Underdog Fantasy Promo Code BETFPB for Arizona vs. Duke: $1,000 bonus for Nov. 22 college basketballThe National Basketball Association (NBA) is taking a first step back into the huge Chinese market with two preseason games set to take place in Macao next October, five years after the league was effectively blocked from China. The Brooklyn Nets and the Phoenix Suns will play the preseason games on October 10 and 12 at the Venetian Arena next year, while an NBA Flagship Store will also open in Macao. "Bringing preseason games to Macao will showcase the excitement of the NBA to fans in one of the world's emerging hubs for sports," NBA Deputy Commissioner and COO Mark Tatum said in a press release. "The Nets and the Suns feature an exciting mix of established and rising stars, and we look forward to engaging fans, aspiring players and the local community in Macao through these games and a variety of interactive events, youth development programs and social impact initiatives." NBA teams command a huge following in China, where basketball is wildly popular. The league has not staged a game in the country since 2019, when a tweet in support of pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong from the Houston Rockets' then general manager Daryl Morey sparked a political firestorm. At the time, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver refused to punish or censor Morey – who is currently the Philadelphia 76ers' president of basketball operations – prompting ire from Beijing and leading the sports station of China's central broadcaster to stop showing the league's games for a year. Hong Kong was roiled by pro-democracy protests in 2019, which at times brought several hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets to push for democracy in the city. Like Macao, Hong Kong is considered a special administrative region of China, partly distinct from the mainland. Beijing repeatedly accused Western democratic forces of working to fuel the popular Hong Kong protests and lashed out at any support for the movement, which died out in 2020 when the capital imposed a sweeping national security law on the city. Silver said two years ago that the NBA had lost "hundreds of millions of dollars" in revenue following the fallout with China, with whom the league had shared a long-standing relationship. According to Reuters, 17 NBA teams played 28 games in China between 2004 and 2019. However, tensions between the league and the country now appear to have thawed, with a legends game featuring six former NBA stars set be held in Macao on Saturday. "We always love the opportunity to compete on the global stage and we are grateful to participate in the NBA China Games 2025," said Brooklyn Nets general manager Sean Marks. "The Brooklyn Nets have an incredible fanbase around the globe and we can't wait to bring our love of the game directly to our fans while giving our players and coaches the opportunity to immerse themselves in a different culture." Phoenix Suns CEO Josh Bartelstein, meanwhile, added that playing in Macao is part of the team's vision to "bring the Suns to a global audience and impact fans across the world."
As HUD secretary, Scott Turner would oversee billions in housing aid, but as a Texas state legislator he voted against protections for poor tenants and has called government assistance “one of the most destructive things for the family.” By Jesse Coburn and Andy Kroll for ProPublica As Donald Trump’s nominee to run the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Scott Turner may soon oversee the nation’s efforts to build affordable apartments, protect poor tenants and aid the homeless. As a lawmaker in the Texas House of Representatives, Turner voted against those very initiatives. Turner supported a bill ensuring landlords could refuse apartments to applicants because they received federal housing assistance. He opposed a bill to expand affordable rental housing. He voted against funding public-private partnerships to support the homeless and against two bills that called merely to study homelessness among young people and veterans. Behind those votes lay a deep-seated skepticism about the value of government efforts to alleviate poverty, a skepticism that Turner has voiced again and again. He has called welfare “dangerous, harmful” and “one of the most destructive things for the family.” When one interviewer said receiving government assistance was keeping recipients in “bondage” of “a worse form to find oneself in than slavery ,” Turner agreed. Such views would seemingly place Turner at odds with the core work of HUD, a sprawling federal agency that serves as a backstop against homelessness for millions of the nation’s poor, elderly and disabled. With an annual discretionary budget of $72 billion, the department provides rental assistance to 2 million families, oversees the country’s 800,000 public housing units, fights housing discrimination and segregation and provides support to the nation’s 650,000 homeless. If Turner’s record indicates how he will direct the agency’s agenda, it is those clinging to the bottom of the housing market who have the most to lose, researchers and advocates said. “It just doesn’t seem to me like this is someone who is at all aligned with what the values of that agency should be,” said Cea Weaver, director of the advocacy group Housing Justice for All. “It’s a deregulatory agenda, and it’s an anti-poor people agenda.” Shamus Roller, executive director of the National Housing Law Project, said Turner’s views, if translated into policy, could increase homelessness. “If, at a fundamental level, you believe that people getting assistance with their rent when they’re very poor and struggling, if you think that’s actually dependence and a bad thing, you’re going to try to undermine those programs,” he said. One former colleague offered a more optimistic view of Turner’s stewardship of HUD. “My sense of him is he will try to help people,” said Richard Peña Raymond, a Democratic Texas House member who served on a committee with Turner. “I do think he’ll do a good job.” Turner did not respond to detailed questions. A spokesperson for the nominee said: “Of course ProPublica would try and paint a negative picture of Mr. Turner before he is even given the opportunity to testify. We would expect nothing less from a publication that solely serves as a liberal mouthpiece.” The Trump transition team and HUD did not respond to requests for comment. Trump’s announcement of Turner’s nomination praised him for “helping lead an Unprecedented Effort that Transformed our Country’s most distressed communities” as head of a White House council that promoted opportunity zones, a plan to spur investment in low-income neighborhoods by offering generous tax breaks, during Trump’s first administration. “Under Scott’s leadership,” the announcement went on, “Opportunity Zones received over $50 Billion Dollars in Private Investment!” Turner is hardly the only Trump cabinet nominee to display skepticism or outright hostility toward the work of agencies they may lead. But, while other nominees have faced intense scrutiny in recent weeks, Turner has attracted little public attention and said even less about his intentions, beyond vowing to “bring much-needed change” to HUD, as he wrote on Facebook last month. ProPublica pieced together his views on housing through a review of legislative records and of Turner’s public speeches, podcast appearances and sermons at the Plano, Texas, megachurch where he is a pastor. A possible HUD agenda for Turner can be found in Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s recommendations for a conservative presidential administration. The report calls for cutting funding for affordable housing, repealing regulations that fight housing discrimination, increasing work requirements and adding time limits for rental assistance and eliminating anti-homelessness policies, among other changes. The Project 2025 chapter on HUD lists Ben Carson, the department secretary during the first Trump administration and a mentor to Turner, as its author. Carson, as secretary, was involved in efforts to end an anti-segregation rule , add work requirements for housing assistance and make it harder to prove housing discrimination . Turner’s views appear to be deeply rooted in his upbringing outside Dallas, where he was, as he later put it , “a young kid from a broken home, from a poor family.” His parents’ relationship was “filled with violence, domestic violence, abuse, a lot of anger [and] alcohol.” Years later, as a legislator, Turner said that his sister had been “on state assistance and wasn’t feeding [Turner’s] nephew while she was on drugs.” (ProPublica was unable to locate Turner’s sister for comment.) Football proved an escape. Turner received a scholarship to play for the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and then he went on to a nearly decadelong career in the National Football League. He began transitioning into politics while still in the league, interning for California Rep. Duncan L. Hunter. After an unsuccessful run for a California congressional seat in 2006, Turner moved back to Texas and was elected in 2012 to the state House of Representatives, where he served for four years. There, Turner solidified his position as a deeply conservative member opposed to many government interventions into the housing market, legislative records show. He voted against supporting foreclosure prevention programs. He opposed legislation to help public housing authorities replace or rehabilitate their property (although he voted for a minor expansion of that bill two years later). He also sought to require drug testing for poor families applying for government assistance, the Houston Chronicle reported at the time. Turner did support some modest housing assistance measures, such as bills helping housing developments for seniors and in rural areas seek low-income housing tax credits. During his time in office, Turner was the lead author of 17 substantive bills. None were related to housing, and none of them became law. “He’s a very nice guy,” but “he didn’t really make much of a legislative impression,” said a former high-ranking Republican Texas lawmaker, who requested anonymity to speak candidly about a former colleague. “He didn’t leave a deep footprint.” That did not stop Turner, however, from mounting an audacious bid for the House speakership, a move reportedly backed by Tim Dunn, a West Texas pastor and oil billionaire who has used his fortune to push the state Legislature far to the right . Turner’s speaker campaign failed, but it helped solidify his position within Texas’ deep-red Christian political milieu, where he has remained ever since. Turner is an associate pastor at Prestonwood Baptist Church, a political force in Texas that has counted numerous statewide elected officials as congregants. Jack Graham, the church’s senior pastor, prayed over Trump at an event in October and praised his electoral victory from the pulpit in November. Turner’s skepticism about government assistance has found its way into his sermons there, where he has derided the “perverse incentives created by the government and the welfare system, which in turn creates an epidemic of fatherlessness in our country.” Turner or his political staffers also used campaign money to attend three conferences held by WallBuilders, an organization that seeks “to reveal the historical truths” about the “Christian foundation of our nation,” campaign finance records show. In 2016, Turner gave a $10,000 gift to WallBuilders from his campaign account. Turner’s allies on the Christian far right also include Ziklag, a secretive network of ultrawealthy Christian families and religious influencers that support Trump. As ProPublica reported , Ziklag has raised millions of dollars as part of a larger mission to help Christian leaders “take dominion” over key areas of American society, from education and business to media and government. This year, Ziklag spent millions of dollars to mobilize Republican-leaning voters in swing states despite being a tax-exempt charity that isn’t allowed to intervene in politics. (A lawyer for Ziklag previously told ProPublica that the organization does not endorse candidates for political office.) In June 2019, Turner and his wife, Robin, attended a private Ziklag conference at the Broadmoor luxury resort in Colorado Springs, Colorado, according to photos of the event posted by an attendee. At the time, Turner was working in the first Trump administration as executive director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council, where he served as a public salesman for the opportunity zones initiative. Turner has praised the program as a way to improve neighborhoods with high poverty and unemployment rates. Previous reporting by ProPublica found that the program was exploited by wealthy, politically connected investors, which drew scrutiny from members of Congress. Internal documents obtained by ProPublica and Documented show that Ziklag members sought to take advantage of the program; in May 2019, Ziklag said in one of its newsletters that members of the group had met with three administration officials about opportunity zones. “The administration informed the group they are in a state of listening and learning about the program,” the document reads. “Ziklaggers are exploring additional avenues to make an impact on the program moving forward.” After leaving the Trump administration, Turner started a nonprofit that promotes “Christ-centered reading enhancement programs” for children and helps people get driver’s licenses. He also became “chief visionary officer” at the multifamily housing developer JPI. Now, if confirmed, Turner will be in charge of an agency with some 10,000 employees at a critical time. “We’re dealing with a pretty terrible housing crisis all across the country,” said Roller, of the National Housing Law Project. HUD will be “essential to any effort” to solve it.‘Thoughts And Prayers Are Out Of Network’: The Cold Online Response To An Insurance Executive’s KillingManchester City's struggles continued as Pep Guardiola's side remarkably blew a three-goal lead to draw 3-3 with Feyenoord in the Champions League on Tuesday, while Bayern Munich beat Paris Saint-Germain to leave the French club in danger of elimination. There were also big wins for Arsenal, Atletico Madrid, Atalanta and Bayer Leverkusen, while Inter Milan went top of the standings after five games and Barcelona's Robert Lewandowski reached a century of Champions League goals. However, the biggest drama came at the Etihad Stadium, where City were cruising early in the second half with a three-goal advantage as they sought to end a run of five successive defeats in all competitions. Erling Haaland opened the scoring from a penalty just before half-time, and Ilkay Gundogan's deflected shot made it 2-0 in the 50th minute. Haaland struck again to make it 3-0, but Feyenoord's comeback began on 75 minutes when Anis Hadj Moussa took advantage of hapless defending to round goalkeeper Ederson and pull one back. Substitute Santiago Gimenez bundled in to make it 3-2 on 82 minutes and the equaliser arrived a minute from the end. Ederson was again caught out with Igor Paixao going around the goalkeeper and crossing for Slovak international David Hancko to head in. "We concede a lot of goals because we are not stable," complained Guardiola. "We lost a lot of games lately. We are fragile and of course we need a victory." It is the first time that a team has gone into the last 20 minutes of a Champions League game trailing by three goals and still avoided defeat, as the point boosts the Dutch side's hopes of progressing. City are two points outside the top eight places which offer direct qualification for the last 16, while Bayern moved above them by beating PSG 1-0 in Munich. South Korean defender Kim Min-jae scored the only goal seven minutes before half-time, heading in after goalkeeper Matvei Safonov failed to clear a corner. PSG had Ousmane Dembele sent off in the second half and the French champions have just four points, and three goals, from five games. They are a lowly 26th in the 36-team league, a point adrift of the positions which offer a place in the play-off round in February. "We need to win our last three matches, otherwise we risk being eliminated," admitted PSG coach Luis Enrique. - Lewandowski century - Lewandowski notched his 100th goal in the competition with an early penalty in Barcelona's 3-0 home win over French side Brest. Dani Olmo netted midway through the second half before Lewandowski sealed Barca's win at the death, his 101st goal in the Champions League -- only Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have scored more. Inter lead the standings with 13 points, a point ahead of Barcelona and Liverpool, after a 1-0 win at home to RB Leipzig which means they are also still yet to concede a goal. Castello Lukeba's own goal made the difference at San Siro, and Leipzig are one of only three teams to have lost five games out of five. Arsenal romped to a 5-1 victory away to Sporting in Lisbon, as the Portuguese side adapt to life without coach Ruben Amorim, who has departed for Manchester United. Gabriel Martinelli, Kai Havertz and Gabriel Magalhaes all scored in the first half for Arsenal, before Goncalo Inacio pulled one back shortly after the restart. Bukayo Saka converted a penalty on 65 minutes after Martin Odegaard had been brought down, and Leandro Trossard headed in to seal Arsenal's win late on. - Atalanta, Atletico hit six - Atalanta romped to a 6-1 win over rock-bottom Young Boys in Switzerland, with Mateo Retegui and Charles De Ketelaere both scoring braces. Sead Kolasinac and Lazar Samardzic also netted for the Italians, with Silvere Ganvoula getting the hosts' reply. Florian Wirtz struck twice, including a penalty, as Leverkusen crushed Red Bull Salzburg 5-0, with Alejandro Grimaldo scoring a superb free-kick and Patrik Schick and Aleix Garcia also netting. Julian Alvarez and substitute Angel Correa each scored twice and Marcos Llorente and Antoine Griezmann once as Atletico romped to a 6-0 win away to Sparta Prague. Christian Pulisic, Rafael Leao and Tammy Abraham were the scorers in AC Milan's 3-2 win at Slovan Bratislava, whose goals came from Tigran Barseghyan and Nino Marcelli. Marko Tolic saw red at the end for Slovan, who are without a point. as/nf Originally published as Man City blow three-goal lead in Champions League, Bayern beat PSG Breaking News Don't miss out on the headlines from Breaking News. Followed categories will be added to My News. More related stories Breaking News Thousands impacted as blackout hits city More than 1,000 residents are waking up to darkness as one of Australia’s biggest cities experiences another blackout due to a burst water pipe. Read more Breaking News Thousands still queuing to vote after Namibia polls close Thousands still queuing to vote after Namibia polls close Read more
Well, this may be just for you: USA Football is holding talent identification camps all over the country to find that next flag football star. It's "America's Got Talent" meets "American Idol," with the stage being the field and the grand prize a chance to compete for a spot on a national team. Because it's never too early to start planning for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, where flag football will make its Summer Games debut. Know this, though — it's not an easy team to make. The men's and women's national team rosters are at "Dream Team" status given the men's side has captured six of the last seven world championships and the women three in a row. To remain on top, the sport's national governing body is scouring every football field, park, track, basketball court and gym to find hidden talent to cultivate. USA Football has organized camps and tryouts from coast to coast for anyone ages 11 to 23. There are more than a dozen sites set up so far, ranging from Dallas (Sunday) to Chicago (Dec. 14) to Tampa (March 29) to Los Angeles (TBD) and the Boston area (April 27), where it will be held at Gillette Stadium, home of the New England Patriots. The organization has already partnered with the NFL on flag football initiatives and programs. The numbers have been through the roof, with engagement on social media platforms increasing by 86% since flag football was announced as an Olympic invitational sport in October 2023. The participation of boys and girls ages 6 to 17 in flag football last year peaked at more than 1.6 million, according to USA Football research. "We pride ourselves on elevating the gold standard across the sport," said Eric Mayes, the managing director of the high performance and national teams for USA Football. "We want to be the best in the world — and stay the best in the world." Flag football was one of five new sports added to the LA28 program. The already soaring profile of American football only figures to be enhanced by an Olympic appearance. Imagine, say, a few familiar faces take the field, too. Perhaps even NFL stars such as Tyreek Hill or Patrick Mahomes, maybe even past pro football greats donning a flag belt for a country to which they may have ties. Soon after flag football's inclusion, there was chatter of NFL players possibly joining in on the fun. Of course, there are logistical issues to tackle before their inclusion at the LA Olympics, which open July 14, 2028. Among them, training camp, because the Olympics will be right in the middle of it. The big question is this: Will owners permit high-priced players to duck out for a gold-medal pursuit? No decisions have yet been made on the status of NFL players for the Olympics. For now, it's simply about growing the game. There are currently 13 states that sanction girls flag football as a high school varsity sport. Just recently, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles helped pave the way to get it adopted in Pennsylvania. Around the world, it's catching on, too. The women's team from Japan took third at the recent word championships, while one of the best players on the planet is Mexico quarterback Diana Flores. "Could flag football globally become the new soccer? That's something to aspire to," said Stephanie Kwok, the NFL's vice president of flag football. This type of flag football though, isn't your Thanksgiving Day game with family and friends. There's a learning curve. And given the small roster sizes, versatility is essential. Most national team members need to be a version of Colorado's two-way standout and Heisman hopeful Travis Hunter. Forget bump-and-run coverage, too, because there's no contact. None. That took some adjusting for Mike Daniels, a defensive back out of West Virginia who earned a rookie minicamp invitation with the Cleveland Browns in 2017. "If a receiver is running around, I'm thinking, 'OK, I can kind of bump him here and there and nudge him,'" Daniels explained. "They're like, 'No, you can't.' I'm just like, 'So I'm supposed to let this guy just run?!' I really rebelled at the idea at first. But you learn." The competition for an Olympic roster spot is going to be fierce because only 10 players are expected to make a squad. The best 10 will earn it, too, as credentials such as college All-American or NFL All-Pro take a backseat. "I would actually love" seeing NFL players try out, said Daniels, who's also a personal trainer in Miami. "I'm not going to let you just waltz in here, thinking, 'I played NFL football for five years. I'm popular. I have a huge name.' I'm still better than you and I'm going to prove it — until you prove otherwise." Around the house, Bruce Mapp constantly swivels his hips when turning a hallway corner or if his daughter tries to reach for a hug. It's his way of working on avoiding a "defender" trying to snare the flag. That approach has earned the receiver out of Coastal Carolina four gold medals with USA Football. The 31-year-old fully plans on going for more gold in Los Angeles. "You grow up watching Usain Bolt (win gold) and the 'Redeem Team' led by Kobe Bryant win a gold medal, you're always thinking, 'That's insane.' Obviously, you couldn't do it in your sport, because I played football," said Mapp, who owns a food truck in the Dallas area. "With the Olympics approaching, that (gold medal) is what my mind is set on." It's a common thought, which is why everything — including talent camps — starts now. "Everybody thinks, 'Yeah, the U.S. just wins,'" Daniels said. "But we work hard all the time. We don't just walk in. We don't just get off the bus thinking, 'We're going to beat people.'"
Albury Council again did not offer extra bin collection services this festive season, despite some other NSW councils doing so. or signup to continue reading Both general waste and recycling bins continue to be collected fortnightly on rotation throughout December and January, while green waste is disposed of weekly. Councillor Darren Cameron is disappointed Albury residents are not offered the opportunity to have extra red and yellow bin waste collections during the Christmas and New Year period. "I will be raising it in February and March during the budget process so we ensure that we've budgeted for future extra collections," he said. Cr Cameron has previously raised a motion rubbish pick-up services to Albury, having sought its return since 2012. He has also previously wanted Albury Council to collect garbage directly instead of "I think the Halve Waste philosophy needs to be revisited," he said. "I have long called for hard waste collection and I'll be trying again in the future to convince my fellow councillors that that's the necessary service." He said he predicts Albury Council will also introduce cost-cutting measures next year to combat the budget deficit and there should be other areas to economise on. Wollondilly Shire Council, on the southwest fringe of Greater Sydney, usually offers weekly red bin collection and rotational fortnightly green waste and recycling but is offering residents weekly recycling collection from Monday, December 9 to Friday, January 3. The Illawarra's Shellharbour City Council covers the southern suburbs of the Wollongong urban area and offers rotational fortnightly red and yellow bin collection and weekly green bin collection, but all residents will receive an extra recycling collection between Monday, December 30, and Friday, January 10. Further south, urban households in the Illawarra's Kiama Municipal Council will have additional red bin collections from Monday, December 20, to Friday, January 3, depending on the residents zone, as collection is usually fortnightly, but green and yellow bin collection is weekly. The ABS estimated resident population for Wollondilly in 2023 is 57,616, 79,738 for Shellharbour City and 23,002 for Kiama. Other councils offering extra services included Penrith City Council in Western Sydney and Hawkesbury City Council in Greater Western Sydney, while Sydney's Inner West Council offered free bookable extra red bin collection. Albury Council team leader resource recovery Andrea Baldwin said extra services are not needed if residents dispose of their waste correctly. "Our current waste collection services are sufficient to cater for the expected increase in household waste disposal over the Christmas period. "This is provided that people use their bins appropriately and/or take advantage of our free recycling service at the Albury Waste Management Centre." Paper, cardboard, polystyrene, e-waste, bottles, cans and soft plastic can be taken to Albury Waste Management Centre for disposal, which is open every day over the holiday period except Christmas Day. "Using the three-bin system for its intended purpose will ensure that food waste is placed in the green-lidded organics bin - which is picked up weekly, rather than the red-lidded general waste bin," Ms Baldwin said. "Small changes like these can make a huge difference over the Christmas and New Year period and mean we don't require additional services." Albury's general waste collection continues to operate as usual and residents are requested to place bins out for collection as normal. Journalist at The Border Mail.You can contact me at madilyn.mckinley@austcommunitymedia.com.au. 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HMC wins prestigious CIPD Middle East Award for Best Wellbeing Programme, /PRNewswire/ -- NexPoint Real Estate Finance, Inc. (NYSE: NREF) (the "Company") today announced a dividend for its 8.50% Series A Cumulative Redeemable Preferred Stock (NYSE: NREF PRA) of per share. The dividend will be payable on , to stockholders of record at the close of business on . NexPoint Real Estate Finance, Inc., is a publicly traded REIT, with its common stock and Series A Preferred Stock listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "NREF" and "NREF PRA," respectively, primarily focused on originating, structuring and investing in first-lien mortgage loans, mezzanine loans, preferred equity, convertible notes, multifamily properties and common equity investments, as well as multifamily and single-family rental commercial mortgage-backed securities securitizations, promissory notes and mortgage-backed securities. More information about the Company is available at . Prosek Partners for NexPoint View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE NexPoint Real Estate Finance, Inc.Manchester City's struggles continued as Pep Guardiola's side remarkably blew a three-goal lead to draw 3-3 with Feyenoord in the Champions League on Tuesday, while Bayern Munich beat Paris Saint-Germain to leave the French club in danger of elimination. There were also big wins for Arsenal, Atletico Madrid, Atalanta and Bayer Leverkusen, while Inter Milan went top of the standings after five games and Barcelona's Robert Lewandowski reached a century of Champions League goals. However, the biggest drama came at the Etihad Stadium, where City were cruising early in the second half with a three-goal advantage as they sought to end a run of five successive defeats in all competitions. Erling Haaland opened the scoring from a penalty just before half-time, and Ilkay Gundogan's deflected shot made it 2-0 in the 50th minute. Haaland struck again to make it 3-0, but Feyenoord's comeback began on 75 minutes when Anis Hadj Moussa took advantage of hapless defending to round goalkeeper Ederson and pull one back. Substitute Santiago Gimenez bundled in to make it 3-2 on 82 minutes and the equaliser arrived a minute from the end. Ederson was again caught out with Igor Paixao going around the goalkeeper and crossing for Slovak international David Hancko to head in. "We concede a lot of goals because we are not stable," complained Guardiola. "We lost a lot of games lately. We are fragile and of course we need a victory." It is the first time that a team has gone into the last 20 minutes of a Champions League game trailing by three goals and still avoided defeat, as the point boosts the Dutch side's hopes of progressing. City are two points outside the top eight places which offer direct qualification for the last 16, while Bayern moved above them by beating PSG 1-0 in Munich. South Korean defender Kim Min-jae scored the only goal seven minutes before half-time, heading in after goalkeeper Matvei Safonov failed to clear a corner. PSG had Ousmane Dembele sent off in the second half and the French champions have just four points, and three goals, from five games. They are a lowly 26th in the 36-team league, a point adrift of the positions which offer a place in the play-off round in February. "We need to win our last three matches, otherwise we risk being eliminated," admitted PSG coach Luis Enrique. Lewandowski notched his 100th goal in the competition with an early penalty in Barcelona's 3-0 home win over French side Brest. Dani Olmo netted midway through the second half before Lewandowski sealed Barca's win at the death, his 101st goal in the Champions League -- only Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have scored more. Inter lead the standings with 13 points, a point ahead of Barcelona and Liverpool, after a 1-0 win at home to RB Leipzig which means they are also still yet to concede a goal. Castello Lukeba's own goal made the difference at San Siro, and Leipzig are one of only three teams to have lost five games out of five. Arsenal romped to a 5-1 victory away to Sporting in Lisbon, as the Portuguese side adapt to life without coach Ruben Amorim, who has departed for Manchester United. Gabriel Martinelli, Kai Havertz and Gabriel Magalhaes all scored in the first half for Arsenal, before Goncalo Inacio pulled one back shortly after the restart. Bukayo Saka converted a penalty on 65 minutes after Martin Odegaard had been brought down, and Leandro Trossard headed in to seal Arsenal's win late on. Atalanta romped to a 6-1 win over rock-bottom Young Boys in Switzerland, with Mateo Retegui and Charles De Ketelaere both scoring braces. Sead Kolasinac and Lazar Samardzic also netted for the Italians, with Silvere Ganvoula getting the hosts' reply. Florian Wirtz struck twice, including a penalty, as Leverkusen crushed Red Bull Salzburg 5-0, with Alejandro Grimaldo scoring a superb free-kick and Patrik Schick and Aleix Garcia also netting. Julian Alvarez and substitute Angel Correa each scored twice and Marcos Llorente and Antoine Griezmann once as Atletico romped to a 6-0 win away to Sparta Prague. Christian Pulisic, Rafael Leao and Tammy Abraham were the scorers in AC Milan's 3-2 win at Slovan Bratislava, whose goals came from Tigran Barseghyan and Nino Marcelli. Marko Tolic saw red at the end for Slovan, who are without a point. as/nf
Myscha Theriault: Geocaching is the free vacation activity that’s hiding in plain sightWASHINGTON, D.C. — Two U.S. senators and a U.S. representative from Indiana recently received committee assignments. U.S. Sen. Todd Young announced his assignment to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. The committee consists of 17 senators; nine from the majority party, eight from the minority party. Committee responsibilities include studying intelligence activities and policing intelligence agencies, making sure their activities conform with the Constitution. As a retired United States Marine intelligence officer, Young said he knows the value of intelligence officials and the information they provide. “I look forward to serving with my colleagues on the committee to ensure policymakers are receiving the best intelligence possible as they make critical decisions,” Young said in a press release Monday. U.S. Rep. Jim Banks, District 3 will fill the senatorial seat previously vacated by Mike Braun, who will serve as the state’s governor, beginning Jan. 1. Banks has been assigned to the Senate Committee on Armed Services, the Senate Committee on Banking and the Senate Committee on Housing and Urban Affairs, according to his website. U.S. Rep. Victoria Spartz, Dist. 5, will serve on the House Judiciary, Education and Labor committees. Spartz, whose district includes Madison County, recently made headlines by saying she would not be involved with committees or caucuses until she sees Republican leaders “governing.” “I do not need to be involved in circuses,” she wrote in a recent social media post.Miami of Ohio and Colorado State will try to overcome notable transfer-portal defections during Saturday's Arizona Bowl at Tucson, Ariz. Miami (8-5) enters the game without its top two wide receivers Javon Tracy and Reggie Virgil after the duo elected to play elsewhere. Tracy, a redshirt sophomore who caught 57 passes for 818 yards with seven touchdowns, is moving on to Minnesota. Virgil, a junior who tallied 816 yards on 41 receptions with nine touchdowns, is bound for Texas Tech. "It's kind of insane, to be honest," Miami coach Chuck Martin said. "We'll lose some real good kids in the portal, but we'll also gain some good ones. It's just crazy. "In some ways, it stinks, but in some ways, it's fun, too. We're looking at a lot of some good ones." Miami has also lost two cornerbacks, including sophomore Raion Strader to Auburn. Strader had 53 tackles with two interceptions and a team-best 17 passes broken up. Will Jados, a redshirt junior offensive tackle who started 38 games for Miami, is transferring to Texas Tech. Colorado State (8-4) also lost its two top receivers in the portal. Sophomore Caleb Goodie committed to Cincinnati and sophomore Jamari Person remains undecided. Goodie caught 21 passes for 436 yards with four touchdowns, and Person had 36 receptions for 386 yards and a touchdown. Another sophomore, linebacker Buom Jock, also is in the transfer portal after he led the Rams with 100 tackles. "They lost a couple receivers in the portal, just like us, so they've adjusted, just like most teams in the bowl season have adjusted to the team that they have available," Colorado State coach Jay Norvell said. Redshirt sophomore Armani Winfield, who had 37 catches for 338 yards and two touchdowns, is the top available receiver for the Rams. Miami's leading receiver entering the game is fifth-year senior Cade McDonald (49 catches for 606 yards and three touchdowns). Miami won seven straight games before losing to Ohio in the MAC championship game behind sixth-year quarterback Brett Gabbert, who has completed 57.6 percent of his passes (204 of 354) for 2,737 yards and 21 touchdowns. Gabbert has been prone to throw interceptions, with 11, including one against Ohio in the conference title game. He did not throw an interception in a 30-20 victory over Ohio earlier this season. Keyon Mozee is Miami's featured running back with 1,073 yards on 170 carries with four touchdowns. Matt Salopek, a sixth-year linebacker, leads Miami with 113 tackles. He is the first player in program history with four 100-tackle seasons. Colorado State won six of its last seven games -- committing only seven turnovers in that span. Senior running back Avery Morrow has 956 yards on 166 attempts with nine touchdowns. Brayden Fowler-Nicolosi, a redshirt sophomore, has thrown for 2,475 yards while completing 207 of 335 attempts (61.8 percent) with 13 touchdowns and seven interceptions. Chase Wilson, a fifth-year senior linebacker, has 91 tackles this season, three for loss. --Field Level Media
AP News Summary at 6:40 p.m. ESTRALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The North Carolina Democratic Party sued on Friday to block the potential removal of tens of thousands of ballots tallied in an extremely close state Supreme Court race, saying state election officials would be violating federal law if they sided with protests initiated by the trailing Republican candidate. The lawsuit filed in Raleigh federal court comes as attorneys for Court of Appeals Judge Jefferson Griffin also went to state courts on Friday to attempt to force the State Board of Elections to act more quickly on accusations contained in the protests. The board tentatively planned to hold a public hearing on the protests next Wednesday, according to a board email provided with Griffin's motion. Griffin wants a final decision from the board earlier. Democratic Associate Justice Allison Riggs leads Griffin by 734 votes following a machine recount of over 5.5 million ballots cast in their Nov. 5 election. A partial hand recount began this week and is nearly complete. But Griffin, joined by three other GOP state legislative candidates, contend that well over 60,000 ballots shouldn't have counted, casting doubt on election results. Among their complaints: voter registration records of some voters casting ballots lack driver’s license or partial Social Security numbers, and overseas voters never living in North Carolina have run afoul of state residency requirements. The Democratic Party's lawsuit said that some of the protests represent “systematic challenges to voter eligibility” that counter a federal law's prohibition of what's essentially removing people from voter registration lists retroactively after an election. The lawsuit wants a judge to declare federal law and the Constitution prevents the votes from being discarded and to order the election board — a majority of its members Democrats — to comply. “No North Carolinian deserves to have their vote thrown out in a callous power grab,” state party Chair Anderson Clayton said in a written statement. According to state law, a board considering an election protest could correct a ballot tally, direct another recount or order a new election. Griffin's attorneys filed requests Friday for judges to demand that the board issue final rulings by late Tuesday afternoon. They were filed in Wake County Superior Court and at the Court of Appeals — the same court where Griffin serves. Usually three members on the 15-judge court — second only to the Supreme Court in state's jurisprudence — hear such motions. “Public trust in our electoral processes depends on both fair and efficient procedures to determine the outcome of our elections. By failing to give a timely decision, the State Board continues to undermine the public interest,” Griffin attorney Troy Shelton wrote. Attorneys for Riggs separately on Friday also responded to Griffin's actual protests before the board, saying they should all be denied. Griffin led Riggs — one of two Democrats on the seven-member court — by about 10,000 votes on election night, but that lead dwindled and flipped to Riggs as tens of thousands of qualifying provisional and absentee ballots were added to the totals through the canvass. Riggs has declared victory. The three Republican legislative candidates joining Griffin's protests all trailed Democratic rivals after the machine recounts. One is GOP Rep. Frank Sossamon, who trails Democratic challenger Bryan Cohn by about 230 votes. Should Cohn win, Republicans would fall one seat short of retaining its current veto-proof majority in both chambers. That would give more leverage to Democratic Gov.-elect Josh Stein in 2025. The Associated Press has not called the Supreme Court race and two of the three legislative races highlighted in the protests.Former Kentucky wide receiver Dane Key, one of the top offensive players in the transfer portal, announced on social media Tuesday that he will transfer to Nebraska. Key posted a photo of himself in a Nebraska uniform wearing the No. 6 he wore at Kentucky. The simple post contained the letters "GBR," short for "Go Big Red," with an emoji heart. Key led Kentucky this past season with 47 receptions for 715 yards and two touchdowns in 12 games as the Wildcats finished 4-8. In three seasons, the 6-foot-3, 210-pounder has 126 receptions for 1,870 yards and 14 TDs in 38 games (35 starts). Key has one season of eligibility remaining after he was a four-star recruit in the class of 2022. --Field Level Media