Volume 80 Edition 162 ©SS 2021 TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2021 50¢/Free to Deployed Areas

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MILITARY

Ex-Army civiliansentenced for Kuwaitcontract kickbacks Page 3

NATION

Rising consumer pricesput pinch on households,businesses worldwidePage 8

FACES

Master of musicaltheater Sondheimpasses away at 91Page 14

Allure of air attack grounds league’s top rushing offenses ›› NFL, Page 24

BRUSSELS — Taking an act-now-ask-ques-

tions-later approach, countries around the world

slammed their doors shut again to try to keep the

new omicron variant at bay Monday as more

cases of the mutant coronavirus emerged and sci-

entists raced to figure out just how dangerous it

might be.

Japan announced it would bar entry of all for-

eign visitors, joining Israel in doing so just days

after the variant was identified by researchers in

South Africa. Morocco banned all incoming

flights. Other countries, including the United

States and European Union members, have

moved to prohibit travelers arriving from south-

ern Africa.

Travelers infected with the new version have

DENIS FARRELL/AP

A man receives a dose of a vaccine at a COVID-19 vaccine center, in Soweto, South Africa, on Monday. The World Health Organization hasurged countries not to impose flight bans on southern African nations due to concerns over the new omicron variant.

Preparing for the worstAs more cases of omicron variant emerge, wary, weary world slams doors shut

BY RAF CASERT AND MARI YAMAGUCHI

Associated Press

SEE SLAMS ON PAGE 7

CAUTIOUS APPROACH

Despite concerns, scientists caution that it

is still unclear if omicron is more alarming

than other versions of the virus. Dr. Francis

Collins, director of the National Institutes of

Health in the United States, said no data as

yet suggests the new variant causes more

serious illness than previous versions.

SOURCE: Associated Press

VIRUS OUTBREAK

WASHINGTON — Former De-

fense Secretary Mark Esper

claims in a lawsuit against the De-

fense Department that material is

being improperly withheld from

his use as he seeks to publish an

“unvarnished and candid mem-

oir” of his time in President Do-

nald Trump’s Cabinet.

The lawsuit, which was filed

Sunday in U.S.

District Court in

Washington, de-

scribes the

memoir, “A Sa-

cred Oath,” as an

account of Esp-

er’s tenure as Ar-

my secretary

from 2017 to 2019

and his 18

months as defense secretary,

which ended when Trump fired

him in a tweet just days after the

president lost his reelection bid.

The period in which Esper was

Pentagon chief was “an unprece-

dented time of civil unrest, public

health crises, growing threats

abroad, Pentagon transformation,

and a White House seemingly

bent on circumventing the Consti-

tution,” the lawsuit says.

Esper and Trump were sharply

divided over the use of the mili-

tary during civil unrest in June

2020 following the killing of Ge-

orge Floyd. Other issues led the

president to believe Esper was not

sufficiently loyal while Esper be-

lieved he was trying to keep the

department apolitical. Firing a de-

fense secretary after an election

loss was unprecedented, but the

opening allowed Trump to install

loyalists in top Pentagon positions

as he continued to dispute his elec-

tion loss.

The lawsuit contends that “sig-

Esper suesover DODredactionsto memoir

Associated Press

Esper

SEE MEMOIR ON PAGE 3

PAGE 2 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Tuesday, November 30, 2021

BUSINESS/WEATHER

TOKYO — Nissan said Monday

it is investing $17.6 billion over the

next five years and developing a

cheaper, more powerful battery to

boost its electric vehicle lineup.

The Japanese automaker’s chief

executive, Makoto Uchida, said 15

new electric vehicles will be avail-

able by fiscal 2030. Nissan Motor

Co. is aiming for a 50% “electrifica-

tion” of the company’s model li-

neup, under what Uchida called

the “Nissan Ambition 2030” long-

term plan. Electrified vehicles in-

clude hybrids and other kinds of

environmentally friendly models

other than just electric vehicles.

The effort is focused mainly on

electric vehicles to cut emissions

and meet various customers’

needs, said Uchida. Nissan also

will reduce carbon emissions at its

factories, he added.

The company has been strug-

gling to put the scandal of its for-

mer Chairman Carlos Ghosn be-

hind it.

Uchida made no mention of the

scandal but referred to “past mis-

takes” he promised won’t be re-

peated at Nissan.

Nissan’s “electrification” rests

on developing a new ASSB, or all

solid state battery, that it categor-

ized as “a breakthrough” for being

cheaper and generating more

power than batteries now in use.

That means electric power-

trains can be more easily used in

trucks, vans and other heavier ve-

hicles because the batteries can be

smaller. The ASSB will be in mass

production by 2028, according to

Nissan.

Nissan investing in e-vehicles, battery progressAssociated Press

Bahrain77/74

Baghdad73/56

Doha82/66

Kuwait City78/63

Riyadh78/56

Kandahar

Kabul

Djibouti86/72

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WEDNESDAY IN THE PACIFIC

WEATHER OUTLOOK

TODAYIN STRIPES

American Roundup ...... 11Classified .................... 13Comics .........................16Crossword ................... 16Faces .......................... 14Opinion ........................ 15Sports .................... 17-24

Military rates

Euro costs (Nov. 30) $1.10Dollar buys (Nov. 30) 0.8642British pound (Nov. 30) $1.30Japanese yen (Nov. 30) 112.00South Korean won (Nov. 30) 1163.00

Commercial rates

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

INTEREST RATES

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EXCHANGE RATES

Tuesday, November 30, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 3

nificant text” in the memoir,

scheduled for publication by Wil-

liam Morrow in May, is being im-

properly held under the guise of

classification and that Esper

maintains it contains no classified

information. The suit notes that

Esper is restricted by his secrecy

agreements from authorizing

publication without Pentagon ap-

proval, or face possible civil and

criminal liability.

The lawsuit quotes from a letter

Esper sent to Defense Secretary

Lloyd Austin criticizing the re-

view process. He wrote that he

had been asked not to quote

Trump and others in meetings, not

to describe conversations he had

with Trump, and not to use certain

verbs or nouns when describing

historical events.

The letter describes other prob-

lematic subjects and says some 60

pages of the manuscript contained

redactions at one point. Agreeing

to all of those redactions would re-

sult in “a serious injustice to im-

portant moments in history that

the American people need to know

and understand,” Esper wrote.

The suit itself says some stories

Esper relates in the manuscript

under consideration appeared to

have been leaked to some main-

stream media “possibly to under-

mine the impact” it would have

had in his book.

Pentagon spokesman John Kir-

by said the department was aware

of Esper’s concerns. “As with all

such reviews, the Department

takes seriously its obligation to

balance national security with an

author’s narrative desire. Given

that this matter is now under liti-

gation, we will refrain from com-

menting further,” he said in a

statement.

Esper, 57, a West Point gradu-

ate and Gulf War veteran, said in a

statement that he had waited for

six months for the review process

to play out but found “my unclassi-

fied manuscript arbitrarily re-

dacted without clearly being told

why.”

“I am more than disappointed

the current Administration is in-

fringing on my First Amendment

constitutional rights. And it is with

regret that legal recourse is the

only path now available for me to

tell my full story to the American

people,” he said.

Memoir: Ex-DOD chief says redactingparts of book will be ‘serious injustice’FROM PAGE 1 “It is with regret that legal recourse

is the only path now available forme to tell my full story to theAmerican people.”

Mark Esper

former defense secretary

MILITARY

ralingam was also charged in the

indictment with conspiring to of-

fer a kickback and paying illegal

gratuities to Garcia, but he re-

mains a fugitive.

Under a plea agreement last

summer, the government drop-

ped a charge that Garcia had re-

ceived some $170,000 in illegal

gratuities from Sankaralingam

and others at Gulf Link and an-

other firm, which they said was

sent to Garcia’s adult daughters’

bank accounts from 2010 to 2015.

“Mr. Garcia emphatically de-

nies that this money was derived

illegally,” his attorneys said

pleading for the judge’s leniency

in sentencing, citing their client’s

age, declining health and the dif-

ficulties his family has suffered

since he was arrested.

Prosecutors had sought a sen-

tence of eight to 10 years and a

fine of $165,000, citing Garcia’s

net worth of more than $1 million.

But in a letter to the judge, Gar-

cia sought probation and home

confinement, citing his impover-

ished upbringing in the Philip-

pines, his honorable military ser-

vice, his wife’s worsening health

over stress from his arrest and his

daughter’s acid reflux.

In response, prosecutors said

his involvement in the kickback

conspiracy was not a “one-time

‘lapse in judgment,” and suggest-

ed to D.C. District Judge Amit P.

Mehta that if he were inclined to-

ward leniency, he not sentence

Garcia to less than five years in

prison.

Garcia was sentenced to two

years, a $200 fine and three years

of probation. The court document

giving Mehta’s reasons for the

sentence remains sealed.

An ex-Army civilian employee

was sentenced to prison this

month for offering a government

contractor much more than soup,

salad and breadsticks at an Olive

Garden in Kuwait in 2015.

Ephraim Garcia, 64, pleaded

guilty earlier this year to one

count of conspiring to offer a

kickback and one count of offer-

ing a kickback, both stemming

from the meeting at the chain res-

taurant between the unnamed

American contractor and the

head of a Kuwaiti firm that was

seeking about $3 million in sub-

contract work on Camp Arifjan,

Kuwait.

Garcia, who retired from the

Air Force in 2000 as a master ser-

geant, admitted to brokering the

meeting, where prosecutors say

he and the CEO of the firm Gulf

Link Venture Co., Gandhiraj San-

karalingam, offered to pay the

employee of Colorado-based Vec-

trus Systems Corp. to steer some

of the company’s government

contract business to Gulf Link.

In 2011, Vectrus was awarded

the Kuwait base operations secu-

rity and service support contract,

for which the Army had paid out

more than $2.7 billion as of 2016,

the Pentagon’s Inspector General

said in a report four years ago.

Sankaralingam and Garcia,

who was a mechanical engineer

for the Army’s department of

public works on Camp Arifjan, of-

fered to split proceeds from the

inflated costs of heating and air

conditioning work under that

contract — possibly up to

$756,000 — with the Vectrus em-

ployee if it was awarded to Gulf

Link, court records state. Instead,

the employee reported the illegal

offer to the government.

Officials with the Pentagon IG,

Defense Criminal Investigative

Service and Army Criminal In-

vestigative Command were in-

volved in the investigation.

Garcia, who also retired after

16 years as an Army civilian in

2016, was arrested in 2019 and in-

dicted the following year. Sanka-

Ex-Army civilian sentenced for kickbacksBY CHAD GARLAND

Stars and Stripes

U.S. ARMY

Ex­Army civilian Ephraim Garcia, 64, pleaded guilty to charges he offered kickbacks to an employee ofVectrus Systems Corp. to steer some $3 million in subcontract work to Kuwaiti firm Gulf Link Venture Co.for heating and air conditioning work in Zone 6 of Camp Arifjan, Kuwait. 

garland.chad@stripes.com

MOSCOW — Russia’s navy has

successfully test-fired a prospec-

tive hypersonic missile, the mili-

tary said Monday.

The Defense Ministry said the

Admiral Gorshkov frigate in the

White Sea launched the Zircon

cruise missile, hitting a practice

target 215 nautical miles away.

The launch was the latest in a se-

ries of tests of Zircon, which is set

to enter service next year.

Russian President Vladimir Pu-

tin has said Zircon would be capa-

ble of flying at nine times the

speed of sound and have a range of

620 miles. Putin has emphasized

that its deployment will signifi-

cantly boost the capability of Rus-

sia’s military.

Zircon is intended to arm Rus-

sian cruisers, frigates and subma-

rines.

Russian navy test-firesits hypersonic missile

Associated Press

LEXINGTON, Ky. — The Ken-

tucky National Guard says about

150 soldiers are deploying to east-

ern Africa.

A ceremony Saturday at the

Lexington airport honored mem-

bers of the Somerset-based 149th

Infantry Regiment as they en-

tered federal active duty, the Na-

tional Guard said in a news re-

lease.

The unit will deploy under the

command of a task force from the

Virginia Army National Guard

and provide security around the

Horn of Africa, the statement said.

About 200 other members of the

Kentucky National Guard are pre-

paring for a separate mobilization

to southeastern Europe in early

2022.

Ky. National Guard todeploy to eastern Africa

Associated Press

PAGE 4 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Tuesday, November 30, 2021

AFGHANISTAN

CHARASIAB, Afghanistan — At

this town’s district hospital, an

hour’s drive south of Kabul, mid-

wives resorted to using mobile

phone flashlights to deliver babies

during power cuts, when foreign aid

was halted and they could no longer

pay for generator fuel.

When critical supplies such as sa-

line solution and dressings ran out,

many patients were turned away

and told they would have to pur-

chase such materials themselves.

“It was terrible,” hospital director

Sharifa Noor said of the first time in

her 17 years working here that she

had to tell patients she was unable to

care for them.

Early this month, a United Na-

tions program gave the hospital a re-

prieve, with an influx of supplies

and, equally important, cash to pay

the salaries of its staff for the first

time in months. Doctors working

under Noor received about $150.

The lifeline was temporary, part

of an experiment cobbled together

by U.N. agencies with outside funds

to prove to the international com-

munity that money could be distrib-

uted in Afghanistan without falling

into the hands of the Taliban.

Before the militants took over in

August, foreign donors — largely

wealthy Western countries led by

the United States — paid for up to

80% of all Afghan government ex-

penses. Since then, donors have fro-

zen all funding, as leverage to press

the Taliban to meet demands, in-

cluding rights for women, girls and

minorities, an inclusive govern-

ment and freedom from reprisals

and of movement.

The Biden administration and al-

lied governments are debating

whether the experimental U.N. pro-

gram — which targeted only a por-

tion of Afghanistan’s health care

system — or similar initiatives can

be expanded into other parts of the

economy.

“We are also deeply concerned by

the ongoing liquidity shortage, infla-

tion and other economic factors,”

Jeffrey De Laurentis, deputy U.S.

ambassador to the U.N.told the U.N.

Security Council last week. “We

welcome creative solutions from

the international community to help

mitigate” these problems “in a way

that limits undue benefits to the Ta-

liban and sanctioned individuals.”

None of the discussions so far in-

volves releasing about $10 billion in

Afghan government reserves, held

primarily in the U.S.

The largest single pot of foreign

money is held by the World Bank’s

Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust

Fund, whose cash balance at the end

of September stood at more than

$1.5 billion. In the past, it has funded

programs as diverse as providing

grants for small businesses, supply-

ing farmers with seeds and financ-

ing for short-term agricultural la-

bor, and building and improving

roads and irrigation systems.

Its distributions have now been

frozen by the bank’s member states,

none of which recognizes the Tali-

ban government. The hope at the

U.N. is that at least some of those

funds can be released into a new

U.N.-administered fund that would

go beyond humanitarian food and

medicine aid to Afghanistan to

maintain basic services and pay sal-

aries and wages. The fund is also

asking countries with bilateral de-

velopment aid programs in Afghan-

istan to repurpose that money —

now also frozen — and come up with

new donations.

Bank voting members are ex-

pected to meet next week to discuss

the terms for allowing the release of

some funds while ensuring that

their demands are addressed —

particularly on girls’ education —

and adequate monitoring is in place.

But international humanitarian

and development agencies are in-

sisting, in increasingly dire terms,

that time is running out and the lives

of millions are at risk.

With virtually no money circulat-

ing, the U.N., the International Com-

mittee of the Red Cross and other

major aid operators have warned

that more than half of Afghanistan’s

population of 40 million is well on its

way to “acute food insufficiency,”

their term for starvation.

“You really have to go there and

meet with people inside Afghanis-

tan ... to understand the depths of

this crisis,” said Jan Egeland, secre-

tary general of the Norwegian Refu-

gee Council, one of the largest non-

governmental aid agencies still op-

erating on the ground.

During a recent visit to the coun-

try, Egeland said in an interview, “I

asked mothers in tents — how are

you treated now? Are you discrimi-

nated against? Are your children in

school?

“They just stared at me and said

‘We have only one concern — not to

freeze and starve to death this win-

ter.’”

The absence of cash flow extends

into virtually every part of the Af-

ghan economy.

The public sector “is not first and

foremost bureaucrats,” Egeland

said. “There are also 300,000 teach-

ers, thousands of health workers,

water engineers, garbage collec-

tors, electricity grid engineers,” all

of whom are public employees who

are not being paid.

International organizations

charged with administering pro-

grams and providing services on the

ground have said they agree the Ta-

liban must be held to their own

pledges.

“But even if the Taliban in all cor-

ners of the country said yes to all our

demands tomorrow,” Egeland said,

“the crisis would be so deep that too

many people will perish this winter

unless there is a real change in pol-

icy from the Western countries on

these fundamental issues” affecting

afunctioning economy.

With Washington immersed in

political arguments over responsib-

ility for the Taliban takeover, the

chaos of the U.S. withdrawal in Au-

gust, and ongoing efforts to evacuate

U.S. citizens and at-risk Afghans,

the internal collapse has drawn little

notice.

“Members of the international

community have focused under-

standably on helping those Afghans

who want to leave,” Deborah Lyons,

the U.N.’s special representative for

Afghanistan, told the U.N. Security

Council earlier this month. “But our

attention must now turn to the vastly

greater number of Afghans who re-

main in the country but face in the

short term a most dire future.”

Afghanistan’s gross domestic

product has already contracted

40%, and fuel and food prices have

skyrocketed. “Cash is severely lim-

ited. Traders cannot get credit,” and

Afghans “can’t access their sav-

ings,” Lyons said. “An entire com-

plex social and economic system,”

including substantial public works

the international community paid

for in the first place “is shutting

down,” she said, primarily because

financial sanctions “have paralyzed

the banking system.”

Dominik Stillhart, operations di-

rector the International Committee

of the Red Cross, said that with little

to no banking services available in

Afghanistan, and sanctions largely

prohibiting the entry of dollars into

the country, organizations such as

his have increasingly turned to in-

formal systems, including hawala,

in which money is deposited, usual-

ly in dollars, and then doled out in lo-

cal currency, for a fee, by traders in

Afghanistan.

The world has stepped up dona-

tions for direct humanitarian aid, al-

most completely funding a $606 mil-

lion U.N. emergency fund to pay for

food, medicine and shelter materi-

als trucked and flown into the coun-

try.

But while “humanitarian aid is

part of the solution,” Stillhart said,

“it was never meant to replace a

functioning economy and public

service delivery”

The health care payment pro-

gram spearheaded by the U.N. De-

velopment Program — which over-

sees and supports a network of

25,000 health care workers in 2,200

primary care clinics and small hos-

pitals around the country — proved

that money could flow into Afghan-

istan, Kanni Wignaraja, assistant

UNDP administrator and regional

director for Asia and the Pacific,

said during a visit to Kabul this

month.

The program used one of the few

commercial banks still open to send

direct payments to health care

workers via cellphones — and deliv-

ered cash in person to those with no

phone or account. Lists of workers

every sector supported by interna-

tional payments through the previ-

ous government remain intact and

could be used to expand the experi-

ment to teachers and other public

sector employees, Wignaraja said.

“It’s clear that we have to avoid

money going in through the de facto

authorities. They know that. We

know that. It can be managed,” she

said. “These are the basic things that

we take for granted ... schools, basic

health clinics, the electricity grid,

sanitation. These are not projects.

These are nationwide systems.”

The health care distributions

were “all done under this very short

time frame,” during October and

November, “but it showed end to

end it works,” Wignaraja said, not-

ing that the Taliban did not inter-

fere.

While the UNDP program cov-

ered small clinics — some of which

had already shut down — larger

hospitals in Afghanistan are funded

through the ICRC, which was not

part of the UNDP experiment.

Among them is Jumhuriat Hospital,

one of the biggest in Kabul.

There, director Dr. Mohamma-

dullah Alishungi said this week that

if he cannot start paying salaries in

the next month, he may lose up to

half his employees by the end of the

year. “Without staff, we cannot

function,” he said, estimated that

roughly 30 have already left, many

fleeing the country.

Marghlai Muhammadi, a nurse in

the hospital’s emergency room,

spoke with passion of her work. But

with no income, she said, she will be

forced to leave in the coming weeks

and find a way to support her family.

Compounding the problem, as

supplies run low and doctors and

nurses look to flee, large hospitals in

cities like Kabul are seeing spikes in

patients as health care and other

systems collapse around the coun-

try and Afghans travel long distanc-

es for treatment.

“We receive more and more peo-

ple in very critical conditions,” Mo-

hibullah Barakzai, the emergency

room’s chief doctor, said. But “by

the time they get here, we can’t help

them.”

Global communitylooking to avoidhumanitarian woe

The Washington Post

SUSANNAH GEORGE/The Washington Post

A patient is rushed into Kabul’s Jumhuriat hospital’s emergency ward as Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisisdeepens after international aid to the country was dramatically cut. 

Tuesday, November 30, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 5

TOKYO — The government of Japan

closed its borders again Tuesday to nearly

all international travelers as a precaution

against the spreading omicron variant of

the coronavirus.

The new ban on foreign travelers does not

affect the U.S. military population covered

by the status of forces agreement, said Lt.

Col. Brooke Brander, spokeswoman for

U.S. Forces Japan at Yokota Air Base in

western Tokyo. SOFA defines the legal sta-

tus of U.S. armed forces, including military

families and civilian employees, stationed

in host countries.

“Japan’s recent suspension of entry of

overseas travelers will not affect SOFA

members’ ability to enter Japan,” Brander

wrote by email Monday to Stars and Stripes.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida an-

nounced the ban on visiting foreigners

Monday. “We are taking the step as an

emergency precaution to prevent a worst-

case scenario in Japan,” Kishida said.

The border closure does not, so far, affect

any of the three measures recently ap-

proved to help traveling SOFA members re-

turning to Japan reduce the time they spend

in quarantine before reaching their destina-

tions, Brander said by email. She said USFJ

“will continue to coordinate closely” with

the government of Japan on any changes to

quarantine requirements, also called re-

striction of movement, that may result in re-

sponse to the omicron variant.

The ban on all foreign visitors to Japan

comes after the government over the week-

end imposed tighter entry restrictions on

travelers from nine African nations, ac-

cording to public broadcaster NHK. The

new prohibition rolls back a measure in ef-

fect since Nov. 8 that allowed some short-

term business travelers, international stu-

dents and workers to enter the country after

a shortened quarantine period.

Japanese citizens returning from areas

where the omicron variant has surfaced

will be treated carefully, Kishida said Mon-

day on NHK.

“For Japanese who are returning from 14

countries and areas where infected cases

have been confirmed, in addition to the nine

countries, including South Africa, they will

be strictly quarantined at designated facil-

ities depending on their risks,” he said.

The omicron variant was first identified

in South Africa on Nov. 24, according to the

World Health Organization. New cases as-

sociated with it have sprung up from Great

Britain to Hong Kong.

“This variant has a large number of muta-

tions, some of which are concerning,” ac-

cording to a WHO statement Friday. “Pre-

liminary evidence suggests an increased

risk of reinfection with this variant, as com-

pared to other” variants.

However, the omicron variant’s risks are

not well known even as countries lock their

borders against it.

The data is so far not clear that the om-

icron variant is any more severe than other

variants, including delta, according to a

WHO statement Sunday. “There is current-

ly no information to suggest that symptoms

associated with Omicron are different from

those from other variants,” according to the

statement.

The first infections were reported among

university students, “younger individuals

who tend to have more mild disease,” ac-

cording to WHO. A better understanding of

the new variant’s threat “will take days to

several weeks,” the organization said.

“All variants of COVID-19, including the

Delta variant that is dominant worldwide,

can cause severe disease or death, in partic-

ular for the most vulnerable people,” ac-

cording to WHO, “and thus prevention is al-

ways key.”

Japan in September emerged from its

most extreme phase of the pandemic, which

began in late July and peaked at a pandemic

high in the country of 26,050 new cases on

Aug. 27, according to WHO. Most of those

cases were attributed to the delta variant.

However, business closures, the near-

universal wearing of masks and a relatively

high proportion of its people getting vacci-

nated helped bring the fifth coronavirus

wave to an end in Japan. More than 76% of

its population, or about 97 million people,

are fully vaccinated, according to the Johns

Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center on

Sunday.

The number of confirmed new coronavi-

rus cases in Tokyo, a city of nearly 14 mil-

lion, on Sunday was nine, according to the

metropolitan government’s online data. On

Aug. 13, the daily case number reached

5,908, the city pandemic record.

Japan is the latest country to close its bor-

ders. Israel also barred entry to foreigners,

and Morocco planned to suspend all incom-

ing flights for two weeks starting Monday,

according to the AP.

Japan exempts DOD workers from foreign travelers banBY JOSEPH DITZLER

AND HANA KUSUMOTO

Stars and Stripes

kusumoto.hana@stripes.comTwitter: @HanaKusumoto

TOKYO — A program to get

American travelers affiliated with

the U.S. military back to Okinawa

without a long pause for a corona-

virus quarantine is a hit among the

people it’s designed to serve, ac-

cording to the Marine who runs it.

The Okinawa Domestic Con-

nection Program is booked into

mid-February, Maj. Denver Edick

told Stars and Stripes by phone

Monday. That means its airline

seats after the Christmas and New

Year’s holidays are also booked,

he said.

“From 29 December all the way

through 10 January every seat is

booked and there is standby,” Ed-

ick said.

The program, which puts U.S.

travelers onto flights from Hane-

da International Airport in Tokyo

to Naha, Okinawa, was expanded

after it started as a 30-day trial

Nov. 12, according to an email

Monday from Lt. Col. Brooke

Brander, spokeswoman for U.S.

Forces Japan at Yokota Air Base

in western Tokyo.

The Okinawa program and two

others created recently allow

travelers associated with the U.S.

military to return to Japan without

incurring costly delays due to

quarantining in hotels or other

lodging. A 10-day stay at a hotel or

base lodging can exceed $1,000.

Those programs are, so far, not

affected by the travel ban that took

effect Tuesday in Japan that bars

entry by most foreign visitors to

the country. Prime Minister Fu-

mio Kishida announced the ban

Monday as an “emergency pre-

caution” to curb the spread of the

omicron variant of the coronavi-

rus. Americans under the status of

forces of agreement with Japan

are exempt from the ban.

The number of flights under the

Okinawa Domestic Connection

Program went from one to two

daily, Monday through Friday.

The number of seats available

rose from five to 15 daily, Edick

said. Only vaccinated adults and

unvaccinated minor family mem-

bers are eligible.

The program allows U.S. travel-

ers covered by SOFA and return-

ing from the States to board a com-

mercial flight for Naha eight hours

or more after arriving at Haneda.

SOFA governs the relationship be-

tween the United States and host

countries in regard to passports,

visa regulations and other mat-

ters.

Some restrictions apply. Trav-

elers must have a negative pre-

travel test for COVD-19 within 24

hours of domestic travel in Japan.

They must stay in lodging ap-

proved by the government of Ja-

pan or on a U.S. military until their

flight to Naha. Travel to their lodg-

ing by public transportation is

prohibited, but privately owned or

government vehicles are accept-

able.

SOFA travelers must complete

their 10-day quarantine, or re-

striction of movement, at their

home station, according to the

program.

Okinawa connection flights are

first come, first served, and are

booked by the program on All Nip-

pon Airways, according to the pro-

gram description. Travelers must

apply through the program.

The Okinawa Domestic Con-

nection is available to any service

branch, Edick said. He said he ex-

pects the program to be extended

beyond its 30-day trial period.

Feedback on the program has

been its own reward.

One woman needed to get to the

States to visit a sister whose child

was born prematurely. But the

ROM delay on the return leg

meant missing her husband’s de-

ployment, Edick said. The domes-

tic connection program provided

relief.

“She was in tears,” he said. “She

was excited about this.”

The Okinawa connection is one

of three options available to SOFA

travelers returning to Japan that

permit shortened ROM periods.

The other two were announced

Wednesday by USFJ.

SOFA travelers returning to Ja-

pan are instructed by USFJ to

work through their or their spon-

sors’ chains of command to sign

up for each option.

Under one option, Funded Envi-

ronmental Morale Leave, the Pen-

tagon on Nov. 19 eased its travel

restrictions to permit SOFA trav-

elers to fly aboard the Patriot Ex-

press from Seattle to Naha.

The Patriot Express is a U.S.

government-contracted military

passenger service that flies be-

tween the United States, Japan

and South Korea.

The third option allows incom-

ing SOFA travelers to quarantine

a minimum three days before con-

tinuing on to their U.S. military

destinations in Japan, where they

finish their ROM requirement.

USFJ commander Lt. Gen. Ricky

Rupp approved this exception to

travel policy with the Japanese

government’s cooperation, Bran-

der said Wednesday.

The individual traveler’s excep-

tion to policy must be approved

prior to travel, she said.

US military OKto bypass Japanquarantine rule

BY JOSEPH DITZLER

Stars and Stripes

AKIFUMI ISHIKAWA/Stars and Stripes

All Nippon Airways airliners prepare for departures at Haneda International Airport, Japan, on Nov. 10.

ditzler.joseph@stripes.comTwitter: @JosephDitzler

VIRUS OUTBREAK

PAGE 6 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Tuesday, November 30, 2021

JOHANNESBURG — South

Africa’s rapid increase in CO-

VID-19 cases attributed to the new

omicron variant is resulting in

mostly mild symptoms, doctors

say.

“We’ve seen a sharp increase in

cases for the past 10 days. So far

they have mostly been very mild

cases, with patients having flu-

like symptoms: dry coughs, fever,

night sweats, a lot of body pains,”

said Dr. Unben Pillay, a general

practitioner in Gauteng province

where 81% of the new cases have

been reported.

“Most of these patients have

been treated at home,” Pillay told

an online press briefing Monday.

“Vaccinated people tend to do

much better. We have not seen a

vast increase in hospitalizations,

but this is still early days. Hospi-

talizations often come several

days after a rise in confirmed

cases.”

Most of the new cases in South

Africa have been among people in

their 20s and 30s, and doctors note

that age group generally has mil-

der symptoms of COVID-19 in any

case. They warn that older people

infected by the new variant could

have more severe symptoms.

Learning more about the omi-

cron variant is important as na-

tions around the world sought

Monday to keep the new variant at

bay with travel bans and further

restrictions, even as it remains

unclear what the variant means

for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Japan announced it would sus-

pend entry for all foreign visitors,

while new cases of the variant

identified days ago by research-

ers in southern Africa appeared

as far away as Hong Kong, Aus-

tralia and Portugal. Portuguese

authorities were investigating

whether some infections there

could be among the first reported

cases of local transmission of the

variant outside of southern Africa.

South Africa has seen its seven-

day average of new cases over the

past two weeks surge from about

200 per day to more than 2,000.

Omicron appears to be more

transmissible than previous vari-

ants and the surge in South Africa

could bring the daily number of

new cases to 10,000 by the end of

the week, infectious diseases spe-

cialist Salim Abdool Karim, told

the briefing.

“Our biggest challenge will be

to stop super-spreading events,

particularly indoors,” he said,

suggesting that it might be neces-

sary to restrict indoor gatherings

to those who are vaccinated.

The hotspot for the new surge is

Gauteng’s Tshwane metropolitan

area, incorporating the capital,

Pretoria. The “vast majority” of

those hospitalized there have

been unvaccinated people, said

Waasila Jassat of the National In-

stitute for Communicable Diseas-

es.

“Of recent hospitalizations 87%

have been unvaccinated, 13%

have been vaccinated,” Jassat

said of the 455 hospital admissions

in the Tshwane area in the past

two weeks.

Vaccination appears to have al-

so helped people avoid infection,

she said.

Of South Africa’s 60 million

people, 16.5 million are vaccinat-

ed and the number of fully vacci-

nated who are testing positive is

very small, said Nicholas Crisp,

the acting director-general of the

department of health. “It is a very

small number of those people who

tested positive. It’s minute in com-

parison to unvaccinated people.”

To combat the surge of CO-

VID-19 cases attributed to the om-

icron variant, South Africa is urg-

ing vaccinations and is weighing

making vaccines mandatory to

enter indoor areas, the minister of

health said Monday.

The government is not planning

to impose centralized vaccine

mandates, but will support busi-

nesses and organizations that

seek proof of vaccination to enter

indoor areas, Minister of Health

Joe Phaahla told reporters.

The government is considering

requiring vaccines for health

workers, including those who

work at state hospitals, he said.

“We are looking at concrete

proposals on how to deal with vac-

cine mandates in workplaces and

health care workplaces,” Phaahla

said.

Afew African countries, includ-

ing Angola, Egypt, Mauritius and

Rwanda, have joined the slew of

nations that have placed travel re-

strictions on South Africa and oth-

er countries in southern Africa.

“It’s quite regrettable, very un-

fortunate and I’ll even say sad to

be talking about travel restric-

tions imposed by a fellow African

country,” said Clayson Monyela,

spokesman for the Department of

International Affairs and

Many illin surgehave mildsymptoms

BY ANDREW MELDRUM

Associated Press

DENIS FARRELL/AP

A petrol attendant stands next to a newspaper headline in Pretoria, South Africa, on Saturday.

VIRUS OUTBREAK

WASHINGTON — Dr. Antho-

ny Fauci, the government’s top

infectious diseases expert, blast-

ed Sen. Ted Cruz for suggesting

that Fauci be investigated for

statements he made about CO-

VID-19 and said the criticism by

the Texas Republican was an at-

tack on science.

“I should be prosecuted? What

happened on Jan. 6, senator?”

Fauci, who is President Joe Bi-

den’s chief medical adviser, said

in an interview that aired Sunday

on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” It was

a reference to the violent insur-

rection at the U.S. Capitol by sup-

porters of then-President Donald

Trump that was stoked as Cruz

helped lead GOP objections to

Congress’ certifying the 2020

election results.

“I’m just going to do my job and

I’m going to be saving lives, and

they’re going to be lying,” Fauci

said.

Some Republicans, including

Cruz and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.,

have accused Fauci of lying to

Congress when he denied in May

that the National Institutes of

Health funded “gain of function”

research — the practice of en-

hancing a virus in a lab to study

its potential impact in the real

world — at a virology lab in Wu-

han, China. Cruz has urged Attor-

ney General Merrick Garland to

appoint a special prosecutor to in-

vestigate Fauci’s statements.

Fauci, the director of the Na-

tional Institute of Allergy and In-

fectious Diseases, called the GOP

criticism nonsense.

“Anybody who’s looking at this

carefully realizes that there’s a

distinct anti-science flavor to

this,” he said.

Cruz and Paul say an October

letter from NIH to Congress con-

tradicts Fauci. But no clear evi-

dence or scientific consensus ex-

ists that “gain of function” re-

search was funded by NIH, and

there is no link of U.S.-funded re-

search to the emergence of CO-

VID-19. NIH has repeatedly

maintained that its funding did

not go to such research involving

boosting the infectivity and le-

thality of a pathogen.

When asked in the CBS inter-

view whether Republicans might

be raising the claims to make him

a scapegoat and deflect criticism

of Trump, Fauci said, “of course,

you have to be asleep not to figure

that one out.”

Fauci blasts Cruz over Chinese lab claimsBY HOPE YEN

Associated Press “I’m just going to do my job andI’m going to be saving lives, andthey’re going to be lying.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci

chief medical adviser

LONDON — The emergence of

the new omicron variant and the

world’s desperate and likely futile

attempts to keep it at bay are re-

minders of what scientists have

warned for months: The coronavi-

rus will thrive as long as vast parts

of the world lack vaccines.

The hoarding of limited CO-

VID-19 shots by rich countries —

creating virtual vaccine deserts in

many poorer ones — doesn’t just

mean risk for the parts of the

world seeing shortages; it threat-

ens the entire globe.

That’s because the more the dis-

ease spreads among unvaccinated

populations, the more possibilities

it has to mutate and potentially be-

come more dangerous, prolonging

the pandemic for everyone.

“The virus is a ruthless oppor-

tunist, and the inequity that has

characterized the global response

has now come home to roost,” said

Dr. Richard Hatchett, CEO of CE-

PI, one of the groups behind the

U.N.-backed COVAX shot-shar-

ing initiative.

Perhaps nowhere is the inequal-

ity more evident than in Africa,

where under 7% of the population

is vaccinated. South African sci-

entists alerted the World Health

Organization to the new omicron

variant last week.

COVAX was supposed to avoid

such inequality — but instead the

initiative is woefully short of shots

and has already abandoned its ini-

tial goal of 2 billion doses.

Meanwhile, richer nations often

have a glut of shots, and many are

now offering boosters — some-

thing the WHO has discouraged

because every booster is essen-

tially a dose that is not going to

someone who’s never even gotten

their first shot.

New omicronshowcasesinequity invaccinations

Associated Press

Tuesday, November 30, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 7

turned up in a widening array of

countries over the past few days,

and new cases in Portugal and

Scotland have raised fears that the

variant may already be spreading

locally.

“Many of us might think we are

done with COVID-19. It’s not done

with us,” warned Tedros Adha-

nom Ghebreyesus, director-gen-

eral of the World Health Organi-

zation.

Days after the variant sent a

shudder through the financial

world nearly two years into the

pandemic that has killed over 5

million people, markets had

mixed reactions Monday, with

European stocks and oil prices re-

bounding and Wall Street opening

higher, while Asian markets fell

further.

The infections showed the diffi-

culty in keeping the virus in check

in a world of jet travel and open

borders. Yet many countries tried

to do just that, even against the

urging of the WHO, which noted

that border closings often have

limited effect and can wreak ha-

voc on lives and livelihoods.

Some argued that such restric-

tions could provide valuable time

to analyze the new variant. Little is

known about it, including whether

it is more contagious, more likely

to cause serious illness or more

able to evade vaccines.

While the initial global response

to COVID-19 was criticized as

slow and haphazard, the reaction

to the new variant came quickly.

“This time, the world showed it

is learning,” said EU Commission

President Ursula von der Leyen,

singling out South African Presi-

dent Cyril Ramaphosa for praise.

“South Africa’s analytic work and

transparency and sharing its re-

sults was indispensable in allow-

ing a swift global response. It no

doubt saved many lives.”

The WHO has praised Botswa-

na as well as South Africa for

quickly alerting the world to the

presence of the new variant, and

many have warned that the coun-

tries should not be punished for

their speed.

But that did not hold von der

Leyen back from successfully

pushing the 27-nation EU to agree

on a ban on flights from seven

southern African nations over the

weekend, similar to measures

many other countries have taken.

On Monday, EU members Spain

and Poland followed through by

announcing travel and quarantine

restrictions.

Cases had already been report-

ed in EU nations Belgium, Den-

mark and the Netherlands before

Portuguese authorities identified

13 cases of omicron among team

members of the Belenenses pro-

fessional soccer club. Authorities

reported that one member had re-

cently traveled to South Africa. Its

game against Benfica over the

weekend had be abandoned at

halftime for lack of players.

Quarantining also became an is-

sue when Dutch military police

had to arrest a husband and wife

who left a hotel where they were

being held after testing positive

and boarded a plane bound for

Spain.

“Quarantine is not obligatory,

but we assume people will act re-

sponsibly,” spokeswoman Petra

Faber said.

And after Scotland reported its

first six cases, First Minister Nico-

la Sturgeon warned that “there

might already be some communi-

ty transmission of this variant.”

Taking no chances, Japan,

which has yet to detect any omi-

cron cases, reimposed border con-

trols that it had eased earlier this

month.

“We are taking the step as an

emergency precaution to prevent

a worst-case scenario in Japan,”

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida

said. The new measures begin

Tuesday.

Israel likewise decided to bar

entry to foreigners, and Morocco

said it would suspend all incoming

flights for two weeks starting

Monday.

Slam: Despite WHO urging, nations around the world close bordersFROM PAGE 1

VIRUS OUTBREAK

NAPLES, Italy — U.S. military

installations in Italy likely will see

little impact from the country’s lat-

est effort to turn up the heat on un-

vaccinated people, mostly because

of earlier Pentagon vaccination

mandates for service members

and civilians, officials said Mon-

day.

Anew Italian decree barring the

unvaccinated from most public

places goes into effect next Mon-

day.

Aviano Air Base officials said

they didn’t anticipate any CO-

VID-19 policy changes, but they

reminded community members

that the new rules went into effect

in the surrounding region Mon-

day, a week sooner than the rest of

Italy.

Rising infection, hospitalization

and intensive care rates pushed

Friuli-Venezia Giulia into Italy’s

yellow risk zone. The designation

also triggered separate controls,

such as mandatory mask wearing

outdoors, the base said on its web-

site.

The rest of Italy remained in the

white zone, according to the Italian

Health Ministry.

Officials at Naval Air Station Si-

gonella in Sicily, U.S. Army Garri-

son Vicenza and Naval Support

Activity Naples also said they ex-

pected no changes.

“Currently, we have no plans to

introduce stricter restrictions that

exceed what we already have if it

respects the local Italian decree,”

said Lt. Drake Greer, a NAS Sigo-

nella spokesman, noting that all

active-duty service members are

already required to be vaccinated.

Typically, U.S. bases in Italy

have followed local, regional or na-

tional COVID-19 laws unless De-

fense Department or Centers for

Disease Control and Prevention

rules are tougher.

For example, the requirement

for social distancing on U.S. bases

is 6 feet, according to CDC recom-

mendations. Italian health recom-

mendations require just three feet.

While outdoor mask wearing

isn't required in most circum-

stances in Italy, it is required at

NSA Naples' Capodichino site in

the main walkway during peak

times, such as lunch.

The government in Rome last

week passed some of the strictest

measures yet against the unvacci-

nated, effectively banning them

from most public venues, such as

cafes, bars, cinemas and sporting

venues.

Starting next Monday, only peo-

ple who are vaccinated or who can

prove recovery from the virus will

be allowed entry into those estab-

lishments, Reuters reported. Pre-

viously, people with a negative CO-

VID-19 test also could access those

same venues.

Unvaccinated people will be

able to go to the grocery store or

use other essential services. They

also can work if they can provide a

negative COVID-19 test.

The new measure added buses

and the metro to the list of public

transportation requiring a green

pass health certification or CDC

white card. Italy already required

the health certification for planes,

long-distance trains, taxis, ferries

and regional buses. The unvacci-

nated will still be able to use public

transportation provided they have

a negative test.

Italy reported 12,877 new CO-

VID-19 cases and 90 deaths on

Sunday, according to the Italian

Health Ministry website. The min-

istry also reported that 84% of the

population was fully vaccinated

and nearly 6 million booster doses

had been given.

On Monday, the Italian news

agency Ansa reported that Italy

was considering mandatory mask

wearing outdoors nationwide

starting Dec. 6.

US bases in Italy don’t expect policy changesBY ALISON BATH

Stars and Stripes

Stars and Stripes reporters Kent Harris and NancyMontgomery contributed to this report.bath.alison@stripes.comTwitter: @alisonbath_

KENT HARRIS/Stars and Stripes

A sign requiring masks at an Agip gas station near Aviano Air Base, Italy, on Monday.

PAGE 8 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Tuesday, November 30, 2021

therefore often leave us behind,

even if our products are high qual-

ity. Money talks,” she said. “We

notice that inflation is not good for

us. ... I’m just glad my kids don’t

want to continue this family busi-

ness, I don’t see much future in it.”

In nearby Poland, Barbara Gro-

towska, a 71-year-old pensioner,

said outside a discount supermar-

ket in the capital of Warsaw that

she’s been hit hardest by her gar-

bage collection fee nearly tripling

to $21. She also lamented that the

cooking oil she uses has gone up

by a third of its price, to $2.40.

“That’s a real difference,” she

said.

The recent pickup in inflation

has caught business leaders and

economists around the world by

surprise.

In spring 2020, the coronavirus

crushed the global economy: gov-

ernments ordered lockdowns,

businesses closed or slashed

hours and families stayed home.

Companies braced for the worst,

canceling orders and putting off

investments.

In an attempt to stave off eco-

nomic catastrophe, wealthy coun-

tries — most notably the United

States — introduced trillions of

dollars worth of government aid,

an economic mobilization on a

scale unseen since World War II.

Central banks also slashed inter-

est rates in a bid to revive econom-

ic activity.

But those efforts to jump-start

economies have had unintended

consequences: as consumers felt

more emboldened to spend the

money they had received through

government assistance or low-in-

terest borrowing, and vaccine rol-

louts encouraged people to return

to restaurants, bars and shops, the

surge in demand tested the capac-

ity of suppliers to keep pace.

Ports and freight yards were

suddenly clogged with shipments,

BUDAPEST, Hungary — From

appliance stores in the United

States to food markets in Hungary

and gas stations in Poland, rising

consumer prices fueled by high

energy costs and supply chain dis-

ruptions are putting a pinch on

households and businesses world-

wide.

Rising inflation is leading to

price increases for food, gas and

other products and pushing many

people to choose between digging

deeper into their pockets or tight-

ening their belts. In developing

economies, it’s especially dire.

“We’ve noticed that we’re con-

suming less,” Gabor Pardi, a shop-

per at an open-air food market in

Hungary’s capital, Budapest, said

after buying a sack of fresh vege-

tables recently. “We try to shop for

the cheapest and most economical

things, even if they don’t look as

good.”

Nearly two years into the CO-

VID-19 pandemic, the economic

impact of the crisis is still being

felt even after countries raced out

of debilitating lockdowns and con-

sumer demand rebounded. Now,

another surge of infections and a

new coronavirus variant, omi-

cron, are leading countries to

tighten their borders and impose

other restrictions, threatening the

global economic recovery.

The reverberations are hitting

central and Eastern Europe espe-

cially hard, where countries have

some of the highest inflation rates

in the 27-nation European Union

and people are struggling to buy

food or fill their fuel tanks.

A butcher at the Budapest food

market, Ildiko Vardos Serfozo,

said she’s seen a drop in business

as customers head to multination-

al grocery chains that can offer

discounts by buying in large

wholesale quantities.

“Buyers are price sensitive and

and prices began to rise as global

supply chains seized up — espe-

cially as new outbreaks of CO-

VID-19 sometimes shut down fac-

tories and ports in Asia.

The rise in prices has been dra-

matic. Inflation in the United

States surged to 6.2% in October,

the highest since 1990, and the In-

ternational Monetary Fund pre-

dicts that world consumer prices

will rise 4.3% this year, the biggest

jump since 2011.

It is most pronounced in the de-

veloping economies of central and

Eastern Europe, with the highest

annual rates recorded in Lithua-

nia (8.2%), Estonia (6.8%) and

Hungary (6.6%). In Poland, one of

Europe’s fastest-growing econo-

mies, inflation came in at 6.4% in

October, the highest rate in two

decades.

Several shoppers at a vegetable

stand in Warsaw said they are

anxious about rising prices for sta-

ples like bread and cooking oil and

are expecting the situation to get

worse in the new year, when ener-

gy prices are set to rise.

Piotr Molak, a 44-year-old vege-

table vendor, said he has not yet

had to raise prices on the potatoes,

apples or carrots he sells but the

cherry tomatoes he imports from

Spain and Italy, which he buys in

euros, have gotten far more ex-

pensive as Poland’s currency, the

zloty, has weakened.

“We will mostly feel this in the

new year when electricity goes

up,” Molak said. “We are really

going to feel it when we have to

spend more on our home than on

pleasure.”

The weakening of currencies

across central and Eastern Eu-

rope against the U.S. dollar and

euro is pushing up the price of im-

ports and fuel and exacerbating

the pinch from supply backups

and other factors.

Hungary’s currency, the forint,

has lost around 16% of its value

against the dollar in the last six

months and slipped to a historic

low against the euro last week.

That’s part of a strategy by Hun-

gary’s central bank to keep the

country competitive and attract

foreign companies seeking cheap

labor, said Zsolt Balassi, a portfo-

lio manager at Hold Asset Man-

agement in Budapest.

But prices on imported goods

have skyrocketed, and global oil

prices set in U.S. dollars have

pushed fuel costs to record levels.

“As the Hungarian forint, and

actually all regional currencies,

are more or less constantly weak-

ening, this will constantly raise oil

prices in our currencies,” Balassi

said.

In response to record fuel pric-

es, which peaked this month at

$1.59 for gasoline and $1.61 for die-

sel per liter, Hungary’s govern-

ment announced a $1.50 cap at fill-

ing stations.

While giving some relief, Hun-

gary’s upcoming elections, in

which the right-wing governing

party faces the most serious chal-

lenge since it was elected in 2010,

were likely a factor, Balassi said.

“This is obviously a political de-

cision which has huge economic

disadvantages, but probably it

makes the households happy,” he

said.

The political nature of some ec-

onomic decisions is not limited to

Hungary.

Poland’s central bank, also fac-

ing a weakening currency, has

been accused by critics of allow-

ing inflation to rise too high for too

long to encourage economic

growth and bolster support for the

ruling party.

The bank surprised markets

with the timing and size of two

base interest rate hikes in October

and November in a bid to ease

prices, while Hungary’s central

bank has raised rates in smaller

increments six times this year.

Still, if central banks move too

aggressively too soon to control in-

flation, it could short-circuit the

economic recovery, said Carmen

Reinhart, chief economist at the

World Bank.

Global inflationsurges; familiesstruggle to pay

Associated Press

RINGO H.W. CHIU/AP

A Black Friday shopper wearing a face mask leaves a Walmart store with a TV in Pic Rivera Calif., onFriday.

NATION

AUSTIN, Texas — Actor Mat-

thew McConaughey isn’t running

for Texas governor after months

of publicly flirting with the idea of

becoming the latest celebrity

candidate.

The Academy Award winner

said in a video posted Sunday

night that political leadership

was not a route he was choosing to

take “at this moment.” McCo-

naughey, 52, said he would in-

stead focus on supporting busi-

nesses and foundations that cre-

ate pathways for others to suc-

ceed.

The Texas governor’s race is

already shaping up to be one of

the nation’s highest-profile con-

tests in 2022. Republican Gov.

Greg Abbott is seeking a third

term and Demo-

crat Beto

O’Rourke, com-

ing off failed

bids for the U.S.

Senate and pres-

ident, an-

nounced month

that he was get-

ting in the race.

The “Dazed and Confused” and

“Dallas Buyers Club” star had

never said what party — if any —

he would run under while ac-

knowledging that he was mulling

a run for governor in his home

state. McConaughey had also

shied away from going into policy

specifics and positions on conten-

tious issues in Texas.

“Politicians? The good ones can

help us to get to where we need to

go, yeah,” McConaughey said in

the video posted to Twitter. “But

let’s be clear, they can’t do any-

thing for us unless we choose to

do for ourselves.”

In California, former Olympian

Caitlyn Jenner ran for governor

this year in a failed GOP-led re-

call effort against Democratic

Gov. Gavin Newsom but gained

little momentum.

McConaughey won’t run for Texas governor in 2022Associated Press

McConaughey

Tuesday, November 30, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 9

NATION

LAWRENCE, Kan. — A 21-

year-old embattled Kansas law-

maker was arrested on suspicion

of drunken driving — his second

arrest in less than a month — and

is facing fresh calls for his resig-

nation or removal from office.

A Kansas trooper arrested Aa-

ron Coleman around 1 a.m. Satur-

day on Interstate 70 near Law-

rence, the Kansas Highway Pa-

trol said. Cole-

man was taken

to the Douglas

County Jail,

where he bond-

ed out hours lat-

er.

Coleman did

not immediately

return phone and email messages

left Monday morning by The As-

sociated Press seeking a com-

ment on this matter.

At the time of the arrest, Cole-

man was already out on bond

from an Oct. 30 domestic battery

arrest. In that case, he allegedly

pushed, hit and spit on his 18-

year-old brother in a fight that

erupted because the brother was

going to get baptized, according

to court documents.

The Kansas City Democrat has

been embroiled in controversy

since before he took office after

being elected in 2020 and has ac-

knowledged past abuses against

girls and young women. A legisla-

tive committee reprimanded Co-

leman in writing in February

over those abuses.

Last month, Coleman also was

banned from the Kansas Depart-

ment of Labor’s offices over alle-

gations of disruptive behavior.

Coleman said he was trying to

help constituents.

Both Kansas House Speaker

Ron Ryckman, a Republican, and

Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly

have joined the chorus of those

calling for Coleman to resign. If

he refuses to resign, Kelly said,

the Legislature should remove

him from office, saying his latest

arrest “is further evidence that

he is not fit to serve in the Kansas

House of Representatives.”

Embattled Kan. lawmaker arrested for 2nd time in a monthAssociated Press

Coleman 

BANGOR, Maine — University

of Maine researchers are trying to

produce potatoes that can better

withstand warming temperatures

as the climate changes.

Warming temperatures and an

extended growing season can

lead to quality problems and dis-

ease, Gregory Porter, a professor

of crop ecology and management,

told the Bangor Daily News.

“The predictions for climate

change are heavier rainfall

events, and potatoes don’t tolerate

flooding or wet conditions for long

without having other quality

problems,” Porter said. “If we

want potatoes to continue to be

produced successfully in Maine,

we need to be able to produce va-

rieties that can be resistant to

change.”

Around the world, research

aimed at mitigating crop damage

is underway. A NASA study pub-

lished this month suggested cli-

mate change may affect the pro-

duction of corn and wheat, with

corn yields projected to decline

while wheat could see potential

growth, as soon as 2030 under a

high greenhouse gas emissions

scenario.

Maine is coming off a banner

potato crop thanks in part to the

success of the Caribou russet,

which was developed by UMaine

researchers. But Porter fears that

even that variety isn’t as heat tol-

erant as necessary to resist the fu-

ture effects of climate change.

Pests are another factor. The

Colorado potato beetle and dis-

ease-spreading aphids have flour-

ished with the changing climate,

said Jim Dill, pest management

specialist at the University of

Maine Cooperative Extension.

Breeding seemingly small

changes like hairier leaves that

make it difficult for insects to

move around on the plant can cut

down on pests’ destruction and al-

so the need for pesticides, he said.

Breeding such characteristics

into potatoes is a long process of

cross-pollinating different potato

varieties.

The process is well underway.

They’re in a research testing

phase right now at sites through-

out the United States. Test pota-

toes in Virginia, North Carolina

and Florida are testing high tem-

perature stress.

“It takes 10 years of selection

after that initial cross pollination,

and it might take two to five years

before enough commercial eval-

uation has taken place to release a

new potato variety,” Porter said.

ROBERT F. BUKATY/AP

High school students Adam Paterson, 15, left, and Jordi Legasse, 17, right, pulls rocks and and unwantedmaterials from a conveyor belt moving potatoes into storage facility in Mapleton, Maine, on Sept. 25,2014.

Researchers try producing potatothat is resistant to climate change

Associated Press

Weather officials urged North-

west residents to remain alert Sun-

day as more rain was predicted to

fall in an area with lingering water

from extreme weather earlier this

month.

“There’s some good news and

some pending news,” said Steve

Reedy, a meteorologist with the Na-

tional Weather Service in Seattle.

The weather service on Saturday

warned that flooding was possible

through Sunday in northwestern

Washington, but an atmospheric

river — a huge plume of moisture

extending over the Pacific and into

the Northwest — moved farther

north into Canada than expected

overnight.

“The impacts weren’t quite as

bad as we were anticipating during

the overnight period,” Reedy said.

After a respite, rain reentered the

area later Sunday, which could

cause some “nuisance flooding,” he

said.

“The flooding isn’t going to be

quite as bad as we were expecting

24 hours ago, but it still looks like

some rivers up there could get into

minor, maybe even moderate flood-

ing,” Reedy said.

The big question was how some

communities, which saw heavy

damage earlier from the previous

storm, would fare.

People in the small communities

of Sumas and Everson in northwest

Washington were asked to evacuate

voluntarily Saturday night, The Bel-

lingham Herald reported. Both

towns near the Canadian border

saw extreme flooding from the pre-

vious storm.

The Nooksack River topped Main

Street in Everson on Sunday after-

noon, Everson Mayor John Perry

told The Associated Press.

Perry was hopeful flooding

wouldn’t end up being as dramatic

as anticipated, but the uncertainty

of the bottom of the river from the

last flood made him nervous.

“I think we’re overprepared right

now,” he said. “We’re monitoring it

very carefully.”

The rain slowed down later in the

day and Main Street’s flooding was

about a foot deep, he said.

“At this point, it appears things

are stable and there’s no cause for

alarm,” Perry said.

Sumas resident Duane DeWaard

said his garage flooded a couple of

inches during the last flood. He put

sandbags at the garage doors and

braced for more rain to come Sun-

day.

“Sumas so far is doing OK,” he

said.

November has been wet for

northwest Washington. Bellingham

recorded 11.64 inches at midnight

Sunday — an all-time record for the

month, the weather service said.

A station at Quillayute Airport on

the north coast got 27.8 inches and

could likely break a 1983 record of

29.14 inches for November, Reedy

said.

One concern overnight is the

threat of landslides, said Gary

Schneider, another meteorologist

with the weather service in Seattle.

There were also flood warnings in

effect for some local rivers.

Reedy cautioned not driving into

standing water on roadways near

rivers.

“It doesn’t take a lot of water to

push your car around — or truck,”

he said. “Some people think just be-

cause they have a large truck, they

can mow through. That’s not always

the case.”

While rain will taper off Monday,

another system is headed to the area

starting Tuesday and spilling into

Wednesday, Reedy said.

“On the bright side of things, it

does still look like after we get into

Wednesday, conditions look dry af-

ter the second half of the week,” he

said. “So hopefully there’s some

light at the end of the tunnel.”

Northwest citizensurged to stay alertas storms roll in

BY JENNIFER SINCO

KELLEHER

Associated Press

PAGE 10 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Tuesday, November 30, 2021

NATION

NEW YORK — With an expand-

ed definition to reflect the times,

Merriam-Webster has declared an

omnipresent truth as its 2021 word

of the year: vaccine.

“This was a word that was ex-

tremely high in our data every sin-

gle day in 2021,” Peter Sokolowski,

Merriam-Webster’s editor-at-

large, told The Associated Press

ahead of Monday’s announcement.

“It really represents two differ-

ent stories. One is the science story,

which is this remarkable speed

with which the vaccines were de-

veloped. But there’s also the de-

bates regarding policy, politics and

political affiliation. It’s one word

that carries these two huge stories,”

he said.

The selection follows “vax” as

word of the year from the folks who

publish the Oxford English Dictio-

nary. And it comes after Merriam-

Webster chose “pandemic” as tops

in lookups last year on its online site.

“The pandemic was the gun go-

ing off, and now we have the after-

effects,” Sokolowski said.

At Merriam-Webster, lookups

for “vaccine” increased 601% over

2020, when the first U.S. shot was

administered in New York in De-

cember after quick development,

and months of speculation and dis-

cussion over efficacy. The world’s

first jab occurred earlier that

month in the United Kingdom.

Merriam-Webster has been de-

claring a word of the year since

2008. Among its runners-up in the

word biography of 2021 were insur-

rection, infrastructure, perseve-

rance and nomad.

Merriam-Webster chooses ‘vaccine’ as 2021 word of the yearAssociated Press

MINNEAPOLIS — Strolling his

church’s rooftop among 630 solar

panels, Bishop Richard Howell Jr.

acknowledged climate change

isn’t the most pressing concern for

his predominantly Black congre-

gation — even though it dispropor-

tionately harms people of color

and the poor.

“The violence we’re having,

shootings, killings, COVID-19,”

Howell said wearily. “You’re try-

ing to save families, and right now

no one’s really talking about global

warming.”

Yet his Shiloh Temple Interna-

tional Ministries in north Minnea-

polis welcomed the opportunity to

become one of many “community

solar” providers popping up

around the United States amid

surging demand for renewable en-

ergy.

Larger than home rooftop sys-

tems but smaller than utility-scale

complexes, they’re located atop

buildings, or on abandoned factory

grounds and farms. Individuals or

companies subscribe to portions of

energy sent to the grid and get

credits that reduce their electrici-

ty bills.

The model attracts people who

can’t afford rooftop installations or

live where solar is not accessible,

such as renters and owners of

dwellings without direct sunlight.

“We’re helping fight this climate

war and blessing families with

lower costs,” Howell said.

Nearly 1,600 community solar

projects, or “gardens,” are operat-

ing nationwide, according to the

National Renewable Energy Lab-

oratory in Golden, Colo. Most are

in Minnesota, Massachusetts,

New York and Colorado, although

41 states and Washington, D.C.,

have at least one. Florida has rela-

tively few, but they’re big enough

to make the state a leading pro-

ducer.

Together they generate roughly

3.4 gigawatts — enough for about

650,000 homes — or roughly 3% of

the nation’s solar output. But more

than 4.3 gigawatts are expected to

go online within five years, says

the Solar Energy Industries Asso-

ciation.

“We can have a cheaper, cleaner

and more equitable system for ev-

eryone if we build smaller, local

resources,” said Jeff Cramer, ex-

ecutive director of the Coalition

for Community Solar Access, a

trade group.

Yet it’s unclear how big a role

community solar will play in the

U.S. transition from fossil fuels to

renewables.

The Biden administration is

continuing a $15 million Energy

Department initiative begun in

2019 to support its growth, partic-

ularly in low- and moderate-in-

come neighborhoods. The depart-

ment announced a goal in October

of powering the equivalent of 5

million households with commu-

nity solar by 2025, saving consum-

ers $1 billion.

But power regulation happens

at the state level, where interest

groups are fighting over what de-

fines community solar and who

should generate it.

The Solar Energy Industries As-

sociation said the label should ap-

ply only where private developers

and nonprofit cooperatives, not

just utilities, can operate solar gar-

dens and send power to the grid.

The association said 19 states and

Washington, D.C., have such poli-

cies.

Utilities say having too many

players could unravel regulatory

structures that assure reliable

electric service. They warn of di-

sasters such as last winter’s deadly

blackout in Texas.

“You’ve got lots of individual

profit-motivated actors trying to

make a buck,” said Brandon Hof-

meister, a senior vice president

with Consumers Energy. The Mi-

chigan power company is fighting

state bills that would allow non-

utility community solar providers.

Others have said utilities are

simply ducking competition.

“What’s really driving the rise of

community solar is the free mar-

ket,” said John Freeman, execu-

tive director of the Great Lakes

Renewable Energy Association, a

trade group. “It saves money and

promotes a cleaner environment.”

Community solar took off in

Minnesota after lawmakers in

2013 required Xcel Energy, the

state’s largest utility, to establish a

program open to other developers.

It has more than 400 gardens —

tops in the U.S. — with nearly 500

applications pending.

Keith Dent and Noy Koumalasy,

who are married, said subscribing

to the Shiloh Temple garden has

lowered their bills an average of

$98 per year.

“You’re generating your own

power and saving a little money,”

said Dent, who helped install sev-

eral complexes built by Coopera-

tive Energy Futures, a local non-

profit.

Xcel, which is required to buy

the gardens’ electricity, says the

state formula for valuing solar en-

ergy makes it too expensive. The

costs, spread among all the utility’s

customers, essentially force non-

subscribers to subsidize commu-

nity solar, spokesman Matthew

Lindstrom said.

Community solar backers have

said Xcel’s claim ignores savings

from local gardens’ lower distribu-

tion costs.

Among Cooperative Energy Fu-

tures gardens are 3,760 panels on a

parking deck overlooking the

Twins’ baseball stadium and a col-

lection on a farm near Faribault,

50 miles south of Minneapolis.

Although conflicted about tak-

ing six acres out of production,

farmer Gerald Bauer supports the

climate cause and said lease pay-

ments of $1,200 per acre make

community solar a financial win-

ner.

“Farming doesn’t even come

close to the revenue that the solar

generates,” he said, walking

through rows of panels framed by

fields of corn.

A cooperative project for a mu-

nicipal roof in nearby Eden Prairie

has twice as many would-be sub-

scribers as panels.

”There are people in the com-

munity who want to support clean

energy any way they can,” said

Jennifer Hassebroek, sustainabil-

ity coordinator for the suburban

city.

But community solar develop-

ers are hitting a roadblock: Under

state law, residents and businesses

can subscribe to facilities only in

their county or an adjacent one.

That means the heavily populat-

ed Twin Cites have many potential

subscribers, but are short of space

for gardens. Rural areas have

plenty of room but fewer buyers

for the energy.

A bill by State Rep. Patty

Acomb, a Democrat representing

a Twin Cities suburban district,

would drop the “contiguous coun-

ty” rule.

But Xcel says that contradicts a

basic community solar principle:

producing energy close to where

it’s used.

Community solar is billed as

making renewable energy more

available to households, especially

needy ones. Yet businesses and

public entities with sustainability

goals, such as schools and city

halls, subscribe to most of the pow-

er.

“There’s still a lot to be done to

open community solar market ac-

cess to marginalized folks,” said

Gilbert Michaud, an assistant pro-

fessor of public policy at Loyola

University Chicago.

Community systemsprovide alternativesolar growth paths

BY JOHN FLESHER

Associated Press

PHOTOS BY JIM MONE/AP

Barb and Gerald Bauer stroll along a row of solar panels on their farm near Faribault, Minn., on Friday,Aug. 20.

A “community solar” installation is atop the Ramp A parking garagenear the Minnesota Twins’ baseball stadium in downtown Minneapolison Friday, Aug. 20.

Tuesday, November 30, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 11

AMERICAN ROUNDUP

Fire station gets severelydamaged in huge blaze

GA SMARR — A middle

Georgia fire station

was heavily damaged in a late Sat-

urday blaze.

Monroe County Emergency

Services said in a social media

post that its station in Smarr

caught fire and burned while no

firefighters were present. A pum-

per truck that had been used to re-

spond to an earlier call Saturday

night was parked inside the sta-

tion and was also severely dam-

aged.

As firefighters battled the blaze,

part of the roof collapsed. A fire

battalion chief injured his knee

and was taken to a local hospital

with non-life-threatening injuries.

Firefighters fought the fire for

more than three hours and contin-

ued monitoring for hotspots, the

agency said. No cause has been

determined. The Georgia state

fire marshal is investigating.

Lawsuit accuses priest ofkeeping church donations

KY LOUISVILLE — Par-

ishioners in Kentucky

have accused a Roman Catholic

priest of converting church funds

for his personal use.

Current and former parish

council members at St. John Vian-

ney Catholic Church in Louisville

filed a civil lawsuit in Jefferson

County against the Rev. Anthony

Ngo, news outlets reported.

The lawsuit accuses Ngo of vio-

lating his fiduciary duties by pock-

eting the donations. Ngo has re-

fused to share documents with the

parish council about the church’s

funds and donations and instruct-

ed a parish accountant to withhold

the documents as well, it said.

Ngo has declined comment, cit-

ing the ongoing lawsuit. Louisville

Archdiocese spokeswoman Cece-

lia Price said a financial audit was

conducted and “no malfeasance

was found.” Ngo has been pastor

for more than two decades and re-

mains assigned to the church.

Man pleads guilty inairline baggage scam

LA NEW ORLEANS — A

Louisiana man has

pleaded guilty in an airline bag-

gage scam that resulted in more

than $300,000 in fraudulent

claims, federal prosecutors said.

Pernell Anthony Jones, Jr., 31,

of Kenner, pleaded guilty to con-

spiracy to commit mail fraud and

mail fraud, U.S. Attorney Duane

A. Evans said in a news release

Tuesday. For each count, Jones

faces up to 20 years in prison and a

$250,000 fine. U.S. District Judge

Susie Morgan set sentencing for

Feb. 24, 2022.

According to court documents,

beginning in 2015, Jones flew on

several airlines using false identi-

ties. When he arrived at the desti-

nation airport, he then falsely

claimed that his baggage was lost

and requested reimbursement to

compensate him for his loss.

Through the scheme, Jones sub-

mitted more than 180 false claims

for lost luggage, requesting over

$550,000 in reimbursement,

Evans’ office said. In total, the air-

lines paid over $300,000 in fraudu-

lent claims, authorities said.

Art museum gets $750Kgift and renames gallery

ME OGUNQUIT — A

Maine art museum

has received one of the largest

gifts in its history and is renaming

a gallery after the donors.

The Ogunquit Museum of

American Art said it received the

$750,000 gift from Carol and Noel

Leary. The gift will help fund the

expansion of the museum.

The museum said it renamed its

largest gallery the “Carol and No-

el Leary Gallery” in honor of the

donors. The Learys are longtime

donors to the museum, and Carol

Leary was elected its board presi-

dent this month.

The Learys “hope our gift will

inspire others to invest in the mu-

seum’s future,” Carol Leary said.

People upset about odorlose beet processor case

MI BAY CITY — Residents

complaining about foul

odors from a sugar beet processor

in Bay City have a lost a key deci-

sion at the Michigan Court of Ap-

peals.

Michigan Sugar, which turns

beets into sugar, is accused of de-

priving people from enjoying their

property because of odors.

But the appeals court said Mik-

kie Morley and Jonathan Morley,

who moved into their home in

2016, haven’t exhausted the com-

plaint process at state agencies.

The court also dismissed a sepa-

rate negligence claim.

Michigan Sugar’s attorney,

Brion Doyle, said millions of dol-

lars are being spent to control

odors under a previous agreement

with state regulators.

Up to 30 people conductrobbery at Best Buy store

MN MINNEAPOLIS — A

group of 20 to 30 peo-

ple grabbed numerous electronic

items at a Best Buy store in Burns-

ville and quickly fled before police

could arrive.

No weapons were seen in the

caper Friday night and no one was

reported injured, Burnsville po-

lice Capt. Don Stenger said. The

Star Tribune reported no one had

been arrested as of Saturday

morning.

The robbery occurred shortly

after 8 p.m. on Black Friday, one of

the busiest shopping days of the

year following the Thanksgiving

holiday.

The incidents resemble a num-

ber of mass robberies recently re-

ported across the United States,

where groups of people swarm a

store, clear the shelves of goods

and then flee.

Fire destroys guitars atAvett Bros. father’s home

NC CONCORD — A fire

has destroyed 60 gui-

tars and up to 100 paintings at the

North Carolina home of Jim Avett.

He is the father of Scott and Seth

Avett of the Avett Brothers band.

The Charlotte Observer report-

ed that the fire occurred Friday in

the city of Concord.

Officials said that arriving fire-

fighters saw “heavy fire from the

garage” and entered the house to

keep the flames from spreading.

No one was hurt, although Jim

Avett said a cat was missing.

The Avett Brothers, a three-

time Grammy Award nominee,

are based in North Carolina and

have a national following. Jim

Avett said on Facebook that the

blaze is “not a knockout punch.”

Man arrested in woman’sdeadly fall down stairs

NY NEW YORK — A man

suspected in a deadly

mugging on a subway station

stairway was arrested four

months later after someone spot-

ted him in Central Park and called

a tip line, police said Saturday.

David Robinson, 53, was await-

ing arraignment after being ar-

rested Friday on murder and

manslaughter charges in the

death of Htwe Than Than. It

wasn’t immediately clear whether

Robinson had an attorney who

could comment on the allegations,

and no phone number for his

home could immediately be

found.

Police said the 58-year-old vic-

tim was walking up some steps in a

station in Manhattan’s Chinatown

with her 22-year-old son on July 17

when Robinson grabbed the son’s

backpack, propelling both son and

mother down the stairs. She was in

a coma for several days before

succumbing to her injuries.

Noting that the transit agency

now has security cameras in every

station, Metropolitan Transporta-

tion Authority spokesperson Tim

Minton said in a statement Satur-

day that “anyone who preys on

transit riders can expect to be

identified and face justice.”

MARK MORAN, THE CITIZENS’ VOICE/AP

Art student Allison Stallard paints a holiday decoration on the window door at Community Counseling Services in Wilkes­Barre, Pa., on Friday.

Hand painted mug

THE CENSUS

129 The age of a historic building that was once the site of theWright brothers’ first bike shop, which was approved by the

Dayton Board of Zoning Appeals to be demolished by the city. The city wantsto tear down the site because the building has deteriorated to a point where itcan no longer be maintained and redeveloped, the Dayton Daily News has re-ported. Public safety concerns have also been raised by some who fear thebuilding could collapse. Preservation groups had opposed the city’s plan. Theyargued that keeping the building’s facade and incorporating it into a redevel-opment project would make the project eligible for historic tax credits.

From The Associated Press

PAGE 12 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Tuesday, November 30, 2021

WORLD

VIENNA — Negotiators gath-

ered in Vienna on Monday to re-

sume talks over reviving Iran’s

2015 nuclear deal with world

powers, with hopes of quick pro-

gress muted after the arrival of a

hard-line new government in

Tehran led to a more than five-

month hiatus.

The remaining signatories to

the nuclear deal formally known

as the Joint Comprehensive Plan

of Action — Iran, Russia, China,

France, Germany and Britain —

will convene at the Palais Co-

burg, the luxury hotel where the

agreement was signed six years

ago. The talks come as Austria

remains locked down over the

coronavirus, which start a week

earlier over a surge in cases.

The last round of talks, aimed

at bringing Iran back into com-

pliance with the agreement and

paving the way for the United

States to rejoin, was held in June.

Since then, the task has only be-

come more difficult.

The U.S. is not at the table be-

cause it unilaterally pulled out of

the deal in 2018 under then-Pres-

ident Donald Trump, who re-

stored and augmented American

sanctions in a campaign of “max-

imum pressure” to try to force

Iran into renegotiating the pact.

President Joe Biden has sig-

naled that he wants to rejoin the

deal. A U.S. delegation headed

by the administration’s special

envoy for Iran, Robert Malley, is

participating indirectly in the

talks, with diplomats from the

other countries acting as go-be-

tweens.

The nuclear deal saw Iran lim-

it its enrichment of uranium in

exchange for the lifting of eco-

nomic sanctions. Since the deal’s

collapse, Iran now enriches

small amounts of uranium up to

60% purity — a short step from

weapons-grade levels of 90%.

Iran also spins advanced centri-

fuges barred by the accord and

its uranium stockpile now far ex-

ceeds the accord’s limits.

Iran maintains its atomic pro-

gram is peaceful. U.S. intelli-

gence agencies and international

inspectors, however, have said

that Iran had an organized nu-

clear weapons program up until

2003. Nonproliferation experts

fear the brinkmanship could

push Tehran toward even more-

extreme measures to try and

force the West to lift sanctions.

Making matters more diffi-

cult, United Nations nuclear in-

spectors remain unable to fully

monitor Iran’s program after

Tehran limited their access. A

trip to Iran last week by the head

of the International Atomic En-

ergy Agency, Rafael Grossi,

failed to make any progress on

that issue.

Russia’s top representative,

Mikhail Ulyanov, said he held

“useful” informal consultations

with officials from Iran and Chi-

na on Sunday. That meeting, he

said, was aimed at “better under-

standing ... the updated negotiat-

ing position of Tehran.“ Enrique

Mora, the European Union offi-

cial chairing the talks, on Twitter

wrote Monday of “intense pre-

paratory work ongoing.”

A delegation appointed by new

President Ebrahim Raisi is join-

ing the negotiations for the first

time. Iran has made maximalist

demands, including calls for the

U.S. to unfreeze $10 billion in as-

sets as an initial goodwill ges-

ture, a tough line that might be

an opening gambit.

Ali Bagheri, an Iranian nucle-

ar negotiator, told Iranian state

television late Sunday that the

Islamic Republic “has entered

the talks with serious willpower

and strong preparation.” He

cautioned, however, that “we

cannot anticipate a timeframe on

the length of these talks now.”

Iran nuclear talks to resume in Vienna amid muted hopesBY KIYOKO METZLER

Associated Press

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A Muslim mob

burned a police station and four police

posts overnight in northwest Pakistan after

officers refused to hand over a mentally un-

stable man accused of desecrating Islam’s

holy book, the Quran, authorities said Mon-

day.

No officers were hurt in the attacks,

which forced the police to summon troops

to restore order in Charsadda, a district in

the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, local

officer Asif Khan said.

A video posted on social media showed

the police station burning.

Khan said officers foiled an attempt by

the mob to lynch the detainee and the po-

lice moved him to another district. He did

not disclose the name of the man, saying

officers were still investigating and the sus-

pect was arrested a day ago.

Khan said officers initially resisted but

fled after thousands of demonstrators at-

tacked the police buildings. He said police

avoided the use of force to prevent casu-

alties among demonstrators. The situation

in Charsadda was normal Monday, he said,

and law enforcement was seeking to arrest

people linked to the attacks.

Blasphemy carries the death penalty in

Pakistan, where mere allegations of the of-

fense are often enough to provoke mob vio-

lence. International and domestic rights

groups say that accusations of blasphemy

have often been used to intimidate reli-

gious minorities and settle personal scores.

Mob attacks Pakistan police, fails to grab blasphemy suspectAssociated Press

Tuesday, November 30, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 13

CALAIS, France — At the ma-

keshift camps in France near Ca-

lais and Dunkirk, migrants are

digging in, waiting for their

chance to make a dash across the

English Channel despite the

deaths of at least 27 people this

week when their boat sank a few

miles from the French coast.

Police have stepped up patrols

in recent days and the weather has

worsened, making this a bad time

to attempt a crossing. But most mi-

grants say the tragedy won’t pre-

vent them from climbing into a

flimsy inflatable boat packed with

up to 50 people in hopes of reac-

hing Britain.

“I don’t afraid of anything,” a

22-year-old from Iran who identi-

fied himself only as Kawa said in

halting English. “Water? If we die

… sorry to say this but we already

died. Nobody accepts us any-

where. We’re useful. Useless, sor-

ry,” he said, correcting himself.

“Just look at these people.”

Kawa and his father spent the

past six years in Denmark, where

they say they never felt free be-

cause they constantly had to re-

port to police and other author-

ities. Now they want to reach En-

gland, and eventually Canada, be-

cause “they are good to Iranians.”

They are among a group of

about 150 young Kurdish men and

a smattering of families camped

Saturday on a disused railroad

line in hopes of escaping the damp

ground below. Alongside a collec-

tion of incongruously bright red,

green and blue tents near Dun-

kirk, they pull hoods over their

heads, hunch shoulders inside

winter jackets and huddle next to

small fires to stay warm as an

early winter chill grips northern

Europe. The smell of burning

plastic hangs in the air as the mi-

grants use anything they can find

as fuel.

The coast around Calais has

long been the jumping-off point

for migrants anxious to get to the

U.K. But this week’s disaster un-

derscores the combination of

dreams and despair that drives

people to camp in drizzling rain

with temperatures hovering

around 40 Fahrenheit for the

chance to risk their lives at sea.

But first they have to pay smug-

glers about $3,300 for a seat in a

boat.

Wednesday’s tragedy came

amid a jump in the number of mi-

grants trying to cross the channel

in inflatables and other small craft

after the COVID-19 pandemic lim-

ited air and ship travel and Bri-

tain’s departure from the Europe-

an Union curtailed cooperation

with neighboring countries in

processing asylum-seekers and

other migrants.

More than 23,000 people have

already entered the U.K. on small

boats this year, up from 8,500 last

year and just 300 in 2018, accord-

ing to data compiled by Parlia-

ment.

Migrants camping in France waitfor opening to head into England

BY DANICA KIRKA

Associated Press

WORLD

LONDON — Dozens of custom-

ers who stopped for a drink at Bri-

tain’s highest altitude pub got a

longer stay than they bargained

for, after the building was cut off by

a blizzard.

Sixty-one people woke up Mon-

day after their third night at the

Tan Hill Inn in the Yorkshire

Dales, 270 miles north of London.

They have been unable to leave

since Friday, when a late autumn

storm brought snow and heavy

winds that felled power cables and

blocked roads.

The pub sits 1,732 feet above sea

level and is used to being cut off by

bad weather.

Manager Nicola Townsend said

staff had organized movies, a quiz

night and karaoke for the stranded

guests. They have also been enter-

tained by an Oasis cover band, Noa-

sis, who have also been stuck at the

pub since their gig on Friday night.

Townsend said the guests were

“in really good spirits.”

Townsend said she hoped people

would be able to head home later

Monday once roads had been

cleared.

DANNY LAWSON, PA/AP

The Tan Hill Inn, following fresh snow fall, in Richmond, YorkshireDales, England, on March 13.

61 people stuck in Britain’shighest pub after snowstorm

Associated Press

PAGE 14 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Tuesday, November 30, 2021

FACES

Country star Miranda Lambert

readily admits that she doesn’t re-

ally like Christmas music at all.

The only thing that would get

her in the spirit to do a holiday record was

singing with her two best gal pals from the

Pistol Annies, Ashley Monroe and Angalee-

na Presley.

“If there was ever a time I would think a

Christmas album was fun, it would be with

these two girls, for sure,” said the Texas-

born singer.

“Hell of a Holiday” is the album for the

holiday survivors, the folks like Lambert

who are a little more sarcastic than senti-

mental, but still can find the meaning of the

season through all the tinsel. The trio of

singers bring both humor and harmony as

they celebrate with hillbilly relatives, get

caught up in the hustle and sing Jesus a

“Happy Birthday” song.

“We are all sad song lovers, so there’s

some moments

on this record

that have either

some some dark

humor or some

sad song under-

tones,” said

Lambert.

The three

wrote the 10

original songs together at Lambert’s farm

around the holidays last year, penning

songs together around bonfires.

On “Snow Globe,” the trio capture the

magic of a white Christmas to hold onto all

year long, backed by electric guitars, a sax-

ophone solo and handclaps. On “Harlan

County Coal,” Presley sings about lazy hus-

bands, shotgun shells as ornaments and

scraping by to afford both presents and the

light bill.

“That’s just like a really hardcore hillbilly

Christmas song,” said Presley.

While they wanted to incorporate some

classic Christmas production, with bells,

saxophones and organs, they still wanted

the songs to sound like their other albums.

“A couple of songs on the record, I mean,

technically, if you take them off of a Christ-

mas album, you wouldn’t even know that

they were a Christmas song, which is some-

thing that I thought added a bit of Annies to

it,” said Presley.

In addition to the originals, they also cov-

ered Christmas classics, like Merle Hag-

gard’s “If We Make It Through December”

and a tender version of “Auld Lang Syne.”

By the time they finished the record in

June, the trio had fully embraced the holi-

days, with Lambert buying ugly Christmas

sweaters to wear in the studio.

Presley and Monroe may have made a

true believer out of Lambert, as she hopes

the music will become a new tradition for

years to come.

“Because it is a holiday record, it will live

every year forever. And that makes me re-

ally happy,” said Lambert.

INVISION/AP

The Pistol Annies are, from left, Ashley Monroe, Angaleena Presley and Miranda Lambert, shown here in 2018, in Nashville.

Not-so-sweet seasonal treatPistol Annies bring humor, harmony to ‘Hell of a Holiday,’ a mix of old and new classics

BY KRISTIN M. HALL

Associated Press

Even a new Walt Disney Co. animated

film with a score by Lin-Manuel Miranda of

“Hamilton” fame failed to light up the box

office over the normally strong Thanksgiv-

ing weekend, a sign consumers are still cau-

tious about going to cinemas.

“Encanto,” a musical about a family in

Colombia with magical powers, generated

an estimated $40.3 million in ticket sales

over the five-day holiday weekend, Disney

said Sunday. That was below some esti-

mates, even though the picture scored well

with critics and was released only in thea-

ters. Forecasts for the weekend ranged

from a low of $35 million from Disney to

$56.4 million from Boxoffice Pro.

Sony’s “Ghostbusters: Afterlife,” another

installment in the supernatural comedy

franchise, made $35.3 million in its second

weekend, according to the studio. “House of

Gucci,” a new drama starring Adam Driver,

Lady Gaga and Al Pacino, opened with $21.8

million, according to its distributor.

Thanksgiving has historically ranked

among the busiest moviegoing stretches of

the year, buoyed by crowd-pleasers that at-

tract families or buzzy Oscar contenders

aimed at adults. But this year, revenue

amounted to just $142 million, researcher

Comscore Inc. estimated in a release.

Disney has used the period to release

some of its biggest family films, including

2013’s “Frozen” and “Moana” three years

later. But some parents are still hesitant to

bring kids to cinemas this year, and many

older film lovers are staying home to watch

dramas on TV.

Theaters faced heavy competition this

week from streaming services. Disney+

rolled out the three episodes of director Pe-

ter Jackson’s much-anticipated “The Beat-

les: Get Back” documentary, along with

“Hawkeye,” a new Marvel series. And

“King Richard,” starring Will Smith as the

father of tennis stars Venus and Serena Wil-

liams, was also available on HBO Max.

Other news

Actress Lindsay Lohanhas announced

her engagement to boyfriend Bader Sham-

mas on Instagram. The 35-year-old “Mean

Girls” star has been based in Dubai in the

United Arab Emirates for several years.

Little is known about Shammas, a Dubai

resident whose LinkedIn page says he’s the

assistant vice president of international

wealth management at Credit Suisse.

‘Encanto’ leadsquiet box office

From news reports

Stephen Sondheim, the songwriter who reshaped

American musical theater in the second half of the 20th

century with his intelligent, intricately rhymed lyrics, his

use of evocative melodies and his willingness to tackle un-

usual subjects, has died. He was 91.

Sondheim’s Texas-based attorney, Rick Pappas, told

The New York Times the composer died Nov. 26 at his

home in Roxbury, Conn.

Sondheim influenced several generations of theater

songwriters, particularly with such landmark musicals as

“Company,” “Follies” and “Sweeney Todd,” which are

considered among his best work. His most famous ballad,

“Send in the Clowns,” has been recorded hundreds of

times, including by Frank Sinatra and Judy Collins.

The artist refused to repeat himself, finding inspiration

for his shows in such diverse subjects as an Ingmar Berg-

man movie (“A Little Night Music”), the opening of Japan

to the West (“Pacific Overtures”), French painter Georg-

es Seurat (“Sunday in the Park With Ge-

orge”), Grimm’s fairy tales (“Into the

Woods”) and even the killers of Ameri-

can presidents (“Assassins”), among

others.

Tributes quickly flooded social media

as performers and writers alike saluted a

giant of the theater. “We shall be singing

your songs forever,” wrote Lea Salonga.

Aaron Tveit wrote: “We are so lucky to

have what you’ve given the world.”

Music supervisor, arranger and orchestrator Alex La-

camoire tweeted: “For those of us who love new musical

theater: we live in a world that Sondheim built.”

Six of Sondheim’s musicals won Tony Awards for best

score, and he also received a Pulitzer Prize (“Sunday in

the Park”), an Academy Award (for the song “Sooner or

Later” from the film “Dick Tracy”), five Olivier Awards

and the Presidential Medal of Honor. In 2008, he received

a Tony Award for lifetime achievement.

Sondheim’s music and lyrics gave his shows a dark, dra-

matic edge, whereas before him, the dominant tone of mu-

sicals was frothy and comic. He was sometimes criticized

as a composer of unhummable songs, a badge that didn’t

bother Sondheim.

Taught by no less a genius than Oscar Hammerstein,

Sondheim pushed the musical into a darker, richer and

more intellectual place. “If you think of a theater lyric as a

short story, as I do, then every line has the weight of a par-

agraph,” he wrote in his 2010 book, “Finishing the Hat,”

the first volume of his collection of lyrics and comments.

Towering musical theater master Sondheim dies at 91BY MARK KENNEDY

Associated Press

Sondheim

Tuesday, November 30, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 15

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stripes.com

OPINION

The White House’s latest effort to

tackle the difficult problem of sui-

cide among the military and veter-

ans may be the comprehensive ap-

proach that’s sorely needed. It could help a

lot of people here in Hampton Roads and

across the nation.

The new strategy, announced the week

before Veterans Day, is promising and de-

serves support.

Skeptics will be forgiven, since we’ve

heard a lot of this before. The rate of suicides

among the military and veterans has re-

mained alarmingly high for a decade or

more, despite the well-publicized vows of

the last three presidential administrations to

make this crisis a priority.

The statistics are grim. Since the Sept. 11,

2001, terrorist attacks, about four times

more military members and veterans have

died of suicide than have been killed fight-

ing. In 2019, the most recent year for which

the Department of Veterans Affairs has sta-

tistics, about 17 veterans a day died by sui-

cide — and that was before COVID-19

brought more isolation and depression. The

rate of suicide among military members and

veterans is 1.5 times that of American civil-

ians.

These unacceptable numbers continue

despite increased attention and recent fed-

eral initiatives.

Rightly calling suicide among service

members, veterans and their families “a

public health and national security crisis,”

the Biden administration’s strategy calls for

building on existing programs and adding

more in a drive toward real progress.

It’s a comprehensive strategy that will in-

volve departments and agencies across the

federal government in addition to the de-

partments of Defense and Veterans Affairs.

It intends to improve ways to deal with

people in times of crisis and at risk of suicide.

It also takes a broader approach designed to

address the many causes of suicide with an

eye to keeping military members and veter-

ans from reaching that moment of crisis.

It recognizes that just as there are many

reasons people are driven to suicide, there is

not a one-size-fits-all solution.

One emphasis is on making it less likely

that a person in crisis will have easy access to

“lethal means.” Often, the time when a per-

son sinks to that level of desperation is rela-

tively brief. If the means of suicide isn’t

readily available, the crisis may pass. Since

about 70% of all suicides in America involve

firearms, this means keeping guns locked

away. As part of the comprehensive ap-

proach, the Department of Justice is work-

ing on a proposal from the Bureau of Alco-

hol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to re-

quire gun dealers to offer compatible, se-

cure gun storage and safety devices for sale.

Other plans include expanding existing

efforts to identify military members and vet-

erans struggling with mental health prob-

lems, doing more to intervene before a cri-

sis, and making it easier for those in crisis to

get emergency help.

The plan will expand efforts to make high-

quality mental health care easily available

and affordable for military members, veter-

ans and their families.

One of the most important aspects of the

comprehensive strategy involves correct-

ing the problems that lead service members

and veterans to the brink of suicide. That’s a

challenge, because there are many reasons

that go beyond the common factors, such as

post-traumatic stress disorder. And many

service members and veterans are reluctant

to ask for help when they need it.

This effort will address basic things such

as pay, benefits, family stresses and the diffi-

culty of making the transition from military

to civilian life. Too many veterans struggle

with homelessness, unemployment, sub-

stance abuse and other problems that con-

tribute to hopelessness.

The 20 years of war since Sept. 11 have put

great stresses on the men and women who

volunteer to serve in our military and pro-

tect our nation. The government and society

as a whole have done a poor job of helping

them deal with their emotional and mental-

health problems.

The new, expanded emphasis has the po-

tential to make a difference. Let’s do what we

can to make it work.

A strategy to fight veteran suicidesVirginian-Pilot & Daily Press Editorial Board

There’s a grim inevitability to the

fact that the latest concerning

strain of the COVID-19 virus —

known as B.1.1.529, and now nick-

named the Nu variant — should have been

first identified in South Africa.

So far, SARS-CoV-2’s most devastating

impacts have been in developed countries.

The U.S., U.K. and European Union have ac-

counted for about a third of deaths, com-

pared to their roughly 10% share of the

world’s population. However, it’s been in the

BRICS grouping of fast-growing middle-in-

come nations where an outsized share of

new variants of concern have been isolated

and analyzed for the first time. From the

original strain in China, to the Delta lineage

picked up in India, the Gamma variety iso-

lated in Brazil and the Beta and latest Nu

strains from South Africa, only the U.K.-re-

lated Alpha variant has emerged outside

these countries.

In part, that’s just a reflection of the fact

that two out of five people in the planet live in

one of the BRICS nations. It’s also no coinci-

dence that new variants were first identified

in countries with the sophisticated scientific

infrastructure needed to spot them. The

BRICS are some of the biggest players in the

global market for generic drugs, and the

likes of India and South Africa have per-

formed a key role in debates over intellec-

tual property waivers to increase access to

medicines.

At this point, though, the crucial factor

may be the fact that richer countries are now

mostly so heavily vaccinated that the oppor-

tunities for the virus to cook up new muta-

tions are increasingly limited. The nations

with the largest populations of unvaccinated

and susceptible citizens are those where the

odds are greatest that SARS-CoV-2 will find

a new way of breaking through the barriers

we’ve placed in its path.

“Escaping from immunity is something

that viruses do really well,” said Ian Mackay,

an associate professor of virology at the Uni-

versity of Queensland. “If there are lots of

populations that are still susceptible, we’re

in the same kind of hamster wheel of this that

we’ve been in before.”

It’s too early to know much about how the

latest variant will affect people. One con-

cerning aspect is the remarkably large num-

ber of mutations, particularly to aspects of

the genome that affect the virus’s ability to

transmit itself to others or fight back against

the body’s immune responses. That raises

the prospect that it could, as with Delta,

spread more rapidly through non-immune

populations, or even break through the pro-

tections of those who’ve already been infect-

ed or vaccinated.

At the same time, the sheer diversity of

mutations means it will be hard to know for

sure whether these changes will amplify or

cancel each other out until we’ve been able

to observe the latest variant’s progress in hu-

mans, said Mackay.

We don’t need the answer to those ques-

tions, however, to know the mistake the rich

world is already making in treating CO-

VID-19 as a pathogen that’s already been de-

feated by its own high rates of vaccine cov-

erage. While the likes of China, Japan,

France, Italy, South Korea and Canada can

boast that three-quarters of their popula-

tions are fully immunized, 110 of the 200

countries and territories for which Bloom-

berg has data are shy of 50% (the U.S., at

59%, has one of the worst records in the de-

veloped world). Of that number, 64 haven’t

even reached 25%, including South Africa it-

self. India, at 31%, and Russia at 37% aren’t

doing much better. Of the 37 nations with

less than 10% fully protected, 32 are in sub-

Saharan Africa.

That yawning gap is being driven by the

glacial pace at which pharmaceutical com-

panies in the rich nations where drugs have

been developed have been sharing their in-

tellectual property with generics producers

in emerging economies. While the U.S. deci-

sion in May to waive IP rules around co-

vid-19 drugs was a major step toward ad-

dressing that problem, European opposition

and a lack of compulsion from governments

have failed to produce the change needed to

increase supplies.

“The current vaccine equity gap between

wealthier and low resource countries dem-

onstrates a disregard for the lives of the

world’s poorest and most vulnerable,” the

heads of the World Health Organization and

International Organization for Migration

and United Nations High Commission for

Refugees wrote in an open letter to Group of

20 leaders last month. “Vaccine inequity is

costing lives every day, and continues to

place everyone at risk.”

As natural and vaccine-derived immunity

rises, viral evolution will have to get more

and more ingenious to evade our defenses.

So far, scarcely more than half of the world’s

population has had a dose of a covid vaccine.

That means there’s still more than 3.4 billion

people out there whose bodies the virus can

treat as laboratories in which to develop new

mutations. Until we reduce that number fur-

ther, the odds aren’t as strongly in our favor

as we’d like to think.

Expect new variants until world is immuneBY DAVID FICKLING

Bloomberg News

David Fickling is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist coveringcommodities, as well as industrial and consumer companies.

PAGE 16 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Tuesday, November 30, 2021

ACROSS

1 Furniture brand

5 Young fox

8 Prolonged sleep

12 Farmer’s place

13 Anger

14 Baseball stats

15 October

birthstone

16 Pasta variety

18 Shade trees

20 Insurance giant

21 Early hrs.

22 Humorist

23 Big parade

sponsor

26 Flax product

30 Actress Mendes

31 London’s Big —

32 Lucy of “Kill Bill”

33 16th president

36 Cologne’s river

38 Frequently

39 Sock part

40 Engine sound

43 Pedigree

47 Job-hunter’s aid

49 Sand formation

50 Part of a

French play

51 Actor McShane

52 And others (Lat.)

53 Entryway

54 Snoop

55 Pixels

DOWN

1 Pop star

2 French

military cap

3 Flair

4 Dawn-to-dusk

5 Pottery ovens

6 Eye part

7 Sawbuck

8 Vinegar bottles

9 Last writes?

10 Wis. neighbor

11 On the

Adriatic, say

17 Profit

19 Type measures

22 Victory

23 Singer Tormé

24 Bird (Pref.)

25 Fire

26 Author Deighton

27 Yale grad

28 Aachen article

29 Payable

31 Diner order

34 Kitchen

appliance

35 “How

clumsy —!”

36 Harry Potter pal

37 Obeyed

39 Metallic-

sounding

40 — the Impaler

41 “Little Caesar”

role

42 Aware of

43 Deceitful person

44 Prefix with pilot

45 Pesky insect

46 Congers

48 Chips go-with

Answer to Previous Puzzle

Eugene Sheffer CrosswordFra

zz

Dilbert

Pearls B

efo

re S

win

eN

on S

equitur

Candorv

ille

Beetle B

ailey

Biz

arr

oCarp

e D

iem

Tuesday, November 30, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 17

SCOREBOARD

AP Top 25

The Top 25 teams in The Associated Presscollege football poll, with first-place votesin parentheses, records through Nov. 27,total points based on 25 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 25th-place vote, and previous ranking:

Record Pts Prv

1. Georgia (62) 12-0 1550 1

2. Michigan 11-1 1449 6

3. Cincinnati 12-0 1422 4

4. Alabama 11-1 1388 3

5. Oklahoma St. 11-1 1291 7

6. Notre Dame 11-1 1264 5

7. Ohio St. 10-2 1147 2

8. Mississippi 10-2 1105 8

9. Baylor 10-2 1066 9

10. Oregon 10-2 932 11

11. Michigan St. 10-2 877 12

12. BYU 10-2 839 13

13. Oklahoma 10-2 837 10

14. Utah 9-3 667 16

15. Iowa 10-2 662 17

16. Houston 11-1 603 19

17. Pittsburgh 10-2 589 20

18. Wake Forest 10-2 485 21

19. San Diego St. 11-1 416 22

20. Louisiana-Lafayette 11-1 317 23

21. NC State 9-3 310 24

22. Clemson 9-3 269 -

23. Arkansas 8-4 214 25

24. Texas A&M 8-4 117 14

25. Kentucky 9-3 82 -

Others receiving votes: Wisconsin 68,UTSA 58, Appalachian St. 50, Minnesota 37,Purdue 21, Mississippi St. 7, Penn St. 5, Ar-my 5, Fresno St. 1.

AP Top 25 schedule

FridayNo. 10 Oregon vs. No. 14 Utah, Pac-12

championship at Las Vegas Saturday

No. 1 Georgia vs. No. 4 Alabama, SECchampionship at Atlanta

No. 2 Michigan vs. No. 15 Iowa, Big Tenchampionship at Indianapolis

No. 3 Cincinnati vs. No. 16 Houston, AACchampionship at Cincinnati

No. 5 Oklahoma St. vs. No. 9 Baylor,Big-12 championship at Arlington, Texas

No. 17 Pittsburgh vs. No. 18 Wake Forest,ACC championship at Charlotte, N.C.

No. 19 San Diego St. vs. Utah St., Moun-tain West championship at Carson, Calif.

No. 20 Louisiana-Lafayette vs. Appala-chian St., Sun Belt Championship at La-fayette, La.

Coaches Top 25

The USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches PollTop 25 with team’s records FROMTHROUGH SATURDAY in parentheses, to-tal points based on 25 for first placethrough one point for 25th, ranking in lastweek’s poll and first-place votes re-ceived.:

Record PtsPvs

1. Georgia (62) 12-0 1550 1

2. Alabama 11-1 1440 2

3. Michigan 11-1 1408 6

4. Cincinnati 12-0 1399 4

5. Oklahoma State 11-1 1285 7

6. Notre Dame 11-1 1250 5

7. Ohio State 10-2 1133 3

8. Mississippi 10-2 1097 8

9. Baylor 10-2 1046 10

10. Oregon 10-2 932 11

11. Oklahoma 10-2 851 9

12. Iowa 10-2 845 12

13. Michigan State 10-2 840 13

14. Brigham Young 10-2 741 15

15. Pittsburgh 10-2 640 17

16. Houston 11-1 607 16

17. Utah 9-3 596 19

18. Wake Forest 10-2 531 21

19. San Diego State 11-1 396 22

20. North Carolina State 9-3 334 24

21. Louisiana-Lafayette 11-1 268 23

22. Kentucky 9-3 226 25

23. Texas A&M 8-4 202 14

24. Clemson 9-3 170 NR

25. Arkansas 8-4 128 NR

Dropped out: No. 18 Wisconsin (8-4); No.20 Texas-San Antonio (11-1).

Others receiving votes: Wisconsin (8-4)100; Texas-San Antonio (11-1) 36; Appala-chian State (10-2) 30; Air Force (9-3) 16;Minnesota (8-4) 13; Purdue (8-4) 11; UtahState (9-3) 8; Coastal Carolina (10-2) 8;Penn State (7-5) 5; UCLA (8-4) 3; FresnoState (9-3) 3; Mississippi State (7-5) 2.

FCS PlayoffsSecond Round

Saturday’s games

Incarnate Word at Sam Houston UT-Martin at Montana St.S. Illinois at North Dakota St.Kennesaw St. at ETSU Holy Cross at Villanova South Dakota St. at Sacramento St.E. Washington at Montana SE Louisiana at James Madison

QuarterfinalsFriday, Dec. 10

TBD

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Sunday’s Men’s Scores

EAST

Binghamton 110, Hartwick 41 Boston U. 61, Merrimack 60 Brown 72, Quinnipiac 61 Bucknell 65, Siena 56, OT Dartmouth 63, Bryant 61, OT Duquesne 88, American 79 Fordham 89, CCSU 83, OT Kansas 96, Iona 83 Loyola (Md.) 75, Fairfield 70 Princeton 89, Fairleigh Dickinson 79 Seton Hall 84, Bethune-Cookman 70 St. Francis (Pa.) 79, Lehigh 68 Stony Brook 85, Yale 81 Villanova 72, La Salle 46

SOUTH

Alabama 96, Miami 64 Dayton 63, Belmont 61 FIU 84, North Florida 69 Florida 84, Troy 45 Florida Gulf Coast 85, Fort Wayne 78 James Madison 69, FAU 65 Kennesaw St. 89, Charleston Southern

52 Lipscomb 86, Kentucky Christian 67 Norfolk St. 70, Hampton 61 North Alabama 81, Alabama St. 69 Radford 88, E. Kentucky 75 South Carolina 65, Rider 58 Southern U. 82, Tennessee St. 80 Stephen F. Austin 72, Northwestern St.

68 The Citadel 91, SC State 79, OT UNC-Asheville 106, St. Andrews 36 W. Michigan 81, SE Louisiana 77, OT Wofford 68, Georgia 65

MIDWEST

Alcorn St. 61, Milwaukee 57 Bellarmine 75, Franklin 37 Bowling Green 75, Chicago St. 57 DePaul 101, E. Michigan 63 Evansville 70, E. Illinois 54 Kansas St. 84, North Dakota 42 North Texas 57, Drake 54

SOUTHWEST

Arkansas 76, Penn 60 Arkansas St. 66, UMKC 55 Portland 77, Incarnate Word 68 SMU 74, Louisiana-Monroe 67

FAR WEST

Academy of Art 79, UC Davis 60 CS Northridge 56, San Diego 52 California 65, Fresno St. 57 Colorado 80, Stanford 76 Montana St. 75, SE Missouri 68

Sunday’s Women’s Scores

EAST

Boston College 77, Albany (NY) 65 Bucknell 68, Vermont 53 Cent. Michigan 56, Marist 50 Columbia 63, Rider 60 Cornell 66, Lafayette 55 George Mason 69, Navy 64 Holy Cross 67, Bryant 49 Kent St. 81, Penn St. 74 Manhattan 69, Fairleigh Dickinson 55 Md.-Eastern Shore 74, Millersville 39 Missouri 88, Lehigh 67 North Dakota 65, Brown 46 Princeton 82, Maine 43 Providence 64, Monmouth (NJ) 34 Quinnipiac 113, Hartford 64 St. Bonaventure 81, Clarion 49 Stony Brook 71, St. Francis Brooklyn 64 Syracuse 79, Colgate 57 UCLA 73, St. John’s 65 Wagner 70, New Hampshire 48 Yale 71, Fairfield 64

SOUTH

Alabama 89, Bethune-Cookman 45 Alabama St. 69, South Alabama 59 Appalachian St. 71, UNC-Asheville 56 Clemson 83, Mount St. Mary’s 59 Coastal Carolina 55, ETSU 41 Coppin St. 68, St. Francis (Pa.) 38 Duke 91, Troy 75 East Carolina 76, Campbell 66 Gardner-Webb 65, UNC-Greensboro 63 Lipscomb 72, Life University 59 Long Beach St. 64, Rhode Island 52 Louisiana-Lafayette 67, McNeese St. 57 Old Dominion 61, Stetson 51 Richmond 74, Virginia 65 SC-Upstate 102, Mars Hill 40 W. Kentucky 77, Tennessee St. 65

MIDWEST

Ball St. 73, Saint Joseph’s 67 Cleveland St. 87, LIU 65 IUPUI 80, Butler 47 Iowa St. 76, UMass 71 Liberty 76, Bowling Green 72 Loyola Chicago 69, Miami (Ohio) 52 Michigan St. 85, Marshall 75 Minnesota 81, UTSA 52 N. Illinois 69, Milwaukee 50 SIU-Edwardsville 68, Fort Wayne 56

SOUTHWEST

Abilene Christian 81, Arkansas St. 69 Arkansas 83, Belmont 63 Longwood 62, Lamar 59 Oral Roberts 74, UALR 56

Stephen F. Austin 80, Louisiana-Monroe53

Texas Tech 82, New Mexico 75 FAR WEST

Colorado 67, Wisconsin 51 Drake 83, Idaho 66 Gonzaga 68, Hawaii 49 Louisville 71, Colorado St. 56 Nevada 73, San Francisco 67, OT Portland 97, Evergreen State 49 UC Irvine 58, Sacramento St. 51 UMKC 85, Texas-Arlington 76 UNLV 89, Grambling St. 49 Utah 93, E. Illinois 77

Men’s Top 25 Fared

No. 1 Gonzaga (6-1) beat Central Michi-gan 107-54; best No. 2 UCLA 83-63; lost toNo. 5 Duke 84-81.

No. 2 UCLA (6-1) beat Bellarmine 75-62;lost to No. 1 Gonzaga 83-63; beat UNLV 73-51.

No. 3 Purdue (6-0) beat Omaha 97-40. No. 4 Kansas (5-1) beat North Texas 71-

59; lost to Dayton 74-73; beat Iona 96-83. No. 5 Duke (7-0) beat Citadel 107-81; beat

No. 1 Gonzaga 84-81. No. 6 Baylor (7-0) beat Arizona St. 75-63;

beat VCU 69-61; beat Michigan St. 75-58. No. 7 Villanova (4-2) beat La Salle 72-48. No. 8 Texas (4-1) beat California Baptist

68-44. No. 9 Memphis (5-1) beat Virginia Tech

69-61; lost to Iowa St. 78-59. No. 10 Alabama (6-1) lost to Iona 72-68;

beat Drake 80-71; beat Miami 96-64.No. 10 Kentucky (5-1) beat Albany 86-61;

beat North Florida 86-52. No. 12 Houston (5-1) lost to Wisconsin

65-63; beat Oregon 78-49. No. 13 Arkansas (5-0) beat Kansas St. 72-

64; beat Cincinnati 73-67; beat Penn 76-60. No. 14 Illinois (4-2) lost to Cincinnati 71-

51; beat Kansas St.72-64; beat Texas RioGrande Valley 94-85.

No. 15 Tennessee (4-1) beat TennesseeTech 80-69.

No. 16 St. Bonaventure (5-1) lost to N. Io-wa 90-80.

No. 17 Arizona (6-0) beat Sacramento St.105-58.

No. 18 BYU (6-0) beat Texas Southern 81-64; beat Utah 75-64.

No. 19 Auburn (5-1) lost to No. 22 UConn115-109; Beat Loyola Chicago 62-53; beatSyracuse 89-68.

No. 20 Michigan (4-2) beat Tarleton St.65-54.

No. 21 Seton Hall (5-1) lost to Ohio St. 79-76; beat California 62-59; beat Bethune-Cookman 84-70.

No. 22 UConn (6-1) beat No. 19 Auburn115-109, 2OT; lost to Michigan St. 64-60;beat VCU 70-63, OT.

No. 23 Florida (6-0) beat California 80-60;beat Ohio St. 71-68; beat Troy 84-45.

No. 24 Southern Cal (6-0) beat Dixie St.98-71; beat Saint Joseph’s 70-55; beat SanDiego St. 58-43.

No. 25 Xavier (5-1) lost to Iowa St. 82-70;beat Virginia Tech 59-58.

Women’s Top 25 Fared

No. 1 South Carolina (7-0) beat vs. Elon79-38.

No. 2 Maryland (6-2) lost to No. 5 NCState 78-60; lost to No. 7 Stanford 86-67.

No. 3 UConn (3-1) did not play. No. 4 Indiana (5-1) lost to No. 7 Stanford

69-68; beat Miami 53-51. No. 5 NC State (6-1) beat No. 2 Maryland

78-60; beat Washington St. 62-34.No. 6 Baylor (6-1) beat Fordham 68-45;

beat Arizona St. 62-52; beat Houston 74-58. No. 7 Stanford (5-2) beat No. 4 Indiana 69-

66; lost to No. 18 South Florida 57-54; beatNo. 2 Maryland 86-67.

No. 8 Iowa (4-0) did not play. No. 9 Arizona (7-0) beat Vanderbilt 48-46;

beat DePaul 75-68; beat Rutgers 80-44. No. 10 Louisville (5-1) beat Cal Poly 72-32;

beat Colorado St. 71-56. No. 11 Tennessee (6-0) beat Kansas 68-

58; beat Oklahoma St. 80-55. No. 12 Michigan (7-0) beat No. 16 Oregon

St. 61-52; beat Mississippi St. 64-48. No. 13 Iowa St. (7-0) beat Charlotte 75-59;

beat Penn St. 93-59; beat UMass 76-71. No. 14 Texas (4-1) beat Cal St. Northridge

83-42. No. 15 Oregon (3-2) lost to No. 18 South

Florida 71-62. No. 16 Oregon St. (3-2) lost to No. 12 Mi-

chigan 61-52; lost to Notre Dame 64-62. No. 17 Florida St. (4-2) lost to BYU 61-54;

lost to Purdue 66-61. No. 18 South Florida (5-2) beat No. 15

Oregon; beat No. 7 Stanford 57-54.No. 19 UCLA (4-2) lost to Kent St. 75-69;

lost to S. Dakota St. 76-66; beat St. John’s73-65.

No. 20 Kentucky (4-1) beat La Salle 74-52. No. 21 Ohio St. (5-0) beat Bellarmine 110-

58; beat Cincinnati 86-50. No. 22 West Virginia (4-1) beat Purdue

65-57; lost to BYU 58-57. No. 23 Texas A&M (7-0) beat Pittsburgh

57-46; beat South Dakota 58-44; beatNorthwestern 77-68.

No. 24 Virginia Tech (6-1) lost to MissouriSt. 76-68; beat UT Martin 54-49.

No. 25 Florida Gulf Coast (7-0) beat Ten-nessee Tech 81-69; beat Saint Louis 73-65.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Sunday’s TransactionsBASKETBALL

National Basketball AssociationNBA — Fined Orlando C/F Wendell Carter

Jr. $35,000 for forcefully throwing his pro-tective glasses at a game official in a gamewith Cleveland on Nov. 27. Fined Miami CDewayne Dedmon $15,000 for kicking aseat cushion from his team’s bench intothe spectator stands in a game with Chica-go on Nov. 27.

HOCKEYNational Hockey League

ANAHEIM DUCKS — Recalled C Benoit-Olivier Grouix from San Diego (AHL).

BUFFALO SABRES — Signed F Mark Jan-kowski to a one-year contract. Sent F ArttuRuotsalainen to Rochester (AHL).

FLORIDA PANTHERS — Sent C Aleksi He-poniemi to Charlotte (AHL). Placed D Gus-

tav Forsling on injured reserve.MONTREAL CANADIENS — Announced

the dismissal of general manager MarcBergevin, assistant general manager Tre-vor Timmins and senior vice president ofpublic affairs and communications PaulWilson.

NASHVILLE PREDATORS — Sent RW Mi-chael McCarron to Milwaukee (AHL).

OTTAWA SENATORS — Waived RW Lo-gan Shaw. Sent G Matt Murrayto Belleville(AHL).

PHILADELPHIA FLYERS — Recalled CMax Willman from Lehigh Valley (AHL).

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS — Recalled LWDrew O’Connor from Wilkes-Barre/Scran-ton (AHL).

SAN JOSE SHARKS — Waived RW Evan-der Kane.

ST. LOUIS BLUES — Recalled C LoganBrown from Springfield (AHL).

DEALS

NCAA Men’s Div. I TournamentSecond RoundSunday, Nov. 21

Duke 2, UCLA 1 Georgetown 2, Georgia St. 0 Indiana 2, Bowling Green 0 New Hampshire 4, orth Carolina 1 Pittsburgh 5, Northern Illinois 2 Providence 2, Marshall 1, 2OT Saint Louis 5, LIU 0 West Virginia 1, Virginia Tech 1, OT, West

Virginia advances on PK’s 4-3 Notre Dame 3, Villanova 0 Hofstra 8, Penn State 2 Wake Forest 3, FIU 2 Kentucky 2, Santa Clara 0 Clemson 1, Denver 0 Washington 3, Portland 1Oregon State 2, St. John’s (NY) 0

Third RoundSaturday’s games

Pittsburgh 4, Hofstra 0 Saint Louis 4, Duke 3 Washington 3, Indiana 2, OT West Virginia 1, Tulsa 0, 2OT

Sunday’s gamesGeorgetown 4, Providence 1 Notre Dame 2, Wake Forest 0 Clemson 2, Kentucky 1 Oregon State 1, New Hampshire 0

QuarterfinalsFriday, Dec. 3 or Saturday, Dec. 4

Georgetown vs. West Virginia

Saint Louis vs. Washington Pittsburgh vs. Notre Dame Oregon State vs. Clemson

SemifinalsFriday, Dec. 10

At WakeMed Soccer ParkCary, N.C.

Quarterfinal winnersChampionshipSunday, Dec. 12

At WakeMed Soccer ParkCary, N.C.

Semifinal winners

NCAA Women’s Div. I TournamentQuarterfinals

Friday’s gamesFlorida St. 1, Michigan 0, OT Santa Clara 2, Duke 1 Rutgers 2, Arkansas 2, OT, Rutgers ad-

vances on PK’s 4-2 Saturday’s game

BYU 4, South Carolina 1 Semifinals

Friday, Dec. 3At Stevens StadiumSanta Clara, Calif.

Florida St. vs. Rutgers Santa Clara vs. BYU

ChampionshipSunday, Dec. 5

At Stevens StadiumSanta Clara, Calif.

Semifinal winners

COLLEGE SOCCER

MLS playoffs

Conference SemifinalsEastern Conference

Sunday’s game

Nashville 1, Philadelphia 1, Philadelphiaadvanced 2-0 on penalty kicks

Tuesday’s game

New England vs. New York City FC Western Conference

Thursday, Nov. 25

Portland 1, Colorado 0

Sunday’s gameReal Salt Lake 2, Sporting Kansas City 1

Conference FinalsEastern Conference

Dec. 4-5Philadelphia vs. New England-New York

City FC winnerWestern Conference

Dec. 4-5Portland vs. Real Salt Lake

MLS CupSaturday, Dec. 11

Conference winners

PRO SOCCER

TENNIS

Davis Cup

Sunday’s matches

At OlympiaWorldInnsbruck, Austria

Group C

Great Britain 2, Czech Republic 1

SinglesTomas Machac, Czech Republic, def.

Dan Evans, Great Britain, 6-2, 7-5.Cameron Norrie, Great Britain, def. Jiri

Lehecka, Czech Republic, 6-1, 2-6, 6-1Doubles

Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski, GreatBritain, def. Tomas Machac and Jiri Vesely,Czech Republic, 8-4, 6-2

Group F

Germany 2, Austria 1

SinglesJurij Rodionov, Austria, def. Dominik

Koepfer, Germany, 6-1, 7-5.Jan-Lennard Struff, Germany, def. Den-

nis Novak, 7-5, 6-4Doubles

Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz, Germany,def. Oliver Marach and Philipp Oswald,Austria, 6-3, 6-4

At Madrid ArenaMadrid, Spain

Group A

Russian Tennis Federation 2, Spain 1

SinglesFeliciano Lopez, Spain, def. Andrey Ru-

blev, Russian Tennis Federation, 2-6, 6-3,6-4.

Daniil Medvedev, Russian Tennis Feder-ation, def. Pablo Carreno Busta, 8-2, 7-6

DoublesAslan Karatsev and Andrey Rublev, Rus-

sian Tennis Federation, def. Marcel Gra-nollers and Feliciano Lopez, Spain, 6-4, 2-6,6-4

Group B

Kazakhstan 3, Canada 0

SinglesMikhail Kukushkin, Kazakhstan, def.

Brayden Schnur, Canada, 6-3, 6-7, 7-5.Alexander Bublik, Kazakhstan, def. Va-

sek Pospisil, Canada, 6-2, 7-6Doubles

Andrey Golubev and Aleksandr Nedo-vyesov, Kazakhstan, def. Peter Polanskyand Brayden Schnur, Great Britain, 6-4, 6-7,6-1.

At Pala AlpitourTurin, Italy

Group D

Croatia 2 Hungary 1

SinglesNino Serdarusic, Croatia, def. Fabian

Marozsan, Hungary, 6-4, 6-4.Zsomber Piros, Hungary, def. Marin Cil-

ic, Croatia, 4-6, 7-5, 6-4Doubles

Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic, Croatia,def. Fabian Marozsan and Peter Nagy,Hungary, 7-6, 6-2

Group E

Colombia 2, United States 1

SinglesFrances Tiafoe, United States, def. Nico-

las Mejis, Colombia, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6.Daniel Elahi Galan, Colombia, def. John

Isner, United States, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6Doubles

Juan-Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah,Colombia, def. Reilly Opelka and JackSock, United States, retired

QuarterfinalsMonday

At Pala AlpitourTurin, Italy

Croatia vs. Italy Tuesday

At OlympiaWorldInnsbruck, Austria

Great Britain vs. Germany Wednesday

At Madrid ArenaMadrid, Spain

Kazakhstan vs. Serbia Thursday

At Madrid ArenaMadrid, Spain

Russian Tennis Federation vs. Sweden Semifinals

Friday At Madrid Arena

Madrid, SpainSemi-Finalist (bottom half) vs. Semi-Fi-

nalist (bottom half)Saturday, Dec 4.At Madrid Arena

Madrid, SpainSemi-Finalist (top half) vs. Semi-Finalist

(top half)Final

Sunday, Dec. 5At Madrid Arena

Madrid, SpainFinalist vs. Finalist

GOLF

World Ranking

Player Country Avg.

1. Jon Rahm ESP 9.85

2. Collin Morikawa USA 9.02

3. Dustin Johnson USA 7.95

4. Patrick Cantlay USA 7.04

5. Xander Schauffele USA 6.91

6. Justin Thomas USA 6.85

7. Bryson DeChambeau USA 6.71

8. Rory McIlroy NIR 6.58

PAGE 18 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Tuesday, November 30, 2021

NBA

Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division

W L Pct GB

Brooklyn 14 6 .700 —

New York 11 9 .550 3

Boston 11 10 .524 3½

Philadelphia 10 10 .500 4

Toronto 9 12 .429 5½

Southeast Division

W L Pct GB

Miami 13 7 .650 —

Washington 13 7 .650 —

Charlotte 13 9 .591 1

Atlanta 11 10 .524 2½

Orlando 4 17 .190 9½

Central Division

W L Pct GB

Milwaukee 13 8 .619 —

Chicago 13 8 .619 —

Cleveland 10 10 .500 2½

Indiana 9 13 .409 4½

Detroit 4 16 .200 8½

Western Conference

Southwest Division

W L Pct GB

Dallas 10 8 .556 —

Memphis 10 10 .500 1

San Antonio 5 13 .278 5

New Orleans 5 17 .227 7

Houston 3 16 .158 7½

Northwest Division

W L Pct GB

Utah 13 7 .650 —

Portland 10 10 .500 3

Minnesota 10 10 .500 3

Denver 9 10 .474 3½

Oklahoma City 6 13 .316 6½

Pacific Division

W L Pct GB

Golden State 18 2 .900 —

Phoenix 17 3 .850 1

L.A. Clippers 11 9 .550 7

L.A. Lakers 11 11 .500 8

Sacramento 8 13 .381 10½

Sunday’s games

Golden State 105, L.A. Clippers 90 Milwaukee 118, Indiana 100 Boston 109, Toronto 97 Memphis 128, Sacramento 101 L.A. Lakers 110, Detroit 106

Monday’s games

Orlando at Philadelphia Denver at Miami Charlotte at Chicago Indiana at Minnesota Oklahoma City at Houston Cleveland at Dallas Washington at San Antonio Portland at Utah New Orleans at L.A. Clippers

Tuesday’s games

Memphis at Toronto New York at Brooklyn Detroit at Portland Golden State at Phoenix L.A. Lakers at Sacramento

Wednesday’s games

Atlanta at Indiana Denver at Orlando Minnesota at Washington Cleveland at Miami Philadelphia at Boston Charlotte at Milwaukee Dallas at New Orleans Houston at Oklahoma City Sacramento at L.A. Clippers

Leaders

Through Sunday

Scoring

G FG FT PTS AVG

Curry, GS 19 179 81 544 28.6

Durant, BKN 19 198 111 544 28.6

FG Percentage

FG FGA PCT

Gobert, UTA 105 145 .724

Allen, CLE 108 155 .697

Rebounds

G OFF DEF TOT AVG

Gobert, UTA 20 58 231 289 14.4

Jokic, DEN 14 38 152 190 13.6

Assists

G AST AVG

Paul, PHO 20 202 10.1

Harden, BKN 20 188 9.4

Scoreboard

LOS ANGELES — LeBron

James and Isaiah Stewart had no

Round 2 in the Lakers’ rematch

with the Pistons.

James was too busy making sure

Los Angeles got the same decision

he wasn’t around to see last week in

Detroit.

James had 33 points, nine assists

and no confrontations with Stewart

in the Lakers’ 110-106 victory Sun-

day night.

Russell Westbrook had 25 points

and nine assists, and Anthony Davis

added 24 points and 10 rebounds.

Los Angeles returned to .500 with

its second win over the Pistons in

eight days, rebounding from an em-

barrassing triple-overtime loss to

Sacramento on Friday.

“That Sac game lingered with us

for a couple of days, giving that

game away,” Davis said. “I think we

did a good job defensively tonight,

getting this kick-start to a winning

streak.”

Stewart was booed repeatedly

and zealously by the Lakers’ crowd,

but he appeared to have no signifi-

cant interactions with James after

both players were ejected from the

teams’ meeting in Detroit a week

earlier for an ugly altercation.

James was assessed a Flagrant-2

foul and ejected when he hit Stew-

art in the face while they jockeyed

for rebounding position. An infu-

riated Stewart repeatedly attempt-

ed to charge at James in the after-

math, earning his own ejection.

James served a one-game suspen-

sion and Stewart got a two-game

ban.

Stewart kept the pot stirring Fri-

day by saying he didn’t think James’

blow had been accidental. The 20-

year-old Stewart is 3½ years older

than James’ oldest son, Bronny.

“We were mad as heck the other

night after that Sac loss,” James

said. “We made it a point to come in

today very focused on our game

plan, learning from our mistakes,

and we got better. Right there lets

me know we’re a team that cares

and wants to get better.”

The Pistons said they didn’t feel

there was any extra juice to the re-

match.

“It’s just basketball,” Jerami

Grant said.

LeBron has 33, Lakers top PistonsLos Angeles back to .500as Round 2 betweenteams is much quieter

BY GREG BEACHAM

Associated Press

ALEX GALLARDO/AP

Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James passes the ball away as Detroit Pistons forward Jerami Grant,left, and center Isaiah Stewart, center, defend during the Lakers’ 110­106 win Sunday in Los Angeles.

LOS ANGELES — Stephen Curry is among

the most dangerous players in the NBA. But an

angry Curry proved to be more lethal.

The Golden State star took out his frustrations

Sunday on the Los Angeles Clippers after being

called for a technical foul with 9:08 remaining in

the fourth quarter. He scored 11 of his 33 points

after that as the Warriors extended their win-

ning streak to eight with a 105-90 victory.

“It was just an accumulation of all types of

weird stuff. All that led into where I thought I got

a foul,” said Curry, who also had a season-high

six steals to go with five rebounds and six assists.

“It definitely fired me and the team up. After

that it was time to direct my energy into putting

the ball in the basket.”

Curry lost his temper when he didn’t a draw a

foul while driving to the basket after it appeared

Clippers guard Terance Mann made contact.

Coach Steve Kerr said he figured Curry was go-

ing to get a technical when he saw him go toward

the official and pump his fist.

“That was as upset as I’ve seen him and that I

have been in a long time. He clearly got fouled,”

Kerr said. “When he knows he got fouled on a

play like that and he doesn’t the call, the compet-

itor will come out in him and he will lose his

mind a little bit. But it will spur him like it did in

this instance.”

Golden State had a 79-70 lead when Curry’s

outburst happened, but the team put it away af-

terward with a 21-7 run during a nearly five-

minute span. Curry made three three-pointers

during the spurt, and applied the dagger shot

with an off-balance triple from the right corner

with 5:20 remaining.

Otto Porter Jr. added 18 points and 10 re-

bounds, and Jordan Poole scored 17 points for

the Warriors. They improved their NBA-best re-

cord to 18-2 heading into a showdown Tuesday

night in Phoenix against the streaking Suns —

17-3 after winning 16 straight.

Bucks 118, Pacers 100: Giannis Anteto-

kounmpo had 26 points and 13 rebounds and

Milwaukee won at Indiana for its seventh

straight victory.

Jrue Holiday scored 11 of his 23 points in the

third quarter. Bobby Portis added 15 points, and

Khris Middleton and Pat Connaughton each had

14,

Caris LeVert led the Pacers with a season-

high 23 points.

Celtics 109,  Raptors  97: Marcus Smart

scored 21 points, Al Horford had 17 points and 11

rebounds and Boston won at Toronto to snap a

two-game losing streak.

Josh Richardson scored 18 of the Celtics’ 32

bench points. Jaylen Brown added 16 points, and

Grant Williams had 15 to help the team improve

to 11-10.

Fred VanVleet led the Raptors with 27 points.

Toronto lost for the sixth time in eight games to

fall to 9-12.

Grizzlies 128,  Kings 101: Dillon Brooks

scored 21 points, Desmond Bane added 18 and

Memphis took advantage of visiting Sacramen-

to’s poor shooting.

The Grizzlies were playing their first game

without scoring leader Ja Morant. He sprained

his left knee Friday night in a loss to Atlanta.

Buddy Hield led the Kings with 14 points, but

was 5-for-17 from the field.

Warriors beat Clippers, await showdown with Suns

ASHLEY LANDIS / AP

Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Currydisputes a second­half foul call. He had 33points in a 105­90 defeat of the Los AngelesClippers on Sunday in Los Angeles.

Associated Press

ROUNDUP

Tuesday, November 30, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 19

NHL

Eastern Conference

Atlantic Division

GP W L OT Pts GF GA

Toronto 23 16 6 1 33 69 49

Florida 21 14 4 3 31 77 56

Tampa Bay 20 12 5 3 27 64 56

Detroit 22 10 9 3 23 61 71

Boston 18 11 7 0 22 59 53

Buffalo 21 8 10 3 19 60 70

Montreal 23 6 15 2 14 54 83

Ottawa 19 4 14 1 9 46 73

Metropolitan Division

GP W L OT Pts GF GA

Washington 22 14 3 5 33 78 52

Carolina 20 15 4 1 31 66 43

N.Y. Rangers 20 13 4 3 29 60 54

Columbus 19 12 7 0 24 67 59

Pittsburgh 21 10 7 4 24 62 59

New Jersey 19 9 6 4 22 57 58

Philadelphia 20 8 8 4 20 49 61

N.Y. Islanders 17 5 10 2 12 32 52

Western Conference

Central Division

GP W L OT Pts GF GA

Minnesota 21 14 6 1 29 78 64

St. Louis 21 11 7 3 25 71 59

Winnipeg 21 10 7 4 24 60 60

Colorado 18 11 6 1 23 73 56

Nashville 21 11 9 1 23 58 63

Dallas 19 10 7 2 22 53 55

Chicago 21 7 12 2 16 45 67

Arizona 21 4 15 2 10 39 77

Pacific Division

GP W L OT Pts GF GA

Edmonton 20 15 5 0 30 77 59

Calgary 21 12 4 5 29 70 42

Anaheim 22 11 8 3 25 70 64

Vegas 21 12 9 0 24 66 64

San Jose 21 11 9 1 23 55 58

Los Angeles 20 9 8 3 21 53 54

Seattle 21 7 13 1 15 58 73

Vancouver 22 6 14 2 14 53 76

Sunday’s games

Washington 4, Carolina 2Minnesota 4, Tampa Bay 2San Jose 2, Chicago 0New Jersey 5, Philadelphia 2Boston 3, Vancouver 2N.Y. Islanders at N.Y. Rangers, ppdToronto 5, Anaheim 1

Monday’s games

Seattle at BuffaloArizona at WinnipegVancouver at MontrealPittsburgh at Calgary

Tuesday’s games

Detroit at BostonN.Y. Islanders at Philadelphia, ppdSan Jose at New JerseyWashington at FloridaArizona at MinnesotaColumbus at NashvilleTampa Bay at St. LouisCarolina at DallasAnaheim at Los Angeles

Wednesday’s games

Philadelphia at N.Y. RangersColorado at TorontoSeattle at DetroitVancouver at OttawaPittsburgh at EdmontonVegas at Anaheim

Scoreboard

MONTREAL— The Montreal Canadiens

fired general manager Marc Bergevin and

two other executives Sunday amid on-ice

struggles just months after advancing to the

Stanley Cup Final.

The Canadiens announced Bergevin’s dis-

missal along with those of assistant GM Tre-

vor Timmins and Paul Wilson, senior vice

president of public affairs and communica-

tions.

“Their relentless work allowed our fans to

experience many memorable moments, in-

cluding last summer’s playoff run that culmi-

nated with the Stanley Cup Final,” team own-

er Geoff Molson said in a statement. “I think,

however, that the time has come for a lead-

ership change within our hockey operations

department that will bring a new vision and

should allow our fans and partners to contin-

ue cheering for a championship team.”

The team said Jeff Gorton will serve as ex-

ecutive vice president of hockey operations

as the it searches for a new general manager.

Bergevin was in his 10th season as the team’s

GM.

“Montreal is the city where I took my first

skating strides and it’s also the city where I

learned to lead the NHL’s winningest fran-

chise,” Bergevin said in a statement. “This

city and this organization will always have a

special place in my heart.

“That said, and despite the fact that this

journey is coming to an end, I am proud of the

legacy I’m leaving within the organization.

The current team is much better than the re-

sults show, and I am convinced that my suc-

cessors will be able to rise to the challenge.”

The Canadiens have a 6-15-2 record this

season and are ahead of only the New York

Islanders and Ottawa Senators in the Eastern

Conference standings.

Bergevin’s long-term status with the team

had been a question since he entered the sea-

son on an expiring contract.

Still, this wasn’t the start to the season

Montreal was expecting as the team went in-

to the campaign fresh off an unexpected run

to its first Stanley Cup Final appearance

since winning it all in 1993.

Backed by the goaltending of Carey Price,

the Canadiens came back from a 3-1 deficit to

upset the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first

round of the playoffs. They lost to two-time

Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay in the fi-

nal.

Instead, Montreal had an offseason to for-

get and started the campaign without Price

and captain and defensive stalwart Shea

Weber in the lineup.

Price voluntarily entered the joint NHL

and NHL Players’ Association’s assistance

program during training camp. He has since

revealed he entered a residential treatment

facility for substance use. Weber, mean-

while, is on the long-term injury reserve list

with a foot/ankle injury and could be out for

the entire season.

Slumping Canadiens shake up their front officeAssociated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. — Dmitry Orlov scored on

a power play with 2:55 remaining, and the

Washington Capitals recovered after blowing

a two-goal lead to beat the Carolina Hurri-

canes 4-2 on Sunday.

Alex Ovechkin and Aliaksei Protas scored

59 seconds apart in the second period for the

Capitals, who’ve won nine of their last 11

games (9-1-1). John Carlson added an empty-

netter after posting two assists earlier.

The winning goal, which was set up by Tom

Wilson’s pass, came just seconds after Wash-

ington’s 5-on-3 advantage expired, but the

Capitals still had time with an extra skater.

Washington has a power-play goal in three of

its last four games.

“It was a great moment for us to win the

game,” Orlov said. “I tried to come there (in

the slot) and make a strong shot.”

Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Nino Niederreiter

scored in the third period for the Hurricanes.

Niederreiter’s goal, his first since Oct. 28, tied

the game at 2-2 with 6:28 remaining.

“That was a tough way to end the game. I

thought it was a great hockey game,” Carolina

coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “I thought we

had a great third period. We just did every-

thing we could.”

Ilya Samsonov stopped 30 shots for the Cap-

itals, while the Hurricanes’ Frederik Ander-

sen made 21 saves.

Samsonov, whose record improved to 9-0-1,

played in his third consecutive game for the

first time this season. There was plenty to keep

him busy.

“In a big game, in a big situation, too,” Wash-

ington coach Peter Laviolette said. “There

were some big saves that (Samsonov) made

out there.”

The teams entered the game with a league-

low three regulation losses apiece.

“The third was the period where probably

we were on our heels the most,” Laviolette

said. “We knew they were going to push and

they did.”

The teams combined for 28 shots without

scoring until Ovechkin took a pass from Orlov

and delivered the puck past Andersen for his

19th goal of the season.

Maple Leafs 5, Ducks 1: Michael Bunting,

Alexander Kerfoot and William Nylander

each had a goal and an assist, and Toronto beat

Anaheim to tie a franchise record with its sev-

enth straight road win.

The Maple Leafs also had seven straight

road wins in 1940-41, 1960-61 and 2002-03.

Auston Matthews scored for the third con-

secutive game, Wayne Simmonds had a goal,

and Jack Campbell made 39 saves for Toronto.

Hampus Lindholm scored and John Gibson

made 26 saves for the Ducks, who have lost

four of five following an eight-game win

streak.

Wild 4, Lightning 2: Ryan Hartman broke a

2-all tie midway through the third period, and

host Minnesota beat Tampa Bay.

Hartman scored for the third straight game

and has goals in five of the past six games to

give him 12 on the season.

Nick Bjugstad, Victor Rask and Marcus Fo-

ligno also scored for the Wild, who have won

three in a row and scored the most goals in the

NHL since Nov. 2. Minnesota’s Cam Talbot

made 28 saves.

Corey Perry scored for the second time in

three games for the Lightning, who had won

three games in a row and six of seven.

Sharks  2,  Blackhawks  0: Timo Meier

scored on a deflection and added an empty-net

goal, James Reimer earned his 42nd career

shutout, and visiting San Jose beat Chicago.

The Sharks won for the third time in four

starts, all with Reimer in goal. He was only

occasionally challenged en route to his first

shutout in 22 months, stopping 29 shots.

The loss was the third in five games for the

Blackhawks.

Devils 5, Flyers 2: Andreas Johnsson had

two goals and two assists, Jesper Bratt had a

goal and two assists, and host New Jersey beat

Philadelphia.

Dougie Hamilton had a goal and an assist,

and Nathan Bastian also scored for the Devils,

who snapped a two-game losing streak and

won at home for the first time since Nov. 11.

For the Flyers, Joel Farabee scored in his

third straight game and Scott Laughton had a

goal and an assist. Martin Jones made 30

saves, and Philadelphia dropped its sixth

game in a row.

Bruins  3,  Canucks  2: Brad Marchand

scored the tying goal on a power play in the

third period and set up David Pastrnak’s go-

ahead score, helping host Boston over Van-

couver.

Anton Blidh also scored for the Bruins, and

Linus Ullmark made 36 saves. Boston won for

the fifth time in seven games.

ROUNDUP

Orlov scores late, Caps top Canes

KARL B DEBLAKER/AP

The Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin, left, celebrates his goal with teammate Lars Eller while theHurricanes’ Brett Pesce kneels on the ice during the second period in Raleigh, N.C., Sunday.

Associated Press

PAGE 20 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Tuesday, November 30, 2021

COLLEGE FOOTBALL/SPORTS BRIEFS

Southern California desperate­

ly wanted a marquee head coach

after more than a decade of under­

achievement and embarrassment.

The Trojans landed one of the

biggest,  brightest  names  in  the

game.

USC hired Oklahoma’s Lincoln

Riley on Sunday in a stunning and

rare move of one traditional col­

lege football powerhouse swiping

another’s  highly  accomplished

coach.

Riley went 55­10 in five seasons

leading the Sooners, winning four

Big 12 titles and making three Col­

lege Football Playoff appearances

in  his  first  head  coaching  job.

Southern Cal sold the 38­year­old

Texan on the chance to return the

Trojans to their glory days as an

annual  national  championship

contender  and  the  West  Coast’s

premier program.

“USC has an unparalleled foot­

ball tradition with tremendous re­

sources and facilities, and the ad­

ministration  has  made  a  deep

commitment  to  winning,”  Riley

said in a statement. “I look forward

to honoring that successful tradi­

tion and building on it. The pieces

are in place for us to build the pro­

gram back to where it should be

and the fans expect it to be.”

Riley “will immediately transi­

tion  to  USC,”  according  to  the

school’s statement. Interim coach

Donte Williams will lead the Tro­

jans (4­7, 3­5 Pac­12) in their sea­

son finale at California on Satur­

day night.

Bob Stoops is returning as Okla­

homa’s interim head coach to lead

the Sooners in their bowl game, the

school announced. Riley took over

the program in 2017 when Stoops

retired, and Oklahoma has dom­

inated the Big 12 in the half­decade

since.

“Leaving OU was probably the

most difficult decision of my life,”

Riley said. “OU is one of the best

college  football  programs  in  the

country, and it has been forever.

That’s not going to change. It’s not

going to change in the SEC, it’s not

going to change with another head

coach. It’s stood the test of  time

and it’s going to continue to do so.

This was a personal decision solely

based on my willingness to go take

on a new challenge, and I felt like it

was the right opportunity for me

and my family to do that.”

Southern Cal fired Clay Helton

in  September  after  the  second

game  of  his  seventh  season  in

charge, and the school has been

searching  for  a  game­changing

head coach  to revive a program

that has had meager success since

a dominant run through the 2000s

under Pete Carroll that included

two national titles.

Since Carroll left for the Seattle

Seahawks in late 2009, the Trojans

have  struggled  under  three  for­

mer Carroll assistants and Helton,

who brought stability and profes­

sionalism to USC, but not nearly

enough on­the­field success while

going 46­24. With one game left,

the  Trojans  are  87­48  with  one

Pac­12 title, one Rose Bowl victory

and  no  College  Football  Playoff

berths in 12 years under Lane Kif­

fin, Ed Orgeron, Steve Sarkisian,

Helton and Williams.

The team has been a sleeping gi­

ant  on  the  college  football  land­

scape for over a decade — and Ri­

ley is expected to wake them up.

After being connected to several

top candidates for jobs in this hir­

ing  cycle,  USC  athletic  director

Mike  Bohn  managed  to  land  an

even more impressive name than

all but his most starry­eyed fans

imagined.

“His successes and offensive ac­

colades as a head coach the past

five years are astonishing,” Bohn

said of Riley. “Lincoln will recruit

relentlessly,  develop  his  players

on and off the field, and implement

a strong culture in which the pro­

gram will operate with the highest

level of integrity and professional­

ism. Lincoln is universally consid­

ered one of the brightest and most

talented football coaches in the na­

tion, and the fact that he chose USC

is a testament to the strength of our

brand,  the  power  of  the  Trojan

Family, and the leadership of our

university.”

Riley was Oklahoma’s offensive

coordinator when he was anointed

successor to Stoops, who led the

Sooners to 190 wins and a national

championship in 17 seasons. Okla­

homa has owned its conference ev­

er since the move, with Riley pro­

ducing two Heisman Trophy­win­

ning quarterbacks — Baker May­

field  and  Kyler  Murray  —  and

some of the most prolific offenses

in college football history.

While Riley doesn’t have major

ties  to  the  West  Coast,  he  has

recruited well in California’s tal­

ent­rich  areas,  and  the  Sooners

currently  have  several  commit­

ments  from elite California high

schoolers  over  the  next  two

recruiting classes. In the hours af­

ter Riley’s move, Malachi Nelson

— the Orange County high school

quarterback considered one of the

top prospects in the 2023 recruit­

ing class — decommitted from Ok­

lahoma, as did receiver Brandon

Inniss and running back Treyaun

Webb from Florida.

“One of the things that attracted

me to OU, other than the rich histo­

ry and amazing fans, was the sta­

bility  in  the  coaching  staff  and

their ability to develop the QB po­

sition,” Nelson wrote in his social

media post.

Riley led the Sooners to yet an­

other 10­win season this year, but

Oklahoma’s string of Big 12 titles

was  snapped  when  the  Sooners

(10­2) narrowly lost to Oklahoma

State on Saturday night. With Ok­

lahoma out of contention for the

College  Football  Playoff,  USC

dived in to make a splash.

Rumors connecting Riley to the

opening at LSU had been persist­

ent for several weeks, but he shot

them  down  after  the  Oklahoma

State game.

“I’m  not  going  to  be  the  next

head coach at LSU,” he said. “Next

question.”

He said nothing about USC.

Oklahoma will be forced to con­

duct its first head coaching search

since 1999 when the school hired

Stoops, who is scheduled to be in­

ducted  into  the  College  Football

Hall of Fame next week.

USC hires coach Rileyaway from Oklahoma

SUE OGROCKI/AP

Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley talks with his players duringSaturday’s loss to Oklahoma State. That was Riley’s last game withthe Sooners as he is leaving to coach at USC.

BY GREG BEACHAM

Associated Press

NEW YORK — Eight­time All­

Star  Max  Scherzer  is  nearing  a

$130 million, three­year contract

with the New York Mets, a person

familiar with the negotiations told

The Associated Press.

The person spoke on condition

of anonymity Monday because the

agreement was still being worked

on and would be subject to a suc­

cessful physical.

The $43.33 million average sal­

ary would easily set a baseball re­

cord,  smashing  the  $36  million

Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole in av­

eraging in his $324 million, nine­

year contract with New York.

Scherzer,  a  37­year­old  right­

hander,  would  have  the  right  to

opt out after the 2023 season to be­

come  a  free  agent  once  again.

Scherzer also receives a full no­

trade provision, requiring his ap­

proval for any deals.

A three­time Cy Young Award

winner, Scherzer was 15­4 with a

2.46 ERA last season for the Wash­

ington Nationals and Los Angeles

Dodgers, who acquired him on Ju­

ly 30. He struck out 236 and walk­

ed 36 in 1791⁄�3 innings, averaging

94.4 mph with his fastball in the fi­

nal season of a $210 million, seven­

year contract  that  included $105

million in deferred money paya­

ble from 2022­28.

He is 190­97 with a 3.16 ERA in

14 major league seasons for Arizo­

na  (2008­09),  Detroit  (2010­14),

Washington and the Dodgers.

Elder, first Black

to play Masters, diesLee Elder, who broke down ra­

cial barriers as the first Black gol­

fer  to  play  in  the  Masters  and

paved  the  way  for  Tiger  Woods

and others to follow, has died at

the age of 87.

The PGA Tour announced El­

der’s  death,  which  was  first  re­

ported Monday by Debert Cook of

African American Golfers Digest.

No cause or details were immedi­ately available, but the tour said itconfirmed Elder's death with hisfamily.

A native Texan who developedhis game during segregated timeswhile caddying, Elder made histo­ry  in  1975  at  Augusta  National,which had been an all­white tour­nament until he received an invi­tation after winning the MonsantoOpen the previous year.

Elder missed the cut at his firstMasters but forever stamped him­self as a groundbreaking figure ina sport that had never been knownfor racial tolerance.

Twenty­two years later, Woodsbecame  the  first Black golfer  tocapture the green jacket, launch­ing one of the greatest careers ingolf history.

This past April, in the wake ofsocial justice protests that roiledthe  nation,  the  Masters  honoredElder  by  having  him  join  JackNicklaus and Gary Player for theceremonial opening tee shots.

Elder was in poor health and un­able to take a swing, but he held uphis driver proudly at the first tee,clearly moved by the moment.

German government hints

at smaller crowdsThe German government sug­

gested Monday that big crowds atsports events should be reducedafter a weekend that featured oneempty­stadium Bundesliga gameand  another  with  a  crowd  of50,000.

Germany  leaves  policy  onsports events during the coronavi­rus pandemic to the state govern­ments,  but  there  are  calls  for  amore unified approach.

Outgoing  Chancellor  AngelaMerkel’s  spokesman,  SteffenSeibert, said it is “really hard tounderstand why 50,000 people arecoming together in a football sta­dium, even if it was approved,” ata time  when  experts  are  sayingthat contacts need to be reduced.

JOHN HEFTI/AP

Three­time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer is close to a $130million deal to join the New York Mets.

BRIEFLY

AP source: Scherzer

nears deal with MetsAssociated Press

Tuesday, November 30, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 21

NFL

STARS

Passing

Mac Jones, Patriots, completed

23 of 32 passes for 310 yards and two

touchdowns in New England’s 36-13

victory over Tennessee.

Aaron Rodgers, Packers, with-

stood pain from a toe injury, went 28 of

45 for 307 yards and threw two touch-

down passes and also ran for a score in

Green Bay’s 36-28 victory over the Los

Angeles Rams.

Joe Burrow, Bengals, scrambled

for a score and passed for another in

Cincinnati’s 41-10 win over Pittsburgh

to give it a sweep of the season series for

the first time since 2009.

Tua Tagovailoa, Dolphins, com-

pleted 27 of 31 passes for 230 yards

and a score in Miami’s 33-10 victory

over Carolina.

Rushing

Leonard Fournette, Buccaneers,

capped a four-touchdown game with a

28-yard scoring run with 20 seconds

left to give Tampa Bay a 38-31 come-

from-behind victory at Indianapolis. He

carried 17 times for 100 yards and three

scores and caught Tom Brady’s only TD

pass of the game.

Cordarrelle Patterson, Falcons,

ran for a career-high 108 yards and two

touchdowns in his return from an ankle

injury to help Atlanta past Jacksonville

21-14.

Deebo Samuel and Elijah Mitch-

ell, 49ers. Samuel ran for two touch-

downs before leaving with an injury and

Mitchell rushed for 133 yards and a

score, leading San Francisco to a 34-26

victory over Minnesota.

Myles Gaskin, Dolphins, had two

short TD runs to help Miami to a 33-10

victory over Carolina.

Dontrell Hilliard and D’Onta Fore-

man, Titans. They became the first Ten-

nessee backs other than Derrick Henry

to rush for 100 yards since 2018, with

Hilliard carrying 12 times for a career-

high 131 yards including a 68-yard TD,

in a 36-13 loss at New England. Fore-

man rushed 19 times for 109 yards.

Both also had costly turnovers.

Receiving

Jaylen Waddle, Dolphins, had

nine catches for a season-best 137

yards and a touchdown in Miami’s 33-

10 win over Carolina.

Kendrick Bourne, Patriots, had

both of New England’s touchdown re-

ceptions, finishing with five catches for

61 yards in a win over Tennessee.

Tee Higgins, Bengals, caught six

passes for 114 yards and a touchdown

in Cincinnati’s 41-10 win over Pitts-

burgh.

Adam Thielen, Vikings, had two

touchdown catches in a losing cause as

Minnesota fell 34-26 at San Francisco.

Special Teams

Kene Nwangwu, Vikings, had a

99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown

in Minnesota’s 34-26 loss at San Fran-

cisco. The running back had a 98-yard

kickoff return TD in Week 9, becoming

the first rookie to return a kickoff for a

score twice in a season since Cordarrelle

Patterson in 2013.

Justin Coleman and Duke Riley,

Dolphins. Coleman grabbed Riley’s

blocked punt and plowed in from 2

yards for a touchdown in Miami’s 33-10

win over Carolina.

Nick Folk, Patriots, kicked a 52-

yard field goal in the fourth quarter of

New England’s 36-13 win over Tennes-

see to tie Stephen Gostkowski (2013)

for the franchise record of five field goals

from 50 or more yards in a season.

Defense

Pat Surtain II, Broncos, had a pair

of interceptions to lead Denver past the

Los Angeles Chargers 28-13. The rookie

cornerback returned the second INT 70

yards for a game-sealing touchdown.

John Franklin-Myers, Jets, had

two sacks and an interception in New

York’s 21-14 victory at Houston, be-

coming the franchise’s first player to ac-

complish that feat since Lance Mehl in

1985.

Jaelan Phillips, Dolphins, had

three of Miami’s five sacks in a 33-10

victory over Carolina.

Shaquil Barrett, Buccaneers, had

two sacks and forced and recovered a

fumble on one of them in Tampa Bay’s

38-31 win at Indianapolis.

Rasul Douglas, Packers, returned

an interception of Matthew Stafford 33

yards for a touchdown in Green Bay’s

36-28 victory over the Los Angeles

Rams.

Ja’Whaun Bentley, Patriots,

forced two fumbles in New England’s

36-13 win over Tennessee.

MILESTONES

Tampa Bay’s Tom Brady has 30

touchdown passes this season, the

ninth season he has at least that many.

That ties him with Brett Favre and Pey-

ton Manning for the second most in NFL

history. Drew Brees holds the record

with 10 seasons of 30 or more TD

throws. ... Aaron Rodgers threw for 307

yards and two touchdowns in Green

Bay’s 36-28 win over the Los Angeles

Rams, his 60th career game with at

least 300 yards passing and two TD

passes. He joined Brees (97 games),

Brady (84) and Manning (70) as the on-

ly players with at least 60 such games.

... Keenan Allen had seven catches for

85 yards in a 28-13 loss at Denver, giv-

ing him 705 career receptions. He tied

Antonio Brown as the fastest players to

700 career catches, both doing it in 111

games.

STREAKS & STATS

Jacksonville has dropped 45 of its

past 52 games against teams from the

NFC after losing to Atlanta. The Jaguars

(2-9) are 0-4 this season versus the oth-

er conference. The latest defeat guaran-

teed the Jags another losing season,

their 10th in the past 11 years. ... Miami

beat Carolina 33-10 to become the sixth

team in NFL history to immediately fol-

low a 1-7 start with four consecutive

wins. ... Indianapolis’ Jonathan Taylor

ran for 83 yards and caught four passes

for 14 yards in the Colts’ 38-31 loss to

Tampa Bay — finishing 3 yards short of

a NFL record-breaking ninth consecu-

tive game with 100 or more yards from

scrimmage and a rushing TD. ... Minne-

sota has allowed 66 points in the final

two minutes of the first half, the most for

any team through 11 games since at

least 2000. ... The Vikings are also the

17th team in the Super Bowl era to take

a lead of at least seven points in each of

the first 11 games. The first 16 teams to

do it combined for an .852 winning per-

centage. The Vikings (5-6) are the only

team to do it and have a losing record.

NFL Today

the game for a 38-31 victory.

Why didn’t Taylor run the ball

on the first three possessions of

the second half?

“We were rolling,” Colts coach

Frank Reich said. “We tried to run

it in the first quarter, this is the No.

1run defense, and we weren’t get-

ting anything. We tried throwing

in the second quarter and started

having a lot of success. Carson was

hot. Called a bunch of RPOs that

got to throws because they were

throw reads. We come out in the

third quarter, we move the ball

well in the third quarter. We

moved down there twice, we’re

moving it well.”

The Colts became enamored

with the pass because it was work-

ing, but the turnovers ended up

hurting them. Perhaps, giving the

ball to Taylor in the third quarter

would’ve allowed Indianapolis to

extend the lead and avoid those

costly mistakes.

“When we turn it over, it gives

them life,” Reich said. “That’s No.

1. No. 2, they have Tom Brady.”

Reich’s former offensive coor-

dinator, Nick Sirianni, helped the

Eagles turn things around this

season after he committed to the

run. The first-year coach guided

Philadelphia (5-7) to three wins in

the last four weeks with a heavy

emphasis on the run, led by Hurts.

But against New York, the Eagles

moved away from it for stretches.

Hurts threw 31 passes and was

picked three times, including

twice in the red zone. He had a

chance at the end to win it, but Ja-

len Reagor couldn’t make a catch

near the goal line and the Giants

held on for a 13-7 win.

When the Eagles ran, they had

success, racking up 208 yards on

the ground. They just didn’t run it

enough to beat the Giants (4-7).

“When you turn the ball over

three times, there are different

things at play there, but not a win-

ning performance,” Sirianni said.

“Running the ball was good.”

The Ravens (8-3) defeated the

Browns (6-6) 16-10 despite a ca-

reer-worst four interceptions by

Jackson. Cleveland entered with

the league’s No. 1 rushing offense,

but handed the ball to Nick Chubb

and Kareem Hunt just 15 times

while Mayfield made 37 passes.

As the weather gets colder in

December, running teams will

have to do what they do best to

win.

Pass: Running teams shouldavoid falling into identity crisisFROM PAGE 24

AJ MAST/AP

The Colts’ Jonathan Taylor (28) is hit by the Tampa Bay Bucs’ SeanMurphy­Bunting (23) and Lavonte David on Sunday, in Indianapolis.

JOHN MUNSON/AP

Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts runs the ball during the first half of Sunday's game against theNew York Giants, in East Rutherford, N.J.

PAGE 22 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Tuesday, November 30, 2021

NFL

American Conference

East

W L T Pct PF PA

New England 8 4 0 .667 336 190

Buffalo 7 4 0 .636 326 182

Miami 5 7 0 .417 234 279

N.Y. Jets 3 8 0 .273 199 334

South

W L T Pct PF PA

Tennessee 8 4 0 .667 304 290

Indianapolis 6 6 0 .500 340 283

Houston 2 9 0 .182 164 292

Jacksonville 2 9 0 .182 173 283

North

W L T Pct PF PA

Baltimore 8 3 0 .727 263 240

Cincinnati 7 4 0 .636 309 226

Pittsburgh 5 5 1 .500 224 267

Cleveland 6 6 0 .500 254 267

West

W L T Pct PF PA

Kansas City 7 4 0 .636 281 250

Denver 6 5 0 .545 228 196

L.A. Chargers 6 5 0 .545 273 293

Las Vegas 6 5 0 .545 259 295

National Conference

East

W L T Pct PF PA

Dallas 7 4 0 .636 326 250

Philadelphia 5 7 0 .417 304 273

Washington 4 6 0 .400 212 267

N.Y. Giants 4 7 0 .364 202 253

South

W L T Pct PF PA

Tampa Bay 8 3 0 .727 347 253

Atlanta 5 6 0 .455 199 302

New Orleans 5 6 0 .455 257 249

Carolina 5 7 0 .417 236 253

North

W L T Pct PF PA

Green Bay 9 3 0 .750 283 242

Minnesota 5 6 0 .455 281 276

Chicago 4 7 0 .364 179 254

Detroit 0 10 1 .045 174 289

West

W L T Pct PF PA

Arizona 9 2 0 .818 310 202

L.A. Rams 7 4 0 .636 299 263

San Francisco 6 5 0 .545 280 248

Seattle 3 7 0 .300 194 209

Thursday, Nov. 25

Chicago 16, Detroit 14Las Vegas 36, Dallas 33, OTBuffalo 31, New Orleans 6

Sunday’s games

Atlanta 21, Jacksonville 14Cincinnati 41, Pittsburgh 10Miami 33, Carolina 10N.Y. Giants 13, Philadelphia 7N.Y. Jets 21, Houston 14New England 36, Tennessee 13Tampa Bay 38, Indianapolis 31Denver 28, L.A. Chargers 13Green Bay 36, L.A. Rams 28San Francisco 34, Minnesota 26Baltimore 16, Cleveland 10Open: Kansas City, Arizona

Monday’s game

Seattle at Washington

Thursday’s game

Dallas at New Orleans

Sunday, Dec. 5

Arizona at ChicagoIndianapolis at HoustonL.A. Chargers at CincinnatiMinnesota at DetroitN.Y. Giants at MiamiPhiladelphia at N.Y. JetsTampa Bay at AtlantaJacksonville at L.A. RamsWashington at Las VegasBaltimore at PittsburghSan Francisco at SeattleDenver at Kansas CityOpen: Cleveland, Tennessee, Car-

olina, Green Bay

Monday, Dec. 6

New England at Buffalo

Scoreboard

DENVER — Pat Surtain II

showed off not only his sticky hands

but his swift feet.

The rookie from Alabama picked

off Justin Herbert twice, returning

the second one 70 yards for a touch-

down and sparking the Denver

Broncos’ 28-13 win over the Los An-

geles Chargers on Sunday.

Surtain reached a top speed of

22.07 mph on his pick-6, according

to Next Gen Stats, the fastest by a

defensive back with the ball in his

hands in the last five years.

“I’ve always known I was fast,”

said Surtain. “I used to run track, so

I would say that little track back-

ground helped me a lot.”

The Broncos’ big win sets up a

showdown for the AFC West lead

next weekend in Kansas City,

where the game between Denver

(6-5) and the Chiefs (7-4) already

was flexed to Sunday night.

“No matter what happens,” said

safety Justin Simmons, “we’ve got

to find a way to leave Arrowhead

with a win,” something the Broncos

haven’t done since 2015.

Surtain’s first interception came

in the end zone on a pass intended

for tight end Jared Cook early in the

fourth quarter. Denver converted

that takeaway into a touchdown

when Teddy Bridgewater hit tight

end Eric Saubert from 9 yards to

make it 21-7.

Surtain’s second interception one

came off the hands of Austin Ekeler,

who watched helplessly as Surtain

sprinted past him and down the

Broncos’ sideline to push the Bron-

cos’ lead to 28-7 with 7:28 left.

“Those are two big swings in the

game and big, big plays,” Denver

coach Vic Fangio said.

“They do a great job of disguising

everything and they’re really well

coached,” said Herbert, who fin-

ished 28-for-44 for 303 yards and

two TDs with two interceptions and

three sacks. “When you put togeth-

er a really good coach like that with

some pretty exceptional players,

you get a really good defense.”

Featuring four rookie starters in

Surtain, safety Caden Sterns and li-

nebackers Jonathon Cooper and

Baron Browning, the Broncos’ de-

fense came up big on a day the inju-

ry-riddled offense lost Bridgewater

temporarily to a lower right leg in-

jury, left tackle Calvin Anderson

(knee), and left guard Dalton Risner

(back).

Bridgewater returned after half-

time and Denver closed out the win

by running the ball behind a ma-

keshift line, finishing with 147 yards

rushing against the league’s leakiest

run defense.

The Chargers’ first two drives of

the second half consisted of two doz-

en plays and ate up 14 minutes, 15

seconds. Both were fruitless.

The Broncos’ win means every

team in the division has a winning

record after 12 weeks.

“The AFC is still wide open,” said

the Chargers’ Derwin James Jr.

“We’re 6-5 right now and everyone

in the AFC pretty much has the

same record as us. Everything we

want is still there.”

Surtain’s picks leads Broncos past Chargers

JACK DEMPSEY/AP

Denver Broncos cornerback Pat Surtain II (2) celebrates one of histwo interceptions with teammates during the second half on Sunday.

BY ARNIE STAPLETON

Associated Press

CINCINNATI — Bengals cor-

nerback Mike Hilton, who played

for the Steelers for his first four

years, got his first pick-6 at any lev-

el of football against his former

team late in the first half Sunday.

Hilton’s interception of Ben

Roethlisberger put Cincinnati up

31-3 and seemed to serve as a sym-

bolic turning point in Pittsburgh’s

longtime domination of the Ben-

gals and the AFC North.

“To do it against those guys in a

big division game, it couldn’t be

any sweeter,” Hilton said as his

teammates shouted and the music

thumped in the locker room next

door.

The 41-10 win by Cincinnati (7-4)

on Sunday followed a double-digit

win in September, making it the

Bengals’ first season sweep of the

Steelers since 2009.

A 27-17 upset by Cincinnati last

Dec. 21 broke an 11-game winning

streak by Pittsburgh in the series.

“Beating these guys, for me

twice and for some of those other

guys three times straight, is a big

change of the guard in our opin-

ion,” said Hilton, who signed with

the Bengals as a free agent before

the season. “It’s given us a lot of

confidence, and guys are excited to

see how the rest of the season plays

out.”

Joe Mixon rushed for a career-

high 165 yards and two touch-

downs, Joe Burrow scrambled for

a score and passed for another one

as Cincinnati crushed the Steelers

(5-5-1) and kept them winless in

their past three games.

And the Bengals stamped them-

selves as a legitimate playoff con-

tender.

Mixon, coming off a rugged 123-

yard, two-TD performance in a win

over Las Vegas last week, pounded

away for 117 yards in the first half.

“To be honest, I feel like I’m

starting to reach that point, my

prime, like starting to get there,”

said Mixon, who was slowed by a

foot injury last season. “I know

what type of speed the defense

comes with, I know how to slow the

game down myself. As much as it

comes down to me making plays,

that has to do with my teammates.”

Cincinnati scored on its first four

drives, and then Hilton jumped

James Washington’s route and ran

it back 24 yards for a touchdown

with 30 seconds left in the half.

“It was a big moment, it was an

emotional moment,” Bengals

coach Zac Taylor said. “For Mike to

turn around and go the other way

with it really kind of catapulted us

to what we wanted to do the rest of

the day.”

The Cincinnti defense kept

Roethlisberger from getting any

real traction until it was too late. He

was picked off twice and sacked

three times, finishing with 263

yards.

Mixon, Bengals run over SteelersRunning back rushes forcareer-high 165 yards inCincinnati’s 41-10 victory

BY MITCH STACY

Associated Press

AARON DOSTER/AP

Cincinnati Bengals running back Joe Mixon celebrates after scoring a touchdown against the PittsburghSteelers during the first half of the Bengals’ 41­10 win Sunday in Cincinnati.

Tuesday, November 30, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 23

NFL

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Aaron

Rodgers isn’t letting his toe injury

lower his expectations even as it

limits his practice time.

Rodgers threw two touchdown

passes and also ran for a score in

the Green Bay Packers’ 36-28 vic-

tory over the Los Angeles Rams on

Sunday. Not bad for someone who

hadn’t practiced all week.

“When I step on the field, I ex-

pect greatness,” said Rodgers,

who says he fractured his pinky toe

while working out during his quar-

antine after a positive COVID-19

test. “Anyone who’s a great com-

petitor feels the same way. I don’t

lean on excuses: not practicing, a

little toe injury.”

Rodgers went 28-for-45 for 307

yards as the Packers bounced back

from a 34-31 loss at Minnesota. The

reigning MVP threw touchdown

passes of 7 yards to Randall Cobb

and 5 yards to A.J. Dillon.

His injury had caused him to

practice just once in the week lead-

ing up to his 385-yard, four-touch-

down effort at Minnesota.

“It definitely isn’t the ideal situa-

tion not to practice,” Rodgers said.

“But if I can go out there, take men-

tal reps, go through the plan and

my preparation and feel good

about what I’m doing, and when I

get out there, I’ve just got to rely on

my instincts. The beauty is it’s an

11-person-a-side game, and I really

feel the offensive line allowed me

just to settle in.”

The Rams outscored Green Bay

11-0 in the fourth quarter, but their

comeback attempt ended when

Adrian Amos recovered an onside

kick with 17 seconds left.

The Packers (9-3) have never

lost consecutive games within the

same season during Matt La-

Fleur’s three-year coaching ten-

ure. Green Bay heads into its off

week with a 3½-game lead over

Minnesota (5-6) in the NFC Cen-

tral.

“We’ve just got to keep stacking

wins and ride this momentum,”

Packers defensive tackle Kenny

Clark said.

Los Angeles (7-4) dropped its

third straight game and continual-

ly made mistakes to create scoring

opportunities for Green Bay,

which scored 16 points off three

Rams turnovers.

“Pretty self-explanatory, kind of

a lot of the same narratives,” Los

Angeles coach Sean McVay said.

“We turn the ball over too many

times. You can’t get behind against

a good football team like that. I do

love the way that our guys continue

to battle.”

Matthew Stafford went 21-

for-38 for 302 yards with three

touchdown passes. But he also lost

afumble to set up a touchdown and

had an interception returned for a

touchdown. Stafford has thrown a

pick-6 in each of the last three

games.

Odell Beckham Jr. had five

catches for 81 yards with a 54-yard

touchdown in his second game as a

Ram.

Rodgers opened the scoring and

put the Packers ahead for good

with a 1-yard touchdown to cap a

drive that began at the Los Angeles

6-yard line. Green Bay’s Rashan

Gary, coming back from an elbow

injury that sidelined him last week,

sacked Stafford and hit the quar-

terback’s elbow to cause a fumble

that Preston Smith recovered to

give the Packers first-and-goal.

“We’re going to continue to

learn from these things, that’s the

only thing that you can do,” McVay

said. “But we’ve got to stop with

some of these self-inflicted

wounds.”

AARON GASH/AP

Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers ran for one touchdown andthrew two touchdown passes in Sunday’s 36­28 defeat of the Rams.

Toe doesn’t slowRodgers as Packerstriumph over Rams

BY STEVE MEGARGEE

Associated Press 328Average passing yards per game overthe past three games by Packersquarterback Aaron Rodgers. On Sun-day, he was 28-for-45 for 307 yardsand two touchdown passes.

SOURCE: NFL.com

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The Titans ended an era

for the Patriots during the 2019 season when they

knocked them out of the playoffs in Tom Brady’s final

game in New England.

The Patriots are hoping Sunday’s victory over Ten-

nessee will be part of the blueprint to get them back to

the postseason without Brady.

Rookie Mac Jones threw two touchdown passes,

New England’s defense forced four turnovers and the

Patriots earned their sixth straight win, rolling past

the undermanned Titans 36-13.

“You’re not gonna win a Super Bowl now. You’re

gonna win it in February. We gotta keep that same

mindset,” defensive lineman Davon Godchaux said of

the victory, which snapped New England’s two-game

losing streak to Tennessee.

The Patriots (8-4) hadn’t beaten the Titans since

former New England linebacker Mike Vrabel took

over as coach in 2018. The Pats improved to 6-1 against

AFC opponents this season.

Jones completed 23 of 32 passes for 310 yards. Ken-

drick Bourne had both of New England’s touchdown

receptions, finishing with five catches for 61 yards.

Jones took multiple deep shots down the field, con-

necting with Bourne on a 41-yard TD and Jakobi

Meyers for 38 yards to set up a field goal.

“I can rely on any of them and we can rely on any of

them,” Jones said.

Tennessee (8-4) stayed close early, but couldn’t sur-

vive a bevy of errors that included three fumbles by its

running backs and an interception by Ryan Tannehill.

He finished 11-for-21 for 93 yards and a touchdown.

“Put all those together and you put yourself in a dif-

ficult situation,” Tannehill said.

Playing without star Derrick Henry (foot surgery)

for the fourth straight game, the Titans had mixed re-

sults from their rushing attack. They also were mis-

sing several other starters, notably top receiver A.J.

Brown (chest), guard Nate Davis (concussion) and li-

nebacker Rashaan Evans (ankle).

Dontrell Hilliard and D’Onta Foreman became the

first Tennessee backs other than Henry to rush for 100

yards since 2018. Hilliard carried 12 times for a ca-

reer-high 131 yards and a 68-yard TD. He also a fum-

ble in the second quarter that set up a Patriots field

goal.

Foreman rushed 19 times for 109 yards and broke

free for a 34-yard rush in the third quarter. That also

ended in turnover after he was stripped from behind

by J.C. Jackson.

New England took an early lead following a poor

start by the Titans. It included a penalty on their kick-

off return, a 1-yard run loss on their first play from

scrimmage and giving up a sack on third down. Ten-

nessee then had to punt twice after being penalized for

an illegal shift.

It all added up to a short field for the Patriots, who

started on the Titans 37. New England needed only

nine plays to go up 7-0 following a 4-yard TD pass from

Jones to Bourne.

STEVEN SENNE/AP

Tennessee Titans quarterback Ryan Tannehill, center, is brought down by New England Patriots middlelinebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley, left, and safety Adrian Phillips during the Patriots’ 36­13 win Sunday.

Jones throws 2 TD passesas Patriots thump Titans

STEVEN SENNE/AP

Patriots wide receiver Kendrick Bourne, left,breaks free from Titans inside linebacker JayonBrown in Sunday’s game at Foxborough, Mass.Bourne had two touchdown catches in the game.

BY KYLE HIGHTOWER

Associated Press

PAGE 24 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Tuesday, November 30, 2021

SPORTS

Source: Scherzer nears deal with Mets ›› Sports briefs, Page 20

Throwing the football in the NFL is so al-

luring it can seduce even the best run

teams.

The Indianapolis Colts forgot they

have Jonathan Taylor after relying on Carson

Wentz’s arm to build a 10-point halftime lead

against the defending Super Bowl champion Buc-

caneers.

The Philadelphia Eagles climbed into the play-

off race because of a potent rushing attack and let

Jalen Hurts throw it away against the Giants.

The Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns

combined for five turnovers on pass plays in the

second quarter Sunday night. Lamar Jackson

threw three picks. Baker Mayfield and wide re-

ceiver Jarvis Landry fumbled on sacks.

If the Ravens didn’t play against the Browns,

the NFL’s five top running teams would’ve lost in

Week 12. The Tennessee Titans, who entered with

the league’s fifth-ranked rushing offense, kept

rolling on the ground with 270 yards, but they

were blown out by the Patriots 36-13.

Most baffling was the Colts’ play calling in the

second half.

Facing the league’s stingiest run defense, Indi-

anapolis couldn’t get Taylor going early. Tampa

Bay (8-3) wasn’t going to allow Taylor, the

league’s first 1,000-yard rusher this season, to

beat them. It dared the Colts to throw, and Wentz

responded with three perfect touchdown passes

in the first half for a 24-14 lead.

Indianapolis (6-6) got the ball to start the

third quarter and kept on throwing.

Wentz dropped back on 26 straight

plays at one point, including the fi-

nal eight plays in the second

quarter. The results in the sec-

ond half were disastrous.

Shaquil Barrett’s strip-sack

of Wentz led to a touch-

down for the Bucca-

neers. Wentz then threw

apick on a deep ball in which Antoine Winfield Jr.

made a leaping grab over Michael Pittman Jr.

That led to another touchdown for Tampa Bay.

When the Colts finally handed it to Taylor again

in the fourth quarter, he gained 58 yards on eight

carries, including a game-tying TD. But Tom Bra-

dy then led the Buccaneers on the winning drive

with Leonard Fournette scoring his fourth TD of

Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson scrambles against the Cleveland Browns, Sunday, in Baltimore.The Ravens held off the Browns 16­10 despite a career­high four interceptions from Jackson.

GAIL BURTON/AP

Ground downAllure of the pass seduces even league’s best run teams

BY ROB MAADDI

Associated Press

SEE PASS ON PAGE 21

NFL: ON FOOTBALL

15Total rushing attempts by the Cleveland Browns (6-6) on Sunday in a16-10 loss to the Baltimore Ravens (8-3). Cleveland entered with theleague’s top-ranked rushing offense, but handed the ball to Nick Chubband Kareem Hunt just 15 times while quarterback Baker Mayfieldattempted 37 passes.

SOURCE: Associated Press

California dreamin’

Riley bolts Oklahoma to take job asUSC coach ›› College football, Page 20