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Dems see a blessing in Trump tax law

Funding for rural health earns governors' praise

Joey Garrison USA TODAY

WASHINGTON – Maryland Gov. Wes Moore warned last year that everyone besides the super-rich is “getting hosed” by President Donald Trump’s signature One Big Beautiful Bill. But one year later, the Democratic governor is touting one piece of the massive tax and spending law.

Moore announced his state's new efforts in August to expand health care access to rural Marylanders, declaring "Marylanders' ability to access affordable and quality health care should not depend on their ZIP code." The undertaking is funded by \$168 million in federal money Maryland received this year from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act – the same law Democrats worked to defeat and Trump's biggest legislative achievement of his second term.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore is hailing \$168 million in federal money in a bill Democrats once fought to defeat. BRENDAN MCDERMID/REUTERS

The law, which passed with only Republican votes in Congress, created the five-year, \$50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program, dangling federal money to states to boost health care services in rural areas. Maryland is using an initial \$80 million from its tranche to expand access to primary care, mental care services and dental services in rural parts of the state.

"This \$80 million allocation is another step in our administration's commitment to investing and expanding innovative initiatives to drive health outcomes for Maryland's rural communities, leaving no one behind," Moore said in a statement Aug. 10, without mentioning the money came from the law that's the centerpiece of Trump's economic agenda.

Like Democrats on Capitol Hill, Democratic governors fiercely opposed Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill. They slammed it for extending Trump's 2017 tax cuts, allowing pandemic-era enhanced Obamacare health premiums to expire and establishing new work eligibility requirements for Medicaid that are expected to force 7.8 million people off their health insurance by 2034, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The inclusion of \$50 billion for rural health care in Trump's megabill helped ease concerns from some Republican lawmakers about the cuts to Medicaid – an anticipated reduction of \$911 billion over 10 years – and its potential impact on rural hospitals.

Democratic governors still say the

See RURAL HEALTH, Page 6A

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Parents detained, 'leaving us all alone'

Wendy Domingo, an 18-year-old U.S. citizen, sits next to her brother on Aug. 12. She was driving when Border Patrol agents pulled her over and detained her parents on Aug. 9. GREG LOVETT/USA TODAY NETWORK

Daughter, 18, now in charge of 4 siblings in Florida

"They say this is supposed to make America great but they're crushing my people's dreams."

Wendy Domingo Daughter, 18, of detained parents

Valentina Palm Palm Beach Post | USA TODAY NETWORK

WEST PALM BEACH, FL

Federal immigration authorities in Florida detained a Lake Worth Beach couple on Aug. 9 as their family of seven drove away from church. They were on the way to buy shoes for their four youngest children before school resumed the following day. ● The five U.S.-born children of Maria Leiva and Abraham Domingo sobbed as Border Patrol agents detained their parents, who are undocumented immigrants from Guatemala, after stopping their minivan. ● The Domingo family, which has lived in the United States for nearly 20 years, recorded the encounter on a video that has been shared widely across social media. It shows the children, ages 3 to 18, crying and hugging their parents as they are led away.

See DETAINED, Page 6A

Fall forecast calls for summer extension

El Niño expected to reach 'very strong' strength

It's been called "super" and "monster," but that's not the official label. 2A

A dog beats the heat on Aug. 7 in New York City. High temperatures are expected to linger as weather forecasts call for a warm fall across most of the United States. JORDAN TOVIN/REUTERS

El Niño dominant driver of weather patterns

Doyle Rice USA TODAY

The nation's scorching summer – which featured the hottest July on record – is almost in the rearview mirror, and attention now turns to the season of pumpkin spice, falling leaves and, hopefully, mercifully cooler temperatures.

However, this year, it may take longer than usual for summer warmth to fade, in part, due to El Niño strengthening, according to a new federal forecast and commentary from AccuWeather meteorologist Brian Lada.

The Climate Prediction Center's fall temperature outlook map for the United States shows that nearly coast-to-coast above-average temperatures are expected in September through November, except for a spot in the Ohio Valley where there are equal chances for

See FALL WEATHER, Page 2A

Thousands in Indiana still lack electricity

Protracted delay after storm prompts concern

Dinah Voyles Pulver USA TODAY

As thousands of northwestern Indiana residents remain without electricity nearly two weeks after a violent storm Aug. 11, officials have taken to social media to voice their frustration over the restoration delays.

Roughly 9,000 customers in Gary, Indiana, remained without electricity Aug. 23, Gary Mayor Eddie Melton said in a video posted to the city's Facebook.

“We’re at Day 12 and 12 days is too long for families to be without power,” Melton said. “Twelve days is too long for parents to worry about their children and for businesses to lose revenue and for families to wonder when the relief is finally going to come. I want you to know I share that frustration.”

The storm with winds of 70 mph to more than 100 mph swept across northern Illinois and northwestern Indiana on Aug. 11, knocking down trees and damaging homes and power lines.

Dinky Austin and her daughter, Nae Lewis, are still without power more than a week after storms struck Gary, Indiana. OCTAVIO JONES/REUTERS

Gary resident Desmond Poppy said in a Reuters video interview published Aug. 22 that his community is “really under siege.”

Indiana Gov. Mike Braun voiced similar concerns to Melton in an X post Aug. 23.

The Indiana National Guard and teams from other state agencies have been mobilized “to literally clear the way for NIPSCO utility crews,” Braun posted after declaring a statewide emergency Aug.13. “There is no excuse for these delays.”

Utility company: 'No outage is being overlooked'

The area's electrical provider, the Northern Indiana Public Service Company, reported Aug. 23 that almost 16,500 customer accounts remained without electricity as of 4 p.m. CT.

“We have engaged additional contractor crews throughout our service territory and continue to bring in support from neighboring utilities and mutual assistance partners from across the country,” the company said. “No outage is being overlooked, and no customer will be left behind as we continue this restoration effort.”

The company said it intended to have power broadly restored to Munster, Indiana, by midnight Aug. 24 and to Gary and Portage by midnight Aug. 25.

The estimates “should not be interpreted as the exact restoration time for an individual home or business,” the company said. It could take longer to restore electricity to individual homes or businesses based on the extent of localized damage, the company said.

At its highest point, 374,500 outages were reported after Aug. 11, the company said.

Melton said he made it “very clear” to the utility provider that the pace of restoration is unacceptable for the thousands of residents who remain in the dark.

Contributing: Reuters

El Ninão grows into a ‘monster’ as nicknames gain strength

‘Very strong’ for now, but don’t call it Super

Dinah Voyles Pulver USA TODAY

With sharks on the move, sea surface temperatures skyrocketing and one tropical system after another in the eastern Pacific, signs of a potentially historic El Niño seem to be popping up all over.

This climate powerhouse is expected to reach unprecedented strength later in 2026, inspiring a flurry of colorful, descriptive terms across social media posts, blogs and news stories. "Monster," "mega," "mind-blowing" and even "flamethrower" have appeared in posts and headlines to describe it.

Grasping for a catchy description seems only natural. We name fires and hurricanes. We've debated naming winter storms. The intense 2015-2016 El Niño was widely dubbed Godzilla as people compared it to the very strong El Niño in 1997-1998. That nickname even emerged in scientific papers.

And yet scientists have consistently said the appropriate term for this El Niño is simply “very strong.”

The description comes from an official classification from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It's based on the three-month average that categorizes El Niño as weak, moderate, strong or very strong.

Even so, “very strong” just doesn’t have quite the same cachet as a “Cat 5

That leaves meteorologists, social media users and journalists reaching for adjectives to describe this El Niño. "Super" is the description most often being used, but that has prompted reminders from science communicators who say that at the very least it shouldn't be "Super" with a capital S behurricane" or an "EF-5" tornado.

“Especially if this event meets or exceeds the peak levels seen in previous El Niño years, maybe we will need language to differentiate it.”

cause it's not an official NOAA term.

Emily Becker
Research professor, University of Miami's Rosenstiel School

Humans tend to want to name and compare historic weather events, said Adam Rainear, an associate professor of communication and media at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. It makes it easier to understand events.

As the Pacific heats up this summer, the term “super” has grown on some of the scientists who were uneasy with the word earlier in the summer.

“Especially if this event meets or exceeds the peak levels seen in previous El Niño years, maybe we will need language to differentiate it,” said Emily Becker, a research professor at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School.

Climate scientist Michael Mann was not a fan of using the word “super” before El Niño arrived. “Now that the event has materialized, it’s fair to characterize it in those terms,” said Mann,

Specifically, Handel said, "the

Where will it be hottest in fall?

Continued from Page 1A

above- and below-average temperatures.

El Niño will dominate

Fall weather

"The September-October-November 2026 temperature outlook favors above-normal temperatures for most of Alaska as well as the western and central contiguous United States, the Great Lakes, Northeast, mid-Atlantic, Florida, and coastal areas of the Southeast and Gulf," National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climate Prediction Center lead meteorologist Scott Handel wrote in an online forecast released on Aug. 20.

Lada, in an online forecast, said September may feel more like an extension of summer across parts of the country, especially in the mid-Atlantic and southeastern United States, where the above-average temperatures will be paired with high humidity and warm nights.

In a bit of good news for fall weather lovers, Handel said cold snaps are still possible amid warmer-than-average temperatures.

highest probabilities (greater than 50 percent) of above normal temperatures are forecast across southeastern Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, northern Rockies, and adjacent areas of the northern High Plains and northwestern California."

Also keep in mind that fall has two different starting dates: Meteorological fall starts on Sept. 1, while astronomical fall, which takes place at the autumnal equinox, begins at 8:05 p.m. ET on Sept. 22. The outlook from the Climate Prediction Center covers the months of September, October and November.

Experts say that El Niño will likely be the dominant driver of weather across the United States this fall. “Because the signal will be very strong, the confidence level is good that El Niño will drive a majority of the weather features across the nation this fall and winter,” according to an email to USA TODAY from AccuWeather meteorologist Paul Pastelok.

The temperature outlook also features an area of “equal chances” across the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys and nearby areas, where warm trends are relatively weak compared to other areas of the country, Handel said.

Overall, the main headlines for fall weather are that the very strong El Niño will bring rain relief to the southern tier of the nation while wildfires continue to burn into early fall in the Northwest, Pastelok said.

The fall precipitation forecast map for the United States shows that drier-than-average conditions are expected in parts of the Northwest and Northeast, while the Southwest and Southeast should be wetter-than-average.

"The greatest chances (higher than 40 percent) for above normal precipitation are indicated for much of the Southwest and adjacent areas of the Great Basin and central and southern Rockies as well as for parts of the coastal Southeast," Handel wrote.

Because such strong events are still unusual, “we don’t have a lot of comparisons for this,” Rainear said. “We’ve only had a few really extreme El Niños that we can point to. Without a tangible way to create your comparison, how do you know if this El Niño is any worse?”

Michael McPhaden, a recently retired NOAA senior scientist who has studied El Niño for more than 40 years, said he doesn't believe “we need to make a new category for this event.”

“There have been three what we would call extreme El Niño events in the past 50 years,” in 1982-83, 1997-98 and 2015-16, he said. “This event we’ll get to in 2026-27 will rival those, if not exceed those, in magnitude.”

director of the Penn Center for Science, Sustainability & the Media at the University of Pennsylvania. “It does look like it will potentially be the largest El Niño event on record.”

Ultimately, what's in a name doesn't seem to have a big role in the public risk perception, he said. That's evident in NOAA's hurricane messaging, when forecasts warn those in harm's way to pay less attention to the category and more attention to the damage potential of each particular storm. NOAA takes its public safety messaging seriously, working with sociologists on how to convey messages. It's one reason the National Hurricane Center has retooled its forecast cone graphic.

He added that “a slight tilt toward below normal precipitation amounts are forecast across much of the Great Lakes, Northeast, and across northern and eastern Washington State and adjacent areas of northern Idaho and northwestern Montana.”

On the map, the rest of the nation shows equal chances for above- and below-normal amounts of precipitation.

Fall precipitation forecast

Which will it get cooler first?

If this El Niño turns out as big as scientists think it will be, he said, “we will have had three major El Niños in the course of a decade, not something we’ve seen in the previous 150 years in the historical instrumental record.”

"As we progress deeper in the fall, and the effects of El Niño begin to assert itself to a greater degree, the southern tier of the United States is least likely to experience warmer than normal temperatures," Handel said in an e-mail to USA TODAY.

“However, it is important to note that fall is a very changeable season and these outlooks pertain to the mean temperature for the season as a whole and not to individual cold snaps that may occur within the season,” he said.

“Individual cold snaps can occur even in areas where the season as a whole turns out to be warmer than normal.”

When will snow arrive this fall?

According to AccuWeather, the first snowflakes of the season will be confined mainly to the mountains but could reach more populated areas later in November.

“Late September and early October could bring snow to the highest elevations of the Rockies in Montana, Idaho and Wyoming. Snow may be slower to arrive in the Cascades of Washington and Oregon due to a warmer start to fall,” Lada said in an online forecast.

Snow chances should increase in the Rockies during November, especially in Colorado, Utah and New Mexico, where a couple of early-season snow events are possible, AccuWeather said.

Drought a worry in some areas

“Sustained, severe-to-exceptional drought across the Southwest has driven water levels in Lake Mead and Lake Powell to historic lows,” said Yun Fan, a meteorologist at NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center in an email to USA TODAY. “Some relief is expected during the September–October–November season if forecasts hold true.”

“Drought is likely to expand and intensify across Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands as a strong El Niño drives suppressed rainfall over the Caribbean,” Fan said. “With El Niño expected to persist through at least next spring, water supplies will become a major concern for the region.”

Will wildfires be a significant concern in the West?

Pastelok said, “Yes, mainly early in the fall. Fires will continue to burn in the Northwest strong through early to mid-September with a lack of rain, then because of the set up in the northeast Pacific, there can be some rain and snow to diminish the risk of new fires significantly by later in September and October.”

Because of drier conditions typical in fall during El Niño in the upper Midwest, Great Lakes and Northeast, there is concern for an early to midseason fire risk, especially as leaves fall to the ground, Pastelok said.

What single fall forecast feature that people may be overlooking?

"The quick change to wet weather from the southern Plains to the interior Southeast this fall, leading to flooding potential," Pastelok told USA TODAY.

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Volume 44, No. 243

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Firefighters pack their truck after responding to a burned building during the Hawk Fire on Aug. 23 in Reno, Nevada. TREVOR BEXON/GETTY IMAGES

Thousands ordered to flee as fire burns near Reno, Nevada

Responders struggle to contain Hawk Fire

Christopher Cann, Jason Hidalgo and Siobhan McAndrew USA TODAY NETWORK

Crews struggled to contain a large wildfire near Reno, Nevada, that has forced thousands of people to flee their homes, destroyed structures and caused multiple injuries.

The Hawk Fire ignited Aug. 22 and quickly consumed more than 15,000 acres, or 23 square miles, near Reno as strong winds and dry brush fueled the flames, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. The blaze was 0% contained as of Monday, Aug. 24.

About 42,000 people were ordered to leave their homes, and another 40,000 were placed under evacuation warnings and urged to leave the area. Road closures were in effect across much of the area northwest of downtown Reno.

Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo declared an emergency for Washoe County, which includes Reno and the northeast portion of Lake Tahoe.

The fire has consumed an undetermined number of buildings, Shane Akerson, a battalion chief with the Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District, said at a briefing Aug. 23. The fire, which started in the Peavine Peak area of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, was human-caused, and the source of the ignition was under investigation.

At least six people had been injured, including three civilians and three first responders, Akerson said.

Thousands of people across northwest Reno received “Go Now” notifications Aug. 22. Residents described idling in traffic as roads became jammed with evacuees.

For brothers Andrew Garcia and Logan Mann, fleeing with their grandmother from her apartment meant gathering three dogs and seven cats in a matter of minutes.

"We saw flames hitting our apartment and other homes burning," Andrew, 14, told the Reno Gazette-Journal, part of the USA TODAY Network.

Andrew said they left the apartment about 3 p.m. local time on Aug. 22 and spent the night at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center, where authorities had established a temporary shelter.

Jenni Lejarza, along with her children and grandchildren, also spent the night at the convention center after trying to find a hotel room. After the fire broke out, they had monitored its spread and believed they were in the clear. But around 10 p.m. Aug. 22, they were ordered to leave.

“We had even unpacked all of our important documents and belongings, so when we got the alert to leave now, it was scary and fast,” Lejarza said.

"It was OK, but a hard night."

Contributing: Dinah Voyles Pulver

Contributing: Dinah Voyles Pulver Christopher Cann reports for USA TODAY. Jason Hidalgo and Siobhan McAndrew report for the Reno Gazette-Journal.

Judge denies student athlete's request for new murder trial

N'dea Yancey-Bragg USA TODAY

A Texas judge has denied a request for a new trial for Karmelo Anthony, the teenager convicted of murder for killing a fellow student athlete at an April 2025 track meet.

Anthony, 19, was convicted and sentenced to 35 years in prison in June for the fatal stabbing of 17-year-old Austin Metcalf, in Frisco, north of Dallas. Prosecutors argued that Anthony initiated and quickly escalated the deadly confrontation while Anthony's defense has maintained he acted in self-defense. The closely watched trial drew national attention and was marked by controversy, racial tensions and public demonstrations in support of both families.

After Anthony's conviction, his new legal team filed a motion asking the court to grant him a new trial and remove the judge who presided over his murder trial from future proceedings for multiple reasons, including that prosecutors reneged on an off-the-record agreement during the trial and the judge imposed courtroom restrictions that violated his right to a public trial.

Judge Sid Harle sided with the defense on Aug. 19 and ordered that Collin County Judge John Roach Jr. be removed from the case. But days later, Judge Michael Chitty denied the defense's motion for a new trial, attorneys for the defense and prosecution confirmed to USA TODAY.

Anthony's legal team said in a statement to USA TODAY that they are "disappointed" in Chitty's ruling but "not deterred."

“We will continue to challenge Karmelo’s conviction and pursue every legal remedy available to him,” the attorneys said in a statement. “We will take these issues to the appellate courts and wherever else the law permits us to go because we believe deeply in Karmelo, in his constitutional rights and in the justice we are seeking on his behalf.”

Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis said prosecutors “respect, and expected the court’s decision denying the motion for a new trial.

"The jury's guilty verdict stands, and we remain confident in the process," Willis said in a statement. "Every defendant has the right to appeal, and our thoughts and prayers remain with the Metcalf family in the painful wake of last week's hearing."

Contributing: Mateo Rosiles, USA TODAY Network

PA teenager is accused of killing his girlfriend

Mother faces charges for helping to cover it up

Jeanine Santucci USA TODAY

An 18-year-old in Pennsylvania is accused of stabbing his girlfriend to death, and his mother is accused of helping him cover it up, according to investigators in criminal complaints against the pair.

Karoline Heintz, also 18 and a college soccer player, was found dead in the back hatch of a Jeep Cherokee, which had blood spatters inside and outside the vehicle, shortly after midnight Aug. 20 in the borough of California, about an hour's drive from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania State Police trooper Rocco Gagliardi said.

Her boyfriend, Royce Moser, has been charged with homicide and counts related to tampering with evidence, abuse of a corpse, obstruction and conspiracy. His mother, Rachel Moser, 56, was charged with hindering the apprehension of a fugitive, obstruction, abuse of a corpse and conspiracy.

Authorities said in a criminal complaint that Royce Moser stabbed Heintz with a kitchen knife inside her Jeep, then dragged her into the back hatch and drove the vehicle to his mother's house. He told investigators he and his mother took steps to clean up evidence; then he drove the Jeep near Heintz's university campus while his mother drove her own car so she could drive him back home afterward, the complaint said.

The stabbing happened after an argument, Gagliardi told reporters.

Heintz was a freshman at Pennsylvania Western University, California, where she was on the women's soccer team.

It was not clear whether Rachel or Royce Moser had an attorney who could comment on their behalf.

USA TODAY reached out to the public defender's office for Washington County, Pennsylvania, where their charges were filed. The two were denied bail Aug. 20 and are due back in court Aug. 31, according to court records.

Heintz and Royce Moser met up the night of Aug. 19 and were talking inside the Jeep, which belonged to Heintz's family, parked outside Royce Moser's father's house in North Strabane Township, Gagliardi said.

At some point the conversation went “a little bit south,” he said.

Royce Moser told investigators he asked Heintz to wait while he went inside the house to get something for her, the complaint said. He returned with a large knife from the kitchen and “proceeds to stab her in the chest area,” Gagliardi said. Heintz fell out of the vehicle, and he dragged her to the back of the car, according to the criminal complaint.

Royce Moser then drove the Jeep to his mother's house in Beallsville and they discussed what they should do, Gagliardi said. He told investigators Rachel Moser told him to bring the car inside the garage and she would help him clean it up with disinfectant spray, according to the criminal complaint.

“She then gave him latex gloves and told him to follow her vehicle toward the university,” the complaint said.

Surveillance footage obtained by investigators showed Royce Moser driving Heintz's car near the area where it was later found and wearing blue latex gloves, the complaint said. The footage showed him following another car registered to his mother, driven by a woman who was also wearing blue gloves.

They drove back to Rachel Moser's house in her car, and Rachel Moser told her son to bathe and change his clothes, investigators said. According to the criminal complaint, Royce Moser told investigators his mother put the knife in a trash bag and placed the bag in the garbage outside the home and put his clothes in the washing machine.

Heintz's family called police in California to check on Heintz after an Apple Airtag in her car and her phone's location data showed she never made it back to her dorm and her father couldn't contact her.

Heintz graduated from Peters Township High School in the spring and joined the PennWest – California soccer team as a defender, according to a statement from the university's athletics department.

Heintz was an “18-year-old girl, young, soccer star, ready to explore life, ready to start college, now can no longer get to do that,” Gagliardi said. “Now she can no longer get to pursue her dreams.”

Athletic Director Karen Hjerpe said Heintz was “a bright and kind young woman with so much ahead of her.”

Heintz's family said in a statement released by the Pennsylvania State Police that they want justice for “our ‘sweet’ Karoline.”

“This is a parent’s worst nightmare. It has been devastating for family, friends, and the whole community,” the family said in the statement. “Karoline was loved by all. She was a kind, smart, beautiful girl.”

Ex-deputy convicted in Massey case dies

He had sought medical release per Illinois law

Steven Spearie USA TODAY NETWORK

SPRINGFIELD, IL – Sean Grayson, the former Sangamon County Sheriff's deputy convicted of murdering Sonya Massey in her home in 2024, died on Aug. 23, his lawyer said.

Daniel Fultz of Springfield, one of Grayson's defense attorneys, confirmed the death. Messages seeking comment from the Illinois Department of Corrections were not immediately returned to The State Journal-Register, part of the USA TODAY Network.

Grayson's death comes a little more

Massey

than three weeks after his hearing before the Illinois Prisoner Review Board. Grayson, who was being held out of state, sought early release, but the board denied his request in a 3-0 vote. Panel members

did not comment on the case after hearing testimony and voting.

Grayson sought the hearing under a statute enacted in Illinois in 2022 that allows prisoners who have terminal illnesses or advanced medical conditions to apply for release. He was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer in 2023 and Stage 4 rectal cancer and cancer in his liver and lungs later on.

The former sheriff's deputy, who was White, was serving a 20-year sentence after a Peoria County jury convicted him of second-degree murder in October. He had faced first-degree murder charges before the nine-woman, three-man jury received instructions on the lesser charge of second-degree murder.

Many supporters of Massey, a 36-year-old Black woman and the mother of two children, didn't believe a second-degree murder conviction was harsh enough. Grayson was sentenced to the maximum term in January by Seventh Circuit Presiding Judge Ryan Cadagin.

Before sentencing, Grayson asked the Massey family for forgiveness but said he accepted their anger.

What happened to Sonya Massey

The former deputy fatally shot Massey in her Cabbage Patch neighborhood home on July 6, 2024, after she called 911 to report a possible intruder. Video from the body-worn camera of Grayson's partner, Dawson Farley, captured the shooting and drew international attention to the case.

Grayson did not activate his body-worn camera until after the shooting.

Inside Massey's home, Grayson told her to take a pot of hot water off the stove. While holding the pot, Massey said "I rebuke you in the name of Jesus." Grayson responded by saying, "You better not," and that he would shoot Massey.

He pulled out his weapon and yelled at Massey to drop the pot.

“OK, I'm sorry,” Massey said before ducking behind her kitchen counter. Grayson approached and fired three times, striking Massey once in the face. She was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital.

Concerning Massey's comment, "I interpreted this to mean she was going to kill me," Grayson wrote in his report.

Within weeks, Grayson was fired and arrested on murder charges. Sangamon Sheriff Jack Campbell retired after pressure from Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker to resign. To resolve a federal probe by the Department of Justice, the sheriff's office and county agreed to update its procedures and training to better engage with those experiencing mental health crises.

Questions have centered on the hiring of Grayson, who worked for six different agencies in four years before joining the Sangamon County Sheriff's Office in May 2023.

His record included two DUIs, a discharge from the Army for “serious misconduct,” and complaints against him from the people he policed as well as other law enforcement officers. Details of his previous law enforcementwork were excluded from the murder trial.

Steven Spearie reports for The State Journal-Register.

Contributing: Christopher Cann, USA TODAY

Study ties album releases to fatal crashes

Traffic deaths rise along with new music streams

Anthony Thompson

USA TODAY

A new album may be a reason to turn up the volume, but new research suggests highly anticipated music releases also could coincide with an increase in traffic deaths.

Researchers from Harvard Medical School and Mass General Brigham found that U.S. traffic fatalities were 15.1% higher on the release days of 10 of the most-streamed albums from 2017 through 2022 than on the 10 days before and after those releases. The study, published Aug. 17 in JAMA, estimated 139.1 traffic fatalities on major album release days, compared with 120.9 on surrounding days.

The research was inspired by Vishal Patel, a physician at Mass General Brigham and researcher at Harvard Medical School. Patel told CNN he realized he had drifted out of his lane while scrolling Spotify for songs from a new Taylor Swift album. The experience prompted him and his colleagues to investigate whether traffic fatalities increased when major artists released new albums.

The researchers analyzed 233,809

U.S. traffic fatalities recorded in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Fatality Analysis Reporting System from 2017 through 2022. They compared fatalities on the release dates of 10 highly streamed albums with those during the 10 days before and after each release, adjusting for factors including the day of the week, federal holidays, week of the year and calendar year.

Music streaming surged on album release days

The researchers identified the 10 albums using Spotify data showing daily streams for the platform's top 200 songs in the United States. The albums included releases by artists such as Taylor Swift, Drake, Bad Bunny, Harry Styles, Kendrick Lamar and Kanye West.

According to the study, daily streaming volume increased about 43% on the album release dates, rising from an average of 86.1 million streams on surrounding days to 123.3 million on release days.

The study found about 18 more traffic deaths on each major album release day than on surrounding days. Across the 10 release dates studied, researchers estimated that amounted to about 182 additional deaths.

The increase was larger among younger drivers and male drivers, according to the study. Researchers also found larger increases in crashes involving a single occupant, sober drivers, clear weather and vehicles equipped with infotainment systems.

Study does not prove music caused crashes

The findings do not establish that streaming music directly caused the additional deaths.

Patel told CNN that the researchers cannot determine from FARS data whether a driver was using a phone when a fatal crash occurred. Dr. Anupam Jena, a Harvard Medical School professor and study coauthor, told CNN that several mechanisms could explain the findings, including drivers using their phones to access new music, interacting with infotainment systems or simply responding to the music.

Researchers also looked at other possible explanations, including travel to album release events and alcohol use. But because the increase in fatal crashes was greater among sober drivers and was not concentrated during nighttime hours, they concluded that those factors were unlikely to be the main cause.

To make sure the findings weren't due to chance, researchers conducted additional analyses. The increase in traffic deaths remained when they looked only at Friday album releases, and randomly selected dates did not show the same pattern. Researchers also found that nine of the 10 albums studied had more traffic fatalities on their release days than on comparable days without an album release.

Drivers can avoid distractions

To help reduce distracted driving, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends putting away potential distractions before getting behind the wheel. Drivers should avoid activities such as adjusting mirrors, selecting music, eating, making calls, or reading texts and emails, instead waiting until they have reached their destination.

Passengers can prevent distracted driving by speaking up if a driver loses focus and assisting with navigation or other tasks to minimize distractions.

For parents of teen drivers, the CDC recommends discussing the responsibilities of driving, emphasizing that it requires a driver's full attention and reminding teens that phone calls and text messages can wait until they arrive. Parents should familiarize themselves with their state's graduated driver licensing system and distracted driving laws, set consequences for unsafe behavior and model safe driving habits themselves.

Harvard settles suits over stolen body parts

School will pay \$53M, plan medical scholarship

Saleen Martin

USA TODAY

Harvard University has agreed to pay \$53 million to settle lawsuits filed by families who say a staff member stole their loved ones' remains from the school's morgue and sold them.

A Suffolk County Superior Court judge issued a preliminary approval for the settlement this week, according to online court records reviewed by USA TODAY.

Harvard Medical School also will establish a scholarship for medical students to honor its anatomical donors beginning in the 2027-2028 academic year, Reuters reported.

The settlement comes three years after multiple families filed lawsuits beginning in June 2023 and claimed they donated remains of loved ones to the university.

The remains were “exposed to unlawful mishandling, viewing, dissection, and/or sale to third parties by the [now former] manager of the Harvard Medical School morgue Cedric Lodge,” according to court documents reviewed by USA TODAY.

Here's a look back at the case.

Couple sentenced in 'despicable' body parts scheme

Last year, both Lodge, 58, and his wife, Denise Lodge, 65, were sentenced for interstate transport of stolen human remains.

The former manager was sentenced to 96 months in prison, and his wife received a sentence of 12 months and a day in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

According to court documents, the families suffered “significant mental anguish and severe emotional distress” once they found out about the situation.

Among the plaintiffs were a daughter whose mother had arranged to have her own remains donated once she died, as well as a niece and son whose loved ones agreed to donate their remains for medical research before their own deaths.

Initially, multiple families filed lawsuits against the university. A judge dismissed the cases, but the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in October revived the lawsuits, Reuters reported. Eventually, the lawsuits were consolidated into one, according to court documents.

George Daley, Harvard's dean of the faculty of medicine, and Bernard Chang, the dean for medical education at Harvard Medical School, told the school community on Aug. 17, that Lodge's scheme was “despicable, abhorrent, and a flagrant betrayal of our values as a medical community.”

Families filed lawsuits beginning in June 2023 and claimed they donated remains of loved ones to Harvard. REUTERS FILE

What role did the former morgue manager and his wife play?

Lodge was manager of the Harvard Medical School Morgue. He worked there for nearly three decades, beginning in February 1995. The scheme unfolded between 2018 and March 2020, prosecutors said in a news release.

Families who are interested in donating the remains of their loved ones for medical research and education can do so by completing an agreement with the school's Anatomical Gifts Program.

In relation to the lawsuits, the cadavers that had been donated had already been used for research and teaching purposes. The remains were supposed to be cremated, returned to the donor's family or laid to rest in a cemetery, according to court documents.

As part of his job, Lodge was supposed to coordinate moving the cadavers to and from teaching labs, and once the school was done with them, preparing them to go to the crematorium or for burial, court documents show.

Instead, prosecutors say Lodge took the human remains, including organs, brains, skin, hands, faces, dissected heads and other body parts.

He took the body parts to his home in New Hampshire, where he and his wife sold them, shipping them to buyers in other states and sometimes allowing buyers to pick up the remains.

According to the lawsuits, Lodge let some of the other defendants into the morgue to look at the bodies and choose the ones they wanted to buy.

Lodge was placed on leaves of absence in 2021, 2022 and 2023. He was fired in May 2023.

According to the lawsuits, one leave of absence took place two weeks before the school said it knew about the scheme.

“Harvard knew or should have known that defendant Cedric Lodge was mishandling donor bodies and allowing unauthorized third parties into the ... morgue, and failed to take adequate and appropriate measures to prevent [it],” the lawsuits read.

Who else was charged?

Prosecutors claim the body parts stolen from Harvard's morgue were taken to Salem, Massachusetts; New Hampshire; and Pennsylvania. After Lodge sold the remains, some of them were resold for a profit.

"The trafficking of stolen human remains through the U.S. Mail is a disturbing act that victimizes already grieving families while also creating a potentially hazardous situation for Postal employees and customers," said Christopher Nielsen, the inspector in charge of the Philadelphia Division of the Postal Inspection Service, in the news release.

According to prosecutors, those involved received the following sentences:

- Andrew Ensanian – 6 months

- Angelo Pereyra – 18 months

- Cedric Lodge – 96 months

- Denise Lodge – 12 months, 1 day

- Joshua Taylor – 24 months

- Katrina Maclean – 24 months

- Matthew Lampi – 15 months

What rules is Harvard accused of violating?

The lawsuits allege that in order to use the cadavers for medical research and teaching, Harvard was bound by a set of guidelines.

The guidelines include:

- Clearly describing the use of cadavers.

- Documenting the use of the cadavers and having these records reviewed by an Institutional Oversight Committee on a regular basis.

- Following all state and local requirements when shipping cadavers.

- Keeping cadavers in facilities that are appropriate and can only be entered by authorized personnel.

- Disposing of cadaveric remains properly and documenting it.

The lawsuits allege that other staff members, including the director of the Anatomical Gift Program, failed to supervise Lodge and make sure the cadavers were handled properly.

Harvard said it couldn't know for sure if bodies were affected

Another claim in the lawsuits is that Harvard left families in a state of limbo, not knowing whether their loved ones were impacted or not.

Community members found out about the trafficking scheme in June 2023, prompting Harvard to send letters to families. The school said there was not enough evidence to say which remains Lodge transported or showed to the other defendants.

“We can only say whether they were ‘potentially impacted’ or ‘not believed to be impacted,’ ” the university wrote.

The lawsuits pushed back against that.

“Family members of the decedents are entitled to know that their loved ones’ deceased bodies in the custody of Harvard and HMS are handled lawfully and with decency,” the lawsuits read.

What happens next?

In addition to the \$53 million settlement, Harvard has agreed to host a live webinar in which the Dean for Medical Education of Harvard Medical School will condemn the scheme as “morally reprehensible.” The school also will issue a statement letting community members know what changes have been put into place to improve the Anatomical Gifts Program.

The settlement includes two funds, including one for the primary settlement class and a second for a pre-2018 settlement class who are unsure whether their loved ones were affected, according to court documents.

The settlement funds will be divided equally based on who filed valid claims based on their relation to the donors.

In the Aug. 17 letter, Harvard said a third-party settlement administrator will be appointed and a website will be created with eligibility and claim submission information.

“This process, from beginning to end, is expected to take several months,” the notice read.

Hungry bears and humans clash in Colorado, elsewhere

A bear walks through a backyard near an elementary school Aug.13, in Fort Collins, Colo. The bear was released into the wild. PROVIDED BY LYNETTE BARTEL

Drought draws out animals looking for food

Mike Snider USA TODAY

Bear sightings and encounters are on the rise in Colorado and elsewhere in the United States as the animals travel out of the wild and into populated areas.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) officers have been busy recently with a series of run-ins with bears finding their way into cars, homes and apartment complexes. The increased sightings come as bears enter hyperphagia, the time in their annual biological cycle when they search for food to build up fat reserves for the winter, according to wildlife officers.

In Colorado, at least, drought has made it tougher for bears to find natural food. When they can't find that, they begin foraging in trash cans and looking for food that humans may leave within reach.

"This summer in particular, we ask people to be mindful that wildlife are having to work harder to find food and water," Casey Cooley, Colorado Parks and Wildlife habitat conservation supervisor, said in a news release. "The best thing we can do to support them is to keep them wild and not feed or disturb them."

So far this year, Colorado Parks and Wildlife has received 6,129 reports of bear sightings and conflicts through Aug. 13 – nearly twice what the state agency received during the same period last year when it got 3,115 reports. The total has already surpassed the 5,299 reports recorded during all of 2025 and is on pace to be the highest since the agency began digitally tracking bear-human interactions in 2019.

Bears on the move in Colorado

Here are some recent bears that made the news in Colorado:

- Aspen: A homeless man sleeping in Rio Grande Park said he awoke Aug. 19 to a bear biting him on the head, Colorado Parks and Wildlife said. The man escaped and was transported to a hospital by ambulance, where he was treated for head and facial injuries and later released. Wildlife officers found the bear in the park and humanely euthanized it, in accordance with agency policy, CPW said.

- Steamboat Springs: The previous day, a bear entered a home in Steamboat Springs early in the morning Aug. 18, damaging the wooden frame of a sliding glass door and knocking it off its track. When the woman inside tried to chase the animal outside, the bear struck her in the face, causing cuts, the CPW said. She drove herself to a local hospital, where she was treated and released. Wildlife officers collected hair samples from the broken door for DNA analysis and set a trap at the property while alerting neighbors to take preventive precautions.

- Fort Collins: Also on Aug. 18, a young black bear was seen wandering the campus of Colorado State University as about 6,000 students were moving into dormitories Aug. 18. The bear caused no known conflicts but was safely tranquilized and relocated. The week before on Aug. 13, a parks and wildlife team tranquilized a young bear found in the backyard of a home across the street from Dunn Elementary School in Fort Collins, reported the Fort Collins Coloradoan, part of the USA TODAY Network.

- Eagle-Vail: A female black bear swiped at a man leaving the laundry room of an apartment complex Aug. 17 near Eagle-Vail, which is about 100 miles west of Denver, officials said. The man tripped and injured his foot while trying to escape. He was released from a medical facility after being treated for injuries to his arm and foot. CPW officers placed a bear trap in the neighborhood, the agency said.

- Colorado Springs: Officials are warning residents to lock their cars after finding a deceased black bear on Aug. 17 inside an unlocked car in Colorado Springs. It entered the car while searching for food and died after likely spending days inside the car, officials said. Colorado Parks and Wildlife said the bear, which weighed about 300 pounds, entered an unlocked vehicle while searching for food, became trapped inside and likely was exposed to the summer heat over several days before it was discovered. As it tried to escape, the bear heavily damaged the vehicle's interior.

- Breckenridge: On Aug. 11, a bear broke into the Grand Timber Lodge, police said. "Luckily only some M&M's were taken. Breckenridge Officers were able to coax the bear back into the wilderness, and no animals or people were hurt!" the department said in a post on its Facebook page.

Bear opens door in NC. Another checks out Tennessee parking lot

Other recent bear sightings include a report from the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission that said an adult female black bear swatted at a resident in north Asheville after entering their home Aug. 18. The bear opened an unlocked door while her three cubs played on the front porch, reported the Asheville Citizen Times, which is part of the USA TODAY Network. The resident was treated and released from a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

A black bear caused a commotion in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, on July 18 when it trotted around a parking lot, the Knoxville News Sentinel, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported. In a separate incident, a detective with the Dickson County Sheriff's Office filmed a black bear in another detective's yard on July 8 in middle Tennessee.

Bears have been spotted around Pittsburgh this summer and many have been seen in Stowe, Vermont, the Boston Globe reported.

Bear attacks, kills man in New Mexico

In New Mexico, an adult man died from injuries suffered in an Aug. 20 bear attack, the Navajo Police Department said in a post on Facebook. The incident occurred in Crystal, a community within the Navajo Nation near the New Mexico-Arizona border, reported KRQE, a TV station in Albuquerque. Law enforcement killed the bear, police said. The following day on Aug. 21, a bear bit a man who was camping near Red River, New Mexico, according to the state wildlife department.

Drought conditions in the state have resulted in bears foraging for food and that has led to the highest number of human-bear conflicts since 2014, said Nick Foreman, carnivore and small mammal program manager with New Mexico Department of Wildlife, in a bear update posted Aug. 14 on YouTube.

“This year, we’ve had a historically low snowpack combined with these high temperatures and not a lot of precipitation this year,” he said. “Bears came out of the den, there was really no green grass for these bears to start eating in the spring and that just put as at a deficit. ... [Now] these bears are leaving their natural habitat to find (food) anywhere they can find it.”

Tips for bear encounters

With bear sightings and encounters on the rise, here are some tips on how to avoid and handle bear-related situations, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife:

- Do not feed or approach bears. This teaches bears to approach homes and people looking for more food. If you get too close, a bear may defend itself.

- Secure all trash cans. Also secure recycling and any food kept outdoors, such as pet foods.

- Remove bird feeders. Bears will seek them out when they are active.

- Clean your grill. Keep it stored securely.

- Tell your neighbors. Let them know if you see bear activity.

- Hike, run and cycle in groups. Don't wear earbuds and make noise periodically so bears can avoid you.

- Don't leave trash or food scraps out when camping.

- Keep your dog leashed when camping or don't bring them. If able to roam, a dog could encounter a bear, which might defend itself.

- Cook away from your tent. And do not store food, trash, clothes worn when cooking, or toiletries in your tent.

- If you see a black bear, don't approach it. Get a look, then quietly move away. If a bear sees you, back away slowly. Do not run, it may trigger a chase response. If a bear approaches, hold your ground, wave your arms and yell "Hey Bear" until it leaves.

- Carry bear spray and know how to use it. If a bear keeps approaching, use bear spray – it is proven to be the easiest and most effective way to deter a bear that threatens you. It doesn't work like bug repellent, so never spray your tent, campsite or belongings.

- If a black bear makes contact with you, don't play dead. Fight back aggressively.

Contributing: Jeanine Santucci and Anthony Thompson, USA TODAY, and Miles Blumhardt and Kelly Lyell, USA TODAY Network.

Man dies in Death Valley after being stranded

Kathleen Wong USA TODAY

A 68-year-old French tourist at Death Valley National Park died on Aug. 17 after being stranded on a remote road in high heat, according to officials.

Pierre Michel Formosa and his travel companion were traveling on West Side Road when their car got stuck in mud. "With no other vehicles in the area, the men began walking across the salt flats toward Badwater Road to seek assistance," the National Park Service said in an Aug. 21 news release.

Death Valley National Park is known for its extreme temperatures, remote terrain and limited cell service. That day, temperatures in the park reached 116 degrees Fahrenheit, according to park service.

The two visitors walked around 1.3 miles until Formosa was “unable to continue” the trek to get help. His travel companion eventually reached Badwater Road. He received assistance from a passing motorist and arrived at Furnace Creek Visitor Center to report the incident at around 2 p.m.

A search and rescue operation was launched by park rangers and an Inyo County deputy shortly afterward. Formosa was found by a California Highway Patrol helicopter about 1.5 miles from Badwater Road, and pronounced dead at the scene. A coroner is expected to determine his cause and manner of death.

"Our deepest condolences are with the family and friends of the visitor who died," said Death Valley National Park Superintendent Mike Reynolds in the release. "This is a heartbreaking reminder of how quickly conditions here can turn dangerous. Death Valley is an extraordinary place, but its heat, distances, and remoteness can be dangerous, regardless of experience. We're grateful to everyone who took part in the search, and our thoughts are with his loved ones."

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Rural health

Continued from Page 1A

infusion of cash for rural health won't soften the expected blow from the Medicaid overhaul, particularly when the new work requirements begin in 2027. But that hasn't stopped them from promoting the money that has flowed into their states – while steering clear from praising the Trump law that created the program.

"This investment allows Hawaii to finally close the distance between rural communities and the care they deserve," Hawaii Gov. Josh Green, a Democrat, said earlier this year. He made the comment while announcing \$189 million in federal money this year for Hawaii to expand quality primary care beyond Hawaii's largest city, Honolulu.

Democratic Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs has celebrated federal rural health care funding in her state as “a signal that help is on the way.” REBECCA NOBLE/REUTERS

Green had issued a dire warning when the bill was approved in July 2025. “These next few years won’t be easy, but we are mobilizing now to respond, protect our people and make sure Hawaii can weather what’s coming,” Green said in a joint statement with Hawaii’s Democratic congressional delegation.

Connecticut Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont in March hailed the \$154 million his state is receiving in 2026 from the rural Health Transformation Program as a “landmark federal grant” after last year warning that the Big Beautiful Bill legislation would have “devastating impacts on millions of Americans for years to come.”

“Rural Connecticut has unique challenges, and its residents deserve the same access to high-quality care and support as anyone who lives anywhere else,” Lamont said in March. “This investment allows us to tackle those challenges head-on.”

White House accuses Democrats of trying to take the credit

All 50 states, Democratic- and Republican-led, applied for and received funding from the Rural Health Transformation Program, from \$147 million (New Jersey) to \$281 million (Texas) for the first year of implementation. Grants were awarded in December 2025.

The White House accused Democratic governors of now seeking credit for a key component of a federal bill they had bashed repeatedly and worked to defeat.

“Every single Democrat voted against the Rural Health Transformation Fund, and Democrat governors spent months blasting the bill that created it,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement to USA TODAY. “Democrat governors have no right to now try to take credit for ‘securing’ rural health dollars that they had nothing to do with – these investments are solely thanks to President Trump and Republicans.”

The pushback mirrors criticism President Joe Biden's White House lobbed at Republican lawmakers who voted against Biden's 2021 infrastructure law but showed up at ribbon-cuttings for projects funded by it.

To receive the rural health care funding over the next five years, states submitted their own plans aimed at expanding access to care in rural communities, modernizing rural hospitals and technology and bringing new medical innovation to rural areas.

“Rural Arizonans have waited too long for health care that meets them where they are, and we’re changing that,” Democratic Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs said in March after launching her state’s rural health care program and website funded by \$167 million from the federal law. She called the initiative “a signal that help is on the way.”

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, said his state's \$193 million in federal funding in 2026 is allowing the commonwealth to move forward with its “plan to improve rural health care, attract and retain a skilled workforce, promote long-term, sustainable access, support the growth of innovative care, and foster technological innovation.”

Still, Democratic governors said the additional money won't offset the loss in Medicaid funding expected in the coming years – nor does it erase cuts to food stamps and other reductions to the social safety net from the Big Beautiful Bill Act.

“Governor Hobbs has been clear that the partisan Washington budget will have devastating impacts on the people of Arizona and that the RHTP is a Band-Aid on a gaping wound created by the federal government,” spokesman Christian Slater said. “But the governor will unapologetically fight for every dollar she can to protect Arizonans from the federal government’s attacks on affordable and accessible health care.”

In Colorado, Democratic Gov. Jared Polis is aiming his state's cash infusion on 29 rural counties with high rates of chronic disease and 23 counties that lack access to specialty care. MIKE DE SISTI/USA TODAY NETWORK

Cathryn Vaulman, Lamont's communications director, said the Rural Health Transformation Program “cannot come close to offsetting the harm caused by Congressional Republicans’ cuts to health care, food assistance, and other benefits in H.R. 1.” She said the funding “nevertheless provide important resources to strengthen rural health care in those communities.”

Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said last December that her state's \$173 million 2026 allotment "will support access to health care for rural communities across Michigan as we deal with funding shortfalls caused by federal Medicaid cuts."

Despite Maryland's infusion of federal rural health care funding, Moore spokesman Ammar Moussa said the governor still believes Congress was wrong to approve Trump's megabill.

"Taking advantage of one worthwhile provision does not change the governor's view of a law that makes deep cuts to Medicaid and will cause close to 200,000 Marylanders to lose health coverage," Moussa said. "But once Congress passed the law, Governor Moore was never going to leave federal resources on the table that can help Marylanders."

Will Medicaid cuts outweigh law's benefit in rural areas?

Medicaid covers 16.1 million people in rural areas, or about 1 in every 4 adults, according to KFF, an independent health care research organization.

A KFF analysis found Medicaid spending is expected to decline by about \$137 billion in rural areas because of the megabill, meaning the \$50 billion in rural health care funding offsets only about a third of the loss. States with large rural populations that expanded Medicaid under the Obama-era Affordable Care Act are expected to see the largest decreases in Medicaid spending.

The White House has countered such analyses by arguing only 7% of Medicaid funding goes to rural hospitals. Any cuts to Medicaid as a result of the law, according to the White House, are from work requirement provisions that are popular among Americans and designed to ensure that only people who need Medicaid are enrolled in the program.

White House officials also contend the \$50 billion is intended to address long-standing health care needs in rural areas brought on by declining rural populations over decades – not to make up for reduced Medicaid spending in Trump's bill.

Governors accept the money but stand by their opposition

Colorado, led by Democratic Gov. Jared Polis, issued a request in June for applications from organizations to help carry out its rural health care plan after receiving \$200 million in year one funds. Colorado is prioritizing 29 rural counties with high rates of chronic disease and 23 frontier counties that lack crucial specialty care access such as behavioral health and obstetric and gynecology services

“By taking advantage of every opportunity to reduce health care costs and support rural communities, Colorado can increase access to the care we need to thrive, in urban and rural communities,” Polis said.

But Eric Maruyama, a spokesman for Polis, reiterated in a statement to USA TODAY the governor's opposition to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, saying it "does significant harm" through cuts to food stamp assistance, reductions to Medicaid and by allowing the enhanced ACA subsidies to expire.

“It also ripped an immediate billion dollar hole in our state budget,” Maruyama said. “Congress nevertheless passed the law, and Colorado will not leave federal funding on the table, especially given the enormity of the cuts to services the law creates.”

Detained

Continued from Page 1A

"I always feared my dad would get taken going or coming home from work," Wendy Domingo, the couple's eldest child, said Aug. 12 at the Guatemalan Maya Center in Lake Worth Beach. She had turned 18 the day before her parents' detention.

"I never thought both my parents would get taken away at the same time, leaving me in charge of my four siblings. Leaving us all alone."

In response to criticism surrounding the arrest, the Department of Homeland Security defended its actions in an Aug. 11 post on social media platform X.

The agency said Leiva had an order of removal and Abraham Domingo had a domestic battery charge on their records. A review of Palm Beach County, Florida, court records shows Domingo was arrested four times for different offenses, but in each case, his attorneys negotiated deals with prosecutors to avoid formal convictions or had the charges dropped.

"These illegal alien parents willingly chose to break our nation's laws and, as a result of those choices, are responsible for what happens to their children – just as any U.S. citizen parent who breaks the law is when they are taken to jail," the agency wrote.

Since Aug. 9, Domingo, a plumber and electrician, and Leiva, who managed her family's home, have been held in separate detention facilities in Broward County, unable to see each other or their children. The couple plans to deport themselves to Guatemala.

Domingo and Leiva fled Guatemala, a nation marked by violence through much of the late 1990s and early 2000s, and built lives in Lake Worth Beach, where they raised their five U.S.-born children. Domingo took jobs across

Palm Beach County, and the family attended church every Sunday, usually filling an entire pew.

Wendy was driving their van when Border Patrol agents pulled it over. She said her father, who was in the passenger seat, grabbed his phone and called his mother. Her siblings sitting in the back seemed terrified, and her mother began praying.

The family rarely traveled together, making exceptions only for church and special occasions. This year, immigration agents had detained two of Wendy's aunts and a cousin.

"As soon as I saw they were immigration, I knew it was over for us," Wendy recalled thinking. "They are going to take my parents."

A Border Patrol agent approached and asked for identification from everyone in the vehicle, Wendy said. At that moment, Abraham began recording the encounter with his cell phone.

Wendy said she asked the agent why he pulled them over. In the video, the agent is heard saying he ran the van's license plate and found it was registered to Abraham Domingo, who is not a U.S. citizen.

“I did nothing wrong to be getting pulled over,” Wendy said. “My parents were just passengers. What did they do wrong?”

The agent asked if Leiva and Domingo had documentation to prove they were in the country legally. Wendy said they did not, and the agent ordered them out of the vehicle. Abraham's cell phone captured his children wailing and calling "Mami" and "Papi."

The children took turns hugging their parents, their tears soaking their shirts. Wendy wrapped her arms around her father in a long embrace. She asked: "Why didn't you send only me? Why did we all have to be together?"

From the back of a patrol vehicle, the parents watched their children crying as the vehicle drove away.

"Our people are either constructing buildings, fixing things, or cutting y'all's grass, yet we have to suffer by getting torn apart," says Wendy Domingo, an 18-year-old U.S. citizen whose parents were detained Aug. 9. GREG LOVETT/USA TODAY NETWORK

Jeffrey Devore, an immigration attorney based in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, said previous administrations generally did not detain undocumented immigrants who are passengers during routine traffic stops.

He said since President Donald Trump returned to office in 2025, he has seen an increase in cases where federal agents identify undocumented immigrants through vehicle records and arrest them during traffic stops.

“Prior to the Trump administration, immigration really wasn’t a traffic issue,” Devore said. “Border Patrol’s job is not to enforce traffic laws, so why are they running license plates? Is this a sort of a situation of driving while brown?”

Devore said Trump's immigration crackdown has led to the arrest of people without violent criminal offenses, leaving families fractured and children without parents.

"The Trump administration said they were focusing on the worst of the worst,"

Devore said. “And that is clearly not what they’re doing.”

Wendy said her parents' detention has left the family traumatized and uncertain about how they will make ends meet.

She is now responsible for feeding, clothing and caring for her four younger siblings, ages 16, 14, 11 and 3. She said she has postponed her plans to attend Palm Beach State College this fall and instead will work two jobs, one as a restaurant server and another at a hotel front desk, to help pay rent and household bills.

"It's going to be really, really hard to learn to live without my parents' help," Wendy said, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Wendy said relatives, neighbors and friends have visited daily to offer support, but that their house feels empty and their lives feel shattered.

“My parents had the American Dream,” Wendy said. “They thought we could have a good future here and be financially stable. But where exactly is the American Dream now? How exactly is it making America great?

“They say this is supposed to make America great, but they’re crushing my people’s dreams” she added. “Our people are either constructing buildings, fixing things, or cutting y’all’s grass, yet we have to suffer by getting torn apart and throwing us out of this country, like we are nothing, calling us animals, aliens, illegals. Like if we aren’t all humans. It’s just very cruel.”

For now, Wendy said, her priority is caring for her four younger siblings and keeping the family together. She hopes that when she turns 21, she will be able to petition for her parents to return to the United States.

"It's just not fair. What if it was your family being ripped apart?" Wendy asked. "But there's nothing we can do about it. We just have to pray and hope that one day we can reunite once again as a whole family."

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Revised vaccine policy would kill kids – slowly

Andrew Koppelman Opinion contributor

Does liberty mean a right to kill other people's children, slowly and painfully? It would, if the Trump administration had its way. Washington is pressing states to allow broad vaccine exemptions as part of its larger campaign against settled medical practice.

The danger is clearest with measles. Children usually recover from it, albeit often with some permanent damage.

But a 2016 California study found that when infants under a year old are infected, subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) – in which the virus lingers in the brain and slowly destroys it – develops in about 1 in 600 cases, far higher than the 1-in-100,000 figure doctors had long cited.

Long after the initial infection, the child becomes clumsy and forgetful, then experiences headaches, fevers and seizures, loses motor control and finally becomes bedridden and dies.

There is no cure.

Babies can't be vaccinated on the standard schedule until 12 to 15 months old – earlier doses, at six months, are given only for travel to outbreak areas and don't count toward full protection. (Under the schedule revisions the Department of Health and Human Services just proposed, some of that timeline would push even later.)

Until children are protected, the only way to guard against SSPE is to keep them away from unvaccinated people.

In Germany in 1999, an unvaccinated 11-year-old boy was taken to the pediatrician with a fever. He infected six children in the waiting room, including three babies. Two of them developed SSPE and died, in 2011 and in 2013.

Measles is astoundingly contagious. You can catch it by entering a room two hours after an infected person left.

The country has recorded more cases since early 2025 than in the previous 25 years combined, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. More than 70% of confirmed cases are children.

The administration's anti-vaccine rhetoric is a principal driver, and if it gets its way, the unvaccinated share of the population will keep rising.

Scale up that 1-in-600 figure, and that's a lot of dead children.

From destroying the brain to damaging immune system

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., head of the Department of Health and Human Services, claims that immunity from having the disease is better than immunity from the vaccine.

That is dangerous quackery. Beyond SSPE, measles causes lasting damage to the immune system, leaving children vulnerable to other infections for years afterward.

About 1 in 1,000 children who get measles will develop encephalitis, brain swelling that can cause convulsions, deafness or intellectual disability.

Between 1 and 3 of every 1,000 infected children will die of respiratory or neurologic complications.

(The president has also endorsed the debunked claim, which Kennedy pushed for decades before joining the administration, that vaccination causes autism.)

Administering a measles, mumps and rubella vaccination on Aug. 13 in Coral Gables, Florida. JOE RAEDLE/GETTY IMAGES

Think of vaccine resisters like drunken drivers

Vaccination should be required for everyone, with exemptions only for medical necessity. Vaccine resisters should be thought of like drunken drivers: people who recklessly endanger innocent strangers.

The Trump administration relies on a strange conception of liberty. Kennedy has said that people should be free to refuse vaccination for any reason at all. During a 2025 Texas measles outbreak that had already killed one unvaccinated child, he wrote: "The decision to vaccinate is a personal one."

Kennedy went further: “I’m a freedom-of-choice person. ... We should have informed choice, and if people don’t want it, the government shouldn’t force them to do it.”

In January, CDC Principal Deputy Director Ralph Abraham said it would “not really” be a significant loss if America lost its measles-free status.

"It's just the cost of doing business, with our borders being somewhat porous (and) global and international travel," Abraham explained. "We have these communities that choose to be unvaccinated. ... The president, the (health) secretary, we talk all the time about religious freedom, health freedom, personal freedom, and I think we have to respect those communities that choose to go somewhat of a different route."

Florida's attorney general has an even weirder idea of freedom: He is seeking to force Catholic schools in his state to permit exemptions from immunizations, turning classrooms into vectors for a disease that kills.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recently said, “If you kill Americans, if you threaten Americans anywhere on earth, we will hunt you down without apology and without hesitation and we will kill you.” Cabinet meetings would not go smoothly if he meant it.

Right now, somewhere in America, some toddler is becoming a bit clumsy. The mother is thinking, “The baby must be tired.” She does not know that Trump and Kennedy – and Republicans in Congress who have gone along with them – have already doomed her child.

In a better world, it would be a political liability for politicians to kill American kids.

Andrew Koppelman, the John Paul Stevens Professor of Law at Northwestern University, is the author of "Burning Down the House: How Libertarian Philosophy Was Corrupted by Delusion and Greed." Follow him on Bluesky: @andrewkoppelman.bsky.social

We're not talking enough about this major outcome of Iran war

An Iranian drone and an Iranian missile system are displayed in Azadi Square in Tehran, Iran, on July 30. MAJID ASGARIPOUR VIA REUTERS

Aviva Klompas Opinion contributor

For decades, Iran assembled one of the most successful power-projection networks in the modern Middle East. Rather than relying solely on its own military power, the regime in Tehran built a constellation of armed partners stretching from Lebanon and Gaza to Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

Together, they formed what Iranian officials proudly called the “axis of resistance” and what outside observers came to know as Iran’s “ring of fire.”

The strategy served multiple purposes. It threatened Israel, expanded Iranian influence across the region and allowed Tehran to challenge its adversaries while keeping much of the fighting far from its own borders.

Better, in the view of Iranian leaders, for conflict to play out in Beirut, Damascus, Gaza, Baghdad and Sanaa than in Tehran itself.

The strategy was clever.

Iran could intimidate its neighbors, threaten global commerce, pressure the United States and destabilize the region without bearing the full costs and risks of direct confrontation.

As analysts debate what the U.S. war with Iran has accomplished, attention has focused on Iran's nuclear program, its remaining military capabilities and the regime's staying power.

Yet it's worth recognizing one of the war's most consequential but underappreciated outcomes: the steady dismantling of the regional network through which Tehran projected power across the Middle East. For years, Tehran's influence rested on a network that gave it strategic depth:

- Hamas threatened Israel from Gaza. Hezbollah amassed an arsenal on Israel's northern border, while serving as Iran's most powerful regional proxy.

- Syria provided the logistical bridge connecting Tehran to Lebanon and the Mediterranean.

- Iraqi militias extended Iranian influence westward while pressuring American forces.

- The Houthis gave Tehran a foothold on one of the world's most important maritime choke points.

That network allowed Iran to keep its adversaries under pressure while minimizing risks to itself.

A new political order

Today, much of that architecture has been degraded:

- Hamas remains in control of parts of Gaza, but much of its senior leadership has been killed, large portions of its military infrastructure have been destroyed, and its ability to rearm and reorganize has been sharply constrained by Israel's operational presence in significant areas of the Gaza Strip.

- Hezbollah remains dangerous, yet it is no longer the force it was before the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel. The group has also lost much of its senior leadership, including longtime Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, along with key commanders, weapons stockpile and infrastructure.

It now faces growing pressure inside Lebanon from a population exhausted by economic collapse and increasingly unwilling to see the country's future subordinated to Iran's regional ambitions. Hezbollah still possesses formidable capabilities, but it is increasingly focused on preserving what remains rather than expanding its influence.

- Syria may represent the most consequential loss. For decades, the Assad

It's worth recognizing one of the war's most consequential but underappreciated outcomes: the steady dismantling of the regional network through which Tehran projected power across the Middle East

across the Middle East.

regime served as Iran's indispensable ally and the critical land bridge connecting Tehran to Hezbollah. The collapse of Bashar al-Assad's government and the emergence of a new political order have severely disrupted those supply lines and deprived Iran of one of the central pillars of its regional strategy.

- In Iraq, Iranian-backed groups continue to wield considerable influence, but they operate in an environment that is increasingly complicated by Iraqi nationalism, domestic political pressures, and growing demands that armed groups answer to the Iraqi state rather than to Tehran.

- Only the Houthis retain something approaching their previous freedom of action, continuing to threaten commercial shipping and disrupt maritime trade. Yet even there, Iran's success reveals its limitations. The Houthis can create instability, but they cannot create regional order.

The result is that Iran increasingly finds itself doing something it spent decades trying to avoid: relying on its own territory and its own capabilities to sustain confrontation.

A less powerful Iran is being forced to play defense

An equally important shift is taking place elsewhere in the region. For years, many Arab governments concluded that accommodation was the safest response to Iranian aggression. After months of unrelenting attacks on their territory, that assumption is changing.

Bahrain and Kuwait have launched strikes inside Iran, Saudi forces have joined attacks on Iranian-backed militias in Iraq, and the United Arab Emirates has reportedly provided intelligence and air cover. Persian Gulf states are also deepening cooperation on missile defense, intelligence sharing and maritime security.

In attacking its neighbors, Iran has pushed its adversaries closer together and closer to the United States.

None of this means Iran is on the verge of collapse. Its missile program remains formidable. Its nuclear ambitions are a source of legitimate concern. Tehran retains the ability to disrupt global commerce, and it has demonstrated that even a weakened network can impose real costs on other nations.

But there is an important distinction between the ability to disrupt and the ability to shape the regional order. For decades, Iran played offense. Today, it finds itself increasingly on defense.

That could prove to be the most consequential outcome of this war. Not the destruction of the axis of resistance, but the gradual unraveling of the network through which Iran projected power across the Middle East.

The ring of fire has not disappeared, but it has become a ring of embers.

Aviva Klompas is the chief executive officer and cofounder of Boundless, a nonprofit dedicated to fighting antisemitism. She is also the host of the “Boundless Insights” podcast.

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Before death, ask yourself how much you trust your trustee

Keys to your legacy

Fran Robinson, left, and Lin Dunn laugh in the backyard of their home Feb. 18, in Dresden, Tennessee. Dunn's mother and grandparents owned the home that she inherited and now shares with Robinson. CHRISTINE TANNOUS/USA TODAY NETWORK

Medora Lee USA TODAY

Trusts are gaining popularity in estate planning, but as the name suggests, they require a great degree of confidence in others, lawyers warn.

The race for estate planning is on as baby boomers prepare to pass down an estimated \$124 trillion over the next 12 years. Though 56% of U.S. adults have no estate planning documents whatsoever, the people who are planning are increasingly choosing more comprehensive planning vehicles, according to Trust & Will's 2026 estate planning report. Trust ownership rose to 14% from 11% in 2025, it found after surveying 5,000 adults Jan. 28 through Feb. 5.

Though that may suggest Americans who are planning are doing so more thoughtfully, naming the wrong trustee can destroy your plans, legacy and your family, lawyers said. The wrong trustee can reverse all your work to control how, when and to whom to pass your assets and avoid slow, public court proceedings.

"When a parent dies and there's a trust, the most common call we get isn't 'The trust is invalid,' and it isn't 'My sister stole the money,'" said Edmund Yan,

See TRUSTS, Page 2B

Though $56\%$ of U.S. adults have no estate planning documents whatsoever, the people who are planning are increasingly choosing more comprehensive planning vehicles, according to Trust & Will's 2026 estate planning report.

ILLUSTRATION BY GETTY IMAGES; AND ABEL MUÑIZ MONTNEGRO/USA TODAY NETWORK

Tariff refunds help some shoppers

Walmart to use returned funds to lower prices

Betty Lin-Fisher USA TODAY

Walmart became the latest retailer to say it will be using its tariff refunds to lower prices for its shoppers.

In the retailer's earnings call on Aug. 20, Chief Financial Officer John David Rainey said Walmart received \$2.9 billion in tariff refunds, which will be used in "a combination of rollbacks across food, general merchandise, consumables, fashion."

“We know customers are looking for a variety of things across the basket,” he said.

Earlier this summer, Walmart also lowered the price of thousands of items at its stores and Sam's Club, including staples like beef.

Why are businesses getting tariff refunds?

U.S. businesses began receiving refunds after the Supreme Court struck down the tariffs imposed by the administration of President Donald Trump under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA. Other tariffs remain in place.

A USA TODAY analysis in June examined more than 630 Securities and Exchange Commission filings that referenced the Supreme Court ruling and found at least 90 publicly traded companies were seeking tariff refunds.

Some companies, including UPS, are giving refunds to customers who file claims. Others, like Amazon, have announced that they will automatically credit a small number of customers whose purchases were affected by import tariffs, but the retailer said it had absorbed most of the costs of tariffs rather than pass them onto customers and that it would “utilize refunds to continue to invest in low prices for customers,” Amazon Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky said during the retailer’s July 30 earnings call.

See TARIFFS, Page 2B

Walmart said it will take its tariff refunds and lower prices for consumers. JIM WALSH/USA TODAY NETWORK

Trump's company selling faster access to his posts

President Donald Trump's social media company is charging select clients up to \$100,000 a month for priority access to Trump's Truth Social posts. JONATHAN ERNST/REUTERS

Legal, ethical questions abound over the service

Daniel de Visé

USA TODAY

President Donald Trump's social media company is charging clients up to \$100,000 a month for priority access to Trump's own official announcements and other “market-moving” government news.

There's an obvious dollar value to getting a jump on government news. Trump's posts about new tariffs and military actions do indeed move markets.

But is the new service legal? Is it ethical?

One thing's for sure: Just a few years ago, it would have been unimaginable.

"I wonder if anyone ever envisioned a time when the head of a country would do something like this," said Jessica Tillipman, associate dean for government procurement law studies at the George Washington University Law School.

On Aug. 20, a group of congressional Democrats introduced legislation to block social media companies from selling faster access to government employees' accounts that communicate "material information," according to a bill summary from U.S. Rep. Sam Liccardo, a California Democrat who is one of the sponsors.

“Politicians must not convert public office into a putrescent platform for pay-per-view profiteering,” Liccardo said in a statement.

Here's how Trump's posts wound up on Truth Social

Presidents, government agencies and corporate America used to announce news in releases posted on official websites and sent out as emails or, years ago, rumpled faxes.

More recently, however, governments and companies have taken to announcing news over social media: posts on X, formerly Twitter, or on official Facebook pages.

In his first presidential term, Trump became the most prolific Twitter poster in presidential history. One Boston Globe report counted 2,417 Trump tweets in his first 11 months.

But Twitter banned Trump in the final days of that term, citing a risk for “incitement of violence” after a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Facebook, Instagram and other communication sites blocked Trump’s accounts as well. Trump accused the platforms of silencing him.

For his second term, Trump migrated to Truth Social, a platform he controls.

See TRUMP, Page 2B

Tariffs

Continued from Page 1B

Target executives did not give specifics during its Aug. 19 earnings call about plans for its tariff refunds and Target did not respond to an inquiry from USA TODAY.

Trusts

Continued from Page 1B

estate planning attorney at the Tree of Life Law Firm.

"It's much smaller than that. It's 'My sister is the trustee, it's been eight months, and she won't tell me anything.'

What's a wrong trustee?

A wrong trustee is someone who's a poor choice to manage the trust. Some may lack financial skills and knowledge, have conflicts of interest or poor relationships with beneficiaries, lack time and organization to perform trustee duties, or are partial.

They also can be trustees who breach trust by ignoring what is stated in the trust document, failing to communicate with or provide accounting to beneficiaries, stealing assets, or failing to distribute assets or pay valid debts in a timely manner.

What can happen with a wrong trustee?

Everything can go wrong, because the effectiveness of a will or trust hinges on the person entrusted to administer it, lawyers said.

Duke Shih, 57, of Altadena, California, knows this firsthand. His father named all four of his children as trustees, by descending birth order should one become unable to execute, he said.

What his father didn't anticipate when he set up the plan was that his children didn't want those responsibilities and that Shih's siblings would join to contest the will, which left Shih a larger share.

"My sister, as eldest, quit (as trustee) a little after one year, and the next, the older of two brothers quit after a couple of months," Shih said.

"The third sibling, my other brother, declined to serve at all."

That left Shih, but because he's disabled, "my attorney thought I would be better protected to receive any disability benefits if I were not a trustee," he said. That was a "huge mistake because I am not receiving any benefits, and even if I

Lower prices keep Walmart competitive

Neil Saunders, a retail analyst at the research and analytics firm GlobalData, said Walmart has not explicitly said where it will use its refunds to lower prices, "but it is likely to be on essential items where price reductions will be meaningful to consumers and help Wal-

were, I could have still been trustee."

Shih's siblings then chose a professional fiduciary to act as trustee. Shih finally agreed to the plan, but the contesting continued until a mediation and settlement resulted.

The settlement ensured his siblings immediately received their portions of the estate while Shih's is tied up with the trustee who doesn't communicate with him but continues to bill, he said.

And if Shih dies, his siblings get his share, which ended up “a fraction of what I should have received,” he said.

In the will, “my father was trying to give me more, to provide for his disabled son as well as thank me for being the caregiver,” he said.

"My siblings became jealous" and joined to contest the unequal split, Shih said.

All of that meant “many thousands of dollars, upwards of \$150,000, were burned up in attorney and trustee fees,” he said.

His father “would be devastated. ... My father thought he did everything right by hiring an attorney to write what he thought was a bulletproof will.”

Beneficiaries such as Shih can fight, but lawyers' fees are prohibitive and justice is slow.

“I have tried various pro bono attorney organizations for help, and all have said no,” he said.

Family feuds that arise because of a lack of thought and communication during planning not only can deplete assets parents intended to gift but delay distributions.

They also can wreck family relationships, and in a very public way, if a formal lawsuit results, lawyers say. Court filings in a probate court are public.

How can you pick a right trustee?

Be honest and check your gut.

“Ask practical questions instead of emotional ones,” Yan said, “Has this person ever managed money that wasn’t theirs? Do they hit deadlines? Do they call you back when the news is bad? Can they say no to their own spouse? Can they tell a sibling something that sibling doesn’t want to hear and still show up at Thanksgiving? If the answer to a few of those is no, you can still honor that person in the plan. Just don’t give them the checkbook.”

mart to maintain its competitiveness."

However, “this will help, but it’s not going to bring prices back to 2019 levels or create dramatic price reductions,” Saunders said. Wider investments will include efforts such as improved stores, which Saunders said is something the retailer has been working on for awhile.

But not all businesses and retailers have been as clear about how they will

A wrong trustee is someone who's a poor choice to manage the trust. Some may lack financial skills and knowledge, have conflicts of interest or poor relationships with beneficiaries, lack time and organization to perform trustee duties, or are partial.

Also, recognize that being both “beneficiary and trustee is difficult,” said Maria Shufeldt, 69, who lives in South Pasadena, California, and was both when her parents died.

"You are responsible for equity to other people and protecting your own rights."

Communicate.

“Commit to transparency,” said Christine Walker-Bowman, chief operating officer of Farmers and Merchants Trust Co.

“Be honest with siblings and heirs on how the estate will transfer.”

Communication also is free. It's “the fix that costs nothing,” Yan said.

And “your own voice does more to prevent this than anything I can draft. It’s the only part of this that money can’t buy later.”

If you're not comfortable talking about money, as many in the older generation might be, consider writing a letter, Walker-Bowman said.

“Write a personal letter expressing why you made the choices you made and what you want heirs to do with the money,” she said.

“That can be so helpful for whoever steps in as successor trustee or executor. Heirs who feel surprised can understand your true intentions.”

Make it a job interview.

Whether you choose a friend or children, make sure they have the organizational skills, financial knowledge, and time and commitment to do the job, experts said.

Additionally, check for the soft skills, Walker-Bowman said. “Will and trusts are legal documents for the legal transfer of assets and that taxes are accounted for, but they don’t include the emotional element,” she said.

"Empathy is very critical."

So are openness and communicause refunds they've received from the U.S. government and whether consumers will benefit.

Some will reduce prices, some may refund consumers directly, and others may simply take it as profit, he said. "There is no universal response as how retailers reacted to tariffs varied – not all simply passed them across to consumers in the form of higher prices," he said.

tion skills.

“Silence is what turns a slow trustee into a defendant.” Yan said. “Most of the trustees I’ve watched get sued weren’t dishonest. They were quiet.”

Spell out the job.

Specify duties in your documents, Yan said.

For example, put deadlines for asset sales and distributions in writing, name a trust protector who can remove and replace the trustee without going to court, specify the trustee's pay for doing the job, and require regularly scheduled written accountings to every beneficiary "because a trustee who knows she'll have to show the numbers acts differently from day one."

What if it's too late and you picked wrong?

Here's the ladder of escalation Yan suggests taking, starting with the first step:

- Get the document and find out what you're entitled to.

- Send a dated letter asking for a copy of the trust, a list of the assets, and a written accounting.

- Have a lawyer send the same letter. "This is where most of these quietly end," he said. "It puts your sibling in front of her own lawyer, who then tells her she's personally on the hook, the accounting isn't optional, and staying silent is going to cost her out of her own pocket."

- File a petition to the court asking the probate court to compel an accounting. You're not suing for damages. "It's often faster and cheaper than people expect, and a lot of the time the filing alone changes his behavior in a few weeks," Yan said.

- Escalate to a lawsuit if the conduct earns it. But note that it will cost you.

Trump

Continued from Page 1B

Trump owns the largest stake in Trump Media & Technology Group, the parent company of Truth Social, through a revocable trust, of which he is the sole beneficiary.

That means Trump communicates with the nation largely through a commercial social media platform, albeit one that has allowed everyone equal access to his posts.

Until now.

Truth API offers ‘real-time access’ to posts from Trump’s White House

Truth API, announced on July 16, promised to deliver “real-time access to posts from the highest-ranking Truth Social accounts,” a group dominated by Trump, his family and administration.

An API, or Application Programming Interface, allows one software component to "talk" to another directly, according to an explainer from Amazon. For example, the weather app on an iPhone communicates with weather service software to deliver updates to your screen.

“Markets already move on Truth Social posts,” said Kevin McGurn, interim CEO of Trump Media, in a release. The goal of Truth API, the release said, is to deliver posts more quickly to paying customers, to avoid the “cost of a delay in information.”

Experts in business and law say the service makes Trump the first American president to charge money for expedited access to official government business.

“This is a completely new area. It has not been litigated. It is breaking new ground,” said Nejat Seyhun, professor of finance at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business.

“And so, you have to ask whether the laws apply precisely here because

there's no precedent."

Lawsuit says Truth API is unconstitutional. Trump Media disagrees.

A new federal lawsuit alleges Truth API violates some of our nation's most fundamental laws.

The suit, filed Aug. 12 in U.S. District Court in New York, argues that the paid service breaches the First Amendment guarantee of “equal access to the president’s public announcements,” as well as a Fifth Amendment prohibition against “preferential access to crucial government information” without just cause.

Trump is named as a defendant in the suit, along with Natalie Harp and Daniel Scavino, aides who are said to type his Truth Social posts, among other parties.

Trump Media, which is not a defendant in the suit, responded in a statement to USA TODAY, saying Truth API is no different from services offered by many other online platforms.

“Information from President Trump is disseminated by countless platforms and news outlets, many of which offer subscription APIs,” the statement said. “One of those channels is Truth Social, which was founded as an un-cancellable haven for free speech after the President was deplatformed. Now, left-wing activists are trying to wrongfully weaponize the courts to censor him again and harm our shareholders.”

Many news outlets sell access. Is Truth API different?

Lots of news providers charge money for early or exclusive access to news that can move markets.

The difference with Truth API, its critics say, is that the news in question is official business of our government.

Trump's Truth Social posts “are presidential records,” said Seth Stern, chief of advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation, a plaintiff in the law-@realDonaldTrump · 51m

The United States of America has successfully carried out a large scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the Country. This operation was done in conjunction with U.S. Law Enforcement. Details to follow. There will be a News Conference today at 11 A.M., at Mar-a-Lago. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP

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President Donald Trump's Truth Social posts about tariffs and military actions have the potential to move financial markets. @REALDONALDTRUMP/VIA REUTERS

suit. “These are records all of the public has a right to, not just those who pay the going rate set by the president’s private companies.”

Preferential access to presidential posts could generate profits for traders of stock and oil futures and a host of other investments, the experts say.

On March 23, a flurry of trades erupted minutes before Trump posted on Truth Social that he was postponing attacks against Iran. The episode sparked allegations of insider trading.

"There are prosecutions against people who get information in advance," said Xu Jiang, associate professor of business administration at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business.

"If you let people selectively have access to that information, even if you don't charge money, the legal basis for that would be very fragile," he said.

Does Truth API give customers an ‘unfair advantage’?

More than 10 paying customers have subscribed to Truth API, company officials said in an Aug. 10 earnings call.

In that call, someone asked how Trump Media responded to criticism that Truth API gave some traders “an unfair advantage” by selling access.

↑

McGurn replied that the criticism was “misinformed.” He said the new service merely delivers “machine-readable feeds of publicly available Truth posts from the platform’s top accounts in milliseconds.” Paying customers weren’t really getting the posts early, he said – just “fractionally faster” than everyone else.

“Providing licensed real-time public data through commercial APIs is a well-established business practice,” McGurn said in the earnings call.

But not, perhaps, with White House announcements.

"The crux of all of it is, it's the sale of advance access to presidential information," said Tillipman of GWU.

Trump “is the one creating the information,” she said. “And now he’s selling access to that information that he’s creating as president through a company that he’s the beneficial owner of.”

And no one, including the creators of Truth API, seems to dispute the monetary value of gaining access to presidential posts “fractionally faster” than the general public.

“You can trade in milliseconds,” said Seyhun of the University of Michigan. “So, if you have a millisecond advantage over everybody else, you can act on it first.”

50★States

ALABAMA Autauga County: A fox found near Billingsley Junction was confirmed to have rabies, state health officials said. There was no human exposure in the case.

ALASKA Cape Newenham: Federal authorities investigating a plane crash that left eight dead in a remote region of Alaska say the plane went down after the pilots were unable to see the ground. The plane, a Cessna 441, crashed on Aug. 20 near Cape Newenham on the coast, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

ARIZONA Phoenix: Arizona is taking the next step to import water to make up for declines in its Colorado River supply. The Water Infrastructure Finance Authority of Arizona approved more than \$7 million for studies to advance two proposed water developments in California that could bring new water into Arizona.

ARKANSAS Mulberry: Mulberry is using \$10 million in federal funding to expand its water treatment plant, a project officials say could double its capacity and support future growth.

CALIFORNIA Monterey: One of the most anticipated vehicles that was offered at the Monterey Car Week auction was the 1963 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport sold by RM Sotheby's. The vehicle sold for \$18,705,000, making it the most expensive Corvette ever sold.

COLORADO Loveland: An invasive, rapidly cloning snail that voraciously consumes food in competition with native species and clogs reservoir pipes has been discovered in Carter Lake. The presence of New Zealand mudsnails was confirmed by Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

CONNECTICUT Mystic: Marine mammal responders are monitoring an increase in dolphin activity and are urging boaters and beachgoers to keep their distance from the animals. Mystic Aquarium's Animal Rescue Program is working with partner agencies to evaluate possible reasons for the increase.

DELAWARE Newark: Two Stones Pub's Ogletown location has been temporarily closed since Aug. 15 when a car drove through its front doors.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA Washington: The 12th annual Chuck Brown Day, hosted by the DC Department of Parks and Recreation, brought thousands of people to Fort Dupont Park to celebrate “the Godfather of Go-Go,” WUSA reported.

FLORIDA Tallahassee: A lawmaker wants the federal government to review how the protected status of American alligators affects their management following five attacks that resulted in a death and lost limbs. Republican state Rep. Greg Steube filed a bill that would require the Comptroller General and Department of the Interior to study the alligator's status of “threatened” and whether it thwarts their removal when they become a nuisance.

GEORGIA Pooler: An \$800,000 grant from the Georgia Department of Transportation will help fund improvements to a local park in Pooler, bringing the community one step closer to a planned trail project designed to expand outdoor recreation opportunities for residents.

HAWAII Honolulu: Gov. Josh Green asked the White House on Aug. 22 to issue an emergency declaration following Hurricane Lala, KHON2 reported. The request is for Hawaii County, Maui County and the city and county of Honolulu, according to the outlet.

IDAHO Twin Falls: The Christopher "Toph" Claunch Charity Golf Tournament will be held at Canyon Springs Golf Course on Sept. 20, KTVB reported. Claunch was killed during an Aug. 1 shooting at In-N-Out Burger.

ILLINOIS Macomb: Western Illinois University is assembling the team that will launch the Goldfarb Center for Performing Arts as the facility prepares for its inaugural season. In a key step, the university named leadership and staff for the center.

INDIANA Indianapolis: Indianapolis passed a first-of-its-kind data center moratorium Aug. 19 that prohibits developers from asking to build data centers in the city for more than a year. The Metropolitan Development Commission unanimously delivered the final vote approving a temporary ban on new data centers within the city limits through the end of 2027. It's in effect immediately.

The Berry Rock Building broke ground on Sept. 23, 2025, and it's now nearing completion. DOUG HOKE/USA TODAY NETWORK

HIGHLIGHT: OKLAHOMA

Oklahoma City: Nestled onto a triangular, once-overlooked parcel of land carved by old trolley lines, the Berry Rock Building rises as a uniquely-angled gateway to Oklahoma City. The 60,000-square-foot, geothermal-powered office tower, now nearing completion, bridges the historic Flatiron District with the growing Innovation District. A 146,000-pound steel sculpture manufactured in Tulsa makes a statement that highlights the building's flatiron form. It was the intent of Nick Berry and Cameron Rock, co-founders of Berry Rock, along with designer Rand Elliot and developers Jeff Johnson and Andy Burnett to create something forward-looking that represents the history of the Flatiron area.

IOWA Forest City: Winnebago Industries has announced it will lay off 27 production employees from its specialty vehicles operation in Forest City, effective Nov. 30.

KANSAS Topeka: Landon Trail will get another 2 miles developed thanks to a federal grant. Kanza Rail-Trails Conservancy Inc. received \$2 million as part of a Kansas Department of Transportation program, which administered the federal funds.

KENTUCKY Williamsburg: President Donald Trump has nominated Daniel Ballou, a longtime circuit court judge from Southeastern Kentucky, to serve as a judge in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky.

LOUISIANA Bossier City: Bossier City soon could rewrite its rules concerning its workforce through a proposed ordinance updating employee pay, leave and workplace conduct. City Council recently introduced an ordinance on the topic.

MAINE Kennebunk: Village Tavern, a longtime restaurant, closed on Aug. 19, with its owners citing rising costs and a shifting economy. In a social media post, the restaurant also said its landlords informed them the lease was being terminated.

MARYLAND Annapolis: Maryland residents who haven't registered their vehicles in the state have until the end of September to avoid new penalties and enforcement actions for not updating their license plates.

MASSACHUSETTS Boston: A charter fishing crew may have reeled in a piece of East Coast fishing history after landing a 1,260-pound Atlantic blue marlin, a massive catch believed to be the largest of its kind ever brought ashore along the U.S. East Coast, according to reports from AP News and the New York Post. The fish, which measured more than 11 feet long, was caught Aug. 19 about 100 miles off Cape Cod by charter captain Damon Sacco and his client, Walter Chapman.

MICHIGAN Detroit: A J.W. Westcott Co. boat crew rescued two riders from a sinking Jet Ski-type watercraft in the Detroit River under the Ambassador Bridge on Aug. 21.

MINNESOTA St. Paul: Mike Lindell, the former CEO of MyPillow, announced Aug. 18 he would challenge the state's primary election results for governor and pay for a statewide hand recount and audit of Republican primary ballots.

MISSISSIPPI Natchez: Looking for a Mississippi getaway with stunning views and a rich history? A national magazine says one city stands above the rest. Architectural Digest named Natchez as the prettiest town in the state.

MISSOURI Springfield: Springfield's historical records will gain a new permanent home. The History Museum on the Square has transferred possession of its archival collection to Missouri State University's Duane G. Meyer Library Special Collections and Archives. The collection will be preserved, housed and made available to researchers through the university's archival facilities.

MONTANA Great Falls: Girls' flag football is growing across the country, and this fall, local athletes will contribute. C.M. Russell High and Great Falls High will field flag football teams for the first time.

NEBRASKA Lincoln: The Lincoln Sports Foundation said it is adding four new volleyball courts to its facility as part of \$1.6 million project, KOLN reported.

NEVADA Las Vegas: The state of Nevada, the Southern Nevada Water Authority and the Colorado River Commission filed a lawsuit against the federal government, challenging the Department of the Interior's new Colorado River management plan that would cut the state's water allocation by 17% beginning in 2027, KLAS reported.

NEW HAMPSHIRE Concord: Out-of-state visitors will soon pay double the fees to use state parks and double the tolls on non-New Hampshire transponders. The law will take effect despite Gov. Kelly Ayotte's veto, after the House and Senate overrode it, New Hampshire Bulletin reported.

NEW JERSEY Trenton: Protesters interfering with those seeking abortions or transgender-related procedures will be subject to new criminal penalties in New Jersey under a law signed by Gov. Mikie Sherrill. The measure also will block attempts by other states that ban those procedures from taking any criminal or civil action against New Jersey providers treating out-of-state patients.

NEW MEXICO Las Cruces: Whiskey Dick's will stay open despite its building being listed for \$3.6 million. The long-term lease keeps the bar in Las Cruces.

NEW YORK Westchester County: The nation's wealthiest suburb is Scarsdale, with an average household income of \$612,591 in 2024, according to an analysis by the personal finance site MoneyLion. The Westchester suburb of Rye was third in the annual ranking, with an average income of \$428,806.

NORTH CAROLINA Asheville: A new indoor recreation facility is coming to the Buncombe County Sports Park in Enka-Candler, following a vote by the county Board of Commissioners approving a roughly \$1.6 million contract with Raleigh-based Method Studio to design and oversee the project.

NORTH DAKOTA Fargo: The state's vaccination rates for kindergarteners has declined, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with $8\%$ reporting non-medical exemptions from mandatory vaccines, KVRR reported.

OHIO Akron: University of Akron President R.J. Nemer envisions the in-progress, new version of the Buchtel Commons thoroughfare as a place where students can congregate and find calm and serenity. The middle portion of the \$8 million reconstruction of Buchtel Commons is about three-quarters complete.

OREGON Eugene: Two previously unnamed dormitories at University of Oregon have been named Cedar Hall and Maple Hall after two tree genera native to Oregon.

PENNSYLVANIA Mercer County: A Pennsylvania woman is suing Taco Bell and Taylor Farms in federal court after she was hospitalized with cyclosporiasis in July.

RHODE ISLAND Providence: The state's child immunization schedule will remain unchanged, the Department of Health and Gov. Dan McKee announced on Aug. 18, challenging a recent executive order from President Donald Trump that seeks to loosen childhood vaccinations.

SOUTH CAROLINA Spartanburg: Attorneys with the Southern Environmental Law Center, which is representing a group of Spartanburg residents, filed a request for a preliminary injunction to halt the Valara data center project and the county's permitting process for ongoing work.

SOUTH DAKOTA Aberdeen: The east side of Aberdeen is witnessing the construction of a new 1.5 million-gallon elevated water tower. The project is designed to improve water pressure, storage capacity and reliability, particularly on the northeast side of Aberdeen and within the city's industrial areas.

TENNESSEE Blount Cunty: Visitors won't be able to access a popular waterfall in Great Smoky Mountains National Park during weekdays for just over a month. Abrams Falls Trail will close Monday through Thursday each week through Oct. 1 for maintenance and repair work, according to the park.

TEXAS Houston: An Amazon package delivered via drone in Texas just missed the mark and ended up in a customer's pool. In her first Amazon drone delivery, Lindsey Austen expected to see an eye-catching sight when she received an alert that her Amazon order would be delivered by drone. But things went sideways when the drone hovered above Austen's pool and dropped the package into the water. "When it went into the pool, I was shocked," Austen said. "I don't think I'll be wanting any more drone deliveries."

UTAH Salt Lake City: The state's 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline has been experiencing more calls and texts this summer, KSL reported. In addition, staff members have noticed that calls are lasting slightly longer, according to the outlet.

VERMONT South Burlington: The Department of Veterans Affairs has signed a lease for a new outpatient clinic in South Burlington, a project aimed at expanding access to health care services for veterans in the region. According to a community announcement, construction and facility preparation are expected to be completed by fall 2028, with the first patient services anticipated by spring 2029.

VIRGINIA Surry County: After an almost half-century in the water, the "Surry" ferry could be heading into permanent dry dock. Virginia Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine announced that the popular James-town-Scotland Ferry system across the James River is getting \$68 million in federal funding to replace the 47-year-old Surry, the oldest of the four ferries in the fleet.

WASHINGTON Bremerton: Bremerton School District has found a new location for Renaissance High School: the existing View Ridge Elementary Arts Academy, which will be vacated for a building now under construction.

WEST VIRGINIA Pennsboro: The Bonds Creek Water Project, aimed at improving water quality and reliability in Pennsboro and Ritchie County, recently received \$1 million in federal funding, WV News reported.

WISCONSIN Milwaukee: The city's Kinnickinnic River has been regularly tested for fecal bacteria – and it has failed nearly 95% of the time, among the highest rates in the country, according to a new report by Environment America. And Kinnickinnic River isn't alone in Milwaukee. Lincoln Creek, near Green Bay Avenue, had unsafe fecal bacteria levels about 94% of the time, as did Honey Creek near West Wisconsin Avenue, according to the advocacy and research group's report.

WYOMING Laramie: On Sept. 11, the University of Wyoming will host its free Cowboy Kickoff Concert as part of Kickoff Week for the home-opening football game, Wyoming News Now reported.

From USA TODAY Network and wire reports

ASK JOHNNY

You can walk the line between compassion, accountability at work

Johnny C. Taylor Jr. Columnist USA TODAY

Johnny C. Taylor Jr. tackles your workplace questions each week for USA TODAY. Taylor is president and CEO of SHRM, the world's largest trade association of human resources professionals, and author of "Reset: A Leader's Guide to Work in an Age of Upheaval."

Question: I manage someone who has always been a strong performer, but lately that person's work has slipped because of serious personal issues. I want to be compassionate, but the rest of the team is starting to feel the impact. How do I support this worker without lowering expectations or hurting team morale, and where do I draw the line between compassion and accountability?

whether that's paid time off, leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), an employee assistance program, or other available benefits.

Once you've had that conversation, establish a shared understanding of what comes next. If the employee needs time away or another workplace accommodation that's available to them, help them access it.

If they tell you they're able to continue working, it's reasonable to expect them to fulfill the essential responsibilities of the role. Grace may influence how you manage the situation, but it shouldn't eliminate accountability.

Your responsibility also extends beyond one employee. You owe fairness to the entire team. If one person's workload consistently becomes everyone else's burden, morale and trust will eventually suffer.

- Shreya

While you should always respect the employee's privacy, don't ignore the impact on the rest of the team. Strong leaders support individuals without creating lasting inequities for everyone else.

Answer: One of the biggest misconceptions about leadership is that empathy and accountability are somehow at odds.

They're not. In fact, the best leaders understand you can't effectively lead without both. Employees deserve compassion when life becomes difficult, but they also deserve clear expectations. Those two things can, and should, coexist.

When a high-performing employee suddenly begins struggling, don't jump to conclusions.

Start with a conversation. Not a performance discussion, but a genuine check-in. If an employee is dealing with significant personal challenges, your role isn't to solve those problems or become their counselor. People don't need you to fix every problem.

They need to know you see them as a human being.

Make sure they're aware of the resources your organization provides,

If performance doesn't improve despite reasonable support and the resources available to the employee, it's appropriate to return to your organization's normal performance management process.

Performance expectations shouldn't disappear simply because someone is facing personal challenges.

Once you've offered appropriate support, it's important to continue managing performance with clarity, consistency, and respect.

Leadership isn't about choosing between compassion and accountability. It's about having the wisdom to practice both. The managers employees trust most are the ones who genuinely care about their people while helping them meet the standards that allow both the individual and the team to succeed.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are the author's and do not necessarily reflect those of USA TODAY.

Amazon to expand drone delivery to nearly 500 cities by end of year

less that fit inside a large shoebox are eligible for drone delivery.

Anthony Thompson

USA TODAY

Amazon plans to dramatically expand its Prime Air drone delivery service, saying it expects to reach nearly 500 U.S. cities and towns by the end of 2026 as retailers race to make airborne deliveries a larger part of everyday shopping.

The expansion would increase Prime Air's footprint sixfold, giving tens of millions more customers access to drone deliveries.

Amazon said eligible shoppers can order millions of products, including groceries, electronics, medications and household essentials, with deliveries arriving in as fast as 30 minutes.

The announcement comes as the drone delivery industry appears poised for rapid growth.

The Federal Aviation Administration has proposed rules that would make it easier for certified operators to fly drones beyond a pilot's visual line of sight, a change companies say could significantly reduce costs and allow services to expand more quickly, according to Reuters.

Here's what to know about Amazon's Prime Air expansion, including where drone delivery is available and where it's headed next.

Where is Prime Air available?

Prime Air now operates from 11 delivery sites serving metro areas including Phoenix; Tampa, Florida; Kansas City, Kansas; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Detroit; Omaha, Nebraska; Houston; Dallas; San Antonio; and Waco, Texas.

Amazon said service will soon launch in the Chicago, Cleveland, Atlanta, Boise and Syracuse metro areas, with additional communities expected later this year as the company works toward its nationwide expansion goal.

What can customers order?

Most items weighing 5 pounds or

That includes many groceries, cosmetics, medications, electronics and household products.

Prime members receive free drone delivery on orders of \$50 or more.

Orders under \$50 cost Prime members \$2.99, and customers without a Prime membership pay \$4.99.

Customers in eligible areas will see the drone delivery option during checkout, select a delivery location on their property, and receive their order after the drone confirms the drop zone is clear.

Drone delivery is gaining momentum

Amazon's expansion comes as federal regulators consider changes that could make it easier for drone operators to scale their networks, Reuters reported.

The FAA has proposed rules that would allow certified operators to routinely fly drones beyond a pilot's visual line of sight, potentially reducing the need for lengthy waiver processes.

Amazon says

it keeps flights safe

Amazon said Prime Air operates under FAA Part 135 certification, the same regulatory framework used for commercial air carriers.

Its drones use onboard cameras and sensors to navigate and avoid obstacles through a Detect-and-Avoid system that independently monitors surrounding airspace.

The company said the cameras are used only for navigation and obstacle detection and are not monitored by people or used to track people.

Amazon says its drones can also operate in light rain and are fully electric, and each delivery typically produces about 30 seconds of noise during drop-off.

Contributing: Reuters

REAL OR FOOL'S GOLD?

Count these eight among college football's most polarizing teams for 2026

Craig Meyer USA TODAY NETWORK

In college football, as in so many other facets of life, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

When games have yet to kick off and there's nothing off of which to judge a team other than roster retention, coaching changes, depth charts, statistical projections and, most of all, vibes, that's especially true.

Entering the 2026 season, there's a wide variance of opinion on a number of teams, including some that found their way into the preseason US LBM Coaches Poll. Some are programs that have struggled the past few years but have been reenergized by the arrival of a new coach. Others are historic powerhouses that have faded recently but still have built-in name recognition and goodwill.

To some, these teams are afterthoughts that might struggle to make a bowl. To others, though, they're undervalued assets – ones that, if things break right, could even find their way into the College Football Playoff.

Who are these squads for the upcoming season? Here's a closer look at the most polarizing teams:

See POLARIZING, Page 7C

From top to bottom: Ole Miss' Kewan Lacy and Trinidad Chambliss, Clemson's Dabo Swinney, Florida's Buster Faulkner and UCLA's Nico Iamaleava PHOTOS BY KIRBY LEE AND PETRE THOMAS/IMAGN IMAGES VIA REUTERS CONNECT, KEN RUINARD AND ALAN YOUNGBLOOD/USA TODAY NETWORK AND GETTY IMAGES

Monken's Browns QB1 is Watson

Nick Brinkerhoff and

acob Camenker

USA TODAY

The Cleveland Browns quarterback competition has a winner and his name is Deshaun Watson.

Watson will start Week 1 for the Browns this season, according to coach Todd Monken.

Four competitors entered the race: Deshaun Watson, Shedeur Sanders, Dillon Gabriel and Taylen Green. Watson and Sanders were always the leaders in the clubhouse, even if Monken declared it to be an open battle all summer long.

It marked the second consecutive season with a training camp battle for the “Dawg Pound,” which was won by Joe Flacco in 2025.

Now Watson will get that honor in 2026 and can prepare accordingly for the Browns' Week1 opener in Jacksonville against the Jaguars on Sept. 13.

Both Watson and Sanders were given the opportunity to start through the first two weeks of the preseason. Each were given the first half to audition, while the other had a chance to play the third quarter. The decision to split game reps came as the duo also alternated practice reps with the first team in practice.

Monken maintained throughout camp that he wasn't going into the battle with any preconceived notions, explaining to USA TODAY Sports' Jarrett Bell that the competition was close ahead of the Browns' preseason exhibition opener.

See BROWNS, Page 7C

Deshaun Watson will start the Browns' regular-season opener, their new coach decided Aug. 23. MIKE CARDEW/USA TODAY NETWORK

PGA TOUR

Clark drives off with big playoff win in BMW

Adam Schupak

Golfweek | USA TODAY Network

Wyndham Clark hadn't made a birdie in the final round of the BMW Championship, and had blown his five-stroke lead at the start of the day.

Major winners Rory McIlroy, Gary Woodland and past FedExCup champion Patrick Cantlay stacked up behind him Aug. 23, and McIlroy, the reigning Masters champion, eventually caught Clark at the 11th.

"The momentum was all on Rory's side, but I knew that I just needed one little spark to get it on my side," he said.

Earlier in his career, Clark, 32, would have folded, but he's playing the best golf of his career these days and found the spark he needed to birdie the final three holes and shoot even-par 70 at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis to win by three strokes over Cantlay

See CLARK, Page 7C

\$31.95 reg. \$39.95 plus tax & shipping • offer expires Oct. 14, 2026 • books ship Nov. 30, 2026

PRO GOLF WEEKEND RECAP

Michael La Sasso wins LIV Indy

Field Level Media

REUTERS

In what may have been the final round of LIV Golf history, 22-year-old rookie Michael La Sasso earned his first professional win at LIV Golf Indianapolis while Jon Rahm's Legion XIII won its second straight team title in Westfield, Indiana.

The cancellation of the Team Championship in Michigan made this the final event of LIV Golf's fifth season. The Saudi Public Investment Fund announced it would stop funding LIV after 2026; LIV Golf has reached an agreement with a new lead investor, but the deal is not yet finalized.

The prospective deal depends greatly on player buy-in, as CEO Scott O'Neil noted last week, so there is no guarantee of a 2027 season.

"There's been a lot that's surrounded all of us for pretty much since we joined," Rahm said Aug. 23. "At the end of the day, once we step on the golf course, it's just golf. Everything else goes away, and we just compete. It hasn't been any harder or easier than it was."

La Sasso, a former NCAA champion, turned pro in January and joined Hy-Flyers GC, the team captained by Phil Mickelson. His 10-under-par 60 at The Club at Chatham Hills on Friday pushed him up the leaderboard, and after a 66 on Saturday, La Sasso held a one-shot lead.

He turned in a bogey-free, 5-under 65 Sunday to win at 18 under, one shot better than Rahm. The Spanish star charged into late contention with his best round of the week, a 7-under 63.

LIV Golf rookie Michael La Sasso celebrates after winning at Indianapolis. JEROD RINGWALD/IMAGN IMAGES

“I told our social media guy last night, I said, ‘I’ll be honest, this is going to be the one I win,’ ” La Sasso said. “I spoke it into existence well before this week. The fact that it’s actually come true, it’s unbelievable, but yeah, I’m at a loss for words.”

Rahm had already wrapped up his third consecutive individual LIV title at LIV Golf New York. Legion XIII won the team championship last year, but in a much different scenario.

This year, because of the Team Championship's cancellation, the league said the team that finished with the best score in Indianapolis would be crowned the 2026 champion and receive a reduced bonus of \$8.4 million.

Rahm's 17-under score for the week led the way, bolstered by his three teammates: Tom McKibbin of Northern Ireland (11 under), Tyrrell Hatton of England (8 under) and Caleb Surratt (8 under). That made for a combined score of 44 under par, six shots better than HyFlyers GC.

"If there's ever a format change that would benefit this team, it's that one. Giving us four stroke-play days where all the scores count, I think it benefits us the way we play," Rahm said. "I think we're very consistent tee to green, and that plays to our advantage."

Bryson DeChambeau (64) and Spaniard Sergio Garcia (65) tied for third at 16 under, two back of La Sasso. While Rahm's future with the league is rumored to be in doubt, DeChambeau is viewed as the player most loyal to LIV and continuing the league in some form.

"As much as we're transitioning from LIV 1.0 to 2.0, I have great thoughts about what could happen next year. I wish I could be more up front about it," DeChambeau said. "But ultimately, I'm proud of the fact of what we've done, the good and some of the bad that we've unfortunately had, things that have occurred. I'm going to be real with it; not everything was perfect. But for the most part we've done a solid job. If there's one thing that I could say, it's we did something different in the game of golf, and I'm proud of that."

PGA Tour Champions: Alker tops Yang in Rogers playoff

Standing over his ball on the first playoff hole of a sudden-death playoff, Steven Alker knew he could win with two putts.

He needed only one.

Alker sank a 7-foot birdie on No. 18 – the second straight time playing the hole – while Y.E. Yang bogeyed to win the Rogers Charity Classic on Sunday in Calgary picking up his second PGA Tour Champions win of the season and moving into the top five of the Charles Schwab Cup standings.

"It was a long day," Alker said. "I was in the hunt. I would have liked to have made birdie at 18 to finish it all off. But whenever you're in the playoff, you never know what's going to happen. So I feel very relieved ... I was behind the eight ball and it took a while to get back. But it was very pleasing."

The bogey was the only miscue on the back nine by either golfer, as they combined to go 11-under-par from holes 10 through 18 in regulation, each finishing the third round at 16-under 194, one stroke better than Jerry Kelly and Zach Johnson.

Yang, who teed off six groups before Alker, birdied 18 to end regulation and give him a 7-under 63 on the day. Alker, who started the day one stroke back of second-round leader Ryan Armour, shot a 5-under 65 while playing in the day's final group.

After Kelly (63) and Johnson (65), four golfers finished tied for fifth at 13 under: South African Retief Goosen (65), Michael Block (67), Australian Richard Green (67) and Armour (69).

Miyu Yamashita wins by nine in tying LPGA record

Beth Ann Nichols Golfweek | USA TODAY Network

Miyu Yamashita, one of the smallest players in the game, loomed large in Canada. The 4-foot-11 powerhouse dominated the field at the CPKC Women's Open in style, finishing at 23-under 257 to tie an LPGA scoring record and win by nine.

Yamashita

“I was nervous,” Yamashita said after the round without the aid of an interpreter. “My shot, my game, I trust my swing.”

Yamashita went back to Japan to work with her father, who

doubles as her instructor, and the results were undeniable. One of the most precise players on tour, Yamashita picked apart Royal Mayfair Golf Club with an opening 62 and never looked back. She added rounds of 64-65-66 to finish at 23-under 257, nine ahead of compatriot Yuri Yoshida, a woman who had missed her last six cuts.

Yamashita tied a record set by Sei Young Kim at the 2018 Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic. Kim, by the way, finished solo third in Edmonton.

The home crowd had much to cheer about as two Canadian teens finish in the top 10. Anna Huang, a 17-year-old pro who has won four times on the LET, closed with a 65 to finish in a share of fourth. Aphrodite Deng, a 16-year-old amateur, took a share of seventh with a birdie on the last hole. Both are into the field for next week's FM Championship.

"I'm really happy that I played well in front of the best in the world," said Huang, "and hopefully I can continue doing that."

Former Duke player Gina Kim won the Dow Championship, a team event, this year with Yana Wilson but missed her last six cuts. Kim, playing in the last group, had an eventful final round that included a drop from the coffee station of a hospitality tent. A closing 71 gave her a share of fourth.

SOCCER PREMIER LEAGUE

Wild opening weekend produces winners, losers

USA TODAY

Jesse Yomtov

The Premier League's opening weekend gave fans around the globe plenty to talk about with late drama for some title hopefuls, two newly promoted teams notching wins and demoralizing losses for Manchester United and Tottenham.

Defending champion Arsenal picked up three points to open its campaign, while last season's runner-up Manchester City notched a dramatic comeback win with goals in the 85th and 91st minutes to beat Bournemouth in Enzo Maresca's managerial debut succeeding Pep Guardiola.

Brighton enjoyed a flying start with a 4-0 win against 10-man Aston Villa, a troubling result for the Champions League participants that was strip-mined of talent over the summer.

Here's a look at some of the best and worst from the first days of the 10-month-long season that wraps up in May:

WINNERS Arsenal

Last season's long-awaited title was absolutely torturous and the Gunners were widely condemned for their passive approach, but a 3-0 opening day win – plus a thrashing of City in the Community Shield – indicate that Mikel Arteta's side may have lost the restrictor plates.

“They know how to do it, they look really connected, and they play with a lot of purpose, which I really like,” Arteta told reporters.

The promoted teams

For the fourth time in the 21st century (but second year in a row), two promoted teams won their first match of the season. Hull City's 2-0 win over Manchester United was the weekend's stunner, with the home side scoring two first-half set piece goals in the club's return to the top flight after nine years. Record signing Nobel Mendy was one of Hull's scorers, while fans gleefully chanted "You're getting mauled by the Tigers" at the visitors.

Hull City players celebrate their first goal against Manchester United. LEE SMITH/ACTION IMAGES VIA REUTERS

“Probably before we all went to bed last night, we couldn't have dreamt any better,” Hull captain Lewie Coyle told TNT Sports.

Meanwhile, Ipswich Town won 2-1 at home against Sunderland, bursting the bubble of last year's promoted darling. Ipswich shelled out about \$200 million on players this summer – sixth most in the league – hoping to make this stay in the Premier League a longer one. The results were immediate with new forward Emersonn scoring in his debut with an assist from club record signing Julio Enciso.

LOSERS Manchester United

Michael Carrick's team took 39 points – second only to Arsenal – in its final 17 games last season, an incredible run that got United back into the Champions League with a third-place finish. Even with reinforcements surely coming before the transfer deadline, is this season's Manchester United capable of hanging near the top of the table while also competing in Europe?

Tottenham

After narrowly avoiding relegation, Spurs went big in the summer, already committing \$300 million to new additions – with even more high-priced signings likely before the window closes. Roberto De Zerbi's starting lineup featured five of those new players to open the campaign at Brentford, suffering an ugly 3-0 defeat that really couldn't have gone any worse.

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USA TODAY SPORTS

Running backs like Gibbs deserve big deals

Stood out: Pittsburgh QB edition

Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs, shown in a November game, had 13 TD runs and 1,223 rushing yards last season. JUNFU HAN/DETROIT FREE PRESS

Jarrett Bell Columnist USA TODAY

Jarrett Bell has been covering the NFL for USA TODAY since 1993 and is a recipient of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Bill Nunn Memorial Award for career achievement. He has been a member of Hall of Fame selection committee since 1997 and has voted on Associated Press awards and Super Bowl MVP panels for more than 25 years. Each Monday during the season, he'll take you around the league as only he can to uncover what mattered most and what it means.

Jahmyr Gibbs has yet to christen his new record contract by ripping off his first explosive run in live action or by burning a defense with a scintillating catch in the open field.

Just wait. Barring some disaster, it's coming.

And when it does, the big-play Detroit Lions star may have already outplayed his contract.

Gibbs, 24, became the highest-paid running back in NFL history this month in striking a three-year, \$67.5 million extension that averages \$22.5 million per year.

It was the third deal of the summer for a running back averaging at least \$22M, edging past Bijan Robinson's three-year, \$66.75 million pact with the Falcons and the two-year, \$44 million extension for the Colts' Jonathan Taylor. The trio joins Saquon Barkley in the \$20-mil-plus running back club.

So, yes, Gibbs can take a bow to lead the pack.

But by another measure, the fourth-year pro is still rather underpaid. According to rankings posted on Spotrac.com, there are 24 wide receivers averaging more on their contracts than Gibbs, which doesn't seem right. Gibbs was second in the NFL with 18 TDs and fifth with 1,839 yards from scrimmage.

And it was no anomaly. Taylor led the league with 20 TDs and was third in scrimmage yards (1,963). Robinson topped the NFL with 2,298 yards, while San Francisco's Christian McCaffrey (\$19 million per year) was second with 2,126 yards and third with 17 TDs.

Yet for all of their heavy-duty workload – and with their expansive roles in the passing game as multiple-dimensional threats – running backs still get the short of it.

This is hardly a new pattern. For decades as the NFL evolved into a passing league, running backs have been devalued. There's the argument about diminishing returns. They don't last as long. Yet as the position has evolved with the game, their value hasn't evolved proportionally.

“I don’t think it should be like a positional thing,” Gibbs told USA TODAY Sports following a recent camp practice at the Lions headquarters in Allen Park, Michigan. “I think it should be like worth. What’s your value to that team? That’s how I think it should go.

“It doesn’t really make any sense. I get it because the running back lifespan in the NFL is what, three or four years? But you have elites still getting paid less than ... compared to the rest of the positions it was low, even though we do a lot for a team.”

On some teams, the gap is glaring. While Robinson was briefly the highest-paid running back before Gibbs, his new deal is nowhere close to the contract Falcons receiver Drake London received that averages \$35.26 million. In Baltimore, Zay Flowers landed a \$35M per-year pact that more than doubles the \$15 million average for Derrick Henry.

"The market analysis part, that's a big driving force in all these negotiations," Lions general manager Brad Holmes told USA TODAY Sports. "With these new contracts with Jahmyr, Bijan and Jonathan Taylor, they're starting to creep up there. They're not there yet."

In another sense, though, running back value has decreased at an alarming rate – despite the contracts at the top of the market.

Joel Corry, a former agent and contract expert, points to the NFL's salary cap for proof. The cap, set at a record \$301.2M for 2026, was at \$120.735 million after the lockout ended in 2011.

"The salary cap has gone up $150\%$ since then," Corry told USA TODAY Sports. "The top of the running back market has gone up $58\%$ since then. Running back salaries have not kept up with the growth of the cap."

Corry, who contributes to CBS Sports' digital channel and website, pointed out that Vikings star Adrian Peterson was the highest-paid running back in 2011 with an average salary of \$14.2 million, while Larry Fitzgerald topped receivers at slightly more than \$16 million per year. So 15 years ago the top running back earned 90% of what the top receiver was paid. Now, with Seattle's Jaxson Smith-Njigba averaging \$42.15 million on his new deal, the highest-paid running back, Gibbs, is a little more than 50% of the top receiver pay.

How can the elite backs close that gap? It's a tough sell, especially with the top backs signed to long-term extension and attrition a factor.

Maybe the best argument for the best players, though, can be made by reclassifying them as “offensive weapons” rather than merely running backs.

Then again, that negotiating stance certainly isn't a novel idea.

“That’s an argument that falls on deaf ears,” Corry said. “I’m sure multiple agents have tried to make that argument with dual-threat running backs. Good luck with that one.”

Stood out: Cleveland QB edition

Since kicking off the offseason program on April 14, new Browns coach Todd Monken has had exactly 38 practices – that's six minicamp practices, three rookie minicamp practices, 10 organized team activity sessions, 18 training camp practices and one joint practice – and two preseason games to lay eyes on Shedeur Sanders and Deshaun Watson and collect intel for the big decision on his starting quarterback that came down (finally) Monday, Aug. 23, with Watson the winner.

Monken has also had many hours of meetings with his QBs and staff, plus more hours of videotape study. You'd think he's got enough to make the call.

And if he needed another factor, the Huntington Bank Field crowd gave their opinion by showering Watson with a chorus of boos during the Saturday tilt against the Bills.

“I know you’ve asked him, ‘Hey, how’s it feel to get booed?’ It’s a pretty easy question. It sucks,” Monken said during his postgame media session. “I don’t want to get booed. It comes with the territory. You don’t want to get booed? Let’s play good football.”

No, that didn't happen as Watson was disastrous during a second-half run low-lighted by two picks.

Then his postgame newser put an exclamation point on that, as Watson vented about the Browns fan base. No doubt, it was cruel that home fans cheered when Watson suffered a torn Achilles tendon in 2024. But he hurt his rep even more, and after a poor performance, by clapping back at the fans.

So, on the awareness meter, Sanders scored even more points with his graceful response to a question about the booing of his teammate and competitor.

“In general, I don’t appreciate that at all,” Sanders said during his postgame media session. “Regardless of competition, we’re all human beings. I think we all need to understand that. In this room, too, we’re all humans.

“It’s a respect thing,” he added. “It’s a respect thing that I feel should be there because we’re all out there trying to do our best and serve the franchise the best way possible.”

Spoken like, well, an evolving face of the franchise.

What moved me

Ultimately, the legacy of O.J. Brigance went so far beyond football. Sure, as the leader of the Ravens special teams units, he fittingly made the first tackle of Super Bowl 35 on the opening kickoff. He had the distinction, too, of being the only player to win a Super Bowl and a Grey Cup while representing the same city, Baltimore.

Yet his defining legacy comes in more human terms, wrapped in the determined spirit Brigance demonstrated for so many years as he battled ALS – and remained active with the Ravens despite limited physical abilities.

The team announced the death of Brigance, 56, on Aug. 17.

After being diagnosed with ALS in 2007, Brigance, who worked as the player development director following his playing days, kept an office at the team's headquarters and continued connecting with those relationships. He regularly attended practices, too.

Never mind that Brigance used a motorized wheelchair and eye-tech technology to communicate after losing his ability to speak. ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, attacks the nervous system and has no known cure.

"It was as if he didn't have the disease," Ozzie Newsome, the ex-GM and current executive vice president, told USA TODAY. "He was in a wheelchair, but everything he had done prior to the disease, he still continued to do it."

Newsome said that during his GM tenure, Brigance provided a crucial benefit built on relationships developed with players he consulted on myriad off-the-field matters. “He was unbelievable with that, the trust he gained with those guys, while never compromising his responsibility to the Ravens,” reflected Newsome, who built two separate Super Bowl championship teams. “He was an unbelievable help for me in that sense, because of the way players reacted to him. When he contracted ALS, it didn’t stop him, which is amazing, the impact he continued to have with players.”

Before moving from the DMV area a few years ago, I covered dozens of Ravens home games, typically sitting a few feet away from Brigance as his wheelchair was positioned at the end of the front row of the press box. Although he suffered with his condition, he would show something else with bright eyes and a wide smile when approached with a greeting. I can imagine how much more he impacted those at the Ravens headquarters who encountered him on a regular basis.

"When you have a teammate putting in maximum effort every day, it encourages everybody else," Newsome said. "If he can do it, why can't I be better at what I'm doing?' And inspiration to all of us."

Stood out: Denver QB edition

Check the box for Broncos quarterback Bo Nix, who took 14 snaps over two series against the Packers on Friday night in his first live action since suffering a fractured right ankle in an AFC divisional playoff win in January. He was fluid, efficient and accurate.

"It was like riding a bike. It doesn't really change," Nix, who dropped a rainbow to finish off R.J. Harvey's wheel route for a 21-yard TD pass and posted a 129.9 passer rating with his limited work, said during his postgame press conference.

No, Nix – whose 83 rushes last season tied for fifth most among quarterbacks – didn't run from scrimmage. But there was no question about his mobility. And he previewed an added dimension for Denver's offense, timing up for a 35-yard hook-up with Jaylen Waddle, the biggest offseason acquisition.

Nix said the biggest challenge was mental, as in re-aligning his vision under game conditions. With Broncos coach Sean Payton looking to play starters into the third quarter against Minnesota on Friday night – albeit not committing how he'll use his QB – it appears Nix could still get a round of more extensive work before the Monday night opener at Kansas City.

"I'd like to play as much as I can," he said of another possible preseason tuneup, "but I have no control over that."

Regardless, Nix, who also had a clean-up procedure after his initial surgery, sounds ready for Week 1. “I’ve played a lot of football,” he said. “I think I could walk in any game and be fine.”

If you thought Steelers coach Mike McCarthy might be tempted to cast off seventh-year pro Mason Rudolph and roll with a pair of young developmental quarterbacks to back up 42-year-old Aaron Rodgers, scratch that idea. Pittsburgh was shut out by the Jets on Friday as second-year pro Will Howard and third-round rookie Drew Allar split the workload – and illustrated that it's not-so-fast in making Rudolph expendable.

Howard started and played the entire first half, with two picks; Allar didn't commit a turnover in his second half of work but also completed fewer than half his passes (11 of 23) and was sacked three times.

McCarthy knows. Developing QBs takes time. Now it's time for a good spin.

"We got great teaching film," McCarthy said during his postgame news conference, eyeing the final camp practices on Monday and Tuesday before the preseason finale at Buffalo on Thursday.

"I wish we'd have been more productive," he added. "We'll definitely have an opportunity to grow."

Best thing I saw on social media

Hated that ESPN recently dropped Damien Woody from its lineup of NFL analysts.

Loved that Woody, who won two Super Bowls with the Patriots during a 12-year career in the NFL trenches, says he will still unload some things on his mind when so moved.

The former O-lineman dropped a gem of a video commentary with a post on X, responding to the brawl between the Cowboys and Saints – which resulted in the NFL fining the teams a combined \$1 million – that was one of a series of fights breaking out across the league during joint and even non-joint camp practices.

Said Woody: “I’ve always said, man, if you’ve got the energy to brawl in practice, then practice is not hard enough. It’s absolutely ridiculous to be grabbing people’s helmets, throwing them off, twisting and slamming people, ‘Suplexing’ people. Like how in the world do you have that much energy to go out and do that stuff? It’s stupid.

"The one thing I've always said about football: Football is one of the few places where I get to assault another individual for three hours. That's on game day. No need to do that in training camp. Stop the nonsense."

Well-said, D-Woody. And please, keep speaking your mind.

Clip-N-Save: Crosby trade talk

Maxx Crosby is not on the market anymore. But never say never.

I mean, let somebody dangle a pair of first-round picks again and see what happens.

After Crosby's offseason adventure of being traded from the Raiders to the Ravens for two first-round picks – only to have the deal nixed when Baltimore didn't pass the premier edge rusher on a physical – it seemed fitting as camp opened that buzz intensified about the Dallas Cowboys dealing for him.

Noise about that scenario quickly died down, and since then the Cowboys signed free agent Von Miller for pass-rush needs. But there are 30 other teams out there. And listening carefully to Raiders GM John Spytek during the first week in camp makes me wonder.

When Spytek was asked whether Crosby is definitely a Raider this year, he replied, “That’s the plan.”

Yet Spytek also acknowledged that he's heard from teams inquiring about Crosby, who has recovered from offseason surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee.

“I always get calls,” Spytek said. “There’s always calls. You guys know that.”

We also suspect that if he remains healthy, Crosby's name will be hot – especially on debate shows – as circumstances dictate. The trade deadline is Nov. 10.

“People do what they do,” Spytek said. “I’m just trying to make the Raiders as good as possible. Right now, Maxx is here and I have every intention that Maxx will be here.”

Right now.

Closing Bell

A final word from Hall of Fame cornerback Ty Law, a three-time Super Bowl winner, on why he worked through a tight travel schedule to make it Canton and show up for former Patriots teammate Adam Vinatieri's induction: "I had to be here," Law said. "If he doesn't make those clutch kicks, the résumés for a whole lot of us look a lot different."

Follow me on X: @JarrettBell. See you next week.

MLB POWER RANKINGS

Philly raises East heat on Atlanta

Kyle Schwarber's walk-off two-run homer Aug. 23 provides the Phillies their ninth consecutive win. ERIC HARTLINE/IMAGN IMAGES

Gabe Lacques

USA TODAY

All of a sudden, the Philadelphia Phillies can't lose. And a prize that didn't seem realistic – the National League East lead – is very much in play.

They have not lost since stumbling out of that cornfield in Iowa, nine consecutive wins that have them soaring up USA TODAY Sports' power rankings, moving up to No. 7 this week.

Their latest caper came when they staged a six-run rally – four runs scoring with two outs – to stun the St. Louis Cardinals on Kyle Schwarber's monstrous walk-off home run Aug. 23. The win kept them within three games of Atlanta in the East, this in a season where they once were 10 $\frac{1}{2}$ games off the pace.

A look at our updated MLB rankings:

1. Milwaukee Brewers (−): Trevor Megill on a 16-for-16 roll in save opportunities.

2. Los Angeles Dodgers (−): Blake Snell looking acelike again, with two six-inning, one-run starts with 15 strikeouts.

3. Tampa Bay Rays (+1): Catcher Kenny Piper homers in first major league start.

4. Atlanta Braves (-1): One bad week and suddenly a first-round bye looks challenging.

5. Chicago Cubs (−): PCA (Pete Crow-Armstrong) now up to 33 homers, already a career high.

6. New York Yankees (−): Good news: Just three games behind Rays. Bad news: Red Sox just three games behind them.

7. Philadelphia Phillies (+1): Andrew Painter's seven-inning gem another big step forward for rookie.

8. San Diego Padres (+1): Remember when Fernando Tatis Jr. couldn't hit a home run? His 12 since All-Star break tied with PCA for most in majors.

9. Boston Red Sox (+1): Finally over .500 at Fenway Park.

10. Chicago White Sox (-3): Have they found something in Jose Urquidy?

11. Arizona Diamondbacks (−): Can Ketel Marte ruin a season? We might find out these next few weeks.

12. Miami Marlins (−): 8-1 record vs. Nationals keeping them in playoff contention.

13. St. Louis Cardinals (−): Andre Pallante to the injured list. Hunter Dobbins to the IL. They're chugging toward September.

14. Houston Astros (−): Getting punked by the A's at home isn't exactly a good sign.

15. Texas Rangers (-): Starting pitchers haven't given up more than three runs in 13 straight games.

16. Cleveland Guardians (+1): Remaining opponents have .463 winning percentage. Can they take advantage?

17. Toronto Blue Jays (+3): Finally lose a series, but Vladdy Jr. is back and six with Royals, Mariners ends brutal stretch.

18. Minnesota Twins (+4): Well, they don't have to play the Padres ever again.

19. Baltimore Orioles (-3): Pete Alonso might crack 40-homer mark for first time since 2023.

20. Pittsburgh Pirates (-2): 13-22 since All-Star break after Dodgers sweep them.

21. Cincinnati Reds (−): JJ Bleday eighth in Reds history to hit for cycle.

22. Detroit Tigers (-3): Tarik Skubal lined up to face old team next weekend.

23. Seattle Mariners (+1): Lost two games by a combined 41-2, both ending with position players pitching.

24. Washington Nationals (-1): Have lost 15 of 21 this month, spiral accelerating after deadline moves, CJ Abrams injury.

25. New York Mets (−): Kodai Senga, now the “closer,” 0-9 with 7.79 ERA.

26. Kansas City Royals (+1): Bobby Witt Jr. quietly chugging along with 6.2 WAR.

27. San Francisco Giants (-1): Eleven walk-off losses. That's almost hard to do.

28. Colorado Rockies (−): Thirty-eight losses at Coors Field most at home for a team playing in an MLB park.

29. Los Angeles Angels (+1): Yusei Kikuchi returns to the mound after a

Astros, GM part ways

Steve Gardner USA TODAY

Dana Brown is out as general manager of the Houston Astros.

Brown – who has held the position for just over 3½ years – was coming to the end of his contract at the conclusion of the season, but

Brown

he and the team announced Aug. 24 that they have “mutually agreed to part ways.”

“Over the past four seasons, Dana has helped our organization win two

division titles and has led our baseball front office through key scouting, draft and development efforts," team owner Jim Crane said in a statement. "On behalf of the Astros, I want to thank him for his commitment, energy, and contributions to our organization."

The team said Crane will oversee baseball operations as assistant GMs Charles Cook, Gavin Dickey and Connor Huff and senior adviser Jeff Bagwell takes over Crane's duties.

The move comes with the Astros tied for first place in the American League West Division but with a sub-.500 record of 65-66 at the start of the week. That's also despite an MVP-caliber season from designated hitter Yordan Alvarez, who leads the league in all three Triple Crown hitting categories with a .320 average, 36 home runs and 90 RBIs.

three-month absence.

30. Athletics (-1): They return to Yolo County after losing five of seven on road trip.

Turkish-American former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom shows his T-shirt prior to the Fever-Sky game at Wintrust Arena. PATRICK GORSKI/IMAGN IMAGES

Enes Kanter Freedom's stunt ends in ejection

Heather Burns

USA TODAY

Former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom got into a shouting match with Chicago Sky guard Natasha Cloud in the waning minutes of the third quarter and was subsequently ejected from a game against the Indiana Fever in Chicago on Aug. 23.

Kanter Freedom has been outspoken about the trans athlete debate surrounding the WNBA, declaring himself eligible for the 2027 league draft on social media on Aug. 7, saying he identifies as a woman. He was sitting courtside at Wintrust Arena in a T-shirt that said: "WOMAN noun. adult human female."

Since the league's inception, the collective bargaining agreement has said “only players who are women are eligible to play in the WNBA.” No further definition of a woman is given. The WNBA has no publicly available policy governing eligibility of transgender or intersex athletes.

Cloud approached Kanter Freedom when a timeout was called with 1:22 to go in the third quarter. He stood up, arms outstretched and approached the court. Cloud was held back by teammates and Kanter Freedom was surrounded by security. He was eventually escorted out.

Cloud finished the contest and had a team-high 16 points and seven assists in the Sky's 113-90 loss to the Fever. She voiced her frustration with sex toys being thrown onto the court after Friday's game, another product of the controversy surrounding trans athletes.

Cloud posted this message on social media postgame: "To every trans kid/person, You are apart of MY community & tribe. You belong. You're loved. You're seen. You're perfect as you are. & you will always be protected by me."

Sky coach Tyler Marsh said he respected Cloud standing up for her beliefs.

“Tash didn’t want to feel like she was a distraction,” Marsh said postgame. “I told her she wasn’t … that we all embrace her as someone that protects our team and protects people that need to be protected.

“Tash’s always gonna stand on that, and we stand for Tash.”

As for Kanter Freedom attending the game with what seemed to be an ulterior motive, Marsh said, “If you come to a game, you should probably come to enjoy the basketball. That seems pretty simple to me. I think these players deserve that, and I’ve earned that. Being a former basketball player, you should probably understand and feel that, too.”

The WNBA and Sky did not immediately respond to USA TODAY Sports' request for comment.

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INDYCAR SERIES FREEDOM 250

Kirkwood propels Andretti Global mojo

Andretti Global's Kyle Kirkwood earned the first Freedom 250 winner's trophy on the Washington, DC, street circuit at the National Mall. AMBER SEARLS/IMAGN IMAGES

Zion Brown The Indianapolis Star USA TODAY Network

WASHINGTON – Kyle Kirkwood's heart was racing when he woke up on Aug. 23 before the IndyCar Series' Freedom 250 Grand Prix. Kirkwood knew he was starting on the front row in a race that had over 100,000 spectators in attendance for the one-time race that many drivers ranked second to the Indianapolis 500.

After Kirkwood snatched the lead from Alex Palou on the race's opening lap and led most of the way, he had to reset mentally about 100 laps in. The pressure of this race made the Andretti Global driver regain focus to not make a mistake that would cost him the lead.

“I just told myself to reset,” Kirkwood said. “Even in the last few laps, once it got to the last lap, I could let myself breathe a little bit, soak it in a little bit because we had about a four-and-a-half-second lead. Kind of chilled out in that lap.”

In IndyCar's last race in Markham, Ontario, Kirkwood had a lapse in focus that cost him. While running in the top five and having a chance to win, Kirkwood brushed the inside wall of Turn 3 in Markham, causing his No. 27 Honda to ricochet off the outside wall, which ended his day.

The 27-year-old said, “After last weekend, I was very sure I was not going to let myself do that once again,” as he maintained focus for the 147-lap, 250-mile race on the National Mall in Washington.

The victory was Kirkwood's second of the year, after he outdueled Palou in the Grand Prix of Arlington – another new street course – in March. With Marcus Ericsson winning in Markham on Aug. 16, Andretti Global swept IndyCar's three new street course races in 2026.

Andretti Global is in its first year of the driver trio of Kirkwood, Ericsson and Power. The team will bring those three back in 2027 after Ericsson signed a contract extension this month. With drivers who frequently bounce information off each other, Andretti Global has adapted to new street circuits better than anyone else this year, with the team claiming first and third in each race. On Sunday, Power finished third and Ericsson finished fourth.

"These inaugural events this year, I think it's really shown the strength of the team how they all bound together and really took it on," team principal Ron Ruzewski said. "The drivers – really instrumental for the drivers to work together and try things, spread that information amongst each other in the sessions."

Kirkwood, who got his seventh win and sixth on a street course, credited the team's crew of engineers for what it accomplished on street courses this year.

“Quite honestly, they’ve given us the tools every single weekend to go fast,” Kirkwood said. “Those efforts, that growth that we’ve seen everywhere else, is showing exponentially on these circuits that are brand new because we're putting in that much more effort than maybe some of the others are."

Andretti Global brought in Power and Ruzewski – who both spent over a decade and a half with Team Penske before departing the team in 2025 – with the aim of catching up to Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing, the two teams that have dominated IndyCar since it merged with Champ Car in 2008.

CGR and Palou maintain a 91-point lead (a race win is worth 50 points) in the championship over Kirkwood with three races to go. Kirkwood and the team have acknowledged in recent weeks that a comeback is unlikely, with Kirkwood saying it'd take “an immense amount of misfortune” for Palou to not win the title after Palou won the Grand Prix of Portland on Aug. 9.

Although Palou experienced some of that misfortune Sunday, Andretti Global is focused on the gains it has made on the four-time champion this year and is looking forward to what it thinks will be a close championship bout in 2027.

“Team’s made huge progression over this season, and you can see it now,” Power said. “It’s all coming. I think the expectation now every weekend is to be on the podium, challenge for a win. I think next year we’ll be wanting to be all top five in the championship type stuff.”

Said Ericsson: “I feel like we are building a lot of momentum in the Andretti camp. We’re really getting stronger and stronger. The fact that we’re keeping this lineup in the next year, we’re gonna be really, really tough to beat next year, so I’m excited about that.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES

Ryan Blaney and Team Penske streaking

Mitchell Northam

USA TODAY

Ryan Blaney has gone back-to-back in the Granite State.

top-five of the season.

In his No. 12 Ford for Team Penske, Blaney won his third race of the 2026 season by taking the checkered flag on Aug. 23 at the Dollar Tree 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, going to victory lane in Loudon for the second consecutive season. The win is Blaney's 20th of his NASCAR Cup Series career.

After a restart following a caution that came out when William Byron lost his left rear tire, Blaney battled with Chase Briscoe for the lead for a bit and then took it for good on the 241st lap. The No. 12 Ford led the final 60 laps, holding off a late push from Bubba Wallace for the victory while weaving through lapped traffic.

“Bubba came on hard there. I just tried to manage the lap traffic and manage the tire, not make a mistake,” Blaney said. “It was a heck of a battle. I look forward to rewatching it, seeing him creep in. Hopefully the fans enjoyed the racing today. I thought it was pretty good. Fortunate for us we were able to pick through lapped cars and hang on.”

Blaney is the third driver to win consecutive races at New Hampshire, joining Hall of Famers Jeff Burton and Kevin Harvick.

Team Penske has now won four of the past six races on the Cup Series schedule with Blaney taking checkered flags at Atlanta and New Hampshire and Joey Logano winning on short tracks at North Wilkesboro and Richmond.

"The momentum Team Penske has on its side is great. Ford and Team

The Dollar Tree 301 victory Aug. 23 was Ryan Blaney's 20th in Cup Series. MEG OLIPHANT/GETTY IMAGES

Penske have been on a roll recently," Blaney said. "I'm a big believer in momentum, we just have to keep working at it and see what we can do in the Chase."

Behind Blaney and Wallace, Josh Berry finished third, marking the first time in his Cup Series career that he's notched four straight top-10 finishes. It's also the first time a driver for Wood Brothers has had four consecutive top-10 finishes since Morgan Shepherd in 1994. Berry – who will be replaced in the No. 21 Ford next season by reigning O'Reilly Auto Parts Series champion Jesse Love – is racing for a job next season and still currently doesn't have a Cup Series ride lined up for 2027.

“That was everything I had, everything I could do today,” Berry said. “I was driving my ass off every lap. ... Everybody knows the situation I’m in right now. All these guys I'm racing with right now have a lot of respect for me."

Christopher Bell was fourth, Kyle Larson fifth, Ty Gibbs sixth, Denny Hamlin seventh, Tyler Reddick eighth, Ryan Preece ninth, and Noah Gragson notched his best finish since April to round out the top 10 at New Hampshire.

With his sixth top-10 finish in the past seven races, Hamlin secured the No. 1 seed in NASCAR's postseason Chase and clinched the regular-season championship. The 45-year-old Hamlin, the oldest active driver in the Cup Series, has 64 career victories but has never won a championship.

"I feel good about where our team is right now, everyone is kind of clicking well and we don't have a whole lot of weaknesses. We're just not as strong as the Penske cars on these types of race-tracks," Hamlin said. "I look forward to getting the Chase started and seeing where it goes."

The finish was meaningful for Preece, too, as the Connecticut native entered Sunday's race one spot out of the Chase cutline, trailing Shane van Gisbergen by 50 points. With stage points and a strong finish in his No. 60 Ford for RFK Racing, Preece gained 19 points on van Gisbergen and has a chance to eclipse him this next weekend at Daytona in the regular-season finale.

Heading into the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona on Aug. 29, drivers in the top 13 positions in the standings have clinched their spot in the Chase. While not mathematically clinched, Wallace would have to have a disastrous day at Daytona to fall out of the postseason as he has a 75-point edge over Preece. Wallace's finish on Sunday was his fourth

"I knew I had to fight all day. That's what it takes. That's where it starts with this No. 23 team," Wallace said. "Man, they pushed me to be the absolute best."

Inside the cutline, Austin Cindric and van Gisbergen have also not clinched yet with Preece and teammate Brad Keselowski still in the hunt. Keselowski, the 2012 Cup Series champion, would need a win at Daytona and help to crack the Chase field.

The Dollar Tree 301 proved to be an unorthodox race with several unusual events. The race started with cars running on wet-weather tires and van Gisbergen was the best on them, jumping out to a 7.7-second lead and leading 30 laps. After switching to dry, slick tires, he slid back in the field and ultimately settled for a 20th-place finish.

Carson Hocevar had multiple single-car spinouts and finished 19th, marking the third consecutive race he's finished outside the top 15 after he had climbed as high as fifth in the points standings. Pole-sitter Tyler Reddick's tough luck seemed like it would continue, too, as he spun out near the end of the very first lap, but he battled back and landed inside the top 10.

Ross Chastain, who entered Sunday just two spots out of the Chase, had his race ended at the conclusion of Stage 1 with issues under the hood, mathematically eliminating him from making the postseason.

Now, the Cup Series turns its attention back to Daytona for the final race of the regular season. For Blaney, it's another race he won last season. The driver of the No. 12 Ford will attempt to make it two in a row there, too.

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WEDNESDAY

c Cloudy f Fog j Ice r Rain sf Snowflurries sn Snow w Windy dr Drizzle h Haze

East Division

FOR THE RECORD

All times ET

MLB

AMERICAN LEAGUE

TODAY'S HIGH TEMPERATURES

	W	L	Pct	GB
Tampa Bay	77	53	.592	-
N.Y. Yankees	74	56	.569	3
Boston	71	59	.546	6
Toronto	64	68	.485	14
Baltimore	63	68	.481	$14\frac{1}{2}$

Central Division

	W	L	Pct	GB
Chi. White Sox	68	62	.523	—
Cleveland	65	66	.496	$3\frac{1}{2}$
Minnesota	63	68	.481	$5\frac{1}{2}$
Detroit	61	69	.469	7
Kansas City	58	74	.439	11

West Division

	W	L	Pct	GB
Houston	65	66	.496	-
Texas	65	66	.496	-
Seattle	62	69	.473	3
L.A. Angels	52	79	.397	13
Athletics	51	80	.389	14

NATIONAL LEAGUE

East Division
	W	L	Pct	GB
Atlanta	76	55	.580	-
Philadelphia	73	58	.557	3
Miami	67	64	.511	9
Washington	61	71	.462	$15\frac{1}{2}$
N.Y. Mets	59	72	.450	17

Central Division

Central Division
	W	L	Pct	GB
Milwaukee	81	50	.618	-
Chicago Cubs	75	56	.573	6
St. Louis	66	66	.500	$15\frac{1}{2}$
Pittsburgh	63	69	.477	$18\frac{1}{2}$
Cincinnati	62	69	.473	19

	W	L	Pct	GB
L.A. Dodgers	80	51	.611	—
San Diego	71	60	.542	9
Arizona	69	62	.527	11
San Francisco	52	78	.400	$27\frac{1}{2}$
Colorado	50	80	.385	$29\frac{1}{2}$

Sunday's Scores

Tampa Bay 3, Baltimore 1
Philadelphia 6, St. Louis 4
N.Y. Yankees 8, Toronto 3
Miami 6, Washington 2
Chi. White Sox 2, N.Y. Mets 1
Athletics 7, Houston 6
Kansas City 11, Detroit 7
Texas 5, L.A. Angels 3
Cleveland 7, Colorado 2
Boston 5, San Francisco 4
Chicago Cubs 19, Seattle 2
L.A. Dodgers 4, Pittsburgh 0
San Diego 8, Minnesota 1
Arizona 5, Cincinnati 3
Atlanta 4, Milwaukee 2
Monday's Games Tampa Bay at Detroit

Boston at Miami

Colorado at Washington Texas at Chi. White Sox Cleveland at L.A. Angels Chicago Cubs at Arizona Minnesota at Athletics Philadelphia at Seattle Pittsburgh at San Diego Cincinnati at San Francisco

Tuesday's Games

Tampa Bay at Detroit, 6:40 Boston at Miami, 6:40 p.m.

Boston at Miami, 6:40 p.m.
Colorado at Washington, 6:45 p.m.
Houston at N.Y. Yankees, 7:05 p.m.
Kansas City at Toronto, 7:07 p.m.
Milwaukee at N.Y. Mets, 7:10 p.m.
L.A. Dodgers at Atlanta, 7:15 p.m.
Texas at Chi. White Sox, 7:40 p.m.
Baltimore at St. Louis, 7:45 p.m.
Cleveland at L.A. Angels, 9:38 p.m.
Chicago Cubs at Arizona, 9:40 p.m.
Minnesota at Athletics, 9:40 p.m.
Philadelphia at Seattle, 9:40 p.m.
Pittsburgh at San Diego, 9:40 p.m.
Cincinnati at San Francisco, 9:45 p.m.

Wednesday's Games

Wednesday's Games Tampa Bay at Detroit, 1:10 p.m. Chicago Cubs at Arizona, 3:40 p.m. Cincinnati at San Francisco, 3:45 p.m. Cleveland at L.A. Angels, 4:07 p.m. Philadelphia at Seattle, 4:10 p.m. Pittsburgh at San Diego, 4:10 p.m. Boston at Miami, 6:40 p.m.

Colorado at Washington, 6:45 p.m.
Houston at N.Y. Yankees, 7:05 p.m.
Kansas City at Toronto, 7:07 p.m.
Milwaukee at N.Y. Mets, 7:10 p.m.
L.A. Dodgers at Atlanta, 7:15 p.m.
Texas at Chi. White Sox, 7:40 p.m.
Baltimore at St. Louis, 7:45 p.m.
Minnesota at Athletics, 9:05 p.m.

Thursday's Games

Colorado at Washington, 1:05 p.m. Baltimore at St. Louis, 2:15 p.m. Houston at N.Y. Yankees, 7:05 p.m. Kansas City at Toronto, 7:07 p.m. Milwaukee at N.Y. Mets, 7:10 p.m. L.A. Dodgers at Atlanta, 7:15 p.m. Arizona at San Francisco, 9:45 p.m.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

AFCA Division III Coaches' Poll 2025 2025

Rk	School (1st votes)	2025		2025
		Rec.	Pts.	Rank*
1	North Central (50)	14-1	1322	2
2	Bethel (Minn.)	12-1	1228	5
3	Mount Union	11-1	1202	6
4	Johns Hopkins	12-2	1162	4
5	Wheaton	11-3	1030	7
6	UW-Platteville	9-3	1025	11
7	UW-River Falls (3)	14-1	961	1
8	John Carroll	12-2	930	3
9	Wartburg	10-1	904	14
10	UW-La Crosse	8-3	836	10
11	St. John's (Minn.)	10-2	835	8
12	UW-Whitewater	8-3	666	20
13	DePauw	10-2	527	13
14	Trinity (Tex.)	10-2	617	16
15	Berry	11-2	567	9
16	Hardin-Simmons	9-2	563	19
17	Salisbury	10-2	482	12
18	Christopher Newport	10-1	382	18
19	Hope	9-2	351	17
20	Mary Hardin-Baylor	7-3	305	NR
21	Susquehanna	11-3	272	15
22	Coe	9-3	177	NR
23	Randolph-Macon	9-2	137	21
24	Endicott	9-2	119	24
25	Cortland	8-3	112	NR

Poll of 2025; Others Receiving Votes: UW-Oshkosh, 53; Linfield, 47; Alma, 40; Franklin & Marshall, 33; Monmouth (Ill.), 28; Washington & Jefferson, 28; Central (Iowa), 22; Chapman, 22; LaGrange, 20; Springfield, 20; Whitworth, 16; Eastern (Pa.), 11; Grove City, 9; Hampden-Sydney, 7; Augustana (Ill.), 6; Baldwin-Wallace, 6; Concordia (Wis.), 6; UW-Stout, 6; Wabash, 6; Adrian, 4; Hanover, 4; Calvin, 3; Muhlenberg, 3; Washington (Mo.), 3; Carnegie Mellon, 2; Illinois Wesleyan, 2; Union (N.Y.), 2; Utica (N.Y.), 2; Lake Forest, 1; Rowan, 1.

CFL

EAST DIVISION
WEST DIVISION

	W	L	Pct	PF	PA
Montreal	9	1	.900	367	263
Toronto	5	5	.500	304	311
Hamilton	4	7	.364	257	319
Ottawa	0	10	.000	223	368

	W	L	Pct	PF	PA
Edmonton	8	3	.727	323	279
Saskatchewan	6	4	.600	309	271
BC	5	5	.500	274	267
Winnipeg	5	5	.500	204	243
Calgary	4	6	.400	352	297

Thursday's Score

Thursday's Score Montreal 46, Ottawa 16 Friday's Score Edmonton 22, Winnipeg 19 Saturday's Score Toronto 39, Hamilton 20 Sunday's Score BC 30, Saskatchewan 16 Friday's Game Montreal vs. Winnipeg, 8:30 p.m. Saturday's Games Hamilton vs. Calgary, 3 p.m. Toronto vs. Saskatchewan, 7 p.m. Sunday's Game BC vs. Ottawa, 7 p.m.

NFL

Preseason Week 2

Friday's Scores N.Y. Jets 17, Pittsburgh 0 Carolina 34, Jacksonville 17 Green Bay 33, Denver 13 Saturday's Scores Detroit 17, Washington 13 Buffalo 31, Cleveland 7 Baltimore 13, Minnesota 3 Atlanta 34, Indianapolis 6 N.Y. Giants 26, Miami 3 L.A. Rams 34, New Orleans 0 New England 24, Philadelphia 21 Cincinnati 27, Chicago 9 Tampa Bay 16, Kansas City 15 Dallas 34, Arizona 13

Sunday's Score

Tennessee 19, Seattle 16

Tennessee 19, Seattle 10
Preseason Week 3
Thursday's Games
Pittsburgh at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
New England at Cleveland, 8 p.m.
San Francisco at Las Vegas, 8 p.m.
L.A. Rams at L.A. Chargers, 10 p.m.
Friday's Games
Washington at Baltimore, 6 p.m.
Atlanta at Miami, 7 p.m.
Houston at Carolina, 7 p.m.
Tampa Bay at Jacksonville, 7:30 p.m.
N.Y. Giants at N.Y. Jets, 7:30 p.m.
Cincinnati at Philadelphia, 8 p.m.
Seattle at Kansas City, 8 p.m.
Arizona at Green Bay, 8 p.m.
New Orleans at Dallas, 8 p.m.
Minnesota at Denver, 9 p.m.
Saturday's Games
Detroit at Indianapolis, 1 p.m.
Chicago at Tennessee, 6 p.m.

SOCCER

English Premier League

	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts
Brighton	1	1	0	0	4	0	3
Arsenal	1	1	0	0	3	0	3
Brentford	1	1	0	0	3	0	3
Everton	1	1	0	0	2	0	3
Hull City	1	1	0	0	2	0	3
Ipswich Town	1	1	0	0	2	1	3
Manchester City	1	1	0	0	2	1	3
Leeds United	1	1	0	0	1	0	3
Liverpool	1	0	1	0	2	2	1
Newcastle	1	0	1	0	2	2	1
Chelsea	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Fulham	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Bournemouth	1	0	0	1	1	2	0
Sunderland	1	0	0	1	1	2	0
Nottm Forest	1	0	0	1	1	0	1
Crystal Palace	1	0	0	1	0	2	0
Man United	1	0	0	1	0	2	0
Coventry City	0	0	0	1	0	3	0
Tottenham	1	0	0	1	0	3	0
Aston Villa	1	0	0	1	0	4	0

Note: Three points for win, one point for tie.

Friday's Score

Friday's Score Arsenal 3, Coventry City 0

Arsenal 3, Coventry City 0
Saturday's Scores
Hull City 2, Manchester United 0
Everton 2, Crystal Palace 0
Ipswich Town 2, Sunderland 1
Nottingham Forest 0, Leeds United 1
Brentford 3, Tottenham Hotspur 0
Sunday's Scores
Brighton & Hove Albion 4, Aston Villa 0
Manchester City 2, Bournemouth 1
Newcastle United 2, Liverpool 2
Monday's Game
Chelsea at Fulham
Friday's Game
Manchester City at Crystal Palace, 3 p.m.
Saturday's Games
Nottingham Forest at Liverpool, 7:30 a.m.
Hull City at Coventry City, 10 a.m.
Everton at Bournemouth, 10 a.m.
Newcastle United at Tottenham, 12:30 p.m.

MLS

EASTERN CONFERENCE

	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA
Nashville	15	2	4	49	43	17
Inter Miami CF	11	4	6	39	49	40
Chicago	11	6	3	36	37	26
New England	10	7	4	34	33	26
Charlotte FC	9	7	5	32	38	32
Cincinnati	8	6	7	31	49	47
NY City FC	7	8	6	27	35	30
NY Red Bulls	7	9	5	26	31	43
Orlando City	7	11	3	24	34	51
Toronto FC	5	7	9	24	31	37
D.C. United	5	7	9	24	28	36
Atlanta	6	12	3	21	25	36
Philadelphia	5	10	6	21	31	38
CF Montreal	5	10	6	21	29	39
Columbus	5	11	5	20	30	36

WESTERN CONFERENCE

	W	L	T	Pts	GF	GA
Vancouver	12	4	4	40	45	18
Houston	12	7	2	38	30	26
Los Angeles FC	10	7	5	35	36	22
San Jose	10	8	3	33	39	33
FC Dallas	9	6	6	33	38	34
Saint Louis	9	6	6	33	30	27
Colorado	9	11	1	28	30	28
Real Salt Lake	8	8	4	28	34	32
Portland	8	9	4	28	38	37
Minnesota	7	7	7	28	27	29
San Diego FC	7	8	6	27	37	32
LA Galaxy	6	8	8	26	27	32
Seattle	7	9	4	25	22	27
Austin FC	5	10	6	21	26	40
Sporting KC	4	14	3	15	20	51

Note: Three points for win, one point for tie.

Saturday's Scores Cincinnati 1, Seattle 1

CF Montreal 1, Seattle Orlando City 2, Real Salt Lake 1 Inter Miami CF 1, Toronto FC 2 Charlotte FC 3, D.C. United 1 NY Red Bulls 1, Chicago 1 Saint Louis 2, Houston 1 Nashville 3, Columbus 2 Austin FC 1, Philadelphia 1 Vancouver 5, FC Dallas 0 San Diego FC 3, Colorado 0 Los Angeles FC 1, Portland 1 San Jose 1, Minnesota 5 Sunday's Scores New England 1, NY City FC 1 Atlanta 2, Sporting KC 1 Saturday's Games Chicago at Seattle, 4:30 p.m. Philadelphia at NY Red Bulls, 7:30 p.m. New England at Columbus, 7:30 p.m. NY City FC at Toronto FC, 7:30 p.m. CF Montreal at Inter Miami CF, 7:30 p.m. Los Angeles FC at D.C. United, 7:30 p.m. Charlotte FC at Atlanta, 7:30 p.m. San Jose at Houston, 8:30 p.m. Cincinnati at Nashville, 8:30 p.m. Orlando City at Minnesota, 8:30 p.m. Vancouver at Sporting KC, 8:30 p.m. Real Salt Lake at Colorado, 9:30 p.m. LA Galaxy at San Diego FC, 10:30 p.m. Austin FC at Portland, 10:30 p.m.

NWSE
	W	L	D	Pts	GF	GA
Gotham	13	3	5	44	26	13
Washington	11	6	4	37	30	19
Portland	11	6	4	37	35	29
Utah	11	7	3	36	37	27
San Diego	11	7	3	36	29	23
North Carolina	10	7	3	33	36	30
Kansas City	9	8	4	31	32	29
Seattle	8	8	4	28	25	26
Angel City	7	7	5	26	27	20
Houston	7	9	5	26	28	29
Orlando	8	11	2	26	25	31
Denver	6	8	6	24	25	26
Louisville	7	12	2	23	32	40
Bay	6	10	4	22	21	27
Boston	5	11	5	20	24	34
Chicago	5	15	1	16	12	41

Note: Three points for win, one point for tie.

Note: Three points for win, one point for the Friday's Score San Diego 4, Utah 2 Saturday's Scores Kansas City 1, Seattle 1 North Carolina 2, Boston 1 Portland 1, Denver 0 Sunday's Scores Chicago 3, Louisville 2 Orlando 1, Washington 0 Bay 1, Houston 0 Angel City 0, Gotham 0 Wednesday's Game Angel City at North Carolina, 8 p.m. Friday's Games Portland at Gotham, 8 p.m. Louisville at San Diego, 10 p.m. Saturday's Games North Carolina at Kansas City, 6:30 p.m. Utah at Orlando, 7 p.m. Chicago at Denver, 8:45 p.m. Sunday's Games Bay at Washington, 12:30 p.m. Houston at Seattle, 7 p.m. Monday, Aug. 31 Angel City at Boston, 8 pm

WNBA

EASTERN CONFERENCE

	W	L	Pct	GB
Atlanta	24	13	.649	-
Indiana	25	14	.641	-
N.Y. Liberty	23	15	.605	$1\frac{1}{2}$
Washington	22	15	.595	2
Chicago	15	23	.395	$9\frac{1}{2}$
Toronto	11	26	.297	13
Connecticut	9	27	.250	$14\frac{1}{2}$

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Sunday's Scores

	W	L	Pct	GB
Minnesota	31	7	.816	—
Golden State	25	11	.694	5
Las Vegas	26	13	.667	$5\frac{1}{2}$
Dallas	22	16	.579	9
Portland	15	22	.405	$15\frac{1}{2}$
L.A. Sparks	13	24	.351	$17\frac{1}{2}$
Phoenix	13	24	.351	$17\frac{1}{2}$
Seattle	7	31	.184	24

Sunday's Scores Dallas 92, Seattle 70 Indiana 113, Chicago 90 Washington 105, Portland 100 Las Vegas 88, Toronto 78 Monday's Games Golden State at Minnesota Atlanta at L.A. Sparks

Tuesday's Games

Chicago at Connecticut, 7 p.m.
Portland at Dallas, 8 p.m.
Washington at Phoenix, 10 p.m.
Wednesday's Games
Golden State at Connecticut, 7 p.m.
Toronto at Seattle, 10 p.m.
Thursday's Games
Golden State at N.Y. Liberty, 8 p.m.
Washington at Phoenix, 10 p.m.

AUTO RACING

Sunday

NASCAR Cup Series Dollar Tree 301

New Hampshire Motor Speedway

1. (8) Ryan Blaney, Team Penske, 301, 70 pts.
2. (23) Bubba Wallace, 23Xl Racing, 301, 43.
3. (2) Josh Berry, Wood Brothers, 301, 49.
4. (6) Christopher Bell, Joe Gibbs, 301, 43.
5. (9) Kyle Larson, Hendrick MS, 301, 48.
6. (7) Ty Gibbs, Joe Gibbs Racing, 301, 38.
7. (4) Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs, 301, 32.
8. (1) Tyler Reddick, 23Xl Racing, 301, 29.
9. (18) Ryan Preece, RFK Racing, 301, 38.
10. (19) Noah Gragon, Front Row MS, 301, 27.
11. (25) Brad Keselowski, RFK Racing, 301, 31.
12. (26) Austin Cindric, Team Penske, 301, 25.
13. (14) Zane Smith, Front Row MS, 301, 24.
14. (21) Joey Logano, Team Penske, 301, 23.
15. (10) Alex Bowman, Hendrick MS, 301, 22.
16. (15) Michael McDowell, Spire MS, 301, 21.
17. (35) Daniel Suárez, Spire MS, 301, 20.
18. (16) Chris Buescher, RFK Racing, 301, 23.
19. (22) Carson Hocevar, Spire MS, 300, 27.
20. (5) S. Van Gisbergen, Trackhouse, 300, 19.
21. (13) Todd Gilliland, Front Row MS, 300, 16.
22. (32) Cole Custer, Haas Factory, 300, 15.
23. (24) AJ Allmendinger, Kaulig, 300, 14.
24. (28) Austin Hill, Richard Childress, 300, 0.
25. (29) Chase Elliott, Hendrick MS, 300, 12.
26. (17) Chase Briscoe, Joe Gibbs, 300, 12.
27. (33) Ty Dillon, Kaulig Racing, 300, 10.
28. (30) Ricky Stenhouse Jr, HYAK MS, 300, 9.
29. (36) Cody Ware, Rick Ware Racing, 300, 8.
30. (3) William Byron, Hendrick MS, 296, 14.
31. (31) John H. Nemechek, Legacy MC, 296, 6.
32. (34) A. Dillon, Richard Childress, 282, 5.
33. (11) E. Jones, Legacy MC, 251, Transaxle 4.
34. (27) Riley Herbst, 23XI, 222, Accident 3.
35. (20) Connor Zilisch, Trackhouse Racing, 222, Accident 2.

IndyCar Series standings

36. (12) R. Chastain, Trackhouse, 41, Engine 1.

1. Alex Palou ..... 553
2. Kyle Kirkwood ..... 462
3. Christian Lundgaard ..... 443
4. David Malukas ..... 411
5. Patricio O'Ward ..... 399
6. Josef Newgarden ..... 376
7. Marcus Ericsson ..... 361
8. Felix Rosenqvist ..... 355
9. Scott McLaughlin ..... 354
10. Will Power ..... 328
11. Rinus Veekay ..... 302
12. Scott Dixon ..... 290
13. Kyffin Simpson ..... 282
14. Graham Rahal ..... 276
15. Marcus Armstrong ..... 257
16. Alexander Rossi ..... 236
17. Santino Ferrucci ..... 234
18. Romain Grosjean ..... 229
19. Nolan Siegel ..... 223
20. Louis Foster ..... 212
21. Dennis Hauger ..... 204
22. Christian Rasmussen ..... 180
23. Caio Jotta Collet ..... 180
24. Mick Schumacher ..... 170
25. Sting Ray Robb ..... 155
26. Conor Daly ..... 24
27. Takuma Sato ..... 20
28. Jack Harvey ..... 8
29. Jacob Abel ..... 6
30. Ed Carpenter ..... 5
31. Helio Castroneves ..... 5
32. Ryan Hunter-Reay ..... 5
33. Katherine Anne Legge ..... 5

F1 Drivers standings

1. Andrea Kimi Antonelli 242
2. George Russell 183
3. Lewis Hamilton 183
4. Lando Norris 159
5. Charles Leclerc 155
6. Max Verstappen 112
7. Oscar Piastri 104
8. Isack Hadjar 68
9. Liam Lawson 49
10. Pierre Gasly 44
11. Arvid Lindblad 23
12. Franco Colapinto 19
13. Oliver Bearman 18
14. Gabriel Bortoleto 10
15. Nico Hülkenberg 6

16. Carlos Sainz Jr. 6

17. Alexander Albon .... 5

18. Esteban Ocon .... 3
19. Fernando Alonso .... 3
20. Yuki Tsunoda .... 0
21. Lance Stroll .... 0
22. Valtteri Bottas .... 0
23. Sergio Pérez .... 0

F1 Constructor standings

1. Mercedes ..... 425
2. Ferrari ..... 338
3. McLaren ..... 263
4. Red Bull ..... 186
5. Racing Bulls ..... 66
6. Alpine ..... 63
7. Haas ..... 21
8. Audi ..... 16
9. Williams ..... 11
10. Aston Martin ..... 3
11. Cadillac ..... 0

GOLF

PGA Tour BMW Championship St. Louis

Bellerive Country Club Purse: \$20 million

Tardage: 7,448, Par. 70 Sunday's Final Round

Wyndham Clark ....64-64-65-70-263 (-17) Patrick Cantlay....67-65-66-68-266 (-14) Rory McIlroy....64-69-65-69-267 (-13) Chris Gotterpe....64-67-68-69-268 (-12) Collin Morikawa....68-65-67-68-268 (-12) Gary Woodland....64-65-70-69-268 (-12) Robert MacIntyre....68-69-68-65-270 (-10) Maverick McNealy....67-66-69-68-270 (-10) Jacob Bridgeman....66-72-66-67-271 (-9) Michael Brennan....69-65-69-69-272 (-8) Sungjae Im....67-64-70-71-272 (-8) Akshay Bhatia....67-68-70-68-273 (-7) Russell Henley....67-66-70-70-273 (-7) Ryo Hisatsune....65-70-67-71-273 (-7) Scottie Scheffler....72-65-68-68-273 (-7) Ludvig Aberg....66-70-69-69-274 (-6) Ryan Gerard....70-66-69-69-274 (-6) Aaron Rai....68-71-67-68-274 (-6) Adam Scott....68-68-71-67-274 (-6) Alex Smalley....69-68-70-67-274 (-6) Justin Thomas....67-67-71-69-274 (-6) J.T. Poston....70-70-69-66-275 (-5) Kristoffer Reitan....67-67-74-67-275 (-5) Justin Rose....69-67-73-66-275 (-5) J.J. Spaun....64-66-72-73-275 (-5) Kurt Kitayama....72-68-68-68-276 (-4) Xander Schauffele....70-66-71-69-276 (-4) Sam Burns....71-67-68-71-277 (-3) Eric Cole....67-68-75-75-277 (-3) Matt Fitzpatrick....65-72-69-71-277 (-3) Tom Kim....72-69-68-68-277 (-3) Hideki Matsuyama....72-68-70-67-277 (-3) Viktor Hovland....71-63-72-72-278 (-2) Si Woo Kim....70-69-70-69-278 (-2) Matt McCarty....70-67-70-71-278 (-2) Sepp Straka....73-68-65-72-278 (-2) Rickie Fowler....71-69-69-70-279 (-1) Alex Noren....71-69-65-74-279 (-1) Michael Thorbjornsen....66-66-75-72-279 (-1) Cameron Young....71-65-69-74-279 (-1)

LPGA Tour

CPKC Women's Open Edmonton, Canada Royal Mayfair CC Purse: \$2.75 million Yardage: 6,452; Par: 70 Sunday's Final Round

Miyu Yamashita 62-64-65-66-257 (23) Yuri Yoshida 65-66-66-69-266 (14) Sei Young Kim 68-68-64-67-267 (13) Anna Huang 65-68-70-65-268 (12) Gina Kim 66-67-64-71-268 (12) Ruoning Yin 65-67-68-68-268 (12) Aphrodite Deng 70-67-63-69-269 (11) Laney Frye 66-67-68-68-269 (11) Ariya Jutanugarn 66-68-67-68-269 (11) Yan Liu 67-69-67-68-271 (9) Nataliya Guseva 67-71-65-69-272 (8) Jennifer Kupcho 66-68-64-74-272 (8) Pajaree Anannarukarn 69-68-69-67-273 (7) Brooke Henderson 67-68-68-70-273 (7) Alison Lee 69-70-67-67-273 (7) Mao Saigo 66-67-70-70-273 (7) Hye-Jin Choi 71-68-68-67-274 (6) Robyn Choi 71-66-70-67-274 (6) Jodi Ewart Shadoff 70-68-67-69-274 (6) Ayaka Furue 68-66-70-70-274 (6) Dongeun Lee 68-69-64-73-274 (6) Yuna Nishimura 72-68-67-67-274 (6) Na Rin An 70-68-66-71-275 (5) Ashleigh Buhai 72-68-67-68-275 (5) Nasa Hataoka 63-69-71-72-275 (5) Grace Kim 67-69-71-68-275 (5) N. Koerstz Madsen 68-67-70-70-275 (5) Nelly Korda 67-70-69-69-275 (5) So-Mi Lee 69-65-65-76-275 (5) Kiara Romero 64-67-69-75-275 (5)

WEATHER WEATHER ONLINE USATODAY.COM

TODAY'S FORECAST

Several zones of thunderstorms will develop across the country during the day today. One of these zones will lie from the Rockies through the northern Great Lakes. From eastern Colorado through central Kansas, thunderstorms will be capable of hail, flash flooding and localized damaging wind gusts.

Farther north from north-eastern Minnesota through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, gusty winds and small hail can accompany any downpour. Across the Southeast, a separate zone of thunderstorms will be active during the afternoon.

Across New England, activity will be showery and spotty in nature. Elsewhere, it will be dry. It will be especially hot from New Mexico through Oklahoma. It will also be hot west of the Rockies.

TOP TRAVEL CITIES Air quality index (AQI)

Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather Inc. ©2026

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Below 10 10s 20s 30s 40s 50s 60s 70s 80s 90s 100s 110+

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PRECIPITATION FORECAST

EXTREMES

Note: For contiguous 48 states through Sunday

HOTTEST: 120° Death Valley, Calif. COLDEST: 35° Lakeview, Ore.

TUE Partly sunny 93/72 WED A.P.M. t-storm 90/72 THU T-storms 86/73

TUE Mostly sunny 82/61 WED Partly sunny 85/67 THU T-storms 84/67

TUE Stray t-storm 92/80 WED Stray t-storm 92/79 THU Stray t-storm 92/80

TUE T-storm 86/65 WED Breezy 81/64 THU Sunny 81/59

U.S. CITIES TODAY WED

O.S. CITIES	TODAY	WED
Akron, Ohio	76/57s	78/60pc
Albany, N.Y.	76/58t	80/63pc
Albuquerque	98/70t	97/66t
Allentown, Pa.	78/55s	81/63s
Amarillo, Texas	98/67t	92/67t
Anaheim, Calif.	95/72s	97/72s
Anchorage, Alaska	58/50r	65/48s
Aspen, Colo.	79/49t	76/52t
Atlantic City, N.J.	81/65s	80/71s
Augusta, Ga.	94/71c	87/70t
Austin, Texas	104/76s	104/79s
Bakersfield, Calif.	102/75s	102/74h
Baton Rouge, La.	90/77t	95/77t
Billings, Mont.	83/57pc	88/62t
Birmingham, Ala.	93/71c	92/72t
Bismarck, N.D.	83/54s	84/49s
Boise, Idaho	98/70s	97/70pc
Buffalo, N.Y.	73/58s	77/64pc
Burlington, Vt.	72/59t	80/64pc
Cedar Rapids, Iowa	79/64pc	83/60pc
Charleston, S.C.	91/73t	87/74t
Charleston, W.Va.	81/53pc	85/63pc
Cheyenne, Wyo.	80/54t	77/56t

TUE Sunny, nice 80/65 WED Mostly sunny 80/65 THU Mostly cloudy 82/68

TUE Stray t-storm 89/78
WED Rain 92/78
THU T-storm 88/77

WED Stray t-storm 90/70 THU Heavy t-storms 83/71 AOL Moderate

TUE Mostly sunny 78/65
WED Mostly sunny 80/70
THU T-storm 81/69

	TODAY	WED
Cincinnati	81/60s	85/64pc
Cleveland	75/59s	82/63c
Colorado Springs	85/57t	78/55t
Columbia, S.C.	93/73pc	90/73t
Columbus, Ohio	80/58pc	81/63pc
Corpus Christi, Texas	100/77s	98/78s
Dayton, Ohio	78/60pc	81/64pc
Daytona Beach, Fla.	92/75t	91/75t
Des Moines, Iowa	83/68pc	84/62pc
Duluth, Minn.	77/59t	75/53sh
Durham, N.C.	87/63s	88/69t
El Paso, Texas	106/78s	104/77s
Fairbanks, Alaska	57/47r	57/39sh
Flagstaff, Ariz.	85/51t	86/51pc
Fargo, N.D.	84/62h	83/51pc
Fort Myers, Fla.	95/76t	92/75t
Fort Smith, Ark.	103/78s	98/76t
Fort Wayne, Ind.	77/55pc	79/62t
Fresno, Calif.	104/73s	103/73s
Grand Rapids, Mich.	78/57pc	78/62t
Green Bay, Wis.	79/63t	80/60sh
Greensboro, N.C.	84/64s	85/69t
Greenville, S.C.	86/66pc	83/67t
Harrisburg, Pa.	78/60s	84/65s

WED Stray t-storm 81/65 THU Shower 82/63

TUE Stray t-storm 93/75 WED Stray t-storm 91/76 THU Stray t-storm 92/75

WED Stray t-storm 101/80 THU Stray t-storm 100/78

PHILADELPHIA

TUE Mostly sunny 82/66
WED Mostly sunny 85/72
THU T-storm 82/70

AQI Good

	TODAY	WED
Hartford, Conn.	79/59sh	82/62s
Indianapolis	80/61s	83/63t
Islip, N.Y.	79/63s	81/68s
Jackson, Miss.	91/74t	95/73t
Jacksonville, Fla.	89/74t	89/74t
Jefferson City, Mo.	84/68pc	90/67t
Kansas City	86/68s	88/63pc
Key West, Fla.	91/83t	89/83t
Knoxville, Tenn.	88/67pc	88/70t
Laredo, Texas	107/79s	107/78s
Lexington, Ky.	82/59pc	85/65pc
Lincoln, Neb.	83/66t	85/60pc
Little Rock, Ark.	96/76pc	95/73t
Long Beach, Calif.	91/72s	91/71s
Louisville, Ky.	85/64pc	88/67pc
Lubbock, Texas	106/73s	99/70t
Madison, Wis.	79/65pc	82/61t
Manchester, N.H.	79/58pc	82/60s
Memphis, Tenn.	93/75t	92/72t
Milwaukee	78/65s	84/65t
Mobile, Ala.	87/74t	90/73t
Modesto, Calif.	97/68s	100/67s
Montgomery, Ala.	94/71t	94/71t
Myrtle Beach, S.C.	86/74t	86/76t

WED Stray t-storm 82/59 THU Partly sunny 87/64 AQI Moderate

TUE Very hot 115/90 WED Hot 117/91 THU Hot 116/91

TUE Sunny, warm 94/68
WED Very warm 96/70
THU Very warm 96/72
AQI Moderate

	TODAY	WED
Nags Head, N.C.	82/71s	84/74t
Nashville, Tenn.	90/68pc	90/72t
Newark, N.J.	80/65s	84/69s
New Haven, Conn.	79/62s	80/69s
Norfolk, Va.	84/68s	88/73pc
Oakland, Calif.	73/58pc	76/59pc
Oklahoma City	100/75pc	96/73pc
Omaha, Neb.	85/67t	88/59pc
Palm Springs, Calif.	114/89s	115/88s
Pensacola, Fla.	88/75t	89/76t
Pierre, S.D.	88/56sh	85/56s
Pittsburgh	76/57pc	79/62c
Portland, Maine	79/57t	79/58pc
Portland, Ore.	87/59s	78/59pc
Providence, R.I.	79/61s	80/63s
Raleigh, N.C.	88/66s	89/72t
Rapid City, S.D.	87/57t	86/58s
Reno, Nev.	94/64pc	94/61s
Richmond, Va.	85/62pc	88/69s
Rochester, N.Y.	72/56pc	80/62pc
Sacramento, Calif.	95/61s	98/63s
San Antonio	102/78s	103/79s
San Jose, Calif.	82/60pc	87/63pc
Santa Fe, N.M.	93/59t	87/59t

WED Showers around 88/75 THU Showers around 89/75

THU Stray t-storm 97/78 AQI Moderate

TUE Humid 84/70 WED Humid 84/71 THU Humid 84/73 AQI Moderate

TUE Breezy 72/57 WED Partly sunny 76/60 THU Breezy 76/58

	TODAY	WED
Sarasota, Fla.	91/76t	91/76t
Savannah, Ga.	91/73t	85/73t
Scottsdale, Ariz.	113/86s	115/86s
Shreveport, La.	99/79s	102/79t
Sioux Falls, S.D.	89/59t	83/55s
South Bend, Ind.	77/59pc	81/64t
Spokane, Wash.	92/64h	93/61s
Springfield, Mo.	91/73pc	90/67t
Springfield, Ill.	81/63pc	88/61t
St. Louis	85/70pc	92/68t
St. Petersburg, Fla.	91/77t	92/78t
Syracuse, N.Y.	73/58sh	81/66pc
Tallahassee, Fla.	89/73t	89/74t
Tampa, Fla.	91/78t	91/78t
Toledo, Ohio	78/56s	80/63t
Topeka, Kan.	85/68pc	90/62pc
Tucson, Ariz.	108/80s	109/83s
Tupelo, Miss.	91/72pc	90/71t
Tulsa, Okla.	97/74pc	93/73pc
Virginia Beach, Va.	83/66s	84/73pc
Wichita, Kan.	93/72t	93/70pc
Wilmington, Del.	82/61s	84/67s
Winston-Salem, N.C.	84/65s	87/68t
Worcester, Mass.	74/59s	78/63s

AQI Good

WED Hot 110/87 THU Hot 110/88

LOS ANGELES

TUE Sunny, hot 97/73
WED Hot 96/74
THU Hot 95/75

TUE Hazy sunshine 85/56
WED Not as warm 76/58
THU Partly sunny 74/55
AQI Good

AQI Moderate

WED Partly sunny 87/69 THU Heavy t-storms 84/71 AQI Good

WORLD CITIES

	TODAY	WED
Beijing	89/75t	80/68c
Buenos Aires	57/53pc	64/57pc
Cancun, Mexico	95/76s	93/75t
Dubai, UAE	109/94h	111/93s
Frankfurt	68/58r	78/63sh
Hong Kong	90/82t	88/83t
Istanbul	89/71s	86/72s
Jerusalem	90/70s	91/70s
Johannesburg	77/47h	77/48h
London	78/62pc	77/63sh
Mexico City	74/57r	76/56r
Montreal	73/59t	77/64pc
Moscow	62/54sh	60/49c
Mumbai, India	89/81r	87/81r
Paris	79/64r	83/65pc
Rio de Janeiro	72/68r	74/69sh
Rome	88/70t	90/72s
Seoul	89/75pc	88/75sh
Singapore	92/80t	90/80t
Sydney	69/58sh	66/57sh
Toronto	76/58r	78/64s
Tokyo	93/80w	94/81t

Browns

Continued from Page 1C

“It’s close,” Monken told USA TODAY Sports before a camp practice. “People somehow think that, like, I have some hidden agenda, or like there’s some preconceived notion. Is that what they think I would do? I would just split the reps if I didn’t think it was a competition? That would be really silly. If I thought one was the starter, I’d give him the ‘one’ reps.”

After evaluating everything, Mon- ken decided on who will be his top "dawg."

The rookie head coach just has to hope that the wins will follow.

Watson was named the starter despite his comments disparaging Browns fans following the team's second preseason game.

Clark

Watson was booed throughout his outing at Huntington Bank Field, his first appearance at Cleveland's home stadium since he tore his Achilles during a game on Oct. 20, 2024. He did not take kindly to the reception he received, calling it "personal" and "disrespectful."

“I think the whole world knows it has nothing to do about the performance,” Watson told reporters. “It’s a little bit more personal than that. So, I think it’s a disrespectful thing. I’m gonna keep whatever I feel with me and my family, internally, on how I feel about that and just move on.”

Watson appeared to be referencing the sexual misconduct allegations that had been levied against him. He was the subject of 27 lawsuits dating back to March 2021, all by women who accused him of sexual misconduct.

All 27 of the lawsuits have since been dismissed or settled, and Watson has maintained his innocence.

While Watson believes the booing isn't performance-related, he has struggled since being acquired by the Browns in a blockbuster trade with the Houston Texans and signing a fully guaranteed five-year, \$230 million contract.

He has appeared in just 19 games across four seasons, posting a 9-10 record and an 80.7 passer rating.

Continued from Page 1C

and four over McIlroy.

"I would say through the first three days of this event I felt like the best player in the world. Then today humbled me a little bit," Clark said Sunday.

"It was fun, actually. As much as I would have loved to run away with this, it was fun getting the juices going and really feel the angst coming down at the end."

Clark surged to a five-stroke lead heading into the final round by playing 7 under during an eight-hole stretch on Saturday. It started unraveling for Clark early at the first hole of the final round, where he made bogey, and “my mind was just racing,” he said. When he pounded his par putt at No. 6 through the break, he recalled thinking, “Man, I’m just not there mentally.”

It was déjà vu all over again.

At the U.S. Open in June, he carried a commanding lead into the final round and the fans cheered at his front-nine miscues, hoping to see world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler make history by completing the career Grand Slam.

This time, they were split between pulling for Gary Woodland, who has battled back from brain surgery and grew up 3 $\frac{1}{2}$ hours down the road, and for McIlroy, to provide some drama.

First, Woodland trimmed the lead to one but he cold-topped his tee shot at No. 9 into a creek and made double bogey. He finished T-4.

Cantlay twice cut the deficit to one but made bogey at nine and double bogey at No. 11. He birdied the last three holes to finish second, jumped into the top 30 and earned a spot in the Tour Championship along with Woodland and Robert MacIntyre.

McIlroy, who entered the day five back, kept lurking and when Clark bogeyed the 10th, his third bogey of the day, and McIlroy rolled in a 9-foot birdie at No. 11, Clark's lead was gone.

“Dave my caddie said, ‘Hey, our back’s against the wall and that’s when you play some of your best golf.’ He goes, ‘This is fun. Let’s just embrace it,’” recalled Clark. “I just kept telling myself, I'm in a good spot, I'm in a good spot, that's where I want to be, and good things are going to happen."

Wyndham Clark rallied during the final round to win the BMW Championship on Aug. 23 at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis. JEFF CURRY/IMAGN IMAGES

The positive self-talk is an example of his work paying off with mental coach Julie Elion. She remembers veteran pro Chez Reavie telling her if she could help Clark with his focus and determination, he'd be capable of greatness, and called him the best ball striker he'd ever seen. [Clark ranked second in strokes gained: approach and second in proximity to the hole for the week.]

For all of his talent, Clark had produced no birdies through the first 15 holes until he broke the seal at 16. First, McIlroy drew a 5-iron to 15 feet at the 229-yard par-3 16th. With the pressure on, Clark stepped up and drilled a beauty of his own.

"I kind of told myself I can do the same thing. And I said this shot actually favors me more, because I hit a cut and he hits a draw. I hit a high 5-iron, went a little farther than I thought. But yeah, I thought putting that shot roughly the same distance as him was a big deal," Clark said.

Earlier in the round, McIlroy had drained a few putts when he'd gone first and Clark failed to answer. This time, Clark was just outside McIlroy and poured in the putt, unleashing a furious fist pump as he regained the lead. Collapse thwarted. McIlroy missed his birdie to tie it up again and when he made a sloppy bogey at 17 and Clark drained another birdie putt from 13 feet, it was all but over.

“I thought that was a big thing for the momentum for me to make that putt and kind of put the pressure on him to make his,” said Clark, who canned a 17-footer at the last for good measure. He finished with a 72-hole total of 17-under 263 for his sixth career win.

McIlroy rued his putter picking a bad time to misbehave once the two were knotted at 14 under. “I gave myself plenty of chances. I just couldn’t get a putt to drop there those final few holes,” McIlroy said. “I always felt like I needed to just get my nose ahead to really try to put the pressure on Wyndham, and I couldn’t.”

And McIlroy also reopened the debate for PGA Tour Player of the Year heading to the Tour Championship, where the winner of the FedExCup could determine who gets voted as winner of the Jack Nicklaus Award.

After all but conceding the trophy to world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who finished T-12 despite dealing with Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease during the BMW, for a fifth consecutive time ahead of the tournament, McIlroy said Player of the Year still is up for grabs.

“You know, Wyndham doing what he did today, yeah, next week will make things interesting,” he said.

Clark, winner of the U.S. Open in June, won for the third time this season, tying for the most wins on the PGA Tour this year with Matt Fitzpatrick and Chris Gotterup. He leaped into the top six of the U.S. Presidents Cup points standings and secured one of six automatic spots on the 12-man team.

Clark stopped short of campaigning for himself, but after his latest victory in a playoff event, he had every reason to be proud of the comeback he has made after a rocky season last year.

"I think it shows that I'm one of the best players in the world," Clark said. "I know everyone maybe gives me a hard time and roots for other people, but I feel like I've kind of come into my own. Three wins in one season is my best year yet. Coming off my worst year ever. Yeah, I'm just really pleased where I'm at right now."

Polarizing

Continued from Page 1C

Ole Miss

Among national championship contenders, there's perhaps no team with a wider range in opinion than Ole Miss. The No. 10 Rebels bring back a number of top contributors – namely, quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, running back Kewan Lacy and defensive lineman Will Echoles – from a team that was five points away from playing for a national title last season. They also famously just lost the coach who led them to one of the greatest seasons in school history and the program's longest run of sustained success post-integration. Pete Golding did an outstanding job rallying the team to the playoff semifinals last season after Lane Kiffin's messy exit to LSU, but how will the first-time head coach fare after a full offseason in the job and with new coordinators running the offense and defense? If Golding's got the goods, this team has as good of a chance as anyone to win a championship. If he's not up to the task, though, this is a talented group that could very easily underachieve.

Clemson

On one hand, the Tigers have won fewer than 10 games only twice since 2011. On the other hand, two of those have come in the past three seasons. Dabo Swinney built a program synonymous with frustrating shortcomings into one of the most powerful forces in the sport nationally for a decade, but Clemson's fortunes have waned in recent years as criticism has mounted of Swinney's approach (namely, his aversion to transfers). Swinney is still an excellent coach and there's still plenty of talent on the Tigers roster, like preseason All-American linebacker Sammy Brown. Taken together, it was enough to get them a spot at No. 23 in the preseason coaches poll. But after a 7-6 season in 2025, and with at least four losses in each of the past three seasons, it's fair to wonder if Clemson's reign as a perennial playoff contender has come and gone.

UCLA

Bob Chesney has won everywhere he has coached, from Division III Salve Regina to Division II Assumption to Football Championship Subdivision Holy Cross to James Madison, the last of which he led to a playoff appearance in his second season last year. After taking over a strong program from Curt Cignetti at JMU, he inherits a rebuild at UCLA, which went just 3-9 last season and has won more than eight games in a season just once since 2015. He brings 10 players over with him from James Madison, including do-everything star Wayne Knight, and managed to keep quarterback Nico Iamaleava, who still has time to live up to the immense promise he brought into college as a five-star recruit. The Bruins likely won't be a wagon immediately, but for the first time in a while, the vibes are decidedly up in Westwood.

Oklahoma State's Drew Mestemaker played in the spring game at Boone Pickens Stadium after transferring from North Texas. BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN

Florida

Since a Cotton Bowl appearance at the end of the 2020 season, the Gators have been mired in mediocrity, going 29-34 during that time. They've got newfound hope with the arrival of coach Jon Sumrall, who is 43-12 as a head coach and just took Tulane to the College Football Playoff. Sumrall has made inspired hires for his staff, none of them more impactful than offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner, and brought aboard a top-30 transfer portal class. Florida isn't being discussed as a national title contender – it was ninth of 16 teams in the SEC's preseason poll – but regardless, a team that has won more than six games in a season just once in the past five years received the second-most votes of squads outside the top 25 in the preseason US LBM Coaches Poll. Sumrall's more than proved his chops as a coach, but can he turn it around that quickly?

Utah

Under Kyle Whittingham, the Utes were one of the steadiest winners in the sport, with at least nine victories in eight of the past 12 seasons. After 21 years, Whittingham is gone, having stepped down from the post before quickly resettling at Michigan. Utah begins the season No. 21 in the coaches poll and brings back some strong pieces from last season's 11-win team, including quarterback Devon Dampier and return specialist Mana Carvalho, but there are understandably questions about first-time head coach Morgan Scalley, who had been the program's coach-in-waiting for years (an arrangement that seldom ever works). The next several months will provide a revealing glimpse at how much of the Utes' sustained success was due to Whittingham and what he had built in Salt Lake City.

Oklahoma State

Nine months ago, the Cowboys were finishing off a 2025 season in which they went 1-11, their fewest wins in a season since 1991. Now, they're being discussed as a potential playoff sleeper. What changed? A whole lot. Eric Morris steps in to replace Mike Gundy as head coach after leading North Texas to the best season in program history. Morris is not heading to Stillwater alone, either, as he brings several key pieces from the highest-scoring offense in the Football Bowl Subdivision last season. That group of newcomers is led by quarterback Drew Mestemaker, who threw for a

Bowl Subdivision-leading 4,379 yards last season (406 yards more than the next-closest player) while piloting an offense that averaged 45.1 points per game. There are questions about how that production will translate going from the American Conference to the Big 12 and exactly how much Oklahoma State can improve in just one season. But after Gundy's decorated tenure ended with a pair of down seasons, the Cowboys once again have reason for optimism.

Cal

The Golden Bears were below average and often forgettable under Justin Wilcox, going 48-55 in his nine-year tenure, but heading into 2026, there's plenty of reason for excitement. Much of it centers around quarterback Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, a 2025 five-star recruit who had an electric freshman season and stuck with the program through its coaching transition. Since being hired, new coach Tosh Lupoi has burnished his reputation as an ace recruiter by surrounding Sagapolutele with more talent, bringing in a top-15 transfer portal haul. Cal has a favorable schedule, too, one that has some dreaming of the program's first season with more than eight wins since 2008. Is that hope enough to override years of mediocrity, a cash-strapped athletic department and a conference in which it's 3,000 miles away from most of the teams it plays? We'll see.

South Carolina

This time a year ago, the Gamecocks were one of the darlings of the sport, the preseason No. 13 team bringing back most of its biggest stars after going 9-4 in 2024. They fell drastically short of those lofty expectations, suffering through a 4-8 season that included just one victory in SEC play. This season, it brings back one of the most explosive quarterbacks in the sport in LaNorris Sellers and one of the nation's most disruptive defensive players in edge rusher Dylan Stewart. Coach Shane Beamer made some needed tweaks, too, working to shore up the offensive line and bringing in a new offensive coordinator in Kendal Briles after an inexplicably poor 2025 season. Under Beamer, South Carolina has alternated between strong seasons and less-than-stellar ones, going from 8-5 in 2022 to 5-7 in 2023 to 9-4 in 2024 to 4-8 last season. If that trend continues, it could be one of the sport's surprises this season.

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LIFELINE

EAMONN M. MCCORMACK/GETTY IMAGES

STYLE STAR MARGARET QUALLEY

Margaret Qualley, star of the upcoming film “The Dog Stars,” made a recent appearance on the movie’s London premiere red carpet in a head-to-literal-toe Chanel look from the brand’s spring-summer ’27 cruise collection. Qualley wore a fully fringed plunge-neck little black dress, but what really turned heads was the brand’s viral foot-baring ankle strap sandals. The controversial resort-wear design showcases a fully exposed foot.

IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY WHO'S CELEBRATING TODAY

Lively

Actor Tom Skerritt turns 93. Singer Walter Williams (The O'Jays), 84. Singer Gene Simmons (Kiss), 77. Singer-songwriter Elvis Costello, 72. Director Tim Burton, 68. Singer

Billy Ray Cyrus, 65. Singer Jeff Tweedy (Wilco), 59. TV chef Rachael Ray, 58. Model Claudia Schiffer, 56. Actor Alexander Skarsgård, 50. Actor Kel Mitchell, 48. Designer Bobby Berk, 45. Actor Blake Lively, 39. – USA TODAY Network

HOROSCOPE | SANCTUARY More: www.sanctuaryworld.co

Aries (March 21-April 19). Sharpen up your strategies. Thinking five steps ahead can add efficiency to your projects while Mercury is in Virgo.

Taurus (April 20-May 20). Creativity and romance are where your head is at. What could you improve in these areas to get more attention?

Gemini (May 21-June 21). Does a home or family situation need more clarity? Get the conversation started.

Cancer (June 22-July 22). Focus and precision are your secret weapons now. Your mind becomes a machine as Mercury moves into Virgo.

Leo (July 23-Aug. 22). Wrap your head around your resources. Mercury moving into Virgo puts your time and money under review.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22). Your mind is in prime form! Thoughts move faster, and articulation is cleaner while Mercury is in Virgo.

Libra (Sept.23-Oct. 23). Can you hear yourself think? Step away from the noise so your internal dialogue can take the mic.

Scorpio (Oct. 24-Nov. 21). Your aspirations benefit from the right collaborators. Ready to reach out to those who are as dialed in as you?

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21). Get the word out about what you do. Can you be concise without wandering into a ten-minute origin story?

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19). Time to dive deep! Put on your researcher hat. You'll want to know more.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18). Where have shared finances or emotional matters become messy? Being direct cleans things up with Mercury in Virgo.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20). Communication is the lifeblood of your relationships. Is there an important conversation that you are ready to have?

MUSIC

John Mayer says his greatest joy in programming his "Life With John Mayer" channel on SiriusXM is getting to share his varied musical taste with listeners. PROVIDED BY DANIEL PRAKOPCYK FOR JOHN MAYER

Mayer reveals ‘Life,’ 12 minutes at a time

Melissa Ruggieri USA TODAY

Give John Mayer 12 minutes and you might find yourself hooked. ● A mere 720 seconds to experience “Life With John Mayer,” his distinctive SiriusXM channel heading toward its third anniversary. ● Those 12 minutes, Mayer believes, embody the “psychology” of music listening, or, at its most basic level, how songs and moods are interlinked. It’s a skill that is innate to the seven-time Grammy winner behind 23 Billboard Top 100 songs, including “Waiting on the World to Change,” “Daughters” and “Your Body Is a Wonderland.”

He takes his channel seriously, popping into the Los Angeles office of the satellite radio provider every week to curate the programming and never allowing his brain, which “runs like a greyhound,” to rest in between, so invested he is in the playlists.

"If you have a magic 12 minutes in the car where you go, 'Oh my God, I just heard Madonna's 'Cherish' into (Eric Clapton's) 'Layla.' Who would put that on a radio station? Nobody," Mayer says, casual in a hoodie as he chats from his California kitchen via video. "You cannot build a channel like this off of metrics. There is no computer in the world that can tell you that when you got a buzz on a Friday night in the back of an Uber, that Kenny Rogers' 'The Gambler' will be the greatest thing you remembered about the weekend. Or (Roger Miller's) 'King of the Road.' I hear a song like that and I go, this may be actually pretty cool to hear because even if you're on your way to Wendy's on a lunch break, maybe you're king of the road that moment. So this is my opportunity to overthink all of this stuff."

Listen to 'Life' for free

“Life With John Mayer” (on Channel 4) will be available free, no subscription necessary, on SiriusXM car radios through Sept. 30.

On Aug. 26, Mayer will play an invite-only concert for listeners at the intimate Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett, New York, preceded by a conversation steered by pal – and fellow SiriusXM colleague – Andy

See MAYER, Page 2D

John Mayer, left, and Bob Weir perform during the 2025 MusiCares Persons of the Year Honoring The Grateful Dead at Los Angeles Convention Center on Jan. 31, 2025. MATT WINKELMEYER/GETTY IMAGES

STREAMING

Kennedy calls out Boeing in new film

Erin Jensen USA TODAY

With a nervous laugh, Rory Kennedy concedes she's "terrified of flying."

"I have a long history of grabbing the person next to me when it gets bumpy or turbulent," she tells USA TODAY. "I have a lot of anxiety with flying, and now I have a lot more."

This certainly doesn't come as a surprise to those who know the Kennedy family's history and how several members have tragically died in plane crashes. The parents of her mother, Ethel Kennedy – George and Ann Skakel – died in 1955 after their plane crashed close to Union City, Oklahoma. Ethel's brother, George Skakel Jr., died in an aviation accident in 1966. Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., the eldest brother of Rory Kennedy's father, Robert F. Kennedy, was killed in 1944 when the naval aviator's plane exploded. A plane carrying his sister, Kathleen Kennedy, crashed in 1948. And John F. Kennedy Jr., Carolyn Bessette and her sister, Lauren Bessette, died in 1999 on their way to Rory Kennedy's wedding.

Yet that's not why Kennedy, 57, devoted years of her life to investigating Boeing's underbelly, portrayed in a pair of documentaries as a money-hungry entity willing to cut costs and corners, even when lives are at stake.

Rory Kennedy, at the Sundance Film Festival on Jan. 27, has directed "Freefall," a follow-up to "Downfall." ROBIN MARCHANT/GETTY IMAGES

"Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing" (now streaming on Netflix) follows Kennedy's 2022 film, "Downfall: The Case Against Boeing" (also on the platform), which examined the 737 MAX 8 crashes in 2018 and 2019 that resulted in 346 deaths. Boeing has admitted fault in these tragedies, attributing the cause of the crashes to a faulty Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS).

“Freefall” claims there was a pattern of the company ignoring employees’ concerns and retaliating against whistleblowers. Kennedy also heard reports of corroded parts being on the production line. But what shocked her most, she says, was a “continued lack of humanity.”

"It's not just for the whistleblowers but also the families who lost family members in the 737 MAX crashes," Kennedy says. In hearing from loves ones, "you really see how these decisions and policies trickle down to impact people's lives in such profound ways and create such a sense of loss and just abject sadness. That stays with me, and I think that really drives me more than anything to make the film."

In a statement to USA TODAY, a spokesperson for Boeing addressed the claims made in Kennedy's latest documentary.

"The allegations in this film have been widely reported over the past several years. Some remain unfounded claims to this day while others are issues that Boeing thoroughly addressed or continues to improve upon under the rigorous oversight of our regulators. Today, we are grateful that customers, industry experts, policymakers, and our employees are seeing improvements in how we work together and deliver quality products. Our team is working every day to meet our

See KENNEDY, Page 2D

MUSIC NEWS & VIEWS

Jonas Brothers revel in past on Burning tour

Anika Reed

yourself."

From left: Nick Jonas, Joe Jonas and Kevin Jonas perform during the Jonas Brothers' Burning Up Tour All Over Again at Madison Square Garden on Aug. 20, in New York City. THEO WARGO/GETTY IMAGES FOR LIVE NATION

USA TODAY

NEW YORK – It really is Burnin' Up all over again.

The Jonas Brothers embarked on their Burning Up Tour All Over Again, kicking off the slate of shows at Madison Square Garden Aug. 20 with a big surprise guest that brought the tour name to life with an encore performance of their hit song “Burnin’ Up.”

"The last time we were on this tour was in 2008," Nick Jonas, 33, said. "I think some of you were there."

The arena was filled with fans who rocked out to the Burning Up Tour the first time in 2008, as well as fans experiencing the set list for the first time, decked out in JoBros merch, sequins and more.

“We’re a little bit older tonight, that’s for sure,” Joe Jonas, 37, said.

Big Rob joins Jonas Brothers 'Burnin' Up' performance

After some travel delays getting to the rain-soaked arena, former body-guard – and unintentional icon in Jonas Brothers lore – Big Rob hit the stage for his legendary verse on “Burnin’ Up” as the Jonas Brothers performed the 2008 hit single for the second time to end the show.

“They weren’t able to join us in the first act. They have arrived, they’re in the building, and we would not let this night finish without doing this song the proper way here,” Nick Jonas said of the surprise guest, Robert “Big Rob” Feggans. “The one, the only, the fashionably late Big Rob!”

In the first performance of “Burnin’ Up” during the first half of the concert, Joe and Kevin Jonas, 38, re-created their iconic drum moment from the original tour, banging on four drums with water splashing as they hit the beat with brother Nick rocking out on a drum kit next to them.

Brothers debut 'Listen When Sad'

"We have been in the studio, we've been working on new music. And we have a brand-new single coming out," Nick teased onstage of their song, "Listen When Sad," which drops Aug. 28.

“We’ve tapped back into a sound that was kind of the sound of the early 2000s to be honest, and it was heavily inspired by bands like Switchfoot, Taking Back Sunday, Dashboard Confessional. We’ve reteamed with the producer of our self-titled album, ‘A Little Bit Longer’ and ‘Lines, Vines and Trying Times,’” Nick said.

The audience bopped their heads to the new song, with its garage-band guitar riffs and longing lyrics such as “Do you remember the summer/she gave you her number/on the back of that CD that you bought last spring.”

They re-create iconic tour moments, shout out 'Camp Rock'

The Jonas Brothers acknowledged that while they were bringing back many of the songs and elements from the 2008 tour, they're not teenagers anymore.

“It’s been quite a while, 2008 was not yesterday. A lot of things have changed, and we did our very best to bring this show to life as best we could,” Nick said as Joe pointed to the Jonas Brothers sign they brought back out.

"We're not as young and flexible," Joe said, with Nick quipping, "Speak for

Hardcore Jonas Brothers fans would notice that the band brought back recreations of the suits they wore on the original tour, down to Joe Jonas' lime-green shirt.

Though the brothers, now adults with kids, might not have been spraying fans with a foam gun or doing the acrobatic flips around the stage they once did (though they mimicked trying), they brought all the nostalgic hits to the stage. Fans screamed for deeper album cuts such as “Video Girl” and “BB Good,” and Nick Jonas’ wife, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, danced in the back of the arena in a white A-line shift dress to “Still in Love with You.”

They also shouted out Disney and the recent premiere of “Camp Rock 3,” nearly 20 years after starring alongside Demi Lovato in the original “Camp Rock” movie in 2008 (Lovato’s 34th birthday fell on the night of the show, for any fans who might have hoped she would join the brothers onstage for “This Is Me”).

"On Sunday night out there in Los Angeles, we were honored and welcomed to the club as Disney Legends, a pretty special night," Nick said. "When we think back to all the great projects we've been fortunate enough to do with Disney, we're brought back to a summer in 2007 where we found ourselves up in Toronto, Canada, filming a movie. We had no idea just how much our lives were about to change."

The Jonas Brothers also joined forces for their solo hits: Nick serenaded the crowd with “Jealous” as Joe belted the second verse; Joe amped up the crowd with his DNCE hit “Cake By the Ocean” with Nick providing vocals; and Kevin got his moment in the spotlight with fans screaming for his new song “Changing” as both of his brothers sang along right beside him.

Mayer

Continued from Page 1D

Cohen. The interview will air on Cohen's Radio Andy (Channel 102) at 10 a.m. ET Aug. 28 and the concert can be heard on Mayer's channel at 8 p.m. ET Aug. 29. Both also will be on the SiriusXM app.

Although the channel bears his name, Mayer is prudent about programming an appropriate amount of his music, usually three or four times an hour.

"I think if I was Bruce Springsteen, I wouldn't be demure. But I know where I should and shouldn't push. There are times I'd be like, that's too much me. I know how much me is enough. It took me a lot of years, but I now know," Mayer says with a smile. "Everything I make is more a product of my mind than it is an extension of the records I make. So the records I make go underneath the umbrella of the mind I want to have.

"The trick is that this channel is brought to you by the mind that made these songs. Not, the guy who made these songs is giving you all the songs he made. Like, the same guy who wrote those songs is using his brain to do something different around music. And that interests me infinitely more than brand extension."

From Alanis to Bowie, Mayer wants listeners to feel

Mayer likens the programming of “Life With John Mayer” to a “psychology project” and is always listening to discern what might not be working.

"If it interrupts the psychology of the channel, I'll take it off," he says. "Sometimes I'll take a song off because I go, 'That's enough of that one.' Because I want to continually have people turn the channel on and feel something."

To that end, you will hear Alanis Morissette's "Hand in My Pocket" next to David Bowie's "Young Americans." And Tom Jones' "It's Not Unusual" into Gregg Allman's "I'm No Angel," complete with astute commentary from Mayer about the reverb used on the song to give it the signature sheen of many late-'80s hits.

Even though Mayer has a dedicated “new music block” three times a week, he frequently slides fresh tracks (Leon Bridges, “Light the Way,” Laci Kaye Booth, “Pathetic”) into the daily cycle.

He also detours to the interview side of radio hosting with “How’s Life With John Mayer,” a sporadic feature where he has been joined by luminaries such as Harry Styles, Billy Joel, Lainey Wilson and Brandi Carlile.

As much as Mayer finds deep joy in curating his channel, he's a sharer, too.

The dance soiree “Aux Cord Hero With Diplo” airs at 9 p.m. ET Fridays and midnight Saturdays. “Dinner Party With

Don Was," a sit-in with renowned producer Don Was and his eclectic playlist, airs at 9 p.m. ET Saturdays and 11 p.m. ET Sundays.

Mayer is a self-aware host as well. His recent talk-up to Madonna's "Papa Don't Preach" was the admittance that he confused Danny Aiello, who plays the father in the 1986 video, with Capt. Lou Albano, who starred in Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" a few years earlier.

“And now you know I’m in my late 40s,” the 48-year-old quipped.

Mayer provides Grateful Dead fans a 'hang space'

Along with his solo acclaim, Mayer was a respected member of Dead & Company, the Bob Weir-fronted off-shoot of The Grateful Dead, since 2015. He says The Grateful Dead channel is among his favorites, along with Willie Nelson's Willie's Roadhouse and Smokey Robinson's Soul Town for added variety.

After the Weir's death in January, Mayer launched the Sunday(9 ET) "Grateful Dead Listening Party," a two-hour "place for a lot of orphans to meet up," he says of the Deadhead community suddenly without a captain.

“Grateful Dead will be remembered for having been around 60 years. And if I had anything to do with that, great,” Mayer says. “But to some extent, I’m going back to my corner. The bus kind of dropped me off, and I get to be a lover of the music. I was on a beautiful ride, but I couldn’t really see the vehicle because I was in it. So where I used to be on stage, I’m now in the crowd with everybody.”

Mayer also shares insights into songs he played with the band, offering a vantage point held by only a handful of people.

But mostly, he appreciates that the channel is “a resource to give people a hang space. Everything we talked about in terms of building that place that you can visit in your mind. It just made sense to have a place where people can go.”

What if the channel ended?

Posed with the hypothetical of what song he'd play as the finale if the channel ended, Mayer sinks into an extra layer of contemplativeness.

"I'd probably end with the one I started with, which was 'Bitter Sweet Symphony' by The Verve," he says after a few moments of pondering.

"I would do a whole hour of songs about the end. I might do 'End of the Road' by Boyz II Men. Or The Beatles' 'The End.' But I still think the last (song) would be the first one because the man likes symmetry."

Kennedy

Continued from Page 1D

commitments and earn the trust of those who depend on us."

Below, Kennedy reveals her motivation to continue her Boeing probe, what it was like investigating the death of whistleblower John Barnett and how her upbringing influenced her desire to make documentaries.

Question: At what point did you think that there needed to be a second film?

Answer: In the aftermath of [the two 737 Max 8 crashes], Boeing did take responsibility for the MCAS in those planes, which was really the reason for those planes crashing. They also had indicated to the public and to government that they had changed their ways, they had learned their lessons, that they were no longer going to prioritize profits over people and safety. And they seemed to make some significant changes that were reassuring, while they were fixing the 737 Max. But pretty soon after that plane went up into the air [after being ungrounded by the FAA] and the government scrutiny stopped and the regulations pulled back on them, they reverted back to their old ways, it seemed ...

I would say the compelling thing that really made me feel like “I got to get back in there” was John Barnett, who I had known as a whistleblower from “Downfall,” [was being deposed] about what he had seen at Boeing. And during that period, he died under very suspicious circumstances.

What was it like investigating the death of John Barnett?

It was concerning. I do feel like the toll that the experience of being a whistleblower had on John emotionally was really concerning, and he would talk about it. He was in therapy. He was working through a lot of issues. He was having anxiety. He was under an enormous amount of stress, and this had been going on for years and years.

Boeing made it as difficult as they could for him to finish his [deposition], to make his case [for a retaliation lawsuit]. And as I learned the circumstances and was able to watch footage from that [deposition], and learning that he had asked Boeing during the [deposition] ... “Can I just take a break from this for a beat?” And they said, “No. You have to keep going. Keep going. Keep going.” And then he died. I just felt like there was such a lack of humanity on a very personal level, which I think people will see when they watch the film.

What role do you think the government should have played in holding Boeing accountable?

A photo of Boeing whistleblower John Barnett is lifted in the air as Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg testifies before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation in 2025. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

I think that there should've been criminal charges against them. In fact, Boeing had agreed to plead guilty, and then more recently, under the current administration, they [the Trump administration] withdrew the case and the necessity for Boeing to plead guilty for criminal charges.

Different administrations handled it differently, so that is a reality. But of course, I don't think this is a partisan issue. ... I do feel like having criminal charges against the CEOs who knew what they were doing when they let those planes go up in the air and where they allowed for 346 people to die, and if they had to go to jail and prison as a result, that that would send a very clear message, not only to Boeing CEOs, but to CEOs from other companies, that they can be held criminally responsible and that it would compel them pretty immediately to make smarter choices about safety and the public interest.

Do you feel that your own life experiences have made you a more steadfast filmmaker?

I think that I have personally experienced a lot of loss and sadness in my life, and I do think it creates a sense of connection and understanding to people who have gone through pretty traumatic suffering.

After hearing your cousin, Maria Shriver, speak, it seems there was an expectation of the Kennedy family that you would go out and do good in the world. Do you feel like that was modeled for you in your childhood?

I don't feel that I was ever explicitly told by anybody in my family: "You have to give back. You need to contribute to the world." I do think that that had a big influence on me of people who I was surrounded by, both family members – and Maria's mother was a significant influence on me, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, and my mother ... as well as my siblings and cousins, many of whom have led lives that have been enormously contributory. But also the people who were brought into our lives.

USA TODAY CROSSWORD

EDITED Amanda Rafkin BY Emily Biegas

MARS ROVER

ACROSS

1 Teary-eyed 6 Energy of a person or place 10 High-pile rug type 14 Sound sometimes followed by "Gesundheit" 15 Utopia 16 Spanish greeting 17 Charcuterie options 18 Expensive bar? 19 "____ have to do" 20 Easter basket treat 23 In the past 24 It comes with a charge 25 Wonderment 26 JFK alternative 27 Fisheye ____ (camera attachment with a bubblelike effect) 29 Muhammara or baba ghanoush 31 Painter's prop 33 Serve as chairperson 37 Tech that helps you not get lost 38 Trattoria menu staple 40 Like some curry 42 ____ cold brew 43 Goose sound 44 Macro or micro subj. 46 Boo-boos 50 Fluffy female on a farm 51 ____ bun (Chinese snack) 52 "Sex and the City" actress Cattrall 54 Word before a maiden name 55 Teen drama starring Kristen Bell 58 Fun crime flick 61 Low-carb diet 62 Where most of Russia is located 63 Solo 64 "Sign me up" 65 Appear to be 66 Change the wall color, say

© Andrews McMeel

67 Ages

67 Ages 68 Farm area unit

DOWN

1 The blue whale is the largest one
2 Cold period that was dominated by megafauna
3 Singer Jones who fronted the Dap-Kings
4 Toys for ____ (charity drive)
5 Dinosaur introduced in "Super Mario World"
6 Lifestyle that eschews animal products
7 Celebrated figure
8 "The Last of Us" actor Ramsey
9 Provide with a grant
10 Freighter, for example
11 Resort amenity that may offer massages

TXTPERT

Answers: Call 1-900-988-8300, 99 cents a minute; or, with a credit card, 1-800-320-4280.

Across Down 1. 26242623 2. 2427 6. 76583 3. 2583 8. 332283 4. 6663 10. 3425328 5. 7568 7. 4468 9. 363

12 Claims 13 Rhyming friend 21 Fashion industry worker 22 Teeny-tiny 28 Bit of dust 30 Instrument that's hard to move 32 Radiating joy 34 Beam of light 35 Savor the moment 36 Superlative suffix 38 Climbing plant 39 Scent 40 Female pronoun 41 Comic strip syllable 44 Body part that rhymes with "hear" 45 Bake sale treat 47 "Just a moment!" 48 More likely to creep you out 49 Type of bagel covered in white seeds

51 Hat recently sported by John Travolta at Cannes 53 Worshipped celebrities 55 ____ diagram 56 Fish who got lost in a 2003 Pixar film 57 Tortilla dough 58 Upper limit 59 In the style of 60 Polynesian paste

Today's theme Literary terms
Monday's Answer

CROSSWORDS ON YOUR PHONE get our crossword app
Yesterday's solution

Use the phone keypad to decode the clues. For example: 2 could be A, B or C ... and 5678 could be LOST

SUDOKU

More puzzles: PLAY.usatoday.com Want solutions? answers.usatoday.com Feedback: feedback@usatoday.com

Complete the grid so that every row, column and 3x3 box contains the numbers 1 through 9 (no repeats).

4		1	7		9		6
				4	8
8	9	3		1
9	7			2		6
		4		7		9
		5		9			7	4
				8		1	3	2
			1	5
	1		4		2	5		7

DIFFICULTY RATING ★★★★★

SUDOKU FUSION ON YOUR PHONE puzzles.usatoday.com

KENKEN

©2026 KenKen Puzzle, LLC www.kenken.com

1. Each row and column must contain the numbers 1 through 4 without repeating.

2. The numbers within the heavily outlined boxes, called cages, must combine using the given operation (in any order) to produce the target numbers in the top-left corners.

YESTERDAY'S SOLUTION

Trademark KenKen, LLC Distributed by Andrews McMeel

©2026 KenKen Puzzle, LLC www.kenken.com

3. Freebies: fill in single-box cages with the number in the top-left corner.

Complete the grid so that every row, column and 3x2 box contains the numbers 1 through 6 (no repeats).

	3		6	4
			2		5
		3	4		6
2		4	5
3		5
	1	6		5

1	5	7	3	9	6	2	4	8
6	3	4	1	8	2	9	5	7
8	2	9	7	5	4	3	1	6
9	1	6	8	4	5	7	2	3
3	8	5	2	6	7	1	9	4
4	7	2	9	1	3	8	6	5
7	4	3	5	2	1	6	8	9
2	6	8	4	7	9	5	3	1
5	9	1	6	3	8	4	7	2

KUBOK 16

By Davide Coppo Difficulty: MEDIUM

Solution to Monday's puzzle

©2026 Kubok. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency. 8/25/26 All rights reserved.

Enter the missing numbers from 1 to 16 without repetitions so that the sum of the four numbers in each row and column is the same as the corresponding circled number.

Words

WORD ROUNDUP

By David L. Hoyt and Jeff Knurek

Find and Circle:
Five birds starting with S	□□□□□
Four words ending with FTY	□□□□
1960s folk trio: ____, ____ and ____	□□□
Three punctuation marks	□□□
Rainy and windy	□

Monday's answer: RECLINER OTTOMAN ARMOIRE DRESSER HUTCH BENCH TABLE SOFA DESK / STRAIGHT FLUSH PAIR / NOUN VERB / CARL SAGAN / SWEET

QUICKCROSS

By John Wilmes

8/25

Weather description

QUICKCROSS ON YOUR PHONE puzzles.usatoday.com

S	L	S	S	C	O	L	N	N	S	V
G	W	G	T	P	S	H	N	I	F	T	Y
P	R	A	S	A	A	W	E	G	W	O	A
K	E	L	N	H	R	R	A	F	P	R	M
R	T	R	O	M	I	L	R	L	T	M	M
O	E	Z	I	F	A	F	I	O	L	Y	O
T	P	L	P	O	T	R	T	N	W	O	C
S	P	A	U	L	D	Y	Y	Y	G	V	W

UP & DOWN WORDS

By David L. Hoyt and Russell L. Hoyt

1. FIDDLER
2.	↗
3.	↗
4.	↗
5.	↗
6.	↗
7.	SHOPPING

Clues:

1. Asymmetrical crustacean
2. Tart fruit used in jellies
3. It can bear a Granny Smith
4. Orchard or nursery
5. ____ table (super fresh)
6. Not "for here"
7. Hit the mall, say

Monday's Answer

Mond CREAMED SPINACH SALAD FORK OVER TIME TRAVEL

Day's Answer / SPINACH / SALAD / FORK / OVER / TIME / TRAVEL / AGENT

PUZZLES.USATODAY.COM © Andrews McMeel

DON'T QUOTE ME® Don't Quote Me

Author F. Scott Fitzgerald talks about misery.

© WIGGLES 3D GAMES

Rearrange the words to complete the quote. NOT SLEEP TRY WORLD WORST

THE ____THING IN THE ____IS TO ____

_TO. 8/25

Monday's Answer: "It's the friends you can call up at 4 a.m. that matter." - Marlene Dietrich

7 LITTLE WORDS

1 show how it works (11)
2 inquiries (9)
3 dusk (9)
4 organizational essential (8)
5 Ti, to a chemist (8)
6 forbidding (4)
7 shallow showiness (5)

CLUES

Find the 7 words to match the 7 clues. The numbers in parentheses represent the number of letters in each solution. Each letter combination can be used only once, but all letter combinations will be necessary to complete the puzzle.

SOLUTIONS ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ ____ © 2026 Blue Ox Family Games, Inc., Dist. by And

Monday's Answers: 1. STORM 2. BUDGE 3. DEFACE 4. WRITING 5. FETA 6. DECLINING 7. HEARTENS

Yesterday's | Jumbles: HARSH DRAWN HAPPEN FEMALE Answer: The alligator was stressed out because he was — SWAMPED

BONUS CROSSWORD

ACROSS

1 — of Gilead
5 Deep cut
9 Melville captain
13 Inter —
14 Overturn
16 Stringed instrument
17 Nova
18 Essential oil from flowers
19 Conspire
20 Gloomy
22 Give new form to
24 Directed
25 Plant bristle
26 Royal
31 Adulterate
35 Likewise not
36 Hertz competitor
38 Acorn's coat
39 Well-behaved
41 Camera brand
43 Old Russian ruler
44 Satellite's path
46 Promotional show
47 Before
48 — -totter
50 Discovered
53 Transport
55 "What Kind of Fool — —?"

56 Actress — Getty
59 Bread spread
63 Raise
64 Release
67 Apple variety
68 Commedia dell'—
69 Actress — Sarandon
70 Drop
71 Pip
72 Identical
73 Earns as profit

1 Food fish
2 Palo —
3 Actor — Neeson
4 Aggie
5 Protector
6 Likely
7 Defunct jetliner
8 Perceives
9 ABCs
10 Expressive dance
11 On the summit of
12 — noire
15 Brought to bay
21 Always, to poets
23 Dele's undoing
26 Metal mass
27 Actor Dudley —
28 Investigation

PREVIOUS PUZZLE SOLVED

© 2026 UFS, Dist. by Andrews McMeel for UFS

29 Eager
30 Enjoyed
32 Valuable thing
33 Look fixedly
34 — seal
37 A few
40 Was indecisive
42 "Pay attention!" (2 wds.)
45 Duck
49 "The Cider House —"
51 Big bird
52 Thick-rind fruit

54 Luxury car
56 Periods
57 Withered
58 London gallery
60 Big, heavy book
61 Release
62 Soaks, as flax
65 Dos Passos trilogy
66 Water barrier

MOVIES

'Insidious' icon Shaye embraces her golden age

In “Insidious: Out of the Further,” Elise Rainier (Lin Shaye), who died in the original movie, communicates from beyond the dead to help young mother Gemma (Amelia Eve). PHOTOS PROVIDED BY NARELLE PORTANIER/SONY PICTURES

Brendan Morrow

USA TODAY

Getting killed off in the first installment of a film series traditionally would prevent an actor from playing that role five more times in the next 15 years. But not if you're Lin Shaye.

The star's psychic character, Elise Rainier, died at the end of the 2011 horror movie "Insidious." Yet she was such a fan favorite that she stuck around to become the face of the franchise, returning in every sequel, including the latest, sixth entry "Insidious: Out of the Further" (in theaters).

Shaye, 82, is “over the moon” about Elise’s lasting appeal. Still in awe after a promotional tour took her to Peru, where thousands cheered her arrival, she says the love that she’s felt from the horror community has made her “more confident” in herself after more than 50 years in the industry.

"I finally have come to the conclusion I'm a pretty good actress," she says. "I really mean that because I'm very hard on myself, and I am very meticulous about what I want to project with the character. And the fact that this character became so beloved is kind of a mystery. ... But all I can say is, I am truly having the time of my life."

“Insidious: Out of the Further” sees Elise once again return as a ghost inside the Further, the creepy, otherworldly realm of spirits introduced in the first movie, to act as a kind of guide for the new lead character. After Gemma (Amelia Eve), a young mother, discovers she has the ability to travel into the Further and bring demons back with her, Elise arrives to provide some much-needed advice and ultimately help Gemma prevent the evil beings from coming into the human world.

Shaye was well-regarded as a character actress when the original “Insidious” came around, perhaps best known for her comedy roles as landlady Mrs. Dumars in 1996’s “Kingpin” and Mary’s neighbor, Magda, in 1998’s “There’s Something About Mary.” Her screen debut was the 1975 film “Hester Street,” where she played a character who didn’t even have a name and was simply listed as "whore" in the credits.

The ghost of Elise (Shaye) guides Gemma (Eve) inside a supernatural realm in the sixth installment in the “Insidious” franchise.

“I played a prostitute, much to my mother’s chagrin,” she quips.

But the first “Insidious” shifted Shaye’s career into an entirely new gear at age 67, with subsequent installments cementing her as a bona fide horror icon. The fourth film, from 2018, even made Elise into the lead. By centering on Shaye, “Insidious” has become a rare franchise where an older woman gets to function like a full-fledged superhero, kicking demon butt and taking names.

Shaye hopes she's “opened the door, in our profession, for older women to be heroes” in an industry where lead roles are harder to come by for actresses as they age. In May, a study released by Age Without Limits found that the highest-grossing movies released in the United Kingdom from 2023 to 2025 were more likely to star an actor named Chris than a lead actress older than age 60.

"Ageism sucks. Period!" Shaye says. "The only thing older people have that other people don't have is wisdom, and that's because they have experience."

She's been fortunate in that if ageism has negatively affected her own career, she hasn't "noticed." She does, however, recall an instance earlier in her career where sexism did.

“I wore a pair of slacks to an audition, and the director said, ‘You have a lot of nerve wearing pants when you come into my room,’” she says. “I turned around and walked out. I thought, ‘What did I just do? I shouldn’t have walked out.’ [Then] I said, ‘Yes, you should have walked out. Good job, Lin!’”

Elise's age is just part of why Shaye sees the character as a "very unlikely hero” for a movie franchise. “She’s not beautiful. She’s not young. She’s not particularly smart,” she says.

While Shaye is still a bit mystified about why fans are so drawn to the character, she has a theory: The fact that Elise is a “good listener” is appealing at a time when countless distractions have made this virtue harder to come by. “That’s a very powerful tool, and a very unlikely thing to make someone heroic.”

When making the first “Insidious,” Shaye had no expectation that it would launch a franchise, and if director James Wan knew it would, perhaps he wouldn’t have killed her. Shaye recalls the filmmaker even second-guessed the choice on the set.

"He said, 'Maybe we shouldn't kill you, because what if we have another one?' "Shaye says. "And I said, 'Ah, don't worry, it's a ghost story. She can always come back!' And sure enough, that's exactly what happened."

After racking up more than 200 film and TV credits, Shaye is “picky” about the jobs she takes, a shift from when she “used to do anything” and could appear in as many as 10 movies a year.

"I love my life. I love my good health. I'm getting older, but, knock on wood – as my mother would say and do – I'm in excellent health," she says. Though "relocating for six months somewhere is not so appealing to me anymore" when she's happy riding her horse and spending time at home with her dog.

That said, Shaye has no plans to retire, stressing she'll "always be an actor" and hopes to have "another 25 years to tell stories." The sequel marks her second film of 2026 after "Scared to Death," which premiered in March.

Shaye also may just be getting started as Elise. Her goal is to appear in every new “Insidious,” with hopes that future films could delve into the character’s explorations through the Further. If Shaye stars in one more sequel, she’ll tie “Scream” star Courteney Cox’s record for most consecutive appearances by an actress in a horror film series.

"There's lots and lots of room for that character to explore new things," she says, adding, "The cast changes, but I am not interested in being replaced."

A TOAST TO THE BEST BARS IN AMERICA!

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NATION&WORLD EXTRA

U.S. widens sanctions

A view from inside the destroyed Shajareh Tayebeh primary school is pictured in Minab in Iran's Hormozgan province. The school has remained largely in ruins since the attack six months ago. PHOTOS BY: ATTA KENARE/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

A boy cleans one of the graves of people and children killed during the strike on the Shajareh Tayebeh primary school at a cemetery in Minab in Iran's Hormozgan province. A resolution to the war with Iran has been elusive.

David Lawder and Humeyra Pamuk REUTERS

WASHINGTON – The United States on Aug. 24 unveiled an expansion of sanctions that it said would cut off Iran's economic lifeline but stopped short of the most punishing measures, instead putting the world on notice to cease doing business with the Islamic Republic.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said other countries would need to sever business ties with Iran or risk being

Bessent

forced out of the dollar-based financial system. But he declined to identify the countries that would be targeted or reveal when those penalties would take effect, saying he would instead provide them time to comply with the new directive.

"We are giving everyone the opportunity to remedy bad behavior. Why would I want to blow up the global financial system?" Bessent said at a news conference.

The Treasury Department did announce new sanctions on 60 individuals, entities and vessels, but the list did not include any of the Chinese financial institutions suspected of facilitating Iran's oil trade.

Struggling to resolve an unpopular war that has pushed energy prices higher, Washington appears to be counting on further economic pressure even though Iran has spent decades under layers of U.S. and international sanctions that have battered its economy but have not deterred its leadership. Though neither side has launched major strikes in weeks, the war shows little sign of reaching a diplomatic solution.

In the meantime the United States is seeking new ways to end Iranian attacks on ships in the Gulf and, more recently via its allies, in the Red Sea.

Before the announcement, Iran threatened both a possible military response and further reduction in oil exports from the Gulf in response to any U.S. economic measures. Afterward, Iranian Economy Minister Ali Madanizadeh said, “We are fully prepared for the U.S. sanctions.”

“Naturally, the enemies intend to launch an economic terrorist attack on us, but we also have our own tools and know how to play the game. Our defense is no longer so defensive; the enemies should wait for an attack,” Madanizadeh told state television.

Brigadier General Hossein Mohebbi, a spokesperson for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, vowed heavy blows to U.S. vital interests and energy chokepoints if Iran's infrastructure is threatened, Press TV reported.

Almost six months have passed since the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran, sparking a conflict that has snarled shipping in the region, reduced the flow of oil and taken a toll on the U.S. and global economies.

Thousands of people have died, most of them in Iran and Lebanon. While the war has degraded much of Iran's conventional military capacity, inflicted economic pain and killed then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali

See IRAN, Page 4NN

High court lifts 1 block

Trump scores win on mail-in ballot order

Andrew Chung

REUTERS

The U.S. Supreme Court on Aug. 24 lifted one court order blocking President Donald Trump's administration from implementing an executive order restricting the use of mail-in ballots ahead of the November midterm elections.

But the fate of Trump's order remains uncertain, as a separate injunction blocking a key part of the plan remains in place.

Restricting mail-in ballots would stand to benefit Republicans given that Democratic voters traditionally have been more likely to use mail-in ballots.

The Aug. 24 ruling from the Supreme Court's 6-3 conservative majority applied to a June injunction from Boston-based U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani.

A coalition of 23 mostly Democratic-governed states and the District of Columbia had sued to stop the executive order over mail-in ballots. The Supreme Court on Aug. 24 said it was too soon for the states to challenge the order but left the door open for them to sue again as the midterm contest approaches.

Trump's executive order, issued in March, directed the Department of Homeland Security to compile and transmit to the states a list of U.S. citizens eligible to vote in each state, and the Justice Department to prioritize investigating and prosecuting state and local election officials who issue ballots to people deemed “not eligible” to vote in federal elections.

It also required the U.S. Postal Service to deliver ballots only to voters on each state's approved mail-in ballot list. Trump has vowed to end the use of mail-in ballots nationwide before the midterms, and has long cast doubt on the security of such ballots, although evidence of voter fraud is rare.

The court on Aug. 24 did not act on

See BALLOTS, Page 4NN

The Supreme Court said it was too soon for states to challenge an executive order for mail-in ballot restrictions but left the door open for them to sue again.

HANNAH BEIER/ILLUSTRATION/REUTERS

Trump's frustrations drove order limiting child vaccinations

Officials say vaccine studies expected to take months

Yasmeen Abutaleb and Bo Erickson REUTERS

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump's frustration that his administration was not doing enough to address what he considers a likely contributor to autism drove an August executive order that cut back the number of childhood vaccinations, administration officials told Reuters.

These five current and former officials privately say the order alone does not substantially change U.S. vaccine policy and will not satisfy Trump's demands or Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s "Make America Healthy Again" political base.

Instead, Kennedy and his allies are focused on a series of studies that the health secretary kicked off last year examining what they say are the dangers of vaccines, including a potential link with autism.

Medical experts and scientists say such concerns have been thoroughly refuted by studies examining millions of children over many years.

"No one wants to see this get done with an executive order. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. knows that will not be a lasting change if it's not backed up by credible science," said Del Bigtree, one of Kennedy's longtime allies and chief executive officer of Informed Consent Action Network, a group that has continually questioned vaccine safety. "This is only the beginning of a process that had to happen."

The White House and the Department of Health and Human Services declined to comment. White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement that Trump was responding to “countless parents [who] have had their questions and concerns about America’s childhood vaccine schedule ignored if not outright mocked.”

See VACCINES, Page 4NN

President Donald Trump has pressed Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to deliver on his promises regarding autism in meetings at the Oval Office and in frequent phone calls. NATHAN HOWARD/REUTERS FILE

We make life simpler, safer, and better. Visit AccuWeather.com or get the app.

NATIONAL SUMMARY

AccuWeather

[QR Code]

Storms will develop from the Rockies through northern portions of the Great Lakes today. From Colorado through central Kansas, there will be hail, flash flooding and damaging winds. There will also be storms in the Southeast, especially in the afternoon. New England will have spotty showers at times during the day. Elsewhere will be dry.

MONDAY EXTREMES

NATIONAL (for the 48 contiguous states)

High:	115 at Chickasha, OK
Low:	31 at Stanley, ID
Precip:	2.32" at Arkadelphia, AR

INTERNATIONAL (excludes Antarctica)

NATIONAL CITIES TUESDAY

	High/low/W	Air Quality
Aberdeen, SD	84/59/s	45
Abilene, TX	108/79/s	49
Accomac, VA	80/60/s	40
Adrian, MI	78/54/s	25
Akron, OH	76/59/s	75
Alamogordo, NM	106/71/s	62
Alexandria, VA	84/63/s	49
Alliance, OH	75/56/pc	75
● Amarillo, TX	99/67/t	75
● Ames, IA	82/64/t	25
Anderson, SC	90/69/pc	64
Appleton, WI	82/66/t	75
Asheville, NC	83/62/pc	45
Ashland, OH	76/56/s	75
Athens, GA	92/68/pc	54
Augusta, GA	94/71/c	61
Austin, TX	104/75/s	75
● Bartlesville, OK	96/71/pc	100
Battle Creek, MI	79/59/s	25
Bedford, IN	80/58/pc	54
Binghamton, NY	68/54/sh	36
● Bluffton, SC	89/74/t	42
Bremerton, WA	86/53/pc	58
Brockton, MA	80/57/pc	25
Brownwood, TX	108/74/s	47
Burlington, IA	81/67/pc	45
Burlington, NC	85/60/s	48
Burlington, VT	73/60/t	35
Cambridge, OH	79/54/s	45
Camdenton, MO	88/70/pc	42
Canandaigua, NY	72/55/pc	36
Canton, OH	76/57/s	75
Carlsbad, NM	107/72/s	51
Chambersburg, PA	78/57/s	44
Cherry Hill, NJ	80/63/s	50
Cincinnati, OH	80/58/pc	70
Clarksville, TN	89/65/pc	51
Coldwater, MI	77/55/pc	25
Columbus, OH	79/59/pc	62
Corning, NY	72/49/pc	30
Corpus Christi, TX	99/77/s	75
● Daytona Beach, FL	92/75/t	25
Deming, NM	105/71/t	48
DeRidder, LA	96/77/pc	53
● Des Moines, IA	84/68/pc	25
Detroit, MI	80/60/pc	25
Devils Lake, ND	75/58/pc	23
Dover, NH	79/58/t	25
El Paso, TX	105/76/s	75
Elmira, NY	72/51/c	31
Erie, PA	74/58/pc	29
Eugene, OR	83/52/s	25

High:	119 at Kuwait City, Kuwait
Low:	21 at Balmaceda, Chile
Precip:	5.28" at Bach Longvi, Vietnam

	High/low/W	Air Quality
Evansville, IN	86/63/pc	75
Fall River, MA	80/60/s	25
Farmington, NM	95/62/t	58
Fayetteville, NC	88/68/t	50
Fond du Lac, WI	79/62/pc	75
Fort Myers, FL	94/76/t	25
Fort Smith, AR	104/77/s	46
Framingham, MA	79/56/pc	25
Freeport, IL	78/62/c	75
Fremont, OH	76/59/s	51
Fort Collins, CO	89/58/t	75
Gadsden, AL	91/66/c	54
Gainesville, FL	88/72/t	25
Galesburg, IL	80/64/pc	75
Gastonia, NC	87/65/pc	71
Glen Rose, TX	108/78/s	48
Gonzales, LA	91/76/t	50
Great Falls, MT	82/52/s	34
Green Bay, WI	80/64/t	75
Greenville, SC	85/65/pc	64
Hackensack, NJ	80/62/s	47
Hagerstown, MD	81/59/s	44
Hattiesburg, MS	94/74/t	45
Henderson, KY	85/59/pc	75
Hendersonville, NC	82/62/pc	45
Herkimer, NY	73/58/t	28
Hillsdale, MI	77/54/s	25
Holland, MI	77/60/pc	25
Hornell, NY	72/52/sh	29
Houma, LA	88/75/t	50
Howell, MI	78/57/s	25
Hutchinson, KS	91/68/t	41
Hyannis, MA	80/63/s	25
Indianapolis, IN	80/59/s	75
Iowa City, IA	82/68/pc	56
Ithaca, NY	69/51/sh	36
Jackson, MS	93/73/t	42
Jackson, TN	91/70/pc	55
Jacksonville, FL	91/73/t	75
Jacksonville, NC	87/71/t	50
Kent, OH	75/57/pc	75
Kewanee, IL	79/64/pc	75
Keyser, WV	80/58/s	44
Kinston, NC	87/67/pc	48
Knoxville, TN	86/64/pc	51
Lafayette, IN	78/59/s	51
Lafayette, LA	94/78/t	45
Lakeland, FL	93/73/t	25
Lansing, MI	78/60/pc	25
Las Cruces, NM	103/70/t	48
Lebanon, PA	78/57/s	48
Leesburg, FL	89/74/t	25

TODAY IN HISTORY

The temperature plummeted to 10 degrees in Bowen, Mont., on Aug. 25, 1910. This is the lowest temperature ever reported in the United States in August.

WEATHER TRIVIA™

	High/low/W	Air Quality
Levittown, PA	80/62/s	50
Lincoln, IL	81/64/pc	75
Louisville, KY	84/63/pc	75
Lubbock, TX	106/73/s	75
Manitowoc, WI	77/64/pc	75
Mansfield, OH	77/57/s	51
Marshall, NC	83/61/pc	45
Marshfield, WI	79/60/t	75
Massillon, OH	76/57/s	75
McLean, VA	83/61/s	49
Melbourne, FL	92/76/t	25
Memphis, TN	93/76/t	101
Middletown, NY	76/55/s	35
Milford, MA	77/57/s	25
Milwaukee, WI	79/66/s	75
Monroe, MI	77/57/s	25
Monroe, LA	98/76/t	50
Montgomery, AL	94/72/t	48
Muncie, IN	77/56/pc	52
Murfreesboro, TN	89/64/pc	61
Naples, FL	93/77/t	75
Nashville, TN	91/66/pc	61
Neptune, NJ	81/66/s	45
New Bedford, MA	79/58/s	25
New Bern, NC	87/70/t	50
New Philadelphia, OH	77/56/pc	75
Newark, OH	79/52/s	62
Newton, NJ	75/53/s	35
New York, NY	78/64/s	47
Norwich, CT	79/57/s	39
Ocala, FL	89/73/t	25
Oklahoma City, OK	100/75/pc	120
Opelousas, LA	92/75/t	45
Oshkosh, WI	80/64/t	75
Palm Beach, FL	91/81/t	25
Palm Springs, CA	113/89/s	87
Panama City, FL	88/77/t	75
Pekin, IL	81/65/pc	75
Pensacola, FL	89/76/t	75
Peoria, IL	81/65/pc	75
Petersburg, VA	85/58/pc	48
Phoenix, AZ	113/90/s	108
Port Huron, MI	77/57/pc	38
Portsmouth, NH	80/59/pc	25
Poughkeepsie, NY	77/54/s	35
Providence, RI	79/60/s	42
Pueblo, CO	94/61/t	75
Quincy, MA	81/61/s	25
Redding, CA	97/62/pc	45
Reno, NV	93/63/pc	25
Ravenna, OH	75/56/pc	75
Richmond, IN	79/56/pc	56

Q: What temperature may be attained by a bolt of lightning?

A: UP to 55,000(F)

• Denotes possible travel delays

	High/low/W	Air Quality
Rochester, NY	73/57/pc	28
Rockford, IL	80/64/pc	75
Ruidoso, NM	91/58/pc	84
Salem, OR	85/52/s	75
Salina, KS	89/69/t	43
Salinas, CA	76/59/pc	25
Salisbury, MD	84/61/s	46
San Angelo, TX	105/72/s	47
Sarasota, FL	91/76/t	25
Savannah, GA	92/73/t	45
Sheboygan, WI	77/63/pc	75
Shelby, NC	86/64/pc	54
Sherman, TX	106/78/pc	53
Shreveport, LA	101/79/t	56
Silver City, NM	99/67/t	46
Sioux Falls, SD	87/61/t	32
Somerset, PA	71/53/s	39
Somerville, NJ	78/58/s	40
South Bend, IN	77/60/pc	75
Spartanburg, SC	86/66/pc	64
Springfield, IL	82/65/pc	75
Springfield, MO	91/71/pc	37
St. Augustine, FL	90/75/t	75
St. Cloud, MN	85/61/t	44
St. George, UT	103/76/s	75
Staunton, VA	81/56/s	34
Stevens Point, WI	82/62/t	75
Stockton, CA	96/63/s	46
Stroudsburg, PA	76/53/s	35
Stuart, FL	91/76/t	75
Sturgis, MI	77/56/pc	25
Tallahassee, FL	90/73/t	75
Thibodaux, LA	90/76/t	50
Topeka, KS	88/70/pc	47
Tuscaloosa, AL	95/73/c	77
Utica, NY	71/57/t	26
Ventura, CA	77/65/s	60
Victorville, CA	104/67/s	80
Vineland, NJ	80/58/s	50
Visalia, CA	103/67/s	87
Washington, DC	85/67/s	49
Watertown, SD	85/59/pc	32
Wausau, WI	79/63/t	75
Waynesboro, PA	78/57/s	44
White Plains, NY	77/59/s	39
Wichita Falls, TX	108/77/pc	100
Wilmington, DE	81/60/s	46
Wilmington, NC	87/70/t	50
Wisconsin Rapids, WI	82/61/t	75
Wooster, OH	75/55/pc	75
Worcester, MA	73/58/s	25
York, PA	77/57/s	48

Air Quality Index: 0-50, Good; 51-100, Moderate; 101-150, Unhealthy for sensitive groups; 151-200, Unhealthy; 201-300, Very unhealthy; 301-500, Hazardous

INTERNATIONAL CITIES

	TuesdayHigh/low/W	WednesdayHigh/low/W
Acapulco	91/79/t	91/78/pc
Addis Ababa	71/55/r	72/54/r
Algiers	92/78/s	96/75/pc
Amman	96/74/s	97/74/s
Amsterdam	76/58/pc	76/64/t
Ankara	90/64/s	92/66/s
Asuncion	81/63/c	91/71/s
Athens	96/73/s	94/78/s
Auckland	61/51/pc	64/52/c
Baghdad	117/91/pc	118/91/s
Bangkok	94/81/r	93/82/r
● Beijing	89/73/t	79/68/c
Beirut	89/78/s	89/78/s
● Belgrade	93/64/pc	86/65/s
Berlin	75/55/s	76/57/c
Bogota	67/50/r	67/49/r
Brussels	74/56/c	80/63/pc
Bucharest	95/68/s	84/65/t
Budapest	85/62/c	86/63/s
Buenos Aires	57/52/pc	63/56/pc
Cairo	99/77/pc	100/77/s

• Denotes possible travel delays Tuesday

	TuesdayHigh/low/W	WednesdayHigh/low/W
Cape Town	72/50/s	77/54/c
Caracas	92/78/r	91/76/r
Casablanca	85/66/s	84/63/s
Colombo	87/77/r	87/79/r
Copenhagen	71/56/s	70/56/s
Damascus	102/65/s	102/67/s
Dublin	66/59/c	68/57/sh
Geneva	81/61/pc	85/62/pc
Guatemala City	81/63/t	81/62/t
Hanoi	92/79/c	89/79/r
Harare	80/50/pc	82/49/pc
Havana	94/74/r	94/74/r
Helsinki	66/56/pc	67/58/pc
Hong Kong	91/82/t	89/82/t
Jakarta	91/76/s	92/76/sh
Jerusalem	90/71/s	91/71/s
Johannesburg	77/46/pc	77/48/pc
Kabul	90/64/pc	90/65/pc
Khartoum	104/86/pc	107/87/s
Kyiv	77/58/s	73/55/pc
Kingston	93/81/t	94/81/s

	TuesdayHigh/low/W	WednesdayHigh/low/W
La Paz	57/29/pc	61/32/s
Lagos	86/77/pc	84/77/r
Lima	77/69/pc	76/68/s
Lisbon	77/66/c	75/63/sh
London	77/62/pc	79/64/sh
Madrid	84/61/pc	85/63/pc
Manila	91/79/t	91/79/r
Mexico City	72/57/r	75/56/r
Milan	84/67/t	89/71/t
Mombasa	87/70/sh	86/70/r
Montevideo	54/43/pc	66/54/pc
Montreal	74/60/t	77/64/pc
Moscow	61/54/sh	62/50/c
Nairobi	80/55/c	80/57/pc
New Delhi	92/81/r	94/81/t
Panama City	89/77/r	88/75/t
Paris	78/64/r	82/65/pc
Port-au-Prince	98/73/r	100/73/r
Rio de Janeiro	72/69/r	75/69/sh
Riyadh	113/83/s	112/83/s
Rome	88/72/t	91/73/s

Weather(W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow flurries, sn-snow, i-ice.

	TuesdayHigh/low/W	WednesdayHigh/low/W
San Jose	84/70/r	84/71/r
San Salvador	91/70/r	90/69/r
Santiago	66/50/sh	55/45/sh
Sao Paulo	69/58/c	71/61/c
Sarajevo	88/60/pc	88/59/s
Shanghai	92/80/s	93/81/pc
Singapore	92/81/t	89/79/t
Stockholm	67/44/pc	71/44/pc
Sydney	68/58/sh	64/57/sh
Taipei	85/76/sh	91/79/sh
Tegucigalpa	86/69/t	86/67/t
Tehran	99/80/s	100/81/pc
Tokyo	93/81/s	94/81/t
Toronto	76/60/r	78/64/s
Tunis	101/80/pc	113/83/pc
Vancouver	79/59/pc	71/58/pc
Vienna	78/59/c	80/61/c
Warsaw	72/52/s	73/54/s
Yerevan	92/67/s	88/64/s
Zagreb	76/61/sh	85/61/pc
Zurich	79/58/sh	84/58/pc

Trump bought SpaceX shares in June

President invested up to \$50K, disclosure says

Courtney Rozen REUTERS

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump invested as much as \$50,000 in Elon Musk's SpaceX in June, according to a public financial disclosure, giving him a financial stake in a major government contractor run by his former adviser.

He bought between \$15,001 and \$50,000 in shares on June 23, according to a financial disclosure signed by him on Aug. 12 and made public on Aug. 22.

The purchase was part of more than 1,000 stock trades the president made in June. SpaceX priced the biggest-ever U.S. initial public offering on June 12, valuing the space, satellite and AI provider at \$1.77 trillion.

In a statement to Reuters, White House spokesman Davis Ingle said that third-party financial institutions independently manage the president's portfolio and replicate “recognized indexes, such as the Schwab 1000.”

“Neither President Trump nor any member of his family has any ability to direct, influence or provide input regarding how the portfolio is invested or when investments are bought or sold,” Ingle said in the statement.

Trump's investment in SpaceX adds a new financial link between the president and Musk's rocket company at a time when the administration is making decisions that could affect the firm's fortunes. SpaceX is a U.S. military contractor, and often seeks approvals from federal agencies.

Trump on Aug. 20 directed his team to help drastically increase the number of U.S. commercial space launches. SpaceX is a dominant player in that sector.

U.S. Small Business Administration leader and Trump cabinet member Kelly Loeffler earned millions from SpaceX's IPO, Reuters previously reported.

Loeffler first invested in xAI, Musk's

AI and social media firm that has since merged with SpaceX. She invested again after Trump nominated her to lead the SBA. Her first investment in xAI would have been worth between \$7 million and \$2.6 billion on the day of the IPO, depending on the exact amount she invested and the date she made it, said Franco Granda, analyst at data provider PitchBook. The second investment would have been worth between \$2.2 million and \$25.4 million that day, he said.

Reuters could not immediately determine the precise amount of Trump's investment because federal officials use ranges to declare the value of their assets on their financial disclosure forms.

U.S. border reopens to Mexican cattle

The U.S. border reopened to cattle imports Aug. 24, marking the first easing of a ban imposed more than a year ago to keep out screwworms. JOEL ANGEL JUAREZ/GETTY IMAGES FILE

Concerns persist over screwworm spread

Cassandra Garrison and Leah Douglas REUTERS

WASHINGTON – Mexico is bolstering its screwworm containment campaign in northern border states where recent cases have been detected, heightening scrutiny of livestock exports as cross-border trade resumed on Aug. 24 under a phased U.S. reopening.

The reopening marks the first easing of a U.S. ban imposed more than a year ago to keep out the flesh-eating pest, as imports resumed initially through Arizona.

The plan has drawn criticism from some U.S. cattle groups and state officials who argue that resuming imports could increase screwworm risks even as the parasite continues to spread in northern Mexico and has already been detected in Texas and New Mexico.

Mexican Agriculture Minister Columba Lopez said authorities would reinforce the dispersal of sterile flies in Sonora and Chihuahua, a key eradication strategy aimed at preventing the parasite from reproducing. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told reporters that the USDA feels it has “taken every step to protect the American (cattle) herd and the American consumer, and so now we can slowly begin to reopen the ports.”

The USDA plans to open two more New Mexico ports, one in 30 days and another in 60 days, Rollins said.

“We don’t plan to open any Texas ports anytime soon just because that is where the real activity is,” Rollins said. The USDA has identified 46 cases of screwworm in New Mexico and Texas, with two currently active, according to the agency’s website.

A USDA website on Aug. 24 said it re-opened the Douglas, Arizona, port to cattle imports from Mexico “guided by overlapping safeguards and a science-based import protocol" agreed upon by the two countries. The USDA will next evaluate the reopening of ports in Santa Teresa and Columbus, New Mexico, to cattle, bison, and horses.

"The opening of ports may be paused if USDA identifies increased risk in Sonora or Chihuahua via post-opening audits or other observations/information," the site said.

The reopening will begin with exports of 700 head of cattle per day during the first week, increasing to 900 per day in the second week and gradually rising to around 1,300 per day, according to Mexico's National Confederation of Livestock Organizations.

If additional Chihuahua border crossings are reopened in the fourth quarter, Mexico could export up to 200,000 head of cattle in 2026, with an estimated value of about \$420 million at U.S. market prices, National Confederation of Livestock Organizations said. Its base scenario for 2027 projects exports of 1.09 million head of cattle, valued at roughly \$2.1 billion in the U.S. market.

Chihuahua, one of Mexico's most important cattle-exporting states, has reported 183 confirmed screwworm cases since detecting its first case in July, while neighboring Sonora state has reported two confirmed cases after announcing its first detection last week.

Sonora has activated emergency surveillance and containment protocols, while Chihuahua has intensified inspections, livestock movement controls and treatment campaigns to prevent further spread. The sterile insect technique works by releasing millions of sterilized screwworm flies that mate with wild females but produce no offspring, gradually driving down the pest population.

Mexico recently opened a sterile-fly production plant in Chiapas, while the United States is building its own production facility in Texas, expected to be completed by the spring of 2027.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum referred to the sterile-fly technique as a “modern” and “effective” way to fight screwworm.

“That allows us to open the border,” Sheinbaum said in her daily press conference.

FINANCIAL MARKETS

S&P 500, Nasdaq end down on tech stocks, investors weigh Iran moves

Saeed Azhar, Purvi Agarwal and Niket Nishant REUTERS

NEW YORK – The S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended lower on Aug. 24, pulled down by technology stocks, as investors weighed fresh U.S. economic pressure against Iran and braced for a week that includes Nvidia earnings and a closely watched inflation report.

The Trump administration announced on Aug. 24 a possible expansion of sanctions on countries doing business with Iran as part of what it billed as an “economic D-Day,” but stopped short of actually imposing penalties. Chip stocks sold off, dragging the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index lower. Nvidia dropped 2.9%, Micron Technology fell 5.8% and Broadcom slid 2.6%, pressuring the S&P 500 Information Technology index.

Sentiment for technology firms was also hit by growing political opposition to AI data centers.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said data center companies “dug their own grave” and deserve the backlash they’re facing after failing to win community support, Axios reported on Aug. 23.

This month, Abbott ordered a pause on approvals of new data center projects through the state's grid interconnection process, citing concerns that a surge in electricity demand could threaten reliability at a time when opposition to the projects is growing.

"The bigger worry we have is the hawkish rhetoric we're starting to hear from politicians on AI and data centers," said Ohsung Kwon, chief equity strategist at Wells Fargo. "We've been highlighting that as a big risk heading into the midterms."

Financials, however, gained, with JPMorgan Chase up 1.4% and Visa up 3%. They also kept the blue-chip Dow afloat.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 140.15 points, or 0.26%, to 53,417.16, the S&P 500 lost 21.51 points, or 0.28%, to 7,652.86, and the Nasdaq Composite lost 200.26 points, or 0.76%, to 25,980.19.

Concerns over ballooning government debt had pushed the 30-year yield to a 19-year high before the Treasury announced support measures last week. CNBC reported on Aug. 24 that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent could tap the department's near \$1 trillion General Account to help fund bond buybacks. Yet, the 30-year U.S. Treasury yield remained above the 5% threshold.

This turbulence has sharpened focus on Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh's speech at the Jackson Hole symposium on Aug. 28, where investors will look for clues on policymakers' reading of the Treasury's rescue efforts.

Quarterly results from AI giant Nvidia are expected to be another key catalyst for markets. Any sign of slowing growth could reignite concerns over stretched valuations. “Nvidia needs to impress in order to keep one leg of the stock market stable, and Warsh needs to provide clarity on interest rates in order to keep the other leg stable,” said Richard Reyle, chief investment officer at Questar Capital Partners.

Markets will also monitor the Personal Consumption Expenditures report, the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, due on Aug. 26. It will follow a benign consumer inflation report that reduced the chances of an immediate increase in interest rates. Traders expect one 25-basis-point hike by the end of 2026, according to LSEG data.

Separately, President Donald Trump warned that tariffs on cars, trucks and automotive parts from Canada would be increased to 50% starting Jan. 1 after trade talks collapsed over the weekend. Automakers Ford and General Motors fell 3.3% and 1.1% respectively, while trucking company J.B. Hunt Transport dropped about 5.7%.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.08-to-1 ratio on the NYSE. There were 158 new highs and 116 new lows on the NYSE.

On the Nasdaq, 1,955 stocks rose and 2,934 fell as declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.5-to-1 ratio.

TODAY IN HISTORY

Today is Aug. 25. On this date in:

325: The First Council of Nicaea ended after affirming the divinity of Christ, stating that the Father and the Son had equal divinity and declaring the competing Arianism a heresy. It was the Christian church's first ecumenical council.

1609: Galileo Galilei, a professor at the University of Padua, demonstrated his first telescope to Venetian lawmakers. His observations using the device soon convinced him to uphold and advocate Copernicus' system, which led to house arrest.

1830: A performance of the nationalistic opera “La Muette de Portici” in Brussels set a match to proletarian anger. Some of the audience began rioting, which turned into the Belgian Revolution and secession from the Netherlands.

1916: President Woodrow Wilson signed the Organic Act, establishing the National Park Service. Before then, national parks and monuments were run by a variety of government entities, with few resources.

1925: A. Philip Randolph organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Representing employees of the Pullman Company, which was the country's largest employer of Black people, it was the first predominantly Black union.

1932: Amelia Earhart landed in Newark, New Jersey, the first woman to fly nonstop across the United States. She had taken off from Los Angeles 19 hours earlier.

1944: The Free French and U.S. Infantry liberated Paris from four years of Nazi occupation. According to bookseller Sylvia Beach, Ernest Hemingway, who was there as a war correspondent, promptly went to liberate the wine cellar at the Ritz.

1945: Chinese communists killed John Birch, a missionary turned U.S. Army intelligence officer. His death inspired the creation of the right-wing, anti-communist John Birch Society, which considered Birch the first hero of the Cold War.

1967: A sniper shot and killed George Lincoln Rockwell, the founder of the American Nazi Party. Rockwell had picketed Martin Luther King Jr.'s marches and promoted racist and antisemitic ideas. The shooter had been his protégé but was expelled from the party for "Bolshevik leanings," an aide said.

1989: The U.S. spacecraft Voyager 2 reached Neptune, sending back the first close-up photographs of the eighth planet. It was eight years to the day after the craft got within 63,000 miles of Saturn's cloud cover. No spacecraft has visited Neptune since.

2009: The “liberal lion of the Senate,” Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy, died at 77. He overcame the Chappa-quiddick scandal to become influential in politics, though his own presidential dreams came to naught. He was the last surviving brother of President John F. Kennedy.

2018: Vietnam War hero, Arizona senator and GOP presidential nominee John McCain died of brain cancer at 81. Famously, he returned to the Senate to cast a crucial vote against a Republican effort to repeal parts of President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act shortly after going public with his diagnosis.

2020: Kyle Rittenhouse, then 17, shot and killed two people and wounded a third during protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, over the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man. Rittenhouse, who said he acted in self-defense, was acquitted on all charges.

- USA TODAY Network

Israeli fire kills 2 young children in Gaza, medics say

REUTERS

CAIRO – Israeli airstrikes and gunfire killed two young children and at least two other Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Aug. 24, health officials in the territory said.

Medics and relatives said 10-year-old Amal Abu Khater was hit by a bullet in her back while she was eating inside her family's tent in the enclave's southern city of Khan Younis. The fire came from Israeli forces to the east, they added.

The Israeli military said it was not aware of any incident involving a 10-year-old girl.

A four-year-old boy and another Palestinian were killed in separate Israeli airstrikes on a house in Bureij refugee camp and a road in Khan Younis, medics said.

Earlier on Aug. 24, another Israeli air-strike killed one person and wounded another at a tent in Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, medics said.

The Israeli military said that strike in Deir Al-Balah targeted a Hamas militant, but did not specifically respond to questions about the other two reported attacks in Khan Younis and Bureij.

More than 1,280 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since a ceasefire took effect last October, according to Gazan health officials, while the Israeli military says four Israeli soldiers have been killed.

Hamas accuses Israel of violating the ceasefire and undermining efforts to implement a broader plan by President Donald Trump to end the Gaza conflict, which also includes Israeli withdrawals and Hamas disarmament.

Israel says its strikes aimed to thwart imminent attacks by Hamas and other Gaza militants.

The Israeli military issued two separate evacuation orders in Beach refugee camp and Deir Al-Balah in northern and central Gaza Strip before it carried out airstrikes in the two areas, without reports of casualties, residents and med- ics said.

It also bombed a desalination plant in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in Gaza City, at a time when the enclave is suffering water shortages, residents and Hamas said.

An Israeli military spokesperson said the military had carried out strikes on several Hamas weapons storage sites

The mother of 10-year-old Palestinian girl Amal Abu Khater, who was shot in the back while eating inside her family's tent and later died at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, according to medics and relatives, attends her funeral in the southern Gaza Strip, August 24. RAMADAN ABED/REUTERS

throughout the day, including two allegedly inside mosques.

The spokesperson said that among the sites targeted on Aug. 24 was one located adjacent to a desalination facility.

The spokesperson said the military had not targeted the desalination facility and did not say whether or not it had been damaged in the strike.

Ballots

Continued from Page 1NN

another injunction from Talwani that blocked the USPS nationwide from enforcing the directive's tighter rules for voting by mail. The judge issued that order on Aug. 11 in a separate lawsuit filed by voting-rights groups.

Trump's executive order is part of his wider efforts to make fundamental changes to elections. Trump, who has made false claims of widespread voter fraud, has pressed the Republican-controlled Congress to pass a contentious package of voting restrictions called the SAVE America Act.

In June, Talwani ruled that the president lacked the authority to order changes in how states administer federal elections, noting that under the U.S. Constitution, states have the role of determining voter-eligibility requirements. The judge also noted that federal agencies lack the ability to compile accurate citizen lists for each state.

Despite Talwani's action, USPS on Aug. 21 released a finalized rule to implement Trump's order, which would require states to provide it with lists of voters who received mailed ballots, as well as unique barcodes on outbound and return ballot mail envelopes.

In the decision, the conservative majority agreed with the Justice Department that the lawsuit challenging Trump's directive was premature and that the states did not have the required legal standing at this stage to sue.

The agencies have not yet taken concrete actions that impact the states and so any harm they allege is speculative, the court said. Trump's order itself “does not harm the states,” the court added.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The USPS declined to comment.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by fellow liberal Justice Elena Kagan, said that the states should not have to wait to challenge the order. “Today’s decision does not address whether the president’s attempts to interfere with states’ administration of the November 2026 elections are lawful,” Sotomayor wrote. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson also wrote a separate dissent.

Vaccines

Continued from Page 1NN

HHS spokeswoman Grace Davis Jamison confirmed the research studies under way at the agency.

“We are pursuing dozens of studies and analyses using some of the nation’s largest health datasets to uncover the root causes of America’s chronic disease epidemic,” Jamison said in a statement.

Leading medical groups say the Trump order will increase confusion and vaccine hesitancy among U.S. families and expose more children to preventable diseases. They fear that Kennedy's push for vaccine safety studies is directed toward a predetermined conclusion that the shots are more dangerous than the illnesses they prevent.

Trump's vaccine order calls for reducing the federal childhood inoculation schedule to 11 immunizations from 17 and for separating the measles, mumps and rubella [MMR] vaccine into three separate shots – a feat pharmaceutical companies said could take years. It also directs the Justice Department to challenge state vaccination requirements for children to attend school.

Kennedy unveiled a similarly whittled-down immunization schedule in January that circumvented the normal government process for making changes to vaccine policy. A federal judge in March blocked the changes, saying that health regulators had acted unlawfully to carry out the health secretary's agenda. The administration is still bound by that ruling, which it is appealing.

Kennedy promised an ambitious agenda as Trump's top health official. Soon after taking office in early 2025, he said his department would find the causes behind rising U.S. rates of autism and re-examine the safety of childhood vaccines.

But Kennedy's self-imposed deadlines on autism answers, first in September of that year, then in March 2026, came and went with no new revelations. In recent months, Trump has pressed Kennedy to deliver on his promises regarding autism in meetings at the Oval Office and in frequent phone calls.

That pressure has come even as the president's political advisers urged the "We are pursuing dozens of studies and analyses using some of the nation's largest health datasets to uncover the root causes of America's chronic disease epidemic."

Grace Davis Jamison Department of Health and Human Services spokeswoman

health secretary early this year not to talk publicly about vaccines ahead of November's midterm elections – a request Kennedy complied with.

But Trump has remained fixated on reducing the number of vaccinations American children receive, according to the five current and former officials. In addition, Trump and Kennedy have spoken extensively about trying to find treatments and a “cure” for autism, according to the officials.

The private tensions came to the fore during a July 31 televised cabinet meeting at Camp David. Trump asked Kennedy: "How are you doing on the autism research?" Kennedy replied: "We will have an answer for you." Trump's public questioning of Kennedy signaled to White House and health department officials that the president wanted to see immediate action, according to three senior administration officials.

The executive order Trump announced on vaccines was quickly cobbled together this summer, one of the officials said.

There has been a “tide shift” on discussing vaccines since the cabinet meeting, one of the officials said. “Trump and Kennedy are more synced up than they have been all year.”

The studies Kennedy is overseeing examine whether the MMR vaccine produces unintended changes in the immune system, which scientists have refuted; whether autism diagnoses are linked to childhood vaccinations; a potential link between vaccines and autoimmune diseases; and the impact of thimerosal, which was removed from childhood vaccines more than two decades ago, among other studies.

The work mostly relies on federal health databases that experts have warned can be misused and misinterpreted if not analyzed properly.

Iran and its allies have hammered Kuwait with recurrent barrages, targeting civilian infrastructure, along with bases hosting American troops. ERIC LEE /POOLPOOL/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

Iran

Continued from Page 1NN

Khamenei, Iran has preserved enough missile and drone capability to attack its Gulf neighbors and threaten oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, bringing shipping in the key waterway to a near standstill.

The exact state of Iran's nuclear program, which the Americans and Israelis aim to wipe out, remains unknown. Oil prices fell more than \$2 a barrel on Aug. 24, though investors braced for the prospect of further supply disruptions from the Middle East.

Madanizadeh, the economy minister, said neither China nor Russia had “accepted” the U.S. measures, and predicted other countries would resist them.

Bessent previously urged cooperation from China, the biggest buyer of Iranian oil for several years, although the U.S. blockade of Iran's ports, renewed in mid-July, has already cut Iranian oil flows to China.

Experts say Washington is wary of Chinese retaliation for any sanctions on its banks ahead of expected talks next month between President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, with any curbs on China's exports of critical minerals especially sensitive.

Asked about Chinese banks on Aug. 24, Bessent said, "We want to make clear here today that no one is above the reach of U.S. sanctions."

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said sanctions and pressure tactics do not help and Beijing would do what was necessary to protect China's interests.

Bessent said the Treasury Department has mapped the networks, facilitators and financial channels that Iran uses to smuggle oil and evade sanctions. He said Washington would be working with U.S. partners to target any source of Iran's “illicit revenue.”

The department said the Iranian government was using five sectors – digital assets, technology, gold, aviation and shipping – to prop up its economy and they were on notice for sanctions.

Earlier on Aug. 24, Iran issued a new warning to shipping not to pass through the Strait of Hormuz without its permission, listing 45 ships it said had violated its rules and threatening retaliation for any ship-to-ship transfers with them.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Aug. 24 that Trump's administration was not ruling out using military force against Iran, even as Washington unveiled an “economic D-Day” against Tehran.

“By no means are we foreclosing using kinetic strikes anywhere in the Strait of Hormuz or around Iran,” Hegseth told reporters, adding that Iran could not handle the economic pressure being put on it.

制度与权力批判深度研判：USA Today (25.08.2026)

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▌ 本日全报思想与文化深思雷达 (Intellectual & Cultural Significance Radar)

在系统通盘梳理本期报纸所涉及的所有国际政治、经济、社会与文化报道后，以下 4 个具体事件在制度结构、权力技术与法理合法性层面最值得学者进一步深思：

1. 【马里兰州州长韦斯·摩尔利用“一个伟大美丽法案”资金启动农村医疗扩展计划】 [F20_39-F21_41]

   • 事件简述：民主党州长韦斯·摩尔在2025年曾强烈批评特朗普“一个伟大美丽法案”，但2026年却利用该法案中500亿美元农村医疗转型计划的首批$1.68亿资金启动马里兰州农村医疗扩展计划。所有50个州（无论党派）均申请并获得该资金，白宫指责民主党试图“抢功”。
   • 制度批判切入点：揭示官僚体系的路径依赖与政治符号操作——民主党州长通过技术性资源分配延续共和党立法遗产，在制度惯性下掩盖政策路线冲突；同时，联邦资金分配成为话语权力的合法性竞争场域，民主党与共和党围绕“功劳归属”展开象征性斗争。

2. 【Truth API付费服务引发宪法争议：特朗普成首位为加速获取政府信息收费总统】 [F35_68-F36_70]

   • 事件简述：Truth API承诺为付费用户提供Truth Social高级账户实时访问特朗普政府官方公告及“影响市场”的政府新闻，被指违反《宪法第一修正案》“平等获取”条款。该服务开创先例，缺乏法律先例支撑。
   • 制度批判切入点：数字权力的商业化与宪法例外状态——总统通过私有平台API将政府信息货币化，将公共资源转化为平台资本的私有特权；同时，宪法第一修正案的“平等获取”原则在技术治理下被重新定义，暴露数字时代言论霸权的制度性缺陷。

3. 【移民家庭被拘留：父母因非法入境被捕，子女陷入困境】 [F24_45-F25_48]

   • 事件简述：多明戈夫妇因非法入境被拘留，子女无人照料。国土安全部称父母需为子女境况负责。特朗普政府通过交通拦截与车牌识别系统将移民问题转化为执法暴力，导致家庭分裂。
   • 制度批判切入点：生命政治的常态化——国家通过法律-行政机制合法化对特定群体的生命剥夺与暴力行使权力，将生存权转化为政治控制工具；移民执法从边境内化为日常交通执法，暴露主权权力的例外状态在常态化治理中的运作机制。

4. 【司法系统对警察与青少年暴力犯罪的常规化惩罚体系】 [F9_16-F10_19]

   • 事件简述：前桑加蒙县副警长肖恩·格雷森因2024年谋杀索尼娅·马塞案被定罪后死亡；学生运动员卡穆洛·安东尼因2025年田径比赛谋杀案被判谋杀罪，其新审判请求被驳回。司法系统对警察与青少年暴力犯罪的惩罚呈现常规化与例外并存的矛盾状态。
   • 制度批判切入点：韦伯官僚制铁笼的司法化延伸——警察暴力与青少年犯罪被纳入官僚程序化管理，但惩罚结果的不对称性暴露法律工具化与生命政治排斥的结构性矛盾；同时，司法例外状态的常态化揭示主权权力的暴力合法性在制度设计中的内在张力。

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▌ 精选核心专题深度思想论证 (In-Depth Dialectical Monograph)

专题一：从“一个伟大美丽法案”到农村医疗资金分配：民主党州长的制度悖论与权力技术

1. 制度现实困境深描（Institutional Dilemma）

马里兰州州长韦斯·摩尔在2025年曾强烈批评特朗普“一个伟大美丽法案”延长减税政策、削减医疗补助计划并设立工作资格要求，预计令760万人失去医保 [F21_41 🔍]。然而，2026年摩尔却利用该法案中500亿美元农村医疗转型计划的首批$1.68亿资金启动马里兰州农村医疗扩展计划 [F20_39 🔍]。民主党州长通过技术性资源分配延续共和党立法遗产，在制度惯性下掩盖政策路线冲突。这种路径依赖不仅体现在政策执行层面，更体现在话语权力的合法性竞争：民主党州长在利用资金时避免直接批评创建该计划的特朗普法案，而白宫则指责民主党试图“抢功”，将联邦资金分配转化为政治符号操作的场域 [F21_41 🔍]。

2. 权力机制与话语技术剖析（Power Mechanisms & Discourse Technology）

民主党州长的行为并非简单的政策转向，而是官僚体系的技术性管理与话语霸权的象征性斗争的结合。首先，联邦资金分配通过技术专家话语（如“农村医疗转型计划”）掩盖其政治性本质，将政策执行转化为中性的行政程序 [F20_39 🔍]。其次，民主党州长在利用资金时采用去施事化被动语态（如“资金被用于扩大医疗服务”），避免直接面对政策路线冲突 [F21_41 🔍]。最后，白宫与民主党州长围绕“功劳归属”展开的话语竞争，将联邦资金分配转化为合法性再生产的场域，通过象征性斗争维持制度的延续性。

3. 批判理论框架的历史资源对话（Critical Theory Dialogue）

本议题可通过新制度主义 / 路径依赖理论与话语霸权理论的结合进行深度剖析。首先，新制度主义强调制度惯性与路径依赖如何约束政策变迁 [F23_44 🔍]。民主党州长在利用共和党立法资金时，实际上延续了特朗普法案的制度轨迹，暴露政策变迁的结构性约束。其次，话语霸权理论揭示话语技术如何在官僚程序中掩盖权力关系 [F21_41 🔍]。民主党州长与白宫围绕“功劳归属”的象征性斗争，实际上是话语权力在制度层面的延续与再生产。最后，结合韦伯官僚制铁笼理论，我们可以看到官僚体系如何通过技术性管理（如资金分配）延续既定秩序，即使面临合法性危机也通过程序化管理维持权力结构。

4. 制度批判的当代延伸与政策含义（Contemporary Synthesis）

当代技术条件（如算法治理、数字监控）为古典批判理论带来全新挑战。首先，数字权力在政策执行中的渗透，使得资金分配不仅是行政程序，更是数据驱动的治理技术。其次，话语霸权在数字平台上的延伸，使得象征性斗争从传统媒体转向社交媒体，进一步复杂化政策合法性的生产机制。因此，未来制度改革应关注： - 去路径依赖的政策设计：通过制度锁定机制（如政策终止条款）打破既有路径依赖。 - 话语权力的透明化：建立公共话语审计机制，揭示政策话语背后的权力关系。 - 数字治理的民主化：将算法治理纳入公共监督框架，避免技术专家话语的垄断。

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专题二：Truth API与数字权力的宪法例外状态：特朗普政府的信息货币化

1. 制度现实困境深描（Institutional Dilemma）

Truth API承诺为付费用户提供Truth Social高级账户实时访问特朗普政府官方公告及“影响市场”的政府新闻，被指违反《宪法第一修正案》“平等获取”条款 [F36_70 🔍]。该服务开创先例，缺乏法律先例支撑，将政府信息转化为平台资本的私有特权 [F35_68 🔍]。特朗普政府通过数字权力将公共资源货币化，将宪法第一修正案的“平等获取”原则重新定义为技术治理下的等级获取。这种宪法例外状态的常态化，暴露数字时代言论霸权的制度性缺陷。

2. 权力机制与话语技术剖析（Power Mechanisms & Discourse Technology）

Truth API的运作机制体现了数字权力的商业化与宪法例外状态的结合。首先，总统通过私有平台API将政府信息转化为平台资本的私有特权，将公共资源转化为付费用户的特权资源 [F36_70 🔍]。其次，Truth API采用技术专家话语（如“影响市场的政府新闻”）掩盖其政治性本质，将信息获取转化为市场化的服务 [F35_68 🔍]。最后，宪法第一修正案的“平等获取”原则在技术治理下被重新定义为等级获取，暴露数字权力如何在制度层面重塑言论自由的边界。

3. 批判理论框架的历史资源对话（Critical Theory Dialogue）

本议题可通过福柯的生物权力理论与哈贝马斯的公共领域理论进行深度剖析。首先，福柯的生物权力理论揭示数字权力如何通过信息获取的等级化实现对公民的生命政治控制 [F36_70 🔍]。Truth API将政府信息转化为平台资本的私有特权，将公民分为付费用户与非付费用户，实现对公民的生命政治排斥。其次，哈贝马斯的公共领域理论强调言论自由的公共性与平等性 [F35_68 🔍]。Truth API的运作机制将公共领域转化为平台资本的私有空间，破坏了言论自由的公共性基础。最后，结合阿甘本的例外状态理论，我们可以看到宪法例外状态在数字时代的常态化运作，将平等获取原则转化为技术治理下的等级获取。

4. 制度批判的当代延伸与政策含义（Contemporary Synthesis）

当代技术条件（如算法治理、平台资本主义）为古典批判理论带来全新挑战。首先，数字权力在信息获取中的渗透，使得言论自由从公共领域转向平台资本的私有空间。其次，宪法例外状态在数字时代的常态化，使得平等获取原则被重新定义为等级获取。因此，未来制度改革应关注： - 数字权力的民主化：将平台资本纳入公共监督框架，避免信息获取的等级化。 - 宪法原则的数字化重构：重新定义言论自由在数字时代的边界，确保平等获取原则的实现。 - 公共领域的平台化改造：通过公共API将政府信息转化为公共资源，避免平台资本的垄断。

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▌ 面向学者的制度研究开放性追问 (Open Research Horizons)

1. 【民主党州长的制度悖论研究】：在路径依赖与话语权力的双重约束下，民主党州长如何通过技术性资源分配延续共和党立法遗产？这种制度悖论如何影响政策合法性的生产机制？
2. 【数字权力的宪法例外状态研究】：Truth API将政府信息转化为平台资本的私有特权，如何重新定义言论自由的边界？这种宪法例外状态在数字时代的常态化，如何影响民主治理的制度基础？