Is Tesla Stock A Buy Or A Sell After Analyst Hikes Price Target; 'Optimus Is Real' - Investor's Business DailyDUNCANVILLE, Texas — Duncanville High School quarterback Keelon Russell has been named the 2024-2025 Gatorade National Football Player of the Year -- widely considered the most prestigious honor in high school football. On Tuesday afternoon, Russell -- who'd been named a finalist for the honor earlier this month -- finished up practice and was surprised by Dallas Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs with the trophy. Russell's family, coaches and teammates were also there to celebrate the achievement. Throughout the award's 40-year history, Gatorade National Football Player of the Year honorees have combined for more than six NFL MVP awards, 31 Pro Bowl appearances, six NFL first-round draft selections and two Hall of Fame inductions in Emmitt Smith and Peyton Manning. "The Gatorade Player of the Year Program has a 40-year history of recognizing athletes on their journey to greatness," Gatorade Chief Brand Officer Anuj Bhasin said in a press release naming Russell this year's winner. "Russell's accomplishments have earned him a spot on the trophy alongside so many iconic athletes, and we can't wait to see the legacy he will leave behind." According to release naming his the award's winner, Russell has thrown for 3652 yards, 52 touchdowns and just two interceptions during Duncanville's 2024-2025 campaign. “Russell is an elite playmaker for the quarterback position who feathers the line between risk and reward like few others,” 247Sports Director of Scouting Andrew Ivins said. “He’s extremely accurate at all three levels [of the passing game] and there are few throws that he can’t make. He has had a star-studded supporting cast around him, but he has done more than just drive the bus. Multiple times throughout the season, he rose to the occasion and essentially turned into a superhero.” While his stats and evaluations are impressive, they represent only part of the criteria that goes into the Gatorade National Football Player of the Year honor. The award recognizes athletes who also excel off the field by demonstrating character, leadership and community involvement. Russell, who is committed to play at Alabama next year, has maintained a 3.4 GPA in the classroom and is also a member of Duncanville's National Honor Society. The senior quarterback has also volunteered with Big Brothers Big Sisters and helped distribute turkeys to families in the Duncanville community. As he celebrates this honor, Russell will still have to remain focused on the task at hand: He'll lead his team into a 6A-Division I State Semifinal matchup against North Crowley -- another one of the best teams in the state and across the country -- on Saturday, Dec. 14 at 3 p.m. See highlights of Russell from this year's matchup between Duncanville and DeSoto below:Alaska Air Group Inc. stock outperforms competitors despite losses on the day
Major power stations have left people without power as NSW residents continue to swelter through a heatwave, with temperatures tipped to reach up to 39C across parts of the state. Over the span of five days, eastern NSW has been subjected to a relentless heat spell, with residents experiencing temperatures of 35C, marking it the hottest spring in four years. The Bureau of Meteorology has maintained its three-day severe heatwave warning for eastern NSW, including Sydney, Hunter, Illawarra, Mid North Coast, South Coast and Southern Tablelands Regions, with temperatures anticipated to soar 12C above seasonal averages on Wednesday. Batemans Bay, Camden, Campbelltown, Hornsby, Liverpool Nowra, Penrith, Parramatta, Richmond and Wollongong are set to feel the brunt of the heat, with conditions in Sydney’s western suburbs expected to reach between 39-40C by 3pm on Wednesday. The heat isn’t budging this Wednesday. Picture: Bureau of Meteorology Millions of people have also been warned of possible power outages across the state, as the oppressive heatwave continue its chokehold, forcing people to stay inside and increase their energy supply to stay cool. The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) said major power stations were “unavailable” as of 11am Wednesday. “AEMO is working with industry to manage electricity reliability during high-demand, heatwave conditions in NSW with major power stations unavailable due to forced and planned outages,” the AEMO said in a statement. “We have flagged this risk to industry through market notices (lack of reserve) urging all available generation to return to service and restore all available powerlines across the grid to meet consumers’ electricity needs. “In addition, AEMO is looking to procure additional reserves (reliability and emergency reserve trader, RERT) to best manage low electricity supply forecast this afternoon and early evening. “We’re closely monitoring the situation and will keep stakeholders informed.” The blackouts began on Tuesday afternoon in several areas of Sydney, including the CBD, where Pitt St, Sussex St and King St were plunged into darkness. Early on Wednesday morning, the blackouts continued, with more than 6000 residents in Wagga Wagga and other areas of the Riverina region waking up to power outages. Sweltering conditions have caused blackouts in parts of the state. Picture: NewsWire / David Swift Although energy distributer Ausgrid confirmed that Tuesday’s outages were caused by a faulty underground cable and weren’t heat-related, the AEMO warned that energy supplies might be at “risk” as the sweltering heat continued into Wednesday. “We are experiencing some quite unseasonably hot weather ... and effectively that is a summer heatwave while we are still here in spring,” AEMO chief executive Daniel Westerman said. Combined with scheduled maintenance works on three of the state’s four coal-fired power stations in Bayswater, Vales Point and Eraring, the AEMO warned residents of a “tightness in electricity supply”. “It is pretty normal both generation and transmission to use periods in autumn and spring to undertake maintenance activities that do need to happen,” he continued. Residents can expect hot weather to stick around for a coupe of days before rain washes the heat away on Friday and Saturday. Millions of residents across NSW have suffered blackouts as the heatwave continues to grip the nation. Picture: Bureau of Meteorology The heat is also targeting parts of northern Western Australia, northern and eastern Queensland, with maximum temperatures expected to soar to the mid-to-high 30s, with severe conditions holding strong until the weekend. Locations likely to be most impacted in Queensland include Weipa and Thursday Island, with temperatures tipped to reach 38C by 3pm on Wednesday. Blackout warnings have also been issued for Queensland, with the heatwave putting a strain on energy supplies. Despite the heat in NSW, rain, thunderstorms and heavy fog continues in Victoria. Picture: Bureau of Meteorology Across Victoria, bouts of heavy fog and rain have blanketed the skies, and the humidity is expected to reach levels of 100 per cent on Wednesday. Overnight, severe thunderstorms impacted parts of northern Victoria and western, inland and southern NSW, delivering strong and damaging wind gusts and heavy rainfall, which led to flash flooding in some areas. While rain has battered Melbourne overnight, warmer conditions can be expected to seep into the state in the next two days, with the chance of showers decreasing into the weekend. A severe weather warning for damaging winds has been issued for people in parts of the northeast, East Gippsland and West and South Gippsland districts. Wind speeds exceeding 110km/h are anticipated to travel across the mountain peaks nut are expected to ease by the midafternoon. It’s a wet start to the day for Melburnians. Picture: NewsWire / Valeriu Campan On Wednesday, Sydney will reach a top of 34C, and while conditions will be mostly sunny, people can expect cloudy skies and a chance of rain in the evening. Melbourne will be wet and humid, with a top of 28C and an 80 per cent chance of showers in the early morning and afternoon as well as the chance of a severe thunderstorm. Brisbane residents can expect a wet and warm day, with partly cloudy skies, a maximum temperature of 25C and a medium chance of a shower or two in the evening. Perth will be bright and sunny on Wednesday, with a maximum temperature of 29C and top wind speeds of 35km/h. It will be a wet day in Adelaide, with a high chance of showers in the morning and early afternoon and temperatures reaching a top of 23C. Hobart residents will also need to grab their umbrellas, starting with a foggy morning and heading into the afternoon with a 90 per cent chance of rain and a potential thunderstorm. Canberra will reach a maximum temperature of 29C, with a very high chance of rain and a thunderstorm. Winds will increase to 35km/h in the morning, easing off into the afternoon and evening. People in Darwin can expect a hot and wet day, with a high likelihood of showers in the late morning and afternoon and a chance of a thunderstorm, reaching a top of 32C. Originally published as Major power stations ‘unavailable’ as heatwave worsens in NSW Environment Don't miss out on the headlines from Environment. 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 Health State on alert for thunderstorm asthma Victorians have been put on alert of a high risk of epidemic thunderstorm asthma that is about to hit parts of the state. Read more
Alexander Brothers , a multimillionaire realtor , is accused of human trafficking . Following civil lawsuits accusing the siblings of sexual misconduct, the arrests were made. Oren and Tal Alexander, two upscale real estate brokers, were arrested on Wednesday along with their brother and accused of human trafficking, as quoted in a report by the Daily Beast. Their attorneys confirmed to The Wall Street Journal that the brokers, who own the record for selling the most expensive house in America, were arrested in Florida along with Alon Alexander, a security firm executive. The siblings collaborated for well over ten years to repeatedly and violently drug, sexually assault, and rape dozens of victims, according to an indictment filed by federal prosecutors. Also Read : After being denied refund for faulty used Subaru by car dealership, Utah man did the unexpected. Details here Artificial Intelligence(AI) Basics of Generative AI: Unveiling Tomorrow's Innovations By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Artificial Intelligence(AI) Java Programming with ChatGPT: Learn using Generative AI By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Design Microsoft Designer Guide: The Ultimate AI Design Tool By - Prince Patni, Software Developer (BI, Data Science) View Program Data Science MySQL for Beginners: Learn Data Science and Analytics Skills By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Design Canva Magic Write: Ideas to Stunning Slides in No Time By - Prince Patni, Software Developer (BI, Data Science) View Program Office Productivity Mastering Microsoft Office: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and 365 By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Artificial Intelligence(AI) AI for Everyone: Understanding and Applying the Basics on Artificial Intelligence By - Ritesh Vajariya, Generative AI Expert View Program Finance A2Z Of Money By - elearnmarkets, Financial Education by StockEdge View Program Web Development Advanced C++ Mastery: OOPs and Template Techniques By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Marketing Digital Marketing Masterclass by Neil Patel By - Neil Patel, Co-Founder and Author at Neil Patel Digital Digital Marketing Guru View Program Strategy Succession Planning Masterclass By - Nigel Penny, Global Strategy Advisor: NSP Strategy Facilitation Ltd. View Program Entrepreneurship Validating Your Startup Idea: Steps to Ensure Market Fit By - Dr. Anu Khanchandani, Startup Coach with more than 25 years of experience View Program Data Analysis Animated Visualizations with Flourish Studio: Beginner to Pro By - Prince Patni, Software Developer (BI, Data Science) View Program Artificial Intelligence(AI) AI and Analytics based Business Strategy By - Tanusree De, Managing Director- Accenture Technology Lead, Trustworthy AI Center of Excellence: ATCI View Program Office Productivity Zero to Hero in Microsoft Excel: Complete Excel guide 2024 By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Data Science SQL for Data Science along with Data Analytics and Data Visualization By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Web Development JavaScript Essentials: Unlock AI-Driven Insights with ChatGPT By - Metla Sudha Sekhar, IT Specialist and Developer View Program Entrepreneurship Marketing & Sales Strategies for Startups: From Concept to Conversion By - Dr. Anu Khanchandani, Startup Coach with more than 25 years of experience View Program Leadership Business Storytelling Masterclass By - Ameen Haque, Founder of Storywallahs View Program Marketing Modern Marketing Masterclass by Seth Godin By - Seth Godin, Former dot com Business Executive and Best Selling Author View Program According to the indictment, the brothers occasionally used the promise of luxury experiences to lure and entice women to locations where they were then forcibly raped or sexually assaulted, sometimes by multiple men, including one or more of the Alexander brothers. Alon and Oren Alexander, 37, were accused of rape in lawsuits filed by two women earlier this year. In a subsequent filing, the Journal reported that similar allegations were made against their 38-year-old brother, Tal Alexander. The three have refuted the allegations, and their solicitors have deemed the civil cases without merit. According to Bloomberg, on Wednesday morning, police cars and FBI agents were spotted outside Oren's Miami Beach waterfront mansion. The outlet was informed by a representative of the bureau's New York office that agents were carrying out research. Following their departure from Douglas Elliman, Oren and Tal Alexander co-founded the real estate company Official in 2022. The brokerage has been featured on reality TV programs such as Million$ Listing. Other executives and agents left Official after the civil allegations surfaced this year, and the brothers resigned from their positions. Also Read : As the Eras tour ended, here's what Taylor Swift has lined up next The website of the family's private security company, Kent Security, no longer features Alon Alexander's name. In 2019, the Alexander brothers sold a $238 million Manhattan penthouse to Ken Griffin, the founder of the billionaire hedge fund Citadel . The transaction became the most costly home sale in American history. FAQs What are the Alexander brothers charged with? Oren and Tal Alexander have been accused of drugging, sexually assaulting, and raping victims for more than a decade, often luring them with promises of luxury experiences. What impact will these charges have on their business? Following the allegations, the Alexander brothers resigned from their real estate firm, Official, as the company experienced significant executive departures. Their names were also removed from other family businesses, including Kent Security. (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel )
NBA Rumors: Jae Crowder, Kings Nearing Contract After Bucks, Suns StintsDETROIT (AP) — If Donald Trump makes good on his threat to slap 25% tariffs on everything imported from Mexico and Canada, the price increases that could follow will collide with his campaign promise to give American families a break from inflation. Economists say companies would have little choice but to pass along the added costs, dramatically raising prices for food, clothing, automobiles, booze and other goods. The president-elect floated the tariff idea, including additional 10% taxes on goods from China, as a way to force the countries to halt the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs into the U.S. But his posts Monday on Truth Social threatening the tariffs on his first day in office could just be a negotiating ploy to get the countries to change behavior. High food prices were a major issue in voters picking Trump over Vice President Kamala Harris, but tariffs almost certainly would push those costs up even further. For instance, the Produce Distributors Association, a Washington trade group, said Tuesday that tariffs will raise prices for fresh fruit and vegetables and hurt U.S. farmers when other countries retaliate. “Tariffs distort the marketplace and will raise prices along the supply chain, resulting in the consumer paying more at the checkout line,” said Alan Siger, association president. Mexico and Canada are two of the biggest exporters of fresh fruit and vegetables to the U.S. In 2022, Mexico supplied 51% of fresh fruit and 69% of fresh vegetables imported by value into the U.S., while Canada supplied 2% of fresh fruit and 20% of fresh vegetables. Before the election, about 7 in 10 voters said they were very concerned about the cost of food, according to AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 120,000 voters. “We’ll get them down,” Trump told shoppers during a September visit to a Pennsylvania grocery store. The U.S. is the largest importer of goods in the world, with Mexico, China and Canada its top three suppliers, according to the most recent U.S. Census data. People looking to buy a new vehicle likely would see big price increases as well, at a time when costs have gone up so much they are out of reach for many. The average price of a new vehicle now runs around $48,000. About 15% of the 15.6 million new vehicles sold in the U.S. last year came from Mexico, while 8% crossed the border from Canada, according to Global Data. Much of the tariffs would get passed along to consumers, unless automakers can somehow quickly find productivity improvements to offset them, said C.J. Finn, U.S. automotive sector leader for PwC. That means even more consumers “would potentially get priced out,” Finn said. Hardest hit would be Volkswagen, Stellantis, General Motors and Ford, Bernstein analyst Daniel Roeska wrote Tuesday in a note to investors. “A 25% tariff on Mexico and Canada would severely cripple the U.S. auto industry,” he said. The tariffs would hurt U.S. industrial production so much that “we expect this is unlikely to happen in practice,” Roeska said. The tariff threat hit auto stocks on Tuesday, particularly shares of GM, which imports about 30% of the vehicles it sells in the U.S. from Canada and Mexico, and Stellantis, which imports about 40% from the two countries. For both, about 55% of their lucrative pickup trucks come from Mexico and Canada. GM stock lost almost 9% of its value, while Stellantis dropped nearly 6%. It's not clear how long the tariffs would last if implemented, but they could force auto executives to move production to the U.S., which could create more jobs in the long run. However, Morningstar analyst David Whiston said automakers probably won't make any immediate moves because they can't quickly change where they build vehicles. Millions of dollars worth of auto parts flow across the borders with Mexico and Canada, and that could raise prices for already costly automobile repairs, Finn said. The Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S. said tariffs on tequila or Canadian whisky won’t boost American jobs because they are distinctive products that can only be made in their country of origin. In 2023, the U.S. imported $4.6 billion worth of tequila and $108 million worth of mezcal from Mexico and $537 million worth of spirits from Canada, it said. “Tariffs on spirits products from our neighbors to the north and south are going to hurt U.S. consumers and lead to job losses across the U.S. hospitality industry,” it added. Electronics retailer Best Buy said on its third-quarter earnings conference call that it runs on thin profit margins, so while vendors and the company will shoulder some increases, Best Buy will have to pass tariffs to customers. “These are goods that people need, and higher prices are not helpful,” CEO Corie Barry said. Walmart also warned last week that tariffs could force it to raise prices. Tariffs could trigger supply chain disruptions as people buy goods before they are imposed and companies seek alternate sources of parts, said Rob Handfield, a professor of supply chain management at North Carolina State University. Some businesses might not be able to pass on the costs. “It could actually shut down a lot of industries in the United States. It could actually put a lot of U.S. businesses out of business,” he said. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who talked with Trump after his call for tariffs, said they had a good conversation about working together. "This is a relationship that we know takes a certain amount of working on and that’s what we’ll do,” Trudeau said. Trump's threats come as arrests for illegally crossing the border from Mexico have been falling . But arrests for illegally crossing the border from Canada have been rising over the past two years. Much of America’s fentanyl is smuggled from Mexico, and seizures have increased. Trump has sound legal justification to impose tariffs, even though they conflict with a 2020 trade deal brokered in large part by Trump with Canada and Mexico, said William Reinsch, senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a former Clinton administration trade official. The treaty, known as the USMCA, is up for review in 2026. In China’s case, he could simply declare Beijing hasn't met obligations under an agreement he negotiated in his first term. For Canada and Mexico, he could say the influx of migrants and drugs are a national security threat, and turn to a section of trade law he used in his first term to slap tariffs on steel and aluminum. The law he would most likely use for Canada and Mexico has a legal process that often takes up to nine months, giving Trump time to seek a deal. If talks failed and the duties were imposed, all three countries would likely retaliate with tariffs on U.S. exports, said Reinsch, who believes Trump's tariffs threat is a negotiating ploy. U.S. companies would lobby intensively against tariffs, and would seek to have products exempted. Some of the biggest exporters from Mexico are U.S. firms that make parts there, Reinsch said. Longer term, Mary Lovely, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said the threat of tariffs could make the U.S. an “unstable partner” in international trade. “It is an incentive to move activity outside the United States to avoid all this uncertainty,” she said. Trump transition team officials did not immediately respond to questions about what he would need to see to prevent the tariffs from being implemented and how they would impact prices in the U.S. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum suggested Tuesday that Mexico could retaliate with tariffs of its own. Sheinbaum said she was willing to talk about the issues, but said drugs were a U.S. problem. ___ Rugaber reported from Washington. AP reporters Dee-Ann Durbin in Detroit, Stan Choe and Anne D'Innocenzio in New York, and Rob Gillies in Toronto contributed to this report.
In a surprising turn of events, the has issued warnings to Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands over excessive public spending, marking a role reversal for the EU’s staunchest proponents of fiscal discipline. As Brussels enforces its revamped austerity framework post-pandemic, these traditionally frugal nations find themselves in the spotlight, alongside countries like Belgium and Bulgaria. Meanwhile, France, Italy, and Greece—once infamous for their budgetary excesses—received Brussels’ approval for their spending plans, showcasing a shift in the bloc’s economic dynamics. Austerity Rules Return: Why It Matters After years of suspension due to COVID-19 and the energy crisis, the EU’s fiscal rules have made a comeback with stricter enforcement. Member states must not only cap deficits below 3% of GDP but also present credible long-term plans for financial stability. Most Read on Euro Weekly News Key Highlights from Brussels’ Latest Review: Germany, despite its leading role in shaping the revised rules, failed to align its expenditure with EU limits and missed deadlines for submitting a medium-term fiscal plan. Austria faces criticism for projecting deficits exceeding 3% in coming years, potentially triggering excessive deficit procedures (EDP). The Netherlands, under its new coalition led by Geert Wilders’ far-right Freedom Party, became the only country to outright fail its medium-term fiscal evaluation. : From Leader to Laggard Germany’s predicament is particularly striking. Finance Minister Christian Lindner had championed the introduction of “automatic rules” and strict compliance metrics during the reform negotiations. Yet, the country now faces censure for overspending and an economic downturn exacerbated by political instability. With national elections looming in February and Lindner’s recent departure from Olaf Scholz’s coalition government, Germany’s fiscal missteps could heavily influence the campaign. “We are dealing with a split government and an innovation crisis,” remarked Stefan Berger, a centre-right MEP, blaming internal discord for Germany’s economic troubles. Austria and the : Political disruptions and rising deficits Austria, still mired in coalition talks, has drawn scrutiny for its continued deficit breaches. Brussels’ Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis warned that additional monitoring might be necessary, underscoring the challenges Vienna faces in regaining fiscal discipline. The Netherlands, often regarded as a paragon of financial prudence, has adopted a defiant stance under its new leadership. Dutch authorities waived their right to submit a revised plan and accepted Commission projections that predict rising deficits. France’s Balancing Act: Approval amid political tensions In a stark contrast to its northern counterparts, France earned a green light from Brussels for its fiscal plans, despite intense domestic turmoil. The government, led by Michel Barnier, faces a precarious minority position in parliament, with far-right leader Marine Le Pen threatening a no-confidence vote over disputes on tax policies and pensions. Claire Fita, a socialist MEP, argued against austerity measures, stating, “The focus should be on skills, jobs, and growth. Austerity is a step in the wrong direction.” Implications for the EU’s Future The divergence between northern and southern EU members in complying with fiscal rules reveals shifting economic realities and political priorities within the bloc. As the Commission tightens its grip on financial discipline, the coming months will test the resilience of Europe’s economic governance framework. For Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands, addressing Brussels’ warnings is not just a matter of compliance—it’s a question of political and economic survival.Trump says he can't guarantee tariffs won't raise prices, won't rule out revenge prosecutions
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Amazon Is Clearing Out Console Stock For Black Friday, The Xbox Series X Is at a Record Low Price
Google on Wednesday announced the launch of Gemini 2.0, its most advanced artificial intelligence model to date, as the world's tech giants race to take the lead in the fast developing technology. CEO Sundar Pichai said the new model would mark what the company calls "a new agentic era" in AI development, with AI models designed to understand and make decisions about the world around you. "Gemini 2.0 is about making information much more useful," Pichai said in the announcement, emphasizing the model's enhanced ability to understand context, think multiple steps ahead and take supervised actions on behalf of users. The developments "bring us closer to our vision of a universal assistant," he added. The release sent shares in Google soaring by more than four percent on Wall Street a day after the stock already gained 3.5 percent after the release of a breakthrough quantum chip. The tech giants are furiously taking steps to release more powerful AI models despite their immense cost and some questions about their immediate usefulness to the broader economy. An AI "agent," the latest Silicon Valley trend, is a digital helper that is supposed to sense surroundings, make decisions, and take actions to achieve specific goals. The tech giants promise that agents will be the next stage of an AI revolution that was sparked by the 2022 launch of ChatGPT, which took the world by storm. Gemini 2.0 is initially being rolled out to developers and trusted testers, with plans for broader integration across Google's products, particularly in Search and the Gemini platform. The technology is powered by Google's sixth-generation TPU (Tensor Processing Unit) hardware, dubbed Trillium, which the company has now made generally available to customers. Google emphasized that Trillium processors were used exclusively for both training and running Gemini 2.0. Most AI training has been monopolized by chip juggernaut Nvidia, which has been catapulted by the AI explosion to become one of the world's most valuable companies. Google said that millions of developers are already building applications with Gemini technology, which has been integrated into seven Google products, each serving more than two billion users. Gemini 2.0's powers are expected to come in early 2025 to Google's search application, still the company's main money-maker. The first release from the 2.0 family of models will be Flash, offering faster performance while handling multiple types of input (text, images, video, audio) and output (including generated images and speech). Gemini users worldwide can already tap into a chat-only version of Flash, the company said, with testers given access to a multimodal version that can interpret images and surroundings. Google also said it was experimenting with a product that can use software apps, websites and other online tools, much like a human user. OpenAI and Anthropic have unveiled similar features. The company also teased a new version of Project Astra, a smartphone digital assistant like Apple's Siri that responds to images as well as verbal commands. arp/desUCF coach Gus Malzahn reportedly resigning to take Florida State OC jobKonrad Stefan Montsko died peacefully on Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024, at Great River Klein Center in West Burlington. He was born on March 21, 1949, to Stefan and Maria (Gurka) Montsko, in Hohen Schönberg, Mecklenburg, near the Baltic Sea in East Germany. His family was resettled after World War II from Czechoslovakia to East Germany, fled to West Germany in 1952, and immigrated to the United States in 1956. He graduated from Notre Dame High School in 1965. He belonged to SS. Mary and Patrick Catholic Church in West Burlington, Divine Mercy Parish. Konrad worked in a variety of industries, including manufacturing of agricultural equipment, military ammunition, commercial building systems, and food products. He worked in construction and sold life insurance. He was very sociable and especially enjoyed jobs as a bartender and a casino poker dealer. Once he retired, he offered rides to many folks who happened to need transportation for errands or appointments, and he helped homebound friends. Konrad loved taking photos at social gatherings, and especially of nature all around him in every season and in every kind of light. He enjoyed card and board games. He joined a bowling league and liked to play pool. His great adventure was skydiving. He hated shopping and did not care about accumulating or managing stuff. Even as a child, he gave any unused items away. Konrad had a kind and generous nature and deep faith, with an impulsive mischievous fun side. He was grateful for whatever blessings came his way and for all the friends and acquaintances who shared or touched his life, including all the interesting residents at the Friedenheim community where he lived for several years. He was moved by all the thoughtful folks who visited him at Klein Center. And he was thankful for the excellent care provided by the dedicated Klein Center staff. Konrad was preceded in death by his parents. He is survived by his sister, Anna, of Park Ridge, Illinois, and a few remaining scattered cousins. Memorial contributions may be made to Divine Mercy Parish, 502 West Mount Pleasant Street, West Burlington IA 52655. Cremation was entrusted to Lunning Chapel. A graveside service will be at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 26 (weather permitting), in Sacred Heart Cemetery, officiated by Father Dominic Nguyen.
NoneHouse approves $895B defense bill with military pay raise, ban on transgender care for minors
Ian Schieffelin, Clemson topple Penn State to win Sunshine SlamORLANDO, Fla. — UCF coach Gus Malzahn is resigning after four seasons with the school. ESPN’s Pete Thamel was the first to report the move, which will see Malzahn to leave to take the offensive coordinator job at Florida State. Malzahn previously worked with FSU coach Mike Norvell during their time at Tulsa under then-coach Todd Graham from 2007-08. The Knights ended a disappointing 4-8 season in which they lost eight of their last nine games, the longest losing streak since 2015. Malzahn, 59, was in the fourth year of a contract through 2028. His buyout, it is reported, would have been $13.75 million. He finished 27-25 at UCF but lost 16 of his last 22 games and was a dismal 4-14 in two seasons in the Big 12. After back-to-back nine-win seasons in 2021-22, the Knights went 6-7 in 2023 and 4-8 in 2024. This season started with high expectations as Malzahn made sweeping changes to the program. He retooled the strength and conditioning department and hired Ted Roof and Tim Harris Jr. as defensive and offensive coordinators, respectively. He also added nearly 50 new players to the roster, leaning heavily on the transfer market. UCF started by winning its first three games against New Hampshire, Sam Houston and a thrilling comeback at TCU, but offensive struggles saw the Knights tumble through a TBD-game losing streak to finish the season. Terry Mohajir hired Malzahn on Feb. 15, 2021, six days after he was hired to replace Danny White. The move came eight weeks after Malzahn had been fired at Auburn after eight seasons of coaching the Tigers. The two briefly worked together at Arkansas State in 2012 before Malzahn left for the Auburn job. “When he [Mohajir] offered the job, I was like, ‘I’m in.’ There wasn’t thinking about or talking about ...,” Malzahn said during his introductory press conference. “This will be one of the best programs in college football in a short time. This is a job that I plan on being here and building it.” UCF opened the 2021 season with non-conference wins over Boise State and Bethune-Cookman before traveling to Louisville on Sept. 17, where quarterback Dillon Gabriel suffered a fractured collarbone in the final minute of a 42-35 loss. Backup Mikey Keene would finish out the season as Gabriel announced his intention to transfer. The Knights would finish the season on the plus side by accepting a bid to join the Big 12 Conference in September and then by defeating Florida 29-17 in the Gasparilla Bowl. Malzahn struck transfer portal gold in the offseason when he signed former Ole Miss quarterback John Rhys Plumlee. Plumlee, a two-sport star with the Rebels, helped guide UCF to the American Athletic Conference Championship in its final season. However, Plumlee’s injury forced the Knights to go with Keene and freshman Thomas Castellanos. The team finished with losses to Tulane in the conference championship and Duke in the Military Bowl. Plumlee would return in 2023 as UCF transitioned to the Big 12 but would go down with a knee injury in the final minute of the Knights’ 18-16 win at Boise State on Sept. 9. He would miss the next four games as backup Timmy McClain took over the team. Even on his return, Plumlee couldn’t help UCF, on a five-game losing streak to open conference play. The Knights got their first Big 12 win at Cincinnati on Nov. 4 and upset No. 15 Oklahoma State the following week, but the team still needed a win over Houston in the regular-season finale to secure a bowl bid for the eighth straight season. From the moment Malzahn stepped on campus, he prioritized recruiting, particularly in Central Florida. “We’re going to recruit like our hair’s on fire,” Malzahn said at the time. “We’re going to go after the best players in America and we’re not backing down to anybody.” From 2007 to 2020, UCF signed 10 four-star high school and junior college prospects. Eight four-star prospects were in the three recruiting classes signed under Malzahn. The 2024 recruiting class earned a composite ranking of 39 from 247Sports, the highest-ranked class in school history. The 2025 recruiting class is ranked No. 41 and has commitments from three four-star prospects. Malzahn has always leaned on the transfer market, signing 60 players over the past three seasons. Some have paid huge dividends, such as Javon Baker, Lee Hunter, Kobe Hudson, Tylan Grable, Bula Schmidt, Amari Kight, Marcellus Marshall, Trent Whittemore, Gage King, Ethan Barr, Deshawn Pace and Plumlee. Others haven’t been as successful, such as quarterback KJ Jefferson, who started the first five games of this season before being benched for poor performance. Jefferson’s struggles forced the Knights to play musical chairs at quarterback, with true freshman EJ Colson, redshirt sophomore Jacurri Brown and redshirt freshman Dylan Rizk all seeing action at one point or another this season. This season’s struggles led to several players utilizing the NCAA’s redshirt rule after four games, including starting slot receiver Xavier Townsend and kicker Colton Boomer, who have also entered the transfer portal. Defensive end Kaven Call posted a letter to Malzahn on Twitter in which he accused the UCF coaching staff of recently kicking him off the team when he requested to be redshirted. Get local news delivered to your inbox!NEW YORK — George Joseph Kresge Jr., who was known to generations of TV watchers as the mesmerizing entertainer and mentalist The Amazing Kreskin, has died at age 89. Kreskin's friend and former road manager, Ryan Galway, told The Associated Press that he died Tuesday at his home in Caldwell, New Jersey, where he spent much of his life. Galway said Kreskin had not been feeling well in recent weeks but otherwise did not provide a cause of death. FILE - George Joseph Kresge Jr., better known as "The Amazing Kreskin," poses for a portrait in Toronto on April 24, 2007. Inspired by the crime-fighting comic book character Mandrake the Magician, Kreskin launched his television career in the 1960s and remained popular for decades, making guest appearances on talk shows hosted by everyone from Merv Griffin to Johnny Carson to Jimmy Fallon. Fans would welcome, if not entirely figure out, his favorite mind tricks — whether correctly guessing a playing card chosen at random, or, most famously, divining where his paycheck had been planted among the audience. He also hosted his own show in the 1970s, gave live performances and wrote numerous books, including “Secrets of the Amazing Kreskin” and “Mental Power Is Real.” Although he was a talk show regular, one host wasn't amused by a Kreskin stunt. In 2002, he claimed that a UFO would appear over Las Vegas on the night of June 2, and added that he would donate $50,000 to charity if he was wrong. Hundreds of people gathered in the desert, in vain. Kreskin acknowledged to radio personality Art Bell that his prediction was a hoax, a way of proving that the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks the year before had made people susceptible to manipulation. Bell called the ruse “lame, lame, lame” and banned him from his show. Galway said that Kreskin continued to make live appearances well into his 80s, and only stopped earlier this year after injuring himself in a fall. Kreskin never married and left no immediate survivors. “His career was his life. That was his marriage,” Galway said. “He was dedicated to his craft.” FILE - Mentalist George Joseph Kresge, known as "The Amazing Kreskin," attends a screening of "The Great Buck Howard" in New York on March 10, 2009. Glynis Johns, a Tony Award-winning stage and screen star who played the mother opposite Julie Andrews in the classic movie “Mary Poppins” and introduced the world to the bittersweet standard-to-be “Send in the Clowns” by Stephen Sondheim, died, Thursday, Jan. 4, 2023. She was 100. Adan Canto, the Mexican singer and actor best known for his roles in “X-Men: Days of Future Past” and “Agent Game” as well as the TV series “The Cleaning Lady,” “Narcos,” and “Designated Survivor,” died Monday, Jan. 8, 2024, after a private battle with appendiceal cancer. He was 42. Bud Harrelson, the scrappy and sure-handed shortstop who fought Pete Rose on the field during a playoff game and helped the New York Mets win an astonishing championship, died Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024. He was 79. The Mets said that Harrelson died at a hospice house in East Northport, New York after a long battle with Alzheimer's. Golden State Warriors assistant coach Dejan Milojević, a mentor to two-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic and a former star player in his native Serbia, died Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024, after suffering a heart attack, the team announced. He was 46. Jack Burke Jr., the oldest living Masters champion who staged the greatest comeback ever at Augusta National for one of his two majors, died Friday, Jan. 19, 2024, in Houston. He was 100. Mary Weiss, the lead singer of the 1960s pop group the Shangri-Las, whose hits included “The Leader of the Pack,” died Friday, Jan. 19, 2024, in Palm Springs, Calif. She was 75. Norman Jewison, a three-time Oscar nominee who in 1999 received an Academy Award for lifetime achievement, died “peacefully” Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024, according to publicist Jeff Sanderson. He was 97. Charles Osgood, who anchored “CBS Sunday Morning” for more than two decades, hosted the long-running radio program “The Osgood File” and was referred to as CBS News’ poet-in-residence, died Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024. He was 91. Melanie, a singer-songwriter behind 1970s hits including “Brand New Key,” died Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024. She was 76. Born Melanie Safka, the singer rose through the New York folk scene and was one of only three solo women to perform at Woodstock. Her hits included “Lay Down” and “Look What They've Done to My Song Ma.” Chita Rivera, the dynamic dancer, singer and actress who garnered 10 Tony nominations, winning twice, in a long Broadway career that forged a path for Latina artists, died Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2024. She was 91. Carl Weathers, a former NFL linebacker who became a Hollywood action movie and comedy star, playing nemesis-turned-ally Apollo Creed in the “Rocky” movies, facing-off against Arnold Schwarzenegger in “Predator” and teaching golf in “Happy Gilmore,” died Thursday, Feb. 1, 2024. He was 76. Wayne Kramer, the co-founder of the protopunk Detroit band the MC5 that thrashed out such hardcore anthems as “Kick Out the Jams” and influenced everyone from the Clash to Rage Against the Machine, died Friday, Feb. 2, 2024. at Cedars-Sinai hospital in Los Angeles, according to Jason Heath, a close friend and executive director of Kramer's charity, Jail Guitar Doors. Heath said the cause of death was pancreatic cancer. He was 75. Actor Ian Lavender, who played a hapless Home Guard soldier in the classic British sitcom “Dad’s Army,” died Monday, Feb. 5, 2024. He was 77. Country music singer-songwriter Toby Keith, whose pro-American anthems were both beloved and criticized, died Monday, Feb. 5, 2024. He was 62. Henry Fambrough, the last surviving original member of the iconic R&B group The Spinners, whose hits included “It’s a Shame,” “Could It Be I’m Falling In Love,” and “The Rubberband Man,” died Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2024, of natural causes, according to a statement from his spokeswoman. He was 85. Bob Edwards, right, the news anchor many Americans woke up to as founding host of National Public Radio's “Morning Edition” for nearly a quarter-century, died Saturday, Feb. 10, 20243. He was 76. He's shown here with sports announcer Red Barber. Don Gullett, a former major league pitcher and coach who played for four consecutive World Series champions in the 1970s, died Feb. 14. He was 73. He finished his playing career with a 109-50 record playing for the Cincinnati Reds and New York Yankees. Lefty Driesell, the coach whose folksy drawl belied a fiery on-court demeanor that put Maryland on the college basketball map and enabled him to rebuild several struggling programs, died Feb. 17, 2024, at age 92. Germany players celebrate after Andreas Brehme, left on ground, scores the winning goal in the World Cup soccer final match against Argentina, in the Olympic Stadium, in Rome, July 8, 1990. Andreas Brehme, who scored the only goal as West Germany beat Argentina to win the 1990 World Cup final, died Feb. 20, 2024. He was 63. Despite the effort of Denver Broncos defensive back Steve Foley (43), Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Golden Richards hauls in a touchdown pass during NFL football's Super Bowl 12 in New Orleans on Jan 15, 1978. Richards died Friday, Feb. 23, 2024, of congestive heart failure at his home in Murray, Utah. He was 73. Richards' nephew Lance Richards confirmed his death in a post on his Facebook page. Comedian Richard Lewis attends an NBA basketball game in Los Angeles on Dec. 25, 2012. Lewis, an acclaimed comedian known for exploring his neuroses in frantic, stream-of-consciousness diatribes while dressed in all-black, leading to his nickname “The Prince of Pain,” died Feb. 27, 2024. He was 76. He died at his home in Los Angeles on Tuesday night after suffering a heart attack, according to his publicist Jeff Abraham. Former Soviet Prime Minister Nikolai Ryzhkov attends a session of the Federation Council, Russian parliament's upper house, in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, June 25, 2014. Ryzhkov, former Soviet prime minister who presided over failed efforts to shore up the crumbling economy in the final years before the collapse of the USSR, died Feb. 28, 2024, at age 94. Brian Mulroney, the former prime minister of Canada, listens during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the Canada-U.S.-Mexico relationship, Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2018, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Mulroney died at the age of 84 on Feb. 29, 2024. Akira Toriyama is pictured in 1982. Toriyama, the creator of one of Japan's best-selling “Dragon Ball” and other popular anime who influenced Japanese comics, died March 1, 2024. He was 68. Iris Apfel, a textile expert, interior designer and fashion celebrity known for her eccentric style, died March 1, 2024, at 102. Andy Russell, the standout linebacker who was an integral part of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ evolution from perennial losers to champions, died Feb. 29, 2024. He was 82. Russell won two Super Bowls during a 12-year NFL career between 1963-76 that was briefly interrupted by a stint in the military. Russell played in 168 consecutive games and spent 10 years as a team captain. He was named to the Pro Bowl seven times. Russell remained active in the Pittsburgh community after retiring, writing several books and launching the Andy Russell Charitable Foundation. Pittsburgh Pirates' Ed Ott slides across home late out of reach of Orioles catcher Rick Dempsey to score the winning run in the ninth inning of Game 2 of the World Series at Baltimore, Oct. 11, 1979. Ott, a former major league catcher and coach who helped the Pittsburgh Pirates win the 1979 World Series, died March 3, 2024. He was 72. He batted .259 with 33 homers and 195 RBIs in 567 major league games. Ott and Steve Nicosia were the main catchers when the Pirates won it all in 1979. In a photo supplied by ESPN, Chris Mortensen appears on the set of Sunday NFL Countdown at ESPN's studios in Bristol, Conn., on Sept. 22, 2019. Mortensen, the award-winning journalist who covered the NFL for close to four decades, including 32 as a senior analyst at ESPN, died March 3, 2024. He was 72. Mortensen announced in 2016 that he he had been diagnosed with throat cancer. Even while undergoing treatment, he was the first to confirm the retirement of Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning. Mortensen announced his retirement after the NFL draft last year so that he could “focus on my health, family and faith.” Singer Steve Lawrence, left, and his wife Eydie Gorme arrive at a black-tie gala called honoring Frank Sinatra in Las Vegas on May 30, 1998. Lawrence, a singer and top stage act who as a solo performer and in tandem with his wife Gorme kept Tin Pan Alley alive during the rock era, died Wednesday, March 6, 2024 at age 88. Gorme died on Aug. 10, 2013. Martin Luther King III, right, the son of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., walks with his daughter Yolanda, and Naomi Barber King, left, the wife of Rev. King's brother, A.D., through an exhibition devoted to the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to King at the Martin Luther King Jr. Historical Site, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2014, in Atlanta. Civil rights activist Naomi Barber King died Thursday, March 7, 2024, in Atlanta, according to family members. She was 92. A Texas man who spent decades using an iron lung after contracting polio as a child died March 11, 2024, at the age of 78. Paul Alexander's longtime friend Daniel Spinks says Alexander died Monday at a Dallas hospital. Spinks called his friend one of the "bright stars of the world.” Friends of Alexander, who graduated from law school and had a career as an attorney, say he was a man who had a great joy for life. Alexander was a child when he began using an iron lung, a cylinder that encased his body as the air pressure in the chamber forced air in and out of his lungs. Astronaut Thomas P. Stafford stands near the NASA Motor Vessel Retriever during training Aug. 23, 1965, in the Gulf of Mexico. Stafford, who commanded a dress rehearsal flight for the 1969 moon landing and the first U.S.-Soviet space linkup, died March 18, 2024, at 93. New York Rangers' Chris Simon celebrates his second-period goal against the New York Islanders, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2004, at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y. Former NHL enforcer Chris Simon has died. He was 52. Simon died March 18, 2024, according to a spokesperson for the NHL Players' Association. M. Emmet Walsh arrives at the 2014 Film Independent Spirit Awards, March 1, 2014, in Santa Monica, Calif. Walsh, the character actor who brought his unmistakable face and unsettling presence to films including “Blood Simple” and “Blade Runner,” died March 19, 2024, at age 88, his manager said Wednesday. "Babar" author Laurent de Brunhoff, who revived his father's popular picture book series about an elephant-king, has died at 98 after being in hospice care for two weeks. De Brunhoff was a Paris native who moved to the U.S. in the 1980s. He died March 22, 2024, at his home in Key West, Florida. Just 12 years old when his father, Jean de Brunhoff, died of tuberculosis, Laurent drew upon his own gifts as a painter and storyteller and as an adult released dozens of books about the elephant who reigns over Celesteville, among them "Babar at the Circus" and "Babar's Yoga for Elephants." Longtime Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos has died at the age of 94. His family announced in a statement that Angelos, who had been ill for several years, died March 23, 2024. Angelos was owner of an Orioles team that endured long losing stretches and shrewd proprietor of a law firm that won high-profile cases against industry titans such as tobacco giant Philip Morris. Angelos’ death came as his son, John, was in the process of selling the Orioles to a group headed by Carlyle Group Inc. co-founder David Rubenstein. Peter Angelos purchased the team for $173 million in 1993, at the time the highest for a sports franchise. His public role diminished significantly in his final years. Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore, left, and his running mate, vice presidential candidate Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, wave to supporters Oct. 25, 2000, at a campaign rally in Jackson, Tenn. Lieberman died March 27, 2024. He was 82 and died Wednesday of complications from a fall. Lieberman nearly won the vice presidency on Democrat Al Gore's ticket in the disputed 2000 White House race. Eight years later, he came close to joining the GOP ticket as John McCain’s running mate. The Democrat-turned-independent stepped down from the Senate in January 2013 after 24 years. His independent streak often irked Senate Democrats he aligned with. Yet his support for gay rights, civil rights, abortion rights and environmental causes at times won him the praise of many liberals over the years. Louis Gossett Jr., the first Black man to win a supporting actor Oscar and an Emmy winner for his role in the seminal TV miniseries “Roots,” died March 28, 2024. He was 87. Gossett always thought of his early career as a reverse Cinderella story, with success finding him from an early age and propelling him forward, toward his Academy Award for “An Officer and a Gentleman.” He also was a star on Broadway, replacing Billy Daniels in “Golden Boy” with Sammy Davis Jr. in 1964 and recently played an obstinate patriarch in the 2023 remake of “The Color Purple.” Former cast members of SCTV, from left, Dave Thomas, Joe Flaherty, Catherine O'Hara, Andrea Martin, foreground, Harold Ramis, Eugene Levy and Martin Short, pose at the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival on March 6, 1999, in Aspen, Colo. Flaherty, a founding member of the Canadian sketch series “SCTV,” died Monday, April 1, 2024 at age 82. John Sinclair talks at the John Sinclair Foundation Café and Coffeeshop, Dec. 26, 2018, in Detroit. Sinclair, a poet, music producer and counterculture figure whose lengthy prison sentence after a series of small-time pot busts inspired a John Lennon song and a star-studded 1971 concert to free him, has died at age 82. Sinclair died Tuesday, April 2, 2024 at Detroit Receiving Hospital of congestive heart failure following an illness, his publicist Matt Lee said. Boston Red Sox president Larry Lucchino, right, tips his cap to fans as majority owner John Henry holds the 2013 World Series championship trophy during a parade in celebration of the baseball team's win, Saturday, Nov. 2, 2013, in Boston. Larry Lucchino, the force behind baseball’s retro ballpark revolution and the transformation of the Boston Red Sox from cursed losers to World Series champions, has died. He was 78. Lucchino had suffered from cancer. The Triple-A Worcester Red Sox, his last project in a career that also included three major league baseball franchises and one in the NFL, confirmed his death on Tuesday, April 2, 2024. Playwright Christopher Durang appears on stage with producers to accept the award for best play for "Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike" at the 67th Annual Tony Awards, on June 9, 2013 in New York. Also on stage are actors, background from left, Shalita Grant, Kristine Nielsen and Billy Magnussen. Durang died Tuesday, April 2, 2024, at his home in Pipersville, Pennsylvania, of complications from logopenic primary progressive aphasia. He was 75. In this Oct. 16, 1969 file photo, New York Mets catcher Jerry Grote, right, embraces pitcher Jerry Koosman as Ed Charles, left, joins the celebration after the Mets defeated the Baltimore Orioles in the Game 5 to win the baseball World Series at New York's Shea Stadium. Grote, the catcher who helped transform the New York Mets from a perennial loser into the 1969 World Series champion, died Sunday, April 7, 2024. He was 81. In this July 8, 2003 photo, Lori, left, and George Schappell, conjoined twins, are photographed in their Reading, Pa., apartment. Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died April 7, 2024, at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. They were 62. The University of Edinburgh says Nobel prize-winning physicist Peter Higgs, who proposed the existence of a sub-atomic particle that came to be known as the Higgs boson, died April 8, 2024, at 94. Higgs predicted the existence of the particle in 1964. But it would be almost 50 years before the its existence could be confirmed at a particle collider in Switzerland called the Large Hadron Collider. Higgs’ work helps scientists understand of the most fundamental riddles of the universe: how the Big Bang created something out of nothing 13.7 billion years ago. Higgs won the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work, alongside Francois Englert of Belgium. A retired U.S. Army colonel who was awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism during the Korean War died April 8, 2024, at age 97. A funeral home says that Ralph Puckett Jr. died Monday at his home in Columbus, Georgia. President Joe Biden presented Puckett with the Medal of Honor in 2021, more than seven decades after Puckett was seriously wounded leading an outnumbered company of Army Rangers in battle. Puckett refused a medical discharge and served as an Army officer for another 20 years before retiring in 1971. Puckett received the U.S. military's highest honor from President Joe Biden on May 21, 2021, following a policy change that lifted a requirement for medals to be given within five years of a valorous act. O.J. Simpson, left, grimaces June 15, 1995, in a Los Angeles courtroom as he famously tries on one of the leather gloves prosecutors say he wore the night his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman were murdered. Simpson, t he decorated football star who was acquitted of charges he killed his former wife and her friend but wound up in prison years later in an unrelated case, died April 10, 2024. He was 76. His family made an announcement Thursday in a statement on Simpson's X account. Simpson said last year that he was battling prostate cancer. Simpson’s gridiron legacy was forever overshadowed by the 1994 knife slayings of Brown Simpson and Goldman. A criminal court jury found him not guilty of murder, but a separate civil trial jury found him liable. Simpson's nine-year prison stint in Nevada was for the armed robbery of two sports memorabilia dealers. Francis Coppola and wife, Eleanor, pose July 16, 1991, in Los Angeles. Eleanor Coppola, who documented the making of some of her husband Francis Ford Coppola’s iconic films, including the infamously tortured production of “Apocalypse Now,” and who raised a family of filmmakers, has died. She was 87. Coppola died April 12, 2024, at home in Rutherford, California, her family announced in a statement. Eleanor, who grew in Orange County, California, met Francis while working as an assistant art director on his directorial debut, the Roger Corman-produced 1963 horror film “Dementia 13.” Their first-born, Gian-Carlo, quickly became a regular presence in his father’s films, as did their subsequent children, Roman, and Sofia. After acting in their father’s films and growing up on sets, all would go into the movies. Robert MacNeil, seen in February 1978, who created the even-handed, no-frills PBS newscast “The MacNeil-Lehrer NewsHour” in the 1970s and co-anchored the show for with his late partner, Jim Lehrer, for two decades, died April 12, 2024, at age 93. Artist Faith Ringgold poses for a portrait in front of a painted self-portrait during a press preview of her exhibition, "American People, Black Light: Faith Ringgold's Paintings of the 1960s" at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, June 19, 2013. Ringgold, an award-winning author and artist who broke down barriers for Black female artists and became famous for her richly colored and detailed quilts combining painting, textiles and storytelling, died Friday, April 12, 2024, at her home in Englewood, N.J. She was 93. Alabama coach Bear Bryant, left, talks with his former star quarterback Steve Sloan, right, after practice in Miami for the Orange Bowl game New Years' night against Nebraska, Dec. 29, 1968. Former college coach and administrator Sloan, who played quarterback and served as athletic director at Alabama. has passed away. He was 79. Sloan died Sunday, April 14, 2024, after three months of memory care at Orlando Health Dr. P. Phillips Hospital, according to an obituary from former Alabama sports information director Wayne Atcheson. Oakland A's pitcher Ken Holtzman poses for a photo in March 1975. Holtzman, who pitched two no-hitters for the Chicago Cubs and helped the Oakland Athletics win three straight World Series championships in the 1970s, died April 14, 2024. He finished with a career record of 174-150 over 15 season with four teams and was the winningest Jewish pitcher in baseball history. Carl Erskine, center, pictured with teammate Duke Snider, left, and manager Charley Dressen in 1952, after beating the Yankees 6-5 in Game 5 of the World Series at Yankee Stadium in New York, Oct. 5, 1952. Erskine, who pitched two no-hitters for the Brooklyn Dodgers and was a 20-game winner in 1953 when he struck out a then-record 14 in the World Series, has died. Among the last survivors from the celebrated Brooklyn teams of the 1950s, Erskine spent his entire major league career with the Dodgers. He helped them win five National League pennants from 1948-59. Erskine won Game 3 of the 1953 World Series, beating the Yankees 3-2. He appeared in five World Series, with the Dodgers beating the Yankees in 1955 for their only championship in Brooklyn. Erksine died April 16 in his hometown of Anderson, Indiana, according to a hospital official. He was 97. St. Louis Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog lets umpire John Shulock, right, know how he feels about Shulock's call on the tag attempt on Kansas City Royals Jim Sundberg by Cardinals catcher Tom Nieto, second from left, in the second inning of Game 5 of the 1985 World Series in St. Louis. Herzog, the gruff and ingenious Hall of Fame manager who guided the St. Louis Cardinals to three pennants and a World Series title and perfected an intricate, nail-biting strategy known as “Whiteyball,” has died. Herzog, affectionately nicknamed “The White Rat,” was a manager for 18 seasons, compiling an overall record of 1,281 wins and 1,125 losses. He was named Manager of the Year in 1985. Under Herzog, the Cardinals won pennants in 1982, 1985 and 1987 and won the World Series in 1982, when they edged the Milwaukee Brewers in seven games. He died April 15, 2024, and was 92. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., gestures as he answers questions regarding the ongoing security hearing on Capitol Hill, June 18, 2002, in Washington. Graham, who chaired the Intelligence Committee following the 2001 terrorist attacks and opposed the Iraq invasion, died April 16, 2024. He was 87. His family announced the death Tuesday in a statement posted on X by his daughter Gwen Graham. Graham served three terms in the Senate and two terms as Florida's governor. He made an unsuccessful bid for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination, emphasizing his opposition to the Iraq invasion. But that bid was delayed by heart surgery in January 2003, and he was never able to gain enough traction with voters to catch up. He didn’t seek re-election in 2004 and was replaced by Republican Mel Martinez. Guitar legend and Allman Brothers Band co-founder Dickey Betts died April 18, 2024, at age 80. The Rock & Roll Hall of Famer wrote the band's biggest hit, “Ramblin’ Man.” Manager David Spero told The Associated Press that Betts died early Thursday at his home in Osprey, Florida. He says Betts had been battling cancer for more than a year and had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Betts shared lead guitar duties with Duane Allman in the original Allman Brothers Band to help give the group its distinctive sound and create a new genre: Southern rock. Acts ranging from Lynyrd Skynyrd to Kid Rock were influenced by the Allmans’ music, which combined blues, country, R&B and jazz with ’60s rock. Contemporary Christian singer Mandisa, who appeared on “American Idol” and won a Grammy for her 2013 album “Overcomer,” died April 18, 2024. She was 47. Mandisa gained stardom after finishing ninth on “American Idol” in 2006. In 2014, she won a Grammy for best contemporary Christian music album for “Overcomer,” her fifth album. She spoke openly about her struggles with depression, releasing a memoir that detailed her experiences with severe depression, weight-related challenges, the coronavirus pandemic and her faith. David Pryor, a former Arkansas governor and U.S. senator who was one of the state’s most beloved and active political figures, died April 20, 2024, at the age of 89. His son, former two-term Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor, says the Democrat died Saturday of natural causes in Little Rock surrounded by family. David Pryor was considered one of the Democratic party’s giants in Arkansas and remained active in public life after he left office, including serving on the University of Arkansas’s Board of Trustees. Roman Gabriel was known for his big size and big arm. He was the first Filipino-American quarterback in the NFL. And he still holds the Los Angeles Rams record for touchdown passes. Gabriel died April 20, 2024, at age 83. His son posted the news on social media. He says Gabriel died at home of natural causes. Gabriel starred at North Carolina State and was the No. 2 pick by the Rams in the 1962 draft. The Oakland Raider of the rival AFL made him the No. 1 pick. Gabriel signed with the Rams and later played with the Philadelphia Eagles. Andrew Davis, an acclaimed British conductor who was music director of the Lyric Opera of Chicago and orchestras on three continents, died April 20, 2024. He was 80. Davis died Saturday at Rusk Institute in Chicago from leukemia. That is according to his manager, Jonathan Brill of Opus 3 Artists. Davis had been managing the disease for 1 1/2 to 2 years but it became acute shortly after his 80th birthday on Feb. 2. Davis was music director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra from 1975-88, Britain’s Glyndebourne Festival from 1988-2000, chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra from 1989-2000, then was music director of the Lyric Opera from 2000-21. Former hostage Terry Anderson waves to the crowd as he rides in a parade in Lorain, Ohio, June 22, 1992. Anderson, the globe-trotting Associated Press correspondent who became one of America’s longest-held hostages, died April 21, 2024. Anderson was snatched from a street in war-torn Lebanon in 1985 and held for nearly seven years. Anderson, who was tortured and chained to a wall, wrote about his experiences in the best-selling memoir, “Den of Lions.” After returning to the United States in 1991, Anderson gave public speeches, taught journalism and, at various times, operated a blues bar, Cajun restaurant, horse ranch and gourmet restaurant. He also struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder. British army veteran Bill Gladden, who survived a glider landing on D-Day and a bullet that tore through his ankle a few days later, wanted to return to France for the 80th anniversary of the invasion so he could honor the men who didn’t come home. It was not to be. Gladden, one of the dwindling number of veterans who took part in the landings that kicked off the campaign to liberate Western Europe from the Nazis during World War II, died April 24, his family said. He was 100. With fewer and fewer veterans taking part each year, the ceremony may be one of the last big events marking the assault that began on June 6, 1944. Duane Eddy, a pioneering guitar hero whose reverberating electric sound on instrumentals such as “Rebel Rouser,” “Forty Miles of Bad Road" and “Cannonball” helped put the twang in early rock ‘n’ roll and influenced George Harrison, Bruce Springsteen and countless other musicians, died April 30 at age 86. With his raucous rhythms, and backing hollers and hand claps, Eddy sold more than 100 million records worldwide, and mastered a distinctive sound based on the premise that a guitar’s bass strings sounded better on tape than the high ones. Author Paul Auster has died at age 77. Auster was a prolific, prize-winning man of letters and filmmaker known for such inventive narratives and meta-narratives as “The New York Trilogy” and “4 3 2 1." Auster’s death on April 30 was confirmed by his literary representatives. Auster completed more than 30 books, translated into dozens of languages. He never achieved major commercial success in the U.S., but he was widely admired overseas for his cosmopolitan worldview and erudite and introspective style. Auster’s novels were a mix of history, politics, genre experiments, existential quests and self-conscious references to writers and writing. Co-pilots Dick Rutan, right, and Jeana Yeager, no relationship to test pilot Chuck Yeager, pose for a photo after a test flight over the Mojave Desert, Dec. 19, 1985. Rutan, a decorated Vietnam War pilot, who along with copilot Yeager completed one of the greatest milestones in aviation history: the first round-the-world flight with no stops or refueling, died late Friday, May 3, 2024. He was 85. Music producer Steve Albini, seen in his Chicago studio in 2014, produced albums by Nirvana, the Pixies and PJ Harvey. Albini died at 61. Brian Fox, an engineer at Albini’s studio, Electrical Audio, says Albini died after a heart attack May 7. In addition to his work on canonized rock albums such as Nirvana‘s “In Utero,” the Pixies’ breakthrough “Surfer Rosa,” and PJ Harvey’s “Rid of Me,” Albini was the frontman of the underground bands Big Black and Shellac. He dismissed the term “producer” and requested he be credited with “Recorded by Steve Albini." San Francisco 49ers Hall of Fame football player Jimmy Johnson, left, is honored by owner Jed York before a 2011 game between against the St. Louis Rams in San Francisco. Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive back Jimmy Johnson, a three-time All-Pro and member of the All-Decade Team of the 1970s, has died. He was 86. Johnson's family told the Pro Football Hall of Fame that he died May 8. Johnson was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1994. He played his entire 16-year pro career with San Francisco. He played in 213 games, more than any other 49ers player at the time of his retirement. San Diego Padres third baseman Sean Burroughs fires a throw to first from his knees but is unable to get Los Angeles Dodgers' D. J. Houlton at first during the third inning of a baseball game June 22, 2005, in San Diego. Burroughs, a two-time Little League World Series champion who won an Olympic gold medal and went on to a major league career that was interrupted by substance abuse, has died. He was 43. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s online records said Burroughs died Thursday, May 9, 2024, with the cause of death deferred. Producer Roger Corman poses in his Los Angeles office, May 8, 2013. Corman, the Oscar-winning “King of the Bs” who helped turn out such low-budget classics as “Little Shop of Horrors” and “Attack of the Crab Monsters” and gave many of Hollywood's most famous actors and directors an early break, died Thursday, May 9, 2024. He was 98. A.J. Smith, a longtime NFL executive who was the winningest general manager in Chargers history, has died. He was 75. His son, Atlanta assistant general manager Kyle Smith, announced in a statement released by the Falcons that his father died May 12. Kyle Smith said his father had been battling prostate cancer for seven years. The Chargers won five division titles during Smith’s 10 seasons as GM. The franchise’s 98 wins, including the playoffs, were the sixth most in the league from 2003-12. Saxophone player David Sanborn performs during his concert at the Stravinski hall at the "Colours of Music night" during the 34th Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland on July 10, 2000. Sanborn, the Grammy-winning saxophonist who played lively solos on such hits as David Bowie's “Young Americans” and James Taylor's “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)” and enjoyed his own highly successful recording career as a leading performer of contemporary jazz, died Sunday, May 12, 2024, at age 78. Nobel laureate Alice Munro has died. The Canadian literary giant who became one of the world’s most esteemed contemporary authors and one of history’s most honored short story writers was 92. Munro achieved stature rare for an art form traditionally placed beneath the novel. She was the first lifelong Canadian to win the Nobel and the first recipient cited exclusively for short fiction. Munro was little known beyond Canada until her late 30s but became one of the few short story writers to enjoy ongoing commercial success. A spokesperson for publisher Penguin Random House Canada said Munro died May 13 at home in Port Hope, Ontario. Dabney Coleman, the mustachioed character actor who specialized in smarmy villains like the chauvinist boss in “9 to 5” and the nasty TV director in “Tootsie,” died May 16. He was 92. For two decades Coleman labored in movies and TV shows as a talented but largely unnoticed performer. That changed abruptly in 1976 when he was cast as the incorrigibly corrupt mayor of the hamlet of Fernwood in “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman,” a satirical soap opera. He won a Golden Globe for “The Slap Maxwell Story” and an Emmy Award for best supporting actor in Peter Levin’s 1987 small screen legal drama “Sworn to Silence.” Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi listens to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, not in photo, during a joint news conference following their meeting at the Presidential palace in Ankara, Turkey, Jan. 24, 2024. Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi, foreign minister Hossein Amirabdollahian and others were found dead at the site of a helicopter crash site, state media reported Monday, May 20, 2024. Jim Otto, the Hall of Fame center known as Mr. Raider for his durability through a litany of injuries, died May 19. He was 86. The cause of death was not immediately known. Otto joined the Raiders for their inaugural season in the American Football League in 1960 and was a fixture on the team for the next 15 years. He never missed a game because of injuries and competed in 210 consecutive regular-season games and 308 straight total contests despite undergoing nine operations on his knees during his playing career. His right leg was amputated in 2007. Ivan F. Boesky, the flamboyant stock trader whose cooperation with the government cracked open one of the largest insider trading scandals on Wall Street, has died at the age of 87. A representative at the Marianne Boesky Gallery, owned by his daughter, confirmed his death. The son of a Detroit delicatessen owner, Boesky was once considered one of the richest and most influential risk-takers on Wall Street. He had parlayed $700,000 from his late mother-in-law’s estate into a fortune estimated at more than $200 million. Once implicated in insider trading, Boesky cooperated with a brash young U.S. attorney named Rudolph Giuliani, uncovering a scandal that blemished some of the most respected U.S. investment brokerages. Boesky died May 20. Jan. A.P. Kaczmarek poses with the Oscar for best original score for his work on "Finding Neverland" during the 77th Academy Awards, Feb. 27, 2005, in Los Angeles. Polish composer Kaczmarek, who won a 2005 Oscar for the movie “Finding Neverland,” has died on Tuesday, May 21, 2024, at age 71. Kaczmarek’s death was announced by Poland’s Music Foundation. Train bassist and founding member Charlie Colin has died at 58. Colin’s sister confirmed the musician's death Wednesday to The Associated Press. Variety reported Colin slipped and fell in the shower while house-sitting for a friend in Brussels. Train formed in San Francisco in the early ’90s. Colin played on Train's first three records, 1998’s self-titled album, 2001’s “Drops of Jupiter” and 2003’s “My Private Nation.” The track “Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me)” hit No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also earned two Grammys. Colin left the band in 2003. He also worked with the Newport Beach Film Festival. Colin died May 22. Documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, an Oscar nominee whose most famous works skewered America’s food industry and who notably ate only at McDonald’s for a month to illustrate the dangers of a fast-food diet, has died of cancer. He was 53. Spurlock made a splash in 2004 with his groundbreaking film “Super Size Me,” and returned in 2019 with “Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!” — a sober look at an industry that processes 9 billion animals a year in America. Spurlock was a gonzo-like filmmaker who leaned into the bizarre and ridiculous. His stylistic touches included zippy graphics and amusing music. Spurlock died May 23. Richard M. Sherman, one half of the prolific, award-winning pair of brothers who helped form millions of childhoods by penning classic Disney tunes, has died. He was 95. Sherman, along with his late brother Robert, wrote hundreds of songs together, including songs for “Mary Poppins,” “The Jungle Book” and “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” — as well as the most-played tune on Earth, “It’s a Small World (After All).” The Walt Disney Co. announced that Sherman died Saturday due to age-related illness. The brothers won two Academy Awards for Walt Disney’s 1964 smash “Mary Poppins.” Robert Sherman died May 25 in London in 2012. Basketball Hall of Fame legend Bill Walton laughs during a practice session for the NBA All-Star basketball game in Cleveland, Feb. 19, 2022. Walton, who starred for John Wooden's UCLA Bruins before becoming a Basketball Hall of Famer and one of the biggest stars of basketball broadcasting, died Monday, May 27, 2024, the league announced on behalf of his family. He was 71. “The Godfather” producer Albert S. Ruddy died May 25 at 94. The Canadian-born producer and writer won Oscars for “The Godfather” and “Million Dollar Baby,” developed the raucous prison-sports comedy “The Longest Yard” and helped create the hit sitcom “Hogan’s Heroes." A spokesperson says Ruddy died Saturday at the UCLA Medical Center. Ruddy produced more than 30 movies and was on hand for the very top and the very bottom. “The Godfather” and “Million Dollar Baby” were box office hits and winners of best picture Oscars. But Ruddy also helped give us “Cannonball Run II” and “Megaforce,” nominees for Golden Raspberry awards for worst movie of the year. Larry Allen, one of the most dominant offensive linemen in the NFL during a 12-year career spent mostly with the Dallas Cowboys, died June 2. He was 52. The Cowboys say Allen died suddenly on Sunday while on vacation with his family in Mexico. Allen was named an All-Pro six consecutive years from 1996-2001 and was inducted into the Pro Football of Hall of Fame in 2013. He said few words but let his blocking do the talking. Allen once bench-pressed 700 pounds and had the speed to chase down opposing running backs. Bob Hope and Janis Paige hug during the annual Christmas show in Saigon, Vietnam, Dec. 25, 1964. Paige, a popular actor in Hollywood and in Broadway musicals and comedies who danced with Fred Astaire, toured with Bob Hope and continued to perform into her 80s, died Sunday, June 2, 2024, of natural causes at her Los Angeles home, longtime friend Stuart Lampert said Monday, June 3. Parnelli Jones, the 1963 Indianapolis 500 winner, died June 4 at Torrance Memorial Medical Center after a battle with Parkinson’s disease, his son said. Jones was 90. At the time of his death, Jones was the oldest living winner of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” Rufus Parnell Jones was born in Texarkana, Arkansas, in 1933 but moved to Torrance as a young child and never left. It was there that he became “Parnelli” because his given name of Rufus was too well known for him to compete without locals knowing that he wasn’t old enough to race. Boston Celtics' John Havlicek (17) is defended by Philadelphia 76ers' Chet Walker (25) during the first half of an NBA basketball playoff game April 14, 1968, in Boston. Walker, a seven-time All-Star forward who helped Wilt Chamberlain and the 76ers win the 1967 NBA title, died June 8. He was 84. The National Basketball Players Association confirmed Walker's death, according to NBA.com . The 76ers, Chicago Bulls and National Basketball Retired Players Association also extended their condolences on social media on Saturday, June 8, 2024. The Rev. James Lawson Jr. speaks Sept. 17, 2015, in Murfreesboro, Tenn. Lawson Jr., an apostle of nonviolent protest who schooled activists to withstand brutal reactions from white authorities as the Civil Rights Movement gained traction, has died, his family said Monday. He was 95. His family said Lawson died on Sunday after a short illness in Los Angeles, where he spent decades working as a pastor, labor movement organizer and university professor. Lawson was a close adviser to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., who called him “the leading theorist and strategist of nonviolence in the world.” Lawson met King in 1957, after spending three years in India soaking up knowledge about Mohandas K. Gandhi’s independence movement. King would travel to India himself two years later, but at the time, he had only read about Gandhi in books. Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Jerry West, representing the 1960 USA Olympic Team, is seen Aug. 13, 2010, during the enshrinement news conference at the Hall of Fame Museum in Springfield, Mass. Jerry West, who was selected to the Basketball Hall of Fame three times in a storied career as a player and executive, and whose silhouette is considered to be the basis of the NBA logo, died June 12, the Los Angeles Clippers announced. He was 86. West, nicknamed “Mr. Clutch” for his late-game exploits as a player, was an NBA champion who went into the Hall of Fame as a player in 1980 and again as a member of the gold medal-winning 1960 U.S. Olympic Team in 2010. He will be enshrined for a third time later this year as a contributor, and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver called West “one of the greatest executives in sports history.” Actor and director Ron Simons, seen Jan. 23, 2011, during the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, died June 12. Simons turned into a formidable screen and stage producer, winning four Tony Awards and having several films selected at the Sundance Film Festival. He won Tonys for producing “Porgy and Bess,” “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder,” “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,” and “Jitney.” He also co-produced “Hughie,” with Forest Whitaker, “The Gin Game,” starring Cicely Tyson and James Earl Jones, “Ain’t Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations,” an all-Black production of “A Streetcar Named Desire,” the revival of "for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf" and the original work “Thoughts of a Colored Man.” He was in the films “27 Dresses” and “Mystery Team,” as well as on the small screen in “The Resident,” “Law & Order,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” and “Law & Order: SVU.” Bob Schul of West Milton, Ohio, hits the tape Oct. 18, 1964, to win the 5,000 meter run at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Schul, the only American distance runner to win the 5,000 meters at the Olympics, died June 16. He was 86. His death was announced by Miami University in Ohio , where Schul shined on the track and was inducted into the school’s hall of fame in 1973. Schul predicted gold leading into the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and followed through with his promise. On a rainy day in Japan, he finished the final lap in a blistering 54.8 seconds to sprint to the win. His white shorts were covered in mud at the finish. He was inducted into the USA Track and Field Hall of Fame in 1991. He also helped write a book called “In the Long Run.” San Francisco Giants superstar Willie Mays poses for a photo during baseball spring training in 1972. Mays, the electrifying “Say Hey Kid” whose singular combination of talent, drive and exuberance made him one of baseball’s greatest and most beloved players, died June 18. He was 93. The center fielder, who began his professional career in the Negro Leagues in 1948, had been baseball’s oldest living Hall of Famer. He was voted into the Hall in 1979, his first year of eligibility, and in 1999 followed only Babe Ruth on The Sporting News’ list of the game’s top stars. The Giants retired his uniform number, 24, and set their AT&T Park in San Francisco on Willie Mays Plaza. Mays died two days before a game between the Giants and St. Louis Cardinals to honor the Negro Leagues at Rickwood Field in Birmingham , Alabama. Over 23 major league seasons, virtually all with the New York/San Francisco Giants but also including one in the Negro Leagues, Mays batted .301, hit 660 home runs, totaled 3,293 hits, scored more than 2,000 runs and won 12 Gold Gloves. He was Rookie of the Year in 1951, twice was named the Most Valuable Player and finished in the top 10 for the MVP 10 other times. His lightning sprint and over-the-shoulder grab of an apparent extra base hit in the 1954 World Series remains the most celebrated defensive play in baseball history. For millions in the 1950s and ’60s and after, the smiling ballplayer with the friendly, high-pitched voice was a signature athlete and showman during an era when baseball was still the signature pastime. Awarded the Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in 2015, Mays left his fans with countless memories. But a single feat served to capture his magic — one so untoppable it was simply called “The Catch.” Actor Donald Sutherland appears Oct. 13, 2017, at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills, Calif. Sutherland, the Canadian actor whose wry, arrestingly off-kilter screen presence spanned more than half a century of films from “M.A.S.H.” to “The Hunger Games,” died June 20. He was 88. Kiefer Sutherland said on X he believed his father was one of the most important actors in the history of film: “Never daunted by a role, good, bad or ugly. He loved what he did and did what he loved, and one can never ask for more than that.” The tall and gaunt Sutherland, who flashed a grin that could be sweet or diabolical, was known for offbeat characters like Hawkeye Pierce in Robert Altman's "M.A.S.H.," the hippie tank commander in "Kelly's Heroes" and the stoned professor in "Animal House." Before transitioning into a long career as a respected character actor, Sutherland epitomized the unpredictable, antiestablishment cinema of the 1970s. He never stopped working, appearing in nearly 200 films and series. Over the decades, Sutherland showed his range in more buttoned-down — but still eccentric — roles in Robert Redford's "Ordinary People" and Oliver Stone's "JFK." More, recently, he starred in the “Hunger Games” films. A memoir, “Made Up, But Still True,” is due out in November. Actor Bill Cobbs, a cast member in "Get Low," arrives July 27, 2010, at the premiere of the film in Beverly Hills, Calif. Cobbs, the veteran character actor who became a ubiquitous and sage screen presence as an older man, died June 25. He was 90. A Cleveland native, Cobbs acted in such films as “The Hudsucker Proxy,” “The Bodyguard” and “Night at the Museum.” He made his first big-screen appearance in a fleeting role in 1974's “The Taking of Pelham One Two Three." He became a lifelong actor with some 200 film and TV credits. The lion share of those came in his 50s, 60s, and 70s, as filmmakers and TV producers turned to him again and again to imbue small but pivotal parts with a wizened and worn soulfulness. Cobbs appeared on television shows including “The Sopranos," “The West Wing,” “Sesame Street” and “Good Times.” He was Whitney Houston's manager in “The Bodyguard” (1992), the mystical clock man of the Coen brothers' “The Hudsucker Proxy” (1994) and the doctor of John Sayles' “Sunshine State” (2002). He played the coach in “Air Bud” (1997), the security guard in “Night at the Museum” (2006) and the father on “The Gregory Hines Show." Cobbs rarely got the kinds of major parts that stand out and win awards. Instead, Cobbs was a familiar and memorable everyman who left an impression on audiences, regardless of screen time. He won a Daytime Emmy Award for outstanding limited performance in a daytime program for the series “Dino Dana” in 2020. Independent gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman speaks with the media Nov. 7, 2009, at his campaign headquarters in Austin, Texas. The singer, songwriter, satirist and novelist, who led the alt-country band Texas Jewboys, toured with Bob Dylan, sang with Willie Nelson, and dabbled in politics with campaigns for Texas governor and other statewide offices, died June 27. He was 79 and had suffered from Parkinson's disease. Often called “The Kinkster" and sporting sideburns, a thick mustache and cowboy hat, Friedman earned a cult following and reputation as a provocateur throughout his career across musical and literary genres. In the 1970s, his satirical country band Kinky Friedman and the Texas Jewboys wrote songs with titles such as “They Ain't Makin' Jews Like Jesus Anymore” and “Get Your Biscuits in the Oven and Your Buns in Bed.” Friedman joined part of Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue tour in 1976. By the 1980s, Friedman was writing crime novels that often included a version of himself, and he wrote a column for Texas Monthly magazine in the 2000s. Friedman's run at politics brought his brand of irreverence to the serious world of public policy. In 2006, Friedman ran for governor as an independent in a five-way race that included incumbent Republican Rick Perry. Friedman launched his campaign against the backdrop of the Alamo. Martin Mull participates in "The Cool Kids" panel during the Fox Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour on Aug. 2, 2018, at The Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. Mull, whose droll, esoteric comedy and acting made him a hip sensation in the 1970s and later a beloved guest star on sitcoms including “Roseanne” and “Arrested Development,” died June 28. He was 80. Mull, who was also a guitarist and painter, came to national fame with a recurring role on the Norman Lear-created satirical soap opera “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman,” and the starring role in its spinoff, “Fernwood Tonight." His first foray into show business was as a songwriter, penning the 1970 semi-hit “A Girl Named Johnny Cash” for singer Jane Morgan. He would combine music and comedy in an act that he brought to hip Hollywood clubs in the 1970s. Mull often played slightly sleazy, somewhat slimy and often smarmy characters as he did as Teri Garr's boss and Michael Keaton's foe in 1983's “Mr. Mom.” He played Colonel Mustard in the 1985 movie adaptation of the board game “Clue,” which, like many things Mull appeared in, has become a cult classic. The 1980s also brought what many thought was his best work, “A History of White People in America,” a mockumentary that first aired on Cinemax. Mull co-created the show and starred as a “60 Minutes” style investigative reporter investigating all things milquetoast and mundane. Willard was again a co-star. In the 1990s he was best known for his recurring role on several seasons on “Roseanne,” in which he played a warmer, less sleazy boss to the title character, an openly gay man whose partner was played by Willard, who died in 2020 . Mull would later play private eye Gene Parmesan on “Arrested Development,” a cult-classic character on a cult-classic show, and would be nominated for an Emmy, his first, in 2016 for a guest run on “Veep.” Screenwriter Robert Towne poses at The Regency Hotel, March 7, 2006, in New York. Towne, the Oscar-winning screenplay writer of "Shampoo," "The Last Detail" and other acclaimed films whose work on "Chinatown" became a model of the art form and helped define the jaded allure of his native Los Angeles, died Monday, July 1, 2024, surrounded by family at his home in Los Angeles, said publicist Carri McClure. She declined to comment on any cause of death. Vic Seixas of the United States backhands a volley from Denmark's Jurgen Ulrich in the first round of men's singles match at Wimbledon, England, June 27, 1967. Vic Seixas, a Wimbledon winner and tennis Hall of Famer who was the oldest living Grand Slam champion, has died July 5 at the age of 100. The International Tennis Hall of Fame announced Seixas’ death on Saturday July 6, 2024, based on confirmation from his daughter Tori. In this June 30, 2020, file photo, Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., speaks to reporters following a GOP policy meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington. Former Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma died July 9. He was 89. The family says in a statement that the Republican had a stroke during the July Fourth holiday and died Tuesday morning. Inhofe was a powerful fixture in state politics for decades. He doubted that climate change was caused by human activity, calling the theory “the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people.” As Oklahoma’s senior U.S. senator, he was a staunch supporter of the state’s military installations. He was elected to a fifth Senate term in 2020 and stepped down in early 2023. The Oak Ridge Boys, from left, Joe Bonsall, Richard Sterban, Duane Allen and William Lee Golden hold their awards for Top Vocal Group and Best Album of the Year for "Ya'll Come Back Saloon", during the 14th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards in Los Angeles, Calif., May 3, 1979. Bonsall died on July 9, 2024, from complications of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis in Hendersonville, Tenn. He was 76. A Philadelphia native and resident of Hendersonville, Tennessee, Bonsall joined the Oak Ridge Boys in 1973, which originally formed in the 1940s. He saw the band through its golden period in the '80s and beyond, which included their signature 1981 song “Elvira.” The hit marked a massive crossover moment for the group, reaching No. 1 on the country chart and No. 5 on Billboard’s all-genre Hot 100. The group is also known for such hits as 1982’s “Bobbie Sue." Shelley Duvall poses for photographers at the 30th Cannes Film Festival in France, May 27, 1977. Duvall, whose wide-eyed, winsome presence was a mainstay in the films of Robert Altman and who co-starred in Stanley Kubrick's “The Shining,” died July 11. She was 75. Dr. Ruth Westheimer holds a copy of her book "Sex for Dummies" at the International Frankfurt Book Fair 'Frankfurter Buchmesse' in Frankfurt, Germany, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2007. Westheimer, the sex therapist who became a pop icon, media star and best-selling author through her frank talk about once-taboo bedroom topics, died on July 12, 2024. She was 96. Richard Simmons sits for a portrait in Los Angeles, June 23, 1982. Simmons, a fitness guru who urged the overweight to exercise and eat better, died July 13 at the age of 76. Simmons was a court jester of physical fitness who built a mini-empire in his trademark tank tops and short shorts by urging the overweight to exercise and eat better. Simmons was a former 268-pound teen who shared his hard-won weight loss tips as the host of the Emmy-winning daytime “Richard Simmons Show" and the “Sweatin' to the Oldies” line of exercise videos, which became a cultural phenomenon. Former NFL receiver Jacoby Jones died July 14 at age 40. Jones' 108-yard kickoff return in 2013 remains the longest touchdown in Super Bowl history. The Houston Texans were Jones’ team for the first five seasons of his career. They announced his death on Sunday. In a statement released by the NFL Players Association, his family said he died at his home in New Orleans. A cause of death was not given. Jones played from 2007-15 for the Texans, Baltimore Ravens, San Diego Chargers and Pittsburgh Steelers. He made several huge plays for the Ravens during their most recent Super Bowl title season, including that kick return. The "Beverly Hills, 90210" star whose life and career were roiled by tabloid stories, Shannen Doherty died July 13 at 53. Doherty's publicist said the actor died Saturday following years with breast cancer. Catapulted to fame as Brenda in “Beverly Hills, 90210,” she worked in big-screen films including "Mallrats" and "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" and in TV movies including "A Burning Passion: The Margaret Mitchell Story," in which she played the "Gone with the Wind" author. Doherty co-starred with Holly Marie Combs and Alyssa Milano in the series “Charmed” from 1998-2001; appeared in the “90210” sequel series seven years later and competed on “Dancing with the Stars” in 2010. Actor James Sikking poses for a photograph at the Los Angeles gala celebrating the 20th anniversary of the National Organization for Women, Dec. 1, 1986. Sikking, who starred as a hardened police lieutenant on “Hill Street Blues” and as the titular character's kindhearted dad on “Doogie Howser, M.D.,” died July 13 of complications from dementia, his publicist Cynthia Snyder said in a statement. He was 90. Pat Williams chats with media before the 2004 NBA draft in Orlando, Fla. Williams, a co-founder of the Orlando Magic and someone who spent more than a half-century working within the NBA, died July 17 from complications related to viral pneumonia. The team announced the death Wednesday. Williams was 84. He started his NBA career as business manager of the Philadelphia 76ers in 1968, then had stints as general manager of the Chicago Bulls, the Atlanta Hawks and the 76ers — helping that franchise win a title in 1983. Williams was later involved in starting the process of bringing an NBA team to Orlando. The league’s board of governors granted an expansion franchise in 1987, and the team began play in 1989. Lou Dobbs speaks Feb. 24, 2017, at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Oxon Hill, Md. Dobbs, the conservative political pundit and veteran cable TV host who was a founding anchor for CNN and later was a nightly presence on Fox Business Network for more than a decade, died July 18. He was 78. His death was announced in a post on his official X account, which called him a “fighter till the very end – fighting for what mattered to him the most, God, his family and the country.” He hosted “Lou Dobbs Tonight” on Fox from 2011 to 2021, following two separate stints at CNN. No cause of death was given. Bob Newhart, center, poses with members of the cast and crew of the "Bob Newhart Show," from top left, Marcia Wallace, Bill Daily, Jack Riley, and, Suzanne Pleshette, foreground left, and Dick Martin at TV Land's 35th anniversary tribute to "The Bob Newhart Show" on Sept. 5, 2007, in Beverly Hills, Calif. Newhart has died at age 94. Jerry Digney, Newhart’s publicist, says the actor died July 18 in Los Angeles after a series of short illnesses. The accountant-turned-comedian gained fame with a smash album and became one of the most popular TV stars of his time. Newhart was a Chicago psychologist in “The Bob Newhart Show” in the 1970s and a Vermont innkeeper on “Newhart” in the 1980s. Both shows featured a low-key Newhart surrounded by eccentric characters. The second had a twist ending in its final show — the whole series was revealed to have been a dream by the psychologist he played in the other show. Cheng Pei-pei, a Chinese-born martial arts film actor who starred in Ang Lee’s “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” died July 17 at age 78. Her family says Cheng, who had been diagnosed with a rare illness with symptoms similar to Parkinson’s disease, passed away Wednesday at home surrounded by her loved ones. The Shanghai-born film star became a household name in Hong Kong, once dubbed the Hollywood of the Far East, for her performances in martial arts movies in the 1960s. She played Jade Fox, who uses poisoned needles, in “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” which was released in 2000, grossed $128 million in North America and won four Oscars. Abdul “Duke” Fakir holds his life time achievement award backstage at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 8, 2009, in Los Angeles. The last surviving original member of the Four Tops died July 22. Abdul “Duke” Fakir was 88. He was a charter member of the Motown group along with lead singer Levi Stubbs, Renaldo “Obie" Benson and Lawrence Payton. Between 1964 and 1967, the Tops had 11 top 20 hits and two No. 1′s: “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)” and the operatic classic “Reach Out I’ll Be There.” Other songs, often stories of romantic pain and longing, included “Baby I Need Your Loving,” “Standing in the Shadows of Love,” “Bernadette” and “Just Ask the Lonely.” Sculptress Elizabeth Catlett, left, then-Washington D.C. Mayor Sharon Pratt Dixon, center, and then-curator, division of community life, Smithsonian institution Bernice Johnson Reagon chat during the reception at the Candace awards on June 25, 1991 in New York. Reagon, a musician and scholar who used her rich, powerful contralto voice in the service of the American Civil Rights Movement and human rights struggles around the world, died on July 16, 2024, according to her daughter's social media post. She was 81. John Mayall, the British blues musician whose influential band the Bluesbreakers was a training ground for Eric Clapton, Mick Fleetwood and many other superstars, died July 22. He was 90. He is credited with helping develop the English take on urban, Chicago-style rhythm and blues that played an important role in the blues revival of the late 1960s. A statement on Mayall's official Instagram page says he died Monday at his home in California. Though Mayall never approached the fame of some of his illustrious alumni, he was still performing in his late 80s, pounding out his version of Chicago blues. Erica Ash, an actor and comedian skilled in sketch comedy who starred in the parody series “Mad TV” and “Real Husbands of Hollywood,” has died. She was 46. Her publicist and a statement by her mother, Diann, says Ash died July 28 in Los Angeles of cancer. Ash impersonated Michelle Obama and Condoleeza Rice on “Mad TV,” a Fox sketch series, and was a key performer on the Rosie O’Donnell-created series “The Big Gay Sketch Show.” Her other credits included “Scary Movie V,” “Uncle Drew” and the LeBron James-produced basketball dramedy “Survivor’s Remorse.” On the BET series “Real Husbands of Hollywood,” Ash played the ex-wife of Kevin Hart’s character. Jack Russell, the lead singer of the bluesy '80s metal band Great White whose hits included “Once Bitten Twice Shy” and “Rock Me” and was fronting his band the night 100 people died in a 2003 nightclub fire in Rhode Island, died Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2024. He was 63. Juan “Chi Chi” Rodriguez, a Hall of Fame golfer whose antics on the greens and inspiring life story made him among the sport’s most popular players during a long professional career, died Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024. Susan Wojcicki, the former YouTube chief executive officer and longtime Google executive, died Friday, Aug. 9, 2024, after suffering with non small cell lung cancer for the past two years. She was 56. Frank Selvy, an All-America guard at Furman who scored an NCAA Division I-record 100 points in a game and later played nine NBA seasons, died Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. He was 91. Wallace “Wally” Amos, the creator of the cookie empire that took his name and made it famous and who went on to become a children’s literacy advocate, died Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024, from complications with dementia. He was 88. Gena Rowlands, hailed as one of the greatest actors to ever practice the craft and a guiding light in independent cinema as a star in groundbreaking movies by her director husband, John Cassavetes, and who later charmed audiences in her son's tear-jerker “The Notebook,” died Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. She was 94. Peter Marshall, the actor and singer turned game show host who played straight man to the stars for 16 years on “The Hollywood Squares,” died. Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024 He was 98. Alain Delon, the internationally acclaimed French actor who embodied both the bad guy and the policeman and made hearts throb around the world, died Sunday, Aug. 18, 2024. He was 88. Phil Donahue, whose pioneering daytime talk show launched an indelible television genre that brought success to Oprah Winfrey, Montel Williams, Ellen DeGeneres and many others, died Sunday, Aug. 18, 2024, after a long illness. He was 88. Al Attles, a Hall of Famer who coached the 1975 NBA champion Warriors and spent more than six decades with the organization as a player, general manager and most recently team ambassador, died Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2024. He was 87. John Amos, who starred as the family patriarch on the hit 1970s sitcom “Good Times” and earned an Emmy nomination for his role in the seminal 1977 miniseries “Roots,” died Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024. He was 84. James Darren, a teen idol who helped ignite the 1960s surfing craze as a charismatic beach boy paired off with Sandra Dee in the hit film “Gidget,” died Monday, Sept. 2, 2024. He was 88. James Earl Jones, who overcame racial prejudice and a severe stutter to become a celebrated icon of stage and screen has died. He was 93. His agent, Barry McPherson, confirmed Jones died Sept. 9 at home. Jones was a pioneering actor who eventually lent his deep, commanding voice to CNN, “The Lion King” and Darth Vader. Working deep into his 80s, he won two Emmys, a Golden Globe, two Tony Awards, a Grammy, the National Medal of Arts, the Kennedy Center Honors and was given an honorary Oscar and a special Tony for lifetime achievement. In 2022, a Broadway theater was renamed in his honor. Frankie Beverly, who with his band Maze inspired generations of fans with his smooth, soulful voice and lasting anthems including “Before I Let Go,” has died. He was 77. His family said in a post on the band’s website and social media accounts that Beverly died Sept. 10. In the post, which asked for privacy, the family said “he lived his life with a pure soul, as one would say, and for us, no one did it better.” The post did not say his cause of death or where he died. Beverly, whose songs include “Joy and Pain,” “Love is the Key,” and “Southern Girl,” finished his farewell “I Wanna Thank You Tour” in his hometown of Philadelphia in July. Joe Schmidt, the Hall of Fame linebacker who helped the Detroit Lions win NFL championships in 1953 and 1957 and later coached the team, has died. He was 92. The Lions said family informed the team Schmidt died Sept. 11. A cause of death was not provided. One of pro football’s first great middle linebackers, Schmidt played his entire NFL career with the Lions from 1953-65. An eight-time All-Pro, he was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1973 and the college football version in 2000. Born in Pittsburgh, Schmidt played college football in his hometown at Pitt. Chad McQueen, an actor known for his performances in the “Karate Kid” movies and the son of the late actor and racer Steve McQueen, died Sep. 11. His lawyer confirmed his death at age 63. McQueen's family shared a statement on social media saying he lived a life “filled with love and dedication.” McQueen was a professional race car driver, like his father, and competed in the famed 24 Hours of Le Mans and the 24 Hours of Daytona races. He is survived by his wife Jeanie and three children, Chase, Madison and Steven, who is an actor best known for “The Vampire Diaries.” Tito Jackson, one of the brothers who made up the beloved pop group the Jackson 5, died at age 70 on Sept. 15. Jackson was the third of nine children, including global superstars Michael and Janet. The Jackson 5 included brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael. They signed with Berry Gordy’s Motown empire in the 1960s. The group was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1997 and produced several No. 1 hits in the 1970s, including “ABC,” “I Want You Back” and “I’ll Be There.” John David “JD” Souther has died. He was a prolific songwriter and musician whose collaborations with the Eagles and Linda Ronstadt helped shape the country-rock sound that took root in Southern California in the 1970s. Souther joined in on some of the Eagles’ biggest hits, such as “Best of My Love,” “New Kid in Town,” and “Heartache Tonight." The Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee also collaborated with James Taylor, Bob Seger, Bonnie Raitt and many more. His biggest hit as a solo artist was “You’re Only Lonely.” He was about to tour with Karla Bonoff. Souther died Sept. 17 at his home in New Mexico, at 78. In this photo, JD Souther and Alison Krauss attend the Songwriters Hall of Fame 44th annual induction and awards gala on Thursday, June 13, 2013 in New York. Sen. Dan Evans stands with his three sons, from left, Mark, Bruce and Dan Jr., after he won the election for Washington's senate seat in Seattle, Nov. 8, 1983. Evans, a former Washington state governor and a U.S. Senator, died Sept. 20. The popular Republican was 98. He served as governor from 1965 to 1977, and he was the keynote speaker at the 1968 National Republican Convention. In 1983, Evans was appointed to served out the term of Democratic Sen. Henry “Scoop” Jackson after he died in office. Evans opted not to stand for election in 1988, citing the “tediousness" of the Senate. He later served as a regent at the University of Washington, where the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Policy and Governance bears his name. Eugene “Mercury” Morris, who starred for the unbeaten 1972 Miami Dolphins as part of a star-studded backfield and helped the team win two Super Bowl titles, died Sept. 21. He was 77. The team on Sunday confirmed the death of Morris, a three-time Pro Bowl selection. In a statement, his family said his “talent and passion left an indelible mark on the sport.” Morris was the starting halfback and one of three go-to runners that Dolphins coach Don Shula utilized in Miami’s back-to-back title seasons of 1972 and 1973, alongside Pro Football Hall of Famer Larry Csonka and Jim Kiick. Morris led the Dolphins in rushing touchdowns in both of those seasons. John Ashton, the veteran character actor who memorably played the gruff but lovable police detective John Taggart in the “Beverly Hills Cop” films, died Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024. He was 76. Maggie Smith, who won an Oscar for 1969 film “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” and won new fans in the 21st century as the dowager Countess of Grantham in “Downton Abbey” and Professor Minerva McGonagall in the Harry Potter films, died Sept. 27 at 89. Smith's publicist announced the news Friday. She was frequently rated the preeminent British female performer of a generation that included Vanessa Redgrave and Judi Dench. “Jean Brodie” brought her the Academy Award for best actress in 1969. Smith added a supporting actress Oscar for “California Suite” in 1978. Kris Kristofferson, a Rhodes scholar with a deft writing style and rough charisma who became a country music superstar and an A-list Hollywood actor, died Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. He was 88. Drake Hogestyn, the “Days of Our Lives” star who appeared on the show for 38 years, died Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024. He was 70. Ron Ely, the tall, musclebound actor who played the title character in the 1960s NBC series “Tarzan,” died Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024, at age 86. Dikembe Mutombo, a Basketball Hall of Famer who was one of the best defensive players in NBA history and a longtime global ambassador for the game, died Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, from brain cancer, the league announced. He was 58. Frank Fritz, left, part of a two-man team who drove around the U.S. looking for antiques and collectibles to buy and resell on the reality show “American Pickers,” died Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. He was 60. He's shown here with co-host Mike Wolfe at the A+E Networks 2015 Upfront in New York on April 30, 2015. Pete Rose, baseball’s career hits leader and fallen idol who undermined his historic achievements and Hall of Fame dreams by gambling on the game he loved and once embodied, died Monday, Sept. 30, 2024. He was 83. Cissy Houston, the mother of Whitney Houston and a two-time Grammy winner who performed alongside superstar musicians like Elvis Presley and Aretha Franklin, died Monday, Oct. 7, 2024, in her New Jersey home. She was 91. Ethel Kennedy, the wife of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, who raised their 11 children after he was assassinated and remained dedicated to social causes and the family’s legacy for decades thereafter, died on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, her family said. She was 96. Former One Direction singer Liam Payne, 31, whose chart-topping British boy band generated a global following of swooning fans, was found dead Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024, after falling from a hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, local officials said. He was 31. Mitzi Gaynor, among the last survivors of the so-called golden age of the Hollywood musical, died of natural causes in Los Angeles on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024. She was 93. Fernando Valenzuela, the Mexican-born phenom for the Los Angeles Dodgers who inspired “Fernandomania” while winning the NL Cy Young Award and Rookie of the Year in 1981, died Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024. He was 63. Jack Jones, a Grammy-winning crooner known for “The Love Boat” television show theme song, died, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. He was 86. Phil Lesh, a founding member of the Grateful Dead, died Friday, Oct. 25, 2024, at age 84. Teri Garr, the quirky comedy actor who rose from background dancer in Elvis Presley movies to co-star of such favorites as "Young Frankenstein" and "Tootsie," died Tuesday, Oct 29, 2024. She was 79. Quincy Jones, the multitalented music titan whose vast legacy ranged from producing Michael Jackson’s historic “Thriller” album to writing prize-winning film and television scores and collaborating with Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles and hundreds of other recording artists, died Sunday, Nov 3, 2024. He was 91 Bobby Allison, founder of racing’s “Alabama Gang” and a NASCAR Hall of Famer, died Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024. He was 86. Song Jae-lim, a South Korean actor known for his roles in K-dramas “Moon Embracing the Sun” and “Queen Woo,” was found dead at his home in capital Seoul, Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2024. He was 39. British actor Timothy West, who played the classic Shakespeare roles of King Lear and Macbeth and who in recent years along with his wife, Prunella Scales, enchanted millions of people with their boating exploits on Britain's waterways, died Tuesday, Nov 12, 2024. He was 90. Bela Karolyi, the charismatic if polarizing gymnastics coach who turned young women into champions and the United States into an international power in the sport, died Friday, Nov. 15, 2024. He was 82. Arthur Frommer, whose "Europe on 5 Dollars a Day" guidebooks revolutionized leisure travel by convincing average Americans to take budget vacations abroad, died Monday, Nov. 18, 2024. He was 95. Former Chicago Bulls forward Bob Love, a three-time All-Star who spent 11 years in the NBA, died Monday, Nov. 18, 2024. He was 81. Chuck Woolery, the affable, smooth-talking game show host of “Wheel of Fortune,” “Love Connection” and “Scrabble” who later became a right-wing podcaster, skewering liberals and accusing the government of lying about COVID-19, died Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024. He was 83. Barbara Taylor Bradford, a British journalist who became a publishing sensation in her 40s with the saga "A Woman of Substance" and wrote more than a dozen other novels that sold tens of millions of copies, died Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. She was 91. Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Receive the latest in local entertainment news in your inbox weekly!
Ian Schieffelin came within two assists of a triple-double and Clemson handed Penn State its first loss with a 75-67 decision for the championship of the Sunshine Slam tournament Tuesday in Daytona Beach, Fla. Schieffelin finished with 18 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists for the Tigers (6-1), leading four players in double figures. Chase Hunter added 17 points, while Chauncey Wiggins scored 14 and reserve Del Jones chipped in 10 points. Clemson sank 9 of 19 3-pointers, converted 16 of 20 free throws and was able to limit the impact of the Nittany Lions' full-court pressure. The Tigers committed just 13 turnovers, helping them hold Penn State (6-1) to less than 85 points for the first time this year. Ace Baldwin starred in defeat with game highs of 20 points and 11 assists, while center Yanic Konan Niederhauser added 14 points. Nick Kern came off the bench to score 11 but Penn State was outscored 15-2 on the fast break and made just 4 of 18 attempts from 3-point range. Schieffelin came up big down the stretch, assisting on a 3-pointer by Jaeden Zackery with 6:04 left that made it 65-61. Then he made two foul shots and tossed in a jump hook from the lane to up the margin to 71-66 with 1:03 left. The big storyline going into this game was which team would be able to control the pace. Penn State came in averaging 96 ppg, while Clemson demonstrated its ability to enforce a slower tempo in March, advancing to a regional final in the NCAA Tournament. In the first 10 minutes of the game, the Tigers made the Nittany Lions play at a crawl, opening up a 17-10 advantage when Schieffelin converted a short hook in the lane. But Penn State answered with an 18-4 run over nearly six minutes, establishing a 28-21 lead when Kern shook free for a layup. Clemson rallied with nine straight points but the Nittany Lions had the last say as Baldwin converted a layup with 24 seconds left, cutting the Tigers' edge to 38-36 at halftime. --Field Level Media