3 0 0 .273
a-ran for Pasquantino in 8th. b-struck out Albies 2b 4 0 0 0 1 0 .254 Minnesota 5 (Lewis, Kepler, Santana,
for Hampson in 8th. Ozuna dh 5 0 0 0 0 3 .309 Vazquez 2), Arizona 2 (Walker, Suarez).
Olson 1b 4 1 1 0 1 1 .247 Goldschmidt (32), Donovan (40). CS: San Diego 8, Washington 5 Mullins cf 3 1 2 1 0 0 .214
RISP: Minnesota 4 for 16. GIDP: Kepler. DP:
2B: Gordon (8), Brujan (8), Pasquantino Mateo 2b 3 1 2 0 0 0 .240
Riley 3b 5 1 2 0 0 2 .254 Kelenic (2). SB: Goldschmidt (4), Donovan WAS............. 000 000 005 — 5 5 1 Totals 31 4 9 4 2 4 Arizona 1.
(21), Perez (16), Fermin (8). 3B: Witt Jr. (8). Murphy c 3 0 1 0 2 0 .200 (2), Gorman (6). Runners left in scoring
RBI: Fortes (12), Pasquantino (49), Perez Laureano rf 5 1 0 1 0 0 .250 SD................ 020 200 04x — 8 9 0 a-walked for Freeman in 9th. b-grounded Minnesota IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
Wall lf 3 2 1 0 1 0 .286 position: Atlanta 4 (Albies, Duvall 3), St.
(47), Loftin (13), Fermin 2 (18). CS: Short ss 2 0 1 2 2 0 .157 Louis 3 (Contreras, Siani 2). RISP: Atlanta 2 Washington AB R H BI BB SO Avg. out for Hedges in 8th. Woods Richardson 5.1 4 3 3 2 4 90 3.41
Abrams ss 3 0 0 0 0 1 .280 2B: Hedges (2), Mateo (13). HR: Noel (1), W, 3-1
Chisholm Jr. (6). SB: Blanco (16). Runners Totals 36 6 9 6 7 6 for 6, St. Louis 3 for 7. b-Nunez ph 1 1 1 0 0 0 .091 Staumont 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 5 0.00
left in scoring position: Miami 2 (Burger, St. Louis AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Thomas rf 2 1 1 2 2 1 .243 Arias (3), Henderson (26), O’Hearn (10), Okert 1.1 0 0 0 0 3 19 3.33
Atlanta IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
Brujan), Kansas City 4 (Perez, Hampson 2, Winn ss 4 0 0 0 1 2 .293 Winker lf 3 0 0 0 0 2 .261 Mullins (8). RBI: Noel (1), Arias (15), Duran 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 3 3.80
Burleson rf 3 0 0 1 0 0 .286 Elder L, 1-3 6.0 4 2 2 0 4 96 5.76 a-Vargas ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .268
Massey). RISP: Miami 1 for 3, Kansas City 4 Contreras c 3 0 0 0 1 1 .272 Holmes 2.0 4 2 2 1 2 39 2.57
Henderson 2 (57), O’Hearn (33), Mullins Henriquez 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 11 0.00
Meneses 1b 3 1 0 0 0 1 .240
for 7. Goldschmidt 1b 3 1 1 0 1 1 .232 St. Louis IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Garcia Jr. 2b 4 1 1 2 0 1 .257 (26). CS: Mullins (3), Mateo (2). SB: Arias Arizona IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA

Miami IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Donovan lf 2 0 0 0 1 0 .267

Liberatore W, 2-2 6.0 2 0 0 1 8 84 3.86
Ramirez dh 4 0 1 1 0 1 .250 (5). Runners left in scoring position: Nelson L, 5-6 3.2 10 6 6 0 3 77 5.69
Arenado 3b 4 0 1 0 0 0 .257 Senzel 3b 4 0 1 0 0 0 .220 Cleveland 2 (Gimenez, Rocchio), McGough 1.0 1 1 1 0 2 13 6.66
Bellozo 5.0 2 0 0 0 2 72 0.00 Gorman 2b 3 0 0 0 1 2 .193 Roycroft H, 1 1.0 0 0 0 0 2 14 2.87 Millas c 3 0 0 0 0 1 .185 Hughes 1.0 1 1 1 1 3 16 9.00
Bender H, 8 1.0 1 0 0 0 3 17 4.85 Carpenter dh 1 1 1 1 0 0 .244 Kittredge H, 22 0.2 2 1 1 0 0 14 3.31 Young cf 2 1 0 0 1 2 .266 Baltimore 2 (Westburg 2). RISP: Baltimore Vieira 2.1 1 0 0 1 2 37 4.96
Nardi H, 8 1.0 1 0 0 0 2 21 4.85 a-Fermin ph-dh 0 0 0 0 1 0 .162 Romero H, 23 0.1 1 0 0 0 0 6 2.83 Totals 30 5 5 5 3 10 1 for 4. GIDP: Freeman. DP: Baltimore 1. Jarvis 1.0 1 0 0 1 0 7 3.45
Brazoban L, 0-1 BS, 2 0.2 5 5 5 0 1 28 5.63 b-Crawford ph 1 0 0 0 0 1 .180 Helsley S, 28 1.0 1 0 0 1 1 21 2.75
Chargois 0.1 1 0 0 1 0 10 1.42 Siani cf 2 0 1 0 0 1 .221
San Diego AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Cleveland IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Inherited runners: Staumont 2-0,
Inherited runners: Romero 2-1. Umpires: Profar lf 4 0 1 1 0 0 .316
Kansas City IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA c-Carlson ph-cf 2 0 0 0 0 0 .185 Carrasco 5.0 6 2 2 2 3 91 5.27 McGough 1-1, Hughes 1-0, Vieira 1-1. HBP:
HP-Ripperger, 1B-Ortiz, 2B-Marquez, Wade lf 1 0 0 0 0 1 .239 Curry L, 0-2 3.0 3 2 2 0 1 50 5.74
Singer 7.1 5 1 1 1 5 92 3.12
Totals 28 2 4 2 6 8 Solano 1b 3 0 0 0 1 1 .277 Castro, Buxton, Pederson. IBB: Jarvis (4).
3B-Metz. T: 2:15. A: 33,921 (44,383). Baltimore IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
Zerpa W, 1-0 0.2 0 0 0 0 1 13 3.41 a-walked for Carpenter in 6th. b-struck Machado dh 4 1 2 0 0 0 .264 WP: Staumont. Umpires: HP-Thomas,
McArthur 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 15 4.55 out for Fermin in 9th. c-lined out for Siani L.A. Angels 5, Oakland 2 Cronenworth 2b 3 1 0 0 1 0 .264 Rodriguez W, 9-3 7.0 5 2 2 0 4 97 3.72 1B-Estabrook, 2B-Bacchus, 3B-Diaz. T:
Kim ss 4 1 1 0 0 1 .223 Perez H, 8 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 12 4.37
Inherited runners: Chargois 2-0. HBP: Witt in 6th. OAK ..............010 000 001 — 2 7 0 Merrill cf 4 1 1 0 0 1 .284 Kimbrel S, 17 1.0 0 0 0 1 3 18 2.54 2:37. A: 16,396 (48,405).
Jr.. Umpires: HP-Gonzalez, 1B-Tichenor, 2B: Goldschmidt (10), Siani (4). HR: LAA .............000 005 00x — 5 7 0 Rosario 3b 4 1 1 0 0 1 .250 San Francisco 4, Chicago Cubs 3
2B-Ceja, 3B-Blaser. T: 2:20. A: 14,132 Higashioka c 4 3 3 6 0 0 .207 HBP: Gimenez. Umpires: HP-Cuzzi,
Kelenic (8). RBI: Kelenic 3 (24), Laureano Oakland AB R H BI BB SO Avg. CHC .............. 010 110 000 — 3 9 0
(37,903).
Johnson rf 1 0 0 0 2 0 .125 1B-Randazzo, 2B-Riggs, 3B-Bellino. T:
(4), Short 2 (5), Burleson (34), Carpenter Cameron cf 4 0 0 0 0 3 .158 Totals 32 8 9 7 4 5 SF ................. 030 010 00x — 4 6 1
Soderstrom 1b 4 0 0 0 0 0 .230 2:19. A: 17,965 (45,971).
Houston 7, Colorado 1 (7). SB: Kelenic (3). SF: Burleson,
Andujar lf 4 0 2 0 0 0 .328 a-flied out for Winker in 9th. b-singled for L.A. Dodgers 4, Chicago White Sox 0 Chicago AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
COL...............000 000 010 — 1 4 3 Carpenter. Runners left in scoring Rooker dh 4 0 2 0 0 0 .261 Abrams in 9th. Hoerner 2b 5 0 1 0 0 0 .242
position: Atlanta 5 (Ozuna 4, Wall), St. Nevin 3b 3 0 0 0 1 2 .207 LAD ............. 103 000 000 — 4 6 0 Busch 1b 4 0 1 0 0 3 .260
HOU............. 000 110 41x — 7 11 0 E: Abrams. 2B: Thomas (8), Garcia Jr. (13),
Louis 3 (Donovan 2, Siani). RISP: Atlanta 2 Butler rf 4 0 0 0 0 1 .176 CHW ........... 000 000 000 — 0 4 0 Bellinger rf 4 0 1 0 0 1 .273
Colorado AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Alvarez 2b 3 2 1 0 1 0 .500 Rosario (6). HR: Higashioka 2 (8). RBI: Suzuki dh 4 1 1 1 0 0 .263
for 10. GIDP: Arenado. DP: Atlanta 1.
Doyle cf 3 0 0 1 0 0 .258 McCann c 2 0 1 0 2 0 .278 Thomas 2 (34), Garcia Jr. 2 (35), Ramirez L.A. Dodgers AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Happ lf 3 1 1 0 1 1 .227
Atlanta IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Schuemann ss 2 0 1 2 1 0 .224 Ohtani dh 2 2 1 1 2 0 .322 Morel 3b 1 0 1 0 3 0 .204
Tovar ss 4 0 2 0 0 2 .287
Totals 30 2 7 2 5 6
(2), Profar (55), Higashioka 6 (20). CS: Hernandez lf 3 0 0 1 0 2 .252
McMahon 3b 4 0 0 0 0 3 .277 Lopez W, 6-2 5.0 4 2 2 4 5 87 1.70 Swanson ss 4 0 1 0 0 1 .217
Rodgers 2b 4 0 0 0 0 2 .279 L.A. Angels AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
Thomas (6). S: Johnson. Runners left in Freeman 1b 4 0 1 2 0 1 .299 Crow-Armstrong cf 3 1 1 1 1 1 .205
Lee 1.0 0 0 0 1 1 22 2.20
Toglia 1b 4 0 0 0 0 2 .190 Johnson 1.0 0 0 0 1 0 18 3.42 Schanuel 1b 4 0 1 0 0 2 .224 scoring position: San Diego 1 (Merrill). Heyward rf 4 0 0 0 0 0 .220 Amaya c 3 0 1 1 0 0 .194
Stallings c 3 0 0 0 0 0 .286 Rengifo 2b-rf-3b 4 1 2 0 0 0 .308 RISP: Washington 3 for 4, San Diego 4 for Pages cf 3 0 0 0 1 1 .251 a-Mastrobuoni ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .116
Jimenez 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 12 2.61
Jones lf 2 1 1 0 1 1 .194 Ward lf 4 0 1 0 0 1 .245 Lux 2b 4 0 0 0 0 3 .221 Totals 32 3 9 3 5 7
Cave rf 3 0 1 0 0 2 .252
Iglesias 1.0 0 0 0 0 2 17 2.43 8. GIDP: Senzel, Solano. DP: Washington 1, Rojas ss 4 0 2 0 0 0 .284
Sano 3b 4 0 0 0 0 2 .242 San Francisco AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
Montero dh 3 0 0 0 0 2 .206 St. Louis IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
Adell rf 0 0 0 0 0 0 .183 San Diego 1. Hernandez 3b 4 1 1 0 0 2 .200
Wisely ss 4 0 0 0 0 3 .289
Totals 30 1 4 1 1 14 Gibson L, 5-3 4.0 4 4 4 5 4 87 3.70 Calhoun dh 2 1 0 0 2 2 .281 Barnes c 4 1 1 0 0 3 .206
Washington IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Totals 32 4 6 4 3 12 Ramos cf 4 0 1 0 0 1 .294
Houston AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Leahy 3.0 4 2 2 1 1 55 4.13 Pillar rf 1 0 0 0 0 0 .288 Chapman 3b 4 0 1 0 0 1 .234
Gallegos 1.0 0 0 0 1 0 26 10.80 a-Guillorme ph-2b 1 1 0 0 1 1 .273 Herz L, 1-2 3.1 6 4 4 2 1 66 5.48 Chicago AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
Altuve 2b 5 1 2 2 0 1 .303 Barnes 2.2 0 0 0 0 1 25 3.77 Bailey c 3 1 0 0 1 2 .285
Bregman 3b 5 1 0 0 0 1 .253 King 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 10 2.30 Moniak cf 3 1 0 1 0 1 .194 Pham cf 4 0 1 0 0 0 .270 Soler dh 3 0 0 0 0 2 .221
Neto ss 4 1 2 3 0 1 .256 Weems 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 14 6.14 Benintendi lf 4 0 0 0 0 2 .199
Alvarez lf 3 0 1 0 0 0 .288 HBP: Donovan. Umpires: HP-Barrett, Rainey 1.0 3 4 4 2 2 32 7.77 Estrada 2b 3 0 0 0 0 1 .234
McCormick rf 0 0 0 0 0 0 .219 Thaiss c 4 0 1 1 0 2 .219 Robert Jr. dh 4 0 0 0 0 2 .190 Conforto lf 3 1 1 2 0 0 .232
Diaz dh 4 0 3 2 0 0 .271 1B-Metz, 2B-Ortiz, 3B-Marquez. T: 2:49. A: Totals 31 5 7 5 3 12 San Diego IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Sheets rf 2 0 1 0 0 0 .243 Villar 1b 3 1 1 1 0 2 .222
Meyers cf 3 0 0 0 1 1 .256 33,997 (44,383). a-walked for Pillar in 6th. Cease W, 7-6 7.0 1 0 0 2 9102 3.84 Julks rf 1 0 0 0 0 0 .223 Matos rf 3 1 2 1 0 0 .253
Singleton 1b 3 0 1 0 0 1 .224 Matsui 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 10 3.71 Vaughn 1b 3 0 0 0 0 2 .233 Totals 30 4 6 4 1 12
a-Dubon pr-1b 1 2 1 0 0 0 .295
St. Louis 4, Atlanta 1 2B: Andujar (6), Rooker (15), Schuemann Cosgrove 0.1 2 4 4 1 0 22 11.66 DeJong ss 3 0 1 0 0 0 .236
Pena ss 4 1 2 1 0 0 .280 Game 2 (7), Rengifo (11), Ward (15), Neto (18), Morejon 0.2 2 1 1 0 0 5 2.65 Lee c 3 0 0 0 0 0 .238 a-fouled out for Amaya in 9th.
Loperfido rf-lf 3 1 0 0 0 0 .309
ATL ...............000 000 010 — 1 6 1 Thaiss (6). RBI: Schuemann 2 (13), Moniak Lopez 2b 3 0 0 0 0 1 .243 E: Doval. 2B: Happ (17). HR: Suzuki (9),
Salazar c 3 1 1 1 0 1 .455 Inherited runners: Barnes 1-1, Morejon Sosa 3b 3 0 1 0 0 0 .216
Conforto (9), Villar (1), Matos (3). RBI:
Totals 34 7 11 6 1 5 STL ..............002 000 02x — 4 8 0 (22), Neto 3 (35), Thaiss (7). SB: Alvarez 2-0. HBP: Meneses. WP: Herz. Umpires: Totals 30 0 4 0 0 7
(1). SF: Schuemann. Runners left in scoring Suzuki (29), Crow-Armstrong (12), Amaya
a-ran for Singleton in 7th. Atlanta AB R H BI BB SO Avg. HP-Moscoso, 1B-Tosi, 2B-Hamari, 2B: Freeman (22), Rojas (13), Sheets (17). (15), Conforto 2 (29), Villar (2), Matos (21).
Kelenic cf 4 0 3 1 0 1 .282 position: Oakland 3 (Rooker, Nevin, 3B-Walsh. T: 2:28. A: 37,397 (40,019). HR: Ohtani (25). RBI: Ohtani (61),
E: Rodgers, Toglia, Tovar. 2B: Tovar (24), Albies 2b 4 0 0 0 0 1 .251 Alvarez), L.A. Angels 4 (Schanuel, CS: Happ (2). Runners left in scoring
Jones (6), Cave (5), Alvarez (17), Dubon Ozuna dh 4 0 0 0 0 1 .305 Baltimore 4, Cleveland 2 Hernandez (55), Freeman 2 (50). SF: position: Chicago 3 (Hoerner, Happ,
Calhoun, Pillar 2). RISP: Oakland 1 for 5, Hernandez. Runners left in scoring
(14), Salazar (2). RBI: Doyle (25), Altuve 2 Olson 1b 3 0 0 0 1 2 .244
L.A. Angels 2 for 8. GIDP: Soderstrom, CLE ...............010 010 000 — 2 5 0 Amaya), San Francisco 1 (Estrada). RISP:
(35), Diaz 2 (40), Pena (31), Salazar (4). CS: Riley 3b 3 0 1 0 1 1 .255 position: L.A. Dodgers 4 (Hernandez, Chicago 1 for 7. GIDP: Suzuki. DP: San
d’Arnaud c 4 0 0 0 0 0 .236 Butler. DP: L.A. Angels 2. BAL................ 010 010 11x — 4 9 0 Pages, Lux, Barnes), Chicago 1 (Lee). RISP:
Meyers (3). SB: Altuve 2 (13), Meyers (7). Duvall lf 4 0 0 0 0 3 .166 Francisco 1.
Oakland IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Cleveland AB R H BI BB SO Avg. L.A. Dodgers 1 for 7. GIDP: Benintendi. DP:
SF: Doyle, Salazar. Runners left in scoring Laureano rf 3 1 1 0 0 1 .257 Kwan lf 4 0 0 0 0 0 .377 Chicago IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
position: Colorado 3 (Tovar, McMahon, Williams ss 2 0 0 0 0 1 .000 Estes L, 2-3 5.2 3 2 2 2 8 87 5.24
Gimenez 2b 3 0 0 0 0 0 .245 L.A. Dodgers 1.
a-Murphy ph 1 0 1 0 0 0 .211 Adams BS, 4 0.0 1 3 3 1 0 16 4.88 Wesneski 4.0 2 3 3 1 7 72 3.60
Cave), Houston 6 (Bregman 3, Meyers, c-Short pr-ss 0 0 0 0 0 0 .157 McFarland 0.1 1 0 0 0 1 5 3.19
Ramirez dh 4 0 0 0 0 1 .275 L.A. Dodgers IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Smyly L, 2-5 1.1 3 1 1 0 2 23 3.81
Schneemann rf 4 0 1 0 0 1 .280
Singleton 2). RISP: Houston 4 for 13. GIDP: Totals 32 1 6 1 2 11 Erceg 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 9 3.49
Freeman cf 3 0 0 0 0 1 .212 Stone W, 9-2 9.0 4 0 0 0 7103 2.73 Hodge 1.2 1 0 0 0 2 22 2.00
Meyers. DP: Colorado 1. Miller 1.0 1 0 0 0 2 15 2.02 Chicago IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Thompson 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 16 3.50
St. Louis AB R H BI BB SO Avg. a-Naylor ph 0 0 0 0 1 0 .241
Winn ss 4 1 1 0 0 0 .292 L.A. Angels IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Noel 1b 4 1 1 1 0 2 .250 Fedde L, 5-3 6.0 5 4 4 1 5 88 3.23 San Francisco IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
Colorado IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA
Burleson rf 4 0 2 2 0 0 .289 Contreras 3.0 4 1 1 2 2 61 3.24 Arias 3b 3 1 2 1 0 1 .241 Soroka 3.0 1 0 0 2 7 63 5.48 Birdsong 4.2 6 3 3 3 5 97 5.79
Feltner L, 1-7 6.0 7 4 4 1 2 83 6.02 b-Carlson pr-rf 0 1 0 0 0 0 .185 Rocchio ss 3 0 0 0 0 1 .211 Jackson W, 4-1 1.1 0 0 0 1 0 22 6.12
Crouse 2.0 0 0 0 1 1 29 0.00
Kinley 0.2 0 2 2 0 0 13 8.80 Contreras dh 4 0 0 0 0 2 .263 Moore W, 4-2 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 16 5.16 Hedges c 2 0 1 0 0 0 .145 WP: Soroka. Umpires: HP-Thomas, Miller H, 11 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 9 3.89
Blach 0.2 4 1 1 0 2 29 5.24 Goldschmidt 1b 4 1 1 1 0 0 .232 b-Fry ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .307 1B-Estabrook, 2B-Bacchus, 3B-Diaz. T: Rogers H, 14 1.0 2 0 0 1 0 14 2.84
Strickland 1.0 0 0 0 1 1 12 4.24
Vodnik 0.2 0 0 0 0 1 12 4.32 Donovan lf 4 0 2 1 0 0 .270 Naylor c 0 0 0 0 0 0 .202
Zuniga 2.0 3 1 1 1 1 32 6.43
Totals 31 2 5 2 1 7
2:02. A: 36,225 (40,615). Doval S, 14 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 8 4.40
Houston IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Arenado 3b 4 0 0 0 0 1 .254
Gorman 2b 2 0 0 0 1 2 .191 Contreras pitched to 2 batters in the 4th. Baltimore AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Pittsburgh 6, Cincinnati 1 Inherited runners: Hodge 2-2. WP:
Arrighetti W, 4-6 7.0 3 0 0 0 10 89 5.68
Dubin 1.0 1 1 1 1 2 29 5.64 Pages c 3 0 0 0 0 1 .148 Adams pitched to 3 batters in the 6th. Henderson ss 4 1 3 2 0 0 .288 PIT.............. 010 122 000 — 6 10 0 Birdsong. Umpires: HP-Wolcott,
King 1.0 0 0 0 0 2 14 0.00 Siani cf 3 1 2 0 0 0 .229 Inherited runners: Adams 2-0, McFarland Rutschman c 3 0 0 0 1 1 .297 1B-Valentine, 2B-De Jesus, 3B-Johnson.
Totals 32 4 8 4 1 6 O’Hearn dh 4 1 1 1 0 0 .284 CIN .............. 001 000 000 — 1 4 0
Feltner pitched to 2 batters in the 7th. 1-0, Crouse 2-2. HBP: Cameron, Pillar, Mountcastle 1b 3 0 0 0 1 0 .278
T: 2:25. A: 30,893 (41,331).
a-singled for Williams in 8th. b-ran for Moniak. IBB: Estes (1). Umpires: Pittsburgh AB R H BI BB SO Avg.
Inherited runners: Kinley 2-0, Blach 1-0, Burleson in 8th. c-ran for Murphy in 8th.
Santander rf 4 0 0 0 0 0 .228 McCutchen dh 5 1 1 2 0 0 .238
Vodnik 2-2. HBP: Alvarez, Loperfido. HP-Bacon, 1B-Wolf, 2B-Porter, Westburg 3b 4 0 1 0 0 2 .283 Reynolds lf 5 0 1 0 0 2 .279
E: d’Arnaud. 2B: Laureano (4), Burleson 2 3B-Blakney. T: 2:37. A: 31,240 (45,517). Kjerstad lf 3 0 0 0 0 1 .182 Cruz ss 4 0 0 0 0 1 .239
Umpires: HP-MacKay, 1B-Merzel, (11). RBI: Kelenic (25), Burleson 2 (36), Cowser lf 0 0 0 0 0 0 .226 Tellez 1b 4 1 2 1 0 1 .234
6NS | THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 2024 | SPORTS EXTRA - USA TODAY NETWORK

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PGA TOUR LPGA TOUR AMATEUR

Tour heads to Detroit for Rocket Mortgage
After a busy signature event-major championship-
signature event stretch, the PGA Tour heads to De-
troit and Detroit Golf Club for the 2024 Rocket Mort-
gage Classic. Defending champion Rickie Fowler —
T-20 at the Travelers Championship last week — and
Mr. 59 Cameron Young highlight the field in Michi-
gan. Since the tournament’s debut in 2019, the win-
ning scores have been 25 under (Nate Lashley,
2019), 23 under (Bryson DeChambeau, 2020), 18
under (Cameron Davis, 2021), 26 under (Tony Finau,
2022) and 24 under (Fowler, 2023).
Who to watch
Stephan Jaeger: He’s loved him some Detroit Golf
Club over the last two seasons, finishing solo fifth in
2022 and T-9 a year ago. The German ranks 24th in
birdie or better percentage entering the week, an
important stat for an event that will surely have a
winning score of 20 under or deeper. His newfound
distance off the tee — ranks 17th on Tour — will
come in handy at a golf course that can be overpow-
ered a bit.
Taylor Pendrith: The Canadian has been playing
consistent golf for the majority of 2024. In his last
four starts, Pendrith has finished T-21 (RBC Canadian
Open), T-33 (Memorial), T-16 (U.S. Open) and T-23
(Travelers Championship). In two previous starts at
the Rocket Mortgage Classic, Pendrith has finished
T-2 (2022) and T-14 (2023).
Aaron Rai: His name has been bouncing around
leaderboards for the last few months. Since the start
of May, the Englishman has finished T-4 (CJ Cup
Byron Nelson), T-39 (PGA Championship), T-32
(Charles Schwab Challenge), T-14 (RBC Canadian
Open) and T-19 (U.S. Open). In his lone start at De-
troit Golf Club, Rai tied for ninth in 2023.
Davis Thompson: Since missing the cut at the CJ
Cup Byron Nelson, Thompson has grabbed finishes
of T-2 (Myrtle Beach Classic), T-17 (Charles Schwab
Challenge), MC (RBC Canadian Open), T-27 (Memori-
al) and T-9 (U.S. Open).
Jake Knapp: He hasn’t had his best stuff of late —
three missed cuts in his last four starts — but this
pick is about feel and course fit. The 30-year-old can
absolutely pound it off the tee and will use that as a
weapon around this Donald Ross design.
— Riley Hamel
Yang’s KPMG victory a popular one
When it comes to popular winners, it’s hard to
imagine anyone getting a bigger group hug from her
peers than Amy Yang. The 34-year-old nearly retired
a short time ago but held on to win the KPMG Wom-
en’s PGA Championship in her 75th major champi-
onship start.
“I told (caddie) Jan on the 18th fairway, this has
been the longest 18 holes I ever played in my career,”
said a relieved Yang. “I was that much stressed and
felt pressure out there.”
Yang shivered as she walked into the flash area,
her clothes soaked from the bubbly affair. The last
time the LPGA has seen an 18th green celebration
quite so epic was the last time Yang lifted a trophy at
the CME Group Tour Championship in November.
“I think it just speaks to what kind of person she
is,” said Lydia Ko, who was joined by the likes of Jin
Young Ko, Brooke Henderson, Hyo Joo Kim and Hae-
ran Ryu on the 18th. “I said she’s one of the or the
nicest person on tour. And when she says stuff it’s
genuine.
“All these people aren’t here just for show. Every-
body means it.”
It wasn’t just the players who embraced Yang.
More than an hour after the last putt dropped at
Sahalee, dozens of kids were outside the press area
chanting her name.
Tour heads to Michigan
This week, the LPGA moves to the Dow Champi-
onship in Midland, Michigan, which is a 72-hole,
stroke-play team event with teams consisting of two
players. The first and third rounds will be played in
foursomes (alternate shot) and the second and final
rounds will be played in four ball (best-ball) format.
After 36 holes, the field will be cut to the low-33
teams and ties.
— Beth Ann Nichols
First Dane to win Amateur Championship
Jacob Skov Olesen made history last weekend.
The former Arkansas and TCU golfer became the
first Dane to win the Amateur Championship, taking
down Dominic Clemons 4 and 3 in the 36-hole finale
at Ballyliffin in Ireland on Saturday.
Olesen’s victory earned him a spot in next month’s
Open Championship at Royal Troon as well as spots
in next year’s Masters and U.S. Open at Oakmont,
given he remains an amateur.
“It’s an honor, and I’m really proud to be the first
Danish winner,” Olesen said. “I haven’t really gotten
to think about that, but I guess that’s something I’ll
have forever, which is super cool. Hope it can inspire
someone else from Denmark to win next year or
maybe some other years in the future.”
Olesen, 25, took advantage early and was 2 up
after the morning 18 holes. Then, he was 6 up at
points during the afternoon session before eventu-
ally winning 4 and 3.
Clemons, who won the Scottish Open Amateur
stroke play title he won at Muirfield earlier this
month, was 5 down with 5 to play but was able to
win one hole to close the gap, however, Olesen’s
advantage was too much.
“I will say on 15, the last putt there, I was thinking,
two putts from 15 feet and you get to play The
Open, the Masters and the U.S. Open,” Olesen said.
“That was probably the first time I really allowed
myself to think about it. It’s what you dream of since
you were a kid, to get to play those and play those
courses and play against those fields. It’s really
cool.”
The 2025 Amateur Championship will be played at
Royal St George’s and Royal Cinque Ports from June
16-21.
— Cameron Jourdan

Tom Kim lines up a putt on the 18th green during the final round of the Travelers
Championship on Sunday in Cronwell, Conn. GREGORY FISHER/USA TODAY SPORTS

Rocket ways look at it as OK, how can I do bet-

Continued from Page 1NS
appreciate kind of old-school golf
course architecture.”
Fowler won a playoff over Collin Mo-
rikawa and Canada’s Adam Hadwin last
year after they tied at 24-under 264. It
was Fowler’s first win since February
2019. The year before that, Tony Finau
(not in the field this week) set the scor-
ing record at the relatively new tourna-
ment at a whopping 26-under 262.
The highest-ranked golfer in Detroit
this week is South Korea’s Tom Kim (No.
16 in the world), followed by No. 23 Cam-
eron Young. Kim lost to Scheffler in a
playoff at the Travelers, while Young
shot a 59 in the third round but still fin-
ished five shots behind Scheffler and
Kim.
Kim said he understands playing the
PGA Tour means “you lose 99 percent of
the year,” and he’s hoping to take les-
sons learned from the Travelers with
him.
“I feel there’s so much more to gain
when you have weeks like that,” Kim
said. “It’s a positive week, but you al-
ter? You feed off so much and I think
that’s how you keep adding up good
weeks and adding up your successes
and leads to winning big golf tourna-
ments.”
If you’ve been hearing Kim’s name a
lot lately, that’s because this will be his
ninth consecutive start without skip-
ping a week, generally unheard of on
tour. He’s yet to win this year but did tie
for fourth at the RBC Canadian Open
earlier this month.
“It’s my ninth week and I’m feeling
like it’s only my second, I’m feeling real-
ly fresh,” Kim said, crediting his fitness
regimen.
The feel-good story of the week is
Miles Russell, who at 15 years old will
make his PGA Tour debut on a sponsor
exemption. The No. 1-ranked junior in
the world became the youngest winner
of both the Boy’s Junior PGA Champi-
onship and the Junior Players Champi-
onship last summer.
“I have my own goals, but my goal is
just to come out here and have fun,”
Russell said.
“That’s my main goal, have fun, may-
be learn something, take something to Rickie Fowler poses with the trophy after winning last year’s Rocket Mortgage
my next event.” Classic in Detroit. JUNFU HAN/USA TODAY NETWORK
 SPORTS EXTRA - USA TODAY NETWORK | THURSDAY, JUNE 27, 2024 | 7NS

TENNIS ROUNDUP

Raducanu ousts Pegula in Eastbourne

FIELD LEVEL MEDIA

Home-country favorite Emma Radu-

canu stunned No. 2 seed Jessica Pegula
4-6, 7-6 (6), 7-5 to move into the quar-
terfinals of the Rothesay International
in Eastbourne, England, on Wednesday.
For Raducanu, who won the 2021 U.S.
Open, it was the first victory over a top
10 player in her career. Pegula, ranked
No. 5 in the world, won the champion-
ship on the grass courts in Berlin last
week.
Neither player could capitalize on her
serve, with Pegula scoring on only 63
percent of her first serves to 66 percent
for Raducanu in the two-hour, 42-min-
ute match. Each broke serve six times,
but there was no bigger point than in the
second-set tiebreaker, when Raducanu
fended off match point down 6-5 and
went on to take the set.
Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, the fifth
seed, also was upset, with Katie Boulter
of Great Britain earning the 6-4, 7-5 vic-
tory.
Other winners included No. 3 seed
Jasmine Paolini of Italy, who was up 5-2
when Elise Mertens of Belgium retired,
No. 4 seed Madison Keys, sixth-seeded
Russian Daria Kasatkina and unseeded
Leylah Fernandez of Canada, Brit Harri-
et Dart and Czech Karolina Muchova.

Bad Homburg

Former World No. 1 Caroline Woz-

niacki of Denmark moved into the quar-
terfinals in Germany with a 6-2, 6-4 win
over Veronika Kudermetova of Russia.
Wozniacki won six straight games to
close out the first set and go up 2-0 in
the second, aided by converting 70 per- Emma Raducanu celebrates winning match point against Jessica Pegula in their Round of 16 match on Day 5 of the
cent of points on her serve compared Rothesay International on Wednesday in Eastbourne, England. CHARLIE CROWHURST/GETTY IMAGES FOR LTA
with 49 percent for her opponent.
Next up for Wozniacki will be No. 3
seed Emma Navarro, who handled fel- Rothesay International in Eastbourne, won their matches on Wednesday. round action in Spain.
low American Peyton Stearns 6-4, 6-1. England. Other winners included top-seeded Shelton will collide with British qual-
Other winners were Czech Katerina Vukic won 26 of 29 first-serve points American Taylor Fritz, Serbian Miomir ifier Paul Jubb in the quarterfinals. Jubb
Siniakova and Russia’s Diana Shnaider. and saved 3 of 3 break points to punch Kecmanovic, Italy’s Flavio Cobolli and also prevailed in straight sets on
his ticket to the quarterfinals. Bublik wild card Billy Harris of Great Britain. Wednesday, ousting qualifier Adam
Men lost despite racking up 12 aces. Walton of Australia, 6-0, 6-3.
Rothesay International Japanese qualifier Yoshihito Nishio- Mallorca Championships Fourth-seeded Chilean Alejandro Ta-
ka will face Vukic in the next round after bilo topped Kazakhstan’s Alexander
Australian lucky loser Aleksandar rallying for a 6-7 (8), 6-4, 6-2 victory No. 1 seed Ben Shelton of the U.S. col- Shevchenko 6-3, 6-2, while Czech Jakub
Vukic pulled off a 6-4, 6-4 upset of No. 3 over the United States’ Marcos Giron. lected 13 aces and saved 6 of 6 break Mensik defeated Italian wild card Fabio
seed Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan on Fellow qualifiers Max Purcell of Aus- points to cruise to a 6-4, 6-0 win over Fognini 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 in the only match of
Wednesday in the second round of the tralia and Juncheng Shang of China also Australian Rinky Hijikata in second- the day that went three sets.

SCOREBOARD
W L Pct GB Kansas City 46. Atlanta 6 9 .400 7½ Bezuidenhout, 70.10. Nov. 10 — NASCAR Cup Series
Philadelphia 53 27 .663 — Stolen Bases — Caballero, Tampa Bay 24; Chicago 6 9 .400 7½ Driving Distance Championship, Avondale, Ariz.
Atlanta 44 34 .564 8 Hamilton, Boston 21; Witt Jr., Kansas City Indiana 7 11 .389 8 1, Rory McIlroy, 318.90. 2, Byeong Hun An, NASCAR Cup Series Point Leaders
N.Y. Mets 39 39 .500 13 21; Rengifo, Los Angeles 20; Duran, Washington 4 13 .235 10½ 314.10. 3, Min Woo Lee, 314.00. 4, Kevin 1. Kyle Larson, 620.
Washington 38 42 .475 15 Boston 20; Garcia, Kansas City 19; Mullins, Western Conference Dougherty, 313.80. 5, Wyndham Clark, 2. Chase Elliott, 620.
Miami 28 52 .350 25 Baltimore 16; Rodriguez, Seattle 16; W L Pct GB 313.30. 6, Chris Gotterup, 312.20. 7, Gary 3. Denny Hamlin, 580.
Central Division Ramirez, Cleveland 15; Blanco, Kansas Minnesota 13 3 .813 — Woodland, 312.00. 8, Alejandro Tosti, 4. Martin Truex Jr., 572.
W L Pct GB City 15. Seattle 10 6 .625 3 311.40. 9, Jhonattan Vegas, 311.00. 10, 5. Tyler Reddick, 560.
Milwaukee 48 33 .593 — Wins — Lugo, Kansas City 10; Skubal, Las Vegas 8 6 .571 4 Vincent Norrman, 310.90.
St. Louis 41 38 .519 6 Phoenix 8 8 .500 5 IndyCar Series Schedule
Detroit 9; Rodon, New York 9; Gil, New
Pittsburgh 39 41 .488 8½ L.A. Sparks 4 13 .235 9½ Driving Accuracy Percentage July 7 — Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio,
York 9; Burnes, Baltimore 8; Blanco,
Cincinnati 37 43 .463 10½ Dallas 3 13 .188 10 1, Collin Morikawa, 78.27%. 2, Sepp Straka, Mid-Ohio SCC
New BetMGM customers can sign up Houston 8; Allen, Cleveland 8; Rodriguez,
Chicago 37 44 .457 11 77.76%. 3, Tommy Fleetwood, 76.38%. 4, July 14 — Hy-Vee Homefront 250, Iowa
today and get a First Bet Offer up to Baltimore 8; Stroman, New York 7; Lively, Tuesday, June 25 Lucas Glover, 74.81%. 5, Russell Henley, Speedway
$1,500 using bonus code USATSPORTS. West Division Cleveland 7. Minnesota 94, N.Y. Liberty 89 74.13%. 6, Shane Lowry, 73.36%. 7, Si Woo July 14 — Hy-Vee One Step 250, Iowa
Just download the BetMGM app, deposit W L Pct GB ERA — Houck, Boston 2.18; Lugo, Kansas Thursday, June 27
L.A. Dodgers 51 31 .622 — Kim, 73.07%. 8, Aaron Rai, 72.92%. 9, Speedway
at least $10 and place your first wager on City 2.29; Skubal, Detroit 2.32; Blanco, Minnesota at Dallas, 1 p.m.
San Diego 44 41 .518 8½ Scottie Scheffler, 71.99%. 10, J.T. Poston, July 20 — Ontario Honda Dealers Indy
any game. If your first bet loses, you will Houston 2.34; Burnes, Baltimore 2.35; Connecticut at Washington, 7 p.m.
Arizona 39 41 .488 11 71.71%. Toronto, Streets of Toronto, Canada
receive bonus bets in the amount of your Anderson, Los Angeles 2.63; Gilbert, Las Vegas at Chicago, 7 p.m.
San Francisco 39 42 .481 11½ Greens in Regulation Percentage Aug. 16 — Bommarito Automotive Group
bet (up to $1,500). Just make sure you Seattle 2.71; Gil, New York 2.77; Flaherty, Indiana at Seattle, 10 p.m.
Colorado 27 53 .338 23 1, Scottie Scheffler, 74.14%. 2, Kevin Yu, 500, Madison, Ill.
use bonus code USATSPORTS when you Detroit 2.92; Ragans, Kansas City 3.03.
Friday, June 28 71.00%. 3, Corey Conners, 70.90%. 4 (tie), Aug. 24 — Grand Prix of Portland, Portland
sign up. Gambling problem? Call Tuesday’s Scores Strikeouts — Crochet, Chicago 130;
Atlanta at Connecticut, 7:30 p.m. Lanto Griffin and Patton Kizzire, 70.83%. Aug. 30 — Hy-Vee Milwaukee Mile 250 -
1-800-GAMBLER (Available in the US). Cleveland 10, Baltimore 8 Ragans, Kansas City 120; Skubal, Detroit
L.A. Sparks at Phoenix, 10 p.m. 6, Aaron Rai, 70.68%. 7, Jhonattan Vegas, Race 1, Milwaukee Mile
Call 877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY Detroit 4, Philadelphia 1 112; Flaherty, Detroit 108; Bibee,
70.19%. 8, Xander Schauffele, 69.29%. 9 Aug. 31 — Hy-Vee Milwaukee Mile 250 -
(467369) (NY). Call 1-800-327-5050 (MA). Tampa Bay 11, Seattle 3 Cleveland 106; Lopez, Minnesota 101;
21+ only. Please Gamble Responsibly. Call Toronto 9, Boston 4 Houck, Boston 101; Castillo, Seattle 100; MLS (tie), Keith Mitchell and Rafael Campos, Race 2, Milwaukee Mile
Sept. 14 — Big Machine Music City Grand
1-800-NEXT-STEP (AZ), 1-800-BETS-OFF Pittsburgh 9, Cincinnati 5 Ryan, Minnesota 100; Gilbert, Seattle 99. 69.27%.
Eastern Conference Prix, Lebanon
(IA), 1-800-981-0023 (PR). First Bet Offer N.Y. Mets 9, N.Y. Yankees 7 Saves — Clase, Cleveland 25; Holmes, New W L T Pts GF GA Total Driving
for new customers only. Subject to Atlanta at St. Louis, PPD Rain York 19; Kimbrel, Baltimore 16; Jansen, 1, Rory McIlroy, 41. 2, Ryan Palmer, 60. 3, IndyCar Series Points Leaders
Inter Miami CF 12 3 5 41 46 29
eligibility requirements. Rewards are L.A. Dodgers 4, Chicago 3 Boston 15; Estevez, Los Angeles 15; Miller, Cincinnati 12 4 3 39 32 23 Carl Yuan, 64. 4, Rafael Campos, 69. 5 1. Alex Palou, 285.
non-withdrawable bonus bets that expire Houston 5, Colorado 2 Oakland 14; Foley, Detroit 13; Munoz, NY Red Bulls 9 4 7 34 34 25 (tie), Patton Kizzire and , 71. 6, Austin 2. Will Power, 262.
in 7 days. In partnership with Kansas Miami 2, Kansas City 1 Seattle 13; McArthur, Kansas City 13; Charlotte FC 9 6 5 32 23 20 Eckroat, 67. 7, Hayden Springer, 72. 8, 3. Scott Dixon, 253.
Crossing Casino and Hotel. See Milwaukee 3, Texas 1 Fairbanks, Tampa Bay 12. Columbus 8 3 6 30 29 17 Taiga Semikawa, 82. 9, Harrison Endycott, 4. Colton Herta, 217.
BetMGM.com for Terms. US promotional L.A. Angels 7, Oakland 5 NY City FC 9 8 2 29 26 23 83. 5. Kyle Kirkwood, 210.
National League
offers not available in North Carolina, Arizona 5, Minnesota 4 Batting Average — Ohtani, Los Angeles Nashville 6 5 8 26 23 23 Total Putts Per Round
New York, Nevada, Ontario, or Puerto San Diego 9, Washington 7 .320; Profar, San Diego .317; Ozuna, Toronto FC 7 10 3 24 28 35 1, Taylor Montgomery, 27.58%. 2, Denny
Rico. San Francisco 5, Chicago 1 Atlanta .314; Arraez, San Diego .310;
Atlanta 5 8 6 21 26 24 McCarthy, 27.60%. 3, Aaron Baddeley, TRANSACTIONS
Orlando City 5 8 6 21 23 31
Wednesday’s Scores Bohm, Philadelphia .309; Harper, Philadelphia 4 7 8 20 31 31 27.63%. 4, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Wednesday’s Transactions
Seattle 5, Tampa Bay 2 Philadelphia .306; Betts, Los Angeles New England 6 10 1 19 17 30 27.74%. 5, Mackenzie Hughes, 27.78%. 6, BASEBALL
ODDS SPONSORED Pittsburgh 6, Cincinnati 1 .304; Freeman, Los Angeles .300; Winn, D.C. United 4 9 7 19 26 37 Jason Day, 27.85%. 7, Maverick McNealy,
Major League Baseball
Philadelphia 6, Detroit 2 St. Louis .298; Contreras, Milwaukee .296. CF Montreal 4 8 7 19 26 41 27.86%. 8, Collin Morikawa, 27.87%. 9,
BY BETMGM.COM Atlanta 6, St. Louis 2 Home Runs — Ohtani, Los Angeles 24; Chicago 4 9 6 18 23 34 Russell Henley, 27.88%. 10, S.H Kim,
ATLANTA BRAVES — P Bryce Elder Called
Up from Minors recalled as 27th roster
Houston 7, Colorado 1 Ozuna, Atlanta 21; Harper, Philadelphia 27.92%.
Western Conference player.
Gannett may earn revenue from sports Kansas City 5, Miami 1 20; Hernandez, Los Angeles 18; Walker, W L T Pts GF GA Birdie Average CHICAGO WHITE SOX — P Mike Clevinger
betting operators for audience referrals Milwaukee 6, Texas 5 Arizona 17; Schwarber, Philadelphia 17; Los Angeles FC 11 4 4 37 38 23 1, Scottie Scheffler, 4.98. 2, Byeong Hun Recalled From Minors Rehab.
to betting services. Sports betting L.A. Angels 5, Oakland 2 Marte, Arizona 16; Alonso, New York 16; Real Salt Lake 10 3 7 37 40 23 An, 4.44. 3, Michael Kim, 4.40. 4, Xander CINCINNATI REDS — P Graham Ashcraft
operators have no influence over nor are San Diego 8, Washington 5 Gorman, St. Louis 16; Morel, Chicago 15. LA Galaxy 10 3 7 37 38 27 Schauffele, 4.39. 5, Tom Hoge, 4.38. 6, Called Up from Minors. P Yosver Zulueta
any such revenues in any way dependent Baltimore 4, Cleveland 2 RBI — Ozuna, Atlanta 64; Bohm, Colorado 9 7 4 31 38 32 Collin Morikawa, 4.36. 7, Wyndham Clark, Sent to Minors.
on or linked to the newsrooms or news N.Y. Mets 12, N.Y. Yankees 2 Philadelphia 64; Ohtani, Los Angeles 60; Minnesota 8 6 5 29 31 29 4.31. 8, Tony Finau, 4.28. 9, Rory McIlroy,
Portland 7 7 6 27 36 33 CLEVELAND GUARDIANS — Jhonkensy
coverage. Terms apply, see operator site St. Louis 4, Atlanta 1 Harper, Philadelphia 57; Profar, San Diego 4.24. 10 (tie), Justin Thomas and Patton Noel Called Up from Minors. RF
for Terms and Conditions. Gambling L.A. Dodgers 4, Chicago 0 54; Hernandez, Los Angeles 54; Adames, Houston 7 6 6 27 26 23 Kizzire, 4.23.
Austin FC 7 7 6 27 23 28 Johnathan Rodriguez Sent to Minors.
problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER CO, DC, IL, Minnesota 8, Arizona 3 Milwaukee 54; Walker, Arizona 50; Sand Save Percentage COLORADO ROCKIES — P Jake Bird Placed
IN, KS, KY, LA, MD, MS, NJ, OH, PA, TN, VA, San Francisco 4, Chicago 3 Cronenworth, San Diego 50; Schwarber, Vancouver 7 7 4 25 26 24
Seattle 6 7 7 25 27 25 1, Russell Henley, 70.71%. 2, Carl Yuan, on 15-Day IL Right groin strain.
WV, WY. Call 877-8-HOPENY or text Thursday’s Games Philadelphia 49. 68.85%. 3, Ryan Palmer, 68.09%. 4, Aaron DETROIT TIGERS — P Keider Montero
Stolen Bases — De La Cruz, Cincinnati 37; FC Dallas 5 9 5 20 27 31
HOPENY (467369) (NY) Call Minnesota (Paddack 5-3) at Arizona Saint Louis 3 6 10 19 24 31 Baddeley, 68.00%. 5, Justin Rose, 65.93%. Called Up from Minors. P Easton Lucas
1-800-327-5050 (MA). 21+ to wager. (Montgomery 6-4), 3:40 p.m. Turang, Milwaukee 27; Stott, Philadelphia Sporting KC 3 12 5 14 31 44 Sent to Minors.
19; Doyle, Colorado 18; Young, All-Around Ranking
Please Gamble Responsibly. Call Chicago (Imanaga 7-2) at San Francisco San Jose 3 14 2 11 29 51 HOUSTON ASTROS — C Omar Narvaez
Washington 18; Thomas, Washington 17; 1, Xander Schauffele, 141. 2, Scottie
1-800-NEXT-STEP (AZ), 1-800-522-4700 (Hicks 4-4), 3:45 p.m. Signed to a Minor League Contract.
Ohtani, Los Angeles 16; Acuna Jr., Atlanta Friday, June 28 Scheffler, 224. 3, Ludvig Aberg, 237. 4,
(NV), 1-800-BETS-OFF (IA), Atlanta (Sale 10-2) at Chicago (Thorpe MIAMI MARLINS — Valente Bellozo
16; Yelich, Milwaukee 15; Kim, San Diego Orlando City at NY City FC, 7:30 p.m. Rory McIlroy, 241. 5, Wyndham Clark, 253.
1-800-270-7117 for confidential help (MI), 1-1), 4:10 p.m. Purchased From Minors. P Kent Emanuel
15. 6, Sam Burns, 269. 7, Byeong Hun An, 283.
1-800-981-0023 (PR). In partnership with Miami (TBD) at Philadelphia (Wheeler Saturday, June 29 Designated for Assignment.
Wins — Sale, Atlanta 10; Suarez, Philadelphia at CF Montreal, 7:30 p.m. 8, Tony Finau, 319. 9, Keith Mitchell, 350.
Kansas Crossing Casino and Hotel. Visit 9-4), 6:20 p.m. MILWAUKEE BREWERS — Dallas Keuchel
Philadelphia 10; Gray, St. Louis 9; Wheeler, Columbus at New England, 7:30 p.m. 10, Erik van Rooyen, 389.
BetMGM.com for Terms & Conditions. US Texas (Gray 3-3) at Baltimore (Burnes Purchased From Minors. DH Gary Sanchez
promotional offers not available in DC, 8-3), 6:35 p.m. Philadelphia 9; Nola, Philadelphia 9; Toronto FC at Atlanta, 7:30 p.m.
Nevada, New York or Ontario. N.Y. Yankees (Rodon 9-4) at Toronto Keller, Pittsburgh 9; Glasnow, Los Angeles D.C. United at NY Red Bulls, 7:30 p.m. AUTO RACING Placed on 10-Day IL Strained left calf. P
Joe Ross Transferred to 60-Day IL Lower
All times Eastern (Berrios 6-6), 7:07 p.m. 8; Lodolo, Cincinnati 8; Stone, Los Cincinnati at FC Dallas, 8:30 p.m. back strain. P Joel Kuhnel Designated for
Angeles 8; Paxton, Los Angeles 7. NASCAR Cup Series Schedule
Cincinnati (Abbott 6-6) at St. Louis Charlotte FC at Houston, 8:30 p.m. June 30 — Ally 400, Nashville Assignment. Eric Haase Purchased From
(Mikolas 6-6), 7:45 p.m. ERA — Suarez, Philadelphia 2.01; Sanchez, Inter Miami CF at Nashville, 8:30 p.m. Minors.
Philadelphia 2.67; Wheeler, Philadelphia July 7 — Grant Park 165, Chicago
MLB Cleveland (Lively 7-3) at Kansas City
(Wacha 4-6), 8:10 p.m. 2.73; Gray, St. Louis 2.81; Glasnow, Los
Austin FC at Sporting KC, 8:30 p.m.
Colorado at Los Angeles FC, 10:30 p.m.
July 14 — The Great American Getaway NEW YORK METS — P Drew Smith Placed
400, Pocono on 15-Day IL Sprained right elbow. Ty
American League Detroit (Flaherty 5-4) at L.A. Angels Angeles 2.88; Sale, Atlanta 2.91; Fried, Saint Louis at Vancouver, 10:30 p.m. Adcock Called Up from Minors. C Joe
Atlanta 3.00; Assad, Chicago 3.04; Irvin, July 21 — Brickyard 400, Speedway, Ind.
East Division (TBD), 9:38 p.m. Chicago at Seattle, 10:30 p.m. Aug. 11 — Cook Out 400, Richmond, Va. Hudson Outrighted to Minors.
W L Pct GB Washington 3.13; Webb, San Francisco Minnesota at Portland, 10:30 p.m. NEW YORK YANKEES — P Victor Gonzalez
League Leaders 3.16. Aug. 18 — FireKeepers Casino 400,
N.Y. Yankees 52 30 .634 — LA Galaxy vs San Jose at Stanford, 10:30 Brooklyn Outrighted to Minors.
Baltimore 50 30 .625 1 American League Strikeouts — Glasnow, Los Angeles 135; p.m.
Batting Average — Witt Jr., Kansas City Aug. 24 — Coke Zero Sugar 400, Daytona PITTSBURGH PIRATES — P Quinn Priester
Boston 43 37 .538 8 Cease, San Diego 116; Peralta, Milwaukee Sent to Minors for Rehabilitation. C Henry
.311; Soto, New York .305; Judge, New Beach, Fla.
Tampa Bay
Toronto
40 41
36 43
.494 11½
.456 14½ York .304; Altuve, Houston .301; Smith,
112; King, San Diego 109; Wheeler,
Philadelphia 107; Sale, Atlanta 107; Gray,
GOLF Sept. 1 — Cook Out Southern 500, Davis Sent to Minors for Rehabilitation.
Texas .300; Rutschman, Baltimore .300; Darlington, SC SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS — Hayden
Central Division St. Louis 103; Greene, Cincinnati 103; PGA Tour Statistics Birdsong Purchased From Minors. P
Correa, Minnesota .298; Duran, Boston Suarez, Philadelphia 99; Gore, Sept. 8 — Quaker State 400 Available at
W L Pct GB Season Points Walmart, Hampton, Ga. Mason Black Sent to Minors. P Raymond
Cleveland 51 27 .654 — .288; Alvarez, Houston .288; Guerrero Jr., Washington 99.
Toronto .288. 1, Scottie Scheffler, 5,768. 2, Xander Sept. 15 — Go Bowling at The Glen, Burgos Designated for Assignment.
Minnesota 44 36 .550 8 Saves — Helsley, St. Louis 27; Finnegan, Schauffele, 3,257. 3, Rory McIlroy, 2,445. 4, ST. LOUIS CARDINALS — P Chris Roycroft
Home Runs — Judge, New York 29; Washington 22; Iglesias, Atlanta 20; Watkins Glen International, NY
Kansas City 44 38 .537 9 Collin Morikawa, 2,241. 5, Wyndham Clark, Called Up from Minors recalled as 27th
Detroit 37 43 .463 15 Henderson, Baltimore 25; Ramirez, Suarez, San Diego 20; Diaz, Cincinnati 17; Sept. 21 — Bass Pro Shops Night Race,
Cleveland 21; Santander, Baltimore 21; 2,088. 6, Ludvig Aberg, 1,992. 7, Hideki Bristol, Tenn. roster player.
Chicago 21 61 .256 32 Bednar, Pittsburgh 16; Megill, Milwaukee
Naylor, Cleveland 20; Soto, New York 19; Matsuyama, 1,893. 8, Sahith Theegala, Sept. 29 — Hollywood Casino 400, Kansas TEXAS RANGERS — P Cole Winn
West Division 16; Phillips, Los Angeles 13; Doval, San 1,845. 9, Patrick Cantlay, 1,717. 10, Byeong Transferred to 60-Day IL Right shoulder
Tucker, Houston 19; Stanton, New York 18; Francisco 13; Alvarado, Philadelphia 12. City, Kan.
W L Pct GB Hun An, 1,620. Oct. 6 — YellaWood 500, Talladega, Ala. sprain. RF Derek Hill Purchased From
Seattle 46 37 .554 — O’Neill, Boston 16; Devers, Boston 16.
RBI — Judge, New York 75; Ramirez, Scoring Average Oct. 13 — Bank of America ROVAL 400, Minors. P Yerry Rodriguez Designated for
Houston 40 40 .500 4½ Assignment. 2B Justin Foscue Sent to
Texas 37 43 .463 7½ Cleveland 72; Naylor, Cleveland 58; Soto, WNBA 1, Scottie Scheffler, 68.48. 2, Xander Concord, NC
L.A. Angels 33 46 .418 11 New York 57; Henderson, Baltimore 55; Schauffele, 69.25. 3, Rory McIlroy, 69.56. Oct. 20 — South Point 400, Las Vegas, Minors. 2B Justin Foscue Removed From
Oakland 29 54 .349 17 Santander, Baltimore 53; Rutschman, Eastern Conference 4, Collin Morikawa, 69.91. 5, Ludvig Aberg, Nev. 60-Day IL Strained left oblique. 2B Justin
Baltimore 53; Witt Jr., Kansas City 53; W L Pct GB 69.99. 6, Billy Horschel, 70.00. 7, Alex Oct. 27 — Race at Homestead-Miami, Foscue Recalled From Minors Rehab. 3B
National League N.Y. Liberty 15 3 .833 — Noren, 70.03. 8, Keith Mitchell, 70.08. 9, Homestead, Fla. Ezequiel Duran Sent to Minors.
Pasquantino, Kansas City 48; Perez,
East Division Connecticut 13 3 .813 1 Maverick McNealy, 70.10. 10, Christiaan Nov. 3 — XFINITY 500, Martinsville, Va.