Adele has said she will miss her residency shows “terribly” but needs to “move on” after playing her 100th and final show in Las Vegas on Saturday night. The British singer-songwriter, 36, launched Weekends With Adele, located at The Colosseum theatre in Caesars Palace in November 2022. In July, she announced she would be taking a “big break” from music after her run of of sell-out shows at the venue, which seats around 4,000 people. In a social media post on Monday, she said: “Well what an adventure! Las Vegas you’ve been so good to me. “This residency went on to mirror what 30 was about, lost and broken to healed and thriving! “Seems so fitting in the end. The only thing left to do in this case is move on.” The Easy On Me star made a return to the spotlight in 2021 when she released her fourth album, 30. Adele said: “These 100 shows have been so easy to love. “They were all completely different because I got to really be with every single person in the room every night. “I’ve loved every single second of it and I am so proud of it! I will miss it terribly, and I will miss you all terribly too. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! See you next time.” Videos posted online from her concert on Saturday show the singer getting tearful as she bid farewell to Vegas. “It’s been wonderful and I will miss it terribly and I will miss you terribly,” she said. “I don’t know when I next want to perform again.” The singer, full name Adele Adkins, shared an emotional embrace with Celine Dion after she spotted the music artist in the audience during her Las Vegas show last month. In August, Adele played shows in a purpose-built outdoor arena in Munich, with capacity for 80,000 people per night, and told fans on the last night that they would not be seeing her for a “long time”.WonderFi and Kraken Canada each break $2-billion CAD mark for assets under custodyWEST POINT, N.Y. (AP) — Chris Walker had 16 points in Binghamton's 78-68 victory over Army on Sunday. Walker also added five rebounds for the Bearcats (8-6). Tymu Chenery went 6 of 14 from the field (2 for 4 from 3-point range) to add 16 points. Nehemiah Benson shot 6 of 11 from the field and 3 of 3 from the free-throw line to finish with 15 points. It was the sixth straight win for the Bearcats. Josh Scovens finished with 16 points and two blocks for the Black Knights (5-6). Army also got 14 points and two steals from Jalen Rucker. Ryan Curry had 10 points, seven rebounds and three steals. Binghamton took the lead with 10:44 to go in the first half and did not give it up. The score was 42-33 at halftime, with Walker racking up 11 points. Binghamton outscored Army by one point in the final half, while Benson led the way with a team-high 13 second-half points. Both teams next play Sunday. Binghamton visits Marist and Army plays UTSA at home. ___ The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by and data from . The Associated Press
Melania Trump speaks out about husband Donald's 'demands' of a wife who 'knew her place'WASHINGTON D.C., DC — As a former and potentially future president, Donald Trump hailed what would become Project 2025 as a road map for “exactly what our movement will do” with another crack at the White House. As the blueprint for a hard-right turn in America became a liability during the 2024 campaign, Trump pulled an about-face . He denied knowing anything about the “ridiculous and abysmal” plans written in part by his first-term aides and allies. Now, after being elected the 47th president on Nov. 5, Trump is stocking his second administration with key players in the detailed effort he temporarily shunned. Most notably, Trump has tapped Russell Vought for an encore as director of the Office of Management and Budget; Tom Homan, his former immigration chief, as “border czar;” and immigration hardliner Stephen Miller as deputy chief of policy . Those moves have accelerated criticisms from Democrats who warn that Trump's election hands government reins to movement conservatives who spent years envisioning how to concentrate power in the West Wing and impose a starkly rightward shift across the U.S. government and society. Trump and his aides maintain that he won a mandate to overhaul Washington. But they maintain the specifics are his alone. “President Trump never had anything to do with Project 2025,” said Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt in a statement. “All of President Trumps' Cabinet nominees and appointments are whole-heartedly committed to President Trump's agenda, not the agenda of outside groups.” Here is a look at what some of Trump's choices portend for his second presidency. As budget chief, Vought envisions a sweeping, powerful perch The Office of Management and Budget director, a role Vought held under Trump previously and requires Senate confirmation, prepares a president's proposed budget and is generally responsible for implementing the administration's agenda across agencies. The job is influential but Vought made clear as author of a Project 2025 chapter on presidential authority that he wants the post to wield more direct power. “The Director must view his job as the best, most comprehensive approximation of the President’s mind,” Vought wrote. The OMB, he wrote, “is a President’s air-traffic control system” and should be “involved in all aspects of the White House policy process,” becoming “powerful enough to override implementing agencies’ bureaucracies.” Trump did not go into such details when naming Vought but implicitly endorsed aggressive action. Vought, the president-elect said, “knows exactly how to dismantle the Deep State” — Trump’s catch-all for federal bureaucracy — and would help “restore fiscal sanity.” In June, speaking on former Trump aide Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast, Vought relished the potential tension: “We’re not going to save our country without a little confrontation.” Vought could help Musk and Trump remake government's role and scope The strategy of further concentrating federal authority in the presidency permeates Project 2025's and Trump's campaign proposals. Vought's vision is especially striking when paired with Trump's proposals to dramatically expand the president's control over federal workers and government purse strings — ideas intertwined with the president-elect tapping mega-billionaire Elon Musk and venture capitalist Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a “Department of Government Efficiency.” Trump in his first term sought to remake the federal civil service by reclassifying tens of thousands of federal civil service workers — who have job protection through changes in administration — as political appointees, making them easier to fire and replace with loyalists. Currently, only about 4,000 of the federal government's roughly 2 million workers are political appointees. President Joe Biden rescinded Trump's changes. Trump can now reinstate them. Meanwhile, Musk's and Ramaswamy's sweeping “efficiency” mandates from Trump could turn on an old, defunct constitutional theory that the president — not Congress — is the real gatekeeper of federal spending. In his “Agenda 47,” Trump endorsed so-called “impoundment,” which holds that when lawmakers pass appropriations bills, they simply set a spending ceiling, but not a floor. The president, the theory holds, can simply decide not to spend money on anything he deems unnecessary. Vought did not venture into impoundment in his Project 2025 chapter. But, he wrote, “The President should use every possible tool to propose and impose fiscal discipline on the federal government. Anything short of that would constitute abject failure.” Trump's choice immediately sparked backlash. “Russ Vought is a far-right ideologue who has tried to break the law to give President Trump unilateral authority he does not possess to override the spending decisions of Congress (and) who has and will again fight to give Trump the ability to summarily fire tens of thousands of civil servants,” said Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, a Democrat and outgoing Senate Appropriations chairwoman. Reps. Jamie Raskin of Maryland and Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico, leading Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, said Vought wants to “dismantle the expert federal workforce” to the detriment of Americans who depend on everything from veterans' health care to Social Security benefits. “Pain itself is the agenda,” they said. Homan and Miller reflect Trump's and Project 2025's immigration overlap Trump’s protests about Project 2025 always glossed over overlaps in the two agendas . Both want to reimpose Trump-era immigration limits. Project 2025 includes a litany of detailed proposals for various U.S. immigration statutes, executive branch rules and agreements with other countries — reducing the number of refugees, work visa recipients and asylum seekers, for example. Miller is one of Trump's longest-serving advisers and architect of his immigration ideas, including his promise of the largest deportation force in U.S. history. As deputy policy chief, which is not subject to Senate confirmation, Miller would remain in Trump's West Wing inner circle. “America is for Americans and Americans only,” Miller said at Trump’s Madison Square Garden rally on Oct. 27. “America First Legal,” Miller’s organization founded as an ideological counter to the American Civil Liberties Union, was listed as an advisory group to Project 2025 until Miller asked that the name be removed because of negative attention. Homan, a Project 2025 named contributor, was an acting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement director during Trump’s first presidency, playing a key role in what became known as Trump's “family separation policy.” Previewing Trump 2.0 earlier this year, Homan said: “No one’s off the table. If you’re here illegally, you better be looking over your shoulder.” Project 2025 contributors slated for CIA and Federal Communications chiefs John Ratcliffe, Trump's pick to lead the CIA , was previously one of Trump's directors of national intelligence. He is a Project 2025 contributor. The document's chapter on U.S. intelligence was written by Dustin Carmack, Ratcliffe's chief of staff in the first Trump administration. Reflecting Ratcliffe's and Trump's approach, Carmack declared the intelligence establishment too cautious. Ratcliffe, like the chapter attributed to Carmack, is hawkish toward China. Throughout the Project 2025 document, Beijing is framed as a U.S. adversary that cannot be trusted. Brendan Carr, the senior Republican on the Federal Communications Commission, wrote Project 2025's FCC chapter and is now Trump's pick to chair the panel. Carr wrote that the FCC chairman “is empowered with significant authority that is not shared” with other FCC members. He called for the FCC to address “threats to individual liberty posed by corporations that are abusing dominant positions in the market,” specifically “Big Tech and its attempts to drive diverse political viewpoints from the digital town square.” He called for more stringent transparency rules for social media platforms like Facebook and YouTube and “empower consumers to choose their own content filters and fact checkers, if any.” Carr and Ratcliffe would require Senate confirmation for their posts.None
‘Snow management’ at Tahoe resorts goes high-tech with lasers
10% dividend growth! 2 FTSE 100 stocks tipped to supercharge cash payoutsPhysicians record high number of cases of TB in Manila districtChildren of the wealthy and connected get special admissions consideration at some elite U.S. universities, according to new filings in a class-action lawsuit originally brought against 17 schools. Georgetown’s then-president, for example, listed a prospective student on his “president’s list” after meeting her and her wealthy father at an Idaho conference known as “summer camp for billionaires,” according to Tuesday court filings in the price-fixing lawsuit filed in Chicago federal court in 2022. Although it’s always been assumed that such favoritism exists, the filings offer a rare peek at the often secret deliberations of university heads and admissions officials. They show how schools admit otherwise unqualified wealthy children because their parents have connections and could possibly donate large sums down the line, raising questions about fairness. Stuart Schmill, the dean of admissions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, wrote in a 2018 email that the university admitted four out of six applicants recommended by then-board chairman Robert Millard, including two who “we would really not have otherwise admitted.” The two others were not admitted because they were “not in the ball park, or the push from him was not as strong.” In the email, Schmill said Millard was careful to play down his influence on admissions decisions, but he said the chair also sent notes on all six students and later met with Schmill to share insight “into who he thought was more of a priority.” The filings are the latest salvo in a lawsuit that claims that 17 of the nation’s most prestigious colleges colluded to reduce the competition for prospective students and drive down the amount of financial aid they would offer, all while giving special preference to the children of wealthy donors. “That illegal collusion resulted in the defendants providing far less aid to students than would have been provided in a free market,” said Robert Gilbert, an attorney for the plaintiffs. Since the lawsuit was filed, 10 of the schools have reached settlements to pay out a total of $284 million, including payments of up to $2,000 to current or former students whose financial aid might have been shortchanged over a period of more than two decades. They are Brown, the University of Chicago, Columbia, Dartmouth, Duke, Emory, Northwestern, Rice, Vanderbilt and Yale. Johns Hopkins is working on a settlement and the six schools still fighting the lawsuit are the California Institute of Technology, Cornell, Georgetown, MIT, Notre Dame and the University of Pennsylvania. MIT called the lawsuit and the claims about admissions favoritism baseless. “MIT has no history of wealth favoritism in its admissions; quite the opposite,” university spokesperson Kimberly Allen said. “After years of discovery in which millions of documents were produced that provide an overwhelming record of independence in our admissions process, plaintiffs could cite just a single instance in which the recommendation of a board member helped sway the decisions for two undergraduate applicants." In a statement, Penn also said the case is meritless that the evidence shows that it doesn't favor students whose families have donated or pledged money to the Ivy League school. “Plaintiffs’ whole case is an attempt to embarrass the University about its purported admission practices on issues totally unrelated to this case," the school said. Notre Dame officials also called the case baseless. “We are confident that every student admitted to Notre Dame is fully qualified and ready to succeed,” a university spokesperson said in a statement. The South Bend, Indiana, school, though, did apparently admit wealthy students with subpar academic backgrounds. According to the new court filings, Don Bishop, who was then associate vice president for enrollment at Notre Dame, bluntly wrote about the “special interest” admits in a 2012 email, saying that year's crop had poorer academic records than the previous year's. The 2012 group included 38 applicants who were given a “very low” academic rating, Bishop wrote. He said those students represented “massive allowances to the power of the family connections and funding history,” adding that “we allowed their high gifting or potential gifting to influence our choices more this year than last year.” The final line of his email: “Sure hope the wealthy next year raise a few more smart kids!” Some of the examples pointed to in this week's court filings showed that just being able to pay full tuition would give students an advantage. During a deposition, a former Vanderbilt admissions director said that in some cases, a student would get an edge on the waitlist if they didn’t need financial aid. The 17 schools were part of a decades-old group that got permission from Congress to come up with a shared approach to awarding financial aid. Such an arrangement might otherwise violate antitrust laws, but Congress allowed it as long as the colleges all had need-blind admissions policies, meaning they wouldn't consider a student’s financial situation when deciding who gets in. The lawsuit argues that many colleges claimed to be need-blind but routinely favored the children of alumni and donors. In doing so, the suit says, the colleges violated the Congressional exemption and tainted the entire organization. The group dissolved in recent years when the provision allowing the collaboration expired.
Judge hears closing arguments on whether Google's advertising tech constitutes a monopoly ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) — The Justice Department and Google have made their closing arguments in a trial alleging Google’s online advertising technology constitutes an illegal monopoly. The arguments in federal court Monday in northern Virginia came as Google already faces a possible breakup of the company over its ubiquitous search engine. The Justice Department says it will seek the breakup of Google to remedy its search engine monopoly. The case in Virginia focuses not on the search engine but on technology that matches online advertisers to consumers on the internet. A judge is expected to rule by the end of the year. ‘Busiest Thanksgiving ever’: How the TSA plans to handle record air travel DALLAS (AP) — The Thanksgiving travel rush is expected to be bigger than ever this year. AAA predicts that nearly 80 million people in the U.S. will venture at least 50 miles from home between Tuesday and next Monday — most of them by car. Thanksgiving Day falling so late this year has altered traditional travel patterns. At airports, the Transportation Security Administration says it could screen a record number of U.S. air travelers on Sunday. Meanwhile, the head of the Federal Aviation Administration says a shortage of air traffic controllers could cause flight delays. Transportation analytics company INRIX says roads could be congested on Monday with both commuters and returning holiday travelers. Macy’s says employee hid up to $154 million in expenses, delaying Q3 earnings Macy’s says it’s delaying the release of its fiscal third-quarter earnings results after it discovered an up to $154 million accounting-related issue. The company did provide some preliminary results for its third quarter, including that net sales fell 2.4% to $4.74 billion. It anticipates reporting its full third-quarter financial results by Dec. 11. Newsom says California could offer electric vehicle rebates if Trump eliminates federal tax credit SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California could offer state tax rebates for electric vehicle purchases if the incoming Trump administration eliminates the $7,500 federal EV tax credit. Gov. Gavin Newsom says Monday he'll propose creating a new version of the state’s successful Clean Vehicle Rebate Program, which was phased out in 2023 after funding nearly 600,000 new cars and trucks. Officials didn’t say how much the program would cost or how the rebates would work. Newsom’s proposal is part of his plan to protect California’s progressive policies ahead of Republican President-elect Donald Trump’s second term. But a budget shortfall could complicate California’s resistance efforts. Warren Buffett gives away another $1.1B and plans for distributing his $147B fortune after his death OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Investor Warren Buffett renewed his Thanksgiving tradition of giving by announcing plans Monday to hand more than $1.1 billion of Berkshire Hathaway stock to four of his family's foundations, and he offered new details about who will be handing out the rest of his fortune after his death. Buffett has said previously that his three kids will distribute his remaining $147.4 billion fortune in the 10 years after his death, but now he has also designated successors for them because it’s possible that Buffett’s children could die before giving it all away. Buffett said he has no regrets about his decision to start giving away his fortune in 2006. Stock market today: Dow hits another record as stocks rise NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks rose, with those benefiting the most from lower interest rates and a stronger economy leading the way. The S&P 500 climbed 0.3% Monday to pull closer to its record set two weeks ago. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 440 points to its own record set on Friday, while the Nasdaq composite rose 0.3%. They got a boost from easing Treasury yields after President-elect Donald Trump said he wants hedge-fund manager Scott Bessent to be his Treasury Secretary. Smaller companies can feel a big boost from easier borrowing costs, and the Russell 2000 index of small stocks finished just shy of its record. Workers at Charlotte airport, an American Airlines hub, go on strike during Thanksgiving travel week CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — American Airlines says it doesn’t expect significant disruptions to flights this week as a result of a labor strike at its hub in Charlotte, North Carolina. Service workers there walked out Monday during a busy week of Thanksgiving travel to protest what they say are unlivable wages. Employees of ABM and Prospect Airport Services authorized the work stoppage. Union spokesperson Sean Keady says the strike is expected to last 24 hours. The companies contract with American Airlines to provide services such as cleaning airplane interiors, removing trash and escorting passengers in wheelchairs. The companies have acknowledged the seriousness of a strike during the holiday travel season. At the crossroads of news and opinion, 'Morning Joe' hosts grapple with aftermath of Trump meeting The reaction of those who defended “Morning Joe” hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski for meeting with President-elect Trump sounds almost quaint in the days of opinionated journalism. Doesn't it makes sense, they said, for hosts of a political news show to meet with such an important figure? But given how “Morning Joe” has attacked Trump, its viewers felt insulted. Many reacted quickly by staying away. It all reflects the broader trend of opinion crowding out traditional journalist in today's marketplace, and the expectations that creates among consumers. By mid-week, the show's audience was less than two-thirds what it has typically been this year. Eggs are available -- but pricier -- as the holiday baking season begins Egg prices are on the rise again as a lingering outbreak of bird flu coincides with high demand during the holiday baking season. The average price for a dozen eggs in U.S. cities was $3.37 in October, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That was up 63% from October 2023, when a dozen eggs cost an average of $2.07. Avian influenza is the main culprit. The current bird flu outbreak that began in February 2022 has led to the slaughter of more than 111 million birds, mostly egg-laying chickens. But the American Egg Board says egg shortages at grocery stores have been isolated and temporary so far. ‘Buy now, pay later’ is more popular than ever. It can cost more than you think NEW YORK (AP) — More shoppers are using ‘buy now, pay later’ plans heading into Black Friday and the holiday season, as the ability to spread out payments looks attractive at a time when Americans still feel the lingering effect of inflation and already have record-high credit card debt. Experts say the short-term loans can lead consumers to overextend themselves and warn that those who use credit cards for the service face higher interest expenses. The data firm Adobe Analytics predicts shoppers will spend 11.4% more this holiday season using buy now, pay later than they did a year ago.Utah Hockey Club walks to arena after bus gets stuck in Toronto trafficMajor break in murder investigation; high school football player stabbed to death: this week's top stories
Vista Outdoor Stockholders Approve CSG Transaction to Acquire The Kinetic Group
Vista Outdoor Stockholders Approve CSG Transaction to Acquire The Kinetic GroupThere were topics Pat Narduzzi wanted to discuss with reporters Monday at his final regular-season news conference of 2024. Eli Holstein wasn’t one of them. But the manner in which Pitt’s starting quarterback suffered a lower-body injury was certainly up for discussion. The last question of the 18-minute news conference concerned Holstein’s condition after he left Pitt’s game at Louisville on Saturday with what looked like a serious injury. Holstein’s game action ended at that point, but he did return to the field on crutches and watched the rest of Pitt’s 37-9 defeat. Nardzzi offered no medical update on Holstein, but he did acknowledge the injury is not season-ending. “We get a hip-drop tackle (on Holstein), which is illegal in the NFL,” he said. “That’s two in two weeks. You would think if the National Football League says it’s too dangerous, we (college football) would say it’s too dangerous.” The textbook hip-drop tackl e occurs when a defender grabs a ball carrier from the side and swivels his hips away from his opponent, elevates his feet and allows his unsupported body weight, including his hips, to land on the other man’s legs. The NFL banned the hip-drop tackle in March after reviewing 20,000 tackles from the previous two seasons. The league said hip-drop tackles cause lower extremity injuries at a rate 20 times higher than other tackles. It’s also illegal in rugby and Australian Rules Football. “I don’t know if people are coaching it. I know we don’t coach it,” Narduzzi said. “I haven’t seen one done yet by our football team. If it’s being coached, it’s bad for the game of college football.” Narduzzi said the hip-drop tackle can become even more problematic next season under new roster limitations in the pending House vs. NCAA settlement. If Holstein can’t play, Nate Yarnell is next in line. His backup in the Louisville game was walk-on David Lynch, not Ty Dieffenbach, who is on scholarship. Narduzzi indicated that Lynch, a redshirt freshman from East Greenwich, R.I., has made a more significant impact in practice than Dieffenbach, a redshirt freshman from Calabasas, Calif. “When you get your snaps, you’ve got to make your snaps worthwhile,” Narduzzi said. “And it just seemed like we weren’t getting what we wanted out of Ty right now. I don’t care if you’re a walk-on or scholarship player.” Narduzzi previously chose walk-on kicker Sam Scarton over Ben Sauls, who finally won the job in 2022 and has become one of the nation’s best this season. “We’re playing the best players. We’re trying to win football games,” Narduzzi said. “We felt David gave us the best chance of winning right now. Doesn’t mean that Ty doesn’t have more talent. But you have to have talent on the field. You have to have it between the ears and (have) work and effort into it to be that guy. When you get three snaps in practice as a backup or third-team guy, you’ve got to make them mean something. “I feel bad for Ty. Love him. He’s a great kid. But you’ve got to be ready. Maybe he would have been a gamer, done a better job. I don’t know.” On the subject of his team’s fourth consecutive loss, Narduzzi blamed poor run defense, interceptions (one thrown by each of the three quarterbacks) and his two failed decisions to convert fourth-and-short. The first interception by Holstein was on the goal line at the end of what Narduzzi called “just a beautiful drive.” “This is what it’s supposed to look like. It’s a game of emotion and momentum and we got a little deflated there.” Of his decision-making, Pitt’s coach — as he has done many times during the losing streak — shouldered the blame after defending the decisions immediately after the game Saturday. “The days go by and 48 hours later, I’m a knucklehead,” he said. “I should have just punted the ball, played field position. You’re playing a top 20 offense (No. 15 now). We knew Louisville was talented on offense. Don’t put our defense in that position. “I told our team (Sunday) night, that’s on me. I have to know that maybe we’re shorthanded on offense (by injuries). Don’t want to say wave the white flag, but be smart and punt it away and make them go 90.”
In keeping with a long-standing Thanksgiving tradition, President Joe Biden recently pardoned a pair of turkeys . During a ceremony at the White House, the birds — named Peach and Blossom — were spared from the dinner table and given a new lease on life. While it was an act of pure political pageantry, it highlights the president’s expansive pardon powers — which could be used liberally during his final two months in office. Historically, presidents have issued numerous pardons during their lame duck periods, including quite a few that have raised eyebrows. Here is what to know about presidential pardons. Presidential pardon power Article II of the Constitution enables the president to grant clemency for any federal crime, according to a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report. This authority is rooted in an old English law that permits monarchs to bestow mercy on criminals. “The president’s power to pardon is astronomical,” Taylor Stoermer, a historian at Johns Hopkins University, told McClatchy News. “The Constitution doesn’t even require an explanation. The only real limits are that it doesn’t apply to state crimes or impeachment cases.” “So the president can grant full pardons, commute sentences, or even offer amnesty, on an individual basis or for an entire class of people,” Stoermer said. How often do presidents grant clemency? Most presidents have issued numerous acts of clemency throughout their terms in office, according to historians. For example, Donald Trump, during his first term, granted 143 pardons and 94 commutations, according to the Pew Research Center. During Barack Obama’s eight years in office, he issued 212 pardons and 1,715 commutations. Among the commutations granted by both men were multiple that concerned low-level drug offenses , such as possession of marijuana. However, these acts of clemency have not typically been distributed evenly throughout a president’s tenure. Since 1945, every president — with the exception of Lyndon Johnson — granted clemency at a higher rate during the last four months of their terms, according to CRS. For example, Obama granted an average of 296 acts of clemency per month during his final four months in office, compared with an average of eight per month before that. Similarly, Trump issued an average of 50 per month during the last four months compared with an average of one per month before that. “Trump certainly kept to that pattern, and I would not be surprised if Biden does as well,” Thomas Balcerski, a presidential historian at Eastern Connecticut State University, told McClatchy News. Additionally, these 11th hour acts of mercy tend to be the most controversial ones. “Most save the big, bold pardons for the end of their terms,” Stoermer said. “And because exactly why you’d think: No voters to answer to.” Controversial acts of clemency Throughout history, presidents have issued a fair number of pardons, commutations and acts of amnesty that have received widespread scrutiny. “The most famous, of course, is Gerald Ford’s pardoning of Richard Nixon,” Vernon Burton, an emeritus history professor at Clemson University, told McClatchy News. In September 1974, following the Watergate scandal and Nixon’s resignation, Ford issued a full pardon for any crimes Nixon “committed or may have committed” against the United States. Jimmy Carter also took flak for pardoning “all of the Vietnam War draft dodgers,” Burton said. “That was huge.” This pardon, issued on Carter’s first day in office in 1977, applied to roughly 100,000 military-age men who avoided going to war , according to Politico. “Then there’s George H.W. Bush pardoning key players in Iran-Contra,” Stoermer said. With less than one month until he left office, Bush pardoned six people , including a former secretary of defense, wrapped up in the illegal arms scandal. More recently, Obama reduced the sentence of Oscar Lopez Rivera, a Puerto Rican activist whose political organization was responsible for dozens of robberies and bombings in the U.S. And Trump preemptively pardoned adviser Steven Bannon, who was charged with bilking donors out of money they gave toward the construction of a border wall. “These kinds of moves show how the pardon power can get tangled up in political strategy or personal connections—and that’s what makes it fascinating (or infuriating) to watch,” Stoermer said. Have presidents pardoned family members? Given that Biden’s son Hunter Biden has been convicted of felony offenses , some have wondered whether he will issue a pardon before he leaves office. “Would he pardon Hunter Biden? That’d be quite something,” Balcerski said. “There is some precedent.” On his last day in office, President Bill Clinton issued a pardon for his half-brother Roger Clinton, who had pleaded guilty to a cocaine distribution charge. “That was slightly less impactful because Roger Clinton had already served the time,” Stoermer said. “So that was mostly about clearing his record than dodging accountability.” Joe Biden, though, has said he has no plans to grant clemency to his son. Could Trump break the mold? Trump could break with long-standing tradition of issuing controversial pardons at the end of his term, historians said. The president-elect has vowed to pardon some of the people convicted of participating in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot on his first day in office. “I am inclined to pardon many of them ,” he wrote on social media in March, according to ABC News. Throughout the country, about 1,500 people have been charged in connection with the riot, including about 547 who were charged with “assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers or employees.” “It wouldn’t be surprising to see an unprecedented wave of pardons right out of the gate, particularly for January 6 rioters,” Stoermer said. “That would take the use of the pardon power into completely uncharted territory.” “Of course, there is a precedent: Carter’s first-day pardon of draft evaders of the Vietnam era,” Stoermer said. “That applied to hundreds of thousands of people. But that’s not quite the same as a coup.” Do Ukrainians still support the war against Russia? New poll finds ‘decisive shift’ Trump could impose tariffs without Congress, experts say. Here’s how it could work How are vacancies in Congress filled? What to know as Trump picks members for CabinetGasperini: ‘Atalanta have belief in Champions League’
Butler 69, Mass.-Lowell 44
THE smiling face of Ruben Amorim and the promise of a bright new future is supposed to be giving everyone at Manchester United a lift. Unfortunately, the public face of the Red Devils hides a very different story behind the scenes. One which could have the new boss pining for Lisbon before he knows it. The ramifications of a disastrous summer for the club under new leadership are still being felt. Not least among the rank-and-file staff, who are seeing their positions eroded and, in the worst-case scenario, extinguished altogether with 250 redundancies. They understandably wonder if they are collateral damage of decisions by the ex-manager and woeful recruitment. READ MORE ON MAN UTD Even Sir Alex Ferguson has not been safe with his £2million-a-year ambassadorial role axed. Those who championed new part-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s arrival as having put a spring in everyone’s step have lost their bounce. He took control of 27.7 per cent of the club from the Glazer family last February, with the mandate to run the football operation while the American owners sat back and continued to milk the cash cow. He brought in trusted wingman Sir Dave Brailsford although, to this day, nobody at the club knows quite what his skills are or what he does, rather than telling everyone what is wrong. Most read in Football FOOTBALL FREE BETS AND SIGN UP DEALS One of his first complaints was the state of the IT department’s office at the training ground, which he did not realise was actually an MUTV studio. The handling of former gaffer Erik ten Hag has leapt to the top of the charts regarding bungling in 11 years since Fergie retired and the bar is already pretty high. To cut a long story short, they wanted him out, couldn’t find anyone to replace him, asked him to stay, extended his contract, spent millions on a new coaching team at the Theatre of Dreams and then spent another £172.1MILLION in the transfer market. Just 11 games into the new season, the hierarchy decided they would once again return to square one at great expense, with pay-offs for all those going out and a release clause fee for the new bloke coming in. Now, questions are being asked internally at the highest level about how they got to this position, with fingers metaphorically pointed across the boardroom table. Sir Jim has effectively washed his hands of it all, having claimed when questions about Ten Hag’s future intensified, that it wasn’t on him to provide the answers as they had a new senior management team in place to do all that. That team includes Omar Berrada, the CEO poached from rivals Manchester City , who were not exactly tying him to the Etihad’s gates to stop him from going, and Dan Ashworth , the sporting director, who was good lower down the league on a budget. Then there is Jason Wilcox, the technical director, who is supposed to influence how United play now. If he’s already had input, goodness knows what he has been saying. By Charlie Wyett RUBEN AMORIM would have preferred to leave Lisbon in a blaze of glory after winning a third Primeira Liga title. Yet football does not work like that. And in what was surely his final game before taking charge of Manchester United, Amorim prepared to say his goodbyes at a half-empty Estadio Jose Alvalade in a League Cup quarter-final against Nacional. Sporting won 3-1 thanks to second-half goals by captain Morten Hjulmand and Viktor Gyokeres, who scored two. Luis Esteves pulled back for Madeira-based Nacional. The stadium will be a good deal more lively on Tuesday when Manchester City are here for a Champions League match — although Amorim should by then have his feet firmly under his desk at Old Trafford. Liverpool and Aston Villa were both interested in Europe’s most sought-after coach. Even City could have been a possible destination post-Pep Guardiola. Yet the United job is one Amorim, 39, could not turn down — even if not everyone saw it that way at Sporting last night. There is clearly a huge split in the Portuguese club’s fan base over their coach leaving at this stage of the season with many believing he should have seen the job through. Yet Amorim, along with the three-man coaching team who are expected to follow him, leaves a club in a much better state than when he arrived here in 2020. Inside the stadium, there was applause — albeit muted — when his name was read out before the game along with the line-ups. And there did not appear to be any jeers when Amorim shuffled out from the tunnel awkwardly towards the dugout. So, while his departure is hard to take for some, none of the fans will forget his legacy. This is a club which is back as the dominant force in Portugal. Even this term, Sporting have won their first nine league games, scoring 30 goals and conceding just two. They are also eighth in the Champions League table, which is one hell of an effort. In contrast, Lisbon was not exactly hit by League Cup fever last night. Amorim made lots of changes, which saw Sporting’s star man Gyokeres, the former Coventry striker, start on the bench. There was, however, a first appearance in six weeks for former Tottenham winger Marcus Edwards. He is certainly one player who has been transformed by Amorim since arriving at the club from Vitoria in 2022 and will be sorry to see the coach leave. While he changed his team, Amorim stuck with his tried and trusted formation of a back three. It will certainly be something Manchester United’s fans will have to get used to over the coming months. But looking at the Premier League table, none of them will be complaining about the change. All will undoubtedly have had a significant influence on the summer spending splurge, which failed to raise the team’s performance. The most bizarre transfer was the £36.5m paid to Bologna for Joshua Zirkzee . Ten Hag didn’t want him. He arrived a stone overweight and has scored ONE goal. Apparently a metatarsal problem showed up on Leny Yoro’s medical ahead of a £42m spend. Lo and behold, in his second game of pre-season , he got a metatarsal injury and has only just started training during the current international break. Then the question is why would Bayern Munich let go of defenders Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui at a combined total of £51.3m up front, rising to a possible £59.5m, if they were that good? Only Manuel Ugarte , the £42.2m signing from Paris Saint-Germain, is looking close to being a United player, yet even he does not look a step up from Scott McTominay , who left for Napoli and is ripping it up. The spending means Amorim’s ability to do anything in the next transfer window will be restricted unless he can shift players, but who is going to buy anyone from Old Trafford right now? All this time behind the scenes, the ship is far from happy, with staff unceremoniously thrown overboard in a penny-pinching purge. It has even led to chefs pulling their hair out to try to cover matchday hospitality on reduced budgets and staffing levels. Long-standing employees feel like they have been cast aside like rubbish. The most alarming story came when a staff member with 25 years at the club behind him was told he was being given a commemorative watch for his service. He was then told to pick it up at main reception, where a security guard handed it to him in a polythene bag. That’s a picture to show the grandkids in the future . READ MORE SUN STORIES An award-winning journalist is currently tasked with shadowing Sir Jim and his new regime for a book on how they turned United around. It may end up being a work of fiction. WHEN Ruben Amorim took charge of Sporting Lisbon in March 2020, one club official compared their situation to the “walking dead”, writes Jordan Davies . Optimism and hope was at an all-time low. But the Amorim-effect was almost instantaneous, guiding the Portuguese sleeping giants to their first league title for 19 years in 2020/21, losing just once and only conceding 20 goals. Since then, Sporting have lifted another league title in 2023/24 – as well as two League Cups – and currently sit top with nine wins from nine this term. He may be young, but Amorim already has an eye for rebuilding and revitalising fallen super powers with his infectious charisma and intense tactical philosophy that hardly ever wavers. The “walking dead” at Manchester United must be praying for a similar sort of revival. And they may just get it from one of the most talented young coaches on the continent – a man accustomed to breathing new life back into crumbling institutions such as Old Trafford. Amorim has spent the last decade dreaming of one day gracing England’s Premier League, such was his admiration for an ex-United boss in Jose Mourinho growing up. Often nicknamed ‘Mourinho 2.0’, Amorim spent a week with his coaching idol in an internship capacity at United’s Carrington training base in 2018, going on to cite him as his “reference point”. United should not be expecting a mini-Mourinho, as Amorim said himself: “Mourinho is one of a kind. There won't be another Mourinho. Mourinho is unique.” And yet, you cannot help but compare the two. For all the mismanagement in the Old Trafford hot seats over the years, this would be a real get – finally a slap in the face United’s Prem rivals have no answer for.
TOWSON, Md. (AP) — Tyler Tejada scored 18 points as Towson beat Bryant 70-65 on Sunday. Read this article for free: Already have an account? To continue reading, please subscribe: * TOWSON, Md. (AP) — Tyler Tejada scored 18 points as Towson beat Bryant 70-65 on Sunday. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? TOWSON, Md. (AP) — Tyler Tejada scored 18 points as Towson beat Bryant 70-65 on Sunday. Tejada had five rebounds for the Tigers (5-8). Dylan Williamson scored 13 points while shooting 6 for 13, including 1 for 5 from beyond the arc. Tomiwa Sulaiman went 4 of 10 from the field (0 for 3 from 3-point range) to finish with 10 points. The Tigers stopped a six-game losing streak with the win. The Bulldogs (6-8) were led by Earl Timberlake, who posted 23 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Barry Evans added 18 points, six rebounds and two steals for Bryant. Keyshawn Mitchell also had eight points and seven rebounds. Tejada put up 12 points in the first half for Towson, who led 33-28 at the break. Towson used a 12-3 second-half run erase a six-point deficit and take the lead at 58-55 with 7:21 left in the half before finishing off the victory. Williamson scored nine second-half points. Towson plays UNC Wilmington on the road on Thursday, and Bryant visits Grand Canyon on Monday. ___ The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar. Advertisement
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