STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — James Franklin is out at Penn State.
The school fired the longtime head coach on Sunday, less than 24 hours after a 22-21 home loss to Northwestern all but ended whatever remote chance the preseason No. 2 team had of reaching the College Football Playoff.
Terry Smith will serve as the interim head coach for the rest of the season for the Nittany Lions (3-3, 0-3 Big Ten), who began the year with hopes of winning the national title only to have those hopes evaporate by early October with three consecutive losses, each one more stinging than the last.
Franklin went 104-45 during his 11-plus seasons at Penn State. Yet the Nittany Lions often stumbled against top-tier opponents, going 4-21 against teams ranked in the top 10 during his tenure.
Hired in 2014 in the wake of Bill O’Brien’s departure for the NFL, Franklin inherited a team still feeling the effects of unprecedented NCAA sanctions in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal.
Armed with relentless optimism and an ability to recruit, Franklin’s program regularly churned out NFL-level talent, from Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley to Green Bay Packers edge rusher Micah Parsons. Franklin guided the Nittany Lions to the 2016 Big Ten title and a seemingly permanent spot in the rankings.
There was hope this fall might be the one when Penn State would finally break through and win its third national championship and first since 1986. Yet after three easy wins during a light nonconference schedule, the Nittany Lions crumbled.
Athletic director Pat Kraft said the school owes Franklin — who is due nearly $50 million in a buyout — an “enormous amount of gratitude” for leading the Nittany Lions back to relevance but felt it was time to make a change.
“We hold our athletics programs to the highest of standards, and we believe this is the right moment for new leadership at the helm of our football program to advance us toward Big Ten and national championships,” Kraft said.
Smith now will be tasked with trying to stop the bleeding on what has become a disastrous season. He will have his work cut out for him: Penn State’s next three games are at Iowa on Saturday, at No. 1 Ohio State on Nov. 1 and home against No. 3 Indiana on Nov. 8.
The matchups with the Buckeyes and Hoosiers were expected to be a chance for the Nittany Lions to bolster their CFP credentials. In the span of a handful of weeks, Penn State will instead find itself in the role of spoiler.
The move will cost Penn State at a time the athletic department has committed to a $700 million renovation to Beaver Stadium. The project is expected to be completed by 2027.
Former athletic director Sandy Barbour signed Franklin to a 10-year contract extension worth up to $85 million in 2021. According to terms of the deal, Penn State will have to pay Franklin’s base salary of $500,000, supplemental pay of $6.5 million and insurance loan of $1 million until 2031.
It’s a steep price, but one the university appears willing to pay to find a coach who can complete the climb to a national title.
“We have the best college football fans in America, a rich tradition of excellence, significant investments in our program, compete in the best conference in college sports and have a state-of-the-art renovated stadium on the horizon,” Kraft said. “I am confident in our future and in our ability to attract elite candidates to lead our program.”
There will be no shortage of interested coaches. Kraft has ties to at least one. He was the athletic director at Temple when he hired current Nebraska coach Matt Rhule back in 2013.
Rhule and the Cornhuskers will visit Beaver Stadium in Penn State’s home finale on Nov. 22. What back in August looked like one of the final hurdles for the Nittany Lions to clear on their way to a CFP berth might instead be both an audition for Rhule and a chance for the Nittany Lions to potentially salvage a shot at a bowl game of any variety, let alone a premier one.
— By TRAVIS JOHNSON, Associated Press
AP National Writer Will Graves in Pittsburgh contributed to this report.
Penn State head coach James Franklin reacts after losing to Oregon in the second overtime of their NCAA college football game, Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025, in State College, Pa. (AP Photo/Barry Reeger)
Golf fans will have to wait a little longer if they hope to see Tiger Woods return to competitive play as he is facing yet another health setback.
The 49-year-old golf legend announced Saturday that he underwent back surgery a day earlier to have a disk replaced in his back. It marks Woods' seventh back operation since 2014, but he said the surgery went successful and he is recovering.
"After experiencing pain and lack of mobility in my back, I consulted with Doctors and Surgeons to have tests taken," Woods said in a statement. "The scans determined that I had a collapsed disc in L4/5, disc fragments and a compromised spinal canal. I opted to have my disc replaced yesterday, and I already know I made a good decision for my health and my back."
Woods, who was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2022, has not competed in a PGA Tour event since the 2024 Open Championship, in which he failed to make the weekend cut. He underwent his sixth back surgery after that tournament to relieve pain and spasms.
Then in March of this year, Woods announced he had ruptured his left Achilles tendon in his ankle while training and underwent surgery. This is separate from his right Achilles tendon, which he ruptured and had repaired in 2008.
A Michigan startup is revolutionizing alcohol monitoring with a wearable device no bigger than a smartwatch, aiming to remove the stigma associated with traditional ankle monitors.
WATCH FARAZ'S STORY IN THE VIDEO PLAYER BELOW Ann Arbor startup creates smartwatch-sized alcohol monitor to replace bulky ankle devices
ArborSense, a University of Michigan spinout based in Ann Arbor, has developed G.R.A.D.E graphene-based alcohol detection equipment after nearly eight years of refining sensor-based wearable technology.
"We are working on making noninvasive detection sensors that can be used in a wide variety of industries and fields. Primarily right now we're focusing on criminal justice and rehabilitation, so people that have substance use disorder can wear one of our products. It's very discreet and it removes stigma," CEO Jason Tizedes said.
The transdermal device detects alcohol through the skin and is significantly smaller than existing technology. While current market devices require two drinks per hour before detecting alcohol, ArborSense's technology can detect one drink per hour.
"The technology that exists in the market right now needs to see two drinks per hour before it would be able to detect alcohol. We have been able to kind of isolate the alcohol in the system and really turn down or turn up the sensitivity on our sensor to be able to detect one drink per hour," Tizedes said.
Traditional alcohol monitoring devices have remained largely unchanged for two decades, resembling bulky ankle monitors that Tizedes compared to "1970s headphones." The new device has the same footprint as most smartwatches, making it easier for users to wear and adapt to daily life.
The technology addresses several market gaps. Current devices are approximately 10 years old, don't pair with smartphones, lack autonomous cellular connectivity, and haven't seen price reductions due to limited competition.
"There's really only one player. And because of that, the price hasn't ever come down," Tizedes said.
The cost comparison shows traditional devices range from $10 to $15 per day, while ArborSense's unit costs between $7 and $9 daily.
The device doesn't alert the wearer but instead sends instant notifications to monitoring authorities through text message, email, or automated phone calls. The system detects tampering attempts, including cutting the strap, undoing the buckle, or sliding objects underneath to prevent skin contact.
G.R.A.D.E wearables are available through court-mandated programs, but concerned parents and attorneys can also access them through a volunteer program.
"This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy."
Indiana moved up to No. 3 in The Associated Press college football poll Sunday for its highest ranking in program history and Texas was among five teams entering the Top 25 after eight ranked teams, three of them previously unbeaten, lost over the weekend.
The Buckeyes strengthened their hold on No. 1 with a solid road win against then-No. 17 Illinois and received 50 first-place votes, 10 more than last week. Miami, which was idle, earned 13 first-place votes and Indiana got the other three.
Alabama moved up two spots to No. 6 and was followed by Texas Tech, Oregon, Georgia and LSU. Oregon dropped five spots and has its lowest ranking in 20 polls since it was No. 8 in September 2024.
Indianas groundbreaking run under second-year coach Curt Cignetti has been one of the biggest stories in college football since last season. The Hoosiers went into the Oregon game 0-46 on the road against top-five teams and, before Sunday, had never been ranked higher than No. 4. Their three first-place votes are their most in a poll since they got the same number when they were ranked No. 6 on Nov. 5, 1945.
Oklahoma plunged eight spots to No. 14 with its first loss, 23-6 to Texas. The Longhorns were the preseason No. 1 team, but a season-opening loss at Ohio State and Week 6 loss at Florida dropped them out of the Top 25. In beating the rival Soooners, they held a top-10 opponent without a touchdown for the first time since 1979 and re-entered the poll at No. 21.
Michigan (15), Illinois (17), Arizona State (21), Iowa State (22) and Florida State (25) dropped out.
Poll points
No. 4 Texas A&M has its highest ranking in a regular season since it was No. 3 in September 1995.
No. 25 Nebraska is ranked in consecutive seasons for the first time since 2013-14.
With five teams dropping out, it was the most turnover in a regular-season poll since seven teams fell out Oct. 2, 2022.
Conference call
SEC (10) Nos. 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 14, 16, 17, 21.
Big Ten (5) Nos. 1, 3, 8, 20, 25.
Big 12 (4) Nos. 7, 15, 23, 24.
ACC (3) Nos. 2, 12, 18.
American (2) Nos. 19, 22.
Independent (1) No. 13.
Ranked vs. ranked
No. 5 Mississippi (6-0) at No. 9 Georgia (5-1): Judging by their close call against Washington State, the Rebels might have been looking ahead to this one. They've lost six straight in Athens since 1996.
No. 10 LSU (5-1) at No. 17 Vanderbilt (5-1): Tigers have won 10 straight in the series. Both teams will be ranked in this matchup for the first time since 1947.
No. 11 Tennessee (5-1) at No. 6 Alabama (5-1): A Top 25 matchup for fifth straight year. Both teams coming off hard-fought, three-point wins.
No. 20 Southern California (5-1) at No. 13 Notre Dame (4-2): High stakes in this storied series with both teams clinging to playoff hopes.
No. 23 Utah (5-1) at No. 15 BYU (6-0): First Top 25 matchup in this one since 2009. Last year, Cougars benefited from a questionable fourth-down defensive holding penalty before kicking field goal with 4 seconds left for a 22-21 win.
The holiday travel season is almost here, and if you dont want yours to start with a major headache, you are going to want to pay attention to the types of batteries you are packing.
Many people jump on a plane with their phone or laptop and don't give it a second thought but those little batteries could cause big problems.
Anything that could be recharged could be a potential hazard," said ESCAPE Inc. President Michael McLeier.
That includes Lithium-ion batteries, which, under the wrong conditions, have the potential to be dangerous.
McLeier recommends being extra careful not to store anything with a rechargeable battery like a laptop, phone or e-cigarette in your checked luggage.
The device could actually overheat," said McLeier. "The battery pack could overheat. It could cause a fire.
If you cant avoid checking a battery, airlines do have specific instructions on how you need to pack them. That includes making sure the battery doesn't have contact with other batteries or metal.
But, no matter where you are going, paying attention to where you get your batteries from is just as important.
Making sure that we're buying them from a reputable source," McLeier added. "Making sure that they are nationally tested, laboratory seal of approval, which is like underwriters, laboratory, Ul, FM, global, they meet those stringent standards and testing requirements, so they're not going to be at risk for our consumers.
And your batterys final destination is another point of focus. McLeier recommends not throwing away any Lithium-Ion battery in the regular trash, but instead take it to an approved recycling center or ask your local fire department.
"When these are disposed of and they get to the recycle center, it can cause a very expensive fire," McLeier said. "It can be a life safety hazard, and we've had recycle facilities that have actually had significant damage to their equipment when they come in contact with a lithium-ion battery.
And all this goes for batteries in the home as well, with the added plea to make sure you have working smoke alarms on every level of your home, inside and outside every sleeping area.
This story was originally published by Andy Curtis with the
One person has been arrested after police found drugs and guns in their car during a traffic stop in Detroit on Saturday night.
We're told the traffic stop happened after a driver disregarded a stop sign. Troopers who pulled the suspect over say that they had a suspended license.
Police searched the car and found a Glock 40 caliber handgun behind the radio, along with over 50 grams of ecstasy and 19 oxycodone pills in the vehicle.
After receiving a search warrant, authorities went to the suspect's home and found cash, 28 more grams of ecstasy, 8 grams of methamphetamine, one revolver and a 12 gauge shotgun.
Below are photos MSP provided of the guns, drugs and money confiscated:
The suspect has been arrested and is currently lodged at the Detroit detention center, awaiting a court date.
Great work by troopers taking this dangerous driver off the streets, said F/Lt. Mike Shaw on X. Troopers then continued their investigation and located narcotics and firearms that could have ended up in our neighborhoods.
The Scripps News Group also spoke with Chad Burney, Chief Financial Officer for GTE Financial, about the latest ways scams have evolved.
"One of the scams that has come up lately is what we call the pop up scamThats basically where the senior citizen or the elderly person is online, perusing online and all of a sudden they get a pop up, a warning message," said Burney.
People are clicking the links on those messages and a virus downloads on their device. Then typically, theres a phone number associated with the pop up message claiming to be tech support.
"That tech support is the bad actors. So they call, they charge them on their credit card for a certain amount of money to fix their computer but they never fix it. Thats one thats really coming up lately," said Burney.
Experts continue to see more text message scams, where for example, a fraudster claims you owe money, is offering you a job, or says you have to pay tolls and sends a compromised link.
"The first time I started getting scam texts was the toll scams that were going on," said Harrington.
"Text messaging is kind of like the vehicle that the bad actors put their links on for members to click on a link which then installs stuff," said Burney.
Both Santos and Burney have seen senior citizens being targeted more than other groups. Theyre encouraging everyone to avoid clicking links, dont trust anyone asking for your information, and change the passwords to your accounts.
"Consumers use the same password for every site they have an account on. Take your password from a password, and make it a passphrase. And what I mean by that is create a 16 or greater character password but make it a phrase that you can remember," said Burney.
"For example lets just say its a Southwest or American Airlines app or United you can basically create your password to say 'I hate flying' or 'I love flying' and then use the first letter of each one,'" said Santos.
This story was originally published by Larissa Scott with the
Michigan’s dime deposit program is almost 50 years old and is always in the news because of efforts to expand or repeal it. But, do you know what happens to that plastic and aluminum when you take it back to a retailer?
Frederick Lawrence is a logistics faculty in CMU’s College of Business Administration and is the director of internships for the logistics management program. He answers questions about what happens behind the scenes.
Q. What do retailers do with bottles and cans after people return them?
Retailers take action based on their size, resources and capabilities. Generally, retailers collect cans, separate them by brand and store them in anticipation of pickup by distributors or third-party recyclers.
Larger retailers, like supercenters, commonly have reverse vending machines (RVMs) which allow customers to manually return their own cans. These machines are equipped with conveyors and scanners which detect what cans or bottles are being fed into the machine, if they are accepted by the retailer, and which brand the item is. Once this information is processed, the bottle or can is crushed by a compactor and sorted automatically.
Smaller retailers commonly store cans and bottles in bins or bags in a storage area and the retailer manually separates the containers according to the respective brand.
Q. How does storing those bottles and cans affect the layout of a store?
The storage of cans and bottles can impact store layout, but more accurately, how space is utilized. These effects vary based on store size, resources and typical volume of returns.
Large-scale retailers typically have a dedicated return area, often near an entrance or side of the store, with multiple RVMs to accept consumer returns. Stores design return areas with proper drainage, ventilation and easy-to-clean surfaces to manage spills and odors as manual can-return can be quite messy.
Large-scale retailers also coordinate frequent pickups with distributors or third-party recyclers to avoid recycling overflow and must allocate loading dock space for bottle and can removal. Smaller retailers, because of a lack of automation, face more spatial constraints and often adjust their layout, either by reducing product stock space or by limiting return volumes per customer (retailers in Michigan may limit refunds to $25 per person per day).
Returns can be stored in a variety of locations, including backrooms, basements, behind the checkout counter or even outdoor sheds. This is largely due to the space constraint of being smaller and not having an abundance of extra space available in the layout.
Since small stores typically lack automated compactors, they must store full-size bottles and cans, which take up more space than crushed cans and bottles. This may result in smaller retailers making tradeoffs in how they utilize space; as an extreme example, space that could be used to sell merchandise may have to be retrofitted to store returnable items.
Q. What kind of infrastructure is necessary to transport those bottles and cans?
Transporting returned bottles and cans in Michigan requires a specialized infrastructure that includes collection systems, storage facilities, transportation vehicles and processing centers.
Retailers play an integral role in the collection and storage of claimed returnables (cans and bottles that consumers return themselves). Following this, cans and bottles are picked up by distributors (like Pepsi or Coca-Cola) and third-party recyclers.
The transportation equipment varies, but can generally involve the use of box trucks, semi-trucks using specialized trailers with compartments for specific recycled materials or compactor trucks (which can be used to crush aluminum in plastic if the retailer has not already done this).
As cost control and value reclamation in this process are critical, haulers generally work to optimize their networks by developing designated collection routes based on retailer locations and return volume. This is called “network optimization” and is one of the many Logistics Management and Supply Chain skills/strategies that Logistics Management majors at CMU learn!
Cans/bottles are crushed and sorted, if they have not been already, and are transported to various processing facilities that can repurpose or reuse the materials.
Q. How much does transporting bottles and cans cost annually?
Exact cost figures are difficult to accurately calculate due to the number of stakeholders and partners involved in recycling bottles and cans and the various methods and resources used (including collection, sorting and transportation expenses). Additionally, not all cost figures associated with these processes are publicly disclosed.
According to Michigan.gov (2025), Michigan’s refund rate was approximately 73% in 2023 with total Michigan deposits of $389.5 million and total refunds of $284.6 million. This means that 27%, or approximately $105.3 million of deposits went unclaimed. An unclaimed can or bottle refers to a beverage container for which a deposit was paid at the time of purchase (by the consumer) but was never returned for a refund.
In Michigan, consumers pay a $0.10 deposit per container when purchasing certain beverages. To get this deposit back, individuals must return the empty container to a participating retailer or redemption center. The unclaimed deposit amount is simply the difference between the deposits collected and the deposits refunded statewide.
Of the statewide revenue generated by unclaimed deposits, the funds are divided so that 75% of the revenue goes to the state (used for environmental cleanup and pollution prevention) and 25% goes to retailers (to help cover the general costs of managing returns). Based on 2023 data on unclaimed deposits, the state received about $79 million, and retailers got around $26 million to help offset handling costs associated with returns.
At the statewide level, this process relies on financial tracking rather than container counting, so the state doesn’t need to locate unclaimed containers. In fact, many unclaimed cans and bottles may end up in landfills, as roadside litter, curbside recycling or even hoarded in garages.
Q. What ultimately happens to bottles and cans that are returned to stores?
Ultimately, once bottles and cans are returned to Michigan retailers and are picked up and transported by various distributors and recyclers, the material will be processed.
Aluminum cans are crushed, shredded, and melted down and the molten aluminum is rolled into sheets and used to manufacture new beverage cans. Interestingly, aluminum cans can be recycled and reused relatively quickly, with some recycled aluminum being returned to shelves as new products in as little as 60 days.
Plastic bottles may be washed for reuse, shredded into small flakes or melted. The recycled plastic can be used to create new beverage bottles or even repurposed in clothing (e.g., fleece jackets), carpeting, auto parts and many other plastic goods.
Overall, the goal is to reclaim value in the recycled goods and to reduce the creation and use of new “virgin” plastics. Michigan’s bottle return system works to ensure that a significant percentage of beverage containers are recycled and repurposed rather than ending up in landfills.
It would make sense that a home town show would be special for a band known as the Pan Detroit Ensemble.
And indeed it was on Saturday, Oct. 11 at Detroit’s Majestic Theatre — especially as it was celebrating the release of its first album.
The nine-member troupe is the brainchild of Don Was, the award-winning elite producer and Blue Note Records label president from Oak Park. It’s been together less than two years and played its first “proper” concert on just over 16 months ago at Orchestra Hall. During the interim the Ensemble has toured internationally in addition to preparing the new “Groove in the Face of Adversity,” which came out the day before the concert.
And as Saturday’s hour-and-40-minute show demonstrated, the nonet has grown into an electrifying ensemble, one capable of — in the Detroit music tradition — exploring a repertoire that blends jazz virtuosity with funk energy and a fearless spirit. Was even acknowledged before a couple of the night’s 15 songs that “we sorta knows this, sorta don’t.”
“We’re on a…mission to promulgate the indigenous sounds of our home town,” Was told the Majestic crowd — which greeted the group with a standing ovation even as it walked on stage — before the Ensemble began the night with its rendition of Hank William’ “I Ain’t Got Nothin’ But Time,” adding that in playing Detroit “it’s so nice to be somewhere we don’t have to promulgate.”
What’s changed for the Ensemble since that Orchestra Hall show is the benefits of time. Back then it was a band of players so skilled that their sheer chops belied its short time together. On Saturday, however, it was evident how it has grown into a true, well, ensemble during the intervening months; the arrangements flowed with instinctive acumen, freely improvising upon the songs’ frameworks and often reaching a place of intuitive, organic ecstasy.
It was clear throughout that the Ensemble didn’t necessarily know what was coming from its individual members but still knew exactly what it was doing.
The Don Was Pan Detroit Ensemble celebrated the release of its first album, "Groove in the Face of Adversity," on Saturday night, Oct. 11 at the Majestic Theatre (Photo by Andrew Potter)
Was made early mention of his 45-year association, dating back to his band Was (Not Was), with keyboardist Luis Resto and saxophonist David McMurray, who were featured on “You Asked, I Came” from Was’ score for the 1994 film “Backbeat” and Yusef Lateef’s trippy “Nubian Lady.” All of the players — drummer Jeff Canaday, trombonist Vincent Chandler, trumpeter John Douglas, guitarist Wayne Gerard and percussionist Mahindi Masai — received spotlight moments throughout the night, while vocalist Steffanie Christi’an showed an even greater comfort in her role, commanding the stage with a ferocious, loose-limbed exuberance.
The substantial number of Deadheads at the Majestic did their part in twirling to Jerry Garcia’s “Loser” and a trio of tracks — “Help on the Way,” “Slipknot” and a euphoric “Franklin’s Tower” — from the Grateful Dead’s 1975 album “Blues For Allah.” The Ensemble dipped into the Was (Not Was) canon for the first-album favorite “Carry Me Back to Old Morocco” and, towards the end of the night, “Wheel Me Out,” which came out of a rendition of Cameo’s “Insane” and found Resto adding violin to the mix.
The Ensemble ended the show with the Impressions’ defiant “This is My Country,” which Was noted “is unfortunately becoming ore apropos every day.”
It’s still a young band, but it’s clear the Ensemble is a growing concern — it already has another tour set for January, including four shows Jan. 9-10 at the Blue Llama Jazz Club in Ann Arbor — that’s only growing in potency and is promulgating its Pan Detroit heritage in a manner that does the city proud.
The Don Was Pan Detroit Ensemble celebrated the release of its first album, "Groove in the Face of Adversity," on Saturday night, Oct. 11 at the Majestic Theatre (Photo by Andrew Potter)
Below is the statement the owners posted to Facebook earlier this weekend:
After nearly 80 incredible years of serving the Downriver cycling community, our family has made the decision to close Petri Bikes (a.k.a. Al Petri & Sons Bicycles.) We plan on remaining open thru November 29th, 2025.Since 1946, when Al and Joyce Petri first opened our doors, Petri Bikes has been more than a store, its been a gathering place, a hub for riders, and a part of countless family stories. From first bikes and race tune-ups to charity rides and local events, weve shared the joy of cycling with generations of amazing people.Over the past several years, the face of retail has changed dramatically, and bicycle retail in particular has become an increasingly challenging space. With those shifts, and with retirement on the horizon for much of our family and team,we felt the time was right to close this chapter on our own terms.This isnt a story of loss, but one of gratitude. Were deeply thankful for every customer, friend, and supporter whos been a part of our journey. The relationships weve built and the community weve been proud to serve, mean more than words can express.While the bicycle store will no longer occupy its familiar home, the impact of Petri Bikes will live on in the rides, the friendships, and the spirit of cycling that continue to thrive here in Downriver.From our family to yours, thank you for nearly 80 years of loyalty, laughter, and shared miles. The Petri Family
A mass shooting at a crowded bar on an idyllic South Carolina island has left four people dead and at least 20 injured, officials say.
The shooting occurred early Sunday at Willie's Bar and Grill on St. Helena Island, officials said. A large crowd was at the scene when sheriff's deputies arrived and found several people suffering from gunshot wounds.
Multiple victims and witnesses ran to the nearby businesses and properties seeking shelter from the gun shots, the Beaufort County Sheriffs Office said in a statement on the social media platform X.
This is a tragic and difficult incident for everyone. We ask for your patience as we continue to investigate this incident. Our thoughts are with all of the victims and their loved ones, the statement said.
Four people were found dead at the scene, and at least 20 other people were injured. Among the injured, four were in critical condition at area hospitals.
The victims' identities were not released.
COMPLETELY HEARTBROKEN to learn about the devastating shooting in Beaufort County, U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace posted on X. Our prayers are with the victims, their families, and everyone impacted by this horrific act of violence.
A woman is dead, and six people were hospitalized after the driver of a Buick crashed into a tractor in Kimball Township on Saturday night.
The St. Clair County Sheriff's Office tells us the crash happened around 7:30 p.m. on Smiths Creek Road, west of Burns Road.
Investigators say that the tractor was being driven by a 79-year-old Kimball Township man, who was pulling a trailer with five passengers when the vehicle was struck by the driver of a Buick Regal. Police tell us the driver of the tractor was heading west without proper rear lights or a slow-moving vehicle emblem when it was struck from behind.
One of the passengers in the trailer, an 85-year-old Kimball Township woman, was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the tractor was hospitalized and is believed to be in critical condition.
The following people were also hospitalized:
-A 77-year-old woman riding in the trailer (serious injuries)
-A 67-year-old woman from St. Clair Shores (minor injuries)
-A 62-year-old woman from Kimball Township (minor injuries)
-A 54-year-old man from Kimball Township (minor injuries)
-A 44-year-old Kimball Township man driving the Buick (minor injuries)
The crash is still being investigated by the Sheriff's Office as of Sunday morning.
LONDON (AP) — iPhone users have a new tool to combat the scourge of nuisance phone calls: a virtual gatekeeper that can screen incoming calls from unknown numbers.
It’s among the bevy of new features that Apple rolled out with last month’s release of iOS 26. The screening feature has been getting attention because of the ever-increasing amount of robocalls and spam calls that leave many phone users feeling harassed.
Here’s a run-through of the new function:
How to activate call screening
First, you’ll need to update your iPhone’s operating system to iOS 26, which is available to the iPhone 11 and newer models.
To switch call screening on, go into Settings–Apps—Phone. Scroll down and you’ll find a new option: Screen Unknown Callers.
You’ll be presented with three choices. The Never option lets any unknown call ring through, while Silence sends all unidentified numbers directly to voicemail. What you want to tap is the middle option: Ask Reason for Calling.
If the option isn’t there, try restarting your phone.
I still couldn’t find it after updating to iOS 26, but, after some online sleuthing, I checked my region and language settings because I saw some online commenters reporting they had to match. It turns out my region was still set to Hong Kong, where I lived years ago. I switched it to the United Kingdom, which seemed to do the trick and gave me the updated menu.
How it works
Call screening introduces a layer between you and new callers.
When someone who’s not in your contacts list dials your number, a Siri-style voice will ask them to give their name and the purpose of their call.
At the same time, you’ll get a notification that the call is being screened. When the caller responds, the answers will be transcribed and the conversation will pop up in speech bubbles.
You can then answer the call.
Don’t want to answer? Send a reply by tapping one of the pre-written messages, such as “I’ll call you later” or “Send more information,” which the AI voice will read out to the caller.
Or you can type out your own message for the computer-generated voice to read out.
If you don’t respond right away, the phone will continue to ring while you decide what to do.
Teething troubles
In theory, call screening is a handy third way between the nuclear option of silencing all unknown callers — including legitimate ones — or letting them all through.
But it doesn’t always work perfectly, according to Associated Press colleagues and anecdotal reports from social media users.
One AP colleague said she was impressed with how seamlessly it worked. Another said it’s handy for screening out cold callers who found his number from marketing databases.
“However, it’s not great when delivery drivers try to call me and then just hang up,” he added.
Some internet users have similar complaints, complaining that important calls that they were expecting from their auto mechanic or plumber didn’t make it through. Perhaps the callers assumed it was an answering machine and didn’t seem to realize they had to stay on the line and interact with it.
I encountered a different issue the first time it kicked in for me, when an unknown caller — whether mistakenly or not — threw me off by giving my name instead of theirs. So I answered because I assumed it was someone I knew, forgetting that I could tap out a reply asking them again for their name.
The caller turned out to be someone who had obtained my name and number and was trying to get me to do a survey. I had to make my excuses and hang up.
If you don’t like call screening, you can turn it off at any time.
As for Android
Apple is catching up with Google, which introduced a similar automatic call screening feature years ago for Pixel users in the United States.
Last month, the company announced the feature is rolling out to users in three more countries: Australia, Canada and Ireland.
If it’s not already on, go to your Phone app’s Settings and look for Call Screen.
Google’s version is even more automated. When someone you don’t know calls, the phone will ask who it is and why they’re calling. It will hang up if it determines that it’s a junk call, but let calls it deems to be legit ring through.
Google warns that not all spam calls and robocalls can be detected, nor will it always fully understand and transcribe what a caller says.
Samsung, too, lets users of its Galaxy Android phones screen calls by using its AI assistant Bixby’s text call function, which works in a similar way.
Is there a tech topic that you think needs explaining? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your suggestions for future editions of One Tech Tip.
The iPhone 17 is displayed during an announcement of new products at Apple Park on Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025, in Cupertino, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
Freshman walk-on King Miller rushed for 158 yards and a touchdown, and Jayden Maiava passed for 265 yards and two scores in Southern California's emphatic 31-13 victory over No. 15 Michigan on Saturday night.
Despite playing without two starting offensive linemen, USC won with hard-nosed Big Ten football that included 224 yards rushing most from tailbacks far down the depth chart against the nation's seventh-ranked run defense. Bishop Fitzgerald made two interceptions to highlight a strong effort by USC's defense.
We really were looking forward to this game, (and) I thought we attacked it, dominated the football game on all sides, USC coach Lincoln Riley said. A gritty, tough performance. You could just feel it with the group.
Bryce Underwood passed for 207 yards and two touchdowns for the Wolverines (4-2, 2-1), whose three-game winning streak ended. Michigan hadn't allowed more than 7 yards per play in a game since its College Football Playoff semifinal loss to Georgia in December 2021.
Credit to them, credit to Lincoln and that staff and what they did, but theres things that we've got to look at, we've got to fix, and we've got to make sure we attack, Michigan coach Sherrone Moore said. It was good to see the fight as the team went. Theres never any quit with the team, but theres things that you have to fix in these big-time games against really good opponents to win.
Michigan scored just once on its first six full drives into the fourth quarter, but the Wolverines' defense made two red-zone takeaways to keep them from getting blown out before Andrew Marsh made a 69-yard TD catch with 9:17 left, trimming USC's lead to 24-13.
But backup tailback Bryan Jackson romped in for a 29-yard TD with 4:21 left to seal USC's first victory over Michigan since the Rose Bowl in January 2007. Jackson was officially designated as Out before the game with what Riley revealed was turf toe, but the coach said USC received in-game approval from the Big Ten to allow Jackson to play because of the Trojans' injuries.
These historic college football powerhouses have beaten each other at home in their first two seasons as Big Ten rivals.
Both teams star running backs got hurt in the first half, with USCs Waymond Jordan and Michigans Justice Haynes missing the second half.
Miller seized his opportunity with the first three tailbacks on the Trojans' depth chart all sidelined by injury, ripping off a 49-yard run and a 47-yard run to extend second-half drives. He became the first walk-on to score a touchdown for USC since 1994 with a 15-yard run in the third quarter.
It was all honestly just a dream come true, Miller said. The whole (running back) group is amazing, so no matter who you put in there, we always believe we can go out there and shock the world.
Michigan was making its first trip to the Los Angeles area since beating Alabama in a classic Rose Bowl 22 months ago on the way to its national championship under Jim Harbaugh, who joined the Los Angeles Chargers shortly afterward. The Coliseum was packed for USCs only home game in a six-week stretch, with thousands of Wolverines fans helping to fill the 102-year-old arena.
Ja'Kobi Lane made a short TD catch to cap USC's smooth opening drive, but Jyaire Hill forced a fumble inside the Michigan 10 moments later.
Michigan finally scored 3:09 before halftime on Underwood's sharp throw to Donaven McCulley, but USC streaked back downfield for Lemon's highlight-reel catch while falling on his back under heavy contact.
Underwood threw a red-zone interception late in the third quarter to Fitzgerald.
We didnt give our defense time to be off the field all night, and I put that on myself, Michigan running back Jordan Marshall said. "Im going to help lead this team to make sure that we can be better in all phases of the game.
Takeaways
Michigan didn't really meet the Trojans' physical challenge, but injuries and inexperience played a part. The trip will be a learning experience for a team still fighting to get back to its championship form of two seasons ago.
USC has a strong chance to return to the AP Top 25 after its most impressive win since Riley's debut season in 2022. This program finally has some serious momentum but now it has to go to South Bend.
A ceasefire in the war in Gaza was holding for the third day on Sunday as aid agencies worked to rush in more desperately needed aid to the besieged territory under the truce deal. Preparations were also underway for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza and Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who pushed to clinch the ceasefire deal, is expected to arrive in Israel Monday morning. He will meet with families of hostages and speak at the Knesset, Israels parliament, according to a schedule released by the White House.
Trump will then continue on to Egypt, where the office of Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has said he will co-chair a peace summit on Monday with attendance by regional and international leaders.
Gaza's Hamas-run Interior Ministry has deployed thousands of police in areas the Israeli military withdrew from after the ceasefire took effect.
Armed policemen were seen on Gaza City streets and in southern Gaza on Saturday, providing a sense of security to the local population. The police also provided security for aid trucks driving through areas no controlled by the Israeli military, according to residents.
Heres the latest:
UN aid agency standing ready
The largest humanitarian actor in Gaza, UNRWA, which has the equivalent of 6,000 trucks of aid waiting outside in Egypt and Jordan, said it had no clarity on its role in the new scaling up of relief provided to Gaza.
Spokesperson Jonathan Fowler said the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees is standing ready to contribute and has enough food supplies in its warehouses for the entire population of the Gaza Strip for three months.
No US troops in Gaza, says Vance
As Trump prepares to travel to the Middle East, his vice president said he believes we are on the cusp of peace in Gaza for the first time not just in a couple of years, but really in a very long time.
Trump has been able to unite the Israelis with the Gulf Arab states for a common objective, and that is to bring the hostages home, to stop the war and to build the kind of long time settlement that we really do believe can lead to a lasting peace, JD Vance told NBCs Meet the Press on Sunday.
He said about 200 troops from U.S. Central Command are already in the region to monitor the terms of the ceasefire and help ensure the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
It's not going to be necessary for American troops to be in Gaza, Vance said.
More aid into Gaza
Associated Press footage showed dozens of trucks crossing the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing with the Gaza Strip. The Egyptian Red Crescent said they carried medical supplies, tents, blankets, food and fuel.
The trucks will head to the inspection area in the Kerem Shalom crossing for screening by Israeli troops.
Abeer Etifa, a spokeswoman for the World Food Program, said workers were clearing roads inside Gaza Sunday to facilitate delivery.
The Israeli defense body in charge of humanitarian aid in Gaza, COGAT, said that the amount of aid entering the Gaza Strip is expected to increase Sunday to around 600 trucks per day, as stipulated in the agreement.
Egypt said it is sending 400 aid trucks into Gaza Sunday. The trucks will have to be inspected by Israeli forces before being allowed in.
Preparations for release of hostages
A message sent Saturday from Gal Hirsch, Israels coordinator for the hostages and the missing and obtained by the AP, told hostage families to prepare for the release of their loved ones starting Monday morning. One of the families of the hostages confirmed the notes authenticity.
Hirsch said preparations in hospitals and in Reiim camp were complete to receive the live hostages, while the dead will be transferred to the Institute of Forensic Medicine for identification.
Israeli officials believe about 20 of the hostages out of 48 held by Hamas and other Palestinian factions in Gaza are still alive. All of the living hostages are expected to be released Monday.
Palestinian prisoners to be freed
The timing has not yet been announced for the release of some 2,000 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel who are to be freed under the deal. They include 250 people serving life sentences in addition to 1,700 people seized from Gaza during the war and held without charge.
Health authorities in Gaza are preparing for the return of 1,900 Palestinian prisoners many of whom are expected to require urgent treatment and dead bodies taken by Israels military from the strip, Dr. Mounir al-Boursh, Director General of the Ministry of Health in the enclave, said in a statement.
He said he hopes that the bodies of medical personnel who died in Israeli detention centers will be among those handed over and called for the release of doctors Hossam Abu Safiya and Marwan al-Hams, who were detained from Gaza during the war.
Satellite photos show Gazans returning home
The photos, taken on Saturday and analyzed by the AP, show a line of vehicles traveling north to Gaza City. The line of vehicles was seen on Al Rashid Street, which runs north-south along the Gaza Strips coastline on the Mediterranean Sea.
Tents along the coast also could be seen near Gaza Citys marina. Many people have been living along the sea to avoid being targeted in Israeli bombardment of the city.
Armed police were seen in Gaza City and southern Gaza patrolling the streets and securing aid trucks driving through areas from which the Israeli military had withdrawn, according to residents. The police force is part of the Hamas-run Interior Ministry.
Leaders heading to Egypt
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will travel to Egypt to take part in the signing ceremony on the truce agreement for Gaza, according to his spokesperson.
Germany will be committed to implementing the peace plan, initially focusing on maintaining a stable ceasefire and providing humanitarian aid, Stefan Cornelius said in a written statement Sunday, adding that the chancellors trip tomorrow underscores this commitment.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Foreign Minister George Gerapetritis will also be attending the summit in Egypt, as will Cyprus President Nikos Christodoulides and Pakistans Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, officials said Sunday.
European Council President Antnio Costa will take part in the ceremony behalf of the 27-nation bloc.
SEATTLE ― Home-field advantage doesn’t get talked about as much in baseball as some other sports, notably football.
And the electric factory that was T-Mobile Park on Friday might’ve made the difference. At the least, it certainly made a difference early in the game when the Seattle Mariners took a 1-0 lead in a game they eventually won, 3-2, in 15 innings, to cap off a spectacular American League Division Series.
The volume level was off the charts almost the entire night, from pitch No. 1 to pitch No. 472, which Jorge Polanco ripped for a winning single that sent the Mariners to the AL Championship Series, and sent the Tigers home.
“This ballpark was just loud from the first pitch and all the way through the 15th inning and kept us going tonight,” Mariners manager Dan Wilson said. “I think our guys fed off that very well.”
The decibel level certainly seemed to impact the game in the second inning, after Josh Naylor scraped a one-out double the opposite way to left field.
Then, after the double early in a scoreless Game 5, Naylor started hopping off second base, and when he realized Tigers ace Tarik Skubal wasn’t turning around, Naylor, after starting and stopping, bolted for third, and he stole the base pretty easily. Second baseman Gleyber Torres was yelling at Skubal to step off, according to shortstop Javy Báez .
Skubal clearly couldn’t hear him, amid a crowd of 47,025 screaming fans, and he went home with the ball. Naylor was the first player to attempt a steal of third off Skubal all season. Naylor’s a smart base runner. He has the physical stature of a guy who can count his stolen bases on one hand, but he had 30 in the regular season in 2025.
“Being loud … communication is really hard,” Báez said in the Tigers’ quiet clubhouse after the game, while the Mariners continued to celebrate on the field with champagne. “He just played good baseball,.
“He did his homework. He know Tarik wasn’t going to pick (off) to second. But, you know, that’s part of the game.”
Naylor getting to third base proved huge, when the next batter, Mitch Garver, lofted a flyball to center field that was plenty deep enough to score Naylor for the first run of the game.
Tigers catcher Dillon Dingler was asked about the play after the game, and said he didn’t want to shout anything to his pitcher in that moment, because he’s fearful it could’ve caused a knee-jerk movement and, thus, a balk that would’ve gotten Naylor over to third base, anyway.
Dingler said maybe he could’ve called timeout when Naylor was just starting to dance off second base, but he didn’t even know if he could be granted a timeout if the runner was already in motion.
“I really don’t know, to be honest. I’ll have to figure it out,” Dingler said. “It’s one of those things where I didn’t know if he could maybe hear the people behind him, middle infielders, but it’s just one of those things, you don’t want make that situation worse.
“At the end of the day, if he gets to third, you know, he has a chance to punch out (Garver).”
It was a big early run off Skubal, who was outstanding all postseason, and Friday was no exception.
After the Naylor double, Skubal retired the last 14 batters he faced, including seven strikeouts in a row at one point. He finished with 13 strikeouts, and 36 for his three playoff starts in 2025, spanning 20.2 innings. Skubal’s playoff run, even going back to last year, has been so historic, the Mariners’ postgame notes included nine paragraphs about Skubal, invoking comparisons to such legends of the game as Bob Gibson, Tom Seaver and Justin Verlander.
Even though he’s a local boy of sorts, having pitched at Seattle U, Skubal was greeted by Mariners fans with the loudest boos, by far, during pregame introductions. Of course, you don’t boo the ones you don’t care about.
The atmosphere, with fans in the stadium for more than seven hours Friday night, was in stark contrast to Game 4 at Comerica Park, which wasn’t even sold out ― a first for a postseason game at that ballpark. Tigers fans eventually perked up, in a 9-3 win that forced a Game 5 in Seattle. At T-Mobile Park on Friday, where the roof was closed, Mariners fans never really perked down, even if alcohol sales were cut off with, as it turns out, many innings to go.
MLB Network’s Jon Morosi on social media called the stadium vibe ― they even lit off fireworks when the innertube-wearing Humpy the Salmon got his first-ever win in the “Go Fish” race, the second of the night, in the 14th inning, moments before the Mariners’ walk-off winner ― one of best in all of sports.
“That’s everything we would have wanted in a game, the atmosphere, the energy,” Tigers reliever Kyle Finnegan said. “That environment was incredible.”
The get-in price for Game 5 tickets on the secondary market was more than $250 before first pitch Friday night, and there were far fewer Tigers fans in Seattle on Friday than there were Mariners fans in Detroit earlier in the week.
The Mariners now will host Games 3, 4 and, if necessary, 5 of the ALCS against the Toronto Blue Jays next week. It’s Seattle’s first appearance in the ALCS since 2001.
Those games in Seattle will be sellouts, and they will be loud ― and fans just might, again, make a difference.
“I didn’t hear much. The crowd was very loud,” said Polanco, who had a big hand in both of Skubal’s starts in the ALDS, homering twice off the lefty in the Mariners’ 3-2 win in Game 2, and then hitting the walk-off against Tommy Kahnle in the 15th inning of Game 5. “I just want to say, ‘thank you’ for that.
“And, hopefully, they keep showing up.”
Mariners fans cheer after the Tigers’ Spencer Torkelson strikes out in the first inning of Game 5 of the American League Division Series on Friday night at T-Mobile Park in Seattle. (ROBIN BUCKSON — The Detroit News)
Mourners who gathered in Fenton on Saturday to remember the life of Thelma Armstrong, 54, a victim of the September attack on a Mormon church in Grand Blanc Township, remembered her as a warm, loving person who had a deep devotion to her family and her faith.
Armstrong’s friends and family, who knew her as “Yia Yia,” said she lit up a room with her sunny personality, loved the colors pink and red and had a strong work ethic. She raised two children, Charne’ Lichtenberg and Damon Du Bruyn, on her own and had three grandchildren.
Her son, Damon, said during the memorial service the “world has lost a little bit of joy and a little bit of fire” with his mother’s passing.
“I think the thing that will stay with me forever is just my mom’s kindness. And she never knew how to hold a grudge,” he said.
Armstrong was worshiping at the Grand Blanc Township Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Sept. 28 when Thomas Jacob Sanford, 40, of Burton rammed his pickup truck into the side of the church, shot at congregants and set the building on fire, authorities said.
Two people died from the gunfire, eight were wounded and two bodies were discovered in the rubble of the church, The victims’ ages ranged from 6 to 78 years old. Police shot and killed Sanford at the scene.
Mourners, some dressed in red, filled a chapel in the Sharp Funeral Home in Fenton on Saturday. Pink, red and white flowers surrounded two photos of Armstrong.
Armstrong was born on May 8, 1971, in Klerksdorp, South Africa, according to her online obituary. She immigrated to the U.S. in 2019 to be near her grandchildren, her son-in-law said in remarks at her service.
Thelma Rina Armstrong. (Family pohto)
“She had endured so many trials in her life, and she knew what it was to struggle,” said her son-in-law, Shane Lichtenberg. “And yet none of us knew that, because she shouldered it so well and she had a smile on her face no matter what happened in her life.”
She converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 2011, but Armstrong had always been religious, her obituary said. Her daughter said she felt immediately connected to missionaries who came to her door because of their name tags reading “Jesus Christ.” The bonds she built with them earned her the nickname “Missionary Mother.” She taught a class for 5-year-olds at the Grand Blanc Township church.
In South Africa, Armstrong managed a local grocery store in Klerksdorp called Food Zone. After she moved to the U.S., she worked as a quality technician at American Axle.
Mourners leave after funeral services for Thelma Armstrong at the Sharp Funeral Home, in Fenton, Oct. 11, 2025. Armstrong was killed during a shooting and fire at the Grand Blanc Township Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Sept. 28. (David Guralnick/MediaNews Group)
Speakers said she was always proud of her children, and loved when her daughter picked out her clothes and helped her do her hair. But she considered everyone family, according to her obituary.
Armstrong’s daughter, Charne’ Lichtenberg, shared one of her favorite stories about her mother. On her seventh birthday, her mother told her she had a surprise. Excited about the possibility of a Barbie doll, Lichtenberg was disappointed to see a figure of Jesus in her hand instead − not knowing she would come to appreciate the gift later.
“But what I know now as an adult that − of course I didn’t know at the time as a 7-year-old girl − is that she had placed the biggest gift in my hand that day, and that was the gift of knowing my savior, Jesus Christ,” Lictenberg said.
Mourners leave after the funeral for Thelma Armstrong at the Sharp Funeral Home, in Fenton, Oct. 11, 2025. Armstrong was killed during a shooting and fire at the Grand Blanc Township Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, September 28. (David Guralnick/MediaNews Group)
Another weekend of college football is in full swing. Here are some of the more notable winners and losers so far:
Alabama (winner)
Is there a grand, overarching theme of the No. 8 Crimson Tide’s 27-24 victory Saturday at No. 14 Missouri? Probably not. It was a pairing of well-regarded teams, neither led by more than 10, and both defenses performed ably.
Frankly, it didn’t stray too far from what anyone imagines as a standard-issue game between teams in the top half of the SEC.
Yet it was another significant step for Alabama (5-1, 3-0) – toward a league title, sure, but also toward preserving some flexibility for playoff positioning.
The Crimson Tide has spent the past three weeks dealing Georgia, Vanderbilt and Missouri (5-1, 1-1) their first losses of the season. Maybe all of those triumphs don’t hold up come early December, but one or two of them probably will.
The schedule also turns in Alabama’s favor, at least a little. It has just one trip outside the state (Oct. 25 at South Carolina) in the regular season. Four of its final six are at home. And the three credible playoff contenders left – Tennessee, LSU and Oklahoma – all have to visit Tuscaloosa.
Hefty though that may seem, just remember those are the games the Crimson Tide has largely aced in the past two seasons. Alabama is 6-1 against ranked teams under Coach Kalen DeBoer, with Saturday’s effort just the latest example of the Crimson Tide thriving in big games.
UCLA (winner)
At the professional level, an early-season firing in many sports can be spun not merely as ditching a losing coach but also an attempt to salvage a season. That’s a harder sell at the college level, especially in football. The season is too short, and there usually isn’t a realistic chance to hire someone from the outside until November or December.
So when a college football program pulls the plug on a coach’s tenure, the best thing that is likely to come from it is a head start in the search for a new sideline boss.
UCLA might be an exception. After firing DeShaun Foster after an ugly 0-3 start, the Bruins have progressed rapidly under interim coach Tim Skipper. They lost by a field goal at Northwestern, then stunned Penn State last week in the season’s most startling result to date.
But was it a fluke? Saturday’s 38-13 clobbering of Michigan State would suggest otherwise. UCLA (2-4, 2-1 Big Ten) dominated the middle of the game against the Spartans (3-3, 0-3), who gave up 38 straight points.
The Bruins still have trips to Indiana, Ohio State and Southern California to come, as well as a visit from Washington, so the path to even a .500 season remains challenging. But it was almost unthinkable to even dream of that possibility a few weeks ago. UCLA’s rapid progression to competency has secured much more of a short-term payoff than anyone could have anticipated from an early coaching change.
Florida State (loser)
So the Seminoles are not back, huh?
One of the belles of the ball on the opening weekend of the season, Florida State has backed up its upset of Alabama (and routs of East Texas A&M and Kent State) with … a double-overtime loss at Virginia, a one-possession loss to Miami and now Saturday’s 34-31 setback against Pittsburgh.
It isn’t to suggest the No. 25 Seminoles (3-3, 0-3 ACC) are a disaster like a year ago, when they went 2-10. That team would have loved to have had enough answers to score 30-plus points in a conference loss, as this one has twice in the past three weeks. Florida State cracked 17 points just once against a Football Bowl Subdivision team last season.
But between some recent injury issues and benefiting from an oddly feeble performance from Alabama back on Aug. 30, the Seminoles find themselves teetering into the territory of being a mild disappointment. An ACC title is basically out at this point, but this is clearly a better bunch than a year ago. There’s an urgent need to show it, and next week’s trip to Stanford provides an opportunity to do exactly that.
South Florida (winner)
When the Bulls were last getting national attention, they followed up opening victories over then-ranked Boise State and Florida teams with a 37-point thumping at Miami. Hey, it happens.
Since then, Coach Alex Golesh’s team has pounded a Football Championship Subdivision team (63-14 over South Carolina State) and worn out the scoreboard on back-to-back Friday nights against a pair of conference foes (54-26 at home against Charlotte and 63-36 at North Texas).
The latter game came this Friday night against the previously unbeaten Mean Green, which was on the cusp of taking a 21-14 lead into the break before muffing a punt in the final minute of the first half. The No. 24 Bulls (5-1, 2-0 American) scored a touchdown with two seconds to go, setting off a surge that continued well into the third quarter.
South Florida opened the second half with a four-play touchdown drive. Two plays after North Texas (5-1, 1-1) threw an interception, the Bulls reached the end zone again. And four snaps into the next drive, Jhalyn Shuler returned a fumble 34 yards for a touchdown to make it 42-21.
The final tally was four touchdowns (and three North Texas turnovers) in a little more than four minutes. When coaches preach about the value of the “middle eight” – the last four minutes of the first half and the first four minutes of the second – they could do a lot worse than point to how South Florida flipped this game and remained part of a scrum of unbeatens in American play that also includes Memphis, Tulane and Saturday’s Navy/Temple winner.
Kennesaw State (winner)
The Owls endured a less-than-stellar FBS debut last season – a midweek upset of Liberty notwithstanding – and the firing of coach Brian Bohannon with three games to go was bungled in absurd fashion. They finished 2-10, and there was little optimism outside the Atlanta suburbs that Kennesaw State would venture too far from the Conference USA cellar this season.
All of which makes the Owls’ 35-7 rout of Louisiana Tech on Thursday more than mention-worthy a couple of days later. After a one-point defeat at Wake Forest in Coach Jerry Mack’s debut and a blowout loss at Indiana, Kennesaw State has rattled off four consecutive victories (all at home) and might be one of the sport’s most improved teams.
Georgia Southern transfer Dexter Williams II threw for 290 yards and four touchdowns Thursday as the Owls remained one of three undefeated teams in CUSA. The back half of the schedule includes four road games out of six (including a trip to Jacksonville State), but things are clearly on the right track at Kennesaw State.
Demond Williams Jr. (winner)
The Washington sophomore, fresh off helping the Huskies erase a 20-point deficit in a victory last week at Maryland, authored a career night Friday in a 38-19 defeat of Rutgers.
Williams threw for a career-high 402 yards and rushed for 136 yards while totaling four touchdowns as Washington (5-1, 2-1 Big Ten) beat a team coming off an open date for the second consecutive week.
The Huskies went 6-7 last season, a transition year after the bulk of their national runner-up team (including DeBoer) departed and Jedd Fisch arrived from Arizona. But Williams played in every game, gradually getting some experience before starting against Oregon in the regular season finale and against Louisville in the Sun Bowl.
He has settled in quite well, throwing for 1,628 yards, 10 touchdowns and one interception while adding 382 yards and four touchdowns on the ground. Those are solid half-season stats, and if the Huskies and Williams can both thrive the next two weeks at Michigan and at home against Illinois, the quarterback could well start drawing more national attention.
Alabama running back Daniel Hill, right, celebrates his touchdown with Danny Lewis Jr., (87) during the second half an NCAA college football game against Missouri Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025, in Columbia, Mo. (L.G. PATTERSON — AP Photo)
Stacey Knoll thought the court summons she received was a scam. She didn’t remember getting any medical bills from Montrose Regional Health, a nonprofit hospital, after a 2020 emergency room visit.
So she was shocked when, three years after the trip to the hospital, her employer received court orders requiring it to start funneling a chunk of her paychecks to a debt collector for an unpaid $881 medical bill — which had grown to $1,155.26 from interest and court fees.
The timing was terrible. After leaving a bad marriage and staying in a shelter, she had just gotten full custody of her three children, steady housing in Montrose, Colorado, and a job at a gas station.
“And that’s when I got that garnishment from the court,” she said. “It was really scary. I’d never been on my own or raised kids on my own.”
KFF Health News reviewed 1,200 Colorado cases in which judges, over a two-year period from Feb. 1, 2022, through Feb. 1, 2024, gave permission to garnish wages over unpaid bills. At least 30% of the cases stemmed from medical care — even when patients’ bills should have been covered by Medicaid, the public insurance program for those with low incomes or disabilities. That 30% is likely an underestimate since medical debt is often hidden behind other types of debt, such as from credit cards or payday loans. But even that minimum would translate to roughly 14,000 cases a year in Colorado in which courts approved taking people’s wages because of unpaid medical bills.
Among the other findings:
Patients were pursued for medical bills ranging from under $30 to over $30,000, with most of the bills amounting to less than $2,400. As the cases rolled through the legal system, accumulating interest and court fees, the amount that patients owed often grew by 25%. In one case, it snowballed by more than 400%.
Cases trailed people for up to 14 years after they received medical care, with debt collectors reviving their cases even as they moved from job to job.
Medical providers of all stripes are behind these bills — big health care chains, small rural hospitals, physician groups, public ambulance services, and more. In several cases, hospitals won permission to take the pay of their own employees who had unpaid bills from treatment at the facilities.
Colorado has company. It is one of 45 states that allow wage garnishment for unpaid medical bills. Only Delaware, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Texas have banned wage garnishment for medical debt.
As KFF Health News has reported, medical debt is devastating for millions of people across the country. And now the problem is likely to grow more pressing nationwide. Millions of Americans are expected to lose health insurance in the coming years due to Medicaid changes in President Donald Trump’s tax and spending law and if Congress allows some Affordable Care Act subsidies to expire. That means health crises for the newly uninsured could lead them, too, into a spiral of medical debt.
“If you can’t maintain your health, how are you going to work to pay back a debt?” said Adam Fox, deputy director of the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative, a nonprofit aimed at lowering health costs. “And if you fundamentally can’t pay the bill, wage garnishment isn’t going to help you do that. It’s going to put you in more financial distress.”
Flying blind on medical debt
When someone fails to pay a bill, the creditor that provided the service — whether for a garage door repair, a car loan, or medical care — can take the debtor to court. Creditors can also pass the debt to a debt collector or debt buyer, who can do the same.
“At any given point, about 1% of working adults are being garnished for some reason,” said Anthony DeFusco, an economist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who studied paycheck data from ADP, a payroll processor that distributes paychecks to about a fifth of private sector U.S. workers. “That’s a big chunk of the population.”
But specific research into the practice of garnishing wages over medical debt is scant. Studies in North Carolina, Virginia, and New York have found that nonprofit hospitals commonly garnish wages from indebted patients, with some studies finding those patients tend to work in low-wage occupations.
Marty Makary, who led research on medical debt wage garnishment in Virginia at Johns Hopkins University before joining Trump’s cabinet as Food and Drug Administration commissioner, has called the practice “aggressive.” He co-authored a study that found 36% of Virginia hospitals, mostly nonprofit and mostly in urban areas, were using garnishment to collect unpaid debts in 2017, affecting thousands of patients.
The Colorado findings from KFF Health News show that hospitals are far from the only medical providers going after patients’ paychecks, though.
Researchers and advocates say that, in addition to a dearth of court case data, another phenomenon tends to obscure how often this happens. “People find debt shameful,” said Lester Bird, a senior manager at the Pew Charitable Trusts who specializes in courts. “A lot of this exists in the shadows.”
Without data on how often this tactic is employed, lawmakers are flying blind — even as a 2024 Associated Press-NORC poll showed about 4 in 5 U.S. adults believe it’s important for the federal government to provide medical debt relief.
‘Blood from a turnip’
Colorado was among the first of 15 states to scratch medical debt from credit reports. Debt buyers in the state aren’t allowed to foreclose on a patient’s home. If qualified patients opt to pay in monthly installments, those payments shouldn’t exceed 6% of their household income — and the remaining debt gets wiped after about three years of paying.
But if they don’t agree to a payment plan, Coloradans can have up to 20% of their disposable earnings garnished. The National Consumer Law Center gave the state a “D” grade for state protections of family finances.
Consumer advocates said they aren’t sure how well even those Colorado requirements are being followed. And people wrote letters to the courts saying wage garnishment would exacerbate their already dire financial situations.
“I have begun to fall behind on my electricity, my gas, my water my credit cards,” wrote a man in western Colorado in a letter to a judge that KFF Health News obtained in the court filings. Court records show he was working in construction and at a rent-to-own store, with about $8,000 in medical debt. He wrote to the judge that he was paying close to $1,000 a month. “The way things are going now I will lose everything.”
The people being sued in KFF Health News’ Colorado review worked in a wide array of jobs. They worked in school districts, ranching, mining, construction, local government, even health care. Several worked at stores such as Walmart and Family Dollar, or at gas stations, restaurants, or grocery stores.
“You’re really kicking people when they’re down,” said Lois Lupica, a former attorney working with the Denver-based Community Economic Defense Project and the Debt Collection Lab at Princeton. “They’re basically suing the you-can’t-get-blood-from-a-turnip population.”
In 2022, court records show, Valley View health system based in Glenwood Springs was allowed to garnish the wages of one of its patients over a $400 medical bill. The patient was working at a local organization that the health system supported as part of the community benefits it provides to keep its tax-exempt status. Nonprofit hospitals like Valley View are required to provide community benefits, which can also include charity care that covers patients’ bills.
Stacey Gavrell, the health system’s chief community relations officer, said it offers options such as interest-free payment plans and care at reduced or no cost to families with incomes up to 500% of the federal poverty level.
“As our rural region’s largest healthcare provider, it is imperative to the health and well-being of our community that Valley View remains a financially viable organization,” she said. “Most of our patients work with us to develop a payment plan or pursue financial assistance.”
The collection agency that took the employee to court, A-1 Collection Agency, advertises itself on its website as empathetic: “We understand times are tough and money is tight.”
Pilar Mank, who oversees operations at A-1’s parent company, Healthcare Management, said it accepts payment plans as small as $50 a month and that most of the hospitals it works with allow it to offer a discount if patients pay all at once.
“Suing a patient is the absolute last resort,” she said. “We try everything we can to work with the patient.”
If you can’t maintain your health, how are you going to work to pay back a debt?
Hospitals sometimes also garnish wages from their own employees for care they provided them. In one case, a hospital employee worked her way up from housekeeper to registrar to quality analyst. She even participated in public events representing her employer and appeared on the hospital’s website as a featured employee — while the court issued writs of garnishment until her $10,000 in medical bills from the hospital was paid off.
“Hospital care costs money to deliver,” said Colorado Hospital Association spokesperson Julie Lonborg about hospitals’ garnishing their own employees’ wages. “In some ways, I think it’s funny to be asked the question. I would understand if someone said, ‘Why aren’t you garnishing their wages?’”
Studies show that hospital debt collection efforts through wage garnishment bring in only about 0.2% of hospital revenues, said April Kuehnhoff, a senior attorney with the National Consumer Law Center, which advocates for people with low incomes.
“We also know that there are states that don’t allow this at all,” she said. “Hospitals are continuing to provide medical care to consumers.”
Smooth sailing for collectors —but not for patients
Health care providers appeared as the plaintiffs in only 2% of the medical debt cases. Instead, cases were filed almost entirely by third-party debt collectors and buyers, with BC Services and Professional Finance Company behind more than half of the cases, followed by A-1 Collection Agency and Wakefield & Associates.
Debt buyers make money by buying debt from providers who’ve given up on getting paid then collecting what they can of the money owed, plus interest. Debt collectors get paid a percentage of what they recover. Some companies do a bit of both.
BC Services declined to comment, and Wakefield & Associates did not respond to questions.
Charlie Shoop, president of Professional Finance Company, said his company initiates wage garnishment on less than 1% of all accounts placed with it for collection.
In many states, the path for filing a case against a debtor and garnishing their wages is relatively smooth — especially if the debtor doesn’t appear in court.
“It’s unbelievably easy,” said Dan Vedra, a lawyer in Colorado who often represents consumers in debt cases. “If you have a word processor and a spreadsheet, you can mass-produce thousands of lawsuits in a matter of hours or minutes.”
Within KFF Health News’ sample, nearly all the medical debt cases were default judgments, meaning the patient did not defend themselves in court or in writing. Missing a court date can happen for a variety of reasons, such as not receiving the notice in the mail, assuming it was a scam, knowingly ignoring it, or not having the time to take off from work.
Vedra and other debt law experts said a high rate of default judgments indicates a system that favors the pursuers over the pursued — and increases the chances someone will be harmed by an erroneous bill.
But in New Hampshire, creditors now have to keep going to court for each paycheck they want to garnish, because the state allows creditors to garnish only wages that have already been earned, said Maanasa Kona, an associate research professor at the Center on Health Insurance Reforms at Georgetown University.
“It might not look like much on paper,” she said. “It’s just not worth it if they have to keep going back to court.”
If you have a word processor and a spreadsheet, you can mass-produce thousands of lawsuits in a matter of hours or minutes.
Wrongly pursued for bills
The nation’s medical billing setup is already prone to errors due to its complexity, according to Barak Richman, a law professor at George Washington University and a senior scholar at Stanford Medicine who has studied medical debt collection practices in several states. “Bills are not only noncomprehensible, but often wrong,” Richman said.
Indeed, Colorado’s Health Care Policy & Financing Department, which runs Medicaid in the state, said it sent out nearly 11,000 letters in the past fiscal year to health providers and collectors that erroneously went after patients on Medicaid. Bills for Medicaid recipients are supposed to be sent to Medicaid, not the patients, who typically pay a nominal amount, if anything, for their care.
Shoop said his industry has pushed Colorado, without success, for access to a database that would allow them to confirm if patients had Medicaid coverage.
Colorado’s Medicaid program declined to comment.
Patricia DeHerrera in Rifle, Colorado, had to prove that she and her children had Medicaid when they received care at Grand River Health — but only after A-1 contacted her employer at the time, the gas station chain Kum & Go, with court-approved paperwork to take a portion of her paychecks.
She contacted the state, which sent letters to the hospital and the collector notifying them they were engaging in “illegal billing action” and telling the collector to stop. The companies did.
Theresa Wagenman, controller for Grand River Health, said if a patient can present a letter from a Medicaid caseworker saying they’re eligible, then their bills get removed from the collections pipeline. Wagenman also said patients get at least eight letters in the mail and several phone calls before Grand River gives the go-ahead for the collector to send them to court.
DeHerrera’s main advice to others in this situation: “Know your rights. Otherwise, they’re going to take advantage of you.”
Nicole Silva, who lives in the 900-person town of Sanford in south-central Colorado, said she and her family were all on Medicaid when her daughter was in a car crash. Still, court records show, her wages were garnished for a $2,181.60 ambulance ride, which grew to more than $3,000 from court fees and interest.
Nicole Silva, a preschool teacher who lives in Sanford, Colorado, had her wages garnished for an ambulance bill from when her daughter, Karla, needed urgent medical care. According to a KFF Health News analysis, Colorado courts allow debt collectors to garnish people’ s wages for unpaid medical bills in roughly 14,000 cases a year. Left to right: Nicole Silva,… (Matthew Eric Lit/KFF Health News/TNS)
She tried to prove the bill was wrong, contacting her county’s social services office, but Silva said it wasn’t helpful and she wasn’t able to reach the right person at a state office. The state Medicaid program confirmed to KFF Health News that her daughter was covered at the time of the wreck.
Fighting the bill felt like too much for Silva and her husband to handle while parenting a growing number of kids, one of them severely disabled, and working — she as a preschool teacher and he as a rancher.
Not receiving the roughly $500 a month that she said came out of her pay was enough to affect their ability to pay other bills. “It was deciding to buy groceries or pay the electric bill,” Silva said.
When their electricity got shut off, she said, they had to scramble to borrow money from colleagues and friends to get it turned back on — with an extra fee.
She said the saga makes her hesitant to call an ambulance in the future.
Fox, of the Colorado Consumer Health Initiative, said consumers often think they cannot do anything to stop their wages from being garnished, but they can contest it in court, for example by pointing out they should have qualified for discounted — or charity — care if the hospital that provided the treatment is a nonprofit.
DeFusco, the economist, believes filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy is an underused option for debtors. It halts garnishment in its tracks, though not always permanently, and it comes with other consequences. But he understands it’s a Catch-22: It’s a complex process and typically necessitates hiring a lawyer.
“To get rid of your debt, you need money,” he said. “And the whole reason you’re in this situation is because you don’t have money.”
Methodology
We wanted to know how often Coloradans get their wages garnished due to medical debt. Courts don’t compile this information, and researchers and advocates haven’t tracked it systematically.
So we created our own database. We requested a list of all civil cases across the state in which judges gave permission for a person’s earnings to be garnished — known as writs of garnishment in court lingo — from Feb. 1, 2022, through Feb. 1, 2024. The Colorado Supreme Court Library provided a list from all courts except for Denver County Court, which provided its own records. The combined list comprised nearly 90,000 unique court cases. We split up the cases by county population — small (fewer than 10,000 people), medium (10,000 to 100,000 people), and large (more than 100,000 people) — then generated a random sample of 400 cases from each group to ensure we evaluated medical debt across counties of all sizes.
To identify medical debt cases, we looked at the original creditors named in court records, primarily the complaints or affidavits of indebtedness. Often, this information was available through a state website. When it wasn’t available online, we asked county courthouses to send us supporting documents. We counted dentists as medical providers. We excluded 14 cases in which the debt wasn’t exclusively medical.
We looked only at cases in which courts approved money to be garnished from someone’s paycheck, as opposed to from other sources such as their bank accounts. We did not review garnishment cases involving child support, taxes, or federal student loans.
KFF Health News intern Henry Larweh, data editor Holly K. Hacker, Mountain States editor Matt Volz, and web editor Lydia Zuraw contributed to this report.
A debt collector took Nicole Silva, a preschool teacher and mom in Sanford, Colorado, to court over an unpaid medical bill. It turns out she didn’ t owe money: The bill should have gone to Medicaid, her insurer. Still, her wages were garnished to pay it off. (Matthew Eric Lit/KFF Health News/TNS)
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