By GEOFF MULVIHILL, Associated Press

The governors of Arizona and Maine on Friday joined the growing list of Democratic officials who have signed orders intended to ensure most residents can receive COVID-19 vaccines at pharmacies without individual prescriptions.

Unlike past years, access to COVID-19 vaccines has become complicated in 2025, largely because federal guidance does not recommend them for nearly everyone this year as it had in the past.

Here’s a look at where things stand.

Pharmacy chain says the shots are available in most states without individual prescriptions

CVS Health, the biggest pharmacy chain in the U.S., says its stores are offering the shots without an individual prescription in 41 states as of midday Friday.

But the remaining states — Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maine, North Carolina, Oregon, Utah and West Virginia, plus the District of Columbia — require individual prescriptions under the company’s interpretation of state policies.

Arizona and Maine are likely to come off that list as the new orders take effect there.

“I will not stand idly by while the Trump Administration makes it harder for Maine people to get a vaccine that protects their health and could very well save their life,” Maine Gov. Janet Mills said in the statement. “Through this standing order, we are stepping up to knock down the barriers the Trump Administration is putting in the way of the health and welfare of Maine people.”

Democratic governors have been taking action

At least 14 states — 12 with Democratic governors, plus Virginia, where Republican Glenn Youngkin is governor — have announced policies this month to ease access.

In some of the states that have expanded access — including Delaware and New Jersey this week — at least some pharmacies were already providing the shots broadly.

But in Arizona and Maine, Friday’s orders are expected to change the policy.

While most Republican-controlled states have not changed vaccine policy this month, the inoculations are still available there under existing policies.

In addition to the round of orders from governors, boards of pharmacy and other officials, four states — California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington — have announced an alliance to make their own vaccine recommendations. Of those, only Oregon doesn’t currently allow the shots in pharmacies without individual prescriptions.

Vaccines have become politically contentious

In past years, the federal government has recommended the vaccines to all Americans above the age of 6 months.

This year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved them for people age 65 and over but said they should be used only for children and younger adults who have a risk factor such as asthma or obesity.

That change came as U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy fired the entire Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices in June, accusing of them of being too closely aligned with the companies that make the vaccines. The replacements include vaccine skeptics.

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, framed her order Friday as “protecting the health care freedom” of people in the state.

One state has taken another stance on vaccines

Florida’s surgeon general, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, announced this month that the state could become the first to eliminate requirements that children have a list of vaccinations.

Since then, though, the state health department said that the change likely wouldn’t take effect until December and that without legislative action, only some vaccines — including for chickenpox — would become optional. The measles and polio shots would remain mandatory.

Associated Press writer Patrick Whittle in Maine contributed to this report.

By DAVID A. LIEB, Associated Press

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri Republicans handed President Donald Trump a political victory Friday, giving final legislative approval to a redistricting plan that could help Republicans win an additional U.S. House seat in next year’s elections.

The Senate vote sends the redistricting plan to Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe for his expected signature to make it law. But opponents immediately announced a referendum petition that, if successful, could force a statewide vote on the new map.

Missouri is the third state to take up mid-decade redistricting in an emerging national battle for partisan advantage ahead of the midterm elections. Republican lawmakers in Texas passed a new U.S. House map last month aimed at helping their party win five additional seats. Democratic lawmakers in California countered with their own redistricting plan aimed at winning five more seats, but it still needs voter approval.

Each seat could be critical, because Democrats need to gain just three seats to win control of the House, which would allow them to obstruct Trump’s agenda and launch investigations into him. Trump is trying to stave off a historic trend in which the president’s party typically loses seats in midterm elections.

Republicans currently hold six of Missouri’s eight U.S. House seats. The revised map passed the state House earlier this week as the focal point of a special session called by Kehoe.

Missouri’s revised map targets a seat held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver by shaving off portions of his Kansas City district and stretching the rest of it into Republican-heavy rural areas. The plan reduces the number of Black and minority residents in Cleaver’s district, partly by creating a dividing line along a street that Cleaver said had been a historical segregation line between Black and white residents.

Cleaver, who was Kansas City’s first Black mayor, has served in Congress for over 20 years. He won reelection with over 60% of the vote in both 2024 and 2022 under districts adopted by the Republican-led state Legislature after the 2020 census.

A Progress for People town hall organized by Michigan United Action that was to feature Rep. Rashida Tlaib (MI-12), and Rep. Becca Balint (VT-at large) and be held at the UAW Region 1 hall in Warren has been postponed.

Progress for People sent out notification of the postponement on the afternoon of Sept. 11.

No new date has been set for the event. No details were given regarding the cancellation beyond “an abundance of caution for the community’s safety,”

Rep. John James was invited to the event but it is not known if he was planning to attend.

The event was sponsored by Michigan United Action, Fair Share America, United Auto Workers Region 1, Reproductive Freedom for All, Macomb Defenders Rising (Indivisible), United for Respect, and the Progressive Caucus Action Fund.

Those wishing to learn more about adoption and meet older youths seeking homes are invited to the 2025 Michigan Heart Gallery in Royal Oak on Saturday, Sept. 13.

The event is an annual traveling exhibit featuring photos of older youths in foster care. This year’s display features pictures of 60 young people, some of whom will attend the premiere.

It will be held from 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m. at the Emagine Theatre, 200 N. Main St. in Royal Oak.

The Michigan Adoption Resource Exchange, a program administered by the Judson Center, a Farmington Hills human services agency, sponsors the event, which is funded by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

The event includes a red-carpet arrival for the youths and guests, a film presentation, formal program and lunch. An adoption information session will be held featuring MARE’s adoption navigators. They are experienced adoptive parents who can offer guidance and personal knowledge about the process, challenges and joys of adopting.

Sixteen professional photographers from across the state volunteered their time to take the photos for the project. The exhibit will travel across the state following the Royal Oak premiere.

“The first showing of the Michigan Heart Gallery is always such an exciting and inspirational event,” said MARE Director Michelle Parra. “It’s a time when we celebrate our older youth in foster care and give them hope for the future. They truly are the stars on this day.”

Admission to the event is free and open to the public. Attendees are encouraged to pre-register on the MARE website at www.mare.org. Complimentary parking vouchers will be available.

Candidate for governor posts rebuke against pride flag at Oakland County school

Oak Park judge faces backlash for saying Charlie Kirk died for his ‘beliefs’

By DAVID A. LIEB and M.K. WILDEMAN, Associated Press

President Donald Trump has approved federal disaster aid for six states and tribes following storms and floods that occurred this spring and summer.

The disaster declarations, announced Thursday, will allow federal funding to flow to Kansas, North Carolina, North Dakota and Wisconsin, and for tribes in Montana and South Dakota. In each case except Wisconsin, it took Trump more than a month to approve the aid requests from local officials, continuing a trend of longer waits for disaster relief noted by a recent Associated Press analysis.

Trump has now approved more than 30 major natural disaster declarations since taking office in January. Before the latest batch, his approvals had averaged a 34-day wait from the time the relief was requested. For his most recent declarations, that wait ranged from just 15 days following an aid request for Wisconsin flooding in August to 56 days following a tribal request for Montana flooding that occurred in May.

The AP’s analysis showed that delays in approving federal disaster aid have grown over time, regardless of the party in power. On average, it took less than two weeks for requests for a presidential disaster declaration to be granted in the 1990s and early 2000s. That rose to about three weeks during the past decade under presidents from both major parties. During Trump’s first term in office, it took him an average of 24 days to approve requests.

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told the AP that Trump is providing “a more thorough review of disaster declaration requests than any Administration has before him” to make sure that federal tax dollars are spent wisely.

But delays mean individuals must wait to receive federal aid for daily living expenses, temporary lodging and home repairs. Delays in disaster declarations also can hamper recovery efforts by local officials uncertain whether they will receive federal reimbursement for cleaning up debris and rebuilding infrastructure.

Trump’s latest declarations approved public assistance for local governments and nonprofits in all cases except Wisconsin, where assistance for individuals was approved. But that doesn’t preclude the federal government from later also approving public assistance for Wisconsin.

Preliminary estimates from Democratic Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers’ administration said more than 1,500 residential structures were destroyed or suffered major damage in August flooding at a cost of more than $33 million. There was also more than $43 million in public sector damage over six counties, according to the Evers administration.

Evers requested aid for residents in six counties, but Trump approved it only for three.

“I will continue to urge the Trump Administration to approve the remainder of my request, and I will keep fighting to make sure Wisconsin receives every resource that is needed and available,” Evers said in a statement in which he thanked Democratic officeholders for their efforts, but not Trump or any Republicans.

Trump had announced several of the disaster declarations — including Wisconsin’s — on his social media site while noting his victories in those states and highlighting their Republican officials. He received thanks from Democratic North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein and Republican officials elsewhere.

Trump’s approval of six major disaster declarations in one day would have been unusual for some presidents but not for him. Trump approved seven disaster requests on July 22 and nine on May 21.

But Trump has not approved requests for hazard mitigation assistance — a once-typical add-on that helps recipients build back with resilience — since February.

Associated Press writers Gabriela Aoun Angueira, Scott Bauer, Jack Dura and Gary D. Robertson contributed to this report.

By Lena H. Sun, Rachel Roubein, Dan Diamond
The Washington Post

Trump health officials plan to link coronavirus vaccines to the deaths of 25 children as they consider limiting which Americans should get the shots, according to four people familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe confidential information.

The findings appear to be based on information submitted to the federal Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, which contains unverified reports of side effects or bad experiences with vaccines submitted by anyone, including patients, doctors, pharmacists or even someone who sees a report on social media. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention emphasizes that the database is not designed to assess whether a shot caused a death, a conclusion that requires thorough investigations by scientists and public health professionals.

Trump health officials plan to include the pediatric deaths claim in a presentation next week to an influential panel of advisers to the CDC that is considering new coronavirus vaccine recommendations, which affect access to the shots and whether they’re free.

The plan has alarmed some career scientists who say coronavirus vaccines have been extensively studied, including in children, and that dangers of the virus itself are being underplayed. CDC staff in June presented data to the same vaccine committee showing that at least 25 children died who had covid-associated hospitalizations since July 2023 and that number was likely an undercount. Of the 16 old enough for vaccination, none was up-to-date on vaccines.

Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary confirmed on CNN last week that officials were investigating reports of possible child deaths from the vaccine, including reviewing autopsy reports and interviewing families. Such a review could take months, according to health officials, and it is unclear when those investigations began.

The pediatric deaths presentation to the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is not final, according to one person familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe ongoing policy discussions. The full methodology for the analysis was not immediately clear.

“FDA and CDC staff routinely analyze VAERS and other safety monitoring data, and those reviews are being shared publicly through the established ACIP process,” HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said in an email. “Any recommendations on updated COVID-19 vaccines will be based on gold standard science and deliberated transparently at ACIP next week.”

The FDA in August approved the latest coronavirus vaccines for people ages 65 and older or who have risk factors for severe disease, but the CDC vaccine panel can recommend the shots more narrowly or broadly. The committee is weighing a plan to recommend the shot for those 75 and older but instruct people who are younger to speak to a physician before they get the vaccine, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share policy discussions. Another option would not recommend the vaccine to people under the age of 75 without preexisting conditions, the people said.

But limiting access for people ages 65 to 74 has raised concerns about a political backlash, said one federal health official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share private conversations. According to CDC estimates, nearly 43 percent of people in that age group received the 2024-2025 version of the coronavirus vaccine.

Many countries do not recommend annual coronavirus vaccination for healthy children because they rarely die from covid and most experience mild symptoms. U.S. officials have justified yearly shots based on data showing infants and toddlers faced elevated risk of hospitalization and that significant shares of those who were hospitalized had no underlying conditions. They have also said vaccines offer children protection against long covid.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime critic of coronavirus vaccines, in May directed health officials to stop recommending the shots for otherwise healthy children. The CDC later instructed parents to consult a doctor before getting their children coronavirus vaccines. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends annual coronavirus vaccines for all children ages 6 to 23 months and for older children if their parents want them to have protection.

Next week’s vaccine advisory panel’s meeting is critical because the recommendations determine whether insurers must pay for the immunizations, pharmacies can administer them and doctors are willing to offer them. Kennedy purged the membership of the panel earlier this year and appointed his own picks, most of whom have criticized coronavirus vaccination policy. He is considering adding additional critics of covid shots to the committee.

The previous vaccine panel was already considering a more targeted approach to coronavirus vaccination, recommending the shot for high-risk groups, but allowing others, including children, to get the vaccine if they wanted.

Tracy Beth Hoeg, one of Makary’s top deputies who was a critic of broad childhood coronavirus vaccination before joining the FDA, has been one of the officials looking into vaccine safety data, according to five people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private information.

The planned pediatric death presentation included attempts to interview some families, but it’s not clear what other information was used. Some of those same families had been previously interviewed by the CDC officials as part of vaccine safety tracking, according to one person familiar with the matter.

Harleen Marwah, a pediatrician at Mass General Brigham for Children who recently reviewed data on the coronavirus vaccine and its safety and efficacy in children, said new studies since June identified “no new safety concerns.” Marwah conducted the research on behalf of the Vaccine Integrity Project, a new initiative based at the University of Minnesota to provide scientific evidence to inform vaccine recommendations.

The CDC has been monitoring coronavirus vaccine safety data since the first shots rolled out in the United States. Much stricter requirements were put in place for reporting adverse events than for other vaccines because the vaccines were initially fast-tracked under the FDA’s emergency response authority.

Death rates among all ages after mRNA coronavirus vaccination were below those for the general population, according to data presented to the CDC vaccine committee in June.

Noel Brewer, a public health professor at the University of North Carolina and one of the vaccine advisers terminated by Kennedy, said the focus on vaccine harms ignores the harms of coronavirus.

“They are leveraging this platform to share untruths about vaccines to scare people,” Brewer said. “The U.S. government is now in the business of vaccine misinformation.”

By Nada Hassanein, Stateline.org

Pharmacies in Black and Latino neighborhoods are less likely to dispense buprenorphine — one of the main treatments for opioid use disorder — even though people of color are more likely to die from opioid overdoses.

The drug helps reduce cravings for opioids and the likelihood of a fatal overdose.

While the nation as a whole has seen decreases in opioid overdose deaths in recent years, overdose deaths among Black, Latino and Indigenous people have continued to increase.

Many medical and health policy experts fear the broad domestic policy law President Donald Trump signed in July will worsen the problem by increasing the number of people without health insurance. As a result of the law, the number of people without coverage will increase by about 10 million by 2034, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

About 7.5 million of the people who will lose coverage under the new law are covered by Medicaid. Shortly before Trump signed the bill into law, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and Boston University estimated that roughly 156,000 Medicaid recipients will lose access to medications for opioid addiction because of the cuts, resulting in approximately 1,000 more overdose deaths annually.

Because Black and Hispanic people are overrepresented on the rolls, the Medicaid cuts will have a disproportionate effect on communities that already face higher barriers to getting medications to treat addiction.

From 2017 to 2023, the percentage of U.S. retail pharmacies regularly dispensing buprenorphine increased from 33% to 39%, according to a study published last week in Health Affairs.

But researchers found the drug was much less likely to be available in pharmacies in mostly Black (18% of pharmacies) and Hispanic neighborhoods (17%), compared with mostly white ones (46%).

In some states, the disparity was even worse. In California, for example, only about 9% of pharmacies in Black neighborhoods dispensed buprenorphine, compared with 52% in white neighborhoods.

The researchers found buprenorphine was least available in Black and Latino neighborhoods across nearly all states.

Barriers to treatment

Dr. Rebecca Trotzky-Sirr, a family physician who specializes in addiction medicine, said many communities of color are “pharmacy deserts.” Even the pharmacies that do exist in those neighborhoods tend to “have additional barriers to obtain buprenorphine and other controlled substances out of a concern for historic overuse of some treatments,” said Trotzky-Sirr, who wasn’t involved in the study.

In addition to its federal classification as a controlled substance, buprenorphine is also subject to state regulations to prevent illegal use. Pharmacies that carry it know that wholesalers and distributors audit their orders, which dissuades some from stocking or dispensing it.

Dima Qato, associate professor of clinical pharmacy at the University of Southern California and an author of the Health Affairs study, said that without changes in policy, Black and Hispanic people will continue to have an especially hard time getting buprenorphine.

“If you don’t address these dispensing regulations, or regulate buprenorphine from the aspect of pharmacy regulations, people are still going to encounter barriers accessing it,” she said.

In neighborhoods where at least a fifth of the population is on Medicaid, just 35% of pharmacies dispensed buprenorphine, Qato and her team found. But in neighborhoods with fewer residents on Medicaid, about 42% of pharmacies carried the drug.

Medicaid covers nearly half— 47% — of nonelderly adults who suffer from opioid use disorder. In states that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, another recent study found an increase in people getting prescriptions for buprenorphine.

“Medicaid is the backbone of care for people struggling with opioid use disorder,” said Cherlette McCullough, a Florida-based mental health therapist. “We’re going to see people in relapse. We’re going to see more overdoses. We’re going to see more people in the ER.”

Qato said the shortage of pharmacies in minority communities is likely to get worse, as many independent pharmacists are already struggling to stay open.

“We know they’re more likely to close in neighborhoods of color, so there’s going to be even fewer pharmacies that carry it in the neighborhoods that really need it,” she said.

‘There needs to be urgency’

Qato and her colleagues say states and local governments should mandate that pharmacies carry a minimum stock of buprenorphine and dispense it to anyone coming in with a legitimate prescription. As examples, they point to a Philadelphia ordinance mandating that pharmacies carry the opioid overdose-reversal drug naloxone and similar emergency contraception requirements in Massachusetts.

“We need to create expectations. We need to encourage our pharmacies to carry this to make it accessible, same day, and there needs to be urgency,” said Arianna Campbell, a physician assistant and co-founder of the Bridge Center, a California-based organization that aims to help increase addiction treatment in emergency rooms.

“In many of the conversations I have with pharmacies, when I’m getting some pushback, I have to say: ‘Hey, this person’s at the highest risk of dying right now. They need this medication right now.’”

She said patients frequently become discouraged due to barriers they face in getting prescriptions filled. The Bridge Center has been expanding its patient navigator program across the state, and helping other states start their own. The program helps patients identify pharmacies where they can fill their prescription fastest.

“There’s a medication that can help you, but at every turn it’s really hard to get it,” she said, calling the disparities in access to medication treatment “unacceptable.”

Trotzky-Sirr, the California doctor, fears the looming Medicaid cuts will cause many of her patients to discontinue treatment and relapse. Many of her patients are covered by Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program.

“A lot of our patients are able to obtain medications for treatment of addiction like buprenorphine, because of the state covering the cost of the medication,” said Trotzky-Sirr, who also is a regional coordinator at the Bridge Center.

“They don’t have the resources to pay for it, cash, out of pocket.”

Some low-income patients switch between multiple providers or clinics as they try to find care and coverage, she added. These could be interpreted as red flags to a pharmacy.

Trotzky-Sirr argued buprenorphine does not need to be monitored as carefully as opioids and other drugs that are easier to misuse or overuse.

“Buprenorphine does not have those features and really needs to be in a class by itself,” she said. “Unfortunately, it’s hard to explain that to a pharmacist in 30 seconds over the phone.”

More is known about the medication now than when it was placed on the controlled substances list about two decades ago, said Brendan Saloner, a Bloomberg Professor of American Health in Addiction and Overdose at Johns Hopkins University.

Pharmacies are fearful of regulatory scrutiny and don’t have “countervailing pressure” to ensure patients get the treatments, he said.

On top of that fear, Medicaid managed care plans’ prior authorization processes may also be adding to the pharmacy bottleneck, he said.

“Black and Latino communities have higher rates of Medicaid enrollment, so to the extent that Medicaid prior authorization techniques are a hassle to pharmacies, that may also kind of discourage them [pharmacies] from stocking buprenorphine,” he said.

In some states, buprenorphine is much more readily available. In Maine, New Hampshire, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah and Vermont, more than 70% of pharmacies carried the drug, according to the study. Buprenorphine availability was highest in states such as Oregon that have the least restrictive regulations for dispensing it.

In contrast, less than a quarter of pharmacies in Iowa, North Dakota, Texas, Virginia and Washington, D.C., carried the medication.

“We’re going to see more people becoming unhoused, because without treatment, they’re going to go back to those old habits,” McCullough, the Florida therapist, said. “When we talk about marginalized communities, these are the populations that are going to suffer the most because they already have challenges with access to care.”

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Stateline reporter Nada Hassanein can be reached at nhassanein@stateline.org.

©2025 States Newsroom. Visit at stateline.org. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

By MICHELLE L. PRICE, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, long an advocate for civility, made an impassioned plea on Friday for Americans and young people in particular to use the horror of conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s public assassination as an inflection point to turn the country away from political violence and division.

“This is our moment: Do we escalate or do we find an off-ramp?” Cox told a news conference in Utah as he announced authorities had a suspect in Kirk’s killing in custody. “It’s a choice.”

Throughout his political career, Cox, a two-term Republican governor, has issued pleas for bipartisan cooperation and at times drawn national attention for his empathetic remarks.

His speech on Friday was his most emotional and prominent example yet, as he urged an appeal to common ground and humanity to forge a better society. It was a marked departure from the bellicose rhetoric often employed in recent years by U.S. politicians, especially President Donald Trump, who is known for provocative language and has blamed Kirk’s killing on “radical left” rhetoric.

‘Politics feels like rage’

On Wednesday, after Kirk’s killing, Cox made an initial plea. On Friday, acknowledging he was running on only 90 minutes of sleep after days of the manhunt for Kirk’s killer and heated rhetoric unfurling online, he went further.

His voice appearing to break at times, Cox said that the response to violence and hate can be more violence and hate. “And that’s the problem with political violence,” he said. “It metastasizes because we can always point the finger at the other side. And at some point we have to find an off-ramp or it’s going to get much much worse.”

“History will dictate if this is a turning point for our country,” he said. “But every single one of us gets to choose right now if this is a turning point for us.”

The 50-year-old governor, who has four children who are teenagers and young adults, directed some of his remarks to young people: “You are inheriting a country where politics feels like rage. It feels like rage is the only option.”

But, Cox said, a different path is possible: “Your generation has an opportunity to build a culture that is very different than what we are suffering through right now.”

He said the 22-year-old suspect in Kirk’s killing had become “more political” in the run-up to Wednesday’s shooting on a university campus.

Cox also spoke of the harms of social media and said it was terrible that Kirk’s slaying was “so gruesomely displayed” for everyone to watch online.

“We are not wired as human beings biologically, historically we have not evolved in a way that we are capable of processing those types of violent imagery,” Cox said. “This is not good for us. It is not good to consume. Social media is a cancer on our society right now.”

These approaches are not new for Cox

As governor, Cox has sought to curb the harms of social media on young people, signing laws that require social media companies to verify the ages of their users and disable certain features on accounts of minors.

Though he lives in heavily Republican Utah, where little bipartisan action is needed for his party to enact its agenda, Cox has for years emphasized respect and unity. As governor, he has consistently invoked a need for civility — a trait that’s at home in the culture of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a faith to which Cox and many in the state belong.

His more moderate tone became rarer as Utah’s politics drifted rightward in the Trump era. At a statewide convention of Utah Republicans in April 2024, Cox was booed. “Maybe you hate that I don’t hate enough,” Cox told the crowd. He still won his state’s GOP primary and reelection in November.

In 2016, Cox drew national attention for his remarks after a mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Then, he called for people to come together and appealed to their “better angels.” He also apologized for having been unkind while in high school to students he later learned were gay.

He also drew attention during his 2020 campaign for governor in which he appeared in television ads with his Democratic opponent as they pledged to “disagree without hating each other.”

Cox was openly critical of Trump and did not support him until after the president survived an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, last year. The governor wrote then-candidate Trump a letter expressing admiration for his defiant response to being struck by a bullet.

In that letter, Cox told Trump he believed “God had a hand in saving you” and that “miracle” gave him the opportunity to unify the country.

“We need to turn down the temperature and find ways to come together again before it’s too late,” Cox wrote.

Minutes before Cox took the stage Friday, Trump had that opportunity as he sat for a live interview on Fox News Channel. He was asked how the country can be brought back together. Trump said his response would “get me in trouble, but I couldn’t care less.”

Before he launched into a list of grievances with his Democratic opponents, the president said: “The radicals on the left are the problem.”

Associated Press writer Chris Megerian contributed to this report.

By DIDI TANG and PAUL WISEMAN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s push to revitalize American manufacturing by luring foreign investment into the U.S. has run smack into one of his other priorities: cracking down on illegal immigration.

Hardly a week after immigration authorities raided a sprawling Hyundai battery plant in Georgia, detained more than 300 South Korean workers and showed video of some of them shackled in chains, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung warned that the country’s other companies may be reluctant to take up Trump’s invitation to pour money into the United States.

The detained South Koreans were released Thursday and most were flown home.

If the U.S. can’t promptly issue visas to the technicians and other skilled workers needed to launch plants, then “establishing a local factory in the United States will either come with severe disadvantages or become very difficult for our companies,” Lee said Thursday. “They will wonder whether they should even do it.”

The raid and subsequent diplomatic crisis show how the Trump administration’s mass deportation goals are running up against its efforts to bring in money from abroad to drive the U.S. economy and create more jobs. Moves like workplace immigration enforcement and visa restrictions could risk alienating allies that are pledging to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in the U.S. to avoid high tariffs.

South Korea is already a big investor in the US

Trump’s economic agenda is built around using hefty tariffs on imports, including a 15% levy on South Korean products, as a cudgel to force manufacturing to return to the U.S. He’s repeatedly said foreign companies can escape his tariffs if they produce in America. South Korea, already a top investor, pledged to invest $350 billion in the U.S. when the two sides announced a trade deal in July.

It made more investments in new construction, such as factories, on previously undeveloped land than any other country in 2022. Last year, it ranked 12th in the world with $93 billion in total American investment — including acquisitions of existing companies, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

But the dramatic roundup of South Koreans and others working to set up the battery plant threatens to put a chill on the investment push. Indeed, Trump seems to be trying to undo the damage.

While demanding that foreign investors “LEGALLY bring your very smart people,” Trump also promised to “make it quickly and legally possible for you to do so.”

“President Trump will continue delivering on his promise to make the United States the best place in the world to do business, while also enforcing federal immigration laws,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in a statement Thursday.

For now, the South Koreans are furious and immigration experts are puzzled. It’s been common practice for decades for foreign companies — such as the Japanese and German carmakers that have built factories in the American Midwest and South — to send technical specialists from their home countries to help open plants in the United States. Most of them train U.S. workers, then go home.

“Japanese managers, senior engineers, other technical experts had to come to the United States to set this stuff up,” said Lee Branstetter, a professor of economics and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University who’s studied Japanese auto plants in the U.S.

American companies do the same thing, sending U.S. workers overseas temporarily to get operations started.

Some experts call it a baffling, ‘performative’ raid

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement launched the roundup last week at a manufacturing site that state officials have touted as Georgia’s largest economic development project.

“It’s really baffling to me why this raid would have occurred,” said Ben Armstrong, executive director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Industrial Performance Center. “The existence of these workers shouldn’t have been a surprise.”

U.S. immigration officials could have audited the workers’ documents without the drama, retired immigration lawyer Dan Kowalski said, adding that “raiding and arresting and putting them in chains and shackles is 100% performative.”

It had to do with “wanting to look tough — arresting as many foreigners as possible for the photo-op,” said Kowalski, who is now a writer and editor.

U.S. work visa categories make it a challenge to bring in foreign workers quickly and easily, said Kevin Miner, an immigration lawyer in Atlanta.

Some run on a highly competitive lottery system, are for seasonal workers and have a cap, or are restricted to managers and executives. Other short-term visas have strict limits on employment.

After meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio this week in Washington, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said they agreed to set up a joint working group for discussions on creating a new visa category to make it easier for South Korean companies to send their staff to work in the United States.

Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau also plans to visit Seoul this weekend.

Calls for fixes to the US visa system

Hyundai’s “desire to get this thing up and running as quickly as possible ran head-on into the often time-consuming processes that the U.S. government requires in order to issue business visas,” said Branstetter of Carnegie Mellon.

U.S. authorities say those detained were “unlawfully working” at the plant. Charles Kuck, a lawyer representing several of the South Koreans who were detained, said the “vast majority” of the workers from South Korea were doing work authorized under a visa program.

Julia Gelatt, associate director of the U.S. immigration policy program at the Migration Policy Institute, said work visas — like nearly all other aspects of the U.S. immigration system — need reform.

“Our visa system does not envision this kind of scenario,” Gelatt said, of bringing in skilled foreign workers needed for the initial setup of factories. The U.S. has a few country-specific visa categories that make it easier to bring in certain foreign workers, like those from Mexico, Australia or Singapore.

“The goal,” said MIT’s Armstrong, “should be to make foreign direct investment as streamlined as possible.”

By MARY CLARE JALONICK, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer weathered backlash from Democrats earlier this year when he voted with Republicans to keep the government open. But he’s now willing to risk a shutdown at the end of the month if Republicans don’t accede to Democratic demands.

Schumer says he and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries are united in opposing any legislation that doesn’t include key health care provisions and a commitment not to roll them back. He argues that the country is in a different place than it was in March, when he vigorously argued against a shutdown, and he says he believes Republicans and President Donald Trump will be held responsible if they don’t negotiate a bipartisan deal.

“Things have changed” since the March vote, Schumer said in an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday. He said Republicans have since passed Trump’s massive tax breaks and spending cuts legislation, which trimmed Medicaid and other government programs, and Democrats are now unified — unlike in March, when he voted with Republicans and Jeffries voted against the legislation to fund the government.

A shutdown, Schumer said, wouldn’t necessarily worsen an environment in which Trump is already challenging the authority of Congress. “It will get worse with or without it, because Trump is lawless,” Schumer said.

Democrats’ consequential decision

Schumer’s threat comes as Republicans are considering a short-term stopgap spending measure to avoid a Sept. 30 shutdown and as Democrats face what most see as two tough choices if the parties can’t negotiate a deal — vote with Republicans to keep the government open or let it close indefinitely with no clear exit plan.

It also comes amid worsening partisan tensions in the Senate, where negotiations between the two parties over the confirmation process broke down for a second time on Thursday and Republicans are changing Senate rules to get around Democratic objections to almost all of Trump’s nominees. Democrats are also fuming over the Trump administration’s decision to unilaterally claw back $4.9 billion in congressionally approved foreign aid just as negotiations over the spending deadline were getting underway in late August.

Republicans move ahead

Republicans say that Democrats clearly will be to blame if they don’t vote to keep the government open.

Trump said Friday to not “even bother” negotiating with Democrats. He said Republicans will likely put together a continuing resolution to keep funding the federal government.

“If you gave them every dream, they would not vote for it,” Trump said, adding “we will get it through because the Republicans are sticking together.”

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said in an interview with Punchbowl News on Thursday that he believes Democrats see it as “politically advantageous” to have a shutdown.

“But they don’t have a good reason to do it,” Thune said in the interview. “And I don’t intend to give them a good reason to do it.”

Thune has repeatedly said that Schumer needs to approach Republicans with a specific proposal on health care, including an extension of expanded government tax credits for many Americans who get their health insurance through the Affordable Care Act. Some Republicans are open to extending those credits before they expire at the end of the year, but Thune has indicated that he is unlikely to add an extension to a short-term spending bill, instead favoring a “clean” stopgap for several weeks without any divisive issues while Congress finishes its budget legislation.

Schumer said he believes his caucus is ready to oppose the stopgap measure if Republicans don’t negotiate it with Democrats. “I think the overwhelming majority of our caucus, with a few exceptions, and same with the House, would vote against that,” he said.

Less realistic is Democrats’ demand that Republicans roll back Medicaid cuts enacted in their tax breaks and spending cuts legislation this summer, what Trump called his “big, beautiful bill.”

Escalating partisan tensions over spending

Schumer said Democrats also want Republicans to commit that the White House won’t take back money they have negotiated and Congress has approved after Republicans pushed through a $9 billion cut requested by the White House in July and Trump blocked the additional foreign aid money in August. “How do you pass an appropriations bill and let them undo it down the road?” Schumer said.

Congress is facing the funding deadline Sept. 30 because Republicans and Democrats are still working out their differences on several annual budget bills. Intractable partisan differences on an increasing number of issues have stalled those individual bills in recent years, forcing lawmakers to pass one large omnibus package at the end of the year or simply vote to continue current spending.

A shutdown means federal agencies will stop all actions deemed non-essential, and millions of federal employees, including members of the military, won’t receive paychecks. The most recent shutdown — and the longest ever — was during Trump’s first term in 2018 and into 2019, when he demanded money for his U.S.-Mexico border wall. It lasted 35 days.

Schumer’s March vote

Schumer’s move to support the spending legislation in March put him in the rare position of bucking his party’s base. He said then that of two bad options, a partial government shutdown was worse because it would give Trump even more control to lay off workers and there would be “no off-ramp” to get out of it. “I think people realize it’s a tough choice,” he said.

He faced massive backlash from within the party after the vote, with some activists calling on him to resign. Jeffries temporarily distanced himself from his New York colleague, saying in a statement immediately after Schumer’s vote that House Democrats “will not be complicit.” The majority of Senate Democrats also voted against the GOP spending legislation.

This time, though, Schumer is in lockstep with Jeffries and in messaging within his caucus. In Democrats’ closed-door lunch Wednesday, he shared polling that he said suggested most Americans would blame Trump, not Democrats, for a shutdown.

“I did what I thought was right” in March, Schumer said. “It’s a different situation now than then.”

Associated Press writer Christopher Megerian contributed to this report.

Today is Friday, Sept. 12, the 255th day of 2025. There are 110 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Sept. 12, 2008, a Metrolink commuter train struck a freight train head-on in Los Angeles, killing 25 people.

Also on this date:

In 1857, the S.S. Central America (also known as the “Ship of Gold”) sank off the coast of South Carolina after sailing into a hurricane in one of the worst maritime disasters in American history; 425 people were killed and thousands of pounds of gold sank with the ship to the bottom of the ocean.

In 1940, the Lascaux cave paintings, estimated to be 17,000 years old, were discovered in southwestern France.

In 1958, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Cooper v. Aaron, unanimously ruled that Arkansas officials who were resisting public school desegregation orders could not disregard the high court’s rulings.

In 1959, the Soviet Union launched its Luna 2 space probe, which made a crash landing on the moon.

In 1962, in a speech at Rice University in Houston, President John F. Kennedy reaffirmed his support for the manned space program, declaring: “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”

In 1977, South African Black student leader and anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko, 30, died while in police custody, triggering an international outcry.

In 1994, truck driver Frank Eugene Corder piloted a stolen single-engine Cessna airplane into restricted airspace in Washington, D.C., and crashed it into the South Lawn of the White House. He died in the crash.

In 2003, in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, U.S. forces mistakenly opened fire on vehicles carrying police, killing eight of them.

In 2011, Novak Djokovic beat Rafael Nadal to win his first U.S. Open championship.

In 2013, Voyager 1, launched 36 years earlier, became the first man-made spacecraft ever to leave the solar system.

Today’s Birthdays:

• Actor Linda Gray is 85.
• Singer Maria Muldaur is 82.
• Author Michael Ondaatje is 82.
• Actor Joe Pantoliano is 74.
• Photographer Nan Goldin is 72.
• Composer Hans Zimmer is 68.
• Actor Rachel Ward is 68.
• TV host-commentator Greg Gutfeld is 61.
• Actor-comedian Louis (loo-ee) C.K. is 58.
• Golfer Angel Cabrera is 56.
• Country singer Jennifer Nettles (Sugarland) is 51.
• Rapper 2 Chainz is 48.
• Singer Ruben Studdard is 47.
• Basketball Hall of Famer Yao Ming is 45.
• Singer-actor Jennifer Hudson is 44.
• Actor Alfie Allen is 39.
• Actor Emmy Rossum is 39.
• Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman is 36.
• Country singer-songwriter Kelsea Ballerini is 32.
• Actor Sydney Sweeney is 28.

OXFORD – The Birmingham Seaholm Maples dominated the Oxford Wildcats 9-1 in Oakland Activities Association Red Division action Thursday night.

It’s the most goals the Maples have scored in a match as far back as MHSAA’s online records go, which is at least a dozen complete seasons.

The Maples started hot and never looked back. Seaholm opened the scoring just under five minutes into the game when Leo Ballini Piedrahita’s corner kick found Maxwell Collins in front, and Collins powered a header home to make it 1-0. Seaholm doubled its lead on a penalty kick goal from Patrick McCarthy with 29:46 to play in the first half then added another goal when McCarthy crossed a ball that Rowan Hanoosh one-timed home. That gave the Maples a 3-0 lead at halftime.

The Maples had been in a similar position on Tuesday when they faced Berkley, only to give up the lead and lose 5-4. This game was different. Seaholm stayed focused, kept the pressure on, and kept pouring in goals. Any thought of an Oxford comeback fizzled out when Bryan Pohl tapped in a loose ball less than two minutes after halftime to extend Seaholm’s lead even further.

Oxford had flashes of offense, including hitting the inside of the post early in the second half. But outside of a late penalty kick goal from Ryan Clark, the Wildcats’ offense did not find the net as they struggled to consistently threaten the Maple goal.

Seaholm, meanwhile, was getting goals from everyone. McCarthy and Collins each added second-half goals to their first-half tallies, and Marco Rodrigues, Carson Wilner, and T. J. Kotila also scored in the second half.

“I didn’t expect that, obviously. I don’t think anybody did. We just needed a reaction because, to be quite honest, they are no worse than Berkley,” Seaholm head coach Greg Perkins said. “We talked the other day just about how anything can happen. You’re up 3-0 and end up losing 5-4, so there is never a time you can rest. It couldn’t be any better.”

With the win, Seaholm stays on the heels of division leading Troy Athens. The Maples (8-2-2 overall, 2-1-1 OAA Red) host second place Clarkston in another key league game on Tuesday.

Photo gallery of Birmingham Seaholm vs. Oxford in OAA Red boys soccer action

“We’ll go in and try to do what we can. It’s going to be a very different kind of team to play against, and we know a bit about them,” Perkins said. “We’ll be ready, and we’ve got a few days to prepare, so we’re looking forward to it.”

Oxford (5-6-1 overall, 2-2 OAA Red) will now attempt to regroup after dropping two straight league games. The Wildcats host Grand Blanc on Monday and then face Berkley on Tuesday in their next league game.

“Everything they (Seaholm) touched turned to goals. They’re a great team,” Wildcats head coach Adam Bican said. “We won’t have any problem with motivation. We’ll be alright. We’re just a brand new team figuring stuff out,” he added.

Birmingham Seaholm defeated Oxford 9-1 in the OAA Red matchup played on Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025 at Oxford.

WARREN – Sometimes soccer can boil down to finishing and not finishing scoring opportunities.

It’s that simple.

Novi Detroit Catholic Central only had eight shots on frame Thursday, but scored on four of them and ended up earning a 4-1 victory over host Warren De La Salle in Catholic High School League Central Division play.

The Shamrocks (7-2-2, 6-0-0), listed as honorable mention in the Division 1 polls, led 2-1 at the half before tacking on a pair of insurance tallies in the second half.

“We started off a little bit slow. But once we scored we were alright. We took advantage of a little bit of misfortune on them (with the two rebound goals). Their goalkeeper made the initial save but we followed (the shots) up and were able to score on them” noted Catholic Central coach Gene Pulice. “Thaier still has them doing a good job. And yes we did finish our opportunities tonight. I think it’s one of those things that if you can take the wind out of their sails a little. Bit. The first team to score helps you achieve that. They cut it down to 2-1 but we pulled it back a little bit in the second half with two more goals and started to get things done. “

More importantly, CC now had a two-game lead on Detroit U-D Jesuit and a three-game lead on De La Salle in the seven-school Central Division and are now comfortably in the driver’s seat in terms of winning the division and grabbing the No. 1 seed for the CHSL Bishop Tournament in October.

“We’re doing pretty good so far, and in the Catholic League they always pitch that we are one of the best leagues in the state out there. It’s a tough league and it’s a battle every game,” said Pulice. “Sometimes it’s better lucky than good. You have to respect all the teams in this league.”

Catholic Central scored the first two goals off of rebound opportunities. The first came with 24:12 still left in the first half when Luke Perry was near the doorstep to knock it home after Zachary Zahr’s first shot was knocked away by De La Salle backup goalkeeper Giovanni Vitale.

The Shamrocks scored the next goal in similar fashion when Grant Mooradian’s blast from the top of the box was knocked down by Vitale but this time it was Zahr in the right place at the right time to knock in the rebound with 19:51 remaining in the first half.

Andrew Corder finally got the Pilots untracked when he found some open real estate near the upper left corner of the box and uncorked a banger from 18 yards out with 17:27 left in the first half. It was Corder’s 21st goal of the season just one month into the campaign.

But Catholic Central had four opportunities in the second half and two were converted by Mooradian. The first came with 34:58 remaining in the game when Peters found Mooradian unmarked in the middle of the box and ripped a 14-yard banger into the net.

Mooradian later converted a penalty kick with 28:06 left to cap the scoring and open up a three-goal lead.

Defensively, Catholic Central did a great job on limiting Corder’s chances, allowing him only three shots on goal. Goalkeeper Jake Sievers turned aside a laser shot by Corder midway through the second half and finished with four saves for CC.

Catholic Central held a 12-11 overall shots advantage in the somewhat evenly- game and also had a 8-5 shots on goal advantage in the contest. De La Salle held a 4-2 edge off corners.

De La Salle, ranked third in the state in Division 2, slipped to 10-3-0 overall and 3-3-0 in league play. Although the Pilots are essentially out of the Central Division race and only Detroit U-D Jesuit can possible catch the Shamrocks.

“Hats off to CC. The better team won tonight. They outplayed us and scored on their opportunities,” said Thaier Mukhtar, whose team in the defending Division 2 state champion and reached the state semifinals in 2023. “They should win the (Central) and we can’t catch him. But there is still a lot for us to play for. We have to get better and get ready for the state tournament and try to go as far as we can. The ultimate goal is to win the state championship.

“This wasn’t one of our better games,” added Mukhtar. “We just got outplayed by CC tonight. We’ll bounce back.”

NEW YORK (AP) — Aaron Judge hit two home runs to tie Hall of Fame outfielder Joe DiMaggio for fourth place in Yankees history as New York beat the Detroit Tigers 9-3 on Thursday night to avert a three-game sweep.

On the 24th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, President Donald Trump attended the game and watched from a suite on the third base side.

Judge homered off Tyler Holton (5-5) in the first inning and matched DiMaggio by launching his 361st career homer with a 434-foot drive to the back of the Detroit bullpen off Sawyer Gipson-Long in the third.

Judge had his sixth multihomer game this season and pulled even with DiMaggio two nights after passing Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra for fifth on the franchise list.

The two-time AL MVP had three hits and ended the night with a major league-best .322 batting average, three points ahead of Athletics rookie shortstop Jacob Wilson.

Giancarlo Stanton followed Judge’s second solo shot with his 449th homer, tying Hall of Famers Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Jeff Bagwell for 41st on the career list.

Including the postseason, it was the 56th time Judge and Stanton homered in the same game and fifth time this season.

Ben Rice hit an RBI double and José Caballero, Austin Slater, Cody Bellinger and Jazz Chisholm Jr. had run-scoring singles as the Yankees moved a half-game ahead of Boston for the top American League wild card heading into a three-game series at Fenway Park this weekend.

New York rookie Cam Schlittler (3-3) bounced back from his worst start and allowed one run on three hits in six innings.

Dillon Dingler homered and hit an RBI single, but the Tigers were unable to complete their first sweep of the Yankees in New York since 2008.

Key moment

After allowing Dingler’s tying single, Schlittler ended a 26-pitch second inning by striking out Parker Meadows and retiring Javier Báez on a groundout.

Key stat

The Yankees are 49-7 when Judge and Stanton homer in the same game.

— By LARRY FLEISHER, Associated Press

EAST LANSING — Usually college football coaches have all the answers. At Michigan State, they’ve got all the questions.

Though the money and attention paid to college sports has professionalized the sport, college football is still, at its root, about player development. The vast majority of players come to campus either eyeing a future in professional football or needing to improve to touch the college field. From the perspective of Michigan State’s coaches, getting players there starts with their own ears.

“We believe that a smarter player is a better player, right?” safeties coach James Adams said Wednesday. “And so part of teaching and coaching and developing these young people is figuring out how they learn.”

Not only how players learn, but what they know in the first place. In order to develop better players, coaches deconstruct the framework of how they think about football, then fill the gaps. Players are different these days. The Spartans (2-0) have made a deliberate effort to recruit the sorts of players who want to learn and grow, who can handle themselves with intention.

“Kids are changing, you know,” offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren said in August. “And it’s not the kids’ fault, it’s not the parents’. It’s just what’s around them. So you try to find those right kids.”

When the right type of kids get on campus, though, they’re all at various levels of football understanding. Before coaches can teach them anything, they must learn where players are at in their understanding of the game.

In the past, there’d be that caricature of an old-school coach who would rip into a player and tell them exactly what they needed to do, and the player’s success depended on how well they applied the lessons. These days, more young players are inquisitive. They want to, or even need to, understand “why” before they act. Their grasp of purpose dictates their chance of success.

Michigan State’s coaches are well equipped to handle those questions of “why.” In fact, they prefer it that way. Purpose is central to the development of players, getting down to the nitty-gritty details to elevate players’ football IQs.

It works like this: Aidan Chiles goes to a film session and watches back his tape. Before a coach lays into his ball placement, or his footwork, or his decision of when to scramble, they first ask what he sees. And through direct communication developed by trust, Chiles shows where he’s at.

“I have to have that with him,” quarterbacks coach Jon Boyer said Tuesday. “And so for me, everything, I try to pose questions rather than giving him the answers so that I know exactly what he’s thinking. We have to have that open line of communication, and that’s the way that we’re building the room together with all the quarterbacks.”

The same goes with defensive players. Adams, for example, will ask his defensive players what they see in the film room or even on the sideline. It’s what makes the difference between Armorion Smith miscommunicating on a touchdown play and making the game-saving pass breakup in double overtime, like he did Saturday.

“My question is always what happened?” Adams said. “If they can tell me what happened, right, we can work through the hows and the adjustments.”

By developing smarter players — especially on defense — Michigan State’s coaches can accelerate growth.

“We give them a clear way to learn and a process to learn,” Adams said. “The game of football hasn’t changed in 100 years, so we’re still teaching Cover 2 and Cover 3 like everybody else. But making sure the guys understand the why of what we’re doing and what we’re calling it, and then situationally how that may change.”

This philosophy has advantages on the financial side, too. The Spartans’ roster may not be laden with blue-chip talent, but head coach Jonathan Smith and his staff squeeze everything out of — and give every opportunity to — their players in order to maximize success. As Michigan State continues building its war chest to compete with the big spenders, Smith’s strategy gets a lot of bang for a smaller buck.

This strategy comes with responsibility for players, too. They have to be honest, first and foremost, about what they see on the field. Players almost have to be coaches themselves, something that favors older players who’ve played a lot of football. It’s a slow process, but the results can be strong, as Smith’s latter years at Oregon State showed.

“We’ve got a veteran group that they do a great job of coaching themselves and correcting themselves,” Adams said of this year’s team.

After one more tuneup against Youngstown State on Saturday (3:30 p.m./BTN), Michigan State will enter Big Ten play, where the margin for error shortens and there’s less time for learning. But don’t expect coaches to stop asking questions. Because it’s there where the key to this program’s success lies.

Two-point conversion

Aidan Chiles had a rowdy celebration after Saturday’s win over Boston College. He climbed into the student section to dance, hugged teammates, coaches and even commentators on the field. And he scooped up a child on the field and swung him around with a big hug.

That child was Boyer’s son. He and Chiles have known each other since Boyer was on Smith’s Oregon State staff that recruited Chiles in the 2023 class.

“Moments like that, (Chiles) earned the opportunity,” Boyer said. “And then for me to be a part of that and my son to be a part of that at the end of the game with a big hug, that’s what it’s about.”

ALLEN PARK — John Morton is in lockstep with his head coach: The Detroit Lions aren’t panicking.

The offensive output in Sunday’s season-opening loss at the Green Bay Packers fell well below expectations. But Morton, in his first year as offensive coordinator, insisted Thursday his unit’s issues are fixable, and he’s assured the overarching problems present at Lambeau Field will be taken care of by the time the Chicago Bears visit Ford Field for Week 2.

“We have great players,” Morton said. “That’s why I’m confident.”

Particularly, the run game must improve. The Lions averaged a measly 2.1 yards per carry against the Packers, their worst since October 2023, when they beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a game Jahmyr Gibbs missed with a hamstring injury. Gibbs and David Montgomery have never been less productive in a game both participated in than they were against the Packers.

Much of Detroit’s struggles can be connected to miscommunication. On a number of plays, at least one member of the offensive line was not mentally in line with his teammates. Sometimes, it was multiple players at fault. And it wasn’t just a youth issue. Rookie right guard Tate Ratledge and left guard Christian Mahogany, playing in the first and third career games, respectively, had their fair share of concerns. But so did some of the veterans, according to Morton.

Take the near safety at the start of the fourth quarter as an example. Ratledge allowed defensive tackle Colby Wooden to come through unblocked, drawing the ire of those who watched the replay. Left tackle Taylor Decker revealed Wednesday he was also incorrect on that rep, as he ran the same play Ratledge did. Mahogany, center Graham Glasgow and right tackle Penei Sewell were on a different page.

Those are the type of correctable mistakes Morton identified on tape.

“It’s addressed,” Morton said. “It’s going to be fixed.”

Asked why he’s confident in the run game improving, Morton said, “Because we’re doing plays that they’ve done. Now, there’s some young guys, right? We’ve just got to make sure we give them the right looks, all the different type of right looks, and to make sure they know exactly what they’re doing. And that’s what we’ve done.”

Head coach Dan Campbell said Monday there may have been too much put on the players’ plates too early, and dialing things back some against the Bears could be beneficial. It’s about getting back to the fundamentals. The meat and potatoes, if you will.

“We did an extra period in the runs this week, and I think it’s going to help,” Morton said. “I think that’s what you’ve got to do. It’s an easy fix. Again, we’re not in panic mode. But 2.1 (yards per carry), that ain’t gonna cut it. It should never happen.”

Chicago’s defense doesn’t posses the talent of Green Bay’s, especially so if some starters who missed Week 1 (cornerbacks Jaylon Johnson and Kyler Gordon, and linebacker T.J. Edwards) aren’t available. Johnson (calf/groin) returned to practice Wednesday. Edwards (hamstring) was limited and Gordon (hamstring) did not practice.

Morton and Campbell are also familiar with the scheme, having worked with defensive coordinator Dennis Allen in New Orleans. It’s similar to what the Lions run defensively, with an emphasis on man coverage. That’s different than the Packers, who often play zone and drop seven defenders in coverage.

“Last game, the best thing about that is it’s the first game of the season. Nobody’s in panic mode,” Morton said. “The players have been awesome, great attitudes. We’ve had great preparation, just like we did last week. The bottom line is it’s just about execution and the details of everything. … How do we fix this? We’re in the fix-it business, as coaches. Dan’s been awesome, players have been awesome. We had a good practice yesterday, and we’re moving on to Chicago.”

ALLEN PARK — Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard admitted he was “pissed” after his defense gave up 27 points in Sunday’s opener against the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field.

But like a lot of the chatter coming out of the team facility this week, Sheppard emphasized he’s not as discouraged after having some time to digest the performance. According to Sheppard, the metrics out of Sunday’s game were encouraging — even if the Lions‘ offense couldn’t match them, resulting in a 27-13 loss to begin the season.

Sheppard acknowledged some necessary areas of improvement while making the case his defense truly did buckle down in the second half of Sunday’s game.

“Coming off the field, you guys know, ultra-competitive nature of the game. My temperament and things, I was pissed,” Sheppard said. “And I’m ready to scowl at everybody, but then you sit back and look at it and after the second time and after the third time, you go, ‘There’s a lot of good football on this tape.’”

He started with the passing defense, which allowed 188 yards and two touchdowns from Packers quarterback Jordan Love, who went 16-for-22 through the air for a passer rating of 128.6. Love was efficient and hit on big plays when the Lions’ defense presented him with opportunities to do so. Sheppard said he’s more than happy to give up just 188 yards of passing, which tied for 18th among all quarterbacks in Week 1.

Sheppard was upset by the two-play drive that gave Green Bay a 17-3 lead in the second quarter. Cornerback Terrion Arnold was the closest defender on both a 48-yard completion to Romeo Doubs and a 17-yard touchdown pass to Michigan State product Jayden Reed. Outside of that, he was satisfied by the passing defense — but it’s worth noting Green Bay threw the ball just six times in the second half.

“We went into the game saying, ‘You’ve got to make these guys beat us,’ Sheppard said. “You cannot give them things because that’s when they thrive. You have to make them beat us, and we did not do that on back-to-back plays. Inexcusable, and that’s been addressed.”

Asked about the team’s lack of consistent pass rush, Sheppard said the team wasn’t given many opportunities to get home, and also praised its ability to keep Love in the pocket.

It’s the second part that’s worth paying attention to: The Lions seemingly put more effort into containing Love as a rusher than disrupting his flow in the passing game. On second-and-9 in the red zone on the Packers’ opening drive, Aidan Hutchinson got the one-on-one he wanted after Roy Lopez stunted to eat a double team, only for Hutchinson to hover at the line of scrimmage like a point guard defending the perimeter as Love threw an incompletion to Doubs.

“Go back with your stopwatch and turn on the pass plays, they weren’t going to allow it. But more importantly I thought — I want to give credit to our guys of not letting this guy out of the pocket. That’s things that we’ve struggled with in years past,” Sheppard said. “Jordan Love has burned us in years past with his legs. He had one run, I think, for four yards. So, I want to look at the positives in that.

“Yeah, we could’ve done things and things like that, but we had a specific gameplan and for the most part, the guys went out and executed the gameplan.”

Ultimately, Sheppard expects the pass rush to be better this weekend, especially from Hutchinson — but it’s worth noting the Lions’ opponent at quarterback, Caleb Williams, has a similar tendency to escape from the pocket and extend plays with his legs.

“When you’re the elite of the elite, people are going to plan for you and that’s why he’s the caliber player that he is. We will counter that and Hutch will counter that. He’s an ultra-aware player, he knows how to manipulate things and move himself around,” Sheppard said.

“We’re working off a one-game sample size, people.”

And, in fairness, the run defense was excellent — no caveats needed. The Lions gave up 78 yards on 25 carries, an average of 3.1 per carry.

“We should’ve been at 2.2 (per carry),” Sheppard said. “Why do I say that? Because one of those was a 15-yard explosive run that should’ve never happened. That’s been addressed as well.”

Statewide boys soccer rankings from the Michigan High School Soccer Coaches Association

For the week of Sept. 7, 2025

 

DIVISION 1

1 Portage Central

2 Ann Arbor Huron

3 Clarkston

4 Okemos

5 Hartland

6 Holland West Ottawa

7 Hudsonville

8 Traverse City West

9 Byron Center

10 Grand Haven

11 Ann Arbor Skyline

12 Detroit U-D Jesuit

13 Royal Oak

14 Troy Athens

15 Saginaw Heritage

HONORABLE MENTION: Berkley, Detroit Catholic Central, Livonia Stevenson, Birmingham Seaholm, Troy, Utica Eisenhower

DIVISION 2

1 Hudsonville Unity Christian

2 Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central

3 Warren De La Salle

4 New Boston Huron

5 Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood

6 DeWitt

7 Holland

8 Allendale

9 Mason

10 St. Joseph

11 Orchard Lake St. Mary’s

12 Dearborn Divine Child

13 Holland Christian

14 Edwardsburg

15 Marquette

HONORABLE MENTION: Muskegon Reeths-Puffer, Cedar Springs, Haslett, Fruitport

 

DIVISION 3

1 Detroit Country Day

2 Pontiac Notre Dame Prep

3 Flint Powers Catholic

4 Frankenmuth

5 Elk Rapids

6 Grand Rapids West Catholic

7 Paw Paw

8 Ann Arbor Greenhills

9 Williamston

10 Grosse Ile

11 Saginaw Swan Valley

12 Alma

13 Ovid-Elsie

14 Grand Rapids Catholic Central

15 Kingsford

HONORABLE MENTION: Fennville, Hartford, Milan, Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian, South Haven, Tawas Area

 

 

DIVISION 4

1 Plymouth Christian

2 Grosse Pointe Woods University-Liggett

3 Lansing Christian

4 North Muskegon

5 Grandville Calvin Christian

6 Royal Oak Shrine

7 Muskegon Western Michigan Christian

8 Wyoming Potter’s House Christian

9 Harbor Springs

10 Clarkston Everest Collegiate

11 Detroit Cristo Rey

12 Bloomfield Hills Roeper

13 Maple City Glen Lake

14 Hillsdale Academy

15 Leland

HONORABLE MENTION: Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep, Kalamazoo Christian, Brighton Livingston Christian