Christmas wish?

stripes.com Free to Deployed Areas Volume 79, No. 130B ©SS 2020 CONTINGENCY EDITION SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2020

MILITARY Army to invest $2.8 billion into base housing over the next five yearsPage 3

MILITARY Hernia repair procedures may be causing chronic pain in military patientsPage 5

MUSIC Counting downEddie Van Halen’stop 20 performances Pages 12-13

Astros win third straight, force decisive Game 7 with Rays » ALCS, Back page

BY MISSY RYANThe Washington Post

WASHINGTON — Pentagon leaders faced renewed challeng-es in their attempt to steer clear of divisive election politics this week, as events during the final sprint toward the Nov. 3 polls underscore the potential for the military to be thrust once more into the partisan fray.

The issues included a new online cam-paign ad featur-

ing President Donald Trump in the White House Situation Room flanked by Army Gen. Mark Mil-ley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — in defiance of norms excluding uniformed leaders from campaign material — and criticism from Democratic law-makers highlighting Defense Secretary Mark Esper’s handling of concerns about possible mili-tary involvement in a disputed election.

In the run-up to the vote, Trump has appealed to would-be military voters and cited his record as commander in chief as a reelection credential, as sup-porters of his opponent, former vice president Joe Biden, seek to brand the president as a callous leader who has blamed his top brass for problems on his watch.

At the same time, Trump has declined to commit to conceding power if he loses, fueling specu-lation about a disputed outcome and the potential for him to reach for the military as part of an at-tempt to clinch another term.

Esper, an Army veteran, and Milley, a lifelong soldier, appear intent on shielding the military from the nation’s charged political moment, but the goal has proven challenging given Trump’s pen-chant for flouting civil-military norms.

From his first days in office,

SEE PENTAGON ON PAGE 4

BY DEB RIECHMANN ANDLOLITA C. BALDOR

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s national security adviser on Fri-day doubled down on his assertion that the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan will shrink to 2,500 early next year, while sug-gesting that Trump’s tweet that all forces should be home by Christmas was more a wish than a reality.

Seeking to clarify a series of confusing statements about the American footprint in Afghanistan, Robert O’Brien appeared to take a shot at Gen. Mark Milley, chairman

of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Milley in recent days said that the U.S. is executing a plan to reduce the number of troops to 4,500 in November, but talk of any further reduction would be “speculation.”

Confusion about troop withdrawals from

America’s longest war — an emotional topic for the troops and their families — began Oct. 7, when Trump tweeted that “we should have the small remaining number of our

SEE WISH ON PAGE 4

Trump adviser says tweet was expression of hope, not of reality

Election challenges Pentagon leadership

Above: Afghan and U.S. Army soldiers move to a security location in Southeastern Afghanistan last year. National security adviser Robert O’Brien said President Donald Trump was simply expressing a hope, rather than any explicit promise, when he tweeted onOct. 7 that “we should have the small remaining number of our BRAVE Men and Women serving in Afghanistan home by Christmas.”

ALEJANDRO LECIA/U.S. Army

ANALYSIS

‘ Whenever we’re at war, whether it was the Revolution-ary War, the Civil War, World War I or World War II, all presidents ... want the troops home by Christmas. ’

Robert O’BrienPresident Trump’s national security adviser

AFGHANISTAN

PAGE 2 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Sunday, October 18, 2020

T O D A YIN STRIPES

American Roundup ..... 11Books ....................... 14Comics/Crossword ...... 15Gadgets .................... 16Music ....................12-13 Opinion ..................... 17 Sports .................. 19-24

BUSINESS/WEATHER

Military ratesEuro costs (October 19) ...................... $1.15Dollar buys (October 19) .................€0.8302British pound (October 19) ................. $1.26Japanese yen (October 19)...............103.00South Korean won (October 19)...1,115.00

Commercial ratesBahrain (Dinar) ....................................0.3770British pound .....................................$1.2931Canada (Dollar) ...................................1.3182China (Yuan) ........................................6.6976Denmark (Krone) ................................6.3501Egypt (Pound) ....................................15.6997Euro ........................................ $1.1719/0.8533 Hong Kong (Dollar) ............................. 7.7501Hungary (Forint) ................................. 311.04Israel (Shekel) .....................................3.3786Japan (Yen) ...........................................105.40Kuwait (Dinar) .....................................0.3061Norway (Krone) .................................. 9.3555 Philippines (Peso).................................48.67Poland (Zloty) ..........................................3.88Saudi Arabia (Riyal) ........................... 3.7512Singapore (Dollar) ..............................1.3580South Korea (Won) ...........................1142.86

Switzerland (Franc)............................0.9152 Thailand (Baht) ..................................... 31.16 Turkey (Lira) ......................................... 7.9230 (Military exchange rates are those available to customers at military banking facilities in the country 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 with your local military banking facility. Commercial rates are interbank rates provided for reference when buying currency. All figures are foreign currencies to one dollar, except for the British pound, which is represented in dollars-to-pound, and the euro, which is dollars-to-euro.)

EXCHANGE RATES

INTEREST RATESPrime rate ................................................ 3.25Discount rate .......................................... 0.25Federal funds market rate ................... 0.093-month bill ............................................. 0.1130-year bond ........................................... 1.52

WEATHER OUTLOOK

Bahrain87/84

Baghdad92/65

Doha92/73

KuwaitCity

93/70

Riyadh89/61

Djibouti92/76

Kandahar73/38

Kabul75/48

SUNDAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST MONDAY IN THE PACIFIC

Misawa61/49

Guam85/82

Tokyo59/51

Okinawa79/76

Sasebo69/60

Iwakuni68/61

Seoul64/42

Osan64/41 Busan

66/52

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

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

Mildenhall/Lakenheath

52/43

Ramstein52/39

Stuttgart47/43

Lajes,Azores66/63

Rota69/59

Morón73/48 Sigonella

68/53

Naples64/54

Aviano/Vicenza56/42

Pápa49/43

Souda Bay77/73

SUNDAY IN EUROPE

Brussels49/43

Zagan45/42

Drawsko Pomorskie

48/44

Retail sales rise for 5th month Associated Press

NEW YORK — Retail sales rose strongly in September, the fifth straight month of growth, as Americans spent more on cloth-ing, cars and sporting goods.

U.S. retail sales jumped 1.9% last month, the U.S. Commerce Department said Friday. That’s more than double what econo-mists expected. And it’s up from the 0.6% increase in August.

Sales at clothing stores rose

11%, accounting for much of Sep-tember’s overall growth. Even sales at department stores, which have been falling out of fashion with shoppers for years, rose 9.7% last month.

At auto dealerships and auto part shops, sales were up 3.6%. And those looking to go camping or buy exercise equipment for their homes sent sales at sporting goods stores 5.7% higher.

Consumer spending makes up two-thirds of all U.S. economic

activity, and is watched closely to gauge the country’s economic health.

Retail sales have been recover-ing since plunging in the spring as stores and malls were ordered closed to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

And spending has continued even after more than 20 million unemployed Americans lost a $600 boost in their weekly un-employment checks at the end of July.

• S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 3Sunday, October 18, 2020

BY COREY DICKSTEINStars and Stripes

WASHINGTON — A new digi-tal tool that the Army is provid-ing its commanders this month will give them a one-stop dash-board with their soldiers’ detailed military and personal histories so they can better gauge issues that impact their unit’s combat readiness.

Army officials said this week that the Commanders Risk Re-duction Toolkit, or CRRT, will help company and battalion commanders better understand their individual soldiers, which could help them mitigate poten-tial risky behaviors or other is-sues that could hurt their combat readiness. CRRT is the latest in a six-year project meant to help commanders reduce risk in their units, said Randy Lane, the chief of analytical assessments for the Army, who unveiled the new plat-

form Wednesday during the vir-tual version of the Association of the U.S. Army’s annual meeting and exposition.

“It provides a consolidated pic-ture of soldier risk and trends that are intended to help leaders devel-op proactive strategies to reduce high-risk behaviors and strength-en soldiers in units,” Lane said during a virtual explainer video of the new toolkit. “This compre-hensive picture helps command teams identify any risk history and strong performers who can help them sustain [combat] readi-ness and possibly reduce risk across their formation.”

The dashboard gives com-manders access to some 40 cat-egories of information about their soldiers pulled from multiple databases. Commanders will be able to view soldiers’ deployment histories, promotion timelines, awards that they have earned in service, and past scores on as-

sessments like fitness tests and marksmanship qualifications. They will also have access to health histories such as injuries, and information detailing any criminal activity, alcohol or drug abuse, suicide attempts, domes-tic violence incidents and abuse histories. The program will also include information about factors that could prevent a soldier from deploying, such as medical issues, duty-limiting prescriptions or the need for further training.

It will not provide most pro-tected medical information. For example, CRRT would identify a soldier as taking a duty-limit-ing medication, but it would not provide the commanders with in-formation indicating the specific name of the prescription or what diagnosis it treats, according to the Army.

Company and battalion com-manders will have access to indi-vidual soldiers’ information. But

at the brigade level and above, commanders will only have ac-cess to aggregate information about soldiers across their entire force. Lane said this will help them compare their units with combat readiness levels of other formations across the Army and potentially identify problematic trends within their units.

The data could “alert those leaders that there may be a prob-lem” somewhere within their force, if there are high rates of certain behaviors, such as suicide attempts or drunken driving ar-rests, he said.

Lane said the system would be fielded by the end of October to all active-duty Army commanders. Commanders in the Reserve and National Guard should receive it by early 2021, he said.

The CRRT will continue to be adjusted in the coming months as the Army takes feedback from commanders using the new tool,

Lane said.He said he hoped the toolkit

would allow commanders to bet-ter understand all the factors that might impact how a soldier performs his or her job so theycan then link that individual with experts who can assist them withfacing their challenges.

“Snapshots like these could potentially help command teams identify financial issues coupled with a dip in duty performanceor potential medical issues thatcould be linked which providesignals that there are issues withthis soldier,” Lane said. “It willhelp [commanders] visualize thesoldier’s risk history to take pro-active steps to strengthen themor link them up with [the right]individuals for support.”

dickstein.corey@stripes.comTwitter: @CDicksteinDC

BY ROSE L. THAYERStars and Stripes

AUSTIN, Texas — The Army plans to invest $2.8 billion into base housing over the next five years to build thousands of new homes and renovate existing units, the service said Thursday.

The money will be used for 3,800 new homes and renovations for nearly 18,000 homes at Army bases. No details were released about which bases would benefit, or the scope of the repairs.

The announcement follows two years of reporting that exposed the dangerous conditions that some military families face in base housing, such as exposure to lead paint, mold and asbestos; pest and insect infestations; and poor maintenance that exacer-bates the issues. Many families have said housing left their chil-dren with lasting health prob-lems. At least eight lawsuits are pending from military families against the private companies that manage base housing.

After congressional interven-tion, officials from all military branches conceded that some of the problems stemmed from their own poor oversight of the private companies that manage 99% of housing at stateside bases.

“We’ve still got a long way to go. We have energy and wind at our backs right now, but we still have a long haul in front of us,” Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said Thursday during a call with reporters to discuss quality-of-life issues. “Over about 18 months or so, we’ve vastly improved our management, our communica-tion with the [private] companies, we’ve empowered installation commanders, particularly where they are the ones that drive the decision on incentive award fee, so they can really hold the con-tract contracting companies

accountable.”The $2.8 billion builds on a

$500 million investment last fall, he said

The improvements touted by the Army in Thursday’s news release included hiring 100 ad-ditional staff at installation hous-ing offices to provide quality assurance and control checks on

work done in homes; quarterly town hall meetings where base residents can voice their con-cerns; training Army leaders on their role supporting soldiers and families; and policy revisions that improve oversight. The Army also established a Housing Envi-ronmental Health Response Reg-istry to address concerns.

In its intervention, Congress created a Tenant Bill of Rights, which guarantees base housing residents 18 specific rights re-lated to the quality of housing, how to handle disputes with the landlord and a better understand-ing of leases and the maintenance history of a home.

The National Defense Autho-rization Act of Fiscal Year 2020 required the rights be signed into effect by May 1. One month after the deadline, Defense De-partment officials signed a letter including only 14 of those rights. Still missing are the right to with-hold rent, a dispute resolution mechanism, seven years of work history records and a standard lease.

Three senators wrote to De-fense Secretary Mark Esperin early October, asking for anupdate.

“Finally, as negotiations con-tinue with the private companiesover the implementation of theseremaining rights, we urge you toconsider convening a temporaryhousing advisory group of inde-pendent experts to offer you soundcounsel,” wrote Sens. Mark R.Warner, D-Va., Tim Kaine, D-Va.,and Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.

McCarthy said Thursday that they are working toward imple-mentation of each right. A pilotprogram for the maintenance his-tory is underway and he believes“we are done” with the commonlease.

“The remaining two are going to be tough,” he said. “In particu-lar, the dispute resolution. … Weneed to make sure that the person that’s the arbiter is truly a thirdparty, that doesn’t have equity onone side or other of the equation.So we’re trying to work throughthat with the companies as wellas [with] Congress.”

Army leaders also announced they requested a major cash in-fusion of $9.62 billion to the bar-racks over the next 10 years. Sgt.Maj. of the Army Michael Grin-ston said Tuesday that the Armyaims to be rid of the facilities mostin need of repair by 2030.

“I ask us all to show our sol-diers that we care by just saying,‘Hey, let’s go check out where you live,’ ” Grinston said duringa speech at the annual confer-ence of the Association of the U.S.Army. He encouraged leaders to demand repairs when they seeproblems during those visits.

“It is OK that if something is notright, to demand, not just ask, butdemand that we fix it,” he said. Thayer.rose@stripes.comTwitter: @Rose_Lori

MILITARY

Army approves $2.8B for family housing

New tech gives commanders detailed risk assessments

SCOTT T. STURKOL, PUBLIC AFFAIRS OFFICE, FORT MCCOY, WIS./U.S. Army

Contractors work on new housing units at Fort McCoy’s South Post Housing area in 2016.

‘ We have energy and wind at our backs right now, but we still have a long haul in front of us. ’

Ryan McCarthyArmy Secretary

PAGE 4 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Sunday, October 18, 2020

FROM FRONT PAGE

BRAVE Men and Women serving in Afghanistan home by Christ-mas.” When asked about those comments, O’Brien said Friday that Trump was just expressing a hope.

“I think what the president was doing is, he was expressing the same desire I think every presi-dent since the Revolutionary War has said,” O’Brien said during an online event hosted by the Aspen Institute. “Whenever we’re at war, whether it was the Revolu-tionary War, the Civil War, World War I or World War II, all presi-dents ... want the troops home by Christmas.”

Instead, O’Brien said, “We’re on a path right now that looks like about 4,500 this fall and a smaller number in January and February, but if the conditions permitted, look we’d love to get people out earlier.” And, echoing comments he made last week, O’Brien said, “in the early part of next year, we’re going to be down to 2,500 troops.”

Defense officials insist there are no plans to have all troops home from Afghanistan by the holidays or the end of the year. U.S. officials also said Friday that there currently is no ap-proved plan to reduce the num-ber to 2,500 by early next year. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

Trump’s original tweet about Christmas alarmed Pentagon and State Department officials who fear that putting a definitive date on troop withdrawal could under-cut negotiations to finalize ongo-ing peace negotiations between the Taliban and representatives

of Afghan society, including the current Afghan government. They also worry that a hasty withdrawal could force the U.S. to leave behind sensitive military equipment. And they continue to stress that the Taliban have still not met requirements to reduce violence against the Afghans, a key element of the U.S. withdraw-al plan.

When asked about the tweet and plans to go to 2,500 by early next year, Milley told National Public Radio several days ago that the Pentagon had a conditions-based plan for troop withdrawal. He said he would not speculate be-yond saying that there are 5,000 to 6,000 U.S. troops in the coun-try now and that number is to be reduced to 4,500 in November.

“I think that Robert O’Brien or anyone else can speculate as they see fit,” Milley said. “I’m not going to engage in speculation. I’m going to engage in the rigor-ous analysis of the situation based on the conditions and the plans that I am aware of and my con-versations with the president.”

O’Brien grew testy when asked about Milley’s comment.

“It’s not my practice to specu-late,” O’Brien said. “So other people can interpret what I sayas speculation or not, but I wasn’tspeculating then. I wasn’t specu-lating today. When I’m speaking,I’m speaking for the president.”

He said the number of troopswould be reduced to less than5,000 in the next month or so, andin the early part of next year, itwill drop to 2,500.

“I can guarantee you. ... It’s not speculation. That’s the order ofthe commander in chief.”

Multiple U.S. officials said Fri-day that the Pentagon has notreceived an order to cut troopsto 2,500. U.S. military leadershave consistently said that anyreduction below 4,500 needs to be based on conditions on theground, including a measurable reduction in attacks by the Tal-iban on Afghan troops. And theysay they have not seen that yet.

America’s exit from Afghani-stan after 19 years was laid outin a February agreement Wash-ington reached with the Taliban.That agreement said U.S. troops would be out of Afghanistan in 18 months, provided the Talibanhonored a commitment to fight terrorist groups, with most at-tention seemingly focused onthe Islamic State’s affiliate in thecountry.

U.S. officials also say that the U.S. has critical classified equip-ment at bases in Afghanistan that needs to be moved out, which will take time. They also said that troop withdrawals from Afghani-stan need to be coordinated withother coalition allies that alsohave forces there.

FROM FRONT PAGE

the president treated troop events like campaign rallies, diverted military funds for his border wall project and used the Pentagon’s Hall of Heroes to launch his ban on travel from Muslim-majority nations. In rare cases, defense leaders have publicly dissented. More often, they have stayed si-lent and sometimes sought to push back behind the scenes.

Remaining isolated from poli-tics becomes even more difficult during a charged reelection cam-paign, said Jim Golby, a former Army officer and Pentagon offi-cial, who is a senior fellow at the Clements Center at the University of Texas at Austin.

“It’s virtually impossible for the military to come off as not taking a side,” he said. “If they’re silent, they’re seen as complicit. If they speak out, they’re seen as anti-Trump.”

Esper has tried to distance him-self from political issues in recent months by keeping a low profile, focusing on executing a military shift toward China and mostly avoiding interactions with the news media. Milley, meanwhile, has spoken repeatedly about the

military’s duty to defend the Con-stitution rather than any particu-lar party or leader.

In an interview with NPR over the weekend, Milley sought to minimize the possibility that the military could be pulled into an election dispute, as experts have warned. While most academics suggest the most likely such sce-nario would involve the president employing the military to address post-election unrest, Milley ap-peared to address an assertion that the military could be asked to help arbitrate the result.

“I would tell you that in my mind, if there’s a disputed elec-tion — it’s not in my mind, it’s in the law — if there’s a disputed election, that’ll be handled by Congress and the courts,” he said. “There’s no role for the U.S. mili-tary in determining the outcome of a U.S. election. Zero, there is no role there.”

Peter Feaver, a scholar on civil-military relations at Duke University in Pennsylvania, said the Trump campaign’s decision to run its recent advertisement showing Milley —along with Esper, Vice President Mike Pence and national security adviser Robert O’Brien — next to Trump

as they oversaw the 2019 mili-tary operation that resulted in the death of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, illustrated the “tone deafness” of Trump’s cam-paign team to norms governing military involvement in partisan activities.

While presidents seeking re-election, including Barack Obama in 2012, have frequently made reference to their decisions as commander in chief, and shown military personnel in campaign material, Feaver said the inclu-sion of a senior uniformed officer was especially problematic.

“I’m sure that Esper and Milley are uncomfortable with this and don’t like the appearance, even though they’re not allowed to say it,” Feaver said of the ad. “And I hope they don’t say it, because that will just extend the damage by getting them crosswise with the president.”

Officials said neither Milley nor Esper knew about the ad, which one official said was later taken down, ahead of time.

The ad recalls an incident in Au-gust in which several uniformed troops in American Samoa were featured in a Democratic conven-tion video, which resulted in an

Army investigation.Relations between Trump

and Esper, Trump’s second con-firmed defense secretary, have been visibly strained since June, when Esper spoke out against Trump’s desire to use active-duty military troops to address widespread protests against rac-ism and police brutality. Officials have said Trump has considered firing Esper since then.

Esper has also come in for criticism for appearing to back Trump’s response to those events and later apologized for referring to U.S. cities as a “battle space.”

On Wednesday, Reps. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., and Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., a retired Navy officer, spoke to reporters about what they called Esper’s “vague, unsatisfactory” answers to their questions about the potential for the military to be employed in a disputed election scenario.

In response to extensive ques-tions from the two lawmakers, Esper provided a terse response: “The U.S. military has acted, and will continue to act, in accor-dance with the Constitution and the law,” he wrote.

Esper’s reply, submitted more than a month after a congressio-

nal deadline, differed from themore explicit responses providedby Milley in August.

Slotkin, a former Pentagon of-ficial, called on Esper to make a firmer commitment to a peacefultransition of power.

The Pentagon’s chief spokes-man, Jonathan Rath Hoffman,said that Esper is “determined forthe U.S. military to remain apo-litical — as the American people expect.”

“The Secretary will continue tofocus on leading the Departmentin implementing the President’snational security policy by priori-tizing the readiness of the force,pivoting to confront emergingpowers, and taking care of our men and women in uniform,”Hoffman said in a statement.

Milley has faced his own dif-ficulties in navigating the Trump era. He issued an unusual pub-lic apology in June after comingunder criticism when he appearedat a photo op alongside Trumpoutside the White House, in an area that shortly beforehand hadbeen forcibly cleared of protest-ers by uniformed personnel.

MILITARY

1st Armored Division

Soldiers from the U.S. Army and Afghan National Army board a CH-47 Chinook helicopter following a meeting with Afghan leaders in December in Southeastern Afghanistan.

Wish: Officials say US has no plans to withdraw troops from Afghanistan

Pentagon: Use of military in political campaign advertising raises questions

• S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 5Sunday, October 18, 2020

BY NANCY MONTGOMERYStars and Stripes

The second most frequent di-agnosis among troops evacuated from the U.S. Central Command area of operations last year was a groin injury that has occurred in 45,000 service members in the past decade, a new military study has found.

“We had three this week who had to be redeployed because of a painful bulge in their groin,” said Lt. Col. Eric Ahnfeldt, a surgeon at Landstuhl Regional Medical Facility, in an interview Wednesday.

The injury, which occurs when the contents of the abdomen, usu-ally fat or part of the small intes-tine, bulge through a weak area in the lower abdominal wall into the groin region, is more common in the military among older white men in combat-specific job fields, said the study published in the Defense Health Agency’s latest Medical Surveillance Monthly Report.

It can be fixed with surgery if it becomes symptomatic and causes

pain, Ahnfeldt said. “I’d say 99% of the time we’re able to fix these hernias and send them back to duty and they don’t have ongoing problems,” he said.

But repair procedures may be causing chronic pain for an in-creasing number of military pa-tients, the study said. That could interfere with job duties and keep soldiers from meeting physical fitness standards.

Pain that lasts beyond the first few days following surgery is the primary complication of ingui-nal hernia repair, the study said. It found of about 22,350 who had repair surgery between 2010 and 2019, more than 30% of men and 50% of women reported abdomi-nal pain within the year after the procedure.

The proportion of troops of both sexes with a pain diagnosis in the year after surgery rose during the past decade, from 17% of men in 2010 to 31% last year. Among women, it shot up from 25% at the start of the period to 52.6% last year.

Between 3% and 39% of pa-tients reported post-operative

pain in previous studies.But both Ahnfeldt and a Dan-

ish hernia expert questioned the usefulness of the study’s findings on pain after hernia surgery, not-ing that the research used medi-cal records codes that could have been for aches caused by consti-pation, indigestion, gallstones, muscle pulls or other conditions.

When chronic pain is related to hernia surgery, it can be from nerve damage or discomfort from surgical mesh used in the repair but can be treated with medica-tion, physical therapy, injections and further surgery.

Dr. Hans Friss-Andersen, a surgeon and president of the Dan-

ish Hernia Database, considered a world leader in hernia data, re-search and treatment, said “there is no sure relationship with the surgery and the pain problem” in the study.

Most studies suggest that about 5% to 8% of people who’ve had hernia repair surgery suffer per-sistent pain, with those figures decreasing after several years, Friss-Andersen said.

The study’s authors acknowl-edge that the pain data is a weak-ness, given that the research included codes for non-specific pain in the abdominal region.

“But [that pain] could have been anything,” said Ahnfeldt,

who’s done hundreds of repairprocedures and said it’s one of themost common operations Army general surgeons do.

Still, going into the repair sur-gery can be unnerving for young-er troops, said Ahnfeldt. About7,000 service members underthe age of 25 had repair surger-ies in the past decade, study datashowed.

“This is the first time for manyof them that they’ve ever had sur-gery. ... This may be the biggest medical thing they’ve ever facedin their lives,” Ahnfeldt said.

montgomery.nancy@stripes.comTwitter@montgomerynance

BY MICHAEL E. RUANEThe Washington Post

Pvt. Martin J. Teahan’s rifle sits in a dis-play case, his name, “M. Teahan,” carved on one side of the wooden stock and the mysterious name “Kitty” carved on the other.

It’s a small artifact. A simple rifle carried by an American paratrooper who jumped into France on D-Day and was killed in ac-tion. But it is a link to the Army’s history, and one of the powerful artifacts in its new museum outside Washington.

The Army announced Tuesday that the $430 million National Museum of the U.S. Army will formally open on Veterans Day, after a five-month delay caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Built of stainless steel, aluminum and glass, the museum in Fort Belvoir, Va., is filled with more than 1,300 historic arti-facts, from Teahan’s rifle to “Cobra King,” the World War II Sherman tank that was the first to reach the besieged Belgium town of Bastogne.

The museum has the dented helmet of Sgt. Alvin C. York, the World War I hero who earned the Medal of Honor for cap-turing 132 German soldiers. It has a sword belonging to Hermann Goering, one of Adolf Hitler’s key subordinates. It has the uniform cap of World War II and Korean War Gen. Douglas MacArthur.

There is a landing craft that ferried men to the beach on D-Day. (It was found on an island in the English Channel and is one of only six known to survive, the museum

said.)There is a piece of the landing gear of

a plane that crashed into the World Trade Center. And there is a motorcycle that was used by a Taliban bomb courier in Afghanistan.

“These are artifacts, not props,” said museum spokeswoman Susan Smullen on

Monday. “These are the real deal.”The museum has also created a num-

ber of simulated battle scenes featuring lifelike soldiers made of plastic, urethane, foam and other materials. The figures are models of modern-day soldiers who posed for the sculptors.

Accuracy was crucial.

One scene depicts soldiers scramblingdown a cargo net into a landing craft dur-ing the second wave ashore on D-Day, June6, 1944.

“We went to great detail to be authenticas possible,” Smullen said. The soldiers’rifles are wrapped in plastic to keep them dry. One man has a bazooka slung over his back.

Another figure is that of a chaplain car-rying a Catholic Communion set in a blackbox. “Professional Equipment” the boxsays. “Chaplain.” An officer in the landingcraft wears a wristwatch set to the time of the second wave: 7:55 a.m. He has a simu-lated carton of cigarettes tied to his pack.

“We have photographic proof that allthese types of men made their way ontoNormandy,” said museum artifact special-ist Sara Bowen.

The Army, which owns and operates thefacility, says it is its first “comprehensive and truly national museum.”

The museum is a joint effort of the Army and the Army Historical Foundation. The foundation headed a $200 million private campaign to construct the building. TheArmy provided the land and approximate-ly $230 million toward the project.

Admission is free and timed tickets canbe received at TheNMUSA.org. The muse-um will have enhanced health and safety measures in place.

There are a total of 1,389 artifacts, manyone-of-a-kind, in 11 galleries. The museumalso has a virtual simulator, theater, cafeand store, which is not yet stocked.

MILITARY

New Army museum scheduled to open on Veterans Day

Increase in pain seen following hernia surgery

SHEILA DEVERA/U.S. Air Force

Members of the 379th Expeditionary Medical Group perform hernia surgery in southwest Asia in 2012.

JAHI CHIKWENDIU/The Washington Post

Justin Kendall and other workers install a World War II display at the new National Museum of the U.S. Army.

PAGE 6 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Sunday, October 18, 2020

BY ROSE L. THAYERStars and Stripes

AUSTIN, Texas — Airmen in specific jobs are now being se-lected for random coronavirus testing to determine whether further public health actions are needed to identify asymptomatic personnel and prevent the spread of the virus, the Air Force Mate-riel Command has announced.

The surveillance testing began Oct. 1 with active-duty popula-tions at four materiel command bases: Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.; Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.; Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass., and Hill Air Force Base, Utah, according to a news release from the command.

Conducted in two-week in-crements that focus on specific base populations, the efforts will test 100 personnel at each loca-tion within the first two months. Though airmen are selected ran-domly for the testing, participa-tion is voluntary and the results will not go into an airman’s health records.

Testing first begins with health care workers, then move s to dor-mitory residents, followed by host wing personnel, and lastly the in-stallation workforce.

“This method of testing will en-sure our airmen remain protected and combat ready,” said Col. Rob-ert K. Bogart, command surgeon for Air Force Materiel Command. “An integral part of defeating this disease is to know where we stand command-wide. With this capability in our toolbox, we will be able to more accurately determine where transmission occurs.”

The testing effort is part of a larger overall Air Force strategy to randomly test Air and Space Force military and civilian per-sonnel to identify and contain

pockets of the coronavirus, ac-cording to the command. By test-ing people without symptoms, officials aim to determine if ad-ditional public health actions are needed in work areas.

“Ultimately, the Air Force wants to ensure airmen and the Air Force community remain healthy and able to fly, fight and win in air, space, and cyber-space,” according to the release.

Individuals selected for testing will receive an email from their local treatment facility and any-one who has had a positive con-firmed case of the coronavirus within the last 90 days will not be tested.

A saliva-based coronavirus test from the company Curative, Inc., will be used for the study. The Air Force signed an agreement with the company in April to use an oral coronavirus test that received a Food and Drug Administration emergency-use authorization, ac-cording to the release.

Results will be put into ag-gregate samples and presented to commanders “to allow them to take public health actions in response to the presence of [ the coronavirus] in the work area, even if people seem healthy,” ac-cording to the release. If there is a positive result in the aggregat-ed testing group, unit leadership will be notified, and they will no-tify individuals to seek additional medical evaluation that might in-clude diagnostic testing.

After testing is “fine-tuned and streamlined,” it will expand to other materiel command bases and other base populations.

Thayer.rose@stripes.comTwitter: @Rose_Lori

BY CAITLIN M. KENNEY Stars and Stripes

WASHINGTON — Two sailors aboard the USS Theodore Roos-evelt have been infected with the coronavirus, several months after a serious outbreak of the virus on the aircraft carrier derailed its deployment, Navy officials said Friday.

The sailors were at sea aboard the ship off the California coast when they self-reported symp-toms of the virus, Cmdr. Zach Harrell, a spokesman for Naval Air Forces, said in a statement is-sued Friday.

The Navy statement confirmed a “small number” of sailors tested positive Thursday. However, The New York Times reported two

sailors in the last three days test-ed positive for the virus. A Navy official confirmed there were two cases from the Roosevelt as of Friday.

The sailors received medical treatment and were evacuated off the Roosevelt for isolation. The other sailors who were in close contact with them have been quarantined after contact tracing, and they have all tested negative for the virus, according to Harrell.

“The number of sailors that were placed in quarantine amounts to less than one per-cent of the crew,” he said in the statement.

The Roosevelt has a crew of about 4,800 sailors, and the ship is expected to return to its home-

port in San Diego in the next few days, according to Harrell.

On July 9, the Roosevelt re-turned to San Diego after a six-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region, where the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier was sidelined by an outbreak ofthe coronavirus. On March 27, the ship arrived in Guam, where it re-mained for nearly two months asthe virus spread among the ship’s crew, eventually infecting 1,273sailors and killing one.

On Tuesday, the ship left itsbase in California to conductroutine operations in the eastern Pacific Ocean, according to theNavy.Kenney.Caitlin@stripes.com

@caitlinmkenney

BY DAVID RISINGAssociated Press

BERLIN — Chancellor An-gela Merkel urged Germans to come together like they did in the spring to slow the spread of the coronavirus as the country post-ed another daily record of new cases Saturday.

“Difficult months are ahead of us,” she said in her weekly video podcast. “How winter will be, how our Christmas will be, that will all be decided in these com-ing days and weeks, and it will be decided by our behavior.”

Meanwhile, new restrictions went into effect in several other European nations in an effort to staunch the resurgence of the

pandemic.In Paris and eight other French

cities, restaurants, bars, movie theaters and other establishments were being forced to close no later than 9 p.m. to try to reduce con-tact among people. The country was deploying 12,000 extra police officers to enforce the new rules.

In Britain, a three-tier regional approach to battle the pandemic introduced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson this week went into effect, with each level bringing in progressively tighter restrictions.

On Saturday, tier-2 cities like London and York were subject to a ban on socializing with people from other households indoors, while the county of Lancashire

joined Liverpool in tier 3 with the tightest restrictions.

Among other things, that means pubs have been forced to close .

In Northern Ireland a “circuit breaker” lockdown lasting four weeks came into force Friday in an attempt to quickly tamp down the spread of the virus. All pubs and restaurants must close except for takeaway services, and schools will close for two weeks for an ex-tended half-term holiday.

Data from Friday showed that a further 136 people died in the U.K. within 28 days of testing positive for the coronavirus, bringing the total official toll to 43,429.

On Friday, the World Health Organization warned that in-

tensive care units in a number of European cities could reach maximum capacity in the coming weeks if the number of infections is not slowed.

In Germany, which was widely lauded for being able to rapidly slow the spread of the pandemic when it first broke out, the num-bers have been climbing rapidly recently.

On Saturday, the country’s dis-ease control center, the Robert Koch Institute, reported 7,830 cases overnight, a new record.

Like most countries, Germany has been grappling with how to keep schools and businesses open, while trying to prevent people from coming into close contact

with one another. Germany has registered a total

of 356,387 coronavirus cases,though a relatively low 9,767deaths.

With the numbers again rising, however, Merkel urged Germansto avoid unnecessary travel, can-cel parties and remain at home whenever it is possible.

“What brought us so well through the first half year of thepandemic?” she asked. “It wasthat we stood together and obeyed the rules out of consideration andcommon sense. This is the most effective remedy we currentlyhave against the pandemic, and it is more necessary now than ever.”

VIRUS OUTBREAK

European nations implement new restrictions to staunch resurgences

Airman tested to determine impact ofasymptomatic cases

2 sailors aboard USS Roosevelt evacuated after testing positive

BRANDIE NUZZI/U.S. Navy

Sailors spool line onto a reel aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt on Tuesday. Two sailorshave been evacuated from the ship for isolation after testing positive for the coronavirus .

• S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 7

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The federal budget deficit hit an all-time high of $3.1 trillion in the 2020 budget year, more than double the pre-vious record, as the coronavirus pandemic shrank revenues and sent spending soaring.

The Trump administration re-ported Friday that the deficit for the budget year that ended on Sept. 30 was three times the size of last year’s deficit of $984 bil-lion. It was also $2 trillion higher than the administration had es-timated in February before the pandemic hit.

It was the government’s largest annual shortfall in dollar terms, surpassing the previous record of $1.4 trillion set in 2009. At that time, the Obama administration was spending heavily to shore up the nation’s banking system and limit the economic damage from the 2008 financial crisis.

The administration’s final ac-counting of the 2020 budget year shows that revenues fell by 1.2% to $3.42 trillion, while govern-ment spending surged 47.3% to $6.55 trillion. That spending re-flects the relief programs Con-gress passed in the spring to support the economy as millions of Americans were losing their jobs.

Many of the benefit programs expired in late July or early Au-gust, and so far Democrats and Republicans have been unable to agree on legislation to re-instate them. Republicans have balked at the level of spending sought by Democrats, who warn that with-out significant support the coun-try could be facing a double-dip recession.

While about half of the 22 mil-lion jobs lost in March and April have been recovered, the concern is that without more government support, those still without work will be unable to make their rent or mortgage payments and buy food. In addition to the human toll, the result would be a significant drag on U.S. economic growth.

President Donald Trump has said he is willing to compromise with Democrats on a new relief package but Senate Republicans have indicated they don’t support the spending levels being put for-ward by Democrats.

Colorado DENVER — Colorado on Fri-

day released its distribution plan an approved coronavirus vaccine when it becomes publicly avail-able as the state faced a deadline to submit it to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The distribution plan priori-tizes three groups of people for the order in which people in those groups will be eligible to get vac-cines. The first group of recipi-ents is broken down into three levels of prioritized people and the second has two levels.

In the first phase, the priority

recipients will be assisted living facility workers, home health care workers and outpatient phar-macists. Next are police officers, firefighters, public health work-ers and corrections staff. The third level of vaccine recipients are nursing home and assisted living patients.

During the second phase, vac-cines will be given to homeless people living in shelters, adult group home residents, workers such as ski industry and agricul-tural employees who share living spaces, students living in dormi-tories, essential workers such as grocery store workers, teachers and child care workers and em-ployees of businesses such as the meat-packing sector where work-ers are in close proximity to each other. In the second part of this phase, people who are over age 65 or have certain health risks will get vaccines.

When all of those people have been given an opportunity to get the vaccine, the final phase starts with vaccine distribution to adults ages 18-64.

Illinois SPRINGFIELD — Illinois set

another new record Friday for coronavirus infections, fueled by a large increase in testing.

The Illinois Department of Public Health reported 4,554 con-firmed cases, a 13% jump from the record set a day earlier. There were also 38 additional deaths, bringing the total in Illinois lost to COVID-19 since the pandemic began to 9,165. There have been 336,174 confirmed cases.

Testing for the illness has steadily ramped up and with it the rate of positive test results, which is now at 5.1% statewide.

“We’re in a new wave of COVID-19, all across the nation and here in Illinois,” public health spokes-man Cris Martinez said. “Three of the worst states in the country are bordering our state.”

He urged residents to “help prevent senseless tragedy: Wear a mask, watch your distance and wash your hands.”

Kentucky LOUISVILLE — A surge in

daily COVID-19 cases continued in Kentucky Friday as officials reported an outbreak at a state prison.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said there were 1,319 newly re-ported cases, the third day in a row the state surpassed 1,200 positives. There were four re-ported deaths.

Beshear continued to urge resi-dents to wear masks in public and limiting gatherings to 10 people.

“We need to social distance and we shouldn’t play politics with this virus,” Beshear said in a re-lease from the governor’s office Friday. “It is real. It doesn’t mat-ter if there’s an election a couple of weeks away.”

An outbreak at the Little Sandy Correctional Complex in Elliott County has infected 17 inmates and two staff, according to Bes-hear. The governor said the en-tire prison will be tested.

Nevada RENO — Nevada’s test positiv-

ity rate for COVID-19 has con-tinued to rise following a steady two-month decline after Gov. Steve Sisolak raised the size limit for public gatherings.

The 14-day rolling average for the positivity rate — which mea-sures community transmission of the virus — stood at 8.4% on Thursday for the third consecu-tive day. That’s the highest it’s been since 8.6% on Sept. 5, ac-cording to the weekly Nevada Health Response Situation Re-port released Friday.

The World Health Organiza-tion recommends a rate of 5% or below, a rate Nevada hasn’t dropped below since mid-June.

Sisolak’s emergency directive adjusting statewide COVID-19 standards effective Oct. 1 raised the limitation on public and pri-vate gatherings from 50 people to 250 people or 50% of occupancy, whichever is less.

New York A federal judge has refused

to block Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s order limiting worship to as few as 10 congregants in communi-ties seeing spikes in coronavirus infections.

Ruling in a lawsuit brought by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, U.S. District Court Judge Nicholas Garaufis said in an order Friday that even though the rules harm religious groups, it is not in the public interest to block them if they are helping prevent a wave of new infections.

“In fact, if the court issues an injunction and the state is correct about the acuteness of the threat currently posed by hotspot neigh-borhoods, the result could be avoidable death on a massive scale like New Yorkers experienced in

the spring,” Garaufis wrote.The ruling doesn’t end the law-

suit but denied the church’s re-quest for a temporary injunction.

Tennessee NASHVILLE — The White

House quietly told Tennessee early this week that “a statewide mask mandate must be imple-mented” to curb its growing spread of COVID-19, strong in-structions that the White House and governor did not discuss pub-licly before the report emerged in a records request.

The Oct. 11 state report for Tennessee, where Republican Gov. Bill Lee has let counties de-cide whether to require masks in public, first came to light in a records request by WUOT-FM. The Associated Press obtained the report from the Knox County Health Department afterward.

“A statewide mask mandate must be implemented to stop the increasing spread among resi-dents in rural and urban areas of Tennessee,” the item in a list of recommendations states.

The report takes the strongest tone to date in urging Tennessee to act, though Lee has made it clear for months that he did not think masks should be required across the state. Lee, who has urged people to wear masks, con-tinued to advise against a state-wide mandate Friday in an online news conference, in which he didn’t mention the White House’s instruction a few days earlier.

Utah SALT LAKE CITY — One of

Utah’s largest hospitals had no beds left Friday in its regular intensive-care unit as the gov-ernor declared the state’s week-slong spike in coronavirus cases “unsustainable.”

The University of Utah Health had to set up extra ICU beds staffed by doctors and nurses working overtime to care for its critical patients this week as the unit hit 104% capacity, said Chief Medical Officer Dr. Russell Vinik.

“We’ve cut back where we canbut it’s precarious,” he said. “Weare very concerned about flu sea-son, particularly if people don’t get vaccinated. We can’t take an-other hit.”

Health officials again reportednear record-breaking levels of new coronavirus cases Friday,meaning hospitalizations could continue to rise.

Utah health officials reported nearly 1,500 new cases Friday, a number that Republican Gov.Gary Herbert called “sobering”during a weekslong spike in newcases that started after the newschool year began. Many Utahschools are holding in-person classes. Herbert again encour-aged people to wear masks andpractice social distancing.

Vermont The Vermont Department of

Health is investigating an out-break of COVID-19 cases relatedto youth and adult recreationalhockey and broomball teams in central Vermont, officials saidFriday, and the governor directed skating rinks to halt reservationsthrough Oct. 30.

The outbreak is linked to peo-ple who practiced or played at theCentral Vermont Memorial Civic Center in Montpelier earlier this month, officials said. So far, theHealth Department has identi-fied 18 confirmed cases amongplayers and several close contactsand most are in adults.

“So far, there is no indication ofcommunity spread of the virus,”said Patsy Kelso, state epidemiol-ogist, at the governor’s bi-weeklyvirus briefing.

In a Friday night release, Gov.Phil Scott said his order barring Vermont’s ice skating rinks fromaccepting new reservations for two weeks is meant to prevent arush of new users from high-riskareas.

The Health Department’s con-tact tracing team is continuing toreach out to people who may be affected, Kelso said. The gover-nor urged people not to become complacent.

Sunday, October 18, 2020

VIRUS OUTBREAK

Budget deficit hits $3.1T amid pandemic

CHRISTINE TANNOUS, ST. LOUIS (MO.) POST-DISPATCH/AP

Pvt. Wyatt Kuliczkowski, with the Missouri National Guard, hands a patient a COVID-19 test to self administer at the Family Arena in St. Charles, Mo., on Friday .

PAGE 8 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Sunday, October 18, 2020

BY SCOTT BAUERAssociated Press

MADISON, Wis. — Rising coronavirus cases in key presi-dential battleground states a little more than two weeks before Elec-tion Day are the latest worry for election officials and voters fear-ing chaos or exposure to the virus at polling places despite months of planning.

The prospect of poll workers backing out at the last minute because they are infected, quar-antined or scared of getting sick has local election officials in Mid-western states such as Iowa and Wisconsin opening more early voting locations, recruiting back-up workers and encouraging vot-ers to plan for long lines and other inconveniences.

Confirmed virus cases and deaths are on the rise in the swing states of Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Wisconsin.

Wisconsin broke records this week for new coronavirus cases, deaths and hospitalizations, lead-ing to the opening of a field hospi-tal to handle COVID-19 patients.

Gov. Tony Evers said he plans to activate the Wisconsin Nation-al Guard to fill any staffing short-ages at election sites.

While holding a competitive presidential election during a pandemic is “tricky business,” the governor said, “People are ready to have this election over, and I think it will be a successful election with very few hiccups.”

In Iowa, Scott County Audi-tor Roxanna Moritz opened ad-ditional early voting sites in and around Davenport, the state’s third-largest city, to try to reduce the number of people casting bal-lots on Election Day and to keep the virus from spreading in large precincts.

“We have to remember that there is this thing called COVID,” Moritz said. “Our numbers aren’t getting any better. The more people I can get to early vote, the better.”

The pandemic’s recent trajec-tory close to home has some vot-ers reconsidering a lifetime habit of entering a voting booth on Election Day.

Tim Tompkins, a welding en-gineer in Iowa, took the day off work to cast an early ballot at the Bettendorf Community Center.

Tompkins, 62, said he and his wife, Pat, were afraid of corona-virus exposure in Election Day crowds but determined to vote, so they brought their own sanitizer to the community center Friday.

“We’d go through a vat of boil-ing COVID to get the current president out of office,” Tompkins said.

In some states, voting early still has carried health risks. Voters in Georgia, Texas and elsewhere encountered hourslong lines that required congregating with hun-dreds of other people this week.

In Georgia, nearly a quarter of

the workers in a warehouse where Fulton County’s election supplies are kept and voting equipment is readied tested positive for COVID-19.

The positive test results for 13 of the preparation center’s 60 workers shouldn’t delay election operations, county elections di-rector Rick Barron said. Barron said Georgia’s most populous county is working to hire replace-ment staff and to implement addi-tional safety measures, including daily rapid testing.

Voters in several Midwestern states contested by U.S. President Donald Trump and his Demo-cratic challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden, encountered lines when they went to cast early ballots on Friday.

Some described the decision to vote this year as one that required deliberation and even courage.

Robert Baccus, 52, an indepen-dent contractor from Columbus, Ohio, was among hundreds in line at the Franklin County Board of Elections early voting center.

He said he doesn’t trust vot-ing by mail, so early voting was his best option for casting a bal-lot while trying to safeguard his health.

“It’s a choice between life and death, really,” said Baccus, a sup-porter of Democratic nominee Joe Biden. “We could not do it and our votes won’t be counted. It’s a choice I’ve got to make for my children and grandchildren.”

Vickie Howard-Penn, 50, a Transportation Security Admin-istration worker from Columbus, said it was obvious Friday that the record virus cases Ohio re-ported this week had not deterred fellow voters.

“Did you see the lines? There are three lines trying to get up this way,” Howard-Penn said out-side the Franklin County election board. She also planned to vote for Biden.

At some polling places, work-ers wore masks, gloves and face shields. Lines and voting stations were set up six feet apart, and the stations and pens were sanitized between users.

However, poll workers are not required to wear masks everywhere.

In Kansas, the secretary of state’s office did not make masks mandatory at the polls, drawing objections from some voters, par-ticularly older ones.

Election officials in Wisconsin said the state’s presidential pri-mary provided lessons that were guiding current preparations.

Wisconsin held its presidential primary early in the pandemic after Democratic attempts to delay April voting were thwarted. Voters waited in long lines in Mil-waukee and elsewhere because a worker shortage meant there were fewer polling places.

Several election officials said they were confident they would have enough poll workers, sani-tation supplies and protective gear to ensure Election Day goes smoothly and safely. But they are also encouraging voters to cast their ballots early, if they can.

“Our clerks and communities have learned a lot since the April election,” Waukesha County Clerk Meg Wartman said. “Our community members, our voters, are a lot more confident about how they can be out (safely) ... I wouldn’t want people to be afraid to go to the polls because I think we’re better prepared.”

Wisconsin voter Jon Gausewitz, 37, still plans to vote in person on Election Day. He said that could change if the virus situation wors-ens where he lives outside Madi-son, the state capital.

“I’m just watching the numbers and rates and hospitalizations,that sort of thing, to see where we’re at,” Gausewitz said. “I’mstill feeling pretty safe about it.”

In Ohio, county election boardshave put elaborate plans in place to keep voters safe during in-per-son voting that began Oct. 6, OhioAssociation of Election Officials spokesman Aaron Ockerman said.

Republican Secretary of StateFrank LaRose updated a 61-pointhealth and safety plan in late September that provides boards with detailed guidance on sani-tation, use of personal protectivegear, social distancing and other measures.

Anxiety among older Ohio vot-ers may have helped drive thehuge turnout at an online AARP-sponsored town hall with the sec-retary of state this week. Morethan 15,000 people dialed in, pep-pering the elections chief withtechnical questions about votingby mail.

As reassurance, LaRose pro-vided his personal email address to participants and urged them to write with questions. Elec-tions officials are preparing listsof reserve poll workers who arewilling to be called on at the lastminute.

Minnesota election officialshave recruited all 30,000 poll workers they believe are need-ed to run the general election.They have cross-trained numer-ous others, including county andcity workers, as reserves in case they’re needed, Risikat Adesao-gun, a spokeswoman for Min-nesota Secretary of State SteveSimon, said.

Officials in the battlegroundstates reported no plans to closepolling places, even if virus casescontinue to spike.

“Obviously, we would try to open as many polling places aspossible,” Nick Custodio, a deputycommissioner for Philadelphia’selection office, said. “We don’twant to close polling places un-less that is what is advised.”

BRYNN ANDERSON/AP

People wait in line to vote early at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta on Monday.

GEOFF MULVIHILL/AP

Tim and Pat Tompkins pause for a picture on their way to early vote in Bettendorf, Iowa, Friday . Tompkins said he and his wife, Pat, were concerned about coronavirus exposure in bigger crowds and brought their own sanitizer, but were determined to vote.

Virus surges worry voters, poll workers in battleground states

NATION

‘ It’s a choice between life and death, really. We could not do it and our votes won’t be counted. It’s a choice I’ve got to make for my children and grandchildren.’

Robert Baccus on voting early with mail-in ballots

• S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 9Sunday, October 18, 2020

NATION

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The Su-preme Court agreed Friday to take up President Donald Trump’s policy, blocked by a lower court, to exclude people liv-ing in the U.S. illegally from the census count that will be used to allocate seats in the House of Representatives.

Never in U.S. history have im-migrants been excluded from the population count that determines how House seats, and by exten-sion Electoral College votes, are divided among the states, a three-judge federal count said in September when it held Trump’s policy illegal.

The justices put the case on a fast track, setting arguments for Nov. 30. A decision is expected by the end of the year or early in Jan-uary, when Trump has to report census numbers to the House.

Trump’s high court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, could take part in the case if, as seems likely, she is confirmed by then.

Last year, the court by a 5-4 vote barred Trump from adding a census question asking people about their citizenship. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died last month, was part of that slim majority. Barrett would take Ginsburg’s seat.

“President Trump has repeat-edly tried — and failed — to wea-ponize the census for his attacks on immigrant communities. The Supreme Court rejected his at-tempt last year and should do so again,“ said American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Dale Ho, representing a coalition of immi-grant advocacy groups that chal-lenged Trump’s plan in court.

Trump left it to Commerce Sec-retary Wilbur Ross, who oversees the Census Bureau, to figure out how many immigrants are not living legally in each state.

The outcome of the census case could affect the distribution of po-litical power for the next 10 years. The census also helps determine the distribution of $1.5 trillion in

federal funding annually.The administration told the

court that the president retains“discretion to exclude illegalaliens from the apportionmentbased on their immigrationstatus.”

Trump’s violation of federallaw is “not particularly close orcomplicated,” the ACLU said in acourt filing arguing that the courtshouldn’t hear the case.

The Supreme Court separatelyallowed the administration toend the actual census count thisweek, blocking a court order that would have kept the count goinguntil the end of the month.

The court did not take actionon two other administration ap-peals of controversial policies onasylum seekers and the borderwall that also were ruled illegalby lower courts. Since early last year, the administration has made asylum-seekers wait in Mexicofor U.S. court hearings, which hasforced tens of thousands of peopleto return to Mexico.

Known informally as “Remain in Mexico,” the policy became akey pillar of the administration’sresponse to a surge of asylum-seeking families from CentralAmerica at the southern border.It also drew criticism for having people wait in dangerous cities.

The administration also is ap-pealing a ruling that the admin-istration can’t spend more thanCongress authorized for bordersecurity. After Congress refusedto give Trump all the money hewanted for the wall, he declared anational emergency at the borderand Defense Department officials transferred billions of dollars tothe project.

Lower courts sided with states and environmental groups thatchallenged the transfer as a viola-tion of the Constitution’s provision giving Congress the power to de-termine spending. A separate suit from members of Congress alsois making its way to the court.

Court to weigh census policy for noncitizens

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — A woman convicted of fatally strangling a pregnant woman, cutting her body open and kidnapping her baby is scheduled to be the first female inmate put to death by the U.S. government in more than six decades, the Justice Department said Friday.

Lisa Montgomery is scheduled

to be executed by lethal injection on Dec. 8 at the Federal Correc-tional Complex in Terre Haute, Ind. She would be the ninth fed-eral inmate to put to death since the Justice Department resumed executions in July after a nearly 20-year hiatus.

Montgomery was convicted of killing 23-year-old Bobbie Jo Stinnett in the northwest Mis-souri town of Skidmore in De-

cember 2004.Montgomery drove from her

Kansas home to Stinnett’s house in Skidmore under the guise of adopting a rat terrier puppy, prosecutors said. When she ar-rived at the home, Montgomery used a rope to strangle Stinnett, who was eight months pregnant, but Stinnett was conscious and trying to defend herself as Mont-gomery used a kitchen knife to

cut the baby girl from the womb, authorities said.

Prosecutors said Montgomery removed the baby from Stinnett’s body, took the child with her, and attempted to pass the girl off as her own.

Montgomery’s lawyers ar-gued that she had been suffering from delusions when she killed Stinnett, but a jury rejected her defense. Her lawyers had also

argued that she was sufferingfrom pseudocyesis, which causes a woman to falsely believe she is pregnant and exhibit outwardsigns of pregnancy.

The Justice Department on Fri-day also scheduled the executionof a man convicted in the 1999 killing of two youth ministers in Texas. Brandon Bernard, 40, is scheduled to be executed by le-thal injection on Dec. 10.

Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Pres-ident Donald Trump’s adminis-tration abruptly reversed course and approved California’s appli-cation for disaster relief funds to clean up damage from six recent deadly and destructive blazes that have scorched the state, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Friday.

“Just got off the phone with President Trump who has ap-proved our Major Disaster Dec-laration request. Grateful for his quick response,” Newsom said in a brief statement.

Neither he nor the White House gave details on why the adminis-tration shifted positions less than two days after it initially denied the state’s request for a declara-tion that officials said could pro-vide the state with hundreds of millions of dollars.

The reversal came the same week the Pacific Gas and Elec-tric utility cut off service to more than 40,000 Northern California customers to prevent powerful winds from damaging equipment and sparking wildfires amid a fall heat wave. Electricity was re-stored to most customers by Fri-day evening, PG&E said.

Preliminary inspections found 30 instances of weather-related damage, including downed power lines in areas where winds were the strongest, PG&E said.

The utility better targeted out-ages this time after it was criti-cized in 2019 for cutting power to about 800,000 customers and leaving about 2 million people in the dark for days.

White House spokesman Judd Deere previously said Califor-nia’s disaster declaration request “was not supported by the rel-evant data” needed for approval. He initially said Trump agreed with Federal Emergency Man-agement Agency administrator Pete Gaynor, who said in a three-paragraph rejection letter that the damage “was not of such severity and magnitude as to be beyond the (state’s) capabilities.”

“The Governor and (GOP) Leader (Kevin) McCarthy spoke and presented a convincing case and additional on-the-ground perspective for reconsideration leading the President to approve the declaration,” Deere said in a statement after Trump’s change of heart.

McCarthy thanked Trump in

a tweet for providing “the as-sistance needed to rebuild and repair.”

Fellow Republican U.S. Rep. Tom McClintock said in a tweet that McCarthy told him “the President has committed to re-verse FEMA’s decision … and help is on the way.” Both congress-men represent areas harmed by wildfires.

The state had planned to appeal the denial and believed it had a strong case, Brian Ferguson, a spokesman with the governor’s Office of Emergency Services, said before the reversal.

Newsom asked for the major disaster declaration on Sept. 28 to cover fires in Fresno, Los An-geles, Madera, Mendocino, San Bernardino, San Diego and Sis-kiyou counties.

The 30-page request described the disasters and pointed out that damage assessments were incom-plete because the fires were still raging and access was difficult.

Federal major disaster decla-rations allow for cost-sharing for damage, cleanup and rebuilding between the state and federal governments. They also activate relief programs led by FEMA.

Feds to execute woman who killed victim, cut baby from womb

Trump changes course, approves California relief for 6 recent fires

NOAH BERGER/AP

Seen from Alameda, Calif., a grass fire burns in South San Francisco on Friday . Portions of Northern California remain under red flag fire warnings due to high temperatures and dry winds.

PAGE 10 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Sunday, October 18, 2020

WORLD

Associated Press

PARIS — A suspect shot dead by police after the gruesome be-heading of a history teacher in an attack near Paris was an 18-year-old Chechen, officials said Saturday.

France’s anti-terrorism prose-cutor’s office said that authorities investigating the horrific kill-ing of Samuel Paty in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine on Friday have also arrested nine suspects, in-cluding the grandfather, parents

and 17-year-old brother of the attacker.

Paty had discussed caricatures of Islam’s Prophet Muhammad with his class, leading to threats and a complaint from a parent, police officials said. Islam pro-hibits images of the prophet, con-sidering that they lead to idolatry. The officials could not be named because they were not authorized to discuss ongoing investigations.

The French anti-terrorism prosecutor opened an investiga-

tion for murder with a suspected terrorist motive, the prosecutor’s office said.

French leaders offered mes-sages of sadness but also of hope in the hours after the drama.

“We’ll pick ourselves up togeth-er, thanks to our spirit of solidar-ity,” said Laurent Brosse, mayor of Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, at a news conference Saturday.

A police official said the suspect in Friday’s attack armed was shot dead about 600 yards from where

Paty died. He was armed with a knife and

an airsoft gun — which fires plas-tic pellets — and police opened fire after he failed to respond to orders to put down his arms, and acted in a threatening man-ner. The official also could not be named because of the ongoing investigations.

French President Emmanuel Macron arrived quickly at the school on Friday night to de-nounce what he called an “Is-

lamist terrorist attack.” He urgedthe nation to stand united againstextremism.

“One of our compatriots was murdered today because hetaught … the freedom of expres-sion, the freedom to believe or not believe,” Macron said.

The presidential Elysee Palaceannounced Saturday that therewill be a national ceremony ona future date in homage to Paty,about whom few details have so far emerged.

Teacher decapitated in France; suspect dead

Associated Press

BAKU, Azerbaijan — Azerbai-jan on Saturday accused Arme-nia of striking its second-largest city with a ballistic missile that killed at least 13 civilians and wounded 50 others in a new es-calation of their conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh.

The Armenian Defense Minis-try denied launching the strike, but the separatist authorities in Nagorno-Karabakh put out a statement listing alleged “le-gitimate” military facilities in the city of Ganja, although they stopped short of claiming respon-sibility for the attack.

Azerbaijani officials said the Soviet-made Scud missile de-stroyed or damaged about 20 residential buildings in Ganja overnight, and emergency work-ers spent hours searching in the rubble for victims and survivors.

Scud missiles date back to the 1960s and carry a big load of ex-plosives but are known for their lack of precision.

In a televised address to the nation, Azerbaijan’s president, Ilham Aliyev, denounced the mis-sile strike as a war crime and warned the leadership of Arme-nia that it would face responsibil-ity for that.

“Azerbaijan will give its re-sponse and it will do so exclusive-ly on the battlefield,” Aliyev said.

While authorities in both Azer-baijan and Armenia have denied targeting civilians, residential areas have increasingly come under shelling amid the hos-tilities that have raged for three weeks despite Russia’s attempt to broker a cease-fire.

Stepanakert, the regional capi-

tal of Nagorno-Karabakh, came under intense shelling over-night, leaving three civilians wounded, according to separatist authorities.

Nagorno-Karabakh lies within Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a war there ended in 1994. The lat-est outburst of fighting began on Sept. 27 and has involved heavy artillery, rockets and drones, killing hundreds and marking the largest escalation of hostili-ties between the South Cauca-sus neighbors in more than a quarter-century.

Aliyev announced Saturday that Azerbaijani forces have taken the town of Fizuli and seven villages around it, gaining a “strategic edge.”

Fizuli is one of the seven Azer-baijani regions outside Nagorno-Karabakh that was seized by the Armenian forces during the war in the early 1990s.

Russia, which has a security pact with Armenia but also has cultivated warm ties with Azer-baijan, hosted top diplomats from both countries for more than 10 hours of talks that ended with Saturday’s cease-fire deal. But the agreement immediately frayed, with both sides blaming each other for breaching it.

Azerbaijan has insisted it has the right to reclaim its land by force after efforts by the so-called Minsk group of international me-diators that comprises Russia, the United States and France failed to yield any progress. Azerbaijan has actively pushed for its ally Turkey to take a prominent role in future peace talks.

Associated Press

AUCKLAND, New Zealand — New Zealand Prime Minis-ter Jacinda Ardern won a sec-ond term in office Saturday in an election landslide of historic proportions.

With most votes counted, Ar-dern’s liberal Labour Party was

winning 49% of the vote com-pared to 27% for its main chal-lenger, the conservative National Party.

Labour was on target to win an outright majority of the seats in Parliament, something that hasn’t happened since New Zea-land implemented a proportional voting system 24 years ago.

Typically, parties must form alliances to govern, but this time Ardern and Labour can go it alone.

In a victory speech in front of hundreds of cheering support-ers in Auckland, Ardern said her party had gotten more support from New Zealanders that at any time in at least 50 years.

“This has not been an ordinary election, and it’s not an ordinary time,” she said.

“It’s been full of uncertainty and anxiety, and we set out to be an antidote to that.“

Ardern promised not to take her new supporters for granted and to govern for all New Zealanders.

“We are living in an increasing-

ly polarized world, a place where,more and more, people have lostthe ability to see one another’spoint of view,” she said. “I thinkin this election, New Zealandershave shown that this is not whowe are.”

A record number of voters cast early ballots in the two weeks leading up to the election.

Associated Press

BANGKOK — The authorities in Bangkok shut down mass transit systems and set up roadblocks Saturday as Thailand’s capital faced a fourth straight day of determined anti-government protests.

The protesters have been doing their best to elude the authorities, using social media to assemble fol-lowers before police have time to block them. The government has announced plans to take legal ac-tion against Twitter and Facebook accounts that an-nounce the protests, but fresh calls to action were posted Saturday.

The protesters are calling for Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha to leave office, the constitution to be amended to make it more democratic and the nation’s monarchy to undergo reform. The protests have been called in defiance of a state of emergency

imposed on Thursday.All stations of Bangkok’s elevated Skytrain mass

transit system were ordered closed Saturday after-noon in an effort to thwart protests. A line of theunderground MRT system was also shut, and police blocked off several roads. Organizers had called for their followers to meet at Skytrain stations pendingfurther instructions.

Groups of protesters met at many of the stations that were closed, in effect establishing a protest presence across the city. In a further twist, organiz-ers issued a fresh advisory for followers to gather atthree stations outside the city’s central area, where access was easier, especially for people living in the suburbs.

Police on Friday had also tried to block demon-strators, but failed when protest organizers an-nounced a last-minute switch of venue.

New Zealand’s Prime Minister Ardern wins a 2nd term in landslide

Bangkok shuts down transit systems

Azerbaijan: Armenian missile strike kills 13

GEMUNU AMARASINGHE/AP

Pro-democracy protesters flash three-fingered salute during a protest in Udom Suk, suburbs of Bangkok, Thailand, on Saturday.

• S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 11Sunday, October 18, 2020

was wearing a long blue wig and a mask as he climbed through the shattered door, yelling.

A Mobile police investigator told the station it appeared the man was under the influence of a narcotic and may have had mental health issues, WKRG reported.

The man was expected to face a second-degree burglary charge, according to authorities.

Elon Musk firm designs people mover tunnel

NV LAS VEGAS — A com-pany nearing comple-tion of a short underground motorway for electric cars at the expanded Las Vegas Convention Center wants to build a people mover tunnel system beneath the Las Vegas Strip.

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk’s tunneling operator, called The Boring Co., dubs the project the “Vegas Loop.”

It would drill underground from downtown Las Vegas to the newly opened Allegiant Stadium, a distance of about 7 miles , ac-cording to a presentation to the Las Vegas Convention and Visi-tors Authority.

The company is seeking a city permit and will submit plans to Clark County.

The concept includes a loop of about 15 miles , with perhaps 50 stations where passengers would board self-driving electric Tesla vehicles. Passenger fares have not yet been determined.

24 dogs seized after animal neglect complaint

SD WHITEWOOD — Au-thorities rescued 24 dogs after responding to a com-plaint at a home near Whitewood, in far western South Dakota.

The Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office said deputies discovered several neglected animals at the residence and eventually seized two dozen of the dogs. There were also dogs on the property that had already died.

The Western Hills Humane So-ciety in Spearfish was providing the rescued dogs with shelter and medical care.

Judge reprimanded for sexting in judicial robe

TN COOKEVILLE — A Tennessee judge was publicly reprimanded for en-gaging in sexually explicit com-munications with a woman who formerly had a child custody mat-ter before him and another woman

whose law firm does business with his court, among others.

A letter of reprimand sent to Circuit Court Judge Jonathan Lee Young from the Tennessee Board of Judicial Conduct stated, “The messages include content ranging from flirtatious to overtly sexual. Most of these communications depict you in your judicial robe.”

In addition to the public repri-mand, Young is required to attend a judicial ethics training, refrain from engaging in further miscon-duct and recuse himself from all cases involving a list of specific attorneys that was not disclosed publicly.

State police arrest six for blocking highway

RI PROVIDENCE — Six adults and a juvenile used a rented box truck, two cars and several traffic cones to brief-ly block a Rhode Island highway, state police said .

The adults were charged with disorderly conduct and conspira-cy after all four lanes of Interstate

95 northbound in Providence were blocked for approximatelyseven minutes and traffic backed up for about a half mile.

They were demanding that Co-lumbus Day be changed to Indig-enous People’s Day, local activistAmanda Toussaint told The Prov-idence Journal.

“While we respect the right to peacefully protest, we have zerotolerance for those who endangerthe lives of others by purposeful-ly blocking traffic and will arrestand charge anyone who does so ,”commander Col. James Mannisaid in a statement.

Man accused of impersonating officer

IA DES MOINES — A DesMoines man was accusedof impersonating a police officerand displaying a stun gun afterpulling over a car.

WHO-TV reported that Dewey Moraine, 54, was charged withtwo counts of assault while dis-playing a dangerous weapon andone count of impersonating a pub-lic official.

A criminal complaint said Mo-raine flashed his lights to get thevictim to stop. The complaint saidMoraine “sparked” a stun gunwhile yelling at the victim to exitthe vehicle.

Police said they found two stunguns and a black air soft pistol inMoraine’s vehicle.

AMERICAN ROUNDUP Another jetpack flier spotted near airport

CA LOS ANGELES — Of-ficials were investi-gating a report from an airline crew member that someone was flying in a jetpack as the plane approached Los Angeles Inter-national Airport to land — the second such report in about six weeks.

“A China Airlines crew member reported seeing what appeared to be someone in a jetpack roughly seven miles northwest of the air-port,” the Federal Aviation Ad-ministration said in a statement.

The FAA alerted local law enforcement .

On Aug. 29, authorities received separate reports from two airline pilots that someone was flying in a jetpack at around 3,000 feet as their planes approached LAX.

Mayor resigns month after shoplifting charge

TN FAIRVIEW — A middle Tennessee mayor ac-cused of shoplifting nearly $300 worth of items from a Target store resigned from his post.

John Blade, 53, stepped down as mayor of Fairview nearly a month after he was accused of paying for just one item and steal-ing several others in a self-check-out lane, according to a Spring Hill Police Department report obtained by news outlets.

A store loss prevention officer reported Blade took more items than he paid for, exited the store, returned and repeated the act again, authorities said. He alleg-edly took more than 40 household goods and personal care items, according to the police report.

Fairview city officials an-nounced the resignation but did not say whether it was linked to his theft case.

Van carrying 80 dogs overturns on interstate

VA SALEM — A van carry-ing 80 dogs overturned on an interstate in Virginia, caus-ing some of the animals to be injured and others to escape the vehicle, police say.

The crash occurred on Inter-state 81 in Roanoke County, ac-cording to Virginia State Police Sgt. Rick Garletts. It is unclear how many of the animals were in-jured or how many had escaped.

The Fort Lewis Fire Depart-ment said in a Facebook post that the van belonged to a rescue group that was transporting the dogs to other rescue groups.

Roanoke County Animal Con-trol is helping house the animals.

Man who smashed TV station door arrested

AL MOBILE — Police in Alabama arrested a wig-wearing suspect accused of smashing through the glass front door of a local television station .

A man, 27, allegedly used a tire iron to bust through the glass and into the front lobby of WKRG-TV’s studio in Mobile, according to police and video of the encoun-ter recorded by the station. He

Picking the perfect pumpkin

The weight in pounds of the largest pumpkin grown in Illinois this year, according to the Pantagraph, and the fifth-largest grown in the state. The pumpkin, grown by Henry Bartimus of DeWitt, Ill., took 105 days to grow. The Il-

linois record for the largest pumpkin is 2,145 pounds. The world record is 2,624 pounds, grown from a seed from Illinois. Bartimus also won $1,000 and his name on a traveling belt.

THE CENSUS

1,673

A boy wears a mask as he looks at pumpkins at the Didier Farms in Lincolnshire, Ill . The pumpkin patch reopened with COVID-19 restrictions such as requiring masks while waiting in lines or anywhere you can’t maintain 6 feet of distance, and are providing sanitizer.

From wire reports

NAM Y. HUH/AP

PAGE 12 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Sunday, October 18, 2020

BY AUGUST BROWN, SUZ