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Deep-shooting Michigan basketball blows past Western Kentucky

ANN ARBOR — The first game after Christmas break has been a pitfall for the Wolverines in recent seasons.

Not this year. Not this time.

Michigan broke that trend and nearly broke a single-game program record for made 3-pointers in a 112-64 blowout win over Western Kentucky in Sunday’s nonconference finale at Crisler Center.

Nimari Burnett had 17 points and led the 3-point barrage with a career-high five made 3s for Michigan (10-3), which tied the single-game record with 19 made 3-pointers.

Vlad Goldin (17 points), Sam Walters (13 points), Tre Donaldson (12 points), Danny Wolf (12 points), Roddy Gayle Jr. (11 points) and Justin Pippen all made two deep balls, as Michigan finished 19-for-40 from beyond the arc.

The Wolverines were without guard Rubin Jones, who exited last weekend’s win over Purdue Fort Wayne with a left knee injury, but plenty of others picked up the slack. Nine Michigan players scored at least seven points and made at least one 3-pointer.

In fact, all Michigan did was score its most points (59) and make its most 3-pointers (11) in a half this season to bury Western Kentucky in a 28-point hole by halftime. And the Wolverines didn’t let up.

Burnett kicked off the second half with his third 3-pointer. Goldin connected on his second deep ball, marking the first time in his career he’s made multiple 3s in a game and pushed his career total to three.

Wolf tied Michigan’s season high for made 3-pointers with 14 — matching its output in the Nov. 18 win over Miami (Ohio) — at the 16:11 mark. Walters set a new season high a minute later, as Michigan’s lead swelled to 75-39.

The Wolverines continued to close in on the single-game record of 19 that was set on Dec. 13, 2016, in a win over Central Arkansas. Burnett splashed two more 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to make it 17, tying the program’s second-highest total and marking the third time it’s happened.

Walters broke that tie midway through the second half. Wolf delivered Michigan’s 19th 3-pointer and tied the program record with 6:05 to go, capping a 9-0 burst that gave the Wolverines a 50-point lead.

Michigan, though, couldn’t break the record as it emptied its bench in the final minutes and the Wolverines missed its final three 3-point attempts.

Don McHenry scored 18 for Western Kentucky (9-4), which shot. 36.4% from the field and trailed by double digits over the final 32 minutes.

After embarrassing losses to McNeese State, Central Michigan and UCF in the nonconference finale the past three seasons, the Wolverines never came close to letting that happen again.

Michigan got off to a hot start and dialed it in from deep, with four starters hitting a 3-pointer in the opening minutes. That proved to be a sign of things to come.

Gayle made a defender fall and swished a 3-pointer. Goldin pinned a layup attempt on one end and drained his second career 3-pointer on the other end. Michigan raced out to a double-digit lead less than three minutes into the game and extended it to 16-4 at the 16:17 mark when Donaldson drained a 3-pointer.

The Hilltoppers cut the deficit to four before Wolf found Burnett open in the corner for his second deep ball. That sparked a 10-2 spurt where Will Tschetter canned a long-range shot, as the Wolverines regained a double-digit advantage for good at 28-16.

As more and more Wolverines joined the 3-point party, the lead continued to grow. Freshman L.J. Cason drained a step-back 3-pointer to cap a 9-0 burst. Pippen followed with two deep balls in a 31-second span. Gayle connected on another deep ball during a string of 10 unanswered points.

By the time halftime arrived, seven Wolverines combined to make 11 3-pointers — tied for the team’s second-most in a game all season — as Michigan took a commanding 59-31 lead into the break.

Michigan forward Danny Wolf (1) puts up a shot in front of Western Kentucky guard Enoch Kalambay (23) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024, in Ann Arbor, Mich. (JOSE JUAREZ — AP Photo)

Michigan State, Western Michigan punch tickets to championship in Great Lakes Invitational

GRAND RAPIDS — The Michigan State hockey team will be playing for a championship Monday night.

Inside a sold-out Van Andel Arena in the semifinal of the Great Lakes Invitational, the top-ranked Spartans overwhelmed Northern Michigan in a 2-0 win. Michigan State (14-2-1, 6-1-1 Big Ten) will play No. 6 Western Michigan in the GLI championship game, beginning at 7 p.m.

Michigan State led all the way, but it survived a brief scare early in the first period when Northern Michigan (1-17-1, 0-11-1 CCHA) forward Aidyn Hutchinson appeared to score on a scramble in the crease. A coach’s challenge showed that he kicked the puck in, wiping it off the board and giving the Spartans a fresh start. It wouldn’t be the last time a goal came off the board. Forward Griffin Jurecki scored for Michigan State, only for his goal to be wiped away by a coach’s challenge, too.

Midway through the first period forward Karsen Dorwart scored — for real, this time — to make it 1-0 Michigan State. Two minutes later, forward Isaac Howard scored his 10th goal of the season after stickhandling through the defense, giving his Spartans a 2-0 lead.

Michigan State put together a strong opening frame, stringing together long possessions and turning this into quality scoring chances. A 14-3 edge in shots reflected its control.

In the second period, the Spartans kept up the pressure with a high volume of shots. Though no goals came, this riled up the Michigan State contingent of a sellout crowd. The Spartans’ abundance of pressure reflected the difference in talent, as it controlled.

This constant attack also came with its thorns. Michigan State conceded a pair of breakaways to Northern Michigan forwards Grayden Daul and Hutchinson, but goaltender Luca Di Pasquo stopped both as part of a 15-save shutout. He hasn’t allowed a goal in two straight games, following his last shutout appearance Dec. 1 against Lindenwood.

Michigan State continued the onslaught in the third period, breaking the 40-shot threshold with seven minutes left to play. Its best chance of the period came on its 41st shot, a Dorwart shot that skittered up and over Northern Michigan goaltender Ryan Ouellette but fell on top of the net. Ouellette left the game with around five minutes left, with backup Ethan Barwick taking the reins the rest of the way.

Through the game’s entirety, the Spartans particularly shined through the neutral zone, leaning on quick skating to overwhelm its opponent. Always ahead — both on the scoreboard and in these races — Michigan State cruised to a 2-0 win. The Spartans ended with a 48-15 advantage in shots.

Michigan State will play in its 28th GLI championship game, having won 12 of these appearances. A win in Monday’s title game would give the Spartans sole possession of the second-most GLI championships in tournament history.

Western Michigan outlasts late Michigan Tech push

A raucous crowd erupted when Western Michigan captain Tim Washe scored the overtime winner in his team’s 4-3 defeat of Michigan Tech. After a strong comeback from the Huskies, Washe’s heroics punched the Broncos’ ticket to their sixth GLI championship game in program history.

Early on, No. 6 Western Michigan (11-3-1) appeared ready to run away with the game. A first-period goal from defenseman Robby Drazner and a second-period power-play tally from forward Liam Valente put Western Michigan up 2-0. And even if Michigan Tech’s Ryder Matter scored his first career goal to cut the deficit in half in heading to the second intermission, Owen Michaels put his Broncos up 3-1 7:18 into the third.

Cue the comeback. A goal from forward Trevor Kukkonen brought life into Michigan Tech (9-6-2), and another from defenseman Matthew Campbell brought it even. In the end, that comeback fell short with Washe’s overtime winner.

Michigan State’s Isaac Howard plays during an NCAA hockey game on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024, in East Lansing, Mich. (AL GOLDIS — AP Photo, file)

Police arrest suspect in death of Madison Heights man

By Myesha Johnson

The Detroit News

The Madison Heights Police Department is investigating the death of a 60-year-old man found unresponsive on Christmas Eve.

Officers found Robert Cavanaugh on the ground near the 26000 block of Dequindre Road around 7:39 pm Tuesday, the department said in a release.

Police said the city resident appeared to have suffered from blunt force trauma and was transported to Henry Ford Hospital in Madison Heights, where he was pronounced dead.

“Because of the suspicious circumstances, responding officers began an on-scene investigation,” officials wrote.

Officers located and arrested a suspect believed to be responsible for Cavanaugh’s death, according to the release.

The investigation is pending the Oakland County Medical Examiner’s Office determining the cause and manner of death. The case will be presented to the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office.

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victim and his family during this tragic time,” police said.

Madison Heights police car. FILE PHOTO

Elon Musk’s preschool is the next step in his anti-woke education dreams

Dana Hull | (TNS) Bloomberg News

Jared Birchall, Elon Musk’s money manager and the head of his family office, is listed as the chief executive officer. Jehn Balajadia, a longtime Musk aide who has worked at SpaceX and the Boring Co., is named as an official contact.

But they’re not connected to Musk’s new technology venture, or the political operation that’s endeared him to Donald Trump. Instead, they’re tied to the billionaire’s new Montessori school outside Bastrop, Texas, called Ad Astra, according to documents filed with state authorities and obtained via a Texas Public Information Act request.

The world’s richest person oversees an overlapping empire of six companies — or seven, if you include his political action committee. Alongside rockets, electric cars, brain implants, social media and the next Trump administration, he is increasingly focused on education, spanning preschool to college. One part of his endeavor was revealed last year, when Bloomberg News reported that his foundation had set aside roughly $100 million to create a technology-focused primary and secondary school in Austin, with eventual plans for a university. An additional $137 million in cash and stock was allotted last year, according to the most recent tax filing for the Musk Foundation.

Ad Astra is closer to fruition. The state documents show Texas authorities issued an initial permit last month, clearing the way for the center to operate with as many as 21 pupils. Ad Astra’s website says it’s “currently open to all children ages 3 to 9.” The school’s account on X includes job postings for an assistant teacher for preschool and kindergarten and an assistant teacher for students ages 6 to 9.

To run the school, Ad Astra is partnering with a company that has experience with billionaires: Xplor Education, which developed Hala Kahiki Montessori school in Lanai, Hawaii, the island 98% owned by Oracle Corp. founder Larry Ellison.

Ad Astra sits on a highway outside Bastrop, a bedroom community about 30 miles from Austin and part of a region that’s home to several of Musk’s businesses. On a visit during a recent weekday morning, there was a single Toyota Prius in the parking lot and no one answered the door at the white building with a gray metal roof. The school’s main entrance was blocked by a gate, and there was no sign of any children on the grounds.

But what information there is about Ad Astra makes it sound like a fairly typical, if high-end, Montessori preschool. The proposed schedule includes “thematic, STEM-based activities and projects” as well as outdoor play and nap time. A sample snack calendar features carrots and hummus. While Birchall’s and Balajadia’s names appear in the application, it isn’t clear that they’ll have substantive roles at the school once it’s operational.

Musk, Birchall and Balajadia didn’t respond to emailed questions. A phone call and email to the school went unanswered.

Access to high quality, affordable childcare is a huge issue for working parents across the country, and tends to be an especially vexing problem in rural areas like Bastrop. Many families live in “childcare deserts” where there is either not a facility or there isn’t an available slot. Opening Ad Astra gives Musk a chance to showcase his vision for education, and his support for the hands-on learning and problem solving that are a hallmark of his industrial companies. His public comments about learning frequently overlap with cultural concerns popular among conservatives and the Make America Great Again crowd, often focusing on what he sees as young minds being indoctrinated by teachers spewing left-wing propaganda. He has railed against diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, and in August posted that “a lot of schools are teaching white boys to hate themselves.”

Musk’s educational interests dovetail with his new role as Trump’s “first buddy.” The billionaire has pitched a role for himself that he — and now the incoming Trump administration — call “DOGE,” or the Department of Government Efficiency. Though it’s not an actual department, DOGE now posts on X, the social media platform that Musk owns. “The Department of Education spent over $1 billion promoting DEI in America’s schools,” the account posted Dec. 12.

Back in Texas, Bastrop is quickly becoming a key Musk point of interest. The Boring Co., his tunneling venture, is based in an unincorporated area there. Across the road, SpaceX produces Starlink satellites at a 500,000-square-foot (46,000-square-meter) facility.

Nearby, X is constructing a building for trust and safety workers. Musk employees, as well as the general public, can grab snacks at the Boring Bodega, a convenience store housed within Musk’s Hyperloop Plaza, which also contains a bar, candy shop and hair salon.

Ad Astra is just a five-minute drive away. It seems to have been designed with the children of Musk’s employees — if not Musk’s own offspring — in mind. Musk has fathered at least 12 children, six of them in the last five years.

“Ad Astra’s mission is to foster curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking in the next generation of problem solvers and builders,” reads the school’s website. A job posting on the website of the Montessori Institute of North Texas says “While their parents support the breakthroughs that expand the realm of human possibility, their children will grow into the next generation of innovators in a way that only authentic Montessori can provide.”

The school has hired an executive director, according to documents Bloomberg obtained from Texas Health and Human Services. Ad Astra is located on 40 acres of land, according to the documents, which said a 4,000-square-foot house would be remodeled for the preschool.

It isn’t uncommon for entrepreneurs to take an interest in education, according to Bill Gormley, a professor emeritus at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University who studies early childhood education. Charles Butt, the chairman of the Texas-based H-E-B grocery chain, has made public education a focus of his philanthropy. Along with other business and community leaders, Butt founded “Raise Your Hand Texas,” which advocates on school funding, teacher workforce and retention issues and fully funding pre-kindergarten.

“Musk is not the only entrepreneur to recognize the value of preschool for Texas workers,” Gormley said. “A lot of politicians and business people get enthusiastic about education in general — and preschool in particular — because they salivate at the prospect of a better workforce.”

Political Moves

Musk spent much of October actively campaigning for Trump’s presidential effort, becoming the most prolific donor of the election cycle. He poured at least $274 million into political groups in 2024, including $238 million to America PAC, the political action committee he founded.

While the vast majority of money raised by America PAC came from Musk himself, it also had support from other donors. Betsy DeVos, who served as education secretary in Trump’s first term, donated $250,000, federal filings show.

The Department of Education is already in the new administration’s cross hairs. Trump campaigned on the idea of disbanding the department and dismantling diversity initiatives, and he has also taken aim at transgender rights.

“Rather than indoctrinating young people with inappropriate racial, sexual, and political material, which is what we’re doing now, our schools must be totally refocused to prepare our children to succeed in the world of work,” Trump wrote in Agenda 47, his campaign platform.

Musk has three children with the musician Grimes and three with Shivon Zilis, who in the past was actively involved at Neuralink, his brain machine interface company. All are under the age of five. Musk took X, his son with Grimes, with him on a recent trip to Capitol Hill. After his visit, he shared a graphic that showed the growth of administrators in America’s public schools since 2000.

Tuition Costs

Musk is a fan of hands-on education. During a Tesla earnings call in 2018, he talked about the need for more electricians as the electric-car maker scaled up the energy side of its business. On the Joe Rogan podcast in 2020, Musk said that “too many smart people go into finance and law.”

“I have a lot of respect for people who work with their hands and we need electricians and plumbers and carpenters,” Musk said while campaigning for Trump in Pennsylvania in October. “That’s a lot more important than having incremental political science majors.”

Ad Astra’s website says the cost of tuition will be initially subsidized, but in future years “tuition will be in line with local private schools that include an extended day program.”

“I do think we need significant reform in education,” Musk said at a separate Trump campaign event. “The priority should be to teach kids skills that they will find useful later in life, and to leave any sort of social propaganda out of the classroom.”

With assistance from Sophie Alexander and Kara Carlson.

©2024 Bloomberg News. Visit at bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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Trump’s picks for top health jobs not just team of rivals but ‘team of opponents’

Stephanie Armour, Julie Rovner | (TNS) KFF Health News

Many of President-elect Donald Trump’s candidates for federal health agencies have promoted policies and goals that put them at odds with one another or with Trump’s choice to run the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., setting the stage for internal friction over public health initiatives.

The picks hold different views on matters such as limits on abortion, the safety of childhood vaccines, the COVID-19 response, and the use of weight-loss medications. The divide pits Trump picks who adhere to more traditional and orthodox science, such as the long-held, scientifically supported findings that vaccines are safe, against often unsubstantiated views advanced by Kennedy and other selections who have claimed vaccines are linked with autism.

The Trump transition team and the designated nominees mentioned in this article did not respond to requests for comment.

It’s a potential “team of opponents” at the government’s health agencies, said Michael Cannon, director of health policy studies at the Cato Institute, a libertarian policy organization.

Kennedy, he said, is known for rejecting opposing views when confronted with science.

“The heads of the FDA and NIH will be spending all their time explaining to their boss what a confidence interval is,” Cannon said, referring to a statistical term used in medical studies.

Those whose views prevail will have significant power in shaping policy, from who is appointed to sit on federal vaccine advisory committees to federal authorization for COVID vaccines to restrictions on abortion medications. If confirmed as HHS secretary, Kennedy is expected to set much of the agenda.

“If President Trump’s nomination of RFK Jr. to be secretary is confirmed, if you don’t subscribe to his views, it will be very hard to rise in that department,” said Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease specialist and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. “They will need to suppress their views to fit with RFK Jr’s. In this administration, and any administration, independent public disagreement isn’t welcome.”

Kennedy is chair of Children’s Health Defense, an anti-vaccine nonprofit. He has vowed to curb the country’s appetite for ultra-processed food and its incidence of chronic disease. He helped select Trump’s choices to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Institutes of Health. If confirmed, he would lead them from the helm of HHS, with its more than $1.7 trillion budget.

Clashes are likely. Kennedy has supported access to abortion until a fetus is viable. That puts him at odds with Dave Weldon, the former Florida congressman whom Trump has chosen to run the CDC. Weldon, a physician, is an abortion opponent who wrote one of the major laws allowing health professionals to opt out of participating in the procedure.

Weldon would head an agency that’s been in the crosshairs of conservatives since the COVID pandemic began. He has touted his “100% pro-life voting record” on his campaign website. (He unsuccessfully ran earlier this year for a seat in Florida’s House of Representatives.)

Trump has said he would leave decisions about abortion to the states, but the CDC under Weldon could, for example, fund studies on abortion risks. The agency could require states to provide information about abortions performed within their borders to the federal government or risk the loss of federal funds.

Weldon, like Kennedy, has questioned the safety of vaccines and has said he believes they can cause autism. That’s at odds with the views of Marty Makary, a Johns Hopkins surgeon whom Trump plans to nominate for FDA commissioner. The British American said on the “Brian Kilmeade Show” on Fox News Radio that vaccines “save lives,” although he added that it’s good to question the U.S. vaccine schedule for children.

The American Academy of Pediatricians encourages parents and their children’s doctors to stick to the recommended schedule of childhood vaccines. “Nonstandard schedules that spread out vaccines or start when a child is older put entire communities at risk of serious illnesses, including infants and young children,” the group says in guidance for its members.

Jay Bhattacharya, a doctor and economist who is Trump’s selection to lead NIH, has also supported vaccines.

Kennedy has said on NPR that federal authorities under his leadership wouldn’t “take vaccines away from anybody.” But the FDA oversees approval of vaccines, and, under his leadership, the agency could put vaccine skeptics on advisory panels or could make changes to a program that largely protects vaccine makers from consumer injury lawsuits.

“I do believe that autism does come from vaccines,” Kennedy said in 2023 on Fox News. Many scientific studies have discredited the claim that vaccines cause autism.

Ashish Jha, a doctor who served as the White House COVID response coordinator from 2022 to 2023, noted that Bhattacharya and Makary have had long and distinguished careers in medicine and research and would bring decades of experience to these top jobs. But, he said, it “is going to be a lot more difficult than they think” to stand up for their views in the new administration.

It’s hard “to do things that displease your boss, and if [Kennedy] gets confirmed, he will be their boss,” Jha said. “They have their work cut out for them if they’re going to stand up for their opinions on science. If they don’t, it will just demoralize the staff.”

Most of Trump’s picks share the view that federal health agencies bungled the pandemic response, a stance that resonated with many of the president-elect’s voters and supporters — even though Trump led that response until Joe Biden took office in 2021.

Kennedy said in a 2021 Louisiana House oversight meeting that the COVID vaccine was the “deadliest” ever made. He has cited no evidence to back the claim.

Federal health officials say the vaccines have saved millions of lives around the globe and offer important protection against COVID. Protection lasts even though their effectiveness wanes over time.

The vaccines’ effectiveness against infection stood at 52% after four weeks, according to a May study in The New England Journal of Medicine, and their effectiveness against hospitalization was about 67% after four weeks. The vaccines were produced through Operation Warp Speed, a public-private partnership Trump launched in his first term to fast-track the shots as well as other treatments.

Makary criticized COVID vaccine guidance that called for giving young children the shots. He argued that, for many people, natural immunity from infections could substitute for the vaccine. Bhattacharya opposed measures used to curb the spread of COVID in 2020 and advised that everyone except the most vulnerable go about their lives as usual. The World Health Organization warned that such an approach would overwhelm hospitals.

Mehmet Oz, Trump’s choice to head the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, an agency within HHS, has said the vaccines were oversold. He promoted the use of the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a treatment. The FDA in 2020 revoked emergency authorization of hydroxychloroquine for COVID, saying that it was unlikely to be effective against the virus and that the risk of dangerous side effects was too high.

Janette Nesheiwat, meanwhile, a former Fox News contributor and Trump’s pick for surgeon general, has taken a different stance. The doctor described COVID vaccines as a gift from God in a Fox News opinion piece.

Kennedy’s qualms about vaccines are likely to be a central issue early in the administration. He has said he wants federal health agencies to shift their focus from preparing for and combating infectious disease to addressing chronic disease.

The shifting focus and questioning of vaccines concern some public health leaders amid the spread of the H5N1 bird flu virus among dairy cattle. There have been 60 human infections reported in the U.S. this year, all but two of them linked to exposure to cattle or poultry.

“Early on, they’re going to have to have a discussion about vaccinating people and animals” against bird flu, said Georges C. Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association. “We all bring opinions to the table. A department’s cohesive policy is driven by the secretary.”

©2024 KFF Health News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, walks through the Russell Senate Office Building on Dec. 17, 2024, in Washington, D.C. Trump’s nominees for his incoming administration continue to meet with senators on Capitol Hill, weeks before his inauguration. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images/TNS)

‘We know who we are’: Lions top Bears for franchise-record 13th win

CHICAGO — How’s that for a response?

After having their 11-game win streak snapped against the Buffalo Bills last week, the Detroit Lions showed no mercy against a desperate Chicago Bears squad at Soldier Field on Sunday, racing out to a 20-point lead before pulling away in the second half of a 34-17 victory.

For the Lions, it was a franchise-record 13th win on the season.

Detroit scored on its first six possessions (excluding a last-chance field-goal attempt before halftime) and set a new single-season franchise record for points scored (493), as Detroit (13-2) maintained control of the NFC North and the conference’s No. 1 seed, with two games remaining in the regular season.

“It takes a special group of guys to emotionally and physically, psychologically bounce back after a tough loss, especially after you haven’t lost in a while,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “I told the guys I did know that was a … franchise-record 13 wins, has never been done. And I told them one day we’ll be able to look back and enjoy that. But not yet.”

With the Philadelphia Eagles falling to the Washington Commanders, 36-33, the Lions have regained a commanding lead for the No. 1 seed. As Washington’s Jamison Crowder scored the go-ahead touchdown with six seconds left, the Lions’ locker room erupted into cheers. If the Seattle Seahawks can knock off the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday evening, the Lions will be in a position to clinch both the North and a first-round bye in a Week 17 game at San Francisco.

“It means a lot, because when I got here, we went 3-13-1,” said safety Ifeatu Melifonwu, who made his season debut on Sunday. “S—, to see we’ve got 13 wins, it means a lot that I got to experience this and I was part of the change.”

The mood in the Lions’ locker room was quite a turn of events from the situation Detroit found itself in after losing to the Bills a week ago.

“Last week was tough, but I think the outside was more worried than actually us as a team was,” receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown said. “Because we know the type of players that we have in this locker room, the coaches. This is what we’ve built. One game is not going to deter us for end goal and what we’re striving to do.

Campbell said fending off teams to close in on the No. 1 seed and a second straight NFC North title is “why you want to coach and play in this league.

“This is when your eyes get open, when competition is at its highest, people are breathing down your neck or you’re chasing somebody and you’re at the top,” Campbell said. “It just doesn’t get any better than this. This is what it’s all about. Can it get frustrating? Can it get stressful? Yeah, it gets all of those (things). But it’s also the drug. It’s the drug. It’s what you live for.”

The Lions’ most dastardly deed of the day came on their opening drive of the second half. Quarterback Jared Goff and running back Jahmyr Gibbs pretended to trip on a play-action fake, which opened up tight end Sam LaPorta for a 21-yard touchdown pass to put the Lions up 20 points. After the game, Lions players said the play was called “Stumble bum.”

“As soon as the ball was snapped I just heard the crowd go, ‘Oh!’ I’m like, ‘Perfect, everyone is thinking he probably fumbled it,’” St. Brown said. “I looked back and it’s a touchdown.”

Asked if he’s ever surprised by the wild things Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson can come up with on a weekly basis, Gibbs said, “I used to be. Now it’s just like I expect something every week.”

In the Lions’ first game without running back David Montgomery, Gibbs shined as the lead back. Though the Lions said he would split his workload with running backs Craig Reynolds and Jermar Jefferson, Gibbs had 23 carries for 109 yards and totaled 154 yards from scrimmage, including 45 receiving, torching the Bears to complete the Lions’ season sweep of Chicago and improve to a 5-0 record in the NFC North. Detroit accumulated 475 yards of offense as a team.

“I didn’t think we missed a beat with him taking on a little bit more of those,” Campbell said.

Goff totaled 336 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions on 23-of-32 passing. His best throw of the afternoon went to wide receiver Jameson Williams to put the Lions ahead, 20-0, with 12:49 left in the second quarter.

Williams went streaking down the middle of the field and Goff put it on him in stride for an 82-yard touchdown, the longest receiving touchdown of Williams’ career and the second-longest touchdown pass of Goff’s career. Goff was asked after the game what allowed Williams to get so open on the play: “Genetics,” Goff said.

Football player
Detroit Lions wide receiver Jameson Williams looks back at the Chicago Bears defense after catching an 82-yard touchdown from quarterback Jared Goff during the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Williams finished with a career-high 143 receiving yards on five catches. Receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown caught six passes for 70 yards and a touchdown.

“It was a hell of a throw, excellent protection, and man, just a great job on his landmark, hitting it with speed, trusting it, great catch,” Campbell said. “It was big time.”

Bears quarterback Caleb Williams was impressive but Chicago’s non-existent run game made the unit one-dimensional and often killed the momentum Williams and his receivers created. He finished 26-of-40 passing for 334 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.

The Bears were a disaster offensively to begin the game. Rome Odunze fumbled twice on the Bears’ first three drives, leading to 10 first-quarter points for Detroit.

The first was an unforced error, as Odunze dropped the exchange on a jet sweep; Lions defensive lineman Josh Paschal pounced on it to give the Lions a short field for a seven-play touchdown drive that culminated with a 1-yard touchdown run by Gibbs.

The second was forced by Lions defensive backs Amik Robertson and Brian Branch and recovered by linebacker Jack Campbell. Detroit capitalized with another seven-play drive, this time ending with a 34-yard field goal from kicker Jake Bates to make it a 13-0 Lions lead.

The Lions’ defense bent but didn’t break often, stopping the Bears on eight of their 10 third-down attempts and holding them to one touchdown on two red-zone trips. Detroit accumulated six tackles for loss in the game. The Lions allowed 48 points the week prior.

“It was always a challenge, but we know who we are,” Robertson said. “Don’t let no one set a narrative on us and tell us who we are. You have to know who you are. I know this secondary, we know who we are. We just want to go out there and play Lions football.”

After Chicago got on the board with a 1-yard touchdown pass to tight end Cole Kmet, the Lions and Bears exchanged touchdowns in the final minute of the half.

Takeaways from 34-17 win, as Lions’ offensive stars shine in win over Bears

St. Brown caught a third-down screen pass and rumbled his way into the end zone for an 8-yard score to put Detroit up 27-7, but the Bears answered with a three-play touchdown drive.

Bears receiver Keenan Allen, who scored twice in the first meeting with Detroit, beat cornerback Terrion Arnold with a double move and went streaking down the sideline for a 45-yard touchdown with 39 seconds left in the half to make it a 27-14 game.

Detroit had a chance to add a field goal before halftime, but long snapper Hogan Hatten was flagged for a false start before a 60-yard field-goal attempt from Jake Bates, and the Lions kicker couldn’t drive home the 65-yard attempt.

Photo gallery from the Lions’ 34-17 road win over the Bears

Chicago waved the white flag with 8:21 left in the fourth quarter of a 34-17 game. Lions edge rusher Al-Quadin Muhammad crushed Caleb Williams on third down to bring up fourth-and-20, and after a delay-of-game penalty, the Bears punted as their fans headed for the exits.

Chicago threatened to cut its deficit with 2:30 left in the game but Lions defensive backs Ifeatu Melifonwu and Terrion Arnold broke up a fourth-down throw to D.J. Moore in the end zone to end the threat.

TMD-L-LionsBears2Gallery-05

Sheetz push into region gets pushback

Editor’s note: This version has been updated with corrections to a name and comments made by Jennifer Nicholas of Eastpointe.

By Myesha Johnson and Hannah Mackay

Tribune News Service

A steady stream of excited customers welcomed Michigan’s first Sheetz when the convenience chain opened its first site in Romulus this summer.

While many craved the Pennsylvania-based company’s stores, known for 24-hour service and made-to-order food, a growing number of Metro Detroiters now are speaking out and standing up against its 60-store expansion in the state. Their concerns include oversaturation of gas stations, added traffic, potential for more crime and environmental pollution.

Jennifer Nicholas, 59, of Eastpointe is among opponents of the chain’s push into Metro Detroit. After seeing a news report that Sheetz wanted to move into an Office Depot site in her city, she passed out flyers to rally a dozen neighbors to attend a public hearing on the proposed development.

Sheetz store coming
The first Sheetz store in Michigan opened on Aug. 27 in Romulus. (Photo courtesy of Sheetz)

“It seems like they are just forcing their way into whatever city, whatever community they think is going to be beneficial to them, and residents do not have any recourse,” Nicholas said. “They can come out and speak to city council or their planning commission, but they have no voice. It doesn’t matter who was crying or talking.”

Eastpointe city officials did not respond to a request for comment.

Sheetz has announced plans to open stores at numerous Metro Detroit sites, including in Warren at 31925 Van Dyke, Ypsilanti at 2103 W. Michigan Ave., Eastpointe at 19001 E. Nine Mile, Taylor at 8200 Telegraph Road and 20623 Eureka Road; an additional station in Warren and others in Macomb Township at 45011 Garfield Road and in Chesterfield on 23 Mile east of I-94.

Most recently, the company received a site approval in Fraser for a store that is in the engineering process, with construction expected in 2025 at the southwest corner of 14 Mile and Utica Road.

Edie Pearson, 62, a 25-year Fraser resident, says Sheetz is moving into her backyard, with a brick wall being the only thing separating her from the planned convenience mart.

“There’s no positives to putting them in the neighborhood,” she said. “They’re putting a dumpster right on the other side of my fence.”

Pearson says the planned Sheetz contrasts with improvements being made in other Macomb County communities.

“New Baltimore is rehabbing an old building they have, Mt. Clemens is rehabbing their downtown, and we get a gas station,” she said. “We’ve got two gas stations on the corner.

“The city council seemed to have wanted the money more than helping us out,” Pearson said. “I feel city council has no integrity whatsoever. … They all make money, the developer, the multimillion-dollar corporation has money, and us that have the least to lose, we lose.”

Lauren Sayre, the city’s planning and zoning administrator, declined to comment. Other Fraser officials did not respond to a request for comment.

Sheetz defends its expansion plans as positive for the communities where it locates.

“Sheetz strives to be the best neighbor we can be in every community we serve,” Nick Ruffner, the company’s public affairs manager, said in an email. “As a family-owned-and-operated company, we listen closely to local feedback and work with officials to ensure our project aligns with community values. Sheetz will continue to meet with local officials throughout the duration of this project to ensure it represents the Fraser community well.

“Sheetz is a brand new offering in southeast Michigan. When new businesses come to a market, the competition benefits the community at large by driving innovation, enhancing consumer choice, lowering prices and fostering economic growth to deliver better value as well as attract and retain customers.”

Each Sheetz store will employ 30 to 35 workers, the majority of them full-time, the company said. It touted competitive pay, benefits packages to all employees, including medical, dental and vision insurance, 12 weeks of 100% paid maternity leave, a 401(k) retirement plan, tuition reimbursement, quarterly bonuses, paid time off and more. Sheetz ranked second in the latest Best Workplaces in Retail in America by Fortune and in the Top 10 of the “Companies that Care” list from People magazine.

Beyond its push to open dozens of stores in Michigan, mostly in Metro Detroit, the company is raising its local profile as the lead sponsor of next month’s Detroit Policy Conference, a gathering of political and business movers and shakers sponsored by the Detroit Regional Chamber.

Still, the chain’s planned entry into some southeast Michigan communities is meeting stiff resistance.

In Farmington Hills, residents and business owners have been vocal in their opposition to a proposed Sheetz gas station at the intersection of Middlebelt and W. 12 Mile. The city’s planning commission approved the planned unit development at a meeting last month, despite several residents showing up to voice their concerns. Farmington Hills City Council has the final say and will consider the plan and hear from community members at a public hearing that will likely be scheduled for January.

The proposed Sheetz would be at the former site of Ginopolis Bar-B-Q Smokehouse, which closed in 2019 and sits across from two gas stations. It would contain 44 parking spots, 12 gasoline pumps, a restaurant area and a drive-thru.

Four planning commissioners, including former mayor and city council member Barry Brickner, voted in favor of the proposed planned urban development, while one, John Trafelet, opposed it.

“We don’t look at the applicant based upon their name. We look at the applicant, the application based upon what they’re asking to do and whether or not it fits within current zoning or based upon the recent changes we did to the master plan,” Brickner said. “We look at the use and we look at whether or not it fits within zoning or under the new master plan. So four of us decided that it, as far as the use was concerned, was OK.”

Other factors at play in signing off on the development was that the Sheetz would replace an abandoned restaurant and be near other 24-hour businesses.

As a condition of recommending the planned unit development, Sheetz has to maintain lighting standards for commercial use to avoid spill-over illumination into the adjacent neighborhood, Brickner said. The company also will be required to have buffers separating the business from residential areas, Brickner said.

“There were some restrictions put on there based upon the complaints from the residents within … our abilities,” he said.

Ozzie Butt, 47, of White Lake owns the Sunoco gas station across the street and worries the chain would put him out of business. Butt owns another Sunoco gas station at Nine Mile and Farmington Road in Farmington.

“It just doesn’t make sense because … it’s not on the highway, you’re putting a mega-station right in the middle of a subdivision, it just doesn’t add up,” Butt said. “You’re putting a mega-store right in front of a mom-and-pop shop. Of course, we’ll have no choice — shutting the door and moving on.”

Tim Parvin lives less than a mile from the proposed Sheetz location and said the surrounding neighborhood is largely composed of single-family homes and condominiums. He notes the two existing gas stations and says he’s concerned that a 24-hour Sheetz would cause noise and light pollution.

“I just don’t see the fit here for these single-family homes. … Property values would decrease, traffic will increase,” Parvin said. “There are better locations for Sheetz. … Do we need more gas stations? I don’t think so.”

Another resident, Lloyd Banks, started a group to oppose the development, Concerned Citizens Against Sheetz. He said he’s worried the proposed 24-hour gas station would lead to an increase in crime.

“As it relates to crime, we feel, because of its 24 hours in nature, that it causes crime itself,” Banks said. “We know crime happens at many businesses, but in particular for Sheetz, they’ve had some really horrendous crimes that have taken place after 10 o’clock or 11 o’clock at those gas stations around the country.”

Incidents at Sheetz locations have included the fatal shooting of a 21-year-old man in Columbus, Ohio, in October 2022, the shooting of two people outside a Sheetz in Prince George County, Maryland, in March 2024, and a stabbing that injured an 18-year-old man at a Sheetz in Larkville, Pennsylvania, in October 2024.

Banks also expressed concerns about diversity at Sheetz, referencing a lawsuit filed in April by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The lawsuit accuses Sheetz of racial discrimination in hiring.

In a statement reported by CNN, Sheetz said it “does not tolerate discrimination of any kind.”

Nasir Siddiqui, vice president of sales at Bazco Oil, co-founded the Metro Detroit Petroleum Alliance, a group of around 350 local business owners in the gas industry who oppose several proposed Sheetz locations across Metro Detroit. Siddiqui co-owns the Chillbox BP gas station across the street from the proposed Sheetz in Farmington Hills.

“There’s a lot of gas stations already in southeast Michigan, it’s one of the most densely populated areas obviously in the state and makes Michigan one of the most densely populated areas for gas stations,” Siddiqui said.

Siddiqui said the alliance’s members aren’t worried about competition, but large, out-of-state organizations compete on a different playing field and can disrupt local mom-and-pop gas stations in communities like Farmington Hills, Warren and Taylor.

“We’ve been local for all these years supporting local businesses,” Siddiqui said. “And Sheetz … It’s a big conglomerate, which doesn’t make for fair competition for the local mom-and-pop.”

Sheetz has not found success everywhere in Michigan with its expansion plans. In May, Madison Heights City Council voted against approving a Sheetz gas station on Dequindre Road. Officials cited concerns that it was incompatible with adjacent residential land uses, would have adverse effects on the environment, and that Sheetz failed to demonstrate the need for its business in the area.

Sheetz had proposed a location in Rochester Hills but withdrew its application from the Zoning Board of Appeals in January before it could be voted on.

Nicholas, the Easpointe resident who campaigned against Sheetz locating in her Macomb County city, spoke at a planning commission meeting in September and believes the city was “facilitating Sheetz entering the market.”

Nicholas said of the newly approved Fraser site: “It’s a horrible place for the gas station. It will be replacing a 100 year old bank in a small town that already has 2 gas stations at that intersection.”

“They are setting up next to gas stations that are already there. They are setting up in residential neighborhoods,” Nicholas said. “If they were taking over existing gas stations or they’re building in an area where there is not a gas station … that would be all right, but that’s not what they’re doing.

“Why would you want to come into a community that is opposed to you? Why would you want to set up a business when you see people angry and almost in tears saying that they don’t want you?” she said.

The MENA American Chamber of Commerce, representing hundreds of local business owners, is also calling for an end to Sheetz’s expansion. The group cites concerns regarding anti-competitive practices, environmental risks, and impacts on local supply chains, a release said.

Faye Nemer, CEO and founder of the chamber, said Sheetz is using the largest planning and zoning firms in the state as well as political lobbying firms to pursue its expansion.

“The introduction to Sheetz into the Michigan market has been very aggressive in nature,” Nemer said. “Their entering into the market is not what we’re concerned about, we’re not opposed to fair competition … neither are the independent operators, however it’s the unfair business practices that we are challenging and taking issue with.”

MENA will take legal action against municipalities that are approving Sheetz stores versus gas stations from independent operators, Nemer said.

“We’re hoping municipalities will start treating independent operators more equitably compared to corporate-backed entities, whether it’s Sheetz or others, to level the playing field … and make sure … they have the same opportunity as a $7.5 billion operation.”

About 500 people showed up for the grand opening of the Sheetz restaurant, convenience store in Romulus. Romulus is the first city in Michigan to open a Sheets store. (Photo courtesy of Sheetz)

Report: Starting Lions RB gets positive news, could return for playoffs

ALLEN PARK — David Montgomery received positive news regarding his injured knee, with NFL Network reporting the Detroit Lions running back could return for the postseason.

It’s been quite the week for Montgomery updates. To open the week, Dan Campbell said the running back needed season-ending surgery. Then, the Lions head coach said on Wednesday they were exploring a third opinion regarding Montgomery’s injured MCL and that they weren’t ready to close the door just yet.

“… David Montgomery spent the last few days consulting with medical experts, sources are now optimistic that the star avoided the season-ending surgery that was initially feared,” NFL Network reports. “Montgomery will rehab with the hope that he can return at some point this postseason.

“It has taken several days and several experts, but Lions RB David Montgomery now has a path forward. And it’s one that — if all goes well — could put him on the field for the playoffs.”

Campbell said it’s all about trusting the doctors and Montgomery’s recovery. They need to know the knee is stable, for now and in the future, and that he needs to be able to protect himself and play at a high level.

The head coach said these extra opinions and glimmer of hope were why Montgomery hadn’t been placed on injured reserve, with the Lions in wait-and-see mode.

Related: Detroit Lions have a ton of confidence in Jahmyr Gibbs to handle bigger role

Related: Lions waiting on another opinion before deciding David Montgomery’s fate

Montgomery tried to play through the injury in last week’s loss to the Buffalo Bills. But he was limited to 4 yards on only five rush attempts in the team’s first defeat since September. The Lions were stifled on the ground that day, even with their 42 points and 500-plus yards, with only 13 designed runs in the shootout.

Getting Montgomery back in any capacity would be a massive win for this team, no doubt. The hard-charging running back is so much of who the Lions are and what they want to be about. He’s also developed a special bond with fellow running back Jahmyr Gibbs, on and off the field, as the popular “Sonic and Knuckles” duo.

Montgomery has been such a hit since joining the Lions from the Chicago Bears in free agency that he’s already been extended in Detroit. Earlier this season, Montgomery inked a two-year extension worth up to $18.25 million to keep him around for even longer.

Montgomery has 1,790 rushing yards and 25 touchdowns in 28 games with the Lions, including 775 yards and 12 scores this year.

Moving forward, the Lions will lean on Gibbs in the coming weeks, while Craig Reynolds, Sione Vaki and Jermar Jefferson could get more chances. Gibbs has already surpassed 1,000 rushing yards on the year, and the Lions have a ton of confidence in their home-run hitting second-year running back.

“Gibby’s really — he’s ready for this,” Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson said. “We’ve seen a lot of growth from him over the last year and a half, and I think that he’ll take the bull by the horns and run with it. The guys that are depth players beneath him, Craig Reynolds, Jefferson and Vaki, those guys will have a great opportunity here to contribute as well.

“So, hopefully, we don’t miss a beat, and I really do believe that Gibby is ready for this.”

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Pontiac supermarket agrees to back overtime pay in federal settlement

The operators of Carnival Market in Pontiac have agreed for the second time in four years to pay overtime wages to employees that the U.S. Department of Labor says remained unpaid between 2021 and 2023, federal officials announced earlier this week.

It follows another settlement for unpaid overtime in 2020 that the labor department claims led to retaliation against employees.

Carnival Market, a specialty Mexican supermarket and restaurant, has settled with the department for $192,500, which includes paying $91,250 in back wages to 12 employees, the same amount in liquidated damages and $10,000 in other damages and penalties, according to a news release.

The settlement was filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

The Labor Department claims the operators of Carnival Market interfered with the investigation by instructing workers not to talk to investigators or tell them there were no labor violations.

“Employers who shortchange their workers also harm local economies by reducing the amounts workers can spend day-to-day,” said Wage and Hour Division District Director Timolin Mitchell in a statement. “Wage theft is a common problem, especially for low-wage workers who may be afraid to question their employers’ pay practices or to share their concerns with authorities.”

Attorneys representing Carnival Market did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday. The settlement says the operators have agreed to the terms “for the purpose of resolving this matter in an amicable manner.”

The market originally agreed in 2020 to pay back wages to 14 employees for overtime violations between October 2018 and September 2020. But after the settlement, the Department of Labor claims the operators retaliated against employees by demanding they kick back those back wages and threatened them if they did not.

Carnival Market also continued to violate overtime law between January 2021 and January 2023, the labor department alleges, which was the subject of the new settlement.

Carnival Market also has to audit and verify its current compliance with federal wage regulations, provide records to the Wage and Hour Division upon request for at least two years, provide Fair Labor Standards Act training to managers and post fact sheets about employees’ federal rights, according to the settlement.

The Department of Labor’s agreement with the market is among several recent investigations into overtime practices in Michigan.

In July, a federal judge ordered an operator of several Leo’s Coney Island franchise restaurants to pay overtime and keep accurate timecards, after labor officials alleged he had a pattern of breaking overtime regulations.

The department sued three Barrio Tacos restaurants in September 2023 for overtime and tipped labor violations, claiming the company failed to keep accurate records of employee pay and and did not pay tipped employees the federal minimum wage.

U.S. Department of Labor building in Washington, D.C.

How these 5 steps can help you travel the right way after retirement

By Morayo Ogunbayo, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (TNS)

One of the things new retirees look forward to is having the time to travel. Without PTO limits, vacations after retirement can be something new and different.

It can be so new and different, however, that it can be hard to know where to start. Here are a few golden rules you can follow to make each trip as smooth and worthwhile as possible.

Don’t overschedule

Family trips and vacations in your youth were likely packed with activities and excursions that could sometimes make them exhausting instead of refreshing. During retirement, however, there is no rush.

“Before, my travel was based on what I was going to achieve and bring home,” J. Patrice Marandel, a retired art curator, told Condé Nast Traveler. “Now, it’s about my pleasure.”

Go your own way

With time constraints on travel while employed, you may have had to follow a strict itinerary to visit every hot spot in your destination. After retiring, take things easy and see everything you want.

“We know where we’re going to stay along the way, but we hold that really loosely and give ourselves the opportunity to make something else happen,” retiree Kim Kelly Stamp told Condé Nast Traveler.

Start the day early

During previous trips, you may have had to plan things later in order to accommodate the whole family. Without the kids, however, you can start the day earlier and beat the lines of tourists.

Travel slower

Once there is no is no reason to rush back to work, you should make an effort to travel slowly and truly take in your surroundings.

When you cram too much into a single trip, two retirees told Condé Nast, “the whole experience just kind of becomes a blur.”

Explore

This is the best time to book your holiday travel this year

Don’t wait for tomorrow

If there is something you truly want to do, do it. Trips like these should be treasured and not taken for granted.

Ruthie Maldonado-Delwiche, a retiree who spoke to Condé Nast, said she cherishes this advice, because she believes “tomorrow isn’t promised.”

©2024 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Visit at ajc.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

One of the things new retirees look forward to is having the time to travel. (Simona Pilolla/Dreamstime/TNS)

Montgomery seeking third opinion in injured knee

ALLEN PARK— The Detroit Lions are not yet ready to say David Montgomery’s season is over.

Despite head coach Dan Campbell previously labeling Montgomery’s knee issue (an MCL injury) one that would “require surgery that’ll put him out through the rest of the year,” the Lions did not place him on injured reserve Tuesday along with defensive lineman Alim McNeill (knee) and cornerbacks Carlton Davis III (jaw) and Khalil Dorsey (leg).

Campbell described why Wednesday, explaining that Detroit is in “waiting mode” regarding Montgomery because the running back is seeking a third opinion from a doctor. Montgomery suffered his injury against the Buffalo Bills last Sunday, though it’s unclear exactly when because he finished the game.

“It’s a combination, certainly, of the doctors, but him as well, where he thinks he can go with it,” Campbell said of how the Lions will come to their final decision. “And can he protect himself and play at a high level? We’re in a holding pattern, which, as of right now, is a positive.”

Campbell said the focus will be about the stability of Montgomery’s knee — both now and in the future. Montgomery has been a key piece in Detroit’s offense since signing with the Lions in March 2023. He’s rushed for 775 yards and 12 touchdowns this season to go along with 341 receiving yards.

Melifonwu’s 21-day window open; Cominsky return ‘unlikely’

Campbell delivered two other injury notes Wednesday, one positive and one negative.

Starting with the good news: Ifeatu Melifonwu’s 21-day practice window has been opened, meaning he’s eligible to be activated off of injured reserve at any moment. Campbell said Monday the team would think about getting Melifonwu on the active roster for Sunday’s game against the Chicago Bears, but he’d have to see how he looks at practice this week.

Moving to the not-so-good news: It looks like defensive lineman John Cominsky may not be able to get back on the field this season. Cominsky went down with a knee injury in training camp, and the Lions hoped he’d be able to return either late in the regular season or in the playoffs.

“I think it’s unlikely,” Campbell said Wednesday. “Man, he’s tried. He’s rehabbed, he’s doing it. It’s just trying to get over the last little hump here, it’s been tough. He’s doing everything he can, and those guys are doing a heck of a job rehabbing him trying to get him back. But I think it’s unlikely.”

Detroit Lions running back David Montgomery (5) will get a third opinion on his injured knee before making a decision on surgery. (AP Photo/Rick Osentoski)

TV Tinsel: Classics, new shows sure to be Christmas sweets on your screen

By Luaine Lee, Tribune News Service (TNS)

As holiday deadlines approach, folks are frantically checking off their gift list, replacing burned-out Christmas bulbs and trying to keep the cat out of the tree. But not to worry. Television has plans to ease those last-minute panic attacks.

With everything from kiddie delights to grown-up romances, they are unremittingly on the job.

TBS again offers its 24-hour “A Christmas Story” marathon starting at 8 p.m. Eastern on Christmas Eve. Fans are hotly waiting to see if Ralphie finally gets his Red Ryder BB gun with a compass in the stock and a sundial.

Hulu’s on the job with the inspiring five-parter “Dear Santa, the Series,” about the U.S. Postal Service’s program in which young letter writers pen their Christmas wishes to Santa, and volunteer “elves” do their best to fulfill them. The USPS program has been going on for 112 years and shows no sign of stopping. And, once again, Will Farrell’s enormous “Elf,” who traipses to New York where he finds things he did not expect, is streaming on Hulu.

Will Ferrell as Buddy in "Elf." (Handout/TNS)
Will Ferrell as Buddy in “Elf.” (Handout/TNS)

The Grinch will prove insufferable all over the place including Peacock+, Sling and Prime Video (to rent). He’ll land on NBC Christmas Day. This is the original animated version of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” — by far the best incarnation of the Dr. Seuss classic.

Adults are not forgotten: Barry Manilow brings his evergreens to NBC with “Barry Manilow’s a Very Barry Christmas” on Thursday at 10 p.m. And PBS will offer “Joy — Christmas with the (Mormon) Tabernacle Choir” at 8 p.m. What’s more, viewers can get in the groove with a new iteration of Handel’s “Messiah” with “Too Hot to Handel: the Gospel Messiah” at 9:30, both on Tuesday.

"Jeff Dunham's Scrooged-Up Holiday Special." (Todd Rosenberg Photography/TNS)
“Jeff Dunham’s Scrooged-Up Holiday Special.” (Todd Rosenberg Photography/TNS)

Jeff Dunham and his eternally grumpy puppet, Walter, are discoursing on Prime Video with “Jeff Dunham’s Scrooged-Up Holiday Special,” and Prime indulges British comedian Jack Whitehall, who’s trying to get out of Dodge and make it back to the U.K.

“Jack in Time for Christmas” — now on Prime — is a partially scripted show and pretty funny. All his efforts are aided by the likes of Michael Bublé, Dave Bautista, Rebel Wilson and Jimmy Fallon.

And on Christmas Day the fashionable new Dr. Who, played Ncuti Gatwa, arrives with his special “Joy to the World” on Disney+ at 12:10 p.m.

Lifetime adds a little hot spice to the Christmas rom-com with “A Carpenter Christmas Romance” premiering Saturday at 8 p.m. Mitchell Slagger (sexy and shirtless) and Sasha Pieterse costar in this saucy flick.

On Friday, “Josh Groban & Friends Go Home for the Holidays” celebrates adoptions and the season in one grand display via CBS. Aiding Groban are luminaries like Jennifer Hudson, James Bay, Tori Kelly and The War and Treaty. It’s a unique mix of music, stories and comedy and features a live adoption on stage.

"Klaus" is a worthy animated feature about a shy toymaker who teams up with a self-centered postman to deliver toys to children in the middle of the night. (Luaine Scheliga/TNS)
“Klaus” is a worthy animated feature about a shy toymaker who teams up with a self-centered postman to deliver toys to children in the middle of the night. (Luaine Scheliga/TNS)

“Klaus” is a worthy animated feature about a shy toymaker who teams up with a self-centered postman to deliver toys to children in the middle of the night. It’s a new take on the “Father Christmas” theme and stars J.K. Simmons as the voice of the toymaker. The movie, which earned an Oscar nomination, streams on Netflix.

On Sunday everybody’s favorite towering matriarch, Madea, arrives on the CW with “Tyler Perry’s a Medea Christmas.” Here Madea (Perry) and a friend trek to a rural town for a Yuletide visit only to be shocked by the goings-on in this little burgh. Costarring are the impressive Anna Maria Horsford, Kathy Najimy and Lisa Whelchel.

Hulu is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Fox cartoon series “Family Guy” with “Family Guy: Holiday Special,” starring the usual suspects: Seth MacFarlane, Alex Borstein and Mila Kunis.

For those nostalgic for the old days, MeTV presents a week of vintage sitcoms. On Sunday you’ll find an episode of “Happy Days,” titled “All I Want for Christmas,” followed by “Snoopy Come Home,” “The Love Boat’s,” “Santa. Santa, Santa/Another Dog Gone,” and four “All in the Family” chapters devoted to the holidays.

From left, Karen Fairchild, Kate Hudson, Kimberly Schlapman, Kelsea Ballerini in " Little Big Town's Christmas at the Opry." (Ralph Bavaro/NBC)
From left, Karen Fairchild, Kate Hudson, Kimberly Schlapman, Kelsea Ballerini in ” Little Big Town’s Christmas at the Opry.” (Ralph Bavaro/NBC)

Peacock+ sparkles with the special “Little Big Town’s Christmas at the Opry,” showcasing guests like Sheryl Crow, Kirk Franklin, Kelsea Ballerini and Kate Hudson on tap, streaming now.

Husband-wife team Alexa and Carlos PenaVega costar in Great American Family’s original movie “Get Him Back for Christmas,” running all this week.

Sabrina Carpenter makes a holiday splash with “A Nonsense Christmas with Sabrina Carpenter,” streaming on Netflix. Special guests on this entry include Shania Twain, Quinta Brunson, Cara Delevingne, Sean Astin and Jillian Bells.

"A Nonsense Christmas with Sabrina Carpenter." Sabrina Carpenter at the Sunset Gower Studios in Los Angeles. (Parrish Lewis/Netflix/TNS)
“A Nonsense Christmas with Sabrina Carpenter.” Sabrina Carpenter at the Sunset Gower Studios in Los Angeles. (Parrish Lewis/Netflix/TNS)

It looks like they’re still having babies over at PBS’ “Call the Midwife,” and the series will honor the yuletide season with a “Holiday Special” on Christmas Day at 8 p.m.

Clint Eastwood at it again

Clint Eastwood is still hot on the job again with a new film, “Juror #2,” streaming on Max Friday. The show stars Nicholas Hoult as one of the jurors on a murder trial who struggles with a moral dilemma.

Costarring is Toni Collette, who seems to be in everything lately. We’ve seen the Australian actress in projects like “Knives Out,” “Stowaway,” “Nightmare Alley,” “Pieces of Her” and “The Staircase.”

She tells me, “I was a loud little girl – all singing, all dancing, all annoying. I come from a very blue-collar working class, grounded, no-BS kind of a family, which I’m very thankful for because I don’t buy into what I possibly could buy into. I was a little bit of a clown — always performing, putting on shows in the neighborhood; also going through the bookworm phases,” she says.

“Acting started with dancing. I used to do dance lessons and got into singing, musicals, and that led to straight acting. That was it. I’d been doing musicals with a youth theater group while I was in school, and then I started doing some plays with them, and I realized that was what I wanted to do. And I left school at the age of 16, which is something that in retrospect I would never make that decision now. But I think I was so in love with what I had discovered and just felt like it was a rush and I just kind of fell into it.”

Samantha Morton stars in sci-fi flick

Sweet little Samantha Morton is starring in yet another dystopian sci-fi movie depicting our soon-to-be horrible future. Called “1973,” opening in theaters on Dec. 27, it’s reckoning not too far in advance, and has some axes to grind.

Morton, who’s starred in projects like “Sweet and Lowdown” with Woody Allen and “The Serpent Queen,” tells me, “Other than being a mother and a friend and partner, acting is what I’m good at. It’s what I know how to do. It’s what I’m passionate about. It’s my life, it’s my breath. If I didn’t do it, I’d go slightly bonkers, I think.”

It was a teacher who first spotted Morton’s talent. “The teacher said to me I should consider doing drama, and so I went to some actors school that was very advanced in its training — very, very heavy on method and improvisation and comedy improvisation. And I ended up getting a job at the World Court Theatre when I was 16 and I’ve not stopped. I’m very lucky.”

‘Friends’ spawns game show

Super fans just won’t let “Friends” die. So Max has created a new quiz show to exploit those lovers of the long-running sitcom. Called “Fast Friends,” the series features teams that compete to see who knows the most about the long running comedy.

“Fast Friends’” debuts on Thursday. New episodes of the four-part game show will debut subsequent Thursdays. Filmed on the real sets that once were populated by Joey and Chandler and Rachel and Monica, the quizzer’s host is comic Whitney Cummings.

Cummings, who started as a standup, has exploited various facets of her talent on TV including two sitcoms (one in which she starred), writing, producing, and TV comedy specials.

Recalling her days on the road, Cummings says, “I think the traveling is the hardest part. The being on stage is the reward. It’s just what you have to go through to get there. One year I did more than 80 cities. And so it’s like traveling and airport security, and hotel, and you spend all day getting there. And then you get there at 8 o’clock and you get to sort of be onstage for an hour, and that’s the reward. But it’s to get a lot of stage time and to have to tour, I think that’s the most exhausting.”

©2024 Tribune Content Agency, LLC

Peter Billingsley in “A Christmas Story.” (Handout/TNS)

A risotto recipe that’s easy and main-dish-worthy

By Meredith Deeds, The Minnesota Star Tribune (TNS)

Creamy and comforting, a good risotto doesn’t have to be complicated. It only takes a few ingredients — rice, broth, cheese and butter — to make one of Italy’s most iconic dishes.

In its most basic form, risotto can be an elegant backdrop for more complex dishes, like the famous osso buco, veal shanks braised in a rich sauce until tender, which is typically served with a saffron-flavored risotto.

For this week’s recipe, though, we’re adding a few more ingredients that transform a dish often relegated to the side of the plate into a showstopping star.

Along with onions and garlic, leeks are a member of the allium family. Although leeks will never make you cry, when cooked, like onions, they become sweet and meltingly tender. In this risotto, we sauté them just until softened, which keeps the flavor subtle and leaves room for its co-star in this production, butternut squash.

Winter squash, in this case butternut, gives this dish a heartiness that would satisfy anyone at the dinner table, which is why it’s the perfect choice when feeding a group that includes vegetarians.

Like soup, risottos love a garnish, and for this recipe the choice was obvious. Most recipes call for the white and light green parts of the leeks, but we use the tops, too. They are fried in oil in the microwave, a much easier and cleaner way to frizzle the leek tops than deep-frying them on the stove. The leftover flavored oil can be saved and used in dressings or to cook other foods.

While it isn’t absolutely necessary to take the extra step to make the garnish, it does elevate the dish, which is a particularly nice touch if you’re serving it as the main attraction.

If you want to provide a protein, just make sure to keep it simple, like roast chicken or pork.

Leek and Butternut Squash Risotto

Serves 6.

Creamy and tender, this hearty risotto is slightly sweet from the leeks and butternut squash with a salty savoriness from a generous showering of Parmesan cheese. From Meredith Deeds.

  • 3 c. homemade or low-sodium chicken or vegetable stock
  • 2 medium leeks, thoroughly cleaned
  • ⅔ c. vegetable oil
  • 1 ¼ tsp. salt, divided
  • 2 tbsp. olive oil
  • 1 small butternut squash (about 2 lb.), peeled, seeded and cut into ½-in. cubes
  • 4 tbsp. unsalted butter, divided
  • 2 c. Arborio rice
  • ¼ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
  • ½ c. dry white wine
  • ½ c. grated Parmesan, plus more for serving

Directions

In a large measuring cup, combine the stock and enough water to make 5 cups of liquid. Set aside.

Thinly slice the white and light green parts of the leeks. Separately, cut the 4 inches above the light green part of the leeks into thin strips.

Combine leek tops and ⅔ cup vegetable oil in medium bowl. Microwave for 5 minutes. Stir and continue to microwave 2 minutes longer. Repeat, stirring and microwaving in 30-second increments, until lightly browned. Using slotted spoon, transfer leeks to paper-towel-lined plate; season with ¼ teaspoon salt. Set aside.

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Add the squash and cook, stirring, until it begins to soften and brown around the edges, about 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer squash to medium bowl.

Heat 2 tablespoons butter into the same saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the sliced leeks and cook, stirring, until softened, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add the rice and remaining 1 teaspoon salt and cook for 3 to 5 minutes or until the grains are translucent around the edges.

Add the white wine and cook, stirring, until the liquid has almost evaporated, about 2 minutes. Add 3 cups of the broth mixture and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid has evaporated, 8 to 10 minutes. Continue to add liquid, ½ cup at a time, stirring until each addition is absorbed. Cook, stirring, about 8 to 10 minutes more, until rice is creamy and slightly al dente (use more water if you run out of liquid).

Remove from heat and vigorously stir in the Parmesan cheese, the remaining 2 tablespoons butter and sautéed butternut squash. (The vigorous stirring helps give the risotto its creaminess.) Season with more salt if necessary. Divide among serving bowls. Top with fried leek tops and serve with more Parmesan cheese on the side.

Meredith Deeds is a cookbook author and food writer from Edina. Reach her at meredithdeeds@gmail.com. Follow her on Instagram ­at @meredithdeeds.

©2024 The Minnesota Star Tribune. Visit at startribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

In its most basic form, risotto can be an elegant backdrop for more complex dishes, like the famous osso buco, veal shanks braised in a rich sauce until tender, which is typically served with a saffron-flavored risotto. (Bhofack2/Dreamstime/TNS)

Holiday stress can lead Alzheimer’s patients and those with dementia to go missing

Shelia Poole | (TNS) The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

ATLANTA — Holidays are a time for families and friends to gather, but for older people with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, it can cause so much stress and confusion that they could be in danger of what experts calls wandering.

“I would say around the holiday time is the biggest challenge for people with dementia,” said Kim Franklin, senior manager of programs and services at the Georgia chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association. “Schedules are changing, people are traveling, families are coming together and friends are coming over. There’s a lot of chaos going on and that can cause a person to wander. They want to get away. It’s hard for them to process what’s happening.”

The Alzheimer’s Association reports 72% of dementia patients who wander are found alive by the next day. Alerting 911 as soon as the person goes missing is critical. The odds of survival decrease as more time passes.

Angel Alonso, president of Georgia Emergency Search and Recovery based in Gwinnett County, said the vast majority — between 60% and 70% — of the 30 to 40 calls the nonprofit received last year involved people with the disease.

The GESAR is a volunteer-driven organization that works with law enforcement to find people who have gone missing, including children, people with Alzheimer’s and dementia, and people lost during major disasters.

“We get so many Alzheimer’s calls,” said Vice President John Clark, who is also volunteer instructor with the Georgia Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association. For caregivers and loved ones, a relative who goes missing is devastating.

Two of Clark’s grandparents had dementia, so he gravitated to search and rescue to help other families and caregivers keep their loved ones safe. He’s consulted with police departments across metro Atlanta on the best ways to find people with Alzheimer’s.

Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias can cause people to lose their ability to recognize people and places that are familiar.

According to the Alzheimer’s Association there are often warning signs that a person might wander. Six in 10 people with dementia will wander during the course of the disease.

That includes people returning from a regular walk or drive later than usual. Or they may talk about fulfilling former obligations, such as going to work or talk about going home even when they’re at home. Sometimes they become restless and pace or make repetitive movements.

Clark recounted one call for help when a family reported a missing relative, but they insisted she couldn’t have gone far because of a bad knee that limited her to walking no further than the mailbox. Searchers found the missing woman 7 miles from home.

A detail of the vest that eight-month-old Chocolate Labrador Retriever, Maverick, wears with his handler at J.B. Williams Park, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024, in Lilburn, Ga. Maverick is a search and rescue dog that is being trained to find dementia patients who wander off. (Jason Getz/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution/TNS)
A detail of the vest that eight-month-old Chocolate Labrador Retriever, Maverick, wears with his handler at J.B. Williams Park, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024, in Lilburn, Ga. Maverick is a search and rescue dog that is being trained to find dementia patients who wander off. (Jason Getz/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution/TNS)

Even those who have never shown an interest in wandering might start without warning.

Dan Goerke is fortunate. His late wife, Diane, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2012, once went missing from the car of a caregiver.

The caregiver had stopped for an errand. Diane had waited alone in cars as people ran errands before. But this time, when the caregiver returned, Diane was gone but her seat belt was still fastened.

“It was like she disappeared into thin air,” said Goerke, who said he doesn’t blame the caregiver. Fortunately, she was found uninjured and nearby a short time later that same day.

Goerke said it’s hard for caregivers to always be on guard for wandering. “We have so many things to juggle that’s not necessarily at the top of our minds. We have to manage medications, take them to doctor’s appointments, cook meals and taking care of things day to day,” he said.

Clark said when searching for someone with dementia, one of the keys is to know what the person was like before their diagnosis. Often their long-term memories are still strong. They once found a woman who walked out of her home and went to where she used to shop and to her old job, although it had closed.

Recently, GESAR unveiled a new tool to search for missing people: Maverick.

An 8-month-old chocolate Labrador retriever, Maverick is in training to be part of the GESAR search and research team that will track missing people, including wandering dementia patients in metro Atlanta.

In cases involving children and people with dementia, a dog’s personality can also be an asset. Labs like Maverick are friendly and affectionate, not imposing or threatening like some other breeds — and less likely to scare the person who is lost.

Eight-month-old Chocolate Labrador Retriever, Maverick, sniffs the ground as he walks with his handler at J.B. Williams Park, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024, in Lilburn, Ga. Maverick is a search and rescue dog that is being trained to find dementia patients who wander off. (Jason Getz/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution/TNS)
Eight-month-old Chocolate Labrador Retriever, Maverick, sniffs the ground as he walks with his handler at J.B. Williams Park, Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024, in Lilburn, Ga. Maverick is a search and rescue dog that is being trained to find dementia patients who wander off. (Jason Getz/The Atlanta Journal-Constitution/TNS)

Canines can be used in searches in both rural and urban areas.

“He’s an asset,” said Maverick’s handler, Carmen Alonso. “His nose can pick up odors and track where a person has been that we might not think to go that direction.”

At the Cobb County Police Department, Public Information Officer Sgt. Eric Smith said if dogs are needed to search for a wanderer they call the sheriff’s department, which has bloodhounds. “They’re not apprehension dogs so there’s little or no likelihood of a bite,” he said.

Technology can also help, Smith said. Searchers can use drones and families can install technology on a person’s car to help locate it or use other kinds of trackable devices including on their phone.

“We get so many Alzheimer’s calls,” said Clark, who is also a volunteer instructor with the Georgia Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association.

Most cases they’ve worked on have had favorable results, according to the Georgia Emergency Search and Recovery organization.

No two searches are the same, said Sgt. Jeremy Blake of the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office.

“When responding to calls for a missing person, the response is different than that of a fleeing suspect,” he wrote in an email. “The K-9s that are used to track missing persons are not trained in the apprehension of suspects. … Often times, if the K-9 cannot locate the missing person, they can provide officers with a more accurate direction of travel than they may previously had.”

Nearly 7 million U.S. residents age 65 and older were living with Alzheimer’s according to the most recent Facts & Figures report. Of those, more than 188,000 Georgians ages 65 and older also have been diagnosed with the disease, according to the Alzheimer’s Association Georgia Chapter.

Facts on wandering:

There is a better chance of being found in urban environments because of a higher probability of a “good Samaritan” stepping in.

Wanderers may give no forewarning. Often those with memory issues wander away during activities they’ve done safely in the past, such as shopping or sitting on a front porch.

Some people who still drive can become disoriented and drive for miles away from home.

According to the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office, on average, half the calls for missing persons involve the elderly or someone with disabilities.

If a loved one with Alzheimer’s or dementia disappears:

Call 911 as soon as possible.

Have a photograph available for first responders and an article of clothing to provide a scent for search dogs.

Sharing what the missing person liked to do in prior years can be a key: Did they have a job they went to every day? Did they like to fish or go to a certain spot?

Searchers will need to know the last time the person was seen to help determine how far a person might have wandered.

(Source: Alzheimer’s Association and Cobb County Police Department.)

©2024 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Visit at ajc.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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Sweet, hot & healthy: Even kids can’t resist the caramelization of roasted vegetables

By Sono Motoyama, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (TNS)

If you’re a traditional carnivore, you may treat vegetables as an afterthought, throwing some steamed green beans or broccoli on your plate just to add color. But if you have kids, they can turn up their noses at this fare fast enough to give them whiplash.

Even Aeros Lillstrom, who runs Who Cooks for You Farm in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, with her husband, Chris Brittenburg, is familiar with the scenario. The couple has two kids, and even though they’re exposed to the finest organic vegetables, their children are less than enthusiastic about steamed carrots.

But Lillstrom knows the solution to this common problem: sugar, or more specifically, caramelization. No marshmallow topping necessary.

“For kids, and even adults, the roasting of many roots brings out their sweetness, so it’s really a nice way to introduce people to roots,” she said. “Beets blow people out of the water. It’s just a wonderful flavor.”

You can prepare many kinds of vegetables this way, but fall root vegetables are especially good for roasting, and for roasting together. They have similar densities and therefore similar cooking times. Many contain sugar that comes to the fore after cooking and caramelize beautifully.

They make a flavorful side dish or even a whole meal when scooped over a bowl of fresh greens for a dinner salad — or topped with a dollop of yogurt.

Lillstrom recommends turnips, carrots, beets, potatoes, sweet potatoes, celeriac, parsnips and beets for roasting. (Check out the Who Cooks for You stands at the Bloomfield and Squirrel Hill farmers markets for most of these items.)

You can roast these individually or — as I do — diced and mixed together. I like to do potatoes and sweet potatoes together (with onions, carrots, garlic and herbes de Provence).

I find that regular potatoes have a longer cooking time, so I nuke those in the microwave for a couple minutes to give them a head start. Lillstrom points out that you can blanch vegetables to speed things up before putting them in the oven to caramelize.

Another factor in cooking time is how large you cut the veggies. So if you’re in a rush, cut them smaller.

Make sure to space out the vegetables. Otherwise they will steam in their own vapor and won’t get browned.

I’m sometimes — OK, often — impatient. So if the vegetables are cooked but not browned, I’ll put them under the broiler. But be sure to keep an eye on them if you do this, or they’ll burn.

If you want to throw in, say, some mushrooms or cherry tomatoes, wait until mid-cooking cycle or longer, as these will cook much faster.

For her kids, Lillstrom cuts sweet potatoes into fries, puts them on a lard-covered sheet pan (she says you can also use vegetable shortening) and drizzles them with olive oil. She then sprinkles the fries with salt and pepper, and mixes to make sure the fries are coated before roasting them.

Roasting vegetables is simple — simple enough that you don’t need a recipe. But if you’re like me, you’ll want one anyway, so guidelines are below.

“Good, roasty caramelizing is my favorite,” Lillstrom said. “That’s always a sure win for the kids or really anyone who is like, ‘I don’t like beets.’ And you’re like, ‘Well, have you roasted them yet?’”

Roasted vegetables

Roasted Vegetable Bowl with Green Goddess. (Gretchen McKay/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS)
Roasted Vegetable Bowl with Green Goddess. (Gretchen McKay/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS)
  • 2-3 pounds root or dense vegetables, peeled if you like and cut into 1-inch chunks or wedges (carrots, beets, potatoes, sweet potatoes, turnips, radishes, rutabaga, winter squash)
  • Oil (olive, coconut or grapeseed)
  • Salt and pepper
  • Fresh herbs, torn or chopped (rosemary, thyme or parsley)

Heat oven to 425 degrees.

Peel vegetables (optional) and cut them into 1- to 2-inch chunks.

Lay them on a baking pan and toss with oil and a sprinkling of salt and pepper.

Put the vegetables in the oven and roast without stirring for 20 minutes, then check. If they look dry and are sticking to the pan, drizzle with more oil.

Continue roasting, stirring or turning them once, for another 20 minutes or so.

Stir in herbs, then return the pan to the oven for another 20-40 minutes, until crisp.

Remove from the oven and garnish with rosemary or thyme.

Serves 4-6.

— adapted from The New York Times

Other options

Instead of root vegetables, you can use 2 pounds of high-moisture vegetables (eggplant, peppers, zucchini, fennel, onions, Brussels sprouts). Slice and cut into chunks or wedges. Roast at 450 degrees until golden brown all over, 10-40 minutes depending on variety and the size of the pieces.

Or use 1 or 2 pounds of hardy green vegetables (broccoli rabe, snow peas, green beans, kale, collard greens, chard) or cherry tomatoes, trimmed.

Roast at 450 degrees for 7-15 minutes. If you are using vegetables of different densities, you will have to stagger their cooking times.

Roasted Vegetable Tostadas

These vegetarian tostadas are stacked with two layers of smashed pinto beans, lettuce, pico and roasted sweet potatoes and bell peppers. Crumbled queso fresco and lime crema add the crowning touch. (Gretchen McKay/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS)
These vegetarian tostadas are stacked with two layers of smashed pinto beans, lettuce, pico and roasted sweet potatoes and bell peppers. Crumbled queso fresco and lime crema add the crowning touch. (Gretchen McKay/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS)

PG tested

The joy of this recipe is that you can pick whatever ingredients make you happy. I stacked the tostadas in two layers for a heartier meal, but it can be made with just one layer.

For roasted veggies

  • 3 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
  • 2 red bell peppers, seeded and sliced
  • 1 red onion, sliced thin
  • 2 teaspoons chili powder
  • Kosher salt
  • 1 tablespoon oil

For bean layer

  • 1 (15-ounce) can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1/2 teaspoon cumin, or more to taste
  • 1 teaspoon chili powder
  • 1/4 cup minced white onion
  • Generous pinch of salt

For pico de gallo

  • 1 cup diced fresh tomato
  • 1 jalapeno, seeded and finely diced
  • 1/4 small red onion, diced
  • 1 garlic clove, finely diced
  • Juice of 1/2 lime
  • Chopped cilantro, to taste
  • Salt, to taste

For tostadas

  • 8 packaged tostadas
  • Shredded iceberg lettuce
  • 1/2 cup crumbled queso fresco, or finely shredded Monterey jack cheese
  • Diced avocado, optional
  • Chopped cilantro, optional
  • Lime crema, optional

Prepare vegetables: Place sweet potatoes, peppers and red onion in a large bowl. Season with chili powder and a generous pinch of salt, then toss with oil.

Transfer to a rimmed baking sheet and roast in a preheated 450-degree oven until tender, tossing halfway through, about 25-30 minutes.

While veggies are roasting, prepare beans. Combine drained pinto beans, cumin, chili powder and onion in a small saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat for about 10 minutes, until beans and onions soften. Mash with a fork and keep warm.

Prepare pico de gallo: In a medium bowl, combine diced tomato, jalapeño, onion, garlic, lime juice, cilantro and a generous pinch of salt. Stir to combine, adding more salt if necessary.

Let rest for 15 minutes before serving so flavors can mingle.

Assemble tostadas: Spread a tostada shell with mashed beans. Top with shredded lettuce, roasted vegetables, pico de gallo, crumbled or shredded cheese, diced avocado and chopped cilantro if using. Drizzle lime crema on top, and repeat with a second layer. Serve immediately.

Serves 4.

— Gretchen McKay, Post-Gazette

©2024 PG Publishing Co. Visit at post-gazette.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

These vegetarian tostadas are stacked with two layers of smashed pinto beans, lettuce, pico and roasted sweet potatoes and bell peppers. Crumbled queso fresco and lime crema add the crowning touch. (Gretchen McKay/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS)

Millions will see rise in health insurance premiums if federal subsidies expire

Shalina Chatlani | (TNS) Stateline.org

Andrea Deutsch, the mayor of Narberth, Pennsylvania, and the owner of a pet store in town, doesn’t get health care coverage through either of her jobs. Instead, she is enrolled in a plan she purchased on Pennie, Pennsylvania’s health insurance exchange.

Deutsch, who has been mayor since 2018, is paid $1 per year for the job. Her annual income, from Spot’s – The Place for Paws and her investments, is about $50,000. The 57-year-old, who is diabetic, pays $638.38 per month for health care coverage — about half of the $1,272.38 she’d owe without the enhanced federal subsidies Congress and the Biden administration put in place in 2021.

But that extra help is set to expire at the end of 2025. It would cost an estimated $335 billion over the next decade to extend it — a step the Republican-controlled Congress and the Trump administration are unlikely to take as they seek budget savings to offset potential tax cuts.

States say they don’t have the money to replace the federal aid. In Pennsylvania, for example, doing so would take about $500 million per year, according to Devon Trolley, the executive director of the state’s exchange.

“That is a significant amount of money, an insurmountable amount of money,” Trolley said.

The disappearance of the federal help would make coverage unaffordable for millions of Americans, including Deutsch. She said it would be a struggle to pay double what she is paying now.

“You try not to go bankrupt by the end of your life,” Deutsch told Stateline. “You need assets to take care of yourself as you get older and to have a little bit of security.”

Enhanced subsidies

The 2010 Affordable Care Act included some subsidies to help people purchase health insurance on the exchanges created under that law. Under the enhanced subsidies that started in 2021, some people with lower incomes who qualified for the original subsidies have been getting bigger ones. And those with higher incomes, who wouldn’t have been eligible for any help under the original rules, are now receiving assistance.

Thanks to the enhanced subsidies, people making up to 150% of the federal poverty level, or $22,590 for an individual, are now getting free or nearly free coverage. And households earning more than four times the federal poverty level, who didn’t qualify for subsidies before, are getting some help.

The enhanced aid also has helped push ACA marketplace enrollment to record levels, reaching more than 21 million this year. Southern states that have not expanded Medicaid as allowed under the ACA have seen the most dramatic growth in marketplace enrollment since 2020, according to KFF, a health policy research organization. The top five states with the fastest growth are Texas (212%), Mississippi (190%), Georgia (181%), Tennessee (177%) and South Carolina (167%).

If the enhanced subsidies go away, premium payments will increase by an average of more than 75%, according to KFF. Some people, like Deutsch, would see their payments double.

Given those premium hikes, millions of Americans would no longer be able to afford the coverage they’re getting on the exchanges, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. CBO estimates that enrollment would drop from 22.8 million in 2025 to 18.9 million in 2026 to 15.4 million in 2030. Some of those people would find coverage elsewhere, but others would not.

Edmund Haislmaier, a senior research fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said Republicans view the expiration of the enhanced subsidies as “an opportunity to rework and address some of the basic flaws in the ACA.”

Before the ACA, Haislmaier said, many self-employed people, such as small-business owners and freelancers, were able to find their own private insurance at competitive prices. But the health care law destroyed that market, he said, leaving such people with a selection of expensive and subpar plans.

Haislmaier said it would take time for the Trump administration to determine how it wants to change the ACA — which President-elect Donald Trump unsuccessfully tried to repeal during his first term — but that “you can do that in a way that preserves access and preserves subsidies for the lower-income people who were the primary focus of the ACA.”

States’ limitations

But Jared Ortaliza, a research associate at KFF, said letting the enhanced subsidies expire could result in higher premiums for everyone. That’s because higher prices likely would prompt many healthier people to forgo insurance, he said. Their departure would leave only chronically ill people on the exchanges, and the cost of their care is higher.

“If sicker enrollees need coverage because they need care, they’ll still choose to buy it, potentially. And if the market were sicker as a whole, that could drive premiums upward as well,” Ortaliza told Stateline.

Ortaliza said states might consider keeping premiums down through so-called reinsurance, or reimbursing insurers for their most expensive enrollees. Theoretically, they also could try to replace the expiring federal aid with their own money.

But few if any states have the financial flexibility to do that, said Hemi Tewarson, executive director of the nonpartisan National Academy for State Health Policy.

“There might be a couple states who don’t have current state subsidies that might add that, but that will be very nominal,” Tewarson told Stateline, adding that officials from different states have been discussing potential solutions. “They are all assuming that they would just have to absorb the loss of coverage across the population.”

Trolley, the head of the Pennsylvania exchange, said her state is working to provide its own subsidy to make the marketplace plans even more affordable. But even when fully implemented, it would spend only $50 million on that help, a tenth of what it would need to replace the federal aid.

Two-thirds of the 435,000 Pennsylvanians who purchase insurance on the marketplace joined after the enhanced federal subsidies were put in place in 2021. If they expire, Trolley said, she worries that 100,000 or more exchange participants will leave.

Jessica Altman, executive director of California’s exchange, said her state is in a similar situation. California currently receives $1.7 billion annually in enhanced subsidies from the federal government and spends an additional $165 million of its own money to keep costs down.

California estimates that if the subsidies expire, monthly premiums for the state’s enrollees would increase by an average of 63%. More than 150,000 people would no longer be eligible for federal help, and between 138,000 and 183,000 would disenroll, the state estimates.

©2024 States Newsroom. Visit at stateline.org. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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Lions running back David Montgomery out indefinitely with MCL injury

After significant injuries to defensive tackle Alim McNeill and cornerback Carlton Davis, it was hard to imagine the Detroit Lions‘ injury outlook could get much worse.

But it has.

According to a league source, Lions running back David Montgomery suffered an MCL injury in Sunday’s 48-42 loss to the Buffalo Bills and will be out indefinitely. The initial fear is that Montgomery’s injury is season-ending, pending further testing.

The Lions (12-2) are amid one of the worst runs of injury luck in recent memory, and it comes in a season in which the team was, at one point, drawing comparisons to the 2007 New England Patriots.

Montgomery is a critical part of the Lions’ dynamic rushing attack alongside Jahmyr Gibbs. He has rushed for 775 yards and 12 touchdowns with 341 receiving yards this season.

Like McNeill, Montgomery signed a contract extension with the Lions earlier this season. He tacked two years onto his existing deal, adding more than $10 million in guaranteed money, which will keep him in Detroit through 2027.

Lions_Colts_Football_93331

Trump migrant deportations could threaten states’ agricultural economies

Nada Hassanein | (TNS) Stateline.org

If President-elect Donald Trump follows through on his pledge to deport millions of immigrants, it could upend the economies of states where farming and other food-related industries are crucial — and where labor shortages abound.

Immigrants make up about two-thirds of the nation’s crop farmworkers, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, and roughly 2 in 5 of them are not legally authorized to work in the United States.

Agricultural industries such as meatpacking, dairy farms and poultry and livestock farms also rely heavily on immigrants.

“We have five to six employees that do the work that nobody else will do. We wouldn’t survive without them,” said Bruce Lampman, who owns Lampman Dairy Farm, in Bruneau, Idaho. His farm, which has been in the family three decades, has 350 cows producing some 26,000 pounds of milk a day.

“My business and every agriculture business in the U.S. will be crippled if they want to get rid of everybody who does the work,” said Lampman, adding that his workers are worried about what’s to come.

Anita Alves Pena, a Colorado State University professor of economics who studies immigration, noted that many agricultural employers already can’t find enough laborers. Without farm subsidies or other protections to make up for the loss of immigrant workers, she said, the harm to state economies could be significant.

“Farmers across the country, producers in a lot of different parts, are often talking about labor shortages — and that’s even with the current status quo of having a fairly high percentage of unauthorized individuals in the workforce,” Pena said. “A policy like this, if it was not coupled with something else, would exacerbate that.”

Employers have a hard time hiring enough farm laborers because such workers generally are paid low wages for arduous work.

In addition to hiring immigrant laborers who are in the country illegally, agricultural employers rely on the federal H-2A visa program. H-2A visas usually are for seasonal work, often for about six to 10 months. However, they can be extended for up to three years before a worker must return to their home country.

Employers must pay H-2A workers a state-specific minimum wage and provide no-cost transportation and housing. Still, employers’ applications for H-2A visas have soared in the past 18 years, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a trend reflecting the shortage of U.S.-born laborers willing to do the work. The number of H-2A positions has surged from just over 48,000 in 2005 to more than 378,000 in 2023.

But agricultural employers that operate year-round, such as poultry, dairy and livestock producers, can’t use the seasonal visa to fill gaps, according to the USDA.

Farmers also employ foreign nationals who have “temporary protected status” under a 1990 law that allows immigrants to remain if the U.S. has determined their home countries are unsafe because of violence or other reasons. There are about 1.2 million people in the U.S. under the program or eligible for it, from countries including El Salvador, Ethiopia, Haiti, Honduras, Lebanon and Ukraine. Many have been here for decades, and Trump has threatened to end the program.

Support for the program

Immigration advocates want a pathway for H-2A workers to gain permanent legal status, and agricultural trade organizations are pushing for an expansion of the H-2A program to include year-round operations.

The National Milk Producers Federation says it’s too early to say how it would cope with mass deportations under the Trump administration. But the group states it “strongly supports efforts to pass agriculture labor reform that provides permanent legal status to current workers and their families and gives dairy farmers access to a workable guestworker program.”

Immigrants make up 51% of labor at dairy farms across states, and farms that employ immigrants produce nearly 80% of the nation’s milk supply, according to the organization.

“Foreign workers are important to the success of U.S. dairy, and we will work closely with members of Congress and federal officials to show the importance of foreign workers to the dairy industry and farm communities,” Jaime Castaneda, the group’s executive vice president for policy development and strategy, wrote in an email.

Adam Croissant, the former vice president of research and development at yogurt company Chobani, which has manufacturing plants in Idaho and New York, said he’s seen a lot of misinformation around immigrants’ workforce contributions.

“The dairy industry as a whole understands that without immigrant labor, the dairy industry doesn’t exist. It’s as simple as that,” said Croissant.

Tom Super, a spokesperson for the National Chicken Council, lambasted U.S. immigration policy and said the poultry industry “wants a stable, legal, and permanent workforce.”

“The chicken industry is heavily affected by our nation’s immigration policy or, more pointedly, lack thereof. … The system is broken, and Washington has done nothing to fix it,” Super wrote in an email.

Changes ahead?

But major changes to the H-2A visa program are unlikely to happen before deportations begin. In an interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press” last weekend, Trump repeated his promise to start deporting some immigrants almost immediately.

He said he plans to begin with convicted criminals, but would then move to other immigrants. “We’re starting with the criminals, and we’ve got to do it. And then we’re starting with the others, and we’re going to see how it goes.”

Some farmers still hope that Trump’s actions won’t match his rhetoric. But “hoping isn’t a great business plan,” said Rick Naerebout, CEO of the Idaho Dairymen’s Association. “Our ability to feed ourselves as a country is completely jeopardized if you do see the mass deportations.”

If the deportations do happen, agricultural workers will disappear faster than they can be replaced, experts say.

“The H-2A program will not expand instantly to fill the gap. So, that’s going to be a problem,” said Jeffrey Dorfman, a professor of agricultural economics at North Carolina State University who was Georgia’s state economist from 2019 to 2023.

In Georgia, agriculture is an $83.6 billion industry that supports more than 323,000 jobs. It is one of the five states most reliant on the federal H-2A visa program, depending on those workers to fill about 60% of agricultural jobs.

Dorfman argued that even the fear of deportation will have an impact on the workforce.

“When farmworkers hear about ICE [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] raids on a nearby farm, lots of them disappear. Even the legal ones often disappear for a few days. So, if everybody just gets scared and self-deports, just goes back home, I think that would be the worst disruption,” said Dorfman, adding that even more jobs would need to be filled if the administration revokes temporary protected status.

Antonio De Loera-Brust, communications director for the farmworker labor union United Farm Workers, said the nation’s focus should be on protecting workers, no matter their legal status.

“They deserve a lot better than just not getting deported,” he said. “They deserve better wages, they deserve labor rights, they deserve citizenship.”

And though economists and the agriculture industry have said that mass deportations could raise grocery store prices, De Loera-Brust called that particular argument a sign of “moral weakness.”

“As if the worst thing about hundreds of thousands of people getting separated from their families was going to be that consumers would have to pay more for a bag of strawberries or a bag of baby carrots,” De Loera-Brust said. “There’s a moral gap there.”

©2024 States Newsroom. Visit at stateline.org. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Farmworkers wear protective clothing while working in a field in the morning heat on July 3, 2024 near Coachella, California. A long-duration heat wave is impacting much of California with authorities warning of extreme health and wildfire risks. An excessive heat warning is in effect for all of the Coachella Valley through July 8th with highs forecast of up to 121 degrees. (Mario Tama/Getty Images/TNS)

Lions DT Alim McNeill out for season with torn ACL; Carlton Davis III suffers broken jaw

The Detroit Lions‘ worst fears about injuries to defensive tackle Alim McNeill and cornerback Carlton Davis III have come true.

McNeill suffered a torn ACL and is out for the season, while Davis suffered a broken jaw that’ll keep him out at least six weeks, a league source confirmed to The Detroit News on Monday.

After Sunday’s 48-42 loss to the Buffalo Bills at Ford Field, Lions coach Dan Campbell speculated that both players’ injuries could be season-ending. The one silver lining is that Davis’ six-week return timeline could put him in line to return for the NFC Championship, should the Lions make it that far.

In the meantime, however, the loss of both players is significant. Assuming both players — and cornerback Khalil Dorsey, who also suffered a devastating ankle injury on Sunday — are placed on injured reserve, that’ll make it a whopping 14 defensive players on injured reserve for the Lions at the most critical point of their season.

More: That’s a wrap: The Detroit News’ coverage from Lions’ 48-42 loss to the Bills

Sunday’s 48-point outburst from the Bills was a reminder of how quickly things can change; Detroit had the league’s best-scoring defense entering the game.

Besides the injured Aidan Hutchinson — who, despite only playing five games, still leads the Lions with 45 pressures — McNeill led the Lions in that category with 40. He had 3.5 sacks rushing from the interior and was a critical piece of the team’s excellent run defense, recording 25 tackles.

Davis is second on the team in pass defenses (11). He has two interceptions, a forced fumble, two recoveries and 42 combined tackles. The Lions’ defense was predicated on Davis and rookie cornerback Terrion Arnold holding their own in man coverage.

McNeill, a third-round pick in the first draft class (2021) of general manager Brad Holmes, signed a four-year contract extension with Detroit in October, so his future with the team is certain.

But it’s possible we’ve seen the last of Davis in a Lions uniform.

The veteran cornerback was acquired from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers via trade last offseason and is on an expiring contract. The Lions might want to bring him back after an excellent season, but Detroit also drafted a pair of cornerbacks (Arnold, Alabama; Ennis Rakestraw, Missouri) with their first two picks in the 2024 draft and inked cornerback Amik Robertson to a two-year deal.

Detroit Lions defensive tackle Alim McNeill warms up before an NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024, in Detroit. (REY DEL RIO — AP Photo)

Michigan State football lands receiver Omari Kelly, OL Luka Vincic from transfer portal

The Michigan State football team potentially bolstered its offense for 2025 on Sunday.

The Spartans landed verbal commitments from a pair of transfers, in receiver Omari Kelly from Middle Tennessee State and offensive lineman Luka Vincic from Oregon State.

Last season, the 6-foot, 180-pound Kelly registered 53 catches for 869 yards (16.4 yards per catch) and four touchdowns in 11 games en route to All-Conference USA honors.

His best game last season came against Western Kentucky on Sept. 14, when he tallied nine catches for 239 yards and three touchdowns in the 49-21 loss.

Kelly, a Hewitt-Trussville (Alabama) product spent the 2022 and 2023 seasons at Auburn, where he appeared in 19 games combined, making five catches for 101 yards.

The 6-foot-5, 303-pound Vincic appeared in 10 games as a redshirt sophomore for Oregon State, where Michigan State head coach Jonathan Smith served as head coach from 2018-23. Vincic played both center and guard, and did not allow a sack in 344 snaps, per Pro Football Focus.

Oregon State offensive lineman Luka Vincic takes the field prior to an NCAA college football game against Southern California Saturday, Sept. 24, 2022, in Corvallis, Ore. Southern California won 17-14.(AMANDA LOMAN — AP Photo, file)

Michigan immigrant rights groups brace for ‘chaos’ as threatened deportations loom

Michigan agencies and nonprofits that work with immigrants and refugees say they are bracing for “chaos” but are educating their clients as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office in January and carry out his vow for mass deportations.

At least one organization is advising some clients to potentially carry copies of their green cards, even receipts of rent or mortgage payments in case they are stopped by law enforcement officials. Other groups that work with immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees across the state have been hosting “know your rights” events to educate various groups.

“Since the election, our phones have been ringing off the hook because clients are calling tearfully,” said Christine Suave, policy, engagement, and communications manager for the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, a legal resource center for the state’s immigrant communities that has offices in Detroit and other cities.

The nonprofit is one of the largest groups in the state working with people going through the often years-long immigration process.

“They are calling tearfully because they’re fearful about what might happen to their pending applications,” Sauve said.

Trump supporters argue the Biden administration created chaos with its lax border policies that allowed an influx of migrants into the country who created problems in some U.S. cities.

“Trump’s plan includes reinstating policies that worked, like the Remain in Mexico policy, which deterred illegal migrants from entering the country and entering bogus asylum claims in the expectation that they would be released into the U.S.,” wrote Joey Chester, communications manager for the Federation for American Immigration Reform group in Washington, D.C., in a post on the group’s website. “Construction on the border wall will resume, and ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) will once again be empowered to remove those who break our laws.”

FAIR estimated at least 16.8 million illegal immigrants resided in the country as of June 2023.

There are an estimated 90,000 undocumented residents in Michigan, based on an analysis of 2019 U.S. Census Bureau data by the Migration Policy Institute. But the range of people who might be at risk of deportation is far beyond that, according to a half dozen groups that work with immigrants statewide. It includes Ukrainian and Afghan refugees, high-tech workers on H2B visas, child victims of human trafficking and others who have noncitizen or temporary status, according to five statewide groups that work with immigrants.

Trump has vowed to immediately start the largest deportation operations in U.S. history once he takes office. In an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” that aired last week, Trump said his mass deportation effort would first start with convicted illegal immigrant criminals.

“… We’re starting with the criminals, and we’ve got to do it,” he told “Meet the Press” host Kristin Walker. “And then we’re starting with the others, and we’re going to see how it goes.”

The incoming Trump administration and his appointees also might eliminate or seek to restrict many federal immigration programs that allow many noncitizens to be in the U.S., the immigration rights groups contended.

When immigrants are detained by law enforcement officials, they are given the opportunity to make a free telephone number to call for legal advice and assistance. That number is for the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center. MIRC has gotten about 1,500 calls from immigrants who are being detained.

A variety of agencies are bracing for “chaos,” said Julie Powers, executive director of Immigration Law & Justice Michigan, a nonprofit that provides legal services to low-income immigrants.

Powers’ group, which has advised some clients to carry copies of their green cards, is one of the main organizations providing assistance to Ukrainian refugees statewide. They are among the refugees who have temporary deportation protection under a Biden administration program called humanitarian parole, which is granted to people fleeing countries considered too dangerous to return to. Trump intends to take that status away, according to immigrant rights groups.

Some are asked to carry their green cards because “who knows what kind of (entitled, racist person) is going to start calling the cops?” Powers said, particularly when it comes to people of color. “I hope that won’t happen, but I also know that is some of the rhetoric we have heard.”

‘Know Your Rights’ sessions

Trump has said he wants to use the military and law enforcement to detain the millions of people in the United States illegally and deport them.

When asked in the “Meet the Press” interview, Trump said families with mixed immigration status would be deported.

“I don’t want to be breaking up families, so the only way you don’t break up the family is you keep them together, and you have to send them all back,” he said.

“There are a host of potential legal and logistical issues that brings up,” Powers said about the promised deportations.

Currently, in Michigan, people picked up through immigration raids are detained in county jails, said MIRC’s Suave. Immigration courts are already “working at capacity,” she said.

Scores of churches, public schools and businesses, meanwhile, have requested presentations on “know your rights” for when an individual or a loved one gets detained, according to the groups.

Veronica Thronson, a clinical professor of law and director of the Immigration Law Clinic at Michigan State University’s College of Law, said she’s adjusting her program, which has second-year and third-year law students, to do more community education. The students are doing some of the “know your rights” presentations “to make sure that people are not afraid to go call the police, for example, or go to the hospital if they are having a heart attack,” she said.

“People are scared. They are already scared because they know what’s coming because we already had this experience with the first (Trump) administration,” Thronson said. “So people are trying to prepare. I definitely am trying to prevent them from panicking. ‘Yes, you can still send your kids to school. No, you can still call the police if you are a victim of a crime.'”

But it’s the uncertainty of what’s ahead that’s frightening so many, she said, and she can’t assure them one way or another about what’s to come. Trump has not detailed a specific deportation plan other than setting a priority to deport convicted criminals first and nominating supporters who back his deportation policy for key positions, including Tom Homan, an acting leader of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in 2017-18, as his “border czar.”

“People don’t know, right? And so that’s difficult to capture because how are you going to tell someone who’s undocumented: ‘Oh, don’t worry, they won’t come after you?'” Thronson said. “I cannot tell them that. If you constantly threaten people with the possibility of getting deported, then how are you going to function? I would be scared to death. I couldn’t even go to work or send my kids to school.”

Thronson said she’s working with her clients on things such as setting up guardianships or referring them to family law attorneys who can help with custody or powers of attorney. This would ensure that if a child doesn’t get picked up by a parent, a relative could do so instead and avoid having the child end up in foster care, she said.

“These were things that we definitely were not prepared for during the first (Trump) administration,” Thronson said. “… Now that we know what he’s capable of, we’re getting smarter. We are working harder trying to figure out what advice we can give people.”

Many immigrants are “mixed-status” families, with some members having permanent residence while others are awaiting their applications to be approved for citizenship or some other status, said Diego Bonesatti, director of legal services for Michigan United, an organization that works with immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers.

“It’s not like there’s a neat incision that ICE can make and affect only undocumented immigrants,” Bonesatti said. “There’s a lot of people who are going to be hurt. We’re just trying to get the word out for people to prepare for it as best they can.”

While some Trump supporters say illegal immigrants cause a net drain on the economy, it remains one of the many points that fuels the polarizing debate.

Undocumented immigrants’ spending power totaled more than $254 billion in 2022, and undocumented households had a combined income of $330 billion — paying nearly $76 billion in taxes, according to the Council of Foreign Affairs.

According to a FAIR study, illegal migration costs the American taxpayer $182.1 billion annually as of the beginning of 2023. Those immigrants contribute around $31.4 billion in taxes at the state and federal levels.

Trump supporters, including FAIR, some of whose staffers got hired into the first Trump administration, said the current illegal immigration situation is unfair to citizens and people seeking legal immigration status.

“Illegal immigration has serious, long-lasting impacts on every aspect of American society,” according to the group. “It undermines our sovereignty, the rule of law, public safety and imposes tremendous burdens on our immigration agencies. In particular, it exacerbates our legal system and diverts resources from serving those who seek to come to the U.S. legally.”

Driver’s licenses, undocumented residents

Not having a driver’s license or a state ID is one the main ways an undocumented resident gets on the radar of law enforcement officials, immigrant rights groups said.

That’s why about 150 people held a rally last week at the Michigan Capitol in Lansing urging lawmakers to pass legislation called the Drive SAFE (Safety, Access, Freedom and Economy) Act. The package would allow Michigan residents to obtain driver’s licenses even if they’re unable to show they’re living in the U.S. legally. It is unclear whether the legislation will be advance during the lame duck session in the next two weeks.

Maria Ibarra-Frayre, deputy director of We The People Michigan, was among those at the Lansing event. She is a former “DACA” — someone who came to the U.S. as an undocumented youth. Through a President Barack Obama executive order in 2012, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival, or DACA, granted temporary reprieves of deportation and authorized them to find work. They have to periodically renew their immigration status but they can’t seek a path to citizenship.

An estimated 6,700 people in Michigan have DACA reprieves, according to Census Bureau data. Ibarra-Frayre was able to get on a permanent path to U.S. citizenship when she married a U.S. citizen. Many DACA residents are adults.

“Like so many things, we are not sure what is going to happen with” DACA, Ibarra-Frayre said. “I know a lot of people who are just prepared for disruption.”

In the “Meet the Press” interview, Trump indicated he might make an exception through legislation for the recipients of DACA, also known as “Dreamers,” children who were brought into the United States illegally but have lived here for years.

“I will work with the Democrats on a plan,” said Trump, while praising “Dreamers” who have landed jobs and started businesses. “We’re going to have to do something with them,” he told NBC’s Kristin Welker.

If Trump does pursue mass deportations, there will be a cost associated with those cases, experts said. Removing undocumented workers will hurt the U.S. economy, said Sarah Yore-VanOosterhout, founder and advocacy director and managing attorney at Lighthouse Immigrant Advocates. She argued undocumented migrants are “the backbone of our economy.”

Still, she said Trump’s threat could be a smokescreen. Even when he pledged to build a wall before being elected in 2016, she said what he was really doing was constructing an “invisible wall” of executive actions — policies, guidances and priority memos that drove immigration to a grinding halt.

“There were about 1,025 executive actions that impacted immigration alone during his (first) four years in office, and only a third of those, I think, have been peeled back by the current administration,” Yore-VanOosterhout said.

Based on what happened before, she said it led to “mass panic where a lot of people self-deported, or they went into hiding, or it drove companies to start using the E-verify system.”

“And so a lot of companies were going through the process of maybe not deporting people, but they were eliminating them from their payroll because they didn’t want to get in trouble. They didn’t want to be one of those companies that was raided,” she said.

People chant during a Drive SAFE Now! rally on the steps of the Capitol, Tuesday, Dec 10, 2024 in Lansing.

Everyone will love this Marry Me chicken budget meal

Gretchen McKay | (TNS) Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

PITTSBURGH — Many Americans consider social media a scourge, but for a home cook, it can be a fun and informative place to get help deciding what to eat.

Sure, some of the recipes would-be influencers recommend are in fact pretty abominable — check out @chefreactions on TikTok, Instagram or X for many, many examples — but I have stumbled across some pretty good recipes on many occasions, too.

One that’s been going viral for a while and but only recently caught my eye shines a spotlight on the creamy, tomatoey dish known as Marry Me chicken.

There are probably as many recipes for Marry Me chicken on social media as there are cooks. (Delish claims to have created the video recipe for the original dish, also known as Tuscan chicken, in 2016.) But in my opinion, the best variations hang their chef’s hat on a sauce made with sun-dried tomatoes, garlic and cream. Yum!

This rich and luxurious entree is a definite step above the “engagement” chicken that caused a similar stir when it made its debut in Glamour magazine in 2004. That proposal-worthy recipe — saved for posterity in the 2011 cookbook “100 Recipes Every Woman Should Know: Engagement Chicken and 99 Other Fabulous Dishes to Get You Everything You Want in Life” — featured a whole chicken roasted with lemon and herbs. Awesome for sure, but not nearly as swoon worthy.

I’ve been married for a very long time, so I’m not looking for a dish that will get me engaged. But who wouldn’t want applause when they put dinner on the table? That’s how Delish’s original recipe made it into the latest installment of “Dinner for Four for $25.”

Usually when I’m building these economical meals, I do all my shopping in one store. This time, I shopped over the course of a weekend at some of my favorite haunts to see if that made a difference. (And no, I didn’t factor in the cost of gas, but maybe should have!)

First stop after downing my Saturday morning latte and Nutella mele at a street-side table at Colangelo’s in the Strip District: Wholey’s Market, where I found boneless chicken breast at the bargain price of $3.89 per pound. I then crossed the street and headed down the block to Pennsylvania Macaroni Co., where I found several varieties of sun-dried tomatoes to chose from. I went with a jar of Ponti sun-dried cherry tomatoes for $5.09 — a definite splurge when your budget is only $25, but an ingredient I knew would deliver plenty of flavor.

At Aldi, I found a bag of five huge lemons for $3.89, or 78 cents apiece, and a nice package of fresh broccoli for $2.28. A bargain, considering I would only use about two-thirds of it.

The German supermarket chain known for its low prices and no-frills shopping experience (you have to deposit a quarter to get a shopping cart) also had butter — a main ingredient in my sandwich cookie dessert — on sale for $3.99 a pound. A bag of powdered sugar was pretty cheap, too, at just $2.09 for a two-pound bag.

“Shopping” my pantry for ingredients I always have on hand, including garlic, olive oil, spices, rice, molasses and vanilla, once again helped keep costs down. Total bill: $24.38, or 62 cents under budget.

Not bad when you consider the homemade dessert recipe makes more oatmeal sandwich cookies than a family can/should eat at one sitting.

Marry Me Chicken

A creamy sauce made with sun-dried tomatoes and Parmesan and kissed with garlic give this  savory "Marry Me" chicken its viral allure. (Gretchen McKay/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS)
A creamy sauce made with sun-dried tomatoes and Parmesan and kissed with garlic give this savory “Marry Me” chicken its viral allure. (Gretchen McKay/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS)

PG tested

Sun-dried tomatoes could be considered a splurge item because even a tiny jar is expensive, but their concentrated, sweet and tangy tomato goodness add so much flavor to a dish! They are certainly the star of this chicken dish that has been making the rounds on social media platforms.

Some say the entree is so good, you’ll get a marriage proposal out of it. At any rate, the Parmesan cream sauce that gets spooned on top of the chicken and rice will certainly make your diners swoon.

This original recipe from Delish.com is a pretty easy dish to get on the table in quick fashion. Just remember to use a dry pot holder to take the pan out of the oven because it will be very hot; I very stupidly used a damp dish towel and now have another cooking scar.

4 (8-ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

3/4 cup chicken broth

1/2 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan

Fresh basil, torn, for serving, optional

Cooked rice, for serving

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat, heat 1 tablespoon oil. Generously season chicken with salt and black pepper and cook, turning halfway through, until golden brown, about 5 minutes per side. Transfer chicken to a plate.

In same skillet over medium heat, heat remaining 2 tablespoons oil. Stir in garlic, thyme and red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in broth, tomatoes, cream, and Parmesan; season with salt. Bring to a simmer, then return chicken and any accumulated juices to skillet.

Transfer skillet to oven. Bake chicken until cooked through and juices run clear when chicken is pierced with a knife, 10-12 minutes.

Arrange chicken on a platter. Spoon sauce over. Top with basil, if using, and serve with cooked rice.

Serves 4.

delish.com

Broccoli with Lemon

PG tested

Broccoli is a reliable veggie when you need a little something extra to round out a meal and don’t want to spend a fortune. Here, it’s blanched until crisp-tender and then tossed with lemon juice and zest and a pinch of red pepper flakes. I used lemon olive oil (already on hand) for an extra burst of citrus flavor.

1 large bunch broccoli, separated into florets

2 tablespoons olive oil or butter

1 clove garlic, minced

Juice and zest of 1/2 lemon

1 pinch (or two) red pepper flakes

Flaky salt and freshly ground ground black pepper, to taste

Place broccolini in a large skillet with about 2 inches of water; bring to a boil and cook until bright green, 1-2 minutes. Drain.

Heat olive oil in the same skillet over medium heat. Stir in garlic and cook until golden and fragrant, 1-2 minutes. Add broccoli; cook and stir until heated through, 2-3 minutes.

Squeeze lemon juice and zest over broccoli and season with red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper.

Serves 4.

— Gretchen McKay, Post-Gazette

Oatmeal Cream Cookies

PG tested

Remember how if you were lucky when you were a kid you got an individually wrapped Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pie in your lunchbox? These soft and chewy oatmeal cookies sandwiched with vanilla buttercream taste exactly the same. Actually, they’re better because they’re not made with corn syrup and artificial flavorings, but rather real butter and brown sugar.

It’s important to let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring them to a rack. Otherwise they will fall apart. The icing is very sweet, so you might want to reduce the amount of powdered sugar.

For cookies

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1 tablespoon molasses

1 large egg, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup old-fashioned oats

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

For filling

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

3 cups powdered sugar

2 tablespoons heavy cream

2 teaspoons vanilla

Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees and line two sheet pans with parchment paper.

In stand mixer outfitted with whisk attachment add butter, brown sugar and molasses and beat on low speed until combined. Gradually increase speed to medium-high and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes.

Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl with spatula, then add egg and vanilla extract. Beat on medium-high speed until combined.

Add flour, oats, baking soda and salt and beat on low speed until just combined and no streaks of flour remain.

Use a 1/2 -ounce cookie scoop tor tablespoon measure to portion out equal amounts of dough. Roll the dough in your hands to smooth the edges, then place 2 inches apart on prepared pans.

Bake until cookies have puffed up and are set and firm around the edges but still somewhat soft in the middle, 9-11 minutes. Remove sheet pans from oven and allow cookies to rest on the pans for 5 minutes, then use a metal spatula to transfer cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Once cookies have cooled, make filling. In stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine butter, confectioners’ sugar, cream, vanilla and salt. Beat on low speed, gradually increasing the speed to high, until creamy and fully incorporated, about 45 seconds. If filling is dry, add a small splash or two of cream.

Assemble cookies. Using a small offset spatula or butter knife to spread about 2 tablespoons of filling onto the bottom side of one cookie, then place second cookie on top to sandwich. Repeat with remaining cookies and serve.

Makes 16 sandwich cookies.

—”Sweet Tooth” by Sarah Fennel (Clarkson Potter, $35)

©2024 PG Publishing Co. Visit at post-gazette.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

This budget dinner for four includes creamy Marry Me chicken over rice, broccoli with lemon and red pepper and homemade oatmeal sandwich cookies for dessert. (Gretchen McKay/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS)

In season: The universal joy of carrots

Hal B. Klein | (TNS) Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

PITTSBURGH — There’s a universality to the charm of carrots.

Daucus carota come long and slender, short and squat and everywhere between. Nowadays, carrots are typically orange — the product of careful cultivation by Dutch farmers in the 16th and 17th centuries — but you can find a rainbow of purple, red, white and yellow carrots at the markets, too.

The mighty roots have played a starring role in cucina povera (Italian “cuisine of the poor”) and haute (Italian for “high”) cuisine for centuries, and are grown across the globe.

Cooked alongside onions and celery stalks, carrots are the foundational flavors of mirepoix in France and sofrito in Italy. Carrots join with celery root and leeks in Germany to become suppengrün. In the Philippines, a blend of carrots, garlic, onions and tomatoes serves as the base for many dishes.

A carrot’s flesh is crisp and juicy when used raw. It’s the perfect companion for apples and turnips or parsnips in an autumn salad, or finely sliced and blended with cabbage for a robust coleslaw. Raw carrots tend to sweeten and have deeper notes of baking spice with the first frost of the season (which we typically would have seen by now in Western Pennsylvania).

Carrots deliver a tender, mellow sweetness when cooked.

Chop them into chunks to simmer as the trumpet in an international roster of soup. Steam them to just tender and dress with a hint of olive oil, honey, mint and lemon juice for a spa-cuisine side to glazed salmon. Roast the roots over hot coals to add a touch of smoke and maximize a carrot’s meatiness.

Cookbook author Marcella Hazan extols the virtue of braising carrots (with a good knob of butter) in her seminal work, “Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking.”

In it, she writes:

“I know of no preparation in the Italian repertory, or in other cuisines, for that matter, more successful than this one in freeing the rich flavor that is locked inside the carrot. It does it by cooking the carrots slowly in no more liquid than is necessary to keep the cooking going so that they are wholly reduced to their essential elements of flavor.”

Sweet and sour carrots

Sweet and sour carrots with mint make for an easy weeknight side dish. (Hal B. Klein/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS)
Sweet and sour carrots with mint make for an easy weeknight side dish. (Hal B. Klein/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS)

This is one of my go-to lunch and weeknight side dishes to highlight the savory sweetness of carrots. It takes less than 10 minutes from start to finish and hits a bunch of big flavor notes. If you don’t have sushi vinegar you can use white wine or apple cider vinegar plus a pinch of sugar instead. This recipe is easy to scale up.

1/2 pound carrots

1 shallot

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 tablespoon butter, split in half

2 teaspoon sushi vinegar

1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint

Slice carrots into 1/4 -inch rounds.

Dice shallot.

Add olive oil and half of the butter to a hot pan.

Add carrot and shallots and cook until just tender, approximately 2 minutes.

Remove from heat and add vinegar, mint and the second half of the butter, shaking pan to incorporate all the ingredients.

— Hal B. Klein, Post-Gazette

©2024 PG Publishing Co. Visit at post-gazette.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

A side view of carrots at Coldco Farm’s stall at the Bloomfield Saturday Market in November 2024. (Hal B. Klein/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS)

Housing inventory and prices increase in Southeast Michigan

After the birth of a baby girl last year, Jim Racine and his family began looking for a new home with more space in a school district they liked.

The Redford Township resident started his search in late September, found a 1,400-square-foot, three-bedroom home in Livonia within weeks and closed on it a month later for $280,000. He’s among buyers in Metro Detroit having an easier time finding a home as mortgage rates ease and more properties hit the market.

“That was the first one that really checked all the boxes,” he said. “And then, on top of it, it was the best school district in our budget. And then we said, well, we would be foolish to not (make an offer) based on the school district. So we went and took our shot.”

Metro Detroit home prices experienced the biggest increase of the year in November, rising 10.3% compared to the previous year, according to a housing report released this week by RE/MAX of Southeastern Michigan. This pushed the median sale price to $323,500. Home sales fell by 1.9% year over year; however, pending sales increased by 11.1%.

“For late in the year, for November to be up 10% over last November, that’s a little bit notable,” Schneider said. “This tends to be the time of the year that seasonality starts to kick in. Some buyers take themselves out of the market for the holidays or for winter. They’ll come back in spring. So to have that robust of a median sales price increase says that the market is still competitive from a buyer’s perspective. There are buyers still out there willing to pay at, near or above asking to get homes when they come on the market.”

The latest RE/MAX housing report shows that Oakland County led in home sales, increasing 8.5% year-over-year. Wayne County saw the largest growth in price, with a 13.5% increase. Homes in Oakland County sold the fastest, averaging 28 days on the market.

Home buying activity continues to build as mortgage rates decreased last week to their lowest level in more than a month. As of last week, the average 30-year mortgage rate was 6.69%, down from 6.81% the previous week, according to Freddie Mac.

“Despite just a modest drop in rates, consumers clearly have responded as purchase demand has noticeably improved,” Freddie Mac said in a report last Thursday. “The responsiveness of prospective homebuyers to even small changes in rates illustrates that affordability headwinds persist.”

Ted Easterly, an agent with RE/MAX Team 2000, said that while interest rates influence a homebuyer’s budget planning, inventory levels have a greater impact on activity.

He began seeing a significant uptick in real estate activity in November following the presidential election. Easterly, who largely works in the Dearborn area, said he began receiving more phone calls, increased showings and guided buyers putting offers on properties.

“There was so much stress around the election that the pent-up demand has been released, so we’re busy now,” he said. “Not that whoever won mattered. What mattered is that it’s over now. We try and find normalcy, whatever that is.”

According to the RE/MAX data, the median sale price rose in November by 10.1% in Oakland to $375,000; 10.6% in Macomb to $272,000; 13.5% in Wayne to $191,750 compared to November 2023,

The median sales price across 18 Michigan counties reached $265,000 as of October, up 10.4% from $240,000 the year before, according to data released this week by Realcomp, the state’s largest multiple listing service that looks at Genesee, Hillsdale, Huron, Jackson, Lapeer, Lenawee, Livingston, Macomb, Monroe, Montcalm, Oakland, Saginaw, Sanilac, Shiawassee, St. Clair, Tuscola, Washington and Wayne counties.

The Realcomp report notes significant price growth in Detroit in November with the median sale price increasing by 18.1%, to $94,500 from $80,000 year over year. Pending sales in the city also continued to grow, with 535 pending closings in November, up from 426 during November 2023.

In the report Wednesday, Karen Kage, CEO of Realcomp, called Detroit and its pending sales a bright spot for residential real estate.

“This underscores what our REALTORS® continue to report as higher than usual activity — especially for this time of year,” she wrote.

Still a seller’s market

The real estate market in southeastern Michigan is more balanced, offering some flexibility for buyers, said Steve Stockton, an agent with Keller Williams who works mostly in Oakland County.

While it remains a seller’s market, Stockton said that buyers no longer face the intense competition of a year ago, when multiple offers and over-ask bids were common.

“Right now, people have a little bit of breathing room to think,” he said, adding that buyers aren’t required to overbid or waive contingencies like inspections.

Racine, a 33-year-old office manager, said he found the home-buying process to be smooth. His advice is to avoid being too hesitant and to make practical, common-sense decisions throughout the process.

His agent, Rachel Reaves of RE/MAX Leading Edge, said that although home prices are rising it’s taking some homes slightly longer to sell, creating opportunities for buyers: “There are some deals to be had out here.”

The price range between $200,000 and $350,000 is especially competitive, with homes in this range selling fast, particularly in Wayne County, Reaves said. Homes that are move-in ready and “easy on the eyes” are also going fast. Properties that are priced higher or require more work are lingering on the market  longer.

The latest housing report shows Oakland County home sales increased 8.5% over a similar period in 2023.

Rural governments often fail to communicate with residents who aren’t proficient in English

By Jazmin Orozco Rodriguez

Eloisa Mendoza has spent 18 years helping people who aren’t fluent in English navigate complex legal documents. She guides them through stressful events and accompanying dense paperwork, such as citizenship applications, divorces, and birth certificate translations.

Mendoza works in Elko, Nevada, situated in a remote region in the state’s northeastern corner. Her work has become increasingly important as the town’s Hispanic or Latino population has grown to about 26%. The share of people age 5 or older who speak a language other than English at home increased to 18% as of 2022, while Spanish is the language spoken in nearly 15% of households.

Despite rising demand for local rural governments to communicate with residents in languages other than English, state lawmakers in Nevada left out smaller counties from a recently enacted statewide language-access law. More state and local governments have enacted similar measures during the past few years, but they’re mostly concentrated in urban or suburban jurisdictions.

Rural America is largely white and predominantly English-speaking but has rapidly grown more diverse. Implementing state and local language-access laws, however, is a challenge, researchers say, given standards can vary across state agencies and localities, making it difficult to ensure high-quality assistance is provided to speakers of various non-English languages. Not providing language access to people who need it is not only a violation of civil rights protected by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, but it also can create public health and safety concerns, said Jake Hofstetter, a policy analyst for the Migration Policy Institute, a think tank focused on immigration policy and research.

While language access is a federal protection, 11 states and Washington, D.C., have created broad policies targeted to their populations. And some states have laws targeting specific sectors, such as education or health care. Other language-access laws have taken root in such municipalities as Austin, Texas; Philadelphia; and Portland, Maine.

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, state and local governments lacking strong language-access systems struggled to communicate vital public health information to diverse communities. An analysis of COVID information posted on health department websites of the 10 most populous U.S. cities found it was not fully provided in Spanish.

The number of white residents in rural parts of the nation decreased by about 2 million from 2010 to 2020, according to an analysis by the Carsey School of Public Policy at the University of New Hampshire. And the percentage of people who are members of a racial or ethnic minority living in rural areas increased from 20% in 2010 to 24% in 2020, with the largest share being Hispanic.

As of 2021, 25 million people age 5 or older in the U.S. had limited English proficiency, of whom nearly two-thirds were Hispanic, according to KFF, a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News. Nevada is one of nine states where at least 10% of people have limited English proficiency.

According to a 2023 KFF-Los Angeles Times survey of immigrants, about 31% with limited English proficiency said they faced language barriers when trying to access health care. A quarter said they struggled to apply for government financial help with food, housing, or health coverage. And immigrants limited in their ability to speak English were twice as likely to be uninsured as immigrants who were proficient in English, and they had worse health outcomes.

Since the pandemic emergency ended, Hofstetter has seen a significant number of state policies addressing language access, he said, but he doesn’t see many local policies that focus on the issue in rural areas.

Hofstetter said Nevada’s most recent law on language access, approved in 2023, is unique in that it specifically identifies and requires the state’s most populous counties — Clark and Washoe — to create and implement language-access plans. A separate bill, also approved last year, appropriated $25 million to agencies for implementing language access plans.

Democratic state Sen. Edgar Flores, who represents part of Clark County and was a cosponsor on the most recent language-access law, said lawmakers have faced pushback from state agencies for various attempts at strengthening requirements to provide information and documents in languages other than English. He said officials cite limited staffing and funding.

“I think, unfortunately, our rural jurisdictions are already incredibly limited with resources and, at the time of this request, there was a concern that they were not in a position to meet the requirements,” Flores said. “That’s the bottom line.”

He said that while some agencies and jurisdictions had created language-access plans in past years, legislators found they were not always implemented and enforced. For this reason, Flores said, lawmakers decided it would be better to focus on the state’s two largest counties first while they work toward expanding policies to “every ZIP code, every agency.”

“We have folks from all walks of life who have now made Nevada their home,” Flores said. “We have an obligation to them.”

A mural of hands
Eloisa Mendoza works at Family Resource Centers of Northeastern Nevada, where she helps people who aren’t fluent in English navigate legal processes and paperwork. (Jazmin Orozco Rodriguez/KFF Health News/TNS)

People living in rural areas may still benefit from a patchwork of resources through state agencies that provide services in their counties or local programs that are required to address language access because of federal funding.

But gaps in the framework of federal, state, and local protections exist nationwide, Hofstetter said.

The degree to which local governments offer communications in languages other than English varies for several reasons, including enforcement of civil rights protections. That enforcement relies on civil rights complaints, which often must be filed by residents who may not know their rights related to language access, Hofstetter said.

Community members may also face resistance from local leaders on expanding access to services and information in other languages. In 2018, Mendoza supported offering ballots in Elko County in Spanish as well as English. County commissioners, three of whom are still on the board, unanimously voted to recommend the county clerk delay offering bilingual ballots as long as possible after questioning census demographic data and stating they didn’t have funding to translate the ballots.

Having access to ballots in their preferred language helps voters better understand initiatives affecting them, many of which are health-related, such as a Nov. 5 ballot question that asked voters to weigh in on whether to enshrine a right to abortion within the state’s constitution. The measure passed with 64% of voters in favor and needs to be approved once more in 2026 to be implemented.

The Nevada Legislature convenes again in February, and Flores said he’s certain there will be at least one language-access bill. Hofstetter said he anticipates more state and local policies addressing the issue within the next few years.

“I would imagine that that’s going to include some rural areas,” he said.


KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.

This article first appeared on KFF Health News and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

While Eloisa Mendoza has helped people who aren’t fluent in English in Elko County, Nevada, for 18 years, local language-access laws fill a gap to ensure government information and communications reach people in more languages. (Jazmin Orozco Rodriguez/KFF Health News/TNS)

Thailand’s starring role in ‘The White Lotus’ is about to pay off

Stephanie Yang | (TNS) Los Angeles Times

KOH SAMUI, Thailand — Mike White, the creator of the HBO series “The White Lotus,” was in Thailand searching for the perfect place to film the show’s third season. His journey had led him to the island of Koh Samui and into the open-air lobby of the Four Seasons Resort, overlooking lush mountains, glimmering ocean and $9,000-a-night villas.

The hotel‘s general manager, Jasjit Singh Assi, was ready with his pitch. But it didn’t take much to persuade White.

“He was quiet for a bit,” Assi recalled. “Then he says, ‘All right, this is it.’ It was as if he fell in love with it.”

Nearly two years later, the entire country is preparing to reap the benefits when the new season is released next year.

Set at a fictional resort called the White Lotus, the murder-mystery dramedy has garnered acclaim for its satirical portrayal of wealthy tourists and the working locals who cater to them. It’s also known for sparking real-life travel booms as fans of the show seek out the set locations — a phenomenon that has been dubbed the “White Lotus Effect.”

A starring role is an imitable advertisement for Thailand, which has broader ambitions to make more money from Western film productions and tourists alike. Last month, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra met with Hollywood executives in Los Angeles and announced a plan to increase cash rebates for foreign filmmakers.

The plan, which awaits approval by lawmakers, would lift the maximum rebate from 20% to 30%, with no upper limit on total cash back.

“It’s amazing,” said Cod Satrusayang, head of development at Indochina Productions, a Bangkok-based production services company. “It puts us literally within the first tier in Asia, and very competitive with the rest of the world.”

Two young wealthy couples are traveling companions in Sicily in Season 2 of "The White Lotus." From left: Aubrey Plaza, Will Sharpe, Theo James and Meghann Fahey. The third season is expected to bring thousands of tourists to Thailand, where it was filmed. (Fabio Lovino/HBO/TNS)
Two young wealthy couples are traveling companions in Sicily in Season 2 of “The White Lotus.” From left: Aubrey Plaza, Will Sharpe, Theo James and Meghann Fahey. The third season is expected to bring thousands of tourists to Thailand, where it was filmed. (Fabio Lovino/HBO/TNS)

With Hollywood under pressure from rising production costs, the streaming slowdown and last year’s strikes, many other countries have come courting with cheaper services and government-funded financial incentives.

“When people moved overseas for production, they realized that they could shoot a movie as well as they can in L.A. for a much cheaper rate,” Satrusayang said.

Canada, Australia and Britain are leading the way in offering incentives. But developing nations have also been getting into the game, with countries including Indonesia, Jordan and Morocco providing grants, tax rebates and cash back on local spending.

Thailand’s rebate program began in 2017. Udom Matsayawanigul, director of the Thailand Film Office, which is part of the Tourism Ministry, said that as competition to lure foreign productions has stiffened, Thailand has had to sweeten its offers to keep up.

The Thailand Film Office estimates that every dollar of foreign film investment generates $2.80 in economic activity. The government hopes the attention will help it reach its goal of attracting a record 40 million tourists next year.

There are risks.

A 2023 Chinese action film about a kidnapping in Thailand is thought to have contributed to a decline in tourism from China. More recently, an Apple ad shot in Thailand drew criticism that it unfairly portrayed the country as run-down and outdated. Apple apologized and pulled the spot from social media.

And after the 2000 release of the film “The Beach,” starring Leonardo DiCaprio, as many as 8,000 tourists a day made the pilgrimage to the tiny islands of Koh Phi Phi, where it was filmed. They crowded Maya Bay with boats, driving away marine life and destroying coral reefs.

In 2018, the government closed the main beach in Maya Bay for restoration. It reopened in January 2022 with prohibitions on swimming and anchoring in coral areas — and periodic shutdowns for caretaking.

“‘The Beach’ was a lesson for Thailand,” Matsayawanigul said. “The National Parks Department has been mindful of this issue.”

“The White Lotus” is far from the only show to inspire travelers.

Misty Belles, vice president of global PR at Virtuoso, a network of luxury travel agencies, said “Emily in Paris” increased tourism to France, “Bridgerton” to Britain and “Squid Game” to South Korea.

But nothing quite measures up to the impact of Mike White’s creation. Bookings in Hawaii by Americans increased 25% after the first season, which was shot in Maui, according to the luxury tour operator Black Tomato. Bookings for Sicily tripled after Season 2, which was set in the town of Taormina, as travel came roaring back from the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.

Tourists relax on Chawang Beach in Koh Samui, Thailand, in March. The upcoming season of "The White Lotus," mostly filmed in Koh Samui, is expected to provide a big tourism boost for Thailand. (Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images/TNS)
Tourists relax on Chawang Beach in Koh Samui, Thailand, in March. The upcoming season of “The White Lotus,” mostly filmed in Koh Samui, is expected to provide a big tourism boost for Thailand. (Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images/TNS)

“The location almost becomes a character in and of itself,” Belles said.

She said Thailand is already seeing an increase in bookings in anticipation of Season 3, which also includes scenes in Bangkok and Phuket.

On the island of Koh Samui, home to about 70,000 Thais, the Four Seasons is enjoying record-high occupancy rates amid a boom since the height of the pandemic, according to Assi, the general manager. He said he expects next year to be even bigger.

“Not everybody knows Koh Samui as a destination,” he said. “The resort is now going to be on the global stage, and there’s an excitement to that. We want people to come.”

While foreign visitors account for about two-thirds of tourism revenue in Thailand, excitement about “The White Lotus” is also growing among domestic tourists, thanks to the casting of Lalisa “Lisa” Manobal, a Thai member of the K-pop group Blackpink.

Even outside of the luxury resort’s private infinity pools, two-person bathtubs and 24-hour butler service, preparations for an expected tourism boom are underway.

Kanokkorn Lamlert and Patrick Moukarzel, owners of the the Thai Tapas restaurant, said they began feeling logistical strains last year as tourism rebounded after the pandemic.

When the local seafood market sold out, they had to drive 45 minutes for sea bass or shrimp. Hotel and food prices have risen, and the roads have become more prone to traffic jams, they said.

However, the economic payoff of a tourism boom in Koh Samui would be felt across the nation, Moukarzel predicted.

“When you come here, you never just come to Samui,” he said. “Bangkok will also benefit. Some people will do one week in Chiang Mai. They will go back and say, ‘We’ve been there because of “The White Lotus”; you have to go.’”

Already the restaurant has welcomed about a dozen superfans of the show after they spotted the cast and crew dining there on social media.

The restaurant owners said they are planning a marketing campaign around the premiere of the season, which includes a scene shot on the street outside their restaurant. One idea is to introduce a new Thai dish made with lotus root, stir-fried mushroom and slow-cooked beef.

They will call it “The White Lotus Beef Ribs.”

(Special correspondent Poypiti Amatatham in Bangkok contributed to this report.)

©2024 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Passengers ride in a tourist boat on the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok in March. (Lauren DeCicca/Getty Images/TNS)

Tech review: Gift options for the cord cutter

Jim Rossman | Tribune News Service

Cord cutting used to refer to abandoning pay TV and putting up an antenna to watch free over-the-air TV. Then cord cutting expanded to include streaming services like Netflix and Hulu and individual streaming sources.

Now we also include streaming bundles, like YouTube TV or Hulu Live or DirecTV Stream. These bundled services mimic cable and satellite service, in that they have hundreds of channels.

The ease or complexity of the cord cutting experience depends on how you have things set up. Let’s take a look at some gift options for your favorite cord cutter.

DirecTV Gemini Air

DirecTV Gemini Air. (DirecTV/TNS)
DirecTV Gemini Air. (DirecTV/TNS)

As far as I know DirecTV is the only streaming bundle service that offers its own hardware. The Gemini Air is a small dongle that plugs into an HDMI port on your TV. It is paired with a remote control to allow for easy navigation.

If you were an AT&T U-Verse TV customer, the Gemini Air/DirecTV Stream experience will be very familiar. The Gemini Air is a rarity in that it has number buttons.

DirecTV Stream has the option of turning on channel numbers in the guide.

I’ve used DirecTV Stream with my Roku TV and with the Gemini Air and the Air makes navigating the huge list of channels much easier.

The Gemini Air runs the Google operating system, so you can see and use all your other streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Max and more.

You can also load apps and games from the Google Play store.

The Gemini Air connects to your home’s Wi-Fi network, and it can stream 4K content to your TV.

The remote control has a microphone so you can use your voice to search or interact with Hey Google’s voice assistant.

DirecTV Stream customers can get a free Gemini Air from AT&T with their service. Additional units are available for $120.

Google TV Streamer (4K)

Google TV Streamer. (Google/TNS)
Google TV Streamer. (Google/TNS)

There are lots of smart TV brands. Some run on the Roku operating system, some run Google TV and some use their own brand of smart TV apps.

If you’d like to add Google TV to any set, you can get Google’s new TV Streamer (4K) for just $99 from store.google.com.

The small device connects to your TV’s HDMI port. It also can connect to your home’s internet via Wi-Fi or wired Ethernet connection.

The Google TV interface is not tied to any specific streaming service. You can use any streaming service or app that’s available on the Google Play store.

It features a simple remote with voice control and the Google TV Streamer is also a hub and controller for Matter and Thread home devices that work with Google’s home ecosystem.

TabloTV

TabloTV. (Tablo/TNS)
TabloTV. (Tablo/TNS)

If you use an over-the-air antenna for watching your free local channels, I’m betting you’d like the option to record those channels. TiVo used to be the best/easiest way to record OTA TV, but they’ve discontinued their OTA recorders.

A great alternative is from TabloTV, which is a small box that you connect to your TV antenna. The TabloTV does not directly connect to your TV. Instead it connects to your home’s Wi-Fi, and the antenna signal is wirelessly sent to any TV or compatible device in your home.

Your TV picks up the signal through a free app, which is compatible with smart TV brands like Samsung, LG, Google TV, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV or Android TV.

This method is extremely handy if you don’t want to be bothered running an antenna wire from your attic or roof all the way to your TV. It’s also great if you want to use an indoor antenna, but your TV is not situated in a room that faces the broadcast towers. You can place the antenna and TabloTV where you get the best reception.

The TabloTV comes in two models – with either two or four tuners. This means you can record or watch two or four shows at a time.

TabloTV has onboard storage to record up to 50 hours of shows, but you can plug in any USB hard drive and expand to record thousands of hours of programming.

You can also bundle a TabloTV with an OTA antenna if you like, or you can use your own antenna.

Two things to know, there are no ongoing subscription costs for guide data, and there is no streaming service integration. You will need another way to add in streaming services like Netflix and Hulu.

TabloTV models start at $99.95 for the two tuner model at tablotv.com. The four-tuner model is $139.95, but they may be on sale during the holidays.

©2024 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

(BCFC/iStock / Getty Images Plus)

House bill prevents Oakland County communities from opting out of transit tax

A last-minute change to a House bill eliminating opt out allowances for transit tax votes in Wayne County would expand the legislation to also eliminate opt outs in Oakland County communities.

The bill, HB 6088, substituted on the House floor Tuesday evening changed the population threshold for those counties eligible for the change from 1.5 million people — Wayne County’s population — to 1.1 million people — Oakland County’s population — and eliminated a five-year cap on potential millages. Instead, the transit authority calling for a vote on a transit millage would set the duration at the time it went before voters.

Oakland County used the law creating a transit tax authority until 2022 when Democratic leaders including County Executive Dave Coulter worked around the law to pass a countywide millage that would be administered by the county, not a transit authority. The 2022 millage barred communities from opting out of the millage and dissolved the county’s transit authority.

In 2022, Oakland County voters approved a 0.95-mill, 10-year property tax proposal aimed at connecting the county’s regional transportation system and ending the ability of local communities to opt out of it. Voters approved it 57% yes, 43% no.

Oakland County’s adoption of a countywide millage in 2022 came amid objections of elected leaders in the opt-out communities, calling the effort a “tax grab” and “theft.”

The legislation gives the county the ability to run transit through an authority in the future, when the county’s transit millage expires in 2032 or earlier, said Dave Woodward, chairman of the Oakland County commission. The ability to shift the millage to an authority would allow the county to remove it from its overall millage assessments, which is capped and sometimes used for county bond ratings. Woodward said the county may not pursue an authority, because it appears to cost more to operate than the county office.

“But we’re still in the infancy of this county office, which is pretty lean,” he said. “The lion’s share of the millage money gets pushed out to individual transit authorities.”

Prior to the 2022 millage, communities that opted out included Auburn Hills, in 2022, and historically Clarkston, Holly, Keego Harbor, Lake Angelus, Lake Orion, Leonard, Milford, Novi, Orchard Lake, Oxford, Rochester, Rochester Hills, Sylvan Lake, South Lyon, Wixom, Wolverine Lake and the townships of Addison, Brandon, Commerce, Groveland, Highland, Holly, Independence, Lyon, Milford, Oakland, Orion, Oxford, Rose, Springfield and Waterford.

“This is just a tool that counties can use to best secure a path for transit in their local communities,” Woodward said. “In the short term, it doesn’t change anything in Oakland County. I’m a firm believer that all tools should be made available to optimize decision making in the future.”

Both Woodward and state Rep. Alabas Farhat, D-Dearborn, denied the bill would be used to advance a regional transit system noting a separate law, the Regional Transit Authority Act, is used for regional taxes. A 2016 effort to pass a $4.6 billion regional transit tax for Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties failed by one percentage point.

Woodward said he asked Farhat to add Oakland County to the bill and reduce the population threshold. He also alerted Macomb County officials to the option, he said, adding “it’s in their hands to pursue it in this lame-duck session.”

Macomb County has adopted a transit tax at the county as well; Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel did not return a message inquiring whether the county also was seeking inclusion in the opt out elimination legislation.

The legislation Farhat introduced would require 17 Wayne County communities that have opted out from the SMART bus system to participate in a vote with the rest of the county the next time the millage comes up for a vote. Currently, the 1-mill tax will come up for a countywide renewal vote in 2026.

“Right now, we have a patchwork of transit systems in Wayne County,” Farhat said. “That’s causing real problems for residents to get around.”

The 17 communities are unlikely to overcome the general support from the rest of the county in an election, making it likely that those communities — some of which have opted out for nearly 40 years — would be opted into the tax and transit service.

Among the largest communities in the county that have opted out are Livonia, Canton Township, Northville and Detroit, which has its own bus system.

— Oakland Press multimedia reporter Peg McNichol contributed to this report.

SMART bus spotted in Pontiac, Feb. 28, 2022. Peg McNichol/MediaNews Group

‘You don’t know what’s next.’ International students scramble ahead of Trump inauguration

Jaweed Kaleem | (TNS) Los Angeles Times

LOS ANGELES — As an international student at USC who had not been home for a year, Kevin Lu was excited to return over winter break to see his parents in the Chinese city of Shenzhen.

But with President-elect Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration approaching, he changed his mind, choosing to remain in Los Angeles.

“It’s too risky,” said Lu, a senior majoring in finance. Lu cited Trump’s hawkish stance on China, restrictions during his first term on Chinese student visas for scholars because they were a security “threat” and promises to sign another travel ban like the one nearly eight years ago that left many visa-holding students stranded at airports.

“You don’t know what’s next,” Lu said.

At USC, where more than a quarter of its 47,000 students are internationals, many are scrambling — with some changing their travel plans at the last-minute and others rethinking post-graduation work searches in the U.S. — ahead of an incoming administration that has sent mixed signals on its interest in foreign students and workers.

The university is warning foreigners to follow in Lu’s footsteps by skipping or cutting short travel outside the U.S. after finals end next week.

“A new presidential administration will take office on January 20, 2025, and — as is common — may issue one or more executive orders impacting travel to the U.S. and visa processing. While there’s no certainty such orders will be issued, the safest way to avoid any challenges is to be physically present in the U.S. before the spring semester begins on January 13, 2025,” said a letter the USC Office of International Services sent this month.

During his first term, Trump’s travel restrictions affected several Muslim-majority nations, Iran and Iraq among them. The Supreme Court ruled the bans were legal. Outside the courtroom, immigration experts said the bans were based on limited and at times misleading data about security vetting of U.S. visitors, immigrants and refugees.

This time, he has said he will institute another travel and refugee ban on “Gaza, Syria, Somalia, Yemen or Libya or anywhere else that threatens our security.”

He said he continues to view China as an economic and security rival and will mandate tariffs on imports. At the same time, his campaign included promises to “automatically” give green cards, which is permanent residency, to foreigners who graduate from U.S. universities — but said the group would be limited after vetting to keep only the “most skilled graduates.”

USC is not the alone in issuing its advisory. The University of Massachusetts Amherst’s Office of Global Affairs recently put out a similar message that “out of an abundance of caution,” international students should return to the country before the inauguration. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Wesleyan University also released such a notice.

Pragya Bhatt, a USC sophomore from Bangalore, India, said the university advisory brought into sharper focus concerns she was already feeling after the election.

“I am not as worried immediately about my own situation because I have a valid visa, am visiting home during the break and already had a ticket to be back here by January 13,” said Bhatt, who studies communications and cognitive science. “But it really makes me wonder how friendly the U.S. is overall to people like me. I still have time before I graduate but I am wondering if I should even consider trying to stay in America afterwards.”

Niels W. Frenzen, a USC Gould School of Law professor and co-director of the school’s immigration clinic, said he has seen a rapid increase in questions from students over what the upcoming Trump term means for their immigration status.

“We have been doing know-your-rights sessions and lots of students have come in for individual sessions just to check in even if their paperwork is all in order,” said Frenzen, whose clinic recently hosted a workshop on immigration hurdles ahead of White House changes. The initial travel ban focused on Muslim-majority nations, but the revised version of it upheld by the Supreme Court included two additional countries, Venezuela and North Korea.

“It’s not just people who are international students, who are less likely to face issues but certainly did during the early part of the first Trump presidency during the Muslim ban,” Frenzen said. Concerns are also growing from “students who are undocumented, who come from mixed [immigration] status families or who are ‘DACA-mented,’” Frenzen said, referring to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program that allows those who came to the U.S. as children without legal authorization to legally stay and work in the country.

Jihwan Lee, a USC student from South Korea, said the concern among internationals he knows depends on their home country’s relationship to the U.S.

“I personally do not have any direct concern for any potential travel restrictions…. I am staying here during the break anyway, and even if I left the U.S., I do believe South Korean citizens would not be affected by such travel restrictions,” said Lee, who is pursuing a doctorate. South Korea is a strong U.S. ally.

“I do not think there will be such travel restrictions or visa problems for European Union citizens or pro-U.S. East Asian countries, for example,” Lee said.

Annabelle Layt, a USC senior from Australia, also said she was less concerned because of her background.

“I’m in my fourth year, so in terms of the visa and documents needed for entering and exiting the country I know the drill,” said Layt, a business major. She said she had decided months ago to skip a winter break trip home, near Brisbane, to save money.

“But it’s really hard to know what will happen. Will Trump be better or worse for international students?”

Some USC students and professors interviewed said they did not expect major changes or were not hearing student concerns.

“My group is nearly 100% international and we have always been affected by visa issues,” said Anna Krylov, a USC chemistry professor whose teachers many international students. “For example, two graduate students who joined my group this year lost a full year of studies because it took them more than a year to get their student visa.”

A longtime professor, she said she’s seen similar stories over the decade under Presidents Biden, Trump and Obama.

“In other instances, I had my students and postdocs stranded abroad, waiting for a visa renewal, for weeks and sometimes months,” Krylov said. “Our classes start on Jan. 13, so I expect everyone to be back before that date.”

©2024 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Mudd Hall on the Campus of the University of Southern California on Tuesday, March 28, 2023, in Los Angeles.

Trump is threatening to raise tariffs again. Here’s how China plans to fight back

Stephanie Yang | (TNS) Los Angeles Times

President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to impose new tariffs on Chinese imports when he takes office, a move that would deepen a trade war he started six years ago.

He has not offered many specifics, but China is already arming itself for economic battle.

“Six years of really intense, focused preparatory work has gotten the top leaders in Beijing ready to deal with whatever comes down the pike,” said Even Pay, an analyst with research firm Trivium China.

Here’s a look at how the showdown between the world’s two largest economies played out the last time Trump was in office and where things might be headed now.

What happened during Trump’s first term?

Trump kicked off a trade war in 2018 by imposing 25% tariffs on imports from China — including industrial machinery, cars, auto parts and television cameras. Those goods accounted for about $50 billion of the $540 billion the United States spent that year on Chinese-made products.

The aim was to spur U.S. manufacturing, reduce a trade imbalance and punish China for trade practices Trump said were unfair. China imported just $120 billion in U.S. goods in 2018.

China responded with its own 25% tariffs on about $50 billion of those goods.

Despite trade talks over the next year, each country continued to impose more tariffs. By 2020, tariffs had been applied to a total of $550 billion in Chinese goods and $185 billion in U.S. goods.

Experts said the trade war did little to mitigate the U.S. trade deficit or boost U.S. exports. Instead, they said it weighed on economic growth and cost jobs in both the U.S. and China.

In the final year of Trump’s term, the two nations agreed to a truce, signing a trade deal that scrapped some tariffs and reduced others. China also agreed to purchase an additional $200 billion in U.S. goods and services — a pledge it failed to fulfill.

Did things cool off after President Biden took office?

Not really. The rhetoric coming from the White House was less hostile, but getting tough on China had become a political necessity for whoever was president, and the trade war only intensified.

Biden kept the Trump-era tariffs and added some of his own, including a 100% tax on imports of electric cars from China, a 50% tax on solar panels and a 25% tax on lithium-ion batteries and steel and aluminum products.

Biden has also continued the first Trump administration’s use of export bans to curb China’s access to U.S. technology. Last week, the U.S. expanded restrictions on sales of semiconductors and related manufacturing equipment to China and added 140 Chinese entities to a blacklist that limits trade with U.S. businesses on national security concerns.

What might Trump do this time?

For months he has advocated for raising tariffs on imports from China by 60% or more. He said on social media last month that he would impose a 10% tariff, “above any additional tariffs,” on all products from China.

His motivations are not entirely based on leveling trade or boosting U.S. manufacturing. Trump has also talked about using the threat of tariffs to spur China — as well as Mexico — to do more to help curb the U.S. opioid crisis. The two countries are the top sources of fentanyl and the chemicals used to make it.

How is China preparing for more tariffs?

China has already taken numerous steps to protect itself.

The country, which typically buys corn, soybeans and sorghum from the U.S., has been diversifying its sources and stocking up. Brazil has been one of the big winners. The damage could be significant for U.S. farmers, who sell about 77% of their sorghum exports to China.

China, though, is more vulnerable than the United States when it comes to tariffs — for the simple reason that it exports so much more than it imports.

The current economic situation in China doesn’t help. Growth has stagnated as the country struggles with a real estate downturn, growing debt, rising youth unemployment and a slowdown in consumer spending.

Larry Hu, chief China economist at the Australian bank Macquarie Group, estimated that a 60% tariff hike from the U.S. would reduce Chinese exports by 8% and GDP by 2%. If the U.S. enacts tariffs on goods from other countries as well, that would exacerbate the effect on China, which has been able to circumvent some tariffs by exporting products destined for the U.S. through third-party nations.

How can China go on the offense?

Perhaps China’s biggest weapon in the trade war is its dominance in crucial materials that the U.S. needs to make products such as semiconductors and missiles. After the latest round of tech trade restrictions last week, China retaliated by banning exports of the rare elements gallium, germanium and antimony — cutting off at least half the U.S. supply, based on data from the U.S. Geological Survey.

The move was widely seen as a warning shot to the next administration of its ability to stall U.S. advancements in key strategic industries.

China can also fight back with monetary policy. During the last trade war, the country allowed the yuan to depreciate against the U.S. dollar, effectively making Chinese exports to the U.S. cheaper. The U.S. labeled China a currency manipulator, an accusation Beijing denied.

And after the U.S. began blacklisting Chinese companies during the first Trump administration, China launched its own list of entities deemed a threat to its national interests. This means the Chinese government can swiftly sanction U.S. individuals and businesses in retaliation for trade restrictions or other efforts to constrain development.

In September, China launched a probe into PVH Corp. — the parent company of apparel brands such as Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger — which it said has unfairly boycotted Xinjiang cotton. The U.S. has accused China of genocide against Muslim ethnic groups there and prohibits companies from using products suspected of being made with forced labor.

And on Monday, China opened an antitrust investigation into U.S. semiconductor giant Nvidia, whose value has soared this year amid an AI boom and increasing demand for advanced microchips. The U.S. has barred Nvidia from selling some of its most powerful chips to China.

If the trade war intensifies, the scope of targeted companies could broaden and China might also try to inconvenience U.S. businesses with operations in China by banning staff, restricting sales or initiating onerous compliance inspections or audits.

What are the downsides for China?

China may have the power to inflict serious damage on the U.S. economy, but it has to be careful about using it.

Ja-Ian Chong, associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore, said that punishing U.S. operations in China could chill foreign investment and accelerate plans to move to other countries at a time when China is trying to attract more international business.

And preventing all crucial materials from reaching the U.S. would be difficult to enforce, considering the complex global supply chain, and might alienate other trade partners such as Taiwan or South Korea in the process.

“Beijing has options, but these options are not cost-free,” Chong said. “It comes down to how far China is willing to go.”

©2024 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Container ships discharge cargo on Terminal Island in the Port of Los Angeles on Nov. 18, 2021. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times/TNS)

Trump won’t be able to save the struggling US beef industry

Gerson Freitas Jr | (TNS) Bloomberg News

He has manned the McDonald’s drive-thru, served Big Macs in the White House and peddled Trump Steaks on cable TV. But even a red-meat loving President-elect like Donald Trump won’t be able to save the struggling U.S. beef industry.

A severe shortage of cattle, which has fueled grocery-store price hikes and wiped-out billions in meat-processor profits, is primed to get worse before the next election cycle. The U.S. beef herd is already the smallest since 1961 after years of depressed prices, severe droughts and surging costs forced farmers to send more females to slaughter. Now, the possibility of new tariffs and immigration reform risk constraining supplies further still.

“All of the things he is talking about have potential negative consequences more so than anything positive,” Derrell Peel, a professor of agricultural economics at Oklahoma State University, said of Trump’s policy pledges. “Our fate’s pretty well determined in the cattle industry in the U.S. for the next two to four years” — and it’s not good.

For generations, Americanism and the livestock industry have been closely entwined. From the cowboys immortalized on the silver screen to the pot roasts, cheese steaks and brisket that grace regional tables, the entire beef sector — from ranching to restaurants — carries an outsized role in the country’s national identity.

But raising cattle has grown increasingly difficult, even before Trump’s upcoming return to Washington. Thanks to a combination of high interest rates, costly feed prices, farmer debt, bad weather and a shifting consumer preference toward cheaper chicken, struggling ranchers have been culling heifers at too fast a clip to rebuild the number of calves necessary to expand their herds. In fact, the shortage of beef cattle has gotten so acute that some milk producers are breeding hybrid dairy-beef calves to sell into the low-inventory meat market.

Cash Carruth, who manages roughly 250 cattle in Bloomfield, New Mexico, is among those ranchers tabling near-term growth plans after struggling with low cattle prices for most of the past decade. Even though prices have since recovered, many cattlemen are still finding themselves digging out of that earlier hole.

“This extra that we’re making right now is not necessarily room for expansion, but it’s to help us with the band-aid that we put on from 2015 until 2022,” said Carruth, 47. He is now selling “every calf” he can instead of retaining them for procreation. “Everybody is trying to make up for those mediocre years, especially if you borrowed any money.”

The down cycle wasn’t supposed to last this long. This past February, the USDA expected the cattle inventory to start rebuilding in 2025. It is now saying the recovery won’t meaningfully start until 2027, as elevated borrowing costs and poor pastureland mean it’s too risky to take on new cows — given the investment takes a few years to come to fruition. Even as the beef industry has experienced periods of growth over the past decades, the animal count has dropped almost 40% since a peak in 1975. During the current downcycle, which started in 2020, the herd has been shrinking at the fastest pace since the big farm crisis of the 1980s.

In beef, “there are no clear signs of sustained herd rebuilding intentions,” Donnie King, the chief executive officer of Tyson Foods Inc., said on a Nov. 12 conference call with analysts. The shortage of cattle has over the past two years wiped out billions of dollars in operating profit from Tyson’s beef operation, which the company expects to run at an adjusted loss for a second year in fiscal 2025.

And then there’s Trump. Although he’s very popular with agricultural communities — having won the vote in all the top beef cattle-producing states — his promised immigration reform and tariffs add another layer of uncertainty.

Meatpacking jobs in the U.S. are often held by foreign-born workers, and while big-name companies require employees to provide evidence of their work status, reduced future flows of immigrants are likely to bring higher labor costs down the line for companies like Tyson and JBS SA, Barclays analysts wrote in a Dec. 2 note. A surge in the supply of asylum seekers and other immigrants under temporary work permits during the Biden administration eased the labor shortages that plagued the industry, particularly during the pandemic. A new approach on immigration has the potential to create a “more burdensome” hiring process, reducing the pool of prospective employees and raising costs, JBS said in a recent filing.

“They’re hard jobs to fill and they’re jobs that most Americans don’t want to do,” said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Jen Bartashus.

Audits and raids are both likely to increase once Trump returns to office, as enforcement of immigration compliance was at an all-time high during the president-elect’s first term, employment law firm Littler Mendelson PC wrote in a November note. More than 680 people were arrested during 2019 raids on Mississippi poultry plants, and a raid on a Tennessee cattle processing plant the prior year impacted about 100 others. Even if all workers are in compliance, it can be a costly and timely process.

Trump’s first administration “was scary, but now even more because they will be more empowered,” said Magaly Licolli, co-founder of Venceremos, an Arkansas-based advocacy group for workers in the poultry industry. “The situation for immigrant meatpackers will look pretty ugly.”

Tariffs are also a wildcard. Producers have been increasingly relying on imports of meat to satisfy domestic demand for ground beef and hamburgers. In 2024, beef and veal imports into the U.S. will total about 2 million metric tons, a new record. Overseas meat now accounts for more than 15% of domestic consumption, also an all-time high. Producers in the U.S. are also shipping out a lot of meat themselves.

If Trump 2.0 implements new tariffs to stem the flow of overseas beef, it could give U.S. ranchers a lifeline, said Bill Bullard, CEO of R-CALF USA, a group that represents cow-calf producers across the U.S. Increased supplies from overseas have given Tyson, JBS, Cargill Inc. and National Beef Inc. — which together control about four-fifths of the slaughtering capacity in the U.S. — the ability to keep a lid on the prices they pay for cattle in the U.S., he said. Tyson didn’t respond to a request for comment, while National Beef, JBS and Cargill declined to comment.

Tariffs “will provide our industry an opportunity to invest in expansion and to begin rebuilding the herd that has been shrinking at an alarming rate,” Bullard said. “Over the long-term, consumers are going to be better served because we will no longer have such a dependency on imported products.”

But what’s good for ranchers in the long term isn’t going to appease grocery shoppers today. Although a smaller imported inventory could incentivize farmers to reinvest in their herds, until that happens, Americans who voted for Trump on his pledge to reduce prices of household staples may find themselves sorely disappointed. And higher beef prices will only speed the shift to other proteins that’s already taking place.

“If prices for beef increase, we ought to really be looking at prices relative to chicken,” said David Anderson, a professor and extension economist for livestock and food product marketing at Texas A&M University. “It’s that demand picture that might really keep a lid on what beef prices go up to because consumers are going to respond to relative prices.”

(With assistance from Deena Shanker, Ilena Peng and Kim Chipman.)

©2024 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

WASHINGTON, DC – MARCH 4: (AFP OUT) U.S. President Donald Trump speaks behind a table full of McDonald’s hamburgers, Chick fil-a sandwiches and other fast food as he welcomes the 2018 Football Division I FCS champs North Dakota State Bison in the Diplomatic Room of the White House on March 4, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Oliver Contreras-Pool/Getty Images)

‘Generational hero’: Tigers and Cleveland slugger Rocky Colavito dies at 91

Rocky Colavito, a mighty slugger who played four seasons for the Tigers after being acquired from the then-Cleveland Indians in one of the biggest and most-shocking trades in baseball history, has died.

Colavito died at age 91 at home in Pennsylvania on Tuesday. Major League Baseball confirmed his death.

Colavito played 14 seasons in MLB, including four with the Tigers from 1960-63, hitting 374 home runs. He hit 139 of those home runs with the Tigers, who acquired him just before the start of the 1960 season. In Colavito, Detroit got the American League’s reigning home-run champion, with 42; the Tigers gave up Harvey Kuenn, who the year before had led the AL in batting average, at .353.

The trade was wildly unpopular in Cleveland, where Colavito had played five seasons and was a hero.

Then-Cleveland general manager Frank Lane quipped in the press: “What’s all the fuss about? All I did was trade hamburger for steak.” Detroit general manager Bill DeWitt fired back that he liked hamburger.

Colavito, traded when he was 26, played right field when he arrived in Detroit, then moved to left field in 1961, with Al Kaline moving from center to right, and Charlie Maxwell taking on more of a platoon and pinch-hitting role.

Colavito had 35 home runs and 87 RBIs his first season with the Tigers, then had 45 homers and 140 RBIs, both career highs, in 1961, when he was named to both All-Star Games (back when there was two) and finished eighth in MVP voting, as the Tigers, behind Colavito, Kaline and Norm Cash, led the league in scoring and won 101 games, but finished second in the league behind the mighty New York Yankees.

During a game in May 1961, Colavito went into the stands at Yankee Stadium to confront an apparently drunk fan who had been harassing his father and wife. His Tigers teammates followed him into the stands. Colavito tripled in the game before he was ejected in the ninth inning; the Tigers won, 4-3.

Again in 1962, Colavito was a two-time All-Star, finishing with 37 homers and 112 RBIs. In 1963, his last with the Tigers, he hit 22 homers to go with 91 RBIs.

That offseason, the Tigers, then run by GM Jim Campbell, traded Colavito to the Kansas City Athletics for Jerry Lumpe, Ed Rakow and Dave Wickersham, saying Willie Horton was ready for a full-time role in the Tigers’ outfield.

And two years later, the A’s traded him back to Cleveland, a place he never wanted to leave ― the place where he first flourished, under the watchful eye of Tigers legend Hank Greenberg, who first was Cleveland’s farm director, and later was the team’s general manager. Colavito was traded away in 1960, the year after Greenberg departed to join the Chicago White Sox.

“I trusted him,” Colavito told the Plain Dealer’s Terry Pluto in 2023, speaking of Greenberg, who convinced Colavito to go back to the minors in 1955 when he didn’t want to. “He was good to his word.”

Of Lane, the GM who traded him away over a $5,000 contract dispute (he wanted $40,000 and was signed for $35,000, according to Pluto), Colavito called him, “A real scumbag.”

The trade to Detroit came just two days before Cleveland opened the 1960 season, interestingly, against the Tigers, who won both games. Colavito homered and had three RBIs in Game 2.

Although he would always be wedded to Cleveland, his time in Detroit bonded him with a Tigers audience that fell in love with his prodigious power and his pre-bat theatrics. He would pull a bat, one hand at each end, over the top of his head and behind the length of his back, stretching his arms and muscles ahead of an at-bat that also had Thespian tones. Colavito would step to the plate, take a long, emphatic practice swing, and finish by extending his bat, menacingly, toward the pitcher.

Tigers fans loved his showmanship as much as his melodic name and ability to launch baseballs by the bushel into Tiger Stadium’s seats.

“Don’t knock the Rock!” became the Motown fans’ devoted cry toward a man they had adopted with fervor.

Colavito also had contract disputes during his Tigers days with penurious GM Campbell, as well as hot-blooded feuds with the likes of legendary Detroit sportswriter Joe Falls, who wrote a 1963 Free Press story about Tigers hitters who were not driving in runs (RNBIs, as Falls labeled these). Colavito, who was statistically one of the chief culprits, was infuriated by the piece and remained on the warpath with Falls for years, until they later reconciled, warmly and publicly, before Falls died in 2004 at the age of 75.

Colavito had a nice first year back with Cleveland in 1965, with 26 homers and 108 RBIs, and he had 30 homers in 1966, before he was traded to the White Sox. From 1958-66, he averaged 35 homers and more than 100 RBIs a year. He had a four-homer game in 1959, just one of 16 in MLB history.

He also played for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Yankees, before retiring after 1968. He was a nine-time All-Star.

Colavito also had an equally dynamic right arm. He once, in anger, threw a baseball over the left-field roof at Tiger Stadium. That same arm also made him a rare choice as a position-player pitching option ― a role he played Aug. 25, 1968, in getting a first-game Sunday doubleheader victory against the Tigers in New York, when Colavito was playing for the Yankees. Colavito that day at Yankee Stadium pitched 2.2 innings, allowed but a single hit, walked two, and struck out one. It was a final exclamation-mark on his baseball life with, and against, the Tigers.

As for Kuenn, his run with Cleveland didn’t go so well. He played just one season there, and was injured for part of it, though he did finish 1960 with a .308 batting average. He was traded to the San Francisco Giants late in the 1960 season, and also played for the Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies in his 15-year career, during which he made 10 All-Star teams and batted .303. Kuenn died in 1988, at the age of 57, in part due to complications from diabetes. Colavito also suffered from diabetes, and that led to having his right leg amputated in 2015.

Meanwhile, after his playing days, Colavito, born in 1933 in the Bronx, did some broadcasting and some coaching for Cleveland, and he later coached for the Kansas City Royals.

In 2006, he was inducted into what now is known as the Cleveland Guardians Hall of Fame. In 2021, a statue of Colavito was unveiled in Cleveland’s Little Italy, with Colavito in attendance on his 88th birthday.

“Our collective hearts ache at the passing of Rocky,” Bob DiBiasio, Guardians senior vice president/public affairs, said in a statement Tuesday. “Rocky was a generational hero, one of the most popular players in franchise history. His popularity was evident across Northeast Ohio as sandlot ballplayers everywhere imitated Rocky’s on-deck circle routine of kneeling, then as he stepped into the batter’s box the stretching the bat over the shoulders and pointing the bat at the pitcher. I can proudly say I was one of them.

“Rocky loved our organization and always held the fans in the highest esteem.

“He would always say, ‘I am thankful God chose me to play in Cleveland.’”

Detroit Tigers outfielder Rocky Colavito shown Feb. 27, 1962. Colavito died Dec. 10, 2024. (AP Photo, file)

How the FDA allows companies to add secret ingredients to our food

Karen Kaplan | (TNS) Los Angeles Times

It’s a U.S. Food and Drug Administration rule that most Americans know little about, yet gives corporations the license to add potentially harmful ingredients to foods without regulatory oversight or public notice.

For decades, the FDA’s “generally recognized as safe,” or GRAS, designation has allowed food makers to decide for themselves whether certain novel ingredients are safe or not — even without providing evidence to agency scientists.

Consumer advocates claim the system has allowed companies to add harmful chemicals, including suspected carcinogens, to such products as cereals, baked goods, ice cream, potato chips and chewing gum.

Now, President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Service promises to elevate the issue. Although Kennedy’s penchant for amplifying medical conspiracies and his anti-vaccination activism have alarmed many public health experts, his vow to crack down on chemical additives in food has resonated with consumer health advocates.

The problem, critics say, is that a GRAS determination is supposed to follow a scientific assessment, ideally one conducted by independent experts.

Under the law, however, it is entirely optional for companies to share their assessments with FDA reviewers. That means the FDA and American consumers are in the dark about hundreds of compounds in processed foods.

“FDA cannot ensure the safety of our food supply if it does not know what is in our food,” said Thomas Galligan, principal scientist for food additives and supplements at the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

When the agency does learn about a new compound, it evaluates the company’s safety report to see whether it agrees. If FDA scientists see problems and request additional information, the company doesn’t have to provide it. It can simply withdraw its GRAS notice and use the ingredient anyway.

Natalie Mihalek, a former prosecutor and current state legislator in Pennsylvania, said she doesn’t understand why the FDA treats food additives like criminal defendants — “innocent until proven guilty, safe until proven otherwise.”

“Right now we’re relying on the companies that are going to profit off selling these substances to do the research for us,” said Mihalek, a Republican who has introduced a bill to ban six food dyes in her state. “It just blows my mind.”

FDA officials acknowledge the limits of the GRAS system but say they don’t have the authority to change it.

“Congress sets GRAS as part of the law,” said Kristi Muldoon Jacobs, director of the FDA’s Office of Food Additive Safety. “It is our responsibility to administer the law. We do not in fact have the authority to make the laws.”

Concern about the safety and purity of food prompted Congress to pass the Food and Drugs Act in 1906, just months after Upton Sinclair brought the meatpacking industry’s unsanitary practices to light in his book “The Jungle.” The new law forbade the manufacture and sale of foods that were “adulterated or misbranded or poisonous.”

The FDA’s regulatory powers expanded in 1938 with the passage of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, and a 1958 amendment divided food ingredients into two categories: additives that must be assessed for safety, and substances that could go straight into foods because they are “generally recognized as safe.”

Unfortunately, the legal distinction between the two kinds of ingredients is “very vague,” said Jennifer Pomeranz, a public health lawyer at New York University’s School of Global Public Health.

The types of ingredients that were considered GRAS in 1958 included items that were already in wide use, such as salt, vanilla extract, baking powder and vinegar.

The FDA established a list of GRAS substances and added new items if they passed a safety review. Individuals from outside the agency also could ask to have a particular substance studied for inclusion on the official GRAS list.

But the process was time-consuming, and petitions from industry could take six years or more to evaluate. As part of the Clinton-era initiative to streamline government operations, the FDA embraced a newer, faster system designed to make it more enticing for companies to keep the agency in the loop about their GRAS decisions. Now the FDA pledges to respond to GRAS notices within 180 days.

The notification process is also low-risk for food companies.

If everything looks good, the FDA says it has “no questions” about the compound, effectively endorsing the GRAS assessment. This happens about 80% of the time, according to researchers Thomas Neltner and Maricel Maffini, who analyzed notices filed with the agency.

If things aren’t so clear, the agency may say it needs more information before it can weigh in. And if a company decides not to provide that information, it can back out of the process and the FDA will say it ended its evaluation at the filer’s request.

Such was the case with an ingredient in Sleepy Chocolate.

Not just another gourmet candy bar, the dark chocolate with lavender and blueberry flavors is infused with the hormone melatonin, the amino acid L-tryptophan, a blend of soothing botanicals and something called PharmaGABA, an artificial version of a neurotransmitter that calms the brain.

PharmaGABA is made by Pharma Foods International Co. of Kyoto, Japan. The company touts its product as having “US-FDA’s self-affirmed GRAS approval” even though the FDA twice raised serious concerns about its safety and has never indicated to the public that its misgivings were addressed.

Nothing about this violates the law.

Neltner, a chemical engineer and attorney, and Maffini, a biochemist and consultant, dug into the FDA’s files on PharmaGABA to see why regulators were concerned about it.

In its initial notice filed in 2008, Pharma Foods said it hired a Canadian consulting firm to determine whether PharmaGABA should qualify for GRAS status when used in candy, chewing gum, beverages and other products.

The consulting firm produced a report about the product and tapped three university professors with expertise in pharmacology, toxicology and food science to weigh in. The trio’s determination that the product was “safe and suitable and would be GRAS” was unanimous, according to the filing.

Yet after reviewing all 155 pages of the PharmaGABA notice, FDA scientists raised concerns about the product’s purity, its risk for causing low blood pressure and electrolyte imbalances, and the lack of data on how PharmaGABA is metabolized, among other problems.

Pharma Foods withdrew its notice, and the FDA ended its evaluation.

The company tried again in 2015 with a GRAS notice for using PharmaGABA in yogurts and cheese, cereals and snack bars, candy and gum, and an array of beverages including sports drinks and flavored milks. The same consulting firm assembled a scientific panel that said consuming PharmaGABA in expected quantities was “reasonably expected to be safe.”

As before, FDA reviewers had concerns. They said the new filing didn’t back the company’s claims that the product would be absorbed into the bloodstream at low levels and that it wouldn’t cross the blood-brain barrier. The reviewers were particularly concerned with the compound’s potential to harm pregnant women and children, as well as its effect on the pituitary gland.

Pharma Foods withdrew its notice so it could “conduct further studies,” and the FDA ceased its second evaluation of the product.

Maffini said it wasn’t unusual for agency scientists to find fault with GRAS decisions that passed muster with hired consultants. Giving their clients favorable reviews increases their chances of being hired again, she said.

Nine years later, Pharma Foods has yet to share additional results with the FDA. But PharmaGABA legally remains in Sleepy Chocolate based on Pharma Foods’ determination that the compound should be generally recognized as safe.

Pharma Foods International and Functional Chocolate Co., which makes Sleepy Chocolate, did not respond to requests to discuss PharmaGABA’s safety.

Maffini said she was frustrated that the FDA scientists who examined PharmaGABA couldn’t post a memo to warn the public about their concerns. (She and Neltner obtained the GRAS documents by filing a Freedom of Information Act request.)

“They ask questions,” Maffini said of the agency scientists, “but then there’s really nothing they can do.”

For every ingredient like PharmaGABA that is disclosed to the FDA, another probably makes its way to the market without any regulatory review.

By definition, there’s no way to know for sure how many new additives are granted GRAS status in secret. To make an estimate, researchers scoured websites and trade journals to find every corporate announcement of a new GRAS product during an eight-week period. Ten of those products weren’t on the FDA’s GRAS notice list.

If those eight weeks were typical, at least 65 new substances are being introduced into the food supply every year without any vetting by the agency. That’s on a par with the 60 to 70 GRAS notices that Muldoon Jacobs said the FDA evaluates each year.

The situation is something of a catch-22, Pomeranz said: Since GRAS products are presumed to be safe, they aren’t subject to regulatory review. But since they’re not regulated, how can the public be assured that they’re safe?

And that’s only part of the problem, she said. When companies use novel ingredients, they can list them on food labels using generic terms like “flavors” or “colors.” That makes it all but impossible for consumers to know that something new has been added to their food, she said.

This helps explain how an ingredient called tara flour was able to sicken hundreds of people who consumed French Lentil + Leek Crumbles, a meat replacement product sold by Daily Harvest in 2022. Customers suffered severe abdominal pain, fever, chills and acute liver failure, and more than 100 were hospitalized, according to the FDA. The company issued a voluntary recall and blamed a compound in tara flour for the illnesses.

Tara flour is a high-protein substance made from the seeds of an evergreen tree found in South America. There is no GRAS notice for the ingredient in the FDA’s database. Tests conducted after the outbreak found that an amino acid in the flour caused liver damage in mice.

In May, nearly two years after the recall, the FDA concluded that tara flour doesn’t meet the scientific standard to qualify for GRAS status. That makes it an unapproved food additive and is considered unsafe.

The agency added that it’s not aware of any products made in the U.S. that contain tara flour, nor has it identified any imported products that contain the ingredient.

The case shows why the FDA’s regulatory approach needs to change, said Jensen N. Jose, regulatory counsel for food chemical safety at the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

“Self-declaring that your chemical is safe should not be the law of the land,” Jose said. “I highly doubt that’s what Congress meant” when it created the GRAS designation in 1958, he said.

Bills introduced in the U.S. House and Senate would put an end to the practice of allowing companies to make GRAS determinations in secret. The legislation would require companies to share their scientific reviews and give the FDA and the public at least 90 days to review — and potentially challenge — them before they take effect, among other provisions.

But both bills have a ways to go in order to pass before the congressional term ends in January.

Jose has another idea for reducing the secrecy surrounding novel food ingredients: Require companies using self-declared GRAS ingredients to submit the safety data to the New York Department of Agriculture and Markets in Albany as a condition for selling their products in the Empire State.

Jose laid out the plan in a bill that is under consideration in the New York state Legislature. If it passes, state regulators would not be required to review the safety data, but at least it would become publicly available, he said.

“The goal is that you’d have a database so if something like tara flour happens, the FDA can look there and be able to respond more quickly,” Jose said.

Companies could avoid the notification requirement by keeping their products out of New York stores, but that would be a tip-off to watchdog groups like his, Jose said.

“If we find them selling everywhere except New York, we’ll know there might be something wrong with this chemical,” he said.

Jim Jones, the FDA’s deputy commissioner for human foods, has acknowledged the “growing public demand for the FDA to do more to ensure the safety of chemicals currently in the U.S. food supply.”

California and other states have sought to fill the void by regulating or banning select food additives within their borders. But “a strong national food-safety system is not built state-by-state,” Jones said. “The FDA must lead the way.”

©2024 Los Angeles Times. Visit at latimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

WESTCHESTER, CA- JULY 10, 2024- A shopper makes his way down an aisle at Vons market in Westchester which has been serving the community since 1952. Kroger and Albertsons have unveiled hundreds of stores, including The Vons in Westchester, that they plan to sell to secure federal approval for two of the nations largest grocery chains to complete a $25 billion mega… (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

Colder temps ahead, storms forecast for parts of Michigan

Colder temperatures are in store for southeast Michigan as a surge of arctic air reaches the region, according to the National Weather Service.

The weather service on Tuesday issued a winter storm watch for a portion of southwest Michigan and counties around Grand Rapids warning of snow accumulations as high as 6 and 14 inches, respectively.

Travel could be difficult in southwest Michigan, including the cities of Jenison, Kalamazoo, Hastings, South Haven, Holland, Grand Rapids and Grand Haven, according to NWS.

Around Grand Rapids, including Lake, Mason, Muskegon, Newaygo and Oceana counties, travel could be difficult to impossible. Commuters there should expect hazardous conditions as early as Wednesday morning and into the evening, the weather service said.

The mercury will plunge at least 10 degrees into Wednesday, when residents can expect a high of 36 and lows in the teens, according to NWS.

Lake effect snowfall could also accumulate across southeast Michigan throughout Wednesday as gusty winds of up to 35 mph blow across the area. Meteorologists expect the snow to taper off through the next day without piling up to more than around 3-4 inches.

Temperatures will drop further on Thursday, as the mercury peaks around 20 before reaching lows around 10. Wind chills could dip into the single digits, according to NWS.

Winter weather switches aren’t entirely unprecedented for southeast Michigan, said Kyle Klein, a meteorologist with the weather service.

“Usually we’ll have lows that’ll track across the Great Lakes region, so they’ll pull up milder air from the south ahead of them,” he said. “And then behind them, they’ll pull in colder Canadian air dropping out of usually northern Canada, and that’ll bring up a colder air mass behind it.”

This week’s highs and lows come amid flip-flopping weather patterns, above average temperatures and below average snowfall totals for much of the Midwest, according to the AccuWeather Global Weather Center.

Mild temperatures recently swept over the eastern and central U.S., as seen in Metro Detroit during the past few days, according to a Monday media advisory from the center.

The weather could flip again near Christmas, when meteorologists with the center anticipate a higher potential for winter storms.

“It could turn colder for the Northeast, Great Lakes and Midwest, but not as intense as the start of the month,” AccuWeather Lead Long-Range Expert Paul Pastelok said in the advisory.

People walk through snow, battling strong winds on ice-covered sidewalks at Campus Martius on Saturday in Detroit.

Speeding enforcement cameras to be added to Michigan work zones and on school buses

New Michigan laws will allow cameras to be installed in construction zones and on school buses to enforce traffic safety laws and curb violations.

Under legislation signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Tuesday, Dec. 10, drivers barreling through work zones could be ticketed for violating posted speed limits even if they aren’t immediately pulled over.

Similarly, drivers could be subsequently cited and fined for failing to stop for a school bus.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer called the new laws “commonsense” and said they will better protect safety on the roads and reduce crashes, save lives and put money back in people’s pockets.

“Whether they’re driving on them or working on them, these bills will make sure that every Michigander is safe on our roads,” Whitmer said in a prepared statement.

The recent legislation received bipartisan support in the House and Senate. Bills were first introduced spring 2023. They passed the House and Senate this fall before Whitmer signed them into law Tuesday.

By fitting school buses with cameras systems, lawmakers hope to better enforce laws that keep children safe as they board and exit school buses. Funds raised from these violations will return to school districts and be used for transportation safety under the new laws.

Passing, or failing to stop for, a school bus with its red lights flashing is punishable by a fee of $100 to $500 under existing state law. Drivers must remain stopped at least 20 feet from the bus until the bus moves or turns off its red lights.

The new laws increase the minimum fee to $250. They also will require drivers to stop for a stopped school bus on the other side of a physical barrier if there is a crosswalk or pedestrian walkway present.

“As a former teacher, student safety matters a great deal to me,” said Rep. Nate Shannon, D-Sterling Heights. “Far too many drivers ignore stop signals on school buses — putting children at risk. This legislation gives law enforcement the tools they need to ensure kids’ safe travel to and from school.”

Making construction zones safer has been a recent priority for lawmakers. In 2023 alone, state police reported more than 8,000 work zone-related crashes with 24 fatalities in Michigan.

Speed enforcement systems could be stationed in work zones not separated from traffic by barriers. A sign would have to be placed one mile before the start of the work zone indicating the zone is monitored by an automated speed enforcement system.

The cameras would snap a photo of the vehicle’s license plate and include the location, date and time of the image. If the registered owner of the vehicle wasn’t the driver at the time of the traffic violation, they could submit an affidavit by mail or testify under oath in court under the proposed law.

Drivers caught driving 10 miles per hour or more over the posted speed limit where workers were present could face mailed sanctions ranging from a written warning to a fine up to $300. Fines would double if the violation resulted in a crash.

Rep. Mike Mueller, R-Linden, who sponsored one of the bills, said fixing Michigan’s roads is a top priority and protecting those workers on the front lines is a must.

The work zone legislation would require the creation of an Automated Speed Enforcement System Unit within Michigan State Police. An estimated $985,000 would need to be allocated to fund six full-time positions within the unit.

Total costs for recording equipment and outfitting was estimated around $20,000.

M-15 work zone on Sept. 21, 2022. (Kathy Blake / MediaNews Group)

Growth of sports betting may be linked to financial woes, new studies find

By Kevin Hardy, Stateline.org

While states have cheered the new tax revenue from sports gambling, some new studies have linked the burgeoning industry to lower consumer credit scores, higher credit card debt and less household savings.

With access on their cellphones, gamblers can bet more often and easily than in traditional casinos, heightening concerns about problem gambling and the financial fallout for sports fans. The rate of gambling problems among sports bettors is at least twice as high as it is for other gamblers, according to the National Council on Problem Gambling.

Legal sports gambling is more widespread than ever. Missouri voters in November became the latest to approve it, making it legal in 39 states and the District of Columbia. Last year, Americans bet more than $121 billion on sports, according to the American Gaming Association. While betting revenues are exploding, the industry is still relatively young — only blossoming after a 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling opened the door for states to authorize sports gambling.

So far, researchers have not reached a consensus about potential harms, though three papers released this year found poor financial results for consumers in states with legalized sports gambling.

In a working paper released in August, researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of Southern California determined access to legal online sports betting led to lower credit scores and higher rates of bankruptcies. That study examined credit bureau data of more than 4 million American consumers.

“Our results ultimately suggest that gambling legalization does harm consumer financial health,” the report said.

A 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling opened the door for states to authorize sports gambling.

That paper did not assess specific solutions but called on policymakers to find ways to protect residents at risk of becoming problem gamblers.

“If no action is taken, it is highly likely that the large increase in sports betting will lead to a long-term increase in financial stress on many consumers and policymakers and financial regulators should be prepared for this.”

A study led by a Southern Methodist University professor released in June found problem gambling increased in states that introduced online casino gambling alongside online sports gambling.

Another working paper from researchers at several U.S. universities found legalized sports betting drained household finances more than other types of gambling and diverted money from saving and investing.

The research comes as some state lawmakers have pursued new restrictions on sports gambling and federal lawmakers have eyed stricter regulations. Last month, New Jersey lawmakers introduced legislation to ban so-called prop bets — bets on a particular player’s performance that may not affect the outcome of a game — on college athletes. If approved, it would join 13 other states that ban those bets. The measure has advanced out of an Assembly committee.

In September, congressional Democrats introduced legislation that would implement minimum national standards and authorize research on the public health implications of sports betting. Among other provisions, the bill would ban sports book advertising during live sporting events, prohibit more than five deposits from gamblers in a 24-hour period, and prohibit artificial intelligence tools that create specialized promotions by tracking individual gambler habits. But it is unlikely to progress in the GOP-controlled House.

“State regulation is faint-hearted and half-baked,” Democratic U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut said at a news conference announcing the legislation. “That’s why we need a national standard — not to ban gambling, but simply to take back control over an industry that is out of bounds.”

Industry pushes back

Joe Maloney, senior vice president of strategic communications at the American Gaming Association, said legal betting is among the most regulated industries in the country.

Aside from providing new revenue streams for states, Maloney said, legal sports betting has brought many consumers out of the illegal betting markets, providing more transparency for consumers and money for problem gambling programs.

“You can go to any state that has yet to have an opportunity to erect a regulatory market and see a predatory and even more pervasive offshore, digital, illegal market that’s targeting consumers in those states,” he said.

Maloney pointed to long-standing research finding no correlation between financial hardship and proximity to casinos. But he acknowledged that it isn’t yet clear whether sports betting has a different effect.

“I think that topic needs to be further explored, because the scale of legalized gambling online and in the digital space is still very much in its infancy,” he said.

But Maloney is skeptical of the idea that sports gambling harms household finances. He noted that Americans last year had record 401(k) holdings and record mutual fund ownership.

Maloney highlighted a separate piece of recent academic research that determined the rapid rise of sports betting hasn’t led to an increase in adverse mental health outcomes or financial difficulties. The paper examined self-reported data on mental and financial health from nearly 2 million survey responses across multiple states with legalized betting.

The results were somewhat surprising to lead researcher Timothy Bersak, an associate professor of economics at Wofford College in South Carolina. He said the findings contradict a popular narrative that sports betting leads to widespread harms.

“Our results suggest that there’s not like a really large population of latent problem gamblers that would have these large gambling problems but for the prohibition on sports betting,” he said.

Bersak said his findings don’t negate other recent research: There is a segment of the population that is likely worse off because of sports betting, he said. But for now, a much larger share of the population said they are not being hurt and finding enjoyment from it.

“We really can’t have any sense of the long-term impacts at this point,” he said. “Because at least in the U.S., it’s only been around for at most six years.”

‘That money’s gone’

Justin Balthrop, an assistant professor of finance at the University of Kansas, expected that legalized sports gambling would displace other forms of entertainment spending. Maybe someone would forgo a night out, for instance, and instead put a few bucks on Sunday’s game.

But a paper he co-wrote — titled “Gambling Away Stability”— found that legalized betting led households to spend more on both entertainment and betting, while putting less in savings and investment accounts.

The paper examined financial transaction data from more than 230,000 households across 26 states with legal sports betting between 2018 and 2023. In households that placed bets, net investments dropped by 14% after legalization — a significant figure when factoring in the expected long-term gains of compound interest and rising stock prices.

“What’s happening is they’re pulling money from what I think we would argue are more long-term productive uses of their funds to do this instead,” Balthrop said.

Researchers found that sports betting disproportionately hurts lower-income households as they run up credit card debt and overdraft checking accounts.

Balthrop said policymakers should do more to provide education and transparency to consumers, so they know the full extent of the odds against them.

A gambler himself, Balthrop said bettors should go into every bet financially and mentally prepared to lose because most bettors don’t win.

“I would say the same thing as someone who goes to a casino: Pretend that the hundred bucks you’re bringing to the casino is an entry fee, and maybe you get to leave with some of it,” he said. “But you need to mentally know that money’s gone.”

West Virginia state Sen. Jason Barrett, a Republican, said he believes most people who have placed bets since the state legalized sports gambling in 2018 have done so for fun — not with the expectation of making money.

“The way I look at it is, if somebody decides that they’d rather spend $50 on the outcome of an NFL game as opposed to going out to the movies, I think they should have the right to do that,” he said. “I’m not aware that there are a lot of people that are doing this for a real investment.”

Barrett, the treasurer of a national group of state lawmakers that works on gambling issues, noted that sports betting is still just a fraction of the overall spending on gambling in West Virginia. The American Gaming Association reported sports betting last year brought in about $48 million in revenue in West Virginia; total casino revenues in the state reached nearly $806 million.

While problem betting is always a concern, he said he’s seen no evidence sports gambling has dramatically increased addiction.

“I don’t think all of a sudden that we’ve offered one new product through sports betting, that all of a sudden we’re going to create a bunch of gambling addicts,” he said, “or that people have this illusion that they’re somehow going to regularly beat the book, and that this is going to somehow replace their retirement.”

The American Gaming Association reported that commercial gambling revenues hit a record $66.66 billion last year— a 10.3% increase over 2022.

While casino revenues continue to rise, sports gaming revenues are exploding: Last year, when sports betting became available in five new states, the group reported a total of $11 billion in sports betting revenue — a 46% increase from the previous year. That figure does not include sportsbooks operating at tribal casinos.

Those figures will likely continue to rise as more states approve sports betting.

Missouri regulators are currently crafting rules and a licensing framework for sports betting following the narrow approval of the ballot initiative last month.

Jan Zimmerman, chair of the Missouri Gaming Commission, said the state hopes to launch sports betting by summer. While the agency has heard concerns from state residents about increased problem gambling associated with sports betting, Zimmerman said regulators in other states have not reported a significant uptick.

As it does with casinos, the gaming commission will funnel a portion of sports betting revenues to mental health work to address problem gambling. But because the initiative was passed as an amendment to the state constitution, the gaming commission has limited latitude to create new regulations or safeguards on sports betting.

“The constitutional language is that which was created by that initiative petition,” she said. “So, there’s no going back and maybe molding that to work better to fit our needs.”


©2024 States Newsroom. Visit at stateline.org. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Governor Larry Hogan and Joe Theismann launch sports betting in Maryland with BETMGM at MGM National Harbor on Dec. 9, 2021, in Oxon Hill, Maryland. (Shannon Finney/ MGM National Harbor/Getty Images/TNS)

Tigers, veteran pitcher Alex Cobb agree on one-year deal

DALLAS — The Tigers, as they said they would, have added a veteran starter to bolster their rotation.

They agreed to a one-year deal Monday with 37-year-old right-hander Alex Cobb, the terms of which were not immediately known. A source close to negotiations confirmed the agreement to The Detroit News.

Cobb missed most of last season following hip surgery and a shoulder injury, but he ended up pitching well in three starts for the Cleveland Guardians, and pitched against the Tigers in Game 3 of the American League Division Series.

Tigers president Scott Harris brought Cobb to San Francisco in 2022, and in 2023 Cobb made his lone All-Star team.

He features a firm splitter (89 mph) and a knuckle curve which he throws off a 94-mph sinker. With that arsenal, he gets a high percentage of ground balls (61% in the small sample last season, 62% in 2022, 58% in 2023.

Cobb has pitched in parts of 13 big-league seasons. The Tigers will be his sixth team.

Cleveland Guardians pitcher Alex Cobb throws against the Detroit Tigers in the first inning during Game 3 of a baseball American League Division Series, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024, in Detroit. (CARLOS OSORIO — AP Photo, file)

Oakland sheriff criticizes judge’s bond decisions before deputy’s shooting death

Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard and the widow of a sheriff’s deputy who was killed in a June 22 ambush spoke out Friday about a judge’s decision to lower bond for two of the men prior to their alleged involvement in the deputy’s shooting death.

During a press conference at Oakland County Sheriff’s headquarters in Pontiac, Bouchard lambasted the decision by 52-4 District Court Judge Kirsten Hartig to lower bond for two men before their alleged involvement in the killing of Oakland County Sheriff’s Deputy Bradley Reckling.

“Am I angry? Yes? Frustrated? Beyond belief,” Bouchard said.

52-4 District Court Administrator Jennifer Phillips said the judge can’t comment on pending cases.

Reckling, a 30-year-old married father of three children, was undercover on Detroit’s east side investigating a stolen 2022 Chevrolet Equinox when 18-year-old Clinton Township resident Raymone Debose allegedly fired a handgun from the stolen SUV, fatally wounding the nine-year veteran.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said Marquis Goins of Detroit and Karim Moore of Clinton Township, both 18, were in the SUV at the time of the shooting. Worthy charged Debose with murder; receiving and concealing a motor vehicle; conducting a criminal enterprise; and carjacking. If convicted, he could face life in prison.

Goins’ charges included accessory after the fact to a felony; receiving and concealing a motor vehicle; and carjacking. Goins could face up to life in prison if convicted on the carjacking charge. Charges against Moore include accessory after the fact, receiving and concealing; and conducting a criminal enterprise. He also could face up to life in prison because the criminal enterprise charge is related to a killing.

Two of the three men, Debose and Goins, were in possession of illegal guns when they were arrested three months before Reckling was killed, following a traffic stop in Troy that resulted in a police chase through multiple jurisdictions.

Goins was given a $111,000 bond after Troy detectives said during his March 28 arraignment on charges of carrying a concealed weapon and fleeing from police that the defendant also was being investigated for a carjacking. But Judge Hartig later ordered a reduction to a $20,000 personal recognizance bond, and Goins was placed on a tether. The judge ordered the tether to be removed April 30 after an Oakland County Pretrial Services report said the man had complied with the court’s instructions.

Debose was charged with carrying a concealed weapon in the case and was released from jail after posting a $10,000 surety bond.

“The judge refused to bind that case over … and put the case in limbo, and left (Debose) out on the street,” Bouchard said Friday. “Decisions have consequences. … Three months later, Deputy Reckling was dead.”

Reckling’s pregnant widow, Jacqueline Reckling, added: “I think it’s really important to bring awareness to the fact that these decisions these judges are making, they impact life and death. Had the judge’s decision been different; had the bond not been reduced, maybe Brad would still be here. Maybe I’d still have my husband, and my kids would still have their dad.”

Days after Reckling’s death, Bouchard said he would have “much to say” after charges were filed.

On Friday, Bouchard said he waited to speak out about the case because he didn’t want to taint the proceedings.

“I wanted to speak out then,” the sheriff said Friday, “but I wanted to keep the focus on the investigation and the charges for the murderer, and I didn’t want anything to distract from that.”

Oakland County Sheriff Michael J. Bouchard, accompanied by Jacqueline Reckling, the widow of slain Deputy Bradley J. Reckilng, discusses how judicial rulings played a role in Reckling's death during a press conference on Friday, Dec. 6, 2024 in Pontiac.
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