Top: A sign requiring masks is seen near diners eating at a restaurant on the River Walk on Wednesday in San Antonio. Above right: BartenderAlyssa Dooley talks with customers at Mo's Irish Pub on Tuesday in Houston.

PHOTOS BY ERIC GAY, TOP, AND DAVID J. PHILLIP, ABOVE RIGHT/AP

NEW YORK — A new national study adds

strong evidence that mask mandates can slow

the spread of the coronavirus, and that allow-

ing dining at restaurants can increase cases

and deaths.

The Centers for Disease Control and Pre-

vention released the study Friday.

“All of this is very consistent,” CDC Director

Dr. Rochelle Walensky said during a White

House briefing on Friday. “You have decreas-

es in cases and deaths when you wear masks,

and you have increases in cases and deaths

when you have in-person restaurant dining.”

The study was released just as some states

Preventive measureseffective, study findsMask mandates, limiting dining out lead to fewer cases, deaths

BY MIKE STOBBE

Associated Press

SEE EFFECTIVE ON PAGE 5

VIRUS OUTBREAK

Volume 79 Edition 228B ©SS 2021 CONTINGENCY EDITION SUNDAY, MARCH 7, 2021 Free to Deployed Areas

stripes.com

MILITARY

Families sue afterchildren get sickin on-base homesPage 3

VIRUS OUTBREAK

Biden, Democratsprevail as SenateOKs $1.9T relief billPage 5

MUSIC

No guaranteeswhen it comesto GrammysPage 12

Unbeaten ’Zags chasing first national championship ›› College basketball, Page 24

WASHINGTON — The Demo-

cratic chairman of the House

Armed Services Committee called

the Lockheed

Martin-pro-

duced F-35 Joint

Strike Fighter a

“rathole” in a

virtual event

with the Brook-

ings Institution

on Friday, and

suggested the

U.S. should con-

sider whether to “cut its losses” by

investing in a range of competing

fighter jets.

Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash.,

whose Seattle-area district de-

pends heavily on Boeing for jobs

and investment, said the F-35

“doesn’t work particularly well”

and is too expensive to maintain.

He also bemoaned the U.S. mili-

tary’s long-term dependence on it.

“I want to stop throwing money

down that particular rathole,”

Smith said in a webcast conversa-

tion with Brookings’ Michael

O’Hanlon.

He characterized the F-35 as

overly expensive defense platform

with disappointing capabilities.

He criticized the jet’s sustainment

Congressman:Stop throwingmoney downF-35 ‘rathole’

BY AARON GREGG

The Washington Post

“What I’m going totry to do is figure outhow we can get amix of fighter attackaircraft that’s themost cost-effective.”

Rep. Adam Smith

chairman, House Armed

Services Committee

Smith

SEE MONEY ON PAGE 4

PAGE 2 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Sunday, March 7, 2021

BUSINESS/WEATHER

BOSTON — The hack of a com-

pany that manages ticket-process-

ing and frequent-flier data for ma-

jor global airlines — including

Star Alliance and OneWorld

members — has compromised the

personal data of an unspecified

number of travelers.

The hackers were able to access

some computer systems at Atlan-

ta-based SITA Passenger Service

System for up to a month before

the incident’s seriousness was

confirmed on Feb. 24, a spokes-

man for the company’s Geneva-

based parent company said.

The spokesman, Sandro Hofer,

would not say how many airlines

were affected — SITA says it

serves more than 400 and is indus-

try-owned.

The company said that Singa-

pore Airlines, New Zealand Air

and Lufthansa were among those

affected.

“The extent to which (frequent

flyer alliances’) individual air-

lines were affected varies from

airline to airline,” SITA said in a

statement.

It said Malaysia Airlines, Fin-

nair, Japan Airlines, Cathay Pacif-

ic had either issued statements or

reached out to frequent-flyer

members about the hack.

United Airlines said separately

that the only customer data poten-

tially accessed were names, fre-

quent-flyer numbers and pro-

gram status. It recommended in

an email that frequent-flyer cus-

tomers should change their ac-

count passwords “out of an abun-

dance of caution.”

Airline IT provider hacked, some data breachedAssociated Press

Bahrain74/64

Baghdad67/45

Doha78/59

Kuwait City80/54

Riyadh80/56

Kandahar74/40

Kabul60/40

Djibouti87/73

SUNDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Mildenhall/Lakenheath

44/33

Ramstein48/23

Stuttgart36/29

Lajes,Azores64/55

Rota63/52

Morón62/46 Sigonella

61/49

Naples60/46

Aviano/Vicenza52/33

Pápa49/25

Souda Bay60/46

Brussels43/30

Zagan41/33

DrawskoPomorskie 38/25

SUNDAY IN EUROPE

Misawa41/28

Guam85/76

Tokyo54/42

Okinawa72/64

Sasebo64/48

Iwakuni63/37

Seoul59/36

Osan57/33

Busan56/43

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

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

MONDAY IN THE PACIFIC

WEATHER OUTLOOK

TODAYIN STRIPES

American Roundup ...... 14Books .......................... 14Comics .........................15Crossword ................... 15Music ..................... 12-13Opinion ........................ 18Sports .................... 19-24

Military rates

Euro costs (March 8) $1.16Dollar buys (March 8) 0.8166British pound (March 8) $1.35Japanese yen (March 8) 104.00South Korean won (March 8) 1103.00

Commercial rates

Bahrain(Dinar) 0.3771Britain (Pound) 0.7238Canada (Dollar) 1.2673China(Yuan) 6.4985Denmark (Krone) 6.2405Egypt (Pound) 15.6955Euro 0.8392Hong Kong (Dollar) 7.7648Hungary (Forint) 308.50Israel (Shekel) 3.3278Japan (Yen) 108.32Kuwait(Dinar) 0.3031

Norway (Krone) 8.5609

Philippines (Peso) 48.62Poland (Zloty) 3.86Saudi Arab (Riyal) 3.7518Singapore (Dollar) 1.3421

So. Korea (Won) 1130.58Switzerlnd (Franc) 0.9292Thailand (Baht) 30.48Turkey (NewLira) 7.5320

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

INTEREST RATES

Prime rate 3.25Interest Rates Discount �rate 0.75Federal funds market rate  �0.093­month bill 0.0430­year bond 2.31

EXCHANGE RATES

Sunday, March 7, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 3

AUSTIN, Texas — Two military families

are suing several private housing companies

because the homes that they rented at the Na-

val Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif.,

contained mold that sickened their children

and ruined their personal belongings.

Navy Cmdr. Louis D’Antonio and his wife

Amber Holland-D’Antonio and Marine Corps

Maj. Ryan Keller and his wife Samantha Kell-

er moved into homes in the Parks at Monterey

Bay about one year apart. Both families dis-

covered their houses contained mold and be-

lieve the private companies that manage the

base housing did not follow proper safety pre-

cautions while remediating the homes, which

exacerbated the conditions, according to a

lawsuit filed Wednesday in the Superior Court

of California.

The defendants listed on the lawsuit are

Monterey Bay Military Housing, Clark Pinna-

cle Monterrey Bay, Clark Realty Capital, Pin-

nacle Monterey and Michaels Management

Services, which are the combination of pri-

vate companies that manage base family

housing for the Naval Postgraduate School

and the Army’s Presidio of Monterey.

The complaints of the two families match

those listed in nearly a dozen lawsuits filed in

courts across the country. Some military fam-

ilies have turned to the legal system to settle

claims that many private companies contract-

ed by the military to maintain and manage

base housing have been negligent and force

families to live in dangerous conditions.

Jim Moriarty, the attorney behind the Mon-

terey suit and others, said the continued filing

of lawsuits shows problems persist despite

new reforms that Congress has put into place

in the last two years.

“Somebody is going to get one of these cases

in front of a jury one day and [the media] will

report a verdict that will shock people,” he

said. “People will be outraged at the conduct of

these companies.”

Officials at Michaels Management Services

declined to comment on the lawsuit because

the executive team has not seen all associated

paperwork. Officials at Clark did not respond

to a request for comment.

Samantha Keller said her three children,

who range in age from 3 to 9 years old, still face

lasting health effects from living in the Monte-

rey housing, even two years after they moved.

“The hardest thing was to not only have my

husband and I go through it, but to watch our

children go through it,” she said.

The first house the family moved into in

May 2017 had water intrusion that led to mold

and sewage issues caused by tree roots grow-

ing into pipes leading to the house.

“Mold growth continued to reappear, and

representatives of the landlord companies

would attempt to remove mold laden Shee-

trock and trim without proper containment

and without taking care to prevent the track-

ing of moldy materials throughout the house,”

the lawsuit states.

After one year, the family was moved into

another house to allow for mold remediation

work, only to end up in a temporary home with

mold and insect problems, according to the

lawsuit. They eventually decided Ryan Keller

would finish his education program in Monte-

rey alone while his family moved in June 2019

to their next duty station, Camp Pendleton,

Calif.

All three children suffered respiratory

symptoms, trouble sleeping and rashes, as

well as emotional trauma. Living off base near

Pendleton, Keller said her son saw plastic cov-

ering a neighbor’s home that was being re-

painted. The boy panicked.

“My son started freaking out that the house

next door had mold, so all the houses had

mold, because that was our experience in

Monterey. He started freaking out that he was

going to lose his stuff again,” she said. “For

military kids, home is not the four walls that

make that place, but it is what’s in it for them.

When you take all that away from them, it’s al-

most like losing that sense of home … When a

toy goes from one house to another, that’s

when they know they are home.”

The D’Antonio family and their four chil-

dren, ranging in age from 6 to 20 years old,

moved into their first home on base in June

2018 and shortly thereafter noticed a smell

emanating from their then-7-year-old daugh-

ter’s bedroom closet, according to the lawsuit.

The smell was so penetrating that a teacher at

school called Holland-D’Antonio concerned

about the smell coming from the child’s

clothes.

“As the closet smell persisted, the family

noticed that mold had begun to grow through

the floors and on the tub in the bathroom. In re-

sponse, the landlord companies sent contrac-

tors who were allegedly trained in remediat-

ing mold. Instead, these contractors failed to

properly contain the problem and tracked

mold throughout the house. At one point, they

even set moldy construction debris on the

family’s sofa,” the lawsuit states.

The entire family suffered health condi-

tions including persistent runny noses, itchy

eyes, coughs, memory lapses and joint pain.

One of the couple’s daughters suffered from

frequent and alarming dizzy spells, causing

her to suffer falls and her gymnastics coach

recommended she withdraw for her own safe-

ty.

“She’s lost gymnastics. It was her passion.

She wanted to do it and she was good,” Hol-

land-D’Antonio said. “She was to a point

where she couldn’t walk down the stairs. She

had to sit down and scoot.”

All of the younger kids still use inhalers,

something that was not needed before moving

to Monterey. They moved in May to Naval Air

Station Lemoore, also in California, and live in

ahome that they purchased during a previous

assignment there.

“We’ve gotten better, but we aren’t there

yet,” Holland-D’Antonio said.

Three contractors attempted to solve the

mold problems within their first year in the

home, and testing revealed multiple types of

mold present in the home. The D’Antonios

were moved into a temporary home also found

to have mold and then a third home, according

to the lawsuit.

It was ultimately decided more work on the

original house needed to be done to better un-

derstand what was happening, and determine

what caused the smell in the closet.

However, a standoff remained about what

to do with the family’s belongings.

For the last 10 months, the family has con-

tinued to pay about $4,300 in monthly rent

through their basic allowance for housing for

their original home as they negotiate reim-

bursement for the damaged property still in-

side the house. The rent payments continued

despite an Army memo that deemed the home

uninhabitable, Holland-D’Antonio said.

Junk haulers came last month to take away

the remaining items and furniture to the city

dump.

Families sue Monterey base housing over moldBY ROSE L. THAYER

Stars and Stripes

Amber Holland-D’antonio

Mold was found on the floor of a bathroom in a home the D’Antonio family occupiedwhile stationed at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif. 

Samantha Keller

The infant daughter of Marine CorpsMaj. Ryan Keller often suffered a rashafter playing on the floor of the homethat the family occupied on base whilehe was assigned to the NavalPostgraduate School in Monterey, Calif. 

Thayer.rose@stripes.com Twitter: @Rose_Lori

WASHINGTON— The U.S.

Department of Health and Hu-

man Services is looking at a Vir-

ginia Army installation to house

unaccompanied migrant chil-

dren, the Pentagon confirmed

Friday.

U.S. Army Garrison Fort Lee

is located about 30 miles south

of Richmond, Va., and HHS con-

ducted a site survey Thursday

to determine whether the post

had suitable temporary housing

for children, Pentagon chief

spokesman John Kirby said

during a news briefing.

Reuters reported Friday that

HHS is trying to find more

housing solutions for the high

number of migrant children en-

tering the country across the

U.S.-Mexico border during the

coronavirus pandemic. Once

the children cross the border

and are found by U.S. Border

Patrol, they must be trans-

ferred to HHS within 72 hours,

according to the Reuters report.

The United States detained

nearly 100,000 migrants in Feb-

ruary at the southern border,

the highest number of arrests

for that month since 2006, Reu-

ters reported.

The temporary housing would

possibly be military barracks

and the children would be un-

der the supervision of HHS, ac-

cording to Kirby. There is no

formal request yet for the chil-

dren to move to Fort Lee or any

other military installations, he

said.

Fort Lee is home to a number

of military schools and Defense

Department agencies, includ-

ing the quartermaster school

and the Defense Commissary

Agency.

This would not be the first

time that unaccompanied chil-

dren have been housed at mil-

itary installations. Between

2012 and 2017, almost 16,000

children were housed at five

military bases in Texas, Cali-

fornia, Oklahoma and New

Mexico, according to a 2018

Congressional Research Ser-

vice report.

HHS considering Virginia base for housing migrant children BY CAITLIN M. KENNEY

Stars and Stripes

Kenney.Caitlin@stripes.com @caitlinmkenney

MILITARY

PAGE 4 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Sunday, March 7, 2021

WASHINGTON — National

Guard troops who deployed to the

nation’s capital to provide security

following the Jan. 6 riot at the Capi-

tol Building will be awarded local

service ribbons, a defense official

said Friday.

The District of Columbia Nation-

al Guard plans to award at least one

of two ribbons to all soldiers and

airmen who supported the security

mission before, during and after the

59th presidential inauguration in

recognition of their service, Air

Force Lt. Col. Robert Carver, the

spokesman for the Virginia Air Na-

tional Guard and the director of the

Joint Task Force-District of Colum-

bia’s Joint Information Center, said

in a statement.

More than 26,000 National

Guard members from all 50 states,

D.C., and three territories were de-

ployed ahead of the inauguration to

support local and federal law en-

forcement agencies following the

deadly Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.

Since the inauguration, most of the

troops have returned home. As of

Tuesday, 5,214 remain in Washing-

ton, according to the Pentagon.

While the mission was expected to

end March 12, the U.S. Capitol Po-

lice have requested the Defense

Department extend the deploy-

ment for two months.

The two ribbons that National

Guard troops could receive are the

District of Columbia National

Guard Presidential Inauguration

Support Ribbon or the District of

Columbia Emergency Service Rib-

bon, according to Carver. The inau-

guration ribbon is also a new deco-

ration, he said.

The ribbons have stripes of red,

white, and blue, and the presiden-

tial inauguration ribbon includes

the three red stars in its center.

Carver could not provide details

on the exact dates of eligibility for

the ribbons, but he said the under-

standing is Guard members who

were deployed to Washington from

Jan. 6 to now are eligible.

The ribbons are district-level

decorations and also being consid-

ered are federal-level decorations,

he said. There are no final plans for

when the ribbons will be presented.

Guard troops at Capitol to receive ribbonsBY CAITLIN M. KENNEY

Stars and Stripes

Kenney.Caitlin@stripes.com @caitlinmkenney

Photos courtesy of D.C. National Guard

The District of ColumbiaEmergency Service Ribbon. 

The District of Columbia NationalGuard Presidential InaugurationSupport Ribbon. 

so look into the issue, but he had

nothing specific to announce.

“I also saw veterans on that

day, including members of Con-

gress, who were veterans doing

remarkable things,” he said dur-

ing a White House news confer-

ence. “I think it's a full picture

there that underscores that, basi-

cally, veterans continue to play a

critical role in the country even

after they retire from active duty.

And we're very proud of that.”

The House VA committee’s in-

vestigation follows a December

report that the group released on

disinformation shared through

social media, initially brought to

the committee by Vietnam Veter-

ans of America. The committee

The House Committee on Vet-

erans’ Affairs will investigate the

targeted recruitment of veterans

by extremist groups, its chairman

has announced.

The investigation will dive into

the role misinformation plays in

drawing veterans toward extre-

mist ideology and organizations,

according to a statement from

Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif.,

chairman of the House VA com-

mittee. Few other details were

made available on the scope and

timeline of the committee’s inves-

tigation.

“This committee has taken a

firm stance against the targeting

of veterans— whether that be by

holding predatory for-profit insti-

tutions accountable or combating

the spread of harmful disinforma-

tion on social media,” he said in a

statement issued Thursday. “The

harm from this particular issue

transcends veterans, and taken to

the extreme, can threaten the ve-

ry core of our democracy and na-

tional security.”

Veterans or service members

made up nearly 20% of the arrests

made following the Jan. 6 siege of

the U.S. Capitol, but they are only

about 7% of the U.S. population,

according to a NPR investigation.

Department of Veterans Affairs

Secretary Denis McDonough said

Thursday that the agency will al-

report, “Hijacking our Heroes,”

found spoofing as one of the pri-

mary tools for recruitment used

by extremist groups. Spoofing in-

volves disguising an electronic

communication from an unknown

source to make appear as if it is

from a known, trusted source.

“Since last fall, our committee

has been working to understand

who groups such as the Proud

Boys, Oath Keepers, Three Per-

centers, and others are, where

they fit into the broader land-

scape of extremist and hate

groups, and why they specifically

seek to recruit veterans into their

ranks,” Takano said. “Exploiting

veterans is unacceptable, and it’s

our job to identify potential

means to identify, intercept, and

assist veterans who have been en-

snared in such recruitment ef-

forts.”

The Defense Department also

has announced it is examining ex-

tremism among the ranks. De-

fense Secretary Lloyd Austin an-

nounced last month a military-

wide stand down to address the is-

sue. During the stand down, the

Navy has said it will require sail-

ors to reaffirm their oaths to the

Constitution.

The services are expected to

conduct the 24-hour stand down

by April.

Targeting of vets by extremist groups to be investigatedBY ROSE L. THAYER

Stars and Stripes

Thayer.rose@stripes.com Twitter: @Rose_Lori

costs as “brutal,” and said he was

skeptical they would ever go down.

The solution, he said, is to invest in

other fighter jets so the Defense

Department has a range of options

at its fingertips.

“What I’m going to try to do is

figure out how we can get a mix of

fighter attack aircraft that’s the

most cost-effective. A big part of

that is finding something that

doesn’t make us have to rely on the

F-35 for the next 35 years,” Smith

said.

The F-35 is meant to serve as an

attack aircraft that can carry ad-

vanced weaponry, employ sophis-

ticated electronic jamming de-

vices, and evade enemy detection

by virtue of its stealthy design. It

also has surveillance and commu-

nication capabilities that network

it into the U.S. military’s other as-

sets.

But the program is expected to

cost more than $1 trillion over the

course of its 60-year life span,

making it the most costly weapons

program in U.S. history. Its unit

price recently dropped below $80

million, making it cheaper than

Boeing’s competing F15-EX on a

plane-by-plane basis. But the low-

er unit cost comes largely as a re-

sult of the fact that the Defense De-

partment is buying more of them

and spending more on the pro-

gram on the whole. It has also been

criticized for its high sustainment

costs.

The F-35’s fortunes soared un-

der former president Donald

Trump as the Pentagon used its

looser defense budget as an oppor-

tunity to buy the jets in bulk. A

2019 deal to purchase hundreds of

them in a $33 billion deal was tout-

ed as the largest single procure-

ment in the history of the U.S. mil-

itary. The deal pushed Bethesda-

based manufacturer Lockheed

Martin’s revenue to new heights

even when the coronavirus knee-

capped other aerospace manufac-

turers.

The F-35 is widely regarded in

the aviation community as an ad-

vanced fighter asset whose combi-

nation of stealth, situational

awareness, and firepower will de-

ter aggression from hostile nations

like Russia and China. But there

have at times been severe difficul-

ties with keeping the planes ready

to fly, a problem caused largely by

the logistical challenge of keeping

its advanced spare parts readily

available across the globe.

The jet’s mission-capable rate,

which measures the amount of

time the jet is able to fly at least one

of its assigned missions, has often

fallen short of expectations. A 2019

report from the Government Ac-

countability Office found the over-

all F-35 fleet was capable of per-

forming all of its tasked missions

only about a third of the time. (On

another metric, in which only

“combat-coded” F-35’s are consid-

ered, the mission capable rate is

much higher at closer to 80%.)

The Pentagon is already looking

for alternatives. It is in the early

phases of developing a completely

new jet, called Next Generation

Air Dominance, or NGAD, which

will eventually replace the F-35.

And the Air Force is also buying

Boeing’s F15-EX to give it a com-

peting option.

Doug Birkey, executive director

of the Air Force Association-affil-

iated Mitchell Institute for Aero-

space Studies, said it would be

foolish to significantly scale back

the F-35 program at a time when it

is just coming to fruition. The Unit-

ed States has already sunk untold

billions into its development and

might as well reap the rewards, he

said.

Scaling back the F-35 program

at this point “would be like buying

all of the lumber for a new house,

getting halfway through building

it, and then saying ‘you know what,

I don’t want to pay for the paint,’”

Birkey said.

Money: F-35 alternatives soughtFROM PAGE 1

ANDREW LEE/U.S. Air Force

F­35A Lightning II stealth fighters flew alongside Japanese and Australian warplanes in the large­scaleCope North exercise, which took place last month on Guam. 

MILITARY

Sunday, March 7, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 5

WASHINGTON — An exhaust-

ed Senate narrowly approved a

$1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill

Saturday as President Joe Biden

and his Democratic allies notched

a victory they called crucial for

hoisting the country out of the

pandemic and economic dol-

drums.

After laboring through the

night on a mountain of amend-

ments — nearly all from Repub-

licans and rejected — bleary-

eyed senators approved the

sprawling package on a 50-49

party-line vote. That sets up final

congressional approval by the

House next week so lawmakers

can send it to Biden for his signa-

ture.

“We tell the American people,

help is on the way,” said Senate

Majority Leader Chuck Schumer,

D-N.Y. Citing the country’s desire

to resume normalcy, he added,

“Our job right now is to help our

country get from this stormy pre-

sent to that hopeful future.”

The huge package — its total

spending is nearly one-tenth the

size of the entire U.S. economy —

is Biden’s biggest early priority. It

stands as his formula for address-

ing the deadly virus and a limping

economy, twin crises that have af-

flicted the country for a year.

Saturday’s vote was also a cru-

cial political moment for Biden

and Democrats, who need noth-

ing short of party unanimity in a

50-50 Senate they run because of

Vice President Kamala Harris’

tie-breaking vote. They also have

a slim 10-vote edge in the House.

On Saturday, Sen. Dan Sullivan,

R-Alaska, was absent for the vote.

A small but pivotal band of

moderate Democrats leveraged

changes in the bill that incensed

progressives, not making it any

easier for Speaker Nancy Pelosi,

D-Calif., to guide the measure

through the House. But rejection

of their first, signature bill was

not an option for Democrats, who

face two years of trying to run

Congress with virtually no room

for error.

The bill provides direct pay-

ments of up to $1,400 for most

Americans, extended emergency

unemployment benefits, and vast

piles of spending for COVID-19

vaccines and testing, states and

cities, schools and ailing industri-

es, along with tax breaks to help

lower-earning people, families

with children and consumers

buying health insurance.

The package faced solid opposi-

tion from Republicans, who call

the package a wasteful spending

spree for Democrats’ liberal allies

that ignores recent indications

that the pandemic and the econo-

my could be turning the corner.

“The Senate has never spent $2

trillion in a more haphazard

way,” said Senate Minority Lead-

er Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. Of

Democrats, he said, “Their top

priority wasn’t pandemic relief. It

was their Washington wish list.”

The Senate commenced a

dreaded “vote-a-thon” — a con-

tinuous series of votes on amend-

ments — shortly before midnight

Friday, and by the end had dis-

pensed with about three dozen.

The Senate had been in session

since 9 a.m. Friday.

Overnight, the chamber was

like an experiment in the best

techniques for staying awake.

Several lawmakers appeared to

rest their eyes or doze at their

desks, often burying their faces in

their hands. At one point, Sen.

Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, at 48 one

of the younger senators, trotted

into the chamber and did a pro-

longed stretch.

The measure follows five earli-

er ones totaling about $4 trillion

that Congress has enacted since

last spring and comes amid signs

of a potential turnaround.

The Senate package was de-

layed repeatedly as Democrats

made eleventh-hour changes

aimed at balancing demands by

their competing moderate and

progressive factions.

Biden, Demsprevail as virusrelief bill OK’d

BY ALAN FRAM

Associated Press

J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE/AP

Sen. Joe Manchin, D­W.Va., left, and Sen. John Cornyn, R­Texas, head to the chamber as the Senatesteers toward a voting marathon on the Democrats' $1.9 trillion COVID­19 relief bill that's expected to endwith the chamber's approval of the measure, at the Capitol in Washington, on Friday.

are rescinding mask mandates

and restaurant limits. Earlier this

week, Texas became the biggest

state to lift its mask rule, joining a

movement by many governors to

loosen COVID-19 restrictions de-

spite pleas from health officials.

“It’s a solid piece of work that

makes the case quite strongly that

in-person dining is one of the more

important things that needs to be

handled if you’re going to control

the pandemic,” said William Han-

age, a Harvard University expert

on disease dynamics who was not

involved in the study.

The new research builds on

smaller CDC studies, including

one that found that people in 10

states who became infected in Ju-

ly were more likely to have dined

at a restaurant and another that

found mask mandates in 10 states

were associated with reductions

in hospitalizations.

The CDC researchers looked at

U.S. counties placed under state-

issued mask mandates and at

counties that allowed restaurant

dining — both indoors and at ta-

bles outside. The study looked at

data from March through Decem-

ber of last year.

The scientists found that mask

mandates were associated with

reduced coronavirus transmis-

sion, and that improvements in

new cases and deaths increased as

time went on.

The reductions in growth rates

varied from half a percentage

point to nearly 2 percentage

points. That may sound small, but

the large number of people in-

volved means the impact grows

with time, experts said.

“Each day that growth rate is

going down, the cumulative effect

— in terms of cases and deaths —

adds up to be quite substantial,”

said Gery Guy Jr., a CDC scientist

who was the study’s lead author.

Reopening restaurant dining

was not followed by a significant

increase in cases and deaths in the

first 40 days after restrictions

were lifted. But after that, there

were increases of about 1 percent-

age point in the growth rate of

cases and — later — 2 to 3 percent-

age points in the growth rate of

deaths.

The delay could be because res-

taurants didn’t re-open immedi-

ately and because many custom-

ers may have been hesitant to dine

in right after restrictions were lift-

ed, Guy said.

Also, there’s always a lag be-

tween when people are infected

and when they become ill, and

longer to when they end up in the

hospital and die. In the case of din-

ing out, a delay in deaths can also

be caused by the fact that the din-

ers themselves may not die, but

they could get infected and then

spread it to others who get sick

and die, Hanage said.

“What happens in a restaurant

doesn’t stay in a restaurant,” he

said.

CDC officials stopped short of

saying that on-premises dining

needs to stop. But they said if res-

taurants do open, they should fol-

low as many preventative mea-

sures as possible, like promoting

outdoor dining, having adequate

indoor ventilation, masking em-

ployees and calling on customers

to wear masks whenever they

aren’t eating or drinking.

The study had limitations. For

example, the researchers tried to

make calculations that accounted

for other policies, such as bans on

mass gatherings or bar closures,

that might influence case and

death rates. But the authors ac-

knowledged that they couldn’t ac-

count for all possible influences —

such as school re-openings.

“It’s always very, very hard to

thoroughly nail down the causal

relationships,” Hanage said. “But

when you take this gathered with

all the other stuff we know about

the virus, it supports the message”

of the value of mask wearing and

the peril of restaurant dining, he

added.

Effective: Researchers found mask mandates reduce transmissionFROM PAGE 1

ERIC GAY/AP

Mariachi perform for diners at a restaurant on the River Walk in SanAntonio, on Wednesday.

VIRUS OUTBREAK

PAGE 6 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Sunday, March 7, 2021

VIRUS OUTBREAK ROUNDUP

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Cali-

fornia on Friday lifted some coro-

navirus restrictions on outdoor

sports and entertainment venues,

clearing the way for fans to attend

games on Major League Base-

ball’s opening day and for theme

parks like Disneyland to reopen

for the first time in more than a

year.

The rules take effect April 1, but

they only apply to people living in

California. Baseball teams, event

organizers and theme parks are

not allowed to sell tickets to any-

one living out of state as public

health officials try to limit mixing

while continuing to roll out coro-

navirus vaccinations.

The San Diego Padres, Los An-

geles Angels and Oakland A’s all

announced they will have fans in

the stands for opening day on

April 1. The Los Angeles Dodgers

and San Francisco Giants both

start their seasons on the road and

said they would announce their

plans later.

Disneyland Resort President

Ken Potrock did not say when the

iconic theme park would reopen,

but added “we can’t wait to wel-

come guests back and look for-

ward to sharing an opening date

soon.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s adminis-

tration announced the rules on the

same day the governor signed a

law aimed at returning public

school students to classrooms by

April 1. Newsom and state law-

makers have moved quickly in re-

cent days to change the state’s cor-

onavirus rules, including allowing

indoor youth sports to resume and

making it easier for businesses to

reopen in most counties.

Newsom also faces a recall

threat that has gained steam dur-

ing the pandemic amid growing

opposition to shutdowns.

Dr. Mark Ghaly, California’s

top public health official, said the

state is acting now because the

rates of new coronavirus cases

and hospitalizations are declining

while the number of people re-

ceiving vaccines is increasing.

California reported 4,659 new cor-

onavirus cases on Thursday while

just over 3 million people have

been fully vaccinated, or about

10% of the population 16 and older.

New YorkNEW YORK — After growing

cobwebs for nearly a year, movie

theaters in New York City reopen

Friday, returning film titles to

Manhattan marquees that had for

the last 12 months instead read

messages like “Wear a mask” and

“We’ll be back soon.”

Shortly after noon at the Angeli-

ka Film Center on Houston Street,

Holly Stillman was already feel-

ing emotional coming out of the

first New York showing of Lee

Isaac Chung’s tender family dra-

ma “Minari.” “My mask is

drenched,” she said.

But she was equally over-

whelmed by being back in a cine-

ma. Though Stillman feared the

experience would be too restric-

tive because of COVID-19 proto-

cols, she instead found it euphoric.

“It was just you and the movie

screen,” said Stillman. “It was

wonderful to smell the popcorn as

soon as I got into the theater —

even though I don’t eat popcorn.”

South CarolinaCOLUMBIA — South Carolina

never had a comprehensive state-

wide mask mandate, but there

were some specific ones in effect

for government office buildings

and restaurants.

That changed Friday, when

Gov. Henry McMaster lifted those

orders, leaving it up to state ad-

ministrative officials and restau-

rant operators to develop their

own guidelines related to the coro-

navirus pandemic.

The executive order essentially

reversed similar guidance from

the governor issued in July, when

McMaster made the face cover-

ings a requirement that anyone

entering a state office building,

per guidelines developed by the

Department of Administration. At

that time, McMaster also issued a

similar edict for restaurant-goers

and employees.

But, given South Carolina’s de-

clining number of COVID-19

cases, as well as the rising number

of residents who have been vacci-

nated against the virus, McMaster

said it was time to begin loosening

more mandates — while still

maintaining his recommendation

that all South Carolinians wear

face coverings in public settings

where social distancing isn’t an

option.

ArizonaPHOENIX — Arizona Gov.

Doug Ducey lifted capacity re-

strictions at gyms, restaurants

and other businesses Friday, cit-

ing lower COVID-19 cases and in-

creased vaccination as he eases up

on the pandemic restrictions that

have upended life for nearly a

year.

His order does not change mask

mandates imposed by cities and

counties, which remain in effect

across most of the state.

The decision to lift capacity re-

strictions applies to gyms, restau-

rants, theaters, water parks, bowl-

ing alleys and bars providing dine-

in services.

Ducey again ignored the guid-

ance issued by his own adminis-

tration last year, which says those

businesses should be closed alto-

gether under the current “sub-

stantial” level of virus spread

across most of Arizona.

But he took a more cautious

stance than his fellow Republican

governors in Mississippi and Tex-

as, who this week rescinded their

capacity restrictions and mask

mandates entirely in a swift re-

turn to normal. Arizona has not

had a statewide mask mandate.

OregonPORTLAND — Oregon Gov.

Kate Brown said Friday she will

issue an executive order mandat-

ing that all K-12 public schools

provide universal access to in-

person learning by the month’s

end for students up to fifth grade

and by mid-April for older stu-

dents.

The state’s coronavirus case

numbers have fallen sharply in re-

cent weeks. Oregon put teachers

ahead of older residents in the line

for the COVID-19 vaccine — a de-

cision that angered many people

65 and up. As teachers get vacci-

nated, Brown has been under tre-

mendous pressure from parents

and local elected officials in many

counties to reopen schools.

Many teachers’ unions national-

ly have balked at a return to in-

person learning, putting them at

odds with Democratic governors

like Brown in some states.

In neighboring Washington

state, Gov. Jay Inslee has im-

plored educators to return to the

classroom, but most students

there are in online classes and the

Seattle teachers’ union is defying

a district plan to return special

education students to schools. In

Chicago, the teachers’ union

agreed last month to return to

class with expanded access to vac-

cinations and metrics that will

lead to school closures again if

case numbers spike.

Under the Oregon order, stu-

dents in K-5 must have an in-per-

son learning option by March 29.

Students in grades six through 12

must have one by April 19. Stu-

dents who prefer to stay in online

classes will also have the option.

ArkansasLITTLE ROCK — The Arkan-

sas Supreme Court said Friday

that it would hear arguments in a

lawsuit by a group of legislators

challenging the state’s coronavi-

rus restrictions.

Justices granted the request for

oral arguments in the case but did

not immediately schedule the

hearing. A Pulaski County judge

last year dismissed the lawsuit,

and the legislators appealed to the

Supreme Court.

The case is moving forward a

week after Gov. Asa Hutchinson

lifted most of the state’s virus re-

strictions but left the state’s mask

mandate in place through at least

the end of March.

It also comes after the Senate

passed a measure expanding the

Legislature’s ability to terminate a

disaster declaration during a pub-

lic health emergency. The lawsuit

argues that the restrictions put in

place during the pandemic re-

quired legislative approval.

TexasAUSTIN — Texas expects more

than 1 million COVID-19 vaccine

doses next week, state officials

said Friday.

According to a Texas Depart-

ment of State Health Services

statement, the vaccines will be

first doses, with 245,000 doses be-

ing the new single-dose Johnson &

Johnson vaccine.

The federal government will

send more than 200,000 doses di-

rectly to pharmacies and federally

qualified health centers. The state

will distribute more than 930,000

first doses to providers in all but

20 of the state’s counties, along

with 457,000 second doses.

Meantime, the state reported

5,913 new confirmed and probable

cases Friday of the coronavirus,

which causes COVID-19, bringing

the total of Texas cases during the

pandemic to 2,678,295. The state

estimates that 147,360 of those

cases were active Friday. Of those,

5,065 cases required hospitaliza-

tion as of Thursday, the most re-

cent day for which the state pro-

vided data. That was 198 fewer

than Wednesday.

AlaskaANCHORAGE — Anchorage

will lift its coronavirus-related ca-

pacity restrictions on many busi-

nesses and will ease limits on oth-

er places where people gather un-

der a new emergency order set to

take effect on Monday.

City officials announced the

changes Thursday, saying retail-

ers, bars, restaurants and other

businesses will have their capac-

ity restrictions eliminated, the An-

chorage Daily News reported. Re-

quirements for wearing masks

and maintaining distance will re-

main in effect.

The businesses must operate in

ways that allow consumers to stay

six feet apart from people outside

of their households.

Indoor gatherings with food and

beverages will be allowed to have

25 people while indoor gatherings

without food or drinks can have up

to 35 people. Previously, up to 10

were allowed with food or bever-

age around, and up to 15 people

without food or drinks.

Outdoor gatherings with food

and drink will be permitted to

have 60 people, and the same gath-

erings without food or drink can

have up to 100 people. That dou-

bles the prior allowances.

Entertainment venues such as

theaters will be allowed to operate

at full capacity as long as patrons

wear masks.

California allowingMajor League ball,Disneyland to reopen

ANTHONY SOUFFLE, STAR TRIBUNE (MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.)/AP

A woman sat waiting to be vaccinated at the Vikings Training Center that had been converted into a siteadministering the newly available, single­dose, Johnson & Johnson vaccine Friday, in Eagan, Minn.

Associated Press

Sunday, March 7, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 7

NATION

WASHINGTON — Republi-

cans have one goal for President

Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion CO-

VID-19 relief package: erode pub-

lic support for the rescue plan by

portraying it as too big, too bloat-

ed and too much wasteful public

spending for a pandemic that’s al-

most over.

Senate Republicans prepared

Saturday to vote lockstep against

the relief bill, taking the calculat-

ed political risk that Americans

will sour on the big-dollar spend-

ing for vaccination distribution,

unemployment benefits, money

for the states and other outlays as

unnecessary, once they learn all

the details.

Reviving a page from their

2009 takedown of President Ba-

rack Obama’s costly recovery

from the financial crisis, they ex-

pect their opposition will pay po-

litical rewards, much like the ear-

lier effort contributed to the

House Republicans’ rise to pow-

er.

It’s a tested strategy but comes

at an uncertain, volatile time for

the nation. Americans are experi-

encing flickers of optimism at the

one-year anniversary of the dead-

ly outbreak as more people are

vaccinated. But new strains of the

virus and a still shaky economy

could unleash another devastat-

ing cycle of infections, lockdowns

and deaths. More than 500,000

Americans have died.

So far, public support for Bi-

den’s approach to the pandemic is

high. Overall, 70% of Americans

back the Democratic president’s

handling of the virus response, in-

cluding 44% of Republicans, ac-

cording to a new poll from The

Associated Press-NORC Center

for Public Affairs Research.

Biden and Democrats warn

that now is not the time to let up

on aid, and that it’s better to risk

doing too much than too little.

They say the costs of paring back

the rescue risk stalling out the ec-

onomic recovery, as many believe

happened in 2009.

“When the house is in flames,

you don’t argue about how much

of the fire to put out,” said Sen.

Patty Murray, D-Wash., during

Friday’s session.

“You do whatever it takes until

the crisis is over,” she said. “And

you do it as fast as you can.”

The debate in Congress reflects

a fundamental divide in the coun-

try over how to contain and crush

the pandemic and get the nation

back to normal.

Nearly 10 million jobs have

been lost and some 11 million

households face evictions. While

Democratic leaders generally

side with health professionals

supporting social distancing re-

strictions and easing into school

and workplace reopenings, con-

gressional Republicans have

been more eager to conduct busi-

ness as close to usual as possible.

The U.S. is not alone in con-

fronting the daunting dilemma

that holds serious ramifications

about the size and scope of aid

that’s needed to prevent further

economic catastrophe.

Senate Republican leader

Mitch McConnell, who is leading

his minority party toward the

“no” vote, said Biden’s 628-page

bill is a Democratic “wish list”

doesn’t meet the moment because

the pandemic is lifting and the

economy is ready for a “roaring

recovery.”

“We are already on track to

bounce back from the crisis,” he

said.

Republicans argue Congress

has already approved historic

sums to counter the pandemic

and worry the big spending will

overheat the economy, spiking in-

flationary fears, though econo-

mists are mixed on those con-

cerns. They have an opening with

voters who the polling shows are

skeptical of Biden’s handling of

the economy.

McConnell expressed similar

optimism last spring when he hit

“pause” on new spending after

approval of the initial round of

aid. Around that time, then-Presi-

dent Donald Trump pledged that

Americans would be all but back

to normal by Easter Sunday.

But as Texas announced this

past week it would seek to end

face-mask wearing requirements,

one of the key strategies public

health officials say helps stop the

spread of the virus, familiar polit-

ical fault-lines and anxieties are

resurfacing. Texas was among

the first states to reopen in May,

loosening restrictions at the start

of the pandemic’s second wave

that coursed through summer.

Jason Furman, the former

chairman of Obama’s Council of

Economic Advisers who now

teaches at Harvard, agrees that

parts of Biden’s package are too

big, suggesting the $350 billion to

states and cities could be reduced

or have stricter guardrails against

waste. But he said the bigger eco-

nomic danger is in not doing

enough.

Vaccines alone are not enough

to ensure a healthy economy, he

said. Households are struggling

and businesses are confronting

changing consumer habits and

spending. The Biden package of-

fers $1,400 direct payments to in-

dividuals, phased out for those

earning $80,000 a year.

“If you add up the financial

needs of households and the

shortfalls facing states the Amer-

ican Rescue Plan overfills these,”

he said by email. “But no legisla-

tion is perfect and, as I said, if the

downside is families get a little

more money in one particular

year that is much less bad than if

Congress fails to act.”

Fighting Biden virus aid, GOPrekindles Obama-era strategy

Associated Press

J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE/AP

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R­Ky., arrives at the Capitolin Washington on Thursday.

WASHINGTON — No news

conference. No Oval Office ad-

dress. No primetime speech to a

joint session of Congress.

President Joe Biden is the first

executive in four decades to reach

this point in his term without hold-

ing a formal question and answer

session. It reflects a White House

media strategy meant both to re-

serve major media set-pieces for

the celebration of a legislative vic-

tory and to limit unforced errors

from a historically gaffe-prone

politician.

Biden has opted to take ques-

tions about as often as most of his

recent predecessors, but he tends

to field just one or two informal in-

quiries at a time, usually in a hur-

ried setting at the end of an event.

In a sharp contrast with the pre-

vious administration, the White

House is exerting extreme mess-

age discipline, empowering staff

to speak but doing so with caution.

Recalling both Biden’s largely

leak-free campaign and the but-

toned-up Obama administration,

the new White House team has

carefully managed the president’s

appearances, trying to lower the

temperature from Donald

Trump’s Washington and to save a

big media moment to mark what

could soon be a signature accom-

plishment: passage of the CO-

VID-19 bill.

The message control may serve

the president’s purposes but it de-

nies the media opportunities to di-

rectly press Biden on major policy

issues and to engage in the kind of

back-and-forth that can draw out

information and thoughts that go

beyond the administration’s cu-

rated talking points.

“The president has lost some

opportunity, I think, to speak to

the country from the bully pulpit.

The volume has been turned so

low in the Biden White House that

they need to worry about whether

anyone is listening,” said Frank

Sesno, former head of George

Washington University’s school of

media. “But he’s not great in these

news conferences. He rambles.

His strongest communication is

not extemporaneous.”

Other modern presidents took

more questions during their open-

ing days in office.

By this point in their terms,

Trump and George H.W. Bush

had each held five press confer-

ences, Bill Clinton four, George W.

Bush three, Barack Obama two

and Ronald Reagan one, accord-

ing to a study by Martha Kumar,

presidential scholar and professor

emeritus at Towson University.

Biden has given five interviews

as opposed to nine from Reagan

and 23 from Obama.

“Biden came in with a plan for

how they wanted to disseminate

information. When you compare

him with Trump, Biden has sense

of how you use a staff, that a presi-

dent can’t do everything himself,”

Kumar said. “Biden has a press

secretary who gives regular brief-

ings. He knows you hold a news

conference when you have some-

thing to say, in particular a victo-

ry. They have an idea of how to use

this time, early in the administra-

tion when people are paying atten-

tion, and how valuable that is.”

The new president had taken

questions 39 times, according to

Kumar’s research, though usually

just one or two shouted inquiries

from a group of reporters known

as the press pool at the end of an

event in the White House’s State

Dining Room or Oval Office.

Those exchanges can at times

be clunky, with the cacophony of

shouts or the whir of the blades of

the presidential helicopter idling

on the South Lawn making it diffi-

cult to have a meaningful ex-

change.

“Press conferences are critical

to informing the American people

and holding an administration ac-

countable to the public,” said As-

sociated Press reporter Zeke Mill-

er, president of the White House

Correspondents’ Association. “As

it has with prior presidents, the

WHCA continues to call on Presi-

dent Biden to hold formal press

conferences with regularity.”

White House press secretary

Jen Psaki on Friday defended the

president’s accessibility to the

media and suggested that a news

conference was likely by the end

of March.

Biden White House seeks message disciplineAssociated Press

PATRICK SEMANSKY/AP

President Joe Biden participates in a roundtable discussion on acoronavirus relief package Friday at the White House in Washington.

PAGE 8 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Sunday, March 7, 2021

NATION

Bye-bye, Bismarck. So long,

Sheboygan.

Those cities in North Dakota

and Wisconsin, respectively, are

two of 144 that the federal govern-

ment is proposing to downgrade

from the metropolitan statistical

area designation, and it could be

more than just a matter of seman-

tics. Officials in some of the affect-

ed cities worry that the change

could have adverse implications

for federal funding and economic

development.

Under the new proposal, a met-

ro area would have to have at least

100,000 people in its core city to

count as an MSA, double the

50,000-person threshold that has

been in place for the past 70 years.

Cities formerly designated as met-

ros with core populations between

50,000 and 100,000 people, like

Bismarck and Sheboygan, would

be changed to “micropolitan” sta-

tistical areas instead.

A committee of representatives

from federal statistical agencies

recently made the recommenda-

tions to the Office of Management

and Budget, saying it’s purely for

statistical purposes and not to be

used for funding formulas. As a

practical matter, however, that is

how it’s often used.

Several housing, transportation

and Medicare reimbursement

programs are tied to communities

being metropolitan statistical ar-

eas, or MSAs, so the designation

change concerns some city offi-

cials.

In Corvallis, Ore., the state des-

ignates certain funding sources to

metropolitan statistical areas and

any change to the city’s status

could create a ripple effect, partic-

ularly when it comes to transpor-

tation funding, said Patrick Rol-

lens, a spokesman for the city that

is home to Oregon State Universi-

ty.

“I won’t lie. We would be dis-

mayed to see our MSA designation

go away. We aren’t a suburb of any

other, larger city in the area, so

this is very much part of our com-

munity’s identity,” Rollens said in

an email. “Losing the designation

would also have potentially ad-

verse impacts on recruitment for

local businesses, as well as Oregon

State University.”

If the proposal is approved, it

could be the first step toward fed-

eral programs adjusting their pop-

ulation thresholds when it comes

to distributing money to commu-

nities, leading to funding losses for

the former metro areas, said Ben

Ehreth, community development

director for Bismarck.

“It won’t change any formulas ...

but we see this as a first step lead-

ing down that path,” Ehreth said.

“We anticipate that this might be

that first domino to drop.”

Rural communities are con-

cerned that more micropolitan ar-

eas would increase competition

for federal funding targeting rural

areas. The change would down-

grade more than a third of the cur-

rent 392 MSAs.

Statisticians say the change in

designations has been a long time

coming, given that the U.S. pop-

ulation has more than doubled

since 1950. Back then, about half

of U.S. residents lived in metros;

now, 86% do.

144 cities could lose status as metro areasAssociated Press

MIKE MCCLEARY / AP

A pair of Bismarck State College students walk across the Bismarck, N.D., campus in 2019.

ALBANY, N.Y. — Two more

aides to Andrew Cuomo have left

their jobs as the New York gover-

nor faces dual scandals over sexual

harassment claims and accusations

his administration covered up

nursing-home COVID-19 deaths.

Press secretary Caitlin Girouard

and interim policy adviser Erin

Hammond have left, the adminis-

tration said Friday. The two aides

are the latest

staffers to leave

the governor’s of-

fice following the

scandals, which

have prompted

bipartisan calls

for him to resign.

Cuomo apol-

ogized Wednes-

day for making women who

worked for him “uncomfortable”

but said he wouldn’t step down

from office.

Gareth Rhodes, a senior adviser

who often appeared at Cuomo’s tel-

evised virus briefings and helped

lead the state’s vaccination effort,

said this week he was leaving the

administration to return to his pre-

vious role at the Department of Fi-

nancial Services. Rhodes’ wife on

Monday tweeted her support for

Anna Ruch, one of the women who

accused the governor of sexual ha-

rassment. First deputy press secre-

tary Will Burns also said he would

leave this week. The governor’s of-

fice said both departures were

planned.

Girouard, who departed Friday,

had issued the statement last month

denying sexual harassment allega-

tions of Cuomo’s first accuser, for-

mer economic aide Lindsay Boy-

lan. She said Boylan’s claims were

“quite simply false” in a statement

issued Feb. 24. In a December

statement, she had also said “there

is simply no truth to these claims.”

Girouard on Friday said she ac-

cepted a job offer in the private sec-

tor Jan. 26 and that it was the “hon-

or of a lifetime serving Gov. Cuo-

mo.” She said she began looking for

a job outside government last year,

after working in the administration

for two years.

Peter Ajemian, communications

director for the governor, said,

“Caitlin is a world-class, top-flight

communications professional who

is well respected in New York,

Washington and beyond. She’s

been a real rock for our press shop,

especially during the past year

fighting the pandemic, and we wish

her nothing but the best in her next

chapter.”

Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzo-

pardi said Hammond’s departure

had been planned for several

months. “Her departure allows her

to focus on her family,” he said.

2 top female aides leaveCuomo’s administration

Bloomberg News

Cuomo

WASHINGTON — President

Joe Biden has two seats to fill on

the influential appeals court in the

nation’s capital that regularly

feeds judges to the Supreme

Court.

They are among the roughly

10% of federal judgeships that are

or will soon be open, giving Biden

his first chance to make his mark

on the American judiciary.

Barring an improbable expan-

sion of the Supreme Court, Biden

won’t be able to do anything about

the high court’s entrenched con-

servative majority any time soon.

Justice Clarence Thomas, at 72, is

the oldest of the court’s conserva-

tives and the three appointees of

former President Donald Trump,

ranging in age from 49 to 56, are

expected to be on the bench for

decades.

Democrats traditionally have

not made the judiciary a focus,

but that is changing after four

years of Trump and the vast

changes he made. Biden’s ap-

pointments are also the only con-

crete moves he has right now to

affect the judiciary at large,

though there is talk about expand-

ing the number of judges on lower

courts.

The nearly 90 seats that Biden

can fill, which give their occu-

pants life tenure after Senate con-

firmation, are fewer than Trump

inherited four years ago. That’s

because Republicans who con-

trolled the Senate in the final two

years of the Obama White House

confirmed relatively few judges.

Included in the tally are 10 seats

on federal courts of appeals

where nearly all appeals, other

than the few dozen decided by the

Supreme Court each year, come

to an end.

One seat is held by Merrick

Garland, whose confirmation as

attorney general is expected in

the coming days. Another long-

time judge on the court, David Ta-

tel, has said he is cutting back on

his duties, a change that allows

Biden to appoint his successor.

Chief Justice John Roberts,

Justice Brett Kavanaugh and

Thomas were appellate judges at

the courthouse at the bottom of

Capitol Hill before they joined the

high court atop the Hill.

The late Justices Antonin Scalia

and Ruth Bader Ginsburg also

served on the appeals court,

where they first formed their last-

ing friendship.

Following Scalia’s death just

over five years ago. President Ba-

rack Obama nominated Garland

to the Supreme Court, but Senate

Republicans didn’t give him even

a hearing, much less a vote.

When Trump took office in Ja-

nuary 2017, he had a high court

vacancy to fill. Trump ended up

making three Supreme Court ap-

pointments to go along with 54 ap-

pellate court picks and 174 trial

judges, aided by then-Senate Ma-

jority Leader Mitch McConnell’s

determination to, as he put it,

“leave no vacancy behind.”

Democrats and their progres-

sive allies say they’ve learned a

lesson or two from the Republi-

cans, and intend to make judicial

nominations a greater focus than

in past Democratic administra-

tions.

“It’s an exceptional situation

where you have a president and

the people around him people

who really see this as a high pri-

ority,” said former Sen. Russ

Feingold, the Wisconsin Demo-

crat who served with Biden in the

Senate for 16 years. Feingold now

is president of the American Con-

stitution Society.

“I think President Biden knows

that a part of his legacy will be un-

doing the damage done by Trump

to the extent possible,” Feingold

said.

So far, liberal groups are en-

couraged by the signals the White

House is sending. White House

counsel Dana Remus wrote sen-

ators in December that recom-

mendations for new judges should

come within 45 days of a vacancy.

Biden getting his 1st chance atmaking mark on federal judiciary

Associated Press

Sunday, March 7, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 9

NATION

JACKSON, Miss. — Fewer than

5,000 water customers were still

without service Friday afternoon

in Mississippi’s capital city of

Jackson — a development a top of-

ficial called “positive progress”

for the city of 160,000, where some

residents have been without water

for three weeks.

“It’s been a good day, and we

want to continue this trend

through the weekend,” Public

Works Director Charles Williams

said during a Friday news confer-

ence.

Williams said almost 42,000 city

water customers have now had

their water restored. He said he

hopes to see service restored to

most customers in Jackson by

Monday.

Resident Nita Smith and her

mother were still without water

Friday, marking three weeks

since they first lost service.

Smith’s mother has diabetes

and doesn’t drive. She’s had to

help her mother and the other ol-

der people on her street get access

to water to clean themselves and

flush toilets.

“I feel like the city of Jackson

put its residents under a lot of un-

necessary stress,” she said Friday.

“It’s very scary to know that you

don’t have any water.”

Jeff Good, the co-owner of three

Jackson restaurants, had been

without water at two of his busi-

nesses for more than two weeks.

Finally, one got water back Thurs-

day. The other got it Friday.

“WE WILL OPEN SATURDAY

MORNING FOR BREAKFAST!”

he posted Friday on the Facebook

page for Broad Street Bakery and

Cafe. “After 17 days without wa-

ter, we are thankful to announce

we are finally reopening on Satur-

day morning.”

The water shortage in Jackson

occurred after a winter storm

passed through the region three

weeks ago, freezing machinery at

the water treatment plant. When it

began to thaw, dozens of water

mains broke.

A key focus to recovery has

been filling the system’s water

tanks. Williams said earlier in the

week that fish, tree limbs and oth-

er debris have clogged screens

where water moves from a reser-

voir into the treatment plant. That

caused pressure to drop for the en-

tire water system.

Williams said Friday the stor-

age tanks were filling up. He said

after 48 hours of consistent water

flow, the city can start sampling

the water to see about lifting the

boil water notice, which has been

in effect since Feb. 16.

Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar

Lumumba said that the water cri-

sis has been caused in part be-

cause of decades of neglect re-

garding the city’s aging infras-

tructure. Parts of Jackson’s water

system are a century old, he said.

On Wednesday, Lumumba

penned a letter to Mississippi Gov.

Tate Reeves and other state and

federal leaders asking for $47 mil-

lion in state and federal funding to

begin repairing the water system.

“These improvements are crit-

ical to our efforts to ensure that

our residents and businesses are

not deprived of clean water

again,” he wrote.

Fewer than 5K

without water

across JacksonAssociated Press/Report

for America

HOUSTON — U.S. immigration

authorities will no longer use a

small Pennsylvania detention

center to hold parents and chil-

dren seeking asylum, part of a

broader shift by President Joe Bi-

den’s administration to reduce the

use of family detention.

In a court filing Friday, the U.S.

government said it had released

all families detained at the 96-bed

Berks County family detention

center in Leesport, Pa. The deten-

tion center will instead be used by

U.S. Immigration and Customs

Enforcement to hold adults, the

government said.

Families will still be detained at

larger detention centers in Karnes

City and Dilley in Texas, but the

government intends to hold peo-

ple at those sites for three days or

less, the court filing said.

Lawyers who work with de-

tained immigrant families wel-

comed the news and credited the

Biden administration for an-

nouncing the shift. But they noted

that even shorter detention stays

could be harmful to children.

“Family detention will never

truly be over until the facilities are

closed and the contracts with ICE

end,” said Bridget Cambria, exec-

utive director of the legal group

Aldea - The People’s Justice Cen-

ter.

All three family detention cen-

ters opened when Biden was vice

president to President Barack

Obama. While running for presi-

dent, Biden pledged to release de-

tained families.

The Biden administration has

already released several families

seeking asylum who had been de-

tained for a year or longer in Tex-

as and in some cases came within

hours of deportation. Those fam-

ilies will pursue their cases while

remaining subject to ICE monitor-

ing.

In his early days, Biden has con-

fronted increasing numbers of

families and unaccompanied chil-

dren crossing the U.S.-Mexico

border, leading to shortages of

space in Border Patrol holding

cells and long-term facilities for

children operated by Health and

Human Services. In the case of the

Border Patrol, hundreds of chil-

dren in recent weeks have been

detained longer than 72 hours, the

general limit set by the agency’s

standards.

Biden stopped the practice initi-

ated by former President Donald

Trump of expelling unaccompa-

nied immigrant children under

public health authority. Officials

expelled thousands of children to

their countries of origin without

giving them a chance to seek asy-

lum or other protections under

federal law.

The Biden administration con-

tinues to expel immigrant families

and adults.

US says it will reduce detention of immigrant familiesAssociated Press

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. —

NASA’s newest Mars rover hit the

dusty red road this week, putting

21 feet on the odometer in its first

test drive.

The Perseverance rover ven-

tured from its landing position

Thursday, two weeks after setting

down on the red planet to seek

signs of past life.

The roundabout, back and forth

drive lasted just 33 minutes and

went so well that more driving

was on tap Friday and Saturday

for the six-wheeled rover.

“This is really the start of our

journey here,” said Rich Rieber,

the NASA engineer who plotted

the route. “This is going to be like

the Odyssey, adventures along the

way, hopefully no Cyclops, and

I’m sure there will be stories

aplenty written about it.”

In its first drive, Perseverance

went forward 13 feet, took a 150-

degree left turn, then backed up 8

feet. During a news conference

Friday, NASA’s Jet Propulsion

Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.,

shared photos of its tracks over

and around small rocks.

“I don’t think I’ve ever been

happier to see wheel tracks and

I’ve seen a lot of them,” said engi-

neer Anais Zarifian.

Flight controllers are still

checking all of Perseverance’s

systems. So far, everything is

looking good. The rover’s 7-foot

robot arm, for instance, flexed its

muscles for the first time Tues-

day.

Before the car-size rover can

head for an ancient river delta to

collect rocks for eventual return

to Earth, it must drop its so-called

protective “belly pan” and release

an experimental helicopter

named Ingenuity.

As it turns out, Perseverance

landed right on the edge of a po-

tential helicopter landing strip —

anice, flat spot, according to Rieb-

er. So the plan is to drive out of this

landing strip, ditch the pan, then

return for Ingenuity’s highly an-

ticipated test flight. All this should

be accomplished by late spring.

Scientists are debating whether

to take the smoother route to get to

the nearby delta or a possibly

tougher way with intriguing rem-

nants from that once-watery time

3 billion to 4 billion years ago.

Perseverance became the ninth

U.S. spacecraft to successfully

land on Mars on Feb. 18. China

hopes to land its smaller rover —

currently orbiting the red planet

— in another few months.

NASA scientists, meanwhile,

announced Friday that they’ve

named Perseverance’s touch-

down site in honor of the late sci-

ence fiction writer Octavia E. But-

ler, who grew up next door to JPL

in Pasadena. She was one of the

first African Americans to receive

mainstream attention for science

fiction. Her works included

“Bloodchild and Other Stories”

and “Parable of the Sower.”

NASA, JPL­CALTECH/AP

The first drive of the Perseverance rover on Mars on Thursday.

NASA’s new Mars rover hitsdusty red road; 1st trip 21 feet

BY MARCIA DUNN

Associated Press

PAGE 10 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Sunday, March 7, 2021

WORLD

YANGON, Myanmar — Securi-

ty forces in Myanmar again used

force Saturday to disperse anti-

coup protesters, a day after a U.N.

special envoy urged the Security

Council to take action to quell jun-

ta violence that this past week left

more than 50 peaceful demonstra-

tors dead and scores injured.

Protests were reported Satur-

day morning in the country’s big-

gest city, Yangon, where stun gre-

nades and tear gas were used

against demonstrators. On

Wednesday, 18 people were re-

ported killed there.

Protests also took place in sev-

eral other cities, including Man-

dalay, the second-biggest city,

Myitkyina, the capital of the

northern state of Kachin, Myeik in

the far south, where police fired

tear gas at students, and Dawei in

the southeast, where tear gas was

also used.

The escalation of violence has

put pressure on the world commu-

nity to act to restrain the junta,

which seized power on Feb. 1 by

ousting the elected government of

Aung San Suu Kyi. The coup re-

versed years of slow progress to-

ward democracy in Myanmar,

which for five decades had lan-

guished under strict military rule

that led to international isolation

and sanctions.

Suu Kyi’s National League for

Democracy party led a return to

civilian rule with a landslide elec-

tion victory in 2015, and with an

even greater margin of votes last

year. It would have been installed

for a second five-year term last

month, but instead Suu Kyi and

President Win Myint and other

members of the government were

placed in military detention.

Large protests have occurred

daily across many cities and

towns, and security forces have

responded with greater use of le-

thal force and mass arrests. At

least 18 protesters were shot and

killed last Sunday and 38 on

Wednesday, according to the U.N.

Human Rights Office. More than

1,000 have been arrested, the inde-

pendent Assistance Association

for Political Prisoners said.

U.N. special envoy for Myan-

mar Christine Schraner Burgener

said in her briefing to Friday’s

closed Security Council meeting

that council unity and “robust” ac-

tion are critical “in pushing for a

stop to the violence and the resto-

ration of Myanmar’s democratic

institutions.”

“We must denounce the actions

by the military,” she said. “It is

critical that this council is resolute

and coherent in putting the securi-

ty forces on notice and standing

with the people of Myanmar firm-

ly, in support of the clear Novem-

ber election results.”

She reiterated an earlier appeal

to the international community

not to “lend legitimacy or recogni-

tion to this regime that has been

forcefully imposed, and nothing

but chaos has since followed.”

The Security Council took no

immediate action. Council diplo-

mats said Britain circulated a

draft presidential statement for

consideration, a step below a le-

gally binding resolution.

Any kind of coordinated action

at the U.N. will be difficult be-

cause two permanent members of

the Security Council, China and

Russia, are likely to veto it.

Earlier in the week, Schraner

Burgener warned Myanmar’s ar-

my that the world’s nations and

the Security Council “might take

huge, strong measures.”

“And the answer was, ‘We are

used to sanctions, and we survived

those sanctions in the past,’” she

said. When she warned that Myan-

mar would become isolated,

Schraner Burgener said “the an-

swer was, ‘We have to learn to

walk with only a few friends.’”

Adecree issued by the junta and

published in state media Friday

increased the potential costs of op-

position, declaring that members

of a self-styled alternative govern-

ment formed by elected lawmak-

ers whom the army barred from

taking their seats were commit-

ting high treason, which is puni-

shable by death.

Junta again quellsMyanmar protests

Associated Press

PLAINS OF UR, Iraq — Pope

Francis and Iraq’s top Shiite

cleric delivered a powerful

message of peaceful coexistence

Saturday, urging Muslims in the

war-weary Arab nation to em-

brace Iraq’s long-beleaguered

Christian minority during a his-

toric meeting in the holy city of

Najaf.

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani

said religious authorities have a

role in protecting Iraq’s Chris-

tians, and that Christians should

live in peace and enjoy the same

rights as other Iraqis. The Vati-

can said Francis thanked al-Sis-

tani for having “raised his voice

in defense of the weakest and

most persecuted” during some of

the most violent times in Iraq’s

recent history.

Al-Sistani, 90, is one of the

most senior clerics in Shiite Is-

lam and his rare but powerful po-

litical interventions have helped

shape present-day Iraq. He is a

deeply revered figure in Shiite-

majority Iraq and his opinions on

religious and other matters are

sought by Shiites worldwide.

The historic meeting in al-Sis-

tani’s humble home was months

in the making, with every detail

painstakingly discussed and ne-

gotiated between the ayatollah’s

office and the Vatican.

The “very positive” meeting

lasted a total of 40 minutes, said a

religious official in Najaf, who

spoke on condition of anonymity

because he was not authorized to

brief media.

The official said al-Sistani,

who normally remains seated for

visitors, stood to greet Francis at

the door of his room — a rare

honor. Al-Sistani and Francis sat

close to one another, without

masks. Al-Sistani, who rarely ap-

pears in public — even on televi-

sion — wore black robes and a

black turban, in simple contrast

to Francis’ all-white cassock.

The official said there was

some concern about the fact that

the pope had met with so many

people the day before. Francis

has received the coronavirus

vaccine but al-Sistani has not.

The aging ayatollah, who under-

went surgery for a fractured

thigh bone last year, looked tired.

The pope arrived later in the

ancient city of Ur for an inter-

faith meeting in the traditional

birthplace of Abraham, the bibli-

cal patriarch revered by Chris-

tians, Muslims and Jews.

“From this place, where faith

was born, from the land of our fa-

ther Abraham, let us affirm that

God is merciful and that the

greatest blasphemy is to profane

his name by hating our brothers

and sisters,” Francis said. “Hos-

tility, extremism and violence

are not born of a religious heart:

They are betrayals of religion.”

The Vatican said the visit to al-

Sistani was a chance for Francis

to emphasize the need for collab-

oration and friendship between

different religious communities.

In a statement issued by his of-

fice after the meeting, al-Sistani

affirmed that Christians should

“live like all Iraqis, in security

and peace and with full constitu-

tional rights.” He pointed out the

“role that the religious authority

plays in protecting them, and

others who have also suffered in-

justice and harm in the events of

past years.”

Al-Sistani wished Francis and

the followers of the Catholic

Church happiness, and thanked

him for taking the trouble to visit

him in Najaf, the statement said.

Francis arrived in Iraq on Fri-

day and met with senior govern-

ment officials on the first-ever

papal visit to the country.

ANDREW MEDICHINI/AP

Pope Francis, left, attends an interreligious meeting near the archaeological area of the Sumeriancity­state of Ur, southwest of Nasiriyah, Iraq, Saturday. Ur is the traditional birthplace of Abraham, theprophet common to Muslims, Christians and Jews.

Pope, top Iraq Shiite cleric meetduring first-ever papal visit to Iraq

Associated Press

the fate of Tigray’s 6 million peo-

ple. No one knows how many thou-

sands of civilians have been killed.

On Tuesday, U.N. humanitarian

chief Mark Lowcock warned that

“a campaign of destruction” is

taking place, saying at least 4.5

million people need assistance

and demanding that forces from

neighboring Eritrea accused of

committing atrocities in Tigray

leave Ethiopia.

The proposed statement made

UNITED NATIONS — An at-

tempt to get U.N. Security Council

approval for a statement calling

for an end to violence in Ethiopia’s

embattled Tigray region and to

spotlight the millions in need of

humanitarian assistance was

dropped Friday night after objec-

tions from India, Russia and espe-

cially China, U.N. diplomats said.

Three council diplomats said

Ireland, which drafted the state-

ment, decided not to push for ap-

proval after objections from the

three countries.

The statement would have been

the first by the U.N.’s most power-

ful body on the Tigray crisis,

which is entering its fourth month.

Fighting reportedly continues be-

tween Ethiopian and allied forces

and those supporting the now-fu-

gitive Tigray leaders who once

dominated Ethiopia’s govern-

ment, and alarm is growing over

no mention of foreign forces or

sanctions — two key issues — but

did call “for an end to violence in

Tigray.”

The draft statement also noted

“with concern” the humanitarian

situation in Tigray, “where mil-

lions of people remain in need of

humanitarian assistance” and the

challenge of access for aid work-

ers. It called for “the full and early

implementation” of the Ethiopian

government’s statements on Feb.

26 and March 3 committing to

“unfettered access.”

Council diplomats, speaking on

condition of anonymity because

consultations were private, said

China wanted the statement to fo-

cus only on the humanitarian sit-

uation, with no reference to the vi-

olence in Tigray. India only want-

ed a minor change, and Russia re-

portedly supported its ally China

at the last minute, the diplomats

said.

Diplomats: UN fails to approve call to end Tigray violenceAssociated Press

Sunday, March 7, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 11

AMERICAN ROUNDUP

Satan tries to get a dateon the subway

MA BOSTON — The

Prince of Darkness is

apparently looking for a date on

the Boston subway system.

A woman, 20, approached tran-

sit police at the Massachusetts

Bay Transportation Authority’s

Forest Hills station at about 10:45

p.m. to complain about a frighten-

ing encounter with a man dressed

all in black, including a mask cov-

ering his entire face and his hood

drawn tight, police said on their

website.

The woman told police the man

typed something on his phone and

extended his arm across to her,

displaying a message that said “I

am Satan,” then stared at her.

The man, 22, told officers he

was only flirting and trying to be

funny, and said “I was going to try

and get her number.”

Man douses brother withkerosene, tries to set fire

VA PATRICK SPRINGS —

Authorities in Virginia

said that a man was arrested after

dousing his brother with kerosene

and trying to set him on fire.

The Martinsville Bulletin re-

ported that Larry Darnell Tatum,

69, of Patrick Springs was charged

with attempted first-degree mur-

der.

Patrick County Sheriff Dan

Smith said Tatum was arrested

and jailed without bond after an

altercation between him and

brother Rickie Tatum, 64, at Larry

Tatum’s home.

Police had received a 911 call

before responding to Tatum’s

home. Authorities said that Larry

Tatum allegedly poured kerosene

on his brother “and made at-

tempts to ignite the kerosene.”

Boy, 11, brings unloadedgun to elementary school

FL NAPLES — A Florida

elementary school stu-

dent was arrested after bringing

an unloaded gun to school and

threatening two classmates, au-

thorities said.

A deputy stopped the boy, 11, as

he got off the morning bus at Osce-

ola Elementary School in Naples,

according to a Collier County

Sheriff’s Office news release. The

fourth-grade student faces a felo-

ny charge of carrying a concealed

weapon on school grounds.

Deputies learned that the boy

had threated other students a day

earlier, officials said. When they

searched his backpack, they re-

ported finding a handgun, the

statement said.

School assignment onslavery sparks outrage

MS PURVIS — A school

writing assignment

on slavery for an 8th grade history

class in Mississippi sparked out-

rage in the community.

A screenshot showing an as-

signment titled “Slave Letter

Writing Activity” was shared hun-

dreds of times, garnering reac-

tions ranging from concern to an-

ger. Lamar County School District

Superintendent Dr. Steven

Hampton confirmed to WDAM-

TV the activity was assigned to

students during a class at Purvis

Middle School.

The purpose of the assignment

“was to show our students just

how horrible slavery was and to

gain empathy for what it was like

to be a slave,” Hampton said.

Purvis Middle School adminis-

trators have addressed the teach-

er and there will be further discus-

sion with the teacher from admin-

istrators at the district level,

Hampton said.

50+ lose internet, phoneafter woman cuts wires

MN EAGAN — An Eagan

woman was accused

of threatening neighbors with a

machete and cutting wires inside

a utility box, leaving dozens with-

out phone or internet service.

A criminal complaint filed in

Dakota County charged Kathryn

Joyce, 32, with threatening vio-

lence and first-degree criminal

damage to property, which are fe-

lonies.

An employee of the area’s inter-

net and telephone provider told

police that Joyce had damaged a

utility box Feb. 25 by opening the

box and cutting several wires.

The damage resulted in about

50 to 60 people being cut off from

internet and telephone service.

Damage was estimated at about

$10,000, WCCO-TV reported.

Joyce was also accused of ap-

proaching a neighbor’s house

while swinging a machete on Feb.

24.

First responder answerscall at her own home

ND ENDERLIN — A first

responder in North

Dakota was called to her own

home where her son had been se-

verely burned in a fire.

It happened in the small com-

munity of Enderlin in southeast-

ern North Dakota. Shelby Jankow-

ski was volunteering as a first re-

sponder when she heard the call.

Jankowski’s son, Royce, 2, had

suffered burns after his mattress

caught fire.

Just how the mattress ignited

remains under investigation.

By the time Jankowski arrived

at her home with a co-worker,

crews had rescued Royce and put

out the fire. The boy had suffered

third-degree burns over 30% of his

body.

Man convicted of forging,counterfeiting postage

IA CEDAR RAPIDS — An

eastern Iowa man was

convicted of forging and counter-

feiting postage stamps, according

to federal prosecutors for Iowa.

A federal judge found Bradley

Jon Matheny, 42, of Marion, guilty

of seven counts of postage meter

stamp forgery and counterfeiting

and three counts of export viola-

tions after a one-day trial in Cedar

Rapids, prosecutors said in a news

release.

Matheny used forged and coun-

terfeited postage meter stamps to

ship most of the more than 28,000

packages he mailed to his eBay

business customers between No-

vember 2015 and May 2017, inves-

tigators said.

One expert testified that Mathe-

ny had shorted the U.S. Postal Ser-

vice more than $250,000.

Matheny faces up to 65 years in

federal prison and a $2.5 million

fine when he’s sentenced at a later

date.

Car crashes into gift shop;2 buildings set on fire

PA GETTYSBURG — A

vehicle slammed into

the Blue and Gray Gift Shop in

Gettysburg and burst into flames,

killing the driver and setting the

building and a neighboring struc-

ture on fire, authorities said.

Coroner Pat Felix said that the

male driver of the vehicle had died,

but identifying him might take sev-

eral days. Chief Robert Glenny of

the Gettysburg police department

said excess speed appeared to have

been involved, and the driver may

have been dead or unconscious be-

fore hitting the building.

WGAL-TV reported the neigh-

boring building has several apart-

ments but the six people inside

were able to escape safely.

Deputy Chief Joe Temarantz of

the Gettysburg Fire Department

told the station two firefighters

had leg injuries and one suffered a

medical emergency. All were be-

ing treated at the hospital.

BEN GARVER, THE BERKSHIRE (MASS.) EAGLE/AP

Farmer Kate Pike starts seeds at Holiday Brook Farm in Dalton, Mass., with her 2­year­old daughter, Isla, imitating her every move. Pike isstarting kale and other hearty vegetables while her daughter is working with expired soybeans because they are a little easier to handle. Thefarm supplies food for a CSA, farmers markets and food pantries.

Sowing the seeds

THE CENSUS

61 The number of years since panel 28 of American artist Jacob Law-rence’s painting “Struggle: From the History of the American Peo-

ple” was last seen in public. The Peabody Essex Museum in Massachusettsannounced that the missing panel was found — in a New York City apartment,like another painting in the series, panel 16, that was rediscovered in a differenthome in October. The owner, who wants to remain anonymous, inherited pan-el 28 from family, who — like the figures depicted — were immigrants. The30-piece series remains incomplete, as the whereabouts of three other panelsremain a mystery, the museum said.

From The Associated Press

PAGE 12 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Sunday, March 7, 2021

MUSIC

The wattage in The Weeknd’s

“Blinding Lights” wasn’t strong

enough to compete at the Gram-

mys — but the song isn’t the only

electrifying No. 1 hit that the Recording

Academy snubbed.

The Weeknd joins an exclusive club of

songs that were crowned biggest hit of the

year by Billboard but fell short at the

Grammy Awards.

It’s been 10 years since a song that dom-

inated the year in music didn’t garner a

nomination at the Grammys, and that was

“TiK ToK,” the drunken party anthem and

multi-platinum debut single from pop

singer Kesha.

In the past 30 years, only five No. 1 songs

of the year have missed out at the Gram-

mys. Others joining The Weeknd and

Kesha are the rock-pop hit “Hanging by a

Moment” from Lifehouse, the top song of

2001; R&B trio Next’s racy hit “Too Close,”

which won over 1998; and the 1996 pop

culture moment that was the “Macarena,”

by Spanish duo Los del Río.

“It’s horrible company to be in,” Ron

Aniello, who produced “Hanging by a

Moment” and discovered Lifehouse, said

with a laugh.

“We’re talking about industry people

voting, we’re not talking about the public,

so it’s quite different,” Aniello continued.

“I think that was a very popular song for

the general public, but

I’m not sure how serious-

ly (the Grammys) took

the band to put them first

for voting. If you remem-

ber, it was their first hit.

They had no history.

‘We’re going to vote for

Lifehouse for best song of

the year? Why should we?

Who are they?’ They were

undefined as artists, so

maybe that had some-

thing to do with it.”

Like Lifehouse, Kesha

was a new artist marking

her breakthrough when her song became

the year’s biggest hit. Though she

launched multiple successes from her

debut album, the girl who jokingly sang

about brushing her teeth with Jack Daniels

and described her personal style as “gar-

bage chic” wasn’t immediately seen as a

serious musician, and it didn’t surprise

many when she didn’t earn Grammy rec-

ognition in her debut year, especially for

“TiK ToK.”

On the other hand, there are monster

tracks like “Blinding Lights” that feel like

a shoo-in at the Grammys. The Weeknd’s

song is spending its record-extending 50th

week in the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100

chart and is also the longest-running No. 1

hit of all time on the R&B chart, spending

47 weeks — and counting — on top.

“It is kind of surprising because you

think that someone with that kind of ener-

gy behind him or push or visibility would

at least have gotten the nomination,” said

Paul Jackson Jr., an adjunct professor at

the University of Southern California

Thornton School of Music and Grammy-

nominated musician who played on The

Weeknd’s global hit “I Feel It Coming.”

“I’ll give you another one that’s surpris-

ing — if you look in 1984, ‘When Doves

Cry’ was not nominated,” he continued.

“Huge record.”

While Prince’s lead single from “Purple

Rain” didn’t score a nomination, the

soundtrack and the title track won Gram-

mys. George Michael’s “Faith” won album

of the year but the title track — the No. 1

song of 1988 — did not compete in any

Grammy categories.

Jackson Jr. played guitar on the No. 1

song of 1986 — Dionne Warwick’s “That’s

What Friends Are For” — which won the

Grammys for song of the year and best pop

performance by a duo or group with vo-

cals.

“It was a big collaboration,” Jackson Jr.

said of the tune which also featured Stevie

Wonder, Gladys Knight and Elton John. “It

was dealing with AIDS awareness and a lot

of things like that. So there was a big push

behind it from a lot of the (voting) mem-

bers.”

“That’s What Friends Are For” is just

one of nine Billboard year-end No. 1 hits to

win the song of the year Grammy. Ten of

the top songs of the year have been named

record of the year.

Since the Grammys held its first show in

1959 — to honor the music of 1958 — Bill-

board has named 63 No. 1 songs of the

year. Of the 63 hits, only 18 songs have

missed out on Grammy nominations, in-

cluding “Blinding Lights.” Twenty-eight of

the 45 nominated No. 1 songs have won

Grammys, which currently has 84 cate-

gories.

Only five year-end No. 1 tunes have won

CHRIS O’MEARA/AP

The Weeknd performs during halftime of Super Bowl 55 in Tampa, Fla., on Feb. 7. The Weeknd had the No. 1 song of 2020 but “Blinding Lights” wasn’t nominated for a Grammy.

No Grammyguarantee

‘Blinding Lights’ isn’t the firstNo. 1 song of the year left in thedark by the Recording Academy

BY MESFIN FEKADU

Associated Press

SEE NO. 1 ON PAGE 13

Kesha was a chart forcein 2010 with“TiK ToK,”but her debutsingle didn’tget a Grammynomination. 

GRAMMY WATCH

Sunday, March 7, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 13

both song and record of the year,

including Adele’s “Rolling In the

Deep” in 2012, Kim Carnes’ “Be-

tte Davis Eyes” in 1982, Roberta

Flack’s “The First Time Ever I

Saw Your Face” in 1973, Simon &

Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Trou-

bled Water” in 1971, and Domen-

ico Modugno’s “Nel Blu Dipinto di

Blu (Volare)” in 1959.

Aniello said one of the reasons a

song may not get a Grammy nom-

ination could be the result of

record label politics.

When thinking of why “Hang-

ing by a Moment” missed out, he

said: “That year we were on

DreamWorks and it was ‘I’m Like

a Bird’ by Nelly Furtado, that’s

the song that the label chose to

push for a Grammy.” Furtado’s

offbeat Top 10 debut single went

on to win best female pop vocal

performance and was nominated

for song of the year. Furtado also

competed for best new artist and

best pop vocal album.

“Is it fair? It’s just what it is,” he

continued. “We were all just new

at it. We had no idea. ... We just

kind of probably thought you had

to pick a unicorn to win a Gram-

my somewhere, like it was mag-

ical. We didn’t realize it was prob-

ably more political than anything

else.”

Grammy rules state that just

because a track is the most suc-

cessful song of the year does not

mean it deserves to be nominated

— that means chart placement,

radio airplay or streaming suc-

cess are not part of the voting

process. The academy’s voting

body includes artists, producers,

songwriters and engineers.

“It’s an industry award,” Jack-

son Jr. explained. “It’s not neces-

sarily based on just popular vote.

It’s based on people thinking that

this has merits to win.”

Aniello — who produced the

Bruce Springsteen albums

“Wrecking Ball,” “High Hopes,”

“Western Stars” and “Letter to

You” — said though The Boss has

won 20 Grammys, he’s never

picked up big prizes such as re-

cord or album of the year, despite

being one of music’s most revered

performers.

“It’s just a quirky thing,” he

said. “The Grammys don’t make

sense to me.”

When he thinks about what

Lifehouse created two decades

ago — opening doors for Chris-

tian-leaning rock songs to live on

pop radio — he’s proud, and con-

tent.

“The song is very deep. I’m fine

with not having a Grammy,” he

said. “It doesn’t matter to me

because the song reached who it

needed to reach.”

Billboard No. 1 hits of the year

2020: The Weeknd, “Blinding Lights”

2019: Lil Nas X featuring Billy Ray Cyrus, “Old Town Road” (Won Grammy)

2018: Drake, “God’s Plan” (Won)

2017: Ed Sheeran, “Shape of You” (Won)

2016: Justin Bieber, “Love Yourself” (Grammy-nominated)

2015: Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars, “Uptown Funk” (Won)

2014: Pharrell Williams, “Happy” (Won)

2013: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Wanz, “Thrift Shop” (Won)

2012: Gotye featuring Kimbra, “Somebody That I Used to Know” (Won)

2011: Adele, “Rolling In the Deep” (Won)

2010: Kesha, “TiK ToK”

2009: Black Eyed Peas, “Boom Boom Pow” (Won)

2008: Flo Rida featuring T-Pain, “Get Low” (Nominated)

2007: Beyoncé, “Irreplaceable” (Nominated)

2006: Daniel Powter, “Bad Day” (Nominated)

2005: Mariah Carey, “We Belong Together” (Won)

2004: Usher featuring Lil Jon and Ludacris, “Yeah!” (Won)

2003: 50 Cent, “In Da Club” (Nominated)

2002: Nickelback, “How You Remind Me” (Nominated)

2001: Lifehouse, “Hanging by a Moment”

2000: Faith Hill, “Breathe” (Won)

1999: Cher, “Believe” (Won)

1998: Next, “Too Close”

1997: Elton John “Candle In the Wind 1997” (Won)

1996: Los del Río, “Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix)”

1995: Coolio, “Gangsta’s Paradise” (Won)

1994: Ace of Base, “The Sign” (Nominated)

1993: Whitney Houston, “I Will Always Love You” (Won)

1992: Boyz II Men, “End of the Road” (Won)

1991: Bryan Adams, “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You” (Won)

1990: Wilson Phillips, “Hold On” (Nominated)

1989: Chicago, “Look Away”

1988: George Michael, “Faith”

1987: The Bangles, “Walk Like an Egyptian”

1986: Dionne Warwick & Friends, “That’s What Friends Are For” (Won)

1985: Wham!, “Careless Whisper”

1984: Prince, “When Doves Cry”

1983: The Police, “Every Breath You Take” (Won)

1982: Olivia Newton-John, “Physical” (Nominated)

1981: Kim Carnes, “Bette Davis Eyes” (Won)

1980: Blondie, “Call Me” (Nominated)

1979: The Knack, “My Sharona” (Nominated)

1978: Andy Gibb, “Shadow Dancing”

1977: Rod Stewart, “Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright)”

1976: Wings, “Silly Love Songs”

1975: Captain & Tennille, “Love Will Keep Us Together” (Won)

1974: Barbra Streisand, “The Way We Were” (Won)

1973: Tony Orlando and Dawn, “Tie a Yellow Ribbon ‘Round the Ole Oak Tree”

(Nominated)

1972: Roberta Flack, “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” (Won)

1971: Three Dog Night, “Joy to the World” (Nominated)

1970: Simon & Garfunkel, “Bridge Over Troubled Water” (Won)

1969: The Archies, “Sugar, Sugar”

1968: The Beatles, “Hey Jude” (Nominated)

1967: Lulu, “To Sir with Love”

1966: SSgt. Barry Sadler, “Ballad of the Green Berets”

1965: Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs, “Wooly Bully” (Nominated)

1964: The Beatles, “I Want to Hold Your Hand” (Nominated)

1963: Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs, “Sugar Shack”

1962: Acker Bilk, “Stranger on the Shore” (Nominated)

1961: Bobby Lewis, “Tossin’ and Turnin’”

1960: Percy Faith, “Theme from A Summer Place” (Won)

1959: Johnny Horton, “The Battle of New Orleans” (Won)

1958: Domenico Modugno, “Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu (Volare)” (Won)

By MESFIN FEKADU, AP Music Writer

AP

Jason Wade performs withLifehouse in 2009. The band’srock­pop hit “Hanging by aMoment” was the top song of2001, but the Grammys didn’tsee it that way.

No. 1: Labelpolitics canhurt a songFROM PAGE 12

AP

Prince performs in 1984. “WhenDoves Cry” wasn’t nominated,but the “Purple Rain” soundtrackand title track did win Grammys.

MUSIC

The French duo of Thomas

Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de

Homem-Christo, known world-

wide as Daft Punk, was already

beloved before they took the

stage at Coachella in 2006. It had

three acclaimed studio albums, a

decade of semiregular touring

and the esteem of dance music

and pop sophisticates alike.

Starting in the ’90s, Bangalter

and de Homem-Christo hid their

faces under gold and silver robot

masks, rarely breaking charac-

ter, but became recognizable pop

stars in their own right.

But when the lights went on

over their gigantic pyramid in

Indio,Calif., and a tent full of

neophyte young ravers felt the

disco thrash of “Robot Rock,” a

whole EDM industry was shot

into the stratosphere, remaking

festival culture in the U.S.

With the release of a video

exploding their robot bodies

forever, the French duo an-

nounced Feb. 22 that they would

retire, 28 years after forming and

seven years after their smash

“Get Lucky” propelled an album

of the year win at the Grammys

for “Random Access Memories.”

With a catalog packed with

club bangers, film scores, Kanye

West and the Weeknd collab-

orations and dance chart No. 1s,

Daft Punk enjoyed what was

arguably the most influential and

accomplished career in modern

electronic music. Here are 10

essential moments.

1. “Da Funk” (1995): The

duo’s first hit single in its new

guise after a brief indie-rock

career set the template for its

music to come — a hot-grease

synthesizer lick, perfectly

chopped samples and a Spike

Jonze-directed video with a man-

dog in a trench coat that became

a staple of the MTV era.

2. “Around the World” (1997):

One of the most stylish, endlessly

loopable cuts from the “Home-

work” album that showed a soft-

er, sophisticated approach to

contemporary house, with a

colorful yet droll dance video.

(Daft Punk had great ones from

this era with Jonze, Michel Gon-

dry, Roman Coppola and Seb

Janiak.)

3. “One More Time” (2001):

The most reliable, hands-up

exultant track in its catalog; it’s

never a bad time in a DJ set to

cue up this ultra-compressed

triumph and watch the room

burst open.

4. “Face to Face” (2004): A

team-up with U.S. producer Todd

Edwards, the fifth single from

“Discovery” topped U.S. dance

charts in 2004 (succeeded by

Britney Spears’ “Toxic”... what a

month!).

5. “Interstella 5555: The

5tory of the 5ecret 5tar

5ystem” (2003): The band’s

feature-length anime film/com-

panion to its “Discovery” album,

under the tutelage of legendary

animation studio Toei and direc-

tor Kazuhisa Takenouchi.

6. “Robot Rock” (2005): The

tougher edges, rock attitude and

crushing dynamics of “Robot

Rock” set the tone for manager

Pedro Winter’s Ed Banger Re-

cords that would bring French

club music into a new and genu-

inely thrilling era. The “Human

After All” album came out to

mixed reviews, but the lead sin-

gles have stood up as catalog

staples for its live sets, which is

where the band took its concept

to entirely new heights.

7. “Harder, Better, Faster,

Stronger” (2007): This live

version off of its beloved, tower-

ing post-Coachella tour album

“Alive” was released as a single

and makes a strong case as its

definitive take. Kanye West later

used the song as the centerpiece

sample of his own smash, “Stron-

ger.”

8. “Tron: Legacy” (2010): The

two dozen cuts the band pro-

duced from the rebooted sci-fi

milestone might not get much

club play today, but it shows the

level of rigor and musicianship

the band was capable of away

from dance floors.

9. “Get Lucky” (2013): For

most of the non-dance-music

world, this track will be their

calling card forevermore. Just

pure, perfect throwback disco,

witty and rousing and gener-

ation-spanning. Nile Rodgers on

inimitable guitar, Pharrell on the

just-reaching-enough vocals —

it’s the gold-standard single on

their Grammy-dominating “Ran-

dom Access Memories.”

10. The Weeknd, “Starboy” /

“I Feel It Coming” (2016): The

group finally got its Billboard No.

1 as producers and guests on the

Weeknd’s single “Starboy.” The

tracks won’t top any Daft Punk

superfan’s list, but it proved they

could step into the background of

a pop star’s vision as well as

dominate festival fields.

‘Robot Rock’ and retirement: Daft Punk’s greatest moments

BY AUGUST BROWN

Los Angeles Times

MATT SAYLES, INVISION/AP

Thomas Bangalter, left, andGuy­Manuel de Homem­Christo,of Daft Punk.

PAGE 14 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Sunday, March 7, 2021

BOOKS

Stephen King doesn’t think of him-

self as a horror writer.

“My view has always been, you

can call me whatever you want as

long as the checks don’t bounce,” King

told The Associated Press during a recent

telephone interview. “My idea is to tell a

good story, and if it crosses some lines and

it doesn’t fit one particular genre, that’s

good.”

Readers may know him best for “Car-

rie,” “The Shining” and other bestsellers

commonly identified as “horror,” but King

has long had an affinity for other kinds of

narratives, from science fiction and prison

drama to the Boston Red Sox.

Over the past decade, he has written

three novels for the imprint Hard Case

Crime: “Joyland,” “The Colorado Kid”

and “Later,” which comes out this week.

He loves sharing a publisher with such

giants of the past as James M. Cain and

Mickey Spillane, and loves the old-fash-

ioned pulp illustrations used on the covers.

At the same time, he enjoys writing a

crime story that is more than a crime story

— or hardly a crime story at all.

“Joyland” is a thriller set around an

amusement park and could just as easily

be called a coming-of-age story.

“The Colorado Kid” has a dead body on

an island off the coast of King’s native

Maine, but otherwise serves as a story

about why some cases are best left un-

solved.

“It’s the beauty of the mystery that

allows us to live sane as we pilot our frag-

ile bodies through this demolition derby

world,” he writes in the book’s afterword.

His new novel has a lot of crime in it

but, as King’s narrator suggests, it might

actually be a horror story.

Jamie Conklin is looking back on his

childhood, when he was raised by a single

mother, a New York literary agent. Like

other young King protagonists, Jamie has

special powers: He not only can see dead

people, but when he asks them questions,

they are compelled to tell the truth.

“Later” also features a bestselling nov-

elist and his posthumous book, and a po-

lice detective who for a time is the girl-

friend of Jamie’s mother.

The 73-year-old King has written doz-

ens of novels and stories, and usually has

three to four ideas that “are half-baked,

kind of like an engine and no transmis-

sion.” He doesn’t write ideas down be-

cause, he says, if something is good

enough, he’s unlikely to forget it.

For “Later,” he started with the idea of a

literary agent who needed to get her late

client’s manuscript finished, and thought

of having a son who communicates with

the dead. He then decided the mother

needed a companion.

“And I thought, ‘You know what, I’m

going to make the love relationship fe-

male.’ Then I thought to myself, ‘Cop,’ and

the cop is dirty and everything fell into

place,” he says.

King, who publishes most of his work

with Simon & Schuster, is part of the

founding story of Hard Case Crime. Back

in 2004, Charles Ardai and Max Phillips

were launching a line of books to “revive

pulp fiction in all its lurid mid-century

glory.” Hoping for some publicity, they

wrote to King and asked for a blurb. A

representative for the author called and

said King did not want to write a blurb for

Hard Case Crime; he wanted to contribute

a book. That became “The Colorado Kid.”

“I sat on the other end of the phone

while this sank in and tried to sound cool,

like this was the sort of phone call I got

every day and twice on Fridays,” Ardai

wrote in an introduction to “The Colorado

Kid,” which came out in 2005. “But inside

I was turning cartwheels.”

King’s passions also include politics and

current events, and over the past few

years he’s regularly tweeted his contempt

for President Donald Trump. But he

doubts that Trump’s loss to Democrat Joe

Biden will have an effect on his work.

Fiction has been an “escape” from politics,

he says, not a forum.

And though he has written a famous

novel about a pandemic, “The Stand,” he

passed on a chance to write about COVID-

19 in a work of fiction coming later this

year, “Billy Summers.” He originally set it

in 2020, but decided instead on 2019.

Toward the end of “Later,” Jamie ob-

serves that his writing has improved as

the story went along, “improved by doing,

which I suppose is the case with most

things in life.” Asked during the interview

to evaluate his own writing, King, the

baseball fan, likens himself to an aging but

resourceful pitcher.

“I’ve gotten better in some ways, but

you lose a little of the urgency. In my 40s,

the ideas were like people jamming into a

fire door to get out. There were so many

ideas, and you couldn’t wait to get to the

typewriter and the words would pour out,”

he says.

“Nowadays, you’re almost feeling peo-

ple are looking over your shoulder and

they’re apt to be a little more critical. You

slow down a little bit. I’m aware I’m get-

ting older. You lose the blazing fastball

and start to count more on your change-

ups and curves and be a little more careful

and mix them up.”

Counting more on change-ups, curvesLikening himself to an aging but crafty pitcher, King doesn’t mind when his stories don’t fit into a particular genre

BY HILLEL ITALIE

Associated Press

AP

Stephen King, shown in 2018, may be best known for “Carrie,” “The Shining” and other bestsellers commonly identified ashorror. But King has long had an affinity for other kinds of narratives, from science fiction and prison drama to baseball. 

Stephen King gets a lot of credit for cre-

ating the monsters under kids’ beds (here’s

looking at you, Pennywise), but not enough

for this simple fact: The guy gets kids. Their

fears, certainly, but also their voices, the way

they see the world differently than adults.

To a long list that includes Danny Torrance

from “The Shining” and Gordie Lachance

from “The Body,” we can now add Jamie

Conklin, the star of King’s most recent novel,

“Later.”

Published under the Hard Case Crime

imprint, which also distributed “The Col-

orado Kid” (2005) and “Joyland” (2013) —

“Later” is narrated by 22-year-old Jamie,

looking back on his formative years. He be-

gins his story at age 6, when he first figured

out he could see and talk to the dead.

It’s this gift that propels the plot of this slim

novel. Encouraged by his mother’s NYPD

girl-friend, Liz, Jamie gets tied up in the

pursuit of a serial bomber in New York. It’s

not giving too much away to say he helps

crack the case, but to say what happens after

that would spoil all the fun.

There’s classic King here for fans. Imagine

the carnage on any given day in the Big Ap-

ple and then imagine being a young man

seeing the mangled dead walking around in

the afterlife, with holes in their heads “as big

as a dessert plate and surrounded by irreg-

ular fangs of bone.”

But even amid the gore and escalating

tension, King finds moments to make Jamie

relatable. As Liz and his mom argue at the

scene of a crime, we pop inside Jamie’s head

before he screams at them. “One of the worst

things about being a kid, maybe the very

worst, is how grownups ignore you when they

get going” on their own issues, writes King.

In the end, the story Jamie narrates to

readers climaxes in a thrilling whodunit,

while uncovering truths about Jamie’s life

that might have been better left buried. For

as the novel’s cover declares: “Only the dead

have no secrets.”

‘Later’ combines classic King carnage, relatable young POVBY ROB MERRILL

Associated Press

Sunday, March 7, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 15

CROSSWORD AND COMICSNEW YORK TIMES CROSSWORD

KARAOKE BARSBY MATTHEW STOCK / EDITED BY WILL SHORTZ

51 Things many people lose as they grow older

53 Big Five studio of Hollywood’s Golden Age

54 ‘‘Thus . . . ’’

55 St. Louis symbol

56 Strongly endorse

58 Hot place to chill

59 ____ Adlon, Emmy winner for ‘‘King of the Hill’’

61 Papal name last taken in 1939

63 Smallest state in India

64 Options for outdoor wedding receptions

67 Like some bread and cereal

68 Director Lee

69 Prison bars? [Elvis Presley]

73 Bamboozled

74 Weight right here!

76 ____ Austin, Biden defense secretary

77 Misidentify something, e.g.

78 For the lady

79 Center of a court

81 They’re often parked in parks

82 Relevant

84 Excited cry after scratching a lottery ticket

85 Move a cursor (over)

88 Pride : lions :: ____ : dolphins

89 Hip

92 Cash bars? [Abba]

96 ‘‘Same here’’

97 ‘‘I mean . . . ’’

98 What goes right to

the bottom?

99 Got around

101 ‘‘Hoo-boy!’’

102 Gist

104 Last option in a list,

maybe

107 ‘‘That feels goo-oo-

ood!’’

109 Practice

110 Brainy?

112 A+ earner

116 Singles bars?

[Robyn]

120 First House speaker

from California

122 Not going anywhere

123 Was snoopy

124 Made square

125 Japanese mat

126 ‘‘We got

permission!’’

127 Makes insulting

jokes about

DOWN

1 Sitcom extraterrestrial

2 Did a little lifting

3 Candy bars? [Def

Leppard]

4 ‘‘You, too?!’’

5 Wiped out

6 Stood the test of time

7 Mapo ____ (spicy

Sichuan dish)

8 A leg up

9 Häagen-Dazs

competitor

10 Low-wattage

11 Where trills provide

thrills

12 Something that’s well-

kept?

13 Comeback

14 It’s turned, in a

phrase

15 It’s a relief!

16 Prefix with conscious

17 Poetic shortening

18 Food-pantry donation

21 Broad valley

25 Large expanses

27 2006 film with the

tagline ‘‘Keep it

wheel’’

29 Hindu festival of

colors

31 Most-watched TV

show of 2002-05

33 Gold bars? [Queen]

34 ‘‘Do you understand

me?’’

37 Disappointing court

result

38 Black

39 Habitat for Humanity

is one, for short

41 Sister restaurant of

Applebee’s

43 Lets go of

45 Gaping holes

46 Weizenbock or

Berliner Weisse

48 Scruffs

49 Ridiculous

50 Seventh avatar of

Vishnu

52 It’s a long story

57 Muddy

58 Beefcakes

60 Thumbs-up

61 Solving crosswords,

e.g.

62 Insect named for the

way it moves, not for

its length

65 Got hot on Twitter,

say

66 Kind

69 ____ Psaki, Biden

press secretary

70 Gymnastics

apparatus

71 Oral equivalent of a

facepalm

72 Native American tribe of Montana

75 Single

78 Box score column

80 Noted 1815 comedy of manners

82 Actress Chaplin

83 Flag carrier to Karachi and Islamabad

86 Traditional Chinese drink

87 Anointment

88 Perspective, in brief

90 ‘‘No more for me, thank you’’

91 Minute

93 Element 39

94 Big bleu expanse

95 Alumni grouping

100 Stylish

103 World capital that’s home to Kotoka International Airport

105 World capital that’s home to Noi Bai International Airport

106 Horror film locale, in brief

108 Egg: Sp.

111 2016 No. 1 album for

Rihanna

112 Pop

113 Really thin type

114 ____ Domini

115 ‘‘I beg of you,’’ e.g.

116 Bit of Morse code

117 Actress de Armas

118 D.C. pro

119 ‘‘Of course!’’

121 They’re checked at

check-ins

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

22120291

524232

827262

433323130392

342414049383736353

05948474645444

5545352515

0695857565

76665646362616

372717079686

8777675747

3828180897

1909988878685848

6959493929

101001998979

901801701601501401301201

511411311211111011

121021911811711611

421321221

721621521

Matthew Stock, 24, who is originally from Dallas, now lives in St. Louis, where he teaches ninth-grade algebra through an AmeriCorps affiliated tutoring program. He started constructing puzzles several years ago after he attended a crosswordtournament in Boston and ‘‘had a great time chatting with puzzlemakers throughout the afternoon.’’ This is his third crossword (and first Sunday) for The Times. – W.S.

ACROSS

1 Prayer, e.g.

7 Market index, for short

13 And so on and so forth

19 Actor Ray of ‘‘Field of

Dreams’’

20 Like a certain

complex

22 Relative of the

mambo

23 High winds

24 Space bars? [Frank

Sinatra]

26 Healthful dessert

options

28 Overhauled, in a way

29 ‘‘____ making a list

. . . ’’

30 Offering in china . . . or

from China

31 ‘‘Top Chef’’ chef ____

Hall

32 Geographical name

that comes from the

Sioux for ‘‘sleepy

ones’’

35 First prize at the

Juegos Olímpicos

36 Sink holes

40 Biting

42 Bird whose males

incubate the eggs

44 Mathematical

proposition

47 Wet bars? [Gene

Kelly]

GUNSTON STREET

“Gunston Street” is drawn by Basil Zaviski. Email him at gunstonstreet@yahoo.com, and online at gunstonstreet.com.

RESULTS FOR ABOVE PUZZLE

APPEALTHEDOWETCETC

LIOTTAOEDIPALCHACHA

FLUTESFLYMETOTHEMOON

FRUITCUPSREWROTE

HESTEACARLAIOWA

ORODRAINSACIDEMU

LEMMASINGININTHERAIN

IDEALSRKOANDSOARCH

SWEARBYSPAPAMELA

PIUSGOATENTSOATEN

ANGJAILHOUSEROCKHAD

SCALELLOYDERRHERS

THRONERVSONTOPIC

IWONMOUSEPODWITHIT

MONEYMONEYMONEYASAMI

ERMTALCEVADEDMAN

MEATOTHERAAHPLY

CRANIALSTARPUPIL

DANCINGONMYOWNPELOSI

INARUTNOSEDINEVENED

TATAMIITSAGOROASTS

PAGE 16 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Sunday, March 7, 2021

GADGETS & TECHNOLOGY

Is it really possible to call a wireless

phone charger elegant, or attractive or a

piece of art? Well, some of that might be a

stretch, but after seeing Einova by Egg-

tronic’s marble wireless phone charger,

you’ll know what I mean.

The 4.65-inch rounded charger can

produce 5W, 7.5W and up to 10W of fast

charging for capable devices, but what

makes this a winner is its appearance. It’s

available in five genuine marble colors,

and each has a unique cut, finish and mar-

ble pattern.

According to Einova, the chargers were

designed in Italy and are rendered in 100

percent solid genuine marble or stone

with artisanal quality and meticulous

attention to detail.

As for the performance, there’s not a lot

to say besides it worked. There are some

wireless chargers I’ve tested that make

you find the exact spot to lay it down and

charge. But with the piece of marble, as

long my iPhone 12Pro was somewhat

centered, the charging started.

Attached to the 20-ounce stone is a high

quality and durable braided 3-foot USB

cable for powering the Qi-Certified char-

ger. A USB wall charger is included. The

bottom is lined with a soft fabric to ensure

it won’t scratch any surface.

The marble wireless charger ($49.99) is

available in white marble, black marble,

lava, sandstone and travertine.

The new Firewalla Gold multi-gigabit

cyber security firewall and router is a

gadget that every house truly could use.

A representative from Firewalla stated

it well: Typical home routers are great for

spreading Wi-Fi signals to all corners of

your house, but they aren’t great to keep

cyber criminals away. In a nutshell, Fire-

walla is like hiring a full-time security

guard to watch over your home internet

24/7.

The first thing to know about the Fire-

walla is that the setup is straightforward

and can easily be done even if you are not

a tech head. And there’s no monthly fee.

It’s not a plug-and-play setup, but the

Firewalla app walks you through the proc-

ess and recommendations to create a

firewall. After you get going, accessing

other features is done with the app to set

up what you might want or do not want to

be restricted. Either way, the security

added to a home network is priceless and

needed.

Once Firewalla is connected to your

existing home router, your network has a

solid layer of protection, which you prob-

ably didn’t have previously to protect any

device. This includes smartphones, tab-

lets, computers, video doorbells and other

home security and smart home devices.

Parents can create rules with the Fire-

walla’s setup and management app to

keep children off specific websites, cre-

ating a safe zone for web surfing.

The Firewalla app displays show what

devices are using the network, how much

bandwidth is used, behavior analytics,

blocked network attacks and a whole lot

more.

Online: firewalla.com/products/fire-

walla-gold; $418

Marble wireless phone charger is both elegant and functionalBY GREGG ELLMAN

Tribune News Service

EINOVA/TNS

Einova marble wireless phone charger isavailable in five colors, and each has aunique cut, finish and marble pattern. 

The dream began in 1955, with a tiny, toylike cre-

ation called the “Sunmobile.” Built from balsa

wood and hobby shop tires, it was just 15 inches

long. The 12 selenium solar cells that decorated

its exterior produced less horsepower than an actual horse.

But it was proof of a concept: Sunlight alone can make a

vehicle run.

The years went on, and the dream evolved into a con-

verted vintage buggy with solar panels on its roof. Then a

glorified bicycle, a retiree’s garage project, a racecar that

crossed the Mojave Desert at 51 miles per hour.

It is a dream of perpetual motion. Of travel that doesn’t

do damage to the planet. Of journeys that last as long as the

sun shines.

There are problems with this dream. Big ones. Clouds

come. Night falls. The laws of physics limit how efficiently

solar panels can turn light into energy.

But one start-up claims it has overcome those problems.

Now, its founders say, the dream can be yours for as little

as $25,900.

Aptera Motors, a California company whose name

comes from the ancient Greek for “wingless,” is rolling out

the first mass-produced solar car this year. It’s a three-

wheel, ultra-aerodynamic electric vehicle covered in 34

square feet of solar cells. The car is so efficient that, on a

clear day, those cells alone could provide enough energy to

drive about 40 miles — more than twice the distance of the

average American’s commute.

The Aptera must undergo safety tests before the compa-

ny can begin distribution, which it hopes to do by the end of

this year. Even then, it’s not clear that consumers will want

to buy something that looks like a cross between the Bat-

mobile and a beetle. The shadow of an initial attempt,

which ended in bankruptcy, hangs over the founders as

they gear up to launch their new product.

But the Aptera’s creators, Chris Anthony and Steve

Fambro, think the world needs a car like theirs. Trans-

portation is the largest source of planet-warming pollution

in the United States. The Biden administration has made it

a priority to reduce vehicle emissions, and several major

automakers have pledged to phase out cars and light trucks

with internal combustion engines.

After years of dreaming, maybe the time for driving on

sunshine is finally here.

Total reliance on solar power poses practical problems.

It means the car can’t be parked in a garage or under a

tree. Once the battery is full, any additional energy that

hits the solar panels is lost.

“This is a niche kind of thing,” said Timothy Lipman,

co-director of the Transportation Sustainability Research

Center at the University of California at Berkeley. The

Aptera, which seats two, wouldn’t work for a large family,

a commuter in cloudy Seattle, a plumber who has to lug

around equipment.

Advances in solar cars could benefit the broader auto-

motive industry, Lipman said. They might lead to the de-

velopment of lighter materials and make the case for grea-

ter efficiency in electric vehicles. Manufacturers could add

solar panels to augment car batteries. Maybe the tech-

nology will find use at national parks and remote military

installations.

If the Aptera was going to succeed, they decided, they

couldn’t make compromises to satisfy a federal require-

ment or a market-research firm’s recommendation. They

had to be willing to be different.

“That’s the march of technology,” Anthony said, before

paraphrasing Apple founder Steve Jobs. “People don’t

know what they need until you show it to them.”

When Aptera began taking preorders last December, it

sold out of its planned first batch of 330 vehicles in 24

hours. Almost 7,500 people have now put down deposits for

a car.

Anthony acknowledged that the Aptera is not for every-

one. But it has more appeal than its skeptics give it credit

for, he said. The car’s high efficiency means it puts less

demand on the grid than ordinary electric vehicles. It

could be ideal for delivery trucks and Postal Service vehi-

cles, which don’t travel far and spend lots of time idling.

Outdoor enthusiasts will probably like the option to ven-

ture far from charging infrastructure without worrying

about fuel. And the notion of parking an Aptera in the sun

and returning to a car that has more fuel than when you

left it — free, clean fuel — is a powerful idea at a time

when the world is looking for transformation.

“We see solar as the main driver of our business,” An-

thony said. “It enables so many things.”

He considered the dreamers who first conceived of solar

cars, such as engineering students building racecars after

school. He thought about the early developers of electric

vehicles, who had faith in a future that didn’t run on gas.

He remembered the investors who shied away from the

Aptera’s first incarnation, saying “who is going to buy your

weird egg-shaped creation?”

“It’s the same thing with anybody who does anything

first,” Anthony said. “It’s always: Why would you do that?”

When Aptera hits the road, he’ll have his answer.

Driving onsunshineFirst mass-produced solar carset to roll out later this year

BY SARAH KAPLAN AND AARON STECKELBERG

The Washington Post

JANE HAHN/The Washington Post

The Aptera can go 150 miles after just 15 minutes at an ordinary charging station and has a starting price of $25,900.The vehicle, which can run on solar power, is set to be released later this year.

Sunday, March 7, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 17

MOVIES

In the fall of 2018, the Academy of Motion Picture

Arts and Sciences proposed an idea that was so

ridiculous on its face, so transparent in its cyn-

icism, that it briefly united the industry, the media

and the entire movie-loving community in a collective

sneer. The plan, as you may recall, was to introduce an

Oscar for best popular film, giving Hollywood’s biggest

cash cows a shot at a gold statuette to supplement their

nine-digit-plus box office hauls. It was a pandering ges-

ture but a telling one, an attempt to throw a bone to the

big-studio Goliaths from an organization doubtless tired

of seeing the best picture Oscar go to so many mid-bud-

get art-house Davids (“Spotlight” and “Moonlight,”

among others).

It didn’t happen. Reactions were so overwhelmingly

negative that the academy swiftly backed away from the

idea, though without scrapping it entirely. Declining

Oscar-night ratings — and the (mis)perception that those

ratings reflect the commercial stature of the movies

being honored — have kept the academy in a perpetual

state of anxiety over its relevance. For that reason, we

were warned, some version of a popular-film Oscar

might resurface in a later awards season.

One of the ironies of the whole kerfuffle is that popular

films haven’t exactly been excluded from the best picture

race of late. Two 2018 nominees, “Get Out” and “Dun-

kirk,” were major commercial smashes. The 2019 crop

included such decided non-obscurities as “A Star Is

Born,” “Bohemian Rhapsody” and the highest-grossing

of the lot, “Black Panther” (and, in my estimation, the

one that should have won). Last year’s Oscar ceremony

may have taken another ratings hit, but you could hardly

blame that on the films nominated, among them “Joker,”

“Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood,” “Ford v Ferrari,”

“Little Women” and “1917.” Along with “Parasite,” whose

groundbreaking best picture win wouldn’t have been

possible without its robust theatrical performance, they

testified to the rude good health of moviemaking as an art

form and moviegoing as a pastime.

But all that changed in 2020, which was not, to say the

least, a healthy year for anyone. The COVID-19 pandemic

ravaged the film industry, throwing its cherished cultural

traditions and commercial imperatives into disarray.

Theaters closed nationwide, some for good; others reo-

pened in fits and starts, but their wares and receipts were

shadows of their usual selves. Streaming services and

virtual cinemas offered new films aplenty; drive-in thea-

ters were reinvigorated. But a certain brand of academy

favorites — the big-name auteur pictures, the thinking

person’s tentpoles — were in perilously short supply.

High-profile new adaptations of “Dune” and “West

Side Story” (the latter from Steven Spielberg, no less)

joined James Bond and various Marvel superheroes

among the titles delayed until 2021. Oscar veterans Ri-

dley Scott, Adam McKay and Wes Anderson all faced

delayed productions or premieres. A few heavyweight

titles attempted a kind of compromise, but in nearly ev-

ery case the strategy backfired. “Mulan” and “Wonder

Woman 1984” became guinea pigs for their studios’ fledg-

ling streaming platforms. Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet,”

the one studio picture with enough name-auteur clout to

brave something resembling a traditional wide release,

was prematurely sold as the movie that would save thea-

ters — and became an equally premature emblem of

their obsolescence and failure.

We can only speculate about how the movies that were

held back would have fared with audiences or the motion

picture academy. But what seems to be inevitable is

basically the opposite of what the proponents of a pop-

ular-film Oscar could have possibly wanted: a best pic-

ture race largely devoid of “popular” films, at least in the

conventionally understood sense of popularity.

These are times of adapta-

tion, compromise and surviv-

al. If the Oscars should go

forward this year — and I think they should — then sure-

ly they should reflect that precarious new reality.

They should also call for a bold new definition of what

constitutes popular filmmaking, one that goes beyond the

simplistic criteria of box office domination and franchise

recognizability to include those pictures that fulfill the

promise of smart, well-crafted, broadly accessible enter-

tainment. And whatever you think of some of the movies

that have generated traction with awards voters this

season, many of them decisively fulfill that promise.

“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “One Night in Miami …”

and “The Trial of the Chicago 7” are audience pictures

through and through — talky, juicily acted ensemble

showcases that merge history, politics and personality in

the grand Hollywood tradition. “Da 5 Bloods” and “Judas

and the Black Messiah” extend those virtues still further

into the realm of the old-school, character-driven Holly-

wood action movie, viscerally tense and rhetorically

blistering. A diminished theatrical profile hasn’t kept

“Promising Young Woman,” with its thorny subversions

of the rape-revenge thriller template, from inspiring the

full gamut of reactions. “Minari,” like the similarly well-

received “Nomadland,” strikes me as the kind of big,

emotionally resonant movie that is too often dismissed, in

industry-classist terms, as a small, modest one.

The 2020-21 awards season has been an aberration, a

series of outmoded industry rituals desperately imposed

on a pool of mixed-to-good-to-great movies that seem to

have been arrived at by even more arbitrary calculations

than usual. But it has also been, in some ways, a correc-

tive and an opportunity.

This year’s slate of nominees looks to be an unprece-

dentedly diverse one — an indication that movements

including #OscarsSoWhite and #MeToo are making

systemic inroads. Women filmmakers like Chloe Zhao,

Regina King (“One Night in Miami”) and Emerald Fen-

nell (“Promising Young Woman”) have been tipped for

slots in the typically male-dominated director race. Zhao

and King are both directors of color, as are other per-

ceived contenders including Chung, Spike Lee (“Da 5

Bloods”) and George C. Wolfe (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bot-

tom”). In the acting races, some of the most exciting and

oft-repeated names belong to performers of color like

Chadwick Boseman, Viola Davis, Andra Day, Riz Ahmed,

Steven Yeun, Delroy Lindo, Yuh-Jung Youn, Daniel Ka-

luuya and Leslie Odom Jr.

It’s telling that one of the most inclusive award slates

in memory could arise from a year when the studios were

effectively on hiatus, which speaks to how much better

represented women filmmakers and filmmakers of color

have generally been in the independent sphere. It’s also

telling that so many of these movies recast American

history and identity from the standpoint of characters so

often excluded from mainstream narratives: a Korean

immigrant family forging a tenuous future in “Minari”;

Black men and women struggling for their own self-

determination in “Da 5 Bloods,” “One Night in Miami …”

and “Judas and the Black Messiah”; a movement of dis-

enfranchised workers embracing individualism (and

collectivism) in “Nomadland.”

In a year without major studio competition — and with

an ever-expanding, increasingly global voting member-

ship — the academy has never been in a better position to

shake up the old norms and bring long-neglected tiers of

filmmaking to the fore.

No blockbusters? No problemWhy a more low-key Oscarseason can be a good thing

BY JUSTIN CHANG

Los Angeles Times

Netflix

Viola Davis plays the title role in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” The film is one of many possible contenders for a bestpicture Oscar following a year that shut down most movie houses and brought production to virtually a standstill.

Netflix

From left: Isiah Whitlock Jr. as Melvin, Norm Lewis asEddie, Delroy Lindo as Paul, Clarke Peters as Otis andJonathan Majors as David in a scene from “Da 5 Bloods.” 

Focus Features

Carey Mulligan, left, stars as Cassandra in “PromisingYoung Woman,” a movie about female revenge. Alsopictured: Samuel Richardson. 

COMMENTARY 

PAGE 18 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Sunday, March 7, 2021

Max D. Lederer Jr., Publisher

Lt. Col. Marci Hoffman, Europe commander

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EDITORIAL

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OPINION

WASHINGTON

Last week’s report by a bipartisan

commission on artificial intelli-

gence is an early sign of what could

become a major shift in America’s

economic strategy: Without much public de-

bate, the United States is moving toward what

amounts to a U.S. version of industrial policy

to compete with China on technology.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., one of the com-

mission’s chief sponsors, put the new vision

succinctly in a December 2019 speech. He

said it was time to recognize “the perils of

free-market fundamentalism” in dealing

with China and instead embrace “a 21st-cen-

tury pro-American industrial policy.” That

revisionist thinking now animates the Biden

administration, senior members of Congress

and some leading technology executives.

Like some other big paradigm shifts, this

one has become obvious only as it began to

displace the old laissez-faire approach to Chi-

na. Behind the scenes, there’s broad congres-

sional support for the activist stance in both

parties: Nineteen of the commission’s recom-

mendations were quietly inserted in the de-

fense authorization act passed in January, in-

cluding what could be billions of dollars in

spending for new semiconductor fabrication

plants in the United States.

The changes that artificial intelligence will

bring to everything that touches digital tech-

nology dazzle even the most buttoned-down

experts in the field. That’s why members of

the commission and others close to this issue

are so agitated about the need for radically in-

creased U.S. efforts: They literally think our

future is at stake, militarily, economically and

even politically.

What’s driving the move toward govern-

ment-directed investment in technology is a

fear that China’s so-called civil-military fu-

sion will overwhelm American effort, unless

it’s matched. Eric Schmidt, the former Goo-

gle chief executive who chaired the commis-

sion, argued in congressional testimony last

month that “the threat of Chinese leadership

in key technology areas is a national crisis.”

Instead of leaving solutions to private compa-

nies, he urged, “we will need a hybrid ap-

proach that more tightly aligns government

and private-sector efforts to win.”

The commission’s recommendations are

important because the panel included many

tech luminaries, such as Safra Catz, chief ex-

ecutive of Oracle; Eric Horvitz, chief scien-

tific officer of Microsoft; Andy Jassy, the

founder of Amazon Web Services who will

become Amazon’s chief executive this year;

and Andrew Moore, head of Google’s Cloud

Artificial Intelligence unit. The report recom-

mended that, by 2026, nationally funded AI

research and development spending should

total $32 billion.

The government’s role in funding break-

through technologies has been obvious in the

past. The most obvious example is the Man-

hattan Project’s development of nuclear

weapons. Government money also drove the

space program, developed the Internet and

built the infrastructure for national and glob-

al commerce. Government intervention be-

came anathema during the tech and financial

booms of recent decades, but the pendulum

seems to have swung.

The scale of the proposed mobilization isn’t

another Manhattan Project, but it’s similar.

The commission recommends a new technol-

ogy competitiveness council chaired by the

vice president; a steering committee on

emerging technology to drive change at the

Pentagon and the intelligence agencies; and

major changes in immigration and education

policies to address what the commission calls

“an alarming talent deficit” with China.

The Biden administration embraces the

thrust of the commission’s report but dis-

agrees on some details. The White House

would prefer to channel the new initiatives

through the existing interagency structure of

the National Security Council and the Nation-

al Economic Council, rather than create an

additional council. But the administration

supports many specific policy recommenda-

tions in the commission’s 756-page report.

“This is the kind of bipartisan support we

hope can drive new investment” in AI and

other emerging technologies, said a senior

administration official.

The Biden administration also shares the

commission’s enthusiasm for what the report

calls “a coalition of like-minded” nations to

advance the development and use of AI and

emerging technologies “that comports with

democratic values.” But because some Eu-

ropean and Asian allies have recently ex-

pressed anxiety about joining an explicit alli-

ance of “techno-democracies” against China,

this coalition is likely to operate through ex-

isting structures, such as the Group of Seven;

the “Quad” security partnership of India, Ja-

pan, Australia and the United States; and bi-

lateral relations with the European Union

and its member countries.

The trick will be keeping the U.S. economy

open enough that it continues to draw the

world’s most talented people, even as officials

move to protect America’s lead in key tech-

nologies.

The industrial policy the AI commission

recommends could unlock talent and innova-

tion. But if officials aren’t careful, govern-

ment intervention could also afflict our best

companies with the dead weight and dys-

function of our broken political system. We

need government to spawn brainpower, not

bureaucracy.

A quiet US mobilization against ChinaBY DAVID IGNATIUS

Washington Post Writers Group

WASHINGTON

Looking on the bright side, which is

usually irrational but occasionally

justifiable, the debate about raising

the federal minimum wage to $15 an

hour is mildly encouraging evidence that

moderately sensible policymaking is again

possible. The debate has been informed by da-

ta, not all of which has been ignored. The de-

bate has been a reminder of federalism’s im-

portance in a continental nation. Because the

debate is about money, it has revived the ca-

pacity for legislative bargaining about splitta-

ble differences. Best of all, one side in the de-

bate has refrained from overturning legisla-

tive due process, which it could have done and

the other side has hitherto done.

Minimum-wage laws are a price we pay for

democracy, which is worth it. Leave aside the

folly of government setting prices, in this case

the price of labor, which is an undertaking for

which government has demonstrated scant

aptitude. Disregard, too, the probability of un-

intended but predictable consequences from

a$15 minimum wage:

The raise would incentivize some employ-

ers to replace wage-earners with technology

— for example, tablets for ordering in fast-

food restaurants. Most eateries, however, will

be unable to do this, so the raise would deepen

the distress of the hardest-hit sector of the

economy: During the pandemic’s first six

months, more than 1 in 6 restaurants closed

permanently, and eateries and bars account

for about 25% of COVID-related job losses.

The Manhattan Institute’s Charles Fain

Lehman reports: “A surprising body of re-

search links increases in the minimum wage

to increases in criminal offending by those

most likely to lose jobs as a result of the wage

hike.” The Congressional Budget Office con-

cludes that a phased increase to $15 an hour in

2025 could raise the pay of 27 million workers

(17% of the workforce) but would result in the

elimination of about 1.3 million jobs. The CBO

estimates that half of those losing jobs would

be ages 16 to 19. Lehman says researchers esti-

mate that job losses resulting from a $15 mini-

mum wage “would lead to an additional

423,000 property crimes” and $2.5 billion in

damages.

The Heritage Foundation’s Rachel Gres-

zler reports that the median hourly wage of

those performing child care is $11.65, and

mandating $15 would increase the cost of such

care by an average of 21%, or $3,728 per year

for a family with two children, from $20,152 to

$23,880. This could cause some parents to

withdraw from the workforce.

Democrats had hoped to include the $15

minimum wage in their $1.9 trillion pandemic

relief/stimulus/kitchen-sink package, and

achieve Senate passage under arcane “recon-

ciliation” rules. This would have prevented

Republicans from filibustering it, enabling

passage with 50 votes plus the vice presi-

dent’s. When the Senate parliamentarian held

that the $15 minimum was ineligible for pas-

sage under reconciliation, many progressiv-

es, whose devotion to norms is situational,

urged Democratic senators to overrule or re-

place the parliamentarian. Those senators

could have cited a precedent for doing so.

Twenty years ago, less than four months in-

to George W. Bush’s presidency, Republi-

cans, who controlled the Senate, removed a

parliamentarian. He had a law degree, a politi-

cal science doctorate and the temerity to make

some rulings that inconvenienced Republi-

cans, under whose patronage he had served as

parliamentarian from 1981 to 1987 and when

they regained control in 1995.

If Democrats had decided to replace today’s

parliamentarian with a more compliant one,

this would have signaled a continuation of

scorched-earth politics. The Democrats’ re-

straint is perhaps a virtue made more palata-

ble to them because they do not have 50 votes

for the $15 minimum. (Two of their senators

oppose it.) Some good deeds are better than

the motives for them.

Minimum-wage increases poll well: When

Asupports compelling B to give money to C, C

is pleased, A is pleased with himself for being

virtuous with other people’s money, and B is at

least pleased that he can pass some of his in-

creased costs on to his customers, who per-

haps include A, who might not notice. Normal-

ity is often not sensible, but we missed it when

it was absent.

The mildly encouraging minimum-wage debateBY GEORGE F. WILL

Washington Post Writers Group

Sunday, March 7, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 19

SCOREBOARD

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Sunday’s games

EAST

Sacred Heart at Duquesne Wagner at Merrimack College, ppd. Bryant at LIU

SOUTH

E. Illinois (0-1) at UT Martin (0-1)Jacksonville St. (4-1) at Tennessee St.

(0-1)

MIDWEST

Murray St. (1-0) at SE Missouri (1-1)

FAR WEST

Dixie State (1-0) vs. New Mexico St. (0-1)at El Paso, Texas

Friday’s score

EAST

Albany (NY) 24, New Hampshire 20

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Friday’s men’s scores

EAST

Buffalo 81, Kent St. 67 Canisius 76, Siena 75 Fairfield 85, Manhattan 67 Marshall 75, Charlotte 67 Monmouth (NJ) 65, Rider 62 Morgan St. 92, Delaware St. 67 St. Bonaventure 75, Duquesne 59 St. Peter’s 66, Quinnipiac 64

SOUTH

Appalachian St. 67, UALR 60 Ark.-Pine Bluff 82, MVSU 59 Belmont 72, Jacksonville St. 69 Davidson 99, George Mason 67 FAU 63, Middle Tennessee 54 Georgia Tech 75, Wake Forest 63 Liberty 77, Stetson 64 Mercer 87, Samford 59 Miami 80, Boston College 76 Morehead St. 67, E. Kentucky 64 North Alabama 96, Florida Gulf Coast 81 Old Dominion 71, W. Kentucky 69 South Alabama 80, Louisiana-Monroe 72 The Citadel 100, W. Carolina 86 VCU 73, Dayton 68

MIDWEST

Chicago 73, S. Illinois 49 E. Michigan 64, W. Michigan 63 Indiana St. 53, Evansville 43 Missouri St. 66, Valparaiso 55 N. Illinois 79, Cent. Michigan 74 Saint Louis 86, UMass 72 Toledo 89, Ball St. 70

SOUTHWEST

Arkansas St. 62, Georgia Southern 58 Rice 80, Our Lady of the Lake 77 Troy 91, Texas-Arlington 86 UAB 65, North Texas 51

FAR WEST

E. Washington 75, Idaho St. 62 Hawaii 73, UC Davis 68 Loyola Marymount 70, San Francisco 66 Montana 92, WPC 61 Montana St. 77, Sacramento St. 75 Nevada 85, Colorado St. 82 New Mexico St. 76, Dixie St. 66 Santa Clara 95, Portland 86 Seattle 80, Cal Baptist 79 Tarleton St. 65, Texas Rio Grande Valley

47 UC Irvine 71, Long Beach St. 68, OT UC Riverside 72, CS Northridge 68 UC San Diego 89, Cal St.-Fullerton 85 UC Santa Barbara 71, Cal Poly 57 Utah Valley St. 59, Grand Canyon 55

Friday’s women’s scores

EAST

Fairleigh Dickinson 64, Bryant 58 Iona 65, Monmouth (NJ) 51 Merrimack 64, Sacred Heart 57 Providence 63, Butler 61 Rutgers 71, Ohio St. 63 St. Francis (Pa.) 69, CCSU 62 St. John’s 65, Xavier 57 St. Peter’s 58, Marist 51 Wagner 73, Mount St. Mary’s 68, 2OT

SOUTH

Appalachian St. 70, Louisiana-Monroe60

Ark.-Pine Bluff 57, MVSU 53 Belmont 67, Murray St. 49 FAU 77, Charlotte 73 Florida Gulf Coast 80, Liberty 60 Georgia 78, Kentucky 66 Georgia Tech 60, Clemson 57 Kennesaw St. 78, Lipscomb 62 Louisville 65, Wake Forest 53 Mercer 81, Furman 71 Middle Tennessee 61, Marshall 54 NC State 68, Virginia Tech 55 Old Dominion 57, W. Kentucky 55 South Alabama 73, Arkansas St. 64 South Carolina 75, Alabama 63 Stetson 89, Jacksonville 64 Syracuse 68, Florida St. 67 Tennessee 77, Mississippi 72 UNC-Wilmington 75, Towson 65 UT Martin 69, Tennessee Tech 56 Wofford 75, ETSU 64

MIDWEST

Bradley 86, Indiana St. 52 Creighton 56, Georgetown 42 Drake 77, Valparaiso 67 Illinois 72, Minnesota 64 Illinois St. 64, Loyola of Chicago 61 Missouri St. 87, Evansville 54 N. Iowa 67, S. Illinois 56 New Mexico St. 73, Chicago St. 40 North Florida 76, Bellarmine 73

SOUTHWEST

Rio Grande 62, Tarleton St. 56 Texas A&M 77, LSU 58 Texas State 94, Georgia Southern 61 UALR 75, Coastal Carolina 64

FAR WEST

Cal Poly 76, UC Santa Barbara 46 Cal St.-Fullerton 60, UC San Diego 57 California Baptist 66, Seattle 64 Idaho 92, Montana 72 Idaho St. 86, E. Washington 51 Loyola Marymount 74, Portland 56 Montana St. 81, Sacramento St. 66 N. Colorado 71, Weber St. 66 New Mexico 71, Colorado St. 62 Portland St. 60, S. Utah 57 Saint Mary’s (Cal) 69, Pacific 55 Stanford 79, Oregon St. 45UC Irvine 79, Long Beach St. 70 UCLA 58, Arizona 49

COLLEGE HOCKEY

Friday’s scoresEAST

Boston College 4, Northeastern 2Maine 3, UMass 3, OT, (Maine wins shoo-

tout 2-1)Quinnipiac 4, Colgate 2UConn 5, Providence 3

MIDWESTArizona St. 5, Ohio St. 0Wisconsin 4, Michigan St. 0Michigan 5, Minnesota 2Minnesota St. 2, Michigan Tech 1Notre Dame 5, Penn State 2Omaha 3, North Dakota 2, OT

TENNIS

Argentina OpenFriday

At Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis ClubBuenos Aires

Purse: $329,550Surface: Red clay

Men’s SinglesQuarterfinals

Albert Ramos-Vinolas (5), Spain, def. Su-mit Nagal, India, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5.

Francisco Cerundolo, Argentina, def. Pa-blo Andujar (6), Spain, 1-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Miomir Kecmanovic (4), Serbia, def. Las-lo Djere (7), Serbia, 6-4, 7-6 (6).

Diego Schwartzman (1), Argentina, def.Jaume Munar, Spain, 6-2, 7-5.

Men’s DoublesQuarterfinals

Gonzalo Escobar, Ecuador, and Ariel Be-har (4), Uruguay, def. Oliver Marach, Aus-tria, and Luis David Martinez, Venezuela,6-2, 7-6 (3).

Men’s DoublesSemifinals

Nikola Cacic, Serbia, and Tomislav Brkic,Bosnia-Herzegovina, def. Joao Sousa, Por-tugal, and Dominik Koepfer, Germany, 3-6,7-6 (5), 10-5.

Qatar OpenFriday

At Khalifa International Tennis andSquash Complex

Doha, QatarPurse: $564,530

Surface: Hardcourt outdoorWomen’s Singles

SemifinalsGarbine Muguruza, Spain, def. Victoria

Azarenka (8), Belarus, walkover. Petra Kvitova (4), Czech Republic, def.

Jessica Pegula, United States, 6-4, 6-4. Women’s Doubles

ChampionshipNicole Melichar, United States, and

Demi Schuurs (2), Netherlands, def. Mon-ica Niculescu, Romania, and Jelena Osta-penko, Latvia, 6-2, 2-6, 10-8.

ABN Amro World TournamentFriday

At Ahoy RotterdamRotterdam, Netherlands

Purse: Euro 980,580Surface: Hardcourt indoor

Men’s SinglesQuarterfinals

Stefanos Tsitsipas (2), Greece, def. Ka-ren Khachanov, Russia, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.

Andrey Rublev (4), Russia, def. JeremyChardy, France, 7-6 (2), 6-7 (2), 6-4.

Borna Coric, Croatia, def. Kei Nishikori,Japan, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4).

Men’s DoublesQuarterfinals

Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic (2), Croa-tia, def. Pierre-Hugues Herbert, France,and Jan-Lennard Struff, Germany, 3-6, 6-3,10-7.

Edouard Roger-Vasselin, France, andHenri Kontinen, Finland, def. StefanosTsitsipas and Petros Tsitsipas, Greece,6-2, 7-6 (4).

Lyon OpenFriday

At Palais des Sports GerlandLyon, France

Purse: Euro 189,708Surface: Hardcourt indoor

Women’s SinglesQuarterfinals

Clara Tauson, Denmark, def. CamilaGiorgi, Italy, 6-3, 6-1.

Paula Badosa (7), Spain, def. KristinaMladenovic (4), France, 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-2.

Fiona Ferro (2), France, def. Clara Burel,France, 2-6, 6-1, 6-3.

Viktorija Golubic, Switzerland, def.Greet Minnen, Belgium, 6-3, 7-6 (0).

Women’s DoublesSemifinals

Arantxa Rus, Netherlands, and ViktoriaKuzmova (1), Slovakia, def. Lidziya Maro-zava, Belarus, and Anna Danilina, Kazakh-stan, 6-3, 6-3.

DEALS

Friday's transactionsBASEBALL

Major League BaseballMLB — Suspended free agent RHP Sam

Dyson for the 2021 season and postseasonfor a violation of Major League Baseball'sJoint Domestic Violence, Sexual Assaultand Child Abuse Policy.

American LeagueBOSTON RED SOX — Agreed to terms

with Cs Ronaldo Hernandez and ConnorWong, OFs Jeisson Rosario, Alex Verdugoand Marcus Wilson, INFs Jonathan Arauz,Christian Arroyo, Michael Chavis, BobbyDalbec and Hudson Potts, and Ps EduardBazardo, Colten Brewer, Jay Groome, Dar-winzon Hernandez, Tanner Houck, BryanMata, Nick Pivetta, John Schreiber, ConnorSeabold, Josh Taylor, Phillips Valdez, andGarrett Whitlock on one-year contracts.

KANSAS CITY ROYALS — Agreed toterms with OF Jarrod Dyson to a one-yearcontract.

LOS ANGELES ANGELS — Assigned RHPGerardo Reyes outright to Salt Lake (Tri-ple-A West).

National LeagueARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS — Released

OF Drew Weeks.BASKETBALL

National Basketball AssociationNBA — Fined both Utah G Donovan

Mitchell for public criticism of the officiat-ing and his conduct while exiting the courtand Utah C Ruby Gobert for public criti-cism of the officiating after a gameagainst Philadelphia on March 3.

DETROIT PISTONS — Agreed to termswith F Blake Griffin on a contract buyoutand placed him on waivers.

FOOTBALLNational Football League

ARIZONA CARDINALS — Released KZane Gonzalez.

BUFFALO BILLS — Signed S Micah Hydeto a two-year contract extension.

CINCINNATI BENGALS — Released C B.J.Finney.

LOS ANGELES CHARGERS — Sign K Tris-tan Vizcaino to a one-year contract.

MINNESOTA VIKINGS — Waived CBs TaeHayes and Cordrea Tankersley.

SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS — Signed TE RossDwelley and S Marcell Harris to one-yearcontract extensions. Waived the contractof LB Mark Nzeocha.

TENNESSEE TITANS — Agreed to termswith FB Khari Blasingame on a one-yearcontract.

WASHINGTON FOOTBALL TEAM — Re-leased QB Alex Smith.

HOCKEYNational Hockey League

NHL — Fined Carolina D Brett Pesce for adangerous trip of Detroit F Robby Fabbriduring a March 3 game.

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS — Placed Fs An-drew Shaw and Zach Smith on long-terminjured reserve.

COLORADO AVALANCHE — Recalled GPeyton Jones from minor league taxisquad. Assigned G Adam Werner to Col-orado (AHL).

DALLAS STARS — Designated LW TannerKero for the minor league taxi squad.

DETROIT RED WINGS — Assigned C Mi-chael Rasmussen to Grand Rapids (AHL).Reassigned D Gustav Lindstrom to the mi-nor league taxi squad.

NASHVILLE PREDATORS — Recalled LWTanner Jeannot from minor league taxisquad. Loaned G Connor Ingram to Chica-go (AHL).

NEW JERSEY DEVILS — Loaned F MichaelMcLeod to the minor league taxi squad.Assigned F Brett Seney from Binghamton(AHL) to the taxi squad. Reassigned D JoshJacobs to Binghamton (AHL).

OTTAWA SENATORS — Designated DErik Brannstrom to the minor league taxisquad.

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS — Loaned DPierre-Olivier Joseph and LW Drew O'Con-nor to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (AHL).

SAN JOSE SHARKS — Recalled RWSteenn Pasichmnuk from Allen (ECHL)loan. Reassigned LW Dillon Hamaliuk toKelowna (WHL). Recalled RW Kurtis Ga-briel and C Joel Kellman from the minorleague taxi squad.

Major League SoccerCOLORADO RAPIDS — Signed D Sam

Vines to a four-year contract and F DiegoRubio to a two-year contract extension.

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION — Signed FEdward Kizza to a one-year contract.

NEW YORK RED BULLS — Signed W Cam-eron Harper to a three-year contract.

PHILADELPHIA UNION — Agreed toterms with G Joe Bendik on a one-yearcontract.

AUTO RACING

Bucked Up 200NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series

Friday At Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Las VegasLap length: 1.50 miles

(Start position in parentheses)1. (3) John H. Nemechek, Toyota, 134

laps, 59 points. 2. (29) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 134, 0. 3. (31) Austin Hill, Toyota, 134, 39. 4. (9) Stewart Friesen, Toyota, 134, 47. 5. (4) Matt Crafton, Toyota, 134, 47. 6. (32) Zane Smith, Chevrolet, 134, 31. 7. (18) Grant Enfinger, Chevrolet, 134, 35. 8. (40) Parker Kligerman, Chevrolet, 134,

29. 9. (5) Christian Eckes, Toyota, 134, 35. 10. (1) Ben Rhodes, Toyota, 134, 36. 11. (17) Brett Moffitt, Chevrolet, 134, 26. 12. (22) Tanner Gray, Ford, 134, 25. 13. (6) Todd Gilliland, Ford, 134, 24. 14. (12) Austin Wayne Self, Chevrolet,

134, 23. 15. (11) Johnny Sauter, Toyota, 134, 22. 16. (19) Timothy Peters, Chevrolet, 134,

21. 17. (26) Danny Bohn, Toyota, 134, 20. 18. (2) Sheldon Creed, Chevrolet, 134, 28. 19. (7) Chandler Smith, Toyota, 134, 20. 20. (20) Tate Fogleman, Chevrolet, 134,

17. 21. (23) Dawson Cram, Chevrolet, 134, 16. 22. (33) Spencer Boyd, Chevrolet, 134, 15. 23. (21) Chase Purdy, Chevrolet, 134, 14. 24. (10) Carson Hocevar, Chevrolet, 133,

13. 25. (15) Kris Wright, Chevrolet, 132, 12. 26. (39) BJ McLeod, Toyota, 132, 0. 27. (28) Jordan Anderson, Chevrolet, 132,

0. 28. (30) Hailie Deegan, Ford, 130, 9. 29. (34) Jennifer Jo Cobb, Chevrolet, 130,

8. 30. (13) Raphael Lessard, Chevrolet, 130,

7. 31. (37) Jesse Iwuji, Chevrolet, 129, 6. 32. (8) Derek Kraus, Toyota, 126, 5. 33. (35) Norm Benning, Chevrolet, 123, 4. 34. (16) Tyler Ankrum, Chevrolet, acci-

dent, 122, 4. 35. (25) Tyler Hill, Chevrolet, accident,

112, 2. 36. (27) Cory Roper, Ford, accident, 111,

1. 37. (38) Bret Holmes, Chevrolet, garage,

106, 1. 38. (24) Ryan Truex, Chevrolet, garage,

103, 1. 39. (14) David Gilliland, Ford, accident,

96, 8. 40. (36) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, accident,

68, 1.

Race Statistics

Average Speed of Race Winner: 96.133mph.

Time of Race: 2 hours, 5 minutes, 27 sec-onds.

Margin of Victory: 0.686 seconds. Caution Flags: 9 for 48 laps. Lead Changes: 9 among 5 drivers. Lap Leaders: B.Rhodes 0; S.Creed 1-6;

J.Nemechek 7-32; S.Creed 33; J.Nemechek34-47; K.Busch 48-63; S.Friesen 64-67; J.Ne-mechek 68-90; B.Moffitt 91-103; J.Neme-chek 104-134

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Led,Laps Led): J.Nemechek, 4 times for 94 laps;K.Busch, 1 time for 16 laps; B.Moffitt, 1 timefor 13 laps; S.Creed, 2 times for 7 laps;S.Friesen, 1 time for 4 laps.

Wins: B.Rhodes, 2; J.Nemechek, 1. Top 16 in Points: 1. J.Nemechek, 150; 2.

B.Rhodes, 136; 3. S.Creed, 115; 4. M.Craf-ton, 110; 5. C.Smith, 90; 6. S.Friesen, 80; 7.G.Enfinger, 71; 8. T.Gilliland, 69; 9. J.Sauter,69; 10. C.Hocevar, 68; 11. A.Self, 68; 12.A.Hill, 65; 13. C.Eckes, 62; 14. Z.Smith, 61; 15.R.Lessard, 61; 16. B.Moffitt, 57.

Pennzoil 400 lineupNASCAR Cup Series

After Saturday qualifying; race Sunday At Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Las VegasLap length: 1.50 miles

(Car number in parentheses)1. (4) Kevin Harvick, Ford, .000 mph. 2. (24) William Byron, Chevrolet, .000. 3. (5) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, .000. 4. (19) Martin Truex Jr, Toyota, .000. 5. (34) Michael McDowell, Ford, .000. 6. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, .000. 7. (1) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, .000. 8. (9) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, .000. 9. (48) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, .000. 10. (2) Brad Keselowski, Ford, .000. 11. (8) Tyler Reddick, Chevrolet, .000. 12. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, .000. 13. (6) Ryan Newman, Ford, .000. 14. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota, .000. 15. (22) Joey Logano, Ford, .000. 16. (20) Christopher Bell, Toyota, .000. 17. (47) Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Chevrolet,

.000. 18. (17) Chris Buescher, Ford, .000. 19. (37) Ryan Preece, Chevrolet, .000. 20. (41) Cole Custer, Ford, .000. 21. (42) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, .000. 22. (99) Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, .000. 23. (23) Bubba Wallace, Toyota, .000. 24. (14) Chase Briscoe, Ford, .000. 25. (77) Justin Haley, Chevrolet, .000. 26. (12) Ryan Blaney, Ford, .000. 27. (38) Anthony Alfredo, Ford, .000. 28. (10) Aric Almirola, Ford, .000. 29. (43) Erik Jones, Chevrolet, .000. 30. (21) Matt DiBenedetto, Ford, .000. 31. (53) Garrett Smithley, Ford, .000. 32. (51) Cody Ware, Chevrolet, .000. 33. (7) Corey Lajoie, Chevrolet, .000. 34. (78) BJ McLeod, Ford, .000. 35. (52) Josh Bilicki, Ford, .000. 36. (00) Quin Houff, Chevrolet, .000. 37. (15) Joey Gase, Chevrolet, .000. 38. (66) Timmy Hill, Ford, .000.

AP SPORTLIGHT

March 7

1954 — The Minneapolis Lakers and Mil-waukee Hawks experiment with the bas-kets raised from 10 feet to 12 feet duringan exhibition game. George Mikan and theLakers win 65-63.

PRO FOOTBALL

NFL calendarTBA — NFL scouting combine.March 9 — Deadline for clubs to desig-

nate franchise or transition players before4 p.m. (ET)

March 17 — Free Agency and Trading pe-riods begin at 4 p.m. (ET)

April 5 — Clubs with new head coachesmay begin offseason workout programs.

April 19 — Clubs with returning headcoaches may begin offseason workoutprograms.

April 23 — Deadline for restricted freeagents to sign offer sheets.

April 29-May 1 — NFL Draft and Annualleague meeting, Cleveland.

PRO BASEBALL

Spring training

Thursday’s games

Baltimore 6, Boston 3Detroit 8, Toronto 2Tampa Bay 5, Minnesota 2Pittsburgh 6, Atlanta 1Philadelphia 15, N.Y. Yankees 0N.Y. Mets 8, Washington 4Texas 5, San Diego 3San Francisco 3, Chicago White Sox 1Colorado 9, Seattle 9Cleveland 5, Milwaukee 1Arizona 9, L.A. Angels 2Houston 14, St. Louis 0Kansas City 5, Cincinnati 3Chicago Cubs 7, L.A. Dodgers 0

Friday’s games

Boston 6, Tampa Bay 5Philadelphia 3, Pittsburgh 0Atlanta 4, Minnesota 0Detroit 1, N.Y. Yankees 1Miami 1, Houston 0Toronto 13, Baltimore 4L.A. Dodgers 7, Kansas City 5Seattle 2, Chicago White Sox 2L.A. Angels 7, Oakland 3Cleveland 10, Chicago Cubs 4Milwaukee 12, Colorado 3Washington 7, St. Louis 6Arizona 5, Cincinnati 3San Diego 9, San Francisco 3

Saturday’s games

Minnesota vs. Boston at Fort Myers, Fla.Atlanta vs. Tampa Bay at Port Charlotte,

Fla.N.Y. Yankees vs. Pittsburgh at Braden-

ton, Fla.Washington vs. Miami at Jupiter, Fla.Philadelphia vs. Toronto at Dunedin, Fla.Chicago White Sox vs. Cleveland at

Goodyear, Ariz.San Diego vs. L.A. Dodgers at Glendale,

Ariz.Kansas City vs. San Francisco at Scotts-

dale, Ariz.Oakland vs. Seattle at Peoria, Ariz.Chicago Cubs vs. Milwaukee at PhoenixColorado vs. L.A. Angels at Tempe, Ariz.Texas vs. Arizona at Scottsdale, Ariz.Detroit vs. Baltimore at Sarasota, Fla.N.Y. Mets vs. Houston at West Palm

Beach, Fla.Sunday’s games

Baltimore vs. Pittsburgh at Bradenton,Fla.

Houston vs. St. Louis at Jupiter, Fla.Toronto vs. Detroit at Lakeland, Fla.Tampa Bay vs. Minnesota at Fort Myers,

Fla.Boston vs. Atlanta at North Port, Fla.Philadelphia vs. N.Y. Yankees at Tampa,

Fla.Miami vs. N.Y. Mets at Port St. Lucie, Fla.San Francisco vs. Cincinnati at

Goodyear, Ariz.Colorado vs. Chicago White Sox at Glen-

dale, Ariz.Cleveland vs. Oakland at Mesa, Ariz.L.A. Dodgers vs. Texas at Surprise, Ariz.Kansas City vs. San Diego at Peoria, Ariz.Chicago Cubs vs. Arizona at Scottsdale,

Ariz.Seattle vs. L.A. Angels at Tempe, Ariz.

GOLF

Arnold Palmer InvitationalPGA Tour

FridayAt Bay Hill Club and Lodge

Orlando, Fla.Purse: $9.3 million

Yardage: 7,409; Par: 72Second Round

Corey Conners 66-69—135 -9Martin Laird 69-67—136 -8Viktor Hovland 69-68—137 -7Rory McIlroy 66-71—137 -7Lanto Griffin 69-68—137 -7Bryson DeChambeau 67-71—138 -6Paul Casey 70-69—139 -5Sungjae Im 69-70—139 -5Justin Rose 71-68—139 -5Jordan Spieth 70-69—139 -5Christiaan Bezuidenhout 70-70—140 -4Lee Westwood 69-71—140 -4Richy Werenski 71-69—140 -4Matthew Fitzpatrick 69-71—140 -4Max Homa 70-70—140 -4 Jazz Janewattananond 75-65—140 -4Tommy Fleetwood 70-70—140 -4

Drive On ChampionshipLPGA Tour

FridayAt Golden Ocala Golf and Equestrian Club

Orlando, Fla.Purse: $1.5 million

Yardage: 6,526; Par: 72Second Round

Jennifer Kupcho 67-67—134 -10Austin Ernst 67-67—134 -10Carlota Ciganda 71-65—136 -8Nelly Korda 67-70—137 -7Jenny Coleman 70-69—139 -5Yu Liu 70-70—140 -4Ashleigh Buhai 70-70—140 -4Patty Tavatanakit 70-70—140 -4Leona Maguire 69-71—140 -4Jaye Marie Green 68-72—140 -4Cheyenne Knight 71-70—141 -3Katherine Kirk 69-72—141 -3Mi Jung Hur 69-72—141 -3Lydia Ko 69-72—141 -3Megan Khang 69-72—141 -3Gaby Lopez 69-72—141 -3Danielle Kang 72-70—142 -2Sei Young Kim 72-70—142 -2

PAGE 20 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Sunday, March 7, 2021

NHL

East Division

GP W L OT Pts GF GA

N.Y. Islanders 23 13 6 4 30 63 52

Washington 23 13 6 4 30 76 75

Boston 21 13 5 3 29 65 53

Philadelphia 20 12 5 3 27 67 62

Pittsburgh 22 12 9 1 25 68 71

N.Y. Rangers 21 9 9 3 21 59 55

New Jersey 19 7 10 2 16 47 60

Buffalo 21 6 12 3 15 48 65

Central Division

GP W L OT Pts GF GA

Tampa Bay 22 16 4 2 34 77 45

Carolina 23 16 6 1 33 81 62

Florida 22 14 4 4 32 72 64

Chicago 25 13 7 5 31 79 74

Columbus 25 10 10 5 25 69 80

Nashville 23 10 13 0 20 55 73

Detroit 26 7 16 3 17 54 87

Dallas 18 6 8 4 16 48 50

West Division

GP W L OT Pts GF GA

Vegas 20 15 4 1 31 66 45

St. Louis 24 14 8 2 30 78 75

Colorado 21 13 7 1 27 64 50

Minnesota 21 13 7 1 27 67 55

Los Angeles 22 9 8 5 23 64 62

Arizona 23 10 10 3 23 60 71

San Jose 21 8 10 3 19 63 82

Anaheim 24 6 12 6 18 50 72

North Division

GP W L OT Pts GF GA

Toronto 25 18 5 2 38 88 59

Winnipeg 23 15 7 1 31 78 62

Edmonton 25 14 11 0 28 80 78

Montreal 22 10 6 6 26 71 65

Calgary 24 11 11 2 24 66 73

Vancouver 27 10 15 2 22 77 91

Ottawa 26 8 17 1 17 70 102

Thursday’s games

N.Y. Islanders 5, Buffalo 2 Winnipeg 4, Montreal 3, OT Philadelphia 4, Pittsburgh 3 N.Y. Rangers 6, New Jersey 1 Carolina 5, Detroit 2 Tampa Bay 3, Chicago 2, OT Florida 5, Nashville 4 Calgary 7, Ottawa 3 Vancouver 3, Toronto 1 Columbus 3, Dallas 2

Friday’s games

Boston 5, Washington 1 Chicago 4, Tampa Bay 3, SO St. Louis 3, Los Angeles 2, OT Minnesota 5, Arizona 1 Colorado 3, Anaheim 2, OT Vegas 5, San Jose 4, OT

Saturday’s games

Buffalo at N.Y. Islanders N.Y. Rangers at New Jersey Philadelphia at Pittsburgh Florida at Nashville Minnesota at Arizona Toronto at Vancouver Winnipeg at Montreal Anaheim at Colorado Columbus at Dallas St. Louis at Los Angeles Calgary at Edmonton Vegas at San Jose

Sunday’s games

Buffalo at N.Y. Islanders Tampa Bay at Chicago Florida at Carolina New Jersey at Boston Washington at Philadelphia N.Y. Rangers at Pittsburgh Nashville at Dallas Ottawa at Calgary

Monday’s games

Vegas at Minnesota Arizona at Colorado Ottawa at Edmonton St. Louis at San Jose Los Angeles at Anaheim Montreal at Vancouver

Tuesday’s games

N.Y. Rangers at PittsburghBoston at N.Y. IslandersBuffalo at PhiladelphiaNew Jersey at WashingtonNashville at CarolinaFlorida at ColumbusWinnipeg at TorontoTampa Bay at DetroitChicago at Dallas

Scoring leaders

Through Friday

GP G A PTS

Connor McDavid, EDM 25 14 26 40

Leon Draisaitl, EDM 25 10 25 35

Patrick Kane, CHI 24 11 24 35

Mitchell Marner, TOR 25 10 24 34

Mark Scheifele, WPG 23 11 21 32

Auston Matthews, TOR 22 18 13 31

Scoreboard

Jason Spezza would have jump-

ed at the opportunity to voice his

support for women’s hockey even

if he didn’t have four daughters

growing up at home.

The veteran Maple Leafs for-

ward was a big fan of the women’s

game long before he was married,

dating to years ago when Spezza at-

tended a pre-Winter Games tune-

up between Canada and the United

States at a rink in suburban Toron-

to.

“It was one of the best hockey

games I’ve watched,” he recalled

this week. “There were 6,000 peo-

ple packed in the building. And it

didn’t matter that it was males or

females. It was just a great hockey

game.”

That memory, coupled with the

invested personal interest he has

for his children, helped prompt

Spezza to be one of numerous NHL

players to participate in the Profes-

sional Women’s Hockey Players’

Association’s latest campaign pro-

moting the need to establish a new

North American women’s league.

“I think regardless if I have

daughters or not, I think it’s a really

important cause,” Spezza said.

“But it definitely hits more close to

home for me with having four

daughters and a wife, and women’s

rights and talking about equality,

which we talk about quite a bit in

our house.”

Titled “Stick In The Ground,” a

one-minute video released last

week features U.S. and Canadian

women’s national team players,

NHL players, tennis great Billie

Jean King and even Toronto May-

or John Tory discussing the impor-

tance of planting a stick to benefit

the future of women’s hockey.

As PWHPA executive and

Hockey Hall of Fame member Jay-

na Hefford says in the video: “Ev-

ery young girl deserves to have the

same visible hockey role models as

every young boy.”

It was a message echoed by Ed-

monton Oilers forward Kyle Tur-

ris, who participated in the video.

“I have two sons and a daughter,

and yeah, I think it’s important,”

Turris said. “I want my daughter to

grow up thinking she can run the

world if she wants to do as well.”

Founded in May 2019 following

the demise of the Canadian Hock-

ey League, the PWHPA is made up

of the world’s top female players

united in a bid to establish a single

North American professional

league — ideally backed by the

NHL — with a long-term sustaina-

ble economic model.

The association’s members have

balked at playing for the U.S.-

based six-team National Women’s

Hockey League, and instead have

been holding a series of barnstorm-

ing weekend events called the

“Dream Gap Tour.”

This year’s tour opened with

New Hampshire and Minnesota

playing two games, including one

at Madison Square Garden on Sun-

day, which was televised national-

ly in both the U.S. and Canada. This

weekend, the two PWHPA U.S.

hub teams will play two games at

Chicago.

The games represent a home-

coming of sorts to U.S. national

team member Brianna Decker,

who grew up a Blackhawks fan in

Wisconsin.

“I’m super exited to play there,”

the two-time Olympian said, add-

ing, “my brothers are definitely

jealous.”

Decker is particularly im-

pressed by the support the

PWHPA has generated from NHL

players and its franchises.

“Kyle Turris saying he wants his

daughter to have the same oppor-

tunities as himself, that’s what

we’re striving to do,” she said.

“Right now, we have college hock-

ey. And if you’re at the elite level,

you make the national team. But af-

ter college, you’re usually just done

playing, which is sad.”

Players voice support for women’s leagueBY JOHN WAWROW

Associated Press

FRANK GUNN/AP

U.S. forward Brianna Decker celebrates scoring against Canada dur­ing a Rivalry Series game on Feb. 14, 2019 in Toronto.

BOSTON — Brad Marchand had two goals

and an assist and the Boston Bruins responded

to a head shot from Capitals forward Tom Wil-

son with a three-goal second period to beat

Washington 5-1 on Friday night.

Two days after Alex Ovechkin slashed Trent

Frederic in the groin, the game again took an

ugly turn when Wilson smashed Brandon Car-

lo’s head into the glass with 90 seconds left in

the first period. Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy

said Carlo left the arena in an ambulance and

went to a hospital but could not confirm that it

was a concussion.

Frederic and Jarred Tinordi fought Wilson

in the game, but the real revenge was the scor-

ing.

Carlo went down late in the first period after

Wilson went hands-high to his head in the cor-

ner behind the Boston net. Carlo absorbed a

cross-check from Vrana on his way to the ice

and remained there for several minutes. No

penalty was called.

Golden Knights 5, Sharks 4 (OT): Max Pa-

cioretty scored his second goal of the game in

overtime and visiting Vegas recovered to win

after allowing a tying goal late in the third peri-

od.

Blackhawks 4, Lightning 3 (SO): Philipp

Kurashev scored the only goal in a shootout in

host Chicago’s victory over Tampa Bay.

Avalanche 3, Ducks 2 (OT): Valeri Nichush-

kin scored his second goal of the game 2:45 into

Louis past Los Angeles.

Wild 5, Coyotes 1: Mats Zuccarello had a

goal and an assist, Kaapo Kahkonen stopped 24

shots and visiting Minnesota jumped on Arizo-

na early.

overtime, Philipp Grubauer made 26 saves and

host Colorado overcame a two-goal deficit to

beat Anaheim.

Blues  3,  Kings  2  (OT): Mike Hoffman

scored 1:30 into overtime to lift visiting St.

ROUNDUP

Bruins get revenge on CapitalsAssociated Press

MICHAEL DWYER/AP

The Bruins’ Brandon Carlo is helped off the ice during the first period of Friday’s game againstthe Washington in Boston. Carlo was taken to the hospital.

Sunday, March 7, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 21

SPORTS BRIEFS/COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Kansas placed coach Les Miles

on administrative leave Friday

night, hours after a report released

by LSU revealed school officials

there considered firing him in

2013 because of his behavior with

female student workers.

“Even though the allegations

against him occurred at LSU, we

take these matters very seriously

at KU,” Kansas athletic director

Jeff Long said in a statement.

“Now that we have access to this

information, we will take the com-

ing days to fully review the materi-

al and to see if any additional infor-

mation is available. I do not want to

speculate on a timeline for our re-

view because it is imperative we

do our due diligence.”

Miles is entering his third year

as Kansas coach, and coming off a

winless 2020 season. He was coach

at LSU for 11-plus years before be-

ing fired four games into the 2016

season.

The 67-year-old Miles has de-

nied allegations he made sexual

advances toward students and has

said he merely sought to serve as a

mentor for students who ex-

pressed an interest in pursuing ca-

reers in sports.

Earlier in the day, LSU released

a law firm’s 148-page review of

how the university has handled

sexual misconduct complaints.

Then-athletic director Joe Alle-

va’s 2013 recommendation to for-

mer LSU President F. King Alex-

ander to fire Miles is detailed in

the report by the Husch Blackwell

law firm. The report offers a scath-

ing view of the resources and at-

tention LSU has dedicated to com-

plaints of sexual misconduct and

violence against women campus-

wide.

LSU suspended executive depu-

ty athletic director Verge Ausber-

ry 30 days and senior associate

athletic director Miriam Segar 21

days. Both are suspended without

pay and ordered to undergo sexual

violence training.

Miles was investigated after two

female student workers in LSU’s

football program accused the

coach of inappropriate behavior.

While that 2013 investigation by

the Taylor Porter law firm found

Miles showed poor judgment, it

did not find violations of law or that

he had a sexual relationship with

any students. Taylor Porter also

concluded it could not confirm one

student’s allegation that Miles

kissed her while they were in the

coach’s car with no one else pre-

sent.

Alleva recommended Miles be

fired with cause. In an email dated

June 2013, Alleva wrote Miles was

guilty of “insubordination, inap-

propriate behavior, putting the

university, athletic dept (cq) and

football program at great risk.”

The Taylor Porter review had

been kept confidential for about

eight years until a redacted ver-

sion of it was released this week af-

ter a lawsuit filed by USA Today.

Miles was hired by LSU in 2005

and won a national title in 2007.

The Husch Blackwell report,

which revisits the Miles investiga-

tion, also describes how the for-

mer coach “tried to sexualize the

staff of student workers in the foot-

ball program by, for instance, al-

legedly demanding that he wanted

blondes with big breasts, and

‘pretty girls.’ ”

Meanwhile, LSU has not fired

any current employees whose con-

duct was criticized in the Husch

Blackwell report.

Interim President Tom Galligan

said during an LSU Board of Su-

pervisors meeting Friday in Baton

Rouge, La., that he sought to be fair

in issuing discipline. Galligan

stressed that the independent re-

port concluded that failures in re-

sponding to sexual misconduct

complaints at LSU stemmed

largely from ambiguous policies

and a lack of resources for “over-

burdened” employees tasked with

handling such matters.

“People will be unhappy either

way,” Galligan said of how the uni-

versity chooses to discipline em-

ployees involved in the scandal.

Galligan then read an excerpt

from the report stating that such

employees “were not served well

by the leadership of the universi-

ty.”

Attorney Scott Schneider, who

led the Husch Blackwell review,

said that while LSU does not have a

monopoly on mishandling sexual

misconduct cases, the university

“has been very slow to develop

policies and infrastructure and

personnel that was really re-

quired” to ensure compliance with

federal Title IX laws. Those laws

deal broadly with gender equity in

education and also apply to in-

stances of sexual violence or ha-

rassment at educational institu-

tions.

Schneider found that LSU lead-

ership “responded in a lackluster

fashion” when officials who han-

dled Title IX compliance request-

ed more resources.

“The university’s Title IX office

was never staffed appropriately,”

he said. “We’re not the first people

to note that and flag this issue to the

leadership of the university. It has

been repeatedly addressed to the

leadership of the university and

seemingly nothing has been done

to remedy it up until this point.”

The report said allegations

against LSU athletes were treated

no differently than those against

non-athletes. However, Schneider

noted that star athletes tend to

have inherent leverage over vic-

tims at schools where athletics are

highly valued.

Victims are “understandably

reluctant to participate in the Title

IX process because they fear com-

munity backlash,” Schneider said.

Galligan offered public apol-

ogies to victims and said he in-

tends to act on all 18 recommenda-

tions in the report on how to

strengthen how the university

handles sexual misconduct com-

plaints campus-wide.

BUTCH DILL/AP

Then­LSU head coach Les Miles talks with referees during a gameagainst Auburn on Sept. 24, 2016. 

Kansas coach Miles puton administrative leave

BY BRETT MARTEL

Associated Press

ROLLING HILLS ESTATES,

Calif. — Tiger Woods was uncon-

scious in a mangled SUV after he

crashed the vehicle in Southern

California last week, according to

a court document that also re-

vealed a nearby resident and not a

sheriff’s deputy was first on the

scene.

The witness, who lives near the

accident scene in Rolling Hills Es-

tates just outside Los Angeles,

heard the crash and walked to the

SUV, Los Angeles County sheriff’s

Deputy Johann Schloegl wrote in

the affidavit. The man told depu-

ties that Woods had lost conscious-

ness and did not respond to his

questions.

The first deputy, Carlos Gonza-

lez, arrived minutes later the

morning of Feb. 23 and has said

Woods appeared to be in shock but

was conscious and able to answer

basic questions. Woods suffered

severe injuries to his right leg and

cuts to his face.

Woods told deputies — both at

the wreckage and later at the hos-

pital — that he did not know how

the crash occurred and didn’t re-

member driving, according to the

affidavit.

‘Miracle’ star Pavelich

dies at treatment homeMINNEAPOLIS — Mark Pavel-

ich, the speedy center from the

Iron Range who played on the

“Miracle on Ice” Olympic hockey

team, has died at a treatment cen-

ter for mental illness. He was 63.

Officials in Anoka County,

Minn., confirmed Friday that Pa-

velich died at the Eagle’s Healing

Nest in Sauk Centre, Minn., on

Thursday morning. The cause and

manner of death are still pending.

“We are saddened to hear about

the passing of 1980 Olympic gold

medalist Mark Pavelich,” USA

Hockey said in a statement. “We

extend our deepest condolences to

Mark’s family & friends. (He is)

forever a part of hockey history.”

Prosecutors won’t pursue

charges against MillerDENVER — Prosecutors said

Friday that Broncos star lineback-er Von Miller won’t face criminalcharges following an investigationby police in a Denver suburb.

In a statement, the District At-torney’s Office of the 18th JudicialDistrict said it decided not to filecharges after reviewing the find-ings of a criminal case submittedby police in Parker.

Miller, who turns 32 in threeweeks, is heading into the finalseason of the six-year, $114.5 mil-lion deal he signed in 2016.

The Broncos have until March16 to exercise his 2021 option,which would guarantee $7 millionof his $17.5 million base salary.

Pitcher Dyson suspended

for domestic violenceNEW YORK — Pitcher Sam

Dyson was suspended for the 2021season by Major League Baseballon Friday under the domestic vio-lence policy of the league and theplayers’ association.

The 32-year-old free agent lastplayed in 2019 for San Franciscoand Minnesota.

MLB began investigating Dys-on in 2019 after a woman wrotetwo lengthy social media posts al-leging domestic violence by an un-named individual. The woman lat-er told The Athletic that Dysonphysically abused her.

The Athletic reported she pro-vided photos showing bruises onher arms she said were caused byDyson. She also claimed Dysonphysically harmed her cat.

MLB said Dyson will participa-te in a confidential evaluation andtreatment program supervised byits joint policy board. He becameone of about 15 players disciplinedunder the domestic violence poli-cy since 2016, the first since NewYork Yankees pitcher DomingoGermán served an 81-game sus-pension that started in September2019 and ran through last season.

RINGO H.W. CHIU/AP

A law enforcement officer looks over a damaged vehicle following arollover accident involving golfer Tiger Woods on Feb. 23. 

Affidavit: Man found Woods

unconscious after crashAssociated Press

BRIEFLY

PAGE 22 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Sunday, March 7, 2021

NBA

Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division

W L Pct GB

Philadelphia 24 12 .667 —

Brooklyn 24 13 .649 ½

Boston 19 17 .528 5

New York 19 18 .514 5½

Toronto 17 19 .472 7

Southeast Division

W L Pct GB

Miami 18 18 .500 —

Charlotte 17 18 .486 ½

Atlanta 16 20 .444 2

Washington 14 20 .412 3

Orlando 13 23 .361 5

Central Division

W L Pct GB

Milwaukee 22 14 .611 —

Chicago 16 18 .471 5

Indiana 16 19 .457 5½

Cleveland 14 22 .389 8

Detroit 10 26 .278 12

Western Conference

Southwest Division

W L Pct GB

San Antonio 18 14 .563 —

Dallas 18 16 .529 1

Memphis 16 16 .500 2

New Orleans 15 21 .417 5

Houston 11 23 .324 8

Northwest Division

W L Pct GB

Utah 27 9 .750 —

Portland 21 14 .600 5½

Denver 21 15 .583 6

Oklahoma City 15 21 .417 12

Minnesota 7 29 .194 20

Pacific Division

W L Pct GB

Phoenix 24 11 .686 —

L.A. Lakers 24 13 .649 1

L.A. Clippers 24 14 .632 1½

Golden State 19 18 .514 6

Sacramento 14 22 .389 10½

Thursday’s games

Boston 132, Toronto 125 Washington 119, L.A. Clippers 117 New York 114, Detroit 104 Denver 113, Indiana 103 Milwaukee 112, Memphis 111 Miami 103, New Orleans 93 Oklahoma City 107, San Antonio 102 Phoenix 120, Golden State 98 Portland 123, Sacramento 119

Friday’s games

No games scheduled

Saturday’s games

No games scheduled

Sunday’s games

2021 All-Star Game

Team Durant vs Team LeBron

Monday’s games

No games scheduled

Tuesday’s games

No games scheduled

Wednesday’s games

Washington at MemphisSan Antonio at Dallas

Leaders

Scoring

G FG FT PTS AVG

Beal, WAS 32 368 243 1053 32.9

Embiid, PHI 30 285 298 905 30.2

Lillard, POR 34 315 237 1013 29.8

Curry, GS 35 343 184 1039 29.7

Antkmpo, MIL 35 368 240 1015 29.0

Rebounds

G OFF DEF TOT AVG

Capela, ATL 32 159 294 453 14.2

Gobert, UTA 36 120 352 472 13.1

Kanter, POR 35 146 269 415 11.9

Assists

G AST AVG

Harden, BKN 31 345 11.1

Wstbrk, WAS 27 265 9.8

Young, ATL 34 321 9.4

Scoreboard

Mo Williams played for the Eastern Confer-

ence in the 2009 NBA All-Star Game, and he

fully understands the enormity of the event’s

platform.

His team lost that game.

His current team — and a lot of others —

should be big winners this time around.

Sunday’s All-Star Game in Atlanta is gener-

ating $3 million for Historically Black Colleges

and Universities, through donations to scholar-

ship funds. But the actual value to those

schools will far exceed that influx of cash, with

almost every All-Star element set to showcase

and celebrate HBCU traditions and culture.

“Everything’s about expo-

sure,” said Williams, who

played 13 NBA seasons and

now is a first-year coach at

Alabama State of the South-

western Athletic Conference.

“Being that the All-Star

Game is putting an emphasis

on HBCUs, it gives us expo-

sure, and it helps in a lot of

different areas, a lot of differ-

ent ways, a lot of different

schools.

“It’s no different from Su-

per Bowl commercials. Peo-

ple spend millions of dollars

to put their commercial on

the Super Bowl for the expo-

sure. And, you know, the ex-

posure we’re getting this

weekend from the NBA All-

Star Game, it only can help.”

Those Super Bowl ads can

be as short as 30 seconds.

This exposure is going to

last several hours — and cov-

er almost every aspect of the

NBA’s midseason showcase.

The court was designed in collaboration

from artists who attended HBCU schools. The

famed bands from Grambling State and Flor-

ida A&M will perform during the player intro-

ductions. Clark Atlanta University’s Philhar-

monic Society Choir will perform “Lift Every

Voice and Sing,” commonly called the Black

national anthem. Gladys Knight, a graduate of

one of the nation’s oldest HBCUs in Shaw Uni-

versity, will sing “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

The refereeing crew of Tom Washington, Tony

Brown and Courtney Kirkland all are HBCU

graduates.

“We are here representing HBCUs and try-

ing to shed light on their ability to dream and

one day have the opportunity to follow in our

footsteps,” Brown said. “So, this game is main-

ly about giving people hope and allowing them

an opportunity to dream.”

The timing and location — Atlanta, birth-

place of Dr. Martin Luther King — to pay trib-

ute to HBCUs seems right.

During the past year, racial injustice has be-

come perhaps more of a national discussion

point than at any time in a generation. It also

saw history, with Kamala Harris — a graduate

of Howard — becoming not only the first wom-

an to be elected vice president but the first

HBCU graduate in the White House. Harris is

amember of Alpha Kappa Alpha, one of the Di-

vine Nine fraternities and sororities, groups

that the NBA is also paying tribute to Sunday.

NBA players used their platform in the

league’s bubble restart last summer to speak

out against inequality. They were often at the

center of the Black Lives Matter movement in

response to the deaths of George Floyd, Breon-

na Taylor and many more.

“You can’t talk about Black Lives Matter and

not talk about the Historically Black Colleges

and Universities,” said Charles McClelland,

the commissioner of the SWAC and a member

of the NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Com-

mittee. “A lot of these student-athletes have

been talking. A lot of these professional ath-

letes have been talking. But the platform really

wasn’t that great for them to be able to extend

that message. This is just in a unique time, and

I think we’re at the right time, and I’m ecstatic

that it’s happening at this point in time — be-

cause it’s so long overdue.”

The NBA has just one active player who at-

tended an HBCU: Portland’s Robert Coving-

ton, who went to Tennessee State. He was in-

vited to be part of the skills challenge, which

will precede Sunday’s game and typically is

part of All-Star Saturday night; the events were

condensed to one night this year because of the

pandemic.

Covington realized the significance of this

moment. He could have been on vacation. He

went to Atlanta instead.

“I just want to leave a legacy,” Covington

said. “I want to leave my mark and I want to let

kids know that anything is possible.”

That message has resonated in recent

months.

Some top basketball recruits have said they

were considering bucking offers from tradi-

tional powers to attend HBCUs. Pro Football

Hall of Famer Deion Sanders has taken over as

football coach at Jackson State, giving that

school instant notoriety. And as the first half of

the NBA season wound down, LeBron James of

the Los Angeles Lakers played in a pair of

sneakers that paid tribute to Florida A&M — a

school that just finalized a six-year deal with

Nike to play in James’ line of uniforms, apparel

and footwear.

This game will provide more boosts.

The Thurgood Marshall College Fund and

United Negro College Fund will collect a total

of $3 million, if not more. And HBCUs every-

where will share in the investment of time on a

huge platform if nothing else.

“To highlight the significance of HBCUs, it is

a tremendous windfall,” McClelland said. “It’s

not just about the money. The exposure is go-

ing to allow students to go to our member in-

stitutions, to learn about our history, to learn

about our culture. What they’re doing for the

All-Star Game, we could not pay for and we

could not duplicate.”

HBCUs center stage at All-Star GameLeague set to showcase traditionsand culture of minority institutions

BY TIM REYNOLDS

Associated Press

MARK J. TERRILL/AP

Portland Trail Blazers forward Robert Covington, left, is the lone active player in the NBA toattend an HBCU. The Tennessee State alum wil take part in the skills challenge on Sunday.

Kirkland 

Brown 

Washington

MARCIO JOSE SANCHEZ/AP

Former Cleveland Cavaliers guard MoWilliams played in the All­Star Game and nowcoaches at Alabama State. Historically Blackinstitutions like Alabama State will be a focusof Sunday’s NBA All­Star Game in Atlanta. 

“The exposure we’regetting this weekendfrom the NBA All-StarGame, it only can help.”

Mo Williams

Alabama State head coach

Sunday, March 7, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 23

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Conference tournamentsAmerica East Conference

SemifinalsSaturday, March 6

UMass Lowell at UMBCHartford at Vermont

Atlantic Sun ConferenceAt Jacksonville, Fla.

SemifinalsFriday, March 5

Liberty 77, Stetson 64North Alabama 96, Florida Gulf Coast 81

ChampionshipSunday, March 7

Liberty vs. North AlabamaAtlantic 10 Conference

QuarterfinalsFriday, March 5

St. Bonaventure 75, Duquesne 59Saint Louis 86, UMass 72VCU 73, Dayton 68Davidson 99, George Mason 67

SemifinalsSaturday, March 6

St. Bonaventure vs. Saint LouisVCU vs. Davidson

ChampionshipSunday, March 14

Semifinal winnersBig South Conference

ChampionshipAt Higher-Seeded Team

Sunday, March 7Winthrop vs. Campbell

Colonial Athletic AssociationAt Harrisonburg, Va.

First RoundSaturday, March 6

Towson vs. ElonUNC-Wilmington vs. William & Mary

QuarterfinalsSunday, March 7

Delaware vs. HofstraTowson-Elon winner at James MadisonUNC-Wilmington-William & Mary win-

ner vs. NortheasternDrexel vs. Coll. of Charleston

Horizon LeagueAt Indianapolis

SemifinalsMonday, March 8

Cleveland St. vs. MilwaukeeOakland vs. N. Kentucky

ChampionshipTuesday, March 9

Semifinal winnersMissouri Valley Conference

At St. LouisQuarterfinals

Friday, March 5Loyola Chicago 73, S. Illinois 49Indiana St. 53, Evansville 43Northern Iowa vs. Drake, ccd.Missouri St. 66, Valparaiso 55

SemifinalsSaturday, March 6

Loyola Chicago vs. Indiana St.Drake vs. Missouri St.

ChampionshipSunday, March 7

Semifinal winnersOhio Valley Conference

At Evansville, Ind.Semifinals

Friday, March 5Belmont 72, Jacksonville St. 69Morehead St. 67, Eastern Kentucky 64

ChampionshipSaturday, March 6

Belmont vs. Morehead St.Patriot League

At Higher-Seeded SchoolsQuarterfinals

Saturday, March 6Loyola at NavyAmerican at ArmyBucknell at LafayetteBoston University at Colgate

Southern ConferenceAt Asheville, N.C.

First RoundFriday, March 5

The Citadel 100, W. Carolina 86Mercer 87, Samford 59

QuarterfinalsSaturday, March 6

The Citadel vs. UNC-GreensboroETSU vs. ChattanoogaMercer vs. WoffordVMI vs. Furman

Summit LeagueAt Sioux Falls, S.D.

QuarterfinalsSaturday, March 6

Omaha vs. South Dakota St.W. Illinois vs. South Dakota

Sunday, March 7North Dakota vs. Oral RobertsKansas City vs. North Dakota St.

Sun Belt ConferenceAt Pensacola, Fla.

First RoundFriday, March 5

At Pensacola State CollegeArkansas St. 62, Georgia Southern 58Appalachian St. 67, Little Rock 60South Alabama 80, Louisiana-Monroe 72Troy 91, Texas-Arlington 86

QuarterfinalsSaturday, March 6

Louisiana vs. South AlabamaCoastal Carolina vs. TroyGeorgia St. vs. Arkansas St.Texas St. vs. Appalachian St.

West Coast ConferenceAt Las Vegas

Second RoundFriday, March 5

Loyola Marymount 70, San Francisco 66Santa Clara 81, Pacific 76

QuarterfinalsSaturday, March 6

Loyola Marymount vs Saint Mary’sSanta Clara vs. Pepperdine

Scoreboard

“I don’t know about how impor-

tant it is and all that. I mean it

would be a heck of an accomplish-

ment, quite frankly,” Few said.

“It’s hard to be the front runner

and lead the mile all four laps. Ev-

erybody’s gunning for you.”

If the Bulldogs can finish their

run through the WCC and win the

conference tournament next

week, they will become just the

fifth team in the past 45 years to

enter the NCAA Tournament un-

beaten.

The Zags are already headed to

Indianapolis as a No. 1 seed. The

question is whether they’ll be go-

ing to the Hoosier State attempt-

ing to match Indiana’s perfect

championship season of 1975-76.

Whether Gonzaga can win twice

more to reach 26-0 will settle the

question about the scope of the at-

tention on the Zags when they ar-

rive in Indiana. So far, they’re not

feeling any pressure.

“All that pressure comes from

the outside, not from anything in-

side the program with the play-

ers,” WCC freshman of the year

Jalen Suggs said. “We’re just look-

ing to go out every night and get a

win on that night, not looking too

far ahead.”

Since Indiana completed the

last perfect season, only four

teams have entered the NCAA

Tournament unbeaten. None went

on to win the title.

Indiana State was 29-0 in the

regular season with Larry Bird

but finished 33-1 after losing to

Magic Johnson and Michigan

State in the 1979 title game. UNLV

was a perfect 34-0 in its quest for

consecutive titles before being up-

set by Duke in the national semi-

finals in 1991.

Wichita State was 34-0 entering

the tournament in 2014, but a

tough draw led to the Shockers be-

ing bounced in the second round

by Kentucky.

A year later, it was the Wildcats

whose bid for perfection was end-

ed in the Final Four by Wisconsin.

Kentucky was a wire-to-wire No. 1

in the AP Top 25.

“It would be great to join the es-

teemed company ... I remember

that Kentucky team. That was a

phenomenal team,” Few said.

“But it’s not going to be easy. The

conference tournament just amps

up several notches here as teams

are playing for their lives now to

survive and play in the greatest

sporting event in the world.”

Corey Kispert knows the ulti-

mate goal for a team that has won

28 straight games dating to last

season is winning the NCAA Tour-

nament, not having success in Las

Vegas. Still, he acknowledges it

would be “cool” to be unbeaten go-

ing to Indianapolis.

“It’s cool to look back and kind

of had those little things fed into

your ear,” Kispert said. “Really

proud of the team that we’ve put

on the floor this year and proud of

how we’ve performed. It’s just a

small piece of the product that

we’ve managed to put out there

this year.”

Pressure: History’s against Gonzaga going unbeatenFROM PAGE 24

YOUNG KWAK/AP

Gonzaga forward Corey Kispert says the ultimate goal is winning theNCAA Tournament, not going to the West Coast ConferenceTournament unbeaten.

ST. LOUIS — Freshman Jacob

Hutson had 13 points and Lucas

Williamson and Braden Norris

each added 11 and No. 20 Loyola

earned a 73-49 win over Southern

Illinois on Friday in the quarterfi-

nals of the Missouri Valley Confer-

ence Tournament.

Loyola (22-4) opened the game

on a 10-0 run before Anthony D’A-

vanzo scored the Salukis’ first bas-

ket 5:23 into the game.

“We always talk about wanting

to set the tone early,” Williamson

said. “We always want to hang our

hat on defense. It just sets the tone

for the rest of the game.”

Hutson had never scored more

than four points against a Division

I opponent prior to this game.

“We have a lot of confidence in

him,” Loyola coach Porter Moser

said. “That kid’s development

from the beginning of the year to

this year is really, really great to

see and well needed.”

The Ramblers have won three

straight games against Southern

Illinois (12-14) after sweeping a

two-game set in Chicago to close

out the regular season.

The Salukis were playing with-

out guard Lance Jones, who was

injured in the first half of Thursday

night’s game against Bradley.

Marcus Domask, the Missouri

Valley Conference Freshman of

the Year in 2020, also missed the fi-

nal 16 games with a left foot injury.

“We kind of have a saying, we’re

all we got, we’re all we need,” Salu-

kis guard Trent Brown said. “It’s

just always the next man up.

There’s no quit in any person on

our team.”

D’Vanzo led Southern Illinois

with 18 points and freshman Dal-

ton Banks, making his first career

start in place of Jones, added 12

points.

The 49 points for the Salukis

were a season low.

Big picture Southern Illinois: The Salukis

are 0-16 in their past 16 games ver-

sus ranked opponents, extending

the longest such losing streak in

school history. Their most recent

win versus a ranked foe was a 64-

62 triumph at home over then-No.

23 Wichita State on Feb. 5, 2013.

Loyola: The Ramblers are the

first Missouri Valley Conference

team to earn a top-two seed in the

conference tournament for four

straight seasons since Wichita

State accomplished the feat during

its last eight seasons in the confer-

ence from 2010-2017. The Ram-

blers lost in the opening round as a

No. 2 seed last year to No. 7 seed

Valparaiso.

“We’re creating a different story

this year,” Moser said. “It was

more not hanging over our head. It

was more motivating us. That’s go-

ing to make us better.”

Loyola wallops Southern IllinoisBY DAVID SOLOMON

Associated Press

SHAFKAT ANOWAR/AP

Loyola Chicago center Jacob Hutson scores in front of SouthernIllinois' Kyler Filewich, right, during Friday's Missouri ValleyConference Tournament quarterfinal in Chicago. 

In the aftermath of completing the first unbeaten regular seasonin school history last week, Mark Few likened what top-ranked

Gonzaga has accomplished so far to running a long-distancerace.

The Bulldogs were ranked No. 1 in the AP Top 25when the season began. They were unflappable dur-ing a 24-0 regular season that earned the Bulldogstheir ninth straight West Coast Conference regular-season title.

Two more wins next week at the WCC tourna-ment in Las Vegas and the Bulldogs will join evenmore select company with the NCAA Tourna-ment on the horizon.

But going wire-to-wire at No. 1 and being per-fect in the regular season doesn’t matter for aprogram whose aspirations are based on try-ing to finally claim its first national champion-ship. It’s still an accomplishment worth rec-ognizing should Gonzaga pull it off.

PAGE 24 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Sunday, March 7, 2021

Under fire

Kansas places Miles on administrativeleave after LSU report ›› College football, Page 21

Gonzaga coach Mark Few admits going wire­to­wire at No. 1 duringthe regular season would be “a heck of an accomplishment.” 

Gonzaga guard Jalen Suggs isthe West Coast Conferencefreshman of the year.

PHOTOS BY RICK BOWMER/AP

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

No pressureGonzaga has a bigger goal thanfinishing regular season perfect

BY TIM BOOTH

Associated Press

SEE PRESSURE ON PAGE 23

SPORTS

NBA using All-Star Game to focus attention on HBCUs ›› Page 22